Silver's magic gripped the knob to his room and attempted to twist it, but it wouldn't turn. He jiggled it to no avail before a frown developed. He raised a hoof and clopped on the door. "Anypony in? The door's stuck."
He heard faint voices from within and alarm raised within him. Without much thinking, he blinked out of the then and there and slipped between space to appear on the other side of the door. Where he was expecting bandits, assassins, or some other nefarious force, he instead saw Night speaking with a teary-eyed Samantha. He blinked with surprise. He'd never seen Samantha show that emotion before. "Everything... okay?"
Night shook her head. "Everything is fine." She prodded Samantha lightly. "This would-be suitor locked the door to have me alone."
Samantha smiled a little. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." She dipped her head a little towards Silver. "You're not upset, are you?"
Silver approached cautiously. "That depends. Night, was she polite?"
Night gave a little smile. "She was fine, and made a fish dish I plan to extract from her."
He relaxed and nodded as a smile of his own developed, but then the reason for the dinner became clear. "O-oh, um, so..." How to put it... "Did she mention what she was hoping?"
Night raised a tufted ear. "You already know then? Subtle is not Samantha's general tactic."
Samantha perked her ears. "Should I have been?"
Night shook her head. "No. I'm happy to have someone approach so unapologetically straightforward and without deception, big or small." She adjusted her glasses a moment as she looked over Samantha. "Silver, what do you think of her?"
Silver tilted his head left and right as he settled onto his haunches. "I think she's a bit manic depressive, but I'd be lying to claim I don't have any faults. She's a nice pony and I have no particular issues with her besides keeping her urge for science to a gentle roar."
Samantha smiled brightly suddenly. "Does that mean I'm accepted?" She clopped her hooves with an assumed yes. "I never had a stallion before, and an alpha-mare." A notebook appeared beside her head and writing began to be scribbled on it by a quill held in her magic. "The observations I can make. Please, I'm new to this, so inform me how the order goes. Do we share him at once, or take turns?"
Night's cheeks darkened at the bold topic shift. "I... think that depends how much we grow to enjoy each other's company, but you're going fast." She reached out a hoof. "All I'm willing to say is that we're not throwing you out."
Samantha tilted her head, one ear flopping. "Oh, I'm not accepted yet?" The book vanished in a puff of magic. "I thought... No matter!" A new book appeared, the book on romance. "I'll move on to the next step. You'll be swept off your hooves!" She flashed a bright smile.
Silver looked between Samantha and Night before leaning in towards his wife. "I think she's going to be romancing you until you say yes or no clearly."
Night glanced up at Samantha before replying, "Maybe I like being romanced..." The idea that she'd be chased by the needy unicorn was somehow... exciting. It was nice being the target. She usually hunted, but perhaps, just once... she could be hunted in turn? "One thing. No making a mess while I'm on duty. Silver's an ambassador, dealing with confused and harried humans and ponies, which means no popping in on our office. Romance is for off-duty hours." She frowned a little. "Is this what it was like for you, Silver?"
Silver blinked. "How do you mean?"
Night rolled a hoof. "I thought you were just... being a stallion, but having somepony declare their love and mean it..." She glanced around guiltily. "It's nice..."
Silver smiled a little, but before he could speak, Samantha raised a hoof. "I won't interrupt your duties, but prepare to be romanced!" She spun around and galloped out of the room, the door opening for her magic without hesitation and closing behind her just as easily.
He shook his head. "This is a bit of a change from when you just thought of her as an overbearing doctor."
Night rolled her eyes. "She's still overbearing... but she's being better about it, and... she means it." Night rubbed at one of her still-warm cheeks. "We attract interesting ponies... Are you mad?"
"Mad?"
"I just half-accepted her. She's going to be around a lot more often, I imagine. She will want to see this through, and if I say yes, she becomes a part of this herd that had been only two members for so long." Night squirmed in place a little. "Oh. Where're Trixie and Rough, and the foals? I presume together."
He didn't know and shrugged to show as much. "If I had..." A thought settled on him and he rushed for the closet. Throwing it open allowed Trixie and Rough to spill out with the foals squealing as they got to ride the sliding ponies. "She really needs to break that particular habit."
They got their parents unbound and Trixie sat up with a scowl. "When she gets her hooves on that unicorn, she will do especially nasty things. She hasn't even seen the start of Trixie's fury!"
Rough set a hoof on her shoulder. "Easy there. You heard them. She's a pony in love."
"She'll be a pony in traction!" Trixie shook herself out and huffed before letting out a slow breath. "If she approaches Trixie again..." She stormed off, her fury ebbing to an angry simmer.
Silver gathered up all three foals, nuzzling the three representatives of the pony tribes. A thought tickled at him. "I hope you all get along. What adventures will you get into together?"
Night snorted softly. "They've already survived an attack by a manic scientist. That counts, so they had their first before their first birthday. Not bad, little ones."
Rough laughed softly. "They take after their parents, but are you, um, serious? I mean..." He looked awkward a moment. "Are you going to go through with it? With her?"
Silver lifted his shoulders. "You know us well enough."
Rough smiled. "I suppose I do. Look, maybe we should get out of your manes. We've visited for long enough anyway, the way I see it." He pointed at Silver. "Next time, maybe you'll visit us? You remember where I live, don't you?"
Silver bobbed his head. "I do, and that would be nice. How is everypony?"
"Oh, they're fine." He smiled a little. "The town doesn't change much or very quickly. Our house expansion was about the newest thing they saw last year."
Trixie approached with a raised brow. "Did she hear correctly? Did you plan to leave, husband of mine?"
"With you, of course." Rough nodded. "We've v--"
"No." Trixie shook her head. "Unacceptable. We're still working through that wondrous book, and Trixie has grown accustomed to studying beside her colt."
Rough nuzzled into her shoulder. "We can't stay forever. He has his own life, and we've been making his bedroom awkward. How would you like your parents always there, watching you, when we--"
Trixie's thrust up a hoof, her cheeks reddened. "She gets the idea... But it doesn't mean she has to like it." She thrust a hoof at Silver. "You'd better keep working. Just because she isn't around is no excuse to slack off. You have too much potential to waste it."
Silver quickly bobbed his head and promises were exchanged, along with firm hugs. All too soon, Trixie, Rough, and their young Sapphire Streak were on their way out.
Night watched as the door closed and glanced aside at Silver for a quiet moment. "I've almost forgot what it's like to be alone."
Silver flashed a smile. "We're already set to ruin that with an eager unicorn."
"You?"
He wrinkled his nose. "I meant Samantha and you know it."
"Hard to tell the difference at times, my unicorn." She leaned in and kissed his cheek.
A sudden pair of wails drew their attention. Both foals were looking at the door and clearly very sad about it.
Silver snatched up Clear as Night took up Morning and they consoled their grieving foals.
He nuzzled at one of her tufted ears. "Don't worry, they'll be back, or we'll go find them. They're not gone forever." Besides, he hadn't given up his silly idea of his foals becoming the next cutie mark crusaders, with or without cutie marks.
The idea of 'catching up' on alone time was shattered, but neither of them begrudged their foals and they all retired to their bed. Pressed between the warmth and safety of their parents, Morning and Clear settled to sleep between them, and peace was had.
I'm not surprised Samantha would want to join in the family, I m surprised Night accepted her so easily, though. After the rough treatment she gave Surprise and all.
7161670 She made it clear Surprise was not to hunt Silver.
Samantha hunted her, and she thinks she may like being the prey of love once in awhile.
Samantha is just so adorkable in this chapter, now I really want to see how she romances Night and Silver...without shoving innocent bystanders in closets again.
p.s: The idea of Silver's foals and 'sibling' being the next CMC...now I can't help think that they might reenact the events of this story with either Silver and Night or Trixie and Rough coming as chaperones.
7161700 They need to be a teensy bit older first. No sending infants to dangerous worlds.
7161710 Silver did say future CMC, so they'd be about the Crusaders age when they go there.
Well, if they go there.
The way things go around this family, theyre gonna need a bigger closet.
Walk in private pool room.
Silver gets to name it River City.
This chapter largely functioned as a closer, bringing an end to Night and Samantha's "romantic dinner," and seeing Trixie and Rough (and their foal) off. In that regard, we didn't really get anything new here; today's installment was purely perfunctory in bringing about unsurprising conclusions. That's not a bad thing per se, but it can't be helped that it's a lot less exciting than the last few chapters. (I will say that it is somewhat appropriate, however, as it helps to underline the other recent conclusions that Silver has experienced, such as his involvement with Starlight, his "romance" with Sunny Days/Celestia and Celine/Luna, and the final fate of the Windsong sisters. This is the spring cleaning of Silver's life.)
It's somewhat unfortunate that we didn't get to see what exactly passed between Night and Samantha when Silver walked in on them. They were pretty clearly engaged in some sort of deep - and, I'm presuming, meaningful - conversation when Silver knocked, since they didn't answer the door. It seems self-evident that something important was passing between them at that moment, but what? We were told outright that Night didn't accept her - and wasn't there a tradition that the stallion nominated a candidate and the first wife made the decision? - so it's hard to say. My guess is that it was more of Samantha opening up about her feelings, and hopefully Night was reciprocating.
Of course, that doesn't mean that Silver's presence there was a complete downer. He did a good job of pointing out the obvious, such as noting that Samantha's wooing would continue until she got a clear and unmistakable yes or no. That's the sort of obvious statement that still needs to be pointed out, where Samantha is concerned. That and the firm boundaries that Night set, regarding when she can "romance" them. Given that Samantha isn't protesting these - quite the contrary, she seems quite ready to give ground with regards to areas that she doesn't understand (such as most social functions) - I'm honestly starting to think that they can make this work.
The real question, of course, is if they want to make it work. It's not enough to not have any disincentive to be in a relationship, but there has to be an incentive as well. That's what made Night's continued interest so...interesting. We got another look behind the proverbial curtain here, as Night seems to discover that she likes being pursued, rather than being the pursuer (though I suspect that she likes the latter too, but is instead enjoying the change of pace). This actually isn't surprising...we've seen before that Night can get tired of being the "rock" in the relationship. I suspect that she's enjoying the feeling of liberation, as well as the positive affirmation, that comes from being the object of another's desires. Of course, that still leaves the issue of sexual compatibility unclear, but there's more chapters for that.
We say goodbye to Rough and Trixie, and I'm honestly not very upset about it. I say that not because I disliked their presence, but because they'd done what they needed to do, and staying any longer would have been burdensome. Their current guest appearance reached its natural conclusion, and without anything more of emotional resonance going on, it was fine for them to head back home. It's amusing to think that their foal would become a close playmate of Silver's own little ones, but that's a story for another time.
Overall, this chapter tidied things up neatly. Now on to the next development!
7161861 So you're saying it failed entirely to live up to the chapter's title, being unsudden and expected, but not unwelcome.
I will have to work harder at such things. Emotions were put on display on all sides, and even the foals got a chance to express their concerns, but it is time to move on to the next phase of life, for whatever challenges it has in store.
7161922 I forgot to mention how cute it was when Silver's foals starting bawling after Rough and Trixie left. That put a smile on my face.
But otherwise, this chapter didn't have anything that seemed sudden. I suppose the unexpected departure of Rough and Trixie might count as that, but overall this seemed to progress in an entirely expected manner. There's nothing wrong with that; quite a few times, that's what's required.
get out your manes - get out of your manes
*****
A good chapter. New developments abound and now we start to see how Night responds to be the center of another pony's infatuation.
It's sad all around to see Rough Draft and Trixie leave so abruptly, but life moves on, I suppose.
I presume that Samantha used a horn blocker on Trixie or she would have escaped the closet with ease.
I would also not be surprised to discover that, if one were to look at how Samantha put them in the closet, it would be evident that she did so in a practical way that would prevent injury to anyone, aside from their dignity. She seems to be impulsive, but not outright cruel or uncaring.
7161951 Neither them nor the foals seemed injured for the trip, just one of them was really annoyed by it. They could also hear what was going on, at least in part, considering Rough's pointed questions.
Night likes being the center of a love web instead of Silver being the center of the lovestruck solar system, and she may be sharing this fact a little with those around her. It took a while for her to see this about herself.
So Night gets to experience a bit of Silver's struggle with mares? Can't say we're not interested! She's been irritated about it for a while now, it will be good to have the tables tilted a bit.
Keep going! ;)
7161951 Samantha may have more power than Trixie & placed a temporary blocking spell on her while she was in the room. David needs to elaborate on that one.
aww dang it I was enjoying having Trixie and Rough around.
7161686
There is another that has already expressed her desire for Night Watch's love. I wonder what will happen if Night Watch does open herself to this possibility and approaches 'Connie,' or if she catches word and approaches Night.
7163184 What happens if Night becomes the nexus for a dense and horrifying love network?
7163213
What happens if Night Watch wakes up?
7163220 The ultimate retcon! All my horse words, gone...
7163225 Ugh... the thought gives me the screaming heebie jeebies. I should have kept my trap shut.
7163184 And yet, as she collects her harem, she becomes more and more (occasionally violently) possessive of Silver. Also, don't encourage David to reset the universe, Ki barely (didn't really) survive the last time.
hyphenate
And with that, a vengeance-focused egotistic unicorn leaves unsated.
Awesome as always!
The Oh No! At 3:24 ish is what went through my head.