Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

153 - Taking in the Sights

With his panel delivered, Silver was eager to see what others were doing. "Let's take a wander around." He was relaxed and smiling. Things had gone largely well, from the way he saw it. With a flick of magic, he drew out the schedule of the convention and unfurled it into view. "How ponies deal with issues hasn't stopped fascinating me."

Nefertari settled a hand on his head. "You occasionally speak of them as if they were another creature entirely, instead of what you may face in a mirror. Are you forgetting the choices you've made?"

Silver lifted an ear and looked up to his jackal companion. "Exactly the opposite. That's why I'm so curious." He thumped his tail lightly. "Besides, what else are we going to do, just wander like some of the locals, nibbling on food? That's boring. My off--"

Night pressed a hoof to his muzzle, silencing him. "She's teasing you." A wing pointed to the schedule. "What caught your eye now that we're done with our official duty?"

Silver tapped at a line with a hoof as he shook off the hoof on his face. "The Future of Logistics. I don't often see meaningful technological change in Equestria."

"Meaningful?" Night tilted her head a little.

Silver bobbed quickly. "One time inventions, all over, but they seem to be hesitant to spread beyond the inventor to the populace as a whole, you know? Does Equestria have a patent office?"

Nefertari raised a brow. "What would such an office entail?"

Night had the answer as they walked together. "We do. Patents are a way to track who invented a specific thing."

Silver nodded quickly. "They ensure that the inventor alone makes a profit for a little w--"

Night tilted her head as he spoke. "We don't have that."

Silver came to a sudden stop. "It... what? It just records who did it?"

"Isn't that the point?" Night adjusted her glasses restlessly. "I assume human patents are different."

Silver snorted softly. "By quite a lot. Let's say I patented a spell, presuming spells could be patented. That would mean I have full control over the reproduction and distribution of the spell for a while, which means I get to make money off the spell." He rolled one hoof as he ambled along on the other three. "The patent expires a while afterwards, at which point it becomes 'common domain', at which point I would stop having control of it and everypony could benefit from it, whether I like it or not."

Nefertari shook her head as she walked. "I don't quite grasp the meaning of this arcane system. Even should your claim expire, how would anyone take advantage of it, if only a handful of people have the actual spell?"

Silver flashed a bright smile. "Good question. When you file for a patent, you have to submit how what you made works, fully. It has to include how to get it from basically nothing to what you made, so it's on file, and people can browse patents. I imagine, for things like spells, they may be partially restricted whi--"

"Wow, you really are having fun." A new pony dropped down from above, though Silver wasn't sure where from. Surprise grinned at him. "You get all geeky and stuff when you're having a good time. How'd your panel thingie go?"

Night frowned a little. "It went just fine, Surprise..."

Picking up on the agitation of her would-be alpha, Nefertari leaned in towards the chipper green mare. "I believe you have other places to be."

"I do? Well I guess I should be taking care of my stand." She raised a hoof in an energetic wave. "Stop by when you get a chance, K? Bye!" And she began pronking away with a happy smile, unaware of the tension that remained behind.

Silver noticed it and lightly clopped a hoof on the ground. "What was all that about? She's a friend and that was hardly a friendly way of dealing with her."

Night's ears fell sheepishly. "Sorry, I just... never mind that. I'll apologize to her later." She leaned in and kissed Silver's cheek quickly. "For now, let's see that Logistics panel you had your heart set on."

As they began hiking for the hall it was supposed to be in, a muffled thump made heads turn towards the castle as some activity erupted from it. Silver tilted his head curiously. "What do you figure that is?"

Nefer inclined her head towards it. "I hear water."

Night blinked owlishly. "Water? What a terrible time for a pipe to burst. I hope nopony was hurt."

Hoping for the best, but not rushing for the action, they continued forward and enjoyed the remainder of the convention well enough.

At least until a figure blocked their path between events. "Excuse me," they said with a low and rough voice. "You said all Equestria is good and useful." Lean but caped, it was hard to make out all the details of them, but they were clearly bipedal.

Silver pieced it together swiftly. "A diamond dog?"

The figure glanced left and right nervously. "Yes... Are we good and useful?"

A smile spread over his snout. "I see no reason why you couldn't be. You have a unique society with new perspectives. You have experience with mineralogy too. Why couldn't diamond dogs be helpful and productive parts of Equestrian society?"

The figure frowned a little for a moment. "You are very... No wonder they made ambassador. " He leaned forward. "You really mean words you say?"

Night thrust a wing between them. "He means every syllable."

Silver nodded as he gently brushed Night's wing back. "I don't know much about diamond dog society, but I wouldn't mind learning more? Do you know where my office is?"

The figure blinked with confusion. "You invite to big castle? They no usually like diamond dog guest."

Silver held up a hoof. "Tell them to bring you to Ambassador Watch and they'll bring you by to see me. We should talk, preferably in a less noisy place than this."

He frowned a little. "Why you care?"

"That's easy." He reached towards the dog's shoulder, but it was too high and he went for tapping him on the chest. "You still live in Equestria. I don't think Celestia will be angry at me for wanting all Equestrians to be happy and understood, ponies or not."

"Ah, yes, this make sense." The figure nodded. "Maybe later." He turned and moved off into the crowd, pulling his cape tighter as he went.

Nefertari raised a brow. "I had thought them a regular guest. If his kind are not welcome, how have other ponies not noticed him?"

Night shrugged. "He isn't causing any troubles, so what is there to notice?"

Silver coughed into a hoof. "Besides, if we can reach an understanding with Anubians, diamond dogs should be easy in comparison. Actually..." He tilted his head. "You might be a great person for him to speak to eventually. You're a lot closer to one another, physically."

Nefer murmured something soft as a whisper about preferring to be closer to certain aggravating ponies that Silver missed in the noise of the crowd, but had Night's ear perked towards her. "I will speak to him, if he even deigns to expose himself. Let him prove some minimal bravery first."

"Good enough." Silver turned to lead the group along.

Later that night, Silver stretched out tiredly and flopped onto his bed, only to have his foals land on either side of him and cuddle up, which brought a goofy smile to his face. He enjoyed being a father.

Night set her glasses down gently. "It was a busy day."

"Mmhmm, sure was."

"Nefertari was nice to accompany us all day."

"Huh, you'd think she'd have some duties of her own to do."

Night raised a brow at Silver. "You really missed it, didn't you?"

Silver reared up a little. "What'd I miss?"

Night snorted softly. "She was there for you. She scared off Surprise because I was aggravated with her. She spent today trying to make us both happy and you didn't even notice."

Silver sank back down to the bed. "Oh man... Uh..." He frowned a little. "I mean, I'm thankful, but what should I do?"

Night licked her lips. "Which do you like better, Samantha, or Nefertari?"

Silver blinked at the abrupt change in course. "What? When did it become a contest? They're both friends. Strange friends, sure, but--"

"Which." Night clopped the floor and snorted at him.

Silver shrank to his belly, frowning. "Well, fine, if I had to pick one..." He swayed his head left and right as he judged the two females, but... "They're both lovely in wildly different ways. Nefer scares me sometimes, but so does Samantha, again, in a different way. I'm glad they're both friends."

Night hopped up and settled, squishing Clear between herself and Silver. "Nefertari has those swollen chest mounds."

Silver darkened swiftly. "I thought we were asking which was a better friend! I refuse to judge friends based on things like that."

Night prodded one of those blushing cheeks with a wing. "You are attracted to them!"

Silver sputtered as he looked around with building panic. "W-what?! You're the only pony for me, hon."

Night narrowed her eyes. "She's not a pony."

"No, but that's not what I meant and you know it." Silver fidgeted a bit. "What is this really about?"

Night let out a little breath. "We've swapped places."

"Come again?" He gently grabbed Morning Glory and snuggled him as he looked to his wife.

"Once you were the center point of lost ponies, seeking family and love, now I am." Night pointed off in no particular direction. "Nefertari and Samantha have both made it clear that they want me to accept them as females under me in our herd."

"Do you want them to stop?"

"Ye--No. It's confusing..."

Silver smiled a little. "I can understand that."

"Can you?" Night leaned in a little. "So which?"

"It's not a competition." Silver lifted his ears. "You said yourself that there's a very not-insignificant chance two are meant to join us. Why not the both of them?"

"I accept!" The door burst open, revealing Samantha with a manic grin, vibrating with barely restrained excitement. "I'll be the--"

Night hopped down and put a hoof to that mouth. "You really need to stop spying like that."

Samantha's ears fell as she pulled away from the hoof. "Did I mess it up?"

Silver tilted his head. "Samantha."

"Hmm?"

"Are you interested in Night." He pointed towards her.

"Yes."

Silver darkened a little. "Are you only interested in Night?"

Samantha blinked in confusion before it clicked. "Oh! Oh! No! I mean." She hopped up, only to pause on seeing Clear and leaning down to kiss the filly. "Sorry for interrupting." She looked to Silver with that grin returned. "I want to be a part of your herd, which means being a wife to you both. I'm new to the idea, but I'll do my best, promise." She put a hoof over her own heart. "I've already been studying up on it in my spare time and I think I'm ready. You're the stallion, beta. She's the mare, alpha. We'll get to breed when she gives formal permission."

Silver felt his cheeks burning all the hotter. "We're not wild dogs. It doesn't work quite--"

Samantha put a hoof on his snout. "Are you saying Night isn't in charge?"

Silver smiled a little. "We're both in charge of different things at different times."

Night hopped back up to the bed. "He's the ambassador, but when it comes to personal things, I can usually take charge."

Samantha shrugged softly. "It doesn't get much more personal then herd dynamics."

Author's Note:

Convention completed! They entirely missed Spike's disastrous role in the going ons. Was that a typo?

Comments

[Shadow Lance]

i see that someone sees Samantha as a waifu

[No one is home]

I'm noticing a certain level of selfishness to Night's approach to being the center of the herd. Perhaps even a level of meanness. This goes past her less than friendly treatment of Surprise. Note her insistence on making Silver choose between Nefertari and Samantha, even after he made it clear that he wasn't comfortable with choosing between them. At times it almost feels like she's trying to "get back" at Silver for his dream-land shenanigans. Maybe I'm totally off-base.

[Booster Spice]

Im wondering when Silver sets up his office fully, if he would be in the secretary front desk, and Nefer would be seated at the entrance to the dungeon signed Complaints.

So far it looks like Equestria has the classic patent system, and Silver is asking about the human one where he hasnt yet realised about patent embargoes and punitive licensing restrictions that evolved through lack of control?

[Daremo]

made head turn - made heads turn
a little a moment - a little for a moment
He sways - He swayed

*****
I enjoyed the little slice of life here. Wish I could have attended some of those panels too.

Hmm... There was a diamond dog in the dream wasn't there? I'll have to go back and see.

I'm not sure how it works for equines but in wolves isn't there an alpha female and alpha male? The beta is the one that initiates play and other activities to smooth over conflicts in the group.

[Not so New Brony]

Seems Night feels overwhelmed, if not threatened by so many people wanting to join the herd all of a sudden.

[Alzrius]

The conference wraps up, and we get back to the long-overdue interpersonal shenanigans!

I admit that I pounced on Silver's explanation of human patents with a little more vigor than is seemly. That turned out to be unnecessary, as he gave what was actually a pretty good overview of what they are and what purpose they serve (except that it's "public domain" rather than "common domain"). The amusing part came from the idea that pony patents are just a log of who makes what (and, presumably, the date of creation). That actually makes sense, as Equestria doesn't seem to have the civil court system or sufficient mechanisms of government intervention necessary to allow someone to sue for breaching their intellectual property rights. Most likely, this is because - as Silver noted - inventions tend to be a one-off thing that don't make it into wider distribution. That's not unexpected, as Equestria's cultural focus on the primacy of personal fulfillment (determined via cutie mark) and interpersonal relationships, along with what seems like abundant natural resources and wealth, undoubtedly undercut the necessity that leads to invention. If you're living in the Garden of Eden, do you really need to invent the snowblower?

I have to say, I'm surprised by how antagonistic Night was towards Surprise. That really seemed to come out of nowhere, unless there's something I'm not remembering from an earlier chapter? She described herself as being aggravated with Surprise, and I'm still trying to figure out why; the fact that Silver was surprised by that as well seems to suggest that we're supposed to be in the dark, but it's still strange. Surprise isn't any kind of threat to Night, or the ladies courting her approval, and nothing seems to have happened before, so what gives?

The bit with the diamond dog seemed...indeterminate. If that wasn't leading towards something else then the entire exchange seemed rather pointless (unless it was to showcase Silver's continued work towards harmony with other races). The exchange would be more meaningful if it led into something else, but as I mentioned before, I'm wary where faceless newcomers are introduced out of nowhere like that, based on what's come before. So for now the jury's out on what (if anything) that meant.

Nefertari...was acting coquettish. That was something else; it's almost like she's turned into a girl in love. What happened to the warrior that was about to smash a mirror at being told she had to marry Silver? Now she's essentially shuffling her feet and waiting for him to ask her to the prom. It's just weird seeing her not being aggressive about something she wants, particularly since she knows that she has something that no other female can offer (e.g. breasts, to say nothing of what actual hands can do).

...actually, now that I think about it, it's rather adorable to see Samantha being the one that's plunging forward, heedless of danger, while Nefertari drags her heels and hesitates. This amusingly suggests that the power dynamics between the two might not be as lopsided as they were previously portrayed as. That's not the only area where the two of them are dichotomizing. Nefertari seems to be primarily interested in Silver (e.g. seems staunchly heterosexual), whereas Samantha seems to have fallen for both Silver and Night.

As for Samantha herself, I chuckled at her casual invasion of Silver and Night's privacy. Her good-natured foolishness is managing to come across as endearing rather than irritating because of just how much her pure intentions shine through. Of course, "pure" may be the wrong word, since she started talking about "getting permission to breed." Silver's embarrassment at that was spot-on, though I'm surprised he didn't get at least a little turned on at the idea, given how much his submissive tendencies came through when Twilight was the one sexy-experimenting on him. One would think what Samantha was suggesting would be right within his strike zone.

That said, I am glad that Silver broached the obvious answer to Night's question of choosing between them. In fact, I'm a little surprised that Night phrased it as a binary choice to begin with. She should have realized that she had two "slots" open and two females vying for acceptance. Was she just testing out his feelings on the matter? But if so, why make it a comparison? For that matter, is Silver even aware that Nefertari has petitioned to join the herd, and that it's due to that last fight? I don't recall him being filled in on that one, now that I think about it.

Night is pretty clearly very confused, but I'm not quite clear as to what exactly she's confused about. The most obvious interpretation is that she isn't sure how she feels about Samantha and Nefertari. With regards to the former, I wonder if Night is trying to figure out if she honestly likes Samantha, or just likes being pursued. But the latter...Nefertari seems to have no real interest in Night Watch at all, besides needing her formal permission to be with Silver. So what's the hesitation there?

Oh well, at least the question of admitting the two of them is out in the open now. So that's another step forward.

[David Silver]

7168283 Pack dynamics depend on a lot of things that they're still discovering, such as if the pack is made up of mostly related wolves or is a pack of total strangers.

Typos fixed, and one other I spotted along the way. A fun chapter I think. The only explosion involved didn't include our main characters. Poor Spike.

[Alzrius]

7168375 I forgot to add that I liked that reference to Spike's disaster. A very nice job of acknowledging that without letting it steal the spotlight.

[David Silver]

7168367 When Night first met Surprise, they set the tone of their relationship clearly as Night warded off Silver and informed Surprise she wouldn't be getting Silver. That caution hasn't left her, deserved or not. Of course, according to Silver, he's been with this mare before and 'knows' her in a biblical sense, so perhaps she has reasons to be wary? Surprise doesn't seem to be pushing in at either of them besides as a friend and is quite happy with that title.

That hasn't made Surprise's troubled mind any more calm. Night doesn't know herself, and it's making everything around her seem more uncertain.

I hope that makes sense. Samantha has the advantage of a COMPLETE LACK of guile. She's decided she wants something, so she says as much and takes action to get the things she wants without duplicity or any shred of ambiguity. It's admirable in a lot of ways, and she really is the closest to getting what she wants for taking the game of romance and playing it like, ironically, the most like a grown adult.

Hello, I like you. Do you like me?

Nefertari is playing tsundere and trying to show off her skills without coming out and saying anything beyond what she's already said, but how well is that working? She may have to adjust her approach, or perhaps something else will adjust it for her.

We'll see...

[tsaukpaetra]

Poor Night, all flustered and off balance. Hey, at least they're talking...
Keep going! ;)

[Alzrius]

7168785

Hey, at least they're talking...

Heh. I got that.

[Vutava]

... And caught up.

Now I'm bored.

[Amos Anon]

Night licked her lips. "Which do you like better, Samantha, or Nefertari?"

Dang it, night, that's not a fair question, and you know it! If a guy says he doesn't know, it means he probably doesn't know! Ladies, don't trap your significant others with questions like this. It's a scummy, presumptive thing to do.