Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat

by David Silver

306 - Soft Clay

"This was... somehow easier to accept when I thought I was..." Fetlock frowned, eyes sweeping over the new set of papers she had. "You've given me the curse." She blowed her mane out of her way, glaring at the two alicorns. "The curse."

"The worst one," gently agreed Silver. "A choice, and knowledge of what each means. You were doing what you did because it was the only way you saw."

Fetlock shrugged softly. "And it paid well."

"That too..." Silver folded his book closed and tucked it away. "It's still... amazing to consider. Life from nothing but energy?"

"Is that not what happens already?" Samantha inclined her head. "We're all that."

Silver raised a hoof to his chin, tapping at the end of his snout lightly. "You're not exactly wrong. I remember once being very amused at the thought of 'You were made in a sun.' This is just... taking that right to an extreme. What if we skipped evolution and let the sun spit out life directly?" He let out a strained little laugh. "It's a lot to take."

Fetlock suddenly thumped Silver, hoof to his chest. "You are what you are. You always were. The only thing that changes is what you once were, which you are not. We never are. Nothing has changed."

Silver squinted suddenly, but it broke into laughter. "I was not expecting you to suddenly drop some wise words."

"Don't get used to it." She blew her mane out of the way. "So, you've flipped my life on its head. Happy now?"

Samantha nuzzled the dozing foal. "I am very happy with your services and will speak well on them."

Silver rolled a hoof with less complete acceptance. "From now on, unless someone specifically needs a human, you copy Equestrians. The friction--"

"--You love that word." Fetlock frowned at him. "Friction." She brought her hooves together and rubbed them in a display of friction.

"It's just the right word for... this. A pony taking the place of a pony is going to fit in a lot more naturally than a random human will. That's a whole step you can skip." Silver waggled a hoof at Fetlock. "It took a long time to get used to having one of these! Surprise, you get all four at once." He clip-clopped from one to the next. "Now that I'm thinking of it, I can remember my old fingers. I want to stretch them, but I can't. They're not there. That's a friction we can avoid."

Fetlock glanced down at his hooves, just to turn her attention to Samantha. "Is that a thing you have?"

"Hm? No." She extended her free hoof towards Fetlock. "I was born with these. Mom may have had fingers, but I never did." She was paying more attention to her sleepy foal, as if she could find something wrong to fix if she just looked hard enough. "They're everything I missed... I will not repeat my mistakes."

"See that you don't," snapped Fetlock. "Repeating errors? We scientists should aim for higher."

"Yes," agreed Samantha without a fight.

Fetlock frowned as if disappointed in that lack of fight. "Look... This is... My boss is also one of my creations? I'm not sure how to... work with that."

"He likes you." Silver shrugged. "But he's also, pretty obviously, an outlaw. You don't have to be."

"So you do forgive me?"

Samantha inclined her head. "I could be wrong, but the readings imply that Silver is offering you an alternate option. I'm not Night Watch, but if I had to run the numbers... Hm... No, I'm really not, but I think he wants to adopt you."

Fetlock's cheeks lit bright red. With embarassment, or anger? It was hard to tell with her expression. "I am a grown mare!"

Samantha pointed at herself with her free hoof. "So was I. He's a good father, and he knows how I work. I could not ask for much better, unless he were to develop more scientific curiosity. But then he already has that, just in a different field than I do. Yes, on second consideration, he does have that--"

"--Enough," cut in Fetlock. "Why don't we start by asking?" She fixed Silver with a look. "Is that what you're thinking, or is Samantha just guessing wildly?"

Silver's ears danced atop his head. "My... family life is complicated, but I would gladly lend a hoof. Do you want to come to canterlot?"

Samantha burst into a sudden little giggle. "That is not a no."

Fetlock developed a fresh scowl. "I thought they were exaggerating."

Silver shrugged. "What about?"

"You are the Too Nice Prince." She pointed towards the front. "Gudrun comes with me, or no deal."

Silver shook his head quickly. "She's your friend. Why would I break you apart?"

"She is a griffon?" Fetlock lifted her shoulders and puffed the hair out of her vision.

Suddenly there were hooves on her. Silver gently bound her mane back out of the way. "That looks so annoying."

"You get used to it." But she didn't immediately take the rubber band off. "She is a griffon. You're a fancy unicorn, high society. That really isn't a problem?"

Samantha quirked up an ear. "And he used to be a human, and he has a very varied workforce of maids and servants. A griffon is unlikely to upset any balance there."

"As she said." Silver offered a hoof towards her. "You don't have to hide. You can do good work, for good ponies."

Fetlock squinted at his hoof as if it were on fire. "You don't know me. I know more about you, Too Kind Prince."

Samantha set her child on her head gently. "I think he has a desirable level of niceness. It is one of many factors I enjoy about him."

"Gudrun!" The griffon was there almost before she finished the shout. "I need your input."

Gudrun approached, claws flexing at the end of her talons. "They makin' trouble? I'll take them outside if you want."

"They are, but not that way." Fetlock waved it off. "This one." She pointed at Silver. "He wants to hire me out from under our boss. Wants us to go to Canterlot, work legit. Full pardon."

Gudrun raised a furry brow. "What's the catch? That isn't something that comes free."

"Right?" Fetlock shrugged, her eyes on Silver. "Exactly what I was thinking. But there he is, looking all calm and judging me."

Silver wasn't trying to be specifically calm. At times, he was reminded that he wasn't that great as a human at expressing at times. As a pony, it seemed less of a problem, but once in a while... "You're both working in the underworld." He wobbled a hoof. "You're very talented." He nodded at Gudrun. "And you're a good friend. I want you two working for Equestria, not in the dark."

Gudrun snapped her fingers. "Oh. Ya scared me." She ribbed her boss. "He ain't giving stuff for free. He just wants to buy us out."

"How much?" Fetlock smiled with a new confidence. "We aren't cheap."

Samantha perked, ears brushing against the foal on her head. "Just thi--"

Silver set a hoof just in front of her mouth, quieting her. "I aim to be fair. I will cover... 5 ponies."

Fetlock frowned at that. "Five ponies?"

"The price of five ponies." Silver nodded at the logic. "Whatever you'd charge for that. Then you come and work in Canterlot. Not for free."

"Of course not for free."

Gudrun shrugged softly. "We had to do some freebies for--"

"Shush you." Fetlock's eyes did not leave Silver. "What's your angle?" She pointed to Samantha. "She got a pony out of it. What do you get? You got a pony missing in your life?"

Silver flipped an ear back. "Not that..." Oh. He began to remember all the ponies he had left behind. The dream echoes, gone. Nefertari, taken away. "No..." He turned away. "They are gone. I would just be making copies. There are ponies with much more pressing needs. Besides, why doesn't she count." He continued in the same rotation until he faced Samantha. "Oh, it's not from nothing."

"It's from magic." Samantha nodded, accepting that as objective truth.

"Yes, in part." He pointed at the slumbering colt. "The vital spark there is the copy. It's not from nothing. That little girl we saw, a copy of what makes her her made this colt move. It... enables it? It's not from nothing. If, I mean, if there wasn't life at all, this spell couldn't make it. It copies life."

Samantha ticked her tongue against her teeth a few rapid times. "That seems logical. A spell that created sapience 'from nothing' would be more complex, and demanding, than Fetlock appears to be capable."

"Hey!" Fetlock scowled at Samantha. "I can't tell what side you are on."

"I am on the side of discovery." There was not a shred of doubt in Samantha's words. "Speaking of that, I still wish to compare notes. Later. When he's not sleeping. Or perhaps when he is, but not on my head. I will have to learn a lot about parenting techniques." She sat up slowly. "But I will make time to do so."

"We're going to have to explain to Night how this happened." Their family had grown.

---

"Ugh, she's back." Tirek glared at Night as she entered his mental realm.

"Don't be rude." His mother turned towards her. "Welcome back. We are done, for now."

Night nodded as she strode beside the biped. "Very good. Will you want to come back, later?"

She looked towards her son. "That depends. Am I wanted here?"

Tirek grunted, pawing at the ground with an emaciated leg and hoof. "Sure... yeah..."

"Then yes." She took hold of Night's mane with one hand. "Let's go for now. He needs time to think on our words."

The two awoke, seated side by side, facing the statue of Chrysalis and Tirek. Queen Haydon pushed to her feet slowly and perhaps a bit stiffly. "The old bones don't like that." But she got herself upright. "There we are. You've gone and given me quite a project."

Night rose to her hooves far more smoothly. "Thank you, for coming, and for talking to your son."

"Why?" She shrugged softly. "Not to argue needlessly, but he clearly won't cause you issues like... this." She gestured at the grey statue that had once been her child. "Why call me?"

Night inclined her head at the statue. "Because this is a bad ending. We prefer better ones." A fanged smile offered. "Besides, it's already been proven that this is not a forever solution. A temporary one, and a cruel one. I would rather see it ended. Would you not want that?"

"Now that's a mean question." She wagged a finger at Night. "My child brought me quite a bit of... pain. But I don't wish this." She let out a slow sigh. "Plenty of it was my own fault. I realize that. Can he hear me? I said it was my fault, at least in part. We are all responsible for our own actions. What I did, I apologize for."

"He will need to forgive himself first." Night pointed away. "Let me show you to your room. You remain a guest."

"That surprised me." Haydon followed alongside Night. "That Twilight agreed to this."

"Are you kidding?" Night rolled her eyes behind her thick glasses. "She is the princess of friendship. She wants nothing more than for this to end with everycreature calling each other buddies. It was with her explicit blessings that this project started." She angled her head back at the statue that had already left their sight in their movement. "There was three statues."

"Then you have had success? That... makes me hopeful." A little smile, timid even. "Perhaps we can draw him back away from the cliff he's pushed himself against. I do miss him at times, the old him. Not sure I'll ever get that Tirek back, but I'd like..." She trailed off. "I'll take what I get, if he's ready."

Author's Note:

Night is working so hard on her project. To a happy ending? One can hope, if she can avoid typos.

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Comments

[assbutt2]

*I put on my robe and wizard hat

[David Silver]

11008295
c.tenor.com/551UXO_M05cAAAAC/culture-man-of-culture.gif

[Booster Spice]

So many meg of DNA over so many trillion cells that self guide, verses a billion seconds of kilohertz firing of quadrillion synapses to build a mature mind? Yup. Bodies are the easy bit.

[Morphy]

11008424

Isn't amazing how it all starts from one lumpy blob? DNA is the ultimate archive file, although the unpacking process runtime is terribly slow.

[Booster Spice]

11009111

Imagine what the result will be once we actualy work out what DNA is doing, and create the code directly, with turbo error correction to known level and complexity also?

[Reynolt85]

301 chapters! Celestia be merciful...

[David Silver]

11026439
306! Or do you mean 301 more than where you left off?