Chapter 14
What do you call a combination of breakfast and dinner? Binner? Breakner?
Either way, that was what we were having in one of the small dining rooms. Midnight had been trying to force herself awake during the day, but we were both still on something approaching Nocturnis time.
It was just before sunset and I was having breakfast. Celestia had left earlier during the day I heard so it was only me, Midnight and Talon.
Midnight was poking at her roasted vegetables, a fork held in her magic. She looked more asleep than awake to be honest.
Suddenly Talon pushed his plate of gems and vegetables away, "This sucks."
Midnight blinked and then looked at him, "What do you mean?" she asked, “Something wrong with your food?”
"I want to go home."
"We are home."
Talon shook his head, "This was home. I want to go home to Nocturnis."
Midnight sighed, "Spike, it's not tha-"
"Why? I know we missed everypony here, but I miss everypony back at home too!"
"Spike, I kno-"
"Stop calling me that!" he exclaimed and jumped down from his chair before storming out, slamming the door behind him.
Midnight sighed, "...Sorry, it's difficult for him," she said quietly and pushed her own plate to the side, rubbing her eyes with her hooves for a second.
I nodded, "I understand. He's been through it twice, same as you."
She shrugged her wings, "But it's harder for him this time," and then she smiled faintly, "He's been spending some time with this unicorn filly the last couple of months."
I grinned, "Oh really? Who?"
"Her name is Quiver Stream, she's a new arrival. A year older than him and they seem to have really hit it off."
Quiver Stream, Quiver Stream...
Nocturnis was still small enough that I could meet all the new arrivals. Name did ring a bell...
"Unicorn, pale blue coat, pale purple mane?" I asked after a second of thought, “...Crossbow cutiemark.”
"That's the one," Midnight said with a smile before she sighed, "I don't blame him for missing her."
"He's not the only one though," I told her gently.
Midnight rubbed her eyes again before she nodded, her ears drooping, "I...I miss Tempest. A lot."
"Maybe after I'm back, she can come here?" I suggested, "Because surely there has to be a way."
She shook her head and took a deep breath, "She wouldn't. I wouldn't even ask her, she takes her duty too seriously."
Because she felt she owed me something.
"You know what, Talon's right," Midnight continued and got down from her seat, "This does suck."
The door closed behind her and I looked at my breakfast of fruit slices.
I no longer felt hungry either. Because there was no solution here. I could go home, I knew I could because Midnight was working on it with the pony that managed to get her home. Starlight Glimmer.
But Midnight and Talon...
They left ponies behind in Nocturnis. Not only marefriend and maybe marefriend, but friends.
A home.
They have a home here too. Family. Friends. But that dosn't meant they didn't also leave one behind.
For Midnight and Talon...
...There was no happy ending to this story. But at least tomorrow Midnight's parents will arrive, they were away from Canterlot when we arrived apparently. And in a few days, Shining Armor and Cadence will be here.
Hopefully that'll make them feel a little better.
Or maybe not.
Talon really was right, this does suck.
Pushing my own plate away, I moved towards the door. I'm going for a flight.
###############
The moon shone high above as I swept across the silent streets of Ponyville. I banked across above the sugarcube corner and above the remains of what used to be the library.
A beat of my wings and I shifted course, coming in for landing on the railing of the clock tower of the school house at the edge of town.
It felt good stretching my wings and it was a warm summer night.
I looked around, glancing down before I jumped up, beat my wings once before wrapping my tail around a roof rafter. Then I folded my wings and relaxed, swaying slightly in the breeze as I looked out over the town.
I suppose I could go out beneath an illusion during the day if I wanted to, but... I didn't want to. I didn't want to hide.
Didn't want to go out during the day either.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath before pushing all thoughts about my bats from my mind.
I did my best to ignore the fact that on this world, Flower Rain was freezing in a tiny Manehattan flat, barely making a living minding a small book store.
Other ponies I knew had it even worse.
"Hey!"
I'm not too proud to admit that I squeaked like a filly and if it wasn't for my tail's automatic grip, I would have fallen. As is, I swayed wildly before I forced myself to stop and look to the side, finding Pinkie Pie hanging from her tail just next to me.
"...H-hey," I answered, trying my best to get my thundering heart under control, "Didn't see you."
Pinkie grinned sheepishly, "Sorry," and then she reached behind her back and pulled out a small cake, holding it out upside down for me, "Welcome to Ponyville."
I blinked at her, "...Thank you..." I said as I took it. It was cherry and decorated with slices of mango.
"Figured you wouldn't like a big party," Pinkie continued with a small shrug, "Some ponies don't. But if you like, we can head to the sugarcube corner and meet some ponies."
I looked between her and the cake for several moments. How did she even figure out my favorite fruits...
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I admitted after a moment, "Most ponies are afraid of bat ponies. I'm very much not in the mood for that tonight, sorry."
"That's fine," Pinkie said and smiled, "But I promise nopony will be afraid."
I never did give you enough credit, did I Pinkie?
I glanced at the cake again. It was way too much for any one pony... that wasn't named Celestia.
"Okay," I admitted, "If you're sure."
Pinkie smiled brightly, "Come on then!" and then let go, dropping down inside the tower, "Weeeee!"
...I'm just going to assume she's alright.
Swinging slightly, I spread my wings before letting go, swooping down towards the ground as I carefully balanced the cake.
Ever try landing while carrying a cake?
Not easy. Luckily I stopped being stupid and remembered I had a horn. So I took it in my magic instead and could land on all four hooves, just in time for Pinkie to bounce out of a nearby bush, moving to trot along next to me.
"So... who's there?" I asked her.
Pinkie smiled, "Not many, just some ponies I know. Don't worry, leave it aaaaallll to Pinkie!"
Fair enough.
Pinke led the way and then pushed the door open and let me inside, "Hello everypony! Let me introduce Blank Page! Say Hi to everypony!"
I blinked against the light.
There were more ponies than I expected. Fluttershy were there, so was Rainbow Dash, Applejack, a red pony I think was her brother, her younger sister I could never remember the name of. Those were the ones I knew the names off, but there was another half dozen ponies there as well.
I raised one hoof, "Hello..."
“Welcome to Ponyville,” an earth pony said and smiled as she approached. She was very pale yellow with a blue and pink mane, “I’m Bon Bon,” she said and then motioned to the pony walking up next to her, a minty green unicorn, “This is Lyra.”
“Blank Page and thank you,” I said and smiled at them, trying to keep the amount of fang down. I think I actually saw Lyra around before somewhere. Couldn’t quite place where though.
Pinkie was smiling to the side.
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I just realized that the CMC in the Pageverse never got their cutiemarks by redeeming Diamond Tiara because Tirek never destroyed the playground. A wave of sadness hit me when I realized that.
Very complicated situation... No matter the choice, someone get hurt...
11299348
True.
Also:
CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS BATPONY WRANGLERS! YAY!
It had to be said.
Pinkie hissed in pain as she beheld her left foreleg. It was bent at an unnatural angle.
Pinkie: Yup, that's another broken leg.
She reached into her hair to pull out a bottle of liquid, wincing as her weight shifted slightly. She quickly drank the bottle, with the leg snapping back into place moments later. She sighed.
Pinkie: The things I do for whimsical exits.
Oooooooooooooh, the pain, the pain.
The torment of short chapters... I'd forgotten what the feeling of unrelenting "MOAR!!!" was like. Agony, sweet agony.
In one word:
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Minor typo alert:
Unless Fluttershy is now a hive mind or something, that second ‘were’ should probably be a ‘was’, same as you already have for the following individual mentions.
The meal between breakfast and lunch is called brunch
I'm gonna be honest, I hope Midnight and Talon decide to return to Nocturnis, should they have the chance to choose. I like thier characters and it helps Twilight too much to have a pony who can keep up with her mentally.
Also Page needs moar mares.
...maybe this world's Discord can find an alternate universe Twilight too? One who legitimately lost to Starlight, and is stuck in a bad future wanting to see her friends again.
Also, Pinkie manages to throw a perfect welcome party, because of hecking course she does, she's Pinkie.
11299348
They will find them anyway, or maybe some other ones, who know.
They need a stable permanent portal.
Talon reminds me that kids tend to take moving the worst. Adults are generally used to changing places and ties, but for kids you uproot their entire world.
A stable portal between the two worlds sounds more and more like the only solution that would end without massive heartbreak. Otherwise it's just pain upon pain again.
Come to think of it, did we ever get an idea how much time passed in this universe? I know years passed in Page's, but since this whole thing involved time travel I wonder if it's been just months here.
I'm thinking that midnight may end up making something similar to the mirror to allow free two way travel between canon and pagevere universes
MEANWHILE...IN THE PAGE UNIVERSE...AT CELESTIA'S CASTLE
Celestia:
Great...now I feel MORE sad for some reason! And more fat! And more of a failure! 
Grey Velvet:
Princess. I know you're stressed but eating THIS many cupcakes isn't going to help...also you're bruising my ribs.
Celestia:
Hush Emotional Support Pillow! *squeezes Grey Velvet again*
Grey Velvet: Oww!
Celestia:
I spent all day reading every tome in the library that might help find Page between all the dumb paperwork the nobles keep sending me! I EAT CUPCAKES AND GIVE HUGS NOW! 
Grey Velvet:
Please come back soon Page. My spine depends on you...
11299496
Not sure it will be that easy.
Not unless you can create a stable portal between the two worlds that you can open and close at will
Indeed
One hoof at a time. There's gonna be a way, maybe their research on the stones can come up with something, Page is pretty good at improvising at that.
)
...
MacPage(Pretty bad, I know
I do agree with Talon that it does suck for them. Tempest might go to Twilight's realm, but as Midnight had said she feels bound to Page for restoring her horn.
I still say that if they didn't destroy the map table in Page's dimension then yes they would have a very good chance to create a stable portal for easy access. but ultimately in my mind is that they may be able to open one, but it may not be in sync in the right time either...
11299618
It was never made in his the other twilight took hers back with her.
I just think Talon-Spike now might have a better shot at this worlds Rarity...
Pinkie is just spot on in this chapter. Just the right blend of reasonable and completely off the wall bonkers that is so challenging to capture.
11299360
Win the battle, lose the war, choice of evils lie before your feet...
Grammar jackboots of the day (minus localisation):
Cadance
Odd tense shift here.
11299656
Actually Celestia destroyed it when they tried to activate the "supossially restored" spell that ultimately opened a portal to some Lovecraftian dimension. That was how the Ponyville Treebray was destroyed in Page's dimension.
I could see Talon leaving with Page, and somehow Midnight being convinced to stay in Canon Equestria...though none of that could happen in one chapter lol. (Thank goodness this is a series)
11299596
less magic more metaphysics. he sees himself as a pony, he will live longer as one than a human after 100 years, 200 years, 1000 years even, will he have any humanity left?
11299656
it is possible they errect the Friendship Castle in Nocturnis. Twilight has everything she would need they just lack the need. Also it would be absolutely perfect for Nocturnis since they could defend a solid chunk of ground with it
11301101
Don't they need that box with several keys first?
Supfast
You did that twice. It should be Sugarcube Corner, capitalized, no "the."