• Pack with Flash, in Ponyville.
The Crystal Party left the train station, and walked over to the castle in relative silence. Mostly as there were now a few other crystal guards walking directly behind them.
It was embarrassing enough talking about this stuff, with just the two of them. No way Flash could do it around his fellow guards. They already teased the Tartarus out of him.
It wasn't long after they reached the castle, and were guided to the throne room by one of the new servants.
"May I present, Prince-" The servant tried to announce but was interrupted by Twilight. As the Princess of Friendship pounced on her older brother.
"Shining!" Twilight smiled as she hugged her brother.
"Twilly! You're supposed to wait for the doormare to announce us!" Shining lightly scolded his sister, in typical big brother fashion, but at least he accepted the hug.
"I keep telling her to stop doing that," Twilight explained. "I know every creature in ponyville, and my friends visit multiple times a day."
Shining sighed and shrugged at the Doormare helplessly, "Sorry, I know my sister can be a pain when it comes to formalities."
"It's alright your highness," The mare bowed. "Comes with being the Princess of Friendship," before showing herself out and leaving them to their affairs.
Only Shining's party, and Twilight's own castle guards, were before the Princess now.
"Twilly," Shining Armor looked serious as he waved the blushing yellow Stallion over to him. "Since you don't like formalities, I'll skip the 3 hour introduction and ceremony. You know why we're here."
Twilight sighed, "I do." Shaking her head she looked at Flash. "I just need to make sure this is what you want. I'm not a fan of arranged marriages and this is a few steps, no LEAPS, below that.
"I know Celestia still takes on consorts, and they seem happy, but... well all her modern consorts were chosen by her, and given the chance to reject her. A few even did and she never felt any ill will towards any of them... I just... I want to give you the same chance... I wouldn't even consider accepting if it wasn't for... well... I like you Flash. I've had a crush on you since I was 16 and we bumped into each other in the hall."
"Your brother flogged me for that," Flash couldn't help but remark. It was more a defense mechanism, to just blurt that out, over acknowledging what the Princess was telling him.
"WHAT!?" Twilight gaped, before glaring at her brother.
Shining sweat dropped, "It's not proper for a guard to be running into ponies in the halls, especially not a newly crowned princess."
Flash fidgeted on the spot, but the bickering siblings did ease his tension a bit. "It was worth it to meet you," Flash assured the Princess. "I... I'm not thrilled with the arrangement, Twilight," he admitted. "But I like you to, so maybe we could... try it... for a bit... let me get used to the idea..."
Twilight nodded seriously, "I can do that. Come have a seat." She led them to the circular table, and the three of them took a seat, While the guards of both cities stood around them.
Twilight's guard looked far less uniformed then the crystal ponies. They didn't dye their coats or manes the same color, to give a more intimidating appearance. Their armor was also a deep blue, with a police badge on their helmet's forehead.
Flash had heard how Twilight used her royal guard as more of a police force for the town. They also recieved special monster hunting training, as a result of living so close to the Everfree forest. They were more then just ceremonial scouts here. As a result their was a healthy mix of mares and stallions present.
Once the three of them were seated Twilight pulled a book out of the pouch, from under her cutie mark. Ponies natural pockets really did come in handy. The bucking things were even bigger on the inside, allowing ponies to carry hundreds of pounds worth of stuff, without it even bothering them. It was like having a built in bag of holding.
Twilight floated the book over to Flash and placed it in front of the yellow Stallion, "Celestia suggested I write up a contract for you to sign. That way you fully understand what you're getting into before you accept."
"Twilly," Shining sighed. "I keep trying to tell you, not everypony can read 20,000 words a minute. This will take him all week to read!"
Twilight dismissed, "We can just go over the highlights now, and you can read over the details later. Firstly, if you choose to become my consort, I will allow you to serve in my royal guard as Commander of my City State."
"WHAT!?" all the present guards screamed, including Twilight's own soldiers.
Shining glared, "Twilight the royal guard might not be taken as seriously, as the other branches of the military, but we are still real soldiers. You can't just take a barely out of apprenticehood colt and make him your commander! It insults everything I worked my whole life for!"
Twilight's ears pinned.
"Princess," Flash spoke up, suddenly being more formal. "Although I appreciate the gesture I cannot accept. I actually agree with your brother. The guard is important to me. I would love if you allowed me to continue to serve here... but with my current rank. If I ever become a commander I want to come by it honestly." Twilight's own guards nodded approvingly.
"What is your current rank?" Twilight asked.
"I'm a junior officer, basically I'm second in command for my platoon," Flash had worked his flank off during his apprenticeship to earn that position. He was proud of it and Twilight was treating it like nothing, by just handing him the highest rank a City State could have.
Seriously the only thing higher was Captain, and they looked after the royal guards across the country! Generals looked after all branches of the military. So they weren't really royal guards anymore...
Twilight suddenly sighed, "I didn't mean to insult you, any of you. I just need a commander and figured I should choose somepony I can trust."
Shining nodded, but still looked upset, "I'll send over somepony more qualified later."
"... it was also a bit of a bribe to try to convince him to accept," Twilight blushed, and Shining groaned, but looked more forgiving now.
"Bribing your partner isn't a healthy way to start a relationship," Shining scolded. "let's move on, I already told young Flash here about your... unorthodox interest."
"Eh?" Twilight blinked, not following.
Shining sighed, "That your kinky as Tartarus, and will likely want to tie him up and beat his flank."
Twilight's face exploded, much like Flash's had when he was told, "SHINING ARMOR!" she wailed, completely mortified despite the fact the present guards didn't seem to care.
Many of the Crystal Guard had slept with Shining Armor, While Cadence watched, so they were used to the notion that Princesses were all kinds of kinky. Where as Twilight's own guard had... experienced Twilight's interests first hoof.
Shining explained, "The whole point of a consort is to indulge in your fetishes with a safe partner. Every pony has some kind of kink, even Celestia, nothing to be embarrassed about. Besides Flash deserves to know what he is getting into, and if you haven't noticed he's still here."
Twilight looked at Flash, who was squirming in his seat, as she processed this.
Shining picked up the book with his magic and floated it back to Twilight, "Maybe you should rewrite this with Flash, to detail what you both actually want out of this relationship, and not fill it with bribes."
Twilight blushed and looked at the book she wrote. After a moment she asked, "Celestia likes this stuff to?"
"Well," Shining shrugged. "Not exactly, she does like giving spankings but not too your extreme. She mostly enjoys dressing her consorts up as foals and spoiling them."
The present guards gaped as one of them yelped, "Princess Celestia is an AGE PLAYER!"
Shining glared at the guards, "That is completely confidential information which I strictly forbid you from disclosing to anyone under penalty of court martial," the guards straightened at that, but Shining continued.
"The only reason I brought it up is so my sister knows she's not a freak for having an unorthodox way of expressing intimacy," Shining looked at Twilight hard. "So long as it is between 2 consenting adults everything is fine."
Twilight blushed, "I guilt one colt into letting me spank him, when I was bucking eight, and you still won't let that go!"
"You're lucky his parents didn't press charges!" Shining snapped. "And the only reason they didn't was because Celestia stepped in and gave them hush money."
Twilight groaned, "For the last time he said I could, but when his parents caught us he lied to avoid getting in trouble!"
"Just treat your consort with more respect, and make sure he's fully okay with everything, before you start in on him, and most importantly STOP when he tells you," Shining scolded.
Flash whispered to one of Twilight's nearby guards, "should I be worried?"
The guard blushed, "I'm just glad it's not me."