Looping Over Feeling

Sunset galloped through the halls of Canterlot Castle. A magical arrow of magic guided her way down the twisting corridors in the direction of her quarry.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Crack!

“Dammit!” Sunset shouted.

She pushed herself, her chest becoming tight from exertion. She rounded the corner and came face-to-face with the one thing she had tried to prevent.

A noble, some nobody Sunset couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of, held the head of an orange pegasus in his hoof. The tiles underneath them were cracked and stained red. The pegasus’s face looked battered from the obvious pummeling the noble had done. There was a glint of deranged madness in the noble’s eye, most likely caused by him.

Two of the noble’s cronies were nearby with matching looks of horror on their faces. A maid sat trembling nearby. Sunset quickly surmised the situation. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.

He was a guard and an idiot. All he had to do was call for backup, and stop sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

But that wasn’t who Flash was.

“Hey! Hey, you!” The noble called out, spittle frothing from his mouth. He dropped Flash to the ground and took a step toward him. “What in Tartarus to do you think—”

A blast of magic shut him up. He smashed into the wall and dropped unconscious to the floor. Sunset’s horn smoked from the intensity of the spell she cast.

“Get the guards and sell your buddy out,” She said to the noble’s cohorts. “Or I get the Princess involved and we see how well she’ll take to you assaulting her staff.”

“R-right away, ma’am,” one of the ponies said before they galloped off.

She approached Flash.

“I-I’m so sorry, I—”

Sunset tuned out the useless maid and focused on Flash. His breathing was pained and raspy. She lifted his head up with one hoof and glared at him.

“You’re an idiot,” Sunset declared.

A weak laugh. “Sorry, Sunset. Just can’t mind my own business.”

“...No, you can’t.”

Another laugh followed that came out more like a wheeze. A quick scan with her magic told her that didn’t have much time left. She laid his head gently back on the tile, stood up and trotted away.

“...Sunset…” Flash weakly called out.

She ignored him.