After making up with and celebrating their union together with Night Watch, they collapsed to sleep in one another's legs.
Silver awoke in the realm of his dreams as he typically did. To 'just' dream was an impossibility. He slipped from his Earth bed and went over to his computer. On a whim, he turned it on and flipped to email. One message? From Sombra?
He clicked it curiously, and a familiar set of eyes emerged from the computer. "I come in peace."
Silver quirked an ear up at the dark lord, terror of all crystal ponies. "What do you need?" He slid off the chair he had been perched on. "I wasn't expecting you tonight, especially not through there."
"I have learned something of you. Perhaps we got off on the wrong hoof. You share some of the pain that rests in my own chest."
Silver rolled a hoof. "Enough with the eyes. I already know who you are." Being the inside of his dream, he decided Sombra was Sombra, and he was.
Sombra snorted, taking up a good portion of the room. "Very well." He leveled a hoof with Silver's snout. "I know the pain you carry. You too lament for something out of your grasp. You abandoned it for love, and respect, but it gnaws at you."
Silver's ears flipped back. "Accurate enough, but if this leads into 'so you should stab all your friends in the back', no."
Sombra stepped around Silver slowly. "What if I told you that what you seek is closer than you think?"
Silver raised an ear, following Sombra's movements. "I could say much the same. You could single-hoofedly end the war on shadow."
"I suspect not in the way I would envision it." He sat down behind Silver, looming over him. "You are no pony."
Silver smiled gently. "I'm a good pony, better than many, since it's an active choice on my part, and I mean to do it."
He snorted, smoke escaping his nostrils. "And yet, you are not. Human was it? Why would you seek to be one of these weak creatures?"
Silver realized the game at hand, or hoof. They were trading mental jabs, testing resolve and character. Silver leaned back, his head touching Sombra's chest. "You could be one too. You would be welcomed."
Sombra huffed at that. "You speak of impossibilities. They hate me--"
His words were interrupted as they were not in Silver's room, instead before Cadance. Another Silver stood before her as she spoke.
Cadance gave the gentlest of smiles. "I doubt that would ever be the case, but I would be a sorry princess to turn away an offer of peace. If he is willing to put his anger aside, than I will return the favor. Now go. I'm sure your wife is worried for you. Does she even know where you are?"
They were back in Silver's room. Silver nodded gently. "She is a good princess."
Sombra snarled at that. "A 'good' princess betrayed me. You are aware of this."
Silver raised a hoof. "I can't speak for her actions. I would like her to. I think... I think you were hasty."
"Hasty? Decisive is a better term." Sombra sat up tall. "She will never stand in my way again."
"She will never explain her actions, and can never be properly punished." Silver glanced over his shoulder. "Don't you want to hear her words, and see she be properly punished? She's simply gone, that's not much of a punishment."
He was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "And you? Afraid to assert mastery over one foal of a mare? She was even willing to submit to your will. A few tears, and you surrendered your aspirations."
Silver brought to being the pony that once held Sombra's heart. "Would you do that to her?"
Sombra's fangs found purchase in Silver's shoulder suddenly, and the vision was gone. They were seated across from one another. "Don't bring her into this. She betrayed me in her own way."
Silver licked his lips, shoulder aching slightly but it was just a dream, of that he was sure. "She's dead. For better or worse, time's removed her."
"There you are wrong." Sombra scowled, though that seemed his default expression. "She yet lives, adored and adulated as a princess of healing. She who can turn back the slings of disease, injury, poison... She is a god among ponies."
Radiant Hope appeared between them, with wide spread wings and sparkling horn. Was there a crystal pony alicorn? Silver hadn't known, but didn't feel that was a matter Sombra would lie about. "Do you want to see her?" He pointed at Radiant's dream form. "Do you miss her?"
Sombra stomped a hoof, the vision banished. "She is the one that reached the Royal Sisters, bringing them upon me. She betrayed me, like all the others."
Silver waved a hoof in the air, conjuring the dark crystal. "Are you truly a product of this?"
Sombra waved it away. "Did you truly abandon your family for this chance?"
Silver flinched. "Yes... I left things for them, but yes. I left that all behind."
"Are you not tormented by a supposed higher power?" Sombra leaned forward slowly. "Your eyes are haunted. You have seen things you would rather not have, but would never choose to forget." With a twist of a hoof, suddenly Silver swelled. He became Silver Stars, lunar alicorn. "You have ambitions, just as I."
Silver felt his wings spread and shuddered. Why did it feel so good? "They aren't mine. They never were..."
"They could be." On the offensive, Sombra pressed. "If I can rise to power, which I will... I could give this to you. You could be my treasured l--"
Bright silvery light exploded through the area as Luna descended from above. "Enough!"
Sombra fled before the light, and was gone in a smoky trail.
Luna landed before Silver, drinking in his lunar alicorn form. "Was this what you were dreaming of?"
Silver felt a deep flush of embarrassment. "In the dream world, you had me first, and drew me into your night." He smiled, fangs displayed. "I remained there for the rest of the dream. What brought you here? I think I was getting somewhere with him before you scared him off."
Luna glanced in the direction Sombra had fled in. "You are very bold in your dreams. You play a dangerous game, one that could lead you to a very bad place." She waved a wing lightly. "I came to speak to you about Amore. The Warlocks are retrieving her shards, but they are certain a few lie within the bounds of the Crystal Empire, where they are forbidden."
Silver became Silver Lining, small, young, and not especially special looking. "You want me to find them?"
"You are the closest thing I have to an agent there." Luna perked her ears at him. "You and your wife. Neither of you have been barred from the Crystal Empire, I pray?"
"Of course not." Silver stood up and shook himself out. "I'll tell Night Watch in the morning."
"Good. Then I shoul--" She was already turning to go.
Silver was right before her despite turning. "Please, not so quickly. I'm sorry if I hurt you before."
Luna scowled at him. "Accepted. I should go."
Silver frowned back. "Easy to say... Luna, part of you... You were my first. Is that love gone?"
Luna turned her nose up. "That was Celine. I am not her."
Silver pointed at her. "You said her love was a part of you. Have I become that miserable to be around?"
Luna was on him, pinning him to the ground. "Damnable stallion! Open your eyes. Your wife wants a husband. She does not want a herd, even with the likes of me. Sometimes we don't get what we want."
Silver felt his heart go cold. How much of that dream...? "I gave up Penny, my friend, for their happiness. Did you do the same?"
Luna gave a gentle smile. "Her life is so much shorter than mine. Why should I prevent her from happiness?"
Silver squirmed beneath her. "I thought she was madly in love with you."
Luna sat up, though still pinned Silver. "She adores me as many ponies adore Celestia. That is not a family love." She looked away then. "We are not fated for family love. That simply will not be."
The sadness he heard in those words was too much and too terrible. Silver sat up, no longer beneath her. "Luna, you are a lovable pony. You're caring, affectionate, smart." He rolled a hoof as he said each adjective. "Please, what did she say, exactly? How did this conversation go?"
Luna quirked a little smile. "You are so eager, little foal of a stallion. Focus on the task at hoof. Find the shards and gather them together, inform me when you've found them all. We estimate there are three to be found within the boundaries of the city itself."
Silver bobbed his head. "I will. Luna, family or not, I do love you. I love you as only someone who's seen so much can."
Luna recoiled lightly. "I've felt the same way before... I must go." She leaned in and kissed his cheek, filling him with the warmth of the simple intimacy, then she was gone, a fading silver light of the moon.
Silver awoke to the press of his wife. She seemed frisky, and he rose to the challenge.
As they greeted the morning, she pried at him. "So you have abandoned that, right? No more mystery foals or new wives?"
Silver nodded quickly. "I promise. Morning Glory... is just part of my dreams."
"Morning Glory?" Night tilted her head. "That's a nice name." She leaned in and kissed him. "Stupid stallion, your foal is right here. Let's focus on it."
Silver nuzzled her belly and covered it in kisses. "You're showing a little."
"Are you calling me fat?" She had a smirk on, daring him.
"I am, the most wonderfully attractive kind of fat there is." Silver nuzzled at that belly, only to be bitten roughly on an ear. She tugged him away and pinned him down. "Mercy! We have a job. Luna reported in last night."
"Did she?" Night sat up and started brushing down his fur with sweeps of her hooves. "What'd she say?"
"We have to find the pieces of Amore that are inside the city."
Night raised a brow. "Someone's grounded, remember? We'd be better off asking your friends first."
Silver sat up when he was allowed to, snorting. "We will, but we should look too, even if we're together. The more eyes, the better." He leaned in and rubbed noses with her. "Beloved wife, I'm sure you'll keep me in line."