Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver


265 - Reporting

"Are you done?" Nefertari had returned, flicking her fingers as if to clear them of blood, but only flecks of stone came free. "Nothing stands here but the remnants enough to remind how poor an idea this entire place was."

Sheba emitted a noise similar to a purr. "I hope you enjoyed it, but dancing with things that do not move is not my preference, mmm?"

Running stood up, sighing. "He is as treated as I can do. With luck, he will survive us taking him to a better place for care." She waved a paw at Silver. "Can you carry him, please. I understand he is heavy, but you are a talented sorcerer, are you not?"

Silver pulled his magic back in, absorbing it as quickly as he could. That didn't take as long as it could have, already at a limited space with the expectation of battle lessened and little moving in the area. He turned the magic back towards his grasping presence. Though he had learned how to grab thing in a non-specific ways, he felt a hand would be fitting.

He raised the bear, cupped in a hand that trembled faintly. "He is heavier than I would have guessed." He looked heavy to start. He could lift the bear though and turned back in the direction he had come.

Nefer poked him in the shoulder. "This way. I know the quickest route."

Silver moved as she directed, the others following along. His eyes darted between where they were going and the bear he carried. His magic told him there was warmth there, good. If he started to carry a cold body...

How quickly did bodies cool? No. He banished the thought from his mind. Running had done her best, and they would just have to assume it was good enough.

Sheba brushed against his side suddenly. "I will advance and see if there are surprises. If not, I will see you aboveground, mmm?" She was gone without awaiting reply.

Running let out a little breath. "How you walk alongside that... demon.. is beyond me."

Nefer cracked a smile. "You, showing such, dare I say violent, disapproval? I like it."

Running's teeth set as she walked. "Do not take it like that. I have no desire to fight her, but even less... She has hurt jackals before. I've treated her claws, as you know."

"How did you know it was her?" demanded Nefertari with a low growl.

"You just confirmed it." Running smiled a little, triumphant in her trick. "But that does not answer the question."

Silver nudged her with his snout against her shoulder. "My fault. I don't think she is as evil as you imagine her."

"I would argue that..." She sighed as they began ascending the curving stairs towards freedom. "But then I would be arguing against myself. I wish for a chance, to deny another... I will hold my tongue and try to not be a hypocrite."

Silver smiled at that, the strain of holding the bear forgotten a moment. It was nice when someone noticed that sort of thing without having their nose rubbed in it. "Th--"

Nefertari clapped a paw over his snout. "Save the compliments. I hear movement. I think we have been noticed."

They all quieted. Above them, footsteps could be heard. People were talking, but it wasn't easy to make out what they were saying. Silver pushed to the fore, his floating cargo behind him. "Let me be the first." He had an idea. The other two let him proceed, to his relief.

It was a few more rotations before he ran into the first of them, a pair of feline faces turning to surprise at the appearance of Silver. "Prince," spoke the male on the left. "I'm afraid I--"

"--Move aside," ordered Silver. "I have injured and a doctor with me. We need to get to the closest hospital. Where is that? And be precise." He moved as he talked, making the form of the unconscious bear easily seen behind him. "There's no time for talk."

The female cat shook her head. "What happened to him?" Her eyes were on his bandaged throat, darting to the silvery hand that held him up.

The male grunted softly. "Two blocks that way." He pointed firmly. "I hope answers come a--" He stopped talking, noticing there was nothing left to talk to. Silver had vanished, with his burden. The guard peered into the stairwell, but there was nothing there. "Well..."

The female shrugged. "I wouldn't wait for you to finish rambling if I held the life of another in my hands either."


Silver drew the bear and Running with him, pushing between Here and There and ending up in a new place. Two blocks was not a precise amount, so he did not go directly there. Instead he appeared in the middle of the air, his wings unfurling wide. The bear floated beside him, held gently in his magic, supported by his silvery hand. Running shrieked as she fell, but it was for only an instant. She landed right on his back, mounted on him.

"Did you plan that?!" she exclaimed as she grabbed for his shoulders and slid her hands around, hugging him tightly. "Tell me you planned that."

"I planned that," he agreed, though if he had planned that or if she said that for her benefit, he did not disclose. "Are you alright up there?"

"If ponies can perform such magic, why do they not rule the world, the other species groveling at their adorable little hooves?"

Silver looked around, starting to circle back towards the street below him. "There are several reasons. For one, the average pony is, while adorable as you noted, not that bright. They are as children and most simply wish to live. Even the evil ones can be... interesting in their maliciousness." He touched the ground on light hooves. "Do you know where that hospital is?"

She pointed ahead. "Take the first right and it's just to the right, impossible to miss." She righted herself as he began walking on firm ground instead of flying. "What are the other reasons?"

"We need more?" Silver trotted firmly and with purpose. Always walk like you have somewhere to be. It was an idea he had in his head since he was but a human child, and it remained true. People tended to make way if you walked purposefully enough, without even being asked. "They are quick to trust, which can lead them into trouble. The unknown scares them, not to violence, simply to flee and hide. The power they have is only held in a select few, and they show other mental quirks that keep them from taking over the world properly."

"And you?" She poked him right in the back of the neck. "Why haven't you taken the world? You have magic, and your head seems largely attached correctly, if not for your wish to show mercy so easily. Optimistic, but not dumb, what keeps you from doing it?"

He peeked over his shoulder at her. "No, thanks. There is no happy ending for an emperor. The best I could hope for would be for things to go well until my end, and my children likely would bicker over the remnants, and the world would plunge into darkness. Why do that? I can do good just as I am, without trying to wear the biggest hat."

The door she had referred to came into view, double swinging doors that he nosed through easily, permitting him into the cooled interior of what seemed to be a small clinic. "I have a critically injured person in need of help," he called out.

He needn't have. Few expected a full-sized alicorn prince to just burst in with a bear floating beside them. Nurses looked up, and patients too. The former were quick to hurry over in a mix of urgency and curiosity. Soon Silver was relieved of his burden. They put him on a gurney and pushed him away in a dash of feline feet.

One of the few remaining peered at Silver and the jackal mounted on his back. "Is she hurt?"

Silver peeked over his shoulder. "I don't think so?"

"She had blood on her h--"

With a muted grunt, Running slid off Silver's back and stormed to the nearest sink, getting to washing her hands clean of the blood of the patient. Silver nodded towards her. "She performed emergency surgery on the bear that just went by, of course she's... a little messy. Thank you."

Nefertari appeared at his side suddenly. "It took me a moment to find this place. Of course." She looked around and snarled at the nurse, scaring her away. "You really do mean to save his life. You are a foolish stallion."

"Better a kind fool than a cruel genius," he replied with a little smile. "I have something the sultan must see. Where is Sheba?"

"Right here." She was standing at Silver's other side.

He jumped at her sudden presence. "It's cheating how you two do that."

"Cheating is teleporting." Nefertari poked him in the side.

"Cheating is magical hands that lift entire bears." Sheba poked him on the other side.

"Cheater," they agreed in firm solidarity.

Silver shook his head. "Right, cheating unicorns, already a meme before I became a pony."

"Became?" Sheba raised a brow.

"You'll get used to that." Nefer shrugged. "I've never met him as anything but, but they insist he was once something else. Can we go now then? The sultan is not one who enjoys being told to wait."

Silver nodded towards her, but raised his head at Running. "Take care, alright?"

"I will do my best." She shook her paws clean of the water, looking a lot less messy. "Today, I think a strong drink is in order."

Silver turned away, noticing all the gawking eyes on him. He spared them a brief nod, but couldn't think of something snappy to say to dissuade their thoughts. "Let's go." Instead, move. Move like you have somewhere to be. As it turned out, he did have somewhere specific to be. He could see the sultan's palace rising up over the city, its parapets easily spotted.

"There." He pointed as he walked, trotting certainly.

Nefertari was suddenly perched on his back, standing without any balancing issues, one foot just shy of his withers and the other shy of his tail, standing sidelong. "Onwards, my valiant husband. Meanwhile, tell us what you were doing while we fought for the right to draw breath."

"I am curious of that as well," noted Sheba, but she made no move to join Nefertari, just walking alongside Silver as he made his way through the city streets.

"I found a diplomat."

"You found a mirror?" Nefer raised a brow.

"Another diplomat." He snorted softly as he turned a corner, forced to slow through the narrow street. "One that worked for them. We discussed the nature of jackals, and how to... resolve things."

Sheba smirked viciously, though she was forced to cut ahead of him and walk ahead instead of along. "I imagine he suggested getting rid of them all would be expedient."

"He did." He lifted his ears as they emerged into a wider avenue. "But he did listen to my ideas. I'm not sure we came to an agreement, but at least... he didn't say no. It could have gone far worse as first meetings go."

Nefer nudged at his neck with a foot. "That doesn't tell us what you have that the sultan would want."

"I will save that for his ears." His ears went down and against his head. "I feel odd saying it, but I can't trust who is listening when and who they will report to. Best to just... kinda assume everything you say is public news."

Nefer fell, her legs going down on either side of Silver's barrel, mounting him properly. "You're learning. Perhaps you will survive politics with a little more practice."