Chapter 2, Nice and Civil
Flash was awoken from his slumber by the rays of sunlight that was now covering his face. He sleepily walked over to his closet, he stumbled on a pile of clothes that had gathered slowly on his floor. He once again made his way to the closet and pulled out an outfit that looked suspiciously identical to the ones that he’d stumbled upon, he dressed himself and stared at the morning light.
He made his way downstairs, once he was on the ground floor he reached for his shoes and slid them onto his feet. Although he didn’t have to, as his parents and little sister Fluoresce weren’t as the house, he still crept around the house. Flash headed for the door, he got hold of his bag and guitar case before opening the exit and taking a step out.
Canterlot High wasn’t that far to walk from his house, it was only a few streets away therefore Flash was there quite soon with a couple minutes to spare before Timber’s bus would stop around the corner. Flash went straight to the steps and stood there patiently while he waited for Timber to show up and return the money that Flash had loaned him the day before. It was weird to Flash as he’d never met someone so eager to return something to him so soon, he couldn’t complain though because at least he would have a little while to complete his school work before school started.
Timber arrived shortly, he walked towards Flash. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Flash replied.
“It’s a really nice morning isn’t it?” Timber asked.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Flash stared at the glowing sun that shined brightly.
“I was wondering, what are you going to do after this?” Timber asked.
“Well I was going to finish my homework,” Flash glanced at the school. “Why?”
“I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the Sweet Shoppe and get some shakes. But homework is much more important.” Timber responded.
“Well it’s not due until next week, I guess I could try to do it later.” Flash said, smiling.
“Great” Timber smiled back, he looked at Flash’s guitar case and bag, he pointed at them. “What are you going to do with those?”
“I’ll go and drop them off at the music room.” Flash answered.
Flash walked inside the school, leaving Timber waiting outside. Timber breathed in the air, noticing how different it was from the air of the forests and the camp. After a few minutes of being alone, Flash reappeared with no possessions, they then began walking, side by side along the path towards the Sweet Shoppe in silence.
They were halfway there when Timber accidentally walked into a lamp post due to him being distracted by a bird. Flash wanted to laugh at Timber because he’d just done something that was hilarious, however he didn’t laugh due to him knowing it wasn’t nice. Timber felt utterly embarrassed and clumsy, he was actually expecting to be laughed at due to his stupidity but the people who saw, just continued as if nothing had happened.
“Are you ok?” Flash asked.
“Yeah, my forehead hurts a little though.” Timber rubbed gently against his forehead.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Flash assured.
Timber nodded in agreement, the two once again walked side by side down the path, silently. After a few more minutes of silence they eventually arrived at the Sweet Shoppe, they ordered before sitting down at a booth by the window. The shop was full of other students of Canterlot High as it was one of the regular hangouts in town that people went to, to meet up with their friends and chill.
“So, how was your date with Twilight yesterday?” Flash asked, awkwardly.
“To be honest, it wasn’t the best date I’ve ever been on, it was pretty boring.” Timber sighed, he looked at Flash.
“I’m sorry.” Flash said.
“It’s fine, there’ll be other dates that will be better.” Timber smiled, showing his pearly white teeth.
“Yeah.”
“So, have you been playing the guitar long?”
”Yeah I’ve played for a few years. Do you play any instruments?”
“Not really, music isn’t my thing.”
The two smiled, Mrs Cake who ran the Sweet Shoppe brought over their drinks, then returned to her counter. The two guys drank a part of their drink a focused on their surroundings for a few minutes. Flash looked at Timber as he was curious, he wasn’t sure what if they were now friends or if they were just people who were hanging out together as a one-off.
“So, are you and Sunset now an item?” Timber asked.
“Gods no, we are only friends.” Flash laughed in amusement.
“Sorry I shouldn’t have assumed you were.” Timber replied.
“No it’s fine.” Flash responded.
“So what are you doing at school right now?” Timber continued to drink his beverage.
Flash began talking about school and what he was doing in his classes, most of this intrigued Timber as he didn’t know what they taught at Canterlot High. The two talked for twenty minutes straight about different subjects, he laughed when Flash brought up funny things about his teachers. The two were talking well, then everything once again grew awkward when a new topic was raised by Flash.
“So how’s your sister?” He’d asked.
“W-well she’s definitely recovering, she’s a bit scarred though.” Timber examined the room once more.
“That’s good. I’m sorry about what happened it must’ve been hard for you too.” Flash said, sympathetically.
“It’s okay, seeing your sister like that though. It scared me.” Timber looked down at the table.
“Yeah, I understand, and if you ever want to talk about it you can always talk to me.” Flash offered.
“Thanks Flash, that’s so kind.” Timber smiled.
The two drank their drinks which they weirdly finished at the same time, however before they could resume their conversation, they were interrupted by Twilight and Applejack. The two girls had arrived moments before as they’d walked together to school that morning and they were quite shocked to see Flash and Timber being so civil. The guys moved over making space for the two girls to sit down at the booth.
“It’s such a surprise to see you here Timber. I had calculated that we’d see each other in a week or so, after our date yesterday.” Twilight sat quite close to Timber.
“I was returning some money that Flash had lent me for the bus yesterday.” Timber replied.
“Well it’s good to see you both.” Twilight said.
“Twilight and ah were just passin’ by and we saw you through the glass window,” Applejack pointed at the window. “We had to say hello to yah.”
“Do you want anything, Twilight?” Timber asked.
“No thanks, I was just given one of Grannie Smith’s most nutritious smoothies to try, it was quite filling!” Twilight glanced at her stomach.
As the others talked, Flash sat hunched in the corner, not knowing what to say, he was now feeling slightly nervous around Twilight because of his feelings. He sat there, then remembered that Sunset had said that he’d need to get rid of his old feelings for Twilight and that’s what he’d decided to do. He sat up and tried his best to push his feelings aside, not wanting to be bothered by them anymore.
“So are you going to that pop-up market on Sunday, Applejack?” Flash asked, trying to start up a conversation.
“Of course ah am, it’s very important our apples sell.” Applejack replied.
“I’m sure you’ll get a lot of business.” Timber said.
“Ah hope so!” Applejack smiled happily.
“Uh-oh, we have to leave, we promised Rainbow Dash we’d listen to her new guitar solo. She’ll be really mad if we miss it.” Twilight said, standing up.
“Bah, I guess.” Applejack replied.
The girls waved and made their way out of the shop, leaving Flash and Timber once again alone. They stared down at their empty glasses before looking around and saw other students getting up and going. It wasn’t soon before the shop was almost empty with only Flash, Timber, Mrs Cake and a few other people around.
“I’m guessing school starts soon.” Timber said.
“In around half an hour, people like to get there early.” Flash gazed at the almost empty room.
“Do you want to get going?” Timber asked.
“Yeah, I’ll walk you back to the bus stop and then head to school.” Flash said.
The two guys stood up, they thanked Mrs Cake before exiting the Sweet Shoppe and heading back onto the street. While Timber tied his shoelaces, Flash leaned against a nearby lamppost for a second, however he felt his jacket getting hotter, he moved away from it. After the short break they continued down the street and they had temporarily resumed the topic of school.
After a few minutes of talking about stuff they eventually stopped at the bus stop, ready to say their goodbyes. They both couldn’t deny that this morning had been sort of fun and although they had been interrupted for a short while, they did have a great time. Now Flash was certain that they were friends and that Timber would be a great friend to have, however he did want confirmation.
“Thanks for the shake.” Flash said.
“No problem, I was actually wondering if you wanted to come to Camp Everfree this weekend, I’ve planned to go on a hike and I could use some company.” Timber checked to see if his bus was coming.
“Yeah sure, the exercise would do me good.” Flash replied. “I was wondering, are we friends now?”
“I guess so, unless you don’t want to be my friend.” Timber responded.
“Well I guess we’re officially friends then. Message me the details of next weekend later!” Flash saw that the bus was coming.
“Yeah, I will do!” Timber said, smiling.
Flash watched Timber board the bus, it then drove away from the stop. Flash made his way to school, however he was met by Sunset at the statue, who had been waiting for his arrival. She waved and motioned for Flash to come over, which he did wondering why Sunset was so eager to see him this morning.
“I’m surprised!” She said.
“At what?” Flash was confused.
“Well apparently, you and Timber Spruce were at the diner, being nice and civil to each other.” Sunset answered.
“Oh yeah, me and Timber are now friends. I’ve decided that I want to let go of my feelings of Twilight” Flash replied.
“Well that’s a wise decision” Sunset smiled at Flash. “Now let’s go do work.”
Although Flash wished that he didn’t have to work, he didn’t really mind today as he was looking forward to leaving his feelings for Twilight go, he was intrigued on how his newfound friendship would turn out. He followed Sunset inside of the school, now eager to see what the future would hold for him.