Chapter 40
I turned a page in the book, a grape floating up in my magic and I chewed it slowly, reading in the light of the candle sitting next to me.
My escape had been to the fourth library at one of the furthest corridors from the door in this larger on the inside crystal tree.
Midnight's castle had multiple libraries. Yes, I was surprised too, this is my surprised face. I don’t think anypony has ever been so surprised before in the history of time. I had to sit down when I found out. I may never recover.
I had hidden in the smallest one furthest away from everypony else.
But apparently not well enough as the door opened and Shining Armor poked his head inside, looking around as he spotted me.
"Page," he said and pushed the door open, walking inside, "Am I disturbing?"
I looked at him warily, "...Depends, are you going to yell at me?"
He actually smiled as he answered, "Should I?"
"I really rather you didn't," I admitted, "I really did try to talk her out of it."
Shining nodded and crossed over to jump onto the chair across from my couch, "I know," he said as he sat down, "She told me. Didn't work, did it?"
"Not really," I admitted and shrugged my wings, "Your sister can be stubborn."
He grinned, "You don't say," he agreed before he sighed, "...She will be leaving a lot behind."
"She would do that either way," I pointed out with a small sigh.
He nodded, "Her marefriend, Tempest. I know, Cadance told me before we even got her message."
Cadance, huh. Was this really Cadance's idea originally? Intentionally? Well, she was the Princess of Love, so that tracked.
"So, not here to yell at me," I said, "What's up?"
Shining hesitated before he shrugged, "...I don't know," he admitted, "I guess I'm just curious and... if she does decide to go..."
"Look after her," I said, nodding, "I would anyway. Midnight is a friend and the sister of my marefriend, if something gets to her it's because I'm bleeding on the floor already with pieces missing."
He grinned briefly at that, "I guess we have that in common. Take it your marefriends are as happy about that as my Cady is?"
"Yeeeep," I agreed and shook my head, "Curious about Tempest?" I asked.
Shining nodded again, "And of this Nocturnis. Her friends there. Tell me about your Twilight?"
I considered that for a moment, "...You know, I might be able to do one better if you trust me," I said and closed my book.
"Like what?"
"You know I’m good with dream magic," I said, "I could make you a dream where you get to meet a dream copy of Tempest and she could show you around Nocturnis. It wouldn't be perfect, just a dream image based on the Tempest I know, but a lot closer than me just telling you about them."
He hesitated before he nodded, "What would I need to do?" he asked.
I jumped off the couch, "Here, lay down."
Slipping off his chair, Shining Armor jumped onto the couch and laid down, "Now what?"
"Get comfortable and relax, then don't speak, need to focus," I said and closed my eyes, channeling magic as I focused on forming the dream and dream image.
This was difficult. Making a dream without being in the dream was hard. Making it while also out in the real world made it twenty times harder.
But finally I opened my eyes and bent down, tapping my horn against Shining Armor's forehead.
He collapsed into sleep, snoring softly.
Taking a deep breath, I took half a step back before I nodded.
There. That worked.
He's going to be out for a couple of hours at least. I moved to gather up my snacks and book before I headed towards the door, pushing it closed behind me before I always ran into Cadance.
"Page," she said, "Have you seen Shining?"
"Actually," I said, "I have. He's on the couch inside, talking to Tempest."
Cadance looked at me in surprise, "Tempest? As in Twilights marefriend?"
I nodded before I shrugged, "Uhm, well almost anyway," I said, "He wanted me to tell him about her and I offered to show her to him in a dream. The dream image is showing him around Nocturnis right now."
Cadance looked thoughtful before she nodded, "...Could you show me too?"
"Sure, there's more room on the couch."
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Thanks for chapter!
Snuggle pile is-a-go!
Have a good day!
And here Page can earn a small income of showing nice dreams to ponies and other sentient creatures while still here or to mayhaps give the thestrals an inkling of where and what to build for themselves...
11342324
She went but until the poison joke happened everyone just hid. Personally they willing to face an insane alicorn but a zebra is somehow scarier than the alicorn.
Actually, extremly smart and efficient way of giving someone informations, in lucid dream you can not get bored (if you wish), you can basicly show something without imperfections of oral description and it take less time, as in dream times to go slower. Page really should try to replicate this thing for others use, as it would find many uses.
11342319
Thinking about the big picture can be just as worrying because everything that you do can have an even bigger impact especially if it goes wrong. Page prefers small things that can make a big impact given time instead trying to do big and make a bigger impact. Small stuff if it goes wrong we'll not as bad a fallout.
that's cool, I guess.
Wonder how many are going to be sharing the couch by the end of the night?
These tiny chapter serve no other purpose than to say very little, recycle content, but still appear productive because hey, you're pumping multiple a week. Very crafty.
As for the story, the trainwreck continues. Next chapter, Twilight Velvet visits and gets the 'i tRiEd tO cOnViNcE hEr' tired recycled spiel. Then Granny Smith, because why not? Then maybe Troubleshoes! Doesn't really matter because it's just a waiting game until you decide to throw in a few crumbs of substance.
And so, Page invents dream vr and starts a lucrative business.
Tempest when Page, Midnight and Talon get back to the other world: "You know, I had the strangest dream the other day where I showed Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence around Nocturnis. They acted as if they'd never been here before, it was really weird."
It took me thirty seconds to read this whole chapter, which consisted of a single scene. Are we actually going to see the Nocturnis dream with Shining or Cadance, or will that just happen off screen and only hear about it for a paragraph after the fact from Page?
11342319
I don't understand why the hell there are so many dislikes. Because if you, as an immortal, will not think about mortals, then you are a crappy god, and might be turned away from. You need to think AS much about big picture as the individual things. You need to actually take into account the current situation, and how ponies work right now.
It is also was not about what Page DOES, it's what he FEELS. As someone who was mortal quite recently - he still UNDERSTANDS. And what does it say about every
person who disliked the previous comment? You are f*cking cold hearted bastards, if you are OK with it.
"Road to hell is paved with good intentions". Not sure if it applies here, I think it does.
Intention for species is good...
It leaves every single individual in hell for many years. Friends - gone. Sometimes family - gone. Lovers - gone.
Have ANY of you thought about it, even for a f*cking second, before you downvoted my comment?
11342421
Tempest: "And then, everypony else in Equestria started showing up, all wanting tours...
"
"
"
Midnight: "I was really surprised and disappointed that nopony bothered to see us off. Not Shining, Cadance, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, not any of my friends, not my parents, nopony in Ponyville or Canterlot. Heck! Not even Queen Crysalis!! What was up with all that?
Page *thinking back to all those who wanted a tour of Nocturnis*: "Um... I may have left the water running in your Tree castle. Is there any way for us to get back there?
Great chapter
...MEANWHILE IN THE DREAM...
Cadance:
Shining! I came to join you in this dream tour!
Shining:
Oh thank Celestia! SAVE ME!
*Cadance notices her husband tied to a tree while Dream Tempest is adjusting the ballista aimed at him*
Cadance:
...what did you say?
Shining:
NOTHING!
Dream Tempest:
He called my hindquarters fat.
Shining:
I swear Cadance! I said "That's one big caboose" and was pointing at the train!
Dream Tempest:
Except there is NO train station inside Nocturnis. The station is a couple miles away.
Cadance:
Its just a dream Shining...you'll live thru this. *starts helping Dream Tempest with her weapon*
Shining:
11338326
Hmm, presumably, you say? However, this IS a difference between getting petrified by a cockatrice and getting petrified by a magic stone, and both ways ARE reversible. Plus, when Chrysalis was Petrified, the changelings couldn't feel her, either, and they had to hurry before Skitter started to metamorphose.
Also, Luna has been isolated from society for over a thousand years, so MAGIC could have come a long way since then, and she simply wouldn't have known that such things that were IMPOSSIBLE then, are POSSIBLE now, so when she petrified Tempest, she thought that Tempest was dead, and would have simply stated as such without much further elaboration, and everypony just took it at face value, without asking HOW, EXACTLY, did she kill Tempest, because, you know, Princess. Just accept the superior authority and move on, kind of thing.
11336623
Maybe Twilight of Canon.002, could be willing to do the same? Or maybe they could have looked into ways of repairing or replacing broken unicorn horns with prosthetics, or they could try getting Tempest to ascend, while in Pageverse? Or heck, they may not even have to, so Tempest has a broken horn, it's not that different from ponies or people who've lost a leg, or eye or such. Sometimes, they have to learn to improvise, adapt, overcome, survive, live, and then thrive. Besides, that'd be tomorrow's problem, as first they'd be focused on bringing her back to life in one piece....
Actually, hmm....
I wonder....
If they could FIND her lost horn, maybe through using an advanced tracking spell, or CARVE a new horn out of MAGICAL rock which is identical or similar enough in nature to her petrified form, maybe from asking Maud for help (adding in more screentime for her as well) ..... Then put her pieces back together, with the new horn added in....then revive her, from using her DNA as a template, POOF, all problems solved at once.....
11342538
she got mangled by a celestial bear, there's no horn to replace. Also its not about replacing it. Page made a deal with a god to restore her horn, taking on a curse himself for the rest of her life, and now his immortal life. That's an existential experience.
11342562
And Twilight wouldn't be willing to do the same, AT LEAST? Plus what about those other ways? She wasn't mangled by a Ursa Major(or was it a Minor?, oh sorry, just checked it was a Minor) sorry, Ursa Minor, it just slashed at her once and scarred her and broke her horn off, and that was pretty much it. It just hurt her once, and probably just left her alone afterwards, maybe because it was just ticked off and was defending its territory, or because her horn hurt its paw when it slashed her, so it thought that if it hurt her again, it'd also get hurt again...
Plus, she does have part of her horn remaining, and she can make magic flow through the vestiges, she just can't form spells for the most part. Only sparks. Plus it'd be like Animorphs with DNA. It'd use her DNA as a template, and then converting from stone to living flesh and matter, utilizing the shape and mass in the process. Because DNA doesn't record physical injuries happening from external factors, she could THEORETICALLY have her horn repaired during the process.
Nifty solution. I've got to wonder how much self control this is taking out of Shining Armour, given the hefty emotional impact for him. Poor bloke.
Grammar jackboots of the day:
My escape had been to the fourth library off one of the furthest corridors
"I would really rather you didn't,"
He was going to be out for a couple of hours at least. I moved to gather up my snacks and book before I headed towards the door, pushing it closed behind me before I immediately ran into Cadance.
"Tempest? As in Twilight's marefriend?"
11342574
tbh the whole 'unicorns don't regrow their horn' thing from the movie never made sense anyways, it has to grow thus there's the chance for it to be chipped, cracked or broken like any other antler, so it has to be able to repair itself
That was the time Page pranked Shining Armor by drawing a Monocal on his face, with permanent marker
Cadance as well
11342327
Snuggel-Bugs are missing
11342344
Pretty awesome to get Batponys to see their potencial future!
11342366
Page... The Dream bordello King
11342387
Chrysalis ending up with them would be hilarious
11342395
I wonder if it has stable multiplayer
Page has upgraded to giving VR tours with AI tour guides
11342590
Meh... Reminds me more of a Tooth.
Author is god, if god says
'pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows'
Than it is so...
Zecora has a Tooth healing potion... Why not a pony horn regrowing salve?
Than again Applebloom get there thr same day for help, while Tempest was horsing around under the Yeti banner.
11342394
Actually there is a fair bit of substance here. It's just that it's Shining Armour's arc being pushed forward, not Page's right now.
11342440
I didn't downvote because I can see where you're coming from, but I would say this: They have a choice, they can carry on as they were. What Page has done is given them the kernel of a support network for those willing to take the risk to get together and start trying to save their kind.
11342523
Luna was explicitly shown catching up to modern day advances, so I'd assume that includes magic and isn't something Page would have butterflied into being. Nice to see someone else who applies progress to magic though!
Assuming this is something Luna hasn't got to yet (entirely reasonable, there's bound to be a lot of advancement and petrification isn't common), there is a Celestia-shaped flaw in your reasoning. Plus there'd be an oddly-realistic statue lying about unless Luna smashed it, which would effectively kill Tempest anyway, which does raise a few moral questions on Luna's part considering she'd have killed a helpless opponent.
11342562
Technically, the Thestral thing is as long as Tempest lives, not Page. Of course at this point Page seems to prefer things this way, which might raise an interesting question in fifty years or so.
11342574
This assumes medical technology/magic is advanced enough to regrow body parts. We've seen cuts patched up, but nothing that grand to my recollection. Also it assumes Equestria is advanced enough to even have the concept of genetics, let alone DNA, which is very iffy since genetics weren't really theorised in the modern sense until the Victorian era (which Equestria largely falls within, with some apparent exceptions such as the 1920s-ish physics Twilight would need for any hope of figuring out multiverse related stuff) and DNA wasn't confirmed until the 1940-50s. Ultimately, you can't develop a spell for something you don't understand.
11342635
Hmm, something to look into, I guess.
11342590
Also, took a while to see your reply, sorry, looks like notifications tab is getting buggy again, it seems.
11342590
It could be that there was some deeper complication caused by the injury, and if the break had been higher or what have you, maybe it would have regrown.
11342642
eh its one of the earlier chapters but since page went and got decursed he's 100% thestral now, he's sort of glitched discord's spell
11342642
Actually, not really, like I said before, during the movie credits the Storm King was still alive, even when he had been smashed into pieces, you could see his eyeballs moving and stuff, and it's possible that Celestia didn't bother correcting her sister, and just focused on moving Tempest out of sight and out of mind, because she was a war prisoner now, and Twilight was still missing at the time, so everybody still had a lot more important things on their mind.
EDIT: about the dna thing, that's true, however, Twilight did focus on matter manipulation spells similar enough in nature, that it could work, like the turning an apple into an orange spell that she cast onto a frog by accident, in Too Many Pinkie Pies. Also, while Celestia is knowledgeable, she doesn't seem to be omniscient. Also, just thought of something, if she was familiar enough with Petrification magic, couldn't she have managed to extricate herself from the petrification spell, or nullify it herself? And Zecora did manage to regrow a broken tooth for Applebloom...
Oh, just thought of something, couldn't Twilight have learned of DNA through Sunset?
11342642
paradoxically a lot of the big discoveries we take as requiring modern technology really didn't, DNA's structure is pretty obvious in hindsight, and the xray crystalography technology was what made that eurika moment possible, had someone creative enough tackled the problem in the 1880s they probably could have figured it out just from the chemistry alone, same with a fair few major discoveries in the early 1900s, they were the end result of many people tossing theories out there and figuring out what made sense, but there wasn't really a technical limitation preventing the construction of a nuclear pile in the 1880s had they just gone down the right routes of theory soon enough
11342647
Ah thanks for the correction.
11342653
That strikes me as odd though, since why would someone be moving their eyes if they're petrified? I don't seem to recall that happening at other times. Was Discord present to be (somewhat gruesomely) messing with stuff? Either way, smashing him does make it near-impossible to restore him since you'd have to get every piece exactly right. Gaps in internal organs isn't something you want, after all.
As for the out of sight, out of mind thing; though I could see it happening, Celestia would likely have corrected Page if she had done that.
11342665
It was during the credits, and they didn't seem to be too big on adding too much visual/audio detail for that one... Getting the pieces right, easy peasy for our favorite OCD-corn, she probably has a spell for that, too... and for Celestia's correction, maybe she didn't know that Tempest was still alive while petrified, maybe she didn't care because she was still sour about Twilight going missing, or maybe she wanted to keep that card close to her chest for now, because she still wanted to get a feel for Page's character more, or possibly use it as a way to get more information, so that they could attempt to reform her like with Discord, maybe even after Page had already left. Or use it as an underhanded means to make Twilight stay in her homeworld....
EDIT: Perhaps, she thought that Twilight was under some thrall or hypnosis or such, either by Page or Pageverse's Tempest and wanted to confirm that she was of sound mind before making a decision.
11342662
There were earlier experiments that isolated DNA and confirmed there was a molecule responsible for genetic code around the time you're talking about and I'd not be surprised if they had reached that stage in-universe, but I'm not sure there could be a confirmation until they had a way to actually image stuff, be it by X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, etc. And regardless of that, the computing power to actually sequence an individual's genome to separate it from another of the same species is mind-boggling. They'd need a city-sized computer (or more) at this tech level to come even close...
Or they could get Sunset involved, I suppose.
11342671
Discord and Twilight both survived petrification, there's no reason Celestia would assume Tempest was dead from it, though I suppose the deception angles could work.
As for reassembly, a rhyme from the English Civil War involving an egg, a wall and large numbers of soldiers springs to mind. It doesn't matter how OCD you are if a few chips got lost in cracks, carried off by children, trampled around on the bottom of shoes, etc.
11342684
Dude, those English soldiers didn't have magic, nor a spell for practically every occasion like Twilight, didn't she know at least 25 different spells before becoming an alicorn?
11342695
More than that, I'd assume. But I'm honestly doubtful there would be a spell for 'find generic limestone' (or whatever the petrification stone is) in that list, and even if there is (or she takes the time to learn it, if it exists), she had best hope that stone is very rare in the area or she'll be spending the rest of the month with a headache and be left at square one.
11342707
Maybe not, remember Rarity had that gem-finding spell, and Twilight knows that spell too, Pinkie and/or Maud could help with recovering the lost fragments too, because the stone used for the petrification spell would have some traces of unusual magic attached to them, and maybe Midnight knows from Pageverse's Twilight about the Petrification they used, so it would be possible to reverse-engineer it in some way to locate the parts, reassemble them correctly, then turn her back to normal.
11342726
Maybe, assuming the spell can be configured in such a way. Looking for magic would probably be more reliable (avoiding the 'too much information' problem), but that might have faded by now.
For that matter, what's the duration of the petrification effect? Presumably the target would return to normal once the magic runs down (which is partly how Discord got loose). If it ran out before this point (a big 'if' in there being the time that's passed since the invasion) then it'd be too late since the bits would have returned to flesh and... Yeah not a pretty sight.
11342735
Well, the elements' petrification, practically lasted over 1000 years, so it has the potential to last very long, all things considered. And considering that Pageverse's Sunset was returned to Equestria, she would probably know about DNA and would have told the Twilight twins during her comeback in the Pageverse. That reminds me, we should probably see Page dealing with the Dazzlings too, because Star Swirl dumped them there....
11342744
Would Sunset have had reason to talk about DNA? Possibly I suppose. There's not really much way to know unless Hiver answers in-story or by jumping in here. Either way, there's still the issue of isolating one person's genome from another, especially since Midnight presumably doesn't have a sample of Tempest to work from.
Now the Sirens are an interesting question, yes. Wonder what's happened with them?
11342631
I can just imagine Cadence waking up to using chrysalis as a teddy XD
11342642
I didn't actually talk specifically to you, sorry. However, what I said stands, when other people/readers are concerned. Well done on proving me right. Knock Fluttershy with a blow to the head, don't reassure her, relocate her to a jungle village, do NOT bring friends with her, times 1000. Except when it seems to not matter, if it is not an element bearer. Nice move, bastards.
11342805
Page making a picture form this. Chrysalis & Cadance with the Titel 'love is in bloom'
11342826
I feel like I'm missing something here?
Why are we hitting Fluttershy over the head and dumping her in a jungle?
11342882
Because that's what heartless readers seem to want. They don't care about comfort of single "units". It's ALL about bigger picture. Forget about how thestrals feeling now. Forget the security of the next day. Job, friends... All that stuff. Just rip them from their places, and move to the jungle.
11342885
Sorry, when is this forced moving to the jungle happening?
All of the Thestrals that went to Nocturnis were volunteers.
Also, unrelated to your comment, but regarding the Tempest Discussion
11342735
When was it said that Tempest was Petrified? I thought it just said that Luna Killed her. I was under the assumption that meant *Blap with Magic Deathray*, not *Turn her to stone and hit with Sledgehammer*.
Did I miss something in the story somewhere?
11342892
Not so much happen, but implied. Read what I have been answering at. Follow the comment chain. How readers don't care about what single thestrals FEEL.
11342775
Hmm, well, maybe Sunset did, maybe she didn't, she did speak with PageverseTwilight for a long time, before Midnight came into the picture, she had access to the internet there, too, so either her or Twilight could've told Midnight, or even Talon; for example, if he talked to her about if it was possible to have children with a pony. But there's still a chance for it, which means there's still a fair chance for Canon.002Tempest to still be alive.
And maybe Midnight could find Tempest's body, from either Celestia, Luna or Page, the first two, because they would have probably overseen moving her stone body to the dungeons or Tartarus or whatnot, or maybe Page could find her through using his dream magic. Her body should still be intact, just without signs of life that Luna could currently detect, or maybe she lied to gauge Page's and Twilight's reactions to determine if they were under some sort of thrall or Geas from PageverseTempest or the Storm King, or even if her statue form was broken, Twilight could use an overlay of detecting Petrification Magic, living Unicorn signatures, stone consisting of molecules placed in DNA structures, etc. and where they meet/overlap would be where Tempest Shadow is located, and/or she puts the body back together a la retrieval magic spell, or Elements Of Harmony, then they revive her, and try to find a way to regrow/repair her horn in the process or afterwards, maybe with Zecora and Discord's help, or whatnot.
The potential is there, so it's possible to have Canon.002 Tempest back, considering she's needed for the big end against the three, now two, Big Bads. We also need to find a way to add Capper, Celaeno and the Hippogriffs for this too, considering they were there too and the movie has all been pretty shot considering Canon.002Twilight wasn't even there. And we need to find a sustainable means of traveling between dimensions for Canon.002Twilight and Canon.002Spike, maybe from studying and recreating the Mirror Portal. If Star Swirl could do it, Clover could do it, Twilight could definitely accomplish it. Heck she managed to keep the original EG portal open indefinitely in canon, so she could do the same for herself here, and for Page as well.
Plus Discord would most likely help; partially because Fluttershy is his friend, and Twilight is her friend, ergo, that makes Canon.002Twilight important to him as well, because she helps make Fluttershy happy; partially because everyone is being so fussy and moody and angsty and touchy over making a very difficult and painful choice, making said choice null and void, would be deviously chaotic of him, and because it is technically a good thing, people wouldn't really hate him for it, so he could get away with it, so to speak; and also because it's technically his fault that all this happened in the first place, so he'd feel some degree of personal responsibility for this, so fixing it wouldn't be too outside his moral jurisdiction; and finally; a chance to meet and possibly scheme alongside a counterpart of his, increasing the amount of chaos he could create in not one, but two universes, doesn't seem like either Discord would pass up such an opportunity for something like that to happen.
EDIT: Doesn't seem like they know about DNA in Equestria, for the most part, however Chrysalis did make a spell using "pieces" of the Mane Six to create the Mean Six, so it's possible that they could gain some insight from using things like feathers or hairs as catalysts, or anchors in spells, and rituals and such.
11342902
Sorry, where is this whole "Tempest is Petrified" thing?
I thought Luna just outright murdered her?