“So, set a date yet?” Thunder Cloud asked as he set down on the cloud a second after me.
“The wedding?”
He shook his head, “When you stand in for Princess Celestia?”
I sighed and then nodded, “Yep. It’ll be announced in a couple of days and she’ll leave in two weeks and then going to be gone for two weeks.”
“Better you than me.”
Like I haven’t heard that one before.
Rolling my eyes, I shifted my wings before stomping down hard on the cloud. We fell beneath the forest canopy below and I twisted in the air.
Flying?
Once I got over the ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH’ it was pretty damn amazing. So was falling. Falling without needing to fear a sudden stop at the end was amazing.
Half extending a wing, I turned the fall into a spin before spreading both wings and stopping it. The wind tugged and pulled, straining on my wings hard as I pulled up a couple of hundred meters up as I turned speed into elevation, zooming upwards again.
Doing a roll, I followed it up by a loop, ending it by folding my wings as I once again went ballistic, slowly bleeding of speed as I rose upwards.
At the top, I spread my wings again, beating them slowly to maintain elevation as I banked around.
“Told you flying was awesome!” Cloud yelled across the wind as he dropped down to fly next to my left wing.
“You were right!”
We had been flying for several hours a week, almost since I learned how to from Twilight. As my wings got stronger and I got more used to it, I got better and it also got a lot more fun as I could do stuff like that.
“Race you back?” He yelled and then beat his wings harder.
“Oh you are on!”
I had yet to actually win a race with him, at least at a distance. He might be better at long distance duration flying and low speed manoeuvrability than pure speed, but he had also been flying a lot longer than me.
That said, it didn’t take more than a minute and I was struggling to keep up as he slowly pulled away, getting further and further ahead as we approached the city.
Damn it, not again!
I beat my wings harder and faster, going into a slight dive to pick up speed as we got closer.
Come on!
Cloud glanced back at me and then matched my dive and started to pull away again.
Not over yet, it wasn’t over until we got to the castle! I flew as hard as I could towards those white walls.
Not that it helped.
Cloud’s hooves hit the ground just outside the ports a couple of seconds before me.
I hit the ground and panted, folding my wings again, “Damn it.”
“Not bad,” he answered, barely even sounding out of breath, the bastard. Well, his job used to be literally flying back and forth across Equestria.
But still, he could at least pretend to be tired!
Stretching my wings, I then folded them again, “But you are faster.”
“I have been flying a lot longer than you,” he said with a grin, “Also, I’m just that awesome.”
“Humble as always, Cloud?”
“Can’t more humble than the truth,” he countered with a grin.
Shaking my head, I shifted my wings, “Want to find some food?”
“Can’t, need to report back to duty,” he said and shrugged, “Raincheck?”
“Fair enough. Take care.”
Giving me a wave, he took back to the air.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I stretched my wings. Damn it, I’ll be feeling this tomorrow, they were already feeling strained.
“Sir,” Amber said and settled down next to me, her wings buzzing a bit, “N-not so fast.”
“...Sorry. But you know you don’t need to come along when we go flying, I have a guard and I’m high in the air.“
“H-have to,” she answered, starting to get her breath back.
Changeling wings may give them great manoeuvrability, kind of like giant houseflies, but they were not as good for long range speed like pegasus wings.
Of course, the wings were largely irrelevant, they were just kind of a channel for the flight magic.
“I’ll talk it over with Skitter, you shouldn’t need to try to kill yourself to keep up on these things. I’m fine… if it make you feel better, I’ll have my own guard force soon, you won’t need to follow me around anymore.”
Amber blinked at me, “...Do you really think that Princess Skitter would buy that, sir?” she asked with a small smile, “Truly?”
I hesitated and then nodded, “Good point. Stubborn bug…”
Amber smiled at that, “The Princess tasked me with your protection. I will perform that duty, even if I have to fly all across Equestria without a break.”
“Correction: Stubborn bugs.”
That got a happy smile from my changeling guard.
Dawwww!
Edit: I was just thinking about this story then I refreshed the page and (BOOM!) there it was.
Every time this updates, it brings a small to my face. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the update!!
Changelings are adorable!
8648083
These changelings are adorable, especially compared to the show's recent seasons.
8648090
Agreed.
Stubborn bugs and oh so adorable.
This is without a doubt the best SoL story-series out there! Can’t wait until Page and Luna’s big day arrives!
I swear page's entire guard will end up being changelings. Like luna has the not-actually-bat ponies, cadance has the crystal ponies who might also be illusionary, and celestia has everyone else.
Plus his entire guard force can either be the pile of rocks in the training yard or not at any given time
Awesome update. Its been said but I have to agree, these Stubborn bugs are adorable.
8648083
Agreed 👍
And as always with this story, I look forward to seeing the next chapter.
Loved this chapter.
Loving the story, but whatever happened with Discord?
Nice chapter, good work.
8651404
Why does this comment have a dislike, cause I agree with it, this was a great chapter
8650201
He's hiding with fluttershy remember, it said at the end of the last book I think
Careful, Page! You don’t need to make another Changeling princess
10384801
And I almost forgot I dubbed him Princess Maker in my mind once. He is and he will be... Even if not by turning changelings into royalty.
Hugs for the cuddlebugs
One problem being a Alicorn is to keep all three aspects trained...
Don't flatter him, Amber, he's not that fast.
I wonder how his training looks like? 2 hours magic, 2 hour wings, 2 hour bodybuilding? Would tie up 6 hour everyday or every second day up.
11641238
Sounds like Goku's training😯
Makes we wonder how Celestia and Luna stay in shape with all their duties