//------------------------------//
// 175 - Behind Closed Doors 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Silver strode into the room, tense but curious. "Hello?"

The door slapped shut behind him. "So, you think you can just move in, take things over?" A familiar figure emerged from the darkness, a lunar pegasus mare with a frown. "The Warlocks have had their eyes on you for a while now."

Silver blinked. Was this the force arrayed against him? He didn't want the Warlocks as enemies. "Nice to meet you again. It's been a while."

She smiled, exposing her fangs. "You remember me, good. I certainly remember you... You stopped chasing Princess Luna around, hmmph, a point in your favor." She spread her wings slowly. "Or did you? You've grasped royalty in your hooves. Do you plan to leverage that to secure her? Is she on your list of conquests?"

A thought flashed in Silver's mind. "Have you told her you love her?"

Perhaps the wrong thing to say. She was suddenly on him, fangs sinking into his throat and her weight bearing him to the ground. "Unlike some ponies, I can separate my lusts from my duties." She put a hoof on his chest as she released his throat. "So, no, I have not. Before you think to call for help, the others have silenced this room for us. It's just you and me. We either come to an accord... or only I'm walking out of this room."

Silver frowned even as his magic flared all around his assaulter. He grasped her from all directions and hurled her across the room as he sat up. "Not like this. Anything you get me to promise is meaningless. Talk to me like a peer, a friend I would prefer, but a peer works."

She hit the ground with all four hooves and easily danced closer, as if being hurled was a minor inconvenience at best. "We're not friends, or peers. We act without restraint, so don't consider court either." She licked over her blood-stained fangs. "You're not a pony."

"I look like one, smell like one, and act like one." Silver clopped a hoof on the ground. "I'm more pony than you're acting right now."

She bristled at the very idea. "More pony than me?! I come from untold generations of ponies. You? You weren't even born a pony. As if you were in any position to measure it."

Silver offered a hoof. "I don't want to fight. I want peace. Tell me what I've done wrong."

She raised a brow. "Huh, you certainly live up to Celestia's ideals of a pony, but they're hardly the only ones." She flared her wings out wide. "And you're going to become a prince and tip things more in her favor, a solar prince... You'll claim Luna, hop on top of her and convince her to embrace those same weak principles. Ponies need strength, the will to fight." She thrust a hoof at Silver so hard and close that it bruised his nose. "Not everything is willing to accept peace as an answer."

Silver tilted his head at that even as he rose a hoof to rub his sore nose. "Some might not, but most will. We'll lead from the front, with open hooves and a benevolent smile. Any that would declare war on us would have to face the censure and response of the whole world." He rose up to his hooves. "Besides, I didn't disagree. We should know how to fight."

"Should we?" She stalked in a slow half-circle around him. "And when would we have time for that while we whimper and hide from conflict?"

He sighed. "I'm not the best pony in the world. If I can figure out how to fight while pushing for peace, I'm sure others can too. Let me ask, why didn't you just try asking me a few questions. Why this?" He gestured around the dim room. "Did I seem that hard to approach?"

"I'm glad you realize that." She scowled at him. "You've thrown things out of balance... Our Princess was to create a lunar ascended, and here you are, solar as can be. Celestia must be so proud..."

He perked an ear at that. "Celestia didn't make me. I was created by..." His tongue became tied. Words refused to come.

"Who?" She stalked at him, violating his personal space. "Tell me! Who made you!?"

"I can't say."

"Can't, or won't?" She growled deep in her chest. "I'll make you if I have to."

Silver frowned. "Do what you want. I can't. I literally can not. Torturing me would do nothing but make you more clearly the bad guy in this."

She suddenly laughed. "Oh that morality... Still, there is a point there. I could work you over until you say whatever I want to hear, but I want the truth... Why? Why can't you say?"

Silver glanced away. "I would if I could. Celestia wanted to know too, but when I... I can't. Sorry."

She sank to her haunches. "Fine. I'll accept that as truth." She prodded him in the chest. "So, Stud. You followed a flash of tail nicely. Still looking to expand that filthy herd of yours?"

He sighed at that. "I figured it was another noble making a clumsy and blunt attempt at gaining my attention. I came to gently let them down."

She rolled a hoof. "Let's stick to simple things I need to know. Whoever made you, are they an enemy of the state, yes or no?"

"No!" Silver clopped a hoof. "If..." He couldn't say it. "You would recognize them..." Even referring to the gender of the pony that ascended him was impossible. "I love Equestria, and I think they do too."

"Fine." She narrowed her eyes a little. "What do you intend to do with your title?"

"First, claim it." He pointed vaguely off. "I need to talk to Celestia, schedule that coronation. I'll get my crown, and work to be worthy of wearing it. Look, this is pointless. I want your help, not to undermine Equestria."

"Help?" She hiked a brow at that. "What help would you want from the Warlocks?"

He smiled a little. "Well, you are good at what you do. If I were an enemy of the state, I'd be worried right now, but I'm not. I do craft spells, and I have a lot of questions. I think we could do more for Equestria, together, then as enemies or rivals." He offered a hoof towards her. "For the good of all ponykind."

She swatted his hoof aside. "As if you understand ponykind! You're not a pony. You're a damn naked ape with a pony suit, and a tacky one at that." Her face wrinkled. "Why do you insist on being what you are not?"

"Because..." He thought about it, hard and deep. "Because I made a choice. I was born a human, and you were born a pony, but I had a choice, and I made it. I decided to be a pony, and, damn it all, I'm going to be the best pony I can be." He rose to his full height. "Now, please, help me be a better pony, for myself and all the ponies relying on me."

Her expression became hard to read as she looked him up and down. "Huh... The zeal of the convert, in the flesh... Fine, I believe you." With a wave of her wing, the door to the hallway swung open. "Go. We'll be watching you. I'd keep a closer eye on your wife, by the way. She's delving into things that don't belong to lunar pegasi."

Silver blinked at the cryptic warning. "What's she doing? If you saw her getting into trouble, why didn't you stop her? Is she in danger?"

She suddenly lashed out, but Silver was faster that time. A sudden shield intercepted her incoming hoof, filling his vision with the bright magic of his effort repelling her attack. When it faded, she was gone. The room was empty, save himself.

He sighed softly. He didn't even remember her name. He remembered her, as a person, and as his trainer in reaching deeper with his reserves, but her name eluded him and he mentally kicked himself for forgetting such a thing. Why was he so bad with names?

He stepped out into the hallway, glancing left and right before starting to trot for his room, wondering what Night Watch was up to that would concern the Warlocks. "I'm coming, Night..." He didn't know what he'd protect her from, exactly, but he would be there for her and shield her from any danger that would dare to threaten her, that much he felt confident about.