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Repercussions

by Hiver

Chapter 17

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Seventy six.

Seventy six letters!

Three days and I had already received seventy six letters in total! That was more than I had ever expected to receive. Well, after filtering out the crazies and angry ponies anyway. But we’re not counting those, they didn’t reach me anyway, they were filtered out beforehoof.

Now I had the majority of it spread all around myself on the couch and the table, reading them and taking notes as I went. Sunset was long asleep in the bedroom and it was late at night, Luna’s pet rock shining in through the windows, the night air crystal clear.

Luna sighed from her place by her desk and let her head drop down to rest on the stack of papers before her, “I wish I could make my sister do these.”

I smiled and looked over to her, “Tax reports?”

“Funding requests,” she grumbled without lifting her head before she groaned and sighed again, “It needs to be done, but that does not make it anymore fun.”

“Be glad it’s only the major ones,” I said and gently put down a letter from a little filly from Manehattan. She wasn’t a batpony, but she sent me one anyway. She thought my wings looked cool. She made a drawing too.

I’m going to have to answer to that one especially, it was one of the rare ones with a return address on it.

It was one of the few ones that made me smile. The stories seemed to have similar enough themes. Not going in public without their illusions, afraid of what might happen if they did.

Some lived out of the villages, away from the cities. Almost like Fluttershy did. Kept away from other ponies.

It just made me... so sad.

They shouldn’t need to live like that just to not be shunned by other ponies. Driven away. It shouldn’t be like that, but how do I fix it?

“I know,” Luna sighed, “But that does not make it anymore enjoyable. How are things going for you, My Page?”

“Depressing,” I admitted, “They should not need to go through this.”

“I didn’t expect so many,” Luna admitted, “I thought they were almost gone in this time.”

“Seventy five,” I said and looked at the letters around me, “Even counting that I expected maybe ten percent to answer, that’s still less than a thousand thestrals. That may sound like a lot, unless you compare it to the pegasi population.”

Luna nodded and jumped off her seat by the desk and crossed over to me, “I… I’m not sure if it is wrong of me to wish for it to be all of them,” she admitted, “The thought of all these ponies… yet alone hundreds more to be forced to live like that is not a nice one.”

I sighed and gave her a small nuzzle, “I want the reverse,” I said and then smiled at her questioning look, “I want there to be thousands upon thousands of bats in hiding!”

“...Why?”

“Because then there is a small chance for them to get normal lives,” I said and motioned towards the letters, “All of this… all of this can be made to go away, forced away. Knowledge is the poison of fear and ignorance. If there are many thousands of batponies, there is a chance that they can be common enough to get acceptance!”

“Did you think that would… work?” Luna asked uncertainly.

I nodded and gathered the letters up, moving them to the side to give Luna room to join me on the couch, “I do,” I said as she jumped up to lay down next to me, “It did for your guard. Nopony blink at eye at the sight of a pegasus in batpony armour. It’s when it’s clearly not in armour, but a real batpony that it’s a problem. That can be fixed with familiarity, but only if there are enough thestrals to reach the critical density needed for ponies to get used to them!”

At least that’s pretty much how I think it will work with ponies. With humans it would be a tossup, but ponies are generally nervous herd beings. When they get used to something, it’s usually no longer a problem

For crying out loud, ponies had stopped looking nervous when I walked around town with Fern on a lead! My wings were still drawing looks, but I had only been in public a legfull of times since my new... look.

Luna slipped her wing across my back, nuzzling softly at my mane, “I hope you’re right. I think you may be, but I don’t know. I tried.”

“I know, My Sky,” I said and turned my head to give her a small kiss, “I don’t know if this can ever be truly fixed… and mind this only works if there is enough and if they are all willing to stop hiding. I don’t know, maybe it’s not possible,” I admitted, “But it’s the only idea I have right now. I don’t know,” I repeated, “I sent Sparks a letter about it a few days ago to see if she has any ideas as Princess of Friendship and smartest pony I know, see what she comes up with. But I think she’s busy with other things right now.”

Luna nodded and nuzzled with a small sigh, “You should get some sleep, My Page.”

“...Yeah, it’s late,” I admitted and leaned against her, resting my head against her neck, “But I don’t want to. I want to stay here with you.”

Luna smiled softly and gave me a small kiss.

Next Chapter: Chapter 18 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 26 Minutes
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