They arrived in Manehattan safely and departed to find a taxi waiting for them. The pony gestured towards the back. "Get in." As an afterthought he added. "Your highnesses."
Silver, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike hopped aboard quickly, and they were ferried through the busy streets of Manehattan to the hotel the convention would be taking place at. It was the same as the last time Silver had been there. Maybe all the conventions happened there? They were let out and the taxi sped away without requesting payment.
Silver took a moment to admire the city as a whole, full of life and energy as it was. When she turned back, she saw the others had started towards the hotel and moved to catch up. A lunar pegasus stallion landed in front of her. "Princess Silver Stars."
Silver perked her ears. "That's me."
He nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. You're an inspiration to all of us lunar pegasi." He pulled out a small box with a bow on it from a saddlebag and offered it to Silver. "My friends and I chipped in to get this for you."
Silver gently picked it up in her magic. "That's very thoughtful of you." She smiled gently. "May I have your name?"
He colored slightly, "Uh, Dusk Warden, ma'am."
Silver waved a hoof lightly. "Dusk, you can call me Silver. We're all friends, are we not? We lunar pegasi have to stick together."
He smiled nervously and tapped at the sidewalk. "You're still a princess, uh, Silver. We haven't had one of those, unless you count Luna, and she isn't exactly one of us. She made us. It's different. We want to do it right." He gestured at the hovering box. "Go ahead."
Silver brought the box closer to her face to see what she was doing and quickly unwrapped it, then pulled the lid free of the dark purple gift box. The lid didn't get an inch up before Rainbow Dash crashed into it and soared off with the box. She hurled it mightily into the air before it detonated violently, throwing Rainbow back towards the ground. She corrected herself on the way back towards the ground and flew back at Silver and Dusk, who both stood there with shocked expressions. She barreled into Dusk, knocking him to the ground. "What's the big idea?!"
Dusk kicked Rainbow off and sprung to his hooves. "This wasn't my doing! It was a simple box of chocolates from a chocolatier we knew the princess fancied."
Silver shook her head. "I don't think he's lying..."
Rainbow snorted loudly. "If you say so." She leveled a hoof at Dusk. "I got my eye on you, pal."
After she stormed off back towards the building, Dusk shyly approached Silver. "A thousand apologies, ma'am. I really don't know what happened."
Silver frowned. "I hate to admit it, but this is an unfortunate part of my life."
Dusk sagged. "Even as a princess we can't be left alone. Sorry again, Silver. En... Enjoy the convention." He spread his leathery wings and took off into the city, leaving Silver to enter the hotel.
The inside was fairly standard fair for the day before a convention. Eager goers were getting their badges early and chatting with one another about the weekend to come. Twilight was already surrounded by several ponies in staff shirts. One of them broke away to approach Silver on spotting her. "Hello and welcome! We're very excited to have you here. We have a VIP lounge. Here's the key." He passed an ornate golden key to Silver. "It's right here on the first floor. That way." He pointed towards it. "We've scheduled two signing windows for you, which you'll find in the con guide." The con guide was quick in coming, passed to Silver. "Other than that, you're free to enjoy the convention. We'll be sending at least one staffer with you at all times to prevent problems." He cocked his head as if listening to something on the earpiece he wore. "Oh, looks like you get me for now. I'm Steady Hoof, nice to meet you."
"Silver Stars," replied Silver with a light smile. "We should check in and get our rooms in order." Twilight waved at Silver, a few more keys held in her wings. "Or it looks like Twilight took care of that. I assume there's not much to see the day before the festivities?"
Steady Hoof shook his head. "On the contrary! Things are still being set up, but if you want to have a sneak peek at the vendors with their things set up, or meet with the other VIPs? There's plenty to see. So, if you don't mind my asking, are you a big comic fan?"
Silver smiled carefully. "I love comics, as a thing. But I haven't really read any since coming to Equestria I admit. Maybe this convention will change that."
Steady nodded quickly. "If anything could do it, this would be the place. Well, if you need any help, just let me know. I'll be trying to not be in the way." He backed off a few steps and did his best to fade into the background.
Silver took the opportunity to rejoin Twilight. "Everything alright?"
Twilight nodded. "What was that outside? Rainbow looked upset." She passed over a key. "For the hotel room. We're on the third floor."
Silver huffed softly. "Nothing that should be discussed in polite company."
Twilight looked confused, but it came to her. "Oh! Well... I'm glad everything worked out. Spike ran off and is enjoying the sights already. I'm not sure we'll see much of him until he collapses at the end of each day. Did they set you up for signing too?" She unfurled the con guide and flipped through it easily. "Yup, look at that. Royal signatures. First one's tomorrow morning." She snorted softly. "Who goes to a comic convention for royal signatures?"
Silver shrugged softly. "They got us, so they're running with it. Prepare to have a lot of those signatures land on comic book covers."
Twilight smirked. "That goes double for you. You're the highest-ranking lunar pony around, so just about any fan of any comic that has one is going to want your mark on it."
Silver glanced at the smiling con staffers, then back at Twilight. "How about we relax before the con starts properly? We both have a weekend in the limelight ahead of us, and I'm in no hurry for it."
Twilight easily agreed and they headed for the elevators. They chatted quietly as the elevator rose, until a heavy weight fell on either of their backs. Horn nullifying rings were quickly slid into place on either of them as two invisible ponies ceased being so. Twilight thrashed about under her sudden rider, but they easily weathered her bucking and jittering around.
Silver felt magic stuffing up in her horn and channeled it downwards into her legs. She crouched down, then jumped straight up with enough force to make the elevator stop with a loud buzz of an error. She cracked against the top of the elevator, crushing her rider between herself and the ceiling and breaking a few tiles in the effort. Silver landed heavily, and the small purple unicorn on top of her slid to the ground, dizzy. She wheeled on Twilight, ready to rescue her when the pony on top of Twilight proved it wasn't a pony at all.
The large shape grabbed Silver by the neck in its hand and hefted her from the ground, shaking her hard enough to make stars swim in her vision. "Shhhhh," he said, baring carnivorous teeth.
The small purple unicorn recovered his wits with a grunt. "The plan continues." He rushed for the controls and got the elevator moving again. "Keep a hold of them."
Silver scowled at the hulking mass of a diamond dog she was being held by. If she could breathe, there would have been more menace in the action. Twilight was still wriggling, trying to get the dog off of her, but she was having an increasingly hard time standing, let alone give a decent bronco performance. She looked ready to scream when the dog's other hand found her neck. "Shhhhh."
They stepped out on the sixth floor to the sound of breaking glass. Rainbow burst into the hallway from the open air outside and zoomed towards the group. "When I get through with you..." The diamond dog threw Silver aside roughly with one hand, the other forcing Twilight to the ground. It was just in time to meet Rainbow's hooves with hands, the two sliding several feet down the hallway.
Small-purple blasted Rainbow in the back with a quick horn blast, and Rainbow yelped before she went limp. "Take her too. No witnesses."
Silver got a refreshing breath into herself. "Who are you working for? Why are you doing any of this?"
Twilight looked ready to say her own thing when they were both put into the firm grip of that dog. Small-purple led the way to a room not far away from the elevator and unlocked the door quickly. "I'll do the questions around here, and there aren't many to be had."
Silver conserved her strength, building her magic internally for when it could be best used. Her increasing warmth went unnoticed by her captor. She was set on a bed beside Twilight, with Rainbow sprawled on the floor beside them. The door was closed and locked before Purple-Small looked over the two alicorns. "Alright. It's time to make demands."
Twilight perked an ear. "Demands? I thought you wanted to kill us."
"Kill you?" Small-purple frowned. "Who said that? We want to change things. If we were going to kill anypony, it'd be that sun nag and her lunar loony sister."
Silver snorted softly. "If you're aiming for a coup, pissing us off is hardly the best place to start."
Small-purple raised a hoof. "Think of how easily you were just taken, and how easily you ended up with an explosive present."
Silver frowned. "You broke his heart. You're a monster."
"Whose heart?" Small-Purple shrugged, "Whatever, beside the point. Even when the sun nag was attacked in public, nothing came of it. Why? The magic that'd let them find dangerous ponies is all outlawed. 'Too dangerous', she says, as if the rest of the world gives a horse apple about what she thinks is 'too dangerous'."
Twilight moved to stand, only to be pushed back to lay on her belly by the diamond dog. "Mmmf, so, what, you want all restrictions on dangerous magic removed?"
"Not just removed." He pointed at Silver. "Innovated. Magic should be advanced, not quashed."
Silver shook her head. "Excuse my saying so? But that's stupid, and so are you. You made the same mistake the 'sun nag' made and a hundred ponies before her."
"Oh, what's that?"
Silver smiled. "You didn't ask." Power burst free, flowing where she wanted it. Her horn was blocked off, but she had learned several other exit points for magic in her equine form, and she intended to be a victim no longer.
Sun bitch? I thought Celestia was a pony not a diamond dog.
I will never catch up. I have another 45 chapters to go. Bah
5962308 You can do it!
Damn right Silver! Never go quietly!! Woohoo! Haha, I love it and can't wait to see the next chapter!
And I feel so sorry for the lunar pegasi... poor guy. He just wanted to see his princess smile.
Silver might actually be on their side with the magic innovation thing, but send the girl a letter. She doesn't take kindly to threats anymore.
5962308
It's not an error per se, but you can eliminate the phrase "from her" to help make the sentence flow more smoothly.
Place a comma after "well."
That should be "a weekend in the limelight" ahead of them.
They easily "weathered" her bucking.
So he's not dubbed "small-purple" any longer?
Not an error per se, but somehow I see "nag" as being the Equestrian equivalent of "bitch."
All diamond dogs are sons of bitches
5965056 Fixes applied, with a vengeance!
5965139 One other bit of errata:
"Beside" the point.
5965352 Fixed.
5965305 I can't stop making that joke
Going through this chapter, I'm honestly shocked by how lax security is for the princesses of the realm...but upon further reflection, I'm not sure if that's because the story isn't treating the issue seriously enough, or if my expectations are skewed.
To be fair, there are some extenuating circumstances regarding protecting the rulers of Equestria, a big one being that the princesses are themselves the ones who decide how much protection they should have. It's kind of hard to fault the security apparatus for failing so badly when Silver and Twilight never bothered to activate it to begin with. Seriously, they have one pony - not even a guard, but a member of the convention staff - trailing them at a distance to act as security? That's it? A freaking bomb just went off outside, and everypony's reaction is "Huh. Oh well, back to business." I get that Equestria has no real experience with terrorism, but it's not like recent times have been all sunshine and roses either, what with Tirek rampaging through Equestria and all.
As I noted earlier though, the vast majority of the blame seems to fall on Twilight and Silver for taking things so casually. Yes, Rainbow Dash is a tough mare, but she's just one pony with a lot of athletic training; that's not the same thing as combat experience. I really can't figure out what the two princesses were thinking here - did they just presume that the royal guard would be more proactive than they were (which would be hard to justify, since the royal guards all seem maddeningly incompetent)? Or, more likely, did they figure that they could just handle anything on their own (and with Rainbow)? Either way, there were multiple failures to take this threat seriously, and now they're paying the price.
The funny thing is, despite Silver's comment to the contrary, these kidnappers aren't stupid; after all, they did successfully capture two princesses and RD. They simply had no way of knowing that Silver can still use her magic - though I frowned a little at the "multiple exit points" part. We know she can use her magic through her fangs...if she's suddenly using more than that, I'm calling foul for suddenly springing that on us. I do like seeing her being so proactive, though. It's about time that she recognizes that she's not just a scared little foal anymore.
What's more notable, however, is the nature of these terrorists' complaints. The idea of "stop suppressing magical innovation" could be an interesting point, except for the fact that we know so little regarding the magical laws and regulations in Equestria - we know that "war magic" is illegal, and that Celestia has made the "stallion bits" spell illegal as well, but beyond that I'm honestly not sure what specific changes they want, because we don't know how the laws and magic interact. Given how difficult it is to create new spells to begin with, I'm also not sure how much that would help, but maybe that's part of their overall point; that with magic being so difficult to innovate, the government should be pushing new programs to help nudge it along, rather than illegalize portions of it.
Beyond that, there are some indeterminate aspects to these guys as well. Why is a diamond dog with them, since only unicorns can use magic? Where's the yellow pony that was described before? Likewise, since they seem willing to die for their cause (the suicide attack on all four alicorns), I'd say that they're pretty serious, to the point of fanaticism.
That said, if Silver is smart, the first thing she'll do will be to snatch Twilight's horn-blocker off; when you're outnumbered, reinforcements are paramount. She's going to only have a moment or two to deal with this before they recover from their shock.
Also, that scene with the lunar pegasus at the beginning was adorable, and it was nice that Silver was upset on his behalf later; he really was a sweetheart, and those jerks ruined it. I'd almost say that it'd be nice for him to become a recurring character, since he seems like a level-headed stallion - not as serious as Night but not as wild as Fast - that could finally be a real stallion for Silver to spend some time with...except for the fact that the romantic entanglements are far, far too numerous as it is. If and when Silver, Night, Fast, and Tumble part ways with the alicorns and company, then it might be nice to see Steady Hoof again. It's a shame that there's no room for him now, but there it is.
Holy shitballs I caught up. Hahah what does that even mean. see ya next update
5965405 I am pleased with most of your words, but a little let down at one. Out of nowhere? I've said over so many chapters how Silver was flexing her magic through her wings and hooves and lungs and generally exploiting all of her tribes. Heck, she was running so fast she didn't see the castle coming when Discord distracted her and she ran into it. She was flying with overloaded magic enough to get wobbly as if by turbulence. She really has been practicing using raw magic to enhance her other tribes, that being strength, durability, flight, and etc. That's what she did in the elevator with the sudden super jump that crashed small-purple into the roof. It doesn't make for magic spells, but it does make for an enhanced Silver, and she's likely to start applying flank-kicking with it.
5965425 Is that what that was? Okay, it seems that I was thinking about those instances in a subtle-yet-distinctly-different way than you intended. That is, I thought that she was simply utilizing the "natural" magics that all alicorns had, which I perceived as being always-active and thusly distinct from anything that she had to channel a finite reservoir of magic towards.
Cognitive dissonance on my part, since I was working with some pre-conceived notions (though again, some exposition in that regard would have been helpful; as it was, I can see now that you did lay down clues beforehand, but they were subtle enough that I didn't catch them - that and the reference to "exit points" in this chapter made me think of her externally casting spells, rather than using it for internal enhancements).
In that case, I suppose my next question is why Twilight doesn't know how to do any of this, despite being an alicorn longer?
5965488 Differences in methodologies and approach. Silver wasn't born a pony at all, so she thinks about magic, all the time. This makes her more awkward about a lot of things, but it's also made it very conscious. A pegasus would just 'try harder' to fly faster. Silver focuses her magic and throws more into her wings as an active decision. Thinking vs instinct.
Twilight was born with magic, and does not think of it that way. Magic is magic. You use it with effort. It is where it needs to be. A pony is not a starship you can redirect power conduits through. Silver disagrees.
5965546 I don't disagree, I just wish that this explanation was actually in the story, rather than the comments. I think the system you've generated here is not only good, but very good - it's intuitive and self-consistent. But it's only hinted at, rather than ever being explained to us, and so it's easy to overlook, thus missing the appreciation it deserves.
What was the thing that Rainbow couldn't discuss in polite company?
6371098 A secret!
breathe
Whose
6371098 That was actually said by Silver, wanting to privately have a go at RD.