A Little Visit

by Annabelle RTH

Chapter 34

Twilight's POV

"Hey Twilight, we've got company," I heard Spike say from my bedroom door. I was finishing up a chapter from Ruby's manuscript. Flash and I decided that since we started the manuscript together, we should finish together. I made up a schedule and whenever we went to visit each other, we would discuss Ruby's story. We've managed to go antiquing, book shopping, we picked out floor cushions and we've even gone on a few hikes in the past few weeks.

"Oh, who is it Spike?" I asked as I finished the last sentence.

Right before I could turn around to face Spike, I heard, "Twilight!"

"Ruby? Flash?" Ruby flew to me with a big smile on her face and gave me a hug. I nearly fell over in my seat but I flapped my wings a little and hovered with the little filly in my forelegs. I was confused but I was glad to see her and Flash again. I hadn't seen Ruby since the Friendship Games and I hadn't seen Flash since Cadence's Foal Shower two weeks ago.

I gave Ruby a squeeze of my own before I said, "It's good to see you too Ruby. Flash."

We giggled a little before I set her down and landed on my own four hooves again. Flash walked up to us.

"Heh, sorry about that. She normally just tackles me." Flash said as he pointed at himself.

Ruby smiled in a weird way, "Yeah, I um, I got excited. I'm sorry Twilight." She looked at me with big eyes and an apologetic smile only she could make.

I smiled gently at her. Nopony could ever feel ill will towards this little filly. "It's all right, no harm done." I gave her a side hug before I asked, "But um, what are you two doing here? I thought you would be back in Canterlot by now."

"It was all Ruby's idea. We just got here from Manehattan thinking it would be a nice surprise to stop by before I head back to the Crystal Empire and Ruby gets back to Canterlot." Flash responded.

"Oh, how sweet." I smiled wide and felt my heart warm up. I've gotten very close to Ruby over the letters we've sent. We discuss everything and anything. She's written to me about her school assignments, her newest story and family news. I've written to her about my troubles with my new castle, about my family and about my time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"We're not bothering you right now, right?" Ruby asked me.

"No not at all, things have been fairly quiet around here." I assured them.

"And it's about time for dinner, any requests?" Spike asked.

"Mmm, pizza, no fries, no hay burgers… oh, I don't know. What are you guys in the mood for?" Ruby asked.

"I'm pretty much up for anything." Flash said. "Twilight? Spike? Got any cravings?"

"Mmm…" Am I craving anything?

"Oh, there's a new pizzeria that just opened, if you guys want to try it." Spike replied.

"Sounds good, let's go. Where is it?" Ruby said quickly.

"Um… I think we just need to make a left at Sugar Cube Corner." Spike responded as he led Ruby out of my room. As I was about to take a step, Flash raised his foreleg in front of me.

"Huh?"

As I looked over to him, he pressed his lips onto mine. I squeaked in surprise and for a moment, I couldn't move. Not that I mind. I just wasn't expecting him to kiss me. By the time I realized what was happening, he pulled away. Despite having shared kisses before, he still manages to surprise me and leave me with a tingly feeling on my lips and a blush on my face.

He winked at me and said, "You weren't expecting me to not give you a hello kiss, were you?"

I smiled and let out a slight giggle. "No, not at all."

---

"Whoa slow down Rubes, you'll give yourself a stomachache." Flash warned her. We sat at a square table in the pizza parlor. Flash and I sat on one side while Ruby and Spike sat on the other side.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself." She took a sip of water.

"Okay, now I believe you." Spike commented to Flash.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" Flash responded while pointing a slice at his sister.

"I like to eat." She said as she slipped another slice into her mouth. "Keeps me in the zone." She took another big bite. "Although…"

"Is something wrong Ruby?" We asked her.

"Well, I've been having some trouble with my latest story. I can't quite get a hold of it."

"Oh." Flash and I sighed in relief. Spike had a questioning look on his face.

Flash took a bite while I asked, "You mean the one about the fairies?"

"No, I finished that one. I'll send you the pages when you're done with Petals. This one is about dolphins who travel into your dreams in order to stop a horrific monster from taking over the world through nightmares."

"Oh wow, that's pretty cool." Spike said. "Sounds like it would make a really neat comic."

"A comic, you think so?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, the artwork would be totally wicked." Spike said as he reached for another slice.

"I never thought about writing a comic before." Ruby mused as she brought her hoof to her chin. "That could be fun." She gasped.

Flash and I asked, "What's wrong?"

"Ash Sketch can help me. He loves drawing."

We sighed with relief. I took a bite as I thought about the name. Ash Sketch… Oh right. Ruby mentioned him a few times in her letters.

"He's the one that just transferred in, right?" Flash asked.

"Uh huh, I took Twilight's advice and talked to him about his hobbies. We've been friends ever since." She replied with a smile. "He's coming to my birthday party next month."

"Awe…" I replied.

Flash looked at his sister with his lips pressed together. He was thinking. I started to get the feeling that Flash was… having mixed feelings about this situation.

"So… what's got you stuck Sis?" He said with a small smile.

"Oh right, I haven't been able to come up with an appropriate group of heroes yet."

"Oh, well have you looked into heroes of the past or maybe even your ancestors?" I asked her before I took a few more bites.

"I've tried," she took a slice of pizza and started to wave it around as she spoke, "but I-I'm just not inspired. It's been three days and nothing." She took a bite of her food.

Flash and I shared a look.

"Maybe it's time to take a break Sis." He told her.

"Maybe." She stared at her food for a few seconds.

"Hey, how about a game of hide and seek after dinner, huh?" Flash asked her.

"Mmm, yeah, maybe that'll help." She looked up as Flash and smiled a little.

"Sounds fun, what do you say Spike?" I asked him.

"Uh… yeah sure, why not? I'll play a few rounds."

---

Back at the castle, we went over the rules in the throne room.

"All right, now that we've selected a pony to be It, the rest of the players have ten seconds to hide while It closes their eyes and counts to ten. Should It find any of the players and taps them, that player then must help It find the other players. However, should any of the players reach home base, in this case, my throne, then they are safe. The game ends when each player has been either found or reaches home base. There will be no use of magic or wings to make things fair."

Ruby, Spike and Flash nodded in understanding before Ruby closed her eyes started to count to ten.

I walked out of the throne room and found myself in the dining room. I hid behind one of the curtains that Rarity insisted on having in this room. Ruby walked slowly by, and I tried to walk into the other room. I heard a sound and quickly went back behind the curtain. I looked to my left and saw Flash walk in. I sighed in relief. Flash hid behind a potted plant as Ruby walked back in. I fully hid behind the curtain and hoped that I wouldn't be the first one Ruby would find.

My vision was limited but I managed to see Flash make his way towards me. "Hey, long time no see." Flash whispered.

I covered my mouth to quiet my giggle.

But Ruby must've heard either way.

"I know you guys are in here, or I guess at least one of you is." Flash took my hoof and pulled me into him. He covered my mouth and held onto me tightly. I was surprised and confused at the sudden action. I wanted to protest, but that would give us both away. While Ruby was inspecting a different plant, we snuck behind a different curtain. I started to grow curious as to what Flash could be up to, now that he was sneaking us both around the room. Eventually, we snuck around behind Ruby and made our way out of the dining room.

We were already making our way down the hall when we heard her say, "Aha!"

"What are you doing?" I whispered to him as we walked.

"Helping."

"Isn't that against the rules?"

"Not according to the ones you found." I pondered his response and realized, that the book I found made no mention of the players helping one another.

He opened the door to the library, and we walked in. He closed the door gently.

"Hurry." He whispered urgently. We walked briskly through the library.

"Do you think we're making it too hard for her?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. She likes a challenge."

We heard the library door open, and Flash stopped. He took my hoof and brought his hoof over his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I nodded in understanding. He closed his eyes and his ears moved around, picking up Ruby's steps. When he opened his eyes, he nodded to the side, and we snuck through the library. Every so often, he'd stop us, and we would turn and take a different direction. I had to admit, watching him go through all these steps, sneaking us away… was rather impressive and… something else… I was definitely feeling something close to excitement but in a dreamy kind of way. I wanted to be close to him… closer than what I already was. I was drawn to him. We took a convoluted way through the library and finally slipped out.

"Come on." We went down the hallway towards the throne room.

"Well, you sure are giving her a challenge. I didn't have to lift a hoof."

He smiled. "Stealth training and imagination. All I had to do was imagine Ruby was an assassin and I was protecting you. The result was all that back there."

I smiled and stopped him with my foreleg, suddenly feeling bold. "Thank you, my Knight." I smiled at him and kissed him. Like before, I felt a tingle on my lips, and a certain kind of giddiness and happiness in my heart. But this time, I was able to savor the moment. A kiss with Flash, while still special to me, was becoming more and more natural, like using my magic to open a door. When I pulled away, I looked up at him and I loved seeing the nervous smile and blush on his face. I could finally see why he liked surprising me with kisses.

"Heh, it's nothing really." He replied and smiled.

"Now I've got you." We heard Ruby say. Oh, that's right.

"Run!" Flash took my hoof, and we ran to the throne room. When we opened the door, Flash told me, "You go left, I go right."

We ran around the Cutie Mark Map, making Ruby choose which one of us to catch. Ruby was hot on my tail. But before either one of us could touch the throne, Ruby flung herself at me, only for Flash to fly up and take the blow. I made it to my throne while Flash and Ruby crashed into the map.

I tried to catch my breath as I asked them, "Are you two all right?"

"Let's go again!" Ruby exclaimed as she flew over to me. I smiled, seeing that she and Flash were all right.

Flash hopped from the table and smiled widely at us. "You bet."

Then, something dawned on me. "Wait, where's Spike?" I asked as I took Ruby into my forelegs and looking around.

"Right behind you."

We each called out a form of "Huh?"

We turned and watched Spike step out from behind the throne.

"Also. Safe!" He exclaimed as he touched the throne.

We played a few more rounds before Spike decided to call it a night and then we played one final round before Ruby gave a few yawns.

"And that's my que to put you to bed. Come on Sleeping Beauty." Flash said as we walked out of the throne room and headed upstairs to the guest rooms.

"Can I get a story before bed?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Then, we should head over to the library, and you can pick whatever book you like." I told her.

She gasped with huge eyes and a great smile on her face. "Really?" Suddenly, she had energy to spare for another Ruby.

I smiled at how much her face lit up. "Uh huh, and tell you what, I'll let you keep 3 books."

"Yay!" She took my hoof before taking Flash's as well. "Let's go."

She flew and started to drag us into the library.

"Whoa!"

"Ow!"

"Ruby, slow down Sis."

"Oops, sorry."

When we made it to the library, she exclaimed, "Ooh, where do I even start?!" She flew up and started to browse. I could see the excitement and determination in her face. If only all ponies could be this excited about books.

"You know, you might live to regret that." Flash said with I think a slight smirk on his face and lifting up into the air to a hover.

"Oh?" I asked, following his lead and catching on.

He flew towards Ruby. "There's a reason why we don't let her shop for books too often and now you're letting her take 3 out of your own collection."

I laughed a little. "Oh, but she looks so happy." I asked as I looked over to Ruby.

He laughed slightly. "Believe me, I get it."

Author's Note:

So, I tried to make hide and seek more intense and involved than it probably is. Hopefully, it was interesting enough. Ruby may or may not be developing a crush. Jury still out on that.

Flash and Twilight get some time to spend with their siblings. Yay family time.

Happy reading.

Comments

[Pinky1]

Well done the hide and seek was very funny and nice to read while also being entertaining and this is suck a good story please keep it up and good work

[Annabelle RTH]

11029608

Great, thanks. I was never confidant with I guess, action scenes, this could probably be considered. So thanks and I'm gad you're enjoying the story.