She watched out from her balcony, her face bearing a clear and unmistakeable look of worry upon it. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of the Everfree Kingdom, was looking out from her usual spot, keeping her gaze upon the very edges of the nearby Everfree Forest. She'd been here for ages, counting the moments that passed her by, but dreading it all the same. They would be here soon, she told herself. Both of them, Shining, and him. Had it not been for the events of the past few days, Twilight would have normally greeted such a return with the uttermost glee. But today was different. For today she knew would it not be a happy reunion as she would have wanted. For there was something very important she needed to get off her chest. More specifically, she needed to speak to somepony very important.

"Y'all still plannin on tellin him?"

The voice came from behind her, and caused Twilight's ears to prick up slightly. Turning, she looked upon the similarly-worried face of her dear friend, Applejack. Beside her stood Spike, who was twiddling his thumbs. He knew what was bothering Twilight, but he didn't want to say it. Twilight did not smile when she saw either of them, even though she would want nothing more than to put her friends at ease. But Applejack knew a lie, even an unspoken one, and so Twilight simply sighed to herself before replying.

"I have to, AJ. After what happened...I'd never forgive myself if I kept this from him."

Applejack looked at Twilight as she turned away, back to look upon the Everfree. The orange earth pony kept her eyes on her as she took a few steps forward, standing beside her before putting a single hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Twi...I know this is gonna be hard. But y'all owe it to him, and to yerself. Keepin something like this a secret...ya know it ain't right."

Twilight didn't look at her, merely looked down before speaking.

"I know. It's just...why does the right thing have to be so...difficult?"

Applejack gave no answer, because she knew there was none she could offer that could give Twilight any comfort. However, it was here that she was prevented from saying anything to her at all, for Twilight's eyes began to widen greatly. Turning, Applejack joined her in looking over the balcony. Sure enough, she saw that there, just emerging from the edges of the Everfree Forest, was a pair of figures. Two stallions, one unicorn and one pegasus. They were heading straight from the Forest and towards the palace. Twilight, almost grimacing, looked towards her friend, but said nothing. But then, she didn't need to say a word, because Applejack knew what she wanted, and so gave her friend one final pat on the shoulder before starting to walk away. Spike, who had been keeping quiet this whole time, looked from Twilight to Applejack and back again before hesitantly walking alongside the earth pony.

And now, Twilight was alone with nothing but her thoughts. But given what her thoughts were at this point, never before had being alone been so uncomfortable to her. So she stood and waited there, in the great hall, and counted the moments yet again. She marked off when a minute had passed, then two, then three, before her waiting had reached it's end. The doors of the hall opened and she looked upon the two stallions that now entered. The unicorn was her brother, Shining Armour, who smiled as he looked upon his beloved sister. Twilight, forcing herself, returned his smile, but it soon vanished when she looked upon the other stallion. A pegasus, orange in his fur and blue in his mane, this was Flash Sentry. Her Captain, her mate, her lover, and one of the most important people in the world to her.

But like many things today, seeing him brought her no joy, no happiness, not after what she'd experienced. And so she looked on in silence as her Captain took a few steps ahead of Shining as the two approached her, before kneeling down and speaking to her in his usual deferent tone.

"Princess. We have scoured the Everfree Forest as commanded, and have much to report to you on."

It had been almost a month ago, but Twilight remembered it well. The Everfree Forest made up the bulk of her kingdom, and yet she and all of Ponykind knew precious little about it. So, as her first official military command as Princess, she'd ordered both Flash and Shining to explore and learn as much as they could about the place, with Zecora as their guide. Had circumstance been different, she would have loved to hear all that they had learned. But there were far deeper concerns for her today. Shining, taking note of the uncharacteristic silence his sister was exhibiting, tilted his head towards her. Twilight, seeing this, cleared her throat and made a token effort of acting regal before Flash.

"Erm...good. You...you may rise, Flash."

It was here that Flash too began to notice that something odd was going on, as evidence by his expression of confusion as he got up from his bowing position. He looked upon Twilight and saw her look of concern. Glancing briefly to Shining, who merely shrugged his shoulders, Flash gave Twilight his full attention before pseaking to her, no longer using the military tone he'd used previously.

"Twilight? What's wrong?"

The young Princess took a deep breath, knowing that the time to tell him had come.

"I...went through the mirror...to the human world."

In this instant, both Flash and Shining's eyes shot open with shock. They'd both heard of Twilight's last visit to that strange world, how she thwarted the efforts of Celestia's former student, Sunset Shimmer, and in so doing, saved not only that world but Equestria as well. If she had journeyed there a second time, that could only mean one thing, that there was yet another threat that she was called upon to deal with. Realising this, Flash took a few steps forward, much to Twilight's surprise, with a look of great concern upon his face.

"Are you alright?! Were you hurt?!"

Ever the bodyguard, Twilight mused to herself. She took solace in this moment that her coltfriend was feeling such worry for her and her wellbeing, but that feeling soon turned to discomfort once more as she remembered all too quickly why she was telling him this. She let out a sigh before answering him.

"I'm fine, Flash. There were a few scuffles here and there, but nothing serious."

Flash let out a sigh of relief, a sentiment reflected also in Shining's face. But it was after that when he looked up at her again. And Twilight knew that he'd already figured out that if that journey was not the source of her current worry, then something else must have been. She knew there wasn't any more delays here, and so began to explain herself.

"I...met him again."

Flash looked confused, but only for a moment, for soon his eyes began to widen as understanding dawned on him. Like everypony else she knew, Flash also had a human counterpart in that other world. And that Flash was really the first Twilight had ever known. The two had grown close despite their brief time together, and it was that closeness that first led her to approach his pony counterpart. But whilst in the human world this second time, something else had happened, and that was why she was speaking to him now. Glancing to her right, she saw that Shining had gained a similar expression on understanding. He said nothing, but gave a gesture with his head, giving off an air of "I'll leave you two alone for a moment", to which Twilight merely nodded in response. The older stallion began to make his way to some other part of the castle, and soon it was just Flash and Twilight together.

The young pegasus had been completely silent until this point, but now he broke that silence with his somewhat delayed response to Twilight's words.

"...I see."

The words were brief, but they didn’t need to be anything else, for Twilight knew him well enough to know what he might have been thinking. The other Flash was pretty much exactly like him, and he knew that this human version of himself had been close to Twilight before he had. And given the way she was behaving, there was no doubt in his mind that something had happened between them while she was over there. Exhaling deeply, he spoke, albeit quietly.

"Did...did anything happen?"

Twilight's eyes widened, as she knew what he was implying, and he raised a hoof immediately, speaking quickly to put him at ease.

"No! Don't worry, we never went that far. We never even kissed."

Flash's expression was blank through all this, but his voice was starting to have just the slightest hint of an edge to it.

"Did you want to? Kiss him, I mean?"

Twilight looked away, a look of shame upon her face as she spoke.

"...I did."

She stood there in silence now, waiting for him to speak to her in a voice of sheer anger. She waited for him to say how betrayed he felt, how hurt he was that she would consider that. But it didn't come. Instead, she turned to look at him, and saw that he was deep in thought over something. She waited for a long time, before he finally spoke, his expression now softening.

"Tell me what happened."

This was not what she had been expecting, but she did as she was asked. And so she told him everything, how her friends in the other world had called for her help, how she'd helped them defeat their foes, Adagio, Aria and Sonata and how Sunset Shimmer had aided them. Being her former coltfriend himself, Flash was especially surprised to hear of Sunset's involvement. And finally, Twilight talked about how close she had come to kissing the other Flash. After all this, having heard everything his fillyfriend had to say on the matter, Flash thought long and hard over this before finally speaking to her.

"You say you felt something for him?"

Twilight looked down at the ground, no longer comfortable with looking Flash in the eye.

"I don't know what to feel about that. After I sent you and Shining into the Forest, I guess it got hard for me to be apart from you again. Days and weeks would pass by, and you still hadn't come back. Then all this happened, and suddenly, I had you near me again, or at least some version of you. I guess..."

She looked up at him, and the two stared deeply into each other's eyes before she spoke.

"...I guess I just wanted you back."

There was silence once more between them, and for a brief moment, Twilight almost wished Flash would get angry with her. She certainly felt it herself, disappointed that she'd allowed herself to feel that way for someone who wasn't her coltfriend, even one who had his voice, his personality and everything else, apart from his face of course. Twilight loved Flash, that much she knew, and the last thing she would have ever wanted was for something to come between them, especially an action of her own making. So, as she waited, she looked away, expecting nothing good to follow. What happened instead was a hoof gently placed on her cheek, guiding her face to look at him once more. She saw not anger, but a smile. And not a forced one either, but one of warmth and love.

"Twilight...you don't ever need to feel sorry about this."

She looked at him, not quite believing what she'd heard, as evidenced by her words.

"But...aren't you even a little angry at this?"

Flash chuckled and shook his head.

"Truthfully? I thought I might be. When you told me what had happened, I was worried what you might say had gone on between you. But when I stopped and thought about it, I realised that I was being the stupid one."

Twilight tilted her head, showing clear confusion at his words. Seeing this, Flash smiled and explained himself.

"You're Twilight Sparkle. One of the most considerate and loyal ponies that anypony is ever going to meet. You would never do anything that you felt would be a betrayal of anypony, least of all those you loved. And I know you love me, Twilight."

The young Princess stood there, mouth agape, wondering if this wasn't all some fantasy that her mind was conjuring up. But she knew it to be true, and soon she too gained a smile on her face as she leapt forward and, before Flash could react, wrapped her forelegs around his neck in a hug, holding him close. Flash was, needless to say, forced to take a step or two back from this adorable assault, but soon he was returning the hug. The two smiled widely as they held each other for the first time in weeks, and as they remained this way, Flash spoke softly to her.

"Every night I was away from you, I thought about you. Not a day went by when the dream of returning to you couldn't get me through that dark place. You are more important to me than any pony in the world, Twilight. Nothing you could do can ever change that."

Tears of joy began to well up in Twilight's eyes as she heard those words, and she knew deep down that this was real. This was HER Flash. The stallion she had given her heart to and claimed to love. The stallion who had stayed by her in spite of all the stuff that went on around her. This was the Flash she loved. Although she did not say it, she felt more than a little silly at this point, thinking that he would ever have been angry with her over something that didn't even lead up to a kiss. But she had to tell him, she owed him that much. Whatever doubts there might have been in her vanished in an instant with his acceptance, and the two embraced each other lovingly, an act that had been sorely missing from their lives over the last month. As they eventually parted however, Flash spoke in a faux-angry manner.

"Although...I wouldn't mind giving that human version of me a bit of a talking to."

Twilight giggled at that.

"Probably not the best idea, honey."

Flash chuckled at that.

"Yeah. Besides, can you imagine having two of me in the same room?"

After saying that however, Flash looked upon Twilight as she gained an uncharacteristically amorous smirk on her face as she replied.

"Well...maybe for my Birthday."