'I am writing this to see if there are any survivors left out there. Together we have a better chance of survival. If any of you read this letter, meet me in the central battlefield at dusk, and together we will be able to get through this.'
Flash Sentry looked around the frozen wasteland that was the University of Canterlot campus after dropping the letter he found on the ground. The sun was setting with snowflakes still gently falling on the already covered ground. The bitter cold wind blew in his face.
There was nobody in sight; a huge difference from just a few hours ago when the war began. Everybody at the campus joined in the war, and Flash somehow survived this far. He watched so many fall by his very side for hours. There were so many close calls.
He walked in his thick winter boots, bundled up in his coat, crunching the cold white snow beneath him, looking for other people who were still alive. There was hardly anybody in sight. He looked up at the campus buildings, checking to see if there were any snipers in the windows or on the roof of any of the buildings. None. There was nobody left. All of the windows were closed with the curtains drawn.
There were still so many places to check for survivors, though. The university was full of students from all around the world, all with different fighting abilities. By sheer luck he survived this long, so there must have been better soldiers still out there. Looking for others was a chance that he was willing to take. It was a huge chance, because it could go one of two ways. If he found somebody else, they would either eliminate him, or become his ally. This wasn't like any normal war. It was full of savagery and deceit. It was a war where everybody was for himself.
The cold was starting to get to him after being outside for too long. He made his way into one of the central buildings of the campus. As he creaked open the front door, all was quiet. Only the echo of the squeaking door was heard. The hallway was quiet and dark as the lights had been shut off from the power outage. Only the few emergency lights were shining, and they were far and few between.
Each step the young man took down the hallway could have been his last. Every footstep echoed because of the silence.
Flash Sentry turned the corner. There was man sitting on the floor leaning his back and head against the wall. With caution, Flash stepped forward, his single weapon in his gloved right hand. Fear crept in as he wondered if the man sitting down was still alive. Flash approached closer and closer with carefulness.
"Is there anybody there? I can hear your footsteps," said the man sitting on the ground, stopping Flash in his tracks.
Sentry took a few steps forward. There was still no movement from the man sitting down.
"Yes, somebody is here," Flash said while approaching his schoolmate sitting on the floor. "Are you okay?"
The man sitting down opened his eyes. Flash could see his frightened pupils through the man's thick glasses. He was panting heavily. As he moved his head forward, his double chin bunched up.
"No, I am not. I am barely alive, having narrowly escaped death," the man said, then stopping to catch his breath.
"Buddy, it's just a snowball fight," Flash said to the rather large, nerdy man with sideways combed hair whom he recognised as a student from a few of his classes.
"It started off as just a snowball fight to distract us from the power outage," the man sitting down said, weakened from all the running he did earlier. "But that was until the dean announced that there'd be a prize for the last man standing."
"I never heard the announcement," Flash said quietly.
"That's because of the power outage. He was only able to tell whatever soldier he could find in person, and they would have to spread the word. But it didn't end up the way he wanted. When he announced that there was a prize we all turned on each other like a bunch of animals!"
"What was the prize?" Flash asked with intrigue. At first he thought it was just a game to distract the students, but now he realised that there was much more to it. The situation had become dire.
"'Was?'" the man responded while raising his voice, still sitting on the ground with his legs straight out. "This is not over! This is still happenin-" he was interrupted as he got shot in the face with a massive snowball from somebody down the hallway, letting out a blood curdling scream. The poor nerd never stood a chance. He fell over in defeat as Flash Sentry fled for his life, trying to wrap his mind around what was going on.
"Okay," Flash said to himself as he was still running. "This was just a game, right? What the heck happened?"
He ran passed the auditorium, the faculty lounge, and eventually to the dean's office.
He quietly slid open the door, hoping to see the head of the university working on papers or something. But Flash couldn't help but cringe as he saw that the dean was on the ground, covered in snow. He went over to see the poor man's face. He didn't stand a chance. His eyes were still wide open from the attack.
Flash turned around to walk back.
"Can you close the door when you leave?" Flash heard from behind him.
"Sir?" Flash asked while turning around. "Here, let me help you out."
"No," the dean replied. "If I stay down here I won't be attacked again."
"What happened?" Flash asked.
"Since the city expects the power to be out a few days, I knew that no learning would be done here. I decided to start the snowball fight for fun. I even said that there was a prize to raise school spirit. I just never thought it would turn out like this."
"What's the prize, sir?"
"A one hundred dollar Best Buy gift card."
Flash took off, not even saying goodbye to the head of the university. A gift card to Best Buy could pay for half of a new ipod, so Flash finally realised the seriousness of the war at hand. He knew he had to be the last man standing in order to win.
He passed through the hallways, looking for other students to fight, or join up with in order to last longer. The snowball in his hand melted, so he was now out of ammo, and he had nothing to protect himself from other warriors.
He made his way through the hallways of the residences, but most of the rooms were closed. The students who had already been eliminated had gone back to their rooms to wait out the storm. There was nowhere warm to go anywhere on campus, or even in the city.
Eventually, after going through the empty hallways with snow on the ground being the only thing left in them, Flash made his way to the gymnasium. He put his ear up to the door, listening for signs of life.
"Okay, so if we make an attack- wait. Do you hear that?" came one voice from the inside.
"Yeah... I think there's somebody at the door," said another voice.
Flash tried to turn around, but the door shot open.
"Halt, who goes there?" asked a young male student holding a snowball.
"It's me, Flash Sentry," Flash responded while hiding his face for protection with one hand. But he decided to take a look at who was threatening him. As he took his hand away from his face, he instantly chuckled at the sight.
"Flash Sentry? Never heard of you," said the tall, skinny student with thick glasses with tape down the middle.
"I'm no threat, I swear. I was looking to find people still in the game," Flash defended, staring the nerd directly in the eyes.
After sniffling due to the cold, the nerd guarding the door responded, "Game? You think this is a game?"
"Uh, yeah."
"This is real life we're talking about!"
"Um, yeah okay sure. So, can I join your team?"
"Yeah, why not," the guard replied, taking Flash into the gym and closing the door behind them.
Flash looked in awe at the group. It appeared that they were all students of science at the university. They were using their unused textbooks to light a fire in the middle of the gym as they appeared to be planning an attack.
Flash joined the group of about a dozen nerds in the middle of their huddle around the fire. He looked around the group, seeing if there was anyone who he could recognise. They were all smart students he had seen before around the school, but was previously unacquainted with any of them.
Well, all except one.
Sentry instantly cringed as he saw a lavender-coloured young lady he recognised.
'Oh lord. Please don't recognise me. Please,' Flash pleaded in his mind.
"Hey, you're the guy that said I danced with you!" the human Twilight Sparkle blurted out at the sight of the new member of their troop.
'Ah crap.'
"Uh, yeah. Yep. That's me," he responded awkwardly. "I'm that same weirdo."
"Whatever," Twilight responded. "Welcome to our team. We think there are only a few people still left in the war. We know that the chess team, musicians, jocks, and philosophy students are still alive."
"So let's go get em!" Flash responded excitedly.
"Snort. Not yet," the same male student who opened the door interrupted. "We need a carefully organized plan to get them."
"How about I just go out and find them and you guys all hide out while I draw them out?" Flash suggested. He didn't care too much about winning the gift card.
"That could actually work," one of the other male teammates said. "How about you and Twilight team up and find the other teams? The rest of us will hide out with our weapons ready. When you draw them out, we'll fire."
'Oh great. Now I have to team up with her.'
"Okay, fine. Let's go already," Flash said while getting up. "I'm cold and I want to stop wasting time."
Two nerdy female students poured buckets of water to put out the fire. The whole school was getting more and more trashed as time went on.
Flash and Twilight Sparkle slowly opened the door to the gym, took a quick look around, and, upon noticing all was clear, they went down the hallway with the other members of the team following. The trailing member pushed a wheelbarrow of snow for the rest of team as ammo.
Flash and Twilight ran quickly down the different hallways, looking through open doors and windows, hoping to find the other groups of soldiers still in the war. By this point the sun had set and the only light in the school came from the reflection of the full moon and stars through the window.
Soon, however, the two students found themselves alone in a dark basement hallway. The rest of their team was still yet to be seen. There was absolute silence. The only things that could be heard were their own footsteps and deep breaths.
"Okay, this is getting a little much," Flash whispered to Twilight as they took slow steps forward into the nearly pitch black hallway. Only one emergency light was on in the middle of the hallway's length.
"Tell me about it," she replied. "I just want the power to come back on so this madness can end I can get back to studying."
"Yeah, no kidding. I mean, this is fun and all, but everyone is treating it like it's a real war or something."
"Say, what was all that about at the concert? How'd you know my name and dog's name and stuff about me?"
'I should've seen this coming,' Flash's mind said as he rolled his eyes. Thankfully Twilight couldn't see his face in the dark.
"Um, I've just heard about you before and I thought you were cute, so I tried to pretend like I knew you so that I'd get to talk to you."
'Did she buy it?'
"Really?" the young purple woman responded. "You really thought I was cute?"
"I didn't think it, Twilight. I still do," Flash continued to whisper as he felt a pain in his stomach. He didn't like lying, but as of now, the truth would have seemed even more ridiculous. But there was some truth to it. He did really like Twilight. Only this wasn't the same Twilight Sparkle that he knew before. It was all still confusing to him.
"I can't believe it," the young lady said while playing with her hair a little as they continued to move down the hallway. "Nobody's ever had a crush on me. In fact, I hardly have any friends at all."
"Awe, really?" Flash responded. "Well, I'll be your friend if you want."
"I'd like that very much," she responded while giving him a bump with her elbow.
"What was that?"
"I just bumped you with my elbow."
"No, something else," Flash said. "I saw a shadow down there," he said while pointing to the other end of the hallway. By this point they were near the single emergency light, and their crew was still nowhere to be found.
Ca-clack.
"What was that?" Twilight asked upon hearing the sound of a door close.
"It came from down there," Flash said, pointing in the same direction of where the shadow came from. "Come on," he said while grabbing her hand and pulling her forward. The light was now behind them, so Flash couldn't see Twilight's blush.
He led her down the hallway quietly, eventually finding two doors across from each other, all the while still holding hands. The warmth between their palms was the only source of any heat in the cold basement.
"Okay," Flash said looking between both doors. He started to point back and forth. "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe!" he said while pushing in the door on the left.
He found himself staring a shadow directly in the face. Twilight let out a scream in fear. Flash could see the silhouette reach his arm upwards, about the fire his weapon.
"Wait!" Flash yelled out while using his phone's flashlight to shine directly into the face of the shadow.
"Ahh!" the man said while dropping his weapon. He was now fully illuminated from Flash's point of view.
"John?" Flash asked.
"Flash? Is that you buddy?"
"Yeah," Flash said while shining the light to his own face.
The two men, who met in the bar a few weeks ago, both having girl trouble at the time and recently became friends because of it, reached out and gave a manly hug to each other.
"Man, I thought you were dead!" John said with a smile as Flash was still pointing his light towards the ground.
"Dead? It's just a game, dude."
"Yeah, but it's the only thing I've got going on right now, and we'll probably never have something like this again. You gotta get more into it. A gift card is on the line here!"
"You know each other?" Twilight asked from the shadows.
"Yep," Flash responded. "We're in a few classes together, and we're going to play together at the talent show."
"Cool," Twilight responded.
Flash put his cell phone on the ground so that the light pointed up, allowing the three of them to see each other.
"Buddy, you never told me you had a girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend, Jonny Boy," Flash responded. "But we're partners for this battle."
"But, hey, you never know," Twilight responded cheerfully, causing Flash to look at her peculiarly.
"Anyways," Flash said, directing the conversation in another way. "We lost the rest of our team. You alone?"
"Yeah. I had teamed up with the musicians, but they're all eliminated by now. I just got out alive."
"Well, that's one team down," Flash said to Twilight. Turning to his male friend, he continued, "Well, the three of us can go together for now. There can only be one winner, but the longer we're together, the better chance we have of making it to the end."
"You got that right," John said while punching fists with Flash.
Sentry led the three of them out of the room with his flashlight,, to the stairwell, and back to the main floor above them.
"Oh! Oh lord!" John screamed out as they came out of the stairwell and into the upstairs main room, which was much better lit from the luminaries in the sky, as it had floor to ceiling windows.
The rest of Flash and Twilight's team had been defeated. There they lay on the cold, hard floor of the hallway, with snow covering them.
Flash ran over to one of the girls on the ground.
"Who? Who did this to you?" he asked.
"S-s-s..."
"Yes? Who?!"
"Sentinel and Optimus," she replied. "They're with the rest of the jocks. They know no mercy."
Flash looked to his two partners that were still left. "All right, guys, things just got serious."
Sentinel and Optimus- the two popular athletes at the school who had hazed Flash endlessly, who also lived on the same floor as him. Oh how Flash Sentry loathed them. The game was now on more than ever.
Ca-clack.
"They're still in the building!" John shouted out as the three of them heard a door close.
Flash shined his light to the other end of the room. He could see two figures running away from their group through the window of the wooden door that led to one of the staff lounges.
"Let's go!" Flash yelled, waving the two others over. They quickly grabbed handfuls of the snow used to defeat their teammates and went in hot pursuit of the two men who had defeated their whole troop.
Flash whipped open the door, letting his two teammates through. They entered the lounge and stood right in the middle.
"I know you're in here, Sentinel and Optimus," Flash said bravely, clenching the cold snowball in his bare hand.
"Are you sure it's just us in here?"
Flash, John, and Twilight looked around the room, hoping to find where the taunting voice was coming from. Flash gulped as he feared this was the end for the three of them. They put their back together, guarding all sides from attack.
The curtains were then pulled, making the room completely dark, other than Flash's phone light. He shined it around the room, but he couldn't find anybody. The light flickered a few times as his battery died, leaving them in complete darkness.
"Is it us you're looking for?"
"Are you scared? We can hear your breathing."
"Show yourselves," John shouted out.
Silence. All the three of them could hear was footsteps around them, but they couldn't see anything.
Twilight could feel a figure directly in front of her.
"Boo," Sentinel said to the girl while shining a light on her face. Twilight instantly screamed at the top of her lungs, smashing her right hand, full of snow, directly into the face of the man taunting her. "Ah crap, that's cold!" Sentinel yelled as he fell to the floor. "Optimus, run!" he yelled out as Twilight grabbed the flashlight the man dropped.
Optimus made his way out of the room as John and Flash missed hitting him.
"After him!" Flash yelled as they chased Optimus with Twilight flashing light along the way.
They followed the man, who went out the front doors and to the main courtyard. The three of them, still in pursuit, watched as he was shot with pile of snow, completely consuming him. The three of them watched in horror as the poor man flew backwards, being buried in a pile of snow.
"Where did that come from?" Twilight asked.
"Okay, I know I'll probably get shot the moment I go out there, but I have to see what caused that," John said.
"Yeah, that was freaking cool!" Flash added.
They opened one of the glass doors so that it shielded them from the direction of the attacker. They could hear the sound of a canon going off, instantly pushing the door back. The three of them all flew to the ground as a massive wall of snow hit into the door.
"You're gonna die!" shouted a loud, high-pitched female voice.
"Pinkie Pie?" Flash asked out loud as he pushed the door open even more and peeped his head around the corner.
"Oh, hey Flash!" Pinkie, dressed in a thick parka and behind a canon on wheels, responded.
"What is that?" John asked.
"This is my party canon, except I'm using snow. This summer I decided to make it because I thought it would be fun and help me throw epic college parties and make lots of more friends!"
"So... are you the last one left aside from us?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, hey Twily!"
"Uh, yeah, hey. Once again, I don't really know who you are," Twilight responded. "Anyway, can you answer my question, please?"
"I think so. I've knocked out soooo many people! This is the most fun I've had in ever!"
"So, Pinkie, are you just going to shoot us all away?" Flash asked.
"I wouldn't normally do that to you, Flashy, because we're friends. But since you're the last few people left-" she then shot a batch of snow. Flash jumped into Twilight, throwing the two of them into the snow on the grass, missing the blast. But he watched as his friend got blown away, flying a few metres back.
"No!" Flash screamed as he ran to his friend's side. Pinkie reloaded her canon. "John... John... speak to me!"
John groaned as he opened his eyes.
"Am I... am I dead?" he asked.
"I believe so," Flash replied with a comforting smile as only his friend's head was above the snow pile.
"Crap. I really wanted that gift card," John responded as he closed his eyes for good.
"I know buddy. I know. I'm sorry," Flash responded he closed his own eye and a tear fell down his cheek. "Stupid snow," he said as he wiped the water droplet off his face.
Flash turned around to watch as Pinkie Pie finished filling up her canon. Twilight consoled Flash by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Pinkie Pie!" Flash called out in anger as he turned to the pink-haired lady.
"Yes, Flashy?" she asked as she put the final bunch of snow into the canon.
"It's just you and me now," Flash said as Pinkie Pie put her full attention on the man, not noticing Twilight sneaking around.
"Well then," Pinkie said while lifting her hand to press her canon's fire button, "I guess you lose." She pressed the button, firing a load of snow directly at Flash. He dove to his right, narrowly missing the major blast. But, sadly, Twilight watched on as the poor man still received a small blow of snow that broke off from the main blast land right into his face, eliminating him.
"Yes, I win!" Pinkie shouted out in triumph while jumping up and down. As she landed from one of her jumps, though, she was face to face with the lavender girl.
"Not quite," Twilight said while hitting Pinkie in the face with a single snowball from point-blank range.
"Aww, not fair," Pinkie replied while wiping the snow from her face.
And thus Twilight Sparkle was triumphant, defying all odds, in being the last human standing in the great snowball war.
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Eventually the power came back on and the mess of the snowball fight was cleaned up. That was the students' punishment for taking the snowball fight way too far. Twilight didn't even get her gift card in the end. The staff was very disappointed in the student.
Flash returned to his normal routine, all the while practicing with his friend John for the talent show. Flash was going to play guitar and sing while John was going to play piano.
After quite a few weeks, the spring came, as well as the day of the talent show show. After much practicing, the two men knew that they were ready. They practiced a few of their own songs that they came up with while jamming together.
The two of them watched from beside the stage as all of the contestants showcased their talents, which including horrible singing, loud belches, poor 'magic' acts, and booty-shaking. They were a shoo-in to win.
As Flash and John took to the stage in the auditorium, they could hear the screams of all the single girls in the crowd. No girl was immune to the face of Flash Sentry. Flash looked out at the crowd, picking out Twilight Sparkle, who had become one of his friends after the epic fight, and winked at her. All of the girls in the area around Twilight swooned and fainted as they assumed Flash was winking at them.
All of them sat in anger as Flash stole the hearts of all of their waifus as he began playing his guitar and singing and John started playing the piano. They performed one of the songs that they had come up with while playing together one day a few weeks ago.
'This. Is. Awesome!' Flash said in his head as he wooed all the girls in the crowd with his epic guitar solo.
They finished the song, and took a bow together, applauding the crowd of their fellow students.
"That will be a tough act to follow," the dean said while taking the stage, applauding the performance of the two young men. "Thankfully, that was actually the last act on the day. And since these two are both still on stage, let's just give them the winning prize!"
Flash and John were ecstatic. They won the prize fair and square, which turned out to be a blue ribbon- a prize worthy of basically nothing.
After their killer performance, the crowd started to file out. Flash and John talked casually about how they killed it as they put their instruments away.
At the corner of his eye, Sentry could see Twilight standing there. John got pulled away by some other students who wanted to talk to him, leaving Twilight and Flash alone for a few minutes.
"Hey, um," Twilight started to say. "That was amazing!"
"Thanks, Twi," Flash responded to the girl, who was one of his newer friends.
"I was, um, I was."
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if you'd like to go out... um... with me," Twilight said while looking down, hiding her blush.
"Really? You're asking me out?" Flash replied.
"I'm sorry! It's weird. Forget it," she replied as she turned to walk away, but was stopped by Flash grabbing her arm.
"I'd love to! How about tonight?"
"Uh, yeah!" Twilight responded cheerfully. Her face was completely lit up with joy.
"I'll come pick you up at six. We'll go out to watch a movie."
"That sounds great!" Twilight said while biting her lip. She then turned to walk away. Flash could see the happiness in the girl by how she was moving her arms and hands excitedly, as if she had the jitters. He also felt good himself.
'She may not be the Twilight Sparkle I knew before, but who knows? Maybe she'll be just as good,'
As Twilight left, John came back and watched as Flash stared at Twilight walk away.
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Twilight Sparkle waited with excitement as she watched out her window for her new date to arrive. She didn't know what car he had, but she had told him her address, so as soon as a car would pull into the driveway she would know that it was him.
She patiently yet excitedly waited for an old Honda Civic or beat-up pick-up truck to pull into her driveway at any minute. What she didn't expect, though, was that Flash owned a somewhat new Chevrolet Camaro. Her eyes opened wide as she saw him pull up into her driveway and give a beep of the horn. She quickly ran to the front door, putting on her light jacket for the mild spring temperature.
Flash watched as his date for the night, his first official date since Sunset Shimmer, beamed with joy as she made her way down the front stairs and into the passenger seat of his car.
"Oh my goodness, this is amazing!"
"Thanks. Aside from my guitar, this is my one true love," Flash said with a grin.
"What about me?" Twilight asked teasingly.
"It's a little early to tell for that. We'll see," Flash responded as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
"So, where are we going?" Twilight asked.
"Somewhere special," Flash said while focusing on the road. "Say, why are you so excited?"
"Because it's my first date and I want it to go well," she looked over to Flash, who was nodding his head as a drove forward, almost to say 'not bad'. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that so early."
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you're excited. I am too."
He peaked over to see Twilight's smile, which made his heart feel good. But her smile quickly faded as he pulled into a restaurant parking lot.
"Uh, Flash?"
"Only the finest place for you, my date."
"McDonald's? Really?"
"McDonald's?" Flash asked in reply. "Oops," he joked as he drove pulled back and drove to the next restaurant over, Wendy's. "Ah, here we go."
"Are you kidding me?" Twilight asked.
"Okay, I'm sorry Twilight. I really cant afford much. I'm in college, after all. But I'll pay for your movie after this, though, I promise."
Twilight thought for a second, but then said, "All right," and popped out of the car. Flash held the door open for her as he let her inside.
Flash and Twilight ordered their meals together and sat down at the table with the window facing his car. They both chowed down into their combo meals. At the same time, they both had a tomato fall out of their sandwich, and they shared a loud laugh together.
"So, um," Twilight started.
"What's up?" Flash asked.
"I don't really know how to, well, date."
"Isn't that what we're doing now?"
"What do you mean?"
"We're having dinner together, getting to know each other, just the two of us. Isn't that dating?"
"Hmm," Twilight said while taking a bite. "I guess I've never really thought much about it before."
"I actually think it's going pretty well so far," Flash said. Something caught his eye, though. He looked behind Twilight to where somebody was ordering food at the cash. "Oh crap," he said while ducking down.
"What? What is it?" Twilight asked as she looked at the same direction her date was looking at. Flash continually kept his head low.
"Don't draw attention to us," Flash whispered.
"Why?" Twilight asked as she looked back again. The only person ordering food was a skinny, yellow-skinned young woman with red and golden hair.
"Just don't."
"Do you know her?"
"Yes. And she's nuts," Flash replied, talking about Sunset Shimmer.
Out of all the times and all the places—why here? Why now?
"I assume that things didn't go so well for you two?"
"They started well, but they sure didn't end well... oh crap," he said nervously as he watched Sunset turn around with her food and come right into their direction.
Sunset walked with her tray, sitting in the table beside the couple. As she took her first bite of her hamburger, she looked over and saw Flash Sentry clenching his teeth while trying to sneak away, with Twilight Sparkle sitting directly across from him.
"Oh come on!" Sunset screamed out as she threw her drink on the floor. "Are you kidding me, Flash?"
"Um, h-hi Sunset Shimmer," Flash squeaked out as he sat his rump back on his booth seat. "How's it going?"
"'How's it going'? It's going horribly! What do you think?"
Flash looked directly at Twilight with a face that just screamed, 'I'm sorry for getting you into this.'
Sunset continued to yell. "First you dump me and then fall in love with a pony named Twilight Sparkle after only a few days of her being a human, and now you're dating her human equivalent months later? What does she have that I don't?"
"Flash, human, pony... what is going on? You're into ponies?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Twi, no, I can explain... Actually, I can't. I don't know! I did think that you were the Twilight Sparkle I knew when I first saw you. That's why it seemed like I was acting all weird."
"Okay, you know what?" Twilight asked while getting up. "Forget the date. I'm taking the bus home. I don't want any part of this weirdness," she said, then getting out and leaving.
Flash tried to get up to stop her, but Sunset got in the way.
"Let her go. You don't deserve her," Sunset said.
"Sunset, you're a nutcase, you know that?"
"Come on, Flash. Why? Why does everypony love Twilight Sparkle but hate me? What did I ever do to deserve any of this?"
"E-everyPONY? Sunset, is there something you're not telling me?"
Sunset put her finger up in the air to start saying something, and then bolted in the other direction, leaving the restaurant and going into the parking lot.
Flash quickly reached back and grabbed his jacket, looking for his keys. He watched as he walked out as Sunset Shimmer got into her red Pontiac, speeding away, driving over the grass and curb to get onto the main street. Flash quickly ran to his car, turned it on, and sped away to catch up to her.
As he drove down one of the main streets of Canterlot, he watched as Sunset, who was quite the distance ahead, drove around like a maniac, nearly causing accidents. He drove as safely as he could, yet quickly, trying to catch up.
By this point the early spring sun had just set, and Flash wondered where Sunset was racing off to. He looked out his window momentarily, and stared directly at the full moon.
"Oh no," he said out loud. "The portal." His eyes then shot open. "Twilight!"
He stepped on the gas as hard as he could as he instantly thought of the Twilight Sparkle he danced with so many months ago. She left him as she came in- through the portal in the statue. The night of a full moon was when it opened, so he knew exactly where Sunset was going. And he needed to stop her fast.
He picked up the pace. He even got some luck as all the lights he passed were green. He watched as Sunset Shimmer drove her car onto the grass of their old high school. He quickly followed suit, parking right beside her car as she got out of it.
"Sunset, wait!" Flash shouted out, stopping the crazed young lady in her path.
"Flash, leave me alone. I need to make things right."
"And how are you going to do that?" he asked while looking up at the moon, trying to remember how much time he had left until the portal closed. He couldn't remember, though, as it was so many months ago.
"I don't have to tell you anything," Sunset shouted back.
"Okay, fine," Flash said, trying to stall as much time as possible while also trying to calm Sunset down. "But will you at least explain to me all this madness? I at first thought that the Twilight was out with tonight was the Twilight that I knew from before. Now it seems like you're a pony yourself. Why am I attracted to ponies?!"
Sunset seemed to calm down and take a breath. She looked at the man she used to love, who smiled back at her, hoping to calm her down. "Flash, ugh."
"Come on. Please, Sunset, I need to know what is going on."
"Fine," she said with an eyeroll and a sigh. "I'll tell you everything. There are two worlds, the human world, and the pony world."
"I think I sort of figured that out by now."
"I'm actually from the pony world."
"That I didn't know!"
"I was one of the rightful heirs to the throne, and the princess' main student. But then that was all taken away from me and given to another pony named Twilight Sparkle. The Twilight Sparkle who came here through the portal. The Twilight from tonight knows nothing of this."
"Okay. That would definitely explain why she didn't know me... Wait a minute... I fell in love with two different ponies?! Oh lord."
"Not really. The Sunset Shimmer you fell in love with was a real human..."
"What?!" Flash asked, feeling some anger deep inside him to go along with the confusion.
"That's right. You fell in love with a human. I just made her... disappear."
"You... you..." Flash started to say as anger engulfed him. "You psycho!" he screamed out as he jumped in the air, right on top of Sunset. He looked straight down at her, holding her arms and legs down.
"Ooh, it's been a while since you did this to me," Sunset flirted, ignoring the man's anger.
"What did you do to the Sunset Shimmer I fell in love with?" he demanded.
"Don't worry. She's still here somewhere. I just took over her life and sent her away."
"Sunset, she was the only girl I ever truly loved with all my heart. Why would you do that?"
"Because, I didn't get what I wanted back home, so I had to come up with a plan of revenge. When I found the portal accidentally, that was when I knew how I would do it. I figured out everything about this world, I took over the human Sunset's life, and I waited for my big chance to steal the crown when I would go back."
"You lied to me, you played me, you made me think you were the person I loved, and you're a complete psychopath."
"Wow, so many compliments!" she said sarcastically. "Listen, I wasn't always like this. But when what was rightfully mine was taken away from me, I stopped caring. All I wanted was to get back what was mine. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."
"Me? You've caused trouble in two different dimensions! You've made my ex-girlfriend disappear, you made my date leave me tonight, and you destroyed our school, controlled the minds of your schoolmates, tried to kill a whole lot of us. And now you're trying to say you're sorry?"
Sunset stopped to think for a second. All the bad she had caused. All the planning she had done for revenge. That really wasn't her. That wasn't the beloved pony that Princess Celestia had chosen as her apprentice. Somewhere along the way, she had just let her emotions get the better of her. She had never planned to go this far.
"Maybe I have done all that," Sunset said in a softer tone. "Okay, I'm sorry. But I really do want to make things right. So let me go. Please?" Flash looked down and saw that she wasn't angry anymore. In fact, she actually looked to be finally speaking genuinely. "Listen, please. After Princess Twilight went back to her own world, I just wanted to live my new life here. I just couldn't go back to the life I had. I gave up everything for revenge. Believe it or not, I actually dated you back in the pony world before I came here, just as you did with the human Sunset."
"Please stop. My brain hurts from all this stuff."
"No, just, let me finish. Please!"
"Fine, go ahead."
"I had everything. I had a colt- I mean, boyfriend who cared about me back home- the pony version of you. I was eventually going to become a princess myself. But when everything was taken away for me, all I wanted was to get it back. I'm sorry." Sunset closed her eyes. When she opened them, Flash could see that she actually had a few tears in her eyes. "I just... I just want to make things right now. And then Princess Twilight let me stay here to learn about friendship, but this isn't my home. I don't belong here. I'm not a human. I have to go back. If you let me go, I'll go back to where I came from and I'll make things right."
Flash Sentry softened up his grip on the girl. He then let go, and helped her out. "Fine."
"Thank you," she replied, then kissing Flash on the cheek. "I'll make things right, I promise."
Flash sighed. "Take care, Sunset. I hope it goes well."
"Thank you again," Sunset replied as she walked over to the portal. She waved one final time as she stepped into it, transferring back to the pony world just before the portal closed for yet another month.
--------------------------------------
After spinning and twirling her way back into the pony world, Sunset Shimmer gathered herself together. Her mane was thrown around all over the place.
Everything was quiet. Everything was as it was since the last time she was there in the Crystal Palace.
She quietly made her way into the hallway, using her stealth skills to get past some of the guards.
"Ha, it's just as easy as before," she said as she ran down the final hallway, eventually making her way outside and into the quiet streets of the Crystal Empire. But she still had a long way to go to get back to Canterlot.
As she made her way to the train station, she stopped by one of the stores. On the window was a poster, an advertisement. "Two weeks to go until the royal wedding!" She looked at the picture of the two ponies. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry.
The anger that Sunset had at times instantly crept back into her.
"Forget making things right," she said as she looked on at the poster with envy. "She took my mentor, she took my crown, and now she took my stallion. Now it's time for her to pay."
