//------------------------------//
// Mortality Ended 
// Story: Oh no, they're Goddesses now! 
// by James Pwyll 
//------------------------------//

"Hey, Flash? I think you're gonna have to go out and get some better wine. This last lot you got is kinda terrible. Oh! And make you you pick up some of those little onions, because they are just lovely this time of year! And before I forget, I kinda spilled my drink one of one your favorite shirts yesterday. Hope you don't mind. Ah, what am I saying, of course you don't mind. Because you're just the best, ain't that right, buddy?" Zephyr smiled confidently to himself as he reclined on the sofa, looking over to Flash as he prepared dinner for the two of them. The latter was hard at work here, making sure every ingredient was just right, all while looking less than thrilled about the arrangement he'd found himself in. Zephyr, oblivious to his roommate's feelings towards him, continued speaking. "Hey, you going to that village festival next week? I hear it's gonna be a blast!"

Flash gave a quick shrug. "Maybe. I've got a lot of work to do in the field in the next few days. Might not have time to party after that."

Zephyr shrugged right back. "Meh, suit yourself. More lovely ladies for me at least." Then he paused, suddenly remembering something. "Say...didn't Shining Armor say he was gonna give you a golden house or something a while back?" He gestured to the rest of the house, which was very definitely not made of gold.

The other mortal glanced around himself. "I thanked him for the offer, but the idea of a golden house is a lot cooler than actually having to live in one. So I declined."

Zephyr snorted. "Pfft! Suit yourself, friend."

Flash rolled his eyes to this, sighing shortly afterwards. "Remember how you said you'd help me with the work yesterday?"

Zephyr nodded, reclining further into the sofa. "Yep, totally did. Pretty nice of me to offer, eh?"

Flash glanced over his shoulder, utterly deadpan. "Yeah...but you kinda didn't give any help." He turned away, muttering under his breath. "Or the last seven days before that."

But Zephyr just chuckled. "Oh, Flash! Silly, silly Flash! Gods don't do work! I just offered to make you feel better."

Flash grimaced. "Not really making me feel better when you don't do what you say you'll do." He raised an eyebrow to his tiresome guest. "What exactly was it you were supposed to do down here?"

Zephyr frowned. "Ugh! Learn to appreciate mortals! What, do I look like I don't appreciate them?"

Flash considered that. "You probably don't want me to answer that."

Zephyr smirked and rolled his eyes. "Hey, I've learned a whole bunch of being a mortal! Like that whole toilet thing you guys do. Yuck, how do you put up with that?!"

Flash sighed again. "We cope." He paused what he was doing, setting his dinner ingredients aside for the time being while looking back to Zephyr. "But sure, if you wanna go to that festival, I'm not gonna tell a God he can't."

The currently-mortal deity smiled to him. "Thanks, bud. Appreciate it." But then he groaned. "Just kinda hope that one girl isn't there. She keeps pestering me these days."

Flash looked to him with curiosity.  "What girl?"

Zephyr shrugged again. "Oh, you know, that one girl from the village? Blonde? kinda messed-up eyes?"

Here, Flash stopped what he was doing, looking to Zephyr with more seriousness. "Wait...you mean Muffins? Yeah, I know her. We've been friends since we were kids."

Another shrug from Zephyr. "Oh, is that what her name is? I just called her Derpy, because...well, you know..."

Holding back the need to give a disapproving frown, Flash enquired further. "Why would she be pestering you?"

To that, Zephyr actually got himself off the sofa for the first time today, walking over to look out of the window. "It's just like she thinks she's entitled to me, ya know? I mean, we spend one little moment together, and boom, suddenly she thinks she gets to be with me."

Flash looked to him more warily. "What 'little moment' are we talking about here?"

Zephyr continued to stare out of the window. "Well, it was during the last monthly festival. I was kinda trying to get some attention from the local ladies, but not much success. Then along comes Derpy."

"Muffins," Flash corrected.

"Whatever," Zephyr replied, totally uninterested. "Anyways, she heard me talking about how I'm really a God, and was actually interested." He chuckled. "Guess she's not as dumb as she looks, am I right?" He failed to notice Flash clenching his fists as he said that. "Anyways, we talked for a bit, I put on my usual charm, said all the right things, and hey presto, soon enough I've got my 'special time' with her." Then he chuckled. "Not my fanciest prize, but hey, when it's all you got..."

Sadly, or perhaps not, he was interrupted from that particular talk by Flash, who promptly spun him around, grabbed him by his shirt, and then forced him back, slamming him right into the wall, all while giving him the angriest look the ex-God had ever seen on him. "You...did...what?" Flash asked, seething with fury.

Zephyr, who was thoroughly unused to having anyone treat him this way, gulped. "H...hey there, bud. Don't wanna risk hurting a God, ya know? Don't wanna upset anyone upstairs, you get me?"

But Flash was totally unafraid at this point. "I asked you a question. Now answer it, God."

Never before had Zephyr heard the word "God" as though it were an insult, but he was too worried for his life to think about that right now. "Well...yeah, I got her with me for that night. What's the big deal?"

Flash's eyes narrowed. "The 'big deal' is that you tricked a good friend of mine into sleeping with you by making her think you cared about her!"

Zephyr blinked. "Yeah...and?"

Flash's grip tightened. "Do you care about her?"

Zephyr looked to him as if he'd just told a joke. "What? No! I mean, have you looked at her?"

Flash looked like he was about to full-on strangle the guy, but of course Zephyr was desperately trying to get back into his good graces. "Hey, buddy! If you want I can maybe convince her to sleep if you if that's what you want!"

That clearly wasn't the issue here, as Flash was livid right now, drawing back one hand and balling it into a fist, ready to completely deck the guy. Zephyr, having never once experienced physical pain like he was about to, instinctively winced. But the blow, to his utter shock, never came. Instead he heard a collision right next to his head, prompting him to slowly open his eyes again. There, right next to his head, was Flash's fist, having been sent straight into the wall, actually managing to cause a crack. Zephyr gulped again, looking to the mortal who'd let him into his home, who was taking many deep breaths before finally speaking. "Zephyr...you are a pathetic excuse for a God."

Zephyr didn't know what to say to that, but he didn't even get the chance to speak at all. For it was just then that there was a booming voice calling out in the house. "ZEPHYR BREEZE!!!" Both men looked up, seeing a bright shaft of light, which caused them to squint their eyes. They could see something, or more specifically someone, descend downwards, and they stepped back when they realised who it was. The light faded, and sure enough, there she was. Celestia, the High Goddess herself. Flash immediately got to one knee, but Zephyr stood where he was, watching the new arrival with worry. Celestia, for her part, regarded both of them before finally speaking up again. "Your time has ended."

Hearing that, Zephyr sighed. "Phew! That's a relief! I tell ya, Celly, this mortal life totally sucks!" He clasped his hands together. "Alrighty then! Let's make with the divinity already!" But it seemed as though his expectations were not to be, as Celestia simply narrowed her eyes to him, causing more than a little concern on Zephyr's part. "Um...hey, Celestia? I think I'm ready to go back home now!"

Celestia glanced down to Flash, who was keeping his eyes down, before looking back to Zephyr. "Boy...I sent you here to learn what it was to be mortal. Instead you spent your days taking advantage of the kindness that this mortal afforded you."

Zephyr shrugged. "Well...he offered, right?"

"Really? I thought you just moved in like you owned the place," Flash muttered quietly.

Celestia continued, clearly unimpressed with his answer. "You acted shamefully. Despite being one of them, you looked to mortalkind as though they were your playthings. In short, my lad...you have completely wasted your time here."

Zephyr was growing nervous now. "Yeah, but...at least I get to come home now, right?"

Celestia gave nothing but silence for a time, causing Zephyr to become increasingly worried. But then, at the end of that agonising wait, the Sun Goddess instead turned to Flash. "I thought that by having one of our kind become mortal, the divine host would learn what it was like to be one of those we ruled over. But perhaps..." She paused, but only for a moment. "Perhaps it is better...if instead I were to have one of the mortals become like us."

Immediately, Flash looked to her with complete shock, while Zephyr was feeling terrified right now. "You're...you're gonna replace me with him?!"

Celestia scowled to him. "You have disgraced yourself in your time here, Zephyr, even before you became a mortal. While he..." She looked down to Flash. "He actually knows how to care about mortals. And perhaps that is what the heavens truly need in all this." She stepped forward, reaching out her hand. "What say you, Flash Sentry? Will thou accept, and take a place in the heavens?"

To say that Flash was bewildered by all this would have been an understatement. But through all the shock and difficulty of understanding what was being offered, there was a strange calm that now took hold of him. Slowly, he rose, brushing himself off slightly, before looking the Goddess of Goddesses right in the eye. "My Lady Celestia, I thank you for the offer. I don't think any mortal has ever been given a chance for something like this before now." He stayed silent for a minute or two, then sighed deeply. "But...I cannot accept."

Zephyr looked to him like he was crazy, while Celestia arched an eyebrow. "Oh? May I ask why?"

Flash nodded. "Zephyr did wrong here. Very wrong. But...if I were to take his place as a God, that would condemn him to mortality. And that would be little more than a death sentence." He took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Despite all he's done, I'm not prepared to do that to him. Nor am I willing to separate him from his family or his people." Slowly, he again looked to Celestia. "Let him come back to you."

For the first time in perhaps a very long while, Celestia actually looked surprised. "You would ask him to be accepted once more? Even with all he did?"

Flash nodded. "I would. I'll probably kick myself for it...but yes, that's my answer."

Celestia regarded the human before her, then gave a slow nod. "Very well...be it so." She snapped her fingers, and without even saying a word to him, she knew Zephyr had already understood what had been done. She watched as he saw sparkles emerge from his fingers, a sign of the return of his divine power. Naturally, the guy was ecstatic about it, but he remained silent as Celestia raised a finger to him. "Zephyr...know that if you transgress again...if you should dishonor a mortal with deception of the kind that enraged this man beside me...I may not be so accommodating to you again."

Zephyr understood, showing respect for the first time today by bowing to her. Then, he looked to Flash. "Hey, buddy, thanks for all the..."

But instead of a smile, he instead got a look of anger from Flash. "Just...go," he said flatly.

The newly-appointed God tugged at the neckline of his shirt, then looked to Celestia. "So...guess my sister's pretty excited to be getting me back, right?"

Celestia again narrowed her eyes to him. "Fluttershy...is deeply disappointed in you, Zephyr."

And just like that, the God winced as though he'd just been stabbed in the heart. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, why'd you have to tell me that?" Realising he definitely wasn't wanted, gave a nod, then snapped his fingers and, in a bright flash of light, disappeared from this place. 

Celestia again looked to Flash, curious about him. "You and I both know he didn't deserve such a reprieve, yet you gave it anyway. Tell me, is there truly nothing you wish for? Any boon you might desire, I can grant."

Flash didn't look at her, at least not at first, and instead just seemed deep in thought. After a while, though, he did finally gave her a glance. "I have a friend. A friend whose heart will probably break when I tell her that the guy she thought cared about her never actually did. If you offer a boon to me, let it be this. Give her a good life. Guarantee that she will not face such disappointment or unhappiness again."

Celestia smiled to him. "I see now why Twilight casts such favor on you." She then gave a quick bow of her head. "You have my word. Her life, for however long it lasts, shall be a good and happy one."

Flash bowed back to her. "Thank you, Lady Celestia. I won't forget it."

Again, Celestia smiled to him, and much like her entrance, she was bathed in bright and near-blinding light, causing Flash to look away. After a while he looked back and saw that he was, at long last, alone in his home. But as he took in the silence, he winced, looking to his hand. "Probably should've asked her to get this fixed up too. Think I broke every bone in it with that wall back there." But as soon as he'd said that, he suddenly found that the pain in his hand was gone. 

He flexed his fingers a bit, confusion coming to him, but before he could speak, he looked up, hearing a familiar motherly voice in his mind. "Ask, and ye shall receive."