//------------------------------//
// 89 - I Did My Part 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

"So, uh, Dream Twilight, she made a big fancy machine to take a huge ton of magic and reach from one world to another, but it messed up..."

Night tilted her head at the green pony. "Did it explode?"

"Oh, no, yes? Kinda. It reached the wrong world, and messed it up. On our side, everypony in the castle was sick for a while, all weak and wimpy, but they got better." She sat up and took a slow breath. "I... I think I caused it."

Night raised a brow. "Were you there?"

"Well, no..." Surprise traced a hoof along the tiles beneath her. "It's complicated, but I think I did... When I went, I tried to stop it, and then I did it..."

Night shook her head slowly. "How can you cause it if you went after it already happened?"

Surprise raised her forehooves to the sky, shrugging. "I said it's complicated! I'm not joking though, promise. So anyway, there I was in a world of humans, trying to not make a mess." She quirked a little smile. "I made some messes... But I think I didn't do a bad job in the end." She sank back to all fours. "I hope they're alright... I got pulled away right when they needed me."

Night glanced left and right. "Pulled away?"

Surprise tapped at the ground. "Right back into the big void between worlds! I tried to find my old one, but there wasn't anything there. It was like... It was... All gone. My friends, my family..." She began to sink, new tears threatening to spill before they began to pour out in twin arcs of grief. "My whole world was gone!"

Night winced at the display, unsure what she could do, or should do. "So how did you find Silver?"

Surprise perked up, tears abruptly stopping with all the mercurial speed Pinkie was known for. "Oh! I smelled him in this world, that's why I came here." She patted herself lightly. "All the time in that big... nothing place left me all green." She smiled a little. "Just as well... I don't want to make things confusing for this world's Pinkie. It's her world, not mine."

Night licked her snout lightly as she looked Surprise up and down. "That's quite a story..."

Surprise sagged in place. "You don't believe me."

Night didn't, though it did intrigue her. "I promised to get you some attention, come on." She turned and nudged open the door to the infirmary, leading Surprise inside. A nurse was inside and Night approached the pony with a little smile.

The nurse perked her ears. "Ah! Miss Lining, are you here for a pregnancy exam?"

Night came up short, almost sputtering. "Miss Lining? No, I didn't come for that." She took a half step back, then turned to Surprise. "She needs an examination."

The nurse looked past Night towards Surprise, but her attention was fixed. "Oh, did he take your name? Silver Watch? That works nicely." She approached Surprise with a little giggle. "Now what seems to be the problem?"

Surprise sat on her haunches. "Hello! Well, um, I have a bit of a cough." She tapped herself on the chest.

The nurse slid her dangling stethoscope into her ears and held it out with her magic, placing it against Surprise's chest. "Go ahead and breathe for me, nice deep breaths."

Attempting to do so sent Surprise into a fresh wave of coughs, but she managed a few rounds to the nurse's satisfaction.

"Mmm, you got some kind of bug in there, but don't worry! You just need some TLC and to relax." The nurse leaned forward. "Where do you live?"

Surprise wilted at the question. "Wherever I can..."

The nurse looked confused a moment before understanding clicked. "Oh no! I will not have a sick pony living like that." She thrust a hoof at one of the beds. "Go, lay down. You'll just stay here until you're better, and I won't take no for an answer."

Surprise looked between the nurse, Night, and the offered bed. "Is it really alright?"

Night nodded and chuckled. "Silver isn't the only nice pony around here. You heard her, go rest."

The nurse's attention slid to Night. "As for you, young lady, you're far past time for some maternal care! Come with me."

Night's expression became harder. "I have to be going. Thank you, but I'll pass." She turned back towards the door, only to feel magic wrapping around her. "Nurse, I know you're trying to be nice, but if you don't let me go, I will assume you're attacking me, and I am trained for that."

The magic faltered and released her, and Night trotted out, leaving the mildly scandalized nurse behind. Surprise leaned off the side of her new bed. "Don't take it personally, she was like that with me too."

Elsewhere, Silver trotted through the hallways of the castle, only to feel a humanlike hand settle on his shoulder suddenly. He tensed in surprise and spun his head to see Nefertari looming over him with a sharp smile. "Hello there, little pony. Where have you been hiding?"

Silver let out a quick sigh. It wasn't who he had specifically wanted to see, but he knew Nefertari, or so he hoped he did. "I was called away to handle matters elsewhere, but that's all taken care of."

She perked at him. "Were you now? Your title isn't just decorative then?" She ran sharp claws through the fur of his scalp and towards his back. "Was it a matter of any import, I wonder..."

Silver felt the urge to hotly argue, but Celestia's words drifted in his mind. He was at least one part spy. "Nothing I couldn't  handle," he replied, trying to keep his voice even despite being pet. Why did being pet feel so nice as a pony? "Have things improved for your people?"

She snorted at that. "It took twisted arms to get them to send me. With luck, they won't recall me. As brave as they claim to be, change scares them." She moved the petting paw to under Silver's chin, scratching him there and keeping his gaze aligned with hers. "What use is bravery, to fear something so inevitable as change?"

To his rising embarrassment, one of his hind legs kicked against the ground. She was handling him like a dog, and doing a good job of it. "Could you stop that?" He took a step away from her, and she let him. "Change is scary, but I've already looked deep into the eyes of that beast, I think."

She raised a brow at his words. "What change have you faced, little pony? You're too young to even know what it means."

Silver smiled at her. "I'm older than I look. I've seen death, my own. I've been crowned prince, and lost it."

Nefertari looked perplexed, but in an amused fashion. "You speak impossibilities with such a straight face. My waking mind tells me you are a liar, and that I should ignore you entirely, but... There's something else... I'll keep an eye out for you, little one." She vanished, moving with such fantastic speed that Silver didn't see her go.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and trotted towards his room, hoping Night would be waiting there for him. His thoughts wandered to Surprise, wondering what her story was, Was she truly from his dreams? No, that didn't... That didn't make sense. "Pinkie came back in the dreams..." As he walked along, he found himself wishing he could visit someone learned in the matter of dreams. "Maybe Zecora?"

Zecora wasn't in Canterlot, so Silver went to his room, knocked gently with a light clopping, then slipped inside to hear the sound of flowing water. Somepony was in the shower. "Night? Is that you?" He wasn't about to go rushing in. Heaven forfend it was some other pony, for some reason.

"I'll be out in a minute!" came a familiar voice.

Silver smiled with relief. "Don't rush on my account, just wanted to know it was you." He looked around. Surprise wasn't there. Had Night sent her away? "How did things go?" He stood outside the washing area, giving Night her space.

There was a moment of quiet, just the water flowing, before Night replied, "What do you think of the name Silver Watch?"

Silver blinked at that. "Are you asking me to take your name?"

Quiet came again for a moment. "What do you think?"

Silver sat on his haunches. "I don't think I would mind." He smiled even if she couldn't see it. "It just makes us that much closer. It'd... be a step forward, to a new part of my life."

"Oh?"

"Well, my name, this name... I took it to mean being a pony would be my Silver Lining on a dark and confusing part of my life." He tapped at the ground. "But maybe it's time to move past that." He leaned towards the archway to the bathing area. "Heh, time. Silver Watch... Maybe I should get one, a silver watch that is, something nice on a chain."

"Let me," she said, sounding quite determined. "I'll find one for you. Silver Watch... Thank you."

Silver inclined his ears forward. He knew something important had just happened, but the workings of people, or ponies... He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed on the human scale. He'd just been lucky ponies were, by and large, worse than him. He felt clueless, but taking her name wasn't bad, and it clearly made her happy. He thought to his time in the dreams. He had taken a different last name. "Silver Stars..."

"What was that?"

"Let me know when you're done in there, I have doting to deliver to you, my lovely wife."

"Oh no you don't." The water turned off. "I'm going to get that watch for you."

"Right now?" Silver perked an ear. "You don't have to rush."

"I don't have to, but I want to." She emerged, dry and dressed. "So you stay right here, relax, and wait for me to come back."

Silver moved for her, bumping noses. "I could come with you? It's not a surprise gift. Oh! Celestia gave the okay on our leave, so we're officially off-duty until after all this. She didn't raise even the slightest objection, and she offers congratulations on twins."

Night smiled at him, returning the nuzzle gently. "Well, thank you to her, but no, stay here. Let me surprise you, even if you know it's coming."

They exchanged a warm hug before he let her go, and she trot from the room with an air of determination.

"Silver Watch..." He suddenly burst into laughter. "Oh god, I've become our shipping name..."