Silver trotted quickly through the city towards the castle. The guards saluted as he approached and one of them directed a hoof. "Princess Celestia awaits you."
That confused him a little. "She is?" The guard simply nodded as if it were obvious and Silver trotted past to find the large mare that was his employer and brief courter.
His thoughts drifted through their relationship. Outside his vision, dream, or whatever else it was, she had been kind and welcoming. She was also formal more often than not, even in her smiling way. The only hint of coldness was how she broke things off, but...
Silver grasped the doorknob in his magic and entered the spacious dining hall that Celestia was already seated within. He nodded to her as he approached the long table. "Good afternoon. I'm guessing you figured out why I was called away from the castle?"
Celestia smiled at him, as was her habit. "I did, in fact. Did everything go well, and are you safe?"
Silver tilted his head a little. He was clearly in one piece, though he quickly guessed there were other ways a pony could be hurt. "She didn't hurt me. She has what she needs to do what she wanted to do in the first place, but it didn't go nearly the same as last time."
"It almost never does." Celestia gestured with a wing to a seat near her. "You never see exactly what you need to see alone. Contaminated with your own thoughts, desires, and so much else, such things become sometimes hopelessly clouded. You've had a taste of what I've learned to live with for some time."
When Silver settled, a cookie in golden magic lifted to his snout. A glance showed Celestia's horn was glowing the same shade and he took it into his mouth, chewing lightly. "In the vision we started as enemies, then became cautious allies. Towards the end, more than that, but the reality is something else."
Celestia's wings folded atop her back as she nodded. "Do you wish to share?"
He did. With a slow breath that tasted of the cookie he had just finished he continued, "I think she trusts me, to a limited extent, but I was nothing but a tool to get where she wanted to be. With hope, she'll learn what she needs to learn and turn towards brighter paths." He flashed a little smile. "She may even come back around to apologize for some of what she's done, but that will be that."
"Do you wish for more?"
He frowned a little at the question. Did he? No... "She turned out to be perfectly lovely, but it's probably for the best that my sticky web of a family life not ensnare any more ponies in passing." He leaned forward a little, looking at Celestia. "Why did you break off so suddenly? I mean, it's your choice and all."
Celestia tilted her head a little. "Must you know?"
The new question made Silver tense. It was phrased... dubiously. "I have a few theories already. Lovers or not, Celestia, I do like you a lot, and just like you asked me to speak freely to you, that goes the other way. I already know you're not just a 'Perfect Princess'. You have cracks, faults, and there is a living mare here that deserves to be seen as such, not just an infallible goddess above all such concerns."
Celestia raised a brow faintly. "Bold words from a pony trembling ever so faintly."
It was true, he had been. "It's been a busy day, but that doesn't make what I said less true."
Celestia leaned in suddenly. Her long neck let her touch her snout to his gently. "You don't want that pressure."
Silver reached up and touched Celestia's nose with a silver-clad hoof. "I'm already tied up with you. I choose for that to be a relationship that isn't a stiff formality of Queen and Dignitary. Now, what's bothering you?"
She was quiet a moment. Her golden magic lifted a glass of tea to her lips. "I have seen to it my former-student will be tried sorely, possibly to fail, possibly to doom the entire kingdom, and the world beyond it. I could have saved her this. I could have stopped it long before it reached such a dire moment, and yet..."
"Here we are," completed Silver, nodding. "I can see how that would be rough at best."
Celestia's mouth twisted into a bit of a smirk. "Rough may be somewhat understating the situation. Destiny seems to enjoy testing my resolve. I must play my part, the 'Perfect Princess', as you title me. Riding down from on-high, fire and fury washing over the troubles of Equestria..." She glanced away a moment. "It's tempting, sometimes."
He slid to his hooves and circled the table. She was watching him, but didn't stop him as he leaned in and nuzzled her side. "You are a good pony. You've practiced it, but you're not a statue." He nipped through her thick fur and received a sudden swat with a wing for the boldness.
"Enough, for now... Thank you."
He was dismissed. Silver trotted from the room without further testing her. Baby steps.
Night was returning from the office, where she had been handling the correspondence that arose from Silver's position, but she was finished with that for the day. As she approached her room, she slowed. There was no light coming from beneath the door. That was a bit odd for the time of day, unless somepony was taking a nap? With Trixie and Rough with them, such was far from impossible.
She decided that was the most likely course of events and opened the door gently so as to not disturb any sleeping ponies. Inside the room was a low table with a single flickering candle. Her wings flared out with surprise. That was not normal.
"Your eyes, like two well-cut gems, in lustre, not texture, I hope." Samantha stepped out of the nursery, a bunch of flowers held in her magic as she approached that table. "Welcome home, alpha female."
Night blinked before she removed her glasses and gave them a quick rubdown before putting them back on. Samantha was still there. "What is the meaning of this?"
Samantha tilted her head. "I am attempting to woo you." A book appeared beside her head. "I'm following the directions." The flowers hovered towards Night. "After some research, I determined this was your favorite variety."
Night gave a lone sniff, confirming that Samantha had divined correctly. With a wing, she carefully accepted the bouquet. "Why are you wooing me?" She raised a brow. "What's with the candle, setting a mood?"
"Oh, not just that!" Samantha smiled brightly as two plates appeared beside her, one had a smell that set Night's mouth to watering instantly. "Grilled fish with a seasoning blend I'm told is especially palatable to lunar pegasi." She set the two plates down on the table across from one another. "We can now begin our romantic dinner!" She clopped her hooves with delight.
Night approached the table cautiously and settled down on the side that had the fish. "Samantha, you've been my doctor, but that's not exactly the usual starting point to even thinking about this." She tilted her head slightly. "You do realize how strange this is?"
"No?" Samantha sat across from Night, still smiling. "I wish to earn your favor and prove my sincerity." The book flipped open and Samantha consulted her dating guide. "Do you have a preference in dining music? Musical acc--"
Night held up a wing. "Stop that right there. Put that book down."
"Huh? Was it wrong?" Samantha tilted her head, confusion ruling her features.
"It's fine, but..." Night licked her lips. What was going on? Why were mares suddenly crowding around her? Was this what Silver had felt like? It excited her, and scared her. "Samantha, look at me. Look at me and tell me what you see."
Samantha's ears perked at Night as she looked over her would-be alpha. "I see a lunar pegasus, mother of two healthy foals, mated pair with a unicorn ambassador." She tapped her chin. "I see she's letting her food cool." She pointed at the plate. "Please, try it! I worked really hard to make it."
It wasn't quite the answer she was seeking, but she relented to the request and leaned in, sniffing at the fish. There were imperfections there. She was certain it wasn't cooked all the way through. It was cooked at Samantha's hooves, not one of the castle chefs. A little raw meat didn't bother her overly much, especially with the scent coming from it. She had to have that recipe. She sank her teeth into it and slurped one of the cuts down with a soft gulp.
Samantha clopped her hooves. "Acceptable?"
"Not perfect..." Night watched Samantha for a reaction, and the doctor wore her emotions on her sleeves as she began to look quite worried. "But it's nice, and the effort put into it is obvious and endearing." She reached across and tapped Samantha on the chest. "Now give me a better answer."
"What was wrong with it?"
"You physically described me, and only the most obvious portions. Describe what I am to you." Night rolled a hoof lightly. "Explain why you'd even want to do... this."
Samantha tilted her head. "Romantic dinners display intentions and are an important part of courting." She frowned a little. "As for observations of you, let's see." She tapped at her chin a moment even as the other hoof tapped at the floor. "You are exceedingly aware, displaying an uncanny observational intelligence. You are well-trained and passionate in battle and I know I would be safe with you around."
Night felt her cheeks warm up at the idea of a pony feeling safe beside her. It tickled at the reason she applied to become a guard so long ago. "I'm using that 'observational intelligence' right now." She was peering at Samantha, trying to unwrap her mystery. "You're not courting me just for a safe feeling, I imagine?"
Samantha's subtle expressions showed a thought that she quickly suppressed, and Night jumped on it.
"There!"
She jumped at the sudden outburst. "What?"
Night pointed a wing at Samantha. "Whatever you were just thinking a moment ago, tell me. No filters."
Samantha looked unsure again before she nodded. "Very well. As alpha female, you are entitled to know. I have failed as a scientist."
"What?" Night blinked owlishly. That was not what she had expected. "How?"
"I watched you progress in the process of reproduction and what started as an exciting scientific endeavor became something more." Samantha smiled, but it wasn't her usual manic smile. "I became biased... Night Watch, I... like you." A tear suddenly ran down her cheeks. "I like you both and I can't stop liking you and it means I'm a terrible scientist but I don't care and I..." She trailed off, looking away and wiping at her eyes with a fetlock. "I'm sorry. I'm ruining this dinner."
so we got a slightly lesbi pony and silver wants celestia to join
7158401 Actually I think Silver would just squee-gasm if Celestia glomped him and never did anything more than snuggled him like a teddypony while going on about her day.
Well, I got what I wished for and saw her attempt to 'woo' Night, though the sudden turn to drama was...unexpected. She did give the impression that she doesn't mind the bias in her 'studies and observations' when she approached Silver or did she only realize the depths of Silver's words while researching the book on courtship.
7158481
I think she just doesn't know how to phrase her affections without tying it in with Science, even in her own mind.
A more normal science-pony would probably lead the thought with how she is in love, and conclude with the side effect of it introducing bias. Samantha leads with the observation that her science is biased, and concludes that it is caused by love.
Also a bit surprised that she does seem to have explicitly Night-centric aspects to her affections, but it does come across as legit and natural in Samantha's own way. She doesn't strike me as capable of pulling that scene off as a deception to get with Silver.
Well well well...some surprising confessions, and not-confessions, in this chapter. I was quite impressed at the mixture of what was said and what wasn't said, as both made things quite a bit clearer. This is good, as the natural progression of a particular character arc is to pull back the curtain more and more, letting the audience see progressively greater aspects of the characters on display.
In first first part of the chapter, that was with Celestia, at least insofar as she interacts with Silver. I'll start with the bad here: Celestia admits to letting the situation with Starlight fester (e.g. that she's allowing Starlight to tamper with magic that could doom everything), and is divesting responsibility in favor of Twilight handling it, but she hasn't stated why she's doing so. The closest that we get to an explanation is that she's trusting in "destiny," which I presume is Silver's knowledge of the future...which she flat-out says, in this chapter, is prone to being inaccurate. This is the part that I can't figure out; if she knows that Silver's visions are a mixture of truths and falsehoods, then why rely on them with regards to such enormous stakes? Why not play it safe, which in this case would mean arresting Starlight? The entire argument against this seems to be "that it turns out alright for everyone, including Starlight," but this doesn't mean they can't arrive at the same conclusion with an alternative, less-risky approach. Starlight can be redeemed without having to let her come dangerously close to destroying all of Equestria. Silver's visions, in other words, are being treated as a reliable bet despite it being obvious that they're not reliable. So what's Celestia's angle here? Even her own visions (as seen at the end of season four) seem to be much more trustworthy than what Silver has going on.
Aside from that, I loved the interplay between Silver and Celestia, even though I felt like Silver's motivations were a little unclear. It was great the way he flat-out asked Celestia why she dumped him, because it forced her to try and dodge the question; and make no mistake, that's what her ominous "can you handle the truth?" response was. She all but admitted that she didn't want to tell him, and this raises the question of why that is. The obvious (and, I'll admit, fun) guess would be that she has feelings for him too. After all, falling in love with the stallion that her sister doesn't know how to quit would be a recipe for disaster. Sororal polygyny may be the most stable kind of polygyny, but in this case it seems likely to lead to things becoming worse, rather than better. After all, Luna has jealousy issues (e.g. her whole Nightmare Moon phase), which by itself is reason enough to avoid that entire conflict, particularly since Celestia's feelings aren't so far developed as to be love, yet.
But I'm not convinced that's all there is to it. Celestia has shown, with the whole Sunny Days/Celine bit, that she's fairly adept at handling her little sister. So what else could it be? It's certainly not politics; Celestia is less invested in the sanctity of the political traditions of royalty than Luna is. Maybe something more primal...fear of loss, perhaps? I seem to recall this fic nodding in the direction of the comic arc that had Celestia in a relationship with an alternate universe's "good" King Sombra. Maybe a combination of things? Or maybe I'm just reading into it, and her refusal to answer was her teasing Silver.
What's even less clear is why Silver was teasing her back. Maybe he was just trying to offer some friendly advice, but it honestly seemed like he was trying to woo her, with his talk about how "you don't have to be a flawless princess for me." That level of intimacy pushes the boundaries of friendship, especially since they were just recently in a potentially romantic relationship. And that nip at the end seemed like out-and-out flirting. Baby steps...but towards what end? Silver doesn't seem to realize that, when it's with someone you find attractive (and who finds you attractive) the line between friendship and something more isn't a line at all; it's a continuum.
On Night's end, the wooing has commenced! I'm honestly shocked at just how well Samantha is pulling this off so far. The usual trope here is that someone like her would go through the motions without understanding the meanings behind them, making the whole thing a parody of what's supposed to happen. But instead, Samantha is correctly performing the roles expected of her, culminating in what was an honestly moving admission of love. Or at least, something that resembles love.
Normally I'd nitpick over the convenience of Samantha's presumed compatibility with another female alongside her desire for Silver...but I honestly can't bring myself to do so here. It strikes me as self-evident, or at least extremely plausible, that Samantha simply doesn't have any innate sexual preferences to transgress. Someone like her just seems like they'd find interpersonal affairs so alien that when they do fall in love, it simply won't take into account any of the usual factors that someone more grounded would consider natural. The same way Samantha doesn't see social cues, she doesn't have any natural inclinations towards males or females, which in a way puts her above Silver, who had to work to set that particular set of restrictions aside.
Far more touching was Samantha's admission that she likes Night (and Silver, it goes without saying) more than she likes being a scientist. I really hope that Night appreciates just how hard it must have been for Samantha to admit that...that she then apologized for ruining things was just heartbreaking. At this point, the very least Night Watch should do is respect how much Samantha is putting on the line here; ideally she'd be equally as open, even if she doesn't feel the same way. Given that the chapter admitted that she was excited by what was happening, I'm hopeful that she will, and that we'll finally see why Night has been so unwilling to commit to a closed relationship with Silver. That seems like the next logical step in showing us more of these characters.
The next chapter can't come soon enough!
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I think we would all react the same to be honest. I know I would gladly be paid in hugs and cuddles.
ensnare anymore ponies - ensnare any more ponies
as you title. - as you titled me/it.
understating - understating it/the matter/the situation
handling the correspondence - she had been handling the correspondence (Unless she's carrying the correspondence with her. In that cade, no typo.)
*****
It was very nice to see Silver's conversation with Princess Celestia. Her revelation of, well, not details per se as much as a broad strokes image of the larger situation, reveals that she has a far greater grasp of the workings of her world than is obvious from appearances. However, I do note that Silver's direct question went unanswered. You've done a good job of writing for a character with a perspective that is alien to mere mortals.
Samantha. That passage was excellently written. It starts off outright creepy, and I was about to lament on how she was backsliding. Then it became so awkward and adorkable that it was humorous. Finally it pivoted into showing us what a sad and vulnerable pony she is under her defenses and it was heartbreakingly sweet and sad. Very well played Mr. Silver.
Samantha never did elaborate on what the candle was for if not only for mood. Hopefully not some sort of pheromone cocktail to 'enhance the mood' while she courts Night Watch.
I also hope that Rough Draft, Trixie, and the foals are not locked in a closet.
7158683 You taunt and tease. You have the answer to Celestia, and even say it, then casually discard it without actually using the data!
Similarly, I actually thought Samantha was making an adorable mockery of things, but she was trying really hard, and perhaps it was that naked sincerity that really brought the scene together. She was working from a book of romance, but it was no experiment or clever ruse, just a gracefully awkward grasp that turned into an exposing of her sensitive heart.
As for Silver's reactions, well, he never was good at knowing what he wants, but he surely does wish to be close to Celestia. Can be he close without being close close?
7158724 Typos corralled!
There was some really good pony-to-pony sharing and I really liked writing it. I'm glad it came across well.
7158728 Wait, I had the answer to Celestia?! You mean about why she's allowing things to proceed as they are with Starlight? Or why she's being so coy with Silver? Or that she was just teasing? Argh, this is what happens when you can see too many plausible interpretations!
7158698 ... On that note, does that mean that by choosing to wake up Silver is responsible for the annulment of an entire universe and everyone and everything within it? I mean if it didn't actually happen there's not much guilt to be had there but then with Surprise it's like... He didn't even kill them, he just... negated their existence o.o; Do not pass 'Go', do not receive afterlife, just 'poof'. It was there, and now it no longer is.
FIX IT
7158777 That is a mighty big philosophical issue.
Ah Sam, science has no explanation for what love is when it bites.
7158787 I quite concur, a grand philosophical conundrum in which one must weigh the benefits of returning to the supposedly 'real world' of the original timeline at the cost of the one which you are in currently, versus remaining and simply costing the original timeline your presence within it. A conundrum which is not nearly as simple as initially proposed due to ignorance during the decisionmaking process but allow me to rebut in the following manner.
FIX IT
Celestia is pretty much just waiting now for the major temporal fracture that Glimmer is going to create?
Samantha had better be careful with how she handles her experiments, as a perfect set up can lead an internally unresolvable paradox. Fortunately Night is so far still there.
Oh what lovely chaos we're sowing here!
Poor Samantha, getting stuck on her desire to follow her science when very unscientific things are happening to her. We are rather surprised she actually admitted her feelings right there, clearly she's a bit more distressed than we initially assumed....
Keep going! ;)
Welp its good to see another update, the 3 day break made me worry xD
What was going on. - What was going on?
*****
Missed one.
I was going to say I see two different games here but it is so much more then that.
some how I think this is way deeper then normal I see a real love blossoming from all of this but who will it be or will it be more thane one?
or is it just that I tend to look at this to closely?
7159579 Fixed!
7159083 I posted what was going on in my blog.
7158746