> A Set-Up For Flash
>  by James Pwyll
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> An Empty Seat
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The Sweet Snacks Café, as one of Canterlot's most popular venues, always saw its fair share of business at around lunchtime. Old and young alike found themselves having a good time thanks to a combination of the tasty treats and the exceptional service provided by the waitresses. And among this latter group there was one roller-skating girl who was known all over town as being the friendliest and most upbeat person you could ever hope to have at your table. Pinkie Pie, with her usual smile, was darting about all over the place, going from table to table to make sure everybody had what they needed. And of course, nobody was left unsatisfied when she'd been to them. A quick speed by the counter, as well as a quick fist-bump with her co-workers, had her stopping at the end, looking on with satisfaction at everyone she'd served today. A job well done was its own reward, or at least that's what friends like Applejack would have said if she'd been here, and Pinkie was certainly feeling it today. However, it couldn't escape her notice that there was a particular teen, in his usual booth, who was noticeably alone this afternoon, and before long she was right at his table. "No friends with you today, Flashy?"

To his credit, the boy seemed to not share the concern his classmate had for him. "Nah, not today. The guys had to stay and finish that essay that was due tomorrow. I offered to stay and help but they said it was fine for me to head off an enjoy the rest of the day."

Pinkie looked over to the other side of the booth, to the empty seat there, before casting an incredulous glance back to him. "And you're sure you're okay? All by yourself? I mean, the more the merrier, right?"

Flash chuckled slightly. "Yeah, it normally is. But it's fine. Besides, I'm enjoying myself perfectly well with this lovely milkshake one of your fellow waitresses brought me earlier," he replied, holding up said drink, which did indeed have a tasty-looking froth to it.

A look of pride came to the girl. "Well, we do make some pretty great milkshakes." Her smile faded a little as she looked back to him. "But you know what you need?" She got herself comfortable in the aforementioned empty seat, looking to him with all the affection one would normally reserve for an adorable puppy that had strayed into their path. "A girlfriend!"

Naturally, Flash nearly choked on his drink, and after seeing that his fellow student was likely not joking about having said that, he cleared his throat a little bit. "Um...I'm very flattered, Pinkie. But I gotta say this is kinda out of nowhere. I mean, that's not to say I wouldn't be grateful to have a girl like you in my life, but still..."

Pinkie blinked a few times, then gained a look of realisation before giggling loudly. "Oh no, silly! I wasn't suggesting I be your girlfriend!"

Flash laughed again, albeit with a tint of nervousness to it. "Ah, right, sorry for the mix-up." Then confusion came to him. "So...what were you talking about?"

Reclining back into her side of the booth, Pinkie took on a more mischievous expression. "Well, Mr Sentry. Today is your lucky day! For I have decided that I'm gonna help out your love life by setting you up with your soulmate!"

Flash, rather than but disturbed by this announcement, simply looked to her with a degree of appreciation. "Pinkie, don't think me ungrateful that you're thinking about me. And don't get me wrong, having someone like that again would make me happy, but...you can't just pluck the one I'm supposed to be with out of thin air just like that."

Pinkie waved him off. "Pfft! Of course not! I'm not magic!" Then she thought on her own words. "Well, I guess I kinda am, but that's neither here nor there." She failed to notice Flash roll his eyes slightly at that remark, getting back to the matter at hand. "But I think you'll find I'm pretty good at getting lovebirds paired up. And hey, you and I both know this town's got plenty of girls who'd be happy to have you as a boyfriend! I mean, heck, if you can attract princesses, then I'd say the sky's the limit."

Flash took a moment to rub the bridge of his nose. "Pinkie, I had a brief time with one princess, and even then it was pretty much inevitable that Twilight and I were never going to be able to have anything long-term." He looked to the side briefly, his voice betraying his feelings on that point. "Even if we'd have wanted to." Turning his gaze back to the young waitress, he continued. "And besides, even if I were to let you try this, what exactly would you do, just scream from the top of the building that I'm looking for someone?" Alas, Pinkie had not been paying attention to that particular question, as Flash now saw that she had instead been typing vigorously on her phone, complete with tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth as she did so. "Er, Pinkie?"

But the girl simply raised a finger to him, silencing him for the time being while her free hand continued typing. "Aaaaaaaand...done!" Putting her phone into the main pocket of her uniform's skirt, she looked to Flash confidently. "And that, good Sir, is how we do that!"

Flash looked to the pocket, then back to Pinkie before arching an eyebrow. "And...what did you do, exactly?"

Pinkie wiggled her eyebrows a little. "Oh, nothing, just setting up your profile."

This, of course, caused no small amount of concern for Flash. "My...profile?"

Pinkie nodded. "Yep! Your dating profile!"

Had he been drinking, he'd have probably done another spit-take. "My what?! You mean, like, one of those dating website types of things?!"

Pinkie shrugged. "Got it in one, boyo!"

Flash gave himself a quick facepalm. "Pinkie...how did you even manage to do that on someone else's behalf?"

But the girl simply gave him a wink. "Silly Flash. A magician never reveals her secrets!"

Leaning back into his chair, Flash folded his arms and looked to her with an understandable degree of irritation. "Pinkie, I know you're trying to do something nice for me, and I appreciate that. But you know how shifty those kinds of sites can get. How do I know this isn't just gonna send a bunch of weirdos my way?"

Pinkie tapped her chin with her finger for a few moments before answering. "Guess we'll just wait and see. Makes things more interesting that way, right?" Then, before either of them had a chance to say or do anything else, there was a sudden and unexpected beeping from Pinkie's skirt pocket, causing both excitement for her and dread for Flash. After whipping out her phone and looking to its screen, Pinkie's smile was as wide as it had been all day. "Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about! You got a match already!"

Flash, for his part, was taken aback by that. "Seriously? Dang, that was fast."

Looking again, to her phone, Pinkie's eyes squinted as she looked to the details. "And it looks like...oh, they're already here! Pretty neat, right?"

Flash seemed pretty shocked by that, quickly glancing around the place to see who could have possibly been this mystery match, only to then have his question answered for him when, just then, a single figure rose from the neighbouring booth, causing both teens to look in their direction. And both looked on in surprise as the owner of a second phone, with Flash's newly-created dating profile on its screen, was held aloft in triumph, and its owner looking to the boy with a familiar smirk. "Score one for Trixie!"
> The First Date
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To say that Flash was taken aback by this turn of events would have been an understatement. But, here he was, and with the infamously bubbly force of personality of Pinkie, he just didn't have it in him to say no to this arrangement, especially since his newly-acquired companion for the afternoon was very much settling into to her new booth, looking smug as a pair of local girls passed them by. "Oh yeah! Who has two thumbs and just snagged CHS's most eligible bachelor? This girl!"

The girls, having safely passed that particular area of the café, looked to one another with confusion. "Who was that?" one asked.

"No idea," the other replied with a shrug.

Wincing slightly at this display, Flash leaned forward, keeping his voice down in stark contrast to Trixie. "Um, Trixie? I'm glad you're feeling enthusiastic about this, but could you maybe tone it down a bit?"

Looking to him, Trixie wagged her finger while giving a bit of a tut-tut sound. "Oh dear, naïve Flash. You can't just snag a sweet date and be humble about it! No, no, no! You've got to make it clear to everyone around you that you just scored big time! A win in your corner!"

Leaning back into his side of the booth, Flash scratched the side of his cheek. "Well...that's certainly one way of looking at it." Then, moments later, curiosity came to him. "So, since you became a match on that dating app, I'm guessing you've been on the lookout for someone?"

All of a sudden, Trixie looked at least a little bit embarrassed. "Well, far be it from me to say that I'm in need of someone by my side...but I was rather interested in starting things up with someone." Her smirk returned in full force shortly afterwards. "So imagine my surprise when the first person I get as a match is a goldmine like you!"

Flash rolled his eyes. "Trixie, I appreciate your compliment, but I'm no better than any other guy from school."

Trixie waved him off. "Oh please, modesty is hardly appropriate here. Let's not forget, you're the ex of both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle. Two of the biggest magical heroines out there! If those two both saw something in you, then chances are you're pretty special. And definitely worth being sought after by others."

The boy was surprised by those words, taking a moment to really ponder them. "Is...is that how people really think of me?"

Folding her arms, Trixie gave him a firm nod. "You better believe it, friend."

Naturally, this revelation gave Flash a moment of pause, and he looked out of the window to many of the people passing by the café. "I'm not sure how I feel about that. Especially since I never really became Twilight's boyfriend. Officially anyway. And as for Sunset..." He sighed as he looked back to his date. "We all know she didn't date me for me back then." Immediately his voice took on a more panicked tone. "I mean, she's a good person now, great even, but..."

Trixie chuckled, shaking her head slightly. "Do you freak out this much on every date you have?"

Relaxing slightly, Flash weighed his answers. "Hard to say, I don't really do that much dating nowadays."

That caught Trixie off-guard. "Wait? Seriously? You? The most romantic of romantics? The one person who could give even Rarity a run for her money on wanting the ideal fantasy relationship?"

Here, Flash actually cracked a smile for the first time in this whole thing. "Oh sure, I'd love to have someone special in my life, but as I told a certain someone..." He trailed off, glancing to the side to the poofy-haired waitress who was not trying anywhere near hard enough to hide the fact that she was spying on them. "I'm actually fine being single at the moment."

Trixie, at first, didn't know what to say to that, but after a while she just sort of slumped into her chair. "Hmph! Typical! I finally get myself a date and it turns out to be the one guy who doesn't want it!" A moment of silence lingered between the two, but after a while they looked to each other and, failing to hold it back, shared in a laugh together. "Oh dear, Pinkie really roped you into a mess, didn't she?"

Slowly, Flash nodded. "She means well, but...yeah, she kinda did." A quick glance in the direction of the girl in question, and then Flash turned again to Trixie. "You know...we can still try to make this a fun time, if nothing else."

Trixie looked to him with interest. "Oh? I thought you didn't want a date?"

A quick shrug from the boy. "True, but there's no reason a boy and girl can't just have fun together without it being a date, right?"

Trixie thought on that for a bit, then smiled, resting her hands upon the table between them. "Alright then, Mr Sentry. A just-friends get-together it is."

Flash smiled to her. "Great! So, first things first, how's your guitar practice coming?"

Trixie winced slightly, nervously scratching the back of her head. "Oh, right, that. Yeah, thing is...I kinda stopped."

Flash gasped, looking utterly aghast at the news. "What?! But you were awesome at it! Back in the battle of the bands you shredded like an utter pro!"

Trixie, looking no small amount of prideful at the remark, swept some of her hair aside. "Well, yes, that much can't be denied. But still, after that I think I just sort of lost interest. Wanted to focus more on my street magic."

Flash exhaled deeply, looking aside for a moment. "Maybe...a cooldown effect from the Siren magic not being on you anymore?"

Trixie shook her head. "Nah, I'd actually been planning on giving up on it long before the contest. Their magic made me keep at it for a bit, but after that, you know..."

It would have been impossible for Flash to not look disappointed, but credit to him he didn't look in any way angry at her, even resorting back to his earlier smile. "Well, if you're happy not having it in your life anymore, I guess that's fine. Your choice after all."

Trixie looked to him with a degree of appreciation. "Thanks. I know most people tend to give others a hard time when they quit stuff. But in the end it just wasn't for me, you know?"

Flash gave her a nod, then looked to her with renewed interest. "So, your magic then? How's that going?"

Here, Trixie looked infinitely more excited. "Oh, it's going splendidly! I've been practising my sawing-in-half act, and I think I'd make some great headway with it if I had more volunteers to help me."

Flash had to hold himself back from letting out a quick chuckle. "Well, to be fair, most would be pretty sensible to turn down the offer of being sawed in half by someone who, and I mean no offense here, is still new to this."

Another huff from Trixie. "They're just cowards. My act would be so much more impressive if people actually took an interest in participating!" Suddenly, and perhaps inevitably, Trixie started looking a touch mischievous as she regarded Flash. "Say...how would you feel if...?"

But before she could finish, Flash already knew and had an answer for her. "No, Trixie," he said flatly.

Another shrug from the girl. "Ah well, worth a shot." Her smile came back shortly afterwards. "Still, having you help in my magic show would be pretty nice. If you were interested of course."

This time it was Flash's turn to smile. "I might be. I've tried my hand at a few magic tricks myself."

That caught Trixie's attention. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

Flash, reaching forward, put his hand close to the side of Trixie's head, which she recognised instantly as the coin-behind-ear trick. An oldie, but a goodie nonetheless. However, when Flash pulled back his hand, what he held there was not a coin, but rather a card from a traditional deck, which he held in front of her as if in triumph. "Is this your card?" he asked in his best stage magician voice.

Trixie, after staring at him for a long while, sighed deeply before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Flash...I think you might need some tutoring on this."

Looking to the card, Flash then gave Trixie a kindly smile. "Well then, Miss Trixie. Since we're both here..."

Picking up what he was putting down, Trixie returned the smile, giving a quick bow of her head. "Mr Sentry, it would be my pleasure." A slight blush came to her seconds afterwards. "And maybe...we could take a walk together on the beach afterwards? You know, since the weather's so nice today?"

Flash, not expecting that request, considered it for a moment, then reached out and offered his hand to her. "Alright, a walk it is."

Unbeknownst to Trixie, but very aware to Flash, Pinkie was close by, peeking out from behind the counter at what was transpiring. The the grin on her face as Trixie took Flash's hand could not be easily measured, and as she reached into her pocket and took out her phone, she looked to the dating account she'd set up for the boy, deleting it in seconds. "Sorry, ladies. Consider this match made!"