It was after the wedding of a Mi Amore Cadenza and his dear friend, Shining Armor that Flash Sentry met Rainbow Dash again.
Possibly the eighteenth time of the year and the first in two months.
Not that Flash had been keeping count on purpose. He was merely aware of it as his wings flexed as if he was pleased, curling free from their tight fold on his back. His blank face straightened into a bland smile and he took as much time as necessary to both savor the moment and force his wings down as he made his way to her.
If it all seemed odd... It wasn't. That was normal behavior.
For them at least.
By all rights, he should be joining the dispatched search squads running around Canterlot, looking for any remaining changelings as they were called and finding missing ponies. And if that wasn't his speed and it wasn't, he could get down and dirty assisting with clean-up. It looked like every Royal Guard on call was working even harder than usual, unable to accept the fact that thanks to their collective failure to secure the city, Princess Celestia had been taken by the enemy. Even if it had been less than fifteen minutes and there was no causalities considering the fact they were invaded.
If Flash had been wearing the armor, he wouldn't be having such mean-spirited thoughts. Probably be off joining the fellows in raising the temperature of the city with all the big talk and hot air spurring free. But today was Flash's approved day-off and his name wasn't even called from the official roster when the guards were rallied to move out. Either Shining pulled a string in advance or they thought his highly qualified skills were better use elsewhere. Like getting drunk for one example. And it just so happened that a free and fresh mug was waiting at the same table Rainbow Crashing Dash was nursing a drink of her own.
Flash took the second seat across from her. Leaving a spare seat between them as he grasped the cup in his forehooves and took a hearty sip. It was typical punch with a little something extra that weddings were known for. Crystal pink and fruity with the oily tang of three different types of liquor added in. What would be the proper term for this drink? Should he call it spiked punch or spiky punch because of it being tampered more than once? It was such a silly thought that Flash regretted not cracking open his wedding present, a bottle of fancy wine and adding it to the punch bowl. With Shining and his new wife taking off like that and leaving their haul behind, he was pretty sure that the gifts were up for grabs.
And Shining didn't deserve that bottle anyhow.
Not after that stunt he pulled before the wedding, mind-addled by changelings or not. Taking another mouthful, Flash swirled the drink on his tongue. Unconsciously nodding to himself while identifying what booze was thrown in the punch as he placed his mug down. Some drops ran down his chin and he wiped them away, ignoring the frown tugging at his face. He would be more inclined to forgive Shining if that very stallion was still here, kissing his hooves for forgiveness. Whenever the captain did it literally or figuratively didn't matter.
Then the table shook, rattling his cup that had been resting on the edge before it tipped over and spilled onto his lap. Suddenly the world went silent aside from the sounds of the juice hitting the pavement and the red heat that rose from his ears to the sides of his face. Flash bent forward, gripping the white tablecloth as he slowly turned to the mare beside him. She didn't say anything. There was no point for it. She knew and he knew. He knew very much. After all this time, she was still petty.
“That's real mature. Do you have something against punch?”
His companion only snorted into her own cup, rocking the table with every suspicious thump of her left hoof, shaking the table as if it was an honest accident. As if she was trying to imply every time she drunk something, she felt the strange need to beat a table into submission. Her eyes were lit in the dusty gleam of her fun, darting over his flushed face before she dove back into her drinking.
Flash swallowed. Glanced over her and to the other party-goes. Outside the two of them sitting down, everyone else was on their hooves, mingling and dancing near or on the party floor. Well, he wouldn't call what that purple unicorn was doing out there dancing. She was something though, bucking her hind legs and knocking the two couples behind her in her enthusiasm.
All eyes were on her and with that, Flash discreetly stretched his left wing, hovering slight in the air as he yawned before smacking Rainbow in the back of the head. The mare gurked, flinging her cup out of her hooves as it flew across the table, staining everything in globs and splotches. And with that settled, Flash waved to a waiter for two new cups and a bowl of crackers. Rainbow sat up, rising higher in her seat as she shouted over him for a bowl of pretzels and those double-stuffed lily pads that she saw a mare called Rarity with.
“Ignore the mare, I was ordering first!”
“If you really wanted it, you would be louder than me.” Rainbow wagged her head, obnoxiously yelling over the music. “First voice heard, first one served and I need nachos.”
“What wedding would even serve nachos! Do you hear yourself?”
“I don't see that waiter over there telling me they don't have it. So why don't you just sit down and wait your turn? Do you have to get in my way every single time I see you?”
“Is that how you see it? I haven't even gotten started yet.”
Flash shoved her down, repeating his order and Rainbow put his hoof across his mouth, repeating her order and declaring over and over she wanted a plate of nachos. Flash kicked her chair, knocking her over which seemed like a great move until she pulled him down by her grip on his muzzle. The two of them rolled out of their garden chairs and onto the grass with Flash taking the moment to smear some of the juice into her blue coat. Somehow Rainbow managed to get on top of him and if she could do the sleeper hold properly without currently choking him to death, he'd say she improved. Improved poorly.
“So...” A voice rang out before he saw a pair of pink hooves pull them apart. “I can't help but think that you two know each other.” Flash blankly took in the pink mare and her colorful outfit, craning his neck to let the blood flow from the hoof-mark bruises forming on it. “Who's your friend, Dashie?”
“We're not friends.” Was the standard response but the two of them winced as they said it at the same time. It had been a while since somebody straight out asked and it wasn't his story to tell. Flash guessed this was the very same Pinkie Pie that Rainbow had mentioned in her letters about her so-called awesome life in Ponyville.
“Then what are you?”
What a dumb question. It had been a even longer time since someone asked a follow-up question.
“Nothing really.” Flash replied, signaling to the waiter that returned with their orders on a large tray that was balanced on his back. “Cute how she calls you Dashie.” He baited, taking his bowls of snacks and new drink as he considered to tip the rest of the tray over.
“Com-pli-cated.” Rainbow muttered, glaring at his innocent hoof that was gently aiding the tray to obey the laws of gravity. “He's my rival.” Flash rolled his eyes and backed off, gladly taking a sip from his cup. “This guy is the absolute worse. Just being around him makes me want to... to... punch a dragon. And don't tell Fluttershy I said that.”
Pinkie oohed, pulling out a notebook from somewhere and taking a thinker's pose. “Do you two try to outrace each other?” She gestured to Flash's wings that had escaped yet again and was splayed to their full length as Rainbow was grinding her pointy shoulder into his side. He responded by resting on her, all one hundred and eighty-nine pound of him. “Could this mean that there is actually someone faster than Rainbow Dash and she acknowledges it?”
“What!” Rainbow squeaked, weaseling her way of his grasp. “There's no one faster than me! And if there is, they won't be for long. Weren't you there when you saw me go from zero to-”
“Not that I'm saying that we are rivals because that would mean playing along with Ms. Crazy over here but we aren't that type of rivals. Besides, I'm not that good of a flier.” Flash mused, stretching out in the grass. “I like the term short-distance master. Or maybe gliding king. Whatever. The point is I couldn't out fly a turtle with wings.”
“Sounds a lot like gelding king.” Rainbow snickered, making a obscene gesture with her hooves. “Have you seen yourself. How about gelding quee-”
“That's funny, Rainbow. But I always liked the classics, Rainbow Crashing Down The Lane.”
“Then how come you two seem so close?” Pinkie questioned, leaning into both of them and watching the beads of sweat run down their foreheads. “Cousins?” She took in a deep breath, vibrating in place until she spat it out. “Lovers!”
“I wouldn't go that far, Pinkie. I just said that it was complicated. I mean, there is love but-”
“It's not that kind of love. If Rainbow here could just let it go, we could have some loving feelings to each other but-”
The very first time Rainbow Dash met Flash Sentry, it took two more meetings to learn his name. Then four more times for her to realize he was a boy. And quite a few years after that to comprehend it. She accepted this strange fact with the same kind of self-righteousness skepticism a pony could think about just about anything. Anything being that her and her feelings about him was based on a mistake.
Which didn't happen by the way. No matter what Flash Sentry said.
Because sure Flash Sentry may be a stallion and continued to pretend to be stallion-like but that didn't mean he would always remain a stallion. The reason for her extremely sound logic is when they first met, Flash wasn't a colt. And his denial of this very crucial fact was one of the many things that had her... Out of sorts when it came to him. Flash couldn't ever in a million years understand how much of an impact he had on her. And how he should be taking responsibility!
It was in the late afternoon of a dry summer in Cloudsdale when she first saw him. Or rather her, first hearing Flash's bell-like voice ringing out across the playground. Rainbow just graduated from the school nearby, finally moving onto a upper prep flight school and she was lingering around, kicking at the swings. Not because she would miss all that baby stuff but there was nothing wrong in just looking at it.
“Rainbow Dash,” A little filly ran up to her, wearing a silvery gown that glittered under the sweet sunlight with a daisy chain braided into her hair. “I love you.” The filly slowed into a gentle trot forward, a smile blooming on her soft face as Rainbow stood spellbound. Some of the petals blew away from their buds, fluttering in the light breeze as they flew passed Rainbow's glob-slacked face and the blush boiling her alive.
As if on cue, the sky itself became overcast with a single beam of light shining down on this strange foal. The filly bowed her head, her navy blue lock cradling her face as she spoke her next words.
“Will you marry me?”
Rainbow's heart ruptured as the blood drained from her skull, taking residence in her wobbling legs. This was a confession. A love confession with a capital L and O and all those stupid letters. From a girl no less. A pipsqueak that was even smaller than her, confessing her innermost feelings to her fillyfriend! Wait... Was she the fillyfriend in this situation! Still gaping in shell-shocked silence, Rainbow shook as she tried to take in a calming breath and found the filly smelling of her most favorite things: sugar, icing and clean linen right from the wash! Why did the filly have to smell so good?
Didn't the grown-ups say that the nose knows? Could she be experiencing that love that Sonic Sensation was talking about, bragging of her first smooch with Radical in class? Is it that, in her greatest of nightmare, true love at first sight! Was that her? Was that really happening here, right now!
Rainbow switched to breathing out her mouth, ignoring how her lungs seemed to clench under the strain. She was not some silly girl who was going to turn into a gooey mess from some dumb little kid with a crush. She was a big kid and obviously this brat needed to be put in their place.
“We can't get married!” Rainbow tried to sound confident but even she heard the question in her voice. “There are rules. You can't just go up to somebody you don't even know and ask them to get married.” Her voice went higher and higher as she rocked back and forth on her hooves, feeling woozy.
“I don't care about the rules!” The filly's words sent a jolt of pride down Rainbow's spine. Which was the wrong thing to be feeling because this kid was nuts! Totally loco! “Let's get married. I really, really want to go!”
“We can't get married because I don't love you!” She shouted, shoving the filly over and standing over her. The filly shoved her right back, sticking a hoof in Rainbow's chest as if she expected to be shoved again. Where was this kid getting all their confidence from? Was she, Rainbow Dash, really worth it fighting for...? What if it was true love at first sight and there was nothing she could do about it. And the filly was cute...
'No! I refuse to be chained to a little kid! They ruin everything. If you hang with babies, then you are a baby!' She screamed in her head before mumbling out a excuse. “You're a girl. You're not supposed to be proposing first.” Why did she say it like that? It made it sound like she wanted to propose!
“What does that have to do with anything? I'll-” Rainbow sucked in a hysteric breath, her body bracing itself as her mind began flashing images of their life together in the strange land called the future. Living together. Having their weird in-jokes and demanding alone time for weird adult stuff. Putting in a order for a baby from the stork! Her heart just couldn't handle any more.
“I'll make you love me!”
A declaration that struck her firmly in the heart. She was done. Here she fell, defeated by the cuteness.
“Make me, Rainbow Dash, love you? You're crazy...” Rainbow swooned, falling to the ground with a hoof helplessly thrown over her head. She writhed there, imagining their wedding procession and the two of them wearing white gowns as her parents cried. So embarrassing!
The filly leaned over her, blocking the light with her adorable face looking down as if she was the sun and moon of her life. “So that's a no?”
“Yeah...”
“My cousins lied. They said girls in Cloudsdale liked to get married all the time.” And with that, the filly who shouldn't have become Flash Sentry walked out of her life. At least, until next summer when Flash came back and tried her or rather his luck again.
The very first time Flash Sentry met Rainbow Dash, he did not say any of the things she claimed he did when they were children. Up until his tenth birthday and once he was sent to live temporary with his uncle and aunt in Cloudsdale full-time instead of visiting in the summer, he told her the exact thing he always did. Of course, the specifics being whatever his cousins told him Rainbow Dash, known as the infamous Rainbow Crash, had.
His very first confession was: “Are you the Rainbow Crash who has two tickets to the Wonderbolts show? I heard from my big cousins that ponies who get married have to share whether they want to or not. So let's get married!”
And he was dressed in a bed sheet with patches of dirt and weeds stuck his hair and the rest of him. He'd just come from rough-housing with his cousins and currently fleeing from his angry eldest cousin for being indirectly responsible for stealing her daisies for fun and profit.
His second confession was: “Rainbow Crash, Rainbow Crash, I wanna have your babies! I'll give you one and half foals for a ride in your super cool wagon my cousins told me about. I've been told we don't need to be married to have babies and girls love babies so...”
He ran up to her wearing his aunt's lacy saddle, the same one his uncle called her persuasion device while wearing mismatched socks his cousins picked for him. The socks made it hard to run so before he even reached her, he slid on the sidewalk, falling into a puddle and getting soaked to the bone. Shivering, he watched Rainbow back away and run into a street pole before running into it again and again.
And his third one right before his birthday: “I've been thinking and I'm sick and tired of doing all the work around here. You don't care! You don't give me anything! You make me watch the kids while you're up all day getting free balloon rides because you won that contest my cousins told me about. I want a divorce and half of every ticket you have!”
He came prepared with two dollies, one painted blue and brown with their grass hair glued on.
“Why won't you love me!?”
Thinking back on the things he said in order to get things from Rainbow Dash, he felt the strange urge to walk off a very short bridge. So he was a very gullible kid once upon a time ago. That didn't mean he deserved punishment for it.
Who responds to declarations of love by stalking them?
