The FlashLight Week Bimonthly Challenges

Chapters

Aug-Sept: What’s Past is Past
Oct-Nov: The Violet Owl
Dec-Feb: Hide and Seek

Aug-Sept: What’s Past is Past

Author's Note

This is my submission for the August-September challenge. The prompt for August and September is "Your Own Story." Here are the details from AngyLopez's deviantart journal: "Each artist or fan has its own version of the facts, its own way of thinking or imagining, even to see the relationship of these characters. Tell me, what do you have in mind for Twilight and Flash? What story do you have for this couple? How do you see their relationship, their future, their life together?"

Okay, so I had this idea of Flash and Twilight talking about their pasts floating around in my head since I finished Heaven's Not Too Far Away. Basically, the idea involved Flash and Twilight being vulnerable with each other about their past mistakes. I wasn't sure if it fit the prompt, but then I decided that resolving the past is an important part of being able to move into the future and that honesty and vulnerability are necessary for a healthy romantic relationship.

This story is in the same continuity as Heaven's Not Too Far Away.

Aug-Sept: What’s Past is Past

Twilight Sparkle paced the floor of her dining room as she looked over everything within view. On the dining room table were a stack of books, a plate of cookies, and a pitcher of fruit punch along with two drinking glasses and an assortment of school supplies. Did the punch have enough ice? It looked cold enough, but how can she really be sure? What if Flash didn’t like chocolate chip cookies with walnuts? What if he’s allergic to walnuts and goes into anaphylactic shock, and she didn’t have an Epi pen with her? No, that’s silly. Pinkie Pie assured her that chocolate chip with walnuts were Flash’s favorite cookies, and Pinkie Pie’s never been wrong about people’s favorite foods before, except for that one time that Pinkie thought that Twilight ate books.

Twilight could see her living room from where she was pacing. The floor was visible and clean, the remotes for the TV, cable box, and Blu-ray player were neatly lined up on the coffee table, and not a speck of dust could be seen on the furniture. Even though the living room was clearly clean and organized, Twilight had to suppress the urge to get the vacuum cleaner and to reorganize the books and movies on the shelves. Twilight felt her face heating up as she caught sight of the one shelf of Dolly B. DVDs from her childhood. Admittedly, she still watched them on occasion, but she can’t let Flash know that. What if he laughed at her?

She was about to run over and hide the offending objects when she paused and pulled out her phone. Using her selfie camera as mirror, she looked over herself. Her skin was free of blemishes as usual, and her hair still hadn’t grown back to its normal length but was otherwise immaculate. Twilight put away her phone and looked down at her clothes. She was wearing her usual outfit, consisting of a collared shirt, a star-patterned skirt, and a bowtie. It only started becoming her usual outfit some time after the Juniper Montage incident. What if Flash liked her old usual outfit better? Maybe she should change.

However, before Twilight could do anything, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” her mother called. Twilight inwardly screamed.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Twilight thought to herself as she raced to beat her mother to the door.

“Why, hello, Flash,” Ms. Velvet said, opening the front door to a blue-haired teenage boy. Too late.

“Hi, Ms. Velvet,” Flash greeted back with a smile. His smile faded, however, when he glanced towards the sheet of paper that was taped to the door. It was a picture of Shining Armor with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face captioned with the words “I’m watching you.” Twilight looked all over the hallway and, to her embarrassment, saw that the same image was placed in regular intervals from the door all the way to the living room. Darn that overprotective rookie cop!

“Come on in,” said Ms. Velvet as Flash entered. “Twilight’s been looking forward to having you over all day.”

“Mom!” Twilight groaned, putting a hand to her face.

“Well, you have,” said a voice from behind and below Twilight. Twilight turned around to see her faithful dog Spike standing behind her. “I don’t know why though,” Spike continued. “This isn’t the first time Flash has been to our house.”

“It is Flash’s first time over since he and Twily officially started dating,” Ms. Velvet clarified as the group moved down the hallway into the dining area.

“Mom!” Twilight cried, covering her face with both her hands.

“By the way, I’ll be in my office if you need anything,” Ms. Velvet continued as she began to walk away before turning back to the two teenagers who had seated themselves at the dining table. “Do you need anything? Extra paper? More snacks? Classical music?”

“No, Mom, we’re good,” Twilight replied with thinly veiled irritation. Thankfully, Velvet got the hint and left the teens alone with the talking dog, who had curled himself up at his human’s feet.

“I’m so sorry about all that,” Twilight said to Flash, “especially the posters that my brother put up.”

“No worries,” Flash replied with a chuckle. “I kind of expected as much after what happened on the day of the dance. Besides, I’m sure you went through the same thing the first time you invited Timber Spruce over.”

Twilight had been laughing along with him up until he mentioned her ex-boyfriend. She turned away from him with a guilty look.

“Yeah,” Twilight began as she nervously stared at the table. She let out a sigh before confessing, “About that, I’ve never invited Timber over. In fact, no one in my family knew that I was in a relationship until Timber and I broke up.”

Flash’s eyes widened as he realized the implications of what Twilight had just told him. “You mean, you kept your relationship with Timber a secret from your family?”

Twilight slowly nodded before continuing, “Not exactly my proudest decision. It wasn’t that I had anything to hide. It’s just that, well, it was my first relationship, and you saw what my mom was like and the posters. I guess I was just scared that my family was going to end up scaring him away.”

To Twilight’s surprise, Flash began laughing. His laughs weren’t those giggles that people get when they’re mildly amused. No, these were hearty, bursting-out-the-seams belly laughs.

“Are you laughing at me?” Twilight turned to her boyfriend with an incredulous expression on her face. She couldn’t believe he was laughing at her. She couldn’t tell if she should cry or punch him or both.

“No, no,” Flash insisted as he struggled to contain his laughter. “I wasn’t laughing at you. I was actually laughing at me.”

“I’m sorry. What?”

Flash took a few deep breaths as his laughter subsided. Then, he turned towards Twilight and placed his hands on hers. Almost immediately, all her fear and anxiety was replaced with feelings of comfort and security. Why did those hands of his have to be so safe and warm?

“I was laughing at myself because what you said about hiding Timber from your family,” Flash explained, “sounds a lot like what I did back when Sunset Shimmer and I were together.”

“Wait. What?” Twilight replied, her jaw dropping.

“Look, I’m not sure if anyone told you or not, but Sunset and I used to date.”

“I know about that. Sunset told me,” Twilight clarified before continuing. “You mean to tell me that you actually kept something from your family?”

“I wasn’t proud of it, but yes,” Flash admitted.

“But,” Twilight began before trailing off in thought. “I don’t get it. You and your family seem close. Why would you hide something as important as your first relationship from them?”

“Like I said, I wasn’t proud of it,” Flash repeated before answering. “If you want to know how it happened, I’m going to have to tell you how I met Sunset in the first place.”

“Hold that thought,” Twilight said as she got up and poured herself and Flash a glass of fruit punch and pushed the plate of cookies closer to where they were sitting. “Okay, go.”

Flash smiled as he took his glass from Twilight and began his tale, “When I first met Sunset, she had just arrived at Canterlot High. This was before she built up a reputation for herself as CHS’s biggest meanie.”

“Pinkie Pie told me that the whole school voted her for that yearbook superlative. Were the two of you together before or after that?” Twilight asked, remembering what her pink friend had told her and the rest of the yearbook committee.

“We got together before that, and I abstained, so technically, the whole school minus me and Sunset voted for that superlative. Anyway, when Sunset first came to CHS, she seemed a little lost and confused. She might have also been scared, but she was really good at hiding it,” Flash continued. “When I first met her, she had tripped in the cafeteria and gotten her food all over herself. After she fell, she just sat there staring at everybody staring at her. Some of the other students were even laughing.”

“But not you.”

“I went over to her, helped her up, and brought her over to Rarity to get a change of clothes. I didn’t think much of it. I was just trying to help someone who look like she needed it.”

“You don’t sound too happy about having done that,” Twilight noted. “Do feel bad that you helped her?”

“No, I don’t feel bad for helping her,” Flash answered. “I feel bad about what ended up happening afterwards.” Flash sighed as he looked away from Twilight. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this story.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked, turning Flash so that he was facing her again.

“Sunset’s your best friend. I don’t think she’d want you thinking about her like that.”

“Flash, I already know about Sunset’s past.”

“Well, I doubt you know just how bad she was before she changed.”

Twilight pulled her hands out from under Flash’s and gave his upper arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Flash,” she began, “Sunset Shimmer is my best friend. She saved me from the worst mistake of my life and gave me a brand-new lease on life.” She looked away from Flash and smiled to herself. “She’s the reason why I even have friends now in the first place.” Then, Twilight turned back to him and said, “She’s also the reason why you and I are even possible. After everything that she’s done for me already, I doubt that any dirt you have on her past is going to make me change my mind.”

Flash looked into Twilight’s eyes. They were as firm and unmoving as a statue’s. He could feel her chilly hands warming up as they held on to his arm. Twilight had quite a grip for someone with such thin fingers. He searched his brain for the right words to counter everything she had said, but none of the rebuttals he came up with felt sufficient.

“Fine, I’ll tell you,” he conceded. “A few days after I helped her, she started giving me these, well, signals. She’d walk by me and toss her hair a certain way. She’d even brush against me sometimes. She’d look at me with these big, round eyes and smile at me a certain way. She’d always try to sit really close to me during lunch. She even used to grab my arm and put her head on my shoulder.”

Flash studied Twilight’s face as he spoke. He could see that his description of how Sunset used to behave was shocking to her, but for the most part, her primary emotion seemed to be confusion. Clearly, the girl he was describing didn’t match up with the girl that she knows. Flash wanted the stop talking right then and there, but the way Twilight was squeezing his arm both urged him to continue and reassured him that he could trust her.

Flash let out a sigh and continued, “I’ll admit it. I liked the attention Sunset was giving me, and I wanted more of it, but at the same time, something didn’t feel right, so I told Mom, Aunt Flare, and Grandma about it, and they all told me to just tell Sunset I wasn’t interested.”

“Did you?” Twilight asked.

Flash turned away as he shook his head. “I told her that she seemed like a nice girl, but that my family didn’t think she was the right one for me. She gave me this look and said, ‘Well, what your family doesn’t know won’t hurt them.’ Next thing, I knew I was taking her out on a date, one date became two, and not long after, we were dating.”

“So, when did your folks find out?”

“By the time freshmen year ended, Sunset had, well, changed. She didn’t seem as nice anymore, to put it lightly. I told her that maybe we needed some time apart and that we should stop dating for a while.”

“Hold on. Sunset told me that you guys didn’t break up until last fall,” said Twilight.

“That’s because the first time I tried to end our relationship, she cried and got me to change my mind,” Flash paused before continuing, “In hindsight, I really should have known that she was only faking. Anyway, I was pretty much stuck with her, and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to go to my family for advice, but I didn’t want them to know that I had gone ahead and started dating Sunset behind their backs, so I stayed with her, hoping that she will change again but for the better. Finally, I couldn’t put up with her anymore. I spilled everything to my family, and boy, were they mad.”

“I imagine,” Twilight replied, having gone through a similar situation with her family when they found out about Timber.

“The thing was that they weren’t so much mad that I dated Sunset as they were mad that I had hid things from them and lied to them,” Flash sighed and continued, his voice dripping with guilt, “for almost 3 years, and even then, they were willing to help me out with her. They told me to just break up with her and not get sucked into whatever scene she tries to make when I do. I still remember Grandma’s exact words from that day. ‘If you know that this relationship is bad for both of you, then get out while you still can. Don’t let her try to keep you in.’”

“Then, you broke up with her?” Twilight asked.

“Well, it took me a while to actually build up enough courage to do it, but yes,” Flash replied.

“How did she take it?”

“Surprisingly well,” Flash answered. “Then again, she did pretty much all but admit that she was just using me the whole time.”

Twilight let go of Flash’s arm and looked away from him, her expression and body language unreadable. Flash panicked and took her by the shoulders.

Turning her to face him, Flash pleaded with her, “Twilight, I know it’s a lot to take in, and what Sunset did to me was horribly painful, but please, please, please don’t get upset with her or cut her off as your best friend.”

Flash felt like a total sap for begging, but he couldn’t let Twilight make yet another one of his mistakes. She was too good for that. Twilight simply stared back at him in bewilderment and nodded.

“Okay,” she replied, “I won’t.”

Flash released Twilight, and for a while, the two teens simply sat there in silence each afraid to look at one another in the eye. Flash took a cookie and began to nibble it, attempting to calm himself. Finally, Twilight spoke as she grabbed on of a book from the top of the stack.

“So, uh, why don’t we get this study date started, shall we?” she said nervously, trying to break the tension that had just built up between them.

For the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening, Flash and Twilight studied and worked on homework together. However, Flash’s mind wasn’t completely focused on the facts, books, and assignments that Twilight was trying to distract them with. In his heart, he knew he had to fix his past with Sunset if he wanted his relationship with Twilight to work, but how does a guy even begin to fix three years of pain and stupidity?

The next morning, Flash pulled his car into the student parking lot in Canterlot High. Micro Chips sat in his passenger seat.

“So, you mind telling me what all this is about,” Micro Chips said as both boys got out of the car and walked to the front steps of the school. The sun had just barely emerged from the horizon, and the whole school was completely empty except for the bespectacled girl sitting at the front steps with her dog. Shortly after, a red-haired girl came running from the direction opposite to the student parking lot.

“Alright, Flash, what’s all this about?” Sunset all but demanded. She slumped forward with her hands on her knees as she came to a stop, her breath coming out in fast, shallow puffs.

Flash felt his stomach twisting inside of him as everybody’s eyes turned towards him. As nervous as he felt, he knew that this conversation needed to happen. Yesterday made that perfectly clear.

Flash took a deep breath and gestured towards the steps. “Maybe we should all have a seat.”

Sunset didn’t need to be told twice, practically dropping herself next to Twilight. Flash sat on Twilight’s other side while Micro Chips sat next to him.

“Okay, we’re seated. Go,” Sunset said in one breath as she rubbed her eyes.

Flash opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He bit his lip and tried again, getting the same result. Finally, he gritted his teeth and let out a long, tension-relieving hiss before speaking.

“There’s no easy way to tell you this, but I told Twilight about our old relationship yesterday,” Flash said to Sunset.

Sunset just stared at him disbelievingly before crying out, “Are you kidding me? You got me up this early just to tell me that? She already knew about it.”

“Did she know about how we met, how we broke up, and everything in between that led up to the break up?” Flash clarified.

Sunset’s eyes widened as she realized what Flash was trying to communicate. “Oh.”

Another long, awkward silence stretched out between the four teens and the dog before Sunset finally said to her best friend, “So, I’m guessing that Flash told you some pretty bad things about me.”

“Bad?” Spike interjected. “Bad doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Twilight glared at her dog before turning back to Sunset and nodding uncomfortably.

“Let me put it this way. Flash made you sound like a selfish, hurtful, manipulative,” Twilight paused, biting back the appropriately inappropriate word she was thinking of saying, “beast.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” Micro butted in. Flash gave him a stern glare and elbowed his arm. “Ow!”

“Look, Twilight, Flash, if you guys are upset with me over what I did—,” Sunset began.

“We’re not!” Twilight interrupted, talking very quickly. “Or I’m not. At least, I don’t think I am. I don’t know if I can say the same for Flash, but I certainly hope he isn’t.”

“Can I please just say what I need to say?” Flash shouted, quieting everybody else. Once he had everybody’s attention again, he continued. “Thank you. Sunset, about our past, I just wanted to say…”

Sunset braced herself. She didn’t know why she did because she wasn’t expecting Flash to be angry. In fact, she was pretty sure that Flash had already buried their past a long time ago, but then again, if that was the case, why was he bringing it up now?

“I’m sorry,” Flash finished.

“What?” Sunset, Micro, Twilight, and Spike exclaimed in confusion.

“I’m sorry that I let you talk me into dating you behind my family’s back,” Flash continued, specifically addressing Sunset. “I knew it wasn’t right, and I should have told you no, but I didn’t. For that, I’m sorry.”

Sunset couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but she definitely wasn’t expecting an apology, especially since her and Flash’s relationship was mostly her fault to begin with.

“Uh, thanks,” Sunset managed to utter. “But why are you even bring it up now? I thought you’d want to forget that the relationship ever happened.”

“Believe me. I did, but when I went to Twilight’s yesterday for our study date, Twilight ended up telling me about how she had gone out with Timber behind her family’s back,” Flash explained. “At first, I laughed because I thought it was funny that Twilight and I had made almost the exact same mistake with our exes, but then, I started telling her the details. When I did, well, the conversation stopped being funny.”

“For the record, I’m not mad about what you did to Flash,” Twilight said to Sunset. “I’m honestly more confused than anything else. I mean, in all the time that we’ve been friends, I didn’t think that you of all people could be capable of being that bad. I mean, your temper still gets the best of you on your worst days, but you’re honestly one of the nicest people I know.”

“Anyway, I got worried that I might have driven a wedge between you and Twilight, and that made me realize that the two of us never really cleared up our past history, and that’s why I wanted us to meet.”

At first, Twilight, Micro, and Sunset’s faces were completely unreadable. Then, Sunset smiled, turned to Twilight, and said to her, “Girl, you better not let him go.”

“You,” Twilight began, a smile growing on her face as she affectionately leaned into her boyfriend, placing her head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe that you went through the trouble of mending fences with Sunset just for the sake of my friendship with her. That’s so sweet.”

Flash smiled back at Twilight as he wrapped an arm around her. “I didn’t want you losing your best friend over me. I know better than anyone that a best friend is a terrible thing to lose.”

“Wait,” said Micro as he sat up in realization. “Is that why you wanted me to come?”

Flash turned to Micro Chips and replied, “I wanted you come because I realized that I never actually thanked you.”

“For?”

“For being there for me after the break up,” Flash clarified. “I really didn’t deserve that, especially not after the way that I ditched you.”

“Yeah, you didn’t,” Micro bluntly agreed, “but up until you ditched me, you had been the best best friend a guy could ask for. I couldn’t just let all that die over one mistake. Besides, you were pretty darn pitiful after you found out that Sunset never really cared for you.”

Flash lightly jabbed Micro Chips in the shoulder as the two of them laughed.

“For what it’s worth, thanks anyway,” Flash said.

Sunset looked like she was about to speak when Flash stopped her, “Sunset, before you say anything about how Micro and I breaking off our friendship was your fault, let me remind everyone that it was my choice. I chose to break it off, and I shouldn’t have. That was my mistake.”

Sunset opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut it again. Instead, she smiled and rolled her eyes as she said, “Flash Sentry, you are just too noble sometimes.”

“That’s how you know Twilight deserves him,” Spike added, climbing onto his human’s lap.

Flash smiled at everybody before pulling Twilight closer to him and turning to the horizon.

Silence followed. However, this silence wasn’t like the previous two silences. There was no tension or discomfort or awkwardness, only calm. The four teens and the dog just sat there simply enjoying one another’s company with nothing more needing to be said. The morning light had turned the sky a bright, happy blue, and all seemed right with the world.

“Well, now that we’ve finally cleared the air, can I please take a nap?” Sunset groaned as she curled into fetal position and lay her head on her backpack. “Wake me up when school starts. It’s still too early.”

Oct-Nov: The Violet Owl

Author's Note

This is my submission for the October-November challenge. The prompt for October and November is "Inspired by Nature." Here are the details from AngyLopez's deviantart journal: "Have you ever read or heard of the 'elements of nature'? Yes, earth, wind, fire, etc. The number of elements varies between 4 and 5, depending on the culture. But what does this mean? It means that you can choose any of these elements, look up its meaning or directly draw inspiration from the element to do something related to Twilight and Flash."

Okay, confession time. I didn't read the prompt very carefully when I came up with this idea. :twilightsheepish: All I read was "Inspired by Nature," and I thought, "Why don't I do something fairy tale/folktale-inspired? There are lots of stories of people changing into animals, and animals are nature." Yeah, when I realized that I had misread the prompt, I thought, "Okay, let's see how I can work the classical elements into this story." I decided to go with the Chinese system of classical elements which are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. I was originally going to just use wood since the story takes place in a forest, but then I thought, "Since this story is folktale-inspired, there's plenty of room for me to work in the other four elements." If there's anything that I've learned from the Hungarian Folk Tales channel on YouTube, it is that the storyteller can pack as many or as few crazy adventures into one tale as he or she desires. Also, I would like to apologize if the dialogue comes off as a little weird. You can blame the Hungarian Folk Tales channel and its narrator for that. The narrator in those videos has a stereotypical British narrator voice, and I wanted this story to feel as if it had been passed down by mouth before it was finally written down, so I was filtering everything that I wrote through that voice. Folktales usually don't give a lot of focus to character development though, so there's not going to be much of that. The story does have a few key differences from a typical folktale though, such as more dialogue and more named characters. Anyway, I hope that this story turned out enjoyable.

This story is definitely not in the same continuity as Heaven's Not Too Far Away.

Oct-Nov: The Violet Owl

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a young man named Flash Sentry who lived with his mother and younger brother. His father had abandoned them long ago, and despite his mother’s best efforts to provide for them, the family was exceedingly poor. However, when Flash became of age, he took it upon himself to seek work and provide for his family. He found a job at an apple farm, and not only did the farm’s owners pay him quite nicely, but he was also allowed to take home one apple for each member of his family every day. And so, with his diligence and his employers’ charity, Flash Sentry was able to stave off his family’s poverty, and this continued until one fateful day.

“Just 10 coins?” Flash said to his employer, a girl about his age with hair like corn silk and freckles dotting her face. “But last week, you paid me 20.”

“I’m sorry, Flash, but the farm has fallen on hard times with the apple blight infecting our trees. We’re barely making ends meet as it is,” Applejack answered him. “By the way, we’re going to need two of those apples back.”

Flash sighed but nevertheless complied, taking two apples out of his pockets and returning them to Applejack. As Applejack took the apples back, she pressed her lips together in thought. She couldn’t help but pity Flash. She knew what it was like having to shoulder such responsibilities at such a young age. Granted, her parents had died instead of willingly abandoning her, and her family was quite well-off in comparison to Flash’s. Differences aside, Applejack saw a lot of herself in the young man. On top of that, she knew that if the blight got worse, she and her family may no longer be able to employ him, so she made up her mind to help Flash as much as she could.

“You know, 10 coins and an apple aren’t enough for three people to live on,” Applejack said.

“I know, but don’t worry about it,” Flash said to her with a smile. “We’ll manage somehow. Besides, you and your family have already done more than enough for us.”

“Still, why don’t I help you out a little more?” Applejack went inside the farmhouse and came out holding a bow, a dagger, a coil of rope, and a quiver of arrows. “Come early tomorrow, and I’ll show you how to use these,” she said, placing the implements in the young man’s hands.

Applejack spent the next three days teaching Flash how to shoot with the bow and arrows and how to make snares with the rope. When she was sure that he was ready, she led him to the edge of the forest.

“Hopefully, whatever you catch out here will be enough to tide you and your family over until the farm gets back up on its feet,” Applejack said to Flash. “Just be careful. You know what people say about these woods probably being enchanted. I’d go with you, but I have to go back and watch over the farm, especially since my brother has hurt himself and isn’t able to work.”

“I really can’t thank you enough for all this,” Flash said to the farm girl, but she waved it off modestly.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Well, I guess I’d better be going now. Good luck with the hunting.”

After Applejack left, Flash went deep into the woods. He hiked for hours but still couldn’t find any game to kill, so he found a place to set up a snare and hid himself. Not long after, he heard an animal struggling in the snare. When he came out of his hiding place, to his surprise, he found that he had caught an owl.

However, this owl was unlike any he had ever seen before. It was purple with sparkling wings, and on its back was a pink six-pointed star.

Flash shook off his surprise and raised his dagger to kill it. Owls don’t have much meat on them, but for someone who had been as poor as Flash has been, a little bit was better than nothing at all. However, before Flash could plunge the dagger into its throat, the owl spoke.

“Please, don’t kill me,” the owl cried out in a young woman’s voice, causing Flash to yelp and stumble back in shock. “Please, good sir, spare me my life.”

Flash shook himself and blinked twice. Did that owl really just talk?

“Please let me go,” the owl begged. Yes, yes, it did just talk.

Flash looked from the dagger to the owl. On one hand, the owl was clearly no ordinary animal, and who knows what consequences will come from killing it? On the other, he couldn’t just return home empty-handed. His family was barely putting food on the table as it is. Furthermore, Applejack had gone through the trouble of teaching him how to hunt, and if he didn’t bring anything home for his family, then all her efforts would be wasted. However, when he looked into the owl’s eyes, he could see the fear and desperation in them as clearly as he could in the eyes of any human. Flash knew what he had to do.

With a look of resolve, he tightened his grip around the dagger, raised it, and cut the owl loose. Without so much as a thank you, the owl flapped its wings in joy and relief and flew away.

Flash grunted as he flung the dagger at a nearby tree, lodging it in the tree’s trunk. He knew that he had done the right thing by sparing the owl, but he couldn’t help feeling like he had failed in his responsibility to his family. Flash tried hard not to cry, but his growing sense of failure quickly overwhelmed him, and he collapsed on the forest floor, crying bitterly. The owl heard him crying and returned to him.

“Why are you crying, boy?” she asked him.

Flash looked up and saw the owl looking at him, her head tilted in curiosity. He wiped the tears from his face and told her, “I came out here to try and catch something that I can feed my family with, but you’re the first thing I’ve caught all day, and I’ve just let you go. Now, I have nothing.”

Flash further explained that he had to work at an apple farm to provide for his family since he and his brother had no father but that he has now had to learn how to hunt for his meal since his employers had fallen on hard times. The owl listened to him as he spoke, and when he had finished his tale, she perched on his shoulder and answered him.

“I can see that you are not only a kindhearted man but also diligent and selfless,” the owl said. “Since you were kind enough to spare my life, I will return your kindness. Take me home with you, and I promise that you and your family will never go hungry again.”

Flash blinked at the owl in confusion but nevertheless did what he was told and took the owl home. He brought her to a shabby little hut that looked like it could barely house one person let alone three. When Flash arrived with the owl, he was greeted by a boy who was no longer a child but had yet to become a man.

“What do you have there, big brother?” the boy, named First Base, asked Flash as he caught sight of the owl. Flash explained to his brother how he had come upon the owl and why he was bringing it home. When Flash had finished, Base said, “Oh, well, did you bring anything to eat? I’m hungry, and we don’t have any more bread in our home.”

Flash frowned and shook his head. No, he had not brought anything to eat. First Base frowned and looked to ground in response.

Seeing the sad looks on the brothers’ faces, the owl took pity on them and remembered her promise. She tucked her head under her wing and pulled out a gold bracelet.

Placing the bracelet into Flash’s hand, she said, “Take this bracelet and use it to buy food for your family, but whatever you do, don’t tell anyone where you got it. Just say that you found it lying around in the forest.”

Without another word, the owl flew into the rafters of the hut while the two brothers looked at each other in bewilderment. Then, the brothers went into town and pawned the gold bracelet off to a jeweler but did not tell anyone where it had come from. They used the money to buy a loaf of bread, a wheel of cheese, a jug of milk, a pound of sausage, and a basket of eggs. They had never had so much food in one setting before, and even after buying so much, they still had money left over.

“Brother, if that owl of yours keeps being this generous with us, we will soon be rich beyond our wildest dreams,” said First Base.

However, on the way home, they saw two street urchins, a boy and a girl, begging for food and money. The girl had orange skin, purple eyes, and scruffy purple hair. The boy also had purple eyes and scruffy hair, but his skin was gray, and his hair was black.

“Rumble, when is your brother going to get back?” the girl cried. “I’m starving, and we haven’t earned a single penny or a scrap of food all day.”

“I don’t know, Scootaloo,” answered the boy. “Even if he does come back soon, he might not have any food with him since his masters are so stingy.”

When Flash heard this, he said to First Base, “Little brother, why don’t you take the food home without me? I’ll meet you there.”

So, First Base took the food home without his brother while Flash went back into the town with the rest of the money.

When First Base arrived at the hut, he found that it had been swept clean and repaired. Even the roof was properly thatched, and the window shutters were no longer dangling from the hinges.

After putting the food away, First Base called up the rafters, “Owl, hey, owl, did you do this?”

“Why, of course, I did,” the owl answered. “I can’t believe that you let your home get to such a state. How can you and your family live in such clutter?”

“Oh, we’re so sorry about the earlier mess, Miss Owl, but my mother spends so much time washing other people’s clothes and my brother spends all day working at the apple farm that we don’t have much time for tidying up.”

“Well, what about you?” asked the owl. “What do you do all day? Don’t tell me that you just lay about while your mother and brother work hard to provide for you.”

“Well, my mother and brother have always told me that I was too young for work, but I must be old enough now. In fact, tomorrow, I will go to the farm and work with my brother no matter what he or Mother tells me.”

Later that evening, Flash came home, and soon after, his mother Lantern Heart arrived as well. They were both amazed at the state of the hut, and Lantern was surprised by the food that her sons were able to buy. First Base told Flash and their mother that the owl had tidied up their home, and Flash told their mother how he had caught the owl and that the owl had promised that the three of them would never go hungry again.

At first, Lantern Heart could only blink in confusion upon hearing such outlandish tales, but after a while, she simply accepted their stories and prepared a meal for herself and her sons. For the first time in a while, she and her sons were able to eat their fill, and after supper, they all went to bed. First Base and his mother both shared a straw pallet and a tattered blanket while Flash fell asleep in front of the dying embers of the fireplace.

Once the owl was sure that her hosts were asleep, she flew down from the rafters and in a flash of light, transformed into a beautiful young maiden. She had skin like lavender, eyes like violets, and hair like the twilight sky. She wore dress decorated with six-pointed stars and a feathered cape. The maiden took a handful of fairy dust from her pocket and scattered it so that the family would not wake up and see her. Then, she went to the open window, took out a copper whistle, and blew on it three times.

At the sound of the third whistle, a fox somersaulted through the window and into the hut. Once the fox had entered the hut, it too changed into the form of a maiden. However, unlike the owl girl, her hair was like the rays of the setting sun, and she wore a cape of fox fur.

“Princess Twilight,” the fox girl greeted as she knelt before the girl who had been an owl.

“Rise, Sunset Shimmer,” said the princess. “Did you bring what I had asked?”

“Of course.” Sunset Shimmer stood up, and with a wave of her cape, three sets of clothes, three quilts, a large cooking pot, a sack of cornmeal, a jug of milk, a pot of honey, and a dish of butter appeared in front of her.

“Good, very good,” said Princess Twilight. “And did you tell my parents where I am?”

“I did,” Sunset answered. “I told your brother as well, and he is not happy. I must agree with him. Why can’t you just come home? Surely, you’ve paid your debt of kindness to this man twice over already.”

“Maybe I have, but a promise is a promise.” Princess Twilight took the quilts and gently covered Flash, his mother, and his brother with them before lighting the fireplace and hanging the pot over it. Thanks to the enchantment she had placed, the family didn’t so much as stir while she worked.

“And how do you know that he is as good as you think he is? For all you know, all this good fortune that you are giving him could make him greedy.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” another voice said as a small pink butterfly flew in through the window. In a flash of light, the butterfly transformed into a pixie with flowing pink hair and delicate gossamer wings.

“Fluttershy,” the princess greeted the tiny pixie. “What news do you have for me?”

“Well, I was flying in the town earlier today, and the boys who live here had ran into two street urchins named Scootaloo and Rumble,” recounted Fluttershy. “When the older boy overheard them talk about how hungry they were, he left to buy them food with the money he had left from pawning your bracelet. Then, he went off to look for Rumble’s brother Thunderlane. The boy you are helping found Thunderlane as he was leaving work, gave Thunderlane the food, and told Thunderlane to tell neither Rumble nor Scootaloo where the food had come from.”

After Fluttershy finished telling her tale, Princess Twilight gave Sunset Shimmer a smug smile and went back to her work. Sunset Shimmer simply rolled her eyes and begrudgingly began to help her mistress.

The next morning, the family woke up to a freshly made breakfast of porridge with honey and butter. First Base was about to call out to the owl and ask her if she had made them breakfast when his brother pointed out that she was fast asleep. The three of them once again ate their fill and dressed themselves in the clothes the owl had brought them because it would be rude not to put such a generous gift to good use.

Lantern Heart left the hut and set out for her job as a washerwoman while Flash set out for the apple farm. As he had resolved the night before, First Base accompanied Flash to the farm to seek work despite his older brother’s protests. However, when the two boys arrived at the farm, Applejack turned them away.

“I’m terribly sorry, Flash, but my family can no longer pay you for your work,” Applejack said to him. “You will have to find work elsewhere.”

The two brothers sadly began heading home.

Along the way, First Base said to his brother, “Brother, if the owl keeps giving us more gold, we won’t need to find work anymore.”

Flash smacked his brother on the ear and scolded the younger boy saying, “We can’t take advantage of the owl’s generosity towards us. That would be cruel, especially since she has been so good to us already.”

First Base frowned at the scolding but nodded his head anyway as the two of them continued to head home.

The owl woke up just as they were arriving and asked, “Back so soon?”

The brothers explained to her what had happened and that they were now both out of work.

The owl tilted her head in thought and said to them, “I can help the two of you find work, but you must do exactly as I tell you.”

The boys agreed to follow her instructions, so she took out a signet ring from under her wing and gave it to Flash.

“Go into the forest,” she instructed. “In the forest, you will find a fox with a sun on its back. Show it this ring and follow it until you reach a forest where the trees are made of silver and gold. There you will meet a stag with a snow-white coat and horns made of sapphire. The stag will tell you to get on its back, and when you do, it will try to throw you off. You mustn’t let go no matter what happens. As soon as the stag tires, tell it that you and your brother are both looking for work. Afterwards, do whatever the stag tells you to do, and you both will be able to provide for your family.”

The two boys packed themselves some bread and cheese and a skin of water and set out for the forest just as they were told. They found the fox with the sun on its back and showed it the ring, and the fox led them to a forest where the trees were made of silver and gold.

A stag with a white coat and sapphire horns emerged from the trees and said to Flash, “Get on my back.”

Flash got on the stag’s back, and as soon as he sat down, the stag began to try to throw him off. Flash threw his arms around the stag’s neck and held fast, and no matter how hard the stag tried to throw him, he refused to let go. Eventually, the stag tired and asked the brothers what their business was.

“My brother and I are looking for work,” Flash answered as he got off the stag’s back.

“Follow me,” the stag commanded. Flash and Base did as they were told and followed the stag to a field of the blackest earth they had ever seen. Even more peculiarly, long reeds were growing up out of the earth, but these reeds appeared to be made entirely of stone.

“What kind of place is this that rocks would grow up out of the ground like grass?” exclaimed First Base.

The three of them were greeted by an old gray man and his three gray daughters. The man and his daughters bowed before the stag like they would a prince.

“These two young men have come here seeking work. I trust that you would be willing to give them some,” the stag said to the old man.

The man looked the brothers over and gave the stag a nod. After the stag left, the man’s youngest daughter took the two boys to an empty field and showed them how to sow the pebbles that were to grow into the stone reeds. When they were finished sowing the pebbles, the middle daughter took them to another field where the reeds had grown as high as their knees. In addition to the stone reeds, tendrils made of iron were also growing out of the ground. The middle daughter explained that the iron tendrils were weeds and that they must pull them out, or the stone won’t grow properly. Once the boys had finished weeding the iron from the field, the eldest daughter gave them each a diamond sickle and led them to another field where the reeds had grown past their heads. The eldest daughter showed the boys how to harvest the stone and tie them off into bundles so that the three gray girls and their father can sell them.

When the boys finished harvesting and bundling the stone, the old gray man called them and paid them each with a diamond the size of an egg. Then, the old man told the boys to return tomorrow and sent them on their way.

When the brothers and their mother returned home that evening, they found that their little hut had been replaced with a small cottage. Inside the cottage was a bedroom with three down mattresses and a kitchen where a pot of hot soup hung waiting for them. As the three of them ate their supper, Flash and his brother told their mother all they had done that day and showed her their payment. Lantern Heart took her sons’ payment, placed it in a jar, and hid the jar in the cupboard for safekeeping.

The next morning, the family once again woke up to breakfast hot and ready for them. They once again ate their fill and once again set off for work with Flash and Base setting off towards the rock farmer. The brothers once again put in a day’s work for the rock farmer, and the rock farmer once again paid them with a diamond the size of an egg and sent them on their way. This went on for seven days, and Flash and his family were able to provide a comfortable life for themselves.

On the eighth day, Flash and First Base were heading home from the rock farm when they ran into Applejack who was crying bitterly.

“Applejack, why are you crying?” Flash asked her.

“The blight wiped out all my family’s apple trees, and now, I must marry one of the Flim Flam brothers in seven days to save our farm,” Applejack cried.

Flash and First Base’s mouths dropped in shock. The Flim Flam brothers were rich young lords who were well known through the land for being cruel, greedy, and stingy. Worst of all, they beat their servants whenever they pleased for absolutely no reason at all. No doubt that they only wanted to marry Applejack just to take her family’s land.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Flash asked as he held out his diamond to her.

But Applejack pushed the diamond away and said to him, “Unless you can bring our trees back to life or find me someone else to marry, I’m afraid no amount of money can help.”

Flash thought carefully as he continued to listen to Applejack cry.

“Alright then,” Flash said. “If I don’t bring your trees to life in seven days, then I will marry you myself.”

Applejack stopped crying and asked him, “Would you really?”

“I would,” he replied. “Anything would be better than having you marry one of those brutes.”

“But do you even love me?”

Flash hesitated. He had always counted Applejack as one of his friends, but the truth was that no, he did not love her. He sighed and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Flash said to her. “Just don’t cry anymore. Please.”

Applejack nodded, and the three of them went their separate ways home.

That evening while the family was having supper, the owl looked down from the rafters and noticed that Flash had hardly ate anything.

She glided down from the rafters, perched herself on Flash’s shoulder, and asked, “Why are you so worried?”

Flash told her everything that had happened earlier on the road and what he had promised Applejack.

“I don’t love her enough to want her for my wife,” he explained, “but she’s been such a dear friend to me that I couldn’t bear the thought of her marrying one of those bullies.”

When Flash finished speaking, the owl tilted her head in thought. Then, she said to him, “I can help you bring your friend’s trees back to life, but you must do exactly as I say.”

Flash agreed to do as he was told, and the owl instructed him, “When you go to the rock farm tomorrow, ask the farmer to pay you your wages with a ruby shaped like a heart. Then, after accepting your payment from him, go to the place where you first met the white stag with sapphire horns and look for bush that grows crystal berries. On that bush, you fill find a pink butterfly. You must pick the berries, put them in your pocket, and ask the butterfly to take you to the copper mountain. When you get to the mountain, climb to the very top, and there you will meet a dragon. Ask the dragon for a jar of its fire, and he will give it to you in exchange for the ruby shaped like a heart. Whatever you do, do not open the jar no matter what happens.

“After you get the jar, climb down the other side of the mountain, and there you will find a lake as clear as glass. A swan will be swimming on that lake, and you must ask it for a bottle of the lake’s water, but it will only give you the bottle in exchange for the crystal berries. You mustn’t open the bottle no matter what happens. As soon as you get the bottle, go to your friend’s orchard immediately, and open the jar of fire. When the fire has burned the trees to ash, open the bottle of water, and not only will your friend’s trees come back to life, but they will be better than ever.”

The next day, Flash set out to carry the owl’s instructions. When he got to the rock farm, he asked his employer to pay his wages with a ruby in the shape of a heart. The farmer was happy to oblige, and after a day’s work, Flash went to the gold and silver forest where he had first met the stag with sapphire horns and found the crystal berry bush and the pink butterfly just as the owl had said.

Flash filled his pockets with as many berries as they could hold and said to the butterfly, “Butterfly, please take me to the copper mountain.”

He followed the butterfly to a tall mountain made entirely of copper and began to climb to the top. At the top of the mountain, he met a dragon. The dragon had green and purple scales and was much smaller than Flash was expecting. In fact, the dragon only came up to his waist. Nevertheless, Flash asked it for a jar of fire just like he had been told.

“Dragon, I would like a jar of your fire, please.”

“I’ll give you a jar of my fire if you will give me a ruby in the shape of a heart,” the dragon replied.

Flash exchanged the ruby for the jar of fire and went down the other side of the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain was a lake as clear as glass. Swimming in the middle of the lake was a swan. The swan had pink feathers and a blue heart on its wing.

“Swan,” Flash called. “May I have a bottle of the lake’s water?”

The swan swam up to the shore and answered, “Only in exchange for some crystal berries.”

Flash emptied his pockets of the berries, and the swan gobbled them all up. Then, the swan brought a glass bottle out from under its wing, filled it with the lake’s water, corked it, and gave it to Flash.

After Flash got the bottle, he ran as fast as he could straight to Applejack’s orchard. He had been gone for five days. Applejack saw Flash running towards her orchard and asked him what he was doing.

“I’ve found a way to bring your trees back to life,” he said to her. “Whatever you do, don’t try to stop me no matter what you see, hear, or feel.”

Applejack agreed to this and watched as Flash opened the jar of fire. A green blaze burst out the jar and lit the trees on fire. Applejack wanted to stop Flash right then and there but remembered what she had agreed to, so she merely stood there and wrung her hands.

Once the fire had burned the trees to ash, Flash pulled the cork from the bottle, and black clouds billowed out of it. Thunder boomed, and lightning flashed as the clouds began to rain on the ashen remains of the orchard. To Applejack’s amazement, saplings sprung out of the ashes and grew into trees.

The thunder clapped, and the trees budded with bright blue blossoms. The lightning struck, and the blossoms matured into rainbow-colored apples. As soon as the rain stopped, Applejack stepped into orchard, picked an apple from one of the trees, and cautiously bit into it. When she tasted the apple, she was so overcome with joy that she threw her arms around Flash and embraced him heartily.

Applejack ran into the farmhouse and brought out her brother, sister, and grandmother to show them the orchard. When they all saw the orchard and tasted its fruit, they jumped and cheered and danced with joy. They were all in such good spirits that Applejack’s brother wrote a letter to the Flim Flam brothers saying that his sister’s wedding was off.

After his good deed was done, Flash returned home to have supper with his family, but once again, the owl noticed that he hardly ate anything.

Once again, she flew down, perched on Flash’s shoulder, and asked, “Why are you worried?”

Flash told the owl about how happy Applejack was about the restoration of her orchard and how she had brought her family out to celebrate with them.

“I’m happy that I was able to help my friend, but seeing her with her grandmother reminded me that my own mother won’t be young forever and that I would like to bless her with grandchildren, but I don’t have a girl that I love enough to take as my wife,” Flash explained.

The owl tilted her head as she listened to Flash speak. Flash waited to hear what she had to say, but the owl wouldn’t speak. Then, she flew back up into the rafters and covered her face with her wings.

The next morning, the owl flew down from the rafters and perched on Flash’s shoulder, saying, “I would like to return to the forest for a little while. Could you grant a small request for me while I’m gone?”

“Of course,” Flash agreed.

“Do not set foot in the forest for three days. After three days have passed, take your family where you first met the white stag with sapphire horns and meet me there.”

So, Flash agreed not to set foot in the forest until three days have passed, and the owl flew out the window into the forest.

After the owl left, Flash Sentry and his family went about their lives almost the same as before Flash had brought home the owl. However, barely a day had passed when the family noticed that they had come to miss the owl’s presence in their home. Flash especially longed for her to return. He thought about rushing in to the forest to search for her but decided that he was better off doing what he had promised.

Finally, to his relief, the three days of waiting were over, and Flash Sentry and his family journeyed into the woods towards the forest of silver and gold where the brothers had first met the white stag. Who should greet them there but the stag himself, and perched on his back was the swan from the glassy lake. Soon after the family’s arrival, a dark blue crow flew in carrying a glass basket full of water, and swimming in the basket of water was a salmon with silver and purple scales.

The crow and the salmon alighted next to the stag and looked the three visitors over.

Flash walked up to the stag and said, “Hello, old friend. Have you or your companions seen my owl?”

Suddenly, the silver and purple salmon leapt out from the basket, and in a flash of the light the four strange animals changed before the family’s very eyes. The salmon changed into a woman wearing a cape of fish scales, the crow became a man in a feathered cape, the swan turned into a young woman with a feathered cape, and the stag became a young man with a deerskin cape.

The man in the feathered cape stepped forward and said, “Hello, dear guests, I am the king of this forest, and these are my wife, my son, and my daughter-in-law. We have come to give our blessings because my only daughter wishes to marry you.”

No sooner had the man finished saying those words did Princess Twilight step forward from the trees followed by the pink-haired pixie and the maid with hair like the setting sun. When Flash’s eyes met with the princess’s, he immediately recognized her.

“It’s you!” he cried in joy, taking the princess by the hands.

Princess Twilight blushed when her hands touched the young man’s. She was so overcome that she nearly forgot what she had wanted to say to him.

However, she quickly composed herself and said to the man standing in front of her, “Flash Sentry, I have seen that you are a good man with a kind and selfless heart. I wish to spend the rest of my life by your side and would gladly marry you if you would have me.”

Flash’s face turned red with happiness as he answered the princess, “Why, yes, yes, of course I will marry you.”

The princess threw her arms around the young man and kissed him very tenderly. Both their families gave their blessings, and Flash and Princess Twilight were soon married. After the wedding, Princess Twilight went home with Flash and his family, and as part of her dowry, the small cottage had been replaced with a large house with eight bedrooms, a kitchen, and an attic.

Before the newly married couple could have their wedding night, Twilight took off her feathered cape, folded it carefully, and gave it to her husband.

“Take care of this cape,” she said to him. “My very life is tied to it, and now, I am entrusting it to you.”

Flash took his wife’s cape, locked it in a chest, and hid it away in the attic.

Flash and Twilight lived many years together and blessed Flash’s mother with many grandchildren. Eventually, the two of them became grandparents themselves. In all this time, Twilight’s youth and beauty had hardly diminished since the day she was married. The years, however, had cruelly sapped Flash’s strength and youth as they did for all mortal men, and one day, he had become so old and weak that death was knocking on his door.

When that day came, Twilight said to her oldest son, “My son, go into the forest, kill a wolf, and bring me its skin.”

Twilight’s son obeyed her and went into the forest, killed a wolf, and brought its skin home to his mother.

That night, under the light of a full moon, Twilight brewed an elixir with her fairy dust. She covered her husband with the wolfskin and fed him the elixir, and he became a young man again.

Seeing his strength and youth returned to him, Flash took Twilight by the hand and led her up to the attic. He found the chest that held her cape and unlocked it. Flash took out the feathered cape and threw it across his wife’s shoulders. The last that any mortal being has ever seen or heard of them were a violet owl and a lightning blue wolf leaving their house and heading into the forest.

So, Flash and Twilight returned to the gold and silver forest that had been her home and where the two of them had been married, and they are probably there still, living happily ever after.

The End

Author's note:
About the ending:

Of course, Twilight isn't going to age. She's a fairy.

I had to address the differences in aging somehow, and I wasn't going to just kill off Flash.

In most fairy tales involving men getting married to fairies, the fairy just straight up leaves the guy. I can't really blame them though. In most of those stories, the guy forces the fairy to marry him against her will. I like how my story ended better.

I was really apprehensive about making Sunset a fox and turning Flash into a wolf since both those animals are associated with negative qualities, deceit for foxes and greed for wolves among other qualities, but then, I remembered that in some cultures, owls are considered evil. My other options for Sunset were a lizard or a robin (because phoenixes aren't real), but I wanted something a little more warm-blooded and mammalian for her. I decided to go with a wolf for Flash because he isn't refined enough to pull of a stag (plus, Shining Armor is already a stag, and I didn't want a repeat), lions don't live in forests, and if I had gone with a falcon or an eagle, the cast would have been a little bird-heavy.

Dec-Feb: Hide and Seek

Flash’s sports car pulled up in front of Twilight Sparkle’s house. The car’s owner sat in the front seat soaked to the skin and wearing a sky-blue shirt and a red tie over a pair of slacks. The blazer that went with the slacks was draped over the shoulders of pretty, bespectacled girl in a dark blue dress with stars on the skirt who was sitting in the car’s front passenger seat. She was also completely soaked. Flash had lent her his blazer earlier that night as protection against the cold night air, but despite his best efforts to squeeze it dry, the article of clothing was still too wet to offer much protection. Twilight had accepted it regardless.

In the back seat of the car sat it’s only two dry passengers. One was a purple and green puppy; the other was a younger teen boy. The boy looked like a younger Flash but with darker skin and hair. The boy also had an empty pump-action water gun with the name “Shining Armor” written on it in black permanent marker sitting on his lap. He was also scowling at the puppy who was lying on the seat belly up in content.

“Well, here’s our stop,” Flash said as he undid his seatbelt and began to step out of the car.

“Come on, Spike,” Twilight called to the dog. The dog got up from the back seat and bounded into his human’s waiting arms.

“Hey, Base, thanks for the jerky. It really hit the spot,” Spike said to First Base. First Base’s scowl deepened as he blew a raspberry in response.

Flash opened the front passenger door and helped Twilight out of the car. He was about to begin walking her to her door when his younger brother rolled down the window and called after him.

“Hey, Big Bro,” Base called, “don’t forget to give this back to Shining Armor.” With that, he tossed the water gun at Flash’s direction. Flash managed to catch it before it fell on the ground but not before fumbling it a few times.

“Careful, Little Bro,” Flash scolded his brother. “This isn’t yours, and if it breaks, you’re going to have to spend the money Shining paid you to replace it.”

First Base simply shrugged and rolled up the window. Flash shared a look with Twilight and shook his head.

Twilight giggled and took Flash’s arm, allowing him to lead her to her front door.

“I really had fun tonight,” Twilight said to him.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. He opened his mouth to say something else but then, closed it again, biting his lip. This happened two more times, and by the third time, the two of them were roughly a foot away from the front door.

“Are you free next Friday?” Flash finally blurted out. Flash internally cringed. So much for acting or sounding casual.

“Excuse me,” Twilight replied, stopping and turning towards him.

“I was wondering if you are going to be busy next Friday because if you aren’t, then maybe I can take you to do some browsing at the bookstore. Then, maybe I can take you out for frozen yogurt or ice cream or coffee or dinner or whatever afterwards,” Flash rambled. “I’m just kinda winging it at the moment, and I don’t really have anything specific planned, but I will by Friday, you know, assuming that you accept, which you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it’d be nice if you did, and…” Flash clamped his free hand over his mouth. Stop talking, genius!

Twilight giggled again, completely oblivious to Flash’s internal screaming. “That sounds like fun. What time should I be expecting you?”

Flash’s jaw dropped as the sound of plates crashing played in his mind. Aw, crud! “I, I, I’ll have to get back to you on that. I was thinking maybe 7-ish, but we can go earlier or later if you like.”

“Okay, then. It’s a date. Just call me when you have a plan.” Twilight turned and was about to enter her house when she stopped and took off Flash’s blazer.

“Oh, almost forgot about this,” she said as she returned it to Flash. “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

“Oh, no problem,” Flash replied, giving her Shining Armor’s water gun in exchange. “Just, uh, don’t forget to give this back to your brother.”

Twilight smiled, about to enter her house again. However, before she could take another step, Flash took her by the hand, bent down, and kissed it. The two of them met eyes and froze. Finally, Flash spoke first.

“Umm, I’ll see you on Friday, milady,” he said with a nervous grin before straightening and returning to his car.

As Flash drove away, Twilight hurried inside her house, shut the door, and squealed gleefully.

Six months later…

Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Cadance were in Twilight’s room packing the last of her things. She was excited to be going to study at Cornell University, but she was nervous too.

“Twilight, Twilight,” Sunset called her before finally resorting to waving her hand in front of Twilight’s face. “Twilight! Hello?”

“Huh?” Twilight cried as she jerked her head and turned to Sunset.

“You were staring off into nowhere again. What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing,” Twilight replied as she picked up her plush owl Owlowiscious and began fiddling with it. “I guess I was just thinking about having to attend a different university from Flash again.”

“Twilight, it’ll be okay,” Cadance reassured her sister-in-law. “I know the idea of going long distance is scary, but it’ll work out.”

“But what if it doesn’t?”

Cadance sighed. “Well, if it doesn’t, then I guess it probably just wasn’t meant to be.”

Twilight buried her face in her toy owl and groaned.

“Hey, hey,” Cadance lifted Twilight’s head and put a hand on her shoulder. “Just calm down. Freaking out isn’t going to help you two work things out. Besides, remember what happened the last time that you freaked out about your relationship?”

Two months earlier…

“Hello,” Cadance answered as she picked up the phone.

“Cadance, it’s Twilight,” said Twilight in a breathy, anxious voice. “I don’t know what happened, but I think my relationship with Flash is falling apart.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow at this. “What exactly happened?”

“Well, I was kind of worrying about how Flash and I are going to be going to different universities and how we were going to make going long distance work and what if we end up meeting other people. Then, Flash gives me this really personal gift.” If Twilight talked any faster, she’d be hyperventilating. “I tried to turn him down, but he insisted that I hold on to it. And then, and then…” Twilight actually began to hyperventilate.

“Okay, okay, Twi, slow down. What happened?”

“I told him that I love him!”

Cadance’s jaw dropped. “Oh, no.”

“And after I told him that, he didn’t say it back,” Twilight continued. “Why didn’t he say it back? Does he not feel the same way about me? Did I do something wrong to make him not feel the same way about me? Is there anything I can do to fix it?”

“Twilight, Twilight, breathe,” Cadance paused listening for the sound of Twilight taking a deep breath. Once she heard it, she continued, “You probably just overwhelmed him; that’s all. Look, those three little words mean different things for different people when it comes to romantic love. Some people throw them around like they don’t really mean anything; other people will only say them to the people they want to spend forever with. I’m guessing Flash leans toward the latter category. It’s not that he doesn’t care about you. He probably just hasn’t figured out how he feels about you enough to say it.”

“So, when I told him that I love him, Flash might have thought that I wanted to move our relationship forward faster than he was ready for it to go,” Twilight realized before she groaned in frustration. “Oh!”

“Look, just meet up with him tomorrow and talk to him. Maybe if you explain to him what you really meant, he’ll do the same, and the two of you can clear the air. Your relationship is probably in better shape than you think it is.”

Not only was Cadance right about the relationship being in better shape than Twilight had believed, but she was also right about how Flash had just been overwhelmed by Twilight’s sudden declaration. Twilight let out a breath and smiled before continuing to help Cadance and Sunset pack.

Meanwhile, somewhere in town, Flash was driving to Twilight’s house with Micro Chips in his front passenger seat. Micro Chips had also gotten accepted into Cornell, and the two of them had just finished helping Micro’s parents pack his things and were about to pick up Twilight and Sunset so that the four of them could drop off Twilight and Micro together.

“So, just how are you and Twilight going to deal with the long distance thing?” Micro asked Flash.

“Not sure, but Twilight seems to be a lot more okay with it than she was last month,” Flash replied before letting out a sigh. “Do you think I should tell her?”

“Tell her what?”

“Those three little words.”

Micro’s eyes widened as he turned to Flash. “Dude, you sure you want to do that? I mean, think about it. You can’t just say those words to just anybody, and once they’re out, there’s no taking them back.”

“I know,” Flash replied before sighing again, “but I already promised her and myself that I would say them to her someday, especially since she already said them to me.”

Flash could still remember what happened after that fateful moment.

Two months earlier (again)…

“Grandma, I need your help,” Flash cried as he rushed into the living room. “It’s Twilight.”

“Oh,” Grandma Birdie replied, turning off the TV, “what is it?”

“Twilight just told me that she loves me!”

“Oh, no,” Grandma put a hand on her face.

Flash, oblivious to his grandmother’s reaction, continued, “I should be happy, right? I mean, the best, most amazing, most wonderful girl in the world just told me that she loves me, and I guess a part of me is happy, but—.” He sighed. “But I’m honestly mostly terrified. Why am I terrified?”

Grandma took a deep breath and asked, “Flash, tell me. Did any part of you want to tell her that you love her back?”

“EVERY part of me wanted to tell her that I love her back,” Flash exclaimed, “but for some reason, I just, I just couldn’t. What’s going on with me?”

“Do you know what stopped you from telling her that you love her?”

Flash paused, his mind going back to the moment. “Well, I’m not entirely sure. I remember feeling really scared all of a sudden. I remember thinking ‘What if I said those three little words back to her and ended up letting her down in the end?’”

Silence fell on the two of them for what felt like the longest two seconds in Flash’s life. Then, Flash continued, “I just want to make sure that I really mean those words when I say them to her, and right now, I’m just not entirely sure yet. All I know is that I care about her too much to mess up what we’ve got.”

Flash groaned and clutched at his temples, “But what if I already did?”

Grandma put both her hands on Flash’s shoulders and squeezed them, “Flash, it’s okay. I’m sure Twilight didn’t mean to scare you. She probably just didn’t realize that you need a little more time to understand your feelings than she did. Now, all you have to do is talk to her and tell her what you just told me.”

“But what if it isn’t enough?” Flash cried, looking up at his grandmother.

Grandma Birdie sighed, placing her hands back on her lap. “Do you want me to tell you what you want to hear, or do you want the truth?”

Flash frowned thoughtfully. After thinking it over for a while, he got up and went upstairs. He returned a few minutes later, clutching a worn plush lion. The toy wore a handmade felt collar with the word “SIMBA” messily written on it with fabric paint.

Flash sat himself in front of his grandmother and said, “Go ahead and tell me the truth, Grandma. I can take it.”

Grandma Birdie put a hand on top of Flash’s and said, “Hun, if your honesty isn’t enough for Twilight, then maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Flash waited for his grandmother to withdraw her hand. Then, he slumped forward, buried his face in the plush lion, and let out a loud, frustrated groan.

“Yeah,” Grandma flatly stated as she turned the TV back on, “that’s what I thought you’d say.”

“I can’t believe you guys have to go already,” Twilight said as she stood in front of her dorm room, facing her boyfriend and best friend. “I mean, it feels like we just got here.”

“I know,” Flash replied, “but Sunset and I have to head back home and finish packing up to go to Everton. I guess next time we see each other, it’ll be over video chat.”

Twilight looked away and smiled sadly.

“Umm, I’m going to wait by the car,” Sunset said. “You two look like you need a moment.”

Sunset made her way to the stairs, leaving her two friends by themselves.

“Hey,” Flash said, turning Twilight back towards him. “We’ll meet up again. Our relationship will be fine.”

Twilight closed her eyes and giggled nervously. Then, her eyes snapped open. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

Twilight entered her dorm and closed the door. Moments later she came back out, holding a plush owl. It was mostly beige with dark brown wings. A felt note that read “Don’t forget me” was stitched onto its orange talons.

“Here,” Twilight said to Flash, holding the owl out to him.

“You’re giving me Owlowiscious?!” Flash exclaimed taking a step back. “Twilight, I can’t. Shining Armor gave him to you while he was away in the Marines. He’s too special.”

“Yeah, well, so are these,” Twilight said, pulling out a ball chain with a pair of dog tags from under her vest. “You gave them to me anyway.”

Flash let out a breath and shook his head. Then, he smiled and accepted the toy from Twilight. “Well, Simba could use a friend. I’m guessing that the same conditions apply.”

Twilight nodded.

Two months earlier (yet again) …

“Hey, you okay?” Flash asked Twilight. The two of them were standing in front of Twilight’s house; Flash had just brought her home from their volunteer activity.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Twilight, looking away from him. “I was just thinking again.”

“About?”

“About the two of us going to different colleges.”

“Oh,” Flash looked at the ground and then looked back up at her. “I’ve been thinking about that too.”

“Are you worried too?”

“Yeah. That’s why, that’s why I wanted to give you something,” Flash reached into his shirt and pulled out a ball chain with a pair of dog tags that he was wearing around his neck. He took off the chain and put it on Twilight.

“What are you doing?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I want you to have them.”

“Flash, they’re your grandfather’s. I can’t take them.” Twilight moved her hands to remove the chain, but Flash grabbed on to them.

“Twilight, please,” Flash said to her, his deep blue eyes looking into her trembling purple ones. “I want you to hold on to them for me. I know the two of us have been worrying about how this relationship is going to work out long distance, which is why I’m giving them to you. If you ever want to break up, don’t call me, don’t write, just send these back, and I’ll know that it’s over, and I’ll let you go, no questions asked.”

“Are you nuts?” Twilight nearly screamed. “I can’t have you associating something that belonged to your grandfather with heartbreak.”

“I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided that if this relationship ever needs to be over, then I’d rather hear it from Grandpa than from you.”

Twilight blinked at him a few times with wide eyes.

“That sounded a lot less weird in my mind.”

For a while, the two of them just stood there with Twilight’s hands in Flash’s. Eventually, Twilight nodded, “Okay, okay, I’ll hold on to them.”

Flash smiled at her before taking her right hand and bringing it to his lips. He kissed her hand tenderly before letting her go and walking back towards his car. Twilight turned to her house about to enter when she suddenly turned around.

“I love you, Flash Sentry!” she called after him before suddenly clamping her hand over her mouth, shocked at what she had just said.

Flash turned around, their eyes meeting once again. Flash opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. He closed it and reopened it, trying to will himself to say something, but once again, nothing came out.

Finally, he said, “Thank you” before going to his car and quickly driving away.

Flash turned the plush owl over and over in his hands before looking up at the toy’s owner. Then, he threw his arms around her and pulled her close.

“I love you, Twilight Sparkle,” he whispered in her ear.

Twilight gasped as tears welled in her eyes. She returned Flash’s embrace and kissed his cheek. Twilight’s cheek brushed against his as she let her tears fall, wetting both of their faces.

When they parted, Flash raised his hand to dry her face, but she grabbed his hand before he could touch her face and shook her head. Flash blinked at her in confusion but decided to let it be, so instead, he raised her hand towards his lips and kissed it. After they said their farewells, Twilight continued to watch him go. As soon as Flash was out of sight, Twilight rushed into her dorm, shut the door, and wept with joy. She and Flash had certainly come a long way since their relationship started.

Six months earlier…

Flash and Twilight stood in line for the cashier at Royals and Stables Bookstore. He had only intended to bring Twilight browsing, but Twilight saw a few new books that she just had to have. After a rather long five minutes, the two of them finally stepped up to the cashier.

“Okay, that’s $60,” said the cashier after she scanned Twilight’s selection. Twilight reached for her wallet and pulled out a gift card at the same time that Flash took a few bills out of his wallet. Before one realized what the other was doing, they each had placed their desired payment methods on the counter in front of the cashier.

The cashier gave them both odd looks. Flash looked down on the counter and saw Twilight’s gift card sitting next to his cash while Twilight saw Flash’s cash next to her gift card. The two of them looked at each other with the same odd look the cashier was giving them. Flash looked from the counter to Twilight and back and forth. Twilight looked from the counter to Flash and back and forth. Neither of them looked like they were going to volunteer to not pay.

After the longest three minutes ever, the cashier pushed Twilight’s books and gift card and Flash’s cash back to them. “Why don’t you go back to the end of the line and decide who is going to pay first? I’ve got other customers to think about.”

Flash and Twilight both sighed, taking their things and moving back to the end of the line.

“What was that all about?” Twilight snapped at Flash.

“What?” Flash snapped back defensively. “Can’t a guy pay for a lady without getting in trouble with her these days?”

“I am perfectly capable of paying for my own things.”

“I know that,” Flash agreed. “I swear that I’m not trying to make a statement about your capability. I know that you make your own money, and I know that you can pay for yourself. I’m just—.” Flash paused, taking time to properly collect his thoughts. “Look, before I was old enough to even want a girlfriend, both my grandparents and my mom told me that the guy is supposed to pay for the girl on a date because it’s the polite, gentlemanly thing to do, and unless dating manners have changed since the last time I’ve gone out with a girl, I fail to see what exactly I did wrong.”

Twilight humphed, “Is that all?”

“Yes, of course. What other motive could I possibly have for wanting to pay for you?”

Twilight sighed and calmed down. “I’m sorry. That came out ruder than I meant it to. I didn’t mean to sound like I’m assuming the worst out of you. It’s just that, well, my brother heard from a friend of his from the police department that sometimes guys use paying for their dates as an excuse to extort favors out of their dates.”

“What kind of fav—Oh!” Flash’s eyes widened in realization. “What kind of a sick human being would do that?”

“Yeah, I know. Anyway, before I even met you, Shining Armor told me to refuse if I ever go on a date and a guy offers to pay for me.”

“Twilight, I can assure you that I am completely uninterested in those kinds of favors, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be right to make you go against your brother’s wishes,” Flash paused, trying to find a solution to their current dilemma. “Okay, I’ll let you pay for your books, but if your brother’s okay with it, I’d like to have the honor of treating you to froyo afterwards.”

“Just how are you going to get my brother’s permission?”

“We call and ask. How else?” Flash replied, pulling out his phone before remembering that he didn’t have Shining Armor’s number. “Um, Twilight, can I have your brother’s number?”

Twilight rolled her eyes before smiling and pulling out her phone.

Later as they were walking out of the bookstore, Twilight let out a laugh.

“I can’t believe you actually called my brother while we were in the middle of a date to ask him of you can treat me to frozen yogurt,” Twilight exclaimed as she shook her head.

“Hey, I have a lot of respect for your brother and for the rest of your family too,” Flash replied. “Besides, if I tick your family off, best case scenario, you end up dating a guy they don’t approve of; worst case scenario, we end up committing suicide inside a tomb among other stupid decisions.”

Twilight let out another laugh and Flash joined her.

“Why are we laughing?” Flash exclaimed between laughs. “That was a dark joke.”

The two of them gradually stopped laughing and made their way to the frozen yogurt shop. Flash paid for their purchases, and the two of them sat down at one of the tables. For a while, the two of them just sat there eating their yogurt and enjoying each other’s company. Then, Twilight began to laugh again.

“It’s only the first date, and we’ve already had our first fight,” she giggled. “Can you believe it?”

“I can’t believe that our first fight barely lasted three minutes,” Flash chuckled back. “I think we’re at the start of something really beautiful, milady.”

Twilight smiled at him. “I think so too.”

Author's Note

This is my submission for the December-February challenge. The prompt for December, January, and February is "Train of Time." Here are the details from ro994's deviantart journal: "The challenge consists of using both the present and the future (flashforward) or the past (flashback), to mark the reflection of change over time, on the changes involved in the relationship that Twilight and Flash could have. Both flashforward and flashback are two literary tools that are used to show facts, for reflection. So, basically, the challenge is to use either of these two tools for our favorite couple, Flashlight, in any of its forms."

So, I moved the Author's Notes to the bottom for two reasons. One, I'm only allowed to put author's notes in one position. Two, I felt like this story is better explained with the notes at the bottom. Anyway, I was honestly pretty stumped when this prompt came out. All I knew was that I wanted to write something in the same continuity as Heaven's Not Too Far Away, and this kinda ended up coming out. The title is borrowed from the English lyrics of a song from a certain Japanese movie. See if you can guess the song and the movie. Also, I hid some VERY subtle references to that movie, specifically its soundtrack. I had thought of writing a FlashLight crossover with that movie, but I couldn't get it to work out.

Also, the whole part where Flash and Twilight decide to send each other certain items as a breakup message was inspired by a story that one of my high school teachers told me about back when she and her husband were dating and had to go to different universities. Of course, the item my teacher and her husband used to send the message wasn't anywhere near as personal as what Flash and Twilight ended up using. Obviously, neither my teacher nor her husband sent the breakup item. Will Flash and Twilight end up so lucky? :ajsmug: Of course, they will. I'm a hardcore FlashLight shipper.

Also, believe it or not, one of my dad's friends actually gave me and my sister the same advice that Shining Armor gave Twilight for the same reasons stated in the story.

Before I get an angry mob going after me about Flash and Twilight still not lip-locking, I'm saving it, alright? It'll come when I'm ready for it to come. :fluttershyouch:

If it wasn't obvious, it's in the same continuity as Heaven's Not Too Far Away.