Flash Sentry sighed softly as he looked at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, not with knowing that Twilight was not the Twilight. Without a second of thinking, he threw back his blankets and trotted over to a candle. He lighted it and watched the flame melt the pale yellow wax. He held it up with his hoof and carried it over to his nightstand. Even after being moved up in status, he choose to remain in his dorm. It was enough for just the pegasus.
Better than nothing, he thought as he set the candle down. Under the lighting, he could see the large book that rested on the desk. With another sign, he turned the cover and let his eyes scan over several names. The names were all familiar, his friends and family. One name stuck out; Silver, his old crush.
Before he became a member of the Royal Guard, he remembered sitting in the school, waiting for his friends who had gotten detention. Being just a colt, he doodled a cloud on a piece of paper.
"What are you doing?" A small voice came. He turned around to see a smaller blue filly. Her wings were tucked to her sides, her blue gray mane dropping in her eyes.
"Waiting," he replied curtly, turning back to his paper.
"For a sign?" The filly questioned as she stepped closer to him.
"No," he retorted with a huff. "Why would you want to know?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "How old are you?"
"Twelve," he answered. "You?"
"Eleven," she smiled as she sat down beside him. "What are you drawing?"
"Nothing," he sighed. "Who are you?"
"I'm Silverdrop," she grinned. "Who are you?"
"Silverdrop? I've heard that name before," he murmured.
"Um, yeah," she laughed nervously. A crimson blush covered her cheeks as she pushed back a strand of her hair. "I kind of won the Equestria Science Fair last month."
"Really?" Flash chuckled. "So you're that kind of pony."
"What?" Silverdrop asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"You know, the crazily smart pony who acts like she is better than everypony else," he shrugged. His eyes flickered back to the filly. Her mouth was opened in shocked, her eyes were wide, and even he had to admit that what he said was kind of awful.
"Is that really what everypony thinks of me?" Silverdrop choked out. He shrugged.
"Lots of ponies do probably," he replied.
"If I am so high and mighty in my saddle, then you must be riding above the rest," she huffed before standing.
"You know why everypony thinks like that?" Flash started to say. "Because you don't talk to very many ponies."
"No pony wants to talk to me or be my friend," she hissed. "They just want answers on their homework and tests. Nice meeting you, Flash Sentry." With that, she unfolded her wings and started to fly away. He watched her, feeling bad about what he had said. But what she said was true, much more true than what he said.
"Hey, hold up," Flash shouted as he flew after her. The blue filly stopped in midair and spun around to face him.
"What would a pony like you want with a pony like me?" Silverdrop growled as she quickly wiped her eyes.
"I'm sorry about what I said," he murmured, his eyes dropping to see the towns on the ground.
"Have you ever been on the ground before?" Her small voice came. He shook his head no. Before he could react, she grabbed his hoof and dove towards the ground, pinning her wings to her side.
"Ahhh!" Flash screamed as they plummeted. Suddenly, she spread out her wings just feet above the ground. The wind swept them upwards as she began to start flapping her wings.
"What a rush," she squealed happily as they flew above the heads of some earth ponies. "Hi!" She waved her hoof at a filly and a mare. The earth ponies waved back with a smile. "The earth ponies don't really just want answers from me. Plus, they have more animals and trees." She pointed to a small brown creature that scurried up the trunk of a tree. "Ain't it wonderful?"
"Wow," he managed. "So this is the ground."
"Yep," she grinned as she landed on a tree branch. "I think we got off on a bad start. I'm Silverdrop, but just call me Silver."
"Flash Sentry," he laughed. "Call me Flash."
"So Flash, do you like to play games?" Silver beamed.
"Not really my thing," he shrugged.
"Mine though," she said as she pointed to the cutie mark on her flank. It was a dark blue gaming controller. He knew ponies that had games and stuff, but he had never met one who had a talent like that.
"That's cool," he blushed as his small tail covered his blank flank.
"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Silver questioned as she took a strand of her tail a don started to braid it. "I want to be a scientist. But I think if I mixed science with gaming, I could make something new."
"A scientific gamer," he laughed. Her cheeks turned red for a moment before he continued. "Part of the Royal Guard."
"So you want to guard the princesses?" Her eyes grew wide. "Woah."
"Yeah," he murmured.
"Hold on, the best part is coming!" She suddenly squealed as she pushed back branches. "Look at this." He peered through the branches that she held back. In the distance, the sun glowed several colors.
"That's the princess," he gasped as he saw Princess Celestia lower the sun.
"Yep, and here comes the best part," she laughed. As soon as the sun set, the moon appeared, rising slowly in the sky. "She does it all by herself now. Her sister, Princess Luna, used to rise and lower the moon."
"What happened to her?" Flash questioned. Silver started to explain and soon, they sat through the night until morning, talking. It was the start of their friendship.
He picked up his quill and wrote the name Silver. He hoped she would help. She had always been smarter than him, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud. He quickly wrote a letter summarizing what he thought and quickly tucked it into an envelope. He knew just who to write the next letter to: one of his friends from flying camp, Storm. He quickly wrote the next letter and put it into an envelope as well. He needed to mail them right away because it would only take so long for Twilight and the mysterious stallion to be married.
Even the words felt bad on his tongue. He sighed as he thought of seeing the youngest princess be married. No, he had to do something, and it needed to be done quickly.