//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: At the Craziest of Gatherings // Story: Love in a Flash // by SolaceStone //------------------------------// People say that the craziest of gatherings of adolescent teenagers is at house parties. Some say that it’s at rock concerts, and some say that it’s at political rallies, but all of these aren’t actually close to it. These sorts of events only happen occasionally and, if you look at it from another perspective, can become pretty predictable. What makes the craziest of gatherings so crazy is the fact that it is a sanctuary shared by all varieties of teens; nerds, jocks, rockers, peacekeepers, you name it—they are all gathered here and mixed together like ingredients to a hotpot of adolescent soup. The craziness happens every day here (except on weekends), and it’s utterly unpredictable to the working adults. Anything can happen here: from a public declaration to the student body, or to everyone dancing and singing along to a musical. This sanctuary, the craziest of gatherings of adolescent teenagers of every kind, is called the cafeteria. At the center of this sanctuary, seven colorful, lively girls sat together a table, enjoying their lunch meals and most importantly, each other’s company. “And then, Big Mac got so embarrassed that he turned redder and brighter than an apple on harvest day!” The girls shared their laughter and giggles over the cowgirl’s story, one laughing louder than the others while another giving a curious, weird look. “Pfft, Big Mac snuggling with a doll in his sleep?! Haha! That’s so uncool!” Rainbow Dash cried, almost falling off her seat. “Wait, so Big Mac was the one who bought my doll from our garage sale a few months ago?” Twilight Sparkle asked, readjusting the frames of her glasses. “I figured it’d be a little girl or a mother buying for said little girl. Why’d he get it though?” “Maybe because it looked silly! Or maybe he’s been charmed by a magical love spell that’s casted on the doll!” The sole pink girl on the table pondered out loud while balancing a spoon on her nose. Twilight eyed her with a deadpanned expression, “For one, Pinkie, Smarty Pants is not silly. She is an amazing, brilliant individual who makes a wonderful study partner. And two, I’m pretty sure I would know if my childhood doll was enchanted with some kind of magic. If it was, I’d still be keeping it with me for further research and study.” She brightened up at the end of her sentence, now imagining the possibilities of her doll possessing magical abilities. Perhaps she should investigate by survey with the farm boy later. “Um, I think it’s cute for someone like Big Mac to like something unexpected like a doll,” the yellow, soft-spoken girl suddenly said to the table without thinking. She immediately regretted it when she noticed the other girls staring at her with surprised looks, especially the white girl with glistening, violet hair, who’s been grinning at her with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “Why, Fluttershy darling! Never has a thought passed through my mind that you would voice out your opinion on boys!” Rarity squealed, grasping the shy girl’s hand. Fluttershy squeaked in embarrassment, and attempted to hide behind her long, pink bangs, revealing only half of her frail face to the others. Rainbow Dash, who was sitting beside her, poked her with a mischievous grin. “Yeah, Shy! And I never thought you’d have your eyes set on Big Mac!” Fluttershy waved her hands wildly in response. “Oh no no no no! I don’t like Big Mac! I-I mean, I like him as a friend, but I never see him that way! I just thought the image of a big person like Big Mac hugging a little doll would look cute!” She defended. The girls then pondered on what Fluttershy said, imagining Big Mac on his bed, snuggling the little doll like a five-year old, and nodded in agreement. “OK, you got me there, it does sound pretty cute. Uncool, but still cute.” Rainbow conceded. Rarity, however, showed no signs of losing hope. “But can you see something happening between you two? Does his strong, yet gentle build not attract you in any way? Do you blush when he looks your way? Gasp! Does he blush when you look his way?!” Applejack, seeing how excited her fashionista friend is becoming, stopped her before she starts asking even more fantastical questions. “Hang on, now. She’s just sayin’ her honest opinion. Right sucarcube?” Fluttershy nodded, thankful for the rescue. “I'm sorry Applejack, but your brother isn’t really my type.” She told her cowgirl friend. This made the fashionista sit back down in defeat, but still hopeful and curious over what kind of boy is her type. She’s definitely going to inquire her later. “No harm done, sugarcube. Plus, I reckon he’s already got someone on his mind lately,” she continued. Pinkie suddenly squealed in delight, the spoon still balancing on her nose, “Ooooh! A love triangle!” This caused the cowgirl to roll her eyes and the fashionista to light up once more, fueled with more possible romantic drama. Twilight, who still seemed to be unable to erase the silly imagery of Big Mac, snuggling with her doll while in his pajamas, from her head, turned to Applejack curiously, “What do you mean, Applejack?” “Well, it ain’t my place to pry, even though he’s my brother and all, but lately he’s been makin’ deliveries of our apples to a bakery shop that’s sittin’ on the next town over, and every time he does, me and Apple Bloom catch a blush and a funny smile on his face like a dog with two tails. And tomorrow will be his eighth visit!” “Yep, definitely for a girl.” Rainbow said firmly. “I mean, c’mon! Who would want that many apples?” In the midst of the girls’ chat about the farm boy and his mysterious apple deliveries, Sunset Shimmer was half listening to the whole conversation; the other half was in deep thought over a certain blue-haired boy as she played with her food. It’s only been a few days since the closure she had with Flash Sentry, but the closure itself wasn’t what she was remembering, although that’s not to say that it isn’t something to cherish—rather, it was the friendly chat that came after. Who knew Flash could be so much fun to talk to? How silly his questions could be, or how contagious his laugh is (not as contagious as Pinkie’s, however). She realized that that was the first time she ever had such a lengthy conversation with Flash, even when they dated. After that day, she’s wanted to talk to him again. She attempted to do so for the past few days, but she stopped herself every time. All she had successfully done was smile-and-wave as they pass by each other in the hallway. Should I try texting him, or maybe it’s too soon? Calling him is way out of the picture. Oh, maybe I can text him ‘by accident’ saying that it was meant for someone else, and then we can start from there! But what if it ends up too awkward for him? URGH, WHY IS THIS SO HARD?! She pondered to herself repeatedly. Indeed, she had been asking herself constantly why it seemed so difficult to just walk up and talk to him. From her past short-comings, Sunset Shimmer considers herself to be an expressive, bold and straight-forward gal; she doesn’t hesitate to help others, especially her friends, and doesn’t beat around the bush to say what she needs to say to the person who needs to hear it. She’s quite proud that she's been through a lot of magical things and has equally learned a lot from them, but right now she feels that any magical encounter will be easier than to talk to Flash Sentry. And like a play with fate, the boy in question walked up their table, the redhead not noticing his presence until she heard Pinkie Pie, with the spoon still on her nose (at 12 minutes and counting, timed by Twilight, for science), calling out to him. “Oooh! Hiya Flashie! What’s uppity-up?” “Hey Pinkie. Hey girls, sorry if I'm bothering you,” greeted the boy, his guitar slung to his back. Sunset was so surprised to Flash’s sudden appearance—when she was just thinking about him—she accidentally tossed over the food that was on her spoon, sending it flying to an unfortunate soul’s hair. Why is he here, why is he here, why is here?! She was panicking frantically in her head, but luckily she didn’t show her nervousness, only fumbling her fingers under the table. “H-hey, Flash! What’s up?” She asked with a crooked, awkward smile. Rarity, who sat across her, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, that was my question!" Pinkie pouted, "And you didn’t answer, Flashie!” “Oh, my bad Pinkie. It’s uhhh, the ceiling?” Knowing the pink party girl, whenever she asks what’s up, she sometimes means that literally. “Yep! But it’s also stuck bubblegum!” The boy looked up and squinted at the ceiling, finding a tiny splotch of pink directly above him. “Woah. That’s gross. How’d that even get there?” He understood when Rainbow Dash silently pointed her thumb at Pinkie Pie, deciding then to not question it further. “Well howdy, sugarcube. What seems to be the matter?” Applejack asked. “It’s nothing serious, really,” the boy replied, “See, I wrote up a new song for my band, and we wanted to try it out, but we couldn’t use Brawly’s garage today, so is it cool if we use the music room?” The girls looked at each other, as though to check if anyone has any rejections. Everyone nodded in mutual agreement, though Sunset Shimmer was taking a sudden interest to her food, showing a tiny blush. Rarity was the only to have noticed her strange behavior, but she kept it to herself for now. Rainbow Dash smiled to Flash, “Everyone seems cool with it, so it’s no prob Flash! So what’s the song called? I’m pretty sure it has “flash” in it,” she smirked at the boy. “Wow, do all our songs have “flash” in them?” He looked genuinely surprised at the prismatic-haired girl's question. This caused a laugh to all of the girls, including Sunset, who giggled just a little. “And to answer your question, that’s a secret. We’re not even sure if it’ll be official or anything, so I don’t wanna get your hopes up,” he continued with a grin, “Welp, thanks for the lending us the room! Later!” Sunset looked back up to watch him leave, but was caught off guard to see him looking at her. He gave her a cute smile and a small wave with his hand. “Later,” he repeated in a much gentler tone, and Sunset waved back. “Later,” she replied with a cute smile of her own. This time everyone noticed the strange occurrence between the redhead and the blue-haired boy, and once he turned and left, they all stared at her. “Uhhh, what was that?” started Twilight. It was rare for her to notice these kinds of things, despite being the only one at the table to have a boyfriend. The fact that she did notice shows just how obvious the redhead was being. “Umm, what was what?” Sunset asked, dodging the question—or at least tried to. “C’mon, Sunset. You’re foolin’ nobody.” Said the cowgirl. “Yeah, you even looked like Fluttershy just now!” Said Rainbow Dash, which earned her quite a menacing, yet adorable glare from the girl mentioned. Sunset looked to her friends, especially to Rarity, who was looking even more ecstatic than before and trying to keep herself together. She gave out a loud, defeated grunt. “Argh, I don’t actually know!” The redhead shared to her friends, “It’s just, last weekend I had a dream about my break up with Flash Sentry, and I felt absolutely terrible for treating him so badly.” Her friends saw her downcast on her seat and were showing worried and concerned faces, but Sunset continued, “And after seeing him again at the mall, I decided to call him up when I went home so that we could talk.” The fashionista suddenly placed her hands on the redhead’s shoulders, the dangerous gleam returning in her eyes, “So? SO?! What happened next, darling?!” Rarity demanded. She seemed to be just as excited as Pinkie Pie is on a daily basis—which says a lot, if one thinks about it. Sunset briefly felt her cheeks flush a little once remembering once more of their talk in the Sweet Shoppe. “So we met up the next day. And we talked. And now we’re starting things over.” She answered. Remembering the lively, immersive chat she had with Flash made her smile warmly, her blush growing a stronger shade. Gasps were shared all around the table, and an overly dramatic gasp came out of the pink party girl. “Oh. My. Gosh. SO YOU TWO ARE BACK TOGETHER?!” She squealed, accompanied by a mysterious sound of confetti bursting out of nowhere. The redhead immediately regretted her wording of 'starting over'. She shook her head violently and waved her hands as though she was on fire, which was quite close considering the heat she’s feeling from her flushed face. She could practically feel the steam rising from her body. “No no no no no! We started over as friends! We’re just friends!” Miraculous to her, Pinkie’s squeal didn’t spread far over the cafeteria, especially towards the table where Flash and his band sat. They did hear the tiny fanfare of bursting confetti, but that was just Pinkie being Pinkie, so they let it be. Rainbow wanted to comment on how she similar to Fluttershy she’s been acting, but thought better of it after seeing the yellow girl glare at her again, seeming to have noticed and aware of how right the prismatic-haired girl actually is. “Looks like my brother ain’t the only bright apple for harvest,” Applejack turned to Twilight, who nodded in agreement. Fluttershy, secretly happy that she’s no longer the center of attention, comforted Sunset with a smile, “Well it’s great to hear that you and Flash are officially friends again, Sunset. I'm sure he's just as happy as you are.” Her soothing words worked, and Sunset finally cooled down and gave Fluttershy a relaxed smile, “Thanks, Fluttershy.” Rarity, on the hand, having completely forgotten about Fluttershy’s earlier comment on Big Mac and her preference on boys, wanted more out of the redhead, but just as she was about to inquire further, the bell rang across the mess hall. “Welp, time to head class girls!” Sunset said, suddenly grabbing her bag and rising from the table. Saved by the bell, she thought. She’s had enough craziness from the craziest place in school, and was utterly relieved that the craziness doesn’t follow to the classrooms. “Aaaaw, and it was just getting good!” Cried the party girl. “Wait, what’s the next class again?” Rainbow asked, as she slowly feels her energy draining, knowing whichever class is next would just turn out boring. “It’s physics,” replied Twilight, “And we have a quiz today. I even helped you study for it. How could you forget?” “Uuurgh” was the only reply she received from her prismatic-haired friend, to which Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed in compliance. As the girls enter hallway and into the classroom, Sunset felt her phone vibrate. She gave it a look and sees that the message is from Rarity, who was walking right beside her, her eyes glued to the phone as they walked. We MUST talk after class, and I won’t take no for an answer. I’m not letting you go that easily, darling. It said. Sunset could only sigh. Today’s going to be another long day.