Night Watch took to the sky and flew in a few lazy circles and came back with a delicate frown. "It's not working."
Fast tilted her head. "Maybe...?" She looked confused.
Silver tapped his chin, "You've been flying since you were a little filly, right?"
Night nodded. "Sure have."
Silver rolled a hoof. "Maybe you're already putting all your magic in it, without thinking about it? Trying to do it my way will probably slow you down instead of speeding you up."
Night considered a moment. "That sounds logical."
Fast flashed a bright smile. "But it's good news for me."
Night frowned as a new thought came. "So... was the tooth thing because of what we did with Luna, or just a lack of practice?"
Silver shrugged. "We really can't know. Are lunar ponies taught how to bite things like that as foals?"
Night shook her head. "Not a normal thing. By the time that really comes up, you're in more specialized training as a guard..." She tapped her chin. "Worth investigating later."
The door to the house suddenly opened and Rainbow burst out, quickly lost to sight in the direction of Ponyville. Twilight waved at them, gesturing them closer from the doorway.
When they had all gathered in the Apple kitchen, with all the Apples but Apple Bloom in attendance, Twilight began to speak, "Alright, we think we have everything worked out. Rainbow got called off on map business, but she agrees with us."
Silver nodded. "Alright, what did you decide?"
Applejack moved up and nudged Silver. "That ya both were right rude competing over me like ah was a prize, but ya had yer heart in the right place."
Silver tinted faintly. "You said... you wanted it. I wouldn't do it if there was any doubt."
Applejack nodded. "That's why we're talkin'. The way ah see it, ya can't give me a normal foal, so I'm going to pass. Not because ah don't like ya or nuthin'. Yer a fine stallion, but ah want a normal foal, nothin' special." She leaned in. "Ya might have better luck with Dash. Ah think ya got her attention with yer fancy flying."
Silver only darkened further. "I'm not trying to sleep around!"
Fast waggled her brows. "As if you'd say no to that well-toned flank."
"Not helping!" Silver turned away. "I'm glad you've decided at least. I meant what I said. I'd rather be a friend than a stud if I have to pick between the two."
Applejack came up on Silver and hugged him from behind, squeezing. "And yer a mighty fine one. Now git, we got apples ta farm, and a sudden bumper crop of strawberries to see to thanks to some generous alicorn."
Silver rose with his wives to depart, to find Big Mac in the way. Mac held out a hoof towards Silver. "Sorry fer tha trouble, but ah gotta look out for mah sister."
Silver met the hoof with one of his own. "I remember thinking of you."
Big Mac's expression became that of shock and disbelief. Silver seemed to realize what he said and went as red as he could get. "Uh, I mean, back when I was a mare." That didn't sound better at all. "Ugh! Sorry!" He fled out the door. Night took off after him with concern, but Fast lingered behind.
She grinned at Big Mac. "You have no idea how confused Silver was as a mare."
"Nope."
She shook her head a little. "Probably for the best." She trotted past the still-dumbfounded stallion and took off on wings she didn't have before, eager to practice her internal channeling.
When they returned home, Silver sank heavily on his haunches in the living room and flopped over tiredly. Night came over and put a hoof on him, rubbing lightly across his ribs. "You were a great friend."
Silver snorted, legs kicking a little. "I'm glad they worked it out, but that was a lot of work to ultimately do nothing at all."
Night tilted her head. "Were you looking forward to doing something?"
Silver softly pawed at Night with a hoof. "Not a fair question. I want to be faithful but I'm not blind and I'm not a neuter."
Night leaned in. "Maybe I just like you when you're looking uncomfortable. Good thing you do it so often. Now remind me who your favorite is."
Silver grabbed Night and pulled her to the ground to lay beside him. "Caught her." He nuzzled into her cheek and neck, almost purring as he squeezed her. "I'm sorry for being a handful."
Night nestled in against Silver warmly and rolled, putting her bulk on top of him. "I'll make you pay it back with foalsitting duty."
Twilight walked up next to the two. "You handled yourself just fine, Silver Stars, but I do have some questions for you. That stunt with the strawberries. Even earth ponies don't normally have that strong of an effect. It's usually a slow and gradual process over the course of a growing season, not... that."
"That wasn't technically a question." Silver sat up, taking Night with him and still snuggling with her. "It was the first time I tried putting my magic in my hooves, and I controlled it very badly. That field got a full blast of alicorn magic."
Twilight tilted her head. "You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself then."
Silver snorted softly. "I'm pretty sure I did, but snuggles are proving to be a good medicine."
Twilight pinkened lightly, looking like she considered joining, but didn't move. "You'll show me your technique later?" Silver nodded and she seemed satisfied. "It seems Rainbow and Pinkie were called off by the map. I admit I thought it would always call me along, but no, just them."
Night turned around in Silver's grasp and adjusted her glasses. "You'll get your turn. For now, we have faith in them to get the job done, just like we'll have to trust in Silver to come back to us when he goes off with Celestia."
Twilight grit her teeth a moment before sighing. "You're right, of course. Maybe I'm just stuck on that and projecting. But going to the griffon lands? I'm simultaneously jealous and terrified. I hope everything works out..."
Silver waved a hoof. "I have a hard time imagining Pinkie not pulling through, and Rainbow's a mature mare, even if she has her moments. They'll figure it through. What are the griffon lands like anyway?"
Twilight shrugged. "Never been there." She rose to her hooves and started trotting off. "Call me if you need me." And she was gone, off to her own business.
Night sagged against Silver. "I don't suppose you could find another project for me before you go? The road's almost done."
Silver squeezed Night gently. "You did that as fast as you promised. I could, but aren't you..." He trailed off at seeing her tense up, ready to defend her right to be helpful through her pregnancy. "I'll find something. What would you say to a more educational role? Ponyville only has one teacher, and that's for foals. I think a town guard would be good for morale, and security, for both the town and the castle." He rubbed a hoof over the swell of her belly. "I'll look into that, but I think Twilight needs her turn to be reminded she's still amazing even if she is swollen."
Night suddenly frowned. "I feel stupid. Of course she's upset. She probably thinks she was skipped over due to her pregnancy. Go." She nudged Silver away and stood. "I'll be fine. Thank you."
Silver did depart, but not before he got a soft smooch from Night. He trotted off with a smile, feeling good about his place in his herd. He found Twilight angrily studying. These two words did not always fit well together, but she was managing it. He came up on her and put a hoof on her shoulder. She jumped in place with a squawk before spinning on him. Before she could yell at him, he kissed her on the nose. "I was looking for a fair and enchanting mare, and here she is."
Twilight's angry words died a sputtering death before she grunted inarticulately. She gathered herself before trying again. "Hello, Silver. I was reading up on..." Silver reached past her and casually shut the book. She frowned. "I was reading that..." Silver ignored her, closing each book he could find and even starting to put them away. "Hey! Listen to me!"
Silver let her lunge at him, only to wrap his legs around her neck and hug her tightly. "You have my complete attention, but I want yours in return. The rest of today is about us, and you're not getting rid of me."
Twilight's face went through a slow cycle of emotions, from anger to irritation to resignation to something else he wasn't entirely sure of. She put a hoof on his chest. "I'm already bloated like a balloon with our foal, you don't need to shadow me."
Silver pinned his ears back. "You know, ponies show love for each other for things besides putting foals in each other. I know you're down right now, Twilight, but I want to be there for you, and with you. Don't shove me away."
Twilight grit her teeth a moment before she let out a slow breath. "Right, yes... I'm still a little new to this... So what do you want to do?"
Silver nuzzled under one of Twilight's wings. "Anything you want to do, except work. If you want to read a fun book together, or go flying, or watch something, or eat, or we can go upstairs and I can try to put more foals in you, futile or not, the attempting can be its own reward."
Twilight burst into a soft laughter at that. "I'm not really in the mood for that, but thank you." Her horn glowed as she grabbed a book and pulled it through the air to hover in front of Silver. "I want you to read this. Fast told me how you do things, and it's fairly similar to an Eastern practice. The ponies who invented it were ponies for longer than you, maybe it'll help."
Silver accepted the book, but set it aside. "Thank you. I will read that, but you're stuck with me for today. I already said that, and I mean it."
Twilight grunted with some annoyance, then turned away, spreading her wings. "Get preening."
Silver hadn't had too much experience with preening, thankful that his own wings didn't need that particular care. Experienced or not, he leaned in and took the first large feather into his mouth, running through from base to tip carefully. He could taste Twilight on each feather he worked on. It was like giving a tongue bath. Her soft squirms and little noises didn't help. By the time he finished the first wing, Twilight was more than warmed up. Silver didn't get a chance to get to the other wing before he was showing his love in a more rhythmic fashion. He did eventually finish the job, when the two had sprawled over each other, worn but happy.
Was silver a lunicorn when he gave night watch a foal? I forgot
a vary happy chapter with a rather full filling ending.
it left Silver and Twilight tired and happy.
Harts Fire
He's a fine "stallion."
The "still-dumbfounded" stallion.
There are two spaces between these sentences.
She's bloated like a "balloon."
6010169 Fixed with love and care.
6010222 So for the second time in a row we have the show intruding on what the characters happen to be doing in this fic. While I suppose that's somewhat inevitable, it's happened so little so far - and seems even smaller, since the show is weekly, compared to this fic's daily updates - that it feels jarring when it does occur.
In this case, it's slightly more forgivable, not because of any authorial acrobatics on David's part, but simply because this week's episode was an interruption by its very nature. The map flashes its version of the Bat Signal, and the Mane Six (or at least some of them) have to drop what they're doing and get to work. That's going to be true whether they're baking, working on family-planning problems, or whatnot. So in that regard, this chapter worked far better than the last time this fic had to dance around a new episode of MLP.
That doesn't make it any less frustrating that Rainbow's presence was suddenly yanked out of this particular plot-thread, however. There was clearly a give-and-take being built up regarding how Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt about having Silver stud for them, as a couple. But with Rainbow Dash suddenly absent, it was reduced to all "take." The end result is that this chapter sputters out halfway through, and meanders towards a conclusion, ending not with a bang, but with a whimper. Silver even comments that this felt like much ado about nothing, and he's right. It does.
Going through this chapter point-by-point, I was glad to see that the impact of Silver teaching Night and Fast how to channel their internal magic was dialed back somewhat. That's really good, because having an OC brazenly usher in some sort of paradigm-changing revolution because their foreign perspective lets them come up with some new way of doing things that's completely orthogonal to how they've been done up until now is - to my mind - one of the (admittedly lesser) hallmarks of a Mary Sue (to use a loaded term). Given that Silver is a natural spell-innovator, as well as the apparent lynchpin for the hopes of the Lightning Wheel (who've been mercifully absent since promising to turn over their former leader), I'm honestly a little shocked at how well it's avoided this particular danger up until now.
That's doubly true because Fast and (especially) Night need something to help them stand out against the backdrop of alicorns that they're suddenly in a (somewhat loosely-defined) relationship with. That's not to say that they need to have some way to compete with the alicorns on equal hoofing - indeed, I think that forcing a sense of meritocratic equality between them would feel unnatural - but they do need something to make them more than just normal ponies that happen to have caught Silver's eye. Fast has already largely completed this particular transition, being the pinnacle of shape-shifting. Night, however, needs something more than keen insight (and imminent motherhood). Hopefully, this new-found ability, while not unique, will bolster her sense that she's special even when held against the alicorn princesses.
Now if only Tumble can get the same treatment...
Ahem. Having said all of that, the issue with how things resolved with the Apple family was interesting, but ultimately wasn't fulfilling simply because most of the character exposition happened off-screen, which means that we don't know the significance of why Applejack doesn't want Silver to be a stud for her. Oh, we got her stated explanation, which essentially boiled down to "your child would be too weird for me," but there's a problem with her reasoning here, one that's easy to miss on the first (or even second or third) read-through.
See, Applejack thinks that Silver's progeny would be too outre for her, too abnormal. Okay, fair enough...but then she goes and suggests that Silver get his hump on with Rainbow and knock her up instead. That's where she loses me, because whether she or Rainbow are the ones who carry the child to term, it's still going to be their foal; her's and Rainbow's both - AJ even gave Silver a stern lecture about exactly that. So if they're both going to be its parents, if they're both going to raise it, nurture it, and love it, then why is Applejack too concerned about Silver giving them a weird foal to let him stud her while at the same time fine with him studding Rainbow Dash, since that'd still give them a weird foal?
The only explanation that I can see is that Applejack is drawing some sort of line between whether she or Rainbow is the one whom Silver impregnates, but that's problematic. That's because, since her stated explanation is "you can't give me a normal foal," then that necessarily implies that any foal that Rainbow bears won't be "her's," (Applejack's) even though they're both raising it. In other words, that she won't love that foal as much if she isn't the one that carries it, and that's an awful thought.
Even if it's understandable to think that a child which has none of your genetic material isn't really "yours," that's still a sharp rebuke to the idea that parents could love an adopted child as much as a biological one. Now, I don't doubt that there are people, and ponies, that think that...but I have a hard time seeing Applejack being that prejudiced. That's especially true since she was the one that turned in the enchanted heartstone, due to the fact that she was fine with studding or adoption in the first place.
All of that brings me around to thinking that there has to be some other reason for why Applejack would think that Silver's seed was too weird for her, but fine for Rainbow, despite the fact that the two mares would both be parenting the child either way. However, I'm completely unable to think of what that reason is, and that's rather vexing. We need this particular plot-point to be expounded upon: what was Applejack thinking when she said that?
Also, it was funny to have Silver's sex dream be brought back into play, but it was done in such a heavy-hoofed way that it robbed the scene of a lot of its humor. Silver's confession literally came out of nowhere; he just blurted it out without any sort of hint that he was thinking about that at all. It would have worked a lot better if there'd been some mention earlier in the chapter that Silver was reminded about that for some reason, and it was on his mind. But then, that'd require exposition, to which I say: David, embrace your savior, Diegesis!
Moving beyond that, this is where the chapter largely petered out. The characters honestly seemed to be shooting the breeze for most of the second half, as Night and Silver retreaded some snuggle time before Silver talked to Twilight about her frustration with being pregnant.
In all honesty, this entire segment came across as a missed opportunity, simply because there was a lot more that could have been done here rather than retreading familiar ground. Night and Silver had an opportunity to talk, really talk, about how she felt about how much he's started sleeping around, to say nothing of how this is likely only going to pick up in the future. Notwithstanding her pregnancy hormones, Night is unusually beside herself over this issue, and was even forthright about that via her emotion-sharing bite last chapter. This could have been a chance to explore that angle a little further.
Similarly, the situation with Twilight being depressed over her pregnancy inhibiting her ability to do things (or so she presumed) may have been new ground for Twilight as a character, but wasn't new for this story as a narrative thread. Twilight is just retreading ground that we've already had thoroughly explored by Night Watch; she's not bringing anything new to the story at this point. That's a shame, especially since Twilight should be doing exactly that - at the very least, I'd have thought that she'd be devouring books on what pregnant mothers can expect and being all nerdy about the mechanics of what she's experiencing versus what she knows intellectually about pregnancy. Basically, that she'd be the scientific contrast to Zecora's much more zen-like approach to preparing for motherhood.
Ah well, hopefully things will pick up with Rainbow's (presumptive) return in the next chapter.
I don't think there should be "the" and "a" in the same sentence and part.
6011174 Sorry for being slow in responding to this. It's Saturday, which means Ponyfinder day!
Today's been a bit hectic o_o.
Sorry for dropping the ball it seems? The hints are, as usual with me, written between the lines. The fact that Applejack is OK with Rainbow being knocked up is very telling, as you said, you just didn't figure out what it's telling. There's no way her girl is going to have a foal and she's not going to be all the partner and then mother she can be. That's not really Applejack's flavor.
Twilight is definitely reading books, but she isn't sharing her mother reading with Silver. She shoved a book she thought was much more specific to him at him, but he was insistent and got her out of her shell enough for some physical affection. It was a minor victory, but a victory still. It was also nice that Night could, once reminded, sympathize with her co-wife and send Silver on his mission with her blessings.
6011351 Okay, I've been thinking more about what you said - that I picked up on the hints, but misinterpreted them - and there's only one thing that I can come up with:
Applejack was lying about Silver's foal being too weird for her. The real reason is that she doesn't want to have sex with Silver.
That's a bit odd, for several reasons. The first is that, quite simply, Applejack doesn't lie (as a generality). She was the Element of Honesty, after all, and while she can dissemble, it's not in her nature to do so. Beyond that, I'm not sure why she'd bother lying in the first place; Silver has been very forthright that he's fine with whatever she decides, so there isn't much reason for her to want to spare his feelings (especially since saying "your kids would be too weird" isn't exactly sparing his feelings anyway).
That's leaving aside questions of why she wouldn't want to have sex with Silver to begin with, presuming that I'm right. Again, I'm not sure what the answer would be here. The major reason that comes to mind is simply that, unlike how most of the mares in this story seem to be comfortably bisexual, Applejack is entirely homosexual, and simply has no desire to be with any stallion in that way. That's not necessarily far-fetched, since other than being told through a third party (Rainbow, a few chapters back) that AJ was considering having Silver stud for her, we haven't seen her evince any heterosexual desires...and even then, it's not impossible to imagine that she'd "take one for the team" if there was no other way for her and Rainbow to have a foal.
That's not necessarily the best explanation, though, since AJ did seem determined to go through with it before that contest craziness abounded. Maybe she simply didn't realize that Rainbow was willing to be the one to do it with Silver before they both went in the house and talked it over? Of course, that again brings up the issue of why she wasn't honest about simply not wanting him to breed her...maybe she's embarrassed to admit that she only likes mares? Though that flies in the face of how lesbian couples have no social stigma in Equestria.
It's a viable alternate explanation, albeit an imperfect one.