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Eclipse (MLP)

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    • Hiver

    Hiver

    This is a continuation of the New Beginnings. (MLP) series. Many thanks to @Arratra for betaing this one!

    Cover art used on fimfiction:


    View: https://i.imgur.com/FjTIGo4.png


    And now, on with the story!

    ____________________


    Sounds rang through the forest, with birds, monkeys, and other creatures audible in the distance. Occasionally, the chirp of echolocation from a thestral flying through the forest rang out, both above and below.

    Night vision or not, flying by sight in the middle of the night was a good way to lose an eye or run into something.

    …Which is the entire point of why we had echolocation in the first place, I suppose.

    I yawned, stretching and spreading my wings, arching my back before settling down on the thick branch again, resting my head on my hooves, eyes half-closed as I listened.

    The sounds above were from Nocturnis proper.

    The sounds below came from the lower town, mostly populated by earth ponies and unicorns who preferred to keep their hooves on the ground. Considering they didn't have wings, I couldn't blame them, especially now that the ground wasn't quite as lethal. It wasn't all of them; barely half had moved down so far.

    What dangers remained could mostly be kept out with high walls and strong buildings. The shields kept the big ones out.

    Stone and wooden walls kept the small ones out of the living areas, but that didn't mean it was safe. The guard patrolled both the upper and lower village day and night.

    Since putting up the shield, we had yet to lose a pony to predators. Accidents were a different matter, but at least nopony had been eaten yet.

    Fewer sounds came from below, as many of the day ponies were asleep. I couldn't blame them; it was just more natural for them to follow the cycle of the sun.

    The majority were still thestrals, by far. Almost eighty percent were thestrals, and most of those still lived in the upper town, almost all following a nocturnal schedule.

    So far, it worked.

    I wasn't a huge fan of the separation; I had been worried it carried the risk of increasing the feelings some thestrals had about the rest of Equestria.

    But everypony seemed happy so far. And it's not like everypony just kept to themselves. At dawn and dusk, there was a lot of traffic between the two halves. There wasn't a strict split either, with plenty of flow back and forth.

    Everypony seemed comfortable with it, so I just let it go.

    Right now, I was…

    …hiding.

    If I'm to be completely honest, I was hiding from my responsibilities. I was supposed to be doing paperwork right now, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

    That's why I had snuck out while Flower Rain was away from the room.

    In my defense, we were in the fifth hour, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I can continue later. Call me lazy if you will, but I'm just so tired of it.

    That's why I was here, relaxing on a wide branch beneath the schoolhouse. I could hear laughter from inside, and it made me smile.

    A reminder of why I did what I did. And why I should continue putting up with that paperwork… and everything else involved in my duties.

    …Okay, I was being lazy. Everypony else was working, doing their best to keep this town, this idea of mine going and alive. From the foresters to the schoolteacher to the guards and the ponies working on the railroad.

    And here I was, the pony responsible, hiding from paperwork.

    "Hey."

    I startled, almost falling off the branch. Buck, I hadn't even heard her, too busy feeling sorry for myself to pay attention, "Hi Sparks," I said and scooted to the side to give Twilight space to settle down next to me on the wide branch.

    Twilight smiled and laid down next to me, her wing brushing across mine. She was wearing a pair of night-seeing goggles, "Hiding?" she asked quietly.

    "...Yeah," I admitted with a small sigh, glancing down.

    Twilight leaned in and kissed my cheek, "Me too," she said softly.

    I blinked at her in surprise, "You? Hiding?"

    She smiled a bit sheepishly, "Starlight is doing an audit on the budget for the lab. You know I normally don't mind lists and-"

    I looked at her in shock, "What!? You do!?"

    While I may not be able to see her eyes behind the goggles, I could tell what she was doing. The smack of her wing across my back helped get the point across.

    "Yes, yes, laugh away," she grumbled, "But she's excessive. I think I liked her better as a villain."

    Smiling, I scooted closer, nosing at her cheek as I brushed my wing along her back, "Did you meet your list match?"

    Sparks muttered something that sounded a lot like "jump in the river" but she shifted to lean against me, resting her head against the side of my neck.

    "…I didn't even know your lab had a budget," I admitted after a second, holding her softly.

    Pulling back for a second, she looked at me before she sighed and returned to leaning against me, "You signed off on it."

    "I signed off on a lot of stuff," I said before I frowned, "…Actually, thinking about it, having Starlight do audits is likely a good thing. Wonder who put her up to it."

    Sparks frowned and pushed her goggles up to look at me in the darkness, "…You also did. Or rather, Tight Bit put it into the system and you signed it. Are you reading anything you sign?"

    "Ah… Tight, that explains it," I admitted and bumped my nose against hers, "I have yet to see something from him less than twenty-five pages long, and it's always super dry. And in my defense, he writes like an accountant."

    Twilight laughed softly and bumped her nose against my cheek, "Page, he is an accountant."

    "Well, still."

    She sighed and touched her horn against mine, "His papers can be a bit dry," she admitted after a second, "…We're going to have to come out of here sooner or later, you know."

    "I know, I know," I said and nosed softly, "You can't see me at all, can you?"

    She grinned, "Actually, I can just about see slight shapes. But it's pretty much just black without the goggles on. Mostly I can see your eyes; they glow… I like it," she said softly, and her horn brushed against mine as she cuddled against me, "I trust you won't let me fall."

    I held her closer with my wing, smiling as I took in the scent of her mane. Now this was worth any amount of paperwork.

    "We can stay a little longer, right?" I asked quietly.

    Instead of answering, Twilight shifted slightly, getting a bit more comfortable with her head against my shoulder.

    We stayed like that for several moments, listening to the laughter above before I nosed at her ear, "How did you find me anyway?" I asked quietly.

    "Amber," Twilight answered just as quietly.

    I love that bug.

    There was a roar as it started to rain again. I guess we have to stay a bit longer, too bad. Getting myself comfortable, I pressed my nose against Twilight's mane.
     
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    • And we're back, always nice to see out favorite bat back in action. Also, the title for this story, and cover art seem ominous as hell.
     
    Hiver said:
    Sparks frowned and pushed her goggles up to look at me in the darkness, "…You also did. Or rather, Tight Bit put it into the system and you signed it. Are you reading anything you sign?"

    "Ah… Tight, that explains it," I admitted and bumped my nose against hers, "I have yet to see something from him less than twenty-five pages long, and it's always super dry. And in my defense, he writes like an accountant."
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    Strikes me as a VERY bad idea, Page. You've been hanging around ponies too long, forgot your human paranoia.
     
    Hiver said:
    "…I didn't even know your lab had a budget," I admitted after a second, holding her softly.

    Pulling back for a second, she looked at me before she sighed and returned to leaning against me, "You signed off on it."

    "I signed off on a lot of stuff," I said before I frowned, "…Actually, thinking about it, having Starlight do audits is likely a good thing. Wonder who put her up to it."

    Sparks frowned and pushed her goggles up to look at me in the darkness, "…You also did. Or rather, Tight Bit put it into the system and you signed it. Are you reading anything you sign?"
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    Page, you are becoming a Henry Blake.

    All you need now is a Radar O'Reilly.
     
    Im now picturing them getting intereupted by some kid wanting his hiding spot back.
     
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    • Spreading my wings, I landed on the platform overlooking the river. The sun was colouring the horizon a slight red in the distance, filtering through the oncoming clouds.

    Tonight had been one of the rare nights during the rain periods where the skies had been clear and I had decided to take the time to have a look at the damage to the farms for myself.

    Hooves touched down softly behind me as my pair of thestral guards landed behind me. It wasn't a lot, just a slight creak of wood and a soft clip-clop as their hooves landed.

    Crossing over to the edge of the platform to look down at the damage below. In all honesty, it likely looked worse than it really was.

    We were growing rice after all, so it could have been a lot worse when the river burst its banks and flooded the forest below. The pony in charge said she expected that we lost maybe thirty or forty percent as the water was deep, but in my mind, that was the least of the problem.

    The river brought a lot of… just junk along with it. Mud, branches, and whole trees now covered most of the fields and couldn't be cleaned up safely before the water receded, which was weeks away.

    "What a mess," I said with another sigh before I glanced back at the sisters, "I guess that's what we get for having the fields right next to the river."

    My guards for the night were actually a pair of identical twins. Both of them tall for thestrals, a bit over average for a pegasus actually, their coats an almost pitch black and slightly lighter dark grey manes. With their cutiemarks covered by their armor, basically the only way I found to tell them apart was the side they wore their braided manes at and I still wasn't convinced they didn't switch from time to time to mess with me. In fact, I was fairly convinced of it.

    Shade Leaf walked up on my left, looking down at the fields before she looked at me, "I heard it could be worse, your majesty."

    "So far, we may have lost forty percent, so it could," I admitted as Leaf Shade walked up next to her sister, also looking down towards the dark waters, "So it could have. But that's now and there are weeks of rain left."

    "We still have the train, your majesty," Leaf Shade pointed out, "We managed so far. Anything we can grow only helps."

    I nodded, "We just have to learn from our mistakes," I agreed and frowned down at the water, "...And maybe get better at building water barriers," before I shrugged and stepped back, "Best head back I think before those clouds reach us even if it was nice to be able to stretch our wings a bit. Rain always results in being stuck inside."

    Leaf Shade nodded, "We might be better at it than pegasi, but even we can't fly right in a downpour."

    Very true. And while our coats dried easily and our wings didn't retain water, nopony liked being rained on. Especially here where it was less like rain and more like standing in a waterfall.

    I knew that the times I ended up being caught in it outside, I always ended up feeling half drowned in minutes.

    "Let's go then," I said and rubbed my eyes with my hoof, "When we get back, you can take the rest of the morning off. I'm just going to look at some reports before going to bed."

    "If you like, your majesty," Shade Leaf agreed with a smile.

    I spread my wings and took to the skies, circling upwards before banking off towards the village. We weren't the only ones out flying tonight. Even a casual glance showed me dozens of bats flying about, trying to get errands down before the rain returned.

    The glow of the market stood out brightly among the glimmering lights of the village. Everypony trying to get things done and then packed up again on the rare rain free day. There was talk about a covered market in the lower village, but there wasn't space for it yet.

    So during the rain period, while some ponies kept their market stalls open, most just shut it down and treated it as a holiday, staying home wherever possible and just curling up with a book.

    Something that sounded really good right now actually. Reading those economic reports can wait until tomorrow. The latest Daring Do arrived on the last train and I haven't even had a chance to look at the cover yet!

    Circling down to land on the railing of the throne room, I glanced back and waved as the twins broke off and dove down, circling down towards the guard barracks.

    Stretching my wings for a second, I then folded them and left the throne room for our living quarters.

    As I entered the living room, Sunset looked up from the book she had been reading in the light of her horn on the couch, "There you are!" she said with a smile, poking the book closed with her hoof as the light faded away from her horn, leaving the room lit only by a couple of candles.

    I nodded, crossing over to jump onto the couch next to her, "Hey," I said and touched my horn softly to hers, "Sparks not home yet?"

    Sunset shook her head, "Actually, she was back before me. She's already asleep in the bedroom."

    I blinked in surprise, "Really?" I asked and glanced at the closed bedroom door, "She's usually back later than I am."

    Nodding, Sunset rolled over to look up at me, resting her head on the cover of her book, "Said she was tired. I think she wanted to talk to Luna about something."

    "Ah, yes that would do it," I agreed and shifted, resting my head on Sunset's chest as she put her forelegs around me.

    One of us being asleep at an unusual time would certainly attract Luna's attention. In fact, that was the usual way Sunny or Sparks had a conversation with her as they couldn't just go meet her in the dream realm on their own.

    "Want to join her? I'm getting a bit tired," Sunset admitted, "been a long day."

    "Actually, I had been hoping to read the new Daring Do?" I admitted with a small smile, "Been looking forward to it since it arrived."

    Sunset grinned and nuzzled, "Enjoy your book," she said and scooted out from beneath me before rolling onto her stomach and stretching with a groan, "I have an early morning tomorrow. Inspection at the train station."

    "Are you sure we can't relax that by now?" I asked as I enjoyed the view, "The shield bubble is up."

    "Yes, and it works for everything larger than a pony," Sunset said and relaxed again, shooting me a knowing look, "Plenty of things pony sized in this jungle that think we look like snacks. There is a reason why we still live either behind walls or in trees. And why all houses in the lower village have thick walls and window shutters."

    I nodded. All true. I wish it wasn't necessary, but we still needed guards everywhere anypony was on the ground. Or like on the ground village, behind tall walls tipped with spikes.

    Sunset slipped off the couch and glanced at me with a smile, "Have fun, but don't stay up too late."

    "I won't. Sweet dreams."

    "Sweet dreams."

    As she left, I put her book on the table and floated the package containing mine over to me to unwrap it before I blinked and stared at the cover.

    Daring Do, in what was clearly a jungle. Next to her, almost back to back was a batpony stallion as they were surrounded by dinosaur-like predators, each of the ponies holding a burning torch in their teeth to ward them off.

    I glanced at the title, "Daring Do and the Secret of the Night," I read slowly. Now I was curious! Opening the book I started to read.

    And hoped it didn't have an R rating. Because that may be a bit awkward.
     
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    • I looked at the pair of ponies before me with a small frown. Neither of them would look at me, both of the pegasi looking down and away from each other. The one on the left had a white coat and blue mane with a cloud cutiemark. The one on the right had a light grey coat and a pale green mane with a fish cutiemark. Both were bruised, both mares were in an absolutely horrible state, bent quills and all.

    It was rare that ponies got into physical fights. But for some reason Zephyria and River Mist just absolutely hated each other.

    So far, I have been unable to figure out why. No stallion or mare, no love history between them. No history between their families or anything like it that anybody could find out..

    Zephyria moved to Nocturnis with her bat sister last year. River Mist arrived alone a couple of months later and from everything I have been able to find out, they just ran into each other one day and it was hate at first sight.

    This was the second time they were before me. The first, and smaller, half dozen times dealt with by the guard on the spot.

    Last time they broke some expensive bottles in the local bar. They had paid for the damages and promised to stay away from each other.

    But here they were again. And this time it was more damage. I glanced at the scroll laying on the throne next to my foreleg for a second before I spoke up, "Two wrecked market stalls. Approximately eight hundred bits worth of lost produce," I said and looked at them, "You're lucky you didn't knock over the stand next to it. It was full of spices, not grains," I said and returned to reading, "And three ponies were injured, not including you two. Orange Slice broke a rear leg when she fell to a lower platform," I continued before I raised my head to look at them again, "That could very easily have been her neck."

    Both of them flinched, not meeting my eyes.

    "I don't know," I said quietly, "What is between you two. And quite frankly, at the moment I do not care. But it ends. Now."

    "You're majesty, I-" River Mist said before trailing off into silence as I met her eyes. She swallowed and took half a step backwards.

    I looked at her for another couple of seconds before I turned my gaze to Zephyria as well before I sighed softly, "You two had a chance last time. In fact, as I understood it, you had half a dozen chances to clear this out between yourselves before I even heard of any of them. I have already been involved in this once. Now you have dragged me into this a second time. There will not be a third."

    I sighed softly and shook my head, "We do not have a prison. We have a small jail for when a pony gets too drunk and needs to sleep it off. So you will not be incarcerated. Orange Slice will be given reparations for three hundred bits for her injuries. One hundred to each of the other injured ponies. The damages of the two merchants will be reimbursed with twenty percent markup. You will pay a fine to the crown of five hundred bits. In total, you owe a total of 1960 bits. Split evenly between the both of you, thats nine hundred and eighty bits each."

    Both flinched. I doubted either of them had anywhere near that amount of money.
    "In addition," I continued, "You are each to do six months of community service with the Nocturnis Guard. Basic training followed by whichever duties suit you."

    That got sounds of protests from both of them, "Your majest-" Zephyria exclaimed, breaking off as I met her eyes..

    "You will both do this," I told them quietly, "And you will do it side by side. You will share a room. You will train side by side. You will help each other, support each other. And you will do it peacefully. Because if I hear anything more has happened between you other than raised voices… I do not care who started it… because trust me, ladies. You will not like the results."

    Both glanced at each other before they bowed, "Yes your majesty," they said quietly.

    "Sergeant," I said and looked at the guard that brought them inside, "Please show them to their new quarters and get them geared up."

    He saluted and turned to them, "You heard the Prince! Move it!"

    They almost scrambled to stand up and leave the throneroom. I looked after them as the doors closed before I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my forehoof, "Ah buck."

    Sunset walked up next to my throne, "I'm not sure that's going to work," she said, putting a hoof on it, looking up at me.

    "No," I admitted, "It might not. For all I know, they're back here tomorrow and I have to do what I really don't want to."

    "Banishment?" Sunset asked with a frown, glancing towards the closed doors.

    "Banishment," I said quietly, "Because what choice do we have? We don't have a prison here. We… even now we can't afford ponies sitting around in cells. What's the alternative here? Forced labor?"

    Sunset frowned, "Isn't that what we just did?"

    "...If you look at it like that," I admitted, "Calling it conscription is just a nicer term. But… yes. But the alternative is banishment. Even if it is back to Equestria. Hopefully this will let them work out whatever is going on."

    "Deep breaths and try to calm down, you're close to shimmering, Wingboy," Sunset said and jumped up onto the throne next to me and nosing up beneath my chin as her side pressed against mine.

    I closed my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath before slowly letting it back out again. If I was that close, I must have been angrier than I thought.

    Sunset settled down and looked up at me, "I know. I don't like it, but… I know."

    Sighing, I rested a wing across her back as I nosed on her ear, "It won't be the last one either," I said quietly, "Will it? Ponies are generally peaceful, but… things happen. Tempers flare. Ponies and creatures get hurt."

    "Greed exists here," Sunset said quietly, resting her nose against my neck, "Jealousy. Other things as well. And we don't only have ponies either anymore."

    "Mhmm," I agreed with a small sigh.

    We were big enough now to need a justice system. The one in Equestria wouldn't work in this environment I think either. Not as a one to one continuation anyway.

    What I said was true. We just didn't have the resources to lock ponies away. Nor did I want to go that way if at all possible. Being locked away didn't help anypony.

    At best it kept them away from everypony else for public safety. At worst, it made things worse.

    I believed, I had to believe, that… at their core, ponies were ponies. Creatures were creatures. Nopony woke up in the morning and wanted to hurt the ponies around them without something being seriously wrong.

    And often the fault was with the society around them, not with them. Or they were sick and needed help.

    I wanted a society where that didn't happen. Celestia had mostly managed that. I wanted to keep it going.

    I shifted my hooves on my throne and bared my fangs for a second as I shifted my wings before once more feeling Sunsets nose touch against my chin, once again causing my fury of the actions of those two to dissipate.

    Letting a sigh out, I rested my head against the top of hers, my nose against the base of her horn.

    Maybe I should have let Twilight handle this. It was more her thing.

    But it was my town. My ponies.

    My responsibility.
     
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    • He is still so naive, no one starts out good. As a ruler he should have known this long ago but I guess with him being shielded from the realities of the world by the sisters he hasn't had to face facts. Looking forward to seeing more.
     
    Remegar said:
    He is still so naive, no one starts out good. As a ruler he should have known this long ago but I guess with him being shielded from the realities of the world by the sisters he hasn't had to face facts. Looking forward to seeing more.
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    I fundamentally disagree with your claim. But also, Blank Page is has plenty of experience with people's dark sides.
     
    . . . . There's a difference between neutral aligned trouble makers, and The Architect Of All Sin.

    You're also conflating initial innocence with Good of Heart And Soul. Babies, start out Neutral. They learn selfishness just to survive, literally. And it is this survival mechanism that is the reason Parents are supposed to step in, starting with the establishment of long term memory (around the age of three) to start teaching wrong from right, including how to share, and that not all selfishness is good. That's the part so many parents mess up, as many because they don't try, as there are that can't tell the difference.

    So, please don't bring religion into this, it literally isn't even.
     
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    • "Wife."

    "Husband," Luna answered, looking down at me, her wings raised high as the dream realm shimmered around us.

    I looked into her eyes and took another step closer as she slowly lowered her head towards me until her nose touched mine.

    I looked up into her beautiful eyes, her mane shimmered beautifully. We stayed like that for several moments before we started to laugh at the same time as she sat down, forelegs and wings slipping around me as I sat down in turn, my own forelegs going around her as I captured her in a kiss.

    We stayed like that for several long moments before she broke the kiss, touching her nose against mine once more with a smile, "How was your night, My Page?"

    I sighed softly and leaned against her, brushing my wing along the soft down beneath her left wing, "It was a difficult night," I admitted, "Two ponies had been arrested for fighting. Property damage. Some ponies were injured."

    Luna sighed softly, "I'm sorry to hear that. Want to discuss it?"

    "Not really," I admitted and let go, dropping down to put my hooves onto the not-floor, leaning softly against her, "Already have with Sparks. She's miffed with me about it, she thought I was too tough on them."

    "Were you?"

    "...No," I said softly but firmly, "I don't think I was."

    Luna nodded and noses at one of my ears as she dropped back down on all four again, but keeping one wing around me, "Then you were not. I have not known you to be hasty in your judgment, My Page."

    "I don't know," I said quietly, resting my head against her shoulder, "I was so furious at them."

    "What was your sentence?" Luna asked with a small frown.

    I told her.

    Luna shook her head, "If anything, you were lenient, you silly stallion," she said and brushed her lips against mine, "Should I talk to our Twilight?"

    "No," I said and looked up at her, "It's something between us."

    Nodding, Luna touched her nose against mine, "I did speak with Twilight last day," she said and brushed her wing along my back, "She said…" she trailed off before she sighed, "...She said you needed a vacation."

    I let out a slightly annoyed sigh, "Perhaps I do, we call do," and slipped out from beneath her wing, "But that's not going to happen. I have already been away too much this year."

    Luna folded her wing again, moving to stand next to me, looking down at me before she sighed softly, "Page, you are allowed to relax."

    "I do relax," I said, meeting her eyes, "I read, I started to write again. We went to Canterlot for Hearths Warming."

    Luna flicked one ear, looking down into my eyes before she nodded, "As you say."

    We walked quietly through the dream realm, side to side before I glanced at her, "How are things in Canterlot?" I asked.

    Smiling faintly, Luna shook her head, "You would not enjoy it. We have a minotaur delegation visiting us. They are belligerent at the best of times and their new ambassador doubly so it seems."

    Hmh.

    I had met some minotaurs I liked, but in general they seemed to be on the confrontational side of things. More so than griffons actually. I quite liked griffons in general.

    "What are they on about this time?" I asked, glancing up at her, "That useless patch of grass between the Kingdoms?"

    "Not this time," she said and fluffed her wings in slight annoyance, "Trade once more. They are displeased that we have shifted a majority of our negotiated trade towards the griffons."

    I snorted, "Well, that's their own damn fault. If they weren't so damn stubborn about it, we wouldn't get better deals on ore across a damn ocean than across a border."

    Seriously.

    Maybe that was one reason I didn't tend to like minotaurs. They were so stubborn. And also loud, especially since I got these bat ears.

    I don't like generalizing like that. It felt dangerously close to what ponies had done to my bats before. But fairly sure loud was very much cultural at the very least.

    Stubborn might just be their negotiation style, I never actually been to their lands. And quite frankly I didn't want to go there.

    I had enough problems where I was.

    "How's Sunshine handling it?" I asked as I stopped to look up at Luna, "She never mentioned anything during our lessons."

    "We are both attending to the negotiations," Luna said, "They are held in the evenings. My sister is… stressed."

    "Speaking of breaks," I said and smiled up at her, "If you think I need a vacation, Sunshine needs one ten times as much. I've done this for a couple of years, even with the couple of weeks off she took a few years ago, her backlog is huge."

    Luna shifted one wing, slipping it across my back as she nodded, "And not me?"

    "You too, My Sky," I said, looking up into her eyes, leaning against her side with a small smile, "And I have some ideas about that."

    Luna smiled slightly, nose touching mine once more, "But you are very right. My sister needs to learn how to relax as well, she has always been too uptight," she said before she frowned at me, "...Perhaps you should not be learning that lesson from her."

    I smiled up at her, flicking one ear and giving her a small kiss, "Perhaps you could teach me some recreational activities? Something… stress relieving?"

    "Perhaps I can," Luna murmured, her wing pulling me tighter.
     
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    • The sound of my hooves sounded a bit hollow against the half finished walls as I looked around. Things were proceeding nicely.

    "And here are your private baths going to be," Solid Slab said as he guided me through a missing side door into a half finished chamber.

    The floor was mostly made of wood, but the bath, or maybe I should call it a pool itself, was in a half finished state and seemed made from polished dark stone. Local stone.

    We're not about to import stone. Even if some ponies, like the one giving me the tour, had wanted to import Canterlotian marble for my pool.

    I nixed that so hard.

    We don't need to go get stone, we have stone at home.

    In fact, I didn't see a need for private baths either in what's meant to be a public bathhouse, but they put it into the plans anyway, without request. Or asking about it.

    They were so happy when showing us the plans.

    …And Celestia had taught me one of the more difficult lessons for me. Let ponies do things for you, even if it makes you uncomfortable. It makes them happy.

    So I let them build the sodding bath.

    "It looks very nice," I said, shifting my wings, running my hoof on the polished wood. No windows in here, as a rule anything we built on the ground had very thick walls and no windows.

    The extra big bitey things may be held back by the shield and the walls held back the smaller bitey things. But nopony wanted to take the chance in case one of them figured out how to climb the walls while dodging the guards.

    "We should be finished with construction in three to four months," Solid said, brushing his brown mane back with a hoof almost twice the size of mine.

    Solid Slab was huge. Seriously, the only other pony I've seen larger than him was Sunshine, he was as tall as Luna and likely outmassed her by three times and every bit of it seemed to be muscle.

    "You and your crew do very good work," I said as I walked to the edge of the pool, feeling the polished gray stone before I stood up and turned to smile at him, "What's more, I understand that you're within budget, which is impressive."

    He shrugged and grinned, "We're doing our best, your highness," before he shrugged, "And I believe we will be able to meet the finish time, assuming we can keep sourcing materials."

    I nodded.

    We had stone. We had wood. Basically everything else had to be imported. Everything from fittings to nails. Technically nails could be manufactured locally, but we still needed to import the metal. Which means via train.

    "If you'd follow me, sir?" Slab said and motioned towards the door.

    I followed towards the main bath area with Shade Leaf and Leaf Shade silently following along behind me, their hoof steps barely audible against the wooden floor.

    Slab pushed a door open and stepped to the side, allowing me past and out into an area open to the sky. There was a large pool surrounded by smaller separate pools, the smaller ones covered by canopies.

    While the area was open to the skies, it was surrounded by thick and heavy walls, the entire area lit by torches and sconces of burning wood.

    Slowly approaching the main pool, I looked around before stopping at the edge before I turned back to Slab, "Main pool heated?"

    He shook his head, "No. Just clean moving water. Magic filtering down below. The smaller ones are heated."

    I nodded and glanced up towards the cloudy and pitch black skies above.

    Rain soon. We were in one of those rare breaks in the rainstorm. Any moment now it could start up again.

    They lit the fires just for the inspection.

    "This will be very nice," I said with a small smile as I looked around, flicking one ear, "Very very nice."

    Now if we could just avoid following the Romans with their wall decorations. No need to copy things quite that far.

    The bath was also pretty big. Made scaled for a population three times that of Nocturnis. If we were building it in the first place, might as well futureproof it a bit.

    Even if it highly strained the budget.

    Turning back, I gave him a nod, "Thank you for the tour, Solid. But you and your crew has better things to do than to foalsit me so I'll get out of your way."

    "It's no trouble, your highness," he said with a smile, giving a small bow, "In fact, I had thought to invite you to tour the facilities and see if you had any thoughts of changes to the decorations. This would be the time to start implementing them."

    I shook my head, "No, I have seen the plans. Everything is looking good. Keep up the good work."

    He nodded, ears happily raised, "We'll do our best, your highness."

    "I don't doubt it," I said and glanced at my shadows, "Let's go."'

    With that, we took to the dark skies, the twins following me on silent wings. Which was one of the reasons Moon Glow has assigned them to be my personal guards/shadows whenever away from the palace.

    They were among the best fliers in the guard. At least among the thestrals which were generally slower than pegasi.

    Shade and Leaf were almost as fast as a pegasus while also having no problems following me through the tree trunks and branches in the middle of the pitch dark night.

    In fact, they were both faster fliers than I was which left very little chance to slip away.

    Actually, it was completely pitch black with the clouds this thick in a night with a new moon. There were some lights from the village below, but not enough for even us to see by.

    So we flew by sonar. Chirps and echos, the world was pitch black and returns. It actually took quite a bit of practice to do and I had to slow down a lot more than usual. Sonar needed to be practiced to be used, at least at flight speed.

    Something both Shade and Leaf had more than me as well, letting them easily keep pace.

    I closed my eyes.

    They had more practice than me. Let's see how much more.

    Chirping away, I changed course, banking in among the trees as I sped up, followed by chirps and my two guards.
     
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    • The snowstorm howled outside the narrow glass-less window at the wall, gusts of icy wind sneaking in through the opening from time to time, sending shudders of cold running up my spine.

    This was the dream realm so I could easily have ignored it or changed it. But that would have removed the necessity of the fireplace on one side of me and the sungoddess on my other. It was much better not to break the illusion.

    Celestia looked different from in reality. She was smaller, actually a bit smaller than Luna in reality, barely a head taller than me, her mane and tail a pink rather than rainbow. Instead of her usual regalia, she wore a gold circlet as a crown.

    Which was currently sitting to the side on a table along with my own silver one.

    I glanced up at her before refocusing on the book laying before us, scooting a bit closer to her side to keep warm.

    Celestia didn't react other than to settle her warm wing across my back to ward the cold away.

    I frowned at the book, turning back a page before I checked the other page again. Then I picked up a pen in my magic, dipped it in the ink before slowly drawing a design on the parchment by my side.

    I double checked before I nodded, "Done."

    "That took longer than I thought," Celestia said with a small smile as her horn lit and she took the offered parchment.

    "I'm not very bright," I said with a smile, "And considering the distractions, I think I did alright."

    "Distractions?" Sunshine asked, her sun warm wing brushing along my back.

    "Well, you know the cold and such," I said, looking up at her, "So how did I do? Okay or do I need to practice some more with you?"

    Celestia passed the parchment back to me, "These calculations are correct. But I don't think you are at quite Twilights level yet."

    "Oh well," I said, "I suppose we just have to continue my lessons then."

    "I suppose we do," Celestia agreed as she looked at me, "You are coming for Hearths Warming this year?"

    I nodded, "We are. Sparks wants to spend it with her parents this year and… well, we are everypony getting pulled along into it. Not that I mind. But there is quite a while until then."

    Almost half a year, but we had to plan these sorts of things well in advance. We couldn't just leave whenever we wanted to.

    "And Shining Armor and Cadance?" Celestia asked.

    "They're coming too," I said and then looked up at her, "You're invited as well, Sunshine."

    Celestia hesitated, "I'm not sure I should, it's a family event."

    I looked at her, "Sunshine, you're being dumb. You are part of our family."

    She flicked one ear, shifting slightly, "...I know," she admitted quietly, "But I'm not part of their family. Me being there would be a distraction."

    "And me and Luna wouldn't be?" I asked, eyeing her as I poked her side with my wing, "Sunshine, if you want ponies to see you as anything but a perfect pretty pony princess, you need to actually act like a normal pony sometimes."

    Celestia sighed softly, "Page, you know they need me to be a 'perfect pretty pony princess' as you call it. Same as they need you to be their prince."

    "Buck that," I said, "You also deserve to live as much as any of them. Duty and responsibility is all well and good, but you need to be able to take time off too, especially among family."

    She looked at me, raising one eyebrow.

    I groaned, "Yes, I'm aware I'm the one saying it. But that doesn't make it any less true. You need to be able to relax as much as anypony else."

    "I do try to," she admitted, "But it's different when there are other ponies involved. Ponies act differently around us."

    "...Yeah, they do," I agreed with a small sigh before I shook my head, "But this is a family thing. If there are any ponies that should be used to hanging out with alicorns, it would be Night Light and Twilight Velvet."

    Celestia hesitated before she nodded, "I suppose you are right."

    "So?" I asked with a smile, brushing her side with my wing, "Want me to check with Sparks?"

    "...I would like that."

    I nodded, "Good."

    "Though," Celestia continued and smiled at me, "I don't want you to think I think our lessons are work. I enjoy teaching and spending time with you, Page. I am ever so thankful for these moments."

    "Want to pick up an actual student again?" I asked and shifted closer to her warm side as a gust of icy wind brushed past my ears.

    Celestia nodded, "I have considered it," she said quietly, her nose touching the mane between my ears for a second, "Have even looked at the foals at my school. There are some definite possibilities. There is one filly, First Frost. Her ability to handle cold magic is great even for an adult pony. I wish I could teach her, but I am completely incapable of cold magic."

    "That would make it difficult to teach her," I admitted.

    Celestia nodded in agreement, "It would not be fair to her. I passed her details on to a master of elemental magic however. But there is another filly. Star Bright. She just started this year, but she has promise I think."

    "Bookworm?"

    Ceelestia laughed, "She blew up the magic lab!"

    "Wow, rea-" I started to answer before I frowned, "Wait, Sparks has talked about that place. It's specially warded to resist magic. How in the world did a filly blow it up?"

    Celestia grinned, "Because she was playing around with alchemy, not straight magic," she said and shook her head in wonder, "Melted a hole straight through the wall."

    "Wow."

    That's impressive. Terrifying but impressive.
     
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