Night nuzzled her mate gently. "I wasn't joking, by the way. I really did think of you." She waved a silver-clad hoof. "And here we are." She leaned in close. "Part of me wanted to finish the hunt. He was a bad creature, and had harmed me and likely caused you to be in harm's way. I was ready to destroy him and everything like him." As Silver's ears went down, she nuzzled at one. "But I thought of just that expression, and I remembered she was a filly, even if she looked funny."
"I look fearsome," corrected Under Rock, suddenly seated beside them. She looked at Silver directly. "So you're the one making her soft?"
Silver snorted softly and sat up, looking down at the filly. "I suppose I am. We're a--"
She prodded Silver in the belly. "Stop that. She's great just like she is."
Silver tilted her head. "You'd want her to hunt your father, and you?"
Under blinked. "No."
Silver raised his own silvered hoof. "Then it's a good thing I corrupted her, just a little." He smiled at Under Rock. "But you're right, she really is great."
Night swatted at Silver with her good wing. "Alright, flatterer, off you go. Luna's waiting for you. Me and Under Rock have secret night business to discuss, isn't that right?"
Under clopped her hooves with obvious joy, moving in closer to Night for their clandestine business.
Silver rose to his hooves and moved for the door. "I'll be back after I see what she needs." He looked over his shoulder at Night. "Be safe. I'm glad you're alright." A shared smile, and he was gone, trotting briskly down the hallway.
He realized swiftly that he didn't know where Luna was staying, and approached one of the guards. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Princess Luna for debriefing?"
The guard nodded and trotted down the hallways quietly before he began to speak, "We have opened diplomatic channels with these... monsters?"
Silver raised a brow. "Everypony's a monster to somepony that doesn't know what they are. I was a monster myself once, but the ponies I met first were kind and gave me a chance, and thank goodness for that."
The guard pushed open a door to a room. "You'll forgive me for noting you look nothing like any monster I know of."
Silver nodded to the guard as he trotted right on past him, but there was no Princess of the Night there. The door clicked behind him and he turned to see the guard standing there before a closed door. "What did you do to him?"
His ears span around as he backed up a step. "Do to who?"
"You know who." The guard scowled. "Your pretty words mean little, and I will see him returned safely."
"I don--" Before Silver's words could finish, the guard exploded into shadow, becoming a ghastly mare of nightmares. Silver took another step back. "You're the helper he said he was going to look for."
Her face split in a grotesque display of uneven teeth and menacing jaw. It could have been a smile. "Did you torture him? Are you holding his little girl hostage?" She stepped forward with purposeful slowness. "We won't go quietly."
Silver raised a silvered hoof. "Wait, please. We're trying to find a peaceful solution."
"Peaceful?" Her brow raised, roiling with fog as it was. "What peace can there be?"
Silver smiled gently. "Whatever peace we allow. I speak for Equestria, and I really think your people were grossly put upon, but this cycle has to stop. Please." He held out his bare forehoof. "Can we try?"
She scowled at him. "Pretty words, just as I'd expect from an ambassador, but how do you plan to free my people? I won't abandon them."
"We're working on that." He glanced left and right. "I was to report to Luna to see how she was coming with it, in fact. I have a few ideas, but they're just ideas until we finish restoring Sombra."
"Restoring?!" The umbrum mare recoiled in surprise. "You would render aid to one who has hurt you day ponies so viciously before? Have you taken leave of your senses? Betrayer to both his tribes, perhaps he should remain exactly as he is."
Silver clopped his silver hoof on the floor, finding the metal shoe worked well to make a noise. "I won't accept that until we get his side. He deserves to live, in either event, and be part of the solution, which I think he is. I don't think he wanted to abandon you. I want to know why and how."
She went quiet for a moment before nodding. "I am convinced of your sincerity, at least. What would you see done with me, for my crimes, and my people?"
Silver pointed at her. "If you're the one that hurt Shining Armor, you get to apologize to Cadance, and she will be furious, but if you approach her first with apologies, the anger will pass, and we can seek peace. As for your people, if we can free them, I think the wisest course would be to secure some land for you all, away from here, where you can recover from your ordeal in peace, and become part of Equestria."
She cringed faintly. "You were supposed to be there as well." She frowned at Silver. "You're not very good at following our plans."
Silver smiled at that. "I truly am not. This wouldn't be the first time." He offered that hoof. "Can we try mine? I think you'll like it."
There was a tense moment before she reached forward and touched hooves. "Very well. If there can be peace, real peace, that's worth fighting for." She frowned a little. "What will the crystal ponies pay, for their crime and murder?"
Silver snorted softly. "Please! The cycle, it stops here. No more vengeance. They will step aside and let us correct the wrong. Your people will be free. Focus on that freedom, and building a better tomorrow for yourselves and your foals. Revenge is beneath you."
"Beneath me?" She laughed, a dry sound. "That's the most flattering thing a day pony has uttered to me, implying there are things yet lower than me." She scowled then. "Why not just smash that infernal heart? That would free our people and be done with it, just like that."
Silver shook his head. "For one, the crystal ponies would be beside themselves, but for another, if it were that simple, truly that simple, I think Sombra would have done it by now. There has to be more to this." He rose to his hooves and advanced on her and the door behind her. "Come on. Dark Pass will be happy to see you're safe."
She seemed surprised, stepping out of the way. "You really do mean it... Y-yes, I'm sure the General will be pleased to see me." She sounded off balance, and was quiet as they left the room. She became a day pony, or at least a dark grey mare that followed after Silver quietly.
General Dark Pass wasn't hard to find, and rushed her on sight, hugging her tight. "I thought you might have been hurt."
She colored just faintly, a strange ashen hue over her normal grey. "S-sir, please..."
He released her and sat on his haunches. "And you're with Ambassador Silver Lining? I assume that means all is well?"
She glanced aside at Silver and back at Dark. "You know each other then? Yes. I've agreed to let him try his way. I assume you've already discussed this?"
Dark gestured at Silver. "He speaks of peace, and a place of our own for our people. I think he may be dreaming fondly, but I'd like to give that dream a chance, if there is a chance of it."
Silver looked between the two. "Are you two going to be alright here? I really should get to finding Luna." They nodded at him, and began to chat among themselves. As Silver left, he smiled. Already things were starting to look up.
He was led by a guard that wasn't an umbrum in disguise, and quickly arrived at a room that did have Luna within. The dark Mistress of the Night smiled at him. "Ambassador Silver Lining, it's good to see you."
Silver stepped inside before the door closed behind him, leaving them to their privacy. He approached the low table she was seated at and settled on a cushion across from her. "Hello Luna. We don't need to use titles with each other."
Luna inclined an ear at him. "I was speaking with Night Watch."
Silver stiffened a little. "I hope it was a productive conversation?"
Luna inclined her head faintly. "I should say so. Your wife performed quite admirably, as a warrior, and a bringer of peace both. With a broken wing, she subdued an armed combatant." She smiled. "I trust you remember how I feel about such valor?"
Silver went red in his cheeks at the memory, which got Luna's attention. "I never told you, but I had a feeling you might know regardless. So, it is true then? My soul has been laid bare before you?"
He nodded, once quickly, then more slowly. "I... think we're even?"
Luna reached across the table and tapped him on the nose. "How have you not gone mad?"
Silver brushed at his nose. "I think I was getting close, towards the end there, but then everything calmed down, and... And..." He frowned, thinking back over those last moments. "Oh..."
Luna raised a brow gently, and watched him in silence.
"I think I almost did go over the edge." He shrank a little. "I had my happy ending. I might have just stayed there, lost in my own world, away from pain and everything else."
"We are glad you decided to face the world." Luna sat up. "Sombra's foalfriend is eluding us. She apparently left her home some time ago, but we're following her steps. Strangely, she seems to be moving in this direction. Destiny be praised." She held out a hoof. "You have the shard of Amore?"
Silver surrendered the piece he had found. "Here. Sombra has one more, and that leaves still one more. Is Cadance still opposed to the warlocks?"
Luna accepted it and tucked it into one of those pockets that ponies seemed to have. "As I had mentioned, we spoke, and not just of her success with the umbrum... I fear I may have misunderstood her, and I imagine you have as well."
Silver's attention refocused, even as Luna wrenched the topic aside so abruptly. "What? Night? What did I misunderstand?" He leaned forward a little. "What'd she say?"
Luna smiled at him. "Your expression... You really do care for her so deeply." She put a hoof to her mouth. "I selected well..."
"Huh?"
Luna raised a brow. "I'm almost certain you knew? Did you forget? I sent her to you. I selected her to be your match." She leaned back a little. "It had been quite some time since I had played a matchmaker... You two are filling one another quite nicely."
Silver clopped the top of the table with a silver hoof. "Luna! Please. You keep changing the topic. Stop avoiding things and tell it to me straight."
Luna reached across to Silver's hoof. "Where did you get this?" She was touching his silver horseshoe. "Night has one just like it."