"You have done much good for those around you, Flash Sentry," Princess Celestia said. She stood still in one place. Somehow, Flash half-expected her to be pacing as she spoke. Instead, she kept her hooves anchored in one place while her wings extended. Between the majesty of her mane and the glamour of her polished horseshoes, it looked as though the ruler of Equestria veritably lit up the room. Perhaps she didn't intend for it—or maybe she did—but Flash felt like he was looking into an interrogator's blinding lamp the entire time she spoke to him. "My beloved sister has filled me in quite a bit. Villagers, entrepeneurs, soldiers, diamond dogs, and stewards all alike have benefited from the actions you've committed while on this side of the mirror."
Flash took a shuddering breath. "Well, I do try."
"You did in fact achieve... and achieved much—I might add. And yet..." She broke her words of congratulations for a melancholic sigh. "...it helps nopony to be dishonest."
Flash swallowed. "It helped me stay unnoticed longer."
"But do we know that for a fact?"
He bit his tongue. Flash's heart shook. He felt like he had just talked back to the school principal. What was more—and he trembled for this—he felt that he might talk back to her again.
"Your vacation into Equestria—as it were—went swimmingly until the truth caught up to you." Celestia looked in the way of the lavender shadow in the corner that Flash still refused to look at. "Granted, it wasn't just your truth that needed to be reckoned with. So, please know that I am not trying to blame you for the unfortunate imprisonment you had to endure. But, rather, I am wishing to get to the crux of the issue."
Flash hung his head again. "And that is...?"
At last, she moved. "In your world, the responsibilities at hand are different than they are for the Flash Sentry who is native to this one." Heavy-yet-graceful hoves glided in his direction. Flash's insides shook with every step. "You have a family. You have a home. From what I understand, at your age and station, you even have a school and a schedule and a curfew that you are obligated to keep." She scuffled to a stop, looming over him. His eyes squinted from her radiance, and he wasn't even looking at her directly. "Am I wrong to assume that—by your culture—you are indeed bound by a code to honor these commitments?"
Flash squirmed like a child being scolded. He leaned to his left side. He leaned to his right. He finally blurted, "I guess."
Something burst out of Celestia's muzzle—a laugh. And it was surprisingly high-pitched. "So he is a teenager!"
"Indeed," Princess Luna's voice droned. "He is."
Flash clenched his teeth. "Sonuva—" he mouthed.
Celestia spoke firmly once more: "As you may well know, Flash Sentry, my former student—Sunset Shimmer—is in constant communication with Princess Twilight Sparkle. This is accomplished through the use of a magical journal that they both use to write to one another across the fabric of time and space that divides our worlds."
Flash Sentry found the strength to speak. "I think I have heard of this, your Majesty." He winced, then corrected himself: "Your Highness." He winced again, then corrected himself again: "Your... Princess H-Horseness..."
Celestia's voice was hardly amused. "Well, are you aware that—over the past three days—Sunset Shimmer has done nothing but write Princess Twilight franticaly—non ceasingly—page after page... paragraph after paragraph filled with desperate, pleading, tear-stained entries concerning your sudden disappearance and unknown whereabouts beyond the portal?"
Flash wasn't certain his heart could sink any lower. Nevertheless, it plunged, and he dropped his heavy eyelids for counterbalance. In the dark fabric of his mind, he looked back at every moment he had ever slouched down the hallways of Canterlot High... or sat alone in the cafeteria surrounded by no one. On those occasions and more, he'd catch worried looks and sympathetic expressions from seven figures out the corner of his eye, but he always blotted them out—blotted everything out—just for savoring the pitiable bliss of his gray-shaded solitude. Once upon a time, such sacrifice felt noble. But now—cowering under the solar glare of a far wiser soul than he had ever met before—it felt downright pathetic.
Everything was pathetic. He thought he left that behind. He only chose to pursue it all the harder.
"Your friends on the other side found your belongings... your articles of clothing left before the mirror," Princess Celestia explained. "Sunset Shimmer knew it could only mean one thing. In a scientific world mostly-deprived of magic, this left her with the burden of having to trace your movement. Sunset, you must understand, does not have the luxury of informing everyone on her side about Equestria or the nature of Equestria... despite the fact that—no doubt—she would greatly desire to. This remained true even when your parents began their own frantic search. Did it not occur to you that your very own family would be worried? Sunset Shimmer states that there is currently a so-called 'Missing Persons Search' involving the 'Local County Police' on your side of the portal as we speak. I do believe I have an inkling as to what such a thing involves, but no doubt you're more capable of understanding it in human terms."
Flash Sentry's eyes clenched harder. His teeth was gritting to the breaking point as his body shook.
"Flash Sentry... as Princess of the Sun, I am charged with the protection of all of my subjects. This includes pony and non-pony alike. Even if the Crystal Empire did not join the Equestrian Union, I would still feel obligated—by my innate respect of harmonic virtue—to do everything in my power to uphold the safety and security of those who dwell within this realm. With all of that under supreme consideration, I must tell you that—no—you are not a threat to my subjects. You were never a threat to my subjects. If nothing else, as corroborated by my sister and those who have associated with you over the past week, you have been a tried and true blessing to all those whose lives you have touched. It is not their livelihood that I am concerned with. Rather... it is yours."
Weakly—feebly—Flash Sentry finally looked up.
When he gazed up at Celestia's expression, it didn't burn him like he expected. Nevertheless, there was undeniable intensity flickering behind those compassionate eyes of hers as she spoke: "You have abandoned your obligations as a citizen and a student. You have vanished from the midst of your family. You have left behind a mother, a father, and a fellowship of terribly worried friends. Most of them don't know where you have gone. A good portion—as sad as it is to contemplate—may very likely think that you are dead." She took a calm breath. "This is the dishonesty that has troubled me. And—I would hope—it would worry you as well. While you have done much good for this world, I fear that you have only done worse for your own by disappearing. Now—I ask you, Flash Sentry—is it high time that you make amends? If not for your sake directly, then for Sunset's... for your friends'... for your family's?"
Flash sighed out the side of his muzzle. "I... I guess you're right, Princess—"
"Flash Sentry..."
Flash looked towards Princess Luna.
She was gazing back at him. Sharply. "I assure you... there will not be another time to be more direct than you have received right now."
Celestia's eyes darted between them. "Please, Flash, if there is something that weighs on your spirit, it would do us all well to share it."
The third figure in the distant edge of the throneroom shifted.
Flash noticed it—noticed the vulnerability. Perhaps—in some morbid way—that's what gave him the strength to stand up tall and speak firmly: "You say that those back home might think I'm dead...?"
Celestia gave a somber nod. "That is quite right. Even Sunset herself expressed great concern."
Flash seethed. "Princess Celestia... when I spent my days back where I come from..." His teeth gnashed. "I wished I was dead."
Neither Celestia or Luna said a word. They simply gazed upon him and listened.
So he continued, shivering. "Morning to sunset... surrounded by so many damned idiots... wading through filth and... and ugliness and... and... and apathy..." He shook his head, fighting the urge to hyperventilate. "I just couldn't even function... much less stay sane! And after so much in my life had gone to shit with so many people misunderstanding me and prejudging me and postjudging me and... and... and..." He winced, his eyes almost trailing towards the corner of the room. He brushed against the lavender shadow and shot back towards Celestia with a frown. "It was either this or a cyanide sandwich. I sw-swear..." That last exhalation was a shuddering one, as even he had to recover from the weight of those words being ripped off his tongue. "Je... Jesus Christ..." He stifled a whimper and ran a hoof through his mane. "One day or another... I... I just wouldn't take it anymore..."
Celestia's next breath had a motherly tone to it, and somehow Flash already knew where she was going. "You are at a delicate and tumultous point in your life, Flash Sentry. I can't imagine that things could be as horrible as—"
"With all d-due respect y-your Princess-ness..." Flash tried to sound tough, but he stuttered the sincerity outward like a gatling gun. "But you can't imagine anything... because you're never there. It's just not your world. Sunset Shimmer might understand... but that's different. But you?" He shook his head. "You couldn't understand. Just like I couldn't understand anything about this world. But then I explored it! I did something awesome for once in my life and I accomplished something." His lower lip quivered. "All I-I ever wanted was to be useful to someone. And now I am useful to someone... to somepony. A lot of them. Equestria..." He grimaced, but squeaked it out. "I make a difference here."
"You can make a difference back in your world."
"No." Flash shook his head. "Not the way it was going. Not the way... I-I allowed myself to rot in there."
"Flash, please, if you just consider—" Celestia began.
"Sister..."
Celestia looked at Luna.
Luna's gaze was intense but her voice was calm. "I have seen his mind. It is not all hyperbole."
Celestia sighed. "He has obligations there, Luna."
Luna nodded. "And your former student still has obligations here. But she has accomplished much on that side. Admirably so—has she not?"
Silence.
Flash continued staring at Celestia. He was shaking where he stood.
At long last, Celestia looked at Flash again. It took her a while, but when she spoke again, her voice sounded exactly the same. "You have a family in your world, Flash. Despite the circumstances that brought you to this point, do you not think that you would m—?"
"Will you force me to go back there?" Flash asked.
"My child, I am simply saying—"
"Will you force me to go back?" he asked, eyes sharp as knives.
Luna glanced between them.
Princess Celestia leaned back. She exhaled slowly, her eyes melancholic—but gentle all the same. After an interminable period of regal contemplation...
"No."