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The Silver Stars

by David Silver

Chapter 100: 100 - A Dangerous Sparkle

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Silver woke up to the excited smile of Twilight. He scrambled up to his hooves as she hopped off the bed. "About time you got up. I need to yell at you, and we have a project to complete."

Silver rubbed at an eye with a fetlock. "Good morning, Twilight. Why am I being yelled at? What project?"

Twilight snorted softly. "You should know that. Starlight? Really? I thought you were past hurting yourself, and there you go, setting yourself up to be heartbroken again." She rolled a hoof. "But I don't care about that right now. This way." She led the way out of the room with a bouncy energy.

They came into a room with a desk, a familiar desk. "Huh, so you did get it..."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, and I'm ready to open the portal! If it works, we'll have access to your home world. Won't that be exciting? I can't wait to examine the differences." She started rambling about technical details Silver knew little of, moving from place to place, checking wires and connections.

"Am I on time?" Cadance wandered into the room with a curious expression, watching Twilight. With a bright flash, the room was filled with all the alicorns of the kingdom.

Luna looked around a little. "What is the nature of this 'experiment' of yours, Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight got all the more excited with the arrival of the rest of the circle of princesses. She trotted up and exchanged the ladybug dance with Cadance before explaining. "Silver's world is significantly 'farther' away than the worlds the mirror portal can reach. In order to reach it, we'll need a lot more energy, hence why I've gathered you all here today." She pointed to a metal panel. "If you would stand there, Silver?"

Silver moved over and sat on the panel. "You're using the desk for the resonance, right?"

Twilight bobbed her head. "That is exactly right, but you have a more intimate bond. I want to use your mind, so close your eyes and think of things that exist in your world, but not ours."

Luna looked approving of the technique, nodding her head lightly. "If this world is full of thinking beings, this may help."

Celestia pointed at the odd machine attached to the desk. "If this requires so much energy, how do you plan to use it more than once?"

Twilight clopped her forehooves together. "It will only be this hard the first time. Once we have the way open, it should be easier. There's only one way to be certain." She pointed to colored plates. Pink, White, Dark-blue, Purple. "Everyone have a seat." With a flick of magic, she powered the machine on, and it began to light up with a series of bulbs flashing on then going out one by one except the first one. "When we've filled up that meter there, we're done!" She pointed up to a metal sphere hanging by a wire. "Focus there."

Silver closed his eyes and thought of spacecraft and computers, of first person shooters and highways full of cars driven by a curious race of advanced primates. He couldn't help that many of these thoughts were echoed by a contrast with Equestria and its ponies, but he did his best.

Twilight and the other princesses focused their magic into the ball, filling it with magic quickly to create a strobing mass of power that was reminiscent of the blast they used to give Silver back his masculinity. Twilight kept half an eye on the machine that greedily sucked away bits of the magic, tunneling through the infinite void between worlds, searching for Silver's home. The meter was slowly filling. Two bulbs... three... four... Another bulb turned green. Contact! Twilight giggled with giddy excitement, refocusing her efforts to get magic into the machine. Five... The green bulb went dead. Curious... "That shouldn't happen." It suddenly lit back up, much to her relief, then the meter reached six.

Twilight was about to announce their progress when a bolt went flying. The machine began to quiver and shake, and the meter's bulbs popped violently, scattering glass one by one from ten down to one. Cadance shrilly screamed, joined only an instant later by Celestia, both in obvious pain. Twilight panicked, cutting off her own supply of magic, but unsure how to stop what had started. A sudden thud drew her attention to one of the guards posted outside falling over into the doorway, joined by the other guard a moment later.

She could feel her magic being pulled away without her volition, being sucked away into the machine. Suddenly, it stopped. Silver was holding the electrical plug of the machine in his magic. The answer seemed so obvious in retrospect. Celestia and Cadance sagged to the ground, unconscious.

Luna moved swiftly, checking on them. "They are well, just tired to the point of sleep." She lifted her sister and niece. "I will bring them elsewhere to recover." With a dark flash, Luna was gone, leaving Twilight and Silver alone.

Twilight sagged. "That wasn't supposed to happen at all..."

Silver rose to wobbling legs and approached Twilight quickly. He threw a leg over her and hugged her. "You did your best. We can try again later."

Twilight gave a quirk of a smile. "I don't think we will. I can't risk hurting the others like that. That was very irresponsible of me. Come on, let's make sure the guards are OK."

Those rendered unconscious by the drain remained knocked out for the rest of the day and through the night, but woke up the next day stiff, but healthy. The magic that was pulled from them had regenerated in their still-living bodies and the warm background hum of Equestria's arcane field.

That night, Silver met Luna in the dreamworld that took the form of a great library, with everyone's dream being a different book. She frowned at Silver. "I see books I have not seen before, and they are written in strange words, as if the dreamer were damaged in the mind, or are too far away for me to perceive correctly." She grabbed a book in her magic and brought it to Silver. "Can you make sense of it?"

Silver could not, and shook his head. It was wild scribblings without meaning. "What does it mean?"

Luna let out a slow breath. "I am uncertain, but I will find out. For now, we patrol as normal." She tilted her head at Silver. "On another topic. When did you plan to inform me that you were to leave with Sister?"

Silver cringed a little. "I thought she would have told you, which is a stupid assumption on reflection."

"Nay, she did tell me." Luna smiled a little. "But I would rather have heard it from you. We were to go together, you and I and Night Watch as well, if I remember correctly. Now Celestia spirits you away alone. Hmm... I will be with you in dreams, of course."

"Of course." Silver smiled. "That's something I'm very glad for."

Luna held up a hoof. "Beware. The dreams of those in Anugypt will be much larger and closer than those of what will be distant Equestria. It will take effort for even us to find one another. I doubt you will be able to visit the dreams of your herd."

Silver snorted with annoyance, then rose up and approached Luna. "Then we should enjoy the time we have before I go."

Luna did not argue the idea, but Silver had questions for her while they were expressing their renewed affection. "Why Starlight?"

Luna perked an ear back at Silver. "Hmm?"

"Starlight Glimmer." Silver pulled Luna closer. "She's a very curious choice for your first."

"Is she?" Luna sounded a little confused. "She is a unicorn of some talent, suitable for creating a strong lunar unicorn, and she practically jumped for the chance of having your foal. Why would I not accept her?"

Silver frowned a little. Did Luna not know? Should he even say?

Luna kept speaking. "Was she a poor partner?"

Silver flushed lightly and chuckled. "No, she was fine. Not as good as you, of course."

"Of course." She seemed pleased by the compliment despite her casual words. "I must go. With sister asleep, my duties are doubled."

She vanished, leaving a slightly pent-up Silver. They hadn't finished, though he wondered how that even worked in a dream.

The next day, when ponies began to rise from their drain-induced comas, the castle was busy with tending to the temporarily infirm. No permanent harm seemed to have befallen anypony, and the event was quickly fading from their minds.

Tumble wandered up to Silver, yawning along the way. "Hey, Silver Stars? Did you ask about me yet?"

Silver perked his ears and shook his head. "Celestia fell asleep with the rest of the guards, you included?" Tumble nodded. "So no chance to ask. Think she's up now?"

Tumble shrugged. "Maybe? All the guards recovered. It can't hurt to check." Agreeing with that, Silver spread his wings and was soon off towards Canterlot. Flying was becoming second nature, and he enjoyed the feel of wind rushing along his brown fur.

He landed lightly in front of the castle and trotted up to the guards. "Is Princess Celestia recovered from yesterday?"

The guards frowned as one held up a hoof to his lips. "Not so loud. She is still recovering, but is awake, yes. We don't want to incite any panic in the population."

Silver was admitted in and was soon in Celestia's quarters. She was on her bed, but laying on her back with a blanket pulled up. A tray of cookies and tea sat beside her, both looking as if she had enjoyed them. "Hello, Silver. How are you?"

"I meant to ask the same." He smiled at her. "But I did have a specific question after that."

"Oh, I'm fine, just tired." She sat up a bit and her magic wrapped around a cookie, bringing it to her snout to swallow easily. "What's your question?"

"I have a guard captain, Rough Tumble." Silver gestured in Ponyville's approximate direction. "Can he come?"

Celestia frowned. "What are his qualifications?"

Silver froze. What were his qualifications? "Uh..."

"Answer enough. No. Bad enough you are woefully incompetent at physical combat. We don't need a liability with us. You, at least, know several distressingly effective defensive spells. Luna also informs me that you are not entirely lacking physically, though your training in that regard is... lacking?" She smiled then. "I must sound awful. I don't mean to insult you or your friend. I'm sure he means well. This is for his safety, and ours." She held out a hoof to Silver and he approached her. She pulled him close and hugged warmly. "I want us to get through this quickly and easily, then get us back home, alright? No jokes, no tests. Let's do this quickly and get back, alright?"

Silver was a bit stunned at her candor, but gave a nod. "Alright... He'll be a little sad, but I understand."

Author's Notes:

And here we have our official tie-in with One Step, Two Step, Three Hoof, Four Dead, which does not take place in Silver's home plane (You'd think you'd notice that!) but one similar enough to it.

Some other stuff happened, but who cares about that?

The typos care.

Next Chapter: 101 - Farm Living Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 28 Minutes
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