Flash: Rebirth

by FlutterTank

Fluttershy

Flash woke up the next morning feeling more relaxed than he could ever remember. The sun cascaded through the window above his, shining on him and bathing his face in soothing warmth. The room about him was pale and white, giving it a feel of purity and freshness. The brilliance of the sunlight against the clean, cloud walls made Flash's eyes sore, but he quickly adapted. He headed out of the doorway that marked the entrance to his bedroom. He proceeded down the hallway, checking every room for signs of a shower.

When he found his bathroom, he turned the shower on and stepped in once the water got up to the proper temperature. The war water washed away the grit and grime from the past couple days and left Flash's coat and mane feeling lustrous and refreshed. It also gave Flash time to think. His thoughts wandered to the events of the previous night, especially the kiss he had shared with Fluttershy. He suddenly remembered that they were spending the day together and his spirits lifted just thinking of it. Brimming with excitement at the prospect of time with her, he quickly scrubbed his coat down with his cumulus brush and brushed his hair back from its matted, exhausted appearance to Flash's signature, spiky flow.

He flew out of his house and air-dried himself on his way down to Ponyville. When he touched down, he started his trot over to Fluttershy's cottage. As he approached her house, he began to hear, fading in from the bright, glimmering glen up ahead, the same lovely singing he had heard yesterday. She was singing a very familiar tune, one that almost everypony heard as a foal.

As Fluttershy began to start the final verse, Flash jumped in and harmonized with her, the same way he always did with his mother before she passed.

.

The fair pegasus, not realizing Flash had come in until the very end, spun around on the spot, quickly coming to look straight at Flash.

"Oh, you came," she said, sounding delighted in her own, reserved way.

"Why would I miss an opportunity to spend a day with the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria?" Flash was much more comfortable around Fluttershy now that they had both revealed their affection for the other. However, as Flash had expected, his romantic flattery extracted one of the brightest hues of red from Fluttershy's cheeks. Not knowing how to respond, Fluttershy remained speechless and blushing for several seconds until Flash continued. "So what do we have to do today?" he asked.

Fluttershy took the cue and began to list the day's remaining chores. Flash heard bits and pieces of the tasks; clean out the animals' burrows, refill the bird feeders, and prune the shrubs were just a few of the many jobs that had to be completed by sundown. Flash though, became entranced by the pegasus's lovely blue-green eyes. He knew he'd figure out what he had to do eventually, so why not enjoy himself while she explained. When she finished, she said they would start with the least pleasant of tasks, which meant cleaning the chicken coop.

After that disgusting endeavor, the two ponies proceeded to pick whatever vegetable and herbs that had sprung up in Fluttershy's garden. Things were getting awkward, now. Neither of the two talked while they worked and Flash's glances behind him to get a peek of her resulted in their eyes meeting and darting quickly away.

Why are we acting like this? he thought. Did we not just kiss last night? He had to start a conversation somehow, but he was terrible at that. He could have a perfectly interesting conversation with anypony, provided they gave him something to go off of. He just didn't have the ability to start one up. Thankfully, Fluttershy broke the ice.

"Pinkie Pie said you told her," she began, "but I never heard how you got your cutie mark."

"Oh, that's a story right there," Flash replied, chuckling to himself to hide the pain that remembering brought. "Let's see, where should I start?"

Flash was a little colt. His mane was short and spiky and his wings, though powerful, were very small. He was smaller than most of the colts in his class, but he, without any friends to play with, had tie to train and fly rigorously. He was fast and he was agile and he was by far the best flier in his class.

One day, after school, Flash was on his way back to his apartment on Clydesdale Avenue. He made a cut-through in an alley behind O'Mare's Tavern, when he found himself face to face with his Uncle Mario, who was pinning a bloodied stallion against the brick wall of the tavern, threatening and cursing at him. When his uncles glanced over, he brightened up and asked the young Flash if he would help him out.

"Uncle Mario, why are you doing that?" he asked, rather frightened.

"This guy, little Flashy, is what our family calls a rat. He called me a bad pony and disrespected me and the entire family. Now we can't have that can we? So your Uncle Mario here has to teach him not to do that no mores." Mario had some glimmer in his eyes. He looked wild and bloodthirsty, and his heavy Italian accent sounded sinister and deadly. He went on, "Now Flashy, could you grab me that baseball bat so I can properly teach this guy a lesson? It would make your father very proud of you."

Flash perked up a bit. He'd do anything to make his father proud of him. He grabbed the aluminum bat in his teeth by the rubber grip on the end. On the fat end of the bat, Flash notice dried clumps of what looked like bloody fur. He suddenly became fully aware of the situation. When he looked over at the other pony, pinned against the wall, he noticed tears running down his blood-soaked coat. Flash saw his wallet lying on the ground and caught a glimpse of a photo inside. He saw a happy looking family in the picture. It was the bleeding pony's family, of course. He was in the picture, along with his wife and two children, both young fillies.

Flash suddenly felt terrible grief for this pony. He looked so innocent and hurt while Uncle Mario was brutal and mad. Flash couldn't bear to contribute to such a terrible act, so he did what he knew was the right thing. He clamped down on the bat and swung it as hard as he could at Uncle Mario's head. The impact created a harsh thud and a loud crack. Uncle Mario slumped to the ground, unconscious and bleeding from his nose. The other pony collapsed to the ground, shakily trying to stand up. Flash helped him up, letting the injured pony to lean on him for balance.

"Thank you so much, kid," he said to Flash, his breathing raspy and quick.

"It's no problem at all, sir. I was just doing the right thing."

"You're a good kid. No matter what anypony ever tells you, you are a good kid." The sincerity in his eyes made Flash feel warm inside and a sense of dignity and pride spread through his body.

When Flash dropped the pony off at the West Fillydelphia Hospital, he noticed in one of the mirrors that something was different about his reflection. It was his cutie mark. The brand new, vibrant, yellow lightning bolt struck across his flank, forever sealing his identity. He knew it was there for more than his impressive flight skills. It was there because of his ability to stand out above others, striking out against those who did wrong. His sense of justice and courage, and his quickness to action had made this mark appear on his flank, and Flash was proud he could be known for these traits.

Even though his story was over, Flash's thoughts continued, silently, through his history. His father, never angry with his son, had his Uncle Mario killed for showing Flash such a brutal side of the family business before his time had come. Then, no more than a year later, Flash found himself in the midst of a mob. It had been there all along, but he had been too innocent and naïve to see it. Robberies and hits became common practice, and Flash couldn't bare to look most of his family members in the eyes anymore, not after seeing the things they'd done. Then, one day, when his time had arrived, his father gave him his first assignment as part of his mob initiation. His task was to kill a struggling stallion with a family to feed who had been late on his payments to Cousin Moe, the family loan shark. Flash flat-out refused to his father.

Not a pony spoke when they heard what Flash had just said. By refusing the assignment, he had dishonored his family and insulted his father. Flash's father disowned his only son that day, and Flash found himself weaving and diving his way out of the streets and into the skies, avoiding the attacks of his many relatives. He fled the city and his family forever. His life would never be the same after that day, and that was only two days ago.

"Flash, what's wrong? Are you okay? Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy was worried sick, yelling at Flash, trying to grab his attention. But he was despondent, balled up on the ground. His body racked with sobs as he dry-heaved on the fresh mulch of Fluttershy's garden. She didn't know what to do. He had been telling his story, but when he finished, he just stared off into space. She tried to get him to snap out of his trance, but he suddenly broke down and began crying.

He certainly wasn't getting any better, either; his crying had gotten louder and the expression on his face was one of complete terror. So, she did the only sensible thing that could grab his attention. She kissed him.

It was a long, passionate kiss. It stopped Flash's crying quickly. He let her in and the two embraced, their bodies and souls intertwining in pure love and emotion. Fluttershy was the one crying now; silent tears of joy fell down her face onto the petals of the tulips in her garden as her lips danced with Flash's. After years of hope and searching, she had finally found the stallion of her dreams: The confident one who was also sensitive and knew just the way into her heart.

Meanwhile, up in the clouds, a dark, twisted figure, aged and decrepit, glared at the two lovers below. He was hardly recognizable as the pegasus he was. His abysmally black hide was mangled with scars and missing bits of flesh. His wings, through works of black magic, were like those of a bat. Leathery and black and shredded in several places, his ragged wings were unsightly but powerful. The pony's back was twisted and hunched, while his face was completely covered in hideous, liquid-like scar tissue, caused by a terrible, explosive fire. His only eye bulged from its socket, as if it would pop out of his head. Seemingly talking to nopony, the ugly creature said, "Boss, I found him."

In his ear, through a unicorn-created audial link, a dark, deep voice spoke. "Excellent work, Grendel," it said. "What's my little stallion up to?"

"He's pretty busy, boss," the dark figure said with a snicker. "Got himself a little kissy session with quite the pretty filly."

"Is that so? What a charmer, that boy. He's just like his father. I'm gonna send Vinnie over to meet you. Why don't you bring me his date? She would be of great value to us. Bring her back to me, alive."

To Be Continued in

Volume 2 of the Flash series:

A Past that Haunts

Author's Note: I'm very glad to have finally finished my first fanfic. I want to thank all of my viewers for reading, especially those who leave reviews, whether critical or supportive, as both help me a lot. I encourage you to leave reviews on what you think of the story and some improvements I should make in the next. The next installment, I expect, will be out before or shortly after Christmas and will have PLENTY more action than this one.