Felicity

The low hum of Twilight Sparkle's sports car as it cruised through the suburbs was intoxicating. Sleep-inducing.

Flash felt inescapably drowsy—despite the fact that he had been sequestered to a pitch black bedroom for Nietzsche knows how long. Slumped in the backseat, the boi leaned a bored chin against a bored fist and stared at the boring scenery blurring past the window with bored eyes.

Up ahead, the fiery bangs of Sunset Shimmer and the slick purple threads of Twilight Sparkle peaked above the front seats. All was dead silent—save for the ethereal semblance of wind chimes as Twilight adjusted the air conditioning dials via geode telekinesis.

Flash blinked. Slowly. He was clad in a baggy pair of sweatpants and an even baggier sweatjacket. The hoodie hung darkly over his head like some ascetic monk's veil. It mimicked—albeit imperfectly—the long sought shadows of his room. No matter how he juggled the moment, there simply was no shaking the sunlight that stabbed his eyes at every second.

So he sighed. And so he shifted. And so his eyes trailed off, bouncing across random billboards and signs and advertisements sprinkled across the municipal fringes of Canterlot City. He saw movie posters—sequels to series he never even knew existed. There were faces of politicians he had never heard of. The registration tags of adjacent cars had numbers that chilled him to the core. The more he saw—the more Flash wished he didn't see, and he found his gaze wandering back inwards...

"Hmmm-hmmm-hmmmmmm~"

And that's when his eyes brushed across short purple hair with furry green highlights. Next to where Flash sat—positioned squarely in the rear center of the car—was a plush child seat. But instead of housing a child, it housed—

"How you holdin' up there, Flash?" asked Spike the regular dog. His tiny paws stretched out awkwardly in front of him, courtesy of the way the pup was restrained. He nevertheless gave a panting smile. "Hey...dig the swell hoodie!."

"Mrmmmmmmmmmmmffff," Flash Sentry mrmmmmmmmmmmmffff'd. He chose to look out the window again.

The girls' car turned perpendicular to the rising sun, and Spike's smiling muzzle reflected annoyingly across the window. "So what have you been up to in your room as of late?"

"Mrmmm..." Flash exhaled. "Nothing."

"Kewl! I do nothing all the time!" Spike's canine eyebrows waggled. "Sometimes with squirrels."

"Uh huh."

"But this is exciting! Isn't it?"

"Uh huh."

His tail wagged, thump-thump-thumping against the inner lining of the child's seat. "We're gonna get to see the whole gang again! It'll just be like old times! I mean... I guess they wouldn't be all that old for you."

Flash's jaw clenched. His eyes burned hot dagger-traces into the trees and building faces gliding past them. "Uh... huh..."

In the driver's seat, Twilight fidgeted slightly. "Hey... uh... Spike! Let's not talk much about... y'know—"

But nevertheless, the dog persisted: "Gosh... everyone has grown so much since high school! Crazy, isn't it?"

"Mrmmmmm... uh huh."

"Not me, of course. Cuz I'm a dog. But, you know what I mean."

"Spike~" Twilight sing-songed, smiling nervously into the rear mirror. "Little buddy~"

"But Fluttershy... Applejack... Pinkie Pie... whew!" Spike beamed. "They've all shot up like skyscrapers! I mean... I'm used to only seeing all of our friends at ankle-level, but now it's like they gotta talk loudly for my pup ears to hear them!" He panted and panted, grinning at the passenger beside him. "So—who do you look forward to seeing the most? Rainbow Dash? Trixie? Derpy Hooves?"

"... ... ...Yes." Flash exhaled.

"Me? I'm looking forward to seeing Rarity again." With a bit of struggle, Spike licked his paw and used it to slick one fuzzy ear back, suavely. "Last time we met, she gave me belly scratches for days! Hot dog—that was the best!" He winked. "Wouldn't you love belly rubs?"

"Mrmmmmm..."

"I mean—just look at you! You're tiny as all heck these days! I bet even Rarity could lift you up in her arms as well—"

The car jerked slightly in its lane. Twilight's chattering teeth could be seen in the rear mirror. "Spiiiiiiike~!"

"What?" The pup shrugged his front paws. "Nothing wrong with being tiny and adorable—"

"Spike, shut the Hell up!" Sunset Shimmer's voice thundered through the tiny car interior.

"Mmmmp!" Spike whimpered, his limbs and tail curling inwardly as he winced.

"Sunset!" Twilight sputtered. "Don't use that tone with him—!"

"Why not?!" Sunset fumed. "He's being a friggin' dumbass and nothing you say seems to get through—"

"It's called being considerate! He's my lifelong pal, and as someone who's taught me everything that there is to know about friendship, I figured you would temper yourself more—"

"This isn't just some friendship-lesson-of-the-week scenario, Twilight! Flash has gone through a lot of shit and we don't need your proverbial little brother rocking the boat—"

"Spike was just trying to be nice and conversational! It's not his fault that your ex-boyfriend's such an emo stick in the mud!"

"For crying out loud! Stop calling him my 'ex-boyfriend!' It's been years, Twilight! Years!"

"Shhhhhh!"

"What—why are you sushing me—?"

"Do you even hear yourself?! Stop talking so much about the time's that passed! Hrmmf! And you tell me that Spike is insensitive!"

"Oh for the love of Celestia, I was just trying to say—"

"You want to sleep on the couch tonight? Again?!"

"Okay, now you're the one being too damned sensitive!"

"Yeah? And just what makes you the expert? And don't say 'my geode!'"

"Hey! Gals!" Spike hollered. "Stop fighting! Come onnnn! You're better than this!"

"Spike, butt out of this."

"Gassssp! Don't talk to him that way!"

"You need to put a leesh on him one of these days!"

"Never! Oh my gawwwd! How could you suggest such a thing?!"

"I'm not getting into this with you again, Twilight, you can't just let him—"

"BARK BARK BARK BARK!"

"Rrrrrrnggggh..." Flash—in the meantime—gripped his head through the hoodie like a vice and stared thirstily at the objects outside the car. "Please slam head-on into a semi truck... please slam head-on into a semi truck... pleeeease..."