He fell from the world. He could see something. It wasn't a physical sight, more of a mental comprehension. The infinite permutations of Equestria spread out before him and he could feel, for just a moment, his place in all of them. He smiled. While he was a horrific beast beyond redemption in an uncomfortable many, they were still the tiny minority.
Are you finished?
Silver looked up at the writing and frowned. "Why are y--" His question died in his throat. If the Text were to appear anywhere, lost in time seemed like a perfect time for the being to be. "Never mind, sorry. What's up?"
What's up? Did you seriously just ask me what's up after that?
"Yeah?" Silver shrugged shoulders that he couldn't tell how broad they were. "I'd rail about this not being what I asked for, but I kinda did."
You did. You didn't just walk down this path, you pranced. I can't believe you remain unaware of what path it is you're taking.
Silver blinked at the words. "What? Which path is it?"
He fell.
He was a human, cowering in a cave with some listless ponies. Tirek rampaged outside. There was no hope.
He was a worker and accountant, keeping track of the numbers that operated Flim and Flam's mighty commercial empire.
He was dead. Everything was gone, so much ash blowing in the wind. Strangely, this didn't bother him as much as it might. He had been dead before.
For being dead, he felt like he had a presence. That wasn't normal. He tapped at the ground beneath him, feeling the crunch of the ash and dust. Was he dead? He began to believe he might not be.
A figure emerged from the haze, Four legs, a long horn, a bright blue pointed hat. "You appear much more calm than I had calculated."
Silver felt more surprised at the figure than anything else about that reality. "Star Swirl?"
"I would claim the one and only, but you know better than that." The elder unicorn nodded lightly. "We have things to discuss."
Silver stepped forward towards that shape. Star seemed quite grave, but he was still a familiar presence, even if only through tales. "I'm not upset that you are, but how are you here." He waved a hoof into the haze. "Everything in this world is dead."
"You know that answer already. Would it comfort you to hear me say it?" Star raised a brow.
Silver frowned with thought. If everything was dead, but there they were, not dead. "We're not from here."
"Precisely. We are displaced from time itself. You were shaken loose with the abuse of the spell you had a hoof in. My story I will keep to myself if it's all the same to you." He raised a hoof at Silver. "That was quite brave, and foolish, undoing the protections I had laid. I have already retrieved the spell." He produced a familiar scroll from his scroll. "They won't use this again."
Already? "I guess the order of things doesn't mean quite as much right now."
Star smiled, just a little. "Now you're getting the hang of it. Come, pony who is not a pony. You have set wheels in motion." He turned in place as a rift opened before him, echoing the deep sensation of everywhere and nowhere. "We have things to discuss."
He led the way for Silver, and they both stepped quietly from the world, leaving it to its sad nothing.
They were between times and places. The sensation of feeling his presence among the various time lines grew. Silver could even feel some places where he simply was not, not even as ash in the wind.
"Mind those places. You are not welcome there, even displaced as you are right now." Star Swirl sat on his haunches in the void. "If you thought your existence now unlimited, you would be gravely mistaken." A little smile touched his features. "I tried once."
Silver looked 'around', but there really was just looking at Star Swirl, or looking at not-Star Swirl. "I'll stay put for now. Can you put me back where I started? I was happy with what I had."
"Oh? You didn't favor any of the possibilities you experienced, or even glimpsed?" Star's shaggy brows raised faintly. "Not tempted?"
"No." Silver clopped a hoof on nothing. "I've had enough reality shifts and time jaunts. I'm happy with the family I have, and the past, present, and future I fought for. Nothing against the, uh, other 'me's, but I'm not them, even if related."
"Good." Star Swirl rose to his hooves. "I had wondered if you would make time your domain. That would have been quite the perilous responsibility. I'm as close as Equestria gets to a guardian of time, and I think I do reasonably enough, thank you. Come with me." He turned and began walking. Where there was no space and infinite space, there became a clear hallway that he was trotting along.
To the left and right hung oil paintings. The first showed his old self, his human self, caught mid-walk through the streets of Oakland in a leisurely stroll. The next showed him atop a mountain, looking confused but hopeful. It was just like...
"I will not sing for you." Star Swirl looked over his shoulder. "I would rather not."
Silver stopped walking and froze.
"Come along, I have much to show you yet before we arrive." But Silver was frozen like a deer in headlights. Star Swirl sighed softly. "Oh very well, I will sing."
"I have watched you from the start. I didn't think you'd make it very far."
Silver frowned a little at the imprecise rhyming.
"Look, I'm doing this for you, calm yourself and enjoy it, and get walking." Star cleared his throat before continuing his slow walk.
He sang his poorly composed song of Silver's life as they both went down the hallway. Silver's mind raced. Had he really stepped into this particular mess again? Didn't he have to...
"You did." Star Swirl looked over his shoulder. "You were dead when I found you. Did you already forget?"
Silver frowned. He couldn't argue it, not precisely. He was dead and alive many times with time unbound and probability laid out as it was. "Why not an actual pony? I'm sure there are many who would be more deserving."
"Probably." Star Swirl turned forward and resumed his walk. "But they didn't do this. You did, so here we are. You think Twilight Sparkle is the most 'deserving'? Hmmph. Coddled little filly was guided every step of the way by Celestia, who never learned when not to meddle with things. This has nothing to do with merit, though I dare say you at least didn't have a hoof guiding you quite so overwhelmingly, so take pride in that."
Silver felt a twitch of a smile forming. Being guided by the somewhat crotchety old stallion seemed somehow fitting, or at least deeply amusing. "Why you? No offense, I mean, really, your spells have been pretty great, and from what I heard, you're a nice pony."
"Yeah, nice." Star Swirl glanced over his shoulder. "Only one pony took note of my absence. After all I did for Equestria, do we have a Star Swirl the Bearded day?" He ran a hoof through that beard of his, thick and voluminous as it was. "Of course not, but we're not here for that. Nice costume, by the way."
Conjured by the remembering, Silver was wearing his Nightmare Night outfit, fake beard included. It felt especially ridiculous with the real pony standing before him and he blushed in his cheeks even as he wondered if he really had cheeks at the moment. "I look up to you. Most ponies don't seem to care about how their magic is structured. As a programmer, it drives me crazy."
"Programmer?" Star shook his head as he walked towards the end of the hall, starting to get closer to the modern day of Silver's life. "I have never heard of such a thing? But I suppose it's as good a term as any to describe your talent. You make spells, sometimes with the most adorably hideous syntax, but they work. Which is more than many can claim."
"Do we have to do this?" Silver glanced left and right at the paintings of the umbrum, menacing, and set free to pursue their own life. They were close.
"You'd rather be dead?" Star shook his head. "Been there. It's not much to write home about."
Silver shook his head quickly. Being dead wasn't what he wanted. If this was the alternative... "Alright, then I'll make the best of this."
Star peeked over his shoulder with a bit of a smile. "Isn't that the best any of us can do?" He turned to face Silver. "You'll be fine. Just don't forget who you are" He reached forward suddenly and pulled something free from Silver's chest with a flash of pain. He held a portion of Silver's soul, glimmering and sparkling atop his hoof. "This is the accumulation of your progress and power. With a little breath..." He puffed on it, coughed, and gave a more spirited blowing, making it flare brightly. "It awakens. Are you ready?"
Silver hesitated a moment before giving a firm nod. "I've walked this once. Let's do a better job this time."
Star smiled at that response. "Good pony." He waved his hoof, the ball of spirit-stuff coming free and fluttering towards Silver as he lifted into the air. The energy coursed through him hot and fierce, but not painfully. It was actually very familiar. He could feel old lanes of power reawakening from his dream-time. He was becoming larger. He...
He fell.