Loud hoofsteps clopped and echoed across the lengths of the crystalline banquet hall.
Lyra and Octavia looked up from the music sheet they were scribbling on. Vinyl Scratch lowered her headphones and craned her neck from behind a DJ Booth. Orchestra ponies, decorators, and caterers paused what they were doing.
A lone stallion moved awkwardly down the center of the hall, stuck between a gallop and a trot. Flash's features were pale, and there was noticeable sweat clinging to his wingfeathers.
The ponies exchanged curious glances.
Lyra was the first to stand up straight and call out to him: "Uhhh... Brad? Is everything alright?"
"H-Heyyyyyy!" Flash faced her in mid-step with a cheekish grin. "Miss Heartstrings as I live and breathe!" He chuckled... panted... and chuckled. "Movin' on up to a deluxe soundbooth in the sky, huh?!"
"Uhhhh... I guess—?"
"Cool! Very cool! Everything's so... coolio." Flash gulped, not breaking his stride as he shuffled past the orchestra stand. "Keep working on those covers I taught you! Although... you might wanna skip 'When the Body Speaks'. Wrong sort of crowd."
"But..." Octavia squinted at the music sheets. "...you gave us no such song..."
Flash trotted backwards, pointing. "Remind me to teach you Depeche Mode someday!" He bumped into a table, knocking silverware and brass platters to the ground with a loud crash. "Wuh-oh! Wish I had a million dollars! Hot dog!!!" And he ducked swiftly into an adjoining corridor, causing pony heads to turn.
Vinyl trotted across the stage until she stood with Lyra and Octavia. Together, the three mares shared worried looks.
In the meantime...
...Flash huffed and puffed his way down the narrow hallways, squeezing past waiters and waitresses carrying full platters atop their fuzzy pony heads. At long last, he entered the noisy, steamy confines of the royal kitchen. Pots were boiling. Kettles were whistling. Dishes were frothing with sudsy water.
Limping at this point, Flash carried his numb self past a table full of half-treated desserts. Bon Bon looked over from where she was adding creamy dollops to a sheet full of cookies.
"Hey! Brad!" She grinned ecstatically. "I'm so glad to see you!" She gestured at her hoofwork. "Come! I want you to have the honors of being my first taste tester!"
"Tester...?" Flash wheezed, trotting into a corner. At long last, he had nowhere left to go, and so he shifted left and right like a caged possum. "I hardly even know her! Heeeheeeheeehee!"
Bon Bon blinked. "...Uhhh..."
"You know what tastes g-good?" Flash gulped dryling, his eyes tracing every panel and vent in the kitchen's ceiling. "Dole Whip floats. The kind they serve at Disney World. I mean... sure they're overpriced and they play torture games with your sinuses for an hour afterwards... but it could be worse! You could be living in Somalia! Or in space—courtesy of Russia! Wow... so many unsung Cosmonauts. And yet the entire world is fluffing America for making it to the moon first...!"
Bon Bon's muzzle scrunched. She looked across the kitchen.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake stood beside a towering dessert tray, and they too were gawking at Flash. It was Carrot Cake who took the first bold steps towards the teenager. "Uhm... Brad?" He smiled nervously. "Are you doing alright, son?"
"Goldeneye... on the N64. Ever played that game?" Flash flashed a maniacal smile as he gestured with his hooves. "Once you get past the frickin' weird Dadaist controller—it's pretty fun. Although it's not dated well. There's this legendary island—you see—in the Dam Level, across a lake. But you can never just get to it. For years and years, people on the Internet speculated what might be there... until... until..." He panted and paced, panted and paced. "...some bored kid with an emulator no-clipped to the place and found..." He scuffled to a stop, struggling to catch his breath. "Nothing. Absolutely... nothing..." The edge of his muzzle curled as he stared miles through the tile floor. "Heh... heheheheh..." He looked up at the ponies again with a tussled mane. "Sometimes the hype is far better than the prestige."
Carrot Cake merely blinked. Cup Cake shuffled up as a few other ponies looked on in confusion. "Brad... dearie..." She cocked her head to the side. "...did something awful happen?"
"Y'know... people say nice things..." Flash gulped, struggling to catch his breath. "They preach platitudes left and right... all across Twitter... the bulletin boards outside of homeroom... super inspiring quotes and Hindu proverbs and cat poster sermons and... a-and I just can't shake the feeling that—no matter how wonderful technology gets or how magical friendship is or how many Marvel movies they make or how many Israelis and Palestinians end up shaking hands... the world... my world... is still a reality where... wh-where Robin Williams killed himself." Exhaling, he finally... finally sat down. Collapsing on a stool in the corner, facing the steam and eyes and glare of the kitchen lights. Flash looked up with hollow eyes, shivering slightly. "Some things you just can't friggin' outrun... especially yourself." He gulped. He shook. He said, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Cup Cake murmured. "Sorry for what, dear?"
"I'm sorry that..." Flash's teeth grit. "...I couldn't make myself a better person before I came h-here." His ears drooped. "And now I've dumped it all on you." He gulped... shaking his head. "It's not right."
"Brad..." Bon Bon shuffled closer, her face awash with concern. "You've done so much good for us and for the Crystal Empire—"
"It's Flash," he said. A dull tone. "Flash Sentry." He breathed. "And the only good here is you." His eyes swam, wandered. "All of you. It's why I came. I know it now." He choked on the next few words, but finally spat it out: "And I'm g-going to m-miss it."
Bon Bon mouthed those last few words in confusion.
A noise echoed from behind. The ponies in the kitchen pivoted about, hearing the sound of heavily marching hooves and rattling armor.
"Thank you for the banana bread," Flash said.
Half the ponies glanced back at him.
"Even if I didn't eat it right away." Flash managed a smile. "It started all of this... the good parts at least." He then trembled as the first flicker of metal entered the kitchen.