Silver sat there, still watching the wall, lest Pinkie return and he be caught staring at her. He knew it was silly to worry about it, but trying to turn away resulting in a slowly-building panic attack that wasn't fun at all, so the wall would have to do. He tapped his hooves together with the tinking of his metal shoes, then held them up. "I need to talk to Fast about how long I'll stay an earth pony on my own. Changing back in the middle of the street would be far from ideal." There was nopony around to respond to his words, but he spoke them anyway.
He heard a soft rap on the door before it opened. He dared a peek and saw it was Pinkie. He went rigid and turned away. "Hey Pinkie..."
"Hiya." She went quiet, and he couldn't tell where she was exactly. She didn't make sounds when she moved if she didn't want to make sounds. Suddenly he was hugged from behind by a pair of pink legs. "Sorry about all that. I still want to be friends, just not, that kind of friend. I'm no good at being mistress Pinkie anyway!"
Silver relaxed in her grip and nodded. "Of course. This wasn't what you planned to happen, or either of us. I'm glad you did the right thing."
She sighed. "Of course I did, like I was going to keep my best friend's stallion locked up in my basement, doomed to make cupcakes and service me forever and a day." She smooched his cheek. "Look at me."
He noticed quickly the order didn't seem to have the crushing weight behind it, but it did cancel the first one, so he turned around to face Pinkie, to find her smiling up at him with a hopeful expression. "All fixed."
He looked her over from the tip of her twitchy ears, through her curly mane and bright pink body. He could still see the good parts, the parts that made her a pretty pony, but the little imperfections were no longer glossed over. She was a mortal, like any pony. He leaned in and touched nose-to-nose with her. "I still think you're pretty."
She colored brightly. "You're just saying that!" She ran her hooves together. "I talked with the rest of your herd... They said until everything's settled, I'm an 'honorary' member."
Silver tilted his head a little. He hadn't been seeking a new wife, and he feared what pressures it might put on the group of mares that formed the Mane Six, but the plot had survived his horribly disruptive presence so far... "Then that makes you my mare, for now." He squeezed her gently. "So if you need something, you should come and ask me, because I take being a stallion seriously." He rose up, feeling free. "For now, I need to talk to Fast, and Rough Tumble. What did I miss?"
Pinkie frowned. "Well, Applejack and Rarity ran off to solve a friendship problem in Manehattan, and the Sisterhooves Social happens tomorrow. Did you want to see that?"
Silver considered that. "That would be very cute, but I'd just be lending an air of overblown royalty where it's not needed. On... On the other hoof... I can think of two I would like to see go there, which gives me another reason to speak to Fast. Have you seen Shei?"
Pinkie hadn't, but eagerly joined the task force to find all the ponies Silver needed to speak to. He found Shei milling around the kitchen, assisting Spike, who seemed to enjoy the help. "Shei, glad I found you." He moved up and rubbed snouts with her gently. "I thought of something I think we should do, for your sister."
Shei backed up a step. "What? Really? This is quite sudden, but do go on." She looked curious, but nervous.
Silver gestured towards Sweep Apple Acres. "Every year, they have a festival to celebrate the bond between sisters. I think you should present a gift to the winners, and a few words on treasuring that bond. You don't have to, and I'd say shouldn't, go into detail on how your own ended, just emphasize how important it is to hold our sisters close and dearly. I think... they'll understand." It could have been just him, but he couldn't help but see Shei as only half of of a set of sisters.
Shei considered this and gave a slow and stiff nod. "Alright. I think I can do this." She suddenly smiled. "Knowing you, there will be no time to prepare for this."
Pinkie snorted suddenly. "Tomorrow! The winner of the big race will be picked in the evening."
Shei let out a little sigh, but she was smiling. "As I figured. I trust I have leave to spend as I wish?" Silver quickly nodded. "Then I'll do that. Why are you an earth pony, by the way?"
Silver went still, just noticing he was Wispy, not Silver. How had Shei even reacted properly? "Oh, uh, an ongoing experiment, how did you recognize me?"
Shei gestured at his glowing purple bangle, his silver necklace, down to his hooves and across his cutie mark. "There are many tells for me to see, and what other stallion would rush up to me with nuzzles and words of my departed sister?" She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I should return to preparing dinner. I'll shop afterwards, and be ready for tomorrow."
Silver left her to her duties with a last little nuzzle, and continued the search for Fast alongside Pinkie, but the shapeshifter was nowhere in sight. "Pinkie, did you hear anything about Fast Change?"
"Oh yeah." Pinkie tapped her chin. "I think she's being punished for being a naughty pony."
Silver put a hoof over his face. It was his fault for not asking earlier. "Did she catch up with you and Twilight?"
Pinkie bobbed her head. "And she kissed me and it was a real doozy of a kiss! She's good at kisses, and we fell over and I don't think she woulda ever stopped kissing, but Twilight got involved."
Silver let out a little sigh. "Twilight took care of it?" Pinkie nodded. "Well that's good. Fast..."
With a sudden loud flash of magic, Twilight appeared beside Silver. "Your turn!" She had a huge smile on her face that implied she had something in mind, possibly something unpleasant. "You didn't kiss anyone while I was busy, did you?"
Silver blinked at her. "I nuzzled Shei? She kissed my cheek? It was pretty harmless."
Twilight tapped her chin. "I'll check her just to play it safe. Come on, it's time to sanitize you." She turned and led the way with a swaying tail. Silver and Pinkie fell in behind her.
Silver asked curiously, "What am I being sanitized of? I feel pretty healthy now. Now that Pinkie doesn't look like a walking goddess."
Pinkie warmed at the comment. "I didn't look that good, did I? Oh no! I must look horrible now!"
Silver paused and turned to Pinkie. "You stop that right there. You were an amazing mare to start, with a magnetic personality, a genuine care for all your friends, and a bubbly personality that cannot be stifled. You are still pretty, you're just not blinding me with perfection and robbing my ability to make my own decisions, so thank you."
Twilight coughed softly. "Yes, well said. The 'perfection' you saw in Pinkie is inside you too, and it could interact with your hybrid system in entirely unpredictable ways. The safest thing to do would be to clean it out. We're going to release it as light, heat, and, as I've learned, even sound. Once you're purged, you'll have a resistance to it." She rolled her eyes. "As I learned from Fast Change's utterly irresponsible actions, resistance is not immunity. Still, the fewer sources of this disease, the better, by far."
Silver had no reason to fight to continue to be what was described as a disease, and enrapturing another pony as Pinkie had done to him would be wrong. He'd get poor Rough Tumble alone somewhere, they'd have a few smooches, then the poor boy would be a slave to his every whim. Amusing, but entirely, grossly, wrong. He followed her outside a short distance from the castle, where a circle of burnt grass waited them. She went for the center of it and waved around. "This all came out of Pinkie."
He looked around the wide sphere of destruction with a whistle. "This is huge. Do I have less than her? Same? More?" From the center of the circle, it was like a football field in every direction of devastated greenery, burnt to a crisp. "How did you avoid being hurt yourself?"
"Funny thing about that." Twilight pointed up at the sky. "I take after Celestia. I am a pony of fire and light. The spell to protect myself from fire came naturally to me, and I kinda burned along with it for a while. It was... It was actually kind of fascinating. I need to talk to Celestia about it, but that comes later."
Silver leaned over and nuzzled her with the faintest brush. "Guardian of Night and Day, caught in the middle, and riding the power of both. You are truly a blessed pony, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight blushed a little as she ruffled her wings and circled around Silver. "Pinkie, you really shouldn't be here. I can protect myself from the fire, but you won't have that advantage."
Pinkie pulled out a fire suit and hopped into it. "Ta da!"
Twilight snorted softly. "That's very nice, Pinkie, but I'm serious. This is no joking matter. I don't want you to be hurt. Please wait inside?"
Pinkie pouted, but pronked away without further argument. She didn't go inside, instead stopping at the door to watch them.
Twilight reached into Silver with her magic and set the void taint on fire. He caught on fire, she caught on fire. Everything caught on fire. She reached deeper and deeper, spreading the flames. As she worked to thoroughly cleanse him of the foul taint, she thought back to the brave ponies that had cleaned her without a protective spell. The burns they had suffered were terrible, but they did what had to be done. Humans, they could be a very stubborn people, in good and bad ways. Twilight threw her head back, her mane a rolling curtain of flames. Dancing in the inferno felt like a sort of liberation she could only find in that intense moment. She couldn't luxuriate in it. Though he wasn't the focus of the flames, he was still the one burning, and taking too long could cause Silver to begin to burn, for real, and become hurt, and die. She played off the intense amounts of energy in pulsing lights, in musical notes, in flames, purifying flames. They burned together, with Twilight dancing, and Silver being the central bonfire. It was a dangerous dance, but it saw the disease burned away.
Unnoticed by either, the silver shape in the sky drew closer, drawn by unseen forces. Though it had been forgotten, it had not forgotten them.