Felicity

The trip to the mall was simultaneously as heavenly and as hellish as Flash could have anticipated. To a stranger, it was a completely innocent and uneventful car ride: just three women and a boi cruising casually through suburban traffic. But on the inside—and to some extent on the outside—Flash was a squirming, fidgeting, sweating mess. Sunset's SUV suddenly felt a million times smaller than when he last rode in it, and while Cadance may have been seated a good two feet away from hin in the back... it felt as though they were nearly scrunched in thigh-to-thigh. Any small bump or sway in traffic, they might just be on top of each other.

But—seatbelts saved more than lives. Flash and Cadance remained locked in their separate seats... and for all of Flash's multiple brush-ins with heart attacks, Cadance was not focused on him whatsoever. This was both a blissful thing and a saddening thing, but Flash chose to be thankful for the former. The three girls in the car gabbed on and on about one thing or another, mostly chatting about memories of shopping and long-closed establishments and familiar friends and neighbors who switched jobs, schools, prison sentences—whatever. In truth, Flash wasn't paying too much attention. It was a warm afternoon, so they kept the windows shut... which—of course—only magnified the delicious potency of Cadance's perfume, drawing him to melt from the inside out.

Cadance... Mi Amore Cadenza. That's how Twilight introduced her: Mi Amore Cadenza. Bras-on-a-biscuit, is that truly her name? Could it possibly get any more stupidly gorgeous? Was Cadance a school principal or a living Barbie doll? Perhaps both? My Barbie Principal Dreams would be a great toyline, and Cadance would absolutely nail the look in sweetly-perfumed spades.

"Aren't you hot in that sweetie?"

"Huh...?" Flash snapped out of it. It was a century after they had left the science facility parking lot, and the young man's pupils shrank at the sight of Cadance looking directly at him from across the backseats. "Uhhhhhhhhh—"

"Poor thing..." Cadance's lips pursed with a pink flicker of concern. "You look positively stifling!"

"I'm... uh..." Flash whimpered, adjusted the collar of his hoodie, and threw on a crooked smile. "I'm not as hot as... as..." His voice cracked as he avoided her goddess!gaze. "...other p-people." A hard gulp.

Cadance blinked. She opened her mouth to say something—

"We're here~!" Sunset Shimmer vibrated, pulling the car into a parking space and cutting the engine. "Hop to it, ladies~ Those fish won't devour themselves!"

"Woohoo!" Twilight shrugged her seatbelt loose and hopped out of the vehicle with youthful vigor. "Thunnus orientalis with rice, here we come~!"

"Yeah..." Sunset rolled her eyes with a smirk, exiting and slamming the driver's side door shut. "What she said."

The "fabulous" four entered the mall as a group. It was not a swift stroll—because each lady was obsessed with pointing out multiple details: shops that had changed names, establishments that had switched places, fashions in display windows, fashions being worn by other shoppers, fashion on poster advertisements, fashion, fashion, fashion. This—along with the rhythmic percussion of heels-clicking-against-tile—gave Flash everything he ever expected from a stereotypical gaggle of women. In stereo: for he stumbled haplessly in the center of it all, tickled by the sound of Twilight's giggles, the warmth of Sunset's voice, and the allure of Cadance's perfume. Something boiled inside of him—something that he felt too weak to contain—and he was afraid he might collapse into a puddle at any given time.

It certainly didn't help that the Mall truly was busy at that time of the day. There were more people gathered about than the young man had witnessed in... well... years. The soccer field was completely different: wide open with lots of room to breathe and wander around on his lonesome. But this? This was far different... far louder... far more crowded. The last time Flash was here, he was considerably younger... considerably taller... and considerably more manlier. Every sight and color triggered a cornacopia of conflicting emotions, and he felt like a paper thin ghost trying to re-tread a past life's old stomping grounds.

The boi felt weak in the knees, and at one point—as the women stopped to gawk at a jewelry display in the middle of the lower level promenade—he stood pigeon-toed upon the verge of collapse. His breaths came in ragged squeaks, and he felt a tingly sensation rippling through his fingers and toes. Why were they stopping? Was Twilight's lunch break going to last a hundred years? Who could possibly want to stop and window shop at a time like this? The universe was expanding and the world resources were dwindling and there were so many people walking around in a crazy cyclone of noise and neanderthals and what if one of them recognized Flash and asked him why he had shrunk down to such a tiny sissy shadow of yesterday and would they have to call an ambulance to reel his comatose vomit-covered body away—?

"Flash?"

He winced. He looked up, sweaty and trembling.

Rosy eyes. A motherly expression. Hair colored like a Disney Princess blanket.

"Are you okay, sweetie? You look like you're about to collapse."

Flash hugged himself, feeling a sway overcome him. He opened his lips. He meant to scream, but all that came out was an effeminate titter: "C-catch me...?"

Cadance's eyes narrowed. Like a pastel firefighter, she swerved into action, grasping him gently by the hand.

The sheer contact electrified him, like a pink defibrillator, warm and loving—but also swift and powerful. He felt a hundred times more awake in a single blink, and thus he felt a little bad when Cadance nevertheless proceeded to lead him over to a nearby bench.

"Excuse us, girls~" The woman threw towards Twilight and Sunset—who were currently in their own universe. "We're just going to have a little breather for a sec~"

"Sure thing, Cadance!" Twilight shot back as a seller showed off bracelets to the two roomates.

Soon, another galaxy away, Flash had been led to a bench—where Cadance gently eased him down.

"There you go, sweetie~"

Flash still shivered, overcome with fear, guilt, joy, shame, and a bunch of other monosyllabic abstract nouns that he couldn't be arsed to articulate at that particularly numbing moment.

Cadance centered himself within his meandering gaze, becoming his whole pink world, anchoring him with regal eyes and matching lips. "Just breathe." She leaned forward, drowning out the rest of the Mall and the strangers rolling beyond. "Breathe."

Flash Sentry breathed... breathed... breathed. Each inhalation was filled with her overwhelming perfume, and thus every exhalation was a subtle whimper of increasing relaxation. He felt like he was in a small cozy booth filled with scented candles. The crazy world and all of its frightening implications melted away, and he relaxed... coaxed by her resplendent visage...

...and her caressing fingers. They kneaded into his shoulders before stroking the edges of his upper arms through the hoodie's material. His peripheral vision caught the shine of her immaculately polished nails, and it was like being hypnotized by tiny twinkling stars.

"It's okay..." She smiled. "It's okay..." She purred. As his lungs eased, Cadance too eased—sitting down gracefully on the bench beside him. Even when sitting down, her head and upper body hovered high above the young man. But suddenly Flash wouldn't have it any other way. She was grand, overwhelming, powerful, and—best of all—she was there. "That's right..." She rested her hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him. "That's right. Isn't that much better? You're completely safe. There's nothing to worry about."

Flash was indeed breathing better, but the trembles remained—maintained by something else entirely. It wasn't nearly as frightening as what lulled him almost collapsing just seconds ago, but he wasn't certain how to combat it this time. All he knew was that he had this intense, overwhelming, undying urge to hug her—

"Don't hold back~" Cadance hummed, and it felt as though those fingers of hers were sweeping into his mind.

Flash shut his ocean blue eyes tight. He gave into gravity, falling sideways and clinging to the tall motherly woman seated protectively beside him. As soon as he did so, he was rewarded. Her hand drew him in closer, squeezing his side—almost tickling his ribs. He wasn't prepared for such an immediate show of affection, and more than a few squeaks escaped his lips. Before Flash knew it, he was crying. In public. It was his worst nightmare come true, but—somehow—it had been transformed into a happy dream.

"Shhhhh..." Her angelic voice coated it over with a toasty warmth. "That's okay. Let it out, sweetie. Let it all out..."

Flash hiccuped. The tears trickled freely—but it wasn't an outright sob fest. Instead, it was just... an easy release. He felt intense weight draining out of his insides, and he immediately wondered why he didn't just give in sooner. An intense wave of clarity came to him, and in less than a minute he felt himself floating up to the surface of the whole episode, awake, alert, and unashamed of the turbulence that brought him there.

Well, almost...

"I-I'm so sorry..." He sniffled, wiping his cheeks dry.

"Don't be~" Cadance cooed. Flash heard a delicate rummaging. The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a tissue, lending it to him so he could dab his face dry. "Nobody should ever feel sorry for being so precious."

His heart leapt at that, but immediately plunged as Flash's somber ego took the helm. "More like pathetic."

"No." Her hand stroked his shoulder. "Precious." Fingers brushed the back of his neck, lovingly. "There's no shame in being small and delicate. Sometimes—this universe—it distills the best things into glass packages." She winked. "When you carry so much to be proud of, sometimes it's difficult to contain it. It's perfectly fine to take the time to spill over from time to time... so long as you don't lose sight of what you're carrying."

"I..." Flash dabbed his face drier, shuddering inward and outward. "...I'm not sure what I'm even holding half the time."

"That's okay." Cadance smiled. "I have every bit of faith that you'll discover it. We all will. But don't fret if there're more than a few bumps along the way. You're worth making that trip. Do you understand? You're worth it."

Flash gulped, sniffling one last time. "Okay."

"Say it," Cadance said firmly. "'I'm worth it.'"

Flash bit his lip. It nevertheless came out of him, tremorous but determined: "I'm worth it."

"Say it again."

"I'm... worth it." Flash sat up straight. "I'm worth it." He sat straighter. There was one lasting tear, but he didn't bother to dry it as he burned a path through the glint and shine ahead of him. "I'm worth it."

"Heeheehee... that you are~" Cadance leaned her head aside. "There... was that truly so hard?"

"Mmmmm..." Flash squirmed where he sat, fumbling for a response. For better or for worse, he decided not to think. "You smell good."

"Hahahaha..." Cadance leaned in, shaking all over in pastel mirth. "So I've been told!" She gazed warmly down at him. "Your hair is so incredibly silky."

"It... is...?" Flash exhaled through pursed lips. It wasn't until then that he realized the principal's hands were gently playing through his ocean-blue tresses. Just how long had she been caressing his bangs...?

"Oh, absolutely, sweetie~" Cadance nodded, brushing his threads a few more times before resting a loving hand on his collar. "Like a treasure waiting to be framed. Have you ever thought of growing it long?"

"I..." Flash felt a warmth burning in his chest. "I... uh..." It left him breathless, like fear—only far more tantalizing. It seemed incromprehensible that someone so beautiful and fragrant would find something worth complimenting in him. "Uhm..."

"Hey there~!" Sunset and Twilight walked up, hand in hand. "Sorry about that. Silly diversion. Ready to eat?"

"Are we ever!" Cadance stood up tall between Flash and his roommates. It took the boi some time to realize it, but she was obscuring their observation of his face—and the fact that he had just been crying. "Assuming—of course—you still have the budget to do this dutch."

"You actually think Rarity would forgive us for buying such expensive accessories without her nearby to appraise them?" Twilight rolled her four eyes. She blinked at Flash on the bench. "Hey..." Her face stretched with brief concern. "Is everything okay—?"

"Just relaxing our feet. Mall walking can be a real stretch!" Cadance turned to wink over her shoulder at the boi. "Isn't that right, Flash?"

"Ahem..." Flash had stuck the tear-stained tissue into his hoodie's pouch. "Th-that's right... uhm... ma'am."

"So... ladies?" Cadance folded her arms. "Sushi-ho?"

Sunset Shimmer gazed at Cadance, then at Flash. After a few contemplative seconds, the telepath bore a warm smile. "Hmmm... damn straight. Not sure how much my stomach can last at this rate."

"You do remember where it is, right?" Twilight teased.

"Just because you're smarter than me doesn't mean I've a cave woman." Sunset led the way down the promenade. "Let's mosey on, girls!"

"Yaaaaaay~" Twilight sung, clinging to Sunset's arm and giggling.

Like a superheroine might don a cape, Cadance picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She looked back down at Flash with a motherly smile, extending a hand. "Better?"

He inhaled softly, reaching up to grasp her wrist. "Better~"

"So happy for it." She winked, and led him after the girls—quite content, it would seem, to hold his weak little hand in hers.

Flash bit his lip, trailing along, doing all he could to keep from squealing with unspeakable felicity.