Fading Legends

by IHateFanficUnlessItPays

Introductions Are In Order

It had been many years since the events in the human world at Equestria High’s Fall Formal that caused 5 young girls to believe in magic and other worlds. Since then, they’ve all grown into adults, they have reached out to the human version of Twilight Sparkle and made close friends with her (though Flash Sentry hasn’t met this version yet), and have mended their relationship with Sunset Shimmer, and have all gone on to either work jobs or go to college, while remaining close with each other of course.

Flash Sentry, did odd jobs around, sometimes they were even gigs for his band but most often they weren’t; he thought sometimes about joining the police academy but was too indecisive at the moment to make a life decision.

Pinkie Pie became a manager and baker at her favorite café, Sugar Cube Corner, she uses that money to fund her hopefully break out job as a unique party planer.

Applejack started to slowly take over the family business, selling the apples to wholesale grocers and trying to get a brand name cider in the works. All the while still keeping the family owned farm tradition strong.

Rarity got a dream job, apprenticing for a regionally known fashion designer and critic, but she got time to perfect her own works too and is getting notice from some prominent people in MANhattan.

Fluttershy still volunteers at the animal shelter but is getting some college in too. Double major in business and veterinary training; probably for her own shelter.

Ha. She’ll go any distance for the woodland creatures.

Rainbow Dash is also going the college route; she got a scholarship for being a great athlete. There was even talk of her getting on the under 25 US women’s soccer team. But it never fell through for unexplained reasons, she’s happy regardless. She coaches a lot of professional high school league teams on the side.

Twilight Sparkle, not being a pony princess but still being the exact same kind of girl as pony Twilight, went to college as well but didn’t hold any jobs. She was studying general education, which might seem like a basic starter to college or even a cop out to some people, but she took the Advanced Placement of all those classes AND took all the variations available from obscure agrarian history to pop art. Yes pop art, regular art appreciation was full early that semester.

And of course Sunset Shimmer was busy too, she is working like a bee all around the city, she is cheery most of the time unless you provoke her. She could become either apathetic to you or a total shitstorm based of how much of an idiot you were.

The others went on in life as well, Vinyl Scratch got a DJ job, and she is deciding whether being a producer or getting a record deal was what she wants. She got success alongside her close friend Octavia who, with Lyra Heartstrings, was allowed to join a huge well-known city orchestra. Berry Punch got a bar-tending license, fitting considering her nature for fun. Bon Bon gets treated to many things actually, having found a rich boyfriend, Trixie has her own small shop where she sells trinkets and gives palm predictions. And Derpy… no one knows what she does for living expenses, but they all don’t realize that she is a genius with money. As for the multitude of others… they live their lives anonymously, but all who were at the school carry something of value from that one night.

Life though… is not predictable.

Two men, Max and Johnny, have lived downstate where serious money could be made if you knew how to conduct you business, whether that business was legal or not. They lived a good life, not great, but they set limits on their ambitions so that they wouldn’t fail and be happier for it. Well that almost worked. It was a coastal city so they couldn’t of been too disappointed...

They were moving however, wanted to escape their life of woes and exchange it for one where they could live it their way. They made deals and sold off almost everything they owned down there that wasn’t sentimental. Next thing they knew they were on there way north to Max’s distant cousin Flash Sentry each with nothing but a duffle bag, and a large backpack FULL of money. They were still relatively young after all; it seemed like the perfect bad idea to do just that.

After a difficult time at security (caused by unkempt bundles of money in a backpack), they were boarding a commuter plane at the airport and with one final gesture, Max and Johnny flipped off the downtown skyline of their former city, stepped on the plane and were never to return again.

The plane was getting close to landing when Johnny finally spoke,

“Hey man, wake up, the planes landing” he said nudging Max while still looking out the window. “Will your cousin be there? It’ll be good to see him again after all these years.”

“I know what you… *yawn* mean” Max said as he turned his head side to side, cracking his neck.

“Attention passengers, we will be arriving at the airstrip shortly. Because this is a smaller local airport, we will be unloading you bags immediately on the tarmac in front of the gate for pick up so please stay by the plane…” the stewardess addressed over the intercom.

“Works for me” said Max excitedly.

“…and please enjoy your stay in… *static* -ille.”

“Yes! We are free of that life sucker of a city!” Johnny said with enthusiasm.

"I hope we can meet some new friends in this town, wonder if Rainbow Dash and some others still live here" Max said thinking out loud as he secured his backpack.

"I heard she's got some fashion world big-shot named Rarity as a friend" Johnny said responding to Max's thought.

Max nudged Johnny with his elbow, "Oh and you would definitely know the ins and outs of the fashion world you doll you."

"Shut up and sit back, wouldn't want your neck to snap when we land because you're an idiot" Johnny said as he defended his honor.

The plane landed and taxied into what was less of a gate and more of a plane sized parking spot. The plane emptied, the two men grabbed their bags and saw a familiar sight on the other side of the chain link fence they were headed to.

Chilling on the hood of his Challenger was Flash Sentry. He spotted someone waving wildly at him from the tarmac.

“Flash! Flash get over here!” Max said playfully aggressive, opening his arms.

“Maaaaaaax!” Flash said running over arms extended. He and Max exchanged a quick but tight hug before shaking hands and continuing. “Dude I haven’t seen you in forever! You guys are really staying for good?”

“Yeah-”

“Hell yes we are!” Johnny said cutting Max off.

“John!? Jeez you look different!” Flash shouted. Johnny was a tall tan man with long dark hair and wore a black tank top and small dark jeans, not skinny, but small. He USED to look like a Hispanic Goth, meaning the black clothing suiting him well, but the pale makeup and straitened black hair didn’t. He was also really ripped which made the tight clothe he wore seem like they were going to rip off, not helping his past image.

“We call him Johnny now” Max said gathering up his stuff with a grin.

Max on the other hand was roughly the same size as Johnny. Max wasn’t AS muscular as he was though, and just a few inches shorter. He worked out hard as well, its just Johnny got results faster. He had brownish blonde hair that was a little long in the back, not as long as Johnny's. His hair was wavier and less kept and he had a thin beard that he made sure never remotely got into the bushy stage, proving he DID groom himself, but overall he had this aura of ruggedness about himself. And he carried himself with a sense of power; Johnny did too but where he intimidated with his power, Max kept it hidden.

“Why do we call him Johnny now?” Flash said jokingly while he patted Johnny on the back.

“It’s a reference to vicious punk goth cartoon killer” Johnny said, his face blank but his eyes giving the tell tale sign of anger and annoyance. He got up his stuff and started walking to the car with the others.

“Well you may have once looked the part, but now you’re the toned down Mexican version of that now” Flash said grinning and joking.

“Don’t be dissing my people” Johnny said in an accent like he was a native from a foreign land.

“Hahaha, well Johnny sounds a little childish don’t you think?” Flash said appeasing Johnny’s side of things.

“Oh yeah and Max isn’t?” Max chimed in.

“That’s your name ain’t it?” Flash said turning his gaze over to his cousin.

“Come on, when do you ever see someone named Max who isn’t a kid!?”

“Hey, Max is a good name… as long as you plan to be childish the rest of your life!” Flash barely said without laughing at his own joke.

“LAME! Well I guess it’s a good name, because I am always at MAX power!” he said as he stopped, struck a hero’s pose and wore a purposefully stupid grin.

“Lame! Lame! You’re both idiots!” Johnny said now quickening his pace to the car and sticking his nose in the air.

“Don’t deny… you love us!” Max yelled as he ran to the car to meet Johnny.

Flash walked up fast, only to hear, “It’s only cause you put out so often” being said from Johnny before he punched Max hard in the shoulder when he was trying to put his bags in the trunk.

“You guys are nuts… as random as Pinkie Pie” Flash said laughing.

"Whose Pinkie Pie?" Max said confused.

"Inside joke, get in the car guys!"

Flash grinned as he got in the car and turned on its monster of an engine. “You guys like this!? *VROOM* I bet you do, what’d you guys drive down there!? *VROOM* A convertible!?”

“Yeah, but we’re already getting another convertible here that’ll make this look like a pussy car in comparison!” Max yelled over the engine before Flash put it into gear and started to leave.

“I highly doubt that… unless your referring to this car as a chick mag-”

“Nope, never, not on your life; THIS convertible is a 1969 red, restored Ford Galaxie with a white hard convertible top. Restored to new using ORIGINAL model parts; original muscle car.” Max said reading proudly down the list of details off his cellphone.

“No way… holy cow!” Flash said, eyes wide and mouth open.

“More like holy shit! The only reason this guy is selling it is because he put so much work into it that he can’t afford to keep it” Johnny said from the back seat. Barely fitting into the back seat.

“That’s sad” Flash said, no longer in astonishment.

“That’s why we are giving him an extra 1500 on the offer,” Max said opening up the backpack in between his legs to reveal a giant glob of money, “it should help him out some and ease the pain of never truly enjoying his own car.”

“That is too generous!... WAIT! Where the he- How the- Where did you get all that money!?” Flash now paying half attention to the road, and the other half to the greenbacks. “Did you kill someone? Did you rob a bank? Are you couriers for some scheme?”

“Hehe jeez Flash you always lose your cool around us at some point, um no. We sold off our condo, and all the belongings with it, we made deals with businesses and agencies regarding our business, now thankfully closed, and cashed in all that was owed.” Max said very business like, even if he laughed awkwardly at first.

“We also paid all our debts, we lost quite a lot of money there but we didn’t want ANY ties to the city” Johnny said as he opened his backpack to make sure the money was still there, though he knew it would be.

“I always heard you guys were making it big down there, what did you leave with?” Max asked calmly.

Grateful that he hadn’t asked what they did for a living Max responded, “3.7 million dollars between the two of us.”

“NO FUCKING WAY!” Flash swore loudly, as he never swears usually.

“Business was good, we couldn’t really touch the money though until we liquidated it” Johnny said leaning in from the back seat.

Max was glad that the ride was going smoothly until he realized that by Johnny mentioning the business that Flash was surely going to ask what they did, he immediately started to think about how he would put it should and then…

“What did you guys do to make a such a living?” Flash asked seemingly in slow motion.

“We uh…” Max facepalmed and then said bluntly, “we cleaned pools.”

Max immediately turned away and looked out the window, avoiding whatever gaze Flash might have been giving. Flash looked at him and then at Johnny who had a confused look on his face that said why did you just say that!? before just hanging his head and leaning back into his seat.

“How could you make that much money doing that?” Flash asked trying to not make them more embarrassed.

“We owned a business that went all around the city cleaning public, private, and hotel swimming pools. It’s a big business in vacation cities with lots of resorts” Max said a little less awkwardly.

“Dude, I don’t care that you guys did that, I mean you owned a business at 25! It may have been manual labor but dude!” Flash assured them.

Johnny leaned forward again and Max faced forward again and they all gave a little laugh.

“OK yeah your right, sorry about the awkwardness bro” Max said.

They continued to drive into town passing a large apple orchard on the outskirts of the city. This was a truly interesting place to live, nature was right there on the border of the city, it had both a modern downtown feel and a rustic town feel in the different districts, its industrial area was mostly abandoned but not decrepit, it felt like you were just minutes from the coast even though they had a large lake not an ocean, and you could do so many things with days; spend you day life in the town district, and your nightlife in the city district.

“Dude, this place looks awesome. Why did we ever leave?” Max said with his eyes glued to the scenery.

“So is this a city or just a town?” Johnny asked from the back seat, him having moved away from here a lot earlier than Max did.

“Yes.” Flash said as if that answered the question perfectly.

“…OK.” Johnny said deciding to not press a nonissue.

Max saw a barn over in the distance through the apple trees. He then saw a sign above a dirt road they were passing that read 'Sweet Apple Acres'. Though being a native to the area he hadn't actually known about this place so he decided to find out.

"Hey Flash, who owns this orchard? I always thought these were just random apple groves until I saw that barn."

"Oh this is owned by a friend of a friend actually. The Apple family. They're a good bunch, Applejack who runs it was in school with me actually" Max answered.

Johnny looked out his small back window and saw a glimpse of a farmer girl finishing picking some apples, her blonde hair got caught in the wind for a second and Johnny immediately went to Forget Applejack whoever he is, that girl is the only interesting thing about the farm in his mind.

The rest of the ride was uneventful until they enter the city limits.

They headed over to an upper end apartment complex. The men wanted to live nicely, so they thought about getting themselves a good place, to live as anonymous millionaires before they left their old city. The top floor 3-bedroom corner apartment they found and bought was a great place do just that; not penthouse on a sky rise, but not a 2-bedroom half condo either.

The 3 men all together went together to their new home, and looked around. The landlady came in, turned out it was Luna. Luna owned these apartment buildings on the side, she rented and sold them out to young people mostly, these buildings were also quite close to the nightlife. When she came in she wasn’t wearing business casual, she was wearing casual casual. And she looked good doing it. Her hair was flowing and almost looked alive too.

“Remember boys, if you ever need help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. My sister and I love to help out impressionable minds” Luna said… casually.

“So we can call you for help with ‘anything’?” Johnny asked suggestively.

Luna shot them all an evil eye, locking eyes with everyone, even Flash because he’s a former student, but she gave a long evil glare to Johnny. Then she changed her demeanor back to calm and collected and headed out the door.

“Remember to behave” Luna said as she closed the door.

The second she was gone, the 3 men all let out very silent yells and were throwing their hands in the air in excitement and looking around while whispering to each other “oh my god did you see her!- she was so hot!- yes I can’t believe this place!- look at the space!-”

Max broke the secretive celebration when he spoke up, “Gentlemen, we, and by we I mean me and Johnny there, are so young and yet have gone through so much shit in our lives. It is now time for us to enjoy our young years before settling down, with jobs we love and women we love more! I congratulate you all, and by that I mean myself and Johnny, for where we’ve been and where we are going!”

Flash just smiled and rolled his eyes at the speech, and Johnny screamed “WOOO!” before falling backwards onto one of the few pieces of furniture that came with the apartment.

“You guys can make those millions last a long time if you don’t go crazy on the high life partying” Flash said.

“That’s bold talk coming from a man who barely passed high school 2 years ago” Max said patting Flash on the back. He guided Flash to the bay window in their living room and said, “We know what the high life can do to the young and impressionable, but we know our limits, remember, of the entire class we were in, we were the ones with the strongest convictions.”

“I know man, I’m just joking. You guys will be good with the money I’m sure” Flash said trying to get out of the shoulder hold Max had him in.

“That said… we did set aside a million of that money for about 3 years of semi-high life living. What do say? Your free to come live with us, extra bedroom remember?” Max said now being sincere and releasing Flash.

“You asked me that many times since before your move, I’m happy where I’m at now, but someday maybe” Flash said equally as sincere.

“Fair enough. This is our new life man!” Johnny said getting up off the ataman he was slouched over.

“Yes it is, and tomorrow we need to get you orientated with the surroundings. Maybe make you some friends too other than me” Flash said.

“Me and Johnny are always looking for new friends, but I’ll admit, I don’t like JUST friends” Max confessed.

“What Max means is we make friends for life, not just in passing” Johnny said seriously, “I try to do that too, after what we went through its all we hope for in life.”

“That city really did drain you guys huh? Well no worries, I know a group of people I’ve been meaning to catch up with anyway. You like these girls” Flash said reassuring them that they were good friends. Though the looks Max and Johnny had when Flash mention girls didn't give off the sense that they needed reassuring.

They agreed that they would start making the rounds tomorrow, and started to unpack. Life seemed to go good, and it would, for a while at least. The two men did leave out a key detail of their lives, which they had dealt with and wished to never bring up to their friend Flash or anyone. It was behind them though.

But again, life isn’t predictable.

Flash Sentry left the building to let his 2 new friends finish unpacking. He was walking to his car when he got a phone call. He wondered who would call so late, so he looked up at the apartment but the lights were out.

"Uh hello? - Oh hey Vinyl! Why are you... you finished a show. - Yeah I don't know why I thought anyone else would possibly call me at this hour. - Yeah sure I can help record guitar for a new track next week, wait while were on music, could you make yourself available for a party? - Two friends just moved back into town after like ten years and I wanna show them a good welcome... - No they're really cool, I'm sure you'll like them, say know anyone who can help with parties?..."

Flash Sentry continued talking with Vinyl Scratch as he went to his car. But the two men in the apartment were far from asleep like the lights suggested.

In each of their bedrooms, Max and Johnny kept the lights dimmed and shades closed as they unpacked the money from their backpacks. They also took out special notebooks with lost of black ink covering what was once written on the front. Johnny threw his across the room at the wall, and Max folded his as he put it in the closet's crawlspace. And lastly, they each took out from their duffle bags a sealed metal case.

Inside were handguns. Max and Johnny each carefully loaded their guns, and cocked them with the safety off. They then put a guard on the trigger that kept it from being pulled but could be pushed out of the way on a moments notice. They did this professionally and with ease like this was just second nature. Both men then slipped them under their mattress and went on unpacking. This was their new life, but the self-protection routine they both practiced was not so easy to leave behind.