It was on the evening of the third day. Silver had seen Tirek soar towards Ponyville and stopped by the academy to spread the news. Night Watch emerged with him, and he was not alone on that last day. As the sun grew heavy, great bursts of light flashed from the direction of Ponyville, far below the mountain city. Silver was a little excited. It would soon be over, at last.
It went quiet and still, and Silver sat watching the spot, waiting. He was not disappointed. The rainbows came. They washed over the city, restoring color and cutie marks to ponies all around him. Silver felt some of the power rushing into him and drew a ragged breath as his body greedily absorbed some of the pony magic, but it seemed unable to hold very much. As the color explosion faded, a last pulse went out. Silver's form seemed to latch onto it, and he grew furry again. A weight on his brow felt like a horn. He glanced at his cutie mark and found that it was still missing.
Night landed in front of him, "You're... what is that?" she raised a hoof to point at the top of his head.
Silver went cross-eyed trying to see it, "What?"
Night frowned, "You have one of his horns." She flared her wings wide, "That can't be good." She took off in a hurry, vanishing towards the castle.
Silver frowned as an alien power brewed within him. With single-minded intent, he marched towards the castle himself. "We have business," he said to nopony at all.
Silver found that the guards of the castle were still dizzy with joy at having their powers returned. They paid no mind to him as he walked through like he belonged there. Though Canterlot Castle was vast, he had patience, and soon found the darkened room that looked like Luna's, and smelled of Celine. He settled in a corner, and waited.
He wasn't sure how long he waited, but the door finally opened. Luna stepped in, mane fluttering with power. She nodded to her guards and closed the door with a sigh. She looked tired and ready for bed, and he let her lay down before he emerged from the shadows. "You're going to give her back."
Luna blinked, wide-eyed, "Human David?"
Silver frowned, "I'm not sure which name fits, but I am definitely not David. You have what belongs to me, several things, and you're going to give them over, now." He stomped the floor with a loud clop, "If you have any honor at all."
Luna shook her head slowly, "I can restore your cutie mark and your vigor, but you seem to have the latter already. Celine is gone."
"Liar!" shouted Silver before he pulled the ethereal chords. He began to separate Luna from her magic violently, drawing her magic with a powerful pull that became a waterfall of power from the alicorn to Silver. He grew before her, matching her size as power bristled through his true stallion of a body. Luna sagged to the bed, drained and tired. "Now she is with me. I'll figure out how to put her back together!" He turned away from Luna, his silvery mane and tail starting to waft without a breeze.
The door burst open to admit Night Watch, "Princess, Si-- Oh..." She shrank before the imposing figure of the empowered Silver.
Silver smiled, "I'm not here to hurt you. We're still friends, even if I am so very angry at Luna."
Night shook her head quickly, "Don't do this... You're a good pony."
Silver stuck the ground with both hooves, tearing the tile easily, "What has being a good pony got me? I never asked for much. I just want her back. The one that loved me!"
Night hunkered down with wings wide and her eyes on Silver's blazing eyes, "She chose to go, Silver. I was there..."
Silver blinked, deflating a little, "What? You... where? But you... you helped me search for her. Why?" His bewilderment turned into a deep scowl, "Why would you toy with me like the others!"
Night shook her head quickly, "They made me promise not to say, but she choose it. She didn't want to hurt you anymore."
Silver grit his teeth, trembling, "I could have found a way... We could have found our own rainbow." Tears began to fall from his eyes, "She took my chance away by throwing away faith in me. Twilight! Is that the only pony worth having faith in?" Silver collapsed, huge, but crying. "Aren't I worth a little?"
Night slowly approached Silver, "You are. You were amazing."
Silver frowned at Night, "You're saying that to distract me." He rose to his hooves, "I've already taken Luna's magic. There's no forgiveness for that. I'm a bad guy, just waiting for a rainbow to smash me to bits."
Luna's soft voice spoke up from behind Silver, "No, you are not." She rose up to her hooves shakily, fatigue showing in every movement. "The tiredness I feel doesn't come close to the hurt I've placed on your heart."
Silver growled softly as he spun on Luna, "Why did you do it then? Why won't you show me how to get her back?"
Luna glanced away, "She is gone, truly. If I had the power to bring her back, I would do so. The best I could offer is another that is like her, but you are a smart enough pony. You would know the difference."
Silver sank to his belly, the tension fleeing him. He released the magic, deflating back to being a pony as Luna swelled larger. "I would," said Silver, "I'm so angry that sometimes I think it'd be worth it..." He looked up at Luna, now towering over him, "You've been nothing but unending agony for me."
Luna reached out a hoof and softly pet over Silver's ears and cheeks, "We are... You tire of hearing our apologies. What can we do, in action, to make amends?"
Night crept up and put a hoof lightly on Silver's shoulder, "No offense, but that horn has to go. Nopony should have that kind of power."
Silver's ears fell, then he rose to his hooves, "For one, I will not be your squire."
Luna raised a brow, "Your promise?"
Silver shook his head, "Was voided when you destroyed me, twice. I owed you thirty years of the life you tore apart. You have nopony to blame but yourself."
Luna huffed softly, "Very well, though I feel Celestia will have words for you."
Silver snorted in return, "She can shove her wor--" Night bonked him lightly on the head, "Ugh." He wanted to be angry at Night, but she had done little truly to deserve it, though now that his attention was on her, "Night. I need complete honesty."
Night raised a brow, "I haven't given too much less than that."
"Fine," said Silver, glancing around, "Do you like me or not? If you don't, fine. I'm not going to go crazy either way, but I need to know."
Night flushed softly, "You're a good pony." Silver frowned at her, "I mean it! You threw yourself into the line of danger for others without hesitation. I can respect that kind of sense of duty. You're clever enough, and you run a decent game of Humanway, even if you are cheating."
Silver raised a brow, "Cheating?"
Night Watch rolled her eyes from behind her glasses, "You were a human. Cheating."
Silver snorted a little, "Do you want to be with me?"
Night began to shuffle in place, "This is not how I imagined this sort of thing would go..."
Silver shook his head, "I'm tired of beating around bushes and playing coy games. Night, will you be my first wife?"
Night's cheeks began to burn as her glasses fogged up. "Oh! Well, this is so sudden..." She shuffled in place, hooves scuffing the floor.
Luna asked, as she spread her wings, "How does this involve me?"
Silver looked to her with a quirk of a smile, "Is it not obvious? You would be our official witness, and I would ask that you release her to my care."
Night frowned, "But I am loyal to the Princess."
Silver gestured at Night with a hoof, "She won't go if you don't release her."
Luna took a slow breath before she moved a wing to raise Night's chin up to face her. "If you wish it, I will release you."
Night trembled softly, "Not fair..."
Silver nodded, "No excuses. It is your choice alone. If you say yes, I promise to protect you, and to cherish you. If you say no, I promise to leave you be and carry no animosity. This is your choice."
Night waved a wing at Silver, "Why not take Fast Change? She would practically leap at the chance!"
Silver settled on his haunches, "She is lovely, but she is not first wife material. I would trust you to manage affairs, and to select wisely. You know the odds, and I think you've grown to know me over this disaster. I can't think of a more responsible mare, that also makes my heart quicken, that I would want. Will you say yes?"
Luna stepped back into the conversation, asking, "What other boon would you request? I feel there is another coming."
Silver tilted his head, "Ah, first." He reached up, tapping at the unnatural horn, "I don't want that. Like Night said, nopony should have that power. I was very happy with my horn, and my cutie mark. Give them back."
Luna suddenly lashed out. Her hoof struck the horn at the base. Searing pain made Silver's body tremble before it hit the floor, furless and weak. "Be still." It was a useless command, with Silver curled in pain on the floor. Familiar magic flowed into him, and his foreign body felt at home again. Silver was back, and some of the abuse faded away. "You are restored."
Silver struggled back to his hooves, huffing for breath as he frowned. "You could have warned me. You did that on purpose." Luna did not deny it, and he huffed softly. "Night, I need your decision. My choices depend on if I make this journey alone, or with you at my side." He smiled gently, "Will you be mine?"
Night pulled a single twenty-sided die from her pouch and demonstrated it at the end of a wing. Silver raised a brow, "You're not going to roll that, are you?"
Night bobbed her head, "Old trick. Roll it, if you're sad about the results, then you know the truth." She let the die fall, clacking loudly on the broken tile floor as it bounced around to and fro, numbers spinning wildly with every landing. All eyes were focused on the little stone die as it tumbled and gyrated, carrying so much of the future on its uncaring surface.