‘Have you ever had a moment in your life where you felt like you were destined to fail at something? Like no matter how hard you tried, it seemed destiny would always be against you in that certain goal? If so, then don’t worry too much about it. Because I know exactly how that feels.

My name is Flash Sentry. When I was a baby, my parents died in a rather bad car accident. Thankfully, though, I was taken in by an eccentric zillionaire and his wife, who were also good friends of my folks. They could never have children of their own, and they couldn’t bear the idea of me being sent to an orphanage or put in Foster Care. So they decided to adopt me, and raised me as if I were their own child. Many would see the two as a pair of odd-balls, given their unusual hobbies or quirks. But they’re genuinely nice people, and the best adopted parents any child could ever dream of having. But let’s not stray from the topic of this story.

Ever since I was little, I had always wanted to experience the feeling of finding true love; the kind my adopted parents shared for each other. So every time I met a girl I really really liked, I would try asking her out. Unfortunately for me, every girl I asked out would always reject me. And for the life of me, I could never understand why they weren’t interested. Was I too boring for them? Was it because some of them just didn’t like guys?

After my twenty-first rejection, I was this close to giving up, and throwing in the towel. Little did I realize, however, what fate had in store for me…’

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in the city of Canterlot. People were going about their lives enjoying the weather, playing at the beach, enjoying some ice cream, or even chasing each other with water balloons. Some delinquents even opened fire hydrants so as to fill the streets with water just for fun. This would often make their parents wait anxiously for the time school would be back in session.

Over at the local park, however, there was a teenaged-boy who had something else on his mind other than the typical summertime chaos. He had two-toned blue hair shaped to the style of a typical rocker, and sapphire eyes. He wore a dark gray jacket with a white shirt underneath, blue jeans, and black shoes with white stripes. On his shirt was a blue shield with a lightning bolt across it. This was none other than Flash Sentry. And at this moment, he was nervously glancing left and right as if he was expecting someone to show up. At last, he spotted a girl about his age in the distance and became excited.

“Here she comes…” Flash told himself. He smoothed his jacket out, and tried to calm himself down. “Alright, Flash. This is your shot. Don’t blow it like you did with all the others…”

The girl in question had light purple eyes, and purple hair with a few teal streaks. Her outfit was a dark velvet jacket, a light purple skirt, and dark lavender boots. She also wore purple pants that had tears in the leg sections for some reason. Her shirt had a glimmering purple and pink star symbol on it, and she wore a purple beanie on her head. When she saw Flash, she gave a friendly wave.

“Hey, Flash,” she greeted cheerfully.

“H-Hey, Starlight,” Flash greeted nervously. “So glad you could make it.”

“Your text said you had something important to tell me,” said Starlight. She had a look of concern on her face. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” insisted Flash, trying to stay calm. “It’s just… I wanted to tell you something for quite a while now. And…” he kicked the ground bashfully. “I thought now was as good a time as any to let it out.”

“Well what is it, Flash?” Starlight asked curiously. “You can go ahead and tell me anything.”

Flash’s heart was racing. He had practiced this moment in his head for a while, but now the idea of actually going through with it made him uneasy. But he knew he had to do it. He had to let it out and tell Starlight how he felt about her. Blushing, Flash took a deep breath, and began.

“Starlight Glimmer,” he began, “I’ve admired you for a while now. You’re smart, talented, beautiful, and you make the most adorable neutral face whenever you deal with uncomfortable confrontations.” He could think back and remember Starlight sipping on a mug of cocoa while said neutral face was plastered on her, and caused him to chuckle a bit before getting back to business. “I really, really like you, Starlight. And I was hoping you’d… “his face blushed even harder, and he shut his eyes as he pushed himself to blurt the rest of his speech out “...please go out with me!”

An awkward silence filled the air. After about a minute or two, Flash slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see Starlight with a hand covering her mouth.

“Flash…” she murmured slightly. “I… I never knew you felt this way about me. I admire you too. You’re sweet, cheerful, straightforward, and you treat everyone with kindness without even thinking of your own gain. You’re a really awesome guy, Flash. And that’s why I also like you...”

Flash smiled hopefully. Was this it? Had he finally landed his chance at true love?

“…but my heart belongs to someone else!” Starlight blurted out.

“OH COME ON!!!” Flash was so taken aback by this rejection that in his inner outburst, he briefly turned into a chibi. Upon regaining his normal form, he couldn’t help but introduce his forehead to the nearest wall multiple times!

“Whoa, take it easy!” cried Starlight, trying to calm the crazed boy down. But alas, her words fell upon deaf ears.

“Every! Time!” Flash cried with each head slam. “Every! Single! TIME!” The last slam was enough to knock Flash to the ground. His eyes spun, and a very goofy expression plastered his face as the sound of a cuckoo clock echoed around him before he passed out.

By the time Flash had regained consciousness, Starlight had helped him to a park bench, and was applying an ice pack to his head.

“Gee, I know folks don’t like being rejected,” she insisted, “but I didn’t think you’d take it that bad.”

“It’s not your fault,” Flash sighed. “It’s just that… I’ve already been rejected about twenty times already.”

“Twenty?!” Starlight gawked. She didn’t know whether to be impressed with Flash’s determination to keep going, or feel bad that he was constantly being shot down.

“I was hoping that fate would finally smile on me this time,” Flash insisted. “That after so many rejections, I would at last find true love, and live a life of happiness and bliss.” His happy moment faded as he frowned. “But I guess not…”

“Well if it’s any consolation,” Starlight comforted, “most people I know usually give up after about two or three rejections. You, on the other hand, have the guts to get back up and keep trying each time you fail. All that patience and persistence is bound to pay off sooner or later.”

“Thanks…” Not wanting to be a sore loser, though, Flash decided to change the subject. “So who’s the lucky one that won you over?”

“Sunburst.”

“Sunburst?” Flash blinked. “You mean your childhood best friend? That guy in the Astrology Club who wears that cape almost everywhere he goes?”

“Yeah,” Starlight blushed a tad as she twirled her hair. “I’ve had a crush on him ever since we were little, but I was always too bashful to tell him how I truly felt. But after seeing you work up the courage to ask me out, I’ve decided to do the same and ask him out before someone else beats me to it.”

With that, Starlight took out her cellphone, and after much hesitation, dialed Sunburst’s number. After dialing, she gazed hopefully at her phone, sweating with anticipation. At long last, someone picked up!

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sunburst.” Starlight greeted, “It’s me.”

“Starlight? Well this is a surprise. What’s up?”

“Sorry to spring this on you all of a sudden,” Starlight apologized, “But there’s something I’ve been wanting to say for a very long time.”

“Well what is it?”

Starlight looked to Flash for a second, gathered her courage, then spoke up again.

“I…I love you, Sunburst!” she confessed. “I love all the times we spent together when we were little, and I love how smart you are, and how adorable you look when you huddle under your cape like a blanket!” she gushed as that particular memory flooded her mind. “I’m sorry if this came off too sudden, but I just couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. Please go out with me!”

There was another awkward silence. Starlight was rather fearful that Sunburst was so startled he’d hung up. At long last, though…

“W-W-Wow… Starlight, I… I didn’t know you felt that way. Truth be told, I… I love you too!”

Starlight felt her heart leap. “You do?!” she gasped.

“Yeah. I never said anything sooner because I was too shy. If you’d like, though, we could go out for ice cream later.”

“I’d love that!” Starlight beamed. “See you soon, Sunburst. Bye.”

“Bye bye.”

With that, Starlight hung up, and let loose a loud and excited scream, like a fangirl who’d just gotten to talk to a famous star.

“He’s in love with me too!” she squealed, hugging the phone to her chest. “And he wants to meet up for ice cream later!”

“Congratulations!” Flash complimented. While he was still sore he got rejected, he was still glad to see Starlight happy.

“Sorry again if you and I couldn’t work out,” Starlight apologized. “But I hope we can still be friends.”

“Of course we can,” sighed Flash. This was perhaps the routine response he had to each girl who rejected him.

“Great,” Starlight beamed. “Well I’d best get going. Can’t keep Sunburst waiting. See you later.” With that, she took off, waving. Flash waved back until she was gone, then slumped back to his seat, and buried his face in his hands.

“What I wouldn’t give for a flying ice cream truck to fall from the sky, and run me down right now,” he mumbled unhappily.

After managing to settle himself, Flash decided to drown his woes at the local ice cream parlor. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. Joining him were four teenage boys his age. The first had long green hair while wearing a brown hat on his head, and had light green colored eyes. He was wearing a brown vest over a red T-shirt, blue jeans and light brown shoes. He also had a button pin that had a recycling symbol on it. This was Sandalwood, an Eco-Kid in Flash’s class. The second boy had darker purple hair, wore black glasses, a long sleeved yellow shirt over a green turtle neck, and gray pants with white suspenders. His name was Micro Chips, the tech geek of the group.

The other two boys were members of Flash’s band - Flash Drive. The drummer, Brawly Beats, had sky blue hair and eyes, wore an orange shirt with a red drum pin on it, as well as a pair of blue pants. And fellow guitar player, Bass Key, commonly nicknamed ‘Ringo’ due to looking strikingly similar to that famous drummer from The Beatles, had black hair with blue sunglasses, wore a red shirt with a white vest, and black pants.

“So Starlight rejected you too, huh?” Brawly Beats asked.

“Yup,” said Flash plainly. “Though she’s getting along great with Sunburst over there.” He gestured over to another table where Starlight was enjoying ice cream with another boy, presumably Sunburst. He had orange hair and sky blue eyes. He wore light blue glasses, a dark blue sweater over a light blue collared shirt, dark gray pants, and orange tennis shoes with white shoe laces. Another thing that set him apart was the fact that he also wore a blue cape on his back like a wizard.

“So what’s that set your rejection streak at now, mate?” asked Bass Key in a Liverpudlian Accent.

“After Starlight,” Flash counted unhappily, “this brings me to a grand total of…” his heart sank as he forced himself to reveal the dreaded number. “...twenty-one.”

His friends gasped as Sandalwood mouthed the number in astonishment.

“That’s about a fifth of a way to a hundred!” Micro Chips calculated. “Another seventy-nine, and you’ll have hit a record!”

“Is that supposed to cheer me up?” Flash asked in a deadpanned tone. “Cause it’s not working.”

“It’s just so bizarre, dude,” said Brawly Beats. “You've got the looks, you're smart, you're athletic, and you're nice to just about everyone. So why do these chicks keep rejecting you?”

“The female mind is a very complicated puzzle that no mortal man can ever fully solve,” insisted Sandalwood in all his hippy wisdom.

“What if they’re actually being replaced by alien copies?” Micro Chips theorized, earning crazed looks from his friends. “Just hear me out; what if somewhere in the galaxy, alien beings are secretly kidnapping females so as to disguise themselves and walk among us? Turning down suitors they deem unworthy for their conquest of our very mortal souls!” The techie broke from his insanity driven conspiracy when he noticed how disturbed his friends had become, and chuckled nervously. “I… think I may have been watching too many sci-fi movies before bed.”

“Well, perhaps some women find Flash’s kindhearted characteristics too… bland,” suggested Bass Key. “I’ve heard of some ladies who prefer someone with a bit more …‘spice’ in their personality.”

“Or maybe some just simply aren’t attracted to males,” Brawly Beats insisted. “Take Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops, for example.”

How could anyone forget? Those two BFF’s were among the first girls Flash got rejected by. While they only saw him as a friend, over time, they grew very attached to each other.

“Then again,” Micro Chips added, “some girls seem either against romance altogether, or are just flat out mean. Like that over competitive bully, Lightning Dust.”

Lightning Dust - another rejection Flash remembered all too well. When he asked out the sports lover, she rejected him hard, calling romance a pathetic waste of time that only served to get in the way of what was really important - like winning.

“I hear she has a cousin who kinda looks like her,” said Bass Key. “Hope she’s nowhere near as out of control as Lightning is.”

“It’s just not fair,” Flash sulked. “I would give anything for the chance to find true love; the bond where people can fully understand each other, connect romantically and spiritually, and achieve the eternal bliss of happiness and joy. But I guess some people just aren’t meant to have that special happiness.”

“Look at it this way,” Microchips insisted. “Maybe you’ll have better luck when we go to Canterlot High.”

With Summer coming to a close, this meant it would be time to go back to school. Many of Flash’s friends had chosen to attend a school known as Canterlot High; a well known school mentioned to have a rather friendly and adventurous atmosphere. It was a picnic compared to another well known academy in the region; the pristine and uptight school of Crystal Prep.

“I’ll take Canterlot High over Crystal Prep any day,” Flash insisted. “Given all the things I’ve heard about that school, it seems more like an academy that teaches you how to cheat and belittle others just to get ahead. Then again, my adopted folks used to go there, and they may consider sending me…”

“Well why don’t you just tell them you don’t want to go?” asked Brawly Beats.

“I really don’t want to hurt their feelings,” Flash insisted. “Especially after all they’d done for me when they took me in. Last thing I want is for them to feel like I’m ungrateful.”

“Guess this could be the end of Flash Drive, I suppose,” Bass Key sighed unhappily. “It was nice while it lasted…”

Flash, not wanting to make his friends as unhappy as he was at the moment, decided to set off for home. Would fate ever smile on this blue-haired rocker?

Author's Note

Greetings, fellow fanfic writers! Boy it's been ages since I've last made a story, hasn't it. Well I've been kept rather busy with life and other problems, and never found the time to get back to the old writing desk until recently. After stumbling across a rather amazing Flash Sentry x Mane 7 Fanfic, I got inspired to take a crack at a few of my own. In addition to this story, there'll be another story that's solely about FlashxMane 7. If you guys have any suggestions for this story (like if there should still be the element of magic powers, or whether Spike should be Human or Dog), don't be afraid to tell me what you'd like to see happen. Always happy to hear your input, as it may help shape the future of this tale. Hope to see you again soon.