No less than three dozen guards poured into the steamy interior. They firmly moved the servants and caterers aside, forming a clear space between them and their target in the corner. Glossy helmets reflected the teenager's lone, seated figure.
As they formed a phalanx, a particularly stalwart-looking stallion in ornate armor trotted down the center, flanked by a familiar looking Lieutenant.
Flash Sentry stood up.
The two lead guards came to a stop. The rest brandished polearms and formed an impermeable semi-circle around Flash.
Bon Bon and the Cakes looked on with fear and concern, shivering.
With a flicker of blue telekinesis, the lead guard removed his helmet. Through thin ocean blue eyes, the pale stallion regarded Flash with a steely gaze.
"See?" The pony beside him pointed with a yellow-orange hoof. "I wasn't kidding! It's spot-on—"
"You did well, Lieutenant," the leader said. "Now... step aside, please."
"Y-yes, Captain." The slighter stallion stepped back.
The leader stepped forward, standing tall and resolute. "I am Captain Shining Armor, appointed steward of the Crystal Empire, and acting commander of the Imperial Guard."
Flash gulped. "Well that's just super." He tried to smile.
Shining Armor wasn't amused in the slightest. "Do you know who you are?"
The teenager glanced at the Lieutenant standing behind Shining, then back at the lead guard. "My name is Flash Sentry."
Shining Armor's eyes sharpened. "That is not possible."
"Believe me..." Flash droned. "I think the same thing every day I wake up."
Shining stepped forward. As he did so, the guards crowded in tighter—aiming their polearms at Flash, as if he might leap at them at any moment. "You are beneath the Palace of the Crystal Empire," Shining said. "You are no longer lost in the frozen north... or taking shelter in the hive of your matriarch."
Flash merely blinked.
"Queen Chrysalis is no longer in charge of the changelings," Shining said firmly, annunciating each phrase with bombastic authority. "King Thorax is now supreme ruler. Your kind are no longer bound by the need to thirst on love and emotion. You can be free to be your own individual... your own pony... your own personality."
Flash's eyes darted back and forth. His lips pursed, and he lowered his head as he regarded the guards in a new light. "I... I am not one of these 'changelings' that you speak of..."
Shining Armor merely stared at him.
Flash exhaled. "But I'm not the Flash Sentry you know either. Nor am I from this world." He gulped. "Nevertheless... I will... f-fully comply with whatever it is that you ask me to do." He shook his head. "I'm not going to fight you guys." A crooked smile was aimed in the direction of some of the fairer specimens of the armored guard. "Or girls."
The Lieutenant glanced at the leader.
Shining took a deep breath. "Is that a promise?"
"Yes." Flash nodded. "I will not resist." His brow furrowed. "Now you promise me something."
Shining leaned back, nodding. "Name it."
Flash breathed with relief upon getting such an honorable response. "I... deceived many ponies to get here. None of them knew any better." He shook his head. "Whatever happens... don't take it out on the Ponyvilleans or Wonderbolts or any member of Fancy Pants' brigade. Is that a deal?"
Shining Armor breathed. "I shall see what I can do." And he gestured forward with his hoof.
Several guards advanced on Flash Sentry at once.
"By the authority granted in me by the Crystal Empire, I am hereby putting you under arrest until the nature of your threat to this kingdom and Equestria abraod can be fully ascertained."
The teenager hung his head. There was no sense in expecting anything better than this. He held his hooves out as he felt iron manacles placed around them. Then—with the gentle prods of guards on all sides—he shuffled slowly forward... towards whatever formidable destination the soldiers had in mind.
With more than a little bit of trembling, Bon Bon, Carrot Cake, and Cup Cake looked on... silenced through sheer shock.
Here we are. Also, first!
good, now shit can hit the fancy.
Finally that was a long time coming, I wonder if they might think the Flash might have amnesia if they can't seem to find the Equestrian version?
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The Equestrian version is right there. That's why they thought he was a changeling.
I'd say Shiny is MASSIVELY overreacting to the situation, but he IS the one who's been burned the most deeply by Changelings, and what may or may not be an unchanged one is sitting right under his wife and child...yeah...
And the charade finally drops as the truth comes out to those with connections. Or a sort of truth, anyway.
Holy crap this was a long time in the making. And what's this? A Shining who doesn't flip his shit and is all things considered being rather reasonable about a rogue changeling in the middle of his empire? What sorcerous novelty is this?
media1.tenor.com/images/3b2a93c7c19f5476221dedb5c27fa6cc/tenor.gif?itemid=10672807
As Flash said, sometimes the hype outweighs the reality. And he's not nearly as big a deal as they fear. I think this will go better than anyone expects.
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Equestria was never the danger. He is running from his guilt, the scene of the car accident in his dreams.
His true test is to face his past.
Thats in the can, Dave
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Construction is for Bob the Builder. This is #salt.
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Probably shortskirtsandexplosions.
Shining is a moron. What exactly is Flash being charged with to justify his arrest?
Someone should tell him never to allow personal matters to interfere with business.
8842907
Well obviously Flash Sentry is impersonating an officer, specially Lieutenant flash Sentry
8842907
I think this is a case of reasonable suspicion/probable cause, since Shining and the guards have no reason to suspect that it's not a changeling (unless the news of Flash's arrival has already reached them from the Princesses). Now, whether that's enough to arrest is subject to debate.
Well, this can only go very well or very badly.
8842976
It certainly is. "I am space alien from an alternate dimension" is not exactly something you'd expect anyone to believe at the drop of a hat, even in a world like this one. Shiny has good reason to believe he's a changeling at first and to take him into non-violent custody even when convinced he is not. The judgment will come from what do they with him afterwards.
8843002
Only Twilight can save Flash now, no matter how nuts the story sounds Shining will completely believe his sister.
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He's definitely impersonating being a pony. Only Octavia knows some of the truth of what he is. This isn't the first time a Changeling snuck into the Crystal Empire either, and Shining's little speech makes me wonder if they had to deal with confused and/or amnesic Changeling drones stumbling there before.
I mean, look at this:
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I can completely see the occasional lost infiltrator ending up there who had simply gone to ground for so long, they hadn't even heard of the hive's change in leadership yet. I think that's what Shiny assumed he was talking to here.
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Well, I would assume ‘impersonation’ is a crime, the same way it is in the real world. EQG Flash isn’t getting charged with anything though, he’s basically just getting detained while they figure out why there are two of the same pony.
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That's hard to say actually. He hasn't been impersonating anyone, pony or otherwise. He's just been being himself. Very few even knew his real name, and he certainly wasn't going around pretending to be the Flash Sentry of Equestria. It's like if there were identical twins with the same name that never met each other and never did anything to interfere with the other, yet one of them was arrested for impersonating the other just because they look the same and have the same name.
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Almost kissing his sister...
--Spade
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I mean, we as the readers know he hasn’t been trying to impersonate anyone, but Shining obviously doesn’t, and assuming so seems like the most logical course of action given the circumstances.
The thing is I'm sure that Shining Armor has been briefed on the Mirror world if not from the fact that is the captain of the guard/co-ruler of the Crystal Empire; then I'm sure Twilight told him at some point in letters or in person. So I doubt he will disbelieve Flash for long if at all.
well schnitzel this is not good.
some how i see a will the real Flash Sentry please stand up. heading our way.
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He can write whatever he damn well wants. He probably doesn't give two shits about your comment, and tbh nobody else does either. Can you take your hate speech somewhere else, please? What you say isn't constructive or criticism. It's just insults.
Forget the arrest—Flash’s ramblings on the previous chapter was the real highlight of the damn day!
It’s incredibly ironic how our pony boi Brad here mentioned ‘When the Body Speaks.’ Because later on in his break down, he was very, very honest. He said a lot of things to Bon Bon and the Cakes—even through the use of the usual references, it was genuine. Not just like the talks he and Soarin had—he’s literally speaking his mind. His body speaks. As well as the soul.
With everything we know about Flash’s mindset so far, the legendary island makes sense as an idiom. Flash found Twilight, Sunset Shimmer and Equestria itself as the ‘hype’, and he eventually found the means to ‘noclip’ towards said world of ponies. Here, he sought something. To either completely disappear and escape or to find answers of some kind—nothing entirely explicit. But then he’s starting to realize that maybe Princess was right: There’s nothing in Equestria that he truly wants; no closure.
Here he was, trying to do something of purpose or value as said in the previous chapters, but maybe, in the end, no amount of good deeds will actually be enough for him.
For crying out loud, Flash has been spewing references left and right, all the good things from his world...and our world, since we definitely know that. But, no matter how much we sugarcoat it with nice words and memes as Flash just said...the world is still shit. I could almost see that, this entire time, this was exactly what he’s running from.
As for himself... Well, the next quote was kinda of a kick in the balls:
Here we are, with a depressed protagonist who somehow made Equestria a better place for those around him... Just like a generic HiE. Flash admitted he didn’t become a better person before coming to Equestria, and there comes the fallacy of many HiE stories: All the samaritism and charisma of a hero...if those protagonists are such good people, why is it that they aren’t in the human world?
Flash claimed that the ponies are the only good things. Why specifically? As far as I could guess, because it’s easy—easier to be inclined to do good for them rather than for those in his own world. It’s a hero fantasy. An illusion. And for Flash himself to state this, after all the sleepless efforts he underwent just pull all of this off? Ouch. Like, dude, it’s like saying he hasn’t improved as a person at all. As if he found absolutely nothing in the ‘legendary island.’
In a way, he’s right.
Flash broke down his high school life for Sunset Shimmer.
He gave his heart for Princess Twilight Sparkle.
They all originally came from the pony world. And now? He’s doing his darndest for even MORE ponies. A full circle with a straight line. Fucking hell, the way I see it, literally nothing for him has changed at all!
Mmmm shining armor in twilight kingdom he have no authority there he have getting pre-mission to arrest him! from princess twilight sparkle
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Regardless of Shining's position, do you think it's reasonable to arrest someone merely because they are identical to someone else, when there is no proof of impersonation? He's not dressed as a guard, hasn't dressed as a guard, hasn't even introduced himself as Flash Sentry for the most part, and doesn't even act like Flash Sentry the guard outside of crisis reactions. He just has Flash Sentry's non-uniformed appearance. Is that by itself enough?
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I mean, yes, kinda? People don't usually have duplicates of themselves running around willy-nilly, unless they're twins. In a world where evil love-sucking shapeshifters exist (well, used to exist) it's really only even more sensible to be wary of shenanigans when things like this happen, not less. You never know what kind of crazy tentacle monster from the Dungeon Dimensions might be trying to steal your enjoyment of cat videos this time.
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Yeah, it’s just a precaution. Even with the changelings reformed, they probably have specific detainment protocols for this kind of thing.
I see this as more of a detainment than an arrest for a crime. Once they know the story things will change, though to what form remains to be seen. They might just ship him back to Ponyville and toss him through the mirror, after all he is a teenage runaway as far as his home universe authorities are concerned.