Flash's Secret

by GingerSnatch

Chapter 1 - First Sight

Present Day

Flash Sentry was running. He didn’t know where to, or what he would do when he got there. He only knew he had to run for as long as he was able. His life depended on it. Behind him was the thunderous sound of an entire fleet of the palace guard slowly closing in, but Flash could barely hear them over the pounding in his head.

A blinding, purple light suddenly erupted in front of him. Flash skidded to a halt, panting. He felt his stomach drop as he registered the pony standing in his path. Twilight Sparkle glared at him with all the fury of an angry universe. The guards slowed their chase, brought to a standstill by the look in the princess’s eyes alone. Nopony breathed.

“How could you. . .” Twilight whispered, turning her gaze to the ground. Her bottom lip quivered. For a moment, all of her anger melted away and it looked as though she might cry. Drawn in by the sudden tenderness, Flash took a tentative step forward. His hoofstep echoed through the dead silent hall.

“Twilight, I never–” At the sound of his voice Twilight snapped her head up to stare directly into Flash’s eyes. All trace of whatever sorrow she had been feeling only moments before was gone, replaced instead with a livid scowl and clenched, grinding teeth.

“HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!” Twilight’s scream echoed off the palace walls, and made the entire hallway tremble with its force. A bolt of purple energy shot from the princess’s horn and flew towards Flash. The stallion ducked, along with the entire fleet of palace guards. Behind them, something exploded. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Twilight’s voice was a low growl. She began to walk slowly towards the terrified Flash, who was now flattened against the ground. The guards slowly began to inch themselves away and out of the hallway. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Flash scrambled in a blind panic to try and get up off the floor. “No. . . no! Twi, I love–”

“SHUT UP!!!” Another bolt flew from Twilight’s horn, sending Flash back to his knees. “I never want to hear your voice again.” Twilight’s own voice cracked but she shook it off, trying to rid herself of whatever residual emotion was causing her to consistently lose her composure. She began to pace around the trembling Flash, staring at the floor. “Nothing you could ever say would make up for this, this utter betrayal. How could you keep a secret this huge from me? After all of our years together. . . I will never be able to forgive you. . .” Twilight stopped her pacing and looked back up at Flash with wild eyes. “But maybe if you were to just . . . disappear . . . maybe then I could forget. Maybe all of Equestria. . . could begin to forget.” A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, slowly becoming far too wide for her face. Twilight’s horn began to glow, sparks flying.

Flash’s eyes grew wide with terror. “No! No, Twilight, please!” He crawled forward, tears streaming from his eyes, and wrapped a foreleg around the princess’s hooves, groveling.

‘When did it all go so wrong. . .’ Flash thought through the screaming panic of his own mind. ‘I don’t remember when it all went so wrong. . .’

Flash was lying to himself and he knew it. He remembered the day quite clearly. Even now, as he begged for his life, the vision of a cool spring morning and the echoing sound of hooves on tile edged its way into his mind's eyes. And a unicorn. A unicorn with hair like a sunset.

Quite Some Time Ago

Flash Sentry was running. Running for his life. Okay, maybe not in the “life or death” sense of the phrase, but definitely running for his future. Roll call began in the trainee courtyard at precisely 2a.m., and the clock had struck twice five minutes ago.

‘And what am I doing instead?’ Flash thought to himself. ‘Running through the palace halls like a racehorse – on my third day on the job, no less! You’d think by now I would have gotten the schedule down but nooo–’ There was a sudden metallic clang as Flash collided with an unforeseen obstacle.

“OOF!” Flash fell back hard onto his haunches. Wondering if the palace decorators were really dumb enough to put a metal statue in the middle of the hallway, Flash lifted his aching head and squinted through the pain. What he saw, however, was no statue. The metallic clang had not come from his own armor. Sitting only inches away from him, rubbing her horn with eyes shut tight in pain, was one of the most strikingly beautiful ponies Flash had ever seen. Her hair was a breathtaking combination of colors, and her cutie mark was an intricate sun with twisting rays–

Flash stood up and to attention faster than he had ever thought possible. He had heard of that cutie mark before, and realized that today might just be the day he made the worst mistake of his life. “I’m sorry I’m late, Princess!” he boomed in what he hoped sounded more like a military shout than a voice elevated by panic.

She jumped up like a jackrabbit and spun around, not taking even a moment to look at Flash. She searched behind her for something, before slowly turning back around. Flash felt his mouth turn into a desert. The princess was . . . sneering at him? Interesting, Flash didn’t know princesses could look this sinister.

“Do I look like a bucking alicorn princess to you?” she said with notable venom. Flash took a step back. Well he definitely hadn’t expected that response. However, as he took a second look, Flash came to the realization that the red and yellow pony before him had no wings. And from the look in her eyes, the mistake had struck a nerve.

“Oh! I’m sorry. With your coloring and cutie mark, I assumed you were the princess of the sun.”

The unicorn laughed maliciously. “Wow. You really are a moron. What Equestrian becomes a royal guard and doesn’t know what Princess Celestia looks like?”

“I’m new.”

“Well obviously.”

“Again. . . My apologies for the misunderstanding,” he said as formally as possible, trying perhaps a little too hard to get on her good side. “What are you doing out this early?”

Her eyes grew wide and shifted about the hall a moment, before returning to their previous glare. If Flash hadn’t been staring at her like a fine work of art, he would have missed the small break in composure all together. “That’s none of your business, trainee!” She shifted her weight to the side; a confident, knowing look in her eye. “You don’t get to ask me questions. Compared to me you’re a worthless little insect. I could crush you into pony pudding with a single word.” When Flash squinted in confusion, she rolled her eyes with an aggravated sigh. “You really don’t know who you’re talking to.”

“No actually,” Flash retorted, “I don’t. What should I call you?”

She scoffed at the question for reasons Flash couldn’t fathom. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable one, to him. “You can call me Sunset Shimmer for now, dweeb. But don’t get too attached to it. You’ll be calling me princess again before too long.” With that, Sunset Shimmer ended the conversation and tore down the hall at an entirely unsafe speed.

Flash almost didn’t step out of her way fast enough. “My name is Flash!” He called after, holding a hoof to his mouth. “Flash Sentry!”

Sunset snorted. “Like I care!!!”

He watched until Sunset Shimmer shrank to a pinprick down the seemingly endless hallway. As he turned to continue his gallop to the trainee courtyard, Flash let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Somewhere in the course of their conversation he had lost his will to run. Flash didn’t understand the way he felt. He should be appalled, disgusted, offended at the very least, any normal emotion that came from having abuse hurled at you like snowballs. But all Flash felt was a slight tingling in his chest, and a herd of butterflies having a rock concert in his stomach. Only one thought twisted around over and over in his head like a cyclone: Who was this Sunset Shimmer?

---

The rest of Flash Sentry’s slight canter to the courtyard was uneventful at best. There were no more rampaging unicorns to run into, only the quiet calm of the last few hours before Celestia officially raised the sun. Peaceful. And for the first time in his life. . . Flash found himself hating the peaceful silence.

He reached the trainee lineup late as he had expected, but managed to sneak in unnoticed next to his new friend: Silver Spark, a grey earth pony with a white mane and blue eyes that always seemed to hold a mischievous sparkle.

As the Co-Captain of the Palace Guard finally passed by them (Flash had somehow managed to sneak in right before the Co-Captain took roll of his row), Silver Spark leaned over to whisper in Flash’s ear. “Where the hay were you this morning?”

Flash ignored the question. “Do you know a mare named Sunset Shimmer?”

“Aaaand that’s all the answer I need. You were held up by a natural disaster. All is forgiven.”

“No, seriously Silv,” Flash bumped his buddy’s shoulder lightly with his hoof. “Tell me about her. Something happened this morning between us and it made me . . . curious.”

Silver Spark let out a long sigh. “Okay okay. . . It’s like this.”

He was cut off by a yell from the front of the courtyard. Everypony snapped to attention. ‘TELL YOU LATER’ Silver mouthed to Flash, making completely unsubtle hoof motions along with each word.

The Co-Captain began dictating the day’s agenda and orders to them. Flash barely paid any attention. It was the exact same ordeal as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. And, in all honesty, learning how to protect his country was the last thing on Flash’s mind. His thoughts were all alive with red, and yellow, and glowering eyes, the soft curl of a sneering mouth and the unexpected musicality of a humorless laugh. Before he knew it, the final order came and Flash robotically stamped his hoof and saluted along with the other three hundred stallions. They marched out of the courtyard in somewhat perfect unison. They were only trainees, after all.

Once safely inside the palace walls, away from the Co-Captains watchful gaze, Silver Spark broke formation and brushed up against Flash. “So what do you think the chefs have in store for us today, hmm? Hay? Or oats? Or maybe hay–”

“Silv. . .” Flash said, quite serious in contrast to his bubbly friend. “Sunset Shimmer. You were going to tell me about Sunset Shimmer.”

Silver sighed and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. “Pony feathers. I was hoping you’d forgotten.”

“After five minutes?”

“Well a stallion can hope,” he said with a smirk. “I just don’t like talking about her. Nopony does. You know what they say: Speak of the devil and he shall . . . Actually I don’t know the end of that–”

“Silver! Focus!”

“Finefinefine!” Silver gave in. He took a quick, paranoid look around and then began speaking in a hushed tone. “Sunset Shimmer: Celestia’s personal ‘gifted’ student. She’s an out and out terror, completely self absorbed and convinced of her own importance. There isn’t a single pony in Equestria she thinks is worth the dirt stuck under her hoof. Of course she’s sweet as sugar around the princess. But the second Princess Celestia turns around, there she goes again; tripping some poor earth pony trainee down the hall for absolutely no reason! She’s such a two faced little– Sorry. I’m getting a little worked up. Bottom line is: She’s mean and has no friends. And I would stay away from her. Far away. This isn’t kindergarten, Flash. If she pulls your tail it doesn’t mean she likes you.” Silver Spark chuckled at his own joke. Flash remained silent. “Hey. . .” Silver nudged his friend softly. “You weren’t thinking that, were you? That she liked you? I mean I don’t know what happened between you two this morning but sleeping with Satan is always a bad– Hold up. What did happen?”

Flash forced himself out of his silent trance. “Oh! I, uh, ran into her in the hall. Literally. And she called me a moron.”

Silver Spark snorted. “Classic. A complete accident dependent on two ponies both being oblivious and she puts all the blame on you. I’ve never met somepony so–”

“Well I did mistake her for Princess Celestia.” For some reason, Flash felt like he needed to defend her. When Silver Spark erupted into unrestrained laughter, however, he suddenly wished he hadn’t.

“Oh sweet Celestia! I’m sure that just did wonders for her overinflated ego.” He slapped a grey foreleg over Flash’s shoulder. “Well I guess this is the first time I agree with her. You really are a moron!”

Flash laughed and pushed his friend off. “Can you blame me? I’ve never been out of my home town before this week.”

“Yes!” Silver exclaimed, still laughing. “I blame you for not running away from that dump sooner.”

The two stallions stumbled into the mess hall laughing and shoving each other playfully. Luckily the mess hall was already alive with dozens of separate conversations and general hubbub. The two stallions barely made a ripple in the pool of sounds. As he made his way into line to get what could either be mashed hay or severely overcooked oats, Flash couldn’t help but scan the room for a certain red and yellow unicorn. He had no luck. Only trainee stallions packed from door to door. In his mind, Flash swore to find her again despite his friend's warning. In fact, for the some inexplicable reason, Silver Spark had only served to make him like this Sunset Shimmer even more. It was a twisted kind of attraction, but Flash couldn’t deny the way he was pulled to the strange little unicorn. There was something in her that had latched onto him and refused to relinquish its hold. She consumed his thoughts and pranced across his mind's vision. This mare had the potential to infect his very soul.

And Flash wasn’t sure he minded all that much.

Author's Note:

And so it begins. I've got a lot of plans for this story, so let me know what you think in the comments.

Comments

[TheArquius]

That's neat bruh.

[ArchAngelsWings]

Don't let the haters get you down hon.

[Mr Legoman]

Seems interesting.

[GingerSnatch]

6967305 Thanks! I'm not. *insert shake it off lyrics here*

[The Great Derpsby]

With Flash Sentry-centric stories, you need to divide the downvotes by about a factor of four to get an accurate reading.

Here's an upvote to put this in balance again!

[Krickis]

Wow, haters on this website are worse than I thought. Twice someone came by and down votes every comment? But no one can actually come out and say anything against the story So childlike in their pettiness.

[ArchAngelsWings]

How childish and petty can you get? If you're gonna downvote something at least be constructive about it. 'Oh I didn't like this because xyz' But I suppose Internet trolls are everywhere.

[mouch30]

Ooohhh my, this looks like the start of a very interesting fic. When I saw Krickis's blog post, I was immediately intrigued. I'm quite a fan of Flash (that poor soul, he did nothing wrong!) so I'm very VerY excited to see where this is headed.

Voting up and tracking, and looking forward to adding to my favorites. Can't wait for the next chapter

[GingerSnatch]

6972151 Thank you so much! Flash is such a poor adorkable soul. I'm super excited to add to this story. I've got a whole twisty plan in my head that I think people will enjoy.

6968644
6968921
Haters gonna hate, alligators gonna alligate. I can't do anything about the trolls. It makes me a little happy, actually, that they have nothing to say against the story. It means that I'm not doing anything wrong and I can continue writing the way I am. In a way, I've won. I've left them speechless.