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// 47 - Silver meets David 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Silver seemed to like trying new places to meet people and keep things fresh. What could be fresher than the gardens? Bright and sweet smelling, they were a status symbol of Equestria's prosperity, as well as being a peaceful place of quiet. There were flowers and trees to be enjoyed, and the animals that dwelled within were uniformly well-behaved and usually kept out of sight.

There, Silver sat beside Night on cushions before a table. "It's a nice day out." Silver waved a hoof slowly. "I almost feel as if the world itself were saying I'm doing the right thing."

Night raised a brow. "A little rain doesn't change your job or your goal in life. Still, it is a nice day." Her fangs were exposed a moment. "Today's appointment should be led here when he arrives."

"Do we know much about him?"

"Humans seem to prefer introducing themselves in person." She shrugged softly. "I'm sure you understand."

Silver nodded at her. "I do. So far none of the humans we've met have been bad sorts. Equestria isn't suffering for having them."

A palace guard approached from one of the many trellised arch-ways that led into the gardens. Trailing a respectful distance behind and to one side, a lone human, male, middle aged and heavy set, followed. He was dressed plainly, in dark blue jeans and a pale blue polo shirt, a pair of silver and black wire framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and, although he was holding himself up straight, he was clearly trying to take in as much of the surroundings as possible without staring outright.

The guard stopped short of the table and came to attention. “Ambassador Silver Lining.” He saluted respectfully, then turned and exited from the same arch that he had entered from, leaving his charge standing somewhat nervously before them. After a moment of hesitation, he straightened his back and canted his upper body towards them in a small bow.

“Mr. Ambassador,” then he turned towards Night Watch and bowed again. “Lady.”

Silver raised a hoof. "Welcome! You can relax now. I've been on your side of the table, as it were. Please, have a seat. Do you prefer orange or grapefruit?"

Night nudged him. "This is Silver Lining, the Ambassador. I'm Night Watch, his wife. Nice to meet you."

He turned to Silver Lining, head inclined towards the brown and silver pony, listening carefully, then turned and paid the same respect to Night Watch until she had finished speaking as well. Gradually his posture relaxed and he took a slow, deep breath before speaking. “It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you, Ambassador Silver, Night Watch. My name is David Sakai, I’m… new around here.” He looked down at the cushions and lowered himself carefully to sit cross legged before them, speaking tentatively, “And orange will be fine, thanks.” He took another deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, then looked to Silver again. “Ambassador, I hope this isn’t rude to ask, but,” he swept his arm in an arc that took in Silver, Night, and the entire garden. “is this... all real?”

Of the few containers, Silver's magic wrapped around one in the grip of a spectral silver hand, pouring out a glass of orange juice for his guest. "A fellow David? Nice. It's as real as anything can be. We get hungry, we get old, we can die. Let's avoid all of those things right now." He nudged the glass across and a bowl of assorted fruit with it. "How did you come to be here?"

David’s attention was drawn immediately to the levitating pitcher, brown eyes widening at the display of what could only be called magic. After a moment he blinked and looked to the Ambassador, no, to Silver Lining. “Oh.” At a loss for words, he reached for the glass and paused to take a sip. “I haven’t seen that up close before now.” He set the glass on the table and took a moment to gather his thoughts, then began.

“I’ve been here about a week, well, seven days, or so. The first day was… chaotic and I couldn’t say for certain how long it lasted.” He rested his hands on his knees and rocked back slowly. “It feels more like a dream now. I was home, it was late, or early depending on how you look at it. I must have fallen asleep at my computer after my par…” He paused for a moment, then quickly resumed, “my friend and I said goodnight. The chat woke me back up, and I thought he had signed on again, but then he started asking me odd questions…” He reached for the glass again and took another, longer pull from it.

Silver nodded quickly. "That sounds just like Him. The Text can be sneaky at times." His eyes darted over the human. "Good to see you still have all your parts where they should be." He smiled brightly. "I hope you don't mind me being hooved, but I haven't forgotten humanity, promise. Please, go on, what happened next?"

David tilted his head slightly. “The Text? Is that what you call it?” He pondered that for a moment, then relaxed a little more and snorted. “Seems accurate.”

He sighed and looked off to the side, remembering. “He asked me where I wanted to go, would I like to bring anything with me?” He shook his head. “It was odd, but I figured it was just my friend being silly with me. Maybe he couldn’t sleep or something. He’d have just called me if it were an emergency, right? So I played along.” His gaze fell to his lap as the scene replayed in his mind. “We’d been to Japan a few times, my friend and I, and I like it there, but I suggested we try Australia instead. What would I bring with me? Just my suitcase with everything I’d normally pack for a trip like that.”

He turned his head to the side, and closed his eyes, reaching up under his glasses to rub them gently “Then things got... really strange.”

Silver leaned forward before his eyes darted about in search of a suitcase. "You seem to have weathered it well, at least. Welcome to Equestria, if you haven't been told that already." He smiled a little. "This is one of the safer places to be, Canterlot that is. That's the name of this city." The question leapt into his mind suddenly. "Are you familiar with the show?"

David looked up, pulled back from his recollections, and blinked at Silver, then chuckled and reached up to run his hand over his tanned forehead and back to smooth out short cropped, black hair. “I kind of figured that was where I must be the first time a pony spoke to me.” His face flushed slightly and he looked off to the side. “Well, to be honest, it was after I woke back up after that.”

“I’ll sum it up as quickly as I can. I was dropped in the middle of a desert, just me and my suitcase. I was disoriented, but I managed to stagger towards the only thing that looked promising, just a dark spot on the horizon.” He turned back to Silver and Night Watch, “I managed to move in that direction, but I’m not exactly the athletic survivor type,” he glanced down at himself, poked his soft gut, then continued. 

“I was delirious with thirst by the time I got close and saw this pony that had escaped its pen. Who puts a cowboy hat and boots on a pony?” Another head shake, “Oops. I think I managed to croak out something like, ‘Hey there fella, where did you come from?’ and she said, ‘I was about to ask you the same thing, pardner.’” He winced, “I… don’t recall anything after that until I woke up in the local sick house.”

He reached out and snagged the glass once more, finishing it off with a sheepish smile, “So yeah, that happened. Once I was better, Raw Hide figured it would be best to put me on a train to Canterlot. I checked my bag at the station, funny how some things are the same here as back home, and are so different in other ways.”

Night snorted softly. "You don't just have similar names. Your stories are rather familiar." She tapped the top of the table. "Tell me, do you have any feelings for her?"

Silver blushed brightly. "Night! Please. He's probably lost and more than a little nervous right now. He doesn't need ponies prying into his personal life."

David sat back again and looked at Night quizzically, “Feelings? Gratitude, I suppose. I was pretty much done by the time she hauled me out of that desert, and she had the good grace not to be angry at me for calling her ‘fella’ and then again for not believing the talking pony,” he rolled his eyes at his own foolishness, “when she told me I was in Dodge City, Equestria.” He looked over the fruit bowl curiously and settled on a small sprig of grapes, “But you raise a good point. Similar names and stories? Another David?”

Silver pointed at himself quickly. "My original name was David Silver. Silver Lining is what I go by now, after a lot of things." He wobbled that hoof. "We're not here to go over my silliness though. Here you are! You made a friend, but she's not here. You didn't answer my question I think? Do you know what Equestria is? You've seen the show?"

David popped a grape into his mouth and chewed quietly for a moment, “Sorry, I didn’t answer directly, did I? Yes, I’m familiar with Friendship is Magic, at least the first two and most of the third seasons of it.” He smiled, fully relaxed in their company, “My friend and I picked and chose after that.” 

He swallowed another grape and looked to Silver again, “How close does it all map to the reality? I mean, is Twilight an Alicorn? Is DisQord a real person here?” He leaned toward Silver and Night Watch with genuine interest, the relaxed atmosphere after a week of one impossible revelation after another making him comfortable enough to allow his inner fan to come out for a breath of air.

Silver sat up as he began gushing and smiled. "There's a fan where I can hear one. To answer though, yes, she is, and just as much of a mad scientist slash nerd as one could hope. Discord exists and is cool. We've hung out a few times, and the rest of the mane six are also down in Ponyville, being who they are." He tapped at his chin softly. "We're past season three, but I couldn't say much more than that. Hard to review episodes from this side of the screen, as it were."

David nodded, then shook his head with a smile. For some reason, despite all that he’d seen and heard in the last week, he felt calm and relaxed here. He’d been so active up to this point that he really hadn’t had a spare moment to process all that had happened. Now though… His face fell slowly as his thoughts drifted into areas that he’d had no time for until now, “Ambassador… Silver Lining, why am I here? In Equestria I mean.” He looked up at Silver and Night Watch and asked the real question on his mind, “Is there a way… “ He lifted an arm and gestured off towards an undefined somewhere-else, “home?”

"Silver is fine," assured Silver. "Or even David, if you like talking with a fellow David. Never met a David I couldn't get along with. About home… well, not so much. Home is where you are, in this case. I want to help you adjust and be comfortable, but I can't undo this trip." He offered a hoof. "That may sound really lame, but I'm here for you all the way short of that."

David reached out reflexively and grasped Silver’s hoof gently, then squeezed a moment later to show that he wasn’t simply operating on autopilot, “Thank you. I just… I would never have agreed to come here alone. I mean, Barry and I, my friend, we were, are… close.” He took a deep breath but it caught after a moment and he looked away, releasing Silver’s hoof. “He’s not going to know what happened to me, him or my family.” It took a moment before he could breathe again and he rubbed the side of his neck as he drew a deep breath to re-center himself.

“If there is a way here, there has to be a way back.” He looked to Silver and Night Watch, “Is there anyone working on it? Can I be involved or help somehow?”

Silver drew his hoof back on release, nodding. "Oh, sure, but they're all magicians, basically. I think Twilight is tinkering with it, among many others. The trick being, even if they eventually find it, what life will we have to return to?"

Night sighed softly. "I imagine you don't know magic?"

David shook his head, “Up until a week or so ago, magic was something to dream about or to use as the explanation for why something happened that one didn’t understand.” He chuckled and looked into his lap, “Now though - now it’s clear that Shakespeare had it right and there really are more things in heaven and on earth than can be explained by science and philosophy.” He looked up again, almost desperate for an affirmative answer, “Is it really only for unicorns and Princesses? I can learn to do most anything that a person can be trained to do…” He looked between the two of them, fear and hope warring for dominance in his expression.

Silver's ears danced atop his head. "I only learned the unicorn variety. We could share the books with you, but this is what makes the magic." He reached up and tapped at his horn. "Humans don't have one of those, so no magic, basically. We're happy to share and collaborate. Hell, maybe a human can, if they figure out how, but I don't know it." He leaned back a little. "Let's put that aside a moment. You need a place to stay, and a job to not be idle and bored."

The human’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded his understanding of Silver’s explanation, and he sighed softly a moment later, “I… you’re right. I don’t like it, but I can’t change that.” He rubbed his chin slowly as he thought. “I meant what I said before, anything that someone can train me to do, I can do.” He sat up, then allowed himself to fall back onto the pillows, “I suppose there is little need for an office worker around these parts, no computers, so no spreadsheets to create or maintain.” He grunted and sat up again, rocking to overcome the inertia of his gut, “and on the side, I learn about magic, even if I can’t cast it myself. Maybe I could provide some insight, an outside perspective.” 

His jaw tightened. “I’m not ready to surrender quite yet. If I can’t get home then this is a blank slate, a chance to start over without the weight of expectations and past mistakes, and if I can get home, or bring Barry over, then that will be as good an ending as I could hope for.”

Silver perked an ear. "Now that's a challenge, and he may, or may not, take it. The Text's risen up to things like that before, and if he can haul you in here, well, he can haul your friend in too. Ah!" He clopped his forehooves together. "He almost certainly will drag you back to Earth, for a short while. So you can at least see it, maybe say goodbye. Just don't get killed before then, which isn't much a worry here in Canterlot."

Night looked surprised. "You went back to Earth? Why didn't you tell me more about that?"

David tipped his head in surprise, “The Text can do that?” He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, “I mean, it stands to reason doesn’t it? If I can bring people here…” He let his breath out in a whooshing sigh, “What the hell is it anyway?”

He shrugged a moment later, “So I’ll add that to the plan, if I get sent back at some point in the future, it’s better to have an idea of what you’ll do before you have to do it,” He rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his forehead in both palms, “and in the worst case scenario, I do like I did back home and just go with the flow and see where I end up.”

Silver smiled. "Do consider your friend's feelings in this. If you just go up and ask him to join you, he may do it out of friendship when it may or may not be best for him. Consider it carefully. Until then…" He tapped the table gently with a hoof. "Let's talk about you, here and now."

David rubbed his temples, “Right, change what we can now.” He lifted his head, “Where do we begin?” Then he paused and thought back to a few moments before, “place to stay. Well to be honest, aside from being Raw Hide’s guest, then the train ride here I really haven’t had opportunity to look for a more permanent solution. I was kind of hoping there would be a quick ticket home, but since that’s not in the cards... “ he shrugged, “I can work, as I said, I’m not looking for charity or welfare.”

Silver smiled. "No one's asking you to live on someone else's check. That isn't good for anyone, or pony, as the saying goes around here. You said you can do anything, but let's talk about what you enjoy doing. You like office work? There are plenty of offices around here, with filing cabinets and even spreadsheets, done the hard way."

David laughed at that, and waved his hands in front of him, “No, office work is where I wound up. It’s an easy paycheck and left me with enough vacation and spare cash to travel… or it did, at least.” He chewed at his lip thoughtfully, “The only thing I enjoyed about it was learning new skills to meet one challenge or another. No, I really just like being useful,” he tapped his temple with a fingertip, “using my head to figure out solutions to problems.” 

He continued to think on it, “Blank slate, right? Maybe it’s time to go back to school, but that doesn’t pay the bills.” He paused again, “it’s silly… but I used to dream about running a bicycle shop, Simple machines, well they used to be simple anyway, clean and efficient.” He looked to Silver, “Let’s put that one on the short list. if not that, then anyplace where I can be useful would be fine by me.”

Silver clopped his hooves as his horn glowed, spraying harmless bits of color over the area. "Oh that'd be lovely. I've seen ponies on bicycles. Silliest looking thing, let me tell you, but it's something they know and the ones I saw on them seemed to enjoy them. I never tried myself, at least on four legs."

David ducked his head, rocking back slightly at the fireworks display, “Oh!” Then reached out and batted at a stray spark curiously before refocusing, “Well if someone… er… somepony is willing to take on an apprentice or even a partner and teach me the ropes, I don’t think I’ll have any complaints. I have to say, I can’t even imagine how it would work… but if you’ve seen it then there must have been a way.” He rubbed his hands together, “and staying busy will help keep my mind off of things that I can’t do anything about right now.”

"Done then." Silver pulled a notebook out of his saddlebag along with a quill, both floating in his magic as he began to make quick notes. "Now, about living. For now, pick an inn you like."

"Inn?" Night raised a brow. "This isn't Humanway."

"Oh, right, hotel! Tell them you're a guest of the castle and make yourself comfortable. I'll find a pony that's ready to teach the ropes of bicycles, and you'll probably move closer to them. After that? You're ready to go! You have a skill you want to have and a market waiting to hear from you." He set the book down. "How does that sound?"

David smiled and reached out to Silver with one hand, “It sounds like a beginning, and despite everything… I feel good about that. Thank you Silver, you’re a good pony, and I’d like to consider you a friend as well.” His smile grew into a grin, “Maybe it’s the surroundings, but I’ve never made a friend so rapidly in my adult life.”

Somehow, being called a good pony is just what Silver wanted to hear, at least from the way he smiled all the brighter. He met the offered hand with a magical grip for a moment, holding it hand-to-hand for a change. "I would like that too. Friendship is a real force around here. Heck man, they have a princess of it, don't forget. If they can solve problems with it, why not?" He looked over at Night. "Did I forget anything?"

Night inclined her head back. "Those are the major ones. Just remember that we're here, for you, if you need anything, big or small. We know it's kind of scary being in a new world."

David turned to Night Watch and nodded his understanding, “Thank you Night Watch, I’ll be sure to do that.” He studied her politely for a moment, taking in her wings and eyes, “There really never was an opportunity, but perhaps you can answer a question for me after I’m settled. It’s nothing vitally important now, and I’m sure your time must be valuable as well.”

Night looked curious as attention came on her more squarely. "If I can answer it, I'll try." She spread one of her wings, showing off the smooth and furry leather. "That's what we're here for, anyway, at least when I'm not keeping him out of trouble."

David rose to stand, grunting softly as muscles and joints protested, stiff from lack of motion. “Then that will be something to pursue another day, once I’ve had time to think through what comes next.” He still looked tired and slightly worn, but compared to his state when he had been led into the gardens, he was considerably less tense and there was a sense of hope in the way he carried himself. 

Both hopped to their hooves. Silver bobbed his head. "You don't have to go right away. The garden isn't scheduled for another use for a few hours, so if you want to just relax, please, do so."

Night nodded. "It's been nice meeting you. You seem like a nice person, and I'm sure you'll fit in fine."

David looked up at the sun overhead, then lowered his gaze to the garden around them, “Actually, that sounds like a nice idea. Everything here is so similar to back home and yet so different at the same time.” He turned back and bowed to them both again, but the antiquated affectation carried none of the nervous formality it had when he’d entered, only respect and gratitude, “With your leave, Silver, Night Watch.” 

He left them there, wandering down one of the paths to explore wherever it might lead him and pausing frequently to inspect a flower or resident creature. He wasn’t where he wanted to be, but he had a new world to explore, and he didn’t have to do it alone if he didn’t want to.