Silver focused on the task at hoof. Ponies began approaching her, one after the other. An orderly line gave them each a turn. She smiled, she waved, she used a convention-provided quill to grace comic covers or autograph books with her signature. Amusingly this was really the first time she got much practice writing her name, but it was trial by fire, and she soon had it in a smooth repetition.
Half an hour later, a lunar mare approached, her wings ruffling nervously. "H-Hello, your majesty."
Silver smiled gently. "Hello. You haven't brought something to sign?"
She shrank a little. "I... Could you sign my wing?" She spread out a wing
Silver tilted her head. "My quill isn't going to leave much a mark. One moment..." Sure it was a bit odd, but Silver saw no harm in it. She drew out her spell book and quickly found one of the basic spells that'd do the job and soon her name graced the leathery wing in silvery writing. "There you are. Why did you want that?"
She smiled brightly. "I want to be everything I can be... I'm joining the guard next week, and I'll work hard. Do you think I might become a princess, if I work hard enough?"
Silver felt conflicting emotions. "You... are lovely just as you are. You are a sleek predator in a world of prey." She leaned forward, flashing her fangs. "Never stop being proud of yourself, and hold yourself with the pride that merits. Just remember to act worthy of it. All that see you should know that lunar ponies are worth being impressed by."
The lunar pegasus gave a firm nod. "Y-yes, of course! Thank you, Princess Silver Stars." She paused a moment, shuffling in place. "Do you... think I could be your guard? You don't have royal guards yet, do you?"
Silver shook her head. "I do have one, but I haven't opened that position yet. I... Actually, my captain would be the one to hire more. You get in there and start showing off your stuff. Be all you can be, as you said."
She smiled, face full of hope. "I will! Thank you!" She dashed off in a clatter of hooves.
Twilight leaned over after her next guest. "You're going to run into her again. I give her a week before Rough Tumble is approached."
Silver nodded in agreement, but there was already a new pony in front of her. This one wore thick glasses and looked scholarly. He adjusted them at Silver and presented a book. "I should like the signature of the first known murderer to wear a crown of a princess."
Silver's tufted ears went up in surprise. "Excuse me?"
The stallion tilted his head faintly. "I thought I said that quite clearly."
Convention staff moved quickly to nudge the stallion away, one of them grabbing the book along the way, and he was gone. Silver frowned in distaste and tried to put the event out of mind for the next person, smile returning forcefully. "Hello!"
A few of the ponies wanted to know her favorite comic. Fortunately she had spotted a few that looked fun that she could rattle titles off of to keep them satisfied. There was a skewing of tribes. It was subtle, lunar ponies being more rare than solar ones, but it was clear that Twilight didn't get any lunar ponies. All the lunar guests wanted to see their lunar princess, which made sense enough to Silver. She considered what she could do for what were her people between guests before a magic green pony stepped up.
Silver blinked at Lyra, with Bon Bon just behind her. "Hi guys! I didn't expect either of you here."
Lyra put down an autograph book and flipped it open. "This convention is my 'out of jail' celebration. There are tons of great human and biped comics. I could suggest a few if you want?"
Silver quickly signed the book, and looked to Bon Bon. "How are things holding up?"
Bon Bon smiled, looking a little surprised at being addressed. "Oh! Everything's much better now." She hugged Lyra close. "I have my little harp back."
Lyra giggled. "Aw! You know you make me blush any time you call me that."
Silver tapped her chin and reached into her bag of goodies, pulling out a little minotaur doll she had picked out before. "For my favorite biped lover. Enjoy the con."
Lyra snatched it up with a grin, and they were soon off, chatting animatedly.
"'Ey." The next pony in line had approached, but Silver saw no one. She leaned forward and looked down, then smiled.
"Babs Seed?"
Babs tilted her head. "You knaw me?" She had a cutie mark, which threw Silver for a loop. A pair of scissors? "That's cool. Did ya talk ta mah sister or somethin'? Get outta here, course ya did!" She put a comic down on the counter. "Right here." Silver quickly signed it. "Thanks. Keep it cool, aight?" She turned and trotted off into the crowd.
Their time of signings was drawing close to an end, and both Silver and Twilight were glad for it. Neither were specially extroverted, and forcing the smiles and kind words over the two hour window was draining both. When the last smiling face had departed and the doors closed, they sagged onto their desks.
Rainbow slipped in with Spike at her side. "Heh, you two look like you had tons of fun."
Twilight waved a hoof weakly. "I couldn't contain the fun."
Silver smiled a little. "I enjoyed meeting other lunar ponies. I'm not used to being looked at with... like I was a hero."
Rainbow smirked at that. "You get used to it with time."
Spike waved a claw. "Never! I still get shivers when I visit the Crystal Empire. I'm with you, Silver. So how'd it go?"
Twilight sat up properly. "Overall, it went fine. Only a few trouble ponies, but most were happy to see us and they were very well behaved."
Spike waved out towards the hall. "Well enough of that, how 'bout we grab something to eat and I'll tell you about the awesome panels I saw today!?"
Silver smiled and nodded towards Spike. "I'd love to hear about it." She slipped out of her chair and stretched. "So, where to?"
The rest of the day was their's to enjoy, so after eating, they wandered the convention, though never without a guard nearby. Twilight found Silver roaming the halls and approached her. "Rainbow said you ran into Starlight again?"
Silver nodded. "She is the one that warned us, remember?"
Twilight frowned a little. "I am aware of that... but I don't think she's a very trustworthy pony. If she grabs your cutie mark, your magic will be gone with it, and your physical abilities are a part of that magic. They could just pick you up and walk off with you." Silver's expression was soured and Twilight sat up, clopping her hooves together. "I'm saying this because I care, Silver. I don't want you being hurt."
Silver moved in and rubbed noses with Twilight gently. "Thank you. I haven't given up on her though. She hasn't given me a reason to."
Twilight smiled ruefully. "That is a very princessly thing to say. Just be careful."
The day passed happily enough until Silver was pushed up against the wall by the pegasus that was her guard. "Stay down," she whispered softly, covering Silver with a wing and blocking the view. After a moment, Silver was let up with a grumble. "Sorry, that pony over there has been watching you the last half an hour. I thought they were up to something."
Silver snorted. "We could ask? Chances are good they're just a random person." She trotted towards the trouble pony, only to be cut off by her guard again, who was then frowning severely.
"It is my job to keep you safe. That means if I say somepony looks like trouble, you avoid them, not go up to shake hooves." She nudged Silver around. "Besides, the game of Ogres and Oubliettes is about to start and you didn't want to miss that." She didn't, and she turned towards the event, putting the odd pony out of her mind.
As it turned out, most princesses did not play roleplaying games, and Silver gained a small crowd when she not only began to play competently, but confessed she had run her fair share of games. Loud marriage proposals were shouted amongst the laughter, and the games continued despite the disturbance. A player seated beside her leaned closer, adjusting his bowtie. "Uh, so... do you have a special somepony?"
Silver cocked a brow. "Hoping to get lucky?" He turned a dark shade and looked away, shamed into silence, but Silver continued, "I do. A herd. They are the most wonderful people I know."
The answer prompted more questions, but the game ended without Silver getting agitated. They invited her to come play again, and she gave a noncommittal reply, setting off to find Twilight and the others.
Sky Ranger, as the pegasus was called, pointed off into the building. "Twilight is currently watching a panel on writing your own comic. Rainbow Dash is with Spike, status unknown, but healthy."
Silver tilted her head a bit. "That's a curious trick." Sky just nodded, and Silver started off before she ran right into a human.
The human was a male, and held up a hand apologetically. "Sorry about that." The lanky caucasian was forced to back up as Sky moved between him and Silver. "Hey, easy. I'm not here to start trouble."
Silver waved Sky aside. "Relax. I don't think he meant anything by it. Hello. I didn't expect to run into another human, but here you are."
The human looked confused. "Another? You saw another? Where?"
Silver perked her tufted ears. "Oh! Sorry... I kinda maybe used to be one, poor phrasing on my part."
He nodded a little, looking confused. "Well, I'm Ted. Nice to meet you... Silver Stars was it? I saw you in the morning paper. You were a human? How'd that go down."
Silver rolled her eyes. "Got a month to tell the story? Welcome to Equestria! Have you been here long?"
A large earth pony came up behind Ted and reared up to throw a leg over his shoulder. "Come on, bud. We're gonna miss it."
Ted waved a hand as he was hauled off. "See you later!"
Sky perked an ear at Silver. "You don't mind if I report that human do you?"
Silver shook her head. "I suppose not. Not for anything bad, right?"
"Done! And no." She waved with a wing. "Twilight is just getting out, this way."
They went off together, though Silver wondered about Ted a moment, hoping he was doing alright in the strange world of brightly-colored ponies. Twilight's appearance drove the thought clear, and they met with smiles. The first day had been survived, and only two more to go.
More hoomans in the mix, them cookies gonna taste discord, cuz CHAOS!!!
On a more serous note, I wonder who this Ted is, also if they'll be a recurring character.
5970529 He got a tiny story all of his own.
as soon as he said his name was ted, all i could think of was bill and ted... and i don't know why...
Looks like Ted made at least one friend since arriving, though it appears he never did find Jake, and didn't think to ask Silver. (In fairness, he had no reason to expect Silver would know of Jake at all, especially after Silver's clarification made it seem like she had -not- in fact seen other humans besides the two of them.)
5970570 I've read that lil story, tho I don't recall it saying much about who Ted was, I might read it again. I'll still be wondering if they'll have a recurrence or not.
5970595 Your character did things!
5970579 You are not alone by far.
5970648
Indeed! Mwa ha ha!
And there is a certain part of my brain that is finally kept from flailing about why IK hasn't stepped in and at least tried to do something to make good on their promise to protect Silver Stars.
A certain amount of delay is understandable: Daniel and Wind Chaser honestly didn't expect anywhere near this level of danger to be heading Silver's way, were left out of the loop when it started becoming obvious that it was, and had to learn about the troubles from the newspaper.
Of all things, the reason IK didn't have surveillance on Silver in Ponyville that would have at least noticed the original Starlight Glimmer occurances is Pinkie Pie. They don't know how to keep Pinkie from noticing any new pony hanging around town and pointing them out to everypony with a big party. Though even with such surveillance, they wouldn't have had anyone in position during the flight from Canterlot anyways. Really hard to track someone on a cross country flight without being obvious.
That and they were at least trying to give them some space/privacy. That consideration lost a lot of significance when the violence escalated like this. Though they still suffer from being left out of the loop quite a bit.
Oubliette.
5971076 Fixed!
smile and wave. this kind of sounds fermuller, does it not Twilight?
exultant chapter I am a bit scared for the girls safety.
Harts Fire
You author person are a author. Dijaa know dat.
5971919 Lies! You can't prove a thing!
5971944 but, but. Aaaaagh forget it
Silver saw "no one."
When he visits the "Crystal Empire."
I wonder if she should have said "Hoping to get lucky?" That carries more connotations that would embarrass him into shutting up.
The strange world of "brightly-colored" ponies.
5972792 In the land of the wicked, there shall be no typos, only corrections.
5972872 After all of the excitement of battle and the various emotional turmoil that followed afterward, it was nice to let the characters relax for a chapter. Moreover, this did so in a way that didn't just seem like filler, as we got to see Silver interacting with the "common" ponies, and in doing so receive a fair amount of information regarding her view amongst the populace at large.
Said public image ran quite the gamut! It was notable that Silver has become something of a popular representative among the lunar ponies, though I'm still not entirely clear as to why they don't hold Luna in a similar view. I know it has something to do with the idea of "she made us, but she's not of us," but that seems to be slicing it a little thin, particularly since they refer to her as "the All-Mother." That's pretty reverential! I'd chalk it up more to Luna's descent into being Nightmare Moon creating a strong cultural backlash among "her" ponies, in that they felt betrayed (quite possibly because of it causing some sort of cultural backlash against them that they're still trying to recover from - Celestia once hinted that the period right after Luna's banishment was one of turmoil).
Having said that, the naked foreshadowing that that eager young lunar pegasus will be back was interesting. I say that because we know so little about her other than the fact that she's struck with hero-worship towards Silver, but she's apparently already slated to return. She obviously doesn't really care about being a princess, but said that out of idolization, which made Silver's response quite tactful, but I wonder how things will play in the longer term. I suspect that mare will have quite the shock that the head of Silver's royal guard isn't a lunar pony, for one thing. Beyond that, it's difficult to sustain that level of hero-worship over a prolonged period of contact...it either degrades (and is hopefully replaced with friendship) or becomes fanaticism. Of course, that's presuming that Silver can keep it in her pants around the new girl.
Of course, I should give her a bit more credit. She obviously made a big splash by being a beautiful queen of the nerds at a nerd convention, and she handled herself very well in that regard. I'd almost say she was a bit too snippy regarding that pony that was asking about her romantic status, but I think she handled it well enough. Still, I'm amazed that there wasn't a paragraph about that feeding her ego - if Silver wanted to be found attractive and desirable by Starlight before, she should be walking on air from all of the amorous attention being shown to her here! It's been made fairly clear that quite a few of the con-goers already think of her as a geek's dream girl.
Most of them, that is. That pony who wanted her autograph for being a murderer was rather dumb; it really would have been better to get her autograph first and then insult her, unless he just wanted a pretext for telling Silver to her face that he thought she was a killer. Moreover, there's apparently some pony stalking her. While that's suspicious, it's not enough of a threat to be noteworthy, yet. At least her guard was competent enough to notice and call it in (with some sort of weird monitoring/communication power).
So Ted is actually here, too? Huh, and here I'd been ready to write him off entirely. It was just a throwaway, but it was nice to be reminded that he's there and doing well, though I somehow suspect that - mostly for the sake of comedy - he and Jake are going to keep missing each other. It'd be funny if Ted was on a "epic quest" to find his friend, despite the fact that there were really no obstacles to him doing so, just a run of hilarious bad circumstances that kept cropping up.
Speaking of throwaway references, I'm trying to determine if that was why Babs was there. I presume so, since she didn't seem to be doing anything besides letting Silver know that she had her cutie mark, but it was the only interaction that felt like it had no point. Ah well, just one is no big deal.
Overall, this was a nice reminder of Silver's place in the context of Equestria.
5972876 I saw no reason NOT to have Babs there in her hometown, so there she was. She didn't have a strong part to play in the scene beyond being there, and she didn't stay on camera for long. Just long enough, I felt. It also let me mix in an episode I basically skipped entirely due to not being relevant to the plot.
Silver is growing. Maturing? Definately growing. She enjoyed being complimented, but didn't let it go to her head. The convention's been really good to grill in the fact that she is pretty and she doesn't need to keep proving the fact. It's a nice balm for confidence.
Ted does exist! I don't make characters for them not to exist. Will he do much? Can't guarantee that! For now, just a cameo. Maybe one day he'll find Jake, maybe. He doesn't appear to be having too bad a time of things.
The surly pony was there to be surly. He had no real desire for her signature. He just wanted to spout a few mean words, which he did. Mission accomplished.
As for little miss lunar guard, how could Silver not smile? She reminds her of Night Watch, with a heavy dose of hero worship thrown in. Chase your dreams, little guardian of the night.
"Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave." -- Skipper - New York Zoo. Madagascar movie.
please tell me it's not what I'm thinking.
For a scholarly pony this person is an idiot. Do they really think that as long as Celestia and Luna have lived that they have not killed anyone? Between their ridiculously long lives and the wars before the unification and probably rebels, assassins and other dissidents for a while afterwards that they could avoid it? The sheer numbers are against them on this. This pony is a nut just waiting to crack...
6582447 As if that ever stopped someone, human, pony, or anything else, from saying hurtful things.
6582570 wtf, that pony sees the new princess who is the only lunar princes, who creates spells like its nothing and fed and watered half the city and does not bat and eye
to get/ getting. Might work better.
Typo broke my brain for a second there; being possessive was correct but the subject was not. I actually tried to figure out where owned the day. (Where? There!)
A very enjoyable typo from my end, interestingly enough.
7767791 Fixed, but the past refused to change.
I am suspicious about the guard there..