//------------------------------// // Chapter II: Fell // Story: Decade // by Hap //------------------------------// Chapter II: Fell “Wait just one second, mister!” Twilight exclaimed immediately after sitting down on the velvety cushion next to the table. Spike inhaled sharply, nearly dropping his upright bass. The waiter paused just a few feet behind the lavender alicorn, looking pensively at Flash Sentry for direction. “I think I know what’s going on here,” she declared, glancing from side to side suspiciously. “Oh do you now? I’m not sure you know what you think you know,” Flash said, resting his elbows on the table and perching his chin on his steepled hooves. “Hmmm, let me check my list,” she announced officiously as a scroll of parchment appeared in a purple flash in front of her. Flash just grinned while everypony nearby rolled their eyes and groaned. Twilight cleared her throat, looked down her nose at the smug stallion, then began reading. “Fancy Prench restaurant? Check. Flowers?” She glanced unnecessarily at the bouquet just inches from her muzzle, shifted her gaze up to the blue eyes that were locked on her own, raised one eyebrow, and acknowledged their presence. “Check.” Spike laid down an undercurrent of smooth jazz while Sweetie Belle hummed wordlessly next to him. They both grinned when they saw Twilight turn around and wink at them. “Music? Check.” “Candles? Check.” She poked Flash with a hoof as if checking to see if he was real, before grunting and triumphantly completing the list. “Nervous stallion? Check.” “So then, what’s your theory? What, exactly is going on here, Princess?” “Oh, it’s something nefarious. Dastardly, even.” The parchment rolled up and disappeared in a flash. “It seems that I’m on a date.” “You don’t say?” Flash couldn’t help but chuckle at the silly tradition he’d accidentally started on their first date. Well, the first one that she realized was a date, anyway. The ascended genius Princess Twilight Sparkle had thought the blushing stallion took an overnight train ride from the Crystal Empire just to have dinner with a friend. Several times. Or so she had claimed. He wasn’t quite sure that she didn’t just want him to explicitly proclaim his feelings, but then again if half of Shining Armor’s stories were true, then she really was that oblivious. His confidence restored, the mustachioed watier ambled up to the table. Flash Sentry was too excited to remember what they had ordered; everything was going exactly as planned. The appetizer vanished into the past, swept along by equally insubstantial small talk. Seafood. He’d ordered the seafood dinner. Crispy dried scum algae, which Flash happened to know tastes better than it sounds, wrapped around a filling of water chestnuts, spicy mustard greens, and some peculiar threadlike mushrooms. It was topped with a sauce that was fermented from some type of seaweed, though he was unsure on the particulars. Just as he took the first bite of his meal, he heard a “Soooooooo…” from across the table. “My mother tells me that you’ve been spending a lot of time with my father. Apparently, you two were cuddling the other night.” Flash wasn’t sure if he heard the music stutter, or if that was just the effect of the food in his mouth simultaneously trying to enter his lungs and exit through his sinuses. Her comment seemed to have its intended effect, as Twilight continued her line of thought. “Are you sure you’re not dating him instead of me?” She let the quiet music carry the moment while Flash sat up straight, dabbed the corners of his mouth with a cloth that was far too silky to make an effective napkin, then took a sip of water and cleared his throat. Meanwhile, she was daintily eating her potato fritter with a levitated fork. They’d been on enough dates that Flash knew she wasn’t exactly a dainty eater, but he wasn’t sure if some sort of Princess training was finally starting to have some success, or if her current daintiness was just for dramatic purposes. She was no Rarity, but she did enjoy her drama. Flash summoned up all the cockiness he could muster, leaned forward on one elbow and threw Twilight a sly grin. “Well, good looks run in your family, and besides, he’s surprisingly soft and gentle…” He trailed his words off, with what he hoped was a wistful look in his eye as he turned his gaze up to the colorful clouds reflecting the upcoming sunset. Twilight kept a straight face for several moments, before allowing the edge of her mouth to creep upward in a little smile. Her eyes, however, were not smiling. Not going well. This was not going well any more. Not at all. “Seriously. It’s good that you’re getting along with my dad, but I’d rather you spend more time with me.” He was wrong. She was giving THAT look. This wasn’t going not well, this was going very well. Too well. Too fast. No, not too fast, just faster than he’d planned. “That dessert sure was delicious!” he announced sharply, with eyes wide and ears laid back flat against his head. “Whhh…” Twilight’s mouth hung open for a moment, her face scrunched in confusion. “We didn’t even have dessert, in fact you’ve only had one bite of your entrée and most of that came out of your nose!” Flash cleared his throat, and then repeated his words exactly, as if reading from a script. “That dessert sure was delicious!” There was a startled “Oh!” and the clank of silverware against fine ceramic from somewhere behind Flash. Twilight leaned to one side and peered behind the perspiring pegasus who was wearing far too much grin. A fuchsia earth pony dabbed her mouth hurriedly as she turned around and headed toward the couple, before tossing the napkin over her shoulder in the general direction of her own table. Her plastic grin mirrored Flash’s own. Twilight narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Cheerilee. Nice to see you?” “Hi there, Twilight! I see you’re on a date with somepony besides Neighcolas Sparks,” Cheerilee recited. “I may like books more than the average mare, but I’m perfectly capable of having a good date without a book,” Twilight retorted flatly. “Aaaaaaare you sure about that?” Flash interjected, planting his face between the two mares who suddenly weren’t getting along as well as he had intended. Twilight was spooling up for an angry reply when she noticed the brightly colored object he was holding out toward her. The wrapping paper was so tightly formed to the object underneath that it was obvious a book lay inside. Cheerilee took the moment of confusion to dash back to her own table and devote all of her attention toward her dish. Flash decided that he would certainly prefer the current look of confusion to the simmering anger that was evident a moment ago. He wiggled the book in her direction. She took the package in her magic and sat up straight on her pillow. Trying not to grin at the amateur theatrics of the decidedly un-theatrical guard pony, she began carefully unfolding the wrapping paper at the seams. “Just open it already!” an excited Sweetie Belle squeaked from the dais in the corner. Twilight turned her head just in time to see two pairs of eyes and a pink bow dip behind the windowsill next to the musical duo. Twilight’s eyes sparkled with mischief, and her horn glowed brighter before all the wrapping paper exploded off in an instant, turning into a cloud of confetti that would have made Pinkie Pie proud. Before any of the colorful shreds could touch the ground, the librarian’s experienced eye immediately began analyzing the small volume. The book was not terribly old, but certainly not new. Though there was nothing written on the spine, the cover indicated that it was a collection of love songs by Pablo Neighruda, one of the most romantic poets of the previous century. The blush on her cheeks turned into a flush of rage as she opened the cover. The center of the pages had been cut out, and some trinket was placed inside. All the color drained from Flash’s face as his plan unraveled. Twilight. Books. Right. The alicorn’s wings began unfurling as she stood up, shaking with rage, and unceremoniously dumped the white metal band out of the hollow and held the book up in front of Flash. “YOU. DESTROYED. A BOOK?!” Ponies at nearby tables were already getting up, some of them moving toward the fire exits instead of the front door. Those brave enough to cast a nervous look over their shoulders only became more alarmed at the sight of shimmering heat waves rising off of Twilight’s back. Panicking, the stammering pegasus held his hooves out in front of his body as if to ward off an attack. “No, Twi, close the book! Close the cover! Now look again!” Flinging the cover open wildly, Twilight pointed a hoof at the… perfectly intact pages, each covered in romantic thoughts that cascaded from cover to cover as the book’s leaves fluttered in the angry puffs of her each breath. Her lecture dissolved into a series of half-word noises. “Wha… but… I… you…” “I happen to know an alicorn who knows how much you appreciate books, and whose special talent is helping ponies do things like this…” The trembling stallion gingerly picked up the ring with the feathers of his wingtip, and kneeled on the ground next to the table. For the first time, Twilight noticed the antique ring with its three tastefully small diamonds surrounded by intricately engraved swirls. She breathlessly pointed a hoof at the ring, sputtering, “Th-that’s my grandmother’s ring!” “Your mother insisted. Twilight Sparkle, I have a question for you…” ______________________________________________ Dessert actually was delicious, though neither of them talked about it. As they were sharing the last bites of crispy caramel on top of the brûlée, Cheerilee came up behind Twilight and gave her a side hug, whispering loud enough for Flash to hear, “Careful Twilight, I hear this fella was buying dinner for other mares tonight!” When she was done squeezing, she took a step back to address them both. “Congratulations, you two!” Twilight’s face was painted with blush for what felt like the four thousandth time that night. Watching her facial expression circus was now one of Flash’s favorite pastimes. Nopony could know what Twilight was thinking, but whatever feelings those thoughts elicited were always painted right on her face. Flash had arranged for most of her friends to be waiting in the kitchen or just outside, so they could congratulate her immediately. Pinkie Pie had actually been sitting at a nearby table disguised as an older stallion with a beard and glasses. As Twilight watched Pinkie bounce her way back to Sugarcube Corner, Flash watched Twilight smile with what looked like a bit of fright. She was probably thinking of the engagement party that must be in the works. Next, Twilight blanched, probably realizing that Pinkie would insist on throwing a bachelorette party too. Flash blushed along with her, as they both thought of what might be at a Pinkie Pie bachelorette party. Her thoughts came fast, and they kept coming for a long while. “Did you make it back to Earth okay?” Twilight started, then turned to look at the source of the voice, a pale pegasus whose blue eyes reflected the gleam of streetlamps somewhere between the restaurant and the library. “Huh?” “You got lost for a while there, Twilight.” “Oh, yeah, just in my head. It’s not like I didn’t guess this was coming eventually. Or at least I should have. I mean, you gave up your post in the Crystal Guard to move closer to me. Spending all that time with my dad. The clues were all right there.” “Clues, yeah, Shining says you can miss those sometimes.” “Wait.” Twilight abruptly stopped walking, then turned her head to look at her new fiancé. “Exactly how much was my brother involved in this?” “Uhhhh… you’ll have to define ‘this,’” Flash replied, hoping she wouldn’t. She did. “All of this.” She emphasized by swinging a hoof in wide circles. “Us.” Flash sighed. “You bumped into me, remember? Like, twice.” He resumed walking along the lamplit cobblestones. Twilight Sparkle jumped in front of him, planting all four hooves on the street. “Oh no, you don’t get away that easy. Shining: How. Much. Involvement?” “It’s not like he was just trying to marry you off… Wait. That came out wrong.” Flash dragged a hoof between his eyes and down his muzzle. “Look, several ponies noticed when you bumped into me, and the Crystal Empire is, well… Let’s just say that Princess Cadance is a perfect fit as their princess.” “What was I, some sort of national project? There was the continental railroad, the ‘Manehattan Project,’ and ‘Operation Get Twilight Hitched?’” she counted off on an imaginary list with her eyes crossed. “You make it sound like it was so difficult,” the stallion protested with a grin, hoping to elicit a chuckle. She fumed. “Oh, so it was EASY?” “Oh sweet Luna, that is NOT what I meant at all.” He dropped his chin to the ground, covering his face with his hooves, and groaned. “Quick, magic a zipper over my mouth before I say something else stupid.” Twilight lay down next to him, wrapped a wing around him, and nuzzled an ear. “So, when are you going to start using my name in vain as a curse word?” The prostrate pegasus lifted one hoof off of his face and peered at the strange pony who had joined him on the ground. That question had caught him off guard, and he was always on guard. He blinked a few times, grew a devilish grin, lifted his head confidently and replied, “On the honeymoon.” ______________________________________________ About a dozen mostly-playful punches, a short walk, and a pleasant conversation later, the couple came to a stop in front of the wooden door of the library. They stood there for a moment, illuminating themselves with the warm light from within. The traditional word to end all dates: “Well…” Flash looked everywhere except right at Twilight, but a slight movement of her head caused the diamond ring to catch light from within the library, refracting a thousand world’s worth of fire through her grandmother’s stone. And that was nothing compared to the fire in those dark amethyst eyes. A fire that would burn him up, consume him entirely, and he couldn’t wait to fall into it. But he would wait, because he was a gentlecolt. He darted in for a quick peck on the cheek, but not because he was afraid he would lose his nerve if he waited. Boy oh boy was he not afraid of that. “ThanksTwilightloveyouseeyoulaterbye!” She blushed, but didn’t turn away. “Wait.” Flash froze with one foreleg curled in the air, already halfway turned around with wings extended for takeoff. Whatever she wanted, it couldn’t be good. She sounded sad. He hated that sound, the strain in her voice, like stretched glass. He set his hooves on the ground, but didn’t turn to face her. He was too afraid. Was this what Twilight Velvet meant when she said love means opening yourself up to hurt? Flash had faced monsters head-on, even met face to face with Twi’s parents. It wasn’t just the guard training, he had always met problems that way. Better to keep the problem right in front of you, where you could see it, match it, keep it under control. But this? This was something he couldn’t fight. Somehow Twi had found a single word that was even more terrifying than “we need to talk.” Dear Celestia, how she threw that phrase around like she didn’t know it was a nuclear weapon! It would have lost its power if she didn’t occasionally weaponize it. Unintentionally, of course, as all mares were somehow genetically prone to do. A world of meaning and dark possibilities; what horror was it that couldn’t be put off till another night, a night that wasn’t already so perfect that… He felt a hoof on his shoulder, and glanced up to see the warm glow of the library interior reflected in her eyes like glowing coals, melting away his paralysis. She pursed her lips in a concerned smile. “I’m not the only one who gets lost sometimes, you know.” She leaned forward, touching her forehead to his. Flash relaxed enough to listen, but not enough to speak. Twilight leaned back so they could comfortably make eye contact. “We can’t get married unless Celestia gives us her blessing. I’m sure you thought of that.” Flash was already nodding. “I’m also sure you didn’t ask her already, because she wouldn’t bless us unless she knew I’d already said yes.” “That’s, uh, that’s not too bad. Right? I mean, she’s really nice, and I used to be in Princess Cadance’s personal guard, so she knows I’m trustworthy. And she had to know why Shining had me transferred to Canterlot, all you princesses talk to each other. Right?” “You’re cute when you’re nervous,” Twilight murmured while she nuzzled his cheek. Pulling back again, she lowered her voice. “Unfortunately, there’s a problem.” The stallion had already been through the entire range of blood pressure and heart rate that night. If he hadn’t noticed her mischevious grin, he might have had a heart attack or a stroke right then. Probably both. He narrowed his eyes and drawled, “Continue?” “Princess Celestia just left for a diplomatic mission to help Saddle Arabia settle a dispute with one of their neighbors. She won’t be back for nine weeks.” Flash deflated with relief, panting. “That’s it? ‘Wait’ and ‘there’s a problem’ and ‘unfortunately’ and… and…” He took a deep breath, feeling his sweat starting to become cold in the clear night air. He harrumphed, then paused. “Are you actually trying to kill me?” Twilight Sparkle tapped his chest with one hoof and smirked. “No, I’m just trying to give your heart a workout, make sure you’re in good cardiac shape.” “What for?” he asked with a wrinkled brow. “For the honeymoon.” By the time Flash had stopped sputtering, Twilight had long since gone inside and turned out the lights, but not before swishing past him and brushing her tail all the way down his neck, over his wings, and off of his flank. He blinked a dozen times rapidly, followed a few shallow breaths with a deep one, and leapt into the air. Altitude. He needed lots of altitude. Up where it’s very cold. Maybe he would try to touch the moon on his way back to Canterlot. ______________________________________________ Flash Sentry had always liked cold air. Hot air seemed like trying to breathe in a blanket; horribly suffocating, like putting your lungs into a prison cell. Maybe it was a pegasus thing. His ancestors were born and died in the clouds, up where the chill quickened the blood and brightened the complexion. Glancing to his right, he couldn’t miss the dendritic ice crystals glowing in the moonlight as they inched their way across his feathers. He grinned, twisting the feathers slightly so that they fluttered in the wind, turning his wingtips into a bright rippling creek, reflecting his mental state. How lucky was he? Just a guard pony, no political connections, certainly not from the kind of family that a princess would want to associate with. Yet here he was, engaged to a princess. Somehow, he didn’t find that thought as exciting as maybe it should have been. He would have been perfectly content to marry the cute librarian. Content was a good thing. Content looked like a pair of unicorns on a couch, smiles on their sleeping faces. Content was a wink over your shoulder as you comfort the nervous colt who is taking your only daughter away from you. He pumped his wings harder against the thin wisps of air that remained in this layer of the atmosphere. He was high enough to look down on Canterlot, and would have been home by now if he hadn’t decided to get so much altitude. No, not home. That was just an apartment. A step along the path that would take him home. What would home look like? He couldn’t imagine any home that didn’t have Twilight Sparkle in it. He would wear an ascot as they shared a seat by the fireplace and read books silently, leaning on each other. Or bantered back and forth. Maybe with a little filly or a colt running around. And Spike. Spike? Would Spike live with them, and be like an older brother to their kids? Or get his own place, and be a cool uncle? Maybe the princesses could turn Spike into a fire-breathing unicorn so he could woo Rarity. Or Sweetie Belle? He was closer to Sweetie in age and maturity, plus they had been playing so much music together. Had Spike matured enough to realize that it wasn’t going to work out with Rarity? No, what probably happened was Spike started hanging out with Sweetie to get more time with Rarity, and then realized how much he liked Sweetie Belle... Wow. He had definitely spent too much time in the Crystal Empire. All that matchmaking made him sick — and engaged. He was engaged! Why was he engaged? Sweet shivering Celestia, he was engaged! Flash nearly fell out of the sky, tumbling, encountering turbulence that existed only in his head. Taking a moment to relax his wings, he let instinct take over. Was it instinct that made Twilight catch his eye in the first place? Certainly she was attractive. But there were plenty of gorgeous mares all over Equestria. None of them had that smile, the one where you could tell she was planning something, or the one where you just knew that… Well. Maybe he just spent so much time with her that he got used to her mannerisms and expressions. Except he hadn’t. Every one of his previous fillyfriends had more hours on the together clock than Twilight did. There were cute neighbors and friends whose faces he knew better than hers, only, he could feel her face. He knew what she was feeling just at a glance. He knew her, in a deeper way than he’d known anypony else. It was somehow as if he’d known her for a dozen years, even though he knew that they first bumped into each other only two years ago. Two years ago, he was just a single guy, dreaming of epic combat and beautiful fillies. He remembered a movie poster with a stallion standing triumphantly on a hill, lifting his sword high into the air, a beautiful mare clutching his leg and looking up at him in a submissive and vaguely provocative fashion. That image summed up the dreams of a growing colt so well. How much he had changed since then! Now his dreams were more of ascots and fireside cuddling, children and books and seeing his friends happy. Somewhere vaguely below him, Flash could see the Canterhorn beginning to wobble and spin. He couldn’t ever remember being this high before. The sky was blacker than he’d ever seen, the stars frozen and refusing to twinkle, yet somehow living and breathing. His wings were flapping far too fast to be moving this slowly. He twitched his nose and felt ice breaking and flaking off of his nostrils. Looking toward the moon, he pumped his wings not harder but faster, welcoming the cold that stabbed into his overheated muscles. Twilight had flown higher than this, and he would too. They had common interests. Wasn’t that important? Or was that just a matchmaking service advertisement he saw in a train station? He liked science, even if he didn’t always understand what Twi was talking about. He was well read, too. Not just military history or combat techniques, but classical literature as well. His room in the barracks was a virtual microlibrary. “Every warrior a philosopher” was part of the Guard’s motto. Granted, his fellow guard ponies were more likely to borrow the monster-hunting action novels of Larry Corn E.A. than the treatises of Plahoof or Marechiavelli. That just didn’t seem like enough, though. A combination of all these things? Instinct, biology, familiarity, common interests? There had to be more. They had to “click” somehow. Was that enough to explain why he had fallen in love? Some sort of staccato onomatopoeia sound effect? It seemed so trite that the sound of a pebble falling to the ground was trying to explain the most important force in the world. But when a pebble has fallen to the ground with a “click,” does that mean it has found the place it belongs? Okay, bad example. Flash rolled his eyes and then looked down. From up here, the world was just a black circle with a crescent of purple around the east from the impending dawn. The nearly frozen pegasus snapped his wings tight against his side, briefly leaving a pair of icy phantoms in their place. An insubstantial dream’s worth of cold air rushed to fill his lungs, failing to deliver oxygen. He was barely breathing; he was falling, but he wasn’t failing. He was falling on his own terms, face-forward. He was diving in, and when he finally hit, it was going to be spectacular.