Silver walked towards his room. He was tired after a day's excitement and ready to collapse with loved ones and call it a day.
Suddenly he was not facing the hallway. A furry shape was in the way, a familiar one. Nefertari approached him, grabbing his cheeks and hissing, "You have an intruder."
Silver went tense. "Where are the children?"
"Inside," replied Nefertari, gesturing with a light inclination of her head.
"You left them!" Silver's wings sprung loose.
Nefertari held up a hand. "Your intruder poses no threat to them. She seeks your meat, not theirs."
She? Silver deflated a little, wings going limp but not folding properly. "Is she a suitor?"
"She could be." Nefertari's shoulders lifted. "I cannot be certain. She has wings and a horn as is the way with pony royalty."
A princess? Wait... "I safely presume it's none of the princesses you already know."
"Not Celestia or Luna or little Twilight," agreed Nefertari. "Pink and purple."
Silver sagged and began to laugh softly. "Cadance. She's harmless. Was Shining Armor with her?"
"Who? She was alone." Nefertari moved to his side. "You know this female then? Is she a suitor?"
"N-no. She's married already." Silver shook his head firmly as he resumed his walk towards his room. "Only in my dreams, literally."
Nefertari's nose wrinkled. "You fancy her then?"
"I didn't mean it that way." Silver shook his head a little. "She's lovely and nice and not mine and that's entirely fine. She's busy making another geek sublimely happy, and I wouldn't get in his way. He deserves his own rainbows."
Nefertari walked alongside him as if they were close friends, which perhaps they were on some level. "Not every being deserves the happy ending you enjoy alluding to. Have you received your 'rainbows'?"
"How can you say I haven't?" Silver glanced aside at her. "I'm married to women I love fiercely. I'm challenged mentally. I'm needed and important. God... I can't ever let myself forget how fortunate I am." He nodded firmly. "My rainbow has spread wide across the sky and I'm thankful for it every day."
Nefertari reached out and tapped his nose. "Even with others trying to reach you?"
"She--" Silver cut off, realizing Nefertari was not hinting at Fast. "Ah, right... Are you..." He rolled a hoof slowly. "Do you really want this?"
"I do not surrender easily, my future husband. Unless you tell me in clear terms that I have already lost, then I will find other ways." She took a step into him, bumping. "I will be a lovely wife for you, when you let me."
"Nefer... seriously, I'm taken, and taken, and taken again and again! Why settle for a husband with so many distractions?" Silver's nostrils flared with a snort. "You can do so much better."
"There are countless reasons."
"Give me three."
"Mmm." Nefertari raised a brow. "To start, your spirit is strange, familiar... You have a warrior's spirit, though you put in much effort to never express it. A lion guarding sheep, who prefers his sheep skin costume."
"That's one," counted Silver even as he sounded unsure of it. "Look, we're here."
"We are." Nefertari ran a hand down Silver's back, making him twitch as she tickled the right places. "We will continue this later." She was gone, simply removed from the world.
Silver's tail twitched as if to banish the fading presence. "Nefer..." he sighed out with uncertainty, then focused on the door in front of him. That he knew. He wrapped his magic around it and willed it open to find Cadance with three foals floating in her magic, all of them giggling and reaching for one another.
When she saw him, she got a sudden grin. "Think fast!" The foals were abruptly flying at him.
He ensnared the precious foals in his magic and brought them to a smooth halt, except Flurry Heart who adorned his face. The filly giggled and squealed with delight. "Um, hello Cadance."
"Hello Silver," she replied as she stood up and walked towards him. "I was catching up with your foals. They're both lovely."
"Yours is too," he replied with a smirk. All he could see of her was her belly fur. He gently slipped his magic around her and put all three to the side to play. "What brings you here?"
"It's not obvious?" Cadance leaned forward, her eyes half-lidded. "I am the Princess of Love. Twilight barely knows what romance is outside a book. You, on the other hoof, have snatched both of my aunts in wedlock. You should be surprised it took me this long to visit, but things were busy up north." She cocked a brow. "Not sad to see me, I hope?"
"No, never." Silver felt a real smile coming to him. "You have always been a source of friendship without catches. I've never been sad to see you, Cadance."
Cadance suddenly looked guilty. "Look... It's been a while, but I feel some sins should be confessed to. When you were just a foal and Luna was falling for you, I tried to... help her. It didn't quite go to plan." She let out a little sigh. "Luna can be a hoof full, as I'm sure you noticed. I tried to censure her, but I never ratted out what she was doing to Auntie, and maybe I should have. So, there, it's out in the open."
Silver's ears twitched gently as he thought back to what seemed like such a long time ago. How long ago was it? Time in Equestria was odd... Still, "No." She perked. "I'm not angry at you. You really tried. You always tried. You were a friend from the start." He smiled gently. "I hope you're still a friend."
"Of course," she quickly assured, her own face relaxing into a smile. "It's a great relief to know there are no secrets lurking between us. So, tell me, truthfully now, what are your intentions?" She sat on her haunches. "You control the sun and moon, as much as any stallion can. Many others would give quite a bit for what you have. Surely you have... plans?"
"Plans, there's a thing I'm not good at," easily confessed Silver as his eyes gravitated towards the foals. They were playing eagerly with one another. It seemed to be some kind of game like tag, and all three were heavily invested. Silver could only smile at the sight. "Right now I plan to be as good a husband as I can, as good a prince as I can, and as good a friend as I can. Three things, but all related, I think. As a prince, I should greet you warmly, but as a friend, why would I do any differently? Husband and prince both agree that I should tell my dirty mind to shut up."
Cadance let out a musical but brief laugh. "So you do have those thoughts? I wondered at times... You can be delightfully ignorant of exactly that sort of thing." She shook her head then. "Your husband and prince are correct, I should note. I love my Shining Armor. Even were he not involved, being in a relationship with my Auntie? That would feel strange at best. I may be the Princess of Love, but I prefer the classic variety. One mare, one stallion, eternal love." She sighed out slowly. "Do you think that's wrong?"
"What? No!" Silver sat up straight. "Heck, you make me feel guilty, but I've already gone down this path. There's no way back that wouldn't be littered with pain and hurting."
"I'm glad you see that." She reached up a hoof and tapped the crown on Silver's head. "It's easy to assume this is a fashion accessory."
"Anything but." Silver moved it with strong motions of his ears, adjusting it on his head. "Is Shining taking care of the Crystal Empire?"
"For now." She sighed gently. "I really want to spend more time with you and your family, but my visit can't last for too long." Her face turned to a grin. "That doesn't mean I won't pry where I can. Celestia may be my aunt, but I like to think I'm yours. Do you mind that?"
Silver hadn't thought of it before. He looked over the mare before him before her grin slowly infected him with a freshening smile. "I... think I like that idea."
"Fantastic. You will henceforth regard me as Aunt Cadie."
Silver blinked at being given a new name to use. "I can't promise I'll use that. Names are my weakness."
"Oh really, not mares? You could have fooled me," she said in a soft, teasing tone. She looked down at the foals. "I'm told they were literally the foals of your dreams. That's a special thing. They say all ponies dream of their young, but few remember it more than enough to come up with a name."
Silver rolled his eyes at that. "Don't tease like that. I don't go looking for them, and they could be making moves at me and I'm as likely to not even notice."
"I've seen it." Cadance tapped her own horn. "I'm told your cutie mark led you to some interesting magic. Do you want to share?"
Silver blinked. Rare were the ponies he could talk to about magic. Sure, he swapped letters with Twilight, but that wasn't the same. "Do you know magic?"
Cadance snorted softly. "I'm going to assume that question should have been 'How much magic do you know?' instead. I know some. I'm not Twilight level, but who is?"
"Starlight," posited Silver.
Cadance blinked softly. "Point. Either way, I'm moderate. I can read a spell and cast it if I have it in front of me, but don't expect me to memorize one easily." She pointed a hoof back at her wings. "I'm a pegasus born, you know. Flying, that I can do." A soft sigh escaped her. "Guess how much of that comes up as princess?"
"As if princes get a lot of call for magic." He smiled gently. "But I try to find time, and it comes in handy at times."
"Handy." She licked her lips. "I forget once in awhile where you came from, Silver. What was your name, when you had two legs?"
Silver felt a blush coming on. It wasn't that he was ashamed of his past, but he thought of it less. "D-david," he stammered out. The name almost felt alien on his tongue. "God, I don't use that name often."
"God," echoed Cadance. "Is that a human expletive? You use it like one. What tawdry act does it refer to?"
Cadence, God is a can of worms that I do not think you are ready for. I hope you are ready for the answer.
Cadence? You can ask that of Dog, Glod, Slorg, Bob, Dave, and Gordon. For starters.
Booksalot would also qualify as a valid answer for
both of my aunt's - both of my aunts
exactly that sort of things - exactly that sort of thing -or- exactly those sort of things ( I really try to leave dialogue alone, but...)
tapped Silver's head - tapped Silver's crown -or- tapped the crown on Silver's head
in a soft teasing tone - in a soft, teasing tone
Rare where the ponies - Rare were the ponies
This chapter was a delight to read from start to finish!
Cadance has always been the most grounded of the Princesses in the Silververse and her presence has been sorely missed, even if everyone was able to work things through without any guidance from the Love Princess.
To Cadance: Tawdry doesn't even begin to cover the purported acts of gods in the human world. But to address the question directly - 'God' used in this context is not so much an expletive as an invocation for assistance or forgiveness from the divine for a personal failing, which in this instance the implied failing is thinking less and less often about his past and simply living day to day as a pony.
It strikes me as a bit odd that an ambassador does not already know, by name and apppearance, all the leaders of the nation that they are treating with as well as their close allies. Perhaps Nefertari is pretending to lower Silver's guard even more?
8085807 Fixed!
Cadance visits! She's so fun!
Nefertari has strengthened her infatuation then, we only recall she was mildly interested this time. Still, it feels like she views Silver like an exotic pet...
Keep going! ;)
For some reason, I am just really looking forward to see what Cadence and Silver are going to get into. I can't explain it, though. I'll just sit here and patiently wait for the next chapter.
Ok, so we have a new character.
Silver is still in play though.
Fun.
Not sure if he just had a slip in his thoughts or should that be 'mares' ...or 'females' even so as not to upset Nefer?
Not the first story read recently where she is a face
huggererr clinger (not gonna step on Kiki's character name there)'Oh you know god, goddess, a colloquial for a supernatural deity, although on our world all are unseen. A bit like Tia and Luna...I spose all alicorns...OH NO you just called yourself a tawdry act!'
Ok, so, the description of the story implies Shield is the main character. But he's not.
Very misleading.
8089836 I am always 100% forthright.
I also never fib.
8090642
Orly?
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8090642
It's true. But sometimes the typos creep in and make things confusing! Sneakty typos. they is!
I'd capitalize Princess of Loveā¦(both times)
tickles my blasphemous heart it does
*hits next, doesn't see talking magic shop*
Pretty much all of them. There are no atheists in foxholes, nor in bordellos.
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(consults his notes) Checks out.