Decade: Pre-Chapter 14 recap · 1:54am May 11th, 2017
It’s been a while, huh?
So, before releasing chapter 14 of Decade, I wanted to do a recap. Starting from the beginning (spoilers if you haven't read the story!).
After securing a blessing from Night Light and Twilight Velvet, Flash Sentry proposed to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight agreed, on the condition that Celestia approved. Celestia, overprotective of her inexperienced student and suspicious of ulterior motives or monster-related shenanigans, asked Twilight’s permission to do a “minimally-invasive” dream spell on Flash to see how he would react to the worst possible thing in their relationship.
Flash, being both insecure and paranoid, imagined that Twilight was pregnant (by another stallion, as he hadn't, uh, done the necessary), and subject to some ridiculously implausible ancient law which would strip her of her crown and her ascension. As is fitting for a dream state, Flash was unable to recognize the implausibility of this situation. However, Celestia was inexperienced with dream magic and unprepared for Flash’s strong reaction to her suggestion.
Given a terrible choice between letting Twilight be punished and confessing to a crime he didn’t commit, he did the dumb thing, for love. He went to his adopted father figure, Sanguine, to have his wings cut off as part of the punishment known as “Grounding” for traitorous pegasi. Then he was thrown in an oubliette, a prison with no way out. The door was welded shut, and he was left to rot.
While in the oubliette, he began to hallucinate, and to question whether his relationship had ever been real - whether he really was guilty of rape. Eventually, he began digging at the back wall with a piece of his bed frame, only to discover the previous inhabitant whose cell had been bricked over to create his own cell. It wasn’t until this moment that he truly began to believe in his own guilt, that he began hallucinating Twilight.
Two Twilights, actually. One acts as his accuser, the Twilight he hates when he believes he is innocent. The other is the Twilight he loves, when he believes himself to be guilty - this is the Twilight he abuses as his own self-imposed punishment within a punishment, leaving her teeth to pile up in his cell.
Then Celestia found him inside of his dream, after years of virtual imprisonment. She and Twilight had a fight while Luna unsuccessfully attempted some emergency therapy, though unaware of the actual situation. Flash’s friends tried to keep him company and help him figure things out, but he still believed himself to be daydreaming an escape from his prison. His wings itched where he still believed them to have been removed, and he kept chewing away at his wings, eventually pulling off most of the feathers and even some skin.
Meanwhile, Twilight was questioning her entire life. It seemed as if her mentor-goddess had never trusted her with anything - from Nightmare Moon to romance. Her temper tantrum was interrupted by Luna who actually took the time to get the whole story before doing something dumb.
While Celestia was recovering from her rescue of Flash, Twilight was sent on a mission to San Franciscolt to meet with a delegation of long, thin dragons from the far east, the Yang Dynasty which had been lost in isolation a thousand years ago. As she prepared for this mission, Flash got drunk and beat up one of his friends and two innocent mares after pulling his wings out of their sockets. While being treated for alcohol poisoning and still believing himself to be daydreaming, he escaped from the castle infirmary and found a waterfall pouring from the mountain to Equestria far below, where “Twilight” was flying and playing in the water, urging him to fly with her. He unwrapped his mostly featherless, bruised and bleeding wings, and jumped.
Twilight was already in San Franciscolt, meeting with the Yang delegation when Celestia showed up to take over. This only reinforced Twilight’s perception that Celestia did not trust her to do things on her own. The Equestrian guards placed Twilight in the throne and Celestia on the floor next to her - which, combined with Celestia’s gaffe with the status-indicating earrings, the Yang delegation took Twilight to be the ruling princess. Dream Pool, the youngest of the Yang delegation, spent as much time drawing sketches of Twilight as he did taking notes on the meeting. Twilight sabotaged Celestia’s negotiations by giving up all Equestria’s claims and declaring her trust in the Yang delegation - because she knew that trust was their most important societal value. After the summit, Dream Pool decided to stay in Equestria to become acquainted with pony society. As they boarded the train, Twilight snubbed Celestia by telling the conductor to leave before Celestia could join them on the train. As we left off, Dream Pool had just made a proposal to Twilight Sparkle.
So, that’s where we are now.
What will become of Flash? Did he die after jumping off a cliff, with no feathers on his wings? What was it that Dream Pool wanted to say to Twilight? What happened to Celestia, left in San Franciscolt without her chariot guards? Will we ever find out?
Tune in tomorrow for the exciting next chapter of the worst-rated story in my repertoire!
Yo, I've been waiting for this! My sister and I really enjoyed this story when it first came out, glad to see it's being continued.
Skirts has been a positive influence on you. I'll have to reread the last few chapters, because I don't remember those dragons at all.
Don't forget that he imagined that she was pregnant from someone else, which was conceived during their relationship. That in this scenario he not only took the fall for her, but took the fall for her after she cheated on him.
Dumb love thing indeed.
I'm so ready.
4528142 True! I should add that.
OMIGOSH YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
I'm sorry that this fic hasn't been as successful as it deserves to be. That doesn't make me love it any less, no matter how much it hurts. Thank you for bringing it back for us.
the only reason that it's your "worst-rated story" is because flash is in it
any story with flash in it gets that
4528542
Given that and the fact that Hap puts poor Flash through the wringer and beats the ever loving stuffing out of him, should this not be the highest rated?
4529143
not from what I have seen
people just see the character tag and dislike it based on that
Is the long night over? Is this story truly back? I am amazed and delighted as this is the oldest bookmark in my stories followed folder and possibly even the first story on this site that had me itching for updates.