//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A Welcome and a Memory // Story: The Magic of Love // by Ro994 //------------------------------// Twilight entered through the front door. There were a few people inside, and just like outside, they were reunited in groups, talking. She took a deep breath and stepped in. When she raised her glance, she saw her group of friends: the Rainbooms, who were gathered together, waiting for her. She wondered how come she hadn’t seen them until now… “Welcome to CHS!” the six of them said in unison, raising a handmade banner which had a picture of Twilight’s face with the Wondercolts symbol on each side. One of the girls, who she remembered being named Pinkie Pie, pulled out a small cannon and shoot confetti from it, which fell on the girls’ hair while they all cheered for their new classmate. Twilight let out a delighted laugh and approached her friends. “Thank you, girls! Woah, this is amazing!” she exclaimed while she put her backpack on the floor and touched the banner. She was expecting them to give her a tour, but she wasn’t expecting to receive this welcome. She… wasn’t very used to get this much attention, but it was sure quite pleasant. “Oh, don’t mention it!” the girl with the cannon said, approaching Twilight and putting her free arm around her. “It’s the least we could do for our new sister!” she chimed, as she held Twilight so tight that it made it difficult for the new girl to breath. “Well,” Twilight huffed, almost out of breath, while Pinkie Pie let go of her and Twilight tried to breathe normally again, “that’s really nice of you… Pinkie, right?” “Yup, that’s me! We’ve already met, but let me introduce myself again!” she then tucked a hand inside her poofy pink hair and pulled out some sort of pink ID card and handed it to Twilight, as she said out loud what was reading on it: “Pinkie Pie: party planner, confetti master and smile maker at your service!” She once again pulled an arm around Twilight and smooshed her cheek tight against her, forcing her to look on her direction. She began pointing at each of her friends and naming them. “And these are Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle!” she finished pointing at the taken aback girl and pointing her cannon at the sky, firing confetti once again. Sunset chuckled and took a few steps forward. “Alright, slow down, Pinkie. She’s only just arrived. Let’s not overwhelm her just yet, she needs to get used to you first.” Pinkie Pie put her canon away, behind her backpack, nodded cheerfully and gave a step back. Sunset put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Ready to know your new school?” “Sure…” Twilight answered, a little nervous, but eager. Before they could start walking, Rarity leaned besides Sunset and cleared her throat loudly. Sunset turned to see the bright purple-haired girl and she tilted her head towards the rest of the group. “Oh, right! I almost forgot.” Sunset exclaimed. “Twilight, the girls here have some welcome presents for you.” “Oh, girls, you shouldn’t have!” Twilight said, moved. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie slapped some sort of birthday hat with pony ears and streamers on her head. She took it off to take a good look at it. It was simply… hideous, but she faked a smile and spoke almost between her teeth: “You really shouldn’t have.” “I know!” Pinkie cheered as she bounced a little. “I didn’t know exactly how a Welcome-to-school-hat would look like, so I invented it! SURPRISE!” she yelled as she bounced a little more. Sunset just shook her head and rolled her eyes. Typical Pinkie… “Alright, thank you, miss Pie,” said Rarity, stepping forward, “now it’s my turn. Welcome to school, darling.” She handed Twilight a flat box wrapped around white paper and with an elegant purple ribbon with silver details. Twilight untied the knot, ripped the paper and took the lit off the box. “Are these… fabrics?” Twilight asked, examining the content of her present. It consisted in several squares of different textiles, of all colors, textures and patterns. She didn’t notice that in the bottom, there was also a metric, which Rarity took out. “Yes, indeed!” the fashionista said, as she took a few of the cloth squares in her hands and placed them next to Twilight’s face. “Well, this is actually just the first part of your present. You see, prom is getting near, and as usual, I’ll make dresses for all of my friends, and since I wasn’t sure which fabric would work better with your colors and complexion, I brought this to make sure at once. And while I’m at it, I’ll be taking your measures! You can take me when your dress is done.” “Rarity, prom is more than six months away,” the country gal Applejack said. “Did ya have to do all that today?” “Why of course!” Rarity exclaimed, still picking and throwing away the pieces of cloth that she discarded. “The sooner the better, you know how I loathe leaving all the work for the last minute.” She then took out of the box a royal purple-indigo piece of silk. She stopped and examined the contrast it made against Twilight’s skin. She put it on her shoulder and her cheek. “YES!” she screamed a little too loudly. “This color will work perfect on you! Ooh, and I already have a great idea for a design that will be ideal for your build! If you want, you can receive the presents from the others while I take your measures, darling.” She said while she took the metric in her hands and placed herself behind Twilight, extending the metric from the middle of her back to her waist. “Uhm… okay?” Twilight muttered, a bit uncomfortable, but trying to pull out a nervous smile. Applejack placed herself in front of Twilight and handed her a wooden bucket full of red, beautiful apples. “Here you go, sugarcube. They’re fresh from the Sweet Apple Acres farm!” Twilight grabbed the handles of the bucket and as soon as Applejack let go of it, her hands almost fell to the floor. Seeing how easily the country gal had carried it, she didn’t imagine how heavy it was. “T-thanks, Applejack,” she groaned, leaving the bucket on the floor. Rarity, who was still taking Twilight’s measures, pulled her up and said, “Please stand straight, darling.” “Sorry…” Twilight whispered, looking down at her feet. Suddenly, a soccer ball hit her stomach softly and she let out a gasp, failing to grab it as it fell on the floor. She looked up and saw the sporty tomboy, Rainbow Dash, in front of her. “That one’s from me. I’m the captain of every sports club in this school, so if you want to join any of them, you’re welcome to do it!” “Uhm… well thank you for the offer, but… I-I’m not really a sports person…” Twilight said softly, rubbing her arm awkwardly and blushing a little. “Eh, that’s fine.” Rainbow Dash said, waving her hand and taking out another soccer ball from her backpack. “You would’ve never beaten me anyways!” She then kicked the ball from one of her knees to the other repeated times. All of her friends rolled their eyes and shook their heads, smiling. Fluttershy placed herself beside Twilight and talked to her, nearly above a whisper. “Uhmm… my present is mostly for Spike… did… did you happen to bring him today?” Spike heard from inside Twilight’s bag, so he opened the zipper and popped his head out. “She sure did!” Fluttershy smiled and took Spike on her arms. “Ooh, here you go, little puppy!” She took out of her pocket a small bag of dog treats, which happened to be Spike’s favorites. “They’re all yours!” Spike barked happily and ate the treat, shaking his tail joyfully. Fluttershy giggled, and so did Twilight. “Thank you, Fluttershy,” she said. “Gifts for Spike sure make me happy!” While Rarity finished writing down all the necessary measures she needed from Twilight, Sunset gave her the last present. It was a blank journal. “I don’t know if you keep a journal or not”, Sunset told her, “but I figured you could use it to write down how CHS has treated you and the experiences you have each day if you want.” Twilight then gave her a smile. “Thank you, Sunset.” She then directed to the whole group. “Thank you so much to all of you. These gifts are great and I can see each of you put a lot of yourselves in them. I can already tell this school is going to be great for me, especially with friends like you.” They all exclaimed “Awwww!” and proceeded to give Twilight a big group-hug. “Well,” Sunset said. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes until classes start. Shall we start with the quick tour?” All of them agreed and grabbed their things, as they showed Twilight her way around the school. Flash had returned with his fellow bandmates, who were all sitting on the ground, discussing about what song they should play in their next presentation, which was less than two weeks away. Flash was too lost in thought to pay attention to their indecision. He heard what they all said without listening, his gaze lost in space. From time to time his friends would shake his shoulder or tap his head to call his attention, he would bluntly suggest a single song for the rest to make their opinions on, and continue his sulking. It had already been a week since his last encounter with Princess Twilight, and he still couldn’t get the scene off his head. Her words fluttered inside his mind uncontrollably. The sun was starting to set. Princess Twilight had already said goodbye to her friends. She was heading to the portal, ready to return to her home Equestria after her first visit to this world without any catastrophes of any sort. She began to step into the statue portal, when she was stopped by the sound of a known voice calling out her name. “Twilight, wait!” Flash Sentry yelled from the distance as he ran to where Twilight was. The princess turned to see him and gave a few quick steps forward, so she and Flash could meet halfway. Flash stopped and panted. “Flash! You came running all the way till here? With your guitar?” Flash had almost forgotten he was carrying his guitar case on his back. He attempted to giggle, although he was still trying to recover his breath. “Sorry, I was practicing with my band, and as soon as I heard you were here… I came running as fast as I could.” The princess smiled, touched by this gesture. Flash reached out to hold Twilight’s hand. “I’ve missed you…” Twilight’s smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a concerned look. She didn’t respond, only taking his hand away from Flash’s hold and putting it behind her back. “I don’t like where this is going…” Flash said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Twilight walked back to the statue and sat next to it, on the grass. She patted the spot beside her, gesturing Flash to come sit next to her. He laid his guitar case on the ground and sat down next to the princess. She took a deep breath before speaking. “Listen, Flash. I know we’ve had our history and we have shared… many special moments with each other. You’ve been of great support and help to me the time I’ve spent here, and you became one of my best friends from this world. And I know we both have developed strong feelings for each other. But I think it’ll be better if we… let each other go.” Flash frowned. He let out a deep sigh and looked away. “I knew this would happen sooner or later…” “We both did, Flash.” Twilight said, putting a hand on Flash’s shoulder to make him look at her again. “We have something special, no one can deny it. But we have to recognize that this wouldn’t work.” “We can make it work!” Flash said in an almost pleading tone, turning around to her once more. “It can be like a long-distance relationship, how bad could that be?” “Flash, I’m a pony princess from another dimension. I have duties and responsibilities in Equestria. Not only that, but also all my friends, family… my whole life is in there. And your life is here. Your friends and family. Your school, your band. And even if we visited each other, let’s be realistic. We’re different species. It feels weird enough for me to be in this body,” she continued as she looked at her hands and wiggles her fingers, “and you probably wouldn’t be comfortable as a pony, either.” Flash thought about Twilight’s words and sighed in defeat. “Probably, but… everything we’ve been through the last year… it doesn’t matter anymore? Do we just throw it all away, just like that?” “It’s not like that, Flash” Twilight said, trying to sound reassuring. “It all matters, and I am grateful for every experience I’ve had with you. But that doesn’t mean we have to take it any further.” “Is it because of the things I told you when I was under the Dazzlings’ spell?” Flash suddenly asked, looking at the ground shamefully. “What? I thought you didn’t remember that…” “I don’t, but the Rainbooms told me everything.” He looked up at her and she found true regret in his eyes. “I was a real jerk. And I never even apologize. I’m so sorry to have treated you like that…” “Flash, it’s okay. It’s not your fault at all, the whole school was under that spell and other did worse things to us!” She looked down. “Besides, it’s not like you said anything that wasn’t true. You were right. I didn’t know what I was doing.” “But I didn’t do anything to help!” Flash exclaimed, resting his back on the statue. “You’re so amazing, you always save the day and do all these incredible… magic stuff. Meanwhile, I just stand there in the sidelines. Watching like everyone else. Too useless to do anything…” he’s voice went more off as he spoke. Twilight placed herself in front of Flash so he could look at her in the eyes. “Stop saying things like that about yourself. Maybe you haven’t done something big yet, but I know you will one day. Soon. I can see you have all the potential to be a real hero, Flash. You just haven’t been given the chance. But I can tell you’re brave, loyal and passionate. You can be someone’s knight someday. But that won’t happen because you’re dating the magical princess.” Flash thought for another moment and snorted. “Well, fair enough. But that wasn’t the only reason I want to date you. I… like you Twilight. I really like you.” Twilight gave him a sympathetic smile. “Well, from what I’m getting here, I think you’re confusing admiration for affection.” “Do you think?” Flash asked, and started to question his own feelings. “Well, think about it. On the two times I’ve been here, we’ve spent little time together, and most of the time, you were seeing me doing these” she air quoted “incredible magic stuff. And we may be font of each other and maybe physically attracted. But we don’t know each other precisely well. “We don’t…” Flash said, a little lost in thought. He was starting to realize how true Twilight’s words were. “And I’m not really sure how romantic relationships work in this word, but in Equestria, it’s preferable that two ponies have serious intentions and sincere feelings to get in a relationship.” Flash gave her a sad smile. “That doesn’t always apply here. But it sure applies to me. I wouldn’t want to date someone just to hang around for a while and then goodbye. I want something serious.” “Me too. And I don’t think ours would be a very serious relationship. I don’t think we can even sincerely say I love you to each other. Can you?” Flash’s gaze met Twilights and they stayed silenced for a moment, as he thought of his response. The more he thought about it, the more the reality weighted. And surprisingly, the less it hurt. It had been painful when he thought he was truly in love with her. But know that he had analyzed the way he felt, he found out that maybe his thing for Twilight hadn’t been as deep as he thought. She was simply a crush. It had all been beautiful and exciting while it lasted. But it just lasted so far. He truly admired her and care about her, but perhaps… she wasn’t the one for him to spend the rest of his life with. He smiled sadly and shook his head. “No.” “Neither can I” Twilight said with the same sad smile. She got up and rubbed a lock of her hair nervously. “So… are we okay? We can still be friends?” Flash smiled for real and got up as well. He extended his hand to Princess Twilight. “Friends” He expected a handshake, but received an enthusiastic hug instead. He giggled and returned the hug happily. When Twilight backed away, she got on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss on Flash’s lips, catching him completely off-guard. He opened his eyes wide and stared down at Twilight. “We got interrupted last time, at least we had to finish what we started, right?” she asked with an awkward grin and a light blush on her cheeks. Flash blinked a few times and finally reacted. He giggled and responded “Right. I… guess that was a good way to finish our story.” Twilight walked to the face of the statue where the portal was. “If there’s something I’ve learned being princess, is that the story never ends. We just start new chapters.” She friendly smiled at him again. “Write your next chapter, Flash. And make it the best one.” Flash smiled back at her and nodded. “Take care, Twilight. See you around.” Twilight waved him goodbye and stepped into the portal, disappearing through it as the water-like waves of light slowly faded away. Flash was left alone outside his school, the sun warming his skin and his thoughts and heart going crazy for the conversation he had just had. He sighted and started to walk home. “Write my next chapter,” he repeated to himself as he walked. “A chapter where I can finally be the hero and not just another crowd member. I’ll make it the best one”.