Rain touched gently upon her coat.
She had felt the rain before, on Earth. Not in Equestria. And she had felt it touch her skin, not her fur.
Her fur was the same shade as her skin. Green but pale, like a ghost. Faint. Subtle. Easy to miss.
She stopped, briefly, to look upwards. Each finger of rain tapped her head, her mane of emerald knots and tangles - twisting vines that sprouted from her scalp, and now the base of her tail, too. They trickled, traced the curve of her muzzle, catching on her chin and dripping down.
"Fun fact. Here in Equestria, we make the weather."
The voice shook her of her thoughts. A voice familiar. Deep, honeyed, wonderful.
"Yeah?" she asked, still looking up.
"Mhm."
Sunset stabbed the shovel deep into the earth, but not with her mouth like Wallflower had to. Sunset was a unicorn. She had magic.
She was magic.
Standing beside her, Sunset joined in on the skywatching. "The pegasi control the weather here. There aren't many places where it's naturally occurring, and the places where that does happen aren't so safe. The Everfree Forest, for example."
"How is the Everfree dangerous?"
Sunset laughed, short but kind. "Equestria's Everfree isn't anything like the one you know. Haven't been there myself, but I've seen pictures and read books about it. It's wild in there - untamed - and it's not the kind of place that wants to be tamed either."
"Hm."
Wallflower took a shock of her emerald mane. So strange, to feel it against her hoof, instead of a hand. On her frog, rather than on her palm.
The strands turned, intertwined, then split and veered off, only to meet again. Between the darker colors - lighter - bunched together in small groups, like clustered foliage.
Wallflower let the hair fall. "Maybe it's better that way?"
Sunset picked up her shovel once again, tossing the fertile soil of Canterlot Castle's gardens aside. "Better what way?"
"That it doesn't want to be tamed. It's so hard to find real nature on Earth. Even when it's not populated, it is. Tourists and planes overhead. All that noise and manmade junk. But here-" She gestured around them - the marble walls overrun with ivy, the garden grounds with their green carpets and bustling bushes. Heat rose in Wallflower's cheeks, and she set her forehoof on the sodden ground. "Not this garden, I mean. Equestria. The weather's controlled, sure, but I haven't seen so much green in my entire life."
Sunset smiled, hoofing her a pack of seeds. "I get to see that much green every day."
Wallflower shoved her. "Hush."
Giggling, Sunset tapped the packet. "These are fireblossom seeds, by the way. Make sure to put some ash over them or they won't grow."
"Where are we going?"
"The Everfree."
Wallflower followed beside and slightly behind Sunset. Beneath their hooves, packed dirt for roads. Ahead of them and past the cartoon-esque thatched roof homes, the densest tree line she'd ever seen.
She had expected towering pines and redwoods like the Everfree back home, but Equestria's counterpart was low, crowded with what seemed to be not quite oaks. Their bases were too wide, their trunks too twisting, and branches too sharp or gnarled. Between them - what little space they allowed - pitch darkness.
"I thought you said it was dangerous."
She felt deathly aware of the tremor in her voice. The sight would have struck anyone as foreboding even had they known nothing about it. Wallflower knew just enough to be unsettled, without any of the protective knowledge Sunset possessed.
"It is."
"Then why are we going there?"
"You didn't let me finish. It is-" Sunset tipped her horn. Wreaths of teal flowed from within, wrapped around the pair in a glinting shield. "-to most ponies." A self-satisfied, self-assured smirk pulled at Sunset's lips. "But I'm not most ponies."
Draping one foreleg over her withers, Sunset pulled her close. She squeezed, and the tension went entirely from Wallflower's body.
"I'll keep you safe. Trust me."
Sunset pressed her lips to a freckled cheek.
"Okay. I trust you."
A smoldering pile of wood smoked at their hooves. In the eyes of the lupine head, the eerie lime light flickered out.
Wallflower stood yards back, eyes huge and mouth open. "W-what was that thing? And did you kill it?"
Sunset blew the smoke from her horn. "I did. Temporarily. They come back to life unless you burn the remains."
Wallflower retreated by another few yards.
"Oh don't worry. It won't come back for a while after what I did to it. As for your first question-" She grabbed the head from the woodpile, tossed it skywards, caught it in her magic. She turned the head to Wallflower, flapping its sharpness-filled jaws. "Kinda what it looks like. You're smart, I'm sure you can figure it out."
Despite herself, Wallflower stepped closer. The moment she got in range, Sunset clacked the mouth shut, and she jumped back.
"W-w-well, it looks like a wolf. And it's made of wood..."
"Mmmhmmm?"
Sunset leaned the wolf's head closer to Wallflower's. Wallflower stretched her neck away the closer it pressed, until her flanks hit the forest floor.
"A-a woodwolf?"
"Close!" Spinning the head in place, Sunset tossed it back onto the pile. Its eyes shone for a moment, before Sunset shot a second blast and blew it to splinters. "Stay, puppy." She turned to Wallflower, urging her forth. "That is a timberwolf. They make up the majority of the predators in this forest, and there are a lot more varieties than that one. Spruce, birch, palm - whatever tree you can think of, there's probably a timberwolf for it. Then there are the giant spiders."
Wallflower stopped mid-stride. "Giant spiders?"
"Like, huge." Sunset stretched her hooves as wide as they could go. "Big as a car."
Wallflower pulled her sweater's neck over her face. "Wallflower is gone now. She's in Sweater Town. Please take her back to Earth, where there aren't spiders the size of cars."
Sunset tugged her sweater back down - or tried to. Wallflower resisted, and it turned out in Equestria she was significantly stronger.
Sunset huffed, stamping a hoof. "Come on, Wally, that's cheating!"
"Sweater Town."
Rolling her eyes, Sunset cast a bubble over Wallflower. "There. Nothing is gonna be able to break past that except for the terrain. So, y'know. Mind the venus maretraps."
"The what."
Sunset gesticulated. "Y'know, like venus flytraps, except carnivorous. And sometimes mobile."
"You're really not selling me on this one."
Sunset passed through the bubble, and sat opposite Wallflower. Taking her cheeks in both hooves, she eased the sweater's neckline down. "Look at me, Wally. I'll keep you safe, no matter what. I always will. You know that."
Wallflower's lip twitched. Memories, fragmented, entered her mind's eye.
Memories of her parents. Memories she didn't like to remember.
Sunset reached to stroke her cheek, and Wallflower flinched.
"I'm sorry." Sunset pulled back, stood up. "I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to. We can go home if you'd like."
"It's... it's okay. I'm just... nervous."
"I know." Sunset offered a hoof. Wallflower took it. "I am too."
"You are?"
"Yup."
"You never seem like it."
Sunset gave a muted laugh. "I never seem like a lot of things I am, and I seem like a lot of things I'm not. I didn't wind up the Queen of Canterlot High for three years for no reason."
Wallflower nodded, and they continued their journey. Sunset showed her as much she could, and as much was safe. Flowers that glowed in brilliant colors. Trees with bark that looked like faces. Fields of blue that, when touched, could do anything from shrinking you tiny to turning you pink.
Then, the trees began to lessen. More blue sky opened up above, and the solid ground of black soil and iron-tough roots turned to soggy mud and brackish water.
They stopped at the rim of the bog, where it got too deep to walk. A short distance ahead a small island rose, and from that island a patch of flowers that towered high above them.
The stems, closer to the ground, looked like Wallflower's hair. Masses of emerald tendrils coiled and spiralled. The higher up it reminded her of Sunset's hair, transitioning from green to a soft crimson. Blooming from those bloody stalks opened vast orange petals, each the size of her head.
"What's this?" she asked.
Sunset put a hoof to her lips and shushed her. "Just watch."
And Wallflower did. Just when she thought nothing would happen, a quiet rumble shook the ground.
Beneath the stems, embers appeared. They rose, catching the stalks on fire. But rather than burn and blacken, the green deepened, and leaves of amber sprouted up, and up, and up, and up.
As they climbed, they left behind in the stems a glowing incandescence. Grooves and lines in the stems Wallflower hadn't noticed came alive with living flame.
And then, they reached the top. The flowers opened wider, spreading and exposing glowing white fronds so large they looked less like flora and more like superheated iron rods.
The whole collection of stalks shook, then erupted. Entire clouds of what looked like smoke and cinders burst forth, spreading to blanket the open blue in dark gray.
The cinders fell, gradually, to saturate the earth. They sizzled on touch, remaining bright for a few seconds before going dark.
Several fell on Wallflower and Sunset. She thought they would burn, but instead they warmed her pleasantly. Less like embers, more like being in front of a fireplace.
Wallflower had no words. Nature on Earth was beautiful as it was, but this?
"I take it you like it?"
Wallflower nodded.
"Fun fact," she whispered, brushing snouts. "Those sparks? That's this plant's version of pollen. It only grows in bogs though, so it might as well be useless hitching a ride on us."
"It's beautiful, though. I've never seen anything like it."
Sunset tucked her head beneath Wallflower's chin. Wallflower nickered, then blushed brighter than the erupting blossoms when she realized what sound she'd made.
"And I've never seen anything like you. So-" Sunset caught her gaze, then dove in for a kiss. As it broke, she nibbled Wallflower's bottom lip. "I think we're even."
Wallflower closed her eyes and leaned in, as the rain of fire touched gently upon her coat.
"I guess we are."
Author's Note
This story was written for the 2023 Everfree Northwest 'Iron Author' competition. The prompts were 'Vexing volcanism', 'Verdant vegetable', and 'vibrant vestigial'.
I'm stunned I managed to write anything at all. This was the first thing I've done for speedwriting period, let alone something like Iron Author. I was still shaky with adrenaline for hours after I finished.
Apparently, although I didn't win, I did place in the top ten out of some forty participants. I think it's mid, personally, but tell me what you thought!
And lastly, if you enjoyed this story and would like to receive one of your own, see here for more details!
