Meeting in the Market
In the height of summer, few places were as packed or as busy as the local markets of the mortal villages, and Flash's was no exception. The owners of the various stalls were calling out, doing everything in their power to convince passers-by to come and buy their wares. Children were rushing around in the square, playing and having fun. And all-in-all, the whole place was just abuzz with activity and energy. It was in this mix that Flash Sentry found himself, a smile upon his face as he happily strode through his home. Greetings and nods came his way, and he was always sure to return them out of courtesy. Eventually, the young lad found himself over at one stall in particular, looking over a number of delicious fruits. The owner, clearly happy at having a potential customer, put on his biggest smile for Flash, who looked over fruit after fruit after fruit. Eventually, Flash nodded, picking out one in particular, rummaging around in his back pocket before producing a few coins for the purchase. "There you go, friend."
The owner gave a quick bow of his head. "Oh! Thank you! I haven't had a single person come to me all day!"
Flash chuckled. "Well, I ran out of these things earlier..." He held up the now-purchased fruit, to make his point. "So I figured I'd head on down for some groceries."
The grocer nodded. "Well, enjoy it while you can, lad. These things have been coming in pretty scarce these days. You know, dangerous out on the seas and all?"
Flash nodded, understanding. "The children of Lady Adagio?"
The grocer nodded back. "The children of Lady Adagio," he confirmed.
Flash sighed, reaching back into his pocket and bringing out, to the grocer's surprise, an extra coin, which he happily gave to him. The grocer smiled, giving another bow of his head in gratitude, which Flash returned, before the latter finally got out and made his way away from the stall. He looked down to the fruit in his hand, thinking on what meals he could make out of it tonight, and soon enough he found his way right to the centre of the village, to the well. Most ignored the thing, giving Flash free reign to just sit down on its edge, and he took a moment to just take in the sight of his fellow villagers. It was a pleasant moment, even if not exactly peaceful with all the activity, and so taken in was he that he failed to notice one villager in particular walk towards him, a happy smile on her face. "Good morning, Flash."
Hearing the familiar voice, Flash smiled right back when he looked to her. "And to you, Muffins."
The blonde girl giggled, finding a spot on the well's wall beside him to sit upon, wherein she soon noticed the fruit he'd bought. "Hmmm, looks nice."
Flash nodded as he too looked down to it. "It will be." Then he looked a little thoughtful. "It's funny. I could've sworn I had a whole cupboard full of them, but...guess I was mis-remembering."
Muffins continued to smile sweetly to him. "I'm sure you'll make something nice out of it. You always do."
Flash blushed a little. "Oh please, I'm not that good of a cook!"
Muffins rolled her eyes. "Flash, I remember everything you've made for the festivals. Trust me, you are that good of a cook."
The boy looked down to his groceries, his own smile growing. "Well then...how about I make something for you tonight?"
Muffins looked to him with surprise. "Really?"
Flash nodded back. "Sure. We haven't spent much time together lately and...well...I'd like us to maybe have a dinner together. My treat."
Muffins was uncertain at first, but then resumed her earlier look of comfort. "You always were the generous one. Where would I ever be without you?"
Flash shrugged. "We've known each other since we were kids. It would be a delight to make something for you, I promise."
Then, before Muffins could answer, she paused as a small group of the other villagers passed them by. Even with her less-than-ideal eyesight, she could see them as they gave her a funny look. A look that just immediately gave the impression that she wasn't even worth paying attention to. But as they finally walked past in earnest, she put on that same smile as before. "Sure, I'd love to join you tonight."
But Flash was not smiling as she was, instead looking to where those earlier villagers had walked, his expression one of annoyance. "I can tell them to back off, you know."
Muffins sighed. "It's okay. It doesn't bother me."
Flash looked to her, his gaze stern. "Muffins...we both know that isn't true."
The girl looked away, almost ashamed, as she held herself. "It's just...are you sure you want to spend time with me, Flash?"
Her companion's head tilted to the side slightly. "Why wouldn't I? We're friends. And we always will be."
Muffins grimaced briefly. "I just...I think you'd be better off making friends with others. Maybe a girl who's not...a girl who..."
Seeing her struggle here, Flash reached out, gently placing his hand upon her shoulder. "A girl who...what?"
Slowly, Muffins looked back to him, looking into his eyes as best she could. "Flash...I'm not...untouched."
Her friend, in spite of how she might have been feeling herself, smiled. "You think that's going to make me not want you in my life? You having...well...it doesn't make you unworthy of my friendship, Muffins."
Muffins' look of shame returned. "But I feel unworthy. I thought...I thought he cared...but he didn't. I was just...silly." A tear formed in one eye. "Just silly little Muffins, like they always say about me. Silly and stupid and getting things wrong."
Flash's prior look of sternness came back with a vengeance. "If there's anyone in the wrong here..." He pointed straight upwards. "It's him. He lied to you, he tricked you into accepting him, and he bears the blame." He glanced around to the rest of the village. "Whatever people may think...you will never be an unworthy person, Muffins."
The girl looked completely speechless, and even started to develop a fierce blush. The latter wasn't helped by the fact that Flash now reached forward, taking her hand into his own as a means of furthering his desire to comfort her. This action led Muffins to, unsurprisingly, move forward, embracing her childhood friend in a hug. Flash, though taken aback by this gesture, nevertheless returned it, a smile on his face as always. The two of them didn't care about whatever looks the other villagers might have been giving them at this point, and when they finally parted, Muffins stumbled a bit before finally speaking up. "So...shall we have that dinner?"
Flash, still holding her hand, smiled further. "Miss Muffins...it would be my pleasure."
But unbeknown to them, or anyone else for that matter, it was not simply the eyes of the villagers who were upon them right now. For high, high up in the skies, sitting regally upon a large white cloud, was none other than Lady Celestia herself, who looked down to these two youths with an air of satisfaction about her. In her hand was a still-steaming cup of tea, which she now took a careful sip of, and as she sat there she could sense the presence of another approaching from behind. "I should have guessed you'd be here, Cadance. Come to enjoy this pleasant moment?"
Cadance, for her part, sat just beside her aunt, conjuring up some tea for herself, a happy smile as she too looked down upon the two as they made their way back to Flash's home. "Well, you know me, Auntie. When a spark of love is sensed, I just can't help but want to witness it. Even in these early days."
Celestia raised her cup. "I'll drink to that."
The two clinked their cups against one another, but as Celestia took another sip, Cadance cast her a knowing smirk. "You know, it really is fortunate that Flash just happened to meet her while she was feeling this way. Good for them both to have someone who cares about the other."
Celestia nodded, matching her smile. "Yes, quite."
"In fact..." Cadance mused, never letting her eyes leave the older Goddess. "We should be grateful that Flash ran out of those particular groceries today. At the exact moment Muffins too would be at the market."
"Indeed," Celestia agreed.
Cadance tapped the end of her own chin. "You know, it's funny. Because I could've sworn the boy already had those fruits...right up until the moment when he opened his cupboard to find then. Then, all of a sudden, poof, like they were never there."
"Hmmm, fascinating. How terribly inconvenient for him," Celestia said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.
"But most convenient for this caring connection we have down there right now, wouldn't you agree?" Cadance pressed.
"Oh, certainly," Celestia concurred.
Slowly, Cadance gently swirled the remains of her tea within her cup, keeping her smirk. "Out of interest, Auntie, when you promised that boy that his friend would be 'given a good life', this wouldn't, by any chance, have been part of that promise, would it?"
Celestia remained silent, then, after taking the last sip of her tea, she looked her niece in the eye and smiled slyly. "My dear Cadance...I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."
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I like how while Celestia wants to help others, she'll still do it in a sly fashion.
But poor, poor Muffins. Zephyr really needed an attitude adjustment.
Nice.
Of course that's how it came about. I'm just surprised that it wasn't Cadance's idea to begin with.
10117821
I'm still voting for an "internship" with Tomanāk.
10117835
Whenever I tried my parent's patience, they made me clean the house from top to bottom.
He just needs to work the attitude out of him.
Aw that’s so sweet... still waiting on flash to just be given godhood. I’m picturing him being the god sacrifice or something like that.
Who knows he might just get a bonus and muffins can be a goddess with him. Celesita knows he deserves it.
This chapter just reminded me how much I fucking hate that little shit head of a brother, Fluttershy has & another reason that the only thing I hate about this story is that you made him a fucking God when he shouldn't be!
10117840
Well that's like half of what Tomanāk's job is really, housecleaning. It's just that his sort of housecleaning involves demonic centipedes half the length of a city block.
10117959
Yep. That would do the trick.
Although Zephyr's malicious stupidity probably requires more than just housecleaning to fix.
Again, this is some REALLY good work on this latest chapter. Loved seeing Flash comforting Muffins and Celestia playing matchmaker for the two. Cadance's reaction to the latter was rather amusing too.
I am very definitely going to be looking forward to more of this series.
Wow Flash was like "naw I don't need a wish for me, how about you help out my friend over there?" And Celestia goes, "Yeah, no. You're still getting rewarded, now I'm just roping you into someone else's happy ending." She pulled a reverse genie. Your wish comes true in the best possible way.
Magnificent bit of hurt/comfort Flashderp, and some great karma at work. You know, even though they don't have that system installed in this area.
Calling it now, Flash will some how accidently earn godhood whether he means to or not lol! God of cooking maybe? And by Luna's blessed mane I just wanna hug poor Derpy! But Flash beat me to it heh, not that I mind that make a cute paie.
10121292
Well her crush doesn't have to be immortal, although that would make things rather less heart-breaking for her down the line.
10122311
The idea comes up in a chapter, won't say how or why or what happens but it's probably my favorite subplot after the newest chapter continues the subplot a little.
And that's all. For now. You know, I think it would be interesting to see one of the retired gods leading a relatively normal, mortal life. They aren't supposed to do god stuff to them, but surely one of them wants to see what they're like.