“Alright, Spike, let us go over the plan again,” Twilight insisted.
Spike resisted the urge to sigh and just nodded. The pony and young dragon stood in a corridor of the Crystal Empire’s Castle and, for the last half hour, rehearsed Twilight’s “friendship introduction,” as she called it. Twilight paced the hallway, preparing herself with her favorite study tool, notecards. For in roughly ten minutes, a young Pegasus with a blue mane and orangish fur would come patrolling down the hall, and Twilight needed to be ready. Even though, in Spike’s estimation, all of this was going overboard. Twilight ever organized and prepared over a dozen topics to discuss with the young guard. Spike was thankful he managed to cut her selections to a dozen rather than the two thousand she had earlier. Still, he was skeptical Twilight would manage this without scaring Flash.
Her plan was just for an “accidental” meeting and a friendly chat. Spike looked over Twilight. Although she looked put together, her eyes had a slight maniac look.
“So, after detailed analysis and observations,” Twilight started. “We know Flash will turn that corner and walk down this corridor, correct?”
“Yeah,” Spike said. “But, when you say it like that, you worry me, Twilight.”
“Noted, and I will rephrase later,” Twilight acknowledged. “Anyways, when we see him, we will greet each other and have a polite, engaging, and friendly conversation as he walks down the hallway. Then we depart. Simple. Easy.”
Spike just nodded. His role would be to act as a referee, keep Twilight from scarring Flash and make sure Flash was a true gentlecolt. As Spike looked through his list of how he was supposed to help, Twilight refocused herself. She was a bundle of nerves, although she didn’t fully understand why. She knew nothing about this Flash besides the interviews she had made with some of his other guards and her various observations about him. He was a good pony, compassionate to all, and most had nothing bad to say about him. He seemed to mirror his human counterpart, or did his human counterpart mirror him. Whatever the case, the colt, was kind and caring and helped the various citizens of the crystal empire, both on and off duty.
Even though the expression was illogical, she felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. And while watching Flash, her feelings only grew. But why? Sure, she met his counterpart in the mirror world, but that wasn’t it completely. She felt… Well, this was why she was here to understand her feelings better. To talk and understand this Flash Sentry and her feelings better. So, she staged this as a way to meet and get to know him naturally. ‘Easy.’ She had run through this a dozen times, so she was confident enough that she could manage this.
However, that confidence went poof when hoof falls alerted them to a fast-moving pony headed right for them. “He’s early?!” Twilight whisper shrieked. She rapidly-paced back and forth; wings spread as if she was about to take flight. But instead, she went into hyper mode and began to speed-read her notecards while pacing rapidly.
However, instead of a young smiling guard, a simple farm pony rushed around the corner, somehow balancing apples in one of her hooves as she ran.
“Oh, hey, Applejack,” Spike said.
The tension left Twilight being replaced with confusion. “Applejack? Why are you here? I thought you wanted to check on the Crystal farms. And what’s with the apples.”
“Well, nothing wrong with Apples, right.” Applejack said as she lightly tossed the apples at them.
Twilight caught the apples in her magic. “No, nothing wrong with that.” She said, levitating an apple to Spike. The young Dragon caught his apple and took a grateful bite from it. Applejack kept looking around as if expecting something or somepony to appear.
“So, uhh, why are you here?” Spike asked through bites of his apple.
“Well, ya see, they dun canceled the farm,” Applejack explained while studying the wall.
“They canceled the farm?” Spike asked. Spike and Twilight shared a skeptical look before Applejack could correct herself.
“Yes, uh no, I mean,” Applejack stammered. “My tour got canceled.” She tried to put on her best smile, but it failed. “Ugh, I can’t be doin’ dis.” Applejack hid her face with her Stetson.
“Doing what?” Twilight asked. She had paused in eating her apple.
Before Applejack could answer, a rather loud clanking filled the hallway. Ponies and dragon turned to the noise and watched as a suit of armor walked down the hallway toward them. It inched along the floor, staying to the side of the corridor. If you disregarded every definition of the word sneaky, it could be considered sneaky. Curious, Spike walked toward it. As he moved closer, the suit of full armor kept shushing and making more odd noises, noises that sounded quite familiar.
“Rainbow Dash? And Fluttershy?”
“Guess again,” replied a cheery voice from the suit’s rear.
“Pinkie, what did I say about sneaking?” Rainbow Dash barked back.
“Oh right,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Sorry Spike, nopony here. Please pay no attention to the suit of armor moving on its own,” Pinkie said.
Rainbow just sighed. Twilight’s horn lit up, and the suit of armor clattered to the ground instantly, revealing both a pink earth pony and a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane.
“Pinkie Pie?” Applejack asked
“And Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked. What are you doing?”
“Oh, Twilight, fancy running into you here?” Rainbow Dash said, trying to look natural and not guilty. When Rainbow noticed the frown from Twilight, she answered the question. “Uhh, nothing.”
“Sneaking,” Pinkie Pie said.
Rainbow just face-hoofed. “We were just looking to explore the castle sneakily,” Rainbow said. “I thought the suit would look cool.”
“Yeah, a likely story,” Applejack said, an eyebrow raised.
“Oh yeah, and what’s your excuse.” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I’m here to help.” Applejack said.
“Well then, so are we,” Rainbow Dash said.
“You can’t be here.” Applejack said, “I was here first, so-“
“Only because I gave myself a handicap.”
Twilight stepped between her friends before the argument could fully bloom into something else. “Okay, I don’t know what this is about, but you just need to leave.”
“But then how can we help you with Flas-“ Pinkie said before Rainbow’s hoof quickly covered her mouth.
“Heh, Pinkie, I think you should just stop for now. Maybe just look at the nice ceiling for a minute,” Rainbow said.
Applejack nodded and walked over to keep an eye on the hyper earth pony. Pinkie laser-focused on the ceiling as directed, but Rainbow still kept her hoof in place. Twilight frowned at her friends. Then she looked to Spike. The siblings shared a look, Twilight’s gaze giving an accusation. Spike raised his claws to defend himself from the unspoken accusation. “I didn’t do anything, I swear.”
Twilight turned her suspicion on her friends. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to speak over each other, resulting in a garbled mess of an explanation. Pinkie just focused on the ceiling, in particular a chandelier. She waved at something. And attempted to speak, but it only came out as a mumble. Finally, Rainbow removed her hoof, and Pinkie repeated her statement. “Hiya, Fluttershy!”
Everypony and dragon looked up. There hiding on a chandelier was Fluttershy. She shyly poked her head out. “Oh, Twilight,” she meekly said in her whisper voice. “How strange to run into you here?”
Twilight’s eye twitched. She took a long deep breath before speaking again. “Will somepony tell us what’s going on?”
There was an awkward silence, but finally, Applejack spoke up. “Uhh, I don’t know about everypony else, but I came to check and help you.” Applejack admitted.
Head nods and a chorus of yups came from Twilight’s friends.
Seeing Twilight, Spike decided to calm the situation. “Well, at least we know that Lady Rarity won’t show up. She would respect your privacy and not interfere with yo-”
“Oh, Twilight,” Rarity called.
“Dang it,” Spike sighed. The group turn to see Rarity galloping toward them—dresses and other accessories in her magic aura.
“Rarity, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.
“I came to help you on your date, darling.” Rarity said. “Now hold still. I need to pick the dress that will help you best.
“Date?” Twilight exclaimed. “I’m not going on a date.”
Rarity rolled her eyes, of course. “It’s an observation and analysis or something, yes?”
“No,”
‘Yeah,’ Spike thought, looking at the list’s title. It was indeed titled ‘an experiment in the observation of one Flash Sentry.’ As to be expected from an intelligent, brilliant beauty such as Rarity.
Twilight looked at her friends in disbelief. Spike suppressed chuckled. Twilight looked at him, and Spike gave a sheepish shrug. “What, Twilight, you have to admit this is a bit funny.”
“I fail to see the humor in all this,” Twilight said. She turned to her friends with a genuine smile. “Although I am thankful that you tried to help, would somepony please tell me how you found out about this.”
The group of friends found various points of interest all around them. However, before Twilight could grill them for information, a cacophony of noises interrupted her. They all looked around down the corridor as the sound of hoofbeats, the clanking of metal, and raised voices grew louder. Shining Armor appeared, followed by a small army of Crystal Ponies. He marched down the hallway toward them, scanning every nook and cranny. The stallion was decked in his finest armor, and a finely polished saber was in his magical arura. He looked to be on the warpath. Twilight and the group snapped to attention as the group approached.
“Shining?” Spike asked. “Is something wrong?”
At first, Shining didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to look around the hallway, still searching for something. Finally, when he gave up, he looked to Twilight. And Twilight and her friends took a small step back from him. He, too, had a slightly manic look in his eyes. And his mane was wild and poorly groomed.
“Is everything alright, BBBFF?”
“No, nothing is alright, my world uh, I mean the world could be ending.”
And they erupted into asking a dozen questions. Shining continued to look past the group, still with a slightly manic look to him.
“Shining, what’s going on? Wendigos? Changelings?” Twilight asked
“Worse,”
“Worse? How can it be worse than changelings?” Pinkie asked.
Fluttershy shrank a bit. “Is it Sombra?”
“Who do we need to punch?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“There is a terrifying criminal loose in the Crystal Empire,” Shining said, scanning the hallway still. “My information told me he would be in this location soon.” A look of worry passed through the group aside from Applejack and Rarity.
“And who is this criminal?” Applejack asked. “Can ya give ah description of this lowlife?”
“Uhh no,” Shining said, keeping his face away from the girls, specifically Applejack. “But this is a serious matter. Twilight, I mean the world could be in danger.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at that, but Rarity spoke before she could delve further into that question.
“That is sweet, a bit overboard, and frankly an abuse of power, but the thought is sweet nonetheless.” Rarity said.
“Eeyup,” Applejack agreed.
Twilight turned to face her friends. Rainbow still looked confused while Fluttershy just shook her head sadly. Pinkie let out a small giggle when she understood. Twilight looked from her friends to her brother, still in the dark. “What’s so funny? Is this just one big prank?”
“Nope,” Pinkie said. “I can taste pranks, and this taste more like a well-intentioned person doing something silly.”
Shining slightly backed away and bumped into the confused Crystal guards. Spike, after thinking about it, finally understood and started laughing. When Twilight looked at him, Spike settled down first and wiped a tear from his eye. “Isn’t it obvious, Twilight? Why did everyone else show up today at this exact moment.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as understanding dawned on her, and she turned to face her brother. Before Twilight could ask was already on the defensive. “No, it has nothing to do with Sentry.” Shining denied.
The next awkward pause.
Shining turned to avoid her gaze but was met with the crystal guards’ equally confused and disappointed looks. Shining sighed. There was no way out of this but to face it head-on. “Uh, I can explain,”
“Does this have to do with Flash Sentry’s patrol route?” Twilight asked. “A simple yes or no is all you need to answer.”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“No,”
“Uh sir,” A crystal Pony spoke up. “Is this about that orange Pegasus? Sir he-”
“Not now, private,” said a defeated Shining Armor. He hung his head. He knew deep down he might have gone a bit, a tiny fraction overboard.
Twilight sighed. She knew her brother was trying to protect her, but this was extreme. She would need to deal with him later. Right now, according to her best guess, Flash should be showing up any second. This was already going to be a disaster. Now she just needed to control the disaster to minimize the danger. And true enough, the sound of hoofbeats slowly drew closer to them. Everyone snapped to attention, staring at the opposite end of the hallway. Twilight gasped and paced back and forth. She tried to quickly review all of her notecards in the span of a few seconds.
Shining snapped into big brother mode and fixed the spot with his best glare. At the same time, Twilight’s friends attempted to look casual. Spike just went to stand beside Twilight. “You got this,” he whispered. Twilight tried a shaky smile, but it came across as a bit creepy. As the footsteps drew closer, Spike was at a loss for how he wanted to play this. His original idea of being a referee was a no-go since Shining was here. Still, he needed to try and look intimidating. So he crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. And glared.
It was this sight that a young crystal pony guard saw as he turned the corner. A manic-looking alicorn, his glaring boss, the bearers of harmony staring directly at him, and a baby dragon trying his best to look tough. The guard tried to bow and give a salute but froze somewhere in the middle of the two gestures. Pinkie smiled and gave a friendly wave, but the young guard still stood frozen.
“What?!” Came the collective cry of most ponies in the hallway.
“Emerald Haze, what is the meaning of this?” Shining asked. Where in Celestia’s name is Sentry?”
“He has the day off, sir.” Emerald squeaked out.
Another round of “what” from those assembled followed this new information.
“That’s what I wanted to tell you, sir?” The crystal pony from earlier said. “Sir Sentry took the day off. You granted it, didn’t you.”
And another awkward pause as every pony said nothing. Twilight sighed. Today was not her day, it seemed.
Two hours later, the dusk slowly falls, Twilight in the Crystal City and Spike. After a great many apologies and two impromptu parties, “We’re sorry that we tried to crash your not date party, and a “Sorry your not date didn’t show up like you planned party.” Twilight decided to walk the streets with just Spike as a company. Her friends wanted to come with her, but she had declined, needing only her number one assistant.
Currently, she and Spike simply walk through a park. She would classify herself as more disappointed than sad. She just wanted to work out her feelings. Was that too much to ask? Random chance had undone one of her plans again, although it seemed more than just random with how everyone seemed to know her plan for today.
Twilight sighed. She could never be too harsh on her friends or brother. They were looking out for her in their special way.
Spike pet her side. “We can try again next time.”
Twilight bobbed her head but sighed. She could try again. Maybe next time, corner him somewhere else, a place with no witnesses. Twilight blinked and shook her head. Maybe not that far yet, Twilight thinks. Her thoughts were getting a bit messy. She should think of a less extreme situation. Twilight walked the park; thankfully, it was emptying. So she had an easier time thinking about how best to arrange to bump into Flash for a simple conversation. Spike poked in her side, but Twilight was lost in thought.
“Evening, Princess Twilight,”
Twilight nodded to Flash Sentry, still deep in thought. She took a half step past the young guard and froze. She looked into Flash’s deep blue eyes, completely taken by surprise. Her mind did not quite process the pony in front of her. Flash, for his part, gave a slightly awkward smile. Twilight’s wings poofed out. “Good evening, Princess Twilight, Champion Spike.” Flash gave a proper bow to them. Flash looked from the frozen Twilight to Spike. Still slightly confused. “Is everything alright?” He asked.
Twilight gave a very articulate “eep,” then poofed herself away. Flash blinked and looked at Spike. “Uhh, is she okay?”
“You just startled her, is all,” Spike answered. “You see, she was just waiting for y-” before Spike could finish, Twilight teleported back. She gave a maniac smile to Flash and enveloped Spike in her magical hold.
“Hehe, I have uhh Princess business to discuss with Spike. Stay right there.”
Flash blinked. And waited. And waited. Eventually, he sighed. “Was it my breath?” he asked to nopony.
Meanwhile, some distance away, Twilight was freaking out once again. “I don’t know, Spike. He seems nice, and I get this fuzzy feeling when I see or think about him. But could that just leftover feelings from his other version, or is he actually a changeling tricking, or maybe he’s-”
“Twilight,” Spike interrupted. “We’ve been over this.”
“We have? Then what was my conclusion?”
“You won’t know unless you try.”
Twilight paused. It was just a new friend; this should be simple. So why wasn’t it? “You’re right,” Twilight finally admitted. She just needed to handle this like any other thing. Twilight sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.
“Don’t worry. I will be right beside you,” Spike insisted. “You can be your own worst enemy sometimes, Twilight. Don’t overcomplicate it, Twilight.”
Twilight smiled at that. “Thanks,”
“So, you ready.”
“No, but I’m willing to try.”
They poofed back, and Flash jumped at their reappearance. “Sorry, sorry,” Twilight said. “Are you okay?”
Flash put a wing to his chest and took some calming breaths. “I’m fine. Just startled me a bit.” Flash’s easy-going smile appeared again.
Twilight found a smile as well, even if a bit shaky. She took a deep breath and then introduced herself. “Hello, I’m friendship, princess of Twilight,” Twilight said with full confidence. “I mean, I’m nervous.”
A slight sparkle flashed in Flash’s eye. Spike saw it coming and groaned. “Well, hello, Nervous, I’m also.”
Twilight processed the “joke” and gave it a small chuckle, which was more than it deserved. “That was terrible,” Spike said.
“Yeah, it was,” Flash agreed.
After calming herself, Twilight tried again. “I am Twilight Sparkle; please, you do not have to call me princess.”
“Alright, prin- er Twilight.”
The two awkwardly stood in front of each other, staring. Spike looked between the two and decided to break the ice first. “So, Flash, why did you take the day off?”
Flash peeled his eyes from looking into Twilight’s gorgeous eyes and looked at Spike. “Oh, taking care of a friend. He doesn’t get out much, so I must drag him around town to ensure he’s getting some sun.”
“Cool,” Spike replied. Then when Twilight still didn’t say anything, he nudged her. Twilight shook herself.
“Flash, could I join you for a walk. If we’re going to keep bumping into each other, I think we should get to know one another.”
Flash nodded at that. “Sure, pri- Twilight. I still have time before I retire for the night. I would love your company.”
Both of their smiles became more relaxed as they walked beside each other. Spike took up the rear to give them more space to talk. He worried that more awkward pauses would break up their conversations, but to his surprise, it didn’t. Oh, there were awkward pauses, but they never lasted long.
As they walked around the park, the two became more relaxed. They smiled and talked. Flash about his music or the friends he had made in the guard. Twilight would come out of her shell more and start slowly recommending Flash to multiple libraries worth of books.
“You should try Brandon Stabelson if you like fantasy or maybe the Yolk of Time series. Oooh, and of course the hobbit and-”
“Wait, what’s a hobbit?”
Twilight gasped and launched into another tangent about the lore of the book series.
Flash could only understand half of what the alicorn said as she continually jumped from lore to plot to other facts about the book. But he listened with rapt attention, mentally adding the book to an ever-growing list of books he needed to check out. In turn, Flash gave Twilight some new music recommendations.
As Luna’s moon rose, the two made their way to the park’s front entrance. Spike yawned, continuously fighting a losing battle against sleep. “Well, Flash,” Twilight said as she picked Spike up with her magic and placed him on her back. “I enjoyed this time with you.” A natural smile spread across her lips.
“We should do this again next time you visit the crystal empire,” Flash said with an equally broad smile. “That is if you’re up for it.”
“Of course,” Twilight said.
The two shared a smile and nodded at one another.
“Well, Twilight, have a lovely night,” Flash said with a small bow.
Twilight gave a small bow as well. “And to you, Flash.” The two smiled and walked toward the crystal castle together. The two realized they were going in the same direction and awkwardly shared a laugh. A silence then fell over them, but it was not awkward or uncomfortable. The two simply smiled and enjoyed the growing night with each other’s presents.
==============================================================================
From a safe distance, Cadence slowly pokes her head from her hiding place. She watched the two with a sense of victory in her smile. Even one adept at the art of love was still a slight mystery. She could never force love, but she could give it a shove and kindle the fire to help it along its path.
Cadence paused, realizing that was a very poor metaphor. Regardless, her plan seemed to be working. Twilight talked to Flash unscripted without her friends or Shining interrupting. She didn’t plan on Spike sticking around, but the young dragon actually helped the two talk. Cadence left her bush and couldn’t say where this would lead, but she was now satisfied. The seeds had been planted; the rest was up to those two.
Author's Note
I'm back. Well, here's a short little thing I cooked up for Flashlight week. I had two other ideas, one for 'brave' and "fairy tale' but me being me, they kinda spiraled into their own things. Maybe I can get those out before summer's end. Who knows.
But here's one that stayed simple all the way through me writing it. I do realize that this could be seen as more showing the bond between Spike and Twilight more so than Flashlight, but that's just how this turned out. As I probably said before, writing romance isn't my best area, as is comedy. Still, I hope you enjoyed this story, regardless of my skills. Anyhow, thanks for reading; reviews, comments, and feedback always are appreciated.