Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S5

by Banshee531

Princess Spike

The Grand Pony Summit, an event that took place every several years in Equestria. Delegates from all over Equestria had come to represent their city, town or whatever they called the place they lived. Here, they would meet and discuss possible trade agreements, routes and other needs. It was a big deal, which was why the most organized pony in Equestria had been chosen to put it together.

"Hraaaaaaaaagghh!" Twilight yawned as she, Spike, Flash, Springer and Grand walked into the main hall, her magic holding a small mug.

Grand turned to her, "Twilight? You okay?"

"I'm fine," Twilight assured him as they got to the main hall, the delegates trying to gather into the room for the opening ceremony. "I'm just...a little tired."

"No kidding," Flash commented as he patted her with his wing, "You've been up for three straight days planning this. Though...that ain't healthy."

"I'll be fine," Twilight added before letting out another yawn. "Once I get through this ceremony, I can finally take a rest. Until then," she took another sip, licking her lips as her eyes started to open a bit more. "My reliable study juice will keep me awake and alert."

"Study juice?" Grand asked with a raised eyebrow, only to get a nudge from Flash.

"It's an energy drink she used to use whenever she had a big test coming up. It's supposed to have three times as much caffeine in it than coffee, and before you ask..." Flash let out a long sigh, "Its just at the legal limit."

Twilight took another sip with a smirk. "This beauty's gotten me out of some pretty important problems."

"Well, just remember our agreement," Flash told her. "No more than four cans worth within twenty-four hours." With that, they arrived at the stage where Celestia, Luna and Cadance were waiting. She quickly gulped down the last bit before jumping on stage with Spike.

As she did, Springer turned Flash. "How bad is the stuff she's drinking? I mean, her aura is struck between exhaustion...and pure unlimited energy."

"Don't worry about it. Right now, she's about on level with you on a sugar high. You know, except the yellow mouse part." This made Springer shudder as Flash continued, "Besides, I'm more worried about when she crashes. All that missed sleep is gonna hit her hard."

He would have said more, but it was this moment that the ceremony began. "Welcome to the Grand Equestria Pony Summit!" Luna declared as the crowd began cheering, Celestia stepping in front of Luna next.

"You delegates have travelled far and wide to represent your cities as we seek to celebrate and learn from all the unique places that make up our wonderful land of Equestria." As she continued, Flash could see what she was saying. He could see ponies of all kinds of shapes and sizes, even one or two griffon citizens. Celestia then pointed off stage, where everypony saw something large being covered by a sheet, which she magically lifted to reveal a pony statue made up of multiple jewels. "At tonight's welcome reception, Princess Cadance will dedicate this beautiful friendship statue made up of gemstones from each of your home cities."

The crowd began oohing and ahhing while Flash saw Spike lick his lips. He then whispered to himself, "Note to self, find something to keep Spike busy until the welcome reception."

"Now I'd like to turn things over to the one who organized the summit: Princess Twilight Sparkle!" The crowd cheered again as the baggy-eyed alicorn trotted up to the front of the stage.

"Thank you everypony. With delegates from over fifty cities attending three days of conferences, receptions, and meetings, this is the largest Grand Equestria Pony Summit yet. And let me tell you, putting it all together has led to more than one sleepless night. We're so excited to have you here to learn more about life all across this great land of ours." There was another round of cheering, Flash and Grand even clapping as they saw Spike get Twilight's attention. "And now, my faithful assistant Spike would like to say a few words."

She stepped back as the baby dragon took her place as he took a deep breath, "Um...hello, everypony! I'm here to help you all anyway I can. If there's anything I can do for any of you-"

"We love you, Princess Twilight!" A random pony interrupted.

"We love all the princesses!" Another yelled out as the crowd began to cheer again, making the little dragon sigh as he hopped off the stage.

"I guess everypony loves a princess. Hmph." With that, he walked away while the princesses had to answer any questions the delegates might have had. As he did this, Flash, Springer and Grand watched him leave before the pegasus pushed the jakhowl with his wing.

Springer turned to Flash only for the defender to gesture to the leaving drake. The jakhowl did a small nod before running after the dragon. He soon caught him as he headed up to Twilight and Flash's bedroom, "Hey buddy...you're not gonna sulk about this like you did at the empire a while back, are you?"

"No..." Spike moaned as he looked away, "I'm gona...go tidy this room so that at least I know I'm helpful."

"So you are gonna sulk." Spike shot him a glare, "Oh grow up. Who cares what those ponies think?" They then arrived at the top of the tower, Spike now beginning to pick up the papers that had been used in the planning of the events. "You know, Twilight never would have gotten this done in time without you there."

"So we both do the work and Twilight gets all the thanks." Spike grumbled, Springer sighing before shaking his head.

"Spike...listen buddy, Twilight appreciates you and that's what counts." He turned to around, ready to head for the door. "I gotta get to my guard posting. Do yourself a favor and actually go outside. You might be able to find one or two ponies that need help and you can show your stuff."

With that, Springer left, leaving the drake all alone. Despite this, Spike continued to clean as he picked up papers and books. It was here that a knock on the door happened, which he ran over too. But just as he was about to open the door, the frame flung out and slammed him into the bookcase behind it.

"SPIKE!" Cadance screamed as she trotted in, only to gulp as she saw no sign of him. As this happened, Spike pushed the door away, falling over as the books from case decided to dogpile on him. Hearing this, Cadance turned to the pile. "Spike?"

A single claw poked out of the pile as Spike moaned, "A little...help?" Cadance quickly grabbed him in her magic and pulled him out.

"Spike, we need you now!" She exclaimed as she placed him down beside her.

Spike shook his head before dusting himself off, "Of course! What can I do?" In that moment, the door opened to reveal Flash carrying a half-asleep Twilight. "Whoa...what happened to her?"

"Her study juice finally wore off," Flash added as he tried to keep her steady. "Now she's in full-on crash mode."

"Geez...that's not good." Spike commented as he knew this was extra bad compared to usual tired Twilight.

He then watched Twilight climb off Flash's back, trying to walk over to him with wobbling legs, "I'm sorry Spike, I just-" She let out another yawn, "Need a quick...nap." She began to stagger, Flash extending his wings as fell over a book pile. Before he could do anything, she slumped over and pulled the books like a love pillow, "Nice. Tell the delegates I'll..." She started to smack her lips before her eyes fully closed, trailing off as she let out a long snore.

"Never thought I'd see that again," Flash commented as he slowly picked her up.

"She's been awake three straight days preparing for the summit," Cadance added as she put a hoof over her mouth. "We need to make sure she gets some rest today. She'll never be able to attend the welcome reception in this condition." She turned to Spike, "Can I count on you to see that she isn't disturbed?"

Spike's vision fluxed between the two alicorns, only to shine a grin before saluting, "I promise I won't let you down!"

Cadance nodded before helping Flash put Twilight to bed. She then left the room, Flash ready to head for the door as well as he said, "Alright...Twilight's schedule is wide open until the welcome reception. The only issue will be ponies who come asking to solve any problems that might come up in the summit."

"What do we do if that happens?" Spike asked.

"If anypony asks for Twilight, just tell them to find me and I'll sort it out." With that, Flash was out the door, leaving a certain drake to blink at the leaving pegasi.

---

One hour later...

Springer was busy patrolling the streets, keeping an eye out of anything as he walked down another street, "Huh...we might actually get through an event without some major catastrophe. I don't know if that's weird or not. Definitely a first." But as he turned a corner, he then found one street completely empty. "That's weird," Springer commented as started down the street, slowly going along until-"Whoa!" he yelped as the ground suddenly disappeared beneath him. The jakhowl then felt his foot scratching something, looking down to see a cracked pipe. "What the...uh oh." He pulled his foot out next, rubbing his ankle before glancing around, "Nopony's around..."

He blinked back at the pipe, Springer soon running back to the Twilight's room. But as he reached the top, he found Spike sitting in front of the door, the drake sighing in relief, "Everything's good now. Princess Twilight will be rested, Princess Cadance will be proud, and Princess Spike deserves a little reward." He pulled out a gem as he laughed, "Ha! Princess Spike."

"Spike, I need to talk to Twilight!" Springer yelled as Spike hopped off his chair in shock.

"Wait, you can't!" He got up and stood in front of the door. "Twilight's sleeping and I was told not to let anypony disturb her."

"But this is important. I uh...I think I broke a water pipe."

Spike blinked at his statement, only to wave a claw, "Oh that? Don't sweat it. That pipe was already broken and I had to stop a guy from fixing it."

Springer tilted his head at that, "Huh? Why'd you do that?"

"He was making too much noise. There's no way Twilight was gonna be able to sleep through that. I also had to move a polo match and a pony from cutting down some trees....heck, you have no idea how loud this place gets." He then saw the look of disbelief on Springer's face, "What?"

Springer double-facepawed, dragged them down his face as he moaned, "Spike...did it occur to you that maybe instead of stopping ponies from causing noise, you could, I don't know, get TWILIGHT SOME EARPLUGS?!"

Spike opened his mouth to reply, only to close it as he snapped his claws, "Oh...yeah, I could have done that." But before the two could say anything else, new voices rang out as they turned to see a pair of ponies walking up to them. "Uh...hi. Can we help you?"

A mare spoke up first, pointing to the stallion next to her. "My friend here, the distinguished pony from upper Manehattan and I are in a bit of a pickle, and we need the Princess Twilight to resolve it."

"Uh...." Spike glanced back at the door before gulping, "Could you talk a little quieter? And maybe come back later?"

"Oh sure, gosh, I wish we could but uh....we're both supposed to give speeches about our local economies in five minutes, and we've been booked in the same hall! We can't-"

"I had the room first!" the stallion abruptly interrupted. "And let's be honest, my speech is more important."

The mare growled at this, "Point of order there sir, but I think you'll find that my speech is the more important one, don't'cha know?!"

"No, we don't know." Springer responded next.

The stallion turned back to Spike, "Look...youse is gonna have a lot of unhappy delegates on your hooves unless we get a ruling from Princess Twilight right now!" Spike's eyes shrunk at this, gulping as he tried to think of something...only for an idea to pop into his head.

"Flash!"

"Who?"

"Flash Sentry, the Knight of Friendship. He was put in charge of dealing with any issue that might come up while Princess Twilight is indisposed." The two ponies raised an eyebrow at this, making Spike continue to talk, "It was what the princess wanted, and Flash is the stallion she trusts more than anypony else in Equestria!"

The duo blinked, only to nod as the stallion said, "Alright. If the Princess trusts him, then I guess we can too."

"After all, the princess is always right." the mare added.

Springer had to put a paw in his mouth to stop himself from laughing, getting everypony's attention as he gestured at them to follow, "Come on, I'll take you to him." With that, the trio headed down some stairs while Spike breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good thing Flash is taking over for her. That would have been a disaster if Twilight had to be woken up." Spike commented as he pulled out a bowl of gems. As he snacked on them, Springer walked back into the room, "Hey, how'd it go?"

"Flash managed to solve the issue. Seems Twilight set a room aside for just this situation. Good thing you remembered he was meant to deal with the issues."

Spike let out a long sigh, "Yeah...imagine if we had to wake Twilight up. In her state, she'd probably have said something that made no sense."

Springer laughed as he sat down next to him. "Then you would have panicked and done Celestia knows what. Eh, I bet you would have probably given your own suggestion and pretend it was Twilight's."

Spike laughed at this statement, only to tap his chin in thought, "Come to think of it....would that be such a bad thing? I mean, I'm smart. I might have come up with a solution."

"Oh really?" Springer asked with a cocked eyebrow. "So...how would you have solved that?!"

"I would have...er...did what Flash did! Put one of 'em into a spare hall."

"Really? You sure that's what you would have done?" Before Spike could reply, they caught the sound of new voices and hoofsteps. They turned to see a bunch of ponies trotting up the stairs, all yelling at the loudest volume possible. "Now what?!" The group reached them next, crowding around as they kept screaming. Seeing this, Spike started to raise his voice, "Uh...by order of Princess Twilight, BE QUIET!" His voice echoed through the area, making everypony shut up.

Spike slapped his hands over his mouth as he heard his echo, a lanky blue Pegasus using this moment to walk in front of the group. "I was really looking forward to the 'Don't Spend All Your Bits' Speech, but when I went into the hall-" He fell on his flank while beginning to tear up, "A pony had taken my seat! He was a pony who used to be my friend!"

"Your friend took your seat?" Spike replied, trying to suppress a giggle, "Hah, big deal! Why don't you just-"

"No offense," the pony interrupted. "But I don't need some random dragon's opinion. I want to hear what Princess Twilight thinks!"

Springer then spoke up. "Well, Princess Twilight is a little too-mmph!" He didn't get to finish as Spike put a claw over his mouth.

"Princess Twilight is more than willing to help solve the problem. Just..." he tried to open the door, "give us a second."

He pulled Springer inside and shut it, the jakhowl turning to him. "I thought you didn't wanna disturb Twilight."

"I don't. At least not with a silly problem like this, and I'm not gonna waste Flash's time with it either."

"So what are you gonna...oh no."

Spike shined a small smirk while nodding, "Yup. It's princess Spike to the rescue!" He opened up the door and pointed to the pegasus, "The princess says no friendship should end over a seat. You should just forgive your friend!"

The pegasus gasped, "Of course! Oh, the princess is so wise!" With that, he flew over the crowd as the rest of the delegates started chatting about the smart decision.

Spike's eyebrows hopped at this as he turned back to Springer. "Not bad, eh? We could tell these delegates anything as long as they think it came from Twilight."

"Except you don't need to. Remember Flash?"

"I'll let him handle the big issues. We can focus on the smaller ones, and we'll go to him when necessary." With that, he turned back to the ponies. "Alright, who's next?"

As the ponies all tried to get the dragon's attention, Springer just sighed before facepawing. "So much for an issue free event. This is gonna end in disaster, I just know it."

Over the next hour and a half, Spike began giving his own advice to ponies that came asking for Twilight's suggestions. Springer remained behind to act as his shoulder angel, telling him when something would be too much and instead directing the pony into asking Flash. Eventually, the line came to an end with the last pony in need of advice being Fancy Pants. "So...how can Princess Twilight be of service?"

The suit and monicle wearing unicorn patted his chest as he responded, "Well, as city host, the Canterlot delegation feels it's only right that we should get passes to every meeting and party, yes?"

Spike showed a small frown, "Well, that doesn't seem fair-I mean, Princess Twilight doesn't think that seems fair."

"Ehhh...yes, yes, very well. It was worth a try though, wasn't it old chap, hm?"

With that, the unicorn went off as Spike turned to Springer. "This is great!" The dragon cheered. "I just took care of a whole bunch of stuff that Twilight won't have to worry about when she wakes up!"

"Unless you made the wrong decision," Springer flatly replied while leaning against the door. "Then she'll be in serious trouble and her credability will go up in smoke."

"Oh relax, you worry too much." Spike said with waving his claw again, only for a bulb to go off in his head, "Hmmm...wonder if anypony else needs the princess's help?"

He opened the door with a big grin, Springer now gulping at the sight, "Spike, what are you planning?"

Spike didn't reply, instead leaving the room while carrying one of Twilight's checklists. "If I can check a few of these meetings off Twilight's schedule, then when she wakes up, she won't have to think about anything but the reception."

"Seriously?! Shouldn't that be something Flash does instead of you?"

This made Spike tap his chin for a second, only to shrug, "Nah, I got this. Now let's see..." He scanned the papers over, Springer looking over his shoulder. "I have a meeting with the pony in charge of the crystal statue, then I'm meeting the worker pony who's fixing the broken drain."

"And again I remind you, earplugs."

"Right right..." Spike rolled up the list, "Let's get to work." The drake went off to get a pair of earplugs for the sleeping alicorn, the pair soon heading off to complete the extra work.

---

An hour or so later...

Flash and Grand both sighed as they sat down at a café, the two ordering a drink and something to eat. They were exhausted, having spent several hours on security crossed with Twilight's other problems Spike have given Flash. It was here that they finally found some spare time, using this moment for a well deserved break.

"Geez louise…" Grand sighed after taking a long sip of his beverage. "I can't believe this week. After this, I'm gonna need a long vacation."

"At least Twilight'll be well-rested," Flash added before taking a bite of his sandwich. "I can't wait for this week to be done..."

"Oh? Got a date planned with the princess?" Grand asked with a small chuckle, Flash's face barely blushing as he replied.

"No way. If I put a date on her already busy schedule, she'd lose it." Flash took another bite as he looked away, "We can always figure out something after this mess."

"Ha! Sounds like she's already got you around her hoof!" Grand guffawed, bonking his hoof on the table. "Then again, she's always owned ya if I think about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Oh nothing." Grand giggled as he finished his sandwich, only to turn and see a certain alicorn walking by. The duo saw a look of concern on her face, making Grand speak up, "Princess Cadance? Is something wrong?"

Cadance walked up in response, shaking her head as she glanced at Flash, "Well...you could say that. Flash, did I tell you about the meetings Twilight was supposed to have today?"

"Meetings?!"

Cadance did a small nod. "They got added to her schedule this morning while you and Grand were out on patrol. I meant to tell you after we put Twilight to bed, but it slipped my mind. If you're too busy, I might be able to-"

"I can handle them Cadance," Flash assured her before munching down the last bit of lunch and gulping down his drink. "So, when's the first meeting?"

"Half an hour ago."

Flash grimaced at that. "Okay...might need to circle back around to that one. Was it important?"

"I...think? Twilight was supposed to speak with the mare in charge of the crystal statue and learn what each piece was."

"Alright, that'd be pointless for me to do anyway. So what's next?"

Cadance motioned for him to follow, the pegasus jumping off his seat and waving goodbye to Grand. "Twilight was supposed to talk to a pony who was in charge of fixing a broken waterpipe on Castle Street."

"Castle Street?" Flash asked as he pulled up a mental map of the city. "Isn't that really close to Twilight's room?"

"It is...which would cause a lot of noise. But I'm sure Spike will have found a way to block it out for her. He would have told us if he didn't."

"Unless he somehow got the pony fixing it to stop," Flash joked, the two chuckling...only to come to a stop. Their eyes met as Flash whispered out, "Hoo boy...that's not good."

The two took off next, flying over the city before hitting Castle Street. There, they found a pony standing next to the broken pipe. It was a unicorn eating an apple, which gasped before bowing at the landing princess.

"Your majesty." The unicorn responded, "I was expecting Princess Twilight."

"She's indisposed," Flash chimed in, "I'm speaking for her for now." He looked down at the broken pipe, seeing the water now pouring out of it. "Can you explain why the pipe hasn't been fixed yet?"

"Well, I was fixing it...but then that dragon that works for the princess told me she wanted me to stop because of the noise." Both Flash and Cadance groaned at this as the unicorn turned back to the pipe. "I'm getting a little worried though to be honest."

"Well, get it done, and don't stop until it's fixed. Even if the dragon tells you to stop again, don't." The unicorn nodded as he pulled out his jackhammer.

"Got it. Though considering how much strain the pipes under, it might end up bursting before I can get it done."

Flash and Cadance both frowned at this, Flash now responding, "Just get it done please. We'll compensate for anything if necessary."

With that, they both turned away as Cadance whispered, "That's not a good sign. You don't think Spike has done anything else, do you?"

"Not sure. I just hope that-" Flash suddenly came to a stop as he felt his hair stand on end. Before Cadance could ask what's wrong, Flash turned around and yelled, "Springer! He's calling for me!"

"Springer? What is he-"

"Flash!" Springer's voice called out, the two now seeing the jakhowl and Spike heading their way.

As the four then united, Flash glared at the dragon, "Spike! Did you stop this pony from working on the broken water pipe?!"

Spike blushed as he looked away, "Maybe. He was just making so much noise and it was gonna wake up Twilight."

Flash opened his mouth, only for Springer to flash his paw, "Hold it. If you're gonna suggest earplugs, I already did. Twilight's as deaf as a snake now."

"Good," Flash growled as he turned to scowl at Spike, only to see he was holding a scroll, which he nabbed.

"Hey!" Flash opened it up and saw it was a list of the meetings, making him scowl at Spike harder.

"Were you gonna go to these meetings instead of me and Twilight?"

"Maybe..." Spike tried to look away, but the burning gaze in the back of his head made it obvious Flash was still glaring. "I was just gonna deal with a few issues so Twilight didn't have to worry about them."

"Except it's Flash's job to fill in for Twilight," Cadance told him. "We don't mind you wanting to keep Twilight's stress level down, but these meetings require diplomatic skills that you haven't been trained in like her and Flash."

"But I know Twilight so well!" Spike barked back. "It's easy to make decisions that are like her!"

"But how far ahead are you actually thinking?" Flash instantly responded.

"Huh?!" Spike yelped out, making Flash facehoof as Cadance sighed.

Cadance then shook her head as she replied, "Spike...every decision you make will have consequences. You need to think about how your choices affect not just the ponies involved, but the ones those ponies will come in contact with."

Flash nodded in agreement. "Exactly. And making half-thought out suggestions in her name can seriously backfire." He held up Twilight's list, "So I'll be handling these things while you get back to your real job. And no more speaking on Twilight's behalf."

Spike slightly backpedaled as he put his claws behind his back, "Alright...I promise I won't give out any more orders on Twilight's behalf." The three nodded before heading off, completely unaware that the drake had his claws crossed behind his back. He let out a cheeky laugh next, twiddling his claws as a sinister smile appeared on his face.

---

Flash and Springer were now flying through the city, the pegasus looking down at the list. He had gone through several over meetings, none of which needing Twilight's physical presence to go off without a hitch. As they travelled between locations, Springer told him about what Spike had done, Flash shrugging in response, "Huh. I guess Spike did make a few good decisions."

"That's mainly because we sent the bigger issues to you," Springer replied while sitting his head on Flash's mane. "How'd they all go anyway?"

"Fine. Like Spike said, I also know Twilight so well that it was easy to figure out how she would have handled those situations. But...unlike him, I actually know the best way to solve it instead of leading to complete and utter disasters. I mean, we live in Ponyville."

"True."

"Yeah...but as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, everything should run smoothly."

"You know you probably just jinxed us, right?"

"Probably." The two landed near the area his next meeting was meant to take place, only to see Grand leading a group of young ponies around. "Hey Grand, what's with the short stacks?"

"Children of the delegates," he explained while pointing to the now glaring ponies. "Celestia asked me to give them a tour."

"Isn't that a little below your pay grade?" Springer asked, Grand shrugging in response.

"Well considering they're related to some very important ponies, this could technically be considered a bodyguarding job."

With that, he walked away as Flash and Springer went off to their destination. It was the city's grounds keeping department, a large warehouse that kept a bunch of lawnmowers, grass cutters and other gardening instruments. Flash was supposed to be meeting a pony to see how much trimming they had left from a job they did earlier in the day. "Hello? Anypony here?"

"I'm here!" They turned to see a green pegasus pony walking up to them, "What can I do for you?"

"We're here on behalf of Princess Twilight. Can you tell us how much of the...um..." he looked down at the list before raising an eyebrow, "Dragon Sneeze Trees? Wait...that's a thing?"

"Oh yeah. They were recently added to Castle Street, but grew faster than expected."

"The names just that, right?" Springer asked next.

"No, it makes dragons sneeze."

"What idiot thought putting those in was a good idea?! I mean, I know there's only one dragon that's only occasionally here, but it still sounds silly."

The pegasus just shrugged in response, Flash speaking up next, "Anyways...how much of the trees have you cut and collected?"

"None."

"None?"

"I got an order from Princess Twilight to wait. Something about noise complaints."

Flash groaned before turning to Springer, "Why didn't you tell me he did that?!"

"Sorry, I forgot. It's been a long day."

Flash facehoofed before turning back to the pegasus. "Look, forget about what you heard before. Just please go cut down those trees before something bad happens."

"No problem," the pegasi replied before walking off to get his equipment. "But I gotta warn ya, those trees are super top-heavy. Ain't gonna need much to bring 'em down."

"Great..." Flash sighed, only for his eyes to go wide. "Wait...did you say they were on Castle Street?"

"Yup."

"How...strong would you say the branches of the trees are?"

"Pretty strong. That's why I'm bringing this bad boy." He held up a chainsaw to show his point. "Though the trunk is a lot more bendable, which is why they're a health risk."

"Oh geez!" Flash took off with Springer now gripping his back, the pegasus soon following.

"Ack! What the heck Flash?!" Springer yelped, barely managing to hold on.

"We gotta hurry! If one of those trees fall, they might hit the broken pipe!"

"Which could lead to it bursting. But what are the odds of something like that-" He didn't finish when he saw Flash glare back at him. "Good point. Let's just hope nothing makes them tip-" He didn't get to finish as his ears spiked up, his aura telling him one thing. "Duck!" Flash did so, an object soon rocketing over their heads.

"What was that?!" Flash yelled, Springer doing a slight gulp.

"Uh...I think I remember Spike saying something about moving a polo match earlier."

"Of course he did. That better not-" No more words left his mouth as they now heard a large banging sound, both looking down at where the ball had fallen...which was right on Castle Street. "Oh no!" They zipped down, only to see the ball had just hit one of the Dragon Sneeze Trees. The force of the blow pushed the timber's weight, gravity kicking in as it fell over...right into another tree.

Like a stack of dominos, the trees began to collide, each falling as they made their way to the hole with the busted pipe. The unicorn worker didn't notice as the jackhammer along with his earmuffs blocked every sound around him, the falling lumber ready to crush him as he worked away. But before Springer could even blink, Flash's body shined gold as he zoomed into the unicorn, pushing him away a split second before the tree could claim a victim. As it did this, the tree flung itself in the hole, the unicorn now gasping as his earmuffs fell off his head.

"What the heck?!" He yelped as he saw his jackhammer fall over beside the hole.

Flash and Springer both let out sighs of relief, Springer adding, "Well, that wasn't so bad." But as those words left his mouth, the ground beneath them started to shake, making them all stare at the hole before a powerful stream of water shot out through the tree.

"You were saying?!" Flash growled as he watched the water fly up into the air, right into one of the castle windows. "Seriously?!" He turned to the unicorn and yelled, "Cut the water! Do it now!"

"I can't! That's why I was digging!"

"Oh, you have got to be-"

"Don't worry, I've got this!" Springer declared as he shifted into his battle form. Racing up to the pipe, he held out his paws as he formed bubble of aura around the broken piece of metal. The sprout of water came to a stop, only for Springer to let out a yelp of pain, "Augh! Flash, do something quick! I can't hold this!"

"Hang on! I uh..." Flash's brain started to burn as he glanced around for a solution, only to then see a pony fly out of the building's windows, "Cadance!"

"Flash! What's going on?!" She asked as she landed right beside him.

"No time to explain. We gotta shut this off!" Cadance turned to the sight and nodded, her horn glowing. Before anything could be said, crystals began to form around the open pipe. The jewels soon clogged the liquid, Flash sighing in relief as he turned to Cadance, "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

"No problem."

Flash then looked up at the broken window that the water had created, "Oh uh...please tell me that wasn't anywhere important."

Cadance blinked at the building, only to gulp, "Um...that's the reception hall." This caused Flash to facehoof before opening his wings, flying up to the window. But as he got closer, he heard something.

"ACHOO!" This sound was followed by the noise of something smashing, causing Flash to flinch.

"Please don't be the statue. Please don't be the statue. Please don't be the statue." But as he looked inside, he spotted Spike standing next to a pile of gems that had once been in the shape of a horse.

Spike summed up Flash's thoughts exactly. "Oh...bless me!"

"Not the word I would use..." Flash muttered as he now heard the sound of hoofsteps run up to the room. "That's not good."

This signaled the arrival of Fancy Pants and several other dignitaries. "Oh my, what is the meaning of this?!"

"Oh, this should be good." Flash whispered as he watched Spike backpedal from the crowd. "Now I gotta decide to hop in or see him lie his way out of that."

Spike did a small gulp as he stuttered out, "Well uh...you see...that is...there was this polo game, and-"

Fancy didn't let him finish, turning to the pony that had been working on the pipe after he came in to check the damage. "How could you let a water main burst on Canterlot's most important day?!"

"Hey, don't look at me! Princess Twilight said to stop working on it!"

"What?!" Fancy yelped before glaring at a pegasi that was now holding up the remains of the Dragon Sneeze Trees that had been swept into the room. "Well, what about these trees?! I ordered them trimmed to avoid just such a situation!"

"But the princess told me to stop, bub!"

"Why would the princess make such horrible decisions?! This all could have been prevented!" Fancy Pants yelled as the rest of the delegates all cried out in agreement, crying slanders at Twilight's name.

Flash readied his to go down, now seeing Spike still not speaking up. But as he did this, the drake suddenly screamed, "Please everypony, listen! I'm so sorry all this all happened!"

"What are you apologizing for?! These were Princess Twilight's awful decisions!" Fancy barked back, the others all nodding in agreement. The pony then slammed his hoof down as he declared, "And besides, I'll not let Princess Twilight give Canterlot a bad name in the eyes of Equestria!" He turned to the rest of the mob, "Come on everypony! Let's go give her a piece of our minds!"

With that, the many delegates rushed out of the hall, Spike in hot pursuit. "Wait!" He cried as he tried to run, "You've got it all wrong! You-huh?!" He yelped as he now found himself being lifted into the air, looking up to see Flash with a long glare on his face, "Uh....hi Flash."

"Hello Spike. Whatcha doing?!"

Spike just looked down in response, muttering out, "I'm um...I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"Naw...what gave you that idea?!" Flash growled as he forcefully threw the drake on his back, "But that can wait until we've saved Twilight from getting her head bitten off by that mob. Now come on, you gotta lot of explaining to do!"

"Okay..." Spike whimpered out as Flash kicked his wings into overdrive, the duo zipping across the sky.

---

Meanwhile...

Grand's tour was almost complete, the many colts and fillies having enjoyed their trip around Canterlot. He was now directing them back to the castle to meet their parents for the reception, but as they got closer, a rumbling sound caught his attention. Turning to the noise, his eyes went wide as he now saw an approaching angry mob rushing down the streets. "What in the name of-" His own words died in his mouth as he quickly turned and started pushing all the young ponies to the side.

As he shoved the last one away, the mob charged right in front of the children. The lot blinked at the sight, confusion on each face as Grand glanced back and now saw Flash flying after them, "Hey kiddo, what's-

"Can't talk!" Flash yelled as he flew overhead, "Gotta stop major crisis!"

"But-" Grand tried to say, but it was too late. The sight made Grand sigh, "Ugh...I'm too old for this-" He stopped himself as he saw the youngsters all staring at him, making him look away, "Uh...stuff. I'm too old for this stuff."

---

Back to Flash and Spike...

The two had finally reached the mob as it arrived at the tower, Flash going straight up to the door before they got there. "Wait!" Spike yelled as he jumped off Flash's back, now flashing his claws at the crowd.

"What is it now?!" Fancy Pants roared as the others glared at him, "There's an angry mob here that demands satisfaction!"

Flash flared his wings at this, "Yeah...about that. You do realize you're planning to storm the royal chambers, which the last I checked was an act of treason?" The group all stopped yelling as Flash lowered his wings, now walking in front of Spike as he continued, "Secondly, the princess isn't the one at fault right now."

"What are you talking about?! Of course she is!"

"No, she isn't. She hasn't even been conscious for the last few hours." The ponies all blinked at this, exchanging glances as Flash sighed at this sight, shaking his head, "Listen, she's asleep. And before you start yelling about that, I'd like to see you go through fifty-two hours of non-stop awakeness without needing a long nap after it."

"But if the princess has been asleep this whole time, who was the one giving out the orders that caused this huge mess?"

The reply they got was Flash using his wings to grab Spike, flipping over his head as the drake was now sweating waterfalls. A huge gulp went down his throat as every eye bored down upon him. "Uh...hi."

But as everypony opened their mouths for the greatest unified roar ever, the sound of doors interrupted the might screech. It was Twilight, pulling out the earplugs as a refreshed yawn left her. "Morning everypony...or should I say afternoon? Anyways, do you know...if the...water main...got fixed?" She rubbed her eyes as she now saw a horde of ponies standing behind Flash and Spike, a small frown creeping onto her face, "Um...did something happen?"

Before the duo could respond, Fancy Pants stepped up beside them. "Many apologies your majesty, but a bit of a situation has occurred and...well, we were all blaming you until a few seconds ago."

"A situation?" Twilight asked, turning to Flash and Spike with raised eyebrows. "What's going on?"

Once again, Flash used his wing to push Spike into the limelight, the defender adding, "Why don't you ask him?"

Spike tried to yell back at the knight, only to feel his mother figure's disapproving glare now glued onto him. Gulping at the sight, he twiddled his claws as he replied, "Well uh...you see...um...you needed to sleep, and Princess Cadance told me you weren't to be disturbed. And then there was this bird and, well..." He slumped over with a sigh, "Long story short, I made a few decisions on your behalf."

---

"A few decisions?! This a few?!" Twilight yelped as she now saw the destroyed reception hall, Flash expecting a full-on Twilighting panic attack any second.

The knight was now standing next to Cadance and Springer as Spike stared at the floor, "Well...maybe more than a few...but I had good intentions! Honest!" He felt the burning gazes on the back of his head as he looked back up, Twilight's face now directly in front of his, "That is...until I...didn't anymore." Twilight began to growl, Flash and the others ready to restrain her if necessary as Spike continued, "I'm sorry Twilight. I guess I got a little carried away. It-it just felt so good to have ponies caring about my opinions on such important matters. I guess I was just enjoying feeling like a princess."

Flash sighed as he watched Spike look down again in shame. "I guess I'm to blame too. I was supposed to be your actual stand-in, but I didn't act in time."

Twilight glared back at him, her eyes then glancing over to Cadance and Springer. The two simply shrugged, making her sigh before turning back to the little dragon. "Well Spike, one of the most important things a princess can do is realize when she's made a mistake, and fix it."

"How do I do that?"

"You could start with them," Cadance pointed to the dignitaries as they started to walk into the room.

Spike gulped as tried to backpedal away, only to feel Twilight's magic push him up to the stage. There, he began to twiddle his claws again as he spoke up, "Uh...hi there, everypony. So I guess I owe you all a pretty big apology. It's funny. Here we are at a summit that brings together ponies from all across Equestria, and all I could think about was myself. You all came here to celebrate the things that make each of our cities so unique and special." Everypony seemed to agree with this, giving small nods as he continued. "But instead of getting into the spirit of things like all of you, I used my friend's position to make myself feel good. And...I'm sorry for that."

It was at this moment he spotted one of the gems that had been a part of the statue at his feet, the drake now picking it up and staring at his reflection. Everypony watched as he jumped off the stage and moved over to the rest of the gems, trying to stack them together despite it continuing to fall apart. The mob all glanced at each other, only for Fancy Pants to step in front of them. Before they could react, he walked up to Spike and grabbed a gem, moving it to another part of the statue. "The Canterlot ruby goes here, old sport."

Spike gasped at this, only to see the mare he had talked to earlier walk up and put another gem in place, "And ours goes here, don'tcha know?" The rest of the delegates all began to follow suite, each taking their gem as they started to put the statue back together.

Before long, it was good as new, Spike marveling at the sight as he said, "Does this mean you forgive me?"

"Sure!" The stallion from Manehatten replied. "You know, the whole idea of the statue is that when each of us plays our own small part, it adds up to somethin' great."

"Quite," Fancy Pants added. "Just like how all our cities make up the beautiful land of Equestria!"

Everypony nodded in agreement as they looked back up at the beautiful statue. As they did this, Cadance spoke her declaration. "I hereby dedicate the Citizens of Equestria statue to everypony who plays their part, no matter how big or how small!" She turned to Spike as she said that, the little dragon smiling as one of the delegates gave him a bouquet of flowers.

He chuckled while accepting them, taking a big sniff before realizing they were the Sneeze Trees. "Aw, come on!" He slowly began to inhale, everypony gasping before Springer jumped in, placing a paw under his nose before knocking the bouquet away.

This halted the sneeze, making everypony sigh in relief as Springer growled, "Seriously, can we get rid of those things?! They're starting to become a health hazard."

Everypony laughed at this as Twilight walked up to Flash. "Thanks for covering for me."

"Anytime," he replied while pulling her in for a hug. "But sorry I let Spike take things this far."

"It's okay. As bad as things got, they probably would have been even worse without you here. I hate to imagine what Spike would have done with the bigger issues..."

"He probably would've asked you." Flash chimed in, "And in your exhausted state, you probably would have said something silly and they might have actually done it." For some strange reason, the image of a pony putting hay in an apple and eating a candle appeared at the forefront of his mind. "Eh, whatever. Next time there's a diplomatic event, I'll leave the politics to you and stick to my old standby of hitting things." This got Twilight to roll her eyes, making him pout, "What?! It's never failed before."

"You are such a meathead."

Flash tried to respond, but his words were drowned out by Cadance and Twilight laughing, making him sigh as they began to enjoy the rest of the reception. The Grand Pony Summit's opening hadn't been...perfect, but now it seemed things were back on track. Equestria was still united and stronger than ever, and nothing would ever change that.

Author's Note:

I know this chapter wasn't that much different from cannon, but with the last few chapters being practically made from scratch I needed to recharge my imagination. Hope you liked it.

Comments

[Unshackled_Unbroken]

Even though MLP already ended, Im glad this site is still up and running. Imagination never ceases to amaze...

Along with that line, im waiting for the the new villain to show his colors. Either the information about him, and his cult....

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Glad that at least you put Spike in a much better position here than the actual episode, I enjoyed it!

Still missing MLP so bad, glad this site can still give us some pretty awesome stories from our beloved characters!

[Foxhelm]

Does paint Spkie better as an unintentional antagonist, I think farther deviation form the source material would have been better. Still not bad

[Godslittleprincess]

Yeah, you're right. I honestly don't have much to say here.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Nice job with this. I don’t mind if it is mostly the same as the source episode, any small changes or just seeing it from a different perspective is fun. Now I wonder what will be up next?

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh wait, almost forgot. I'm guessing the "study juice" is basically Equestrian Red Bull.

[Kayceejr91]

Nice and I'm thinking the next chapter is going to be party pooped about the yaks scene they anx some of the other creatures of equestria played a big part? Speaking of which I think Gallus would make a good royal knight Apprentice to Flash becuse they have Similar back stories.

[HolyCross9]

At least Spike's butt-monkey habits were reduced a might thanks to Flash and Springer's involvement.

[Unshackled_Unbroken]

WAIT A FLIPPIN MINUTE! Guys I just realized that Sunset Shimmer was actually Flash's first kiss! And still we haven't had a reaction fron Twilight, means that Twilight still doesnt know... Ohhh mama, This s#!ts gon' be good!

[SuperSonicHeroes]

9912733
Well I think that one is a bit debatable since it was forced on him and he didn't kiss Sunset back. I think it can be safe to say Twilight was his first real kiss.

[Reximus-Prime]

Are you planning on doing Scaremaster on Halloween?

[Banshee531]

9912880 No. That chapter's ages away.

[Reximus-Prime]

9912886
Just asking.

[Unshackled_Unbroken]

9912811
Still, I wanna see Twilight's reaction when she learns about that part. In fact, if she did learn of this Flash would get chainned until he tells the whole story.

[Unshackled_Unbroken]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcT8du2OP5MugcC3wP_PSXttPrnXsBWPPttS-wWy5W5eecuN4od3