Silver and Night walked side-by-side through the city. For most, business had resumed as if nothing had happened. Once in a while though, a pony would smile at Silver. There was no large fanfare or hero's welcome, but simply being welcomed felt like a... "It's different," he said.
Night perked one of her bat-like ears at Silver, "What is?"
Silver shrugged softly as they moved towards the castle, "I don't feel so much like a stranger in the city."
Night softly nudged against Silver, "You went through a lot of trouble for a stranger. I hear a lot of what happened while they were drained was a bit fuzzy, but at least your face seems to liven up ponies."
Silver smiled gently, "That's encouraging. Really, I mean that. Feeling welcomed really brightens things."
Night pointed at the castle as they came up to it, "Well try not to be too welcomed by the princesses. I just got you." She slowed to a stop. When Silver turned to her, she gave him a hard glare, "I know you know what it's like to lose somepony so quickly. Don't do that to me."
Silver winced as he fidgeted in place, "I'll do my best, honest. If they want to tie me up in the dungeon, I'll make sure they allow conjugal visits."
Night frowned, "Not funny. "
Silver shrugged, "You married me, you get the dry humor with it. Let's face destiny, together." They turned together and trotted up to the gate. The guards nodded at them, not barring the way as they stepped past into the spacious interior of Celestia's home.
Night had been partially correct. Three of four princesses presided. Twilight was nowhere to be seen, though Silver guessed she was dealing with her new tower. Cadance smiled brightly and approached them long before they arrived at the tastefully-arranged picnic. "Oh look at you!" She brought her wings around, grabbing Silver by the cheeks, "You look so much happier than before." Before Silver could get out much more than a mumble, her attention was on Night, grabbing her similarly, "And you're the one he caught? Or did you catch him?"
Feeling a sudden surge of confidence, Silver smiled, "She captured me with her enchanting beauty, and ensnared me with her innocence. I would have escaped if not for her iron-clad sense of duty that held me still."
Cadance's smile somehow deepened as she began to giggle, "You sound like Shining shortly after we became very special someponies. Come, you must tell us all about it over lunch." Cadance gave off a gentle presence, warmly welcoming them towards the neatly-pressed blanket covered in food. She made for a bright contrast to Luna, who glared at Silver as if he may have arrived to steal from her.
Celestia was serene and composed. As they arrived, she nodded her head lightly, "Good of you to join us. I trust you found your way easily?"
Night smiled gently, "I used to work for your sister, your majesty. I could get him here." She bowed low before Celestia, then Luna, and once more for Cadance.
Silver watched Night go, then shook his head, "If I did that, there's a good chance I'd fall over. I hope nodding is good enough." He dipped his head towards each of the three, though Luna turned away when it was her turn. He perked an ear at Luna, "Really?"
Luna frowned at him, "Verily."
Celestia cleared her throat, "Let us begin with acknowledging good deeds done. Once-human, now pony of my kingdom, you have acted in our best interest at almost every turn, even at personal cost. Though I doubt my ponies would have perished without your action, you spared them suffering and gave them succor and friendship when things were darkest." She spread her white wings wide, "I thank you, on their behalf. As a squire of the court, this would be expected of you, but I am told you are no longer that."
Silver glanced towards the petulant-looking Luna and back to Celestia. "Luna made a few... errors. By her own terms, she destroyed the life I had promised her. I bear no ill will towards her, but we... have to keep our word, right?"
Cadance nodded properly, though she looked like she was hiding something. Celestia was much more stoic in her soft agreement. "That is why I will offer, as prize for your efforts, the position. You will be paid handsomely as my servant, and given resources to continue your research. I hear you are quite the magic enthusiast."
Night's wings spread sharply, but she forced them back down, "You are very generous, your highness, but Silver wishes to be his own pony."
"Does he now?" asked Celestia, looking at Night, then Silver. "Silver is a good pony, a great pony. He wishes for the best for Equestria. At my side, he could accomplish great things for the betterment of all ponykind."
Silver shook his head, "I want to finish school. I'm not even fully adult until then."
Celestia gestured towards Luna, "Then why did you throw yourself at my sister? Surely you realize... If she accepts your hoof, should your first wife accept her, you could become intimately bound to the court. Everypony would know of it within days, most within hours."
Night huffed softly, "Which is why I will not accept her until then." She stomped a hoof, "If I don't invite her, there's nothing to discuss. The stallion can only approve."
Cadance held up her hooves, "So serious. We should calm down." She reached forward, picking up a tray with a slice of strawberry cake and offering it to Silver. He hadn't had strawberry cake in... he'd forgotten. He accepted the plate in his mental grip and nibbled on it. It was better than memory recalled! Cadance spoke as Silver devoured the cake eagerly, "I am delighted that Silver has found a good and true wife, that looks after his interests so keenly."
Luna winced as Cadance said that, shuffling in place.
Night smiled at Cadance, "Somepony has to watch this big brave idiot." She swatted Silver gently, then wrapped him in the same wing that struck him, pulling him close. "I swear he has no sense of self-preservation. He'd sit in a burning building if he thought doing so would save enough ponies."
Silver tilted his head, "Only ponies that mattered to me."
Night snorted, "You say that, but I've seen different." She fixed eyes with Cadance, "You seem to know him. What do you think?"
Cadance gave a warm expression, "I think he is becoming better. I can feel your love flowing both ways and it is delightful."
Silver perked his ears, then pointed at Luna, "What about her?"
Luna's wings shot out as she jumped into a defensive stance, "Dare you not!"
Cadance let out a slow sigh, then looked to Celestia, who nodded gently. Cadance nodded in return, "Luna--" She was tackled to the ground under Luna. It turned out that Cadance was no stranger to being tackled, and her pretty pink hooves went to work tickling Luna, driving her back in forced gales of laughter. "Luna has a huge, angry, crush," announced Cadance, smoothing her feathers.
Luna sat down heavily, "There are countless reasons this would not work."
Cadance developed a wiley expression as she looked to Luna, "Name them."
Luna snorted, "It was you, dear niece, that suggested against it, to start. He is of common birth, and she as well. She is first wife, where I would rightfully be. A secondary wife is no place for a princess. They are short-lived, and will be gone long before I." She reached out a wing and brushed it ever-so-softly across Silver's nose, making him sneeze, "It would end in heartache, even if the nobles were convinced not to riot in fury."
Celestia gave a slow nod, "Then we should tell them the truth."
"The truth?" echoed three ponies at once. Everypony but Cadance looked at Celestia with confusion.
Celestia pointed at Silver with a hoof, "Are you not a delegate of your people? Your work at learning our culture has been admirable, going so far as to choose a guard as your guide and prove that our people are romantically compatible." She swept a wing towards Luna, "It is hardly without precedent that either of us would spend some time being partners with a foreign dignitary, to help cement good relations. You would not be a member of his herd, as first wife or any other, but as a royal consort and contact."
Luna trembled as she shook her head, "That would be a lie! Sister!"
Celestia tilted her head, "Is it?" She looked to Silver, "Do your people intend to invade Equestria?"
Silver shook his head quickly, "Not that I'm aware of."
"Already, peace reigns," said Celestia.
Cadance grinned, "Will you share your technology with us?"
Silver nodded gently, "As much as I can?"
Cadance clapped her hooves, "Already we profit from trading of knowledge. You were very wise to open diplomatic channels with these 'humans', Auntie."
Luna thudded a hoof onto the soil, "He is not even human anymore! Who will believe that this... colt... is delegate of anything? The scandal that will spread should I lower myself to accompany this barely-stallion!"
Cadance looked over Silver appraisingly, "You're judging too quickly. This is the same 'colt' that fed half the city. This is the same 'colt' that challenged the nobles and rose despite it." She leaned towards Luna, "This is the same colt that has your heart in his hooves, and he's trying so hard to be gentle."
Luna darkened, though it was hard to see, "Niece, your impertinence tries me."
Celestia nodded once, "Then it is settled. We welcome you, Ambassador Silver Lining. Will you accept Princess Luna as your royal consort while you remain in our kingdom?"
Silver trembled in place, looking to Luna, then Night, trying to figure out what would be best to do. "May... I have a moment?" He rose on shaky feet and nipped at Night. She soon joined him and they quickly escaped across the yard to talk. Luna frowned and leaned in, whispering to the other princesses hotly, though her words were lost in the distance.
Night frowned sharply, "I knew it! She isn't going to give up until you're under her hoof."
Silver shrugged gently, "I don't get the idea Cadance or Celestia would ever hurt me intentionally."
Night waved a hoof, "Neither of them are offering to be consort. Sit." When Silver sat, she put a hoof somewhere very delicate and applied pressure, making Silver curl on himself, though pinned under her hoof as the pain built. "That's for even thinking of Celestia." She drew her hoof back, "Now answer me honestly. Do you want Luna?"
Silver did his best to recover from the abuse without outright rubbing himself. He could still feel the eyes of the other princesses on him intently. "I..."
Please refuse her
otherwise its just becomes too complicated
From squire to Ambassador. Celestia really wants to tie him to the court. It's not a bad thing, per say, but she really is going far to stitch a little Silver Lining into Equestria's government.
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw8181-1348961216188.gif
He's meant got 2 mares already but try and do so some filler chapters to allow votes to fill in, like do a chapter about their back stories.
They walked "side-by-side" through the city.
Her ears are "bat-like."
The picnic is "tastefully-arranged."
Er, "chins" should be singular, since he only has one. Maybe she grabbed him by the cheeks instead?
No real error here, but I'd change that to "very special someponies," just because that "very" was always there when we heard it in the show.
The blanket is "neatly-pressed."
Luna is "petulant-looking."
Given that Night's saying this, shouldn't it be "somepony" instead?
The two of them are "common-born." The hyphens are strong with this chapter!
There are two spaces between "a" and "guard."
"She" needs to be capitalized.
(As a note, my review of this chapter won't arrive until tomorrow morning.)
A crush is different from what he wants I think. Might be better to try to live his life without the major part that would be tied down by accepting Luna.
5749901 All fixed!
i hope he refuses Luna, just feels like it would be too much, probably more so than it did with Celine
5750349 A popular opinion!
Luna This playing tsundere and is afraid of relating, but also to been quite arrogant and problematic
should reject it and think that the situation is reversed, I think that neither she waiting to be rejected
I would like to see their reaction
....This is a fucking minefield and people are screaming refuse....and accept will also bring trouble....i go with the third options....and fucking let Silver stay in his character and don't let other be the influence...
5750813 A refreshing voice of dissent, with a bonus video. Thankee.
5748286
I am thinking princess celestia is going to steep in and ask him to be a squire.
and I am going to say 70% Luna will join his herd she has clean back and she can deny it but the memory's came back with her.
Ambassador Silver Lining if night is willing to invite Luna in to the herd as she is the first wife silver will accept.
deep down he has loved Luna before he was brought to Equestria.
he life has changed so much in the last few weeks months and gotten so much better but I think he is going to need Luna's support in his new role as Ambassador Silver Lining.
but it is still nights place to make the decision silver only needs to approve after the invite.
Harts Fire
5749923 I enjoyed this chapter quite a lot. When done well, political machinations are intriguing, and romantic machinations are engaging - this had both, and so I was grinning as the scene unfolded. The characterization was also a lot of fun; it was very amusing to see Luna sulk through the entire meeting, clearly embarrassed beyond belief that her personal feelings were at the center of a state function. It also made for some nice, low-level payback for everything she's put Silver through.
My biggest congratulations, however, are reserved for Celestia's answer to how to put Silver and Luna together. An ambassadorship is a brilliant idea, something I'll talk about more below.
As it stands now, Silver is actually faced with two questions. The first is the one Night asked him: if he wants Luna. In all honesty, I can't imagine him saying anything other than "yes." As I said before, there's simply too much history between them for there not to be drawn to each other. Even the worst characterization of their relationship would be that it's love-hate, which is to say that love that's not nurtured turns to hate if it's left to wither on the vine. Obviously "hate" is a strong term here, but there's consideration to be given to the idea that part of the reason Luna keeps inadvertently making things worse for Silver is because she can't have him. As Silver cogently noted, she is Celine - Celine's feelings were formed from Luna's own (remember how Luna hid her feelings from Cadance's sight when they visited Silver in the hospital?), after all. Moreover, those feelings would only have been magnified when she re-absorbed Celine, since Celine had had time to openly indulge and nurture her love for Silver. Luna showed her entire hoof when Silver asked for a kiss and she forgot herself in a moment of passion.
Moreover, Silver is quite clearly attracted to her - how could he not be? For all of the bad history he has with Luna, she is his lost love. She looks like Celine and has her memories of their time together. The closest he'll ever come to having Celine back is to form a relationship with Luna...if he does that, Celine's not truly gone. That's the sort of line of thought that Silver would be unable to dismiss easily.
Finally, there's the practical aspect. Simply put, I'm not sure how much Silver and Luna could avoid each other anyway. They live in the same city, after all, and even if he's no longer a squire Silver keeps getting himself entangled with things that reach the highest levels of power in Canterlot. It's not practical to push her away when they're practically neighbors, to say nothing of the fact that Luna is never more than a night's sleep away anyway. This is an issue that's going to come up, so why not (to reuse the metaphor) make lemonade out of these lemons.
The other question that's facing Silver is if he should take on the title of ambassador or not. Even more than the last question, this one should - in my opinion - be answered with a resounding "yes." The reason for that is that an ambassadorship brilliantly solves virtually all of the sociopolitical problems that would arise out of a relationship between him and Luna.
For one thing, despite what Night thinks, an ambassador would be fairly well liberated from the politics of the royal court. Indeed, that title would allow him to formally interact with the court while still remaining untouched by most of its internal machinations. For one thing, this would formally mean that his legal status would be very nearly that of Luna's equal - as a formal representative of a foreign government, he'd essentially be recognized as speaking on behalf of said government; in effect, he'd become a de facto ruler (albeit of a people and a government that, for all intents and purposes, don't exist as far as Equestria is concerned). True, he wouldn't be a literal ruler per se, but then Luna is also presumed to be (though never formally noted as being) secondary to Celestia - that puts her and Silver very much on the same level.
It also immunizes him from court politics. After all, one of the most integral aspects of an ambassadorship is diplomatic immunity (for Silver and his family, which would include his wives - though the thought of Fast Change being immune to local laws is somewhat frightening). This would allow him to research any sort of magic he wants without penalty, and largely puts him free from a lot of what the nobility could possibly bring against him, since the worst that Celestia and Luna could do would be to declare him pony non grata and banish him...but it's not like they can't do that to anypony anyway, being absolute monarchs within their kingdom, so there's no real threat to him there.
Of course, as Celestia noted, this would set his relationship with Luna apart from his herd marriages - Night, Fast, and any other mares that he wed would have no say in his relationship with Luna. As his royal consort, their relationship is technically a political arrangement, and so circumvents Night's authority as first wife. That would be likely to put her out some, since it leaves her unable to formally intercede between him and Luna - and she's clearly worried about Luna hurting him any further, but I doubt that she can come up with a better answer.
To summarize, I think Celestia's plan is a great one, and that Silver should absolutely say yes.
His poor, abused testicles. It's kinda hot though.
And while ambassador is a recurring HiE element it solves stuff.
5752662 I'm not sure what this video means.
5753844 If I change that rating, doom falls on you all.
5753962 What was the one percent?
extra space
A royal consort is the pet of the royal, not a royal that is a pet for someone else. Unless Silver was King of All Humans, he would still be beneath Luna's consideration, regardless of diplomatic relations, real or fabricated.
Night softly nudged against Silver, "You went through a lot of trouble for a stranger. I hear a lot of what happened while they were drained was a bit fuzzy, but at least your face seems to liven up ponies."
Correction:Night softly nudged against Silver, "You went through a lot of trouble for a stranger. I hear a lot of what happened while they were drained was a bit fuzzy, but at least your face seems to be liven up ponies."
6287551 Tweaked.
I am a bit late, loving the story by the way, but this seems a little grammatically off, should the "be" be in there?
Surely it would be "your face seems to liven up ponies"?
6880135 Fixed.
Fuck you celestia. Keep this shit monogamous, or at least dont do a stereotype with a princess being part of the herd.
As you can probably tell by the swearing, it is far too late for me to be up, so I shall endever to put this very same story down and close mine own eyes to slumber peacefully till the sun rests at apex. As for weather I shalt or shalt not stay and interval longer, mayhaps to find the answer to the query of Luna, thine own answer shaltnot be nay.