The Call Of The Forest

by The Sleepless Beholder

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer, Adventure, Wallflower Blush, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11222

Sunset invites Wallflower to Equestria so they may find a way to confess each other’s feelings, but their little vacation takes an unexpected turn when Wallflower feels something calling her to the Everfree Forest.

It has been weeks since the destruction of the Memory Stone, and over this time, Sunset has been developing feelings for Wallflower as she and her friends help her become visible to the rest of the school.

Wallflower has also developed feelings for the girl she once hated, now knowing who she truly was after the Fall Formal, and admiring her just like everyone else at school.

However, despite sharing the same feelings, the girls still aren’t able to finally confess their love, so one day, Sunset decides that maybe a trip to Equestria could give them the courage to finally express their feelings.
But her plans run into an unexpected detour, into the Everfree Forest.

Great thanks to Shimmeringsun for not only pre-reading this story, but also giving me suppport and ideas to make this tale what it is. Go check their stories, you won't regret it!

Published 2020-12-21 18:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-21 18:40:00 UTC

The Call Of The Forest

Sunset looked at the time on her cellphone, wondering what hour would be in Equestria before deciding that she couldn’t wait any longer and started writing on her diary.

“Hey Twilight, is it late over there? I wanted to talk about something.”

She waited impatiently, biting the tip of her pen as she looked expectantly at the page, until words started to appear.

“Hey Sunset, I was about to go to sleep but we can talk a bit. What’s going on?”

“Sorry for bothering you, but I need some advice. Do you remember Wallflower?”

“The girl that had the Memory Stone? Is she suffering from some magical residue? If you can bring her here, I could see how to extract it.”

“No, it’s not that, she’s fine. It’s just that I”

Sunset stopped for a moment, thinking about how to phrase her words properly before going for a simple;

“I like her.”

“Well, she didn’t sound like a bad human judging by what you told me about her. In fact, you always seem to Oh, that kind of like.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what kind of advice I can give you. Rarity would be the one with dating experience, but I’m not sure Equestrian romance would work with how humans conduct themselves.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on Flash?”

“Yeah, but that was more of him reminding me of someone here in Equestria. And I’m 100% sure my body was making me act in weird ways.”

“Yeah, the first days here were really strange.”

“What do you find attractive in Wallflower?”

Sunset blushed a bit as she wrote her response.

“Her wild hair. Her beautiful eyes. Her cute smile. The adorable way she acts. And her body is so soft I’ve problems letting go when I hug her, which makes it awkward and then she gets nervous and”

“Okay, I think I see the problem. You’re scared.”

“A bit, I guess?”

“Sunset, you’ve defeated sirens, forest witches, and an evil superpowered version of me. It’s okay for you to be scared.”

“Okay, I’m terrified. I want to tell her how I feel and that I want a relationship, but I get the sense that she’ll run away from me if I phrase it wrong or look like I’m pushing her into it.”

“Sunset, I don’t think anyone is that fragile. Do you know if she likes you?”

Sunset sighed before responding.

“I’m sure she does. And I suspect she also knows I like her.”

“Then what’s stopping you from just telling her?”

“Her shyness and my insecurity?”

“Okay, how about you do something to show her how much she means to you?”

“That’s the advice I’m looking for in you.”

“Well, as a single girl that only had one crush in her entire life, I can’t really offer much.”

Sunset was starting to get a bit frustrated but didn’t give up.

“Okay, but if you did have someone you wanted to impress romantically, how would you do it?”

Sunset saw words being written on the book, but they were immediately scratched into an illegible mess by a nervous magical aura.

“Look, even if I knew, they would all be in Equestria.”

Sunset let out a low growl and was about to close the diary when an idea popped into her head.

“What if I take her to Equestria?”

“I don’t know if that would work.”

“You haven’t seen a pony like her there, right?”

“Knowing Wallflower’s history, she could be my gardener or even Stars Swirl’s apprentice and nopony would know about her anyway.”

“I meant that we won’t have the problem of her meeting herself, so she can go without problems.”

“Sunset, you’re taking a shy and insecure girl into another dimension, wouldn’t it be too much for her to handle?”

“Come on, Equestria is the friendliest place in the multiverse.”

“Except for the monster attacks that come from the Everfree and the annual villain trying to take over the world.”

“Since when do you have so much sass?”

“Since we spent an entire diary talking about our lives.”

“Fair point, but nevertheless, it doesn’t need to be something dramatic or have you and Celestia welcoming her with a big celebration, just a small vacation where she can see the magic of Equestria.”

“The one that nearly erased all the memories of your friends and she probably regrets abusing just as much as my magical counterpart?”

“The good kind of magic. Like, imagine if the mirror turns her into a pegasus and she has wings. That’s like a dream come true for most of humans. Or maybe she becomes a unicorn and I can teach her about magic spells.”

“Okay, it seems like you sold yourself into the idea. I can arrange that nopony is in the castle so you two can be alone and play around with being a pony.”

“Thank you! I owe you one. But there’s still one problem.”

“What is it?”

“How do I tell her?”

Somehow, Sunset could feel Twilight hitting her head against the book from the other dimension.

Wallflower was sitting on Trixie’s sofa inside her trailer, hugging her legs. “Why am I such a coward?”

“You’re planning on dating one of the most attractive girls in school, who also happens to be the girl you tried to delete from history,” the magician said as she munched on some peanut butter crackers.

Wallflower glared at her. “You’re not helping.”

“What Trixie tried to say was; it makes sense you’re scared, but Sunset not only forgave you, she’s interested in you despite being able to have anyone else in school. Even Trixie would date her if she was interested, but she chose you.” Her words didn’t seem to give Wallflower much comfort, so she put her food aside and went to sit at her side. “Look, knowing Sunset, she’s probably as scared as you.”

Wallflower scoffed at that. “How could she be scared after everything she’s gone through?”

“Uh, because she cares about you and your feelings?” Trixie answered sarcastically.

Wallflower groaned and put her hands on her face. “Why did I come to you for help?”

“Because we’re friends,” Trixie said with a smile.

“All I did was get you out of the room I locked you in.”

“And Trixie appreciates it since apparently Sunset forgot about it.” The magician looked at her friend and moved her arms away from her face. “If memory doesn’t fail Trixie, you had some attitude when it came to reminding people of your existence, so you have some bite to use to ask her on a date.”

Wallflower rolled her eyes. “That was just because of frustration. I can’t frustratedly confess my love to her.”

“What about a love letter?” Trixie offered.

“I don’t want to tell her like that. I want to do it in person.”

“Then what stops you?”

“I get nervous and I avoid the subject. Even when she hugs me, and I feel that warmness she gives, I lose track of time and make it awkward and then we both can’t look at each other in the eyes.”

“You’ll need to tell her eventually. Just rip the band-aid off and be done with it. There’s no way she will say no.”

Wallflower sighed, slumping a bit more into the couch. “I guess, but I don’t want to just blurt it out. It has to be something romantic, something that makes it special.” Suddenly, Wallflower’s phone ringed with a new message. The girl picked it up to read it, and immediately froze. “Oh no.”

“What is it?” Trixie asked, reaching for her forgotten crackers.

“She’s inviting me to Equestria,” Wallflower responded, nervousness clear in her voice.

“Oh, she’s serious now. Prepare yourself for a confession,” Trixie said with a smile before taking a bite out of her favorite snack.

The mirror in Twilight’s castle started to shine, and two figures were quickly thrown out of it, landing on a mattress prepared to cushion their fall. The two now mares slowly came back to their senses and noticed they had somehow landed so Wallflower as on top of Sunset, their snouts almost touching.
They stayed still for almost a full minute before moving away from each other, their faces red with embarrassment.

“She’s softer as a pony!” Sunset exclaimed internally.

“She looks adorable!” Wallflower screamed internally.

After the initial panic faded, Wallflower started to realize she was in a different body than her own. “How do you hold things with hooves?” she asked looking at her new legs.

“I use telekinesis, wait!” Sunset turned around and moved Wallflower’s hair, hoping to see a horn, but there was just a green forehead.

“I see, I don’t have one of those,” Wallflower said pointing at Sunset’s horn as if it wasn’t a surprise.

“Yeah, but you may have—” Sunset looked at Wallflower’s side, but she didn’t find any wings.

Wallflower sighed with a bit of sadness. “No wings either. It’s better this way, I prefer to stay on the ground.”

“Well, it makes sense since that’s what you’re; An Earth Pony!” Sunset said enthusiastically.

“You just made that up,” Wallflower said unenthusiastically. “Even in a land of magical horses I don’t have anything special.”

“No I’m not, it’s one of the three types of ponies you can find. Well, four if you count alicorns,” Sunset explained. “Earth ponies are deeply connected to the earth and are in charge of the crops and the flora of Equestria.”

“So, I’m a magical gardener?” Wallflower asked a bit confused. “It’s something, I guess.”

“Not necessarily, earth ponies can do a wide variety of jobs. Although I bet your cutie mark has something to do with gardening.”

“What’s a cutie mark?” Wallflower asked.

“It’s a symbol that represents your passion or what makes you special,” Sunset explained with a smile as she pointed to her flank, and Wallflower looked away embarrassed. The amber mare was confused at first, but then started to blush. “Oh, right, clothes are not an obligatory thing here. But our tails cover most of it.”
Sunset saw her friend tuck her tail between her legs as much as she could, impressive feat considering she had only a few minutes of experience in that body, but still seemed nervous. “So, what’s yours? Is it a plant, or a spade, maybe a flower?”

Wallflower looked back at her posterior. “It’s nothing,” she answered dejectedly.

“Come on, it can’t be a bad thing, it doesn’t even need to be litera–” Sunset froze when she saw her friend’s flank.

There was no cutie mark on it.

“I guess I’m just not special,” Wallflower said looking down at the floor. “I want to go home.”

She was suddenly shaken by Sunset. “Hey, don’t despair, as the Crusaders say, ‘it only means you’ve untapped potential.’”

“Who’re the crusaders?” Wallflower asked confused.

“Fillies that help other’s find their special talents. And that’s what we’re going to do now,” Sunset declared, hugging Wallflower to her side, an act that brought comfort to both.

Feeding off Sunset’s confidence, the green mare decided to give it a try. “Lead the way.”

The two mares walked out of the castle, standing now on the grass that surrounded the structure. Wallflower looked around them, hoping to not catch much attention, but luckily the townsfolk didn’t seem interested in what they were doing.

“Okay.” Sunset said with enthusiasm. “Cutie marks appear once you discover what you’re passionate about, so I say we start trying a few things. You know a lot about gardening so I’m sure it has something to do with it.”

“Or maybe it’s just invisible like me.” Wallflower thought, but immediately kicked herself for it. She wanted to stay positive for Sunset. “You said earth ponies are connected to the ground, how does that work exactly?”

“I’m not sure,” Sunset admitted. “Maybe we could ask this world’s Applejack. She has a farm and she’s an earth pony, so she surely knows about this.”

Wallflower wasn’t too convinced about the idea. She preferred to be alone with Sunset, and being around other ponies would just delay the eventual confession, being hers or Sunset’s. “We could try something else first, like…” She looked around to get some idea, but there weren’t many plants nearby since it was the middle of the town, just grass and dirt. “Wait, I wonder if…”

Wallflower placed her ear against the ground and moved her hooves in circles over it, trying to ‘connect’ with the earth, but she only managed to make Sunset chuckle. “I don’t think that will work, but Twilight mentioned that there’re some florists in town and a pony that grows carrots. We could ask where they get them and–”

“I can hear it!” Wallflower exclaimed suddenly.

Sunset looked at her with wide eyes. “Wait, really?”

Wallflower lifted her head, looking at her surroundings like a nervous cat. “Yeah, I can hear something. I can’t tell what it is, but–” she suddenly moved her head in a particular direction and started walking. “It’s coming from over there.”

“Hey, wait up!” Sunset exclaimed as Wallflower started galloping away, driven by the strange sensation she was hearing.

It didn’t take long for them to get out of the town, and when Sunset looked ahead, she used her magic to lift her friend off the ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Wallflower complained, trying to lower herself back to the ground.

“Wally, that’s the Everfree Forest.” Sunset pointed to the large, dark, ominous wild forest in front of them. Its old, sick-looking trees being the first warning of the dangers that resided in it. “It’s really dangerous and most ponies avoid entering it unless necessary.”

“But the sound is coming from it, I need to see what it is,” Wallflower complained. “You are a powerful sorceress, you can protect us in there, right?”

Sunset bit her lip, unsure about the idea. “I could, but still, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Wallflower felt a small warmness in her heart at her words and smiled. “I trust you Sunset. You’re very brave and capable of dealing with whatever lurks inside that forest.”

Sunset felt a similar warmness and lowered her friend back to the ground. “Are you sure you want to go in there just because of some feeling you just got?”

Wallflower nodded instantly. “I can’t tell what it is, but I can feel it’s important. Maybe that’s what will give me my cutie mark.”

Sunset looked at the forest, weighting her feelings, and finally looked at her friend with a smile. “Okay, but don’t blame me if you get scared.”

“I will hug you if it happens,” Wallflower said without thinking, making both of them blush a bit and smile.

“Let’s go then. To adventure!” Sunset declared, earning a chuckle from Wallflower before they marched towards the forest, unsure of what they would find inside.

The Loneliness Of The Forest

The two mares traveled up the old road that led to the Castle of the Two Sisters, enjoying a, for now at least, peaceful walk.

“So, what do you hear exactly? Is it a voice? The call of an animal?” Sunset asked curious.

“I’m not sure,” Wallflower responded looking down in thought. “Have you ever felt a ringing in your ear?”

“You mean Tinnitus?”

“I guess, but instead of ringing, I hear like a sort of…” Wallflower seemed to struggle to find the right words. “Language?” she answered slowly and unsure. “I suppose it’s whatever language plants talk?”

“Well, I never heard about talking plants, but if there’s one, it would be in the Everfree,” Sunset said before noticing that her friend was starting to walk off the road. “Hey, we should keep to the path!”

“The sound comes from this direction,” Wallflower said, walking between the trees without much care.

“Why isn’t she afraid?” Sunset wondered as she followed her.

Wallflower looked at the forest around them with curiosity and a bit of wonder. She had never been in a magical forest before, and while it was sort of gloomy and scary looking, she didn’t feel like it was different from the forests in her world. She always felt comfortable when she was surrounded by nature. “What makes this place so dangerous?”

“Manticores, Timberwolves, Swamp Fever,” Sunset listed. “Carnivorous plants, electric bees, Cockatrice!”

“What’s that?” Wallflower asked right before her friend covered her eyes with her hoof.

“Don’t look directly at it,” Sunset warned, but Wallflower took a small peek out of curiosity.
There was a large rock a few meters in front of them in a tiny clearing of the forest, and on top of said rock was a creature that looked like the fusion between a chicken and some sort of dragon lizard, which was currently coiled in itself with its eyes closed.

“Is it dangerous?” Wallflower asked, using her long mane to obstruct her vision.

“If it looks at you in the eyes it will turn you to stone. We got lucky it’s sleeping on that rock.” Sunset tapped her friend until she found her shoulder and gave her a small nudge towards the left. “Let’s go around it.”

Wallflower nodded and they both started to walk blindly around the rock, taking small glances to the ground so they didn’t bump into anything. Sadly, their caution was wasted when an old bramble got caught on Sunset’s leg, snapping when it was pulled by the limb.
Sensing danger, the Cockatrice quickly stood up from its slumber and set its eyes on the two mares, letting out a screech that made them jump in place.

Wallflower turned her head towards the creature out of instinct, and accidentally made eye-contact with it.

Noticing this, Sunset didn’t waste even a fraction of a second and charged her horn, firing five beams of magic towards the Cockatrice like a shotgun blast. One of the magical missiles missed, another hit the creature in the chest, and the other three practically pulverized the rock it was standing on.

The Cockatrice, wounded and now knowing it had challenged a much stronger foe, fled towards the nearby the trees, quickly being lost in the forest.

Sunset looked at Wallflower and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of her friend not being made of stone. “I got really scared there,” she said before hugging her. “Please be more careful.”

Wallflower, who was still a bit shocked by the event, felt Sunset’s warm body around her, giving her comfort, and smiled before leaning into the hug. “I will. Sorry for scaring you.”

“It’s okay,” Sunset said before letting go with a small sigh. “But now you can see why the forest is dangerous.”

“Luckily I’ve a pretty guardian protecting me,” Wallflower said with a smile.

Sunset blushed and looked away. “A pretty guardian?”

Wallflower’s own face turned red. “Y-yeah, a pretty good guardian.” She looked away, trying to find a way to deviate the conversation when she noticed something. “Was that there before?”

Sunset looked to where Wallflower was pointing at and saw a large hole right below where the rock she destroyed once stood. “Looks like an entrance to some cavern.”

Curious, Wallflower walked up to it and looked down. “There’s a small path here.”

“Wanna go investigate?” Sunset offered. “Since it was sealed, I doubt there’s any dangerous animals down there.”

Wallflower thought about it for a moment, and her curiosity ended up winning. After all, she wouldn’t get many opportunities to explore a magical land. “Okay, just a quick look.”

With that, both mares descended into the cavern, looking around for anything worthy of attention until they arrived at a large chamber. The place was illuminated by a teal natural light coming from a large pool of pristine water that rested in the middle of the chamber.

“Wait, I know where we are!” Sunset exclaimed as they walked closer to the pond. “This must be the Mirror Pool.”

“Mirror Pool? Is it magical?” Wallflower asked a she looked at her reflection in the water.

“Yes. It’s like a sort of cloning machine. Pinkie found it following an old nursery rhyme.” Sunset scratched her chin trying to remember the words. “Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find, A pond beyond the most twisted of vines.” She racked her brain trying to remember the rest, but only managed to recall the last of the rhyme. “And into her own reflection she stared, Yearning for one whose reflection she shared,”

Suddenly, Wallflower felt her own set of memories rush into her mind. “So even alone, when no one cared, She could have a hug, and not be scared.”

Sunset looked at her friend with confusion. “That’s… not how it goes… maybe you heard the human version of the story?”

“I wrote that rhyme,” Wallflower turned to look at her friend. “For a school assignment.”

“Oh…” Sunset realized something about the rhyme that saddened her heart. “Did you really feel like that? Like there was no one who could give you love?”

“Y-yeah…” Wallflower answered, looking at her reflection once more. “I didn’t even have the garden back then. There was no safe place for me.” Her reflection looked like it was crying.

Sunset’s ears lowered, and she tried to find the words that could comfort her friend, but instead, she got another memory. “Your song… it was the same feeling.” She silently cursed herself. “I shouldn’t have interrupted it. I could’ve understood you better.”

Wallflower turned to look at Sunset and noticed the regret in her eyes. She quickly walked up to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m no longer alone. Thanks to you.” She said with a warm smile.

Sunset looked at her friend, feeling a small flutter in her heart. She admired how Wallflower had been able to keep herself afloat despite having so many depressing feelings. And she did it alone for so long.
Sunset knew from her time between the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands that it was a heavy weight to carry, and that she had only managed to pull through because of her friends. “I’m happy that you managed to recover from that.”

Wallflower chuckled a little. “Me too.” She took one last look at the pond, seeing the reflection of herself and Sunset together. No longer alone. “I don’t want another me anymore.”

Sunset smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.” Then let out a small chuckle. “I don’t think I can handle double the cuteness.” After saying that, she noticed her friend looking at her with surprise and a blush in her cheeks, and realized what she just admitted. “Anyways!” she said a little too loud. “We better go back to that weird thing you’re hearing.”

“Y-yeah,” Wallflower responded, smiling as she followed her friend’s quick pace out of the cave.

When the awkwardness finally filtered out of Sunset, the amber mare found herself thinking back to Wallflower’s song, trying to remember all of it. It was always weird to think about remembering when she was around Wallflower, even if it wasn’t the first time she reminisced about the past or wished to forget something.
Also, Wallflower had enough experience to read her mind when she was like this.

“Are you still thinking about the song?” the green mare asked.

Sunset sighed. “Yeah, and the rhyme.” She looked at her in the eyes. “Did you ever tried to reach out to someone?”

Wallflower’s gaze fell to the floor. “I did it once with my family. It didn’t help. Actually, it made it worse, and I didn’t have any friends I could trust. Everyone ignored me or forgot about me anyways, even before the stone. And the only one that barely remembered me…” Wallflower suddenly stopped, as if the memory was painful.

“Who was it?” Sunset asked, but her friend didn’t respond. Then the realization hit her. “Me… before the Fall Formal.”

Wallflower slowly, almost hesitantly, nodded. “Ninth grade English. Since you didn’t know how to write, I did your homework. At least until you learned. Then you just forgot about me like everyone else.”

Sunset noticed how uncomfortable Wallflower was acting as she told the story. “Did I hurt you?”

The seconds it took for Wallflower to finally respond were agonizing for Sunset. “Not physically.”

“I’m so sorry.” Sunset wanted to take Wallflower’s hands, but neither of them had those, so she settled for getting closer to her friend. “I–”

“No,” Wallflower cut her off. “I know what you’re going to say. I know how sorry you are about what you did before the Fall Formal. You don’t need to apologize. I did worse things to you just because I couldn’t see it before.”

Sunset could see anger behind Wallflower’s eyes. An anger she only saw when they had their final confrontation before the stone was destroyed. But this time, that anger seemed to be directed at herself. “Wally, what’s making you angry?”

Hearing her words, Wallflower froze, looked away, and finally, retreated. “Let’s keep going.”

Sunset saw her walk away with worried eyes. If there was someone or somepony that Wallflower could trust nowadays, it was Sunset. So, the fact that she was trying to avoid the subject when they were alone only made it seem more dire.

Sunset started to walk over to her, trying to decide if she should press the matter or not, when something moved right below her hooves.
In an instant, a large carnivorous plant hidden under the ground chomped on her, engulfing her in a cocoon of thick green vegetable material.

“Oh god, are you okay?!” Wallflower shouted, running up to the plant and pushing her hooves against its surface.

“Yeah, just a bit of a shock!” Sunset responded before charging up her horn. “Step back, I’m gonna start blasting!”

“No!” Wallflower screamed out of instinct.

There was a small pause before Sunset responded. “I know you love plants, but I won’t let this thing finish eating me!”

“Just…” Wallflower looked at the base of the plant like one would look at a ticking bomb. “Just give me a minute, I will get you out!”

“I know I said Earth Ponies can control the flora of Equestria, but the Everfree doesn’t like to play by the rules!”

“Just trust me, okay? I can do this!” Wallflower shouted, but in reality, she wasn’t sure what she could do exactly. She wasn’t even sure of why she was stopping Sunset from blowing up the plant in the first place. It was trying to eat her friend, although only just so it could feed itself, not because of malice.

“Okay but hurry up please! It stinks in here!” Sunset looked around her small prison, luckily not so small she had to be pressed against the walls. The mentioned smell was the biggest annoyance. It was pungent like concentrated honey, and she could taste it in her mouth every time she breathed.

Meanwhile, Wallflower was walking around the plant, looking at its roots for something she wasn’t really sure existed. She was being driven by this weird new magic she never had before, which told her there was a way to do it, but not exactly how.

Sunset wiped some sweat from her brow, the walls of the plant were causing a buildup of heat that felt like it was trying to cook her alive. “I hope Wally doesn’t take too long.” She suddenly felt a burning sensation on her hooves, and when she looked down, she noticed that a greenish yellow liquid was starting to pool at the base of the chamber.
Sunset tried to use her magic to lift herself above the acid, but the spell fizzled out as soon as she casted it.
“What?” she looked at her horn as she tried to teleport out of the plant, but her magic failed again. “The Everfree doesn’t like to play by the rules!” she remembered, her pupils shrinking in horror. “Oh no.”

“Are you okay?” Wallflower asked, and Sunset did her best to remain calm.

“Yeah, just really uncomfortable, so please hurry up a bit!” She didn’t want to put too much pressure on her, but she was really hoping whatever plan she had would work.

Wallflower was finishing her twentieth round and had a basic map of the plant’s anatomy in her head thanks to whatever magic Equestria had decided to gift her.

Sunset was trotting in place to keep her legs out of the acid as much as possible, but it was already close to reaching her knees, and she was getting desperate. This desperation pushed her into trying to bust her way out, so she placed her forehooves firmly on the bottom of the chamber and gave a strong buck against the walls.
Opposite to what she was hoping for, the plant closed itself even more, crushing her while making the acid rise, now almost reaching her cutie marks.

“What happened?!” Wallflower shouted in panic.

“Please hurry!” Sunset answered with whatever air was left in her lungs.

Wallflower looked at the base of the plant one more time, eyes determined, and finally found what she was looking for. She dug her hoof under the dirt and pressed firmly against a particularly thin and soft root, forming a blockage.

Sunset felt the acid stop rising, and the walls started to shake until they pressed against her with more strength. But instead of crushing her like a bug, they sent her upwards as the plant spitted her out.
She screeamed as she cartwheeled through the air with zero grace before landing on her back.

“At least I landed on something soft.” She thought sitting up, rubbing her head before hearing a low groan below her. “Oh, shit sorry!” she exclaimed before rolling away from Wallflower.

The green mare stood up slowly, feeling a crack coming from her back. “It’s okay, I caught you.” she looked at Sunset with a smile. “I guess we’re even now.”

“We definitely are,” Sunset said as she looked at the plant going back into ‘stealth mode’. “I’m pretty sure Wally walked over it too. Why didn’t it trigger?”

“We should be more careful of where we walk. Hopefully we will find whatever is making that noise soon,” Wallflower said as she helped Sunset stand up.

“Yeah… lead the way,” she said, still wondering about what had happened.

The Joke Of The Forest

The two mares had traveled a long distance inside the Everfree, always in a straight line. Sunset was sure they were about to reach some depth of the forest nopony had explored before. It gave her some sense of adventure, but also worry since the dangers surely would only grow as they advanced.
Wallflower, for her part, remained determined, and even with the two close calls, she still found the forest to be sort of relaxing when there wasn’t something trying to kill them.
She also felt like she was learning more about the forest as she walked through it. “I think I’m starting to get what you meant with connecting with the earth.”

“Really?” Sunset asked, having been doing some mental gymnastics to understand her friend’s connection with the forest. “What do you feel?”

Wallflower thought about the answer for a second. “It’s like the garden back at school but stepped up a few levels.”

“How so?” Sunset asked curious.

“Once you develop a green thumb, you start to notice what the plants you’ve cared for need. A bit more sunlight, a few more drops of water, a change of dirt or a bigger pot. It just takes a look and you know what they want from you.” Wallflower took a moment to put her hoof against a tree, and slowly did the same with her forehead. “It feels sick. The whole forest seems to be struggling to bloom properly.” She thought before moving forwards. “Here, I can tell what they need by just being in their presence. And I can feel that–” She suddenly stopped, looking ahead. “There’s something bad over there.”

Wallflower galloped forward, followed closely by Sunset, until they reached a very small clearing full of blue flowers. Just by looking at them she knew they were dangerous. Filled with malice. “What are these?”

“Poison Joke,” Sunset explained. “Don’t touch them. Even the smallest contact will leave you with a curse.”

“What kind of curse?” Wallflower asked, frowning at the flowers.

“Well, actually it’s just pranks. They like to cause some ironic physical effect. Twilight told me that it made her horn floppy and useless, made Rainbow unable to fly without crashing into things, Pinkie couldn’t talk, and Applejack was–”

“That sounds horrible!” Wallflower exclaimed horrified. “No one should go through that. This plant shouldn’t exist!”

The fact that it was Wallflower saying it shocked Sunset. “It’s not really that bad. It’s just a prank, like the ones Rainbow and Pinkie do from time to time.”

“It isn’t the same,” Wallflower disagreed. “There’s a very big difference between a prank between friends and one with someone who doesn’t know you and means you harm!”

Sunset was curious at how she phrased that, and it worried her just how personal Wallflower was taking this. “What do you mean?”

“You and I know each other; we can joke around because we know what kind of prank or words would hurt us. I would never joke about what happened to you at the Fall Formal and you would never–” Wallflower stopped her rant suddenly, like she overstepped some line.

“I would never do what?” Sunset asked, but Wallflower didn’t respond, she couldn’t even look at her. “Wally, please tell me. What did I do to you?” She walked closer to her friend.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Wallflower said stubbornly. “You’re no longer that person, we can just forget and continue our lives without those memories.”

Sunset placed a hoof on Wallflower’s shoulder, wanting to comfort her, but also wanting to know just what had happened between them. And due to that desire, her power activated involuntarily.

Sunset’s eyes turned white, and she was transported to her friend’s mind.

Sunset was standing in front of Wallflower with her arms crossed. Their last class had ended, but she cornered the girl so she could have a private talk with her.

“Care to explain this?” Sunset asked angrily, showing an English test with a score that barely passed.

“I did my best,” Wallflower answered, looking at the floor to avoid the girls stern gaze.

“Well, you need to do more than your best. This score is shameful compared to all my other classes. I can’t lose credit by flunking an exam when I excel in any other test.”

“I will try,” Wallflower answered as she flinched a little. “I’m just tired. Doing double the homework along with everything else is too much.”

Sunset growled angrily, but not only because of Wallflower’s failure as a lackey. The girl barely reacted to her threats, and still talked back to her. She was a doormat just like Fluttershy, but a resilient one. No matter how many insults Sunset threw at her, Wallflower just took them and stood still, barely flinching at her presence instead of cowering.
If this continued, she may develop enough confidence to argue against her, and having a student that could prove Sunset didn’t know English was a hurdle she didn’t want to deal with.

She needed to break her.

Sunset took a good look at Wallflower, searching for anything she could use to crack the girl’s spirit and put her firmly under her boot. She eventually settled her attention on the girl’s sweater. She always wore it, never exposing her arms.
Sunset grinned. She had researched about bullying and its consequences, and she had read interesting things about people who wore that kind of clothing despite the weather.

“You know? Since you seem to have so much trouble with stress.” Sunset searched her pockets with her hand until she felt a sharp edge. “Let me show you a way to deal with it.” She motioned for Wallflower to give her hand, and the girl complied with confusion and nervousness. “I’m sure you know how to use this.” Sunset placed a razor blade in the middle of Wallflower’s hand. It was something she had used to scrap bubblegum from the classroom seats to score good girl points with the principals.

Sunset grinned at the immediate response.

Wallflower looked at the blade with horror in her eyes, her mouth agape and hand trembling. “Make sure that the next test gets the highest score,” she whispered, but the green girl didn’t respond, she was stuck looking at the edge of the blade.

Sunset walked out of the room, enjoying her victory.

Sunset pulled back from the memory, her legs trembling. “Tell me you didn’t do it.” She placed both hooves on Wallflower’s shoulders. “Please for the love of Celestia tell me I didn’t make you do that!” she begged with tears rolling down her face.

“I didn’t!” Wallflower exclaimed as she pushed Sunset away. “I never did. Every time I was about to, I got scared and stopped. I threw the razor after you defeated the sirens.”

“Oh, thank Celestia.” Sunset sighed, but her heart was hammering her sternum, and she felt sick about herself.

“Why did you do that?!” Wallflower shouted, taking her by surprise.

“I– it was an accident. I wanted to know and it–”

“You didn’t need to know!” Wallflower was angry and had tears in the corner of her eyes.

“Wally, I’m so–”

“Stop!” Wallflower shook her head. “Stop apologizing! I know you regret it! I know you wouldn’t do it again! I just–” Wallflower clenched her teeth, turned around and ran away.

“Wally wait!” Sunset shouted, running after her, deeper into the forest.

Nearby, a pack of Timberwolves woke up from their slumber, sniffed the air, and ran in their direction.

The Anger Of The Forest

“Wallflower, stop!” Sunset shouted as the two mares arrived at a small hill full of green grass. It was a noticeable contrast to the rest of the forest, like the eye of a storm.

Wallflower’s trot gradually slowed into a brisk walk until she finally stopped. She wiped her tears away as Sunset finally caught up to her. “Can we please just forget about it?”

“Wally, this is clearly upsetting you. You know we can talk about it, even if it involves me. Specially if it involves me.” Sunset wanted to hug her friend, but Wallflower seemed cautious of her touch, probably wary of getting her mind read again.

“I don’t want to. It’s in the past already, we can just move on with our lives.”

“You clearly can’t Wally,” Sunset walked around her friend to try and look at her in the eyes. “You don’t want me to apologize for what I did to you, and you insist that what you did with the Memory Stone was way worse. But that’s not true. We can’t compare what we did to each other, and we can’t just ignore it forever. We need to process it properly before we can move on from them, otherwise it will only eat you up inside.”

“Then I will process it on my own,” Wallflower said, still avoiding her gaze.

“Wally we need to do it together,” Sunset insisted.

“You’re not at fault!” Wallflower shouted.

“I told you to cut yourself!” Sunset shouted back.

“But I didn’t, and you changed, but I didn’t realize it and actually hurt you horribly.” Tears started flowing down Wallflower’s cheeks, the walls finally breaking down. “I just saw you sing a song with the princess and her friends and suddenly you were the best girl in the world. I thought it was a trick, I didn’t realize how much it made you suffer until I went too far and tried to ruin your life!”

Sunset was taken aback for a moment at the confession, but she pressed on to comfort her. “But I–”

“I was an idiot!” Wallflower interrupted her. “Everyone tells me I am. That I shouldn’t have done it. That I should’ve remained invisible or killed myself or get beaten up for what I did.” Wallflower was breathing heavily, her mane getting frazzled and the tears didn’t stop coming. “That I don’t deserve you. That you should be with Twilight.” Wallflower finally looked at Sunset as she sobbed. “And they’re right.”

Sunset was horrified. “Wait, how do they know what happened? Their memories–”

“Flash Sentry saw everything in the parking lot. He spread the word. Everyone in school knows about it.”

“The why hasn’t anyone brought it up to me?” Sunset questioned in disbelief.

“Because they don’t want to bother you. You’re the favorite. The popular magical girl everyone adores and–” Wallflower clutched her head, the cognitive dissonance of her anger tearing her apart.

“Wally calm down. They’re not right!” Sunset exclaimed trying to hug her friend, but she saw something in the corner of her eye, hidding in the grass. “Get down!” She tackled Wallflower right before a Timberwolf tried to bite her head off.
They had been surrounded by a pack of six wooden wolves that walked in circles around them.

“Stay back!” Sunset shouted before blasting one of the wolves into pieces, but its magic quickly put it back together. “Go to the trees, I will teleport to you!” she ordered Wallflower, and the frightened mare nodded before running.

Sunset prepared herself for a fight, but the Timberwolves ran after Wallflower, ignoring her completely. “What?” She quickly surrounded her friend in her magical aura and lifted her up, away from the bites of the wolves. However, the wooden animals kept their focus on Wallflower, and tried to jump high enough to reach her.

“Why aren’t they coming for me?” Sunset wondered while looking at her friend suspended in the air. She couldn’t hold her up forever, and she also couldn’t fire blasts of magic while maintaining the levitation. “What’s attracting them to her?” She noticed the relentlessness the Timberwolves showed, even starting to jump on top of each other to try and reach Wallflower, who had curled up into a ball as she cried. “Could it be… her anger?”

“Wally! Listen to me!” Sunset shouted as loud as she could, getting the attention of her friend. “What you said is true! I just sang a song and thought that everything was fixed. That all my sins were forgotten. I didn’t try to see if there was someone who’s wounds didn’t heal. That was my mistake. I should’ve seen your suffering just like you should’ve seen my regret. We both failed at that, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t forgive each other. Because I did and will keep doing it.” Sunset started to feel the strain of her magic. “And fuck what everyone thinks of you! They don’t get to tell you what you deserve or who you are. Only your friends get that right.” Sunset looked at Wallflower’s eyes, noticing the lack of tears. “And if you ask me, you’re a sweet girl that deserves happiness. And maybe, we can b–”

Sunset’s words were cut off as the Timberwolves lost interest in Wallflower and started approaching her instead. She lowered her friend as delicately as she could and started blasting the wolves apart, but they were far too many for her to control and was forced to teleport away before getting bitten.

The Timberwolves followed her as fast as they could, ready to pounce, when suddenly Wallflower stood between her and the wooden animals. “Fuck off!” she shouted as loud and with as much fury as she could, staring them down fiercely.

The Timberwolves growled in their cracking wooden voice, and to the surprise of both mares, slowly lost interest in them and walked away, back to the forest.

Wallflower let out a long sigh and sat down on the grass. “I can’t believe that worked.”

“What were you trying to do exactly?” Sunset asked, feeling exhausted.

“I guessed that since they were magical trees, I could use that nature skill to ward them off.”

Sunset chuckled. “And they say it’s a dump stat.”

Wallflower looked at her confused. “What do you mean?”

Sunset just smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “I need to invite you to one of our games.”

“Okay…” Wallflower said, still unsure. “And… thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that.”

Sunset leaned on her friend’s shoulder. “That’s why you don’t have to keep these things to yourself. We can talk about anything, even if it involves bad things about each other. We will solve them together. Okay?”

Wallflower nodded before leaning into Sunset. “Okay. Thank you. For everything.”

They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the comfort of the other, until Sunset finally stood up. “Let’s go back to the castle.”

Wallflower blinked twice. “W-what? Why? We haven’t found what’s making that sound yet!”

Sunset gave her friend an apologetic look. “Wally, you almost got turned to stone, I almost got eaten by a plant, and right now we could’ve been torn apart by Timberwolves. We’ve taken enough risks.”

“And we're going to abandon all our efforts to get here?”

“We can come back later, with Twilight or Zecora or a platoon of guards to back us up.”

“But…” Wallflower looked at the direction the sound was coming from. “What if when I leave, I don’t hear it again? What if I lose my chance to get a cutie mark?”

“Wally,” Sunset said with a bit of tiredness. “That’s not how it works.”

“How does it work then? How did you get yours?” Wallflower asked, pointing at the red and gold sun on her friend’s flanks.

“I got it when…” Sunset started, but when she tried to recall the event, her mind went blank. “It was…” she racked her brain trying to find the memory, but nothing came up.

“Are you okay?” Wallflower asked worried. “Does it mean something bad?”

“It means…” Once again, Sunset couldn’t come up with an answer. “I can’t remember.” She sat down, looking shocked. She tried to remember her cute-ceañera, but nothing came up. She tried to remember her parent’s faces, but only got blurred images. “I’ve been a human for so long. How much did I lose when I left Equestria?” Sunset started to sob, realizing how much of herself she had forgotten due to her mistake.

Suddenly, soft limbs surrounded her in a hug. "Well, if I had to guess what your cutie mark means. It could mean the warmness in your heart for those you care about. The angry fire you have in your eyes when you defend your friends. The sunlight you shine on those who feel sad and in darkness. Or that empathy that you share with everyone.” Sunset could’ve been imagining it, but Wallflower’s voice sounded far softer, kinder, almost angelic in a way. “I think you've a lot of things that make you special." She looked up at her, seeing her coffee eyes and warm, caring smile.
Sunset didn’t feel sad anymore. She couldn’t feel sad. Not while Wallflower was close to her.

She hugged her back, smiling as she burrowed into her embrace. “Thank you, Wally.”

“You said it first; We can talk about anything and solve it together,” Wallflower said as she closed her eyes, enjoying the moment. “We can go visit Celestia and ask her about it. I’m sure she has the answers.”

Sunset smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” She let out a sigh, thankful to have her at her side. “But first we should go see what called you here.”

“Really?” Wallflower asked surprised.

“I think you’re right, it is important, and we’ve already made it this far.”

Wallflower smiled and hugged her tighter. “Thank you.”

“Can we stay like this a bit longer before going?”

Wallflower chuckled. “Of course.”

Eventually, they had to break apart, but there was no embarrassment like in previous times. Just happiness.

The Heart Of The Forest

“We’re close,” Wallflower said as she and Sunset reached a particularly dense part of the forest which obstructed their vision of what was ahead.

“Ready to face whatever called you here?” Sunset asked half-jokingly.

“A bit nervous to be honest,” Wallflower admitted. “But we’ve come this far.”

Sunset nodded. “No turning back.”

When they finally moved past the dense tree line, they found something that took them by surprise.
The ground was covered in thick roots coming from a huge crooked old tree with no leaves left, covered in moss and vines, probably as tall as Twilight’s castle.

“This must be the first tree of the Everfree. It’s probably millennia’s old!” Sunset exclaimed, excited at the discovery of such an ancient landmark. Twilight would probably have a freak out at the discovery.

Wallflower however, looked at the tree with sad eyes.
If the trees she had seen before where sick, this was patient zero. She could feel that it was withing an inch of its life, suffering in silence with no one to care for it.
“Is this why you called me? You wanted someone to help you?” Wallflower thought, walking up to it so she could try and maybe talk with it. Understand whatever language she heard coming from it.

Suddenly, she stopped, looking at the lowest branch in the tree, one that was bent until it pointed at the ground. “Can you lift me up to that branch?”

Sunset snapped out of her excitement, noticing her friend’s distress, and nodded before levitating her up to the tree.

Wallflower looked at the moss and vine covered branch, and started to peel it away with her hooves, which proved to be very difficult without fingers. “Fuck it,” she mumbled before using her teeth, being careful to not let anything touch her tongue.

“If you wanted to clean it, I could’ve used my magic!” Sunset shouted, earning a groan from her friend, but Wallflower continued until she finally could see the naked branch.
Sunset noticed that her friend had stopped moving, staring at something, so she moved her a bit to get a look, and her eyes widened. “Is that…?”

Seemingly fused to the wood of the branch was the face of a mare. Its eyes were closed in a pained rigor mortis, and besides some patches of green mane, she had very familiar freckles.

“My Equestrian counterpart,” Wallflower answered as her mind started putting the pieces together.
What called to her wasn’t some plant language, it wasn’t even words, they were feelings.
Loneliness, humiliation, anger, regret, desperation, hopelessness, anguish, sadness. It was all coming from her.

“How did she get here? Why is she here? What happened?” Sunset asked dumbfounded as she lowered her friend back to the ground.

“She lost,” Wallflower answered, looking at her counterpart with a pained heart.

“What do you mean she lost?” Sunset asked.

Wallflower slowly turned around to see her. “Sunset, have you ever wondered… what would’ve happened if I didn’t hate you before?”

Sunset looked at her in the eyes, trying to find words to say, but couldn’t come up with an answer.

Wallflower answered for her. “I didn’t start using the Memory Stone because of you. I was using it long before I went overboard to get back at you. It’s a thing I will always regret, but... If I hadn’t done it. If I hadn’t called your attention in the worst possible way. I would’ve kept using it, not on others, but myself, without anyone realizing. I would’ve forgotten more and more about me, erasing everything until…” She looked at her counterpart in the tree. Forgotten and alone. “This… If you never turned into a demon, or told me such horrible things as a bully… I would’ve disappeared without anyone to remember me by.”

“Wally,” Sunset said as she got closer to her, her heart pained. “It didn’t need to happen like that. I shouldn’t have–”

Wallflower turned to look at her in the eyes. “I know. There’re probably hundreds of ways things could’ve played out, but this is the one way we got, and even if it made us do horrible things to each other, at the end it allowed us to be here together.” She wanted to grab Sunset’s hands, but they didn’t have that option, so she pressed her forehead against Sunset’s. “After everything we went through today, I think I can start looking forward without being haunted by the past. Without feeling angry, alone, or ashamed. With you at my side.” She looked at Sunset, at her trembling smile and cheeks wet with tears. “Sunset… I… I lo–” Wallflower yelped as she was forcefully lifted in the air by a group of branches coming from the tree, pulling her towards her trapped counterpart.

Sunset charged her horn menacingly. “Let her go!” she threatened, but her shaking legs betrayed her intentions. “Please.”

Wallflower stayed perfectly still, looking at the closed eyes of her counterpart as it got right in front of her face. She then noticed something; A golden sap-like substance coming from the wooden eyes like if it was a tear.
Said tear traveled down the snout of her counterpart, until it finally fell, landing on her forehead. Wallflower felt the liquid seep into her skin, and a feeling of warmness expanded from it all along her body.

The branches lowered her back to the ground as they withered and died, and as soon as she got her hooves against the earth and roots, she felt a rush of magic reinvigorate her body.
She could now sense the entire Everfree Forest. She could feel every sick tree and plant, every need and ailment they suffered, and her mind already had a list of how to treat each of them so they could bloom healthy.

“Cutie Mark!” Sunset shouted.

Wallflower turned around to see her flank, and saw a potted flower bent down and losing petals. “A Forget-me-not.”

“A dying Forget-me-not,” Sunset whispered with disappointment.

“But not dead,” Wallflower corrected. “It only needs caring. A few drops of water, a change of dirt…” She looked at Sunset with a smile. “And maybe a shining Sunset.”

Sunset smiled warmly before chuckling. “That was so sappy.”

“Isn’t sappy also a plant pun?” Wallflower asked before sticking out her tongue.

They both laughed for a while, and then Sunset looked up at the tree. “Is it too late for her?”

Wallflower looked at her trapped counterpart. She couldn’t hear anything anymore, but the tree still had some life left in it. “I don’t know. But at least someone will remember her now.”

“Let’s go tell Twilight, I’m sure she and the other princesses can find a way to help her,” Sunset offered, reigniting that sense of adventure and wonder that started their travel.

Wallflower smiled, happy to have her at her side. “Yeah, let’s go.” She took one more look at the tree, and made a promise. “You won’t be forgotten!”

The Flower Of The Forest

As both mares walked through the forest, Sunset couldn’t contain her excitement.

“I can’t believe that in just a few hours of your first visit you helped solve one of Equestria’s greatest mysteries!” she exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes. “The Everfree has always been a mysterious and wild phenomenon, and no one knew why.”

“I’m just happy someone will know of my counterpart’s existence,” Wallflower said a bit sad.

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Sunset put a hoof over her friend’s shoulder. “We will get somepony to help her. We may even pull her out of that tree so you two can finally meet each other and hug and talk about nature for hours.”

Wallflower smirked. “I hope you don’t get jealous.”

Sunset laughed. “Oh, I totally will. Unless…” Wallflower raised a curious eyebrow. “I get you to join my gaming streams. That would get me a few hours with you at my side.”

Wallflower smiled. “That would be fun. Could we stream a Nuzlocke?”

Sunset smiled. “Interesting. Have you done one before?”

Wallflower nodded. “Once in Platinum.”

“Did you use a Turtwig?”

Wallflower rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

They shared a laugh for a little while, but then Sunset’s expression turned a bit sad. “Hey, what you said before. About moving on from the past.”

Wallflower looked at her worried. “Does it still haunt you?”

Sunset sighed. “It thought it didn’t, but after seeing what I said to you. It made me wonder just how much I hurt the students at the time. If I went that far with you, how do I know I didn’t do it to someone else?”

“Sunset, everyone but me forgave you after the Battle of The Bands. It would’ve come up.”

“Would it though? If everyone kept their knowledge of the incident with the Memory Stone a secret from me and the girls, how do I know someone isn’t hiding what I did just because now I’m the magical girl that saved the school? Or what if someone left CHS because of me?”

Wallflower stopped to look at her friend. “Sunset, regardless of what you did in the past, you’re a different person now. And I can assure you, if you did something equal or worse than what you did to me, they would’ve said something.”

Sunset let out a long sigh. “I still can’t believe I went that far.” She turned to look at her friend. “Can you really forgive me?”

Wallflower smiled. “Of course, I can. It may have been horrible at the time, but at the end, it led us to what we are now.”

Sunset felt the weight on her shoulders being lifted. “You really need to hear it to feel better.”

Wallflower chuckled. “It seems so.”

Sunset gave her friend a curious but also slightly cocky look. “By the way, what did you mean by ‘What we are now’?” Wallflower froze. “What are we now?” Wallflower stammered incomprehensible, looking away as a blush appeared on her cheeks.

Sunset chuckled, took a step forward, and kissed her on the lips.

Wallflower was surprised, but then felt something as magical as her previous experiences in Equestria take over her body. She leaned into it, feeling Sunset’s warm lips, and closed her eyes to heighten that feeling she had wanted for so long but wasn’t sure she deserved. And she knew that now she wouldn’t be able to live without it.

Eventually, Sunset pulled away, looking at Wallflower with a calm, warm smile. “Today has been the most exciting day of my life in many ways, but this moment is what I will treasure the most.”

Tears of happiness were forming at the edges of Wallflower’s eyes, and her smile was beaming. Literally. All of Wallflower's body was starting to shine with a magical golden aura.

“Uhm, Wally?” Sunset asked worried, taking a step back.

Wallflower looked at her body with a bit of panic as the light coming from it intensified. “Is this normal in Equestria?”

Sunset could only think of one case. “Wally, I love you, but if you turn into an alicorn I’m going to be a bit mad.” Suddenly, a magical shockwave was expelled from Wallflower’s body, taking all the light with it.

The green mare looked at herself, but she hadn’t grown a horn nor wings. “That was weird.”

Suddenly, they both started to hear the crackling of wood around them and noticed that the forest was changing.
The sickly trees lost all their leaves, but they were quickly replaced with a newer, healthier foliage, and even their rotten bark fell off as they grew into a better posture, letting the rays of sunlight shine between them.
Vibrant green grass started covering the ground, and even sprouted a few colorful flowers.
Even the haunting silence of the forest was replaced with the chirping of birds that no longer had to hide in the shadows.

Sunset and Wallflower looked in awe as the forest changed, but it wasn’t the only thing.
The green mare’s flank glowed with the same golden aura, and her potted Forget-me-not was replaced with a beautiful sunflower.

Sunset couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s like you said.” She turned to look at her confused friend. “A shining Sunset is what it needed.”

Wallflower laughed happily. “It really sounds sappy.”

Both mares stared at each other with bright smiles, slowly getting closer, until they shared their second kiss. Wallflower pulled away this time, but only so she could say the words she wanted, no, needed to say. “I love you.”

Sunset smiled and caressed her girlfriend’s cheek. “I love you too, my sappy Wallflower.”

Wallflower chuckled. “My shinning Sunset.”

The third kiss was shared then, and many more where given on the way back to Twilight’s castle, and the forest continued to change around them, being cured by their love.

After giving the news to Twilight about Wallflower’s counterpart, the new couple came back to the human world, feeling the initial dizziness of changing forms.

“Do you ever get used to this?” Wallflower asked as she remembered how to walk on two legs.

“Nope,” Sunset answered with a chuckle. “Sometimes I wake up thinking I’m still a pony.”

Wallflower looked at her hands. “I missed having fingers,”

Sunset took a deep breath and looked at the sun over the horizon. They still had a few hours of daylight to spend together. “Hey, Do you want to–” Soft hands grabbed Sunset’s cheeks with delicate care, and even softer lips pressed against her own.
Sunset quickly realized that human kisses were completely different from Equestrian as she instinctually placed her hands over Wallflower’s hips, letting herself melt into the moment. She then felt something soft and wet press gently against her lips, requesting entrance which she immediately granted.
Wallflower moved her arms until she was hugging Sunset by the shoulders, pulling her closer as their tongues danced together to the beat of their love.

After what they thought were some eternal and blissful seconds, Wallflower pulled away, smiling at the blush Sunset had.
The redhead was breathing heavily, trying to calm her drumming heart, and staring at her beautiful girlfriend with dreamy eyes. “Wow… that was… wow...” Wallflower chuckled, something that to Sunset looked even more adorable than usual for some reason. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Wallflower blushed as her usual nervous demeanor returned, looking away with a bright smile on her lips. “I just wanted to see if that magical thing worked here.”

Sunset pulled her into a side-hug. “That was definitely magical. I wish I got reformed this way rather than the friendship laser.”

Wallflower gave a short laugh. “The shy invisible girl conquering the fiery she-demon with a kiss of true love. Isn’t that an epic romantic fairy tale?”

“I would’ve totally fallen for you.” Sunset gave her quick peck on the cheek. “Before you interrupted me in the most wonderful and totally-welcomed-to-happen-again way, I was going to ask you if you wanted to do something with what’s left of the day.”

Wallflower looked at the sunset in the horizon, and then to the Sunset at her side. “As long as it’s with you, I’m willing to try anything.”

Sunset smiled. “Let’s start with some dinner then.”

“Your place?” Wallflower asked as she grabbed Sunset’s hand.

“Of course.”

They both walked away, leaning into each other's shoulder, not noticing the flowers growing rapidly on the grass around the statue.

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this story. It's a project that weirdly started with this story by TCC56 (go watch his work), which gave me the start of this idea that transformed into one of my most passionate works, and my second try at a romance story.

I really love writing these two together, and I hope to keep writing interesting tales around them in the future.

Have a nice existence.

I will be watching you.

Epilogue: The Friends Of The Forest

After hearing about what Sunset and Wallflower found in the heart of the Everfree Forest, Twilight and her friends made several trips to study the large tree and give company to Wallflower’s counterpart, which Pinkie Pie named Treeflower.
However, when the discovery was made public, it wasn’t only them who made visits. Ponies from Ponyville and other nearby towns started to enter the forest so they could see Treeflower, leaving her gifts and keeping her company. Soon, large groups of creatures from all over Equestria started to pilgrimage to the forest so they could pay respects to the mare in the tree.
Zecora started a small business being a guide for the visitors, and soon noticed that the Timberwolves disappeared from the forest, and the Poison Joke had stopped growing as the sick trees and soil healed, even when Pinkie Pie went to check on the Mirror Pool, she only found a dry hole on the ground.
TreeHugger used one of the clearings in the forest to start an herbalist shop, and Fluttershy, with the support and founding of Celestia, started a campaign to tame or otherwise relocate the dangerous creatures that remained in the forest.

In just a few months, the Everfree changed from a creepy, cursed forest, to a beautiful landmark that Princess Luna declared it to be a national treasure.

But everything changed when King Sombra returned. It had destroyed the Tree of Harmony and trapped the main six in a cell of dark crystal, gloating about his future victory.

“With you out of the way, I will rule all of Equestria!” the king claimed as he looked at the six mares from outside the crystal cell he had made.

“No!” Twilight shouted, desperate to find a way to escape their prison.

“Oh, yes. And I think I know exactly where I'll sta–” Sombra was suddenly yanked away, letting out an annoyed grunt.

Twilight and her friends moved to try and see who had come to their rescue, but they could only hear wood creaking and muffled protests until everything went silent.

“Hello?” Twilight asked, trying to see what had happened with Sombra.

A figure slowly raised her head enough to be seen, and the alicorn’s jaw dropped.

In front of them was a mare made of wood, her body covered in light green moss like if were her coat, and her green mane had small leaves growing all over it.
The mare smiled at them, her eyes always closed, and lifted one of her forelegs. From near the tip of her hoof, three thin branches started to grow rapidly, forming letters that gave the message:

“Hello New Friends!”

Author's Note

Should I make a sequel about Treeflower's reintegration to society?