Flash Hoof, a young colt from the slums of Canterlot, trained as an adept thief from childhood by his older brother, has been forced from his home and made to create a new identity for himself.
Now, with his new identity of Flash Sentry, a recent recruit into the royal guards, he must lay low, carefully up keeping this life he has adopted, and avoiding the slightest break in his cover story.
But life has a strange way of throwing distractions into the mix.
This one happens to be named Twilight Sparkle
...
Disclaimer: This is a restoration of the original story written by yours truly. It may bear striking resemblance to the story of the same name by TheProfessor86, but that was a spinoff of my original work made as a continuation. Also, rated teen for suggestive themes.
You are going to get shit tons of dislikes for daring to write a story about Flash Sentry.
That said, I enjoyed this story. It's your own little universe, but it is infinitely close to the one we all know and love. Maybe you can make Flash Sentry into a character worth liking. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it!
-Lumino
I'm only liking this because I love a good Twilight x Flash shipping.
Interesting, while most incorporate the movie, you don't. I will find this interesting. I shall rad this when I have the chance. :)
3878554
That's my goal. I'm trying to make a story that is just distant enough that we can forget the catastrophe of the canon ship, but close enough that it is still a plausible parallel. I'm glad you like it.
As for the dislikes...
3878559
Umm... Thanks I think?
3878562
Trying to stay away from the movie so that the ship can start fresh, free from the mistreatment the movie gave it. I'm glad I have your attention.
Pretty good. Have a like and a Favorite. Keep writing.
3878611
Both are much appreciated! Cheers!
Me and my army supports this story
3878621
Army? What the devil-
<Clicks link>
Woah! Oh, my.
Your army's support is welcomed indeed.
3878632
-__- Fluttershy show him how it's done
3878647
I bow to her superior "Oh, my"-ing skills.
3878655 Damn right you better:
encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRFn-c9GvskBRCYcgr3ckSd9EaOYe14KqlxlMMRUCZn76szQ4mb
3878666
Amount of shits Fluttershy gives: 0
3878677
3878686
Good luck editing.
This looks promising.
I look forward to more.
3879093
Thanks! I will certainly work towards more.
This story was sweet. I can't wait for the next chapter. I hope it doesn't take too long.
3879953
Thanks. I'm writing it as we speak.
this is adorable!!!!Please continue!!!when is the next chapter coming out?:D
3880333
Well... I've been working on it today, and since I have so much support, I'm really trying to finish within a few days, but I'm not often the best with deadlines...
Regardless, it wont take longer than a week.
3880552
Wow, thanks! That's a mighty high compliment for just the first chapter. I'll try to stay on a roll. Thanks for the fave, by the way.
Did i miss something important? Why are people grabbing pitchforks and torches over Flash?
3880623
Actually, I have to admit, I hate the canon ship from EQG, but that's cause the whole damned movie's pacing and plot was awkward and hamfisted. The only thing I hold against Flash from the movie is that he is way too bland, but that's mostly because he has little screen time and shares like maybe eight lines of dialogue with Twilight before the romance takes over. I think if they had properly developed the character, then the ship might have worked. Hence, this story.
Did you post the first chapter? 'Cause I got a email telling me the story updated, but I can't see the new chapter
3886261
When I started writing this morning, I accidentally pressed "Publish" instead of "Edit" due to my faulty mousepad. Sorry for the fake out. The new chapter should be up either tonight or tomorrow at this rate, however.
Nicely written.
3889421
Thanks.
I can see where this is going, but at he same time I have no idea where this is going...
Emerald is a...um...a..SON OF A BEAR!I try to not use bad words as much as possible, lol.The next chapter will come out next week?Right?Ooh!And is the next chapter about Cadence and Shining wedding and how Flash tries to save the day but instead he meets Twilight who ends up saving the day?Or will it be how Twi becomes an alicorn skipping the whole wedding part?!What chapter does he meet Twily?
And Flash Hoof?What a plot twist!I love how this is coming along!I knew it would be worth the wait!^.^
Eeeeee!
This is getting so exciting!
3893236
Whoa, whoa. Slow down, there. All in due time.
I can confirm the wedding has a minor part to play and, moreover, the next chapter does directly feature both Twilight and Flash. However, that is all I'm saying til it is out, which should be sooner than that. Likely a few more days, a week at the very latest.
3893291
Again, thanks. I'm glad people really like this idea. I was afraid I would catch so much flak.
3893471 okay okay, ^.^ you don't wanna spoil it.So it will most likely be update before a week?At the most a week?And so in the next chapter, Twi and Flash will meet each other?^.^ I'm so happy!^.^
Hm, now this is a pretty interesting concept - I believe this is the first story I have seen regarding Flash that truly tries to explore his background, and have it be a pretty shady one. And nothing in this contradicts canon either - indeed, if you go with that route, this all could still lead to Twilight eventually bumping in to Flash the same way she did in the show after her little trip through the mirror.
Of course you could take things in a different direction as well, so who knows - I only know that I look towards finding out. It will be interesting to see whether Shining recognizes Flash (or vice versa) ... though I guess that seems somewhat unlikely, seeing how long ago it was he confronted the two colts in the streets. Still, the potential is there, and I imagine Flash could use his position in the Guard (once he gets accepted anyway) to try and find out what happened to his brother.
Also looking towards Twilight's eventual encounters with Flash and how that relationship front will develop. I always appreciate a good romance story, and your writing is of pretty good quality - seeing you explore their would-be relationship is going to be a satisfying experience, I feel. Can't wait to see more.
On another note, after the first chapter and how each of them made a wish that is going to be relevant to the positions they find themselves in, I now see why the fic is titled "starcrossed", heh.
3895149
I'm glad it's interesting. Honestly, this originally was not going to be a Flashlight story, but I decided to change it last minute because
OC romance is like story poison on this siteI feel like there is potential for a real character there that the movie didn't do a damn thing with. I also chose to focus more on Flash's backstory with the opening chapters because Twilight has been explored a great deal in canon, but other than a name, appearance, and occupation we know nothing about Flash.As for the shadiness, I wanted to make his past a little shady because [minor spoiler] one of the overarching themes is Pride and Prejudice style miscommunications and misconceptions within separate social classes, and what is more dissonant in social class to a virtuous princess than a lowborn thief who somewhat gets off on deceiving people?
I can neither confirm or deny...
Thanks. I'm really glad you like the story and hope to keep your attention as a reader.
Actually, while I came up with the title as an allusion to Shakespeare as well as a reference to Twilight's cutiemark being a star, I have to give credit where it is due to my little brother Steven on this one. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to connect the two characters and finish the first chapter, and when I talked to him he said, "Dude, just pull a Disney and have them wish on a shooting star." I then proceeded to slap myself in embarrassment that I missed something so obvious.
3895897
I honestly have no issues with OCs used in romance stories and they don't immediately make for a bad story (so long as you aren't going for one of those ridiculous "Tall, dark and broody unicorn (bonus points for being an alicorn) with super mysterious past, badass attitude and pure awesomeness for a cutie mark, having twice as strong magic and knowing thrice as many obscure spells as Twilight turns up in Ponyville" type of deals) ...
But it's equally true that Flash provides just about the perfect vessel to use in Twilight's romance stories, so long as you don't mind a pegasus. I mean, he's a character that Twilight has been shown a small amount of attraction towards (so a natural choice for a ship), but other than that is pretty much a blank slate, minus being an evidently pretty friendly/nice guy.
You would think he is the perfect character to use in such stories, because you can just about anything with him without contradicting canon (and still have the attraction of the pair, however slight, be rooted in canon), yet the amount of irrational hate he gets is honestly ... boggling. I applaud you for using him - both for taking the chance to explore the character, and not minding the downvotes that I am sure you knew were heading this story's way from the mindless hordes of people ready to thumbs down any story that as much as has him in the character tags.
And yeah, it will be interesting to see how Flash interacts with Twilight. For being a Princess, she is probably nothing like he would expect one to be. Likewise, I'm not sure how aware Twilight would be of the apparent poverty issues that plague the streets of Canterlot and that Celestia would allow something like that (Though Flash not getting a decent job as the years went on is kinda his own fault).
3896098
Meh... I don't have issues specifically with OC's, but so rarely are they properly pulled off. Besides, with my first story being an HiE, and a rather conventional one at that (Damn, I really need to get around to that rewrite) I thought writing an OC shipfic as my second story would condemn me to the "This guy just wants to faff about" category.
That said, Flash is, as you pointed out, the perfect bridge of OC and canon. He officially exists, is a relatively important side character, and even has a speaking part, something many fan favorites don't even possess. However, he's playdough. You can rework literally any aspect of his personality and backstory to your heart's content.
As far as the downvotes and hate are concerned. I really don't care. I mean, it's not like I'm one of those assholes who thinks his story is God and anyone who doesn't worship it is just jealous/hating. If someone has a legitimate opinion or criticism, I'd love to hear it. That's the only way writers improve. On the other hand, those 16 people who downvoted the story without saying anything, I'd give a fair wager, saw the cover image and said, "Flash Sentry, huh? Dislike!" without reading the story. That doesn't bother me- mostly because that means it wasn't because I did a poor job writing and more because they didn't bother to get over themselves on the "Flash Sentry stole my waifu" thing to actually see if my story was good or not.
<sigh> Getting off of that half-hearted rant, The last paragraph, without giving too much away, is the real meat of the story. Don't get me wrong; the romance, of course, is the focus of this as a shipfic, but the undertones of class struggle and ambiguity bubble up to the surface. I also somewhat agree with Flash having other options. I should have made it more obvious to the reader, and I do apologize for that, but the first two chapters were supposed to convey the idea that Flash doesn't want to be a thief in the traditional sense. He loves playing a part, but he doesn't like screwing people out of their money, and it's only because of the brothers' lifestyle, as well as his loyalty to Swift who adores their occupation, that he has remained a thief.
When's the next chapter coming out? I want to see more!!
3896738
Started work on it this morning, and this particular week isn't too busy aside from classes, so not long at all.
3896781
Looking forward to it.
Oh and funny thing we have the same last name.
3896792
I figured that would happen after a while on the site. I always run into other Fowlers that I'm not related to... Wait, I'm not related to you, right?
3896808
I don't know.... After my father died almost that whole side of my family dis-owned me.
3896820
I'm sorry.
Oh.
3896869
It's ok
Nice job with this chapter. I do how Flash finds Swift at the end. Well Best of luck Flash. But I am starting to see the fox and the hound going through my head. I hope this story doesn't follow that trend.
3898696
... Finds him... Right... <Pushes outline under the rug>
3898696
I am joking, of course. While I dohave a rough outline so that I know basically how the story plays out, it is given to change based on the input of the audience. Unless the suggestion is terribly daft, or I've already thought of a better idea, I usually let the readers help steer the ship.
3898734 Okay. I can't wait for the next chapter. I like your writing style, but I would recommend to continue to take this story slowly, and with details. I have read way to many fanfictions that were fast and very shallow. Best of luck with your next chapter.
3898748
I'll keep it in mind. I was worried I was picking up the pace a little too much, especially with the last section of Chapter I. Don't worry, though. There will be more. After all, there are still some eighteen more chapters of this length that I have planned.
3898800 Okay. Best of luck. Just don't let us wait too long in between Chapters.
3898800
So when do you exspect the next chapter will be comming out?
3902544
Well, I'm not going to lie, things just got... Hectic in my personal life for reasons I don't yet want to disclose, so I'll have to see. Still likely soon like within a week, but if I due set it back a bit, try to be a bit understanding. Life just got a little harder.