Opening my eyes, I stayed there for a moment.
Sunshine was right. It couldn’t continue like this. So I’m going to do something about it.
Rolling onto my hooves, I jumped off the bed and stretched, looking out towards the moon hanging above the forest for a long second.
Folding my wings again, I exited to the outer room. Flower Rain looked up from the stack of papers on the table by the couch, “Your highness.”
“Good evening, Flower Rain,” I said with a smile, “Change of schedule today I’m afraid.”
She blinked at me in surprise, “Oh?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod, “I want a meeting with the council tomorrow, but cancel everything today. All meetings, court, everything.”
Flower Rain shifted her wings in surprise, “O-Of course.”
“Good,” I said and looked at the stack of papers, “And those papers… How many of them actually need my signature or attention? A hundred percent need my attention? Nopony else can do it?”
She glanced down at them in surprise, “I… uhm… I’m not certain…”
“Find out, get it to them instead,” I said, “Get me the ones that need my attention. As for now, I’m going for a flight.”
“...Yes, your highness.”
I headed back towards the balcony before I paused and glanced back to her again, “One more thing. Send a summon to the unicorn Starlight Glimmer, I want to meet her after the council meeting. Say, three tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
“Awesome,” I said and then nodded to her before I trotted over and jumped off my balcony.
Spreading my wings, I silently swept through the air, circling down around the tree before I went in for landing at one of the platforms.
I felt slightly bad about the fact that I just likely made my guards have a panic attack, but it’s good to shake them up a bit from time to time. It was nice just walking around the village at times.
I sniffed the air. What is that scent? It’s coming from…
Turning, I headed in that direction.
“Your highness!” a thestral mare exclaimed in surprise as I stopped by her stall. She had the classic grey coat and darker mane with a flame cutiemark.
“Hello,” I said with a smile, “I was taking a flight and I couldn’t help but notice the scent from your stall, is that spicy noodles?”
She smiled cheerfully and quickly nodded.
XXXXXXXXX
I slowly pushed the door open, reading to duck back out or throw a shield up at a moment's notice. Going unannounced into the lab was a bad idea.
Ponies had gotten hurt by less. There was a reason why there was a big warning sign outside the door. Several in fact.
“A bit tighter!” A voice yelled from inside and I could see a familiar looking tail and rear end sticking out of some machinery beneath what looked like a new ballista model.
Spike… or Talon… were working a wrench to the side, hauling on it hard. Lighting my horn, I gave the wrench a small helping push.
He looked over at me in surprise and then waved, “Oh, hey Page!”
Spike it sounded like. Talon actually had a slightly different voice.
“Pag-” Bonk! “Ow!”
Midnight scooted out from beneath the machinery and looked around, rubbing her head.
“You okay?” I asked with a frown as I put my bag down and walked over to her.
“I’m fine, just banged my head,” Midnight said and then smiled, “I heard of you and Twi, congratulations!”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile and shifted my wings, “Actually, I’m kind of looking for her. Where’s she at?”
Midnight nodded towards a door at the other side of the room, across from the Obelisk taking up most of the middle of it, “Over in the library, doing some calculations.”
“Mind if I steal her away for the night?” I asked, picking my bag up again, throwing it over my neck.
“I think we’re good,” Midnight said and looked at the small dragon, “Right, Spike?”
“Right!” he agreed with a firm nod, giving me a thumbs up.
Smiling, I moved to poke my head into the small library to find Sparks busy slowly running a pen along a ruler on a paper, mumbling softly to herself.
I quietly snuck inside and moved up next to her, “Hey.”
Sparks jerked in surprise and then blinked, looking at me, “Page!”
“Hey,” I said with a grin, “Just so you know, I’m kidnapping you.”
She blinked at me before she smiled, “Oh really?”
“Yep,” I said and slipped my wing across her back, bumping my nose against hers, “You and I are going to go watch Sunset run for a bit and then we grab her too. I have lunch.”
Twilight sighed softly and leaned against me, “That sounds nice,” she admitted, “But I thought today was full for you.”
“I canceled the entire bunch of it. Buck them, not like my current schedule was possible long term anyway,” I admitted, “I’ll work on reworking it tomorrow, but today is about you. You and Sunny.”
Sparks smiled and glanced at her calculations before slipping off her seat, “I guess this can wait until tomorrow,” she said and moved up next to me, “Watching Sunset run is fun…” she admitted.
“Mmm,” I agreed, “And then I have dinner already planned,” I said before I smirked and leaned in to whisper into her ear, her eyes widening slightly, “And after lunch we can…”
When I pulled back, her cheeks were slightly red, but she smiled and nodded.