Flash's Secret

by GingerSnatch

Chapter 3 - Awakening

Flash hadn’t known a knock could be so lovely. The three sharp taps sent an inexplicable shiver down his spine. He walked to the door, perhaps a bit too fast, and pushed it open. And suddenly there she was, head tilted to one side, looking up at him with a soft, shy smile on her lips. She was as beautiful as he remembered her, perhaps even a bit more so than earlier. Her previously untamed mane was pulled into a soft braid, and her normally scornful lips had been glossed with the most delicious light pink. He had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like an eternity. He had thought of her constantly. His heart had fluttered itself into obscurity every time this outrageous unicorn merely crossed his mind. ‘Had’ being the operative word. Right now, as she stood smiling up at him, the oddest calm washed over him. Flash felt absolutely nothing.

He shook his head and mentally reminded himself that this was Sunset Shimmer. The Sunset Shimmer. What was the matter with him? “Please come in,” he said, strangely articulate for his current situation. Last time he had seen this mare he couldn’t feel his tongue, let alone use it to form actual words.

Sunset giggled sweetly. “Don’t mind if I do.” She stepped through the doorway, brushing up against Flash in the process, and took a wide eyed look around. “What a nice room. And what lovely candles.” Her nostrils flared delicately as she took a deep breath in. “They make the air smell so sweet.”

“Thanks,” Flash said, finally shutting the door. “I thought you would like them. They’re called ‘Tropical Citrus Hideaway’.” He hadn’t liked the gaudy name much, but their scent had reminded him of Sunset.

Sunset giggled. So much giggling this evening. Flash hadn’t believed she could sound so feminine. “We’ve only met twice and you already know my favorite scent. How sweet.” Her blue-green eyes settled on the book lying innocently on Flash’s expertly made bed. A look came over her, hungry and vicious, a glimpse of the previous Sunset from earlier today. But when she turned her attention back to Flash that look was gone. She smiled at him once again. “I see there are two beds here. I’m guessing that the one with the book is yours, but where’s your roommate?”

Flash felt a small pang of guilt. “He’s. . . spending the night somewhere else.” He gestured to his own bed with a tilted nodd, changing the subject as fast as possible. “Would you like to sit down?”

Sunset giggled. It was getting annoying. “Why of course.” She climbed onto the bed and scooted over, running hungry eyes over the books worn, maroon cover. Flash followed after, a familiar twinge of resentment in his chest. He had felt this way before. Other mares, silly little things who had somehow found their way into his room and made him sick with their sweet words and feminine laughter, had brought about this same feeling. They were the reasons he had decided to give up on dating; he had assumed there must be something wrong with him. He hadn’t expected to feel the same way now. Sunset Shimmer had made him feel so alive only earlier today. Why was she making him feel so sick right now? Still, despite his ever growing irritation, Flash wanted to make this work. He climbed onto his bunk and slid up next to Sunset. She leaned into him a little. He almost leaned away.

“Now then, let’s see what it is you have to study–” Sunset suddenly wrinkled her nose. “What the hell is that? Did you burn something?”

Flash sniffed the air. She was right. There was the distinct smell of singed plastic mixed in with the tropical scent of the candles. A realization hit him, and Flash leaned down to smell his mattress. Burnt. “Silver Spark. . .” he murmured under his breath. He should be mad at his roommate for legitimately setting his mattress on fire, he knew that, but in this moment, all Flash wanted was for his friend to suddenly burst through the doorway and save him from this unbelievably awkward situation.

“Hmm?” Sunset tilted her head in cute confusion.

“Oh,” Flash pulled himself back into reality. “Uh, my mattress was. . . Burnt . . . Somehow.”

“How awful! Was there a fire?”

“I guess so.”

“Well. . . I don’t mind the smell so much. . . as long as you’re here,” she murmured, beginning to nuzzle lightly into her companions neck. “Flash–”

“Okay!” Flash cut her off and clumsily jumped up and away from the overly affectionate unicorn. “Haha okay okay oh kay.” He stumbled off the bed. “Look, Sunset, you’re a sweetheart. In fact you’re a lot sweeter than I thought you were. But I just don’t think this is going to work out.” He forced what he wanted to be a pleasantly apologetic smile. He had little hope he’d succeeded.

Sunsets eye twitched. “What?”

“In the library today, I thought this –” he gestured awkwardly between the two of them “– was what I wanted. But something’s off. I’m a little creeped out, and honesty I would feel better about this whole thing if you would just leave. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.”

There was a long, deep silence. Sunset stared at Flash, a pleasant smile frozen on her lips. Flash stood shifting his weight back and forth. Time ticked by at a sluggish pace.

A slow laugh crept out from the back of Sunset’s throat. “Ah ha ha. . . ha. . .” She stood up on the bed. “Flash, sweetums. . .” In a single bound she was off the bed and prowling towards him. “I gave you everything you wanted. Your every movement and word begged for my attention, and I gave you all of me. And now that I’ve put myself at your mercy, you reject me?” About a foot from Flash, Sunset stopped. She looked up at him, green eyes glowing with a fury that made Flash’s blood begin to boil. His irises widened as her savage gaze met his own. “You think you can just send me away empty hooved?” Her voice was dangerously low. “That’s not how this is going to work, babycakes.”

Sunset’s horn suddenly sparked to life and Flash saw his whole world turn green. His hooves left the ground. The world turned upside down for a split second and then his shoulder hit the floor. The breath flew out of his lungs. The world spun as Flash lay on the ground, disoriented from a sudden lack of oxygen.

Dainty hoofsteps raced across the floor, away and then back. Sunsets green eyes and golden fur filled his swirling vision. She placed a hoof on his shoulder blade, pressed him into the floor, and leaned in close. Her nose brushed Flash’s, almost sweetly. Citrus, oranges, and clementine filled Flash’s senses like a powerful narcotic.

“I always get what I want, Flash,” she whispered seductively. “Never forget that.”

The door slammed shut. Flash remained where Sunset had left him, drowning in a slowly diminishing sea of sun kissed summer fruit. He could feel her hoofprint, etched and burning like a brand into his shoulder. His entire body was boiling from the gradually rising temperature of his own blood.

“I think. . .” Flash whispered aloud, falling into a dizzy, dreamlike trance. “I think I’m in love.”

---

When Flash finally pulled himself off the floor, the book was gone. He didn’t have to guess who had taken it. Frankly, it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t have been able to get any reading done anyway. Not in the state he was in. No, what he needed was to sort things through, feel out the strange emotional state he had found himself in ever since Sunset thrust herself into his life like a battering ram.

Flash thought for a long time, laying on his bed, eyes squinting up at a suspicious burnt mark on the ceiling. But the black mark had no answers, and by the time the sun began to peek over the edge of his window frame, Flash was more confused than he had been before.

The soft click of a door lock and timid squeak of a door hinge gave Flash a much needed break from overanalyzing what had happened last night. He rolled over onto his stomach to see Silver Spark peaking through a crack in the door like he was sneaking into the den of a manticore, ears pinned back cautiously.

“Uh, Silv?” A small jolt shot visibly through Silver Sparks body, standing his fur on end. “You can come in. You do live here after all.”

Silver laughed. Or at least tried to. The strained squeaking that came out of his friends throat was unlike anything Flash had heard before. “Oh yeah I guess you’re right.” His voice was just as strained. “Care-ah-mel was just so hospitable last night; I almost forgot that I lived somewhere else.” He laughed again. Flash decided that Silver had been attempting sarcasm and joined in the eerie laughter.

“So Caramel Corn was his usual, detached self?” Silver nodded and threw his poorly packed grocery bag onto his bed. Flash felt a little sting. He hadn’t been thinking of Silver’s feelings. Really, he hadn’t been thinking much at all. He had just thrown his best friend out with a grocery bag of miscellaneous necessities and barely any explanation. “I’m sorry you had to go through that last night, Silv. I shouldn’t have just kicked you out”

Silver Spark tried to laugh lightly. “Don’t worry about it!” He said, a little too loud and a little too chipper. “You gotta do what you gotta do. But enough about my night, how did your. . . uh. . . date?. . . go? If that’s what it was? I mean that’s the impression I got when you made me leave – or uh, told me you were expecting. . . things–”

Flash had to cut him off, before things got any more awkward. “It didn’t go well,” he said with audible strain. “It didn’t go well at all.”

Silver’s ears immediately perked up. “Oh? I’m sorry to hear that. What happened? If you don’t mind my asking, of course!” The sudden change in character caught Flash off guard, but he decided to go along with it.

“Su–” Flash caught himself just in time to recover from the almost name slip. “She kind of. . . attacked me?” Flash felt a blush start to cross his cheeks as he remembered the end of his kind-of-a-date-more-of-an-ambush.

Silver was silent a moment, just staring at Flash. And then he burst out into a fit of wild laugher. Real laugher. Flash smiled in spite of himself being the subject of Silvers amusement. “Oh my Celestia! You sure know how to pick ‘em! Jee wiz.”

“How was I supposed to know she would push me onto the floor and pin me down?” Flash said, elongating the joke in hopes of keeping Silvers mood up. “I didn’t know mares could be that aggressive.”

Silver wiped a tear of joy from his eye. “Too bad you aren’t into that sort of thing, huh?” Flash cocked his head, unsure of what his friend was referring too. Silver continued, for Flash’s benefit. “Sounds like a dream date for a sadomasochist.”

Flash went pale. Something clicked within his mind. A moment of self realization.

‘Remind me,’ a voice deep within seemed to be saying, ‘when was it that you began to feel attracted to Sunset again?’

In an instant, he was out the door and racing down the hall. He had no destination, only a golden face he had to find.

Silver’s voice echoed after him, “Was it something I said?!”

Comments

[GingerSnatch]

7251310

Delayed response haha I love her to absolute pieces too. I just have a wonderful way of showing it, don't I?

[KingJoltik]

Huh...what an inventive way to do the story of these two. I just hope things go well at the end with Twilight...this is a very inventive story. Well done!

I just hate that it has downvotes due to angry trolls...

[Starlight Nova]

This story sounds like it needs an alternate universe tag. Why doesn't it have one?

[GingerSnatch]

7384453

Well, I don't think I've diverged enough from the canon story line to qualify for the Alternate Universe tag. The first part of the story takes place in the future and the rest so far takes place in the past. Everything I've written in the past is plausible when compared to the comic that shows Sunsets fall from grace. I haven't changed any major events. Honestly, I think labeling this as "Alternate Universe" would be a bit of a lie. Plus I already have four tags. Five might be a bit excessive! Haha

[AngelDCS]

If you don't mind me asking. I'm kinda confused on what just happened here. Can you explain? I got lost after Sunset attacked him.

[GingerSnatch]

7390562

No problem at all! I sent you a pm so there wouldn't be a plot summary in the comments.