I hesitated by the door to the throne room.
I really, really didn’t want to go out there, court was in full swing. I could hear Celestia from here giving some sort of ruling.
Going out there would mean that everypony would stare at me again. Normally I could avoid it, just being out in public got some looks but as soon as I got out among the nobles and in official settings I always got too much attention.
I didn’t care for it.
Glancing back at my wings I lifted one of them, I frowned. Maybe I could wear my cloak more?
Pros… Ponies can’t ogle my wings, Luna likes the look, it helps a surprising amount against the wind when it get cold. Not that I actually get cold as such anymore.
Cons… It’s a bit old fashioned.
That’s a really good idea actually. I should wear my cloak more, especially in official settings. It was part of my uniform! Well, technically.
It may stand out, but it stood out less than wings.
The door opened and Celestia entered, talking with one of her aides, a blue coated unicorn carrying a stack of papers.
“Hey,” I said and folded my wings, “Good… okay, courting is the wrong word…”
That got a smile from the larger Alicorn, “Page! And yes, courting wouldn’t be quite accurate,” she agreed and moved over to me, “How are you doing?”
“Well enough now when I’m not exploding.”
That earned me a couple of raised eyebrows as I moved to trot along next to her, “Exploding?”
“I spent a lot of yesterday exploding,” I sighed, “I was wondering if you could give me some hints about that?”
That got a smile from her, “Don’t do that?”
“Very funny. At least you didn’t do the entire ‘premature explosions’ gag,” I sighed and rolled my eyes.
“Would have been too easy. Join me for lunch?”
I shrugged my wings, “Sure.”
The dining room was the small one close to the throne room, usually used for lunches between court sessions.
Two plates were set by the table.
I’m done being surprised by the staff of this castle. I literally joined up with Celestia two minutes ago. How in the…
Yep, I’m done. Fuck it.
I’m going to stop worrying about it and just go with the flow on these things. We have the best staff in the world and that’s all there is to it. They all dual class as ninjas.
Settling down across from Celestia, it only took a minute before we each had a meal of salad and a glass of wine and then we were alone again. Tasting the salad, she then glanced at me, “Now, what is this about explosions?”
“Tried some more advanced fire magic than a gout of flame. Every single spell I tried explodes on me. Is this an Alicorn thing?” I asked and picked up a split grape in my magic, “Just… kaboom. Fire everywhere and Sunset pissed at me for almost setting her on fire.”
Celestia grinned, “Premature explosions?”
Rolling my eyes, I ate my grape, “Didn’t you say that one was too easy?”
“Apparently not,” she commented and stuck her tongue out at me as she speared a piece of cucumber on her fork, “Did you complete the spell equation correctly?”
“I did. Sunset and Swift Spear both double checked it,” I sighed and picked at my salad with my fork, “No luck.”
Celestia hmmed, “It may be an ‘Alicorn thing’ as you put it. I can’t do ice magic, just as my sister can’t do fire magic. It’s simply too far from our Realms of Power.”
“Oh,” I sighed and speared a piece of tomato before I frowned, “…Wait, isn’t my Realm technically creativity or something like it. What about spell casting isn’t creative?”
She looked thoughtful and hmmed, “Well, you could simply just be horrible at fire spells.”
“…Not sure if that’s meant to be comforting or not.”
Celestia smiled and sipped her wine, “Nobody can be good at all kinds of spells, Page. Everypony have schools of magic they are better or worse at, not just Alicorns.”
“Even Twilight?”
“She’s a bit of an exception,” she admitted and then stuck her tongue out at me, “But between you and me, don’t ask her to cast transformation spells.”
“Huh?”
She grinned, “I heard rumours about orange frogs.”
“…We aren’t talking about the colour, are we?” I asked carefully.
“Not even remotely.”
“That’s mildly horrifying,” I commented and sipped my wine, “No transformation spells, noted. So… think I’ll be able to figure out the entire fire spell thing?”
Celestia nodded, “Assuming it’s not in conflict with your Realm, which as you said it shouldn’t be, possibly. But perhaps hold off on it for a couple of years if you really have trouble with it and then try again.”
“Fair enough.”
Nodding again Celestia then looked at me, “Would you mind doing me a favour? The new Griffon Ambassador arrives next week, I would like you to attend the reception if possible. Griffons have a tendency to like you.”
I blinked at her, “New Griffin Ambassador? What happened to Ambassador Ironbeak?”
“The new Griffon King recalled him to be replaced by somepony who more aligned with his politics,” Celestia explained, “It’s pretty standard when it comes to Griffons.”
Oh. Too bad, I liked the old Griffon. He always served me fish when we were invited for dinner.
“Sure, I’ll be there.”
Well, I guess we know Page's priorities.
I get the feeling that Page is not going to like the new ambassador all that well...
Another Awesome chapter. Thanks for the update. Eager for more.
What else can I say?
8625749
Yep. Same priorities as me. I grew up eating meat and had to take a 8 week break from it not too long ago. I can't tell how happy I was to go back having some.
8625772
Hmm... It's potential.
8625772
Yeah, the narrative does seem to be implying that, but the fish at least is definitely going to stay because that's absolutely the kind of thing a diplomat leaving his post will tell his replacement and is the kind of low-effort courtesy that has a big impact on relations.
8625863
That sounds miserable. I've never been forced to deal with that myself, but the human body is very much built to get most of its energy from meat so being forced off it like that goes against what it's built to want.
8625772
Probably. But that is if the author shows the meeting at all.
In the last story he hinted a few things that sounded really interesting but never developed them, like the Minotaur Scribe that Page remarked was the only calm and collected person in the meeting when they traded exasperated looks.
8625958
Urgh, I know! I was disappointment we didn't get to see Page's coronation. So many interesting things got left out in between the chapters. Things have been going a bit too overboard with the slice-of-life aspect IMO.
Those small but casual conversations are such a nice read to me. It instates a good character build and relation with other characters.
Sooo... did a line or several get cut in editing and this didn't get changed to reflect that? It just comes out of nowhere. Who said courting? Why is it the wrong word? Why is he saying this to Celestia seemingly out of the blue for absolutely no reason?
That line is literally to first use of "courting" in the chapter. If it's referencing something from several chapters ago, I've completely forgotten it. A call-back or reminder accompanying the reference would help.
False. Maid and Butler are Profession skills. Being as maids and butlers tend to do a large variety of things it makes sense that they would be a skill monkey class like ninja or rogue.
8636041
Page was going to use the word "courting" in reference to Celestia holding court and passing judgement. Which was what Celestia was doing before she greeted page.
If he did however, it would have been the wrong use of the word as "courting" means romancing someone.
That thought process was what was going through his head when he said what you quoted.
Well I think I might know why he can't use fire spells he's essentially the alicorn of stories, ever heard of the phrase book burning.
8646332
It seems that no one here has read The Gods Are Bastards. It's official over there, at least for the Butler's association. Or in the Artemis Fowl novels, now that I think of it.
I am morbidly curious now.
8827975
it was in an episode from the series dumbass, too many pinkies
Is she trying to say something here?
Good advice
To be honest - it was NOT her fault? Every single time she was startled. If you would come by that logic - nobody ever would be able to cast any sort of spell.
Politics O well... Happens ¯\_(-_-)_/¯
Purrrbirb visit incoming
Yeti King might get assassinated by Ninja maids ♡
The old Griffon ambassador hopefully has a notebook full of advice for his replacement.
If the Griffon ambassatorial Corp is somewhat competent, than upon changing positions a notebook of vital information are given over to the next political representative:
-Alicorn are dangerous, don't mess around with them.
-Blank Page is currently the concubine of princess Luna, play nice with him and bribe him with fish. Avoid coffee around him.
-Celestia is a hard mare to haggle with, don't ask for more than 1,5 the market worth before going down to 1.1 market worth in gain.
-Princess Cadance like to ship everyone, bring in a relationship isn't a exception on occasion. Just decline politely. That is unless you are open for it.
-Princess Luna is more Griffon than pony, but still a pony. Threat her like a warrior princess with herbivore diat. Make compliments to her past combat prowess in our history books.
-Princess Twilight is a need, buy her rare books or make a copy of a obsolete magic school to gain her favor.
- A picture of all important ponies.
-Duke Blueblood is to be ignored polite but with insistence, he like to worthship the dirt he walk on otherwise
Stuff like that.
Might be because paper is so flammable?
I still think he's just really a monstrous nightmare--he eats nightmares, so "monstrous".
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