Silver roused from his sleep to find Luna pressed nose-to-nose. This pleased him, and he gently rubbed noses with her, only to find he was rubbing noses with Discord instead.
"Good morning," he said, "Was it good for you too?"
Silver scrambled up to his hooves, looking around for the real Luna, or Night Watch, and seeing neither, "Discord? I mean, man, that was kind of rude. I thought we were buds."
Discord rose up fluidly, then began to stretch, "And friends play little jokes. Don't tell me you're a spoilsport."
Silver let out a huff, "Fair enough." He sat on his haunches and looked over Discord, "Sorry, you just woke me up." He felt no lingering anger towards the chaos god. He was doing what he should. "Nice to see you. Where have you been?"
Discord shrugged, "Twilight needed this and that, you know how it is. Look at you!" He pointed at Silver, "Sleeping with one of the princesses, with another mare too. So you do have those urges... So, how was she?"
Silver flushed gently, "She was great, but I don't really want to, you know, kiss and tell?"
"Oh pshaw," laughed Discord, "She has nothing I haven't already seen."
Silver sat up a little, "Bet you never gave her a foal before."
Discord raised a furry brow, "You haven't either."
Silver looked confused, "But... I felt it. It was pretty hard to miss!"
Discord shook his head slowly, "Sorry, m'boy, hate to be the bearer of sad tidings, but Luna does not work that way. Unless you get the full alicorn package, and remain a guy, you are not giving her any foals."
Silver wanted to feel upset, but curiosity was the stronger force, "So, what happened then? Do you know?"
Discord tapped his chin, "She took some of you. I didn't feel anything out of her, so I think she already did something with it." He looked over Silver a moment, "I think I found it."
"Found what?" asked Silver.
"Oh you'll figure it out," assured Discord, "Or not, but telling is boring. So, I heard you've been a very bad pony. Tsk tsk, I really expected better from you." He rubbed one finger against the other in the classic motion of shame.
Silver flipped an ear back, "I was attacked, and defended myself. It's not exactly my fault Luna didn't warn me about killer fangs."
Discord wagged a finger, "Things die when you bite them? When did that start?"
Silver felt aggravated a little and grunted to show it, "I didn't mean to, and you know it."
Discord shrugged softly, "Hey, not my problem. You just stay away from Ponyville."
Silver raised his brows, "I hadn't intended on visiting...?"
Discord nodded, "Good. At least that Jake fellow is harmless. A little clueless, but he couldn't hurt a fly. You, my friend, are dangerous. You think dangerously, and now you're living dangerously."
Silver rose to his hooves and stretched out, "I'm still just me. I'm just less of a pushover." He flopped onto his side, "So, want to hang out today?"
And so they did, playing Equestrian version of boardgames he knew. They were eerily familiar, including one that hadn't even bothered to change names, Apples to Apples. Several hours had passed in relative peace and shared, if slightly odd-tasting and conjured, tea. Discord checked a watch he hadn't been wearing before, "Oh look at the time. I really should be off. We should definitely do lunch some time. Oh, good luck with that other human. She was making eyes with the sports pony." Before Silver could ask about any of that, Discord was gone, leaving a tray of cookies behind.
The cookies proved to each have a different taste, but they were all good tastes, so Silver accepted the gift with a smile and some crunching. Snack enjoyed, Silver rose to wander the castle, wondering where First Star had run off to, or Night Watch. Looking out the window he could see it was still dark, so he guessed Luna was in court, and perhaps Night was with her. He sped up to find out, nudging open the door to see Luna seated in deliverance of a stern talking. The target of the dressing down was a unicorn stallion that kept adjusting his bowtie.
Silver looked around for Night and found her lurking in the mid-back, watching him in return. They exchanged a smile, and he moved to join her. "Hey." He went to smooch her on the cheek but she gently rebuffed him.
"On duty," she reminded, "But it's nice to see you."
Silver nodded in kind, "When do you get off?"
Night glanced towards the windows, "Another hour. Want to do breakfast?"
Silver smiled brightly, "I would be delighted." He paused then, "Am I under any kind of house arrest?"
Night shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of." She took a moment to adjust her glasses, "I would hope they'd tell me about that kind of thing. You're as free as a bird. See you in an hour in the dining hall." She nudged him with a wing, sending him on his way.
Silver trotted out into the halls and turned a corner to spy the other mare, er, filly he had on his mind. First Star was gazing at a painting that was hanging on the wall, showing Celestia reclining in a very Victorian-like painting. First looked enraptured with it, licking her lips and staring without moving.
Silver began to step towards her when he noticed movement. His eyes dropped to her flank where a picture frame faded into being. Was it going to be that easy for her? He felt just a little jealous, but suppressed that emotion to approach her, "Hey, First! What's on your mind?"
First jumped in place before looking at Silver, then pointing at the painting, "I was just admiring this picture. Look at it..." she began going into the artistic technique used and what the artist may have meant or been thinking about while drawing it, "Celestia's more white than this. She looks almost pink..." she kept going on and on, describing the picture and its making with seemingly endless energy. "I really like it," she concluded.
Silver pointed down at her flank, "I think you more than like it."
First Star glanced back and hopped to her hooves, almost doing a circle in place trying to get a good look at it, "I did it! Wait, what'd I do? I don't get it! It's just a frame. I don't even see a picture in it."
Silver reached a hoof to steady her, "I think you're an art critic. You can analyze art really well. I didn't know half the things you were going on about or how you noticed the other half."
First tilted her head a little, "Can I get a job doing that?"
Silver shrugged, "Knowing that Quills and Sofas exist, I'm certain there's room for anypony. If nothing else, you could work at an art gallery, explaining pieces to ponies. I bet that pays well."
First clopped her hooves together, "Ooo, or I could teach an art class in college or something!"
Silver shook his head, "They don't have that kind of college here, but you could offer classes on your own, sure. Hay, you could do both." He was suddenly bowled over as First pounced him.
"Thanks, you're the best!" He got a smooch for his trouble, but she ran off after that in an excited gallop.
Silver rolled back up to his hooves in time for her to come rushing back in, "Hey! I forgot to bug you about magic. I've got a cutie mark, so no more excuses. Magic me."
Silver looked over the filly, er, was she a mare now? Close. She didn't get a job yet... "Well, I have no objection to a lesson or two, so come here, sit, and listen." He began going over the basics of using a horn much like Trixie had with himself. He explained how it should feel from a human perspective, which seemed to help, and soon her horn was glowing proudly with her burgundy-shaded magic. "Great job! Now you just have to keep practicing that for a while, say... until the end of the week."
She frowned, but kept glowing, "Why so long?"
Silver rolled a hoof, "Being able to push magic through your horn is the most basic, but important, skill, and there are two parts. This is the first one, and how you get raw power through there. You have to have it down before we move on. I'm not jerking you around, promise."
"You better not be," warned First. "Oh I'm going on a date with Leaper, K?" she rose up and moved to walk away as if she had said nothing.
Silver raised a hoof quickly, "Hold your horses!"
"Ha ha," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Seriously," insisted Silver, "A date? I mean, you can do that, I guess, but no, uh, sex, please?"
She wrinkled her nose, "You're not my boss!"
Silver sighed softly, "I'm not trying to be a random bossy adult. You like him, great, but get to know the guy first? You'll have plenty of--" He suddenly had a hoof shoved in his mouth.
First Star scowled at him, holding the hoof there, "I wasn't planning on it. Stop assuming I don't know anything! Jeeze. I'll be home before nine, bro." She withdrew her hoof and stood up, "Thanks for the lesson!" And off she went.
Silver rubbed his cheek a moment, missing the innocent human girl that rode his back such a short time ago. It had felt good being a knight for her, but she was adapting to Equestria faster than he had, and was in no shape to be given rides anymore. With a soft snort, he pressed on. After he passed two solar guards standing at attention, a faint whisper caught a sensitive ear.
"There he is, the throat-tearer."
"Did he really kill a pony?"
"With his bare teeth. He took on four ponies on his own without a scratch."
"And they just let him roam the halls?"
Silver soon walked out of range of them, but felt... "Damn it." He sat on his haunches and raised a hoof, poking one of his sharp teeth. "I don't want ponies to fear me."
Twilight's voice echoed from down the hall, "Then why did you become a bat pony?"
Silver looked up to see Twilight approaching with a smile. He tilted his head at her, "My favorite book horse, hi! But I'm not a bat. I don't even have wings."
Twilight leaned left, then right, "I suppose that's true." She lifted him bodily, wrapped in her pink magic, "Wings or not, I have studying to do."
Silver wriggled a bit, but was held securely, "Um, Twilight? Why are you carrying me away?"
Twilight walked along, carrying him along in her pink magic, "I need to examine you. You don't mind, do you?"
Silver shook his head, "I would be lying to myself if I said I'd object to spending time with you, Twilight, but you could... ask?" He played a spell over his horn, and the magic around him wobbled dangerously.
Twilight peeked over her shoulder, "You didn't cast that correctly." Then she continued along. He was being kidnapped by Twilight Sparkle. On one level, horrifying, on another, exciting. He decided to opt for exciting and let her carry him where she wanted to. He doubted she wanted to do him harm.
Twilight seemed a little weird... I suppose it's just her being impersonal in relation to her research subject?
Ah, there, there Silver. So what if she got her cutie mark an order of magnitude or two faster than you did? We still love you.
5798924 I think I might be able to handle an other couple thousand words for today. On a sidenote, I really enjoy that you use the term "person" rather than "pony". That just gets annoying after a while. Keep up with the good work..... and show NO mercy towards the Typos! They have caused enough pain in this world.
5798957 That girl has shown up Silver in a lot of ways. She's made a nice peaceful transition to unicorn town without drama, got a potential mate, and is learning magic. Cutie mark gotten. She's just breezing along, living the life.
5798969 It bounces a lot, as you may notice. Silver often uses 'one' but sometimes says pony. Most of the natives say pony.
"Sorry, m'boy, hate to be the bearer of sad tidings, but Luna does not work that way. Unless you get the full alicorn package, and remain a guy, you are not giving her any foals."
No. Sorry Discord, I'm just not that in to you.
Damn! It was only an extra 500 bits at the dealership.
She could get a job as an art buyer for some rich pony. No shortage of those in Canterlot.
And then Silver died. The End.
ok I hade to throw that post up before I for got.
what the hay is going on with this statement?
I know discord can be a ass at times but this hade better be a out right lie.
Harts Fire
5799073 He hasn't lied to Silver yet, unless you count pretending to be Luna for a few seconds.
I suspect that this should be "slightly odd-tasting" tea.
I think that she means "On duty," there, unless there's a guard named On Duty somewhere that's watching her work.
"Victorian" should be capitalized.
Her magic is "burgundy-shaded."
Silver is a "throat-tearer."
There are two spaces between "Um" and "Twilight."
Also, I'd change the period after "Um" to a comma.
5799186 All fixed! A wild Twilight appears! Information is swapped, meetings happen. What think ye?
5799202 The bomb that Discord dropped about Luna not being pregnant after all was a major one. I say that not because of the revelation about what actually happened - though that's pretty big, too - but because of the new light that this throws on previous conversations.
I haven't gone back and looked for every reference where it was presumed that Luna was pregnant, but even the few I can come up with off the top of my head are pretty major. Simply put, if it takes a hypothetical male alicorn to put a bun in Luna's oven, then why was Nightwing so upset about Silver sleeping with her anyway? She specifically went on a big song and dance (though thankfully not literally) about how she was concerned that it was Luna's "season" and that she didn't approve of the idea that Silver could knock her up. Was she just wildly misinformed, despite being Luna's good friend?
Still, that's not an impossible problem to solve. After all, Luna has only been back from her banishment on the moon for about a year at this point, so Nightwing probably was misinformed. What's far more difficult to explain is what Luna herself said.
Remember that little incident where Silver flung himself off a building? Remember how - after offering to merge him with their supposed unborn child and let him start anew - Luna instead offered to catalyze their unborn foal to make some sort of unspecified "change" in Silver? Well, both of those presumed that Luna was pregnant to begin with...which means that Luna was lying to him, about something fairly major. True, telling him the truth in the state he was in right then couldn't have done much good for him, but given that she then went on to make him and Night lunar ponies (or, in Night's case, even more lunar) and talk about how there'd be no lies or inequality between them anymore, this is kind of a major betrayal on her part. It also lends a much more cynical air to how she was so quick to offer their supposed unborn foal as a sacrifice for saving Silver...she was looking for an easy way out of her lie of omission. (Plus, that whole thing with kicking him out of her bedroom when he told her that Night wanted to be pregnant first.)
As it stands, the fact that Luna has been less than honest about something this major is something that I'm shocked Silver just brushed off so easily. I can only presume that he hasn't realized that Luna's lack of impending motherhood means that she lied to him...but when the proverbial light bulb goes off, and he demands an answer, I can only hope that she has a very good reason. The whole point of their starting anew is to move past all of the rough patches that were initially between them; if Luna has been keeping the truth about bearing his child from him for anything less than absolute necessity - or, I suppose, on the extremely-unlikely-but-not-impossible chance that she honestly thought that she was pregnant - then it's going to reopen a lot of old wounds regarding her hurting him.
So yeah, this has the potential to deal a serious blow to their relationship (and on that topic, remember back when Silver got the note about Chrysalis kidnapping Rough and Trixie? Remember how, when Silver decided to go tell Celestia about it, and Night was relieved? Silver knew she was hiding something, but not what...that little plot point hasn't ever come up again).
With regards to what actually happened when Silver thought that he'd impregnated the Princess of the Night...the issue of her taking some part of him and then putting it back is intriguing. The obvious answer is that this is how she made him a lunar unicorn, except that we know that can't be the case, because she then turned around and did the same thing to Night with nothing but a sharing of blood. Maybe this could be explained away as "Night had her own 'incredible experience' with Luna off-camera prior to that," but that's still not a good explanation, since Luna was able to change First Star's nature too.
Ergo, Luna's whole "take a part of Silver, do something, and then reinvest it in him" is something other than his lunar transformation. Maybe his fear-bite? But that seems unlikely as well, since she said (presuming she's not a liar) that others have had that gift as part of being a lunar pony. It doesn't help that we don't really know when she reintegrated that part of Silver back into him, so there are no real hints in that regard. As such, I can't help but think that we'll see some sort of new power/ability from Silver soon...maybe. Or maybe this is her way of doing something more subtle. Maybe he'll live much longer now? It could be almost anything at this point.
Twilight's being suddenly on-hoof like that is rather odd. She seems to have come specifically to see him, which is most likely due to his being a new breed of pony. That's entirely believable for Twilight, but it's still rather odd...though I can imagine that hearing that he killed a pony (and with fear alone!) might lend an undercurrent of immediacy in that regard. Still, part of me hopes that this is Fast Change sneaking into the palace (though why she'd need to is beyond me. Lingering fear of changelings prejudicing the guards, perhaps?) to find Silver and get some more love out of him.
(By the by, you called Fast Change "Quick Change" in the author's note - stealth edit there!)
I'm honestly rather surprised how much I liked seeing First Star coming around in this chapter. While her love of artwork was somewhat out of nowhere - and seemed done to help nudge her into "adulthood" that much quicker - it's entirely believable that she's able to acclimate to Equestria much faster than Silver was. Partially it's because she's younger, I suspect, but also because with less idea about what to expect (not being familiar with the series) makes it easier to simply take what she finds out as a given. I have to wonder if her cutie mark has a double meaning...a frame with no picture could very well mean that she's a blank canvas, waiting to be written on.
Insofar as her relationship with Meadow Leaper goes...well, I saw the poll, so it seems obvious that this is destined to fail before she becomes Silver's girl. In that regard, I'd recommend not rushing that one along. Some plot-threads, particularly with regards to relationships, are like cooking; things need to cook for a while before they're ready. In other words, while it's entirely possible that First and Meadow could be a flash in the pan (very hot but over very fast), don't be afraid to let it proceed at its own pace, rather than making it end quickly to move her on to being with Silver. It'll feel much more rewarding if we feel like things are progressing in a manner that's true to the characters.
With regards to Silver's public perception in general...so the word has already spread that he's a dangerous killer. Well, it's not like he was necessarily the most popular pony around, but at this point it's hard to imagine how the public views him. He's been the scandalous colt that accused a noble girl of all sorts of awful things, the kind pony that soothed many others in the wake of Tirek's rampage, the dangerous pony that lost control of his magic and almost killed several others only to make a heartfelt speech and donate money to the school and the ponies that he hurt, and now a savage killer. I honestly have no idea how Canterlot views him at this point. I wonder if perhaps a visit to Fleur and Fancy Pants is in order, if only to serve as a barometer for how the nobility sees him.
Overall, this chapter seemed to be taking stock of recent events, and hinting at what's to come.
5799352 It hasn't dawned on Silver, re: Promises and lies. It helps that he wants to trust and love Luna, so she wouldn't have to work very hard to soothe him if she has an excuse at hoof.
First Star mentioned she liked drawing a few chapters back when asked what talents she had. Silver lightly mocked her for rushing to become fingerless. Look who's laughing now!
The poll picture should not be taken as sacred, considering the poll is still available, and did change since then. It's posted in the Silver Verse group. Speaking of, join you! We got a big fat canon bible thread that I'd love to share with you.
There are multiple reasons Twilight could be there, but I will mildly spoiler by saying it is the real Twilight, not a changeling or Discord or something. What will our adorkable princess of magic and friendship have in store for our lovestruck traveler of worlds? Will she have kind words, kind magic, or perhaps an unfeeling experiment or two? Maybe she'll give him a proper tongue lashing as soon as he's safely tucked away? THEN begins the experiments! Who knows?! Not me! I didn't write that chapter yet.
There is a good chance Silver will be late to meet with Night, and that will make both sad.
Found an error. Just one.
(Probably because other people have found more.)
Extra "her" in there.
5799437 Oops, fixed. Liked the chapter?
5799461 Yep. Just not a big talker here.
Oh, it's always great to see Discord and has constant tipping towards impoliteness and kindess. You captured him well. It's unfortunate we never see much of him.
You forget his other
girl friendsFriend girls.The target of the dressing down was a unicorn stallion that kept adjusting his bowtie.
Hmmm....
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/e/ed/Perfect_Pace_unicorn_id_S02E26.png/revision/latest?cb=20130213110005
Great to hear! The first thing that you can learn is that lunar ponies typically don't like being called "bat ponies".