Silver was up early the next morning, and ended up with a full contingent of wives along for the walk out to Applejack's place. Even Twilight joined along once she saw the rest were going. Twilight had a little frown. "Are you really going to do... that with Applejack? I mean, I guess it's her decision, but she's my friend. It feels weird."
Fast softly huffed as she trotted along with a smile. "She picked him, not the other way around. Let's be supportive of our stallion."
Night waved a wing lightly. "He has to win this 'contest' first, or there won't be anything to worry about."
They soon arrived among the apple trees that marked the Apple domain. It was still gloomy in the pre-dawn hours and a chill was in the air. Despite this, Rainbow already stood beside Applejack and Big Mac in front of their barn.
Rainbow waved at them with a cocky grin. "Already coming in second place, huh?"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "He's here before sunup, he's on time. Now, ah don't want either of ya wreckin' the farm tryin' ta beat the other, so ah'll be taking points off fer every bit of damage y'all cause. Got it?"
Silver nodded as Rainbow shrugged.
"Alright. Next thing, no fancy unicorn magic. That ain't the Apple way."
Silver pointed a hoof at Rainbow. "What about fancy pegasus magic?"
Applejack tapped her chin lightly. "Fair's fair. Y'all gotta do it the earth pony way."
Rainbow visibly bristled at the restriction, but stood in firm defiance, ready to compete.
"Now the rule's simple." Applejack pointed up to some barren fields up on a hill. "We're gonna get some extra crops going. Apples are our primary harvest, as y'all know, but it ain't the only. Rainbow Dash, ya get pumpkins, and Silver, yer doing strawberries. Plow, sow, water. The one that plants the most, wins. Every foot of ready soil is a point."
Big Mac suddenly spoke up. "A foot of grown plants is another point."
Applejack tilted her head. "They ain't earth ponies, they can't do that, but sure."
Silver felt confidence well in him. Unicorn and pegasus magic were ruled out, but he could funnel his power where he wanted. Green hooves should be doable.
"Just remember that damage to tha farm or tha land is points deducted." Applejack looked towards the horizon quietly a moment. The sun peeked over the edge and she clopped a hoof down. "Go!"
Big Mac tossed Rainbow her bag of seeds first, then Silver. Silver tucked the bag into his saddle pouch and looked up to see Rainbow racing ahead. Let her flail wildly, or so he thought. He nodded in thanks to Big Mac and began trotting up towards his field, working up the magic and filling his legs with them. His trot gained in speed until he was moving at a galloping rate despite still trotting.
A plow had been set up at either field, and he moved to step into the harness and get moving with it. Ugh, it was heavier than it looked, and it looked pretty heavy. Silver's body grew warm as he turned more magic inwards, forcing the plow forward through personal fortification, rather than any unicorn chicanery directed at the plow. He arrived at the end of his field and looped around to do another line. He heard a rough cry and saw Fast Change perched on the fence of the field, hooves waving in the air as she cheered him on.
Silver decided three rows was a fine starting point. A glance at the sky put the time at around ten. Had it already been so long? Time flies when you're working hard, he decided, and he pulled out the bag of strawberry seeds, planting some every foot along each row, tapping them into the ground gently and moving along. He hadn't tried expressing earth pony magic this way, and tried focusing on the very bottom of his hooves. They began to feel itchy and sweaty, which may have been a good or bad sign, he wasn't sure.
He gently brushed an energized hoof over the seed as he watered each one, and the energy jumped out of him and into the ground. He felt suddenly drained, slumping to the ground as the energy he had so carefully managed surged in one long flow from where his hooves touched the earth.
Applejack approached quickly. "Ya alright there, sugarcube? Yer looking mighty bushed all of a sudden."
Silver shook his head. "I'm fine." He wasn't sure if he was fine, but he wasn't giving up. He pushed back to his hooves and peeked at Rainbow's field to see her working the plow still, though she had done more rows. Was that seven? His eyes were drawn to the ground by a soft shaking that grew into an audible rumbling.
Applejack stepped backwards off the field. "What tha?"
Sprouts began to surge up from the ground, quickly becoming vines. They grabbed the still-lethargic Silver and held him firmly as they grew and grew wildly across the field. Green strawberries swelled into existence, starting to darken into a delicious red before startled pony eyes. The unrestricted growth caused the strawberries to reach and grow, spreading beyond the three modest rows he started with. The fence groaned as the vines overtook it entirely and spread past it.
Fast Change wisely backed away from the wild vegetation, gawking at it as it spread and spread. For better or for worse, all of Silver's built up magic was expended. He hung there limply in the vine's grips, too tired to do much else.
Big Mac wandered up, shaking his head. "Knew it."
Applejack perked an ear at him. "Knew what? He done covered tha whole field in berries!"
Big Mac waved at the grand mass of strawberries. "He's an alicorn, Applejack. He ain't a normal pony. Think."
Rainbow aborted her field to see what was going on. With a tilted head, she asked, "What's going on over here? Did he use magic?"
Applejack heaved a sigh. "Sure did, earth pony magic. Let's get 'im down."
Silver was soon liberated from the jail of his own creation and allowed to rest on the ground, flopped onto his side. Rainbow looked perplexed. "So... did he win? Or do I win because I'm the only one left standing?"
Applejack shook her head. "Technically he wins." She punched Big Mac in the chest, though it barely moved him. "Why do ya gotta make this more complicated?!" She stormed off with an angry huff.
Silver sat up with Fast and Night's help. Twilight sat nearby, watching the whole scene unfold curiously. She spread her wings and took off after Applejack a moment later.
Rainbow looked baffled. "What's the confusion? He won, so he gets to stud. That was the deal." She looked off after Applejack, then towards Big Mac. "What'd you tell her?" Big Mac was silent. Rainbow stormed up to Silver. "You wanted it, you got it! You beat me, fair and square."
Silver was soon standing under his own power, energy returning to him. "I don't think Applejack's in the mood for that right now."
Rainbow prodded Silver with a hoof. "News alert, she isn't the only mare here."
Silver tilted his head with confusion. "What? You didn't want to be the mother before. Which is it?"
Night fidgeted with her glasses. "I think she is offering--"
"I'm not offering anything." Rainbow turned away. "A race. If you can catch up, you can have me." She spread her wings and took off into the sky with a thunderous gust of wind.
Fast suddenly grinned. "Well, go catch her."
Night shook her head. "Are you sure that's a good idea? She is clearly in a fragile state. She's confused, not aroused."
Silver frowned, unsure what to do. "I'll catch up to her, if I can, but I won't breed her, just try to get a straight answer." He took off and ascended into the sky after Rainbow.
Night shook her head. "That may be the worst idea."
Fast tilted her head. "Why?"
Night sighed. "It's not obvious? If he catches her, then turns her down, it will be a sore blow to her ego, and that's something Rainbow values highly. To be bested, only to be told she wasn't even worth catching is the worst combination."
Fast winced with understanding. "Well unless you think you can catch up with them?"
Night huffed. "With this belly? No."
"Then we wait." Fast snuggled in beside Night. "Wait and hope."
Silver da speed demon woohoo. fucking hell yeah
Silver, stop showing up the Princess of
magicfriendship by using magic she's never considered experimenting with.And no offence AJ, but you had the magic doohickey of studfication and you went all paladin and turned it in.
Hmm... Celestia made the spell restricted, but did that mean somepony who knows it can't perform it in private for somepony else?
6003019 Silver performing the spell would be a direct countermand to Celestia's wishes, and both she and he know that. He could not feign ignorance. Letter of the law is a shoddy defense when dealing with someone who is, in theory, your wife.
6003089 Welp. That's about all I got.
Still; awesome use of earth pony magic.
Once she saw "where" the rest were going.
Not the other way "around."
There are two spaces between "and" and "filling."
The "still-lethargic" Silver.
This is the author's note, and I'm not sure that that's not a pun, but technically it should be "pot of gold."
6003109 Fixed, except the first. Twilight did not join because of where they were going, she just saw a bunch of them all gaggled together and went 'me too!'
this is one time I hope Silver fail's, Night is right turning rainbow down if he can catch her will be a huge blow to her ego.
you better hall flank R D.
I am surprised at A J Silver won and she just walked away, that is not A J something is wrong.
Harts Fire
Well, that was unexpected. The challenge manages to go sideways in more than one way, and the entire result is suddenly in doubt. So in other words, par for the course for Silver.
The challenge itself seemed fairly basic insofar as the tasks were concerned. Of course, Big Mac apparently threw a wrench into things by adding a clause that...allowed Silver to win handily? And Applejack was apparently upset by this? Huh? I'm glad that Rainbow was confused, because that shows that there's clearly more to the story that we're not seeing, rather than this being a problem with what the story's trying to convey. As it stands, it's hard to know what's happening - clearly Big Mac suspected what would happen, and despite his previous disapproval of Silver studding his sister, set things up to ensure that happened. But why? What made him change his mind about Silver being Applejack's stud? Moreover, why was AJ so upset by this? Isn't this the result that she wanted? Confusion abounds!
Personally, I've never been a fan of the idea that earth ponies have a connection to the land and/or its creatures. Insofar as I know, that was only ever stated in a tweet from one of the writers, and never actually shown in the show. Indeed, the show characterizes earth pony magic as having the strength to work the land, rather than some sort of natural affinity for it. So this one caught me by surprise, even if it's well within the purview of the author to alter how things work.
Rainbow's reaction to the entire affair was, as noted, a voice for the audience. However, I'm not sure I follow her line of thinking with regards to challenging Silver to a race. I would complain that it seems a bit much to have Rainbow hold a race to decide whether or not Silver gets to impregnate her, but that overlooks a salient detail - that Rainbow wouldn't have made this offer to a pony that she didn't approve of in the first place. As it stands, it's rather awkward that she's moving on to another challenge at all, when she's the one saying that Silver gets to stud; shouldn't she be pushing to find out what just happened with AJ and Big Mac?
It's also a little strange that Rainbow made that offer to begin with, since Applejack previously described RD as not being keen on the idea of having a stallion mount her. Once again though, I think that there's a reasonable answer here: while Rainbow may not disapprove of being with Silver (if he wins), I don't think she has any ulterior motives with this challenge...that is, Rainbow honestly does think that she's going to leave him in the dust. After all, not only is the apparently the only pony that can perform a sonic rainboom, but it can't have escaped her notice that Silver is exhausted right now. She's really trying to show him up here, which makes it a little odd that she'd make the offer at all if she didn't think he'd be able to take her up on it.
Of course, I suspect (that is, hope) that Silver will surprise her. With any luck, he'll get the super-sexy ending, where he gets to knock up Rainbow and Applejack at the same time - hey, they'd both need to be there anyway, to provide the love necessary for them to be receptive! Throw Fast in (though somehow I wonder if they'd approve of that), and it's a regular orgy!
That's if he says yes, of course. Despite Night's worries, I somehow don't see Silver doing that. When was the last time he turned down a mare? Even Starlight eventually got him where she wanted him, at least physically. Really, I think the only mare he's said "no" to and meant it is Carrot Plate...which makes me think that she'll be raising her tail for Silver at some point, too. That said, if he did refuse her advances, Night is right that Rainbow would be upset beyond measure. How many times has Silver ended up screwing her over, now? If he turns her down, that might well be the very last straw.
Though, one question comes to mind...all of this talk about studding presumes that Rainbow and Applejack are currently in their season. But there's been no mention of Silver being out-of-his-mind aroused by their pheromones...or even that he can smell their pheromones at all. Has he just gotten totally used to that, or is this an oversight?
6003199 A lot of questions in there! Big Mac was showing off that Silver is an alicorn, with all the oddness and power that comes with it. His explosive growth of the plants just highlighted the issue to a point that Applejack couldn't just pretend it's not an issue. Being nudged out of denial is never comfortable, and she lashed out at Big Mac before storming off in a huff. So, yes, Silver won, but Silver also reminded Applejack that he's not a normal pony and never will be.
Rainbow's confused because her way of handling things seems to be falling flat. Silver won, why isn't everyone firmly decided? She lost, and that sucks, but there's a certain order to this. He won, he gets the prize, right? Done deal, but here we are with a pissed off Applejack and the winner being left in the dirt. Maybe it was all just a fluke. She can prove it. She'll crush him in a race and then she can put the whole thing aside. He just wasn't worthy to stud, like she said before. Open and shut, and we can get on with our lives.
No one said Rainbow's logic was infallible, but it's hers.
As for pheromones, it was noted ages back that exposure would eventually dull it down from maddening, and Silver's had time around an assortment of mares, including herself for a while. The scent of a female does not immediately set him off. If he took a moment to sort through things, he might figure it out.
6003089
I personally have to fault Silver for not at least trying to reopen this conversation with Celestia, particularly in this case.
(Or at least a scene where he considers doing so and ultimately consciously sides with Celestia on the merits, not just her authority).
While she could very well hold firm, it feels like he should have at least talked to her about it, and let her know that her ban is already having real effects on real ponies that she knows personally.
6003308 Do we know that Silver doesn't agree with her on the merits? She explained her thinking (to him, if I recall correctly) and had a very good point with regards to why she made that spell illegal.
6003651
6003308 Basically making males ultimately unrequired is kind of a bummer, and a loss for the species as a whole, considering that some amount of difference helps things happen. Harmony is great, too much and everyone may as well be dead, and removing the basic friction of the gender divide is not on Celestia's bucket lit.
6003651
We don't necessarily know, but he didn't make any attempt to convince RD and AJ that it was in any way wrong to use it other than pointing out the illegality, along with a promise not to rat them out. That doesn't sound like someone who is strongly convinced that it should be illegal.
AJ has some additional reasons for preferring a traditional stud over gender bending, but the legality was what pushed her to her course of action and basically ruled out the alternative completely.
(I also don't really buy her 'good point' personally. I think you of all people would be skeptical that the mares are all going to become lesbians if doing so no longer means infertility (or rather needing a stud). I expect there will still be at least as many hetero mares as stallions, and I don't see professional studs (meaning that's where they earn most or all of their bits) as being a big chunk of the population as it is, if they even exist. I would expect the results to be studding becoming less common (but probably not even going away altogether. Some of those lesbian couples will prefer the old fashioned route anyways), while hetero marriages remain common (now with less potential for jealousy from the stallion going stud) and the social pressures against colt cuddlers dissipating over time (as they're no longer 'wasting' a limited resource, though ingrained biases will take a long time to fade). Overall, I feel like her reaction was knee-jerk and deserves to be reviewed, especially in light of real world consequences of her decree, even if she ultimately remains convinced of her decision. She has the right to rule, but Silver Stars (and any subject, really) has the right to ask her to reconsider.)
6003680 Will it extinct all males within a generation? No, no one said it would. It would tilt the scale towards the female though. That's how evolution works. It's a pressure, and denying it's a pressure is delusional I think. If you have a mare for a child, they are just a little more likely to have a foal than a stallion now, just a little. That tilts thing over time. Celestia has all the time in the world to play the long game.
The current generation would view it as a curious thing for hard core lesbians, but what will the ponies five generations from now think if it's allowed to become an easily available thing?
6003670
Yeah, but it's kind of an academic point. The mares that prefer males to stallions are already having stallion-free marriages, with just the rare occasion of hiring a stud for one night. So, like, a couple occasions in a lifetime? Meanwhile, stallions still all have opportunities to marry, and possibly even have multiple wives.
It's kind of like pointing out that with our sperm bank technology, men are essentially unnecessary for our species procreation. Yes, well, the overwhelming majority of children are still born to heterosexual women doing things the old fashioned way. Even with advances in cloning technology to the point where we could do it without involving any real sperm, that still wouldn't change. Men and women like to get together. So do stallions and mares. The exceptions aren't going to cause any real harm to the heterosexual couples by meeting their own needs independently.
Even the studs for the most part aren't going to be put out that much. Male prostitutes might need to look for new work though. Maybe. Hetero mares aren't necessarily going to be satisfied with fake stallions.
6003728 Um, sperm banks require guys by definition. Cloning things is far from a refined art too.
There are no real world equivalents yet.
Ultimately, as you put it, it's kinda academic. She erred on the side of safety.
6003727
Maybe?
If we were dealing with mundane genes, I'd have to concede your point. As only those born to a hetero coupling could have an XY. The odds would tilt, though it'd be hard to even perceive. And if we posit a genetic link to lesbianism (super controversial in RL as it is) then that pressure could lead to them being a larger portion of the population.
Since we've established physical sex isn't even a prerequisite to breeding in the Silververse, it's pretty unclear to me whether a F/F pairing would necessarily lead to F, or could just as easily lead to M.
Other than F/F never leading to M, or some weird magic feedback effect there's no mechanism for the "pressure" to effect birth percentages. Evolution works by killing off unfavorable gene configurations before they procreate, or at least with fewer descendants. And the stallions still have a massive advantage for having more descendants, unless lesbianism becomes really rampant. (like.. fewer hetero mares than stallions) Which seems implausible. Hetero mares are still likely to have more children "by accident" than the lesbians do per mare. So "pressure" is still going to favor hetero mares. (If a lesbian couple is to keep up on a per-mare basis, they have to consciously volunteer to have twice as many children per family, draining their resources while constantly being tempted by the fact that they have absolute birth control as a default state of being. So the strong tendency is going to be for them to have half or less the number of foals per female, causing pressure in favor of females being hetero and seeking out stallions anyways.)
so where is the pic showing baticorn silver?
6004124 Those aren't free ; ;
6003792 I disagree with most of what you've posited here. Even if we leave aside the issues of genetics (e.g. two mares cannot birth a stallion, since neither has a Y-chromosome to donate) due to the presence of magic, there are major problems with making this spell prevalent.
For one thing, the stallions do not have a "massive advantage for having more descendants." That's because mares that use this spell to act as a stallion for sexual purposes will have that same advantage, e.g. they'll be able to "father" foals without having to worry about carrying them to term. In essence, the advantage will no longer be male-exclusive. Moreover, the idea that "Hetero mares are still likely to have more children 'by accident' than the lesbians do per mare" is true only if we presume that there are more heterosexual couples than there are lesbian couples using this spell...and even then, that doesn't really matter. The prerequisite that "the mare must be deeply in love in order to conceive" drastically cuts down on the number of accidental pregnancies across the board, making this an entirely moot point.
I also don't agree that "If a lesbian couple is to keep up on a per-mare basis, they have to consciously volunteer to have twice as many children per family." That's because this presumes a net loss among the female breeding population that would have to be "compensated" for by using this spell. This isn't a reasonable assumption to make; even if they were going to have a stallion stud for them before, it'd only be for a single mare of the lesbian pairing - they do not need to have twice as many children as heterosexual couples just to "keep up."
But here's the thing: all of these biological/evolutionary arguments don't really matter.
The reason they don't matter is because Celestia banned that spell, not for biological concerns, but for social ones. She's not worried about the genetic viability of ponies moving into the future; she's worried about this encouraging an insidious devaluation of masculinity among a population that already has subtle social discrimination in favor of mares. This spell was banned because it quietly implies the idea that "males aren't necessary" in one of the most fundamental of ways, and that this would lend credence to that mindset amongst the pony population. Remember Carrot Plate's female-supremacy rant when she had Silver tied up? While her actions may have been an isolated incident, her attitude likely was not (e.g. Fleur told Silver never to touch a mare without permission, despite Silver having experienced that the opposite wasn't true).
One might say that this is an instance of Celestia being unfair, that she's punishing the lesbian couples that aren't interested in discrimination and just want to have a family. That's an argument that has some merit, but that's part of what goes into fighting diffuse social attitudes. You can't criminalize thoughts, opinions, or beliefs; there's no way to enforce such bans. All you can do is criminalize actions, practices, and items that - in the belief of those who govern - lend themselves to the justification and propagation of such attitudes (at least, more than they do anything else that's worthwhile).
Celestia has made up her mind that that spell is one such item, and in this case I agree with her.
6005582
I've thought about this more and seen my error, though you don't seem to have seen my original point.
In the current status quo, if we have for example 3 mares per stallion (David never specified the actual ratio, so I'm going to use convenient numbers), then each 3 mares and 1 stallion need 4 kids to survive to breeding to replace them. We'll ignore for our convenience the extra foals needed to make up for childhood deaths and such. Just assume the extra foals are born and die in the same proportions as the surviving ones we will consider. Also assume population growth follows the same ratios on average.
So typically a two-parent family would have two foals over time. But that means that out of our 3 mares and 1 stallion:
The stallion has (on average) four surviving foals. On average, one is a stallion.
His wife has (on average) two surviving foals.
The lesbian pair has (on average) two surviving foals.
Each lesbian has (on average) one surviving foal.
That means that being born a lesbian means you will have, on average, half as many foals as your heterosexual (half?) sister. That puts massive selection pressure in favor of heterosexual mares.
In the old ways, the scarcity of males wouldn't even be an issue, as they'd just herd up and share. Though doing so (assuming each mare tones it down to keep the family as a whole just replacing itself) would lower the degree of the selection pressure.
Using the spell, however, rebalances this to parity. As each stallion now only has his wife two foals as descendants, and the lesbians are now both biological parents of two surviving foals. So removing the existing selection pressure seems like it would likely shift the balance.
(of course, much of this is assuming lesbian/hetero to be largely genetic. Social pressures work off a whole other set of dynamics, and if the mares are typically born essentially bisexual and end up lesbians largely because of a scarcity of males coupled with herding falling out of favor, then that's a whole other consideration.)
You seem to be assuming 'accidents' here is referring to out of wedlock trysts or something. While that surely is a thing, I was more assuming married couples conceiving without a specific plan to do so. A hetero married couple presumably have the requisite love most if not all of the time, year round. And they aren't likely to stay away from each other when she's receptive. (To the contrary, they have little reason not to follow their instincts and enjoy each other readily.) While David has mentioned birth control is a thing, they have to consciously chose to avoid pregnancy or it will happen repeatedly.
By contrast, a lesbian couple has 0 chance of unplanned pregnancy, no matter how much they love each other or how intimate they get, unless they start using the spell on a regular basis just because they like sex better that way. At best, such a couple reaches parity with the heterosexuals. Edit to add: either on a per-couple or per-mare basis, depending on whether only one typically uses the spell or they trade off.
As for pregnancies outside of committed relationships, as you said they're naturally uncommon with the love requirement. But I wouldn't expect a lesbian to typically use such a spell as part of casual sex, especially not with a receptive female where the chance of pregnancy is above 0. Would you? I can see rare exceptions, like Fast Change herself, where their gender identity is extremely flexible, but those wouldn't be statistically significant.
I don't consider "males aren't necessary" to be much better or different than "males are a tool that should be brought into the bedroom only when needed, and then given a bit of loveless sex to meet our needs while they are blessed to witness our true love between each other". Nor do I think the heterosexual mares are going to really be thinking about whether a male is strictly necessary when she's trying to court one.
The female supremacy tendency always struck me as a bit odd anyways. A gender gap tends to give substantial social power to the less common gender, as the other gender competes for their favor. My best guess for why the opposite is in play here is that Sombra was such a horrible King and the Princesses have, by contrast, been much better rulers. So you have kind of a social subtext of "don't let males be in charge! They'll just turn out like Sombra!" (Ignoring, you know, Queen Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon >_> Chrysalis is a known non-pony, and Nightmare Moon was redeemed, while Sombra's non-pony status is pretty much a secret and he was never redeemed.) And that kind of bias is something Celestia had on full display when she conspired to get Silver's gender changed in order to remove his offensive male-ness. So.. it's hard to see why Celestia is trying to avoid its spread, unless she has had a pretty deep heart change? If anything, I feel like it may have been reinforced by Silver's 'redemption' requiring him to spend some time as a female, while females becoming males even just for a romp with their special somepony is deemed as illegal and thus implicitly evil.
So great job there Celestia. You've highlighted how evil it would be to be a stallion for even an evening in the bedroom.
As an amusing side note, as part of one of my works I got this great quote from David for Cadance:
"The princess of love does not have laws against what two willing adults do in their own bedroom."
So Apple/Dash should just go honeymoon in the Crystal Empire. :)
(And while the context of the quote didn't mention mares with stallion bits in particular, it was specifically about shapeshifting for sexual purposes, so.. yeah.)
It would be hilariously amusing to me to see a political fight between Celestia and Cadance about whether the Crystal Empire needs to cede the sovereignty of their bedrooms to Equestria, or at least enforce Equestrian sexual laws on ponies visiting (or moving permanently to avoid persecution) from Equestria to Crystal Empire. I could also see some enterprising crystal ponies making enchanted heart crystals for rent available in their hotels. ;) come stay for a week and leave with a lifetime of love.
The chapter of this title, combined with the context of the previous one, immediately made me think of the last joke here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSjntjfArjo
"Shut up, bitch. I'll fuck you till you love me."
"Challenge accepted!"
I'm suffering a Matrix Glitch.I swear I've read this chapter somewhere else a while ago in another story or am i wrong?
6003019 I was wondering if when Silver last talked to Lyra and brought up the spell whether he was going to suggest she share it with AJ & RD as a favour.
Alrighty, the wording here is a bit unwieldy. The word apples is plural so you should have a plural pronoun to go with it, so the it should be they. However, to make the sentence flow more smoothly I also you feel it should read 'they ain't the only ones.'
They expect that to happen within a day!?
Reminds me of my first time working in the fields. (Said my OC.)