The Deal with Flash Sentry

His character may be undeveloped and he’s currently a tap-water love interest, if at all, but I like this fella.

Not a whole lot of you will agree with me. You guys may have seen the things I’ve done with this orange stallion, things I enjoyed doing. I didn’t step in to ruffle everyone’s opinion about him. They are yours to keep. But why do I enjoy developing the Flash Sentrycharacter? Especially with the pairing up to our dear Twilight?

It’s quite simple.

Some of you didn’t like Shining Armor when he first made his sudden appearance back at the end of the second season. But I saw promise in the big brother character and I spent post-season 2 developing him as the best BBBFF he could be through fanart. There wasn’t a lot of changed perceptions from this. After all, the show did stuff with Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor canonically.

Naturally, we are an angry bunch, and a few of us didn’t appreciate Flash Sentry’s non-appearance all that much. But I saw the blank slate as an opportunity, and like the folly of some relationships, I felt I could change him.

I did many things with that. I have a bunch of FlashxTwilight art, I wrote a fan-scriptand recently put this little tike from “Twilight Time” (also “Pinkie Pride”) together with Flash Sentry as his little brother.

And all of this appears to have worked. I’ve received plenty of notes from folks saying how they now like the Flash Sentry character developed through my art and head-canon. There’s also a little dA contest going on for art featuring the pair.

But, of course, until Hasbro does anything to his character, pony or humanoid, canon is still canon. The same thing as Shining Armor was. Flash sentry is so much of a background character still, nothing more than a one-time fling and a cameo appearance. That’s where all the negative opinions are valid. (Until Season 4 ends and that new EQG movie is out, oh ho.)

I’m not saying you have to like the guy. If it doesn’t work out with you, fine. But hey, I gave him a chance, and maybe you can too.

Addendum - My Head-Canon With Flash Sentry. Feel free to pick it up!

• Flash Sentry (Pony): A nice guy, a little shy. One of the Royal Guards in the Crystal Empire. Is fond of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Has a little brother, First Base.
• Twilight Sparkle: Likes Flash Sentry, despite him not being the car-driving, guitar-playing humanoid she knew in the Mirror World. Wants her friends and big brother to accept him as her coltfriend. Calls Flash her “cheeseball”.
• Princess Cadance: Knows about the relationship and is cool with it, being the Princess who knows the first thing about love. She cheers Twilight on.
• Shining Armor: Bothered by, but indifferent about the relationship. Rather, he wants Twilight happy, and if being with Flash makes her so, he has no qualms about it. Doesn’t necessarily gives Flash Sentry a harder time as a guard under his command, and will protect him from harm, like all royal guards under Shining Armor.
• The Mane Six and Spike: The Mane Six are generally intrigued by the pony who once saw no need for friends now having a colt to call her own. They too spur them on, and Spike generally likes having Flash Sentry around.
• First Base: Flash Sentry’s earth pony kid brother. He recognises his big brother as someone to look up to and is a fan of Twilight Sparkle (shown canonically in “Twilight Time”). Suspects something going on with Flash and Twilight.