A Mind of Ashes, A Heart Ablaze
The demon soared through the stormwracked skies like a cardinal that remembered its ancestors were dinosaurs. Her tattered wings carried her over blackened stone and glowing lava, her tattered dress flapped like an ancient war banner, and her tattered mind searched for the reason why she stayed aloft. She knew there was something in this blasted world she coveted, some reason for not diving into the molten rock and letting it all end.
It definitely wasn't the company. The only other things she had found were hulking brutes more hideous than she, clouds of biting flies whose mouthparts could puncture even her hide, and the rumbling clouds themselves. She had bested everything that stood in her aimless path, but she still felt unfulfilled.
Her nose quivered, and the demon paused in her aimless flight. She’d picked up a hint of… something. Something that wasn’t ozone or sulfur or blood. One of the few things she knew was that she knew very little. Another was that she didn’t like that. And so she dove down towards a volcano-lined horizon, following the lighter, brighter, somehow familiar scent.
She pushed her way through the foliage. It was no wonder she hadn’t known about this place. It seemed deliberately designed to keep anyone from noticing it unless they knew where to look. Even the Gardening Club's usual meeting spot seemed easy to spot by comparison. But she’d been shown the path, and just a little further…
She ducked under one last low-hanging branch and into a cultivated clearing, sunlight shining down on thriving shrubs and blooming flowers of every color imaginable. And in the center, pruning a rhododendron bush, was another beautiful wonder who had been so easily overlooked.
“Wallflower!”
And Wallflower jolted up, fear flashing in her eyes for a moment before giving way to recognition, and then joy that made its way to her lips. “You made it!"
"Of course." She came closer, taking Wallflower's hands in her own as she returned the smile. "I'm not going to forget you again. I've made that mistake too many times already."
Wallflower looked away, limp hands falling out of the other girl's grip. "Well, I mean, now that I'm not pulling the memories out of your head..."
"And I'm not ruling the school with an iron fist." She wrapped her arms around the shorter girl. "The past only defines us if we let it. I'm a lot more interested in our future."
"I..." Slowly, haltingly, Wallflower returned the hug. "Yeah. Thanks, Sunset.”
The demon—Sunset—bobbled in her flight as the memory hit her. Her wings flailed uselessly for a few moments, and by that time, she had little choice but to roll into the landing. When the charred dust cleared, she looked at herself with new eyes, or perhaps old ones. Eyes that remembered she wasn’t always a ruddy-skinned horror.
Sunset flexed her claws and shuddered as more memories came flooding in. The Fall Formal, her humiliation… and her vanquisher helping set her on the right path. And some time after that, helping the girl who'd been last to forgive her.
“Th—” She coughed, burning phlegm bunching in her throat. Voice rough from disuse, she muttered, “This doesn’t make sense. How did I… How could I…?” She knew who she was, who she'd been, but so much remained out of her grasp.
The scent, one she could now recognize as sweetly floral, came to her again. The course was clear.
“I’ll get back. For her.” Sunset stomped forward, her heavy boots well suited to the rough terrain. “I’m not going to let a little thing like a hellscape keep me down. I going to fix this, whatever this is, or my name’s not Sunset… Sunset…” She trailed off and cleared her throat. “Whatever. I’ll figure that out later.”
On she marched, and the landscape grew ever so slightly less horrible. A hint of less extreme heat in the lava-baked air. A lightening of the impenetrable cloud cover overhead. And, after an indeterminate time, a break in the uniformity of the path ahead.
Sunset knelt down to consider the crack in the rocks. Unlike all the others she'd seen, no molten stone glowed within. Instead, a struggling little strand with shriveled leaves clung to life.
Plants. It was a plant. So different from the memory, but in this place, how could she expect much more?
“Wallflower.” If there was any sure sign that her friend was here, it was a plant. Flimsy logic, yes, but still the best lead Sunset had.
She got to her feet, mission clear. This wasn't just a matter of undoing whatever had been done. This was a rescue mission. “I’m coming!”
“I’m coming! Don't get up!” Sunset waved both arms as she raced into the library, only stopping after Miss Cheerilee gave her an almost Fluttershy-grade stinkeye.
"Sorry," she said as she sat next to Wallflower at one of the reading tables. "Rainbow Dash held me up for longer than I realized. So, what did you want to show me?"
“It’s just, I wasn’t…" Wallflower turned her gaze to the floor, shoving a small stack of books away from her seat. "It’s dumb.”
Sunset put a hand on her shoulder. “If it matters to you, then it can’t be dumb.”
Wallflower sighed. "Sure, you say that now..."
That got a nudge to the ribs. "Yesterday, you let me ramble for twenty minutes about what kind of hay I liked back in Equestria. There's no way this can be as dull as that."
"Well..." Wallflower nibbled her lower lip, then pulled back one of the books and flipped through it. "Okay, here."
"Huh." Sunset considered the photo. It was like a mix between a toasting flute and a lidded beer stein, but the color, veins, and stem clearly marked it as a plant. "I've never seen anything like it."
"You haven't?"
Sunset shrugged. "Grew up on the side of a mountain, remember? Most plants I saw were in gardens half as nice as yours."
"Uh huh." She looked up to see Wallflower fixing a half-lidded stare at her. "Weren't you basically the daughter of a god-queen?"
"Okay, maybe three quarters as nice." Sunset stuck out her tongue, delighted to get a smile out of her girlfriend. She turned back to the book. "So what are these?" Sure, she could read it for herself, but why deny Wallflower the pleasure?
"Nepenthes mirabilis." Indeed, she never sounded so confident as when reciting a plant's scientific name.
Learning from Princess Celestia meant working with a different definition of dead languages. "The wonderful absence of grief?"
Wallflower sighed. "Or the common swamp pitcher plant."
Sunset made a show of putting a finger to her chin. "You know... I think I like the scientific name better."
That got a nod and a hint of the earlier grin. "Same."
"So, these are some of your favorite plants?"
Wallflower nodded again. "They make the most out of a bad situation. The soil in their native region is very nutrient-poor, so they supplement with insects. They lure them into these specialized leaves with a sweet-smelling fluid, but the insides are so slippery, they're almost impossible to get out of. The insects drown and get dissolved and oh gosh, I must sound like a psycho right now." She flushed red and tried to sink into her sweater. "I swear I—"
Sunset cut her off with a one-armed hug. "Hey, hey, relax. You should try getting Fluttershy started sometime. She can tell you things about slug parasites that will keep you up at night." Sunset shuddered. "Speaking from experience."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. And she does it all with a smile a lot like the one you had when talking about the Nepenthes."
"W-well..." Wallflower was still huddled in on herself, but as she looked at Sunset, the other girl could see a spark of hope in her eyes that was missing more often than not. "Do you want me to keep going?"
Sunset smiled. "If you want to keep going, I'm happy to keep listening."
Wallflower reached over Sunset's shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "Thanks. So, there's a lid—that's the scientific name for it and everything, a lid—and..."
As Sunset followed the scent, the path grew cooler, the glow from beneath fading and giving way to a not-quite-black material that deformed beneath her boots. She recalled "brown" just before "soil," and marveled at both. It was softer than anything she'd seen outside of the flashbacks. Raking her claws through it revealed how thin it was, barely anything before she hit more rock, but it was still there.
And from the soil came plants, far cries from the first stunted specimen she'd found. The first ones had been so pale that the raging skies painted them deep red, but now they turning a brown-black that suggested something as far from that hue as possible. A timely flash of lightning confirmed they were the same shade as Wallflower's hair or skin. G-something.
The tallest specimens, coming up to Sunset's hips, had formed familiar little pitchers with their leaves. Those gave off sharp, metallic scents, not like the one drawing her forward. But it was enough to lure in the blood-hungry biting flies. Sunset watched as one slipped inside a trap, flailing and buzzing but unable to escape the gluey substance within.
This could be a trap for Sunset as well. Her memories were still mostly absent, but she was smart enough to see the pattern. But even knowing as little as she did, she knew she couldn't give up here, no matter what awaited her at the end.
So on she marched, as the little pitcher's lid sealed shut.
Sunset steeled herself outside of the club's main garden. This would be awkward, but it would be for the best.
And if she kept telling herself that, maybe she'd believe it.
After one last steadying breath, she made her way into the clearing. "Hey, Wallflower, can we talk?"
Wallflower, crouching in front of one of the beds, flinched and dropped a spade before bolting up, her face visibly paling. "Um..."
"It's nothing bad! I just..." Sunset rubbed a forearm with the opposite hand. "Well, as much as I like hanging out with you, I think you could get a lot out of spending more time with the rest of our friends."
"Oh." Wallflower sighed and bent back down, turning back to the marigolds. "You mean your friends?"
"They'll gladly be yours," Sunset said as she got closer.
"I have the Gardening Club."
"And you barely say anything to anyone there."
Wallflower huffed out a breath and went back to aerating soil. Which probably didn't need quite as vigorous a stabbing motion as she was using. "Why do you care?"
Sunset sat next to her. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Why do you care about me at all? I tried to ruin your life!" Wallflower drove the spade into the dirt and spun to face Sunset. "I scrubbed your brain clean until you thought you were a horse!"
"Pony." Sunset offered a smile.
Wallflower didn't take it. "Really?"
"Sorry. But I've been in your shoes."
"Really?"
Sunset quirked an eyebrow. "You've lost your magic artifact after getting hit by a friendship rainbow. Now you're surrounded by girls who have every reason to resent you, yet don't for some reason."
After another few moments of glaring, Wallflower turned back and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Okay, fine. You may have a point there."
Sunset draped an arm over her girlfriend's shoulders. "I just want to skip past the part where you feel like you deserve to be miserable and get to where you enjoy having friends." She smiled as Wallflower leaned her head onto Sunset's shoulder. "And, you know, something more."
They sat there for a few moments, just them and the flowers. Eventually, Wallflower said, "It's not that easy."
"I know. But I can at least try to speed up this part for you. I know I hated it."
"I appreciate the thought." Wallflower shrugged off Sunset's arm and stood. "But you're way too forgiving."
Sunset followed her. "Princess Twilight is housemates with a mare who went back in time and tried to ruin her life from early childhood. Being too forgiving is part of the equine condition."
That got a sort of laugh. More a dry snort, but Sunset would take it. "Twilight..." Wallflower paused, mouth twisting as she thought. "Um, human Twilight, she's studying the portal, right?"
"Yeah."
"I think I'd like to help her with that." Wallflower shrugged. "Kind of hard to be afraid of messing up social contact when the other person's almost as bad."
Sunset clamped down on her first response. The last thing Wallflower needed was surprise at her decision. "Sure! I'll arrange something."
"Thanks." Blushing, Wallflower held out her hand.
Sunset gladly took it. For a brief moment, her magic gave her a glimpse of the statue base housing the portal to Equestria. Like all the other peeks she'd been getting, she dismissed it with a thought. Magic wasn't going to solve Wallflower's problems. Certainly not invading her mental privacy. They'd get through this the honest way.
Words had slipped back into Sunset's vocabulary faster and faster as the scent grew stronger. As she pushed her way past stalks as thick as her arms, towering above her until she could only see by the light of her own hair, another came to mind: "jungle."
The steam wafting off of that hair reminded her how "humidity" had come to mind a few minutes earlier. Even moisture had been a foreign concept to her when she'd landed, but now every breath was thick enough to chew. An oily foulness had built up on her skin. She tried not to touch the foliage if she could avoid it; whatever she was sweating, it blackened and corroded the leaves like acid.
Still, it offered a way to cut through the greenery when the path grew impassable. That didn't offer any respite against the swarming flies or the horrid, bat-winged rat creatures that fed on them, but the pitchers had grown large enough to consume both. As Sunset passed by one, points bulged out from the fangs and claws of the victim within, but never broke through.
She squared her shoulders as she reached an impenetrable curtain of vines. The scent, that wonderful bouquet of fresh soil, icing sugar, well-worn wool, of home and Wallflower, had nearly drowned out everything else. Whatever lay on the other side had what she was looking for. It was just a question of what she'd need to get her back. "Okay," Sunset said as she cracked her knuckles. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Oh!" The vines parted, and Sunset barely registered what lay on the other side, overwhelmed as she was by the shock of recognition.
"Sorry," said Wallflower, "you don't usually come in from that angle."
Sunset had to admit, Wallflower was great on a number of levels, but Twilight was still her preferred partner for after-school chess. "Sorry I haven't been available the last few times," Sunset said as she advanced a bishop.
"No need to apologize. I know how a new relationship can lead to tunnel vision." Twilight adjusted her glasses as she contemplated her next move. "And I have to say, Wallflower's proven to have quite the scientific mind."
"Yeah?"
"Indeed. She's inquisitive, she's driven, she not afraid to make mistakes once she get going..." Twilight grinned. "To be honest, I wasn't sure what you saw in her romantically, but now? If I were attracted to girls, Timber might have cause for concern."
Sunset couldn't help but snicker and roll out their personal running gag. "Twilight, if you were attracted to girls, we'd have been dating before we'd even met Timber."
"Fair point," Twilight said with a giggle. "But it has been a delight working with her on my current project."
"What is it, anyway? Wallflower says she wants to keep it a surprise until you two demonstrate it tomorrow, but the anticipation has been killing me."
"Well..." Twilight looked around the library before leaning in close. "You didn't hear it from me, but we've been working on a way to reconfigure the portal."
"Huh." Sunset considered that. "Reconfigure it how?"
Twilight leaned back, ticking off points on her fingers. "Temporarily alter its destination, shift its anchor point in this universe—"
"Activate it from this side?"
"Um, well." Twilight blinked at the interruption. "Certainly a possibility. What's wrong?"
Sunset bolted to her feet, half-forgotten dark thoughts from just after the Formal coming back to the surface. "I've got a bad feeling about this." She ran out of the library without another word.
The hallways weren't crowded, but it still felt like everyone still at CHS had chosen that point to stand between Sunset and the front of the school. Heart pounding in her ears, she burst through the front doors, charging ahead even as the afternoon sun dazzled her. "Wallflower!"
"Sunset?"
Her vision cleared to show her exactly what she feared; Wallflower standing in front of the Wondercolt statue, holding what looked like a controller for a very complicated toy car. Wallflower looked back and forth between the two before clearing her throat. "I was, uh... testing it for tomorrow?"
Sunset brought a hand to her necklace. "Please don't make me fact-check that."
"Look, Sunset—"
"Why? Why would you jump into another world?"
Wallflower looked away, huddling up as her arms folded across her chest. "It worked for you."
"I was a spoiled brat who thought I knew better than somepony with literal centuries of experience under her saddle!" Sunset knew everyone hanging around the front lawn was staring at her. She couldn't even begin to care. "I spent the first six months of my life in this world living on pity and instant ramen! This is a bad idea!"
"It's for the best," Wallflower half-muttered.
Sunset walked closer until she a few steps away from Wallflower. She reached out a hand, but stopped as the other girl flinched back. "Wallflower—"
"It is."
"How could you possibly think that?" Sunset gestured at the device still in Wallflower's grip. "With that thing involved, you're not even going to the one other world we know about! You could get shredded apart and scattered across time and space!"
Wallflower went wide-eyed for a moment before shaking her head and straightening up. "Look, you're too amazing to waste your time with someone like me."
"I'm not wasting it." Sunset took Wallflower's free hand in her own, still distancing herself from the other girl's mind. Wallflower knew to look for the telltale glow of her eyes and geode. "You're just as incredible."
That got a flat look as Wallflower pulled her hand out of Sunset's grip. "Yeah. Sure. Just as incredible as the girls who save the world on a regular basis. I'm taking you away from friends who actually deserve your time and attention." She sighed and shook her head. "I appreciate the support, Sunset, but you haven't been a girlfriend. I haven't been ready for a girlfriend. You've been a really huggy life coach, and it's time I get out of your way. For both our sakes."
With that, she flicked a switch on the controller. Lights lit up, dials began to move, and the surface of the statue's base swirled like a whirlpool. Both girls watched as the pale vortex darkened to the color of dried blood, electricity crackling along the edges. The onlookers retreated, some slowly edging away, others running for their lives.
Sunset looked back at Wallflower, seeing the same unease she felt in the other girl's face. "You can't possibly think this is still a good idea. Come on, we can talk this—"
Wallflower's lips pressed against hers, cutting her off. Shocked as she was, Sunset couldn't help but see the world through her girlfriend's eyes, reliving the last few weeks with a perspective riddled with unresolved guilt, regret, and self-loathing.
It was all too familiar.
The first thing Sunset saw when she snapped back to the present was Wallflower's face, tears streaming down her cheeks and past her sad smile. "You see? Staying would be worse." And while Sunset was still sorting out which memories were hers, Wallflower dropped the controller into the grass and rushed into the portal.
Sunset dove after her not a moment later.
Sunset's mind raced. Past experiences flooded in faster than she could process, so quickly that any train of thought got swamped in the rush. Still, she knew she had to say something.
"Uehh?"
In hindsight, moving her jaw after it had dropped might have helped.
Wallflower's body was just one of the many things Sunset had to take in at once, but it accounted for a sizeable portion of her shock. From a massive spider web of roots rose a stem thicker than Sunset's wingspan, terminating in a pitcher plant big enough to swallow a person. And by all appearances, it already had. Wallflower's torso emerged from the leaf, her skin a deep green that showed clearly even in the bloody light of this world where it wasn't covered in form-fitting, bark-brown armor. Her hair splayed out like a gorgon's, each tendril lazily waving as though submerged and keeping her face in shadows. But twin points of light the color of dead leaves shone out through that shade, transfixing Sunset in their stare.
She shrugged at Sunset's questioning grunt. "Yeah, that's pretty typical."
"How— You're not— I don't..." Sunset brought a hand to her head. "What!?"
"I blame the portal. We got turned into the locals. Except instead of humans or ponies, the locals are, you know, demons."
Sunset kept massaging her temples. "And you wanted to come here? To banish yourself here?"
Wallflower flinched back. "I've had some time to think about that since and... yeah, that wasn't my best idea."
"You could've been killed!" Sunset pointed at the overcast sky. The canopy formed a wall around them, leaving a sort of skylight that offered a clear view of the eternal storm. "I've gotten in at least one dogfight up there with things that make me look cuddly by comparison."
Judging by how the twin tan stars danced, Wallflower rolled her eyes at that. "It's not like I knew what would be on the other side. Like I told you, I just wanted to get out of your way."
"Wallflower..."
"I didn't want to hold you back anymore. You're amazing. Your friends are amazing. I hung out with Twilight for a week and I know she's going to change the world. People will mention her in the same breath as Falling Apple and Gedankenexperiment." Wallflower shook her head, hair thrashing faster. "And yet you're dating me. What kind of sense does that make?"
"And that's my choice." Sunset brought her hands to her heart. "I'm happy with you. I'd never want you to feel like you're holding me back, much less that—"
"I should throw myself to the other side of the multiverse," Wallflower said in a singsong tone, bobbing her head from side to side.
Sunset furrowed her brow. "How did you know—"
"You'd say that?" Wallflower leaned back and sighed. "I don't know why I don't just start with this."
"What do you mean?"
That got a facepalm. "Ugh. Every time... What did you think I meant when you first showed up? This isn't the first time you've found me, Sunset. Or the second, or the third. I think we're around eight at this point."
"But..." Sunset winced. Her headache throbbed as she tried to recall earlier times in this hellscape. Nothing came to mind. "What happens to me?"
Wallflower sighed. "I'm a demon. I'm also me. You do the math."
Only one conclusion made sense, even if it made Sunset gasp in shock. "You make me forget?"
"Not on purpose. Took me a few times to realize what was going on myself." Wallflower puffed out a breath and leaned on the lip of her pitcher. "Mostly because I was still beating myself up for you following me and my just being generally worthless. Wasn't exactly paying a lot of attention to my surroundings."
"Was?"
Wallflower gestured at the ground. "I'm literally rooted to the spot. I've had nothing to do but sit here and grow. And I. Am. Bored. Seeing you loop around and pour your heart out time after time was nice. Good confidence boost." She snorted. "If nothing else, I'm clearly not getting rid of you that easily. But that's gotten old too. Right now, I just want to go home."
Sunset nodded. "Then we'll just need to find the portal." She spread her wings and built altitude.
Wallflower rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, about that—"
"Don't worry," Sunset said as she cleared the canopy, "I'll figure out how to get you there once I find it!" She picked an unfamiliar direction and leaned forward for thrust.
From below, she heard a shout of "Sunset, wait!"
"I love you, Wallflower!" she called back. "This won't take long!"
Wallflower could do nothing but watch Sunset recede towards the horizon, tasting the memories she shed in her wake. After a few moments, she screamed and started pounding her pitcher with her fists. "Why does she always forget that she forgets stuff first? Honestly, think! I'm rooted to the spot! Where else would the portal even be?"
“She showed up again?”
Wallflower leaned over the edge, spotting a teal-glowing horn poking out through her roots. “Yeah,” she sighed.
Twilight wriggled a bit, managing to stick her head out enough to turn her burning glasses towards Wallflower. They'd long since determined that none of the holes were wide enough for her wings. “And she flew off again?”
“Yeah…”
Twilight sighed in turn. “She’s a natural-born hero, but she’s never been a terribly good listener.”
Wallflower felt a corner of her mouth turn up. “Don’t need to tell me that, Twi.”
“Fair enough." Twilight twisted as best she could, but there was no good way for her to spot Sunset mid-flight. "Want me to help talk her down on the next pass?”
“Maybe have Fluttershy do it? Seeing you going full Friendship Games may make her panic even more.”
Twilight frowned. “Possible…" After a few thoughtful moments, she said, "So, how are you feeling?”
“Do we really need to do this now?”
“You have nothing better to do until Sunset comes back, and based on the data so far, that could take as much as an hour. When better?”
Wallflower leaned back, watching lightning dance along the clouds. “It's like I told Sunset. I’m bored. At least with the Memory Stone, I could do stuff. If trying to run away from my problems is this dull, I’d rather confront them.”
“I can recommend a great therapist. Very open-minded, may possibly be a witch. Or witch doctor." Twilight hummed to herself. "Do you mind working with someone who speaks exclusively in rhyme?”
Wallflower shrugged. “I'll take what I can get. Honestly, it’s just nice knowing you girls don’t hate me for this. Or anything else.”
“We never did. And we’re glad to have you as part of the group.”
“Yeah, that's what Sunset was trying to tell me.” The slowly spreading smile finished it path along Wallflower's lips. “You know, I’ve heard of people leaving their hearts with their loved ones. This is the first time I’ve seen one leave her brain.”
“But she always comes back.”
“Yeah.” Wallflower squinted. Just on the edge of her vision, a dark red spot panned across the sky, then started to grow larger. “Yeah, she does.”
Author's Note
See here for more on N. mirabilis. For the parasites, look up Leucochloridium paradoxum, but be aware that you're getting deep into the more messed-up parts of nature.
Also, I got this neat ribbon from Dave Bryant for winning the judge prize, but img tags don't seem to work with long descriptions and it seems a shame not to share it.
