//------------------------------// // 253 - Rise // Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat // by David Silver //------------------------------// Silver looked around. He was hovering on wings, beating slowly and easily in a vast field of stars. He was in the realm of dreams, but they were foreign dreams. How could they not be? He was among the jackals in the foreign city, and the stars closest to him would be those physically closest to him. Trying to reach out to Equestria would be a challenge he was not up to attempting just then. Still, there he was. He nodded to himself. "May as well look around." His horn didn't hurt in the dreamworld. He didn't feel tired at all. Perhaps he had already slept? He couldn't be absolutely certain, except for knowing he was in the dream world. He considered the few people he knew. He could visit Nefertari, but that felt like asking for trouble. He smiled and thought of the pudgy doctor. She had been nice, he wouldn't mind stopping in on her. With the vision of Running Paw firmly held in his mind, one of the close stars seemed to come in all the closer, until it hovered just in front of his nose. He raised his hooves to it, cradling the dream gently. Its colors were calm and flowing. She was not having a nightmare, but it wasn't passive either. He moved to put his head inside the mote, to see the dream. He woke up. Nefertari was shaking him. "You are sleep-casting," she helpfully pointed out. "Haven't you done enough of that?" Silver rose up to his hooves with a soft snort. So much for enjoying that. Still, he didn't ache. The sleep had been good to him. "Good morning. Is it morning?" He couldn't tell in the inky darkness of their room. He could barely make out where she was. The blindness agitated him and he let his magic seep out. He could feel her, and the small room they were in. There had been a cot, but he had missed it in his fatigue, simply crashing to the floor. "You slept like the dunes on a still day." Nefertari pat him on the side. "You seem better, good. We have much to do, and waiting for you has been trying." She was at the door of their small room when she hadn't been a moment before. "Our hosts expect much from us. Prince, it is time for you to act the part." Her words made him stand a little taller as he strode for the doorway she occupied. "Then we should meet them." He could feel the presence of a jackal around the corner, crouched. Were they waiting? Silver tensed his magic, preparing precautiously, but that didn't stop his forward motion. Just as he emerged, the figure sprang at him, and his magic came down around them, grabbing them mid-air. He turned to the stranger. He couldn't see them very well, but he could feel them. Jackal, male, lean as most of them were. "Hello," greeted Silver, as if he hadn't been jumped at. "Who are you?" With a soft snarl, the jackal pulled free of the magic, slipping down to his paws. "I am the one told to be your guide." Nefertari barked out a yip of a laugh. "And a fine start of it, startling your guest. Some trust is required before he allows a person to approach him that quickly." She clacked two claws together as she approached the male. "Now, I require information. Take me to the chief, and be fast about it. He will find his own way." The two left Silver behind, to his surprise. "Hmm..." He looked left and right in the gloom, but his magic was feeling things out. He didn't feel nearly as worried about the darkness as he was sure he would have once been. He walked through the halls, feeling there were others, watching him, or speaking quietly to one another. He was not the center of their lives, but he was a disruption to it. They could hear him coming. He could feel their ears jump with every clip or clop of his hooves against the stone floor. The jackals were much quieter when they stalked about on their paws or sandals. A small figure approached at a hurried little sprint. Emerging from the shadow came a jackal pup, smiling up at him. "Wow, they weren't kidding," she exclaimed with a bright giggle. For all the dourness of many of the adults, the child seemed to have inherited none of it. Silver returned her smile, happy to see a friendly face. "Hello there. You look happy today." It was nice to see someone that looked happy. "I am," she agreed, rushing up to him and reaching right for one of his hooves. She felt where the fur became the hardened hoof. "What's it like having a hoof? What's it like not having fingers?" Silver sank down to his haunches, allowing the child to explore his hoof as she pleased. "You asked the right pony. Most wouldn't have much of an answer for that besides 'It's what I always had.'" "You had fingers before?" She blinked at him with some confusion. "Hey, you have a horn. Why isn't it making lots of light? I thought that's what horns were for." She put her hands on her slender hips, glaring at him like he did something wrong. "Is it broken?" Silver spread his right wing out into what space was available, still half-folded. "I have wings too, and I'm not flying. You have sharp teeth, but you aren't chewing something. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we always are." "I guess that's true," she demurred. "Can you do it?" "I can." Silver smiled as he changed the flow of magic, allowing more of it to go towards an increasing silver glow that cast out of his horn in all directions. The little she-jackal came into easy view. She wore a little toga and her tail was wagging happily. She clapped her paws together rapidly, her green eyes shining with delight. "That's better! They don't let us light any--" A new voice entered the conversation, a low male voice, "No lights." It had a warning growl. A soon as Silver quenched his horn's glow, the presence receded. The she jackal snarled in the direction the voice had been. "See? I hate it. We are proud Anubians. We should be running under the sun, not hiding in the dark." Silver reached out a hoof to her, gently patting her on the head, or so was the goal. As soon as his hoof got close to her, she grabbed it and resumed exploring it as the strange bit of anatomy it was. "So what's it like having one of these?" Silver smiled gently. Compared to what else was going on, humoring the jackal child was entirely a pleasure. "Compared to having fingers, it can feel tense. Once in a while, I want to spread out the fingers I don't have, but I don't have them. It is powerful and resilient, at least along the wall there." He turned his hoof in her grasp to make sure she was feeling the wall at that moment. "The underside is more sensitive, but I wear a shoe to protect that." "I feel that." Her little fingers poked and felt along his shoes. "Do they come off?" Just as she asked, she popped one free, releasing his hoof to the air. "Ew! Stinky hoof." Despite her words, she was giggling with childish joy at finding the stinky hoof. Silver blushed softly. Bathing had never been a high priority of his, which had only grown worse with the advent of magic cleaning spells, but his hooves were not a part he thought much about, and now the child was making fun of his mistake. "I'll fix that..." He played the silent song of cleansing across his horn and channeled the magic across his exposed hoof, dispelling the foulness about it. "Better?" He could hear her snuffling about and he only blushed worse. He was letting some random girl mess with his foot. Was that lewd? It was lewd if he made it lewd, he decided. The girl was just curious, and he was happy answering her questions. "Being on four legs has its advantages." "Like what?" she asked, poking him at the sensitive part of his underhoof and making him squirm. That was ticklish! "You're extra stable, for one... It's easy to run very quickly..." Silver had to pause, restraining his laughter. He was increasingly sure she was learning what the most sensitive spots were and was trying to make him laugh on purpose. "Heavy things don't feel so heavy when you carry them." He felt her abandon his hoof and circle him. "You can carry me, right?" She barely finished asking before he felt her approach his backend. Her naked paw came right down on his tail, making him jump slightly. It stung, but not too badly. Her paw was soft on the bottom, and she wasn't too heavy. She grabbed at his rump and pulled herself right up, scaling him like a mountain. Silver smiled gently, imagining what it looked like. With his magic, he took hold of his dropped shoe and got it back into place, then stood up, taking the girl with him in the motion. She squealed, even as it turned into giggles along the way. As he had predicted, she was not very hard to carry, a light little thing on his back. He was certain he could walk along with her without issue, so he did, proceeding down the hallway with his new rider. He could see some dim light up ahead and approached it, eager to leave the cloying darkness that was on all other ends. "Do you have a good grip?" He needn't have asked, feeling her little clawed hands holding him quite firmly. She slid up along his back until she half-fell/slid against his neck, hugging the big thing for support. "I never rode a pony before," she confessed. "It's fun. Can you go faster?" His field of magic only went so far without a lot of effort, and he ran the risk of bleeding magic too quickly, especially if he moved quickly. "Maybe if we get outside. I can't see well enough to do that safely. For now, you'll have to be happy with my trotting." He accelerated into a slow trot, bouncing her a little as he went. They emerged into the light that spilled from one lone room. Within was the chief, and Nefertari, and a few other jackals. They all looked to him as one. The chief grit her teeth visibly. "I see you've found my daughter." The jackal pup waved eagerly at her mother. "You didn't tell me ponies were so nice." She hugged Silver about the neck. "I bet he can do all kinds of tricks too. Can I keep him?" Nefertari burst into a howl of laughter, her sharp teeth on display. "Even with pups, you attract new females. Are you certain you do not do this intentionally?" Silver swiveled an ear back at his rider. "I'm already owned by several powerful females. They'd be upset if you tried to steal me away from them." She seemed to understand those terms, giving a thoughtful 'mmm'. "I'll have to get stronger, so I can challenge them then." Nefertari was beside Silver, no longer seated with the others. "You are a precious one, aren't you?" She reached to grab the child, but the child ducked down, half-sliding from Silver to use him as a shield from her. "And full of fight, I like that..." Silver pulled in his field to ensnare the pup and lift her gently. "I think we're interrupting what's going on here." "You are," agreed the chief. "Wagging Tail, you know better than this." Silver spoke without thinking, "Wagging Tail?" That hardly seemed a dignified name to him. Wagging stuck out her tongue. "That's my stupid pup name. I'll earn a better one!" He set her down gently, and she sat down, and so did he. They joined the meeting in progress.