Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

297 - Drawing Closer

"Thank you for making time for me." Twilight looked across at the reformed changeling. "So, you were once a changeling ruler?"

"Yup." She buffed her hoof against her chitinous front. "I've had my hoof in a few phases of life. Unicorn, changeling, changeling ruler, reformed changeling." Fast Change sat up tall. "And these days, teacher and researcher. I merilly blame most of those on Silver."

"Your friends, from when you were a student--" Her eyes darted to a floating piece of paper. "They mentioned you were... amorous. You were not a changeling at the time."

"Maybe I knew I was, in here." She tapped her chest. "Or maybe I was just... desperate. you know?"

"Desperate for what?" Twilight leaned forward a little. "For the feeling?"

"Well, it did feel good." Fast smirked a bit at Twilight's innocent blush. "But mostly I was tired of being alone. You do that, you're not alone, at least a little while... I kept not being alone for an instant... I was still alone."

"Who did you give love to?" she asked with all the passion of asking what you had for breakfast the morning before.

"Excuse me?" It was perhaps fortunate Fast had not been drinking at the time. "Rephrase that?"

"In order for a changeling to become reformed..." She rolled a hoof in the air. "They need to focus on loving someone, deeply and unconditionally, to give it freely. Who did you have this experience with?"

Fast considered, her eyes drifting across the room aimlessly a moment. "Well, shoot... I thought I was ready for any question you had."

"I find, you're often not as prepared for things as you hope you are." She inclined her head faintly, a little smile shown. "It's alright. I'd rather an honest answer than a prepared one."

"Right, sure." She raised a hoof to her chest. "In that moment, I was... thinking about all the ponies. All of them in Canterlot. The ones I know, the ones I didn't know... The changelings, the fuzzy boys and girls, I just wanted to protect them all. I... was their shield."

"And you did that." She reached out to set a hoof on one of Fast's forelegs. "Admirably."

Fast smiled awkwardly before gently brushing the hoof off. "Thank you, but that's behind us. You didn't call me here just for that, did you?"

"Since you're eager to proceed." She looked aside at her clipboard, a quill dancing with notes being taken. "When is the last time you engaged in amorous activities with Silver?"

Fast's eyes widened. "What?"

"You don't need to specify what they were," assured Twilight as if that were the problem. "Just a date would be fine."

"We have a healthy love life!" practically shouted Fast.

"I never said you didn't?" Twilight made a little note. "Though the way you reacted... Is something wrong?"

"No!" She glared at Twilight a moment before she began to crack. "Ugh! He likes me, a lot. A lot a lot... but there isn't a fire there... He loves me like a sister. A beloved sister, sure, but still a sister." She hiked a brow at Twilight. "You and Shining Armor, you're close, but you don't love him, right... right?"

"Right!" squeaked Twilight, blushing at the implication. "We're siblings. But you and Silver are... not." She inclined her head. "What about Night Watch?"

"She has her nose stuffed against the grindstone, just where she likes it." She quirked a soft smile. "But she and Silver are on the same sleep schedule at least, and they sleep in the same bed. They're doing alright, sleeping together, talking... It's nice... but I'm not a part of that. I teach during the day. I sleep when they work. I'm married to two lunar ponies I adore with... all my heart... but they may as well be a world away from me."

"Silver is a solar pony," noted Twilight, only to pause, a hoof raising. "Hm, he was Lunar in his dreams..."

"Pardon?" Fast squinted at Twilight perhaps suspiciously. "What dreams?"

Those were supposed to be a secret, in theory. Their secrecy level had decreased, with their foreseeing powers long past, but they still had a lot of information about a lot of ponies... "Are you disappointed in your marriage?"

Fast flinched back as if struck. "That's a hell of a pivot!" She thrust a hoof out at Twilight. "And coming from someone who's never been married, or even had a boyfriend, or girlfriend, to my knowledge."

"You're deflecting," gently admonished Twilight. "Are you?"

"No! He's... a great stallion, and she's a great mare. I love them both." She sagged in place miserably. "They just don't have room for me."

"Do you think it's intentional?"

"You are lucky you are princess of this castle or I would have just hit you." She wobbled a hoof as if to emphasize that point.

Twilight went red, with shock perhaps, or indignation. "Now you're lashing out," she huffed, making another note. "I want to help."

"You're doing a terrible job of it," growled out Fast as she rose and turned away. "Friendship may be your 'thing', but romance is a different level."

"Probably," allowed Twilight. "But you never answered the question."

"Huh?" She peeked over her shoulder. "I've answered a bunch. What didn't I answer?"

"The last time?" she verbally prodded. "You never said."

Fast rolled her ears back on her head. "I... lost track. I'm working on his project, at school. It's fun... The students are something else, mostly helpful, and mostly eager to learn what I'm putting out. I'm proud of it, of my work. We're making good---"

Twilight's hoof came down on Fast's shoulder. "This isn't about your teaching experience, though I glad it's going well. Do keep that up."

"What is this about?" She spread altered wings, green flames rushing over her as she became a specific lunar pony, adjusting her glasses with her wing. "I'm not her. I can't run the odds on you. I'm not super smart."

Twilight's hoof didn't retreat, instead moving to Not-Night Watch's snout. "1: You're quite intelligent and anypony that says otherwise is wrong, or just lying."

"You don't mean that." Fast shrank back, tufted ears sagging. "You're a genius. He loves smart girls."

"He loves you." Twilight inclined her head. "And I got in the way."

"Huh?" With a rush, Fast Change resumed her changeling form, only to flow past it to her ruddy red unicorn birth form. "How are you even involved? I mean, besides being princess..."

"I told him to work the night." Twilight rubbed at her neck. "Well, precisely, I told him to pick teaching or dream patrols, not both."

"Then the idiot made his own decision." Fast smiled despite it, sinking to her haunches. "You said day or night, and he took night. Moron."

"I'm sorry." Twilight gently brushed away the forming tears on Fast's face. "Did you two... Were you... Did this all begin when he started working at night?"

"No! No..." Fast rose up to her hooves just to clomp the ground. "He's an asexual idiot."

Twilight blinked at that. "Pardon?"

"If you grab him by the sensitive bits, he will react, but left to his own devices, he may as well not have them." She lashed her tail with an angry equine snort. "I... got tired of grabbing, and he'll never grab me, so..."

"That does not match." What she read in those dreams painted a very different pony.

"Doesn't match what?" Fast huffed as she turned away. "It is what it is. I thrust myself into his life. I pushed myself into this union. It was always me, pushing, pushing, pushing..."

"And you're tired of pushing?" concluded Twilight with uncertainty.

"Yeah," came the weak reply. "Yeah..."

Twilight looked to her notes even as she made new ones. "I see... Fast Change, are you... considering leaving the herd?"

Fast snorted loudly. "I basically already did... I'm a friend."

"You are a beloved aunt," came a voice in her ear.

"Celestia damn it! I forget you're listening basically always." She rubbed at her ear and her adopted niece's voice. "You heard all that?!"

Twilight inclined her head with sudden confusion. "Who are you talking to?"

"Hello!" came an audible reply, seeming to originate from atop Fast's head. "I am monitoring Fast Change. I had meant to ask if I can monitor you as well."

"And you are...?" Twilight peered at the space the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Nopony!" huffed out Fast, waving at the spot. "Stop listening for, what, at least half an hour."

"As you wish. Have fun!" She sounded excited and happy despite everything she had just heard. "Oh, if you do divorce, I would prefer we remain connected. Feel free to stop by. Later!"

Fast sat still a long moment, waiting for a word, any word. "Alright... I think she's gone." She let out a soft sigh. "She is a nutball, but she's also super smart. Did I mention he likes smart girls? He isn't super subtle about that."

Twilight's quill danced. "But he's only... involved... with two mares, including you?"

"Huh? Oh! No! No... She's adopted, like she said."

"She did not say that," informed Twilight, making a note. "Silver adopted her?"

"She's nuts!" Fast threw up her hooves. "Her eyes are on results, and everything else may as well not exist. She... is adorable in her own way, but also incredibly dangerous. But she's learning, and she's a good pony." Fast smiled a little. "I will talk to her, later."

"This is good." Her quill scribbled busily. "This does come to a rather pressing question... Do you intend to repair things, or are you done with this union."

Fast quirked a little smile. "If I leave, the herd officially dies. It'll just be a marriage, a boring ole wedding. A stallion, a mare, bonded. Nice and simple."

"Is that a good thing, in your eyes?" Twilight tapped at her floating notes. "Most unions in Equestria fit into that without issue."

"Yeah... Look, this wasn't my idea." She turned a hoof upwards. "When Silver first trotted into my life, he had a little mini-Luna with him."

Twilight's ears danced. "Do tell?"

"You didn't know? She was the one that got the idea of herding in his head." She smirked at the memory. "I think she's old enough to remember when that was normal. It was her, then her and Night Watch, then I pushed my nose in and went for the ride. I hopped off while playing changeling princess--"

"You did quite well, by all reports. To call it 'playing' is doing a disservice."

"Yea, sure." She didn't sound entirely convinced. "So... We had a jackal for a while, and both the ruling diarchs... One died, two retired..." She rubbed behind her head with a growing scowl. "Night's been the most steadfast, really. Not surprising he ended up with her."

Twilight rubbed at her cheek. "You have been quite helpful. Thank you, and if... you need any help, do call on me."

Dismissed, Fast began for the exit as if happy for the freedom. "Good luck with the princess stuff." And she was gone, just like that.

That left Twilight considering what she had learned, running back over what she already knew. He was attracted to intelligence, in romance, and in general. He is more awkward than first he appears... She scribbled a few notes with her floating quill. "And he understand the fear of being found out..." She licked over her lips in consideration.

She could corner him with her realizations, make his nightmare come to pass, with growth behind it, or...

"One more, at least one more to be certain." She looked to the guard. "Where's Spike?"

"He is working with Night Watch." The guard saluted sharply. "I believe they are working on Tirek's statue. Um, Your Highness, I don't see how that... monster could possibly be reformed."

"What timing!" Thankful for destiny working the way it did, she started forward. "Are they by the statue?" And off she went, in a hunt for a specific mare.

Author's Note:

Twilight is gathering ALL the intel. All of it! Poor Fast is having feelings...

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Poor Twiight, if she sticks with only Itel and not application, theres no limit to the Arm she can get into?

[harts fire]

if i was fast and Twilight ask me some of those questions Princess or not she would be in a corner wondering what the hell just ran over her stupid ass.
she just need to go get laid really good.,

[Well Geboren]

*Hmm's with steeple'ed hooves* This may be of major issue later on.. hmm... If only the way relationships worked in this world, were the same as in Gold Furs books.

Hmmp, an asexual idiot makes prefect sense, for in a world where the mares make the call for who they went to sire their foal.