The Dragon and the Wallflower
Previously, Christmas was coming back to town. Everyone were all in a joyful mood. Everyone, except for Sunset Shimmer, whose unpleasant memories from the "Anon-a-Miss" event resurfaced and she was beckoned to spend the holiday, away from her friends.
That all changed, however, when a friend of both hers and Twilight, Spike the dragon came for a visit, and the two had together a heart-to-heart bonding experience that remedied the girl of her dark past and reignited the spirit of Christmas and Hearth's Warming within her heart.
Since then, Sunset Shimmer was able to make amends with her friends and it was all waters under the bridges. Well, almost.
Sunset Shimmer was out doing some last-minute Christmas shoppings, with her friends, with Spike sitting at a table, close to a diner, tasked with looking after their shoppings.
"Phew, it's been a long day," Spike yawned, stretching his legs and arching his back.
"After falling into a pond of freezing water? I don't blame either you or Sunset," a timid voice spoke up, startling Spike, half-awake.
Turning his head, looking to right, Spike looked up to see the Rainbooms's wallflower friend, Wallflower Blush, "Oh! Where'd you come from?" Spike asked.
"Uh, I've been sitting with you for the past thirty minutes?"
“Oh right,” Spike chuckled sheepishly. “You’re Wallflower Blush. Right?”
“Yes.” the girl nodded.
“Right. Now I remember, Sunset and Twilight told me about you," the little dragon-dog began. "You’re that crazy girl who found the memory stone and went and wiped everybody's memories of Sunset, because you were star-raving jealous for all the attention Sunset’s been getting.”
With that, Wallflower immediately blushed a shade of scarlet red, ashamed of the dragon-turned-dog for bringing up her troubled past, "I'M NOT CRAZY!" she frowned angrily which turned sad. "I mean...I know I'm a little awkward, but I never....you're right. I am crazy. I mean, I was..I just..ugh," she groaned in frustration. "This is exactly why I don't do friends. And why no one ever listens to me. Whenever I get to talking, I'm always rambling and I say the wrong things, it embarrasses me and–"
"STOP!" Spike barked, stopping the girl from talking. "Okay, just stop talking. Okay? Just relax. Take a deep breath. Breath slow, breath deep. Relax," Wallflower Blush complied, following the dragon-turned-dog's instructions. "Now, do you feel relaxed?"
"Yeah," Wallflower sighed. "Phew, thanks Spike. I really needed that."
"Don't mention it," Spike replied, before he chuckled, "It's not everyday I had to remind Twilight to take her breathing exercises when she starts freaking out."
"Really? You don't say," Wallflower sighed, not sure if that was a compliment, or an insult.
As if sensing he might've rubbed her the wrong way, based on the tone of her voice, Spike looked up and waved his paws, "Hey don't get me wrong. I say that because I know her for a very long time. She's my friend, and I'm always looking out for her, y'know?" Wallflower nodded in understanding, as Spike continued. "Though, in a way, you sort of remind me of my friend Big Mac."
"Really?" the girl asked. "What's he like? This Big Mac?"
"Oh, he's kinda like you," Spike commented. "Quiet, shy, a pony of little words. Though, before when he was younger, he was quite the chatterbox. Drove Applejack crazy around the bend," the dog-dragon spins circles around his head with his paw for emphasis.
"Are you saying I talk too much and I drove everyone crazy?" Wallflower Blush asked.
Spike shook his head, "No. That's not what I said. I'm just saying, you remind me of him."
"So then, what did he do? Did he find a magic stone that erases everybody's awkward memories about him?"
"No, he's not that kind of pony."
"Then what did he do?"
"Just stopped talking and learned to listen more. It's not that difficult. Or at least, that's what he told me," Spike answered.
"Talk less and listen more, huh?" Wallflower repeated, frowning in dismay. "Why couldn't I have just learned that? I'd probably save us all from a lot of grievances."
By grievances, Wallflower Blush was referring to last year's debacle. It was the final days of Canterlot High and another school year coming to an end, when all the students will soon get their yearbooks and make plans for the summer. Of course, for someone as lonesome and as isolated as Wallflower Blush, it was just like any other years, when the entire school body hardly acknowledges her existence. It was on one such fateful day, however, when Wallflower Blush had discovered a magic stone that has the power to erase people's memories – the memory stone.
It was from this magic stone's enchantment that Wallflower Blush gained the power to erase all traces of her actions, and most of her least favorite awkward moments. At first, it was just the simplest or her least favorite memories she chose to erase, but years of loneliness and bitter memories of Sunset Shimmer's reign of Canterlot High, when she was a bully, an aspiring demon sorceress, and Fall Formal Princess, have tainted Wallflower's memories, warping her judgement and twisted her mind on reality. Thus, out of jealousy and in a fit of retribution, vengeance, or to put it simply, seeking revenge, Wallflower deliberately used the memory stone's power to drain the memories of Sunset Shimmer's post-reformation, from the entire school, including the Rainboom's, up to the point she used it to completely wipe out Sunset Shimmer's entire memories of the human world.
“C’mon, don’t give yourselves too much credit," Spike muttered, knowing where Wallflower was getting at. Needless to say, the young dragon had heard all about the Forgotten Friendship episode from both Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. "From what I've heard, these kinds of things have happened to a lot of us," he continued. "Like Sunset Shimmer turned herself into a rampaging demon sorceress bent on world domination. I turned myself into a greedy 10 story tall rampaging dragon. The CMC framed Sunset Shimmer by posing as her and creating a fake identity called 'Anon-a-Miss.' And you just happened to find a magic stone that steals memories. So we all have those kinds of quirks, you know?” Spike frowned as he recalled said unfavorable memories. “I mean you just gotta...gotta learn to...let these things go!” he whimpered in dismay.
"I don't know if I can let it go," Wallflower frowned. "Now that the stone is destroyed, I'll never forget my mistakes. Meaning no one will ever let me live it down, and I'll never be able to live with myself," a tear trickled from Wallflower's eyes as he continued. "Sunset was right. I'm just like her, but worse. All I wanted was for people to remember me, and to be friends with. But I don't even know the first step to making friends. And whenever I tried to talk to someone, it always came out wrong. Maybe the reason I used the memory stone was for me to start afresh. So when I go out, and talk to people, they'd finally see me for someone worth while," reaching into her shopping bag, Wallflower Blush held up a snow globe, shaking the fake snowflakes to dance around the little figures of two snowmen holding hands. "But I was wrong!" Wallflower sobbed. "I'm still just the same!" with that, Wallflower slammed her snow globe on the table with such force that Spike jumped up in shock and surprise.
Turning his attention back to the crestfallen girl, Spike could see Wallflower Blush burying her head in her arms on the table, hiding her sobbing.
Wanting to cheer the girl up, the young dragon-turned-dog dons up a Santa Claus hat, complete with a beard, and took out a long candy cane to dance with, as he sang:
Oh! You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town! YEAH!
Unfortunately, his little performance fell short with the girl, who was still castigating herself. Taking the hat and beard off, Spike looked over to the girl's snow globe, "Maybe this just need a spit, that's all," with that, the dog spits onto the reflective glass of the globe, before he wipes it clean, "Gonna shine it up for ya," once his work is done, Spike held up the snow globe to Wallflower's face and chuckled, "I can see you! Oh look, isn't she pretty?" but rather than feeling flattered, Wallflower Blush looked away in shame, and Spike's big grin turned into a frown as he looked at his own reflection and sighed.
"The truth is we're both on the same boat here," Spike said, catching the girl's attention. "I may be Twilight's number one assistant, but that doesn't mean I'm always with her 24/7. I'm either left behind, or forgotten, it doesn't matter, Twilight and her friends have left me out on a lot of things."
"You're just saying that." the girl sighed.
"No, I'm serious." the young dragon replied. "I'll spare you the sad details, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, we've all had our days where we're either left forgotten, or left out by our friends, whether they meant it or not. Even Big Mac felt left out when his little sis, Apple Bloom favors Applejack more than him, or Discord when Fluttershy first befriended Treehugger, and me...well, you get the idea." he thought, while recalling how he once lashed out at Owlowiscious, out of bitter jealousy.
* See Season 1 episode Owl's Well That Ends Well.
"Well, I guess it's just how we normally behave, right?" Spike asked sheepishly. "There's no way to avoid it. We're all going to get a little jealous once in awhile. Though, it's not worth lashing out like a jerk and try to ruin the lives of others. Is it?"
Wallflower shook her head in solemn agreement, "No it's not." she smiled sadly, drying her eyes a bit. "But I wish I had learned that beforehand."
"Well, nobody's perfect," Spike shook his head solemnly. "We all have to make mistakes to learn to become the creatures we are meant to be." putting his paws around Wallflower's cheek, Spike directed the girl's eyes to look at him as he continues, "I mean, like the phoenix, it bursts into flames, it rose from the ashes to begin anew. That's just like Sunset. One day, she rose and fall as a demon, but rose again the next day as a new girl. And you could be like a flower that blooms late. Y'know what they say, a late bloomer is going to be the most rarest and beautiful of all."
Wallflower could only shake her head and smile to herself in amusement, "Wow, you're quite the philosopher, y'know that?" she commented in amusement.
"Well, when you hang with someone wise like Twilight, Zecora, and some others, you pick up a few," Spike shrugged. "Just don't worry too much about the future, okay? You can do it." Spike said as he puts his paw beneath Wallflower's chin to lift her head up to look at him.
"You really think so?" Wallflower asked.
"I know so," with that, both Spike and Wallflower Blush shared a tender hug, "I pinkie promise," the young dragon said as he stroked the girl's shoulder.
'Wow, look at me,' Wallflower thought to herself. 'I get to hug a little dragon-dog. I kinda like it.'
"Merry Christmas, Spike," Wallflower smiled, tightening the hug.
"Merry Christmas, Wallflower," Spike returned the gesture.
