They landed without incident in the village, which also had little to no ponies there. Those in the village square at that time were curious, but went on with their day. They made their way to the largest building in the village, and that would be the inn. They walked through the center market and marveled at the many fruits, vegetables, sweets, nuts, meats, clothing, jewelry, and many other necessities.
They stopped by one of the stalls for some quick food and finally arrived at the inn to rest up for the night before flying off to the capital.
They entered and were greeted by everyone inside. The place smelled of mead and sweat, but there was no sense of danger like the one in the harbor. It was explained later that the village rarely had any visitors, so new faces were always welcomed. In fact, most of the village that night offered to buy the princess and her guard mead, which they accepted graciously. Gilda also was offered mead by the many young griffons who wanted to get to know the new female in town.
The bard and his group began to perform as soon as the mead settled in everyone's bellies. music started, and the entire inn was alive in song and dance as if it was a massive celebration. Gilda could be seen dancing with one of the young hunters while Flash, Twilight, and Spike looked on in amazement.
"Why's arnts u up theres n 'ancin?" an older griffon asked, nearly flipping the table over when he used it as a brace.
"Is this a special occasion?" Flash asked, looking at the celebration around them.
"No's party. in da village: eryday could be ours lastest moment. We celebrit like if last."
The old man stumbled away, leaving the three to digest what he’d said.
"So every day they celebrate life by drinking something that will slowly kill them," Twilight found.
"Nice one, Princess Buzzkill."
Before Twilight could say anything, two mugs of the liquid gold landed on their table. They looked over to the source to see the bartender raising his glass in their direction.
"So, is this for us?" Twilight asked.
"Yea, I doubt the bartender wants to give alcohol to a baby dragon."
"What if it’s poisoned."
Flash responded to having a healthy drink of her mug with his to boot.
"See, it's not so bad, other than it being a bit stronger to my liking."
Twilight took a sip. One sip turned to gulps; those gulps turned to 3 whole mugs. Those three cups turned into her and Flash Sentry joining the rest of the village in the singing and dancing. For the both of them, it was a lovely night of not either doing princess duties or preparing for another day of training. They were just celebrating. They didn't know what they were celebrating, but they were with each other.
Throughout the entire night, Flash could have sworn Twilight had a bit of a sparkle to her eyes every time they locked eyes.
***
The party ended hours ago, but it had just begun for the Princess and her guard. They were on top of the straw inn, admiring the large moon that light up the night sky. They had been talking for hours about life, their friends, upbringings. Twilight even told Flash some of her brother's most embarrassing stories, in case he felt suicidal.
The conversation quickly turned into relationships, with both of them concentrating on their work too much to even consider something as big as a relationship.
"Do you have somepony you would be in a relationship if you had the chance?"
Flash Sentry blushed. "Well, my momma always told me never to kiss and tell. How about you?"
Twilight had no answer. Instead, She elected to attract Flash's attention. As soon as he did, she answered with a passionate kiss. Flash did not move, and let the Princess shove her tongue into his mouth. She wanted him, but he had a change of heart, backing out of the kiss.
"I want to keep going, but your brother will kill me if he knew about us..."
"You can tell him that it was me who started it."
"Doesn't work with him."
"Y-yeah..."
The conversation quickly died and fell into an awkward silence. They looked in every direction, looking and thinking about something, a topic, anything to break the silence, but the situation was too telling for the two.
"I think I have to get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow," Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. She flew down to the front door of the inn and silently entered, leaving Flash to himself.
In the moonlight, the silhouette of a Pegasus on the roof of the inn hitting himself in the head with his hoof can be seen.
A few minutes later Flash returned to stand in front of Twilight's door, a guard in the inn filed out with the entire village already home, leaving the other travelers in the main hall. Flash looked on the other side of the lodge to see Gilda sneak into another room, with the young hunter that was talking her up a few hours ago. Both of them were smiling seductively at each other, knowing what the rest of their night would entail.
Go get em, Gilda.
His eyes began to get heavier, to the point where he collapsed next to Twilight's door and was fast asleep. The bartender looked at the sleeping guard and did not bat an eyelash. He had seen enough bodyguards fall asleep on the doors of their protectee's rooms that it didn't phase him, even if the guard was sleeping on the floor.
It was an hour later that the door opened behind Flash Sentry, and an annoyed Twilight came out.
"We got the big bedroom for a reason," Twilight said as he carried his body inside the room. She dropped him on the other bed and tucked him under the covers. As she turned to lay back down in her bed, she ran into the fact that Spike had taken over the bed. The baby dragon conquered it with his out-stretching limbs. One thing that Twilight learned was that if she interrupted his sleep for any reason, he would never be awake for the rest of the day and blame her for everything.
Well...
She slipped under the covers of Flash's bed far enough to not be physically touching him, but close enough that it was as suitable as cuddling.
Goodnight, Flash.