Training a Princess

Day 107, year 1, June 25th, Monday

Today I had a lot of things going for and against me. I started the next level of flight training and am now flying through headwinds and poorer weather conditions to get us used to them. I’m doing all right for the most part, and getting used to flying in those conditions is hard work. The plus side is that I’m also getting beyond the most basic of basic spells and have a proper beginner level understanding of how magic works.

A brief consultation with Chrysalis really didn’t get me too far beyond needing to wait for a secured yet not-connected-to-my-station email to be set up so that I can manage my contacts with the gray reporter, Scorched Wing. Contacting so soon after the event would be a bad idea, even if I am eager, so I’ll wait till about Wednesday or Thursday to send my first email and a picture of my foals in the castle grounds.

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Day 108, year 1, June 26th, Tuesday

Ow ow ow ow… ow. Gods I hate this new physical training. Thought I was doing fine, forgot that I was about to be brought up to EDF fitness standards, and got pushed to the point where I’m almost as weak as when I first started any physical fitness! I was so physically worn down I almost didn’t make it through some of the other lessons Twilight’s mentor had set for me.

On the plus side, Pound Cake replied to my official letter I sent before to take me on as an apprentice of sorts to learn how to cook, even though they had already approved me in person. I’m pretty excited, but also glad he doesn’t need me right away and that it’d be later in the day when I do come. He proposed Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for helping out since it’s usually slow enough he could have some time to teach.

If anything, I’m glad I’ll finally learn to cook. I’ve felt mildly bad at not knowing how and this will give me that chance.

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Day 109, year 1, June 27th, Wednesday

Still hurting like crazy, but I’ve gotten the email setup and am preparing in my ‘fan email’ for after the interview goes public. It’s definitely become a highlight of my day alongside some of the silliness of my foals. I had a lot of back and forth with Chrysalis on how my email should be made and put together. Mom, of course, told me I was ‘close,’ only to say that I’m being too direct still and had to help me change what felt like half of it.

In a way, I feel like I am learning a bit of infiltration from mom in doing this, but I prefer to think of it right now as indirect diplomacy.

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Day 113, July 1st, Sunday

What a day… I got the papers from all three newspapers, as well as got the chance to listen to the recording on the website if I wanted. (I have no interest in hearing myself. Had enough of that when working customer service and hearing my calls for quality purposes!)

Well, the papers could have been worse… definitely could have been worse. Overall they had a lot of good to say, but each paper had their own take on my responses.

-The Daily Trotter with Juniper Gates, the Traditionalist Celestia paper, approved of the tradition history I seemed to share and try to hold to while also sharing concerns for my hopes for ways that society can be improved without learning more about how to fund such things.

-The Second Opinion, written by Brown Cap and the Modernist Twilight supportive group, was skeptical of my abilities, seeming to catch my hesitation and lack of complete thought, but seemed to appreciate my willingness to alter plans should I learn that they’re untenable or uneducated

-Just the Facts, written by Gumin Shoe and had the Traditionalist Luna leaning paper, was the most accepting but critical of my admitted need for education.

I mean, like I said before, it could be worse. What’s more important is how ponies will see me. I want to hope for many of the working populace seeing me as similar to one of them for how I’d want to help things. At worst though, it could be that they will find me too wet behind the ears and unfit for leadership and cause an even greater resistance to my attempts to assist or work together. The council and the sisters wouldn’t be swayed much, but popular opinion and morale still have to be a part of some decisions… I hope this doesn’t bite me later.

After spending some time worrying about opinions of ponies who don’t have any impact on my life and shouldn’t affect me, Stalwart and mom both supported me in their own ways, and even my foals laid against me as if they were trying to cheer me up too. I’m so glad I have my family. Maybe I should write more about them instead, that always cheers me up.

They’re still adorable, walking around the place. Morning Rise is such a curious, adventuring soul. I know foals change personality sometimes, but I can see her becoming a guardspony like Stalwart wants, or perhaps striking out her own path like I had been forced to. Beacon is a meek little thing, but he constantly stays near his father anytime he needs anything other than his meal. I certainly don’t mind, it means he goes to his father for his diaper change instead, though he will settle for Zera helping him too. Heaven forbid if I try to help him, he whines and sniffles and squirms throughout! It’s a good thing I have magic, but still!

Watching the pair of them play with Zera and Nymph is encouraging. They’re energetic, eager, happy… watching them squeal as they think they almost catch her when she’s a cat is a joy of its own, and they love when she’s a dog because they know she’s not going to be running away, often climbing over her with varying degrees of success. I made sure plenty of pictures were taken and I had to laugh a little at Chrysalis saying just how much love a family ends up having, especially when they have foals. I learned many of her infiltrators take the place of a parental role with someone who thought they wouldn’t get that chance, and while they have to adopt, the amount of love is often quite pure and potent. I believe her. The sweetness of the love we seem to put out is almost intoxicating or overwhelming to me at times.

I’m enjoying relaxing on Sundays, though part of me still wishes for a meetup for Dungeons and Dragons or whatever they do here. Better not be Humans and Households though. I do not want something that mundane! If something like that hasn’t been done, I should see if it can be replicated and create my own ruleset based on what I remember… Then again, I still need to visit Tulip again. I’ll schedule that for next Sunday I think.

Oh! I forgot to mention. Most of the study of my electronics has finished. Apparently, they don’t need adaptation for use on the electrical network because it looks like they switched when they went through the mirror at home to use magic. I still want to have backups or an ability to repair them later if they break though. There’s thankfully a video conversion unit that they were able to create with some trial and error for in the meantime. It took a while to make, didn’t help that they had composite, component, and hdmi to figure out how to do, but once they had the basic concept for what information they were looking for, they could single out the signals and attempt the conversion. Sound was the easiest part for the first two, but because of the least information for the last option, it took the longest.

With all of the pieces as thoroughly examined and tested as much as needed for consistent results, most of the physical games are being copied and tested for potential distribution. I warned them about piracy laws, but then they told me I was thinking about it wrong. Changelings care more about getting information, and further emphasized the point that their copyrights are not going to be enforceable in another world. Couldn’t argue with that! I’ll allow sale as games from another world and set aside the funds just in case though. Looks like I’ll have income to do investing with! I like the idea of investing in a games development studio to put out some ideas I’ve had brewing for a few years, but there’s other routes I could take as well.

Anyway, I don’t have my tv or consoles back yet because of those details and apparently they wanted to analyze the coding architecture and figure out how to emulate the systems consistently and safely before developing a console or two that would be capable. They’ve been at it for about two months now, but I’ve gone two years without them, I can deal without for another month.

My computer was in a similar enough boat, but much more advanced. It seemed almost on par with their own home computers in many respects, but would take far longer to convert all the things I still had installed on it. They’re settling for understanding the base components… enh, why am I getting so detailed? My hand would be cramping if I really did write this out normally and it’s not like anyone else outside of family is gonna read this!

I’m going to bed. Till next time.

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Day 116, July 4th, Wednesday

That didn’t take long. I started getting a few different letters from different ponies, not sure if fans or something else, asking me questions or already trying to lobby for their idea or time for their ideas so they could be heard.

I wasn’t sure if I was surprised or not, but despite wanting to possibly attempt replying, I realized trying to might be a bad idea. There were far too many to reply to personally, and while I could assign drones to do so for me, it wasn’t a great way of dealing with my time. I think that any business requests or more formal things should be disregarded until I have a plan for how to handle such things.

I have to remind myself that just like the newspaper article, my influence has far greater reach than I can imagine. I’m no longer some pebble making small waves in a small pond. Now if I do something, or make a move, it could have far reaching implications, especially if it turns out poorly or I find out I was wrong. I can’t afford to help out just because I feel bad, at least not directly.

It also doesn’t help that time feels like it’s flying again. I remember feeling this way back in middle school, where the day felt like it took forever, but also seemed to zip by. I worry that becoming immortal somehow has affected my feel for time, but Chrysalis keeps telling me that time has continued at the same rate throughout, and it’s a flaw in my own brain that struggles to keep track of it accurately. Trust me mom, I know, but I still feel, it’s why you get love from me after all!

Part of me still wanted to celebrate the fourth of July, inherited from my birth world, but at the same time, it didn’t feel right to. Sure, it was mostly just a day of visiting family followed by fireworks and didn’t have much feeling of loyalty to my country as it was. Now that I’m an immortal, albeit young, semi-leader of another country, it would be inappropriate.

Yes mom, I’m probably overcomplicating everything, again. I’d better get some sleep.

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Day 120, July 8th - Sunday

Visiting Tulip went well today, she’s happy to see me again and I enjoyed seeing her in higher spirits. They liked that I had taken a bit of time to learn gardening and they tried to be mildly curious about my book for the sake of one of their squad. The orderly made sure we steered clear of different hazards and overall it was a good therapy session for Tulip.

Tulip also managed to read the newspaper, said the media is always pretty ruthless, but was sure I’d be ‘fine.’ I told her that it’s common for a lot of people to have their public face they present to the world, and an inner face that they only have when in their home. She didn’t seem terribly interested in the idea, though I couldn’t help mentioning that it was one of the themes from one of my favorite games that are about to be released for distribution once we get everything ready. She perked up mildly before hearing more and saying “that’s weird.”

Well sooooorry! I can’t help that Persona happened to be one of my favorite games that kept me going in some rough times. P3 portable kept me content during homelessness and taught me how hardships can make us stronger when we use it to focus on becoming better than we were before. P4 taught me how sometimes the truth hurts but it can be the most powerful weapon that we have. Looked forward to P5 coming out the next year before I came over, but my first impressions is overcoming all the negative views people have of you to show them how wrong they are.

OH! HOW COULD I FORGET! CHRYSALIS’S EGG JUST GOT LAID!

I’m super happy for reasons I don’t dare write down, but I had to needle mom for getting away with such a near-painless birth of a new changeling queen. Twilight hasn’t found out yet, and I’m not about to spoil anything about it, but I’m super happy for them and in a way me too. … I bet that’d be something interesting to share with Scorched Wing, since she’s been very interested in my insider intel, and I’m about to get a video of us being ourselves to them to show just how ‘inside’ their trust I am… I'd better not share anything about the egg though. I’d be severely punished if I let loose that bombshell or anything related to it.

Anyway, email off, let’s see what we can do!

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Day 128, July 16th, Monday

Good news, despite my still being quite tired from physical training, Scorched Wing is ready to meet up and have their interview with me, their mystery informant “Jessie.” I’ve got it scheduled for the 29th, Sunday after next basically, and she’ll have her apology from me as well as a frank interview answering as much as I feel up to answering. Here’s to hoping she isn’t too rough on me and Chrysalis’ requirement to keep hive things completely within the hive.

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Day 128, July 16th, Monday, alternate event

Storm knocked on the door to Twilight's office, knowing it was after the usual hours, but hoping she was around.

"Need something?" A guard asked, approaching her.

"Yeah, I needed to talk to the commander about something." She explained.

"She's not in right now. She's usually on the roof at this time." The guard said.

"Ah, I'll go see her there then." Storm said, turning around to go to the roof.

Storm hadn't ever really been in the castle after dark like this, outside of the first week she spent in this Equestria. She went up to the roof, looking around for the commander.

When she got to the roof, she found a makeshift camp along the roofline. She was surprised at the scene, considering it was set up on top of a fortress, yet it was as if it were out in the field.

A blanket was laid out, held down by random objects like a paperweight, a vase, a pistol, and a rock. Next to the blanket was a cooler with a couple books stacked on top of it, a picnic basket and camping chair next to the cooler. Behind the camp was a large personal telescope at the edge of the roof, Twilight standing at it and looking through it as she slowly adjusted it. A large map was next to her, pinned to the short wall that was meant to prevent someone from falling over the edge.

"Hey Commander? I need your ear for a minute." Storm said, her tone reflecting how serious she felt.

"Huh?" Twilight said, looking up from her stargazing. "Oh. Storm. Didn’t expect to see you back so soon. What's up?"

"Well, probably about to ruin your mood," Storm warned, scowling as she approached, "but I don't know who else to turn to right now."

"Ah. One of those situations." She replied as she began to walk to the cooler. She carefully moved the books onto the blanket and opened it, taking out a soda bottle and holding it out to Storm. "Drink? It's not alcohol as I like to keep a clear head when up here."

"That's fine, thanks." Storm said, taking it as she moved close. "It's about Nightfall. We had a major fight last night, and I'm not about to forgive him till he gets an attitude adjustment."

"Ah." Twilight said, craving a soda herself and taking a seat on the camp chair and gestured to the cooler for Storm to have a seat.

Storm moved to the cooler, sat down on it, and sipped the soda before she sighed, "Bucking idiot… I love him, but damn I hate him! He enjoys his job he says, yet he's constantly complained when things about Dawn come up. I mentioned that we had to get a security detail to help monitor her when she visited Canterlot, and he gets frustrated and uppity with me because she shouldn't require that… the buck does he know! He helps patrols which is good ‘n all and I'm glad he does it, but I'm tired of being talked down to and him speaking bad about Dawn, especially since she made it in the papers for doing an interview. Makes me wonder how the hell I did it in the first place."

Twilight nodded letting her talk. She noted in silent amusement that Storm really had grown once again, recognizing Dawn’s strength and her weaknesses both, no longer putting her down.

"Well, this mule thinks it's a good idea to complain to me about how he had to deal with someone who wouldn't shut up about her from one of the tabloids and pestered him for info on her. I told him he just hates being a normal pony and he'll get to shine once we're back home, and off he went on Dawn again after insisting I was wrong!" Storm said, staring at the soda, glaring daggers at it. "We fought pretty bad today about all kinds of things, and… I left him, said I wasn't coming back till he came to his senses. Good thing Vanna's being looked after by Spike tonight… she’s barely hatched and shouldn’t see us fight like this."

"Yeah…" Twilight said, wincing at what she said, thinking to her head-partner. 'I thought work with the guard would have helped him deal with his issues, but it seems to have just made them worse if Storm walked out.'

'Yeah…’ Meadow agreed. ‘Damn. Means bigger issues with him than we can help with. I figured stability would help him out instead. Guess not.'

"So yeah, I need a place here and want to look after Vanna for a bit, maybe get a clearer head in a few weeks or something." Storm said, letting out a sigh and hanging her head in slight defeat.

"You don't even need to ask." Twilight nodded. "Want your own room or would you rather stay on my floor?"

"I mean, I'll take the floor if I need to, as long as Vanna gets a good place to sleep." Storm said, not registering all of what she was hearing as she dwelled on her fight.

"I meant would you like to stay on my private floor, with me, or have your own room on a lower floor?” Twilight chuckled. “You should know I’d never let either of you sleep on the floor."

"I…" She hesitated. She liked the idea of being in her own room again, but she had gotten used to sleeping with Night and knew she wouldn't feel the same at least not knowing others were in her place with her.

Twilight didn’t say anything, just sipped her drink, letting Storm decide this.

"I think I'd like to stay with you on your floor for a little bit, see how it goes." Storm said. “Not ready to live alone again so soon.”

"I'll make the arrangements…” Twilight nodded, smiling, “and by make the arrangements, I mean have you stay on the floor and if anyone complains toss them in the dungeons."

Storm snorted, smiling briefly before sighing as a deep frown surfaced and she spoke softly. "I thought… I thought he was the one… I was so sure. Why am I not anymore?"

Twilight sighed and pulled Storm into a hug, burying Storm’s face into the purple alicorn’s chest and extending her wings around the mare. She began to stroke the mane slowly and hummed, trying to help calm them down.

Storm leaned into the hug, saying nothing more as she let Twilight pull her in and treat her like their little lapdog. She was pushed into the alicorn’s lap, Twilight ignoring the protest the camp stool gave at the extra weight, even if it was only made for her weight and nothing else. She didn’t care about the stool right then. Storm needed her.

Storm’s vision was filled with purple and her nose with the smells she associated with Twilight, a mixture of lavender soaps, old parchment, and gun oil. Storm sighed and slowly relaxed, letting herself let go of all her thoughts and worries, frustrations going away as she simply existed, tensions floating away.

Lapdog had a way of enjoying a simpler life sometimes… Right now, she could just worry about pleasing her Mistress. That was all that mattered, nothing else, and in that moment, it was exactly the escape she needed. She sighed contentedly, blinking her eyes and slowly relaxing as she settled into that role .

"Thanks Twilight…" Storm eventually said.

"You never need to thank me for this." She said, stroking Storms mane and humming, the two of them enjoying being under the sky as it grew darker.

"Still doesn't mean you don't deserve it." Storm said, letting out a sigh.

Twilight simply smiled and scratched behind her friend’s ear. Storm chuckled, almost like putty in their hooves as she enjoyed being Lapdog.

"Want to stargaze with me?" Twilight offered with a smile.

"Sure."

Twilight smiled and opened her wings slowly, exposing Storm once more to the outside before she set Storm down and began to talk toward the telescope.

"I like to stargaze at least once a week, though in winter I do so on any and all clear nights." She said. "Ever since I was a little filly."

"Ah." Storm said, looking up at the sky. It always seemed the same to her. Sure, it changed a little in some places, but nothing that great. They were used for navigation for a reason after all.

Twilight smiled. "Let me guess… It's just dots in the sky to you isn't it?"

"I mean, to me, but I know they’re more than that. Been an explorer so I like knowing which ones to have as a reference for directions but they’re not as exciting to me."

Twilight smiled and gestured to the telescope. "Go on… Have a look."

She shrugged, getting up and going to take a look.

The telescope was aimed at a massive nebula of greens, blues, and yellows, just seeming to hang there in space, larger than the balls of flames that seemed to be near it, just hanging in a black void.

"Huh… What’s that?"

"The Statia Nebula… the only Nebula capable of being seen by a personal telescope like this due to its proximity to us. The atmosphere prevents us from being able to see it with the naked eye, but it’s up there and thousands of times bigger than Equus. … if we could see it… it would fill the night sky…" Twilight said, looking to the sky as the moon slowly rose.

"Huh… that’s really big… and really far away." Storm thought out loud.

“Yeah. There are other nebulas, but we'd need a more powerful telescope to see it." She said and carefully looked through the aiming piece, her head close to Storm’s as she looked through and slowly adjusted it until Storm could see a small pulsing star, burning gases coming off it and disappearing as they were consumed before flinging it far.

"What’s with the twinkling?" Storm asked.

"The star is pulsing, meaning its expanding and contracting as it burns through its fuel." She said, looking to the sky once more. "Most of those stars up there… they went out millions, perhaps billions of years ago… but their light is traveling such a great distance we are able to see it long after the source has died…"

"That… that’s…" Storm said before pausing. "Wait… Celestia is Princess of the Sun… and the sun is a star… What happens if our sun goes out? What’d happen to her?"

"Oh, our sun won't go out." Twilight said. "It will explode."

Storm looked at Twilight in surprise and horror.

"Don't worry, it’s not due to do that for a few million years… probably." She said. "As for what will happen to Celestia… I'm not sure. I mean she controls its movement, but if she is connected to it in the sense she will die if it does? … But she draws power from it… Hmm, an interesting question, and one I doubt even Celestia herself has an answer to."

"I… I don’t wanna think about it…" Storm said, looking visibly shaken by the thought.

Twilight frowned ears going back as she asked worriedly, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Thinking of Celestia… the sun exploding… It’s…" she shook her head, "the hay am I getting upset for? I won’t be around then…"

"No, no. I'm sure she will be fine.' Twilight said quickly hugging Storm. She felt horrible that she made Storm feel with way. She just wanted to cheer her up and share in some of her favorite things with her, and she had to go and do this!

"Sorry, I’m being stupid… now I’ve upset you…" Storm sighed, pulling her wings in close and making herself smaller.

"What! No. I’m upset because I upset you." Twilight said.

"No, I’m just… I got a bit scared, but it’s a really, really far away thing. I don't know why that bothered me."

"Because you care about Celestia." Twilight said.

"Well, yeah…" Storm said, suppressing a yawn.

"Tired?" She asked.

"Just the cold air." Storm said, looking up at the sky, thinking.

"Ah…" She said, looking up at the sky as well. "I’ve not had anyone stargaze with me in a long time… my Pinkie was the one out of my friends who seemed to be the most interested, and we used to watch the sky together about once a month. The others would also be there if they were free… Dash having leave from the Wonderbolts, AJ her farm not tiring her out too bad… Rarity not having a show… Fluttershy caring for her animals… but we always tried to find time for each other, even though a full group got rare. Hm… Pinkie always wanted to throw a space party up there… only one I knew who wished to leave this planet and see what is up there I know… knew."

Storm felt it was her turn to hug them, moving over and doing so from the side.

Twilight leaned into her, still watching the stars. "You ever think about it? Leaving this planet to see what’s beyond the stars?"

“I haven’t thought about it before… what’s beyond the stars?" Storm asked.

"No clue… all we have is telescopes to see things… furthest we've been was the moon, but beyond there? Who knows? Could be anything… Could be nothing but lifeless rocks, floating in the void… We won't know till we get there." Twilight said as her wings shuffled. "Used to always watch and dream of going up there… never thought I’d get the chance to in my lifetime. Now my lifetime is eternity so… I'll eventually get to."

Storm hugged her again, "Yeah… if it happens in my lifetime, I think I would want to see too."

Twilight thought and looked at Storm. "What’s the highest you’ve ever flown?"

"Not sure." She said.

"Come with me." Twilight smiled, spreading her wings and taking to the air.

Storm spread her wings and took off after her.

They flew for a few hours in the cool night and soon reached an EDF air base. Within a couple more hours, they were in the back of a cargoplane, wearing sealed suits as it flew through the air.

"This… is technically an abuse of power, scrambling one of these just for this, but… you are going to love this." Twilight said over the radio as she checked Storm’s suit to make sure it was in working order.

Storm smirked, then frowned as she thought back to her fight before shaking it off and refocusing on Twilight's adjustments.

"Okay. You ready?" Twilight asked, putting the oxygen mask over Storms muzzle. "Air good?"

Storm took a breath and then nodded.

"Good… then we are ready to jump. Do exactly as I say. Understand?" Twilight said "You are going to instinctively want to use your wings. Don’t, not till I tell you. Got it?"

"Okay…" Storm said, frowning, but trusting her friend.

An alarm started to blare in the cabin. "Depressurizing cargo hold." The pilot’s voice said through the radio as Twilight went to the wall.

Storm went out to the wall Twilight went as well, feeling her fur try to fluff out and trap heat.

"Ready to jump." Twilight said. Once she got a nod from Storm, Twilight pressed a button and a different alarm started to blare as the back door began to open.

The sound of the rushing wind outside was muffled by the helmets they wore. Twilight put her googles down as she went to the middle of the cabin.

Storm took a deep breath as she realized what they were doing and made sure her goggles were down and she joined Twilight, having no clue what she was doing.

"You’re clear to jump! Go, go, go!" The pilot said and Twilight ran for the down ramp and disappeared from sight as she jumped from the plane.

Storm followed, her heart pounding as she prepared herself to plummet, keeping her wings tightly tucked in.

What greeted her when she left the plane was the tops of clouds as they now dropped from the highest point one could be while still on the planet. The curve of the planet clearly visible with ease in all directions.

Then the sun started to rise, its light shining over the land. It cast parts of the world within the light as others remained dark, blending them together as the night gave way to the day in an eternal movement controlled by the Princesses. Lakes shimmered in the early light as rivers flowed and forest’s shadows stretched on into the darkness as the light reached in. The clouds seemed to glow with the light as the muffled sound of the air rushed past the fiery pegasus.

"Whoah…" She said into her mask, breathing in as needed as she just let herself fall while facing the world.

"Breathtaking, isn’t it?" Twilight voice said in her ear from the radio. "We are higher than any pegasus could ever fly, high enough there isn’t enough air to breathe… the edge of where our world ends and space begins."

"Yeah…" Storm said through the radio, "A mare could get addicted to this kind of view!"

Twilight chuckled as they plummeted towards the planet, the dawn’s light continuing to spread.

Storm watched, enjoying herself. It was freeing in a way, just get lost in the sights. Not much could be noticed beyond where most cities were, the smaller towns barely registering in her sight, and any ponies wouldn't be seen at all.

The cities were dots of light, slowly turning off as the dawn continued to rise. All too soon, they were passing through the highest of the clouds.

Storm sighed, unhappy at the loss of the sight, but she no longer felt the pull of the planet against her, just the wind rushing against herself.

Soon they broke through, the towns, villages, and some roads becoming visible.

"We are close now!" Twilight instructed.

"What do we do once we're close enough?" Storm asked.

"Angle down so you’re going straight down and slowly open your wings while pulling up slowly. If you aren't slowing down enough, pull the red cord on your vest. That will open a chute that will slow you down. Be careful of the rapid deceleration!"

"All right!" She said, starting to follow those instructions, heart pounding faster as she felt the weight of her movement speed up again.

"Now!" Twilight said as she herself started to go through the motions.

Storm tried, watching Twilight and seeing if she could imitate them.

Twilight wings were slowly opening as she began to angle herself into a slow pull up from the nose dive. Her legs were tucked close to her body and she looked, focused on the ground before her and neck outstretched. It was clear she’d done this before.

Storm continued to imitate, trying her best to slow her descent gradually.

'Ease up, you’re going too fast! Increase your angle up speed a bit.' Twilight said.

Storm listened, groaning as her wings started to hurt even more as she increased her attempts to pull up.

'Pull the cord now!' Twilight said, seemingly without warning.

Storm growled and pulled the cord, not happy with herself for not doing it right to avoid needing the cord. The parachute deployed and Storm suddenly came to a near stop as it caught the air and dragged her to a near stop.

"Owwww…" Storm groaned, feeling sore as most of the joints near her legs felt all of the strain of the chute pulling upward at her.

"Yeah, hurts a bit, but better than blowing into the ground." Twilight said as she slowed her speed before circling back to Storm as she was drifting down and dangling from the chute.

"Yeah… fuck." Storm groaned, "That's gonna leave marks…"

"Yup." Twilight said, then smirked mischievously. "Think fast!"

Twilight pulled another cord, causing the chute to detach from the harness. Storm yelped and spread out her wings, flapping quickly to catch herself and then began to glide as the panic from her sudden tumble subsided.

“Dammit Twilight…" She tried to glare and then started laughing.

Twilight laughed as well as she used her magic to gather the now free chute and roll it up while lazily flapping her wings to stay airborne. "So….how was it?"

"That was kinda awesome." Storm chuckled.

"Damn straight." Twilight smiled.

Storm smiled more at them then started to turn to fly home, then frowned as she remembered she wasn't going back.

"Come on, I think a nap is in order." Twilight said, placing a hoof on Storm’s shoulder and turning her to face back toward the castle that was miles away. "World won’t end if I take a day off."

"Thanks, commander." Storm said.

"Don't mention it, and feel free to call me Twilight when off duty."

"All right, Twilight." She said with a yawn before chuckling.