Chapter thirty

Twilight opens her eyes, looking around her, she recognizes the room. It’s her own after all. The curtains are open and the sky outside is that of a pleasant summer night. She’s about to fall right back to sleep with she rolls over and sees the bright orange pony sleeping next to her, she never got to see him like this. The soft expression of a smile on him, but still strong and brave. Even sleeping Flash looks like that of a pony that she would like to have around more often, and can only hope that she is able to keep him close by.

She leans in to the sleeping Flash, admiring the subtle expressions on him, ‘He’s just as sweet as when he sleeps…’ Twilight kisses him softly on the cheek and whispers in to his ear, ‘I love you, Flash Sentry,’ seeing the gentle smile come over his face even more in response. The mare lays back down next to him, pressing herself up in to his chest and reaches around with her hooves to hold herself closer, but as she does Twi feels nothing there.

As she starts to reach around for the colt, her eyes snap open in an instant reviling the cold truth.

Twilight has to blink a few times to get used to the light of the flames next to her, she pats her hooves down in Flash’s Sleeping bag. Though just as in her dreams, nothing is there, finally able to see the empty sack as she opens her eyes fully. She looks up while not moving her body, and is relieved to see Flash sitting there next to the fire, stone in hoof, sharpening his sword. A frown comes over her as she realizes that the pleasant memory she had was nothing more than a dream, coming back in to the reality that they are out in the middle of nowhere looking for other possible changelings in the area.

It’s a rather quiet contempt sight to see Flash sitting there idly, having removed his armor for the night for some more comfort, the colt sits there bare coat in front of the fire going through the motions to keep his weapon in top shape. She can only imagine seeing a younger Flash in the Royal Equestrian army, it must have been quite a sight to see him, in what seems like his natural setting.

‘So serious about his job, and at the same time when I ask him to act like any other colt and loosen up a bit…he can,’ Twilight talks to herself in her head, ‘…even though he isn’t quite like any other colt,’ she props herself up on one hoof to watch him next to the fire, putting another log on it. Flash turns around to pick up his sword and that’s when he sees the princess laying there awake, looking at him.

“Oh, sorry…I hope I didn’t wake you?” he apologizes to her while admiring the view of the fire dancing in her eyes as she does the same.

Twilight chuckles a bit, sliding her petite form out of the bag and sits up next to him by the fire, “You’re quite alright, Flash… trust me. I just woke up from a rather enjoyable dream.”

“Really now?” he raises a brow, “I can’t imagine, I’ve been up for the last few hours by now anyway.”

“What?” she says shocked at him, “you haven’t even slept yet?”

“Eh… it’s nights like these that I find myself not sleeping much,” he plays it off almost like it’s what he has come to expect from his duties, “it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve pulled two or three days with little to no sleep.”

“You’re not the only one…” Twi scratches the back of her head, then leans it on his shoulder as she looks in to the flames.

There are many times she has stayed up for a few days straight while studying in the library with a book cracked open as she runs off of pure coffee and nothing more. Then again it can’t be anything like having to stay awake for something like military duty. The stress of having to watch over your brethren next to you in a battle, or staying up late at night to keep an eye on things… the princess thought having a deadline when it came to her own studies was hard, but having an actual deadline in his job is a whole new thing. That’s when she is reminded of her previous thought from earlier about his past.

Twiddling her hooves and pushing it in to the ground, she decides to be blunt about that question in asking, “…Flash… where did you go while in the military before?”

The peculiar question makes Flash go cockeyed for a second as he looks at the mare, “what do you mean?”

“Like what did you do… were you in any fights beforehand? Just a little background, before you wound up at the Crystal Empire. Your choice in provisions to bring perked my interest,” she explains her quick reason to ask, trying to better grasp his life beforehand, “seems like you have done this quite often, and you never really talked about some of the brutal things you had to do…” she trails off.

Flash sitting there can see the general interest in the mares mind, up until now he really had just told her his military history and moving up through the ranks… he kept out the more grim details, not something you want to share with such a pony when you are first really starting to get to know them. Though now that she brings it up, he doesn’t really have a reason not to tell her a little more about himself, considering their admitted affections for one another.

“Well… where to start…” he tries to think back to some of the earliest skirmishes that he has taken part in. Although his time in the military so far is rather short compared to others, Flash has had a hoof full of experiences that had either come close to landing him in the hospital (and a few have) or the morgue.

“One of the first places I was assigned to go to was out in Badlands to the far south. Several issues with Diamond Dogs, kidnapping ponies and forcing them to mine for the gems that they sought after…” Twilight listens to every word, already having seen the dogs when they did the same thing to her friend Rarity, “Naturally, Celestia won’t stand for such a thing to be done to her subjects, so when it came time to try and free our own. Your teacher opted for a more, bloody tactic…” he starts to look off from Twi, making sure not to make eye contact.

Twilight’s mind pauses for a second at hearing that little detail, Celestia always took the more peaceful approach when she could, so this is out of the ordinary for her, “She sent you in there with orders to…kill? Just like that?”

“The fact that some of the ponies that were taken were royal guards, didn’t help their case,” he explains to the princess to calm her a bit, “plus the dogs aren’t the most hospitable of creatures. They had slain a few of the ponies out of cold blood, when a ransom wouldn’t be paid.”

“That’s one thing you never want to do,” Twi shakes her head, picturing the face on her princess when she got the news, “you can talk many things out with Celestia, but the moment you harm a subject of hers… all bets are off.”

“Exactly… we were sent in under the cover of darkness to their caves and got them by force…” Flash goes in to the details, after being pushed by Twilight for them more than anything, about his little excursion to the caves for the others.

Considering this was his first real assignment, the younger Flash was rather intimidated by having to actually spill blood of another creature by his own blade, the very same blade he has to this day. Although the Diamond Dogs themselves are rather big and stronger when compared to ponies, they aren’t the brightest star in the sky. Many of the ones that were killed was the result of nothing more than a simple act of trickery and deceit. Sentry had learned quite a few things back in is original training when it came to tactics of those sorts. Thrusted in to a small conflict that gave him the opportunity to show those skills, which left a rather lasting impact on his leaders…

“So they saw you were good at what you did…” Twilight puts together, hearing about a few of the tricks and traps from her talks with her own brother.

“Oddly enough, yea” he shrugs his shoulders, “they didn’t want to lose many, for obvious reasons, plus not having a large group of guards to go in with didn’t help our outcome. Though to make a long story short, a younger me made the suggestion to set traps all along their cave to save ourselves trouble. After many were either buried alive, or picked off by us. We eventually got their ‘leader’, if you want to call him that. Which only made the others take off and abandon the prisoners that they had taken before.”

“How… many do you think were killed?” she says with some apprehension in her tone.

Flash manages to pick that tone out of the question, and answers with a question of his own, “Is that something you really want to know?”

“It’s something that I should get used to…” she tries to put it so that he’ll understand, “I’m with a royal guard in the Equestrian military. I should expect you to kill, but it’s still a thought that almost turns my gut at times,” she answers him.

The idea of killing another in battle is something that Twilight never thought she would get used to, sure she has had her set of nasties to take care of in her past (everything from fighting the Ursa Minor, to even taking on her very own Cerberus). Though all of them were either subdued or defeated but still alive, she is a gentle soul after all.

Killing another that means her harm in the first place, after all other reasoning is lost is one thing. Going in to a place with the intention to kill is a whole new ball game. Then it clicks to Twilight, what that small lesson in the test Celestia had done with her was… ‘A ruler is expected to make tough choices in her duties. Some are harder than others, and no matter what they may be, they have to be done… and the outcomes lived with,’ she repeats in her head.

‘What if I was asked to kill?’ Twilight ponders to herself, having never really thought about it until now. After all what pony wants to think about such a thing that often? ‘What if Celestia told me I was going to have to kill another, could I do it… better yet, could I live with that?’ she questions herself. Deciding that she will not know, till that time comes.

Upon her request Flash picks up with his next little adventure after the Diamond Dog incident. Thanks to that, his higher ups that were out with him, gave Flash a promotion, and specifically assigned him to another outing, to see exactly what the young Sentry could do. This time though it put him out in the middle of the Ever Free Forest dealing with an enemy that Twilight knows all too well.

“Timberwolves?” she asks, trying to make sure she heard him correct.

“Yep… the fowl smelling creatures made up of vegetation that like to feed on whatever prey they can get their fangs in to…” Flash proceeds to tell her exactly why he was sent out there with only a hoof full of fellow guards to take care of this.

The Timberwolves had taken it upon themselves to raid a few smaller settlements around on the opposite side of the forest, it was only a matter of time before they would stop attacking the livestock and go to the ponies that owned such animals. “So we were sent in to take care of that problem,” he puts it rather bluntly, rather glad he can see that Twi doesn’t quite get discouraged when it comes to certain creatures biting the dust.

“Good… Timberwolves aren’t something that any pony should deal with on their own, and they certainly aren’t to be taken lightly,” she fills in from her past experiences involving the creatures of the forest, “though they aren’t stupid like the Dogs… how did you deal with these ones?”

“The wolves we had to take on with sheer force,” he launches in to the small battle him and a few of the guards with him had with the pack.

Although there was no real blood to be drawn with such a creature, each gaping wound only breaking out in sap seeping from the openings that they made, though Flash and a skilled unicorn did think of a rather cleaver little weapon to use against the mostly wooden beings.

“Fire sword?” she asks bluntly.

“Yes Twilight, Fire sword…” he answers taking a small sip from his canteen, slightly trying to hide the giggle attempting to break through.

“You took pitch from a local bog, and using a small magical spark, ignited your blades,” Twilight thinks just how effective this could have been when her and her friends had gotten chased by the wolves before. Although they didn’t have any weapons on them, it would have come in handy when it came time for her to deal with a similar issue that Flash had, when she herself was a princess, “I like it already… though I would have thought of a more creative name for it,” she teases him.

“Oh give me a break, please,” he chuckles with her, as the princess starts to giggle quietly so as not to wake the others, “I didn’t even name it, it was actually thought of while we were in combat by another guard.”

“How did that work?”

“Well another Pegasus was using his wings to help power through the wolves,” he explains the over energetic guards approach, “and during the dash he was yelling out, ‘behold my mighty Fire Sword!’, so needless to say, the name kind of stuck after that one.”

“Were you trying to figure out how you ended up with him on your team after hearing that?” the princess asks sarcastically.

“Well more or less, though he did do quite well for it being his first fight. However, that colt did have a few screws loose, if you know what I mean,” Flash points out, bringing up his Canteen, offering some to his Marefriend before he was going to take a sip himself.

A dagger flies out from the shadows and impales itself in to the canteen that his held right in front of Twilight. Water starts to run down the knife and on to the ground, while it takes a few seconds for the two ponies that are up to quite figure out what just happened. Flash looks down and sees the blade sticking out and drops the canteen, pulling up his sword to his side while taking a stance in place before the princess to use himself as a crude shield.

Though he would love to have some of his armor on right now to give his own body some sort of protection. It’s not like he has the option to call a time out and put it on after laying it to rest for the night. A couple more short throwing blades come out of the darkness with a slight whistle to them as they whip though the air even faster than before. Never the less though, this isn’t the first time Flash has had to contend with an enemy that likes to throw daggers at him.

‘She’ll learn about that one another time…’ Flash tells himself while using his blade to strike some of the projectiles right out of the air, using the glimmer that they give off from the flame near him to give away their position. Hitting the ground with a mild ting from the metal. Flash uses the flat side of his own blade to try and slap down the next salvo that he hears coming, though he never gets the chance.

The shine to them that he can see in the light of the fire is halted in a light violet aura, looking behind him and seeing the grin on the princess’s face, “you aren’t the only one who can play this game.”

“Good to know,” Flash says before getting some back up from the still slumbering guards. Lightly kicking the guard next to him on the ground to wake him up.

“Ahh, ugh… Sir?” he salutes while coming to.

“Now isn’t the time soldier…” Flash whispers, knowing that something is out there. Though he doesn’t know if they have gone in to hiding after their missed attempts.

The single soldier sees the blade sticking out of the water flask, and the others around on the ground, knowing now that something is wrong he jumps up and quietly awakens the other guard next to him, once he awakens they go down the short line till all of them are up and at ‘em. Ready to go at whatever may be out there, the one mistake that the enemy in the darkness has made is allow them to all wake up.

They form a protective heptagon around the princess so as to give them an all-around view of the forest and trees there before them. Each of the unicorns, along with Flash, take a sector and scan it the best they can for their target, “I can’t see anything sir” one guard calls off to Sentry.

“Well the dark isn’t helping our case here,” Flash looks up and down at their options at the moment, “although…” he taps one guards to get his attention, once he turns around, Flash taps the top of his head to remind the guard exactly what skills he has.

“Noted sir…” he responds, lighting up is horn with a simple Illumination spell.

Using the almost spot light to scan each area of the tree line around him, the fellow guards soon follow with the same spell and all search their sector. None of the guards find anything still, even with the help of the light to guide them. Flash calls it after a few moments of silence and sends a group of four out to check the outlying area, while the other two stay with him. Twilight takes her place behind her guard, knowing that he does have her safety in his best interest. Though at the same time she isn’t one that likes to sit on the sidelines. Watching the eyes of her guards swivel around the forest trying to find anything to give up the assailant.

“Err…” she grinds her teeth, feeling rather useless at the moment cowering behind the colts around her, “here this may shed some lights on things,” she powers up her own horn, sending out a larger Illumination spell then the other guards could have ever done, thanks to her higher skill level with magic. The light would have blinded those around her if they weren’t facing away, though one in particular isn’t as lucky when it comes to this.

Having his eyes adapted to the night after following them all the way here. The attacker has to cover his eyes to stop the burn that they get from the second sun that’s created, though this doesn’t help his hold on the tree that he once had, right above the four ponies. ‘Awe… damn!’ he thinks just before falling down to the ground on top of one of the guards.

The crunch of some of the metal plates grinding in to one another brings the others looking at their fallen comrade and seeing exactly what they are dealing with at the moment. Coming to his feet fast, a lone changeling missing a single fang stands there in a second of awe considering his predicament. The guard under him kicks the creature off to the side in to a tree before getting his own footing.

Though the assailant uses his wings to stop the impact and lands just before, as his body buzzes to a halt, saving himself from a rather large head ache. All three guards take a stance in front of the princess to try and form a protective barrier with Flash in the middle of them. The creature draws their sword ready to go at the bunch and finish what he was assigned to do.

“Well this should make things rather interesting…” he says, exposing the other throwing blades on his chest holder making them ready to go in a moment’s notice.

“Oh come now…” one of the unicorn guards says to him, bringing out a short sword of his own, “it’s three against one.”

“…Make that four,” Twilight says taking a place between the guard and Flash. Although she knows the look from her personal guard is screaming at her to get behind them for her own sake, he doesn’t say a word to her. Considering there are bigger problems right now.

“Hmm… a princess who has some fight in her, I like a challenge!” the changeling yells. Bringing out several more blades form his holder and launches them at the group like missiles with his magic, while charging them head on.

‘He’s either stupid, or good…’ Flash concludes whist blocking one blade, only to be met by the sword from the changeling himself as he whips around in an attempt to hit the others.

One guard manages to dodge, but the other isn’t so lucky, catching a gash along his cheek that starts to ooze bright red blood from the opening. Though thankfully it’s just a flesh wound and he continues the fight, now the changeling has his sights set on the princess, who brings up her own horn at the ready. Firing off a few simple bolts of energy in rapid succession, the enemy is able to move out of the way faster than she anticipated before.

Bringing his blade down, he narrowly misses as she slides to the side. Though the others are trying their best to draw him away, the changeling is relentlessly perusing the princess in this case. One unicorn guard fires off an electrical arc from his horn, hitting the changeling’s blade and causing him to drop it to the ground as the surge hits him.

The blade itself starts to singe in to the surface of the ground and burn from the energy that just went through it. Now having to resort to his throwing blades, they obviously don’t do the best work at trying to parry a full sword from the guards as he takes a more defensive position.

Flash cleaves downwards at him, but the agile assassin pulls his head back and delivers a quick buck to the side of the bright orange guard, forcing him to stumble. Quickly recovering from the hit, Flash brings out a fast right hoof and clocks the changeling in the jaw, knocking him off and to the side. Another guard tries to get the jump on him and brings up his own short sword, only to have a magic shield block his attempt at the strike.

The changeling now pulls out another spell, and with a floating log under the control of telekinesis, uses it to cream the guard in the head. The sound of crushing armor and even under that of bone, is heard over all else as the guard hits the ground in one go. It’s clear that this soldier isn’t walking away from this one, the comatose face is seen under the mangled remains of his head protection while a few teeth and a torrent of blood runs out from the side of his head.

‘I think I’ll opt for very good in this case,’ Flash answers himself, while he and the other guard come to the side of Twilight. Watching the changeling come out in front of them, readying a few more daggers.

“I can go at this all night…” he taunts the others, turning the knives around ready to throw a few while others remain up in the air of his magical aura.

Though he didn’t exactly see this coming at the moment. A few of the blades around him that he holds in his own aura, are shot down from the woods. Looking to see who is cornering him now, the guards that were sent out to look out for him in the woods have returned. Fresh and ready for battle.

“Well this is going to turn sour quick,” he mutters to himself, opting to live today and fight tomorrow. Beating his translucent wings as fast as he can, the changeling takes off in to the sky and away from them so he can come back at another time to finish what he started.

Though that isn’t exactly the plan of another winged pony…

Flash doesn’t take to kindly to one that kills a guard of his, or at the very least tries to harm a pony under his care. Especially not one such as the princess in this case. Thanks to still not having any armor, it doesn’t take long for him to shoot up after the dark figure in the sky with his own blade in hoof as he screeches towards the target. The changeling thought he got away Scott free, until he feels a blunt hit in his back knocking him off balance in the sky.

He and Flash tumble with one another in the air for a few moments as they scuffle, throwing a few hooves back and forth at each other. Though it’s the eventual head butt that breaks the hold of them both and separates them long enough to gain control of their flight. Facing off with one another now, Flash looks at the changeling hovering there before him, producing his own blade in hoof at the ready. The creature brings out a couple of the blades he has left and holds them in either hoof.

“I was hoping to make this quick!” the assassin shouts out to the guard, a little flustered after his failure, “After all it’s just my job…”

“What job!” he calls back, clenching his weapon, “who sent you!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know…” the changeling chuckles, taunting him so as to make the guard careless in his attacks. Though he doesn’t quite know who he is talking to, “it’s understandable that the Coltfriend of Princess Twilight Sparkle, would care so dearly for her!”

“Well, I won't deny that. However…” he readies himself for the attack, easing his breath in and out, “… I have a job to do too!” he dashes at him.

Using the hilt of the blade to crack the out stretched hoof that the changeling was using to try and protect himself, the hit results in him now dropping his own blade in the process. Bringing around his other hoof, the changeling manages to clock him the same way Flash did. Attempting to follow up though with a simple stab attack, fails when Flash brings himself out of range and with a flip sends the creature a few feet back with a hind hoof to the end of his chin.

Now aiming the blades in his aura, the changeling shoots them off at him almost like darts. Without the help of the fire to light them up, it’s much harder to block them with his weapon, now resorting to simple barrel rolls to dodge in the air.

Then again, it’s not all successful…

A sharp pinch is felt in his right wing as the burn from a blade sliding in to one’s flesh hits him, as Flash looks over and sees a knife sticking out. Using his teeth in an attempt to pull it out and ignore the pain, he never gets the chance as the changeling launching himself at him. So close in, there isn’t any real space to swing his sword, now having to fight with both his fore hooves to hold off the attacker from driving a dagger in to his own throat. It’s a stalemate at the time while they both fight with similar level of strength and skill.

Whoever this changeling is, he certainly is as skilled as the one back in the Crystal Empire.

Trained to some sort of military level, it’s the only way he would be managing this against the guard. Especially when it comes to exposing weak points, as Flash experiences when the changeling uses his wings to overpower Flash considering his injury now, trying to drive him down so he can get the upper hoof.

Knowing that he isn’t going to last long under this strain, Flash goes for a last ditch effort… using his teeth, he twists his head out and pulls the throwing knife from his wing. Swiping it across the changeling’s face and leaving a deep wound stretching from eye socket to eye socket while it carves itself in to the soft tissue.

“AGghh!” the attacker screams out in response as he pulls away, now being blinded to what is about to happen, as blood fills his eyes.

Flash opens his jaw, dropping the blade down in to an open hoof, before using his other one to latch on to the changeling and pull him in close so as not to let him get away. And in one move, the guard reaches back behind the creature. Driving the blade in to one of his wings, and pinning it in to his side like a tack.

It takes a few seconds for him to realize exactly what happened. After feeling the same burn from the blade, and his altitude dropping fast, while the wind rushes by his head. Attempting to use his wings, it only results in the audible rip from his wing pulling from his side, damaged beyond use. It must feel like a life time to know that you’re falling to your death, though it’s is said that it’s not the falling that’s scary…

But it’s the landing.

Without a word, the single assailant falls silently. Accepting his fate amongst the others of his race who have fallen before him. Just before impact, the changeling closes what he can of his eyes and barely feels the impact of the trees below him. Twisting and mangling his body like it did the one in Pony Ville, which he ironically replaced. The final stop is the cold ground beneath him as the corpse hits, blood spilling from the cuts and scrapes from the initial impact, and out of the huge crack in his head, as the soft tissues from his brain starts to fall out.

Flash lands right next to the body just as the others are coming out of the woods, amongst them is Twilight who lead the pack before they came across the scene. The first thing the princess notices is the stench, or lack there of, that the changeling is giving off.

‘No wonder none of us picked him out…’ Twilight takes another whiff, ‘he smells just like any other,’ she realizes.

One unicorn guard kicks the changeling to make sure it actually is dead, but more so then any reason than for him to be able to say that he put in his own punch. Though unexpectedly, the body starts to twitch back and forth as a muscle spasm gets the best of the guard and makes the hardened soldier almost fall back as he jumps up.

“What the!?” he flips out, readying up the mace he carries as a side weapon.

“Easy there now …” another guard calms him down, “just random brain activity.”

“But his brain is all over the ground!” he tries to rebuttal.

Though there is still no arguing that it sure is dead. However, it’s quite a curious sight to see the body twitch back and forth as it moves. Then again, the changeling starts to do something else entirely. Several flashes of green light can be seen coming off from it as the body goes through some of the disguises that it has done in the past. The others look on at the almost frame by frame slide of its life… many of the ponies and creatures that it goes through, none of them know, but a few they can guess at what they did before the originals met with whatever fate was bestowed upon them.

One is dressed in a formal suit and must have been a very rich individual. Another that is seen, doesn’t even have a cutie mark on it. Which makes sense seeing as it is a young filly, probably a daughter, which the family is still out looking for none the less. Twilight tries to put that thought out of her mind as she watches the body continue on with the little slide show before them. The most disturbing fact is that a few of the masks that the changeling wore were in fact royal guards, all done up in armor and everything. Though whether or not they are from the Crystal Empire or from Canterlot is unknown, then again, that thought is put out when Twilight sees the final cover that the changeling wore.

Stopping on its last kill that he resumed their life, the body of a light brown filly with a long black mane placed on her, and a similar color tail is shown. Trimmed curves about her waist that extend all the way down to her tight behind, all of it held up with toned legs, and to top it off a sweet face, graced with light and lovely blue eyes.

Twi yelps out at seeing the form, “That’s… Sunflower!” she jumps up, looking at the body of a pony she would see on a regular basis about town.

“The same one from the market?” Flash asks to confirm from what he remembered seeing a similar pony then and doing a slight double take to the corpse.

“Yes! The very same…” she shakes her head, feeling how the changelings have hit so close to home yet again, “…when we get back to Ponyville we have to check in at her house at some point, find out what happened to her.”

“Twilight…” Flash tries to prepare her for what the princess will end up uncovering, “you know how some changelings operate when it comes to taking ponies?”

“I know… though if not to save her if she is still alive, at least to give her some peace,” she reasons with him, while they all leave the body of the changeling there to rot back in to the ground. Heading back to the original camp, the guards burry their fellow guard at the cliffs edge and patch themselves up for the time being in case they run in to more trouble.

Sentry sits there, taking the first watch of the night while the others go back to sleep. The adrenaline from the fight keeping him up more than anything at this point. His heart keeps a steady beat right now, ready to pick up and take off if need be. Though at the same time it can get the best of him, as Flash nearly jumps when Twilight puts a caring hoof on his shoulder. Once he realizes though who it is, he settles down for the moment.

“Well I’m glad you aren’t going to strike me down…” she tries to lighten the mood, only getting a light grin out of him, “…are you always like this when it comes to after a fight?”

“Only when I have a job to do still.”

“Flash…you are doing a great job at it so far. After all, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Twi makes a valid point to him, though it didn’t sound nearly as good as she thought it would, “sorry…that ah, came out wrong.”

“It’s alright, Twilight…” he calms down for a bit, letting her scoot in closer to him.

Though that may have been a mistake he didn’t see coming as Twilight looks at his wing up close, seeing the blood clotted up as a few more drops dribble down his feathers from the previous battle in the sky.

“You’re bleeding…” she gasps, looking at the ragged injury under the feathers of the Pegasus.

“It’s nothing, really…” he makes an attempt to play off the wound. Though Twilight isn’t one to be silenced over something so simple. Levitating her bag over to her, she brings out a simple patch and wrap, with a small flask of rubbing alcohol.

“Here, let me see that…” she tries to treat it, only getting Sentry to pull the wing in closer to himself.

“Really, Twilight… its-” though he is cut off when the glare from the alicorn hits him.

Something as simple as that can tell him that he isn’t going to get away with this one. Folding under the princess, he brings out his wing and lets the mare go to work on him. Handling her patch work like a skilled nurse, she applies some alcohol to the wound, getting a cringe from Sentry as the sting hits him. Now bringing out the sterile patch and wrapping the wing up tight enough to hold, but loose enough to allow him to fly.

“There, now how does that feel?” she ask to see if what she learned has paid off.

“Mild sting, but I know it’s going to get better faster now… thank you, Twilight,” he leans in to her and kisses his nurse on the cheek while other peering eyes remain closed, “where did you learn this?”

“I have a library, Flash…” she states the obvious to him as he has a slight dunce moment, “and I do read a large variety of the books, including medical… comes in handy doesn’t it?”

“I’ll say,” he snickers at her, putting his hoof down on hers while folding his wing back in to his side.

“Though Flash, out of the two of us I think you have had a more exciting day… and you need your rest,” she sees him try to open his mouth to fight the princess and stay up, though a quick hoof over his lips hushes him right there, “that…is an order, Flash Sentry.”

“…Did you really just pull that card?” he looks at her cock eyed, almost in shock at what she just did.

“Yes I did Flash, and although we are together… no pony knows that really, and you still are my guard,” she pulls him closer to her chest as she puts her own wings around him. Holding his warm body closer and closer to her for the night would be a welcome thought, though not with the others around. She leans her head back and they meet in the middle with a sweet tender kiss, while the remaining guards lay fast asleep.

“I can stay up and keep an eye on things…don’t worry,” she assures him.

Though he may not want to admit it, the princess it right. Soon enough the hormonal rush that he has would wear off and Flash would be crashing. Something like that can get a pony killed here, so rather reluctantly, Sentry places his sword at his side while he lays down on his mat. He manages to keep eye contact for the whole time with her as he slowly but surely falls asleep. Watching the process of Flash’s eyes fall down in to a slumber, Twilight can’t help but remember her dream from earlier this night…

“He really does look sweet when he sleeps…” she whispers, admiring the colt. Leaning down over him just as she did in her mind, “I love you, Flash Sentry,” planting a gentle kiss on his lips and watching the slight smile wash over his face.