Oddball

by BittyBug

Chapter 6 - Not Half Bad

Chapter 6 - Not Half Bad

That Saturday found Sunset shirtless at her desk. Her healing wounds, still fragile, demanded space to breathe and without the obligation of school, Sunset was happy to oblige.

She had once again skipped detention on Friday. The girl had no doubts that she would be hearing from one of the Principals at some point, but she’d cross that bridge when she got to it.

The redhead’s leg bounced up and down at a rapid pace. Her impossibly old laptop was trying its best to log on, but Sunset was impatient. She would have just used her phone, but it was almost dead and she didn’t feel like wasting money on her electric bill to charge it. While she waited, Sunset mentally went through the subject of today’s snooping; Wallflower Blush.

As the queen of Canterlot High, Sunset hadn’t looked too deep into Wallflower’s business. She had deemed the gardener insignificant and thus not worth looking into, but from what she remembered Wallflower had a pretty nice life. A little lower income, sure, but nothing all that horrible.

‘Doting mother, Daisy Charm; loving father, Aster Bloom,” Sunset listed off in her head. ‘No siblings, not adopted; nothing that would warrant bruises. So, what are you hiding, Wallflower Blush?’

The computer gave off a loud whirring sound as Sunset’s desktop loaded. “Uhg, finally.”

It took a few seconds for google to pop up. Sunset’s hands darted across the keys, her computer trying desperately to keep up. Wallflower Blush’s name eventually appeared in the search bar.

The first thing that popped up was an article from the Canterlot Star, one of the city’s less popular newspapers in comparison to the much wider spread Canterlot Times.

Sunset clicked on the link.

When it loaded, Sunset was met with a picture of a young Wallflower Blush shyly smiling next to a large planter box that housed several blue roses. Next to her was a beaming man with purple skin and fluffy, two-toned green and magenta hair.

‘Wallflower Blush and Aster Bloom: Local father-daughter duo wins regional ‘Rare Plant Cultivation contest,’’ Sunset read from the title. ‘Okay, not useful. I already knew she was a plant nerd.’

She clicked back to the search page. Her phone buzzed on the desk, but Sunset ignored it as she typed in the name Aster Bloom. Another front page article from the Canterlot Star appeared.

Sunset’s heart dropped as she read the title.

‘Hit-And-Run Crash Leaves One Dead, Two Injured.’

Cyan eyes darted across the page as Sunset hastily tried to take the information in. ‘A member of the Canterlot community was killed last Sunday in a hit-and-run car accident,’ she read. ‘The culprit, who was caught by authorities at a nearby traffic light, was reportedly inebriated when the accident occurred.’

Fearing the worst, Sunset continued reading. A pit was growing in her stomach. ‘Aster Bloom, local flower connoisseur and employee at Stroke Of Luck Flower Shop was out with his wife and daughter when the vehicle struck the family. Aster Bloom was killed upon impact. His wife and fellow employee at Stroke Of Luck, Daisy Charm, was rushed to the hospital with a broken arm and a light concussion. The driver suffered a minor concussion as well. The couple’s daughter, Wallflower Blush, remained miraculously unharmed.’

There was more, but Sunset found herself unable to continue reading. She almost felt sick. ‘Gods above, that’s awful…’

True sympathy struck Sunset as she sat there, trying to process the news. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn’t entirely heartless. She even was prone to occasional acts of what looked suspiciously like kindness (though she preferred to think of it as mercy). She didn’t tell anyone of Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch’s secret relationship, nobody knew that Gilda was an orphan, and Spitfire’s adoration of her pathetic three footed pet bunny was kept on the down-low.

Of course, she considered it to be emergency blackmail material- but either way, she knew about every single thing that happened to the students of Canterlot High.

‘So how on Earth did I miss this?’ The date of the article showed that the crash had occurred nearly a year ago. Biting her lip, Sunset exited out of the tab and turned off her laptop, leaving the screen open. ‘Why didn’t I know?’

“Because you didn’t care enough to look.”

The voice was back, taunting her from the back of her head. “You again?” Sunset asked as she looked around for the demon.

“Yes, me again.” From the shadowy reflection of Sunset’s now dark laptop screen, the demon showed off her rows of sharp teeth in a grin. “Surprise!”

Sunset only narrowed her eyes. More intrigued than annoyed, she didn’t speak, giving her double the chance to continue.

“I mean, boo hoo, little Wallflower Blush experienced some light trauma,” the demon said with a mocking, faux-sadness and an insincere pout. She held the look for a second before her dropping it, her expression flat. “I mean, join the club! You never cared before, so what’s got you all soft about this?”

“What-?” The question caught Sunset off guard. “She deserves a little empathy! I’m not a monster-”

A howl of laughter cut her off. “Well, you could have fooled me!” The haunting figure’s fiery hair shimmered as she continued laughing. “Seriously, what the hell do I look like to you?”

An odd feeling, one that felt all to close to guilt was starting to stir in Sunset’s stomach. ‘I’m not a monster...’

“It’s not something to be ashamed of,” the demon said. “Sure, the transformation part was a bit… unexpected, but the rest was brilliant! You did what you had to do and it almost worked!”

There was a sour taste in Sunset’s mouth as she turned to respond, but as she cast her glare to the computer screen she once again found herself alone. She met her eyes in the screen- her own, sad, normal blue eyes- and found herself uncharacteristically disgusted at the girl who stared back.

Sunset slammed her laptop shut. Her phone buzzed again, and this time she picked it up.

11:03 am - Wallflower Blush > Hey. I finished the burn salve last night

11:13 am - Wallflower Blush > I’m at the garden all day

The little typing bubble appeared and disappeared as Sunset struggled to type a nonchalant answer despite the news she had just uncovered and the shaking experience with her other. Finally, she settled for a simple ‘I’ll be there soon.’ and put her phone in her pocket.

The redhead shook her head, trying to drown the flurry of bothersome thoughts that assaulted her mind as she got up. She pulled on her baggy black hoodie, not bothering with something more presentable, and quietly slipped out of her apartment.

***

Wallflower put her trowel down and wiped at her brow. Finally, the whole of her garden was free of weeds! The gardener stood and took in her handiwork.

The garden was a tidy compilation of browns and greys, the remainder of the in-bloom flowers having exchanged their happy hues for the dull promise of winter. Even so, Wallflower’s little corner of the world looked peaceful in its dormant state.

The green girl smiled as her eyes passed over every part of the garden. The daffodils, the pansies, the daisies… Her eyes lingered at the cluster of drooping asters.

An intense melancholy stabbed her heart, and Wallflower sighed. ‘It never gets easier, does it?’ She walked over and bent down to dig up a stray weed that must have evaded her earlier rounds. The asters remained dead and dreary, unable to commend her for her efforts.

Her thoughts wandered from the garden to the school, barely visible through the thick foliage of golden and orange.

Spending lunch with Sunset Shimmer had been… interesting, to say the least. ‘I don’t know what’s more shocking; the fact that I offered or the fact that she accepted,’ Wallflower thought. Her eyes traced the rays of sunlight that wandered past the leaves. ‘Well, any company is better than no company. Even if that company is Canterlot High’s newest social pariah.’

The buzz of her phone snapped Wallflower out of her rumination. She removed one of her gloves, which she stuffed into her overalls’ front pocket, and picked up her phone. ‘Speak of the devil…’

Sunset Shimmer’s name donned Wallflower’s latest notification.

11:14 am - Sunset Shimmer > I’ll be there soon.

Wallflower didn’t respond to the text, opting instead to move over to the stone bench she had recently shared with Sunset. She let her mind wander again while she waited for the redhead’s arrival.

The gardener ran her fingers across the rough expanse of her seat. Tiny bugs skittered between the cracks in the stone, and one wandered onto her finger.

The girl raised her finger to eye level. She watched as the bug darted across her skin, going in circles on the tip of her appendage. Smiling, she lowered the digit, allowing the insect to crawl back to its friends.

‘Friends...’

Wallflower observed the bugs as they continued their endless journey across the fissures in the rock. ‘She said she doesn’t want us to be friends, but...’ The gardener couldn’t deny that she was a little worried about Sunset. Did worrying about someone’s well being make them your friend? Wallflower didn’t have an answer.

Her thoughts about Sunset wandered further. ‘I wonder how she got hurt. She’s more than capable of standing up for herself, so I doubt someone tried to beat her up. And I mean, burn wounds? That’s oddly specific... and she seemed fine up until-’

Wallflower’s thoughts came to a screeching halt.

‘The Fall Formal.’

Being more of an introvert, Wallflower didn’t bother going to the Formal, but that definitely didn’t stop her from hearing about the events that ensued. Pictures and posts about Sunset’s demon form were all over MyStable. It was almost impossible to not know about Sunset’s transformation.

But that wasn’t all. Someone had gotten a video of Twilight and her friends shooting that wacky-looking rainbow thing at Sunset.

Wallflower pursed her lips. ‘Could the rainbow have hurt her somehow?’

It would make sense; when else would she have sustained what appeared to be a serious injury? Wallflower’s head was spinning. The pieces were falling into place. ‘Nobody else seems to know. And why would they? Sunset surely hasn’t told anyone, and the Princess was using the Magic of Friendship, right? So no one has any reason to believe it could hurt her.’

The small bugs moved to and fro. Wallflower tracked their movement absentmindedly, still lost in thought. ‘She’s hurt, probably really badly, and I’m the only one who knows.’

Her eyes caught on one bug in particular. It had flipped over onto the hard shell of its back, tiny legs skittering in the air helplessly. It rocked back and forth, desperately trying to free itself from the pathetic position it was in, but to no avail. Other little bugs passed by obliviously, each caught up in their own task. One finally took notice of their struggling comrad. It approached and nudged the debilitated bug with its head until it flipped back onto its tiny feet.

Wallflower raised an eyebrow. ‘Those are some very topical bugs,’ she thought. The bugs regarded each other for a moment, then scampered off together across the rocky surface.

She sighed. ‘Someone needs to help her. Might as well be me.’

The sound of footsteps broke Wallflower from her thoughts. She looked up just in time to see Sunset emerge from the thick forest. The redhead trudged through the leafy ground and stopped in front of Wallflower.

Blue eyes met brown.

“Hey,” Sunset said with a clearly forced casual expression.

“... Hi.”

Wallflower was a little taken aback by the attire Sunset showed up in. The gardener had only seen the girl in impeccable dress paired with her signature leather jacket; the loose sweatpants and ratty sweatshirt were a far cry from that.

There was an awkward silence as the two avoided eye contact. Wallflower felt as though something had shifted between the two, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.

“So, uh…” Sunset finally spoke up. “The burn stuff?”

“Oh! Right, sorry.” Wallflower grabbed her backpack, searching through the main pouch for a moment before producing a glass jar that held a cloudy gel inside.

She hesitated for a moment, then held the mixture out to Sunset, who took it and slipped it into her hoodie’s pocket.

“... Thanks.” Sunset turned to leave, eyes on the ground.

Wallflower felt that, somehow, she needed to do something. Without thinking, she leapt to her feet.

“Sunset, wait!”

The redhead stopped and turned, an odd look on her face. She raised an eyebrow.

“Uh...” Another small silence passed as Wallflower searched for what to say.

‘Might as well bite the bullet...’

With a deep breath, Wallflower made eye contact. “Do you need some help? Applying it, I mean.”

“What do you-”

“I know you’re hurt, Sunset.”

***

Sunset tried to swallow her panic. Shock donned her features, unhindered by her usual carefully crafted mask of indifference. Sunset was surprised to find that she didn’t feel angry at being found out; more baffled that Wallflower had managed to see past her facade.

“How did you...?”

She trailed off, and Wallflower sighed. The gardener sat back down. “I’m an observant person, especially when it comes to injuries.” She shifted on the bench, almost subconsciously rubbing her arm. Sunset’s eyebrows scrunched together- she still didn’t have an answer to why Wallflower had bruises, seeing as her snooping had been derailed- but she didn’t press the topic. Instead, she bit her lip and moved to sit next to Wallflower. The girl looked at her, but Sunset’s eyes remained on the ground.

“... It’s my back. It happened at the Fall Formal.”

Wallflower nodded. “It was that rainbow thing, wasn’t it?”

‘I really shouldn’t have underestimated her, huh.’ Out loud, she heaved a sigh of her own. “Yeah. Transforming from demon to human via giant friendship blast apparently puts a lot of stress on your body.”

She shifted in her seat. She downright hated sharing her vulnerability. It made her feel weak, but she couldn’t deny that a small weight being lifted from her shoulders.

Wallflower repeated her question. “Can I help you apply the gel?”

On instinct, Sunset wanted to snap that she didn’t need anyones help. She wanted to push Wallflower away, to refuse anything that would make her seem weak.

But for some reason, she didn’t.

Instead, Sunset swallowed her pride and nodded. “Yeah. That would be nice.”

“Alright,” Wallflower gave Sunset a small smile, which Sunset found herself returning. “Turn around.”

Sunset handed Wallflower the mixture and turned on the bench.

“Can you lift up your sweatshirt?”

Taking a deep breath, Sunset nodded. She slowly lifted the hem of her sweatshirt, bringing it up over her head so that it hung around her arms, covering her chest while leaving her back exposed.

Wallflower gasped. “Oh my gods, Sunset…”

Sunset hissed as Wallflower gently traced a finger along the outsides of the wounds left by her wings. The burns had been healing quicker than Sunset expected them to, but they were still ghastly and painful.

There was the sound of a metal lid unscrewing from the glass jar Wallflower held. “Why haven’t you gone to the hospital?”

The cool gel surprised Sunset when it hit her skin. She grit her teeth as Wallflower started to spread it across her injuries. “I’m a magical pony from another dimension,” she responded with a bite to her words. “I don’t exactly have any kind of documentation.”

“Wait, you’re from the portal world?”

“Yeah.” More cold gel plastered across Sunset’s back. She could already feel a fresh relief seeping into the mangled tissue. “You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t,” Wallflower replied with a hint of fascination in her voice. “That’s pretty cool.”

Wallflower continued applying the burn salve, leaving them in a more comfortable silence than before.

‘She’s been… surprisingly tolerable.’ Sunset thought. ‘More so than Snips and Snails were, at least. Definitely has more personality than the two of them combined.’ She frowned as she remembered the discovery she had made earlier. ‘And much more depth…’

“... There.” With a few more strokes of her fingers, Wallflower was finished applying the salve. “All done.”

“Thanks.”

Sunset heard the rustle of fabric as Wallflower wiped her hands on her jeans. The redhead gently pulled her sweatshirt down over her torso once more, careful to keep it from sticking to her back.

‘Uhg,’ she thought as Wallflower stowed the remainder of the gel in her backpack. ‘I guess I owe her for all this help.’

Steeling her nerves, Sunset took a deep breath. “Hey, uh, Wallflower?”

“Hm?”

Sunset hesitated. She was glad her back was still to Wallflower so the other girl couldn’t see her face. “I… I just recently heard about your dad. I- uh, I’m sorry.”

Wallflower froze. “... You didn’t know?”

“No,” Sunset said softly. “I didn’t. I would have said something.”

“Ha. That’s unlikely,” Wallflower said flaty. Her words were bitter, but they didn’t seem to hold any concentrated malice towards Sunset alone. “Nobody said anything. Nobody cared. Why would you?”

Wallflower’s tone was more self pitying than aggressive, but still, Sunset winced. Echoes of the word ‘monster’ bounced around in her head. She turned on the bench, finally facing Wallflower.

“Well… I’m saying something now.” Sunset paused. “Uh, that really sucks.”

The girl stared at Sunset silently for a beat.

Sunset was just beginning to feel like maybe she had said the wrong thing when Wallflower burst into laughter.

“Wow,” she said in between giggles. “You really have a way with words!”

Sunset tried to hold her laughter in- she really did- but she soon found herself guffawing alongside Wallflower.

“You know,” Wallflower said as their laughter died down. “That actually made me feel better. You aren’t half bad, Shimmer.”

A light feeling was present in Sunset’s chest as she and Wallflower went their separate ways. It followed the redhead home, gracing her with a good mood for the rest of the day.

She wouldn’t call her new bond with Wallflower friendship, per se, but maybe it was getting somewhere close.

Author's Note:

I'm back with more garbage!!! My wrist is doing a lot better, so I've had the opportunity to work on this chapter a bit. I just finished editing it and I am exhausted, so sorry if there are some mistakes. Still not sure if I'm entirely satisfied, but whatever it's close enough for the time being Might add some smaller tweaks sometime tomorrow if I feel like it.

I know things got a little personal in there with Wallflower and Sunset so just a reminder that, no worries! This will be a SciSet fic! Sunset and Wallflower's bond is sisterly. In fact, a certain purple nerd is going to be introduced next chapter...

Hope y'all are having a great Monday

~Bitty Bug

Comments

[Hobbestc]

Yaaaay, nice chapter! Monday is rolling along just fine. Just trying to find a group out of my area to go Lapras hunting with on Sat. Looking forward to twi showing up soon.

[DavisSentoV5]

That was quite the bonding moment Sunset had with Wallflower. It was very sweet to see them both have actual real smiles on their faces, I think things may get better for her... Unless her demon gets involved or worse...

[sporklasagna]

Oh, right, this is a SciSet fic. Maybe I forgot since the two of them haven't interacted much yet.

I like the new art!

[Vaguely Demented]

Should probably apply bandages of some sort. Keeps the ointment together and the wounds clean.

[Ze1a7in]

Why do I have the feeling that Sunset's scars are going to be revealed to the rest of the school in the worst way possible?

[chris the cynic]

Woo, there's more of this!

There aren't enough stories about Sunset reintegrating into society after the Fall Formal. Considering the progress (well, lack thereof) on Stumbling, I'm not exactly doing much to fix that; it's nice to see someone actively making such a story. I'd read it even if that weren't the case, but since it is I figured I might as well say something about it.

As much as I want a continuation of It takes a while (especially since the last thing was that epilogue) I'm glad you're doing this.

[BittyBug]

9635550

I’m really glad you’re enjoying it so far!!!

Don’t worry, I have a sequel to It Takes A While cooking up; I just hit a tiny bit of writers block it’s definitely on the way though!

[reboot-this-pc]

Somehow I was looking forward to this being a wallflower x sunset ship, but eeh I can dig it as SunLight

[Ri2]

I was actually wondering if this would be a SciSetFlower ship, but sisterly's cool.

So if her dad's dead, where is she getting the bruises from?

[Night Spark]

This is a unique sunset story. I’m digging it! Keep up the good work!

[MustangII]

You alright man, it's been a month?