Silver settled beside Celestia, and the two leaned on one another. With a bit of silver magic, he closed the window, as there was no sun left to shine, and only cool night air gusted in. Warm, dark, and comfortable, the pair soon faded off to sleep.
Silver found himself in the center of a swirling array of bedazzling jewels, each holding the dreams of another Anugyptian. Though he was curious to peek, it wasn't his job to meddle with the dreams of foreign people, nor did he know them well enough to even try to help them. He turned his thoughts to Luna and a gem came through the collection from deep inside, colored a deep night blue.
Without hesitation, Silver reached for it, and was drawn in to come face-to-face with Luna. "Hello, Silver Stars."
Silver jumped back a little. "I forget how in-control you tend to be, even in your dreams."
Luna rolled a hoof. "I have had some time to practice. Sister informed me you were quite shaken? You look well."
Silver shook his head a little. "It was pretty awful, but I feel better now, and we're far away from whatever it was. Like some kind of eldritch horror that didn't belong in this world or any other. Did you see it? Celestia said you mentioned it before."
Luna shook her head. "I saw it once, but did not dare to approach that forsaken dream. You are braver than I was, but more foolish by twice. I'm glad you're alright." She advanced and pushed nose-to-nose, and for a moment everything was alright. She drew back and smiled lightly. "What have you seen of the city?"
Silver tapped his chin lightly. "Where to even start? The pharaoh's come off as a giant jerk that's making us wait to make himself feel better about his prowess and control."
"He hasn't changed, go on." Luna rolled a hoof for Silver to continue.
"I met my first Saddle Arabians. They seem like nice ponies, if you ignore the larger part."
Luna looked thoughtful. "Did one catch your eye?" Almost instantly she grinned. "I thought one might. Do it."
Silver's expression flattened. "You're joking? I just met her, and I'm standing next to Celestia and we're supposed to be doing something."
Luna snorted softly. "She won't wither if you leave her alone for a few minutes, your job is waiting, and this won't disturb that, and since when did you need to know a pony to stud them?"
Silver raised a brow. "The part where they need to have feelings to have foals?"
Luna leaned forward. "So did she have interest in you or not?"
"Not that much!" exclaimed Silver, flopping onto his haunches. "What's going on at home?"
Luna looked away a moment. "Your wives are well, adapting in their own ways. Without their stallion, Fast has transitioned to a more stallion-like being, and has been taking up the role, much to that other stallion's delight. Who was that...?"
"Rough Tumble?" asked Silver with a faint tilt of the head.
"That's the one. It is rare I witness such an obvious colt cuddler. He's adorable. He is hard working and diligent as well, and makes great progress in his training." Luna poked Silver on the nose. "Now, about that mare. I know the Saddle Arabians. They are the only ponies that are the 'right' size for us. I'm sure you felt... something, even if you are still growing."
Silver did, and admitted as much with a soft pinkening. "She's pretty enough, yes, but she's about eight hundred years too young to try to compete with your charms."
Luna darkened and laughed merrily. "You cad. I wager you tell Celestia much the same. You won't fool me with your flattery. Your fears of being dishonest or disloyal restrain you, not any lack of base attraction, unless you wish to let me see your dreams and are confident enough that I will see nothing?"
Silver changed tactics, circling around Luna and nipping at her flank right at the cutie mark, making the larger alicorn jump slightly as she reacted as he hoped. "I have a question, and I need you to not be jealous that I'm asking it."
Luna swiveled an ear at him, but faced forward. "Go ahead. I promise to keep my emotions in check."
Silver reared up and mounted Luna, hugging her from above but not entering her, just hugging her. "You can have emotions, but I'm trying to be a good stallion to all the mares that wait for me. I'm sorry I'm bad at that."
The dream suddenly jumped, and Silver found himself deep inside of Luna, gripped tightly as she seemed to flex around him as if he was thrusting wildly despite her and him being perfectly still. He grunted in building pleasure, pressing all the further into it until his sheath ground against her nethers. "You... didn't have to do that..."
Luna looked over her shoulder. "But I wanted to. Please, go on." Despite her blase attitude, Silver could feel her grow warmer and wetter around him, and her hips started to move against him, turning their coupling into a team effort. "Ask."
Silver perked his ears, trying to not be too distracted by the increasingly fevered coupling. "Celestia said she's almost in season, you know, receptive?"
Luna snorted loudly, growing painfully tight a moment before her rocking resumed. "Are you feeling brave enough to mount her? She has yet to prove a kind pony to you when she has full control."
Silver tilted his head before pushing deep into the mare, grinding his heavy balls against her. "She's been... very kind. This is all a dream! What does this even mean for us?"
The dream skipped, and Luna was facing Silver with a delicate frown. "If you feel that way, you can be this way." Silver was still painfully erect, without the pleasure of Luna wrapped around him. "I can't have you physically, is having you in a dream too forward? Take her! Do what you want. She probably won't kill you. Do you want her so much?" The environment was Luna's to control, and suddenly Silver was on top of Celestia instead, buried in her. "Is that what you prefer?"
Silver pushed away from Celestia, but it was like he was glued to and in her. "Luna, don't be like that. I asked for honest advice because I trust you and respect you. Can we talk? Like adults?"
Luna sighed loudly and the faux-Celestia vanished, allowing Silver to fall back to all fours. "I am dreadfully jealous of Celestia, having you to herself, and taking what she said I could have. I was supposed to be the first. Let's put that aside. I'm being petty. You were right to ask me about it." She raised a brow. "But you know almost as much as I do. When you lay with a mare at the right time, you give of yourself. Your theories about it are as valid as any I have heard. The male magic, stallion magic? It mixes with the slurry of tribal magic within the mare, and that becomes a foal over time."
Silver nodded. "Right, I get that part. Celestia made it sound like even trying was taking my life into my own hands, er, hooves? Is it that bad?"
Luna shrugged lightly. "And there is where our knowledge ends. Neither Tia nor myself have ever been successfully filled with foal. We learned to avoid stallions during that time, and later how to control that draw, because if we do not, our companion suffers the ultimate price, and for nothing."
Silver could piece the rest together. "So it takes enough energy that you can kill a pony that tries? In theory, I have more energy than a standard pony, right?"
Luna tilted her head. "We don't know. Honestly... I am terrified that you'll try and just become another sad marker, either dead or hurt in some way that won't go away with time."
After a moment of thought, Silver nodded. "I think I'm settled. We won't do it this time, or ever, until we can..." He rolled a hoof slowly. "I don't know, measure that?"
Luna was behind Silver without hesitation, raising a hoof to lift his balls without hesitation. "Measure your male magic? How decadent."
Silver jumped forward in surprise, spinning to face Luna. "Well, yes, but other stallions too. If we don't have a comparison, it's useless. Ideally we'd figure out how much your bodies are trying to take and then we'd be able to make an educated decision."
Luna snorted softly. "You ask for quite a lot. The only measurements we have for a pony's capacity you have already experienced, and none of them are specific to a stallion's... special energy. Besides this, you are in another nation entirely, and in no position to research much of anything."
Without warning Silver was thrown back into the gem field, barely getting his hooves down and landing with some mild amount of grace, enough to avoid a headache. "Did she wake up?" He couldn't know. A moment later, he woke up.
It was quite dark, but he heard the door opening quietly. His night-aspected eyes could see one of the Saddle Arabian mares slipping into the room, a knife held in her snout. She crept slowly towards the shared bed of Silver and Celestia, apparently not seeing that Silver's eyes were cracked open.
Silver gathered and focused his magic, preparing, but giving the mare a chance to prove her actions weren't as sinister as they appeared. She moved up to Celestia and flipped the dagger around in her mouth with a practiced flip before plunging down towards the prone form of the Sun Princess.
A great silvery hand slammed into the mare, knocking her and her weapon aside and to the floor. "Why?" Silver rose to his hooves. "Are you being paid?"
She rolled back up to her hooves even as Celestia began to stir from the sudden activity. "There is a large bounty on her head. Let me have her and I'll share it with you, my exotic stallion."
"Not happening." Silver stepped towards her, eyes open fully, glowing dimly in the darkness as his leathery wings unfurled. "You've attacked an innocent mare in her sleep. How do you defend that?"
She shrank back a little, but the dagger was still in her teeth. "We need it! You're the first customers we've had in a month..."
Celestia rose up to her haunches, yawning. "Silver, what's going on? Why is it so dark in here?" With a glow of her horn, a ball of light appeared, making the Saddle Arabian, her dagger, and the rest of the room visible. "Oh my!"
The mare shrank back towards the door. "We had to..."
Silver offered a hoof. "Put the dagger down. Let's talk, like adults."
She snarled at Silver. "You just want it to be easier to kill me. I can see death in your eyes."
Celestia snorted softly. "Miss, if you apologize to him, he'll defend you from a dragon. Give him a chance." More fully awake, she rose to her hooves. "I would like somepony to explain what's going on."
Silver gave a quirk of a smile, embarrassed, but not denying the fact. "Please? You must be desperate. Tell us about it? Put it down and talk to us."
She slowly lowered her head and put the dagger on the floor before sagging down beside it. "Fine. You're both wizards. You could kill me with a thought anyway. Go ahead, do it."
Silver shook his head as he approached, using his magic to toss the dagger aside. "Let's start with your name. I don't remember ever hearing it?"
She clenched her teeth. "I do not wish to shame my family. To be brought down to thuggery, and to be so poor at it."
Celestia gave a soft smile. "You may yet win some favor with us, if you will tell us who hired you?"
"No one, at least, not directly." She sighed and her head sank to the floor. "If you know where to look, there are bounties, and your name has a large number next to it, enough to keep this place open for two years without any customers at all."
Silver glanced to Celestia, then back to the mare. "We will pay you well for our rooms, but only if we are safe here. I would rather know you as a friend than an enemy, can we have that?"
Celestia frowned with her own thoughts, but didn't join the conversation. The mare rolled onto her back, hooves in the air. "I am Aila Windsong. You met my sister, Shei Windsong. We came to Anugypt with a dream, but the cats are not kind to Saddle Arabians. It is a subtle cruelty to all that are not their own. We get precious few customers, and those we do get whisper of foul rumors spread of us..."
Silver rolled a hoof. "Why not leave? Go home?"
Aila scowled. "I have more dignity than that! I will not be defeated by these uncivil felines."
Celestia suddenly joined. "Instead you will become their killer for them?"
Aila's defiant face fell to despair. "This isn't what I wanted..."