Noise filled his ears, eyes closed as he concentrated on his fingers, finding the patterns and placements on his guitar. The drums behind him beating out a rhythm matched only by the speed of his heart. To an outside observer, they looked like a practiced band, calm and collected doing their final practice set before the local festival started.
The festival itself was going to be an event to remember, hosted and planned as it was by the power couple of Applejack and Rarity, and it also gave local bands the chance to show off. His own band was playing the set before the Rainbooms, who were, naturally, the main title of the event. That, well, the members of the Rainbooms, were what was weighing on Flash Sentry's mind. It wasn't that he was jealous, no, not at all. He was excited, for them, for their growing fame. The girls had done so much for Canterlot High, or CHS, had done so much for him. So the fact that one of them, specifically his ex, was missing from backstage, didn't escape his attention.
So it was that when the song finished, Flash let out a sigh and quickly excused himself before making his way over to the Rainbooms. He was met by Rainbow Dash, the short, blue skinned athlete with vibrant prismatic rainbow hair that acted as the lead singer and guitarist for the band. She had her usual outfit on at the moment; a white shirt with a blue jacket with a cloud and rainbow lightning bolt symbol on it, and finally black yoga pants with rainbow lightning streaks down the outsides. In short, a lot of rainbows.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash, have you seen Sunset Shimmer?"
The girl looked at him with a frown.
"I was about to ask you the same thing. Why do you need her?"
"Uhm, she said she'd - uh -"
"Hey Flash!"
They were interrupted by Pinkie Pie, the fluffy pink haired party pal of CHS. With a helping hand of hyperactivity.
"Oh, Dashie, Rarity wants you for your dress! I can't wait to see what she's done for mine, ooh ooh, and Sunset! I'm so excited! Do you think it'll be pink? Maybe yellow, or orange! Do you think it's a full dress, or, or Dashie! Maybe yours is a tuxedo-"
"Pinkie!"
"Oh. Right, sorry, rambling, heh."
Rainbow sighed heavily before giving Flash an apologetic smile and walking away. Pinkie watched her go for a minute before turning to Flash.
"So you were looking for Sunset Shimmer?"
"Yeah, I-"
"Well, she isn't here."
Pinkie shrugged.
"She might be at home?"
"Thanks, Pinkie. I'll uh, I'll go look for her."
Pinkie gave him a smile before turning around.
"Let me know if you find her~!"
He watched the party girl skip away before shaking his head and beginning the walk out to his car.
Stepping outside afforded Flash a face full of cool air, the autumn air having really set in by now. It occurred about then to Flash that this event was likely unfortunately timed for Sunset- it had been a year since they'd broken up, almost to the day, and only a few days from now would be the anniversary of the fateful Fall Formal and Sunset's reformation. The former of the two was a conflicting topic, as on the one hand, as he had been told, many times, Sunset had just been using him for the popularity.
But, he also knew on the nights in private, just them, he'd gotten to see the nice side of Sunset Shimmer well before anyone else. She had cared, even if only a bit. He settled into the driver's seat with a sigh. He knew he needed to find her, preferably fast. Sunset's reformation hadn't been an easy experience. She'd faced bullying and indifference, and even events falsely blamed on her tearing her from her friends, who, at the time, had been her only lifeline.
She'd been good at hiding the pain, honestly, but Flash had been able to see through it even when no-one else had been able to. The uncomfortable hesitance to use her left arm, the way her sleeve always stretched just over her wrist, the way she seemed permanently down or the muttered self-loathing when she thought no-one was listening. Even if he had hated her for what she'd done at the time, he couldn't let her suffer. So he'd tipped off Pinkie Pie, and the news of Sunset ending up in hospital after an intervention caught her in the act spread quickly throughout CHS.
The sun was beginning to set outside his window as he arrived at Sunset's home. Well, really, it was Principal Celestia's home. The fact that Sunset had been homeless had escaped everyone, even him, until a few weeks before the Battle of the Bands, at the end of the Anon-A-Miss fiasco, when she'd been discovered unconscious in the snow with a journal that proved her innocence. Principal Celestia had taken her in after that, and she'd adopted Sunset soon after the Friendship Games.
Reaching the door, Flash took a deep breath before knocking on Sunset's door. There was no response, so he checked his phone to find his texts were still unanswered. He felt his face shift into a frown, so he stilled his nerves before walking to the main front door and knocking again, where he was met by a surprised Vice-Principal Luna.
"Flash Sentry? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Vice-Principal, I was looking for Sunset Shimmer, is she still here?"
The woman's brows furrowed with concern as she shook her head.
"No, she left on her motorcycle and hour or so ago. We were about to get ready to leave for the festival here."
"Okay, thank you-"
"Flash?"
Principal Celestia's head appeared around the door.
"Is something wrong?"
He shared a look with the VP, who quickly waved him away.
"Come inside, Tia. We need to get you ready."
"Okay?"
And so the first stars were beginning to show by the time he was arriving at the last place he could think of, a place he hadn't been to since last year. He stepped out into the cool breeze, a leaf falling past his head as he began to walk on the path, past Sunset's motorcycle which was tucked into a corner. It was a path that brought back a mixture of emotions and memories, some good, some bad, most stained by a slight guilt.
He was walking the path to their spot.
He tried his best to shake off the guilt lingering, but he still couldn't help but feel like he should've been doing more for her. Her face, her touch, moments spent together had still stuck in his mind, even when he'd tried his best to hate her. He still loved her.
And now they were once again meeting in the spot that held so many memories. How should he approach her? What should he do?
Focus, Flash. You can do this.
One deep breath and mental strengthening later, he pushed open the gate at the end of the path and stepped out into the small field. It was on the edge of a small cliff, overlooking the suburb they lived in, and further on the horizon, Canterlot City. It was one of the few places you could get a clear view of the skyline, and also allowed for a view of the stars. Sat on the edge of the cliff was a figure in a leather jacket, red and yellow hair draped down her back. Sunset Shimmer, in all her glory.
"I thought I'd find you here."
She looked around sharply, teal eyes widening as they locked onto him.
"Flash? Why are you here?"
"I came to find you. You never showed up for practice sets and weren't answering your messages."
She grunted and turned back to the skyline, head dropping into her hands. He took it as an invitation and made his way over, sitting down carefully next to her, both pairs of legs dangling over the drop.
"What's wrong, Sunny?"
"What isn't?" she replied, sarcasm heavy in her voice.
This meant it was Flash's turn to sigh.
"You've changed, Sunset. No-one believes you're the same person you were last fall."
"I don't know, Flash. It's just, everyone wants to be my friend now. It feels..."
She paused for a moment.
"Fake."
He nodded slightly, as while he could only guess how she felt, he figured it must feel pretty isolating. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I can't exactly vouch for everyone at CHS, but the girls? Me and my group? We want to be your friend. Genuinely. And I'm sure others do too, like Lyra and Bon-Bon, or Vinyl."
"...I guess."
He grabbed her hand.
"Sunset, you are a brave, kind person. You turned your life around, and you've made everyone else's better, magical shit excluded. Even if you're scared of becoming that way again, I can tell you, with all my heart, I know you won't, because even then, you cared. Now you have friends to help you."
She looked up at him with wide eyes, and for a moment he thought he saw longing there, but he brushed it off.
"You just need to let them- let us, in. Help us, help you."
"Flash-"
"You don't have to do this on your own anymore."
He saw her bite her lip and scrunch up her eyes, trying to hold on to tears, but failing, and she let out a sob which quickly opened the floodgates as he pulled her in for a hug, feeling warmth spread across his body as she returned his hug, clinging on to him like he was her last hope in the world. They sat that way for at least half an hour, though it felt much shorter, as Sunset gradually calmed until her tears eventually stopped. Then they sat in silence for a while, until it was eventually broken by Sunset.
"Flash?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you mean it, at Camp Everfree?"
She paused.
"Do you really want to try us again?"
The question caught him off guard, so he hesitated for a moment, and he saw a slight look of defeat cross over her face.
"I don't know why I even thought you meant it like that. That was a stupid question, I- I'm sorry-"
Flash acted on impulse, quickly reaching a hand up to her cheek, holding her face in place and their eyes locked. Flash found himself staring into deep teal pools that seemed to hold the answers to life itself, reflecting the stars back at him with a light sparkle.
And then his lips met hers, and she melted into him as though all of her worries had vanished off of the cliff they sat on.
They broke apart slowly, and Sunset blinked at him slowly.
"Does that answer your question?"
She nodded wordlessly before diving back at him for another kiss, this one longer and more passionate, feelings that had been suppressed for a year coming out in full.
"Do you want to stay at mine tonight?"
Flash watched Sunset as they broke apart again, and she faltered for a second.
"Probably not, I mean, we still have to do the festival, and mom's probably worried about me-"
"Sunset. Stop worrying about what everyone else wants, just for tonight."
He rested his hands on her shoulders, gripping firmly but gently.
"What do you want to do?"
She looked at him again, a smile on her face.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
He smiled back.
"Good."
Author's Note
[Authors note originally from archive]
Soooo I wrote this in like 3 hours because of a post I saw on Reddit (I know, boo me) about how there wasn't that much Flashimmer content.
Honestly, I'm just surprised I actually wrote it and it didn't get relegated to the ideas folder, so you're welcome Flashimmer fans. I will probably never write this ship again because I much prefer Sunlight and Sunpie, so uh, I hope you liked it?
If you're not just here for the Flashimmer or you actually liked my writing, I do have other MLP fics (I say that, they're all MLP fics) which you might enjoy.
Anyway, thanks as always for reading, I love you all GOODNIGHT
(Don't forget to go to sleep!)