• Published 14th Mar 2015
  • 7,746 Views, 6,676 Comments

Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat - David Silver



Silver Lining, now wielding a cutie mark and an insatiable desire to learn and codify magic, has graduated from grade school and now faces the challenges of a magic academy as a young adult. This former-human is learning his place in Equestria.

  • ...
90
 6,676
 7,746

PreviousChapters Next
258 - Words or Violence

Sheba swatted Silver much as Nefertari had, but the gesture was subtly different, more of a rough stroke than a violent slap. "You horrible pony. You will cost me all their respect. You took all her honor." She glanced across him to Nefertari. "She would rather have died than have it shouted that she should be spared due to that."

"She isn't wrong," agreed Nefertari, arms crossed. "When were you planning on informing me of this momentous event?" She rose a brow. "It is precisely the sort of thing I would expect you to brandish as a weapon to attempt to talk me into avoiding fighting, and yet you did not. Explain yourself."

"Would you have?" asked Silver with a half smile. "Let's be honest with ourselves."

"I am Sheba, direct descendant of Pharaoh Clawdius the Third." She put a hand on her round chest, staring into Silver's eyes. "I am to restore her dynasty."

Silver tensed. There was a name that tickled at him. Where did he know it from? He struggled. Names were one of his weakness. "I've heard... that name before..."

"As you should have," easily agreed Sheba. "She is a great historical figure."

Click. He had met Clawdius, in his dreams. "You're one of her descendants?" he gasped out, gaping at Sheba. "What happened to her?"

Sheba's measured face fell in confusion. "Touched as I may be in your interest, why does this matter to you? Do they not teach history in Equestria?" She waved a hand diffidently. "Obviously not. She attempted to reform the country and was deposed for it, ending her dynasty in a wicked flash of deceit and treachery." Sheba tapped Silver on the end of his equine snout. "If she had a loyal little pony like you, maybe it would have been different."

Nefertari rolled a hand. "So you don't want to cut him anymore then?"

Sheba huffed an indignant sight. "This was supposed to be easy. They told me I could tear apart a wicked jackal and be called a hero, instead..." She fixed her eyes on Silver. "Instead, I have the pony making me feel awkward while he tries, poorly, to not stare at my best features." She started tapping on his nose, daring him to complain without a word. "Then he goes and manages to make me feel guilty about doing what I was brought here to do. You've ruined me, horse."

Nefertari suddenly clapped a hand over Silver's nose, shielding him from her tapping finger. "Stop. No, you may not marry her."

"What?" Silver blinked at Nefer before looking back to Sheba. He hadn't been planning that, he was fairly sure. "I'm attached to more than enough females for any one male, I think. I dare say many would say too many already." He willed Nefer's hand away to no effect, his horn magic still entirely disrupted. "Are you really in trouble?"

Sheba rolled a hand. "Let me be plain. I was told to come here, do this, and get a chance at the throne. You've... set that plan on fire and rolled around in the ashes." She snorted with disgust at Nefertari, an angry hiss in the back of her throat. "I won't kill a pregnant mother, even a jackal. I just won't, so... That's it."

Silver backed away from Nefertari, freeing himself the old fashioned way. "You do know that will happen, right? If there is some great magic... thing... that will wipe out all the jackals, that means the mothers and their children will be wiped out with the rest."

"But I won't be doing it!" she said with the hissing rowl of an angry cat. "I won't be the one charged with that responsibility. Think, damned pony. There's... you know, distance."

Nefertari did not hold her howl of laughter. "Poor cat, forced to dirty your own paws, but you won't, and they will simply toss you aside if you won't dance to their music, is that it?" She took a confident step towards the one that had been ready and able to kill her. "What will you do? Are you wealthy at least?"

"No!" Sheba spat, shrinking a little. "I'll..." Her eyes darted about wildly.

Silver tapped a hoof on the ground with a soft clop. "Stop that. Sheba, please, truth is all I ask. Are things that bad for you?"

"No..." She vanished, only to appear on top of Silver, mounted on him as any valiant knight. "Yes," she sighed out in defeat. "This was my big chance, and you took it!"

Silver turned to look over his shoulder up at the cat whose legs he could feel squeezing him lightly. "We will help."

"We will?!"

"We will," he assured. "Ruining your life, or letting it be ruined, is not something I want to do."

"You are too kind." She tapped his soft nose, an act she clearly enjoyed doing. "But I don't want pity. I am a proud cat, and we cats take our pride seriously. I won't take money just because you're sad for me."

"Sheba." His speech was stern and firm, staring at her with intensity.

"Yes?" A brow raised, curiosity on her face.

"I wish to hire you, as a bodyguard. What is your rate? Understand that I may require your services beyond this nation. I expect to be charged for that. While you are in my employ, room and board are included."

Nefertari suddenly poofed, her hair all going on end all at once. "What?! Her?!" She leveled a clawed finger at Sheba, almost sputtering. "She is a killer!"

Silver turned his head to Nefertari, nodding at her. "As are you. She is in fine company. What are your fees?" He looked back over his shoulder at Sheba. "A warrior of your talent is not cheap, I should imagine."

Sheba's feet began to kick as laugher shaked her form. She beat on his shoulders with balled up fists, barely more than patting at him. "You wretchedly brilliant horse! It is just like an Equestrian to consider hiring the same person that was ready to carve them into pieces." Her eyes lifted to Nefertari, smirking proudly. "And you clearly need someone to protect you from these dangerous jackals."

Silver raised a hoof. "She remains my wife and I expect her to be safeguarded as well. My person and my belongings, wives and children in my company included. What is your rate?" he repeated the question with great gravity.

"Hmm, well..." She tapped two claws together lightly, extended just to make the ticking sound. "If I'm guarding everything you're taking with you, that will cost extra..." She leaned in and whispered a number in Silver's perked ear. "Per week, to be paid upfront."

The number was high, as he expected, but it was not utterly outrageous. "Your pay for the coming week will be docked if you allow harm to fall on me or mine."

"Of course," she purred, her entire form vibrating on top of him as she nudged him with her legs. "Am I hired?"

Nefertari was suddenly so close that his head was being pushed back by her body. "Have you taken leave of all your senses?!"

"Long ago," quickly agreed Silver as he tried to put a little room between himself and his agitated wife. "You are hired. I would draw the money, but--"

Sheba was holding his money bag. "I can get it myself, noble employer." Moving all too quickly, she had her first week's pay secured and put the bag back in his saddlebag. "I suppose this means we're not enemies anymore." She was looking at Nefertari at that, smiling at her like a cat smugly allowing a mouse to live a few precious seconds longer. "Enjoy your time before they finish what they were doing."

Silver shook his head. "If she is harmed, that will impact your pay. It is in your interest to help us prevent that."

Light began to spill into the darkness. The shell was cracking and splitting. The tremendous growth he had forced was starting to give way to the pull of the natural order. "Our time is up, let's tell the world of our compromise."

With a dull thud, something crashed into the viney barrier and broke through its dried wall. It all began to collapse around them in a rain of twigs, thorns, and petals. Sheba was standing ahead of Silver and Nefertari, facing where the crowd had been, but as the dome gave way, they could see that what they had left was not what they had returned to.

There was a pitched battle, the jackals and the crowd at one another's throats with equal zeal. Sheba glanced back at her new employer. "Who should I be tearing apart?"

"How about not the Anubians?" offered Nefer with a snarl before she vanished, joining the fray on the side of her people.

Silver was left with Sheba, who had patiently awaited his decision. "I want you to stop them." He tossed his head at the riot that threatened to engulf the city with how new people were swarming into it. "Don't kill them, just stop them." His options were considerably limited, with his unicorn magic curtailed.

"Working for you will be a constant test." Despite her biting words, a smile spread on her feline face. She was gone, her laughter the only indicator of where she was at first. A jackal was thrown onto the seats, a parrot thrown beside her, and a dog, then another jackal. Before Silver's amazed eyes, Sheba was filling the stands with the fighters.

The people so suddenly forced to sit were bewildered, the fight driven from them in the surprise of the moment. Silver knew that wouldn't last long. He stepped towards them even as the rows continued to fill with more bodies. "This fight is over," he spoke as calmly as he could. "Those who remain seated will be pardoned of any crimes and released with all vendettas released. Today will just have been an interesting day and nothing more."

"A bold claim." A massive elephant approached, a feline perched on its back, twin tails curling and swaying behind him. "Under what authority does a prince of Equestria offer such pardons?"

Silver winced, guessing he was dealing with a local authority figure. "I didn't mean to overstep my bounds." He backed away from the crowd and dipped his head. "Only to quell this... everything... that I helped cause."

"It is good to see you understand your place in this." He snapped his fingers twice rapidly. "Disperse!"

As much as the people had wanted to fight not long before, the presence of whatever authority the cat on his elephant represented, few wished to contest him, or the many guards that were rushing into the area to enforce his law.

Sheba appeared beside Silver. "Do you want me to do anything about him? Tossing an elephant seems a poor idea."

Nefertari appeared on the opposing side of Silver. "Now is the time to listen. Sultan! Your people are... lively today."

The Sultan smiled brightly. "That they are, full of vim and vigor. A shame it is being used so thoughtlessly. Nefertari, long has it been since you darkened the bricks of my city. To what--" He approached, his elephant stepping closer and making him loom over all three of them easily. "--do I owe this pleasure?"

Silver sank to his haunches. "Where do we begin? There is a plot to eradicate all Anubians regardless of personal guilt. They sound twitchy enough to be true, and I would rather that didn't happen. No population is... nothing but those deserving death. Genocide is--"

"--Spare me your lectures, good prince." He was smiling despite cutting off Silver. "Do you think I want this blood to soak my sands?" His eyes traveled to Sheba. "The cult leader. You've captured her? We are in your debt, foreign prince."

Sheba's claws sprang free, clearly ready to fight, but Silver rushed to be in front of her. "She is just a pawn in this game, and one I've already taken."

"Was that a chess pun?" The sultan rapped his fingers against one another, hand to hand. "I do love a good game... Very well, if you've already knocked her aside, it is time we get answers from her. Away." He turned his ponderous mount as soldiers stepped forward.

It was time to visit the palace.

Author's Note:

Things are happening! Welcome Sheba to Silver's strange menagerie of friends. What could go wrong there?

You could have your story written by joining the atreon!

Join my discord to chat!

PreviousChapters Next