Includes some spoilers for 'Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks'

Unattainable

Romance had never part of Twilight's agenda for her life. Even as a young filly, she didn't feel enamored by the old stories of damsels being swept off their hooves by dashing stallions, never once having dreamed that one day it would happen to her.

And yet somehow it did, in the form of too-good-to-be-true Flash Sentry. What was it about him that sparked her interest so? Was it how his eyes sparkled when he looked at her, the kind smile he wore while talking to her? The fact that he didn't find her odd little quirks...odd? She wasn't sure, she just knew that she liked him.

And now he was gone...living in another world that was only available every few years. Figures.

Applejack would say that was a lie. Flash did exist in their own world of Equestria...sort of. It was confusing if Twilight pondered on it too long. The Flash that had captured her heart was technically a parallel counterpart to Equestria's Flash. The only real difference was that one was human and the other pony.

Why did she have to fall for the human one? Was she destined to always make things more difficult for herself?

Oh, but it was the human one that she really got to know. She hadn't known who Flash Sentry was in Equestria, him being only one of many royal guards in the Crystal Empire. She probably still wouldn't know him if she hadn't met the human one, and then put two-and-two together upon returning to her true home.

It should be easy, Twilight thought, to transfer her affections for one Flash to the other. After all, everypony else's human alternate was exactly like them, so the same rule applied to Flash.

But at the same time, when she had first gone to the human realm, she'd had to reintroduce herself to the girls who were already her friends in Equestria. It was like starting over. Sure they were all exactly the same as far as personality went, but their memories and life experiences were a different story.

Maybe that was the problem. Equestria's Flash didn't know who Twilight was anymore than she knew who he was. He wasn't a teenage boy in high school who strummed a guitar, no, he was a young adult royal guard much like Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, had been. He had never even asked her to dance...not that he had any real reason to. What mere guard asks a princess to dance? It would be unheard of.

The few days that she spent in the Crystal Empire upon returning from the parallel dimension of humans was awkward at times. Once she knew who Equestria's Flash was, she had to restrain herself from leaping for joy. He didn't have a clue who she was except that she was Princess Twilight Sparkle and that she was the sister-in-law of their city's Princess Cadence. He was like a stranger...but not.

Twilight saw him around the city, usually at one of his posts, throughout the remainder of her visit. Her heart ached each time. She almost didn't want to see him at all, yet somehow that hurt even more. She couldn't see the Flash that she lost her heart to, so she clinged to the one that was available. It almost made her laugh to think that she was in a love triangle with the same exact stallion!

Thankfully, she didn't have to visit the Crystal Empire very often, and even then Flash hardly ever showed himself since he was too busy doing his job. Twilight had to force herself to ignore him when he escorted Cadence to Ponyville via train, having trained herself to try and 'get over him'.

Several months passed and the oppurtunity presented itself for Twilight to return to the human dimension. Truly, seeing Flash again hadn't been the only thing on her mind, after all, her human friends were in need of her assistance. They were in danger, she had no business getting worked over a stallion, er, boy!

But he had asked about her, her friends had said. The familiar, yet scary, yet also exciting feeling of girlish giddiness came over her again like it had the first time she'd been there. Who was she kidding, she couldn't wait to see him again! All these months of torturous "what if" scenarios running in her head may finally be put at ease. Who cared if she couldn't stay with him forever, she wanted to be with him in the here and now.

But then the Sirens had weaved their spell and Flash had yelled at her, said so many hurtful things. Twilight had cried, shamefully, for she never thought that she would be one to cry over some BOY. She was in deeper than she realized. She tried to tell herself that it was the Sirens' fault, that he never would've said those things otherwise, but the words still left their mark. They had made up by the time it was all over (he even hugged her!), but by then she needed to return to Equestria.

Twilight's friends didn't have this problem of having two of the same pony/person to share affections with, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't just a little envious. Okay, Spike kind of did, but his true feelings were with the original Equestrian Rarity and he could see her every day if he wished. Flash was...different. Maybe if she gave him (the pony him, that is)a chance, she could...would that be fair to him though? It wasn't really fair to expect the human to wait on her to return every thirty moons either, and she very well couldn't visit every single time, not when she was busy with her new royal duties.

The mare who never wanted to be a princess was now a princess. And now she was a princess who never wanted a love story who fell right into one. And it didn't even have a happy ending.

Was she really in love with Flash? Or was it just a crush? Twilight didn't know for sure, but she did know that it hurt and that must mean that it was real. At times, she wished she didn't like him at all.

She couldn't have Flash in either world.