With her new princess title, Twilight feels she has more study to do in the fields of magic and flight. Staying up more than her mind and body can take, it is up to her new personal guard to take care of her.
Twilight is troubled by her new title and is constantly driving herself to sleep deprivation every night since her coronation. Princess Celestia is worried about her, so she sends a personal guard for her. Flash Sentry. Cute moments, arguments, funny situations and romance are now in the life of the new princess. Until she is called to Canterlot because of a new threat to Equestria. Oni Fire, a night pony devoted to his princess of the night. Twilight, Flash and White Fur will discover the key to defeat their enemies.
Twilight knew she should stop staying up late at night. Lying on the not so comfortable wooden floor surrounded by thick magic books and scrolls in different fields of studies.
Her eyes were heavy and her body begged for rest. But the alicorn ignored her tiredness and tried to keep reading her thick book, the room was light by just candles gave the place a sleepy atmosphere. Spike had tried to take her to her room several times, but had failed as always, to get Twilight out of her studies was almost impossible, only she gave herself permission to rest, something she had not done since the acquisition of her new 'princess' title.
This new responsibility had led her to the conclusion that she should put more effort into her studies and should do more in her research about magic in all possible fields, if that was not enough, having wings made her study the magic involved with the Pegasi, investigating how they were able to walk on clouds, what gave them the ability to manipulate them, the process of creating storms, rainbows and more.
Apart from her studies Twilight had to learn to fly and exercise full control over her wings.
Rainbow dash had tried to teach her to fly several times but a Pegasus, who naturally had the ability to fly, which had the opportunity to practice for years since childhood, was not be able to understand that flying was something complicated, strange and almost impossible for a pony that had been a unicorn since birth, in other words, a pony that didn’t feel flying a natural thing.
Rainbow was not the most patient for the task, so she stopped trying to teach Twilight.
Twilight had stopped reading her for a while now, her eyes just followed the words without reading them and her head slowly fell down, letting it rest on her thick book.
Strong heavy whooves alerted Twilight who immediately went back to reading her book.
"Princess! What are you doing awake at this hour, you must rest!" The Pegasus stallion said with a gentle but authoritative voice.
"I still have one chapter more, it'll end soon, I promise," Twilight said in a tired voice, not bothering to look at her companion.
The stallion frowned; shaking his head he stood in front of the great book that Twilight was reading and kept insisting.
"Princess, your health is more important than any study, if you continue like that you could get sick, you can continue with the chapter tomorrow okay?"
Twilight let out a big sigh, looking up she found the big orange stallion stripped of his golden Royal Guard armor, exposing his messy blue mane and muscular body covered with old scars hidden in his orange coat.
And then she pouted.
"You should not worry so much for me, I've done this a long time and I never got sick," she protested.
The guard looked at her with worried eyes.
"Princess..."
"Stop calling me princess, it is still very weird for me and you’re not wearing your armor and I’m not wearing my crown, so there is no need for titles-."
The Pegasus let out a big sigh, ignoring Twilights obsessive study habits, he placed his hoof on Twilights book and pushed until it was out of sight. "Hey..." Twilight protested, rising suddenly, sleep making her wobble on her legs.
The stallion held her preventing her from falling, his wings protectively wrapping her smaller body, gluing her to his chest.
"See? You cannot even stand properly, your body is asking for rest," he said.
"But..." Twilight resisted his logic. Failing miserably in the process.
"Armor or not I am your royal guard and is my job to protect and assist you in whatever you need, you need rest and like it or not. It's my job to keep you safe, and making you sleep at a decent hour is part of my job too," he replied.
The Pegasus instinctively raised his hoof fixing part of Twilights messy mane. She blushed at the gesture and let out a big yawn.
Flash Sentry smiled warmly and placed her in his back, Twilight let herself to be carried to her room without any complaint. She surrendered herself to fatigue, she felt herself being gently placed in her bed and wrapped in a blanket.
"Rest princess," said the stallion heading back to the stairs, promptly disobeying Twilights wishes.
"Flash..." Twilight said opening her eyes.
The Pegasus turned and sat at the foot of the bed.
"Is it hard being a royal guard?" She asked sleepily, yawning at the end.
"Well sometimes it is and sometimes not, to stand hours at a place doing nothing sometimes becomes boring, training is hard and tiring, fighting with hydras, Timberwolves and some other weird creature gives you wounds but in the end I would not change it for anything, because I know I will protect others."
Twilight listened carefully.
"Ever thought of leaving your responsibilities and just do what you want?"
Flash thought for a moment, then gave a small satisfied smile.
"No... my decisions and actions have taken me through pain and fatigue, but also gave me happiness and satisfaction with myself. I like to be useful and necessary for the princesses and for you, after all I wouldn’t have accepted being you’re personal royal guard if I wouldn’t have wanted to."
Twilight smiled.
"And I wouldn’t have wanted any other guard."
"I wouldn’t have wanted any other princess," replied the Pegasus with a warm, gentle smile.
Twilight closed her eyes and drove herself to sleep. Flash contemplated the beautiful mare for a few more minutes and then nuzzled her mane.
"Rest... my Princess."
He slowly went down the stairs in silence
Twilight smiled opening her eyes for the last time, taking one last look at the handsome, orange stallion going down the stairs.
"Rest... my Royal Guard."
Flash fetched his armor and stood at his post, in front of Twilights door. He was not able to take his smile off of his face.
"Oh Celestia… what have I gotten myself into?" Asked the tired Pegasus stallion to himself.
Mornings were slow in the library, Twilight woke up slowly, taking her time in everything she did to get ready. Anypony would assume that a princess who is also a scientist would wake up super early and immediately start working again, but Twilight, following Flash´s advice of keeping her studies at a regular level decided to take things slow for a while.
She woke up and stayed in bed for a while, taking in the bright sunlight mixing with the colors of the wooden walls. Stretching her wings and flapping them lightly, she moved to her mirror and hummed a tune while combing her mane. After that she brushed her teeth and stayed in her bed reading fantasy novels and romance stories. Downstairs Spike did his chores as always, fixing old books, re-shelving, cleaning, sweeping, dusting, cooking and after that just lazed around the living room.
The Pegasus stallion stood outside Twilight´s door, heavy golden armor on him. The stallion was the only one who woke up early. Faithfull to his duty, he woke up every day at 4am, cooked some meal for himself, put on his armor and stood in front of Twilight´s door waiting her to come out. Twilight came out of her room with a big smile on her face.
“Good morning princess, you look pretty happy” said the armored stallion.
“Well, following your advice, I stopped studying hard at nights and decided to stay a little more time in bed every day.”
Twilight said while going down the stairs, smelling the sweet scent of food prepared by Spike, her smile grew wider.
“I´m glad that you changed your studying hours” said Flash following her to the stairs.
“I couldn’t let you stay up for me anymore, you do look tired, are you sure you have to wake up at 4am every morning?”
Twilight said sitting on her favorite cushion and pouring down fresh orange juice in a glass.
The stallion smiled. “It´s part of my job princess; I have to be up early in case something happens or if you need my assistance”. Twilight chuckled.
“Why would I need your assistance at 4am? I´m asleep at that hour” The stallion answered her with a calm serious face.
“Trust me princess, there will be a moment where you will need me, and I'll be there for you”
Twilight smiled and blushed a little. Trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach she ate her breakfast.
“Good morning Twilight, good morning Flash!” said the baby dragon coming out of the kitchen in his pink fluffy apron. Twilight and Flash greeted the dragon.
“So… what are we going to do today?,a trip to sugar cube corner?, adventure with Zekora at the Everfree forest?.” Said the purple baby dragon eating a handful of tiny gems mixed with milk in a bowl.
The mare looked at him a little bit confused.
“Why this sudden need of adventure?” asked Twilight.
“We have been stuck inside the library for three days now!!. I´m bored”
Twilight realized that she had been locked inside her library for three days without going out.
“Wow! I've been studying like crazy for three days?” Twilight shouted in a high pitched voice.
Flash wanted to laugh, but his position did not allow him to.
“That is correct princess, If I may suggest, it would be refreshing for yourself to go out and have fun with your friends.”
Twilight looked at the orange armored stallion and smiled at him, a realization streaked her mind.
“OH CELESTIA!!!!!! WE DIDN'T SETTLE YOU DOWN HERE, YOU DON'T HAVE CLOTHES, A ROOM … BY LUNA… YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ANYTHING TO ENTERTAIN YOURSELF!!!!”
Twilight went completely crazy; she rushed to her room stumbling in the stairs, her wings flapping on their own, creating currents of air that threw the books from a nearby shelf.
“She really needs to gain more control over her wings” Flash said to Spike with an amused look in his face.
“Well good luck on that” Spike said fixing the messy table.
“uuuhh…. What do you mean?” the orange Pegasus asked.
“ well, Rainbow Dash can´t teach her, Fluttershy is afraid she might give her a bad coaching due to her being scared of heights and all the Pegasi teachers are busy or live up in cloudsdale, that leaves only you big guy, you have to teach her how to gain full control over her wings” Spike looked at the stallions reaccion.
“What!, I´m not a teacher, I never taught anypony how to fly! Besides, flying for mares and for stallions requires different techniques!” Flash said.
Spike looked confused.
“What do you mean? “
“Stallions are bigger, bigger bones, bigger wings, it´s harder for us to learn how to fly. Mares are lighter, it´s easier for them to fly, even If I get her off the ground I wouldn’t be able to teach her the techniques”
Spiked smiled at him.
“ you're over thinking this too much, we're talking about Twilight Sparkle here, the smartest pony ever, I´m sure she will figure out a way to convert stallion flight techniques to mare ones.”
Spike disappeared through the kitchen door, leaving the orange stallion over thinking his new task. “How the buck I´m going to teach a mare how to fly!?”
Before he could say more of his thoughts out loud Twilight ran down the stairs with her saddle bag full of bits Celestia had gave her for expenses like this.
“OK!! I'm ready, you’re ready?! We have to go before that market gets stuffed with ponies” The stallion followed the mare hesitantly.
“Princess what is exactly what you’re going to do with a bag full of bits?”
The lavender alicorn turned her crazy expressive face to the stallion . “Didn’t you listen to me? all you brought here is a lousy toothbrush a comb and your armor!!!” we have to get you stuff for the spare room in the library, we'll make that your room now”
Twilight opened the door magically, stepping out followed closely by the surprised guard.
“ your highness, I don't think it´s right for you to buy things for my comfort, it´s a terrible idea!, you need to understand that there are new boundaries with your new position. You may see this as a nice gesture for a friend, but you have to understand that you’re not a regular pony anymore, I´m your guard, you’re a princess, princess’s don't buy stuff for their guards”
Twilight looked at him with a blank face, as soon as the orange pegasus finished talking she smiled warmly at him. “Look I know that it looks weird, I know that is something even Celestia would not approve, but you’re my guard, not hers, you are my first royal guard”
Twilight placed her hoof on the Flash´s emblem, instead of the normal blue star, a six pointed sparkle adorned the stallion’s armor, a symbol that showed that he was loyal to Twilight more than he was to Celestia. “Letting the whole princess and guard relationship boundaries aside, you ARE my friend, a friend that has nothing a pony needs; I will not let my guard sleep on a blanket in an empty room no more”
Flash smiled.
“Ok princess I'll follow your wishes” the stallion said following Twilight to the street market.
Flash admired his new room, a comfy bed with a red blanket and a big mushy pillow, a furry rug to lay down and a shelf for books and other personal belongings. The walls were only decorated by a poster of his favorite band IRON MAREDEN. Looking at the poster he started to remember his colthood.
A little Pegasus colt with no worries and lots of dreams, living in the Pegasus neighborhood in Canterlot, he was always very friendly with his classmates and was never bullied, he never had any difficulties in making friends, but he wasn't very social, being good at sports and with math, he was admired by everyone, but he never liked the attention.
He knew he had a lot of friends, but he knew who of his so called friends were REALLY. When he was old enough to be called a young stallion, he started to gain interest in rock music. Most of the ponies did not enjoy heavy rock, but he loved it. The energy in the music, the electric sound of the guitar, the lyrics talking about power and freedom, made him feel powerful and free, almost as he could do anything.
His best friend was an orange unicorn mare with a mane that looked like fire, she had a wonderful personality, but she always acted different with ponies who didn’t agree with her, sharing the same taste in music, they felt the same passion for it, Flash knew she was not very nice with other ponies, he tried to make her understand she was acting like a bully, but only got to be treated the same, so he stopped hanging out with her.
Flying through the sky he listened his favorite songs in his head, replaying them over and over again, loving the sensation the music gave him, he felt no more fear when doing crazy loops in the air. The music almost felt like a storm that was Flash´s favorite and most dangerous hobby, flying in to a storm while replaying his favorite songs in his head to gain power and control over his wings to surpass the tornados and thunders. In one of these crazy flying sessions he gained his cutie mark.
Flash grew to be a big strong Pegasus, perfectly fitted for the royal guard, He didn’t find anything else to do with his life more than enlisting himself for the royal guard and listening to his favorite music. Pegasi stallions were not always big and strong as an earth pony, keeping their bodies slim with light hooves, there were more fit for weather work. The Pegasi with a big body constitution resembling an earth pony were few but not rare, with an earth pony’s strength and the ability to fly and manipulate weather, they were always encouraged to be guards instead of weather ponies.
So that´s what Flash did, if his strength was needed, he was happy to provide it and serve to the princess with pride and joy.
Flash smiled at his poster, the picture lighted memories of his first year as a royal guard in the Canterlot castle. He remembered the first time he tried his armor, one year of heavy training made the heavy metal suit feel as light as a feather to him, he was asked if he wanted a camouflage spell with his armor, this would mask his true colors while wearing it to protect his identity in case enemies would go after him or his family. Flash didn’t accept it, he had no family, no marefirend and the idea of looking different made him feel weird.
Working at the castle was a little bit boring, standing near doors, guarding meetings and pulling the royal carriage was something he had to do every day. He loved his job when the princess had to travel to nearby kingdoms, he was able to stretch his wings and fight rebel gryphon, hydras, dragons and other creatures who dared to think of harming the princess. He received a lot of superficial wounds, he didn’t care about them at all, not when he was able to fight powerful creatures like the lyrics of his favorite songs told. He loved the adrenaline; he felt power and control, hearing the music in his head while fighting.
“Flash, Spike made cupcakes, would you like some?” Twilight said, poking her head through the open door.
“I would like that princess thank you”
Twilight looked at the poster he was admiring; it was the poster they bought at the music store.
“Wow, now that I look at it carefully, it seems that your taste in music is pretty heavy”
Flash chuckled
“Is not that heavy princess, but I do have to admit, it´s not for everypony”
Twilight frowned, studying the stallions that appeared in the poster, they all looked angry, long messy manes, black spiky accessories.
“They look a little bit creepy” Twilight said staring at the picture.
“Not a lot of mares understand it… it´s mostly… a stallion’s type of music”
Twilight gasped in surprise….. There were mares who liked this? Rainbow Dash appeared in her head, yes…. she looked like the type of mare who would enjoy this kind of music.
“I can think of a mare that would enjoy it” Twilight said while walking to the kitchen. Flash followed her.
“Have you ever listened to it?” Flash asked.
Twilight passed him a carrot cupcake.
“Never, I listened to some of my brother´s friend cd’s when I was little; it sounded like rage and pure noise that didn’t make any sense”
“Not all heavy rock bands sound like that” Flash said while eating another cupcake
“Really?” Twilight asked, she levitated another cupcake to her mouth.
“Yes, there are many types of heavy music, some talk about power freedom and anarchy, others talk about killing and murder but they all share the same basic sound” Flash watched Twilight´s face and tried not to laugh.
“There are songs about killing and murder?” Twilight asked in a high pitched voice.
Flash blushed a little, he wasn't exactly defending his type of music.
“Yea…umm, there are”
Twilight frowned.
“And ponies like this?”
“uuumm, yea…. some” Flash started to get nervous, Twilights started to look angry.
“And you tell me that…. There are mares that like it to?”
“I never met a mare who liked that particular topic in songs, but I suppose there are”
Twilight stood close to him, sticking her face out, glaring at the stallion with her big angry purple eyes .
“Do you like it?” she asked with a deadly voice.
“I like heavy music, but not the ones who sing about killing and murder”
Twilight glared at him for a few seconds more, and then she closed her eyes and sighed .
“Ok, I believe you… let’s hear one song”
“You want to hear one?” Flash asked, he couldn't hide his surprise, a young super intelligent, scientist princess was asking to hear heavy rock music? He couldn't find an explanation of this being possible.
Bringing his radio he started looking for a song for her to listen, songs about believing in yourself, about feeling free, songs about feeling lonely, lost loves, longing for somebody, finally Flash knew what song to show her, the one he always listened in his head while flying through a storm.
He pressed play and let the music fill the kitchen, he felt his heart filling with emotions, he felt power, control, freedom and happiness, he looked at the mare standing in front of him, Twilight was still, her eyes were closed, her breathing became calm, she rose her head high, her wings stretched in all their glory, a smile adorned her face.
Flash could not stop looking at her, her face, those long eyelashes, her slim neck, her long silky mane, and her beautiful wings catching the sunlight making her feathers glow with tiny rainbow lights. He felt his heart stop, she was beautiful, she looked like a goddess to him, Twilight felt like the embodiment of the emotions he felt in a storm.
The music ended, Twilight lowered her head, folded her wings and opened her eyes, in them, and Flash could see a new sparkle. With a gentle smile, she looked at him.
“I now understand it” Twilight said, looking at the stallion with bright eyes .
“You looked like you were enjoying it” Flash said, not being able to control his blushing.
Twilight blushed hard, her face turning read.
“Yea.. hehe… I kind of got carried away there”
“That´s what it does, the music generates emotions in you and carries you away with them” Flash said feeling the same emotions he felt when he saw Twilight in all her glory.
“What did you feel?” Flash asked.
Twilight looked at him; she smiled and closed her eyes, carrying a hoof to her heart she said
“I felt complete”
Flash smiled at her, never he have seen her so beautiful, so majestic, he again felt his heart thundering in his chest, in that instant he knew that the song would not remind him of storms anymore, instead it would remind him of the beautiful princess of magic with her head high and outstretched wings catching the sunlight, gleaming in her fur and feathers….. And the love he felt for her.
Flying was hard… it was harder than learning magic, and a lot more tiring. At least books never made you sweat. Twilight hated sweating. Flash decided that Spike had had enough of picking books up all day; Twilight didn’t control her wings and knocked all the books from a nearby shelf every time she got too excited.
So Flash decided to give Twilight flying lessons, or at least he decided to try.
In a hidden patch of forest the two ponies decided to practice, Flash stripped of his armor to move more freely.
“Ok princess, first we need to get you to control your wings completely, in order for you to do that you need to use them. Your wings are connected directly to your spine and your spine is connected to your brain, your brain controls your body. Now … pegasi foals are slower when learning how to walk and fly, we have six limbs to control, so it´s a little bit harder.”
Twilight tried to calm down; she was so nervous her wings sticked to her frame like they were glued to her body.
“Princess copy me ok?” Flash unfolded his wings and stretched them to their full extent.
Twilight unfolded her wings as Flash told her.
“Now close your eyes princess, try to feel every single feather, every single bone, you need to complete the connection with your brain”
Twilight closed her eyes she tried to feel her wings, every single feather every single bone.
“You feel them?” Flash asked.
“I think I do”
Flash opened his eyes, Twilight´s wings were vibrating, and he smiled. Twilight´s wings were begging to fly.
“You feel them vibrate?”
“Yes … feels very weird” Twilight answered.
“Good princess, now flap your wings, but gently”
Twilight obeyed, slowly and gently she started to flap her wings.
“Excellent princess, flap them a little faster”
Twilight flapped them faster; she felt her body being lifted from the ground.
“I´m doing it!!! I´m flying!!!” Twilight was no longer touching the ground, her whole body suspended in mid air, Flash smiled calmly at her. For a pegasi a first flight was something unique, but for a pony who earned its wings a first flight was something almost unimaginable.
Flash took off, joining Twilight in the air.
“Now you control your wings princess, congratulations. For the next step we gain altitude” Flash took Twilight´s hoof in to his, leading her up in the air.
“Uhhh… Flash I'm not sure I…”
“You'll be fine princess… trust me” Twilight looked at Flash´s eyes; in them she saw a spark.
Twilight smiled at him. They flew slowly to a low cloud and sat there. Twilight looked down, the ground seemed to be far away, she felt weird watching the ground, and it almost looked like a picture of green and brown patches.
“Ok princess, you’re making big progress, now we will try to get you to that cloud over there, but this time you will do it alone ok?, I´ll be flying right next to you, this time you will have to add more force to your flapping ”
Twilight frowned.
“Alone?! I´ll fall!!!, no… I don't want to do it alone…. It´s too high”
Flash sighed. Smiling at Twilight he looked at her and calmed her with a gentle voice.
“Princess, calm down. It´s not that high, and I´ll be right next to you”
Twilight took a deep breath, closing her eyes she repeated the same steps, slowly she took off from the cloud, she opened her eyes in mid air, Flash was right in front of her. She flapped harder, trying to focus on the cloud over her head. The cloud became closer and closer, regaining her confidence she flapped her wings harder gaining speed, just when she was about to reach the cloud she felt wings heavy, she became tired and she was starting to loose paising.
“Princess, do not force your wings, regain your paising, if you add too much force you´ll get tired” Flash took her hoof in his, if she got too tired her wings would instantly unfold to her body. Twilight tried to pick up a gentler page, it was hard, and she started panting. Flash´s hoof tighten around Twilight’s.
“It´s ok princess, relax… breathe … you know you can do this… focus on your wings”
Twilight listened to Flash´s soothing voice, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it she remembered the pacing, slowly she regained control and started to move upwards to the cloud. She landed on the mushy surface with a big smile filled with confidence.
“I did it!!!... well you still had to hold my hoof, but still I did it!!!” Twilight jumped up and down in glee.
Flash smiled, he still had to teach her a lot more, but watching her so happy made him feel warm inside.
“Keep your own pacing in mind while you’re flying, until it becomes natural to you you'll have to do that”
Twilight sat on the cloud catching her breath.
“You are a very good teacher Flash Sentry, it is an honor to be your first student” Twilight said, overacting her voice in a theatrical way.
Flash laughed silently.
After a few minutes of relaxing on the cloud, Twilight lifted her head up; a big patch of cloud floated a little bit too far in the air. Twilight started to think. She looked at Flash, who was resting with his eyes closed; Twilight looked at the cloud again. If she could fly to that cloud without Flash´s help she could continue to the next step in flying lessons.
Slowly she stood up, not making a single noise she flapped her wings carefully, she flew up and up silently, repeating her pacing in her head, concentrating all she could she started to fly to the big cloud. She smiled, full of confidence and feeling proud about herself she dared to add more force to her wings; she was now too high that the trees looked like green dots and the crops looked like squared shaped patches of different types of green.
She was almost there; she pictured her guard´s face filled with amazement, a pony that could fly this high in its first lesson, of course not any type of pony, an alicorn.
Twilight became overpowered by her pride and confidence. Of course she could do it!!!, she was an alicorn, the most powerful type of pony, the princess of magic herself, flying to that cloud should not even be a little bit hard……
Suddenly…
Twilight felt her wings heavy……..
She was flapping them too hard……
She held her breath……
….. …..
Her heart stopped…..
…. ….
Her mind froze…..
….. …..
And so did her wings.
She felt herself falling, pulled by gravity, she watched as the cloud becoming tinier. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t move.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to call her guard´s name but her body refused to move. She felt tears in her eyes. She felt her heart thundering in her chest, her vision started to blur. The shock overcame her mind.
Darkness invaded her eyes, a moment before the slipped into nothingness she heard her name being yelled in despair.
“TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!”
She woke up with a headache, her body felt weird and her wings hurt, her legs felt numb. She felt a wing covering her, her head rested against a furry muscular chest, it´s heart beating fast; she opened her eyes and looked at her guard´s face. Flash had a very serious face, frowning deeply, his breathing was long and slow trying to calm himself down.
His left wing covered Twilight´s body in a tight grip; he could not get the picture of Twilight´s body falling unconsciously to the ground. It didn't feel right for him letting go yet.
Twilight blushed heavily, not because she was strongly held by her guard in a very protective way, but because she couldn’t bare the shame she felt. She had disobeyed her guard´s advice, she had let herself been overpowered by her pride, she became too confident. She acted recklessly like a spoiled filly; she thought that just because of being an alicorn she would have been better in flying….. She was so wrong. Her reckless actions almost led her to certain death if Flash´s instincts hadn't told him something bad was happening.
Flash gave her a hurt look, folding his wing, he uncovered Twilight´s body.
“Maybe this will make you follow future instructions princess” Flash looked at Twilight´s wings and so did Twilight.
She gasped in horror, her beautiful wings were twisted, and her feathers were messy and sticking out in weird angles.
“The air pressure created by your fall hurt them enough, do not worry princess, they did not break…. But they were almost about to” Flash spoke in a low pitched voice, filled with concerned and anger.
He stood up immediately followed by Twilight who couldn’t look at his face.
“Let´s go home princess, we need to take care of your wings” Flash said dryly.
Flash walked a few steps ahead of Twilight, he stomped his hooves heavily in the ground applying great force pushing the ground with his heavy hooves. He needed to cool down, he was too angry and he didn't want her to notice, he heard Twilight´s hooves following him. She had been naïve, foolish, reckless. What she did was beyond stupid. The image of Twilight falling, the feeling of her tears in his face as he dived to catch her, the feeling of her lifeless body as he finally cached her. All that mixed up with his anger made him feel awful, he wanted to break something, he wanted to yell at her, to tell her how stupid the thing she had done was, he wanted to hug her, wrap her with his wings tightly to feel that she was still there, alive and safe.
The trip back home was dense, silent and it felt longer that it actually was. Spike greeted them with a happy face but the minute he saw Flash´s angry face with his muscles tense and Twilights ashamed face with her eyes looking at the floor, he knew that the best thing he could do was to stay silent.
The second he saw Twilight´s wings he went to the kitchen for the emergency kit. Flash couldn’t look at her yet, he was too angry. Following Spike he tried to calm down. Twilight looked at the stallions back; his muscles were extremely tensed up. She filled herself with courage and spoke in a low voice.
“I'm sorry” her voice cracked at the end. Flash stopped, still not looking at her.
“What I did was stupid, I thought I could do it, I…I wanted to surprise you, I wasn't thinking through……uuumm…are…are you angry?”
Flash listened carefully at Twilight´s voice; he could feel how sorry she was. He sighed heavily letting all the air out of his body.
“Just…. A little”
Flash left her alone. Twilight did not know what to do, or what to say.
“What happened?... is she ok?” Spike asked worriedly.
“She´s fine, I'll tell you later” Flash dryly responded.
“Are you ok?” Spike asked him, noticing again his tensed body.
Flash filled his lungs with air.
“I will be” he grabbed the emergency kit and left the kitchen.
Twilight tensed up when she saw him; she silently stood still while Flash carefully wrapped her wings to her body with bandages.
She couldn’t hold it anymore.
Turning her body, facing her guard, looking directly into his eyes, she buried her face into the stallion’s chest, her eyes flowing with big tears.
“I´m so so so sorry!, what I did was stupid, beyond stupid!!!, please don't be mad. It was so scary, I couldn't move, I wanted to yell, but I froze!!!...I….I…”
Flash covered her with his wings pressing her body against his, lowering himself; he rested his head on top of Twiligh´s.
“Shhh…It´s ok princess you’re safe now… I…I’m not angry…just a little tense” Flash calmed Twilight
He could feel Twilight´s sobbing calming down. He realized how scared she must had felt, how terrifying must have been to be so shocked, so scared that she couldn't even move or control her mind. Knowing that if she didn’t she would die.
After a while Twilight finally calmed down and stopped crying.
“Before I fainted… you screamed my name right?... It was you?” Twilight looked at her guard who blushed furiously.
“You scared me to hard princess, I forgot protocol”
“I have to almost die to get you to say my name?” Twilight joked feeling a lot more loosen up.
Flash ignored her question, knowing that she was joking.
“Time for bed princess, no studying for at least two weeks until your wings heal”
“What!!!, are you punishing me?!” Flash did not listen to her complaints, he smiled. Finally he was calm and Twilight was back to herself, he knew that it would be a while before another lesson, the healing and the shock would be a problem.
“Yes princess” Flash said in an authoritative voice, whipping the remaining tears of Twilight's face with his wings.
“I´m not a filly, you can't punish me!!”
“I´m your guard, my job is to protect you from others and from yourself in some cases… this is one of those cases…. Do not argue princess and go to rest” Flash pushed Twilight to the stairs with his right wing.
“Ok…ok….. Can I read one more chapter before?”
“Princess”
“Ok ok… I get ….. Good night”
“Rest princess”
Flash watched Twilight disappearing through the stairs, the minute he heard her door close, his body felt numb, his muscles untensed, his wings hurt, his legs went numb. He let his body fall to the ground in a loud thump.
“For Celestia´s plot….. That was too much” he silently said to himself.
Twilight hated to spend all her day in bed. It was something she thought was one of the most boring things to do. Flash had dragged her back to her bed every time she got out of her room. She could kick, hit and do whatever she could to free herself from his wings grip, but Flash would still take her no matter what.
The first week passed slowly and painfully for her, without heavy reading fantasy novels were not enough reading material to calm her. Spike had been backing up Flash all along, so she was alone. Or so she thought.
One the Monday of the second weekend she secretly wrote a letter to every single one of her friends sending her pet owl to deliver them. She smiled victoriously; soon the guard would not have enough strength to stop her from doing her studies.
Flash guarded Twilight´s door every three hours, then he would enter her room and make her stretch her wings 10 times. Twilight hated this, her wings felt weird because of being stuck to her body wrapped in bandages, unfolding them were a little painful, but Flash had told her she must do this otherwise her wings would not heal properly.
“It´s been a week since my stupid mistake, I've rested all you wanted, you kept me from reading my books and kept me in here like a prisoner.” Twilight said moving her hooves in the air while complaining.
“Princess stay still I can't wrap your wings properly” Flash ignored Twilight´s tantrum.
“You don't even listen to me, all you care about is fulfilling your duty as a guard, can´t you put yourself at my place, imagine if I make you stay in your room for a whole week without your music. How would you feel?”
Flash stopped for a second.
“The reason I'm doing this is for your own good, trust me I know more about wings than you princess, wings are delicate, you have to understand that.”
“I've been taking care of myself perfectly fine for a long time, I have read everything I need to know about flight and wings, I assure you, I can take care of myself!!”
Flash was about to respond in a louder tone, but a heavy knock interrupted him.
Twilight tried not to laugh. His doom was here; today the bossy guard would fall.
“I'll get that Princess, you stay here. Spike finish this for me please?”
Spike saluted him military style, and continued wrapping Twilight´s wings.
Flash went down stairs; he took his helmet from the book shelf and put it on.
“Identify yourself please” he said.
“I´ll identify myself alright!!! I´m Rarity, Twilight´s friend and element of generosity and if you don't open this door in this second I'LL RIP OFF YOUR STALLION HOOD!!!!”
Flash felt his ears hurt.
“Rarity, hold your horses. Do you really think he´s going to open the door if you talk to him like that” Said Applejack calming her down.
The guard opened the door, he knew what was coming, he felt himself pushed to the floor. He looked up and saw a very angry white mare staring at him with flames on her eyes.
“Listen you little stallion Pegasus, you better tell me why you have been keeping Twilight locked in her room for a week if you don't want things to get ugly!!!!!” Rarity yelled at the guard's face.
“Sugarcube, calm down!!!” Applejack pulled Rarity off from Flash.
“I'm very sorry, she's just a little…stressed because of Twilight´s letter”
“Flash Sentry !!! That´s your name right?!. WOW, HAHAHA!!! I´m Pinkie Pie, Twilight´s friend to. Hihi!!. I hope I can be your friend to. Nopony knows you properly yet, so maybe latter we can make you a welcome party!!!. Oh… but only if you are not bothering Twilight”
Flash stared amazed at the hyperactive pink pony taking at the speed of light.
“SO YOU'RE THE TOUGH GUY ?!. I thought I would see more for me to handle. Why have you been messing up with Twilight?. Think you can be the boss here big guy?” Rainbow Dash stared at the stallion directly in the eye.
“Mister… why are you bothering Twilight, has she done something wrong?”
Asked a very worried Fluttershy looking at him with big sad puppy dog eyes.
Flash took a moment to digest the situation he was in. A very angry beautiful unicorn with thick eyelashes, a blond maned muscular earth pony with a hat, a sugar high pink pony with a permanent smile on her face, a small cyan Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and a yellow one with an extremely long mane were barging in the tree house asking if he had bothered Twilight.
He closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh.
“Well played Princess, well played” he mumbled looking at the direction of Twilight´s room.
“Ladies I assure you I have not bothered the Princess in any way. She suffered from a flying accident a week ago and hurt her wings; I made her stay in bed in order for her to heal properly.”
“WHAT??!!!” Yelled all the mares at once.
“She never said anything about being hurt, is she ok?” Applejack asked.
“She is healing quickly and without problems” Flash told her.
“Can we see her?” asked Fluttershy.
“I hate to tell you this miss, but I think the Princess has tricked you to come here. She´s been trying everything to escape from her rest.” Flash explained.
“Why would she ever do that?!” Rarity whined.
“To be honest miss… I don't know”
Flash left the girls waiting in the living room, tensing his muscles; he went straight to Twilight´s room.
He opened the door without announcing himself and entered with a frown in his face. Twilight ignored him, combing her mane.
“I thought a guard needed to announce himself after entering the Princess Chambers”
“I have no time for this Princess, this time you have gone too far”
“I had to; you were keeping me here not letting me out. You were overstepping boundaries.”
“I was taking care of you, that´s my job, to keep you safe”
“You always say that!!! But keeping me locked inside is too much!!!” Twilight wiped her head facing Flash who was standing firm in full armor, listening to her words with a frown on his face.
“Your friends deserve an explanation; they are worried about you Princess, apparently your letter lacked of an explanation for why you have been here for a week.”
“Well I wasn´t thinking too much when I wrote it” she said blushing embarrassed.
Twilight left the room silently not looking at the stallion.
“We still have to talk later princess” Flash said in a deep voice.
Twilight didn’t answer.
Flash heard Twilight talking to her friends. He relaxed his muscles and took off his helmet.
“I´m sorry I knew she sent the letters, but I she made me promise… I”
“It´s ok Spike I understand” Flash cut him.
Twilight greeted her friends with an embarrassed smile. After all them scared a little over the amount of bandages around her frame she explained why she had written the letters.
“Sweetie we understand that you were feeling trapped in your home and that you were missing us, but you have been locking yourself inside your home weeks ago before this guard came because of your studies.” Rarity said.
“Also… isn't that the guard that reminds you of the boy you met in the other world?”Applejack asked.
“He looks like him, but trust me, he is not even close to resembling him” Twilight said frowning.
“Maybe you're acting this way because you like him” Pinkie Pie said calmly.
“WHAT!? No, I did it because he was being overprotective and bossy”
“Twilight, I hate to back him off but he did right keeping you here for a week, your injuries may not look so bad but trust me, taking care of wings is a big thing, injuries are not something to take lightly” Rainbow Dash told her.
“Call us if you need something” Fluttershy said giving her a hug.
“I would give those wigs another week to rest, don't forget to stretch them at least a day” said Rainbow following Fluttershy.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie said their goodbyes and left. Twilight sat in the living room for a couple of minutes, she had done it again. She had made a fool out of herself again, acting by an impulse. But she was angry at Flash this time. She didn’t feel bad about what she had done, she truly thought he exaggerated.
She went to her room prepared for a discussion with a Royal guard. Instead she found Flash stripped of his armor waiting for her. Spike passed her through the door, giving her a worried look he went down the stairs and disappeared through the kitchen.
She closed the door.
“And your armor?” she asked.
“This time I will play your game princess, no armor, no protocol, so I can say my piece” Flash said turning himself facing Twilight.
“What do you have to say? Everything is fine now, I explained to my friends why I did what I did, made a complete fool of myself and even got lectured.”
“OH I do!!! You humiliated me as a guard with what you did! You left your friends with the impression that I was a joke. That I was bothering you!!! , trapping you inside your room against your free will like you were really in danger”
“You were exaggerating!!! I had to teach you a lesson!!!”
“WHAT LESSON??? That I can´t be overprotective for once because you nearly died?! Do you have any idea of what you put me through that day?”
Twilight froze.
“It´s true that I overstepped the boundaries between us, It´s true that I have been exaggerating, but it´s only because I care about you, not only as part of my duty as your guard, but also because I care about you as a friend. Sometimes I don't see a Princess…. I just see a mare that needs my help”
Twilight remembered those nights being carried in his back to bed, the casual talks as if they were a couple, the lack of protocol, the smiles, the music, the hugs. She finally understood what he meant. Those actions were not given because of his responsibility as a guard; they were given as a genuine form of care from him to her. They were not tied to his duty; they were tied to something else.
“Maybe I've been too …. Friendly with you Princess, and since you seem… bothered by that, maybe I should leave”
Twilight looked at him, his face showing sadness.
“No…I …uummm…. I'm not bothered by that, I don't want you to leave… I´m …happy that you have been friendly with me; to be honest I like it. It´s just that…you…umm I've never had any kind of relationship with a stallion apart from my brother… I…umm…I”
Twilight was extremely nervous, she never had any kind of difficulty explaining herself, this was the first time, she couldn't find words to explain herself.
Flash took her hoof in his.
Twilight raised her head looking straight in to his eyes, in them she found the words she was looking for. Without saying anything, Flash pulled Twilight in to a hug, he wrapped his wings and rested his head on hers. Twilight heard Flash´s heart pounding in his chest, her cheeks reddened.
None of them knew what was exactly what they were doing. It was just something they felt it was right.
Flash opened his eyes, he looked at the window. Night time was present. At a certain distance a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at him. He frowned, they were being watched.
“I think it´s time for you to rest Princess” Flash said fixing Twilight´s hair, caressing her face with his right wing.
“Good night” said Twilight.
“Good night” said Flash.
As soon as he went down the stairs he opened the door slowly. Walking ahead for a while, he lifted his head only to find the same pair of yellow glowing eyes staring at him.
“I know it's you Oni Fire” Flash said in a deep serious voice.
The eyes disappeared in a fraction of a second, and a tall gray night pony with a deep blue mane and covered in scars appeared in front of Flash.
“It´s been quite a while” Flash said frowning deeply.
“I've missed you fluffy wings, the wasteland´s threats are not that excited to fight now that I'm all by myself” said the night Pony stretching his leathery wings filled with holes.
“What do you want Oni” Flash asked
The dark stallion gazed at him with his bright yellow eyes, letting a small grin showing his sharp fangs.
“I've been sent here for you and the Princess, Princess Luna requires her in Canterlot, oh by the way, if my eyes don't trick me, you and the Princess are… quite friendly with each other right?”
“None of your business Oni Fire, now, would you care to tell me what is the reason for Princess Twilight´s presence in Canterlot”
Twilight made herself comfortable in her bed, wrapping herself with the light blanket she tried to sleep, every time she closed her eyes an image of Flash would appear in her head. She cursed lightly and rolled on her bed, groaning and whining. She … in a certain way had kind of confessed her feeling to him, and he had done the same, she smiled. Why was she complaining? There was absolutely no problem with having romantic feeling towards somepony, if that somepony wasn't a guard that was supposed to serve you and protect you because of your title.
It was true that her brother had been a regular guard before he became captain and that he and Cadence were romantically involved during that time, it didn't matter that she was a Princess and he a guard because they were already in a relationship before Cadence, still being an Alicorn, had started performing her role as a monarch.
Cadence met Shining Armor when she started foal sitting Twilight, She was an Alicorn at the moment, but she was still a teenager so she wasn't able to perform her duties as a princess, instead of not doing anything she became a foalsitter for anyone who needed such assistance.
Cadence and her brother had cultivated their love through years of relationship. It was different with her and Flash, she only knew him for for almost a month now, and relationships took more time than that to get to the point where it would get romantic.
She came to the conclusion that this was not love…still. Her feelings were attraction, the famous like like somepony, in other words liking somepony more than just a friend. She sighed relieved, there was absolutely nothing irrelevant with that. She was a young mare, young mares are naturally attracted to stallions that are appealing to them, it´s one of the most natural things in the world.
She closed her eyes, laughing at her own obsession over nothing she tried to sleep. Another image of Flash appeared in her head, this time it was not the same as the other ones, this image was Human Flash. Her body reacted instantly, sitting on her bed she started over thinking again.
No, there was a problem with her feelings, she knew Flash more than she had made him believe she did. She had known him before she knew the Flash that was with her now. Another Flash that in the same time was the Flash that was with her.
She couldn't help herself by thinking if she liked this stallion because he reminded her of his Human version. But then she thought, they were the same person, so she wasn't liking this stallion just because he looked like the boy. But they were so different and in the same time, they were so alike.
She looked at her hooves, remembering when they were hands she tried to feel the weird body she had when she became human. She had been herself and not herself at the same time. She knew that somewhere in that dimension there was a girl that was her in every way, maybe with some different traits, but she was still her. She hoped that version of herself would meet the Flash from that place.
She covered her face with her hooves, this was too complicated to analyze, even for her. It was the most difficult thing she had ever had to think in a scientific way, other things she had to study were much more difficult, but they did not involve her feelings towards a stallion.
Before she could hurt her brain more than she already did, Spike entered her room silently.
“Hey…are you alright? I heard a little of your fight with Flash, but I have to say he´s right…I…”
“It´s ok Spike we came to an….agreement”
Spike stared at Twilight with bright eyes and a happy face, he jumped in to Twilight’s bed snuggling with her.
“You know… he really looks like the Flash we met in freaky bipedal ape land, but in the same time he doesn´t”
“I think that too Spike, but you know what…I like this Flash more”
“Yeah…me too”
Finally she started drifting to sleep.
“You know that you will have to tell him right?” Spike said in a worried voice.
She tighten her hug.
“Yes..I know”
Slowly she closed her eyes and went to sleep. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“What do you mean with war, who is threatening us” Flash asked, tension building up in his body. If Princess Luna had to make Oni Fire, one of the most fierce and violent guard leave his post at the borderlands of the wastelands to get him it was because something very dangerous was about to happen.
“We don’t really know, all we know is that it is not something we had faced in the past, not changelings, dragons, gryphon’s or any other creature we had to fight”
“And you want me to take the Princess to Canterlot, probably the main spot this enemy would try to strike?” Flash asked the night pony with certain anger in his voice.
“Just for the time being, the Princesses will move to the Crystal Empire for safety but first we need to get them all together. Princess Luna has communicated me that her, Celestia and Mi Amore Cadenza require You Princess´s presence immediately before they go to the Crystal Empire.”
Flash stomped the ground with great force with his foreleg.
“I need more information Oni! I will not take her anywhere if it´s not necessary”
The night pony stared at the angry stallion with an amused look.
“Relax fluffy, I´m here fulfilling my duty as a guard. I am not letting our past affecting me right now, I suggest you to do the same”
“This is not about what happened between us”
“Oh I think you are affected by it, let it go already”
“I will never let it go” Flash said with a deadly voice. The dark stallion looked at him with tired eyes. Flash stood straight, his wings unfold and his eyes filled with resentment.
Oni sighed and closed his eyes.
“Ok whatever you say. Leaving personal stuff aside orders are orders, if you will not take the Princess willingly …” The night pony unfolded his wings, sharp fangs adorning his smile, his pupils sharpened even more. “I guess I will have to take her myself”
“Try it and you'll see what it happens” Flash prepared himself for the attack. He was not going to believe Oni´s words, he had had in the past and the consequences were brutal to him. He wasn't going to trust him anymore.
“Common fluffy wings, we both know how this is going to end, just like the last time” the dark stallion said revealing his fangs to their full length.
Flash remembered, he had to stay away of those fangs.
Oni launched himself to Flash with force, his mouth open ready to strike his neck. Flash dodged him and bucked him in the face. The night guard flinched in pain for mere seconds then he smiled again, that same demonic smile Flash remembered.
“Good kick fluffy, now… my turn” Oni tripped him with his hind leg. Flash stabilized in mid air with his wings. Oni bolted with his mouth wide open aiming for Flash´s wings, Flash, anticipating this dodged to the side, Oni snapped his jaw into thin air, Flash heard the loud snapping sound. That jaw was the main thing he needed to avoid.
“Night ponies were in simple words… a killing machine, they were designed to kill and their most deadly weapon were their fangs, those fangs contained the most deadly poison ponykind knew. One bite would paralyze your body in minutes, a second bite would drive your brain into a state of shock, and the last bite would melt your muscles and entire body in a process of hours. It was a horrible way to die, but Flash knew Oni´s intention was not to kill him; he just wanted to paralyze him. It was the bite that he was trying to avoid, Ponies of all kind do have a very strong jaw power, Night ponies had the double jaw force.”
Oni twisted his neck and head bucked him, Flash flinched in pain, he had a thick skull.
“Common fluffy, I love hanging out with you again but I really have to take that princess to Canterlot” Oni said hitting Flash in the face with his front hoof. Flash stood his ground and tackled him to the floor giving the night pony a look filled with rage and burning desire to kill him.
“Ahh…memories…it was just like this when you tried to stop me from killing …Sunset Shimmer was her name?”
Flash´s mind snapped.
“SHUT UP!!!” Flash hit Oni with full force in the face. Oni held Flash´s hoof, twisting it he drove Flash to the floor switching places.
“Why? I thought you said you were over that matter, you do remember she was trying to kill Celestia right?” Oni placed his front hooves applying full force in to the base of Flash´s wings to hold him.
Flash grunted in Pain.
“It seems your old injury hasn't completely healed. Now that we seem to be done with our little game, I will say it one more time…. Take the princess to Canterlot with me or I'll make sure you can´t move for a week”
Suddenly a magenta bolt of magic hit the Night pony with a lot of power, sending him flying to a pile of wood.
Flash stood up heavily, he grunted in pain when folding his wings back to his body.
“Flash!!! Are you ok?” Twilight asked galloping full speed towards him.
“I'm ok don't worry princess” Flash said feeling Twilight´s hooves surrounding his neck in a tight hug.
The sound of the shifting of woods made Twilight tensed up, directing her horn to the dark stallion that was coming out of the pile.
“Try anything like that again and I will not hesitate in shooting another one of those at you” twilight said in a threatening voice, her horn already sparkling brightly, ready to shoot.
The night pony shook his head and snapped his neck.
“Wow, it has been a while since somepony struck me that hard, hehe, good move princess Twilight Sparkle”
“Who are you and why were you hurting my guard” asked Twilight never getting her eyes off him.
“I´m Oni Fire, a lunar guard from Princess Luna, the princesses sent me here to fetch you and your guard to Canterlot for an emergency meeting due to a new possible enemy attack.”
Twilight lost concentration of her aiming.
“Enemy attack?”
“Yes princess”
“Then, why were you fighting with Flash?”
“Because we can't trust him” Flash said stepping in front of Twilight opening his wings to cover her.
“No fluffy, the right way of putting it is that YOU don´t trust me” Oni said grinning at him.
“Ok knock it off” Twilight said stepping under Flash´s wing. “If you are one of Luna´s guards, I suppose you have something that can prove it”
The night pony smiled, this princess was not some high headed pampered pony and she clearly knew how to fight, he was not going to play with her.
“There´s a saddle bag tied to that post over there, if you let me get it, I can show you”
Twilight thought for a while and then nodded. The night pony flew to the post and brought the saddle bag in his mouth. He took out a scroll sealed with Princess Celestia´s and Luna's cutie mark. Twilight gasped in surprise, the scroll was tied with a red ribbon, meaning it was an emergency.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a scroll” asked Flash never taking his eyes of him.
The dark pony smiled. “I wanted to have fun with you”
Flash gritted his teeth in anger.
Twilight took the scroll with her magic, she opened it revealing a letter directed to the night pony.
“My most faithful guard Oni Fire. We are writing this letter to you requiring to leave your post at the borderlines with the Wastelands to attend a very serious situation. A threat of a new enemy has been revealed. This enemy is not like any other we had to face, your mission is to escort Princess Twilight Sparkle and her guard to Canterlot as soon as possible, we require her presence for an emergency meeting before we move to the Crystal Empire to discuss further decisions” “PS< do not overwork yourself” “Princess Luna”
Twilight looked at the royal symbol imprinted in the paper; it was Luna´s royal guard´s emblem. This was not fake; it was real and very serious.
“Let´s go inside before we wake somepony.” Twilight said in a serious voice.
Flash tried to explain himself to her, but she gave him a gentle look placing her hoof in his, assuring him everything was fine.
“Come in, we have to take care of your wounds” Twilight said to both of the stallions.
Twilight made Oni wait in the living room with Spike while she took care of Flash´s wounds. She carefully applied the ice patch in his back while tending the scrapes in his face.
“Hold still, this will just sting for a moment” she said in a sweet voice.
“I'm sorry you had to see that Princess” Flash said in a low voice.
Twilight smiled; taking another Ice patch in her hooves she placed it on Flash´s cheek holding it.
“OUCH!!, that hurts ” the stallion complained.
Twilight giggled.
“Just tell me one thing, why weren´t you fighting seriously?” Twilight asked.
Flash gave the Alicorn a surprised look.
“How did you know we weren’t fighting seriously?”
Twilight looked at him deeply and smiled.
“I just know” she simply said, resting her head against his chest.
“He used to be my best friend, even if I hate him now…I could never …” Twilight brought her hoof to Flash´s mouth covering it.
“You will tell me when you’re ready” she said.
Flash smiled, he wasn't ready to remember that yet.
Twilight left his room and went down the stairs; she found the night pony reading calmly as if nothing had happened.
“Spike go take care of Flash ok?”
“But..Twilight” the baby dragon said in a worried voice.
“It´s Ok” Spike nodded and went running up the stairs.
She levitated a bucket filled with water and a towel out of the kitchen. Giving the Stallion an angry look she ordered him to stand straight and still.
“I don't need you to take care of my injuries” the dark pony said.
“Oh I will not” said Twilight placing the bucket in front of him. “Apply cold water to your burn, by tomorrow it will disappear if you do so.”
The stallion looked at her confused.
“I was not burned”
Twilight pointed at his chest. The night pony looked at his chest only to find a big circular burn rights were his heart was.
He smiled; this princess was not like the others.
“Wow, you really wanted to kill me … didn’t you”
Twilight levitated the towel to his chest, placing it in the burn.
“It was an accident; I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, look …Oni… I know you weren't going to REALLY hurt Flash, drop your whole tough night pony thing with me, I know you two were friends”
The Dark stallion directed his gaze to the floor.
“So…he told you” Oni said in a deep hurt voice.
Twilight was surprised by his reaction, it was the first time he was displaying his true feelings. Instead of seeing a prideful crazy sadistic stallion, she saw a very hurt soul
“Whatever happened to you both is not my business. But now it´s not time to put personal things in front of other more important matters. I will go to Canterlot as you wish. We will leave tomorrow night. You can wait here, read all the books you like” Twilight said turning to face the stairs.
“One question Princess, what happened to your wings?”
Twilight stopped and looked at him over her shoulder.
“I had an accident” she said, her cheeks burning with same. Oni decided not to ask how.
Flash slept uncomfortably in his bed, his bruises sore and the ice patch in his back was to cold. Spike fell asleep in his pillow right next to his bed.
Images of that night started flowing uncontrollably in his head. Heavy armored guards, both solar and lunar were fighting a giant hydra, screams of horror, civilians running for safety. Comrades hurt, some dead lying on the ground. A friend he once knew laughing in evil. Oni Fire yelling at him to kill her.
Suddenly, he felt a small body resting against his side, opening his eyes he found Twilight resting calmly next to him.
“You seem to need company” she said in a low sweet whisper.
She woke up slowly and feeling peace inside her heart, she smiled, pressing her face close to the stallion´s chest. It was furry and warm. She could feel his heart beat, a steady and constant heart beat. It was like a soothing lullaby followed by the soft in and out of air of his lungs.
She blushed heavily; she shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. That was what her brain was telling her. She started asking to herself… why was she acting like that, she never ever in the past would have even thought about sleeping with a stallion in the same bed!!! Why was she so light headed when she was with him, why was she always feeling weird unable to control herself, not knowing how to act or what to say. It was something so… different.
Her heart started beating faster and soon she found herself unable to rest any longer, lifting her head she studied her guard´s face. He had a peaceful look; she noticed tiny old scars resting in different parts of his face. She smiled, this was a pony that truly knew what fighting was, a guard through and through. She softly got off the bed, carefully without waking Flash she got out of the room.
With Spike already awake and cooking breakfast she was the only one awake counting him off. She didn’t know what time it was but judging the sunlight coming through the window she deduced that it was around 9 am. The night pony Oni Fire was fast asleep in the same spot she left him. He looked so… tired and weak which was weird because since the first time she saw him he always had looked very strong and almost invincible. She remembered the way he fought, he looked more like a dragon, those fierce piercing yellow golden eyes, that buff built body, the leathery wings filled with tiny holes… those fangs… those deadly fangs.
But know he looked uncomfortable and sad. Using her magic she levitated his head carefully, a pillow came down the stairs floating inside her magenta magic aura, she gently placed it under his head, slowly she lowered his head on the pillow. The look in the dark stallion´s face changed to a a very tired face, but without pain.
She could see the burn mark was gone, the Night pony had followed her instructions well, giving him one last look she went in to the kitchen and greeted Spike with a soft voice.
“He looks very tired, are you sure he´s ok? I think he should go to the hospital just in case” Spike said serving Twilight her favorite oats with milk.
“He is pretty battered, even if they were not really fighting, they did hurt themselves pretty badly… but him… he looks so… tired… It´s weird.”
“Flash … is he ok?” Spike asked munching a sapphire stick.
“He´s fine, he was just tired and sore but now he is sleeping fine.”
“You slept next to him, wrapped in his wing… is there something you want to tell me?” Spike asked looking straight in to Twilight´s eyes.
Twilight blushed immediately. “Spike! Nothing happened… I just fell asleep next to him… it…it´s not like we… did something”
“yea I know he didn’t do anything he was sleeping like a log when I fell asleep, you … you were the one who came in to his room and climbed next to him” Spike said with a big grin in his face.”IIIII think somepony has a cruuuuuush” he sang in a low teasing voice.
“Spike you are a baby! You… you should not talk about these things so freely!!!” Twilight said trying to stay put.
He looked at her blank faced and then grinned.
“I may be a baby in dragon terms, but inside my head I am older than you think, just because my body ages slower it doesn´t mean my brain does. Besides where do you think I know all these things, you taught them to me silly and let’s not forget about the romance novel´s section in the library.”
“I told you those books were not for your age… you still read them???!!!” Twilight half yelled half whispered.
Spike just smiled.
Flash woke up feeling a little sore, he got a little sad not seeing Twilight next to him but he buckheaded himself for that thought. He was not her colfriend or something like that. He didn’t have that privilege.
He could smell Twilight’s scent; closing his eyes he tried to understand his feelings. He tried to read her actions. All the other moments they had together were something that was started by his actions or both of them; last night she was the one who did something he never thought she would do.
He knew that the right thing he should have done was to talk to her and explain her that such behavior was something a Princess should never do, especially with her guard. But even knowing what he should have done he knew that in that moment he was tired and sad, he needed company, what better company than a beautiful mare that smelled like fresh lavender, a mare that spoke softly to you that took care of you. Any stallion would have been a complete idiot rejecting that care.
What was he doing, he was supposed to be the best guard he could be and he was one of the finest guards in under Celestia´s reign. He was not supposed to develop romantic feelings towards the princess he was supposed to serve. But his princess was not the like the Nobel sisters. She was more like the crystal princess, she was not immortal, she aged and she was married to a regular unicorn, well not so regular. His captain was a stallion he admired, he was a couple of years older than him but he was so wise and professional in his duty. He was explained of the situation that resulted in the captain of the royal guard marrying a princess. He sighed, His situation was different. He was not going to deny his feelings for Twilight, but he didn’t know how to deal with them. Falling in love was something he was scared to do again. The first time he did it resulted in a disaster that cost him friend’s lives and left him with serious injuries that took a long time to heal. His wings never felt the same, neither his heart. He knew that Twilight would never hurt anyone, but his scars were too deep.
He pushed his thoughts away from his mind; he was not going to remember all those painful memories. He rose from his bed cautiously grunting from the soreness, he followed the scent of fresh carrots and oats. He was starving. He looked at Oni Fire fast asleep in the floor with half of his face buried in a pillow. His body tensed up involuntary. He ignored the stallion and entered the kitchen.
Twilight´s eyes immediately linked with his, both of them blushed in different shades of red, the adverted their eyes from each other.
“G…good morning princess” Flash said mentally cursing for stuttering, he was a stallion for Celestia´s sake!!!.
Twilight answered him with a smile which only made Flash blush harder; Spike was chuckling in a corner munching away gem sticks.
Flash ate his breakfast facing Twilight, they stole glances at each other, behaving like school foals at lunch time. Spike eventually got bored of the lack of conversation and left the kitchen in search for something to do.
Twilight dived her muzzle inside the boll and a piece of carrot on the tip of her nose. Flash couldn´t help but laugh. Twilight gave him a confused look that only made her look cuter, he laughed harder, when she finally noticed the carrot piece laying on the tip of her nose the smiled.
She put her hoof inside the boll lifting another carrot piece, she gave Flash a playful smile and not waiting for any type of question from him she stick it in Flash´s face. The stallion was surprised and gave Twilight a funny confused face. Twilight giggled. Flash decided to dive in the game. He took a piece of bread in his hoof and gave Twilight a playful grin. Without any warning he stabbed the bread in Twilight´s horn. The mare froze in her place; Flash regretted his action, maybe he had gone too far. That idea was soon discarded when Twilight gave him an evil playful look.
She activated her magic, levitating apples and oranges from different parts of the kitchen.
“You wanna play tough guy?... let´s play then” Twilight said.
“I guess I have no way out”
The kitchen soon turned in to a food fight ground, Twilight throwing apples, oranges and bananas at the stallion. Flash dodged most of them.
“How on Equestria can you move so fast?!” Twilight yelled at Flash.
“Royal Guard, years of training” he simply said.
Twilight felt so good, it had been a long time since the last time she had fun. Maybe that was the reason why she decided to take this situation in to a very messy state, Spike was not going to love her for this.
Soon there were no more things to throw and Flash had only received a couple of hits.
“I thought you had more in you Princess” Flash teased her.
Twilight teleported herself over Flash and landed on top of him. Flash cached her with anticipation. Both of them fell on the floor filled with squashed fruits and food.
Both ponies started laughing, Flash letting “ouches” between laughs. After some while the laughing started to turn down. Both of them sitting on their haunches, Twilight with her hooves linked around Flash’s neck and Flash´s hooves in Twilight´s hips preventing both from slipping to the ground.
The two ponies were covered in food, their manes sticking to their foreheads. Their eyes looking at each other with happiness. Twilight sighed.
“I guess we did it again” Twilight said in a low voice.
“Stepping over boundaries and driving ourselves in to a situation that was never meant to be?” Flash said giving Twilight a warm smile.
“Why don´t we just let this one pass?... let´s just… ignore the fact that I´m a princess and you a guard for this time.” Twilight said looking in to Flash´s eyes with a lot of intensity. Flash pressed Twilight´s body closer to his driven in to Twilight´s words. Twilight caressed Flash´s bruise on his face. He could fell her heart beating faster like his.
Even with both of them covered from head to hoof in smudged fruit and food, he still smelled Twilight´s lavender scent. It was hypnotizing, that scent, those eyes, those big and sparkly purple eyes were driving him crazy. He wanted to hug her, to hold her to…
Reality snapped his mind; he averted his gaze from Twilight pouring every single drop of reality and strength in order to gently push Twilight´s body from his.
“I´m afraid we can´t princess, I´m sorry” Said Flash hating himself from having to do that.
Twilight looked at Flash´s expression, she understood he was following his head this time, and judging by his face, he didn’t like it.
Twilight lowered her hooves to the ground and gave Flash an understanding look.
“I guess we can´t you’re right” Twilight said lowering her head, her gaze to the ground.
Flash pressed his hoof in Twilight´s chin lifting her head making her look at him.
“I do have feeling for you Princess, I am not going to deny that”
Twilight smiled.
“I know… But we can´t… right?”
Flash nodded painfully.
“It hurts” Twilight said.
“Like hell” Flash responded.
The only thing Twilight could do was smile, a painful sad smile. Flash felt his heart hurt.
“I´m gonna go and take a bath” Twilight said turning her body. In the last minute, she turned herself again, giving Flash a look of regret, with eyes full of tears she lifted her head giving him a quick peck on his cheek then she quickly trotted upstairs leaving Flash surprised. Flash stood there frozen staring at the door Twilight had used to leave seconds ago.
He didn’t know what to do, how to act. What was he supposed to do?!. Sure in training they strictly warned you to never, ever develop romantic feelings for anyone you were supposed to protect. They did not tell you what to do when you already HAD romantic feelings neither they told you what to do if that somepony had romantic feelings for you too.
He felt so frustrated, so angry with himself he wanted to hit something hard with his hooves. The door opened reveling a gray figure. Flash immediately tensed up, he was not going to be able to stand this pony at this moment.
“I was wondering what the buck was all that noise that woke me up, I guess I get it now…. Oh, I couldn´t help to listen to your little chat, you know in my opinion I think you are over thinking this too much fluffy, common, you like her she likes you… it´s not that complicated.”
“Do not talk to me like you’re my friend” Flash said leaving the kitchen and directing himself through the stairs not even looking at the night pony.
The dark stallion sighed heavily and protected his eyes with his wings he went to his comfy place on the floor and rested his body.
Flash stood under the shower containing his anger, the warm water was helping but not enough. There were too many things in his head he once more followed his head and prioritized the current threat made to Canterlot. They were supposed to leave that night, when Oni was able to fly, he would had to carry Twilight since she wasn´t able to fly yet, even if her wings were healed she wouldn´t have been able to stand such long trip.
They would have to be very careful when leaving, nopony was supposed to know this, not even the rest of the elements of harmony themselves. Spike was the only one allowed to go with them.
He let out a heavy sigh and stretched his wings bathing his feathers in the hot water. Today was supposed to be the last day of normal guard routine for him, now he was heading to Canterlot for a very serious matter, the minute Oni would say go, he knew that he would not be able to step over boundaries anymore, even if his heart ached like hell, even if Twilight saddened he would have to do what he was trained to do.
There was no more time for fun and feelings, he had to get the princess to Canterot, he had to protect her with her life.
The night was fresh and clear, only small misty clouds were in the night sky, silence in all its beauty filled the air. The citizens of Ponyville were all in their beds fast asleep.
Twilight prepared her saddle bag with only super necessary stuff, a tooth brush a hair brush, mini emergency pack and a single red apple. She was worried and a little scared; her legs were shaking as she prepared her things. Her recently washed mane, still wet, calmed her with the still fresh smell of her herbal shampoo.
Downstairs Oni Fire slowly woke up to the soothing night air, his bones were hurting and his muscles sore, but the moonlight would always be gentle with his over worked body. He remembered the letter and Princess Luna’s words. His devotion to the Moon Princess was pure and true. His ancestors had always lived in caves deep in the Equestrian Mountains; they called themselves night ponies, known as bat ponies in general because they were bound to the night and the moon. Born with leathery wings, poisonous fangs and night vision eyes they were compatible with the sometimes tough nightlife. Their coats and fur always remained in dark colors to camouflage. They were technically a new race, discovered 200 years after Princess Luna’s banishment.
Ponies always feared them because of their dark features and natural behavior, Celestia was soon informed of this new race and soon became familiar with them, she had explained to them that the moon was not hers and that it belonged to a mare that was, at the moment sealed in it. The night Ponies chose to remain hidden in the mountains, only a few families decided to live among the daylight ponies. The night stallions soon became the royal moon guards, devoted to their unknown Princess of the night. The night ponies had always been grateful to the moon and its gifts. They knew it was also a prison for its real owner and they understood why. The moon was powerful to them, it made night ponies strong, it was vital to them and they would honor its gifts and would protect the night until the real moon bearer would rise once again.
When she did, her sister soon took her to the nearest colony in the mountains; the night ponies showed her their gratitude. They showed her scrolls, books and old paintings that proved her that her night had never been unnoticed, maybe to normal ponies, but to them…the night was vital. The night guards stood before her with total devotion presenting themselves as Luna’s protectors.
The moon Princess cried of emotion, there she stood, powerless and weak from being sealed a thousand years inside her body, her once starry translucent mane was gone, her body stuck in mortal youth, she looked so weak and helpless, but the night ponies bowed to her as if she was still the powerful alicorn she once had been.
Oni Fire was there and for some time he was Luna’s personal guard, teaching her how everything worked in Equestria, he shared his life with her, told her about his friends and about his love. Luna soon became the mare she once was, her mane recovered its immortal essence, her body grew and her coat darkened. She was back; the true Princess of the night was back. Soon she had no need for personal guards, for she was extremely powerful.
Oni trained her good, provided protection and friendship, he had been her guardian. Now he didn’t had to be anything more that a guard to her. She was ready to face things on her own. Luna always knew about Oni’s past, the things he has to live and the ponies that prevented him to be consumed by vengeance and hatred, two of them were gone and one remained with him.
Oni soon was called to defend the borderlines with the Wastelands in case the Changelings rose from their banishment, But treats to Equestria were always present, during the day, the borderlines only faced minimal threats such as exiled ponies trying to get in and confused dragons that woke up from their millennium nap… at night the REAL threats appeared. Creatures of all sorts tried to get in, each and every one with the single purpose… to take whatever revenge they held to Equestria or the Princesses.
That was Oni’s job, to prevent or to kill whatever creature dared to set a foot hoof or whatever in the land. The scars in his body represented his battles with dragons, gryphon’s and lots of different dangerous creatures, he had pushed his body to its limits. He had broken his wings countless times, he had flown under the sunlight burning his wings, crushed bones, cuts and more. Any wound you could imagine… Oni at some point experienced it.
Pain was something natural to him; physical pain would always shut the one he was feeling inside. He had always been the crazy one, the one with the maniacal evil grin, the one who loved to kill and fight… and it was true… he was not going to lie… But one stallion and two mares had pulled him off his darkness in to the white moonlight. He was still the same…. Only … less.
He stared at the old photograph held in his hoof, in it, four young ponies stared at him with big grins in their faces. The background showed a starry night in a meteor shower, a young orange colt linking wings with a filly of the same color, on the other side doing the same with a dark pony giving a big fanged grin. The bat pony covering a tiny white mare with his wing.
Oni sighed… those were fun days, filled with games under the stars, unforgettable friends… but now those were only distant memories. They were covered by the events that took place one hideous night, one night were he lost two friends and almost lost his love.
He heard the sound of hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly shoving the photo in his saddle bag he turned his head hiding the sadness in his face. Twilight stood in front of him, levitating her saddle bag with her magic.
“It´s almost time princess; I hope that you’re ready because we will not stop until we get to Canterlot”
Twilight just nodded. Oni noticed her puffy face, she had been crying, he hated crying, he had had to stand as lot of crying.
“Princess, I really don´t know what to say to you to make you feel better, I suck at these things… but the only thing I can say to you is that Flash is a really good guy, he will protect you no matter what, he may seem…strange sometimes and I will not lie to you….in part is because of me and others that had hurt him deeply… but he … has really deep feelings for you princess, I can see that, even I … can see it … and he will protect you no matter what”
Twilight listened to Oni´s words carefully, she studied the stallion´s face, he was scrunching it and frowning while talking meaning that he was doing a very difficult thing for him. When Oni finished Twilight smiled and nodded. Oni was a little bit relieved; the mare´s eyes had the same sparkle they always had.
Soon both ponies heard the heavy hoofsteps armored by golden horseshoes, the tall figure of Flash Sentry in full armor came down the stairs, the Pegasus wore a deep frown, reveling his determination and seriousness.
“Time to go Princess” he simply said.
Spike ran to Twilight giving her a hug, she hugged him tightly.
“I´ll teleport you to Canterlot when I get there ok? I would teleport myself if I could but I can only take one pony with me and it´s still very tiring.” Twilight said cleaning Spike´s eyes from the tears.
The 3 ponies went outside; they walked to the woods and stopped at a clearing.
“Why don´t you wear your armor?” Twilight asked to Oni.
The bat pony smiled.
“I don´t need one anymore” he said with pride.
Flash approached Twilight lowering his body to her level.
“I´ll carry you princess, you still have to heal your wings” Twilight looked at him with watery eyes, she smiled and linked her hooves around his neck, carefully Flash surrounded Twilight´s back and hind legs lifting her from the ground.
Soon they were in mid air, Twilight covered her face on the crook of Flash´s neck, instead of feeling warmth and fur, she could only feel the cold hard metal. She watched as the town quickly became smaller from the altitude, tears started running through her eyes falling on Flash´s armor. She looked up admiring the moon, the stars and the misty clouds.
She was heading to trouble, to a possible war and far from her friends.
“I´ll fly up front so you can follow me, we will hide in the Canterlot cave palace first” Oni said quickly flying a few meters in front of them. He only did it to give them time alone.
Twilight felt the warm breeze through her mane, the silence of the night sky comforted her.
“I´m scared” she said in a whisper.
“Look at my armor Princess” Flash said in a calm steady voice.
Twilight looked at him confused then her gaze went to his chest, in the armor was incrusted her sparkle, her cutie mark, the symbol that represented his devotion to her, his princes, the symbol that represented her represented his protection, his pride…… his love.
“I´m not sure I can do this without my friends” she said.
“I will be there” Flash said whispering to her ear.
Twilight hugged him tighter.
And so they flew under the night sky not speaking a single word, Twilight still hugging Flash, him whispering comforting words to her ear slowly driving her to sleep.
The sun stung her eyes, she could feel the breeze of the sunlight in her fur, the hard armor had turned from cold to warm, making it more comfortable for her to rest her head in it. She could hear Flash´s wings and Oni´s, she felt tired and calmed.
“Morning Princess, were almost there” Flash whispered in her ear.
Twilight responded tightening her hug.
“There’s the cave palace, we should speed up” Oni said beating his wings in a faster pace, Flash told Twilight to hold on tight and did the same.
Twilight turned her head to face the palace. A giant cave entrance carved with intricate designs stood mighty and beautiful. They landed softly on the entrance; two guards saluted Oni with fear and respect in their eyes, Oni nodded, the guards, dressed in their dark purple armor stepped out of the entrance letting them pass. Flash lowered Twilight to the ground and the three of them started the long walk through the main hall.
One of the guards led them to Princess Luna´s main room, when the doors opened the beautiful figure of the night princess greeted them in surprise and happiness.
“I am so happy you could arrive in time, Oni there´s not enough gratitude” Luna said jumping off her throne and trotting towards them.
Twilight gave the Princess a big smile; the night mare returned the gesture with a hug, that´s when she noticed the bandages covering Twilight´s wings.
“Young one… what happened to you?!” Luna asked with a concerned expression.
“I…I kind of did a stupid thing, Flash took care of my wings, there not broken, but they need to rest” Twilight said to the Princess trying to calm her.
The moon mare quickly regained her composture. “Flash Sentry, they require you for information in the interrogation room, after you’re done you can reunite with the Princess. Oni please take Princess Twilight to the star chambers, I´m sure you are eager to go there to.”
“As princess Twilight´s personal guard I cannot leave her side in this matter” Flash said with full determination in his voice.
Princess Luna could see the concern in the stallion´s eyes.
“I know, but it would be better if you take care of that matter so you can fulfill your duty as a guard, It´s an order soldier, you look tired and it would be better if you just finished protocol matters now” Luna said to Flash with a deep authoritative voice.
Flash directed his eyes to Twilight asking her to go or not, Twilight smiled and nodded, Flash obeyed, bowing to the Princess of the night, he left accompanied by a night guard.
“Oni will take you to your chambers, we will prepare a personal room for you later on, during the mean time you will stay in the star chambers ok?” Luna asked.
“What about the threat made to Equestria?” Twilight asked worried.
Luna sighed. “We will discuss that later, now you need to rest.”
Twilight nodded in agreement.
“Oni you´ve been flying under the sunlight for too long, I am deeply sorry for making you do that again” Luna said with full concern in her voice.
The Night pony gave her a big grin.
“You know how I am Princess, this is nothing”
Luna gently shook her head giving him a small smile.
“Come on Princess we have to go” Oni said leading the way. Twilight followed him in silence.
Oni took her through corridors filled with paintings; they passed a library the dining room and the sleeping quarters. Soon they arrived they arrived to a door, in it there were three stars carved, underneath it was read “Star Room”.
Oni sighed in relief and pushed the door open. Twilight gasped amazed, a large and wide circular room, walls covered in beautiful green crystal plaques. Books and scrolls littered in different corners, on top of her head a giant dome stood covered in black curtains. In the center a magnificent telescope pointed to the ceiling, behind it a massive mountain of pillows and sheets revealed a small skinny earth pony mare reading a giant book. Her mane was messy and curly, so long that it looked like waves of snow spreading through the covers; her cote was the same snow white color, her eyelashes, long and curvy were bright pure white, her cutie mark which was three diamond stars was almost not seen, bearing the same color.
The mare heard the silence of the room being interrupted. She lifted her head towards the noise, Twilight got a little surprised by her eyes, deep soft red orbs bright and beautiful as rubies looked directly at her, then her eyes gazed at the stallion. The mare quickly stood from the ground and without any explanation, she quickly trotted towards him.
Oni wrapped her small frame with his hooves, nuzzling her hair; he closed his eyes breathing her missed scent. The mare wrapped her hooves around his neck, holding him tightly, they shared a small kiss.
“I missed you so much! are you ok? You don´t have any new injuries don´t you?” the white mare started asking to the stallion.
“I´m fine, I´m fine… geez stop being so worried”
“You have a fever… you´ve been flying under the sunlight again…haven’t you?” the mare said frowning at Oni. “For the love of the moon, when are you going to learn!!!” she said quickly shoving a cold towel to Oni´s forehead, the bat pony smiled defeated and rested o top of the covers.
“Forgive me Princess, my name is White Fur, I´m the star reader, I´ve been informed of the situation, you will be staying with me until they finish preparing a room for you, since the hole castle is designed for night ponies, preparing a room for a daylight pony will take some time” she said to Twilight while covering Oni with a light blanket, the stallion finally dropped his tough exterior giving in to fatigue.
“But…aren’t you a daylight pony to?” Twilight asked.
White Fur smiled. “Yes technically I am, but I´m albino… so the sun kind of hurts me, that is why since a filly I´ve been living under the moon light”
“Oh, I just thought you were naturally white” Twilight said.
“Everypony thinks that the first time they meet me” White Fur said with a happy face. “Take a seat anywhere you like, I can prepare a sofa for you to, there’s mushy comfy pillows in every corner just pick a place and make yourself comfortable. Oh! If you like to read there are plenty of books here for your use, although most of them are about astrology, the food can be ordered anytime you want, I have apples here but if you like something else, feel free to ask.”
White Fur´s personality calmed Twilight, the tiny skinny mare gave her a lovely smile adorned by those amazing ruby eyes. White Fur laid next to Oni resting her face next to his, Oni smiled and pushed his face closer to hers. Twilight smiled at the cute display of affection. The scary fierce looking night pony with demon eyes had a lovely caring mare. Without wanting to spoil the moment she silently trotted to a pillow in a far corner, levitating a random book and an apple, she sat on the pillow in silence waiting for her guard.
She could hear low whispers from the couple laying on the covers, they were talking to each other about their life’s, how much they had missed each other and other things. They sounded happy.
Twilight concentrated on her book, ignoring the whispers, she smiled sadly, for she wanted the same. She took a bite of the apple, it was delicious.
“We are supposed to sleep right now and all we did is talk about mindless things the entire morning” White Fur murmured with her face buried in Oni´s chest.
“My wings are killing me and my legs feel weird” Oni said totally ignoring the fact that he had to sleep.
“I´m going to get you a soft cold towel for your wings, they are burning with fever” the beautiful white mare lifted her head from his chest, her mane brushing his face, his sensitive nose picking her hypnotic scent.
“Is she awake? I miss her so much” he asked her, lifting his head a little so his voice would come louder.
White Fur shooked her head, quickly reassuring him that she was going to be awake in a few minutes. He directed his attention to the purple mare sitting far away from where he was.
“Don´t get so nervous princess, he will be back in a second, he just has to deliver his report and leave his armor with the blacksmith the bat pony tried to give her a relaxing tone”
“I am not nervous! Not at all! What makes you think that I´m nervous?” Twilight gave him a weird smile.
The tired dark pony gave her a big sigh.
“You are scared and nervous because you are all alone in a weird room inside a mountain´s cave, the only pony that acts as a support to your… sanity is away from you right now…. And besides you’re tapping your front hoof against the pillow in a nervous tick tick tick, it´s driving my ears insane”
Twilight realized this and immediately stopped.
“She… she seems to really care about you” Twilight said, trying to change the subject.
“You mean Fur? Well yea… she´s my marefriend”
“She seems to be… more than that” Twilight said recalling in her mind the way her face lighted when she saw him.
“She and I have a looooong history, we grew up together, we only had each other and in some way… we still do only have each other”
“It must have been very difficult… really you only had each other?... no pony else?” Twilight gave him a concerned look.
Oni smiled; at least she was not nervous anymore.
“If I tell you a story, you´ll calm down?”
Twilight smiled, standing up and trotting closer to him, she levitated the big mushy pillow and sat close to the big pile of pillows and blankets. Oni snorted; she had an exited foal´s expression in her face.
He moved his head in a weird angle making a snapping sound, letting out a heavy tired sigh and he proceeded with his story.
“Well… if I´m going to tell you the whooooole story I better start from the very very first start, I should probably start with my birth. I was born in the heart of the Everfree forest, my mother was a healer and my father was a hunter, what I mean by healer is that she drained her poison from her fangs and mixed it with herbs and flowers to turn it in to medicine. My father hunted pray for the merchants to sell, we were happy and lived a very simple life… well, when the timberwolves and greedy dragons were not trying to kill us it was a pretty good life.
During that time, night ponies were still not very sure about letting equestrian know of their existence, my parents were very careful to not reveal themselves to the daylight ponies. Some of them saw us like monsters in pony form so they preferred to stay hidden. I never asked anything about this… I kind of knew already.
One day a royal guard crashed near our cave, he looked like a pile of bloody meat and feathers, he was so injured that it was amazing he was still breathing, my parents had a good pure heart and dragged him to our home, my mom worked night and day hurting her fangs from draining them without rest my dad had to bite him several times to make him not feel the pain. I remembered his armor, golden and bright, it hurt my eyes. After several weeks of coma, one day while I was sleeping and my parents were guarding him, he opened his eyes. My parents told me that he was confused and scared and needed a few minutes to regain all his senses, when he understood where he was and who they were, he calmed down and told a dark and twisted story about an attempt to attack Canterlot from a terrorist gryphon group. Celestia herself had to deal with them; apparently the whole battle had happened right over the Everfree forest.
The guard told us his name was Free Cloud, he was friendly and a gentle speaker, he told us everything we didn’t know about Canterlot and the Daylight ponies. Hr told us that things were different for the bat ponies in the capital, that Canterlot ponies were different, and that they knew that we were not monsters or demons. My parents doubted… still. Cloud Free stayed with us for a long time, his body was fine, but he had to recover from all the poison my father had injected in his body, his feathers had to grow back so he stayed with us until they did.
It was fun to have another pony with us, he told me stories about being a guard and taught me how to use a spear, my father tried to learn to but he never got a handle of it. I called him Uncle Free and he was like a big brother to me. He tried to help in every way he could, he even tried to hunt some prey with my dad, but he never could bite anything. I was sad when he got all his feathers back. It had been almost a year, my parents were emotional too, it was our first friend that was not like us, the living proof that there were day ponies that did not see us as monsters, but now he had to leave.
He begged us to go with him, and my parents still said no, frankly I wanted to go, I desired to see a different world I wanted to meet more day ponies and go to school and more, but I also understood that my parents were needed here, the merchants depended so much on them so with tears in their eyes, they said no.
Free Cloud accepted the response, he promised he would visit, I was happy, I was going to see him again, my parents were happy to.
Years went by and I grew stronger, I was able to produce venom of my own and my fangs were strong and steady to bite through stone, there was one problem with my poison though, it was… too strong, that´s my talent actually… If I let my poison have direct contact with the air it bursts in to fire, toxic deadly slimy fire, so … I could not kill anything, it made the meat to toxic to sell
Two years after Free Cloud, we were visited again… but this time they were not friendly…. About 15 stallions and mares dressed in golden cloaks, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi carrying spears and weapons of all kind.
My parents were patient and talked to them, friendly and all, they stared at my father with an repulsive stare as he talked to them, my mom kept me behind her at all times. I noticed that a particular mare looked at my father´s fangs as he spoke. The look in her eyes, the hatred, I could feel it, sense her rage and hatred through her scent.”
“We are the order of light, devoted to the day and the sun. Regardless of Celestia´s desires and will, we act alone only obeying the sun´s will. You are creatures that defy the natural order and nature of the light. We are here to accuse you of altering the balance of order, for you, are simply a result of mutation and impurity of the darkness of the night. Prepare to be exterminated”
“That was all the mare spoke before the whole group raised their weapons against us, my mother quickly protected me, and my father rose from the ground in fierce battle against the pegasi. I remember my mother telling me to run, I was petrified, I was watching how the spears and swords were cutting my Dad as he snapped his jaws and crushed skulls. When I heard my father telling my mother to run I saw his face, he knew he was going to die; they were too many for him to handle. The look in his eyes, when he looked at me, he was saying good bye, my mom grabbed me and trotted to the forest, I shouted, kicked and begged my mom to stop, I didn’t want to leave my father alone but my mother kept running
I could hear the heavy hoofsteps quickly following us, my mom needed to reach a clear space for her to fly, she never could, we got trapped in the deep forest by those monsters, my mom did all she could to keep them away from me, soon they grabbed her and she was not able to defend herself anymore. … I had watched my parents die in front of my eyes, beaten, cut and burned by daylight ponies as if they were monsters. I just stood there, I was not able to do anything, I had done….nothing. I saw the same mare stepping over my mom´s body, eyeing me as if I were vermin. …. I just snapped, I did not feel anything I did not see anything, I just felt my mind slip in to nowhere. I think you can pretty much guess what happened next.
I went completely blind in all my sanity letting my instincts take control over my body and completely exterminated what was left of those ponies. I guess I fainted of exhaustion when all was over. When I woke up, I was covered in blood and my mouth filled with the metallic flavor of fresh blood, I could feel tore muscle trapped in my teeth. It took me a moment to realize what I had done. I did not feel bad about it.
I lost the will of living and just stayed next to my mother´s body without saying a word, many times I wanted to look for my father, maybe he was still alive, then I realized that was not possible, since I didn’t want to move anymore I stopped having those hopes. As the days went by I felt my body slowly slipping away I laid there in the sun, cold and rain.
One day, I felt a breeze in my face; I opened my eyes and saw something I did not recognize anymore. It was a Pegasus stallion I found familiar, he had a desperate look in his face, he yelled my name over and over, I felt his wings lifting me off the ground, his tears falling over my face.
The next time I woke up, I was strapped to a bed with cables and needles connected to my body, the same stallion sat next to my bed begging me for forgiveness over and over. I realized then, that he was Free Cloud, looking older and with a few new scars.
Well…. Long story short I stayed in Canterlot Hospital for a long time, after my wounds healed I stayed in the mental wing, for a long long long time. I was not good in the head, and I will never be fully… sane.
There was not much for me to do in Canterlot. So I joined the Lunar guards in the beginning just because it was the only way to feel… home in some way. I stayed in the orphanage when the doctors said I was stable enough. I didn’t talk to any pony, there were a lot of them who tried to talk to me and be friendly, there were others who mocked me and made fun of me, let´s just say that after meeting me, they never did that again
Uncle Free Cloud visited me a lot, almost every day after his shift ended, that was my only joy, he played with me and bought me toys and stuff, I told him about the training and how school was, the moments I spent with him were the moments I could forget about the emptiness inside of me.
I never asked who the ponies that killed my parents were, frankly I didn’t want to know any more of them, I just wanted to forget everything from my past. I remember the day Uncle Free came with something on his back, it was tiny and white all over, trembling in fear.”
“Oni, this is my daughter White Fur, I brought her today because she was feeling well enough to come and meet you, she is not a night pony like you, but she sleeps during the day, I was hoping you two could be friends ”
“I still remember when that little fur ball with a messy curly mane came down his back, the moment she looked at my eyes, shaking terrified, she stared at me for a second and she stopped shaking, then she gave the most beautiful smile I ever seen.’’
“It was fun to have her around, she was a… light for my soul, I didn’t feel out of place, I had a friend that could play with me, and that could understand the same connection I had with the moon. She stayed a lot of days with me, we used to sneak out of the orphanage and play under the stars in the Canterlot Gardens. In one of those nights, I told her about my parents and I showed her what I was able to do with my venom, she didn’t seem to be surprised and that´s where I knew everything about the…”
“Order of light” Said a gentle mare voice. White Fur entered the star room with a big cool sheet. Oni lifted his head giving her a smile she unfolded the sheet and placed it over his wings. Oni let out a purr in pleasure.
“The Order of Light was a rebel group of ponies that ignored Princess Celestia´s will, they did not acknowledge her as a ruler, they saw the sun as something that was not meant to be under Celestia´s power. Taking their morals and way of thinking to an extreme level, they decided to … purify… whatever creature was bounded to the moonlight, for them, the night and darkness were something that was entirely evil. Night ponies and other creatures of the night were under their radar. They exterminated and killed every single night creature they encountered. They showed no mercy with ponies or others creatures who helped them, my parents were ponies that served Celestia and shared her thoughts and dreams; sadly, my mother shared my condition and had a very delicate health so she passed away. My father not wanting me to end up the same way turned me in to a nocturnal pony to keep me away from the sunlight. The Order of Light saw this as an attempt to turn me in to a night creature and labeled my father. When they discovered that my father visited Oni at the orphanage they decided to take measures. After attempting to attack my father they set Celestia´s eyes on them by accident. Sadly in one of those attempts they injured my dad to badly, he died of the accumulation of internal damage a few years later.”
“So from then on we lived together in the orphanage until we were old enough to live in the moon palace, Fur here learned her talent and got her cutie mark and I completed my training becoming a royal lunar guard. When we got old we realized we were in love with each other and… here we are” Oni said shorting up the story.
Twilight had listened to the whole story in complete silence, not interrupting, not even letting out any kind of noise showing her emotional state. These two had gone through a lot. She cleared her throat and shifted in her pillow.
“What happened to the rebel group?” she dared to ask.
“Got caught and all the members were executed, the night ponies were to angry and disobeyed Celestia´s rule of no killing.” Oni said in a dry voice.
“Wait wait; were does Flash end up in all this?” Twilight asked “he was your friend right?”
“How does she know about Flash?” White Fur asked in a high pitched voice.
“He´s her personal Guard”
“And when were you going to tell me that you met Flash again?!”
“Soon” Oni said shortly. White Fur gave him a scowl.
“We met Flash in one of our escapades from the orphanage; he was living in the royal guard´s quarters so we played in the Canterlot gardens every time we could.” Oni told Twilight in a rather short and dry way. Twilight knew he was trying to avoid that part of their story. White Fur stared at the floor the whole time Oni spoke. Twilight knew that asking more of this was not proper, but she wanted to know why Flash was so distant and resentful every time he talked to Oni.
“What happened, why are you not friends anymore?”
Twilight looked at Oni´s eyes with full intensity, he held her stare for a second and then he looked at White Fur, she nodded.
“He had a very close friend, almost a marefriend. But she was corrupted by her own darkness. I…I tried to keep her away from him, but it was too late, she did something terrible, unforgivable, he didn’t want to accept the fact that she was evil, so I forced him away from her and hurt him in the process. He never forgave me for that”
Twilight´s eyes widened.
“What was her name?” Twilight felt her voice shaky. She feared for THAT name.
Oni again looked at White Fur for approval, when she nodded, he opened his mouth and before he could say anything the door opened and shut in a quick move. Revealing a tired Flash Sentry once again stripped of his armor.
White Fur rose from the covers and stared at him. Flash lifted his gaze to her.
“Nice to see you again Fur” he said giving her an awkward sad smile.
“Oh you stupid hay headed jerk” she said trotting towards him and hugging him tightly.
Flash flinched a little but hugged her back.
“The moon gang is complete again” Oni said in a whisper Twilight accidentally herd.
“Mama I´m thirsty” a cute tiny voice filled the room. Twilight turned her head towards the source of that cute sleepy voice. A tiny young filly with a light blueberry coat and a short spiky mane stood next to a small door her eyes were a beautiful shade of strong pink in the center a slit pupil tainted in fuchsia revealed her night pony blood. Pair of lavender night pony wings were stretched out from her tiny frame to support her balance, tiny white fangs adorning her cute little mouth.
“Good morning honey I want you to come over here, there is somepony I would like you to meet.”
The tiny filly tilted her head to see the orange stallion standing next to her mother, her eyes went wide and her face lighted with a smile.
“You’re Uncle Flash?! Wow you’re tall!... you look a lot smaller in the pictures!” The young filly trotted rather funny towards Flash.
The orange stallion stared at the tiny figure quickly approaching him completely speechless, the look in his face was one of a complete surprise, White Fur stared at him eager to see his full reaction.
“Papa always tells me about when you and him and Mama played together, is it true that Papa is faster than you?”
The tiny pony stared at Flash with admiration. Flash hesitated for a second and then answered.
“Heck he´s not, he´s always been a slowpoke” his voice came out a bit too loud. The filly laughed.
Soon she picked her father’s scent and directed her gaze to the pillow/sheets mountain.
“PAPA!!! Papa papa papa!!! The filly jumped in the air and awkwardly flew over the pile of pillows and sheets. Oni fire lay on his back and the filly landed on his belly.
“I´ve missed you furry ball! Tell me, have you been obeying your mother?” Oni asked her with a false authoritative voice.
“Yes papa!” the filly answered proud of herself.
“That’s my girl” Oni said ruffling her mane.
White Fur chortled at Flash´s and Twilight´s faces.
“Her name is Moon Rose, she´s our daughter, she may look like a bat pony but she sleeps during the night, apparently she woke up a little early today”
Flash stared at the scene in front of him, they had a filly, a daughter, and they had a family and were happy. He wanted to hate Oni, he really wanted to, but this young filly now prevented him to do so.
Moon Rose stared at Twilight and then smiled.
“Mama… who´s the pretty pony?” she asked innocently.
Twilight blushed.
“She´s Princess Twilight Sparkle moon pie, she will be staying with us for a while”
The Filly´s face lighted up again her cheeks blushed with excitement.
“WOOOOOW a real Princess in my house, cool!” she jumped of her father and ran towards Twilight.
Moon Rose started to run in circles around Twilight, that´s when she saw the bandages. With a deeply concerned face she looked at her in the eyes.
“What happened to you?” she said in a cute worried voice.
Twilight tried to calm her.
“It´s nothing, I wanted to learn how to fly quickly and I didn’t listen to my teacher so I hurt myself a little but it will heal in no time. I´m fine don´t worry”
The filly smiled at her, with big bright pink eyes she said in a high pitched voice.
“I can fix that!”
White Fur placed a hoof on her Daughter’s back.
“Now now love, I don´t think the Princess would like that”
“But she will be all better”
Twilight smiled. The cute little filly really wanted to help.
“I´m sorry princess, you see, she has healing powers in her venom so she wants to help every time she can, but I think that being bitten is the least thing you would want.”
“It´s just a pinch I promise!!” Moon Rose said.
Twilight smiled at her.
“I guess it wouldn´t hurt to try” Twilight said feeling a little nervous.
“Are you sure Princess?” Flash asked her.
“Well, it is a little scary, but so are needles, it´s better if a get well sooner don´t you think?” Twilight said while working her magic on the bandages revealing her wings, her feathers were messy and needed to be groomed.
“Well if the Princess is ok with it, then I don´t see any problem.” White Fur said to her daughter, letting her hoof in the ground again.
Moon Rose approached Twilight with a big smile.
“Were can I bite you?” she asked politely.
Twilight thought for a moment and then extended her front hoof.
The filly inserted her tiny sharp fangs in to Twilight´s skin; she could feel a burning liquid cool and thick invade her body. It was a weird sensation, like if she was given a penicillin shot again.
When Moon Rose backed away a little, she soon started to feel the effect of her venom. Her wings started to feel weird, not weird bad, weird good. Then she unfolded them to their full length, she stretched them, flapped them and moved them to every possible angle. They didn’t hurt, they didn’t feel hard and uncomfortable, Twilight smiled.
“Thank you!” she said to the filly.
Moon Rose smiled licking Twilight´s blood of her fangs.
“Your blood is really yummy Princess!” she said in joy.
Oni broke in laughter, White Fur blushed in embarrassment. Flash just smiled.
“Em…thanks?” Twilight answered a feeling a little weird.
The Flying room in the Night Palace was something beyond a day pony’s imagination. Deep down in the enormous cave laid a whole different ecosystem, there was blue soft grass, white gleaming flowers without sent, water that glittered like liquid diamonds and trees that had giant shards of crystals protruding from their trunks.
At first Twilight could not believe what she was seeing, she had read about the small encapsulated worlds inside the caves of Equestria but have never ever wondered about it more than just for curiosity, clearly now she understood that not wanting to investigate in a more sophisticated manner the existence of these encapsulated paradises was a mistake but she wouldn´t be as surprised as she was now.
White Fur sat next to her, calmly watching how her little filly played with a glowing firefly. The grass was so soft and fuzzy the moment she sat on it, she didn’t want to get up, fortunately Blue Rose did not go too far. “Are your wings still bothering you Princess?” White Fur asked with a motherly concerned look in her majestic red eyes.
Twilight shook her head; she didn’t feel like speaking in here, this place was so peaceful and almost too good to be true to be corrupted with her voice. She lowered her gaze to the grass tucking her front legs under her chest she accommodated her body to a more comfortable position. It was beautiful in here, but like almost every room in the palace, it was rather chilly. She wrapped her tail around her body and unfolded her wings a little to cover herself. “I know it´s cold in here but I think that it´s better for you to not be secluded inside my star chambers, after a while it gets quite boring.”
White Fur drifted her gaze to were Blue Rose was, the Tiny Bat Filly was jumping a little stepping stone path through a calmly flowing stream. “Blue Rose has never been out of the Palace, Oni is too afraid that the daylight ponies would not accept her that he prefers to keep her inside until she is old enough to defend herself, so every time I can, I shift my sleeping hours so I can be with her, Oni does the same, but I don´t want him to strain himself more than he already is”
Twilight watched how the white mare´s face twisted in concern and then changed to sadness. She didn’t want to break the peace she was feeling here but she felt the need to speak. “Why does he hurt himself like that? I mean I´ve seen other night guards here and all of them wear armors, yet I´ve never seen Oni wear one, he told me that he didn’t need one anymore, Why is that?” Twilight asked in a very sweet and low voice.
White Fur looked at her for a few seconds, then sighed and lowered her head so her long messy wavy mane covered her face. “he considers himself not worthy of the protection of an armor, because of some things that he has done during his life” White Fur took in a long breath “As you had seen my beloved has more than one personality, the scars of his past are not just the ones you see in his body, His life has not been easy and that has left him with some problems in his state of mind, sometimes he can be calm and secure, other times he is vulnerable and paranoid, he can be gentle and caring…. And sometimes…. He turns in to a complete monster with an insatiable blood lust”
Twilight sensed the pain in the mares voice, she extended her wing and covered her thin frame; White Fur lifted her head and looked at her with a gentle smile. “It´s ok Princess, I´m more than used to it” White Fur rose from the grass and shook her mane to one side of her neck. “I´ll get Rose to her classes now, would you like to join me Princess?” The white mare asked. “I ´ll stay a little longer in here, it´ so peaceful.” Twilight said moving her head to all sides admiring the scenery. “As you wish” Fur said before calling over Blue Rose. The blue berry filly ran to her mother with a happy smile in her cute face, he pink eyes shining like gems. “Mama, do I get to fly today?” Blue Rose asked her mother as she fluttered with effort to her back. “I don´t know moon pie, Maybe if you listen carefully this time you will fly even faster that daddy mmm?” “Yea!!! I will I will!!!” The filly said lifting her front hooves in the air “Bye bye Princess!!!”
Twilight waved her hoof in response. The Chrystal doors opened and then closed. Twilight sighed in peace and happiness; she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the flowing water, the shuffling of some bushes, the chirping of the birds and the musical flow of the place itself. She hummed in delight and laid her entire body in the grass, stretching her legs and opening her wings to their full length, brushing them against the grass, she giggled and hummed rolling on the grass like a dog, whipping her tail to the air and lifting her legs stretching them. She rolled to her side and felt in delight the strands of grass falling from her coat brushing lightly and tickling her; she let out a big and loud sigh and opened her eyes.
The entire minute she had dedicated her body to relax was wasted when every single one of her muscles tensed up at the sight she was given.
Flash was standing right in front of her, with a surprised and flustered look on his face. Suddenly she was not able to hear the discreet sounds of the nocturnal forest, everything just felt like complete and dense silence for her. She stared at the stallion, feeling her cheeks reddened. “uuum uuhhh I was, I was … stretching a bit” she timidly said. “I would say you were stretching … a lot” Flash said diverting his gaze of Twilight´s “Please tell me you didn’t see everything” Twilight said feeling her embarrassment to its full extent. “uuhh… I didn’t see anything?” “You don´t mean it” Twilight said scrunching her face. “That´s because I did” Flash said offering Twilight a hoof.
Twilight just groaned in embarrassment and took hold of Flash´s hoof to get up. “Were have you been? Yesterday when I had to stay up all night you were not there, I was bored and White Fur had to take care of some of her work and Oni had to deal with some sort of quarrel in the training grounds” “I had to take care of some things, my armor, documents and stuff. Now I´m done and I can continue to be at your service Princess”
Twilight frowned “Don´t do that” she said moving her head to a side so Flash could not see her forming tears. “Do what?” “Treating me like I´m your owner or something… can´t you just call me Twilight?” “You know I can´t do that Princess” “But why? We are alone in here, sound does not travel through these walls, and there is nopony here”
Flash sighed in frustration. “I would still be compromising my position, and you would be doing the same thing. Do not think that I´m doing this because I want to Princess” Flash felt his tiredness invade his body, he had been up the entire night to match his sleeping hours to everypony else and he was completely exhausted because of all the paperwork and arrangements he had to do. He sat on his haunches and stared at the mare in front of him.
She was a mess too, he could see that easily. Her tired eyes, her ruffled unbrushed main, her coat didn’t have the same gleaming look and the feathers of her wings were ruffled and disorganized. She looked like she needed comfort.
He unfolded his wings, reaching out to wrap them around her frame, but he decided not to do so. He was trying hard to keep a distance and touching her was not going to help to establish boundaries.
He gritted his teeth in anger, he hated this situation, Twilight was far away from her home and friends, she was facing a possible threat towards Canterlot and Equestria and she was tired and sensible. He did not need this guard princess boundaries crap right now, and he knew it. But he had to restrain himself.
He changed his face and regained his cool, clearing his voice he decided to try and make things right. “Princess, what about we try and fly a little bit, this is the flying room after all” Flash said trying not to sound tired.
Twilight looked at him with sleepy eyes and a sad face. “I don´t want to fly right now. I want to know what’s going on… I want to go see Princess Luna and I want my friends here with me… I miss them. I… I used to be…. So used to being all by myself, but after 3 years and a half I can´t be alone anymore”
Flash winced at the sudden crack in Twilight´s voice when she finished speaking. “I feel weird and tired, I want to sleep, I want my books, I want everything to be ok! I want this anxiety to go away!!!. Why… Why does something this bad has to happen now!!!, I just got from a trip to a different world, I have not even been a princess for a whole year and I already had to face so many things!!!!. I was ok with that, because I had my friends, but …. But”
Twilight´s voice rose in tone, her breathing became heavy and her eyes started flowing with tears.
Flash couldn´t take it anymore. He unfolded his wings and wrapped Twilight in them, he pressed her body against his and he rested his muzzle at one side of her neck. He squeezed her tightly and quietly thought to himself “Buck boundaries crap; she needs a friend right now, not a guard” “It´s Ok princess, calm down… ok? I know I am not one of your closest friends, and I´m not a mare either, so I can´t really understand you. But I am here for you, you are not alone, I am here ok[]? Soon your friends will be here too. You just have to hang on a little bit more; I know it´s tough I know you are tired. But You are princess and a wonderful intelligent pony, show me the Twilight Sparkle I have heard so many times, the one that keeps her cool, the one that uses her intelligence and knowledge to face any threat” Flash whispered sweetly in Twilight´s ear, sending shivers down her spine. “Tell you what Princess, we stay like this as long as you need, If you need to cry, cry, if you need to complain, complain all you want, you want to hit something, I can take it, yell, scream do anything you like” Flash lifted Twilight´s chin. “But promise me one thing, when you are done, when you have had completely lashed out all of your problems in whatever form you choose I want you to wipe your tears off, pick yourself up and face your challenges with pride and I assure you, I will be there to help you… Ok?”
Twilight looked at the stallions face with wide teary eyes, and then her face scrunched up and tears started flowing, she started crying, loud and long cries muffled by hick ups and gasps for air, she buried her face in Flash´s chest, she hugged him tightly and cried her eyes out, Flash just held her, in silence whispering gentle sweet words to her ear and rubbing his wing on her back to comfort her. When Twilight stopped crying she started complaining about everything, about how her hair was in the morning about the stench of old scrolls that were covered in moss, about Spike´s snoring… she complained about almost everything and Flash listened and nodded.
When Twilight was finally done with her complaints and crying, she just sighed and rubbed her face against Flash´s chest for a while. She took a deep long breath straitening herself, she lifted her head and looked at Flash, she smiled and kissed his chin. She backed away from Flash´s embrace; she wiped her tears away and rubbed her face. “I´m ready, no more whinny Twilight, I can do this, I can do this, I am sure I can.”
Flash was still dumb folded. Completely red and with his wings extended he regained consciousness and cleared his throat loudly. “Very well Princess” He said in a false authoritative voice.” “Can we go meet Princess Luna now?” Twilight asked shaking her mane. “She´s preparing the ponies and other individuals you will have to meet. The population in this Castle is very big, almost as big as Ponyville. She´s making sure every one of them is prepared. We will have a meeting tomorrow at sunrise; Princess Celestia will be there too.”
Twilight smiled, finally things were moving on. They got out of the Flying room and walked side by side. “So what are we going to do now?” Twilight asked. “We are going to see if the ponies responsible your training are ready.” Flash said in a calm voice.
Twilight stopped her tracks. “TR…training!?... Why”
Flash stopped walking and looked at her in his guard mode look. “A threat to Canterlot and Equestria could mean war, a complot from the inside a rebellion… anything, you have 0 fighting skills and you have to be prepared for anything possible”
Twilight understood, she nodded with a serious expression. “You will train in body combat, flying combat, you will also perfectionate your attacking spells. Psychological training, meditation, everything.” Flash told her as they walked through the crystal lighted halls. “Will you teach me something to?” Twilight asked with a little fright in her eyes.
Flash chuckled. “I´m not an expert in anything Princess, I´m just a regular guard. Your mentors are experts in their particular areas.”
They reached another pair of crystal doors guarded by two night guards in full armor. “We have been waiting for your arrival Princess Twilight, please enter.” The guards said, opening the doors and revealing a huge round table. Luna was sitting on a rather looking plane throne, her face smiling at the sight of Twilight. “Young Twilight, you look tired, I´m sorry you have to change your sleeping hours, but there is now other way if we want to address this quickly” Luna said with concern in her eyes. “It´s ok Princess Luna. You are right. This is just a small sacrifice I just need a little bit more of time to adjust and I will be fine.” Twilight said sitting in one of the chairs, Flash took his guarding stance a few steps back to one side of her, his face transforming in to the typical stern look of a guard in duty.
Twilight repressed a smile. Flash did not intend to make their relationship public. After all, he did confess he had feelings for her, and as he promised, there he was, standing firm and strong just a few steps away for her. But to the eyes of the rest of the world, he was her guard and nothing more. Twilight respected his wishes for she wanted the same.
Princess Luna realized Twilight´s flustered face, her messy mane and her ruffled coat. She glanced at Flash and noticed the same signs, the only difference was that the fur in his chest was soaking wet. She drifted her gaze back to Twilight and noticed her eyes were red and puffy. Luna smiled and eyed both ponies with a “I know about you two” look. Twilight ignored her look and tried to brush it off.
Luna chuckled and then straitened herself. “I think your guard has already told you about our latest moves. This is the conference room, were we speak about everything political, economical and socially important to Equestria, involving the lunar herd of course, the solar herd is welcome to participates in the lunar matters in some occasions such as this one. We will have our meeting with my sister and her companions tomorrow at sunrise, but for now I want you to meet my officers in command, before they introduce themselves I want you to know that the lunar herd id diverse in creatures, some may seem… different but I assure you they are on our side”
Twilight nodded and gave Luna an understanding smile. Luna returned her gesture. “You may enter” The lunar Princess spoke in a loud voice.
Four figures entered the room from different directions, a huge earth pony stallion with a jet black main and coat, grey sharp furry hooves and red eyes with white pupils covered by his long dark main, his cutie mark being to crossed swords. An elegant thin deer with a oriental cloak, one of her ears adorned with a golden hoop, her eyes sharp and lively blue. A dark tall figure hidden behind a hooded green cloak and a zebra stallion with his striped body painted in intricate and complicated patterns his neck wore a heavy gold necklace his ears pierced in many golden earrings, feathers entrusted in his main.
The figures took their seats at the table and bowed their heads in respects towards their night Princess. Luna smiled at them. “Princess Twilight, I would like you to meet my officers in command” Luna looked at the black stallion sitting next to her. “This is blade, he trains the guards in body combat, he´s an expert in fighting skills involving just the body, he will train you in combat”
The huge stallion bowed his head towards Twilight and stared at her with his frightening red eyes, Twilight got a little scared, that stallions stare made her feathers rise, he was handsome but very scary with that hypnotic red stare. “This is Misa, will train you in weapons and agility, she will also show you some meditation skills” Princess Luna said, addressing the elegant deer.
Misa looked at Twilight with her beautiful eyes and bowed her head, then she smiled at her, Twilight felt a little bit calmer. “This is Duma, he will teach you magical spells for combat, he will also teach you different spells that will come handy” The Zebra stallion bowed his head respectfully. “It´s an honor Princess” Duma spoke.
Twilight discarded her old theory that all zebras spoke like Zekora, clearly this one was not going to rhyme all his sentences. “And finally, this is thorn, he will teach you … different ways to fight and other things involving your spiritual self” Luna said addressing the cloaked figure.
Thorn bowed his hidden head. Luna frowned and sweetly spoke to him, something unusual for the moon princess to do. “Thorn, it´s ok, I´m sure she will understand”
Thorn doubted for a few seconds, and then sighed. He lifted one of his hooves to reveal his face and Twilight Froze, she gasped at the sight of a black hoof covered in a shiny furless plaque similar to a bugs exoskeleton, she had seen hooves like that before… hooves that belonged to a …
Thorn revealed his face, a sharp fanged muzzle, a long moss green mane falling over his face. His eyes were green with turquoise and cyan irises and slitted black pupils. He had no horn, but a ruffle in his cloak revealed big and beautiful translucent wings. “As you can see, Thorn is a changeling. But he is in not part of Queen Chrysalis subjects, at least not anymore, he is an expert in changeling magic and hypnospells” “I hope my appearance does not scare you princess, I assure you I am on your side” the changeling’s voice was husky and smooth, combined with those eyes and that exotic face would turn a lot of mares in to jelly, his whole essence exuded attraction. Twilight could not prevent herself from blushing lightly. “NO! Not at all, sorry, I was just a little surprised, that´s all” Twilight said.
The changeling smiled at her reaction, then his gaze drifted to Flash, he was looking at thorn directly in the eyes, the changeling smiled.
Luna got his attention and shot a look at him, telling him to not say anything, the changeling stallion just smiled at her.
Twilight noticed this and kicked herself mentally. She had exposed her feelings right in front of a changeling, he smelled her feelings openly and obviously now knew her feelings towards flash and everything that involved affection. “Great Twilight, you have exposed your entire self to a changeling, very smart”
Princess Luna cleared her throat getting everyone’s attention. “This meeting was for all of you to meet each other and for you to get your tasks. I want you four to treat Princess Twilight with respect and patience; she is new to her title and needs to learn a lot of things. I hope you can learn from her as well. Twilight´s personal guard, Flash Sentry will also receive proper lessons if they are required; he will stay by Twilight´s side at all times possible.” Luna said rising from her throne. “This meeting is over, you can return to your usual duties” Luna addressed to her officers and both Twilight and Flash.
Thorn gave Twilight a quick glance with his sexy eyes and smiled. Flash instinctively stood in front of her, opening his wings defiantly. He glared at the changeling. He returned Flash´s glare with a bigger smile. “Are you ok?” Twilight asked Flash, which was still glaring at the door were Thorn had already disappeared. “I´m fine” he answered. “Let´s go”
Twilight picked up her pace to match Flash´s. She noticed his tensed muscled and his lightly scowled face. She quickly developed some theories for a reason, but decided to not ask. Instead she decided to let it pass. “We have the rest of the night free, let´s explore the palace!” she said in a joyful voice. Trotting up ahead of him and standing on his path to stop him.
Flash looked at her with tired eyes and sighed. “Two hours ago you were crying like a foal on my chest and now you look pretty lively and energetic. Are you feeling ok Princess?”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest but then a sudden realization struck her. She WAS feeling weird, she felt happy and energetic. Glancing at Flash, she noticed something a little alarming, he looked…. So handsome, his bright colored orange mane, his dark blue eyes, that spiky blue main, his defined chest and his powerful legs….. Something was not right. “Princess, are you ok? You look sleepy and your face is flustered”
Twilight shook her head trying to clear her mind. “I… I.. I´m ok, I may be just a little surprised by all the ponies and other creatures we met today that´s all… uuuhhm, why don´t we return to the flying room, maybe we can practice my flying again”
Twilight trotted a little faster making some distance between her and Flash. “What´s wrong with me!, common Twilight control yourself!!”
It was Flash´s turn to feel weird. She started noticing the cute bounce that Twilight´s tail did as she trotted her way through the halls, the beautiful curve of her wings, the elegance of her legs and how her main danced with the winds she created with her pacing.
He felt his face red and his ears hot. As he followed his Princess he tried to ignore the weird sensation he was starting to feel.
Luna gazed at her night in one of her many balconies, she sighed in delight to the night breeze and tasted the seduction of the night´s atmosphere. “It never gets old for you… doesn´t it?” Thorn´s sexy smooth husky voice invaded her ears; she smiled and turned her body to face him. “The night will always be a time for resting, it´s normal to never get used to it”
The changeling stripped of his cloak revealed a tall slim body armored in a black shinny exo skeleton, his mane, strait and long covered part of his face, his big translucent wings shining in the moonlight. It was an exotic sight for any mare with a good taste for stallions. “I must say, the new princess is very beautiful, but it seems that she doesn´t know that”
Thorn said joining Luna by her side. “Indeed, she is not aware of her beauty” Luna said wile gazing at the moon. “She is also inexperienced with her own feelings, she completely exposed her entire self to me” the changeling chuckled at the memory of Twilight´s flustered face. “I noticed that… I also… happened to notice you uncovering your wings at the meeting… you mirrored your magic in to her didn’t you?” Luna said with an accusing smile.
The changeling grinned, revealing his jagger fangs and chuckled. “Not just her” he said, his eyes glowing at the single moonlight touch. “THORN!!, how could you!!!, they are young and totally inexperienced!!!” Luna pushed her hoof against the stallion´s chest. “What! They needed a little help!!!” the stallion smirked and gave the princess an innocent look. “Enhancing their feelings towards each other is NOT helping them, it´s merely giving them more problems that they already have.” “They have to be true to each other about their feelings. You and I both now that they have feelings growing for each other” “Yes… you are right, we creatures of the night are more in sync with our emotions” Luna said, closing her eyes and letting her main flow with the night winds. “the night will forever be a time to rest as you say… but it will also forever be a time for lovers” Thorn said in a low seductive voice, reaching out to Luna and locking her body in a loose embrace. Luna chuckled in response. “Originally it was just a time for rest, until you had to come and corrupt me” Luna said, lifting her front legs and locking them on the changeling’s neck. “Corrupted you?... If I recall my dear, you were a pretty bad girl when I met you. The young tiny skinny Princess with short hair who thought she was not good enough” Thorn whispered as he lowered his head to match Luna’s height. “It was I who made you bloom my dear, as you did with me, no pony would have thought a changeling could be loved back in those days… even though, I cannot love you back in a proper way” Thorn´s gaze drifted to a side.
Luna smiled lovingly, taking Thorn´s face in her hooves. “Share the night with me, my dear” Luna said gazing lovingly in to the changelings eyes. “As you wish, my Princess”
Under the moonlight, covered by the night breeze, they kissed.
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”
Both of them have already been awake for about 15 minutes, they knew they had to get up and get ready for Celestia’s meeting. The fact of getting up and getting ready meant going back to reality, a reality were an unknown threat was present and the only one under this unknown threats was the newest Princess. “Representatives of the solar herd are going to be here today, I’ve never meat them before, Celestia never took me to those meetings” Twilight searched for a proper dress, this meeting was highly important and she needed to look like a princess, she breathed slowly pacing her heart neat, trying to calm down. She thout she would have been past the nervous breakdowns by now, but it seemed that stress was not going to leave her alone soon. She felt a soft wing draping her back, the texture of those feathers soothed her tense body, but the nervous knot in her stomach was not going to leave away completely. “Calm down” he said. Twilight smiled, she was trying, she really was but… every other time she had at least known who or what she was up against, she was completely blank with this, lack of knowledge was her worst fear…but she was also scared of knowing this new enemy. She turned around, hiding her face in his chest; she tried to regain her composure. “It’s just a meeting; everything is going to be ok” Twilight lifted her gaze to his face; she gave him an incredulous look. “Please, you can’t possibly believe that this is going to be ok.” Flash sighed. “You will not face this alone, I am going to be there, the Princesses as well, I’m sure this is something we’ll be able to face. I have to go now, I have to get ready and pick up my armor, somepony is going to come and escort you to the conference chamber ok?” Twilight gave him a final hug before nodding in agreement and turning completely in to Princess Mode, Flash gave her one last look before disappearing through the door. The minute he was out in the hall, his expression changed, guard duty was up. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Down in the deepest caves of the Lunar palace, the sound of clenching metal and the smell of iron being worked filled the air. The density of the air was almost unbearable… that was if you were not used to the life of a Royal Guard. There was almost no light here; the soil beneath Flash’s hooves was hard and hot. Several entrances were seen, but Flash looked for just one in particular, when he heard the sound of grumbling growls coming from a giant cave to his left, he knew that he had found the place. He entered cautiously, in front of him a giant blue dragon with light orange spines worked the metal with great force, a protective shoulder pad prevented his arm to overwork it, and his body was protected with metal plaques here and there, not following a pattern. Flash gave a few more steps inside the cave before the sound of clenching metal stopped. “It has been long kid, I haven’t seen you since the fall of the Order, were the heck have you been? You completely disappeared” Flash ignored the images passing through his head, the last thing he needed was bad memories right now. “I’ve been here and there, and I ended up working at the Crystal Empire” The dragon kept a smile for himself before turning around to face his visitor. “You finally found out were the mirror was” Flash sighed. He looked at the dragons eyes, his eyes were completely empty, just sadness and exhaustion remained. The dragon returned the stare with same eyes as his. “Your armor is ready” The dragon directed his front claw to a corner of his working table, the armor plaques and helmet easily fit in his palm, as soon as he deposited the metal suit in front of the stallion he saw how Flash soon started putting it on. ¨you’re not going to ask me if it’s everything done as you asked. ¨ The dragon lifted one brow and looked at Flash with curiosity. ¨no need, I know you did¨ The dragon smiled. ¨well I did add a few more things to your request, I left extra space on the wing plaques, you’ll be able to move more freely. The shoulder pads have extra protection and there are wing blades attached to the sides of your armor that bend with it so they can camouflage perfectly. Oh, also, this, I’m sure you are going to like it, consider this as a happy birthday gift.¨ Flash turned to face him with full armor, the dragon smiled and lifted his tail in front of his face, in it was held a golden spear, the blade was blue and shiny, sharp and ready to cut. Flash’s eyes widened, this was a dragon scale. Dragon scales, if worked and molded, were effective and deadly weapons that worked with maximum efficiency on the battle field. Flash smiled, for a dragon to give you one of his scales, and to mold it to a weapon especially for him, he let out a small smile from his mask of hardness. ¨thank you Dregza ¨ Dregza smiled. ¨if you clasp the spear with both front hooves, the spear retracts and a protective sphere envelopes the blade that way you can secure it in your armor and you’ll not cut yourself ¨ ¨Why are you doing this for me? ¨ ¨please do not ask stupid questions kid, you and your friends found a wretched old dragon that was consumed by sadness and loneliness, not even all the gems would have made him happy. And you young ponies pulled him out of that cave and made him happy again, that is why I’m giving you this, take care of my scale kid, I worked hard on it ¨ Flash held the spear, admiring its beauty, trying a few maneuvers, passing it from wing to wing; he then held it with both hooves instantly retracting. ¨I think you must go now kid, I heard about the meeting and I don’t want you arriving late.¨ Flash bowed his head in respect and he then turned around and left the Cave, he could feel Dregza’s eyes looking at him leave, he wanted to talk, to revive the good days with an old friend, but he needed to fulfill his duty. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ¨Princess, is everything ok?¨Mindight Sun asked when she entered the room and could hear girly grumbles coming from the closet room. With a few more steps inside the room she saw clothes and dresses flying out of the closet doors. ¨Princess?¨ She called again, entering the closet room, she saw Twilight with a nervous look in her face fondling over clothes, her main was messy and the feathers of her wings puffed with anxiety. Midnight rolled her eyes and smiled. ¨Princess¨ ¨OH MY GOSH, glad you’re here, I can’t do this alone, ugh, I wish Rarity was here, she would know exactly what to do in this situation, I really want to give a good impression.¨ Midnight watched amused as how Twilight threw clothes here and there, she stepped in and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight stopped and looked at her in the eyes, Midnight gave her a reassuring look, Twilight breathed in and out until she calmed herself. “How about this one” Midnight lifted her hoof, in it, a lovely shining transparent light blue fabric attached to a beautiful necklace crafted in white gold, a single moon stone in the middle of the necklace. Twilight smiled and nodded, she let Midnight help her arranging the fabric to his body, her curves blended stunningly with the fabric, and the neck piece adorned her neck in a very gracious way. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, Midnight then worked on her mane; she worked it with her wings making a beautiful swirly bun, she secured it with an oriental head piece, she opened a drawer and took out a pair of earrings, simple white moon stones to go with the neck piece. She turned around and left the room for a minute and came in again after a short while balancing a box in her back. Twilight watched amazed as Midnight worked so easily on her. Her calm face and her smooth moves eased her deeply. Midnight opened the box and took out four white horse shoes crafted from moon stone and white gold. Twilight could not keep a small gasp of amazement; she grasped each of them and put them on. She looked beautiful, simple dress and accessories that gave her beauty a lovely highlight. Midnight lifted a brush and covered Twilight’s eyes, a faint White spark. The final touch. “There Princess, now you’re ready.” Midnight said with a smile on her face. ¨Do you think that this will end ok?¨Twilight said looking at Midnight with pleading eyes. Midnight held her gaze, and just sighed. ¨We should better get going Princess¨ she just said, ignoring Twilight’s question. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. The walk to the conference chamber was long and tedious, Twilight just wanted to end this, she wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to find a solution to it as soon as possible. Midnight followed her by her side, her gaze was upfront, her face was motionless, hard, the typical stare of a royal guard. For her, that was her cue to put on her royal mask too, no matter how nervous or scared she was, she had to give a vibe of regality and maturity. They arrived at the door; two lunar guards guarded the massive stone door. They bowed her heads in respect at Twilight and Midnight. ¨We part ways here princess¨ Midnight said bowing her head to her. ¨you’re not staying with me?¨ ¨no, this meeting is not of my business, besides… ¨ she turned her head to the passing figure of a full armored royal guard, holding a spear under his right wing. Midnight smiled for herself and quietly left giving Flash a small nod as she passed him. Twilight stared at Flash, he held her gaze with his royal mask on, Twilight breathed in deeply and nodded. She was ready for this, inside that room, she was going to maintain her cool, she was going to handle things correctly and she was going to be ok. She was not alone. Flash turned to the guards; they pulled the heavy doors open, giving way to Twilight and Flash. Inside, Luna was sitting down next to her sister at the highest corner of a triangular shaped stoned table. On one side, Luna’s representatives sat one next to another. Thorn, cloaked in his usual robe, hiding his face and body completely. Blade, with his usual cold blood red stare. Misa with her front hooves crossed, her usual small smile and Duma, who bowed his head the minute he saw Twilight through the door. At Celestia’s side sat three figures new to Twilight’s eyes. A Saddle Arabian horse adorned in his royal cloak, sapphire eyes, black mane and brown coat. A white gryphon with red feathers and magenta eyes. An emerald coated white manned Chrystal pony with golden eyes. And a fourth figure, somepony Twilight never would have imagined sitting there. Fancy Pants. Twilight put extra concentration in keeping her mask on, but Fancy’s smile at her was not helping. At least she was a little bit more relaxed, another friendly face was good. Celestia smiled at her former student and gestured her to sit down at the base of the triangular table. Twilight obeyed Flash took his place a few steps back, she gave him a final look, he returned hers with eyes saying –don’t worry, I’m here-. ¨Glad you were able to join us¨ Luna said in a clear voice. Celestia covered her face in royal seriousness, her voice still keeping her usual gentle tone. ¨allow me to introduce my companions¨ Celestia said. ¨Azeem, Saddle Arabian ambassador. Aria from the gryphon kingdom, she’s Equestria’s link to relations with the Gryphon kingdom. Earth Joule, Chrystal Empire’s head historian and of course, you know Fancy Pants, he’s Equestria’s mediator with our neighbor nations. They form the Solar Council for the Solar Empire¨ Twilight gave them a smile and little courtesy bow, Celestia gestured her to sit down. As she approached her seat, she heard Flash walking behind her, that made her feel a little bit less nervous. Celestia cleared her throat and proceeded. “I called this meeting to address the subject of a possible threat to invade Canterlot in an attempt to conquer all Equestria. There has been a couple of incidents that lead to us confirming this rumor, Sister, please” Luna nodded to her older sister and continued. “A couple of months ago, a changeling soldier crashed in our front doors badly injured. Although he was a changeling, he still was also a creature of the night and as I stated, we do not deny help to any night creature inside this palace. Of course we took the precautions needed to secure ourselves from a possible trap. The Changeling tried to speak Equestrian but he was so traumatized he was mixing Changelish with his words. Thorn took care of the rest” Luna turned her head to him who was sitting right next to her. Still hidden under his cloak he proceeded. “The Changeling suffered from severe starvation and physical injuries than kept him from talking properly, not to mention the state of trauma his mind was in. with some time, I managed to calm him down enough with a little persuasion from myself. It was not hard for him to trust me once he understood what and who I was. He talked about a break in his hive, he described several ponies of all tribes draped in golden cloaks and armed with weapons. They kidnapped several of their young ones as well as some of the soldiers including him. Since this is a hive without a queen yet, they were powerless against them. He told me about a white room and some unicorns with odd ornaments in their horns. They preformed experiments on him and the others, what they did to them was something no other organization or rebel group has done and this proved the fact that these ponies were members of the Order Of Light” All eyes went wide when they heard that name; Twilight remembered it from what White Fur and Oni told her. She desperately wanted to turn her head to Flash, but she had to remain calm. “What they did to those Changelings is dangerous for any creature. They altered their natural feeding over positive emotions like love and happiness and made them only feed on dark emotions such as hate and rage, turning them in to complete monsters without free will. They have let them loose probably near the Bad Lands were they made a Hive. The bad news do not end there, one of the infants they took had the natural features of a queen. The Changeling told me they have been feeding her with dark magic and negative emotions making her their puppet to control the rest of the Changelings.” Twilight felt her heart beating faster and faster with each sentence she herd. She was drawn back to reality by Aria the Gryphon when she cleared her throat. “Now that I hear this I can also confirm my suspicions, there has also been an unusual increasing in unfamiliar faces both Gryphon and pony citizens in our kingdom. We have been struck with murders ever since, the bodies have been dismembered of horns, claws, feathers and eyes. Attacks have been most on hippogriffs more than regular ponies or Gryphons, summing up the body parts that were taken this lead the government to instantly suspect of the Rise of the Order of Light, sadly my suspicions has been confirmed ” Celestia lowered her head and frowned. “My dear Twilight, the Order of Light is an organization that rose when you were very young. Their main goal was to free this world from any creature bound to the night and also to eradicate any hybrids from different species. They believe that the sun is a force that should not be in my control and see it as a deity that represents the purity of light, the light of pureblood and power. They see the moon as an abomination, they believe it is the source of dark magic and label the creatures that depend on it as unnatural monsters. Although it is true that night is bound to posses’ dark magic, also does the sun. Dark magic does not come from the darkness of the night; it comes from the darkness of evil souls, such as theirs. They believe that they are freeing the world from evil. They also see hybrids as something abdominal, product of an unholy union. ” Twilight listened to her former mentor; she ignored the fur from the back of her neck rising with fear. She then swallowed and breathed in to soothe herself, she cleared her throat and in a low serious tone she spoke “I understand this leads to a state of emergency regarding all of us, but I have a few questions first. If this is an organization that believes in the purity of light to eradicate all magic related to the moon and the night, then why are they manipulating Changelings to their dirty work?” “Because although they have claimed in the past their desire to eliminate said magic, they have also stated their desire to control it” It was Earth Joule, the Chrystal pony who spoke. Her white main dazzling like diamonds perfectly braided falling on one side of her neck. Lovely golden eyes and thick eyebrows. “There is no easy way or predictable way of actually understanding how this organization works. They are a bunch of mad ponies wish a thirst for power so great that they will use any means possible to achieve their goal” “That is why we immediately called for you Princess Twilight” Fancy Pants spoke. “With all due respect Princess Celestia I think I should be the one to address this particular subject to her” Princess Celestia nodded in approval. “My dear Princess Twilight, the reason why we sent one of Princess Luna’s personal guards to fetch you and your guard is to protect you from any harm that my come to you from this situation. Princess Cadence has stayed at the Chrystal Empire and she’s not allowed to leave the Palace. I’m afraid Prince Shining Armor has exaggerated a little with the 5 layered protection spell he has cast around the Empire borders. He’s the one who ordered your immediate protection 3 months ago” Fancy turned his gaze to Flash, Twilight followed instantly, right behind her, next to a pillar stood Flash Sentry with eyes that would freeze lava, the visible parts of his body showed his muscles tense with anger, his ears were drawn back, his wings shut tight to his sides. Twilight finally understood that letter sent by her brother months ago. She finally understood why it had seemed such an odd way the letter was written, it just stated “I’ve send protection, Cadence and I are worried about you. Celestia approved my decision” She finally understood why the sudden need for protection. They hadn’t sent Flash to her just for formality or protocol; they did it for her own protection. Looking at Flash, she realized that he had no idea either. He was angry, clearly from being kept from this type of information. She understood him, she was angry too. “Why didn’t you tell me? If these matters concern me then why haven’t you told me? I’ve been living all this time not knowing all of this!? If this matter concerns me then why have you kept me from knowing anything? ” “To protect you from them” Celestia spoke, her eyes showing concern; you are an easy target for them. That is why we have kept you away from royal duties and training. Outside from Equestria, little have found out about a new Princess. Twilight, this organization sure knows about your existence and current status, and if the chance is given to them, they will capture you.” Twilight let out a small gasp, her eyes wide. All that relaxing and calming down she was trying to conceive was broken by that sentence. This was something she had to worry about. Everything was not going to be ok. She was in danger and although she was now safe in a room with nobles and warriors that had sworn to keep her safe, she felt alone. Flash took Twilight’s distress as a sign, following the Honor code of Guards; he stepped forward with force, so everybody in the room could hear him. This was a silent sign from a guard to its royal, assuring its protection. Twilight turned her head and faced him, her eyes were already watered with tears threatening to come out. Flash couldn’t comfort her now, he was playing his role and she had to do the same. Twilight and Flash held each other’s gaze for a few seconds, Twilight calmed herself and gave him a small smile, Flash could just keep his stoic face and give her a nod. Celestia payed attention to the whole scene, she instantly understood why Shining Armor had sent this particular stallion to protect her. This Guard, although young, clearly had experience in dealing with stressful situations and knew how to calm his royal down with the proper way a guard should do. But still, there was this secret language both of them had that worried her a little, but, this was no time for that matter. Twilight closed her eyes and returned her attention to the others at the table, she took a few intakes of air and then asked ¨I understand my current situation and position in this matter, and I’m willing to proceed in any way it is required, however, I would like to understand why am I considered an easy target for this organization and why specifically they would want to capture me¨ The only Horse in the room tuned his head towards her, this equine, so much like her but at the same time so different was something new to her eyes, she had only seen horses for shorts periods of time when she was young and lingered through the Canterlot Palace looking for Celestia only to find her with, what she assumed at that age, other tall ponies like her. The last time she had seen a saddle Arabian horses was back in Poniville when Trixie stroked back, so she had no time to actually see them. She recalled this stallions name as Azeem, he looked familiar to another horse she met in her past, the first one she had ever seen and although it had been many years, she remembered him from her fillyhood when he came every single month to meet with Celestia. His raven mane and brown coat only contrasted with his emerald green eyes, sharp and with a permanent predatory look, just like this one sitting a few meters away from her. Azeem let out a smile ¨I see you have turned in to a beautiful mare Princess Twilight Sparkle, I will miss giving you piggy back rides when you were young¨ Princess Celestia could not help but chuckle in response; Twilight turned velvet as the memories of her young self riding a huge horse and running around his slender legs, flashed her mind over and over. Her heart rose again for the fifth time as she realized who this stallion was, of course she didn’t recognize him, his mane was short and perfectly cut back then and she had never seen him with such ornaments and cloaks. In her head, this was the strange looking blank flanked stallion horse in her foal memories that taught her the Saddle Arabian tongue, played with her in the gardens and took reached high located stuff for her. ¨Zafar?¨ Twilight asked with a nostalgic tone in her voice as a smile creped her cheeks. The stallion smiled tenderly. ¨I’ve would never have imagined you a princess azeezee (my dear) ¨ ¨Me neither¨ Twilight answered. ¨Azeezee, you are aware that these Ponies know that you are the Element as the Princess of Magic as well. They know the raw power you posses. But that’s not the real reason why they want you. You posses Dark Magic in you. You have the natural ability of controlling it at your own free will without getting consumed by it. You posses the perfect balance of good and evil in you. You are indeed the Twilight of Magic itself¨ Luna nodded to Azeem’s words ¨As Azeem says, you are the perfect pure balance of magic, while my sister possesses more white magic that dark, I posses more dark magic than pure and as past events had shown you, we can get consumed by each of these Magical essences, although both of us are able to use it, we can’t wield it without consequences¨ Luna lowered her gaze to the table, under it, Thorn’s covered hoof covered hers to calm her, she repressed a smile and held her head high once more. ¨My dear Twilight, you are Twilight as I am the Sun as Luna is the Moon and Cadence is Love, each of us is key to Equestria’s existence, our mere lives turn this world more powerful, although you and Candence and ascended Alicorns that are still mortal, that will not change the fact that you posses tremendous amount of raw power, you specially. Cadence is of no use for this Organization but she will still be kept under protection due to the recent changeling moves. You on the other hand my dear former pupil are a threat to them and they will try every single way of using you as an advantage for their goals¨ Celestia spoke in a serious tone. Luna then took the lead ¨And that is why we made you come here unaware of this situation, I gave Oni specific instruction of telling you not to tell anypony about this except Spike, he’s been the only exception since he was taken to the Chrystal Empire. The other Elements will not be warned about this at the moment, we have left a letter explaining that you were taken for Princess Education to a secret base. We are ready for any attack we might face, specially my republic, We Night creatures will not suffer any longer from this abuse, and if we must rise again, we will ¨ ¨You were brought here for two main purposes Princess, To hide from this threat and to prepare to face it once we have to¨ The sweet voice of Misa invaded everybody’s ears. ¨we will be in charge of training you in both physical and psychological ways for combat and stressful situations, while the Solar Empire will take care of your political and informative matters ¨ Blade’s low strong voice bounced the walls, only making it sound stronger. Twilight looked at every single body sitting at the table; she then again, looked at Flash from over her shoulder. They were here for her, they were not her friends from Poniville, but friends none the less and more than a few familiar faces. Although still doubtful, she started chanting in her head ¨everything is going to be ok, everything is going to be ok….¨ ¨I call this meeting over, for today. Princess Twilight, you will retire to your Chambers as you wish. Training will not start until a couple of days, I will return with my companions then, with new possible information¨ Celestia Rose from her seat as well as the others. Twilight stood up a little too quickly and approached Fancy Pants. ¨I’m not just a Fashion Critic dear Princess¨ he said with a charming smile. He raised his hoof and took hers, giving it a gentlecolt kiss. Twilight returned Earth Jewel’s farewell bow as well as Aria’s. When both left to the door, she encountered Azeem, or, as she knew him, Zafar. She approached him with her heart beating faster as each step she gave. The tall stallion lowered his head in sign of respect. Twilight scrunched her face, trying not to cry. And enveloped her hooves around his neck. He smelled like spices just like she remembered. She quickly retreated as she forgot were she was. ¨You look different¨ she said in perfect Saddle Arabian accent. Azeem smiled and answered her in his native tongue. ¨Things have changed Azeezee I can’t be Zafar no more. I have responsibilities now and … I guess you can’t be my Azeezee no more too¨ Twilight held his gaze. ¨I’m still me Mudarris ( teacher) ¨ Azeem smiled. He then bowed once again and left. Celestia approached her and hugged her, Twilight returned her gesture and held her former teacher for while longer, then, she left. Luna’s Personal guards stood and bowed before leaving, Princess Luna gave her farewell and disappeared with Thorn.
When she was sure that the only left in the room were her and Flash she dropped her mask like a rock to the floor. Her back slouched as she started to feel her legs growing weaker and weaker, they trembled ad her breathing started to show signs of hyperventilation. Flash took immediate action and flew to her side right before she stumbled to the floor. He catched her in time, his big wings enveloping her. She placed a shaking hoof oh his neck plate to support herself. She was weak, tired and hungry. The anxiety was his worst enemy, and with this new information she was more anxious than ever. Flash rocked her back and forth, calming her down. Words were not needed now; he just needed to be there for her. He would use the servant’s corridors to take her to her room. He would put her bed and get her some food and water. But Luna’s reappearance to the room kept him from doing that. She approached them with light hoofs steps that not even a mouse would hear, a proper walking for somepony who walked through dreams. She lighted her horn and touched the tip of Twilight’s. Twilight’s expression softened and her breathing soon returned to a normal pace. ¨I gave her pleasant dreams. She will be ok with some rest. Meetings like this over matters like this one can wear anypony out, no excuses.¨ ¨Thank you Princess Luna¨ Flash answered. ¨Guard pony Sentry, you preformed your task well today. Right now, you are the only constant companionship she has. Take care of her¨ Flash nodded. ¨And alert Oni Fire and White Fur about this. I’ll visit them tomorrow as soon as I can. This matter concerns them as well as their Daughter¨ ¨Yes Princess Luna¨ Luna nodded in approval and Vanished through one of the doors. Flash picked Twilight in his hooves and flew gently through the servant corridor. Twilight’s hair already messed up, her dress wrinkled and her horse shoes dangling from her hooves. She was a mess. When Flash reached her chambers, he gently placed her in the bed and took her shoes off, the pin off her hair, brushing it to one side with his feathers; he unclasped the collar of the necklace, taking the fabric with it. He stared at Twilight for pleasure for his eyes just for mere seconds before covering her up with a blanket. He leaned in and kissed each of her eyes then running his muzzle to the side of her face down to her neck, taking in her scent. He left quietly and before he realized he was heading to the flying room. His head started working ideas and memories like crazy. He reached a big rock in the middle of the field. Anger piled up inside him as the memories of golden cloaked ponies battled the Royal Guard along a giant Hydra dressed in magical armor. The sound of suffering and dying. The shrieking sound of the Hydra’s roar, The image of his friend and first love morphing as a demon cackling consumed by madness. He greeted his teeth, the phantom pain in his wings returning. Not taking it anymore, he rose to his hind legs and stomped the Rock, letting out his frustration and rage. Letting out a powerful growl. The rock cracked in two.
White Fur checked her telescope one more time to reassure herself that every constellation was properly ordered were they were supposed to be. Everything seemed ok tonight, so she decided to give it a rest. Flipping her mane to the side, she uncovered her face and rubbed her eyes with her hooves and yawned. She had stayed the entire day checking on the constellations and she forgot to sleep.
Blue Rose had stayed at a friend’s house as a favor to her; she really needed to get some time to get her work together. Gratefully she hadn’t received any visions from the stars, yet she remained patient. The arrival of a princess to the castle was something that would lead to an answer given by the constellations, but until now, nothing. Maybe she was getting paranoid about the whole situation, but maybe not. Her head was a mess, between the anxiety and the lack of sleep; she came to the realization that her ideas right now could not be rational.
Lowering herself with the tiny elevator, she directed herself to the mountain of pillows and sheets. She carefully picked the same pillow Oni had used when he arrived. She laughed at herself for her silly actions but she really missed him. First it had been almost a year without him, guarding the border with the wastelands, only coming for 3 days every 2 months, always tired and with new scars.
She didn’t really care for them; she actually thought that no matter how many scars Oni had, he would still look handsome to her. Burying her face in the pillow, she breathed in his scent. He was here, and even now she was not able to see him all she wanted. One of the most difficult things she had to do was to calm Blue Rose every time she woke up during the night, crying, asking for her Papa. For a little filly, she was very comprehensive of her father’s situation, still, that did not mean that she liked it.
White Fur wished to imitate her daughter’s maturity. But in her case, Oni was the only thing she had ever had since her father died and she had always been the only one he had. Now that Blue Rose was in their lives, things were more complicated, but they were worth it.
She remembered the day she found out she was pregnant, she was so scared and so happy, she remembered waiting for the 3 days and covering her slightly swelled belly to surprise Oni. She remembered the look in his face as she uncovered it, the feel of his matted fur pressed against hers in a tight hug, the tears silently coming down his face. She remembered the first time he held Blue Rose in his hooves, how scared he was of not holding her right or this or that.
She smiled. What was he doing right now? She wondered, the most possible answer was that he was once again put to train special units. After all, Oni was a Pony that had the experience of battle and suffering imprinted in his soul, not many ponies had that during these peaceful times, she chuckled. Foolish idea really, the daylife thought of this as an era of peace, but actually it had never been like that. The night herd had never known about peaceful times. When you were bound to the night, you had to take in the fight for survival, the discrimination and the myths and legends that haunted their existence. The Princess of the night had always been underestimated and not considered when it came to rule Equestria, but the fools of daytime did not know that she was the one who kept the night creatures under control. Rolling over facing the uncovered transparent crystal ceiling, she contemplated the stars and she wondered if she would ever fully comprehend them, after all, she was not night born; she was merely adopted by it, taken under the sweet radiating moonlight that would never hurt her eyes.
A heavy weight on her belly brought her back to reality, lowering her gaze; she found Oni’s head resting over her stomach.
“The special unit has housed a bunch of whiners, again” He said in a tired, frustrated voice.
White Fur laughed, enveloping her front legs around his head, she hugged him
“Don’t you think that maybe you’re being too harsh on them?” Oni just shook his head.
White Fur played with his messy hair, she wondered if Flash and Twilight were ok, she glanced at Oni’s eyes, although they were closed, they bore years of repent. She wondered if this was the right moment to say what she was about to say, but she thought it was something that needed to be discussed, once again.
“Have you talked to Flash?” she asked in the most sweet and gentle voice possible.
She felt Oni’s body stiffen as soon as she had finished her question, he opened his eyes that were glowing from the moonlights power and just looked at her strait in the eye. She interpreted this as a no. Oni sighed.
“We didn’t meet under the most likeable circumstances, we are both angry at each other and I may have acted like an idiot again. I provoked him and now he won’t even look at me in the eye”
“You may have forgiven him, Oni, but he has not forgiven you” White Fur said.
The night stallion raised his head from its resting place.
“How could he, I nearly killed him Fur! I injured him for life and lost all his trust”
White Fur rose sat up trying to match his height.
“It was something you had to do; you didn’t have a choice love”
“Yes I did, I could have told him about my suspicions when we still were safe, but no, I had to shut up my mouth and stand that….that”
White Fur cut his words.
“She was your friend too and mine… when she changed…I, I really understand why you kept your thoughts to yourself about her, but, we both know that she was very important for him. It was the right thing to do”
Oni shook his head.
“No, it wasn’t, the right thing was to warn him and get him away from her when there was still time. We let her in to our lives Fur, we gave her our secrets and dreams, and she crushed them like they were nothing. The friendship she had with us was fake since the very first moment she opened one of those damn books. ”
White Fur lowered her gaze, He was right. Both of them were deeply hurt by the same pony, but Flash got the worst part of it.
She opened her mouth to say something but the noise of the door shutting loudly disturbed them. Oni lowered his ears in annoyance to the sound. When his nose picked up the scent of this new figure inside the room, he growled annoyed. It was Flash, a very, extremely angry Flash and he was not bringing good news.
White Fur turned her head to greet him with a smile, but she soon backed away and the sight of a pair of deep blue eyes that bore hatred and wrath. Oni walked to Flash with a very serious look in his face. Those eyes, that look. He knew that look, a few guards knew what those eyes meant, the ones who experienced the pain of battle and war.
Standing in front of him, he notices that he was sweating, his breathing was unsteady and his mane a mess, looking down to his hooves, he noticed that they were bruised and had little scraps and cuts; they were dirty of soil and grass.
“What in Tartarus happened to you” Oni asked, though, he already had a pretty good idea why he was in that state.
Flash just looked at him straight in the eye, Oni felt his gaze upon him like a blade through his heart, but he stood his ground. Flash lowered his head and gritted his teeth, he might as well say it once and for all, there was nothing he could do more than that.
“The Order is back”
There, he said it. There was nothing more to do than to see Oni’s eyes grow wide open, his pupils slitting until they became fine black lines and his fur rose up in anger. Bearing his fangs to their full length he spoke in a low menacing tone.
“Those bastards are dead, stop talking crap”
White Fur froze a few feet back from them, she could not breath, and her knees started to fail her. Oni’s sensitive ears picked up her lack of breath and quickly glared at Flash for breaking such news in front of a pony with such delicate health.
“That… that can’t be… I watched them being executed, they were killed in mass by night ponies”
Oni rushed to her, he lifted his hoof to reach her but she flinched instantly, she was panicking, hyperventilating. She went through her star studies over the past week over and over; there had not been any kind of response. She then recalled over the past month, nothing.
Flash watched motionless how she went through a panic attack, Oni trying to calm her down. The sound to his ears started to slowly tune off, his heart beat slowed down, he replayed a memory from 7 years ago. They were all young. They were all…. Foolishly happy.
Flash was a young pony, not quite big, not quite small either, he was going through that stage, were adults can’t actually understand if you’re just a small stallion or if you’re a tall colt.
None the less, Flash wore his training armor, technically, he was not old enough to be a guard yet, but he was in training. It was boring sometimes, he had to admit, standing next to doors, looking stoic and cleaning up armors, taking care of the foals that attended the magic school… It was sometimes rather lonely.
But one day, while he patrolled the school at night, he noticed a light coming out of the library. He unfolded his wings and slowly glided towards the slightly opened door, inside, surrounded by pillars of thick books, laid an orange sleeping unicorn mare. Under her chin, a giant tome was lighted by candles; he blushed, for she was beautiful.
Her red and yellow strands of hair were scattered through the floor in their tangled beauty. The candles adding a glow to the coloration she possessed. He slowly approached her; she had obviously snuck out of her dorm to keep studying. He smiled at her effort, but he had to wake her up and escort her to her dorm. Students were not allowed to roam the school at night.
She shivered, probably because of a cool breeze, Flash instinctively covered her form in one of his wings, her body soon relaxed, her face leaning to his feathers with a smile. He blushed heavily, but it was no time to admire pretty sleeping mares. He gently shook her with his wing and whispered softly for her to wake up.
The mare soon opened her eyes, and when she realized her current state, she jolted upwards and backed away from Flash.
“I’m sorry I startled you miss, but you fell asleep here and students are not-”
“I know the rest of it Guard, no need to lecture me. I’ll go to my room” She interrupted him, turning around heading to the door without as much of a glance to him.
“I’ll escort you” Flash said getting up and following her.
“No need, I can take care for myself” She said in a dry manner, picking some books with her magic.
“I’m sorry miss, but I have to follow orders, I have to accompany you to your room so I can check you don’t get out again”
The mare snapped.
“Who do you think you are to tell me that? I’m not a baby you know?!” She turned to face him and glanced at him from top to bottom. “You’re not even a real guard. Why should I even listen to you?” Flash started to get a little annoyed, yes, beautiful mare indeed, but Faust she had a bad attitude. “Miss, I still have to escort you, regardless of your opinions” Flash said approaching her. The mare started to get more annoyed, he could notice that on her eyes, gorgeous water green eyes filled with hatred. But he also noticed she appeared not to be healthy, she was way to skinny, bags under her eyes and a look of exhaustion filling her orbs. Before she could snap at him again with more insults he spoke: “Are you ok? Miss.” Her eyes widened in surprise, her face switching to confusion, then sadness and then quickly returning to anger. “What do you care? I’m fine, just… leave me alone” Flash ignored her wish and proceeded to ask her more “Do you need help? How many hours have you been studying in here?” He walked towards her, closer and closer. The mare started backing away, desperate to keep her stoic face in anger, not giving away her exhaustion. “Back away from me, I already told you, I’m fine. I was fine after you started pestering me.” Flash ignored her once again. “When was the last time you ate something? You look like a walking corpse” That’s when he felt a book being tossed to his head. “Ouch” he rubbed his temple that was a thick book. “You don’t think I know that!? I know I’m a mess, I know I’m pathetic. But I have to get better, I have to. I am the pupil you know! Great things are expected from me and I will deliver! What the buck do you think you sorry excuse of a guard can do to help me, I’m fine, I already told you. Just LEAVE ME ALONE”
The mare’s anger caused the books in her magic grasp to ignite on fire. The candle flames elevated in tremendous height, Still Flash remained unfazed
He gave one more step, towering over her, he smiled.
“What I think is that you need a hay burger, a root bear soda and a good rest”.
The mare devoured her hamburger still keeping her manners. Flash tried not to give out an amused look. Lying under a tree in the Canterlot gardens, he had finally managed to calm her down and take her outside.
She finished her meal giving a happy sigh.
“So, guard. What’s your name?”
“Flash Sentry”
She stood up and faced him.
“I thank you for the meal, Flash Sentry”
Flash smiled.
“No need, miss”
“Sunset”
“What?”
“My name, Sunset Shimmer”
“Oh, nice name. It goes with you.”
Sunset scowled, but blushed.
“Thanks, so what’s your deal?”
“My… deal?”
“Oh please, don’t play dumb on me. You bought me dinner; you sat with me here making small talk… What do you want?”
Flash looked at her confused.
“Nothing” he said.
Sunset jerked her head to the side, getting more annoyed.
“Ugh, please don’t give me that. Ponies do stuff for others expecting something in exchange.”
“I don’t expect anything in return. You misunderstood the motives of my actions.”
“Really… you’re telling me that you just took all this trouble for me for nothing. Come on Flash, we are not foals here. Do you really expect me to buy that?”
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what”
“One second you are sweet and polite, the other you’re annoyed and defensive”
“wha!?- I do NOT!”
Flash just stared at her, expectantly. She stared back. Then, she gave in and sighed.
“You really want to know why? Because there’s no path for the gentle kind hearted. If you’re soft and nice to everyone they will take advantage of you and use you on their will. You have to always be on guard, always expecting somepony to stab you in the back.”
Oni’s voice returned him to reality. He was carrying White Fur on his back.
“I’m going to look for my Daughter. Stay with the Princess. We are going to the Nightlands and hide there. I don’t give shit about orders now. You know what those bastards do to halflings and I’m not taking chances.”
Flash just stared at him, he did nor react. He did not move.
“Are you listening to me!? This is some serious stuff, If we do not act quickly, they will sneak on us again, just like the last time. Do not leave the Princess from your sight, I have a big hunch that they’re going after her”
“And you’re right” Luna’s voice resonated the Star Chamber like a tuned warning. Oni turned his head towards the entrance. There she stood next to the cloaked figure of Thorn.
“When you were planning of telling us about this”
“I was going to wait until tomorrow to deliver some extra news to you, I asked Flash to tell you the short version, as I supposed you have figured out the rest of my intentions towards this issue. I was going to send you away with your Family to the Nightlands. Not even my sister knows about this secret sanctuary. You will be safe there”
Oni frowned to her words, he was no worthy for that land, but he was being made an exception and he was grateful. He lowered his head in respect.
“I’m more than grateful towards this kindness my princess, but I will not remain there for long. If the Order is back, you’re going to need my skills not to mention my poison”
Luna sighed and nodded, she had forgotten about that. White Fur rose her head weakly.
“Princess, the stars… they remained silent, they didn’t warn me”
Luna tried to remain stoic, but Furs’ tired weak face was making her wanting to cry.
Thorn uncovered his face and spoke:
“Those Vermin were masking their moves with Changelings, and since they do not posses a true identity, well, most of them… they can not be tracked by the stars”
“That explains a lot” White Fur replied.
“Save your energy, we have to get our kid” Oni told her. White Fur just nodded and lowered her head once more and closed her eyes. He turned to Flash once more, looking at him straight in the eye he spoke:
“I know we are not in the best terms and that your friendship with me is no more. I get it; I really screwed up back then and ended up causing you great pain. I don’t ask for forgiveness. But”
“We are in this together. Regardless of our situation, this concerns both of us. We will solve our issues in another time. Now, I’ll fight by your side again”
Flash spoke in a strong voice, leaving Oni surprised, White Fur as well. A little bit far, Luna and Thorn stood silently smiling.
Flash half smiled, raising his right front hoof he stared deep in to Oni’s eyes, Oni frowned. This was no time for tears. He raised his left front hoof and locked it with Flashs’
He hid his face behind his bangs; Flash understood his struggle and locked his hoof harder. There was no more time for feeling depressed over the past. They had to get their game on once more. White Fur stumbled of Oni’s back and engulfed both stallions in a tight hug. Flash suppressed his tears and just covered both with his wings.
His relationship with Oni was in the verge of extinction, but leaving what has happened 7 years ago, these ponies were part of his life, still they were. They had grown up together, shared the same dreams and they had suffered the same loss. They were linked, bonded.
“Thorn will help you retrieve your child; you must go now you two. We don’t know if there are infiltrates in the palace”
Oni helped Fur back to his back again, nodding to Flash once more he turned around, motioned Thorn to Follow him and left the room, leaving Luna and Flash alone.
Flash sighed heavily, catching Luna’s attention; she smiled at him and approached him. She lighted her horn and lowered her head; Flash felt his legs being cured. Luna lifted her gaze and cleared her throat.
“Lieutenant Sentry of Canterlot’s Airforce” As soon as those words left Luna’s mouth, Flash stood straight, wings unfolded to their full glory, chest out. He stomped his right front hoof on the ground. It was an automatic response in his full title being voiced. He actually blushed a little; he was a bit embarrassed for his high rank, for he considered it useless, he just saw himself as a regular guard. Luna Chuckled. “At ease, I was just getting used to this new piece of information. Tell me, Flash Sentry, why did you hide your rank from me? I already supposed you were a higher rank, since you got transferred to the Chrystal Empire and you are not obliged to hide your identity while wearing armor. ” “The truth is Princess, I don’t deserve such title. That title was given to me for my actions in the battle against the Order years ago. I do not want to be labeled something that would make me remember that day. None the less, Now that the Order is back, there is no use in not embracing it either” Luna smiled and nodded. “Thank you for healing me, Princess” Flash bowed his head. Luna shook hers in response, “It’s nothing soldier, I sometimes also take my anger on the rocks. I understand. I was rather impressed when I saw your little… wreckage myself. Those stone pillars are hard. You truly are worthy of your task. I really do think Captain Armor made the right choice sending you to protect his sister.” Flash bowed his head once more. “Remain by her side, Flash Sentry. She is a strong mare and a magnificent Princess, but she’s not indestructible. Her strength relays on her friends and loved ones, and you do love her. I have noticed that” Luna noticed Flash’s body tensing up. “Rest assured, I will not make my realization public” Flash relaxed. “Thank you for understanding Princess” Luna smiled in return. “Go now; I’m sure she’s going to want to see you once she awakens” Flash gave one last bow before opening his wings and dashing through the door. She kept her smile until he completely vanished from his sight. She lifted her head to the ceiling, uncovered crystal glass, showed her beautiful night. She sighed relieved as she saw the familiar figure of Oni passing by. White Fur on his back. He stopped and gave her one last look, clenched in his jaws was Blue Rose, waving goodbye happily, she chuckled and waved back. Oni speeded up and vanished.
Flash reached Twilight’s door in and made sure no one was looking when he opened the door. To his surprise, a young night mare wearing a nurse outfit came from the inside. “Oh, so sorry. I was just sent to check on the Princess. Her condition is stabilized and everything seems ok, I gave her some vitamins though. She’s a little bit to thin. Make sure she drinks lots of water” Flash bowed his head. “Thank you” With that the nurse left and Flash was lefts alone with his task. He entered the room carefully; he did not want to wake her up if she was still sleeping. He found her in the same position he had left her. He sighed relieved that she was ok. Pulling a large pillow to the side of her bed were she laid he sat next to her and rested his head next to hers’ He took in her features and noticed one small detail. Small minuscule sparks glowing in her hair and in the corners of her eyes. He really had to focus on them, for they were so, so tiny that if he lost concentration he would have to search for them once more. Did all unicorns glow? No, he was sure. He guessed this was some sort perk alicorns had. To always look majestically ethereal even in their sleep. He saw as her lips parted for air and her eyes slowly opening. Her pupils adjusting to the sight before her, she sighed. Closing the distance between her face and his, she touched foreheads with him. She was so tired, so scared. With her friends not here, all she had was him. To search security and comfort in others was not something foreign to her, but it was also something she still did not intent on making a regular behavior. She preferred in working things alone. She was so used to being the supporter and not the supported that she found her behavior towards him odd and strange, like it was not something she wound usually do. But she welcomed it. After all, she was not made of stone, nor she was invincible. She rested assured that this stallion was going to stay by her side as long as she needed her and that calmed her a bit.
“I have to look for books about Changeling behavior and customs” she said trying to get up. Flash quickly reacted and held her down in the gentlest way. “Whoa there, you just fainted from an anxiety attack; you are staying in this bed” “I’m fine” Twilight said trying to rise once more. Flash once again held her down. She tried again just to be taken down again. She repeated this 3 more times, the 3 times failing. In the end Flash just laid his head and upper torso completely dead weight on her, preventing her from moving upwards. “You are heavy, you know that right?” “Yes, that’s why I’m pinning you down like this” “If I had enough energy I would blast your butt off me” “See? You yourself admit that you’re not feeling well” Twilight blushed embarrassed. “Ugh, get off you’re heavy” Flash smiled devilishly and rubbed his face against the covers. “Oh no, this place is comfy, all mushy mushy and warm” “Are you saying that I’m fat?” “What… no” “You did” “I said you were mushy mushy, not fat” “That’s saying that I’m fat” “No it’s not” “Yes” “No” “YES!” “NO!” After this, Twilight just broke in to a giggle fit, followed by Flash. “You just needed a laugh” Twilight wiped a few tears from her eyes while she still giggled. She sure was a feeling a bit better. “You’re a goofball you know that?” “Oh no, a Goofball would do this”
Flash proceeded in crossing his eyes in intercalated circles and sticking his tongue out. Twilight could not contain her laughter. Flash smiled, at least putting on an act as if nothing was wrong and acting like an idiot made her laugh, for just a minute it made her laugh and forget. If that was a way of keeping her spirit intact, then he was going to put on an idiot face every time it needed. He felt Twilight’s stomach moving along with her laughs. This made him relax a bit more about all the things going through his head.
“Flash, when I get some rest, take me to the Palace Library. I have to find some information about Changelings. Maybe even look for some old reports about the Order”
Flash raised his head, looking at Twilight with serious eyes, he nodded. So mush for a light mood. Twilight then noticed Flash’s tired eyes, ruffled mane and messy fur. “You look so tired, we both look tired. This is slowly working up my head and it seems to yours too. How can you handle this so well, I mean you look like you’ve been ran over by a train, but you don’t faint or anything. How can you be so composed?” Flash looked at her eyes, then he half smiled, his cheeks tinting with just a bit of red
“I have you”
Twilight’s eyes widened in delighted surprise. She rose from the bed and approached Flash she locked his neck in her front hooves and hugged his tight. He returned her embrace, burying his face in her mane. Twilight’s stomach grumbled loudly. They laughed.
Twilight looked nervously at the training pit below her. In it, two stallions were training in combat, both protected in vital areas with cushioned armor. Their hooves were bare though, so any type of blow would still hurt quite a lot.
Between the swift moves of the two competitors she spotted the pony who would be her first teacher. Big, buff and very intimidating earth pony stallion, Blade. He looked calm and pleased with the execution of skills displayed in front of him. Twilight found herself gasping as she noticed how close the fighters had come to him, too close. As she prepared herself to yell a warning, one of the soldiers raised his hind leg to deliver a kick to the other, but the other one dodged it, leaving Blade’s face right in front of it for the impact. The hoof stopped at mere centimeters away from his nose, and he smiled.
“Very well executed Quick Shift and Autumn Leaf, you did very well too, practice your hind legs stance, you seem to not get the balance quite right yet. You may rest”
Both stallions looked at each other proud, smiles big and wide across their dirty and bruised faces. Twilight couldn’t possibly understand how they could be so ok with one another, mere seconds after they were fighting for real against one another. Quick Shift draped the other stallion’s back with his front hoof.
“So sorry dude I didn’t mean to hit you that hard on the face!”
The other stallion by the name of Autumn leaf just shrugged.
“It’s fine, training is training. I know you didn’t mean it. Tell you what, buy me a jug of nectar and we’re good”
Twilight smiled, the sense of comradely was strong enough for both of them. It really didn’t matter if they fought each other. Taken away from her thoughts she noticed Blade looking straight at her from below, she jumped, being discovered was not part of her plan.
“I’m sorry I was just uh, I just wanted to-”
“The Princess is always welcomed as an expetator for training sessions.”
Twilight nodded politely.
“I was told you were expecting me, so I came a little early”
Blade blinked surprised and scanned the air above them, Twilight followed his gaze.
“Were is your Guard Princess? You are not supposed to wander alone”
Twilight lowered her gaze to the floor, embarrassed.
“I may have… snuck out of my quarters without notifying him. I needed some air”
Blade agreed to her reason with a slight nod.
“There are times when we need space, I understand, but Princess you are being targeted at the moment and even though you are partly safe inside this palace you still have to understand that things may happen”
Twilight looked at the soil beneath her hooves, soft and sandy, Blade was right. Howe ever, the real reason why she had left Flash behind was because he had looked so tired when she awoke that decided that just this time it would be ok to let him rest a little more. She casted a sleeping spell on him so he could sleep peacefully and snuck out of her room.
“Well, we better get started. First I’m introduce myself once more. I’m Blade. My task is to train in physical combat to the recruits for the Royal Guard and today I’ll be training you, Princess Twilight in basic body combat, it’s an honor” the black stallion bowed his head to the floor.
Twilight, embarrassed returned the gesture with a small bow.
Blade led her to the center of the training pit; he tied his mane to keep the hair out of his eyes. Twilight jumping slightly for forgetting so quickly summoned a long lace and proceeded to tie her long straight hair in a tight bun.
“As the sister of the former captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard I suppose you carry some form of knowledge in combat” Blade started circling her studying her stance and pose. Twilight getting slightly more nervous.
“Yes, mostly defensive moves but yes.”
Blade gave her an approving look.
“Good, good. That means you will not start from scratch then” Blade stood in front of her, extending his front hoof to her.
“May I” he asked looking at her hooves.
Twilight agreed. Blade took her front hoof in his, looking at its edge, gently knocking on it. He bent it feeling the joints and bones. He got a little closer and lifted up Twilight’s chin, gently pressing on her jaw and repeating the same steps he did with her hooves.
He took a few steps back and bore a small smile.
“It seems you adventures have made your body strong, we will not have to toughen up your limbs so much it seems, howerever, you are still very soft for a regular battle without the usage of flight and magic. That is why we need to concentrate in your body”
Twilight lifted her front hooves, studying them
Blade retreated to a far corner were a leather bag rested on a hook, he took out some bandage rolls and returned next to her.
“You see Princess, in battle your enemy, no matter who, will analyze your weak points as he battles you. If you happen to be a Pegasus he will do all in his power to take your wings down first cause a Pegasi’s main strength comes from them, same with a unicorn’s horn”
Blade wrapped her front legs with bandages up to her elbows and proceeded to do the same with her hind legs.
“The ability of flight and magic are great strengths in battle but they are also capable to turn in to very obvious weaknesses, because ponies tend to rely too much on them”
He pulled a weird looking harness and a black horn ring from another near by bag.
“That is why we’ll incapacitate you of flight and magic, that way your body will receive all the skills”
Blade secured the harness around her frame, Twilight no understood it’s purpose, it pressed her wings tightly to her frame and made it impossible to unfold them in any way, he then slid the ring to her horn, when it reached the base of it, the ring touched her forehead and she felt a sharp jolt of electricity, then she couldn’t feel it anymore. It was like her horn was not there. She tried taking the ring away with telekinesis but she couldn’t. Clearly the ring worked pretty well in restraining magic.
“You are ready Princess?”
Twilight met his gaze, with a serious stare she nodded. No more time for nervousness.
Blade smiled and trotted towards a tiny opening in the stone wall, lifting the gate, a medium size black ball, it looked hard.
“Touch it Princess” Blade instructed.
Twilight approached the ball hesitantly and touched it with the tip of her hoof. The black round matter shifted in form immediately, startling Twilight in the process. The black mass started to take form of a four legged creature and in minutes it became a full grown figure of a mare, no eyes, no face or cutiemark, it was like one of Rarity’s mannequins, only pitch black.
“This is a training puppet, it doesn’t posses a soul and it can’t feel pain. A creation of Princess Luna herself, she calls it, learning matter. A substance that can shape shift in to any form and can learn any physical movement, that includes fighting.”
Twilight watched amazed at the puppet in front of her, the puppet bowed in salute.
“It bowed to me!”
“It responds to basic movements with the proper answer to them, if you bow, it will return the gesture, if you hug it, it will do so. If you fight it, it will respond. Your goal is to win in battle against it with out the use of magic and flight”
Twilight nodded, taking a stance. Blade signaled the training puppet to get ready.
“Remember Princess, this is your enemy now, it will do anything in its grasp to harm you and overpower you, DO NOT give it the chance.”
Twilight centered her mind only one the figure in front of her, she was trembling, this was certainly going to hurt and she new it, in her head she started recalling her brother’s instructions when he taught her defensive moves.
“Don’t go to the enemy, let it come to you” she repeated in a low tone
She quickly dropped her upper half to the ground daring the puppet to charge at her, and so it did. With a beastly speed the black figure charged at her with full force but Twilight was ready for it. As soon as it reached her she propelled herself with a jump, flexing her hind legs, the puppet’s face followed her movement, she delivered a powerful buck right in to it. She quickly jumped away from its range. The puppet quickly responded by wrapping its front legs around her waist, with a lot of force, it threw her a few feet away, Twilight’s body hit the sandy ground hard, but it cushioned her fall pretty well, she rolled to her for hooves quickly trying to stand.
“Don’t buy it time, Princess!” Blade shout to her in a composed voice.
When she finally stood up properly, she saw the puppet charging at her once more, she got ready and waited for it, but the puppet changed it’s position as soon as it got in range, jumping, it stood in its hind legs and with one hoof ready to strike her right in the face, she panicked and ducked to the floor, the sharp hoof missing her by a hair, she thought quickly and headbutted the puppet making it loose its balance, she stood on top of it.
“Hooves to the head NOW!” Blade shouted.
She lifted both front hooves to her chest, bringing them down with all her might right on the puppets head, the puppet laid still for a minute, Twilight thought she had won.
“It’s a trick!” Blade warned, but it was too late, the puppet bucked her right in the stomac and sent her flying to the ground once more, only this time she landed on her back, pressing her already compressed wings even more letting out a loud cry.
She laid there stunned, in her head she tried working out a way to win this. She stood up with difficulty, in the distance she heard the puppet charge at her once more, she was not going to wait for anymore, she locked her gaze on too the up coming enemy and charged, as she went closer and closer facing a collision, she got the idea of teleporting herself as she did when she fought Night mare moon, but as soon as she tried to cast the spell, she realized she was wearing the ring.
The realization distracted her, giving the puppet the change to push her right on to the floor once more, one hoof on her chest, the other on her wind pipe. It was choking her.
“Common Princess, Kick!”
Twilight composed herself and delivered two powerful blows on to its belly, it didn’t make it fly off her but it did make it loose its grip on her throat, she took the opportunity and with a loud war cry she hit it right in the throat, the second blow landing right on his chest, with another hit on its ribs it finally freed her. She stood up on her hind legs, loosing a bit of balance, but still able to lift her hoof once more, hitting the puppet hard on its face.
The puppet fell on the ground.
“Excellent!” Blade complimented her “it’s not over yet though, while the matter recovers analyze your next moves, think quick. Ok its standing up, switch the tables Princess and CHARGE!”
Twilight let out an angry battle cry, not giving the puppet the opportunity to recover she aimed her hoof once more to its face, however, it quickly dodged it and aimed for her stomach, Twilight in panic managed to block it with her other hoof, the puppet tried to aim at her face but she blocked it once more with the other hoof.
Now, the Puppet and Twilight were standing on their hind legs pressing in to each others hooves, Twilight pushed and pushed until her head was mere centimeters next to its head. She smiled and head butted it hard, she felt blood coming out of her forehead, but she was too pumped with adrenaline to feel pain now, and she was furious. Why did she have to do this, why was there so much evil around still, this was the sacrifice she was willing to make to become stronger, to BE stronger and defeat once more whatever threatened her and her loved ones. She saw in this faceless puppet the threat of a real enemy; she poured in to it all her anger, she felt as if she was fighting whoever was behind all of this mess.
She suddenly felt Blade at her side, with a low voice he said:
“You are letting your emotions taint your fighting, emotion will drive you in to a confrontation but it must never take over. Clear your head, leave room to think what to do next”
Twilight listened carefully; it was hard to do so while she was pushing forward, then she realized it. The puppet was totally exposed. It was a rather hard move for her, but she knew what she had to do.
She gave in to the pressure in her left hoof, quickly dodging the hit, and then she lowered her head and proceeded to do the wildest move she had ever made. She dove her head straight in to the puppet’s open chest trusting her horn right in to its chest cavity. She couldn’t feel it, but she knew her horn was there. The sensation was weird, no crunching of bones or blood, it was like clay.
The puppet stopped fighting back instantly, its body felt limp, dragging Twilight with it to the ground. Blade came to her aid, pushing the puppet away freeing Twilight’s horn. Twilight tried standing up, but her body fell once more, Blade extended his hoof for her to lean on it, she was exhausted, her legs were trembling and cuts and bruises covered her coat and the dry blood from the small cut in her head had dried up in one side of her cheeks. “That was very good princess, a little sloppy, but very good. Your main problem is lack of strength in your hind legs, but you manage a fight pretty well.”
Twilight lifted her head poorly and gave Blade a wide smile. She was happy, in a way.
“Tell me Princess, did your brother taught you horn fencing?”
Twilight answered with a raspy low voice
“N-no, he said my horn was too small. But I figured that I was close enough to use it physically. Unicorns tend to forget horns may serve other purposes than wielding magic, after all, they are pretty hard”
Blade nodded.
“GREAT FAUST!!!” a loud voice suddenly filled her ears. She new who it was, she was in trouble.
“Flash Sentry, it’s been a while” Blade greeted the orange stallion who was flying downward towards them.
The Guard paid minor attention to Blade, giving him just a small courteous nod. He reached for Twilight face with a hoof, he quickly drew it back. They were not alone here.
“Hi” she said shyly.
“Princess, you must not leave my sight. If you needed time for yourself you should have notified me. I was obligated to join you in your training”
“Sorry, I just thought…” she stopped herself from going on.
“We will resume your next stage in training when you recover Princess, I’ll leave you to your guard’s care”
Blade handed Twilight to Flash and bowed to both of them, turning to the puppet lying in the ground, it had already returned to its ball form. He pushed it back to it’s compartment and left through another opening.
As soon as he was out of view, Flash let his mask drop.
“What in the ever living Great creator were you thinking! Look at you!”
“I just thought you needed sleep, you looked so tired I-”
“You should’ve woke me”
Flash took his horse shoe off and padded Twilight’s head. She flinched when he touched near her cut.
“You got a nasty looking gash over there, I saw your finishing move when I entered, I was very surprised, I kind of forgot to react once you were finished”
“Really? Was I good?”
Flash was distracted feeling her for bone fractures or any injuries apart from her scratches and bruises. Twilight repeated her question once more.
“You want the Guard point of view or mine”
Twilight blinked rapidly.
“Uh…both?”
Flash clasped his hooves in to its shoes once more.
“Well, from a guard’s point of view, you were sloppy and you really need to work on your stance”
Twilight lowered her gaze to the floor, in the end, it hadn’t been enough.
“But, in my opinion you were awesome and you kicked its ass. I’m proud of you”
He kissed the edge of her wound with care, lifting her up; he spread his wings and flew to the exit upwards.
“What now?”
Flash looked down at her face surprised by her question.
“What about now? You are going straight to your room with me and you’re not getting out until the night.”
“What? Why?”
Flash gave her a sympathetic smile.
“Trust me when I say you will not want to move for a while”
“Ow! Owowowowo!!!”
Flash removed the bandages from her hind legs carefully to not graze the skin more than he had too.
“I know princess, I know. Almost done… there, you’re free”
Twilight lay on her stomach, her whole body ached, but her legs were killing her. A soft bandage covered her head. She braced herself for what would come next; decompressing her wings was not going to be any less painful.
Flash loomed over her, his warmth reached the edges of the covered patch of coat as he fastened his teeth on the buckle.
“Kay, in three. One, two…three”
He pulled the buckle and Twilight felt her wings loosen. She let out a sharp yelp and contained her cry. Flash was quick in getting it off her. Her wings sprang forward for space and cool air. She suddenly felt cold, as the sweat plastered in her body met the cool air.
She lay limp on top of the mushiest pillow, that wretched ring out from her horn, the was relieved to fell her magic once more.
“I really don’t know how much more I an keep it up, it’s just been a night and I’m already exhausted”
Flash lay next to her, draping her form with his wing, easing her cold.
“It’s always like that, it is difficult. But it’s necessary”
Twilight sighed.
“Look, I got you what you wanted”
Flash pulled a big book from the corner of a near night table. Its title read – Changeling culture volume 1—
“You got it! Yes!, this is exactly what I needed, Thank you. ”
Twilight pecked Flash on his jaw line, sending shivers down his spine. She laughed at his ruffled feathers and he responded with a playful glare.
Twilight summoned her reading glasses and proceeded to quickly studying the book. She snuggled in to Flash’s warm cover and tried to put her mind away from the constant mild pain in her legs.
Her reading was cut when she felt a soft muzzle between her ears and her jaw line. She shivered at the tender spot being kissed so gently. She felt her cheeks burn. Flash drove his lips all the way across her jaw, stopping at her chin; he skipped her mouth and kissed her muzzle and the corner of her eyes.
“wha-what are you doing?” Twilight managed to ask.
Flash smiled.
“Teasing you” Twilight snorted.
“You pick quite the moment to do so”
Flash just smiled lovingly at her.
“Oh Faust, are you taking advantage to the fact I can’t move?” Twilight asked in a fake offended tone.
“Mayyyyyybe”
“You bully!” Twilight threw a pillow at his face using her magic.
“Ow! Kay kay no more teasing I promise!”
Flash was silenced by something he first thought was a product of his imagination, but a few seconds later he realized it wasn’t.
Twilight pressed her lips right in to his, leaving them for like 5 seconds there. Soft, warm and delicate. Flash felt a surge of energy going through his body and then Twilight drew back and smiled at him.
“There, now be good and stay with me until a get through this book, Kay?”
Flash just stared at blank space, Twilight called him a couple of times, and then she saw how his face gradually got redder and redder and he just nodded.
She stifled a laugh and proceeded to the book.
She glanced back at him a few minutes later to find his face hidden under his other wing.
“Not so much of a teaser now huh?”
“Shut up”
She giggled and continued reading, moments later she felt him getting a little closer to her, his face still hidden.
She smiled and shifted closer to him as well, reading, she felt her lips curl in a smile and her cheeks burn.
