As quickly as it came, the warmth of the green magic faded. Crystal Heart held her breath as time seemed to come to a halt for her. She knew at any moment there would be shouts of outrage and spears pointed at her… but nothing like that ever came. She cautiously peeked an eye open to see the sympathetic smile on the mage’s face.
“Sorry for how sudden that was, miss. It’s just a standard procedure. Everything’s alright, we know you’re not a Changeling,” said the nameless royal mage.
Crystal’s eyes popped open and she stared at him silently. A gentle chuckle drew her attention to the bemused expression on Silver Skies’ face. “Shall we proceed? We still have much to discuss,” Silver said with a kind smile.
Crystal nodded slowly and she went to follow the grey stallion. As she moved, the circle of guards broke their formation lazily and made their way back to wherever they were going. The disguised Changeling Princess waited until she was sure nopony would overhear her before she leaned closer to Silver and asked him the question of the day. “What just happened?”
Silver chuckled softly before he paused to answer her. “Just before I teleported us here I placed an additional spell on you. You see, it was only known by a small group of ponies that I would be returning with a Changeling representative. I had my suspicions that such knowledge would not stay within my circle of trusted contacts, so I decided to counter any attempts at revealing you within the castle grounds,” he explained calmly.
Crystal stared at him for a long moment. “But… how did you manage that? I don’t feel any lingering magic on me…”
Silver smiled slyly. “And that’s the whole point behind my counter spell. I helped the royal guard develop that detection spell, so I know its inner workings. The reason it failed and why you don’t feel it is because it was assimilated with your form the instant our bodies destabilized during the teleport. In a sense, my spell is directly connected to the Changeling magic keeping up your current appearance.”
“How did you do that? That shouldn’t even be possible…”
Silver’s sly smile faded into a slightly saddened expression. “There is much more to me than I’m currently willing to share. Suffice it to say, I just have a way of getting things done with unique methods.”
Crystal held her gaze with Silver. She peered into his red eye, searching for something that might tell her more about the strange stallion she had been asked to accompany. Silver Skies, for his part, simply let her look. He knew he had a lot to answer for, far more than what any of the Changelings knew, but he was not yet ready to share everything with them. Though the pendant on his chest did vibrate faintly, it was only because he was walking a fine line between truth and lie.
Eventually, Silver decided that there would be a better time and place for proper explanations. He offered the princess a small smile and nodded his head toward the castle. “Come along, Crystal Heart. There is a lot that we need to cover. I doubt we’ll be finished before the dinner hour… speaking of, would you care to join me for that later?”
Crystal sighed gently, but smiled all the same. “That’s very generous of you. I would be delighted,” she said and followed behind Silver as he resumed walking.
Before long, the two reached Silver’s personal study. Being the gentlecolt, Silver Skies offered Crystal a seat on the very comfortable velvet chair he had in the corner of his office. The mint green unicorn mare took to the seat tentatively at first, only to practically melt into it once she got comfortable.
Silver smiled kindly at her upon seeing the content expression on her face. “Looks like I’ll have a tough time extracting you from that spot later. I take it you approve of pony seating?” he asked playfully.
Crystal giggled and peeked an eye open in his direction. “It’s ideal for this form of mine, yes, but our slime seats are far more comfortable when we’re in our natural form. Still, I am quite satisfied with this chair, thank you.”
Silver smiled a little more and lit up his horn to cast a few privacy spells onto the room. With the multiple layers of protection in place, Silver turned his attention to his desk. “You are free to resume your Changeling form, if you desire. I still don’t know a lot about your kind or how the process of being transformed affects you. So if it’s more comfortable for you, you may stay as you are or revert back,” he said as he walked to take his seat behind the desk.
Crystal closed her eyes for a moment as she felt around for her magic. It was then that she faintly caught traces of a new energy that had intertwined itself with her Changeling magic. Cautiously, she felt around it a little, trying to get a feel for it and determine exactly what it was… but all she could gather was that the strange magic was warm and soothing to the touch.
“It’s Soul Magic.”
Crystal’s eyes opened and she stared at Silver. “What?”
“You were feeling around. I could sense you examining my magic,” Silver lightly explained.
“But… what is it?” Crystal asked with a gentle tilt of her head.
Silver Skies sighed softly as a sad smile took over his features. “Soul Magic would be my specialty… so to speak. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve yet to reveal my cutie mark…” he said as he eyed her reaction.
Crystal Heart’s form slowly burned away in green fire as Whisper took back her true form. The look on her face was one of curiosity, but she held a matching sad smile. “I had noticed. Though your actions in the past would signify you hid it under your saddlebags out of professionalism… your emotions are telling me something completely different.”
“Indeed…” Silver said with sad sigh. He then stood from his seat and walked around his desk. Pausing just long enough to take a preparatory breath, Silver lit his horn and lifted away the saddlebags that had almost never left his sides for over twenty years.
The mark beneath left Whisper at a loss for words as she stared at Silver’s flank. A silver cloud was all she saw at first. But the longer she looked, the more the mark revealed itself. Chains of sickly green light slowly snaked their way into the cloud, eventually wrapping around a pony skull. Suddenly, Silver’s saddlebags covered his mark once more and Whisper gasped for air, having not realized she had stopped breathing. Her eyes darted up to see the sad expression on Silver’s face.
“That… is part of the price I paid. Normally I never allow anypony to see that… but I felt that I could trust you with this knowledge,” Silver said before turning away from Whisper.
Whisper stared at the back of Silver’s head for a long few moments with her mouth slightly agape. Her gaze drifted down to his saddlebags as she took some time to collect her thoughts. Without the mark’s influence, she could finally recall exactly what she had felt at the time she was entranced. When she had first looked at the cloud she felt a calmness wash over her. Then, as the ill-looking chains spread across it, Whisper started to feel as though something was wrapping around her lungs and heart. She then realized that as the pony skull had fully formed in the mark that her heart and lungs had stopped functioning in that same moment. It was then that Silver had covered the mark, breaking whatever hold it had on her.
The princess looked back up to Silver’s head, noticing that he had turned his face slightly toward her, knowing that she was about to address him. “If you had not covered your cutie mark…”
“It would have killed you, yes.”
Whisper’s eyes closed as her head lowered a little. “Have you seen somepony else die from it?” she asked quietly.
There was a brief pause before Silver answered. “Yes… when I was returned to this world. Two of the ponies that found me lost their lives to my cutie mark. A lot of things happened after that. Other ponies feared me, I was taken to Princess Celestia to be evaluated for how large a threat I posed to others, I was placed in a cell shortly after when a few other ponies made the mistake of looking at my mark. Much to my relief, at the time, they didn’t die after seeing it because the guards that got in between them and me blocked their view. I spent the next few years as both a prisoner and a subject of intense study before the Arch-mage, of all ponies, came up to me and actually asked me a normal question.”
Whisper’s ears perked up and her head tilted slightly. “What did he ask you?”
A small smile spread on Silver’s lips. “He asked for my name. From then on, I was treated a little more pleasantly… as if I were a pony again.” Silver’s gaze warmed a touch more at the following memories as he recalled how he soon managed to become friends with the old Arch-mage.
Whisper felt the shift in Silver’s emotions and a smile of her own spread over her features. For the first time since they had met, and even after her shared experiences through the Hive-mind, she was glad to feel such joyful emotions coming from the normally flat-lined stallion. It made him feel more… real to her. Without really considering it, Whisper allowed herself to sip some of his emotions from the air, thoroughly enjoying the taste.
Silver Skies let out a small gasp as he felt the gentle tug on him and he turned his gaze to the Changeling Princess. Her eyes were closed and the kind smile on her face was still present. As Silver held his stare he started to notice the faintest of blushes darkening Whisper’s cheeks. For some reason, the gentle tint of her chitin seemed to make Whisper seem more alive and vibrant. Before he could even think to stop himself, Silver smiled and allowed himself a moment to admire her unique beauty.
Whisper’s wings twitched and her eyes fluttered open slowly as her lips parted in a soft sigh. What is this feeling? It’s… coming from Silver? It almost tastes like love…
Realizing that he was staring a little too intently, Silver tore his eye away from Whisper to look at a particularly interesting spot on the wall beside her. At the same time he made sure to force his emotions to reset. That was a little too close… wait, just what was I doing?
Silver cleared his throat gently. “Ahem. I do believe we’ve wandered off topic again. We should begin our discussion about the proper arrangements regarding the solidification of the alliance between Equestria and Queen Chrysalis’ Hive, yes?” he said as professionally as he could.
Whisper took in a calming breath as well and nodded cordially. “Yes, I believe we should.”