Chapter 1 - The Memories We Kept
Chapter 1
The Memories We Kept
Wallflower stared at herself in the mirror, she hardly recognized the reflection. Her hair had been neatly brushed, and instead of her usual choice attire she wore a flowing yellow dress. She wasn't entirely sure if she liked the colour; it didn't exactly go well with her skin or hair.
But Sunset had complimented her on how it looked, so wear it she would.
No doubt what Sunset would be wearing would blow away anything she could ever get her hands on. That was kind of given when Rarity designed you a one of a kind dress.
Seeing her own scowl in the mirror she frowned. It wasn't like that, she knew that. Sunset had said multiple times that she held no interest for the second hottest girl in the school. Despite how much time she spent with the fashionista, they were only friends, supposedly.
With a sigh she turned to make her exit from the bathroom. The spring fling wasn't to start yet in a few hours, she was more than early. The only people in school currently beside herself were the staff and teachers. But this was going to be the best night in her life, she was going to a dance with Sunset, she'd never forgive herself if she messed this up.
So early she was.
As she pushed the door to the girl's bathroom open and left, her mind drifted back to that fateful day.
She was intimidating, her piercing eyes glaring as her gaze took in every single detail around her. The girl had fiery hair in shades of red and yellow, something that complimented her amber skin. She wore a leather jacket that likely had seen better days, the short colourful skirt she wore looked comically out of place with it.
Yet something about her aura was threatening enough that no one would dare to comment on the mismatched attire. Having finished looking around the girl started stepping forwards, only to run headfirst into another student, Flash Sentry, if her memory server her right.
Wallflower relaxed and took a deep breath. The scary girl hadn't noticed her, and now she was likely preoccupied. Quickly she made her way across the lobby towards where her locker was.
It wasn't until much later in the day when she'd learned that the new student's name was Sunset Shimmer.
She chuckled lightly as she made her way down the hallway. She'd been so afraid of Sunset those first few days after she had transferred to CHS. She'd been utterly convinced that it was another tough girl bully that had joined the school. In part she'd been right, she supposed. Sunset had been excessively abrasive and didn't take shit from anyone.
But she also cared little for the typical high school drama. As long as people stayed out of her way, she stayed out of theirs. Something that suited Wallflower just fine back then.
Now?
She couldn't imagine her life without the girl. It was well over a year before Sunset joined school that she'd realized she had it in for girls. The idle daydreaming about Rarity and Blossomforth wasn't exactly subtle. Not that she'd have any chance with someone as popular as Rarity, nor someone as good looking as Blossomforth. She was just an ugly outcast herself, someone that no one could love.
She frowned, Sunset would reprimand her if she knew she thought such things about herself. She certainly had when she'd mentioned them out loud. That didn't make it any less true though.
She pushed the door open to the cafeteria, it looked the same as always. She could hear noise from the kitchen, likely things being prepared for the event later in the evening.
Her eyes moved towards the table, the one they always took, the one that no one else used; her table.
The clattering of someone putting down their tray made her head shoot up. And indeed, someone else had decided to sit at her table. Not only that, it was the girl that had transferred just a week earlier. She could feel her body tense up.
"What?" The girl asked, their eyes meeting her own.
She quietly blurted out a sorry and turned her gaze back to her own food. Why had Sunset decided to come and sit at her table? She specifically picked the most out of the way table, the one no other student wanted, so she'd be left alone.
She took a few deep breaths, she needed to get her nerves under control. Sure, so the transfer student that didn't take crap from anyone had decided to sit at her table, no big deal, right? It's not as if she could possibly want anything from her, right?
"So what's your deal anyway?"
Wallflower flinched and almost fell off her chair, her eyes snapping to Sunset. Sunset herself looked disinterested and stuffed more food in her mouth.
"I, uh- well..."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Clearly you're not miss popular if you're sitting here sulking every day."
Wallflower turned back to her food, her teeth and fists clenching.
Sunset sighed. "Whatever."
It wasn't until after Sunset had finished eating and departed that Wallflower managed to finish off the rest of her lunch, despite having lost all appetite. Slowly she made her way to her locker, lunch break being almost over.
She could feel that her mood had been soured by the experience. She knew herself well enough to know that she'd beat herself up over what happened for the rest of the day... probably the rest of the week if she was being honest.
Wallflower knew she hadn't really done anything wrong, but rationality rarely helped when her mood had already tanked.
She'd almost made it to class when she ran into Sunset again, coming down the corridor from the other direction. She avoided eye contact and prayed she'd not be bothered again.
They'd almost passed each other when Sunset froze up. "Crap," the fiery girl muttered. Wallflower couldn't help but to glance at them. Sunset was staring down the corridor, the way Wallflower had come from. Suddenly their eyes snapped to Wallflower.
"You... perfect," Sunset strode over and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her to the nearest room. All she could do was yelp in surprise.
Sunset quickly opened the door and glanced inside, before pushing Wallflower inside and following herself shortly after. Sunset quickly but quietly closed the door, standing guard at it for a few minutes.
As for Wallflower herself, she scrambled away from Sunset after she'd been released from her hold. They were in one of the rooms used by one of the school clubs, the drama club if her memory was correct. Looking around the room and taking it all in was all she could do to stop herself from hyperventilating.
She must have pissed off Sunset at lunch, and now she was going to hurt her. She backed up till she was against the wall opposite from the door, her eyes closing. She could feel her body shaking. Her eyes were tearing up as she heard approaching footsteps.
"Hey-"
She jerked back as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. losing her balance and falling onto the floor in the process.
A few moments later Sunset spoke up. "Are you okay?"
Slowly she opened up one of her eyes. Sunset stood before her, a concerned look on her face and a hand outstretched as if offering to help her up. Gulping, she slowly reached forward her shaking hand and placed it in Sunset's. As soon as she did, the other girly deftly pulled her up onto her feet again.
The two just stood there for a moment, Wallflower on a brink of crying and Sunset awkwardly running a hand through her hair.
"I owe you one," Sunset eventually said.
Her confusion must have been apparent on her face, because Sunset chuckled and continued.
"I saw Flash down the corridor, probably wanted to bother me again about accepting his offer to learn the guitar."
Sunset turned and walked over to one of the desks, plopping down in the chair and putting her feet on the desk. "As nice as he tries to be, I really couldn't care less for him," a smug smile resting on her face.
Wallflower wrapped her arms around herself, she'd thoroughly last track of what was going on.
Sunset's eyes meet Wallflowers. "So what's your name anyway?"
She sniveled. "W-Wallflower," the words were out of her mouth before she had the time to think.
"Cute," Sunset glanced back towards the door. "I might come crash at your lunch table again. And hey, if you ever need to cash in that favour, just let me know."
Slowly but surely Wallflower made her way over to the door, glancing at Sunset as she passed her. It wasn't until after she was out of the room that some of the tension left her body.
She put her purse on the table. Those first few weeks had been awkward, to say the least. Sunset kept bothering her randomly, and she was always worried that this time was the one that the other girl would beat her up.
Of course, that never came.
She understood why now though. Despite Sunset being not only hot but also the biggest bad-ass in the school, she didn't exactly have any friends. For some reason the other girl had decided that Wallflower, of all people, was going to be the one she stuck by.
Of course, that had only lasted till she made other friends.
She could feel her smile slowly fading. Rainbow Dash and Rarity, those were the two girls she'd gotten close too eventually. The former because the two of them shared some passion towards excelling, even if it was in different fields. Dash was completely dedicated to everything sports related, but especially soccer. While Sunset was all about science.
Rarity and Sunset had instead connected over seemingly their good looks. It was no secret that both were considered some of the best looking girls in school. It was something Sunset had exclaimed frustration over at several times, where as Rarity basked in the attention.
Somehow the two of them had connected over shared experiences.
It'd all meant that Sunset spent less and less time with her though. She shouldn't be surprised, of course someone as good as Sunset was well out of her league. At least that's what she'd thought anyway, yet Sunset had kept coming back to her; insisting that they were close.
She fished up the stone of her bag. It had a strange design with almost an eye like groove in the middle. She knew what it did now, sort of, it had taken some time to figure it out. The first time had been accidental, the stone had been on her when she'd said and thought something stupid.
It absorbed memories, of that she was sure. Maybe that was all it did, maybe it could do more; but if so she'd yet to figure it out. Finding it burred behind the school was the weird part.
"I'm not sure about this..."
Sunset lightly clapped her on her back. "Nonsense. You told me you like gardening, I don't see why this wouldn't be a great idea."
The two of them stepped through the brush behind the school into a clearing... one that was quite overgrown. Sunset who had been following her put down the bag of gardening tools in the grass.
"They even let you have this spot behind the school now that the gardening club is official."
She frowned. "It's not really a club if it's only one member..."
Sunset smiled at her, something which made her heart swirl. "I'm sure more will flock to join once you get going with this."
She had her doubts about that, looking around the clearing hardly filled her with confidence. Sure, she could picture it as a canvas to fill with plants, but it was going to be a lot of work to get it in order, especially alone.
Sunset was nothing if not supporting... but gardening wasn't her thing at all, something she'd been upfront about. She'd promised to help her get started though, so here she was, ready to work to turn the overgrown clearing into something more suited for flowers.
She brought forward her spade and got started.
Wallflower loved gardening, it was one of the few things that made her happy. But watching Sunset there by her side? It made her feel giddy inside.
It wasn't until well into the evening, after Sunset excused herself so she could get home and get some sleep, that she found it, the small bag with the stone. With it was a scroll with letters she'd never seen before.
She rolled the stone in her hand; it'd been a blessing to find it. Without it Sunset would have left her a long time ago. Every time she messed up, every time she said something wrong that either embarrassed her or made Sunset frown? She could just make her forget it all.
She sighed, her gaze turning towards the cafeteria ceiling. She knew it was wrong, obviously. But she couldn't imagine going back to how it was before she met Sunset. She needed this, she needed Sunset; she was her one guiding light in this dark world.
Besides, Sunset was happy, wasn't she?
She smiled, Sunset's laughter from across the table lifting her spirit. The two of them were seated at a café close to school. It was a popular spot among the teens that went to CHS, yet she'd never starting going there until she started getting close to Sunset.
"Anyway, how's the garden doing?" Sunset asked as her laughter was settling.
She could feel her nervousness rising, it still tripped her up that Sunset cared about her garden. "Oh, um, well," she rubbed the back of her head. "The lilies have sprouted, so it looks like they'll bloom this year after all, I wasn't quite sure if they would."
Sunset nodded along with a smile.
"I've also considered if I should plant some rose bushes near the wood line in a few places, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea."
"I'm sure it is if you're considering it," Sunset said as she picked up her milkshake and took a sip.
She could feel her cheeks heating up. Getting compliments was another thing she hadn't gotten used to. She'd dismiss them... but she knew Sunset didn't hand them out unless she really meant what she said.
"Ah, um, what about you?"
Sunset frowned and turned her eyes towards the ceiling for a moment. "Well, I'm going to need to figure out a better plan for dealing with the raccoons."
Wallflower blinked. "They still raid your trash?"
"In a manner of speaking, yeah. I thought they would find someplace else over the winter and I'd be rid of em, but no," Sunset sighed.
"You could call in pest control... I think?"
Sunset stifled a giggle. "It's not pest control you call to deal with wild animals Wally."
She looked away, the nickname was still embarrassing to hear. Her getting flustered by it only seemed to make it funnier to Sunset though.
"R-right."
Sunset smirked. "Don't worry about, I'm sure I'll figure something out. Worst case I'll ask Dash's friend for advice, I heard she's a pro when it comes to everything animals."
And just like that, some of her good mood faltered.
Come to think of it, she never really asked Sunset about the raccoons again, hopefully that situation resolved itself. She shook her head, it wasn't that important, and if it was; then Sunset would bring it up again.
She didn't quite remember *when* exactly she'd completely fallen for Sunset, but it couldn't have been long after she'd met her. She'd played with the idea of confessing her feelings to Sunset... yet it never seemed to be the time.
Not for a lack of trying on her part, but every time she did Sunset would say no. Insisting that she didn't have time for some high school romance. It had hurt, hearing those words, especially over and over again, so eventually she'd given up.
She was fine if Sunset just wanted to be friends, she could be friends with her. She'd never stop pinning for the girl, she knew that, but Sunset deserved someone better than her anyway.
So it was somewhat of a surprise when Sunset had invited her to the spring fling. The two of them, going together? It was a dream come true. Sunset could have asked out any guy in the school, and probably a decent chunk of the girls, and they would have said yes. But she'd picked her, of all people.
It made her feel warm inside. It made it seem like she had chance. By the end of the night maybe they'd finally be an item?
Their feet moved in unison as they rotated around the room to the beat of music. Often she'd misplace her foot, it happened her her mind wandered to the fact that Sunset had her hand rested on her back while the other gripped hers tightly.
Luckily Sunset wasn't much better at dancing, if anything she was worse.
Sunset let go and let out a deep sigh as the music came to an end. "How do people do this," she whispered.
"With practice," a voice chimed in before Wallflower got the chance to reply.
Sunset grunted and rolled her eyes, the two of them turning to face the third and final person in the school's gym. The white girl with purple hair radiated grace as she approached them. Instinctively Wallflower took a step closer to Sunset and wrapped her arms around theirs.
"Oh don't give me that look Sunset, you're the one that asked me to help you figure out how to dance before the event."
Sunset frown devolved into a sigh. "I know, but this is still way harder than it looks."
"Well, I'm sure the two of you would do better if you could take a moment to focus on the dancing instead of ogling at your date," Rarity smirked.
Wallflower blushed as her eyes traveled to the floor.
"That's not-" Sunset started.
"Once again from the top!" Rarity interrupted as she made her way over to the CD player.
Sunset grumbled something under her breath, her eyes traveling to Wallflower. "Hey, are you okay?"
She nodded lightly. She took a few deep breaths before letting go off Sunset and taking a step back. She raised her arms towards Sunset to get into position, something which caused a smile to appear on the fiery girl's face. She could feel a swirl in her stomach as Sunset closed the gap and took her hands.
They had barely gotten into position before the music started up again. At once they were off again, twirling around the room to the beat of the song.
It was hard to keep up with the music though, especially when she could feel herself getting lost in those bright cyan eyes.
"Well someone's daydreaming."
Wallflower jolted to attention. At some point Sunset had entered the cafeteria and snuck on up on her. She stuffed the stone in her purse and hastily got up.
"Sunset!"
"Well I would be shocked if you didn't recognize me," Sunset smirked.
Frankly she was a bit unrecognizable. Gone was her usual aesthetic, replaced instead with an absolutely stunning dress. It flowed in all of Sunsets colours, going from red at the bottom to yellow at the top, complete with a motif or roaring flames. She'd even had her hair styled up in a new way, going for a ponytail complete with a hair ornament near her right ear that had that sun motif that she loved.
Sunset snickered. "I take it that I look good?"
Idly Wallflower nodded.
"I figured, consider how much you're gawking," Sunset walked up to her and wrapped her in a hug.
Was she gawking? Maybe, she could feel her cheeks being on fire at the very least. How could someone look so stunning? And... not only that, they were going to spend the evening with her.
Wallflower was the luckiest girl in all the world.
Sunset smiled as she broke the hug. "There's still quite some time left till the dance, but we could take a walk till then? Hopefully all that practice will have been worth it."
Idly she nodded as she let Sunset guide her along. The practice had absolutely been worth it, if only so she could spend these moments with the prettiest girl in the whole world.
She could tell Sunset was fuming about something. She'd been starring a hole into her lunch ever since she sat down, not only that, she was twirling her fork in her hand repeatedly.
Sunset was always hard to approach when she got into a mood. She was never directly rude to her, obviously, but often she'd just reply curtly with dismissal that it was no big deal.
For some reason Sunset struggled with trusting others; that was her conclusion at least.
She sighed. She had to try, didn't she? "Is something bothering you?"
Sunset blinked several times before turning her eyes from her food to the girl that sat opposite of her. After looking at her for what was almost a minute, Sunset let out a sigh and put down her fork.
"Something... happened a while back, and I guess it's bothering me more than I thought."
"Oh?"
"Well..." Sunset frowned, seemingly going over in her head if she should continue or not.
She lower her volume a bit. "Do you know who Lightning Dust is?"
Wallflower nodded, she was quite familiar with the girl, she was one of the schools bigger bullies. Maybe that wasn't an accurate description, but the girl had an attitude and a bad temper; no one wanted to get on her bad side.
"She and Dash used to hang out," Sunset continued. "Well, she decided that getting into a fight with Dash over something stupid."
"What were they arguing about?"
Sunset's expression grew flat. "The kind of fight that involves punches and kicks."
"O-oh."
"Yeah."
She'd never really known Lighting Dust to beat up another student. There were a few others she could see that happening with, but not her.
Wallflower glanced down at her half finished meal. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know the details, it might sour all her appetite... on the other hand, something about this was clearly bothering Sunset.
"Um, so, what was it about it that bothered you?" She looked up to Sunset again.
Sunset let out a groan, her gaze lowering. "What they were fighting about. Apparently there's a rumour going around that the two of them are a couple."
Wallflower thought back, she didn't recall anything like that. Then again, Sunset was about the only person she actively talked to at school, everyone else seemed to just ignore her.
"Well, um, are they?"
Sunset scoffed before waving her off with her hand. "No chance in hell," she took a sip of her drink. "No idea if Dash is into girls, but frankly she does not seem to be into anything other than sports."
"How can you be so sure?"
After all, not everyone dared to be open about who they liked, least of all herself.
Sunset expression morphed into a smirk and she leaned forwards. "Well, I promised to not share this but, I know you'll not talk. I was helping Rarity getting into a outfit she was working on, and Dash just walked in on us."
She could feel her cheeks heating as she imagined the scenario.
"And... she didn't even care. She just kept talking to us as if one of us wasn't half naked," Sunset snickered. "She was more concerned with the fact that I was late to helping her practice goal shots."
The notion of it all was ludicrous. "Really?"
Sunsets smirked depend. "Really," she leaned back into her seat and laughed.
She wasn't really sure what to say to it all... she also couldn't get the image of Sunset helping a half naked Rarity into an outfit out of her head.
"But yeah," when she hadn't been looking, Sunset's expression had morphed into a frown. "It bothers me quite a bit if someone goes around and picks a fight with people over their sexuality, perceived or otherwise."
Wallflower frowned. "It's kind of normal," she blurted out, without thinking.
Sunset grit her teeth. "I know, and that's the problem. I don't get why people here put up with that."
"I..." she looked away. It was true that most were just passive to the hatred on the subject, especially if it didn't concern them. There were thankfully very few that had a problem with those kind of things these days.
Sunset let out a sigh, before smiling. "Don't worry Wally, I know you're not like that."
She got the impression that Sunset left something unsaid, the way she smirked at her.
She walked hand in hand with Sunset towards the gym, the music could be heard from the hall. Sunset had been giving her a tour up to the school's roof while they waited, and now the event had already started.
"You ready?" Sunset asked.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to turn around and bolt, if she was being honest. Sunset was a complete looker, and everyone would be starring at her tonight... which meant everyone would be starring at her by extension.
But... if she didn't go in there now then she'd lose out on an evening with Sunset. With a gulp she nodded.
The two walked together in to the spring fling, the school dance of the season. It wasn't long before the other students started to take notice. Yet with a glance she could see that Sunset only had her eyes on one thing: the dance floor.
Once they'd had reached it, Sunset placed her hand on her back, the other gripping her hand tightly.
"Are you ready for a night you'll never forget for the rest of your life?" Sunset smirked at her.
She just nodded and put her free hand around Sunset's back. Once the new song started they were off. It didn't matter who else looked at her, for her eyes were captured in Sunsets.