A Little Visit

by Annabelle RTH

Chapter 12

Twilight’s POV

It’s finally today. My date with Flash. I woke up this morning full of energy. I practically breezed right through my morning routine and made it to the breakfast table first. I waited patiently for everypony else to arrive and I couldn’t stop smiling. When the food came, I started to eat quickly. I don’t think I’ve ever stuffed my face like this

“Whoa there Twilight, take it easy. You wouldn’t want a belly ache on your date with Flash.” Applejack said.

I blushed. “I’m sorry. I’m just excited.” I smiled.

“As are we darling.” Rarity said. “I still cannot believe that this day has arrived.” She sighed and brought her hooves to her face looking out dreamily.

“Do you think you’ll go another date with him?” Pinkie asked.

“I hope so.” I really want this date to go well. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited and more nervous. But I think if it’s anything like our not a date, I think a second date is a good possibility.

“Don’t worry about that right now Twilight. You still need to go through this one.” Cadence said.

“Thanks Cadence.”

“Hey, you’ll be back in time for the party right?” Pinkie asked as she stared at me. She managed to hop out of her seat and stood on the breakfast table.

“Of course Pinkie Pie. My date won’t last that long.”

“Just checking.” She zoomed back to her seat.

“It sure was nice of ya to let Pinkie Pie throw a party in the Square Princess Cadence.” Applejack said.

“The pleasure’s ours, really. I think the Crystal Ponies will enjoy a Pinkie Party.”

I finished up my breakfast and made my way down to the meeting place while the others helped Pinkie with the party tonight.

Just like on our non date, I felt the warm and nervous feeling. I welcome it now… It feels… natural. As I walked I felt as if I was lighter than air.

This is going to be so much fun. I’ll learn plenty about the Crystal Empire and have a cute colt there with me just as fascinated. What could be better?

When I came close to the entrance of the Gardens I saw Flash shuffling his hooves on the ground.

“Hey Flash.”

He looked up and smiled. “Hey, ya ready to go?” He walked up to me.

I nodded.

“Follow me.”

We walked to the museum which took a little longer than I first thought. “So, are you coming to Pinkie’s party tonight?”

“I didn’t realize I was invited.”

“Everypony is.”

“Well… a couple of buddies have been bugging me to come along.” He opened the door for me.

“So will you come?”

“Sure, just save a dance for me.” He smiled and winked at me. I blushed and looked away from him smiling.

“Okay.” I said quietly.

We made it to the entrance and he opened the door for me.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

When we made it to the ticket counter, the pony behind it instantly gave us free admittance.

“I still feel a little uneasy about that.” It didn’t feel right for the staff to give me special treatment. I’m no better than any other pony.

“Don’t sweat it Twilight. They’re just excited to have you.”

I sighed. “I suppose so.”

“Hey… do you really want to dwell on this? Or…” He wrapped his hoof around me, “do you want to take advantage of the bountiful knowledge within these walls?” He waved his hoof towards the Grand Hall. To either sides were different entrances to different exhibits.

I squealed a little bit. “All right, let the learning begin.” We smiled at each other.

“That’s the spirit.” He unfolded the map. “So which exhibit do you want to see first?” Flash asked.

“Hmm, well I want to be able to see everything in an orderly manner.”

“Clockwise, or counter clockwise?”

I looked to the either side to see which exhibits were the possible first. One was literature and the other was on traditional attire.

“Mmm, clockwise.”

“Old dusty pieces of paper it is.” He folded the map.

I looked at him with a weird face.

“I mean that in the most kindest of ways. Honest.” He brought his hoof up and nodded with a goofy smile.

I smiled back. “Just checking.”

We walked into the direction of the literature exhibit. Already we could see glass cases holding pieces of parchment. I smiled and looked up at Flash. He was smiling too. I really like his smile. He kind of glows when he smiles. He caught sight of me looking at him and looked at me. I quickly looked forward and walked the rest of the way without looking at him.

With every case came new pieces of information. The exhibits themselves had subdivisions and the exhibit was made so that we would walk in a circle leading us back to the Grand Hall.

“Gee, I wonder what the Captain would have worn during that time.” We were looking at a book that was opened up to a page of a drawing of a full body armor.

“It doesn’t look very comfortable.” I commented.

“I’m sure it wasn’t, but there wasn’t much of a choice. At least not until a better design was put on the table.”

“I wonder what Rarity would design for armor.” I smiled and giggled.

He laughed. “Uh, yeah, let’s not. I kind of like my armor the way it is.”

“It still seems rather heavy.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I mean at first it kind of was a hassle moving with it but after a while it wasn’t a big deal anymore.”

“If you say so.”

We moved out of the exhibit and continued on our route around the museum all designed the same way. With each exhibit came more information and more jokes from Flash. And I sure got to see the young colt in Flash when we made it to the armor and weaponry exhibit.

“Sweet!” He ran and… skipped to three swords on display. “Gorgeous. Just look at that craftsmanship.”
I smiled and walked up to the display. I saw Flash go from one sword to the other inspecting them with care. I looked at the handles and noticed the designs seemed to look like flowers or an animal and the blade itself had a weird design imbedded in it.

“These weren’t used for fighting right?”

“Correct, just decoration. Never meant for the battle field. Although, some swords that were built to be fought with did have decorative handles, but not really in a shape. More like a different material for most handles or carvings. Like um… Oh those over there.” He pointed towards another display. This one had only two swords.

He pulled me towards them. “Hey!”

“Oh, um I’m sorry Twilight.” He let go and looked at me sheepishly.

Aww… he looked so cute. I smiled and said, “That’s okay, but please don’t pull so hard next time.”

“You got it.” We continued towards the two swords. I saw Flash examine these two while I read the information given.

“Hm, it says here that both would have typically been used by a high ranking officer.”

He whistled. “I believe it. There’s no way that much time and care would be put into a sword for a newbie.”He sighed. “They’re beautiful.” His eyes glowed.

“Yes, well there’s still plenty more see.” I turned around and saw armor that looked familiar.

“Hey, didn’t we see a drawing of that one?” I turned around and noticed Flash was still staring at the swords like Spike stares at a gem. I sighed. I should’ve known this would happen. “Uh, Flash.” I waved my hoof in front of him. “Flash? Can you hear me?”

“Hm.” He shook his head before looking at me. “Oh, I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“I was saying, didn’t we see a drawing of that one earlier?” I pointed to it.

Flash squinted his eyes. “Hmm… I think you’re right Twilight. Come on, let’s check it out.”

He pulled me towards it, but gently this time. I actually enjoyed him taking my hoof. I felt a tingly feeling reach from my hoof to the rest of my body.

“Oh yeah, this is definitely the same one.” He let go of my hoof and looked at the helmet of the armor.

“It still looks uncomfortable.”

“Eh.” He nodded.

Going through the rest of the exhibit was the same. Flash would take my hoof and bring me to the displays before examining the artifacts and then moving on to the next case. On occasion we could touch replicas and samples of the weapons and armors. Flash acted like a colt in a candy store. It’s still not my cup of tea but there was a lot of interesting information on the fighting styles and traditions. We made it to the last exhibit which was architecture.

“According to this journal, each house has a distinctive swirling pattern on their walls.” I said.

“I’ve noticed them, but I don’t have that keen of an eye. They all look the same to me.”

“Yeah, they never really looked different to me. But you can’t really argue with a designer.”

“Hmm, hey that’s a new one.”

“Huh?” I turned to see Flash pointing at a gem of some kind sticking out of a rock.

“I’ve never seen this color before.”

We walked over to it. It was a strange black that seemed to have a violet glow or tint.

I read the information card.

“It says it’s called a Crepuscular Stone and it’s named that because the only pieces of it that were found were found at dusk and dawn.”

“Is it rare? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Mmm, yes, only a hoofful has ever been found and all of them were found in and around the Crystal Empire.”

“Hmm…” I looked up at Flash and saw him in deep thought with a small smile on his face.

“Flash?”

“Hm? Oh sorry, what were you saying?” He looked at me and smiled.

“Nothing really.” I shook my head.

“Then, how about we finish up here and grab some lunch?”

“Could we go back to Mildred’s?”

“Of course. Come on, there’s more rocks to see.”

We made it through the entire museum and headed out, but not before we were stopped by the curator who asked how our visit was.

At Mildred’s we were stopped at the door by Mildred.

She bowed and said, “It’s good to have you back Princess Twilight.”

I smiled a little. “It’s good to see you too Mildred.” She rose back up.

“So will you be dining inside or outside today?”

“Outside Mildred.” Flash told her.

“Very well then, follow me.”

She took some menus and led us back outside to our table. It was a sunny day and the flowers around the restaurant smelled lovely. It wasn’t a very busy day, I think I only saw a three other ponies inside.

“I’ll be right back to take your order.” She left.

“That was weird.” He looked at Mildred as she left.

“What was?” I knew he couldn’t be talking about the bowing. I’m still getting used to it, but we both know it’s natural for ponies to bow to princesses.

“She didn’t hug me.” He turned his head back to me.

“Huh?”

“She always hugs me when she sees me go through those doors and sometimes to the point where I think she broke my wings.”

“Has she ever broken your wings?”

“No, thank Celestia, but still that was… that was weird.” He looked at me with a strange look as if he was confused and in pain at the same time. “Anyway, um,” He shook his head and said, “Will Pinkie’s party be everything I heard about?”

“I should think so. Granted she will have more help than usual since Cadence made it a public event.”

“I just hope I’ll be able to get up in the morning. From the sound of it, we might be up all night.”
Mildred came back with some water and took our orders and before we knew it our meals were brought to us and we chatted a little more.

“Oh hey did I tell you that Ruby’s back to normal?” He smiled widely.

“Really?” I smiled back happy to hear that Ruby was herself again.

He nodded. “She got Mom and Dad to play hide and seek

“That’s great, when did you find out?”

“A few days ago actually. I got a package in the mail and inside was a letter from Ruby and some brownies from Mom. They’re even coming to visit in a week.”

“That’s wonderful Flash.”

“I can’t wait. It’ll just be like old times.”

“How long are they staying?”

“About two weeks. They’re planning to get some culture in while I’m on duty. Hopefully they can keep Ruby entertained.”

I giggled. “Of course, she’ll want nothing more than to spend time with her big brother. What do you plan on doing with her?”

He sighed and smiled weakly. “Knowing her, she’s planned everything and I’ll probably end up in a bonnet playing tea party before she reads me a bedtime story.”

I laughed a little. I couldn’t help but imagine Flash in a cute bonnet, some make-up and a tiara.

“The things I do for that little filly.”

“What else do you think you’ll do?”

“We’ll probably go to the park, have some ice cream and I’ll play my guitar. You know, what we normally do, just here, instead of back in Canterlot.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Yeah, but I wish they all could come.” He looked a little sad and stared at his food.

“What do you mean?” I asked him

“Well, the twins are coming but not Terra. She still doesn’t feel comfortable traveling with a foal just yet.” Terra is his eldest sister followed by the twins.

“Hm, maybe you should take some time to visit her instead.” I suggested.

“A trip to Manehattan, huh?” He thought about it. Then, he smiled. “I like it, but it is going to be a while before I can take another vacation.”

We finished up our meal and left Mildred’s. We started to head back to the castle. There was still a few hours until Pinkie’s party.

“Gee, that’s rough.”

“I know, but Pinkie was fine once she realized we were just throwing her a surprise birthday party.”

We made it inside the castle.

“So, I guess I’ll see you later?” Flash asked. “You still owe me that dance.”

“Of course.” I smiled at him.

“See ya then.”

“Bye Flash.”

He left in the opposite direction of the guest rooms. When he was out of sight I let out a small squeal. Today was perfect. I got to spend time learning and discovering with a cute colt who’s just so sweet.

“Oh, Twilight there you are.” I turned around to see Rarity walking towards me with a box in her magic.

“Hi Rarity, what’s in the box?”

“Just some decorations we’ve put together. I’m going out to start decorating while Pinkie Pie finishes up in the kitchen. But please, tell me about your date.” She smiled widely.

“Oh and me too.” Pinkie popped out of nowhere. “Oh no, wait, I gotta go and get the others, be back in a jiff.” Pinkie sped off to gather the rest of our friends and Cadence.

I sighed.

Author's Note:

I finally got it. Yay!!! You all have no idea how many times I wrote and rewrote this. I got it and I even got a good start on the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Till next time.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Nice chapter. I think you did a great job. Good luck with writing the next chapter.

[OmniFox]

What kind of guitar, Spanish guitar?