Fast pulled the blanket off of Silver, then blinked, "What happened to you?!"
Silver blinked her sleepy eyes, staggering up to her hooves, "Huh?"
Fast waved a hoof at Silver, "You're all... prettied up. I didn't even know your mane had a 'not frizzy' option."
Silver flushed lightly, "Rarity had her way with me."
Fast cocked a brow at that, "And you didn't invite me to see that?"
Silver shook herself out lightly, pausing a moment as she realized she was feeling her hair bounce in new ways, "Not like that. I don't think she has that kind of interest in me. She just decided to make me an art project."
Fast moved up, nuzzling Silver on either cheek, "Well, it worked. You're pretty as all get out. How do you feel?"
Silver looked herself over, "Wearing a dress is not something I had planned."
Fast poked at the dress, "You really shouldn't sleep in it, it'll get all wrinkled." Her horn glowed and the dress fell free of the wrinkles it had gained, freshened and ready. "There we go. Want some breakfast?"
They proceeded to the living area of the castle. It seemed most of the residents of the tower were of like mind. Night was talking with Jake about something, while Twilight was speaking with Spike. Waves and nods were exchanged before food was nibbled on.
Twilight looked at Silver, then away, then back again, "Silver Stars."
Silver looked up at Twilight, ear perked, "Have another experiment today?"
Twilight shook her head, "Not like the other ones... You're... looking nice today. Um, no, today I want to do some reading. You're from another world, right?"
Silver shrank a little on being complimented, as if unsure what to do with it, but she nodded quickly, "Yes. What did you want to know about it?"
Twilight smiled, "I was hoping we could compare literature. We can pick a book and read it together, and you can tell me how it might have differed if one of your people had written it?"
Silver tilted her head, "Sure! That sounds like it could be fun."
Jake chuckled, "Awesome, reading date." He departed to the kitchen and returned without the bowl he'd been carried. "Hey, Silver, if you're not the human ambassador anymore, who is?"
Silver blinked, "Nopony, last I checked. Celestia might have picked a new one? I'd hope she would send a letter to you if she had."
Jake pat Silver on the head once, "What's with the new style? You're looking a little froufrou today."
Night smiled, "It's not a bad look. You look much more like a mare, if that was the intention."
Spike looked Silver over, "Was it Rarity?"
Silver bobbed her head, "And Aloe and Lotus. Those three seemed to take special delight in taking away my scruffy usual appearance."
Twilight nodded lightly, "That sounds like them."
Silver suddenly perked up, "Oh! I found out why I've been changing."
"Luna?" asked Fast.
Silver nodded, "Well, yes, but I mean why she was doing it. It isn't nearly so sinister as we assumed."
Night waved a wing, "Go on, don't keep us in suspense."
Silver considered how best to explain it, "Well, to make it simple, I'm young. Foalbearing could be a long, painful process that could have left permanent injuries if things went badly. Luna is encouraging the growth to make sure everything comes out alright, pun intended."
Fast raised a brow, "Hard to find fault in that, though this reminds me that we really should get both of you mothers-to-be a caretaker."
Jake volunteered, "What about Zecora? She strikes me as the type that would be great for this."
Silver quickly agreed with a bob, "She does have that sort of wisdom. I would feel pretty safe if she was looking over things."
Night spread her wings, "Then I have my job for the day. Spike, care to come with me? You know the way and you know Zecora, right?"
Spike quickly scampered over to Night and was soon mounted up, "Let's go!"
The two left shortly as Jake looked to Twilight, "He was a bit eager, don't you think?"
Twilight snorted with a smile, "Don't say I told you, but he's been curious about lunar pegasi for a while."
Fast finished up her meal and set the bowl aside, "So, reading date... I'm going to explore Ponyville a bit. I'll see you all later." She rose and made herself scarce with a knowing grin on her face.
Jake gave a light wave, "I'll join the crowd. I promised I'd help out at the schoolhouse today."
Twilight raised a brow, "What do they need?"
Jake shrugged, "Nothing fancy, just some repair work that's easier with hands. Miss Cheerilee said she wanted the foals to see a not-pony working around too, for diversity exposure or whatever. See ya later!" And soon he was gone as well, leaving Twilight with Silver.
Silver sat there, watching Twilight with uncertainty. Twilight smiled a little, "Let's pick a book."
They proceeded to the library, where Twilight quickly plucked down a selection of novels and spread them before Silver. "I'll let you pick one."
Silver looked them over curiously. The first three were Daring Do novels, then what appeared to be a sci-fi novel. There were more, but Silver stopped at the sci-fi book and pointed at it, "This one should be interesting."
Twilight quickly set the other books back in their place, "Beyond the Sky," she read, "I remember this one. Why did you pick this one, if you don't mind me asking?"
Silver flipped the book open to the first page, "Science is one of the biggest differences between our people. We don't have magic, so we only have cold, hard science to fall back on, so we ran with it. Is this book actually speculative?"
Twilight tilted her head, "I'm not sure I know what you mean?"
Silver wobbled a hoof in the air, "Is it based on science as it is known and built from it in a logical way, or is it a flight of fancy on the part of the author?"
Twilight frowned, "I... don't actually know. I'm not sure anypony looked at it quite that way before. How can you write a fictional story about real science?"
Silver smiled brightly and began to explain, any tension she had forgotten as she spoke, "Well, it's fictional because the author tried to take the science we know and extrapolate to the next step. For instance, if you know... Huh, give me an example of a new technology, for ponies."
Twilight tapped at her chin softly, "Movies are new."
Silver bobbed her head, "Great, that works. Now imagine a world where movies become so commonplace, that everyone, everywhere, has a movie watcher in their own home. Movies would be made all the time, and people would take it for granted that there would be one, if not several, choices at a given time. Imagine if movies were so common that they were released on a specific schedule, allowing entire series to be watched over weeks, like ponies watch sporting events live now."
Twilight scrunched her face in thought, "That sounds... impossible."
Silver raised a hoof, "With today's technologies, but what about tomorrow's? Is it theoretically possible? The world I described was already a reality back home."
Twilight recoiled a little, "You're joking! Everyone has a movie watcher, er, projector?"
Silver nodded, "Many people had several, one in bedrooms, one in the living room. We had small devices that could play movies on the go. You couldn't get away from them, practically. A good science-fiction writer takes what is already there and tries to paint a picture of what it could be, logically."
Twilight tilted her head, "What about books? Did they advance?"
Silver considered a moment, "Well... they stopped being books, in part."
Twilight frowned, "Come again?"
Silver glanced around, "Well, we got really good at showing things, like the movies, so someone thought, hey, why not show a book the same way? A lot of reading happens the same way, through the movie watchers. I could fit this entire library." Silver waved over the books, "In a device this big." She held her hooves not far apart. "And be able to search for text in a snap, the entire library!"
Twilight looked indignant, "Now I know you're just teasing me!"
Silver tilted her head, "But you get to control the weather and do magic. Neither world is... better, just different." She smiled at Twilight, "I like it here though."
Twilight smiled back a little, then tilted her head, "Wait, you have no weather control at all? How do you get anything done?"
Silver shrugged, "By accepting it. Sometimes it'll rain when you want to be outside. Sometimes it won't rain at all and an area may suffer for it. We solved a lot of the reliance on weather by working together. A place without water could buy water from a place that does, and so on. We developed really good skill at predicting the weather, even if we couldn't change it."
Twilight settled beside Silver and lifted the book. Silver had forgotten it in her eager explanations, but they soon settled together and began to read. They had a good time.
Outside, Fast hissed at Jake, "What're they doing now?"
Jake, with his height advantage, peeked in through the window, "They're all snuggled up side-by-side and reading from a book."
Fast bobbed her head, "Are they kissing yet?"
Jake shrugged, "Doesn't look like it?"
Fast frowned then, looking thoughtful, "We should let them be. I think they're doing fine." She rose to her hooves and stretched out, "So what is there fun to do around here?"
Jake pointed off towards the school, "I wasn't lying before. I do have to help out. Want to come with?"
Fast shrugged, "Lead the way, big guy. More hooves gets the job done faster."
Later, Night Watch returned with Spike riding her. She looked to Twilight and Silver, who had apparently lapsed into a nap at some point. She smiled a little, content to leave the scene as it is, but Spike spoke up, "Hey, Twi! Letter!"
Twilight jerked upright, which woke Silver up quickly. Twilight looked around before focusing on Spike. She grabbed the letter in his claws with her magic and pulled it over to unfurl the scroll. "Celestia wants to see you, and is visiting tomorrow," she announced, glancing at Silver.
Fast frowned a little, "Twilight... I know this is a lot to ask of you, but this is your tower, and I'm going to ask you to behave like a princess. Do not allow Celestia to intimidate Silver."
Twilight looked baffled, "Celestia wouldn't do that! Silver is a good pony, I'm sure she's coming for something nice." She clopped her hooves, "Maybe to thank you for the Crystal Empire?"
Silver smiled nervously, "I'll hope so then..."
There are two spaces between "me" and "an."
There's no need for the comma after "painful."
Twilight "raised" a brow.
You don't need for the comma after "hard."
There should be an apostrophe in "tomorrow's."
5844037 Typos lovingly fixed, with fire.
5843893
if I remember Luna warned Silver of this up front but it did not help the pan she caused Silver and still is.
yes she is helping and it needs to happen if Silver and her little one is going to live during berth but it is going to be harder for silver to go back stallion if she wants to. after all after berth a stallion will not be able to suckle a full and that is normally 6 mounts here on earth I have a feeling it is longer in Equestria.
Harts Fire
5844050 Things slow back down in this chapter, with some chit-chat about the future largely framing Twilight and Silver's "date." I use the quotation marks there because this wasn't much of a date, and more like an experiment that was simply framed in a more social setting. The activity was still Twilight pumping Silver for information, with Silver willingly complying. The last time I checked, dating was more focused on learning about the other person, and figuring out if you were compatible (e.g. if you enjoyed each other's company). The only real forward progress here was that the setting was more relaxed, and it was more conversational than simply reading charts and data monitors.
It was cute that they fell asleep next to each other, and I suppose it was nice that Twilight could be in Silver's presence without freaking out, but if it took an intervention just to get this sham of a "date" together, I really don't see any hope for a relationship between the two of them. Simply put, Twilight is showing no sign of being in a place where she's emotionally ready for that kind of commitment. I hope that she'll be warm and loving towards her foal, but as it stands it's probably better for her and Silver not to try being together if this is the best that Twilight can muster with regards to the mother of her child. Maybe she could keep trying, and give it an honest chance, but as it looks right now, there's simply nothing there. (That makes total sense of course. Silver has been watching Twilight's adventures for years, whereas Twilight barely knows Silver at all. It's hard to fall in love with a near-total stranger.)
Also, why the heck is Twilight so ignorant about the human world? Hasn't she been there (or at least, to another one) twice now (via Canterlot High)?
It was cute how Fast and Jake were spying on the two of them. I thought that they might try to get more involved, making this a comedic bumbling of "trying to set the mood," but maybe it's for the best that things didn't go that route. Too predictable. That said, I did like that Zecora is being brought in as a nursemaid - she's the perfect sort for that sort of job, and I'd imagine that Night is starting to show, though it seems like it'd be too early for Silver to be that far along yet.
Insofar as Celestia's forthcoming visit. I'd imagine that there's a chance that she's there to apologize, having seen what Luna showed her of Silver's dreams. But on the other hoof, she might be there for something else altogether (my earlier post had my thoughts on that), so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. It's worth considering how Twilight might act if she sees Celestia bullying Silver, but that'd be a difficult path to walk, since she's so inclined to accept that whatever Celestia does is right in the first place - after all, Twilight was quite happy to experiment on Silver without her consent, and even try and force a sex-change, all with Celestia's say-so. Her friends later told her how awful that was, but Twilight doesn't seem to have made the connection that that behavior that she now realizes was awful was not only approved by Celestia, but was her idea to begin with.
None of that will matter if Celestia asks to speak to Silver in private, of course, which seems like the best way for her to go about it, but it could lead to the first rift between Celestia and Twilight. It's funny how Silver keeps sowing disharmony between the princesses...
hum a interesting chapter it seams Twilight and Silver may be getting closer but I know David Silver and he tends to jerk the rug so to speak out from under ones hooves.
not to me mean David Silver.
"Celestia" hum.?
Harts Fire
5844092 I think you're being a mite harsh on Twilight. This is literally the next day, and it was Silver that eagerly doled out information, because Silver is enthusiastic on the topic, not because Twilight pumped her for information. Twilight framed her activity around something she was comfortable with, reading and learning. It would be... unnatural, and forced, if Twilight had pulled a 180 right then and there and swept Silver off her hooves on a whirlwind romantic dinner or something of the like.
I thought it was a lovely day spent between the two, but maybe I read too much into it?
Wisdom by Jake. I am amazed.
I'll
5844114 It's entirely possible that I'm being harsh. I just expected that Twilight would want to learn more about Silver herself rather than have her talk about the differences between pony and human literature. It doesn't have to be dinner and dancing, but I thought she'd show more interest in who Silver was, rather than data-mining.
The setting was nice, and it was sweet that they could spend time together in a more relaxed atmosphere, but did Twilight learn anything about Silver, as a person, that she didn't already know? Did Twilight learn anything about how she feels towards Silver, if she likes her or not? Was there any sense of her figuring out if she wants a more emotionally-intimate connection?
I might very well be asking for too much too soon. Friendship should be the foundation of romance, and friendship is formed through common bonds. In that respect, this might be a very good step in the right direction - they start hanging out, talking, and forming a friendship that might one day lead to romance. It's just that Silver has already skipped to the last step, and Twilight seems to be taking her sweet time.
I think this one will fit better with how and what i want to do to Celestia right now...
Well Done! I enjoyed reading about Silvers Twilight Time. Slow paced is best when getting to know someone, and this is Twily at her best. Can't wait for the next chapter!
Yeah no, Celestia is definitely there to rip out the night Magic out.
Silver considered how best to explain it, "Well, to make it simple, I'm young. Foalbearing
could be a long, painful process that could have left permanent injuries if things went badly. Luna
is encouraging the growth to make sure everything comes out alright, pun intended."
What pun?
Twilight quickly set the other books back in their place, "Beyond the Sky," she read, "I
remember this one. Why did you pick this one, if you don't mind the asking?"
I have never heard "the asking" together so it would be more like...
Twilight quickly set the other books back in their place, "Beyond the Sky," she read, "I
remember this one. Why did you pick this one, if you don't mind measking?"
Fast frowned then, looking thoughtful, "We should let them be. I think they're doing
fine." She rose to her hooves and stretched out, "So what is there fun to do around here?"
I think it would be better written like this...
Fast frowned then, looking thoughtful, "We should let them be. I think they're doing fine."
She rose to her hooves and stretched out, "So what is some fun things to do around here?"
6526544 A baby, comes out. Comes out alright, a saying meaning everything went well. Everything comes out alright, a pun, now destroyed by explanation. You have ruined the joke forever.
6526545 Fixed!
6526596
yes this is her tower, but i think that it would be more context appropriate if she said that this was her demesne.
Must've been a self-published one then, because otherwise it would have gone through several revisions to maximize typo eradication. I'm surprised that neither Silver or Twilight chose to make corrective marks and/ comment to send back to the author of such erroneous work.
froufrou
6823707 Fixed!
6823740 Question time: Twi has done the EG movies at this point, surely she has first hand experience of television by now?
6930032 She would have laid eyes on a monitor like device, tes.
I just realized... Someone once commented that Night and Fast lived their characterizations for Silver, and the next chapter or two Night and Fast got their own things to do. Now we're firmly back to Silver's life running Fast's and Night's.
7751027 There is a reason, though not one you are privy to yet.