They had walked around campus for hours. Sometimes talking, sometimes just holding hands. The night was wearing thin now; morning would soon come up and she still needed to get back to Pinkie Pie's to change. Yet neither one wanted to stop and say what they most dreaded goodbye.

The emotions each was feeling were both the same but distinct. Both didn't want to separate, to say that dreaded word; but knew they must. Both found the thought of not seeing the other to be almost unbearable. But there were differences as well.

For Flash, he knew Twilight was from another dimension, had magical powers, and sometimes sprouted wings. All a bit strange, but none of which was a deal breaker. He had only ever seen as a girl, a human girl (well except for the wings thing). To him she was a sixteen year old high school girl. A very attractive, sweet, lovely, smart, and talented high school girl. He had never seen or even knew about her other form. He just assumed that her body in this dimension was the same as in hers'.

For Twilight; it was a different story. She felt on top of all the other emotions a grand confusion. She looked nothing like the human in her natural state. She was a pony - muzzle, mane, tail, quadrupedal, fur, the whole nine. Heck; more than that, she was an alicorn! So add a horn and wings to that mix. She had been attracted to stallions all her "aware" life. She was, or at least had been, attracted to all the features of her kind, her species. This creature, this human, all humans would have been repugnant to her. The flat face, upright stance, HANDS, it was too different, too strange for her to find anything attractive about it.

But here, in this world, she found his appearance to be quite handsome. He was polished enough to come across as a nice guy but had just the right amount of rough edges to keep him interesting. His face was sweet and confident and he had a smile that made her weak in the knees. When she had crossed back over to her realm the first time she found that she had gone back to finding all the human physical characteristics unattractive and found herself attracted to her world's version of Flash. But as soon as had come back, she was attracted to him all over again. It was as if her mind was transformed as well as her body. An idea she found disturbing.

And that raised an issue in her mind - what would he think if he saw her natural form? Would he be repulsed? This world had equine animals. She was sure he wasn't attracted to any of those (neither was she for that matter). How would he react if he ever crossed over? Would he find that his idea of what was attractive change as well? And how would he feel when he came back here? Would he be too disturbed to go on? Would it cause permanent psychological damage to him? She couldn't bare that thought.

Also there was the age thing. In this realm she was a sixteen year old girl. In her realm she was twenty-seven. She was eleven years older than what her body implied. Eleven years older than he was. This Flash was a boy; she was a woman. But, she guessed, the age difference was the least of their problems. In fact the age difference was almost pedestrian compared to all the rest.

She had no idea what to do. So she walked. Walked with this strange creature called a human that she was, in spite of everything, falling in love with. And now even that had to end. She needed to get at least some sleep then leave for her world. So they stopped by the statue which was also the portal and just looked each other.

"So now what?" Flash asked, scratching the back of his head. It was a gesture he did whenever he was nervous. It was also many of the things he did she found absolutely adorable. His voice kind of cracked a little; belying a mixture of fear, sadness, and hope - hope that she would say something that would make everything ok.

"I don't know." It was all she could say. Twilight looked down at the ground in sadness. Flash took her hands in his and she looked up into his eyes. "I just know I'm going to miss you."

"Do you really have to go back?" Of course she does idiot , he thought to himself. God he was hopeless. Why couldn't he express himself better? I suck.

"Yes. I'm a princess there, in my world. I have duties and responsibilities. Not to mention friends and family and a castle and, well, everything. I can't turn my back on all that." A knot formed in her throat and one tear ran down her left cheek. Why was this so hard? She barely knew this person! Why was she feeling like her heart was being ripped from her chest?

"Oh! A princess. I never met royalty before." He did an old fashioned bow. "Your majesty."

Twilight laughed. "You goon! Get up." It was good to laugh.

Flash looked at her and smiled. Then his smile faded and his face became serious. "What if I came with you?"

Twilight was shocked silent for a moment. Did he really just say that? "Flash, no. I mean think about your parents. How would they feel? And your studies? Trust me, schooling is everything. You need to finish your education."

Now Flash laughed a bit. "What? You sound like my mom or teacher."

Twilight looked down again. "Flash, how old do you think I am?"

"I dunno. Fifteen, sixteen maybe?"

"Twenty-seven."

"What! No way!" Flashed laughed even harder. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"It's true. For whatever reason, coming into this world, I don't know, de-ages, re-ages me to a sixteen year old. But I am twenty-seven."

"Oh." Flash fell silent and Twilight waited for him to say goodbye (or maybe just run away screaming). "I'm in love with an older woman, awesome!", he said.

Twilight was shocked into silence again for a moment. "What, huh? Are you really ok with that?" She paused for a second as the word love finally sunk fully into her brain. "And . . . you . . . love . . . me?"

Hearing her say the "L" word made him step back a bit. Holy crap, he had just said that didn't he? "Um, well, yeah. On both things."

They just looked at each other for a while and then embraced and kissed; a long, slow, passionate kiss. Twilight pulled away first and looked Flash in the eyes. "I love you too," she said and kissed him again.

The two pulled away at the same time and now Flash said, "So back to the original question - now what?"

"I can't stay and you can't leave; not now at least." Twilight started to cry again and then she spun around and looked at the portal. "But neither of us has to. The portal, I can open it anytime, come anytime I chose. Stupid, stupid, girl. This doesn't have to be goodbye. We can see each other! We can . . . DATE!" Twilight was crying and laughing in pure joy. She couldn't believe it; she solved the problem by remembering that there needn't be a problem.

Flash smiled a little bit but seemed less enthused. "I won't see you everyday though; will I?"

Twilight was a bit miffed he wasn't as happy as she was; but he was still a teenager and teenagers usually do get bummed if they can't have everything they want. "No, but every Saturday morning, nine o'clock, meet me here. I'll stay the whole day. You and me, that'll be our time, our day. No one else need know."

"Not even the Rainbooms?" Flash asked skeptically.

Twilight thought for a second. That did seem awful unfair. Downright dishonest actually. They were her friends after all. And eventually, she guessed, they would see her. "Sometimes. Tomorrow, when I say goodbye to them, I'll mention the portal and coming back from time to time. Every so often, when I want to spend the whole weekend, I'll contact and stay with one of them. But that will only be from time to time. Every other time; it'll just be us. Deal?" Twilight stuck out here hand. Flash moved it aside and started kissing her again. I guess it's a deal then she thought to herself.

Author's Notes:

I wasn't sure how to go with this. I had come up with multiple scenarios by which Twilight would choose to come back and visit Flash and when to introduce them into the story. In the end, this just felt right to me. Putting all the pieces together at the same time, on the same night, and letting them all progress from there. Hopefully I made the right choice.