• Member Since 26th Apr, 2012
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MarvelandPonder


You've got the heart of a phoenix! Profile Art by Bevin Brand. Writing: The Ex Files.

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Flash Sentry knows his friends are superheroes. He loves that about them. But when he gets the call that they've gotten hurt fighting the forces of evil magic, he doesn't know how to cope. He doesn't know how to help. He probably would've gotten a speeding ticket if his dad wasn't the chief of police.

To make matters worse, Timber Spruce shows up.


Art by the magical and maniacal Bevin Brand, who this story is dedicated to along with the appropriately delightful and bookish Bookish Delight. I did it to see you scream.

Featured on Equestria Daily as of November 12th, 2019!
Recommendsday Shoutout from the Completely Lovely TCC56

Chapters (5)
Comments ( 35 )
Ri2

Sunlight is always adorable.

And Flash/Timber? Now there's a couple I've never seen before. Interesting pairing, and I wonder what will come of their super-gay hand-holding power.

9871058

super-gay hand-holding power.

I fell over laughing at this.

a group of ne’er-do-well, vigilante girls incited a fellow bad actor to attack their fair city, to disastrous results.

"These Rainbooms are a menace! I want pictures of them by five! If we can get a picture of the mayor's roots, by God, we can get a picture of some teenagers!"

Also, abusing copyright strikes to take down online evidence of magic is downright brilliant.

Did she know which dimension she was in?

"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"That's a hoof."
"Good, that was a trick question."

So mindfuckingly adorable, and hilariously funny.

On a side note, I was worried that Timber and Flash would get together JUST because of Sunlight, but glad to see that isn't the case. Hell, Sunset and Twilight weren't even dating -unless I missed a cue- when Timber and Flash shared their first kiss.

Twilight bit her lip. “Just please don’t tell him Sunset’s an alien invader from another dimension. She’s really, really not.”

She is literally all of those things. She just gave up the invasion plans she was going to enact on her world.

But, as always, we’ll just have to hope that Applejack is wrong. If it’s any comfort, she frequently is.

Wow, Rarity. Wow.

stolen arcane texts originating from libraries in another dimension

"I keep telling you, Twilight, I didn't steal them, I checked them out. And then I got Starlight Glimmer to make duplicates and brought those through the portal."
"See? Intellectual property violations! It's like you snuck them out from under the princess's nose!"

That may be the best explanation for adolescent EqG villains that I've ever heard. I don't think it's the first time I've encountered the hypothesis, but it's still brilliant.

Wonderful stuff, both the light and the heavy. Thank you for a fantastic read and one of the better portrayals of Timber Spruce I've encountered.

9871058
A sequel is in the works, so the super-gay hand-holding power will return and evolve - likely into something gayer.

9871111
Thanks, glad you had a good time with it!

And yeah, for sure. This story is a gift-fic for a lovely friend who really loves Flash and Timber, so I came into it thinking about how those two have both gotten the short end of the stick in terms of character development at different points solely because they're love interests but still have a lot of potential!

I wanted to explore their characters more, and honestly, going into the first chapter I was 50/50 on whether I'd ship them or if they'd just become friends. It felt natural that it could go in the romantic direction, though, so I was glad to follow it! And I think you're right, if I'd forced them together just so I could ship Sciset or whatever, it would've felt super weird for Flash and Timber to just suddenly start liking each other lol

But in case you're wondering: Sunset and Sci-Twi were dating for two months or so by the start of the story (but it only really says that in the epilogue).

Ri2

9871111
No, I'm pretty sure they were.

Got directed to this from Bevin Brand's Tumbler page, and thought to myself: "Y'know, this sounds kinda different and interesting. Lets take a look." Glad I did.

I'll admit, LoE was the point that firmly put me into the SciSet camp (a condition only exasperated by the amazing and copious amounts of SciSet on this site), because it felt like Sunset was the only character who, y'know, really cared about Twiggles throughout the whole thing. The thing is, had the whole romantic subplot not been put in LoE and Timber was just allowed to be a character on his own instead of what felt like a shoehorned in love interest (and lost the pickup-artist tendencies they gave him), I probably would've liked him. This, honestly, did more to make me like him as a character than anything in his canon depictions. Well played Marvel, well played. Easily going into my library.

Also, I think him and Flash make a nice couple. I have a feeling they'll be able to make each-other happy in the long run. Just like Sunny and Twiggles.

Y'know, I had my doubts about those two working as a pair initially. But this was adorable.

Oooh, an Equestria Daily feature. Great job!

Ahh I love the way you've characterized Timber and Flash! Really displays the differences in their personalities

10046930
Best comment I could've gotten: the one that recognizes how extremely bisexual this all is.

But seriously, super glad you enjoyed it! I've been working on a longer sequel with Sunset as the primary character, more gay than you can shake a stick at, and developing the themes + ideas introduced in this story further. It might still take awhile since it's a long story and I like to write it all before I publish (currently writing chapter 8 of a planned 14), but you haven't seen the last of Timber and Flash. Or Twilight and Sunset, for that matter.

Or, that crack they made in the sky. Whoops.

P.S. It's quite an honour to be a part of a "Be Gay. Do Crimes!" bookshelf. Best bookshelf name!

I really do not understand how some people hates Flash. I am the first to admit I am not a fan of Timber, but I still do not hate him.

And the idea of this fic is really cool. I have it in "read later" ever since it came to Existence, and just now I managed to start. Really hope Flash gets a good ending, that guy deserves it.

That ending was funny.

But I really think Flash deserves better...

That happened a LOT faster than I was expecting.

Like, a lot.

Anyway, the scene was extremely well written.

Very interesting reading. I like the main couple and I just love scisunlight, so I loved this bonus chapter.
But for me, the best part was how you wrote about their guilty and fear of not being enough. That is a very hard feeling to put into words, it does not matter how many times you felt it.

And "guilt-complex master"... I really agree. Even outside of fanfics, in cannon, Sunset seems to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. I love that about her because it is interesting, but I feel bad for her because this is a really hard feeling to get rid of.

10123091
Oh yeah, Sunset feeling responsible/guilty for the magic in everyone's lives has been an ongoing theme in canon, I think. You could argue it started around Friendship Games, back when it was as simple as "keeping magic from the Games", or in Legend of Everfree where she tries to convince her friends the new magic in their lives is a good thing. But I think it really started to stand out to me in the specials, when she's either paranoid about the next magical disaster in their lives, or outright apologizing for magic interrupting their spring break vacation.

Sunset's obviously dealt with guilt over her past, but I find it super interesting to see that she's still wrestling with guilt for things that are only indirectly (if at all) her fault.

I expanded on this and a bunch of other ideas in the upcoming sequel because I wanted to explore that side of her more and get to the bottom of it.

“I’ve suspected we’d be able to do something with our shared magic for a while, but I didn’t know what. I’ve had a few pet theories about what an empath and a telepath could do, but honestly? When I saw you were hurt, I just wanted to help. I wanted to understand. Although,” she said, excitement dimming, “I suppose I can’t magically heal everything going on with you. Are you okay?”

If Sunset’s the empath I’m pretty sure you meant telekinetic.

10273064
Oh yeah, thanks for catching that! I'll fix it...

I'm enjoying the story so far but I think you should focus on establishing your characters' sexuality in a more gradual, structured manner. Just some constructive criticism for future stories.

In my opinion, Sunset/Twi & Flash/Timber's sudden shift to homosexuality comes out of left field. Mind you, I have nothing against the actual pairings themselves, it's just that you made a point to tell us, the readers, that they were heterosexual earlier in the story and did a total 360 with minimal to no foreshadowing. To me, a hanging plot point such as that sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise well-written story.

10288915
Thanks for the constructive criticism but when did I say they were heterosexual?

A man dating a woman doesn't necessarily mean the man and woman are straight. Bisexual and pansexual people exist! In fact, while it was confirmed off-screen, Sunset was confirmed bisexual by Katrina Hadley.

10289159
Not so much directly but saying that Flash/Timber liked Sci-Twi/Pri-Twi is a pretty obvious sign that they're straight. :applejackunsure:

There wasn't a point prior to chapter three that you said they were unsure of their preference or experimented. Felt abrupt.

10289200
Of course it does. That's not what I'm arguing. What I'm saying is that, as the author, you need to present a convincing case to your readers why the characters portrayed in the story are inclined towards bixsexuality or past evidence thereof. You shouldn't assume we understand their preferences prior to reading the story. Especially when examples of characters being bi are not presented in canon as such.

I.E. ---> Timber, Flash, Sci-Twi

10289208
Entirely fair, but I also think that's a matter of preference. Some readers prefer to pick up through context clues what a character's sexuality is as the story progresses rather than always needing the characters to say their sexualities out loud. I demonstrated they were bi by showing they've been attracted to guys and girls.

It's very valid if you'd personally prefer they say it out loud, sometimes I think that can be refreshing! (I'd also say this story's romance is paced very fast in general, so I'd agree on that!)

YES! Love seeing a fic where Flash and Timber have a relationship. Whether it be romantic or platonic, there’s so little of them out there and it’s nice to see gems like this one. Keep up the good work.

This is really good! The power of gayness is the best. I don't think you needed to explicitly confirm that they were bi+ though, unlike what 10289167 said. Besides, labels are overrated.

9871510
Yay!

I hope you have a hunch about how often I come back to this story and this chapter in particular

Hi! I love this story and this universe so much! You're a great writer! I wrote a little thing inspired by this, it's on my page. Have a nice day1 thank you for all the stories!

11669706
Oh whoa, thank you so much!! I'm gonna go see!

So The Exes Club is one that I’ve been putting off for a while, for which I apologise. Romance/Slice-of-Life doesn’t seem to do this justice, honestly – it’s a great in-medias-res (or, uh, post-medias-res?) delve inside the mind of a relatively minor character. There’s a healthy helping of drama, some fantastic character interactions, and there’s clearly a hell of a lot more going on that what you let on in the story (and I adore stories that have an entire, cohesive world built around them, it makes the narrative feel that much more alive).

The intro to Timber was… well, you did a pretty great job of putting us in Flash’s shoes because he seemed like a bit of an arse. Taking us from the depiction of the incident, through Flash’s anxious spiral, then slap-bang into the dissonant mess of jokes and mock-salutes and gummy sweets, it’s a nice way of setting up the conflict between the two while also sneakily putting us inside Flash’s head at the same time. Sunset’s dead seriousness helps bring us back to the reality of the girls’ situation, while Rainbow Dash seems rather like her loveable wildcard self. I can’t tell if it felt like I had no idea what she’d do next, or that she was flexible enough to do whatever the situation needed at the time. There was a lovely balance of light-hearted joking and genuine kindness, that’s for sure.

Chapter 4 is without a doubt the pinnacle of the story’s writing. The conversation flows so smoothly, the scene is packed full of dialogue while also having enough narrative to properly flesh it out and prevent it being a monotonous he-said-she-said. On top of that, each character has their own place in the scene; no-one is left out or monopolises the exchange. That’s a tough feat to pull off for a group conversation, and doubly so for such a heavy topic, and triply so for such a heavy topic with Pinkie Pie as one of its participants.

There’s a lovely back-and-forth between Timber and Flash come the end, as well. Trapped as we may be inside Flash’s inner narrative (and that’s no bad thing, mind!), the eventual moment that Timber allows himself to be vulnerable feels really well-earned. All of a sudden, this cocky, unflappable, kind-of-douchey-but-in-a-loveable-way kinda guy is letting slip some really personal anecdotes and admissions. You just walk the line of not having the relationship progress too quickly for the story so it still feels natural, which for a 12,000-word fic that has both the start of a relationship and the aftermath of a magical battle is a real feat.

I’ll admit, I originally wasn’t sure about the tone of Chapter 4’s ending – I guess it felt a little incomplete? But I made the crucial mistake of assuming that that was the proper ending to The Exes Club, and that the bonus chapter was nothing but a tacked-on extra. Credit to you, it’s way more than that, serving as both a tonne of backstory that the original chapters had to skip over, and the perfect bridge to what I’m guessing is the synopsis of Empathy for the Devil. The seeds of Sunset’s guilt complex over the presence of magic were sown in the first four chapters, but it’s here that they start to bud.

And I can’t wait for them to blossom come Empathy, as messy and heart-wrenching as it may be. Fantastic story.

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