It’s a while before I work up the courage to ask him the question I’ve had at the back of my mind since that very first night.

“Sil?”

“Yeah?” 

He barely looks up from his graphic novel. I roll my stool across the studio towards him, using my wings of propulsion, so he knows I want to talk. “I’ve been wondering something, but you don’t have to answer.” 

That makes him put the book down for a moment on the sofa, a slightly worried look on his face. “Why wouldn’t I answer?”

“I dunno. You’re weird.” I slide myself onto the couch and wiggle up next to him.

He snorts and wraps a foreleg around me with a sigh. I smile and give it a small nuzzle. “You can ask me anything, Snaps,” he says. “I think we’re… at that point, now.”

“Alright.” I take a breath. “You’ve been here a few months now. That’s not that long. Is your body still… weird to you?”

“A lot is different,” Silver says after a pause. “Celestia doesn’t let it be too weird. But if I think about it… yeah. Everything is bizarre if I try to think of my old body and new one at the same time.”

“Like what?” I ask it quietly.

“Like… I have a coat, now, instead of just skin. The wind doesn’t bother me any more, or laying on something cold.” He pauses again, takes a slow breath. “I have way better peripheral vision. Like, my field of view is crazy wide now. It’s bizarre how big my muzzle is if I pay attention even though I don’t notice it’s there at all usually. My ears can swivel all around now. They couldn’t move at all before.”

“Huh.” I hadn’t really thought of most of that.

“Being a quadruped is bizarre. Using two legs still makes more sense to me somehow. If I weren’t a unicorn I don’t know how I’d deal with it.”

“Because of the hands?”

“Yeah.” He holds out a hoof before us. “It’s the one thing I really miss. They really worked. I know you’re skeptical,” he adds with a nudge, making me smile, “but all the magic in the world just isn’t quite the same.”

“It’s better,” I mumble only barely audibly, eliciting another nudge and a snort.

“I guess my horn is the biggest thing,” Silver goes on after a moment. “It’s… such a big part of my self-perception, now. Like my hands were back on Earth. It’s how I feel things and move things and taste the fabric of the world…” he trails off. “Are your wings like that for you?”

“Yes,” I say, “Pretty much. They’re how I use magic, same as you. And they are pretty sensitive.”

“Oh?” He slyly runs a hoof along the muscles of my left wing, making me shiver.

“Y-yeah,” I reply, turning to look him in the face with a grin. “Want me to stroke your horn and demonstrate?”

“Uh.” He looks embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I relax again and start to hum. “It felt nice.”

“Hm.” He pulls me a little closer, there on the sofa. We just breathe together for a while, happy to gently cuddle.

For many long minutes the only sound is my quiet humming.

“Would have felt better if I had fingers,” Silver finally remarks into the silence.