//------------------------------// // Chapter 102 // Story: Repercussions // by Hiver //------------------------------// I looked at the ponies in the cell, my jaw dropping, “I… I didn’t expect all of you to show…” There were five thestrals I knew of in Canterlot not including Fluttershy. They were now all inside the cell before me. Cloud Flash shook his head, the chain from his collar jingling slightly, “Your highness…” he said before he paused and glanced to his sister, the pegasus that hoof delivered her letter to me, and then to his mother, “We talked things through,” he said, “You’re the only pony that are doing anything to help us. If this was the only thing we could do to assist... we couldn’t turn it down.” I looked at Moon Beam and her father. She nodded in agreement, “It’s true, my Prince. You’re doing so much, trying so hard to make things right and… if this was the only thing we could do to help, then this is what we had to do.” These ponies… ...They looked up to me now. They… they had volunteered to be turned into blood drinking vamponies because they believed I could make things better. Not one or two. Every single thestral I told of it had volunteered. I looked across them, “You’ll be free to leave in a day or so when we’re sure everypony has themselves under control. You’ll still have guards to make sure everything is safe, but you can leave this place at least.” Cloud Flash nodded, “Of course, your highness.” “Everything is set up for when you’re let out of here too,” I told them, “I personally inspected the living quarters before coming here, if you rather stay there,” I said before I sighed softly and scraped my hoof against the stone floor, spreading my wings, “We’ll break the blood magic soon, the two smartest ponies in Equestria is on the job. But until then, I want you to be safe and comfortable.” Before my… before my deal with Discord, I never knew. No, that’s not true. I knew of Fluttershy, I just never put one and one together. I didn’t see it. I never even looked. They look up to me, but… they shouldn’t. Before it affected me, I didn’t even give it a second thought. Just went on with my life. “We’re fine, your highness,” Cloud Flash said with a small smile, “We have books until then and we have each other.” I gave them a nod, “I will see what the Princesses Sparkle have to say so far,” I said and turned to leave. I didn’t deserve the way they looked at me, but… they deserved for me to try to live up to it. They needed me to be the one they wanted me to be. They deserved for me to be. So that’s just what I had to do. Be the pony they needed me to be. I moved out into the bright sunshine and blinked against the bright light reflected from the sparkling snow. “You okay, sir?” Iron Shine asked as she stepped away from the door. I nodded, “I’m fine, it’s just bright,” I said and closed my eyes, rubbing them with a hoof as I took a deep breath of the crystal cold air, “We should get to the lab.” Shaking my head, I opened my eyes again and blinked at the bright light before pushing on and starting towards Sparks and Midnights place. They were still working from their living room after all. Wrapping myself in another warming spell, I wished the walk would have been shorter. Because the more time I had to walk, the more time I had to think. Right now, thinking was the last thing I wanted to do. Knocking on the door, waited for Sunset to open the door. She blinked at me when she saw me, “Page! You don’t need to knock, come in!” she said. ”Yeah, sorry,” I said and sighed as I stepped in past her, giving her a quick nuzzle on the way inside. Iron Shine nodded her head in a small bow to Sunset and took position outside the door. Sunset closed the door and frowned at me, “Are you okay?” “Honestly,” I said quietly, “Not really.” Sunset nodded, “You saw it then.” I blinked at her, “Saw what?” She hesitated and shifted slightly, “Oh. Page, you know how things-” “Sunset, saw what?” I asked, interrupting her. Sunset tensed slightly before she sighed and her horn lit up, floating a newspaper over to me and I grabbed it, opening it to the frontpage of my own image. ‘Blank Page, husband of Princess Luna has been stripped of his noble title and position of herald of the crown after a number of accusations from prominent members of the rest of Equestrian Nobility and then was elevated to full Prince in a private ceremony with only the Princesses. While he denied the accusations and stepped down voluntarily from those titles, this reporter can only wonder exactly why that is if he really is innocent? With his sudden transformation of that of a vampony, we can only speculate of exactly what dark magi he used to conv-’ I folded the paper again, putting it to the side, “Hence why I no longer read the papers,” I said and sighed. I should have considered that. Why didn’t I? The optics weren't good, were they? Why didn’t I catch it? We rushed it. Buck me. I’ll have to check what Celestia thinks we can do about the media later. It’s just one bucking thing after another, isn’t there? But they needed me to handle this. I just had to buckle down and get to it. “We’ll deal with this later,” I said and shook my head, giving Sunset a small hug with my wing, “Don’t worry,” I said and then moved on inside the living room, finding Sparks and Midnight working on a equation on one of the three blackboards, the other two already filled with symbols, “How are we doing?” Sparks blinked and then looked back towards me, “Page!” she said and grinned, “We’re making progress! The new data is really helping!” “Good,” I said, “I’ll leave you to it, then let me know if there is anything I can do to help.” I needed to talk to Celestia.