There had been another night of waiting in the trees. Followed by most of another day of flying. But as the sun slowly settled in the distance, I saw the river close to Nocturnis glitter in the light of the setting sun.
“It’ll be good to be back home,” Twilight said next to me, putting her hooves onto the railing of the carriage as she looked forward.
“Mmm,” I agreed, “Sleep in our own bed again.”
“That too,” Twilight said and then smiled at me, “...I missed the sounds too.”
I nodded. I knew exactly what she meant. The birds, the monkey things, the howls of the pony eating monsters…
“Well, I for one just look forward to not sleeping on a treebranch,” Sunset said and then shivered slightly, “Seriously, I’m going to develop a phobia about being on the ground or something.”
I frowned, “Is it even a phobia if it’s just common sense?”
Twilight nodded, “Phobias are specified as-”
Before she was able to fill us in she broke off as the carriage went down for a landing and we had a bit of a surprise. Everypony seemed to be awake and gathered around the small square of the town. On the bridges, on the roofs, on branches and on the platforms.
“Well,” I said as we circled down towards the middle of the square with the rest of the carriages, “I don’t see torches or pitchforks.”
Sunset suppressed a small smile, “Page, they are happy to see you.”
“I’m sure they are just happy to get their friends and family members back,” I told her as we landed before I jumped out of the carriage and down on the platform.
I almost stumbled at the landing as it seemed like the entire village cheered, the sound loud enough to make me press my ears against my head as I looked around.
They… they really were here to welcome us back.
Two carriages didn’t land, they continued on to the small hospital with the injured ponies, but the rest settled down on the platform.
Taking a deep breath, I looked towards the two pegasi that pulled our carriage. Sudden Flash and Dapper Bolt.
They looked tired but happy as they looked around. I held my hoof out and hoof bumped both of them, “Good work,” I told them with a smile before I turned towards the still cheering crowd. Everytime a new pony disembarked they seemed to get a second wind.
Sunset moved up next to me, nosing in beneath my chin, “Speech, Page,” she said quietly.
I pulled her close with my wing, “Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
Fair enough.
Spreading my wings, I waited until everypony had disembarked before I flew up to land ontop on the railing on the closest carriage, balancing easily on the front and side railings as I looked around as the crowd drew quiet.
I smiled at them, “What are all of you doing up this early!? Crazy ponies!”
Laughter.
I folded my wings again and shook my head, raising one hoof off the railing while keeping my balance and I looked out over the crowd as they got quiet again,
“It’s good to be back home again,” I continued, igniting my horn and using a spell to make sure that everypony could hear me, “What happened was a horrible accident and one that will affect us all, whether we knew the ponies that lost their lives in the crash or not. I have some names I want you to remember.”
“Ivory Comet.”
“Nimble Force.”
“Steel Haze.”
Silence.
I raised my wings and sighed, “They had only seconds to realize what was happening. Maybe they could have had time to escape the locomotive before the crash, maybe not. I don’t think we’ll ever know. But what we do know is that they didn’t even try. Instead they engaged the brakes… and saved the lives of several more ponies. It is by their actions, their bravery that the crash was not worse than it was. They kept ponies safe, they kept others from dying at the cost of their own lives.”
Silence.
“Their actions will be remembered. Their sacrifice will be remembered. They will be remembered!”
I looked towards Sparks and Sunny before I sighed and looked towards the crowd again, “But it is not all over yet,” I continued, “The train tracks are ruined. There is a broken train laying across them. There is a team of engineers heading down from Canterlot to investigate, but it may be months before we even have a chance at another train. Things will be even harder for a while.”
“We don’t need them!”
I looked towards the voice in the crowd and shook my head, “Do you have an iron mine I don’t know about?” I asked, “Or a grain farm? We’ll be fine, but we will have some shortages for a bit.”
What was that sentiment? We’re part of Equestria, there isn’t any us and them. That was the entire point of this place!
We need more non-thestrals. That sort of sentiment could absolutely not be allowed to become ingrained under any circumstances.
A mare I didn’t recognize at the moment took a step forward and raised her voice, “We can figure it out, your highness,” she said loudly and reared up on her rear hooves. She had a grey coat and darker mane with a flame cutiemark, her bat wings half spread as she looked around as she yelled, “We can gather more fruit and hunt more, we don’t need clothes and we can make our own tools if we need them! We can reuse whatever we need. Right!? We’ll last as long as necessary!”
The crowd yelled their agreement.
Wait, I do know her! I recognize her now! She runs the noodle stand! Not being able to import flour or spices is going to directly affect her business and she still stood up and said that, first of all. Amazing.
What’s her name, what’s her name! Damn it, what-
Spicy Pepper. That’s it.
“Thank you, Spicy Pepper,” I told her with a smile before I looked across the gathered ponies, “She’s right, isn’t she!? This jungle has thrown everything it has at us, this is just one more obstacle! But after all we've been through, after all that’s gone wrong or gone against us… we’re still here!”
The answering cheer almost knocked me off the railing.
Nice
Page took lessons in rousing of the masses directly from Morpheus, eh?
memegenerator.net/img/instances/73066188.jpg
It's a colony of very different ponies from others in the rest of the country.
Of course, they will want to be their own thing and you can't change that
In the end they have each other.
And they have to fix their own problems and manage when their "owners" are far away in luxurious cities.
It's the same thing when the United Kingdom had colonies, like in India.
Because in the end, they are a close community they will become a separate country no matter what.
The same with changelings.
Thestrals and changelings are similar to ponies but aren't the same,it's nothing like the difference in colors in ponies.
Also, Kirins manage to live on their own.They are similar to ponies but don't need to be integrated to "pony nation"
11063718
Yet that sentiment and allowing it to spread is why the war between thestrals and unicorns happened in the first place. Page doesn't want history to repeat itself.
Plus, Page loves Equestria. Especially the Princesses that rule it. Nocturnis becoming isolated, even hostile to Equestria, means he is going to have to choose between the two. That is a choice he does not want to make at all.
11063729
I'm pretty sure it was not the thestrals fault
They just lived in jungles and other races didn't want to live there anyway
Unicorns just saw them as more dangerous than pegasi and decided to experiment on them to find a way to eliminate them, or something like that.
I mean. It is possible to use certain plants besides wheat for flour. Maybe even certain roots and stuff. Certain potatoes could still grow in the jungle, right?
"PRINCE-SENPAI NOTICED ME" ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! +3 TO PLOT ARMOR!
Spicy Pepper: ...what was that?!
*crowd too busy listening to Page's speech*
Spicy Pepper: Seriously no pony heard that?! ...Hello? Stop ignoring me like I'm crazy!
This reminds me of the Matrix speech:
Never surrender
11063735
While we don't know who started it (remember, we only have one side of the story so far, but history rarely has just one side) ultimately who started it is irrelevant. What is relevant is why it started, and that was two cultures being so alien to eachother they feared eachother enough to go to war with one another.
There's nothing wrong with having your own culture, but isolating yourselves because you don't like the other culture fosters resentment, often on both ends, and that resentment will eventually turn to hatred and that hatred risks flaming into conflict.
Page didn't create Nocturnis to give thestrals a place to hide from other ponies, he created Nocturnis to give thestrals the strength to be themselves rather than hide. His ultimate end goal is not a thestral nation, it's for thestrals to be accepted in Equestria for who they are. For that to happen, he needs his nation to be open to Equestria, not walled off.
Mean while in back…
“What he say?”
“Blessed are the cheese makers?”
11063729
11063718
It's probably a case that these thestrals harbor some resentment towards Equestria at large. They've spent their entire lives up until now living in hiding for fear of how Equestrians would shun them.
That sort of feeling will be possible to overcome, but it'll take time. The important thing is for Noctis to be treated as an Equestrian settlement akin to Appleloosa. E.g. ponies on the frontier, not a seperate nation in the jungle
Page: Do you have an iron mine we don't know about?
Discord: I got one in my pocket... damn wrong pants, this one has gold
11063821
you are right. Fluttershy is there you best believe Discord is watching vary close.
11063770 Even better than Morphius:
i.etsystatic.com/7206507/r/il/cf7366/1871096855/il_340x270.1871096855_7idk.jpg
"Okey dokey, Okey dokey. Lets fire blue particle cannons full, red particle cannons full, gannet magnets fire them left and right, and let 'em run all chutes. And while you're at it, why don't ya toss that at 'em killer [tossing empty Coke can to gunner] That should take care of old lobster head shouldn't it? "
yea, page needs to ip that 'us and them' thing in the bud NOW. he can't wait on that.
11063919
He only had to get past tirek that time, now he's gotta get past Sunset, Twilight, His own guards and potentially Luna before he can throw himself head first into danger
Now this is one of the situations where Page shines. If there's any team that can avert a disastrous split and/or revolution, it's Twilight and him.
11063735
As Keroko said, politics is never that clear cut. Most likely both sides were at fault in some way. For example, a Thestral clan in the area might have raided some local Unicorns for food/loot once too often and were retaliated against by a particularly strong chieftain who decided the only solution was the extermination of all of them. Somehow (coalition, strategic genius or being up against a full-fledged petty kingdom) the Thestrals were losing the ensuing war of annihilation and one of their own leaders reacted by creating the first curse... We know the rest.
11063903
Yeah, last thing they need to deal with is Nocturnxit.
Grammar jackboot:
land atop the railing
11063937
I refer to how he KOed his guard in order to go and throw himself into danger that time. But yeah, there are a lot more redshirts (and main characters) in the way of a repeat performance now.
11063779
You’re absolutely right that that is what he wanted, but he did it in almost the exact wrong way if he didn’t want to foster isolationist tendencies. I know he wanted to give the thestrils the space to be themselves and escape persecution enough to build their population and confidence in there identity in a climate that was comfortable for them. However, doing that meant setting up camp in a location weeks/months from other population centers and where they’d need to develop self sufficiency for pretty much everything in case their supply lines ever got disrupted (as they just were). Communication, frequent migration, and economic integration are the three things that can stop isolationist mindsets from taking root between otherwise hostile parties (which the thestrals are), page is missing the first two, and he just lost the third. Unless he nips this in the bud quick with something to ingratiate the nocturnis population to equestria in a big, public, and persistent way, it’ll already be too late.
11063962
long as he doesn't do a celestia, and 'put it off'... i think her priorities are skewed by her view of time. living so long, she can afford to play it slow. but it doesn't work that way for mortals.
like that guy who can view split timelines of the future, but its short term. he never plans for long term cause he always wins short term
11063718
In most of those cases the communication time was months not two or three days or less if you factor in teleportation or air ship flight time.
flour replacements
Cassava root, must! be processed poison in juice!! (cyanide producer)
Amaranth, (quinoa is one type)
Cattails Both pollen and root
11063979
Oh absolutely. They need to get that portal network up and running stat, because isolation is not good for a nation's international relationships, but with a portal the centre of Equestria would be practically next door.
I'm sort of hoping for a transfer hub. Portals may be expensive and problematic to set up, so it makes sense to have one. It's actually one of the first things I set up in games that feature portals (assuming they don't have teleports that link into a network, but rather point-to-point portalling), so that we can hook each new settlement to the network with minimum hassle and minimum resources. It usually ends up the most sturdily-built and protected building, too.
Since this is looking to be a point-to-point thing as well, Canterlot would likely be a good place to hub 'em together. This would, of course, be a revolutionary thing in this universe - being able to shorten travel time between Vanhoover and Manehattan (coast to coast) from 20 days to maybe 15 minutes, including the walk up to the portal building? It would change their world just as much as flying did for us.
11064150
I would raise concerns over the security of such a system and especially of placing its hub inside the capital, especially if there's no easy way to shut it off once set up. Let's say for some reason, Olenia invaded the country and took Vanhoover; they could literally just march whole divisions into the middle of Canterlot.
11063779
Also why creating independent countries is a bad thing?
They are created when the groups have different traditions, communities and cultures.
In the end, it's their choice and forcing them to submit ends in violent revolutions.
Is India or USA for example being its separate thing is bad?
By the way, if you will write that that they should be controlled by British or French you will make people angry from there.
They are not machines that you can assign to a class or group and expect it to stay like that.
In the end its free will
Thestrals are different enough from ponies to have enough reasons .
Like kirins or seaponies and hippogriffs
Actually seaponies are even better example of reasons why to be their own thing
Seaponies kingdom seems like a next step for Nocturnis
11064326
Dude, you need to brush up on your history, because whilst Indian independence from Britian was doubtlessly a good thing , the *way* India was recognised was a crash course in how not to do it. It directly led to massive sectarian and mass slaughter as the Rajs successor states purged themselves of the "wrong" kinds of people. It's a terrible example to invoke the merits of recklessly breaking away. And *that* was still peaceful. Ish.
India had never been a single United subcontinent in all of his it's history. Even at the height of the Mhugal Empire or
the golden age, there were pieces of it that were seperate. Indian nationalism to the idea of a whole India is a relatively new thing, and that's in part because India under the British Raj, included india, Sir Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and bits of Burma i think. Very very different countries with different tribal ethnicities, and relations at play.
When British left the continent it was such achieved in a horrifically irresponsible manner. Carved up like. Turkey and told "Muslims to here, Hindus to here". The Partition of the India led to Millions of people dead, tens of millions of people displaced. And because of exactly the kind of ethnic sectarianism that is beginning to grow in Nocturnis. It's not *just* a colony being governed by a far off government. It's an ethnostate. In real danger of unleashing the kind of xenophobia that has never prospered a country. India, much like much of the middle East turned overnight into a home for one kind of people, where the other were perceived at best as being unwelcome. At worse an invader.
It's not patriotism, when your patriotism is rooted in your race.
That's exactly what our protagonist is Trying to avoid. The age old cry of "X for the Xians". The rallying point of populists and demagogues.
And the difference between the British colonies and this particular instance is that the British colonies already had people living there. They were conquered. Exploited. In some ways enslaved.
They fought for freedom. Not independence. Independence was the means. Not the end itself.th
The thestral colony isn't a conquered land trying to break free. It's a part of Equestria that's in danger of breaking away in a fit of nationalism. Now it's understandable. Sympathetic even. But it's clearly idiocy at best.
"We don't need them" is a very, very bad sentiment. Useful for now, but if they start being truly seperate again... we mught end up with a friendship problem.
11064355
And about USA?
Also you didn't mention anything about seaponies and hippogriffs ,and kirins as being an example why it could work
11064324
Yes, that certainly would be a concern. Hopefully, this will come up in the story at some point, if that particular idea is explored.
Still, I'd assume cargo would see (quite a lot) more security, and it would simply be unfeasible to send your army one soldier at a time when they could be subdued on the other end, or otherwise prevented from coming through (something like a stargate's iris comes to mind).
11064365
The USA is not exactly a shining example of bloodless changes in power and equality either, even to this very day.
The seaponies, griffins, kirin etc. have the advantage that they were their own nations long before they came into contact with Equestria. That changes the dymanic a fair bit, even more so since there are dayponies currently living in Nocturnis.
Let's say Nocturnis splits off because they hate the other pony tribes (because let's face it, that would be the main reason for splitting) and that, for some reason, everyone involved at the political level just shrugs and lets it happen. What do you think would happen to the dayponies currently living in Nocturnis? Thestrals won't stop hating dayponies just because they're now a free country, and now that they no longer have Equestria to point to, who do you think is going to bear the brunt of their hatred?
We've seen this happen before. Heck, it's a growing problem in the UK right now, where post-Brexit the amount of discrimination against people from the EU made frightening leaps in number. How long before Nocturnis reaches a boiling point and some decide it's time for the village to become a more 'pure' refuge for thestrals?
11064360
A friendship problem, or worse.
At this point I almost forgot that Thestral ponies are a bit distrusting of regular ones because of their thousand years stigma. What happened to the Thestrals at the very beginning started with the same root of segregation. If they start to treat the other ponies as inferior, by being "better" than them, then they turned into the same people that cursed them.
Now that they have a something more to their people, they need to be reminded that they are ALL apart of equestrian's family one way or another, and they all must work together like family.
11064410
I assume if the portal is to allow cargo transport, it would have to be of the long opening sort, probably larger than a stargate (which incidentally, is large enough to drive most modern tanks through). Good thought about the iris though.
11064326
The difference between India and Nocturnis is that India was a viable country with a population in the hundreds of millions when it gained independence and also more or less had precedence in existing, at least theoretically. Nocturnis is a smallish town of about what, two thousand people? Even microstates are huge by comparison to that.
Simply put, Nocturnis is too small to have a functioning economy without regressing to the iron age. They have no industry, no really valuable exports aside from exotic lumber and no proper agricultural base yet. Nor do they have the ponypower to put up more than a token resistance to any sort of organised raid for say, slaves. Their best bet in such a situation would be fading into the jungle, stalling the enemy with guerrilla tactics and hoping that either the
ImperialRoyal Guard arrives soon or the invader gets bored and leaves.11064365
Hippogriffs have a functioning society already in place and are to my knowledge distant allies, not subjects of the Equestrian crown. No independence drive required. As for the Kirin... Well, at least in EaW they have several independent nations in the east of Zebrica that are semi-functional, if rather poor if I'm not mistaken.
I'm not sure how applicable EaW is to the Pageverse though since that world has solidly interwar tech (unless you live in northern/north-eastern Griffonia anyway) and developing electronics and magitech. Pageverse definitely differs in having a united Griffon nation for example, where EaW is... Well, there was an empire that united most Griffons, up until about forty years ago. Then the King of Wingbardy got assassinated and his son rebelled against the Empire with his own vassals and allies over it, followed by a few other vassals taking the cue to also secede. Six years later, Kaiser Grover IV has dead prematurely from a stroke, there's a failed republican revolution who survives as a government in exile in a former imperial province and a long regency, followed by the early death of Kaiser Grover V in 1007, causing yet another regency and the almost total collapse of what's left of the Empire.
Also Griffons have the single highest population of any race in EaW, which has been implied is very much not the case in the Pageverse.
https://equestria-at-war.fandom.com/wiki/Griffonian_Empire
(At this point, I might as well link its lore page)
11064561
Yeah, independence for the sake of isolation from other races will only end poorly. The fact that there's some concern about war with France here in the UK right now is just one example of just how badly it can go.
11064645
Which is why I said that it would hopefully see more security... ;)
11064774
Oh right, yeah I see now. For some reason it didn't click with me on first reading.
11063745
But that requires that they be on the ground more. Which is a incredibly dangerous place to be in that jungle, by the sounds of it.
11065388
I mean like above ground plots. Like in the trees a little garden square with benches and small light crystal “torches”. Then ponies have another open gathering place besides the market stalls.
11065400
That isn't as easy as it sounds. You'd have to regularly replace the soil in order to prevent it being sapped of nutrients for a start, which is an enormous amount of effort.
Horrible takes only in this comment section I see.
Speech! Speech! Speech!
don't know how to use real voice
Could this be foreshadowing conflict in future stories? I hope so; these stories need more conflict.
There are a few references to "nip it in the bud" in the comments. Have a meme:
i.imgflip.com/3427nm.jpg
11066982
You can see horrible takes everywhere, all you need is to not agree with what is being said even when the take os actually good.