"Okay, Flash, calm down. It's just a regular date. Just an ordinary time at the milkshake bar between a boy and a girl. Nothing strange and nothing to get worked up about."

A mere second passed before Flash started to counter himself.

"...Except that it's a date with a girl who's the spitting image of the last girl you had a crush on and that just really, really complicates stuff and...ugh!"

He planted his face square on the table in his booth.

"Oh, what am I going to do?"

"Flash?"

Immediately, the guitarist sat upright, turning to see that, sure enough, Twilight Sparkle had indeed arrived, looking to him with more than a little concern.

"Are...are you okay?"

Flash, naturally, wanted to put his date at ease, and so put on a smile for her.

"What? Oh, yeah! Sure! I'm fine! Nothing to worry about here!"

Adjusting her glasses, Twilight seemed doubtful.

"Really? Because you've got a pretty big bruise on your head right now."

Nervously, Flash reached up and felt that she was right. There was indeed a slightly painful bruise on his forehead. No doubt it was from him hitting his head against the table just now. Gulping, he maintained his smile, for her benefit if nothing else. Though still uncertain, Twilight took a seat, and the two teens proceeded to simply stare at one another in silence. It wasn't the most invigorating date, to be sure, but after a while Twilight decided that they'd had enough quiet, and so started to speak.

"So...been waiting long?"

Flash shook his head.

"Nope, got here just a few minutes ago."

She smiled to that.

"Early. I like that."

The boy chortled.

"Well, didn't want to make a bad first impression."

Twilight giggled.

"You haven't. Although..."

She tilted her head slightly.

"...I was surprised when you asked me to join you here. I mean, I know we've been spending some time together a lot lately, what with our chemistry club and stuff, but..."

Flash nodded, sighing briefly before starting to explain himself.

"Well, I've been thinking about asking you out for a while now. I guess...I just took a while to get around to it."

She smiled, reaching forward and giving him a pat on his hand.

"I'm very flattered that you'd be interested in me. I know I'm not the most appealing girl at school, but..."

However, upon hearing that, Flash frowned.

"What, you think guys wouldn't be interested?"

Reaching her hand up, Twilight tucked a bit of her hair behind her ears, looking out of the window rather than at her date.

"It's just...I've never been much of a dater. So, I guess I just got it in my head that I wouldn't really be noticed like that."

Slowly, Flash developed into a soft smile.

"You might not have been out on many dates, but I know you're a special girl to be with."

Twilight looked to him, surprised by his choice of words, but otherwise saying nothing, instead choosing to let him continue.

"You're smart, you're a good person, you're passionate about everything you get involved with. I mean, the way you get sucked into our chemistry work? It's like you're almost glowing, you're that into it!"

Twilight again giggled.

"Well, hopefully not literally glowing! We usually reserve that for fighting Equestrian baddies!"

The two shared a laugh, and the mood of the date elevated considerably as a result. Twilight, having been on the receiving end of a fair few compliments by him now, decided that it might be worth sending a few back his way.

"And believe me, I'm grateful to be dating you, Flash."

Flash, like her a moment ago, seemed surprised, but he too held his tongue as she spoke.

"You're always so...so nice to everyone. It's like you're physically incapable of being impolite to people. I don't think I've ever met anyone who had a bad word to say about you."

Flash smiled, blushing slightly at her kind words.

"Thanks, I...I appreciate that."

But then, to Twilight's confusion, his smile faded, and he started to look a little bit worried. Why this was, she didn't know, until he finally turned to look at her, his expression far more serious than it had been throughout this meeting so far.

"When you told the others you were coming here for a date with me...how did Sunset take it?"

Understanding, Twilight gave a short nod, her own face one of thoughtfulness.

"You mean because the two of you used to date?"

Flash nodded, prompting her to continue.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said she wasn't surprised. I mean, you and me? That sort of came out of nowhere. She took a moment to really get her head around it."

Flash's face softened.

"And she was okay? In the end?"

Twilight, touched that he felt concern for his ex, resumed her smile, giving a quick nod.

"She was. I think she came to terms with her feelings towards you a long time ago. The two of you are friends now. She's let you go, and she wants you to be happy."

Flash, relieved at having heard that, smiled yet again, looking to his spectacled date and sounding a little bit more chipper than before.

"They want us both to be happy I think."

Twilight too smiled.

"They do, and I love them for that."

A moment of quiet came for the two of them, for a waitress had just arrived, ready to take their orders. The teens made their requests, just a pair of regular milkshakes with their respective favourite flavours, and then, after bidding the waitress goodbye, they got back to looking at one another. And it was here that Twilight, rather similarly to what Flash had done shortly before, looked to him in a rather serious way.

"Now, can I ask you a question?"

Though uncertain about her tone, Flash nevertheless gave a nod of consent, watching her as she cleared her throat.

"Does it bother you? That I look like, well...her?"

Flash didn't need her to explain who she was talking about, as it was something that he'd been dreading even before this date began. In fact, even now, he reached up and felt that bruise that, for the time being, would serve as a testament to just how worried he'd been about this particular subject. After a while, however, he sighed deeply.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Twilight...yeah, it's been on my mind for a while."

He looked away.

"You're not her. And when I asked you out, I didn't want you to think I did so just because I wanted to get back with her or something."

Looking back to her, he frowned.

"You wouldn't have deserved that. Nobody would have. You deserve someone who wants to be with you for you, and that's what I want to try and be today."

Twilight leaned forward, having listened intently to that.

"So, your feelings for her...?"

She'd left the question open-ended, but Flash had picked it up, giving a nod.

"Yeah. Sunset was right, back at Camp Everfree. The Princess and me, it's not gonna work out. You know, different worlds and stuff."

Twilight knew he was struggling with this, and so decided to perk her date up a bit with a smile.

"From what I've heard, she was quite something."

Flash, in turn, regained his own smile, looking to her with a measure of appreciation.

"Oh, she was. I really had fun with her, even though we only really had a few days knowing each other."

He laughed, but only briefly.

"I'll always think of her fondly, but, like with me and Sunset, I know those days are behind me."

In an act that mirrored Twilight's towards the start of this date, Flash reached out, taking her hand into his own.

"But I want to have fun with you, Twilight, not just recapture the feelings I had for the Princess. I want to do things that you find fun, that make you laugh, take you on other good dates. I want memories of our time together."

Twilight's own smile widened, and she held his hand in earnest.

"I want the same. But be careful about asking to join in what I consider fun. You may regret that choice."

Flash again laughed.

"Twilight, if there's one thing I know about relationships, it's that they require compromise. So...lay it on me. What do you find fun?"

Twilight giggled, then reached into the back-pack she'd brought with her, pulling out what looked like a book containing some very complicated equations. Though Flash, at first, had the instinct to just grimace at a sight like that, as most high-school students would, he suppressed it, instead keeping up with his smile.

"Alright, let's do it."

Twilight looked to him with surprise.

"Really? You want to look at this stuff?"

Flash nodded.

"I said I wanted to be part of your interests, and I meant it. So, let's look through some equations!"

His enthusiasm had been sweet, even if Twilight knew deep down that this would be a struggle for him. Still, she was grateful, and after going through a few pages of her book, she glanced back up to him.

"In that case, maybe I'll listen to a few of your songs when we're done here. Sunset tells me you play a mean guitar."

Flash once more smiled to her.

"Miss Sparkle, it would be my pleasure."

Author's Note

Okay, so I was looking through a bunch of Flash fics a while back, and I stumbled across one called "Flounce". It's a really good story and I totally recommend you check it out, but it got me thinking. Flash, whenever romance gets used with him in fics, usually has one of two things happen to him. He either gets together with Princess Twilight, or he rekindles his past relationship with Sunset Shimmer.

Now, I love both of these pairings, but when I read Flounce, and saw him being paired with Pinkie, I suddenly realised that he actually worked well with her. So, that got me thinking, and I decided to write this fic here. Basically, this will serve as a "what if" sort of thing. Each chapter will concern Flash going on a date, in this same milkshake bar scenario, with someone who largely isn't associated with him in other fics.

So with every chapter, the slate will be wiped clean, and the events/dates of the previous chapters will no longer have happened. So if you're wondering about why Flash isn't talking about his dates with other girls, this will be why.

So, I hope you all enjoy this little collection of stories I make.