Fast pulled the blanket off of Silver, then blinked, "What happened to you?!"

Silver blinked her sleepy eyes, staggering up to her hooves, "Huh?"

Fast waved a hoof at Silver, "You're all... prettied up. I didn't even know your mane had a 'not frizzy' option."

Silver flushed lightly, "Rarity had her way with me."

Fast cocked a brow at that, "And you didn't invite me to see that?"

Silver shook herself out lightly, pausing a moment as she realized she was feeling her hair bounce in new ways, "Not like that. I don't think she has that kind of interest in me. She just decided to make me an art project."

Fast moved up, nuzzling Silver on either cheek, "Well, it worked. You're pretty as all get out. How do you feel?"

Silver looked herself over, "Wearing a dress is not something I had planned."

Fast poked at the dress, "You really shouldn't sleep in it, it'll get all wrinkled." Her horn glowed and the dress fell free of the wrinkles it had gained, freshened and ready. "There we go. Want some breakfast?"

They proceeded to the living area of the castle. It seemed most of the residents of the tower were of like mind. Night was talking with Jake about something, while Twilight was speaking with Spike. Waves and nods were exchanged before food was nibbled on.

Twilight looked at Silver, then away, then back again, "Silver Stars."

Silver looked up at Twilight, ear perked, "Have another experiment today?"

Twilight shook her head, "Not like the other ones... You're... looking nice today. Um, no, today I want to do some reading. You're from another world, right?"

Silver shrank a little on being complimented, as if unsure what to do with it, but she nodded quickly, "Yes. What did you want to know about it?"

Twilight smiled, "I was hoping we could compare literature. We can pick a book and read it together, and you can tell me how it might have differed if one of your people had written it?"

Silver tilted her head, "Sure! That sounds like it could be fun."

Jake chuckled, "Awesome, reading date." He departed to the kitchen and returned without the bowl he'd been carried. "Hey, Silver, if you're not the human ambassador anymore, who is?"

Silver blinked, "Nopony, last I checked. Celestia might have picked a new one? I'd hope she would send a letter to you if she had."

Jake pat Silver on the head once, "What's with the new style? You're looking a little froufrou today."

Night smiled, "It's not a bad look. You look much more like a mare, if that was the intention."

Spike looked Silver over, "Was it Rarity?"

Silver bobbed her head, "And Aloe and Lotus. Those three seemed to take special delight in taking away my scruffy usual appearance."

Twilight nodded lightly, "That sounds like them."

Silver suddenly perked up, "Oh! I found out why I've been changing."

"Luna?" asked Fast.

Silver nodded, "Well, yes, but I mean why she was doing it. It isn't nearly so sinister as we assumed."

Night waved a wing, "Go on, don't keep us in suspense."

Silver considered how best to explain it, "Well, to make it simple, I'm young. Foalbearing could be a long, painful process that could have left permanent injuries if things went badly. Luna is encouraging the growth to make sure everything comes out alright, pun intended."

Fast raised a brow, "Hard to find fault in that, though this reminds me that we really should get both of you mothers-to-be a caretaker."

Jake volunteered, "What about Zecora? She strikes me as the type that would be great for this."

Silver quickly agreed with a bob, "She does have that sort of wisdom. I would feel pretty safe if she was looking over things."

Night spread her wings, "Then I have my job for the day. Spike, care to come with me? You know the way and you know Zecora, right?"

Spike quickly scampered over to Night and was soon mounted up, "Let's go!"

The two left shortly as Jake looked to Twilight, "He was a bit eager, don't you think?"

Twilight snorted with a smile, "Don't say I told you, but he's been curious about lunar pegasi for a while."

Fast finished up her meal and set the bowl aside, "So, reading date... I'm going to explore Ponyville a bit. I'll see you all later." She rose and made herself scarce with a knowing grin on her face.

Jake gave a light wave, "I'll join the crowd. I promised I'd help out at the schoolhouse today."

Twilight raised a brow, "What do they need?"

Jake shrugged, "Nothing fancy, just some repair work that's easier with hands. Miss Cheerilee said she wanted the foals to see a not-pony working around too, for diversity exposure or whatever. See ya later!" And soon he was gone as well, leaving Twilight with Silver.

Silver sat there, watching Twilight with uncertainty. Twilight smiled a little, "Let's pick a book."

They proceeded to the library, where Twilight quickly plucked down a selection of novels and spread them before Silver. "I'll let you pick one."

Silver looked them over curiously. The first three were Daring Do novels, then what appeared to be a sci-fi novel. There were more, but Silver stopped at the sci-fi book and pointed at it, "This one should be interesting."

Twilight quickly set the other books back in their place, "Beyond the Sky," she read, "I remember this one. Why did you pick this one, if you don't mind me asking?"

Silver flipped the book open to the first page, "Science is one of the biggest differences between our people. We don't have magic, so we only have cold, hard science to fall back on, so we ran with it. Is this book actually speculative?"

Twilight tilted her head, "I'm not sure I know what you mean?"

Silver wobbled a hoof in the air, "Is it based on science as it is known and built from it in a logical way, or is it a flight of fancy on the part of the author?"

Twilight frowned, "I... don't actually know. I'm not sure anypony looked at it quite that way before. How can you write a fictional story about real science?"

Silver smiled brightly and began to explain, any tension she had forgotten as she spoke, "Well, it's fictional because the author tried to take the science we know and extrapolate to the next step. For instance, if you know... Huh, give me an example of a new technology, for ponies."

Twilight tapped at her chin softly, "Movies are new."

Silver bobbed her head, "Great, that works. Now imagine a world where movies become so commonplace, that everyone, everywhere, has a movie watcher in their own home. Movies would be made all the time, and people would take it for granted that there would be one, if not several, choices at a given time. Imagine if movies were so common that they were released on a specific schedule, allowing entire series to be watched over weeks, like ponies watch sporting events live now."

Twilight scrunched her face in thought, "That sounds... impossible."

Silver raised a hoof, "With today's technologies, but what about tomorrow's? Is it theoretically possible? The world I described was already a reality back home."

Twilight recoiled a little, "You're joking! Everyone has a movie watcher, er, projector?"

Silver nodded, "Many people had several, one in bedrooms, one in the living room. We had small devices that could play movies on the go. You couldn't get away from them, practically. A good science-fiction writer takes what is already there and tries to paint a picture of what it could be, logically."

Twilight tilted her head, "What about books? Did they advance?"

Silver considered a moment, "Well... they stopped being books, in part."

Twilight frowned, "Come again?"

Silver glanced around, "Well, we got really good at showing things, like the movies, so someone thought, hey, why not show a book the same way? A lot of reading happens the same way, through the movie watchers. I could fit this entire library." Silver waved over the books, "In a device this big." She held her hooves not far apart. "And be able to search for text in a snap, the entire library!"

Twilight looked indignant, "Now I know you're just teasing me!"

Silver tilted her head, "But you get to control the weather and do magic. Neither world is... better, just different." She smiled at Twilight, "I like it here though."

Twilight smiled back a little, then tilted her head, "Wait, you have no weather control at all? How do you get anything done?"

Silver shrugged, "By accepting it. Sometimes it'll rain when you want to be outside. Sometimes it won't rain at all and an area may suffer for it. We solved a lot of the reliance on weather by working together. A place without water could buy water from a place that does, and so on. We developed really good skill at predicting the weather, even if we couldn't change it."

Twilight settled beside Silver and lifted the book. Silver had forgotten it in her eager explanations, but they soon settled together and began to read. They had a good time.

Outside, Fast hissed at Jake, "What're they doing now?"

Jake, with his height advantage, peeked in through the window, "They're all snuggled up side-by-side and reading from a book."

Fast bobbed her head, "Are they kissing yet?"

Jake shrugged, "Doesn't look like it?"

Fast frowned then, looking thoughtful, "We should let them be. I think they're doing fine." She rose to her hooves and stretched out, "So what is there fun to do around here?"

Jake pointed off towards the school, "I wasn't lying before. I do have to help out. Want to come with?"

Fast shrugged, "Lead the way, big guy. More hooves gets the job done faster."

Later, Night Watch returned with Spike riding her. She looked to Twilight and Silver, who had apparently lapsed into a nap at some point. She smiled a little, content to leave the scene as it is, but Spike spoke up, "Hey, Twi! Letter!"

Twilight jerked upright, which woke Silver up quickly. Twilight looked around before focusing on Spike. She grabbed the letter in his claws with her magic and pulled it over to unfurl the scroll. "Celestia wants to see you, and is visiting tomorrow," she announced, glancing at Silver.

Fast frowned a little, "Twilight... I know this is a lot to ask of you, but this is your tower, and I'm going to ask you to behave like a princess. Do not allow Celestia to intimidate Silver."

Twilight looked baffled, "Celestia wouldn't do that! Silver is a good pony, I'm sure she's coming for something nice." She clopped her hooves, "Maybe to thank you for the Crystal Empire?"

Silver smiled nervously, "I'll hope so then..."

Author's Notes:

Little did Twilight and Silver know, the book they read was littered with typos!