Flash Memory

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From the moment the shield and lightning bolt appeared on his flanks, Flash Sentry knew it was his destiny to join the Royal Guard, but that wasn't always his dream.

Flash is on a much-needed vacation, and has taken his first trip back to Cloudsdale in years. With old friends there to greet him, it almost feels like his previous life was waiting for him to show up and resume it, and the memories as he retraces his adolescent hoofsteps are overwhelming.

A lot of things haven't changed. But he has. He isn't the foal glued to his guitar with stars in his eyes anymore. He's found his purpose. He's moved on.

But is that entirely a good thing?

An entry in the Flash Sentry contest.
A standalone entry in the Eventide Verse.
Also check out author Patreon, Ko-Fi and commissions.

Chapters (4)

Pause · 28th Jan 2023 · 1,768 words
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Rewind · 28th Jan 2023 · 1,985 words
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Stop · 28th Jan 2023 · 1,421 words
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Fast Forward · 28th Jan 2023 · 446 words
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Comments ( 11 )

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gapty

gapty #1 · Jan 29th, 2023 · 1 · · Pause ·

The job's important, but there needs to be a pony doing it, not a waking suit of armour.

No, Captain, you don't understand: The other option is being a high-school boy who is the love interest in a teenage drama. Please, let me be a waking suit of armour!

So, on impulse, he'd taken wing to Cloudsdale, where he'd grown up. There'd been a itch to see the cloud buildings again, to be so high that it was easy to forget that the ground existed. Some kind of primal pegasus thing, he assumed, or at least that's what he was sure that his father would say if he asked him. The air was different here, purer, and he took a deep breath as he did a few cool-down stretches of his wings. There were pegasi who spent their whole lives here, never touching ground, and he couldn't blame them.

Interesting world building, I like it

"Good." Genna spread her wings. "'Cause I'm dying of hunger. Let's go before they run out of tofu."

Genna to the cook: "10 bits for the 'tofu'."

I'd almost forgotten.

I read this fic through before commenting, but that line kept being as important looking for me as before

gapty

gapty #2 · Jan 29th, 2023 · 2 · · Rewind ·

Genna tensed, talons wrapping around her milkshake and wings going still as she stared at him with golden eyes. Then she shrugged her shoulders and it was like the tension had never been there.

Nice detail I missed in my first read through

Thunderhead instantly pounced on the opportunity. "Yeah! You always had a thing for unicorns."

Flash: "It's weirder when you're a human."

Deluge nudged Genna. "Hey, what about Twilight Sparkle? With her brother leading the Crystal Guard, bet loverstallion's gotten to meet her. "

This fic is intentionally or unintentionally mocking Human Flash and I like it

"Okay, okay, not Sparkle," Thunderhead said with a wave of his wing. "What about--"

Wait, are there now more alicorns? Starlight Glimmer?

No, actually, it's the Great, and Powerful… TRRRIXIE!

Flash looked down at the thick, creamy potato soup, the bread bowl full nearly to overflowing. He gave a deep inhale, taking in the scent, and suddenly, he was home.

Honestly, this is such an interesting drama played out here, Flash coming back, seeing how good it feels to be here— A weird sad feeling that it invoked for me.

"Remember the Fall Formal?"

"How couldn’t I? Some Prom Queen drama played out, a girl turned into a demon and six girls turned into horses—"

Hey, I'm not the one who draws such parallels to Human Flash

gapty

gapty #3 · Jan 29th, 2023 · 1 · · Stop ·

The face doesn't mean anything. She's learned how to open her beak, tilt her head a certain way, to make it look like a smile or smirk, but it's just that, learned. Eyes can change a little, but there's still much fewer muscles there than a pony, few ways to change the shape. The real expression's in her wings. Her tail. Tension in her talons. Her voice.

Nice attention to those details, making the differences of the species noticable

As it is now, I know five ways to incapacitate her.

"And then I did a backflip, snapped the bad guy's neck and saved the day" ~~Flash Ryan George

"You left. We had all these plans, for the band, for our lives, and you left to join the guard and left those two knuckleheads falling back on the weather factory and me stuck as a courier. And then you just blow into town like this..."

I'm slow, okay? I just there got the drama of the fic, despite now seeing the hints and spelled out things before

...I didn't.

Oof

His eyes raised, watching her, and the words were barely more than a whisper. "...They aren't all jokes, are they?" She stopped, and he kept going. "When you say those things. About griffons. About yourself. It isn't all banter, is it? It's..."

Okay, I really think I'm missing the banter stuff, because even in the reread I couldn't find what Flash was talking about here. Guess I'm more blind than Flash

And for the first time since starting his vacation, Flash Sentry knew why he was here.

Amazing. I loved it

gapty

gapty #4 · Jan 29th, 2023 · 1 · · Fast Forward ·

I might be extra busy for the next couple of weeks. King Thorax is making a visit, so with his royal entourage we'll be up to our ears in changelings, and I don't doubt they'll want to train with us. He's still working on building up his own guard, too, after all. I'll still do my best to make time to write.

Wait… checks tags Okay, forget about my question with alicorns. I forgot this was supposed to be an alt. universe

Flash put on his helmet, and marched toward the door. And for the first time in a long while, he felt like a pony wearing armour, instead of armour wearing a pony.

And back there, in the other world, where he was a bipedal creature, a boy found peace with his friends too—or he was still mourning a lost Princess, I dunno

But now serious, what a nice drama fic. I don't think I read a lot of fimfiction dramas, and I think I should check out more of these. It was such a nice world building, attention to details and a slow build up to the reveal of the mistake Flash did. Well done!

howard035

howard035 #5 · Feb 1st, 2023 · · · Fast Forward ·

What a wonderful story. Great psychological insight into Flash.

new55

new55 #6 · Feb 7th, 2023 · · · Fast Forward ·

That was a good story.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #7 · Feb 23rd, 2023 · 1 · · Pause ·

Flash Sentry, along with the other guards who'd taken the transfer to the Empire, had had made it clear to them immediately that it was still Captain and not Your Highness, and he stuck to that as he walked into the very sparkly office. The room of the castle had been repurposed, having once held an array of works of art that were now in a local museums, once the traps on them had been disarmed; Sombra had had a taste for the finer things, and hadn't believed in sharing his collection.

love how this doesn’t need to name Shining Armor. and the arts belong in a museum!

So, on impulse, he'd taken wing to Cloudsdale, where he'd grown up. There'd been a itch to see the cloud buildings again, to be so high that it was easy to forget that the ground existed. Some kind of primal pegasus thing, he assumed, or at least that's what he was sure that his father would say if he asked him. The air was different here, purer, and he took a deep breath as he did a few cool-down stretches of his wings. There were pegasi who spent their whole lives here, never touching ground, and he couldn't blame them.

wonderful use of pegasusness here! really makes the story feel more grounded (heh) in Equestria

Then there were the pegasi who just felt the wanderlust, the need to leave the nest and fly as far as they could. Pegasi had small populations in many nations beyond Equestria; he recalled that, from his schooling, though it was hard to grasp at the specifics of where. Griffonstone, at least, he knew hosted plenty.

aww love the idea of a pegasus diaspora. i will definitely have to steal this for my own worldbuilding!

Thunderhead looks strange without his shades, and Deluge doesn't have his choker. I'm not sure if I've ever seen them without them. They practically slept in the things.

hehehe nice touch

"Friends?" Genna casually polished her black talons on her breastfeathers, swishing her tail. "Naaaaah, griffons don't do friendship. I just hang around you two so you'll keep the rain off me."

ooh love this griffon name and griffon

"Just wait a second while I get my supply of cares--" Genna mimed opening her bag. "--Oh wait, fresh out."

hehehe nice

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #8 · Feb 23rd, 2023 · 1 · · Rewind ·

"There's been some buzz around lately about mail-delivery spells putting us outta work, but I think they're just fearmongering."

oof, not even Equestria is free of the spectre of automation taking away jobs!

Genna gave a sharp squawk of a laugh. "Typical ponies." She shrugged off Thunderhead's wing, then forced him to duck as she spread her own. "Only wanting me around because I can scare other ponies for you."

oof! really says a lot about pony society

Thunderhead instantly pounced on the opportunity. "Yeah! You always had a thing for unicorns."

ehehehe

"The alicorns I spend most of my time around, one's married and the other is her yearling daughter!"

aww,literally a yearling!

Genna huffed. "So? There's more 'corns than them."
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are older than the nation."
"Yeah, but they sure don't look it." Thunderhead whistled for emphasis.

so true

Genna lit up at that. "Oh yeah! She's a real catch. I've seen pictures." She puffed out her chest. "If I were into ponies, I'd try my luck. She's got a real nice wingspan."

love that this is what she is into because of course

Genna always gets their tofu stir fry, with calamari on the side. That was one of the dares to Deluge, for him to eat a calamari ring and if he threw up, she won. Deluge always gets a hayburger and a pile of onion rings, and one of those was a dare back, because she hates onions. Thunderhead gets that huge salad with a few strips of fried tofu on top, and me...

aww, love my precious vegetarian Equestria with some pescetarianism on the side for griffons and such

"Oh that one. Yeah, I remember. Still amazed Dust didn't get expelled. Hear Strike got the last laugh, though. She's in the Wonderbolts now."

more like L-ightning Dust for the Ls she is taking!

Guitars for quadrupedal species were tricky, to say the least. Only pegasi could really manage it, by holding up the instrument with their forelegs while their wings handled the strings.

i guess Rarity is just built different

I was the first to get my instrument, so they decided that meant we should name the band after me, if only to stop the others from bickering over it.
Genna's beak was open in a smile, and she nodded at Deluge. "Alright, count us in, Del."
We were Flash Drive.

ehehe love how whatever the hell is connecting the two worlds makes everyone reuse the same names as their counterparts for tenuous reasons

And as they rocked, the light in the garage shone with rainbows.

so true, the magic of friendship and music

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #9 · Feb 23rd, 2023 · 1 · · Stop ·

The face doesn't mean anything. She's learned how to open her beak, tilt her head a certain way, to make it look like a smile or smirk, but it's just that, learned. Eyes can change a little, but there's still much fewer muscles there than a pony, few ways to change the shape. The real expression's in her wings. Her tail. Tension in her talons. Her voice.
She's upset.

ooh, love this delve into how expressions would be affected by anatomy. of course the canon would translate this for us by giving the griffons teeth in their beaks to smile with, etc.

She snorted. "You were there, just now. There's a magic in the music when it's all four of us. When you left, you took it with you."
Flash shook his head. "It wasn't going to work out. None of us got marks to be musicians. You don't understand--"
"Don't you bucking dare, Flash Bradley Sentry!"

and oof. great emotional moment, i must note, before also saying how i love how this continues the thing where ponies inexplicably have human-sounding names for middle names

Genna reared up, and her talons sank deep when they landed in the kitchen floor again. "I get to be hurt. I get to be upset. Even if I'm a big stupid griffon who can't understand your fancy cutie mark destiny, I get to feel betrayed when something takes my plans and my friend away. I get to be mad that you didn't write, didn't visit, and then show up like nothing happened!"

and oof, so true. ponies justifying life decisions based on magical butt tattoos must make those decisions extra hurtful and confusing for creatures without them

I wrote back... didn't I?
Flash drooped. Head fell, ears went limp, wingtips met the floor, weighed down by realization.
...I didn't.

and oof. i myself am flashing (heh) back to all the times i let an old connection wilt and fade from being the one to never reply to the last thing. augh

His eyes raised, watching her, and the words were barely more than a whisper. "...They aren't all jokes, are they?" She stopped, and he kept going. "When you say those things. About griffons. About yourself. It isn't all banter, is it? It's..."
"Things ponies have really said about me?" Her head turned to look at him over her shoulder. "And on the bad days, things I say to myself?" She let out a low, mirthless chuckle. "You've just put that together now, guardstallion? You're pretty slow on the uptake sometimes, you know that?" A deep sigh, and she slowly turned back toward him. "Thunder and Del keep trying to get me into therapy. I just haven't found a therapist yet I don't wanna throw for distance."

and augh, really love how that undercurrent present before is brought out into the light here, and so well, too. this whole conversation has just been gorgeous writing

Genna opened her beak briefly, and he recognized the smile before she gave a shrug. "You're right too. Maybe the music thing was never gonna take off, no matter what we did. Maybe even with you guys getting music marks, we'd bomb. I guess I just figured, if we did, we'd be bombing on our own terms, and we'd go from there. Together." She looked to one side, and he knew she was eyeing the bolt and shield. "Then you were the first to get that bright light and it's like all the eggs got dumped out of the nest without a chance to hatch."

great use of griffonness in the last bit, and yeah. there is so much truth here, even coming from a world without magical destiny marks, about that transition to adulthood and the links that it inevitably breaks.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #10 · Feb 23rd, 2023 · 1 · · Fast Forward ·

Everything looks extra sparkly after getting used to cloud houses again. I'd suggest bringing sunglasses when you come to visit, since it's easy to get blinded if the sun shines off a building the wrong way. Or a local. It never seems to bother the crystal ponies, but maybe they just instinctively know when to avert their eyes.

hehehe love that light shining off of the crystal ponies themselves is a legitimate concern

Flash put on his helmet, and marched toward the door. And for the first time in a long while, he felt like a pony wearing armour, instead of armour wearing a pony.

and augh, beautiful stuff. i rarely see character studies or cultural worldbuilding done so well, and felt just so immersed in this world and these characters. excellent work, and thank you so much for it.

also post-contest Bike here to add how i loved that the theme of ponies being affected by cutie mark destiny fits in with how the details of pony Flash's life have to, for once, conform to the details of the better-known EqG Flash's life and how perhaps whatever is going on there has just as much to do with destiny and lack of free will as the whole cutie mark thing, and the complexes of being a background character shuttled to and fro as the canon stories demand it. anyway, just loved it!

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #11 · Mar 2nd, 2023 · 1 · · Fast Forward ·

He keeps saying he's been where I am, but he never goes into details, and I'm afraid to ask for any.

Well, that raises some intriguing questions...

Excellent work in fleshing out this Flash. It's a rare case where we know more about the human than the pony. (Though I do have to wonder how they settled on that name for the band in this world.)

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