//------------------------------//
// 203 - Vassal Returns 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Samantha didn't seem to be returning, with or without the foals. Silver grumbled softly to himself about the idea that the mare got distracted by something scientifically intriguing and closed up the office. On the way back to his room though, a figure stepped out before him, one he knew.

Night Wing nodded at him. "I have your information."

Silver tilted his head. "The zebra was harmless, just testing the wa--"

"That's what he wanted you to think." She produced a folder with a wing from beside her barrel and handed it to him. "Take a look."

Silver flipped open the folder and browsed quickly. The Zebra was known to approach many powerful figures and took advantage of those willing to listen to his stories and sample his potions.

"He was sizing you up.' She flashed a wide smile. "Only thing keeping you out of his grasp is that you're mostly content, hmmph. Some prince, not even a crown..."

"That's changing."

Her eyes widened a little. "Oh? Did Sunbutt insist on it?"

"I was waiting for her to say it was a good --"

"You are a stallion that knows his place." She leaned forward. "Maybe that's why fate let you take this title, hm? You plan to do everything the princesses tell you to do?"

Silver didn't like the tone that Wing took, and he didn't hide it. "I'll listen so long as it makes sense, and that goes for you double." He sorted softly. "Find anything about the zebra that requires anything other than being careful?"

"No, sir." She grumbled a little her wings rustling on her back. "So tell me, why are you more worthy than me?"

"Do you want the honest answer, or the easy one?"

Night Wing fixed him with a glare before her wing opened a door to an empty room. "Let's get out of reach of curious ears, then I'll hear this 'honest' answer of yours."

They went into the small room that rated as a large closet and Silver nodded at her. "Alright, first, what I say is what I see. You annoy me, but not enough to lie to. This is the truth so far as I see it."

"Right right." She rolled a hoof boredly. "Get on with it. I don't think you know much, sir."

"Be that as it may... There is a quality that all princesses share, prince included." Silver sat up straight. "They're all growing. No matter how large and perfect some of them seem--"

"Unlike you."

"Unlike me." Silver nodded. "They're still growing. Even earning the crown requires growth and change. If you're happy with how things are, you can't ever be a princess."

"W-what? There are many things I want! I'm not perfect!"

Silver reached for her shoulder, only to have his hoof roughly shoved aside. He nodded at her. "Wanting things is not the same. You were sure Luna was perfect before you even met her. You were sure the 'old' ways were the 'best' ways."

She snorted at the very idea he proposed. "As if she isn't perfect."

"Perfect enough to like me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Trying to sell yourself?"

"The opposite." He spread his wings. "If she was perfect, why would she be even dimly interested?"

It was difficult to argue with his self-deprecating logic and she grunted with annoyance. "That's what I said--"

"So she isn't perfect." Silver nodded as if the obvious had been stated.

She produced a dagger from one of her pockets, making Silver jump back. "You're not wrong, which is the most infuriating part. She... Why do I still love her?"

Silver eyed the sharp tool. "I'll be glad to try to help, but could you put that away?"

She threw it from wing to wing casually, catching it easily. "I am sworn to serve you. This knife won't find its way into your weak male flesh."

With a soft sigh, he tried to pretend it wasn't there. "You're in love with the idea of her, of a Luna that doesn't exist." He pointed towards Luna's room. "You want to be with her? Try being with her. That doesn't mean following every rule and waiting for her to notice. Approach her, as a pony, because she is one. She doesn't really grasp what you are to her or her to you because you don't tell her."

She tucked the blade away as she advanced. "And why would you tell me any of that if you wanted her?"

Silver brought his wings forward and she didn't violently repel him this time. Like Celestia had done to him, he cradled her cheeks carefully. "If you two find love, I wouldn't dream of standing in the way."

Night Wing colored at the idea and glanced away, but she remained in his grip. "You're just saying that, Ambassador..."

"You're relieved for the day. If you want to spend the rest of it telling a certain pegasus how appreciated she is, I won't stop you."

Night backed away and snorted softly. "If you're gutted today, remember it was your command." And she vanished into the gloom of the room, leaving nothing behind.

Silver emerged from the closet and shut it behind himself with a kick of a leg. Nothing else stopped him from getting to his room, and the Night Watch that awaited him there, wearing a bright clear crystal around her neck. "I found one! Look, isn't it nice?" She turned this way and that to show off the jewel. "Go ahead and quicken it for me."

Silver kissed her in greeting as his magic closed the door. "Nice to see you too."

Night wriggled her nose. "Nice to see you too, now why do you smell like that mare you hate?"

"I try not to hate anyone."

"Night Wing."

"She's hopefully off on a date with Luna."

Night Watch blinked at that. "Did you forget I have my--"

"You told me several times she was off limits."

"To you, perhaps."

Silver grunted softly. "Night... We are married. That means a certain level of basic equality. There should not be a single pony in the world one of us can see but the other can't."

Night looked shamed a moment before she recovered and snorted. "You don't like her anyway."

Silver poked Night in the chest. "Listen to yourself."

"What? You do want her now?"

"I want you to calm down."

"I am calm." Night brought down a hoof with a loud clop. "What's gotten into you?"

Night's behavior irritated him, but also worried him. "Look, Night."

"You look." She prodded him roughly in the chest. "You think you know everything!"

"That's pretty far from the truth." He inclined an ear. "I'm lucky to know anything. Night, please take a breath."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Calm down, please. You know I love you, right?"

She glanced away and back at him a moment before licking her lips. "You heard something, didn't you?"

"I did, but this has nothing to do with that." He captured one of her ears in a sudden dart, nipping her. "What has you so worked up?"

"I..." She ducked her head a little. "I'm sorry... Look, it's... hard to explain." She poked him, though not as brutally as she had at first. "It's your fault, you realize. You made me see something."

He took her in his grasp and they flopped over together as he nuzzled along her snout and neck. "Then share that with me. I want to hear all about what you found."

She nibbled along his chin, working towards the tip. "I think I like being in charge. I like making the decisions?" She suddenly rolled on top of him. "And you don't mind being bossed around by ponies you like."

Silver blushed faintly. She wasn't entirely wrong. "What does this have to do with the crystal?"

"Oh, yes." She sat up on him. "I like being a stallion. I like..." She raised a hoof to her face. "It sounds stupid, but I like the ability to dominate in that way... To hold a pony tight, to fill them..."

He raised a brow. It wasn't as if he disliked the act of being male. "You don't have to be a stallion to do--"

"But I do." She shook her head down at him. "If I want to lead a herd, I have to be a stallion. Mares can lead a lot of other things, but herds? That's stallion only. I want a herd." She tapped him gently. "Will you join my herd?"

The idea made Silver blink in confusion. "What?"

"My herd. I want you to be the first wife of it."

"But I'm a stallion." Silver frowned a little. "I'm, by definition, a lousy pick for first wife."

"I suppose that's true... but you'll join, right?" She licked over his neck, sharp teeth pricking at his flesh. "I will protect you and control you in the gentlest way that I know you'll like..."

Whether or not he liked it, it would never work. He couldn't very well be the first prince to be dominated by his wife, er, husband, whatever. Not like that... He squirmed out from beneath her. "We have to talk." He sat up and let out a slow breath. "Being a herd, and prince, is a tricky proposition... If it came to it, would you be happy with just me?"

She blinked at the idea. "What?"

"Just me. If we got married, the traditional marriage. One to one, till death do us part. You know. Would you?" He looked her directly in the eyes, asking the impossibly heavy question.

"B-but..." The idea clearly didn't settle well with her. She had just learned the glories of freedom, of wanting to be her own stallion even. "I'm..." She glanced away and back at him, swallowing heavily. "Is that the only way? What about Fast Change?"

"If I can only have one, I would want you, Night Watch. You are my other." He held up the one lonely engagement hoof. "Will you accept just me?"

She recoiled a step, almost tripping over herself. "You were supposed to... Stop joking around. This has long stopped being even remotely funny!" She thumped his side. "Stop it! You'll be a prince, so you can do what you want, and if you want to raise a tail for me, well, to Tartarus with what others think."