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.
Sweetie Belle slid her keys into the door of her apartment and walked in. Walking into her bedroom, she unpacked her books from her saddle bag and began putting them on her shelf.
She hated having to move away from Ponyville. It wasn't that she disliked Canterlot, she loved the city being the lover of culture that she was. It was that she had to leave the community in which she had been raised. A tightly knit sense of love and care for each other which the village had was what she was missing. She missed her sister Rarity, she missed her old friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, she missed so many ponies. Nearly every single pony living in Ponyville had contributed something to her life. Of course, there were some ponies that were nasty and whom she didn't get on with, but the sense of familiarity of everyone who lived in the village she had come to love.
Now that was gone. It was only Button Mash who she knew at this new college and to be fair, she didn't know him that well. They had hanged out a couple of times, and she had been excited to see a familiar face, but they were never close friends, and everyone else in the school were total strangers. She felt frightened, it had taken her years to find friends even at Ponyville Elementary, and there were only about 70 students in the entire school. This school had several thousand students. Would she ever hope to make proper friends? Would she ever find adequate substitutes for her friends in Ponyville?
The best thing to do for now would probably be to stick with Button Mash. Yes, he had been a little bit awkward and it had been so obvious that he had always had a crush on her, one she did not share, but he was the only pony she knew, and plus, he had matured a lot since he left for Manehattan. Gone was his over the top whining and annoying voice, and he seemed to be helpful and honest enough. Maybe she just had to give him a chance.
Sitting at her desk, she turned on her radio to here the latest news on Station 4. It was 2:00, and they always broadcast the latest at this time, as well as at multiple other times during the day. She liked Station 4 because it always told the news in a lot of detail and talked about the stuff that actually mattered instead of jumping celebrity gossip at the earliest opportunity.
"Hello, and welcome to Station 4 News," said the female broadcaster. Numerous political parties are heavily campaigning for the parliament elections, which are happening in a couple of months. Princess Celestia has said she is still deciding on who she will appoint as the new chancellor of Equestria after the sudden death of the long serving Golden Quill a couple of months ago. Finding a politician with his level of charisma, decisiveness, and leadership will certainly be a challenge. A couple of suggestions include Lord Fancypants, a well known entrepreneur, known to be very friendly with the queen, and Copper Coin, the previous finance minister, but yet it is still very much undecided.
As we all know, a few months ago it came to the realization of the Equestrian public that for many decades the Griffon businesses have been avoiding paying taxes. This was completely unknown to the public for so long. A research team has been looking into the details, and has come to the conclusion that a large amount of Griffons working for the Equestrian Border Control Agency have been engaged in bribery and cooperation between the avoiding businesses. To be working for the agency you must be a citizen of Equestria, which many of the Griffons are, however a lot of them have got round this by showing fake citizenship papers. As it is difficult to tell between loyal Griffon citizens managing and helping the government across the borders, and foreigners working with the evading businesses, only a few hundred on the conspirators have been charged and awaiting trial.
Princess Luna, acting as the provisional chancellor for the time being, has engaged in talks with both Emperor Juto and Chancellor Razorbeak about this issue. They say they will keep a look out for the griffons who have been avoiding taxes, although as of yet no businesses have been brought forward. The chancellor says they are unsure on which businesses have been avoiding, however many Equestrians believe he may be covering them.
In the polls of each of the parties, due to the recent issue which has resulted in 120 billion bits being lost over the years, the Equestrian Nationalist Party has come at the very top. Previously a very minor far right party, it has become extremely popular, having beaten both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party in popularity. The agenda of this party wants Equestria to start manufacturing and industrializing on it's own without any griffon companies involved. Many people have claimed the party to be racist, however the party has denied these claims.
Sweetie Belle started to tune out as the radio started talking about more minor news, and remembered that she had promised to ring up her sister after her first day. She walked into the living room where the phone was, and started to dial her sisters number. She put the telephone to her ear and waited for Rarity to pick up the phone.
_______
Rarity had just finished sketching the design of the dress she had been hired to make for Hoity Toity Incorporated. After draft after draft, she was finally happy with what she had.
It was a massive privilege that she had been asked by the company to design their new line. When she had been a filly, she used to dream of being able to design dresses for massive Canterlot companies, and here she was now, doing exactly that.
Now she needed to make sure she had all of the materials she needed so she could make the prototype of the new dress. She had got Spike to collect some jewels, but she needed to check she had everything else. Getting up from her desk, she checked that she had everything else she needed, or if she would have order new materials. She walked to the cupboard near the door, the one where she usually put all of her raw materials, and began to look through it. Taking a lot of stuff out, she started to search for her supplies.
"Alright, so I've got enough silk," she said after finding a long roll of the fabric. "This should be enough, I would hope."
Just at that moment, there was a knock at the door. Walking out of her workroom to answer it, Spike came out with a reasonably sized basket of baby blue sapphires.
Spike had certainly grown up from when she had first met him. He was now much larger than she was, and had to bend down slightly when walking through the doorway. He also sprouted large wings that were tucked by his side, and had a friendly, majestic face which Rarity always knew she could count on. After the, well, fiasco all those years ago when he had forced her to go out with him, his immature crush on her that he had was all but gone, and had been replaced with a deep and close friendship.
"Will this be enough," the dragon said in his exceptionally deep but yet soothing voice. "I wasn't sure how much you needed, if this isn't enough then I can go and get more if you'd like."
Spike handed Rarity the basket, she peered at it, and then looked up.
"No, this will be perfect thanks Spike, thank you so much for your help," she said. "It's outrageous of me, I always ask you to do stuff for me and..."
The dragon laughed warmly. "Rarity please, you know I'll always help you out if you have something that needs doing."
"Oh Spike, you're too kind," Rarity said smiling.
Suddenly, she heard the phone ring.
"Let me just go and get this," she said to Spike. "I have a feeling it's Sweetie Belle."
She walked back into her workroom and picked up the phone.
"Hello," she said.
"Hi Rarity," said a voice which she instantly recognized as her sisters.
Rarity smiled. "Hello Sweetie Belle, how's Canterlot? Did everything go alright?"
"Well apart from Derpy getting 'lost' and not delivering any of my things to my apartment until three days after I arrived, I'm doing alright."
"Oh, that stupid mailmare," Rarity replied. "Three days without ANY of your stuff, it must have been dreadful. How were you supposed to wash your mane, or clean your teeth."
"I went and bought extra stuff like that and stayed at a hotel for a few nights. It was alright eventually but I got extremely worried, I rung up Dream Valley movers so many times complaining about it, and they kept on saying they didn't know where the mare who was sent out had gotten up to. Then three days later, they rung me to say that my stuff at been delivered and that Derpy had gotten the sack."
"Oh I can't help feeling sorry for her," said Rarity. "She tries so hard, it's not like she can help her eyesight."
"I know," replied Sweetie Belle. "I tried telling the movers that she had bad eyesight and to not fire her, but they said that they couldn't afford to have mishaps like that again."
"Well, at least you tried,"Rarity said, looking sympathetic. "How about your first day at school, has that gone alright?"
"Yeah, it's gone fine so far. I'm a little nervous because there is so many ponies there that I don't know, but remember Button Mash, the colt that moved to Ponyville for about a year and then back to Manehatten, he's there."
Rarity tried to remember who Sweetie Belle was talking about, but had no such luck. "Button who?" She said.
"Oh, remember the brown colt who always used to mess around in class, and who asked me out so many times that it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and who I went out with that one time because I felt sorry for him, yeah, that guy."
Rarity suddenly remembered. "Oh, he was a right one. His mom was very nice, but he was, a slightly peculiar child it must be said."
"I think he's really grown up though now, he's actually kinda cool. He's learning to make games."
"Well I'm glad there's someone there you know," Rarity said. "Are you in the same form?"
"No, they separate us in terms of what cutie marks we have and therefore what courses we're doing. I see him at break though," Sweetie Belle answered. "How about you Rarity, what are you up to? Has that dress come along okay?"
"Well, I've just finished designing. Spike's just come back with some jewels, I was checking through my cupboard to see if I had everything else, I have a feeling I do, I just wanted to make sure."
"I'll look forward to seeing it once your done, " Sweetie Belle said. "You always do an excellent job with your dresses."
Rarity grinned at her sisters praise. "Thank you so much Sweetie Belle, I always do try my absolute best."
They continued to talk about trivial stuff, until they finally said their goodbyes. Rarity looked at the clock, and realized they'd been talking for about 20 minutes, and she'd kept Spike waiting all that time....
"Spike," she called.
"I'm in the kitchen," he called back.
Rarity walked quickly into the kitchen and saw him sitting down at the table.
"Oh Spike, I'm so sorry I kept you waiting," she said apologetically.
Spike laughed. "It's fine. I don't really have anything better to do right now anyway. How is Sweetie Belle, is she enjoying her new school."
"Yes she seems to be," Rarity replied. "Apart from minor mishaps, but she seems to be getting a long ago.
"Glad to hear it," said Spike.
Rarity finished off gathering her supplies, and then Spike left after she had given him a cup of coffee. She then started to make the dress, hoping that her little sister would get a long okay.
