Chapters Chapter 2: The Worst Day Ever
A few years have passed now, it is now winter time and Flash is a late teen, he woke up in the morning and headed out to his workplace, but usually before Flash goes there, he flies and looks at the view, as he thinks and dreams about how much better he and his family's lives would be if he was given an opportunity to show his worth and to prove himself, even though he had no idea what he would be good for.
But, as he was having all these big thoughts, he bumped into a carriage that was carrying Prince Blueblood, the Stallion yelled "Hey! Watch where you are going you useless colt!" Flash kindly tried replying to him "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about tha-"
Then Prince Blueblood's carriage rode over a mud pile and it splashed dirt and mud all over Flash, much to his frustration, Flash tried his best to be calm and collected and stay cool with his emotions, but now he had to clean himself up before he could get to his work, after he cleaned himself up by a garden hose, he then flew toward his workplace, but when he arrived there, he was fifteen minutes late and as a punishment, Flash had to work for an extra four hours in order to "Compensate" for it, Flash however didn't complain and just stuck to it and continued to work all throughout the day, no matter how tiring and exhausting it was.
By the time he was finally done, it was late at night at around nine PM, and Flash was exhausted and just couldn't wait till he got to the corner of his street, find his parents, eat their meal together, and then go straight to sleep.
But... From a Distance away, he could hear some yelling and arguing noises, and it sounded like they were coming from his corner of the street, when he got there just a little distance away, he saw his father and mother having what seemed to be, a pretty loud and feisty argument, and just as Flash was running to find out what the argument was all about, he saw his mother collapse to the ground, and Flash stood there for a moment in shock, and then immediately went to check on his fallen mother, however, Mr. Sentry was not showing any remorse or sympathy towards his son.
"Flash! Where the hell have you been son? Have you been slacking on the job?"
Flash Sentry just kindly replied back to him.
"I can explain all that later, but right now, please take care of my mom while I get help"
However, Mr. Sentry still did not show any kindness in the slightest.
"No! You tell me where you have been right now!"
Flash's Father then slapped him hard across the face, making Flash drop down to the ground hard, the young stallion began to cry.
"What is wrong with you!? Can't you see my mom is in desperate need? I'm going to get help right now!"
Flash then went from house to house around Canterlot, asking any of the residents to come and help his mom, but none of the ponies cared since Flash was a low-class pony, Flash started to panic and was now really getting worried and terrified, after one hour of trying and no luck convincing anypony, he decided to head back out to his street, hoping by then his father had found a way to help his mother. But when he found his street, he saw his mother still on the ground not moving, but this time, his father looked a lot more quiet and the look on his face seemed quite pale and shook, Flash then slowly approached his Father, fearing the worst, asked him a Question.
"Is my mom okay?"
Flash's Father then took a long pause, and then finally spoke to his son.
"Son, your mom..... Is gone"
Flash couldn't believe what he was hearing, and wanted to make sure he didn't hear that right.
"W-Wha-What do you mean?"
"You won't be seeing her again"
Flash just stood still for a little while, in shock and looked like he was in a daze, then, that shock turned into anger, hurt and hate, and then, he lashed out on his abusive Father.
"You killed my mother! If it weren't for your yelling and your carelessness, she would still be alive, I hate you!"
Flash then turned and ran away from his Father, and despite him demanding his son to come back, Flash just kept on flying and running until he knew his Father had lost track of him, when he arrived at another street in Canterlot, he found a box in which he could get inside, hide and sleep in there, it wasn't very comfortable, but it was the best he could find and come up with, then, he started crying a lot, the one pony who he thought he could still be happy with and rely on to make him feel better about situations and genuinely cared and loved him was now gone, Flash then started cursing his Father in his breath.
"I wish my Father was dead!"
Flash then, with a broken heart and an empty stomach, cried himself to sleep and asked himself if it could get any worse, and hoping that his father wouldn't be able to find him, but unfortunately for Flash, his abusive Father did find him just fifteen minutes later, and his father grabbed the wooden plank, hit Flash hard on his head with it, and knocked him Unconscious.
Now that Flash Sentry was free and on his own, the first thing he tried to do was to find a different place to live other than the streets, so, one by one, in each house and each neighborhood, he kindly asked each pony in each house if they could shelter him, and he even said it would be okay If he could at least rest in their garden and not necessarily their houses, but most of the Canterlot's Ponies' hearts were as cold as ice in winter, and they wouldn't let a "Poor young Stallion" just stay in their places and homes for free, but Flash was still determined to try to find somepony who could take him in.
After a few hours, it was now becoming nighttime, and ponies at this time were even more agitated and annoyed of being disturbed than they were earlier, and some of them didn't even respond to him or even opened their doors, Flash at this point was extremely tired, and to say he was exhausted would be an understatement, he felt like all of this searching was a waste of time and it was not worth it in the long run, he hadn't eaten for nearly two days and he had already gone through three different neighborhoods, asking pony to pony block by block to see If any of them would be kind enough to take him in, but with no luck and no avail.
The Last one he was searching on was near the Canterlot Castle, where the two princesses, Royal Sisters and rulers of Equestria lived in, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but Flash was at that point almost one hundred percent convinced that no pony from that neighborhood would be willing to take him in to their Homes, as he finally reached the last house, and he gave a very gentle knock on the door, and waited for anypony to come out, but then, Flash passed out and collapsed on the spot or on the floor, due to exhaustion. And then a few seconds later, two elderly ponies who were roughly in their late 60's who were Husband and Wife opened their door, and in front of their doorstep, they saw a young stallion, who looked bruised, weak, underweight, exhausted, just laying there on their doorstep. But unlike all the other Canterlot Ponies that Flash had encountered and knocked on their doors, these two unicorns were a very kind couple, and were known to be very generous, and when they saw the poor Pegasus laying there on the floor just beside their doorstep, they took pity on him and decided to take him inside their home.
The Next morning came, and Flash slowly started to wake up and open his eyes, but to his surprise, he didn't find himself on the street or by a garden, he looked around and realized he was inside a white house with some old but pretty and beautiful ornaments and decorations around the place, he also realized he was laying on a comfortable bed and not just the cold floor, Flash couldn't believe what he was seeing or surrounded around in, and after a minute, the elderly couple walked into the room, and saw that Flash was awake and greeted him with kind smiles.
"Good Morning young Stallion, how are you doing?"
"I-i'm doing good sir"
"Oh please, you don't have to call me that, call me Mr. Shropsharp, or just Shropsharp, and this is my wife Mrs. Shropsharp"
"But you can call me Betty, what's your name?"
"Nice to meet you Shropsharp and Betty, my name is Flash Sentry"
"Well, it's nice to meet you Flash, do you live somewhere here in Canterlot?"
"In the streets"
"You looked pretty exhausted and battered, do you have any parents to look after you young pony?"
Flash Sentry then took a Deap Breath and gave out a sad sigh.
"Used to"
Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp took Sympathy and pity on the young Stallion, and it definitely looked like he went through a lot in a while.
"Anyways, it was really nice knowing you, but I have to go, otherwise I'll be late for my work"
"Hold up, wait, please, come join us for breakfast first, then you can go if you would like"
Flash Sentry could not believe the amount of kindness that he was being shown by them, he had never been treated this good in his entire life up until that point apart from his mother, and he knew he couldn't turn the kind offer down, so, he joined them for Breakfast on their table, and when they served him a Daffodil Sandwich, Flash tool big bites and ate it, and finished it pretty quickly, which made Mrs. Shropsharp give out a cute giggle
"You have got a big appetite Flash, how long has it been since you've eaten?
"Two Days"
Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp were shocked about what Flash told them, and after Flash was leaving the table, Mr. Shropsharp told him something that he couldn't believe when he first heard it through his ears.
"Well Flash, if you want to, you can stay with us and we'll take care of your needs, expenses and costs until you have enough bits to buy your own place and home to live in, how does that sound?"
Flash could not believe what he had heard, he was being offered pretty much free off charge, to stay in their home until he was somewhat financially stable and had a place to stay, in great gratitude and appreciation, Flash rushed over and hugged both of them in happiness and in tears of joy.
"Oh, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you so much! You have no idea! This means the world to me!"
Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp then just smiled and hugged the happy young Pegasus back. Their hearts were filled with warmth and kindness.
"You better get going for your work now though, you don't want to be late see you soon!"
Flash then opened the door and waved back at the Shropsharp Family, and then left the house and started flying to his workplace, he couldn't believe the amount and level of kindness he was shown by this couple who were pretty much complete strangers to him, now, not only did he have a place to stay in at the moment, he had his well needs taken care for at least a while too, Flash tried to pinch himself to make sure that what he was in wasn't all a dream, he felt overwhelmed, and he flew so happily in the air with excitement and energy, doing a few flips and tricks in the air, knowing that this was the Beginning of a step forward to a Brighter future and chapter within his life.
Chapter 5: A Brave Defense
A few years have now passed by, and Flash Sentry is now in his early twenty's, so, pretty much a fully grown Stallion now, but still relatively young, and Flash has now been quite a relaxed and happy pony, even though his work was still a bit tiring and difficult, that was really the only thing he had to worry or complain about, cause he had two very kind ponies who took him under their shelter, genuinely cared about him and even took care of his basic needs, during the weekends, he has so much time now, that he would even be able to practice a few new flying tricks and whenever it turned nighttime, Flash would often write about the things and stuff that has been going on in his life in his journal, and he would write an update almost every month.
One Night in spring, it was dinner time for the group, and while they were enjoying eating their dinner, Flash let his caretakers know in on some big news...
"So, uhh, guys, I have a bit of an announcement"
"Go on, tell us"
"Well, after a few years of my work, it now seems like I have enough bits to buy a house for myself now"
"That's Great, we're really happy for you"
"Tomorrow morning, i'm going to start looking for some flats, may take a little while, but by the end of the week, I think I can find a suitable one for me to live in"
Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp were of course very happy for Flash, but they were also a bit sad that it meant that he had to leave them too, and they started to tear up a bit.
"That's Great Flash, but, we-we're really going to miss you"
"Yeah, you've given our home so much more life than it once used to have"
Flash started tearing up himself a little too.
"I'm really going to miss you guys too, you two are such kind, loving and caring ponies, you've given me so much more than I've ever dreamed of receiving, and I thank you so much for that, but hey, if possible, I'll try to come by and visit you guys whenever I have the time"
"That would be great my friend"
Flash then gave them both a big hug before they continued eating.
Later that night, it was now late, around eleven PM, and Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp were well asleep, but Flash was still very much awake and alert at this time, writing on his journal. But then, from a small distance away from the house, Flash heard screaming coming from near Canterlot Castle, and Flash couldn't resist to fly outside the house and see what was going on from the distance, and what he saw was a Pegasus Stallion, trying to steal a bag from a Unicorn Mare, who refused to give up and kept hanging on to the bag for dear life, the Pegasus then started beating her up physically to try to break her grip on the bag, Flash couldn't believe his eyes, he knew he couldn't let this innocent Made get beat up like that trying to defend herself, so Flash knew he had to step up and do something to help the Made, and that's exactly what he ended up doing. Just as when it looked like the Pegasus was about to seriously hurt and injure the Mare, Flash Sentry flew into the scene, and stood up against the other Pegasus face to face.
"Get out of my way little guy! I have a score to settle with that Mare!"
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't let that happen or let you get away with this on my watch"
"Well then my Fellow Pegasus, you leave me with no choice then"
The Thief and Flash Sentry then fought and brawled around the streets in a Pegasus Flight and Fist fight, and it was getting the attention of other ponies living around that area, and even though Flash ended up getting a few bruises and a slightly busted bleedy lip, the thief was no match for the yellow coated Pegasus in a straight fight, and he eventually had common sense and retreated and ran away as fast as he could away from the scene before any other ponies notice his face.
Once Flash made sure that the thief would not come back and that he was gone from that district for sure, he checked on the slightly bruised Mare to see if she was doing alright.
"Are you okay Ma'am?"
"Yeah, you saved my bag and possibly my life, thank you very much!"
The Mare then hugged Flash, which he gladly accepted, and had even gotten some cheers from the other citizen's living in Canterlot for Flash's brave act, and Flash blushed a little of shyness and humbly took the cheers, including Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp, who saw the whole thing unfold from a distance away, and also cheered for Flash, he then flew over back to His place and hugged them both.
"That was amazing what you did out there!"
"Are you Crazy? You could have gotten yourself seriously hurt back there!"
"Well, I couldn't let a defenseless Mare there get hurt for no reason, somepony had to give the guy justice"
"Well, we are really proud of you for what you did"
"Aw shucks, it was nothing, thanks guys"
Flash then walked back inside the house with the Shropsharp Family.
"Are you sure we don't need to give you any bandages or aids for your bruises?"
"No thanks guys, i'm good"
"Alrighty then, good night again Flash!"
"Thanks, you too guys, have a good night's sleep!"
Flash Sentry then went back inside his room and crashed onto his bed, he tried to fall back asleep that night, but no matter what, he just couldn't, he kept thinking about how he stepped up against that thief like a hero, and how "Alive" he felt and how exciting it was for him to experience something like that, a feeling Flash wanted to feel again, and more of.
"Heh, that was fun, I wouldn't mind doing something like that again in the future"
Flash then finally after a long hour, managed to fall asleep and peacefully too.
However, what Flash didn't know and didn't see, was when that fight went on and took place, Princess Luna and Shining Armor saw the whole thing unfold from the Balcony, and were very impressed by what the Yellow coated Pegasus did against the thief.
"Shining Armor, I think we might have just found our new castle guard member"
The Next morning came, and Flash Sentry had gotten a very good night's sleep and woke up in a very good mood, he showered himself, brushed his teeth, and then greeted the Shropsharp's, and they had breakfast together on the dining table together, after they had their breakfast though, there was a pretty loud knock at the door.
"I'll get it"
Then, when Mrs. Shropharp opened the door, she was very shocked and surprised to see Princess Luna at her doorstep in the presence with a lot of royal guards.
"Why hello Princess Luna, your Majesty, I'm sorry, I didn't expect you would come to visit, would you like some tea?"
"While I do appreciate the kind gesture, i'm not really here to pay visits, I came here because I believe there is a Yellow coated with a Blue mane Pegasus who lives here"
"Oh, you mean THAT pony, oh yeah, he definitely lives with us here"
"May I have a word with him?"
"Oh sure, Flash! Somepony's here to see you, come here as fast as you can!"
When Flash came to the door, he was stunned, in shock and in awe when he saw Princess Luna, one of the two rulers of Equestria, wanting to see him.
"Hello there, I suppose you know who I am right?"
"U-uh-uh, of course Princess Luna, your majesty.
Flash sentry then bowed down to Princess Luna
"Look, if I've done anything wrong I promise I'll try to make it up to you somehow"
"Oh, far from that young Stallion, me and the other royal guard members were actually very impressed by your defensive and fighting skills to defend and protect that Mare from the thief"
"Really? Aw shucks, it wasn't much, really"
"No, it was very much something alright, and that's why me and the others are here"
Flash Sentry was a bit confused by what Princess Luna meant or was implying at.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, me and my sister have been looking for new castle guard members since most of our old ones have now decided to either do something else or retire, and let's just say, you might be the first pony on our list to make it to this job"
Flash couldn't believe what he was hearing, an Alicorn, a Princess, one of the two rulers of Equestria, was offering him a job as a member of the castle guard, immediately, what came to Flash's head was the excitement that he felt when he got the thief to retreat, but then he also looked around, and saw his two caretakers, Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp, who he felt like was difficult to leave them, but all they did was give a kind smile to him.
"Go ahead, Go for it, it's an opportunity of a lifetime, we'll be okay, we won't mind"
"But, I-I'm really going to miss you guys, I didn't think I would be leaving you guys this early"
"We will miss you too, but we'll never forget you or what you did for us, it's been great knowing you, we wish you the best or luck for your future"
Flash Sentry then hugged both of them quite tightly and didn't want to let go from them, and started tearing up again.
"I won't ever forget you guys either, hey, if I've got time, I'll still come and visit"
"That would be great Flash"
Princess Luna then seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry to get things done and moving along.
"So, what is your full name Stallion?"
"Flash, Flash Sentry your majesty"
"Okay Flash, will you accept this job offer?"
Flash took one more look at the Shropsharp's, they nodded, and then, he made his decisive decision.
"Yes, I accept"
"That's Excellent, the place and location I need you yo visit is the Crystal Empire, which is about a few hours from here by the train, there will be somepony there who will greet you and escort you to your station.
"Alright, but first, before I go with you, can I pack up my belongings?"
"Sure, of course you may"
Flash then went back into the house for pretty much the last time ever, grabbed a Quill, his journal, a music radio, and his bits and put them all in a bag, and then placed it around his body.
"So, Flash, are you ready for the next step in your life?"
"I'm ready for it"
Flash then waved one last time at the Shropsharp's before he left, and they waved back at him as he flew into the air with Princess Luna and the other royal guards, and after a while of flying, they arrived at the train station, and a lot of other ponies who were waiting at the station was Pretty confused on why Princess Luna along with the other royal guards got into the train, and they started chatting about it, Princess Luna then paid for the tickets to the Crystal Empire.
"All aboard!"
The conductor said his word and gave his signal, and Princess Luna and all of the guard then, including Flash, got inside the train, and then they all got into their seats as the train started moving and heading towards the Crystal Empire, and Flash Sentry looked at the train's window, amazed and in awe of the landscape view of Equestria from the train tracks since he'd never been on a train before at that point in his entire life, and all he could think about in his thoughts, was that he was very excited to see what his new job would be like, and then hat career for him holds for the Future.
After a few hours, the train had finally arrived at The Crystal Empire, and Princess Luna and all the guards jumped out of the train as it started leaving the station, and then waiting in front of them, Flash saw a Unicorn who had some sort of shield as a Cutie Mark, and judging by his badge, it looked like he was the captain of the Royal guard, it was none than Shining Armor.
"Hey there, my name is Shining Armor, Captain of the royal guard, what's your name Stallion?"
Flash Sentry couldn't believe he was talking to Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard and husband of none other than Princess Cadance.
"Flash, Flash Sentry sir"
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Flash, and i'm glad you accepted the role of being our new castle guard member, let's head inside the Crystal Palace"
All the ponies then walked a little distance as Flash looked around the Crystal Empire, he noticed that everything was bright and shiny, along with a few sculptures.
"Wow, this place is really cool!"
"I'm glad you like it, this place is where me and my wife now live in"
After a while, they finally arrived inside the Crystal Palace, and there to greet them, there was Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance waiting to greet them, Flash was flabbergasted that he was in the presence of not one, not two, but three Alicorn Princesses now, Princess Celestia was the first one to greet.
"Welcome back my sister, Shining, is this the new castle guard member for the Crystal Empire?
"He sure is, this is Flash Sentry, he lived in Canterlot"
"N-N-Nice to meet you your majesty.
Flash Sentry then bowed before all the Princesses.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, glad you could come and accept the job"
"Yeah, ever since most of our old.guards have retired, it's good to see some other new ones step up"
"Well, i'm glad I can be here, what do I have to do?"
"Shining Armor will explain to you"
Shining then started drilling Flash on what he needed to know.
"So, Flash, since you are now a Castle guard member, you will need to wear a proper Guard Suit and Attire, and you need to keep on the lookout for things that could be suspicious, make sure nothing around here slips by us, you will be taking the Morning Shift starting tomorrow, and while you are in your shift and in your Attire, you cannot and aren't allowed to show any signs of emotion in any situation regardless of how it is, I know it's easier said than done, but I first you that you can handle and manage that"
"Oh, Yes, absolutely sir"
"Great, I'll train you on how to act and what to do later, but for now, you can chill in your room on the second castle floor"
"Wait? I get to have my own room?"
"Yep, all guards get their own room, and don't worry, food expenses will be taken care of too, so you can use your bits you earn for other things"
Flash Sentry was very happy to hear this news.
"That's Awesome! Thank you very much"
"Your most welcome Flash, oh, and one more thing, sorry for the rushing of the training, it's just because in three days, my sister, our fourth and new Princess of Equestria, is coming with her friends to visit this place to discuss some new important matters, i'm sure you heard about the coronation not long ago right?"
"Well, I have heard it happened, but I wasn't there when it happened, I was busy working at-Oh Shit!"
"What's the matter Flash?"
"I forgot to resign and quit from my old workplace, my boss would be pretty pissed about it"
Princess Celestia than assured Flash that he had nothing to worry about.
"Don't worry about that, my sister will let your boss know exactly what's going on"
"Phew! Thanks, anyway, mind if I know what this new princesses' name is?"
"Sure, it's Princess Twilight Sparkle"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, got it!"
"Great, now go to your room and relax for a bit, training like or being a guard is not an easy job to take or handle"
"Oh, Trust me, I can handle it, nothing has gone easy in my life so far"
Flash then went to the second castle floor and found his room, and it had a Bed, a mini radio for communications, a shower, and of course, his castle guard suit and attire perfectly set up in his wardrobe, Flash then decided to rest on his new bed.
"Ahhh! This is so comfortable!"
Flash then started thinking about how surreal this is, that he is now in the presence of the ruler's of Equestria, and that he now works as a castle guard member.
"This is really all I've ever dreamed of"
Once Flash was done resting, he put on his new suit of Armor and met up with Shining Armor for training exercises.
"Alright! Are you ready for training Flash?"
"Ready as I'll ever be sir!"
Shining Armor then drilled and trained Flash Sentry as a guard, and much to his delight, Flash was quick learner, and quickly adapted to the customs of being a castle guard member, after a few hours of training and drilling, Shining was pretty satisfied with how things went smoothly.
"Okay, it's nighttime now, and I think we've pretty much covered all of the necessary training, why don't you join all the other castle guard members for dinner, I believe they're waiting already, also, I won't be able to stay here for a while"
"Why is that?"
"I got a message from the Duke of Maretonia, and basically he said that my services are required there for a week, to make sure no fights break out during a delegation meeting. Anyway, go ahead and join the other guards on the first floor"
"Oh, Okay, thanks for the training!"
Flash then headed to the 1st Floor, and sure enough, he found all of the other castle guard members, by the table, about to have their meal, but what Flash immediately realized was that he felt out of place, all the other castle guard members had a completely different coat and mane color to him, and theirs all looked very similar to each other, he was the only yellow coated Pegasus in that room it seemed, but that didn't seem to bother him too much as he sat down at the only remaining chair left, and a few of the other guards greeted him.
"Hey, are you new around here young Stallion?"
"Oh, Yeah, so, how have things been going around here?"
For some reason, none of the guards seemed to be in a relatively chatty mood, as a matter of fact, they looked and seemed a little depressed.
"Come on guys, there has to be SOMETHING here that gets you guys excited about?"
But all the stories that the guards told Flash Sentry, were Painful, Depressing, And Overall pretty disturbing and disappointing.
"Look, I don't mean to bring your spirit down kid, but being a castle guard member, isn't as fun or exciting as it sounds or seems to be"
After those words, Flash was in a relatively bad mood for the rest of that night, and he wasn't exactly like his normal self where he could be satisfied and overall happy, as Flash finished his dinner, went into his room, turned off the lights and went to bed, he began to wonder and have second thoughts on if being a castle guard member was as exciting or satisfying as it seemed to be.
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Chapter 8: A First Encounter with a Special Princess
"Are you prepared for this Visit Flash?"
"Yes you're majesty"
"Good, stay in your position with the other guards while we wait for them to arrive"
After Flash and all the other guards got into their positions, it soon became pretty clear to Flash that this was one of the most boring things to do in the world, and he was yawning quite a lot"
"So, what? Do we just stand here and... Do nothing?"
"Yep, unfortunately"
Flash sighed as all he could do at that point was wait, finally though, after a few hours, Princess Cadance came in with a message.
"Alright, they're here, everyone make sure you are in your positions!"
Every pony in that room then got into their positions, and as soon as the doors opened, the guards blew their trumpets, as Princess Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Mane Six along with Spike, started walking, but for a moment, the newly crowned Princess accidentally bumps into Flash Sentry himself, Flash was a bit surprised, but went ahead and announced her.
"Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
While everypony was talking and greeting each other though, Flash took another look at the Purple coated Alicorn, and whispered to himself.
"She's prettier than I thought she would be"
Princess Celestia then gave the final words.
"Well, there's a lot to discuss and talk about Tomorrow, but i'm sure you girls are tired from your journey so, you can go to your rooms, and we'll discuss tomorrow"
Flash at that point was relieved his first main duty was now done without any major mishaps, and by nighttime, when his shift was now done, he decided to head to his room and get some good night sleep, he was pretty tired himself and didn't want to oversleep too much, and that's exactly what he did.
The Next day though, when Flash woke up, he realized he had indeed overslept and was gonna be late for his shift. So Flash rushed himself with his mane style not really being brushed well, and putting on his suit of armor, he did look a little messy, but he didn't really care too much, and he immediately reported for the third floor, though to his surprise, he didn't find any of the Princesses.
"Hmm, that's a bit odd, I wonder where they could be"
Flash then decided to go to the first floor, and there he found everypony except for Twilight and Spike. And judging by the looks on their faces, they looked a bit stressed and worried.
"Hey there, what's going on?"
Princess Luna then answered to Flash what happened.
"A unicorn named Sunset Shimmer had stolen Twilight's Magic Crown, and took it with her to another dimension, we're currently waiting for Twilight and Spike to come back with the crown"
Cadance added to the convo.
"But if she doesn't come back in three days, the portal will be closed, and it won't be opened up again for another thirty moons.
"Oh, well, I hope she finds it quick then, are you sure all you other ponies don't need anything?"
The Rest of the Mane Six told flash they were alright.
"No thanks, we're good"
However, day by day passed, and it started seeming more and more unlikely that Princess Twilight would return, and even though they were really getting tired, The rest of the Mane Six did not want to leave the room where the Magic Mirror was. Flash however did not want to see them go hungry, so he offered them meals at different times of the day, which they kindly accepted, and even brought pillows for them so they could sleep by that place.
It was now the third and final day possible remaining, and it was now nighttime, it seemed like now everypony at this point was beginning to lose hope that she would come back in time, Flash then talked with another guard.
"You think Princess Twilight will come back?"
"I hope so, Equestria needs all four Princesses"
Then the guards heard chatting from the distance, and it sounded familiar, and sure enough, it was Spike and Twilight talking with their friends and the other Princesses, but as they were walking and talking, Twilight ended up bumping into Flash again, and Flash this time just looked at Twilight and couldn't help but smile at her, then he lent out a hoove to help Twilight get back up, which Twilight took and made the princess blush.
"We've got to stop bumping into each other like this"
Flash Sentry then just smiled and continued walking on his way, cause he knew if he stayed by there longer, he was going to break the guard code, Flash couldn't exactly tell what this feeling or sensation was inside of him, but it felt great, he went to bed that night, feeling warm and fuzzy inside, hoping that he could have more opportunities to see the Purple coated Alicorn Princess.
Chapter 9: Losing Motivation
Flash Sentry throughout his work as a castle guard member had been quite tiring, but it was still a job he respected and appreciated doing and having, he also always made sure he did things to the best of his ability, and on the bright side, he got to see royalty quite often in his place. However, throughout the years of Flash Sentry's Career as a castle guard member, he soon found out some issues within his job.
Apart from watching the Crystal Empire and doing escorts for the Princesses, he didn't feel like he was doing anything of "Major" importance, and felt like he was just another guard there to fill up the slot and make up the numbers as they come, and even though he did get to see Princess Twilight a few more times, he never actually got an opportunity to properly interact with her, and ever since Twilight got her new official title as "The Princess of Friendship", she started becoming more and more busy in Ponyville, and every time a Major conflict came up, he either would somehow miss it thanks to the events of Lord Tirek's Temporary Takeover where he drained all of the guards' Magic, or getting knocked out by an Undercover or disguised Changeling, and then waking up to find out all of the important ponies were taken, and Flash was still beating himself up for missing out on that opportunity to do something worth while and exciting, Flash slowly by slowly, was beginning to lose motivation and he started to think to himself if it was actually even worth it to be doing his job, cause it wasn't exactly how he dreamed it would be like.
Then he remembered, there were two ponies in Canterlot, whom he could always talk to and get advice from, and Flash then started feeling better and got a bit excited, he then went to Princess Luna and asked her if he could get a week off, she thought about it, and considering Flash had never missed a day of work, she allowed him to, Flash thanked the moon Princess and then went straight to the train that took him to Canterlot, eagerly waiting to hear from the two ponies who had taken care of him all those years ago, after a few hours, Flash finally arrived at his old home city, and then he started to look around the city to find the house where he knew Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp lived in.
Finally, after a little while of looking, he found the place where they lived at and Flash knocked on the door then, waiting for them to open, but to his surprise, some other pony was now living in that house.
"Oh, Hello, sorry, I was looking for two ponies named Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp, do you know them or heard of them?"
"Yeah, I've known them"
"Great, can you tell me where to find them?"
"They passed away a few years ago"
Flash was surprised and shocked to hear that news, he had come all this way to see them, only to find out that they had passed away, his surprise, turned into disappointment, and then just sadness.
"O-oh, Okay, thanks for letting me know"
"Your welcome, sorry for that news"
Flash Sentry then walked around Canterlot with his head held down and in the slumps. Flash was not sure what he wanted to do next at that point, but he knew he needed to have a talk with somepony who could understand where he was coming from,
Shining Armor.
Once Flash Sentry got back to the Crystal Empire from his ride back from the train, he went straight to Princess Cadance, and asked her where Shining Armor was and said that he really needed to talk to him and ask him for advice, Princess Cadance told him to go by the Balcony and wait for a few minutes for Shining Armor to come, so, that's exactly what Flash did, and sure enough, after a few minutes, Shining Armor came out to the balcony to see Flash Sentry.
"Hey Flash, how are things going? Cadance said you needed to talk to me"
"Hey Shining, yeah, the thing is, I need some advice from another fellow guard"
"Well, I am the Captain of the Royal guard, so sure, you can ask away"
"Well, Shining Sir, don't get me wrong, i'm very grateful for the job that I have been given thanks to you, and I do wanna do my best on this field, but I don't know, I guess i'm just beginning to lose.... Motivation.
"I see, i'm listening"
"You see, when I first became a castle guard member, I thought i was going to have a great time doing what I love and enjoy doing best, defending attacks, and protecting castles, I thought that was what it was going to be all about being a castle guard member, but all I've dome so far while having this job, is serve others, watch for any intruders even though we never really get any of them here, and also just doing announcements and introductions for Princesses and other important ponies, which no offense Shining, I don't really find much enjoyment or excitement about, and I keep thinking to myself and questioning myself, is it actually worth worth it to do all of this, cause, I feel a little bit useless and under appreciated at the moment"
"Well Flash, I completely understand where you are coming from, that's what almost every single guard had told me when they first got on their job"
"They did?"
"Absolutely, and yeah, if i'm being honest, being a guard can be a very tiring job that can get extremely boring, and I do sympathize with you, cause there's really not a lot that you can do here or find interesting or adventurous in the Crystal Empire"
"Well, what do you propose? It's not like I can just transfer my work from here to other places"
Shining Armor thought for a while, then suddenly came up with an idea.
"Or maybe you can!"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, where was the place where you did that brave defense?"
"I believe that was in my old home Canterlot, why do you ask?"
"I'll tell you what, I'll arrange some stuff for you there, and if you want, in one week, I can transfer your work and duties, and have a home set up for you in Canterlot"
Flash Sentry then bursted into excitement and happiness.
"Really? You can do that for me?"
"Really, I know you have the potential to be one of the best guards in all of Equestria, your time to shine, help and sacrifice will eventually come"
Shining Armor then patted on Flash Sentry's back, which Flash turned into a hug, which Shining kindly accepted.
Then, Flash Sentry was skipping along the hallway happily again before entering back into his room, and he laid on his bed, excited that the following week, he was going to be back at his old home Canterlot, back at the place where he made his first defense.
Chapter 11: A Flash meets another Flash
However, it seemed like every time Flash was free from his duties, Twilight was either in a far away location or busy and vice versa, so, Flash decided not to focus on trying to talk with the Princess too much, plus, he knew the duties of a Princess were at utmost Importance, and he didn't want to be interfering or distracting too much.
One Day, while Flash Sentry was in his free time off duties, and just listening to the radio for music stations that he could dance to, he ran into another Pegasus whom he had not seen before, and looked a lot like him, the only differences were that he had a slightly darker yellow coat, with a red colored mane instead of blue like his, and it looked like he was wearing a Drill Sargent's Suit.
"Oh Hello, I didn't see you there"
"Eh, it's alright, I was just taking a break from my new job"
"I see you're a Drill Sargent, doesn't that mean you get to train other new ponies to be Royal guards?"
"Why Yes that is correct, it may take a while and might be some hard work, but I think some of the new guards will get the hang of it"
"I see, but, aren't you new to this field?"
"Well, not exactly, you see, I was actually trapped in limbo for over a thousand years with the other Pillars of Equestria and the Pony of Shadows, but ever since the Pony Of Shadows is now no more, and Stygian is brought back to us and the other pillars, we've tried now to find our own work someplace else, and I found a job that is similar to the old field of work that I used to have back in the old days"
Flash Sentry then was jaw dropped, he knew at that moment who exactly he was talking to and felt starstruck.
"You-You are Flash Magnus! The one and only Flash Magnus! Oh my Gosh! I heard so many stories about you and the other pillars, but you're my favorite one, you're an Equestrian Legend, I have so many to ask you"
Flash Magnus then chuckled at the Fanboying Flash Sentry was giving him.
"I'm sure there will be a time for me to answer your questions in the future, but yeah, that's not the only reason why I came here to Canterlot"
"Oh, so, what's the other reason?"
"Well, I've also come here to look for the descendants of my Family, but, the last recorded name that I could find in the Canterlot Files, was "Crew""
Flash Sentry then thought for a little while, then stopped cold, cause he then realized something pretty shocking.
"T-Tha-That's my Grandfather's name"
Flash Magnus then looked at Flash Sentry in Shock, rubbed his eyes, then asked him a crucial question to confirm if his suspicions were true.
"What's your name?"
"Flash Sentry sir"
Flash Magnus then realized it and couldn't believe it, could it be? Both of them took a step back from each other, then slowly came back towards each other, and stared at each other.
"Do you know what this means?"
"You're one of my Descendants!"
"I actually can't believe it!"
Flash Sentry and Flash Magnus then hugged each other hard, then, Flash Magnus' Alarm went off.
"Ah, Shit, that means I must get back to my station, but here is the address of where I live"
Flash Magnus then gave Flash Sentry a Paper, that had his written Address on it.
"At night time when my work here is done, please come by my place for a visit"
"Sure, that would be great!"
Flash Magnus then flew back to his station in the Canterlot Castle as Flash went back to listening to his music, still Starstruck though that he met possibly his many times great Grandfather, and as expected, when it turned nighttime, Flash Sentry arrived at Magnus' House, Magnus opened the door and greeted him, and instantly welcomed him inside, after relaxing for a bit and having a few drinks of Cider, they talked about stories of the Pillars including Flash Magnus' Heroic deeds and what happened afterwards with Stygian and the Pony Of Shadows.
"Wait, so, Stygian is now back with you, and he's reformed?"
"Well, it was more of a miscommunication, but yeah, Stygian is here and well in Equestria, and it's good to have him back, he was like a mentor and Leader for us, I also heard he wants to become an Author for his side Career.
"Oh, that's really cool"
Sentry and Magnus then talked about some of the citizens of Canterlot and mock their snobbish behavior and had some good laughs over it pretending to act like them, then, Flash Magnus asked Flash Sentry how he got here to become a Castle guard member and Sentry took a big breath and sighed, then told Magnus about his hard Childhood, and how he got the opportunity to get his job.
"Wow, you really went through a lot to get here"
"Yeah, but, I still don't know if everything I've done so far in my life is worth it"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, ever since I've become a Castle guard member, I haven't really had much opportunities to do anything really exciting or something that makes me feel alive, but also, when something does come up, I usually get knocked out or taken out before I even know what hit me, and by the time i'm up, it's already too late to fix anything"
"Oh Yeah, I understand that feeling, I also didn't get much opportunities at first, but, if there's anything I've learned, it's that eventually when the stars align, and the timing's right, your big opportunity will come, and that's when you have to put aside any fears that you have, and make sure to help save lives and make the lives of other ponies easier and to make Equestria overall, a batter place to be in"
"Yes, and I can't wait for that day when it comes"
After chatting for a little while longer, Flash Sentry then decided that it was best for him to leave now, since it was getting pretty late.
"Alright, I've had a great time with you my Great Grandchild, take care!"
"You too my Great many times Grandfather!"
"And if you ever wanna come by and chat with me some more, you know where to come at this exact same place and time every night"
Flash Sentry then flew for a while and arrived back at his home after a few minutes, and then he took care of himself, eating, took a shower, then went straight to his bed, and fell asleep, thinking not only has he made a new friend, he had met his many times Grandfather too.
A month after those events, it was almost the day for Twilight's Coronation as the new ruler of Equestria, and that Princess Celestia and Luna were stepping down from their Royal Positions and retiring as well in the process. But as Flash was entering his guard post for that day for his shift, he noticed that the place was a lot more quiet than normal, and that part of the Canterlot Castle had been destroyed, and that there were Windigo's circling around the Sky.
"Windigo's? What are they doing here in Equestria? What the hell is going on here!?"
"Pssttt, Flash, in here!"
A Guard whispered to Flash, and then he saw that almost all of the Castle and Royal guards were hiding in a hideout bunker, Flash then got inside and joined them.
'Okay, so, all of you are here, can you please tell me what is going on?"
All of the guards then told Flash exactly what was going on, on how there were rumours that the Earth Ponies, Pegasai, and Unicorns were turning against each other and apparently the Castle getting attacked by three Villains.
"Alright, but do you think there's a Possibility that all of this can just be a Misunderstanding?"
"I'd like to believe that, but, the evidence is there, crops are getting destroyed, clouds have started being blocked in the sky-"
"Hold up, didn't you say three Villains attacked Canterlot?"
"Yes? Why do you ask?"
"Doesn't that seem a little suspicious to you that they started attacking us just as soon as we were at each other's throats? Guys, I think this might have been a Sabotage"
All of the guards then thought about it, and realized Flash was actually making a lot of sense. Also, Flash realized that with this going on, this could be a big moment and opportunity for him and all the other guards, to do something exciting and be heroes.
"Come on guards, what are we? Castle and Royal guards! Our job is to scout, protect and Defend the Princesses and Equestria from all sorts of problems and danger, and make Equestria a better place for Everypony, those Earth Ponies and Unicorns are our Friends, they are our neighbors, we have been living in unity with them for so long, are you ponies ready to give that up now, just because of some silly rumours that aren't even one hundred percent proven? Come on now fellow guards and soldiers, we're better than that, let's get out there, and help everypony! They need us!"
All of the guards then cheered, and they followed Flash Sentry's lead and got out of their hiding bunker.
Then, to their Amazement, they saw all kinds of Ponies and other Creatures of all kinds, standing together in unison, and heading towards the center of Canterlot, Thorax yelled from that huge group.
"Come on Every Creature! Twilight and her friends need our help!
The guards then joined the massive group, and they all headed towards the center of Canterlot. Flash Sentry was in absolute awe and amazement, the sight of all these different Creatures coming together was something special, and after a little distance, they saw the Mane Six and Spike, about to get blasted by Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.
And just before they got hit by their power beams, all the Unicorns put up a shield for them, and then, everypony charged to distract and fight the three Villains, much to the Mane Six's and Spike's Amazement, but after a little while, the villains started swatting away the Changelings and the guards, but then Twilight gave her speech with her friends, the Pillars, and the Student Six all by her side, and together with their combined magic, they cleared the Windigo's from the sky, and then blasted the three Villains with their Rainbow powered beam, draining them of their magic, and after they got squashed by a giant cupcake, courtesy of Pinkie Pie using Discord's Chaos Magic from Grogar's bell, Princess Celestia, Luna and Discord all blasted the three villains, turning them into stone, all the crowd cheered as the battle was over, and Twilight announced that she would be delaying her coronation until the Castle got fixed, and went with the rest of her friends to Donut Joe's store.
Meanwhile, the guards, including Flash Sentry, had a big feeling of satisfaction and relief now that it was finally over, and Flash had finally felt like he contributed and did something that was meaningful, he and the other guards decided to go to a bar and have a few drinks of Cider, practically enjoying themselves for the first time in a while, all the guards had a blast and enjoyed the moment, Flash was full of smiles throughout the whole night as well, as he and the other guards partied all night long.
Chapter 13: Twilight's Coronation
So, today was the big day, it was the day of Twilight's Coronation as becoming the new ruler of Equestria, and it was the guards' job to make sure everything went on smoothly and didn't have much hiccups along the way, but, when the Coronation happened, it was a bit of a mess to say the least, it looked like some ponies came unprepared, Twilight tripped on her dress as she was making her entrance, which earned a small gasp from the crowd, but an even bigger one when she almost fell off the Balcony trying to reach her crown, luckily she was alright though, and also turned out that the wrong drink had also been given to the guests, after all that, things went alright during the Coronation, and after it was over, most ponies decided to go home, but Twilight went to talk with her friends for a bit more as Flash Sentry and the other guards were having to clean up the mess that was caused during the Coronation, after the jobs were done, Flash Sentry decided to go home, felling a little bit tired, but as he was about to leave, he bumped into none other than Twilight Sparkle, and the memories starting coming back to Flash, all those years ago, when he had first bumped into Princess Twilight, both of them started feeling a little bit awkward as Flash began to scratch his mane.
"Oh, why Hello there Flash Sentry, it's been a quite a few years since we last talked, how have things been?"
"You-You know my name?"
"Yeah, Princess Cadance told me a few years ago, sorry that we haven't interacted in a while"
"Oh no, it's completely fine, you were a Princess at that time, and now you are the ruler of Equestria, those duties should always come first"
"Well, I hope we get to properly know each other at some time, was nice meeting you again"
"You too your highness"
Just as then Flash and Twilight were beginning to walk on their own separate ways, Flash stopped in his tracks, turned back around and asked Twilight a question.
"Princess Twilight!"
"Yeah Flash, what is it?"
"Just in case we don't get many opportunities to talk to each other, is there a specific time in your schedule where we can spend time together?"
Twilight thought for a little while, then gave Flash an answer.
"Well, every thirty days, I will get a day off to spend time with my Ponyville friends, if you'd like, you can come along with me and spike on the fifteenth of every month, we could then get to know you better and get to know us as well"
"Alright then, thank you very much, see you later Princess Twilight"
"Oh, that won't be necessary, you can just call me Twilight, and bye Flash, hope I see you soon too"
Flash then however tripped on some stairs and fell down, which earned a few giggles from Twilight.
"Are you Okay?"
Flash immediately tried to pretend that he did it on purpose.
"Yep! Never been better!"
Flash then flew happily in circles in the air, knowing that he got his first genuine interaction with a Princess that he liked, he somehow felt warm and fuzzy inside, he couldn't quite tell what the feeling was, but he felt so happy inside of him, and Flash pretty much enjoyed how he spent the rest of his day.
Chapter 14: Making Some New Friends
Author's Note
Everytime you see the " " Marks for when Flash is talking with the Mane Six for each sentence, that's a different Mane Six Member or Starlight that Flash is talking to.
Chapter 14: Making Some New Friends
"Oh Good Flash, you're here, ready to go?"
"Ready to go, let's fly and head over to Ponyville"
"Wait, we don't have to fly to Ponyville"
Flash was a bit confused but then Twilight used her Magic, and teleported Herself, Spike and Flash to Ponyville directly.
"Oh Yeah, I forgot you Alicorns could just teleport to places where you wanna go"
Flash then looked around and saw what Ponyville was like for the first time, although it did seem like a pretty simple town, he could tell it had a very close and warm presence compared to where he was living in Canterlot, Spike then wanted to start some Convos with Flash.
"So Flash, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing alright, and I forgot to ask, who's this Twilight?"
"Oh, this is my Friendship Ambassador, Best Friend and No.1 Assistant, Spike.
"Oh, Hello Spike, nice to meet you"
Twilight, Flash and Spike then walked all the way until they reached Twilight's Old Friendship Castle.
"Okay, so all of my friends should be waiting for us just outside the Friendship Castle"
And sure enough, just like Twilight said, all of her Mane Six friends plus Starlight Glimmer were all waiting for her and Spike's arrival.
"Hey Twilight! Hi Spike!"
Twilight Sparkle and Spike then ran towards all of their friends and gave them a big group hug, Fluttershy was the first one to speak.
"We missed you Twilight!"
"I missed you girls too!"
Spike then was feeling a little bit left out, and was a bit annoyed by it.
"Hey, don't forget about me over here!"
All of the girls then laughed, and then responded.
"We missed you too Spike"
Rainbow Dash was Very eager though to see what Plans Twilight had for them to spend their day together.
"So, how are we spending today's day together? Go to a Restaurant, see a Movie in the Theater?"
"Well, we can decide all of that a bit later, for now, I want you girls to meet Somepony"
Twilight and Spike then moved aside, and they saw Flash Sentry there, ready to introduce himself to them, but Rarity immediately notices something familiar about the Yellow coated Pegasus.
"Hold on a minute darling, isn't this the same pony that you had a cr-"
Twilight then gave Rarity a sign and a signal to stop what she was about to say, and Rarity immediately understood, Pinkie Pie then tried to change the subject quickly.
"So, Flash Sentry is your name, correct?"
"Why yes it is"
"Well, it's really nice to meet you Flash"
"Why don't we go inside, and you tell us a bit about Yourself?"
"Okay, Sure"
Flash then went inside the Friendship Castle with all of the other girls and Spike, and looked at the place inside, and it looked way bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, it was massive and looked like up to thirty or fourty ponies could live there without causing much issues, and then, they went into a big room, which had a table with a giant map in front of them and some chairs which all had the Mane Six's Cutie Marks on them, Spike then brought another different chair for Flash so he could sit down with them.
"Thanks Spike, I appreciate it"
Twilight then wanted to get the Introductions started.
"Alright, Flash, would you mind introducing yourself to my friends?"
"Why of course, Hello everypony, my name is Flash Sentry and I'm a Castle Guard Member that currently lives in Canterlot"
"Oh, that's cool, what is it that you do as a Castle Guard Member?"
"Well, I scout for any trouble or danger that might brew here in Equestria wherever I'm transferred to, and if there is one, I try solving those problems, and before Celestia and Luna retired, I used to send and transport messages from them and deliver some to them"
"Interesting, and I assume you've known Twilight here for a while?"
"Well, I have known her for about six years, but we never really got the opportunity to talk to each other much, considering how busy both of our jobs are"
"Yeah, that's understandable"
"But since you're here, we could spend time together all day"
"Yeah, that's great, how about you girls, what do you do?"
"Oh me? I'm now the lead trainer of the Wonderbolts now that Spitfire has retired"
"I bake and sell deserts and cakes with Mr. And Mrs. Cake at our own store Sugarcube Corner"
"I work on a farm called Sweet Apple Acres with my Granny Smith, my Brother Big Macintosh, and my younger Sister Apple Bloom"
"I work for and run multiple Boutique's at Ponyville and other places in Equestria"
"I own an Animal Shelter and Sanctuary, where all animals can go there and recover and rest if they're hurt or injured, and return back to their homes once they're fully healed"
"And I'm the Head are of Twilight's School of Friendship"
Flash was a bit jealous that all of the Mane Six and Starlight had such interesting jobs, but Twilight tried to make him feel better.
"Wow, you girls have way more exciting jobs than me"
"Aw, come on, you know that's not true Flash"
"Also, I didn't know you once owned a School"
"Yeah, well, it's a place where all Creatures of any kind can come and learn about the Magic of Friendship"
"I see, that's really interesting and cool"
Rainbow however was a little eager to get things going along.
"Yeah, we can also continue chatting a little bit later, so, how are we going to spend the day today?"
Applejack then came up with an idea.
"Rainbow, remember the two things you suggested?"
"Going to a Restaurant, and going to the Theater?"
"Yeah, why don't we do both? We go to a Restaurant first, and then to a movie theater?
"I like the way you think AJ, what about you Twilight? Are you cool with this?"
"Well, as long as I'm spending time with you ponies, I don't really care what we do, let's do it"
All of the group then started searching for a Restaurant, and eventually, they found a Pretty decent one, and ordered Hayburger Fries and Hayburgers, which were some of Twilight's Favorite, and after they were served, Twilight immediately dived in and started eating quickly, Flash then chuckled at how quickly Twilight was finishing her meal.
"You do look very hungry for a Princess or Ruler of Equestria"
"Well, being the Ruler of Equestria can be a stressful and tiring job"
The group then enjoyed chatting with each other and also getting to know Flash better on what he enjoyed doing and what he liked and disliked, after they finished eating and the bill was paid, they then went to a Movie Theater, Fluttershy and Starlight wanted to see a Romcom, Flash and Twilight wanted to see an Action one, Spike wanted to see a Drama one, but a bit surprisingly, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack wanted to see a horror one, and since Majority vote wins, they all decided to go in and watch a horror movie, they brought their tickets and some popcorn, then went inside the Theater, and throughout the whole movie, Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity did not get scared one bit, and they were even quite invested in the film, Pinkie was laughing at almost every single Jumpscare instead of being scared, Spike and Fluttershy however, always held on to each other whenever a jumpscare happened, Flash and Starlight were completely fine with the movie themselves, but whenever a Jumpscare happened, Twilight would cover her face into Flash's chest, he felt a little awkward whenever that happened, but everytime it did, Flash would pat Twilight on her back and comforted her.
After the Movie was over and they left the Theater, the group talked to each other about how the movie was.
"That...Was... Awesome! But, maybe next time we should choose a more calming movie for Spike and Fluttershy"
Spike and Fluttershy both tried to deny that they were feeling scared, though they didn't sound too convincing with their stutters.
"Oh, no, that's fine"
Twilight and Spike then realized it was a bit late and was time for them to go.
"Well girls, I had an amazing time with you all, but it's time for us to go"
Twilight and Spike then hugged the Mane Six and Starlight, before Applejack invited Flash into it too.
"Come on Flash, you can join in too"
Flash then joined the group hug, and after a while, they let go.
"I had a great time with you girls too"
"Hopefully you get to come by and visit us more often"
"It was great having you Flash"
"Alright, bye girls, see you next time"
"Bye Twilight, bye Spike, Bye Flash, see you guys next time"
Twilight then teleported herself, Spike and Flash back to Canterlot, and as they were going home, Twilight and Flash started chatting.
"I had an amazing time with you girls today"
"Really? I'm glad you enjoyed"
"You have such fun and great friends"
"Well, that's what a lot of ponied tell me"
"I hope we visit Ponyville a lot more often"
"Well, there's quite a few other ponies and friends of mine that you still haven't met yet"
After a while, the three of them arrived at the Canterlot Castle.
"Well, was nice to spend the day with you and the others"
Then to Flash's surprise, Twilight gave him a kiss on the cheek, as she went inside the Castle, Flash blushed afterwards and headed to his home as a happy pony, feeling warm on the inside, knowing that his crush had kissed him.
Chapter 15: The Invitation
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
"So, how do I look Spike?"
Spike was pretty much speechless, and that was all Twilight needed to hear.
"Alright, thanks Spike! Gotta go"
She was now ready for the date. Flash was waiting for Twilight just outside his Guard Post, and after a little while, Twilight finally arrived in front of Flash, in a beautiful purple and silver dress with a little touch of sequence on it, Flash was stunned and in awe of how beautiful Twilight looked.
"So Flash, how do I look?"
"Y-You look amazing Twilight"
"Aw Thanks Flash, Hey, you don't look half bad yourself"
"Thanks, I tried"
"So, where do you have in mind of taking me to?"
"Have you heard of "The Tasty Treat?""
"I have, isn't it Saffron and Coriander's Restaurant?"
"It sure is, I was thinking we could eat there"
"Sounds good to me"
Flash and Twilight then walked together, and after a little while, they arrived at the Tasty Treat, and sat down at the last table, since it was pretty crowded for that night, after a few minutes of looking at the menu, Saffron Masala herself came up to them.
"Ooh, what do we have here?"
"Hello, I'd like to have your spicy flat noodle soup"
"And you sir?"
"I'll have what the Lady's having"
"Okay then, enjoy your stay"
After a while, the soups finally arrived for Flash and Twilight, and they started eating, and Twilight took a moment for herself.
"Oh my goodness, that's good"
"You're telling me, although, the spice is making me feel hot in my mouth"
Twilight then giggled, but then, Flash noticed and recognized some of the ponies that were in the restaurant, they were some of the ponies who rejected giving Flash Shelter quite a few years ago, and some of them were watching him and Twilight, Flash thought they were probably chatting about why he was here, having a date with the Ruler of Equestria, when he started off as Low Class, and some of them even tried coming over and asking Flash some pretty rude questions and Saffron Masala must have noticed and realized what was going on, because she tried her best to divert those ponies attention, but it soon became pretty clear to Flash that he was not welcome in this Restaurant by others, and both he and Twilight were becoming very uncomfortable, Flash knew he had to do something else to try and save this date, and all of a sudden, Flash got a great idea. After he paid the bill, he grabbed Twilight's hoof and took her with him out of the Restaurant, and flee together in the skies, Twilight was pretty confused about what was going on.
"Where are we going?"
"Some place I know we can go to without being judged. Just follow my lead"
Twilight felt a bit weird that this was her first time in a while that she had to follow somepony, but alas, that's exactly what Twilight did, and after an hour of flying in a certain direction, they arrived at their destination, which turned out to be Ponyville, and Twilight seemed pretty annoyed that Flash made her work a bit hard and fly with her wings all the way there.
"Flash! You do realize that if you wanted to go to Ponyville, you could have just asked me to teleport us there!"
"Yeah, but what's the fun and surprise in that? And judging by what I'm seeing from the distance, it looks like a party is going on at Sugarcube Corner, come on, let's go"
Twilight listened to Flash and followed him into Sugarcube Corner, and it turned out, there actually was a party going on there, a huge one in fact, with a lot of the Ponyville Citizens with desert bars, and even shots of Cider, and it was being hosted by None other than Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, and they both immediately recognized Twilight coming in along with Flash.
"Twilight! Flash! I'm so glad both of you came here! We actually didn't start the party long ago"
"I'm glad to see you too Pinkie, and good to see you too Cheese"
"Hello Princess Twilight, and who's this Stallion?"
"My name's Flash Sentry, and I had no idea you guys were throwing a party here"
"Well, it was planned just one week ago, but yeah, please enjoy yourselves"
Flash and Twilight then looked at each other, and smiled, they had a lot of fun that night eating in the desert bar and even took a few shots of cider themselves.
"Now this is what I'm into!"
Flash and Twilight also did some funny and silly dances while music was being played, and almost everypony there joined in with them, both Flash and Twilight had an amazing time, and when the parry finally ended and settled down, Flash and Twilight were holding on to each other as they walked out, cause they were a little bit drunk, but still able to function enough to talk and move.
"So, what do you think? Did you enjoy it?"
"Hell Yeah! That was probably one of the times I most enjoyed myself, you really know how to treat a lady"
Just then though, Discord showed up in front of both of them.
"Hello Ponies, what do we have here?"
Flash and Twilight were unamused that Discord was ruining their privacy, and have him a few dirty looks.
"Discord, what are you doing here?"
"What? I was just curious, cause I was at the party and I noticed that you two were very close to each other"
"Well, if you must know, Twilight and I were on a date"
"Ugh, Gross, you didn't need to tell me that part"
Twilight then teased back at Discord.
"Like you would do the same for Fluttershy, right?"
Discord then started scratching his head in nervousness which caused Twilight to smirk.
"I have no idea what you are talking about"
"Right....,Also, Shouldn't you be taking care of Fluttershy's Sanctuary right now?"
"Alright, Alright, I'm going back, geez, you ponies aren't very fun. Oh well, guess that means I must skedaddle out of here"
Discord then snapped his fingers a first time, but weirdly, nothing happened, then he tried to do it a second time, and it worked and h teleported away, as Flash and Twilight looked at each other and shook their heads and rolled their eyes.
"Well, that's Discord"
"Yep, anyway, I wanted to ask you something Flash?"
"Sure, go ahead, ask away"
"So, why was everypony in the Tasty Treat Restaurant looking at you in a weird way and tried making you feel uncomfortable? Is there something you did that they haven't forgotten?"
Flash knew at this point, there was no more hiding from his past and his previous struggles, it's something he was trying to hide from all the new friends he had made, including Twilight herself, he didn't want anypony outside to find out he came from a very Low Class, thinking that they might think of him differently once they found out about his origins, but now, he had to come clean to Twilight, he sighed, then gave his answer.
"Well, you know how most of the Canterlot ponies judge you by your class?"
"Yeah? I do know they do have some Snobbish behaviors"
"Well, I never really came from a decent or wealthy background, I had a pretty rough childhood growing up, my mother was disabled, and both me and my father had to work to support the family, but even then, it was only for delivering supplies to other ponies, so my parents never had the money to send me to school, and sometimes, we couldn't even manage to get something to eat, I didn't know anypony else apart from my Family and Boss around that time"
Twilight was shocked and surprised to hear what Flash had to say about his past.
"And one day, I couldn't tell if maybe it was from a Seizure or Heart Attack, but...,My mom passed away, thanks to an argument with my father"
"Oh no, that's terrible, I'm really sorry for your loss"
"She was the best mom in the whole world, so kind and caring, however.... I can't say the same thing about my Father, he was.... Quite Abusive and cruel, and they day my mom died, I even wished that my father was dead, and the next day, my wish came true, cause my Father got struck on the head by a lighting strike thanks to a storm when we were arguing. After that, I tried searching for shelter, but, no pony seemed like they wanted to take me in, simply cause I was Low Class, but two kind elderly ponies named Mr. And Mrs. Shropsharp, took me in, and they took care of me for a few years, until when one day, I saved a Made from getting robbed by another pony, Princess Luna and the other guards noticed me around that time, and decided that they wanted to make me a Castle Guard Member, and yeah, that's where I am today now"
Twilight just stood there silent and standing still for a little while.
"Look, I completely understand if you don't want to Associate with me after all this, and i'll-"
Twilight then interrupted Flash mid sentence, and then immediately Hugged the yellow coated Pegasus tight, she was very emotional and touched about Flash's Past and Flash started crying heavily, and Twilight soothed and shushed him, giving him light and gentle strokes on his back.
"Shhh, it's okay Flash, just let it all out, I'm here for you"
Flash then started to tear less, and started speaking again.
"And ever since I became a Castle Guard Member... And met you.... things have completely turned around in my life, it becomes, almost like a light in a long path of Darkness on my life, I-"
Twilight then placed her right hoof on Flash's mouth and stopped him mid sentence, then, she slowly closed her eyes, leaned in her head towards Flash, and her lips met Flash Sentry's and she pressed on it. Flash was taken aback and surprised how Twilight caught him off guard with that one, but he then returned the favor and also closed his eyes and pressed back, and they both really enjoyed each other's presence and holding on to each other, after a while of their enjoyment, they finally let go and broke off their first kiss, but their heads were still leaning on top of each other, and then they both opened their eyes and looked at each other, and started smiling.
"You know, when I first met and encountered you, I really didn't expect I would end up liking you this much"
"If I'm being completely honest, I didn't think you would like me too. I mean, this feels like a dream, I am just an average everyday Peagsus, who's trying to make a living for himself as a Castle Guard Member, and here I am, taking the literal Ruler of Equestria, out on a date, and possibly now become a couple with her, I mean, we are a couple now, right?"
"Seriously? You only just realized that now?"
Twilight then playfully punched Flash on his right hoof, and wanted to give him one more kiss, but Flash pulled away.
"Hold up, you will get another kiss, but under one condition!"
"Oh really? And what's that?"
"You have to beat me in a race back to Canterlot, see ya!"
Flash Sentry then took off flying immediately and Twilight just shook her head and smiled.
"Hey! Wait for me, that's not fair!"
Twilight Sparkle then took off too as she followed Flash, she eventually caught up to Flash, and they both did flying tricks and moves together in the sky, almost in perfect Harmony, as they both laughed and giggled, they absolutely enjoyed every minute of each other's presence, after thirty minutes, they finally arrived at Canterlot, very much tired and worn out.
"Phew, I'm exhausted, I feel like I can just hit the bed and sleep for the whole of next day"
"Me too, also, you did beat me in that race, so, I guess you earned this"
Flash then gave Twilight a small kiss, and Spike was waiting for them just outside Canterlot Castle.
"Where have you two lovebirds been? I was Beginning to get really worried about you Twilight"
"Well, that's very kind of you Spike, but i'm doing good"
"Well, judging by the way you two were acting, I assume the night went pretty well for you two"
Flash and Twilight then blushed slightly.
"You could say that, I did have a great time with Flash"
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it, but, it is getting pretty late, and you do have some important letters to write tomorrow, I should probably get you to your bed"
"That would be great Spike"
Just as then Twilight was going back inside the Castle, she waved bye at Flash, and he waved back at her and blew her a kiss, and Twilight blew one back at him before finally heading inside the Castle. As Flash Sentry walked back to his home, he was happily skipping and trotting, he was also grinning ear to ear, this was probably the best mood Flash had ever felt in his entire life, and when he finally got home, he crashed onto his bed, and quickly fell asleep in a happy state and having happy dreams, thinking, how could it get any better than this feeling.
Chapter 17: An Old Group of Threats Return
Back in Ponyville...
The stone statue that was holding Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow frozen in place, was Beginning to weaken and started cracking, and then, after a few minutes, the Villainous Trio finally broke out of it, and they were pretty shocked and confused about what happened and how they were set free, Chrysalis was the first to speak up.
"I'm free! I'm free! Free at last!"
"Shh, you don't want yo be Waking up all of the other Ponies in this town, or else we could get turned back to stone again"
Cozy Glow however, was quite curious.
"I wonder though, who freed us in the first place?"
"It doesn't really matter, what matters now, is that we are free now, and finally, we can plot our revenge at last"
"Hmm, we have to be careful about this though, we don't want to cause too much of a ruckus and bring attention drawn to ourselves, remember, none of us have magic anymore, if we want to go and fight Princess Twilight right now, we'd instantly get defeated"
"I say we keep a low profile for now, try draining other ponies' magic around here, but not too much, we don't want to cause too much suspicion from the residents of Ponyville, and eventually, when we're finally ready and grab a lot of our magic back, then we can launch our attack on Princess Twilight Sparkle, and finish her off once and for all!"
"Once we've defeated these Pathetic Ponies' Leader and ruler, they'll get scared and terrified, then it will be very easy for us to beat them, and finally takeover and rule Equestria!"
The Trio of Villains then started evilly laughing, and then started searching for their old hideout in the Mountains, eventually after a couple of hours, they found it and began to think of their plot and how they were going to pull off their revenge plan on Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
Chapter 18: The Family Meeting
One day, Twilight Sparkle came over to Flash's Guardpost to talk with him.
"Oh, Hi Twi, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing great Flashie, just came to let you know that i'm going to visit my whole family next week, and, I want you to come along with me so I could introduce you to them"
Flash was a little bit skeptical about going there however.
"I don't know, do you think your family would like me?"
"Of course Flashie, my family has some of the nicest and kindest ponies I've ever known"
"Of course you would say that, they are your family members"
"I really mean it Flash!"
"Hmmm, alright, if you say so"
"Oh, I know so"
Twilight then gave Flash a kiss on his cheek, which made him smile and made him feel a little better.
"Alright then, I'll come next week"
"Thanks, I know my family would love having you around"
"I sure hope so"
Over the course of that week, Flash got himself prepared for the meeting of Twilight's Family, and he practiced what he should and should not say in the mirror, he really wanted to make a first good impression on Twilight's Family, when the day finally came, Flash was pretty well prepared, he was well groomed, had a fresh mane cut, was neatly dressed, and overall looked good, once he was done, Flash flew over to Canterlot Castle and met up with Twilight and Spike.
"Hey Honey"
"Hey Flashie, glad you could make it"
"Come on, let's go, the place where Twilight's parents live aren't actually that far away from here, so, it should only be about ten to fifteen minuted flight"
"Oh, that's Great! Also, forgot to ask you this in our last visit with each other Twilight, but what are the names of your family members? Just so i'm prepared for when i go there and don't look like an idiot"
"Oh, sure thing, well, for starters, there's my Father Night Light, he is a Unicorn with a Blue coat and a crescent Moon as his Cutie Mark"
"Alright, that's interesting"
"Of course you know my companion Spike, then there's my Mom, Twilight Velvet, she is another Unicorn with a Grey Coat this time and some stars as her Cutie Mark"
"Oh, that's also interesting, so, both you and your mom have the same first name, that's cool"
"Yeah, thanks, then of course next, is my brother, Shining Armor"
Flash then immediately stopped cold on his tracks, and his look turned into a more worried and anxious look, almost pale looking too.
"Did you just say Shining? As in THE Shining Armor? The Captain of all the Royal Guards?"
"Yeah, do you two know each other?"
"Y-You could say that"
"Oh, that's great! So you probably know Princess Cadance and Flurry Heart too then, right?"
"Yeah, I do"
"Alright! I told you i know they're going to love you"
Flash started nervously laughing and trying to take deep breaths, and Spike could tell Flash was getting a little anxious and cold feet about this gathering now.
"Are you okay Flash? You seem tense"
Flash immediately tried to respond and show he wasn't feeling any nervousness, though he didn't exactly do a very good job at that, and spoke very quickly, while still trying to sound convincing.
"Of course i'm alright! Why wouldn't I be?
Flash was really shitting himself now, he had completely forgotten that Twilight was the sister of Shining Armor, not to mention, he was the same pony who had given Flash Sentry his job, which changed his life, and he felt that it would feel pretty awkward for both him and Shining when he finds out Flash was dating his sister, and Flash felt that Shining would probably not be amused at him, but, he did then calm himself down and tried to think more calming and happy thoughts, maybe Shining would end up being okay about it.
Finally, after fifteen minutes, the Trio finally arrived at Twilight's' Parents Home.
"Alright guys, we're here"
Twilight then knocked on the door of her Parents house, and the group waited for them to open the door, after a few seconds, her Parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet opened the door and greeted their daughter with open hooves and a big hug along with Spike.
"Hi Mom, Hi Dad, I missed you two, how are you doing?"
"Oh Twily, we're doing great, even better now that you're here!"
"We've missed you for a while, and we're so glad you could come by and visit us Sweetie"
"And we're glad you were able to come too Spike"
Twilight Velvet then noticed the New Pegasus who was with her Daughter.
"Oh, and what do we have here? Is this the Stallion you have been telling us about in your letters?"
"Why Yes he is, Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Flash Sentry"
Flash was a bit nervous, but he managed to hold those nerves in pretty well so far.
"Hello Mr. Night Light and Mrs. Twilight Velvet, it's really nice to meet you two"
"Well, we're glad to have you here too, Twilight told us a lot about you in her letters"
"Dad, you're embarrassing me"
Twilight then blushed for a bit, as Twilgiht Velvet tried to spare her daughter.
"Well, why don't we go inside, shall we?"
"Let's"
The Group then went inside the house, and Flash noticed that Twilight's Parents home looked a lot bigger on the inside compared to the outside view, it even looked like there was some sort of library inside the house, which really impressed Flash, and he also saw some of Twilight's Childhood photos around the house, some with her whole Family, and some with Spike when he was a very young Dragon, Flash smiled and mumbled to himself.
"At least it looks like she had a Much better Childhood than I had"
When they reached the living room, there was Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Flurry Heart waiting for them, and they all greeted Twilight and Spike with warm hugs.
"Twily My Sis, and Spike, we're so glad you could make it"
"How have things been going back at Canterlot Castle?"
"Things have been a bit busy, but overall, it's been great, and I really missed you, especially you Flurry Heart"
Flurry Heart was now Four years old, so she was now able to speak a few words.
"Hiiii Auntie"
"She's so adorable"
Then, they noticed a Familiar Yellow Coated Pegasus, who nervously smiled and waved at them.
"Oh, so Twilight, is this the lucky Stallion you were talking about?"
"Yep, and judging by what Flashie told me a little while ago, it seems that you guys have already known each other"
"Well, welcome Flash Sentry, nice to see you again"
"Nice to see you too again Princess Cadance"
Flash then noticed that Cadance seemed totally alright and cool with the news, which made him a bit relieved, but then he took a good look at Shining Armor, and he had the strangest expression he had ever seen from him, he didn't look happy or surprised at seeing him, but neither did he look mad, angry, or even upset at him, it was a very weird and strange reaction, and finally after a few seconds, Shining Armor spoke.
"Hello Flash, interesting to see you here"
Shining then shook Flash's hoove a bit strong and hard, he still couldn't tell if Shining was just acting tough, or he was mad at him, still though, everything seemed to have gone pretty smoothly, and the whole group after an hour were having dinner together, talking to each other about life and how things were going for either of them, as well as Twilight's Parents getting to know Flash a bit more, about what he likes to do, what are his goals etc...
However, after dinner was over, Shining Armor said something that made Flash Sentry freeze in his movement.
"Hey guys, mind if I have a talk with Flash Sentry in my old room, privately?"
Twilight's Parents however didn't seem to notice the mood, and seemed alright with it.
"Sure, go ahead"
Shining and Flash then went into Shining's old room, and Shining shut the door behind him, making Flash flinch for a bit.
"Seriously Flash!?"
"What do you mean Shining?"
"Oh, don't try to play innocent with me Flash, you know very well what i'm talking about. After everything I've done for you, picking you up from the very bottom of the pile, making you a Castle Guard Member, to doing quite a few favors for you to make sure you enjoy your job more, and THIS is what you do!? Date my Sister, without even letting me know?
"Shining, I didn't actually remember you were her brother until she just mentioned it to me, honest!"
"That's not the Main Point i'm trying to make here though, do you know how weird it is and will be if everypony in Canterlot and the Crystal Empire found out you were dating my Sister? Oh, wait, I actually do know, because I found that out from the Canterlot weekly press paper!"
Flash tried his best to reason with Shining, but no luck, he didn't want to hear it.
"Shining Sir, with all due respect, your Sister is an Amazing Pony, she made me see a different view on other Ponies and Creatures that I didn't even notice before, and even made me look at myself differently, she's also changed my life just as much as you changed mine too. Also, why are you talking in " Were Dating?" As if it's in the past?"
Shining Armor then thought about this, he really didn't want to force Flash Sentry into making a difficult decision, but, he spoke up to him sternly.
"Well, let's just say, you have a choice to make, and that is, either you continue pursuing and being with my Sister and lose your job and all of your privileges, OR, you can call this relationship off with Twilight right now and pretend this never happened, and you can get to keep the job that you so long desired for"
Flash couldn't believe Shining was making him choose between his job or his Relationship with Twilight, he didn't think Shining would be that Strict and Agressive, but he knew he was not going to have his mind changed, and he had to make a choice, he didn't want however to cause any conflict between Twilight and her Family, he genuinely cared about Shining Armor, and didn't want to break up the good bond he had with him, so, he really didn't want to do this, and it was a long painful thought, but after a little while, Flash walked out the door and had a few words to say to everypony in the living room.
"Look, it was really nice meeting you all and getting to know you all, especially you Twilight, but I have to go now"
Everypony in that room was surprised and shocked about Flash's words, especially Twilight, who was also very confused, but then she thought that something must have been up about the discussion between him and her brother, so, when Flash left the house, and was about to fly away, she followed him outside of the house.
"Flashie, what's going on?"
"Nothing, everything's fine, just leave me alone!"
Flash yelled back at Twilight in a Pretty Angry and Upset tone, which took Twilight aback a bit.
"Flash, I know something happened with that conversation between you and my brother"
"Nothing happened Twilight, please leave me alone!"
"What did my brother tell you?"
"I told you Twilight, Nothing Happened!"
Twilight Sparkle then had no choice but to use her Royal Canterlot Voice.
"I SAID, WHAT DID MY BROTHER TELL YOU!?!?"
There was a sudden freeze at that moment, and no movement between the two, and slowly, after half a minute, Flash finally turned around to Twilight's direction, looked to her face and spoke.
"He told me to break up with you"
Twilight Sparkle then shook her head in disbelief and shock over what her brother said, Twilight then started to get all teary eyed.
"Flash?"
"Twilight, Please, we don't have to make this any more difficult, I don't want to put any conflict or strain over your family members just cause of our Relationship, and I need to have a job in order to take care of myself"
Twilight then started to cry, and hugged Flash tightly, Flash had no choice but to kindly accept it, it hurt him to see Twilight in this state, but he realistically had no other choice.
"Please Flash, I don't want you to leave me"
"I don't want to leave you too either, you'll always be in my heart Twilight, but, it has to be done, i'm sorry Princess Twilight, I'll always remember you, it's been nice knowing you, please, take care of your family, friends, and yourself"
It then started to rain as Flash Sentry flew away from Twilight, as she started crying again, as Shining Armor looked on from the distance, he then turned around, and saw the rest of his family, including his wife Princess Cadance giving him dirty looks, and Shining did feel a bit bad about what he did, especially seeing his sister in that emotional state, but he believed he was doing what was best for her"
"Hey Flash, what makes you come here to my place at this point of time?"
"Magnus, can I please stay at your place for the night?"
"S-sure, but, is there something wrong my Great Grandson?"
"I'll explain a bit later, for now, please open up some Apple Cider for us"
"Oh, okay"
After Flash Magnus got a couple of drinks of Cider from his fridge and put them on his Living room table, Flash immediately grabbed and finished his drink, gulping it in almost one go, so, Flash Magnus decided to start asking Flash for some Serious questions.
"So, let me guess Sentry, you are feeling Heartbroken"
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, I know usually when somepony is feeling Heartbroken, they will try to drink their pain away, what happened?"
Flash took another gulp of Cider before speaking up.
"I had to break up with a pony that I really liked, perhaps even loved, in order to be on good terms with her brother"
"Ohhh, Oof, Yeah, that sucks"
"It's not fair Magnus! I really do care and love her, but her brother thinks it would be "too awkward" for us to be together when all I've done is treat Twilight like the pony she deserves to be treated by, with utmost respect and care, and to make matters worse, my job ain't even worth much anymore, cause there's pretty much no danger left in Equestria, and I still have yet to have a moment to prove myself and to shine, i'm still pretty much a lost cause, who did almost nothing as a Castle Guard Member"
"Oh, come on, that's not true, you do quite a few important things as a Castle Guard Member"
"Oh, really? All I've done since I got that job, was watch for the Cameras, announce Important Ponies, send and receive letters, something almost everypony is capable of doing! Tell me, what's the worth in that!?"
Flash Magnus then stayed silent, he did not know how to answer that.
"All I've wanted in my life, was to feel like i'm somepony important, somepony useful, who can make a difference and be the best there is for helping others, and I've barely done any of that!"
Flash Sentry then sighed heavily, and then said something Flash Magnus did not expect him to say.
"I'm going to be searching for other jobs this week, and if I do find something that can give me a decent Salary, i'm going to quit and leave my job as a Castle Guard Member"
Flash Magnus again was unsure how to respond to that, but he then decided to speak out some words that he knew were wise.
"Look, Sentry, my Grandson, take your time about this, don't make any rushed decisions that you might regret later"
Flash Magnus then kindly and gently placed a hoof on Flash Sentry's back.
"I'm sorry Sentry"
Flash Sentry then went into the guest room that Flash Magnus gave him, and he went to bed, and then started crying on the pillow, didn't know what to do, and was feeling sad and heartbroken over the decisions he had to make.
Chapter 20: Saving a Princess
It was now around Nighttime, and Spike wasn't around cause he was called up for some kind of emergency in Klugetown, so Twilight was pretty much on her own inside the Castle with a few guards from the outside looking on, and was also handling all the important business for that day, after a while, Twilight was finally done with her tasks, but just as she was about to go rest, a Power Beam almost hit Twilight and hit one of her Castle Pillars instead, and when she turned around and looked behind to see who did it, she saw three faces that she had hoped she would never see again, in what seemed and felt like a Horror Movie Nightmare experience for Twilight, she saw Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow all standing a few feet away from her, Twilight was in a terrified state, cause they were all fully powered too.
"Hello Princess Twilight, did you miss us?"
"Chrysalis, T-Tirek, C-Cozy Glow, ho-how did you find me here, how did you get set free, how did you get past my guards?"
"Hahaha, hearing you stutter like that is Cute and Hilarious, well, we actually have no idea how we got out either, and it was pretty easy to find where you were, and we might have drained all of your guards' Magic too"
Cozy Glow then started maniacally laughing as Queen Chrysalis continued the convo.
"We've been secretly and stealthily gaining Magic in Ponyville with hardly anypony noticing us or the fact we were missing from our statues, and now, it's time for us to do what we should have done to you a LONG time ago! And Finish you off, Once and for all!"
"I'm not going to let that happen to me"
Then, the Trio of Villains and Twilight Sparkle started battling and fighting each other with their Magic, Twilight was really trying her best to shoot at them, and at the same time, avoid and dodge all of their power beam shots too, but she was finding it really difficult when she was outnumbered and tried focusing on all three of them, after a while, Chrysalis got a really good shot on Twilight, which knocked the Ruler of Equestria down to two hooves, and then, Tirek got another really good shot at Twilight, knocking her back and making her slam head into one of the pillars, knocking the Princess Unconscious and Helpless.
As Flash Sentry was going inside the Castle at that moment to send in his Resignation, he saw the whole thing unfold from a distance away, and he looked in shock, he knew he somehow had to find a way to save the Princess and his former lover from getting seriously hurt or even killed by those Villains, and just as when it looked like they were about to Finish Twilight off with one more power beam, Flash threw a spear and it just missed Chrysalis, and then he jumped in front of the Motionless Alicorn, and held out a shield in front of them.
"Stand back you three! I cannot allow you to hurt the Princess!"
Chrysalis was not impressed by what Flash Sentry did.
"Oh, Really? Is that so? Guess that means we'll have to finish you off too!"
Flash then realized to himself, that this could finally be the opportunity he's been waiting for to prove himself and his worth. He then bravely was blocking all of the Power Beam shots with his shield, trying to defend Twilight as much as possible, even if it meant risking his own life for her, but, it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make, Flash knew however that he couldn't do this halting forever, and after a while, Chrysalis blasted Flash Sentry in his right hoove, which was not protected by his suit of armor, and Flash winced in pain, holding his right hoove, which started to bleed quite badly.
"No, no, come on, come on"
Flash tried to slow down his bleeding, but that also left him quite vulnerable to the trio of Villains, but just as the other Villains were about to finish Flash Sentry off, a Familiar Unicorn came in, and he stood in front of the injured Flash Sentry, and tried his hardest to defend him and Twilight, Flash was really surprised by who it turned out to be.
"Shining Armor!? What are you doing here?"
"Helping out my Sister, and a fellow Soldier!"
Shining then smiled at Flash, and Flash smiled at him back, he was really happy and relieved to see Shining help him out, and they both then started throwing spears together and holding their shields out for Twilight, but it soon became clear that they needed to do something else in order to get Twilight to safety or else none of them were going to make it out of there alive, and after a little thinking, Shining came up with a very risky idea.
"Flash, you go and get my Sister to safety, I'll distract these three villains and buy you some time to escape"
Flash was shocked by what Shining suggested and couldn't let a Pony who helped him so much in his dark times in his life, do this on his own, and turn his back on him.
"What? No! I'm not leaving you behind to these Villains!"
"Flash, if you don't abandon me now, we're all going to die from these three, I'll be alright! I'll live! You have to go now!
Shining then placed a Hoove on Flash Sentry's right shoulder and he knew at that moment that Shining was dead serious about this plan, and that there was no changing his mind, so, Flash eventually listened to his Captain, carefully picked up the injured and Out Cold Princess, and placed her on his back, and flew away from Canterlot Castle, and then Flash thought where could he go where he knew Twilight could get a lot of help AND be Safe, then he realized he had to get her to Ponyville, knowing that Twilight's friends would probably be there to help her out, he then took one more look at Shining Armor crawling on the ground to try to fight them off before losing sight of him, and then Flash was well high into the Sky, where he knew the Villainous Trio would not be able to spot him and track him down.
Chapter 21: Quick Recovery and Backup
Flash Sentry while flying in the air was making sure he was hanging on tight with one hoof on Twilight to make sure he didn't drop her by accident, which was quite a bit difficult cause She was a bit heavier than he expected and almost every few seconds, he had to adjust his flying position cause she kept falling to one side, but after a while, Flash finally arrived at Ponyville and found Twilight's Old Castle, thinking he might find some of Twilight's Friends there, he then went inside and started walking, although he had to limp a bit, cause he still had some pain in his right hoove which had just stopped bleeding not long ago, but he was still pretty hurt on that side, Stoll though, he called out if anypony was there.
"Guys! Hello? Is Anypony there?"
It then turned out only Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer were present in that Castle, but despite being in their PJ's, they both immediately came down the stairs and saw Flash Sentry holding on to Twilight, who was still not conscious, and also noticed the Badly bruised right hoove of his.
"Oh my God, what happened to Twilight and your right hoove?"
"My right hoove is not important right now, I'll be fine, but Twilight was attacked by Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow"
Both Sunburst and Starlight were shocked to hear of them, and the fact that they got out.
"Them!? I thought they were turned to stone!"
"Well, seems like not anymore, and Shining Armor bought me some time by distracting them"
"Well, what happened to him then?"
Flash then gave a sad sigh, not sure if his Captain was still alive.
"Honestly, I-i don't know. But please, let's take care of Twilight first, shall we?"
Starlight and Sunburst then both nodded as they and Flash carefully picked Twilight up and then placed her down on a bed as they examined her to see if she had sustained any major injuries.
"Hmmm, doesn't seem like she got any serious injuries, did her head hit something heavy or hard?"
"Well, she did hit her head pretty hard against a pillar"
"Ah, well, that explains it, she probably suffered from a minor concussion then"
Just then however, Starlight dumped a bucket of Water onto Twilight's head.
"Why would you do that for Starlight?"
"What? Sunburst, this is how I normally wake ponies up from being knocked out"
And sure enough, Starlight was right, after a few seconds, Twilight started moving and then she opened up her eyes with a slight groan, and the first face she saw, was Flash's.
"Flash!"
Twilight then hugged Flash tight, and then he smiled and hugged her back too, glad that it seemed like she was gonna be alright, then he looked back blushing when he saw Sunburst and Starlight watching them.
"Ouch! My head hurts, where am I?"
"You are in your Old Castle, Flash told us you were knocked out while fighting Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy, but he managed to get you out of there safely"
"Really? But, how did you manage to do that while getting away from them?"
Flash really did not want to break this news to Twilight cause, he wasn't sure how she was going to react once she found out her brother sacrificed himself for both him and her, and didn't want to give Twilight any more panic attacks or negative thoughts, but he also knew he had to tell her the truth.
"Well, you see, your brother..., kinda distracted the others in order to help me and you get away"
Twilight was shocked by what Flash told her.
"What!? We have to go help him!"
Flash didn't want to put any more negative thoughts in so he just shut his mouth, and then Twilight tried standing up but she collapsed to the floor.
"Ouch! That hurt"
"You're still slightly injured, you need to rest here for a little while whether you like it or not"
Starlight then thought of an idea, as Flash helped Twilight rest again.
"Sunburst, you and Flash stay here and take care of Twilight, i'm gonna get some backup!"
Starlight then ran out of the Castle to find the rest of Twilight's friends and closest allies, and after Sunburst gave Flash some bandages to wrap around his bleedy right hoove, they both helped to try to relief the pain from Twilight's head.
After a while, approximately about two hours, Starlight finally came back with the rest of the Mane Six, The Pillars of Equestria, Shining Armor's Wife Princess Cadance, Discord, and even, the two retired princess Alicorns of Celestia and Luna, the rest of the Mane Six then immediately rushed over and group hugged Twilight, and Twilight hugged all of them tightly back.
"I'm so happy to see you girls!"
"Starlight told us about all that happened"
"Are you doing okay?"
"I'm feeling a little better now that all of you are here"
Luna then decided to get straight to business.
"So, we hear that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy have somehow broken out of their stone statue held by our spell, and attacked you and possibly holding your brother hostage?"
Discord however then did have a confession to make.
"Yeah..., about that, you see, I might be responsible for that a bit.
All of the ponies in the room then turned their heads towards Discord's Direction, a bit confused, while also giving him some dirty looks, especially Rainbow Dash.
"Discord.... What did you do!?"
"So..., you see..., Flash and Twilight, do you remember when I tried to teleport away in front of you?"
"Yeah, you couldn't teleport away from us in the first attempt, what about it?"
"Well, when that happened, I... might have accidentally broken the seal and spell holding that statue into place"
Twilight then took several deep breaths, then let her anger out on the Draconiquis.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? Ouch!
Twilight then held her head again as Celestia scolded Discord.
"Couldn't you have been a little more careful and cautious Discord?"
"I was, I just made a tiny little boo boo"
Everypony in the room then just rolled their eyes at Discord, but then, Mage Meadowbrook stepped forward towards Twilight, holding in her hoove what seemed to be some kind of stew.
"Anyway, here you go Princess Twilight, this is a stew I brewed back at my home, it should be able to help your head and your whole body have instant relief from pain, but it will only last a few hours"
Mage Meadowbrook then gave Twilight the stew, and she ate it up very quickly, and after a couple of minutes, Twilight felt instant relief from any pain like she said, and was feeling a lot better and now was able to stand and trot properly.
"How are you feeling?"
"I feel great now! Thanks Meadowbrook!"
Princess Cadance however now, was getting increasingly worried about how her husband was doing, and really wanted things to be over with now.
"Now come on Ponies, we don't have much time, let's get out there, kick some Villain butt, and save my husband!"
"Yeah!"
All the other ponies cheered in unison as they started preparing and getting armed up, and some of the Pillars even brought dome supplies that could help them in Combat, all of the Ponies then had to walk and travel to Canterlot by train cause there were too many ponies to teleport all at once even though Discord probably could have teleported all of them instantly If he wanted to, but didn't, much to the annoyance of the others, and as they got on the train, they ignored all the chattering and attention they got from the other Ponies onboard that train, and were fully armed, and ready to finish off the three villains once and for all, and ultimately, to save Twilight's Brother before it was too late.
Chapter 22: A Sacrifice of the Sentry
Meanwhile....
Back in Canterlot Castle, The Trio of Villains; Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, were holding hostage a tied up, beaten and badly bruised Shining Armor, who was barely conscious, Shining just let out a few words at them.
"You-you won't get away with this"
"Oh really? But we've already had silly, and if any of the other pathetic ponies try to find you and save your worthless life, we'll make sure they don't see another daylight in their lives"
"And finally Equestria will be all ours!"
The Trio of Villains then did their cue for their evil Laughter, however, they got interrupted mid laughter by a group of charging and determined Ponies, and a Certain Draconiquis as Twilight Sparkle spoke to them.
"Not while we're around!"
Discord then added to the Convo.
"Ugh, when will you Villains ever learn in your entire lives?"
Cozy Glow then made a snarky remark back
"Oh, we've learned alright, and we're ready to take you Pathetic ponies down once and for all, something that we should have done a long time ago!"
"Same thing to you three, everypony, charge!"
All the Ponies and Creatures then charged at the three villains, and started battling with each other, and even though based on power, the Villainous Trio had a lot more power individually, the others had strength in numbers, and it did seem like it was pretty evenly matched for a while, Discord tried his best to help assist the Mane Six Ponies with his Chaos Magic, while also making sure Tirek couldn't come close enough to him to try to drain his Chaos Magic away from him, cause If he did, he knew all of the Defenders of Equestria would be done for. While in the meantime, Rockhoof, Somnambula, and Mage Meadowbrook were Assisting Starlight, Sunburst, Flash Sentry, The Three Other Alicorns, and the rest of the Pillars with some damaging potions to keep Chrysalis and Cozy Glow away from them, and everytime they would try to blast, Flash Sentry was there, ready with his trusty shield, to block and defend himself and the others, however, he was still somewhat suffering the effects of his right hoove which was obviously far from 100 percent okay.
The Trio of Villains then realized that their original plan was not going to work, because it seemed like everypony had them figured out and cornered, and everytime they tried something, the others always had an answer for them in return, and this was really frustrating them, then, while in combat, Starswirl The Bearded came up with an idea on how to defeat the Villainous Trio and make sure that they don't come back for good.
"Twilight, I think I have an idea of how to stop these three Villains"
"Any idea right now could be useful, go ahead, what is it?"
"If you can stall these three Villains long enough, I think me ad the rest of the Pillars can come up with enough magical power to send these imbeciles to Limbo"
"Alright, I think we can do that"
However, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow then had a new plan of their own too.
"If we continue going on like this with our original plan, we're not going to go anywhere, and we won't succeed in defeating Twilight Sparkle and her friends"
"Well then, what do you suggest tough guy?"
Cozy Glow then came up with an idea of her own.
"Let's just focus on one pony at a time instead of going after all of them at once, it is just tiring and has been wasting our Magical Abilities"
"That's... Actually a great idea Cozy, let's do it"
Then, during the battle, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy stopped attacking and blasting all the ponies at once, which did confuse them a bit, but then, they all realized a little too late what they were actually planning to do.
They all then aimed and charged up their powers on Twilight, everypony then gasped and Twilight closed her eyes, accepting her fate and the worst that could happen to her, but then, in the last possible second before she got blasted, Flash Sentry jumped into her defense with his shield, and it was holding up all that Magical energy for a while, but after a few seconds, the magical power was too much for Flash's shield to handle, and after it was broken off, the power beam hit the right side of Flash's body and also his right wing, making Flash scream in a bit of Agony before being knocked out and being put in a Critical Condition, Twilight screamed in horror when she saw what happened to her former boyfriend.
"Flashie!! No!!!"
Twilight then immediately rushed over to the Fallen Flash Sentry to make sure he was okay, but after taking one look at him, she knew he was in a very critical state, and she started crying while holding Flash Sentry's body.
In the meantime, the Pillars were finally ready with their spell, and ready to blast away the Trio of Villains into Limbo, and make sure they never came back again.
"Alright! Our spell is ready!"
Starswirl and all the other Pillars then got into their positions, and lined up at the Trio of Villains.
"Uhh, what is happening?"
The Pillars then used almost all of their Magical capabilities to blast Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, and sure enough, after a few seconds, the Villainous Trio were getting transported to Limbo.
"Nooo!!!!"
A Big Explosion then happened, and once all the dust had disappeared, the Trio of Villains were no longer present with them, they really were gone for good, however, everypony knew what to do in that exact moment, they then immediately untied Shining Armor, who just recently passed out, and then checked on both him and Flash Sentry, Twilight then looked like she was about to lose herself and her head, which was understandable to everypony else, cause they too would do the same if they were in her position.
"No, no, no, no, I refuse to believe this is real!"
And then, Amongst all that Chaos, Spike had finally arrived back from his trip to Klugetown.
"Hey guys, i'm back from my trip to Klugetown, and-"
Spike then saw all the Carnage that was present in Canterlot Castle and he tried rubbing his eyes to make sure that it wasn't a bad dream of his.
"What the hell happened here?"
Starlight Glimmer tried to clear order of the Situation.
"We'll explain later Spike, right now though, we need to get Shining Armor and Flash Sentry to a nearby Hospital and Fast!"
"Fast? You got it!"
Discord then teleported everypony to the nearest Hospital in Canterlot, and then they immediately got Shining Armor and Flash Sentry registered, hoping that they weren't too late to save their lives.
"Did... Did we win?"
Shining Armor just chuckled at Flash before he gave his answer.
"Look around you Flash"
Flash Sentry then looked around him in the Hospital room, and he was amazed and shocked at what he saw, he saw almost every single of his friends with him and by his side, and some even with banners like "Get well soon Flash", he saw The Mane Six, The Other Three Princesses or former Princesses, Spike, The Pillars of Equestria, Sunburst, Starlight, Discord, Trixie, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twilight's Parents, Flash was almost at a loss for words.
"Wha-what are you all doing here?"
Fluttershy was the first one to speak from the group.
"Here for you, you had been in a coma for three days, and all of us have been paying you and Shining Armor visits each day"
"We're really glad to see you're doing okay"
"Most of us were worried sick about you two"
"So.., we did win?"
Everypony in the room chuckled cause it was obvious if they were all around, then nodded, and Flash then got up in excitement from his bed, but hurt his body a bit as he did that.
"Yes! Ow! Ouch!
Trixie then warned Flash that he was not exactly fully healed yet.
"Careful with that, the doctor said you broke your right hoof and your right wing"
Apple Bloom then added in on the report that the Doctor gave.
"It's gonna be a few months before you'll be medically cleared to leave"
Flash then took a sigh, but was feeling quite happy and warm to see this many ponies by his side, genuinely concerned about his feelings, he never felt this mind of warmth in his entire life before that, especially in his childhood, he felt so grateful that they all were here for him, and of course, Twilight Sparkle then gave Flash a big hug that was squeezing him a little, but Flash didn't care and he hugged hardly as back.
"I'm so glad you're doing okay Flash"
"And i'm glad nothing happened to you Twilight"
Trixie Lullamoon then had to chyme in with a Question to Starlight Glimmer.
"Oh, and Starlight, why didn't you tell me what happened when you guys were going to battle? I could have helped a little bit in the fight"
Starlight then Sassily and brutally answered back to Trixie.
"Uhh, no offense Trixie, but, how are Magic Tricks going to help in Combat?"
Trixie then frowned at Starlight as everypony started laughing at Starlight's remark, after they all finished laughing, Shining Armor then gave a Signal to all of them.
"Alright, everypony, head out, I have something important to tell both my Sister and Flash Sentry here"
Everypony then listened to what Shining said, and left the room to give himself, Twilight and Flash some privacy, Shining then took a look at his sister and stated talking to her.
"Twily, look, I understand we had some issues in the past and didn't always seem eye to eye on things as of late, but believe me when I tell you this..., I only wanted what was best for my Sister, cause let me tell you, i'm actually a very Jealous Brother, I really Care for you and love you, and I wouldn't let just anypony date or be with you, you are the most special pony I know, and I just wanted you to be safe and ultimately to be happy.
Twilight Sparkle then smiled at her brother, then answered to him.
"I know my brother"
Shining then turned to Flash Sentry and started speaking to him.
"Now Flash, if i'm being completely honest, I wasn't 100 percent sure if you were going to be the Pony you have become, or be a good fit for my Sister, I was very skeptical about you still and it was a bit awkward for you to date my sister when we already had known each other for quite some time"
Flash then sighed, and answered at Shining.
"Yeah, I understand sir"
"And also, I was a bit worried you were going to take advantage of my Sister, However, when I look at all the sacrifices you've done throughout your life, your admirable dedication to your work and Job, and also on top of that, the unbelievably brave sacrifice you made to try and save Twilight's life, proved to me, that you are more than capable of being a fantastic partner, Solider, and even as a Friend, I really admire you for that, thank you Flash"
Shining Armor then saluted Flash Sentry from his bed, and Flash then Saluted back at him, Flash also smiled, feeling a taste of happiness, relief and satisfaction that he had finally achieved and accomplished his life long Goal of being recognized as somepony that is really helpful and useful, he started then to get really emotional, and started tearing up, and Shining tried to comfort Flash.
"It's okay, no need to cry now"
"I'm sorry, it's-it's just, I've worked so hard my entire life to get to this point, and to hear those words come out from you, that means the world to me, thank you very much!"
"Well, I mean every word I said"
Shining Armor and Flash Sentry then managed to stretch and reach out to hug each other, much to the happiness of Twilight, happy to see that the two of them finally made up, then, Flash turned to Twilight's direction and asked her to come sit by his bed.
"So, uh, Twilight?"
"Yes Flash, what is it?"
"So, since your brother seems cool with us getting back together, is it okay with you if we could... Start over and get back together again?"
Twilight then immediately hugged Flash tight and smiled at him.
"Of course you silly Pegasus"
"Welcome to the Family my man!"
Shining Armor then hugged and squeezed Flash Sentry tight, much to Twilight's laughter, and Flash started laughing too along with Shining, Flash then really enjoyed the rest of his day being in Twilight and Shining's company.
And, as for Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, well, Flash had ended up marrying the Pony of his dreams just one year prior, and the two of them have had a very healthy relationship, Flash had really hit the Jackpot big time when it came to his life and who he ended up with, but, Flash still didn't forget where he had originally come from, and he decided to create a Charity that helps homeless Ponies in Canterlot, and it genuinely put a smile on his face whenever he helps out other Ponies who have also been struggling or have been in similar struggles that he had been through early in his life to make sure they don't have to go through that burden, Flash was just happy that he was now making other Creatures and Ponies happy too.
Today was another Family Visit day, as Twilight's Parents, Brother, Sister in Law and Cousin, all visit them in Canterlot Castle, and Flash, Twilight and Spike were in preparation for their arrivals, making sure everything was set and ready for them, and in the nick of time when everything was finished being set up, the guests had arrived, and they welcomed them all with big hugs and let them inside, and they all had a great time with each other, talking about how things were going on in their lives and also any Crazy Adventures they may have been on, also, Spike and Twilight were slowly year by year, growing bigger and bigger, now to the point where now Twilight was almost twice the size of Flash, and the pair of them joked about it from time to time.
"Are you sure you're not getting a little Jealous of my size Flashie?"
"Not at all, but, you better stop growing more or else i'm going to have to buy a whole new shield to guard and protect you with"
Flash and Twilight then both laughed, Flurry Heart meanwhile was also growing into a pretty respectable Alicorn, she was now ten years old, and she was now speaking Perfectly without any stutters and she always got annoyed whenever the others start babying her.
"Guys, please, i'm not a little Philly anymore"
"But you'll always be my little Philly to your Auntie Twilight"
Twilight then gave Flurry Heart a kiss on the cheek as she giggled, as for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, well, they still had a pretty healthy Marriage and Relationship, and despite Shining being a bit older now, he still had what it took to be the Captain of the Royal Guard, and still did his job with great excellence.
After all of them had finished their dinner, they went by the Canterlot Castle balcony, and looked at some of the Shooting Stars passing by, which of course, was one of Twilight's Favorite Hobbies. All of them oooed and Aaahed at each Shooting Star that passed by, shortly afterwards though, it started raining, however, even though almost all of the Ponies went back inside, Flash Sentry decided to go out there, and fly along and do some tricks in the rain, unlike most of the Ponies in Canterlot, Flash actually quite enjoyed the rain and letting his mane and coat getting wet and soaked didn't mind to him that much, Twilight then thought to herself why not as she joined Flash outside in the rain, both her and Flash then happily spread their wings and flew together in the air during the rain, happily holding on to each other and doing tricks together too, Flash Sentry couldn't have imagined all of the things he'd gone through in his life, from the Hardships, to the Struggles, to the Joy of finally overcoming them, from humble beginnings and deep down struggles, to becoming one of the most recognizable Royal Guards, he still felt like he was in a Paradise, a dream that he didn't want to wake up from, Flash throughout his life though, always remembered some important words that his mother taught him as a Philly.
"Son, if you always do your best, work hard, be honest, and do the right thing along with helping others, there is no greater reward than seeing all those happy faces and you will be amazed at what it can do for your life"
Flash Sentry then looked above to the Sky, imagining his mom looking down at him.
"You were right mom, I did it"
And Flash knew that whatever challenge or Chapter comes next in his life, things at the end, will always work out and turn out to be okay.
The End
Once Upon a Magical time in Equestria, there was a young little Colt Pegasus named Flash Sentry, who lived around the streets of Canterlot with his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Sentry, unlike most of the ponies who lived there, Flash and his family didn't come from a very wealthy background, they were actually quite poor and couldn't even afford any place to live, Flash's Mother was also disabled and couldn't walk or even fly to places, so both him and his father had to work hard delivering supplies to other Ponies by pulling carriages, since they were usually too heavy to carry by flying.
Finding Food was also often hard for the family, considering they had to hope for the other ponies to throw away their excess food, which was sometimes rotten and made them sick and I'll, but nothertheless, they had to make the most of their Situation to make sure they survived, and often or not, many ponies in the city did not want to associate with or talk to them, cause in Canterlot, your Social Standard means everything in that Town, so, the Sentry Family really had a lot of things to take care of under their hooves to work hard for, and in order for them to clean themselves, they either had to use the public shower or a garden hose from other ponies' houses.
But what made things even worse and more difficult for little Flash Sentry was that his father wasn't exactly the best father, in fact, he was very abusive, and quite a violent and angry pony, whenever Flash came back to his family when the day was over and did not quite get the necessary supplies of food that he could find, even though Flash tried his best, his Father would beat him up with a wooden plank until he either started crying or was knocked Unconscious, and all his poor mother could do was watch and beg for her husband not to hurt her son, but often he would ignore her and refuse.
Over a few years, Flash had so many bruise marks around his body, that you could even tell how old they were when going around his body, as he and his mother would often cry themselves to sleep on their makeshift bed, Flash did care and love his Family, but he was not sure how much longer he would be able to handle this.
Chapter 3: Time for a Change
It was now the next morning and Flash was beginning to wake up with a headache, but when he looked around, he realized he was at his work place, then when he turned around for a few more inches, he saw his Father looking at him.
"Good, you're awake! Come on, we have to get moving to working"
But Flash was very hungry at that point cause he hadn't eaten for pretty much one and a half days.
"Can we at least grab something to eat?"
"No, a planned storm is coming today, it's best if we finish earlier rather than later"
Every time Flash's Father checked on how he was doing, Flash would give him a disgusted look, he could not forget what happened to his mom the previous night, and to make things worse, they didn't even have enough bits for a proper burial, and they also never had a picture of her, so they pretty much had no remaining memoirs of her.
Flash after a few hours, was now almost done with his work, and also, just as Flash's Father had predicted, a Thunderstorm started brewing by the Pegasai, and Flash's Father came to him, irate that his son could not finish his work on time before the storm came, as they passed by a lake, Mr. Sentry started scolding his son
"Why the hell are you not done with your work yet? Didn't I tell you to finish it up before the storm came?"
"Look Dad, this is a lot of supplies, and they're not easy to carry"
"Don't talk back to your father like that!"
Flash Sentry at that point was pretty much done and fed up with his Father's behavior, he had to keep up with all the abuse he was giving him these past few years, and Flash was ready to tell on him.
"Why? Why should I not? You didn't care about my mom's health and wellbeing and just yelled back at her, and now she's dead all because of you!"
"Enough!"
Just then, Flash's Father then kicked his son to the ground, but right after he did that, a Lightning strike hit Flash's Father right on his head, instantly making him collapse to the ground and killing him. Flash looked at him in shock, knowing that his previous nights' wish had come true, and that he now no longer had any parents, he was a bit stunned at first, but after a while, it turned into calmness and relief, knowing that he no longer had to deal with his Father's abuse, and Flash didn't know exactly what to do next, but he knew he had to find and do something new.
"It's time for a Change"
