Rainbow flew literal circles around Silver. She went around his barrel easily as he flew carefully, mindful of her lessons. "We're high enough that you shouldn't be flapping so often."
"Huh?"
"Spread your wings nice and wide and let the air do the rest," she advised, and soon the two of them were gliding along with the sky itself to support them. "So, uh, who's best pony?"
Silver started at the question, losing a few inches in the shock. "Huh?"
"Best pony. You're a human right, wings and horns or not, you had to have one. Who is best pony?" demanded Rainbow Dash. "Was it me?"
Silver smiled gently. "You're a wonderful pony, RD, and I think you're great, but were you the best? Not my favorite, especially not back in my actually human days."
RD felt both relief and jealousy well within her. Who was better than her? "So who's best pony?" If the alicorn prince didn't think she was best, she wanted to know who was.
"Are we talking about before I came here?"
"Sure sure, you can tell me how it updated afterwards." She rolled a hoof in the air. "Out with it, who's best pony?"
Silver quirked a smile. "There were two ponies I felt kinship for different reasons. I appreciated Twilight's mental drive and her nerdiness was right up my alley."
"Two huh? Twilight..." She tapped her chin. That geek? Well... "And she's a princess. You like princesses plenty, right?"
"I'm involved with three of them, but that's not why. One of them I knew as a crippled unicorn long before she got a crown, and she was lovely either way. I always..." He suddenly blushed and went quiet.
"Well?" She bumped against him lightly. "Come on. Just between us and the clouds, and clouds don't talk, promise."
Silver smiled a bit at that. "That would be awkward.... So... I actually kind of liked Twilight better before she became a princess, but she's still Twilight, and I got used to it. Wings or not, she remains the same geek."
"You got that right." RD snorted softly. How did she lose to Twilight of all ponies? "And number two?"
"Um, well, don't tell her, but Rarity."
"Rarity?!" Why did humans always name her or her friends? Kind of creepy in some ways, but she wasn't named, which irritated her. "What's so good about her?"
"She's a creator, and a business owner. I was both of those things as a human. I wrote for a living for my own business, so I saw a lot of Rarity's struggles as my own. I mean, you're great, don't get me wrong, but I was never that physical."
"You're flying now." She raised a brow. "Sure seems physical to me."
"Becoming a pony has changed many things," he agreed. "I barely write these days, and I miss that sometimes. There's always something else going on that demands my attention, so no writing, all doing. I went from writing stories to living them. Could be worse, right?"
"Yeah..." He wasn't eying her up. For a filthy jerk, he was saying all the wrong things. Did he think she was ugly? Maybe he didn't dig pegasi? That would explain his wife... "So... Ya like lunar ponies huh?"
"Huh? Of course. They're good people, like all the pony types I've met so far."
That was hardly the answer she was fishing for. "Better than pegasi?"
"At what? Seeing in the dark, I suppose. Hey." He looked aside at her. "Has one ever tried out for the Wonderbolts?"
Rainbow swallowed heavily. "With the Wonderbolts forming to protect Celestia after Luna buggered off, lunar's weren't exactly welcome... and that never really officially..."
Silver's expression darkened faintly. "Another bit."
"What?"
"Just another way lunar ponies are kept down."
RD shook her head violently. "It's on the book because nopony is thinking about it. I bet if a really good lunar pony tried out these days, they'd get in."
"And how likely is that?" Silver raised a brow. "It takes an exceptionally brave member of a disadvantaged people to try and buck those barriers. If a young flier feels they have talent, and they are lunar, they'll just not consider the Wonderbolts as a valid target, more often than not."
RD fluffed up. "Hey! The Wonderbolts aren't trying to keep down anypony!"
"Like you said, they aren't thinking about it." He circled around her suddenly, cutting her off. "Rainbow, I'd like your help."
She came up short, blinking. Oh boy, was he about to hit on her? "Yeah?"
"You're working hard to join the Wonderbolts." He leaned in, wings flapping to keep him pinned in the same place. "When you get in, help to make a deserving lunar after you."
Rainbow felt a fierce blush rush across her face without her consent or even understanding. "I... alright... I mean, if one asks, sure, why not?"
Silver shook his head. "No, too passive. Look for one. There's got to be a lunar pegasus worth having on the team, find him or her, and be their mentor. Don't wait for them to build the gumption, destroy that wall yourself."
RD gave an uncertain nod. "S-sure. I'll look." She glanced away and back. "So, we were headed somewhere?"
They resumed their journey, a little quieter for the second portion.
Samantha cleared her throat before she knocked on the door lightly.
The door opened a little, allowing her to see the partially concealed face of Moonbeam. He squeaked at seeing her and slammed the door shut, but her magic kept it from completely closing. "We need to speak."
"Don't hurt me!" His efforts to close the door were futile and he finally backed away, allowing Samantha into the apartment.
She looked around. "Where are your parents?" She was far from an expert, but he seemed young to be alone.
"I live alone," he spoke in small words, squirming. "Are you here to beat me up?"
She started at the question. "That would be a violation of the Golden Rule. Did you know what you were doing to me, and the others?"
He trembled and sniffled a little. "Y-yeah..."
"Why?"
His wings flared out wide. "You had bits! I didn't..."
She looked around slowly. Though the walls were peeling and old, he had some new things, even expensive things laying about. The conflict confused her. He even wore shoes that were new and fancy by her estimate. "Why?"
"What? I just said." He blinked up at her.
"Why did you get into this at all?" She gestured around. "For everything, there is a reason. Getting in this was a mistake, but I doubt my reasons are yours. Tell me, please. If you tell me, I will tell you mine."
"How about I tell you and you promise not to be angry anymore?" He ventured hopefully.
"I can't promise that." Samantha raised a hoof and he winced. "But I won't harm you. I'm not here to do that. Tell me."
He moved past her and closed the door and began to lock it with a great many deadbolts and chains. "M-my parents died, not both at once, but they did, and I didn't want to go to no orphanage." He sat down beside the door. "Don't look at me like that! I didn't ask for your pity."
She put a hoof on her chest. "My mother died producing me. I know that pain."
He hesitated a moment. "But... you're a unicorn. I mean... you were one of my best customers! You had bits..."
"Bits doesn't assure happiness," spoke Samantha.
"Not having them sure seems to assure something." He brushed the floor with his hooves. "Then I ran into them, the brothers. It was my last chance really. I gathered up all the money I had, even... borrowed some from some friends... and there I was."
"I borrowed money too," admitted Samantha. "It was wrong. I feel... I am guilty of a golden rule violation. Did you pay your friends back?"
"I meant to..."
"Do you have money left?" She quirked an ear at the small lunar pony. He seemed so small and sad. She reached for him. He tried to squirm away from her, but she managed a brief hug before he kicked away from her, leaving a bruise for her efforts. She had violated a social norm. She accepted her injury as penance.
"Stay on your side," he hissed. "I... have a little."
"You should pay your friends back."
"Then what? I have to eat..."
Samantha rose to her hooves. "Why do you not seek a way to gain this without such violations?"
He raised a brow. "Alright, what do you do for a living, uh, miss?"
Samantha sat down. What did she do? She did science! But she received no compensation for that. She was a daughter, and was paid for that, but that... "I..."
"Now you're starting to get it." He rose up. "I quit school for this, thinkin' it would work out. It did, for a while."
"Are orphanages that terrible, if they allow you to return to school?"
He raised a brow. "Ever been to one?"
"No." Her ears fell. Every argument she had was being shot down. "What do you need?"
"Huh? I said."
"No, what do you need to get what you need." She tapped at the floor. "I think you should return to school, learn what it is you wish to pursue, as an adult. A child should be free to be a child."
He suddenly shoved her, knocking her right over with the sudden violence of it. "Don't you get it! I don't get to be a child, in or out of the system. Even if I wasn't lunar, which I am miss stupid, I got no future. I ain't heard no one that went on to be a great pony after orphanage."
Samantha rolled upright, puzzling through this. She was paid... "What if you weren't an orphan?"
"What?" He raised an ear. "Look, unicorn magic is great, but not that great."
"I can't bring back your parents, and I don't want to replace them. My adopted parents do not replace my dead mother. They are different." She offered a hoof. "Will you accept me as a mother? I will pay you a fair wage, and see that you are schooled and cared for."
He looked baffled. "You'll pay me to be your foal?"
Samantha tilted her head. "Is it not customary for parents to dispense a small amount of funds to their children at regular intervals?"
He blinked twice before he started to laugh. The whole idea was so preposterous that he fell forward, banging on the floor, only to get it banged from the other end with a loud insistence that he be quiet. "You're crazy!" he blurted, rising to his hooves. "Bonkers."
"I may be..." It was far from the first time she'd heard those words used against her. "I am serious. Will you accept me as your legal mother?"
He looked around his small home a moment, then back at the hopeful unicorn before him. "I didn't ask for your sympathy."
"But you have received it. We are too similar for me to feel otherwise."
"Yeah?" He backed up a step, then paused. "If I come with you, will I have to do what you say?"
"That is the usual agreement. I will give you commands for your betterment. You will complete your homework and avoid dangerous activities." She nodded. "I foalsit for two foals, perhaps you can assist? They are lunar too."
He blinked with surprise. She dealt with lunars regularly? Maybe... "I'll... try."