Twilight had witnessed many strange things in her life, yet she could not deny just how utterly surreal the experience laying out in front of her was right now. Dozens, if not a hundred, of those from the human world all passing through her castle, in pony form, getting through the mirror that led beck to their home. The looks of confusion and sheer tiredness on their faces was understandable, and it even reminded Twilight of her own world-hopping adventures back in the day. She recognised many faces here, even though they were human last time she saw them, and it was all the stranger to her to know that she saw these people almost every day, yet they were not the same people. It was a headache as usual, and Sunset, who was standing to one side, gave her a nervous smile as the whole thing played out.
But there came a time when most of the new arrivals had managed to get themselves into the mirror, leaving only Twilight, Spike, Sunset, her Canterlot High friends and her otherworldly double in the castle chamber. Well, there was one person left here, and as Twilight looked to him, a blush crept onto her face. Flash Sentry, who was actually standing in front of the mirror right now, was looking to his reflection. Clearly the prospect of being a pony was something he was still coming to terms with, even though he probably wouldn't be this way for much longer. Every other set of eyes in the room looked between the two, before eventually settling on Twilight. All of them knew what she was thinking, and took no end of amusement in it, even her double.
Twilight, for her part, soon realised she was the centre of everypony's attention, and so her blush grew ever redder. Though she was renowned for her intelligence and equally famous for her making of plans, she was somewhat ashamed to admit she hadn't made a contingency for this. And who could blame her? The two hadn't so much as laid eyes on one another for a very long time now, and they had most likely resigned themselves to the prospect of never seeing each other again. Yet, here they were, within a stone's throw of each other. Clearly, this needed to be addressed, and so Twilight, after gathering her courage, walked right up to the now-stallion Flash, and cleared her throat.
"Flash. It's...it's nice to see you again."
Flash, perhaps not expecting to be spoken to by her, somewhat jolted in place before spinning around. He did his best to avoid falling over, since walking on four legs was still something he was struggling with, but after managing to keep his composure, he put on that nervously dorky smile Twilight so fondly remembered from her last visits to their world.
"Oh! Twilight! Um, I mean, Princess Twilight! It's, er...really great to see you too!"
For a while, neither of them said anything else, just staring at each other and waiting for the other to say something first. The others looked on, almost pained at this sight, with Rainbow Dash especially giving herself a facepalm over the whole matter. Eventually though, Twilight broke the silence.
"So...been up to much?"
Flash, scratching the back of his head, which was rather more difficult with a hoof than with fingers, tried to come up with stuff to talk about.
"Well, we had a problem with a crazy vine lady in a forest, we had our memories erased for a bit, and...oh, yeah, we nearly drowned on a cruise ship. So...same old, same old, I guess?"
Twilight, in spite of herself, giggled, much to Flash's delight, and he spoke again soon afterwards.
"And you?"
Twilight gave a shrug.
"Oh, you know, helped to stop an evil cult, did some time travel, got held prisoner by a Changeling Queen, had our capital invaded. So...yeah, regular Equestrian stuff."
The two shared a laugh, and they were feeling a great deal less stressed about this whole meeting. But there came a time when Flash, with more calm and softness to his tone, looked to her and spoke earnestly.
"...I missed you."
Twilight's face too softened.
"...I missed you too."
But her smile faded a little afterwards.
"Flash, I...I know that...this..."
She gestured to herself, and then to him.
"...was probably never really going to work out. I maybe held out hope that it might do, but...with you having your life and me having mine, I..."
But Flash already understood, raising a hoof and stopping her.
"It's okay, Twilight. I know."
Twilight looked to him, surprised.
"You do?"
Flash nodded.
"Yeah, I mean...we had a good time, you and me. I liked you, and I still like you, but..."
For just the briefest of moments, his eyes drifted over to Sunset, then back to Twilight.
"...I know things between us can't be what we...well...what we might have wanted."
In the pause that followed, Twilight looked over her shoulder to Sunset, and though no words passed between them, she knew that her fellow Equestrian was probably involved in what Flash was talking about. And while Sunset herself briefly looked concerned that the Princess might be upset by this, she was relieved to see that she instead just offered her a small smile, giving a quick nod to her before turning her gaze to Flash again.
"Well, I'm glad we can accept that. I wouldn't have wanted you to spend your whole life pining for me. Never moving on because you were waiting for me. I'd never have wanted that for you."
Flash smiled back.
"And I wouldn't have wanted that for you either."
Twilight took a deep breath, then smiled wider to him, stretching out her hoof.
"So...friends?"
Looking down to the hoof, Flash smiled back, reaching forward and accepting it, giving a quick shake.
"Yeah, friends. I'd like that."
The two enjoyed this moment, as indeed did everypony else here, particularly Sunset, who was glad that things had turned out this well between the two former crushes. But after a moment, a look of curiosity came to Twilight, and she looked, for some reason, very nervous about something. Flash tilted his head as he looked to her like this, but after her blush returned to her cheeks with a vengeance, she finally got out what she needed to say.
"Um, out of curiosity, Flash, since this is the first time we're seeing each other as ponies, how...er...well...what do you think?"
Flash, finally understanding what she meant, took a step back and looked her over. True, seeing this person, who had been a human girl for so long in his memories, now appearing as a winged unicorn was a lot to take in. But then, so had everything else in his recent life. After mulling over his thoughts for a while, he smiled back to her.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Twilight, but...I kinda want to scratch behind your ear right now."
Twilight blinked, then assumed a more mischievous smirk to the ex-human.
Why Mr Sentry, how very bold of you to be so forward."
Though now blushing himself, Flash couldn't help but laugh, as indeed did Twilight. When the laughter died down, however, it was Flash's turn to be curious.
"And, um...me?"
Twilight too took a moment to look him over, culminating in a much faster response as she took on a professional stance, nodding firmly before speaking in a teacher-esque way.
"Quite handsome, I must say. Very good."
Flash, still smirking back to her, raised an eyebrow.
"Well, glad I could impress."
Another laugh between the two, and when it was over, they smiled softly to one another again, reaching out their hooves and giving another shake. With that whole thing over, Flash gave her a quick wave, and Twilight, keeping up her smile, waved back. She watched as the stallion turned, finally ready to head back into the mirror to return home, and as he did so, Twilight, in a very un-Princessy manner, let her eyes drift down to his hind quarters, at which point she smirked a bit more amorously.
"Yes...very nice indeed," she mumbled.
Flash looked back to her.
"Hm?"
"Hm?" Twilight asked back, holding back the shock of realising what she'd just said aloud.
Flash, thinking he must have simply been hearing things, shook his head before smiling again, before at last passing through the mirror. Twilight, understandably, blushed hard as she remembered that she was not alone here. Turning, she saw all of her friends giving her knowing smiles, much to her chagrin.
"Wow, Twilight, I knew you two were bad flirts, but...wow," Rainbow commented.
Twilight narrowed her eyes.
"You...heard...nothing!"
Sunset, walking beside her, leaned over, talking in an amused tone as she passed her by.
"You keep telling yourself that, Twilight."
Twilight buried her face in her hooves as her friends passed her, one-by-one, each entering the portal. The last was Pinkie, who paused before deciding to look back to her, her face one of utter mischievousness.
"If it makes you feel any better, Twily, I like sneaking a peek at his tushie too!"
Twilight looked to her with a mixed expression of shock and concern over that, but before she had the chance to respond, the happy pink mare merrily bounced off and into the portal. Now alone with nobody but Spike beside her, the young Princess frowned at the now-unused mirror.
"Strangely enough, Pinkie, that does not make me feel better."
