• Published 12th Dec 2016
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How to Disappear Completely - shortskirtsandexplosions



Flash Sentry's world sucks. Maybe it's high time he left it.

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"It..." Flash stared off into arid nothingness beyond the cliffs of High Paw. "It's not their fault, necessarily."

Soarin' raised an eyebrow. "'Their?'"

"Erm..." Flash scratched the back of his neck with a hoof, exhaling. "They're not so evil now. That is... one of them. Or both of them. I mean... one of them was kinda friggin' evil for a while there, but she's not anymore. And the other one was never evil. Or—at least—I don't think she was ever evil. Not that I have any proof anyways..."

"Who exactly?" Soarin' asked.

Flash sighed immediately. "Okay. Rewind." He paced before his pegasus friend. "About two years ago or so... I met a girl. She took an instant liking to me. Or at least... so I thought." He gulped. "I-I wasn't really doing anything spectacular at the time. Just... cruising through school. Trying to keep things cool. Work on my music. When—suddenly—this gorgeous babe is talking to me everyday. Next thing I know, she's asking if we want to hang out. And... y'know... she was sexy as all Hell... had the voice of a smart, intelligent young woman. Plus... she could shred guitar like nobody's business. So... heh... yeah. I was totally on board with that."

"Sounds like a nice catch."

"Only... she wasn't the one being caught. I was. And not in a good way." Flash shuffled to a stop, fidgeting. "Not long into our relationship, she starts... bossing me around." His eyes darted over. "Which is fine, y'know. Well... maybe not bossing. Erm... what I mean is that 'pants' and 'skirts' are overrated in relationships in this day and age... including who does or doesn't wear them. Point is, it's fine if the girl's more assertive than the guy... I guess. But she? She was more than dominating. She was just... really unhappy. Like... constantly frustrated and aggravated and... was always taking it out on me. But—like—she always placed this candle of hope on the pedestal... like everything would somehow be fixed and I had to be the one to fix it."

"Yeesh." Soarin' cocked his head to the side. "Why'd you stick around with her?"

"Because..." Flash sighed, rubbing his head again as he stared past the Wonderbolts and the ponies disembarking from the landed hot air balloon. "Because I didn't know any better."

"You strike me as pretty sharp, dude. You'd know it if somepony was treating you rotten."

"I guess I just... thought that it was normal," Flash murmured. "I'd never been in a relationship before. Perhaps... being constantly nagged at and bitched at was what you had to deal with when having a significant other. Those were sacrifices that needed to be made. I... uh..." He looked over, ears folded. "I have parents who yell at each other all the time. My entire life—they've been at it. So... when it started happening in my own personal life... I guess I figured it was natural."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Doesn't matter," Flash muttered. "I have to hear it every day." His ears twitched slightly. "Except for yesterday." A breath. "And today..."

Soarin' quietly looked at him.

Flash eventually continued: "And it's not like anybody ever strolled up to give me advice. It wasn't until this girl started going out with me that I found out that I was popular." His nostrils flared as he bore a bitter smile. "Me. Popular. Crazy, huh? Someone as goofy and ditzy as me?"

Soarin' smiled. "I'd believe it."

"Well, I still have a hard time with it. 'Cuz it's not something I ever really wanted. And then when she came along... she relished it. She basked in it. She made my popularity hers. Soon, I was no longer myself. Instead—thanks to her—I was some... caricature that I didn't even know existed in the first place."

"Somehow you must have known that you were popular before—"

"I'm telling you, dude, I didn't! I swear! And looking back..." Flash leaned against a rock. "...I'm at a loss to figure out how. Maybe I played music well? Maybe it's because I was the kind of guy who never gave a shit about how others treated me? Including teachers?" He snorted. "Hell, it was probably the muscle car I had. That was a pretty sweet ride. No wonder she made so many other girls jealous."

"Muscle... car...?" Soarin' repeated.

Flash shook his head. "Forget it. Point is..." He gestured with his hooves. "Despite the way she acted... and who she was... there were really wonderful things about her. And we did have our nice moments... even if they were few. I just wish..." He took a deep breath. "...I just wish that they were sincere... that I could have been sharing them with a sincere person... the kind of person she is now..." His eyes fell to the stone surface of the plateau. "But all I got... all I deserve was the past her. The rotten version."

"You..." Soarin' leaned in. "...made it sound like there was more than one girl."

Flash limply nodded. "The moment she finally left me—for better or for worse—everything changed. People started paying attention to me less. Those whom I thought were really friends were in fact just playing face to appease her... to appease the both of us. Some people—it turned out—supremely hated me. As if I was somehow in on the rotten shenanigans that she played out every day. And... I don't really blame them, y'know. I did so much to defend her, because she was my girlfriend and I was desperate to preserve what little good we had together. I... I-I turned a blind eye to all the horrible things that she did. I ignored all facts of her wrongdoing and just... called them totally bullshit 'rumors' or whatnot. And then—when everything had been ripped apart out in the open and her so-called 'reign of terror' had ended—I fell into the shadows. I soon realized how popular I truly was as it was being drained from me. The attention... the prestige... the respect... all down the drain. It probably would have been fine—y'know, all things considered—if the descent had continued uninterrupted... and I vanished completely from the scene. But... but something drew me back to the surface. A rekindled flame in my heart... a flicker of hope... of beauty."

Soarin' nodded. "Enter Lady Number Two."

Flash sighed... and sighed and sighed. A smile formed, one he was too busy with recollection to regret. "She was so innocent. So... curious and kind-hearted. Clumsy... but in a cute way. She... she didn't even want to have a relationship with anyone. She showed up in my life simply because she was trying to accomplish something for the greater good of everyone. I just happened to be in the right time and place to help her. And... and I-I couldn't help it. I was smitten at first sight. And... and perhaps the biggest mistake I made... the biggest mistake I ever made in this whole entire mess..." His ears drooped again. "...was thinking she was just as smitten as I was at that one moment."

"Well..." Soarin' scratched his chin as he eventually asked. "...could you blame her?"

Flash winced. Hard. "I'm... afraid to..."

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