“Perfect! Her majesties itinerary is all set! Helmet…” Flash said, giving a final polish to his helmet. “Shiny and ready! Next, morning training routine. A hundred wing push, begin!”

The other guards laughed, looking at the pegasus on the floor doing exercise.

“Kid relax, you're taking things too seriously…”

“I have to, sir! As the first guard appointed from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire, I must amaint a strict training schedule and I must be ready to defend all dangers to the Crystal Princess and consort at any time!”

The guards just rolled their eyes.

“You're trying too hard, Flash Sentry.”

“Besides, it´s not like anything exciting ever happens here…”

Flash ignored them and kept with his wing-push.

****

Later, Flash was standing perfectly still on the training fields while Shining Armor coached the hoofball players. One kicked the ball too hard, sending it straight to where some children were playing. Flash reacted like a meteor, picking up the ball and the kid.

“Good catch, pal!” Shing said, rushing to meet him.

“Sir, your majesty, the stray ball was headed to a civilian area, outside the designated traingin course! That calls for penalty time, your majesty, sir!”

“Yeah, I´ll..get to that…” Shining said. “You can put them down.”

Flash obeyed, letting go of the kid and handing him the ball.

“I remember you, Flash Sentry, right? Yeah, got the best flying record of your class.”

“Thank you, sir your majesty!”

“Ah, the academy days? Brings me back...care to join me for some more memories after training? There´s a great crystal fruit stand over there.”

“Off duty time is not scheduled, sir your majesty! I´m pulling a sixteen hours shift, sir your majesty!”

“Woah, never saw a pony so strict with rules, other than my sister, that is. Hey, now that I mention her, Twilight is supposed to arrive in a few hours. Why don't you go make sure Cadence gets ready to meet her at the station?”

Flash responded with a salute and flew off, much to the amusement of Shining.

****

Once on the spa, Flash kept with his perfect statue pose while the spa ponies all chatted and tended to Cadence.

“Oh no! We have ran out of purple dye!” one spa pony said.

“Oh, that's a shame. Twilight was hoping to get a treatment on her mane, I mentioned the dye and she was interesting on testing them. Knowing her she literally meant that…” Caden said and shared a laugh with the other ponies. “Oh well, we´ll have to find something else to do…”

“Permission to speak, your majesty Princess!” Flash suddenly shouted.

“Umh, sure, go ahead…”

“That won´t do, your majesty Princess! Princess Twilight Sparkle´s schedule will be disturbed if you lack the necessary ingredient!”

“Umh, that´s okay, Flash. I´m sure Twilight wouldn´t mind…”

“I personally volunteer to search for the missing ingredient!”

“Umh, we got our products supply all the way from Las Pegasus..:” a spa pony said.

“Then I´ll go there!”

“It´s a two days travel!”

“I hold the best record in the academy! I'll be back soon!” Flash said, threatening to take flight.

“Flash, wait! Umh, why don't you better go make sure the library is clean? Twilight will probably get stuck there anyways..”Cadence offered and Flash answered with a salute, taking off. “He´s a good boy but he needs to learn to relax…”

*****

Later that day, Flash Sentry woke up atop a pile of books. His wings were sore and his back hurt, he remembered he had offered to polish the entire library before the Princess arrived but he underestimated how long the building was. He fell asleep, exhausted on the Z section.

“Well, you pull it through, Flash. The place looks shiny as new and you kept your schedule. That proves that diligence always pays!” Flash said, talking to the empty building. “Yeah, it pays all right…”

Feeling lonely and kind of ashamed, Flash was ready to leave when he noticed a book right next to his helmet. A brand new schedule book. He looked around trying to find who it belonged too but then realized it was left for him to find. Smiling at his mysterious benefactor, Flash tucked the book on his uniform and flew off back to headquarters.