//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Responsibilities // by Hiver //------------------------------// “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.