I walked along next to Luna, my wings held tightly against my sides beneath the illusion wrapped around me.
Quite frankly, I was a bit nervous.
“Page, relax,” Luna said softly and nuzzled at my ear, “Nopony can tell.”
“Not that,” I answered quietly, “It's where we are going.”
For the first time since this entire situation, I would meet the other Princesses. All of them at once. I was nervous about how things had gone.
Eep! It was all I could do to keep my wings from shooting out.
Luna let go of my ear and shot me a small look.
I flicked my ears and nodded, “I know.”
Then we were there and there was no more time to worry. The guards pushed the doors open and we entered the meeting room.
Well, meeting room and meeting room, it was a side chamber to the main throneroom that was usually used for sensitive negotiations. The middle of the room was taken up by a circular table. And three alicorns.
Around it. Not on it.
The door closed behind us and three pair of eyes turned towards us. I paused and then mentally shrugged, dropping the illusion and spreading my wings.
Twilight draw in a breath, “Wow...” she said quietly as she approached, “You really did it.”
I cringed slightly, “It wasn't by choice.”
Twilight smiled at that, “That seem to be common. Neither did Cadence or I did either,” she said and tilted her head, “But I wasn't even sure it was possible for a stallion to be an Alicorn.”
“Neither did we,” Luna supplied with a nod, “But with ascension being as rare as it is, there was no way for us to know.”
Twilight nodded and watched me for a moment, “Well, it was clearly possible. May I?”
I raised an eyebrow, unsure of what she meant but I nodded anyway and spread my wings for her as she ran her magic along the right one.
Oh, that's kinda nice. Felt like dipping my wing into a cold spring if a bit tickly.
Cadence joined us with a smile, “So when is the coronation?”
“It's not,” I said as I looked up at the pink alicorn, “I don't want anything to do with any sort of crown. In fact, there is a reason I'm walking around with an illusion around them. The moment it's revealed, I can no longer live a normal life and walk around in public.”
Cadence frowned in thought, going crosseyed as she looked up at her horn before she sighed, “...I suppose that's true.”
“Wait, that's an option?” Twilight asked as she pulled back to stare at Celestia.
The big alicorn nodded, “Of course. There is no rule that says a alicorn has to be royalty.”
Twilight let out a small frustrated sound and ran her magic along my wing, “Your wings are bigger than ours. On a comparative scale, your wings are fifteen percent bigger,” she said before she shrugged her own, “Though I suppose that does make some sense. Pegasus stallions tend to have larger wings than mares on average.”
She then sighed, “...Not that I can say for certain, the example pool is rather small.”
I nodded in agreement, “Five examples is not really statistically significant. Statistically, there are no alicorns.”
That got a giggle from Twilight, “I know! I did that joke with Rainbow once! She didn't get it.”
Cadence blinked and then stared at Twilight, looking thoughtful as the purple aliicorn let go of my wing. She then turned her head and looked at Luna.
Luna titled her head and then shrugged her wings, “Don't worry, I don't get it either.”
Shaking my head I walked over to Celestia, “Celestia... there won't be any kind of trouble from me hiding this, will there?”
Celestia shook her head from where she was laying on the big pillow by the table. Luna, Twilight and Cadence stayed by the door, talking among themselves for now.
“I don't believe so, Page,” she answered, looking over at the other three alicorns, “But it will not be easy for you. Anytime you are in public, you need to use an illusion. You will need to lie to hide reality. And you must know it will not last forever. Ponies will notice sooner or later.”
I frowned and looked over at Twilight. She had only been an alicorn for a year or so and she was already slightly taller than me. Not much, only a couple centimeters. No real way to hide that unless you learned shapeshifting and that was difficult enough that LUNA had to study to do it.
“I know,” I sighed, “It'll happen sooner or later. But I want to live as normal as I can until then.”
“I understand.”
Nodding I then looked up at her and lowered my voice, “...Celestia?”
She blinked down at me in question so I continued,
“When Tirek had me... why did you give in? You shouldn't have done that.”
Celestia sighed softly and shifted her wings, shaking her head, “Page, you are my friend. But... That was not why. Not just why. It was her.” she said and looked over at Luna.
“Your sister?”
She nodded, “She was going to give in. Luna would be horribly hurt no matter what she picked. Losing you would... I have seen what that pain does to her. I never wanted to see it again. But giving in and giving him what he wanted to keep you safe would kill her.” Celestia let out a small breath, “I never want to see my sister hurt like that again. So I did it before she could.”
“Oh.”
Celestia sighed softly and frowned sadly at the table, not really looking at anything, “I... I couldn't put her through that again. Not even if it cost us Equestia. Does that make me a bad pony?”
“Don't know. Don't think so. But it does make you a good sister,” I said softly and poked her side with my wing, “But you know what she would say about that.”
“I do,” Celestia agreed with a small smile, “Please don't get in that situation again.”
“I'll rather avoid it as well,” I said and smiled over at Luna who smiled back and moved across the room, leaving Twilight and Cadence to talk privately.
“What are we talking about?” Luna asked and settled down next to me, giving my ear a nuzzle.
I grinned and leaned against her as she put her wing across my back, “Me being an idiot. But I'll keep the wings hidden for now anyway.”
Celestia nodded, “We can handle whatever fallout from that later if it happen. But we should proceed with the meeting.”
I smiled at that and got up, “That sounds like official princess business! So I'll just...”
Luna's wing pushed me back down on the pillow.
“...sit right here I suppose.”
“It involves you, My Page. The first subject will be the security of dangerous objects and Discord..”
Finally.
Me doing a happy dance.
Super Happy Dance. Is that a thing? I'm making it a thing.
Page will probably be bigger then Celestia when he's done growing,
Luna better be prepared.
(WINK) (WINK) (NUDGE) (NUDGE)
7410915 It would be funny still if the populous demanded he be crowned a royal for his service, also those potential super weapon dangerous secrets... That will be quite 'fun' to hear about, or how they are possibly 'protected'.
Ummm. I think Twilight became a unicorn for a paragraph. Lol
Another great chapter. Keep it coming.
7410953
Luna will most certainly in support of that.
This sentence feels off. Is seem in the first person or third person? (I think it should be seems in the third person.)
Also
could be less awkward such as "Neither Cadence nor I did either"
That being said I haven't slept in 20 hours so feel free to ignore me.
He can join the shadow cabinet.
7410953
He's going to have the mares (and some stallions) falling all around him by then.
Discord is screwed. whatever he do. If he try to beg for mercy, he will accused for being cowardly bastard, who leave side instantly, when he think this side is going to loose, so why alicorns are supposed to believe that he do not repeat it eventually in future, especially with our protagonist don't liking Discord and using human evaluation of treason as one of worst existing crimes and pushing it. Eventually Discord can try to fight and by this he will become Public Enemy #1. So even Fluttershy can't help him.
I just thought of something. Not being royalty, makes sense sure.
Hiding the wings though? after a few months won't they disassociate Tirek's defeat with Page's ascension?
You know 'Why did he ascend? Oh, he defeated a big evil monster'
vs. 'Why did he ascend? All he did was spill coffee all over himself'
I hate it when people pull exact numbers from their asses.
Actually, from data perspective they are significant, they are anomolies and their variance is very high, they are very easy to see if you put them in a graphic.
Hypothetically, you can remove them since they are uncommon even though you should not do it, normally one should check every single instance and prove that instance is wrong. However, if the instances are removed simply because they don't fit the model then that is a data manipulations and in academic circles that cost few people their Doctorate degrees.
So statistically there are alicorns.
7410915
Your avatar is grumpy cat...any argument presented to say that's impossible is invalid.
7411013 You don't use "either" and "neither" in the same sentence. So get rid of that "either".
And becomes "Neither does Cadence nor I.
Nonononono!....I'm caught up and out of chapters
I am LOVING this story so far! Blank Page is such an awesome character to read, and I can't wait to see what happens next!
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Page is as bad as Blue Blood. He choosing to live a lie then face the truth. An illusion to hide in.
The crown aside, he shouldn't hide this.
Still we shall see how Discord is handled.
7411283 Wow! That was fast. You must of binge read!
7411231 15% is probably rounded, not to mention it's easy to make an estimate of simple area
I'm working on a TVTropes article. I don't have enough time to complete it. Please help.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/NewBeginnings
7411338 yeah, I have a bit of a reading addiction especially for well written stuff like this.
Discussion about Discord probably will clash of two opponents - Celestia and Blank Page.
Celestia will possibly try to spoke with Discord and somehow give him third chance. Why? Because it was her decision (not consulted with her theoretically equal sister) to free him, so it's all in some way her fault. She need to save face somehow. Twilight probably will support her because of her lapdogness toward Celestia and because she also was responsible for Discord reformation. And because of Fluttershy.
Blank Page will probably try to neutralize Discord, some way of permament imprisonment or blocking Discords magic. If Discord do something stupid, then he can even vote for capital punishment. His trump is fact that he warned them multiple times that Discord cannot be trusted and at end he was right. Luna will support him because, she don't like Discord, BP is her consort/probably future husband and she is more conservative in such cases.
2 vs 2. Most important is which side support Cadance. And she can both, Celestias because of her natural benevolence, or Pages if she do mental projection of "what Shining Armor would do".
Of course author still can suprise us all in some way.
I give it less than a week before they find out he is an alicorn
It's soooo obvious.
Discord will reverse Page's personality, and then Emperor Page will lead a glorious revolution with Starlight Glimmer in hindering and supressing all creativity and differences.
The dream shall come comrades! The dream that's true Equality has come. And it's glorious!!!
*snickers*
Kiddin' aside. Ah wonder how Discord will handle Page. Aint bein a Prince of Creativity kinda similar to Avatar of Chaos. Heck. Discord's powers aside, he just bein redundant.
Ty for them fancy an' fun chappies!!
7411459
......
Oh crap.
7411335
It's interesting how people make the wrong or bad decisions in the moment, but that's just what makes them people. Have you honestly never wanted to, or have, hidden something about yourself to be liked? It's kind of the same thing, really, except in reverse.
Though he should realize that, were he ever to marry Luna, he would practically be royalty anyway. So might as well get it over with now.
7411560
Well, at that point when he's forced to be royalty kicking and screaming at paparazzi-point, he can create a dramatic 'transformation scene' from her kissing him and emerge. And be fluffy.
7411558
Heyyyy. If it happens, he can relate with Luna even moar.
Mwahahahaha!!!
Yes Celestia! Give your future usurper access to all the great and powerful artifacts! Mwahaha!!!
7411346 you cannot say %15 and then you rounded it, %15 is very strict and certain number that requires as significant measurements, it is not an estimation, especially not an estimation that can be done simply by looking at it. Twillight pulled that number from her ass.
7411645 ...You cannot pulled something out of one's ass when there is no previous info that contradict your current number...Estimation is an estimation.
It's like saying someone is about a third bigger than that guy or something similar.
And now, Lord/Prince of Creativity/Imagination vs Lord/King of Chaos. (Though, it seems more like Anarchy to me).
7411645 Or she compared them to her own wings.
It just had to take a heck of a clue-by-four to the backs of their heads to FINALLY agree to this discussion...
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0rzimfWGD1rnpa5yo1_500.jpg
7411774 Heh, clue-by-four. Haven't heard that one before. Might have to steal it... Or, better yet, might have to MAKE one.
7412017
I've heard it used before online, it's the bigger brother to the Cluebat...
7411560 Wow that's really insightful. Your totally right!
Makes like this story even better!
7411645 15 is a multiple of 5. It's common to round to multiples of 5. 15% is probably just an estimate meaning 'more than 10, less than 20.'
7411640
Um, no. Think about Discord/Page's spheres, their similar looks and attitudes, and what Page is going to be messing with shortly.
7411421 Same
7411645 it's easy to be rounded, she could have compared say, his height to wing length or whatever metric can be gauged with a single spell, and knowing hers, at minimum(though likely all 5 now), she did some mental math, and come up with around 14.8ish, and rounded it to 15% because she couldn't give the exact numbers.
I mean, that's what I'd do if I were interested in a statistic.
7412023
I suppose. It still kind of feels really weak compared to a lot of the other ways he could have gotten immortality, especially considering the title and summary you gave this story. Not bad, but just... not as strong as some of the other ways he could have gotten it.
We just recalled something, Discord is nearly as 'omnipotent' as one could get besides prophetic dreams from immortal Alicorns.
Which means that they need to fashion a anti 'Discord' ward or better yet, an Array on a magic lay line.
The word "neither" is a weird one--essentially, its meaning is the equivalent to a contraction of "not either" without it actually being a contraction.
Should be "Neither did Cadance nor I." Or better: "Cadance and I didn't, either."
This just accrued to me that he would also be good at mind control spells, as to get one to work with the least number of holes it needs a good story.
Is it wrong that it bothers me that Page, a former unicorn, is so much weaker magically than 3 former pegasi? I feel like he should at least be comparable to Cadence. Love and Creativity are equally nebulous, abstract ideas. Cadence can sense and manipulate emotions in real life, so I feel like Page should at least be able to inspire others. He should also excell diplomatically, encouraging others to keep an open mind.
Right now he seems far weaker than he should be. It's one thing to have him downplay his acheivements when he is just an average unicorn doing above-average feats. It's another thing to downplay his abilities when he is a below-average alicorn doing average things.
As the only male alicorn, his shortcomings keep coming across as shortcomings of males as a whole. Every time one of the others says "I didn't know if stallions could become alicorns", it sounds like there is an underlying expectation that males be weaker (even though I don't think that was Hiver's intention).
7922094
It makes sense that he wouldn't be much stronger than how he was as a unicorn.
Perhapshe'll grow stronger as the years pass, but his assension was attained with borrowed magic. Whatever he had in that instant has returned to its owners.Now, it's just an idea, but I've always thought of magic as a sort of reservoir of power that you could dip into. In the show, the combined magic of Equestrian citizens sans Alicorns was colored stronger than that of a single Alicorn (at least). Let's say your average unicorn has the equivalent of a large pond of magic. A particularly OP unicorn might have a good sized lake at their disposal. If Luna's magic is a deep well, like an aquifer, what happens when your magic reservoir gets carved out by a Lake Michigan?
8104693
Additionally, Twilight is the purest embodiment of magic itself, and as a unicorn was very gifted to begin with. On top of this she was already slated to overpower Celestia and Luna anyway, however, in the canon, she carried all the alicorn magic at once which makes her pool grow even larger than before and mature rapidly.
It's likely over time, alicorn magic pools grow in size with use and practice, Page will likely be more powerful than any normal unicorn, even gifted ones as a baseline.
....I don't get it either
7573309
10150054
The joke is that when you compare the 5 alicorns to the rest of Equestria’s population, they are so statistically insignificant, they might as well not exist.
Page, even more so.
Oh, thanks for clarification. Otherwise it would be either really silly or really hot.
10382053
That requires too much brain power and over thinking, I shall be over there doing anything but *jumps out the window*
Cadance: I ship it ♡