Chapter eight

Walking in to town with a guard next to you in full armor still and a sword across his back, the princess expects to get more looks than usual. Especially one that is quite handsome as guards go. However, it’s rather hard to tell under the helmet that obstructs the better part of his face. Considering though she has seen him without it, Twilight knows what is going through the mind of every mare which they pass that is forced to do a double take to the new comer. Although some of them are able to brush the sight off to the side as him just a guard doing his job with the princess.

“Good after noon, Princess Twilight,” Mayor Mare says to her, Taking note of the colt next to her, “and who might this be?”

“This is Flash Sentry, Mayor Mare,” she answers, presenting him, “he was assigned here to me to be my body guard.”

The mayor is rather taken back and surprised by the fact that Celestia may see the need for a guard in town, but doesn’t ask anything of it, “well Mr. Sentry, Ponyville welcomes you with open hooves,” she responds while shaking his strong hoof, “If not for the various antics that this town seems to wind up being a part of. I’m sure Twilight will love to have you.”

‘More then you know,’ Twi says to herself.

“As much as I’ll love to be here,” Flash nods politely before they carry on with their walk about town.

While they go Twilight shows him the local school house, mayor’s office, some of the various shops that are set up, and of course who can forget the library that she once called home. Along the way as much as the princess may be talking casually with him for once, as far as she is concerned this is just a tour, as she ponders any sort of way to continue their talk as they go about town. ‘Anything to break the ice…anything at all,’ she ponders, “so… I noticed you didn’t have a lot in your bag?” she says breaking out the ice pick, hoping to start something between them, “is there more back in the empire that is going to be sent soon?”

“Actually, that’s it,” he starts off to explain, “I don’t have anything back in the Crystal Empire, everything I brought with me is what I actually need… or for that matter own.”

“No other home?”

“Not at all. Lived in the barracks.”

“Not any family there?”

A slight frown comes across his face, as he lowers his head closer to the ground while memories flood his mind. It’s somewhat of a painful reminder to have that question asked to him by others, though time has helped some… some. Remembering though that he’s with the Princess, he raises his head back up high to try and at least hold his own. “Well… I’ve been an orphan sense birth,” he says slowly to her.

Twilights eyes shoot open when she realizes what she heard. “Oh, I’m so so so sorry for bringing it up,” Twi grabs what left she can of her tongue to shut herself up, she tries to save herself and recover from this one, “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” he reassures her as he starts to explain more about himself. Seeing as she did open that door somewhat with her question, and he nudged it slightly, Flash might as well open it more, “I didn’t know my parents. From what I was told my mother died giving birth to me and my father died long before I was born. There wasn’t any family that I could speak of nearby so I was raised in an orphanage on the outskirts of Dodge City. When you start from the bottom in life to begin with, you can only really look up from there can’t you?” he launches in to a little about himself, telling her his history. ‘We never really knew each other back in the Empire,’ Flash thinks while Twilight remains oblivious to the inner workings of his own mind, ‘now Cadance assigns me here to look after the fairly new princess. What could it hurt to get to know her more?’ he tosses about while he talks, “I saw the royal guards at the nearby guard post there growing up, and what they had going for themselves. I knew if I wanted to get out of town, literally, than the guard was probably the best way to go. So I when I finally got accepted, I spent nearly all my time to doing my job right the first time around, which didn’t leave much for anything else.”

“And look where you are now,” Twilight reminds him, “fairly high ranking royal guard from the Crystal Empire. Now assigned to Ponyville to guard a Princess,” she cringes saying the last part. It doesn’t sound nearly as glamorous as it sounded in her head at first. But to her surprise Flash just starts to laugh.

“Hey, there’s nothing going on in the Crystal Empire now so getting sent out here is almost like a retreat,” he tells her almost chuckling to himself while they continue walking through town.

“Well…If it’s not too personal that is,” Twilight tries to learn a little more about him, as she herself pushes for some information about who exactly is now living with her, “is there a ‘special’ pony that’s waiting for you, that you’d hope to go back and see?”

Hoping to get an answer out of him, she actually does breathing a sigh of relief, “again, spent most of my time working on my job to get where I am now,” he blushes slightly scratching the back of his head, “there really wasn’t a lot of time to even go out in to town after a long days work, let alone to keep in touch with a special mare.”

Now its Twilights turn, she starts to laugh with him at a common ground she knows all too well, “I know the type all too much, after all I was the same way for the better part of my life,” she starts to tell her about herself.

Starting with how she passed her entrance exam for Celestia’s School and then became her protégé soon afterwards. Telling him how she came to Ponyville and met all her friends, finding the Elements of Harmony. All the adventures that followed soon afterwards as a result. Then capping off with her becoming an alicorn, and the studies that have followed from that, “and now I’m here still being taught by Celestia, and acting as Ponyville’s friendly neighborhood princess.”

“Well I have to say,” He says with astonishment plastered all over his face, “you certainly have lead a more interesting life then I have. That’s for sure.”

“It was all to fate… or chance if you prefer,” she starts to blush again, mumbling under her breath, “yeah…fate.”

“Fate seems to be playing a large part in all of this,” he raises an eye brow to her in response as they continue to walk through town.

After seeing all there is to see, the sun has been brought down by the celestial princess and Twilight herself starts to feel the grumble in her stomach returning, that’s when she remembers, ‘I never ate breakfast…’ considering she had an unexpected guest to contend with and her stomach wasn’t really settled enough to take on food at the time.

Flash though is one to take note, “hungry, Princess?”

“Eh you could say that,” she grins at him while they continue to walk aimlessly, “the night just arrived and there are still places about still open. Shall we eat out?”

Flash doesn’t know what to say at first, finding that the best thing to do is out right say it, “I’ve never actually ate with any of the royalty before back in the Crystal Empire.”

Twilight chuckles seeing the lost look on his face, as she nearly grabs at his hoof and leads the way, considering he is new in town. “That’s great, I never ate with a guard before… so it seems to be a first for the both of us,” she says to him while they go through the streets, finally running in to her favorite café in town.

Opening the door and walking in to the warm welcoming atmosphere, she is instantly greeted by the owner. “Good evening Princess!” Sweet Tart extends a hoof over the counter giving her a hug, “how are you doing on this lovely occasion?”

“I’m doing lovely Ms. Tart. How are the kids?”

“Oh they keep me busy that’s for sure,” she rolls her eyes, “Thankfully their father is upstairs reading them a story before putting them to bed.” The eyes of the mare eventually finds their way over to the guard standing there in armor, and weapon on back. Not the strangest sight she’s seen in her life, considering Ponyville is home to Pinkie Pie after all. “Who is this gentle colt though?” she asks shaking his hoof.

“Flash sentry ma’am,” he answers her, “here as Princess Twilight's protection detail, among other duties.”

“Oh that’s wonderful to know,” Sweet leans in a little to his ear, whispers still loud enough for the princess to hear, “keep an eye on that one, her and her friends do attract a lot of the strangest characters from around here.”

Both Flash and Sweet share a decent giggle, all the while Twilight just rolls her eyes at the mare. Not that she’s wrong in the slightest though. “So Ms. Sparkle has told me. Don’t worry though, it’s why I’m here after all.”

“Well that’s good to know,” she nods at him assured by that fact, “you two take a seat anywhere you’d like. I’ll be over in a sec.”

The two follow her instruction and pick a window seat. Twilight rests her hooves after the day of walking about, while she sees Flash take off the helmet that she is still accustomed to see him in. The blue mane spiking back in is usual fashion. Soon followed by her jaw nearly hitting the table after seeing his wonderful features as Twilight can’t help but wonder if this is going to happen every time he takes it off. It doesn’t help the fact that Flash now runs his hoof through his hair, and at that moment she can feel her heart rate go up twenty beats a minute.

“I hate wearing this thing,” he says holding the helmet looking at his reflection in it, “always gives me hat hair.”

She starts to chuckle, wondering if she should do the same with her crown. Deciding to go ahead with it, she takes it off and places it on the table next to his head piece as they continue to talk with one another after their order is taken. However, before any real conversation can get started, there comes a tapping on the glass of the window beside them. Looking outside they see Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike out on the town themselves at this hour.

“Twilight is that you?” Rainbow asks the obvious before looking to her right to see the colt that she’s with. All three of them quickly coming in to the café to meet the guard after saying hello to Sweet. Twilight and Flash get up to meet them as the Princess welcomes her friends this evening, prepares to get odd glares, and promptly introduces her guard.

“I was almost waiting to run in to one of you,” Twilight bites down on her tongue a tad, and with a simple hoof gesture she lets Flash know he can come forward, “Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity… meet Flash Sentry.”

Flash takes a respectful bow to her friends, “it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” he says politely. Even with the look of hat hair, Rarity is almost lost for words as she elbows Spike giving him another glance that he knows all too well what his job is now as they both look back at the Princess and the guard.

“Very nice to meet you as well Flash,” Rainbow says, “good to know Twilight can have a flying buddy to catch her when she falls.”

Twilight goes red in the face at the comment as she immediately tries to turn the statement around and defend her image, “Hey now! I’ve had my wings for a few years and I’ve gotten pretty good at the whole flying deal.”

“Sure, but still not as good as me,” Rainbow nudges Twi in the side while reminding her of that, turning her attention to the new comer, “so I hear you going to be her assistant now basically?”

“Princess Cadance filled me in this morning when I arrived in Ponyville and found the house,” he informs them, “I’m to assist Twilight in whatever she may be doing. And I have no problem with that,” he holds his head up proudly.

Spike can’t help but feel a little jealous by the fact that she has a new assistant, seeing as that was his role for many fun years in the past. However, recalling the little nudge that Rarity gave him though, he manages to peel Flash away long enough to have ‘guy talk’ with the new colt that will be looking after a very dear friend of his. Though in reality this is for Rarity to have her Q&A session. It isn’t until Twilight is in the booth alone with her and Rainbow that she realizes what’s going on.

By that time, it’s too late.

“So Twilight..,” Rainbow says casually, “he seems quite-”

“Attractive?” Rarity takes the words out of her mouth, “wasn’t he the guard you ran in to when you got back from your journey in to the mirror?”

It finally clicks in Rainbows head as well as she snaps her hooves together from figuring out what Rarity did the moment they walked in, “oh my, your right!” she keeps her voice down, “I didn’t recognize him without the helmet. Wait, don’t you have a crush on him?”

“You two sound just like Cadance you know?” Twilight face hooves herself at the situation. Now she is going to hear this from all of her friends once it gets out with them that the guard she has a crush on in the Crystal Empire, is now her body guard here in Pony Ville. “…Fate seems to be liking me.” ‘And fate thy name is Cadance.’

“I’m not hearing a no?” Rarity bats her eye lashes at her. Waiting to hear anything in response. All she gets though is a blushful Twilight who tries to hide her face under her hair, “its official, you do like him.”

“Well… so what if I do?” she tries to play it off, attempting to use this situation that is obvious to her advantage. Seeking out any sort of route to get her out of this corner, “I mean, I doubt he likes me. After all the guard smitten with the Princess? That just sounds so-”

“Romantic?” Rarity answer as she gets a glare from Twilight.

“I was going to go for corny,” Rainbow pops in the best she can with a shrug of her shoulders. Relationships may not be her thing, but getting her egg head friend to squirm in her seat? That’s another story.

The snide comment getting both of the mares to giggle in hushed tones as Rarity picks back up with her point, “We’re all going to have to get to meet him eventually, besides you may grow on him. If you haven’t already.” She bats an eye at her friend.

“Give it time Twi,” Rainbow gets up from the table trying to act as casual as possible, “well he’s walking back over here… we better go. For now.”

Rarity gets up also, while the two mares turn to meet the colt yet again. “Well it seems Flash that we’ll have to see you around another time,” Rarity says to him.

“I would have expected nothing less,” he smiles that the innocent looking pair as they stand there trying to hide what they just questioned Twilight about. Spike joins them and no time at all the three wave a goodbye, for now, and leave the Princess and the guard to their meal. Sitting back down at their booth they look at one another in bewilderment, Flash again being the one to break the silence. “I have the odd feeling that I’m going to be seeing more of your friends very soon now,” he gives a eerie chuckle as the guard scratches the back of his head, “am I right?”

“Oh more than you will ever know,” She returns with the same gesture, “So what did Spike have to say to you?”

“He just asked me about the guard a bit, then went on to say that he was your old assistant… and then finished off with something along the lines of ‘If Twilight gets hurt on your watch, I’m coming for you first’.” While one having a dragon breathing down their neck may be a little intimidating. Flash certainly can understand why Spike would say that to him, mainly after hearing all that he and Twi have been through in the past as a pair.

Their meals are brought out. Flash going for the eggplant sliced sandwich while Twilight sticks to the simple tossed salad with apple slices. Considering they really haven’t eaten anything today, the food didn’t stand a chance and in a moment’s notice their plates are cleaned. Twilight rests a hoof over her stomach, happy that something is now in there, it’s then that she looks and sees the same look Flash gave her when she first ran in to him a few years ago as he’s just happy seeing the smile on her face. ‘Well…I have to tell him sometime,’ she tells herself before taking a deep breath, “Flash… there is something you should know.”

The tone in her voice tells him that it’s serious as now he starts to bite his own lip as he answers her, “Yes Twilight? What is it?”

With one last exhale Twilight tries to make herself sound as sane as possible when it comes to this subject. “Before that first summit in the Crystal Empire, when I first met you. I was gone for a few days if you remember?”

‘How could I forget’ he says in his head, “yes, I do recall it.”

“Well... this is going to sound crazy but, my crown got stolen by Celestia’s former student. Where she took it in to another universe, I was at a high school where I had to get my crown back by winning a contest against the student that took it. Which then she nearly destroyed the portal and eventually got hold of the crown, turning her in to a she-demon that tried to create an army for her own use to take over Equestria. However, thanks to some of the friends I met there we were able to bring her back down and once again, well, save the day. Although one of the friends that I ended up making there…” she cringes while inhaling another breath after that mouth full, “was you.” the look on Flashes face says it all as she continues to explain, “he was a rather cute, handsome, sweet guy who was actually named Flash Sentry and if it wasn’t for him I may have never been able to get my crown back and come home at all.”

The words have all lost their meaning in his mind when he hears this. Considering the talk of another universe, She-demons, and the fact that Twilight just called him ‘handsome’. He doesn’t know what to make of it all at first, “I know we haven’t worked together often while in the empire, or for that matter had very much speaking time, but out of curiosity. Why did you never bring this up before?”

“Well…” she bites down on the inside of her cheek, “I thought you may think I was crazy I guess.”

“Oh that’s the crazy part?” he starts laugh at the princess’s definition of crazy at the moment, “you just told me about some of the adventures you went on with your friends that involve battling the master of chaos, the queen of the changelings, the king of an empire, Nightmare Moon, and a dragon or two. Not even counting some of the side things that Celestia has had you go out and do while your lessons as a princess were going on… I think going to another universe, is a little more tame then some of them.”

“I’m glad you feel that way Flash,” she lets out a sigh of relief, glad that the weight from her shoulders is already lifting with every chuckle he has, “I really was worried about telling you.”

“So what made you want to tell me now?”

‘The fact that I had a crush on you in that universe, and this one, and have ever sense then,’ she tells herself to say those words out loud. But they never come and she makes up an answer, “well it’s a personal thing that I thought, you should just know. Especially considering the fact that now I will see you every day basically. I mean it’s not every day that you hear about a counter part from another universe.”

“Eh good point there,” he scratches the back of his head. As the bill comes, Flash does the gentle colt thing and picks it up for them and they head out in to the night after grabbing their respective helmet and crown.

“Thank you for dinner Flash” she thanks him while they walk.

“It’s not a problem Twilight” Sentry smiles at her as they go on their way.

They continue to walk together through the streets. The night is dull and uneventful as they move. Not even a single other pony can be seen at this time, they are all alone as they reach the dark house. Twilight seeing the disadvantage of having a home on the outskirts of town, it can be downright creepy when it comes time to get home at night. Though luckily tonight, she isn’t alone at least. Opening the door the two step in.

“Well I had a fun time I have to say,” Flash tells her outright, a graceful smile appearing on his face, “first day in Ponyville. Success in my book.”

“Then it is one in mine as well,” Twilight beams at him as she nods her head in approval. Thankful to see the demeanor on his face of gratitude. However her face changes just to confusion as she watches his cheerful character fall down to ice cold straight face. “Flash? Is everything alright?”

“Get behind me,” he whispers while sticking his muzzle up and he smells the air for another whiff. Twilight tries to do the same, but can’t sense anything off, and only chooses to follow what he says. He draws his sword and starts to creep further in to the house with Twilight not far behind him.

“What is it Flash?” she asks him again.

“That smell… I know that smell,” he says while they walk.

Going room by room trying to find the source. Flash doesn’t tell her anything more about the sent that he smells, remaining quiet instead. But it’s clear to Twilight that he thinks they’re not alone in the house. Clearing out the down stairs he makes his way up the steps with Twilight not far behind him. He pushes open the doors to the guest rooms, but nothing is found still. Until he finally reaches the master bedroom after sneaking down the halls, going in sword first.

Before he has time to react though the door slams down on his hoof and knocks the sword loose from his grasp. Instinctively kicking the door back in on the attacker, Flash rushes in and confronts them. Showing only a single changeling standing there in the room baring fangs that shine in the slight light coming through from Luna’s moon with drool running down their tips as he snarls at the guard standing before him after being found out in the house. The creature quickly slaps the door back closed on the mare so he and the guard can go one on one for a bit without any interference. The rugged coat, and clear stench that is coming off of him only shows that this thing has not been living in the best of conditions for a long time as broken pieces of dirt seem to break off from his skin with every movement. ‘Possibly a rouge soldier,’ Flash pictures. The soldier aspect being confirmed when he sees the short sword across his back.

The creature lunges at him and tries to sink his fangs in to the guard’s neck, but as he closes in, Flash falls backwards on to his own back to catch him in his fore hooves, immediately picking him up from the attack and hurtling him over top to over shoot his mark. Sentry takes the opening to roll off to the side and picks up his sword from the ground, twisting about just in time to see the changeling draw his own sword in response as he tries to get a drop on the guard as they now meet in the middle with metal clashing against metal.

Twilight creaks open the door to get a peek at what’s going on in her bed room. Only to find a battle of the blades commencing as strike after strike lands on one another with a few sparks flying off from the contact. After dodging an unsuccessful attack, Flash manages to use his own wing to slap and sting the hoof that grasps the sword, causing the changeling to drop it while the simplistic attack has the desired effect. But that’s not before the creature uses his own hooves to buck the guard’s sword from his grasp once again as well. Both of them now disarmed, the changeling once again tries to take a bite out of the guard between the neck plates, only to get a hoof bracer to the snout as the sharp crack of a broken nose fills the room and leaves his muzzle throbbing. Though the creature doesn’t have time to dwell on such things as he is literally lifted off the ground and thrown across the room by Sentry… closer to his blade than he originally was.

‘Okay,’ Flash chats among himself, ‘not what I wanted to do.’

The enemy reaches his blade faster, causing a slight gasp from Twilight as she sees him try to fly straight towards Sentry. Pushing open the door and charging up a spell in her horn to help him and play her part. Twi soon realizes that he really doesn’t need it as Flash makes due with what he can and rips off his helmet and whips it around at speed, hurtling it across the room and in to the face of the attacker. The sunning defense causes a further breaking of his nose and even blood to start to dribble out from his mouth, as the changeling flies end over end in a ball towards the guard, giving him all the time Flash needs to grab his own weapon and attack the creature back.

Drawing his blade up with what strength he can, the changeling manages to block the attack from Flash trying to cleave him in half while he lays down on the ground. Now only attack the Pegasus’s legs with his own as he kicks a hoof out from under him and brings Sentry down atop as they roll about the ground for a second as the creature brings a knee in to the chest of the guard while the hit takes the wind out of him. With this recovery time, the opponent leaps up and tries for a single slash across the exposed midsection.

With a quick parry of his blade, Flash misguides the attack away from his stomach and sees his opening. A single swing at the fore hoof is delivered to the creature as a carefully taken care of weapon with a razors edge, does its job properly as it carves through tissue and even bone. The severed hoof from the changeling hits the ground while the creature wiles back in pain landing on his rump as he tries to cover up the wound. Using whatever magic he can muster in his horn, the changeling levitates a chair and even a lamp off the ground, throwing them at his assailant in an attempt to give him a little breathing room so he can get away while the bright green ooze starts to still seep out of him and on to the carpet.

Twilight sees the objects in the green aura, and steps in as they fly through the air and hit her guard. Both Flash and the changeling looking over to see the Princess standing there, rather proud of herself at the moment as she glares at the injured creature. Unable to hide the grin on his exposed face, Flash continues his assault. Blood now coating the edge of his blade he swings a few more times, this time though they miss as the changeling forces himself to his feet and backs up after ever attempt, and soon gets pushed to the balcony in his defense.

Seizing his chance, Flash lands one last blow that at first it looks like he missed, but instead slices right through one of the changeling’s insect like wings without a problem like it went through paper. Before the creature knows what happed though, a single hind kick contacts his chest with a force that would make AJ proud. The impact is enough to not only knock him off the balcony, but even give him some air time as he leaves the ground for a moment, and considering that the previous slash clipped his wings, he falls with only a slight yelp and lands on the hard ground at an awkward angle. Twisting his fragile neck around snapping it on impact.

Twilight watches all of this transpire in only a matter of a few moments. When she hears the impact though, she uses her magic to pick up the hoof and carries it over to the edge, dropping it with the rest of its owner as she stands right next to Flash as they both look down at the would be home invader. Both of them using their wings fly down to the corpse, to see if it is really just that after all. Flash leans in to the creature’s mouth, while Twilight starts to have images of him getting an ear bit off in response. But after hearing nothing, and seeing that the neck is twisted around he calls it for what it is.

A dead changeling.

“Why was he here?” she ask out loud.

“That I don’t know,” he tries to answer her. Thinking back to what he noticed about the adversary during the fight, “I could smell him when we got back here, that’s how I knew something was up. Seeing as the fact that he looked dirty and un-kept. It’s possible that he is just a stray, almost savage changeling that went his separate way after the battle in Canterlot. However, this has to be brought up to Celestia as soon as possible.”

She nods in total agreement, “I wondered what that was you were sniffing for. Anyways, I have lessons with her tomorrow, we can tell her then. We both will be seeing her as your coming with me to begin with.”

“Understood, Twilight,” Flash salutes, wiping his blade clean while Twilight uses a spell to get the blood out of the carpet when they get back up to the room. Leaving her body guard to call the coroner of Pony Ville, seeing as they’ve probably never had to pick up a changeling corpse before. While he gets ahold of them though, this leaves Twilight to ponder one thing, ‘I guess it may be a good thing to have a guard around here from time to time,’ although she may be capable of protecting herself if need be. Tonight may not have ended so well had he not been there with a keen sense of danger. ‘I’m, going to get an ‘I told you so’ from Celestia when she hears this.’

Considering when a royal guard calls upon you, it doesn’t really matter what time of night it is. You get up, and do your job. The coroner arrives with a few police ponies at the scene. Upon seeing the putrid body, and smelling it much sooner, the older colt who has been doing his job for years almost gags. “Ugh… how long has he been out here?” he ask when the stench hits his nose, “I thought you just killed him?”

“I did,” Flash answers while Twilight stands closer and closer to him without realizing it, “he smelled worse alive then he did dead actually.”

The colt looks over the body and sees the snapped neck as a result from the fall. Along with the severed hoof upon the ground. Then he takes note of the rugged, dirt ridden coat along his body, “I see what you mean… not the most hygienic creature. In all my years this is the first time I’ve run across a changeling in my travels.”

The police pony takes the two aside and gets their statement as they start to pack up the corps. In no time at all leaving the Princess and the guard alone there at the house once again. Twilight shakes her head at even the thought that a changeling was in her own house, in Pony Ville none the less. Going back up to her room, she puts the chair and lamp back where they are supposed to go while Flash checks the house once more just to be safe. Coming back to the Princess with nothing to show, he confirms that the house is empty. “Whelp were alone here, this time,” Flash says walking in on Twilight in her bedroom. The Princess stands there looking over the same balcony that less than an hour ago, somepony fell over and died from, almost still seeing the stains of blood. Flash knows that something is going through her mind, as he walks up to her side calmly and rests a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Are you going to be alright, Ms. Sparkle?” he asks softly with the same sweet voice he has always had towards her, though the simple hoof gesture speaking more than he ever could.

“As well as I could hope to be,” she tries to say without getting red in the face. Glad that the night is still upon them and hides the expression that would surely give her away, “considering the circumstances that is, Flash.”

“If you need anything, Twilight, anything at all… I’m right across from you.”

‘Please don’t go,’ she tries to say to him, but the words fall on deaf ears as she stands there and instead tells him nothing.

Just a blank stare remains on her face as she watches him lower his head respectively once more. “It will be an honor to serve you, Princess Twilight…” Flash raise his head while he removes his helmet for the night in front of her. Although his eyes are still show even while it’s on, it’s not the same when it’s taken off and she can get every subtle twitch, every single glance the calm blue orbs portray and even the twinkle in them that they have at this hour of night. He starts to head back to his room, that’s when she finally gets the ability to speak once more, and the guts to go a little further with her guard.

“Flash…” she whispers, almost whimpering, as she watches him come to a stop.

“Yes, Twilight?” he ask turning around to face her.

Not saying a word, she walks up to him. Stopping momentarily to get another glimmer of those wonderful blue eyes. Before she leans in and kisses him sweetly on his exposed cheek. The feeling of having his body pressed against her lips, even if it isn’t his own, is almost enough to make her lose control instantly. ‘Don’t mess this up…don’t do it,’ she tells herself. All the while she starts to melt in to the moment that she has envisioned for some time now, or at least something close to it, ‘you made it this far after all,’ it feels like the kiss lasts a life time. Although she may have wanted it to, Twilight slowly pulls back from the sweet gesture as her lips themselves part open, letting out a hushed breath, as her eyes still remain closed. Opening them ever so slightly, she sees the look on his face, and more importantly his cheeks. The lighter coat that Flash is adorned with gives way to the rush of crimson filling his cheeks as the color contrast pushes through the night time light, and gives her a clear view of what her guard is going through. ‘At least im not the only one that gets this way,’ she tell her self, before saying anything to him out loud, “Thank you, Flash Sentry… for everything,” she simply tells him while he now tries to think of anything to say to her after the little gesture she pulled.

“You’re very welcome, Twilight Sparkle,” he tries but fails to hide the sincereness in his voice as it starts to tremble almost as bad as Twis legs do when he is around. They both grin at one another forgetting that he just killed someone and they are standing where the creature took its last breath before it fell to its death. “Will that be all Ms. Sparkle?” he ask her, the smile still stamped on his face.

“That will be all Flash,” she this time gives him a light bow. Then watches as he returns it and leaves the room to go in to his own. ‘Cadance is never going to believe I just did that,’ she thinks highly of herself as she flops in to bed like a filly with her first crush. Nearly giggling as she relives what she just did. Hearing the water to the shower turn on, she tries to get some sleep knowing that this colt, one she is truly starting to fall for. Is now showering in her own home, and he’s not going anywhere.

Little does Twilight know, she’s not the only one who is having this go through her head. Flash goes in to his room and quietly closes the door behind him. Slumping down behind the door as he ponders his own thoughts that have been abuzz sense Twi walked in to the kitchen this morning. ‘Get a hold of yourself Flash!’ he literally slaps himself before getting up, ‘It was a gentle kiss on the cheek to say thank you… that’s all.’

The more he thinks about it though, the more he wants to burst over in to her room and tell her something that’s been going on for a long time now. He shakes his head, putting the helmet on the table, armor in the closet and the sword close by the bed if need be. Stepping in the tub to rinse off quickly, he turns the faucet so the hot water can run its way down his face and take out some of the blood that managed to remain on him after the fight. Taking out the green from his coat after some scrubbing, and a liberal application of soap. Flash steps out and dries off quickly to get some shut eye before the day tomorrow.

The bed feels great after a long day in a new town. Considering that he has to be up early to go with the Princess to Canterlot. Once he puts his head on the pillow and gets comfortable though, it isn’t long before he starts to think more and more about what happened today. ‘That’s all it is,’ he tells himself again, trying to remind himself of his place, ‘that’s all… or maybe?’