The two guards that were shadowing me stopped when we reached the base of the tower, taking position along with the nightguard there.
Moon Glow had thought ahead, the guards were Iron Shine, very large earth pony, and a pegasus called Tempest Current.
Neither looked all that bothered by the whirling snow and the cold.
Knowing Iron Shine, she likely enjoyed it.
I gave them a nod of thanks and then started up the stairs into the tower before pushing the door open and entering into the main room.
A powerful wave of nostalgia washed over me. The sighes, the smells…
Slowly entering, I slipped my cloak off and looked around. Crossing over, I took my hoof on the couch as I looked around.
Home.
Nocturnis had started to feel like it, but this…
I slowly sank down, sitting on the floor. I left my Sky alone here.
I never… I never wanted to leave. I never wanted to rule, I never wanted power. I only wanted to help.
All I wanted was peace, quiet and to spend my time making Luna, Sunset, Twilight an-
Shaking my head, I crossed over to one of the bookshelves and poured myself a small glass from an amber bottle, looking towards the window and the whirling snow outside.
But that’s never going to happen, is it?
Ponies demanded our attention, our opinions, our decisions.
I smiled wryly and sipped the drink. But I had nopony else to blame but myself, did I? I chose to fight Tirek, even as according to Midnight he had still been defeated in her world without me. I chose to make a promise to Tempest, I chose to make that deal with Discord.
I chose to help the thestrals.
I chose to found Nocturnis. I might not have chosen the specific location, that was all Midnight and Sparks, but I had chosen the general area in the southern jungles. Because we didn’t like cold and because it was the thestrals’ original lands.
I chose.
And the more I chose, the less choice it seems like I have.
There were times I wouldn’t wish being an alicorn on my worst enemy.
Finishing my drink, I sighed and lit my horn, lighting the already loaded fireplace with a small flicker of flame. I’m not the best at fire magic, but even I could handle something like that.
Putting the glass down, I turned towards the bedroom.
I have nopony but myself to blame. I couldn’t even blame Discord, he could have demanded something much worse. He had just been trying to help his Fluttershy.
It’s impressive actually. If I had been in his position, with his powers…
...I’m not sure I would have been as restrained about it.
Gently pushing the bedroom door open with my magic, I saw the bubble of silence around the bed and my Luna.
Smiling, I carefully closed the door and moved in through the bubble and carefully climbed onto the bed, trying not to rock it as I scooted up close, laying down next to her, setting my head down.
Everything smelled like my Luna.
Her eyes slowly opened and she smiled, “Page… “
“Hey,” I said and scooted a bit closer, her warm wing settling across me, “Go back to sleep,” I said quietly, “It’s early still.”
Luna smiled and pulled me closer, resting her forehead against mine, our horns crossing at the base, “We only have today and tonight,” she said, “I can handle being tired tomorrow.”
“Missed you.”
“Missed you too,” Luna answered just as quietly and bumped her nose gently against mine, “How was the train ride?”
“Long and boring.”
Luna smiled and nodded, “You can take a royal carriage on the way back. At least that will be more comfortable. And maybe give you, Twilight, and Sunset a bit more privacy.”
“Come with us.”
Luna smiled and ran her wing along my back and side, “To the Griffons or back to Nocturnis?”
“Yes.”
Luna smiled sadly and sighed, “Stay. Don’t go back to Nocturnis.”
I swallowed and looked into her eyes for a long moment.
“I get your point,” I finally sighed softly.
Luna nodded slightly and held me a bit closer, “I already abandoned my ponies and my sister once. I can’t do it again.”
“Well,” I said and nosed in beneath her chin, “We’re going to have to figure something out because being away from My Sky for this much is simply unacceptable.”
“Agreed,” Luna said quietly and gave my ear a small lick before settling down, her nose buried in my mane.
We stayed like that for a long time, Luna slipping off to sleep after a while. I just stayed there. We really had to figure something out.
The door opened after a couple of hours and Sunset peeked in. I opened one eye fully at the movement and smiled, lifting one hoot to motion for her.
Sunset smiled and pushed the door open slightly more, slipping inside and saying something to somepony in the other room, completely silent with the bubble blocking the sound from reaching us.
Twilight joined her, closing the door behind them before they crossed over to the bed. Sunset took the lead and climbed onto the bed, settling down with her side against mine. Twilight moved to lay down on her other side, her wing settling across Sunset, feathers brushing softly against my wing.
Nopony said anything.
For the moment, everything was well in the world.
Outside, snow whirled in the sunlight.
Ah, the Calm before the Storm... King.
page is too modern of a man/pony. Even in the late 1800s when we had trains and relatively fast steamships it wasn't really that uncommon for folk to be separated for seasons, even years due to obligations like work or governance, especially the ruling class. going back into the 1700s its even more common, George Washington maybe spent 5 years in total living with his wife, the rest of it he was out as a general, commander, surveyor and statesman, and I can't even fathom how Ben Franklin spent years in france, britain, and around the US away from his home
it sucks but the world he lives in is still quite large
I chose to say nice
You can keep stopping yourself from thinking it, but we all know what the next name was
Yeah, you're both too responsible for that
Well there is this mirror portal that you can some ponies study, might speed up the creation process of some form of gateway system for fast travel across the land
MEANWHILE...CELESTIA IS DOING PAPERWORK...
*wormhole appears and a scroll is thrown at Sunbutt's head*
Celestia: OW! What is this? *opens scroll* "Dear Princess Celestia...by the command of the Page Shipping Tribunal, you must go to Princess Luna's room and complete the snuggle moment! Your attendance is mandatory. The Tribunal has spoken!" ....really?
*Celestia rolls eyes and tossing the scroll aside*
Celestia: I'm not doing it Cadance...I'm not part of Page's herd and I'm too busy. I have a country to run right now.
*Discord pops his head out of wormhole*
Discord: Stop. delaying. your. DESTINY! Now get your glorious thicc thighs up those stairs and just be happy already, Sunbutt!
Celestia: ...NO!!! *Celestia destroys wormhole with a fireball to Discord's face*
10958463
Celestia -
10958482
Page knows that With great power come great responsibilities, but knows it still sucks!
So Hiver, How long will you keep the running gag going that Page and Celestia will keep hoofing around and not admit their true feelings?
10958515
I have no idea what you mean.
10958528
Sure you don't. And Cadence is grumpy at them for no reason whatsoever.
Cuddlepile on Luna
Maybe Luna can make a yearly change?
1 year Canterlot, 1 year Nocturnis.
Otherwise... No idea...
10958450
While that sounds like a good idea, I would be afraid it would just send me to close alternate realities instead of the home one.
I guess Celestia is feeling lonely
Good grief, Page needs to channel some Celeborn. He regularly spent years away from his wife for various reasons... Then again, Page was born a mortal Man and doesn't have the default mental attitude to handle the realities of immortality. That's something he's going to have to learn.
Grammar jackboot of the day:
Typo: 'lifting one hoof to motion'
10958528
I'll be honest Hiver, at some point the whole "will they or won't they" gets old.
Seeing characters endlessly act like idiots eventually gets frustrating. There's only so many times you can read Page having the self awareness of a piece of lettuce and generally being an absolutely moronic dumbass before enough is enough.
It's not even Page making a mistake. It's Page making the mistake, what, 3 times now? Page completely ignoring anyone who tries to tell him (i.e. cutting Cadance off). Page being completely unaware of his own thoughts.
The Idiot Ball is not a good trope. It's gone from a legitimate character flaw of Page's, to someone who'd have to be a flat out idiotic social retard.
10958712
If you think Page and Celestia has no idea, you have not been paying attention.
10958719
I've been paying plenty of attention my friend. You're the one who has characters act in a certain way. Show don't tell is a thing, and you've consistently shown them both acting stupid for literally years now on the subject.
And it wouldn't be the first time either where stuff happens because the plot says so. For instance Celestia winning the competition with Page is basically "Celestia is super smart because the plot says she is, so she wins". There was a good comment on this at the time by someone.
You might think you've had characters come across in a certain way, but the reality is characters are coming across as idiots for contrived reasons, and endlessly dancing around an issue.
10958576
Or perhaps like how Persephone and Hades did it. Half a year in one place, other half in the other
10958712
This proves that he's very much aware... Tartarus, they have been flirt-playing to such an extent there is no way he's unaware at this point.
He just needs to get it in his head that the only people/ponies, whose opinion matters, are all for it.
10958785
Page doesn't even complete his own thought process here. But the point still stands regardless.
Two characters have acted like idiots for years. Over and over and over.
Page acts like a clueless idiot over and over:
He doesn't realise Luna's interest in him
He doesn't realise Sunset's interest
He doesn't realise Twilights interest
It's tedious. Regardless of any claims about how they both secretly know but choose to be idiots or not. It doesn't really matter. At some point the story either needs to move on or shut up. Should there be another 20 stories written over the next 10 years, where Celestia and Page still don't sort things out?
10958811
Eh, Page's situation is similar to mine, so I do not mind the 'trope' so to say. Some people simply take time to get into a relationship and there are numerous reasons to do so.
Not everyone is blessed with either confidence or the sense to just enter a relationship, no matter how many times it takes.
And just to prove a point, it took my ex telling me that she likes me after nearly 6 months of spending quite a bit of time together, and I didn't even consider the fact that she likes me; it took another month for me to accept and admit that I like her, and after that it took me another two months before we did anything more than kissing...
10958733
Problem is that Hades and Persephone didn't need to deal with stacks of paperwork every day.
10958724
While I disagree with regards to Page's social blindness, I agree on the point of the tactical blunder. Reading it I couldn't help but wonder why Page didn't simply sit there until day six (because day seven would be too obvious) and just walk in when even Celestia was so sleep-deprived that she was rendered completely incapable. If she had managed through some heroic resolve to hold out by that point and beat his entire remaining (not insignificant) force when they dogpiled her, fair enough, but jumping the gun that was a massive OOC dumb on Page's part.
And Then Celly teleported in, And then the bed collapsed.
10959535
That cake to too phat.
10959062
Persephone didn't, but hades did, and had a lot of experience in the field of what basically is paperwork.
This is just a what if Persephone got a portion of that paperwork from her mum, while they were still trying to keep to the half-year thing.
10959823
Fair point
No one sane lives that long
10958724
Iirc, all of this was addressed in a past story in the series. >.>
Awwwww, adorable herd snuggle time
10958724
Well if you have been paying attention then you’d have figured out it isn’t page being unintentionally oblivious but doing it intentionally instead, choosing not to think about it, without thinking about that choice much, so he dosent start questions his choice either. A lot of emotionally driven suppression of his true feelings and suppression of any reflection on his previous suppression, but deep down he knows and chooses to ignore it out of fear. This is not an uncommon thing by any means that people do in all kinds of situations and circumstances, and is a lot easier to do than you might like or choose to think
Author has done so much to indirectly state this it’s beyond obvious if you are paying attention and not filtering or confusing what the writing makes you feel vs what it actually is doing
I've made it a point to not point out typos unless they're funny, and that one is a hoot!!
🦉 Hoot hoot!!!!
🤣🙄