A/N I'm sorry for being a bum...
Finishing his cinnamon roll, Flash followed Pinkie up the stairs into the foyer of her apartment on top of the bakery. When he arrived Pinkie was laying out a sheet on a large couch. While she finished preparing his sleeping arrangements, Flash looked around the apartment. From where he was standing he could see another kitchen and a hallway with several doors leading out.
Pinkie laid out a pillow and blanket. Taking a seat she gestured for him to join her. As he made contact the seat sagged towards the middle bringing Flash and Pinkie closer than he had meant.
"You never answered our question," Pinkie stated, "about why you stayed."
Laughing Flash said, "I have a very roundabout way of doing things."
"Well I like to take my problems head on and with a smile."
He replied quizzically, "Like what?"
"Like this." Pinkie quickly leaned forward and they connected. The kiss sent Flash's mind reeling, it was if lightning coursed through his veins. Too soon for his liking, Pinkie leaned back her face alight with red. He leaned forward in chase. Pinkie put a hoof between them and stood up and walked to the hallway. She turned back around and smiled. "See you in the morning."
With a flick of a switch she was out the door. Flash lay down and covered himself with the pink blanket that he had been supplied. Despite his delightfully comfortable bed, sleep escaped him for a few minutes till finally, as the clock struck twelve, did he wrangle his thoughts into submission enough to slip into light slumber.
The Carnival-
Leaning against a crate, Pop or his true name, Sparrow, watched the sky. It had been too long since he last flew, but tonight he would not get the chance. His claws shuffled inside his hoodie's pocket. Inside he held the last bit of home he could carry with him, a single smooth river stone.
His mother had given him a rough stone and told him if he cold smooth it in a day she never tell him when he would go to bed. Sparrow eagerly ran down to the river and rubbed the stone in the sand trying to smooth it with the fast currents and rough sand. Eventually he grew tired and placed the stone on a rock in the current of the river. Once he let go the stone was pulled away by the swift flow.
He dragged his feet back to his mother, to tell her he had lost the stone. When he told her she smiled, and brought her son down to the river. She picked up a small stone in her hoof and showed it to him. "You see," She began, "While the stone is strong it can do nothing against the ravages of time. It eats away at mountains, cut canyons and grows everything. I sent you out a fool's errand. To do something in a day that takes nature many a week."
"It is not impossible to smooth a stone but it takes patience. I sent you out here in hopes of teaching you this. This lesson is one I wish for you and your brother to take to heart, have patience with all things but chiefly have patience with yourself. For if you have the patience you can chip away a mountain. Now take this stone and try again."
With the second stone Sparrow scrubbed it with sand and searched for a safe place he could put his stone. Just along the river bank lay a stone with just enough current too slowly wear the stone. For a week Sparrow would sit in the river smoothing the stone. Finally a day came when he brought up the stone, smooth to the touch and showed it to his mother. Since that day he carried around with him.
Up in the stars he knew that his mother was watching over him. His thoughts drifted to if his parent's would be proud of the choices he'd made. For some reason he kept thinking no. He had fought, cheated and stole just to survive. This is not the kind of dragon his parents had raised him to be. Something moved from the gloom shaking him from remembrance.
Slen approached them, his mask emitting a sickly green glow. The patterns on the mask were constantly in motion as the lights danced on the surface leaving a trail of swirls and strange veins. With a claw he gestured for them to follow.
Theseus, or Snap as he went by in this new life, jumped to attention and began a stiff march. Frowning at the once proud solider brought down to a puppeteer's lapdog, Sparrow followed at a much more lax pace. He merely glided through the shadows as if a ship upon the ocean.
All around the carnival workers were packing up the stands, they would break camp once again tomorrow. It seemed that more and more strange ponys would come around, replacing the honest and hardworking ponies' jobs.
Those of whom, who stayed were subject to constant brutality at the claws of Slen. Or to be more accurate, claws of Slen's hired creeps, which Sparrow sadly counted himself among. Among them stood twenty and each of the guards had their own shadowed past. A few are once were world renown heroes others the villains they chased, all were seduced by Slen's promise of gold.
Approaching was a fork, if Slen took a right they would have an easy shift guarding their paranoid employer, but if he went the other way, many ponys' nights would be ruined.
Sparrow glared at the figure in front of him as he turned left towards the camp of the remaining workers. He hated this griffon. Sparrow clenched his fist and wished he had the power to strike him down. But in his mind he knew even he could he could not, for the consequence would be that he and his brother would once again be the subject of hunt.
In the distance a few barrels full of flame stood surrounded by several figures. Slen motioned for them to stay, just out of the light's reach. He alone slid up behind them and whispered, "Lovely night isn't it?"
Even the strongest among them jumped at the sound of voice and the sight of his mask. "Now you all won't mind me asking about how your sales went, now would you." Despite the phrasing it was a command not a question.
One of the braver ponys began, "Well sir, I sold out all the popcorn. May Bella here…" Slen silenced him by lifting a single claw. "Let's hear it from her mouth, hmm?"
She shuffled nervously. "Umm… We had forty seven players." She was cut off by Slen, "Sir." She started and said, "What?" He moved in closer and towered over the mare. He stood between her and the barrel now, silhouetting his frame. The glowing green lines absorbed the light of the fire so that all that was visible was his outline and the dancing design of face.
She squeezed her eyes shut. "…Sir. Sir, we had forty-seven players and twenty winners." Slen picked her up and brought her close to his face. His sharp eyes peered through the gloom. Even though one blinked the other continued to stare. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, that's an awful high percentage. We wouldn't want you to lose your job now would we, keep the good ring under for a few days," The words from Slen's lip were in a bittersweet tone.
He set her down and looked around the gathered ponys, "How were the candy sales?"
No one moved to answer, "Mr. See, where are you?" He turned around searching the gloom for, when he could not spot him his tone darkened, "I don't like to be kept waiting." The stallion who had responded first once again replied to the boss. "See left. He and Sapiens took off."
Slen looked at him over his shoulder. The left side of his beak, unburnt and uncovered, brought up the corner of his beak into a grin. "That simply won't due, will it? Another two employees gone, it seems Flash, inspired a revolt." He snapped his claws and his bodyguards stepped from the gloom.
"To disillusion anymore else from leaving, I want to show you what will happen to all those who can't leave." With a clap he called, "Just two Pop." Pop shook his head as walked closer to the carnies' tents. He spat out two green flames, the fire quickly spread through the two tents.
A mare screamed and tried running forward, into her tent, but two stallions' held her back from the flames. A young pony ran up to Pop in an effort to stop him. Before the boy could even reach him, a claw grabbed him. "Now what have we here, a hero, perhaps?"
Slen's turned him to the tent and whispered into his ear, "Isn't it beautiful. Only at night can you really appreciate how the flames dance. The wind pushing them to and fro, shrinking them and growing them. Fire has the power to create and destroy. Someone burned my face, so now I'm gonna burn his world down. Can't you feel the heat?"