Silver considered Bottom's question a moment, and how to phrase his strange background. "I was not always a pony."
Bottom's ears lifted. "Oh?"
Silver nodded. "I was a strange creature. Two legs, hands, bare of skin. Human. But that's in the past. I'm a--"
Bottom sat up. "Me too!"
Silver frowned. "You too? You're a pony now too, yes."
Bottom leaned in. "I was a human. I remember it... so faintly. When I was a little colt."
Silver felt suddenly dizzy and confused. "Y-you were?" He frowned as the thought of lying came to him. "How can you prove that?"
Bottom rubbed her forehooves together. "Mom used to put on a show for me. It had a blue dog in it, on... On a thing. It was in our living room. It had a lot of shows on it and I remember liking them a lot..."
Silver's tension only grew as Bottom described a cartoon. "I... see... You've been here, in this world, since you were a little child?"
Bottom bobbed her head. "Yes, sir. I don't... I don't talk about it, sir. They used to get angry at me when I talked about it too much. They called me a liar, sir. I wasn't a liar, sir. You believe me?"
Silver nodded stiffly even as his body threatened to fall over under the weight of the discovery. "Yes! Yes, I believe you." The idea that Bottom was a poor lost child at one time, ripped from Earth at a tender young age, thought insane by some village, kidnapped by pirates, then seduced by some pony that called himself a prince. It was... awful. "You deserve so much better than you've gotten."
Bottom nuzzled at Silver, rubbing snouts. "I have you now, sir. That's more than enough for me."
Silver blinked back hot tears, unsure what he could do to fix so many years of abuse and neglect. He hugged Bottom tightly, crying onto her shoulder, to her confusion. They remained together until sleep snatched Silver away, and the night passed them by.
When he woke up the next morning, Silver felt resolved. He rose from bed and stormed out of the room without the company of Celestia or his servants, and prowled through the hallways until he found a guard, then he made his way all the more purposefully towards Wajdi's quarters. He stepped in after being announced, and the royal couple were still rising for the day, tending to their grooming and clothing.
Wajdi barely looked at him as he got dressed. "What can I do for you, young prince? The guard says you look quite severe."
Silver nodded a little. "I have decided. I don't want concubines anymore. Not a single one. It was wrong of me to accept the first, and it's only snowballed out of control from there. Please take her back, Fiddah. It was not her fault or failing, just my foolishness, as a 'young prince'." He dipped his head low. "I only want my wives."
Jawa wandered over with perked ears. "Would you listen to him? What loyalty he has to his mares so far away." She snorted with a little smile. "I can't imagine you leaving your concubines behind when you went on a trip away from me."
Wajdi shook his head. "A fine sentiment, but impossible. Fiddah is our gift to you, and will remain so, at least until such time as you return home. To do otherwise would be a great insult."
Silver recoiled a little. Wajdi's tone was cold and formal, not the lighthearted jester he had been until then. There was clearly something else at play. "She is... a most fine gift. Enchanting, skilled, and... it's me, not her. Won't you accept her back?"
Jawa put a hoof on Silver's shoulder. "Do not ask again. You are forgiven for your inexperience, and for your kindness in your stay thus far, but not one more word on this matter. Fiddah is yours."
Silver felt sunk. They were both adamantly against him. He nodded a little. "Thank you then, for a most... wonderful mare." He gathered himself up and turned away with all the dignity he could muster, and departed. He could feel their eyes on him until the door closed, and he dashed off into the gardens to think on things.
Shei found him there, and sat quietly beside him. "You look upset, master. What weighs on you so heavily?"
Silver swiveled an ear at her. "I fear I have made a mistake. Many. I let one mistake lead into the next, and to the next, just gathering mistakes like a little filly gathering flowers. I just want to be clean again."
Shei tilted her head. "Which mistakes were these?"
Silver realized he was about to call Shei a mistake, and that would be hurtful, and wrong... "I was wrong to think I could compartmentalize my heart, to keep some close, but keep a fence up to keep them from getting to me, or to keep myself from embracing them. After so many years being alone, I think I'm just... I'm dependant. I want to be loved. I want to love. I want to be accepted and adored, and I want to adore and quick to accept and forgive."
Shei gave slow nods as she watched his face. "What pain has this brought you?"
Silver grit his teeth a moment before leaning in and rubbing noses with Shei. "You are no concubine."
Shei's ears rolled back. "What am I then?"
Silver smiled. "You're me, long ago, hoping a royal member would recognize my own love. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, and she claimed she had feelings, but not love." He nuzzled at one of Shei's ears. "We're married now."
Shei tensed at the implications. "Are you... proposing?"
Silver shook his head. "No. At least, not that. I want to bring you home, and introduce you to them, and let them see you. I won't make any more promises without them, this trip be damned. This bracelet be damned, and fuck everything else."
Shei gave an uncertain nod before she tossed her head. "What about Bottom?"
Silver clopped his forehooves together. "She's been drawn into this mess, hasn't she? To tell her to go away would be the cruelest thing I could do for her now." He frowned sharply. "I will keep her close, and try to help, and she will come home with us, but not as a servant. No more of that. You two are my suitors. That's much more honest than the lies I've been feeding you, and myself."
Shei pointed off in the same direction. "And Fiddah? Is she also your suitor?"
Silver shook his head. "No! No... I mean, she's probably a nice mare, but I don't know her. I'm not loyal to her that way, and I shouldn't allow... I shouldn't." He rose to his hooves and turned away. "I'm just making a mess of everything. Loyalty. A husband is supposed to be loyal, and royal rights of concubines don't mean jack and shit compared to how... scuzzy I've been. If you decide to leave me, I will support your transition to wherever you want to be, and your sister will be given the respect..." He sank to his knees, emotions running dangerously hot instantly at the thought of her. "She'll be buried properly, in the inn. The inn I took away from her. The life I took away from her." His head sunk, forehead touching the ground. "Why do I destroy everything I touch? Why was my father so fucking right? David the Destroyer, that's what he called me, and it's true. It's still true. A whole other reality, and it's still true."
He began to cry into the ground, breaking down entirely. Shei didn't leave him. She settled beside him and put a leg over his trembling form, and they remained there, quiet, but together. She wanted to argue his words, but no good counter came immediately to her, and she just stayed with him, offering the comfort of her presence, and it would have to be enough.