First Dates

Flash quietly and calmly sipped his milkshake. And he did this not for the great flavour of the drink itself, though that certainly helped. No, he did this because he was doing everything in his power to try and calm himself down after having discovered the situation he was now in. For there, sitting opposite him, was his date for the afternoon. Unfortunately, this date was not exactly what you'd call expected, as the person in question was none other than Timber Spruce. Now, the two lads had no dislike of one another, and yet, being here, there was a remarkably thick sense of discomfort between them.

"...So," Timber began.

Flash sighed.

"...So."

They blinked slowly at one another, neither wanting to be the one to break the silence. In the end though, it was Flash who felt he had to do so.

"I'm...I'm guessing your intent here wasn't to try and go behind Twilight's back and date somebody else?"

Timber immediately raised his hands in a defensive posture.

"What?! No! I thought she was gonna be there one here, not...well..."

Flash raised an eyebrow.

"Me?"

Timber sighed, nodding in agreement.

"So...I take it you were given a fake message too?"

A dry chuckle escaped the blue-haired boy, and he carefully set his shake down.

"Yeah. Though I was gonna be meeting up with some secret admirer. Clearly, that's not the case."

Leaning back into his side of the booth, Timber folded his arms.

"Alright then...any clues who's idea this was?"

A knowing smirk came to Flash's lips.

"Yeah...the girls."

Timber looked to him with confusion, prompting Flash to elaborate.

"The CMC. Rumour had it that they were a bit bummed out that I was still single, so they apparently decided to hook me up."

He looked to his counter with incredulity.

"And it would seem that they feel that you are the one they think I should be with."

Timber blinked again.

"Um...they do know I already have a girlfriend, right?"

Flash shrugged his shoulders.

"That probably wouldn't stop them."

He frowned.

"Remind me to thank Pinkie for introducing them to the concept of slash-fics when this is done," he said sarcastically.

Timber, naturally, didn't want to enquire further into that train of thought, and instead decided to try and get the most out of this unwanted and unexpected situation. Tapping his fingers against one another, he tried to put on a smile.

"So...come here often?"

Flash looked to him with amusement, and Timber's eyes immediately widened as he realised what he'd just said.

"Gah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean for that to sound like a pick-up line!"

But Flash just chuckled.

"Hey, it's fine. And yeah, I come here a lot. It's a pretty neat place, especially when Pinkie works here. I swear, you've gotta try out her ice cream sundaes sometime."

Timber noted that, then, after glancing around at some of the other patrons, turned his attention back to his date.

"So, still single, eh?"

Flash nodded.

"Yep."

Timber nodded back.

"Twilight tells me that you haven't had the best of luck with girlfriends. That true?"

Flash sighed.

"My first girlfriend turned into a she-demon."

Timber nodded, showing a modicum of understanding.

"That's rough, buddy."

Flash looked away, out of the window.

"And then the next girl I liked turned out to be a magical pony Princess from another dimension that I'll probably never see again."

Here, Timber stumbled.

"That's...rougher, buddy?"

Another dry laugh from Flash.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. But hey, it's fine. I'm still friends with them, and if no romance comes of it, then hey, at least I know I had good times with them once."

Timber smiled to that.

"That's the spirit. And hey..."

Leaning back into his chair, the green-haired boy suddenly took on a more confident look.

"...at least one of us has some luck with the ladies."

Flash studied him quietly for a time, letting him continue to speak.

"I mean, I've dated a lot of girls in my day, but Twilight? Whoo-boy! She's a good one! We've had a tonne of fun so far and I really like spending time with her."

A small smile came to Flash.

"I'm glad she's having fun too."

Timber chuckled.

"Hey, no worries there, pal! She's dating Timber Spruce! And I'm the kinda guy who knows how to treat ladies right."

A silence fell between the two boys, and during that time, Timber took to finally drinking some of his milkshake. As for Flash, he appeared deep in thought over something. Something that was taking up a lot of time for him. After a while, however, he took on a more serious look, and spoke in a quiet tone to his colleague for the afternoon.

"...Be good to her."

Timber, looking up from his drink, raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm?"

Flash kept his seriousness.

"Twilight. Be good to her. Treat her well."

Hearing that, Timber chortled.

"Hey, no worries. I told you, I..."

But Flash cut him off.

"I mean it, Timber...treat her well."

Timber halted, realising that the mood of the meeting had taken a decidedly different turn. He looked on, seeing Flash look to him with a piercing gaze, as he spoke with an unexpectedly sombre tone.

"Twilight, whether it be this one or the one from Equestria...is special. She's a good person, a good friend...and she deserves to have someone good in her life. Don't treat her like she's just another notch in your belt. Because if you do..."

A smirk came back to him.

"...then I'm gonna be the least of your worries."

His eyes narrowed.

"Make sure...you are good for her."

Timber, who had not been expecting this pseudo-interrogation, gulped, then let out a nervous laugh.

"Er...sure, buddy. I'll treat her good, I promise! And, um...can we go back to talking like bros, because this is kinda terrifying me right now."

Laughing himself, Flash leaned back.

"Sure thing. Hey, I'll even order us some more shakes."

Timber sighed.

"Yeah, good, that's...that's real good."

He watched as Flash gestured to a nearby waitress, who went off to gather further drinks for the two of them. But, as he watched his date, curiosity returned to Timber.

"Um...just so I know...Twilight's other friends wouldn't be that upset with me if I didn't treat her right, would they?"

Flash looked back to him, considering the question carefully, before regaining his knowing smirk.

"Tell me, Timber...you aren't allergic to friendship-powered rainbow lasers, are you?"