Nefertari moved with all due speed. She was not one for leisurely strolls unless there was a purpose to it, or she truly had no hurry, and that was rare enough.
She grasped the handle to her door and pushed it open to reveal her most familiar spirit glowering at a pony that should not have been there. She knew the pony. "Silver, what brings you to my room? Already eager to sample your newest wife?"
He looked away from the spirit. "You said something that bothers me, a lot."
"Is this the first?"
"No, suppose not." He gave a little half-chuckle. "But I mean today. What do you mean Celestia will send me away, without Night at that." He pawed at the ground with a hoof. "I'm not going anywhere without her, or my foals."
"You will." She raised a hand, turning it palm-side up as it went. "If the cause is great enough, the need powerful enough. You will not stand by and watch your nation suffer before you suffer yourself, if you feel you could do something to prevent it. Celestia will provide the route, and you think you will deny her request?"
"Why would she even ask that," he angrily spat.
"You act as if she has not before..." Two claws came together with a tick. "Her favored servant is often sent afield with little warning. She is quite accustomed to it. At this point... I think she grows restless when she is not mid-task for her beloved princess."
Silver thought of Twilight, boredly awaiting the next call to adventure. It was a funny picture in his head, so far as he was concerned. "Well, I'm not in that rush. I have plenty on my plate as it is."
"So you will say no, when she saunters up to you." Nefertari moved slowly then, approaching Silver with all the deliberate motions a female could muster. "When she looks you in the eyes and tells you that you could save her, save her little ponies. You will say no?" Her nose rested almost in contact with his, her breath washing over it. "This I doubt very much. You will go. I will come with you."
Silver's ears danced. "Why?"
"Why will she send you away?"
"Why will you come with me?" He snorted softly, sharing his breath with her as she had for him. "How does that help you?"
"How will it not?" She clapped her paws together with Silver's furry face in the way, seizing him by the cheeks. "Equestria will know a debt to me, I will have a chance to see your true measure, and, perhaps... I tire of the endless machinations of this court. Most motions within it are petty and small. I can do better than that."
Silver's teeth set and he pulled away from her hands, or tried. He found her grip was sure and strong. The softness in her fingers was a sweet lie for the steely strength she had. "I'm... happy with what I have."
"And you will act to protect it." She nodded softly. "That is the way of it. That is what a warrior must face, and you, my reluctant warrior, are still one."
Silver blinked, his eyes obscured with a tear he didn't realize he had shed. "I don't want to leave Night..."
"But you will, if it keeps her and the foals safe." She leaned in and kissed at one of his tears. "You will suffer, bleed, and struggle for them."
He vanished, only to appear in the same instant a foot away. "I found my rainbows," he hissed out, shaking. "I found them..."
Nefertari lifted her shoulders. "And I hope you enjoyed them, but rainbows are fleeting. If you wish to savor them more, you will have to work." Her lips peeled to reveal sharp teeth. "Besides, it has not happened yet, but it will. It is simply a time to be ready, not wail at a future issue. You have current ones to see to. We are to be wed, are we not? Have you completed your preparations?"
He caught the eye of the spirit Nefertari kept with her. "What are you looking at?"
The spirit scoffed and brushed her arm as if to remove dust. "The thought of our great line being sullied by a horse of all things... I don't care how strong you are, you're not an anubite."
Silver lashed out, silvery magic brushing the spirit into a wall with the sound of a surprised yelp. He blinked. "I expected more resistance."
Her head poked free of the same wall. "I wasn't expecting to be shoved. My fault, I will accept. So you have some fight, this I know, you're still a horse."
"I am, and have been several things." He waved a hoof at Nefertari. "Apparently that now includes betrothed to her."
Nefertari stepped between the two. "Does this bother you? Truly, are you upset to call me yours?" She raised a hand along her side, trailing her curves. "Or are you a little scared of my rejection? Are you afraid that you will fail?"
Silver ran his tongue over his lips as he turned away from the vision. "If we're getting married... I'll do... I'll try to be good." He rose his head, meeting Nefer's eyes. "You don't get married to fuck it all up." His right forehoof trailing on the ground. "I won't have... fake relationships."
"Bold words." She took a single step towards him. "I hope they bear true. You can sound like a proper warrior at times, it suits you better. Then let us see what your efforts bring."
"It isn't a one way street." His hoof clopped on the ground. "Are you planning to be my wife or not?"
A little snort escaped from her nostrils. "I have offered that once before, one who has laid me low thrice, claiming proper dominance without wish to seal the contract that he wrote with his own hands." She crouched just low enough to put them on equal stance, which wasn't that far with Silver's alicorn-enhanced height. "I will be a loyal wife, and perhaps more, given time and familiarity. I will plot and scheme, with certainty."
Silver frowned at that. "Thanks for the warning."
"You are welcome. She tapped the center of his chest and a clawed finger trailed down along his front. "You will enjoy some of it, I feel certain. You've become lost in being 'right', you've forgotten what it is to live, in some ways. Fast will be ideal for breaking you free of that, as an assistant."
Silver's mind went to unclean places and his ears fell as warmth filled his cheeks. "My wives already don't let me neglect them."
"That's all well and good, but have you no needs?" She raised a brow. "You are too obsessed with being right. Take what is yours."
"I already have!" He waved a hoof about as he circled in place. "I live in Canterlot Castle. I'm marrying the princesses. I have foals! I have everything a man could ask for. What more do I need?"
"There we are..." She smiled, unimpressed by his hysteric tones. "What do you need...? You do need things. You are alive, you will want. That is part of being alive. To not have any want is to not live. Are you dead, husband? I can't have that."
He turned away in an angry huff, just to find her already standing in front of his new facing. "What do you want!" he spat back at her, tail lashing.
"For you to start reaching for what you want, dear husband, instead of gazing fondly at it." She rose to her full height. "I cannot say I entirely understand your origins, something I plan to address, but I am to understand your bitches look much like ours." Her hands landed on her hips. "Dismayingly naked and exposed, but the shape is right. You keep giving me those looks, the ones of a male who thinks he is being subtle... You are not, husband of mine."
Silver glanced towards the door that led to freedom, but his eyes slowly returned to Nefertari, tail still lashing behind him. "You want me to just do what I want to do?"
"I welcome it." She crossed her arms under her chest. "Prove you have the will to match your strength. Prove you can do something with what is yours besides enjoy its presence."
Silver thrust a hoof at the door and a loud click was heard as its lock deployed. A squawk soon followed it as a burst of silver magic pushed peeping spirits clear of the room. "Fine," he barked. "I will do exactly what I want to do..."