//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Beginnings // Story: Something Missing (Old/Cancelled) // by Lazy Coyote //------------------------------// Celestia paced nervously through her room, glancing at the calendar on the wall and only barely resisting the urge to bite her hooves like she did as a filly. Three days, that was all she had left, three days until Nightmare Moon’s return, and hopefully three days until she got her sister back. The only problem was that no matter how she looked at it, Silver just wasn't ready. No matter how she looked at it, the likelyhood of Silver finding the bearers of the Elements of Harmony was... low, but she was running out of time, and there would be no second chances on this. She sighed, tapping her hoof on the floor nervously as she knawed on her lip, before walking over to her room’s door, taking a moment to calm down and make herself presentable before leaving. She nodded politely to the guards at her door as she passed them, heading through the hallways towards Silver’s room. Celestia hummed to herself in an attempt to calm her nerves, filling the quiet of the castle with a catchy rhythm she’d heard one of her subjects hum at some point, and soon she was coming up on his door, blinking at the sign that was hung there. “Warning: Trespassers will be Friendshipped. Ye have been warned.” She read aloud. She chuckled to herself and shook her head, reaching up with a hoof and gently tapping it on the door. Tic. Tic. Tic. “Silver? Are you awake? May I come in?” There was a muffled affirmative from the other side, and she opened the door with her magic, before blinking and letting an amused smile spread across her face. “I’m beginning to think we have different definitions of the word ‘Awake’.” She said to the malformed lump of blanket and pony laying on the floor. “I’m only awake in the morning...” The pile groaned miserably. Celestia raised a brow. “It’s noon.” “Morning isn’t a time, it’s a state of mind.” The blanket pile replied petulantly. There was quiet for a moment, before a groan echoed through the room, the pile of blankets glowing blue and floating up off Silver to reveal his grumpy expression, bags darkening the fur under his eyes to nearly purple compared to his usual light blue. He glanced at his bed and the purple dragon sleeping in it, Spike's chest rising and falling in incredibly rapid motions, before Silver cracked his neck and groaned. “Fall off the bed and the spell doesn’t work.” He said after a moment. “Already knew that, but it’s good to be sure.” Celestia nodded. “Yes, spells can sometimes stray outside expectations, so it’s good to test, but exactly what spell are you using while you sleep?” Silver lit up horn and surrounded her with a blue glow, and Celestia blinked as everything around her started... slowing. The effect didn’t last long, a few seconds at most, and once it ended Silver smiled at her expectantly. Celestia hummed. “You used a time spell on the place that you sleep?” Silver shrugged. “Let’s me get more sleep, which is always good, and Spike takes his naps on it, which means he can get more stuff done and has more energy.” Celestia brought a hoof up and set it on the bed, raising a brow when she felt no change. “Interesting. I’m assuming you enchanted the bed so that you could apply safeties to the spell, along with making it so the effect was permanent?” Silver blinked. “Yeah actually, though I need to supply it with magic every few days, and the effect breaks if the bed is moved. The stabilization effect is a bit unstable, so doing it on something moving and having the spell last more than a few seconds is impossible, though extending the time seems doable...” Celestia smiled as she listened to Silver continue on about the specifics of improving the spell. “I take it this is something you’ve thought quite a bit about?” She asked once there was a moment of silence. He nodded. “It’s a favored pastime of mine, tinkering with time.” He reared up on his back hooves, waving his front ones at Celestia and making science-y noises. She chuckled, reaching out with a wing and pushing it against Silver, causing him to topple over with a yelp, much to her amusement. Silver groaned in mock pain, weakly raising a hoof into the air. "Oh gods," He began in a mock Shakespeare voice. "Why have you forsaken me? Was it my hubris? My good looks? Is it perhaps due to my muffin stealing ways? Oh! Woah is me!" Celestia's chuckles intensified, and soon she was doubled over, holding her sides with her wings as she laughed herself silly while Silver flopped around the floor. Silver raised his head at the sound, a grin spreading across his face as he watched the immortal alicorn laugh, deeming one of his many self-imposed missions a success. Task: Get Celestia happy. Complete. He rolled onto his hooves, standing up and popping his neck as Celestia’s laughs petered out, a true smile spreading across her face. Celestia couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like that, it had to have been a few years at least. She used a wingtip up to wipe away a tear as she turned her attention back to Silver. “Okay, okay, you got me, now may we speak about what I came her for?” She asked. Silver brought a hoof up to scratch at the base of his horn, before shrugging. “Sure, go ahead Princess.” She smiled. “Alright, now, I wanted to speak to you about the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration at Ponyville." He blinked, before gesturing for her to continue. Celestia lit up her horn, and in a flash of light she was holding a scroll, which she passed to Silver. "I was hoping you could check up on how the preparations are coming, to make sure everything is ready for when I arrive." She explained. Silver took a second to open the scroll and scan the contents for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, sure, I don't have anything planned that day anyway." He rolled up the scroll and floated it over onto his desk. Celestia nodded thankfully. "Well, I need to get back to my duties. Please inform Spike that I said hello." She turned and headed out the door, closing it behind her. She sighed. "I do hope I'm not making a mistake here..." She said quietly. Only time would tell if she'd made the right decision. She just hoped Silver didn't get hurt because of her mistakes. Silver stared at the scroll sitting on his desk. The sheer weight of it nearly making his head spin. Three days. He knew it was coming, but to have it confirmed... it was a bit nerve racking. Still, he’d been waiting for this for years, he wasn’t about to choke at the starting line. He reached over and grabbed the scroll, reading through it one more time. Food, Music, Decorations, Weather, all the normal things. He let out a quick chuckle, trotting over to the bed and reaching out with a hoof, before stopping himself, settling for just patting Spike on the head rather than waking him up. “Gonna be an intense next few days, huh kid?” Silver whispered. He was only fifteen, and here he was off to go save the world from eternal night. He only wished it could’ve come later, that way Spike would’ve had more time to be a normal kid. Sadly, Silver couldn’t stop Nightmare Moon himself, otherwise he’d be making damn sure to keep Spike away from Ponyville. Still, it wasn’t like Spike was gonna be in any real danger. From what he remembered, it would just be a creepy forest between them and the elements, and aside from that he didn’t really see much that could happen. He gave Spike one last pat before walking over to his door, quietly opening it and stepping out, silently clicking it shut behind him, turning to the guard at the door and narrowing his eyes. “Look after my little brother.” Silver’s voice brokered no room for argument. The guard nodded slightly, shifting slightly closer to the door and swiveling his ears to point at it. Silver nodded, quickly thanking the guard and heading on his way down the halls, stopping for a moment to stealthily stick his head into the kitchens. “Get out!” *CRASH!* Silver slammed the door closed, wincing when he heard a pan smash into it as the chef yelled angrily. “Think... I might have annoyed him a bit too much.” Silver muttered. He would probably be avoiding the kitchens for a while, he’d make it up to the chef with a gift basket at some point. He shrugged, continuing on his way down the halls as he headed towards the exit of the castle, nodding politely to a few nobles as he passed them by, rolling his eyes when they just turned up their noses at him. He used his magic to discretely tear a few of the seams on their fancy clothes as he walked by, nothing that would be immediately noticeable, but give it a day or two and their expensive clothes would need some expensive repairs. He let out a quick laugh, a new spring in his step as he made his way down the halls of Canterlot Castle, pausing only to say hi to a few of the more familiar guards. He stopped once he came across an especially familiar pair of guard standing on either side of the exit of the castle, a smile breaking out across his face at the sight of the two Pegasi. “Blitz! Minty! How have you guys been?” Silver asked excitedly. The two said nothing, the only sign of movement being their eyes quickly darting to each other. Silver scratched his chin, nodding. “On duty, right. Just tell me how that date went when you get off, okay?” A blush spread across their cheeks despite their stoicism, and they both nodded slightly, causing Silver to let out a quick laugh. “See you guys later!” He waved goodbye as he trotted out the doors, using his magic to close it behind him as he headed of into canterlot proper. He absently caught a ball using his magic, throwing it back at a group of playing ponies as they came by, smiling when they waved at him and turning to get back to walking, but stopping when a familiar face caught his eye. “Stitches!” The griffin twitched, turning and narrowing his eyes, his cracked beak pulling into a frown as he picked up a rock and threw it, not even blinking when Silver just caught it in his magic. “Silver I swear to Celestia, if you call me Stitches one more time I will eat you. It’s. Terry.” Silver raised a brow, trotting over and reaching out with a hoof to pat the griffin on the head condescendingly. “Whatever you say Stitches.” The griffin growled, before rolling his eyes, reaching out and smacking a wing against to back of Silver’s head, doing nothing to hide the smile spreading across his beak. “So how’s being the big shot Princess’ student treating you?” Terry asked. Silver shrugged. “It’s been okay. Pretty much the same as normal school but a lot more flexible hours. The tests are a bit more advanced, but the extra study time makes up for it.” Terry nodded. “And how’s the Tyke doing?” “Eh, Spike’s fine. Been getting a bit lazy, but he’s still jogging with me, so yeah.” Silver sent him a playful glare. “He’s still craving meat since you let him try some.” Terry winced. “Ah... your mom still mad about that?” Silver nodded, and Terry grimaced. “Ah. Not good.” Silver shrugged. "Eh, I don't really see what the problem was anyway, it was just fish, I figured it wouldn't do any harm. I liked it anyway." Terry patted Silver on the shoulder. "That, my friend, is because you are what we griffins refer to as a freak." Silver sent him a hurt look, before thinking better of it and nodding slowly. "Eh... fair enough. I'll get you back for that later though." Terry just laughed. "Ooh~ I'm so scared, what are you gonna do, turn me purple?" "Maybe." Terry's laughter slowed when he saw the look in Silver's eye, before he held up his talons in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, just don't hurt the feathers man, I'm already gonna have enough trouble with the ladies cause of the beak." Silver snorted. "Dude, your feathers are green, the most you'll ever get out of a relationship is pity sex." Terry brought a talon up to his chest in mock hurt. "Dude, not cool, and your one to talk mister neon sign. Oh wait! That's just the two year old's drawing you call a mane." Silver rolled his eyes. “Oh! Who was it again that decided to dunk his head in paint to, and I quote, ‘Get all those hens attention’?” Terry actually winced at that. “Okay, so maybe you were right about that gourd stuff being alcoholic, but are you really gonna hold onto that forever? It’s in the past dude.” Silver sent him a look. “It happened last week.” He deadpanned. Terry waved a talon at him. “Like I said, in the past. Now, where were you headed?” Silver shrugged. “Nowhere in particular. Just doing the usual rounds since I’m gonna he heading off to Ponyville in a few days.” Terry nodded. “Ponyville huh? Think I might go with, been getting a bit boring around here.” “You pissed off Lily again didn’t you?” “Not my fault, that mare is evil, I swear it.” Silver huffed. “That’s only cause you never do the chores. I mean really dude, she’s your roommate, how hard is it to take out the trash and do the dishes once and a while?” "But I'm busy all the time with studying!" "You're not in school." "I've got a job!" "Doing What?" Silver challenged. Terry glanced around frantically, starting to sweat as he looked for a distraction, before blinking and pointing at a nearby restaurant. "Is that your parents?" Silver snorted. "Do you really think I'm gonna- holy crap its my parents." He cut himself off as he turned to look, actually spotting his parents sitting at a table chatting with eachother. The two friends blinked, before shrugging and moving on. Silver wasn't about to intrude on his parents time together, and Terry knew him well enough to do the same for fear of retribution. Terry floated in front of Silver. "Hey, it's about time for me to get going. Lily's making me grab some groceries for dinner today." He gave quick wave before shooting into the air, heading off into the city. Silver waved as Terry flew off, waiting a moment before chuckling and shaking his head as he turned and started making his way home. "Whipped."