The Twilit Tower

by Fresh Coat

The High Priestess — Chapter VIII

Flash stepped through the door and into the foyer of the dollhouse. Mulberry stood directly across from him, pastel pink wallpaper behind them, clapping their hooves as excitedly as a featureless ponyquinn could.

“Congratulations on your return, Flash,” Mulberry greeted, placing their hooves back on the floor. “We are happy to see you return from that place, seemingly better than before.”

Nodding with a small smile, Flash trotted down the hall and towards the front door, humming a random tune as he went. To his frustration, he saw the floors stretch away from the door creating a makeshift treadmill that stopped his forward advance.

“We know you are eager to leave,” Mulberry said as they tried to keep up with Flash. “We also agree that you are ready to do so, however, we simply must ask—”

“If that’s true then let me.” Flash quickened his pace, frowning as the stretching floor sped up. “I won’t stay here any longer.”

“We would never force you at this time, we simply wish to check in with you by asking a few questions,” Mulberry explained. “Can we have that?”

Slowing his pace to a light jog, Flash rolled his eyes and inclined his head toward Mulberry.

“Excellent, thank you, Flash.” Mulberry cleared their throat. “Firstly, what is your favourite colour?”

Smirking, Flash replied, “Blue. Specifically the darker shades. I find them calming.”

“I prefer the light purples personally.”

“And you are entitled to your wrong opinions,” Flash teased.

He could feel more than see the smile on the featureless Mulberry. “Who is your favourite sibling?” They continued.

“Swift, the only sibling worth bothering with.” He smiled warmly as he thought of her foal on the way. “I’m excited to meet my niece or nephew.”

“How do you feel about your job?”

“Fulfilled. I might have followed someone else’s ideals for the wrong reasons initially because I didn’t want to have to think, but I find that I’m glad I did it,” Flash answered. “I’ve accomplished a lot of good because of that and I plan to keep doing so as long as I’m able to.”

“Even if you’re just another guard to others?”

“My name isn’t important, what I do is,” Flash replied. “If I’m just Shining’s second or some random guard to others, that’s okay because I’m doing something I love doing even if it wasn’t initially what I wanted.”

“Wonderfully said,” Mulberry praised. “Now, final question. How do you feel about your attraction to stallions?”

“Mixed. I still feel uncomfortable when I think about being with a stallion, or a mare really, both for different reasons, but I’m kind of…” Flash tried to think of the proper word to explain his feelings, “exhilarated? I don’t know who’s out there for me, but I want to meet them. Give that a chance. Maybe even find someone who cares about me as much as Spear did. I won’t hold myself back just on account of others.” He smiled wistfully. “Or myself.”

“We believe you’ll find someone, but, even if you don’t, so long as you're happy living your life, we believe that you will be happy.” Mulberry jumped happily in place. “With that, we dub thee adequately functional and ready to rejoin society.”

“Adequately functional? Wow, way to make a guy feel good.” Flash snorted.

“You should feel good,” Mulberry stated, ignoring the sarcasm. “You’ve been through a lot and deserve to find joy in life. Now, we declare your treatment complete. Live well, Flash Sentry.”

All at once, the floor snapped back into place and Flash found himself at the door. He placed a hoof on the handle then remembered something he wanted to say to one who put him on this path to start with. He turned to Mulberry, a stern look on his face.

“This was the worst experience of my life, you’re the worst therapist I’ve ever met, and I’m burning every dollhouse I find from this point on to ensure this never happens again.” His expression softened, a smile appearing on his face. “But thank you for fixing me.”

“We did not fix you. You fixed you. We just helped.” Mulberry tilted their head to one side. “We do not understand why we must keep explaining this so many times.”

Laughing at their antics, Flash opened the door and stepped outside of the dollhouse. Ready to return to his new life.

---

Flash landed on the dusty wooden floors of the attic, mercifully back to his original size. He looked back and down at the dollhouse. It was now worn and aged from over decades of sitting abandoned. On a hunch, he opened up the playset on its hinge to reveal two timberwolf plushies sitting next to each other inside. They were stitched together with worn mismatched patches and had two gold ribbons similar to wedding bands tied around their arms.

He smiled and grabbed both of them, tucking them safely on the inside of his jacket.

Leaving the dollhouse behind, he trotted back to the attic hatch and pulled it open. Immediately the sounds of his parents and sister arguing drifted up through the opening. Flash rolled his eyes as he dropped down to the floor, closing the hatch behind him.

Passing by family photos he couldn’t care less about, Flash reflected on prior events, remembering the talk he had with fake Spear. As he made his way downstairs, his thoughts coalesced into a single answer and he made a decision.

The quaint kitchen housed the entirety of his so-called family. His brother sat to one side. He wore a stained business shirt over his fur and yawned loudly as the argument continued not a few hoof lengths away from him. Flash had never noticed it before, but Lead looked tired. The bags under his eyes were a darker blue than Flash’s mane, and he was clearly binging when he shouldn’t based on the tight gut poking out under his shirt (a jarring picture compared to Flash’s mental image of his rugby loving brother).

His parents, Golden and Stalwart, were together on the farthest side of the room. Golden cowered behind Stalwart with a stern gaze, while Stalwart stood his ground up front. They too clashed with Flash’s mental picture of them, seeming smaller than before.

Swift stood stubbornly opposite them, a kitchen table between them. She looked furious, staring daggers at their parents on Flash’s behalf. It was annoying, her sticking her nose in his business, but it was hard to hate her for it as Flash had been so unwilling before.

Before being a keyword.

Lead was the first to notice Flash’s return. “Done hiding in the attic?” He sneered.

“Yeah, got my head cleared up,” Flash replied.

“Yeah, sure.” Lead snorted. “Unlikely chance considering how empty-headed you are.”

“Is that chance less or higher than you ever getting a date?” Lead stiffened in shock. “Why are you surprised? She isn’t interested, Lead. The only one who doesn’t know that is you. Go creep on someone who doesn’t work for you like a normal pony.”

“Excuse you?!” Golden exclaimed. Lead just continued to gape. “How dare you talk to your brother like that!”

“I don’t care,” Flash replied. Golden leaned away in shock. “He insulted me first.” He turned to Swift who had stopped arguing with their parents to stare at Flash. “Hey, sis, you wanna—”

“Apologize,” Stalwart hissed.

“No,” Flash retorted, narrowing his eyes at his father. “He was acting like a jerk. He deserved it.”

“You do not speak to your siblings like that.” Stalwart snorted, drawing himself up which laughably only came to Flash’s chin (He had only just realized his size came from his mother).

“When they, and I mostly mean Lead, stop making fun of me, then I’ll stop,” Flash answered. He returned his focus to Swift. “As I was saying, you wanna go get ice cream from Mello’s and catch the train to Canterlot? We could be there just in time to visit some of my favourite bar spots.”

“Oh, yeah definitely. That sounds super fun, but, uh—” Swift leaned forward, covering her mouth with a wing, “—you feeling okay?”

“Never better, and I was thinking while we were barhopping…” Flash raised his voice ensuring it would be heard by everyone present. “I’ll have to find a big strong stallion to take care of me tonight. Really take me right in the—”

“Excuse you?!” Stalwart yelled.

Golden gasped, placing a wing to her chest. Lead gave Flash a look of utter revulsion. Swift just cackled madly.

“You will do no such—!” Stalwart tried to continue.

“Sorry what’s that, father?” Flash interrupted. “I can’t hear you over all of the possible future hotties I’m going to grind up against.” He trotted toward the door, a laughing Swift following after him. “I’m going to hook up with so many stallions they’ll start calling me a hooker. A bad one, since I won’t even charge!”

“But he will use protection,” Swift added between laughs.

“Yeah! Because smart no charge hookers play it safe.”

“So safe!” Swift added.

“They’ll have to call me the safe hooker!” Flash shouted.

Swift collapsed into a baleful of mischievous cackles.

Golden nudged her husband with a shoulder. “Stop them!” She urged.

Stalwart scrambled to think of something. “If you walk through that door, you are never welcome back,” He roared.

Both Flash and Swift stopped at the threshold of the door, turning back to stare at their father, the prior with raised eyebrows, the latter with a harsh glare.

“Even me, dad?” Swift growled.

Faltering, Stalwart replied, “Well, this is mainly for Flash. You’re still fine.”

“It’s just him who needs to learn his place,” Golden added.

Swift began to shoot back a retort but was stopped by Flash’s wing. She bit back her response. Flash gave her a grateful grin. He renewed his focus on his parents, several thoughts swirling in his head. He hadn’t realized it but an illusion had broken for him and he’d come to realize the two ponies that were his parents… didn’t really care about him. It hurt. But continuing to put up with it would just be self-inflicted pain.

And he was done insulting Spear’s memory like that.

“Okay, dad,” Flash said evenly. Stalwart visibly relaxed, a triumphant grin spreading on his face. “Goodbye.”

Before anyone could react, Flash pushed open the door and left, an ache in his heart. As Swift caught up to him, the ache dulled, the jab to the shoulder smothering it into the background.

“Dang, bro,” Swift commented with a beaming grin. “Way to stick it to our dad. What’s gotten into you?”

Flash looked up at the clear blue skies overhead. He thought back on his past, his memories and all the hurt that came with it. What before would have just been painful gaps suddenly felt… manageable. It hurt, but it didn’t consume him and little by little it would hopefully fade away.

He closed his eyes and felt, just for a moment, the phantom touch of Spear’s wing on his back, propelling him forward, a pleased grin on his lips. He liked to think that Spear would have been proud of him at that moment.

“I’m just ready to move on,” Flash said, opening his eyes and flashing a big smile at his older sister. “And I think from now on things will get a lot better.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

UPDATE 16 nov 2022: The first arc is now complete, so there will be a temporary hiatus till the second arc is ready. Stay tuned!

Shouldn't get rid of this by now?

[Oreng Pingvin]

he won't become a hooker, yes?

[Oreng Pingvin]

11452921
Me too

[Someand98]

he concept of liminal spaces and the mystery surrounding the Twilit Tower has me hooked. Can't wait to see where the next arc takes us.