enemies come in all shapes and sizes. [Concluded]

[Toast]

Silver looks at Slipstream with a disgruntled expression while Slipstream gives him the promise he asked for. "Ugh, why don't I believe you." He thinks. While She runs back inside Silver can feel his nerves building. "Try to relax, this seems to be making her happy." However Silver knew that was part of the reason why he felt uncomfortable about the whole thing. When Slipstream comes back and drops the book in front of him he stares down at it.

Okay, the spell should be somewhere in one of the bookmarked sections. Bright-Eyes usually keeps the spells she's mastered bookmarked in case she needs a quick reference back to something.

Silver quietly begins to scan through the book for the spell. For a quick moment his eyes shift back up to Slipstream, noting her pacing him place. She looked humorous, and he had to fight to hold back a laugh, luckily being able to keep it to just a smile, it was cute how excited she was getting. Continuing to scan the book a potential problem came to mind.

"You know, I'm actually not that great at magic. If the spell is too difficult I may not be able to dang-." He cuts himself off as he finds the walk on clouds spell. It was terribly easy. Well not that easy, but easy enough for his mediocre magic abilities to handle. Silver didn't move or say anything for a moment, most likely to Slipstreams dismay. Finally he reacts. "Alright, let's just do this." He says. His horn started to glow as he focused on the spell. White tendrils of light soon began to form from the magic, they worked their way to his hooves first but then quickly covered his body before disappearing almost as quickly as they showed up. Once completed Silver opened his eyes which he had closed while casting the spell. He didn't look or feel any different, as was the case with many spells. Really there was only one way to find out if it worked.

"Ok, if you could grab a cloud then we can test the spell." he says in a surprisingly normal voice. 

[Dark Star]

Slipstream almost frowned when Silver mentioned how he may not be able to use the spell. On what little she knew about magic, coupled with how Dark Star tried to explain it, that particular spell wasn't exactly the highest of levels of magic, being relatively easy to learn and use. Good thing too, since Silver had just found the spell and practically repeated what she thought of it. Soon, he was already casting it, the spell taking the form of several white tendrils forming around his horn and wrapping over his hooves, followed by his entire body. Had she not known magic existed since eons before her own birth, she would've never believed her eyes. 

Once the flashing light show was over, Slipstream joined Silver in looking over the latter's body. Of course, for Slipstream, it was merely a good chance to check Silver out. She could see why it was that Dark Star liked him, the guy had a really firm, tight body. The glistening coat however was something you needed to like to begin with to see here. Still, he did look good, that much she couldn't deny. Taking her dirty mind out of it, she heard Silver ask him to get a cloud to test the spell. Naturally, she took off right away and came back pushing a relatively large cloud before touching down. She carefully moved it into position while keeping it from touching the ground directly. "Well, here's a good one for ya" she stated.

[Toast]

Silver didn't immediately jump on the cloud that Slipstream brought down for him. Instead he just stared at it anxiously. It looked like this venture was about to become a reality. After his final moment of hesitation he lifted a hoof over it and pressed down. To what would most likely be an ecstatic Slipstream, his hoof remained on the cloud. The spell had worked. He put his other forehoof on it and pressed down with both hooves to test the spell some more. His hooves stably remained on the top of the cloud, but he could feel how springy it was and could see the cloud squishing down where he was adding weight.

"I'm serious about not being good at magic." Silver says as he begins to crawl onto the cloud, he looked kinda silly doing it too, crawling onto it the same way a young colt might struggle climbing up into his bed. " I don't know how to teleport or do anything that would help me if I fall, so I'm counting on you." Silver was now laying down on the cloud, with his stomach against it and all four limbs spread out as though to even out the weight. The thing was certainly soft and surprisingly stable. Silver thought it might have been more like a canoe and constantly want to tip over if too much weight was on one side. But instead it was almost like he wasn't even on it. It was actually kind of interesting, he had read in the past the physics of how Pegasus walked on clouds. They always looked so balanced on them. but it was different actually experiencing it.

Still, he didn't not like how it squished down under him, almost like a trampoline would. It was causing him some paranoia. He felt liked he could sink right through at almost any second. But it wasn't something to worry about if he could just keep in mind how much cloud there was underneath to support him.

"Ok.. I think I'm alright." He says as he one hoof at a time begins to stand up while still keeping his body low.

[Dark Star]

As it would seem, the spell worked exactly as intended. Silver was able to touch the cloud without passing through it like any other unicorn or earth pony would and Slipstream was happy to see it. As he started to climb, Silver made certain to make Slipstream responsible for keeping him safe should he happen to fall. Slipstream nodded with a smile and bumped a hoof on her chest. "You can count on me" she assured with glee as she watched the stallion climb up. It was actually cute the way he did, it was always cute watching some-pony else climb up onto a cloud. He had all his legs sprawled out as if he were on ice, making Slipstream giggle a few times in the process, her mouth covered by a fore-hoof as she laughed at him. He started to stand up, which only made the young mare laugh more. "Ya look like a foal standing up for the first time!" she said while shaking with laughter. 

After her little laughing fit, she could tell that Silver was ready to go, so without any warning, she grabbed hold of the back of the cloud and lifted up up a bit. After raising it enough, she got underneath it and started pushing it straight up as she ascended higher herself. She was certain to fly at a moderate pace so that she wouldn't flash-freeze Silver or cause any kind of air-sickness from the shock, but it ultimately served to bore her as she was too excited about the thought of dragging Silver across the cloudy "land"scape. Eventually, the two had made it to a pretty thick layer of clouds closely-knit together, Slipstream smiling as she flew up through the cloud elevator. She breathed in a good amount of air before turning to Silver. "So, whaddya think?" she asked him. 

[Toast]

Yes, Silver did indeed look like a foal learning to stand. But he looked like it even more when Slipstream began to raise the cloud. He was thankful Slipstream took it at suck a moderate pace however. But the sight of the ground growing further and further away caused him to lay back down while making a small whimper. "You'll be fine, the spell lasts for a long time, and Slipstream is right there." His mind had to battle his instincts to keep him calm. But he still had to shut his eyes to keep feeling of vertigo at bay.

Eventually there was a decline in their acceleration, followed by a smooth stop. Silver opened his eyes and this time found it much easier to stand up.

"So, whaddya think?"

Silver glances around his new environment. "Woah." He says. It was like something out of a dream. all he could see around his was fluffy clouds and blue sky. In fact the sky from up here looked even more blue then it did on the ground. The sun even looked to shine brighter too, causing his coat to glisten more than he had ever seen it do before. There was also a cool air of peacefulness, the place was completely void of any of the usually sounds heard on the ground. The only sounds came from the gentle swooshing of the wind.

"It's like a whole new world up here." He says taking a few steps. With every step he lifts his hoof up the second it makes contact, the same way you would when touching something hot, before placing it softly back down on the cloud. He was still hesitant with trusting his new support structure. But eventually he was able to get over it and walk normally. His nerves were finally starting to ease, and he was beginning to see why Slipstream wanted to bring him up here so bad.

"Wow, so this is what you Pegasus get to enjoy."

[Dark Star]

Slipstream had taken notice of the way Silver's coat was glistening before, but now it shifted into over-shine. She had to shield her eyes from the intense light rays before chuckling. "Wow, guess there's something about elevation that boosts that coat shine of yours. Almost makes me wonder what would happen if it rained on ya?" she asked, a slight rhetorical feeling in her tone. She'd have to remember to find out about that coat of his sometime soon, it was really something incredible to behold. 

Putting that aside though, Silver really seemed to adapt rather well to walking on clouds. Slipstream had to press parts of the clouds close together so that they'd be able keep advancing, but she did manage to build it together relatively quick. She came back and touched down, keeping her wings erect for any immediate flight needs and smiled. "Yeah, we pegasi really have the best sights when ya break it down. We get to make the surface below look beautiful in just about any weather-related situation. Sure, unicorns like you are responsible for a lot more things than pegasi and even earth ponies, but you don't get to experience something like this every day" she stated semi-poetically. She breathed in the atmosphere once again and then draped a wing over Silver's shoulder. She sat down on her haunches and peered off the side to the sights below, smiling at how she could still see so much, even at such a distance. "It just don't get much better than this" she stated with glee. 

[Toast]

Silver continued to slowly stroll along the sounds Slipstream was forming together, he was getting much more used to the feel of them, and was even beginning to enjoy their squishiness beneath his hooves. When he reached the edge he stopped and sat down not too close, having to lean forwards slightly to get a better view of what was down below. He was surprised the feeling didn't make his stomach flip or cause any dizziness. Instead he just peered over, able to look at Ponyville from a whole new perspective. It was sorta exhilarating.

Yeah, we pegasi really have the best sights when ya break it down. We get to make the surface below look beautiful in just about any weather-related situation. Sure, unicorns like you are responsible for a lot more things than pegasi and even earth ponies, but you don't get to experience something like this every day"

Silver smiles at Slipstream, surprised to hear such nice words. It was neat seeing this side of her, and it helped to give Silver a new appreciation for the pony. Looking back out over the cloud Silver continued to gaze around the world below him. When her wings draped over his shoulder like she had done in the past, Silver involuntarily held the end of it with his hoof. He didn't grab it or pull or anything. Just gently rest a hoof against the feathers on the end as some sort of safety blanket. Silver didn't notice he had done it either, or even know how much more comfortable it made him over being so close to the edge. Kinda like a child holding onto their parent for protection.

"It just don't get much better than this" 

"No I don't think it does." He says. Everything looked so tiny from up here. He could see the house that his new cuddly mare was most likely asleep in. The thought made him smile. In the distance he could see his little cottage on the edge of Ponyville. He could even see the center of town that he got lost in when he first moved to Ponyville. It was full of busy of bustling ponies getting on with their daily lives.

Eventually Silver felt comfortable enough to lay down on the cloud with his front hoofs almost close enough to be dangling off the side. however he didn't feel quite confident enough to pull that off. Still he liked the feel of cloud against his belly, it was better than a soft mattress.

"I certainly never thought it would be like this." He says. That was because he never thought about it. Peagasus ponies had their own world, and without wings Silver figured he would never be a part of it, so it never occurred to him what he was missing out on. "Thank you this Slipstream, it's has already been an incredible experience." He says in a very sweet tone, almost sappy actually. Once again he did it without realizing it too. He didn't even look at her either, just continued to stare over Ponyville.

[Dark Star]

The two ponies sat near the edge of the cloud and peered down below, noting all the other ponies in town going through their daily routines in the same form of harmony as provided by the elements, which were also down below. Slipstream enjoyed every second of it, as always, though this time around, she had some-pony to share the experience with. Silver seemed to become so much less stressed and even mellowed out to some extreme sense, though he did happen to grab hold of Slipstream's wing with a hoof, almost cradling it for security really. 'Aw' she thought in a cute tone. Seeing any-pony so nervous just cling to her always made her feel better about herself and Silver was certainly boosting her self-confidence quite a bit.

The two ponies relaxed quite a bit on top of their little cloud path. Silver was incredibly grateful to Slipstream for bringing him up there, earning a smile from the pegasus as a result. "I'm glad that you're here with me, Silver. It's just so great to be able to have some-pony with ya when you're just relaxing, ya know what I mean?" she inquired. After seeing Silver lie down, Slipstream thought it would be a good idea to follow the example. She lied back and crossed her legs-her fore-legs behind her head and her hind-legs across each other-and felt soothed by the soft cloud just underneath her. "This is the life" she commented blissfully. There could be some kind of disaster on the ground right then, but Slipstream would still be mellow.

[Toast]

Silver was enjoying his time in the clouds. He Liked how much all he ponies on the ground- like the old saying goes- looked like little ants from where he was. His gaze once again switched back to Dark and Slipstreams home. As much as it was nice to be enjoying this new experience with Slipstream he kinda wished Dark was up here with them as well. For a moment Silver wondered if Slipstream had ever taken to her up in the clouds as well. Wouldn't that make her work much easier? No clouds in the way, closer to the stars, no light pollution from Ponyville. maybe it was too much of an inconvenient to bring her equipment up, if there was even a spell for that. There were probably some other complications he wasn't thinking of too. Being on clouds at night could be difficult. Still he wished she was up here too. New relationships were fun, nearly the best part about them was that early infatuation phase where all you wanted to do was be around each other.

Silver glances over at Slipstream quickly to see her now lying down as well in a very relaxed looking position. He smiled, for now she would have to do.

Some time went by while the two ponies enjoyed their time on their cloud perch. Silver wondered if this was all Slipstream had in mind to do when she brought him up here or if she had something else planned. And he wondered even more which one of those options he actually preferred.

"Probably the first one." He thinks. At least she had kept to her word so far and hadn't tried any funny business just to mess with him.

"So do you ever bring Dark with here with you?" He asks, curious how much she might share his uneasiness with heights. "Or really anypony else for that matter." At least unicorns had magic, Silver wondered just how uncomfortable the average earth pony might be in the sky.

[Dark Star]

Silver seemed to be relaxing even more on the cloud as Slipstream showed by example. It was at this time that she had almost fallen asleep by the time Silver finally spoke up. He asked her in case she had ever brought her roommate-or any other pony for that matter-up onto the clouds with her. "Well, I did bring Bright-Eyes up once to test the walk-on-clouds spell. I thought she was gonna be really scared or something, but she actually got used to it pretty easily" the cyan pegasus explained. "As for other ponies; Well, you're the only other one I've brought up with me so far" she stated neutrally. She didn't want him to know so soon, but she really enjoyed his company. She would just have to be careful about the many ways she shows her emotions around him, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. 

After having successfully answered his curiosity, Slipstream thought it was her turn to find out a bit more about him. He certainly looked good enough, so he must've been in some other relationships earlier. "So, Silver, have you ever dated any-pony before, I mean, before Bright-Eyes?" she asked bluntly. As we all know, Slipstream has zero sense of subtlety. She blunt, quick, and straight to the point. No messing around. "I just wanna know if you've been courting any-pony else before her, not like I wanna know if you're...experienced or a player or anything" she explained. Even if it was just to satisfy her own natural curiosity, she still didn't want Dark Star getting hurt or anything. She had to determine if he was a good guy or not. If not for her, then for all mares everywhere who've been deceived in a bad relationship. She kept a neutral expression as she waited to hear his answer.

[Toast]

Silver looked at Slipstream hesitantly. Not because he didn't want to answer the question, but because he wasn't sure just how much information he wanted to divulge. Then again, it was Slipstream and she was probably gonna know when he was hiding something.

"well if you must know." He says with a small smile before going back to a blank expression. "There's only been three I can think of." He says tapping his hoof to his chin. "Although the first one doesn't really count. It was just when I as a little colt, I think maybe I kissed her on the cheek once." He says with a bit of a goofy smile while thinking back. "The second one was in when I was a teen in school. That one didn't last long either. I think she left me for some colt in a band." He looks at Slipstream. "Guess I wasn't cool enough for her."

Silver then got a bit quiet, he looked down at his hooves with a slightly more depressed look on his face. "The last one is more complicated." He starts. " It was almost two years ago now. She was the only pony I really cared about before Dark. She was a student in the biology department at Canterlot university, I met her when she asked if she could do some experiments on my coat." He says with a smile. "We dated for awhile, about six months or so, then, well." Silver had to take a moment to figure out the exact way to phrase what he wanted to say. "You know how a lot of ponies say 'things just changed overnight'. Yet if you took the time to look back and analysis the entire relationship you could find exact moments and situations in which the relationship started to change for the worse." He looked at Slipstream but didn't pause long enough for her to give an answer. "Well that didn't happen. One day we were together and then the next day, it was over. I tried talking to her but never really got an answer, it was like she became a completely different pony." Silver stopped talking again for a moment, he didn't look sad as much as he looked like he was still even now trying to work out what happened.

"And that's all there is to tell. Sorry that got a little sad for a second." He gave Slipstream a modest smile. He had pretty much given her his entire dating history, although he did leave a few things out. First was the fact that the last relationship he mentioned was the reason he was stayed single after for so long. And the second one was about him and a colt behind the bleachers during freshmen year that NOBODY needed to know about.

[Dark Star]

Slipstream had certainly gotten what she asked for. Without hesitating, Silver immediately started giving her exactly what she wanted to know, starting with how he kissed a filly's cheek once when he was young. Slipstream kept her relaxed position without even moving aside from a slight shake in her hind-leg while it was still crossed over her other leg. Silver continued to tell her about the one fling he had when he was young, the one that left him for some guy in a band. "It could be worse, she could've left you for some total groupie for some wing-ding band" she stated without opening her eyes. It wasn't necessarily a rude thing to say, she just looked on the bright side by looking at the opposite end of the spectrum sometimes. Her eyes immediately shot open when Silver mentioned his most recent ex-girlfriend. 

Silver had told him how she wanted to run a few experiments on his coat, and the smile she saw him give was by no means convincing. "That sounds terrible, what happened?" she asked. Soon enough, she got her answer. Things had apparently, "happened overnight" as described by the glistening stallion, which only seemed to get worse as time went on. Silver tried to make things look like they turned out alright, but Slipstream knew better than to believe his words or his facial expression. She got up and walked over to Silver, giving him a serious facial expression as she did so. Rearing up on her hind-legs, she quickly snatched up Silver with her fore-legs and gave him a tight hug, practically squeezing him to death really. Just another "upside" about having a very well-trained body; every bear hug you give nearly crushes bones of any-pony you hug, even if you don't do it on purpose. "You don't have to hide your feelings from me, I can tell that you're still hurtin' deep down. I feel for ya, Dude" she told him gently, ironic considering her embrace was anything but gentle. 

[Toast]

Slipstream attack hug took Silver by surprise. He wasn't even paying attention to her when suddenly he was in her crushing embrace. However this time was much worse than the last. All he could do was constantly choke out the first few letters of her name while tapping his hoof against her, signalling to let go.

When Slipstream was kind enough to break their hug Silver heaved in a large breath. Just like last time he looked at Slipstream annoyed. This pony was going to be the death of him one day he could feel it. But still what she said made him wan to indulge a little further information.

"It's not that I'm still hurting, believe me I have no more interest in that mare." Silver had a feeling their conversation was about to turn a bit more introspective. "It just changed how I went about relationships. Every relationship we have with different ponies changes us in some way. That mixed with our biological predispositions as well as conditioning factors." He stops and glances at Slipstream momentarily. Silver realized he probably shouldn't be throwing in so many terms or risk Slipstream losing interest. "The point is she was the only pony I ever came close to saying those three little words too." He looks at Slipstream out of the corner of his eyes with a small smile and his muzzle pointed slightly towards the sky. "You know, 'I love you'."He says. "And I suppose that just left me wondering, if I did ever care about somepony again." He pauses briefly, looking straight forward he says his next words slowly, as though coming to the realization at that very moment. "That the same thing might happen-"

There was it. He was surprised he never came to this realization before. Surprised that it never occurred to him. Was he actually afraid to love somebody?

"Huh." He says looking straight forwards still, a confused look on his face. He felt a bit silly, like he was being too melodramatic or something. What a dumb thing to be afraid of, but he couldn't help but feel that maybe there was some truth to it.

[Dark Star]

Silver was especially glad to be able to breath again. Slipstream gave him a sheepish grin like she had completely forgotten about her strength-which she did-and listened to what he had to say. He explained how he simply wasn't interested in that one mare any longer and a few other things Slipstream couldn't understand. 'Dang academy ponies, always sayin' things I don't know' she thought in mild frustration. It's a good thing that Silver switched to a much more universally-understood speech, otherwise Slipstream would've done the typical jock thing and simply got mad at him. 

Silver had ultimately stopped when he announced his fear of something. It didn't take an academically-adept mind to understand the he was afraid of repeating his past mistake. Slipstream was about to hug him again, though when she sensed he wouldn't like it, she instead opted to hug him using her wings instead, cradling his muzzle as gently as she could while keeping an gazing into his eyes with an endearing smile. "You don't have to be afraid. Bright-Eyes is gonna treat ya right" she told him gently. "You saw how she acted, she was so worried about losing you after the snowball thing that she went and hopped into the bath with ya right away. There's just no way she'll ever do anything bad, she's just not that kind of pony" she ultimately said. 

She wasn't certain if Silver would understand the way she intended, but she was certain of one thing. Dark Star is the nicest, most nurturing, loving pony that she knew. Even if the fall-outs the two mares shared over the almost-year they had been living together, they had always managed to make up later on. They were always able to forgive and forget. There was no doubt that she'd be doing everything in her power to keep from doing anything that might ultimately hurt Silver, but Slipstream still couldn't imagine her even thinking of doing so. She merely stood there, gazing into Silver's eyes, wondering what the future of all three ponies would be like. 

[Toast]

Silver felt a little uncomfortable the way slipstream was holding his with her wing, along with her deep gaze into his eyes. If he was more of a self-conscious pony he might even be blushing. However what she said helped him settle down, every now and then she seemed to have a good way with her words. But It made him wonder even now what his feeling were for Dark Star and what they might become. He still felt like everything Slipstream said was true. This relationship already had a different vibe than all his previous ones had. He could feel already how much Dark cared for him, and could only hope that when the time came and he was truly in love with her he could admit it.

For the time being he was still simply staring into the green pony's eyes. "I believe you Slipstream. I really do." He says. "Dark isn't anything like she was." He says with emphasis on the word 'she'.

Silver finally breaks Slipstreams gaze and stares for the third time back down at Darks home. All this talk about relationships made want to see her. What's the point of talking about things that make you sad when a pony that made you happy was so close by. He also wondered what she would think about everything he said, and what Slipstream said as well.

Suddenly Silvers ears perk up a bit, remembering something else. "Hey Slipstream, I need you to do something for me." He says. "You see that small house in distance, on the edge of ponyville, it has the large open field to the right of it." Silver points his hoof in the general direction. "That's where I live. When Dark wakes up, could you let her know for me?"