Silver worked furiously to create a new spell. Sure, it was fairly identical to the spell he was working with, just with a few key phrases removed. A bit of pride stirred in his chest that he could see the way to adjust it without collapsing the entire thing, or at least he was pretty sure.
"Test it." Starlight was sitting there, watching him. "When you're finished with it, jump back to several hours before this meeting and meet me." She produced a card from nowhere and slipped it behind Silver's ear. "I'll be here. Or I will have been there. I won't be in the future, so don't bother looking there afterwards.
He barely noticed her, but he heard the command and grunted a little as he labored on the spell. With the last bit of the spell scribed out, he let out a huff of breath and looked around. She was gone? He plucked the card from behind his own ear in his magic and read it off before reading the spell off the scroll he'd made. It was too complicated to cast from rote memory without a lot more time and effort than he had to give, so he cast it from the scroll, and vanished with it.
He fell through time itself, colors swirling around him wildly.
Text formed against the backdrop of chaos. "She was never yours."
He tried to question it, but speaking between time was harder than he would have liked, and he fell free of it to land roughly before a little bed and breakfast. He shook off the funk of breaching the fourth dimension and trotted to the door, pulling it open with his magic.
Inside was quiet, minus a few ponies enjoying the titular breakfast that came with staying at this particular place. "Over here," harshly whispered Starlight, who was waving for him to follow as she walked from the room. He quickly moved to catch up with her.
"Do you know why I'm here?"
"I can guess." Starlight smiled brightly. "You have the spell?"
He produced the scroll and she took it in her magic. "Great, then you've done your part. You can leave now."
Silver raised a brow. "If I leave just like this, that's going to cause untold problems."
"Hmm?"
He rolled a hoof. "I could meet myself, or run into other ponies before I should. Heck, what if I mess up our meeting and never make the spell to begin with?"
A sour look ran over her face. "You may have a tiny point. Fine, you can stay here until the meeting, then leave. I didn't pay for tonight, so they'll shoo you out anyway." She tucked the scroll away. "I'm leaving. I have things to do, and a certain brown pony to meet."
"You're welcome." Silver rolled his eyes.
She put a hoof on his cheek and ran it down to his chin. "Don't look so disappointed. Who knows, maybe I'll look you up again if I need another spell drafted." She turned away, tail flicking him lightly across the nose as she trotted away, leaving him scowling at her back end.
For just a moment, many very petty thoughts ran through his mind with how he could wipe that self-important smirk off of her face, but he let her go. Once she was out of sight he let out a breath and put a hoof to his chest. "Well, my part's done with that." It was a relief in many ways, though he couldn't help but think of the differences. It wasn't enough to stop things from going as they should, he felt sure, but his own part had been minimized and cut out. He would become no friend of Starlight, and certainly no lover.
That was likely for the best, or so he figured with a sigh. He didn't need to be involved with anypony that close to Twilight, and his home life was already rich and complex enough on its own. With these thoughts tumbling around, he hopped up onto the provided bed and closed his eyes to idle the time away.
A soft knocking woke him from his nap and he looked up to the door. "Huh? Who is it?"
The door suddenly burst open, revealing Samantha. "It is you! Or is it? I need to check." She proceeded inside as her magic closed the door. "You won't believe how surprised I was! Suddenly, two! Two of you. One of you was inside the castle where you should be, and here's another you. I just don't understand." She produced a worrying assortment of small syringes and medical supplies.
Silver hopped to his hooves. "Relax, Samantha. Nothing's wrong."
"Nothing wrong?!" She tilted her head at him. "There are two of one of my star subjects. That is most certainly not correct. Now you just lay down and let me take care of this." She reached up a hoof to his chest. "You must be as confused as I am."
"I'm not confused." He crossed his forelegs. "Please, relax. I can explain what's going on, without the examinations."
Samantha raised a brow. "I doubt that, but fine, for your benefit, please, proceed." She sat down with a hopeful smile. "What's going on?"
Silver considered a moment how much was safe to say. "I was testing a time spell. In a little while, the other 'me' will vanish and become this 'me'. There may appear to be two of me, but really there's only one, just overlapping a little. That's why I'm waiting here."
She raised her ears slowly. "That made a lot more sense than I thought it would..." She leaned in close. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, promise." Silver smiled. "Thank you for checking up on me." He reached out and gave her a pat on the head.
She glowed with the praise, then stopped. "Are you just saying that?"
Silver opened his mouth to respond, only to have her hoof suddenly shoved in, silencing him. "Wait! Better question. How did you know so much about me?"
He frowned a little. "Do you believe, no, forget that." He smiled at her. "You told me."
She tilted her head at him. "I did? But you said that the first time we met. How much do you know?"
"I know you love science." Silver nodded softly. "And that your mother was human, and father a unicorn, and that your mother didn't weather the experience well."
Samantha frowned a little. "All true. Why were you hurting one of my other star subjects? I need you both healthy and happy! That expressly means no setting each other on fire!"
Silver's ears flipped back. "Sorry about that. It shouldn't happen again."
"Promise?"
He smiled a little. "Promise. Nefertari's the one that really wanted to fight, not me."
"She's the one set on fire, not you." Samantha frowned a little. "Explain that one, Mister."
He sighed. "My fault, and I accept that."
"Good, then you won't mind this." She poked him suddenly with a needle right on the rump and it filled with blood.
"Ow! What's this have to do with anything?" He scowled at her as he rubbed the sore spot.
"Nothing really directly, but I wanted a blood sample." She tucked the needle away. "Now explain your mating habits."
"W-what?!" He rose to his hooves.
"Most ponies form monogamous pairs, but I'm informed you are engaged in a polygamous pairing with you as the central male figure. A 'herd' as it's referred to by lesser educated ponies." She nodded in satisfaction with herself. "Is it standard that you physically subdue females before indoctrination to your family unit?" She raised a brow.
"No!" He blurted a bit more forcefully than required. "Where did you even get that from? I'm only involved with one female, and that's Night Watch."
Samantha began to blink rapidly. "Oh? Was I misinformed?" She lowered her eyes to his wedding shoe. "I did some reading..."
Silver groaned. Was that shoe really such a loud tell to everyone in sight? "Yes yes, I've heard, but I have the other two and nopony else is wearing them, just Night and I."
Samantha clopped her hooves softly, then paused. "Wait, who's in charge, you or Night Watch?"
What kind of question was that? "We're partners."
"Perfectly even partners? I find that doubtful." She smiled. "Like Nefertari and me. She's my subject."
Silver couldn't help but giggle a little, imagining Samantha trying to order Nefertari around. "If push came to shove, Night could roll me over, but she usually doesn't. We love each other, even when our opinions differ."
"What would you say my suitability is?" She leaned in even as she tilted her head. "I could be very affectionate."
Silver's eyes went wide. Was he being proposed to? "W-we barely know one another, Samantha." Realizing how severe that may come across, he gave a little smile. "You shouldn't just ask that out of the blue. There are steps, with that being one of the last ones."
"Oh, of course." She bobbed her head. "How silly of me. I'm not following the proper courtship rituals. Thank you for informing me instead of immediately judging me." She raised a hoof to her chin. "I'm afraid I'm a little new at these social interactions, but I'll learn and do it right."
"Samantha..." He put a hoof on her shoulder. "I mean this without any anger, but why? You don't know me that well, and you want to tie yourself to me and Night?"
"Oh, I know quite a lot about you." She smiled brightly. "I know some things about you that you probably aren't aware of about you. I am your doctor, after all. I know that you like science. I know that I fall within your acceptable physical parameters. I know that you are kind, especially to those you regard as being a part of your social circles, protective as well. I know you don't get angry at me even when I completely fail at social cues." She pointed at him. "And, you are the central figure of all of my best subjects, yourself included. Being involved with you would just make sense."
Silver raised a hoof. "But you would be adding a bias to all your research. How can you have an unbiased opinion about anything you're married to, or even dating?"
Samantha tilted her head. "I'm afraid it's too late for that. I already like you for accepting me as I am. I like Nefertari for being such an interesting subject, and the way she speaks so authoritatively. She is truly fascinating, and exotic. We're friends. I'm sure of this." She tapped her chin. "And Night Watch... I helped her through her pregnancy. I feel invested in her. I want to see her and her foals happy. If a bias is what I need to avoid, it's too late for that."
She turned away from him. "I will perform research on proper courtship rituals and conduct and I'll get it right this time. Please be patient." The door opened under her magic. "I'll make it perfect."
She trotted out, leaving a mildly-stunned Silver behind her. He flopped down to his haunches as he thought of Samantha trying to look up the perfect way to approach a stallion, him. It was almost certain to be awkward. "I need to talk to Night," he vowed to himself. She deserved to know, and it would avoid a lot of hurt feelings.
Make sure to tell us about the con later!
aware about you - aware of about you
*****
Excellent chapter!
The plot moves forward with Starlight, more or less as expected. It does explain why she was her usual acerbic self but didn't interfere or threaten Silver since she already had what she wanted and knew he would give it to her. Definitely a clever pony, herself.
The shining gem here is finally a bit more character development for Samantha to bump her a little farther from 'creepy' and into 'awkward' with continuing steady progress made towards 'adorkable' on the Pony Personality Profileâ„¢.
7149607
Break the fourth wall and fell us in story.
7149651 Typo kicked out of the B&B. Samantha's analytical nature must have scared most of them away. She's made a bold and sudden move, as would befit her, I think.
It's chapters like this that make me wonder about how my brain works. I did not have any of this pre-planned.
Its a good thing Pinkie doesnt have that time travel spell, or she could be like Celebii and just keep coming ack and forwards to any given point until theres as many of her as she needs at any time. Of course then theres the problem of age, but given she has her parents 500th birthday planned out I dont think it will be that much of a problem.
Samantha wears glasses? Cos she really needs some.
7149688
I always forget to mention something when I comment.
I hope the text is speaking about Starlight. Occam's razor says it most likely is, and that the message is just an admonition not to pine for Starlight, who was never meant to be his in the fist place. But there's always the fear that destiny will pull a dick move and it means Night Watch or Princess Luna, as much as that would completely disrupt everything that they have built together.
Now I feel like Samantha is taking Dream Twilight's place in Silver's herd...or at least trying to. At least It will be interesting to see her 'courting' Silver.
Though Text's brief appearance has made me curious.
Silver is doomed. The harem anime cannot be denied.
7149747
A good point. In the dream, when Twilight and Starlight mucked with time it cost Silver parts of his inner circle. So who is being erased from his life now? Is the text just stating a fact, like about Starlight, or is something actually being changed?
Tune in next time, I guess.
I am starting to think that Samantha has Asperger syndrome.
I am now up to date and I must say the last 5 chapters are a real blast so much going on. I really like it.
Samantha courting Silver and Night I am not so sure how that is going to work out.
Nefertari's courting of Silver and Night some how I can see that.
Wonder what will change in this reality after Starlight & Twi mess with it?
Yay! A chapter! I am here at the con too, after I do some panels I will go find your table.
So Starlight gets what she wants, and it seems like Silver has another suitor asking for his hoof in marriage. So a typical day for him, in other words.
Insofar as Starlight went, I found her grating nature to be much more true to her character. This is the Starlight from the show: haughty, abrasive, and utterly determined to get what she wants. It was nice to see that, with the possible exception of some mild flirting, she wasn't shaking her flank at Silver this time, but was instead simply dominating the situation through sheer force of will. That's who Starlight is, at least prior to her reformation.
I was initially going to object to Silver's using that spell after he'd changed it, since in the season five finale Starlight needs to power it via the Cutie Map, but then I recalled that she only did that because she needed a power source to jump back several years. Without that, it was normally possible to go back a week, and if Silver is only going back a few hours, then it shouldn't require that much magic at all, so that part gets a pass.
However, I was less taken with how Starlight reacted when Silver met her after going back in time. That she instantaneously recognized that he had likely traveled through time struck me as being too easy. The only way that would have happened would be if she was expecting that she had already gotten what she wanted and sent him back to inform her of her impending victory ahead of time, but that has its own problem: the entire reason she has Silver tampering with the spell is to undo the self-consistency principle that Star-Swirl originally built into it, which would mean that she can't count on his being there necessarily indicating that she'll succeed in her future endeavor. Silver even alluded to this by mentioning that he couldn't leave that place lest he run into himself or otherwise alter history. But she overlooked that completely, instead apparently assuming that his being there means that her imminent victory is guaranteed, when in fact it means no such thing.
Now, that's not an error per se, but it does call into question Starlight's behavior, both in her insistence that Silver jump back in time, and how she acts when he marches into that bed & breakfast. Hence, that part of this chapter struck me as being rather weak. At the very least, there should have been a few moments of confusion/caution on Starlight's part when Silver marched in on her at that place she was staying in. So yeah, that part of this chapter seemed a bit weak.
The good news is that it was completely made up for by Samantha. Her "real" version has long been more emotional and less psychotically detached than her "dream" version, and that difference was never more apparent than it was here. It's pretty obvious, with this chapter, that Samantha has a crush on Silver - I won't call it love, yet - and is trying her awkward best to pursue him. Indeed, this chapter put into perspective that Samantha is reveling in having friends as well, to the point of openly admitting that she's biased and - in what strikes me as an astonishing concession on her part - not caring very much about it. To that end, her inability to exhibit any sort of guile, or other social consciousness, continues to make her endearing in her awkwardness. Given that (and her comment about her being the dominant one in her relationship with Nefertari, which was entirely giggle-worthy - as Silver did - but which also seemed like a subtle hint), it suddenly seems like Samantha and Nefertari will be the ones to fill those other two horseshoes.
That's actually a rather attractive prospect, all things considered.
I haven't mentioned the text (Text?) that Silver saw when traveling through time. Hopefully it was a self-evident message that Silver had to let Starlight go, though that seemed rather redundant at this point, since Silver has long since seemed quite content to do just that. Personally I suspect that it was less with regards to romance than it was telling Silver that reforming Starlight was never his job, and that he's essentially reached the end of his interaction with her; from here on out it's up to Twilight (as we saw in the show). Personally, I think that's for the best; as the story itself pointed out, they're both better off for it, especially since Silver wants to avoid getting involved with Twilight and the other Mane Six.
7150025
True, but note that, with the exception of Rough Tumble, it cost him the parts that were, in the waking world, massively separated from the present by at least a thousand years.
7150949
If I were a clever pony like Starlight, the plan would go like this.
Assumptions:
1 Time travel is possible but the spell I have has limits.
2 I have the only known copy of this spell.
3 I know a pony that could possibly remove those limits.
4 I am absolutely certain that nobody knows what I plan to do because my plans are only in my head.
Plan:
1 I will send word for my contact to meet me later today at a location in another part of town.
2 I will stay here at the BNB for several hours before leaving to rendezvous with my contact.
3 I will tell my contact to demonstrate his spell by going back in time and meeting me here.
4 After I have the spell, or not, I will keep my meeting with my contact.*
Outcomes:
1 My contact arrives at the BNB and gives me a spell for time travel.
2 My contact arrives but clearly does not know what I have planned for later.
3 My contact does not arrive.
Check:
1 If the contact arrives with the spell, I keep my later meeting as planned. If I give him the instructions and he vanishes, I can assume that it worked as planned, based on what I already know. It's possible that I am being watched, but it would be practicably impossible for someone to know what I'm planning to do in the future with enough certainty to trick me in the present. I check the spell against my copy of the original. They should be different but have unique elements in common.
2 If the contact arrives and clearly does not know what will happen later, or if he does not provide the spell, or if the spell he provides bears no resemblance to the spell I have, then this is a trap.
3 If the contact doesn't arrive, I can't assume or infer anything. I should still keep my meeting to see if I can learn why, and be ready for a trap.
Comment:
I personally would add 2 more steps to the 'plan' if the contact arrives with the spell:
1 If my contact meets me at the BNB with the spell, I will ask him for information that he could not know unless he has met me later in the day. i.e. a code phrase or to describe something that I will wear, do, or say later that are not evident now.
2 I will tell my contact to meet me at the other location after he has left where I will ask him for information he could not have unless he had met with me earlier.
If outcome 1 and check 1 are both met, that's pretty solid evidence that the situation is what it appears to be.
If the extra steps are added and those check out too, it would be nearly impossible for it to be a trick. It would take mind reading and omniscience to pull it off convincingly. In that case, why not just catch me and toss me into prison?
*except for outcome 2.
7152699
There's no way to plan for every possible outcome or set up every possible contingency. The only way to work around this is if you have knowledge of the future, and if that knowledge is immutable. Ironically, Starlight is actually working against this, by removing the self-consistency aspects of the spell, which means that even planning ahead via setting up a time travel loop won't necessarily guarantee anything.
The problem here is that assumption #4 is dubious at best, and she should know that. In chapter 136 Starlight made it clear that she wanted Star-Swirl's time-travel spell, and showed interest in Silver's cutie mark of spell research/alteration. While that's not exactly a full-blown leak of information, it makes it possible to guess the general nature of her plan.
It's worth noting that if she doesn't have the spell, then there's little point in her keeping her meeting with her contact, since this would mean that something went awry either with the spell's development, with it's function, or with Silver going to meet her either at either rendezvous point.
This is where things go off the rails, because there's no guarantee that these are the only outcomes. Silver could arrive and warn her not to use the spell because it has disastrous side-effects. He could show up with a contingent of guards to try and arrest her. He could arrive and say that the alterations failed and that the spell still results in an immutable loop. In other words, these outcomes aren't enough to cover the range of what could possibly happen. At this point she doesn't even know if he's told anypony else or not about what she took from the library.
Again, if she gives him the instructions and he vanishes, then she cannot assume that it worked as planned, because she's had him remove the parts of the spell that guaranteed that. It's entirely possible that his going back in time could change history, and since Silver was the one who cast the spell instead of her, Starlight would never even be aware that things had changed. That's the major reason why having him test the spell was such a phenomenally bad idea on her part. It wouldn't be "practically impossible" for anyone to know what she's doing, since he's now gone back in time with both foreknowledge of her immediate future and no constraints on changing history. She couldn't even check the spell in his possession against the original, since she needed Silver to figure that out to begin with.
Leaving aside that she probably couldn't, in this story, tell that the spell he provides has sufficient resemblance to the one in her possession (she could probably tell it was a time-spell, but the specifics would likely be beyond her...at least without an intense period of study). Likewise, this doesn't account for any other possibility in which he arrives at that location.
She can't assume or infer anything anyway. She might want to see what happened, but it's something of a moot point, since even if Silver does use the spell and go back and make the alteration, she won't know that anything has changed to begin with.
This is a good idea for proving that he has actually traveled back in time, but it doesn't address any of the other issues involved.
Again, this relies on knowledge of the past being correct, not just from her own point of view, but also from the point of view of someone who has traveled through time with the ability to alter history. It's just asking for something to go wrong.
I strongly disagree. This entire scenario is predicated around shaky assumptions, artificially-constrained outcomes, and too much faith that time will prove to be self-consistent despite the entire point of this plot to make it so that time travel doesn't have to be consistent. This plan has any number of ways it could go askew.
7156484
Yeah your right.