//------------------------------// // 206 - Silver Penny Pt 1 // Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat // by David Silver //------------------------------// Silver sat in the booth of his favorite eatery, well, it was. He stared at his food for uncomfortably long moments, unable to bring himself to sample any of the meat before he rested his eyes on his companion. "So… How did I mess up?" “You haven’t, yet.” Penny looked over the menu, pondering what to order in the back of her mind while she focused on her friend’s problem. “If you must know, you helped the love of your life gain the confidence to want to change herself as she feels she should, in a world that will likely not be very supportive of it. So what is your real problem here? Don’t you love her?” Silver blinked at that. "Of course I do!" He folded his unfurled wings and looked around, going red as his voice lowered, "What makes you think I don't?" “Because you are here, talking to me about it. Should we get her?” Penny waved to a waiter to get their attention. "W-what? It's not that simple… She left me. She… left the kids, she left everything and ran off." He sagged in place. When the waiter arrived it was obvious that things were not to be intruded on and Penny simply gestured to what she wanted. With a little bob of their head they withdrew. “Does that sound like something Night would do? I will admit I am not as well acquainted with your betrothed as I would like, but could something else have affected her?” Penny gave a sigh. “I am so not the best pony to come to for relationship advice.” He perked an ear at his friend. "Look, I just… Want.." He clopped the table softly as he pushed himself up. "Can we just hang out? At home I got the kids, who I love but can't talk about my stuff, and Samantha, see above." “Of course we can. Want to just do something? Hay has Sorlie for the day. Want to go visit something? Maybe even out of the city?” Penny checked the menu again and fished out some bits to leave on the table. "Sorlie?" He tilted his head faintly. "Jeeze, we've been out of touch. We have to fix that." He reached across the table to put a hoof on his friend's shoulder. “I shouldn't be calling you just for an emergency." “A good nickname was important. Ensorcellee wasn’t going to grow up to find some horrible name being the easiest way to address her.” Penny leaned in to give her friend a hug. “We could always write something, been a while since we did anything like that together.” Silver smiled a little, a pained smile perhaps, but it was genuine. "Maybe we could do that, but what would it even be about? Man… I'm about to be a prince. A damned prince! I'm supposed to write policies and things. You know, prince things." The waiter was just bringing the hot buttered bread when they saw the pair getting up. They looked alarmed a moment before spotting the bits on the table. “Sorry, gotta rush off, you know how it is for a prince.” Penny poked Silver in the shoulder. Turning to her friend she couldn’t help but giggle. “Well, considering there is already a prince, you might want to go and talk to Blueblood, the show may have painted him as an arse, but if there was one thing I have learned, the show gives a thin veneer of each pony.” Silver snatched a bit of bread on the way past, his horn glowing softly as he nommed on the delicious treat. His thoughts went back to his dream, and the Blueblood he met there. "I really should, that's a really good idea." Silver strode beside Penny. "So… how do I look? I mean, you know, bigger, and all wingy?" “You look like a pony prince, Silver.” Penny reached a hoof up to pat one wing. “You got all the bits, you got the smarts, I would totally vote for you.” Silver snorted with amusement. "Imagine if it was democratic… How are things going with you? Please, catch me up." “Well, I heard you caught up a little with Stick recently. Hay is so immersed in train design that I would swear she is speaking another language sometimes. Sorlie is the most adorable and wonderful thing to have happened in my life.” Penny stopped talking a moment, her expression far away and smiling. The mare sighed. “Teaching has been good for me, I think. It grounded me, got me a nice circle of friends in the school. I heard you and Fast had a meeting?” An eyebrow raised. Silver nodded quickly, then winced, remembering Night's heated words. "If she, uh, Night that is, really went to Fast, wonder what she thinks…" Easily distracted is one way to have described Silver at that moment. "Sounds like you have everything in order." “I have a foal who has learned that climbing is fun, I have two lovely wives, one who seems bent on bringing on the industrial revolution and the other who wants to bring about economic reform.” Penny looked at Silver as though he had just told her ‘water is wet’. “But yeah, things are going well. Should we put off a fun day and maybe get you some closure? Why don’t we visit my ‘mother in law’ and find out what Fast thinks?” The mare made air-quotes with her hooves. Silver tilted his head a little, then a thought came to him. "Did you have the foal, or…?" “You really are out of it. Okay, today is Silver day, we are going to visit the hive.” Penny pushed at Silver, turning them down a side street and aiming them toward the district of the city the changelings inhabited. Silver immediately became nervous. "If she thinks I'm stalking her, that'll hardly help!" Not that he stopped himself from being bossed around by his friend. He never was good at saying no properly to mares. “Who? Fast? Silver, I have seen that mare in action, I heard a rumor she almost got the Princess of Friendship herself. If Fast thinks you are stalking her, then she would likely be happy about it.” Penny knew one thing that was most important about relationships, and she was about to try and get it to happen with Silver. "Oh? What? No! Not Fast, I mean, what…" Silver stammered as he was dragged along. "Look, Celestia had a talk with me, alright? I have to change some things up." “Why?” Penny prodded the stallion every time he even made so much as a slight change to his gait. “What things could this,” she poked one wing, “possibly need you to change in this aspect?” His wing danced a little at the touch as he looked off. "Basically, no herd. I… asked her, Night, to marry just me, and that's when she ran off." Penny stopped dead. “Hold up. Didn’t you tell me that the herding was her idea? Also, buck Celestia if she demands that. Don’t be a prince then.” "I've seen what happens if I do that." He frowned a little. "I want to be a good prince, which means setting a good example, and not having mares come up in court asking if they can get some of what I have, in the most delicate and proper of ways. Either way, it was originally Celine's idea, then mine, then hers. We all had… a turn." “So this is a convenience thing? I can think of a few ways to dissuade ponies from asking… that. Damnit Silver, come on.” Once more Penny prodded the stallion to move forward. “Buck, I have not wanted to swear this much since coming here.” "Stop poking me!" he said in perhaps too loud a voice. "I mean... Sorry." Sullenly, he marched forward towards the hive. "It's not that they'd be impossible to shake, they wouldn't be, but I'd still be a bad prince, setting bad examples." “Bad examples? What bad example? Living how you want? Loving too much? Remember you are talking to a pony who is, well, kind of in a herd.” Penny poked her own chest as they arrived at the hive. “Is the queen in?” The last was addressed to a drone at the door. The drone gave the mare a knowing look. “Princess Fast is in, would you like to make an appointment?” The last bit was given with a silly smile, as though this was a game the pair had played before. Silver glanced at his friend before nodding at the drone. "We're here to see Princess Fast. Tell her Prince Watch is here to see her." The drone was already opening the door and gesturing inwards. “We know who you are, she is cooking, I think. Try the kitchen.” Penny smiled. “Thank you, Sands.” She offered her hoof to the guard and got a little clop back from the drone. Silver wasn't as familiar with the guard, or any changeling that wasn't Fast, so he just nodded politely and moved past. "Thanks." Ultra Smooth. He looked down and across at Penny. "What are you hoping she'll say?" “I have no idea. But talking is going to be your way out of this. As for what sunbutt wants you to do, are you sure she said ‘no herd’ or did she give you the choice?” Penny wasn’t quite sure where the kitchen was in the hive, but, poking her head in a few rooms, quickly found it. Surprise looked up with, well, surprise when her old friend walked in, “Silver! Have you met Diane and Z? You haven’t, right, I know that. This is my daughter Diane, and my sister Z. Diane swears you met Charlie once, but not really, but he did know you were there…” and with a sad sigh the mare melted into awkward silence. Night was far less enthusiastic about the meeting, going as fluffy as a startled cat as she narrowed her eyes at Silver. "What are you doing here?" With her wings spread wide and stance solid, she looked ready to battle. “He is here because I poked, prodded and even bullied him to come here.” Penny looked back at Night. The mare spared a smile toward the other ponies present. “Sorry about this, I hope we aren’t intruding?” “Z-978 is confused, she thought Night lost her stallion, like Z-978 and her sisters lost Charlie?” the changeling drone interjected, agitated at the conflict in facts. Silver took a step back. "I'm not here to start any fights, promise." Night snorted and locked eyes on Penny. "Did he marry you? You don't seem quite his type…" “Not going to play that game, Night. Hey, I like you, I like Silver, both as friends. That is why I am here.” Penny gestured to Silver with her snout. “Did he explain anything to you, about why he suddenly brought up not herding? I had to drag it out of him...” “It’s an intervention,” Diane nodded sagely, “I’ve had one of those, you should have jumped out a window when you had the chance…” "I smell cupcakes," sang Fast Change as she turned the corner to practically run into Silver. "Well, I wasn't expecting beefcake, but hey, if you're offering." Caught between two mares, Silver did as any man could do in such a situation, squeal like a girl. “Oh no, I learned about changeling ways from Stick. First talking, then cake.” Penny looked at Fast, giving the bigger mare a grin. “Silver, you are going to tell Night everything.” Night raised a brow. "Silver's not available. Not unless you marry him alone. Go ahead, Silver, tell us." Silver took a shuddering breath, trying to gather himself. "C-celestia wants me to become a prince as a married stallion, or single." He glanced away, and it was enough. Night scowled. "Or?" Fast whistled softly. "This is heavier than I was expecting, but hey, we're all here. Night, Silver, herd or not, we're buddies, right?" Penny breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have at least gotten the couple talking. “What’s the big deal?” Diane shouldered her way amongst the grown-ups. “Your stallion is still alive. You know what he’s not? He’s not dead!” The filly glared at the couple accusingly, “I had to make a deal with the goat to even make my family exist! And now Charlie’s still dead! What is the problem with you stupid ponies?”