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Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

by David Silver

Chapter 9: 9 - Old Friends

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Silver opened his eyes to an enticing scent. Rolling over stiffly, he saw a bright mint green pony smiling at him. "Hey," said Lyra, "I'm so glad I found you."

Silver recoiled in shock, almost falling from the bed, "Huh, how'd you get here?"

Lyra approached him in a slow manner, eyes half-lidded, focused on him. Was she being sultry? He wasn't sure, but he felt all the right responses to it building quickly. Silver gave a nervous smile, "How's it going, Lyra?" His excitement was muted by the dull agony still echoing through his abused form, but he couldn't just ignore this sudden appearance of Lyra.

Lyra stepped over him as the scent got thicker. Oh god, was it her? Silver shuddered, "Lyra, look, uh, I'm more than a bit sore right now?"

"I'll be gentle," she whispered. Her horn glowed as she pulled away the sheets from Silver, "Just lay back and enjoy the trip."

A thought clicked in his head, "... Are you a changeling and/or Discord?"

Lyra rolled her eyes, and vanished. Everything vanished. He floated in inky void and must have fallen asleep again as the next thing he remembered was being nudged softly. He opened an eye and cringed in pain. Most of his body had a formal complaint to issue. Looking up, he saw Trixie's worried face. He was sprawled out on the little path leading up to their door.

Seeing his eyes open, Trixie seemed to relax a little, "Are you alright? You look... awful. What happened?" Her magic wrapped around him and lifted him up as she trotted into the house. "Rough! Come here!"

Rough Draft quickly trotted out until his eyes landed on the abused form being held in the air, then he broke into a full gallop, "What happened?"

"Trixie does not know," she said defensively, "Let's get him to his bed." Rough snatched him out of the magic field, not seeing it or caring it was there. He dangled by his scruff. Silver was dimly aware of this, shuddering softly in remembrance of Tumble holding him the same way, but this was Rough Draft. Silver could smell the scent of his guardian, and of his home, and he slowly relaxed.

Rough gently tucked Silver into his bed as Trixie sat beside it. "What happened?" she asked, looking at the pained face of her ward. Silver looked down and away, quiet.

Rough snorted loudly, "Tell us. Whatever it was, we're not angry." But still Silver was silent. Eventually the two adults left the room, closing the door behind them.

"I don't understand," sighed out Rough Draft.

Trixie raised a blue-furred hoof, "Trixie thinks she knows." She took a slow breath, "Those bruises... They come from a hoof. Silver Lining was attacked."

Rough Draft snorted angrily, pawing at the ground with a rising fury before it all collapsed and he sank to the ground, "I did it again."

"Did what again?" asked Trixie with a raised ear.

"I wasn't there. I let him get hurt again," lamented Rough Draft, "Some guardian I'm turning out to be."

Trixie pointed a hoof at herself, "You were not alone, but you do not see Trixie crying. We should find out who did this and show them a lesson they will never forget. Nopony picks on my student and gets away with it."

Rough perked an ear, "My?"

Trixie frowned at Rough, "You heard the Wrathful and Protective Trixie correctly. We could tell the princesses? He is their property, they might send the guilty party to the moon, or banish them!"

Rough Draft rose up to poke Trixie in the side, "You're being silly. I doubt they'd do either of those things. We don't know who did this. Let's take care of Silver until he feels like talking some more?"

Trixie nodded as she moved towards the kitchen, "Nothing says get well soon like a thick radish soup."

Rough abandoned his writing for the moment, frustrated and on edge. Instead he returned to Silver's bedroom and sat beside the bed, watching Silver sleep. He snapped back into awareness as the door opened and Trixie trotted in with a bowl of hot soup floating beside her. He stepped aside and let her take his place as she gently roused Silver. Rough offered a hoof and helped Silver sit up, and soon the colt was timidly eating the soup.

Trixie glanced at Rough Draft with some unspoken intent, but then turned and departed, closing the door behind herself. Rough sat like a sentinel, watching Silver slurp the soup. "If you want to talk about it," Rough said softly, "We're here. We're not angry."

Silver drew his radish stained snout away from his soup, "I've heard that before." His tongue flicked out, cleaning the tasty reddish broth.

Rough tilted his head, "Have I lied to you before?"

"No," confessed Silver with a little squirm.

Rough smiled gently, "I don't plan to start now. Even if you did do something stupid, please tell me. I just want to help."

Silver looked up at Rough with his face pointed down at the soup. He could see the worry and concern written all over the equine features of his guardian and took a little breath even if it did kind of hurt to do that. "Alright... The kid, uh, foal, I got into a fight with before came back."

Rough went tense, barely restraining the fury that boiled up when he was given a target for the anger, "And?"

Silver shrunk a little, feeling less safe around Rough when he was angry. Some part of him took the anger as directed at himself and he shut down. Rough noticed the lack of reply after a moment, and leaned in towards Silver only to have Silver flinch back as if he was afraid of being hit. Rough's anger evaporated into worry, "Silver! You're safe. Please." Suddenly Silver was wrapped up in the strong fetlocks of Rough Draft, being held and rocked. Though he trembled with pain and fear, the tension began to flow away and he soon returned the hug, dampening Rough's fur with quiet tears.

"Trixie will be back, she has business!" came a familiar voice from the front, followed by a bang of a slamming door.

Rough glanced towards the front door before he looked back at Silver and nuzzled him gently, "So, where's it hurt?"

Silver conjured his silver hand and carefully set his bowl aside off the bed. He then gently pulled the cover off himself, "He kicked me, a lot. My ribs hurt. Is my eye swollen?"

Rough nodded, "Yes, a little. I'll get some ice."

Silver tried to distract himself while Rough trotted off. He let his magic flow, but pain flared with blinding intensity and a strangled yelp from him. Rough hurried back in, "What? What happened?"

Silver gave a crooked smile, "Channeling much magic is a bad idea when you're already hurt. I guess it's not just a horn thing."

"No magic," ordered Rough Draft as he moved up and pulled the blanket back up, covering Silver to his head, "You can rely on me for a while."

They sat together. The soup was soon finished, and Rough began talking about the book he was writing. Silver gave his input, even as the very idea of the book amused him. Silver had inspired what will be the most racist book about the colors of humanity, and almost all of it would be wrong even to the racists. He wished he had a copy of Ponyfinder so he could get a laugh out of Rough with his own wild inaccuracies.

The sound of the door opening drew their attentions. Trixie trotted in with another mare behind her. That one had a quintet of red crosses on her flank and a little nurse's cap on. The nurse moved up to Silver and grabbed his blanket in her teeth, drawing it down and off, "What have we here? Our little colt's getting into trouble?" Her words grated a little, but her tone was warm and friendly. She poked at his bruises gently, then rolled him over to inspect the other half with soft hmms.

"Nothing broken," announced the nurse. She drew out a bottle of pills and set it on his bed, "Make sure he takes one an hour with plenty of water and he should be right as rain in no time at all."

Silver smiled up at the nurse, "Thanks." It sure felt like something was broken! But maybe he was just being a crybaby? He'd never broken a bone before in his life, what would he know?

She patted him once on the snout, "You don't need to thank me, but it's nice to see a colt with manners. You just rest up." Without asking for payment or any other details, the nurse trotted out past the adults and Silver could hear the front door open and close again. Silver looked up at Trixie.

Trixie was looking back at him, "Feeling more talkative? Let's get you your first pill." Without so much as looking at it, the sound of flowing water came from the kitchen for a moment, followed by a glass floating into the room. Trixie held it up to Silver as a pill was pulled from the vial with the same magic and offered alongside. Silver opened his mouth and was soon swallowing it along with several deep gulps of water. Already he felt a little better.

"Is it magic?" he asked, "Do you have healing magic?"

Trixie shook her head, "Not exactly. We can encourage a body to heal, but not make it healed. Does that make sense?"

Silver nodded, "Yeah, ok. That's not bad."

Trixie raised a brow and changed the topic a little, "Can your people heal, with magic or otherwise?"

Silver shook his head, "We can do amazing work to let a body heal, through drugs, incisions, or even artificial replacements, but no medicine outright heals a body."

Rough nodded, "Sounds like the same end result then. How do you feel?"

Silver took assessment of his form. He didn't feel like he wanted to curl up and die anymore, that was a step up. He shimmied slowly to the edge of the bed and tried to roll to his hooves, but was stopped in Trixie's magic. "Are you sure?"

Silver nodded at her, "You can pick me up if I fall." The glow of her force waned and he tested his legs. Soon he was standing. It hurt, but he was doing it. He smiled at the little victory and moved to take a step. One hoof ran into another in a clumsy display, and he ended up face first on the ground. "Ow." Rough moved quickly to grab him, but Silver held up a hoof, "I'm OK! That was me being derpy."

Trixie looked confused a moment, "You are not Derpy. She does not have the privilege of being Trixie's student."

Silver regained his upright stance as he nodded at Trixie, "Not that Derpy. Just clumsy, you know?" Trixie rolled her eyes as her joke had been missed.

Trixie looked Silver over, then waved for him to follow. All three retreated to the softly-carpeted den, where Trixie settled down and started some light music. "Now then. You will say what happened with that ruffian, the first time, and this time. You will leave out no details, or Trixie will be agitated and think of creative punishments for naughty colts."

Silver was about to ask what she meant when he felt a tickle. He glanced to see Trixie's magic just barely teasing him, and already giggles and laughs were escaping him, "Please, I give up! I'm ticklish!"

Trixie gave him one last bout of intense tickling before her magic withdrew, "It hurts Trixie as much as it hurts you. Go on."

Silver stuck out his tongue, "I doubt that, but OK." He began to describe the first fight he had with him. "I shook him around until my horn hurt too much to use magic. My friends said it was only a few seconds. The teacher told me it was bad to use magic on other ponies."

Rough snorted loudly, "What does she want, for you to wrestle with him? How big is he again?"

Silver held up his hooves wide, "He's like a little dump truck."

Trixie rolled a hoof, "And the second time?"

Silver nodded and thought back, "I was walking, wandering really, then he tackled me into an alley where his marefriend was waiting. She was a unicorn, and protected him from my magic while he trashed me. She didn't seem to care much either way. I didn't get her name."

Trixie clopped her hooves together thoughtfully, "We can do this the 'correct' way, or the Trixie way. Which will it be?"

Author's Notes:

Silver has friends that are twice his size! This isn't as hard as one might think when you're a foal.

That medicine really fixes you up, but it leaves you a little dizzy and prone to typos.

Next Chapter: 10 - Trixie's Way Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 19 Minutes
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