Twilight's sleep was broken as the sun touched her face. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking as she adapted to the light. This didn't last long when she noticed that she was now alone.
"Flash?" she asked, her eyes darting around, trying to find the colt.
Suddenly, with a whoosh through the air, the orange colt appeared. Twilight's saddlebag sat snugly on his back. "Morning." he said with a cheeky grin. "I've got breakfast." he said as he took the bag off, he then pulled out two large steaming rolls. As he passed one to her, the smell grabbed her nose, almost hypnotising her as she licked her lips. His smile grew as he said, "Fresh from the oven."
"Where did you get these?" Twilight asked as her mouth continued to water.
"The baker was feeling particularly generous today." he said as he looked at the bread with pure hunger. Twilight on the other hoof, was giving a look of disbelief. He noticed this and let out a sigh. "Fine. I nabbed them when he wasn't looking."
Twilight put the loaf down while speaking up, "We can't eat these." she said, causing Flash to freeze with his loaf half way into his mouth.
"Why not?"
"Because it's not ours." she replied with a angry expression, causing Flash to slightly flinch. "You have to take it back."
"Do you know how hard it was to get this bread?!" Flash barked, angry at the notion of losing food.
"It's still wrong." Twilight told him as she got up and gave him the loaf. She glared at him as she continued, "Give this bread back to the baker and say you're sorry."
"And why would I do that?" Flash asked sarcastically. “I'll starve if I do.”
"Because if you don't give it back," Twilight said with a smirk, "I won't ask my parents to invite you to dinner."
This got Flash's attention, "Dinner? Seriously?!"
"Yup. Consider it a thank you for helping me yesterday." Twilight said with a cheeky grin.
Flash smiled at this. "I helped you because we're friends." he then blushed and looked away, "We are friends, right?"
Twilight shared his blush. She never really had any friends before. She had acquaintances like Moon Dancer and her other school mates, but not a real friend. "I'd like that." she replied as she presented her hoof, "And as my friend, I'm inviting you to my house."
"Sweet." Flash said, his eyes beaming from the idea. He quickly shook her hoof in response.
"But first," Twilight then took her hoof as she pointed at the bread he was carrying. Realising what she meant, he let out a large sigh.
"Fine. I'll take it back..." Flash groaned as he put the bread back into the saddlebag. Soon, the duo were flying down from the treehouse as Flash slowly descended with Twilight in tow. They then stared their trek out of the park, ready to get to the bakery when suddenly...
"TWILIGHT!" yelled a voice. They both turned around and saw the scream's owner. It was Twilight's brother Shining Armor who was quickly running up to them. "Where have you been?! Do you know how long you've been gone?!"
"Sorry BBBFF." she replied with a frown as he embraced her. "I got caught up in the storm last night and...I'm sorry."
Shinning sighed and nuzzled her, "I told you to head straight home yesterday because of the storm."
"Twilight!" the trio turned around again, only to see the rest of her family arriving along with Cadance.
Twilight let out a gasp as another pony also approached them."Princess Celestia?!”
Flash on the other hoof could only sit there in shock as the large white Alicorn ran up to Twilight and began to hug her. His mind raced as he realised the filly knew real royalty. That is, till he felt a slight tingle all over his body.
Meanwhile, Celestia continued her embrace, "Twilight my dear student." the princess said as she tightened the hug. "I am glad to see you are safe."
"Are you okay?! We were so worried about you!" Twilight's mother exclaimed, as she wiped away her tears. "When you didn't come home and the storm started...we thought something must have happened!"
"We contacted the Princess but, when she said you had left...well, we feared something bad must have happened." Night Light continued as he patted his daughter on the head. “Don't scare us like that!"
“Sorry daddy.”
“It's fine. But why were you gone all night?”
"I think I know why." Shinning Armor growled as his magic lifted up a certain orange colt.
"Hey! Lemme go!" Flash said, his arms flailing around as he tried to escape Shining's magic.
"You're that colt Donut Joe was chasing last week." Shining said while giving him the evil eyes, "The thief."
"Let him go." Twilight said sternly, causing Shining to cock his eyebrow surprise. "He hasn't done anything wrong. He helped me last night."
"Help you with what?" her father asked as he walked in front of his daughter. “Is this about why you didn't come home last night?”
“Yes.” Twilight said with as sigh as an explanation soon followed. Twilight told them all about the bullies from yesterday. About how Flash had saved her before the storm came, causing the duo to stay in the tree house for the night. As the story ended, the adults all looked at each other in surprise.
Celestia turned to Shining Armor with a calm smile, "I think you should let him go now dear."
Shining Armor turned to Flash with a less sceptical expression than before. Flash on the other hoof had his front legs crossed and was frowning at him. Shining gave a sheepish smile as he gently let the colt go. As Flash landed, he turned to Celestia and bowed, "Thank you, your majesty."
"It is okay my little pony" Celestia told him with a kind smile, "I should be thanking you for helping my student."
Flash could only blush and look away from the compliment.
Celestia then noticed his cutie mark and smiled, "It seems protecting other ponies is easy for you, especially with that kind of cutie mark." Flash wondered what she meant. Seeing his confused expression, she started to explain, "Shield based cutie marks usually signify a talent in protecting others."
"Protect?" he repeated, pointing to himself, "me?"
"Indeed." Celestia nodded, "Many young ponies with marks like that usually end up joining the military. Though you are a bit young right now...”
"But I don't even know how I got this thing." he said as he pointed to his flank, "One minute it's not there and the next moment, it is. It just showed up one day."
"You must have done something special if you have that kind of mark at your age." Cadance said with a smile, "Your parents might know."
As Flash flinched from Cadance's comment, Twilight spoke up in his defence. "Cadance" Twilight said as she gave a slight frown. "Flash doesn't know his parents.”
"Oh." Cadance said as she backpedalled for a second. "I'm sorry, then your guardian or whom ever you live with."
Flash irked as those words entered his ears. Before he say something, Twilight nudged him. Realising what she meant, he let out a sigh. He knew what he was going to have to confess. His voice lowered as he whispered his confession first. Unfortunately, the whisper was no where near enough.
"Pardon? Could you say that again?" Night Light asked as he bent down.
Flash mumbled it again as Twilight put her hoof on his shoulder. It was a little louder, but still to quiet for the other ponies ears. After a few attempts, his voice finally peaked.
"I DON'T LIVE WITH ANYPONY!" Flash let out, causing all of them to cover their ears.
"Wait...are you implying..." Shining Armor said after the ringing had subsided, "You live on your own?" Flash just nodded with a glare, “At your age?”
"You don't have a family?" Cadance gasped, “None at all?”
"Not that I remember." Flash said as he shook his head.
"Oh you poor thing." Velvet replied as she went up and hugged the colt.
"That's why he stole the food." Twilight explained, causing Shining to give her a slight glare.
"It's still wrong to steal Twily."
"Ponies do many wrong things when they're desperate." Celestia said as she walked up to Flash, "Young ponies especially tend to do the most rash actions."
Flash tried to stay quiet, hoping to slip away when given an opportunity. After Velvet ended her hug, he tried to slowly scoot away. However, Twilight kept right by him, making it even harder to sneak away as the adults began to talk among themselves. Seeing no easy way out of this, he spoke up.
"Can I go now?"
The adults all turned back to him, their faces filled with confusion.
"Go?" Velvet asked, "Go where?"
"I don't know." Flash shrugged "I usually just go wherever and figure out the rest later."
Celestia shook her head as she walked back up to the colt, "You can't be serious my little pony. I can't leave somepony so young out on the streets. Please allow me to find you somepony to look after you."
"But I can look after myself. I've done it for years, I'll be fine." Flash barked back. He knew he could do it, he had done it for years.
"Stealing to live isn't a life, little one." Celestia argued as she bent down to his level, "I promise I'll find you a good home."
Flash said nothing at this. All his mind would tell him is that she was wrong. Nopony would want a street urchin like him. Twilight blinked at the sight, noticing the look on his face. She knew instantly that he was scared. Remembering the promise she made, she turned to her parents,
"Mommy? Daddy?" she asked "Can't he stay with us?"
The two adults went wide eyed at her request. The thought of letting a child they barely knew into their home was concerning. But he had helped their daughter. They both gave each other a glance, not sure how to respond. They looked back at Twilight only to see a pair of puppy dog eyes. They were already beaten before they even tried. The two nodded at each other before turning to the Alicorn.
"Princess, would it be okay if he stays with us for a little bit?" Night said, causing Flash to look up in surprise.
"Are you sure?" Celestia asked as she looked at the parents. "Looking after a young pegasus colt is something you have not done before.” Her statement was true, they were a family of unicorns after all.
"That's okay." Velvet replied with a bright smile. "We'll figure it out. Besides, I bet he'll be easier than when we had to raise Shining."
“Hey!” Shining barked, blushing at the statement before Cadance hugged him.
Night Light walked over to the young pegasus and bent down to his eye level, "What do you say Flash? Would you like to stay with us until we can figure something out for you?"
Flash wanted to say yes, but stopped himself when turned to Shining Armor. He could tell he didn't exactly approve. Flash wanted to stay with them but he knew he would feel like an intruder.
Shining Armor looked at his hooves as everyone else turned to him, glaring. They knew that Shining could scare the poor colt away if he wanted too. Cadance thankfully, was there to keep him in his place. She nudged the stallion, causing him to step up to Flash with reluctance in his face.
"You're not gonna cause any more trouble, right?" he asked despite feeling several icy cold glares from the others. Getting a head shake meaning no, "And you promise to not steal anymore, okay?" Flash quickly nodded. A sigh came out of Shining's mouth as he finally stopped. "Then, I guess I should say...welcome to the family, Flash."
Flash finally smiled as he ran up to them and embraced his new family. The two Alicorns watched the scene and smiled to each other. They knew this sight only meant one thing: Everything would turn out just fine.