The Popular Mare

Sweetie Belle closed her locker door with a sigh, lifting her course books with her magic and began to walk to class.

Starting her new path in life had taken her away from Ponyville and it rustic comforts. Since her and her friends had got their cutie marks, Sweetie Belle had gone from a quirky filly to a blossoming young mare, whose beauty was beginning to match her older sister’s. She had recently moved to Canterlot where she could train in her special talent, music. All ponies after finishing elementary went to train in their special talents, as all ponies by that age would have their cutie marks. The school she was going to was a school which covered a wide range of specialties. It was an arts school. Ponies here would study music, painting, acting, writing, and almost every other creative subject you could think of. Canterlot Arts School, as it was called, was one of the most famous in Equestria for it’s quality of education.

Today was her first day.

She entered the school hall where the bustle of other like minded and cutie marked ponies took place.  Finding a seat she placed her books on the table and opened up her music notes. The pages were slightly torn and had several smudges and marks from nights where she’d stayed up so late she had spilt ink practicing writing out notes, hoping that she could impress her teachers before she’d been taught.

“Ok everypony,” a voice said as Sweetie Belle looked up to see a purple coated mare with green eyes, and a soft pink mane and tail.

“Settle down, Settle down,” she said, calming everypony. There were about 100 students sitting at long tables, facing forward towards the instructor, or were supposed to be.

“My name is Paint Stripe,” said the instructor. “I want to welcome all of you to this school so you can fully explore your talents, and so you can make a brilliant contribution to society,” she said enthusiastically. Several of the students smiled and chuckled whilst looking at one another, whilst others looked completely bored already.

“I am sure you all have questions so i'll take a few. Stand up and state your question,” she said opening up the floor for anypony to comment, and after a moment of silence a few hooves reached up. Paint Stripe pointed out to a young stallion, who promptly stood up.

“What can we look forward to this year's curriculum?” The stallion asked. Sweetie Belle looked at one of her half finished pieces as she began to think, tuning out the rest of the class and the questions about the school became mere background noise as she was deep inside her head.

“....griffin problems?” One ponies voice cut through, breaking Sweetie from her artistic stupor and causing her to look up and be focused on the pony asking the question. Sweetie Belle looked at Paint Stripe for confirmation on the question and the answer.

“Ah yes about the so called Griffin problems. Truth is we don't have anything to worry about while here in Canterlot. We should be thankful to the griffins for lending us aid and have been for so long, but I can't truly comment on the politics of it all, next question.” She said not really answering anything. Sweetie Belle frowned and thought about all that she knew about the complex political issue.

“Hey,” a voice said, cutting her concentration once again. Looking to her left, a brown coated stallion with a game cutie mark and a recognizable face smiled at her, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on who it was.

“Hello?” She asked questionably, when he heard her tone his ears flopped slightly before perking up again.

“Don't remember me? We use to go to school back in Ponyville before I moved to Manehattan with my mom,” he said with a small gesture with his hoof. Sweetie Belle squinted at him before a memory surfaced causing her eyes to widen slightly.

“Button Mash?!” She said louder then she should have, garnering attention from the entire hall.

Her cheeks flushed violently red. Button Mash smiled and let out a soft chuckle.

“Nice to see you too Sweetie Belle,” he said as the instructor refocused the new students."

Sweetie Belle found her seat again properly. “Nice to see you too. Why are you here?” She asked as he shrugged.

“I’m learning to make games, you know like game design and the like,” he said with a smirk.

“Cool.” she said as she looked at the instructor. The bell rang and she looked up at the large clock and an hour had already passed. Sweetie Belle picked up her books with her magic and began to put them in her saddlebag as Button Mash did the same. Sweetie Belle picked the rest of his up for him and handed them too her.

“Thanks Sweetie Belle,” he said, walking by her side. Sweetie walked along for a moment, observing the large crowd of ponies before Button Mash spoke again.

“You miss home?” He asked. Sweetie Belle sighed as she nodded.

“Yea, I miss Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, my sister, everypony,” she said, facing him with a half lidded look.

“You know what I had to deal with just moving here?” She began. Button Mash opened his mouth to guess before she cut him off.

“I moved into a apartment that is located below a heavy hoofed couple who stomp around, my stuff didn't arrive from Ponyville till three days after,” she said in a huff. Button Mash smiled gingerly as he nodded in understanding.

“Like seriously….How do you get lost flying to Canterlot!?” She said annoyed.

“Derpy?” Button Mash said.

“Derpy.” She confirmed.

                                                                                                ______________

School ended early, as it was the first day and paperwork had to be done. Sweetie said her goodbye to Button Mash before she worked her way towards her home.

On her way, she passed by a newly made factory, more specifically a processing plant to purify the mountain’s crystals. Several griffins had been moving into Equestria due to the influx of jobs back to a good hundred years ago and the demand needed for creatures that could grasp and move things without magic had been large. Griffins were an obvious choice and Celestia had allowed the influx of the griffin population.

However as of late, there had been huge scandals about the Griffon’s illegally migrating and not paying tariffs on their exports, and not paying any kind of tax at all. They had been getting away with it due to huge numbers of griffons in Equestrian police forces, especially on the border of the Griffon Empire, and of course this had caused an outrage among the Equestrian population, and there had recently been major scares about the Griffon’s trying to take control of their country.

As a result, far right political parties had started to gain power in the Equestrian parliament, and the situation between the Kingdom of Equestria and the Griffon Empire were not exactly rosy.

Sweetie Belle's stomach rumbled as she walked past an outdoor cafe, she turned toward the cafe and found a seat. She sat down and ordered her meal, when she saw that on the seats adjacent to her, a three griffins were on break and tidbits of their conversation caught her attention.

“Have you heard?” One female griffin said as the other leaned in to listen. “I read in the newspaper, apparently some of us haven’t been paying taxes.” She said with a frown.

“What do the ponies want from us, we’re working for a living?” One of her friends said. “So some of us don't pay taxes for good reason.”

She shook her head.“No a few not paying is not a problem its how its handled that's causing the problem. The repercussions for not paying your taxes is harsh if you're a pony. But us griffins aren't so harshly penalized, some say because if we were put to any harsh punishment it would become an international issue,” she explained.

“I might just forget to pay my taxes this year.” The third griffin joked which caused a dark look from the first.

“What?” The griffin asked questionably not reading the mood.

Several other ponies who sat nearby looked perturbed and Sweetie Belle looked at her salad in front of her that she had forgotten she’d ordered.

“Shut your beak featherbrain! Ponies are getting pissed off, don't antagonize them,” she said, placing bits on the table with a large tip. She then got up from her seat and left the cafe with her friends following closely.

Sweetie Belle ate her salad in relative silence as the soft talk of other ponies filled the cafe. She was about to leave when three disgruntled ponies came into the cafe and found a seat within earshot of her.

“Bucking griffins!” She heard said by a stranger nearby, she asked politely for the waiter to give her a newspaper and a cup of coffee. Within moments they were delivered, she looked at the newspaper but didn't really give it much thought as the voices from the group of ponies sitting near her carried over.

“My cousin in Manehattan just sent me a paper from a newspaper that reports everything that all the other newspaper’s refuse to print,” the leader stallion said, placing the magazine looking paper on the table with a slap.

“You know that could just be tabloids you know Thunder Rock,” a pegasus said to him. Thunder Rock shook his head shaking his raggy mane.

“No I know its true words. It’s been talking about inequality between species,” he said with a frown.

“What do you mean, there's always been inequality in Equestria,” a mare said with a wave of her hoof. The stallion Thunder Rock shook his head.

“If this keep up...there might be a war,” he said, causing the other two to gauke at him and laugh.

“It's not that bad you rock brain,” the pegasus said with a wave of his hoof as Sweetie Belle's coffee cup had become empty after her constant nursing of it. She shrugged and stood up, slowly advancing towards the group of ponies, not aggressively, in fact actually quite calmly, but there was a sense of assertiveness in her stride.

“Putting to much stock in crazy rumors would only just cause unnecessary worry,” she said to the group of ponies.

“You mark my word you lot... wars a bruin,” he said which caused Sweetie Belle to slow mid stride but then carried on shaking her head.

“Nonsense!” She muttered.

Sweetie Belle sat back down and waited for her bill. She paid what she owed, and then continued on back towards her apartment.