Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

26 - Darkness

Silver awoke to a dark, yet familiar, place. He stood up on nothing, looking around. He examined himself, and found he was still a young unicorn. "Hello?"

Words formed in the darkness, floating quietly, 'Are you happy?'

Silver tilted his head, "Wait wait, before I answer that. What does my answer do? Are you going to send me back if I answer the right, or wrong way?"

'Do you wish to return?' asked the words, the old question fading away.

"Not what I asked!" retorted Silver.

'You did not answer the question either.'

Silver settled on his belly, "I'm not trying to pick a fight. You've given me a unique opportunity... whoever you are. Can we do introductions? I'm Silver Lining, formerly David. You are?"

There was silence. Well, there was silence before, but now the letters had faded away as well, making Silver feel alone.

'My name carries no meaning, but you are welcome, Silver Lining.'

Silver nodded, "Alright. I can't force you to say, but, yes, thank you. I saw you brought one other over at least? He seems happy from his letters. Are you out to make people happy?"

'I expected less happiness. Your life is full of hardship, but you enjoy it.'

Silver tilted his head a little, "I'm going to assume I can be bluntly honest with a possible super-powerful entity of words, so, here goes. Sure, I get hurt and put in odd situations, but I also gained a family, and there are not zero, nay, three females that like what I'm packing, both upstairs and downstairs. Compared to my boring life before, or slow constant grinding pain? I'll take the spikes with the much higher spikes of pleasure and satisfaction."

'Do you wish to play a game?'

Silver frowned a little, "I feel threatened the way you... wrote that. Is this the kind of game where I end up hurt?"

'Perhaps. Do you desire power? Are you willing to suffer for it?'

Silver shook his head, "If you're offering to be, I dunno, the world's first alicorn stallion or something, deal's off unless I happen to figure it out on my own."

'It will be your actions alone. I can only open paths for you. Only your feet, or hooves, can walk along them.'

An ear perked, "What paths have you opened so far?"

'I gave you your reflection. I insured your future mother stayed in Manehattan when she had planned to depart on research a few days before you arrived. Is that not enough?'

Silver slowly nodded, "Did you take them away?"

'No.'

Silver shook himself out, "You've been... honest, so far I can tell, which really isn't that far. Why are you interested in me?"

'Boredom.'

Silver blinked, "That was refreshingly blunt. So I'm a little fun experiment?"

'Yes.'

Silver felt better, "Well, it's good to know where you stand. Just don't break your experiment. I'm a lot less fun dead or shattered. So, uh, you approve of what I've done so far?"

'You have made the world you entered more interesting slightly. You change things around yourself without thinking. The guardian of dreams is herself plagued with doubt. The guardian of the day has misstepped grossly, in full view of the world. Even the guardian of chance finds you odd. You could be a force of great good, or ill, but you stride firmly towards the middle, trying instead to just be a good person.'

Silver's eyes swept back and forth over the letters as they appeared, "Is that... bad? Trying to be a good pony that is."

'You could do so much more! You could be a master manipulator. Few would see through your lies. You could seek out ever greater magic, becoming known on the level of Star Swirl.'

"I could grab every mare that'll stand still and make the biggest harem around, but those all sound like awful ideas on one level or another," argued Silver. "Is it bad to find satisfaction? I'm getting better at magic, at my own pace."

'You have answered my questions. You are still alive. Do you wish another gift?'

Silver blinked, "What kind of gift?"

'What do you desire?'

What did he desire? Silver frowned in the thought of it. The last gift was his desk, which came exactly as he requested it. He suddenly wondered where it had gotten off to, but turned his thoughts back to the present.

"My father," he decided, "is a very sad person. He regrets his many decisions deeply, many of which include me. Can you make him happy?"

'I could bring him to you.'

Silver shivered softly, "No! No... dragging him abruptly to pony land seems like something he would not appreciate. Is there anything else you could do?"

'I can only open paths. He will not walk down them.'

Silver frowned a moment before it faded, "Alright, I... think I believe that. Fine, I'm going to be greedy then, and hope that doesn't offend. Can I be stronger? More specifically, can you increase my magic throughput to, I don't know, so I can lift level 4 instead of 3?"

'Are you that afraid to ask?'

Silver sank to his belly, "I'm trying to not be a jerk. Why? If I asked to be an alicorn stallion on par with Celestia, would you do it?"

'Perhaps.'

Silver cringed back, wondering just how much disruption this entity could cause. "While that would be... cool, I wouldn't own my own life anymore. I would be thrust bodily before everyone and stared at no matter where I went or what I did."

'Are you not already?'

Silver frowned, "One moment of public speaking does not compare."

'You are still watched. You are still judged.'

Silver waved a hoof, "Well, fine. As tempting as living out a power fantasy is, I get the idea you'd only 'open the path', and that path would not be easy or safe. Would I even survive?"

'Maybe.'

Silver pointed at the letters, "See! No, how about the minor upgrade? How dangerous is that?"

'It will hurt. You will certainly survive.'

Silver smiled, "That sounds better than trying to be ruler of the world. Open that path."

'Are you certain?'

Silver considered a moment, pawing at the ground with his hooves. "I may regret it later, but yes, I am sure."

Silver suddenly awoke mid-step and crashed directly into a guard. He recognized her by her hiss. It was the angry night guard. She easily shoved him over and was on top of him, growling in his face, "Luna may have requested I not taste you again, but that doesn't give you leave to push me."

Silver squirmed under her, "I didn't mean to, sorry." He thought back to the conversation. Was this an open path? "Say, since I have you here..."

"I have you here," corrected the night guard, settling on Silver. "I cannot bite you, but there is no rule against pinning you for a small while."

Silver nodded, "Technically true. Luna--"

"Princess Luna, to you," ordered the angry female.

"She said you were very good at your magic. Does any of that translate to unicorns?" asked Silver.

She perked an ear, "Yes. Surely you have felt the magic within yourself before you channel through your horn?"

Silver quickly nodded, "Yes, all through me."

She bared her teeth, "Good, you're not too stupid. That is pony magic. All ponies have it. I suspect all species have it. The only difference is how it comes out."

Silver managed to squirm around so he was facing up instead of to the side, belly-to-belly with the female, "Can you show me how to get more of that?"

She turned her snout upwards, "Why should I? You are too much a coward to even train with us outside your safe books."

Silver considered this with a frown. "What if I did train with you? But there's a catch."

She snorted, "You don't want to chip a hoof?"

"Close," he confessed. "For appearance sake, I can't return home looking like I was killed. This is for Equestria, not me, not that I like being hurt."

She spread her wings wide, "I can hurt a pony in many ways that doesn't leave a bruise. Are you certain you are prepared for this?"

He didn't like the sound of that, but the path had been opened. It was up to him to put a hoof forward. He nodded. She suddenly stepped off of him and lifted him with her wings to a standing position, "Remember that you asked for this. I will not be kind. I will not be soft, but if you listen to me, you will grow." She bared her teeth, "You have Princess Luna's eye, and possibly more. I'll do what I can to make sure you're worthy of it."

Silver gave a hesitant nod, "Yes ma'am. Just don't, you know, kill me."

"I am First Harbinger Nightwing. You will refer to me as that, in its entirety," she said as she swept a wing wide. "Perhaps, if you prove you are worth not looking at like pond scum, you will earn a shorter name to say. Now, tell me. You've done those unicorn tests. How much can you lift. 2?"

Silver flushed a little in indignation, "Three, ma--" Nightwing began glaring at him. "Uh, First Harbinger Nightwing?"

Nightwing nodded, "Three. We have a three on the warlocks. We should be ashamed." She nudged him with a wing, making him wobble, "Be prepared. Tomorrow, I will begin breaking you, then putting you back together." She trotted off with a purpose, soon lost to the corridors of the castle.

Silver trotted back to his room, where Night Watch was waiting. She looked like she had just gotten in. He approached her quickly and nuzzled, "Hello there! How did your shift go?"

Night Watch smiled gently, "Caught a foal trying to sneak in. I brought him back to his mother, should have heard him bawling. I doubt he'll be back."

Silver circled around her, then conjured his hands, starting a gentle massage across her neck and withers, "Quiet other than that?"

She began to relax at the gentle attention, "All quiet on this front. Fast mentioned you were visited a few nights ago?"

Silver perked an ear, "Oh, yes, by the academy. They want me back."

She turned to face him with a raised brow, "And?"

Silver lifted his shoulders, "And... I didn't agree or disagree. I already made a big noise about joining the warlocks for training, so that would probably look very odd."

Night reached with a wing and prodded Silver on his snout, "So why not both? Learn some control and basics from the warlocks, then get back to the spell-studying you wanted to do anyway. Everypony wins then." She suddenly squinted, "You smell like a female and it's not Luna. Now you know I tolerate your dalliances with the princess, but I wi--"

"Easy there!" said Silver as he raised a hoof, "I was tackled by a big mean mare. She's going to teach me how to build my magic reserves."

Night snorted softly, "OK, but my statement stands. I don't want to hear about you laying with any other mares."

Silver quickly nodded, "I won't, promise. You three are more than enough for me." He tilted his head, "What would you do if I became an alicorn?"

Night blinked through her glasses, "What would I do if you grew a second head and began singing a diamond dog opera? I don't know, but it'd be about as likely. What on Equestria brought up that question? I have better odds than you, and they aren't good odds."

Silver smiled, "That is an amazing image you just painted." He moved forward and kissed a cheek, "Don't ever change."

Author's Note:

We learn some things in this chapter, but are they good things?

Did you know formless entities can make typos in their words?

Comments

[Fireeaters]

What does the 'U' stand for?

[David Silver]

5768148 Unicorn.

[Fireeaters]

HA!

Sorry I double posted. My phone lagged.

[harts fire]

hum this chapter requires some thought.
how would silver do as a alicorn? I am thinking not going to happen he does not want that kind of power.
I am reminded of a fraise from a different story.

The weight of this crown upon my head weighs heavy upon my sole.
I am really sure he is not interested 80% sure.
ok from the last chapter Night is with foal and there is a really good chance Luna is now two how long before Fast is with little one??
Silvers herd is growing, how will the nobles handle Luna being a mother to Silver? he is a ambastor so that will help his standing in this area.
this is Harts Fire signing off for now.

[David Silver]

5768178 I'm sure nothing dramatic will occur. This story doesn't do drama.

I am also being entirely not sarcastic in any way!

[Snowfyre]

i dunno why but i wanna see silver get turned into an alicorn

[David Silver]

5768235 The most timid of the alicorns, but with the most depraved mind. How could this end well?

[Snowfyre]

5768237 no idea but it would be amusing

[SolangeEggbert]

"What would I do if you grew a second head and began singing a diamond dog opera?

[David Silver]

5768263 You've been waiting to throw that back my way, haven't you?

[Alzrius]

'You did not answer the question either'

There should probably be a period at the end of that sentence.

Silver tilted his head a little, "I'm going to assume I can be bluntly honest with a possible super powerful entity of words, so, here goes.

Presuming he's using the term as a single descriptor, then it should be "super-powerful."

The guardian of the day has miss-stepped grossly, in full view of the world.

Celestia has "misstepped" grossly.

He suddenly wondered where it had gotten off to, but turned his thoughts back to the current.

I'd change "current" to "present."

"Say, since I have you here."

I'd end that with an ellipsis, since it's not really a complete sentence by itself.

Silver nodded, "Technically true. Luna--

There should be a closing quotation mark, here.

Silver managed to squirm around so he was facing up instead of to the side, belly to belly with the female, "Can you show me how to get more of that?"

Silver is "belly-to-belly" with her (as sexy as that sounds).

Silver circled around her, then conjured his hands, starting a gentle message across her neck and withers, "Quiet other than that?"

I suspect that he's giving her a gentle "massage."

Learn some control and basics from the warlocks, then get back to the spell studying you wanted to do anyway.

Then he'd get back to the "spell-studying."

[David Silver]

5768450 I have cleansed the documents of its typos and purged my soul of sin for the time. Interesting chapter?

[Bast]

5768237 cause it would end up with him as a female alicorn lolo and hilarity ensues

[David Silver]

5768785 I'd be careful with that defense. Little bugger already knows how to put things on mares that don't belong.

[Alzrius]

5768459 My reaction to this chapter is one of uncertainty. The issue with the nameless, apparently all-powerful force that moved David to Equestria was initially easy to write off as a one-time deus ex machina that was absolutely necessary to start the story. It was understood (at least to me) to be something that we wouldn't see again or deal with any further once it had served its purpose in that regard.

Now that it's back, that puts things in an awkward position, since it seems like it would be narratively disingenuous to keep bringing it into the story without dealing with the issue of what it is and what it wants. Otherwise it's difficult to expect the readers to ignore the omnipotent being in the proverbial room. That's kind of a shame, because the story works best when it's revolving around Silver himself, rather than some unseen-but-all-powerful being that's apparently pulling the strings of reality itself for its own amusement.

To put it another way, having that nameless force return feels like now we have to deal with the implications of its existence, rather than ignoring it, and I'd prefer that we keep the spotlight squarely on Silver. (Though it was a surprise that the thing apparently isn't Discord, as we were led to believe earlier.)

That said, this chapter seemed to be a bit of a retread, as everything ended up working to move things back to where yesterday's chapter was heading - that being that Silver is going to study under Nightwing (another serious-minded lunar pegasi mare named "Night"? Is that just a really common name among them, or is she Night Watch's great-aunt or something?). It seems like a bit of a heavy-hoofed way to restore that particular plot-point, but I can live with that - she's not a bad character per se, but I hope that there's more to her than "You're not good enough for Princess Luna!" and "Work harder, maggot!" I say that mostly because I find the latter attitude to be fairly shallow, and the former to be difficult to understand - when you want the best for somepony else, and it's clear that whom they choose makes them happy, then isn't that enough? Yes, if they're making a choice that's clearly harming themselves somehow, that's one thing - then you'd stage an intervention - but this seems to be an instance of Nightwing's thinking that she knows what's best for Luna better than Luna herself...and that that justifies undermining Luna's own choices. That's borderline-villain-style thinking. Hopefully she'll have some more exposition so that we can get inside her head.

I was somewhat amused, and frustrated, with how Silver dealt with the super-powerful entity that seemed to be offering him more power. Knowing that Silver is a roleplayer, and being one myself, I can understand the knee-jerk reaction to being offered a wish (e.g. that the letter will be followed while wildly perverting the spirit), but his primary motivation was "not being a jerk," which I felt was a forehead-slapping moment. Silver, this intelligence that you're "conversing" with doesn't seem to understand human/pony motivations, so I think you have your priorities mixed up if "not being a jerk" is what you're most worried about!

Also, it was insightful (and a bit funny) to see Night start to get upset when she thought Silver might be sleeping around. Aren't you supposed to be on the lookout for possible expansions to the herd, first wife?

[David Silver]

5768808 When you're face to face with, what, God? Not being a jerk really rates kinda high! Coming off as a jerk means he might do something extremely awful in subtle ways. Sure, he's offering a wish, but a grand and greedy wish may be warped on itself in a myriad of ways, while one made from humility may be honored. Of course, both could have traps. He expects his time with Nightwing will be uncomfortable, however. Discomfort that Silver chooses to face? A whole different beast than sudden discomfort hoisted on him.

Silver is me, and remember that diet I mentioned way back in chapter 1, story 1? I'm still on that, 20 pounds down and dropping. My doctor told me 'Hey, stop eating so much, here, track what you eat with this.', and that was that. I eat a lot less, take funny pills twice a day, and live with knowing what hunger actually is instead of eating whenever the urge strikes. Silver will 'man' through it, because it was his choice.

[harts fire]

5768185
ok I will just sit back and see how it turns out

[Alzrius]

5768835 You've brought up several points that I wanted to respond to, so I hope you don't mind if I quote each of them separately.

When you're face to face with, what, God? Not being a jerk really rates kinda high! Coming off as a jerk means he might do something extremely awful in subtle ways.

This is true with regards to being a jerk to someone else. But as I read it, Silver is worried about being a jerk in his own eyes - and worse, he's equating "being a jerk (to myself)" with "being ambitious." He's refusing to consider (great) power as an option, because considering it would make him be a jerk, by his reasoning. This isn't Silver's sense of propriety talking, here - it's his insecurities, which he's trying to rationalize as being a good thing by telling himself that meekness is really politeness.

Sure, he's offering a wish, but a grand and greedy wish may be warped on itself in a myriad of ways, while one made from humility may be honored.

Or, you know...not. That line of reasoning is attributing a value system to this alien intelligence that it has in no way evinced. The only motivation that it's revealed is that it's bored, and considers Silver to be entertaining. That's it. Operating on the idea of "arrogance lends itself to punishment, whereas humility lends itself to appreciation" is Silver projecting his values onto another (in this case, "God").

Perhaps the better way to not be a jerk (to "God" of all things) is to not presume that it's value system matches your own.

Of course, both could have traps.

Sure, and as a gamer I can sympathize with that viewpoint. But if that could be true in any regard, then there's no particular reason to lean towards being circumspect.

He expects his time with Nightwing will be uncomfortable, however. Discomfort that Silver chooses to face? A whole different beast than sudden discomfort hoisted on him.

Again, I'm sympathetic to that - as Thomas Paine wrote, "that which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly." But again, that's not an aspect of the choice he was offered. It made it clear that it could only "open the door" to whatever choice Silver made, which I interpret to mean that it could only allow for the possibility that Silver's wish would be granted if he worked to have it granted. That would have been true regardless of what Silver wished for.

About the only thing that can be definitively said with regards to Silver's choice is that by asking for less reward, he's facing less risk. We know that because that alien intelligence told him that directly. So if he's risk-averse - and we know he is - then we can understand how he'd see that aspect of it as virtuous. But the rest of it seems to be his insecurities taking control of his decision-making.

I'm not saying that I think that Silver made the wrong choice, per se. Rather, I think that he used the wrong criteria for determining what he wanted.

[David Silver]

5769112 Silver is far from a perfect person/pony, tis true. And what would he do with a crown? And what kind of fic would this turn into?!

[Alzrius]

5769123 Well, being powerful doesn't equate to being a ruler, he wouldn't necessarily need a crown at all (though power and rulership are certainly related). But yeah, Silver was showcasing his imperfections when asked to be honest with regards to what he wanted for himself. Most people have a hard time figuring out what they really want (and why).

As for what kind of fic this would become, well, that's a meta-contextual concern. It's a valid one, to be sure, but I was speaking from an in-character standpoint.

[David Silver]

5769142 Oh, for sure! But the meta is never entirely discountable. If Silver did become an alicorn, I'd feel guilty forever for being one of those authors. Maybe I should get over it, though there are tons of directions for him to go that don't involve wings.

[albedoequals1]

5769146 Don't do it. Four is plenty. There is no scenario where Silver becoming an alicorn would not look cheap, cliche and lame.

[David Silver]

5773239 Four is plenty of what?

[albedoequals1]

5773243 Alicorns. Cadence and Twilight are already pushing it.

[David Silver]

5773308 Ah OK.

[Onepieceking1]

5773445 Let silver be a alicorn

[David Silver]

6029254 I can neither confirm nor deny events in Silver's future.

[Luckyfanisaac]

'You could do so much more! You could be a master manipulator. Few would see through your lies. You could seek out ever greater magic, becoming known on the level of Star Swirl.'

I could do so much more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R8MFD8dszI

[Snuffy]

This was interesting, mostly because I would have made different choices. With three wives, foals on the way and a seemingly busy life, I would not have thrown in more random variables into the mix, by accepting boons from weird gods. Because does he really need more power? He never seemingly uses it anyway. If he had gotten a power upgrade before, and say thrown a power level 4 fireball in that classroom accident instead of a level 3. That prospect would have left me very scared of powering up.

[Vutava]

Silver squirmed under her, "I didnt mean to, sorry."

didn't

[David Silver]

7157643 Fix'd

[Cobalt Comet]

This started playing when I started this chapter.

That was just spooky.