I glanced around before pushing the door open and glancing around inside before slipping in, closing the door behind me before locking it.
"Excuse me, what do you thi-oh," Midnight said before she smiled, "Didn't recognize you for a second, Night Wind."
I winked at her, "Princess," I said, giving a practiced bow, spreading my wings.
She rolled her eyes, "Oh cut it out," she said, shifting her wings and getting up from the desk she had been studying some sort of blueprints by, "How's it going?"
I flicked one ear, "Well enough... I think. We definitely have problems however."
Midnight frowned, "Spill."
I told her.
She was quiet for several long moments, looking out over the jungle through the open balcony doors of her lab before she sighed, "That's definitely a friendship problem," she admitted.
"You could say that," I agreed, "Want it?"
Midnight smiled a bit, "I likely should, I'm the princess of friendship. Or one of them anyway. But I'm not sure where to start with this one. Any ideas so far?"
I nodded, "I do, but I want to run it past you, Sparks, Sunny and everypony else first. And check with Celestia and Luna and see what they think. Look, the root cause of this entire thing is fear, right?"
"Basically, yes," she agreed with a nod.
"Alright," I agreed, "My plan is tourists."
That earned a raised eyebrow, "Tourists?"
"Yes," I said with a nod, "We build hotels, set up tours for them to look at our majestic landscapes, observe our fascinating animals in their natural habitats, that sort of thing. They come here, wander around. Each being exposed to our bats, our bats get exposed to tourists who don't act badly to them while spending lots of bits into the local economy."
Midnight looked thoughtful, ears slowly shifting as she thought. Funny, Sparks ears do the exact same thing.
...Okay, maybe not too strange, they are the same pony, just from different worlds.
"Maybe," she finally said, "I think that could work, but the problem would be getting them out here. It's a long trip, Page, especially since slowing down the train through the jungle added days to the trip."
I nodded, "I'm thinking airship in addition to the train for the richer tourists, play up the exoticness of the destination? Or maybe even make the trip part of the experience."
She slowly ran her hoof along her wooden floor in thought, "...Maybe. I'm not an economical expert, you have to check with Tight Bit if it makes sense. But it might work, especially if the travel time isn't 'wasted', I could see that being something somepony like my parents would do."
The Sparkle family were... okay, they were technically nobles now, but more specifically they were upper middle class in Canterlot. Somewhat rich from some ponies perspective, but not drowning in bits either.
"So you think it could help?"
"I think it could help," Midnight agreed and shrugged a bit, "But I'm not sure there's an easy solution to any of this, Page."
I smiled at her, "I know. But that does not mean we shouldn't try."
Midnight shook her head, "You're a good stallion, Page," she said and stood up, "There are times I understand what Twi sees in you."
I smiled and shook my mane back a bit, "And other times?"
Midnight smiled, "You do something so boneheaded it reminds me why I'm mostly into mares."
"Hey! I resemble that remark!" I said cheerfully, "And speaking of resembling, how's Amber doing?"
"Oh, she's doing just fine. Blank Page is spending the week in 'alicorn meditation' and asked me to make an opaque spell for him to sit in. Flower is a bit annoyed, but I think she thinks it's a good thing you take some time to actually relax. I'm filling in when necessary."
I nodded, "...Amber isn't really in that thing is she?"
"No, sir," Amber said cheerfully, poking her head out from behind a desk, "Princess Midnight teleported me out of it. Plan is to teleport you into it when we end this."
"Good plan and great job," I told her with a smile.
Amber grinned and then ducked back out of sight.
"So what's your plan for today?" Midnight asked.
"Actually, I planned to just walk around the village," I said with a smile, "Maybe visit the bathhouse. It's actually really freeing seeing the village from this perspective. You should try it at some point."
Midnight hesitated, "I don't know. You're doing it for a good reason, but just pretending to be somepony else just for fun seems kinda dishonest."
"You don't need to trick anypony," I said, "But... honestly, I kinda missed being able to just walk around without ponies looking up to me just because I grew wings. Just being some random dude."
"I guess I can see that," she admitted and slowly nodded, "But I always was the Princesses Student. Ponies in Canterlot always knew that, I spent more time at the castle than anywhere else. I'm not sure I ever was a 'normal' pony."
"Oh, right."
Midnight smiled, "You may want to talk too Cadance, she grew up in a small village before she earned her horn."
"You know what, I think you're right," I admitted thoughtfully, "She is in a very similar position to me actually."
Midnight nodded, "She is. She does have the advantage that the Crystal Empire came fully self-sufficient from the start, but... yes."
I slowly nodded, "I'll see if I can talk to her. Maybe she has more ideas. Crystal ponies aren't the same as bats, but maybe she has some insights."
Midnight got up, "I bet she can help."
I headed for the balcony, "Anything I need to know about?" I asked her as I paused halfway.
She shook her head, "Nothing has come up I couldn't deal with," she said, "Now get going before somepony flies past, spots you and gets suspicious."
Nodding, I then smiled at her, "Actually, mind giving me a lift? Safer than somepony seeing me fly out of here."
Midnight rolled her eyes a bit, "Fine. Where to?"
"Forest, half a kilometer away, should be safe?" I suggested.
Midnight nodded, her horn starting to glow, "Good lu-"
There was a flash and I found myself standing on a wide tree branch out in the jungle. I looked towards the light of the town before taking wing.
Time to check out the bathhouse.