Flash and Twilight attended the same university––Ponyville University––and although they did see each other every now and again, they hadn’t really spent too much time together as friends. The last time that Twilight could honestly say that she saw Flash was when he came over to her apartment last night and spent time with her roommate, Tempest. It became clear that the two would have a lot of catching up to do.
“Why don’t we start with our Ponyville introductions?” Flash suggested as he went first, “My name is Flash Sentry, I’m 20 years old, my major is in criminology, and an interesting fact about me is that I enjoy cooking.” His smile faltered for a bit, “although, you already knew that about me.”
Twilight giggled, “Yeah, I did, but I’ll play along. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m 19 years old, undecided for a major, and an interesting fact about me is that I’m a superhero.” Her expression saddened for a moment, “or rather…I used to be.”
…
A silence filled the air. Twilight mentally kicked herself for making the atmosphere around them awkward again. Like things weren’t embarrassing enough with the two of them in such a small room.
“A-anyways,” Flash began, desperate to change the subject, “you’re an undecided major?”
“Yeah,” Twilight confirmed. “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing, it’s just that I would’ve thought you’d choose something like robotics, or chemical engineering, or mechanical engineering, or literally anything that involved engineering.” Flash said.
Twilight twirled a strand of her hair, “I’ll admit that I did have some interest in those… but nothing that I wanted to make a full-time career out of.” She looked over to Flash. “What about you? I’m quite surprised that you chose criminology of all things. I would’ve thought you’d go for something in the musical category.”
Flash tensed up upon hearing that, “Yeah…well…see the thing is…” Flash fumbled with his words, “I’ve always wanted to do something good, you know, in some way to better help the community. I want to become a police officer or maybe something along the lines of a detective.”
“Really? What made you want to do that?” Twilight asked.
“Let’s just say…I inspired myself to become one.” Flash answered.
Silence filled the room once again. If there was a clock, the two would’ve noticed that it had only been minutes of them talking to each other. It was clear that if they were to make any progress in escaping the room, they’d have to find something more discussion-worthy to talk about. Thankfully, Flash thought of something.
“Hey, Twilight,” he began, “why did you want to attend Ponyville University?”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone as talented as you could’ve gone anywhere. You could’ve gone to Discord Tech, or Grogar College of Science, or literally any other kind of science-based institute,” Flash listed. “So why did you choose Ponyville?”
“To be honest, it was because you and Shimmer were going there,” Twilight admitted. Flash remained silent, letting Twilight explain herself. “After we closed up the portal, everyone went their separate ways. Sunset went back to Equestria, Rainbow Dash joined the army, Fluttershy took that job at Whitetail Woods, Pinkie Pie went to Appleloosa College, and Rarity and Applejack both went to Manehatten University. I chose Ponyville University because it offered programs I was interested in. And because two of my friends were going there,”she finished, to which Flash nodded in understanding. “Although, it didn’t really do much good, seeing as how you and I never so much as spoke to each other.”
Flash avoided Twilight’s gaze, “Yeah…that’s a little on me.” Flash admitted.
“It’s fine,” Twilight said. In truth, she couldn’t really blame him––a college life schedule made things difficult, if something didn’t align with someone else’s schedule then there was no chance of it happening. “What about you?” She asked, turning the topic to Flash. “Why did you decide to go to Ponyville University?”
Flash shrugged. “Same reason as most other college students; scholarships, location, classes––you know, the basic reasons.”
There was the sound of footsteps above them again. The two looked upwards, eyes following where the sound was coming from.
“Is it concerning that I forgot we were kidnapped for a minute there?” Flash asked.
“To be honest, I completely forgot as well,” Twilight admitted.
Flash cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, “HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!”
“Ow!” Twilight winced, not expecting Flash to start screaming.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Could you maybe, I dunno, not do that?” Twilight yelled, glaring at Flash.
“Do you have a better idea?” Flash said, all ears for any other plan that Twilight might have.
Twilight opened her mouth, only to close it as nothing of value came to her. Without any reason to argue or any counterpoints to make, she also cupped her hands over her mouth and joined Flash in screaming at the ceiling.
Suffice to say, their screaming did nothing but tire their throats. They spent an embarrassing amount of time hollering before giving up. Having exhausted themselves from screaming, they had lost all energy for conversation and waited in silence for something to happen next.
*CLUNK*
Their prayers were answered by the signature sound coming from the refrigerator. Without a word, Flash and Twilight approached the fridge, crouching down to be at eye level with it. The two shared a look, saying nothing but only giving a nod to each other as Flash gripped the handle and opened the fridge door. Inside were all the ingredients needed to make two sandwiches, along with some bags of chips and water bottles.
Twilight kept the door open, and Flash began taking the food out of the fridge and setting it on the counter. Once the fridge was fully empty, Flash took the broken handle from the snapped pan moments ago. He tapped against the walls on the fridge, testing them on their density.
After doing this, he shook his head, “There’s no way we’re gonna break through. Not with this, anyways.”
Twilight let out a sigh. She hated to admit it, but Flash was right. There was no way for them to make so much as a dent with what they had with them. Before she could say anything else, the refrigerator door suddenly swung and closed itself. There was an audible click sound, indicating that it had locked back up.
“Well, so much for that plan,” Twilight muttered, standing up again.
Flash watched as Twilight sat back down on the bed, her expression defeated and depressed.
In the end, you can’t help anyone.
The hateful words of someone Flash knew echoed within his head. It reminded him of his helplessness, and he hated that feeling. But it reminded him of what he was good at, if he couldn’t get them out of this mess, he could encourage the one that could.
He stood up and put a reassuring arm on Twilight. “Hey, it was a good idea,” Flash said, putting on his best smile.
“If it was a good idea, we’d be out of here already,” Twilight huffed.
Flash kneeled down, being eye level with Twilight, “Any idea is better than nothing. I mean… nothing was ever achieved right away. Everything and anything that anyone ever succeeded in was done through constant trial and error until they got it right.”
Twilight looked to Flash with a half-smile, her confidence slowly returning, “You know, you’re right!” She stood up from the bed and scanned the room once more, new ideas forming in her head.
“I take it you’ve already thought of a bunch more ideas?” Flash asked.
“Yep,” Twilight nodded, “but I’m going to need a hand to make them work. Mind lending me some support?”
Flash tossed the broken handle in the air. It spun for a few seconds before falling back into his open palm. “Lead the way.”
With that, the two went off to try many more escape attempts.