The Rare Speckled Wallflower
I have a type.
No, it’s not the blonde cheerleader type, or the nerdy-girl-with-the-thick-glasses type, or even the captain-of-all-the-sports-teams type. Though the last two make for good friends. See, none of those exist back in Equestria – technically.
Back in Equestria, some ponies had these splotches of color all over their coats called “dapples.” I’ve heard Luna had them before she was rainbow lasered to the moon, and Celestia even becomes dappled when the sun acts up. And now that I’m here in the human world, where horses are a little more blandly colored, I can say for certain Equestrian dapples are far superior to human-world-horse dapples.
Maybe it’s because they’re something out of the ordinary, a peculiar patterning like a painter gone mad. Maybe it’s because they usually contrast or complement the pony’s coat like a secondary set of cutie marks – and you know what, maybe they are.
Because all I know is: I think they’re cute.
And to my delight, humans also have their own “dapples.” Of course, I got some weird looks when I called them that – the fact that I was the “biggest meanie” at the time didn’t help either. “You mean… freckles?” one person asked.
And just like that, I had a new love.
One that wouldn’t bloom for a couple more years, seeing as I was, again, the “biggest meanie” at the time. Not to mention I had to go through a few cycles of confronting rogue Equestrian magic and forgiving the person using it before I found her.
Her name was Wallflower Blush.
If you wanted my honest opinion, it was a crime against nature that she proved to be so invisible all those years she knew me – ironic, considering her green thumb. She was adorable! And the entire time I confronted her in front of the school, all I could focus on were those freckles.
I was still weighing my options – including asking Rarity for help, and the consequences for doing so – when she came to me and asked me out. Of course I said yes!
Much like there’s more to a flower than a blooming, pretty face, I was surprised at how much there was to her. She was an avid gardener, and knew her way around plants like Twilight (both of them) knew her way around science. I kinda hooked her on some of my favorite video games – she played a bit in the winter when her “friends” were snowbound to help cope.
Now I’m sure you might say something like “Well, Sunset. You might as well end the story here – looks like you got the happily ever after.” And you know what, I’d agree with you – if not for that very first date.
When she showed up on my doorstep, Wallflower was dressed in a pretty dark green dress and looking about as shy as Fluttershy in a spotlight – but her freckles were gone! I had to do a double-take, but sure enough: her cheeks were pristine.
I couldn’t ask, of course. I had my own stomach full of butterflies, and I can only imagine “hey, where’d your freckles go?” was going to sound weird on a first date. I let the thought slide away – maybe it was just make-up. She was dressed up pretty formally, even for a pizza dinner date.
But then they were missing for our second date, a casual trip to the movie theater. And then again when we hung out in the school’s garden. And during video game sessions, where it puzzled me so much I often lost.
After a while, I would’ve brushed them off as a figment of my imagination, but that all changed one morning…
That morning started as any other Monday morning did for me – with the worst case of bedhead and an adorable girlfriend sleeping next to me. Sundays were usually the days we spent together, and more often than not Wallflower spent the night.
It was a comfortable routine we’d fallen into – I often wondered if this was what married couples felt like. Waking up together, getting ready for the day ahead almost completely in-sync.
I leaned over and kissed Wallflower’s cheek ever so lightly, causing her to stir and finally open one eye with a yawn.
“Morning already?” she mumbled.
“Afraid so,” I said with a smile, already sliding out of the bed.
She sighed and released her cuddle hold on her pillow, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As I went to my closet to pick out my outfit for the day ahead (which, to be honest, rarely changed), I heard the bathroom door shut and the sink starting to run.
I took a moment to take a look at myself in the mirror by the closet and grumbled. My bedhead was a sight – and I knew if I didn’t take care of it before school, I was liable to be pounced upon by Rarity and given the royal hair treatment.
I looked around my nightstand and on the floor for my hairbrush, before turning to the bathroom door. With a huff, I walked over and knocked. “Hey, Wally? Is my hairbrush in there?” I asked.
“Right here, one sec,” she replied.
When the door opened, I could’ve sworn my heart stopped. I remember hearing my breath hitch.
Wallflower was there, standing in the doorway. In her hand she was offering me my hairbrush, looking confused as to why I had suddenly froze and was staring at her.
With freckles on her cheeks.
Unfortunately, her mind must’ve put it together before mine could form the words. Her eyes widened and she all but shoved the hairbrush into my hands and slammed the door behind her.
I blinked a few times, frowning in thought. Now, having just woke up and without any coffee in my system, my mind wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I could have just sworn my girlfriend had freckles she hadn’t had the past few months.
I knocked on the door. “Wally? Is everything alright in there?” I asked.
When it opened again, a slightly flushed Wallflower stood there with the cutest of suspicious smiles. And sans freckles again.
“Y-Yeah, sorry. I just want to hurry up and get ready, ya know?” she offered with a shrug.
“Uh huh,” I replied slowly, gripping my hairbrush. “Well, I’ll get started on breakfast and—”
“Great! See you in a bit!”
She silenced me with a peck on the lips and the door shut behind her once again. I grumbled and walked back over to the mirror.
“Am I crazy, or did she have freckles?” I asked my reflection, quietly, as to not alert Wallflower.
Unfortunately, my reflection was as baffled as I was. With a huff, I resolved to get to the bottom of things.
So, I did something that I thought Princess Twilight would approve of.
At lunch, I tapped my pencil against my open notebook, too distracted to eat. In my artistic musings, I had scribbled my delightful girlfriend’s face on the page, smiling up at me like she was getting her picture taken. Her cheeks were greyed by repeatedly erased graphite – my frustrated attempts at capturing those darn freckles.
“Hey, I thought I was the Rainbooms’ drummer,” Pinkie quipped cheekily as she sat down next to me with her lunch. One by one, my other friends surrounded me.
“Sorry, just lost in thought,” I said, flashing her an uneasy smile.
Rarity hummed as she sipped on her drink, a coy smirk on her face as she glanced at my doodle. “Thinking about a certain wallflower, I see,” she noted.
I chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah.”
“Well, we’re plumb happy you and Wallflower are gettin’ along,” Applejack said, raising her apple before taking a bite out of it.
I smiled down at the doodle, before huffing a sigh. I shut the notebook and looked between my friends, steeling myself for the question plaguing me. “Girls… can I ask you a silly question?”
“Depends,” Pinkie said, slurping her juice box noisily and narrowing her eyes.
“Shoot, Sunset,” Rainbow said with a chuckle.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Did… Wallflower have freckles? Like, when she was using the memory stone.”
I looked between my friends. Half of them looked confused, the other half seemingly in thought. Better than the scenarios I had run in my head, at least.
“Darling, why on earth would you want to know that?” Rarity asked.
“It’s just… I remember her having them. At least I think I remember her having them, but she hasn’t had them since we started dating.” I huffed. “And this morning, I thought she had them again, but then she didn’t. I just… want to make sure I’m not losing my mind here.”
Rainbow snickered. “Maybe she used the memory stone to make you forget about them.”
Fluttershy gave a quiet gasp, covering her mouth. “Oh, I hope not.”
“Relax, Fluttershy.” Rainbow patted her on the shoulder. “We rainbow-lasered that thing into pebbles, remember?”
“Now that you mention it,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin and her brows furrowed in deep thought. “I can’t rightly remember if she did or not.”
“Nor can I,” Twilight said.
“She does have the tendency to blend into the background,” Rarity said with a sigh, before quickly averting her eyes to me with an apologetic smile. “No offense, of course.”
“No, I get it.” I sighed and slumped back into my chair. “Maybe I am losing my mind here.”
“But why are you so invested in this, darling?” Rarity asked, tilting her head.
I let the answer swish around in my mouth as I worked my jaw, before letting it out with a sigh. “I… like freckles, ok? I think they’re cute.” I looked off to the far end of the cafeteria, my cheeks heated.
“Aww,” Rarity said, hands covering her heart.
“Don’t worry, Sunset,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. “I’m sure we all have our own little quirks we find attractive. For example, I prefer people with a broad amount of knowledge.” She giggled as she blushed slightly.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Well, I think someone who’s as strong and competitive as me is hot,” she said confidently, pointing at herself with a thumb.
Across from her, Applejack nearly choked on her apple juice.
“Well, a certain amount of social grace and charm would do wonders for me,” Rarity said with a giggle. She turned back to Sunset. “I’m afraid I don’t know, darling. I think Wallflower had freckles, but like you, I’m not sure.”
Pinkie Pie finally stopped slurping to look between the girls and Sunset. “Oh,” she sounded out. “Are we talking about Wallflower? She totally has freckles.”
I snapped my head towards Pinkie so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash. “Are you sure? How?”
Pinkie scoffed with a giggle and reached into her backpack. After fishing out a cupcake and munching it down in one bite, she produced the most recent yearbook. Flicking through the pages to the student portraits, she tapped Wallflower’s picture. “See?” she said around a mouthful.
I pulled the yearbook closer, ignoring Twilight smacking her forehead and muttering “Why didn’t I think of that?” across from me (and to be frank, I was internally kicking myself about it too). Sure enough, flanking that sweet little smile of hers, Wallflower’s cheeks were speckled.
“She does have freckles,” I said in a hushed tone, touching them.
The wheels started turning in my head. This was before they had started dating, not long after the whole memory stone debacle. How had they just up and vanished by the time she had asked me out?
I clenched the book tightly as determination welled in my chest. By Celestia, I was going to find out, one way or the other.
“Hey, don’t wrinkle the pages,” Pinkie chided, resuming the loud slurping of her drink.
Now I’ve heard tales of Princess Twilight’s proficiency in coming up with lists and plans – I guess she was a bad influence in that regard.
I weighed my choices on the way out of the school. Wallflower wasn’t good with confrontation. All our time spent together had really brought her out of her shell, and I didn’t want to ruin all that progress over my silly fascination.
Well, it wasn’t silly to me, but context people.
The geode was also unfortunately out. It was one of the boundaries we had agreed on – I worried about her sometimes, and if I thought she might do something, I’d use my powers. Otherwise, to ensure her trust, there would be no reading her memories over trivial stuff. And to my dismay, that included the freckles. Unlike Rainbow Dash, I had more self-control.
So instead of how I was going to approach the subject, I tried to figure out how she could possibly be covering them up. The only Equestrian magic that had altered appearances was that mirror Juniper Montage had found, and that was certainly broken like the memory stone. There was changeling magic, but that was restricted to changelings.
For a brief moment, I considered Rainbow’s theory about the memory stone. Only for a moment – those pebbles decorated the school garden now.
Maybe it was something simpler, something more down-to-earth. Face paint, perhaps? Or maybe even makeup. It had to be something Wallflower could do easily and quickly.
Looking up, I noticed I was in front of the path to the school garden. And there in the garden crouched one unspeckled Wallflower Blush, tending to some tulips. She didn’t even seem to notice me, and she was the only one there.
Glancing around to ensure no one was coming, I stepped into the garden.
Wallflower stood up, dusting off her dirty garden gloves, and turned around just as I reached her. She jumped and let out a startled squeak. “Oh! Sunset, I didn’t hear you,” she said, flashing that charming little smile.
I narrowed my eyes at those blank cheeks, a sly smirk on my face.
“Hey Wally,” I said smoothly. “I was just looking for you. I wanted to… ask you about something.”
“Oh?” She tugged off the gloves and walked over to a watering can against a nearby tree. I followed after her, hands behind my back.
“I was taking a look at the yearbook,” I said, watching as Wallflower reached for a hose. “I noticed something… off about your picture.”
I also noticed that ever so slight hesitation to grab the hose.
“O-Oh? What was off about it?” Wallflower continued. She turned the faucet valve the hose was attached to and stuck the other end into the watering can.
“Well, I thought it was weird. In that picture, you had freckles, but you don’t have them now.” I crossed my arms.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she scoffed, brushing a hand in my general direction. She shut off the water and grunted as she picked up the watering can. “M-Must’ve been something on the lens, ya know?”
“Mhmm,” I said, sarcastically. “Here, let me get that for you.”
I grabbed the watering can, and noticed her hand shied away from mine. Trying to avoid physical contact, so I couldn’t use my geode. But she wasn’t going to get away that easy.
Holding the full watering can in one hand, I placed my other hand on the tree behind Wallflower and leaned in close. I could see the early onset of panic in those lovely little pale brown eyes, and it only broadened my smirk.
I quickly realized I had a way to test my earlier theory literally in the palm of my hand. I glanced down at the watering can, then back to my nervously smiling girlfriend.
“S-Something else you w-want to talk about?” she stuttered, face turning as red as my hair.
“Just one thing,” I said, setting the watering can down slowly. Followed closely by “Show me the freckles.”
Eh. It sounded cooler in my head.
In one swift motion, I dipped my thumb into the full watering can, and on the way up snaked an arm around Wallflower’s waist. I pulled her in close, causing her to squeak, and brushed my wet thumb across her cheek.
It came away as green as Wallflower’s.
And there they were, peeking out from under the makeup Wallflower had indeed been using. They were a shade of green darker than Wallflower’s skin, and arranged almost perfectly in an upside down triangle like some connect-the-dots masterpiece.
Huh, I wonder if they called the makeup “Wallflower Blush.”
I was so stunned that I released Wallflower, and she shied away. She tried to bury her face into her sweater, but only managed to get it just below her nose. Her entire face was lighting up like a tomato.
“No,” she whined.
“But why?” I reached out and grabbed one of her hands. “Why would you hide them?”
“I was worried you wouldn’t like them,” she muttered, looking at the ground. She poked her head out and wiped at her other cheek with her sleeve, revealing a second array of freckles. “And then you didn’t say anything about them, so I figured I was better off hiding them.”
I let out an exasperated laugh and pulled her in close, wrapping both arms around her. She hid her face against my shirt and I patted her on the back. “Silly Wally,” I muttered. “Why wouldn’t I like your freckles? I think freckles are cute.”
“Really?” She looked up at me, and I took the opportunity to peck her on the tip of her nose. Sweet Celestia, how could she be so freaking adorable?
“Really really,” I replied softly.
To my surprise, she wiggled out of my arms and poked her fingers together. “Are… you sure?”
I giggled. “Wally, I’m very sure. I really like your freckles.”
To my surprise, she gulped and grabbed the hem of her sweater. Tucking in her arms, she pulled it over her head. I was utterly perplexed why… until I saw them.
She was wearing a tank top underneath, bearing her arms. And her cheeks certainly had competition. Dark green specks dotted up her arms to her shoulders, and I could see them continue around just below her neck.
In an instant, months of dates and time spent together flashed in my mind. I never realized how attached she was to long sleeves, and I never really questioned it before. I always thought it was her style. I never knew humans could be freckled elsewhere besides their cheeks!
“Oh. My. Gosh.” I said, puffing up my cheeks.
She gulped again, and let out a squeak as I hugged her tightly. “You… really don’t mind?” she asked.
“Mind?” I laughed. “I’d say there’s even more to love about you now.” I kissed the top of her head. “Remind me to schedule a beach date.”
Wallflower giggled and looked up at me, and I leaned down to meet her in a kiss. It felt a little different – Wallflower leaned into it, slipping her arms around me.
When we finally pulled apart, I was surprised we were short of breath and full of giggles. We just stood there for a moment in each other’s arms.
“Well, if we’re being completely honest,” she finally said with a shy blush. “I thought your horse ears were pretty cute too.”
I just laughed and pulled her into another kiss. And from that day on, those freckles never hid from me again.
Author's Note
Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 04/03/21
So, I know Wallflower is sometimes handled more seriously, but the fact of the matter is this: my settings are Fluff, Wholesome, and everything in-between. I just went with what I'm good at.
So what happened was this. I read the dappled horse stories, and I was thinking... "Wait a minute, what if freckles are just human dapples? And Wallflower has freckles... Idea!" With that, you can have some free inspiration: freckled humans turn into dappled ponies in Equestria.
It's good to finally be writing again. Hopefully I can get some more work done. And I hope you enjoyed this story: there's a lot of firsts going on with this one. My first Equestria Girls story, my first Sunflower ship story, and my first completed story in over 3 months chief among them.
I didn't really listen to a song when writing this (hey, another first!), but I recommend "Scamper Shores" from the game Bowser's Fury.
-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher, Equestria Enthusiast
