Descending the crystalline stairs of the castle basement, Flash Sentry spotted the portal immediately. In the manalight of the rectangular room—with his equine senses fully balanced—he could make it out in far greater detail than he ever bothered to before. The glossy blue ellipse was framed by a mess of rocket punk bric-a-brac that looked straight out of a Bethesda game, complete with sparkling tesla coils and whirring gyros. It resembled a steampunk torture device more than a gateway to another world.
Strangely fitting.
He shuffled to a slow trot once he reached the basement floor. The cold reality of the moment came to him, brushing like bone against his neckhairs. He came to a stop—if only to wait until the clopping hooves of those escorting him came to a stop. Once they did, he slowly turned around, gracing Starlight and the Princess first of all.
"Okay... I just gotta ask." Flash put on the last coy smirk he could afford that day. "Why do you girls keep this thing in the basement like some deathly dungeon summoning stone?"
It was Starlight who quipped back: "Would you keep your interdimensional monkey-world gateway beside the living room tea set?"
Flash nodded hard. "Very well put."
Twilight Sparkle was strangely quiet, so Starlight continued: "I guess this is where we say good bye, Flash... which is kind of awkward because we didn't get much of a chance to say 'hello.'"
He shook his head. "Nah..." His ears relaxed. "You gave me a really nice greeting, all things considered."
"You mean when I coldly escorted you out of the castle because I thought you were a squatter?" Starlight droned.
"Because you didn't kick my ass ten ways from Sunday." Flash stepped forward, eyebrow arched. "All things consideered, you were pretty gracious to this 'intruder.'"
She shrugged with a soft smile. "I've been to your world once before."
"And?"
"... ... ...you're not as dangerous as you think," Starlight said in a noticeably serious tone. Her ears folded slightly. "Nor are you the only one in this universe who wrestles with guilt."
"Or surpasses it."
"... ... ..." Her tail flicked as she managed a slight smile. "Heh. Yeah."
Flash reached forward...
...and Starlight bumped his hoof.
A warm breath, and Flash turned towards Twilight Sparkle. "Wanna roll in the hay?"
Twilight's eyes nearly popped. "Buhhhhhhhh."
Flash shrugged. "Eh. It was worth a shot." He trotted past her and approached Derpy. "Oh my god! A talking squirrel!"
Derpy giggled, full of life. Her cheeks flushed while her tail flicked. "You're always so silly..."
"Can't help it," Flash said in a low tone. "It's a silly world."
"Well, it's always been a nice world to me... every way I look at it. And I am looking at it more ways tha one... all the time." Derpy cleared her throat, her eyes rotating to focus on him. "Then you came along... and things got just a little bit nicer."
"I learned from the best," Flash said. "Nice job with the decorating back in the Empire."
"Heehee! I couldn't have done it without you, Mister."
"And the muffins...!" Flash's teeth showed beneath a genuine smile. "You really won over the Hawkeye Pack with those baked goods. At this rate, Prince Blueblood's gonna knight you!"
"Wooo!" Derpy pumped a hoof. "I always wanted to be a chess piece!"
Flash chuckled. He shook his head, gazing at the crystalline floor.
Derpy stared at him curiously.
He looked up, his ears drooped yet again. "...I wish I had gotten to talk to you sooner, Miss Hooves."
Her muzzle scrunched slightly. "You meannnnn... me? Or the other me?"
"Either or."
She shrugged. "I'm terribly clumsy. You can't be blamed for passing me by."
"You're so much more than that," Flash said. "What you call 'clumsiness,' I call an art of joy." He smiled tenderly. "You helped me find the sky, Miss Hooves."
"Awwwwww shucks..." She waved a hoof. "I just had to point you up. That's the one direction I'm good at."
He nodded. "'Limitless' is a smexy word, isn't it?"
She nodded back. "I hope you find the sky on the other side, Flash Sentry."
He dwelled her last words. "Thanks to you, I can." He clenched his jaw. He tensed his muscles. Then—like preparing to walk a bed of coals...
...he turned to face Soarin.
Soarin had put on his bravest smile by then. It had the resilience of a paper ceiling. His wings hung limply at his side.
"So..." Flash spoke first, his voice hoarse and struggling. "...teaching flight classes to a bunch of little kids...."
"Yeah..." Soarin exhaled, nodding shakily.
"...being surrounded by snot-nosed little horse larvae... little wings... feathers... giggles and screams... ... ..." Flash's words trailed off.
Soarin bit his lip, waiting.
Flash looked at him... looked at him some more... then shrugged. "... ... ...I got nothin'."
Soarin's eyes watered. He charged forward.
Flash met him with open arms. The two hugged fiercely, desperately, with the magnetism of long lost brothers. Someone choked on a sob, and Flash was more stung than relieved to know it was the former Wonderbolt who broke first.
Soarin wept quietly, hiding his tears in the crook of the younger stallion's neck. He fought the shivers off with a searing breath that pleaded through clenched teeth: "You don't have t-to do it, bro." He sniffled, squeezing Flash's withers with strong, loving forelimbs. "You don't have to do this march alone."
Flash stared past him. The world fogged, but he burned through it. "Take-off is two-thirds of the flight... and I didn't do that alone."
"Take some of us with y-you! Take an army with you! For Celestia's fr-friggin' sake—"
"She's given me something better than an army. You all have." Flash shifted back, if only to lean his forehead against Soarin's. "I couldn't have gotten to this point if it wasn't for everypony I met... but most of all you..."
"Dang it—"
"Dude, listen..." Flash spoke against him, closer than a heartbeat. "You saved me, alright?" He squeezed the back of Soarin's neck, nodding. "You saved me. I can't thank you enough. Can't thank you enough... for dealing with all my impulsive stupidity... for sticking your neck out for me... for being so goddamn patient with this stinkin' rotten kid."
"Where you're going, I can't..." Soarin gnashed his teeth. "...I c-can't protect you from h-here..."
"Yeah you will..." Flash smiled. He leaned back so that the other stallion could see it... along with the warmth and the gratitude in his eyes. "You've set me straight for the long haul. That's more than anypony has ever done for me. And I didn't even have to ask. You're just that awesome, and I'll never forget all you've done for me, dude. Never."
Soarin struggled through the next few breaths. His tears didn't vanish, but he found the strength to smile through them. "Can't help it. You're such a stupid, helpless goof."
"I was." Flash patted Soarin's shoulder. "Now you go teach other stupid, helfless goofs."
"Like myself?"
"Start with that, then upgrade to snot-nosed foals."
A final smile. Another breath, and they hugged it out once more... trembling as they parted ways.
"You know, that Miss Hooves..." Flash murmured, wagging an eyebrow through the fragile moment. "...I think she's got the hots for you."
Soarin blinked... then rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle. "You never quit, do you?"
"Nah, I mean it, broooo," Flash put a purposefully comical drawl to the last utterance, like a California surfer crawling out of a gutter. "Make her a ring out of muffins and I think you'll go places."
"Friggin' teenagers," Soarin muttered. "Everything's gotta be a romance novel."
"Now you're just stereotyping."
"... ... ..." Soarin fidgeted, his tears almost drying. "...you really think I have a chance with her?"
"You've hung out with her this long and you haven't caught fire yet."
"Come onnnnnnn..." Soarin snorted. "It's not that dangerous."
"You would know."
"Pffft... it's not like that."
"Whether it is or it isn't, I'm just happy for you, man," Flash said. His gaze swept the room. "I'm happy for all of you. I'm just..." His words lingered, for he knew that the moment he said it, the moment would have passed—as would the truth. "...happy."
Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle gazed at him with a twinge of sadness. Soarin had trotted backwards, limply. Derpy shuffled up to his side and gave him a sympathetic nuzzle. He leaned into her, and Flash sensed that he was on the verge of weeping again.
The whole scene—quiet and cold—left Flash with the ghostly sensation of being flung out of orbit. There was only one thing left to do.
"Well..." A shrug, a shuffle, and he turned around on tiny horse hooves. "Zoop."
He walked through the portal and all the colors of the world drained behind him.