//------------------------------// // Ch. 3: A Poor Choice of Words // Story: Rekindling the Flames // by CoJoThom98 //------------------------------// Flash Sentry stands in front of his bedroom mirror, examining his appearance. He leans in and bares his teeth, checking for anything stuck or if he needs to brush again. He closes his mouth and flares his nostrils, checking for runaway hairs. Finding one, Flash grabs the tweezers on his dresser, grabs the loose hair, and pulls it out hard and fast. His face clenches up as a single tear wells up in his eye. Why does it have to hurt THAT much? he thinks. Tossing the loose hair away in a small plastic trash bin, he puts the tweezers down on top of the dresser. To finish off his routine, Flash takes his comb and begins to groom his hair. As he combs, a figure comes into the mirrors view. Said figure is a boy, roughly the same age as Flash. He has medium length navy blue hair that’s brushed back. He wears a black t-shirt underneath a blue, unbuttoned shirt with the collar popped. He watches Flash as he grooms himself. “So, just a study session huh?” he asks with a look of amusement. Flash rolls his eyes. “Yes Soarin, we are just meeting up together to work on this paper for Mr. Turner,” Flash explains, “nothing more and nothing less; it’s purely platonic.” Soarin chuckles and shakes his head, “If it was ‘purely platonic’ then I don’t think you need to clean yourself up like you’re about to see the Queen of England.” “It’s common courtesy to clean oneself up before they go out with someone,” Flash argues. “Your parents raised you up to be too much of a gentleman,” says Soarin. “Well okay, Mister Author of the Chivalric Code,” Flash says as he puts down the comb and turns to face his friend. “What do you suggest?” Soarin looks around the room and walks over to Flash’s closet. He opens the double doors and pulls out Flash’s old windbreaker with a red and white stripe wrapping around the chest, and a white t-shirt with a blue shield with a lightning bolt in the center. He tosses the two items across the room towards Flash, who catches them both. “Try going with something a bit more familiar and more ‘you’,” Soarin suggests. Flash looks at the shirt and jacket. “What do you mean?” he asks. “The two of you used to date, right?” Soarin asks. Flash nods in response. “Well even if you’re ‘starting over’,you don’t want to go completely new. You want to have a good mix of the old and new, and it all starts with what she sees. With your old outfit and the new hair, she’ll see that things will be different but not completely foreign.” “Since when did you become a social expert?” Flash jokingly asks. “Last night,” Soarin replies. Flash rolls his eyes as he lays the clothes on the bed and begins to take off his sweater and white shirt. “While I appreciate, and question, your advice Soarin,” Flash says as he dresses, “this is just a study session. It’s not like I’m about to go on a date with Sunset.” Suddenly there’s a knock on the bedroom door followed by a young, scratchy female voice shouting through. “Hey Flash, are you almost ready for your big date?” the voice asks with a bit of a teasing tone. “It’s not a date, sis,” Flash shouts back with a groan. “Can we come in and see you?” a different voice shouts with a squeak in her voice. “We can’t have you leavin’ all sloppy like a pig,” a third voice shouts with a country accent. “Hold on,” Flash shouts back, he puts on his jacket and straightens it while looking in the mirror. “Okay, now you girls can come in.” The door opens and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom rush in. The three of them sit on Flash’s bed and observe him as he straightens his jacket a second time. “Come on Flash,” Scootaloo begs, “let’s get a good look of you.” Flash rolls his eyes and chuckles a little. He turns to face the girls and half-heartedly holds out his arms in a presenting manner. The three girls examine him from their seats. They look up and down his outfit, fingers pressed against mouths and eyebrows cocked. They keep at this for a few minutes. Flash and Soarin look at each other, each wondering how much longer they’re going to take. Finally, Apple Bloom declares, “I like it!” “Me too,” Scootaloo concurs, “your old outfit looks good with your new hairstyle.” “Ooooh this is so exciting,” Sweetie Belle exclaims, placing her hands on her cheeks, “I can’t believe another one of our ships is getting ready to sail!” “Okay, first off,” Flash holds up his index finger, “this is just a study session; we are not dating.” “Yet,” Scootaloo mutters to her friends, causing them to giggle. “Second, just because I’m part of one of your little fantasy ships doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” says Flash. Scootaloo, insulted by Flash’s comment, stands up and walks in front of her brother. She stands on her toes, trying to get to his eye level, even though he’s a foot taller than her. “‘Little fantasy ships!?’ I’ll have you know that we take our shipping very seriously. So much that our ships have a 90 percent success rate!” “What’s the other ten percent?” Soarin asks. Applebloom groans. “All our ships between the Main Seven.” “It was a sad day when we found out that none of them swing that way,” Sweetie Belle says wistfully. “Not sure how I feel about that,” Soarin’ says wryly. Flash places his hands on Scootaloo’s shoulders and gently pushes her back on her feet. He takes in a deep breath, “Look Scoots, I know you’re excited about this, but don’t set your expectations so high. Sunset and I are starting over as friends, nothing more. Besides, I doubt she ever liked me in that way.” Soarin begins to laugh as he walks up and places his hand on Flash’s shoulder. “Oh poor little Flash,” he says, “Please tell me you aren’t so oblivious to the obvious?” “What are you talking about?” Flash asks. “Rainbow Dash told me everything about what Sunset said about yesterday,” Soarin explains. “So did Applejack,” Apple Bloom interjects. “And Rarity,” Sweetie Belle adds. “According to Rainbow Dash,” says Soarin, “Sunset giggled like a school girl when she talked about your little mistake, calling the study session a ‘date.’” “AHA,” exclaims Scootaloo, “so it is a date!” “No it’s not, shut up!” Flash snaps back. “Applejack says that her face blushed brighter than a newly ripe apple when she talked about when you meant what you said at Camp Everfree,” says Apple Bloom as she jumps off the bed and joins the growing crowd around Flash. “And when she talked about you reaching across, laying your hand on hers, and confessed how much you want to be friends with the new her,” Sweetie Bell says, her voice softer and smoother than usual, mimicking the way Rarity said it. “she, according to Rarity, ‘fell into a euphoric state faster than the blink of an eye.’” Apple Bloom giggles a little at Sweetie Bell’s Rarity impression. “Come on Flash, the evidence is abundantly clear,” says Scootaloo, “Sunset Shimmer likes you.” “I do not like him,” Sunset Shimmer exclaims while she stands t-posed on one of Rarity’s stands, getting her measurements taken. “And why am I even up here? Prom isn’t for another month.” Rarity scoffs. “Bold of you to assume I would wait this long to do our prom dresses,” she says, “I’ve had those done months ago. This is for this afternoon.” “This afternoon? Rarity,” Sunset groans as she gets off the platform, “we’re just going to work on our papers for Mr. Turner together. This isn’t a date.” “Oh for goodness sake, Sunset,” says Rarity, “everything about this screams ‘this is a date.’ Just think about the setting, a quiet library on the second floor of a coffee shop…” “It’s a good place to keep focus,” Sunset counters. “Candlelight providing a warm glow around the room,” Rarity’s tone grows increasingly more romantic. “The… the warm lighting is… ideal for studying?” Sunset knew that point was bull, “Besides, they aren’t really candles.” “Candle shaped lights,” Rarity counters, “Cool jazz playing over the speakers...” Rarity leans in towards Sunset, shaking her shoulders for effect. “Um…” Sunset can feel her argument begin to falter. She fidgets in growing discomfort as Rarity emphasizes the romance behind each point. “And to top it all off.” Rarity swings around and throws her arm over Sunset’s shoulders. “it will just be you and him, all...alone...together.” On her last three words, Rarity walks the fingers of her free hand up Sunset’s shoulders, tapping her on the nose at the end. “Because none of our other friends are in the class with us!” Sunset says with rising panic as her final counter argument, quickly pulling away from Rarity. “Look Rarity, I really just want this to be friendly get together with Flash. I don’t see me and him ever getting back together. I don’t like like him.” Rarity approaches Sunset and takes hold of her hands. “Sunset dear,” she starts calmly, “I love you, but you are terrible at bluffing. The way you talked about Flash yesterday, the euphoria you radiated, it was like he was the only person in the world you truly cared for. I know you two have a rough past, but that does not mean you cannot still love each other.Are you really going to deny these feelings inside your heart?” Sunset thinks about Rarity’s words for a second. Her interaction with Flash yesterday did have several moments of intimacy. Flash holding the door, him holding her hand, his blunder of calling their study session a date, and their small moments of genuine connection. Not to mention how she acted when recanted their interaction to her friends afterwards. Her schoolgirl giggling, the hard blushing, and her euphoric state of mind. Is it possible that there was still some love between them? No, there couldn’t be, how can there be after how their previous relationship ended? Sunset slowly lets go of Rarity’s hands. “I’m sorry Rarity, but I can’t deny feelings that I’ve never had.” Sunsets leans over and looks at the clock on the wall of Rarity’s boutique. The clock face reads 1:09 PM. “Look, I have to go meet up with Flash. I’ll see you tomorrow?” “Very well dear,” Rarity sighs, “you have a good productive time studying. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The two girls hug each other goodbye. Sunset grabs her backpack off one of the counters and walks out the door. Sunset walks up a rickety staircase with a small cup of black drip coffee in her right hand. When she reaches the top, she looks around the room and sees Flash sitting at one of the tables in front of his computer, surrounded by several books. Flash has his head in his hands with his elbows on the table. Sunset walks over to him and sets her backpack down on the table, causing a thud as it lands. Flash lifts up his head in response, he turns his attention to Sunset. “Hard at work I see,” Sunset jokingly says. Flash chuckles a little. “This paper is a lot harder than what I thought it was going to be,” he admits. “How many pages do you have written?” Sunset asks as she pulls out her computer and materials. “Two,” he responds. “And how many are we supposed to write,” she asks. “Eight,” he says with contempt, “eight stinking pages about the importance of the Sun-Sen-Sengo.” “The Sengoku Jidai,” she says, helping him finish, “Or ‘Warring States Period’. I’m surprised about your attitude towards this paper. I remember you being an avid Samurai Jack fan when we were younger.” She sits down in a seat across from Flash and opens up her computer. “I like the samurai and Japanese history. It’s just… my friend and my sister and her friends were driving me up the wall this morning,” Flash says, resting his head on his hand. He reaches over for his coffee without looking and takes a big gulp. “I empathize; Rarity was being extremely persistent about her view of this study session.” Sunset rubs her finger tips against her forehead. “Hey, um, can I ask you something?” Flash looks up from his computer. “What’s up?” “Are we… is this… a date?” Sunset asks, struggling to bring the words forward. Flash closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath. Well might as well clear the air here and now. “No, we’re not on a date, this is just a, um…” “A purely platonic meeting between two friends with the purpose of working on a mutual class assignment?” Sunset suggests with a small giggle. Flash smiles, hearing his own words repeated back to him. “Yeah, that.” The two went back to writing their paper, occasionally glancing at each other while delivering sheepish smiles. It isn’t brough to a halt until Flash mutters, “I mean, if we wanted to we could.” Sunset’s fingers stop typing. She looks up at Flash. “What did you say?” she asks. Flash also stops typing; his face begins to turn red. “Ah crap, I did that out loud, did I?” Flash looks up at Sunset, who looks a little shocked. Flash lets out a sigh. “I guess there’s no point in lying or avoiding it. I said if we wanted to we could.” “What? You mean date?” Is he really suggesting that? Sunset feels her heart rate begin to pick up, and her palms begin to sweat. Flash gives a shrug and quick look to the side. “I mean, why not? It’s not such a terrible idea, is it?” He looks at Sunset with a soft grin. Sunset’s mind races out of control. Why in the world would he even suggest such an idea? I thought he just wanted to start over as friends? I can’t date him, not after what I’ve done to him, I’d hurt him worse! Think, Sunset, think! You need to...push him away somehow. Sunset looks directly at Flash, and her eyebrows angle down. “Is that why you wanted to start over? So you can win me back?” Flash’s face changes to a shocked state. Oh crap, I pushed it too far. “N-no, no, that’s not w-w-what I meant, I-I-I was just s-saying that…” Before he could finish, Sunset shoots up from her chair, stuffs all her belongings in her bag, and swings the bag over her shoulder. “I can’t believe you,” she says, perhaps a bit louder than she should, “I thought we could be friends and not have to deal with this… this… middle school nonsense! You know what, you can just finish this paper on your own. I’m going home!” Sunset turns around and winces a little at the expression she saw on his face. Telling herself it was for the best, she storms towards the stairs. “Sunset, wait,” Flash tries to stop her but fails. He considers going after her but figures it would be best to not confront her when she’s this angry. Flash sits back down and puts his head in his hands and groans. “Flash, what have you done?” Sunset storms out of the coffee shop with all the indignation she can muster and marches her way back to her motorcycle. It isn’t until she reaches her bike that self-reflection hits her. Princess Twilight trusted her to spread the magic of friendship in the world, and she pushed away a potential friend. “Sunset, what have you done?” she moans, pulling her helmet down to cover her eyes.