Rekindling the Flames

by CoJoThom98


Ch. 4: Clearing the Air

Sunset walks into her AP World History class, wearing a dark grey hoodie and jeans. She is a dreadful sight to behold. Dark circles and bags occupy the area underneath her eyes, and her hair is statically held to the side, as though a side wind is always blowing against her. She keeps her appearance hidden underneath her hood.

“Hoods off when indoors Miss Shimmer,” Mr. Time Turner says, in his precise English accent, as he writes on the whiteboard. Mr. Turner is a thirty year old, fair skin man. His hair is slightly wild and folded to the right on top, the sides and back are short but he has two slightly narrow sideburns that reach just above the back corners of his jaw bone. He wears blue sports jacket and dress pants along with a red tie, white dress shirt, and an hourglass pin on his left lapel.

Sunset turns to face her teacher. “Mr. Turner,” she says, the teacher turns around. Sunset, not saying a word, pulls her hood off to reveal her mangled appearance.

Mr. Turner muffles a gasp that would be entirely inappropriate for a teacher, much less a gentleman.“Uhhh, you can keep your hood up for today, Miss Shimmer.”

Sunset pulls her hoodie back on. She thanks the teacher and walks to her seat in the back-right corner of the room. The room is empty, class doesn’t begin for another fifteen minutes. Good for her, because she could use some silence. Sunset drops her bag onto the floor, slides into her chair, folds her arms on the desk, and places her head in the center of the shape her arms form. She hopes to get a few more winks of sleep in before class begins.

The previous night was rough. Not only did she stay up until 2 AM working on the paper, which never got finished, but sleeping was an impossible task. He mind plagued her by repeating the dramatic scene from yesterday at Pour Jons. All she wanted to do was to stay friends with Flash without falling into another intimate relationship with him; avoid hurting him again, but not push him away forever. If only she had handled that like a mature, reasonable person, perhaps things could’ve turned out better. Perhaps they could still remain friends, instead of reverting back to strangers. She wouldn’t blame him if he decided to not speak to her again... Flash deserves someone better than her.

A few minutes of sleep go by when Sunset hears a student next to her taking their seat. The noise is followed by the sound of a paper cup landing on her desk. She looks up and sees a small to-go cup of coffee sitting in front of her. She looks over at the student sitting next to her. Her eyes widen when she sees that it’s Flash. He sits there with his body facing towards her. His hair is also a mess; his eyes are dreary and laden with bags and dark circles. He wears his black hoodie and dark blue jeans. Despite his tired appearance, he still manages to greet Sunset with a smile.

“I’m guessing you didn’t get much sleep last night,” he asks, despite it being plainly obvious.

Sunset takes the cup of coffee and drinks a big gulp. Black, Colombian blend, her favorite. It’s still hot but not scalding. After she swallows and feels the warm liquid begin to flow through her veins, she answers with a yawn, “Not a wink, you?”

Flash shakes his head, the yawn catching in response. He looks away from Sunset, trying not to make eye contact after what happened yesterday. Sunset does the same. A minute passes by before the two of them turn to each other and together say, “I need to apologize about yesterday.” The two are taken aback but then begin to laugh.

“God I hope that gets old fast,” Sunset says, stifling her laughter.

Flashes finishes his laughing and clears his throat. “Sunset, I want to apologize about what I said yesterday.” He leans forward, weaving his fingers together and resting his arms on his legs, he fixes his gaze on her. “I really shouldn’t have pushed the idea of dating. We just started over as friends and I was thinking immaturely. I didn’t want to be friends because I thought I could win you back. I really do want to be friends. Do you think you could forgive me?”

“Oh, Flash,” Sunset puts down the coffee, turns towards him, leans forward, and cups her hands around his, “Of course I forgive you. But I too need to apologize for my behavior. When you brought up that idea, I got...scared and the only way I could think of to react was to resort to my old, mean ways. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, I should have talked to you like a mature adult. I was afraid afterwards that I might have pushed you away for good. Can you forgive me?”

Flash grins. “Of course I forgive you. It’s going to take a lot more than some snapping to push me away.”

Sunset lets out a sigh of relief as she releases Flash’s hands, tension visibly leaving her body. “Thank you, that really puts my mind at ease.” She tilts her head back, closes her eyes, and rubs her temples. “Now I would like a chance to be a mature adult about this. Can we talk about what you said yesterday?”

The first bell rings just as Flash was about to answer. The rest of the students in AP World begin to file into the classroom. “We can talk about it at lunch. By the way, does anyone sit in this seat?”

Sunset shakes her head. “No, that seat is empty, you’re good to sit there.”

“Good. Oh one more thing.” Flashes leans down and reaches into one of the pockets on his bag. He pulls out a small tin box and sets it front of Sunset.

She looks at the tin container and reads the label on top. “Mints.” It takes her second for her to realize what Flash was trying to say. She looks at him with a playfully annoyed look and gives him a lewd gesture with her right hand. “Ass,” she says.


Rarity, Applejack, and Sunset walk out of AP Statistics and make their way down the hall toward the cafeteria. Sunset has her hood down, letting her hair out. Earlier in the day, Rarity had worked some of her “magic” on Sunset’s hair to bring it back to its natural state. While her eyes still presented a picture of exhaustion, she no longer looks like a complete train wreck.

“So Sunset, you never did tell us how your...time with Flash went yesterday,” Rarity states as they walk.

“It, um… it didn’t go so well,” says Sunset.

“Oh no, what happened?” asks Applejack.

“I’d rather not go into it too much, just that he said something he wasn’t supposed to and I overreacted, bit his head off, and left.” Sunset rubs the back of her neck as her face turns red.

Applejack and Rarity look at each other and shrug. “Well,” Rarity leads, “as far as first dates go, it’s not the worst outcome. I mean as long the two of you apologized afterwards.”

“First off, it wasn’t a date,” Sunset had grown tired of making this correction, “second, yes we did apologize to each other before first block. I’m actually going to meet him at lunch to discuss something important.”

“Oh?” Rarity leans in towards Sunset. “What kind of ‘something’ are you two going to discuss?”

Applejack pulls Rarity back. “Knock it off Rare, whatever Sunset and Flash have to discuss should only be between the two of them. Sunset will tell us when she wants to tell us.”

Rarity rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh. “Very well, I will respect Sunset’s wishes.”

Sunset lets out a chuckle. “Thanks girls, and don’t worry, I’ll tell you and the others how it went after school.”

The three girls make there way inside the cafeteria and get their trays of food. Once they have what they desire, they walk around the area looking for a place to sit. Rarity and Applejack see their four other friends and Sunset sees Flash, waving her over. Sunset tells her friends she will see them later and makes her way over to Flash.

As the remaining two walk over to their friends, Rarity’s face dons a look of curiosity with a tinge of concern. “What do you think they’re going to talk about?” she asks Applejack. “You don’t think they’re going to end things now, are they? I hope Flash didn’t say anything that terribly offended Sunset. Oh, and it was all going so well too.”

“Calm down Rare,” Applejack says reassuringly, “You heard what Sunset said, he already apologized for what he said yesterday. I may not know Flash well but I do know he’s quick to mend any friendship on the verge of breaking. And Sunset isn’t one to so quickly push away a friend just because some words got under her skin. Try not to worry about it, let's just go eat lunch.”


Sunset places her tray of food on the table and takes a seat across from Flash. “Hey Sunset, how was Statistics?” Flash says, elevating his voice above the noise of the cafeteria. Sunset places her elbow on the table and pinches the bridge of her nose as she lets a sigh of frustration. “Oof, that bad huh?”

She places her hand back on the table. “I don’t understand a single thing in that class,” she complains, “I took it so I wouldn’t have to take College Algebra or Calculus. Yet somehow, Princess Celestia’s course of transformation and transmutation seems easier than trying to understand univariate and bivariate transformations.”

Flash picks up a few fries off his tray and dips them in a little ketchup container. “I can probably help you with that,” he says as he munches on his fries.

Sunset gives him a quizzical look. “You? But you hate math.”

Flash shrugs and gives a quick side look. “Well yeah, but I love statistics.” Sunset raises her eyebrow, her doubt increasing rapidly. “Oh come on, have you never been on one of those weird statistics sites? For instance, did you know you’re more likely to die from being poisoned than from being struck by lighting? Or if the mortality rate today was still the same as it was in 1900, less than half of the people in the world would still be alive? Being on those sites made me want to learn more about Statistics. So I took AP Stat last semester and got an A.”

“So are you saying you want to tutor me?” Sunsets asks, still skeptical. She didn’t know that Flash is so fond of Statistics. In the past, it was always Sunset who had to help Flash with his math homework. This time, the roles are reversed.

Flash smiles and nods. “Yeah, consider it me finally cashing in all time you helped me in… geometry,” Flash says with great disdain as his body shivers.

Sunset chuckles a little. She finds it hard to believe that the boy she helped, or rather dragged, through Geometry is now offering to help her with Statistics. She smiles and holds out her hand. “Alright Mister Alan Turing, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Flash reaches out and accepts her handshake. “It’s always a good day when I get equated with Benedict Cumberbatch,” he quips. Sunset laughs in response. As they retract their hands, Flash’s face gets more serious and he changes topics to the reason they are meeting here. “So, about yesterday?”

Sunset’s mood slowly changes from amusement to dread. She knows there’s no point in trying to dodge this topic; better to just clear the air now so they can move forward. She looks away nervously. “Yesterday, right,” she pauses and scratches her head, trying to think of what to say, “You weren’t wrong about what you said. Dating isn’t the worst idea…” She trails off, searching for the right thing to say.

“But?” Flash injects.

“But given how our last relationship turned out, I’m not sure I’m ready to visit that trail again just yet.” She rubs her hands as she tries to put her thoughts into words.

Flash processes her words through his head and purses his lips in thought. He understands her hesitations; the exact same thought had occurred to him. The pain of their last relationship still lingers a bit inside him. It may have been a year and a half since their breakup, but finding out she was using him as a means to an end is not something one gets over easily. He is mostly over it, but that niggling little sore spot in his heart is still there. The only way he can think of to finally get rid of it, is to mend his relationship with Sunset. There is still the physical attraction, of course, but also a romantic longing that had never gone away completely. But Flash is well aware that the person he is hung up on, if she ever existed, is not the person in front of him right now, and acting based on his idea of what was would be a discredit to who Sunset is. And whoever that is, he can see she is someone worth being friends with.

Flash looks at Sunset and slowly nods. “I agree. I’m not sure what I was thinking back there, probably thinking with the wrong head.” He and Sunset chuckle. “In all seriousness, I don’t think I’m actually ready to try dating again either. But I still do want us to be friends.”

“I do too,” Sunset says smiling, “and who knows? Maybe we will or maybe we won’t, but I think baby steps is the right course of action for now.”

“Agreed,” says Flash nodding.

“So when do you want to start tutoring me?” Sunset asks, changing the topic as she stabs her salad and takes a bite.

“Well I’m a little busy this week with band and blitzball practice,” Flash says as he picks up a few more fries and eats them. He swallows and continues, “but I’m free Friday after school. You can come over to my place and afterwards, if you want, we can do something that isn’t math related.”

“What do you have in mind?” Sunset asks, just a touch warily. She takes another bite of her salad.

“Well we have a game room with foosball, air hockey, and two TVs, both with PS4s,” Flash says casually. Sunset, after hearing that, slightly chokes on her salad and goes into a coughing fit. “Whoa, are you okay?” Flash asks with concern. Before he could get up to help, Sunset dislodges the piece of lettuce from her throat and coughs it across the table, landing on Flash’s left cheek. Her face turns beat red when she sees the small piece of romaine on his cheek. Flash slowly picks the piece of lettuce off and holds it for a bit. Eyes wide open, he looks at the lettuce, looks at Sunset, and then begins to laugh. Flash’s laughter eases Sunset’s embarrassment as she joins in the mirth.


The rest of the Main Seven look over at Flash’s and Sunset’s table and watch in amusement as the two converse. “Look at them, they’re so cute together,” Pinkie Pie says letting out a small sigh of admiration, “they’re like two scoops of ice cream.”

“Do you think he’ll ask her to prom?” Fluttershy wonders.

“Now hold on y’all,” says Applejack, bringing the group back to reality, “Sunset and Flash have only just now started over. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and go thinking they’re gonna live happily ever after.”

“As much of a romantic as I am, I have to agree with Applejack,” says Rarity, “These sort of things take time. We don’t live in a fairytale world where love happens in an instant.”

Applejack looks at her friend with surprise. “Why, thank you Rarity,” she says with gratitude.

“Though that does not stop me from planning her wedding dress,” Rarity declares.

“...Thank you, Rarity,” Applejack says with much annoyance.

“Oh come on AJ, just look at them!” Rainbow points at the Sunset and Flash. “They are clearly head over heels for each other. Sunset is looking at Flash the way Twilight looks at Timber.”

Twilight, about to counter Rainbow’s point, looks over at Sunset, shrugs, looks at Applejack and says, “Well, she’s not wrong.”

“Look, all I’m saying is we shouldn’t rush things,” says Applejack, “I’m not going to deny that there’s a mutual attraction between the two, but we should just let things happen. Help her if and when she wants it, but like Granny says, go meddlin’ in other folks’ affairs and everything ends up in a muddle.”

“Ugh, fine, we’ll do it your way Applejack.” Rainbow then looks over Applejack’s shoulder and her eyebrows raise. “If we’re going to go hands-off, you maaay want to tell them that.” Rainbow points over at something between Applejack and Rarity.

The two look behind them and see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo huddle together looking over at Flash and Sunset. Their faces light up with amazement, their mouths grow huge smiles, and suddenly they let out a collective shriek.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

The ear-splitting sound is heard throughout the entire cafeteria. Applejack places her face in her hands. “Oh sweet apple pie,” she mutters.