It was now a week before Thanksgiving. Flash and First Base were in Flash's car being guided to their new house by Heat and Water, who were in their respective cars in front of them.
In the weeks leading up to their transition, Flash had kept as quiet about it as he could, telling only his friends Derpy Muffins and Micro Chips, who took the news well. Base had been complaining about sharing their house nonstop, but at Flash’s request, he kept it down at school. The boys had agreed that the last thing they needed was a certain pink, poofy-haired, party-crazed girl throwing them a goodbye party. And Flash especially didn’t want a certain bespectacled genius finding out.
Because of this, Flash had avoided the Rainbooms as much as possible, sitting as far away from them in classrooms, the cafeteria, and even during special school events. Not even Pinkie Pie or Applejack, who were usually really good at figuring out hidden secrets, had suspected what he and Base were hiding. Fluttershy, being as kind as she was, had approached him at one point and asked with a worried tone if they had made him upset somehow, but he had given her a smile and assured her that it was a family matter that didn’t involve them.
After about 20 minutes of driving, the family turned onto a street called WhiteBlock and came upon the biggest, most incredible looking house the cousins had ever seen. It made both their jaws drop.
As soon as they stopped, they jumped out. The moving truck pulled up behind them. “This house is huge!” Flash exclaimed. And he wasn’t kidding. The house was four stories all, the size of a small apartment, and it had a good sized space in the backyard.
“Wow! This house must have enough room to fit TEN families!” said Base. “Uncle Gleaming must be rich if he could get us this place!”
“I don’t know about 10 whole families, but it certainly could fit a lot of people” agreed Flash. But then something occurred to him and he got worried. “Uh, Uncle Heat, Aunt Water, how much money did you and Dad spend on this place?” he asked.
Heat and Water looked at each other and grinned, earning a raised eyebrow from both cousins. “Don’t worry Flash. It wasn’t just us. Our new housemates paid for it too.” Water replied.
“Oh, right.” Base groaned, “Our new housemates” he finger quoted.
“Now, First Base” scolded his mother “Don’t be that way. You haven’t even met them yet. In fact,” she then smiled “I think you’ll both be pleasantly surprised.”
“I’ll believe that when I see them” Base retorted.
"Look, why don't you two go check out the back?" Heat suggested "We'll take care of all the boxes.".
“Sure thing. Come on, Base.” said Flash. Base grumbled, but nonetheless followed his cousin to the backyard. Just looking at it was enough to give them both ideas.
“We could totally have parties back here” Base remarked.
“And I could have the band over!” Flash added. “As long as the housemates don’t mind, of course.”
“Don’t remind me about the-” But before Base could finish complaining, the cousins heard a voice from behind them.
“Flash?”
They turned around, and standing about 30 feet away, at the back door was a boy with lighter yellow skin and light grayish blue hair, who was dressed in a long orange shirt and black pants. When he saw their faces, his face morphed into an enormous grin “Oh my gosh, Flash!” he exclaimed.
Flash was confused for a moment, but his memories quickly came back. When he was in kindergarden, he had met someone who looked like a younger version of the boy standing before him, and for the next 6 years, they had been inseparable, getting into all kinds of crazy antics, none of which were too dangerous thankfully (although most of them were the other boy's ideas). The cousins’ jaws dropped for the second time, and Flash spoke with rising excitement.
"Comet?!"
“Flash, dude! I can’t believe it!”
“I haven’t seen you since 6th grade!”
"I know, it's been forever! Hey Base!"
"Comet, where the heck have you been, man?"
"Where have YOU GUYS been?"
"Come on Comet, bring it in!"
"We're bro-hugging now?"
"I'm coming for you!"
"No, I'm coming for you!"
"Yes, I am!"
"You come here!"
"I'm reeling you in, I'm reeling you-"
Flash and his best friend Comet Tail laughed as they embraced, and Base soon joined in. After 6th grade, Flash and his family had moved away from where they used to live, and Flash had started going to CHS in 7th grade, which meant he had to leave Comet behind. The two had stayed in touch, of course, but without Comet around, Flash's life had felt just a little less excited, and while he had Derpy, Micro, and his bandmates, none of them just had the same sense of liveliness that Comet did.
When the three separated, all were still grinning from ear to ear. "How lucky is this?” said Comet “My best friend in the world is going to be my housemate!"
“I’ve missed you, bud!” said Flash “You have no idea how boring life is without you.”
“Hey!”
“Not you, Base.”
Just then a girl donning a sweater and glasses came out the back door. Her skin was pale yellow and her hair was red with purple streaks. Flash and Base knew her too. She was Comet’s incredibly smart twin sister.
“Hey, Moony!” Comet said as he turned around and saw her “Look who our housemates are!”
The girl turned in the direction of her brother and when she saw the other two boys with him, she ran over. “Flash! Base!” She gave them a hug too.
Flash smiled again “Hey, Moondancer.”
Comet and Moondancer, like Flash and Base, were a special case. Usually siblings with their differences didn’t get along too well, especially if they were twins. But their differing personalities made them, in their view and Flash’s, the perfect sibling duo. Since Comet had been born about a half hour first, he made himself the stubborn protective brother, even though he knew Moondancer was capable of protecting herself. And while Moondancer did find Comet's stubborness frustrating at times, she did appreciate what he was doing. His nickname for her, "Moony" was also used by their parents and occasionally by her friends, but only when no one else was around.
“It is so good to see you guys” said Base “I can’t believe we’re going to be sharing a house!”
“Changed your mind about the housemates thing?” Flash grinned at his cousin.
“Absolutely!”
That evening, after all the boxes were moved in, and a good amount of stuff was unpacked, the two families sat down for dinner at their two tables, which were up against each other making one big table. Flash, Water, Heat, and Base sat at their table half, while Comet, Moondancer, and their parents sat at theirs, and they were all discussing things at the twins' school, which just so happened to be closer to the house than CHS.
"-and then, we all shouted OUR SCHOOL RULES!" said Comet, getting a laugh out of the cousins.
“Speaking of school, how’s Coffee doing?” Flash asked the twins, referring to their older sister Coffee Cup who was away at college.
Moondancer instantly perked up "She is doing great. Last I heard, she was joining one of the study clubs."
Flash nodded "Good choice."
"What about you boys?" asked Windy Sky, the twins' father. "How're things at Canterlot High?" At this Flash paused, unsure of what to say at first. Whenever he thought about CHS, the first thing that came to mind was the magic disturbances and ... them.
"It-It's great!" he quickly replied "The band and I have been amazing, my grades are just fine, Micro and Derpy are doing okay, and even Base is keeping up with me." That last part got a laugh out of everyone, except Base.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, cous, but it's true."
The twins' mother, Day Shine, had seen Flash's hesitation and quickly picked up on the fact that Flash was hiding something, having been around her own son his whole life. Comet had seen it too, but decided not to ask him yet. He shared a look of understanding with his mother, who nodded silently.
He would ask Flash later tonight. Something had happened to his best friend while he wasn't around, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
Author's Note
Since I didn't have an author's note in chapter 1, I'll do all my explaining for my doing this story and my choices of character roles here.
I got into the My Little Pony fandom relatively late, in late 2018, after season 8 was finished. Before that point, I had never even considered watching the show, but one day, I noticed that a select few like to compare the Mane 6 to the characters of another popular children's show (which shall be unnamed here) that I enjoy, and I thought "Well, couldn't hurt to check it out". As soon as I started watching season 1, I just couldn't stop. When I saw the first Equestria Girls, I instantly became a FlashLight shipper. Yes, I know, Human Flash is a very bland character, and Pony Flash is even more so, but I don't see that as a reason to dislike them, but rather a chance for potential. Unfortunately, as we all know now, that potential would never happen.
Like many other fans, I always wondered where Sunset's human counterpart was, especially since the Human Twilight was revealed at the end of Rainbow Rocks. And when Nick Confalone posted some information about a special that would have answered that question, I was both overjoyed that the writers did acknowledge it and furious that they decided to scrap it.
Here is his Tweet:
https://twitter.com/nickconfalone/status/1371156029229076481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1371156029229076481%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmlpforums.com%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsystemcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fnickconfalone%2Fstatus%2F1371156029229076481%3Fs%3D20
And since no one else seemed to write fanfiction versions of this special, I decided to do it myself. So for any MLP fans out there who wanted to see the Human Sunset, and any Flashlight shippers, this one's for you. This story is the first in a trilogy set after the series finale, with Pony Twilight as the new Queen of Equestria, and Pony Sunset is still in the human dimension (for now anyway).
Now onto the characters. I’ve seen that one common thread when it comes to Flash is that FimFiction writers tend to portray the background character First Base as his younger brother. I decided to change that a little. Since Pony Flash is a Pegasus, and First Base an earth pony, I figured making them cousins instead would work a little better (if that comes off as being offensive or mean, I deeply apologize).
In the case of Flash’s parental situation, I thought that losing one parent and being far away from the other would give him a reason to be more, well, interesting. This is also partly inspired by a series of EQG Flashlight stories by the writer Godslittleprincess, where Flash’s father walks out of his life when Flash is a little kid and wants nothing to do with him ever again for no apparent reason other than being a selfish deadbeat jerk. Here, I wanted to give Flash and his dad a good reason to be apart. Also, the name Gleaming Shield is a name I saw used by Piemaster128 for a guard character, so credit goes to him/her for that.
In Comet Tail’s case, I saw a few early fanfics and deviantart pictures depicting Pony him and Flash as rivals competing for Pony Twilight’s heart. So I thought making them best friends would be a nice change from that (Especially with he-who-must-never-be-named around).
And as for Moondancer being Comet’s sister, the idea just randomly popped into my head and I figured “Why the heck not?”.
Also, if you've watched the episode Amending Fences, you’ll see that Moondancer’s sister's cutie mark is a cup of Coffee, hence her name here.
Finally, just as a heads up, the main plot of the story won’t really pick up until further down the line. So don’t get too hyped up just yet. We have a little ways to go first.
Chapter 1 - Longing for the Old Days
Have you ever felt like there was something wrong with your life? Or like you kept being lead back to someplace (or someone) that you wanted to avoid? Or that the whole world, or even the universe, had some sort of a problem with you?
That's how Canterlot High School student Flash Sentry was feeling with his life recently.
Five years ago, a girl named Sunset Shimmer had suddenly appeared at his school, and had, for lack of a better term, taken control of the entire place. Everyone feared her, and no one dared to challenge her. She had become his girlfriend, but only for the sake of popularity, she had no real interest in him. After two years, Flash had finally decided he had had enough, and broke up with her. And then, just a few weeks later, his life flipped upside down. A beautiful girl who went by the name of Twilight Sparkle showed up, and did what no one else could at the time. She stood up to Sunset. Twilight had captured Flash's heart, and he asked her to the Fall Formal, where his understanding of basically everything was rewritten.
Sunset had briefly transformed into an enormous raging demon, and had put everyone, including Flash, under mind control. And then, Twilight and five other girls had used some crazy rainbow light to change her back. It turned out that both Twilight and Sunset were talking ponies from another dimension, and Twilight had to return, so after that night Flash didn't see her again until sometime later when she appeared again to help her new friends, including Sunset who had become a much nicer girl, even if it took Flash and the rest of the school time to accept it, to defeat three very strange girls who, with their singing, entranced everyone into fighting each other. Flash had even snapped at Twilight, which he still didn't like remembering. And then, Twilight left AGAIN, while Sunset joined the band, the Rainbooms. And it only got more complicated from there. When it came time for the Friendship Games between CHS and Crystal Prep, another Twilight, who didn't recognize Flash or anyone else, had shown up and she transformed into a demon also. It quickly became clear that this Twilight Sparkle was the one from this dimension, and she had no interest in Flash, as he soon found out. She had immediately been attracted to Timber Spruce, the brother and co-director of Camp Everfree's director Gloriosa Daisy. And Sunset made it clear that while she was now Flash's friend, she did not wish to restart their relationship.
After that, Flash had tried his best to move on with his life, focusing on his schoolwork, his band, and his own friends, but his mind and heart continued to wander back to Twilight. The Human Twilight. And Flash did not like it. Not because she was with someone else, he knew better than that. But because he was concerned he was still mixing her up with her pony counterpart lookalike, and that wasn't fair to her to have someone else standing in her place in his head. Flash then decided the best thing he could do was to try and keep Twilight, Sunset, and their friends at a distance, while supporting them as more magical disturbances had starting popping up at an unexpected rate. And it worked. For the most part, anyway.
Now, four days before Halloween, Flash was at his house, in his room, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Why did he have to fall in love with the Pony Twilight in the first place? Otherwise, this whole situation, and his life, could be so much easier right now. While he supported the Rainbooms, even singing a song for them at one point, he still wished he wasn't distracted by his pining for a girl who was taken. Of course, he didn't blame either of the Twilights, Sunset, or even Timber for his love dilemma. That was his fault, and his fault alone. Flash let out a sigh. "Why does this have to be so hard?" he asked himself. He just wanted to feel like himself again.
Just then, he heard a female voice call from downstairs. "Flash, could you come downstairs? We have a family discussion."
"Coming, Aunt Water.", Flash replied. He made his way down the stairs to the living room, where he took his seat on the couch next to a young boy who looked similar to him, but darker colored. Across from them in two chairs sat a woman with ocean blue skin and white hair, and a man with green skin and red hair. The adults were Flash's aunt Water Wave and uncle Heat Flame, and the boy next to him was their son, his cousin First Base.
When Flash was 8 years old, an earthquake had struck the small town he lived in at the time, which wasn't too far from Canterlot City. Many people in the town had managed to escape with their lives, but a few weren't so lucky. And one of those unlucky ones was Spring Blossom, Flash's mother. After she was gone, Flash's father, Gleaming Shield, knew he would have to find a good job to support him and his son, and had applied for a position at a big company that, unfortunately, was headquartered very far away. So Gleaming had left his son in the care of Heat Flame, his younger brother, and Heat's wife. Once he was employed, Gleaming made sure that part of his income went back to them. Being far apart from each other hurt both father and son deeply, but Flash knew it was for the best, and it made the times when his father came to visit even more special. And Flash got along great with his cousin. Most cousins their ages didn't get along too well, but Flash and First Base were different, largely due to living together.
It was Heat who started the conversation. "Boys, we have something to tell you. We're moving."
Flash sat bolt upright, his eyes widening. "MOVING?!" Base screamed.
"To a bigger house a few streets from here." Heat added quickly. The boys' expressions calmed.
"We figured you boys could use some more space." Water added. "After all, this house has done us well, but it's getting a bit small for two kids like you." Flash and Base couldn't deny it, their current house was only a one-story, and they were both getting more energetic every year. "And we have your father to partly thank for this, Flash." Water continued, "Thanks to his income, we now have enough money to do so."
Flash smiled. "He always has our backs even if he's not right here with us."
"But Mom, Dad," Base said "What about school?"
"Don't worry, Base" said Heat, "You'll both still go to CHS. But you will have to take a bus or Flash's car."
"Fine by me." Flash said, as he and Base shared a grin.
"Now, here's the important thing you need to know." said Heat, "We're going to have some ... company in our new house."
"What do you mean?" Flash asked. Heat and Water looked at each other, then back at the boys.
"We're going to be sharing the house with another family." said Water.
"What?!" the cousins exclaimed. "I don't want to share our home with strangers!" Base complained.
"It's large enough to fit all of us." Water continued firmly "Besides, once you see who it is, you might just change your mind."
"I doubt that." Base snorted. "Cheer up, cous." said Flash "They might be friendly."
"Yeah, or they could be a family of total jerks." Base retorted.
"Enough, young man" scolded Heat.
"So, when are we moving?" Flash asked.
"In 3 weeks." answered Water.
That night, Flash lay in his bed, thinking about the upcoming move. If he was further away from Canterlot High, that meant he would see the Rainbooms even less than he did now, and that would help him think about Twilight less than he wanted to. Not to mention, he would be out of her way too. Perhaps this was his first step to getting back to the old him.
No, the old him was gone. This would be the NEW him. He just hoped he wouldn't have another situation like he did with the two Twilights.
