Hours passed. The girls not helping with Flash's temporary transformation wiled away the time on their phones, playing cards, or playing with Spike and Radar the lemur.
At length, Fluttershy emerged, wiping her hands on a paint-stained rag, her hair mussed from being stuffed under a hairnet for hours on end. Her cheeks were quite pink.
"Well?" Sunset asked, looking up.
"Umm..." Fluttershy ducked her head, poking her fingertips together and wringing her rag. Radar leapt to her shoulder, curling his long, fuzzy tail around her neck. She absently sritched him. "W-well...you'll see in a second, he's...he's finishing getting dressed now."
Rarity briskly entered the room, fanning her face. "Well...that happened," she said.
Rainbow leaned forward, grinning excitedly. "What'd he do? How's he look?"
"Well—" Rarity began. She faltered. "It's..." She plastered a game smile on her face. "Best you see...see for yourself," she said lamely.
Flash Sentry walked into the room. Several jaws dropped.
He wore a maroon half-sleeve leather jacket over an otherwise bare, vividly orange torso. The shade of orange he'd chosen was much more saturated than Sunset Shimmer's warm, fiery orange; in fact, it was more the color of the off-the-shoulder top she favored wearing with her newest spiky leather vest. His hair had been dyed a deep, rich maroon that matched the jacket he wore, with a light blue-silver streak down the middle. He also wore a maroon skort, baring his bright orange thighs that disappeared into knee-high maroon boots. He held out his arms to his sides and smiled gamely at the girls. "Ta-daaa," he said, his voice wavering.
"Um," Sunset Shimmer tried, fighting down a laugh. "That's...that's very..." She coughed. "Wow."
"That sure is somethin' alright," Applejack said with a pinched frown.
"Dude," Rainbow snickered.
"That's seriously how this whole thing is ending?" Pinkie Pie said, blink-blinking her bright blue eyes. "That is what all this has been building to?!"
"I'm...completely at a loss for words," Twilight said, her glasses falling askew.
"I don't...even know what I'm looking at here," Spike said.
Radar chittered something. Fluttershy sighed. "F'naaa..."