Silver emerged from the observatory with a smile, only to almost run into Rough Tumble. The stallion backed away nervously. "Oh, sorry, sir. I didn't mean to be in the way."
Silver perked his ears at him, looking him over a moment. It was long enough to make Rough nervous and he began to shuffle in place. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes." Silver took a step towards Rough, who shrank backwards. "There are many things wrong."
Rough pinned his ears back. "I've been training, honest. Night Watch as my witness."
Silver leaned in and gently kissed Rough Tumble on the bridge of his nose. "I don't doubt that."
Rough recoiled and looked up at Silver with surprise. "W-what? What's wrong then?"
Silver closed the distance easily, pressing nose to nose. "I have treated you very unkindly. You had a rough start, sure, who doesn't? I'm hardly a poster ch, er, foal for coming from a clean background. We are what we decide to be, and rise to be."
Rough was warm to the touch and was blushing brightly in his cheeks. "I don't understand... What are you saying?"
Silver suddenly nipped his ears with sharp lunar fangs. "I'm asking you out on a date, for real this time." He chuckled softly. "I've seen things, experienced things... I'm just not that scared of stallions anymore." Silver's tail flicked gently. "I just don't want to be bottom, sorry."
Rough slowly crashed down onto his haunches. "Are you... Is this a test? Are you joking with me?" He looked at Silver with wide eyes a moment before he reached up with his hooves and grabbed Silver by the cheeks. "Yes! Please, yes. Are your wives alright with this?"
A sudden wolfwhistle came from the observatory door where Twilight stood, grinning at Silver. "Of course we're alright with this. We gave permission for this particular date a long time ago."
Night Watch nodded as she emerged from around Twilight. "Go, enjoy yourself. It'll be nice to see you going out and just being a pony for a little while. There is one little problem, however. Colt cuddlers are still a taboo, and you're a prince."
Silver threw a leg over Rough's neck and pulled him closer. "I don't care."
Twilight gently nudged Silver in the flank. "You should care. Like it or not, we're both public figures. Now I'm not saying not to have this date, but you don't have to parade it through town." She waved a hoof toward the observatory she just left. "Just like we did, once. Enjoy the stars, and each other. We'll prepare a nice dinner for you both."
Rough Tumble sniffed softly, overwhelmed. "Thanks, Twilight, er, Princess Twilight Sparkle. You... Your whole herd is the best!"
Silver kissed each of the two available wives in turn before he moved in on Rough and pressed lips to lips in a slow exchange. The overwhelmed stallion sank to the ground beneath Silver with a silly smile on his face. This was not the Silver he knew, and he couldn't think of a reason to argue.
Silver drew back from the putty that was Rough Tumble. "Compared to Anubians, pony stallions are little teddy bears, adorable little teddy bears."
Nefertari snorted as she appeared on the opposite side of Silver, darting so quickly as to not be seen until she stopped. "You're going to settle for this little soft pony?"
Rough Tumble scrambled for his hooves, almost falling over himself. "Who are you calling soft? I know how to fight!" Silver put up a hoof to stall Rough, but the guard wasn't having it. He pushed past the hoof and glared at Nefertari. "I am Prince Silver Star's guard, and I take my training seriously."
Twilight coughed into a hoof softly. "Please, Rough, this isn't the place."
Rough grunted and pawed at the ground as if ready to charge. "She's saying I'm not good enough for Silver. I am!"
Nefertari crooked her fingers, showing off her claws for maximum effect. "Are you ready to prove that?"
Night Watch pushed up her glasses. "There's a twenty percent chance of severe injury, fifty percent chance of humiliation, ten percent chance of unknown Anubian magic, and a fifteen percent chance of victory."
Rough glanced at Night, then looked at Nefertari. "Not the best odds, but I'm ready..."
Silver moved between Rough and Nefertari. "No, please. Neither of you have to fight."
Nefertari rolled her eyes. "One day you'll learn that it's not always up to you who fights and when. He has accepted my challenge." She flashed her teeth at Silver. "I'll be gentle, promise."
Silver looked back to Rough, who nodded gently. With a gentle sigh, Silver moved over to join Twilight and Night. "Please, I don't want either of you being hurt."
Before any further words could be exchanged, Nefer closed with Rough Tumble nigh-instantly and cupped his snout with her clawed fingers, one of those claws mere millimeters from his eyes. "You're braver, or stupider, than I thought, daring to challenge a shaman of the Anubians." Rough glared at her, but didn't back away. She laughed loudly. "Oh, I like you. Brave, or stupid. The two are difficult to tell apart. Let us learn a lesson every warrior must learn eventually." Those claws somehow closed without touching, "Know when you're beat. Know your better."
Rough Tumble swallowed heavily before he nodded, a gesture Nefertari allowed. "Will you train me?"
Nefertari raised a brow and lowered her clawed paw. "Now there's an answer better than any I had seen in your future. You will not give your eyes to me in a foolish display of bravado? You will not remain petulantly stubborn and hope that bravery alone will make you the best? You have truly surprised me, pony. Surprised, and delighted." She turned to Silver with a bright smile. "There is hope for him. I hope he understands what he has brought on himself." She suddenly fled, leaving nothing but an afterimage. The image spoke, despite it being little more than a fading spectre. "Tomorrow morning, we begin as the sun rises."
Night Watch smiled nervously. "Discord's cut... You beat the odds."
Rough Tumble sank to the floor, trembling. "She's... Did I make a horrible mistake?"
Silver looked off in the direction Nefer had gone in. "If you stick with it, and you can stand what she serves, you'll become a better warrior for it. She's trained many Anubians for war. Let's put that aside for now. Today you have a date to enjoy."
Rough slowly climbed back to his hooves with a goofy smile returning. "Will you tell me about your journey? It must have been... a lot, for this to happen."
Silver winced a little. "I'd rather not get too deep into most of it. Some of it was painful."
Twilight poked him. "Which makes it doubly important for you to tell us. We are your family, and we'll help you work through it, but we can't do that if you keep it bottled up."
Night nodded in agreement. "Nothing you've seen can be so terrible we can't at least face it with you, as your family."
Rough looked increasingly awkward a moment. "Am I part of that family?"
Twilight smiled at him. "Well, yes. You've been our guard for some time, and maybe something more, depending on how things go. If you mean if you're a part of this herd, well, no, but herds are not the start or end of a family."
Silver nodded with Twilight. "I would be proud to call you family, Rough Tumble. You've fought against a dark past and have worked so hard to be a good pony despite it, even when your hero was turning his back on you." He leaned in and rubbed snout against snout gently. "Let's enjoy today."
Rough and Silver retired to the observatory and they sat side-by-side on two cushions. Rough looked nervous before he leaned in and rest his head on Silver's back. "Is this really alright?"
Silver rest his own head on Rough in kind and snuggled in closer. "Very. I'm so sorry I was blind to all the ways you are a fantastic pony, stallion or mare. I like to think things work out the way they do because they have to."
"Have to?"
Silver nodded gently. "When we first met, you were a bully, and someone else's toy. You hurt me because that was all you knew how to do. Even then, you were looking for ways out. You tried to give up to me, remember that?"
Rough went a bright red. "I... I felt so weak, and you were strong in comparison, at least then. I thought you planned to take advantage of it, and be the big pony."
Silver perked an ear. "You... Were you going to do that to me? Were you going to rape me?"
Rough sank down and looked ashamed. "If I had caught you without my marefriend around, probably. It feels so stupid, now, looking back at it... I was so awful!"
Silver shook his head. "You had your chances, and you didn't. Even as badly broken as you were, you weren't that broken. You were hurt, and hurting. Your parents, they're the real monsters." He frowned and reached for Rough, brushing his side with a hoof. "We're past that... I couldn't accept you then, because I was broken, but that's passed too. I look at you, and I see a pony, a pony that wants to love and be loved, not a stallion or a mare, a pony. A wonderful pony."
Rough tilted his head one way, then the other way. "Destiny. You believe in destiny." Silver nodded gently. "Figures..." He chuckled a little. "I wrote off destiny a long time ago, having to deal with parents like that. Seeing them throw my truck off of Canterlot... If that was Destiny, I didn't want any part!"
Silver put a hoof to his chest. "And yet, it brought you to me, and gave us both a chance to grow, into each other."
"You're not doing this again!" Both stallions looked up to see Fast Change approaching as her form became harder and larger, sculpted to be a chiseled stallion with a dashing grin. "Not this time. If you're having a colt cuddling party, I'm in."
Silver squirmed a little with nervousness and a little excitement. "Fast, beloved, you are... perhaps a bit too aggressive for a gentle introduction."
Fast raised a brow. "I can be plenty gentle! You just lay there and let me turn both of your worlds upside down." He settled between the two of them and began nuzzling each. "Trust me."
Rough Tumble nosed Fast back gently. "Fast Change has... He's very gentle when you want him to be."
Silver wondered when exactly Rough Tumble had learned about that. "Alright. I'll put my faith in you." His tail swayed slowly as he kissed Fast Change's cheek. "Show us, my adaptable stallion."