It Was Just Supposed To Be Lunch

by FanOfMostEverything

Chapter 12 — Rego

The trot back to the castle had been enlightening to say the least. Wallflower had never considered herself to be much of a charmer, but Princess Luna had quickly warmed up to her. They shared so much in common despite being worlds apart, each falling to darker magics, forgotten by their worlds, and both enjoyed quieter times among plantlife. Wallflower had slipped up and called her vice principal, but the downgrade in position just made the ancient ruler laugh.

Maybe she was more sociable than she thought.

Eventually, they arrived at Princess Twilight’s castle and headed up to the Cutie Map room. Wallflower regretted not paying more attention to what the others had been talking about, though she hadn’t understood what she had heard anyway. Despite her namesake, she found herself at the center of attention, standing on top of the crystal map table, and surrounded by the most powerful creatures in Sunset’s original world.

“Are you sure this is the best course of action?” the unicorn Twilight asked her taller counterpart. “Destabilizing alternate realities is what got us into this mess.”

“This won’t be multiple, alternate realities, but the multithreading of ours,” the princess assured. “And for it to be genuine love, I can’t think of a better way than this. Unfortunately.”

“Oh, don’t be like that!” Discord complained as he clapped his talon and paw together, and pulled them apart to reveal a cat’s cradle of string. “You’re just embracing the chaos of it all!” He shuffled his hands and fingers around wildly until he’d somehow woven it into a perfect cube of yarn. “And we’re about to have a ball!”

“Wait, so what’s going on again?” Wallflower asked hesitantly.

“Why, making sure you’re so adored that even Harmony itself can’t help but notice you,” he answered as he fanned the cube into a deck of cards. Discord flipped them over, revealing an entire hand of aces of hearts. “You’re about to become the most loved creature in this, or likely any world.”

“W-what?”

“How to explain this…” Sunset pondered aloud. “We need to give the world a little reminder that you’re real, and if it’s our love for you that helps sustain that, then we’ll need you to be truly loved by as many creatures as possible. And since we only have one reality to work with, we’ll be layering those loves as much as possible.”

“So, what do I need to do?” Wallflower asked.

Sunset smiled warmly. “Nothing special. Just be your lovable self.”

The earth pony’s freckles vanished in her blush and she nodded.

“Alright,” Princess Twilight announced to the group. Discord snapped his fingers, summoning a large scroll in front of Starlight. Sunset huddled their friends from the other side of the mirror together. “I don’t know what this will be like with so many magical forces acting upon you at once, but I imagine it will be very confusing. But, we all believe in you, Wallflower.”

With that, everyone began focusing their energy. The crystal table before Wallflower began to radiate with power and a strange dome appeared above them. She felt her hooves leave the ground as it pulled her up. She nearly screamed as she started falling upwards, but then Discord appeared in front of her and caught her with his talon. Before she could thank him though, he snapped his lion paw.

Then, everything went white.

---

“Good morning, darling.”

Wallflower’s eyes shot open at the sound of Rarity’s voice. She popped up from her bed, or at least a bed. It felt so familiar to her, but completely foreign at the same time.

“You feeling better, sugarcube?” Applejack asked with a concerned smile.

Wait, Applejack? Where’s Rarity?

“I think so?” Wallflower guessed. She remembered catching a bug going around Apple Bloom’s school. Luckily, her loving wife knew exactly how to treat a cold. The earthy pegasus hopped out of bed and stretched her wings.

“Don’t worry about it,” Soarin assured as he gave his marefriend a hug. “I know you grew up around earth ponies. I’m sorry I pushed you so hard.”

Wings? Soarin? And why is everything made of clouds?

“You didn’t push me into anything. I was the one who wanted to get out of my shallow comfort zone for once” Wallflower assured Trixie. The hippogriff trotted up to her precious little performer. “You don’t need to worry about it.”

Vinyl Scratch wiped her eyes from behind her shades and nodded. Wallflower knew what was in the DJ’s heart. No words were needed to express the love they shared.

How Wallflower knew any of this was a complete mystery.

“Surprise!” Pinkie exclaimed as she opened the door to their bedroom. “Twily just got back from solving that friendship problem, so that one more pony to celebrate our Rainbow-versary!”

“I’m sorry, but it’s just the five of us,” Princess Twilight explained with a sad smile.

Wallflower’s heart dropped into her stomach. “But, that’s not even half of the herd.” They’d already rented out the restaurant for their whole sapphic polycule.

Wait… how many mares am I married to again?

“It’s actually called a flock, Flower.” Fluttershy explained as she introduced the geese that had just flown in. “Riley takes the lead of their formation when they migrate.”

“Oh, is it really that important for someone to take the lead?” Wallflower asked with waning interest as she filed her talon.

Now I’m a griffon?

“Of course it’s important!” Gilda yelled as her feathers bristled. “Seriously, girl, stand up for yourself!”

Okay, this needs to slow down!

“No! Faster!” Spitfire ordered. “Get those wings buzzing, lovebug!”

“I’m trying!” Wallflower cried as she dove through another ring. If only Spitfi—no Lightning Du—no-no, Flitter and Cloudchaser let her change into something other than her natural form. Her wings disappeared as she tumbled over and under until colliding with a cauldron.

Stop this! Please! I can’t keep up!

“Patience Flower, there’s no need to race,
Your forest’s gifts will not go to waste.”

The kirin sighed. “I know, Zecora. It’s just Rain Shine said that the village needs—”

“The only thing I need is you, Wallflower.” Rain Shine whispered into the unicorn’s ear. “Your light is what brings me joy every morning. Will you do me the honor of becoming my mate?”

Help! Somebody! Anybody! Help!

Discord sighed from behind her. “Fine. If you must insist on making sense.”

A tug pulled Wallflower away from the kirin’s tender embrace. As she drifted away from the scene, she saw her unicorn self reach up and kiss her towering beloved, sealing their loving union with a kiss. Her attention was turned away from the beautiful moment to face the draconequus and his fishing pole.

“And here I thought you’d be enjoying this,” Discord complained as he plopped his ungrateful catch into a net. “It’s not every day you get to experience hundreds of thousands of possible loves all at once.”

Wallflower shrank away. “T-thousands?”

“What’s wrong with it, my love?” yet another love asked in concern. “I thought thousand island was your favorite.”

“Well, it is, Cadance, but…” Wallflower trailed as she looked up from her salad to see she was now eating lunch with the Princess of Love. They’d met years ago by chance when Twilight’s Sparkle’s parents had mistakenly asked both of them to watch their daughter over the weekend. They two of them ruled the Crystal Empire together.

Wallflower knew all of this innately, like it had always been this way. Just like all of the other romances she barely remembered. She raised a fork to her mouth to take another bite of her salad and saw a thick, muscular hand on the end of her forearm rather than a hoof. Looking up for her salad, she spotted her date, Iron Will, burning with desire for the minotaur sitting at the other end of the table.

“The less you understand, the better,” Discord said. “Just go with the flow.”

“But how can—” Wallflower covered his mouth, surprised by the sound of his own, deep voice. Flash Sentry had fallen in love with it during Karaoke. “It’s happening so fast!”

“To the two of us, maybe. For all the other yous living their lives? Who’s to say?”

“To think I even considered wasting my time with a lowly commoner like you!” Blueblood scoffed and tossed his mane up. “Farewell, you miserable weed!”

“Wait!” she begged, stretching a hoof out to the miserable prince far too late.

Discord shook his head and tutted. “It seems some of yourselves have been less successful than others.” He snapped his fingers and offered the sobbing pony a tissue. “But seriously. The more you try to hold onto any present, the slower we’ll repair this little mess of yours.”

Wallflower hated this. It was all just too much. Happiness, sorrow, elation, grief, joy, terror; there was an endless deluge that just kept coming, all at once, from every nowhere imaginable.

“Are you okay, mommy?” Dinky Doo asked in concern.

Wallflower nodded to her step-daughter as she dabbed the tears from her eyes. She tried blowing her nose, but a stream of fire shot out of her draconic maw, burning the tissue into ashes. “I will be. Just, give me a moment, muffin.”

A firm hoof tilted Wallflower’s weakened head up as she came face-to-face with Chrysalis. The reformed queen’s blue eyes dripped with empathetic passion, the pools whipped dry by her flowing gossamer mane that billowed in the wind. “Don’t worry, my dearest Flower. We will be here with you until the end, just as you were there for me during my darkest hour. You… you can go now. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” the withering Wallflower apologized. She reached her brittle hoof to her eternal queen’s face as all of their children gathered around. The old mare slowly shut her eyes, breathing her last breath.

At least until another kiss stole that breath away.

“There you are, Beloved,” Celestia—just Celestia—said with a serene smile. “You got lost in your sea again.”

Wallflower blinked the soil out of her eyes. “Was I gone long?” Existence trembled at the sound of her voice.

Celestia nestled under her wife’s tectonic wing, breathing deeply of the embodiment of life she’d become. “It doesn’t matter. You came back before the end.”

Both immortals looked up to the countless petals swirling above, each a different, beloved Wallflower living a different life. How long had it been since they’d tapped into its unfathomable power simply to watch? Generations? Millenia? Eons? It didn’t matter. All would be washed away in service of completing the spell.

Beloved had been tempted to stop its undoing countless times. It’d be so simple for the goddess she’d become; less than a bat of an eyelash. But then there’d be no constant, no anchor: nothingness. She and her tiny princess loved everything that had all passed away into nothing so very long ago.

Celestia kissed the loamy wall of fur. “You know that you have to go back now, Beloved.”

“I will miss you, my precious sunflower,” Beloved whispered softly as to not obliterate her fragile star.

“If you can recall our thread, then I am truly blessed beyond measure.” Celestia teleported on top of Beloved’s muzzle and casually strode down the plateau of wildflowers. “It’s funny. We watched eternity play out before our eyes, yet it passed so quickly.”

Her horn lit up, weaving an astral body into the sky. The Celestia woven in stardust, dipped down from the heavens and cradled Beloved’s face in her hooves, just like the days before she’d outgrown being the mere Alicorn of Nature, Princess Wallflower Blush.

“No matter what happens beyond our time, I will always love you, my eternal Beloved.”

Their world collapsed as a portal opened above them, sapping the goddess from her garden of everything, and collapsing infinite petals back into a single bloom that would leave its indelible mark upon every existence.

But the question remained: would it be enough?

Comments

[Speckle]

[Dashie04]

under her wife’s tectonic wing

This line was determined to be so badass it was also in contention for a title on that alone.

Also oops Wallflower is a goddess now.

And while all the authors did a great job at making something coherent (vaguely), this is one of the best chapters. It feels odd to say that considering I’m like the behind-the-scenes mouthpiece here (at least when it came to discussions during the live reading), but the sheer existentialism of loving everyone and no one at once makes for a wildly engaging story.

We also joked about submitting this to May Pairings because it ships Wallflower with literally every creature to ever exist. But I’m not entirely sure whether an exquisite corpse is a good submission.