Silver sat in his newly appointed office, getting comfy on his high-backed chair even as he pondered its existence. Sitting forward, as the pony body wanted to do, he wouldn't be using the back. There were parts of Equestria that still baffled him. "Night?" She looked to him sharply. "Let the first in for today. Let's get to business."
She smiled and nodded as she reached a wing out to the handle of the door and had it open easily. "Welcome to the office of Ambassador Lining. He's ready to see you."
“I still can’t believe I’m actually here,” CJ said as he walked into the office. “It just doesn’t seem possible.” CJ scratched at the back of his neck and scratched at the only thing he had brought with him, a simple chain necklace. “Oh, hey another pony. How are you, wait no. That’s not a good way to introduce myself. My name is CJ.” The tall human said while pulling up his coat.
Silver extended a hoof towards the human. "I'm Silver Lining, the Ambassador she referred to. Speaking of, she's Night Watch, my guard and lovely wife to whom no mare can hope to compare." His bold words of praise made her blush a bit, but she remained standing with proud stoicism. "I'm glad you came here today. It's important to get along in this pony world, and doing so as a human isn't always easy, is it?"
“You could say that,” CJ said while scratching the back of his head. “When I was offered to come here; I didn’t expect it to actually happen.” Looking around CJ tried to find something else to say. “I was never really good with words. Typing was more my style.” He then realized that Silver’s hoof was still extended and quickly took it. “Sorry, like I said, I’m not good in these situations.”
Silver gently shook the human's hand, even if that mostly involved him moving the hoof up and down and the human maintaining a grip. "Bro hooves are also acceptable. Relax. I know where you're coming from." He took the hoof back just to bat at one of his ears. "I wasn't born with these, or these." He clopped his hooves together. "Typing you say? Were you a writer, or a gamer?"
“Both actually, while I wasn’t the best at either I could hold my own.” With a smile CJ finally relaxed and got a good look around the room. “So you are a human too? You’ve moved on up in the world haven’t you?”
The room had assorted knickknacks, including some open gaming paraphernalia, like a big bag of spilled open dice next to a book of 'Humanway' and 'Ogres and Oubliettes' next to them.
He twitched his ears at his guest. "Up, down, sideways a little." He smiled. "I'm doing alright though. I was both of those before. I still write, but not the fiction I used to do. Do you have a home yet?"
“A home? um...uh, I haven’t thought that far ahead.” CJ started pacing back and forth. “Hehe, going from worrying about school to worrying about life in general kind of wasn’t on my mind when I agreed to this.” He looked over to Silver’s bag of dice, “I’m guessing you played D&D back home?”
Silver reached for a twenty-sided die and let it clatter to the desk. "And things like it. Were you a college student? What of?" He leaned forward. "School never worked out well for me, even here in ponyland."
“High school, well I was about to graduate. I probably should've thought about that before just agreeing to this. I mean, I could've at least asked a question or two.” CJ said as he picked up the dice. “I always wanted to learn how to play this. I never had the chance nor the desire to pursue it.”
Silver twitched just a little bit as he learned the youth of his guest. "Goodness. You must have a family that's worried about you. I'm so sorry…" He stopped there though, watching for responses from the curious human.
“Yeah, I think I really messed up here.” A frown crossed CJ’s face. “Do you think we can talk about something else? I don’t like thinking about my mistakes,” CJ turned towards the door. “How did you get this position anyway?”
"Christ almighty, that'd be a tale." If there was a doubt he was a human, that uniquely human phrase just might give him away. "I'm sorry for prying where it's not comfortable though. We're not here to chastise. I just want to know you, CJ, the real you, so I can help as best I can." He sat up a bit. "Want to try a game of Humanway? It's hilarious seeing what ponies think people might be like."
“Sure, I have absolutely no idea how to play though. I was more of a Fallout and X-Com kind of guy.” CJ said as he picked up the dice before he realized something “Do we use these for this?”
Silver bobbed his head quickly. "Yep, just like Dungeons and Dragons, with a special pony touch. Songs have an actual effect in game." He flashed a bright smile. "Say, have you seen unicorn magic yet?"
“When I got here I saw a unicorn levitating some cups. I thought it was cool and pointed out the glow around the cup. Everyone looked at me funny after that. Was that impolite or something?” CJ asked looking around while avoiding eye contact. “I really don’t want to have ponies hate me over a misunderstanding.”
Night smiled, her fangs displayed. "For ponies, we have to learn how to see magic, and it's not easy. It seems to come naturally to humans."
Silver nodded in quick agreement, then lit his horn with the silvery glow of his own magic. He lifted a glass and poured some orange juice into it before setting it right in front of CJ. "Not allergic to OJ, I hope? If not, please, enjoy. I'm here to answer your questions, so you won't insult either of us by asking."
“Thank you,” CJ then took the OJ and drank it in one gulp. “Sorry, I get thirsty when I’m stressed. I also pace a lot...like now.” CJ stopped his pacing that he didn’t notice until now. “As for questions I um… I don’t really have many.”
"That's a lie." Silver wagged a hoof. "You have a lot of questions, but you're not sure which to ask first, and what's polite to say. You're worried I'm judging you by everything you say. Relax." He hopped suddenly from his chair and circled his desk, now shorter than CJ by far. "See, I'm not that scary."
“You kind of are. If I get you mad then you could shank me with your horn. That’s why unicorns are badass!” CJ realized what he said and quickly covered his mouth. “I’m not allowed to curse, am I?”
Night shook her head with a soft tsking. "Afraid we'll have to throw him off the side."
"Night!" Silver stuck out his tongue at Night Watch. "She's joking, really! And I wouldn't prod someone with this thing." He raised a hoof to tap at his horn. "Besides, then there'd be blood pouring down on the top of my head. Let's avoid that and stick to being friends. Oh! Do you know Friendship is Magic?"
“I’ll answer that with another question. Is Lyra really crazy about humans?” CJ scratched the back of his head again. “So, in other words yes. I never told anyone about it though.”
Silver sat on his haunches and spread his hooves wide. "Welcome to it! Though a lot of fanon isn't true, but some of it is? Lyra has a fascination with bipedalism, but that goes for minotaurs as much as humans, elves, or anything else that stands on two legs." He landed with a soft clop. "I've met her, and Bon Bon, but remember! They're people, not stars. They don't want someone rushing up and gushing about how they did in some crazy alien show."
“Oh, I suppose that makes sense...um, do they you know, know?” CJ started pacing again, “I mean I’ve thought of the concept of being a star without my knowledge, but then I think ‘who would want to watch me?’ Then again there is that whole multiverse theory thing and...I’m rambling aren’t I?”
Silver smiled up at CJ. "You are, and there's nothing wrong with that. Hell, we may all be stars of our own stories. That's the way I heard it. I told Lyra about it, but she waved it off, which is probably for the best. Not like she could do much about it. I try not to bring it up anymore. What do you really do if someone tells you that? There's no good answer."
“My typical answer to something I don’t understand is just wave it off...I suppose that’s the only way to take it really.” CJ stopped pacing and looked down at Silver, “I know this is about me, but I just realized something. Who were you before all of this? If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine, I’m just curious.”
Silver inclined his ears forward. "I was a middle-aged black man named David Silver." He leaned forward. "Now I'm a young unicorn called Silver Lining. Can you imagine why I'd call myself that?"
“I can guess, but they’re probably dead wrong and you’d laugh at the ideas so…” CJ’s voice died before he continued speaking and just stayed silent.
Silver shook his head. "Nope, not taking that." He rolled a hoof. "Go on, tell me. I promise not to laugh, but I want to hear."
“Alright, maybe you um… you found ways of making life work or finding the good in it and um… you always saw a ‘silver lining’?” CJ put his head in his hands, “Like I said stupid.”
He smiled. "That's not far off. I was in a very dark place. It was my own cloud, but I was given a new life, a new youth. I had years given to me, and that's a gift I can't put a price on. This new chance, that had to be a silver lining if there ever was going to be one."
“That’s poetic, I like it.” CJ said with a smile “I suppose that is a good reason to name yourself that. I suppose that raises another question, how?” He stared at Silver for a minute before realizing how abruptly he ended that sentence. “What I mean is how did you end up, you know, a unicorn?”
Silver smiled a little as he rose to his hooves and did a little turn, showing off his unicorn form. "I asked for it, ultimately. I embraced magic, got pretty messed up by it, and was given the chance to be a pony, took it. They asked what tribe I wanted to be, and I went for unicorn." He tapped his horn. "Figured it'd replace fingers, and it really kind of did."
“Hehe, I would've picked unicorn though I was more interested in chucking fireballs. I suppose that’s my inner crazy talking though.” CJ said with a laugh, “It’s nice to see that you could be so used to this already. I mean, how long could you have been here for? A year?”
Silver went silent a moment, thinking through that. How could he even hope to measure it with the dream time all mixed… "A while.... But you shouldn't be a unicorn for fireballs, please. For the most part, this is a peaceful world, with peaceful ponies. They're not always the nicest, but they rarely pick fights." He looked around. "I'll show you something if you promise to keep it a secret."
"Silver…" Night glared at him in reproach but he still smiled.
“One, I wasn’t going to chuck it at ponies, that’s barbaric! I was just going to use them just to start campfires with style. Even if I don’t go camping...now that I think about it that would be kind of pointless then.” CJ got lost in thought for a moment before snapping back to reality, “Sorry, What did you want to show me?”
Silver turned his head and his horn began to glow a bright silver as heat and light began to gather at the end of it. With the delicate play of magical notes, a ball of fire jumped into being, tightly contained and flickering with power. "Like this?"
“Yeah...Like that.” CJ said while entranced by the fire. “I don’t know why it’s so interesting to me. Before you call me a pyromaniac, I never cared for setting things on fire. I just liked watching the fire itself. It’s nice.”
The ball hovered higher a moment before exploding into dozens on dozens of Trixies with her hooves spread wide in celebration and her cape billowing. "The fireball was the first spell I got down, besides telekinesis, and that isn't really a spell, so no, I won't call you a pyro for it."
“Really? There goes my theory of it being all about emotions and intent.” CJ said while looking at the fading trixies. “That’s still incredible no matter what you tell me.”
He giggled, even if he was still being glared at by his wife. "The Trixie part I learned much later, from her, in fact. Let's not get distracted. Do you have a job yet?"
“Nope, this was the first place I came to actually. I figured I’d go and see the grand city of Canterlot before anything else. I’ve got to say, the show doesn’t do it justice.” CJ’s eyes widened. “WAIT! You met Trixie?”
Silver recoiled a bit at the outburst before his smile returned. "I'm going to hurt your head a little, but she's kind of my adopted mother." He put a hoof on his chest. "I inherited her silver mane and tail, no?"
CJ stared at Silver for a moment...two moments...a whole five minutes, “Talk about a mind fuck.” He said simply before going back to staring at Silver, “Do I even want to ask how that works?”
Silver took a small breath. "Well, alright, so there I was, a kind of disfigured human, warped by magic I shouldn't have been involved in, but there I was. Luna was over me, shaking her head at the mess. My OC was there, Rough Draft, and so was Trixie. I asked to be a pony, and I think Luna just took bits from either of them. I got my nice brown coat from Rough, and the bright silver from Trixie. And here I am, Silver Lining. I was put in Rough Draft's care, but Trixie was to teach me magic, and ended up becoming my guardian too after a while, so, there we are, mother Trixie."
“That’s quite a story, but you say your OC was there, correct? Does that mean everyone’s OCs are here or just some? I’d be both excited and scared to meet mine considering how I made his personality. Making someone you want to be rather than who you are sounded good at the time.” CJ said while he started to Pace again, “I don’t think meeting him would be as cool as I think it’d be.”
Silver tilted his head a bit. "Well, mine was, but how can I say if everyone's is or not? We'd have to start hunting down every human's OC, if they even have one. Do you?" He suddenly smiled at the thought. "Tell me about them."
“Well his name is Iron Clad, an ex-guard who now adventures for a living. He kept his guard armor and adventures with two others. Sugar, an earth pony, and Silk, a changeling. I have a long story about him in my mind, but from what you’ve said so far it’s not happening, and I’m thankful for that.”
Silver lifted his shoulders. "If they existed in a basic Equestria, they might be around, though I imagine any changeling would be hard to spot by definition."
Night nodded softly. "Though we've met a few."
Silver pointed at Night. "True. You probably noticed a lot of construction on the west side of town? New changeling hive."
“That’s what that was? I thought some of those building materials looked weird. I guess changelings and Equestrians are getting along here though so that’s a good sign.” CJ said with a smile. “I always kind of pitied them for what they had to do to live. At least, if they really do only feed off of emotion.”
Night looked a bit shocked, looking back and forth between CJ and Silver. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but how did you know where the hive was going up?"
Silver twitched his ears about. "Huh? Oh, uh… lucky guess?" The look he got from Night suggested she wasn't buying that for a second. "Anyway! We have a hive, but it's only one hive. Most of them are still not on good terms."
“That’s too bad. May I ask why? Is it because of that canterlot invasion, or does it run deeper than that?” CJ asked with genuine curiosity.
Night lifted her shoulders. "Most of them are under Queen Chrysalis, and she sees ponies as a food source and little more than that, which makes being friends hard. The ones in the city have a new queen, one who loves ponies, so they should turn out better."
“Oh, I figured there’d be more than 2 changeling hives…” CJ’s voice wandered off before he snapped back to attention. “I suppose I shouldn’t take headcanons as an actual source here. Not like I really knew of many anyway.”
Silver shrugged. "Maybe there are, just being quiet enough to not be noticed. If they never did anything out of place, how would we find them in the end?"
“Asking another changeling hive nicely? I’m pretty sure they’d evolve to be able to identify each other when disguised. It would be pretty detrimental to be hurting your friends,” CJ reasoned.
Silver chuckled. "I'm sure changelings of the same hive could work out a password to give to others, and if they're not of the same hive, what makes them a friend? Ants will murder each other in droves if they're from different hives, who's to say? Anywho, we're not here to find changelings today." He spread his hooves. "We're here for you. So, tell me, what part of Equestria are you most excited about?"
“Oh, where to begin? This entire place is beyond what I’d imagined already, and you’re saying I have an option on where I go?” CJ started getting really excited, “I want to see more of Canterlot, visit Ponyville of course, check out Appleloosa, etc. I just want to see it all!”
Silver giggled. "That is a very brony answer if ever I heard one. There's a lot to this world." He leaned back a little. "You're so young… I almost want you to go to school, but you wouldn't fit in at a pony school, at least not a primary one, and they don't do secondary schools very often unless for very technical positions, magic, or advanced weather management." He raised a brow. "I doubt any of those sound that interesting?"
“Nope, and I never minded school. You go to one where people do the nasty in a stairwell you kind of stop caring about what people say or do. Before you say anything, I’m not exaggerating, that happened. Still, I was only a few months from going to college.” CJ thought for a moment, “I don’t suppose the age for being a cop is lower here, is it?”
Silver blinked with obvious surprise. "You want to be a policeman? They have those in the larger cities, you know, Manehatten or the like, uh, Baltimare…" He glanced to Night for help and she sat up.
"Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus are both large metropolises and would have a police force."
Silver nodded. "Exactly. Is that want you want to do?"
“Yes, sir. I’ve wanted to be a cop since I got into high school. I’d rather not say my reasoning as most people would say that I’m an attention seeker for it. It’ s really what I want to do though.” CJ said with a smile. “I’ve even taken a class or two on the techniques they use.”
Silver tilted his head. "I think you'd be better off starting softly and getting your footing before taking such an… involved? Look, ponies are usually nice people, but they're strong, and if one tries to shove past you, you're going to get knocked over, pretty much guaranteed, doubly if they're an earth pony? You're going down. Now make that an outlaw that's desperate to get away."
“Let me tell you part of why I always wanted to be a cop real quick. I put myself in danger so another won't have to. If I don’t do it then someone else would and they might end up paying a price they wouldn’t have had to.” CJ said very seriously, “I don’t care if someone is stronger than me. I only care that people are safe.”
Night nodded. "I can respect that outlook on life, but you have to learn how to take that risk, first. You're no good if you just get laid out and then the bad guy's free to hurt someone else." She spread her wings wide. "But, if you want to learn, we have classes for police and guards. It's going to hurt, fair warning, but you'll be ready to protect and serve if you pass."
“If you get me in then I’ll do my best. I might not be the most athletic, but I can change that really quickly if I just cut out the junk food I suppose…” CJ’s eyes widened, “There is no soda here, is there?”
Silver tapped his chin. "They have soda, from bars. Canned or bottled soda you won't find as often. But if you serve in a major city, then you may run into it." He smiled. "I'll see about getting you a position in an academy. Learn how to do law enforcement, and if you really like it, then you can get a job."
“You’re really willing to do that for me? That seems really nice considering you just met me.” CJ shook his head. “Sorry, I’m a little paranoid when it comes to people.”
Night pointed at Silver. "He is the Ambassador to humans."
"And I am an ex-human." Silver offered a hoof up at CJ. "We have to stick together, right? I'm here to help, and see that you get along well here."
“I suppose that makes sense. Um...do you think that maybe...uh...you know what nevermind.” CJ said before looking over to Night, “I never properly greeted you ma'am, I apologize.”
Silver lowered his hoof, only for Night to offer hers instead. "Pleasure to meet you, CJ. I am Night Watch. I am a lunar pony." She twitched her tufted ears. "We're a little rare, but you'll run into others of us, to be certain, especially if you like guard duty."
“That was one of the most adorable things I’ve seen since I’ve come here.” CJ said with a grin. “I hope to meet more like you for certain.” CJ took Night’s hoof and shook it with more confidence than he did with Silver’s.
Night flashed her fangs. "You're lucky I understand your situation. Many ponies get confused if you call them 'cute' out of the blue. Imagine if I called you cute all of a sudden?" She leaned forward. "Not that you aren't cute, for a human."
“Silver, your wife is flirting with me.” CJ said with a grin. “No, but I was calling your ear twitch thing cute. Also I’d take the random compliment with a smile and be on my way. I don’t get many compliments,”
Silver raised a hoof. "You just got one. I bet you got them before and didn't notice it." He nodded softly. "Let me start pulling those strings. We'll get you into that academy. Just promise to keep in touch, alright? Even if something happens that's embarrassing, remember, I'm here to help, not judge."
“God, don’t play therapist with me. That’s my job most of the time.” CJ said while walking towards the door. “It was nice meeting you two...um...I don’t suppose you can point me towards those crystal caves under Canterlot. I kind of want to have a look at them.”
Night flickered her ears. "Caves?"
Silver knew what he referred to. "I don't think those are supposed to be public, but I'll ask into it. For now, enjoy the town." He went back around the desk and pulled out a bag of bits about the size of a fist. "Take this, get a room and something tasty to nibble on. You're our guest. We'll get you started."
CJ eyed the bag for a moment before shaking his head again, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t take charity unless I’m desperate. It’s weird for me to get things instead of give them. Well Christmas is a different story, but we’re not talking about holidays.”
Silver pushed the bag forward. "Merry Chrismahannakwanzamastide!" It glowed the soft silver of his magic as he smiled at his guest, apparently adamant.
CJ sighed before taking the bag and removing a few bits before tossing the rest back, “Just enough for food...hopefully.”
Silver gathered up the bag and tucked it away. "I know you have your pride, and I want you to keep it, but if things get rough, call on me. You're not just a new adult, you're a damn alien in a whole new world. Things can get rough, and it isn't a bad mark on your part to get some help."
With that said, they said their farewells, leaving Silver alone with Night. "I think that went well."
Night tilted her head. "If he doesn't mess up. Did you see him? He could get hurt."
Silver pointed at himself. "How often does telling me logically not to hurt myself work?"
Night rolled her eyes. "Humans…"