It was the day before New Years Eve. Flash, Comet, and Comet’s other best friend Cheese Sandwich were at the market buying snacks and drinks for their upcoming New Years Party at Cheese’s house.
Flash had been introduced to Cheese the day after he signed the transfer form, when the twins brought him to their school’s playground to meet their group, composed of them, Cheese, and Moondancer’s friends Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine. At first, Comet had been slightly worried that his two best friends might not get along, or worse, fight for his attention. Fortunately, no such thing had happened. Both Flash and Cheese were perfectly alright with Comet having another best friend and had gotten along quite well, and so Flash had become part of the twins’ group. Moondancer’s friends had been happy to meet him too. The entire group (especially Comet) assured him that he was going to love it at Hayton Central. Now the boys were taking care of the food for the party tomorrow night. Micro, Derpy, and Sandalwood had also been invited and given directions.
“We definitely need to get these”.
“And these.”
“Guys, I think we’ve got enough stuff to keep us up all night.” Flash interrupted. Their cart was filled with sodas, cookies, chips, ice cream, and a cake. “And besides we’re still ordering pizza.”
Comet and Cheese looked at each other and shrugged, then put their last suggestions (a box of brownies and one more bag of chips) into the cart. “Alright” said Comet “let’s go.”
After they paid for their stuff and left the market, they walked to Flash’s car in the parking lot, loaded the food in, and began driving to Cheese’s house.
“So she decided to erase their memories just because she wasn’t well known?” Cheese asked.
“Yeah, apparently.” Flash replied. He had just told them about the memory stone incident with Wallflower Blush.
“Is every girl in that school bonkers?” Comet asked, shaking his head in annoyance.
“Comet, you know it’s not nice to say that. Is Derpy bonkers?”
“That’s different. She’s our friend.”
Eventually they reached the house and started to unload. The girls had been getting decorations and setting them up. In the living room was a plastic ball Cheese had designed to looked just like the New Years one.
“Hey boys!” chirped Minuette. “The cooler’s in the backyard.” They proceeded to put their cold drinks in there.
The next evening, after everything was set up, Flash, the twins, and First Base and his best friend Button Mash went to Cheese’s house. The entire drive, Flash had been very quiet. When they got to the house, Comet pulled him aside.
“You alright man?” Comet asked his best friend.
“Yeah, bud.” He answered in a toneless manner. “Just started thinking about, well you know, again. I just can’t get it off my mind.”
“Flash, I think you’ve been in that school a little too long. We’re men, and men don’t need to be protected by interdimensional witches.”
“Not the most polite way to put that Comet, but yeah you’re right.” Flash smiled. “Let’s go get crazy.”
“Now you’re taking!” Comet said eagerly. They headed inside with the others and found the rest of their friends from CHS talking with Cheese. When they heard them coming, they turned.
Micro Chips turned pink in the face when he laid eyes on the smarter twin. “Hey, Mo-Moondancer.” Micro stammered. Flash and Comet rolled their eyes. This had been a thing since their younger days.
“Hi, Micro. It’s been a while, hasn't it?” Moondancer replied with a smile. Micro let out a rather childish giggle, causing Comet to give him a look, and Flash and the others to snicker.
“I haven’t heard you make that sound in years.” Sandalwood remarked.
“Not since the last time they were in the same room.” Flash added. Micro blushed in embarrassment and cleared his throat. Derpy ran forward and hugged the twins.
A little later, after the party was in full swing and all introductions, old and new, had been made, a very interesting pair of conversations happened. It started with Micro asking Moondancer for some alone time to catch up, and her quickly catching on to what he was really implying and replying with “Sorry Micro. It's not you, I’m just not really in a dating mood. I’ve sort of had a really bad experience.”
“Oh. Okay.” Micro replied, looking glum. “So, what happened?”
“I’d rather not talk about it. But I wouldn’t mind studying with you.” That brightened Micro’s face a bit.
Comet tapped Flash on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow with a head gesture. The two went upstairs into a room and Comet shut the door behind them. “So what was that about?” Flash asked. They had seen and heard the prior conversation.
“Listen, you can’t tell anyone that I told you this, okay? And I mean that. Especially Moony.”
“Promise.”
“A while back, this guy came to visit the school. He seemed like a nice fella, but he didn’t really want to talk to me, Cheese, or any of the other guys. He was only interested in the girls, especially Moony. He really liked the “smart ones”. Cheese and I found out. When we told Moony, she was so mad, she …” Comet paused, clenching his fists. “I wanted to beat him up for it, and almost did, but the principal would have expelled me.”
Something about this person’s description felt familiar to Flash, but he couldn’t quite place it “What was his name?”
Comet quickly glanced at the door, then mentioned for Flash to come closer and whispered “Timber Spruce.”
Flash froze in shock, his eyes widening.
“You okay, dude?”
“Y-Yeah.” Flash stuttered, regaining his composure. “Just wasn’t expecting that guy. We went on a trip to the camp he works at with his sister a while back.”
“He didn’t flirt with Derpy or anyone else, did he?” Comet asked, visibly alarmed.
“No.” Flash quickly declared. He knew Comet would probably do something really irrational if he found out the full story. “Well, sort of, but no one flirted back.”
Comet looked at him closer.
“Look Comet, it doesn’t matter, okay? Besides, we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves right now, not getting angry or sad .”
“Alright, fine. But I’m telling you dude, stay away from that guy.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
With that, the two went back to the party. When the ball dropped on TV, everyone in the room counted down and shouted “Happy New Year!” together. Sometime later, Flash and Comet lay on the floor in Cheese’s room in sleeping bags, while the others slept in other rooms. But the intense sugar rush combined with their conversation earlier had left Flash awake for a while. Eventually he did fall asleep, but he still could not take his mind off what Comet had told him.