Sunset Shimmer waits in the parking lot outside of the track and soccer field. Any minute now, Flash and Soarin will walk out of the locker room. She rubs her hands nervously; she knows that she needs to make up with Flash but she doesn’t know what to say. A number of concerns race through her mind. It’s only been a few days since the incident; how will he take her apology? Will he come away from this confused or angry? Sunset feels her stomach churn and beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Recognizing this, she takes a deep breath, holds it for a few seconds, and lets it out.
Alright Sunset, she thinks to herself, steady your nerves. You can do this. You faced down greater challenges before. Her words of reassurance ease the tension. She takes one more deep breath and walks over to the locker room building. When she steps onto the sidewalk, the door to the boys locker room opens. Flash and Soarin walk out laughing, wrapped up in their conversation.
“And so, Rainbow puts her gum on Pinkie’s silly string shooter,” Soarin says, “A big bubble expands from the gas in the can, it explodes, and silly string and gum goes everywhere!”
Flash lets out a big laugh, “Oh man, I bet Mrs. Cheerilee was not happy.”
“Oh, she was pissed,” Soarin says through his laughter. “I didn’t think I’d ever see a teacher angrier than Coach Spitfire.” Soarin looks over briefly and sees Sunset standing there waiting for them. “Anyway man, I gotta go. I’ll catch you later.” He gives Flash a friendly punch on the arm and hurries away. He walks past Sunset and gives her a reassuring nod.
Flash waves goodbye to Soarin before noticing Sunset standing there. The two stare at each other. An awkward silence fills the six feet between them. Flash is surprised to see her here; he didn’t expect to see her at all this week, figuring she would want to avoid him as well. Yet, here she stands. Why did she seek him out? That could only be the reason why she came here since her motorcycle is parked nowhere near the soccer field. Flash doesn’t know what to say; he just stands there, staring at her in confusion.
Sunset takes a few steps forward to shorten the distance between them. She stands right in front of Flash, leaving only a foot between them. Flash retains his confused expression as he looks down at her. Sunset briefly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before speaking. “Hey Flash. I guess you didn’t expect to see me here?” she says nervously.
Flash shakes himself out of his confused state and responds. “Oh, um, yeah no, I really didn’t,” he says, fumbling his words and fidgeting. “I didn’t really expect to see you at all this week. Figured you’d want to avoid me.”
Sunset looks away and rubs the back of her neck; regret appears on her face. “Yeah, a part of me wanted to avoid you this week,” she says. Then she looks back up at him. “But I actually came here to apologize to you, about last Friday night.”
“You want to apologize? To me?” Flash asks, perplexed.
“Yes, I do,” Sunset responds. “I treated you horribly that night. I messed with your feelings, again, and I left you alone in the park. I didn’t even give you a chance to stop me and find out why.” Her voice becomes more rapid and a little distraught. As she talks, Flash places his hand on her shoulder. The act catches Sunset by surprise, but it also brings a familiar feeling of ease, one she has not experienced with anyone else.
“Sunset, you don’t have to apologize for anything,” he says with a sympathetic smile. “I understood what you were trying to say that evening.” Sunset gives him a puzzled look. Before he continues, he takes his hand off and shifts the straps of his backpack. “I pushed a little too hard that night, and that’s my fault. I did hope that something could happen between us again, errr... romantic stuff, but that night I got my answer. If you don’t want to be a serious couple, that’s... that’s fine with me, but I still want to be friends and I hope that evening doesn’t put a damper on our friendship. I’ll see you later.” Flash walks past Sunset and begins making his way to his car.
Sunset stands there for a brief moment, but for her, it seems as though time suddenly stops. Oh wow, nothing in Twilight’s plan said anything about this conversation doing a one-eighty, she thinks. I’m going to have to go off rails here to save this situation. Hopefully Twilight won’t be *too* mad I went rogue. Sunset turns and calls out to Flash, “Wait!” Flash stops and looks back. Sunset rushes to him and says, “You got it all wrong, that’s not what I was trying to say that night.”
Flash looks at her, perplexed. “Um, okay, what were you trying to say that night?”
“The truth is, Flash, I do want there to be something between us again,” Sunset confesses. “But I never realized how much I wanted it until that night.” Sunset holds one arm with the other and looks down. “And it freaked me out because a part of me was still afraid that if we got back together I’d end up hurting you again.”
Flash is taken back by her confession. On the one hand he was pleased that she also feels the same way she does, but on the other he doesn’t know how to process this sudden turnaround. Not to mention, this amounted to a love confession. “Um, wow, o-okay,” he finally says.
Sunset takes both of her hands and grabs his, holding them up between them at chest level. “Look, I know this is confusing and sudden, but know that I do have strong feelings for you,” she says. “However, before I can agree to anything, I need some time to think things over, alright?”
“Yeah... yeah, for sure!” Flash says, his heart racing, “Take as much time as you need!”
Sunset’s face lights up with a lovely smile. “Thank you,” she says, gratefully. Without even thinking, Sunset quickly pecks Flash on the left cheek. Flash’s eyes become wide open and his cheeks blush bright red. Sunset blushes back and smiles, “Just so you know I’m being serious. I’ll see you later Flash.” Sunset walks off, leaving behind Flash, who is rubbing his cheek in stunned silence.
After a minute, Flash pulls out his phone and dials Soarin’s number. The line rings for a few seconds then Soarin picks up. “Hey it’s me,” says Flash. “Could you meet me at my house? I’ve got something important to tell you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Are you serious?” Soarin exclaims. He had hurried over to Flash’s house and they are up in Flash’s room. Flash is leaning up against his desk and Soarin is sitting on the edge of the bed. Flash has just finished telling Soarin what happened out in the parking lot. Soarin may be in on the plot with the girls to get Flash and Sunset back together, but he did not expect Sunset to go *this* far. He was expecting her to just apologize but to actually confess her feelings and finish it off with a kiss, even if it wasn’t on the lips, was really unexpected. However, he can’t let Flash know what he’s in on.
“I’m being serious with you man,” says Flash. “I could hardly believe it myself.”
“Well, did you say anything?” Soarin asks.
“I just agreed to give her the time she needs to figure things out. After that, to show me she was serious, she kissed me on the cheek.” Flash nervously chuckles a little, “I was pretty much frozen with disbelief after that.”
“Dang man,” Soarin says as he leans back on the bed, his hands supporting him. “Hard to believe she turned around so quickly.”
“I don’t think it was a turn around,” Flash admits. “She said she always felt this way about me. I guess she’s just now coming to terms with her feelings.”
Soarin pushes himself off the bed and stands up. “So, what do you plan to do?”
“Like I said, she needs time to figure things out, so I’m just going to wait until she’s ready,” Flash says as he walks Soarin to the bedroom door. “But I’ve got a good feeling it’s going to work out.” Flash opens the door, and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom fall into his room from leaning up against the door. “Scootaloo!?”
The three girls look up at Flash and Soarin. “Oh, um, hey big bro,” Scootaloo says nervously. “We were just...um…”
“Making sure your door worked,” Sweetie Belle says rapidly. “Looks like it does, time to go check the others.” Sweetie Belle grabs Apple Bloom’s and Scootaloo’s arm and pulls them out of the room.
Before they’re out of sight, Apple Bloom quickly turns around and asks, “Oh Soarin, when are you gonna to tell my sister that you like her?”
“What?!” Soarin says.
“APPLE BLOOM!” shout Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle as they pull her away.
Soarin, unsure how to respond, stares into the blank space where Applebloom stood. His cheeks blush bright red from embarrassment. Flash laughs as his friend is the one uncomfortable for a change. Soarin looks over at his friend, his embarrassment still intact. “H-How did she know?” he asks, mortified.
Flash collects himself and wipes a tear from his eye. “I might have told Scootaloo when a rumor surfaced that you like Applejack.”
Soarin grabs Flash by both shoulders and shakes him saying, “Why would you tell her something like!?”
“Dude, calm down!” Flash says, pushing him away. “She was bugging me about it. I told her to make her go away. You would too if you had a little sister obsessed with shipping.”
Soarin puts his face in his hands and begins to groan in despair. Flash, though amused by his friend’s embarrassment, he walks to his side and wraps his arm around his shoulders. “How many more people know?” Soarin asks, looking up towards his friend. Flash shrugs, which doesn’t provide any encouragement for Soarin, who places his face back into his hands.
“Hey don’t knock yourself down about it,” Flash says. “So what if Applejack might know? If you just tell her how you really feel, I can assure you that your love confession won’t be as bad mine was.”
Soarin pushes Flash’s arm off his shoulders and steps away. “Oh sure, easy for you to say!” he says, throwing his hands up in the air. He turns around and points at Flash, “You’re already guaranteed to have a girlfriend by Friday!”
Flash looks at him quizzically. “‘Guaranteed?’ I said I have a good feeling that Sunset would want to go steady, I never said it was a sure thing to happen. And what do you mean ‘by Friday?’” Soarin’s eyes widen and his mouth tightens up, like a child who said a foul word to their parent. Soarin tries to respond but he fumbles trying to find a good answer. “Soarin, what’s going on?” Flash steps forward, trying to press his friend for information. Soarin grows more nervous, beads of sweat form on his forehead, his eyes dart from side to side.
Backed into a figurative corner, Soarin attempts to make an escape. “Oh jeez! Look at the time, I’ve gotta go, see ya!” Soarin rapidly says as he tries to leave the room, but he’s too slow for Flash. He grabs Soarin by the sleeve of his t-shirt and slings him back into the room. Flash closes the door and locks the door.
Flash stands in front of the door. He turns to Soarin, crosses his arms, and sternly glares at him. “I’m not letting you leave until I find out what’s going on,” Flash says. “Twilight was acting very suspicious this morning, Sunset just happened to meet me in the parking lot right after my fourth block, and now you’re acting like you have something to hide from me. Soarin, I’m your best friend, we’ve been together since kindergarten. You’ve got two options: either tell me now and you can leave or don’t and remain here until you do? What’s it gonna be?”
Soarin ponders for a moment; neither option is desirable. If he tells him the plan, it could ruin the entire operation. He remembers the last time the girls worked behind his back; it didn’t end well. If he remains silent though, who knows how long he will remain locked in this room, and he can already feel his stomach begin to grumble. He could also lie, but that idea doesn’t sit well with him. Between a rock and a hard place, he makes his decision.