Chapter 35
The moon shone high above and I gazed up at it as we waited. Torches and light crystals had been set up all around the train station.
The moon was full and shone brightly, stars sparkling above and to my eyes it seemed like the entire station was lit like mid noon. But I had checked through a set of day goggles and apparently it was just barely lit to day ponies.
That's why lighting for this sort of thing only involves day ponies, no bats.
We just can't tell how bright something really is to somepony that's night blind. I mean, I can guess, but to be sure, it was just better to let somepony that didn't see right do it.
A bright light lit up the edge of my vision, drawing my attention. Moon Glow yelled out an order and all the guards went to full attention as the train passed through the shield.
It puffed steam, metal wheels screamed against metal tracks as it engaged its breaks and started to slow.
Finally it stopped with a huff of steam, smoke and water vapor drifting around us.
Good machine. Got everypony safely here.
The door opened and Midnight walked down the steps with a smile, "Page."
"Midnight," I said with a smile of my own, giving her a nod, "Welcome home."
She moved out of the way and a pair of... I assume Kirin followed her out. One was larger and taller than Luna, almost Celestia's size, the other seemed more similar to the size of a pony.
She had a pale beige coat with a green lion like mane that ran all the way down the back of her long neck and around the front of her chest. Her tail was long and narrow, ending in a puff of green and her horn was red, long and curved, about halfway up it split into a Y shape. She was not wearing a crown, but a gold diadem of sorts.
Her companion looked similar, but orange instead of green and pony sized. As they stepped down the steps, I saw that their hooves were split, like a deer instead of a pony.
The tops of their backs were covered in scales instead of a normal coat.
"Prince Page," Midnight said, "May I introduce Rain Shine, leader of the Kirin. And Autumn Blaze, a friend. Rain Shine, Blaze, Prince Page of Equestria, Ruler of Nocturnis."
I nodded to them, "Welcome to Nocturnis," I said with a smile before Midnight got the idea to continue listing stupid titles.
"We thank you, Prince Page," Rain Shine said with a nod of her own, "I have heard much of this place from Princess Midnight, I look forward to seeing it in person."
She had a nice voice.
I smiled at her, "I hope we can live up to it," I said and motioned towards the small docks, "This way."
"Is it true that there are few thestrals?" Rain Shine asked as she walked next to me, looking around.
I nodded with a small sigh, "Five thousand or so," I agreed, "It's part of why we built Nocturnis. To give bats a home, somewhere we belong. It's the first step to reversing that trend."
"...There are even fewer of us," Rain Shine said softly, "And we were all in one place."
"May I ask what went wrong?"
Her ears drooped slightly, "There never were a lot of us, I know as much. While we live long lives, we rarely have children. In time, it has taken its toll."
"I hope there is something we can do to help."
Midnight and Blaze were whispering about something and for some reason Midnight was glaring at her. I glanced back at them, "Midnight? Anything wrong?"
She blushed for some reason and shook her head, "Nothing wrong."
Rain Shine for some reason glared at Blaze for a second before turning back again and looking at the barge waiting for us. We have two of them now, one for cargo and the other like this one, set up to move people. It even had a canopy against rain and seats!
"This will bring us to the town?" she asked as she walked onboard with me.
"It's forty minutes or so away," I agreed, "When we built it, we considered building right by the railway, but the trees in this area are too small. At the time, the safest course was to build in the trees to avoid the large predators. This was before we had the shield."
"Is it that dangerous here?" Autumn Blaze asked as she jumped onto the barge.
I smiled at her, "Here? No," I said before motioning towards the shimmering edge of the shield, "Out there? Absolutely. We're safe on the river and inside the domes, but I would not recommend walking around on the ground out in the jungle outside the domes. Big things with big teeth can be found there."
Rain Shine looked out towards the jungle at the other side of the river before she looked towards Midnight, "This is where you wish for us to move?"
"Yes," she said, meeting her eyes, "I think it's better than the valley where you live. And you'll do better here than somewhere like Canterlot."
Rain Shine looked dubious but turned back to me, "Why settle here if it's so dangerous?"
I flicked one ear as the barge started to move and I walked over to the railing, "Several reasons," I said and sighed softly, "Historically bats have been discriminated against. Feared. Driven out. I would like to say modern Equestria is better, and it is... but better does not mean perfect. I wanted to build somewhere bats could feel safe to show who they are, live as they like. Safe from glares, stares and whispers. Why here exactly? It's where bats are from. The climate suits us perfectly, we don't do well with cold."
She frowned slightly in thought, slowly nodding.
We stood in silence for a long while before she spoke up again, "You think my Kirin may be treated like your bats."
I shook my head, "No. There is way too little history, my bats used to be cursed, bound by spells and blood magic.- It's a long story, but once in the far past, bats earned the fear they got by turning to blood magic in a war against the unicorns and became vamponies. That fear and history never went away, even after the bloodthirst and power was bound by a curse. There is no such history that I know of with the Kirin. They may fear you as different, but it would not take long for you to gain some acceptance at least locally."
Rain Shine frowned, looking down at the dark waters of the river, "According to the legends, my people came from the foals of unicorns and dragons. I do not know if it is true or not."
"Well, it fits the scales," I admitted, "And stranger things have happened."
"We did visit Canterlot on the way, I met Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Rain Shine continued, "and toured the city."
"What did you think?"
"...The buildings were inspiring. Ponies stare a lot," she said with a small frown, "We have heard of the Princess of the Sun and Princess of the Moon of course. Meeting them was... special."
"They are very special ponies."
"They're your... marefriend is the term?"
I smiled and touched the feathers at the small braid in my mane, "Wife and marefriend. I'm currently only married to Luna."
"You are also involved with Midnight's sister and a unicorn named Sunset Shimmer?" she asked as she studied me.
I smiled and nodded, "I am. How do things work among your people?"
"Differently," she admitted and flicked one ear, "We're not like ponies. We have a roughly equal number of stallions and mares. It is very rare for a romantic relationship to involve more than two Kirin."
"Huh," I said, slowly nodding, "That certainly is different. Not unheard of among ponies either mind you."
"Only about half of households are made up of larger families," Midnight chimed in, "The rest are majority mare and mare however."
As we rounded a bend in the river, the lights of Nocturnis came into view and Rain Shine gasped softly.
I smiled as I looked towards the Town, it looked like a thousand fireflies lighting up the canopy of the trees ahead, "Welcome to Nocturnis."
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Welcome to Nocturnis, the breeding village of the Thestral. Would you like to join?
Monday is intimate dancing, Thursday we rest to re-hydrate. Friday we celebrate the coming Monday, Saturday and Sunday we enjoy Mango-Smoothys ♡
May I take your reservation?
Nice
Noooo
Wait... that is still better than pony birthrates
Also roughly equal means still up to 400 stallions and when they start to herd...
Nice~♡
camo.fimfiction.net/gIkf-pD9VblImrfn5B4cebsIpPnaL3V4xj0_JondQAw?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.kym-cdn.com%2Fphotos%2Fimages%2Foriginal%2F000%2F620%2F437%2Fbbc.png
Typo alert:
Brakes. (Yes, I Googled it first. Linky.)
I wonder how the kirin broke their "vows of silence" without AJ and Fluttershy being sent by the Map. I mean, I assume that they did, or Midnight would've mentioned it.
How long do you plan to continue the story or until the ideas run out, because the world that you have created is still sooo far from completion, in my opinion, there is still a lot to write about and I would be glad to see a sequel)
I bet Autum asked Midnight for more information about Page to make courting him easier.
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Maybe. Or maybe Autumn just asked about the stallion population of Nocturnis in general.
Hah
Page: Let's continue the tour--
where is that music coming from?
Autumn Blaze: *vibrating in chaotic energy*
Midnight:
No...BLAZE NO! You promised! Do not pull a Pinkie Pie and start si--
Autumn Blaze: *takes a deep breath*
Midnight:
Blank Page:
Sooo... what did your fellow Kirin ask?
Rain Shine:
*facehooves*
"How many stallions a herd usually has and how many mares to a stallion. Apparently she hopes for a Kirin Sandwich..."
Blank Page:
"Huh... I own Starlight Glimmer 5 bits..."
Rain Shine:
"What...?"
Blank Page:
"Nevermind! Also usually 3 mares per stallion-"
*Autumn cheering interrupted Blank Page*
Blank Page continues:
"Unless the mare can talk the stallion into more."
*Autumn is vibrating in place with a grin, cheek to cheek*
Rain Shine:
"O no..."
Thorax clinging to the ceiling:
"O YESSSsssssssss!" ♡
Blank Page:
"Perhaps the Kirin libido isn't very high, but even with only 3-5 mares per stallion, the birth of one or two foals per mate should help out the population problems..."
Midnight:
"Huh... 1,2,3,4,5..."
*Blank Page eyes grow to dinner plates*
Rain Shine:
"What just happened?"
Thorax still on the ceiling:
"From the ice cold dread and reluctant acceptance I feel flooding from him... he just realized how many foals he will sire even if it is only 1 per mare..."
Midnight:
"Probably 2 per mare, if not 3!"
*Blank Page color faded from his face*
Thorax:
"Just waiting for the Changelings to get a chance at him~♡"
*Blank Page fainted*
[Somewhere in the Crystal Empire]
Cadance:
"It - is - on... Shiny and Sunny-Honey! Time for Flurry to get some siblings!"
*Shining Armor & Sunburst dread their coming doom... death by snu-snu or death by foals running all over their exhausted bodies*
Discord:
"Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Haaa!
Poor fools!
I don't envy them-"
Fluttershy:
"Hey Dissy, Eris wants a sibling or two~♡"
Discord:
"O... shi-"
*Discord got bowl over by a needy Fluttershy*
The Tree of Harmony:
"Damn... Am I lucky to be a crystal plant!
No crazy mares are after me!"
*A accidentally snapped talon of Discord brings the Alicorn statue to life, who in turn wants to snu snu a certain tree to bring harmony~♡*
And why does Owl City's song Fireflies would have worked perfectly to play as the ferry works to dock at the village.
https://youtu.be/vu70X3e_83I?si=j-Y2U7GGfRbH0LB_
That may cause a bit of a culture class.
The Stallions may appreciate the extra attention, but the Kirin females may not appreciate the competition.
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She did mention it obliquely, and the reasonable assumption is that Midnight (unknowingly) did what her friends would have.
Just reread the chapter on my laptop, and found an errant hyphen, at the end of this sentence:
And, of course, the last line about fireflies reminded me of this:
i9.photobucket.com/albums/a88/WendyPops/gifs/firefly/firefly.gif
Shiny!
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Meanwhile, somewhere in deep space....
....something is searching for it's "special sometree"....
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Shut up, Wesley!!
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quickmeme.com/img/38/38326861746642f0ea9911a4aaf0fce154c9a4229e4e3e9318b9b776c167c12a.jpg
He can always ask if her people feel mad then go over towards the river that way any fires can be put out and anything that wants to chomp on ponies will get scared of the fire if they aren't stupid.
Somewhere a universe away an Inquisitor just smiled.
I like Rain she seems to have a good head on her shoulders
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Just reread chapter 32, and found the line: