The Crystal Empire
The first thing Twilight did when she stepped off the train was inhale that warm, sweet air of the Crystal Empire.
"I'm so excited!" Pinkie Pie piped as she bounced onto the platform. "I mean last year's Crystal Fair was fun and all, but this one's going to be even better now that we don't have an evil shadow pony trying to destroy us all."
"Couldn't agree with ya more, Pinkie," Applejack chuckled.
Three fillies squealed as they rushed onto the platform.
"The Crystal Empire!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"No matter how many times we come here, it's still awesome!" Scootaloo declared.
"I can't wait until the fair!" Applebloom exclaimed.
"I wonder where Cadence is," Twilight said as she scoured the train station. "She said she'd be here to greet us."
"She's probably just running a little late," Rarity assured her. "You know how busy princesses are."
The alicorn's ears drooped. "I sure do."
Spike grunted as he shoved a pile of luggage off the train. Once it was on the platform, he paused to take a breath.
"Did we…" he panted, "have to…bring…so much…stuff?"
"We need those things for the Crystal Fair," Twilight reminded him.
A filly a few feet away from them gasped. "Mommy, look! It's Princess Twilight!"
That was enough to get every pony's heads turning. In a few seconds, Twilight and her friends were surrounded by fans: half of them wanting to see the princess, half of them wanting to see Spike, as he was the local hero.
"Oh my," Twilight said as many foals held up pictures of her. "You all want my autograph? Well, I suppose I could…"
She levitated a quill out of her saddlebag and hastily gave out signatures. Spike, who usually welcomed this much attention, was also trying to keep up with the number of ponies who wanted his autograph or picture.
Meanwhile, at the far end of the platform, Dawn Cracker was peering behind the train's caboose and gawking at the glorious crystal palace.
"Princess!" Fire Cracker called as he and the conductor lifted crates labeled "Danger: High Explosives" out of the freight car. "A little help here?"
"Huh?" Dawn blinked. "Oh! Sorry, Dad! It's just…this place is so…so…whoa!"
"Yup," her father grunted as he levitated one crate on top of another. "It'll look even more amazing once the sky is lit up with our fireworks." He paused to wipe the sweat off his brow. "But that won't happen if we stand around here daydreaming!"
"Oh, right."
Dawn's horn glowed as she began assisting her father.
"So where are we taking these?" she asked.
"Pinkie said we're to deliver them to the palace," he replied. "Maybe you'll get to see the princess after all."
As Fire Cracker levitated the next box, he winced in pain and put his hoof to his head.
"You okay, Dad?" Dawn asked in concern.
"Yeah," he groaned. "I'm just not as young as I used to be."
His daughter frowned. Lately, he'd been getting terrible migraines, especially when he used magic, which was why he needed Dawn around. It worried her, because they seemed to be getting more frequent than usual, but Fire Cracker kept shrugging it off.
She looked away from her father a moment to see ponies flocking to the other end of the platform. The crowd was so big that she couldn't see what was catching every pony's attention.
"Wonder what's going on over there," Dawn said.
Her father shrugged. "Probably just some celebrity. This is a pretty big event."
Neither of them realized just how big of a celebrity this pony was. Princess Twilight, her quill now burning with the number of autographs she had given, was searching for an opening in the crowd.
"Oh," she whined. "At this rate, we'll never get to the Crystal Palace!"
A familiar voice was her savior: "Alright, break it up, every pony! Break it up! Give the princess some space!"
Twilight turned to her right and her pupils dilated at the sight of the guard who had pushed through the crowd. This wasn't just any guard, but a certain orange pegasus with deep blue eyes, eyes that locked with hers. A warm, charming smile spread across his face.
"It is a pleasure to see you once again, your highness," the stallion said with a bow. "I trust you had a safe journey."
The alicorn said nothing for a while, only blushed. Her friends all exchanged knowing glances.
"F-f-f-flash!" she stammered, her wings popping up.
Flash Sentry looked up at her in surprise. "You know my name?"
Twilight's cheeks flushed redder. She knew more than just his name. She had met another version of him in an alternate world several months ago, one she had gotten close to. When returning, she had been shocked to find him in this universe too.
That's when she remembered that this Flash didn't know her as intimately as the human one, which would explain why he was speaking to her so formally. Spike had to nudge her side to snap her out of her thoughts.
"Oh," she uttered. "Y-yes, Sir Flash Sentry. Might I ask why you're here?"
"Princess Cadence requested that I escort you to the palace," the guard replied.
The alicorn blinked. "She did?"
She should've guessed her sister-in-law had something to do with this. Cadence had known of Twilight's crush on Flash ever since she had bumped into him after returning from the alternate world. It was hard to hide anything of this matter from the Princess of Love. She must've grown tired of letting nature take its course and decided to give the potential couple a push.
Well, at least she's not putting a love spell on us or anything, Twilight thought.
"Very well," the alicorn said, regaining her composure. "Lead on, sir."
The Crystal Empire was the most beautiful place in Equestria, with crystal walkways, crystal buildings, crystal ponies, crystal everything. The empire was shimmering and full of life. Twilight, however, took no notice of this. She was too busy glancing at the guard walking beside her.
In the few times she had encountered this stallion, they had barely exchanged more than two sentences with each other. She felt guilty, but also afraid. Was he anything like the Flash Sentry she had met in the other world? Or was he different? Sure, he was friendly, but did he see her as anything other than a princess he was meant to protect?
She would admit this to herself: this version of Flash certainly was more attractive.
Her train of thought was interrupted when Rarity nudged her side.
"Say something to him!" the unicorn whispered harshly.
Twilight looked back at Flash to see if he had heard her. Luckily, he hadn't.
Her friend was right though. She had to break the ice at some point, and she would never get to know the Flash Sentry in this world if she didn't try.
"So…Flash," Twilight stammered. "How…how long have you been in Cadence's service?"
He turned his head and smiled. Okay, good start.
"Oh, just a few days before we met," he stated but then blushed. "I mean…before your last Royal Summit here, your highness."
She couldn't help but notice that blush. Had he been thinking about how they had bumped into each other upon her arrival in the Crystal Empire?
"What made you decide to become a member of the Royal Guard?" she asked.
"My grandpa, Watch Sentry, was in the Royal Guard and he was always telling me stories. I guess he inspired me."
Twilight gasped and stopped in her tracks. "Watch Sentry? As in the Watch Sentry? As in the Watch Sentry who single-hoofedly stopped a rogue dragon from attacking Princess Celestia?"
Flash stopped too and blushed again. "Well, yeah. You've heard of him?"
"Heard of him? He's a legend! My brother was always talking about him! He was his idol! And you're his grandson?"
He smiled shyly away and dug his hoof in the ground. "Yeah, kinda… Anyways, I hope to be as brave and noble as he was someday."
"I'm sure you will."
This time, he looked her directly in the eye and they locked gaze for a long while.
"Ahem," Rainbow Dash said, crossing her hooves. "I hate to break up the love fest, but shouldn't we get going?"
"Oh, right!"
Flash and Twilight turned to each other again, realizing they had said that at the same time. They glanced away with equal shades of red on their faces. Twilight's friends couldn't help but chuckle, except for Rainbow, who was about to gag from all the mush.
In the throne room of the Crystal Palace, they were met with two rows of trumpeters. At the sight of Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor leapt off their thrones.
"Twilie!" the latter cried, embracing his sister. "Glad you could make it."
"I'm glad to see you too, B.B.B.F.F.," Twilight grinned before turning to her sister-in-law. "Cadence!"
The two alicorns stood a foot away from each other and did their usual greeting: "Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"
At the shake, Twilight looked up and noticed that Flash was watching and blushed in embarrassment.
"Err, yeah," she said, straightening up. "Thanks for inviting us here."
"Well, the Crystal Fair wouldn't be the same without all of you here," Cadence declared. "After all, you did help with the last one. I hope you don't mind helping with this one too. It's just that with so many ponies coming from outside of the empire this time, this one's going to be bigger than the last. We need all the help we can get."
"It's no problem, Princess," Applejack said, stepping forth. "We're happy to help."
"Ooh," Scootaloo said. "For the fair, do you think we could have a roller coaster?"
"And a Ferris wheel?" Sweetie Belle piped.
"How 'bout a merry-go-round?" Applebloom squealed.
Cadence laughed. "I think before we do any planning, you should all get settled in your rooms first. I gave you all the same rooms as last time. Oh, and Flash Sentry will show the little ones to their room."
Twilight glared at her sister-in-law and whispered, "I know what you're trying to do."
The pink alicorn looked up innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
As the other ponies followed Flash out of the room, Pinkie bounced up to the Princess of Love.
"Oh!" she piped. "I meant to tell you, Princess. I'm expecting a shipment of fireworks in a bit and often I would put them in my closet, but of course, I couldn't bring my closet on the train, so I was wondering if you had any place to store them until the event!"
Cadence smiled sweetly. "Of course, Pinkie Pie. There's plenty of room in the storage cellar. You can store them there until you can get a tent set up on the fairgrounds."
At that moment, another crystal guard stepped in and announced, "Your highness. There are a couple of ponies at the gates with crates of explosives. They're being checked for certification. Were you expecting a delivery?"
"That must be Fire Cracker!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced out of the throne room. "I'll take care of it!"
As the gate guards examined their papers, Dawn Cracker gazed up at the Crystal Palace above them. It was bigger than she had imagined. She wondered how many rooms there were and whether the princess used them all.
"Well, your certification for handling these types of explosives seems valid," one of the guards said. "However, we'll have to see some identification."
Fire Cracker sighed as he rummaged through his saddlebag. "Goodness. They certainly take a lot of precautions here."
Dawn cried out as she fell backward. She had been leaning back so far to see the top of the castle that she had lost her balance. Fire Cracker looked over his shoulder and laughed.
"Careful, honey. I know this place is a lot to take in, but don't kill yourself over it."
"It's okay, boys!" cried a high-pitched voice. "They're with me! I ordered these fireworks for the fair!"
Fire Cracker beamed at the sight of the pink pony. "Miss Pie! Pleasure to see…oomph!"
He gasped as Pinkie threw her hooves around his neck. "Oh, Cracker, you can call me Pinkie! All my friends do!"
"Right…" the red unicorn wheezed. "Pinkie…"
"This is going to be so much fun! First, we gotta get all these crates down to the storage cellar, and then we'll get you settled in a hotel and then I'll show you around the Crystal Empire and then we'll get the fireworks tent set up and move everything there!"
Pinkie Pie let go when she saw the lavender pony on the ground.
"Silly," she snorted. "You can't shoot fireworks from down there. You must be Dawn!"
She held out her hoof to help the unicorn up.
"Yeah," Dawn grunted. "Thanks."
Pinkie Pie's smile disappeared when the mare reached her eye-level. She squinted at the lavender unicorn and tilted her head in confusion. Dawn raised an eyebrow.
"What are you staring at?"
"Hmm," Pinkie uttered as she tapped her chin. "Have we met?"
"No."
"You look familiar. I can't quite put my hoof on it…"
The pink pony was now so close that their noses were touching. Dawn glanced at her father, but he only shrugged. Pinkie then smiled suddenly and backed away.
"Eh, I'll figure it out eventually. Come on, let's get this stuff moving!"
As the energetic mare bounced over to the crates, Dawn looked at her father.
"She's…interesting."
Fire Cracker shrugged again. "That's just how she is."
As the two unicorns began levitating the crates, Pinkie continued to stare at the lavender one.
"I could've sworn I've seen that face somewhere before…"
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Does this story have Flashlight?
4748462
That relationship name alone is enough reason to hate Flash x Twilight.
Anyway, still waiting for hijiinks.
4748552 Okay, the name is dumb, but please don't hate on this story for it.
At least it sounds better than TwiSentry (I think that's what it's called).
So pinkie can recognise cranky's and matilda's scrap books but she can't recognise her best friend's doppelgänger?
4748646
I'm a Sunsentry fan myself. But I sincerely hope shipping isn't the point of this story.
4748646 So it does have Twilight x Flash.
Flash is a bit of a split issue as pretty much all Equestria Girls issues are. Don't take it personally. I for one, don't mind a bit.
I find FlashLight hilarious. You have to pick a special talent for Flash, you know. Since he's a guard and his last name is Sentry, what about some sort of protective barrier of clouds he can create, like a pegasus version of the barrier spell? I bet he likes corn dogs too.
I personally Support flash and twilight ships.
I cannot wait to see what happens next 
4748686
To be fair, regarding Matilda and Cranky - Pinkie didn't look a picture and see 2 mules who looked a lot like Matilda and Cranky, she looked a t a picture and saw that it WAS Matilda and Cranky. With Dawn, she knows perfectly well that it's Dawn and NOT Twilight Sparkle. Its just Rule of Funny that she doesn't make the connection that Dawn bears a striking resemblance to one her best friends.
Can't hold the laughter in
4748646 no I
flashlight its my favortie shipping
Glad to we flashlight here. I swear, I have the weirdest tastes in what I like. I actually loved EG
I'm really liking it so far. I love your OC and how well developed her character is. The FlashLight shipping is great too. I really like the less popular ships , like TrenderJack or RariPants.
I'm a FlashLight shipper, so I personally enjoyed the inclusion of Flash
>> hootscootaloo101 BROHOOF
Ummmmmmmmmmmm......... I think I love your story!!!
I personally don't mind Flash, as long as he is well written, given a backstory, a personality and all the things a character should have. God to see Twilight and Cadence haven't forgotten their special dance, they did in Three's a Crowd, that, or they decided that since they were in public, it wouldn't be such a good idea. My headcannon is that Princess of Love or not, Cadence can't force anypony to fall in love, her love spell only reminds two ponies of the love they share, be it romantic, fraternal or otherwise. So far so good.
"So what if he's not fully developed in that Equestria Girls movie? That just gives us fanfic writers the opportunity to expand on his character."
Yes, thank you.
I have seen far to many people in this fandom lash out against fanfics that includes Flash Sentry and I have never really understood why either. In my opinion even though he didn´t really have a point in Equestria Girls I´m still glad that he was included since that just gave us writers another royal guard character to work with.
WAIT!!!...I found something...
(I'm gonna do this one first...)
1.
2.
"Give Her Time..."
I personally don't like Flash much, but I'm interested to see how you portray him past simple awkward talk and blushing, because he could be fleshed out if handled well.
I don't understand why people don't like Flash, they're already shipping Fluttercord (personal fave), Buttonbelle, Soarindash, Rarispike or Raripants, Cheesepie, and occasionally Applespike. Just because there aren't many male characters doesn't mean Twilight can't have a chance at love that isn't gay, even if he just came out of the blue.
FLASHLIGHT 4EVER!!!!!!!!
Always nice to see someone else who understands this. To tell you the truth, I'm actually starting to dread the day his character is actually developed for fear of it clashing with the one I designed for him.
yay! pony flashxpony twilight. i has so many ships!!!!