Checkmate
Checkmate
Silver Quill had been reading for a little over an hour before the sound of a door opening and closing rang through the library. With it, the sound of two voices heatedly arguing made the presence of the librarian and her assistant known.
“Honestly Spike, I can’t believe you would even say that! I thought I raised you better than this!” said an indignant voice from around the corner.
“Me? What about you! You’re supposed to be the smart one Twilight, so how in the world could you make such an obvious mistake?” replied a young voice in disdain.
Silver looked up from his book with a frown on his face. He hadn’t the faintest idea what the two could be arguing in such heated tones, but from the sound of it, it had to be serious. He quickly marked his page and closed the book, setting it aside as the sound of the two arguing voices got closer. Whatever it was that was being debated so animatedly, Silver was going to find out fairly soon.
“Well of course I’m smart!” Twilight said hotly. “Which is why I’m obviously right!”
“Delirious is what you are!” Spike replied with a sharp voice.
The two rounded the corner into the sitting room, Spike riding on Twilight’s back with his arms crossed in front of him and a stern look on his face that was mirrored by Twilight as she glared at the little dragon. Floating beside Twilight in a magical aura was a large plastic that had the words Bon Bon’s Candy written across next to a few grinning Nightmare Night Jack o’ Lanterns.
“The only delirious one here is- Oh!” Twilight began to say before she noticed that Silver Quill was sitting there staring bemusedly at the two as the argued like a bitter old married couple. She interrupted her tirade to shoot a smile at him that only left him more confused.
“Why good morning S-”
“Silver Quill! Just the stallion I needed!” cried Spike as he threw his claws in the air with relief, almost knocking the bag stuffed with candy out of the air. “Would you do me a favour and set this crazy mare straight for me? She just won’t listen to reason!”
Silver raised an eyebrow at the dragon before pointedly looking at Twilight with a question in his eyes. She huffed, unhappy with being interrupted and blew an errant strand of her mare out of her face.
“It seems that Spike here has been hanging around the wrong sort of ponies and has gotten some crazy ideas in his head, ideas that I think are just absurd.” Twilight said passionately. Spike stuck his tongue out at the back of her head.
“So we need you to set the record straight for us.” Twilight continued seriously. “And I’m sure that you’ll be able to help me open his eyes.”
Silver stared at the two of them, wondering what it was that could have possibly gotten them so riled up at each other. After a moment of silence, he nodded hesitantly, not entirely sure he wanted to be dragged into this, whatever it was.
“Alright then, what seems to be the problem?” he asked calmly.
“What we want to know is,” Spike promptly said before taking a deep breath. “What is the best Nightmare Night candy? Because I say that it’s rock candy, but Twilight here says that it’s-”
“Chocolate covered raisins.” she interrupted primly, causing Spike to mime gagging with a finger in his mouth. “So, which one do you think is the best? Chocolate covered raisins, right?”
“Or rock candy, as it so obviously is?” Spike asked eagerly.
Silver Quill sat in silence for a good amount of time, his gaze flicking back and forth between the unicorn and the dragon. His face was more expressionless and impassive than that of a champion poker player, and his body didn’t betray even the slightest twitch as he thought long and hard about their quandary.
When he finally took a breath to answer their question, the two leaned forward, eagerly anticipating his answer.
“Well, if you really want my answer…” he started slowly, eliciting eager nods from his two listeners. “I’ve always considered candy corn to be the best.”
The two stared at him in dumb silence as though they couldn't believe their ears, and Silver Quill stared back without blinking an eye. Finally, Spike threw his arms into the air in dismay.
“Of all the…candy corn?! That’s even worse!” he cried. Twilight merely shook her head sadly, her ears drooping with deep regret.
“Silver Quill…I’m sorry to say this but…” she looked up at him and met his eyes with a remorseful gaze. “I’m gonna have to kick you out. You have until tomorrow to pack up your stuff and leave.”
And with that, Twilight turned away from him and walked straight into the kitchen to store the floating bag of candy, shooting him a brief wink and a smile as she did so to show him it was all in jest, the dragon on her back letting out the occasional distraught cry of “philistine!” and “what has the world come to!?”
Silver chuckled and shook his head in amused disbelief. He hoisted himself up from his comfortable seat, his joints sore from lack of use, and went off to join Twilight in the kitchen, not planning to say anything in particular to her at the moment, instead just wanting to be in her company.
The afternoon passed far too quickly for Silver Quill’s liking. The sun quickly fell from its point in the sky and was now sitting comfortably on the horizon, getting ready to duck its head underneath to make way for the moon to herald the arrival of Nightmare Night. Silver Quill had nothing to do but sit and wait with the librarian and wallow in the joy he felt as the two engaged in conversation to whittle away the minutes until the laughing screams of merry foals inevitably call them to the streets where they will see a Ponyville bedecked in cobwebs, jack ’o’ lanterns, and smiling fake ghosts as the miniscule monsters head from door to door, demanding candy under pain of a fright.
They spent their few free hours before then in each other’s company, playing board games, talking about whatever passed through their mind, and eagerly planning the events of the upcoming festivities they were about to partake in. There were plans of apple bobbing and pumpkin throwing at sweet apple acres with the Apple family, spider throwing and pin the arm on the zombie in the town square, and a quick peak at the best costume competition that was held every year that Twilight swore she was this close to winning last year.
“It’s not my fault nopony here knows about obscure unicorn history…” she mumbled under her breath as her rook quickly took out another one of Silver Quill’s pawns, leaving its path to his forces wide open.
Silver grimaced, acknowledging her complaint with an easy nod as he studied the checkered board that sat on a small end table in front of the two ponies, Silver Quill on one side, and Twilight Sparkle on the opposite. He carefully studied the positions of his black pieces and Twilight’s white ones, noting with a twinge of irritation how many more white pieces there were than black.
“It’s a shame.” he agreed quietly, most of his focus still on the board. Twilight huffed in agreement and leaned back in her chair as she waited patiently for Silver to make his move.
After a few moments of contemplative silence, Silver wrapped his rook in his magic and quickly slid it horizontally across the board where it rested just out of range of Twilight’s bishop, knight, and pawns that had been holding the right side of the board firmly in her control since the beginning of the game. He smiled slightly in satisfaction at his well planned move.
Twilight ‘hmmmed’ thoughtfully as she contemplated her reply. While her eyes were downturned towards the board, Silver took the moment, just like he did for every one of her turns, to quietly observe her with the fascination and awe of a pony watching a majestic and dangerous creature in its natural habitat, because to Silver, that was what Twilight was. A specimen that fascinated him to no end, filling him with a warmth like no other just when he laid eyes on her, but instilled a cold sense of fear at the same time. It was the fear of uncertainty. The fear that he was blindly stumbling through a dark cave, not sure if he was going to find the hoard of treasure, or the dragon that guarded it.
She idly chewed on the inside of her cheek as she carefully planned her next move, no doubt contemplating and dismissing strategy after strategy in mere seconds somewhere in the fearsome brain of hers. Silver Quill always fancied himself as good chess player, it was a game that required patience and cleverness, something that Silver Quill definitely had. Twilight however didn’t seem to read the same rule book that Silver Quill did as all of her turns were made after only about 10 seconds of thought, and were always debilitating, forcing Silver to rethink his entire game plan.
Silver cursed inwardly as Twilight’s bishop glided from its starting position at the top of the board to knock over a pawn and rest on a few squares away from his king. He wasn’t in check yet, but judging from the gleam in Twilight’s eye, he knew he wouldn’t have to wait long until that was the case.
“So much for going on the offensive…” he thought to himself bitterly as he studied his options. He quickly edged his queen a square to the left so that it would be able to intercept the bishop if it decided to get a bit too touchy-feely with his king. He looked up at Twilight to see her grinning happily.
“What are you smiling about?” Silver asked her with mock irritation. Twilight’s grin grew wider.
“Ohhhh nothing.” She said in a singsong voice. Silver narrowed his eyes and looked back at the board suspiciously. As intelligent that Twilight was, she didn’t have the best poker face, so he was starting to regret his previous move.
“Unless that’s what she wants me to think…” he thought with a furrow of his brow as he sharply looked back up at the offending mare only to find her eyes pointed back down towards the board. Her horn quickly flared up, and a pawn of hers took a quick hop forward she looked back up at Silver with the same knowing smile on her face.
Oh, how he loved that smile. No offense to the alicorn princesses, but the sun and moon themselves couldn’t compare to its radiance and the way it warmed his heart to see. Silver tried to scowl to show her that her mind games weren’t going to work on him, oh no, not on Silver Quill, but as much as he tried, he found her smile to be too infectious for him to resist. He felt on his own smile form to meet hers so that the two ponies were simply sitting there, grinning at each other like a couple of fools.
The held each others gaze for a long, blissful moment. Not a word was spoken for a time, because to describe their feelings with words would do them injustice. Silver’s smile grew more wistful and amused as Twilight’s face began to get flushed as pink crept into her cheeks. She looked away, embarrassed, and Silver felt his heart flutter as her eyes shyly met his once again, reminding me somewhat of the the shy yellow pegasus that Twilight had introduced him to before..
“It…it’s your turn.” she said with a shy smile. Silver blinked, somewhat startled to be knocked out of his reverie. and nodded before regretfully looking back down at the board to plan his next move. As soon as he did so, he could feel a craving deep in his chest to look back up and take her in his sights, and never let her leave them.
If he was grasping at straws before just to prolong his loss for as long as possible, now he had less of a chance than a fish on dry land. He forced himself to concentrate, to think logically and clearly, and after careful planning, strategizing, and contemplating, he finally moved his king one square to the left.
He looked back up, and felt the same burst joy that he felt so many times before as he looked at the mare. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, and the tips of his lips instinctively started to turn upwards. “Your turn.” he said with a smile.
Instead of making her next move as in a matter of seconds as she usually, did, crippling him with one deft move, she simply looked at Silver Quill with a confused look on her face, her head cocked and her brow furrowed slightly.
“You know…” she began slowly, getting a feel for the words she was about to say before she said them. “you seem different today.” Silver’s tilted his head, but his smile never left his face.
“Different how?” he asked simply, not really caring too much whether or not he was acting differently. He was too happy to care about anything right now. Too happy to care about anything but the mare in front of him.
Twilight tapped her chin and eyed Silver Quill contemplatively. She ran her eyes over him, taking in his presence as she considered her words. “You seem…looser.” She said cryptically. When Silver’s eyebrows started to rise, she explained further. “Less tense, I mean. Like you set down a heavy weight that you’ve been carrying on your shoulders.”
Silver blinked. “How do you figure?”
Twilight looked down and started fiddling with her hooves, looking like she was almost starting to regret mentioning it in the first place. She grinned hesitantly.
“You’re…smiling a lot more lately. That’s fairly new for you.” she answered. “You don’t usually smile, not unless something good happens, but now,” she looked at him more boldly now, her previous shyness now slowly evaporating. “well, you’re smiling right now, and all you’re doing is playing a game of chess. That’s very unusual for you.” She said matter of factly.
Silver Quill was taken aback. His mouth was open, but no words came out, and his eyes were wide with surprise, yet he could still feel a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.
“I see.” He murmured, not breaking eye contact with Twilight. He clenched his jaw unconsciously, his small smile becoming a bit more wistful, and chuckled. “I didn’t realize that.”
Twilight looked at him with concern. “I-it’s not a bad thing!” she said hastily, trying to take back any insult she might have accidentally given. “I know you don’t smile often because you're miserable or anything, that’s just the way you are! Why, there’s this on donkey who lives in Ponyville who nearly never smiles but he’s still a very-”
Silver cut off her flow of words by raising a hoof and looking at her with tender eyes. “It’s alright Twilight, I understand. You were just remarking on a simple observation that you had made, nothing more, nothing less.” his unnatural smile grew. “And I think you're right, to be honest, I have been unusually…expressive, lately, although I only just realized once you mentioned it.”
Twilight closed her open mouth and nodded in understanding, a hint of concern still visible in her furrowed brow and shining eyes. “Do you know why that is though?” she asked.
Silver Quill took a moment to just look at the mare, taking in every line, curve, and feature that he could. Eventually, he found that he could no longer stand to see the worried look that she had for him, finding that it caused a continuous pang of discomfort deep in his chest, so he moved his gaze back downwards to the chess board.
“I guess I just never had anything I particular to smile about.” He answered with a noncommittal shrug.
“And do you have something to smile about now?”
Silver glanced back up to find that Twilight’s concern had been replaced with idle curiosity. He shot her a smile. “I guess I do.” he answered cryptically.
Twilight’s brow furrowed in confusion, but before she could ask anything else, Silver interrupted her train of thought in an effort to steer the conversation into something less personal.
“It’s your turn.” he urged gently as he gestured towards the board with a hoof.
Twilight blinked in surprise. “Oh. Right.” she exclaimed softly before promptly igniting her horn and moving a knight that she had left at the side of the board since the beginning of the game. It came to a rest right next to her bishop. “Check.”
Silver’s eyes widened as he resisted the urge to groan. Twilight giggled from across the board, hiding her smile behind her hoof as Silver frantically looked for a way out of check that wouldn’t put him in any worse a situation than he was in now.
Silver grimaced in distaste as he concentrated on planning around every possible move that he could make. He devoted every ounce of his brain power to recognize every outcome and scenario that would end with him either losing or maneuvering out of Twilight’s plan.
Twilight however, as entertaining as it was for her to watch Silver Quill mumble to himself as he desperately planned his next move, was starting to get bored of waiting on him.
“Soooo…” she started slowly. Silver’s ears perked to let her know that he was listening, but he kept his eyes glued to the board. “You said that you found something to smile about.” His eyes flicked up to Twilight. “Do you mind if I ask what it was?”
Silver’s expression was inscrutable for a few seconds before he sighed and looked away. He really didn’t want to talk about this with Twilight right now. He was still too confused, too conflicted with his own thoughts and emotions, something that still prevented him from being able to express himself properly. So far, he had been going on in the hope that, after he talked to Rarity and as the day progressed, things would start to make a bit more sense. This seemed to be more and more unlikely of ever actually happening however, as he was just as lost as he was before.
“It’s…I’m just-“ Silver stammered, too unsure to form any legible sentences. On one hoof, he really wanted to get the entire thing off his chest and to just bare his soul to Twilight and let the pieces fall where they may. On the other hoof, just the thought of doing made his heart pound in his chest as he started to break out in a cold sweat.
Twilight looked at him curiously, but his eyes were completely inscrutable. All that she could tell was the unusual joviality that he had been showing before had all but disappeared and had been replaced with Silver’s usual stoic expression as he idly wrapped his magic around his king and levitated it one square away from danger.
Silver sighed dejectedly once more. “I’ll make you a deal Twilight.” he said suddenly. When Twilight cocked her eyebrow at him, he continued. “I’ll tell you why I’ve been so happy lately, but not now. Later, if you feel up to listening, but I can’t do it now.” He met her eyes. “Is that alright?”
He looked at her imploringly, and Twilight was taken aback. As stoic as his face was, even she could recognize the desperation in his eyes. He wasn’t just asking her, he was pleading. Twilight felt a lump in her throat form as she contemplated the implications of this. What could possibly evoke such happiness and desperation from a pony?
Regardless of what it was, Twilight gave him her best reassuring smile and nodded. “I’d be happy to listen to whatever you have to say Silver Quill.” She said gently. Something was up with him, she knew. She didn’t know whether something was wrong or not, but she knew that he needed a listening ear, and Twilight’s years under Princess Celestia has trained her to be the best listener on this side of Equestria.
Silver’s smile returned with gusto, and he nodded gratefully at her. “Thank you.” he said simply, but meaningfully.
Twilight smiled back. “You’re welcome Silver, and I’m sorry.”
Silver looked at her with confusion. “Sorry for what?” he asked.
“Because…” she said as she levitated her queen and dragged it diagonally down the board so that it was horizontal of Silver’s king. “That’s checkmate.”
Silver couldn’t resist a groan this time as all of his hard work up until then was rendered completely moot. Knowing his opponent, every move that he had made has been playing directly into her master plan so that his defeat had been certain from the beginning. He looked at the board mournfully, trying in vain to find an escape for his king, but he was well and truly beaten.
He sighed glumly and shook his head in despair. “Aww, c’mon,” Twilight chirped happily from across the board. “You did well! If we play another game, you might even be able to beat me!” she said enthusiastically.
Silver twisted his mouth and gave her a wry look, but that did nothing to stop her enthusiasm. “Whaddya say, best 5 out of 9?” she asked excitedly. Silver glared at her for a moment before he started to aggressively rearrange the pieces in their original positions.
“I’m going to get at least one game on her if it’s the last thing that I do.” He thought grimly as Twilight eagerly moved a pawn of hers forward, no doubt already planning how she was going to destroy Silver Quill much like she already had 4 times before.
The board was rearranged in a manner of seconds, and both Twilight and Silver settled in their seats, Silver ready to fight for his honour, dignity, and good name, and Twilight ready to beat him without any discernible effort.
Twilight scrutinized the board, letting her eyes roam from one piece to the other, mentally going over each and every possible move that could be made in that big brain of hers. Finally, a lavender aura wrapped around a pawn, delicately lifted it from the board as though it were a living, breathing thing, and set it back down one square forward.
Tap
“TWILIGHT!”
The mare’s eyes flew open as a speeding purple and green blur flew down the stairs and threw itself at the back of Twilight’s neck , wrapping its arms around her and yammering excitedly. With her concentration effectively shattered, Twilight’s magic moved the pawn in her grip more than she had meant, sending it careening into Silver’s black army and sending half of his pieces careening around the board.
“It’s time to go, it’s time to go, it’s time to go!” the excitable little dragon exclaimed, as it crawled up Twilight’s neck so that it was laying over her head like an unusually active hat.
Twilight winced as chants of “c’mon c’mon c’mon!” filled her ears, making them lay against the back of her head in an effort to save them from the cacophony that was tangled up in her mane.
“Calm down Spike, calm down!” she said irritably as she raised her front hooves and lifted the dragon his perch, setting him down on the hardwood floor next to her, eyeing him reproachfully.
“Goodness Spike, I know you’re excited but you don’t need to tackle me.” she said, straightening out her mussed up mane. The little dragon bounced unashamedly from where he stood, grinning up at her for all he was worth.
“Sorry, sorry,” he chirped, although he looked anything but. “but Nightmare Night has started, we gotta gooooo!”
Silver chuckled at his enthusiasm and glanced out the nearest window. Sure enough, there were several groups of fillies and colts were roaming the streets, eagerly dragging a nonplussed, overwhelmed adult behind them as they started showing off their new costumes to one another, their shrieks of laughter managing to permeate the glass..
“Alright, alright, don’t get your tail in a knot.” she said reassuringly. She glanced at Silver Quill and shot him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but I think we’re gonna have to save this game for another time.”
Silver smiled and shook his head dismissively. “That’s alright.” He glanced down and nudged his fallen king with a hoof. “I didn’t really feel like losing again anyway.”
Twilight laughed, making Silver’s smile grow even wider. As much as it irked him to lose 5 games of chess in a row, it was worth it to be able to hear that laugh. He briefly reflected on his new change of attitude that was almost assuredly brought out entirely due to Twilight herself. While he never used to smile much, not finding much of a reason to do so unless something worth smiling for was happening right at that moment, and even then, never with much enthusiasm. Now though, he found himself smiling at just the slightest provocation, often enough to make his underused cheek muscles sore from the unnatural stress they were being put through.
Spike groaned and started to tap his feet impatiently. “Come on, you guys can make doe eyes at each other anytime you want, but not now! We’re wasting time!” he protested loudly. Twilight blushed profusely and turned back to the little dragon with an annoyed huff.
“Why don’t you go and get into your costume first and then we can leave, hm?” she asked pointedly as she fought down a red tinge in her cheeks. The baby dragon’s foot stilled as he came to the realization that he had forgotten all about his awesome, home made costume that was sure to scare Twilight’s mane off.
He hid an evil little grin with a nod. “Alright, but you guys have to put yours on too!” he ordered before he darted back upstairs, giggling all the way.
Twilight looked at Silver and shrugged, and the two ponies made their way up to their respective rooms to don their costumes and get ready for the night of nightmares.
Spike tip-toed to the top of the stairs to see Twilight waiting patiently on the floor below for the other two to come down and join her, a big bowl of individually wrapped candies and chocolates sitting next to her. She was in her costume, a long, thick robe of a deep royal blue colour with with thick lines of gold running along the fabric. It covered her entire body from neck to hooves, the edges of the robe just barely hanging off of the ground. The wide brimmed hood of the robe was thrown over her head so that her horn was barely peeking out from underneath it, and around her neck hung a pendant of a wrought iron star on a simple chain.
Spike muffled a maniacal giggle with his claws as he watched his soon to be victim look around suspiciously before emptying a small box of chocolate covered raisins in her mouth and chewing quickly before hiding the package in the bottom of the bowl. So carefree. So unsuspecting.
So easy.
He had put so much effort into this costume, even going as far as to ask for Rarity’s advice on how to apply make-up so as to make him look even more terrifying. With her instruction, he had managed to give himself several bright red gashes upon his face and body, and a stitched scar that ran from one eye all the way to his neck. That combined with his ratty and torn up clothes made for a very convincing zombie indeed.
He narrowed his eyes at his prey, licking his lips like a predator would at its next meal. For years he had been trying to give Twilight a good scare by concocting the most intricate and horrifying thing that his immature mind could think of, but it never seemed to work in his favour. He had started off small with the typical white sheet ghost costume, but Twilight had only laughed that off, calling him the most adorable spook she’d ever seen. Little did she realize, that had only fueled the flame of his ambition, and he knew deep in his heart that tonight was the night that he was going to make Twilight jump out of her coat.
He readied himself, going over his lines of “urrrrrggh” and “graaaahhh” in his head. If he was going to be doing this, he was going to be doing it right, sound effects and everything included. Just as he was readying himself for his dynamic entry, the sound of a door opening behind him made him pause.
“Oh, Silver Quill,” he whispered without turning to look at the stallion. “Watch how I’m going to scare Twilight, it’s gonna be hilarious!”
Silver Quill didn’t reply, instead just slowly walking forward to meet Spike at the top of the stairway, his hoofsteps making a soft noise on the hard wooden floor. Spike’s earfins perked at the noise and he grimaced irritably.
“Hey, keep it down would you?” he asked as he checked to see if Twilight had heard him. She didn’t, thankfully. She was still waiting by the door, not giving the slightest indication that she felt that anything was amiss.
Reassured that his plan had not been prematurely ruined, Spike sighed with relief and began to turn around to face the stallion. “We can’t make noise or else she’ll…”
Spike was cut off as he came face to face with the pony behind him. His words were stolen from him as he looked at the light grey pony wearing smart black suit with a red necktie over a white undershirt. That in itself wasn’t all that strange, but what really stood out to Spike was its face.
It didn’t have one.
The pony with a face as blank as a fresh canvas stared impassively at Spike. Or at least, it seemed to stare as Spike couldn’t tell since it didn't have any eyes. The baby dragon started to tremble underneath its presence as he started to slowly back away from the pony, his eyes wide and pupils dilated with fright. The back of his foot soon hit the edge of the stairs, and while every voice in his scaly head told him to run down the stairs, out the door, and halfway across Equestria, he just couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blank face of the pony in front of him.
“S…S…” he chattered incoherently. The pony took a step forward, and that was all that was needed to set Spike off.
“Slendermane!” He shouted, all thoughts of frightening Twilight thrown out the window as he scrambled down the stairs away from the walking nightmare. He immediately hid himself behind the legs of a nonplussed Twilight who looked down at him with confusion.
“Spike?” She asked as she peered at the drake clutching at her forehoof with both arms. What are you doing?”
The inconsolable dragon didn’t answer, instead just pointing a trembling claw at the stairway where a sharply dressed pony with a grey coat and a charcoal black mane was descending.
Her eyebrows rose as she looked into the face of the pony, or more specifically, into where the face of the pony should have been. She felt her fur start to stand on end in an unconscious reaction of fear as her muscled tensed themselves in an instinctual 'fight or flight' response.
Slendermane. She knew who he was, everypony did. He was the one who lived in the darkest recesses of the Everfree forest, the place that foals should never go lest he snatch them away and take him to his home of Nightmares. Every foal was raised with this story, the Everfree forest being changed to something else depending on the location of the ponies, but the nightmare of foals all over was always there.
Twilight smiled. “Slendermane has a black tie, not a red one.”
The blank faced pony tilted its head down. “Oh shoot. I forgot about that.”
Twilight laughed brightly as the blank faced pony’s visage rippled like a pebble being dropped in a still pond to show Silver Quill’s grinning face.
“Ah well, judging from the reception I’ve gotten so far, I think it passes.” he said as he shot a grin to Spike who was now looking up at him with bewilderment. The little dragon stepped out from behind Twilight’s leg and puffed himself up indignantly.
“Hey! I wasn’t scared!” He cried out in protest. When the two ponies looked down at him, he shrunk back a bit and looked down at his feet while wringing his claws together. “Much…” he added lamely.
Silver chuckled and patted the dragon on the head. “Sorry little guy.” Silver said abashedly. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but by the time you got a good look at me, it was too late.”
The drake looked up at him with a cheeky grin. “It’s alright Silver Quill. It’s a really convincing costume, so I guess I overreacted slightly.
“I’ll say.” Twilight added, looking impressed as she eyed his suit. “That was a very well done illusion. You almost even had me scared for a moment there.” she said with a healthy amount of respect. Silver smiled sceptically.
“You mean I didn’t manage to frighten you even a little bit?” he teased, knowing full well from the way that she had tensed up upon seeing him that he had indeed done so. Twilight merely shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Please, I’ve faced off against Nightmare Moon herself. It’ll take a lot more than that to scare me” she said proudly, holding a hoof up to her chest and taking a little pose as her eyes twinkled with amusement. Silver noticed that the hoof she held up was trembling ever so slightly.
He smiled. “Ah, I see. How silly of me.”
Twilight opened her mouth to give a no doubt sarcastic reply, but was cut off by the sound of a small foot stamping the ground with irritation.
“C’mon on you guys, Nightmare Night’s already started and your just standing here talking!” he looked anxiously back and forth between the two ponies. “Are we gonna stay inside all night or what?”
Twilight chuckled and patted the dragon consolingly. “Alright, alright.” She looked at Silver apologetically. “We should probably go before he bursts a blood vessel or something.”
Silver nodded. “Sure, I’m all set.” He replied. The baby dragon gave a shout of excitement and ran to the door, scurrying outside like he was already hopped up on sugar, not even remembering to play the part of a zombie like he had been planning. Twilight nodded at him.
“After you.” she said politely. Silver smiled.
"Why thank you, Miss..." he trailed off, eyeing her costume with curiosity. Twilight sighed.
"Clover the Clever, post unification." Twilight said, disgruntled. Silver nodded knowingly.
"Ah. I knew that."
"Oh just walk out the door already." She replied in exasperation.
Silver suppressed a laugh, not wanting to incur the wrath of the librarian any more than he had already. He caught her eyes eagerly lingering on him on him for a little longer than usual he walked past her and couldn’t help but grin as he stepped into the cool night air, soon followed by Twilight.
“I guess it’s true what they say.” He thought with amusement as Twilight followed him and set out the bowl of candy on a small table so that they could contribute to the candy as they were out. “Every mare’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed colt.”
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Slendermane?
YES!
Whoa where did this come from? Good job.
Great chapter, the tension is killing me what silver will say and what is Twilight's costume?
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FUCK!
I completely forgot about her costume!
Goddammit, this is embarrassing.
Alright, I fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out.
His miserable what? Sorry, I can never stand people mixing your and you're. Also, loving the story. I really want to see a picture of Spike's costume... Ohhhhhhh Deeeeviantaaaaaart....
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Bah, I made a stupid!
Thanks for pointing that out. I usually catch those simple errors, but one seems to slip by every now and then.
This was a very good chapter! I can't wait to see more, this story has me right by the feels, and it refuses to let go. As for this:
Why should you be? I thought it was pretty funny, and it goes well considering who he's dressed as.
You just earned yourself another stalker.
Having sat down and plowed through the available story in one sitting, I can safely say that you have my attention. A well developed Twilight romance story is always a pleasure to read, and you have done a great job on Silver as well, and by this point he is a well established OC with his own quirks and distinguished personality. Of course, watching his stoicism slowly crumble due to exposure to Twilight is great as well.
Of course, it will be even more interesting to see where things go between the two when he finally gets the truth out between him and Twilight - something I'm guessing Luna will help with during the Nightmare Night. Your writing is both interesting and entertaining, so I can hardly wait for the part where they are feeling their way through the new relationship and the shenanigans that manages to cause. Also props for your Rarity - you are doing a very good job with capturing her character, I feel.
I'm slightly confused by your timeline though - during that latest dream/nightmare, Silver remarked that it has been twenty years since his mother passed. I'm not sure if that's quite possible - she was still alive and kicking when Silver enrolled in Celestia's school after all, as per the flashback and Twilight became Celestia's student, and it certainly hasn't been twenty years since then.
That aside, looking towards the next chapter and (I imagine) Luna playing matchmaker.
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Thanks man! It's nice to know that I'm not beating my head against a wall with this thing with no good results, no matter how much it may feel like I am. Considering that I started writing this fic as a sort of practice for when I finally got out of highschool and went into college/university and had nothing more than a desire to do well, but not so much the means, I really appreciate the vote of confidence, That you were entertained enough by it to read through 78,000 words in a single sitting really means a lot to me.
As for the timeline, I can see what you mean, it does seem a little bit excessive now that I think about it. I'll reread the chapter and see if it worked better in my head at the time of writing than it does right now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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You most certainly aren't bashing your head against the wall with this fic ... or if you are, that seems to be your own way of hammering out good results, so all good either way. I'm somewhat picky when it comes to what I read, so for whatever it's worth coming from me - you are doing a very good job here. That you are managing so well with this being your first fic is nothing short of impressive.
I also appreciate the fact that during the date chapters, when Silver didn't accept Twilight's kiss, you didn't fall to the usual cliches and the situation didn't devolve in to some groan-inducting misunderstanding, but instead had the characters handle it maturely, not with Twilight jumping to conclusions. All too many writers can't resist falling back on those well established tropes, for better or for worse (definitely worse in terms of how they often handle relationships), so you have my thanks for avoiding that pitfall, and for taking the time to write the story.
Okay, the way Slendermane was described here gave me the PERFECT idea for my fic. THANK. YOU!
I went to facepalm on that last sentence and I forgot I had a bottle in my hand..... At any rate loving the story so far.
Candy corn? Rock Candy? Twilight has my sympathies, Silver and Spike clearly have no taste in candy. And might I recommend 'fillystines' instead?
Nice Freudian slip, Silver.
Silver, you bucked up. Slendermane doesn't move. You should have stood there, perfectly still, and let Spike's mind creep into its own dark recesses. And what about stilts? Isn't Slendermane supposed to be unnaturally tall? Oh well, it's still a pretty awesome idea for a first time costume.
This chapter reminds me of one I wrote for a story a long time ago: the chess playing, the witty back-and-forth hiding a romantic subtext, the guy's blatant inability to win or, due to her presence, unwillingness to care about winning, and a promise to talk about something when the right time comes (although that was from her in my story). Suddenly I want to go dig up that decade-old romance and do a side-by-side comparison of the scenes.
This rapidly becoming one of my top ten favorite story's on this site. It is most certainly on my read again list.
4728924 Pinkie would think that Spike's taste in candy is fine. After all her family makes rock candy.