//------------------------------//
// Chapter Nine: Twilight Sparkle 
// Story: Love is in Bloom 
// by MuddyWaters 
//------------------------------//

The day after we arrived and found the Changeling in the dungeon, all of us were eating breakfast together. I was in between Flash Sentry and Fluttershy, not that I particularly minded. I still had plenty of space, as the table was big enough for all of us to fit rather comfortably. 

"What are we going to do today?" I asked Princess Celestia. 

"Well, the Changeling awoke just a little while ago," she replied. "I had Dawn Streak and Silver Shade take it up to Fluttershy's bedchambers." She turned to Fluttershy. "You may dismiss them both when you get back upstairs. Dusk Light should be ample enough to protect you." 

I was about to protest, after all, Dusk Light was just an earth pony, and surely, he couldn't do much against a Changeling, and then I remembered Applejack. She was an earth pony, and she was one of the strongest ponies I knew. Perhaps Dusk Light was just as strong, if not stronger than her. 

"What would you like me to do?" I asked. "Would you like me to help Fluttershy out?" 

"Only if she wants you to," Celestia spoke, looking at Fluttershy. 

The yellow pegasus seemed to cower a little bit, before straightening back up, obviously trying to look a little confident. "I'm thinking today, I should deal with the Changeling on my own." She stopped for a second before flattening down her ears. "At least, at first. Maybe you could come by later on, perhaps around five or so tonight, Twilight." 

I nodded my head, although I couldn't help but feel just a little bit disappointed. Why had Celestia and Luna wanted me to come with if all they seemingly needed was Fluttershy? What was the point of me coming all the way here? 

"So, what should I do?" I asked. "Is there any important stuff I need to do?" 

Celestia and Luna gave each other pitiful looks before they turned back to me. 

"I am sorry, Twilight," Luna spoke softly. "But we don't have anything for you to do, today." 

I wanted to ask why I was here then but I managed to bite my tongue. I didn't want to sound whiny after all. 

"We could take a walk around town together," Cadence spoke, her soft purple eyes understanding.

Normally I would've jumped at the chance to hang out with my sister-in-law, but for some reason I just didn't feel up to it today. 

"Maybe another time," I replied, softly. Suddenly I wasn't very hungry anymore. I pushed my plate away with my magic, and got off my chair. I left the room, and was only vaguely aware of Flash Sentry following me, which only made me more agitated. I wanted to be left alone. I didn't want Cadence's sympathies. I didn't want Luna or Celestia to feel bad for me. And I surely didn't want Flash following me, not when he wasn't the Flash I knew! I wished pony Flash knew about other Flash, and knew who I was. 

I walked to my room, slamming the door shut with my magic, locking it in the process. 

I needed to be alone, to gather my thoughts. I had hoped that being the Princess of Friendship meant I would have a more prominent role in helping befriend the Changeling. Apparently I was supposed to sit back and let Fluttershy take the reign again. 

Why couldn't anypony see how bad I wanted to help out? It's not like I hadn't proved myself multiple times. I knew they thought they were acting for the best, but it still irked me. 

"Princess?" came a voice from behind the door. "Are you alright?" 

For the first time, I realized I was crying. I felt silly suddenly, crying over something so stupid when I was a princess. Everypony must be whispering about me, wondering why I left the breakfast table so soon. Maybe they were even laughing at me, calling me a baby behind my back. The thought hurt worse than I thought it would. 

Flash must've heard me crying. Perhaps he was like the rest, thinking I was crazy. 

"Go away!" I exclaimed, the tears falling even harder now, something I did not understand. After all, this Flash meant nothing to me. I barely even knew  him. Why should the thought of him seeing me as a crazy mare make me cry even worse?

"I cannot," came the response. "I am a Pegasus of the Royal Guard, and have been given the task of safeguarding the one Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Leaving you alone would therefore break every oath I made when I was sworn to be a Royal Guard." 

I let out a groan. He had a point. Then an idea struck my mind. Surely Flash couldn't get in trouble if I was the one to escape from him. I would take full responsibility for it later. I just needed to take a breather. And honestly, the only way I could do that was if I was all alone to think. 

I opened the window with my magic again, and stretched my wings, getting ready to start flying. I launched myself out the window, only faintly hearing a "Princess?" coming from Flash. 

I knew I didn't have long before he went to get Celestia or Luna or Cadence or somepony. Then they would come searching for me, and I knew I'd have to collect my thoughts by then. 

I flew to a could that was just sitting all alone in the sky, and settled down on it. Since becoming an Alicorn, I'd grown accustomed to being in the sky, and even though I wasn't as good at Rainbow Dash, I did enjoy it. Sometimes I would take a book and sit on a cloud where the only other ponies who could bother me were pegasi. Hopefully none would bother me right now. 

I wasn't sure why I was feeling how I was. Why was I so jealous that Fluttershy was playing a more important roll with the Changeling than I was? I should be happy for her. It was so childish of me. I really should go back to the castle before I caused a frenzy. After all, I was a princess who had just gone missing. 

But, I couldn't go back just yet. I didn't want to yell at anypony, and I still couldn't help but feeling upset, I knew I needed to calm down first, so I settled down on the cloud until I could be certain that I wouldn't explode at Fluttershy when I got back. The yellow pegasus deserved so much more than that. 

I must've dozed off at some point, because the next thing I knew, I was being prodded in the side, and I heard a distant, yet familiar, voice call, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, wake up." 

The voice said the same thing a couple more times before I finally forced my eyes opened. There, flying in the air next to my cloud, was Flash Sentry. 

"Finally," he said, his blue eyes looking a bit disapproving of me being here on a cloud. "Why did you just fly off like that? You've been gone almost all day! Princess Luna is about to raise the moon! We've had the entire guard looking for you when they shouldn't of had to! Don't you get that Queen Chrysalis must be up to something? Why else would we find a Changeling in our midst? We don't have the energy to waste to find a pouting princess!" 

I glared at him. He really wasn't helping my sour mood at the moment. Actually, all he was doing was souring it even more. 

"I never wanted any of you to come find me!" I exclaimed, louder than what I had intended. It seemed to of have the intended result though, as Flash's eyes widened in surprise. I continued shouting at the Royal Guard Pegasus. "Did anypony stop to think that maybe I had done what I thought was best? Perhaps I didn't want anypony following me here! Did you think about that?" I was the maddest I had been in a long time. 

"I-I'm sorry," Flash Sentry murmured, obviously unsure of what to say. "But, there's a threat going on. Can't you understand why we were so worried?" 

Yelling at Flash had actually made me feel a bit better, although I still wished I had something more to do. But, mot of the jealousy was gone for now. However, there was no need to let Flash to know that, otherwise he would assume that I could be easily swayed or something in the future. Anyways, I didn't like how he worded his question. 

"Do you think I haven't proved myself?" I'm the one who knew about Nightmare Moon returning! I'm the one who discovered the elements of harmony, and how to use them! I'm the one who saved my friends from Discord's evil spell! Who was the only pony to realize that Cadence was actually Chrysalis in disguise? Me! Who was the one to find the Crystal Heart? Me! Who finished Star Swirl's spell to ascend to become a princess? Me!-" I was about to continue on to more, but Flash stopped me by placing his hoof on any shoulder gently. 

"Calm down, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I didn't mean to offend you. And I didn't mean to doubt the fact you can handle yourself on your own. All I meant was that we cannot simply have a princess wandering around Canterlot freely. What if a pegasus should've seen you up here in a cloud? We can't be sure how many Changelings there are around, and we don't want the word that princesses are wandering to spread to wrong ears. Do you understand?" 

I took in what he said, and realized that I did. He was actually making sense, and I could feel myself blush at embarrassment for yelling at him. I nodded my head to him, and he let out a sigh. 

"Now that that's settled, do you mind coming back to the castle with me? The others will be happy to know that you're okay, and Miss Fluttershy would like to have you see how she was doing with the Changeling."

Fluttershy wanted me to help her? Or at least, she wanted me to see how she was doing! The thought made me much happier than it should've, and I found myself nodding my head in agreement to what Flash said. 

"Yeah, let's get back to everypony," I replied, finding myself smiling widely at the orange-yellow pegasus just before we took off into the sky, back to the castle.