How to Disappear Completely

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Balance

Flash Sentry's and Soarin's flight to the throne room's outer entrance was a slow and silent one.

When they arrived, there was a line of guards standing at attention. In the center there stood a familiar stallion, fully awake and alert. When the lieutenant's blue eyes met Flash's blue eyes, his ears drooped ever so slightly beneath his helmet, but otherwise he remained unwavering.

Flash touched down. His lips pursed. He nervously tightened his wings at his side. "... ... ...am I expected?"

"By some," the lieutenant said, and it was a soft statement. He looked at his fellow guards. "I shall take it from here."

The other stallions nodded, then swiftly opened the doors.

The lieutenant gestured inside.

Flash stepped forward. Halfway, he paused, then turned to face Soarin. "This... will only be a moment."

Soarin arched an eyebrow. "Just a moment?"

Flash waited in place for a bit, searching for a response. When he found none, he awkwardly turned tail and stumbled inside. The lieutenant followed, and the doors closed loudly behind them.

It was bone-chillingly cold inside this wing of the palace, or so Flash told himself. His slow trot through the halls was riddled with shivers and trembles. In the meantime, the suited soldier escorting him was the very paragon of calm.

"The crystalline foundation of this Palace," the guard spoke. "Beautiful in aesthetics." His nostrils flared beneath his helmet. "Not entirely functional as insulation."

Flash blinked, teeth chattering. "Oh..." He nodded without looking aside. "Oh yeah. S-sure."

"Were your sleeping quarters accomodating?"

"Yeah. Slept well. Woke up. There..." Flash saw the doors to the throneroom up ahead, and he chewed on his bottom lip. "...it w-was a beautiful sunrise this morning."

"It takes a beautiful world for there to be a beautiful sunrise."

Flash gulped. "No doubt." The sound of rattling armor suddenly stopped, and he realized he was trotting alone. "???" Curious, he turned to look at the lieutenant.

The same face looked back at him. "I heard that you have chosen to go back to your realm."

"Really?" Flash blinked hard. "Already?"

"Indeed."

"Heh..." A crooked smile. "Small Empire."

"About to get a lot smaller, thanks to you," the guard said. "Don't worry. I'm anything but mad. I feel that unification is the best thing for both portions of Equestria."

"Well... uh... good."

"It can only mean progress," the lieutenant said with a nod. "That is the epitome of living."

"Yeah, I guess..."

Flash's other self raised an eyebrow. "You guess?"

"...sure?"

The lieutenant paced closer towards him. "Harmony is the greatest virtue in Equestria, is it not?"

"From what I've seen, totally."

"Does it surprise you to know that it is inachievable in its perfection?" The lieutenant stared calmly at his double. "Harmony—after all—is a form of balance. And you cannot support what is good and what is righteous without taking into account the polar opposite weight."

Flash blinked, listening.

"The best we can hope to do is control and compartmentalize that which is disagreeable to justice and prosperity," the soldier said. "These things were taught to me during my years of intense training." He slowly shook his head. "There will always be mistakes. There will always be threats. There will always be evils and corruption." He gestured. "What we can manage—with the strength, courage, and wisdom afforded us—is to improve upon ourselves and those before us so that the stain of existence won't weigh terribly on those who are living." His ears lowered slightly. "I know that there's nothing I can do to bring back Mom and Dad." A firm gaze. "But I have the power and conviction to prevent the same thing horrible from happening to as many other ponies as possible. I do not expect to save the world... but—with the help of my fellow comrades—I intend to make it a better place regardless." He leaned back with a full breath. "It does not matter what is behind us. It can only ever get better."

Flash Sentry nodded slowly. Once the lieutenant was done, he said, "Sometimes... what lies behind us is us."

"I only wish that you..." The lieutenant fumbled for the first time since they met. "...that we are set on a good path." He swallowed. "That we are endeavoring to keep things balanced in both worlds... without teetering it unnecessarily—"

"I doubt I'm about to enlist in West Point, bro—"

"Perhaps you underestimate the seriousness of what I'm saying—"

"Oh, you're totes serious. I get that. It's you. But me? I only ever thought I was 'serious.' But that was just diet seriousness... emo in a bottle... wisdom of a fool." Flash exhaled. "But that's over with. Now? I'm going back to improve things with all the shit that I've learned here. Consider Equestria my training. It may not be nearly as grueling or friggin' spartan as yours was but..." Flash's eyes narrowed. "I promise you... I'm going back home to balance things out for the better. Honeymoon's over. Now? I've got a whole lot of work to do."

The lieutenant nodded. "You do, don't you?"

Silence.

"Well..." The lieutenant marched towards the door. "...far be it from me to lecture myself after so much has transpired."

"Oh, it's cool, man." Flash shrugged, watching him. "Believe me... your lectures are gonna come in handy someday soon." His ears drooped slightly. "Everypony's lectures will."

"Good to know."

"Anyyyyy..." Flash eyed the throneroom door. "...—last bit of advice for how to behave myself in front of your rulers?"

"Yes," the lieutenant spoke in monotone as he touched the handle. "Please lower your tail. Your rectum has been showing this entire time."

"Whoah-whoah-whoah!" Flash jumped in place, his tail tucking between his legs. "Holy shit, dude, really?!?"

"No."

Flash blinked.

The lieutenant looked back at him with the smallest hint of a smile. "...that was a joke."

"... ... ...grkk..." Flash smirked, blushing red as a beet. "Sonuvabitch."

"You stopped shivering."

"I'm gonna remember that too, ya melon fudge."

And the guard opened the door.

Comments

[Winter Storm]

8905390
Yea. I was expecting him to confess to the ponies his actions as they were outlined in the beginning, how he burned all of his bridges and turned himself into an outcast by trying to stick up for someone who ultimately was just evil and using him. Instead we got some completely different instance that doesn't make as much sense for him to feel so guilty over in comparison to what we already know.

Like, not stopping to help someone when you could have seems way less of a thing to feel guilty about versus being hostile and demeaning towards people including your own friends at the behest of your demonic girlfriend, to the point that nobody wants anything to do with you afterwards.

[bloons3]

"Yes," the lieutenant spoke in monotone as he touched the handle. "Please lower your tail. Your rectum has been showing this entire time."

LMAO

[MythrilMoth]

That Flash Sentry...what a rectum.

[Orbiting Kettle]

What an interesting epiphany.

I think that the nature of the act which haunted Flash was interesting and told us so much about him. And our reaction told us something about ourselves too, without even consider the point about how justifiable his actions were. I think it will take some to fully digest it.

[Remnant Viscera]

Not gonna lie. I'm having trouble caring about the story again at this point.

There has been so much talk that I just feel tired.

[Booster Spice]

Something something flies and carrots? Or was that flies and sticks? Or was that zippers and batons?

No point being able to see a galaxy 2 million light years away if you cant even get as far as the next rock up.

Well, things could be worse. On going back to Earth, Discord could give Flash the ability to pony up.

Angel wings when exited or stressed.

I think Ill call him Trom-trom.

[Ghosted Note]

8905911
Stories like this can be hard to stick the landing to, and yeah, I don't think this one looks like it's gonna make it thus far. I don't think that ruins what came before, but some potential does seem like it's being squandered here.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Lieutenant Sentry gets it. Aiming for perfection keeps you moving forward, but accepting nothing less puts an unbearable burden on you. No one can meet those kinds of expectations if their taken personally, but we can always move towards them. Flash has learned a lot from Equestria. Hopefully he'll be able to apply it in his own world.

[Chadbane]

I liked this chapter. I’m really interested in finding out how everyone reacts from his world when he shows up not dead and a totally different person!

[IceKitsune]

I'm really liking this version of Pony Flash. He has a good head on his shoulders

[Detsella Morningdew]

There's now a potential for the ending to be good, but I'm still sad that it wasn't what it could have been.

The big guilty moment needed to be connected to what we knew about Flash, or at least his personality we had grown to understand.