The Luxury in the room was overflowing with silk, cushions and sheets that were cool and soft. The queen sized bed was covered in fine set of purple curtains; the floor was covered in a nice soft fluffy rug. The bathroom had a big round crystal carved bathtub, the walls had full sized mirrors and shelves held jars with salts and petals of different types of flowers. The closet held gala dresses, hats, jewelry, ribbons and an impressive collection of nightgowns.
Twilight blushed at the sight of the opened drawer; she wondered why they were there but decided to not think too much about it. She was happy about her room; never in her life had she imagined that she would enjoy such luxury all for herself.
“I hope everything is of your liking Princess” the loud but gentle voice of the other mare in the room brought her back to reality.
Twilight emerged from the closet to greet the mare with a smile.
“Oh yes, everything is beautiful, a little over the top but so beautiful.”
“Well you know Princess Luna, she tends to be…eh… exaggerated sometimes” the Mare said while fluttering her golden metallic wings on her back.
Since the mare called Midnight Sun introduced herself as her guide to her bed chambers, she could not stop looking at her golden pair of metallic wings placed on her back; they were fine and looked very delicate, wrapped to her torso with a red ribbon. That was not the only thing that called her attention; the mare´s cutie mark was a pair of wings, a pegasi one and a leathery night pony´s wing. Her Fur was a very light lavender and her pupils, sharp as a night ponies eyes, still were round.
Twilight could not help her curiosity, in this underground palace filled with weird and interesting creatures odd and interesting things itched Twilight´s interest for knowledge.
“Umm.. Excuse me, Midnight Sun?” Twilight timidly asked.
“Yes Princess?”
“I was wondering, about uhm… your… wings”
Midnight Sun smiled, her purple mane covering one of her lavender eyes. Then she looked at the ground, still bearing the gentle smiled adorned by her tiny fangs.
“well, contrary to the common knowledge, I was a royal guard for the Lunar herd even though I am a mare, I may look like A NIGHT Pony but actually I´m half, for I also carry pegasi blood. When I was a teenager a disaster occurred involving a rebel group and some other ponies, Canterlot was in danger and I tried everything I could to protect the citizens. But I ended up involved in a middle of a fight I could not handle, costing me my wings”
Midnight Sun untied the red ribbon from her torso and lifted the metallic wings of her back. Bluish streams of translucent strings converted the base of the wings to her back, Midnight Sun pulled the wings of her back cutting the link and placing them on the floor. She turned her back to Twilight. Long, ugly scars adorned each side of her upper back were her wings should have been.
Twilight backed away a little, those were ugly scars. Midnight Sun turned around and smiled.
“When Princess Celestia took Princess Luna to meet us, she had the same face you have now. To be honest I was a little disappointed when I finally saw the mighty Princess of the night, she was just a little bit taller than me, skinny and insecure. But when she saw me, she approached me and made one of her Sister´s guards take off his helmet, she tore a piece of cloth from one of the decoration banners and just melted the helmet with her magic like it was not more than just a piece of clay, in front of my eyes she created, in mere minutes, a beautiful pair of golden wings, she walked behind me and touched my scars with her horn, then she placed the wings on my back and tied them to my torso.”
“I felt the connection, a link between the wings and my mind, I could move them and there, under the moonlight, I flew, after years of being depressed I lifted my hooves of the ground, I was myself again, thanks to the Lunar Princess.”
Twilight listened to the story and smiled gently. She levitated the wings and the ribbon and placed the wings again on her back, the blue strings appearing and adjusting the wings correctly on Midnight Sun´s back, Twilight wrapped the ribbon on her.
“I still am so young in knowledge, I have read books of war and studied the Equestrian history for years, but I never lived a war, never actually been in a REAL fight, I have had such an easy life compared to most of the ponies and other creatures I have seen inside these walls.”
Midnight Sun stood in front of Twilight and gave her a warm smile.
“The experience of battle is not something that you should have Princess, That’s why we are here, to take those experiences instead of you.” Midnight Sun stepped back and bowed. “I´ll take my leave now Princess, It has been a pleasure being of your assistance.”
Twilight just nodded, still stricken by the mares words. The sound of the door being closed made her realize that she was alone now.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Midnight Sun trotted through the main hall of the female quarters when she bumped in to Flash.
“WOW!! Never thought I would see you again in this palace! Wait, what are you doing in the female quarters?”
Flash cursed to himself when he realized who he had bumped with, he could not help but stare at the metal wings. In seconds, images from that night popped in his head, the roaring of the Hydra, the screams of the guards and civilians, the blood, the pain…
“Helloooo, Equestria to Flaaaash, what are you doing here!?” Midnight Sun waved her hoof in front of his face.
Flash felt reality like a bucket of cold water, He shrugged the bad memories off and concentrated on the mare in front of him.
“Uh…uumm… I am Princess Twilight´s personal guard; they have informed me that her bed chambers are located here”
“But these are the female sleeping quarters”
Flash blinked.
“Yea, I know that”
Midnight Sun blinked.
“You´re a male”
Flash got a little annoyed.
“I know that!!!, but I have to be with her it´s my-”
“It´s your JOB. You’re acting like she´s your mare or something. Calm down ok? Ever since you passed through the main doors of this palace everypony has talked about your weird behavior towards the Princess.”
Flash felt rage surge through his veins like fire.
“I don’t care what everypony else thinks about me or the Princess, she needs me!!!, she has no one now, her friends are far away, her family is far away, she doesn´t know anybody here except for Princess Luna, I´m her-!!!”
“GUARD!!!, you are her guard. Nothing more, that´s what we do Flash, we are here to protect the Princesses, we are here to take the pain and suffering instead of them. We are here to calm them down, to be their shield and sword. That´s our job Flash. Nothing more, we don´t get attached to royalty, we don´t get emotionally involved with them”
Flash calmed down a little, confusion blurred his mind. Why was Midnight Sun telling him all this? And then he remembered. Midnight Sun, she had fought along his side years ago in that tragic night, he had seen the Hydra ripping her wings out and here she was, standing in front of him, scolding him like he was a foal.
Now he understood why she was acting like that, she was worried, worried that something similar to that night would happen again. He sadly smiled at the memory.
“Don´t worry Midnight, this is different. I know this is my job. Nothing like that will ever happen again”
Midnight Sun stopped talking and looked at Flash directly in the eye and sighed defeated.
“Sorry Flash, It’s just that, we haven’t seen you in years and suddenly you appear again out of nowhere. Oni is worried, Fur is worried, and buck everypony is worried about you. After the… incident you just disappeared and then years later we found out that you were working in the Chrystal Empire of all places.”
Flash looked away ashamed.
“I was trying to get away from all the stuff; I just wanted everything to go away”
“We all missed you Flash”
“I just wish nothing had happen that night, it was my fault… I-”
“For Buck´s sake Flash, it was noponies fault, it was not even hers”
“I just wish it would never had happened”
“But it DID happen, and we can´t change that, we can just move on, live with it and try to find happiness”
Flash smiled and Midnight smiled too.
“Take care Midnight”
“Always good to see an old school friend”
Flash started walking to the opposite direction towards Twilight´s door.
“Remember Flash, she´s a Princess, not your marefriend”
“She´s not like her Midnight” Flash responded, not bothering to turn back.
“I know ” Midnight Sun said walking away from Flash, when she closed the door from Twilight’s separated room she sat down on her haunches and sighed heavily.
“I know she’s not like her Flash, she seems nice, but SHE seemed nice too and I don´t think you can take another heart break again.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The door to Twilight´s room was big and heavy, it was easy for a guard to open the door, but any normal pony would find a hard time opening that massive door. Flash sighed heavily. He was tired and sleepish and he was feeling weird.
He wanted to analyze his whole situation in that moment. He was standing in front of her door, what was waiting inside that room for him? Inside that room, there was a mare that had feelings for him; there was mare that cared about him, that treated him with a lovingly sweet voice. Behind those doors there was a mare that felt alone and anxious about her current situation, she was emotio0nally unstable and he knew that. He knew that she was scared, he knew that she felt not prepared for the upcoming events she would have to face involving training and dealing with the fact that she was under pressure because of her title.
But was he the one that could really help her?. After all he was unstable too. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was true. After that night many years ago he knew that no matter how much he tried he could not go back to his old self. His scars were hidden, most of them, but he still felt the excruciating pain in his wings every time he thought about the incident.
A Pony that could not face its own past was no support for another one who was currently dealing with similar emotions. After all, what he could do? He could only smile and swear to be by her side every time she needed him… but… was that enough? He was her guard, but he was playing the part in her life involving him in bigger role than just a guard. And that was dangerous for their current situation.
He shook his head, why was he thinking of suppositions and possibilities? He needed to focused in the actual situation. Princess Twilight needed him and that was the only thing that mattered. He pushed the heavy door and held his breath.
He found Twilight admiring her wings in front of a full sized mirror next to her bed, she seemed bothered by something and seemed to not quite aware of Flash’s presence. He sensed a weird smell in the room, was that rose scent he smelled? It only made him feel sleepier than he already felt. He cursed at the fact that he was still not used to turning his whole clock upside down. It made him feel weak and drowsy.
“Oh Flash!!!, you found me !!!, I thought I had to sneak out of here to find you, good thing you are here now, I was worried.”
Flash pulled a fake smile for her and tried to act normal.
“Do you think my wings look weird?”
Flash relaxed a little bit, If she was feeling calmed and secure now that meant that he was doing a good job taking her worries away. He approached Twilight and examined the feathers of her wings.
“Well they look like they could use some preening”
Twilight looked puzzled.
“Ponies do that?”
Flash gave her an amused look.
“Well, yes. Pegasi take care of their wings Princess, It’s like taking care of your mane”
“Great, now I have to spend double time grooming myself”
Flash chuckled.
“Well, yea, harsh truth, but truth none the less”
Twilight smiled and sat in front of the mirror.
“So… how do I do this preening thing?”
Flash approached her from behind and sat close to her.
“Open your wings”
Twilight obeyed.
Flash looked at Twilight through the reflection of the mirror. Twilight understood his silent look and nodded, giving him permission. Gently, he pressed his muzzle in to Twilight’s feathers. Twilight flinched a little at the sudden sensation but quickly relaxed. Flash pressed his muzzle deeper in to Twilight´s right wing reaching the base of the roots of the longer feathers. He opened his mouth a little, passing his lips over the sensitive skin, he closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. He was enjoying this a little bit more than he should, but he did not care in that moment.
Twilight found herself driven by a calm and gentle touch, she felt her cheeks light like fire, her breathing became slow and silent. It was in that exact moment that she realized that she would probably never let any other pony, specially another stallion to touch her so intimately. She did not care that this was not considered intimate, to her it was.
She suddenly felt Flash gripping one of her feathers with his teeth, it felt wiggly and itchy. The bothering sensation made her come back to reality and as soon as she felt that sensation, it soon went away as Flash pulled the loose feather gently.
“You basically feel your roots until you find one that it´s loose, and then you pull that feather out”
Flash said with Twilight´s feather still in his mouth. Twilight tried not to look disappointed and turned around to face Flash. She repeated over and over in her mind, that this was no act of intimacy; this was a favor, a mere demonstration because of her inexperience in all involving wings and feathers.
“o…ok I´ll try” said twilight still a little drowsy with the feelings she was experiencing just minutes ago.
She curved her neck and dove her muzzle in to her left wing imitating Flash´s actions. She soon found a loose feather and pulled it out, pulling a couple of other healthy feathers by accident.
“OW!!!, ow o wow. It stings!!!” Twilight yelped in pain.
Flash chuckled loudly.
“You´ll get the hold of it soon Princess, but be careful or you´ll pluck out all your feathers.”
“What if I use magic, isn´t there a spell I can learn to automatically pluck all the loose feathers off?”
“Preening is a pegasi thing, and since unicorns don´t have wings the answer is no, there is no spell for that. I am afraid you will have to learn how to do it without magic Princess.”
“What if I go to a spa?, I´ve seen pegasi in ponyville´s spa that went to get their wings done.
“I am not a mare, but I think that they must get done something more than preening, it´s easy Princess. Besides, are you really sure you want to go to a spa every week just to get a bunch of loose feathers off?”
Twilight sighed defeated.
“you make a good point, I guess I will just have to learn the old way right?”
Flash smiled.
“It´s what I recommend”
“So just pull the others out this time, I´ll try next week for myself, but right now I don´t want to end up without feathers.”
Flash blushed a little bit and cleared his throat. He was not so sure about it, but decided not to back off.
Twilight faced the mirror once more, concentrating on her face and on her mane. Flash silently repeated the procedure once more but this time Twilight was keeping her mind occupied with something else in order to not enjoy it so much.
She started realizing how much her face had changed; it was not something somepony could actually notice. It was something subtle, but it was there. Her face was longer in a sort of way. Her cheeks well less chubbier , her eyelashes longer and her mane was a LOT longer than the last time she looked at it, her neck was a little longer, a little bit more elegant in a way. Her chest was more pronounced and her waist was smaller.
She found those details odd, were they there before? They had to, right? She was a little surprised by the fact that in a way, she was not recognizing herself in the mirror. She then paid attention to the sudden movement Flash was making behind her. She started to realize how nig he actually was. True, she was a tad bit shorter than a regular mare, but or she got smaller or this stallion was a tad bigger than a regular one.
His neck was long and strong, his chest was wide and defined. He was a lot taller than her. She suddenly felt a little intimidated by his size.
“There, I think I got all of them out, for future occasions, you have to be extra careful with the fluffy ones, they want to stick to your toung every time you get them out” Flash said removing the last feather.
Twilight felt her wings fresh and lighter. She flapped them a couple of times, she then turned around and admired them from behind. She got distracted by Flash´s wide chest blocking her view and her past thoughts again took place in her mind.
“Flash… do I look different than other ponies?”
Flash blinked confused a couple of times.
“What do you mean Princess?”
“I feel different, my body looks different, does my body look different?”
Twilight balanced a little on her hind legs exposing her chest and belly, her long mane falling to one side of her neck.
Flash blushed a little.
“Well, you are a little bit smaller than most mares I know”
“So it´s not just me!, I knew there was something weird about me”
Flash tilted his head confused.
“Weird?”
“Yea! Just look at my waist, it´s smaller than usual, oh If I could just have some of my clothes Rarity made for me here I could try them on and see, and what is it with my mane? I can´t remember the last time I cut it.”
Flash silently looked at the mare in front of him. Here they were, stuck inside a room in the depts. of Luna´s castle, about to face a possible threat leading to war…. And she was complaining about her body. Princess or not, this was a mare, a weird, nerdy neurotic mare.
Flash ignored Twilight´s yakking about her hairstyle and just looked at her. He admired her dark straight silky mane, her elegant neck, her beautiful body.
“You are beautiful Princess” he simply said.
Twilight froze in her place and blushed heavily. She stared at Flash who smiled stupidly at her.
“What…why the sudden compliment?” Twilight felt her cheeks burn, her heart beating faster than usual.
“Just felt the need of saying it, also I could say that… on a stallion´s point of view you have a very attractive body”
Twilight blush intensified and was caught completely unguarded by Flash’s words.
Flash laughed loudly and hid his amusement behind his hoof.
“You are absolutely adorable Princess, so easy to make you nervous!”
“He…hey!!!”
Twilight tried to sound authoritative or angry but her voice kept cracking up and her cheeks reddened more and more.
“Sorry Princess, it´s just that you are so easy to mess with!”
Twilight faked being insulted by his comment. The mood was loosening up and she loved that. This is exactly what she needed, a light happy playful mood to relax a little and forget about her problems.
“Oh? So do you think I´m gullible and innocent?”
“Gullible no, innocent… yes”
“I am not!!!”
Flash smirked amused.
“Oh common Princess, you blush at the slight less compliment”
“I only do it because it´s you!”
“That only makes it more obvious!”
“We have discussed this Flash, yes, I like you ok? And you like me, I know that. Do I have to state the obvious?”
Flash chuckled and smiled at her lovingly.
“No, But It´s nice to hear it Princess”
Twilight sighed defeated; she laughed at herself and looked at Flash with watery eyes.
Flash immediately reacted.
“Oh no Princess, we had a deal, no tears remember?” Flash approached her and lifted her face with his hoof.
Twilight gently pushed it away and hid her face behind her bangs.
“what are you doing to me Flash? You are nice and sweet and gentle. Why are yo making me feel weird? It´s not fair”
Flash was caught off guard by Twilight’s words.
“you think you are the only one who is confused?, who doesn´t know what to do with this feelings? Princess do not think that this only concerns you.”
“It seems like it does”
Flash sighed loudly.
“It doesn´t, believe, I´m having a hard time with my heart too. I may not show it too much, but
Twilight gazed in to Flash´s eyes, he looked at her with a lot of intensity. She felt a weird surge of energy building up inside of her. She got a little alarmed by this, this energy was not hers, it almost seemed… alien to her usual self energy. It felt different, but she couldn´t figure why.
She didn’t pay too much attention to it, after all, everything she was feeling right now were emotions and sensations that were completely new to her. She hated the fact that she didn´t actually know what to do, or how to behave. For a Pony that was used to have self control in her actions and knew exactly what she was feeling, this kind of situations, were she didn´t exactly know how to act, usually she would go crazy or get depressed but these feeling were not troubling her that way, they were troubling her in a way that she could not even guess the outcome of results from her current emotional state.
But there was that energy again, it was something weird, as if it was encouraging her to act upon her instincts and not her brain that was bothering her.
“You know, I´ve read several books were the feeling of being in love is described in so many ways… but in none of those books there’s an actual explanation about it, or how to deal with it. No numbers, no actual science… nothing exact where I could develop a hypothesis … it bothers me, it really does.”
“You can’t put love in numbers or in scales, Princess”
Twilight chuckled sadly, whipping a few tears away from her face she sighed laudly and grunted in frustration.
“I know I know, but it would be SO much easier just to have actual facts and proof!”
Twilight complained loudly, tears started once again to fall from her eyes and that only caused her to grunt frustrated once more.
Flash smile at the sight of the crazy mare that was trying to stop the tears from her eyes. He remembered Midnight´s words. True, Twilight was a Princess, but she was her mare. Even if he wanted to deny it, she was, she truly was. That could be changed or proved wrong in the future… but right now it was the truth. He smiled at the sudden realization.
There could be suppositions, proofs and facts that could stand in front of the simple truth that… he loved Twilight. And he knew that he was not supposed to, but something inside him was telling him to not care about these possibilities that in one way were very possible but they were still assumptions and nothing more. There were no rules that prohibited royalty of marrying whoever they wanted.
It was him and Twilight who were putting up barriers and excuses for different reasons. The energy inside him kept pushing and pushing… and pushing him more and more…. And finally, he couldn´t take it anymore.
He had had it.
No more Boundaries… for he would break the walls he himself had raised over his feelings.
No more worries about titles and unwanted possibilities.
No more holding up feelings.
No more ignoring a truth that actually made him happy.
He reached at Twilight and locked her frame in a tight embrace with his front hooves. He wrapped his wings around her and pressed her body to his in a suffocating hug.
“Wai…what…Flash?” Twilight was caught completely unguarded by his sudden action.
Flash closed his eyes and hid his face in Twilight´s mane, breathing in her lovely scent. He threw himself backwards to a conveniently located pillow behind him. He was still hugging Twilight in a crushing embrace.
“Flash I can´t breathe”
“I´m tired Princess” Flash said loosening up his embrace, his eyes still closed.
“Tired of what?”
Flash sighed exhausted.
“Of being somepony I´m not, no more hiding feelings Princess”
“What?”
“I am not going to hide my feelings anymore, and if you let me I want to express them.”
Twilight felt the blood rush to her cheeks once again, she couldn´t believe what was happening. Was this real? It could not be… it was too good to be true, but then, she felt Flash´s heartbeat beneath her hooves, and his cheeks were tinted with red.
She also noticed the bags under his eyes, he was really tired. His mane was messy and falling over his face in disarray, his coat was messy and it´s color was not as bright as it usually was.
She soon felt her own exhaustion weighting on herself. She slowly closed her eyes and let her body relax. Before she decided to totally give in to exhaustion she noticed that Flash had already been asleep. She smiled at his sleeping form.
And then she did the most daring thing she had ever done.
She leaned over his face and slowly and gently… she pressed her lips over his. It was no more than just a slight touch, but it was a kiss none the less. She slowly backed off, fearing of have taken him. He was still asleep.
She lifted her gaze towards the clock and smiled sadly.
“We only have four more hours until sunrise” She said in a whisper.
She rested her head on Flash´s chest, it was soft and comfy, and she could hear his heart beat. Steady and soothing.
“I think I´m falling in love with you” She said, feeling the sleep taking over her body.
“I may regret it… but it´s a risk I´m willing to take”