I rested on my wings before going down to land in the tree, beating my wings before folding them as my hooves touched down on the thickest branch I could find.
Settling down on the thick branch, I looked up towards the moon high in the sky.
I had never been this far away from Sparks, Luna and Sunny before. Even when on opposite ends of Equestria we could meet in dreams.
I had never been out of contact like this before and I missed them. Missed talking, missed cuddling, missed kissing. I missed the way Luna sounded when I…
All of it.
So much.
And Celestia. Funny that for somepony that was nocturnal to have somepony to light my day up like the way she smil-
I raised my head and listened hard, my ears slowly shifting.
I was on the Apple farm, close to the edge of the Everfree forest. It was the middle of the night, no way there would be a pony around here. It would give me some time to think alone, and hopefully far away from everypony else.
Including Pinkie. She meant well but I wanted to be alone.
I slowly slipped off the branch, wrapping my tail around it as I hung down, listening for the sound I heard.
Half closing my eyes to lower the chance to reflect light, I wrapped my wings around myself and listened hard.
There.
Sound of scuffling towards the edge of the Everfree. Wood against wood, branches shifting. Snuffling sounds.
Those were the sounds of timber-wolves. I could hear… three of them. Sounds getting fainter as they moved off further into the forest.
Away from ponies which was good. They relarely liked to leave the forest, most of the time they avoided ponies unless they were really hungry.
I missed Fern too. Hope somepony play with him while I’m away. He likes Sunset, hope she take care of him. He didn’t need feeding or anything, but he did like to play, hope she’d have the time.
…I rarely had the time to take care of him as I should. Maybe I should look into hiring a caretaker? It wasn’t fair to him to not get as much attention as he need just because I’m busy.
I sniffed the air, carefully opening an eye to look to the side. Red. Full. Round. Apple.
Shouldn’t.
But Apple family apples were really the best apples. Not as good as mango, but… still very nice and juicy.
But would be stealing.
Just an apple, but still… I didn’t have any bits. And apples were literally how they made all their bits. And there was food back at the castle.
I didn’t strictly need to take it.
I grumbled and then spread my wings, dropping before taking to the air again, climbing back into the night sky, flying up above the Everfree. Away from that round, sweet and tasty fruit of temptation.
Shifting my path slightly, I flew past above Fluttershy’s cottage.
It was dark below, nopony awake. Banking around, I swept down lower, just above the grass as I headed for Ponyville before pulling up as I reached the outer most house I pulled up and landed on the chimney.
Nopony having a fire going this time of year.
This was actually pretty nice. I have to take the time to do more flights when I get back home. Just stretching my wings and doing pony things and not just being so busy.
You know, that’s a good idea.
If nothing goes catastrophically wrong, I’m going to live for a very long time. To have all of it be duty and work would make it a very dull experience.
I love my ponies, I have duties to them. They looked up to me.
But it wouldn’t matter if I turned to Darth Page in two hundred years from stress. I keep deciding to take more time to myself, but there is always something critical to do. Besides, I liked having legs and getting set on fire wasn’t fun, so Darth Page wasn’t something I would like to happen.
Though, admittedly… I think Luna and maybe Sunset may be into the entire Sith cosplay thing…
It’s funny. I keep putting things on delegation but two more things seem to appear. Take one task down and two shall take its place. Like some kind of paper hydra.
Worst thing? I already had Starlight and Flower on the job. They dealt with the worst of it. Seriously, how did we have so much paperwork? We weren’t that many ponies! It didn’t even slack off when we went a year between paper deliveries.
Where did they even get the paper from!?
Maybe I’ll try banning it again. Not just banning, but outlawing. By threat of… carrots or something.
Or coffee. Something horrible.
Oh! Maybe decree it has to be on stone tablets! That would have to limit the amount of it! If nothing else, it should slow down the rate of production!
On that silly thought, I settled down on the roof, looking down at a pair of unicorn guards as they slowly moved along the main street, horns lit and shining lights around.
Which was sensible. Ponyville actually had a small garrison. Not large, only like ten ponies, but enough to keep the critters from the Everfree forest away. Mostly.
I watched them for a moment before glancing towards the castle in the distance. It was getting a bit late and the idea of that apple got me hungry.
Dinner time.
Silently getting up, I took to the skies.
Page should find a female Timber Wolf pup to raise and bring back for Fern.
The downside to binging is the point where you run out. I’ll have to ignore the updates for a few days so I can binge again.
You know, Page could probably solve that 'paperwork hydra' problem and the 'alicorn worshipper' problem from two books ago by asking his loyal worshippers to help with the paperwork.
Because when your god politely asks if you can file some taxes, that would either break your faith in the divinity or net Page an accountant for life.
Got some spelling and grammar errors in the first several paragraphs, FYI
♡
Poor Stallion got a big case of Blueballs
Quite the deep chapter. I wonder if Luna finaly push for a Foal after that. How often did the only Alicorn Stallion of Equestria was almost lost to them all?
One Mandatory breeding to give all Alicorns at least a Foal seem to be reasonable!
Guardspony 1: "O my Luna! I just see a Batstallion fly by!"
Guardspony 2: "Yeah... Right. And i am Princess Celestias Stud."
Guardspony 1: "Wait! How did you get into her Royal Harem?"
Guardspony 2: "I bake her Cakes and give her Creampies..."
Guardspony 1 : "Are that innuendos or actually what you are doing?"
Guardspony 2: "...Yes"
Guardspony 1: "But seriously, i see a Batstallion!"
Guardspony 2: "Huh... Must be the Alicorn Stallion i hear rumors about..."
Guardspony 1: "Wonder if he was born or like Princess Cadance accended..."
Guardspony 2: "Probably accended, otherwise our Alicorn mare would have one in the past..."
Guardspony 1: "Good point, so how he did it?"
Guardspony 2: "Best guess? He either:
- Become the Stud of all three Alicorns and all the Alicorn marejuice accended him ♡
- Defeated one or multible Alicorn level threats and survived by the fluff of his Eartuffts...
- Found the Alicorn Amulet and somehow overcharged it.
Seriously, Princess Twilight fixed a broken Spell. Can't be that complicated with some Alicorn support..."
Alrighty. All caught up. Nice
Guards never look up
Page is just doing batpony stuff
...FLASH FORWARD SEVERAL YEARS...
Flower: My prince...what did you do?
Page: Well I decided long ago that I need to have fun once in a while to keep the stress down and not turn evil.
Starlight: ...By taking our paperwork and using it to create a...bunch of tiny cows hugging a giant squid??
Page: Those are pony soldiers attacking a hydra!
Flower: I agree. Those necks don't look like necks especially when one neck is hugging that cow.
Page: ITS NOT A COW!
Starlight: Doesn't matter. *uses re-set spell to make to re-organize the paper work* Get back to work!
Page:
11306299
You sir are a bloody fluffy genius. Just less bloody and more genius & fluffy.
11306297
I think he has better things to do... Lets delegate that plan
11306443
Especially in the open or in building with high ceilings it would be vital...
11306457
Eating Fruit and saying "i am
batmanbatstallion" ?11306464
Paperwork warfare
11306457
The correct pony term would be "I'M BATCOLT!!!"
My only complaint about these stories is how small the chapters are. The average word count of a chapter generally ranges between 1,500 words to 5,000 words, with 3,000-4,000 words being the most common sweet spot... But everything else about them is awesome!
11306521
I am only that smart because I know one of my characters would absolutely do that in a heartbeat, given the option.
A case of gluttony versus morality where gluttony loses! My word, that's a breath of fresh air. As for the paperwork hydra, it sounds like it's time for an administrative reform, and if that doesn't fix the problem, hire more civil servants.
11306443
There's a surprising amount of truth to that, at least for poorly trained soldiers. It's not instinctive to check above you for threats (at least for humans) since none of our natural predators climb very well, so it has to be drilled into you... Which is precisely why most monster stories with stuff grabbing people from above make no sense, since soldiers ARE trained to spot and deal with that sort of threat (and making a monster that can climb like that and is bulletproof is 99% of the time illogical diabolos ex machina).
Likely ponies would have a similar issue since though there might be some climbing/flying monsters in the world, the habitat in which they evolved would largely be open spaces where the former wouldn't be present and the latter could be seen a mile off.
Grammar jackboot of the day:
Hope somepony plays with him while I’m away.
11306299
something something something church of accountants very bad something something something hail xenu!
And so, we are here in what is close to the cannon world.
would be cannon if tempest wasn’t killed.let’s see how this goes and what midnight and talon end up doing, returning or maybe defying laws and making a stable portal between the two.Anyways keep up the good work!
Hey, Hiver, will we be see the Dazzlings sometime later on during this story, or will it still be a while before we see those characters? Considering that they're Equestria-based, and Star Swirl pretty much abandoned another world to their machinations, seems like something Blank Page may need to fix sometime, don't you think?
All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt. All work and no play makes Page a dull colt.
I once read a really, really bad ponification of "The Shining." It was terrible.