• Published 6th Jan 2017
  • 6,685 Views, 304 Comments

Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S1 - Banshee531



Begins one week after The Element of Courage. Follows the first season with both canon and non-canon events

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The Ticket Master

Author's Note:

Before we begin I'd like to make a shout out to the one who first inspired me to write The Element of Courage. Silver Quill if your reading this then thanks. Your review about Flash Sentry really got me thinking and the Fanfictions I'm writing all spawned from it.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, then check out After the Fact where Silver Quill reviews episodes, characters and other staples of My Little Pony.

Also, a shout out to AandWguy for editing this first chapter. So thanks man, without you this never would have gotten published

It had been a week since Equestria had been saved from the return of Nightmare Moon and her everlasting night. The story of how seven ponies from Ponyville and Canterlot had ventured into the Everfree Forest and rediscovered the Elements of Harmony. There, they faced the evil Alicorn and forged a new Element of Harmony to defeat the eternal night. The story had spread like wildfire across the land.

After that, life in Ponyville returned to normal. That is, with the exception of one little change.

As the sun rose over the Golden Oaks Library, the main door opened to reveal an orange Pegasus with blue hair and a blue lightning engraved shield cutie mark. His name is Flash Sentry, apprentice knight and Ponyville's newest defender of the peace. He yawned as he left the building and flexed his wings to take to the skies.

In the past week, he had been assigned to protect the town and he had made sure to understand everything he could about the town. Every morning, he would get up at sun rise to patrol the town, searching for anything out of the ordinary. "Nothing wrong on the west side." he said to himself as he took one last loop, "Just need to check the north side and I'll be good for the morning."

As he flew over the buildings, his eyes picked up something approaching. In the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar rainbow coloured blur flying up to him. He let out a chuckle as he waved his hoof, "Morning Rainbow!"

"Yo Flash!" the blue Pegasus replied with a cocky grin. "Care for a race? 10 bits says I'll kick your flank!"

"Sorry." Flash replied as he shook his head. "Gotta finish my patrol first."

Rainbow grit her teeth as she began to pout, "You're no fun. Come on Flash, race me!"

Flash sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get out of this one. "Tell you what." he said as he pointed to a cloud, "I'll race you to that cumulus where my patrol starts."

Rainbow's frown turned upside down as a cheeky grin covered her face. "You're on."

Flash cocked his eyebrow as he flew up to her with his hooves crossed. As the two glared at each other, Flash quickly said, "Okay...3 2 1 go!"

"HEY!" Rainbow yelled as she watched Flash zipped ahead like a bolt. As she to accelerated after him, her face turned red in anger as Flash quickly laid down on the cumulus cloud. She then yelled, "You cheater!"

"Can you blame me?" Flash replied as he placed his hooves behind his head with a cocky grin. "After last time, did you think I was gonna play fair?"

"Fair enough." Rainbow said as she flew up to him, her face still showing a slight pout. “Too bad you had to cheat to beat me, huh?”

"Details, details..." Flash said before hopping off the cloud with a grin. "Welp, I'd better get back to my patrol."

"Right." Rainbow said as she looked around at the other clouds, "I got some weather work to do myself. See ya around Flash."

"Later." Flash said as he began to take off. He restarted his search around town only to not see anything out of the ordinary. "Everything looks okay." he told himself before his eyes told him otherwise, “Or not...”

What he saw was a Pegasus filly with an orange coat and pink mane. She was standing at the base of a tree and was jumping up, as if she trying to reach something in it. Seeing the frustrated filly, Flash landed next to her and said, "Hey kid, are you okay?"

"No." she yelled in frustration as she kept looking up at the tree, "I was playing and my ball bounced into the tree. I can't get the stupid thing!"

Flash looked up and saw a red ball wedged between the tree branches. He looked back down at her and was immediately confused. She was a pegasus and that should make it easy for her to just fly up and grab it. However, his thoughts stopped when he noticed how small her wings were compared to the rest of her body. She was about the same age as he was when he first met Twilight and his wings were much bigger than hers at that age. Even though he could only fly for a little bit at that age, he was at least able to.

The young Pegasus noticed him staring at her wings and frowned as she started trying to hide them. Seeing this, he looked back up at the tree and cricked his neck. He tightened his muscles as he turned and with one single leg, he kicked it hard enough to cause the ball to come loose and fall. A cocky grin plastered itself on his face as he caught the falling ball without even looking and handed it back to her.

"Thanks" she said before looking back up at him, "I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"Just moved here kid." Flash said as he presented his hoof. "Name's Sentry, Flash Sentry."

"I'm Scootaloo" she said as she shook his hoof. "Nice to meet you!"

"Same." he replied before flexing his wings. "Well I got to get back to work."

"Work?" Scootaloo asked, wondering what he meant.

"Didn't you hear about the new defender of Ponyville?" Flash asked coyly, his eyebrow cocked with a smirk.

"That's you?!" Scootaloo replied, her eyes widening at the sight.

"Damn straight." Flash said as he patted her head. "And I've still got half of the town to patrol." His wings began to flap as he flew up, "See you around kid."

"Bye!" Scootaloo waved back until she couldn't see her.

Some time later, Flash finished his patrol by flying over a mile of the Everfree forest, checking it to make sure it wasn't causing any trouble. He headed towards Sweet Apple Acres where he found his friends Twilight, Applejack and Spike. "Hey guys!" he said, landing in front of them.

"Morning Flash." Applejack replied as she put a bucket of apples on her back.

"Anything to report?" Twilight asked, interrupting Applejack.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Flash replied as he dusted himself.

"Great." Twilight said before using her magic to levitate a bucket of apples onto his back "Then you can help us move some of these apples."

"Sure." Flash grunted as the bucket fell onto his back.

"Thanks y'all," Applejack said with a cheeky grin. "I bet Big Macintosh and I could get all these golden deliciousness into the barn by lunch time." she laughed as she tipped her hat with an even bigger grin. "If I win, he's gonna have ta walk down Stirrup Street in one of granny's girdles."

"No problem Applejack." Flash said as he adjusted the bucket. “We'll help you anytime.”

"Yeah." Twilight replied as she restrained herself from licking her lips. "I'm just glad the goal is lunch time. All this hard work is making me hungry." as if it was agreeing with her, Twilight's stomach grumbled, causing her to blush.

"I've said before you shouldn't skip breakfast." Flash joked, causing her to glare at him.

Suddenly, something caught their ears as Spike made some odd noises and burped. Ash shot out of his mouth as it then reformed into a scroll.

"A letter from princess Celestia?" Twilight gasped as Spike caught it and began reading.

"Hear ye hear ye, her grand royal highness Princess Celestia of Equestria is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot. On the twenty first day of blah blah blah" he scrolled along. "Blah, cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry plus one guest each."

In that second, Twilight and Applejack gasped "THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA?!"

"Oh boy." Flash grumbled while Spike made a gagging motion before once again burping. This time, the dust became four tickets.

"Hey look." he held them up in a sarcastic tone. "Four tickets."

"Wow! Great!" Twilight exclaimed as she grabbed the tickets. "I've never been to the gala before!"

"You haven't been missing much." Flash groaned as he and Spike gave each other a agreeing nod. "Trust me on this."

"You've been to the gala?!" Applejack asked, surprise obviously on her face.

"Grand Hoof took me as his plus one once." Flash explained, his expression showing dread and boredom. "I was so bored that we had to sneak out after about an hour. Thankfully, he took me out for ice cream right after that."

"Come on Flash." Twilight replied, her eyes rolling. "That was when you were a foal." Twilight said, she herself remembering how she waited up way past her bed time to ask him how it was. "I'm sure it'll be way better now that you're older."

"I guess." Flash shrugged. “Don't count on it though.”

"I'd love to go!" Applejack said with a giant goofy grin. "Flan's sake, if I had an apple stand set up there, ponies would lining up a mile down the road. Do you know how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres there?! And with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up around here! We could replace that saggy old roof and Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plough and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip."

"No mental pictures please." Flash said to himself as he rubbed his head in agony. "Just push them out Flash, just push them out..."

"Don't give them to me." Spike replied as he mimicked Flash.

"I'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala." Applejack said as her eyes sparkled with determination.

"Well in that case," Twilight said with a kind smile, "Would you like to-"

However, she didn't get to finish as something blue fell from the sky right on top of them. The two backpedalled for a second as dust covered the area. When the dust cleared, it revealed one Rainbow Dash.

"Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?!" she exclaimed with shining eyes.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said with a scowl. "You told me you were to busy to help me harvest apples! What were you busy doing...spying on us?!"

"No" Rainbow said while pointing up at a tree where a pillow and blanket rested, "I was busy napping after my race with Flash."

"How can you be tired?" Flash asked with a cocked eyebrow. "We flew less then a hundred yards."

"I need to make sure I'm fully rested at all times." she replied with a stuck out tongue, "and I happened to overhear that you have a spare ticket."

"Yeah? What of it?"

"And you did promise to introduce me to the Wonderbolts." she continued as a grin began to curve onto her face.

"This is true..." Flash grumbled as he realised where this was going.

"GREAT!" Rainbow yelled as she flew around, cheering, "The Wonderbolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year and I'll be able to see them! I can see it now, everypony would be watching the sky, their eyes focused on the Wonderbolts. But then in would fly...Rainbow Dash! I would draw their attention with my super speed strut, then I would mesmerise them with my fantastic filly flash and for my grand finale, the buccaneer blaze! The ponies would go wild and the Wonderbolts would insist that my signature moves be incorporated into their routine! And then they welcome me in as their newest member!"

"Actually..." Flash said in a deadpan tone. "Showing off like that might just hurt your chances of getting in, and possibly get you kicked out of the gala for interrupting their performance."

"Oh." Rainbow stopped, her face turning into a frown. "Maybe I should forget about it then."

"Doesn't mean you can't come." Flash replied as he let out a yawn. "Though the Wonderbolts may be a little preoccupied and won't be able to talk long. They sure didn't stick around that much last time I went."

"But I'd still get to meet them!" Rainbow Dash said as her grin reappeared. "That would be a dream come true!"

"Well then just take my ticket." Flash gave her the ticket with a huff. "But don't come crying to me when you find yourself bored out of your skull."

"What about the other ticket?" Twilight asked, her head slightly tilting in worry.

"Give it to whoever." he replied, turning away has he started to leave the farm. "You coming Twilight? You said you were hungry."

"Yeah...I guess I am." the unicorn replied as she gave the duo a wave. "See you later girls."

The two walked off and headed for town while Spike sat there one of their backs, still in possession of the tickets.

"So if Twilight is going with Applejack and Flash gave his ticket to Rainbow...where's the fourth one going to go to?" Spike asked he poked the ticket with his finger.

"I don't know." Twilight shrugged. "But I really can't think straight when I'm hungry."

"So, where do you wanna fill the old tank?" Flash asked her as they got back into town. But before she could answer his question, something shot out of a nearby window. Flash quickly noticed that it came from Sugar Cube Corner, and it bumped into Twilight. Looking down, he found Pinkie Pie laying atop Twilight and Spike, the tickets having fallen over her eyes.

"BATS!" she screamed and flailed around. "BATS ON MY FACE!" she ran around them in a panic until she realised what the 'bats' were, "Wait...are these...tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?!"

"Yep." Flash replied in another round of deadpan tone. "Celestia sent them for me and Twilight."

"I don't believe it!" Pinkie almost screamed as she clenched the tickets. "It's the most amazing super humongous mega fantastic party ever, I've always always always wanted to go!" she then began singing about the gala, much to the duo's slight surprise.

"Somepony's happy." Flash said as he nudged Twilight.

"Oh thank you guys!" Pinkie said with a giant grin, "It's the most amazing fantastic gift ever!"

"Well-" Twilight said before another gasp caught their attention. It was Rarity, she had arrived and seen the tickets as well, causing Flash to cringe as he saw the look in her eyes.

"Are those what I think they are?!" she gasped.

"Yes yes yes!" Pinkie cheered as she did a little dance, "Twilight and Flash are taking me to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot!"

"Oh the Gala..." the unicorn gasped as a daydream began to unfold in Rarity's mind. "I design ensembles for it every year, but I've never had the opportunity to go. Oh...the society! The culture! The glammer! It's where I truly belong, and where I'm destined to meet...him."

"Him?" Pinkie replied before looking confused. "Who?"

"Him." she said as the daydream continued. She then went on to talk about how she would go to the gala, be adored and then meet Celestia's distant nephew Prince Vladimir Blueblood.

"Not that blow hard." Flash facehoofed as Rarity finished, "Trust me Rarity, the only one in this world he loves enough to marry is himself."

"Now now, Flash." Rarity said with a slight wave, "You shouldn't be so judgemental."

"And you should listen to somepony whose met the selfish...I can't even say it with a child present." he pointed to Spike, who was now holding the tickets again.

"Hey!" Spike said, trying to retort before the tickets were snatched from his grasp, "Hey...again." The thief turned out to be a small white bunny who ran up to Fluttershy. She had also just arrived as the little rabbit began showing her the tickets.

"Oh Angel." she said softly, "These are perfect."

"Let me guess." Flash groaned as he pointed at the pegasus. "You wanna go to."

"Well..." Fluttershy said, looking embarrassed. "It's not so much the gala I want to see, but the beautiful castle gardens. The flowers are said to be the most fragrant and beautiful in all of Equestria, and on that night only will they all be in bloom. And that's just the flora, don't get me started on the fauna. There's Loons and Toucans and Biddens oh my. Hummingbirds that can really hum and Buzzards that can really buzz. And Blue Jays and Red Jays and Green Jays, Pink Jays and pink Flamingos..."

"Sounds...lovely." Flash said, this time he was not sure what he was supposed to say.

"But I thought you were taking me." Pinkie whined with big puppy dog eyes.

"And me!" Rarity exclaimed, pushing Pinkie aside.

"Now wait just a minute!" a voice said, causing everypony to turn around. They then that saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash had arrived, "Flash and Twilight are already taking us."

"I already told the rest of my family." Applejack said with a cocky grin.

"That is true." Twilight said, her expression starting to show worry as things began to spiral out of control.

"Oh..." the three other girls said with sad expressions.

Now, at this moment, Spike decided to not keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, the rest of the day would have been much easier if he had. But alas, he decided to speak up, "Didn't Flash say he was going to give his ticket to somepony else?"

"HE DID?!" they gasped before rushing up to the stallion at a break neck pace.

"Girls." Flash said, silencing them with a raised hoof. "Yes, I agreed to give Rainbow my spare ticket. I also said I was going to give my ticket to somepony else since I didn't want to go...but it is still my ticket and I'll decide who gets it."

"So who gets the ticket?" Pinkie asked, showing off her signature puppy dog eyes again.

"I don't know." Flash replied with a shrug. "But I'm not going to decide with all three of you yelling at me like that." He could feel the tension right after saying those words. The three girls glared at him as they knew he was their last obstacle.

Luckily, Twilight was there to stop their rampage. "Look girls." she said in a calm yet commanding tone. "Why don't we all leave Flash alone for a while to relax."

"But-" Rarity tried to say.

"You heard the little missy." Applejack barked as she stomped her hoof. "Go on, scat."

Soon, the five ponies walked off, leaving Flash, Twilight and Spike on their own. The stallion let out a chuckle as he turned to Twilight. "Thanks." Flash said with a sigh. "This is gonna be a tough decision."

"Well, you won't be able to make it on an empty stomach." Twilight countered, trying to hide the fact she was more hungry than he was. "Let's get something to eat."

“Sounds good to me.”

They soon headed off and found themselves at a local Ponyville restaurant. While Twilight and Spike looked trough the menu, Flash's mind was busy trying to pick who to give his ticket to.

"So have you decided yet?" Spike asked him as he put down his menu, noticing Flash's glum face.

"No." Flash replied as another sigh followed. "How am I supposed to pick who to give the ticket to while not hurting one of the girl's feelings?"

"You'll just have to pick the one who has the best reason to go, I guess." Twilight told him as she tapped her chin.

"Right..." he said as he began to tap his chin as well. "Okay, Rarity wants to go to meet Blueblood...but since I know the guy, he'll just ignore her all night and probably hurt her feelings."

"Right." Spike said, hiding a slight grin knowing Rarity wouldn't be taken away from him.

"And Pinkie Pie wants to go because it's a party and she's Pinkie." he continued, "But the gala is so uptight that anything she'd do would probably be considered rude and she'll end up getting really bored...or get kicked out."

"Right." Twilight said, trying to imagine a bored Pinkie. However, her imagination just couldn't picture it in her mind.

"And finally there's Fluttershy who wants to visit the gardens." he finished as he tapped his hoof like he was counting. "I guess that's okay, she'll get to see the animals and make new friends."

"Aren't the animals really timid?" Spike said as he looked at the menu again. "Even Celestia has a hard time getting them to come out."

"Thanks Spike." Flash grumbled, frowning at the drake. "I had almost made my decision and then you said that." He then slumped his head onto the table, a groan following the laying noggin.

"Have you made your decision?"

"I already told you that I can't decide!" he yelled, his eyes becoming bloodshot red.

"Er Flash," Spike said, pointing at the waiter. "He just wants to take your order."

"Oh." Flash replied, blushing as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry.”

"I would love a Daffodil and Daisy Sandwich." Twilight said with a kind smile.

"Same" Flash continued.

"Got any rubies?" Spike asked, only to get a frown in response. "No? Okay, I'll have some Hay Fries, extra crispy." the waiter nodded and left, returning a few minutes later with their orders.

"Thanks."

Flash began munching the meal down quickly while the other two slowly ate their food. Living on the streets had caused him to subconsciously eat at break neck speeds. That, and his life as an apprentice knight had also enforced this constant desire to devour. Twilight rolled her eyes, having never gotten used to Flash's way of eating. She began to levitate her food, only for the waiter to walk up and ask, "Madam, are you going to eat your food in the rain?"

"It's not raining." Twilight said as she and Flash looked around and found the entire town was in a down pour, except the area around them.

"What the-" Flash looked up to see a hole in the clouds where a certain blue pegasus was waiting, a grin on her face.

"Hey there best friend forever I've ever ever had." she said, her cheeky grin growing. "Enjoying the weather?"

"Rainbow, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I just saw two close friends of mine enjoying a lunch together only to have it about to be ruined. So...I thought I'd kick a hole in the cloud so you guys can enjoy your meal."

"Rainbow." Twilight groaned as she ate part of her sandwich. "Are you trying to be extra nice to Flash to make sure he doesn't change his mind about the ticket?"

"No." Rainbow replied, "I'd do it for anypony." her statement was quickly rebuttalled however, as the duo saw that all the ponies around them trying to escape the rain.

"Rainbow." Flash sighed, flying up towards the cloud. "I already promised to give you the ticket, and I never go back on my word. And pulling a stunt like this is more likely to hurt your chances then improve them."

"But-"

"But nothing." Flash then grabbed the folds of the cloud and pulled them shut, only to hear Twilight scream as the rain began to pour on her, destroying her lunch. "Oops! Uh, heh heh...sorry.”

"Twilight?" they turned to see Rarity with an umbrella as she pointed at the cloud. "Flash, it's raining on Twilight."

"No really?" Twilight replied sarcastically. “I hadn't noticed.

"Come with me before you catch a cold." she said, grabbing the violet unicorn as she dragged both Twilight and Flash to her shop. pulling her away. As the duo entered inside, Twilight shook herself dry, only to accidentally get Rarity wet.

“Oops. Sorry about that.”

"It's quite alright." Rarity said calmly, though Flash could tell it was taking a great effort on her part to do so, "After all, we are the best of friends. And you know what the best of friends do together?"

"Err-"

"MAKE OVERS!"

Suddenly, Rarity magicked a screen over, cutting Twilight from Flash's view. Soon, sounds of pain could be heard behind the screen. The screams were so bad that it made the training he had undertaken sound less painful.

"And..." Rarity removed the screen to reveal Twilight, "Ta-da!"

"Wow." Flash said seeing his best friend in a sparkly short dress. "Looking good Twilight."

"Yeah..." Twilight blushed, trying to hide her embarrassment. "It is kind of pretty, isn't it?"

"This will look great on you at the Grand Galloping Gala darling." Rarity said as she looked Twilight over.

"Wait a minute, The Grand-"

"And look!" Rarity cut her off as she rushed over to a manikin which held an identical dress, "Oh my goodness! I just happen to have an ensemble of my own that matches yours to a T!”

"Rarity." Flash said in a deadpan tone, showing that he had figured out where she was going with this.

"We would be the bells of the ball you and I, everypony would be glamouring for our attention. All the eyes would be on us darling.” she said as she wrapped her arm around Twilight's shoulder. “Think about it...”

"Rarity." Twilight said with a sceptical look. "If this is your way of bribing me into getting Flash to give you his ticket-"

"Oh course not." Rarity said, pretending to sound offended as she put her hoof on her chest. “I wouldn't do that darling.”

"Good." Twilight replied as she began to undress. "Because I have no say in the matter, it's Flash's ticket after all."

"Right. Yes, of course." Rarity told her as she desperately wanted to bite her hooves in a panic.

"Good." Twilight replied as she completely removed the dress and headed for the door. "Now, if you would excuse me, I've been trying all day to just get some lunch." With that statement in mind, Flash opened the door only to have another pony appear before them.

"Did somebody say lunch?" Applejack said, pulling them outside where a cart of apple products stood, "What do you say there best friend?"

"Applejack." Twilight scowled, her tone showing her growing impatience. "I already promised you the ticket. I'm not going to change my mind."

"Well yes but-"

"But nothing." Twilight groaned as she looked away from Applejack. "I already promised you the ticket and I never go back on a promise. If you're worrying that I might give my ticket to somepony else like Flash, it's not going to happen." she then turned to Flash for support.

"All I want right now is to relax." Flash told her with a shrug. "Come on, lets go home."

"Sounds good to me." Twilight told him as they turned again and left Applejack behind. As they entered the Golden Oaks Library, the duo let out another groan as they found another pony. This time, it was Fluttershy with her animal friends, who were cleaning the bookshelves.

"Oh come on!" Flash moaned as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. “You have got to be-”

"Oh!" Fluttershy exclaimed, noticing their arrival. "Welcome back everypony! I hope you don't mind, but we were just doing a little spring cleaning for you."

"It's summer." Twilight replied in a deadpan tone.

"Oh well..." the yellow Pegasus blushed at the obvious mistake. "Better late then never, right?"

"Your not fooling anypony Shy" Flash replied as he reopened the door.

"Um...well..."

Flash just sighed and turned around. As he began to head back outside, away from the animal filled mess, he then found himself suddenly bombarded with a barrage of bright colours. As he shielded his face with his wings, his ears picked up the origin of the flashing lights to be one Pinkamena Diane Pie.

"SURPRISE!" she screamed before quickly dancing and singing about how Flash was her best friend. Flash tried to plug his ears as the hyperactive pony continued to annoy him. A few minutes later, his breaking point was finally reached.

"That's it!" he said, almost yelling, "You know, at least the others tried to be subtle about wanting the ticket. You're being as subtle as a train crash on a boat. I'm sorry but you need to wait just like everypony else!"

"What ticket?" a light blue earth pony asked as he walked up to the scene.

"Oh you didn't know?" Pinkie said as Flash tried to stop her from saying those next words. "Flash is giving away his ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA?!?!" everypony who heard this exclaimed before swarming him and yelling over each other. As a small mob began to form, Flash grit his teeth at the incoming sight. His patience finally gone, he sucked in a large deep breath.

"STOP!" he yelled as he beat his wings so hard that it created a dust cloud around him. As the cloud blasted itself towards the mob, everypony covered theirs eyes. Soon, the wind vanquished the dust cloud, leaving only a dirt patch when it finally cleared.

"Er Flash?" Pinkie said, looking around for the orange pegasus "Where did you go?"

Flash was currently hiding in the branches of a nearby thick tree, trying to catch his breath. "This is getting ridiculous." he said to himself as he began to pant. "Hopefully nopony saw me fly up here."

"You hoped wrong." he looked down, trying to find the sudden voice. He soon went wide eyed at the sight of Scootaloo standing at the trunk of the tree.

Quick as he could, he flew down and grabbed her and flew back up into the branches. "No one saw us, right?" he asked, looking out from the cover of the leaves.

"I don't think so." Scootaloo replied, letting Flash sigh in relief as he lied back on a branch. “You okay?”

"That's a relief." he sighed as he fully laid out on the branch. "Who knew having everypony shower you with favours would be so exhausting."

"What's going on anyway?" Scootaloo asked with a cocked eyebrow. He soon explained the situation to the little filly. After hearing the tale, she then said, "That's harsh. It sounds like none of them deserve to go since they've been treating you like that."

"It's not like I want to hurt them." Flash replied, happy that somepony would listen to him. "In fact, that's my main problem. If I pick one, I know the others will be hurt."

"Who knew having so many friends could be such a problem?" Scootaloo said, rubbing her chin.

"Tell me about it." he groaned as he curled up his wings. "But I've still got to pick one." he then looked up at the sky and watched as Celestia began to lower the sun. "Usually when I need to make a decision I just relax and clear my head, but that's not working this time."

"Sorry I'm here. I know you wanted to be alone after all that."

"It's fine." he said as he leaned back, his hooves behind his head. "You're not trying to make me 'happy', so don't worry about it."

"Oh...okay" she replied as she laid back as well. The two then spent a long while in that tree, simply talking about whatever came to mind. Flash found it particularly funny as to how much of a fan Scootaloo was of Rainbow Dash.

"And then she did this awesome triple loop for her finish!" Scootaloo exclaimed, her eyes shining from the story.

"Cool." Flash said with a small calm smile, "So, you've been watching Rainbow Dash's stunts for how long exactly?"

"As long as I can remember." she said with a loving sigh. "I want to be just as awesome as her one day."

"That's a great goal"

"Yeah." Scootaloo said before sighing again, "But it's never gonna happen." Flash noticed her look back at her wings, a frown on her face.

"So, do you know what the problem is?" he asked, knowing he couldn't help if he didn't know what was wrong.

"The doctors think it might have something to do with my genetics or something." Scootaloo explained as she tapped her tiny wings. "Some non-Pegasus ancestor is causing my wing growth to be stunted."

Flash nodded, remembering hearing about that sort of thing happening on a rare occasion. It was one of the risks of cross species breeding. "I'm sure they'll grow one day."

"Yeah, maybe..."

Flash sighed, looking back up at the sky. He soon went wide eyed when he realised how late it was, "I'd better get you home." he said as he flew them down the tree, making sure nopony was around. He soon followed her to where she lived.

Ponyville Orphanage

Flash gasped when he saw this and looked down at her as she kicked the ground before walking inside, "I guess I'll see you around."

As she went in, Flash's mind went blank as he turned to leave for the library. Not sure what to think, he opened the door, only to find an empty building. Letting out a sigh of relief, he headed up to his room. Unfortunately, a calm, "You're back." was spoken behind his back, causing him to turn around in slight anger. There, behind him was all his friends, frowns covering their faces. This fact didn't register though as he decided to speak up.

“Seriously? Listen, I know you all want to go to that stupid gala, but right now, I just wanna go to bed girls." A long sigh escaped his mouth. “We can debate about the dumb ticket tomorrow, alright?”

"Listen Flash," Twilight said as she walked in front of everypony. "We've been talking and the girls all have something to say." she then turned around and the girls all nodded.

"We're sorry." they said in unison.

"We didn't realise how stressed we were making you." Applejack said as she took off her hat in shame. "And if it helps, Ah don't want the ticket anymore, so you and Twilight can give it to who ever yah want."

"Me neither." Pinkie Pie said as her mane drooped down, "It's no fun making your friend feel bad.”

"I hope you can forgive us." Fluttershy continued as she put her hooves over her mouth. “I'm sorry.”

"It was unfair of us to try and bribe you the way we did." Rarity replied as she hung her head in shame. "So, you can give the ticket to whomever you think deserves it."

"Yeah." Rainbow said, scratching the back of her head in shame. "My routine actually needs some work before I can show it off to the Wonderbolts...sorry."

Flash sighed in relief and turned to Twilight. After so many years as best friends, the two had an almost psychic connection. They both knew what the other was thinking. Flash cocked his eyebrow as Twilight gave him a knowing nod.

"Spike? Take a note please." the purple dragon took out his usual quill and parchment readied himself to write whatever Twilight needed. Twilight then began a small rant about how having friends to share your blessings with was great but when there isn't enough blessings to go round, it can make you feel pretty awful. "And though we appreciate the invitations, Flash and I have decided to return both tickets to you over the Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT?!" the girls all exclaimed, their jaws dropping to the floor.

"If our friends can't all go, then we won't go as well." Flash said while shaking his head. “It's only fair.”

"You don't have to do that." Applejack said with a frown. The others soon followed her example.

"Nope. Our minds are made up. Send the letter Spike." Twilight commanded.

"Now you won't get to go to the Gala either."

"That's okay." Flash replied with a waved hoof. "I didn't wanna go anyways."

"And besides." Twilight commented with a sheepish smile, "I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without all my closest friends there with me."
The girl all crowded around her and Flash in a group hug as they all forgave each other. Well, except Spike, who was mocking a gag with his mouth. That is, till he actually began to do so.

"Well wallop my withers Spike, ain't that just like a boy. Can't handle the least bit of sentiment."

"Hey-" Flash was about to argue until his argument was countermanded as Spike suddenly spat out a cloud of ash that formed into a new scroll.

"A letter from the princess?" Twilight realised as Spike began to read it. "That was fast."

"My faithful student Twilight. Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" he then pulled out seven golden slips of paper, "Seven tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Now we can all go!" Twilight said as all the girls began celebrating. Each girl took a ticket until only Flash's was left.

He and Spike shared a glance, "Do you want mine?" he got his answer when Spike spat out another scroll, this one held a ticket for the purple dragon. "Rats." Flash grumbled as he looked at his ticket. Oh well, one night of boredom was better then being hounded all over town.