+*+ SILVERSTREAM +*+

Silverstream sat in her chair all fidgety. A full on debate was happening in the room, one side firing their answers and points to the other. One side was Ocellus who was still quite unsure about the war thing and changed her main point every so often. They all knew who was going to lose.

Carina stood her ground in the debate, firing either insults to her brother or actual facts and figures. Her point was kept firm and never wavered despite the Changeling's many other points. It was clear that they were all going to proceed with what the EH Nebularian had said.

    Silverstream was on Carina's side for the debate at the moment. She wanted to fight, and she knew that fighting would probably be the best thing for everyone here. Ocellus' points were good, but had minimum support, Sandbar being the only one supporting since he was a Pony. Though they had battled against evil so many times, he still wasn't too keen to do it.

    Though she knew that once that debate ended, Silverstream would probably fire up another debate. Carina's point was clear and she covered every single tiny detail, and that may or may not be her fall. The Hippogriff disagreed with some of the EH Nebularian's points, and she was willing to debate against it.

Carina had wanted to continue trying to infiltrate her brother's base. She wanted to continue digging, uncover secrets that were useful knowing and may probably be used to their advantage in the future. Silverstream agreed with that. They would definitely need to have the upper hand for more luck.

Carina wanted to immediately try it. She wanted to spend the next few weeks, or maybe even the next month doing so, to ensure that they had everything they needed before they would start to recruit. That's where Silverstream disagreed. She thought it would be best to start recruiting now, and gain all the information later.

    The debate dispersed and just as they had all presicted, Ocellus had lost and begrudgingly agreed to follow whatever Carina had in mind. The said EH Nebularian had a triumphant smile upon her face as she talked with Rosette. Silverstream thought this was a good as time as any to bring up her concerns.

    "Hey, Carina and Rosette," Silverstream greeted the two EH Nebularians as she walked towards them with a smile on her face. She was hoping to play to Carina's favour and show her request as a slight appeal. That would probably help her with the persuasion.

    "Hey, Silverstream. What's up?" Carina asked, turning away from Rosette for a while, sending her friend a knowing look and telling her that they would talk later, then she disappeared. The pink EH Nebularian then turned to the same-coloured Hippogriff with an expectant look.

    "I know you said you wanted to find out more about your brother, and I agree with you," Silverstream said with a smile. She hoped that appealing to Carina would help her and the EH Nebularians. She gave a curt nod, face still emotionless and calculating, and gestured for the Hippogriff to continue.

   "But I don't agree that we should dedicate that much time before recruiting anyone. I think we should recruit Nebularians first. Some of them could be great help to trying to gain information," Silverstream said with a pleading smile. She could see Rosette listening in from the corner of her eye but ignored it.

   "I hear what you're saying, and I disagree. That would not be the best way. They may not trust me yet. Of course, since you're a poor Hippogriff, you wouldn't know that," Carina replied, adding a scoff at the end. She flashed the Hippogriff a smile that seemed a little too smug.

   Silverstream shook her head. She knew that this would probably lead to another debate and if she were being honest, she thought that they had no time for another one. Carina didn't seem to intent with immediately accepting anything without a fight. She'd probably have to carry out her plan alone.

     "Screw it. If you'd all still want to stay and discuss random stuff, then go ahead, but I'm actually going to do something," Silverstream said, walking away from Carina and heading out the door. She didn't exactly know how she was persuading them all to help her, but she would.

   "Car-car, I think Silverstream's right." The Hippogriff immediately stopped and turned around to see who had spoken. It was Rosette. Silverstream smiled. She was glad to know that someone at least agreed with her. That EH Nebularian could also prove quite useful.

   "Don't you 'Car-car' me. And how can you tell she's right? We've been friends since you were eleven! You always said I was right! Why would that change?" Carina asked, and Silverstream thought the EH Nebularian was quite stupid. She thought that she should probably go to the School of Friendship. That would definitely help her.

    "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I still think Silverstream's right," Rosette said, standing her ground. Silverstream smiled. She had to admit, she was proud of her, and she was quite glad that someone from the EH Nebularians had taken her side.

    "Oh, so you're on the Hippogriff's side now even though you've known her for a few days. Are we friends or not?" Carina said with a surpressed groan and rolled her eyes. Rosette backed away a little bit, clearly still a little bit intimidated by her friend. Silverstream wanted to step in and help, but she thought otherwise.

     "You know it isn't like that! Don't make the personal political! It's not about you and me! It's about the Engraved Hourglass Nebula and Orion!" Rosette yelled with an odd type of pleading in her voice, as if she did not believe it would work at all, but still kept trying.

   "Are we friends or not?" Carina repeated again, glaring at the other EH Nebularian who was whimpering a little bit. Silverstream still stood there, the rest of her friends watching the drama go about as well. She hoped this would all end soon. It was wasting precious time.

   "It's for all our sakes! Both of our sakes! Your sake!" Rosette said, but not a hint of frsutration was making its way onto her face. Silverstream could tell she was trying to be patient with Carina, and she was greatly surprised that it was still working. She would not have lasted that long.

    "Fine. You want to leave? Go on then! I'm not stopping you!" Carina said, glaring hard at her friend, but her head still head high, perhaps to keep whatever pride she had left in her. Her friend leaving her side was clearly stinging her, but she did not let it show.

    Carina turned around swiftly, her back facing her best friend. Moments passed and she showed no sign of ever turning around again. Rosette was just standing there, trying not to whimper, not really knowing what was happening. Silverstream had to pity the EH Nebularian.

   "Rosette?" Silverstream asked, speaking aloud for the first time in a few minutes. The sea green EH Nebularian lifted her head slowly to face the Hippogriff, eyes wide and confused. The pink Griff frowned. This would probably be a tough lot to handle.

    "Let's go..." Silverstream said in a small voice, accompanying it with as much gentleness as she could, softness entering her features. She gave a small smile, which Rosette had returned half-heartedly. They stood there, everyone looking at everyone, for a few seconds.

    Silverstream could not take it anymore. She knew that they had to act and any second that was for drama was a wasted second. She swiftly started walking towards the door that lead outside, not really caring about to much anymore. She stopped outside for a few seconds.

   "Silverstream." The Hippogriff smiled a little bit, foreseeing that the other EH Nebularian would go out after her. She gave Rosette a gentle smile and then they began walking down the street, not really knowing where to go, but knowing they just had to go somewhere.

   Rosette was crying as she walked. Silverstream could sense it. She could also hear the EH Nebularian's stiffled sobs. She did not know what to do. Perhaps comforting her would be the way to go. Silverstreamed stopped walking and turned to face the tear-streaked Nebularian.

   Silverstream wrapped the smaller creature in her arms. It felt weird hugging her. They had not exactly known each other for that long. It was awkward, with Rosette just burying her crying face into her pink feathery chest. She had not had anyone cry while hugging her before.

    They had been there for quite a long time and it was frankly concerning Silverstream. After all, they still had more things to do. After a few more minutes, Rosette pulled her head back. Her face was still tear-streaked, but most of the tears had already tried. Her mane clung to her forehead.

   "Thank you..." Rosette whispered. For what, Silverstream did not know, but she thought it best to not ask. They continued walking in silence, the chatter of various EH Nebularians discussing the latest star and its formation and chemical compositions filled the air.

    "Well, we're going to have to force the rest to join." Silverstream said grimly. She had never done well in the face of crying. She hoped to skip the whole crying part, finding it quite useless. Either that or she had not been truly traumatised, and she wasn't intent on doing so.

"I don't think we should force them to join. I think it'd best to just persuade them to join. They'll have to join of their own accord, otherwise they probably won't even try," Rosette said, straightening her back and seemed to regain her composure so quickly, but no light had returned from her eyes and she was still frowning whem she thought that no one would see, but Silverstream pointed nothing out.

"Yeah. That's right. Yes. Gain their trust and respect so that they won't betray us in the future," Silverstream chirped out after her. She was having a hard time catching up. It seemed that the EH Nebularian could be very smart when she wanted to, especially when she was sad.

   "It's not all about betrayal. It's also about trust and motivation. Forcing them to help us would not really be a big help," Rosette said as she continued walking down the street. She did not seem to really calculate where she was going. They were just walking and walking.

   "So where should we start?" Silverstream asked, looking around. There seemed to be quite a number of EH Nebularians on the street. Some were waving at Rosette while some were looking at the Hippogriff weirdly. The pink Griff looked at the sea green EH Nebularian with an expectant look.

    "I don't know, honestly. I don't know anyone who would be immediately willing to join our cause. We'd have to do some persuasion first. Maybe we can start with those easier to persuade," Rosette said as they continued walking down the street. The Pony had now begun moving her head back and forth to look at the visible EH Nebularians.

   "Those easier to persuade would be the ones who would probably be affected the most negatively, right? Do you know anyone?" Silverstream asked, feeling a new spring in her step as they walked. They were finally onto something, and no drama was going to stop them from doing anything. They were on a path.

"I don't know anyone that well, honestly, especially Nebularians that would be affected negatively a lot, since I grew up in quite a rich place and spent most of my time with Carina," Rosette said, then stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened. Silverstream tilted her head, wondering what the EH Nebularian was thinking.

"I know it's probably the most sensible to go for the oppressed already, but I think I can make the other way work. Rich Nebularians. I know none of them as well as Carina, but I still know them," Rosette said as she picked up her pace and they emerged at the middle of the Engraved Hourglass Nebula.

The upside-down ice cream cone-shaped tower was rebuilt there. The full chunks taken out of it were still there, but they seemed to have added some in to fill the void. It was not exactly an intimidating building, but it still had an effect on Silverstream, especially considering it was bombed a few days ago.

"I know them better than I know the middle-class and lower population, at least, and I know them enough to know what are the right buttons to push if we want to gain their trust," Rosette said as they stared at the building in the middle of the Nebula. Then she turned around and started walking.

    Silverstream recognised where they were going. They were going to one of the first places they had all seen together when they all had first met. The vast expanse of nebula clouds with the brown nebular columns that smelled like fart, and a long wall at the end of it.

    What Silverstream did not know was what lay ahead of her, past the long wall and through the archway. She had heard of a few rumours what dwelled there, but the most realistic seemed to be that all the more important EH Nebularians lived there.

   She supposed it was true considering Rosette herself had confirmed that she was one of the more privileged beings and was leading her towards it. When they had crossed the archway, Silverstream did not know what she had expected. It looked much different and much better than the usual houses in rest of the EH Nebula, she had to admit.

For one thing, they had stairs. So many stairs connected to the upper floor and they were all outside. It seemed like a really nice and modern treehouse. Silverstream knew she wouldn't mind living there. She'd probably prefer those over the one-story house that had been given to them.

"I'm close enough with some of the rich kids for us to be deemed acquaintances, so maybe we can het started with them. They usually hang around here," Rosette said, turning right at an intersection. She lead them to a house with a small front garden and knocked on the door.

    Seconds later, the door opened revealing a turqoise pony with a pastel orange mane. She had a polite smile on her face as she opened the door and allowed them inside, sending a questioning glare to Silverstream. The mare spoke. "Hey, Rosette. How's it going? Why are you here? Who is this?"

    "There are so many damn things to talk about, Lagoon, I have no idea where to start. I guess I'll have to introduce you to Silverstream first. She appeared on the border of the Engraved Hourglass Nebula and met Car-car," Rosette said, briefly gesturing to Silverstream.

So they had spent the next hour or so catching up. Lagoon, which was the mare's name, actually had a lot of questions for Silverstream, making the Hippogriff a huge part of the conversation. Then Rosette eventually got around telling Lagoon about how the ice cream cone was bombed.

Lagoon had looked surprised at the news, as if she wasn't keeping up with everything. Rosette then told her about the note from Orion and Carina's suspicions about her brother. She told her the most she knew of their plan to defeat Orion. Lagoon was actually a lively listener and paid attention to every single little detail.

   "Okay, everything's been saved into my memory. Man... I mean, shit, man... You know, I know... But of course I can't... He won't want that... I'd be doomed," Lagoon said as she paced around her living room. Silverstream looked at Rosette with questioning expression.

   "Laggy's usually vague when she mumbles and talks. She's saying Saggitarius wouldn't want her meddling in stuff like these," Rosette whispered to Silverstream as they both continued to watch Lagoon pacing around the room and thinking. Rosette gave an impatient groan as she rolled her eyes.

"It's stupid, honestly, Lagoon. You've been listening to that loon Saggitarius too much. You know he just wants to keep things quiet. To keep the peace," Rosette said with another groan, crossing her hooves together as she sat on a couch. She was getting irritated.

"Isn't that we Engraved Hourglass Nebularians stood for? We never participated in any wars! The Great Nebularian War, the Cosmic War, nothing! And that's our pride!" Lagoon said, stopping to face her friend, and it was clear that she held the EH Nebularian values close to her heart.

   "You know, sometimes you gotta see that peace isn't always the way out and we're gonna fight sometime. I don't care if I betray the ideals of our Nebula. They were wrong," Rosette said, standing up firmly, and Silverstream had to admit that it was the first time she had seen such fire in the Mare's eyes.

   "H-H-How dare you! T-This is o-o-our fucking Nebula which h-h-had given you e-e-everything, and y-you're just gonna g-go ahead a-and b-betray it?" Lagoon said, but she took a considerable amount of steps backwards. Hearing the values which she had loved to uphold being spat on was definitely making her take a toll.

"Oh, and who's been telling you that? Saggitarius? In case you haven't noticed, I'm best friends with the Master's heir, so I know he's been giving talks about peace," Rosette said firmly as she stood her ground, a fire raging in her eyes. Determination seemed to radiate from her.

"Carina is no Master's heir! She's just his daughter who has no respect for the true values of the Engraved Hourglass Nebula, so she will not be claiming the hourglass soon!" Lagoon shouted with an obvious tremble in her voice. Silverstream winced. It had become a shouting match.

   "Well, once she finally claims the hourglass, things would be changing then, huh? She can change it all. Our values and stuff. Start a new era for the Engraved Hourglass Nebularians!" Rosette said loudly with amazing volume control. Silverstream winced again. Rosette was getting ahead of herself. She seemed to care more about Carina than the reason why they were actually there.

   "She won't start a new era because she won't claim the hourglass. None of us would follow her! I'd be one of the first Engraved Hourglass Nebularians to ensure that!" Lagoon shouted back, seeming to have gained a littlw more pride as she regarded herself as an EH Nebularian.

"Look, this isn't about Carina. This isn't about who's Master. This isn't about your beliefs—" Silverstream rolled her eyes and stomped her claw at a look from Lagoon. "—Oh, come on! You know I'm right! Why can't any of you be fucking reasonable?!"

"Oh, maybe because someone's too blinded by their stupid beliefs," Rosette said with a sarcastic smile at the same time Lagoon had exclaimed, "Probably since one of us is too blinded by love"

   "This isn't about any of you! This is about the Engraved Hourglass Nebula and its whole welfare! Do you honestly think Carina would be of major help to the Nebula as a Master?" Silverstream asked, whipping her head to face Rosette. She had never honestly been the voice of reason in any situation before.

   "No." Rosette said, standing firm. It seemed that sense had been easily knocked into the EH Nebularian. Like it was there but just needed a little help reawakening. Nevertheless, there was still a hint of guilt for being stupid in her eyes, but also a burning fire for her love for her best friend.

Silverstream nodded briefly, figuring that was good enough to satisfy her for the time beingz she then turned to face Lagoon, raising her eyebrows and telling herself she was right, because she was. "Do you really think upholding your values would help your Nebula when Orion strikes?"

"Or—" Lagoon had started, but never finished as Silverstream tilted her head. The Hippogriff could hear a voice screaming in her head telling her that maybe she wasn't right, but she reminded herself that this was the best thing to be doing at the moment.

   "You know what? Fine. Do whatever the fuck you want. Arrange this pathetic revolution. I don't care. I'm not having any... I'm not partaking in any of this crap. I'm staying here," Lagoon said, standing lamely where she was as she stomped her hoof firmly, making the message quite clear.

   Rosette opened her mouth to say something, but Silverstream cut in, knowing the other EH Nebularian would not be the best creature to reply to that statement. "Alright, we understand if you choose to sit this out. It's your loss. Now if you don't mind, we'll just get going..."

     Someone screamed.