//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20 
// Story: Looking Glass 
// by Hiver 
//------------------------------//

"Prince Page?"

I looked away from the moon, turning around on the balcony to look at the approaching Shining Armor, a pair of glasses held in his magic, "Just Page is fine, Shining Armor."

"Shining then," he said and offered me a glass.

I took it and had a taste. Apple cider, "Thank you."

He nodded and sipped his own, "Twilight said your village is in the southern jungles," he said after a moment, looking out over the village below.

"It is," I agreed, "Perfect climate for bat ponies. Warm, just the right amount of humidity and as long as you stay beneath the canopy, not even too bright during the day."

"Twilight said it was a bit dangerous, but I feel like she's hiding the real dangers," Shining said and then looked at me, "How dangerous is it really?"

I took a deep breath before letting it out again, "Somewhat," I admitted, "But it was mitigated by moving the village into the trees."

"You knew it wasn't safe and you dragged her out there anyway?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "I doubt anypony can 'drag' Midnight anywhere she doesn't want to go. Besides, she knew the dangers as well as anypony else could, she had been there before."

Shining glared at me, "Her name is Twilight!"

"And when she ask me to call her that instead of the name she asked me to call her, I will do so," I told him, refusing to escalate, "I'm not sure why you are out here picking a fight with me when your newly returned sister is in there, but if you want to have a go, we shouldn't do it where they can hear. Because Midnight would be mad at us and she gets scary when she's mad."

Shining Armor stared at me for a second before he snorted and nodded, looking away, "...You're right. I'm sorry, I just..."

"You’ve been worried about her for years," I told him seriously, "And you have nopony else to be mad at."

He closed his eyes tight for a second before he nodded again, "How do you know that?"

"Because I know you," I told him with a small smile, "Or rather, the Shining Armor on my world. I'm dating his sister, we're friends."

Shining snorted and then took another sip of cider, "This has to be strange for you," he admitted after several long moments.

"Very," I agreed, "And to be honest, if I didn't trust Midnight and her abilities completely in finding a way to get me home, I would be running around in little circles panicking right now."

He looked at me for several long moments before he nodded and looked away, "I'm not sure what I would do," he admitted before rubbing his eyes with a pastern, "...Oh Celestia, it's exactly what Twily went through. Alone in a new world."

I knew some about what that was like.

"Not all alone," I told him quietly, "She had Talon. She had our Twilight. Our Spike. Celestia and Luna. Our Cadence and Shining Armor. She met ponies, made friends. Fell in love with a scary unicorn."

Shining sighed and leaned against the railing, "And now she left everypony she knew there behind."

I moved to stand next to him, putting my hoof on the railing as I looked out over ponyville, "She's going through it all over again. She's hiding it, but I can read her almost as easily as I can my Twilight. Go in and be there for her, she needs you."

He looked at me, "So why are you out here?"

"I'm not family. That's what she needs right now. I would be intruding."

"Not to her," Shining sighed, "She talks about your Twilight as a sister. And even if that didn't count, to her you are family. She needs ponies that love her right now and even if I don't like it, that includes you."

I hesitated before I nodded, "Okay," I finally agreed before I frowned, "...so why did you come out here picking a fight with me?"

"Because I can't yell at her right now for moving to your crazy cult town," he said with a snort and turned around, walking back inside.

I glared after him.

Nocturnis is not a cult. Just because we live a bit isolated in the middle of the jungle and ponies followed me personally there and reject part of the rest of Equestrian cultu-

I paused and frowned. That... did kind of sound a bit cultish, if taken in a vacuum.

But no, that's not what Nocturnis was. It was a sanctuary for bat ponies and anypony... anycreature actually... that wanted to settle down there and start a new life.

...Nope, still sounded a bit like a cult compound.

I better check with Starlight when I get back home, she was the expert in these things. I better not have accidentally started a cult.

Taking my cider, I followed Shining inside.