A story about a stallion meeting his childhood crush for the first time in years.
Silver Quill's childhood crush was a simple, fleeting thing, although one that he didn't really understand. But when he finally meets the pony that interested him so many years ago, his normally calm and organized mind is thrown for a loop. Now he has to get his feelings under control and not make a complete fool of himself while trying his hardest to get rid of this cursed writers block that got him here in the first place. Easier said than done.
When one is but a small foal, there are certain things that are expected of them. Things like getting their hooves dirty while playing in the mud with your friends, or playing games and making a big ruckus with their high pitched laughter. Or even giving the adult ponies around them headaches when they pester them with a torrent of questions as they try to soak up the big world around them like a sponge, trying to learn as much as they can about the smallest and most menial of things. “Why are they called ladybugs? Are they all ladies? Do butterflies like to eat butter? What are rainbows made of? Why do some words sound the same but mean different things? Why does that pony smell so bad? Where do foals come from?” They are also expected to run around all day long with the energy that only the young have and the old dream of having, causing mischief and mayhem wherever they go. They are expected to be laughing and smiling in the innocent euphoria that is only available to those who are too inexperienced to believe that life is anything but absolutely wonderful.
Silver Quill did none of those things. He was as young and as innocent as any other foal unicorn, but that was where the similarities ended. Some would say that he is antisocial, and others would say that he is depressed or angry. Some would even say that he was replaced at birth with a changeling who looked exactly like the colt, but was secretly plotting the downfall of all of Equestria. However, it would be wise if you didn’t pay much attention to the words of such ponies. Silver Quill certainly didn’t.
The truth was, Silver Quill wasn’t any of those things as a colt. When others thought of him as antisocial, he thought of himself as introverted, and when they thought of him as depressed, he thought of himself as not one to waste unnecessary words. He was the type of colt that nobody understood, largely due to the fact that he didn’t show emotion often, and that he kept to himself at almost all times. This coupled with his appearance, a pale gray coat with a jet black mane and piercing dark blue eyes made him quite the intense looking pony. While he has at some times given some effort at making friends, all of the other children were frightened away from him due to his intense demeanor. If any foal had taken the time to get to know him, they would have found that he wasn’t nearly as imposing as he seemed. They would have discovered that he was an extremely polite and caring pony. If somepony would have done but a little digging, they would see that he was a very intelligent foal with a love of books rivaled only by his love for his parents. But none did, and Silver Quill went through life effectively friendless.
To some, the concept of not having a single friend was absolutely terrifying. Silver Quill however, wasn’t too perturbed by it. In fact, there was very little he was perturbed by, because as long as he had a book in front of him or a quill in his telekinetic grasp, he was happy. His love for literature and writing was suggested by his cutiemark, a shiny quill that was dappled with magical sparkles and stars. It was fitting, because Silver Quill considered the magic of words to be the strongest of any other kind, except maybe music. The magic of representing deep feelings and thoughts in tiny squiggles of ink have always enraptured him, and as long as he had that magic, he needed nothing else.
Until one day, that changed.
Silver Quill lived in the grand city of Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria. It is the largest and most impressive city in all of Equestria. It was populated by the wealthiest and most intelligent ponies that the world had to offer. It was a veritable birthplace of inspiration and potential, as nearly all of the most influential ponies stemmed from this city. It also holds the largest schools in all of Equestria, schools where hundreds of young and eager ponies go to learn and discover. It was in one of these schools the Silver Quill’s world was turned on its head. It was in the morning when he first saw her. He was walking through the halls of the school with his nose in a book he was levitating in front of his face. He walked the halls, heading to his classroom, absorbed in the latest exploits of Harry Plotter, the young unicorn who was destined to save all of Equestria from a great and terrible evil.
“The Basilisk's fangs dripped with glistening poison, one that would paralyze Harry at the slightest touch. If that had been the only problem that Harry faced, he may have had even the smallest chance of getting out of this confrontation with his horn still attached. Unfortunately, the monstrous basilisk’s eyes were just as dangerous as its teeth, capable of turning even the strongest pony into stone with just a glance. And to top that off, Harry’s sworn enemy, Voldemare, was just a few meters away. Voldemare smirked at the young unicorn, raised his horn triumphantly, and declared…”
“Ouch!”
Silver Quill was very surprised to find himself falling back on his flank as something bumped into him, or as he bumped into something. Honestly, he was far to engrossed in his novel to tell which scenario actually happened. Whatever it was he bumped into, it seemed to be just as surprised as he was.“Huh? What happened? Who dares interrupt the great Voldemare?”
This was an old problem for Silver Quill. He often got so engrossed in the book he was reading that he had a tiny bit of trouble distinguishing it from reality. Once he got to his senses though, he lifted himself up and noticed that he had collided with a lavender colored filly that seemed to have had her nose in a book as well.
“Ooh, I really need to listen to big bro and stop walking and reading. What was… oh!”
Once it registered to the young filly that she had collided with someone in her carelessness, she instantly started to ramble out apologies at a breakneck pace, sending Silver's already confused mind into even more of a loop.
“Oh jeez oh jeez, I’m sooo sorry, I had no idea that you were there! Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt did you? Oh pleeaase tell me I didn’t hurt you!”
Silver was a bit shocked at the sudden turn of events, but he wasn’t injured in the least. He tried to assuage the filly by telling her that he wasn’t injured at all. But apparently, his mouth had other plans and decided to hold a coup d’état on the rest of him.
“Uhh… you… I mean I’m…uhhhh…”
The lavender eyes widened in fear. “Oh Jeez, You’re broken! I can’t believe I broke somepony! I’m going to get in so much trouble! I’m so sorry; you see I was reading my book and I was at an extremely interesting part and I wasn’t really paying attention although I should have been and please oh please don’t tell my parents I broke you!”
The Lavender filly was beside herself with worry, for herself or for Silver Quill, he couldn’t tell. Her eyes started to water and her lip started to tremble, terrified of the consequences of breaking the pony that she ran into. Silver Quill couldn’t answer, even though he wanted nothing more than relieve the fears of the lavender filly. He wanted to assure her he was fine, give her a smile to show that he was alright, but he couldn’t move a single muscle to do so. He was too busy staring at her. Her eyes were impossibly deep with the same strong lavender that made her coat, so deep that he found himself drowning in their color. His head was much too jumbled in order to formulate any coherent thought, and if he had been able to; he would have wondered if this lavender filly actually did break him. But the only thing he could do was dumbly nod.
The little filly broke into a wide smile that almost made Silver Quill fall over again. Her eyes lit up like the brightest lantern in the Nightmare Night celebration. If he had had any chance of saying a full sentence in the presence of this lavender filly, he most certainly didn’t now.
“Oh thank you thank you thank you! I’m so glad that…hey, why are you sweating so much? Is it because you’re broken? Do you have a fever or something?”
The little filly leaned in to closely examine Silver Quill, who was sweating as though he was face to face with Nightmare Moon herself. But to be honest, Silver Quill hadn’t the slightest idea why he was reacting this way to the lavender filly; he most certainly hadn’t been like this with anypony else before.
As Silver Quill trembled under her concerned and mesmerizing gaze, the lavender filly’s eyes widened and her ears perked up. “Oh goodness, where are my manners? I was so frazzled from breaking you that I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is-”
Just as the lavender filly opened her mouth to declare her name, the piercing sound of the school bell rang through the halls, signaling to everypony that classes had started. Silver Quill, already quite set on edge over what was currently transpiring, nearly leaped out of his own coat at the shrill sound. But if he was only startled by the bell; the lavender filly became downright terrified.
“Oh sweet Celestia, classes are starting! I don’t hurry my perfect attendance streak will be ruined!” The little lavender filly scrambled to stuff her book into her bag. If Silver Quills’ mind had not decided that it needed a vacation from working, he probably would have noticed that she was reading the same book that he was, Harry Plotter and the Hall of Mysteries. Fortunately, a few of his mental faculties had returned to him, enough to make him realize that, yes, classes had indeed started and that he better get to them before he gets in trouble.
The lavender filly, now with her book safely in her saddle-pack, looked at Silver one more time, the panic evident in her eyes. “IgottagonowBYE!” she said all at once, obviously in to much of a rush to use proper punctuation. She took off at a breakneck pace, tearing through the halls while yelling “WAAAAAAIT FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEeeeee…” Silver Quill just stood there, listening to the lavender filly’s cries becoming quieter and quieter until disappearing. He, now with his book safely packed away, slowly walked in the direction of his first class. The book that he was so invested in earlier was the last thing on his mind.
For weeks after that encounter, Silver Quill had seen that lavender filly throughout the school on numerous occasions. He didn’t share any classes with her, so he only noticed her in the halls or at recess. Every time he saw her, his brain would scream at him to go up to her and talk to her, find out her name, kick her in the flank, just do something to get her to notice you! But Silver Quill did none of these things, mainly because the urgings to interact with the nameless lavender filly were so alien to him. He shrugged it off every time it happened, and relied on the slow but dependent flow of time to cure him of his strange curiosity for the lavender filly.
Time however, seemed to have a different idea. Instead of his interest in the lavender filly fading, it remained just as aggravating as it had 3 months ago. Silver Quill had a very creative, but very logical mind. It’s one of the things that made him such a good writer. And now, that logical part of him was at a constant war with his mind.
“Go up and introduce yourself to her!”
“Why? Why would I want to do that?”
“Because you just do! Now go!”
“But to what end? There’s absolutely no reason to-“
“Just go already!”
“I’m not going to go and talk to somepony I barely ev-"
“GOOOOOOOOOO!”
By the time that Silver Quill finally broke down and decided to obey the incessant demands of his mind, it was the end of the school year. He had completed the year with fantastic grades, and he had gotten a letter in the mail saying that he was eligible to learn at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the most prestigious and difficult school for unicorns in all of Equestria.
This raised some conflicting emotions within Silver Quills young mind. On one hoof, He won’t see that lavender filly anymore, which means he won’t have to continue fighting himself for dominance over his own mind. On the other hoof, he now will have no chance of talking to the lavender unicorn filly, as she won’t be going to the same school as him. He was somewhat disappointed, even if he didn’t know why.
What made this school so hard to enter was the entrance exam. Every unicorn was assigned an incredibly difficult task that they must complete using magic alone. To top it off, every unicorn is assigned a different task in order to make sure that nopony knows what they will be expected to do. The only way that Silver Quill could stand a chance at passing the entrance exam was study as many aspects of magic as physically possible so he would be prepared for whatever was thrown at him.
For 4 days, Silver Quill locked himself in his room devouring books as though he was starving and the only way he could find sustenance was by reading. He read books on transmutation magic, healing magic, magic that altered the physical properties of the world, magic theory, etc. Basically anything that he could find that had the “magic" word in it, he read.
On the day he was to to take his entrance exam, Silver Quill was ready. He had filled his cranium to the bursting point with scraps of information across as many fields of magic he could find. Because of this, he wasn't nervous. He and his parents were waiting in the main chamber of the school with several hundred young unicorns, all here for the same reason he was. Most of the unicorns were either impatiently waiting for their exam to start so that they could get it over with, or getting some last minute studying done. A few seemed to have cracked under the pressure and were being consoled by their parents as they curled up into a fetal position.
Silver was looking at these ponies because he had nothing else to do, as any more studying he knew would be redundant, as he had gone over all of the rules and principals of magic hundreds of times. But when he noticed a particular lavender filly sitting in a corner with a book in her telekinetic grasp, he forgot about the upcoming test.
At first he thought that the lavender filly trying to reinforce her knowledge, much like the other unicorns in the room, but he soon realized that wasn't the case. Her posture was too relaxed, and her eyes were moving at too leisurely a pace. He concluded that she wasn't actually studying, she was just casually reading to pass the time. She seemed to be fairly nervous however, as her eyes kept darting back and forth from the book to the clock.
Silver grimaced and forced the lavender filly out of his mind. This would not do. If he was too distracted thinking about her, he could mess up big time on his entrance exam. He decided that after the exam, if they both passed the exam it, he would talk to her on the first day of school. He then began to entertain himself by examining the school from the inside.
He was in a high ceilinged chamber decorated mainly in the schools colors, purple and gold. All around him were massive columns that stretched all the way to the top of the room and dwarfed everything else that was around them. They were intricately carved to show pictures of unicorns casting all types of spells, from simple levitation, to the much more complex teleportation spell. The walls were decorated with large portraits of the schools previous headmasters and headmistresses, and one very large case that held all of the schools acquired trophies and certificates. There were also two great velvet banners hanging down from the ceiling just next to the double door entrance. They were adorned with the official crest of the school, the head of a white pegasus with a long spiraling horn wreathed in sparkles.
Silver was forced to stop admiring the architecture when he heard his name. He looked to the end of the room at the pony who was calling out the names of the students who were to be tested on a megaphone. "I repeat, would Silver Quill please make your way to room number 103 to perform your entrance exam." With a brisk nod, he and his parents got up and made their way to the designated classroom.
Silver Quills' calmness was not shared with his father. He was trying, and failing spectacularly, to give his son a motivational speech. While it wasn't necessary, Silver Quill let him ramble on, more to ease his fathers fears than anything else.
"Well my boy, now's our big moment. Your big moment, I should say, as I'm not going to be taking the test." He laughed nervously. "Now, the key to this is that you must not let yourself be affected by your nervousness. You must be cool and collected. We all should be in fact. It wouldn't do anypony any good if one of us was nervous, no siree no nervousness here not at a-" his rambling came to an abrupt stop when his mother put a hoof in front of his mouth to stop the anxious flow of words.
"What your father is trying to say dear," she said while smiling warmly at her son, "Is that no matter what happens in there, we will always be proud of you."
Silver Quill gave his parents one of his rare smiles and simply nodded. His father sighed, his worry only slightly lessened.
"Well, ready or not, here we are."
And there they were indeed. In front of them was the classroom door marked 103. Silver Quill took a deep breath, and opened the door. The classroom was an average university classroom, if a bit more fancy. In the front was the raised stage and podium on which the teachers would stand and deliver their classes. Everywhere else were long tables, each row farther back higher than the ones in front of them. Sitting in the middle of this setup were three ponies who looked to be in their 30s or 40s. The middle one was a light blue pony with a white mane, the one sitting to the left of her was a dark purple pony with a similarly dark blue mane, and on the other side was a dull orange pony with a blazing red mane.
The ponies asked his parents to take a seat by the bench next to the door. They then instructed Silver Quill to make his way to the teaching stage. “This makes sense,” Silver Quill thought, “with their elevated position they are can better observe the ponies taking the test.” When Silver Quill got on stage, the middle unicorn spoke.
“Alright then, now before we get on with the testing, allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Sea Breeze and I teach study of advanced rules and properties of magic. Sitting to the left of me is Silent Night, the head librarian of the school, and sitting to the right of me is Merry Mixture, the head teacher of natural magic minerals and substances. So,” The turquoise colored pony leaned forward and examined Silver Quill with searching eyes. “You wish to learn at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? I hope you know that it will not be easy, many hours of hard work and study is needed for you to do even moderately well.”
Silver Quill had been expecting something like this to happen, he had heard a few stories as to what the entrance exam is like. Half of it he heard was about your magical capabilities, and the other was about whether or not you have the mental fortitude to do well in the school.
Silver Quill didn’t so much as blink as he stared straight into her eyes and said with as much conviction as he could muster, “believe me Mrs Sea Breeze, I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Sea Breeze gave a small smile and nodded. The pale orange pony professor named Merry Mixture laughed heartily.
“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit," he declared. "The young one may actually have what it takes. But he’s gonna have to prove it first.” As he said the last sentence, he lowered his voice ominously and looked at Silver Quill with a small evil smile with just a hint of mirth in it.
Sea Breeze nodded and continued speaking. “Your task, young Silver Quill, is to make a piece of art using nothing but your magic. You can make anything you want, and you can do it with whatever spell you want, but it can only be done with magic. You may start when ready.”
Silver Quill nodded and began thinking. There were many ways that he could go about this. He could carve a picture onto a surface using a focused beam of energy, or he could levitate writing materials into drawing a picture, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. Those ways were boring, and didn’t do much to showcase his abilities. He briefly considered making an image in the air using different colored flames, but that had the chance of going very wrong very quickly. But that also gave him another idea. After working through the technical aspects of the spell in his head and making sure that it would work.
Once he was satisfied with his idea, he took a wide stance on the side of the stage, lowered his head and started the spell. His horn glowed with a dull sluggish yellow light. A small trail of this light trailed out of the horn and into the air in a small glowing ball of what looked to be light in liquid form. It went and hovered in the center of the stage as it slowly got bigger as the stream continued.
The teachers looked on in interest, not knowing exactly what was happening. Silver Quill was trembling slightly, beads of sweat sliding down his coat and falling to the floor. The idea of the spell was to make a picture out of light. But light wasn’t affected by the world around them the same way fire was. He knew that the light would immediately disperse because there wasn’t anything physical holding it down. So Silver Quill decided to change that. He gave the light weight and form, making it into a liquid.
Once he had finished producing the semi solid light, there was a ball of the shiny substance floating in the middle of the stage, slowly flowing and changing shape, but staying in one consistent mass. Now that the hard part was over, Silver Quill had to focus on shaping and coloring the mass of light. Producing all that light took a lot of energy and concentration, but molding it into the picture he wanted just took basic levitation and coloring spells.
Silver Quill’s horn started glowing different colors as the light started to take on different hues and tones. Once he had the colors down pat, he began forming the picture in his mind. His plan was to make a picture of the school itself viewed from the outside. Sounds simple, but Silver Quill has never been the most artistic, so it was slightly difficult. Once the picture in his mind was complete, cast one more spell, and all at once, the blob of light fell onto the floor without making a sound. Slowly, the light moved around on the floor, forming lines and shapes. Once it stopped moving, the picture was completed.
The teachers were looking at the picture with interest. It wasn’t that impressive looking to the untrained eye; it used simple lines and shapes to make an image of what the school looked like from the outside. But it was accurate, from the crest of the school hanging from the banners above the double door entrance, to the tall towers that dotted the school grounds. But it wasn’t the picture itself that was important; it was how the picture was made. They were very impressed with the young unicorn’s skill and creativity, what he did was quite difficult for someone of his age. They teachers looked at each other and nodded their heads in unison. Sea Breeze turned to Silver Quill and said, “School starts next Monday.”
It had been a weak since Silver Quill took the exam, and school had started. The plan was supposed to be that he would talk the lavender filly today and hopefully calm his restless mind. This was definitely not going to happen. Silver Quill had heard the story at least ten times in the past week. The lavender filly had apparently done so well in her entrance exam that the princess herself was going to tutor her. The story had many different variations, as most rumors do. He had heard that she tried to do a spell so powerful that it blew a hole through the wall in the tower she was testing. He also heard that she summoned a massive dragon and threatened to destroy the school if Celestia herself didn’t teach her.
Whatever actually happened, there was now no chance that he would be able to interact with the lavender filly. Now that she’s Princess Celestia’s protégée, she wouldn’t be going to the same school as him. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Silver Quill would gave to be very focused if he were to do well in this school, and he was determined to do better than well. The lavender filly would just be an unnecessary distraction. Not talking to the lavender filly is probably for the best
"Rosemary ran through the Everfree forest as quickly as her hooves would let her. Oppression oozed from every shadow, taunting her and willing her to fall. The evil presence that had been following her was hot on her heels; she could feel it in every fiber of her being. Even though the only sounds being made were the hoofsteps of her furious, terrified running, she knew that she was not alone. Her heart was hammering to oblivion in her chest, each beat sending adrenaline coursing through her veins and forcing her to ignore her fatigue, because if she made just one wrong move, just one small slip, she had no doubts that she would never find the one she was looking for. As she tore through the forest, she burst through a wall of foliage blocking her path, and found herself in a clearing. But she wasn't alone, for in the clearing there stood a..."
The pony who was sitting by the pond chewed on his lower lip, wracking his brain for a suitable creature to give the best impact for his story. He thought of using a manticore or a cockatrice, but those were definitely too overused. He toyed with the idea of a pale, menacing Vrykolakas, but decided that it was too obscure. Maybe a nice, terrifying Nāga, or Gorgon? No no, that wouldn't work, the setting isn't right. Those types of monsters were found in caves or swamps, not forests. A Sphinx? Same problem. Dragon? Too big. An imp? Too small. A ghost? Too subtle. Axe wielding blood thirsty Ogre? Not subtle enough. After some thought, the pony dipped his quill in the inkwell, and continued writing.
"For in the clearing was a giant man eating cookie with huge razor sharp teeth made of peanuts and terrifying dark as night eyes made of chocolate chips! Rosemary stopped in her tracks at the sight of the vicious treat and sighed. She gave off a frustrated groan and said 'Seriously? This is the best you can do? A bloody 8 foot tall COOKIE? Am I supposed to be scared of this? I don't know what's worse, the fact that you're writing this garbage or that you thought that anypony would find this scary. I'm done with this, call me when your ready to stop picking your nose and be a real writer.' And with that, Rosemary stormed off."
Silver Quill stared at the page he was writing on, and then he looked to the quill held in his telekinetic grasp, then back at the page. He sighed heavily, put down his quill on the grass, and crumpled up the paper so that it could join its friends in the pile of terrible plotlines. "When the character you're writing about starts insulting you, then you know you have a problem." he muttered under his breath."
"A problem? Art thou experiencing difficulty with something, young Silver Quill?" said a voice from behind him. Silver Quill instantly knew who it was, as there was only one pony in Equestria who spoke in such a manner. Silver Quill sighed; he had been doing a lot of that lately, and turned around.
"Why Princess," he said with a small smile, "I was wondering if I would see you this lovely night." Princess Luna grinned and flicked her tail in pride at his compliment of her creation. She walked up to stand next to him.
"You know, We think that your name should be Silver Tongue, what with how easily you are able to sling compliments out." She gave him a sideways glance as she sat next to him with an amused smile. "But if thou thinketh that we will be distracted so easily, thou has another thing coming. Now, what is it that ails you?"
Silver Quill looked at the pond and thought for a moment. He didn't know what to tell the princess of the night, or if she would understand his problem, but he decided that it wouldn't hurt to get her opinion. "What ails me princess, is a curse of the most devious kind. One that prevents me from doing the one thing that I love most in this world and refuses to let me forget it." The Princess' eyes widened as she brought a graceful hoof to her mouth.
"Oh my goodness, that thou were suffering so much, we had no idea! Tell Us, what is the name of this curse? We, as old as we are, have never heard of such a thing!" Princess Luna's eyes shone with concern. Silver Quill couldn't help but chuckle at her innocent face. He knew he shouldn't but sometimes it was hard not to take advantage of her naïveté. Even though he knew that she was millennia old, it was hard to remember it.
"Don't worry princess, just an aggravating case of writers' block. Nothing serious." Concern turned into confusion as Luna pondered his words.
"We do not understand, what is this 'writers block' thou speaketh of?"
It was no surprise to him that the princess didn't no what he was talkingabout, as she was only released from her lunar banishment slightly over a year ago.
"Writers' block," Silver Quill explained "Is when a writer such as myself is incapable of finding the right inspiration to write. Usually I have no problem with writing, but this has been going on for a month now. Even being in the place that has always put me in the right state of mind to write is of no help."
Princess Luna looked around. They were sitting by a small pond connected to a thin river. Wildflowers graced the edges of the pond and the dotted the grass around them, giving the area an enticingly sweet scent. Surrounding them were tall pine trees cloaked in shadows that only allowed somepony to see a few meters past them, but no more. They were in a small forested area in Canterlot, one that was never visited much because it was fairly out of the way. It was quite a scene, but what really topped it off was the moon and starlight that shone from the night sky. It painted the area with a mesmerizing mist of white light. It was the perfect scene to get his creative juices flowing and it had only become more perfect once the princess of the night returned and started to raise the moon her way.
Realization dawned on Princess Luna. "Ah, now We understand. So this is why We always find you here lost in thought. We had wondered why thou was always in this spot. Dost thou truly enjoy the night this much?" Silver Quill knew that while she was curious, she was also fishing for some of his compliments that she loved so much. He decided to humor her.
"I truly do, Princess. I've always felt a connection to the night. The tranquility, the beauty, the sights and sounds, they have always endeared themselves to me. Celestia did a marvelous job managing the night, but since you've returned to Equestria, its splendor has increased tenfold."
Even though he was buttering it up for the sake of pleasing her, he was pretty much telling the truth. He always did love the night, and for all those reasons. A delighted smile appeared on Luna's face. She ruffled her wings proudly and sat up a little straighter and lifted her head a little higher. Princess Celestia was showered with compliments everyday, but Luna rarely gets complimented on her work since everypony is usually asleep when she raised her moon. Because of this, even the smallest compliment would please her immensely.
"Well, we are certainly glad that thou thinketh so, we never would have met thou otherwise." Silver Quill nodded, thinking back to when they first spoke. It was several months since the princess' return. He was sitting in this very spot, and she had asked him why he was always sitting here writing. She had been observing him for some time, and he was getting the suspicion that she wanted to approach him but didn't know how. He answered lightly, saying that he was always most comfortable at night and it was easiest for him to write here. Since then she has been visiting him in this same spot every once in a while, and they had become fast friends.
Once Princess Luna finished reveling in his compliment, she turned to Silver Quill and asked "Wouldst thou like my advice Silver Quill?"
Silver Quill smiled warmly at her and said. "I most certainly would Princess." Luna looked at him pointedly and said "Firstly, Thou art to cease addressing us as Princess. We are friends, so thou shall address us by our name."
Silver Quill chuckled, and when he realized that she was waiting for an answer from him, replied with "I'll do that, Luna." Luna gave him a smile and nodded in satisfaction.
"Secondly," she continued, "The root of the problem is quite easy for us to see. The fact of the matter, young Silver Quill, is that you are overworked."
Silver Quill digested her words, thinking about the past few weeks and trying got figure out if he felt 'overworked' or not. He didn't think so, he hadn't even been able to get any work done because of his writers block.
He made his thoughts known. "No, I don't think that is it Luna. I don't feel overworked in the slightest."
Luna didn't look convinced. She looked at Silver Quill Closely and said "Thou may not be aware, but We were a musician once, a long time ago. We played violin, and composed our own music. We were quite skilled at it too. And We remember on several occasions feeling similar as thou does."
Silver Quill was quite taken aback at this revelation. He had no idea that Luna had ever been a musician, and after he thought about it for a moment, he realized that it shouldn't come to much surprise. When one is ageless, entertainment is the most precious thing one has.
"You were a musician? What pieces have you made? Why did you stop?" Silver Quill was much more interested in the fact that she was a musician than he was in her knowing what was wrong with him. Silver Quill highly respected musicians, mainly because his and their craft are so similar, yet still so different.
Luna giggled. "Well, art thou familiar with 'Lullaby of the Elders' or 'Symphony of Serenity'? What about 'Starlight Sonata'?" Silver Quill slowly nodded. Not only was he familiar with all of those songs, nearly everypony in Equestria was.
Well, yes" he replied, "but the composer of those songs is unknown, and has been for centuries"
Luna laughed at that, and adopted another expression of smug pride. "Not so unknown, we would think, as thou only started calling the composer by her first name mere moments ago."
Silver Quill found his mouth hanging open, and quickly closed it with a sharp crack of his jaws. He violently shook his head in order to regain his wits. "Well, that is quite... surprising. You weren't lying when you said you were skilled. But why did you stop?"
Another one of her self satisfied smiles was quickly replaced with a one regret and discomfort. "Unfortunately, it wasn't our choice to cease with our music making, but our banishment to the moon gave us little time to pack a carry-on bag, if thou understands our meaning." Silver Quill winced at his own stupidity. Of course that was why, what else could it have been? Why did he have to make an insensitive ass out of himself?
"Ah, right. Sorry about that Luna."
Luna looked down at her companion, who she could easily tell was feeling guilty for bringing up unpleasant memories. A surge of warmth flowed through her, and she found herself thinking that it was a good thing she worked up the courage to speak to him when she first did. "No worries, young Silver Quill, We have come to accept our actions and take little discomfort in discussing them. But the more important thing right now is the issue of your so called 'writers block'. As We said, it is due to you being overworked. We have experienced it before when we were struggling to compose our music, and there is only one cure for it."
Silver Quill sighed yet again, fearing that he knew where this was going. He knew that Luna was waiting for him to ask her what the only cure for his writers block was, but he decided that he would have some fun with her and be completely silent. And with that, the two ponies sat by the pond in complete silence, with the only sounds being those of the night life around them.
Luna waited for one minute, which then stretched on to two minutes. Silver Quill could see out of the corner of his eye that she was getting antsy, shifting her position and sending frequent glances his way. Two minutes eventually turned to three. Silver Quill found it increasingly difficult to keep the smile from his face as Luna got more and more impatient. Three minutes had passed into four, and Luna had given up nearly all pretenses of subtlety and decided to just sit and stare at Silver Quill. Silver Quill just sat stone still, and kept staring straight ahead. It was in the fifth minute that his composure finally cracked. Luna had let out a barely perceptible "Nnngh" in her eagerness to impress him with her knowledge. That briefly broke his focus and made him release a barely suppressed laugh, but apparently it was enough.
"Oh confound it, thou were doing that on purpose!" Silver Quill couldn't help but give a loud laugh at Luna's expression, a blend of discontent and embarrassment, perfectly mixed for the maximum amount of hilarity. When Princess Luna saw that she was being laughed at, she defiantly crossed her front legs in front of her and turned her nose away from Silver Quill with a royal "Hmmph!"
"Alright, alright, my apologies Luna" Silver Quill said with the barest hint of a smile still remaining in his attempts to placate her. "Would you please tell me what it is that I need to do to get rid of the problem of mine?" Luna tried to show that she was not to be so easily won over, but Silver Quill knew better. He saw the crinkle around her eyes that showed she found it just as amusing as he did, and the slightly upturned lips hid nothing.
After a few more seconds of pretending to think about it, she finally said "Alright young Silver Quill, We will tell you, although thou shouldst consider thyself lucky." She uncrossed her hooves and looked him in the eye. "The only solution to this that thy has is to take a brief rest from thy work. To let thy mind be free of the strain it takes from searching for inspiration at every waking moment. To take time off and let thyself enjoy life simply, and without hindrances. Dost thou understand us?"
Silver Quill nodded. It was as he expected. "Well, I suppose a few days or so of not thinking about writing could do no harm. I guess I'll just walk around the city, go to the parts that I've never been to before."
Luna shook her head and looked at him imploringly. "Oh no no no young Silver Quill. Thou must take more than a few days off. It must be at least a few weeks. And thou most certainly can't stay in Canterlot during your time off. While it is a wonderful city, thou needeth to go somewhere quieter. Somewhere more quaint, and without all of hectic busyness that seems so abundant in Canterlot."
Silver Quill groaned. A few weeks was a lot longer than he was willing to stay still for. He was used to always being busy, always having things to do, or write. Dropping everything now and taking such a long vacation would be agonizing. He just wouldn't know what to do with himself.
"An few weeks? Luna don't you think that that is a tad bit... extreme?"
Luna shot him a stern glance which made him sit up a little straighter, eerily similar to the way that the teachers at his old school could make someone confess anything or correct any mistake without hesitation with just one look. "Believe us, young Silver Quill, it would take at least a week for thou to fully be rid of thy problem."
Silver Quill accepted defeat as he said, "If you insist Luna. But the unfortunate truth is, I don't know where to go. As much as I want to leave Canterlot and go out and see the world, I've only been out of the city a few times. and even then the city walls were a hoofstep away. And besides, knowing me, I would be beside myself with boredom. What could I possibly do in a smaller town other than write?"
Luna gave him a broad, yet somewhat disconcerting, smile. "Do not trouble thyself with the little details, young Silver Quill, for we know the perfect place for thy to take a brief holiday at. And as for thy concerns of being bored...thy has nothing to worry about." Luna laughed in a suspiciously evil sounding way that made Silver Quill fear for his future.
"What in the world have I gotten myself into..." muttered Silver Quill. Meanwhile, the Princess of the night sat next to him, laughing.
The window curtains were open just enough to let a thin ray of light in, and Silver Quill was in just the right position for the light to shine on his sleeping eyes. He squinted and muttered in his drowsiness, irritated that the inanimate energy had the gall to wake him so rudely. With a groan, he turned on his side facing away from the window, and slowly drifted back into the land of dreams. He sighed contentedly, and as luck would have it, that content did not last.
Several sharp knocks came from the front of the house, loud enough to reverberate throughout the entire building. Silver Quill gritted his teeth in annoyance and ignored the rude pony vying for his attention. After a few seconds of silence, the knocks came again, each one jarring Silver Quill with its loudness. He had to force himself to not jump out of bed and give this pony a verbal lashing the likes of which they have never seen. But he restrained himself, and when he went thirty seconds without hearing anything. he sighed and settled down again. "Some ponies..." he muttered. Soon after that, he heard a shuffling noise from the side of the house, outside his room window.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Silver Quill slowly rose from the comfort of his bed, and groggily walked to the window. When he opened the window, he was greeted with the face of a dark blue pony with her muzzle smooshed up against the glass. The pony grinned happily at Silver Quill's shock.
"SALUTATIONS YOUNG SILVER QUILL! ART THOU READY TO START THY VACATION?" Silver Quill could do nothing but stare at the face of a very happy Princess. After a few seconds of being bewildered, Silver Quill closed the curtains, counted to five, and opened the curtains again. Much to his chagrin, the supremely delighted pony was not a figment of his imagination. Only when Luna lifted her hoof and gently tapped on the glass of the window did he realize he should open it.
"What in the world are you doing Luna?" As hard as he tried to suppress it, Silver Quill couldn't prevent a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice. Luna however, appeared to be far too excited to notice it.
"Why Silver Quill, we are here to see thou off for thy sabbatical!"
Silver Quill blinked, not comprehending. While his body was awake, his mind was still asleep.
"I'm sorry Luna, you're going to have to explain yourself a bit more than that."
Luna merely laughed and shook her head. "We are afraid that explanations shall have to wait young Silver Quill, for now thou must get out of bed and make thyself presentable. Our sister Celestia has summoned you." Silver Quill blinked several times before sighing and turning away.
"Of course Princess Celestia wants to talk to me, why in the world would it be anything else? Because that makes total sense." Luna beamed at him. "Verily! We shall be waiting for thou outside of thy house."
Silver Quill chuckled at Luna's inability to detect sarcasm and said "Alright, I'll be out shortly." Luna nodded happily and walked away from his bedroom window.
After 10 minutes of freshening up, brushing his teeth, and getting his mane in order, Silver Quill made his way out of the front door to meet with his excited friend. He found Luna in a drowsy state of happiness, her eyes glazed over, and her body slowly swaying with the breeze. Apparently she didn't realize how strange she looked to the other ponies walking by, because she didn't react in the slightest when they walked by, staring at her.
Silver Quill had to wave his hoof in front of her face and call out her name to snap her back to reality. After several blinks and a confused exclamation, she burst into a wide smile. "Ah, Silver Quill! Art thou ready to depart?" Silver Quill looked closely at her. As far as he could tell, there was no reason for her to be so... bubbly. It wasn't her normal behavior that's for sure, although he didn't know what she was like during the day since all their meetings happened at the same spot at night.
"As ready as I'll ever be to meet Princess Celestia." he replied.
Luna looked at him with surprise on her face. "Oh! Art thou nervous to meet our sister for the first time?"
Silver Quill looked up at her and shook his head. "To be honest Luna, I'm much more confused than I am nervous. From what you told me about her, I think I won't have any problems with her. But what I want to know is why she wants to see me, and why so early."
Luna nodded her understanding. "Ah, now we understand." She peered down at Silver, trying to reassure him with her gaze. "The reason for our sister's sudden interest in thou, young Silver Quill, is that she kindly agreed to find a suitable location for thy sabbatical upon our asking." Silver Quill's eyes widened in surprise.
"You asked her for a place for me to take my vacation? What did she say?" Luna thought for a moment, making Silver Quill slightly nervous. What did she have to think about?
Once Luna was satisfied with her answer, she said, "We did not ask our sister to find you the right location, per se. It was more that we asked her to confirm that thou were able to stay there." When Silver Quill's expression made it obvious that she would have to go into more detail, she continued. "What we mean to say, is that we know the perfect place for thou to take thy sabbatical, but we needed our sister to confirm thy living arrangements." Luna smiled down at him. "Do not worry young silver Quill, our sister shall explain in greater detail." Silver Quill could do nothing but shrug, no point in pushing the issue he figured.
The rest of the walk to the castle was filled with companionable small talk. The chatted about the latest news in Equestria, what was going on in the literature industry, and Luna's musings about getting back into music. As they walked and talked, they were the subject of interest for many passing ponies. The Princess of the Night was very rarely ever seen in public, especially in broad daylight. While Luna was blissfully unaware of all the attention they were receiving, Sliver Quill just decided to ignore it, though he did find himself thankful that it was early in the morning, so there weren't too many ponies out.
after 20 minutes of walking, they reached the castle. Silver Quill had been inside the castle several times before, and it never failed to take his breath away. The golden statues made by master artisans from all over Equestria, The priceless works of art made by artists who have been dead for centuries. The precious minerals and gemstones throughout the castle were expertly placed to compliment the decor, but never too much to make it overpowering to the eyes. It really was a marvel, a testimonial that shows what ponies are truly capable of.
Silver Quill took followed Luna up the wide marble staircase in the main hall, trusting her to take to the Sun Princess. As they made their way up the many steps of the castle, Silver Quill pondered what had Luna in such a fine fettle. Normally, he was quite skilled at telling what other ponies were feeling, and why, but this time he was coming up blank. He decided to pay it little mind, and instead focused on the task at hand, which was not making a fool out of himself in front of Princess Celestia.
Luna stopped walking in front of a particularly extravagant door, even for this castle. It was made of dark red mahogany and looked as though 4 average sized ponies standing on each others backs would have little difficulty walking through. With a smile, Luna hammered on the door, sending several loud bangs echoing down the wide corridor and making Silver Quill flinch. The door opened slowly on silent hinges.
Luna nodded at him and walked in. Silver Quill looked around, curious what this room was. The walls lined with bookshelves that reached the high ceiling, the single desk on the side of the room, and the lack of other furnishings suggested the it was the Princess's private study. The sun Princess was standing at her desk reading a letter, but put it down to address them.
"Dear sister, what have I told you about knocking? Your goal is to get the other ponies attention, not destroy the door." Princess Celestia smiled tiredly at Luna, who blushed slightly. This was apparently an issue that was familiar to the two of them, and after the way that Luna abused his own poor door, he understood why.
"Our apologies Sister, we were just a little bit too excited."
Celestia laughed, not at her sister, but at her antics. "Clearly you were." Celestia smiled politely at Silver Quill. "And this must be the pony that you spoke about."
Luna was instantly excited again at her mention of Silver Quill. "Ah yes, where are our manners? Sister, this is our friend Silver Quill. Young Silver Quill, this is our dear sister, although I'm sure thou art already aware of that." Luna giggled a bit, pleased with herself for helping to break the ice between the two with her little joke.
Silver Quill laughed inwardly at Luna's silliness, and brought himself up to his full height to address the princess. "It's a pleasure to meet you Princess Celestia." Silver Quill said with a deep bow. Celestia laughed and said, "Please, any friend of my sisters is a friend of mine, just call me Princess Cele-" Princess Celestia stopped mid sentence in confusion. She looked quizzically at Silver Quill , who grinned back at her. Celestia chuckled, and said "Well, I didn't see that coming."
Through Luna's descriptions of her sister as an individual, and not just as a princess, Silver Quill could tell that she wasn't very fond of being worshiped by other ponies all the time. He knew that addressing her just by her name could be seen as presumptuous, and that she wouldn't like it if he said, "your majesty", so he did the next best thing.
When Celestia smiled at Silver Quill again, it was more sincere. "Well Silver Quill, I'm sure you must be wondering why you're here." He nodded at her, and she continued. "I'll admit that when my sister came up to me asking me arrange a temporary residence for you outside of Canterlot, I was a little confused. But she was adamant, and I know my sister well enough to know that when she gets an idea in her head, there's no way to get it out." Luna grinned, more so to herself than anypony else.
"And I was even more surprised when she asked me to arrange your vacation in Ponyville of all places, but still, she has her reasons. But then she asked me if it was possible to ask my student, Twilight Sparkle, if you would be able to stay with her." Silver Quill's eyebrows rose higher with each revelation. Why had Luna been so insistent on him staying in a town he's never been in and with a pony he's never met?
"At first I was confused, but it makes sense when you think of it. Luna told me that you are a writer and that you are looking for a change of scenery for inspiration." He nodded again, looking from one Princess to the next. "Well, if that's the case, then I think this may be the perfect place for you. My student, you see, lives in and manages the only library in Ponyville. One that has more than enough space for a few more ponies to live in."
Silver Quill thought about this. Living in a library in a quiet small town with nothing to do but leisurely read the time away. This idea was sounding more appealing by the minute. "I think that sounds like a lovely idea Princess Celestia, but I do have one question. For both of you actually" They looked at him expectantly. "Why would you two go through all of this trouble just for me?" he asked.
Luna gave him a big smile and simply said. "Because thou art our friend young Silver Quill!" Silver Quill's eyes widened at that, and he returned her smile with one of his own rare ones. Celestia's eyes were unreadable as she looked at her sister, then at Silver Quill.
` She thought for a few seconds before answering. "And I am doing this because my sister asked me to, and because I think that it would be good for my student to make a new friend."
Luna nodded sharply, as though expecting nothing less. But then she frowned slightly as a sudden realization seemed to hit her. "But it all depends on miss Twilight Sparkle's reply. She may say that she is too busy or doesn't like the idea, or that it would be to much of an inconvenience." Luna's brow wrinkled slightly as she mulled over all the possible reasons why Silver Quill would not be able to holiday in Ponyville, but Princess Celestia only laughed.
"Why Luna, you should have more faith in her her. I knew that Twilight Sparkle would be perfectly fine with sharing the library for a few weeks or so. In fact, I was reading the letter she sent me saying so when you two came in."
Luna's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "So, dost thou mean to say that Silver Quill will be going to Ponyville?" Her voice had gotten unnaturally low in her strange excitement. Silver Quill still couldn't fathom why she was acting like this. Celestia looked at Luna strangely, no doubt due to Luna's abnormal behavior. "Well, if Silver Quill would like to go to Ponyville for his vacation, then yes, that is what I'm saying." Luna's eyes snapped in Silver Quill's direction.
Silver Quill looked from one Princess to the other. After some thought and consideration, he nodded. A smile so large that there was no way for it to not be painful bloomed on Luna's face. Her whole body trembled, and he heard a high pitched squee coming from within her throat. The combined effect made Silver Quill think of a boiling tea kettle.
Celestia cleared her throat. "Luna, I think it would be best if you went to sleep now. I'll handle the rest." Luna nodded, and said her goodbyes to her sister and her friend, although they seemed to be rather halfhearted. She was lost in her strange mind by the time she reached the door.
Princess Celestia and Silver Quill stared after her. Celestia was the first to regain her composure. "Alright, now, your train leaves at 3:30, so you have plenty of time to pack what you need." Princess Celestia's horn lit up as she levitated a small piece of paper, his ticket, from her desk.
Silver Quill took the ticket in his own telekinetic grasp, and looked up at the Princess. "Thank you very much Princess Celestia. I'm very grateful." Princess Celestia nodded idly.
Silver Quill took this as his cue to leave, so he said his goodbyes and walked toward the door. Before he could open it however, he was stopped by the Princess's voice behind him. "Wait just a moment if you will, Silver Quill."
Silver Quill turned around to look at her. "Is there something else Princess Celestia?"
Princess Celestia seemed to have dropped all of her royal demeanor as she spoke to him. "Before you leave, I just wanted to say thank you. For being friends with Luna I mean." Silver Quill was pretty sure he knew exactly what she was talking about, but decided to see what she wanted to say.
"Why do you thank me for that Princess?"
Princess Celestia looked at him as though they were both completely normal ponies, which was kind of silly since they technically were. But when she spoke, it was as though he was no different than her. "When my sister first came back to Equestria, she wasn't the same pony as she always was. She was quieter, more reserved, and definitely not happy. But since she met you, she's been slowly becoming more and more like the sister I know and love. I think you were a major part of that change. The way she called you her friend earlier convinces me of that. So, thank you."
Silver Quill looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "You're very welcome Princess. Luna has been quite the good friend to me, so I'm glad that I have helped her as you have described."
Celestia nodded, her eyes twinkling at him and said "I'm happy to hear that. Now, I think you should go and get ready for your trip."
Silver Quill nodded again and turned to leave, but stopped at an impulse. He turned around again and said "Princess Celestia, I don't mean to pry or anything,but do you know why Luna was so... excited?"
Princess Celestia's face was completely deadpan when she replied with "I'm afraid I haven't the faintest clue Silver Quill."
Silver Quill wasn't convinced, but accepted the answer nonetheless. He merely said goodbye once more and left. Princess Celestia waited a few seconds after the door had close to let out the laughter that had been building up inside of her. Truth be told, she knew exactly why her sister was acting extra eccentric today. Luna always had always been a romantic, and there wasn't a doubt in Celestia's mind that there was another reason that Luna was so insistent that he stay with Twilight Sparkle. She chuckled softly to herself, wondering what will come out of this.
Silver Quill had everything he may or may not need with him as he boarded the train to Ponyville. Some light reading for the ride there, a fair amount of bits to last him throughout his stay, a few writing materials just in case, and other essentials. He looked around and found a seat that wasn't to close to anypony else. He needed to be alone with his thoughts right now.
The whistle of the train brought Silver Quill back to reality. He had been leaning on the window next to him, gazing out at the scenery as it zipped by almost too fast for the eye to follow. The train ride had lasted for several hours, and he spent most of his time thinking about how he was going to spend his time in Ponyville. He stood up and started to gather his luggage as the train slowed down and the resulting squeal pierced the interior. As he stepped off the train, he took a deep breath and looked around at the unfamiliar environment.
He was fairly pleased with what he saw. Small houses and other buildings were what made up a good part of the town. The largest building in the town, as far as he could see, was the town hall, and that was still pretty small by Canterlot standards. A breeze blew through the outside of the station bringing with it a thin smell of tilled earth and nature. It was relaxing, and Silver Quill could feel his work weary mind relaxing already.
"I think this place will do just fine." he said softly to himself. "Now I just need to find the library, and I can begin my days of rest and relaxation.
"Rest and relaxation? Shoot, I think yer in the wrong town fer that partner." said a voice with a charming country drawl from behind him. Silver Quill turned to see a freckled, bright orange mare standing next to him, grinning. "What do you mean by that?" he replied.
The orange pony gave a small shrug. "Ponyville ain't like Canterlot with all o' its easy peasy apple squeezy days of sitting around and letting yer muscles shrivel. If your planning on livin in this here town, ya gotta be prepared ta work."
Silver Quill shook his head. "Oh no, you misunderstand, I'm not moving here, I'm taking my vacation here." The orange mare's eyes flashed with comprehension.
"Ah, that makes much more sense. Sorry bout that, just didn't want ya'll ta come here thinkin that it's all fun and games, then get bucked in the face by reality." She chuckled a bit at her little joke.
Silver Quill looked at her oddly. "I see. Does that happen often then?" he asked her.
The pony bobbed her head indesicively before speaking "Ya don't see it all tha time, but I hate seein them ponies who haven't so much as washed the dishes come here and think everythings all hunky dory." Her eyes widened as she came to a horrific realization.
"Oh shucks, where are ma manners." The pony grabbed one of Silver Quill's hooves between two of hers and shook it violently enough to shake his entire body.. "the name's Applejack, oldest daughter o' the apple family at yer service!" When she finally let go of his hoof in from her deceptively strong grip, Silver Quill rubbed his shoulder painfully, he was going to be feeling that for a little while. Maybe his muscles really were weak?
He smiled politely at her while making an effort to hide the grimace from his now sore arm. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Applejack, my name is Silver Quill." He gave a small polite bow along with his introduction, which only elicited a giggle from her.
"Well shucks, look at you being all prim and proper. Yer probably gonna want to learn to loosen your saddle a bit if ya want stay in Ponyville, specially if yer here on vacation. Elsewise you'll stick out like a bananna tree in an apple orchard."
Silver Quill looked at her with a slightly bemused expression on his face. "I see. I'll, uh...keep that in mind."
Applejack nodded wisely, content with his answer. "Glad to hear it." She perked up as something came to her. "Say, were ya saying something bout need'n ta find the library?"
"Oh right, that completely slipped my mind" said Silver Quill. "That's where I'll be staying there with the librarian who so graciously allowed me to stay in her home during my vacation. Could you help me out and point me in the right direction?"
An expression of puzzlement flashed across her face briefly before being being replaced by a big friendly smile accompanied by a slap on his back. "Ah'll do ya one better then that partner, I'll show yah where it is myself!"
Silver Quill was quick to do the polite thing and gently decline her offer. "Oh that's really not necessary Applejack, although it's very kind of you to offer. I'm sure you're very busy and I'd hate to take up any more of your time. Just tell me where to go and I'll be out of your hair."
Applejack shook her head stubbornly, her long ponytail swaying from side to side. "Nope, Ah insist. Ya'll seem to be a friendly fellow, and it's only the neighborly thing to do. And please, call me AJ, all my friends do."
Silver Quill could see he had about as much chance of dissuading herself from going out of her way for him as he did in burning all of his books, so he relented. "All right then AJ, if you insist, then I would be most grateful if you would show me the way."
Applejack nodded as though she expected nothing else, and waved a hoof signaling for him to follow her. "Well, just stick with me, and we'll be there in 20 minutes or so." Silver Quill did as he was told and went to walk beside her as they left the train station. He was starting to feel grateful that he had packed as lightly as possible, knowing that if there was anything he needed, he more than enough money to keep himself covered.
Silver Quill would have been content with walking in a companionable silence, but Applejack had different idea and decided to strike up a conversation. "So then, Silver, do ya mind if ah call you Silver? Great. So Silver, Ah have to admit to being slightly curious. Of all tha places where somepony could take a vacation, Jamareca, Neigh York, or the Whinnipinnes, what made ya pick Ponyville?"
Silver Quill looked at her wryly. "To be honest AJ, I didn't choose to come to Ponyville, that choice was made for me by Princess Luna." When Applejack's eyes widened with surprise, he explained further.
"You see, I'm a writer by trade. As of late, I have been going through a sort of creativity drought, not being able to write a sentence to save my life. Luna, who is a good friend of mine, decided that I needed a vacation to help through this little dry spell of mine. She decided that Ponyville would be the best place for me, and she also decided that living with the town librarian, one Twilight Sparkle would help me relax in this unfamiliar environment." Silver Quill's brow furrowed thought about it. "Well, at least I think that that's why she arranged me to live in the library. She's a riddle wrapped in an enigma sometimes, that Princess."
Applejack had been nodding along, fascinated by Silver Quill's relationship with Luna. "Well isn't she just the nicest little thing, helpin out her friend like that. I'm glad ta hear that Luna's makin friends over there. We haven't seen her much here in Ponyville, but anytime we did, she looked kinda lonely. Really lonely"
Silver Quill nodded slowly. "I see..." He knew that she didn't have many friends, but he just chalked it up to her being like him, a pony who preferred having a close circle of only a few friends. He didn't realize that she was downright sad and lonely, although it seems glaringly obvious now. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 and all that.
Silver Quill shook himself out of his thoughtful reverie and focused his attention too the mare he was walking with. "Alright, that's enough about me I think, what about you? Tell me about yourself AJ."
Applejack scrunched up her face in thought. "Well, Ahm the oldest daughter of the Apple family, I work over on Sweet Apple Acres which is on the edge of the town. It's an apple farm, in case you weren't able ta tell by tha name. I spend most of ma days applebuckin and taken care of the cattle on the farm, and basically making sure that the place is in tip top shape. That's pretty much it...oh, Ah just came back from Manehatten from visiting family for a few days. There, tha's it." She gave him a broad toothy grin, which he weakly returned.
"I see. You sound like a very busy pony." As they walked and talked, Silver Quill was looking around the town and getting a feel for its atmosphere. There weren't nearly as many ponies as there were were in Canterlot, and the ponies that were here seemed to be much more friendly and approachable. Everything was less high class, the buildings were focused more on practicality then they were attractiveness and the ponies weren't walking with their noses so high in the air that they couldn't see their hooves.
Silver Quill breathed in deeply. The air was far cleaner here. In Canterlot, the large amount of ponies and the rapid increase of industrial machines give the city sort of dirty smell. Silver Quill never really noticed it before now, but air in Ponyville was so much more...crisp. Like a big red apple ripened to absolute perfection with the perfect amount of tart sweetness and bitterness.
"You know AJ, I really think I'm going to enjoy it here." Silver Quill said wistfully.
Applejack nodded her head enthusiastically. "You bet your boots you will! Ponyville is a real nice place with only the friendliest ponies. And you'll be stayin with ma good pal Twilight, and she'll make sure that ya'll will be comfortable. Although ah gotta say, ah hadn't heard anything from her about lettin somepony she's never met before live with her." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait, have you met before?"
Silver Quill shook his head. "Not to my knowledge, no. And my vacation was very sudden, so it wasn't like she knew about it for a long time. She only got the letter asking her if she would be willing to house me yesterday."
"Ah, tha makes a lot more sense. Well, here we are, the library." Applejack and Silver Quill stopped walking in front one of the larger buildings in Ponyville, except it wasn't a building, it was a huge oak tree. Silver Quill was a bit confused at this. Why would you have a library in a tree? And how would you make a library in a tree? after some thought, he decided to pay it no mind. Books are made from paper, paper comes from trees. He decided that that would be the explanation.
"Alrigh' then Silver Quill, ah gotta get back to tha farm. Been gone for a while, and Ah'm sure my lil sis misses me."
Silver Quill nodded and gave one of his signature gentle smiles. "Thanks a lot for helping me AJ, I appreciate it."
"No problem partner, Ah'll be seein ya around." And with that she trotted off, her saddlebags bouncing on her sides as she went back to her farm.
Silver Quill walked up to front door of the tree and knocked three times. He heard the soft sound of footsteps, before the door was a opened by a small purple dragon with rounded green spines running up and down his back and tail. The dragon was barely higher than Silver Quill's legs, so it had to look up when addressing him.
"Uhh, can I help you?" It asked, in an undoubtedly male voice that sounded to be very young.
"Hi there, I'm Silver Quill." The dragon blinked, and looked around Silver Quill to see if there was anypony else. He almost looked like he thought this was a joke and he was the only one who didn't get it.
"You're gonna have to give me a bit more than that buddy." The dragons face was completely deadpan, he definitely had no idea what Silver Quill was doing here. he started to get nervous. Did Applejack show him the wrong tree-building? Did Celestia make a mistake? Maybe she contacted the wrong student and somewhere over in Las Pegasus there's a unicorn expecting a mentally jaded author to show up and stay for a little while.
Silver Quill cleared his throat and tried once more to explain his position. "Well, I'm to meet a pony named Twilight Sparkle who kindly agreed to share her...tree...while I'm staying in Ponyville." At this the dragon lit up with realization and excitement.
"Ooooh, you're that pony, why didn't you just say so! Come on in and I'll show you around." The dragon stepped aside as Silver Quill walked in.
"This mare must be quite the bibliophile. he thought to himself. Everywhere he looked there was either a bookcase filled to bursting with all sorts of literature, or neat piles of books sitting scattered around the room. "Although I suppose that's a job requirement to be a librarian." The dragon went over to the stairs on the other side of the room leading to the floor below and yelled out "Twilight, we've got company!" Silver Quill heard a muffled reply of a mare's voice answer him.
Spike turned back to Silver Quill and rubbed his claws together in anticipation. "Alright, apparently it's my job to make you feel welcome while Twilight is finishing up her work. Is there anything I can get you? Something to drink? some fruit maybe?"
"A glass of water would be most appreciated, thanks." While the dragon rummaged around in the kitchen off of the main room, Silver Quill took it upon himself to examine the books the filled the shelves and were stacked around the room. Maybe he could get an idea of what this mare was like before he met her.
He walked around the room, taking notice of as many titles as he could. The 3 Hoofed Beggar, Tales of the Fillydelphian Gentlecolt, Four Steps from Home, Hubris and Bias, This pony was definitely well read. He noticed that there was also an abundance of books based on astronomy and astrology, along with a great number of star charts that all seemed to be used by the mare exclusively. The telescope on the other side of the room pointing out of the window convinced him that it was for her personal use, and not public property.
Spike, the young purple dragon came out with two cups in hand, one filled with clear water and ice, and the other with orange juice. He handed the water to Silver Quill who nodded his thanks and took a drink. Silver Quill tried to start up some small talk, not wanting to stand there in an awkward silence.
"So Spike, what do you do around here?"
Spike thought a moment before answering. "I pretty much do whatever needs to be done. Things like cleaning, organizing, cooking, note taking, errands, stuff like that." Spike puffed out his chest in pride, making him look like a scaley purple pigeon. "I'm Twilight's number one assistant!"
Spike looked at the stairs leading to the basement. "Speaking of Twilight, she sure is taking her sweet time." He walked over to the stairs and yelled down. "Twilight! It's rude to keep your guests waiting you know!" An exasperated voice came from below. "I'm coming, I'm coming, don't get your tail in a twist."
Spike looked at Silver Quill apologetically. "Sorry about that, she can get really focused on her work sometimes. She's in the basement right now organizing some of our older books that nopony else is allowed to touch, which is really silly if you ask me. What's the point of keeping so many books if nopony else can read them?"
Silver Quill answered immediately, barely even thinking about the question. "It's not reading them that's important, but the preservation of old historical and cultural texts."
"Finally, somepony who understands." said a voice coming from the stairs to the basement. The mare walked up the rest of the way at the staircase and stopped at the top to greet Silver Quill. "I've been trying to teach him that for years but he never seems to understand." Spike just rolled his eyes at her and sipped at his orange juice.
"Anyway," she said while starting to walk towards Silver Quill, "my name is Twilight Sparkle, the resident librarian of Ponyville. You must be Silver Quill. I must admit, I've been so excited to meet you, a fellow book lover."
Impossible.
"So uh, Princess Celestia told me in her letter that you are a writer and need to get over a nasty case of writers block."
Inconceivable
"Oookay, maybe we could talk about something else. Are you friends with Princess Celestia or something? I imagine you would be for her to ask If you could temporarily stay with me."
"Hey, are you alright? You're shaking a little bit, and you're blinking awfully fast. Is something wrong?"
Yes, as a matter of fact, something was wrong. Or at least, the logical side of Silver Quill thought there was. The other side however, the side that Silver Quill had long conquered and forced to submit under his will, was absolutely giddy with joy. It squealed in its baffling delight, for in front of Silver Quill, was the lavender filly.
Spike was confused, and more than a little bit uncomfortable. The stranger was looking at Twilight Sparkle with something that could either be terror or surprise, or a mix of the two, and he couldn't fathom why. He was fine when he walked in, he looked around, made small talk, was pretty much the ideal house guest. But as soon as Twilight Sparkle walked up from the basement, his entire demeanour changed completely. Now he was standing completely still, his eyes as wide aas dinner plates occasionally flitting from one side of the room to the other, as though looking for a much needed escape. From what, Spike hadn't the faintest idea. Twilight Sparkle on the other hand, was trying over and over again to coax him to introduce himself.
"So I was told you're a writer, what do you write? Mystery? Science Fiction? Romance?"
"..."
"Umm, I guess you could say I'm something of a writer myself, although my stuff doesn't really get published. I just write essays and research reports on various subjects. It's part of being Princess Celestia's personal student."
"..."
"Yeah uhhh, I'm pretty busy with all my studies. Guess that's to be expected though, being the student of one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, right? Heh heh heh..." Twilight laughed nervously, desperately trying to dispel the awkwardness that was filling up the room.
"..."
"Heh...riiiight."
Spike looked between the two ponies, one suddenly taking a big interest in her mane and the other, well the other one was just being weird. He sighed and walked off to continue his daily reshelving and book organization routine, writing it off as another thing that he will understand 'when he's older' as Twilight likes to put it.
Saying that Silver Quill's mind was going a mile a minute would be an understatement, a lightyear a minute would have been much more accurate. In but a few short moments, he was vividly remembering his colthood and everything in it that involved the lavender filly. He was examining her mannerisms and her looks, mentally adding some maturity to them, and trying to see if they matched with the mare in front of him.
They did, to say the least. After he realized that fate must have been feeling particularly mischievous and that he was in the same room with his colthood crush, he started desperately trying to regain his faculties. In order to do that, he had to smother that incessant voice in his head.
"GREAT GALLOPING GAZELLES, of all the mares that Luna could have set me up with, she picked her! How did she know? Did she know, or is this just coincidence? Ah who cares, now I can do what I never could! I can talk to her and hang out with her and get to know her and we can share interests and we can talk about our favorite authors and..."
It took him a while, but he managed to suppress his more emotional side and replace it with the much more preferable quiet and calculating one instead. He shook his head violently in order to clear his mind, and cleared his throat.
"Ehe, my apologies, I don't know what came over me there. Allow me to properly introduce myself." He took a low bow, bending his right front leg across himself and lowering his head so that it almost touched the floor. It was a bit more than was required in this sort of social situation, but he needed to hide his face from her, as he was blushing furiously. "My name is Silver Quill; it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Twilight breathed a very audible sigh of relief, glad that she apparently hadn't agreed to let some mad stallion stay with her for an extended period of time. He seemed normal enough, if a little bit eccentric. But if anypony was capable of socializing with eccentric ponies, it was her. Practice makes perfect after all.
She chuckled lightheartedly at his show of propriety. "Oh please, there's no need for that. I'm just a librarian, not some noble you need to bow to."
"On the contrary" he thought. "You are Princess Celestia's one and only student. You are about as noble as can be."
He didn't actually say any of this, and instead looked up at her and nodded.
"I'll remember that Miss Sparkle."
She gave him a funny look. "Wow, Princess Celestia was right when she said that you had never left Canterlot before now, I can see it all over you." She tsked, shaking her head with amusement clearly plain on her face. "Well, we're going to have to fix that!"
Silver Quill was perplexed. He didn't think that there was anything needed to be fixed with him. He was going to say so, but he remembered his encounter with the bright orange mare Applejack and how different they were made him think that Twilight Sparkle may be right.
"And...how do you propose we go about 'fixing' me, Miss Sparkle?" he asked nervously.
"Well first of all, you can just call me Twilight, no need for that 'Miss Sparkle" stuff. After that, we can make it up as we go." She looked at him pointedly, waiting for an answer.
He nodded, something that he's been doing an awful lot lately. "I'll do that, Twilight. And likewise, you can just call me Silver if you so desire."
She hummed in her excitement as she nodded vigorously, a broad smile bursting forth, making her face positively glow with joy. "Great! This is going to be so much fun! I've never had a friend stay over for more than a day or two, and especially not one who had similar interests as me! To be honest, I'm uh, a little nervous about it..." She giggled shyly and rubbed her two front hooves together.
"HA!" blurted out Spike from his position on top of the ladder near the bookshelves. "If you were just a little nervous, then I'm a cuddly little bunny rabbit!"
Twilight shot him a "if a certain dragon doesn't shut up, he's going to be working overtime" glance. He chuckled and turned back to his work.
Silver Quill raised an eyebrow and looked at Twilight questioningly, trying to ignore how cute she looked when she was nervous, lest he lose control of his mind again.
She brightened and looked out the window. "How about we go for a walk and I'll tell you? I have some errands to run, and I could use the company."
He was surprised. He was expecting to immediately put down his bags and start relaxing with a good book. But, he reasoned, it was a gorgeous day outside, and he wanted to see the rest of the town. No sense in saying inside.
“That would be nice. What should I do with my stuff?" He motioned to his saddlebags.
"Oh, we have your room all set up already, so you can put them there. Follow me, I'll show you!" She motioned with her hoof and started walking up the stairs to the second floor. She opened the door on the farthest end of the hallway and stepped in.
Silver Quill poked his head around the doorway and looked around. His room looked like most other rooms in the house with walls and floors made of polished wood. It was simply furnished with a bed, a dresser, a full length mirror, and a desk with a lamp on it. It was impeccably clean.
Twilight looked at him anxiously as he examined the room. She seemed to be nervous that he wouldn't like it, and if he were any other high class Canterlot pony, he probably wouldn't. Good thing he wasn't like any other Canterlot pony.
"It's lovely Twilight, thank you."
She smiled, pleased that he liked his room. He walked to his desk and put down his saddlebag, and as he did so, he realized that there was something odd about the lamp resting on it.
"A gem lamp? Aren't those really expensive? Why not use a normal kerosene lamp?" Gem lamps were different than normal flame lamps or candles in that the light was supplied by magically altered gems. The gems were made to absorb sunlight, store it, then release later at the flick of a switch. They were much more expensive due to the materials and spellwork needed to make them.
Twilight shook her head. "Oh I can't use anything that uses flame. The entire library, what with being inside a tree and storing hundreds of books, would go up in flames instantly with just one stray spark. Besides, all the gem lights in here were provided by Princess Celestia."
He slowly nodded his understanding. "Ah, of course. That makes sense." He took a look at himself in the mirror, and fixed up his slightly disheveled mane a little bit. This morning, when he woke up earlier then he normally would, his fatigue was visible throughout his entire body. Now, he felt like he could run a marathon with enough energy leftover to build himself his own house if he wanted to.
He turned around to face Twilight. "Okay, I'm ready to go when you are."
"Great, I'm ready to go right now!" Silver Quill followed her out of his room, down the stairs, and out the front door. Twilight called out to Spike who was in the basement performing his assistant duties telling him that she was going out for a while.
He and Twilight made their way down the main road of Ponyville heading to the town square where most of the various shops were located. While they walked, they chatted lightly, mainly about themselves.
"So Silver, tell me about yourself. What do you do in your free time. Any hobbies?" Twilight asked.
"To be honest, the only thing that I really like to do for fun is read. Mainly sci-fi or fantasy type fiction like "Wise Mare's Fear" or "Aragon."
Twilight raised her eyebrows at this. "Really? I never would have pegged you as somepony who was interested in fantasy."
He grinned. "Heh, you thought I would only read the older classical stories? Spend my nights reading Shakesmarean plays, or poring over the philosophical works of Ploto?"
Her cheeks reddened slightly. "Haha, kinda. You just seem like the type. Sorry about that."
Silver Quill waved a hoof, dismissing her apology as unnecessary. "Don't worry; I know what kind of picture I paint with my demeanour. And while I do enjoy the older works every now and then, my true love lies with fantasy. That's why I became a fantasy writer in the first place."
Twilight got excited, remembering that Princess Celestia mentioned that Silver Quill was writer a by trade. "That’s right, you're a writer! Have you had anything published?"
"Have you ever heard of the ‘Forest Rose’ series? I wrote that, under the pseudonym, "Sharpquill"
Her surprised expression told Silver Quill that she had heard of it."Oh my goddess, you wrote 'Thorn and Thistle' and 'The Blue Rose?' Wow, not only are you a writer, but you're a good one as well."
Silver smiled modestly, nodding his thanks for her compliment. "Oh, I still have a long way to go with my writing, but thanks. To be honest, the reason that I came to Ponyville in the first place was because I was having difficulty with writing the third book in the series, 'The Flower of the Ages,' so I came here to give my mind some time to relax."
Twilight nodded wisely. "Writers' block huh? I'm no stranger to that. But you were right to come here, rest and relaxation is the best way to unblock the river of creativity, that's for sure."
Silver Quill looked at her curiously. “My my, hear what I hear and see what I see, methinks that I am company of a fellow wordsmith.” Twilight burst out laughing at his ridiculousness.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I am a ‘wordsmith,’ as you so eloquently put it. But my lifestyle does involve a good amount of writing.” When Silver Quill raised his eyebrows, she explained further. “I was sent to Ponyville by Princess Celestia to study friendship. Every time I learn something new about friendship, I write a letter to her explaining it. Even with my assistant Spike helping me with my work, that and all my other studies of magic and other subjects keep me quite occupied.”
A distant memory of the lavender filly and her extraordinary show of magical talent during the entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns surfaced in the back of his mind. The lavender filly had become Princess Celestia’s own student, and Silver Quill had never seen her again.
He mentally kicked himself for not realizing sooner that the lavender filly back then and Princess Celestia’s student now were the same ponies. In retrospect, he must have been fairly thick to not have realized it earlier.
Silver Quill was apparently making these feelings known through his facial expression, enough for Twilight to notice. “Are you alright?” she asked with a touch of concern in her voice.
Broken out of his reverie, he nodded reassuringly at her. “Ah, yes I’m fine. Sorry about that, I kind of spaced out there for a second, something i seem to be doing a lot of today for some reason.”
“Oh.” she said simply.
They walked in silence for a few moments, Twilight greeting a few ponies she knew and Silver Quill looking around and taking in the sights. After a while, he turned back to her and asked, “So where are we going?”
“I’m a little short on writing supplies, so I’m going to Quills and Sofas to pick up some more.” She replied.
“There’s actually a shop called Quills and Sofas?” He asked disbelievingly. Twilight nodded, amused at his reaction. “I’m going to have to see this for myself.”
Twilight laughed and nodded, agreeing at the absurdity of it. “What can I say; Ponyville attracts all kinds of eccentrics.”
Silver nodded as he watched a grey mailmare pegasus with a yellow mane and eyes that pointed in different directions fly straight into the tree next to a mailbox in front of a house, sending the letters in her saddlebag flying out around her. She picked herself up, looked at the scattered letters on the ground, and facehoofed. “It certainly seems so.” He said.
Twilight stopped abruptly stopped walking. “Alright, we’re here. Quills and Sofas, the most specific shop in all of Equestria.”
And indeed it was. True to its name, it only sold two things, but from what he could tell, they were both of the highest quality. He could see why Twilight decided to come here. He bought a few nice quills while he was there, just in case.
Once they finished their business, they made their way outside into the town square. All around them were shops and stalls selling a variety of goods ranging from candies to clothing. The air was filled with the sound of ponies yelling to potential customers and promoting their goods, and the roads were packed with ponies going about their business. It reminded Silver Quill of the hustle and bustle of the average Canterlot street, voices clamouring for attention and ponies jostling everypony around them.
After Twilight had bought a few more things from the stalls and shops, they made their way out of the town square and sat down on a bench on the side of the road.
“Well, what should we do now?” asked Silver Quill. “I know hardly anything about this town, so it’s your decision.”
Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof, thinking. She perked up as an idea came to her. “How about we go and get something to eat? There’s a lovely place not too far from here that has the best cupcakes on this side of Equestria. Plus, you’ll be able to meet my good friend who works there.”
“Sounds good to me.” He replied. After a 5 minute walk, they arrived at a small but attractive bakery. It was extremely stylized, with pink walls and bright colourful designs that naturally drew the eye. It was designed to look likean oversized gingerbread house, Silver realized with some amusement. The sign on the front said “Sugercube Corner” in bright yellow letters.
They entered; a small bell over the door signalling their arrival. The interior was just as pretty as the exterior. Not only were the owners successful, but they had great taste in décor.
Twilight walked up to the front counter and looked around. There was nopony behind the counter, so she just waited. Silver Quill walked up next to her, examining the pastries on display. If they tasted as good as they looked, then Silver Quill would have to believe Twilight’s earlier comment about them being the “best cupcakes on this side of Equestria.”
A loud bang came from the kitchens, startling Silver Quill. Twilight however, only nodded knowingly as though she expected something of the sort to happen. “Pinkie, you here?” Twilight called after a few moments of waiting,
“Just a miiinnnuute!” came a sing-song voice from the kitchens behind the counter. Soon after, a bright pink pony with a poofy, cloud like mane, also pink, hopped out. She was wearing a chef hat that seemed to be twice as big as her head, and her face was covered in flour.
“Sorry for the wait everypony! I was trying to make the biggest cake possible by completely filling the oven with dough, although I accidentally forgot that dough expands. Long story short, we need a new oven. Oh hey Twilight, didn’t notice ya there!”
Twilight smiled at her friend. “Hi Pinkie, how’s it going?”
Twilight’s bubbly friend, that’s the best word Silver Quill could think of to describe her, bounced up and down in excitement.
“Well Twilight, it’s a beautiful day, ponies are smiling and laughing all across Ponyville, and I’m doing one of the most fun things in the entire world, baking!”
Twilight giggled, her friends infectious laughter affecting her. “Wow Pinkie, you love baking that much?”
Pinkie laughed as though Twilight asked the most ridiculous question in the world. “Of course I do silly-filly, baking is one of the most awesomest things in the world! It’s like science for hungry ponies!”
Twilight chuckled, and even Silver Quill cracked a small smile. Only then did she notice Silver Quill, and her head cocked to the side curiously.
“Oh right. Pinkie, I’d like you to meet my newest friend Silver Quill. Silver Quill, this is my good friend Pinkie Pie.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Silver Quill said politely. Pinkie Pie still stared at him, looking way more confused than she needed to be.
“That’s funny, I don’t remember seeing you around before, and I know everypony in Ponyville.”
“That’s probably because I just arrived at Ponyville today from Can-” Silver Quill stopped talking at Twilight’s frantic hoof gestures. She was jerking her hoof across her neck with a pained expression on her face, the universal signal for “shut the buck up.”
But it was too late, the damage had been done. Pinkie Pie gasped as though she was trying to suck in all of the air in the shop in one breath, and her eyes widened so much they almost became to big for their sockets.
“Um…” Silver Quill said nervously. Pinkie Pie was holding her breath, trying to hold back an outburst of what seemed to be profound excitement. Perhaps too much excitement, as it started to build up inside her, inflating her like a balloon and lifting her off the floor slightly.
Once the excitement pressure became too much for Pinkie Pie to bear, she exploded in a loud pop, with multicolored streamers flying out in every direction where she used to be standing accompanied by the sound of a kazoo.
After 10 seconds of silence, exasperated for Twilight, and terrified for Silver, he finally spoke. “Did I just…kill a pony?
Twilight sighed next to him. “No, don’t worry. She’s just being Pinkie Pie. Don’t ask how.” By the way she said it, Silver Quill suspected that “She’s just being Pinkie Pie” wasn’t an uncommon way to explain her actions.
They turned to the sound of hoofsteps coming down from the floor above them. A portly light blue pony was descending the steps, and smiled at them. “Why hello there Twilight, how nice to see you again.”
“Likewise Mrs. Cake.” She replied with a nod.
Mrs Cake looked around the shop. “Huh, where’s Pinkie Pie?”
“She exploded.” Twilight said without batting an eye.
“Ah, I see.” Mrs Cake seemed to be just as used to Pinkie Pie’s laws of physics breaking antics as Twilight. “So what can I get you two?”
“Two cupcakes please.”
“Right away dearie.”
Twilight and Silver Quill sat down with their cupcakes and began chatting. They talked about their lives in Ponyville and Canterlot, they talked about their favourite books and authors, they talked about their relationship with the Princess’s, and they talked about whatever else came to their mind.
As they sat there, Silver Quill found himself focusing less and less on their conversation and more on Twilight herself. His mouth was running on autopilot while his brain was absorbing every detail about her. The way she delicately tapped at her mouth with a napkin, they way her mane shifted when she moved, and every aspect of her mannerisms he could find.
"I need to remember to thank Luna again for this idea.” he thought to himself.
A/N Bonus points to anyone who knows where the "baking is like science for hungry ponies!" quote came from.
“Well that was nice. What now?” Silver Quill asked.
They had just left the Sugercube corner and were wandering the town square, looking at the various interesting wares for sale. Twilight looked thoughtful.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Is there anything in particular that you want to do?”
“Not really.” Silver Quill said before looking at Twilight seriously. “You know Twilight, you don’t need to spend so much time with me. I’m sure there are other things you must attend to, you told me yourself that your studies took up a lot of your time.”
Twilight looked back at him and grinned. “Actually, Princess Celestia told me that making sure you have a good stay in Ponyville was my newest assignment for my study of friendship, and that all of my other studies were to be put on hiatus for the meantime.”
“Really?” Silver Quill asked, surprised. “Well alright then. Although I’d hate to get in the way of your studies, if you showing me around town and making me comfortable is part of your studies, then I guess I’m fine with that.”
Twilight looked satisfied with that, and they continued wandering. Eventually, she looked back at Silver Quill with a smile on her face.
“Oh, I know! How about I introduce you to some of the other ponies of Ponyville? Mind you, I’m not the most popular of ponies, but I do know a fair amount of them. You’ll get to meet the rest of my friends!”
Silver Quill looked unsure. “Well, alright. But I’m not really what you would call a social pony. I prefer to keep to myself most of the time, so I’m not sure how well I’ll get along with your friends.”
Twilight looked at Silver Quill for a long moment, as though she was suddenly seeing him in an entirely different light. After a slightly uncomfortable moment of her examining him, she spoke.
“I think I’m starting to see why Princess Celestia asked me specifically to accommodate you. You remind me a lot of myself.”
Silver Quill raised his eyebrows curiously. “I do? How do you figure?”
Twilight looked ahead wistfully, remembering a time long gone. “I used to say the exact same thing about myself. I said that as long as I had my books, I was happy and didn’t need friends. I did have friends, but only two, and we sort of drifted apart after I was apprenticed to the Princess. But then, Princess Celestia gave me my assignment to study friendship in Ponyville, and within the first two days, I had met five amazing ponies who quickly became much more important to me than my books.”
Silver Quill put a hoof to his chin as he thought about what she said. His behaviour did sound an awful lot like what she described. He wasn’t antisocial by any means though, he liked having fun with other ponies just as much as the next stallion. He just preferred to be by himself most of the time. Maybe this was a good chance for him to let himself go a little bit.
He nodded firmly. “You know what; I think meeting the other townsponies would be a great idea. Let’s do it.”
“That’s the spirit!” Twilight said happily. “Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll get along just fine with my friends.”
Silver Quill nodded. “Alright then, lead the way.”
Twilight and Silver Quill made their way down the main road. On the way, Twilight introduced him to as many ponies as she could. Derpy Hooves, Cheerilee, Cloud Skipper, Sunny Veil, Berry Punch, Wood Stain, Big Macintosh, and more.
It was mentally exhausting to Silver Quill, meeting all of these new ponies all in rapid succession, but he was enjoying himself. The ponies were all very friendly and more than willing to welcome him to their town. The contrast between Ponyville and Canterlot was eye opening for him. In Canterlot, a pony would walk right by you with their head held high and not even acknowledge your existence. Here, nearly everypony he passed smiled and nodded at him.
Twilight led Silver Quill to a large elegant building that she told him was called the Carousel Boutique.
“This is where my good friend Rarity works and lives.” She explained. “She’s a fashion designer, the only one in Ponyville. I think she’ll like you, what with you being from Canterlot and all.”
“What does me being from Canterlot have to do with her liking me?” Silver asked.
Twilight giggled. “You’ll see.”
They entered the building, and the first thing that he noticed was how colourful everything was. Fabrics and outfits of every different color of the rainbow and more were in every corner of the room. Poniquins were lined up at the display windows wearing beautiful dresses of different styles, and there were shelves and racks full of fabulous outfits.
A snow white unicorn with an elegantly styled purple mane was adjusting a poniquin display, tightening a strap here or tipping a hat there. She turned around at the sound of the door.
“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every outfit is chic, unique, and magnifique!” she chanted in an upbeat voice with a hint of what sounded like a Prench accent. She blinked in surprise when she realized who she was addressing, then smiled. “Twilight dear, how nice to see you!”
The unicorn stepped away from her Poniquin and gave Twilight a one legged hug, which she returned. “Hey Rarity, how’s it going?”
“Oh you know, busy busy busy. So many ponies to astound with my designs, so little time. What brings you around my humble establishment? Do you need a new dress?”
“Not today Rarity, I’m actually here to introduce my newest friend Silver Quill.” Silver Quill stepped up next to Twilight. “He just came to Ponyville today for a little vacation from Canterlot and I’m introducing him to the ponies around town.”
At the word ‘Canterlot,’ Rarity’s entire demeanor changed. What was a slightly higher class than average, but relatively normal pony was replaced with a mare that would have fit right in at the most prestigious of royal gatherings.
“Canterlot you say?” The refined pony looked at Silver Quill and batted her eyes. “How interesting. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Silver Quill.” She crossed one front leg over the other and bent into a graceful curtsy.
Silver Quill smiled. This was a game that he was all too familiar with, the game of subtlety and manners. He walked up to Rarity, took her front hoof in his and bent over to gently kiss it, as was proper for a stallion to do when first meeting a lady.
He let her hoof go and looked up at her. He spoke in a smooth voice, one he reserved only for nobles and royalty. “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rarity.”
Her eyes were dancing. She obviously very rarely enjoyed the company of other ponies who knew the ins and outs of the refined royal scene. Silver Quill was probably a breath of fresh air for her.
“I must say," he continued. "Your name precedes you. It is quite the honor to meet the mare responsible for turning the fashion industry on its head.”
Rarity gave a quite unladylike burst of ecstatic laughter before composing herself, her cheeks slightly reddened. Standing beside them, Twilight was trying to stifle a giggle.
“Oh my, you flatter me. How ever did you come to hear of little old me?”
“It would be hard not to, what with Hoity Toity himself going on and on about how he has found ‘the next best designer since Glimmer Star herself.’ He was quite adamant about it too.”
Rarity shivered from head to hoof, her happiness making one of her eyes twitch and forcing out a small ‘squee’. Silver Quill had to suppress a laugh as he watched her struggle to keep her composure.
When she managed to settle herself, she eyed Silver Quill with a newfound interest. “My, a handsome stallion who knows his fashion, where in Equestria did you manage to find this one Twilight?” Rarity looked at Twilight, genuine curiosity in her eyes.
Silver Quill almost corrected her, telling her that it wasn't he who knew about fashion, but a friend of his who never spared a chance to thrust upon him everything he would ever need to know about it, and a fair amount that he wouldn't. He was, however, distracted at her comment on how he was 'handsome'. If he hadn't an unnaturally large amount of control of his emotions, he would have blushed.
Twilight shrugged halfheartedly. “To be honest Rarity, he just showed up out of nowhere. Princess Celestia requested me personally to help Silver enjoy his vacation in Ponyville.”
“Is that so?” Rarity turned her gaze to Silver Quill. “Well, you certainly can’t go wrong with Ponyville. With the amount of trouble this seemingly innocuous town can get into, it’s never a dull moment.” Rarity smiled fondly as she remembered exciting times that Silver Quill had no knowledge of.
Twilight groaned in an amused sort of way. “You can say that again, this is probably the worst town for a librarian to live. But still, it’s probably my favourite place in Equestria.”
Silver Quill looked from one Pony to the other. Both had content smiles on their faces, as though they both were exactly where they wanted to be in life and they knew it. “That,” he thought to himself, “is a privilege few ponies can claim.”
Twilight and Rarity’s self satisfied introspection was cut short. “Oh goodness, we should probably get going Silver, so many ponies to meet, so little time.”
“You’re probably right.” Silver Quill turned back to Rarity and gave her another, much less formal bow. “I hope to see you soon, Miss Rarity, it’s been a pleasure.”
Rarity returned his bow with her own small dip, and said in her velvety voice, “You can be sure that you will darling.”
Twilight and Rarity shared one more small hug before Twilight followed Silver Quill to the door. He couldn’t help but reflect on how comfortable the two mares seemed to be around each other, and how happy they seemed to be with their position in life. No matter how hard he tried to repress it, Silver Quill couldn’t help but be a little bit jealous.
”I want what they have.” he mused
“Told you you would get along with her.”
The two ponies were walking to the outskirts of the town where another one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends lived. They were walking down a narrow dirt road that led into the Everfree forest, but their real destination was the cottage located on the edge of it.
Twilight Sparkle looked pleasantly smug that she was right about how well her friend Rarity and Silver would interact. Silver Quill looked at her pointedly, then looked away so as not to distract himself from his walking. It wouldn’t do to get lost in those eyes again and trip over his own hooves.
“It’s not that remarkable that I did Twilight. Just because I keep to myself doesn’t mean that I’m socially incompetent. I figure you would know that better then anypony.”
Twilight nodded along absentmindedly. She looked as though she was looking at something that wasn’t there, an expression Silver recognized as being lost in thought. What she was thinking about he couldn’t guess, probably her own past as an introvert.
“Besides,” He continued, “I can get along well with anypony as long as they are a good pony inside.”
Twilight’s attention focused back on Silver Quill. “Well if that’s the case, you’ll get along great with my friend Fluttershy! She’s the kindest, most caring pony you’ll ever meet. Except…” Twilight paused for a second and looked down uncertainly.
Silver Quill noticed and looked at her, purposefully avoiding eye contact. “Something wrong Twilight?”
“No, nothing is wrong per se. I’m just worried how Fluttershy will react to you. She’s extremely shy, and to be honest, you kind of have an imposing aura about you what with all the…stoicism. I think it will take a while for her to warm up to you.”
Silver Quill waited several seconds to see if she had anything else to say, then several more to come up with his own answer. If what Twilight said was true and her friend was as shy as she said, it could be a problem. Back in Canterlot Silver Quill was known for his unintentionally intimidating look. His eyes were striking at best, and piercing at worst.
He tried to put on a confident look as he looked at Twilight. “Don’t worry; I’ll try to make myself seem more, I don't know, approachable.”
Twilight smiled at him, then cocked her head curiously.
“Why do you look so serious all the time anyway? I’ve only seen you smile a few times since you’ve arrived, but I can tell that it isn’t because you’re not happy or anything.”
Silver Quill gave a noncommittal shrug. “It's...just the way I've always been.”
Twilight suspected that there was something that he wasn't telling her, but she nodded her understanding anyway. They continued to walk the rest of the way in silence, content with admiring the sights around them. On one side was a field full of multicoloured wildflowers that gently swayed in the breeze, sending their sweet scent in their direction. On the other side, the Everfree forest stood tall and proud, the shortest of trees standing over 2 stories high. Even though it was one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria, Silver Quill couldn’t help but think that it looked deceptively pretty with the way the shadows from the leaves and branches danced on the ground. Silver Quill could feel a steady stream of inspiration trickle in the back of his mind.
Eventually they reached humble cottage at the top of a hill just outside the Everfree forest. All around it were an unnatural amount of wildlife creatures, everything from birds to reptiles. There were chicken coops, bird feeders, dog houses, and other animal related things surrounding it. There was even a fairly large sized fish pond.
Silver Quill took a deep breath, and forced himself to put on the mask of an easygoing and pleasant pony, something he already was but didn’t show on his face. Twilight noticed his efforts and nodded her approval. She walked up to the front door and gently knocked.
They waited for a few moments, and the door opened. Standing in the doorway was baby yellow colored pegasus with a long flowing pink mane and big turquoise eyes. Not altogether a strange sight, but what was strange was the small white bunny who was standing on top of her head. And he did not look happy.
"Oh hi Twilight, What brings you here?" Silver Quill had to strain slightly to understand her words. Her voice at a decibel level the Silver suspected was specifically meant to not startle wild animals. Fluttershy gave him a shy look as she was greeting her friend and tried to put as much distance between her and Silver Quill as possible without flat out running away.
"Hi Fluttershy." Twilight replied. She eyed the bunny who was getting visibly more upset with each passing second. "Umm, is this a bad time?"
The bunny On Fluttershy's head nodded angrily, but Fluttershy thought otherwise. "Oh no," she insisted. "I was just making Angel's lunch. Is there something I can help you with?"
The snow white bunny pulled on Fluttershy's ears and stamped its foot on her head. Fluttershy winced, and tried to soothe her aggravated pet.
"Now now Angel, don't be like that. Why don't you- ouch, go on inside and wait for me, I'll be there to finish your lunch in a second."
Angel looked down at Fluttershy, then up at Twilight Sparkle. He made his discontent known by puffing out his cheeks and blowing one of the biggest raspberry Silver Quill had ever seen, then hopped off Fluttershy's head and back into the cottage."
Fluttershy smiles sheepishly at them. "Sorry about that" she apologized in her soft voice. "Angel tends to get really cranky when his lunch is late. Now, what can I do for you...two." Fluttershy just seemed to remember that she was in the presence of a pony she had never met before, and again tried to make herself seem as small as possible as she physically could.
Twilight looked at Silver Quill who was trying to look as non-oppressive as he could, but apparently it wasn't enough. Flutteshy eyed him as a small animal would; hesitant, and ready to run at the first sign of danger. Then she looked back at Fluttershy and spoke in a voice that didn't sound as confident as it did a few minutes ago.
"Well Fluttershy, I'm going around town and introducing Silver Quill here to my friends. He just came from Canterlot and will be staying in Ponyville for a little while, and it is my royal duty to make sure that he enjoys himself."
"Oh...I see." she replied hesitantly Fluttershy examined him like she would an interesting creature in the forest, one that she hasn't seen before and is unsure if she should be wary of it or not. "I-is he...is he nice?"
Silver Quill had stop himself from reacting at the shy pegasus' question. If he hadn't, he feared that he would have given a highly embarrassing 'awwww,' Because the way she was acting was just too cute to be allowed. Instead he just stood there, quiet and content with seeing what Twilight would say.
She giggled, and winked at Fluttershy encouragingly. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
Fluttershy blinked, and retreated back into her mane a bit more at the prospect of dealing with the stern looking pony."Oh, okay..." she answered quietly. She turned to look up at Silver Quill and muttered. "Are you...nice?"
Silver Quill made a show of thinking about it, stroking his chin with a hoof, chewing on his lip thoughtfully he even looked down at himself as though the answer could be found somewhere on his body. Finally, he looked at Fluttershy and said deadpan, "I think so."
Twilight, watching his little dumbshow with a bemused expression on her face, covered her mouth with a hoof in order to hide smile that was creeping up on her. Fluttershy, however seemed to be slightly more at ease, and gradually began to come out from behind her mane.
"That's good." she muttered quietly. "M-my name is Fluttershy. It's nice to meet you."
Silver Quill gave her the gentlest smile he could muster and replied "It's nice to meet you too Fluttershy. I'm Silver Quill, I just arrived in Ponyville today."
Fluttershy was now almost completely out from behind her mane and started to look more comfortable being around him. "I see, that's nice." she looked uncertainly behind at the inside of her cottage, then at Silver Quill. "Would you, um, like to come in for some tea?"
Silver looked at Twilight, who nodded vigorously.
"Tea sounds lovely, thank you." he replied.
Fluttershy smiled weakly at him, accepting his thanks. She turned back into her house and waved them in. Twilight winked at him as she followed her, and Silver Quill walked in after Twilight.
Silver Quill was instantly assaulted with the smell of what seemed to be a zoo that was extremely evident in the cottage. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was definitely strong. When he looked around, he realized that the room he was in pulled triple duty as the kitchen, living room, and dining room, and from the looks of it, Fluttershy didn't live alone here. There were a pair of hummingbirds drinking nectar from a potted plant on a windowsill, there was a gray tabby cat snoozing in a spot where the sunlight pooled in through the window, there was even a flamingo standing on one leg with his head down drinking from a bowl of water. There were other animal related accessories were scattered around the room, cages, food bowls, toys, grooming supplies, and more.
Fluttershy shuffled her hooves awkwardly and shyly looked at Silver Quill while simultaneously trying to avoid eye contact. Evidently, she was still not entirely comfortable around him.
"Alright, I'll go and...get that tea now." she said quietly.
She slowly walked to the kitchen, shooting a few glances back at Silver and Twilight who were standing in the middle of the living room. Silver Quill leaned in close to Twilight, not taking his eyes off Fluttershy in case she turned around and he needed to act inconspicuous, but also so that he didn't get distracted by his close proximity to Twilight.
"I don't think think she's taken a liking to me." Silver Quill whispered.
"That's just how Fluttershy is." she murmured back. "Give her some time and she'll warm up."
Silver Quill nodded, and was pulled away from Twilight by the sound of Fluttershy's voice. Thankfully, she only called behind over her shoulder and didn't catch them talking behind her back.
"Would type of tea would you two like? I have green, oolong, yellow, white, and jasmine." she called from the kitchen over the sound of a boiling tea kettle. The high pitched whistle slowly died down when Fluttershy quickly moved it from one stove burner to another.
"Green for me please." Silver called.
"And I'll take jasmine, thank you." Twilight answered.
Fluttershy nodded, still not looking at them as she got the tea bags out of the cupboard and continued preparing the tea.
Silver Quill leaned back toward Twilight and muttered "What should I do to make her more comfortable around me? I don't like the idea of a pony being scared of me."
Twilight cracked a small smile and whispered "Maybe if you ask her abou-"
"It's ready!" Fluttershy walked back into the living room carrying a tray holding three steaming hot mugs of tea in front of her on her two outstretched wings. She placed it down on the coffee table in the middle of the living room surrounded by comfortable corduroy chairs. "Sorry it took so long" she muttered.
Silver Quill smiled reassuringly at her as he picked up his cup and sat down. He held the cup in his two front hooves, enjoying the feeling of the warmth seeping through the porcelain and helping him calm his nerves. "It's quite alright. Thank you for going through the trouble."
Fluttershy gave him a small nod and took a sip from her mug as she looked disinterestedly around the room to avoid looking at him, obviously still nervous at having a pony she just met inside her home. Occasionally she would accidentally look at Silver and smile sheepishly, then turn away again. Silver Quill frowned and took a sip of his own tea. The mild yet sharp taste coupled with the heat washed away some of the fog in his mind and helped him think clearly.
Silver Quill snuck an uncertain glance at Twilight while Fluttershy was busy looking at her hooves. She gave him an eager nod, so Silver Quill took a deep breath and gave a silent prayer that this would work.
"Sooo, Fluttershy," he started slowly. Fluttershy turned her head towards him and raised her eyebrows curiously. "I'm going to take a guess and say that, what with how many I've seen so far, you like animals?"
The effects were minimal, but instantaneous. She instantly perked up, her eyes becoming a little bit wider and her back a little bit straighter.
"Oh yes, I do." she said in probably the loudest volume Silver had heard so far coming from her directed at him.
Twilight looked back and forth from Silver Quill to Fluttershy, her left ear twitching slightly in anticipation. Silver Quill gave the room another appraising glance as he thought of what to say next.
"Well, I'm rather fond of animals myself. Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with something. Something animal related." He said matter of factly.
As the conversation turned more and more to the subject that Silver Quill was starting to guess was the inspiration for Fluttershy's butterfly cutie mark, she seemed to get much more interested in him. She cocked her head and looked at him quizzically. Progress, it seemed.
"Well you see, back in Canterlot I live by myself, and I've been feeling a little bit lonely as of late." Silver explained. "I've been thinking about getting a pet to keep me company when I get back, but I'm not sure what kind I should get. Do you have any advice you could give me?"
It wasn't true of course. While Silver Quill did like animals, he liked them just as much as any other pony, and while he had thought about getting a cuddly companion for himself, he wasn't actually planning on getting one. He was just trying to get Fluttershy talking so she would be more comfortable around him. But who knows, maybe she'll be able to convince him to actually get one.
Fluttershy's ears perked up and she immediately got what Silver assumed would be considered a wide smile for her and a small one for anypony else. She sat up in her chair, her tea sitting forgotten on the table next to her.
"I'm glad you asked Silver Quill! I'm always happy to help somepony find a furry new best friend. Or maybe a non furry new best friend. There's many different kinds of new best friends so I'm sure we'll find you your perfect pet." Fluttershy's attention was now wholly focused on Silver Quill, her eyes bright with interest. she looked positively eager to share her undoubtedly vast knowledge on animals with him.
Silver Quill smiled gratefully. "That's great, thank you. And please, call me Silver."
Fluttershy nodded and smiled with genuine warmth. Silver let himself feel a twinge of smug pleasure at successfully getting her to feel comfortable around him. Fluttershy clapped her two front hooves in a business like manner and looked at Silver Quill expectantly.
"Alright, first things first. What are you looking for in a pet?" she asked.
Throughout the next twenty or so minutes, Fluttershy interviewed him on what qualities he wanted in his pet. How big or small, how loud or quiet, what type of sound it made, if any at all. Once she was satisfied with his answer, she had proudly told him that his perfect pet was a cockatiel. Cockatiels according to her are good first time pets because they are easy to train and care for whilst being affectionate and entertaining. They are relatively quiet, but when they do make noise, it's usually in little whistles or tunes, things that Silver Quill wouldn't mind as it would add a little bit of entertainment to his life.
Silver Quill and Twilight left Fluttershy's cottage after Fluttershy's ill tempered pet of her own decided that enough was enough, I want lunch NOW. Fluttershy bade them goodbye from the doorway as they left.
"Well would you look at you." Twilight commented, sounding impressed as they walked the dirt road back to Ponyville.
Silver looked down at himself, checking to make sure nothing was amiss. "What is it, is there something on my coat?"
Twilight threw her head back and gave a loud laugh. After a few seconds, she looked back at Silver Quill, grinning. "What I mean to say is; look at you, new to Ponyville and already you've made three great new friends. Not bad at all."
Silver Quill stopped abruptly, his eyes wide in surprise. Twilight walked a few more hoofs before she realized he wasn't walking with her, and looked back at him curiously.
"I have?" He wondered. Twilight stared at him, uncomprehending. Then she realized what he meant and chuckled.
"Well of course you have. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Myself. We're your friends now."
Silver Quill stood rooted for a few seconds, thinking to myself. Finally, he looked up at her and nodded.
"Right. We're friends now." he said firmly.
Twilight returned his nod with her own. "And there's more where that came from. Now are you gonna stand there all day or what?"
Silver Quill trotted up to join his new friend, and together they continued walking.
A/N: I am my own worst critic, so it would help me immensely if you left a comment saying what you like about what is going on so far, or what you don't like and think needs to be fixed. Don''t be shy, I don't bite.
It had only been about 4 hours since Silver Quill stepped off the train to Ponyville, and he was already exhausted. Interacting with so many different ponies in such a short amount of time was taking its toll.
Twilight, thankfully, noticed this and assured Silver Quill that they were almost done. Ponyville’s clock tower, the highest structure in the entire town read 6:42. She did some quick calculations in her head and turned to talk to him.
“There are only two more ponies that I want you to meet, both of which are also good friends of mine. It should take about an hour and a half to two, depending on how easily I’m able to find one of them.”
Silver gave a curt nod. They were now back in the heart of Ponyville. The sky was starting to darken and the air was full of that crisp smell that you could only find in autumn, Ponyville looked like an entirely different place.
Ponyville early on in the day was bright and vibrant, the atmosphere literally humming with energy. Ponyville in the evening however was the complete opposite. Where there was once a sense of excitement and happiness in the air, there was now a subdued sense of peacefulness and sleepiness. The buildings were bathed with reds, yellows, and oranges and gave the town an almost ethereal feeling. It hasn’t been far enough into the autumn for the leaves to really start changing colours, but Silver Quill suspected that the town would be breathtaking once they did.
Shame nopony else was here to appreciate it though. The streets were completely empty, and the all of the shops that Silver Quill assumed would still be open had their doors closed and locked. Only about half of the houses had any signs of having ponies inside of them, the rest were dark and empty.
Silver didn’t want to sound weird by commenting on how strange this was. Maybe ponies here just turned in for the night earlier then the ones in Canterlot? He didn’t want to sound like an ethnocentric ignoramus, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Where is everypony?” Twilight wondered aloud. She seemed to be just as curious as Silver Quill about the seemingly unnatural stillness of the town. “Ponies are usually still up and about at this hour.”
“I was wondering the same thing.” He commented. “I just figured this was typical for Ponyville.”
“Not in the slightest” Twilight said, craning her neck around every street corner trying to spot any other Ponies who were still outside.
“How strange,” Twilight murmured. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as she mulled over the situation. “The only times Ponyville is ever this quiet is when everypony is busy, usually because of…of…”
Twilight stopped talking and her eyes widened in sudden realization and fear. She looked around her, then at Silver Quill, then around again.
“Oh dear.” She muttered in a fearful voice.
Silver squinted at her, nervous at her sudden transformation from happy to scared. He cautiously looked her in the eyes, which were somehow still just as mesmerizing when filled with fear.
“Twilight, is there something wrong?”
“We gotta go.”
“Go where?”
“To the library”
“The library? I thought we were going to see your fr- hey!!”
Twilight had taken off mid-sentence and was now tearing through the streets of Ponyville, a small dust cloud trailing behind her. She could go surprisingly fast for a librarian. It reminded him of a lavender filly who was so desperate to not be late for class that she would run down the halls at full speed, shouting at the top of her lungs.
Silver ran after her, eventually catching up and running alongside her. Twilight's pupils had shrunk to near pinpricks, and she seemed to be running on pure terrified adrenaline. Silver Quill was running only on desperate confusion.
After several minutes of running, they made it back to the library. Twilight stopped, just on the outskirts of the property and started to frantically look around. When she became inexplicably satisfied that she didn’t find what she didn’t want to find, she cautiously walked up to the front door of the library.
Silver Quill trotted up next to her and decided he should try and get some answers.
“Hold on Twilight, I don’t get it. What’s going on? Weren’t we going to meet the rest of your friends then come back?”
Twilight narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she looked at the library door. She looked as though she was trying to interrogate it, make it spill all of its door related secrets.
“If my hunch is correct Silver, I think we’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone.” She said darkly.
Silver could do nothing but shake his head in bewilderment. He watched as Twilight slowly but her hoof on the door knob, gently twisted it, then violently threw the door opened and leaped inside. She instantly started scanning the interior of the library, not moving from the threshold of the door.
Silver looked from beside her. Everything seemed normal. The books were on the shelves, the chairs and desks were where they were before. Not a single thing was out of place.
He looked at her with one eyebrow raised. She blushed sheepishly.
“Care to explain what you expecting? Because as far as I can see, everything looks completely norm-“
“SURPRISE!”
Pinkie Pie was ecstatic. Today was a very very special day, one of her all time favourite types of days. Today was a day where she met a new Pony in Ponville, one she had never seen before. She was so excited that she didn’t even have a chance to give him a friendly hello before the excitement build-up became too much and made her explode in a burst of streamers and sparkles.
There are a few rules that Pinkie Pie lives by. Rules like, never break a Pinkie Promise, or never let a sad Pony stay sad. It was time for Pinkie Pie to act on one of those rules, and that rule is, whenever there is a new pony in town, throw them a super-funtacular welcome party! And if there was anything that Pinkie Pie knew how to do, it was throw a super-funtacular party. It was just common knowledge.
Because it was common knowledge, everypony was more than eager to come to her welcome party when she went around town asking. Nopony in their right mind would miss a Pinkie Pie party, unless they absolutely had to. Pinkie Pie rounded up all of her bestest friends, (everypony) and brought them too the library that Rarity had told them Silver Quill was staying.
Spike had to be persuaded to let them set up their surprise welcome party, but when Rarity batted her eyelashes at him commented on how grateful she would be if he allowed it, he agreed. The promise of Pinkie Pie’s homemade cupcakes didn’t hurt either.
Once all of her friends were rounded up, the party favours and decorations set up, and the food made, they made their way to the library and waited for the pony of the hour.
A massive chorus from the mouths of many different ponies made Twilight and Silver simultaneously jump out of their coats. Ponies that were strategically hidden around the room, behind furniture and around corners had all jumped out at once and with an explosive cry of welcome.
Twilight groaned and facehoofed while Silver Quill just stood rooted to the spot and looked around, completely bewildered by this sudden turn of events. It had taken a lot of self control to prevent himself from screaming like a filly, and even now he was on the verge of throwing open the library door and running away in panic.
Once he looked around however, his anxiety disappeared and was replaced by amusement. His overactive imagination had run through dozens of different scenarios as to what was happening, bandit raid, pirate pony invasion, vicious flesh eating griffin attack. It turns out that it was only an overzealous group of eager partygoers who were led by a familiar bubbly pink mare.
Twilight looked exasperatedly at Pinkie Pie who was currently hopping up and down in front of them with a big smile on her face. She was epitome of innocent excitement.
“Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya, were ya, were ya?”
Twilight looked at her with a wry smile. “Yes, Pinkie, you can rest assured that we were indeed, surprised.”
Pinkie ceased her excited hopping to give off an energetic hoof-pump. Her face was contorted into an expression of victory and accomplishment.
“Yay! Operation ‘give the new pony in town a super spectacular surprise welcome party’ was a success! Just like the last 34 parties!”
Silver Quill shook himself out of his terrified paralysis, and looked curiously at the two mares.
“Hold on a second, somepony needs to bring me up to speed. Is that was this is? A surprise party? Because for a second there I could of sworn it was a ‘scare the life out of Silver Quill' party.”
Pinkie gave him a sympathetic smile as she went next to him and laid a forehoof on his shoulder.
“Aww, sorry ‘bout that Silver, I didn’t mean to scare ya. I was just trying to make you feel welcome! Besides, I throw every new pony in Ponyville a welcome party, and you know what that meaaans!” Pinkie gave him a meaningful look as she leaned in closer for dramatic tension.
“It means that…you have really weird OCD?”
“Noooo, what it means…” Pinkie jumped away from Silver Quill to resume her joyful bouncing around the room. She hopped over to two other ponies that were standing over by the punch bowl and were pouring themselves a glass, apparently deciding that they might as well start the party without them. "Is that I have to throw YOU a welcome party!"
Silver blinked. "Oh...of course." He looked at Twilight with the obvious question of "What now?" in his eyes. Twilight grinned sheepishly.
"Well, since Pinkie put this party together, the least we could do is enjoy ourselves." Pinkie started bouncing faster as she got more excited when she heard this, but Twilight put a hoof over her mouth before she said anything. "And while we are very grateful Pinkie, it's going to have to be a short party. It's been a long day, and we're tired."
Pinkie deflated slightly, ears drooping a minuscule amount and bouncing slower, but instantly became just as preppy and happy as she always was.
“Alrighty then! No point in partying when you’re tired, that’ll just make it no fun for everypony. Just say the word and I’ll get all this outta here lickity split!”
Twilight smiled gratefully. “Thanks Pinkie, we appreciate it.” She turned to address Silver as Pinkie happily bounced away to join her many friends at the snack table.
“Ready to meet the rest of my friends?”
Silver looked around uncertainly. “Er…are they even here?”
“Oh I’m sure they are. They, more than anypony, know how much fun a Pinkie Pie party can be. Come on, let’s go find them.”
Silver followed Twilight as she meandered her way throughout the crowd, exchanging brief greetings with the partygoers.
She caught the sight of a scaled purple tail partially obscured by the mass of pony bodies dancing to the sound of the upbeat song being played on the record player.
“Spike!” she called. The baby dragon stopped what he was doing and looked in the direction of where Twilight Sparkle and Silver Quill were standing, but there were too many ponies standing in the way for him to talk, so he did the next best thing.
“Hey Twilight!” He called as he jumped to get a better view over the ponies around them. “Great party…Isn’t it?” because of his stature, he had to keep jumping up and down in order to talk to her, so his sentences were delivered a few words at a time.
“Yeah, it’s great. Listen, do you know where Rainbow Dash and Applejack are?”
I think…they’re over…in the kitchen!” He answered as he made himself slightly dizzy from all the jumping.
“Alright, thanks!” Twilight showed Silver the way to the kitchen where the Twilight’s friends were rumored to be. They turned a corner and found the kitchen almost empty, except for a sky blue coloured pegasus with a blazing rainbow mane and tail, and a familiar orange mare with a blond ponytail and Stetson hat. The Pegasus had her head immersed in the contents of Twilight’s refrigerator while the orange mare looked thoroughly displeased. They both had their backs turned to them entering.
“RD, Ah really think ya should reconsider. I dun think Twilight will take too kindly too ya stealin’ her food. Ah certainly wouldn’t.”
The pegasus, without even taking her head out of the refrigerator, answered with an exasperated voice.
“Relax AJ, don’t get your hooves in a twist. Twilight’s got so much stuff in here she won’t notice anything missing. Especially not this delicious looking piece of apple pie!”
Applejack scowled, obviously not put to rest.
“Ah sold that to Twilight this morning when told me she was havin’ a guest later, who I ‘spect is that Silver Quill feller. And judgin’ from the sound of things outside, Ah think they just arrived so get yer dang head outta her fridge!”
The pegasus groaned from inside the refrigerator. “Guuuh, fine… party pooper.” She closed the door and looked irritably back at Applejack. “it’s not like she would have noti- Twilight!”
Twilight was standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a smirk on her face that didn’t hide the fact that she saw the entire thing. The blue pegasus blushed a light shade of pink as she grinned sheepishly and Applejack gave her a “Ah told ya so.” look.
Twilight, deciding that her embarrassment over being caught raiding her fridge was punishment enough, didn’t comment on it. Instead, she went straight to the introductions.
“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, I’d like you to meet Silver Quill. He’ll be staying in Ponyville for a little while, although by the sound of it, Applejack already knew that.” She looked at Applejack curiously, the question obvious in her eyes.
Applejack chuckled and walked over to Silver Quill, giving him a rough, friendly hug, almost indiscernible from a headlock.
“Aw shucks Twi’, Silver and I are already the best of buds, ain’t we Silver?”
Silver gave a small smile at her brutish display of affection. “That we are Applejack.”
Twilight shot him a sympathetic smile as the rough around the edges mare gave him a friendly jostle. “How did you two meet?” she inquired.
Silver Quill gently extricated himself from her grip. Either she was underestimating her own strength, or overestimating his own, because he felt a little bit worse for wear when he managed to escape from her.
“Applejack kindly showed me around Ponyville when I first arrived, which I’m very grateful for.” He nodded thankfully at her, and she waved thanks away with a hoof and a smile. “And it’s a good thing she did too, knowing me, if left to my own devices, I would have somehow ended up at the Neighagara Falls.”
“Think nothin’ of it sugercube.” Applejack said amiably
Silver Quill nodded, then turned to the Rainbow Dash, who was wearing a profoundly bored expression and was looking around the room for something interesting to look at. She noticed his attention was on her, and looked at him.
“Sup?”
Twilight furrowed her eyebrow slightly in displeasure, and Applejack gave a very non subtle facehoof. Tactfulness had never been one of Rainbow’s stronger points.
Ever polite, Silver smiled. “You’re name was Rainbow Dash, right?”
She flashed him a snarky grin. “Was, and still is.”
A chord was struck in Silver’s memory. He looked at her thoughtfully. “You know, you seem awfully familiar. I think I’ve seen you before.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her hoof disinterestedly. “Didja now? You probably just heard about how awesome I am or something.”
Applejack rolled her eyes, but Silver Quill wasn’t done. “I think you’re right.” He said slowly.
Rainbow dash froze, losing all interest in her hoof. She looked straight at Silver Quill. “I am?”
“She is?” said two voices from behind him simultaneously.
“Yeah,” he said while tapping his hoof against his chin, “I do know you. Or of you at least. Aren’t you the first pegasus to pull of the legendary Sonic Rainboom?”
Rainbow gave a delighted grin. She struck a small pose, wings flared dramatically and head held high with one forehoof in the air. “Well, I hate to brag but-“
She was interrupted by the sound of a loud snort of a amusement. Silver turned to see a wide eyed Applejack with a hoof over her own mouth.
Rainbow shot her a dirty look, and Applejack looked away innocently. “As I was saying,” she continued, “I hate to brag, but that amazingly awesome pegasus was me.”
Silver Quill nodded appraisningly. “Yeah, I recognized you from the Canterlot Gazette. There was an article about you, and a picture of you accepting the trophy from the best young fliers competition from Princess Celestia.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “There was an ariticle about me in the Canterlot Gazette? She paused a moment, letting it sink in. "That is so cool!” She flew up and did a small backflip as she said that, just narrowly missing the lights on the ceiling.
She came to a stop in front Silver Quill and smiled at him. “I like you Silver, You’re alright.” She hoofed him in the shoulder to accentuate her point.
Silver only smiled and nodded as he rubbed his shoulder. Rainbow Dash walked around him and over to where Applejack and Twilight were standing with surprised looks on their faces.
“C’mon AJ, let’s go show these ponies how how to really party.” She said as she walked out of kitchen..
“Right behind ya RD.” She turned to Silver Quill once more before following her friend. “T’was nice ta see ya again Silver.” And with that, she left.
Twilight and Silver stood in silence for a few seconds, listening to the sounds of the party outside going on without them. She looked as though she had something to say, but was trying to figure out how she should say it.
Silver ended the silence with a content sigh. “You have really cool friends, you know that Twilight?” he commented.
Twilight nodded. Finally, she spoke. “How do you do that?”
“Hmm?”
Twilight looked behind her, catching sight of Pinkie Pie clapping her hooves together while Rainbow Dash and Applejack tore up the dance floor and Fluttershy and Rarity sat by the record player smiling and laughing.
“With my friends, how did you do that?”
Silver Quill squinted at her. “You’re going to have to be a tad more specific.”
Twilight shook her head to clear her thoughts. “What I mean to say is,” she clarified, “how did you get my friends to like you so quickly? I mean, Pinkie I can understand, she likes everypony, but the rest? With just a few words you got them to like and accept you. How?”
Silver shrugged at her and grinned. “What can I say Twilight, I’ve always been good with words. Not much more to it.”
Twilight opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds before sighing. “Wish I had that gift, would have come in handy when I was younger.” She said bitterly, with her head hung slightly.
Silver Quill looked at her curiously. Her sudden melancholy surprised him, she seemed so happy before, and it changed so quickly. He had his suspicions as to what the problem was, but kept them hidden.
“Is there something wrong Twilight?” He asked, his voice tinged with concern.
She shook her head slowly, her mane swaying gently from side to side. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just…” She looked at Silver Quill for a moment before continuing. “I just wish that I could do what you did, have ponies like me and all that. I used to be…a very lonely pony before I came to Ponyville, and I didn’t even realize it.”
“I see.” He replied quietly. He walked over to Twilight and laid a supporting hoof on her shoulder. She looked up at him, eyes wide with surprise and sadness.
“But what you’re forgetting Twilight, is that you don’t need to act like me to get ponies to like you, you’re plenty likeable just the way you are.” Twilight’s head cocked to the side as she took in his words.
“It’s easy to live in the past Twilight, easy to think about all the things that we wanted to have or wanted to do, but you can’t do that.” He gestured to the exit of the kitchen, beyond which the sounds of a lively could be heard. “All those ponies out there are your friends and they like you for who you are. It’s important that you remember that, right now, you have friends who care for you deeply, and nothing can change that.”
Twilight smiled weakly, some of the sadness leaving her eyes being replaced by gratefulness and hope. Silver Quill continued.
“Besides, you know what you have to do in order to make up for a past full of loneliness?”
“What’s that?” she asked quietly.
Silver smiled warmly at her. “You have to spend as much time with your friends as possible, and from what I can tell, you’re doing a pretty good job of it.”
Twilight laughed lightly, all traces of her previous sadness now erased. She looked at Silver Quill with moist eyes, and then wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
“Thanks Silver,” she said softly. “You’re a really good guy.”
Silver’s heart hammered in his chest, so much so that he was sure she could feel it. His other more emotional side started to get surface again, and it took everything he had to suppress it, no simple task. Her sudden closeness caught him off guard, and he was suddenly noticing how good she smelled.
He managed to lightly pat her on the back. “Any time, Twilight.”
Twilight let go of him and stepped back. They stood there for a little while, not saying anything. Those limpid pools of violet that were her eyes beckoned him again, and he found himself wanting to do nothing but drown in them. Twilight did nothing but stare back, as though he was an extremely intriguing specimen.
“Twilight, what are you doing? You’re missing the party!” cried a voice from the other room. Pinkie Pie poked her head around the corner and gave them a disapproving gaze. “I know I said that the party was going to be short, but you aren’t even partying!”
Silver Quill was thankfully broken from Twilight’s enrapturing spell at the interruption. Twilight looked behind her to see a very disgruntled party pony, and laughed.
“Sorry Pinke, we’ll come out and join the party now.” She assured.
Pinkie’s frown disappeared behind her trademark smile. “Okie Dokie Lokie!” she answered, and then disappeared from view.
Twilight turned to Silver. She seemed to be completely back to normal. “C’mon, let’s go get some cake.”
Silver nodded, back to his usual self. “Sounds good to me.”
The party, as promised, lasted only about an hour. Many ponies were disappointed that one of Pinkie Pie’s famous party’s wasn’t going to last longer, but Pinkie’s promise that her next party would be twice as long as usual set them at ease.
Silver Quill was asleep on his hooves. He had used his last reserves of energy for chatting, eating, laughing, and introducing himself to other ponies. He even played a few games of pin the tail on the donkey, although he refused to dance. At the end of it all, he felt like he had participated in the running of the leaves race, only without the sore muscles.
Twilight bade Silver goodnight at around 8:00, and they both went to their rooms. But no matter how tired he was, Silver couldn’t sleep. His brain, now that his body was no longer moving, was assaulting him with all sorts of sensations, mainly involving Twilight. The way she looked at him, the feel of her hooves around his neck, the smell of her mane when it was mere inches away from his face, they all prevented him from getting even a moments rest.
Finally, his fatigue became overbearing enough that he fell into a deep slumber.
Silver Quill was currently in the process of having what had to be the strangest dream he’s ever had.
He was in a forest, one that looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he’s seen it before. He was running, no, he was sprinting through the forest as fast as his hooves could take him, but he didn’t feel any strain of exertion. He didn’t feel anything, only fear.
As he tore through the undergrowth, there was a loud, constant rumbling noise behind him. It sounded as though a mountain that had suddenly become bored with its view of the world and decided to slide along the ground until it found somewhere new and suitable. Silver Quill didn’t know what it was, or if he needed to even run from it, but it was better to be safe than sorry. So he ran.
He noticed the forest getting continuously darker and darker as he moved closer and closer to whatever his destination was. He could just see the sun moving in the sky through the canopy of leaves overhead, but it was moving much faster than usual. The farther and farther he ran, the more it lowered, soon disappearing beyond the horizon to be replaced by a crescent moon.
He broke through a wall of densely packed evergreen trees into a clearing, pine needles and sap sticking to his coat. As soon as he stepped into the open area, the rumbling noise stopped completely. The sudden lack of sound jarred him, and he looked around frantically as his ears got used to the newfound silence.
Fireflies buzzed lazily through the moonlit air, their small bright lights looking like small dancing stars on the backdrop of flora. Wildflowers of purple and white grew all around, their petals gently floating in the air as he walked through them, as though taken by wind that wasn’t there. There was a pond set in the middle, next to which a single weeping willow tree stood guard, its hanging leaves gently caressing the surface of the water.
Silver Quill’s panic and fear at being chased by an inexplicable, earthquake like rumbling noise disappeared to be replaced by quiet calmness. He recognized this place. It was the clearing in the forest in Canterlot where he would always go to escape civilization, where he would go to be alone with only his thoughts to keep him company. This was the place that he was most comfortable at. This was a place where he could not be afraid.
But something was slightly off. The pond, usually lit up only by the light of the moon and stars, was unnaturally bright. It looked as though bright white light was coming from inside of it and permeated the surface on slightly. He stopped walking.
He felt uneasy. This place was one of stability and comfort to him, and any discrepancy, no matter how minor, made him feel nervous. He put one hoof in front of the other, and slowly approached the pond.
As he got closer, his ears flicked as he became aware of a gentle hum that echoed from the water. He recognized it to be the sound of a cello, deep and rich with emotion. There wasn’t any tune to it, it was just a single drawn out note, but it affected Silver Quill in a strangely personal way, as though it were speaking to him.
He felt like the sound somehow entered his body and fused itself with his very soul. He could feel it thrumming inside of him, even though it wasn’t that loud. The deep, rich tone pervaded all of his senses. He smelled the musky smell of old books, tasted the dry taste of a dusty wind, felt paper gently caressing his skin, his vision flickered, like the light of a candle flame, and above it all, he heard the somber cello sound that pulsed through him.
He stepped up to the edge of the water. Peering through the depths, he could see a bright ball of silver light. It gave the water an almost gaseous look, as the light itself looked as though it was gently whirling through it.
He smiled, the light was very pretty. He liked the light, it made him feel comfortable. It reassured him, told him everything was going to be alright, and beckoned him. Silver Quill closed his eyes, and without realizing what he was doing, fell forward into the water.
His eyes still closed, and a small smile still on his face, he plummeted downwards, into the depths of the comforting light.
Silver woke with a start. His eyes snapped open and he gasped as his hooves flailed madly throughout the air, sending his blanket into disarray. He sat up in his bed wide eyed, and looked around.
His breathing slowly calmed as he forced himself to relax when he realized there was no danger. He was in the room Twilight Sparkle had given to him, and he was alone. He sighed wearily.
“I must have had too many of those cupcakes last night.” He thought to himself. Shaking his head, he climbed out of bed and began to remake it, straightening out the blanket and setting it neatly on the mattress.
“But they sure were good though.” He mused. He had to hand it to Pinkie Pie; she knows her way around a kitchen.
He finished making the bed and stood silently in the room for a moment. He narrowed his eyes as he thought.
“What in the name of the Sisters was that dream about?”
He pondered the nature of the strange images that passed through his head while he slept, but was interrupted when his eyes slid over to the mirror. His mane was frayed and knotted in ways that he hadn’t seen since his university days when he had to pull all nighters, and his coat was more scruffy than it usually was in the morning.
“I must have been tossing and turning all night if I look like this.”
His horn flared gently as he unzipped a side pocket on his saddlebags that were sitting on the desk, and withdrew a brush and comb. He began to comb out the knots in his mane, wincing as he did so, and set the brush to sorting out his frazzled coat.
After a little bit more thinking, he dismissed the dream from his mind as he put the brush and comb back in their pocket. Dreams are supposed to be weird, he figured.
He opened the door to his room and walked down the hallway to the stairs leading to the first floor of the library/house. He could just make out the cheery smell of pancakes wafting through the house, and his stomach rumbled eagerly. The words of his mother who loved to cook as much as Silver loved to read came to mind. “Any day that starts with a good breakfast ends with a smile!” she would say, smiling at him while wearing her bright pink, stained apron.
The barest hint of a smile touched his mouth. "Good times, good times."
He made his way down the stairs and heard Spike and Twilight talking. They were just making small talk, talking about the weather, about the last night, about what the plans for today were, and whatnot.
Twilight noticed him first as Spike was busy in front of the stove, adding more pancakes to a plate with a stack of them beside on the counter.
“Good morning Silver,” she called. “Did you have a nice sleep?” Spike turned around and waved a claw at him in greeting. Silver smiled back.
“Good morning Twilight, Spike. I slept well enough, despite a rather strange dream.”
Twilight tilted her head as she took a sip from a cup of sweet smelling tea held in her magical grasp. “What was it about?”
Silver shook his head. “I don’t even know, everything and nothing, I guess. It was really too weird to make heads or tails out of it.”
She nodded knowingly and took another sip from her cup. Silver’s attention was brought back to Spike as he flipped a pancake in the air that flipped twice and landed on the plate, already filled with the fluffy flapjacks. He picked up the plate and a bottle of syrup and some utensils, and placed them on the table Twilight was sitting at. She eagerly floated a few of them on the plate sitting in front of her.
Silver’s focus was snapped away from the food as a loud rumbling echoed through the kitchen. It took him a few seconds to realize it was his stomach voicing its displeasure at not being appeased.
Spike looked at him with a knowing smirk. “You hungry Silver?” he asked with repressed amusement.
Silver felt heat rush up to his face as Twilight giggled at his embarrassment. He cleared his throat in an attempt to dispel some of the tension that he felt. “I…think I’m feeling a bit peckish, yes.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you are.” Spike said with a snort. He gestured to one of the two empty chairs at the table Twilight was sitting at, both of which had empty plates, utensils, and glasses of orange juice in front them. “Go ahead and dig in.”
Silver nodded gratefully at the dragon as he sat down and levitated some pancakes to his plate. He drizzled syrup over them, and then set to work shoveling them into his mouth as fast as he could without embarrassing himself.
Spike sat down in the chair between him and Twilight and got his own food. He looked at Silver expectantly.
“I’m gonna take a guess and say that you like it?” He said, his tone of voice making it more of a question then a statement.
Silver took a long drag from his glass of orange juice, then nodded in Spike’s direction.
“I haven’t had pancakes this good since I started living on my own. Where in Equestria did you learn to cook like this?”
Spike, evidently pleased with his compliment if the slight giggle that escaped was any indication, merely shrugged.
“I had to learn how to cook food for Twilight; otherwise she would gowhole 3 days without food. As much as she loves her books, she needs more than just books to keep her alive; no matter what she says, so I took it upon myself to make sure she gets three square meals a day.” He took a bite of pancake and grinned at him. “It also helps that cooking is pretty fun.” he said as he chewed.
Twilight’s cheeks reddened slightly as she swatted Spike on the shoulder. “Oh hush you, I never said that I only needed books to live.”
Spike laughed as he fended off her half hearted attack on him and smirked at her. “You didn’t have too.”
Twilight only rolled her eyes in exasperation and went back to her breakfast. They ate in comfortable silence for a few more moments before Silver Quill broke the silence.
“So, is there anything planned today?” he asked nobody in particular.
Twilight and Spike looked at each other, and then back at him. “Not really, Spike and I were just going to do some work around the library, organizing, taking inventory, that sort of stuff. Is there anything you’d like to do?” Twilight asked curiously.
Silver breathed a sigh of relief. “No actually, I was wondering if today was going to be as eventful as yesterday. It’s been so long since I’ve spent an entire day in the company of other ponies, especially ones as lively as you and your friends, so I was hoping to relax today.”
Twilight chuckled, and nodded knowingly. “Aha, I know the feeling.” She sighed and leaned on her two hooves, smiling wistfully. “I was so frazzled when I first came to Ponyville because of all the…energy in the air; I barely had my hooves underneath me the entire time.”
Silver looked back down at his food and chuckled. “Yeah, that’s pretty much me in a nut shell right now.”
He looked up at Twilight and smiled contentedly. “I’m looking forward to a day of mental relaxation. I’ll probably just grab a book and spend the day reading.” He took a sip of his orange juice and looked up at her pointedly over the rim of the cup. “After I lend a hoof with your work, that is.”
Twilight looked taken aback. A curt shake of her head that sent her long, straight mane swaying told him that she was not very fond of the idea.
“Oh no no no, you don’t need to help me. You came here to relax and to get you head back in order; I can’t ask you to do work.” She smiled at him reassuringly. “You can spend the day doing whatever it is you want.”
Silver matched her friendly eyes with his own determined ones. “No can do Twilight.” he said resolutely. “If I’m going to be staying her for a while, I’m going to at least try to pull my weight. If that means helping you with your duties and doing a few chores here and there, then so be it.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off before she could say anything. “Sorry, Twilight, but it isn’t up for debate. I’d hate to stay here knowing that I was just freeloading off of you.”
Twilight examined him, still looking uncertain. After a few moments, Spike chimed in with his own opinion.
“Aw, c’mon Twilight, let the guy help out if he really wants to. It’ll make our work go by much faster, and that means that I can get some more sleep!” He looked back and forth from Twilight to Silver with a grin on his face. “It’s a win-win!”
Twilight rolled her eyes dramatically. “Honestly Spike, is there anything that you ever think about besides sleep?”
Spike gave a noncommittal shrug, “To be honest Twilight, there’s not much more for me to think about.”
A smirk crept onto her face as her eyes narrowed deviously. “You sure about that Spike? That’s not the impression that I got yesterday when you were dancing with a broomstick while singing about ‘the most beautiful gem in all of Equestria.’ What was her name again? Oh yeah, it was Ra-“
“Alright alright, I get the point!” Spike had stood up on his chair in his anxiousness to interrupt Twilight, and a heavy blush was reddening his face, making his head look like a ripe tomato.
He grabbed his empty dishes and hopped down from the chair, bringing them to the sink to be washed. “Sheesh” Silver heard him mutter. “Some ponies just don’t know when to stop…”
Twilight suppressed a self satisfied smile as she resumed eating. Silver Quill decided that it would be best to not comment. He didn’t want to embarrass the poor guy any more.
Twilight and Silver finished up the rest of their breakfast and got ready to work. Twilight debriefed him on what the work schedule of the day was. First, they would be reshelving the books, putting them back in proper order. After that, Twilight had some books whose covers were damaged and needed to be repaired, so she was going to fix the bindings on them and make them presentable again. Lastly, she had to peruse through the inventory, making sure that every book was accounted for and that nothing was misplaced.
Twilight, at Silver’s questioning, explained her organization system to be ones that most libraries had, Sorted by categories and alphabetized by author. Silver Quill, quite used to organizing his own, and dare he say, impressive collection of books in this manner, went straight to work.
They started on opposite sides of the library and moved clockwise to ensure that they don’t organize a section that the other had already been through. They chatted amicably as they worked, keeping each others company. Spike meanwhile, was doing other, more rudimentary chores, washing dishes, cleaning windows, dusting off the shelves, and the like.
]“Hey Twilight…” Silver quill called to her while she was looking over a bookshelf marked Romance. Her ears perked at the sound, but she didn’t look up.
“Hmm?”
“What kind of books, other than textbooks and other ones meant for learning do you like to read?” She looked up at him as she made a space between two books on the top row of the shelf she was at and inserted the one she was holding in the gap.
Silver was caught off guard, and flinched slightly as he made eye contact with her. “Goddess above, she should need a warrant to bring those eyes out into public, they’re downright dangerous.”
He looked shyly back at the bookshelf that he was in the process of organizing and tried to ignore the sudden feeling of weakness in his knees. “What I mean is, what do you read for fun? Any particular genre that you’re fond of?” he clarified, trying to make his voice sound as not weak as possible.
Twilight smiled softly, almost wistfully as she looked back at the bookshelf. “Well,” she said lightly, “I’ve always been rather fond of mysteries. The more complicated, the better.”
Silver looked back at her curiously now that her dangerous eyes were safely pointed in another direction and he didn’t run the risk of making an idiot of himself. “Why’s that?”
Her smile grew wider. “Heh, what I like most about mysteries is putting myself in the detectives hooves and trying to solve the mystery myself. The more difficult the mystery is, the more fun it is to solve it before the detective in the story does, although I don’t always manage to.”
She turned to him and smiled sheepishly. “Kinda weird huh?”
Silver shook his head, hiding his amusement at her question. “Not at all, I think it’s quite impressive.” Twilight raised her eyebrows at this, and he continued. “I haven’t read that many mystery novels, but whenever I did, I never came close to finding the answer to whatever was being questioned, no matter how hard I tried.” He looked at her deadpan. “I knew you were smart, but I didn’t realize that smart.”
Twilight giggled, and a rosy tint colored her cheeks briefly before vanishing. “Why thank you Silver, that’s kind of you to say.”
“It’s the truth.” He replied simply.
With one last smile at him, Twilight and Silver went back to their work, finishing it in about half an hour. Once they were done, Twilight got out the books that were damaged and a small wooden box that held the tools she needed to repair them. There wasn’t much Silver could do to help her at this point, what with him not knowing the first thing about book binding, so he just let Twilight work while he observed.
He couldn’t help his attention wandering, much as he tried to. From the way her tongue stuck out in concentration as she carefully maneuvered the tools with her magic, to the way her hooves twitched slightly as she levitated them from one direction to another, almost as though she was orchestrating their aerial movement.
He forced his gaze away from her and to the book she was in the process taking the cover off to be replaced with another. He breathed deeply to clear his troublesome mind, and focused on the way she worked, hoping to maybe learn something new that he could use to fix his own books that could do with a little makeover.
After a few moments, he noticed the needle she was using to attach the pages to their new cover started moving sluggishly. When it started to repeatedly bump against the half sewn on book cover, he looked at her to see what was distracting her from her work.
He and Twilight were both surprised, him to find her staring at him, and her to be caught staring at him. She blushed heavily, muttered a quick apology, and quickly got back to binding.
She finished up quickly, shoved her tools into their case, and haphazardly shoved into her desk drawer. Silver Quill sensed a strange anxiety in her, although he couldn’t fathom his origins. He was about to say something, ask her if there was anything wrong, when she turned back to face him. She looked like her normal self again, with not a hint of her anxiety showing, so Silver decided to drop the issue.
“I’ll just put these away and we can go on to taking inventory.” She said.
Silver nodded as the pile of books on her desk were lifted in the air by her telekinetic grasp and floated off into their respective bookcases. She then picked up a folder that was sitting on her desk and opened it, levitating half of the papers and a quill to Silver.
“This is a list of all the books in the library. It’s ordered the same way that the books are, so we just need to make sure that every book is accounted for and in its place.” She explained.
“Gotcha.” Silver replied, and with that, they quickly went around the room, making sure that everything that was supposed to be there was there. They didn’t talk this time, instead working in companionable silence.
Silver’s thoughts drifted away from what he was doing and he unconsciously started thinking about the way she was staring at him earlier. He tried, but couldn’t figure out what it meant. She had been staring at him with an unusually intense look, one he hadn’t seen on her before. In the brief moment their eyes had met before she turned away, he could have sworn that she was staring into his very soul.
Since all the books were already in order, Twilight and Silver Quill finished in only 20 minutes. Everything that was supposed to be there was, and with that, they were finished.
Twilight let out a satisfied sigh as she passed her gaze around the room. Everything was as clean as a whistle and in the spot it was supposed to be, just the way she liked it. She looked over to Silver Quill, who was idly browsing the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section, muttering to himself as he lightly passed his hoof over the spines of the books.
Twilight’s words died in her mouth. She stared at Silver Quill with her mouth hanging open slightly. The way he gingerly took out a book and ever so gently opened it so as not to damage the spine fascinated her for reasons she could not comprehend. She felt her heart flutter slightly, and she briefly wondered if she was coming down with something, but dismissed that idea. She was only broken out of her reverie when she heard footsteps descending the stairs.
Spike let out an impressed whistle as he looked around. “Wow Twilight, you guys are done already? That was like, 5 times shorter than it normally would take you. I didn’t even get a chance to help.”
Twilight violently shook her head, trying to bring herself back to her senses. She looked at her assistant who was standing at the base of the stairs and grinned at him.
“Actually Spike, it only took about half the time it usually would, otherwise we would have finished an hour ago.”
Spike shrugged his shoulders as he walked to the kitchen and started rummaging through the fridge. “Whatever you say Twilight.” He took out a big ripe peach and took a bite out of it as he looked back at her.
Spike squinted his eyes suddenly, as though he was trying to look through a dense fog. Twilight found herself under the scrutinizing gaze of the young dragon, and she also found that it made her quite uncomfortable.
“Hey Twilight, why’s your face so red?” He walked over to where Twilight was standing and reached up to put a claw over her forehead, all the while still munching on his peach. “Are you coming down with a fever?”
Twilight swatted his claw away with a huff. “I’m fine Spike, I’m not coming down with a fever.” She said indignantly. Spike merely shrugged, and popped the pit of the peach into his mouth, crushing it in his powerful jaws with a loud crack.
“If you say so Twilight. If you need me, I’ll be taking a nap.”
The baby dragon made his way back upstairs, leaving Twilight and Silver Quill alone. Silver had picked out a book from the Fantasy section and sat down in one of the armchairs scattered around the library for those who wanted to read in peace. He lightly licked the tip of his hoof as he flipped a page over.
Twilight looked around. She usually finished her work much later than this, and it was only midday, so she had to think of something to pass the time. She decided to take a page from Silver Quill’s book and picked a book at random from a nearby shelf.
She sat down with her book across from Silver Quill and settled down to read. Before she did however, she couldn’t help but notice something strange the way Silver was reading.
“Why don’t you use your magic to hold the book?” She inquired curiously. Silver looked up at her words and shrugged.
“This is how I've always done it. Besides, I like the feeling of the paper on my hooves.”
Twilight just nodded, and they both delved back into the world of literature while enjoying each others company. They didn’t speak to each other, they didn’t even acknowledge the others existence, but every now and then, the thought of the other would intrude into their minds and prevent them from reading one more word, as the alien thought was so overpowering, they could focus on nothing else but the pony sitting across from them.
The rest of the day passed without much of anything happening. Silver Quill and Twilight spent most of their time relaxing, quietly reading and enjoying the peace and quiet, only stopping to eat. Spike, true to his word, spent most of the rest of day in his bed, happily asleep.
Silver turned in for the night at around 11. His eyes were drooping, and it got to the point that the words on the pages he was reading had started to blur together into an incomprehensible mess. This was usually the signal his brain sent him to tell him that it was time to hit the hay.
And so, he said his goodnights to Twilight, and went up to what he hoped would be a restful sleep. Unfortunately, his unconscious mind had other plans.
He had the exact same dream as before. The dream of running through a forest, being unconsciously drawn to his clearing, and then falling face first into the water for no comprehensible reason.
Silver’s night was filled with troubled moans and restless tossing and turning. Not even the sound of the crickets chirping outside the window to his room was able to give him peace as they have always done in the past.
Despite this, he managed to sleep. It was a very fitful sleep, one that probably wouldn’t amount to feeling well rested, but sleep all the same.
“GAH!” yelped Silver Quill as he started awake, sending his hooves thrashing about and his blanket even more so. His eyes darted around in a an instinctive fight or flight response, trying to determine the situation and whether he was in any immediate danger.
After several seconds of panting, he threw a hoof over his eyes and groaned as he fell back on the bed.
“Blood and bone…” he swore quietly. “That damn dream again…”
Silver lay there quietly, thinking. The dream, already starting to slip away from his memory, seemed to have been filled with all sorts of symbolism, but he couldn’t make heads or tails about it.
“Maybe I should see if I can find a book on psychology, or on dream reading or something. I am in a library after all…” he muttered to himself. With a grunt he rolled himself out of bed and began the morning ritual of fixing the bedspread and his extremely disheveled appearance.
“I seriously hope this isn’t going to be a regular occurrence.” He said as he tore his brush through the knots in his mane, drawing it back to its straight and neat form.
Silver Quill concluded with his grooming and made his way downstairs. He didn’t feel at all rested, but he knew that attempting to get some more sleep would be completely futile. Besides, it was already fairly late in the morning and he didn’t want come across as lazy by waking up at 1 o’ clock.
There was nobody downstairs, but Silver noticed that there was a note sitting on the kitchen table, written in dark green ink and loopy script. He walked over and picked it up with his magic and began to read.
Dear Silver Quill,
Spike and I will be gone for most, if not all, of the day. We’re going to the Everfree Forest to do some on the site research of the peculiar weather patterns there. We’ll stay very near to the edge of the forest, so if you by any chance are going to worry, don’t bother, because we will be perfectly fine. I know that you, as a fellow bibliophile, will be careful with the books, so I’m not going to bother reminding you to be. Feel free to take whatever you like out of the fridge or cupboards and don’t feel obligated to stay in the library if you feel like getting some fresh air.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle and Spike Draconis
Silver Quill crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash bin. He looked lazily around, and his gaze was met only by rows upon rows of tomes of all sizes and colors. He shrugged to himself half heartedly.
“Alright, I can spend a day alone, no problem. First things first though, breakfast.” he thought.
Silver opened up the fridge and cupboard doors with his magic, pulling out milk and a bowl from the fridge as he browsed Twilight’s stock of breakfast cereals. He decided on Raisin Grain, his mother’s favourite cereal, and filled up the bowl.
Once he topped the bowl of raisins and oats with milk, he sat down at the table and slowly ate. As he ate, he thought about what he was going to do today.
“I could try to get some writing done, but I don’t think it would amount to much. Maybe I’ll just spend the rest of the morning reading, and then I’ll take a walk around town or something.”
Silver nodded to himself, and finished off the rest of his cereal. He took his bowl to the sink, cleaned it, then placed it on the dish rack to dry. With his morning hunger sated, he went over to the bookshelf labeled Informational. After a bit of perusing, he came across a book that looked like it might fit his needs titled Dreams: the Window to the Mind and Soul.
He took the book off the shelf, making sure to remember the exact place where he found it, and eased himself into the same plush armchair that he sat on yesterday.
Silver quickly located section dedicated to interpreting dreams and started reading. From what he could tell, dream interpreting was all about noticing and understanding the symbolism that appears in dreams, so that was what he tried to do. There was an entire list of different types of symbols that commonly appeared in dream, but he only focused on the ones that affected him.
Being chased is one of the most common dream symbols in many cultures. It means you are feeling threatened, so reflect on who is chasing you (they may also be symbolic) and why they are a possible threat in real life.
“But I have no idea who is chasing me, or what for that matter.” He murmured to himself.
Water comes in many forms and can symbolize the subconscious mind. Calm pools of water reflect inner peace while a choppy ocean can suggest unease.
Demons are sneaky evil entities which signify repressed emotions. You may secretly feel the need to change your own behaviours for the better.
Falling is a common dream symbol that relates to our anxieties about letting go, losing control over a situation, or somehow failing after a success.
Forests represent the unknown. They symbolize the feeling of being lost and of losing ones perspective (can’t see the forest for the trees).
The passage of time, or a series of events, can represent time passing or a series of events in real life or of a change in ones mental or emotional state.
Silver squinted at the book he was holding in his hooves, as though it was withholding information from him that he was trying to interrogate out of it. Once it became apparent that his attempts were futile, he sighed and shook his head.
“This either makes no sense, or I’m just not smart enough to make any sense out of it.” he grumbled. He slammed the book shut and levitated it back to the spot he took it from.
With another weary sigh he stood up from the armchair and looked out the window. Outside, he could see a group of 3 little fillies frolicking and laughing as they played. Ponies walking by smiled at the sight of them, letting their carefree and innocent attitudes warm their hearts as the bright sun warmed their bodies in the slightly chill autumn air. Silver couldn’t help but smile slightly as well.
“I think a walk through town could do me wonders right now, probably would help clear my head.”
With a decisive nod, he fetched his saddle bag, opened the front door and stepped out to savor the day to the best of his abilities.
Silver Quill shivered slightly as he stepped out of the magically heated library into the cool autumn air. He sighed contentedly, letting the cool breeze flow through his mane and coat, invigorating him with a new sense of wakefulness.
He started off at a brisk pace to get himself warmed up, then slowed down to a more comfortable walk as his body temperature regulated. He nodded and smiled politely to the ponies that he passed, some of which he recognized from when he first arrived, and even fewer whose names he remembered.
He occupied himself by trying to mentally make a map of Ponyville as he walked, noting particular landmarks and streets as he formed his own unique way of not getting lost. He was walking by the Ponyville clocktower when his attention was drawn to a voice from above.
“Oi! Silver Quill! Whatcha doin’ down there?”
Silver looked up to see the pegasus with the prismatic mane, Rainbow Dash, leaning over the edge of a small cumulus cloud and looking down at him. He waved a hoof up at her in greeting.
“Oh, hello there Rainbow Dash. I was just out for a little stroll, getting some fresh air and all that.” He called up to her.
Rainbow Dash, from what Silver could tell from the distance she was away from him, had an incredulous look on her face. “Pfft, a stroll? You gotta be kidding me!” she shouted back down. She leaped off of her vantage point on the cloud gracefully drifted down to meet him, landing in front of him without even kicking up any dirt.
“There are much better things you could be doing on a day like this than taking a little stroll.” She said with wry sneer. Silver raised an eyebrow at her and decided to take the very obvious bait.
“And what, Ms Dash, would that be?” he asked dryly
“Simple,” she replied smugly. She struck a dramatic pose with her head held high and her wings flared out. “You could watch me perform some spectacular, awe inspiring, make-you-trip-over-your-own-hooves-in-shock stunts!”
Silver could feel a small bubble of laughter forming in the pits of his chest, but made sure it didn’t surface. Instead, he allowed an expression of interest form on his face.
“Well, I would hate to inconvenience you from…whatever it is you were doing.”
Rainbow Dash made a noise that sounded like something between a snort and a chortle, a snortle, and waved her hoof in the air dismissively.
“Nah man, I was just taking a nap cuz I had nothing better to do.” Faster then Silver could react, she zipped over to his side and wrapped her foreleg around his neck in a friendly, albeit rough way. “But lucky for you, I just got the urge to practice some of my newest and most spectacular stunts, and you” she poked him in the chest “get front row seats!”
Still suppressing a snortle of his own, Silver Quill nodded politely. “Well Rainbow, since you just ‘happened’ to have gotten a hankering for some adrenaline, I would love to watch.”
Rainbow nodded, more smug than satisfied. “Of course you would.” she replied with a confidant flip of her mane. She let him go from her friendly headlock and started to walk in the direction of a wide open field next to the Everfree Forest, motioning for him to follow. Silver merely shook his head in disbelief and followed.
Rainbow Dash and Silver Quill stopped in the middle of the field they were standing in, sandwiched between Ponyville on one side and the forest on the other. Rainbow was casting an experienced eye to the sky, and nodded.
“Yep, the conditions are perfect for my routine.” She commented happily.
Silver trotted up next to her and looked up at the small cumulus and cirrus clouds that dotted the wide expanse of blue. “If you say so, Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash set herself in a wide, almost predatory looking stance with her head low and her wings flared for takeoff. “Oh, I know so, bub. Now hold on to your horseshoes cuz things are about to get awesome!”
With a mighty flap of her powerful wings that sent a short burst of wind all around her, flattening the grass and sending Silver’s mane in disarray, Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky like a cannonball. Silver had to whip his head skywards just so he could keep her in sight, giving himself a slight case of whiplash.
Rainbow Dash very quickly reached the peak of her ascent. From where he sat, she looked like a mere speck of blue that, if he wasn’t careful, he could lose sight of in the backdrop of the sky. He briefly wondered what it was like to see the world through her eyes, so high in the atmosphere, but dismissed the thought as he focused on Rainbow Dash when she started to move.
Rainbow Dash started fly in a horizontal. She started of slowly, although Silver suspected that the word slow for her held a very different meaning than it did for him, and quickly picked up speed.
Pretty soon, all Silver could see was the blur of her striking mane and tail in the sky as she flew round and round, making a large, rainbow colored donut. All of the sudden, she broke away from the circle and flew off into the distance, leaving her rainbow colored blur a short distance behind her as she went.
Silver’s eyes widened as he watched Rainbow perform an incredible display of flips and loops at a speed and angle that suggested such a thing shouldn’t be possible. He watched in awe as she shot up into the large cloud floating right above him and completely obliterated it, sending puffs of white drifting off in every direction.
He gasped as Rainbow did one last loop and plummeted towards the ground. She pressed her hooves in and angled her body so as to provide the least wind resistance as she speared downwards, and Silver got more and more nervous as she didn’t make any effort to pull up.
150 metres away, Silver chewed his lip nervously. 120 metres away, he started to sweat. 90 metres away, he had to force himself to resist the urge to warn her, telling himself that the winner of the best young fliers competition knew what she was doing.
70 metres. 50. 30. Rainbow Dash still hadn’t made any effort to change course, and Silver Quill’s hooves were making deep furrows in the dirt as he pawed the ground nervously. His eyes never left her speeding form as he mentally prayed that she really did know what she was doing.
Silver’s heart nearly stopped at when she was 10 metres away from becoming a Rainbow colored smear that Silver would have to explain to Twilight, and most likely, the authorities later. But Rainbow Dash, going against all laws of physics, pulled off the impossible.
She flared open her wings, catching the full brunt of her fall with them. Silver, even though he didn’t have any wings, winced. That much force on the wing joints of most pegasi would be more than enough to tear them clean out of their sockets. Good thing Rainbow Dash wasn’t most pegasi.
Rainbow Dash pulled off an instantaneous 90 degree turn as she changed direction, now flying horizontal to the ground and flying in his direction. Silver let go a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.
The speck that was Rainbow Dash rapidly grew in size as she got closer and closer to his position. Silver watched in awe as she zoomed past overhead, faster than his eyes or his head could follow. He could hear a sort of screaming whistling sound coming from her tearing through the air at speeds most ponies could only dream of reaching.
Rainbow continued horizontal to the ground for a few more seconds, then pulled up and flew back off into the sky. She flew up and backwards, angling herself into a wide loop. When she started the descent of the loop, she twisted her body and started to spin at dizzying speeds. The rainbow trail she was leaving started to spiral behind her. She continued this until she got close enough to the ground, where she opened her wings to slow her descent, and landed gently a few hoofsteps away from Silver Quill.
She looked at him expectantly with an eyebrow raised, but Silver Quill sat in silence. Finally, he shook his head and cleared his throat.
“Well Rainbow Dash, when you say something is about to be awesome…” he looked up at the sky and at the clouds lazily drifting by, as though the dazzling display that just happened right next to them meant nothing, then back down at her. “You certainly mean it.”
Rainbow Dash broke into a wide grin as she trotted over and hoofed him in the shoulder. “You know it.”
Rainbow Dash and Silver Quill started walking back to Ponyville when Rainbow commented on how her performance made her hungry and they both agreed to get something to eat. Silver Quill listened as she rambled on and on about which Wonderbolt was, in her opinion, the best. Strangely enough, that honour jumped from one member to another as she spoke of them.
Eventually she just threw her hooves in the air in exasperation. “Gah! I just can’t decide which one I like more, they're all just so cool!” she cried.
Silver chuckled and nodded his head knowingly. “I know that feeling.” He commented wisely.
Rainbow cocked her head, looking at him curiously. “Oh really?”
He nodded. “Mhm. I’ve never been able to decide who my favourite author is, no matter how hard I tried. On one hoof, Velvet Word writes some of the most gorgeous sentences I’ve ever seen. On the other hoof, Dream Weaver writes the most riveting stories, and on yet another hoof, Jade Redmane is the unofficial master of the fantasy genre.”
Rainbow Dash blinked several times, not quite sure what to say. “Uhhh…right. All I got out of that was you like books a lot.”
“You could say that.” He replied cryptically with a small amused smile.
Rainbow Dash looked at him for a few more seconds before giving out a small huff through her nose. “Has anypony told you that you’re kinda weird?” she deadpanned at him.
Were it any other pony, Silver may have gotten slightly insulted, but he knew that tact wasn’t really a strong point of hers and that she was just speaking her mind, so he just shrugged. “Somepony might have mentioned it once or twice.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
Silver Quill only shook his head and continued walking.
They reached the Sugercube Corner, the place that Rainbow Dash insisted on eating at and where her and Twilight’s other friend, Pinkie Pie, worked.
Rainbow Dash’s stomach rumbled at the sight of it, and she licked her lips eagerly at the though of the food waiting for her inside. “Oh man,” she started. “The cupcake unlucky enough to be put in front of me won’t have any idea what hit it.”
She quickly trotted through the front door with Silver Quill walking in behind her. The sweet smell of bread and icing immediately assaulted his nose, making his mouth water even though he wasn’t that hungry.
“Hey Pinks!” Dash hollered as she and Silver sat down at an empty booth, drawing the annoyed gaze of several of the other patrons. “We’ve got a code blue here!”
Pinkie Pie’s chef hat wearing head popped out of the entryway to the kitchen with an aghast look on her face. “A code blue!? Oh, don’t you worry Dashie, I’ll fix that in a jiffy!” Her head disappeared back into the kitchen, only for her walk out seconds later with an entire tray of multicoloured cupcakes balanced on the top of her head.
Rainbow Dash giggled as Pinkie wobbled over to where they were sitting, swaying to and fro in an effort to keep the precariously perched tray of treats balanced on as it sat on her poofy mane.
“Here you go Dashie! The Cupcake Cornucopia Deluxe!” she announced proudly. Rainbow Dash gave a muffled thanks through the cupcake that she had somehow crammed into her mouth.
Pinkie giggled at her friends voracious eating, and turned her attention to Silver Quill. “And what can I get for you Silver?” she asked him brightly.
“A cup of hot cocoa please, I had a late breakfast.” He answered.
Okie dokie lokie, hot cocoa coming right up!” she chirped before bouncing off into the kitchen.
Silver turned back to Rainbow Dash who was in the process of stuffing another cupcake into her mouth before she even had the chance to fully swallow the first one with crumbs flying out as she chewed.
“She even eats fast.” Silver thought to himself.
She noticed him watching her and her voracious eating and gave him a cheeky grin. Silver only chuckled and shook his head in mock despair.
“So,” he began, hoping to encourage Rainbow Dash to slow down before she choked through starting a conversation. “What’s a code blue?”
Rainbow Dash gave a mighty swallow and a light laugh. “Oh, that’s just our code word for ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a horse, so you better feed me before I do.’ It’s just something silly we made up for laughs.”
“I…guess that makes sense.” Silver’s attention was drawn to Pinkie Pie walking over to their booth with a tray holding a steaming mug resting on her head.
“Here’s your cocoa!” she said as she dipped her head and slid the tray onto the table. Silver took the mug in his grey telekinetic aura and took a sip from it, relishing the warmth of it sliding down his throat.
“Mmm, thank you Pinkie. you definitely know how to make a mean cup of cocoa.”
Pinkie giggled as she grabbed the tray in between her teeth. “Thanks!” she chirped, her voice slightly muffled by the tray in her mouth. She quickly flipped her head to the side, sending the tray flying into the air where it flipped once and fell back down onto her poofy maned head.
“Hey Pinks, why don’t you sit down with us?” Rainbow suggested with a smile.
Pinkie smiled gratefully, but shook her head. “I’d love to Dashie, but I gotta work. Them cakes aren’t gonna bake themselves!” her face turned contemplative for a moment. “But what if they did…”
She chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment, no doubt concocting some crazy scheme to see if it really was possible to get a cake to bake itself, then brightened as her focus returned to Silver Quill and Rainbow Dash.
“So yeah, sorry guys, but duty calls! Maybe some other time, huh?”
Before Rainbow Dash or silver Quill could answer, a voice came from behind the counter where a short, plump light blue mare stood. “Oh, don’t worry about that Pinkie,” she called in a kindly, motherly voice. “Go on and sit with your friends, we can hold down the fort by ourselves.”
Pinkie’s face lit up, and she quickly bolted back to the counter to unload her tray and chef's hat. “Thanks a bunch Mrs Cake!” she said before rushing back to their booth.
She quickly shoved Silver aside and deposited herself next to him with an excited grin. “So!” she chirped. “What have you ponies been up to?”
Silver Quill sat back as he listened to the two mares talk, occasionally contributing a sentence or two. He sipped at the cocoa with a smile on his face as he felt a warm sensation blossom deep from within his belly, and not because of the hot cocoa.
“I think I’m beginning to understand what you were talking about now, Mother. I only wish you were here with me to see it.”
An hour or so had passed before Silver Quill, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash parted ways from the bakery. They had spent the entire time happily eating and chatting about everything from the most progressive author of the Pre-Nightmare era (it was Chicken Scratch in Silver’s very informed opinion) to what is the best thing to shout when trying to surprise somepony at a surprise party. Pinkie said that it was “bless you.”
“Because then they will be double surprised, because they didn’t actually sneeze!” she had explained to a pair of unconvinced, confused eyes.
Pinkie had gone back to her baking of delicious treats, and Rainbow Dash went back to do whatever it was that she did, which was napping, as far as Silver knew. After saying goodbye to his new friends and making promises to meet up with them sometime soon (Pinkie was oddly insistent that he do something called a Pinkie promise, which made Rainbow look a little bit worried), and made his way back to the library at a slow, sluggish pace.
Silver was plum tuckered out. The mental strain of dealing with the two most energetic ponies he’d ever met at the same time combined with the fact that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night made him slump back to the library with his head drooping and his hooves dragging with fatigue.
The first thing he did when he entered the library was check to see if Twilight and SpIke had returned from their expedition from the Everfree Forest. The coat rack by the door was bare, and there were no sounds coming from the interior that he could discern, so he assumed that they were still out.
He made his way upstairs to his room and threw his saddle bag on the desk as he flopped down onto his bed. “I think I’ll take a page out of Rainbow’s book…” he thought to himself as he gave a mighty yawn. Without bothering to throw the covers over him, he turned over on his side and fell asleep.
Twilight was tired, and boy did it show. Her steps were sluggish and her breathing was laboured, a testament to all the hard work that she had done that day. Her hooves were stained with the green of the grass that she had been trudging through all day, and sticks and leaves were poking haphazardly out of her mane as a result of her having to force her way through some of the thicker patches of foliage in the forest.
Twilight’s exhaustion wasn’t because she had been straining herself physically, but mentally, and not in a way she was used to. The Everfree Forest had an unnatural effect on all ponies, or at least ponies smart enough to know to stay away from it. Therefore, just being near it and its creepily unnatural ways was enough to set her nerves on edge, sandpapering them to extreme tenderness and making her more nervous than she was on even her most neurotic of days.
It was worth it though, something that could easily be seen by the smile on her face, even though she didn’t find anything that she didn’t already know. The Everfree Forest has always intrigued her, much like the way a supposedly unsolvable mystery intrigued the detective in her novels. It was a challenge to her and her intellect, one that she relished in devoting all of her time and energy into. In fact, she would still be there now if her number one assistant hadn’t fallen flat on his face when he fell asleep as they were walking. He currently was curled up on Twilight’s back, snoring softly in his slumber.
“I’ll buy you a sapphire cupcake to make it up to you Spike, don’t you worry.” She thought to herself as she gazed at her sleeping assistant. She hadn’t been planning on taking him with her, but Spike was adamant that he join her, asking how he could be her number one assistant if he didn’t. And even though Twilight felt bad that she made the little guy work so hard, she had to admit, he had adhered to his role admirably.
It was half past 7 by the time she reached the library. Thankfully, she hadn’t run into to many ponies on her way back, and those she did run into only stared at her for a moment or two before dismissing her strange appearance from their minds. Knowing Ponyville, they had seen 10 things much more strange then the disheveled unicorn in that week alone.
“Rarity would blow a gasket if she saw me now.” Twilight thought with a wry smile.
She magicked the door open with a quick flare of her horn, careful to not make too much noise and wake her assistant. She unwound her scarf from her neck and hung it limply on the rack as she slowly walked over to the sitting area and gently levitated the sleeping dragon from her back into one of chairs that dotted the library.
She smiled as his claw twitched and he softly murmured something in his sleep. Twilight couldn’t resist reaching out and stroking his head, flattening the green spines that ran along the top. Spike reacted by curling his tail around himself and hugging it with both arms.
Twilight chuckled, and with one last fond look, made her way upstairs and to the bathroom, where she assessed the damage done to her mane and coat. The effect that combined scraggly mane and tired face had on her was reminiscent of that one time where she met her future self who warned her about some incoming disaster about to befall Ponyvile. She had run herself ragged in the few days that followed.
Just for the heck of it, Twilight made a few funny faces in the mirror, inflating her cheeks and sticking her tongue, making her look even more ridiculous. She giggled at her reflection, who seemed just as amused as she was.
Done with making a fool out of herself, Twilight left the bathroom and started to make her way to her won room when she stopped. The door to Silver Quill’s room was completely open, and from it she could hear the sound of soft snoring. Figuring that she would be considerate to her napping friend, she moved in to close the door, walking on the tips of her hooves so as not to wake him.
Twilight’s horn enveloped the handle of the door, but before she could close it, she took a passing glance at Silver Quill’s sleeping form. Her earlier intentions of ensuring the stallions privacy were then thrown out the window.
Silver was laying on his side facing the doorway where she now stood. One forehoof was curled into his chest while the other was sticking out straight, almost touching the edge of the bed. A few strands of his neat black mane fell over his face, gently swaying from the force of the breathing from his slightly parted lips. The light pouring in from the window on the opposite wall bathed his sleeping form in its warm radiance, illuminating him in an effect that was almost angelic in nature.
Twilight was captivated by the look on his face. The normal, blank stoicism that was ever present when he was awake was replaced with the gentle peace that could only be achieved in sleep. It took her about a minute of staring at his prone form for her to remember how she got into this position in the first place.
Flushing in embarrassment at her own actions, she quickly and gently closed the door and walked to her room as she shook her head in bewilderment.
“I must be more tired than I thought.” She mused. Sighing heavily, she dropped her saddlebag on the floor and grabbed a towel from her closet, then making her way back to the bathroom with intention of getting herself cleaned up.
Silvers’ nap was thankfully dream free. The disturbing dream that he had been getting over the past few nights hadn’t disturbed him in the slightest, letting him get some much needed rest.
Or at least until he was woken up by the sounds of running water coming from a nearby room. His eyes fluttered open and he groaned in irritation at being interrupted. He rolled over on his other side and closed his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. One that proved futile when he couldn’t force himself to ignore the sound of water running from a faucet.
Silver Quill regretfully pulled himself out of bed. The clock on the wall of his room told him it was almost 8, so it was probably best that he did anyways. He didn’t want to sleep too long now and be unable to sleep later after all.
Blinking the weariness out of his eyes, Silver sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the sounds of the water coming from down the hall. Pretty soon, the sound stopped, and Silver Quill took that as a sign for him to get off his lazy flank and get some food, as his stomach was making gurgling noises.
He walked out the door of his room, making his way down the hall to go to the kitchen when he was stopped by the sight of Twilight walking out of the bathroom door whilst rubbing a towel over her mane and face with her magic. Steam drifted out of the open bathroom door as she closed it behind her with a light kick from her back hoof.
“Mmh, nothing wakes you up better then a piping hot shower.” She muttered, still unaware of Silver’s presence as she scrubbed herself dry. After a brief moment, she removed the towel from her eyes to see Silver standing in front of her with his mouth slightly open.
Twilight smiled. “Well hello there sleepy head, did you have a good sleep?” she asked politely. Silver only nodded dumbly, forcing himself to tear his gaze away from her eyes, lest he fall into their devious trap that he seemed so damned susceptible to. Unfortunately, this did little to help.
Silver was taken aback with the sight of the slightly damp Twilight, with her glistening, somewhat wild looking mane and her shimmering clean coat. His thoughts were interrupted however by a loud rumbling noise emanating from his abdomen. Twilight giggled as heat rushed up to his face, embarrassed at the sound of his traitorous stomach. That only embarrassed him further.
Twilight noticed his embarrassment through the furious blush that he was sporting, even though his expression hardly changed at all. “Don’t worry, we’ll get something to eat soon enough.” she said kindly.
Silver nodded stiffly once more, still looking at everything but her eyes. The rosy tint still adorned his face, but he paid it no mind as he walked past her and made his way downstairs before his body embarrassed himself anymore. Twilight merely chuckled and walked back to her room, continuing to dry herself as she did so.
Silver walked rigidly to the kitchen, where he stood awkwardly and without a purpose. His mind was a cacophony of emotions that he could barely control and keep hidden. Happiness, desire, fear, and sadness each vied for his attention as they clamoured about in his mind with the roar of a tsunami crashing on land. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers into the wall in front of him.
“Not today mother…I promise you that…” he muttered darkly under his breath. Silver Quill fought for dominance over his own mind, forcing those intruding emotions into the darkest recesses of his mind with sheer willpower. After a tremendous amount of self discipline and focus, the roar eventually quieted down to a slightly distracting hum.
Silver sighed and massaged his brow with a hoof. Unfortunately, so preoccupied with his battle with his own psyche, he failed to notice the sound of descending hoofsteps behind him.
“Silver? Are you all right?” called a concerned voice from behind him.
“Oh bollocks.” Silver turned around to see Twilight walking towards him looking concerned. He put on his best poker face, which was pretty much his normal face, and looked her straight in the eye.
“Yes, I’m fine Twilight.” He answered, flinching inwardly at his profoundly lame response. Twilight seemed to think it was lacking as well, as she didn’t look convinced.
“Are you sure? You were looking a little pained for a moment there. Are you sick?” Twilight stood in front of him and started to closely examine him for what he assumed was any more signs of his aforementioned pains, Silver quickly responded before her scrutiny got a little bit too personal.
“I assure you Twilight, I feel as good as I’ve ever-” He was cut off as Twilight gently placed a hoof on his forehead, surprising him enough to stem his flow of words. She hummed contemplatively.
“Feeling the forehead is a really ineffective method to detect sickness, but from what I can tell, you don’t…have a…fever.”
Her sentence gradually veered off track as she pressed her hoof against his head. Silver eyed her uncertainly, as any earlier attempts to determine the source of what ailed him was seemingly thrown to the wind.
Twilight slowly drifted her hoof along his brow as she brushed away a few loose strands of hair that stuck out. She was looking him dead in the eye with a glazed over look on her face, lips slightly parted and eyes focused on his. This went on for few more awkward seconds, and Silver found himself looking around nervously, hoping that Spike wasn’t anywhere spying on them.
“Er, Twilight? Something wrong?”
Twilight’s half lidded eyes snapped open, and her mouth formed a perfect O shape as she realized what she was doing. She quickly withdrew her hoof as her face turned tomato red.
“S-sorry!” she stammered in a panicked voice. “I don’t know what came over me!”
Twilight threw her hoof against her face, either in self derision or in an effort to hide herself; Silver didn’t know. He did however feel bad for her.
“Well, give it to me straight doc, am I going to live?” he asked with a small smile that he hoped convey the fact that there were no hard feelings for her blunder. Twilight shook her head and smiled as she lowered her hoof which was on her own face this time.
“I think you’ll be just fine, Silver” she said as the embarrassed red started to recede. Silver nodded his head, satisfied.
“Good, I would hate to leave my kids fatherless.” He said casually, enjoying the reaction of Twilight’s mouth dropping.
“I…You…Kids…?” she babbled incoherently, causing him to laugh.
“Just a joke Twilight, just a joke.” He replied with a smirk. Twilight gave him a scowl that didn’t have as much malice in it as she probably hoped for.
“That’s not funny…” she muttered under her breath. Silver chuckled heartily.
“I would beg to differ.” He said with a wink. “Now come on, you said something early about us whipping up something for dinner? I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.”
Twilight snorted derisively. “Yeah, I noticed when your stomach played the song of its people. C’mon, let’s see what we can scrape together.” Twilight said as she walked past him and opened the refrigerator, peering inside.
“Yes ma’am.” He replied as he opened the cupboards.
Turns out that neither Silver nor Twilight were really in the mood to cook anything that required too much effort, so they settled on the usual default that most ponies fell back on when hungry and lazy, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
They sat at the table with their sandwiches and talked about their days between bites. Silver told how he spent time with her, no, their friends, and Twilight shared her findings in the Everfree Forest.
“So is ponykind any closer to understanding the riddle wrapped in an enigma that is the Everfree?” Silver asked her. She only shook her head tiredly.
“Ugh, no. All of my findings were pretty much things that are already known. I was hoping that I would discover something new, but no such luck.”
Silver smirked as Twilight dejectedly poked the last few bits of her sandwich, lost in her thoughts. “It must be eating you alive, being so tantalizingly close to such a mystery and not being able to make any headway into solving it.”
Twilight grinned slightly, her head still bowed. “You have no idea.” She sighed and propped her head on a hoof against the table. “I know how the Everfree Forest came about, a result of Princess Celestia’s and Luna’s battle that somehow altered the entire ecosystem, I just want to know how it works!”
Twilight looked sheepishly up at Silver Quill with a pleading look in her eyes and her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “Is that too much to ask?”
Silver cocked an eyebrow. “Apparently it is.” He answered.
Twilight’s pout turned into a grumpy frown. She waved a hoof dismissively as she crossed her arms and slumped into her chair. “Bah, what do you know.” she grumbled.
Silver smiled slightly. “Nothing, which is exactly why you shouldn’t give up on it.” Twilight looked up at him curiously, and Silver winked at her. “If Shercolt Holmes didn’t give up every time somepony said a case was unsolvable, then neither should you.”
Twilight giggled and shot him a grateful smile. She ate the last bite of her sandwich just as Silver was finishing his and walked with him to the kitchen sink where they cleaned up.
They were quiet for a little while, not saying or looking at each other until Twilight broke the silence with a clearing of her throat.
“Hey uh… I never got any time to read today, so I’m going to go fill my 1 hour a day quota.” Her eyes fell to the floor as she spoke. “Would… you like to join me?”
Silver looked at her oddly as she brushed her hoof against the ground shyly. He decided that it would be prudent if he didn’t make any remark.
“Sure.” was all he said.
Twilight nodded, still not meeting his eye, and led the way to the sitting room. Silver noticed that Spike was curled up on one of the chairs, snoozing softly.
They went their separate ways as Twilight headed to History section, probably to look up information on the War of the Alicorns while Silver went to the Fantasy section, as per usual.
But when he was browsing the selection, he felt a strange sensation in the back of his mind, one he couldn’t quite identify. He stood there for a moment, contemplating, until the revelation hit him like a sack of bricks.
He didn’t feel like reading fantasy. For his entire life, Fantasy and the occasional Sci Fi had been Silver’s life blood, his bread and butter. Him not wanting to read either of them was almost as though he just decided to live the rest of his life without breathing.
He stood there in silence, trying to decipher the new signals that his brain was sending him. The desire for monstrous creatures and epic battles fought by spell and sword was replaced with something…simpler. Something more meaningful and emotional.
He scanned the room, running his eyes over every section until they stopped at one that utterly shocked him. He squinted at it uncertainly as a single thought popped into his mind.
"I want to read romance?"
He walked over to the Romance section and browsed the titles that were available. A lot of them seemed very lovey-dovey, with excruciating titles like “The Heart’s Desire” or “Love’s Curse” none of which appealed to him in the slightest with their covers showing an attractive pony gazing wistfully out into the sunset or some other drivel.
A few did catch his eye however. They seemed to be more than just a smattering of emotions somepony dumped on a bunch of pages and called the messy result literature. They seemed to have more thought and more soul in them, and Silver Quill hesitatingly withdrew one from the shelf.
The cover showed a rainy city street with a stallion in the foreground watching an umbrella holding mare walk away from him in the background. The title of this particular book was “Nothing Ventured.”
“Nothing gained.” Silver thought as he sat down in a chair and started reading.
Twilight looked up at him and did a double take when she saw the book he was holding. She grinned at Silver, who only shrugged his shoulders in response.
About an hour into the story, Silver had gotten a good feel for it. It was about middle class journalist who interviews an up and coming musician in Canterlot proper. He finds himself intrigued by her beauty and makes a point to show up at all venues that she plays in, eventually working up the courage to ask her out on a date. She agrees after some hesitation, and it all goes on from there.
He was reading a particularly interesting section where the middle class stallion and upper class mare were walking through a park on a moonlit night where the mare is explaining to him why their relationship would not be able to be anything romantic when Twilight spoke up.
“Hey Silver?”
“Hmm?” he replied without looking up from his book.
“I’ve been wondering for a while now, and I hate to risk sounding inappropriate by asking this, but…”
Silver said nothing, which Twilight took as her cue to continue.
“Why are you always so stoic looking?”
Silver’s eyes stopped moving, glued to a single spot on the page, but not seeing anything. Twilight didn’t notice, and continued talking.
“I mean, it’s not a bad thing. You just never seem to let any emotion show on your face. Do you do that on purpose or…”
Twilight stopped her sentence abruptly when she noticed his expression. There was a small bump in his jaw where it was clenched as he burned a hole through his book with his gaze. There were hard lines around his eyes as he squinted, as though trying to suppress something painful
Twilight felt a twinge of guilt for bringing it up. Her curiosity about the stallion had driven her to ask a question that she normally wouldn’t have asked, just in case something like this happened. She had to resist the mighty urge to facehoof for making a fool out herself for the second time in the same amount of hours.
“You know what, nevermind. It’s not important.” She said, quickly dismissing her question with the hopes of sparing either of them any discomfort.
His face softened slightly as he gave a curt nod, and with that, the topic was dismissed and they continued reading, though neither of them with as much ease as before.
Twilight retired to bed shortly after, claiming that her hectic day had caught up with her. Silver Quill bade her good night as she gently picked up the still sleeping dragon and listened as her hoofsteps faded from the room and up the stairs.
He had gotten quite far into his book, far enough to realize that it would be a good idea to broaden his literary horizons to encompass other genres, romance probably being the first on the list of prospective genres. But now that Twilight had left, for some reason, he just couldn’t force himself to drag his eyes from one side of the page to the other, and he closed the book with a sigh.
He looked at the candle sitting on the table beside him. He always preferred reading by candlelight; only because that was the way he read when he was first learning to read. Some unicorns prefer to light their horns, or conjure up a small orb spherical lantern of the color of their choosing, but they never had the same charm as wax and wick in Silver’s eyes.
He gazed at the small flickering flame, and held out his hoof where he gently inserted in the middle of it where it danced around his forearm. All he felt from the special heatless candle that he picked up on his way back from his earlier outing was a gentle cool breeze. Silver, with Twilight’s consent, had opted to get magically altered candles that couldn’t start a fire even in the hooves of the most careless, pyromaniacal filly or colt.
He withdrew his hoof and leaned over to gently blow out the candle flame. With the only source of light to ward of the shadows of the library extinguished, the room was blanketed with a tenebrous void.
Leaving the book on the table so he could finish it some other time, Silver went to his room to turn in for the night. He paused briefly as he passed a window that gave a perfect view of the waxing moon behind its misty veil of cloud and stars. He watched it for a moment before continuing on.
He was…troubled. Troubled enough for it to show slightly on his face to any who was observant enough or knew him well enough to notice it. The dark interior of the library matched his mood perfectly as he slowly put one hoof in front of the other, eventually reaching his room.
He wasted no time with getting in bed, roughly throwing the covers over him as he slammed his head into his pillow. The sound of his breathing filled his ears, and he slowly closed his eyes.
“Gods above, please let this be a restful night…” he whispered to nopony. Right now, he sure could use one.
A/N Things are kinda slow in the story right now, but they soon will be picking up speed and getting more interesting, so stay tuned for the not so exciting adventures of Silver Quill!
What in the name of Celestia’s solar flank does a pony have to do to get a good night sleep around here?!
After another night interrupted by the nightmare of running through a forest with the sound of a rumbling earthquake and a monotonous cello, and falling into the bright depths of some strange pond, Silver Quill was very tempted to shout this out at the top of his lungs. Were he currently living alone, he would have done so, but unfortunately for him, he had to opt for a more considerate whisper that dripped with barely concealed venom.
With a dejected sigh, he got out of bed and made himself presentable, grumbling all the way. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing he could do about the bags under his eyes that had formed due to his lack of rest save apply concealing makeup, and he wasn’t about to do that anytime soon.
Silver glared at himself in the mirror, but this time for a different reason. He was already several days into his sabbatical and he had almost forgotten what he was here for, a cure for his writers block, yet he hadn’t written a single word. That just wouldn’t do.
With a flourish, he turned away from the mirror and headed downstairs to greet Twilight and Spike. His eyes narrowed, and his mouth was set in a determined scowl. Today was the day where that changed.
“I’m going to be productive today!” he thought decisively.
“Hey Silver!” Twilight called as she noticed him walking downstairs. “We’re going to Rarity’s boutique after breakfast to get materials to make our Nightmare Night costumes. Care to join us?”
“I’m going to be productive tomorrow!” he thought, also decisively.
“Sure.”
After a quick breakfast, Silver and Twilight were getting ready to leave when Twilight called out to her assistant who was busy washing dishes. “Spike, we’re going to Rarity’s now, are you coming or not?”
Spike was by her side almost instantly. “Do Diamond Dogs smell like an unwashed manticore dipped in Parasprite droppings?”
“Er, yes?”
“Exactly.” He said with a decisive nod before he hopped up onto Twilight’s back, causing her to chuckle.
Silver opened the front door, letting a dragon carrying Twilight walk out before stepping out himself and closing the door behind them.
The ring-a-ding of the bell situated over the door to the Carousel Boutique greeted them as they stepped inside the building that could only have belonged to the most fashionable mare in Ponyville with the way it was stylized. Silver found himself wondering what the inspiration for the name was, because as far as he could tell, it didn't resemble a carousel in the slightest.
Rarity was quick to greet them with the cheery smile of a pony hoping to make a sale that quickly turned into a one of a pony happy to see her friends.
“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!” She was suddenly by their side with an appraising gaze on her face as she looked at Twilight. “Although you probably knew that already. You’re here for the material to make your nightmare night costume I take it?”
Twilight grinned. “You know, it’s strange how you always know exactly what I need whenever I come here to make a purchase. How do you do it? You’re not spying on me are you?” She narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion, causing Rarity laugh lightly.
“Perish the thought, dear Twilight. I just happen to have a particularly potent mare’s intuition, nothing more.”
“If you say so. Anyway, I’m going to take a look at your selection of fabrics if you don’t mind.”
Rarity nodded her understanding. “Of course dear, take as long as you like.”
Twilight left Silver Quill and Rarity to peruse the selection of the store much to the displeasure of Spike. He had been oddly fixated on Rarity and wasn’t too happy with his stare session being interrupted.
Rarity turned her attention back to Silver Quill and batted her long, dark eyelashes at him. “Silver Quill,” she said with a coy smile. “what a pleasure it is to see you again.”
Silver Quill took her hoof in his and gently kissed it in a proper high class greeting, much in the same way when he first met her a few days ago. “The pleasure is all mine Lady Rarity.”
She chided him gently. “Come now darling, I think we’ve moved past the point where we must have such formalities with one other. Just call me Rarity.”
Silver couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise “A lady requesting to not be addressed as such? Now I’ve seen everything.” he thought to himself. In Canterlot, a mare would give you a verbal lashing vicious enough to knock your cutie mark off if you didn’t address them in the proper manner.
He didn’t voice these thoughts as he was quite sure that this was already known to her. Instead he answered with a simple “If you insist.”
“I do insist.” She said with conviction. “Now, tell me. How has your stay in Ponyville been?”
“So far Ponyville has been nothing but pleasant. It’s a perfect change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the city, especially to get my mind back on my writing.”
“Oh that’s right. You’re here to get the inspirational ball rolling, so to speak,” Rarity sighed. “I know what that’s like, having the urge to create but not being able to, like there’s an impenetrable wall blocking any and all creative processes.” Her tone of voice was so sombre and dramatic, it almost sounded to Silver that she considered it to be the worst possible thing to happen to somepony.
“Well, that’s nothing a week or so of mental relaxation can’t solve.” She finished.
Silver nodded wisely. “That’s what I was told, although I wish that my brain would hurry up and get back to full capacity. Not being able to write makes me feel…strangely empty.”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “I understand completely darling.” She graced him with a sly smile. “We are alike, you and I. We feel the burning desire deep within ourselves to create art, either with thread or ink. When we can’t scratch that itch, it irritates in a way like no other.”
Silver blinked. “You have quite a way with words, Rarity.”
“Very true, although most think of me as a bit of a drama queen.” She huffed in dissatisfaction. “I like to think of myself as emotionally eloquent.”
With one of his characteristic small smiles, Silver nodded. They stood there in amiable silence for a moment or two, and Silver took the opportunity to look around, letting his attention wander from one display to another, admiring the designs.
“See anything you like?” Rarity asked with a hint of amusement.
“I see a lot that I like.” Silver replied. “Unfortunately, I’ve never looked good in a dress, no matter how skilfully made it was.”
She responded with a light laugh and a gracious nod at his thinly veiled compliment. “I’ll have to put that to the test some time.” She said with a mischievous little grin.
Silver didn’t say anything, only shaking his head in mock despair and putting on his best “woe is me” face, eliciting another chuckle.
“Well if you ever do need to look especially spiffy for a night, and wouldn’t mind getting stared at by everypony that you crossed, you know who to talk to.”
Rarity’s face quickly changed from one of mirth to one of thoughtfulness. She looked over to where Twilight and Spike were perusing her stores of fabrics and materials for ponies who wanted to make something of their own. Twilight was currently trying to disengage Spike form a role of white satin that he had somehow wrapped around himself, causing him to fall over flat on his face. He was probably trying to dress up as a mummy or something.
“Sooooo…” she drawled as she slowly turned her gaze back towards Silver. “How do you find living with Twilight?” Rarity shot a quick glance back at her friend to make sure she was out of earshot. “She’s probably not the easiest pony to live with, what with her tendency to be a teeny bit of a perfectionist.”
“So far we’ve gotten along swimmingly.” Silver replied. “She’s quite fun to be around and makes for an extremely interesting conversation partner due to her intelligence. And besides, I’m a bit of a perfectionist myself when it comes to my books.”
Rarity raised a delicate eyebrow at that, her interest now piqued. She looked Silver Quill straight in the eye with a meaningful gaze. “Is that so?”
Silver detected a hint of something strange in her voice. Her question was asked almost in a manner that suggested that she was very subtly interrogating him. Her eyes seemed a bit too searching and her voice at bit to questioning to be natural. He chose to ignore it however, deciding that it was irrelevant.
“Yep. A cousin of mine once spilled chocolate pudding on one of my books. He is now terrified of going anywhere near them whenever he sees me.”
Rarity chuckled. “It seems like you and Twilight have a lot in common then.”
Silver shrugged nonchalantly. “I suppose.”
Rarity’s eyes narrowed, and she took a small step towards him as though to examine him more closely.
“What is she playing at?” Silver wondered. A moment of silence passed between them. Eventually, Rarity eased up on her scrutiny and favoured him with a small smile under a much less intense gaze.
“I apologize if I come across as prying Silver Quill, you just fascinate me is all.”
“I do? Dare I ask why?”
Rarity flicked her tail as she smirked. “Well it’s simple really. During the entire time that we’ve been standing here talking, Twilight has looked back at you several times when she should be picking out the materials for her Nightmare Night costume. Not only that, but she’s been looking at me nervously, as though I were about to…” her eyes got an almost vicious gleam in them, “try something.”
She quickly brushed a hoof through her curled mane. “Not that I would mind you. I have more tact than that, I would think.”
“I see.” Silver said slowly, not entirely comprehending what the fashionista was getting at. “And how exactly did you find the time to notice these things?”
“Oh darling,” Rarity said as a mischievous glint reappeared in her eyes. “It’s my job to notice the fine details, because more often then not, the fine details are what make or break an outfit.”
Silver blinked. “Alright, and what do your observations of Twilight have to do with me?” Silver asked, hoping that this mare would be straightforward for once.
“Oh ho, now that would be telling.” Rarity reached up and patted him on the cheek. “I’m sure you’ll find out eventually darling.”
They were suddenly interrupted by Twilight’s voice as she appeared next to them, walking side by side with Spike who was carrying a tower of different colour fabric and was desperately trying to balance it.
“I hope you found everything okay?” she said, her tone making it a question. When she got a nod from Twilight, she smiled at her. “Good. Now of course I’ll be expecting no payment.” She said pointedly as Twilight was rummaging through her bags for her money. She looked up and opened her mouth to protest, but was quickly cut off by Rarity.
“Ah ah,” she said curtly, putting her hoof to Twilight’s mouth, shushing her. “I won’t allow you to pay a single bit. Besides, these are fairly inexpensive materials and just seeing the marvellous costume that you’ll surely put together will be more then enough.”
Twilight gave Rarity a grateful nod of her head. Thank you Rarity, that’s very generous of you.”
Her expression looked a little downtrodden for a moment as she muttered. “Although I wish you would have let me make your costume. You have the absolute perfect colours to make the most lovely looking vampony with just a little eye shadow and the right gown” She quickly brightened. “But I suppose you’ll be wanting to make your own costume of some famous magician, like your last costume of Starswill the Bearded.”
Silver had to suppress a burst of laughter as he was assaulted with images of Twilight dressed up as a crotchety old stallion, beard and all. He successfully turned it into a cough however, not drawing any attention to himself.
“Right again, Rarity.” Twilight laughed as she gave her a quick friendly hug. She then quickly and neatly picked up the fabrics that Spike was carrying, neatly folded them, and tucked them away into her saddlebags.
“You really do need to teach me how you do that.” She said with a wink as the four of them made their way to the door. Rarity chuckled and opened the door with her magic for them before answering.
“I told you already dear.” She said before locking eyes with Silver Quill for just a second. “It’s just mare’s intuition.”
Silver Quill couldn’t get Twilight to reveal the details of her planned costume as they walked back to the library no matter how hard he tried. He was hoping that it would be as hilarious looking as he imagined her in a Starswill the Bearded costume would be, but she was adamant about having it be a surprise.
“I’m going as a zombie.” Spike proudly announced, puffing out his chest. “I’ve even got the walk down and everything!”
“Do you have any plans for a costume Silver?” Twilight asked. Silver thought for a moment before idly shrugging.
“I’m not sure I’m going to get dressed up, although I may have an idea for a good costume. I just need to figure out how I would go about doing it.”
“What are you thinking of dressing up as?” she replied with a tilt of her head. Silver Quill only smiled and shook his head, his meaning plain to see.
Twilight huffed. “Fine then, be that way.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the Nightmare Night decorations that ponies had started to put outside of their homes and shops. Plastic bats hung from roofs and disembodied hooves poked out of the ground next to fake gravestones that had humorous descriptions on them. Silver Quill’s favourite was one that said “Here lies Cynical Bill, who should have mailed that letter to 5 more ponies to avoid being cursed.”
“I wonder if Princess Luna is going to visit Ponyville again this year…” Twilight wondered aloud to herself, instantly getting Silver’s attention.
“What’s that about Princess Luna?” he asked interestedly.
“Last year, Princess Luna came to Ponyville to celebrate Nightmare Night.” She explained. She then grimaced as she remembered the events of a year prior. “It could have gone better. Everypony was too afraid of her to celebrate, and she kind of took it to heart.”
“I see.”
“But eventually everypony realized that there was nothing to be afraid of, and she realized that some ponies actually enjoyed being scared. Everything was alright after that.” She smiled wistfully. “Heh, good times.”
“And you think that she’ll come back to Ponyville again this time?” Silver inquired.
“I think it’s pretty likely. Why do you ask?”
“No reason. It’ll just be nice to see her again.”
Twilight blinked, taken aback slightly. “You and Luna are…close?”
“Eh, I guess you could say that.” Silver replied noncommittally. “We’re friends is all.”
“Huh.” She paused briefly to think about this revelation. “How in the world did you make friends with possible the most reclusive pony in Equestria?”
Silver chuckled. “It wasn’t that hard, actually. I was sitting in my usual writing spot in the middle of a rarely visited forest in Canterlot at night, like I tend to do, and she approached me asking why I always returned to that one spot. I told her that I always found it easiest to concentrate there. After that, she started visiting me while I wrote every couple of days.”
“Wow.” Twilight muttered. “That’s really surprising, to be honest. Luna didn’t strike me as the type who would just walk up to a pony and strike up a conversation with them.”
“She isn’t.” Silver said matter of factly. “It took her about 2 months to talk to me.”
“Wow Silver, you’re really good with the mares aint’cha?” Spike commented from Twilight’s back with a sly smile. “Ya think you could give me some lessons?”
Twilight couldn’t help but tense slightly at his little quip, interrupting the rhythm of her pace for a fraction of a second. Silver didn’t notice it however, as he was too busy shaking his head at the dragon.
“Sorry buddy, you’re just gonna have to figure it out just like everyone else.” He said with a smirk.
Spike folded his arms and huffed. “Rats.”
They arrived at the library shortly after at around mid afternoon. Twilight excused herself, saying that she was going to get a head start on making her costume. Spike said he was going to do the same, except instead of doing it in private so it would be a surprise, he just plopped himself down on the floor of the library with what he needed and set to work. Silver decided to help the little guy since he had nothing else to do.
He could have gotten some writing done, but he already decided that he would be productive the next day. No point in making a schedule if you don’t follow it!
“I am probably the most efficient procrastinator I have ever known.” he thought with some amusement.
Spike was going to dress up as a zombie, so they basically had to make him look as dishevelled as possible. They took an old, small, worn up shirt that fit their purpose and cut some holes in it, making it look even more old and worn out. He put on a ratty brown hat that he had saved especially for such an occasion and experimented with some face paint, turning the normally cute and innocent face into one filled with ravenous hunger.
Or at least, that’s the way Spike put it. The whole ravenous hunger effect was slightly dampened, however, by Spike giggling while trying to make a convincing zombie groan as Silver carefully painted his face a mixture of red, green, and brown.
When Silver finished, Spike leapt to his feet and ran to the bathroom to see for himself. Silver heard him cackling as he beheld his adorably terrifying image in the mirror. Silver only shook his head with a grin.
“Heh, kids.”
Silver started cleaning up, putting the strips of cloth cut from the torn shirt in the garbage and putting away the paint and brushes back in the drawer Spike had taken them from. He washed off the specks of paint that stained his hooves in the kitchen sink, and then he noticed that Spike was still in the bathroom.
“Spike?” he called.
“In here!” came his voice from the open door. Silver walked over to see the little dragon standing on a stepladder in front of a mirror, posing in various ways with his arms hanging out in front of him and his tongue lolling from his mouth.
“You know, you should probably wash that stuff off.” Silver commented. Spike stopped his posing to look at Silver with an affronted expression.
“Why should I?” he asked. He turned back to the mirror and grinned. “I look awesome!”
“As true as that may be,” Silver said as he retrieved a towel. “do you really want to show Twilight your costume before Nightmare Night? You’ll be able to scare her much more if you wait until then.”
Spike’s eyes widened as he contemplated those words. A mischievous, evil little grin broke out on his small face a he dreamed about how scared Twilight would be when she saw him on Nightmare night, only a few days away.
“Oooh, this is going to be good.” He muttered as he rubbed his claws together. Silver mentally chuckled as Spike turned on the sink and splashed and rubbed water onto his face, causing the paint to fall into the sink and run down the drain. He then snatched the towel that Silver was holding and dried himself.
“Done.” He announced. He hopped off the stepladder that he was standing on and followed Silver out of the bathroom. “Now I better get started on my chores.”
Spike went and retrieved a sprits bottle of cleaning solution and a rag from the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink and started to methodically wipe down the windows.
Now Silver just had to think of something to take up his time. He looked around for a few moments before coming to a decision. He was going to make his own costume, and he needed to talk to a certain mare.
Ring a ding
“Oh, Silver Quill, back so soon?”
“Hey Rarity, remember how you told me to come to you if I ever needed to look, as you put it, spiffy?
“Er, yes?”
Silver walked back into the library with a sense of accomplishment. He didn’t usually dress up at Nightmare Night, preferring to just admire the costumes and hand out candy, but this year he was feeling oddly…festive.
He had gone to Rarity’s boutique in a spurt of decisiveness to see if he couldn’t borrow a simple black suit from her small section dedicated to Stallions. Rarity had very obliging, saying that he could borrow one for as long as he needed, although she was very curious as to what he had come up in such a short time.
“Come around the library around Nightmare Night and you’ll find out.” was all that he said in response to her questioning.
He found Spike busy preparing dinner at the stove standing atop a stool. The smell of steamed vegetables and a hint of garlic met him as he walked in, making him realize how hungry he was. Spike turned around when he heard the door close.
“Hey.” He said, waving his ladle in greeting. “Where have you been?”
“I went to Rarity’s boutique. I had to borrow something from her.” He answered, purposefully not going into more detail.
Spike looked at him strangely, narrowing his eyes as though he were trying to see through whatever cloak of lies that Silver may or may not have wrapped around himself.
“What did you need to borrow?” he asked, his voice tinged with suspicion.
“Oh, nothing important.” Silver said, dismissing his question with a twirl of his hoof. “Just something for Nightmare Night.”
“I see…” Spike mumbled, still giving Silver a little bit of the stink eye. He turned back to his cooking at the stove as Silver went to retrieve a cup of water for himself.
“Sooo…what do you think of Rarity?” Spike asked hesitantly asked in a way that didn’t suggest that he had any ulterior motives for asking, no sirree.
Silver shrugged, keeping a watchful eye on the little dragon that had his back turned to him, wary of any changes in his mannerisms that might confirm what Silver already believed to be true.
“She’s nice. Very friendly, very likeable. A very pleasant pony to be around.”
A dreamy smile slowly crept onto Spike’s face. “That’s for sure.” he murmured to himself. He stood there idly for a moment before roughly shaking his head and getting back to his cooking. All of these changes in mannerisms were caught by Silvers keen eyes that he had trained through years of watching and listening instead of talking and doing.
“And uh…do you, you know, like her?” he questioned, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Well, yeah” Silver replied, purposefully missing the point of Spike’s question. “What’s not to like?”
Spike groaned slightly, and Silver almost smirked. “Sorry Spike, but you’re a hundred years too young to pull a fast one on me.” He thought with a hint of pride in his inner voice.
“But do you…” Spike continued, his words trailing off as he looked down at his claws nervously. Obviously, he was still too young for this type of topic to be spoken about without some amount of hesitation. But dragons were like that, they matured very slowly as a result of their long life spans.
“Do you… like-like her?” he finished, putting emphasis on the first like. Silver’s eyes widened as though Spike’s meaning was just dawning on him.
“Ooooh, now I see what you mean.” he said. Spike looked back at him with a serious expression on his face, one that wouldn’t have been funny if it weren’t for the cute pink apron that was wrapped around his waist.
“Yeah.” was all that he said, waiting for Silver’s reply. Silver quickly threw back the cup of water that he was holding with his magic and placed it on the counter. He figured that he should probably assuage the little guys’ fears by now.
“No, I only like her as a friend.” Silver finally answered, putting a hint of finality in his voice to drive the point home.
Spike visibly relaxed, his shoulders falling and his expression softening. Still though, he played it off as though he was only asking due to idle curiosity.
“Oh, okay.” was all that he said as he turned back to the stove to turn it off as he put the pot of burning carrots on a different burner to cool off.
Silver Quill almost let it go, but he had to ask, always preferring to let others voice their own feelings instead of saying them himself.
“Why do you ask?” he questioned as Spike hopped down from his vantage point on the stool. He stopped mid stride on his way to the fridge and gave Silver a sheepish look.
“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” he asked, receiving a head nod in return. “Alright then.”
He quickly went to Silver’s side; conspiratorially looking around for any would be eavesdroppers. He gestured for Silver to bring his head down to his level, and then cupped his claw around his mouth as he did so.
“I have a crush on Rarity.” He whispered into Silver’s ear.
Silver widened his eyes in what he hoped was a good mask of surprise as Spike stepped away form his side, expectantly looking up at him.
“Really?” he asked in a voice with a hint of disbelief. Spike nodded seriously.
Silver scratched his hoof with a chin contemplatively. “I see… does she know?” he asked, knowing that she most likely did.
“No.” Spike replied, looking slightly dejected as his spines drooped slightly. “I don’t really know how I can tell her either. That’s kinda why I asked you if you could give me any tips on mares.”
Silver couldn’t help but feel but for the sad little guy. From what he saw back when they were at the boutique, he was really infatuated with the fashionista. He put his hoof around Spike’s scaley shoulders and drew him in close for a brotherly embrace.
“Well, I can’t give you tips on mares, because each one is different and something that would work for one mare wouldn’t work for another.” He stated. Spike nodded slowly, his eyes reflecting his understanding and disappointment.
“But,” Silver continued, “I can give you some advice.”
The dragon perked a little and looked up at Silver expectantly, nodding eagerly as he did so.
“My advice to you Spike is to be true to yourself and to Rarity.” Silver said wisely, closing his eyes and raising his head for dramatic effect. He never had a younger sibling to impart his older brother advice on, so he was milking this moment for all it was worth with Spike in the role of the younger brother.
Spike’s eyes narrowed in confusion, prompting Silver to continue with what he was saying.
“And by that, I mean that you should tell Rarity how you feel, but only when you feel like you’re ready to.”
Spike tilted his head, like a puppy dog would when hearing its name being called.
“It’s very difficult to confess you’re feelings to somepony you like, but eventually, it has to be done. Otherwise, you will have betrayed your own emotions and spend the rest of your life asking ‘what if?’, and you definitely don’t want that.”
Spike slowly nodded his understanding, his brow furrowing slightly as he pondered Silver’s words. Then he looked back up at him with a question on his face.
“And have you ever done that? Not confessed to a pony you liked, I mean.”
Silver had to think about that one for a moment before answering.
“Yes. And I regretted it. So take it from me Spike, it’s much better to have loved and lost then never loved at all.” Silver finished in a decisive tone.
Again, Spike nodded, performing his role as the impressionable younger brother admirably. Silver felt a swell of affection for the little drake as he gave Silver a big smile.
“Alright, I think I understand. Thanks Silver.”
Silver jostled Spike a little bit in his arm. “Anytime.”
He withdrew his hoof from around Spike’s shoulders, letting get back to his work. Spike went to the fridge and retrieved three ears of corn that he brought to the counter and proceeded to shuck with his claws.
“So Silver, tell me about the crush that you had.” Spike called from behind his shoulder as Silver was putting away the cup that he had drank from.
He blinked in surprise, the question catching him off guard. “Why do you want to know?” he asked.
Spike shrugged indifferently. “Dunno, curious.”
Good enough for him. “Well, I was still a colt, so I can’t really remember her that well…”
Lie
“She was very cute, had the prettiest mane I’ve ever seen.”
True
“She liked books just as I did.”
True
“Did you ever find out her name?” Spike asked.
“Er, no. I never really spoke to her.”
Big lie
“That’s a shame.” he commented. “Did you ever see her again?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
Bigger lie
“But I would like to someday. She really was something special…”
Spike nodded, now taking his turn to look wise. “I see…”
“Yep.” Silver said as he nodded once more, then began to make his way out of the kitchen and to the library, figuring that his work was done.
A small peal of laughter erupted from the dragon’s mouth, as though something funny had just occurred to him.
“Better not let Twilight hear you talking like that!” he said amongst a small fit of giggles.
…
“Que?”
It wasn’t every day someone said something that stopped Silver right in his tracks. Heck, it wasn’t even every year. But as Luna as his witness, Spike had done just that.
“W-why do you say that?” Silver inquired, stumbling over his words briefly. Spike merely shook his head with a smile.
“I’m just saying, I’ve seen the way she’s been looking at you, and I doubt she’d be very happy if she heard you talking about another mare like that.”
“And why, pray tell, would she feel that way?” Silver asked very slowly and deliberately, trying to wrap his head around the situation.
“Oh, you know-”
“Not really.”
“-She seems to really be interested in you.” Spike shot a smirk over his shoulder. “I know Twilight like I know the back of my claw, so I can tell that she acts different around you.”
Silver had underestimated the purple dragon. Evidently, he was much more clever then he looked, because there was no way it was a coincidence that he and Rarity said very similar things in the exact same day. They must have planned it. Somehow.
“Different…how?”
“You know, she looks at you longer then normal, she hangs onto your every word, she smiles every time you enter the room, that sort of thing.”
Yes, this dragon was very clever indeed. He must have known how much those words would have thrown Silver for a loop; otherwise he would never have said them. After all, they couldn't be true. Twilight was just friendly, nothing more to it.
An excited, high pitched squeal started to develop in the back of Silver’s mind in a voice that he recognized to be what he called his “emotional conscience.” He quickly smothered it under the metaphorical pillow of stoicism, preventing it on going off on one of its Twilight related tangents.
“There’s nothing for it to be excited about anyway.” He thought as he made his way out of the kitchen. “Twilight is just friendly, she doesn't think of me that way.”
No matter how many times Silver Quill said it, out loud or in his head, it just didn’t sound right. It was as though the words themselves, when put in that particular order, rejected one another rendering the words null.
“Twilight…likes…meeeeee…”
No, those words definitely didn’t sound right. It was like when an impatient child forced the wrong puzzle piece into a hole on the board. It sort of fit, but anyone with an eye and a brain knew that it wasn’t supposed to be there.
It would have been so easy to just dismiss the idea as lunacy. Silver Quill, with all of his powers of logic, just couldn’t fathom how a mare like Twilight would be interested in a stallion like him. Silver himself knew he wasn’t the most interesting of ponies, his only hobby not related to literature being singing in the shower. He didn’t know whether or not he was considered handsome by a mare’s standards, but he was pretty sure he was fairly average looking.
Twilight on the other hoof was nothing short of amazing. Incredibly smart, talented, and beautiful with a fantastic personality to boot. She was kind, caring, polite, and just an all around good pony. It confounded Silver that she wasn’t fending off the bachelors of Ponyville with a folded up chair every night as they desperately pined for her.
Because of all this, it would have been incredibly simple to forget all about it. There was just one small problem…
“Twilight has looked back at you several times while we were standing here." Rarity had explained when she told him he was the subject of her interest.
“She seems to really be interested in you.” Spike had told him.
The words of those two kept coming back to him throughout the rest of the day and left him in a hazy state of mind. They were only thing that kept Silver from leaving the notion of Twilight maybe possibly conceivably having feelings for him. But pretty soon, he realized that he was asking himself the wrong question, and he swiftly changed from “Does Twilight like me?” to…
“Do I like Twilight?”
The needle held in Twilight’s magical grip was flying at deadly speeds, making a veritable ring of certain death as it speedily flew through the cloth of her costume, in and out, in and out, in and out. She’d been working on overdrive for about 5 hours now, absolutely determined to have it finished before nightfall.
She looped the thread and needle through the fabric a few more times to seal the deal and to keep the stitch in place before deftly snipping of the end of the thread and tying the end into a knot.
It was finished. She stepped back to admire her work. The royal blues and bright golds of the fabrics matched nicely, giving the cloak that she had just finished putting together a striking look. The inside of the cloak was lined with thin black silk to make it more comfortable for her to wear. She took off the tall and pointed hat that she was already wearing atop her head and set it next to the completed cloak, seeing how the styles and colors looked aside one another.
“Perfect.” She whispered through a small smile. And indeed it was. Each line and curve carefully cut and put into place, resulting in a costume that was not only attractive, but 100% historically accurate, as Twilight Sparkle would have it no other way.
She wiped at a few droplets of sweat that had formed on her forehead from her intense concentration. She was determined to make this Nightmare Night costume as good as physically possible, and when Twilight Sparkle put her mind to something, she did it with gusto. She was hoping to impress Princess Luna with what she had made, as she was almost certain that she would be the only one who will even recognize it.
Twilight quickly and neatly folded the cloak as she pulled an old shoebox towards her. She gently put the cloak and hat into the box and quietly tucked it away into the deepest recesses of her closet where nopony would be able to find it.
“And that’s that.” she said proudly, dusting her hooves off against each other.
Twilight looked at the clock and saw that it was quarter past 6. She gave a small yawn as she uselessly tried to straighten out a few strands of her mane that had fallen out of order. After a few moments of flattening her hair only to have it stick up again, she shrugged and let it be.
She opened the door to her room and made her way downstairs; smiling as she inhaled the scent of Spike’s cooking. The little dragon never did disappoint when it came to the culinary arts. If he was a pony, she wouldn’t have been surprised if his cutie mark was a spatula or something else cooking related. He even liked to cook in his spare time.
When she reached the main floor, Twilight was met with a strange sight. Spike, as she expected, was in the kitchen, cooking something up while whistling a jaunty tune. Silver Quill however was doing something quite strange.
He was sitting in the main room of the library, but instead of reading as she would have expected him to be, he was just sitting in a chair and staring at his hooves. His mouth occasionally moved as he murmured something intelligible to himself and his head occasionally shook as he disagreed with something. All in all, he looked like a pony who was going through some sort of existential crises. But even though his mannerisms were all different, he still had the look of cool stoicism that he always carried around for some reason.
“I wonder why he always looks like that?” she wondered to herself. She had asked him before, but he hadn’t reacted positively to her questioning. She had sensed that he had gotten tense and a little bit upset, so she quickly let it drop. But she couldn’t help but be curious as to what could have coaxed such a reaction.
Twilight filed the thought away in her mental storage compartment to be further examined later. Now she was more interested in what prompted Silver Quill to look like he was pondering the very mysteries of life in the middle of her library.
“Hey.” She called to him.
He didn’t respond.
“Hey Silver.”
His ear twitched slightly, but still no response.
“Helloooo, Equestria to Silver Quill, anypony home?”
Finally, he looked up with a question in his eyes.
“Whatcha thinking about?” Twilight chirped. Silver looked back down at his hooves for a second before replying in a low voice.
“…Stuff.”
“Oh.” she replied simply. When Silver didn’t say anything else, Twilight continued.
“What kind of stuff?”
Silver’s head snapped back up, and his eyes met Twilight’s with an intense gaze. His brow was furrowed slightly, causing creases to form on his forehead, and his mouth was set in a small frown. Twilight was taken aback at his expression, which she could only describe as aggressively troubled. It was the most emotion she had seen on him besides a small smile.
Twilight only widened her own eyes as she looked back at him without saying a word. He was looking at her in a way that he never had before, as though he were trying to look past her physical appearances and see the contents of her soul. She was rooted in place by his gaze, so piercing that they could burn holes through industrial steel. Twilight could feel a slight blush creeping up on her under his intense scrutiny.
After a moment of being locked through their eyes, Silver’s sharp and intense and Twilight’s surprised and a little nervous, Silver finally broke eye contact and sighed once more.
“Just…stuff.” He finally answered, still not divulging any information on the machinations of his strange mind.
“Alright then...” She looked behind her to the kitchen where she could still hear Spike whistling. “I’m gonna go see how dinner is coming along.”
Silver nodded, not saying another word.
Twilight took a few steps towards the kitchen before turning back.
“Silver, is everything alright?”
Silver nodded again, still maintaining his quiet.
“Alright then…I guess I’ll talk to you later…”
Silver nodded.
“I thought I was good at this.”
That was the first thought that wet through Silver Quill’s mind as Twilight turned away from him and his stupidity. He sighed again and leaned his head against the backrest of the chair he was sitting on, his short mane hanging over the edge slightly.
“Emotions are supposed to be simple…”
And they were, 99.99% of the time. Ponies and their emotions, both of himself and others, were usually an open book to him. He had mastered his emotions out of necessity very early on in his life, and the resulted in him understanding them in a profound way that very few ponies could understand. He didn’t just know what “sad” or “angry” was, he also understood them down to their core, their essence. This understanding had granted him the unusual ability to read other ponies like an open book, being able to tell how they felt, and usually why if he knew them well enough, in the blink of an eye.
It was sort of like an emotional radar that gets stronger with use, like a muscle would. But even though this particular muscle was strong enough to uproot a tree, it apparently wasn’t strong enough to understand Twilight.
He didn’t understand it, and he only recently realized it when he was pondering Twilight’s feelings over him. He had started to think back to previous interactions with her to see if he could find some sort of clue as to how she felt, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything. It was strange, it was like she was a blind spot in his radar, a black pony shaped silhouette in a field of color.
“How did this happen?” he thought to himself sulkily. “I thought that I had outgrown that stupid crush…”
Even if Twilight was a complete mystery to him, he could still understand his own emotions, as jumbled and confused as they were. And after a little bit of soul searching, he had come to the conclusion that, yes, he did like Twilight.
Silver groaned and buried his face in his hooves. After a moment of focused breathing, his abdomen rising and falling, he tilted his head and opened an eye to peer at the grandfather clock standing proudly at the other end of the room. It read 6:18.
He sighed and heaved himself up off the chair and onto his hooves, swaying slightly as he did so. He made his way to the kitchen where he saw Twilight leaning over a pot that was resting on the stove and breathing in through her nose, smiling slightly as she took in the smell. Spike was standing next to her looking at her expectantly.
Silver cleared his throat slightly to get their attention. They turned their heads towards him simultaneously.
“I, uh…I’m going to turn in for the night. I’m really tired. Good night.” He said quickly before turning around and making his way upstairs. He missed the inquiring look that Spike gave Twilight, which she returned with a shrug.
Running. For his life, for his freedom, he didn’t know. He just knew that he needed to run. So he did.
He ran.
Through the trees and the shrubbery, he tore through the forest like a racer, moving faster than he’s ever had in his life. Behind him, he heard a rumbling noise that reminded him of a gurgling volcano right before it erupted, even though he had never seen such a thing before in his life. The ground was shaking slightly as the loud noise crashed through the air and slammed into his ears, it’s loudness shaking his brain in his skull.
Eventually, as he ran and as the day turned into night, the noise faded from a loud roar to a dull whisper that he had to strain to hear. But even though it sounded like he was getting away from the noise and the danger, he didn’t stop. He just kept on running.
He saw something strange further on in the distance, a gap in the trees that led to an wide area free of any obstructing foliage. He closed his eyes and jumped through the curtain of pine needles that was in his way, and instead of feeling his hooves touch dirt and leaves, he felt them land on soft grass.
He opened his eyes to a clearing bathed in moonlight and decorated with white and purple flowers, the petals of which slowly drifted through the air like cherry blossoms. The trademark pond and weeping willow tree immediately identified this as his spot, the one he would always go to write and get away from everything.
His heavy breathing quickly calmed, and he relaxed. He was safe here. This was his domain, and no harm could come to him as long as he remained in it. But there was something different about it, something that he didn’t remember being there before.
The pond was illuminated, as though there were a giant candle in the depths of it. He slowly walked towards the body of water to investigate the anomaly, but as soon as he took his first step, he heard something.
A long drawn out note, deep and throaty, made itself known to him. The only instrument Silver could identify it to be from was a cello. But as he listened, he became aware of another sound, one that hid in the background. A higher, more joyful sounding note that sounded as though it came from a violin was intertwined with the cello, almost being drowned out by it. But even though the violin note was so much quieter then the cello, he was sure that it was there.
The two sounds reverberated in his mind as he made his way to the pond to investigate. A bright white light was shining from the depths, and he peered over the edge to investigate. It was deeper then he remembered, and there looked to be swirling clouds of mist inside the pond. He leaned forward slightly to look closer.
For some reason, he found himself drawn to the pond, like a metal to a magnet. His eyes widened in fear as he felt himself being drawn in to the depths, and he soon fell through the surface of the water.
As soon as he broke through the surface of the water, he felt a feeling of calm wash through him, soothing his fears to almost nothing. But still, even though the white light reassured him and comforted him, he could still feel an underlying feeling of unease as he plummeted toward the light.
Silver’s eyes flew open with a sharp intake of breath. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes in complete silence before realizing that something was slightly different about this morning in particular. To be more exact, he didn’t wake up with his hooves flailing to find that he and the bed that he was sleeping in was a complete mess. He also felt more rested than he had in several days for some reason.
He squinted at nothing in confusion as he lay on his back staring at the ceiling. The dream that he just woke from was almost exactly as all the other ones that had been tormenting him for the past few days, but there was something about it that seemed a little bit different. Unfortunately, he wasn’t given much of a chance to ponder the differences, as the details soon started to slip away from him no matter how hard he tried to hold onto them, like water dripping through cupped hooves.
He sighed, and sunk his head further into his pillow. He angled his head slightly to bring the view of the window into his peripheral vision. The translucent curtains were casting a golden glow throughout the room, and Silver could just make out the outlines of the trees, buildings, and morning ponies through the thin, luminescent screen.
The yellow of the light and the brown of the wood the room was both filled with ad made of combined with the sleepy warmth centralized to the bed he was laying in resulted in a sense of serene comfort. But even in such lovely surroundings, Silver slowly felt his mood darken.
With a grunt of annoyance, Silver threw the blankets over him, plunging his world into near darkness, as the covers weren’t thick enough to be completely opaque.
“What the hay is wrong with me…” he whispered to nothing as he slowly closed his eyes. His mind suddenly went blank, and he was bombarded with memories from long ago.
A young pony with a light grey coat, charcoal black hair, and no cutie mark was laying in a bed, nestled in the crook of the arm of a dull pink mare with a wavy lavender mane. The mare held a book out in front of her and her child, and read from as he looked at the pictures with interest.
Silver Quill’s eyelid twitched, but beyond that, he was still.
The same young pony, now a few years older and with a cutie mark of a quill being dipped into an inkwell was sitting on a stool next to a bed. The young pony held a book in his lap as he effortlessly read a story that was years ahead of his age to the pony who was next to him. She was lying on the bed with a smile on her face as she watched her son read to her for a change.
His upper lip rose into a soundless snarl, but beyond that, he was still.
The same young pony, even older now, was sitting on a stiff backed wooden chair next to a bed in a dark room. The small bed was occupied by a thin mare who had a slightly pained expression on her sleeping face and several intravenous tubes sticking out of her arms and legs. A single candle sat on the metal bedside table next to him, and he was slowly and quietly reading aloud from a book in its light. The mare in the bed gave no response to his small voice.
With growl, Silver Quill threw the blanket off of him and on to the floor. He leaped out of bed and forcefully opened his bedroom door with his magic. He quickly made his way to the bathroom where he turned the knob to the coldest it could go and splashed the frigid water on his face.
He stood there for several moments breathing heavily and dripping water. He stared at himself in the mirror for over a minute, evaluating himself. The face that he saw in the mirror stared back without a trace of emotion. It didn’t look angry, it didn’t look happy, it didn’t even look sad. It just looked empty.
Silver nodded his satisfaction. He lit his horn with a quick drying spell, efficiently removing every icy drop of water from his mane and coat. When he finished, he turned off the faucet and walked out of the bathroom, almost colliding with a sleepy Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh!” she exclaimed as she almost lost her footing in her morning haze as she quickly stopped walking. “Good morning Silver, you’re up early today.”
“Good morning Twilight. I guess I slept a little more deeply than usual last night.”
“Is that so?” Twilight said as she gave a tremendous yawn. “You must have stolen that sleep from me then, because I didn’t get much at all.”
“Why don’t you go back to bed then?” Silver asked.
She shook her head. “Oh no, that would throw my entire schedule into disarray." She smiled wryly. "I’ve been waking up at the exact same time ever since I was a filly, and I intend to keep it that way.”
Silver chuckled. “You’re determination is admirable, I suppose. What say you we go get you some coffee then?”
Twilight smiled wistfully. “Mmm, that sounds nice.”
Silver nodded and stepped aside, holding out his hoof. “After you then.”
Twilight smiled, and they both made their way to the kitchen. Silver quickly located some ground coffee beans and started up the coffee maker for Twilight, who was sitting on the table with her head laying on the top with her eyes closed.
Silver looked at her with his eyebrows raised. “Goodness, you must be tired. What kept you up all night?”
“I was...thinking.” Twilight answered hesitantly in a low voice.
Silver was starting to get worried. He walked over to her and gently laid his hoof on her shoulder. He felt her tense up briefly before relaxing again.
“Are you sure you’re alright Twilight? If you need to go back to sleep, then you probably should.”
Twilight didn’t open her eyes, but she did smile slightly. “I’ve woken up at exactly 7:00 for the past 5209 days, and I’m going for an even 5210.”
Silver looked at her dubiously. “That’s all well and good, but I don’t like the thought of you forcing yourself to stay awake, it’s not good for your health.”
One of Twilight’s eyes opened, and she gazed up at him as a slight blush tinged her cheeks. She smiled raised a hoof and reassuringly laid it against the one he was holding on her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about me Silver, I’ll be fine.”
She slowly made to sit up, and Silver withdrew his hoof. Twilight pulled her hair out of her eyes and made an effort to look more awake. “I just need to get some caffeine in me and I’ll be good to go.”
Silver pursed his lips. “Alright then.” he said, not sounding entirely convinced. He made his way to the other side of the table and took a seat.
“So you were up all night thinking? About what?” he asked, trying to start up a conversation.
Twilight suddenly tensed, her shoulders rising and her ears laying back in a nervous way. “Oh, it was nothing important, don’t pay it any mind.” She said quickly.
Silver looked at her. Thankfully, he didn’t need his emotional radar to tell when a pony was being evasive, so he could tell that Twilight was hiding something. Even so, he just shrugged and nodded. If Twilight didn’t want to tell him, he wouldn’t force the issue.
Twilight looked relieved that he didn’t question any further, and then looked even more relieved at the beeping sound of the coffee machine announcing that the coffee was ready. She quickly got up and started hunting for a mug.
“Would you like a cup?” she called over her shoulder as she looked through the cabinet.
“No thank you, I’m not much of a coffee pony. Tea has always been my drink of choice.”
Twilight looked back. “Oh, well I could make you a pot if you want.”
Silver waved a hoof. “That’s alright, you just enjoy your coffee.”
Twilight smiled and nodded before reaching into the cabinet and withdrawing a bright orange mug with a picture of a red apple and the word “Appleoosa” in bright yellow letters. She poured herself a steaming cup of joe, dropped two cubes of sugar in it, and sat down.
Silver occupied himself by looking out the window as Twilight gently sipped at her coffee, making sure not to scald her mouth. After a few minutes though, she went from sipping at it to staring at it with a distant and somewhat anxious expression on her face.
“Silver?” she said in a timid voice. He looked over at her, ready to receive whatever words she had for him.
Twilight didn’t look up at him. “Are… are you mad at me?” she asked quietly.
Silver blinked in surprise. He waited a few moments to see if there was anything else she had to say, such as “just kidding,” but she didn’t. Instead she just looked at her mug.
“Of course not, why would I be?” he answered gently. Twilight fidgeted in her chair slightly, finally looking up at him shyly.
“Well, yesterday you looked kinda…angry.”
He tilted his head in confusion. “I did?”
Twilight met his eye, now looking a little less hesitant. “Yeah, when I came downstairs and talked to you, you had this really…intense look in your eyes.” She shrunk back down in her chair. “And then you didn’t really talk to me, so I was worried I might have offended you or something…”
Silver stared at her for a moment with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Suddenly, his hoof flew up a slapped against his forehead with a loud smack.
“I’m an idiot.” He thought.
Twilight looked at him curiously, his reaction not at all what she was expecting. Silver lowered his arm and looked her apologetically.
“I’m very sorry about that Twilight. I wasn’t mad at you, I was more mad at myself than anything. I didn’t realize how I must have come across.”
His ears drooped slightly and he lowered his head in a sort of apologetic bow.
“Sorry…” he said once more.
Twilight’s eyes were wide. “Oh. I see. Sort of.”
She smiled warmly at his guilty looking form. “Don’t worry about it Silver, It was just a mistake. No harm done.”
He looked back up at her, and nodded gratefully, giving her one of his small smiles, but then his eyebrows furrowed as a thought came to him.
“Was that why you couldn’t sleep? Because you were worried I was mad at you?” he inquired
Silver had to repress a frown directed to himself. Because of his carelessness, he made Twilight worry and stress about something that could have easily been avoided. He also couldn’t help but feel a tad touched that she thinks so much of him that she would worry so much whether or not he was mad at her.
“No, you aren’t the one who needs to be embarrassed Twilight, I am. I am so, so sorry.” Silver said meaningfully. Twilight smiled comfortably at him for a moment before nodding.
“It’s alright Silver, don’t worry about it.” was all that she said to him. But Silver didn’t need to hear any more from her, her words conveyed her feelings well enough.
“Still…I feel like I should make it up to you somehow…” he said quietly.
Twilight cocked her head and looked at him curiously. Silver was looking down at the table lost in thought, not making a sound, and then his head suddenly snapped up as an idea occurred to him. Twilight flinched slightly as his eyes suddenly rose to meet hers.
“Let’s do something.” He said, completely straight faced. Twilight looked slightly taken aback.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Silver leaned forward, not breaking eye contact. “I want to make it up to you. How about we go out and do something. Whatever you want.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh.” Her face reddened slightly. “l-like on a date?”
Silver blinked several times before replying. “Sure, like on a date.” he answered, still looking at her straight in the eye.
Twilight giggled. “Okay then…what will we do?”
Silver shrugged. “I don’t know.” he said simply.
“Oh…” she replied quietly, sinking down into her chair slightly. Then she perked up and looked at Silver Quill eagerly. “I think I have a book that outlines the proper itinerary for a typical date, I can go and-“
Twilight was cut off by Silver reaching over and putting hoof on top of hers. She looked up, startled, and after a while of meeting his meaningful gaze, smiled and nodded.
Silver and Twilight left the library shortly after they agreed that they would spend the day together in what Twilight called a “date.” She wrote a quick note to leave behind for Spike, saying where she was and telling him not to get into too much trouble. Silver voiced his worries about leaving the young drake by himself, but Twilight assuaged him.
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll just treat it like a mini vacation and sleep for the rest of the day.” she said. Silver merely shrugged, figuring that she knew Spike better then he did.
He grabbed his small saddle bag where he kept his wallet and other essentials while Twilight quickly snatched her purse, and they both went out the door, their heads high and their minds wondering what was going to come out of this impromptu outing.
The first thing that the two did after they left the library was get some breakfast. Twilight showed him a quaint diner/café called The Black Barrel that she was fond of, and they made their way there.
Upon entering the establishment, Silver finally realized how hungry he was when he remembered that he hadn’t had any dinner yesterday, opting to go to sleep early instead. Because of this, he spared himself no expense for breakfast, getting himself a large omelet with melted cheese, 2 crispy hashbrowns, a buttered croissant, and a big glass of orange juice. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the amount when it arrived at their booth with the simple fruit salad that she ordered. Silver let his stomach explain for him since it was already so vocal of its displeasure. She laughed and nodded her understanding.
Throughout their meal, they made small conversation, mainly talking about their go-to subject of books and authors. Silver revealed that he was fond of the works of Edgar Allen Poeny, and Twilight was surprised by this.
“I can’t fathom what you would find likeable about him. I can hardly stand him myself.” she commented in surprise and with a touch of revulsion.
He shrugged. “I find that not only is he a very good writer, but his writing style fits the genre itself extremely well. It’s almost as though he was born for macabre.”
Twilight was unconvinced. “But it’s just so…dark.”
He smirked in amusement. “You mainly read murder mysteries where innocent ponies are killed, often horrifically, but Edgar Allen Poeny is too dark?”
Twilight huffed. “Those are different! Those have intrigue and puzzles wrapped around a complex plot. There are problems that, no matter how convoluted, can be solved with the right amount of logic and creativity, and more often then not, there is a motive to everything. Edgar Allen Poeny just writes about needless death and violence.”
Silver’s eyes gleamed with nostalgic pleasure. “Mmm, tell me about it. I shivered the first time I read The Crow.” Twilight raised her eyebrows incredulously. Silver sighed.
“To be honest Twilight, I’m not entirely sure why I like him. I guess I just like to look at things on the other end of the spectrum every once in a while. I like the raw, primal emotions of fear and despair and how well they're portrayed.” he explained.
Twilight nodded slowly, mulling over his words. “I guess that makes sense...” She said slowly. “Still can’t stand the guy though.” Silver chuckled.
Their conversation eventually turned away from literature and moved towards the day in front of them, or more specifically, what they were going to do with it. Twilight posed this question to Silver Quill, and he had to think about it for a moment before answering.
“We’ll do whatever you want to do. I want to make it up for making you worry.”
Twilight smiled and reached her hoof over to lay it on his appreciatively. “You don’t need to make anything up to me Silver Quill, but I appreciate the thought.”
Silver looked down at the arm on which her hoof was resting. He decided that he liked the way the light grey of his coat and the strong lavender of hers contrasted. It looked nice. And it felt nice too.
He looked up at her and nodded. They then proceeded to finish the rest of their meal, tossing around suggestions as to how they should spend their day. Twilight suggested going for a walk in the park, a trip to the beach, a day at the theatre, but nothing she thought of pleased her.
As they were leaving the diner, Twilight stopped in her tracks as an idea came to her. Silver looked at her curiously as her eyes widened in sudden realization.
“Did you think of something?” he asked. Twilight nodded emphatically, grinning all the way.
He looked at her for a few more seconds, waiting for her to tell him what had occurred to her. When no such thing was forthcoming, he decided to help her along.
“Would you care to share?” he asked politely.
Still smiling, Twilight shook her head. Silver raised an eyebrow, but she spoke again before he could reply.
“Instead of telling you, how about I show you." she said excitedly.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Alright…where is it?”
“Not Ponyville.” She replied. “I’m going to have to teleport us there.”
Silver had never teleported anywhere before, having never had the need to as he stayed in Canterlot for pretty much his entire life and having never been able to as he wasn’t that skilled in magic. It didn’t surprise him that Twilight was capable of such advanced magic, what with her being the student of one of the most magically powerful beings in the world.
“Alright then.” Silver said as he nodded his acquiescence. He waited for Twilight to activate the spell, but she only stood there and looked at him expectantly.
“You need to close your eyes first.” She explained
“I do? Why?”
“Two reasons. One, the vertigo and the shock will be a little overwhelming to you if you don’t since you probably aren’t very experienced with the feeling of teleportation.” She paused and looked at him curiously.
“You aren’t, right?”
He shook his head.
“Right. Closing your eyes will let your brain adjust to the sudden change of scenery at a more relaxed pace. The sudden changes to your senses can be a bit overwhelming, and being blind while teleporting makes it easier to keep yourself from falling over right as you arrive.”
Silver nodded, mostly following along. “And the second reason?” he asked.
Twilight grinned and clapped her hooves excitedly. “Because it’ll be more of a surprise!”
Silver couldn’t help but smile alongside her. Her excitement was infectious, and he was finding himself eager for whatever it was that she had planned.
He closed his eyes and waited expectantly to feel what teleportation was like. Twilight’s horn flared brightly for a few moments before the two of them quickly winked out of existence.
The best words that Silver could describe the sensation of teleportation was “sensory overload.” At first, everything was still and quiet except for the ponies that had been around them, and the next moment he was assaulted by a cacophony of sensation. He could hear a thunderstorm that seemed to be localized in only his ears, the thick taste of metal coated his mouth, the strong smell of ozone assaulted his nose, and he could feel the sensation of hundreds of pins and needles prodding him on every inch of his body. If he hadn’t had his eyes closed, he could hardly imagine what strange things he would have seen.
All in all, it was a little unnerving when these new sensation came and went in an instant. He lost his balance for a few moments before hastily regaining his footing. The dirt road beneath his hooves had been replaced with what felt like cobblestones. The air was tinged wit the smell of smoke and the odour that arises when many ponies live in a small area, and he could hear ponies all around him, tossing him around in an ocean of white noise.
“Alright, open your eyes.” He heard Twilight say from right beside him, startling him a little. He now understood what she meant by shock and vertigo during teleportation. It was really something that needed to be experienced personally to understand, and multiple times to be get used to.
He opened his eyes to the sight of a city most unlike Ponyville. There were magi-lamps on the sides of the cobblestone roads, and ponies wearing an assortment of refined and snazzy clothing milled past them. Small shops and houses lined the streets on both sides, their colourful designs adding a nice backdrop.
“Are…are we in Canterlot?” Silver asked as he looked around. Twilight beamed.
“Yup! Oh wait…” she shrunk back on herself slightly as a look of panic crept into her features. “would you rather be back in Ponyville? I mean, I know you left for a change of scenery, and all but…” she looked at him worriedly, seemingly afraid that he was angry with her for bringing him back to the city that he only recently left.
Before Silver could stop her train of thought where it was, she rambled on. “Oh, I’m so stupid! I’ll teleport us back to Ponyville right away!” she squinted her eyes shut and ignited her horn.
Silver sighed and stepped a little bit closer to her, leaning forward to tap her horn with his. He released a tiny magical spark, similar to a static shock, and interrupted the flow of magic to the teleportation spell she was moments away from casting.
Her eyes fluttered open as her connection to her magic was suddenly interrupted by his, and she looked at him with a confused expression on her face. Silver did his best to put on a reassuring smile for her sake.
“I don’t mind being in Canterlot Twilight.” he said quietly. “If this is where you want to spend the day, then that’s fine by me.”
She blinked at him for a few seconds before nodding gratefully.
“Okay.” she replied in a small voice, appearing to still be little bit nervous. Silver could hardly blame her, he was pretty spooked about the day ahead of them as well. He didn’t know what came over him when he blurted out that he and she should “do something,” it just felt like the right thing to say. He didn’t let his nervousness show however, instead trying to put on an air of confidence in an effort to make Twilight feel more comfortable. Whether or not he’d be able to maintain that façade throughout the day remained to be seen.
He nodded, satisfied with her simple answer. Then he started to notice his surroundings. They were standing in a circular plaza that was surrounded by shops and ponies. In the center of the plaza was a fountain of a pony with the tail of a fish, a hippocampus curled on top of a rushing wave. He was cradling a conch shell through which water flowed out of to his chest. Silver didn’t recognize anything around him, although Twilight had a nostalgic smile on her face.
“Where are we?” he asked. Twilight sighed contentedly.
“This is one of my favourite places in Canterlot. It’ a place where students and academics gather to socialize, eat, or study in the company of other likeminded ponies.” She smiled. “I used to come here when I was studying under Celestia, whenever I wasn’t busy of course.”
Looking around, Silver started to see what she liked about this area. Everywhere he looked were ponies who exuded an air of quiet intelligence. Young ponies wearing sophisticated jackets and hats with saddlebags were sitting attentively with older ones as they absorbed whatever life lessons that were being given to them. Tweed jackets, eyeglasses, and saddlebags weighed down with books and other academic tools were all common sights.
“Most ponies call this place ‘Students Square.’ I call it heaven.” Twilight commented.
Silver looked at her in surprise. “What makes it so special?” he asked.
She didn’t respond, instead pointing her hoof over his shoulder at something behind him. He turned around and saw that there were 3 modest bookstores standing in a row. He chuckled and shook his head. Of course Twilight’s idea of heaven was a place in which books flowed like water.
He turned back towards her to see her grinning. “So, is this the place you wanted to spend the day at?”
Her grin grew wider. “Nope, the only reason I teleported us here is that I needed a destination that I was familiar with, and this one was the most convenient. We’re going somewhere else.”
“Oh.” He replied simply, trying not to look like he had no idea what she meant.
“Follow me and I’ll show you where the way.” She winked at him. “I think you’ll like it.”
Silver nodded as Twilight started to walk past him, and he quickly matched her pace.
Silver quickly started up a conversation. “You know, I’m pretty impressed that you were able to teleport the two of us all the way to Canterlot. I wasn’t even aware that was possible.”
She looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t it be possible?”
Silver shrugged. “Canterlot is around 5 hours away from Ponyville by train. That’s a pretty big distance to teleport, and you don’t even look tired. It’s a pretty incredible feat if you ask me.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in realization. She shook her head as she replied. “Oh no, that’s not how teleportation works. Distance doesn’t factor in the energy cost for teleportation, mass does.”
When her explanation was met with a raised eyebrow and a blank stare, she explained further.
“You see, it doesn’t matter how far a place is, it will always take the same amount of energy and concentration for one pony to teleport themselves a mile away as it would to teleport themselves a meter away. The amount of effort and focus needed for the spell is only changed by what is being teleported, or more specifically, how big it is and how much it weighs.
Silver nodded in understanding at the simplified explanation. “Ah, that makes sense.” He thought for a few more moments. “Does that mean that you could teleport to any part of the world at will?”
“Well, yes and no. Yes in that I theoretically could teleport wherever I wanted at any time, and no in that it would be extremely dangerous.”
“Care to extrapolate?” he asked her curiously.
Twilight smiled at him, pleased to have an audience that she could talk about spellcrafting with. The only one she could ever discuss the intricacies of magic with was Princess Celestia, but the Princess rarely ever had the time to indulge her student.
“Certainly.” She replied briskly. “Teleportation can be very dangerous when the caster doesn’t have a clear image of the destination in mind. If somepony tries to teleport to a place that they’ve never seen or been to, there is a chance that they will accidentally materialize in already occupied space. This is called ‘splicing,” When this happens, the best case scenario is that the pony is only injured. Worst case scenario, they lose their life.”
Silver whistled appreciatively. “Wow, I never knew it was so dangerous.”
She nodded seriously. “Yep. That’s why teleportation is rarely taught to most unicorns for the fear of them accidentally teleporting themselves in the middle of a mountain or something. That’s why it’s so important to know the area that you’re going to materialize in, so you know which spaces are free.”
“Ah, I see. So that’s why you chose Students Square.”
“Exactly. I know that place like I do the back of my hoof.” She grimaced slightly. “Unfortunately, it’s a half an hour walk from our destination, but better safe then sorry if you ask me.”
Silver nodded as they continued walking, and he took a moment to observe their surroundings. He noticed that the majority of the crowd where walking in the same direction as he and Twilight. He wondered if the destination that Twilight had in mind was the same for the of the ponies around them.
“Hold on, I just thought of something.” He said abruptly. He turned to Twilight with his brow furrowed contemplatively. “If it’s so important to not teleport in already occupied space, then what about when teleporting in crowded areas like how you did back there? Isn’t there a chance that we would have appeared in a space somepony was already standing in?”
Twilight looked at him in surprise. “Wow, I’m surprised you thought of that so quickly." She grinned at him. "Impressive. That used to be a big problem several hundred years back, so much so that teleportation was banned all together. However, Starswill the Bearded modified the spell so that if there were any living organisms in the designated materialization zone, then the spell would automatically compensate and materialize the caster in open space.”
Silver sighed in relief. “Oh, that’s good. For a moment I was worried that you had put our lives in danger by taking us here.”
Twilight laughed lightheartedly and playfully bumped her hip against Silver’s side, making him blush slightly.. “Oh don’t worry, I’m not about to ruin the day with any careless casting.” She gave him a wry smile. “Besides, don’t you trust me?”
Silver shrugged. “Oh, I trust you. I also know you’re probably the most powerful unicorn under the sun.” He gave her a sideways grin. “I just wanted to make sure that this date wouldn’t end with me accidentally being turned inside out.”
“Well, I never!” Twilight countered in a mock affronted voice. “That you have so little faith in my abilities…you wound me Silver Quill!” She raised a hoof to her forehead as though to ward off an approaching faint. Silver smiled as he noticed her slightly upturned lips. Somepony has obviously been taking lessons from Rarity.
“My humblest apologies Twilight.” he replied in a chastised voice. He bowed her head to her with his eyes closed, the picture of guilty regret. “Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?”
He heard her giggle before she scooted a little closer to his side as she walked, slightly pressing herself into him. Even though the pressure was very slight and chaste, Silver almost toppled over completely as his legs suddenly started to feel unusually wobbly. She probably only thought that she was innocently teasing him, so Silver steeled his mind and forced any chances he had of embarrassing himself with a few focused breaths.
“Alright, I’ll forgive you.” She said with a smile which quickly turned into a smirk. “Besides, stay in Ponyville a little longer and you’ll get your fair share of magical mishaps.”
Silver couldn't help but look at her quizzically. “You know, I keep hearing how attracted trouble is to that town. Is it really as bad as everypony says?”
Twilight squinted uncertainly. “Oh, It’s not bad, per se. It’s just that if anything interesting happens in Equestria, the odds are pretty good that it’s happening in Ponyville.”
She was answered with a raised eyebrow and a curious look. “Really? Care to share some stories?”
And so, for the next 20 minutes, Twilight amused Silver Quill with several stories of her times in Ponyville, from the time when it was overthrown by a swarm of parasprites to the time it was overthrown by a swarm of Pinkie Pie’s. Silver had a little trouble wrapping his head around the Pinkie Pie one.
“Paint? You solved it by making them look at paint?” he asked in disbelief in the middle of her story. Twilight chuckled.
“Say what you will, despite its ridiculousness, it still worked.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Wow. Who knew that such a small town could be so… interesting.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
Silver was about to say more, but his train of thought was cut off as he briefly picked up a strange noise in the air. He perked his ears and looked around as he tried to detect its source. It sounded like music and…screaming?
Twilight noticed it as well. She grinned excitedly. “Oh, we’re almost there!” She increased her pace to a brisk trot.
The sounds got louder as they moved closer to its source. Silver could identify the blaring of trumpets and trombones. The crash of drums and cymbals, and the tell tale blare of a calliope being played. He could also hear screams of both mirth and terror, oftentimes both at the same time.
They eventually rounded a corner and were met with a spectacular sight. A large open area of the city had been sectioned off and repurposed as a fairground for the enjoyment of ponies both young and old. From where he stood, he could see tall ferris wheel slowly turning in the sky and a smattering of fair booths and games that were preventing him from seeing any deeper into the festival.
Ponies happily milled about around them, enjoying the sights and relishing in the festive atmosphere. Silver noticed with a start that about half of every pony he saw around him was dressed up in some manner, most wearing a simple mask or facepaint, some wearing intricate full body costumes. He could even see a 10 foot tall pony who was wearing stilts under the very long legs of a clown costume. Several children were amusing themselves by running around and under him as he walked around.
Twilight smiled next to him. “Oooh, this is always my favourite part of Nightmare Night!” she said happily. She shooed him forward eagerly. “Come on, we’re missing out, let’s go!”
Silver nodded dumbly, still a bit disoriented by the sudden cavalcade of colourful sights and sounds. He noticed a large purple banner in the direction they were heading. A greeting was written in glittery golden letters.
Twilight bounced exuberantly as she and Silver surveyed the scene in front of them. The tents, the stands, the costumes, the rides, the decorations, everything that one would find in a holiday fair and more were present. Wizened old ponies were dressed up as ancient wizards from stories, and little foals were dressed up in costumes of imps and angels as they looked around wide eyed. Twilight turned to Silver excitedly.
“Well, what do you think? Cool huh?”
Silver simply nodded. In truth, he was in a little bit of turmoil regarding her choice of location. Silver was hoping, praying even, that she would have picked a quieter, more isolated place to spend their day. Instead, she picked the most populated area of the most populated city in Equestria.
“Two’s company, three’s a pain in my flank.” He thought to himself.
But there was no way that he could voice these thoughts to Twilight. He could plainly see how excited she was to be here with him, and bursting her bubble would be nothing but cruel.
“Most definitely.” He replied with a small grin. Twilight squeed slightly before grabbing his foreleg and pulling him into the fray of the crowd. Silver couldn’t help but chuckle at her almost foal like exuberance, and he made a mental note to inquire about it later on when things (hopefully) got quieter.
“The important part is that I’m spending time with her.” He thought as Twilight continued to drag him through the crowd milling around them. He had to apologize as he accidentally bumped into Flankenstein’s monster as he let her guide him.
“Granted, I’d rather not be spending the day time with hundreds of other ponies at the same time, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Silver hadn’t the faintest clue where they were going. He spared a quick glance behind him and realized that he couldn’t see the street that they had entered the large park from. At this point, his life was effectively in her hooves.
“Where are we going?” he asked Twilight, having to speak louder then he normally would due to all of the background noise. She turned to him with sparkling eyes and smiled.
“To fun!” she replied in a bubbly voice.
Silver gave a hearty chuckle as he surrendered himself to her mercy as she pulled him forward still. He found himself wearing a slight smile as she tightened her grip around his foreleg in an effort to make sure not to lose him. To his surprise, the smile didn’t vanish.
“Fun” turned out to be a carnival ride by the name of Fun. That was it, just Fun. No Fun-zone, no Fun-area, not even a Funsplosion, just “Fun.” Silver rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“This is why the world needs more writers.” He thought to himself. This was even worse then a store called Quills and Sofas that sold only quills and sofas.
The ride itself was a tall metal contraption with six legs sticking out of the top, and on the end of each leg was a platform with four seats on it. The central pillar mechanism would turn, and the seating areas would turn with it in the opposite direction as the ride tilted and turned in random directions. All in all, it looked like it would be fun, although with a name like that, it better darn well be.
Silver and Twilight got in line, which thankfully wasn’t too big since it wasn’t yet even 1 p.m yet. From what he could tell, it would be about 10 minutes before they would go on the ride. In the meantime, Silver decided that he would start a conversation about something that he had been wondering since they had arrived at the fairgrounds.
“So Twilight, do you often go to the Nightmare Night Fair? Like, every year?”
“Hmm?” she replied absentmindedly as she gazed at the ride in front of them as it tilted and twirled, sending laughing and screaming ponies flying overhead. From the the way her eyes flicked from part of the giant contraption to the other, Silver thought that she was trying to figure out how it worked.
Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that Silver had asked her a question. “Oh, no, not every year. I used to, but not anymore.”
With a tilt of his head and an inquiring look, Silver asked for details.
“I used to come to the Nightmare Night Fair every year when I was little.” She clarified with a small smile. “I would come with my big brother, and we’d spend the entire day here together.”
Her smile widened as she remembered more. “We’d always dress in the most ridiculous costumes. One time, he dressed up as a box of hayfries that you could get at a fast food restaurant, complete with foam fries and everything.” she chuckled. “He even painted his face yellow to go with it.”
She sighed wistfully. “He would let my stand on his back, and we would compete to see how many of a certain costume we could find, like vampony, or zombie. The one who could find the most costumes had to buy ice cream for the both of us.”
“That’s sweet.” Silver said with a smile.
“Yeah, but in the end, he would always end up buying the ice cream no matter who won.” With one final chuckle, Twilight turned to Silver to satisfy her own curiosities.
“What about you?” she asked him. “Have you ever been to the Nightmare Night fair?”
He grimaced. “Er, once. When I was very young. I didn’t enjoy it very much though, as I was too busy either running away from all of the monsters or challenging them to noble duels to defend my parents.”
A brief memory of a much younger Silver Quill passed through his mind. He had pounced on the head of pony dressed as a dragon who had leaned a little too far down to speak to him. He had his forehooves around the beasts’ neck and was biting at its ear while yelling “You’re not allowed to eat my mommy!” He could almost remember his father’s face and how it was twisted in horror while his mother was doubled over in laughter.
He relayed this memory to Twilight, and she chuckled. “Awww, mommy’s little knight, how adorable.” She cooed as Silver’s cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment.
“Well, I still say that that dragon was a little too lifelike, so it’s hardly my fault if I reacted…accordingly.” he huffed. Twilight’s chuckling turned into uproarious laughter. After a few moments of indignance, Silver eventually smirked in his own amusement.
“So yeah, I always did have a really active imagination.” He continued. “My parents were kinda hesitant to bring me to the fair after that, and for good reason.”
With more snickering on her part, Twilight nodded. “I’ll say. You must have been an adorable child with such an imagination.”
Another flashback assaulted his mind at those words. He remembered the time when he first met Twilight Sparkle those many years ago, with her straight mane, big eyes, and bookbag weighed down with paperbacks.
“I don’t think that I was the adorable one back then.” He thought to himself. “Maybe I’ll tell her about that encounter later today.” There wouldn’t really be any point, as there was no chance that she would remember him, but she might find it interesting. Maybe.
Their conversation was interrupted as the line they were standing in moved forward, letting them board the ride. Silver sat next to Twilight in one of the platforms, and the two other seats across from them were occupied by two stallions, one earth pony and one pegasus.
Once everypony had strapped themselves in with a combination of harnesses and safety bars, the attendee ignited her horn and started up the ride. Silver’s stomach dropped as the ride quickly lifted them into the air.
“When was the last time I’ve been on one of these rides?” he thought to himself.
“Oh right, never.” The last time he had been to the fair with his parents, he hadn’t been tall enough to go on the rides. Growing up, he hadn’t had much of a fascination for amusement park rides and such.
“Well, there’s a first for everything.” He thought before quickly being whisked away as the platform started to fly through the air, leaving his thoughts behind as he screamed and held onto the safety bar for dear life.
With unsteady legs, Twilight and Silver left their seats after the ride had ended and made their way to the gate in the fence separating the ride and the rest of the fair. Twilight was giggling quietly, still caught up in the euphoria and the adrenaline from being whipped around the air like a doll in the hooves of a baby. Silver Quill was starting to regret having such a large breakfast as he followed her.
“That was fun!” she chirped in between giggles. Silver nodded uncertainly.
“It was certainly…something.” The ride was a full few minutes of dizzying vertigo and colours flying faster then the eye could see. To his inexperienced stomach, it was akin to being caught in the center of a hurricane.
Twilight had already recovered from the ride and was eagerly looking around for their next destination. “What would you like to do now?” she asked him.
“You know what, how about we just sit down for a minute. Or 10. I just need to let my stomach settle.” he answered woozily.
Blinking in surprise, Twilight looked at him with worry. “Oh, are you alright? Was it too much?” She guided him over to a wooden bench and they sat down.
“I’m fine,” he reassured her, albeit a little weakly. “I’m just not used rides like that.”
“Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry, I should have realized! I just assumed that you would have been fine on it and-“ She sighed dejectedly. “And I really should have reread that how-to guide for dating before we left…”
Silver draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer for a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry about it Twilight, it’s fine. Let’s just go on some of the easier rides first, so that I don’t lose my breakfast.”
She smiled up at him. “Sure. What do you want to do?”
He shrugged “I don’t really know, how about you decide.”
Twilight looked down at her hooves briefly before responding. “We could go on the merry-go-round?”
Silver chuckled weakly. “Oh come now, I’m not that delicate.” Twilight grinned sheepishly.
“Ehe, sorry.” She sat for a few more moments, tapping her hoof to her chin in contemplation. Finally, she brightened.
“I know, let’s go on the bumper carts!”
The two of them made their way to bumper carts, a carnival favourite. Instead of Twilight dragging Silver by the hoof, they walked leisurely through the fairgrounds, Twilight leading the way and Silver following as they took in the sights.
The next few hours were spent with Twilight showing Silver what the fair had to offer. She had the entire layout committed to memory, no doubt from all of the times that she had been there with her brother.
They went on several more rides that were a little bit easier for Silver to handle, and played some of the games that were set up by the carnies. Silver managed to win a small plushie of a vampony in the dart toss which he gave to Twilight, much to her pleasure.
They were walking along when they were interrupted from a voice that came from behind them.
“Silver Quill? Is that you?”
The pair turned around to see a unicorn stallion quickly trotting up to them. Neither Silver nor Twilight could tell what he looked like, because his entire body was wrapped with what looked like toilet paper for what had to be a mummy costume.
The pony bounded up to two of them and stood right in front of Silver. He didn’t know who the pony was underneath the paper, but he could see that the eyes that were visible were twinkling with excitement
“Holy hay, it is you! It’s been, like, years since I’ve seen you!”
Silver looked at the newcomer with confusion. “Er…I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I remember you from…wherever it is you remember me from.”
They mystery pony’s eyes widened. “Oh right, my costume.” The pony reached up and moved away some of the white wrappings that were covering his head to reveal a skinny stallion with a pale green coat and a slicked back golden mane.
“It’s me dude! Trail Blazer!” the stallion leaned in and elbowed Silver on his chest with a smirk. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember me?”
Silver’s eyes widened with realization as he was assaulted with memory’s of schooldays. He remembered sitting quietly on a bench outside of his school as a young stallion and he remembered a lanky teenager walking over and sitting next to him with a wide grin.
“Hi! I’m Trail Blazer!”
The younger Silver Quill hadn’t responded, so the lanky teenager with the slicked back mane continued.
“I just moved here from Baltimare because my dad’s work reassigned him to Canterlot, so this is my first year here.”
When he hadn’t a response from the baffled bibliophile sitting next to him, he kept on talking.
“And I have good news! I just decided that you’re going to be my new and first friend in Canterlot! What do you have to say about that?”
Silver had looked at the green pony for a few moments before shrugging and saying “Okay” and from that moment onwards, they had become good buddies. Silver had shown Trail Blazer around the schoolgrounds and the city, and Trail Blazer entertained Silver with stories from his life in Baltimare. Sure it was a strange way to start a friendship, but considering how difficult it could be to make friends, Silver appreciated how easily this friend had been made.
They had went their separate ways after they had left Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Silver going on to write for a living, and Trail going to pursue a career in professional hoofball, a game that he had been extremely good at back in school. Their career goals ultimately ended up with them living on completely opposite sides of the city, and they naturally drifted apart as a result.
Once Silver realized who he was talking to, he smiled. “Blazer! It’s good to see you ol’ buddy!” he said as he clapped his friend on the shoulder enthusiastically. Trail Blazer grinned.
“There ya go, I knew you couldn’t have forgotten me.” he said happily. “How have you been Feather-Flank?”
Silver rolled his eyes as his old nickname derived from his quill cutie mark was said, and Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at its mentioning. He groaned instantly, knowing that there was no way that that name wasn’t going to come back and bite him in the feathered flank later on.
Silver was about to answer, but Trail Blazer’s green hoof covered his mouth before he could reply. Twilight’s snickering at the nickname he had called Silver Quill drew his attention, and Silver knew that Blazer was nothing if not a ladies-stallion. Trail Blazer quickly walked past Silver and presented himself to Twilight with his head held high and his chest puffed out like an overconfident pigeon.
“Why helllooo there…” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, sending Twilight another fit of giggling, this time with a blush on her face. “And who might you be?” he asked her.
Silver facehoofed as Twilight smiled politely back at him. Trail Blazer always did think that he had a way with the mares, and his incessant flirting had been quite the annoyance when they were young. Given his track record with mares however, Silver wasn’t too worried.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said pleasantly. Blazer gave her a toothy grin.
“Well Twilight, I absolutely have to know…” he leaned in forward slightly and winked at her. “what is a pretty mare like you doing here with a dork like him?” he finished as he jabbed a hoof over his shoulder, indicating Silver Quill who was standing behind him with a cross expression on his face.
With more giggling, Twilight shot Silver a smirk before replying. Oh yes, he was going to hear of this later on.
“I’m on a date.” She said simply. Silver had to resist a chuckle as he saw Trail Blazer almost deflate in disappointment,
“Ah, is that so. In that case, where is the lucky stallion?” he questioned. Silver noticed Twilight’s sides shaking as she tried to resist the urge to laugh, and he then decided that enough was enough. He reached over a tapped Trail Blazer on the shoulder as he made a small “ahem” noise.
Blazer briefly looked over his shoulder irritably as he shooed away the offending hoof. “Yeah yeah, hold on a minute Feather-Flank, I’m having a conversation here.”
Typical. Not even his old friend could dissuade him from making at foal out of himself in front of every mare he crossed paths with. Silver stood behind Trail Blazer with a scowl on his face.
The overconfident pony turned back to Twilight, but was surprised when she burst out in uncontrollable laughter. He looked at her in confusion for a moment before it started to dawn on him.
“Wait a minute…” he said slowly as he gradually looked over his shoulder at a rather irate looking Silver Quill. Blazer didn’t even say anything, he just pointed him with a weak hoof, and Silver nodded pointedly.
A smile grew on his face. “Aw, you gotta be kidding me.” He turned back to Twilight with a baffled expression on his face. “A mare like you with a guy like him?” He shook his head in mock despair. “It must be a sign. The end of times are among us.”
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Silver walked up next to his old friend and looked him dead in the eye.
“It seems that 3 years hasn’t done much to change you, has it Blazer?”
The mummified pony only laughed and shook his head with a proud expression on his face. “Nope! And be honest Feather-Flank…” he leaned in closer to Silver and winked suggestively at him. “you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Silver grinned. “Nor would I expect it to be.”
“Good answer!” Trail chuckled as he slapped silver on the back. He took a few steps back and smiled at the two of them. “Alright, I’m gonna get out your manes and let you two go back to making kissy faces at each other or whatever it was you were doing.” He gave a polite bow to Twilight. “It was a pleasure to meet you madam.”
“Oh, believe me,” Twilight said with a smirk as her flickered to Silver Quill. “the pleasure was all mine.”
“Be seeing you feather Flank. And do me a favour and tell your dad I said hi wouldja?”
Silver nodded, but Trail Blazer had already run off. He never was able to stay in one place for too long, Silver knew. He was almost flattered that his old friend had actually managed to stand still for a few minutes just to have a friendly conversation with him.
Silver turned back to Twilight to see her staring at him with her hoof covering her mouth as she shook slightly. With a sigh, Silver shook his head in defeat.
“Oh, go on then. Let it out.”
“Feather-Flank!” she managed to gasp out before falling into hysterics over the newly discovered nickname. “That is just too funny!” she wheezed in between laughs.
He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Yeah yeah, go ahead and laugh at me, it’s alright, I don’t mind.” he said sarcastically.
“Alright, alright…” Twilight said breathlessly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m good.” She said as she opened her eyes to see him looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Glad to hear it.” He replied. “Now, I believe that we were headed somewhere?”
Twilight nodded. “Right.” She said as she waved her hoof and took off in the direction that they had been walking before they had been interrupted. “Follow me Feather-Flank.” she ordered with a small smirk.
Silver groaned as he matched his step with hers. No good could come out of this, he knew.
The remainder of the day passed blissfully uninterrupted. Silver and Twilight had spent the rest of their time going on rides, playing games, and looking at the attractions of the fair, the most popular of which was the haunted house that Twilight insisted that they go in. It was a large building that could be disassembled and reassembled easily that had been decorated with all sorts of spooky imagery ranging from huge hairy spiders to wrinkly one-eyed witches. They walked through the rooms of the “house,” occasionally getting startled when a screaming noise suddenly pierced the air or when an actor jumped out at them from behind a wall while revving a fake chainsaw.
But even the rides, games, and miscellaneous attractions were second rate compared to the joy that the two felt just by being together. From the most light hearted to the most introspective conversation, from every casual touch or glance, from every scream of shock or cry of laughter, the two ponies were enjoying each others company more than anything else that the fair could throw at them.
Unfortunately, while both ponies were fully aware of how happy they were just being in the presence of the other, neither were able to speak their feelings, nor were they able to realize that the other felt the same way. Both of them were woefully inexperienced with the matters of the heart, and it showed.
Silver Quill felt a happiness that he hadn’t felt in years, if ever. The simple sight of the lavender mare sitting across from him or the reassuring presence as she walked beside him made him feel as though he were one of the luckiest stallions in Equestria. He found himself thanking the stars for whatever it was that possessed him to so abruptly ask Twilight out that morning. Unfortunately, he had no idea if Twilight thought the same way about him. Were she any other mare (although the reason that she wasn’t was partly why Silver liked her so much), he would have been able to figure her out in an instant. But still, his uncanny abilities to read the emotions of other ponies like an open book were thwarted by the mare no matter how hard he tried.
Twilight’s thoughts and feelings mirrored his own to an almost startling degree. To her, it was more then just the companionship that he offered, or the similar interests that they had. The way he looked at her so intensely, like she was the most important pony in the world, the way he never wasted words, preferring to listen instead of talk which resulted in him being unnaturally wise for his age, they all appealed to her in a way she could barely understand. Twilight’s mind was a naturally hyper one, always eager to learn and discover. Sometimes though, her mind can get away from her, making her do things she normally wouldn’t dream of doing, like enchanting a doll with a very potent attraction spell and letting it loose amongst the townponies. Silver Quill’s stoicism and wisdom to her was, in a word, stabilizing. He felt like a pony that she would be able to turn to and lean on no matter how rough things got for her.
But it was a little more then that too. The only way she could describe it was when she would settle down with one of her oldest and dearest books for a night. The comfort and excitement was nearly identical with how she was feeling around Silver now. If only she was able to figure out how he felt about her then maybe she would know what to do next. Although, knowing him, she’d have better luck trying to get Pinkie to give up partying, or Rainbow Dash to give up flying.
And so, as the day went on and gradually turned into night, the two ponies who enjoyed each others company more than any other pony’s spent their time talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves, but above all, they spent their time wondering what the future had in store for them.
Silver and Twilight slowly ambled through the fairgrounds. It was late in the evening, and most of the ponies had left, so they didn’t have to worry so much about watching where they were going so that they didn’t bump into anypony. The sun was beginning to set behind the many buildings that surrounded the open grassy area that the fair had been erected on, bathing the clouds in peach tinted light.
Twilight scrutinized the clouds above them as they let themselves be taken wherever their hooves took them. “It looks like the fair will be closing soon.” She looked at Silver Quill. “We’ll probably only have enough time for one more ride.”
“Alright.” He said slightly wearily. His stomach had taken enough of a beating today with the twists and turns and tilts and tumbles as Twilight had eagerly taken him from one ride to the next. Combine that with the exorbitant amount of cotton candy he had eaten, he wasn’t sure his poor little stomach could handle it.
Twilight must have noticed that he was looking a little green as she smiled at him reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we’re not going an anything to strenuous this time.”
He gave a small sigh of relief. It looked like that cotton candy was going to be staying right where it was.
“In fact,” Twilight continued speaking with a grin. “I think I know the perfect way to end the day.”
“And what would that be?” he asked curiously. Twilight pointed excitedly at what must have been the largest ride in the entire fairgrounds, visible in the sky even though it was on the opposite side. Silver smiled.
“A very good choice.” he said before the two of them trotted off, walking in between carnival booths and carefully avoiding stepping on the litter that was scattered across the ground.
The ferris wheel towered above the two ponies as they approached it. To Silver’s surprise, there was a small line up of ponies waiting for it to finish unloading its passengers in its last revolution so that they could see what the world looked like from a birds eye view. This had to be the most populated spot in the fair right now, although it made sense for it to be so. The moments before sunset, he figured, were probably the most radiant to be seen from 30 feet in the air.
Once the last passenger disembarked from the last occupied seating platform, a young bronze earth pony stallion with long brown dreadlocks exited the operators booth and stood in front of the line of awaiting ponies.
“A’right everypony!” he said loudly with a cheeky grin. “This is gonna be our last spin fo’ the day! Now, it’s important to not shake the seat too much, and remember, no food or drinks are allowed on the ride!”
The grin turned into a suggestive smile as his gaze travelled from one waiting pony to another. “However, a lil high altitude smooching is allowed and strongly encouraged!”
Silver blinked incredulously as the small crowd was overcome with a bout of whispers and giggles. It was only then that he noticed that most of the ponies around them were standing very close to another pony, close enough that their relationship appeared to be more then purely platonic.
It seemed that Twilight wasn’t the only one that thought that a spin on the ferris wheel would be a nice, and maybe even romantic way to end a date. Silver coughed awkwardly as he thought about what the stallion said, and he pointedly avoided looking at Twilight, who he noticed did the same to him.
The bronze pony with the dreadlocks started to usher the crowd one by one into the empty seats as the wheel slowly began to turn, probably being controlled by another pony sitting in the operator’s booth. He helped the ponies strap themselves down and made sure that the safety bar was secure across their bodies, quickly moving from one seat to another.
Twilight’s and Silver’s turn came soon enough. The stallion ushered them in and quickly strapped them down. He gave them a quick wink and a smile as he finished.
“Not too much funny stuff up there, eh?” he said as he waggled his eyebrows at them. Twilight looked away as she blushed, and Silver merely shot him an annoyed look. The bronze stallion only responded with a laugh.
“Alright, get ‘er going!” he called to the pony sitting in the operator’s booth. The wheel hummed and jerked to life, and Silver and Twilight slowly started to ascend.
The wheel spun in short, slow intervals, allowing everypony to appreciate the view from as the bottom seats get higher and the top seats get lower. It took about 5 minutes of slowly rotating for Silver and Twilight to reach the top of the wheel, and the gazed at the impressive display before them. The sky, tinged pink and orange with only barest hints of blue left sprawled across the distance before them. The sun, now only half visible as it dipped its head below the horizon, was bright and golden, but not so bright that it couldn’t be looked at with too much discomfort. The glow bounced off the rooftops of Canterlot, giving everything the illusion of being made of gold.
Twilight sighed from where she sat directly beside Silver, drawing his attention to her. Suddenly, the sun lost all meaning to him.
Her lips were turned into a small, contented smile as she took in the scenery. Truly, it was beautiful. The warm colours, the light breeze the sent the stray leaves tumbling, the glowing treetops, everything looked as though it could be the picture on a postcard. None of it, however, could be compared to the beauty that was the one sitting beside him.
Twilight, noticed him looking at her, and she turned to meet his eyes. He didn’t say anything to her. Instead, he just greedily drank in the sight, like a pony finding water for the first time in months. After a few moments, she looked away awkwardly.
“I think…” she muttered uncertainly, looking down to the side before meeting Silver’s eyes again. “I think I remember reading that this is the point of the date where…”
She blushed as she trailed off, flustered. She shook her head thoroughly before continuing quietly. “Where we’re supposed to…kiss.”
Silver’s eyes widened, but not in surprise. It didn’t surprise him at all that Twilight, practical, organized Twilight, would want to stick to the rules of a proper date set down by an official rulebook. He was struck, however, by the implication that she had just dropped on him.
The only thing he could do was nod, dumbly, not breaking eye contact with her. Twilight looked at him shyly before she closed her eyes and leaned in towards him, a serene yet nervous expression on her face.
Silver’s mind was in turmoil. Waves of raw emotion, now released like a raging river behind a dam that just broke, crashed against his mental barriers. Fear, happiness, nervousness, excitement, and everything in between intermingled until they had fused so much together that they turned into something that didn’t even have a name.
Only one rational thought, or at least a shadow of a thought, managed to reach Silver’s mind. He realized that he needed to do something, something that would probably be very difficult, but something that was necessary. He took a deep breath, and prepared himself.
“Wait.” his voice cut in quietly. Twilight opened her eyes and looked at him curiously.
“I think that maybe we should take things a little bit slower.” he said. Twilight cocked her head in confusion, but didn’t say a word.
“I…I really like you Twilight.” Silver said, trying to put as much force and meaning behind the words as possible. “But I think that it would be best if we did this one step at a time, for the sake of our relationship.”
Twilight was slightly taken aback by the unusual show of emotion. His words were laced with sincerity, and she couldn’t help but feel confused. Dates, romance, stallions, and everything in between were uncharted territory for her, so she didn’t know what to think. She decided to trust him however.
“Okay.” She said simply. “My book never did say when the first kiss had to happen, so I guess that's alright.”
Silver almost laughed, but instead he just nodded at her. Twilight looked away from him, and he looked away from her as the brief pause in the ferris wheel’s rotation stopped, and it started moving again. After a moment however, she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Is this okay?” she asked him. Silver trembled slightly at the contact.
“This is fine.” He replied with a gentle smile to her. She nodded and fidgeted in her seat, getting more comfortable. They sat in silence for a few more moments, enjoying the sight as the wheel gradually brought them closer to the ground/
“Feather-flank?”
“Yeah?”
“I really like you too.”
The ride didn’t last much longer, or at least that’s how it seemed to Silver with the way Twilight was so close to him with her head on his shoulder. Once they disembarked, Twilight shortly teleported the two of them back to Ponyville where they made their way back to the library. The two of them were quite tired after their busy day and were eager to get intimately reacquainted with their beds.
Spike was sleeping on the couch when they arrived, something that didn’t surprise Twilight at all. They bade each other a goodnight, and they went into their separate rooms.
Sleep was elusive to Silver Quill. Thoughts of the day raced back and forth through his mind, mainly concerning what happened on the ferris wheel. He couldn’t help but think about Twilight’s words, her shy, quiet confession of her feelings for him. He felt a small, knotting pit of excitement in his stomach as he replayed those words over and over in his mind.
“I really like you too.”
Such a simple sentence, but one that meant so much. Eventually, with one more happy sigh, he started to drift off to sleep, and most likely, to dreams of dark forests and glowing ponds.
Not to be disappointed by his unconscious, Silver’s dream were almost the exact same as always. He ran through a forest, leaves getting tangled in his mane, thin branches clawing at his face, and above all, fear coursing through his veins.
The fear vanished, however, as he broke through a wall of foliage and was met with a familiar sight. Purple and white flowers, long grass, and a pond beneath an old weeping willow met him, all familiar, and completely safe.
He quickly realized that he wasn’t alone. Near the pond, a tall and slender silhouette of a pony blanketed in shadow was sitting with its back to him, looking down into the depths of the pond before it. Before Silver could move or say anything, it turned to look at him.
“Greetings, young Silver Quill.” it said with a smile. “We are pleased to see thou could make it.”
“Lu-Luna?” Silver Quill stammered in surprise. “What are you doing here?
The princess of the night tipped her head to the side, her expression unreadable. “The question is not what am I doing here, my friend.” she said slowly and clearly. “Rather, it is what art you doing here.”
“Me?” Silver said, flabbergasted. He looked around in bewilderment, his mind strangely clouded, obscuring his memories from him. What was he doing here? he didn't have his books or his writing materials with him, and couldn't remember if he had had the sudden urge to go out for a walk or something. He couldn't even remember walking here.
“I always come here.” he said as a poor compensation for being unable to remember why he had come to his favourite writing grounds.
Luna pursed her lips thoughtfully and turned her head back around to peer into the pond. “Indeed…you have been coming here quite often as of late.” She turned around and faced Silver Quill once more, her face now stern. “And therein lies the problem.”
Silver’s thoughts ran rampant in confusion. “What problem? What are you talking about?” he asked, hopelessly confused.
The princess looked at him for a few seconds, her eyes narrow and her jaw firmly set before her expression softened as she smiled at him. She opened a wing and gestured for Silver to sit next to her.
“Come, Silver. We, that is to say, thou and I, must converse.”
Silver looked at her strangely, wondering what it was she was on about, before making his way forward. He sat down next to Luna who gently lay her outstretched wing around his shoulders. They sat in silence for about a minute, Silver awkwardly and Luna thoughtfully before the silence was broken.
“It’s a lovely night tonight.” He remarked lamely. The princess looked up through the sparse canopy of leaves that reached into the clearing and smiled a bittersweet smile, one that showed not joy, but concealed sadness. Sadness for what, Silver couldn't fathom.
“Indeed it is, my friend.” She turned her gaze away form the sky and back down to Silver Quill, her expression still inscrutable. “But for some, less lovely than for others.”
Silver furrowed his brow in concentration as he met her eyes with his own. “What do you mean by that?”
Luna sighed dejectedly, and Silver felt a pang of concern in his chest. Something was troubling his royal friend and he wanted to help, but he didn't know how.
“Let me tell thee about the night, young Silver Quill.” Luna said knowingly. “The night is when all hardships, worries, thoughts, joys, and fears coalesce into one single, devastating point. This point is when ponies are at their most vulnerable. It is where every insecurity and fear, no matter how well entrenched in the heart, is laid bare under their eyes.” Luna leaned in a little closer and looked at him meaningfully. “It’s also where the most joyful of feelings reveal themselves, even if we know not of their existence.”
Silver didn’t respond to her words, not knowing how to. Luna wrapped her wing around him tighter, almost protectively. “Tell us, Silver Quill. Dost thou know of what we speak?”
Silver squinted in confusion under her. “I’m afraid not Luna.” he answered her.
She looked at him for a few seconds longer before nodding slightly and leaning back a little, letting her eyes rest on the small pond in front of them. “Dreams, young Silver Quill. I speak of dreams.”
Silver Quill nodded uncertainly, hoping he didn't look as he confused as he felt. “I see. But that doesn’t answer the question of why you’re here Luna. Not that I’m not pleased to see you of course. It’s just…you know, surprising.”
Luna smiled gently at him. “We would imagine so, Silver Quill. Thy woulds’t not be the first to be confused by my presence in their dreams since our return to Equestria.”
Silver blinked. “Oh, that makes se- wait what?”
“That’s right young Silver Quill, this,” she gestured with a hoof to their surroundings. “This is all just a dream. And tis my job as the Princess of the Night to oversee the night-visions of our subjects to make sure that discord and chaos do not worm their way into their minds.” She paused and looked at Silver Quill closely. “However, thy psyche seems to be in a good amount of turmoil at the moment. Your mind hath been haunted by the same dream for the past few nights, and we have taken it upon ourself to intervene,” her smile widened. “both as your ruler and as your friend.”
It slowly started to come back to Silver as she spoke. He remembered the same reoccurring dream that he’d been having recently, and upon closer inspection of his surroundings, he realized that he really was dreaming. The low rumble of an invisible cello intertwined with a much quieter hum of a violin filled the air, the ground was littered with white and lavender flowers, and the pond in front of him was lit up by a white light deep from within its midst, just like every dream from before.
“We see that our words ring a chord of truth in you.” Luna’s quiet voice interrupted his thoughts. He nodded mutely, still a little bit stunned by the revelation. Luna lowered her head to his level so that she could look him in the eye. Her eyes were shining with concern.
“Thou art troubled, this we can tell, and we want to help. Tell us Silver Quill, what is it that brings such disturbance to thy mind?”
“I…” He began, but didn't finish. Silver didn’t know what to say. It was true that he had been feeling rather conflicted as of late, and if he had to take a guess, he would say that this confliction probably had something to do with Twilight, but he didn’t have the foggiest idea as to why. Everything between them was great, if a little uncertain, so he had nothing to worry about.
“I don’t know Luna.” he admitted. “I’m quite happy right now. I’ve been having fun in Ponyville, and there’s nothing that I can complain about.”
“Is that so?” she asked contemplatively. “Rarely are the dreams of ponies so precise that their meaning are as clear as glass.” She looked back into the roiling pond, her expression curious. “But as the Princess of the night, we have seen many a troubled dream, so I think that I may be able to shed some light on yours.”
Silver’s ears perked in interest. “Really?”
She nodded wisely. “Indeed my friend. All of the signs are clear in what they say, and what they say, is that you are scared.”
He raised his eyebrow gave her a dubious look. “I’m scared?” he paused for a second to think about it. He certainly didn't feel scared, and to be honest, he didn't really have anything to be scared of.
“Are you sure?” he asked her suspiciously.
Luna chuckled at his doubt. “Most definitely, Silver Quill. Thou forgets, I am the product of many passing moons, and I have experienced much throughout those years.” She winked at him. “Rest assured, we know what we are talking about.”
Silver furrowed his eyebrow as he took in her words. “Alright Princess, I’ll take your word for it, but how do you figure that I’m scared of something?” He looked down at himself for a moment before looking back up at her. “I certainly don’t feel scared.”
Luna shook her head mournfully. “If all ponies knew exactly what they felt, young Silver Quill, the world would be a much simpler place. Alas, ponies are denied the luxury of being the masters of their own minds. Even Celestia and myself, the oldest and wisest of all ponies, have troubles with understanding ourselves.”
She was silent for a brief moment as she stared into the distance, her eyes focused on nothing. She quickly shook herself back to reality and addressed the unicorn next to her once again.
“But we, that is to say, you and I, are not speaking about all ponies. Nay, we are only speaking about you.” she said, putting a hint of emphasis on the last word. Luna brought herself to her full noble height, looking quite impressive amongst the backdrop of darkness, and looked down upon Silver Quill with a determined look in her eyes. This was a mare with a mission, it seemed to Silver; and from what he could tell, that mission was helping him make sense of his mind.
“What you are afraid of, young Silver Quill, is change.” She declared.
His brow furrowed further as he narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Change? Change of what?” he asked her.
“Only thou would know.” She replied simply.
“What do you mean only I would know? I barely even know what you’re talking about.” he told her honestly. The only time Silver Quill had been ‘afraid’ was when he was on those adrenaline pumping rides with Twilight, but even then he would hesitate to call that genuine fear. More like intense apprehension, or mind-numbing nervousness.
Luna took a moment to study him, looking deeply into his innocent face and eyes, her gaze strong and unwavering. Silver felt a slight chill run up and down his spine at her intense gaze, but he also felt his incorporeal body warm as Luna’s face betrayed her concern and love for him, her closest friend besides her sister.
“Something has happened to you, my friend, which has thrown off thy equilibrium.” She said seriously. “I know not its nature nor its source, but you have been introduced to something that goes against your nature.” She leaned forward a bit to help emphasize her words. “That is what scares you, Silver Quill. That which you cannot understand, predict, or prevent. Change.”
Silver Quill was left speechless for a moment. Finally, he found his voice and managed to weekly ask “Is it a good change?”
Luna’s head tilted to the side. “It matters not the nature of the change; all that matters, at least, all that matters to you, is its existence.” Luna paused for a moment to let the words sink in. “All ponies fear change, whether it be good or bad for them. You are no exception, Silver Quill.”
Silver looked back down at the pond. His reflection, distorted and rippling amongst the waving surface, looked back at him. He noticed that he suddenly looked a lot older than he normally did with wrinkles on his brow and his mouth shaping a thin frown. He sighed dejectedly.
He hated to admit it, but Luna was probably right. Now that it was brought to his attention, looking back, he could see the signs. The way he had brooded yesterday, causing Twilight to worry, the way he turned down her kiss, even though he knew that he would like nothing more than to kiss her back. Heck, even this annoying dream was starting to make a lot more sense now that he thought about it. The unidentified monster that he had been running away from every night was the change that Luna mentioned, and the clearing that he would burst into with a feeling of relief and peace was his little bubble of normality that he was reluctant to leave behind in favour of the scary and the unknown.
“What do I do?” he asked quietly, more to himself than to the mare besides him. Nevertheless, Luna slowly extended a wing and draped it across his shoulders again as she leaned her head down and lightly pressed it against his own.
“You must face the change Silver Quill. It is the only way to calm thy stormy mind.”
Silver nodded weakly, and Luna withdrew her wing from his back and sat up straight once again. He took a few moments to compose himself and looked back up at her with one of his rare smiles.
“Thank you for the help Luna. You’re a good friend.” he said honestly. Luna smiled back at him and nodded.
With that, Silver Quill shook some life and energy back into his body and stood up, a determined look in his eyes. If facing the change was what he needed to do, than so be it. He took a deep breath and turned away from Luna and started to the edge of the clearing. His eyes narrowed anxiously as he approached the line of foliage, a natural reaction to what he was about to do. Before he did anything though, he turned back around to face Luna, who was watching him closely.
“You’re modern equestrian has gotten much better Luna.” he called out to her. She bristled with pride and held her head a little higher, a smile on her face.
“Thanks!” she called back. “I’ve been practicing since I haven’t had you to talk to during my nights.” Silver nodded as he made a mental not to spend some more time with his royal friend once he went back to Canterlot. He turned back to the trees, barely illuminated in the light of the moon above. He took a deep breath, preparing to do something that his mind was screaming at him not to do. Finally, after a moment of self preparation, he bent his legs and jumped through the walls of leaves, branches, and shrubbery.
Immediately, Silver Quill could feel the effects of leaving the safety of his clearing. The gentle murmur of string instruments vanished the moment he broke through the line of foliage to be replaced by a silence so deep and profound, he could hear it in his very core. The fear came instantly, numbing the tips of his hooves as it pervaded every fibre of his being.
He stood his ground for a moment, frozen in indecision. He looked behind him, but he was unable to see Luna from where he stood. He could only see darkness behind him, no doubt the dream messing with his sense of perception.
He shook himself violently and grimaced as the rumbling noise started up once again. “It can’t hurt you. It’s just Change, not a terrible, vicious monster.” He sullenly glared at the ground for a moment. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure which one is scarier.”
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Silver looked up once more and growled. He was feeling unusually angry about his current situation, probably a side effect of the fear he was feeling. This anger helped him focus on his goal and prevented his fear from overtaking him and sending back into the safety of his clearing with his tail between his legs.
He took off at a run, bounding easily over the exposed roots and plants of the forest floor. As he ran, Night slowly changed into day as the rumbling noise switched from an ominous growl into a malicious roar. Somewhere in this forest was a very angry giant who had some qualms about Silver Quill running towards it. It took an immense force of will, one that he wasn’t aware that he could muster, in order to not stop in his tracks and turn around.
It seemed to Silver Quill that his very surroundings were designed specifically to terrify his cutie mark off. Even the fact that the sun was shining now did nothing to reduce the fear inducing hold that the forest had over him. If anything, it made it worse. The light filtered through the branches and cast sinister looking shadows across the forest floor, which was barely illuminated as though it repelled the sunlight. But still he pressed on, pushing through his fear with all that he had.
He didn’t know how long he was running for; it could have been for a few minutes or a few hours and wouldn’t have mattered. Silver was somewhat pleased to discover that no matter how much he ran, he didn’t feel a hint of fatigue or soreness in his body, a result of the dream bending the laws of the world no doubt. Spurred onwards by this fact and his desperation to get away from this oppressive, haunting forest, Silver picked up speed until he was running at a full sprint, and still he didn’t feel a hint of pain in his muscles.
He was maybe a little bit too lost in his desperation, so lost that he was no longer able to think rationally or logically. If he was able, he would have realized that tearing through a dark forest with plenty of exposed roots, stones, and other obstructions was probably not the best idea. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until his hind hoof snagged on one of the aforementioned roots sending him tumbling and sprawling over the ground did he realize the error of his ways.
Silver’s focus on his running was what had prevented the crushing fear from completely overwhelming him by shoving it into the back of his mind where it was barely noticed. Now that he was curled up in a painful, dirty ball on the forest floor, he had nothing left to stop the wave of terror rapidly approaching him, eager to consume him and leave nothing but a pitiful, wretched husk behind.
His fear came down on him like a hammer to the skull. He gasped, instinctively squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to save his sanity and keep on moving forward. He was so close to his goal now, he could feel it. Whimpering and shivering, he slowly made an effort to get back on his hooves, but before he could take a single step, his legs collapsed from underneath him, sending him face first into the dirt once more.
He cried out in a mixture of pain and distress as gravity brought him back down. Seeing no other alternative, he curled in on himself, holding his hooves and tail close to his body in a last ditch effort to keep him safe. Through his trembling and his tears, he was reminded of the instances in his childhood where his overactive imagination gave him terrible and vivid nightmares that would scar him for weeks. Only the soothing words of his parents had the power to calm him when that happened, but there was no mother or father to ease his fears now.
Tears started to flow from his eyes as his moans became even more pitiful. The forest seemed to close in on him as though to crush him with its presence.
“Go away…don’t come…leave me alone…” he whimpered, his voice cracked and dry. The fear didn’t listen, however, and still continued to attack his vulnerable mind with barrage after barrage of psychological torture.
After a few minutes of this, Silver Quill was almost at his breaking point, his mind now stretched so thin that it was about to snap like a rubber band that’s been pulled too much. His front hooves were pressed so tight around his body that, if he weren’t dreaming, he would have left bruises on himself.
Before his sanity snapped and he was sent howling into a pit of indefinable terror, he heard an unintelligible voice in the distant. It softly called out from beyond the shadowy curtain of the forest, inexplicably audible even through the earthquake like roar that emanated from all sides. It was a voice that Silver Quill hadn’t heard in many years, but it was one that he instantly recognized.
His ears perked slightly, and his eyes opened by a hairs breadth at the sound of the voice, but he didn’t move, partly in disbelief but mostly because his entire body seemed to be completely unresponsive due to the impact that the mental trauma has had on him. The voice called again, slightly louder this time, but still not loud enough to be understood.
Silver’s eyes opened slightly wider, almost halfway, and he was able to move his head by a fraction of an inch so that he was facing the direction that the voice was coming from. Once more, it called out, and this time he was able to discern its words.
“Silver Quill…” it said softly. Silver’s heart skipped a beat as he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, one that wasn’t the result of the fear. His full attention was now on the veil of darkness that the sun overhead couldn’t penetrate. Slowly, feeling returned to his body and he gritted his teeth as he gradually dragged his hooves underneath him in an effort to stand up again. So focused on the voice was Silver that he didn’t even notice the everpresent rumbling sound getting quieter as his fear slowly dissipated.
A rustle of movement caught his eye from beyond the darkness, and Silver Quill tensed nervously. Hope mixed with trepidation blossomed deep inside of him as he peered breathlessly into the darkness, his fear forgotten.
He almost gasped as light pink forehoof came out of the shadows, eventually followed by another forehoof, and then followed by the head and body of a mare of the same colour with a wavy dark purple mane and tail. She stepped out into the dim light and smiled at Silver Quill.
Silver didn’t move. He felt as though he had jumped into a lake in the middle of winter. His entire body was numb as he stared with disbelief at the newcomer, his thoughts a cacophony of conflicting emotions.
It took him several tries, but he eventually found his voice. “Why are you here?” he croaked weekly.
The mare tilted her head, as though the answer was obvious. “You called me, so I came.” she said simply. The sound of her voice made Silver tremble, as though just the sight of her was causing him physical pain.
“I didn’t…” Silver began, but was interrupted before he could finish.
“You’re heart did.” She said.
His eyes widened and started to moisten. She smiled gently to him. She looked perfect, exactly how he remembered her. Instead of being sickly and pale like the last time he saw her, she was bright with life and health, just like how he always pictured her to be in his mind. Silver almost couldn’t believe his own eyes.
Almost.
“Mom…” he choked out, his voice cracking and his eyes blurring. “I missed you.”
The mares smile grew strained and her own eyes started tearing up slightly as well. “I missed you too, love.” she said, her voice rich with barely repressed emotion. She took a single step closer to where he lay.
This was the last straw for Silver Quill. His nervousness and trepidation shattered like glass at her words, and purposeful strength flooded his body. He got to his hooves and rushed towards his mother who opened her forelegs in a waiting embrace for him.
He collapsed in her arms without a sound, and she held him with as much strength as she could muster, tightly squeezing him as though he would slip away from her if she didn’t. Silver Quill could feel his breath being forced from his body, but he didn't mind. Instead, he just returned the favour by holding her just as tightly.
But Silver wasn’t going anywhere. The exact number escaped him at the moment, but it had been years since the last time he’d been held in these arms. All was silent around them as they sat on the cold forest floor, holding on to one another more tightly than they would their last bag of bits.
After a few minutes, they finally disengaged and looked at each other. Silver’s mother laughed quietly and ran a hoof through silver’s mane, brushing away a few errant strands that fell over his face.
“Look at you,” she whispered proudly. “so mature and grown up.”
Silver chuckled. “Not mature enough to not need his mother, apparently.” She clucked her tongue in disapproval and bopped him on the nose.
“Oh hush you.” she said. “No matter how mature you get, you’ll always need me, even if you don’t know it.”
Silver sighed as a weight of sadness was brought down upon him. “Yeah…you’re probably right about that.” he said quietly, unable to meet her eye. She must have sensed his sadness as she sighed quietly.
“Oh Silver…” she said sadly. “I’m so sorry.”
“S’not your fault.” he muttered. His mother looked down at him with concern for a moment before taking his head in hoof and gently moving his face upwards so she could meet his eyes.
“Now don’t you be like that, young colt. I didn’t raise you to back down when the going got tough, did I?” she asked sternly.
“No…” Silver muttered in reply.
“Right. And when life gives you lemons, what do you do?” she asked again, her eyes hard.
Silver couldn’t help but keep a little grin from showing. “You demand to see life’s manager and threaten to burn life’s house down.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, obviously not satisfied. Silver sighed.
“…with the lemons.” he finished lamely. She smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
“That’s my boy.” she said with conviction before smiling gently gave him one more squeezing hug. “I’m so proud of you.”
Silver’s grin grew wider as he returned the hug, resting his head against her neck as he did so. “Thanks mom.” he replied.
Their hug went uninterrupted for half a minute as they held each other on the dirty forest floor. As she held her son tightly, Silver felt a kind of warmth spreading through his body and mind that he hadn’t felt in many years. The indescribable feeling of being held by the pony that cared for you most in the world and who wouldn’t let harm befall you without putting life and limb on the line first. It was the powerful feeling of love wrapped in an iron hard bubble of safety that, no matter the force, could not be popped.
It was a feeling that Silver Quill, stoic, emotionless Silver Quill, dearly missed. But more than that, he missed the only mare that was capable of giving him that feeling.
He trembled as his mother gently pulled away from him, not wanting to break the embrace so soon, but obliging anyway. She held him at arms length, looking at him with sad eyes.
“You need to go now, love.” she urged gently. Silver gasped, even more emotion intruding on his normally blank face that had been showing much more in one dream than it has for the past 10 years.
“What? No! I want to stay with you!” he protested anxiously, tears threatening to break through once again. “I…don’t want you to leave again.” His voice was pitiful even to his own his ears, but his mother could only sadly smile and shake her head.
“That’s what I want too, love, but it’s not something that I can have.” she said with melancholic acceptance, her expression strained as she forced herself to ignore every maternal instinct she had that demanded she scoop up her son and carry him away from this terrible place and bring him somewhere safe and warm. She took his face in between her hooves and looked at him intently.
“This is more important than me. Right now, you need to go and confront your inner demons, but more importantly, you need to beat them. Do you understand?” Silver’s eyes widened at her words, but he nodded solemnly, unable to form a sentence of his own.
Her eyes softened as she let go of his face. “Good colt.” She said approvingly. “And don’t you go on thinking that I left you just because I died. Something like that can never convince me to leave my only boy.” She said seriously. Silver chuckled weakly.
“I know mom, I know.” he said in quiet, yet unsurprised, amusement. Trust in her not to let death get in the way between mama bear and her cub. They sat in silence for a moment before Silver spoke up again.
“I’ve been doing what you wanted me to…” he muttered uncertainly. His mother tilted her head in confusion, so he explained further.
“Making friends I mean. I’ve made a few of them over the past few days.” he explained quietly
Understanding bloomed in her eyes, and she smiled once more, warmly and proudly. “I know, love, and I’m so happy that you did.” She got a mischievous glint in her eye. “I especially like that Twilight mare, and from what I can tell, you do to.” Silver flushed with embarrassment.
“I uh…maybe.” he said uncertainly. His mother laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“There’s no ‘maybe’ about it, love. Trust me when it comes to this.” She tapped the side of her nose with a hoof and winked. “Momma knows best.”
Silver smiled slightly. “Yeah…momma knows best.” he said quietly. She smiled and they looked at each other for a few more moments before expression turned from one of motherly love into sad acceptance.
“Silver…” she began sadly, but was cut off before she could finish.
“I know mom.” Silver said abruptly. He gave a shuddering sigh and looked down, unable to look at the face of the mare that he hadn’t seen in years, yet will still have to walk away from. “I know…”
He felt a hoof gently hold him by the back of the neck as his mother leaned forward and planted a single, gentle kiss right under his horn, just like she would do when he was a colt. His limbs tensed in an effort to not wrap his arms around her once more.
“I love you…” he heard her whisper. He looked up again to respond, to tell her that he loved her too and to beg her to stay, but when he looked, she was gone. Just like those years ago, he was left alone to nurse his own pain and aches by himself with nary a shoulder to lean on.
Silver took a moment to sit in silence. He felt weak now, his limbs barely reacting to the signals that the brain was sending their way. He collapsed onto his stomach, his body drained of energy. As the cruel reality of having his mother whisked away from him for the second time in his life came down upon him, he didn’t think he could muster the strength to take one more step.
He might as well just stay here until the dream ends, he figured as he closed his eyes. Goddess knows he had a snowballs chance in hell to even stand up in the condition he was in, much less keep on moving. It was a lost cause. He was a lost cause. The ‘inner demons’ as his mother had put it had knocked him down, and he wasn’t about to get up again.
And then he heard it.
The angry, groaning, rumbling noise started back up again. It was quiet, but it was slowly getting louder and more oppressive as the seconds went by. It came out through the gaps in the trees from the darkness beyond, shaking the ground ever so slightly with its anger.
Silver’s eyes opened in surprise and he wearily looked towards the direction that the sound was coming from, the direction that he had been running to mere moments before. He couldn’t see what was making the sound, he couldn’t see whether it was big or small, whether or not it had fangs or claws, whether it had had the wings or the eyes of a demon, but it didn’t matter to him.
His eyes narrowed in irritation. It was all because of that stupid noise and whatever it was that was making it did his mother have to leave. If it weren’t for it, she could still be here, holding him and telling him that everything was going to be alright. He didn’t even feel afraid anymore. Now he was just annoyed. Really annoyed.
In fact, he could almost say that he was angry. He clenched his teeth as his eyes narrowed further, a low growl emitting from his throat. It’s been so many years since he’s seen his mother as a colt, since she died from a debilitating, incurable disease that took her away from him, and it was all the fault of whatever damned creature that was making that noise that he couldn't see her for more than a few minutes. Silver felt a trickle of energy pour into his body, a trickle that slowly grew into a downright waterfall as he went from irritated, to angry, to downright furious.
How DARE it take her away from him?! Silver slowly got to his hooves, his anger bubbling into a frothing sea of emotion that almost took control of his entire mind and body. He slowly turned towards the direction the ominous rumbling was coming from, and he glared.
It thought that he was afraid of it? It thought that he was just going to lie down and let it step all over him like that? Well, it had another thing coming.
“I wanna speak to your manager.” Silver growled, his eyes promising death to whatever it was that took her away from him for the second time.
He took off, all fear and trepidation forgotten as he thundered across the ground. His eyes were alight with the fire of purpose as he approached the source of anger, relishing the thought of his hooves wrapping around the throat of whatever was responsible for it. He was about to teach a very unfortunate something a very painful lesson.
There is nothing more dangerous than a stallion who has nothing to lose.
Silver couldn’t have been running for more than a few minutes. He nimbly evaded fallen trees and large branches as he ran, so focused on his goal that he barely even registered their existence. His anger fueled him with so much energy that he felt as though he was liable to burst if he didn’t run fast enough, but he kept himself from moving too fast, lest he repeat the same mistake that he had made before.
Eventually, he came upon a wall of darkness and foliage that obscured everything behind it, much like the clearing that he had left Luna behind in before. He briefly worried that he had been running in the wrong direction, but the sun that was high in the sky assured him that he wasn’t. His clearing could only be found at night, he knew.
So he gritted his teeth and leaped through the wall. The angry roaring in his ears had reached its highest level and threatened to burst his eardrums as he ran, but as soon as he passed through the tree line, it stopped completely, nearly disorienting him with the newfound silence.
Silver panted as he looked around, his eyes quickly jumping from one place to the next, desperately searching for whatever it was that had been tormenting him for so long so that he may kick its teeth out.
He couldn’t see anything that looked as though it deserved to have its face flattened, however, so he examined his surroundings. Silver’s anger slowly dissipated as he looked around and realized where he was.
Strangely enough, it was his clearing. Everything was exactly where it was when he left it. The pond was still in the middle, the willow tree standing over it and the wildflowers standing guard all around, just like before, the whites and lavenders contrasting sharply against the bright green grass on which they lay on. The only difference was that instead of the moon being directly over his head, the sun shone down upon him in its place.
Silver hesitantly walked forward, and as he did so, he became aware of several strange sensations. He smelt the smell of ozone in the air, felt the warmth of a hearthfire on his fur, tasted the sharp tang of a well made jasmine tea, and above it all, he heard a strange music float through the air.
The music was what got his attention the most. He could identify two instruments, the violin and cello, playing together in a somber, yet somewhat hopeful, duet. The two instruments, played by invisible hooves on invisible strings, complimented each other nicely. Silver paused to listen to it for a moment, appreciating the soft tones of the instruments as the two of them danced together in perfect harmony, rising and falling in tune with the other.
Silver took a deep breath as he listened to the pleasant tones of the instruments. He felt his earlier stress and anger ebb away completely as he was lulled into a pleasant calmness by the music. He waited a few more moments before shaking his head and continuing his walking towards the pond in the center of the clearing. As relaxing the music was, he had a job to do. Granted, he didn’t know exactly what exactly that job was, but he certainly wasn’t going to find out by just sitting there.
He approached the pond hesitantly, all the other instances of it pulling him into its depths in his previous dreams springing forth in his mind and making him cautious. As he got near the surface, he noticed something off about it.
He had been expecting the pond to be illuminated from its depths by a dull white light just like it had before. Instead, a bright lavender light made the surface shine a pale violet hue. He stopped, for a moment, confused at the small differences. He knew that he was in no actual danger, but he still couldn’t help casting a worried glance at the surface of the water.
He eventually made his way to the edge and peeked into the water, that unlike before, was still instead of toiling. He stared uncertainly at it for a moment, expecting to be overcome by an overpowering urge to plunge face first into its depths just like all those times before, but it never came.
Confused, he slowly brought his hoof closer to the surface of the pond. He was mere inches away from it before he suddenly stopped, overcome by a feeling of apprehension and nervousness. He couldn’t force his hoof any closer to the surface.
He paused in his efforts to test the waters, looking back and forth from his outstretched hoof to the gently undulating surface before him. The gears and cogs in his brain started to spin, slowly granting him understanding.
“Nopony gets dragged into change if they don’t want to.” he realized as he pondered the conspicuous lack of an urge to fall into the watery depths. He looked at the lavender light critically. “They have to submit themselves to it, let it take them without resistance…” he gulped slightly, suddenly fearful of the innocuous lavender light. “no matter how scary that change might be.”
Silver Quill sighed and looked at the pond wearily, giving the matter some thought before nodding decisively to himself. He turned around and walked a few paces in the opposite direction before stopping and facing it again.
He took a moment to brace himself, squaring his shoulders and stiffening his legs before he took off at a run. Right before he fell reached the edge of the pond and was sent crashing and splashing into its midst, he bent his legs and jumped as high and as far as he could, sailing over the surface of the water for a few seconds before coming back down with a huge splash.
The water was freezing cold. It stung Silver Quill like millions of little needles made of ice poking him from all sides. Immediately, he could feel himself being pulled down, just like in every other dream. The only difference was that this time, he didn’t have an expression of calm peace or of unmitigated terror. This time, he was emotionless, his face set into an expression of acceptance as he faced the change for all that it was worth.
The lull of sleep gently escaped Silver Quill as he slowly wakened. He cracked an eye open and winced as a lance of sunlight burned his retinas, causing him to shift under the covers and face the other direction. He took a few moments to let his eyes adjust and enjoy the warmth of the covers before he sat up in his bed with a tremendous yawn.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked at the window. He could see the silhouette of several leaves pressed against the glass by the wind, sending oddly shaped shadows on the floor and walls. He could slightly hear the voices of ponies and the sound of activity through the window. The rolling of cart wheels, the light steps of children and the heavy ones of adults, the raised voices of neighbours calling out greetings to each other all granted a pleasant backdrop of noise that threatened to send him back to sleep if he wasn’t careful.
Silver frowned. Wasn’t it a bit too early for such hustle and bustle? It was usually fairly quiet and peaceful in the morning. Maybe the fact that it was Nightmare Night morning had something to do with it? Even so, those ponies should be making more of an effort to be quieter. Their excitement didn’t give them much of an excuse to be loud and wake up the ones still sleeping.
Silver threw the covers off of him and crawled out of bed. In doing so, his eyes fell upon the clock on the wall, and he froze in surprise. Well that explained it. It was almost noon. Silver should have been out of bed several hours ago. The reason that the ponies outside weren’t being considerate for sleeping ponies is that there were no more sleeping ponies.
Silver shook his head and chuckled as he quickly made his bed. Normally, he would be annoyed with himself for waking at such a late hour, upset that he wasted so much time, but now, he couldn’t muster up the motivation to do so. It probably didn’t matter anyway. There was nothing that urgently required his attention today.
He made his way downstairs to find that ground floor was completely empty. Spike wasn’t in the kitchen cooking up a batch of culinary delights and Twilight wasn’t in the library organizing the shelves or poring over a tome, so Silver made the assumption that the two of them had left for whatever reason and left him to his sleep.
His assumption was made correct when he spied the piece of paper left on the coffee table in the sitting room. He picked it up with his magic and quickly read through it.
Dear Sleepyhead,
Spike and I have gone out to run a few errands, make some plans for Nightmare Night, stock up on candy, that sort of thing. We didn’t think it necessary to wake you, and I decided it would be best if we just let you get your beauty sleep. Feel free to do whatever it is you please, and we’ll see you when we return sometime in the afternoon.
“Love, Twilight Sparkle.” Silver finished reading aloud. He smiled slightly at that.
“Love, huh?” he muttered to himself before tossing the note into the garbage bin. He grabbed a few slices of bread from the counter and inserted them into the toaster.
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” He whispered with a smile.
Breakfast was quick and simple, eggs on toast and a tall glass of orange juice. Silver Quill scarfed down the meal and quickly washed the dishes in the sink before setting them on the rack to dry. Once he was done cleaning after himself, he swiftly made his way upstairs and into his sparsely furnished room. He made a bee line for the desk and sat himself down as his magic rifled through his saddlebags and withdrew what he was looking for.
“This is it.” he thought decisively as the sheaf of papers, quill, inkwell, and small bottle of ink was placed neatly onto the desk. “I’ve been absent from my duties for too long. I’ve had a week to get my head in order, and now it’s time for me to get back into the game.”
His eyes flew over the paper as he perused through his unfinished manuscript. He quickly remembered where it was that he left off, and with a determined huff, he lightly dipped his quill into his inkwell hunched over the awaiting page.
His quill hovered over the surface, trembling slightly in his telekinetic grip as though it itself was eager to be put to good use. Silver’s eyes followed the floating motes of dust in the air, illuminated by the sunlight that was pouring in through the window above the desk. He breathed deeply and steadily, in and out, in and out, in and out.
Minutes passed and Silver Quill hadn’t even touched the page yet. He let his eyes point themselves in whatever direction he pleased as he waited for what it was he needed. An idea, a thought, an epiphany, something to jump start his mind and get his quill moving. He looked back at the piece of blank paper. It seemed to invite him towards it, to encourage him to put pen to paper and to do what he did best, to paint beautiful pictures and compose wondrous music with words.
Slowly, the quill inched closer to the page. It came to a rest at the top left corner, and then began to glide across the white sheet, marring it with a think line of black ink. The line then began form letters; and the letters than began to form words. Eventually, a sentence had been formed.
There stood her beloved, standing with his back towards her and without a single wound upon his body.
Silver Quill looked at this sentence critically. He ran his eyes over it back and forth in an attempt to find its flaws, but if there were any, they escaped his attention. Finally, he set his quill back on the page and continued, and eventually, sentences formed a paragraph.
Rosemary’s breath was stolen from her. She tried to call out, but her weak voice was reduced to a mere choking sound. It had been so long she had seen him, so long since she had held him in her arms as he slowly bled to death in front of her from multiple grievous injuries. But she could not see any on him. The hoof he had lost was there, the arrow sticking out of his torso was missing, and the jagged gash on his side had disappeared. He was exactly how she remembered him. He was perfect.
A smile tugged at the edges of Silver’s mouth. His quill slowly started to pick up speed so that it was now moving at the speed of a walk rather than a crawl.
He was a lie. She knew it in her heart of hearts, but she could not turn away from him. Slowly, he looked back at her, and smiled the very same smile that he had given her those few years ago just before he took his last breath. “Rosemary,” he said, his voice deepened with an incredible sadness. “Run.”
Silver Quill was grinning now. He dipped the tip of his quill into the inkwell before putting it back to the paper and continuing. He wrote, slowly, but surely, and as time slipped away from him as he imprinted his imagination on paper, paragraphs turned into pages.
Silver was brought back to reality by the harsh sound of somepony knocking on the front door on the floor below him. He jumped slightly and looked around, surprised to suddenly be torn away from his story. He looked the clock to see that a little over 2 hours had passed. To him, it felt like it had only been 30 minutes.
He glanced at the small pile of completed pages on his desk. It wasn’t a lot, not nearly as much as there would be if he were on his A game, but considering his luck with writing as of late, he was satisfied with it.
Silver quickly stood up, and without wasting any more time, left the room to investigate the knocking on the library door. He quickly descended the stairs.
“I’m coming.” He called out to whoever it was that begged his attention. Once he made his way to the front door, a small flare of his horn quickly opened it to find a pure white unicorn on the other side.
“Hello Rarity, what brings you here?” he asked politely.
Rarity looked surprised to see him standing there. “Oh, hello Silver Quill. I was just wondering if the library was open today, seeing as it was Nightmare Night and whatnot.”
Silver thought for a moment. He hadn’t been given any information as to whether the library was open or not in Twilight’s note so he couldn’t say for sure. Rarity was a close personal friend of hers however, so he nodded anyway, figuring that Twilight would have wanted to help her friend, closed library or not.
“It is. Do you need a book?” he asked her.
“Indeed. I would have waited until tomorrow, but I’m afraid it is of the utmost importance that I pick it up post haste.” She replied seriously.
Silver nodded and opened the door, gesturing for her to enter. Rarity nodded her thanks and stepped inside before he closed the door behind her and turning to see her with a slightly befuddled expression on her face.
“Is Twilight not here?” she inquired. Silver nodded and explained the whereabouts of the librarian.
“I see.” she replied as she looked around. “It feels different when Twilight isn't here. Very rarely do I not find her inside the library.” She put a dainty hoof to her chin and tapped it thoughtfully. “A shame really. She really could stand to go out a little more often. It’s a crime that such a lovely mare should stay cooped inside so much.”
Silver cracked a small smile at this. “Is that so?”
Rarity nodded solemnly. “Indeed. I love dear Twilight to death, I really do, but I can’t understand how she is content with staying indoors for so long at a time. Those assignments and studies seem to take up so much of time that she has none left to go out in the sunshine every once in a while.”
Rarity stopped talking abruptly as her face reddened. “Oh, listen to me prattling on like a gossipy noble.” She said, clearly embarrassed. “I really shouldn’t speak of her like that. Twilight is a dear friend of mine and it does not reflect well of me to speak of her behind her back.” She gave Silver Quill a sheepish smile. “My apologies for acting so inappropriately.”
Silver laughed and waved her apology away with his hoof. “Think nothing of it.” He said with a smile. “Now, what is this book that you so desperately need?” At her hesitant look, Silver continued. “Don’t worry, I may not be as good as Twilight, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find whatever you need without too much trouble.”
“Well, alright.” Rarity said hesitantly. “I’ve recently been stuck by an incredible burst of inspiration and now I require a book about Zebra fashion from the Zavannah.”
Silver nodded and showed her to the Around the World section. It was one of the sections of the library that he had helped organize a few days back, so he was positive that he would be able to locate the required tome without too much difficulty.
He ran his eyes over the spines of the books, quickly jumping from one to another as he read each title faster than most ponies could react. “You know,” he said idly as he searched, “Twilight and I were actually outside for the entire day yesterday, so you needn’t worry too much about her not seeing the sun enough…” A few seconds later and Silver Quill found what it was he was looking for.
“Ah, here we go,” he exclaimed as he withdrew it fro the top shelf with his magic. “A Cultural Guide on Zebrican Style” It was a thin book with a dark brown cover that pictured a variety of robes, dresses, and jewellery being worn by a variety of zebras. He turned around to look at Rarity. “Does that meet your needs?”
Rarity didn’t answer. Silver looked at her curiously. She had an expression that was a mix of bewilderment and eagerness all in one. After a moment of awkward silence that entailed her staring at him, she shook her head to clear her mind and cleared her throat.
“Ahem, yes, that should do just fine, thank you.” She said graciously as she took the book in her telekinetic grasp. “But um…I don’t mean to pry but…what was that you said about spending all day together?”
Silver’s eyes widened as he realized what he had said. “Oh boy, here we go.” He thought to himself warily. He could see a gleam in Rarity’s eye that was almost predatory in nature, and a grin was slowly inching across her face despite her obvious attempts to conceal it.
“Oh, well, we just went out and…had a day together.” Silver replied a little to quickly and casually. Rarity took his blatant attempt at misdirection in stride, nodding thoughtfully.
“Is that so?” she asked innocently. “And what did the two of you do?”
Silver squirmed uncomfortably. “Oh you know,” he said, as nonchalantly as he possibly could. “we just got some food, went to the Nightmare Night fair, that sort of thing. No biggie.”
Her eyes widened slightly and he could almost feel the excitement radiating off of her. “I see.” She said, the picture of innocuous innocence. “And how exactly did this little…soiree of yours come to be?”
A bead of sweat started to fall down his cheek. He felt like he was under the gaze of a wolf, cold and calculating, sizing him up for its next meal. “Well, it just sort of…happened.”
“It just happened.” she deadpanned as she narrowed her unreadable eyes at him.
Silver nodded. “Yup. Just happened.”
There was silence as the two ponies looked at one another, one which who was desperately trying to not look away and start whistling inconspicuously. Finally, the silence was broken.
“Silver Quill?” Rarity said.
“Yes Rarity?”
“I’m not leaving until I hear what I want to hear.”
Silver managed to hold his peace for a few more moments before finally giving in. “Alright alright!” he snapped. “enough with the glaring, you’re gonna burn your eyes out…” Rarity gave a victorious huff before looking at him expectantly.
Silver sighed dejectedly. “We…went on a date.” He finally managed to say.
“I KNEW IT!” Rarity blurted out loudly before covering her mouth with a hoof and blushing.
“Ehe, that is to say…” she said as she took a moment to compose herself. “I had thought there was something between you two.” She amended much more quietly, this time with a smug smile.
Silver tried to give her a wry look, but he found her smile rather infectious. “I suppose you did.”
Rarity nodded primly. “Indeed. Now, on to more important things.” She said before shooting Silver Quill a meaningful look. He nodded understandingly.
“Right.” He looked at the book in Rarity’s magical grasp. “I think that this should meet your needs. It’s about traditional garb worn in almost all Zebrican cultures ranging from ceremonial to casual to-“
He was interrupted by Rarity shaking her head anxiously. “Not about that darling, this is much more important than fashion! Her eyes narrowed “Although if you tell anypony I said that I will deny it vehemently.” She took a step closer and gazed at him imploringly. “This is much more important. I want you to tell me everything.”
Silver looked at her strangely. “Everything? About the date you mean?” he asked dubiously.
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Well of course everything about the date darling! It isn’t everyday that the bookish Twilight goes and “hits the town” as it were with a handsome stallion!” Silver raised an eyebrow at that, but Rarity ignored him. “I want to know everything. Where you went, what you talked about, how you felt,” her eyes shined mischievously. “what you did. Everything.”
“Oh.” Silver replied simply. “Alright then.” He took a moment to organize his thoughts, and when it took longer than he would have liked, he motioned to the sitting area with his hoof. “Maybe we should sit down and talk?”
Rarity nodded briskly and quickly trotted over to the sitting area with Silver before she settled herself into a plush armchair. She rested her forelegs on the rests and steepled her hooves so that she was peering at him like a cliché villain in a storybook.
“Now, start talking.” She demanded, leaving no room for argument.
“It…really wasn’t anything special Rarity.” Silver started hesitantly, hoping to cool down the burning curiosity in her eyes. “We went out, got breakfast, went to the fair, went on some rides, and came back. The rest is all just little, insignificant details.”
Rarity’s eyes shined. “But the little details are the most important one! I want to know what it felt like for you two to be together, what you thought of her and she of you! I want to know if you and Twilight had any real chemistry.”
“Why don’t you just ask Twilight this?” Silver half whined.
Rarity waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh dear, that would be like trying to match dark brown with bright pink.” she said with an elegant laugh. “Poor Twilight would get all flustered and start talking about the chemical reactions that a pony has when they are with somepony they like and whether or not she had any. She won’t be able to give me any real answers.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’ll be your job.”
Silver Quill sighed and shook his head. “If you insist.” He said halfheartedly.
Rarity smiled at him victoriously, like a cat who had a helpless mouse under its paws. Silver began to regale her with the details that she wished for. He gave her a step by step recount of the past day’s events, and the next 20 minutes or so was filled with him talking and her listening with rapt attention. Silver wondered how it was that she found all of it so interesting with the way that her eyes occasionally widened or when she snickered at seemingly random parts of his story.
Silver was in the middle of painting the scene of him and Twilight sitting at the peak of the ferris wheel when Rarity interrupted him.
“Ohhh, that is so romantic!” she squealed delightedly. “Sitting high above the treetops, the breeze flowing through your manes as the sun slowly dips its head under the horizon. Completely lost in each others eyes, the world dead to you as the two of you slowly lean in closer, eyes closed, until finally…”
Rarity petered off as she noticed the strange look that Silver was giving her. She cleared her throat delicately. “Yes, well, you know what I mean.” She said with a wave of her hoof. “Although I must say, you certainly seem to know how to show a girl a good time. A ride on the ferris wheel on the cusp of dawn? Simply inspired.” she said with a voice tinged with respect.
Silver shook his head with a wry grin. “I wish I could agree with you, but it was her idea to go on the ferris wheel, not mine.”
“Ah, is that so?” she asked. “How…interesting.”
Silver nodded. “Yeah. Also, what you were talking about just then never actually…happened.” He said awkwardly.
Rarity’s eyes widened. “You two were sitting at the top of a ferris wheel, gazing at a beautiful sunset, and you didn’t even share and intimate kiss?” she asked incredulously with a scandalized look. “Why, that has to be breaking at least one rule of dating, whatever that rule may be.”
“Sorry.” Silver replied wit a rueful grin. Rarity just chuckled and shook her head.
“Oh, don’t be darling. It doesn’t really surprise me, to be honest. Twilight does have a tendency to be a bit…oblivious to certain social situations. A romantic kiss was probably the last thing in her mind.” Rarity commented, looking slightly disappointed.
Silver squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “Well…that’s not really the case…” he said hesitantly.
Rarity cocked an eyebrow. “Oh? Whatever do you mean?”
Silver Quill sighed. “Screw it, I dug my grave, I might as well lie in it.” He thought to himself sullenly.
“She did lean in for a kiss.” He stated bluntly, looking down at his hooves as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rarity’s raised eyebrow climb even higher.
“And I wanted to kiss her back, I really did.” He continued earnestly. “I just…couldn’t.”
Rarity was quiet for a moment. When Silver Quill looked back up at her, her expression was unreadable. She smiled easily at him. “And why is that?” she asked him politely, obviously worried that she may be overstepping her grounds at asking such a personal question.
Silver Quill didn’t mind though. Heck, he was almost glad that she asked him, because now it forced him to really think about the answer himself. Yesterday, he had said that it was because he wanted to move things slowly, but was that really it? Silver Quill didn’t know.
He took a moment to think about it. He was starting to be thankful that Rarity had been so insistent with sharing all of this with her. She was inadvertently acting the role as his therapist it seemed, and since Silver Quill didn’t seem to be able to sort out his thoughts on his own, he welcomed her help.
“I think I was…scared.” He stated somewhat pathetically. Rarity cocked her head at him.
“Whatever do you mean?” she asked genteelly. Silver Quill sighed and shook his head.
“I don’t really know Rarity, it’s just that…when she was leaning in, there was something screaming at me, saying that I was doing something wrong.” He kneaded his brow with a hoof. “I know I’m just being ridiculous, but I don’t know why.”
Rarity was quiet for a moment. When Silver Quill looked back at her, he saw her looking at him with a concerned frown and a furrowed brow. She made a small cooing noise and shook her head emphatically at him.
“You’re not being ridiculous Silver Quill. You’re just confused. Conflicted.” She paused before straightening up and looking him dead in the eye. “Tell me Silver, what is it that you want most in life? At this very moment, I mean?”
Silver thought for a moment. Had he been asked this question a few weeks prior, he would have probably said something akin to “Have my stories be famous world wide.” or “meet my favourite author.” Now though…
“I want to be with Twilight.” He replied with conviction. Rarity nodded, as though that was the only answer that he could have given.
“Well, something is keeping you from doing that, and you need to find out what it is. Now…” she eyed him meaningfully, as though imploring him to think strongly about it. “what are you going to do about that?”
Silver was at a lost. He opened and closed his mouth uselessly as his gaze drifted from the floor, to the walls, to the ceiling. He wracked his brain for the answer that Rarity wanted, because it was obvious to him that she knew the answer, but wanted him to come to the answer himself.
“I…I don’t know.” he half whispered, half mumbled. Rarity smiled at him as though he she would a cute puppy who was trying to make itself look fierce, pityingly and amusedly.
“Well, would you like me to tell you what I think you should do?” she asked him with a sweet smile as she flipped her long mane out of her face. Silver Quill nodded earnestly at her.
“Well, I don’t claim to be any sort of expert on romantic relationships, although to be quite frank, considering where you are, I’m probably the closest you’ll come to one.” This elicited a small chuckle from Silver which then in turn elicited a smile from Rarity.
“However, my advice to you is very simple. You need to talk to Twilight about this. About your feelings.”
Silver looked at her incredulously. “Didn’t you hear what I said?” he asked. “How am I supposed to talk to her about my feelings if I don’t even know what they are?”
Rarity eyed him for a moment, running her eyes up and down him like she was a scientist and he was a particularly interesting specimen. “Oh, how do I put this in a way that you’ll understand…” she muttered to herself. A few more moments later, she brightened and looked him in the eye again.
“Remember how I said that you and I were a lot alike back in my boutique?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” he said, making it more of a question rather than an answer.
“Well, I meant it. Tell me Silver Quill, at what times do you get the inspirations and ideas for your stories?”
Silver looked at her blankly, trying to figure out what the point she was trying to make was. “When I’m looking at a blank sheet of paper, ready to write.” He replied. And it was true. He had a very finicky muse that would deign to whisper inspiration into his inner ear only when he had a quill hovering over the blank sheet, ready to mar it with ink. He had tried finding his muse in nature and in cities, in solitude and in crowds, but it was only when he was looking at the sheet did creative inspiration come to him.
Rarity smiled brightly at him. “Of course you do! Because I am the exact same!” she held her forehooves in front of her and looked at them, a vicious gleam in her eyes. “Unless I am looking straight at a bare poniquin, letting the artistic processes go where they please, I will come up with absolutely nothing. I need to be looking at the canvas before I can start painting on it.” She looked up at him and frowned slightly. “Does that make sense?”
“I…think so.” he answered quietly, lost in thought at what she was saying. “But what does that have to do with me talking to Twilight?”
“It’s simple.” she replied with a smile. “You don’t know what your feelings are now, and if you keep trying to figure it out like some aimless philosopher, you never will. However, if you talk to Twilight about it, then they will come to you.” Her smile faltered a bit. “Probably.”
Silver stared at her for a second moment before replying. “So let me get this straight. Basing this off of a completely irrelevant aspect of my life, you want me to talk to Twilight about my feelings in the hopes that I will figure them out as I talk to her?”
Her smile became a little weaker. “Erm…yes?” she said uncertainly.
The library was completely quiet; the only sound coming from Rarity’s awkward shifting in her seat under Silver’s deadpan gaze. Finally, after a long silence that was uncomfortable for the both of them, he shrugged.
“Alright.” he said simply.
Rarity didn’t stay long after that. Her curiosity now satiated, she took her book, thanked silver Quill for his time and help, and left the library, muttering to herself about the pros and cons of using stripes in an outfit.
After he closed the door behind her, bidding her a warm farewell, Silver stood in silence by the front door with an impassive expression. He glanced at the grandfather clock on the other side of the room. It was almost 2 o clock. Twilight was probably going to be home within the hour or so.
The mere thought of her sent his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes widened and his breathing became faster and more anxious.
“What in the world am I going to say to her?” he asked himself as he stood amidst the silence. “I really like her, but how do I tell her that? Or explain my behaviour yesterday? Will it really all just come to me when I need it to?”
Admittedly, Rarity’s plan had a good number of flaws to it, but as far as Silver could tell, it was the best one he had so far. He began to pace nervously.
“What if it doesn’t come to me, what then? Do I just live on, hoping that this problem will fix itself” He frowned and shook his head angrily. “No no, that wouldn’t be fair to Twilight. I can’t just shy away from her every time she gets to close too me, she’ll start to think that there’s something wrong with her, even though she’s so…”
His thoughts trailed off as Silver stopped his pacing and stared off into nothing, his thoughts filled with images of the lavender unicorn. Her on the carniva rides with her hooves in the air, her face framed by the rays of the evening sun.
“She’s so…”
Her sweet smile as she put her hoof over his, her look of concern for him when she thought she had overstepped her grounds when she teleported them to Canterlot.
“She’s so…perfect” Silver thought, finally finding the right word to describe the librarian. He tore his eyes away from the spot on the wall that he had been staring.
“I need to calm down.” He thought to himself. “I need to stop worrying about it, and just let the pieces fall where they may.”
And there was only one way that Silver knew how to calm himself. He went back over to the sitting area that he had just left and quickly spied the romance novel that he had left on the end table, the red bookmark marking the spot he had left off on.
He threw himself onto armchair, the springs squeaking in protest as he did so, and deftly levitated the book over and set it in his hooves. Finally, he took a deep breath and settled in to read.
“Yes…” he thought idly as he scanned the page to find the part he left off on. “What will be, will be, and when the time comes, I’ll just hope that everything works out for the better...”
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.”
As Silver stepped out the door, he re-activated the illusion spell, looking for all the world like a light grey poniquin wearing a smart tuxedo. Behind him, Twilight shut the door and placed the big bowl of candy on one of the exposed roots of the tree, quickly attaching a note that said “PLEASE TAKE ONE” in bright red ink. Underneath it, Silver noticed that she had written “…or else” and had punctuated it with a crude drawing of a skull and crossbones. Silver eyed the bowl warily.
“You think that’ll make them only take one?” he asked her dubiously. She shot him a grin.
“The note? No, I’m sure that there will be a few who will try to get more than their fair share.” She replied.
Silver blinked. “Try?”
Twilight smirked. “Yes, try. And fail, ultimately, when they got shocked by 20 magiwatts when their hoof gets too close for the second time, or when they try to pick up more than one.” Silver could detect a hint of mischievous pride in her voice as she spoke.
“Is that…safe?” Silver asked, eyeing the little skull and crossbones on the note with concern. Twilight merely laughed.
“Oh sure, all it will really do is give them a little sting and make their manes stand on end. Besides, I don’t expect too many ponies to get too grabby. Not after what happened last year…” she chuckled diabolically. “Pinkie still can’t look at chilli peppers without wincing.”
After a quick mental debate, Silver decided that he did not want to know what had befallen the poor hyperactive mare.
“Now where did Spike get off to?” Twilight mused to herself, eyeing the streets around them. Silver joined her, taking in the Nightmare Night décor for the first time.
Silver’s eyes, unseen to Twilight due to the illusory magical shroud covering his face, widened considerably as he beheld Ponyville in all of its festive glory. He thought he knew what to expect for the oncoming night having seen the towns preparations in the daylight, but now that the sun had dipped its head below the horizon to make way for the moon's journey across the sky, he realized that he had only caught a glimpse of what had been to come.
In the few hours that Silver had last stepped outside, Ponyville had undergone a transformation. There wasn’t a single building, Silver could see, that wasn’t intricately and enthusiastically designed. Artificial spiderwebs that glowed in the dark laced the houses, animatronic machines of various monsters groaned, growled, and screamed at ponies passing by, there were even a few home made haunted houses, tents and sheds that had been repurposed to scare little fillies and colts. It almost seemed that each house, shop, and pony was competing with each other to see who could best embody the Nightmare night spirit.
“Wow… Silver muttered under his breath as he spied a group of children run screaming from a large standing coffin that had burst open to reveal a stumbling pony wrapped in bandages.
A chuckle came from beside him. “Yeah, wow.” Silver looked at Twilight curiously, and she smiled. “Ponyville goes really overboard when it comes to holidays, especially when a Princess is involved. Especially when they feel they need to make up for last year.”
Silver nodded his understanding and went back to searching for the little dragon assistant, but was distracted by an excitable chorus of “Nightmare Night! What a Fright! Give us something sweet to bite!”
Silver spied a group made up of one mare in a strange green costume with a smattering of fillies and colts standing at the doorway of the home of an elderly mare who dropped a few pieces of candy into each one’s outstretched bag or pumpkin shaped bucket. Further inspection made him realize that not all of the children were ponies.
“There he is.” Silver said as he pointed out the group to Twilight where two stubby purple legs and the tip of a green spine could be seen just under and over the ponies.
Twilight looked over and smiled with amusement. “Ah, you’re right. And if I’m not mistaken, the one he is with could only be-”
“Twilight!” A high pitched voice pealed through the air, cutting Twilight off as the pony dressed in the strange costume, a dragon maybe, darted over faster than the eye could follow and shoved her face in Twilight’s.
“Can you believe this? Would you just look at all of the decorations! I’ve never seen Ponyville look so Nightmare Night-y!” She stepped to the side and put both of her hooves on Twilight’s face and directed her attention to various points of interest.
“There’s ghosts and witches and ghouls and zombies and mummys and there’s bighoof and the arachnapony and the moth pony and slendermane and-”
Her flow of words was interrupted as she turned her pink face towards Silver Quill, her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as she took in his macabre appearance.
“Whoa.”
Silver smirked as Twilight flailed helplessly, trying to dislodge her face from the two hooves that were smooshing her cheeks together. “Pinkie! Let go of me!”
Pinkie blinked before laughing and releasing Twilight’s head. “Oh, sorry Twilight!” she giggled as the unicorn puffed out her cheeks angrily.
Silver couldn’t help but chuckle, and Pinkie’s attention was brought back to him. “Silver Quill? Is that you in there?” Silver dematerialized his illusion and shot the mare a wink.
“Oh, that is so cool!” she exclaimed gleefully. “You actually scared me for a second there!”
Silver smiled and nodded humbly, pleased at the reception of his well thought out costume. “And what are you supposed to be Pinkie? Some kind of lizard?”
Pinkie snorted and shook her head. “I’m dressed as an alligator!” she replied happily. “And Gummy here,” she shook her mane, causing a small reptilian creature wearing a shoddily put together pink costume of a pony, complete with carrdbard ears and wiry pink mane, to pop out of her hair. “is a Pinkie Pie!” The alligator dressed as a pony blinked at Silver Quill, and Silver Quill blinked right back.
“But my costume is even better!” a chipper voice perched from next to Silver Quill who looked down to see Spike standing with a proud grin on his face. “It’s got blood and everything!”
Silver patted the little dragon on the head reassuringly. “You got that right Spike.” He said without a hint of sarcasm. Pinkie Pie giggled.
“There you are Spike, I wondered where you managed to get off to.” Twilight said as she noticed her assistant had returned. She walked over rubbed the spines on his head fondly. “Are you ready to go?”
The dragon suddenly looked down and started to shuffle his feet. “Yeah, about that…” he said uncertainly. Twilight cocked her head curiously. “I was wondering if I could go with Pinkie and the others instead?” he asked hopefully, gesturing to a group of costumed fillies and colts standing by the side. They waved as Twilight and Silver looked over in their direction.
A look of confusion passed over Twilight’s face. “Oh, I see…sorta.” She looked at the little dragon doubtfully. “Are you sure?”
Spike nodded enthusiastically. “Pleeaaase?” he asked imploringly. Pinkie darted to his side and gave lowered her head so that it was next to Spikes. The two then proceeded to unleash their best puppy eyes against the poor, outmatched mare. “Pretty pleeeeaaase?” they said in unison.
Twilight looked the two of them, nearly prostrating themselves before her, with bafflement. “Well…I don’t see why not.”
The two erupted in cheers, Pinkie leaping and throwing her hooves into the air and Spike excitedly running off to join the other fillies and colts after a quick thank you.
Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie worryingly. “Are you sure that you can handle all of those children?”
Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. “Puh-lease, if I can handle Pumpkin and Pound for an entire weekend, I can handle a few kids for a few hours.” Twilight raised a dubious eyebrow before nodding in acquiescence.
“Besides,” Pinkie’s smile turned mischievous as her eyes narrowed. “I think you two wouldn’t mind a spending the night alone.”
It took all of Silver’s self discipline to not react as his thoughts were sent racing. “What does she mean by that? Does she know about Twilight and I? Is she trying to set us up? How did she even figure that out?”
“Pinkie sense.” the mare inexplicably said, causing Silver’s blood to run cold and Twilight’s brow to furrow in confusion.
“Oh Celestia, she can read my mind! Quick, what number am I thinking of?!”
Pinkie merely smirked at Silver like an adult would to a child who thought they had outsmarted it. “Well, sorry guys but I gotta go. Time is candy, and I’m wasting candy right now.” She pulled a ticking stopwatch out of her mane and glanced at it before shoving it back inside her curls. “Silver, would you be so kind as to put you blank face thingy back on?”
Silver raised an eyebrow and nodded. A quick spell made his face as blank as a canvas once more, and Pinkie nodded in satisfaction before walking over to stand with te children who were eagerly waiting for her.
“Alright everypony!” she said loudly. “Just like we practiced! On three!” She ten slowly counted to three, at which point she leaped into the air and screeched as loud as she could. “SLENDERMANE! RUUUN!”
Her cries were joined by those of the children, and soon there was a small stampede of yelling ponies and one dragon tearing down the street. Twilight chuckled heartily as Silver stared in bafflement.
“Well, looks like it’s just you and me Slendermane.” Twilight said with amusement as she watched the receding dust cloud of the fleeing ponies and dragon.
Silver was glad that his illusion covered the broad smile he was wearing.
“Looks like it.”
“C’mon up ya’ll and try yer hoof out at bobbin fer an apple!”
Silver eyed Twilight dubiously. Her head was submerged in a barrel full of water in an effort to catch an apple in her mouth. She had been in there for about half a minute however, and Silver was starting to get worried.
“She does know you’re supposed to come up for air, right?”
His discomfort grew as the seconds ticked on, and Silver was mere moments away from tapping her on the shoulder when her she burst out of the barrel gasping for breath.
Silver raised his eyebrow at her as she panted for breath, her mane sopping wet and falling in front of her eyes. “Did you get one?” he asked pleasantly. He got a scowl in return.
“Really? Because from the looks of it…” he reached his hoof up to her forehead and gently removed the apple that had been impaled through the core by her horn and held it up for her inspection. “you seemed to have done pretty well.”
Twilight stared at the apple for a moment before bursting out laughing. Silver couldn’t help but join her.
“Step right up and take a shot! See how well you can launch a pumpkin! Get a bulls-eye and win a prize!”
Silver closed one eye and aimed the catapult carefully at the set up bulls-eye target down the lane of the catapult. Satisfied with his alignment, he pulled the lever that took off the locking mechanism, causing the catapult to fling the pumpkin in the air where it sailed over the target and landed in a bale of hay directly behind it.
He facehoofed as Twilight giggled behind him. “Well, look on the bright side Silver! If Canterlot is ever attacked, you won’t have to defend the walls!”
Silver rolled his eyes. “Alright then little miss marksmare, why don’t you try it?” he retorted. Twilight grinned at him.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Silver eyed the mare as she confidently walked passed him and set a fresh pumpkin on the arm of the catapult. “It’s a lot harder than it looks you know.’
Twilight smirked. “Oh please, it’s all just angles and vectors.”
Silver narrowed her eyes at her, a sinking feeling settling in his stomach as he watched her critically eye the catapult and the target. Eventually, satisfied with herself, she carefully adjusted the catapult and hit the release.
The pumpkin flew through the air and straight into the target that Silver had missed. Twilight turned around to see him with an expression that suggested he had just tasted something very sour.
“Hey Silver?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you mind taking off that illusion?”
“Why?”
“ Well I’d…like to be able see your face is all...”
“Oh. Sure.
‘Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“…”
“…”
“Plus it looks really creepy.”
“Ah.”
Silver and Twilight walked amicably along one of Ponyvilles many wide dirt roads, Twilight happily humming to herself and Silver enviously eyeing the large stuffed witch that she had won that was currently riding on her back. He didn’t begrudge her her win, he just really wanted that bat plushie. It might have made a good gift for Luna.
A realization struck Silver Quill. “Hey Twilight,” he said, turning to the mare. She ceased her humming and looked at him expectantly. “It just occurred to me that we haven’t seen Luna yet. Why is that?”
“Oh, she isn’t scheduled to come until the moon has reached its precipice in the sky.” She explained, looking up to see the bright celestial figure staring down at them. “And by the looks of it, it won’t be long until then. We should probably be heading to the square by now.” Twilight gestured for him to follow as she turned onto the main road.
Silver cocked his head as he followed. “What happens at the square?”
Twilight smiled impishly. “Oho, you’ll see.” she replied mysteriously. Silver merely shrugged and continued walking.
Many ponies were walking in the same direction as they, he realized, and in only a few minutes, they reached the town square where a throng of ponies had gathered in front of a raised stage and were waiting expectantly.
“Whatever this is, it should be interesting.” Silver mused as they joined the crowd. He noticed that ones closest to the stage were all fillies and colts clutching at and eating from large bags and buckets of candy, muttering amongst each other excitedly and looking around impatiently.
Before Silver could comment on this, the air thrummed with the sound of the clocktower bell ringing through the air, the slow and ominous tone bringing a hush down on the ponies assembled. The children’s mutterings ceased as they looked around excitedly huddled together, shaking with equal amounts of fear and excitement. The adults smiled at the sound and rested their gazes on the stage, waiting patiently and expectantly.
Silver looked around in confusion as the bell rang again and again until eventually petering out into a silence that was even more spooky than the haunting noise that it had been making. The crowd was slowly getting larger and larger as the seconds ticked past, and almost the entire space around the stage was taken up by ponies drawn to the mysterious noise. He glanced at twilight, looking for some answers, but she only winked at him and looked to the stage.
“What in the world are these ponies waiting f-”
FOOMPH
Silver blinked in surprise as green cloud of smoke appeared on the stage, enveloping the entire platform and swirling around the hooves of the ponies in the front. A few fillies and colts let out startled squeals, but besides that, everypony was dead silent.
A silhouette appeared in the middle of the green fog, standing completely still as everypony watched it with baited breath. After a long and suitably dramatic silence, it started to speak in low, foreboding female voice.
“Come, little ponies, gather all ‘round. Listen very closely and make not a sound.” A pair of thin glowing yellow eyes appeared in what had to the head of the creature. It looked lie a pony, but Silver couldn’t be sure. No pony he knew of had eyes of that shape, or spoke with that foreign sounding accent that suggested they weren’t entirely comfortable with the language. It did, however, make for a very spooky image.
“The night sees all, it knows all you fear, and if you are not very careful…” the voice chuckled darkly for a moment. “it might take all you hold dear.”
Silver felt a shiver run up and down his spine, and smiled despite himself when he heard a few of the assorted children let out whimpers. This was turning out to be far more amusing that he thought it would be.
“But fret not, little ones, all is not lost. The night, it will spare you…for a cost.”
The smoke was beginning to dissipate now that it had dispersed amongst the crowd as a sickly green fog that curled along their hooves. Silver idly wondered if it was safe to breathe in.
“Yes, little ones, your safety will not be free, and if you do not share your spoils, the night…will come…for thee.” The voice hissed the last few words, sending one plum coloured filly scurrying under her mothers legs.
“Come now, my little ponies, let us work through our fright.” The silhouette walked forward out of the thinning fog to reveal an pony wrapped in a dark brown cloak that hid all but her glowing eyes. “And if we are lucky, we shall live through the night.”
With another flash of smoke of green smoke, the cloaked pony vanished from the stage. Silver looked around in confusion before a voice called out from behind him.
“This way, quickly! We are almost out of time! If we do not hurry, I fear we will fall behind! The night waits for no pony, and I fear what may happen if we do not hurry!” she said urgently
The children squealed and darted after the robed figure who Silver now realized was actually a zebra once he noticed she had lowered her hood to reveal a gray face framed by a black and white mane that had rings and fake spiders intertwined in braids. They crowded along her hooves, desperately trying to get her to walk by pushing at her legs as the jabbered nonsensically in their panic. Silver, along with most of the other assorted ponies, smiled.
Twilight chuckled as she watched the children herd the towards away from the stage. “Well, I guess we had better follow them before Nightmare Moon comes for us.”
Silver smiled. “Yeah, right.” he said with amusement before catching the strange look on her face. “Er…you’re not serious, right?”
“Of course I am.” she replied flatly and somewhat reproachfully. “This is no joking matter, Silver.”
Silver blinked. “Ah…of course. How silly of me.”
Twilight nodded and faced forward once again, betraying not a hint of emotion besides cool indifference that rendered Silver Quill thoroughly confused.
The group of ponies walked for about 5 minutes, the air filled with the chattering of children hopped up on sugar and fear and adults who were watching them with a combination of amusement and bemusement before the procession came to a standstill. A hush fell across the group as the beheld their destination, and Silver curiously examined his new surroundings.
They were on the outskirts of Ponyville in front of a lone statue that Silver had never seen before. It was a stone representation of the tyrant of the night, Nightmare Moon, who was rearing in the air threateningly with her wings splayed behind her and her mane flowing dramatically. Her head was angled so that it gave the impression that she was looking down upon the assembled ponies with a wicked grin on her face that showed off her large and pointy fangs.
“Behold, for this is the very face of fear…” the zebra chanted in her low and melodious voice, causing the fillies and colts to cower around her legs. “The one that can stop your heart with simply a leer…” she eyed a nearby filly menacingly, causing her to squeal and hide behind her equally scared friend.
“The eater of ponies, the bringer of doom, this is the one they call Nightmare Moon!”
The night sky was illuminated by a sudden and unexpected crack of lightning followed by a boom of thunder, eliciting startled shouts from children and adults alike.
“Quickly ponies, now comes the spectrum!” the zebra cried frantically, addressing the assorted fillies and colts who were gazing at her with wide eyed terror. “Offer up your spoils, or else she’ll gobble up your bottoms!”
Another bolt of lighting tore through the sky, and Silver Quill could just make out the silhouette of a of a pony with large wings that blotted out the moon in the sky against the blinding light.
A menacing chuckle ran through the air, and Silver felt his blood run cold as he was assaulted thoughts of endless darkness and disharmony. Instead of gasping or shouting however, something that most ponies around him had taken to doing, he cocked his head curiously, for he recognized that voice, although something was slightly off about it.
”What in the world?”
The children did not share his curiosity. Almost as though a switch had been flipped I their little heads, each one rushed to the statue and quickly dropped hefty amounts of candy at its base before returning to the hooves of the zebra and huddling together for safety as they fearfully looked around for the source of the laughing.
Finally, the amused laughing stopped only to be replaced by a voice that reverberated with authority and power, the voice of a queen.
“Finally, I have returned!” the voice announced triumphantly. “Now I am free to roam Equestria and devour every single one of its foolish ponies!” A collective gasp ran through the crowd. "And there is nothing anypony can do about to stop me, for I am…” Another flash of lightening split the sky and landed right in front of the statue, the ground erupting with dirt and dust. “Nightmare Moon!”
As the dust settled, the form of a tall and slender pony came into view. Her coat was as black as obsidian and her wings were extended to their full impressive length. She reared her head back and laughed loudly, her long horn and ornate armor glinting against the moonlight.
Silver’s eyes widened as she laughed, a cliché and slightly over done mwahahaha that had the entire group of ponies rooted to the spot, although for different reasons for some. Personally, Silver found it to be far more amusing and interesting than it was terrifying, but that was just him.
She eventually quieted and turned her eyes towards them with a fanged grinned, and Silver was shocked to see that she had glowing green eyes with thin pupils like that of a cat.
“And I think...” she said quietly to herself, but not so quietly that the asssorted ponies couldn’t hear her. “That I’ll start by eating these ponies!”
The volume of the scream that rose from the throats of the fillies and colts could put the biggest and most ferocious dragon’s roar to shame, and over it all, Nightmare Moon just laughed menacingly, baring her sharp fangs for all to see.
“Now children, we must gallop! Quickly, before she gobbles you up!” The zebra cried, taking off down the road back to ponyville. The children didn’t hesitate in following her, and soon the sound of little hooves running and voices screaming for their lives filled the air soon followed by the few nonplussed adults that had accompanies them.
Twilight and Silver were the only ones who remained to listen to Nightmare Moon laughing menacingly, but to Silver’s utter confusion, she was starting to sound less like an evil queen ready to enslave the world and more like she was just told a really good joke.
Finally, she stopped her chuckling and wiped and unseen tear from her eye. “Oh, aren’t they just adorable when running for their lives?” she said fondly as she smiled toward the receding dust cloud. Twilight smirked and nodded before walking up to the tyrant.
“They sure are Princess. I’m glad you could make it.”
Nightmare Moon grinned down at the mare, her demonic eyes that could out-stare a cockatrice flashing with mirth. “As am I Twilight Sparkle, and I am most pleased to see you again.” She looked up and caught Silver’s eye, and her grin grew wider. “Silver Quill, how fortuitous! I was hoping that I’d be able to catch you on this night.”
His mouth twitched into a smile. “Is that so?”
She nodded formally. “Indeed. T’would be unfortunate if I had been to Ponyville and missed you before the night was over. I have been looking forward to seeing you again greatly.” Twilight smirked and raised an eyebrow from where she stood as Silver nodded his understanding.
“I was hoping to see you as well, Luna.” He replied, eyeing her jet black coat and ornate purple armour with interest. “Or would you prefer I called you Nightmare Moon?”
Luna blinked and smiled. “Ah, you refer to my appearance?” She looked down and examined a metal clad forehoof. Silver nodded bemusedly and Luna chuckled. “Apparently, the townsponies think it amusing to be scared on this, so I have taken to dressing up and joining in the festivities. Now that that’s done though…” her horn lit up brightly, and her entire body was covered in a bright light for a just a moment before it disappeared to reveal the real Princess of the night, as she should be without cat eyes or fangs, grinning down at him. She adopted a thoughtful look. “I must admit, I do not entirely understand the amusement that comes from being scared, but ponies will be ponies I suppose…”
Silver couldn’t help but crack a grin. Now that he thought about it, he realized that there had indeed been a few heartful laughs amongst the earlier screaming and couple of smiles amid the terrified faces. That was just like the ponies of Ponyville, he figured. Get the Princess of the Night, one of the most powerful and important ponies in all of Equestria who has lived through hundreds of wars and thousands of years, to stop by and play with the fillies and colts and maybe some games if she had time.
“This place is weird.” He thought to himself.
He was torn away from his thoughts by Twilight explaining to Luna why ponies found being scared to be entertaining, and Luna listening with a blank expression.
“…it’s all because the fear is implied, you see, because there’s no actual danger involved. Fear invokes a primal fight-or-flight response, one that most ponies do not feel in their day to day lives, but because they know that there is no actual danger to them, they get to revel in the feeling without having to worry about being hurt.”
Luna’s expression stayed blank and confused, causing Twilight to groan slightly. “It’s like the feeling of adrenaline you feel when riding a roller coaster! Normally you would only be able to get that type of rush from a dangerous situation, like falling to your doom from a cliff. But because you know you’re not gonna flatten yourself on the ground, it’s fun! Do you see what I mean?”
Twilight looked imploringly at the Princess, looking hopeful when she opened her mouth to reply.
“I think, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said as she caught Silver’s eye and winked. “that you need to get out more often.”
And with that, she patted the baffled unicorn on the head comfortingly and started to make her way down the road back to Ponyville. “Come now you two! There is revelry to be had and games to be played!”
“But…I don’t…” twilight stammered as she watched the alicorn walk away. She turned to face Silver with a look of confusion, an expression that looked very odd on her. “I don’t need to get out more, do I?”
Silver walked over and laid a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, you’re perfect just the way you are.”
Twilight blushed and smiled before quickly leaning over and giving him a small kiss on the cheek. “Thanks.”
Silver fought to keep his composure. “Don’t mention it.” he said with what he hoped was a formal nod. “We should probably follow Luna before she uses the royal Canterlot voice on us.”
Twilight giggled and nodded, and the two ponies hurried down the road after the Alicorn, unaware of the broad smile she wore.
The three ponies quickly reached Ponyville, their walk filled with the Princess quickly catching up with the lives of Twilight and Silver and vice versa. They filled her in on the going-ons of the town, few as they were, and she regaled them with tales of courtly politics and subterfuge. Right now, she was telling them about a particular noble who had tried to petition for the night guards, Princess Luna’s personal guards much like the royal guards were Celestia’s, to be given cloaks and masks to wear because their bat like features were deemed to be “a terrible eye-sore.”
“And then the fool had the cheek to try and gain support from the rest of the petitioners, noble and common alike, with me sitting right in front of him!” she shook her head and blew air out of her nose. “They of course wanted nothing to do with him as most ponies, unlike him, are capable of telling their flank from their fetlock, but still, the insult remains! Why, if it were a thousand years ago, I would have tied his hooves together and let the noble's children use him as a piñata, but nooo, Celly says that would be barbaric and that…”
Silver nodded knowingly as she ranted, only half listening to her words as he made appropriate responses and expressions as he needed to. He didn’t mean to not pay much attention to her, he really didn’t, he valued her friendship too much, He just found the topic of courtroom politics to be more mentally tiring than trying to remember the square roots of 7 digit numbers.
He never had much of a head for math, or for ponies for that matter.
Luna spoke for a few more minutes before thankfully changing the subject.
“So Silver, what have you been up to since arriving in Ponyville? Have you any luck in banishing that ‘writer’s block’ as you so call it?”
Silver smiled happily, moreso to himself than to Luna. “I’m getting there, thankfully. I’ve been sending most of my time just enjoying myself, taking a break from the city and all, and it's really helped me.” Silver breathed deeply through his nose and sighed blissfully at the smell of pine and fresh grass. “Ponyville really is a great place…” he muttered absently.
Luna’s eyes twinkled as she looked at her friend walking alongside her with a contemplative look and a content smile on his face. “Oh really?” she replied easily, “What do you like about it so much? The scenery? The location?” she leaned in a little bit closer. “Or is it the ponies, perchance?”
Twilight gave the two a confused look, but said nothing.
“The ponies, probably.” Silver replied. “They’re all so genuinely welcoming and friendly, not like in Canterlot or Las Pegasus or some other big city where half of the ponies who seem likeable want something from you.” He glanced over at Twilight who was walking beside him and listening with interest. “Here, if somepony smiles at you, it’s because they are being friendly, not because they want you to buy something from them.”
Twilight and Luna nodded knowingly. “Ah,” the princess of the night said absently, “yes, it is true that Canterlot has a few too many nobles, politicians and aristocrats than is good for it…” She thought for a moment before shaking her head and smiling pleasantly.
“Well, no need to dwell on that.” She said abruptly. “Ponyville is a special place filled with special ponies, wouldn’t you agree?” she asked peasantly, addressing both ponies who looked at each other with some measure of confusion. They nodded uncertainly, causing a smile to blossom on Luna’s face.
“Yes indeed, very special ponies…” she continued absentmindedly, shooting Silver a sideways glance. “Why, I would even go so far as to say that, if one were to court a Ponyvillian pony, one would be a very happy pony indeed…”
Twilight cocked her head as Silver narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What is she getting at?” he thought. Luna may seem silly and and childish at times, but she was no fool, Silver knew. She knew her way around complicated political conspiracies more than he knew the back of his own hoof, and Silver couldn''t help but think that she was hinting at something.
Before he could question the night princess any further, he realized that they had just walked back into town and were approaching the festivities judging by the sounds of laughter and screaming in the air. Luna stood at attention as noticed they had arrived and grinned excitedly.
“Oh dear, it seems that I am needed elsewhere.” she said with mock regret. “I’m afraid we must part ways now. Maybe we will be able to see one another again before the night is over, hmm?”
She didn’t give them a chance to respond as she lit her horn and vanished in a brief flash of light only to be replaced by the menacing looking Nightmare Moon. She shot them one last grin, making them wince at the sight of her sharp fangs, and with one mighty flap of her wings, she took of into the air towards the center of the town.
“BEHOLD SUBJECTS, YOUR NEW QUEEN HAS ARRIVED!” She bellowed triumphantly, a crack of lightening splitting the sky as she spoke. From where Silver stood, he could hear a resounding chorus of screams arise as ponies beheld the “evil queen.”
Silver and Twilight chuckled as they resumed walking, unconsciously stepping a little bit closer to one another now that they were alone.
A few minutes passed in blissful silence between the two ponies. As though by some unspoken agreement, the two ponies were not walking anywhere in particular; however, one would randomly turn down a random corner, and as though they were co-coordinating telepathically, the other would immediately follow.
“What do you want to do now?” Silver asked absently. Twilight thought for a moment before answering.
“Nothing.”
Silver looked at her in surprise. “Nothing? No more games? no more candy? Nothing?”
She nodded happily. “Mhm. Nothing. I’m feeling kinda tired to be honest.” She turned her bright eyes to Silver and bored through him with her gaze. “I was hoping we might be able to find somewhere quiet and just…I dunno…rest.”
Silver was quiet for a moment. He thought of all the games and activities that were going on in Ponyville right this second and he thought of all the delicious candy to be had. He thought of all the ponies to see and talk to, and whether or not he was willing to miss out on all of that excitement. He was an introverted pony, that was for sure, but he still liked to be around good ponies and have fun, and Ponyville had both in spades.
His decision wasn’t long coming.
“That sounds like a good idea. It has been a long night, hasn’t it?” As he spoke, he realized the truth to his words and the wisdom to Twilight’s suggestion. His legs all of a sudden felt like there were weights on his hooves and his head drooped a bit as the culminating events crashed down on him with a wave of fatigue. He suppressed a yawn and smiled. “Did you have any place in mind?”
Twilight nodded, her face showing hints of the same fatigue that he felt. “There’s a pond not too far from here, straight down that road.” She replied, pointing to the left where an unkempt dirt road lay, winding up and over a small hill just beside an old barn.
With no more delay, the two ponies made their way down the dirt road and over the hill where they came across a small pond filled with cattails and lilypads illuminated by the moonlight. Junebugs and fireflies flitted around the air above the pond and through the bushes reeds, their bioluminescent lights looking for all the world like miniature stars that had come down to explore the world that they had only seen from above.
The two ponies hummed contentedly. Silver was instantly reminded of his own little patch of solitude back in Canterlot in one of the lesser visited forest parks. How fitting, then, that a place that he would normally go to escape other ponies he now used to be with them, one pony in particular.
An oak immediately caught Silver’s attention, and he pointed it out to Twilight with a brief nod in its direction. She nodded her assent and the two quickly made their way to the base of the tree where they sat down and leaned against the trunk with a sigh.
A breeze swept across the grass and tickled their fur, sending chills up Silver Quill’s spine. A feeling of something pressing on his shoulder surprised him, and he looked down to see that Twilight’s was leaning her body against his and resting her head against his shoulder.
He felt heat in his cheeks as he looked at the mare, her eyes closed in bliss. Her straight mane brushed up against his side, sending shivers where it brushed against him. He couldn’t help but tense slightly, in both nervousness and excitement, when he looked at her, so beautiful in ways he couldn’t even begin to describe.
She must have felt him tense underneath her as her eyes opened and looked up at him nervously, seemingly worried that she might be getting a bit too personal. She blinked, and Silver could see she was about to move away.
Before she could however, he quickly raised a his foreleg and laid it across her back and onto her shoulder furthest from him, gently pulling her just a little bit closer. She gave him a brilliant smile before cooing softly and closing her eyes once more against him.
“Solitude…has its merits…” he thought slowly and deliberately as he gazed down at the softly smiling mare, bangs framing her face like a beautiful painting.
Without thinking, Silver leaned his head over her, laying his cheek on her soft mane like pillow made of the finest down. He instinctively positioned his horn perpendicular to hers, something that spoke volumes about his feelings to the mare. For a unicorn, their horn is the catalyst for their magic, and their magic is the essence of their very being. Crossing horns is a way of saying that their souls and hearts, the very things that defines them as ponies, are intertwined.
“Yes…it has merits…” he repeated in his mind. “But if living in Solitude means not be able to be with her…with Twilight…” The mare in question hummed softly to herself and nuzzled Silver’s neck, burying her head a little bit deeper into his shoulder.
“Well, that just won't do at all.” he mused as he turned his head slightly and gently planted his lips onto her head, just behind her horn, causing her to smile, and him to as well.
A little colt with a pale grey coat the colour of a winter sky and a mane the colour of charcoal sat on a raised stool beside a small, single bed that made him feel uncomfortable just to look at. On the bed, a mare lay, motionless except for the rising and falling of her chest, but it was so slight that it couldn’t be discerned as motion from a distance. Only by taking a closer look could somepony tell that she wasn’t a finely crafted poniquin by the slight rise and fall of her chest and the shuddering breaths she took.
The colt sat with his head down, looking at the floor with numb disinterest. He was only dimly aware of his environment, of the uncomfortable metal stool he had been given, of the whirr of the machinery around him, of the muted beeping that cut through the room like a knife.
A loud rattling breath brought his attention upwards, and he found that the mare on the bed was shuddering. He quickly reached out his hoof and firmly pressed it on hers, trying to impart whatever strength he could give into her. Trying to feel like he was doing something to help.
Trying to convince himself that this would pass, as all other problems seemed to up until then. But as he looked upon the mare, her ribs protruding from her sides and her legs thin and knobby, he found it harder and harder to do so.
Slowly, her eyes fluttered open by a crack and the young colt gave a start of surprise. He leaned forward, murmuring to himself as the mare tilted her head slightly and set her gaze upon him.
He froze in his seat. Even with the way she was now, as the young colt, looked at her with wide surprised eyes, he thought she was the prettiest mare in the world. He always had thought that, and he always would.
“My baby…” she whispered, a smile settling on her face. The colt leaned forward breathlessly. Smiles were good, right? They meant that good things were happening and that bad things were going away?
She smiled at him. Did that mean everything was going to be alright?
The colt smiled himself at these thoughts, eager at the prospect of everything going back to normal. He placed another hoof over top hers and leaned closer, being led by an instinctual desire to seek comfort and warmth.
“Not too close baby, not too close…” she murmured. The colt hesitated, his smile faltering a bit.
“I don’t want you to get sick from me…”
The colt was confused. He already was told in no uncertain terms that he couldn’t get sick from her and that what was happening to her was a freak occurrence, not something that was contagious or hereditary.
He voiced these thoughts and the mare smiled again, somewhat sadly this time.
“I know baby. I just want to worry over you…”
The colt looked uncertain, but nodded anyway, his young and inexperienced mind telling him to even though he didn’t understand why.
They sat there, for a little while, the mare’s hoof in his. Her smile remained fixed on the colt and her eyes began to grow misty.
“Baby…I won’t be here much longer…” she murmured, her rattling breath making the words sound broken and weak.
The colt smiled. That meant she was going to get better soon and that she was going to go home! Finally, things were going to go back to normal. She said so herself.
A tear dropped from the mare’s eye and fell down her cheek, greatly confusing the young colt.
“No sweetheart…” She shook her head slightly, a slight motion that seemed to exhaust her. “I’m not going home…”
The colt processed this for a moment. If she wasn’t going home, then where was she going?
He asked her this, and for a long while, the incessant beeping was the only sound in the room.
“I don’t know…” she finally said. Her voice was choked, causing the colt’s brow to furrow. How could she not know? She know's pretty much everything! The colt’s inexperienced mind wrestled with this for a little while, trying to make heads or tails out of it, until he finally gave up. He’ll give it some more thought later, he decided.
Did she at least know how long she was going to be gone?
The mare gasped as a few more tears sprung from her half closed eyes. “For a long time darling. A very long time...”
Well that didn’t tell him much. To him, a long time meant a few weeks, but to her, a long time could be a few years. The colt didn’t think much of this however. His biggest concern was who was going to tell him bedtime stories and who was going to tuck him in at night. She always did it best, after all.
Her breathing became quieter for a moment as her eyes fluttered close for a second before slowly opening again. The mare gave a soft, almost imperceptible squeeze to the colt’s hoof that was over hers.
“Sweetheart, listen to me…” she murmured raspily, causing the colt to cock his head, both in interest for what she had to say and the strange way her voice sounded. “No matter what happens, I want you to be strong... I want you to-” she was interrupted by a wheezing cough, and the colt frowned as the beeping noise started to get faster and more annoying. He leaned forward to better hear what she had to say.
When her coughing fit had subsided, she continued speaking, her voice like a whisper. “I want you to promise me you’ll be strong no matter what happens...that you won’t let your emotions get the better of you…promise me that, baby...”
The colt looked at her, baffled as more tears started to fall down her face, the incessant beeping stabbing into his brain irritatingly. He really wished that stupid thing would shut up, he was trying to hear what she was saying.
He tried to understand what she meant, but when he tried to ask her, she shook her head weakly, yet urgently. “Please baby…promise me that you’ll be strong…please…”
The colt sat wit his mouth open, not sure what was happening or what she was saying. From the look in her tear filled eyes however, he knew that he should just do as she said.
“Please Silver…promise me.”
And so the colt promised. The mare smiled as wide as she could manage.
“Thank you…”
The mare closed her eyes and went back to sleep, and the colt just sat by her side, his hoof in hers. He frowned as the constant beeping transformed into one endless, jarring noise. The machine must be broken or something, he figured, something that bothered him greatly. How was anypony supposed to sleep peacefully with that goddess-awful racket?
He didn’t have time to contemplate it however as the door behind him burst open and the room became a flurry of activity. Instantly, the mare’s bed was surrounded by ponies wearing white coats and shiny implements on their heads and around their necks, some of them speaking urgently to one another and others to the mare. Before the colt was able to reprimand them for disturbing her sleep however, he found a pair of strong, dark gray forelegs wrap around him and lift him off of the stool. The colt struggled, upset about being moved away from his spot, but strange sound coming from the pony distracted him. He looked up to see the tear stricken face of a stallion who was looking at the bed as though it physically hurt him to do so, making strange choking noises from his throat. The stallion quickly put the colt on his back and walked out of the room.
The colt protested as he was carried around the doorway. He put his forelegs around the frame and pulled himself closer so he could see what was going on in the room. Inside, he saw one of the ponies in white coats lay a white blanket over the mare.
The colt nodded in satisfaction as he released the doorframe with his forelegs and let himself be carried away. Now she would be nice and warm.
Silver started awake with a small intake of breath. He was still for a moment as he remembered where he was and who he was with. Without moving his head, he looked down at the mare by his side. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were upturned in a small, content smile.
It wasn’t a smile he shared, however. He didn’t remember most dreams that he had, but he always remembered that particular one. He felt a familiar chill run through his body as he was assaulted by emotions he couldn’t afford to have, and he grimaced, furiously muffling them into nothingness with sheer power of will. The chill still remained, however, and he realized it wasn’t just because of the dream.
He shivered slightly, only just realizing how cold he really was and being thankful that Twilight was close enough to keep him warm and vice versa. The ground had probably been sapping away his body heat as he had slept there.
That was not a very smart thing to do, he realized. It wasn’t like it was the middle of summertime where the nights were almost as hot as the days. How long had they been sitting there? Hopefully not for long enough to warrant concern from the townsponies.
He craned his neck to look behind him and the tree he was leaning against. He could just see the glow of lights and activity coming from Ponyville lying not too far away. In the sky, he saw the full moon, brighter and bigger than usual, at its very peak.
Silver sighed, thankful. They couldn’t have been here for more than 30 minutes.
He felt Twilight stir beside him, no doubt awakened by his moving. She shifted and moaned tiredly as her eyes fluttered open to meet the night, and more importantly, to meet him.
“And Sleeping Beauty awakes....” Silver said with a smile, quoting the famous play by Colt Disney.
Twilight blinked, and then chuckled lightly. “Oho…you’re such a flatterer…” she said with a blush while good-naturedly batting at him with a hoof as she straightened herself off his shoulder. She yawned and stretched her forehooves before looking around as though only just realizing where they were.
“How long was I out?” she asked blearily.
Silver repressed a laugh at the sight of the mare groggily rubbing at her eyes. It seemed that the two of them had been more tired than they had both thought considering they had fallen asleep under a tree without meaning to. It was rather nice though.
“Not too long.” Silver replied, managing to repress a yawn. “I just woke up also.”
Twilight nodded. “I see.” she said quietly, looking around her. Ponyville was just visible over the small hill they had came over, and her eyes settled on it. She looked uncertain for a moment before shaking her head and smiling.
“I think that we can afford to stay here for a little while longer.” she said, adjusting herself so that she lay comfortably on her fetlocks. Silver grinned as he did the same and lay next to her.
A frog croaked amidst a small cluster of reeds by the water and crickets chirped in the grass and sparse foliage. For a while, the two ponies were silent, and the only noise that could be heard from the wildlife around them.
Silver was happy with this. No words were necessary between them, he knew, as they would be useless. Simply being here beside one another was enough for the both of them. Any feeling they wanted to convey to one another could be done with a simple look or a smile, and the two ponies often did find themselves looking at one another.
He had spent many nights in situations a lot like this, basking in the moonlight and silently reveling in the peace, but he had always been alone. Now however, he wasn’t, and he had no desire to be. Sitting next to the librarian, Silver realized something startling.
For the first time of his life, he was completely at peace, both mentally and emotionally. Ever since he had been a child, he had been struggling in an inner battle between his heart and his mind, one always vying for domination over the other, but for the first time in his life, the rational side of him and the emotional side of him weren’t fighting for control. Rather, it was like they suddenly fell in sync with one another. No longer was the muffled of voice feeling crushed under the hard one of logic. Now, they sung together in a harmonious song he has never heard or felt before. It was why he had been so unusually happy as of late, as Twilight remarked in their earlier game of chess.
It wasn’t something that Silver Quill would easily be able to put into words, nor would he be able to explain why, but by Celestia, he was going to try. He owed her that much.
“Hey Twilight…”
The mare turned her head towards him. “Hm?”
“Do you…” Silver paused and swallowed, consciously aware of his heart thudding in his chest and being silently grateful of the fact that she wasn’t leaning against him anymore, lest she feel it. “Do you feel up to listening now?” he asked, trying not to let his voice crack.
She looked at him unresponsively for a moment before it dawned on her. “Oh. You mean about what we talked about in the library?”
Silver nodded, his mouth dry. “Yeah. About why I’ve been so acting so…different, lately.”
Twilight shuffled where she lay, getting herself more comfortable before she settled and smiled at him. “Alright then, I’m all ears.”
Silver nodded, looking away from her and down at his hooves. He knew that if he kept his eyes on her, he would never be able to focus his mind enough to get the words out, especially considering that he didn’t actually know what it was he was going to say and was counting on his mind to fill in the blanks for him. What was it that Rarity had said? He has to be looking at the canvas before he can paint on it? Well, he had the brush in hoof, and it was time to start painting.
He looked back up and met her eyes, curious and interested as she waited for him to speak. Somehow, he was supposed to dictate every strange and unusual feeling he had without even knowing how. Seeing her cock her head curiously, Silver couldn’t help but feel that he was standing blindfolded on a mile high diving board, preparing to jump off of it without knowing if there was a pool of water underneath.
“I…”
He was drawing a complete blank. He frantically scoured his mind for something to say, but found nothing. He examined every stray thought that he had, turning them inside out for some sort of inspiration, but was left extremely wanting. He had to resist the urge to grit his teeth and grimace at the effort of trying to strain his thoughts into action. All he could do was look at her helplessly, desperately wanting to tell her how he felt, how he truly felt, how her smile lit up his day, how he desperately wanted to kiss her on that ferris wheel, but he couldn’t. All he could do was be silent.
Yet again, Silver’s usually calm and organized mind was a cacophony of confusion that he couldn’t begin to understand. All because of this mare.
Twilight’s brow furrowed as she saw the distress on his face. “Silver? Are you alright?” she asked, her voice tinged with concern. Silver flinched slightly at the sound of her voice, and looked away.
“Dammnit, what is wrong with me!?” he thought angrily. “This shouldn’t be hard! I just have to…tell her…” Silver sighed. “something that I’ve never told somepony before and don’t fully understand myself…”
“Hey…” Twilight’s concerned voice reached his ears, unconsciously causing his chest to tighten. He felt a gentle hoof take his cheek and move his head back up to face her. Silver felt a sharp pang of regret when he saw the worried expression on her face.
“Don’t worry about it, okay?” she said softly. “Whenever you’re ready to talk, I’ll be ready listen.”
Silver’s breath caught in his throat. He looked at the unicorn, her gentle hoof still on his cheek, and smiled gratefully.
“Alright.”
She smiled back and, to Silver’s slight chagrin, withdrew her hoof. Before either of them could say anything more, however, the sound of wingbeats above and behind them drew their attention.
“Hello there my little ponies. I was wondering where you had run off to.”
The two turned to see a smiling Luna easily hovering in the air behind them, her wings moving in long and lazy movements as they gave her just enough thrust to keep her airborne.
Inwardly, Silver Quill cheered with joy, but he only showed a small smile. This had definitely not been going the way he had expected or hoped, and Luna’s arrival would be a welcome distraction for the two of them.
“Hey there Luna.” Silver called up to her, beckoning her down. “What brings you all the way out here?”
The Princess of the Night spread her wings and glided down gracefully to land a few paces away from where the two ponies were resting near the water. As she landed, she disturbed the hiding place of a small group of fireflies, sending them curiously flurrying around her.
“Nightmare Moon has collected her fair share of candy for tonight and is now tired from hunting for fillies and colts to gobble up.” She watched one of the fireflies coil up and around her horn with a small smile on her face. “I had to make a suitably dramatic exit about how they "hadn’t seen the last of me!" before leaving to change back to normal, and then I happened upon you two.”
Twilight smiled with amusement at the antics of the town and of the princess. “Is that so?” she asked before patting on the ground next to her.. “Well, why don’t you pull up some grass and rest a while? I know firsthoof how tiring Ponyville can be.”
Luna gave her a tired smile. “Aye, my wings do feel a bit heavy.” She stepped over to where Twilight indicated and sank to fetlocks with a sigh. “Oh, that Pinkie had me chasing her for what had to be hours…”
Twilight blinked. “Hours?” She considered this for a moment, her brow furrowing. “Princess, what time is it?”
“Tis a little after 10 Twilight Sparkle, why do you ask?”
The mare’s eyes widened. She slapped her hoof to her forehead and groaned. “Oh, it is way past Spike’s bedtime!” she groaned. “He’ll barely be able to walk straight tomorrow if he doesn’t go to sleep soon!” A yawn interrupted her, causing her to blush in front of the two ponies. “I should probably be turning in as well now that I think about it.” She softly smiled to herself. “It’s been a busy night.
She stood up and dusted herself off, wiping off bits of grass that was sticking to her hooves, giving them a regretful look as she did so. “I’m so sorry, but I really need to go and get him to bed. He’ll be driving me up the wall tomorrow if I don’t.”
Silver and Luna nodded in understanding. “I last saw the little drake in the presence of the Element of Laughter, though I don’t know if he still is.” Luna quipped.
Twilight nodded. “Thank you. I’ll check with her first then.” She turned her attention back to Silver and gave him a small, but meaningful smile, causing his heartbeat to quicken just by looking at it.. “I’ll see you back at the library then.”
He nodded in return, and with that, Twilight lit up her horn and teleported away with a purple flash of light.
Silver gave a small sigh after she vanished, his shoulders slumping slightly as he allowed himself to adopt a slightly bitter expression. He seethed with annoyance at himself for a moment, frustrated at his inability to do something that should be fairly simple. He made sure to not show enough frustration that Luna would pick up on it, however.
“Is there something wrong Silver?”
Silver blinked. “Oh, right. She’s over a thousand years old and has the experience to speak for it. I forgot.”
He sighed and shook his head, more to himself than to her question. “No, nothings wrong Luna. I’m just…” he trailed off, staring at the gently rippling reflection of the full moon on the pond’s surface.
“Conflicted?” Luna asked helpfully.
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. That.”
Luna made a thoughtful and impassive hmmm. Silver glanced at her to see her tapping her chin with her hoof thoughtfully.
“Is she smiling?” He thought to himself as saw the barest hint of a smile. It vanished quickly, however, and he pushed it out of his mind.
The princess turned her gaze back to him. “May I ask what you are conflicted about?”
“To be honest Luna, I’m not even sure anymore.” He replied with another weary shake of his head.
“Ah. Tis one of those conundrums, is it?”
Silver barked a laugh. “Yeah.”
Luna adopted another thoughtful expression as she contemplated her moon in the sky. The two ponies were silent for a moment; both lost in their own minds as the world moved around them. The world seemed to sit still for a moment. There wasn’t a hint of wind in the air or a sound more substantial than the breathing of the two ponies. In Ponyville, sleepy ponies of all ages were likely turning in their costumes, their night of nightmares finished, and were going to sleep, already thinking about next years Nightmare Night.
Silver breathed in deep, reveling in the peaceful stillness of the night where it seemed that he was the only one awake at the moment.
“You know my friend…” Luna started to say slowly. “my mother often told my sister and I…oh don’t look so surprised, just because I am a princess does not make me any less of a pony. Of course I had a mother!”
Silver blushed and coughed into his hoof awkwardly before gesturing for her to continue with what she was saying. Luna smirked at him before continuing.
“Well, when my sister and I were learning about the duties we’d have upon attaining princesshood, my mother often told us that that there were two types of problems in this world, the problems of the mind, and the problems of the heart. She told us that we would have to learn the difference of the two if we were to be good rulers as she and father was.”
Luna paused to let her words sink in, watching Silver curiously as he sat there with a thoughtful look on his face, contemplating what she said as he chewed the inside of his cheek.
“You see, young Silver Quill, the heart and the mind are simply two sides of the same coin. My mother would tell us that problems of the mind are logical, and as such, cannot be remedied by anything but a logical mind.” Silver’s eyes narrowed as he considered this, and Luna continued. "One can not solve a mathematical equation without having the right formulae knowledge, correct?”
She received an unsure nod in response.
“That is why problems of the mind can only be solved by the mind, because it is only the mind that is capable of being logical. The heart can not.”
Silver nodded once more, still hesitantly. Luna smiled at this and leaned her head closer down to his level where he lay on the grass, looking at him meaningfully.
“Problems of the heart, however, are completely different.” She said quietly, causing Silver to strain his ears slightly to hear what she was saying. “To put it lightly, they do not make any sense at all. There is no logic to it, no rhyme or reason. They stem from the deepest and strongest emotions that reside within us. Anger, sadness, hate…” she paused for a moment, smiling at her attentive friend. “…love. These are what cause problems of the heart, the strongest and most primal emotions that we feel.”
“I see…” Silver said slowly. He looked at Luna with a confused look on his face. “But I don’t see the point in all of this.”
Luna chuckled good naturedly. “The point, my friend, is that a fish cannot teach a bird to swim, nor can a bird teach a fish to fly.” Silver’s eyebrow furrowed, and Luna continued.
“If one were to have a problem of the heart, a problem that defied all reason, logic, or scientific process, the mind would be very hard pressed to find any solutions. The heart, however, is not logical, nor is it reasonable. It is very fickle, and seems to move from one direction to another with only the slightest provocation. Conversely, a problem of the mind could not be solved by the heart.” She thought for a moment before smiling. “The heart and mind are two sides of the same coin, you see. Similar in many ways, yet completely opposite in many others.” She peered at unicorn beside her. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Silver was quiet for the moment. “The heart…and the mind…” He mentally went over every difficulty he has had over the past few days, difficulties that revolved around a particular mare, but were not caused by her. He went over every instance where he felt like he was confused beyond measure, lost in an endless sea of worry and anxiety, fruitlessly trying to put his emotions to words.
Silver closed his eyes for a moment and nodded slightly to show Luna that he did understand. In fact, he was slightly annoyed with himself for not understanding sooner. As he lay on the grass, dimly aware of anything but his own existence, Silver did something that he had never done before, for fear of what it would do to him if he did.
For fear of breaking his promise.
He closed off his mind completely, cutting himself off from the most valuable thing that he had and one of the only things he could trust. It startled him for a moment when the small and constant voices of idle thoughts disappeared completely, but he forced himself to relax.
And then he opened his heart, and thought in a way he never had before, in a way that was governed not by reason or intellect, but by emotion and passion. His heart beat strongly in his chest, stronger than ever before, Silver thought, and all at once, he understood.
He opened his eyes to see Luna peering at him with a curious smile on her face, one that he instantly met with his own small one. “Thank you Luna. That really straightened some things out for me.”
Luna nodded. “I’m pleased to hear that.”
“But I’m afraid I’m going to have to go.” He continued as he got to his hooves and brushed himself off. “I just realized that there’s something I need to do.”
Luna nodded again, her smile growing wider. “Is that so? Well, I shan’t hold you. It was nice seeing you again, my friend.”
Silver’s smile grew wider. He quickly walked up to his much taller friend and gave her a quick, friendly hug. “Likewise Luna.”
The Princess of the night chuckled, patting his foreleg that was around her neck. “Go on then, do what you must.”
Silver withdrew himself and nodded before turning around and taking off at a brisk trot towards his destination. Luna overheard him quietly mutter “I just hope it’s not too late…” as he went.
When he was over the hill and out of eyesight, she shook her head and chuckled. “Oh Silver Quill,” she murmured, turning her eyes to her moon that shone overhead. “If there’s one thing that I have learned in all my years…” she smiled softly. “It’s that it is never too late.”
Silver Quill broke into a run as he crested the hill, his hooves drumming against the grass, and as he reached the roads, kicking up dirt as he was spurned onwards by a strange sort of desperation. He breathed deeply and evenly as his mane whipped behind him, ignoring the startled exclamations of the few remaining ponies he came across on the street. Most were inside by now, but a few stragglers were taking the time to enjoy the night while it was quieter and more peaceful.
Silver turned a corner and skidded to a stop, just barely managing to avoid colliding with a curly maned earth pony who was dragging an overflowing sack of candy that was almost bigger than her entire body behind her. Her forehooves were making ruts in the ground as she strained against its weight, dragging it inch by inch with strained grunts.
She spat out the drawcord of the sack and sighed tiredly before giving him a big smile. “Heya Silver, what’s the big hurry? Timberwolves on your tail?”
Silver blinked, his eyes drawn to the cargo the pink mare was carrying behind her. He could spy a long line in the dirt behind her from where she had dragged it on what it seemed to be nothing but pure bullheaded will.
“Hey Pinkie…” he said. “That’s uh…a pretty big haul you got there.”
Pinkie looked at the bag that was nearly bursting at the seams with candy. “Neat huh?” she said with a happy grin. “It’s not as much as last year, but it should last me a few months or so.” Silver turned his incredulous eyes towards her, wondering how in the name of all that is good and righteous in this world could anypony hope to eat all that candy in only a few months. She must have the appetite of a fully grown dragon.
“Hey, you haven’t seen Nightm- I mean, Princess Luna around, have you?” Pinkie asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Yes actually, I just finished talking to her. Why do you ask?” he replied.
“Really? That’s weird. She was in the middle of chasing us, threatening to devour our souls, that sort of thing,” she giggled amusedly. “when all of the sudden she gets this panicky look on her face, like somepony just told her that the sky was falling, and takes off into the air!”
“Is that so?” Silver replied curiously “She didn’t say anything? She just left?” Luna had been quite looking forward to Nightmare Night, he knew. It didn’t sound like her at all to just up and vanish.
“She said something about how ‘he’s in trouble’ before she took off, dunno what that means though.” The pink mare shrugged. “Oh well, if you talked to her, then I’m sure everything’s fine.” She picked up the drawstring in her mouth and smiled at him. “Well, I gotta go home and get some sleep before the sugar rush ends or I’ll fall asleep flat on my face. I’ll see you later Silver Quill!” She gave him a quick wave before taking off down the road with a surprising amount of speed that belied the weight of the burden she was carrying. Silver waved weakly in the direction she took off.
“So long.” he said quietly before slowly walking in the opposite direction, his brain feeling muddled and confused, and not just because of the mare that defied physics.
After a few minutes of walking, Silver found himself standing outside of the large hollowed out tree that served as Ponyville’s only library and Twilight Sparkle’s home. The door was only a few paces away from him, and he stood completely still, regarding it silently.
“Think with the heart…” he thought to himself. “not with the mind…”
He took a deep breath and forced his thoughts to slow down. Standing there, knowing what was behind that door, Silver shivered slightly in the cold of the night as he concentrated not on what his brain was telling him, but on what his heart was telling him.
Right now, it was telling him to open the door and face the one he loved.
The door slowly opened with a rattling creak that was deafening in the silent atmosphere of the night. Silver winced inwardly at the sound, feeling as though he was disturbing some sort of ancient burial ground that demanded silence and respect where the ghosts of ponies slept fitfully, only to be woken up by the slightest noise.
He wasn’t though. He was opening the door to the Ponyville library, the one that he was temporarily living in, and he was making a fool out of himself by acting as though he were sneaking in, when in reality, he was free to enter or leave whenever he wanted, and here he was opening the door by inches at a time.
He gritted his teeth irritably as he stepped through the threshold and quickly closed the door, staring angrily at the wood. “Nerves…It’s just nerves.” His heart pounded in his chest, partly as a result from his haste to get here, and mostly because of what he knew what was coming.
He sighed as he thumped his head against the wooden door and rested it there, his eyes closed as he breathed deeply in an effort to slow the pounding drum in his chest and calm the butterflies in his stomach. He stood like that for half a minute, his forehead firmly pressed to the hard wood. Eventually, he started to relax as his heart rate lowered and his stomach settled.
“Silver? What are you doing?”
Silver Quill’s eyes flew open as he whipped around, nearly tying his hooves in a knot underneath him in the process. Behind him, laying on her fetlocks on a sofa, lay Twilight Sparkle with a book held out in front of her with her telekinetic grip. Her purple coat was tinged with an orange hue from the candlelight she was reading under. Or at least, had been reading under before Silver came in, completely oblivious to her presence.
His heart started pounding again as the butterflies came back in full force.
“O-oh hey Twilight.” Silver said quickly, his voice cracking uncomfortably as he got over his surprise. “What’s up?”
The mare cocked her head. “I was just getting some reading done before bed.”
Silver nodded absentmindedly. “Is that so?” he said, inwardly cursing himself and his situation. Despite his haste to get here, he had been hoping that Twilight would have been asleep, giving him the opportunity to wait until the next day when he was more awake and alert.
Looking at the mare resting elegantly on the couch looking at him with a small, pleasant smile, Silver couldn’t help but let those irritations fade away. He was thinking with his head again, thinking things through with the logical and reasonable processes he was so used to performing, but just the sight of her smiling at him set a dull ache in his chest, one that had no rhyme or reason, yet made perfect sense to him.
“I’ve been a fool Twilight.” Silver blurted out, surprising both him and the mare. Her ears perked interestedly as she looked at him curiously.
“Why do you say that?” she questioned with a slightly troubled look on her face.
Silver’s legs carried him forward, seemingly of their own accord as his mouth started to rapidly speak words that weren’t his own. “I’ve been a complete and utter idiot. I’ve been blind to what was directly in front of my face, and deaf to what was being screamed right into my ear. I’ve been so focused on thinking about what I should be doing and feeling that I haven’t been allowing myself to actually do or feel anything.” He took a deep breath. “In short, I’ve been a fool.”
Twilight was taken aback. “A fool? I don’t think I understand…”
Silver grinned ruefully, more to himself than to her, as he gently sat down on the couch next to her. “I don’t understand either, but I’m sure it’ll come to me.” he said quietly, the earlier urgency in his voice all but gone.
Twilight looked at him for a moment, confusion writ plainly across her face for a moment before she lit up with a small, understanding smile. Wordlessly, she closed her book and crossed her fetlocks, giving him an encouraging smile.
Silver felt his stomach lurch as he watched her. A hundred thoughts went through his head all at once, too quickly and too numerous to be identified or dwelt upon for a single second, but they each resulted in a single, simple concept.
“I think I really do love her. And whatever her feelings are for me, I think it’s about time I proved it.”
“Twilight…” he said quietly. “I’ll admit, I was apprehensive at first about coming here, to Ponyville. The only reason I did come was simply to try and find a better outlet for my writing. I had no real interest in meeting the ponies here, getting to know them and making friends.”
The librarian leaned forward a bit and nodded understandably. “I was the same way.”
Silver smiled at her, somewhat sadly to Twilight’s confusion. “I’ve been like that since I was a colt to be honest. I never really put much importance on friendships or…relationships with other ponies. They seemed to be one great big waste of time and effort.” He looked down at his hooves, his face falling a bit, reverting back to its more usual neutral expression.
“The funny thing is, I only recently realized why I was like that. Why I tended to avoid having many meaningful relationships with other ponies that resulted in anything more than casual acquaintances. Even the few friends I made in school…” Silver winced slightly before shaking his head. “Well, they didn’t last very long.”
There was silence for a few seconds, prompting Twilight to lean forward curiously. “And what did you realize?”
“This is it.” Silver thought. He didn’t know what it was he was going to say, all he knew was that, for the first time he could, he was speaking purely from the heart, and his heart had something that it desperately wanted to say.
“My mother died when I was very little.”
Silver’s eyes widened at the exact same time Twilight’s did, a look of terror on his face, a look of surprise on hers. He had to resist throwing his hooves over his mouth in an effort to shove the words back in from whence they came.
“Why the buck did I just say that?!”
Twilight was just as baffled as Silver. “I-I’m so sorry to hear that.” she said sincerely, a look of sympathy bleeding into her shocked expression.
“No!” Silver said quickly, looking panicked and waving his hooves in front of his face. “No no no no, don’t be sorry, it’s completely alright. It happened a long time ago, it’s fine. I’m over it.”
Twilight looked no less confused, but nodded anyway. Silver took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down before speaking again. “Oh Goddess, I’m such a basket case…Don't screw this up Silver!” he thought irritably to himself.
“The reason I tell you this is so that you know where I’m coming from. So that you have some context.” He said slowly. “I don’t want any sort of pity party, I just want to explain myself because I’ve been treating you so unfairly.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “You haven’t-”
“Yes Twilight, I have.” Silver interrupted, leaning forward and placing his two front hooves gently over hers. “I only now realized why.” Her words died in her throat, her expression softening somewhat as she took in his earnest expression. She looked down at the hooves that were holding hers, gently yet firmly at the same time, smiling unconsciously at the feeling.
She looked back up at him and nodded. Silver sighed with relief, relief that he still had a chance to make things right. That it wasn’t too late to do so. “Thank you.”
Twilight smiled at him once more. The fact that he did not withdraw his hooves from hers didn’t escape her, but she didn’t mind.
Silver Quill took one more deep breath before continuing, an almost eery calmness overcoming him. After spending so many days worrying and wondering, he felt as though a huge weight was being lifted from his shoulders as he got ready to finally stop thinking and start feeling, no matter the outcome of it.
“My mom died when I was 8 years old of an illness that caused her own immune system to attack her body as though it were a virus, everything from her skeletal system to her nervous system.” Twilight made an intake of breath, but Silver cut her off before she could say anything. “It wasn’t hereditary or genetic, we were told. The doctors couldn’t find out what caused her body to start destroying itself, nor could they find any way to cure it. It just showed up unannounced one day, and she was dead several months later.”
Twilight recoiled slightly, but she didn’t move away from him or take her hooves away from his, something that Silver was extremely thankful for. He didn’t think he’d be able to muster the strength to talk about this in such detail if he didn’t have what little support she offered just by being there, even if she didn’t realize it.
“That’s terrible…” she murmured quietly, her face stricken. Silver felt a pang of guilt for making her look like that with his words, but before he could try to comfort her, try to tell her that he was alright, he found his mouth running off on its own yet again.
“It…it was.” he replied as calmly as he could, his mouth dry. “I was devastated, to say the least. I could barely work up the conviction to get out of bed each morning, and my grades and my social life took a big blow because of it.”
The two ponies were quiet for a moment. Silver felt a rush of emotions pass through him like water being passed through a high pressured hose. Sadness, confusion, regret; clear memories of each clouded his eyes for a moment, and he found that he couldn’t speak as he started to lose himself to feelings long repressed.
The feeling of something against his cheek distracted him, pulling his mind back to the present. To his surprise, Twilight had leaned over and gently nuzzled him, trying to impart whatever strength she could onto him before moving back away and giving him a small, sad smile.
Silver nearly choked as he felt his chest tighten to the point where it physically pained him. He smiled weakly at her, showing his gratitude, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
“Before she died, my mom made me promise her something.” He said quietly. “She made me promise that I would be strong no matter what happened, to me or…to her, and that I would never let my emotions get the better of me.” He adopted a peculiar expression as he thought back to that night. “At first, I didn’t understand what that meant, but eventually, as I dealt with her death and got older and wiser, I came to realize what she was saying.”
Silver paused and licked his lips nervously. “Or at least I thought I did.”
Twilight’s eyebrows rose curiously, and Silver had to fight back a weary sigh. He had never spoken about his past in this way before with anypony, not even his closest friends and family back in Canterlot. That he was willing to bare his soul in such a personal and intimate way to this pony, despite the fact that he had only known her for little over a week, was not lost on Silver Quill. There was just something about her, an aura that he could sense without realizing it, that he knew on a primordial level that he could trust.
He hoped she felt the same thing about him.
“I…” Silver said quietly before pausing to clear his dry throat. He could really go for a cup of water right now. “I took it to mean that she didn’t want me to be controlled by my emotions, not just when the going got tough or when I felt like an emotional wreck, but at all times of every day…” He breathed in through his nose, forcing himself to speak clearly as it got slightly harder and harder to do so. “So I did. I shut myself off from my emotions. I vowed that I would go my entire life thinking things through with a logical mind and not let small things like anger or sadness affect the way I lived.” He paused for a moment and laughed ruefully. “That, in itself, is not that bad a way to live, I suppose.” he said with a wry smile that quickly disappeared. “The only problem was that I didn’t let myself get affected by other things, such as happiness, or friendship…or love.”
Twilight’s mouth hung open slightly in surprise, forming a perfect O shape. Silver saw this, and pressed on hastily before she could say anything. He had already started now, he didn’t think he would be able to stop. “It wasn’t like I was emotionally dead inside, you must understand. I was just…I dunno, immune might be a good word to describe it. Immune to the way the ones feelings can cloud their judgment, or make them do things they normally wouldn’t.” He sighed and shook his head. “I was fairly content this way actually, letting myself be ruled by nothing but my mind. I actually became quite good at it.” Silver smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I could be absolutely miserable, or furious beyond belief, and nopony would ever know unless I told them.” He paused, his smile faltering. “Throughout the funeral, I didn’t even shed a single tear...I was in complete control.”
The two ponies were quiet for the moment, the flickering candlelight blanketing them in its orange glow. Silver an expression that suggested as though something mildly troublesome was on his mind while Twilight had one purely of sympathy.
“That all changed one day, though.” He said suddenly, looking back up from his hooves at Twilight with shining eyes. “One day, I found that my control that I had perfected for so many years had just left me, and I couldn’t figure out why. My equilibrium was thrown off, I was knocked out of balance, my world was turned upside down, and it was all because of one single pony…” Silver looked Twilight straight in the eye as he said this, her hooves still in his grasp, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.
“One pony was all that it took to make me realize how…how stupid I’ve been.” He continued emphatically. “It took me a while, and a whole lot of thinking on my part, and probably a lot of confusion and patience on hers, but I eventually realized my mistake.” Silver felt his heart start to beat more rapidly in his chest as he ineffectively tried to swallow with a dry mouth.
“What my mother meant when she told me to not let my emotions control me and that I should be strong…wasn’t that I should completely shut myself off from them. By doing that, I now realize, I was still being controlled by my emotions as I let them change the way I think and act. No…what she meant was that I should accept them, but not be overwhelmed by them.” He dry swallowed once more, his rapid heartbeat making him breathless. “I was wrong to think that these things that I felt, love and hate, happiness and sadness, were weaknesses.” He smiled weakly. “Now, I know, they are valuable beyond measure, and that I’ve been stupid to repress them.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as Silver’s breathing started to become slightly more rapid as a result of his anxiety and nervousness. He hoped that she didn’t notice. He looked at her meaningfully as his chest rose and fell with deep, even breaths. “One pony helped me realize that I’ve been living my entire life on a misguided ideal that I was never supposed to have. She showed me just how…how beautiful these emotions that I've been trying to repress can be, probably without even realizing she was doing so, and I’m eternally grateful to her for doing so.”
Twilight was speechless, or at least, as close to speechless as she had ever been in her entire life. Even so though, she had an inkling that she knew what he was saying, or rather, what he was implying, and it brought a small smile to her face. “Wow…that’s quite the story.” she said quietly.
“Yeah...”Silver murmured, gazing into Twilight’s eyes, feeling himself get slightly lightheaded. “Twilight, I’ve never felt the same way about anypony that I do for you.” he whispered, causing her eyes to widen, her cheeks to redden, and unbeknownst to Silver Quill, her heartbeat to quicken.
He felt the words just start pouring out of his mouth like a dam that had burst from the overpowering flow of a river, but he did not try to stop them. “From the first moment I laid eyes on you, you suddenly became the only thing on my mind at all times. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw your face. Every time I looked away from you, I wanted nothing more than to look back. Every time you smile at me,” Silver made a pained grin. “I feel like my heart is on the verge of bursting.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “I’m not the smartest pony you’ll ever meet, the past few weeks have proven that, but I can say with all certainty…” he slowly opened his eyes again to behold once more the wide eyed mare. “that I love you, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight made a small choking noise deep in her throat and looked down in surprise, bringing a lavender hoof up to her chest. “M-my heart is racing...” She murmured in bewilderment. “It almost felt like it was going to leap out of my chest for a second there…” her brow furrowed in contemplation before she looked back up at him.
“What you just said, say it again.”
Silver didn’t hesitate, leaning forward a little more. “I love you Twilight Sparkle. I know that I’ve only known you for a little over a week and that ‘love’ is a concept that is completely foreign to me,” Silver gave her a tender smile. “but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life.”
Twilight made a surprised oh! at hearing his words. “There it is again!” she said with bewilderment. “That’s so…” she shuddered slightly as she withdrew her hoof from her chest, holding it in the air aimlessly. “strange…”
Acting on nothing but what his instinct, or rather, his heart told him to do, Silver reached up a hoof and gently brushed away an errant lock of violet mane that hung in front of her face. “I love you, Twilight.” He repeated.
The mare blinked rapidly. “I..”
He gently cupped her cheek with his hoof, eliciting a surprised noise from her, a dreamy smile on his face as he gazed at the picture of perfection. “I love you, Twilight.”
Twilight reached up and lay her hoof against the one that caressed her cheek, closing her eyes as she leaned into it slightly, softly pressing it closer to her. Her breathing became shallower, but she had a look of such contentment on her face that Silver couldn’t help but smile wider.
“I love you Twilight.”
The librarian opened her eyes and smiled weakly at the Silver. “I love you too.” she whispered, so quietly that Silver could barely hear her.
But he did hear her, and as the sounds of her words traveled through the space in front of them and into the inner workings of his ears where the noises and inflections were analyzed in microseconds to glean their meaning, Silver felt as though a tidal wave had just passed over him.
A happiness of the likes he had never before felt, only heard about, burst inside of him, rendering him slightly dizzy and weak in the knees. His vision blurred before clearing in the span of time it took blink, as he was bombarded with so much joy that he thought he may break down and weep right on that spot. In the back of his mind, Silver was dimly aware of a small voice thanking the circumstances that resulted in him sitting down for this conversation, as he most likely would have fallen if he were standing.
His heart and mind were maelstroms of activity, clouded and energized by a feeling so profound that it was almost unreal. He wanted to weep and laugh at the same time, but he did none of those things. Instead, he only smiled.
The two ponies were lost for a moment, only to be brought back to reality by Silver’s voice as he spoke words he didn’t realize he was speaking. “Do you remember when we were on the ferris wheel…and you leaned in to kiss me?” he asked, his voice lighter than a feather.
“Yeah.” Twilight replied her voice just as quiet and breathy. Silver was dimly aware that she was very slowly getting closer to him, the space between them getting smaller by millimeters at a time.
“I stopped you…because I was afraid of breaking that promise.” Twilight gave an infinitesimal nod. “If you’d allow me…I’d like to correct that mistake.”
Silver saw her gulp. “Okay.” She squeaked.
The space between them continued to get smaller and smaller. The eyes of the two ponies were illuminated by the flickering light of the candle that was merely seconds away from running out of wick to burn, barely hanging on to what little life it had left.
Slowly, they closed their eyes in unison as the world was plunged into blackness, the candle having finally gone out as there was nothing left to burn. For a brief moment, the world seemed to hold its breath, like a choir taking a pause right before unleashing their voices in one tremendous crescendo.
…
Their lips touched, nothing more than feather light brushes against one another, but enough to send Silver’s mind reeling. From this close, he could detect the flowery smell of the shampoo she used combined with the naturally sweet odor that was hers. His closed eyelids fluttered for a moment and he forced his breathing to remain calm and even.
They made contact once more, their inexperience plain to see with how hesitant and nervous they were. The kiss was a bit deeper this time, a bit more passionate and loving, but it was still nothing more than a small touch, light and unsure.
They withdrew once more for the span of heartbeat, aware of nothing but the pony that lay in front of them in the darkness, only able to make out their faint outlines in the sparse amounts of moonlight that filtered through the window. Silver’s mind cried out in joy, blinding him with euphoria, but a primal part of him craved more than just feather light kisses. He would not let himself be too forward, however, no matter how much he wanted to take the mare in his forelegs and never let go.
His eyes opened with surprise as he felt a gentle hoof snake around his neck and force his head forward to meet her lips as she kissed him with a fiery passion, pulling him as close to her as possible and drawing in his presence. Silver responded in kind laying a hoof on her shoulder as he kissed her just as deeply, also pulling her into him while trying his best not to smile around the kiss, just as he could feel that she was.
Something bothered Silver’s closed eyes, and he opened them to a startling sight. No longer was the room covered in darkness. Their horns were illuminated, a bright white light from Silver’s and a light lavender from Twilight’s, casting them in a warm glow in each others embrace. Silver’s glowing horn pulsed and brightened to the time of his heartbeat, allowing him to only catch brief glimpses of her face that was so close to his. He noted with slight surprise that Twilight’s horn was also pulsing to the time of her own heartbeat, and that the pulses of light were perfectly in sync.
Silver closed his eyes once more, deciding that the light wasn’t important as he melted into the kiss, lovingly putting his other hoof on the back of her head and running it through her long mane. He couldn’t help but notice that her lips tasted sweet, no doubt from the Nightmare Night candy they been eating before.
Finally, their lips parted, the two ponies gasping and panting slightly from the lack of air. They looked at each other intently, intense blushes on both of their faces, their chests heaving as they were assaulted with feelings wholly unfamiliar with them. Their eyes shined in the light emitted from their horns, Twilight’s a dull white colour and Silver’s a pale lavender. Silver could see a pink blush adorning the mare’s cheeks, and he suspected that he was sporting his own as well.
“I’ve…never felt like this before.” The mare muttered, panting slightly as her head swayed dizzily. “Scared, excited, and happy all at once…it’s so strange.”
Silver nodded, not taking his eyes off of her. “I know.” He replied quietly. “I feel like I just ran from here to Canterlot and back in the span of 5 minutes.” Twilight giggled and nodded.
“It’s exhilarating.” She agreed with a slow nod. “And kind of scary, to be honest.”
Silver leaned in to plant a kiss on her nose, causing her ears to fall back against her head and her smile to widen. “I feel the same way Twilight.” he said, a euphoric rush passing through him as he said her name. “I feel more nervous than I ever have in my entire life, but I think that if we take this one step at a time…” Silver smiled, “and do what out hearts tell us, we should be okay.”
Twilight smiled back at him weekly as he ran his hoof through her soft mane, the light emitting from their horns rapidly fading to shroud them in darkness once again. Before the glow was extinguished completely, however, Silver could see a curious faint blue glow from the other side of the room behind Twilight that came from a gramophone radio that was sitting on a table. It enveloped the needle lifting it for a second before letting it fall onto the record with a scratching sound.
“Hey there everypony, this is Dr. Smooth coming at you live from Manehatten, and this is 92.1 Smooth Tunes, where the music keeps on flowing and the hearts keep on growing.” a deep voiced stallion announced from the gramophone. Silver frowned slightly at the interruption, but Twilight paid it no mind, so he didn’t either. He simply busied himself by staring at the pony in front of him, and she did the same. “We have a request tonight for some smoooooth tunes from one Starry Skies in Canterlot who asks us for some of Saphire Shores’ smooth sounds. This one goes out for you Starry...and for all of those lovers out there.”
Soft music started to emerge from the radio via magically transmitted relay from the station in Manehatten. A soft piano started the song off, gently rising and falling in pitch.
Silver didn’t recognize the song, but he found himself uncaring as the rather sweet melody permeated the room. His and Twilight’s shared smiles grew wider and their eyes more wistful as a soft, feminine voice sang.
Wordlessly, the two ponies leaned forward into one another in embrace, softly nuzzling against the other with a small sigh and smiling contentedly. Silver felt fireworks going off in his mind, loud and cacophonous explosions of colour with every sound and movement she made. He had to convince himself that this was real, that he wasn’t going to wake up to find out that this was a dream, but something in his heart told him that this was probably the most real he had ever felt in his entire life.
In the back of his mind, in the last vestige of logic that remained at the moment, Silver reflected on that strange blue glow that started the music. He recognized that glow, he had seen it before on the horn of an alicorn princess as she dotted the night sky with pinpricks of light and colour. Something was definitely strange about that, he figured, but he would have to think about the later.
He planted another kiss on Twilight’s cheek causing her to giggle and lean against him more until the two ponies were laying their heads on each other shoulders. Silver felt his eyelids droop, despite his best efforts to remain awake and bask in the moment. All that nervousness from before had come and gone, leaving him in an exhausted haze that pulled him closer and closer to sleep with every passing second.
Slowly, Silver felt himself succumb to weariness. The relaxed feeling of being so close to the mare he loved combined with the soothing sounds of the song were rapidly putting him to sleep. From the sound of her breathing, Twilight was feeling the same way, near to letting sleep overtake her. With a smile and one last nuzzle, Silver let his eyes close as he gave himself up to sleep, just missing the faint blue glow that removed the needle from the record as he did so, stopping the music and letting him rest in peace.
Outside the library, a tall figure shrouded in the darkness of night stood next to the window, a serene smile on its face as its gazed on the ponies inside. The figure spared itself a small, rewarding pat on the back before turning away, spreading its wings and taking to the skies, humming a happy little tune under its breath.
(A/N- I removed the last few paragraphs of the last chapter, redid them, and put them in the beginning of this chapter. I felt that it worked best this way.)
Silver Quill’s eyes squinted in irritation under the assault of the first morning light streaming through the open window, waking him up from a peaceful slumber. He moved his head away from the source of the irritation, but that didn’t help. His eyelids fluttered, briefly revealing bloodshot and tired eyes, forcing him to squint in an effort to hide from the painfully bright light.
“Why on earth are the windows open?” Silver thought grumpily as he shivered in the morning chill. “And where is that bloody blanket?”He groaned and lifted his head, yawning tiredly let as he slowly opening his eyes to find the source of his irritation.
What he saw, however, struck him dumb.
The translucent curtains of the window were thrown wide open, casting the library’s sitting room in warm orange and yellow colours. Silver could feel the heat from the light slowly warming his body only for the warmth to be wicked away by the chilliness of morning, almost making him feel like he was bathing in water that was both hot and cold at the same time, cold on the outside and warm on the inside. The couch cushions were warm beneath his forelegs, the heat from his belly having seeped into the material during the night. Silver found it strange that that was the case, he much preferred to sleep on his side rather than on his stomach.
Or at least, he would have found it strange if he hadn’t been nearly rendered catatonic with surprise. Every detail about the room, both minor and major, was currently being ignored as his brain latched onto one detail that was much, much more important than any other. Even the fact that he was still wearing his Nightmare Night Costume, the suit that Rarity had lent him, didn’t register in his mind.
Less than a few inches away from him lay the sleeping form of Twilight Sparkle, her chin resting on top of her crossed forelegs, her mane spilling over the side of her face like a blanket, swaying almost imperceptibly with the tide of her breathing.
Silver went from bone tired to being completely awake in a manner of seconds. His heartbeat sped up as adrenaline flooded his body with wakefulness. Resisting the urge to make any sudden movements, Silver stared at the sleeping mare incredulously.
“What in the…” he thought to himself, his mind a mess of conflicting images and feelings. It felt like he was trying to put an immensely complicated puzzle together, except his memories were the puzzle pieces and he had only a vague idea of what the completed puzzle was supposed to look like. Frankly, Silver counted himself lucky that he hadn’t started sputtering in surprise.
He leaned forward slightly, getting a better look at the sleeping mare. Her mane was disheveled, he noticed, with little strands occasionally poking out, and there seemed to be bags under her eyes. Despite her unkempt appearance, Silver noticed that she wore the tiniest of smiles in her sleep.
The open window was behind her, Silver realized, the light spilling forth from the window hitting only a small portion of her body. Twilight murmured and pressed herself against her forelegs, unconsciously looking for warmth with a small, and fairly adorable, whine.
In a flash, it all came back to Silver Quill. The night before had been filled with more emotion than any he could remember in a long, long time, and it was all because of this intelligent librarian. She had made him more nervous than when he had first tried to publish a book, and she had made him more happy than when he had read that first positive review.
He remembered it like he did the rides at the Nightmare Night fair, soaring highs and plummeting lows hitting him one after the other. The anxiety he felt about confessing his feelings so bluntly and openly, especially after having been so quiet and confused about them, something that left a dirty taste in his mouth, had been nearly enough to cause him to choke on his own tongue. That coupled with the sheer joy of hearing her say those small, meaningful words back to him, a mere three syllables that carried the weight of a moon made him more exhausted and happy than he had ever felt in his entire life.
His smile that he didn't even know that he was wearing faded slightly as he remembered what he said about his past. His smile slowly shrank until it was replaced completely by a blank expression, the one that he normally wore before he had met Twilight and had fallen for her.
He breathed deeply, very aware of his own heart beating in his chest slightly faster than normal. For so many years now, he had refused to let his emotions overpower him, all because of a misunderstood promise he had made to that mare when he was but a colt. He had mourned, yes, but throughout the entire ordeal, even during her funeral, Silver had not shed a single tear of bereavement. He had stayed, stoic, steadfast, and strong, because that was what she wanted him to do. To be strong.
Silver's smile returned, a little bit more bittersweet this time. It was ironic, he thought, that such emotions should well up now of all times when he was happier than he had ever been. "You have to take the good with the bad I suppose." he mused wryly.
Just as he did so many times before, Silver stifled those feelings away under a cold, hard barrier. "But not at the same time." he thought as he gazed at the sleeping mare who shivered slightly in the chill. "The bad can wait until later. She said that she loves me!” He felt his pulse quicken at the simple thought. “And I...”
His smile became smaller, but no less happy as he beheld the librarian sleeping in her hooves, snuffling quietly as she lightly snored. He felt a somewhat familiar sensation of warmth flood through him, replacing all of the blood in his veins with glorious light. It was the same feeling that he had felt every time he had laid eyes on her before, only now multiplied by hundreds.
He leaned down and put his mouth next to her ear. “I love you.” He whispered, feeling a thrill pass through him as he did so. Her ear twitched at this, lightly flicking him in the nose as she murmured something unintelligible in a sleepy response.
A silent laugh bubbled from Silver, and he had to resist the urge to nuzzle the mare. Instead, he slowly, lowered his head down to rest on the cushions, his cheek merely inches away from hers. With a simple thought and a a small burst of magical energy, Silver's horn lit up, drawing the curtains close with a hiss of metal on metal. With another thought, and a little more power, Silver formulated another spell, one that made heat from magical energy, and shrouded himself and Twilight in an invisible blanket of warmth. It would only last for little more than an hour, it wasn't a self sustaining spell, but it was useful in situations where you needed to warm your hooves but didn't have a blanket handy.
Twilight sighed contentedly where she lay snoozing into her forelegs. Silver emulated her position, smiling slightly as he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her breathing until he fell back to sleep.
A nudge on Silver's side woke him up once more. "Silver." A soft voice said. "Wake up.
He merely squeezed his eyes shut and did nothing, too comfortable to move.
Another nudge, slightly more forceful than the last. "C'mon Silver, you need to get up. The library's going to be open in an hour and I can't have you sleeping on my couch."
Silver groaned and covered his eyes with his forelegs. "Just gimme five minutes." he mumbled.
"Nuh uh. You get off your lazy flank right now mister, or I'll make you."
Silver resisted the urge to grin. He recognized that tone as the one Twilight used when she had to be a little bit more firm than usual when talking with Spike. He detected a hint of amusement in the authoritative tone.
He didn't move, opting to stay right where he was on this delightfully comfortable couch, waiting to see if she was going to follow up on that threat or not.
"Alright then, don't say I didn't warn you." Twilight said in a light, uncaring voice.
Silver was about to reply, but was interrupted by the comfortable couch tipping over at a near 90 degree angle, sending him tumbling onto the floor in a heap of confusion and discomfort.
Silver opened his eyes to see a lavender face looking down at him with a smirk. Next to them, the couch that was wrapped in a purple aura that was currently standing on only two legs slowly lowered back down and settled back down to its normal position.
She grinned at him smugly. Silver merely groaned in response as he brought himself to his hooves.
"Ugh…what time is it?" he said tiredly.
"It's almost 11." Twilight replied.
He blinked. "Oh. It is late."
"Yes, it is." Twilight said, walking past him and flicking his nose with her tail playfully. "Thankfully nopony has come in looking for any books yet; they're all probably still sleeping off all of that candy from yesterday."
Well, that was a sobering thought. It would have been rather embarrassing if some pony had walked in to see the two ponies lying sprawled on the sofa like they had been. Not to mention they both had some freshening up to do. Silver ran a hoof through his straight mane and frowned. It was going to take him quite a while to get rid of this particular case of bed-head.
He follow Twilight to the kitchen where they made themselves a quick breakfast. Due to the lateness of the morning and the fact that they hadn't eaten anything more substantial than candy and chocolate last night, they were both feeling ravenous. Sitting down at the table with their food, a bowl of oatmeal for Twilight and an omelet for Silver, they finally got some real food in them.
"You know, I broke my streak because of you." Twilight said, pointing an accusing spoon in his direction and casting him a glare. Silver started and looked at her in confusion.
"Your what?"
"My streak." she replied grumpily. "For the past 14 years I've woken up at the exact same time, 7:00 sharp. Now all that effort has gone to waste." She folded her forelegs and put her nose in the air, eyes closed in a picture of haughtiness. "I hope you're proud of yourself."
Silver blinked, unsure of what to say. "I…" He stopped himself as he noticed the corners of her mouth were turning upwards ever so slightly "…am actually." he finished with casual smile in her direction, causing her make a scandalized face that he couldn't help but laugh at. When she realized that she had been played, she laughed as well.
"Well, I'll forgive you this time." She said lightheartedly.
Silver rolled his eyes and went back to eating. "How thoughtful of you."
Twilight nodded primly, satisfied that he recognized her benevolence and generosity.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, occasionally glancing up at one another, smiling nervously, and looking back down to their food without a word between them. They fidgeted, they looked around meaninglessly, and they tapped their hooves on the tabletop restlessly, shooting glances back and forth at one another like a a filly and a colt that had just met, but didn't know what to say to one another.
Silver's mind went back to many years before, when he was a little colt and was walking the halls of his school with his nose buried in a book. He recalled bumping into "the lavender filly" as she had been known to him then, and not being able to say a word to her; not even one of goodbye or hello.
He had been so nervous, he remembered, every time he had seen her in the hallway between classes, or during recess, curled up with a book under the shade of an oak tree. She seemed so unapproachable then. In the halls, she was always pulled away by the busy rush of students before he could get near her, and during recess her book might as well have been an impenetrable barrier with the words "go away" on it.
He had only seen her for a short time, a few years probably, for the average amount of time that all unicorns spent in the lower grade level of magical education before they switched to a school that was better suited to their abilities and talents. She didn't really seem particularly special or interesting to Silver, she was always reading and never talked to those around her, but something in his immature mind had something in her that he had seen her before. She was special, he just didn't know why.
Silver had been nearly overjoyed when he first saw that lavender filly in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, something that surprised him rather greatly. Why should he be so happy about that, or feel such an unusual draw towards her? And why did it sting so badly when it turned out that she wasn't going to be learning there after all? Why had it been extra hard to go to sleep that night?
Silver had quickly forgotten about her though as his schoolwork started to take precedence, soon followed by his mother's illness and passing. He had had no more time to think about her, the friend that he had never made.
A thought struck Silver Quill, chilling him to the bone and rooting him to he chair. Was that all going to happen again? Silver came to the sudden realization that his stay in Ponyville wasn't permanent. In fact, it was likely going to end very soon, and he would be going back to Canterlot sometime within then next few days. He had responsibilities there. His home, his books, his friends and family, not to mention his publisher who would likely be on his flank like white on rice if he didn't hunker down and get back to writing as he normally did, and is supposed to.
The whole reason for this impromptu vacation, he remembered with a start, was to give him a break from the city life and knock him out of his creative dry spell. Luna had been right, this little sabbatical had been just what he needed. He could already feel the gears and cogs in his head loosening, his mind slowly whirring to life, ready to churn out page after page after page.
He was going to have to leave soon; go back home to the city where the air smelled of body odour and the ponies smelled of false sincerity and honeyed words. But more importantly, he was going to have to leave Twilight.
His breath hitched in his throat as he felt his chest flutter a the mere thought. "No. Not this time."
"Twilight?"
She looked up from the table. "Hm?"
"I just realized that I'm going to have to return to Canterlot soon."
Her face transformed from content and serene to bewildered, her eyes widening and her jaw becoming slack. It seemed that he was not the only one who had forgotten the details of his stay.
She quiickly put on a mask of nonchalance, smiling pleasantly at him. "Oh right, I had forgotten about that." she replied easily. Silver's years of gaining control over his emotions has made him hyper sensitive to those of others, and right now, deep in her eyes, he could see brief flashes of sadness. Her smile quickly faltered and she looked down at her oatmeal without another word.
Funnily enough, it almost made him smile to see it.
He swallowed instinctively. "But…I'm not sure that I want to."
Her ears twitched as she looked up with interest, hope shining through the sadness in her eyes.
Silver took a deep breath and forced a calm expression. "I meant what I said to you last night Twilight." He stated, looking her dead in the eye. "Every word. I'd rather cut my own hoof off than have to leave Ponyville right now, but unfortunately, I don't have much of a choice. However...” he paused, thinking to himself. Twilight leaned forward, eager to hear what he had to say. “I don't necessarily need to stay in Canterlot.”
She blinked, a small smile forming on her lips. Silver sighed, forgetting his food for a moment despite his hunger.
“I'll be completely honest with you Twilight, I don't like Canterlot. I was born and raised there, but I've always wanted to pack up my bags and leave.” He smiled. “The only problem was that I never had any incentive to.”
Twilight nodded along silently.
“Well, I've found one now. The opportunity to live close to the most wonderful, beautiful mare I have ever met is a very compelling one.” Silver finished with a small grin, causing her to blush and look away.
“But before I do anything, I need to know something.” he continued, his voice more serious this time. “I need to know, in no uncertain terms, what you feel about me.”
Looking back at him quickly, her eyes widened considerably, and then softened in understanding. Silver felt his mouth go dry as his heart started to beat faster. He knew what she had told him yesterday, but there was still that lingering, niggling feeling of doubt eating away at him inside. It would be so easy for her to completely destroy him at this very moment, because as calm as he may have seemed right now, in actuality he was on the verge of panicking. Questions and scenarios were running through his head at the speed of thought, each one more horrifying than the last. What would he do if she didn't want to be around him? What if she was visibly repulsed by the idea? What if she was so angry at him for asking that kicked him out of her library tight this second? Rationally, Silver knew that these thoughts were at least slightly ridiculous, but he didn't think that he was capable of being rational right now.
"I…" she said ineffectively, her mouth opening and closing as though searching for the words to say. "I…"
She blinked, looking strained and confused in her silence. Silver felt his heart plummet rapidly.
"I don't…"
An iron hard will was the only thing that kept his face from falling and from tears welling up in his eyes. He nodded solemnly, swallowing. "I understand." he replied, not actually understanding at all. What had happened last night then?
"No!" she cried, waving her hooves out in front of her, almost knocking her bowl over the edge of the table. "No, it's not like that. I just…" Twilight sighed and hung her head, mumbling to herself incoherently as she rubbed at her temples. Silver merely watched her.
Finally, after a long moment of silence, Twilight looked up to meet his eye. "I'm not very…good at these types of things, that was always Rarity's expertise, among other things." She said seriously. "Nevertheless, I am going to explain myself to the best of my limited ability." Her serious, business like tone only worked to confuse Silver Quill even further.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath through her nose, and began to speak. "I was always a fairly bookish pony, for no reason other than that was just how I was. I saw more value in books, in the fictional and non-fictional characters than I did in most ponies around me, except for a select few. Nearly everything I know about the world around me, the ponies who live in it, and by myself, I have been taught by books. How to talk politely, how to act appropriately, and how to think intelligently."
She looked to see a bemused Silver looking at her. "But no book that I have ever read could have prepared me for this. Sure, they have touched on the subject of love a bit, a few broken hearted soliloquies here, a few princes rescuing the beautiful princess to live happily ever after there, but I've come to realize that, and it pains me to say it, books are a pale example of what love is. It scratches the surface, yes, but underneath that surface there is an ocean of feelings that words cannot hope to describe."
She looked down at her bowl of oatmeal and began to idly swirl the spoon around the bowl with the tip of a hoof, her eyes far away. "I remember reading once that love is like a raging waterfall, a powerful, unstoppable force that takes along whether you like it or not. I don't think I agree with that, however."
She was silent for a moment, the only sound coming from the light clinking of the metal spoon against the porcelain bowl. She closed her eyes once more and smiled, more to herself than anything else.
"Rather…it's more like turning your face upwards underneath gentle rain on a warm, quiet spring day. It falls over you, soaking you to the bone, but not in a bad way. It's nice, like sitting next to a fireplace, washing away any aches and worries until you cannot help but smile because of it. Everything wrong in the world seems to just disappear underneath the rain, and what's left is the most beautiful feeling you've ever felt."
Silver Quill was stunned. Twilight stopped twirling the spoon with her hoof and opened her eyes to find him with his jaw open, staring at her in disbelief.
"It's strange, and I'll admit, a little bit frightening, feeling this way." she said softly, holding her hoof to her heart and sighing softly before dropping it. "Usually, when I encounter something new and strange, I'll look it up in a book, but in this case, that's not an option, so I simply have to go off of what I feel rather than what I think, something I've...never actually done before."
Silver blinked, his mouth closing with a snap. That sounded somewhat familiar. A small flame of hope ignited inside of him, but he didn't dare let it grow into anything more.
“What I feel is...odd. It's sort of a...bittersweet feeling, and I don't know whether or not I should be incredibly happy, or incredibly afraid.”
She chuckled to herself and looked up at Silver, her eyes shining as she smiled at him. “I guess I feel a little bit of both.”
They looked at each other for a good, long while, eventually causing the mare to blush slightly and look away once more. “Silver, I...I can't really say that I know exactly what love is, as I've never actually felt it before, but after what happened last night...” her blush deepened. “I think that I can say I understand it a little bit better.”
They were quiet for a moment, Silver mulling over what she just said in his head while Twilight waited with red cheeks and a hesitant expression to see what he would say.
Silver narrowed his eyes as he thought. “So...what you're saying is...” he said, his words trailing off as he tried to wrap his head around all of it.
“That I love you, yes.” Twilight replied, somewhat irritably, somehow turning even redder than before.
Silver blinked, the flame roaring to life instantaneously. He smiled at the blushing mare, mentally laughing at the way she seemed to be trying to hide her face from him, yet still watching him at the same time with an almost desperate look in her eyes.
“Well, couldn't you have just said that?” Silver asked teasingly with a grin. Her eyes widened in shock.
“Wha – I did!” she replied indignantly.
“In what has to be the most roundabout way ever, yes.” he replied, his grin widening.
“Y-you little...” she stammered ungracefully. “Was that not good enough for you or something?” she demanded.
“I'm just saying, you were able to say it before, you should be able to say it today.” Silver had to withhold a laugh when she sputtered indignantly.
“I...that was-”
“In the heat of the moment?” Silver finished with grin.
“No!” she replied hotly before looking away. “Maybe...”
Silver had to let out a chuckle at this which caused Twilight to groan and lay her head on the table dejectedly. “I take it all back.” she replied dejectedly. “I hate you now.”
Silver laughed brightly, reaching over and running his hoof through her mane comfortingly. “I love you too Twilight.” he replied fondly.
This caused her ears to perk up slightly, and looked up at him shyly, giving him a small smile and a laugh. Wordlessly, she straightened in her seat, and with one more fond look at Silver Quill, she went back to her food, not saying anything more, as nothing else was needed to be said.
One week later...
Silver walked through the streets, his hoof steps heavy and slow on the cobblestones, the resounding sound seeming to echo across the empty street. It was a fairly miserable looking day, overcast with a biting chill on the wind that stirred the fallen red and orange hued leaves into little whirlwinds of activity that brushed across the ground restlessly. Looking up, Silver almost expected to see flash of lightening in the grey, overencompassing clouds, or feel dripping rain on his face. The world was holding its breath, and the precipitation that he knew would soon be coming was emulating that by stubbornly refusing to fall.
Upon looking outside that morning, Silver knew that this was going to be the day. He didn't want go out when the streets were bustling with activity, as most Canterlot streets usually are. Thankfully, he only passed the occasional stranger; fellow wanderers who looked like they had too much on their minds. Without fail, they passed one another without a sound.
“It's a good day for rain.” he mused idly, shrugging in his coat so as to draw it closer around him, the cold ground biting against his hooves. “Very fitting.” He had been putting this moment off for a few days now, and now that he had run out of time to procrastinate, it looked like it was close to rain. He sighed dejectedly.
Turning his eyes back downwards, he focused once more on where he was heading. He was currently walking through one of the more quaint, lesser known areas of Canterlot; a side street that hid rickety apartments and old dusty shops from view. Brown seemed to be the standard here. Everywhere he looked he saw brown brick, brown mortar, brown wood, and brown metal. Even the few ponies that he saw all wore brown coats and boots.
“Boots. Now that would have been a good idea.” Silver thought bitterly, gritting his teeth against the numbing cold on his hooves. Nevertheless, he pressed on, refusing to be dissuaded by simply a little bit of discomfort.
It was like this that he walked for what seemed like an hour, but actually amounted to about 15 minutes. His head in the clouds, he walked blindly, letting his hooves carry him to where he knew that they knew he needed to go, taking the same steps that they have taken so many times beforehand. It was a start when they finally stopped, jarring him from his thoughts. With a start, he blinked and examined his surroundings to see that he was standing in front of a large, wrought iron archway that was standing over a gated entrance. The iron was carved in intricate designs of thorny roses that wreathed the words “Rosy Glades.”
Silver Quill grimaced. He had always hated that name. It seemed so campy then, and it seemed campy now.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, Silver pushed the wrought iron gate open, frowning as flakes from the metal of rust stuck to his hoof. The distasteful peal of old hinges tore through the air, announcing his arrival as the gate opened and closed behind him.
“Alright.” he thought, examining his surroundings. “Now, where was it?”
He started to walk along the gravel path that cut through the grass. Short trees and small, prickly bushes that sported the occasional rose or two dotted the landscape, giving it a desolate and weathered feel, one that Silver Quill imagined mirrored the feelings of most ponies who came here. Something about this place made him feel 15 years older.
Casting his gaze over the many rows of markers, Silver tried to remember the last time he had been here. It seemed like so long ago. From what he could remember, it had been more than a year, and that was on his father's urging. He usually treid to avoid this place, it tended to make him...emotional.
“The rich ones all have statues of angels and guardians,” he mused. “And the poor ones have simple crosses or markers.” He glanced at the tall marble figure of a pegasus rearing on her hind legs with her wings extended in a protective cocoon, carved so as to look like her entire body was draped in concealing cloth. “But it doesn't make a whit of difference.” Silver found himself wondering what her face looked like under shawl. Was it smiling? Crying? Maybe both.
He pushed it out of his mind. There was only one that he was looking for, and he had almost reached it.
Turning away from the gravel path and walking onto the grass, following the trail of headstones to his destination, Silver found himself looking at the sky again. “I hope it doesn't rain...”
Ahead of him, in the middle of the row, he could see what he came here for. It was a relatively unremarkable marker, not much different from the ones that surrounded it. The only thing that set it off from the others were the swirling veins of rose quartz set into the polished stone, light pink on dark grey making for a startling contrast.
Silver stopped in front of the circular headstone and sat down, ignoring the feeling of the already cold ground sapping away his body heat. Of course, the inscription was something that set it off from the others as well...
Here Lies Lily Quill, Beloved Mother And Wife, Never To Be Forgotten
Silver Quill couldn't help but grin. He remembered choosing the last part of that epitaph as a sort of childish ideal that she would be remembered for hundreds and hundreds of years as the most special pony to ever live, even more so than the princesses themselves. It had only seemed appropriate then.
“Hey mom. It's been a while.” He said, startling at the sound of his own voice in the profoundly quiet cemetery.
“I'm sorry I haven't visited in...a while, I suppose, but I don't really see much point in talking to a headstone. Others say it's supposed to be therapeutic, I just say that it's dumb.” He shook his head and grinned ruefully. “Well, here I am doing exactly that. What are the odds.”
He paused to take the time to breathe, inhaling deeply through his nose and letting it out in a deflated sigh. “A lot has happened since I've last been here.” he admitted. “I don't really know where to start, or how.”
He thought for moment. “The beginning, I guess...”
Composing himself, raising his head and straightening his back, Silver looked straight ahead. “I finally got out of Canterlot. I was...coerced into taking a small vacation to get out of the city and take my mind off things. Get a change of scenery and such. Luna said that-” he stopped when he realized that Luna hadn't returned from her lengthy banishment until after his mother's death. How strange it was to him to think about how it wasn't really too long ago that she returned, just a few years, yet he felt like he couldn't remember a time where they weren't friends.
He shook his head firmly, dislodging the errant thoughts from his mind. “Never mind.” he amended. “I'll just say that it was all organized by a friend in high places.”
He paused, collecting himself for a moment before continuing. “I was apprehensive at first as you can probably guess, but I felt like I didn't have anything to lose, so I boarded the train to a small town called Ponyville. It's a nice place. Lot's of gorgeous scenery and friendly ponies. You would have loved it considering how much you would complain about Canterlot.”
He drew in a breath to continue speaking, but stopped. Then he drew another one, and then stopped again. “I...met some ponies there that I can now call my friends.” His voice was hesitant and unsure. “You used to always bug me about staying in my room so much and not going out to make friends, saying that I was missing out on “the best things in life.” Well, I can now say that I understand what you were getting at back then.” He found himself grinning without even realizing it. “It really is nice.”
“There's one pony, however, I've gotten to know a little bit more than the others.” He said, swallowing a dry lump in his mouth. How silly he must have looked talking to this headstone, this poor representation of his mother. He had to resist the urge to twist his head around and make sure that there was nopony secretly watching him, likely giggling behind their hooves as they watched his ridiculousness.
“Her name is Twilight Sparkle, and she's a lot like me actually. Loves books, not very many friends...susceptible to occasional bouts of social awkwardness.” He made a face on that last point, but he knew in his heart that it was true.
“She's incredibly smart though.” he added. “Incredibly smart and talented. Remember all that hubbub in the news back when I was still a colt about Celestia accepting a unicorn filly as her personal student? Well, that filly was her.” He took a moment to appreciate what that really meant. “Yup. I'm friends with the most powerful unicorn in Equestria. How cool is that?”
His face lit up in a smile for a moment before quickly being replaced with an uncertain expression. “Only...it's a little bit more than that...” he admitted quietly.
“It's a pretty funny story, actually. I ran into her once, quite literally, when I was a colt, and I sort of developed a crush on her.” Silver's face flushed in embarrassment. “And then, when I realized that Lu – my friend had organized me to stay with her in Ponyville during my vacation, I was so surprised that I couldn't even speak.” Silver remembered the moment he had first walked through the front door of that library and beheld its caretaker. He had been so surprised that one could have understandably mistaken him for an incredibly detailed statue.
“Well, at first everything was all right.” Silver continued on. “I spent a lot of time wandering around Ponyville, cleaning all of the dust and cobwebs out of my head, enjoying the simplicity and whatnot, but things soon started to become a bit more...complicated.”
Silver tasted the words in his mouth and grimaced. This was really awkward. “I found myself becoming more and more...I dunno...fascinated by her.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “She seemed to be the most interesting pony I had ever met, and I could hardly take my eyes off of her for more than a few moments. Every time she spoke, I found myself listening as though my life depended on it.”
“At first, I was confused beyond measure. I was trying to get back to writing, but found myself continually distracted by even the simple thought of her.” He gave a rueful grin. “Little did I know it, that harmless crush had come back in full force.”
“Before I knew it, I could do nothing else but think of her. Just by walking into a room, she seemed to make everything brighter. She could talk for hours on end about the most boring subjects, and I'd be completely invested just because I could hear the sound of her voice. All it would take is a blink in my direction, and I would be struggling to keep my hooves under me. She would-”
Silver abruptly stopped when he realized what he was saying and that he was grinning like a fool without even realizing it. He could almost hear the deceased mare giggling at him.
Flushing slightly, he straightened. “Well, you get the point.” He paused for a moment, thinking to himself as he gazed into the shiny, slightly weathered stone. He could just about make out his reflection in the marble.
“Do you remember when I asked you and dad what it felt like to be in love?” Silver asked softly. “Dad told me that it was like having the most glorious disease in the world, one that ached so strongly that it felt like it was eating you alive, but would never in a million years get rid of.” A tiny smile graced his features. “I didn't understand then, but I do now. Somewhat.”
He took a moment to look up and examine the sky. Still grey and cloudy, it looked like it was going to open up on him any minute.
“I'll be honest mom, I was terrified.” Silver said absently, not taking his eyes away from the heavens. “For a while, I was so scared that the thought of...confessing my feelings would make me want to throw up. At first I thought it was just nerves born from inexperience, but eventually, after a little help from Lu – my friend, I realized it was more than that.”
Silver continued looking up at the sky for a good long minute, absently wondering when the first raindrop was going to fall. After a good minute of simply staring, he finally turned his head back down to look at the headstone. “I was afraid of breaking a promise that I made long ago...” he whispered, nearly inaudibly. He waited for a moment, as though expecting the grave to reply. When it didn't, he did the only thing that he could think of, and that was continue talking.
“But, you can rest assured that I managed to overcome my fear.” he announced proudly. “I opened myself up, more so than I have with anypony before.” he halted for a moment, cocking an ear to the wind. “How did it go you ask? Well...” he grinned. “let's just say that I've never felt happier in my entire life than I did in that moment. I don't think I can even begin to describe it...”
Silver sat there, smiling as he remembered the moment that Twilight said without a hint of doubt that she returned his feelings for her. All of the sudden, the cold didn't seem to bother him as much as before.
“Well...to make a long story short...I'm going to be leaving Canterlot and move to Ponyville.” he smiled ruefully. “I've had more than enough of this city to be honest. It used to be so shiny and fascinating when I was younger, but now it's just...well, not. I've already got everything set up. First thing tomorrow, I'm taking everything that I need and taking the train to Ponyville where I'll be renting a small apartment.” Silver had a little bit of money stashed away, money he had earned from writing his two published books and a myriad of short stories throughout the years, enough to make the transition from Canterlot to Ponyville as smooth as possible. It will be taking quite a chunk out of his savings though, but given the circumstances, he thought that to be a small price to pay.
His smile slowly started to fade. “So yeah...I'm leaving Canterlot. I probably won't be able to visit you in quite some time.” Lowering his head, he sighed. “I know I haven't visited you in such a long time, and I'm sorry for that, but I've been busy with my writing and stuff, and I live pretty far from here and-” A drop of water hit the ground in front of him, causing him to look up and scowl. “Oh for crying out loud...”
Silver waited to see how bad the rain was going to be. If it was just a light drizzle, he would be fine, but if there was going to be a downpour, he was going to have to cut his time short. To his surprise however, he did not feel any rain, nor could he see any falling around him, which confused him as he could very clearly hear a quiet drip of water hitting the ground close by.
His eyes widened with realization. “Oh...” he murmured, slowly lifting a hoof and touching the side of his face. He felt moisture there, a wetness that had nothing to do with the weather.
A shudder went through his body, forcing a pained grunt from his throat. “I'm sorry, I...” he gasped instinctively, trying to hold back the tidal wave that he knew was soon going to crash down upon him. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Be strong for me.” He heard a sickly voice in his head say.
With another convulsion, Silver's eyes flew open again, wide as saucers. He stared at the gravestones for a long moment, completely motionless save for the smallest twitch of his hoof or eye.
“Mom...” he whispered, his face starting to screw up as the tidal wave broke free and fell upon him. “I...promise...”
Finally, not being able to bear the strain anymore, Silver bowed his head with a wail of grief. His vision immediately became foggy as tears long repressed started to flow freely. He was wracked with convulsing sobs that shook him to his core as he cried for the first time in two decades.
“I promise...” he repeated, saying it nearly incoherently over and over again like it was a chant. “I promise...”
He collapsed to his stomach onto the sparse grass. Now he truly didn't mind the cold, although his coat protected him from the worst of it. The sharp feeling of icy pins served a welcome reminder that, even though she may be dead and buried, he was alive.
Silver didn't know how long he stayed like that, crying over the patch of dirt that Lily Quill was buried, his tears soaking into the sparse ground in time to his cries. It felt like hours, but it could have been no more than two minutes. All that he was aware of were the tears that would not stop falling.
He didn't even notice when it finally did start raining.
The rocking and rolling of the train car was making Silver drowsy, but he forced himself to stay awake. In between his hooves, he held a book, the romance novel that had caught his eye in Twilight's library that he had requested to take out, resulting in many giggles in his direction from the librarian.
His eyes flicked back and forth across the pages, occasionally rising to glance out the window and appreciate the scenery as he sped by. Rolling hills and tall trees surrounded him with jagged mountain peaks peeking over the top in the distance. He could just make out the Canterlot palace from where he was, its golden spires glinting in the light. Luna was probably up there in her room, the one situated in the highest tower, sleeping the day away in preparation for her night.
Silver smiled as he remembered the Princess of the Night's reaction to his announcement that he was leaving Canterlot. At first she was surprised, almost hurt even, but when he had explained his reasoning, she had been so overjoyed that she had picked him up between two hooves like a rag doll and squeezed him in a crushing hug.
“This is fantastic news young Silver Quill!” she had cried gleefully as she attempted to break his ribs. “Fantastic news indeed! I am most happy for you!”
Silver could have sworn that he had noticed a hint of satisfaction in her eyes, but it was gone before he could think anything about it.
She wasn't the only one who was excited either. Silver's father had been a curious mixture of ecstatic and melancholic about the news. He was so happy for Silver that he had found a somepony that he could love, but the fact that she was going to be taking his son away from him to a strange town had hit him fairly hard. He had had a bit of a cry over that, bemoaning the cruelties of the world that his little colt should be stolen away from him so soon, but in the end, he was happy for him, although he had threatened to smack him upside the head when Silver ashamedly told him about how long it took for him to get a hold on his feelings.
“I wish your mother could see this.” he had said fondly. “Our little Silver, moving away from home for a girl. She never would have believed it!”
They had spent the whole day together, walking around Canterlot and catching each other up with what they had been doing. His father demanded that Silver tell him everything he could about this mystery mare that had him leaving, and Silver had been more than happy to oblige.
“Ah, I can see it in your eyes Silver. The last time I saw you this happy was when you got a signed copy of that book you liked so much.” He had told his son with a smile. Silver had laughed at that. His signed copy of Wings of Iron, the story of a scrappy young pegasus caught up in a war between Ponies and the Griffins, was still one of his most prized possessions.
His smile slowly faded as his thoughts turned to the day before at the graveyard.
Sighing, Silver closed his book and set it aside. The recollection of sitting on the cold ground with nothing but a small coat to protect him from the rain made him shiver instinctively, but he had hardly felt it at the time. He had spent almost an hour in that exact same spot, shedding so many tears that he wouldn't be surprised if he had somehow permanently damaged his tear ducts. Years and years worth of pent up sadness had all broken free yesterday, like a dam bursting under the force of a raging river.
Despite this, Silver couldn't help but feel a strange sort of relief. It felt like a humongous burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders, one that he had been carrying for so long that he had actually forgotten that it was there. He felt like a caged bird that had for the first time in its life spread its wings and tasted freedom.
He breathed in deeply, smiling serenely. He couldn't help but marvel how much he had changed in the past few weeks. His entire life had been completely uprooted, turned and twisted as though it were a rubiks cube in the hooves of a child, and then set down miles away from where it was picked up, namely in a small town called Ponyville.
Silver started when the squeal of metal grinding on metal pealed through the train. Looking out the window, he could see a platform milling with ponies, a few creatures of other races interspersed in the multicoloured crowd.
Sitting up, his eyes eagerly scanning the crowd of ponies standing on the station, passing over one face before immediately turning to the next. He saw couples sitting side by side, families wandering in groups, individuals sitting around with bored expressions on their faces, but not the one he was looking for.
Picking up his carry on bag, Silver quickly got up and walked to the end of the train to the storage compartment, threading his way through ponies sitting up and heading for the doors. He quickly located his luggage, suitcases and duffel bags filled with clothes, books, and everything else he would foreseeably need until the rest of his stuff arrived from Canterlot. Lighting up his horn and telekinetically grabbing his stuff, Silver quickly made his way to the exit of the train. Careful not to accidentally bump his bags into anything or anypony on the way. His books were in there after all.
Walking through the door, Silver felt a slight tug from behind. Turning around, he realized that carrying all of his luggage out at the same time was not a very good idea as they were all stuffed in the doorway that was too narrow for them to fit through all at once. Grimacing, Silver Quill wrapped a hoof around an exposed handle and gave a mighty tug.
The luggage came loose, but Silver was thrown backwards as it all crashed on top of him, sending him sprawling. He let out a pained 'oof!' as a suitcase hit him right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
Silver lay on his back on the wooden platform floor, discombobulated and wheezing. Around him, ponies looked at him, some with amusement and others with sympathy, but they all had their own business to attend to, so they simply passed by him.
“Whoo-whee, you sure took a tumble there!” a voice said from above him, an orange face appearing in his field of view. “Ya'll alright down there?”
Silver grinned weakly at the stetson wearing pony. “H-hey Applejack.” he replied. “We have got to start meeting in different places.”
The apple farmer smirked. “Whatever ya say Silver, but I think ya'll got a more important problem right now...” She reached out with her hoof, and Silver gratefully took it before she hauled him to his hooves so quickly that she almost knocked him off of them again.
“Thanks.” he said as he focused on keeping his legs underneath him. “What do you mean, 'more important problem?'”
Before Applejack could say anything, a familiar voice called out from behind him.
“Silver!”
His ears perked immediately and he spun around to see a lavender mare trotting towards with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay?” she asked, quickly closing the distance between them and looking him up and down.
Silver's face reddened. “Heh...saw that did you?” he asked with embarrassment.
“We all did dude.” an came an amused voice from above. Silver looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering with crossed hooves and a smirk on her face. “Quite the crash you had there.”
Silver spied three more ponies walking towards them through the crowd, Fluttershy with a similarly worried expression on her face, Pinkie Pie, bouncing without a care in the world, and Rarity with a grinning dragon whelp on her back.
“Oh goodness!” Fluttershy cried, although it really sounded more like she just said it in what most would be a normal tone of voice. “Are you alright?”
His embarrassment deepening, Silver nodded. “I'm fine, I'm fine.” he reassured them. “Nothing but a bruised pride.” Rainbow Dash snorted from where she hovered, causing Twilight to shoot her a disapproving look. The pegasus smiled sheepishly.
“Well, as long as you're okay, and we're okay, and everypony's okay, then everything is A-okay!” a chipper voice cried as Pinkie Pie bounced over and picked up one of his bags with her teeth. “An' tha's a goo' fing!”
Rarity rolled her eyes and smiled. “Indeed Pinkie, it is a good thing.” Turning her attention to Silver Quill who was frantically picking up his fallen possessions, she gave a small chuckle. “You sure know how to make an entrance, don't you?”
Attempting to pull his bag from Pinkie Pie's mouth; she seemed to think that they were playing a game of tug o war, Silver smiled. “Right. What she said.” he said as he telekinetic lifted both the bag and the mare off the ground, causing her to fall off with a laugh.
With his stuff now all in order and sitting next to him, Silver looked at the mare's who were watching him expectantly. His eyes lingered on Twilight's for half of a second more.
“Well, I'm home.” he said with a shrug. “What now?”
All at once, they broke into big smiles and immediately started to walk him away from the station, chatting away about what they had to do now that he was officially a resident of Ponyville. Much to Silver's delight, Twilight immediately fell in beside, telekinetically lifting some of his bags. He gave her a smile, one that spoke of far more than just a simple thanks, and she returned it in kind.
To his utter non-surprise, Rarity seemed to notice this and give a small, self satisfied smile that nobody but him noticed.
“I'm home.” he thought with an immense amount of satisfaction, looking around him at the ponies milling about, occasionally glancing back at Twilight. “And there's nowhere else I'd rather be.”
As they stepped off of the station, Pinkie Pie suddenly let out a loud gasp, immediately drawing attention to her.
“I just realized something!” she declared in an awestruck voice. “This means that I can throw a 'Welcome Back to Ponyville Party!'”
The group sighed in equal measures of amusement and disbelief. As they walked, Pinkie rambled on and on about what they were going to do for his Welcome Back to Ponyville party. Normally, Silver might find himself becoming slightly annoyed by this, but right now, he found that he didn't mind her ramblings at all.
There was only one thing in the world that was important to him right now, and with her walking right next to him, Silver didn't have a care in the world.
Two ponies lay in front of a cheerfully crackling brick lined fireplace, sharing a single soft woollen blanket that had been draped over their backs and each cradling a mug of hot cocoa in between their front hooves. The light flickered across their faces as they conversed quietly, not necessarily having any need to lower their voices, but feeling that it was appropriate anyway.
“You can't be serious.” Twilight said, her face expressionless and her voice flat.
Silver smiled and sipped at his mug of cocoa. “I am.” he replied without a hint of sarcasm.
“So you're telling me that not only did we go to the same school, but we we've actually met each other once before?”
Silver bobbed his head noncommittally. “Well...it wasn't so much of a meeting as it was a head on collision due to neither of us paying attention, but yes, that's the gist of it.”
Twilight stared at him. “Wow...that's really...wow.” she thought for a moment. “How do you remember all of that?”
Silver blinked. “Oh, y'know, it's just one of those things that stick with you for no real reason, heh...” He grinned at the mare laying by his side.
She scrutinized him blankly for a few seconds before smiling and shrugging.
“To be completely honest though...” Silver continued sheepishly, the words slowly spilling out of his mouth. “for months since we bumped into each other in the hall, I had wanted to talk to you, but couldn't.”
She tilted her head in that adorable way she did when posed with an interesting question or tidbit of information. “Why not?”
He sighed and grinned ruefully. “I don't really remember to be honest. I guess I just wasn't very good at making friends.”
She blinked. “Oh.” she said simply, turning to stare into the fire. The two ponies were silent for a long moment, their attentions held by the flames as they sipped at their cocoa.
After a long moment, Twilight sighed. “Well, I wish you had.” she said frankly. Silver couldn't help but chuckle.
“I wish I had too.” he replied with a small smile, looking sideways at the mare to see that she had one of her own. “We would have made good friends, I think.”
Her smile grew wider as she slowly sunk into Silver Quill, leaning against his shoulder and neck. He felt a rush of giddiness at the feeling of her body pressing into his.
“Mhm.” she murmured in assent. “We could have talked about books and our favourites authors.”
“Yeah,” Silver said wistfully. “and you could have helped me with my homework.”
“And you would have been an excellent test subject for my spells.” she responded with a giggle, causing Silver to grimace slightly.
“We could have spent hours and hours talking...” Twilight continued
“And we could do each others hair...” Silver countered.
“And helped each other out when things were tough...”
“And painted our hooves...”
Twilight scowled and swatted at him. “Oh, be serious!”
Silver chuckled and fended her away. “I am!” he protested with a laugh, causing her to shake her head in mock dismay. He thought for a moment and smiled.
“I could have asked you out to prom.”
Twilight grinned slyly, shooting him a sideways glance. “And I could have said no because I would be too embarrassed.”
Silver raised his eyebrows. “Well...I could have suggested we go to the beach at night and look at the stars instead.”
Twilight hummed. “Well then, that I could have lived with.” she said quietly, nuzzling into his neck ever so gently.
“And then I could have confessed my undying devotion to you.” he replied, reciprocating the action and causing her to giggle.
“Devotion huh?” she asked softly.
“Yep...” he whispered, grasping on of her hooves in his. “And then I could have stammered my way through an awkward confession that would embarrass me for years to come.”
She chuckled brightly. “Oh, you don't give yourself enough credit” she said, shooting him a small wink. “You can actually be quite the sweet talker at times.”
Silver smiled and, before he knew it, leaned over to lightly kiss her on the cheek. “Only because you bring out the best in me.”
To his delight, she blushed slightly, her ears falling back against her head. She leaned into him a little more, drawing the blanket tighter around her as she looked into the fire. Minutes went by like this, the two ponies sitting in silence, simply revelling in one another's company and closeness. Taking infrequent sips of their cocoa which was starting to cool, the only sound from the room came fro the cheery crackling of the flames. The occasional glance or nuzzle was all that they needed.
Finally, Twilight set aside her half empty mug and looked at him expectantly. “Alright then, let's get started.”
Silver grinned at her and nodded. He reached behind him under the blanket, withdrew a thick stack of papers that held lines and lines of text and a freshly sharpened pencil.
“Alright, where did we leave off?” he asked, holding the sheaf of papers in his hooves and the pencil with his magic.
She tapped her chin in thought. “Hmmm...when she gave the inspirational speech to the peasants and commoners to rise up and revolt against the evil king, if I remember correctly.”
Silver nodded and leafed through the papers, knowing from memory which page he was supposed to stop on. After finding it, he spared one more glance to Twilight to see if she was ready.
This was their ritual. To the two bibliophilic ponies, there was nothing more enjoyable than reading a good book, and there was no better way for them to spend time together than for them to read together, often to one another. Either Silver or Twilight would pick out one of their favourite books to read, or Silver would read to her something that he was in the process of writing or had written and Twilight would give her input.
Silver enjoyed reading his work to Twilight, not only because she seemed to genuinely enjoy it, but her nearly encyclopedic knowledge of so many subjects proved to be invaluable in helping him write as well as possible. It was one of the perks to having her as his marefriend.
Twilight nodded, signifying that he could start, and settled in next to him. She crossed her hooves in front of her and laid her head on them, and Silver's heart couldn't help but flutter at the sight.
Straightening his papers and clearing his throat, Silver started reading and continued well into the night, Twilight occasionally interrupting with a suggestion or a a correction that he would jot down with his pencil. They read until his jaw ached from talking too much and until their eyes struggled to stay open until finally they fell asleep in front of the dying embers, their hooves holding onto each others and smiles on their faces.
