What Hath Joined Together

Chapter 1

                                                                                   A Lion For A Day

"Sir Flash Sentry?"

Greyhoof knocked again, his voice trembling as he rapped his forehoof on the oak. "Sir Flash Sentry, are you awake?"

The servant took a step back from the door and sighed, glancing at the weathered pocket watch in his hoof. It was already several minutes past the awakening call. It wasn't like his master to slack off when it came to his duties.

As he put the watch back into one of the pockets of his suit, Greyhoof rustled a crumpled note lying in another. "Sire?" he called out once more, coughing a little. "Are you al—"

The door swung open so violently that the elderly stallion almost fell backwards onto his rump.

In the doorway stood Sir Flash Sentry, his mane a tangled, unsightly mess of haphazard blue. His eyes were a weary wilderness of empty iris and hollow pupil, endless blue on voidless black. With bags under his eyes and matted streaks on his cheeks, the pegasus stood there in silence, breathing heavily and almost shaking as he held the heavy door open.

"S-sire..." Greyhoof steadied himself against the doorframe and looked into the eyes of his master. He bowed quickly, then asked, "Are you—"

"No."

For a moment, there was no sound in that threshold but Flash's breathing, as slow and heavy as that of a stallion over twice his age. Greyhoof took a cautious step aside, then peeked around Flash's flared wings.

All across the floor, Flash Sentry's golden armor laid about in disarray. It was obvious that each sacred piece had been cast aside with purposeless rage. There were chips and cracks in a few of the pieces where hoof and concrete had met metal with particular force.

The holy spear had suffered the same treatment. Greyhoof narrowed his eyes through the silence and saw that it had been snapped in two after striking the great mahogany wardrobe in Flash's closet, which had subsequently cracked upon impact. The weapon rested in uneven halves on the cold floor, its head and part of the shaft deeply embedded in one of the walls.

Somehow, Flash Sentry had literally snapped iron in two.

The old Earth pony let a little smile grace his muzzle for a second at the sight.

"What's so funny?" Flash's gruff voice brought Greyhoof to attention.

Like any loyal servant, Greyhoof turned towards his master's voice. Unlike any other servant, he smiled up at his friend and said with a bit of a chuckle and an impressed grin, "I've never seen a pegasus snap a spear in two."

At the word pegasus, Flash Sentry lowered his wings and turned around. Without a word, he stomped over to his bed and flopped onto his stomach. As he lay against the bare mattress, Flash Sentry stayed silent while Greyhoof closed and locked the door behind him.

"So..." Greyhoof looked down at the mess of armor. "I suppose that first day in Princess Twilight's Royal Court didn't go so well?"

Flash rolled over onto his side and brought his pillow to his face. "Not at all, Greyhoof," he said, muffling the venom in his voice.

"Ah." Flattening his ears, Greyhoof muttered, "I'm sorry to hear that." He leaned down and began gathering the pieces of Flash's armor into a pile. They clacked and clanged against each other, making Flash wince with every minute noise.

Flash sighed and threw his pillow off the bed. He shook his head as he rose to his hooves. "No, Greyhoof, don't. I'll clean that up."

Greyhoof looked over at him. "But, si—"