At Crystal Empire Urgent Care, Lemon sat on top of the bed, wearing a patients gown and cast on her wing, scratching everywhere on her body except her wing. Ruby sat in one of the chairs, flipping through a tabloid, Princesses Weekly to be exact. Spark was curled up beneath Ruby's chair.

"Lemon, stop," Ruby hissed at her friend.

"I'm sorry. My broke wing itches and I can't scratch it. So I'm trying to distract myself by scratching everywhere else." Lemon reached behind herself and tried to scratch that one spot you can never reach on her spine.

Spark quickly sat up and turned his attention to the door. Not a minute after and the doctor walked in. "Hello, Miss Zest,"

The doctor held out his hoof for Lemon to shake and sat down on a rolling chair. "So, I see you broke your wing." The doctor pinned up some x-ray images of Lemon. One of the pictures showed her wing, its bone snapped right in two. "You have a wing midshaft humerus fracture. Luckily it's not too severe, so no surgeries are needed. However, it's not going to heal itself overnight so you're going to need that cast for a while and you will need some pain medication."

"Okay," Lemon said, nodding her understanding to the doctor.

"Now I can write you some doctors notes for your work if you need either of those."

"Yes, please," Lemon told the doctor.

"Alright. I'll get those to you." The doctor stood up from his seat and made his way to the door. "It'll just take me a couple of minutes."

Once the doctor left, Lemon laid down on the table, put her hooves over her face, and groaned. "Fuuuck. I'll have to talk to my boss."

"Why is that a problem?" Ruby asked her friend with a curious look. "Your boss isn't a jerk are they?"

Lemon peeked one eye out from behind her hoof and looked at Ruby. "What? No. It's unpaid medical leave. Unpaid, so I don't get paid. She's actually pretty cool. But still, my wing is fucking broken, I won't get paid for the three weeks so I'll probably not be able to pay the bills at the end of the month, and worst of all I am barred from having sex for three or so weeks."

Spark hopped off the chair, jumped up onto the table Lemon was laying on and licked her hoof. Lemon smiled and affectionately scratched Spark's head. "And this is all your fault, you adorable little dog."

"I don't think Spark has any control over your own recklessness Lemon," Ruby told her friend.

"Shut up, hahahahl," Lemon shot back to her friend through a giggling fit. "What are you reading there?" Lemon placed her good wing atop the tabloid to get a better view of it.

"Just something to kill time, I'm not even paying attention to what it says."

"So you're not interested?"

"Lemon, I'm more starring at the words than I am reading it."

"Alright then!" Lemon pulled the tabloid out of Ruby's hold and started flipping through it herself.

"If you wanted it you could've just asked."

"I did ask. You said you weren't interested in it or even really reading it," Lemon retorted, settling her eyes on one column in particular. "What's this? 'One Fan's Love Letter to Princess Flurry Heart'. I wonder if she'll respond."

"Who? The princess? She won't."

"Come on Ruby, let the fan have hope. She might respond."

"Lemon, she's a princess. She has no reason to interact with ponies like that. Ponies that aren't of nobility or high-class."

"Yeah" -Lemon admitted- "you're right."

The doctor walked back in the room with a doctor's note. "Okay Ms. Zest, here's the docto- how did I not notice your dog before?"

Spark gave the doctor a friendly yip.

"Guess he's just that well behaved," Lemon suggested. She sat up for the doctor to give her the note.

"And I'll go ahead and schedule you a follow up appointment in three weeks to make sure everything is okay. Just for sake of ease, let's say three weeks from today?"

"Yeah, that works for me."

Flurry Heart burst through the crystalized castle door, beating Silver by almost a minute. "Haha. Beat you, slowpoke," said in a tone of mock gloating. Silver was nearly humped over on the floor, panting.

"Yeah, I'm a thestral so, I usually have my wings for transportation. And it's cold. And I'm wearing my armor."

"Those just sound like excuses," Flurry teased. "And I thought you said thestral armor weighed less than the royal guards' standard armor?"

"It does. But it stills weighs. This is freaking metal I'm wearing. And the cold makes the metal contract, restricting my movements. And did I mention how cold it is?"

"Yeah, like three or four times." Flurry giggled.

"That's still not enough."

"Wait, you said that the cold warps your armor?" Flurry asked, a possible solution forming in her mind.

"Yes!" Silver exasperated.

"Hmmm. If the cold causes a problem like that, why don't you take your amor to the armorsmith or the enchanter? One of them may be able to remedy the warping for you."

"Who are they?"

"The armorsmith is Steel Anvil-"

"That's on the nose."

"-and the enchanter is Gold Etch. Yeah, their names really are that on the nose. You'll find them together in the lower level of the castle. Since you're just requesting a simple fix to keep your armor from warping in the cold, they shouldn't charge you. But if they try to, tell them I sent you."

"Thanks. Only, how do I get to them?" Silver asked.

"Just find a set of stairs going down and you'll know them when you see them." Flurry smiled at Silver, but he only gave her a confused expression.

"First day remember."

"Oh yeah. To get to the stairs; go down that corridor, take the third right, it'll be the second door on your left."

"Okay." Silver mentally went over Flurry's instructions again before going off down the corridor

Silver trotted down what he hoped was the right set of stairs. "How am I going to know if-"

Silver was interrupted by a loud, Shetland accent. "Aye, Etch, where'd ya put ma hammer?"

"I haven't touched your damn hammer, Steel!" a female voice answered back. "You've probably just put it on your workbench and forgot about it."

That's probably them.

"No, aye know ya have touched ma hammer. Aye last ad it n yer room."

"What were you doing in my room!"

Silver slowly trotted closer to the source of the two voices arguing.

"Aye was lookin for ye. Aye also found ma tongs n there. Why'd ye av ma tongs?"

"You in left those in my room and I kept telling you to get them out."

Silver turned a corner and found the source. A shetland Earth Pony and a tall unicorn.

"Now listen ere lass, if aye find one mor of ma things in yer room..."

Silver coughed loudly to get the attention of the two arguing ponies. They both became silent and turned to Silver. "Sorry to interrupt but I was told one of you could fix my armor."

The Shetland pony fully turned to face Silver and walked up to him. "Aye can. Now, wat ya need done?"

"I need it fixed so it doesn't warp in the cold, Princess Flurry Heart told me you could do it."

"The lass wae right, we can fix yer armor. Nd ye must be the new guard fer the princess. We'll ave yer armor fixed up nice n right n a few days."

"Thanks." Silver removed his armor and gave it to Steel, feeling quite naked without his armor. "Will I have to pick it up later or?"

"No, it'll be in your room when we're done," Etch told Silver.

Lemon opened the front door to the restaurant she worked at. "How about I keep Spark out here?" Ruby told Lemon, pointing to a No Pets Allowed. Service Animals Exception sign on the door.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Lemon said in agreement. "You can certainly control him better than I ever can." responded Lemon added as she walked in. Tables were filled with ponies eating all kinds of and started the search for her boss.

"Lemon Zest, there you are. I was just about to call you." Lemon's boss, a teal-colored crystal pony named Pepper Spice, trotted up to Lemon. "Look, I need you to--a and why do you have a cast on?"

"My wing's broke." Lemon gave her boss the doctor's note.

"Well I can see that, but not how it happened." Pepper quickly murmur-read the note to herself. "What did you do to break your wing so badly?"

"Was chasing Spark, turned a corner to fast, ran into a wall."

"So three months. Okay, yeah you can get the medical leave. Wait, you ran straight into a wall because you were chasing your dog?"

"Yeah, so?"

Pepper tried to hold in her laughter but she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle that quickly fell into a short-lived laugh. Once subsiding her laughter, Pepper apologized. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh. Okay, now get this health risk out of the kitchen."

Silver quickly trotted back to his room, taking great care to not be seen. But he wasn't taking great enough care it seemed as when he turned a corner he bumped Shining Armor. Silver immediately saluted Shining, staring straight ahead and not making eye contact. Seconds passed with Shining's eyes narrowing ever so much without saying anything and Silver not moving any part of him from his training. The longer the silence passed, the more worry took root in Silver's mind.

Does he know Furry Heart saw me?

What was his last name? Silver S-something. Why am I blanking on this? I should have read that file! Shield!

Shining spoke, "At ease Silver Shield." Silver visibly relaxed and breathed out the breath he held in. "So, what did my daughter do?"

HE KNOWS!

"She went straight to Mr. Sunbursts house and left it coming straight back to the castle, sir."

"And did she see you at all?"

"No, sir."

"Good. Make sure to keep your eyes on her and follow her, hidden if you have to."

"Y-Yes, sir."

"You can go now," Shining told the thestral, stepping to the side a tiny bit to allow Silver passage.

"Thank you, sir." Silver quickly made his way around and away from Shining before he could be asked any more questions. As he walked, Silver took deep breathes to alleviate his heart rate from its million-beats-a-second state. "He doesn't know, he doesn't know," Silver muttered to himself multiple times. "He wants me to trail Princess Flurry Heart at all times." After calming his heart down enough. "Should I or should I not tell her? No, she's already caught me following her, she'll likely catch me if I try to do it a second time." He muttered to himself on what to do while his hooves kept walking- "If he did know, would he have confronted me about it? Maybe he's testing me, seeing if I'll tell him the truth," -and walking- "If I tell Flurry Heart and she confronts her father, then he'll know and we both will be screwed." -and walking- "If I ignore Shining's orders, he will undoubtedly find out, then I'm screwed." -and walking- "Maybe I should-ahhha!" Silver lurched down, breaking out of his thoughts. He had walked to a staircase and nearly fell down it. Silver took a few steps back and after ensuring he wasn't going to tumble down the stairs, fell against a wall and held a hoof over his heart. "I swear, my heart is going to get pissed and try to kill me at this rate. Dear Celestia, it's only my first day."

Finally his heart rate returned to a normal level and Silver looked around, only now taking notice of his location. "Wait, where am I?" Silver looked every way and didn't recognize any of it. Standing up, Silver trotted over to a set of stairs going up and found himself outside and on top of the Crystal Palace. "Wha- how did I end up here? Where is here?"

From so high up, Silver could see the entire Crystal Empire. He could even see past the Crystal Heart's barrier and into the endless expanse of snow. "So much has changed." He remembered seeing pictures of the empire when it reappeared back when he was in elementary school. It had looked so different in those pictures than it did now. Silver continued to look out over the crystalline architecture until a sudden blast of cold air hit him. "Bbbrrrrr! Okay, enough gawking. Time to get down." Silver turned and started down the stairs before stopping. "Enough stairs for me," Silver said as he turned around and jumped off the edge, deciding that walking back in from the ground would likely be easier than the labyrinth of a castle.

Flurry Heart tapped her pencil against her desk, pondering the worksheet laid out on. "Come on Flurry, last page," She said while looking at the massive pile of work she had already done. She looked back down at the paper. I could just not do this worksheet. It's just one sheet, it won't affect my grade that much. She had been staring at this final sheet for probably fifteen minutes and had made zero progress. No. I need to get this work done. Flurry blinked and the words started moving around on the sheet. Although deciding to do all of this month's work in just a day really wasn't my best course of action. Flurry glanced back towards her bedside cabinet and the contents hidden within it. I could take a quick fifteen-minute or so break to try some stress relief.

"Oh fuck it," Flurry Heart said, hopping off the chair. She used her magic to lock her front door, close the curtains, and place a silence spell on her room, nothing noticeable, but strong enough to let her not worry about being heard. She then opened a drawer and pulled out her object of desire, a vibrator. "Just need fifteen minutes," Flurry said to herself, eyeing the plastic seductively.

Flurry hopped on her bed and turned on the vibrator to check that it worked. Once on, it gave a very satisfying sound. Content, Flurry turned it off and placed it at her entrance. Inserting it partway, she focused her magic to hold it tighter and flipped the switch. Almost instantly, Flurry was hit with a wave of small relief that she was after. Pushing it further in, she grabbed one of her pillows, wrapped one hoof around it, bit on its edge, and snaked her other hoof down to rub herself with. Flurry let out a series of pleasure-filled moans.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Oh shit, it's Silver Shield! Panicking, Flurry turned off the vibrator and tossed it across her room. She jumped off her bed and used her magic to pull a robe out of her closet and quickly slip into it. "Yes?" Flurry asked when she answered, but nopony was there. She looked down the hallway to the left and to the right but nopony was in sight. "Hello?" she called out, hoping for a response. Nothing. Looking down, she saw a silver platter sitting at her doorway. Grumbling to herself, "It's been seven years." Flurry picked up the platter and opened it. "Well, at least my sandwich is here."

Flurry closed her door and put the platter on her desk. "Where did I throw it? I was here on my bed, then I hoped off and tossed it this wayyyy-" Flurry's voice trailed off as she looked wide-eyed at the open door to her bathroom right in front of here. "Oh no. Please no. Please, anything but that." Flurry entered the bathroom, eyeing her open toilet, and the vibrator bobbing inside it. Levitating it out and using a fifth of a roll of toilet paper to clean it, Flurry mumbled to herself, "Please just work." She flipped it on, hoping beyond hope that it still clung to life, but it only vibrated for moments before shorting out and a small puff of smoke came out. "NNNOOO! That was my favorite one!" Defeated and dejected, Flurry tossed the broken vibrator into the trash, covering it with toilet paper.

Returning to her sandwich, Flurry frowned at the silver platter. "I get that I told all the staff to never enter my room when I was in there and that I didn't want to see them, but seriously it was years ago!" Small crumbs fell as she spoke. "You can come inside my room now!" Flurry mockingly shouted to nopony in particular. Hearing her door open, Flurry spun around to see Silver walking in. "Oh, it's you, Silver Shield. Why'd you come in?"

"Because you told me to, Princess Flurry Heart," Silver responded with a face of confusion.

Now that Silver wasn't wearing his armor, Flurry could see every muscle on Silver's toned body. He was incredibly well built for somepony who just looked skinny. Holy buck, Silver looks like one of those male models on magazines covers. I wonder if he's as big as they were. I'm tempted to just let him fuck me to finally get some stress relief.
No! Bad Flurry Heart, that's your estrus talking! It's not even near estrus season and I'm already horny.

"So did you tell me to come in or not?" Silver's question pulled Flurry out of her mind and back into Equestria.

"No, I wasn't talking to you specifically. More to- ehh, nevermind. So from your lack of armor, I assume you found Steel and Etch and gave them your armor?"

"Yeah, not sure how much I trust them since-"

"They were arguing, yeah. They're always arguing, and trust me, they've been doing this for almost twenty years. They know what they are doing."

"If you say so, Princess," Silver said. His eyes drifted towards the stack of papers. "So is that a desperate attempt at getting all of your work done last minute?"

"Huh? Oh that? No. It's the opposite, that's all my work for this month. I've only got this one sheet left to do." Flurry Heart held up the final sheet of paper that had been stonewalling her for so long.

"Wait, all of that is this months work for you?"

"Yes."

"It's the beginning of the month."

"I wanted to get it out of the way early. Is that okay?"

"Yes Princess."

"Ughhhh. Look, you don't have to call me princess every time. I'm still a pony just like you."

"Oh, um sorry Princess- I mean Flurry Heart. Sorry Flurry Heart."

Author's Note

Yes I'm alive. And yes, this story is alive too. As a quick rundown of why it took almost 2 years for this chapter:
2 separate surgeries
started college not long after uploading the previous chapter
took college classes all summer long
an out of state week long wedding
family vacations, one of which was a two week out of country vacation
6-7 out-of-state hospital visits
started work on an actual book that I do plan on finishing and hopefully publishing
various health issues within my family
1 1/2 bricked laptops
and am currently building a computer myself
so yeah, sorry about the near 2 year wait, but on the bright side, the wait allowed me to really focus on where this story is going and even some changes for some future chapters.