"I... thought it was a good deal," admitted the pony, ears hanging low. "I wasn't leaving anything behind."
"I know that feeling," gently counseled Silver. "But then you realized."
"There were things," finished the stallion. "Both inside and out." He sat up, looking Silver over. "Thank you, for talking to me. Uh, just wondering, why are we meeting in the middle of the night?"
Silver waved that away. "It's early night. I woke up about an hour ago," he gently argued. "But I took over Luna's dream post, so my sleep schedule got turned upside down."
"Rough." The pony smiled a little. "I read stories about this."
"Oh?"
He nodded surely. "Human comes to Equestria, falls in love, goes native, often literally." He waved his forehooves over his unicorn body. "Here I am."
"Been there," assured Silver with a little smile. "Are you sad about it?"
"Sometimes... But I think it's working out." He reached out, showing a hoof. "I miss fingers."
"I barely remember what they were like," admitted Silver. "But yeah, I get that... You found a mare?"
"A stallion, actually," admitted the once-human, blushing through his fur. "I love him."
"Him, her, it's still great. Congratulations." He reached to pat his visitor on the shoulder. "So long as you're happy, you did it right. They're happy too, right?"
"Yeah... We... I dunno... It's something about this world. We fill each other just right." His expression turned to a more genuine smile. "I don't regret him even a moment."
"Sounds like you found a happy ending then." Silver raised a hoof to his chest. "Can I even help? You are an official citizen. Your partnership isn't under question. Do you plan to marry?"
His ears danced atop his head. "Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. We just... We're together and it feels right, so we keep right on doing it."
"It's just a way to make it official. Don't feel pressured," assured Silver. "If and when you want to, go ahead. It's legal." He put a hoof on his own chest. "If it makes you feel better, I have a special somepony too."
"Two," corrected the stallion. "I've heard, perv."
Silver's cheeks darkened. "Hey... I'm here for you."
"I'm not trying to make fun." His horn glowed softly as he grabbed a cookie off a table nearby in his magic and nipped it. "Can we go home?"
"Are either of us not home?" countered Silver.
"You have a point there." The stallion stood up, tail swaying a little. "Thank you, again... This little chat, it feels good, to talk to some--" His eyes crossed as a card came at him, tapping his nose. "What's this?"
"It's a support group for once-humans," explained Silver. "Where they can talk with each other, human, pony, or whatever else they happen to be. You don't have to wait for me to get a chance to just... talk about that."
His smile was quick and sudden as his magic grabbed the card. "I didn't think this existed."
"Ponies put it together without me, but when I heard of it." Silver rolled his hooves in the air. "I had to get the details to share it with anyone that could use it, like you. Go on, and don't hesitate to drop in if you need anything. I may be the prince of dreams these days, but I'm still a once-human, also like you."
He leaned to the side, peeking back at Silver's rump. "You don't have a very dreamy cutiemark, or night, or..."
"I'm a stallion of many hats. I was that as a human too. I bet I'd still be if I was still there." Silver laughed a bit hollowly. "Long story. The mark I got for magic tinkering, which I still like to do."
"Oh? I'd like to hear about that."
"I have a class!" Silver exclaimed, another card approaching his guest. "Anypony can attend so long as they have a basic grasp of magic. My wife teaches it."
He blinked rapidly, his magic snatching the second card. "Huh, wow, you got this covered." He stood up and started for the door. "I'll take a hint. Thanks again. Have a good evening."
"You too." Silver waved and was soon alone. "Time to explore a few dreams..."
"Silver, good evening." Twilight tipped her head as she trotted towards him. "Are you busy?"
"I had been and planned to be again," he admitted truthfully. "What's up?"
"You fill your schedule oddly well for having it pushed on you." Twilight turned and began walking where she had come from. "Come with me, please. Let's talk."
Silver fell in with her, simply walking alongside her without much delay. "I've been a dreamwalker before," he noted as they went. "Patrolled dreams night after night."
"How?" She peeked over her shoulder, her crown inclining with her head. "Luna never mentioned that."
"Luna doesn't mention a lot." Silver shrugged softly. "That it was in a dream may also play a part, but if there's a more iconic place to learn how to walk dreams, I don't know it."
"In a dream," she spoke softly as she walked. "She did mention that, that she had used some form of dream therapy on you, after your attempt..."
"I didn't attempt," correct Silver. "I made a promise, to myself. I'm riding this train until it throws me off, which it almost did." He inclined his head. "But mistakes were made. I'm not even mad at this point."
"That you don't get mad all that easily is another feature I've been made aware of." Her tail twitched behind her. "You understand, while it is early for you, it's late for me. So we won't be too long, much to my frustration."
"You're dancing around the topic." Silver accelerated to be a little ahead of her, still at her side. "What's up?"
"I've been studying your theories of magic, and hearing reports of your wife's continued expansion on it." She turned away from him, into a new room full of books. "You approach magic differently than most any pony I'm aware of. Magic is... as much an emotion as anything else, but you threw that emotion aside, broke it down to complex commands, as if speaking your intent clearly was the only thing missing. It's cold..." She lifted an ear at Silver as she stepped up onto a pillow and sank onto it. "It doesn't feel alive."
Silver shook his head. "That's ridiculous." His glowing horn snatched another pillow and drew it over so he could sit near Twilight. "I don't talk about the emotions because I'm so not an expert on them, but that doesn't mean they aren't important, or not in play."
"How?" Twilight thrust a hoof at him. "Your writings avoid even speaking of them. How do they, in your eyes, in your magic, affect things? If it's all about the 'language' of magic, where does emotion fit in?"
"Because we're not robots," he calmly retorted. "Magic comes from here." He pointed up at his horn. "Which is attached to our brains, and those are always influenced by emotions. If you're invested in what you're doing, you'll get more power out to the spell, and the spell will be bigger. Your words help aim it, your mental state helps prevent, or cause, mistakes and gives it power. The two are connected."
"That isn't wrong," she allowed without pause. "But you never bring it up!"
"You write far better books on emotions, Twilight. It's something I like about you." He smiled gently at the ruler that outranked him, but he didn't feel the intimidation that was there with Celestia. Twilight did not loom over him. "Your challenges have honed your art. Maybe you'd, if you ever had time, write a chapter?"
"So you admit..." She trailed off, frowning. "Sorry, that wasn't fair. Alright. You are focused on what you know, and want to share. That isn't a crime, or even wrong, especially, but your books will cause issues if ponies take them as a total solution, when they are not."
"Reminder, you took me off that project. I watch dreams, and talk to lost once-humans, but no magic research and teaching too."
Twilight huffed softly. "I forbade you from being a day professor and night guard. You need a time to sleep, Silver." She turned a hoof towards herself. "Something I feel calling. But, putting that aside, there's nothing stopping you from writing." She glanced away and back. "By the way, Mister I Don't Know Emotions... How did you end up with two special someponies?"
Silver blinked at her, silent a moment before it seemed to click. "They found me, but I didn't push them away either. I wasn't as good at hiding in dark places, here, in Equestria." A smile spread on his face. "I'm grateful."
"There, you stop that." She pointed at him. "You're a pony. Where were you, if not Equestria?"
Silver inclined his head. "Twilight, don't make me sad. You know I talk to once-humans. Draw a line."
And so she did, her wings slowly spreading to either side. "You? You're... They've infiltrated us that deeply!" she flapped her wings once before they folded, her head shaking left and right.
"I'm not an invading force," he assured gently. "You're the ones that put your hooves on my heart and held me here."
Twilight burst into a light laughter at that. "We've exchanged letters, quite a few... I know you're not some... alien soldier." She inclined her head at him. "But you... don't... I'm struggling for words." She stood up, her wings carrying her a foot off the pillow. "You act like a pony."
"I am a pony," he calmly accepted. "I don't claim to be otherwise."
"Other once-humans." She landed back on the pillow, sinking to her belly. "Most have thoughts, about their humanity. It goes back to that." She rolled her hooves in the air. "And you don't, why?" Suddenly she shook her head. "Never mind, we're getting off topic. Your magic. That is why we're here."
"We can talk about both," he allowed, watching her nervous movements. "And I'm not a monster." He rolled over onto his belly, an undignified position, but one of submission with a smile on his face. "You could walk over and sit on me and I wouldn't stop you."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "This isn't a wrestling match, Silver. Besides, that wouldn't stop your horn, and you are a magic user of some talent, like myself." She put a hoof at her chest, looking proud. "Now, don't think you're alone."
"Alone?"
"Having to let your dream, your project, be handled by another..." She lifted her shoulders slowly. "It... hurts sometimes, thinking about my school being managed by another, but I trust Starlight. I know she'll do the best she can, but, still, that I can't be the one... I started it, it's... precious to me."
Silver flopped onto his side, rolling all the way upright. "I hear that. I should make more time to exchange notes with Fast." A little smile touched his lips. "Thanks for the reminder."
"If magic is as clearly a language as you imply," she began in a querying tone, shifting topics without warning. "Why haven't we noticed before?"
"You didn't look in the right direction in the right way." Silver lifted his shoulders. "Any time someone thinks of something new, those who follow wonder how that wasn't always a known thing. It tends to be that way for everything, eventually. Who would have imagined a train before the first was invented? Now they're common place, not even special."
"There is that," she allowed, peering at him. "But my cutie mark is magic. Why didn't I see it?"
"That's not a fair question, to yourself, or anyone." He reached out a hoof towards her as his magic created a silvery hand that gently touched her right ear, making her jump. "Take it as an opportunity. Learn a new way and attack it. I bet you'd become really good at it, quickly. It's your talent, revel in it."
He stood then. "You should sleep. I should be watching dreams. We can talk again. Call, anytime. If you want tips, I could even visit more often. You were learning what I was offering quite well, last we tried."
She watched him go before he vanished about two steps later, teleporting to wherever he planned to be with a silvery flash. "I should consider that." She yawned widely with nopony there to see her lack of decorum. "First, sleep." And off she went to retire from the day.