Chapter 11

It felt like a hangover to her, yet at the same time it didn't. She only recalled drinking a few things the day before, none of them containing any alcoholic content, at least to her knowledge. Yet she found herself waking up with quite the splitting headache, followed by a groan of dismay. Luna yawned as she stretched her limbs out before clutching her head in pain, groaning a second time since she had woken up. She remembered little from the past few hours, so it rose questions for her as to why she was in a strange bed. The princess' gaze shifted from right to left as her drowsiness wore off, taking a look around her. It took a few minutes before it finally hit her though on where she was, it had only been after she heard two voices did everything come flooding back to her. She remembered the train ride, the loss of her lunch, and the walk to Twilight Sparkle's home.

"I'm never going to ride that train again..." she muttered to herself, before climbing from the bed to stretch her legs and wings a bit further. As she was stretching she took note of the fact it was nighttime. Luna could hear voices coming from downstairs as she stretched out her stiff muscles, this caused her to stop what she had been doing, especially when she heard Emerald's voice. Here she began to move relatively quietly, looking just over the loft area where she had been resting, to the downstairs area. As she did the sight she came on left her feeling a bit upset. What got to her the most was how close Twilight was to the stallion, it almost made her jealous, but when she moved back to her original position she sighed in relief. Aside from her issues with her sister over a millennium ago, she had never felt more jealous than she had a few seconds ago. The princess didn't even understand why either, but eventually she brushed it aside as nothing had happened.

As the two continued their conversation, she made her way to the stairs and even though she could probably just flutter down. Luna decided against this however, for all she knew, they could already be devising a way to end the threat of Nightmare Moon. She couldn't of been more wrong though, because just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard the line she didn't want to hear from Emerald.

"Help us find a way to defeat her, once and for all."

"What have you both been talking about while I was out?" Luna asked, as her hooves clicked on the ground. Emerald was the first to dash over to her, showing his concern for the princess. This made her smile a bit, before brushing it aside as Twilight followed him just as quickly.

"Well, Emerald filled me in on everything so far." Twilight responded.

"But, I believe the first question is, how are you feeling?" Emerald questioned, she licked her lips in response, which felt rather dry, as well as her mouth had a relatively unpleasant taste in it. She recalled that she had thrown up on the train, but was surprised that it would linger so long in her mouth. It was almost enough to make her gag a little bit, thankfully though it was easy enough to ignore.

"I could use a little bit of water, and something to eat to get rid of the horrid taste in my mouth." she said a bit hoarsely, before clearing her throat. In response to this, Twilight nodded before walking off, only to return with a glass of water for the princess, who was rather grateful, offering her a smile as she took it. The water rushed through her mouth as she drank it slowly, being sure not to upset her stomach anymore than the train had. Once the glass had been emptied, she set it aside on a desk for the time being, the awful taste having been washed away along with the diminishing of her pounding headache. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle." This was followed by the growling of her stomach, the emptiness gnawing at her a bit, reminding her once again that she had lost the meal she ate before getting on the train. This proved rather frustrating before she turned to Emerald. By now, he had already heard her stomach growling a tiny bit, and was already aware that she was probably starving, which wasn't good for her in the least. Without a single word he nodded.

"Twilight, are there any shops or restaurants open at this hour?" This caused Twilight to turn her head up to the clock, which read just past nine, before turning back to them.

"The general store might still be open, and there should be a few restaurants still open." she responded, this was met with a pleased reaction from both Princess Luna and Twilight. "Think you could also get me something too?" He only nodded as he brought up his hood, quietly walking from the library.

The night was frigid, the streets were nearly silent, snow drifting in the occasional breeze. It was painful on his body as he walked out with very little, however it was the cold was rather tolerable for Emerald as he had faced worse in his travels. Aside from the lights on the street, the town was mostly dark, windows of various shops could hardly be seen through as he traversed through the shallow snow of the streets. The silence was deafening as he searched for an open shop or restaurant, he was met with little luck however, as there were fewer ponies outside than he had hoped for, it was only made worse when he felt a rumbling in his own stomach too. He sighed in frustration as he wandered, before long though he picked up on the sweet scent of food, this only increased his appetite, causing him to follow the scent as quickly as he possibly could, while remaining focused on his goal. The stallion soon came upon a small restaurant, it wasn't that fancy of a place, but it did look rather nice and the luscious aroma of food only proved to make him hungrier. He soon entered the place, finding it to have the décor of at least a four-star restaurant, yet it seemed rather cozy at the same time, almost as if it was family owned.

"May I help you sir?" asked a pony behind a stand, Emerald lowered his hood as he approached the pony.

"Well, I don't know how much time I have, so is it-" He was cut short however, by the sound of two voices catching his attention. Normally he would ignore such things, but what really got him was the sound of one of the voices, it felt rather familiar to him, almost as if he recognized it from somewhere, as if he had met the individual before. "Could you hold on a second?" Emerald noted to the stallion, who simply nodded. "And do you mind if I went in?"

"No, go right ahead sir, I'll have the waiter set up a table for you." he said, his voice still sounding rather regal.

"Thank you." Emerald replied, still listening to the sound of both voices. His ears twitched as he continued to listen rather closely, noting that one voice was that of a mare, while the other was one of a stallion. The mare's voice began to grow rather loud, while the stallion's voice remained semi-quiet and very silvery.

"I said no!" the mare shouted, the volume of her voice growing as she became more annoyed.

"Why not?" argued the stallion, as if trying to start something.

"Because, I am here with my husband, for one!" the mare claimed, "And for another, I don't like you!"

"Oh come on, its my birthday!" he cooed in his silvery voice, Emerald picked up instantly that this was a lie, before beginning to count down, as if he was anticipating something as he began to push open the door.

"Three, two..." before he could finish though, he heard a rather loud smack as if someone had just been struck across their face with a hoof, it was followed by an 'Ow!' along with a bit of whimpering. As the unicorn stallion entered the dining area though, he was met with a sight, one that made his eyes grow as wide as saucers. What he saw was no less than shocking as he was met with what appeared to be a dark blue unicorn stallion with a long, silky, silvery mane that seemed to shimmer even in the dim lights of the restaurant. Emerald seemed to know better as he laid his eyes on this individual, his eyes only narrowed in dismay as he looked at him, before beginning his approach.

"Silver Crescent!" he bellowed as he crossed the room, his voice filled with anger and frustration. The moment the name was heard by the supposed unicorn stallion, he seemed to freeze, recognizing it in an instant. The blood drained from his face as he turned to see Emerald, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

"E-Emerald?!" Before he could say anything further, Emerald had brought up his hoof to strike Silver right on the chin. It made a direct hit, sending him falling back onto the ground writhing in a bit of pain. He quickly moved back to his feet as he was faced with the unicorn, his eyes growing just as pale as his face had become. The nearby mare was fairly confused as she witnessed the green unicorn taking ahold of the other's mane with his magic, before pulling him to the table the waiter was just finishing his preparations on. "W-what are you doing in Ponyville?! I thought you were in Manehatten!"

"You heard wrong, brother." Emerald muttered, forcing him to take a seat on a side of the table, as he himself took the opposite side. "I believe the question is...what are YOU doing in Ponyville?" the unicorn seemed extremely frustrated with his elder brother at this point, who was just quiet and rather nervous about having to see his little brother.

"I...uh...was seeking a bit of help." he muttered.

"Oh? Doing what?" Emerald speculated, "Trying to ruin a marriage? Or trying to get your rocks off after having done as such with Princess Celestia!?" By this time, the green unicorn was fuming, it was obvious by the tone of his voice, which thankfully was rather hushed. This seemed to leave Silver feeling rather guilty, looking away from his brother. It was here he snapped back to his senses, slamming his hoof on the table, before he brought his eyes to meet him.

"Actually, if you must know, I was seeking help in trying to find a way to beat Nightmare Moon." he claimed, this caused Emerald's eyes to widen a bit before he sighed softly. "However, I got...distracted as I came into town..." as he spoke up, his head turned to a passing waitress, taking in the view of her plot, which made him lick his lips. "So...many glorious plots and flanks..."

"Focus!" his brother shouted, tapping the table with his own hoof. This grabbed his attention again, turning back to his brother. "So, you've had a run-in with Nightmare Moon I take it."

"Two actually, one about two months ago, and one just today." Emerald sneezed again as he heard this, which made Silver chuckle very softly. "Still have those sneezes of surprise?"

"And she survived?!" he exclaimed, receiving a nod from him.

"Unfortunately yes, the spell I used when I met her the first time, failed to actually eliminate her completely, however, it did prove to weaken her to the point where she was left without a body." he explained.

"That explains why I haven't seen much of her either..." Emerald noted.

"You faced her too?" the unicorn nodded in response to this.

"Probably just before you did...if you didn't know, I'm now Princess Luna's personal bodyguard." Silver chuckled, a rather unnerving grin, one very similar to Celestia's spreading across his face.

"So, you're the unicorn stallion I've heard rumors about that's seeing the Lunar Princess." he announced, rather loudly too, enough for the entire restaurant to hear. This only made Emerald sink his head rather low to hide his embarrassment. While he wasn't ashamed to admit anything, he'd rather not have the public know about it. This seemed to get the attention of several ponies for a minute or two, however, they quickly returned to their meals.

"Sirs, what would you like this fine evening?" the waiter asked, holding up a notepad and quill with his magic.

"Nothing for me thanks." Silver said.

"Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to go, and just some tea, herbal if you will." Emerald said, gesturing calmly to the waiter. "I'm only here to get something to eat for a couple friends."

"Now, back on subject, you never really answered my question...what brings YOU to Ponyville, if you're supposed to be guarding Princess Luna." the alicorn noted.

"Well...Luna and I were in need of help...we're also seeking a way to defeat Nightmare Moon for good." the unicorn pointed out.

"But why Ponyville, I mean, there's not really a whole lot here." Silver informed, only to be stopped by his brother.

"Actually, you're inaccurate...there is one pony here, correction, one unicorn here who can help us." Emerald refuted, at first the alicorn seemed rather confused with this line of thought, but that was before the realization sunk in.

"Don't tell me...Celestia's student lives in this town...does she?" This only received a nod and a chuckle as a cup of tea was placed on the table near the unicorn. The cup was rather small, but he sipped it rather quickly, just letting it sit as a bag was brought to him containing the sandwiches he had ordered.

"That'll be ten bits for all of it." the waiter said, which prompted Emerald to pull out a small bag of money with his telekinesis, counting out ten bits, plus an additional ten as a tip for the waiter. "Thank you, and have a nice evening."

"Now, you're coming with me, Silver." he remarked, a bit of a grin moving across his face. "We could use all the help we can get." Silver gulped with a rather fearful look on his face, mostly terrified of his little brother, but also the prospect of meeting both Celestia's student, which he had heard quite a bit about when he was seeing Celestia and meeting the Lunar princess left him feeling rather shaky.

Silver didn't know what was worse at this point, being pulled away from every single mare by his little brother, or being dragged through Ponyville by his mane. This was one thing that upset him rather greatly as he had no other choice. It wasn't the simple fact that he was being dragged along for something that he'd willingly do, it was more of the fact that he was being dragged along by his mane, something he had spent years taking care of as it was the only thing that reminded him of their mother. Thankfully for him the trip was relatively short, and it hadn't caused very much damage to his mane, the only thing that had been hurt was his pride as his own silvery aura enveloped his mane to correct the damage that Emerald's had caused.

"You know, you didn't have to be so rough." Silver whined, with a bit of a frown on his face.

"Do you want cheese with that whine?" Emerald scoffed as he opened the door to the library, by this time, both Luna and Twilight had started going through several books, being sure to mark where they were in it. When the two walked through the door however, everything seemed to change rather drastically. Both ponies' jaws seemed to drop as they laid their eyes on Silver. Twilight dashed over to him in an instant, mystified by his long, silvery mane. At first she almost mistook the stallion for a mare because of how long his mane was, but upon closer inspection she noticed how well toned his body appeared. It was a curiosity to her how he had such a glorious mane, not only that, how he also had such a toned body. Luna on the other hand seemed a bit more rational, whether it was her feelings for the unicorn stallion, or it was the fact that she was a goddess, she was able to immediately tell what he was as she trotted closer.

"Not often do I see another alicorn outside the royal bloodline." the princess stated, as she looked upon him a bit more closely. "You must be Silver Crescent, Emerald's eldest brother." For the third time tonight, Silver was caught off guard by something, making him rather confused. The first was meeting his brother at a restaurant, the second was finding out that they were in Ponyville for the same reason, and the third was the fact that Princess Luna seemed to know him.

"How do you-" she cut him off however, with a simple gesture.

"Emerald told me all about you...along with my sister too, as you and her got to know each other on a more...personal level." For the first time in quite a while, Silver seemed rather embarrassed at the fact that everyone now knew about his relationship with Celestia, it was almost insulting to him.

"You mean...you and Princess Celestia were...?" Twilight began, only to have him nod slowly.

"Yes...we were...but neither of us could maintain the relationship, so I broke it off." he confirmed.

"Now...I have a question for you, Silver." Luna began, once again getting the male alicorn's attention as he began to remove the monk's robe he was wearing to reveal his deep blue coat as well as his cutie mark, which was a bit similar to Emerald's, the only differences consisted of the fact that he had an ancient scroll crossing through his crescent, which was a silvery color, matching the color of his mane.

"And that is?"

"How do I compare to my sister in terms of beauty?" Luna asked, while normally she didn't care, as he had been with her sister, it might prove beneficial to her to actually know who's the better looking sister. Silver grew rather silent after she had asked this, walking past both his brother and Twilight to circle the princess, taking in every detail of her beauty.

"Your mane and tail...I like it more than I like your sister's...however I do think your sister has a nicer flank than you do." This prompted Luna to immediately reach around and smack him right across the face with her hoof, harder than the mare in the restaurant had, it was enough to send him to the ground rather hard too, but not hard enough to render him unconscious. "What was that for?!" he roared.

"For staring at my flank." she remarked jokingly. Emerald erupted into a bout of laughter after she had said this. In the time he had know his brother, he had seen him get smacked various times, and get shut down even more times than that, and while he knew that Silver was rather successful at what he did, he had never seen anyone pull something like this on him, it looked almost as if she had planned this, just to teach him a lesson. Twilight however wasn't that amused with Luna's actions, instead going over to comfort him.

"I'm sorry that she did that." Twilight whispered, not wanting them to hear her.

"Its fine, I'm used to being smacked like that." he noted. "Celestia even smacked me for some of the things I said..."

"Now, onto more serious matters..." Luna said, "Where is our food?"

As Emerald's laughter began to die down, he held up the bag that the sandwiches were in, the princess calmly took it, to remove her own first, leaving the bag on a desk nearby for Twilight when she decided she wanted it.

"Care to join me on the balcony, Emerald?" she asked sweetly.

"Gladly."