Chapter thirty two

Celestia sits idly at her desk while on either side of her stands her sister and husband. Princess Twilight has already returned by now, late in the evening after finally making it back to Canterlot. Now standing before the sun princess and her co-rulers of Equestria, explaining the travels of her and the guards that followed suit with her to the mountain.

The young alicorn relays every single detail she can muster about running in to the assassin that was meant for her out in the woods, waiting for them in the middle of the night. Although when she gets to the second cave they checked out, she fills the trio in on the ruins that they managed to find there. Adding further speculation to the idea of more changelings in the area, though the final detail solidifies that.

Queen Chrysalis’s return.

All three of the leaders look at one another the moment the queen’s name is brought up after years of it lying dormant, almost not believing it themselves. Luna digs her hooves in her ears to try and clear them up a bit more just to be sure that she isn’t hearing things, “Excuse me, Twilight…” she responds after picking the last bit of wax out, “but it sounded like you said Chrysalis was in the caves when you checked them out?”

“Sadly, Luna…” Twi collects herself before continuing, already knowing how this may sound to the others listening, “I did, the queen of the changelings has returned to Equestria.”

“If she has returned, then I can only imagine how upset she may be at getting kicked out from Canterlot during her last visit…” Discord floods his words with sarcasm while rolling his eyes at hearing the news once more. Although he never dealt with Chrysalis himself, seeing as he was kind of trapped in stone at the time, the prince still doesn’t harbor a place in his heart for the monarch. Especially considering that she had brought down Celestia, and trapped her in a cocoon. One wouldn’t be expecting him to feel too kindly towards the queen of how she had treated his future wife. Even if at the time he had wanted to do the same thing to Tia on more than one occasion. “Though from what you describe, she did have what might have been a settlement in the caves itself.”

“That’s right…” Celestia chimes in after putting it together, “she probably has been there for quite a while by now. Nonetheless I can’t imagine what she would have been waiting on, or even planning for that matter, if it’s taken her this long to show her face.”

“None of us do, your highness…” Twilight nods to her, “after all her changelings were sent to Ponyville and the Crystal Empire, and now have been moved by the looks of it. Who knows what she may be up to?”

“All we can do for now though, is wait and see what turns up,” Luna responds, nodding only to the young alicorn to give her appreciations as she follows through, “we thank you for going out to check the area, Twilight… though as of now, I believe you are dismissed, if you would like.”

Twilight bows respectfully at them in appreciation, as they return the favor, “Thank you, Luna, all of you. However, I have a rather disgruntled guard to attend to at the moment…” she starts to back petal out of the room, getting only a confused look by the monarchs.

“Wait, what exactly happened?” Celestia asks her student, seeing as she hadn’t finished the entire story of what transpired in the cave, so this is all news to them.

“Flash took a rather nasty hit from the Queen…” she says while slipping out the door to see the victim, “… she managed to break a few ribs in his chest, while before he was stabbed in the wing by the assassin. And needless to say, Sentry can be somewhat stubborn when it comes to visiting medical…” Twilight slides out, leaving the others to get up and talk amongst themselves before making their way out the door after her.

A peach colored earth pony nurse, with a crossed scalpel and bone saw as a cutie mark, holds out a bandage in her hoof as she applies a liberal amount of numbing ointment to the patch in the hopes of healing up the young guard. Finishing up, the ointment is set off to the side on a table, as she turns her attention to the guard laying there before her. Instantly both their eyes locking with one another and narrowing down to a razors edge. Though as Twilight said, he isn’t the type who enjoys going to the doctors quite often.

“Mister Sentry, will you please hold still…” She says to him, watching as the guard folds his fore hooves and turns away at the nurse every time she attempts to place the bandage. “This is all meant to help, you know? Keep the pain away, and hold them in place tight as they heal.”

“Then why does it feel like I’m being forced to have this done against my will?” he asks the nurse to try and make a point, “after all, I said I would be just fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to work with a few broken bones.”

“Some of your…ribs are… shattered!” she yells at him between each lunge, trying to get the wrapping on him as he blocks her with his still injured wing using it like a shield, “and I am under instruction, from Princess Sparkle herself, to see that you are taken care of while she delivers news to the royal family!” the nurse snaps at him.

None the less, the nurse is rather impressed at the guard’s tolerance for pain. Seeing as she has seen ponies, even some guards, come in with injuries far less severe that have put them in tears and left them crying for agony. Though this one is soaking up the pain like it’s nothing at the moment. ‘Hard to believe that he almost collapsed when he first felt the injury affecting him,’ she reminds herself after getting that information from the princess.

Eventually after a small struggle, and some help from a passing unicorn doctor’s magic. Flash is patched up at the moment and the nurse brings out a needle and syringe. The eyes on Sentry light up at the sight of the shiny sharp point as she brings out a bottle and pokes it in, drawing out the fluid inside. “Now this is an antibiotic, it should help prevent any infection from that wound on your wing… though the patch on that was just fine when I checked it,” she remarks to the princess’s handy work. Though when she steps closer to the guard she finds him almost kicking up the covers in her way. Through her career working in the castle as a nurse, she has dealt with some fussy ponies in her days as she treated those who were injured or needed medical attention. Though out of all of them.

Flash is pretty far up there in her book.

She scowls the Pegasus lying in front of her, “For a royal guard, you sure are being a royal pain in the!-” the nurse stops talking when she sees the doors swing open to the med bay and princess Twilight walk in.

Quickly putting her head down low to bow at the royal pony, Twi gestures for her to get up so she can hear what she has missed. All while the nurse takes note of the instant change in Flash Sentry’s face when he sees the princess’s presence in the room.

“How is he doing, Nurse Sterile?” she asks, already knowing what some of the words out of the mare’s mouth will be, “is he still putting of a fight?”

“Oh I’ll say…” she takes the time to shoot the guard a stuck out tongue before returning to the princess, “at least he has the energy in him to do that, so his injuries can’t be as bad from when I first saw him. A numbing cream has been placed on the ribs, and the bandaging itself should help keep them still.”

“I’m glad he had some pony to take care of him while I was gone…” Twilight glares at the misbehaving guard like a parent would its foal, watching the face on him plummet as he gets scorned by the princess and leaves his ears sloping back along his head. “What is the syringe for?”

“Antibiotics, for the wing… the bandage already on it is just perfect.”

“Why thank you nurse, you’re too kind,” Twilight beams.

“You did that?” the medic looks back at the bandage, looking over the handy work once more, “Very impressive your highness, at least Mister Flash here will have you to look over him when he gets injured and I’m not around.”

“Oh don’t worry, I will… though I think I can take it from here,” she takes the needle in her magic grasp as she starts to shimmer at the guard and thanks the nurse, “I appreciate the help with him, I will make sure that Flash apologizes for his behavior before he leaves though.”

“It’s not a problem Princess, I don’t have a scalpel on my hip for nothing,” Sterile says proudly, “though I would like to take one to him right now, so I think I better be going…” the nurse and the princess chuckle as she leaves the two alone for the moment.

Though the laughing is gone the second the peach mare leaves the room and the princess has him all to herself. Twilight snaps her eyes on the guard she watches him almost try and lower his head down as far as he can to avoid her gaze. “That mare is trying to help you, Flash. Why are you giving her such a hard time, she is doing her job after all.”

“I didn’t have the best experience with doctors when I was younger,” Flash tries to explain to her to save his skin, “the one at the orphanage seemed like a med school dropout, and more often than not I left sicker than when I walked in… plus you taking my sword from me, doesn’t help the mood,” he slightly scowls at his Marefriend. Her already knowing that probably wasn’t the best thing to do to a guard who is almost, literally, attached at the hip to his weapon.

The princess takes this in to consideration for the moment, mulling over the new information, before taking a deep breath to make her own point to the pony, “okay, that I didn’t know… but then again as I heard her scream from down the hallway. You have cracked ribs, if anything you need help right now… as for the sword, if I didn’t take it from you, then you might have used it on her,” she brings out the needle to her side before eyeing her target on him, “now I’m going to get this in you one way or another… don’t make me play hard ball.”

“I didn’t know you knew how to play, hard ball…” he teases her and starts to chuckle to himself, before feeling the stabbing in his side at the moment as he quickly stops.

Though Twi didn’t really appreciate the comment at the time, using her hooves she pulls purposely down on his injured wing just to give him a taste of his own medicine. The yelp that follows suit from the Pegasus distracts him long enough for her to slide the sharp instrument down in to the veins in his wings as the medicine enters his system. Letting go of the wing, he snaps it back to his side and starts to rub the injured bones with a gentle hoof. Looking off to the side of his bed at the mare standing there rather proud of herself at the moment.

“Okay… you can play hard ball,” he admits to himself now after feeling what lengths she’ll go to in order to make him better in the end.

“You better believe it, Flash,” she grins at him, getting a smirk in return from the guard. Melting some of the bitterness of the mood away.

“And don’t worry, I will say something to the nurse when I get out of here, I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say ‘I’m sorry’ for by the time I leave,” he starts to cringe. Knowing full well that his nature when it comes to medical aid will get the better of him in the end.

“That I’m sure of, though for now I think I can take care of you…” she brings up a chair close to the side of his bed and takes out a book from the shelf in the corner, sitting it on the arm for later. Before putting a nurse’s hat on top of her head that she grabbed from the side table. Both of them just look at one another in silence for a few seconds before the giggles start to erupt from their throats.

Though at that moment, the royal family walks in after missing the action already with the other nurse. Seeing the two ponies there with one another, Twilight right by her guard’s side, and the genuine smile across either of them. The grin on both of their faces don’t have time to leave as they realize who just walked in, now trying to hide their equal blushes entirely. Though they do a horrible job at it, as each of the three already can see now the reddened face of them.

“How are you doing, Flash Sentry?” Princess Luna asks him to try and get some feedback, “are you going to be alright?”

“Whether he likes it for not…” Twi answers for him, noting the slight drop of his ears, “Though he is very spry for being a pony with a few broken ribs under his skin.”

“Oh this isn’t the worst thing that has happened to me…” he mutters under his breath, though little does he know the tuned ears of the lavender princess pick up every word.

‘Is that so? I’ll just have to ask that later…’ she makes a mental note as the others get on either side of him.

“At least you seem to be doing well…” Celestia brings up to the colt, while looking at the few bandages that cover him, “I trust you gave the queen a similar beating, as best as you could manage?”

“Yes your majesty, though she is quite skilled when it comes to spells…” he mentions, not even wanting to bring up the talent she has with a blade. Easily able to handle more than one opponent at a time with no problem, as one may have suspected from a mare who has probably been doing this for quite a while now.

“Having a Queen with a horn will do that,” Discord states the obvious for them like he usually does with the bunch.

“What is the word with Queen Chrysalis for that matter…” he asks eagerly, ready to get back in the fight as he tries to twist himself out of the bed. Though that is thwarted when Twilight, with some help from her horn, pushes him back in bed, much to his discomfort.

“I don’t think so, Mister…” she scorns him slightly, reminding him of his little injury as she pulls up the blanket to cover him, “you are staying in this bed till you can fly, or at least even walk without a pain in your side.”

“But I-” he tries to say, though that doesn’t last long in the end.

Twilight brings up a hoof pointing mere inches from his face as the others decide to stay out of this one, clearly seeing the seriousness on the young princess’s face, “I will tie you down in this bed if I have to, Flash Sentry. Don’t think that I won’t now,” she says sternly to him, not even blinking as she watches the guard bite his lip as he submits to her wish.

‘Hard ball… right,’ he recalls. Leaning fully back in to the pillows behind him and staying there. Celestia, Discord and Luna start to chuckle as they watch the two go at it, or more so Twilight going at him than anything.

“I can see that Flash here is in good hooves for the night,” Discord remarks giving the ‘doomed’ guard his condolences in a simple wink, “all the same though I think it’s best we all get some rest now. A lot has happened today, and tomorrow can only breed a possible solution, more problems, or even answers at this point.”

“That much I can agree with…” Celestia starts to yawn as they wish the others goodnight, and give Flash a hopeful recovery. “Now you two don’t stay up for too long,” she calls back to her student and her guard as they are about to walk out the door, leaning in to her husband’s ear first, “I have to checkup on something in the morning…”

“Yes Celestia…” Twilight calls back to the princess like her own mother as she starts to leave the room and turns down the lights for them, completely missing the last line that the princess muttered to her counterpart.

It really has been a long day for them both. With Twilight and him finally getting back from their little trip, and now taking care of Flash while she can. On top of that, Flash being kicked by a queen and having his ribs broken, that can take the wind out of any ponies sails. It doesn’t take long for the two to snuggle in for the night as Twilight props herself up in the soft comfy chair after giving him another round of painkillers, and crack open the book, soon having it fall right on her chest as she passes out.

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Although he may have a few damaged ribs from the little fight before with the queen of the changelings, Flash more or less is feeling rather good for having been kicked across in to a pile of stone by a fully grown mare and getting socked in the ribs by the same one. Though that could be simply because Sentry has been pumped with pain killers that still haven’t lost their touch on him. It has started to trip his mind out in his sleep state at the moment… although he may be in Canterlot, as far as Flash is concerned he is back in the train with Twilight’s head in his lap. Both of them fast asleep on their way to the same mountain where he got injured. Then again the night isn’t all as quiet as he would have hoped so.

Waking up to the sound of a book hitting the floor, Flash sits up immediately not feeling a single thing at the moment. ‘I have got to get some more of these…’ he starts to think as he pokes his side to see how much it actually hurts him.

Before going back to looking down by the side of the bed. Seeing the princess still in a deep slumber in the chair, it’s a little unnerving to see her now trembling in the seat in the middle of the night for what seems like no apparent reason. “Twilight,” Flash starts to nudge her to try and get some sort of reaction out of the mare, “Twilight, Wake up,” he says as the pony shoots up in a gasp from her snooze. The alicorn looks around to try and find her bearings, now relieved that she rests in the med bay of Canterlot castle with Flash in the bed next to her.

Looking down at the foot of the chair, she finds the book laying on the ground and goes to pick it up, “Oh, sorry about that… Flash…” she stammers, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s quite alright Princess,” he says to her out of habit. Already hearing the apprehension in her voice.

“Seriously… it’s a little odd with you calling me Princess considering our current, Relationship,” she points out to the colt. Both of them getting a slight blush that warms their faces in the night.

“Right…” Flash starts to scratch the back of his head as he leans back in the bed, as Twi does the same with her chair, “still kind of getting used to being able to call you my Marefriend.”

“As it’s the same for me with calling you my Coltfriend,” she tells him as the princess starts to chuckle.

“Though why were you quivering while you slept?” he asks the mare by surprise.

At heart the princess can’t remember why exactly that she did it. She puts her hoof to the edge of her chin as she tries to recall exactly what was going on in her mind just before she awoke. ‘Let’s see here, it was me and… Flash, of course. Out in the woods, reliving the events of the previous day,’ she realizes, now delving deeper in to her mind to try and find the rest, ‘We walked around the forest, and up the mountain, in to the cave… then there was, Chrysalis!’ she screams in her head. The simple mention of the queen’s name sends a chill up the young mare’s spine that gives her Goosebumps all over under her coat.

The look on her face says it all that not everything is well with the princess, “Ah… more or less it was a slight nightmare…” she plays it off.

“Let me guess… it involved a pony the size of Celestia, dark coat, holy legs, and a crooked horn?” Flash asks the obvious, getting only a nod in return, “exactly what I thought…”

He scoots over in the bed, making room enough for his Marefriend alongside him. Patting the spot with his hoof is the only invite that the princess needs to climb in to the bed with her guard. Sliding up next to him, she places an affectionate kiss on the guard’s cheek.

“Thank you Flash” she beams at him, “I was contemplating crawling in here with you earlier, though I didn’t want to intrude considering your injury.”

“Oh by all means if you want to join, please come and do so…” he uses his unbandage wing to lift up the blanket and bring it over them to hold the warmth of their bodies in together.

Twilight extends her free wing over the colt and draws herself in closer under the blankets just to feel the tenderness of the colt nearer to her coat for the night. As she does, Twi looks down underneath the blanket and across at the bandage that covers Flash’s ribs. She could see the discomfort and pain on him when she first looked him over after the scuffle with the queen, she could see what Chrysalis had done to Flash… her Flash.

Slightly angered at herself that she wasn’t able to treat him better when they were still in the caves. Though more than anything, she is upset that another pony was hurt on her account. After all Chrysalis was probably going after above all else, and in the end Flash got hurt in response. The slight sound of a few sniffles can be heard in his mists as Flash looks down and sees the princess with a few tears built up in her eyes as she tries to look down from him and hide the expression.

“You do a horrible job at trying to hide your tears, Twilight,” he emphasizes the last line to get her attention. As the princess looks up at the gentle face of her guard, he wipes away her tears for her, “what’s wrong? Is it another nightmare coming to mind?”

“No Flash…” she eyes the injured wing now, “just looking at, you.”

“You’re eyeing the bandages…”

“Oh you don’t say?” Twilight helps him state the obvious, although she isn’t proud that he was able to see it in her face that fast.

“Does it really bother you that much to see me hurt?” he asks, not even needing the princess glare to tell him that although they say there is no such thing as a stupid question. That was a pretty stupid question, ‘this ‘Marefriend’ idea is diffidently a new thing to me, that’s for sure,’ he points out to himself almost trying to hide a snicker under his breath. “Okay, I should know that it means a lot to you…”

“Doesn’t it mean a lot to you if you get hurt?” she asks trying to make a little sense on how he is so calm when it comes to being injured by another.

“Well… truth be told there weren’t a lot of other ponies to actually worry about me when it came time to go to medical in the past. I didn’t have any family that would care,” he lays out some more cards for her to see, “Sure there were the few friends that would show up and try to give me a smile, because they knew me enough to know that I would rather be out of this place. And there were the nurses that would try and flirt with me from time to time…” Flash bites his tongue after letting that last line slip out, watching the mare’s face still not change after he said it, “probably a bad time to bring that up?”

“Hey I could care less about them honestly,” Twilight says sincerely, though does start to wonder slightly about how many of them there were, “I have you here in bed with me, and they don’t. That’s all I need right now.”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Flash says, bringing a smile to the princess’s face, “though I never really had another pony there to actually care past the point of just being a friend, until I met you that is,” he gives her a light peck on the end of her muzzle.

“Sorry to be such a burden…” Twilight teases as she chuckles to herself, getting Flash to almost do the same thing if he didn’t keep mind of his injury. “You said that this wasn’t the worst thing that has happened to you?” she asks him, seeing the slight surprise in his eyes that she managed to hear that from him earlier, “what is the worst thing that has happened to you?”

Flash pauses for a second to do the mental math at how deep the hole he’ll be in is, before coming up with a response, “…Do you really want to know?”

“Well if I know that, and you lived through it, this…” she gestures to his injured side, “probably won’t seem as bad.”

“Okay you make a valid point there Twilight, though it does sound a little twisted if you think about it,” Flash says before trying to recall the worst thing that has happened to him while on the job, something that isn’t as easy as it may sound, “…I think the worst thing that has happened to me, was when I got a dagger in my back… literally.”

“What!?” the princess almost jumps out of the bed.

“Calm down, I’m still here aren’t I?” he reminds her before going in to his explanation, “after being in for a few years, I was sent with a few others just to do some investigating at a local farm. Apparently a couple of griffons had been breaking in and stealing from the property, and we tracked them down to a bog… in the ensuing fight, one jumped on my back and planted a dagger just under my left wing…” he brings it up high enough for Twi to look and see the old scar, almost hidden where a new coat has grown sense then, with only a small discoloration to it. Though Twilight hasn’t been this close to him often enough to notice the change in tone, “it managed to go between the ribs, and in to my chest cavity… you’re smart, you should be able to put it together what it can do when it’s in there.”

“Pretty much hit every life sustaining organ you have…” she rolls off her tongue nonchalantly.

“That about sums it up, although it wasn’t a big hit to feel… it certainly had its own punch to it,” Flash starts to wince remembering the many days he spent in the same place he is now recovering, “it managed to place me in medical for a few weeks, had me knocked out from blood loss for half that time… and rather irritated at the nurses for the remainder of that time when I woke up,” he caps it off.

“That last bit I can picture,” she recalls the ‘slight’ struggle he put up when she first dropped him off in the care of the nurse here in medical, “though I could go without the image of seeing you at deaths door…” Twi starts to get a few more tears building up in her eyes at even the very thought of seeing Flash there in a bed, with no response out of him in the slightest.

“Twilight Sparkle…” he says sternly to the mare, grabbing her attention in an instant after hearing her full name called, “I have a few broken ribs, and a stabbed wing. As I have told you, this isn’t the worse that has happened to me that I’ve still managed to walk away from… well more or less walk away from,” he reminds himself, “never the less though, I am still alive after all… it’s going to take far more than just a few broken bones to put me out of commission,” he brings a single hoof gently up to the mare’s wonderful lavender eyes.

The mare’s wonderful orbs, which have already cried for him, now suck up the tears waiting to fall as Twilight takes his words to heart. If he could have avoided that hit so she wouldn’t have to see him like this, he would have done it in a heartbeat, although at the same time he knows that there is nothing he can do about it now. What’s done is done, and it will just have to stay that way.

The princess leans up as the guard cranes his head down to meet her in the middle. The last kiss of the night holds a sense of comfort for Twilight as she feels not only the press of his body against hers (even through the bandaging), but also the heat from his lips against her own. All of her worries about him recovering from such an injury just melt away in an instant as for only a moment the two seem to leave Equestria and enter their own little world for the night before the silence of the nightfall around them causes the two to drift in to a slumber still wrapped up in one another as their lips part ways.

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After doing her royal duties and raising the sun. The eldest princess has sense been busy in her own office for the better part of the morning at this time, though it could be going better. Celestia pounds back a glass of scotch from her desk as she sits there in the chair. The look on her face that normally displays nothing but a warm and caring smile. Now shows only one of pain and despair across its lovely features, knowing full well that something is deeply wrong with what she just found, or more so, what she didn’t find.

Pouring another glass after she reaches the decanter under the pile of up turned drawers and papers about her quaint office setting, the princess of the day almost flops herself out of the chair from the shaking in her legs and whole body at the moment. This is a matter that must be attended to soon, although more or less it can’t be by her, it has to be done by those ponies that are involved. After all, the items in question are linked to those that returned them.

Even if one of them would rather stay by the side of a hospital bed.

After polishing off the final glass for the moment, the sun goddess manages to leave the room, sure to lock it behind her. Walking through the castle as one of the rulers of Equestria, you are going to get many ‘good mornings’ and ‘how are you’s’ though she manages to keep a straight face and return the favor as her subjects around her greets the princess for the day. Keeping any hint of what’s going on under her hoof for the moment and out from the ears of others, for now that is.

The only one who knows of this matter is her husband and sister, seeing as they came in when the eldest princess was nearly flipping her office upside down looking for the paper. Even helping themselves when they found out its importance. Soon enough though they left her alone when she asked them to do so, and undoubtedly are now finding their own way to deal with hearing such news. Discord probably doing what he does best to some poor innocent creature, and Luna diving headlong in to her game. Walking up to the door with a red cross on the front of it, the celestial mare pauses for a moment to collect herself.

“Easy now, Tia…” she exhales slowly, “stay calm, you could have just misplaced it,” the princess almost scorns herself at the idea of having ‘lost’ a piece of information so crucial to them in the past, “… it has been what seems like a life time sense you have been there after all… why would you have needed to go back?” she reasons as she slowly pushes open the doors to the med bay and walks in.

Looking about, there is no other pony in the room besides Twilight and Flash thankfully, from what she can tell. Looking over to the bed though, she squints her eyes together as she tries to put together exactly what she is looking at as she draws closer and closer to the pair. Eventually the look of confusion turns to a warm hearted smile as she sees both Flash and Twilight there on the same bed, wrapped up with one another in their hooves and wings still fast asleep.

‘They look so cute together…’ she beams at the sight, slightly easing the unnerving mindset that she has at the moment, ‘I can’t just wake them like this…’ Celestia uses her magic to lock the door so no other pony can walk in on them as she picks up the book that Twilight was reading and takes a seat across from them in the corner, cracking it open to pass the time. While she uses the extra grace period to get her thoughts in order, and gives the pair time to rest.

Seeing as one of them will need it.

Twilight is the first to wake up to the sound of the birds chirping outside in the Canterlot castle gardens. A rather pleasant thing to wake to at the moment, then again rubbing your eyes and seeing your own teacher sitting in a chair across from you, reading a book while you sleep with your own guard, tends to take away from the mood in an instant. Twi jumps out of the bed and hits the floor, falling flat on her face in a moment of panic, only waking Flash and getting her teachers attention in the process.

“Oh good, you’re up,” Tia says softly as she uses her magic to help her student up to her feet as she eyes the expression of both Flash and Twi like a pony who got caught with their pants down, “Hehe…” she giggles at them both trying to hide her overall joy in seeing this and the funny side of the matter too, “It’s nice to see you to getting along so… well.”

“It’s not what it looks like, Celestia…” Twilight tries to explain as Flash picks up also.

“…We didn’t do anything last night…”

“…We just slept together, no funny business…”

“…hooves off, your majesty,” Flash caps off as him and his Marefriend share the same blood red face that heats them up nearly to the point that they start to sweat. Even through this though, the expression on Celestia’s face still hasn’t faltered.

“You two have nothing to worry about from me,” she says sincerely as the princess tries to ease both their minds, “I really am glad to see you two getting along so well, and even taking things to the next level…” she says before biting her lower lip to check herself, “you have gone that far, and are actually together right?” she asks the two, relieved that she gets a nod in response. The couple sharing the same joyous expression on them as they come clean about the matter to somepony. Holding a gentle hoof over her chest, Celestia can feel a slight reddish tint come to her face at seeing the sheer happiness in the young mare across from her, “splendid…I trust you’re feeling a little better then?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia,” Flash informs her, lightly tapping on his bandaged side with a hoof, “They won’t be fully healed as fast as I may like, but I’ll live.”

“I have expected that, it comes with the territory of being a royal guard, to have injuries here and there…” Tia agrees with him at the moment, having no idea about the talk that he and Twi had last night before falling asleep, “… I know it was a task to send you out to the mountains to search for any changelings in the area, after all it’s why you’re here at the moment,” the expression on the princess’s face falls right back in to what it was while she sat in her office after her search turned up nothing.

Twilight has been around Tia long enough to know when something is wrong in the princess’s life, seeing it plastered all over her face at the moment almost screaming at her, “Celestia… what’s wrong?”

“Ahh… you know me all too well, Twilight,” Celestia admits to her and herself, “we may have an issue, that is best if handled by both you, and your friends in Ponyville,” she says to the princess, getting only her to look at Flash and then back to Tia at the moment as she awaits an explanation.

Celestia starts to pace back and forth as she explains this morning, and her walking in to the office, “… as you know you had to return the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony when the Ever Free Forest started to take over. There they have been ever sense. Though in case they were ever needed, I kept a map to guide back to the location of the tree. Seeing as they were, and still are, Equestria’s biggest defense in the event of danger. And although we know where they are, it may not have been up to us to get them should the time arise.”

“I still remember having to go back there, to return them to get rid of the Plunderseed problem,” Twilight recalls the day having to go back near the regal sister’s old home, “Discord’s parting gift before you and Luna trapped him in stone did give quite a scare around here.”

“And he as sense apologized for that,” Celestia reminds Twilight for a moment before continuing with her inevitable point, “It has been quite a while sense I have even been back there to the tree, and even the old castle. So my memory is even quite fuzzy on the matter, however when you mentioned that Queen Chrysalis had returned to our lands I thought it would be best to go out and perhaps check on the elements. Possibly obtaining them once again in case we needed to use them against her… however when I went to look over the map…” her pacing stops for a second as she looks to her student, “it’s nowhere to be found!” Celestia lets the gravity of the situation get the better of herself for the moment in that sudden outburst in front of Twilight and Flash. Quickly wiping the panic off her face to get back to the point, “Sorry about that…”

“So wait the map is just…gone?” Flash asks.

“Yes, and with all the talk of spies being thrown around. When I couldn’t find it, I had a strange fear that it may have gotten stolen at first…” she explains why this is more of a concern then just misplacing it, “which is why I’m here right now, Twilight,” she says grabbing the alicorn’s attention, “I request, that you and your friends go to the tree and check on its status, bringing them back as well. I don’t know how long the map has been missing… the elements after all could be in danger.”

“With all due respect… I still have to ask,” Twilight starts to cringe at having to go back through the mess of getting to the tree like last time, considering she almost got eaten by a crocodile and was trapped by the Plunderseed’s vines, “…why do you want me and the girls to go?”

“Twilight…” Celestia rests a caring hoof on her young student’s shoulder, she sees the concern about having to partake in another trip in her eyes. Though it’s also from the fear of having to leave Flash here away from her, that much is clear, “…you and your friends are connected to the elements through your friendship, even if they may be back in their rightful place. If anything has happened to them. You and the girls will be the ponies to control them, and defeat whatever it may be, whether it’s the queen’s doing or not.”

Twilight stands there now, looking back at the guard in the bed. Seeing Flash in this state is not something that she likes in the very least, and as much as she may want to stay here and ensure that he gets the proper treatment (whether he likes it or not). She does have her own duties to attend to as a princess now, and when Celestia herself asks a task of you, you don’t exactly turn her down.

Taking a much needed deep breath to get all her thoughts straight, she looks back at the sun princess, “I understand Celestia… I will have to go back to Ponyville first to let the girls know so we can all get ready.”

“I understand, Princess Twilight…” Tia looks past her students calm and collective eyes to look at Flash in the bed as he lays there still, listening and accepting what Twi is about to do, “…and don’t worry about Flash now, he will be here when you get back from your travels. I can have the same nurse here attend to him as needed to ensure a quick recovery.”

The pair exchange their glances to one another in a moment, both of them starting to snicker at the other. “Thank you, Celestia…” Twilight answers before Flash can try to, “I’m sure Flash has a thing or two to say to her at this point. I will head down to Ponyville and roundup the girls to get ready, we will be on our way by tomorrow morning.”

“Very good to know,” the eldest princess makes a mental note, “I will assign several guards to your detail, they will meet you at your home and be ready to go when you are,” she informs her student as she calmly heads to the door, “I can think of one pony who will be happy to hear that…” she winks back at Flash before parting and leaving the two to their own company so she can get the guards.

The new couple stands there (or in the colt’s case, sits there) for a few moments in silence, as Flash twists himself to the side of the bed so he and Twilight can chat with one another. Although neither one are too keen on Twilight going out to play in the forest, they know that it’s something that must be done.

“I will be just fine out there…” Twi reassures her guard, “after all this isn’t my first go around.”

“That I know all too well from what you told me before about your past exploits,” Flash reminds her as they sit there next to one another, “Just as this isn’t the first time I’ve been here in medical…” Twilight can’t disagree with that one at the moment, considering what he told her last night before they passed out.

The mare leans in and rests her head on his shoulder, Flash putting a fore leg around her as she does the same. Looking down at the princess, he can more than see that she isn’t going to like being away from this bed. Though there isn’t a thing they can do about it, lowering his head down to her level he plants a sweetened kiss on top of her fore head. The beam on Twilight’s face is clearly seen from even his angle as he lets the princess up and on her own feet so she can get to work. Twi lays him back down on the bed, and covers Flash up with a blanket, swiftly returning the same kiss before he even has gotten settled down.

“Now you stay out of trouble, Flash, while I’m gone…”

“I will try, Twilight…” he snickers back at her, “though please be safe, dear.”

Twi feels her heart start to race at him giving her that title. No pony has ever called her ‘dear’ before, and it is something that she could get used to hearing from him. The sincere expression of a mare who is in love flushes on her as the shaking in her legs returns, and soon the blood starts to flow to other parts of her body…

Quickly suppressing the feeling of warmth starting to build up in between her hind legs, Twilight tries to compose her mind long enough to get out of the room without throwing herself at her injured Coltfriend. ‘No, that wouldn’t work right now… he probably would just get injured even more,’ she reasons before backing out of the room.

“I’ll be safe, Hun,” Twilight winks at him as she steps out of the room.

Heading off to Ponyville to get the girls together for this next little excursion. Although before the guard is completely alone, the graceful sound of hoof steps comes echoing up the hall as the door cracks open for a second.

The young lavender Alicorn pops her head in for but a moment, for some final words to the guard, “Oh and by the way… play nice with Nurse Sterile. I will be sure to ask her how you acted when I return,” she watches the cringing guard get a little unnerved by hearing this fact as she now leaves him… for the moment.