~Silver, may I transport you? It's not far.~
Silver hung his head a moment before straightening himself. ~Yes, go ahead.~ "Be right back." And he was gone.
He appeared in a small library. Of course, any room in Twilight's castle that wasn't being used for something else specifically was a library. Luna was there, seated and nodding at him. "Welcome, Silver, please, sit with me." She gestured with a wing to a pillow in front of herself.
Hesitantly, he advanced on the pillow and sat on it. "It's been so long."
"About two weeks." She cocked her head lightly. "Your tone implies it felt much longer. Will you speak to me about it?"
Silver frowned. "I don't... I don't know what's true anymore. Even what I think I know, it could be a lie. Even what fills me with anger, or sadness." He glanced away. "I don't want to talk about it... Even what I think I know could set off a war, and I don't even know if it'd be true."
Luna curled a wing, brushing it along the bottom of Silver's snout. "Tell me what you can. Name no names if you must. I would see you mended and returned to us."
Silver fidgeted softly in place a moment. "If I told you..."
Luna sighed. "I would hate a pony forever. Twilight mentioned this. We care not. Tell us and let us be the judge, without names, if you must."
Silver took a slow breath. "I have a few questions. How can I dream without you seeing it?"
Luna blinked and looked thoughtful. "I would think this not to be possible. If you were in the dream world, I would notice it. Even if your dream gateway was entirely barred, it would still be there, simply unable to be opened. Why?"
Silver pointed at himself. "That is not true."
Luna frowned. "Is that so? Tell me more. How is that not so."
Silver shuffled the knowledge of the 'dream' and what he both hoped and dreaded was a more true reality he sat in. "Can I ask you to keep a secret, to only speak of it after the fact, if at all?"
Luna's ears pricked up. "You have my word, assuming it does not cause or prevent harm to another."
Silver lifted a hoof. "No, no... Night will give birth first, a daughter, Clear Twilight, dark blue with some silver streaks. The other, colt, Morning Glory, brown fur, lavender mane and tail. Both will be the tribe you had hoped..."
Luna frowned a little. "How can you be so certain of this, especially their names? It is the mother that gives the name, traditionally, do you plan to override them?"
"No." Silver clopped softly. "On whatever value my word has, I will not whisper a thing of what I just told you. Let them choose on their own, and let this be proven true or false..."
Luna gave a slowly expanding smile. "Two lunar unicorns... Born of such talented ponies, mother and father both. It hasn't happened yet, but to hear you say it, it feels as if it already has. Both!" She shook her forehooves in a tremble. "Are you certain, both?" When Silver nodded, she squealed. "We apologize. The excitement is overwhelming us. My amazing stud, you would strike two on your first two attempts." She advanced on Silver and was suddenly over him, kissing into his neck and along his snout.
He remembered she'd never had the sting of Celestia's betrayal, but was that even true? "Luna?"
She paused in her affection and drew back. "Yes?"
"Check on all the mares you had me sire with. Make sure they're well. Assume something's wrong with all of them and do whatever you can to make it not wrong."
Luna scowled at the idea. "What? What could be wrong with them?"
"I pray nothing..." He let out a slow sigh. "Would you... Would you be hurt if I didn't feel up for studding?"
"Right now?" Luna snorted. "You are hurt, injured. I would not imagine to press you to such duties. Please, relax and recover for as long as you need. Precious prince of mine." She kissed him on the nose. "Even if you never say yes again, We would bid you to recover and be well again." She glanced away then met his eyes. "We love you."
He smiled slowly, but the ghosts of the past that may or may not have happened stole that smile away. "I..." He wanted to speak of how he had tried to make a foal with Celestia, several times. How he had come to new thoughts with Luna. How... How much of it was true at all?
Luna hugged him tightly. "Enough. We have pressed you enough for one day. We will return when we are ready to speak further. For now, be well." She stepped free of him, ruffling her wings. "I have a pony I must speak with." As Silver rolled up to sitting, she took flight, and was soon gone on large wings.
Silver emerged from the library, feeling just a little better. Telling her that, and having that root, to know if some was truth or lie, that helped... "Twilight?"
With a flash, she appeared, gravid and still swelling. "Yes?"
Silver smiled. "Is that safe, with the foal?"
"Of course it is. You think I didn't do exhaustive research before hoof?" She leaned in and put her nose to Silver's.
Silver smiled briefly. "Knowing you, you either did an entire paper on it, or you didn't think about it until I just brought it up."
Twilight shoved him lightly. "Hmmph. Anyway, what's up?"
Silver ruffled his wings as he looked her over. She was a special kind of mesmerizing while working to bring a foal into the world. That's when he noticed it, and he felt the blood drain from his snout. "T-twilight, what's that?" He pointed to a jewel hanging from her horn, almost lost in her mane.
"Hmm?" She went cross-eyed looking for it, then her magic grabbed it and pulled it out. "Oh, I guess I won't need this." She tossed it aside. "It was supposed to be a little surprise, for you actually." She laughed nervously. "It was a stupid idea anyway. You probably would have hated it..."
"No!" Silver put his hooves on her shoulders. "No! It was a lovely gift. Thank you, Twilight. Thank you for thinking of me this way." How did Celestia know Twilight would think of that? She shouldn't have known... "Thank you..."
Twilight went red in her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose. "Y-you're welcome, Silver, but I didn't even give it to you. Do you even know what you're thanking me for?"
Silver licked over his fangs. "Tell me if I'm off track, but that's a memory crystal."
"Yes."
"You were going to wear it through your pregnancy."
"Right?"
"And through the birth, then give it to me, to experience the whole thing."
Her blush returned with a vengeance. "You hate it. You can be honest with me."
"No!" Silver nuzzled under her snout and gently nibbled. "No... It was perfect..." That was a thing he'd miss, but would he? He could still remember it. He could remember being Twilight, waddling around, giving birth... It was so powerful. He could feel new tears sprouting from the old memory. "Please, go ahead. Even if I'll be there with you, go ahead. This is the gift you planned, and it's a great one."
Twilight slowly set the crystal back on her head. "Are you sure? Thinking on it, I feel kinda stupid coming up with it. You weren't exactly asked before the last time you became a mare, and here I am, about to throw that on you."
Silver sat up. "The first act was done out of fear and blind loyalty. This one? Love. Sometimes that can make a large difference." He put a hoof on his chest. "I love you too, Twilight. I will be there for you, as a stallion, and later, as you." He smiled. "Where can I get a memory crystal? We can swap afterwards, have both sides of the event for both of us to enjoy later."
"Oh! That's a great idea." She flashed a smile. "I'll get one for Night Watch too." She rose up on her burdened legs, her belly pleasantly widened. "I'll do it right now, alright?"
Silver nuzzled her cheeks gently. "Thank you. I can't even express how much I'm looking forward to being here, instead of god knows where."
"Me too." She nipped at one of his ears, then vanished away.
Silver felt a little more energetic, and trotted up towards the observatory, to find Night Watch up there, writing in a book. "Night?"
Night slammed the book shut with her wings and spun to face Silver. "Silver! What's up?"
Silver raised a brow. "We share a talent, remember? What were you writing that made you jump like that?"
"Nothing."
Silver just stared at her. She grabbed the book she was writing in and stuffed it in a saddlebag. "A mare is allowed to have some privacy. Anyway, you look better?" She tilted her head. "A little. What happened?"
Silver approached her with a little smile. "Maybe just remembering how lucky I am to have such a ravishing wife?"
Night rolled her eyes. "Twenty percent." Despite that, she approached and they kissed gently. "It's good to see you on the mend. If you need anything, you'll shout, right?"
"Except what you're writing?"
"Except that."
Silver nuzzled along her side, reaching her gravid side. She was much more rounded than Twilight. She was clearly going to pop first. "What can I do for you, impending mother?"
Night sat on her haunches and rested a hoof on that belly of hers. "Keep getting better. I want you to be all there when the time comes, to share it with me. You don't even know how sad I was to know you wouldn't be there, but now here you are. Let's enjoy that, together."
Silver kissed that hoof resting on his future foal. He wanted to whisper to her, but censored her name. "Little foal, I can't wait to see you. Your mother's working so hard to make you right now."
Night huffed. "It's not easy. I don't think I'll want to do it again." She leaned back slowly. "I don't regret this time though. I don't... regret what we've done. Both of us, together."
Silver nodded quickly as he nestled in with her. "Never." He didn't remember ever seeing Night scribbling much in a journal, certainly never secretly... "Are you worried?"
"For you?" Night tilted her head. "I'd be lying if I said no." She sat up. "But take your time. You'll bounce back. I know it."
I am still vary scared for silver something Is just not right and I am getting a vary bade feeling that death is close at hand.
at the lest I don't know how Silver can ever forgive Celestia for this and I hate to think how Luna will handle it when she finds out the truth.
Now I feel like Celestia used some major cutie mark mojo to put Silver into some version of a future sight dream.
any book in Twilight's castle - any room/space in Twilight's castle
set on it - sat on it
rest a hoof - rested a hoof
*****
These are the chapters I enjoy the most, though it's tempered with a little apprehension that the other shoe could drop at any time. Although Silver is hurting and completely displaced in time and untrusting of reality, the love and concern for all those whose lives he has touched in a positive way is heartwarming in the same way that drew me into this story to begin with.
Separately, seeing (so to speak) Luna squee with joy was worth the price of admission and then some. It's a shame that Silver didn't think to, nor had a means to, record it for posterity.
I wonder what spell Twilight and Luna are using to be instantly aware and responsive to Silver's call. It reminds me of a certain jackaless that Silver may have never encountered...
- Philosophical rambling below this point -
There is still so much up in the air. How does one determine if their perceptions are true? Descartes posed the elegant solution of determining the existence of the self, 'I think, therefore I am,' but ultimately ended up begging the question to prove that anything more than the self actually exists. Silver certainly has some philosophical hurdles to clear before he can solve this particular dilemma.
His little test of his memory vs. 'reality' is really no test at all. If he is still dreaming then of course things will play out as he expects. If things turn out differently, it could be simply be his mind playing tricks to protect his psyche. No new information or part of anything he perceives is separate from his own mind, and over thinking it leads to chasing one's own tail in an infinite loop. In the end all anyone can do is to decide to accept things as we perceive them as reality and learn to not worry too much. Just concentrate on being a good person within the limits of our senses.
However, Equestria is a land of magic and perhaps there are other ways, not available to the poor, magic deprived beings of this world, to determine the true nature of reality. Perhaps Discord may offer some insight if he's really there. Of course, anything that causes anyone to doubt DisQord's existence would probably be seen as an insult and a personal challenge…
6746392 Fixed, and thanks for your input, love it!
Silver doesn't want to think he's in some kind of inception recursive -thing-. That would be beyond his ability to cope. He wants to live a life, for real. In some ways, this is a great chance. He can be there for his foal's births and welcome them with warm smiles.
Maybe Starlight and other mares weren't scarred by the terrible events he remembered. Maybe things can be better now?
It's nice to be wrong sometimes.
We're still learning toward the ship holding them captive idea. Twilight wasn't the least bit suspicious of his oddly specific knowledge of the memory ring and what she was doing with it. If memory serves she only even shared it's existence with Night after the birthing? I Dunno, her reaction was not expected...
Keep going! ;)
Am I the only one here thinking "time loop"?
So far, I'm liking where this is going, without the complications of the overseas stuff. Though I am a bit disappointed to never know what happened to the Anubians, also that Celestia and Luna aren't reincarnated humans.