I looked out over the water as the sun in the distance slowly set over the valley.
The moons of Sanctuary were already poking up above the opposite horizon and the glow fish flittered back and forth above the surface of the water, catching insects, leaving glowing trails in the air from their magic.
"Page?"
My ear twitched and I glanced back, forcing a small smile, "Hey Sunshine."
Celestia moved to lay down next to me, looking out over the water, "Twilight and Sunset have left?"
I nodded, "Last morning," I agreed.
She looked at me thoughtfully, "Miss them?"
"...Yes," I admitted.
Celestia nodded as she regarded me before leaning in and planting a small kiss by the base of my horn, "But that's not what has you upset."
"No," I sighed, "While they're away, I'm taking the opportunity to run a small project. Just before they left, I talked with Tight Bit and went through the current future economic projections of the town. It's... not good."
Celestia sighed, "Page, if it's bits you are worried about, you know that you don't need to be, we ca-"
"No, Sunshine," I said and shifted slightly to look up at her, meeting her eyes, "If Nocturnis can't stand on its own hooves, what are we even doing here? If we're just going to be reliant on crown money, we might as well pack up and leave. Go back."
I sighed, "...Being reliant on charity from Equestria would be almost as disastrous as failing my bats completely. Especially now."
Celestia's wing brushed across mine, "How do you mean?"
I shook my head, "I started a project when Sparks and Sunny left. Figured it was a good time for it. I want to find out how to improve things, what we need to focus on and what we can cut."
She nodded, so I continued.
"Well, everypony I ask just tells me they are doing good. So I figured I'd see for myself. I conscripted Midnight, she made me some sort of transfiguration trinket and made me look like a newly arrived batpony. Amber is covering for me at the palace."
Celestia frowned at me in displeasure, but I just met her eyes. She didn't have a wing to fly on, I knew for a fact that she had done the same sort of thing multiple times and for similar reasons.
Buck, that's how she went on vacation last!
Finally she nodded, "And what have you found out that have you upset?"
I sighed and shifted to lean my side gently against hers and her wing lifted to settle across my back, "Well, first of all, we need to change our advertisement. Apparently arriving as a single stallion makes some of the inhabitants really friendly."
Celestia looked amused, "What did you expect?"
"Well, I didn't expect even Fluttershy to be mildly flirty," I admitted, "The transfiguration isn't even that handsome, we went with 'average looking'. Just some dude, I wanted to blend in."
Celestia smirked at me, "What else have you discovered, my pretty bat?"
I rested my head against her neck, "...The anti-equestrian current is a lot deeper and stronger than I thought. I talked with maybe a dozen ponies so far. They are extremely unhappy to have any of the Solar or Night guards around. They're happily taking their bits, and at a steep markup most of the time, but I get the feeling that they would happily forgo those bits if they could toss everypony in that training base in the river."
"Page, that's not wholly unexpected."
"I know," I admitted, "But I didn't think it would be that strong. I thought soldiers getting into the normal kind of trouble was most of it."
Her nose brushed my ear, "Page, most bats in Nocturnis have lived their entire lives fearing discovery. Disliking me and to a lesser extent when she returned, my sister. We're a symbol of what they used to live beneath. And our guards represent us. I'm not surprised that there is some hostility."
"...It's not just the guards," I mumbled quietly against her neck, "It's Equestria. All of it. They want nothing to do with anything or anypony from there. We're still in Equestria, we're a town! A small town at that!"
"Our silly Page," Celestia said gently and placed a soft kiss at the base of my ear, "It's not unexpected."
"...Some of them hate you..."
I felt her lips smile against my ear, "Also, not unexpected."
"I don't know what to do," I said against her soft coat, "Celestia, everything we do is reliant on the rest of Equestria! We don't produce enough goods to make up for our imports, we need some way to bring in additional bits. The training base helps, but it stirs up..."
I sighed and pulled back to look up at her, "If it's not the guards, if they really dislike even normal equestrians, even tourism wouldn't work. I didn't want this, I didn't want any of it! I just wanted everypony to be able to be safe, feel like they didn't need to hide!"
Celestia placed a gentle kiss on the tip of my nose, her wing shifting and she brushed tears I had not even noticed from my eyes, "Calm, my stallion. We'll figure it out," she reassured me.
"How? How can we possibly solve this?" I asked and shook my head, pushing her wing away with mine, "Either my ponies fall into poverty, or... there is no or because anything we can do to try to fix it, just makes things worse! I'm not exaggerating when I think there is just a matter of time before somebody gets shoved out of a tree! Oh, did I say poverty? Because I meant even more poverty! Everypony is already poor!"
Celestia's wing settled across my back as she met my eyes again, "Page. Deep slow breaths."
"But-"
"Blank Page," Celestia said in a tone I only heard her take a couple of times, "Slow. Deep. Breaths."
I did as she told me as I looked up into her eyes.
"Now, listen to me," Celestia said gently but firmly. Who spoke now was the Princess that had ruled for thousands of years, not my Sunshine, "My sister and myself have dealt with worse," she said, "I can think of several ways to navigate this already. Do you think that bringing all three tribes of ponies together was painless?"
"...No..." I admitted quietly.
"Exactly," she said before she sighed sadly, "It won't be easy, but we will help where we can. Continue as you have planned, I will discuss matters with my sister and investigate some things."
"Bu-"
This time she didn't say anything as I squeaked as she bit my ear tip firmly before letting go, "What did I say?"
I went back to taking slow deep breaths as I flicked my ear, trying to make it stop aching.
"Now," Celestia continued, "How long did you plan on investigating?"
"A week or so," I mumbled and reached up to rub my ear, "Why do you and Luna keep doing that?"
"Because that's how stupid colts got taught not to be stupid back in our day," Celestia said firmly, "So stop being stupid and it won't happen."
"...Did you have to teach it to Twilight at least?" I grumbled and put my hoof back down, flicking my ear twice more..
That got a small soft laugh from her, "I did no such thing. You may have to blame that one on Luna or her own parents."
I sighed and flicked my ear again before I looked up into her eyes, "...You really think we can fix this?" I asked her.
"I do think we can fix this," Celestia said and touched her horn gently to mine, "We just need to find the best way to do so. Just continue your investigation while Luna and I discuss some options on our end. Then we'll talk things through and find the one we think will work best."
"Alright," I agreed and her wings shifted, brushing across my eyes again, "...Don't tell Sparks and Sunny when they visit on the way," I told her, "They deserve this vacation, I don't want them worrying about it."
Celestia frowned a bit, "They'll be quite cross with you when they find out."
"I know," I admitted, "But that's on me. They deserve some time away."
"You're a good stallion," Celestia said and her lips pressed against mine.
I kissed back, feeling a lot better than before.