Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

275 - Departure

His new servants were quite busy. They were hefting up all the various non-living goods the sultan had gifted him and carrying them away. Silver wandered back and forth along the procession, checking how things were going, but his new servant crew knew how to do their job, and they were doing it.

Sheba was with him, walking along with an amused smile on her face. "Why are you watching them so intently? They will think you have no confidence in their abilities."

Silver almost stumbled with how quickly he came to a halt. "I wasn't trying to give that impression, but watching people work and just... standing there feels strange too."

"You are a prince, like as not, that is exactly what princes do at times." She reached out and slapped a hand down on the shoulder of the cow servant. "Where's the mouse? Shouldn't she be on this line?"

He hadn't seen the mouse in... since he went to sleep, come to think.

"With the sultan, probably." The cow moved on like that was casual news.

Silver looked left and right before promptly vanishing in silver sparkles. Sheba put a hand over her face. "My employer..." She vanished without the sparkles.

---

Silver appeared before the throne room. Sure, he had been tempted to appear inside it, but even in that moment, he didn't want to press his luck too badly. "Is the sultan available?"

"He is not," advised one of the two guards standing watch. "The only word he left for you are well wishes on your journey, if you are worried about parting words."

He had been dismissed. He may be a prince, but he was a foreign one. The sultan had bid him good day. "Return the sentiment." Silver turned away, trying to keep his pony-given tells in check. Ears up, tail untucked, and that didn't even start on facial expressions and a firm confident step. He wasn't entirely sure how well he managed to hide his disappointment, but he tried.

He had failed without even trying... That was not the way heroic tales were written.

Sheba was beside him at the next intersection, a hand on his shoulder. "I thought your servants had behaved oddly."

"Hm?" He turned one of those, he then realized downcast, ears towards her.

"They were moving early in the day. I heard speaking, then the mouse was gone. Your servants conspired against you, my employer. I imagine she was involved in it, for there was no sound of struggle."

She had just turned herself over then? "Oh... That makes sense." He hated it, but it made sense. She had said she wanted to do just as much. "Why didn't you stop them?"

"I guard you. I can not, and will not, stop those beneath you from deciding their own fates, especially when that decision creates less threat for you than before." Sheba shrugged softly. "I did not encourage her, if that helps, but I did not intervene either."

It had all been decided without him. He smiled wryly, moving towards where his ship back was docked. "Maybe I was being stupid." He couldn't make every decision... That didn't make him feel much better about the mental images he had of what could be befalling the mouse that had changed her mind about serving.

Sheba was on his back, just suddenly there as was her way. "We are going to Equestria, yes? Land of soft ponies like yourself. Will I need to guard you there?"

"If you assume they're all as nice as me, you may be taken advantage of. There are unkind ponies, as there are any other species." He saw the line of servants and moved to walk alongside it towards the ship. "Equestria is a gentler place, overall, but not one without problems."

"You must be upset." Sheba pat his neck lightly, causing the muscles there to twitch. "You don't usually speak poorly of your home nation. Calm yourself."

He was calm! He took a soft breath, trying to make that a reality. "Yes, right. There's the ship." It was a large galleon, suited for carrying the goods and all the people he had to take with him. He spread his wings and took flight with a casual hop, feeling Sheba's legs tighten around his barrel with the sudden new motion. With a clop, he landed on the deck of the ship, sailors hurrying around him.

It was time to go home. "Where's the captain?"

The sailors directed him towards what seemed to be the captain's quarters. The door said as much with a brass plate over it. Willing it, he knocked on the door with a silver force.

"Yeah?" came a muffled voice before the door swung open. "Ah, me cargo! Ha ha, be ye ready to set sail?"

Silver blinked softly. He had not expected the captain to have a full on pirate accent, or to have an eyepatch, or a peg leg. He appeared to be a dog, though not a diamond one. He had floppy cute brown ears and a slightly lolling tongue. He was an adorable piratical dog. "Nice to meet you." He had to smile a little. "I'm--"

"Prince Silver Watch, they told me that much, ah course. Now ye be wonderin' who they trusted with gettin' you home safe an' sound. Well that's me!" He gestured at himself with both hands. "Meet Capti'n Fetch. Gettin' things from one place ta another be what I specialize in."

Silver couldn't help the little smile forming on his face. The captain amused him on some deep level he couldn't quite put a hoof on. "It's nice to meet you, Captain. Has everyone already been shown to their rooms?"

"They shoulda been. Didja just get here? Ah reckon ye ain't been shown yerself then. Ahoy!" He waved down a passing sailor. "Show our guest where they'll be restin' 'is 'ead. An' don't ye be worryin'." He was looking directly at Silver again. "Yer gettin' the best on the boat, second maybe to mine." He laughed as if that was a very good joke.

Silver nodded, turning to follow the sailor. "Thank you. I feel I'm in good hands."

"One of the best," assured Captain Fetch, grinning as only a dog could, tongue hanging just a little.

Sheba rode her royal mount as they were led into the belly of the ship, taken to a large suite. There were already a few servants there, looking comfortable even as they seemed to be tidying things.

Silver leaned a little, hint enough to get Sheba off. "You didn't all get your own rooms?"

The kirin was there, smiling softly from atop the bed. "We did, but just because we have that option does not mean we will."

The cow crossed her arms. "We are still your servants, until you fire us." She leaned forward, generous assets on display. "Which we hope you don't."

"Most of us," argued the giraffe as she walked past, paused, and stepped back. "That came out ruder than I intended. I don't wish to flee your presence, Kind Prince, but I also have little real... interest in serving either. I think you understand?"

She wanted to save her people from extinction. He could hardly fault urgency in that... "I will try to help, and no, the moment we're officially out of this country, you may consider yourself a free person, to do as you please, with nothing owed to me. While we're on that topic." He gestured for her to come closer. "How many are there of you, and what are you called, as a people?"

The giraffe blinked softly, looking uncertain before she stepped forward. "We are the masai," she introduced, looking down at him. She had to, with a neck as long as she had. "I have met three others of my kind. One of them was my mother. What I dream of may be an impossible goal, but I will reach for it."

"You are not alone," assured Silver, feeling lighter in some ways. "But, for now, know that you are also not tied down."

"Thank you." She suddenly swung her head, thumping Silver in the barrel with her head in a deep thump. "My mother told me this is a social act, between masai. The precise meaning is lost, as is so much... But accept it in the kindness it is given."

Silver felt mildly sore. She had a powerful neck, and furry horns, but he decided to accept it just as she said, in the kindness it was given. Sharing her culture, he thought, was a sign of trust. "Thank you." He leaned forward and bumped her side with his head, far less loudly. "Soon we'll be in Equestria."

"Land of hooves." She departed with a hopeful smile and a little prance in her hooves.

Sheba patted him where he had been thumped. "I admit to liking this rough way of greeting. I hear someone calling you."

Silver perked an ear, there it was, from the deck. He hurried out of his room with Sheba easily keeping up.

Hurrying up, the sailors were pointing over the side of the ship towards the city. Silver hurried over to see several cats. They were all dressed in thick black robes to conceal their identity, and were carrying a thrashing bundle between them. One of them advanced a step. "There you are. Kind Prince, we have a gift for you, a final one. Take it, and do not ask questions."

They threw the bundle suddenly into the waters and fled into the city. Silver squeaked in horror, reaching with his magic. Magic became harder the further it was, so it was with some effort that he hauled up the package, fishing it free of the water. Thankfully it became much lighter almost as soon as it was free of the water and as it came closer to him. "I have you," he assured the bundle of... whatever it was.

He saw one of the cats that had dumped it peeking around a corner and was tempted to act, but the cat pulled back her hood, looking him right in the eyes. He recognized her. It was the servant he could have punished, but had not. The cat apparently saw his recognition and quickly pulled her hood back up, fleeing into the city.

He set the thrashing and wet bag on the deck, only for it, and Sheba, to vanish. He could guess where they had gone...

"Everythin' alright, Sir?" asked one of the sailors. "Should we be callin' the guards?"

"No... No, I think everything's alright." He trotted away back towards his room. There was Sheba, as he had predicted. She was toweling someone dry that had been soaking wet. It was the mouse who looked incensed. "I... had hoped it might have been you."

"Why?!" she demanded in almost a roar. "Did you ask them to bring me here?! Why did you not respect my decision?! I thought you were better!"

"I did not," he quickly spat out, raising a warding hoof. "I was... ready to accept it."

"He was," agreed Sheba with a smirk. "He moped all the way from the castle, and you should have seen his expression when they dumped you in the water."

"I could have drowned!" squeaked the mouse lady, her arms folded across her chest. "I... Wait." She slowly reached out, touching the wooden wall of the room. "Are we on a boat?"

The cow reached over and bopped the mouse without hesitation. "We are about to set sail, unless the sultan notices you aren't there and decides to make a stink about it to the tune of us all getting in trouble. What happened?!"

It was the mouse's turn to make placating gestures, shrinking in place. "I don't even know! I was headed for the sultan's quarters for... whatever he had in mind, and I was suddenly grabbed and stuffed in that." she kicked the bag she had been dumped in. "I heard half a dozen voices as I was taken away."

Author's Note:

Sometimes a kind deed comes back in unexpected ways. But will this have consequences?

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Comments

[No one is home]

The return of the Mouse!

[redmar]

THe Sultan will not be happy but likely won't consider it important enough to make a fuss.

[Morphy]

9494907

That's assuming he figures out the mouse ended up on a boat heading back to Equestria, rather than simply vanishing into the common city rabble. Either way, he is rid of her. I'd be surprised if the mouse decides to go back to the sultan.

Can't wait for Silver to return to a new alicorn, heh. (What the hell did you do??? Science! Science...? Science! )

[Booster Spice]

Could always have the story passed round that one group stole the mouse for hostage but another group got into an argument and she ended up drowning in the river.?

So far, the ship hasnt managed to leave yet, and theres always carpets?

[Alzrius]

Why did you not obey my decision!

This would work better if it was "respect my decision," and had a question mark with the exclamation point.

That said, I'm glad things ended up that way. I was a bit worried that the mouse-girl would be left behind, and Silver would be okay with it, and that would be that. This worked much better.

[David Silver]

9497345
He was not okay with it, but he was also not abandoning his job. These two things can happen at once.

[xonxt]

She suddenly swung her head, thumping Silver in the barrel with her head in a deep thump. "My mother told me this is a social act, between masai. The precise meaning is lost, as is so much... But accept it in the kindness it is given."

I do believe that's how giraffe males fight each other... Is that what you were going for?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz6JqzKEsNg&t=1m57s

I'm pretty sure Silver wouldn't be just "mildly sore". 😁

[David Silver]

9499709
That is the behavior I was keying in on, however, this is:
1: a sapient variety
2: one with a broken culture

So a premeival dominance ritual somehow became a general 'glad to be in social contact with you' gesture? I've seen stranger things. Grown humans are known to do similar dominance displays as a way of saying 'hey buddy!' these days.

[xonxt]

9499714
hmm... makes sense, especially for a sapient species. Thanks for answering!

[Booster Spice]

9527471

Just be glad it isnt the origional Shakespear. Because spelling hadnt been standardised back then, he spelt his own name at least 12 different ways?

As for computer spell checking. I was hoping to try making a model of a ten dimentional multi parralel metadata streamed extended span predictive text GAN coded in OpenCl for the las16 years or so, earliest date stamp 2003, but am totally rubbish at coding even in Basic.

[harts fire]

9527226
due to a mentle / medical condition and at 55 years old my spelling will never get any better.
but yet i am now 1 of a team editing and per-reading a story.

[harts fire]

9527736
aw yes i see it. but at this point i am not going to go back to find it.