Twin Desires: The Tale of Two Ponies Who Want Twilight

Another month and a half passed until Twilight would finally introduce her fiance to her parents. As they were headed towards the Sparkle Family's house Twilight said, "Flash, please don't blow up around my parents the way you did my friends. The last thing you need are potential in-laws who have a bad image of you."

Flash replied, "Trust me honey, I won't. I've been working on controlling my temper."

Twilight said, "And PLEASE do not mention the rumors that caused your parents to disown you, especially the part about them thinking you solicit prostitutes. If you mention that, they will think that you do and probably talk to Luna about making you disappear without a trace."

Flash gulped, "They would really do that?"

Twilight replied, "Yes, they would. They don't want me hooking up with anypony that is questionable, much less marrying a guy that is questionable."

They finally reach Twilight's parents' house and knock on the door. Crescent answers the door and when he sees the two he says, "So you FINALLY decide to bring him over to meet us." He motioned for them to go in.

They headed to the living room and sat on the couch where they were greeted by Velvet. Velvet looked at Flash with a frown and asked, "So we finally get to meet him?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't bring him here sooner."

Crescent in a gruff voice said, "Twilight, could you leave please? We want to get to know him alone. We don't want you here protecting him from our questions."

Twilight looked sad and replied, "Ok dad. I'll see you later."

Once Twilight left Crescent decided the time to interrogate the guardspony had come. He said, "So soldier, tell us a bit about yourself."

Twilight had told him what her parents' names are so when he spoke to him, he made the mistake of calling him by his first name. "Well Crescent, I......."

Crescent interrupted, "That is MR. SPARKLE to you private."

Flash gulped, "I'm sorry Mr. Sparkle." Flash regained his composure and continued, "Well I was born into a wealthy family in Cloudsdale. My father was captain of the Cloudsdale guard so he was paid quite well. Before he was elevated to captain, he was stationed in various pl......"

Velvet interrupted, "We want to hear about YOU, not your father."

Flash replied, "I'm sorry ma'am. Ok, well given that my dad was a captain in the Cloudsdale guard it was a given that I would wind up being a guardspony. I just never imagined that I would wind up being part of Princess Celestia's Royal Guard. I remember when I got the news my family was quite proud of me."

Crescent wanted to know more about his relationship with his family as he knew that would say a lot about him. He asked, "So how well do you get along with your family?"

Flash replied, "Well when I first joined the guard we got along very well. After a couple years they began to wonder why I had not been promoted, they wondered why I was still a private."

Velvet asked, "How long have you been in the guard?"

Flash replied, "Five years."

Crescent asked with a glare, "Five years? You should be at least a sargent by this point, if not a lieutenant. It only took Shining Armor four years to become a captain."

Velvet got in his face and asked, "WHY haven't you been promoted?"

Flash nervously replied, "Well every commander I have served under, including your son, seems to think that I am lazy and incompetent."

Neither parent liked the fact that he brought Shining Armor into the discussion. Crescent yelled, "How dare you bring our son into this. He is an excellent commander, probably the best captain the Royal Guard ever had. He calmed down and asked, "So Flash, are you lazy and incompetent? Is what Shining reported to us about you true?"

Velvet added, "Shining Armor is a great commander. He knows who deserves promotions and who doesn't which means that you obviously haven't done anything to deserve a promotion."

Flash replied, "I am not lazy and I don't see why nopony has seen me as worthy of a promotion. I do my job."

Velvet laughed, "Bad grammar I see. I doubt Twilight would like that! Once she hears you using bad grammar, she'll leave you for sure!"

Flash sighed, "Ok, I don't understand why anypony has not seen me as deserving of getting a promotion."

Crescent remembered the things that Shining had mentioned when Twilight first told them about their engagement. Crescent asked, "Flash, when we first heard about your engagement to our daughter Shining had his concerns. He told all of us that your are lazy, incompetent and disobedient. He had also mentioned rumors about you having a drinking and a gambling problem. Is all this true?" He got up in the guardspony's face and continued, "And don't even try to lie to me. Shining Armor would not make things up and I am very good at spotting liars."

Flash realized that he needed to tell the truth. He replied, "Mr. Sparkle, your son was right about me. When I served under him I could have done a better job and in my past I did probably drink and gamble more than I should have."

Velvet asked, "Are you still doing a lousy job and do you still have these off duty problems."

Flash replied, "I am doing a much better job than I used to, I only have a drink once in a while and I only gamble once a month, and that is just involving small amounts of money."

Crescent asked, "So Flash, do you plan on settling down entirely once you marry our daughter? Do you plan on staying home in the evenings rather than engaging in activities that may be detrimental to the marriage?"

Flash replied, "Yes sir. I have been slowly but surely cutting back on both activities."

Velvet said, "Well let's hope so. I do not, I repeat, I do not want to see my daughter's heart broken. She already has enough stress being a princess. The last thing she needs is a husband who will only cause her heartache."

Flash replied, "Yes ma'am. I understand."

Crescent wanted to know if he had any other family in the guard. He asked, "So private, do you have any other family in the guard?"

Flash replied, "Yes, I do. I have a brother who is the captain of the Manehattan guard."

Crescent asked, "How long has he been in the guard?"

Talking about his brother began to irritate him but he knew he had to do it. He replied, "Well he has been in the guard for six years."

Velvet asked, "Oh, and how quickly did he move up in the ranks."

Flash growled, "He moved up rather quickly. He was promoted to corporal in just three months and in just two years he was made a captain. It was only a year after that when he was made the captain of the Manehattan Guard. I think the powers that be simply like him more."

Crescent shook his head and replied, "Listen, I think I know what the problem is here. It is quite obvious that your brother has a business-first mindset, which is why he moved up through the ranks so quickly. I bet if I were to ask Shining Armor he would probably have enough information on him that he could report a perfect service record." He sighed and continued, "You on the other hand, have a lot of room to improve and I honestly don't ever seeing you do it."

Flash was getting extremely nervous and couldn't handle being interrogated by his future in-laws anymore. He looked up at the clock and said, "Well it has been nice talking with you but I have to report for guard duty in thirty minutes."

Crescent escorted him to the door and sneered, "Well you better get to guard duty where all you do is stand around and molest other mares with your eyes."

Flash grunted and headed out the door. After leaving Velvet said, "I don't know about you honey but I don't like him one bit. I think he is hiding things and I'm damn sure he is lying about his drinking and gambling."

Crescent added, "As do I. One thing we do know is that everypony except Twilight does not like him. Maybe if we are lucky somepony will turn her against him as well."

Velvet said, "And if she does marry that loser, chances are she will be filing for divorce and have him banished from Equestria within a couple of months."

While Twilight's parents continued their discussion, Flash headed to the base realizing that he did make some mistakes. On the way there he ran into Twilight. She asked, "Flash, how did the meeting go with my parents?"

Flash knew he had to lie to keep Twilight from getting upset. He replied, "Well they went fairly good. I don't think they are very impressed with the fact that I haven't moved up any in the ranks yet but other than that things went good."

Twilight asked, "That's it? That's all they were upset about?"

Flash smiled, "Yeah. I have a feeling they are questioning my work ethic but I think that they know I have potential so there shouldn't be any problems with them supporting our marriage."

Twilight kissed Flash and replied, "Yes, yes, yes! I'm so happy!"

Flash said, "Well honey, I better get off to guard duty. I really don't want to be late."

Twilight replied, "Alright sweetie, I'll see you later."

Twilight headed home happy after what Flash had told her. If only she knew that he had lied through his teeth she would not be so happy. She decided that she would simply relax that evening since for the first time in quite a while, she did not have any stress involving overly concerned friends, disapproving princesses and distrustful parents.