"Good morning, gents," Flash said while walking into his change room later that morning. Sentinel whispered into Optimus' ear, and the two of the chuckled without saying anything in reply. "Wait, what's going on?" Flash asked skeptically.
"Oh, nothing," Optimus replied.
"Yeah, it's an amazing morning, isn't it?" Sentinel replied.
"What were you two laughing about?" Flash asked.
"Like I said, Flash, it was nothing."
"Only, it's everything," Sentinel said.
"What the hay are you two talking about? Tell me!"
"Nothing, dude. We're just joking around," Optimus said back.
"Hey Flash, are you and Twilight all right?" Optimus asked, leading to a confused face on the orange pegasus. "That must've been a pretty epic fight you two had," Optimus added. "And by the sound of her yelling, Twilight was winning."
"Again, what're you two talking about?"
"Your fight up on the cloud in the middle of the night. At least, that's what we assumed it was. It was pretty loud," Sentinel answered.
"Fight up in the cloud..." Flash mumbled to himself while trying to think about the so-called fight that he had the night before. "Well, I did see Twilight that night, and then we-" Flash turned a bright shade of red. "Oh Celestia!"
Optimus added, "From the look on your face, I think I know what really happened. Should've been more discreet, buddy."
Flash could still feel the hot feeling of the blush on his face. He was so focused on his alone time spent with Twilight outside of the Canterlot Castle on the cloud that he probably forgot to think that there were other ponies up at that time.
"Did you two... hear us?"
"Oh yeah, Flash. We heard everything. Didn't we, Optimus?"
"Buddy, sounded like you two were having quite the time," Sentinel added.
Flash, with his face still red as could be, put his left hoof over it to cover the shame he felt at that moment. Now his brain was racing. If Sentinel and Optimus heard his and Twilight's intimacy, who else did?
"Did anypony else hear us?"
"I don't think so," Optimus answered.
"Please... don't tell Shining. He'll kill me," Flash pleaded.
"That's probably the least of your worries right now," Sentinel said. He trotted around Flash, continuing, "But we're both proud of you. Getting some royal flank is not an easy task."
"Don't you two have a post to attend to?"
"Yes," Optimus said. "We were just about to go. We just wanted to tell you how proud we are of you first."
Flash wasn't too impressed with the two of them. If they were sarcastic or not, he still did not feel comfortable knowing that two stallions whom he felt were his enemies knew something that could very well be used against him.
"Just... go. Please."
"All right," Optimus said while leaving.
"See you later, Celestia," Sentinel teased.
Flash shook off the teasing from his two coworkers. They weren't really good for anything else, after all. The stallion started to put on his suit of armour for his morning shift. Just as he finished putting on his golden horseshoes, he heard hoofsteps, which stopped at the door.
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Twilight came home from one of the best night's of her life with a smile on her face. When she walked in the door, she saw Spike just beginning to wake up. He tossed and turned, eventually opening up his eyes and looking at the princess, still half asleep.
"Twilight? Are you just getting home now?" he asked while wiping his eyes.
"Yes, Spike. I just needed a walk outside to calm my nerves. I ended up falling asleep outside."
"Oh okay," he said while leaning back down on his bed to fall asleep again. Something interested him, though, and his eyes shot open. "Twilight? What on earth happened to your mane?"
Twilight's eyes also opened up at the potential that she was caught. She went over to the mirror, and looked at her reflection. Spike was right to be concerned. Her mane was a mess. The entire style she had was gone. Individual hairs shot shot out everywhere. It looked as if she had been stuck in a giant windstorm.
"I actually didn't notice, Spike. It was probably because of the high winds when I walked outside on the castle bridge."
"As long as you're okay, that's all that matters to me."
"I'm perfectly fine, Spike. I had a nice, quiet night to drown out my thoughts. I feel so much better."
"That's good," Spike replied. He let out a yawn. "I hardly slept last night."
"Why? Are you worried about things too?"
"No. You kept me up most of the time, and then soon after you left, when I was about to fall asleep, I heard some ponies shouting. It sounded like they were having a party or something."
"Do you know when that was?"
"Not exactly," Spike said. "It was probably about an hour after you left."
Twilight could feel blood rush to her face. She felt hot and flushed with embarassment. She thought they were quiet while on the cloud.
"Um, Spike? How loud were the ponies having the party?"
"Pretty loud. Loud enough to keep me awake. I think it was late enough that most ponies had gone home, though. Probably the guards stopped the party, because the noise only lasted a few minutes."
Twilight could clearly feel the blush on her face growing more and more red. If Spike heard all the way over here, who else heard? The mare worried desperately, and felt severe embarassment at that time. But her situation was about to get much worse, as she heard a knock at the door.
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"Flash, what the hay was that last night?"
"Captain Shining Armour, I'm not sure what you are talking about," Flash answered with a salute.
"Flash, I don't even know where to begin," Shining started. "First, you seemed to have left your shift early last night, and then there was a whole bunch of noise reported to me from quite a few ponies. You should have been the one taking care of that!" Flash could feel his heart sink. Shining countinued, "And second, you were spotted walking and flying around privately with my sister. So, not only were you not covering your duties, you are exposing your relationship with a princess to others. A date at the gala is one thing, but the more you are seen with a princess, the more suspicious ponies will get."
Flash knew that Shining wasn't taking the reports lightly, but the guard also breathed a sigh of relief. Shining didn't seem to be aware of what really happened that night. "Is that all, sir?"
"What do you mean 'is that all'? You didn't take your job seriously last night, you didn't keep the grouds quiet, and you are playing a very dangerous game by openly dating a princess. Those are some things that should worry you, Flash."
Flash had a quick sigh of relief. Even though the news was bad, it could have been much worse. "I'm really sorry, sir. On my final tour around the castle, I found Twilight on the bridge, just thinking to herself. She seemed down, so I wanted to comfort her a little. I felt like that was more important than my guard duties."
"Flash, if she was down, what you should have done is just spoke to her for a few minutes, and contacted either myself or, preferably, Princess Luna at that late hour. She would have known what to do." Shining paced around the room, thinking. "Maybe I'm a little hard on you. I know you were just looking out for my sister, and I appreciate that. You're a really good stallion. I just want to see you at your best when you're at work. So, promise me this: no more distractions at work?"
"No more, sir."
"Good. I'm happy that you're making Twilight a very happy mare. I think you're good for her. Just make sure that your work life and your private life stay apart. We don't want any scandals or anypony from the media to know too much about your relationship. Now, get to your post. You're already late."
"Yes sir!"
As soon as Shining Armour left, Flash was able to have a quick sigh of relief once again. He hadn't brought up the intimacy between Flash and Twilight, and he seemed to go easy on the guard. The meetup went a lot better than expected.
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"Oh, Princess Celestia? Do we have a meeting this morning?" Twilight asked as the princess stood at the door.
"Not exactly, Twilight. Could I please come in?"
"Certainly."
Princess Celestia visited Twilight's room. After kicking Spike out, not literally, unfortunately, she went over to the younger princess to have a heart-to-heart talk. The two of them sat down on Twilight's bed, which sank on the side of the white-furred princess, simply because of her size.
"First of all, Twilight, your mane is just horrible today. You should really use some Neighbelline when you take a bath. Second, the real reason why I came here was that... well, it's hard for me to say it to you, because I love you like you were my own daughter. Even my own daughter didn't respect me like you did. But I'm really disappointed in you."
"It's because of last night, isn't it?"
"Yes. Princess Luna told me in the morning that she had caught you getting intimate with Flash while she was flying around the castle. She wasn't mad. and neither am I, but we are both a little disappointed in you."
"I'm really, really sorry. I got caught up in the moment."
"I understand that, Twilight." Celestia put a hoof over the mares shoulder to show her that she wasn't too mad. "The reason why I'm disappointed, though, is because you are a princess now. As a princess, you are a role model for ponies young and older everywhere. Many ponies will look up to you for thousands of years to come. I know you will have desires. Even I have them from time to time, but it's best to try to hold them in, at least until you two get married. That way you won't have any 'surprises' to tell the kingdom about, because that would be far more embarassing for you. It would also be a bad influence on many other ponies."
"I understand, princess. I'm really sorry. It won't happen again," Twilight responded, looking down.
"Not to worry, Twilight. I still love you, and you are still doing an amazing job. I just want to make sure that you are doing your best."
"I promise, something like this will never happen again."
Celestia reached down and gave Twilight a comforting hug.
After the hug, Twilight asked, "Please, princess, don't tell my brother. He seems to really like Flash, and I don't want that to change. It was one mistake, and I want to just forget about it. Please..."
"All right, Twilight, I won't tell him."
"Thank you."
"But I can't promise he won't find out in other ways, though."
"I know. I just pray he doesn't. I don't know what he would do."
"Whatever he would do, though, it would be for your safety."
"I guess..."
Twilight and Celestia finished up their conversation, with Twilight fully knowing what she did wrong, and what to avoid in the future. After the older princess left, the mare sat on her bed, saddened by her mistake. Twilight, with feelings of guilt starting to come, gripped a pillow tightly and leaned down on her side on the bed.
"Um, Twilight, can I see you for a second?" Twilight heard from a crack in the door.
"Yes, come in, Flash."
Flash did just so, and as Twilight sat up on her bed, Flash came and sat down beside her.
"So, did you get in trouble too?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, by your brother."
"Oh gosh."
"Good news is: he was just mad that I stopped guarding. He didn't find out about us... you know."
"Oh, that's great to hear. Celestia did find out about us because Princess Luna saw. But she wasn't too mad. She just said that I need to be better as a role model. Thankfully not too many ponies heard or saw us."
"Thank Celestia for that. That was a mistake, Twilight, and I'm sorry."
"Well, it was a wonderful mistake."
Flash chuckled. "I was really on my game, wasn't I?"
"Yes, you were."
The two of them looked at each other and blushed.
"Hey, Flash, do you want to... go for another round?"
"Right now?" Twilight nodded her head with a smile. "Um... I don't think this is a good idea. It'll show that we really didn't learn anything."
"I guess you're right, Flash."
Flash lightly kissed Twilight on the cheek. "That's all you'll get for today," he said.
"That's good enough for me."
"My break is just about over, but do you want to go out for dinner tonight?"
"That would be lovely."