Nightwing slowly circled around Silver. "Warmer," she ordered.
Silver let the already-furious magic within him build. He felt like he'd pass out from the heat building in his body. Nightwing had forced him to just channel the force without letting a bit of it out of his horn. A strap ran over his barrel that had a metal thermometer on it, showing how warm he was becoming.
Nightwing shook her head, "You're holding back. You should be able to get up another three notches." She moved to look him in the eyes, "Hold an image of a waterfall coming from your heart. Expand it, let that water free. Breath deep and hard."
Silver began to pant loudly, gulping in air while focusing on that image. The meter hesitantly bumped up a notch, but he was starting to see spots. He suddenly slumped, flopping to the ground in a tired pile.
Nightwing smiled, "You're getting somewhere."
Silver perked an ear, "Thank you."
Nightwing snorted softly, "You have five minutes. Drink, breathe, be ready to get back to work."
Silver did just that, gulping down water. His horn began to spark wildly as he let the magic free from inside him. Nightwing approached quickly, slapping her hoof against his horn, "Stop that. You need to learn how to hold more magic, so hold it." Silver groaned internally, but closed off the channel, remaining warm as he guzzled the cool water in the bucket.
Soon enough he was back to work, and so it went through the day. By the time Luna roused to raise the moon, he was barely reaching that third mark. Nightwing smiled at him, "Not one whine out of you. I thought it was just something you did naturally."
Silver frowned at the insult, shaking himself out, "No one likes a whiner."
"Too true," agreed Nightwing, "So maybe I can learn to like you. You still have that magic bottled up tight?"
Silver nodded. It felt like his insides were on fire. She pointed at an ingot on the ground, "Lift."
Silver tilted his head at the ingot, then let the magic go carefully, trying to not let the torrent escape too quickly. His horn sparked and fizzed as he forced the magic into the outer channels. His hands appeared at his will, and reached for the ingot, grabbing and tugging. It didn't move. He let more magic loose, and more, and... As his horn began to grow red with heat and a new pain lanced from it, the ingot was rudely shoved across the room, lifted a precious inch and thrown. It collided with the wall, leaving a large dent before it fell to the ground heavily. Silver flopped after it shortly. His horn hurt, to say nothing of the ache through his entire body.
"Congratulations," said Nightwing, "You're a weak four. Just keep practicing at it and we'll make you do it without pissing yourself with strain."
Silver limped out of the room, worn and tired. He meandered his way to the dining hall and collapsed into a chair. Only after he got some mashed potatoes in himself did he notice he was not alone in enjoying a meal. Celestia watched him quietly between sips of her tea.
"Hi," he offered.
Celestia smiled gently, "I see why Discord enjoys your presence."
Silver blinked, "I just say hi?"
Celestia lifted up a slice of cake in her magic, and brought it over to Silver. Silver took a bite out of it, then soon two more. It was delicious, and his body seemed to want it all, so it was soon gone. "You did, but you said it so naturally. I didn't feel like you expected something from me, for good or ill."
Silver licked over his lips, then tilted his head at Celestia, "If you don't mind my asking, what do you see when you look at me?"
Celestia perked an ear at him, "I see a young colt with alien eyes. I see a proud stallion who is eager to be a good husband to his wife." She seemed to consider, "I see a pony who is ready to challenge society, but desperately wants it to accept him."
Silver nodded slowly, "I suppose those are all true." He smiled, "Do you want a turn?"
Celestia nodded, "It's only fair." She sipped from her cup as she looked down at him.
Silver tapped his chin with a hoof, "I see a wise, but sometimes tired, ruler. I see a mother who fears for her children, but is also afraid of smothering them." He suddenly smiled, "I see a mare who is never treated as one."
Celestia recoiled a little. The last statement apparently struck a bit too close, and she gave a stiff nod, "I see we understand each other. My sister enjoys your company. I trust you are careful with her feelings?"
Silver gave a hesitant nod, "She takes charge much of the time, but I want her to be happy."
Celestia half-lid her eyes, gazing at Silver intensely a moment.
Silver squirmed a little, "I could be speaking far out of line, so feel free to throw a slice of cake at me if you want, but I already have two wives, and your sister. You're a--"
Pie splattered across Silver's face, gooey and warm.
He could hear Celestia speaking, "Don't think too much of yourself. Luna says you serve well as her consort, just keep that up."
Silver wiped his face off, first against the table, then he could see a napkin and finished the job, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean any insult."
Celestia sipped her tea, "It is a rare stallion that would even hint at the idea of bedding both princesses of the land. That would look quite awkward."
Silver changed topics suddenly, "I managed to rate a rank four in raw output today."
Celestia smiled like a proud parent, "Very good for you."
Silver pointed at Celestia, "What do you rate?"
Celestia raised a brow, "Do you know what the numbers mean?"
Silver shook his head, "Each one's heavier than the other."
She nodded primly before enjoying a cookie. "One order of magnitude. Going from three to four is quite the achievement. If this is your first time, I imagine you're quite sore."
Silver quickly bobbed his head, "Parts of me I didn't knew exist hurt right now."
Celestia smiled, "Don't give up, and eat more. You must be famished."
Silver realized she was right, and pulled over a big pile of vegetables to start chewing through eagerly, "So... what do you rate?"
Celestia shook her head, "It isn't fair to compare yourself to me."
Silver huffed softly, "So, what, are you a ten? I can handle being outclassed by you."
Celestia raised a gold-shod hoof, "It's not that easy. With regards to my talent, it is difficult to measure. The sun is quite heavy."
Silver thought back to his knowledge of celestial bodies and nodded in agreement, "Can't argue that. What about rocks and weights, like we do for the test?"
Celestia smiled, "Six."
Silver blinked softly. On one hand, er, hoof, he felt she should be higher, on the other, that was pretty high. "Did you have to practice too?"
Celestia nodded, "Oh my, yes. I may not look it, but I was a foal once too. I was a one once before."
Silver opened his mouth to comment on her age but thought better of it before it could emerge, "Thank you, for everything." He waved a hoof around, "This nation, this castle, and everything else that you've given me a chance to live in."
Celestia gave a warm smile, "You are enjoying being a pony?"
Silver nodded quickly, "Very much so." He clopped his hooves together, "That reminds me. Thetics visited me, saying the academy wanted me back. What are your thoughts?"
Celestia gestured at Silver, "It is your decision. I believe Luna would be disappointed if you left her warlocks so soon. Are you not enjoying your time with them?"
Silver considered that, "Well, the one I'm spending the most time with right now... We got off to a rough start. She seems alright, in hindsight. She's actually being supportive, and not just screaming at me."
Celestia leaned forward, "I will tell you a secret. Though my sister has quite a pair of lungs, she prefers quiet." She nodded as she leaned back to upright, "She would not tolerate a pony who screamed too often."
Silver fidgeted a moment before he nibbled on his food thoughtfully. He was still ravenously hungry, and the food tasted all the better for it. "Are you alright with me... being with Luna? Probably... you know?"
Celestia raised a brow, "She is my sister, not my foal. Speaking of which, if she feels it is well-timed to have a foal, that is her decision. I look for her safety, but I do not control her." She looked Silver over with greater intensity, "What you feel is much more telling."
Silver shrank a little, "Excited? Nervous... It'll be the first time I'll be a father. I've been an uncle before, and I think I'm not bad at that."
Celestia nodded, "Then you have little to fear. Luna has many servants who will see to the foal's immediate needs. Being a good uncle is exactly as the situation calls for."
"But it's not a niece or nephew," argued Silver, "They'll be my son or daughter, or both? What are the odds of twins? Do ponies have fraternal twins?" Silver stopped rambling when a white wing settled across his face, making him sneeze.
"You will have as many as you should have, no more or less," answered Celestia. "You will be fine."
Silver nodded slowly as the wing withdrew, "Sorry. I did mention I was excited. I mean, shouldn't I be? Two lovely mares are going to bear me foals soon." An ear shot upright, "Is, uh, birthing a complicated affair?"
Celestia gave a soft hmm, "Is it in your home?"
Silver wobbled a hoof, "I would normally get both of them to a doula for training and education, so it could go as smoothly as possible. A healthy female who is armed with the right knowledge and takes care of herself can get through it without too much fuss."
Celestia shook her head, "Luna already has servants who will see she is treated properly and well. Your wife, however..."
Silver's ears fell, "I gave away my money."
Celestia nodded, "You did, but you also serve faithfully for Equestria. I will not let her suffer for it. I'll assign a physician to watch over her."
Silver smiled hopefully, "Please try to get a kind one. She acts tough but I get the feeling she will get nervous once or twice. I can't imagine a first-time mother not doing so."
Celestia rose to her hooves, "Enjoy the remainder of your meal. It was a delight having a moment to speak to you alone." She moved to leave, but not before patting Silver on the head with a wing. "You are a good pony." He warmed inside at her words, and soon she was gone.
5769146 I'd like to think that there's a way to marry the meta-reasons for having the story go in a certain direction to the in-character reasons for having it go in that direction, without having to compromise either.
As I noted before, Silver's reasoning was entirely believable for him as a character. It was just sad for me - as a reader who's sympathetic to him - to see him falling back into bad habits as he did so.
As a descriptor, it should be the "already-furious" magic.
There's no reason to have the second "You" capitalized.
Nuts, there's more editing to do, but real life is summoning me away. It may be tomorrow morning before I get back to it.
5769258 Fixed, and aw.
5769261 The power level of Typos is 0, but there is so many of them. You can kill them a lot but they keep coming back DX
5769374 The fight will never end. What'd you think of the chapter?
So what is this “1” different from all the rest, like Six? As in you wrote a number, (1), instead of saying the word for "one."
5769390 Tweaked!
a vary touching chapter I can feel the love Celestia has for all her little pony's.
and her love for her sister stand out but she cares for Luna's being happy also.
exultant chapter
Harts Fire
5769377 I enjoyed it, gave a bit more insight into Celestia and nightwing. Loving the steady pace of updates.
5769400 Celestia's is a heavy crown that she wears with dignity, usually. Throwing pie in Silver's face was dignified, right?
5769261 Hm, my outing ended early, but I can't seem to find any more typos. Maybe I'm just tired?
5769434
most currently it was.
5770377 Yay! thoughts?
I'm not sure what to make of this chapter, as it seemed to offer only an incremental step forward in the plot. The main characterization seemed to be Silver's relationship with Celestia, but even that felt somewhat unclear.
Putting that aside for a moment, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Nightwing was actually a tough-but-encouraging figure, rather than just being bitchy. This may not be the sort of instructor that Silver necessarily likes, but there's a credible case to be made that she's what he needs. That does still leave hanging the idea that Luna would be the one teaching him actual war magic - presumably that's been pushed down the road in favor of his current training (and Luna's pregnancy), but it's a bit odd that the idea has simply faded away from the minds of everypony that was initially involved in it.
Returning to the issue of Silver and Celestia, I really felt like their conversation was heavy with everything they weren't saying to each other. I felt that an honest exchange would have been something along the lines of Silver asking if she still harbored some feeling of mistrust/doubt towards him for what happened, Celestia replying that she in all honesty did, Silver then asking what he could do to make that go away, and her replying that there was nothing he could do...it would simply need to fade over time as he tried to be a good pony. The entire conversation really seemed like it was either dancing around that issue, or simply making small talk to try and distract from it.
That said, I really do like that Silver tried to tactfully tell Celestia that he wasn't interested in sleeping with her; all the more so that she threw a pie in his face for his presumptuousness. That's because it's sort of a cliche that any heartfelt conversation between the protagonist and an attractive female will lead to romantic tension between them (and it's not like that's unprecedented here - just look at how inadvertently Silver seduced Fast Change). Bringing that up directly and then dispelling it was a good idea.
There wasn't much here beyond that. Silver's life seems to be settling down somewhat, though the peace feels much more tentative this time, both due to his current intensive training, and the fact that in a year or so he's going to have things permanently.
Headcanon Celestia is 11. Because METAAAAAL!
Luna is probably 9. Tia pwns because 1000 years of
squats 'n oatspumping both celestial bodies while having a high-carb diet. She be ripped, breh!I'm okay with taking things slow, just not overly so. Filler chapters are generally acceptable, just avoid making chapters where nothing really happens. I vaguely remember stories that had a cliffhanger followed by a couple of filler chapters. God it was infuriating.
I don't consider this chapter a filler.
5771616 That strikes me as a fairly massive generalization, that doesn't necessarily apply in this specific circumstance. Equestria is a land where harmony, friendship, and love are powerful cultural forces (to say nothing of magical/natural forces), so issues of jealousy and competition among multi-partner relationships seem likely to be muted.
In fact, in the instance you quoted, nothing that he says is with regards to polygamy specifically - he wants greater emotional intimacy, and that's a problem that's not particular to any specific type of relationship.
5772310 So far, in this fic, the two wives have been pretty together. Only Luna, a not-wife, has been in any opposition.
5772500 Right, and that opposition has (notwithstanding her trying to figure out her relationship with Silver) been limited to Night Watch - Fast Change makes no bones about wanting to sleep with Luna too (which Luna seems to be unaware of, or unconcerned with).
Even then, the conflict between Night and Luna seems to be only partially one of jealousy (or rather, one of Night Watch being jealous). Rather, the bulk of it seems to be about social roles - Night is concerned that she won't be first wife any longer, and Luna is concerned about impropriety regarding having feelings for a consort. It's more about status than about jealousy and competition.
Luckily, most (if not all) of that seems to be sorted out by this point.
I think Celestia is dropping a few zeros of her number. The sun has most of the mass in a solar system and the earth is still huge, if she moves either of those around to control the day.
5772684 Did she give a number for what she does with the sun?
5772687 Well the numbers are given for lifting heavy things, right? Both the sun and earth are pretty damn heavy.
5772697 Right, but she gave no number for how she does the sun rise/sun set thing, just her day-to-day lifting ability when the sun isn't involved.
Some quick math was done! Assuming the Equestrian sun is the same as ours, her number for it would be 30.
5772710 that's a huge number if we're going by orders of magnitude!
5772732 Assuming 1 is 1 kg, the sun is 1.stuff to the 10 x 30, hence 30.
That means 1 is 1kg, 2 is 10, 3 is 100, 4 is 1000 kg and so on.
5773020 Typos a plenty to make up for some earlier chapters. I knew those dangling threads would breed typos! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
half-lidded
I wouldn't think ponies would have to worry too much about pregnancy; a typical ungulate in real life pops them out without even seeming to notice most of the time.
D.B.Z ref in the authors note.meh.
Celestia smiled, "Don't give up, and eat more. You must be famished."
Don't give up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvGExrh80ZA
6278936 OK probably a mistake to fall into this trap but here goes OVER 9000
I one made a big mistake one of my relifivs was having a baby so my ferst trout is am I a unkul hmmmm I was not I was a distant cosen maybe but not a unkul but I tho I was my dad cereted me
6925944
Typo... it is an entity that has the magnitude of OVER 90000!!!!11!!!
10^9000=HOLy Golly fiucken sheet11!!!
A typos level is ERROR
5769434
Celestia did it? Then yes, it's incredibly dignified. It's however, incredibly undignified for anyone else to attempt to copy her actions.
I'm now envisioning Celestia walking somewhere while chatting with someone, coming up on some kind of major obstruction, her just lifting the obstruction up and away to pass under, never breaking stride or what she was saying, and then setting the obstruction back down.
Celestia nodded, "Oh my, yes. I may not look it, but I was a foal once too. I was a one once before."
was a one? rely?
8181933 Yes, a one on the scale.
Power rating of a typo?
Zero. As soon as comes out to test, bang, no more typo.
9032868
Tricky.
Slightly over a hundred times what he is now, and a thousand times what he was before, when we got a good estimate of his power. Seems reasonable enough.
Logarithmic scales are nice. Though those weights must be magical in some way.
I just cannot understand Silver or Celestia. I'll keep reading though and try to gain such comprehension. Despite my bitching, this story is well written and I do enjoy it. I simply have a strong sense of justice and I call things as I see them. I've been told I have a fair bit of candor.