//------------------------------//
// 54 - A New Day 
// Story: The Silver Stars 
// by David Silver 
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Silver opened her eyes as sun light spilled over her. She could hear soft breathing. Glancing around, it became quickly evident that she was buried in a warm pile of ponies. She took a long breath and settled back down, thinking about things. Was she that bad off? She grabbed the pony closest to her hooves which turned out to be Night Watch. A smile emerged as Silver began to cuddle into Night's sleeping back. No, as the religious drivel her mother used to say, 'This too shall pass.' She was alive, healthy, and had an amazing family. The sleep had turned the sharp emotional ache into a dull throb, and Silver knew how to push those aside.

She slipped from the bed and stretched out slowly. Her wings spread out in the motion, almost knocking her over before she regained her balance. Silver looked over her shoulder at the large wings, giving them a slow flap. With a firm nod, she grabbed some paper and a quill and got to writing.



Hey guys,

Big news! Guess who's...



Silver crumpled up the note and tossed it aside with a scowl before trying again.



Dear Rough and Trixie,

I am an alicorn.



Silver peered at the simple note, frowning. Surely she should write more, but the words failed to come to her. She signed it and folded the paper, deciding they deserved to know, even if she sucked at telling them. They wouldn't have to find out first in some newspaper.

Silver set the note in an outbox and then trotted downstairs. Jake was there. He looked at Silver with confusion. "Dude?"

Silver tilted her head at Jake. "Yeah..."

Jake reached out a hand and pet Silver across the head. "Cool. You try flying yet?"

Silver spread her wings again. "Not yet. Night's going to give some lessons later..."

Jake's hand moved to those wings and suddenly Silver closed her eyes as a new sensation exploded from contact. Jake was pressing some kind of nerve cluster at the base of her wings and everything was right in the world. "Don't stop doing whatever you just did."

Jake did stop, however. "I'm not going to get blasted by jealous ponies. I'll show them the trick for you, how about that?"

Silver opened her eyes to regard Jake. "That'll have to do. So... how do I look?" Silver did a slow turn.

Jake considered a moment. "Bigger a little, but you're still kind of small. Fiercer... It's hard to explain. Everything you had is just a little more of that. Thinner."

Silver recoiled a little, "Oh, uh... yeah, thinner." She frowned again.

Jake became confused, then slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shit."

"Yeah," agreed Silver.

Jake suddenly hefted up Silver, much to her surprise. He brought her into the dining room and set her down at the table. "You're sitting right there. I'm making pancakes."

Silver did as was asked, and was soon rewarded with delicious pancakes. As she devoured them, Fast joined her at the table. Fast sat across from her with a cautious smile.

Silver looked up at him, then sat up. "Jake made pancakes."

"That was nice of him." Fast tilted his head. "How are you feeling?"

Silver snapped up a strawberry. "Better... I don't want to mope around, that's not my preferred style. Is Night awake?"

Fast shook his head. "She'll come down when she does. How do you feel? No censoring."

Silver went to immediately start censoring and Fast reached across to poke her on the nose. "No censoring. If you delay, I'll just have to assume you're thinking instead of talking."

Silver huffed annoyedly. "I still feel empty, but it's a dull empty instead of an angry, stabbing, bleeding kind of empty... I keep reminding myself that I'm surrounded by wonderful people and that my life isn't really that bad, even if something terrible happened in it." She snapped up a pancake and practically inhaled it. "Thank you, for last night."

Fast tilted his head a little before it clicked. He flashed a bright smile. "You know I'm good for that kind of thing, but that's just a band-aid."

Silver tilted her head. "Maybe, but what a bandaid... You're welcome to perform first aid as often as you want."

Fast shuffled a little. "Don't tempt me. I... think I know how you feel right now, I mean..." He wobbled a hoof. "I used to run away from all the hurt in the arms of anypony that would accept me."

Silver pointed at Fast. "I'm not sleeping around. When was being with my herd the same?"

Fast huffed. "Good! I'll be very cross with you if you start sleeping around. We're not one of those 'open' herds, ugh, why even have a herd?"

Silver twitched her tufted ears as a thought emerged. "What about Luna?"

Fast tilted her head. "What about her?"

Silver gestured towards Canterlot. "I'm not sure how pressing it is, but I'm pretty sure she still wants me."

Fast flashed bright teeth. "Can I visit her as you?"

Silver went dark quickly. "Oh god! Would you really do that?"

Fast tapped his chin. "If you and Night said I could, yes. I made it no secret I wanted a turn with her. You might have to rescue me afterwards if she sees through me."

Silver flopped onto the table, narrowly missing the last pancake. "I almost kinda want to see that."

"See what?" Night descended the stairs, joining them at the table. "Good morning. You're looking better, Silver."

Silver pointed at Fast. "Fast wants to visit Luna as me and do extremely inappropriate things."

Fast gasped sharply. "Traitor!"

Night glanced between the two. "You must be feeling better..." She focused on Fast then. "Luna would tear you apart if she found out. We'd have to put something properly embarrassing on your tombstone."

Fast stuck out his tongue thoughtfully. "Here lies Fast. He reached for the moon, and was crushed with a smile. No no: Remembered fondly, Fast gave his all to reach the moon, shame he didn't prepare for the landing."

Silver burst into giggles at the antics before looking back and forth between the two. "Not that I mind the joking... but are you serious?" She looked to Fast. "Would you let her?"

Night rose a brow high. "I don't think I need to note that this would be stupidly dangerous."

Fast smiled. "And yet, you didn't say no."

Night looked to Silver. "I'm more interested in what Silver thinks of this. If visiting her as you can get that reaction from her, I'm guessing she still has feelings for you... and me? Does she still... love us? I don't know how to feel about that... I'm already struggling to deal with two alicorns in my life."

Silver lowered her ears. "I'm not trying to encourage her, but I think I'm pretty awful at shutting her down flat-out. I don't want to hurt her. She looks at me with big sensitive eyes and I go to pieces."

Night tilted her head. "Big and sensitive? My Luna is fierce and dominant!"

Fast blinked softly. "My Luna?"

Night went red across the face and sunk silently a moment. "Am I a bad pony for saying I miss her?"

Silver shook her head quickly. "No! I mean... I'm the one that dragged you away from her. She never hurt you."

Night hopped up to her hooves. "Enough of this! Time for flying lessons."

Silver shook her head. "Flying can wait. Emotions right now." She muffedly stomped her cushioned chair. "Do you love Luna?"

Night frowned and looked back and forth between Silver and Fast, wings spreading. "A little... A lot..." She sank to the floor. "I'm so sorry!"

Fast reached for Night, gently petting over cheeks and head. "You have nothing to be sorry to me for. Luna's kind of hot. You never told me what being her herd-mate was like?"

Night looked up at Fast, partially hiding behind a hoof. "She had this quiet aura of power. She would make me sit beside her, and everything felt so...safe. I would fall asleep with her and nightmares just couldn't get close. When we... did things... she always took charge, and it was great, every time." She sat up slowly. "As long as you don't mind her being the one calling the shots, she was... fantastic."

Twilight descended to join them with a wicked case of bed head. "What are you talking about? Who was fantastic?"

Night flopped to the ground and went silent. Fast chuckled. "We were talking about old times, back in school." It was a lie, but one Twilight failed to spot. 

She joined them at the table and looked across at Silver with a smile. "You're looking better today!"

Silver pointed back at Twilight. "I could say the same." She took a soft breath. "Let me just say that I am blessed thrice over for having three amazing partners in life. I love each of you so much." She spread her wings wide. "Night, ready?"

Night rose up and shook herself out before nodding. "Yes! Let's get to flying." She moved towards the door and was soon gone.

Twilight reached across suddenly, lifting Silver's chin. "I'm going to Canterlot. I should be back in the evening. I need to talk to Celestia. Alright?"

Silver nodded before kissing the hoof in her face. "I'll be here." Silver slipped to her hooves and trotted off after Night.

Fast reached over and pulled Twilight closer without warning, setting the princess down in his lap and stroking her mane into better appearance. "You don't need Celestia."

Twilight frowned at that. "What? She's my mentor, and a friend. I want to hear from her, and I will..."

Fast kissed Twilight's right cheek gently. "I won't stop you. Just remember that we all care about you, crazy mare."

Twilight shivered a moment before she turned around in Fast's lap to face him. "Do you really? You looked ready to leap at me yesterday."

Fast tilted his head. "You hurt my first love... Of course I was. I'm still angry if I'm honest with myself."

Twilight shrank away a little. "Then why are you being so nice?"

Fast leaned in to close the distance, pressing nose-to-nose. "Night asked me to be. Silver desperately wants me to be. So, you tell me, what did you do wrong?"

Twilight shrunk a little, leaning back hard enough to prop up against the table. "I hurt Silver..."

Fast poked Twilight's nose. "Even if you missed Silver, there was no reason to do... that. Unless you're fighting a grown dragon or Tirek or something, you had no reason to be doing that."

Twilight stiffly and slowly nodded. "I wasn't thinking straight... You must hate me so much right now."

Fast snorted softly. "Are you a member of our herd or not?"

Twilight blinked. "Officially?"

Fast frowned and didn't reply.

Twilight put a hoof on Fast's chest. "I want to be."

Fast nodded slowly. "Then you focus on making Silver happy." Fast leaned in and bit one of Twilight's ears. "Stupid mare is still wildly in love with you. Make her smile, you make me smile."

"O... K..." Twilight squirmed, trapped by Fast. "How do I do that?"

Fast smiled. "That I can answer... Invite her to--"