The first visitors were not long in coming. Representatives of various factions in the city came with smiles, hoping to earn favor with Silver, and through him, Celestia. With her support, or so the reasoning seemed to go, they could gain access to near limitless resources.
"As you can see," explained a crystal mare, pointing at a pie chart beside herself. "If we could just get crystal berry production up, it would mean a huge net gain for the entire city! Exports alone would be massively profitable. We've run the numbers." She tapped at the pie chart. "The numbers don't lie."
Silver nodded politely as he glanced to the subtly shaking head of Night Watch. "You've given us a lot to think about. Allow me to ask, what's keeping you back right now?"
"Bits, resources, horsepower, you know..."
"I don't know." He smiled a little. "That's why I'm here. Be specific."
She looked a little confused at the nature of the question. "I don't have enough workers tending enough fields, nor are there enough guards to keep wild animals and beasts from threatening the farmers I do have. The guards of the city are just that, of the city. They don't patrol the farmlands."
Silver rolled a hoof. "Where are the ponies working right now?"
She hiked a brow. "I haven't a clue, probably being fat and lazy somewhere. They don't respond to my offers for gainful employment. Another reason we need more ponies, preferably hardworking ones, ready to farm." She snorted with a scowl. "The Princess really should do something about the shiftless population. This welfare state she's bui--"
"I'll consider it," cut off Silver with a forced smiled. "Let me go over my own numbers."
Night saw her out even as the mare tried to get in a few last words for her case, then the room was quiet again. Night returned with a nod. "This is quite a mess, to say the least."
Silver sagged a little. "It was so much simpler and direct, last time. They just had... to get together, and get things done. They needed a little magic help in the mines. Hell, defending against a horde of shadow demons is at least straightforward."
Night thrust a hoof at him. "Are you giving up?"
"What? No. I said I'd do it, I plan to get this done." Silver stomped a hoof on the floor. "I'm not running away from this, just appreciating the fact that it isn't an easy road I set myself on."
"No. No, it isn't." Night closed in, rubbing noses gently. "But we'll walk it together, right?"
Silver smiled at her. "It suddenly seems a little easier." He threw a leg over her, hugging. "I want to get out of here." She raised a brow. "No, not like that. I want to see how things are going with my own eyes. I want to visit these fields, and the mines, and hear what people are saying, actual ponies, not just the richest of the lot or the loudest of the bunch."
A soft clopping came from the door before Cadance entered with a little smile. "Sorry it took so long. Today's been a madhouse, and your coming's only seemed to shake up the hive, as it were." She closed the door behind herself with a kick. "So, Silver! It's good to see you again. Goodness, it's been, what... It feels like forever since last we met."
Silver considered that. It hadn't been that long had it? Time was hard to measure in Equestria, it felt. "A pleasure to be here, Cadance. This is Night Watch, my wife." He waved to her and she smiled proudly at the title.
"Nice to meet you." Cadance advanced on her, looking her over. "You're just what he needs."
Night twitched her ears up at the larger pink princess of a pony. "I'm sorry? I don't think I quite grasped that."
Cadance brought up her hooves, cupping Night on her cheeks. "I was... Oh nevermind that. I think you two are a lovely couple. Now, what brings you here? Not just here to see me, are you?"
Silver shook his head slowly. "No. I just thought I should, for the sake of the ponies here."
She raised a brow. "We're having our rough spots, to be certain, but nothing so dire as to require you to run across Equestria to our aid." She released Night and turned back to Silver. "Though you're wearing the title well enough, I remember the awkward pony I met before. You're hardly an ambassador, and I mean that in the kindest way."
Night scowled a bit. "I understand you are the princess of this land, but you're speaking very poorly of the official representative of Equestria. He came to help."
Cadance giggled suddenly. "Did I mention she's perfect? I love her." She shook her head slowly. "I'm serious, however. How do you plan to help?"
Silver sat up straight. "I want to go see what the real problems are, first. I want to see who's struggling where, the real ponies, not these well-connected ones." He glanced away suddenly. "I'm also worried about something."
"Such as?"
Silver rolled a hoof. "You know what the shadows are, right?"
Cadance raised a brow. "I wouldn't be a very good princess of these people without knowing. Why do you know anything about them? Researching before you arrived? Very astute of you."
Silver snorted softly. "We'll call it that, but yes, I know of them, and I'm worried they'll attack soon, within a month or two."
Cadance shook her head. "And if they did, which I certainly hope they don't, what would you do about it?"
Silver tapped at his chin. "My best. I know some spells I could share with you, that you could cast, being an alicorn."
She raised a brow. "Fascinating, but I'm not Twilight. I need more than a day to learn a spell. If you plan to share one with me, you should do that right away. What sort of spell is this? Your ball of fire?"
Night gave Silver a light nudge with a wing. "Your fireball's famous throughout the lands."
Silver flashed a smile. "While useful, no, not that. I'm not sure if I should, since I've been asked not to sprea--"
Cadance held up a hoof. "Out with it. You came all this way, not just to hold it from me. What, exactly, do you see happening? How? Details, please. I believe your sincerity, now show me the rest of it."
Silver considered his options a moment. "Fine, I don't think this is a case where things will change too much with forewarning, except maybe saving a few ponies. Again, this is later, not right away, but I had... a vision."
"A dream," added Night.
"Call it what you want." Silver frowned at her before continuing. "A field of darkness, with creatures of shadow blotting out the city for a time. You use a modified version of my fire shield to surround the castle, and we battle fiercely through the night, barely repelling them."
Cadance shook her head slowly. "That's a terrible vision, true or not." She put a hoof to her chest. "Well, go ahead. If I never have need for it, then it simply won't be used. I'm not a power hungry pony, looking for ways to conquer the world, you know that."
Silver drew out a mostly empty journal. "I'll have to write it out again. The last copy I had was thrown into a fireplace and all. Still, this is a combination spell."
"Combination?" Cadance tilted her head.
"Two ponies, in this case." Silver pointed at Cadance. "Your husband has to lend his shield talent, or it would be too hard, even for you, to hold it up all night. His shield, and you supply the fire, and the castle is kept mostly safe. Not to say there wasn't fighting, because there was, so much of it..."
Night shook her head quickly. "Silver'll work on that, but this isn't immediate, as he said. What about all these ponies and their problems?"
Cadance glanced to Night. "I admit, this is a little distracting. Dreams can be terrible things, and it's probably nothing, but the idea that it could happen... I don't want my people to suffer that, again. They've had to slave under the yoke of shadow once before, never again." She turned her gaze squarely on Silver. "Was it Sombra? Did he return?"
"Sombra!" came an excitable voice from beyond the door. As everyone in the room turned to it, the sound of clopping sounded out, receding rapidly.
Cadance put a wing over her face. "That's going to cause trouble... While I go deal with that, write out that spell, then we'll go over the current events." She rose to her hooves. "If you're certain about doing your part, there are plenty of parts to be done." She hesitated a moment. "Thank you."
Wow, the crystal ponies sure are terrified by anything related to Sombra. I hope everything works out.
6845159 He made their lives far more sombre than what the usual pony life was like so I can see why. King Sombra the Sombre, I heard he was called, just before the executions.
6845159
He (Sombra) enslaved a city state for an unknown amount of time and as we see in the season finale he could make them fight against their will. The ponies are the same ones that were enslaved. Not their descendants so of course they would be terrified.
Really good divergents off the dream, I eagerly await how it differs.
up.at - up at
That sort - What sort
*****
It feels like the Princess Cadance in the waking world is much more balanced between her desire to be a good and competent ruler to her people and being the Princess of Love. She doesn't neglect that part of her abilities, but it does not dominate as it seemed to in the dream.
Silver seems to be trending towards drastically underestimating the power requirements for his spells in the waking world. I hope that nopony is dangerously drained by this shield spell, should it be necessary to use it, or even during practice.
Careful you don't further complicate the situation you're trying to fix, Silver. Listen to Night Watch's counsel and act with care and deliberation.
6845328 Found another typo for no additional fee. The differences are becoming more and more clear, but does their pattern?
Yes Silver tell us that one spell that could stop the shadows. Seems totally legit to me.
6845375 - shooting from the hip, I'd say that, in the waking world, while Silver is the focus of this story, he is not the focus of the world. Nopony is waiting for him to stop by and solve their problems. He can lend a hoof where he can, but he's not the lynch pin to the whole world. He is a thread of the tapestry, not the weaver.
I have to say that it's fun and still has plenty of warm fuzzies to watch him learning to make a place for himself in Equestria, with Night Watch at his side to keep him from digging a hole for himself instead.
Heh, cute.
6845517 Perhaps, but there are other threads in this carpet.
6845531 - I went back through to the last time Silver saw Cadance, just for giggles. There are several ambiguous periods of time that pass, but it's safe to say that it's been at least a month, possibly longer since we have no indication how long he was dreaming and how long between each of the visits with wayward humans in Equestria.
So the minimum count is about 37 days, the max could be around twice that, but not much more since Night Watch's pregnancy is as good a gold standard as we could hope for, and there have not been any leaps in her condition that have been noted in the story.
And yes, it was a silly thing to do, but it was good to go back and skim the old chapters and kind of refresh all of the things that didn't happen in the dream and who Silver was before Luna helped him sort himself out.
Well the kaleidoscope certainly seems to have turned a bit less, still help is here.
Keep going! ;)
6846359 Well, I can't say anything for the time passed between each meeting between Silver and the humans but I would assume that only one night had passed when Silver was dreaming as his body showed no signs of stiffness or weakness. And I think Night would have been aware that something was going on if her husband had been in a comatose state.
Of course, I might have missed something that would demolish my statement but I can't argue the idea that a minimum of a month may have passed since Sliver last met Cadence.
*sigh* I'm so regretting that I wasn't keeping up when these chapters were written. I could have had a field day with what's going on here.
7070903 We cannot look back, only forward! Onwards, faithful friend.
now?"
7191580 Fixed!
7191582 I might have to go back and continue in the Realm of Dreams that you have crafted \. I must have more to reference from and not this measly amount of knowledge that I do have. Until then I bid you adiu, shall i come back safe is up to how your Realm handles me so with out furth procrastination i shall see where this path leads me.
MC
Wow, with all this extra space, you're leaving some room for some typos disguised as changelings disguised as shadows to sneak in.
Ok. I need to read Silver Stars.
Edit:
Screw it. I may not be aware of some stuff, but I'll still go in, guns blazing!
7993091
Same I saw just how many chapters and decided the same thing
I'm slightly confused, wasn't Night his first wife last time Cadance was in Canterlot? I'm sure that was when he and Luna agreed on the consort thing initially. Seems she's acting like she never met Night, even though she had and had "approved" of her before.
8726114
The phrase 'first wife' does not appear in this chapter. Nor does Luna, so I do not know what specific thing you are referring to.
8726149
When Cadance was back in Canterlot (Chapter 12 and 13 specifically) Night was already his first wife, in Chapter 12 she goes so far was to say that Night is a good true wife for Silver, and if I recall further comments in Chapter 13.
With Cadance welcoming both Night and Silver in this (Chapter 54) and the previous, she acts like she has never met Night before. It's a bit, jarring.
Sorry about the confusion with the Luna comment, was trying to reference Chapter 13 without actually looking up the location of that event.
8726185
I blame the stress that both parties have already admitted to bearing.
8726209
just read this chapter but the spell sounds like a literal firewall