Using her silvery hands, Silver pulled up a web browser and went to gmail. Minsŏ was already logged in, and Silver quickly logged out.
Minsŏ asked as she watched. "What's it like, in pony land?"
"Equestria?" She quickly logged into her usual account, or tried. It claimed a message was being sent to her phone, which was back in Equestria. Crud.
Minsŏ pointed at Silver. "Wait, you know how to use a computer? You've obviously used one before."
Silver tensed, then sagged. "I do, but I'm realizing more and more this idea wasn't well thought through..." She pushed away from the computer and tapped her chin thoughtfully. A few minutes later, Minsŏ returned. Silver hadn't even noticed her leave until she got back. She had a tray of little cookies that suddenly seemed quite appetizing.
"It's still very strange to come back to a doll in my chair every time you go quiet."
"Oh, sorry." Silver hopped from the chair and snatched a cookie in her magic. "Thank you." It was a delicious as it smelled, and the situation seemed just a tiny bit less appalling. "I hope I'm not getting in the way of your work?"
"It's the weekend." Minsŏ pointed to a calender on the desk, announcing that it was Saturday. "Would you mind terribly if I invited a friend over?"
Silver frowned in thought. "Are they... also a fan of the show?" She nodded. "I figured. If they aren't going to panic about it, I guess there's no harm. I think I'm stuck here for now. Sorry."
Minsŏ didn't seem too upset at the idea of playing host to a magic pony princess. With a gentle ear petting, she departed elsewhere. Silver could soon hear a muffled conversation, likely on a phone. Silver sank to the floor and considered her situation. The Text wouldn't have thrown her out of the game entirely forever, right? There had to be a way to get back to Equestria... The ground fell away from her. She was being gently carried along like the doll she must appear to be. She was placed on a soft couch and the television was turned on. For maximum awkwardness, ponies were playing. It was an episode she hadn't seen before. Had season 5 begun?
It wasn't very long before the doorbell rang and snapped Silver out of her episode watching trance. She could hear Minsŏ and some younger voice talking animatedly a moment before smaller feet rushed into the room. "Awesome!" A young boy, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, apparently approved of the large alicorn doll that was draped over the couch. "When'd you get that?"
Minsŏ entered from behind him. "I bought it from a traveling gypsy. They say if you pet her ears just right and say something nice, she might come to life."
"Aunt, I am not that young." He crossed his arms, then approached Silver, who remained still. Despite his unbelieving words, he reached out a hand hesitantly and gave a little scritching at an ear. "I don't recognize her from the show, but it's well-made."
"Thank you." Silver smiled at him. Panic welled up and he lashed out on instinct. She intercepted the fist with an open-palmed silvery hand, catching it. "Careful with that. I'll start to think you don't want to be friends."
His moment of panic ebbed from reactive to a more normal sort of panic. "Jesus! It's talking! What's holding my hand?"
Minsŏ set one of her own hands on his shoulder. "Calm down. She's very friendly."
He withdrew his hand carefully and shared an even gaze with Silver. "Who are you?"
Silver raised a hoof to point at herself. "I am Princess Silver Stars. And you are?"
He imitated the gesture, pointing at himself. "Won. Minsŏ's nephew. You said Princess? Oh yeah, wings, horn, huh, weird. Well, I have to get going."
Minsŏ looked quite surprised. "That's it?"
"That's what? You told me I should finish my homework before anything else." He threw a hand in the air. "Don't blame me for following your advice."
"No no... Of course not. Thank you for visiting." They exchanged a brief hug and he was gone in a hurry.
Silver slowly tilted her head. "Did he just run off for homework rather than talk with a magic talking pony?"
Minsŏ nodded. "He is a good student, but not that good."
Silver looked over Minsŏ quietly a moment. "And yet, you can't seem to get enough."
This brought a blush to the woman's cheeks. "You're a magic pony princess. I think that warrants some attention."
Silver sat up on the couch. "What if it's like the doll magic? He isn't supposed to see me, so he lost interest quickly? Is he a fan of the show?"
Minsŏ looked less certain this time. "I thought he was..."
Silver wobbled a hoof. "Maybe not as much as you." Silver could almost feel the click as inspiration hit. "Minsŏ, if I offered you a way to go to Equestria, what would you say?"
"Where do I sign?"
Silver nodded. "I thought so... Before you agree to that, you should know more about the place, if I even can get you there." She shuffled off to the side of the couch, making room for Minsŏ. "Sit. Listen. Decide. Then we get to figure out how, either way." After Minsŏ settled on the couch, Silver began describing Equestria in all its glory. She spoke of its colorful people, its classism, its monsters and its issues. She held nothing back in her descriptions, trying to give an honest view of the world. "It is not heaven, but it's... nice. I like it there. But this world has its own nice points." She spread a lone wing out. "Do you really want to run away from humanity?"
Minsŏ seemed to give it serious thought. "Would I have to be a pony?"
Silver shook her head. "There's a human named Jake already living in Ponyville. He gets along with just fine. I think he has a crush on Rainbow Dash, but she isn't interested that way in him. They're good friends despite that. I've heard rumors others have shown up, but I haven't met them, besides a girl who did go pony almost immediately." She pointed at herself. "For a while, I was Ambassador of the humans, so this feels like a proper conversation to have."
Minsŏ raised a brow. "Are you a human expert?"
"You could say that." Silver smiled gently. "You won't surprise me with any silly human habits."
The petting resumed. Silver had little objection to Minsŏ's gentle scritching along her jaw and over her snout. "This is nice, but not really an answer. Oh, what do you do for a living?"
Minsŏ sighed softly. "Secretarial work. It's hard work, and keeps things running smoothly, but when you're at your best, you're invisible. I wouldn't miss leaving that behind."
Silver pointed towards the entryway. "What about Won? He can't come visit you in Equestria if you go there."
That seemed to seed more doubt than the other questions. "No... but he's a good boy, and he has a family besides me. I'm just an aunt he visits once in a while. I can leave him and everyone else a note."
Silver perked her ears. "Good idea, actually... So... are you sure?"
Minsŏ rose up to her feet and pulled a pen out of a pocket before starting to scribble on a pad. Silver nodded slowly. "I'll take that as a yes. You... might actually be just what I need." Silver spread her wings. "Hey, Text? I have someone here that wants to talk to you. We both want to. You can hear me, right?"
The darkness returned. Minsŏ and Silver stood side by side. Silver flipped her ears back. "Oops. Did you finish that letter?" Minsŏ nodded, but said nothing, just grabbing Silver's shoulder a little fearfully.
'Where do you want to go?'
Silver huffed at the words. "I already talked to her. She wants to go with me. Put us both in front of Twilight's castle."
'Do not presume to command me. What will you bring with you?'
Minsŏ looked to Silver. "What does it mean?"
Silver gestured at the words. "You can bring any one thing you want. Make it small and harmless."
Minsŏ considered a moment. "May I have my laptop bag?"
'Very well. You will be penalized in starting location for the nature of what you bring and its amount.'
She vanished, leaving Silver behind. Silver unfurled her wings out. "Where do you send her? Jesus, she's a harmless lady. Don't kill her!"
'Her fate is not your concern yet. Have you made your decision? To which alicorn will you bind yourself?' Images appeared of Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. 'Embrace your selection.'
Silver clopped a hoof impotently on the pitch night ground. "Why are you being like this? I thought we were becoming friends. Everything's coming together, just let me live."
'You agreed to be under my power when you accepted my help. Your path is mine to watch, mine to sway. Make your choice, or be cast forever onto your blighted homeworld. Perhaps you will find some use to a lonely soul there.'
Silver bared her fangs as she looked over the hazy images. She didn't want to pick at all... "It is my hooves that decide what path I will walk, not you. I'm very happy with the path I found for myself." Silver was suddenly pressed to the ground flat from above, breathing becoming quite a chore against the pressure.
"You are being a poor sport. Roll over and accept what fate has in store for you like the good little pony I know you are."
Silver hissed and scrambled at the ground. "Never! It's my life. I'm... not letting it go! I'm not rolling over! You're just... angry I don't need you anymore. I don't need any rainbows. I don't need any deus ex. Just let me go home to my herd and begone!"
'Perhaps you are correct. I have no further use for you.'
Silver fell through the void, and landed in the plush bedding of her room in Twilight's castle. She was home. She sat up, shivering a little. "I'm home..." She realized she meant it, truly and deeply. She had found her path, and she was walking it, and she had no more business with the Text anymore.
She trotted quickly through the castle, finding her herd-mates and tackling each one-by-one, hugging and reaffirming her love for each. "Everything's going to be just fine."
Twilight looked at Silver oddly at that, shivering. "I said that once. There was a lot more to be done... but I wasn't wrong. Things are working out." She smiled gently. "Now where have you been hiding? We were worried sick."
Silver began to tell the tale.
We like to thank you for choosing Silver Stars Airlines to Equestria. Where you end we have no control, but here is a bag of peanuts for the trip.
5932286 You will be penalized in landing location for those peanuts.
5932343 Well if a computer desk compressed into a Ball sends you into the middle of nowhere I hate to see what happens with bag of peanuts will send you.
surrounded by a village of ponies that are human fanatics?
a diamond dog mine?
lots of silly ideas. hope im not too mean with these
5932369 Bam, appear at Manehatten BipedCON!
our once Silver Lining has grown in to a beautiful mare / princess Silver Starts. there will be choices made right now.
the text is finished with Silver, or is it?
Minsŏ vanished, leaving Silver behind. Silver unfurled her wings out. "Where do you send her? Jesus, she's a harmless lady. Don't kill her!"
'Her fate is not your concern yet.
is this the end of the story? maybe,. maybe this is the end of this chapter of Silver Starts life and the beginning of a new book time will tell.
Harts Fire
5932380 Right in Lyra's lap would cause some fun.
5932682 Would that count as a Penalty or a Reward?
That would certainly explain why Daniel hasn't heard back from the Text in years.
I like to know if Text was testing Silver Star? Through the story Silver has given up her rites, over and over. When she is push hard in one direction she has a tendency to cave and go that direction. Even when it's not what she wants. Now that she Princess Silver Star and the hart of the herd, She needs to stick to her guns in the direction she needs to go. She is a good pony and needs to have the strength to do the rite things. even if it unpopular whit the pony she is with. It will be fun to how she develops in this story.
Will he see again the new human that text sent to Equestria? Is this some thing that will happen all the time? Text taking humans and sending them to Equestria? Has Silver Star become a big part of this? It is fun to consider this.
With all the royals she has in her herd, will this change things in Equestria whit most of if not all Princesses in the same herd. If he wines up with Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkles and maybe Cadence, Shinning Armor and the rest of the herd. How big can a Herd become? It wood be funny to see propositioned by a lot of the ponys in Canterlot for political reason. She will have to be strong to say no to them.
Is she going to visit the dreams of Caret Plate to see what made her so mean? Was her parents abusive and twisted?
Keep up the good work you are doing.
Dragonfox
5933045 Wheels within wheels.
Why are they destroying her combat spells? Yes they are dangers to having them around. Celestia just needs to keep them in a safe location for times of need. If she memorized them they wood be safe.
Dragonfox
Just finished silver robe and hat time 4 mur reding.
5933213 Like it? :)
Minso's response has a narrative disconnect from Silver's. She shouldn't be using "but" here, as that implies a contradiction to something that Silver has said, which isn't the case. I'd change the "but" to "Wait," instead. I'd also change "one" to "a computer" or "a phone" or whatever it is she means there, instead.
For maximum "awkwardness."
Put a comma after "well."
She doesn't need any "deus" ex.
5935058 Fixed. Perhaps it will appease the Text?
5935106 So this interlude ends as quickly as it began, and much to my surprise - and delight - it manages to advance Silver's characterization in an unexpected, yet entirely appropriate, way.
It's that ending that really makes this chapter, and the previous one, worthwhile. Without that, these chapters were an unexpected side-trip that had very little impact on the overall story (with the major caveat of what we know about the Text, which I'll speak to more below). But by using these to characterize Silver's new-found confidence in herself and how she's living her life, this becomes a further step forward for her on what's been a very long journey, and another in a string of recent successes in finally achieving her life-goals.
In that regard, this was a very well-crafted interlude. While devoid of any of her external support-system - notwithstanding the helpful Minso - Silver had to stand up for herself against an all-powerful force that was demanding she make her own Sophie's Choice. In refusing to do so, despite the ultimatum that she'd been given and the apparent impossibility of finding her way out of her predicament, Silver refused to give in, and for her that's major. She didn't whine or complain about how unfair it was, but rather raged against the metaphorical darkness, refusing the accept the very premise of the unwinnable situation she was in. That takes real inner strength, the kind that she's rarely displayed before.
More and more, Silver is becoming a real princess.
Beyond that, there were some notable aspects of this chapter. One was how the whole "doll disguise" worked. While it'd been previously hinted that Silver, when in the human world, would be seen as a doll so long as she didn't speak and stayed still - it's uncertain if this is something specific to her, or granted by the Text, or is somehow the case for ponies that end up in (this) human world - that sort of "mantle of the mundane" (to use the name of an old AD&D spell) was expanded here. Now Silver will largely be ignored no matter what she's doing so long as she stays quiet (e.g. flying). Moreover, even those who speak to her will only find her as interesting as they would an episode of MLP. That's not only quite a bit of camouflage, it makes her a de facto detector of people who'd want to leave Earth behind and go to Equestria.
That was definitely the case with Minso, who is now off on her own adventure somewhere in the pony world. Her disappearance makes her introduction all the more jarring, something softened only by how predictable this particular pattern for new human characters has become. That is, such characters simply don't remain in the story for very long after their introduction. After all, Jake was quietly shuffled off to Ponyville, and even now returns only rarely, First Stars quickly wandered out of Silver's life after she became a lunar unicorn, and now Minso is off on her own adventure. With the possible exception of seeding the wider Silver Verse with established characters, this feels rather odd for how often new human cast members are introduced and then quietly shown the door.
The flipside to this is how the mystery surrounding the Text has grown. While the author's note makes it more clear than the story itself, another aspect to it has been revealed here, and we're ultimately - and perhaps appropriately - left with more questions than answers.
Up until now, the Text has been shown to put people into various situations ostensibly to find amusement - or rather, interest (as in "relief from boredom") - in seeing what they do. Other than moving people across dimensions and noting that it could see potential results, that seemed to be not only all that it could do, but all that it cared to do as well. However, that doesn't seem quite as true anymore.
In terms of its desires, the Text was oddly intrusive in its insistence that Silver not be with more than one alicorn princess at a time. What's less certain is why. Would that interfere with its sense of entertainment somehow, or did it have some other agenda that would be stymied if that came to pass? Given that the Text can only foresee possibilities, rather than absolutes, perhaps the only thing we know for certain is that it didn't like what the likely outcome of Silver's multi-alicorn romance will be.
In terms of the Text's powers, things are even more notable. We now know that the Text won't - or perhaps can't - interfere with those who aren't in control of their own fate. That's notable, because "being in control of your own fate" is an attitude, and not something quantifiable; characters can essentially repel the Text with their own version of Jennifer Connelly's cry of "You have no power over me!" at David Bowie in Labyrinth. The Text's response seems to indicate that this is a willing prohibition on its part, that it recognizes that this is a watershed moment from which it can no longer nudge somehow in the direction it wants them to go, but there's no way of being sure.
For all of its mystery, however, I remain convinced that it's best for the characters not to explore this. Believability demands that they try, of course - the existence of such a powerful being isn't something that can rationally be ignored - but once all avenues of investigation are exhausted (and they already seem to have been, by this point), then everypony will recognize that there's nothing that can be done except to move on and deal with the Text when, or rather if, it shows up again. That's a good thing, simply because it allows the narrative focus to remain on Silver, instead of on the Text itself.
This is, after all, Silver's story.
5935234 Ultimately, the Text manipulated Silver down the paths it desired whenever it wanted to, simply by alluding to the path's existence and letting Silver blunder down them. It said what needed to be said when it needed to be said, confident that Silver would follow its cues, and she did over and over again. When Silver was sad and defeated, the Text even offered an encouraging few words to get her up again and moving. She was one of the Text's favored toys, who moved as it wanted. For whatever unfathomable end-goal it has, Silver was a loyal dupe for it, until she wasn't. Like a petulant child, it tossed her aside when she refused to stay in line. It's not like there's a shortage of desperate humans to toy with, and Silver was even so kind as to fetch a replacement for herself. How generous!
The name is Korean, by the way, since you asked before.
I really like this particular detail. Motivation and agency are interests of mine.
it is hell being a pawn however if you are useful the benefits are good. i broke free of the shackles but i am kind of invisible. as in people do not notice me and i do not do anything to atttract attention to myself. in real life in the internet i interact with afew people and tell stories of my fabled past. it is useful being invisible i would like to actually have that power.
lashed out instinctively/ instinctively lashed out/ lashed out on instinct. Any of those could work.
7209117 Fixed!
at the start ' at the end "
8510719
Fix'd!
And now the road is going down down down...
Or so it seems to me.