The Silver Stars

by David Silver

77 - You're Doing Well

Silver found herself in a familiar black space. "Text?"

'I am here. As you are. Your path is most unfavorable.'

Silver tilted her head at the words. "How do you figure? Everything's working out pretty well. I couldn't really recall a better time."

'You draw too much to yourself. My purpose is compromised by it.'

Silver wobbled a hoof. "You mean the royal sisters?"

'I will turn their paths away from yours. You should be happy with what you have.'

Silver summoned an image of Luna and gestured at her. "What's wrong with Luna? I was with her before..."

'Choose. Luna, or Twilight?'

Silver frowned and huffed. "What if I take both, and Celestia while we're 'haggling'? You don't control things, you j--"

Silver was thrown bodily onto her bed, her old bed, on Earth. She was still an alicorn however. She bounced up to her hooves and hopped off her bed, looking around her old, cluttered, room. There was a layer of dust on everything, as if the room had been abandoned, though she spotted new clutter piled on top of the old clutter. Figured. Her room had been converted into more storage space. "Text, this isn't funny. Put me back in Equestria right now!" She clopped a hoof on the ground, but nothing happened. The door swung open and her mother stared directly at her a moment.

"When did I get that?" she asked with a frown. She reached forward and plucked Silver from the ground as if she were just made of plush for how easily it were done. "You're the cutest little thing." Silver kept her mouth shut as she was carried into the living room and set down a short distance from a space heater. Her mother sat down at her computer and began working on something that looked like Facebook. Silver stood up and moved for the door, opening it and departing without turning any heads. So long as she didn't speak, she drew no attention, and she was out onto the streets of Oakland. She was a magical pony princess, and she wasn't sure what good that'd do here.

She reached with her magic and pulled out her spell book, thankful for its presence. Flipping through it for anything helpful, she brushed up on the shield spell a moment before stepping down the stairs to the street and looking left and right. Where could she go...? She needed a working computer. She clopped her hooves together and began trotting for the closest library she could remember, making a brisk pace through the city. A few blocks of hiking she thought of her wings and felt silly. No need to dodge cars that ignored her in the air. She spread her wings and took off, sailing over houses and power lines. Not wanting to risk it, she kept to the center of roads where the lines seemed thinner, and stayed above their height. She landed gently before the glass-sided library just in time for a small boy to rush up and grab her. "Oh man! Look at this!"

His friends, making an unruly mob of youths around fifteen years of age, exchanged laughs and pointed at Silver. "Is that from that show? Look how big it is."

The original hefted Silver up by the neck, which didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have. "I'm gonna Ebay it!"

Frick! Silver whispered softly. "I'm cursed."

The youth dropped her like she was made of lava. "Oh shit man!"

One of his friends advanced and grabbed Silver by the wing, hefting her up awkwardly. "What's wrong with you? It's gotta be worth at least a hundred, maybe a few!"

Being held by the wing stung in a new way, and Silver growled a little. She didn't want to go outright offensive on kids. How to get them away...? She lit up her horn and began spraying fireworks up into the air, showering the area with fireworks of Trixie. The loud sounds and bright flashes made them back up for fear of being burned, and that was enough for Silver to dash inside the library, not stopping until she was safely secluded between two isolated aisles. "Saved by books, what would Twilight say?"

"She would say 'Wow, a talking horse in a library'." A woman stood before Silver, looking down at her with a curious expression. "Hello." She looked to be middle-aged, asian, wore glasses on her face and had her black hair up in a bun. Pretty average as things went, except for the fact that she was engaging Silver.

"Are you not... scared?"

She shook her head. "Why would I be scared of a magic pony?"

Silver considered that. "I suppose there aren't any good reasons to be scared of a magic pony if you're polite."

She crouched down to Silver's level. "Why is there a magic pony in the library?"

"I was hoping to send an e-mail?"

She laughed at that, but covered her mouth quickly. "I suppose that's a good reason. Do you have a name?"

Silver pointed a hoof at herself. "Silver Stars. You?"

"Minsŏ." She reached and gently pet Silver over the ears and examined her sensitive horn, making Silver half-close her eyes. "I didn't expect to find a magic pony today."

"Few do." giggled out Silver. "You're very calm about all this."

She moved her attention to where wings met barrel, making Silver wriggle at the sensitivity. "You remind me of a differently colored Twilight Sparkle."

That jerked Silver to new awareness. "You watch the show?"

"I might be a little old for it, but I enjoy it fine enough."

Silver smiled brightly. "What luck! I came from there."

Minsŏ blinked. "From the show?"

"Yes! From Equestria. I really want to get back to it. I'm trying to figure out how." Silver gave her best piteous look. "Can you help?"

Minsŏ nodded lightly. "I can try, but how do I get you home without creating a stir?"

Silver smiled as she looked around. "I'm going to stop talking. If you see a doll of me, pick me up and take me home." Minsŏ looked uncertain, but watched. Silver stopped talking, and the magic returned, shrouded her from human view. Minsŏ looked amazed. She reached out and carefully scooped up Silver from the ground. Soon they were on their way, and Silver was set in the passenger seat of a small two-seater car. Once the car began moving, Silver spoke. "Thanks."

Minsŏ swerved the car slightly in surprise. "Don't do that! Are you house-trained?"

Silver flushed. "Yes! Of course... I'm a person, just with more fur and stuff. And a little magic."

Minsŏ turned off onto a sideroad smoothly. "You'll have to show me that, besides your doll trick, when we get home."

Home turned out to not be too far away in a small one-story abode that she pulled into the driveway of. Silver hopped out when the car drew to a stop. She was quick to stretch out, working her wings and legs. Minsŏ watched on with a bit of wonder. "Can you actually fly?"

Silver nodded as she flapped her wings in a demonstrative way. "I flew to the library before we met. So far as I can tell, everything works, magic included."

Minsŏ directed Silver to her house and they retired inside. It smelled oddly to Silver, but she hadn't really been in many human abodes since departing for Equestria, so she wasn't sure if it was her or not. The place was decorated with mostly pictures of what Silver assumed to be friends and family. Her host asked, "Can you show me some magic?"

"What kind?" Silver pulled out her spell book and flipped it open. "I don't feel confident doing any of the transforming ones on a human."

She rose a brow. "You have transforming magics? Why don't we start a little smaller?"

Silver flipped through her book a moment, with Minsŏ's eyes locked on the floating book, likely seeing the silver glow that held it aloft. "Here's a simple one!" She pointed her horn at a pencil sitting on the counter and soon it became purple, then green, then plaid. "Ta da."

Minsŏ seemed amused, but a little underwhelmed. "Perhaps a little grander than coloring?"

Silver tapped her chin thoughtfully. So many of her spells were enhancements, transformations, or battle spells. She really had to get some more day-to-day sorceries when she got back to Twilight. "I could demonstrate on myself?" After Minsŏ nodded, Silver lit her horn and focused on the spell before her, soon swelling with new power. She moved over to the fridge and easily nudged it to and fro as if it were almost weightless, but the spell soon faded with her inexperience with it. "How's that?"

Minsŏ clapped politely. "That is more impressive. Did you still need a computer?"

Silver bobbed her head quickly. "Please! I don't know if this will work... I never even checked before I left, but I can't think of a lot of alternatives." Silver followed after her host and soon arrived in a small office. She spotted a little Applejack parked on the computer tower and smiled. "I see you have best horse."

Minsŏ smiled gently. "I feel for her. We both work quietly and well at what we do without getting a lot of fame for it, but it's worth doing."

Silver gently nudged Applejack. "She's a good pony, a great pony." Silver hopped up onto the chair, finding it much comfier than the one she left behind in her room. "Any passwords?"

Minsŏ had her logged in shortly, but didn't leave the room.

Silver tilted her head at Minsŏ a moment, but still she didn't budge. "You... want to watch me?"

Minsŏ smiled. "I thought you would never ask. I'd be delighted."

Author's Note:

We interrupt this story with a sudden detour. Would you believe I actually wrote over a thousand words of a completely different chapter before realizing it wasn't working? The Text took it from there, and here we are. Thanks guys, you write the story for me!

Typos included.

Comments

[Istaran]

Sudden detour is sudden!
The Text admits to an adgenda of sorts, but not its nature. You stay mysterious, mysterious Text!
Intersting to see more Earth side. Who is she emailing? Can't wait to see.

[David Silver]

5930129 What is Silver to do in human land? Would finding the local bronies be a good or incredibly horrible idea?

[Istaran]

5930159
Depends. Is Paul's Ponyfinder game taking new players?

[David Silver]

5930258 Celestia forbid. That would get real confusing real fast.

[drone_r0m-3]

Exciting! A sudden detour!

[Istaran]

5930260
Homestuck is updating again, so I have a hard time seeing a simple continuity bending crossover like that as confusing. :)

[David Silver]

5930426 Fair enough, but what good could come of Silver Stars getting mixed up in that mess?

[Istaran]

Use their game as a backdoor back into Equestria, then introduce them to Humanway to help them give Bed Time and Blank Slate proper human-side Character Sheets.

[David Silver]

5930442 It would dramatically change the tone of the other story.

[Istaran]

True. Well, among other things it would establish both Discord and the Text as having Equestia <--> Earth transportation abilities in the same universe, which opens up the possibilities of them as enemies / rivals / allies / coconspirators.
So far Silververse Discord hasn't shown that he has that ability, not even mentioning it to Silver, though he certainly might, and Paul-verse has no signs of the Text to date.

[harts fire]

I am finding this vary exciting detour yes but it opens so many new possibility's and text has confirmed my thinking Silver has a choice to make?
and this is going to be a hard choice as she loves Twilight 100% but Luna was her / his first love.
I will say I waited till this morning to post a comment on this chapter just to see if I code make this decision it is painful with either choice for every one involved but I made my choice. I am betting Silver will make the same choice in the long run. I will only tell after I see Silvers choice but to keep it on the up and up I will send my choice to David Silver.

Harts Fire really likes this chapter this is going to turn in to a side story to be remembered how will silver get home?
Will her new friend help her?
Or and her is a possibility also will her new friend return to Equestria with her in the end? after all text has brought other humans to Equestria??
so many possibility's?
Harts Fire

[Alzrius]

Everything's working out pretty well.I couldn't really recall a better time."

Put a space between these two sentences.

"You remind me of a differently colored Twilight Sparkle."

A "differently-colored" Twilight Sparkle.

Are you house trained?"

Is she "house-trained"?

"I see you have best horse."

Shouldn't that be "a best horse"?

[David Silver]

5932054 Fixed, but 'best horse' isn't used that way to my knowledge.

[Alzrius]

5932094 Well...that was unexpected.

This changes things, and not just in terms of location. The Text admits that it has an agenda, apparently one that isn't just "stir things up for my own amusement." Apparently, it's important to it that Silver not be in a herd with more than one of the alicorns, but why? The most obvious explanation is that this would somehow fly in the face of its stated goal to see things that it finds interesting, but how? Up until now, the presumption was that it wants to stop things from being staid and idyllic, but surely a herd that has all of the alicorns doesn't do that? After all, that much power, gathered into one place, and with the addition of romantic tensions, must surely be a conflict waiting to happen? Or perhaps the Text knows that most of Silver's problems have been solved, and a stable herd with all of Equestria's rulers would usher in a new era of stability, which it doesn't want? It's impossible to say for certain either way...we simply know too little about what the Text is and what it wants.

We do know a little about what it can do, however, and that apparently involves moving things through dimensions. Sending Silver back to Earth is likely a threat, rather than a solution; after all, it brought Silver to Equestria in the first place to advance its own goals; sending her back now would presumably undermine those, so this is more likely to be a threatening gesture than an outright dismissal. I'd expect that in the very near future, the Text will return to present an ultimatum of "break up with all but one of the alicorns, or I send you back to Earth permanently." Whether or not such a threat is real or hollow would be the harder part to determine. After all, it can always bring other humans over (that we've seen).

Insofar as what Silver intends to do about this, I'm not certain. She wants a computer, but I'm not at all sure why; that doesn't seem to grant any greater ability to communicate with the Text, or anypony else in Equestria for that matter. Hence, I'm a little curious what Silver is planning on accomplishing now that she's gotten online.

Minso seems like she has the potential to be an interesting character. My first thought upon meeting her was "hm, I don't recognize the ethnicity of her name." From what I can determine, it's likely Filipino in origin, but it might be of Korean origin as well? It's not Japanese, that much I'm confident of. Leaving that aside, it was serendipitous that she found Silver. I'm wondering if she'll want to go with him to Equestria, since the early indicators are that she's living a life of quiet desperation, apparently living alone despite her age and working a job that she all but admitted goes unappreciated. After all, Applejack may not earn accolades the same way that Rainbow Dash does, but she does have friends, family, and neighbors who value what she does.

Of course, what we don't see here may be important as well. Silver's family - her real family, in Equestria - will not take her disappearance lying down. While I suspect that their initial reaction will be "did Starlight do this?", once all avenues have been exhausted, they might eventually clue in to the fact that she's not anywhere, and so has been sent back to her home world. If that happens, we might get to see if Twilight's (previously aborted) research to reach Silver's dimension, the way that she did for the world of Canterlot High School, can be made to bear fruit. Though if it does, hopefully they'll keep such a portal under heavy wraps. A major bridge between worlds would change the direction of this story far too much, at least for my tastes.

[Alzrius]

5932094 When used directly (e.g. "Applejack is best pony") then they tend to leave the articles off of it, and treat it like it's a proper title. But when used indirectly, it tends to be treated more like an descriptor than an appellation.

[David Silver]

5932095 The Text remains as enigmatic as it largely has been, though some clears up in the next chapter! It was amusing playing up the odd 'shroud' around ponies in the real world, though Silver really wasn't sure where to go or what to do.

[Shadow Lance]

5932273 i tought you said athousad, this chapter was exactly 600 words

[Luckyfanisaac]

She spotted a little Applejack parked on the computer tower and smiled. "I see you have best horse."

Don’t you mean best “pony”?

[stag the story teller]

His friends, making an unruly mob of youths around fifteen years of age, exchanged laughs and pointed at me. "Is that from that show? Look how big it is."

Didn't know this was a first person fic

[David Silver]

11631061
It started as one.