Scaled Foal

Chapters

Chapter 1: My Big Mouth
Chapter 2: First Day of School
Chapter 3: First Day & Already in Trouble
Chapter 4: Politics with Twilight
Chapter 5: Discovering Friends New & Old
Chapter 6: Enter the Screwball
Chapter 7: Trying to Understand
Chapter 8: Bad End to a Great Day
Chapter 9: Everything Will Be Okay
Chapter 10: The Vote
Chapter 11: Special Somepony
Chapter 12: Royal Talk, Prince to Prince
Chapter 13: New Alicorn Dynasty
Chapter 14: Draconequus

Chapter 1: My Big Mouth

Chapter One: My Big Mouth

Twilight and Spike's relationship had always been a bit complex. After all, a dragon being raised by a unicorn was bound to turn some heads. Especially since that pony was just a kid herself when she got him. Some ponies even asked her if Spike was her pet which always got her really mad.

Twilight had raised him all by herself since the day she helped him hatch. She was living at Celestia's magical boarding school at the time and so couldn't get any help from her parents. However the pair acted more like siblings then a parent would with their child. Twilight took a great deal more responsibility over him then a sister normally would though. Spike never knew how to describe it until Apple Jack compared it to her own relationship with Apple Bloom. AJ said Twilight acted like an older sibling who had been forced to raise her kid brother after their parents died, only in their case no one had actually died. That actually made a lot of sense to him.

What AJ said had just felt right. It was the perfect way to describe Spike's feelings for Twilight. She wasn't his mom and he definitely wasn't her pet. She was his big sister who had been left to take care of him. He still respected her and loved to be her little helper but he didn't image any kid could get away with being as blunt or snarky to their parent as he was with Twilight. They were friends, closer then friends. He told things to Twilight that he'd be far too embarrassed to tell anyone else, especially a parent... but at the same time Twilight was still responsible for him. She gave him his daily chores (which she actually did help with contrary to popular belief) and would... punish him if he misbehaved or did something dangerous or just without thinking.

A lot of the time the punishments where just a dressing down where she would mercilessly scold the young dragon. Sometimes he was made to stand in time out or go to bed early. Then their was the worst, most horrible, evil punishments he absolutely hated.

If Spike was really bad Twilight would pick him up with her magic along with a hair brush. Then he'd get his little bottom smacked with the backend of the brush over and over again. Those were horrible, although he only got about 10 swats (the most he ever got being 20). He would cry and beg and make a million promises to never do it again but Twilight never let him off until she was sure he was properly punished. Spankings might not be the most commonly used punishment for him but he knew by the look on Twilight's face when he earned one... like the look she was wearing right now.

"It was an accident!" Spike swore. Twilight had never spanked him for an accident.

"I'm sure it was buddy" Shining Armor grinned holding the ashes of the comic inside the plastic sheath where Spike had stealthy tried to hide them... the boy never was very good as hiding the things he accidentally broke.

They were in the room Twilight designed especially for when her brother visited. Shining Armor was a major nerd despite being the tough Captain of the royal guard. He collected comic books and action figures and was very sentimental when it came to the treasures of his childhood.

Shining Armor was actually the reason Spike loved comic books so much himself. Whenever Shining came to visit Twilight at school he always brought with him a comic book for Spike. Not just any Comic books either but trades, a single book that was a large collection of issues usually holding an entire saga. Spike loved them and continued to cherish those comics to this day.

Each trade cost about 30 or 40 bits but Shining wanted Spike to get the entirety of the best stories. Shining worked hard to convert Spike to the ways of nerddom. It was really nice since Shining's allowance at the time had been 20 bits a week (he had rich nobles for parents) and he visited Twilight once a month. That meant he spent half of his allowance a month on Spike and he usually brought Twilight a book to. He was always doing selfless things like that.

He would set up these amazing scavenger hunts with riddles hidden all over the school and when the pair finally solved them all they would find a book for Twilight and a comic for Spike. It was glorious. Shining was as much a big brother to Spike as he was to Twilight.

So of course Spike had helped Twilight set up this amazing guest room for whenever Shining Armor came to visit. Spike had made sure it was geek heaven. Since Twilight had been all Princess-fied they could easily afford it.

Being the Princess of friendship came with a lot of perks, wealth just being one of them. The vault the Castle came with was filled with so many bits that she couldn't ever hope to spend it all. She even upped Spike's allowance to what Shining's had been when he was a foal and was ordering lots of gems to be delivered to the castle for Spike to munch on.

Dragons could actually taste the pure magic trapped in gems and even got nourishment from it. This made Gems not only a tasty treat for Dragons but a healthy one. It used to be that gems were too expensive to get just for Spike to eat. Although they were good for dragons they weren't necessary for a healthy diet. Twilight might have came from a family of rich nobles but her trust fund was far from limitless so Gems were a rare treat for Spike.

Now that Twilight was Princess rich she could stock up on lots of gems for Spike. She would put them in fruit bowls around the Castle for Spike to munch on between meals as a healthy snack. Unlike normal food it wasn't actually possible for dragons to get fat on gems and in fact the excess magic they consumed safely added to their magical reserves.

Twilight even got Spike his own bedroom, which he'd never had before as he usually shared a room with her. She also bought a bunch of Arcade games and filled one of the larger rooms with them. Although she made it clear that this game room was for everyone and not just Spike but he could use it whenever he wanted.

She had been spreading her wealth around Ponyville as well. Everything in the Castle she had ordered from the local store owners, who in turn often ordered it from somewhere out of town. The book store owner had always liked Twilight since she bought tons of books but now he was practically in love with her.

Since this castle had such a huge library she had ordered over 20000 first editions to fill it. All the furniture throughout the Castle was custom made by local shop owners to fit with the themes her friends had when they were decorating the rooms. The Castle felt much more like a home now.

"It's only a comic. It's okay," Shining insisted.

"No it's not,a" Twilight glared, "All these comics are first editions! The cheapest of them are still worth over a thousand bits!"

"Twi, it's cool," Shining waved off, "Let's just look through them and see which one got burnt up," he used his magic to pull a few of the comics out from their nice box and began gushing, "A mint condition first edition Spidermare #1! Twi this thing is worth over a million bit! How did you-"

"Maybe now you'll get why I'm upset," Twilight sniped.

Shining's eyes grew large with worry at the implication. He quickly began searching through the comics, "All these comics are some of the greatest landmarks of the industry," strangely he was getting more and more worried as he saw how amazing the comics were.

"Oh no," Twilight groaned, "I can't find Action Comics #1,"

Shining paled, "Action Comics #1," he muttered putting the other comics back into their box for safe keeping then levitating the bag of ashes to his face "One of the rarest and most priceless artifacts in comic book history... The first superhero comic ever made," he was staring at it with a stunned expression before he suddenly started screaming in terror at the ashes. After the screaming came the sobbing as he reached out and hugged the bag of ashes.

Spike tried to sneakily sneak out of the room but gasped as he was suddenly picked up by Twilight's magic. With Shining still crying in the background Spike yelled, "It was an accident! I swear Twilight! I didn't mean to!"

"I TOLD you to stay away from the comics Spike," Twilight glared, "I told you for exactly this reason! We both know you haven't mastered your fire breath!"

"I'm sorry Twilight!" Spike tried to run but his limps wouldn't make contact with the floor.

"You destroyed something worth nearly 5 MILLION BITS!"

"I'll pay you back!" Spike swore.

"With what? A lemonade stand?"

"Please Twilight, I'll find a way!"

"Oh don't worry, I've already thought of a way," Twilight glared, "I'm taking it out of your hide!"

"Noooooooo Twilight, PLEEEEEASE! I'm sorry!"

"Sorry isn't good enough this time Spike, come on," Twilight walked out the door and Spike floated behind her. He desperately tried to grab the door frame as he was forced to follow but Twilight was used to this trick and easily made him avoid them. Shining was still hugging the bag and weeping, not noticing they left.

Twilight brought the young dragon to his room. She had put Shining Armor right next door to Spike so they could hang out more during his visit but Spike was feeling horrifically unlucky at this display of kindness. There was practically no delay in getting Spike into his room and Twilight grabbing the small paddle off the wall.

She had hang it there as a reminder to behave, although Spike didn't think she'd actually use it. Twilight had only ever taken the hairbrush to him and it didn't seem real that he had graduated to paddle. The moment it started to glow with Twilight's magic Spike burst into tears. He cried and cried realizing he'd soon know what his new paddle felt like regardless what he did or said.

Twilight levitated Spike in front of her. She magically lifted the boy's tail out of the way of his bottom and tapped the small rump with the still floating paddle.

"Do I have your attention?"

"Y-yes hic" Spike began to hiccup from crying as he felt the paddle pat him

"Can you tell me why you're in trouble?"

"C-cuz hic c-cuz I burnt da hic da c-comic," he stuttered.

"And why, or better yet 'how', did that happen?"

"B-because I-I hic I didn't l-listen hic,"

Twilight nodded, "Good, now do you have something to say to me?"

"I-I'm s-sorry T-Twilight hic, I..." He took a gulp of air, knowing what he was supposed to say. He took a moment to force the hiccups to end, all the while Twilight waiting patiently for him to ready himself. When he finally spoke, although the hiccups were gone, he was stuttering a lot more.

"I-I'm s-sorry I-I was n-naughty... p-please S-s-spank me s-so I'll r-remember t-to be g-good," Twilight always made him say that when she was about to spank him. She said it was important that he acknowledge the fact he did something wrong and accept the responsibility, and thereby the consequences, for it. Twilight was always trying to teach stuff, even during something as horrible as a spanking.

The paddle left Spike's rump and the little dragon quickly braced himself. Sure enough it came back with a vengeance, slamming itself against the poor little boy's rear. Spike gave out a loud yelp and the moment the paddle left again he instantly covered his bottom with his claws. Unfortunately this resulted in Twilight magically forcing his arms to his back, pinning them there so he couldn't move. Her magic continued to wield the paddle with terrifying skill. Hitting his poor backside over and over.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK

Spike howled bloody murder as his poor rump was viciously tortured. He kicked and cried and begged as only a little boy could when in this predicament. He didn't even noticed when the spanking ended until Twilight floated him over to her and brought him into a hug, holding him tightly with her hooved arms. The pony Princess lightly kissed his forehead as she assured him it was okay and that it was over now.

Once he calmed down Twilight informed, "Sorry Spike but a spanking just won't cut it this time. I'm afraid I'm also going to have to ground you. No videogames, or TV, and especially no comic books for one month. Instead of going out to play you'll also be spending extra lessons with me over this time to focus more on training your fire breath. You understand me?"

"Y-yes" Spike sniffed rubbing his sore bottom, "I'm sorry Twilight,"

"Apology accepted, now let's go back to Shining so you can apologize to him to,"

"Noooooooo!" Spike wailed.

"Spike" Twilight gave him a stern look, "you need to apologize to Shining Armor,"

"But he hates me!" Spike sobbed.

"He doesn't hate you. You're his little buddy. Now come on," She let the boy go and gently patted his back with the top of her snout to get him going. However Spike dug his feet into the ground so he wouldn't have to face Shining Armor. Twilight rolled her eyes and pushed a bit harder, forcing Spike to scrape across the floor all the way back to Shining Armor's room. She magically repaired the claw marks before getting her brother's attention "Shining Armor, Spike has something too say to you," she nudged Spike with her hoof but the little Dragon started to tear up again. This time from the thought of Shining not accepting his apology. He couldn't even force himself to give it for fear of rejection.

"Aw Spike," Shining spoke with unexpected sympathy, "Did the meanie Twi give you a spanking," Shining went over to him and gave the young dragon a hug "It's okay, your big brother Shining Armor will protect your rump from further torment,"

Spike cried hard and hugged Shining as tight as he could. Shining blinked, that's not how the reptile usually reacted when Shining coddled him after a spanking. He usually got embarrassed and bashful. Shining looked over at Twilight for an explanation, worried she might have been too hard on him this time. It be understandable since it was a lot of money Spike just destroyed but even then unacceptable to brutalize a child.

Twilight rolled her eyes dramatically, "He's worried you'll hate him for destroying one of your presents,"

"Oh Spike, I could never hate you," Shining insisted, "Yes the comic was very valuable but you matter more, you understand me buddy?"

Spike hesitantly nodded as he continued to cry into Shining's fur.

"I guess I should take this as a wake up call though. If someone like Twilight can have trouble foal proofing a house... Well at least I got a good story out of this," he levitated the bag with the ashes and looked at them, "I think I'll keep these and show them off every chance I get. I'll undoubtedly be telling this story for the next thousands years,"

Spike groaned as he imagined Shining showing off the bag of ashes and telling everyone he met about how his little brother destroyed a 5 million bit comic.

Later that day Spike followed Twilight and her friends around as they tried to solve various riddles Shining Armor left all over town for their latest scavenger hunt. They hadn't done anything like this in years and Spike was bubbling with excitement the entire time. Although their friend Pinkie Pie seemed to be handling the excitement much worse then he was but she'd been acting really weird for the last couple of days (even by Pinkie Pie standards).

When they figured out the last of the riddles they arrived at Sugar Cube Corner like they were instructed to by the notes. Shining Armor and Cadence were waiting for them and happily announced the prize for this scavenger hunt wasn't a book but news that the royal couple were having a baby. When Spike asked where it was they explained it was in Cadence's belly but refused to explain how it got there. Spike could always ask Twilight later.

Spike grinned happily as he stood next to the table with the baby themed cake. The shop owner, Mrs Cake, cut off a slice before handing it to him. She had closed the shop early today for the private event. She was hosting royalty after all, even if it was a very small party. Only Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity had come. Spike knew each have them had hung out with Cadence at some point and they wrote each other letters but it was kind of weird that only Twilight's friends were invited to their party.

Although it was pretty cool that the scavenger hunt lead to Cadence's baby shower. It was a pretty small shower with none of the guest having brought presents since it had been a surprise for them instead of the mother. Cadence kept assuring everyone that Shining had already bought everything they would need for the baby and this was more just a party to celebrate her pregnancy. She said this had all been Shining's idea, further proof he was the nerd king. ALL PRAISES BE TO THE NERD KING!

"So how's it feel to be an uncle," Shining smiled at Spike well getting a slice of cake for himself.

"Awesome!" Spike grinned, "I can't wait for the baby to be born. I hope it's a boy. There are way too many girls in Equestria,"

Shining Armor chuckled, "If it was a boy we'd probably have to marry him off to some Noble as soon as he was of age. The Crystal Empire has a lot more... traditional traditions about gender roles. I guess it comes from being gone for a thousand years"

Shining happily accepted his slice of cake and used his magic to hold it. He even used his magic to hold his fork like many unicorns do, "They've been making a stink about me still being Captain of the royal guard instead of retiring after I got married. They want me to just be a homemaker like they expect all boys to be. They're even more upset now that Cadence is pregnant and I still haven't stepped down. They say I should focus on taking care of the baby and the household and leave matters of the Empire to Cadence,"

"That's... kind of weird" Spike frowned.

"Tell me about it. They also don't like that Cadence has allowed colts to join their guard either as they believe it is far too dangerous for boys. According to them, boys shouldn't even be allowed to work at all. They should be married off when they come of age and focus on raising the foals,"

"Seriously!?"

"Well it kind of makes sense. Only one in 12 births are male so back then keeping boys safe and sheltered was done for practical reasons. After all, with the few number of colts there are it was important they get married and give their wife babies or there would be no future generations.

"Then since it was so important to protect colts it become common for their parents and eventually their wives to keep them at home as much as possible. So it become boys who were in charge of taking care of the house and the children well the fillies worked to earn money. This may have started as practical but it become expected and eventually a cultural Taboo for boys to have any other lifestyle,"

Spike nodded, "Twilight taught me about all the equal rights stuff they had during the beginning of Celestia's rule,"

Shining grinned, "Of course she did. Thing is the Crystal Empire disappeared when tensions were high but no big names had appeared to actually start fighting for equal rights yet. So the Crystal Ponies are having trouble adjusting to the idea that it is now normal for boys to work and even vote.

"Cadence is trying to slowly ease them into modern concepts like that but she also needs to respect their traditions and beliefs to avoid the riots that occurred when this kind of stuff originally happened. Strangely that means I need to present myself in a very specific way. I have to act really submissive around Cadence and let her boss me around.

"We also have these formal dinners with the noble Crystal Ponies once a month where I have to just sit there quietly and even ask Cadence permission to speak when I'm interested in a topic. These dinners are more then just hosting a party though.

"The nobles of the Crystal Empire make up a board of governesses who legally have a say in how the city is run. As Cadence must respect these traditions instead of having a plan old meeting once a month she host a royal dinner and the meeting takes place after it.

"Technically when it's time to discuss politics me and the other husbands are supposed to be sent out of the room, 'to not trouble ourselves with such things' as one of the governesses said to me, but Cadence has made it where we can stay and listen and even participate in the talks during these dinners. We still have to ask our wives permission to put in our two bits and sometimes that's not given but at least it's a step in the right direction.

"However after the dinner the boys are still sent out as the noble fillies start working on policy based on earlier discussions. Although Cadence would like for the colt nobles to have a say in that to, being allowed to talk politics is very different then being allowed to actually dictate them and the fillies aren't willing to do that yet. It's too big a step for them at the moment.

"Well they talk business I take the guys to my game room where we talk ourselves but not about anything important. They enjoy playing my videogames and watching my movies and seeing the various advancements ponies have made over the years. I have even become good friends with all the male nobles. Honestly the part where we are sent out of the room is probably the best part of these formal dinners for me as I'm allowed to be myself when it's just me and the other husbands.

"Unfortunately after the governesses found out that Cadence is pregnant they kind of ruined the merriment. As per tradition we set up a large Festival where Cadence announced at the beginning of it that she was pregnant. All her subjects cheered and spent the day celebrating the future birth of royalty but many of the governesses took Cadence to the side and asked who was going to replace me as Guard Captain. They didn't take it well when she told them I'd still be handling it.

"They kept insisting that since we would have children I needed to quit my job and focus on them. They even claimed, with a strange amount of genuine concern, that once the baby was born it would be 'far too much to ask' of me to have such a demanding career and take care of a foal. Once the baby is born I need to prove to the Crystal ponies that I can take care of the foal and not neglect my duties as Guard Captain. For political reasons Cadence will only be able to help me so much as she's expected to focus most of her attention on work. We need to prove we are honoring the traditions of the Empire and that our modern age beliefs won't conflict with them.

"Don't get me wrong, the Crystal Empire is great and all the ponies are really friendly and they love their new princess but we have to maintain a certain image to the public. It just goes with the territory of being royalty. It's nice to come out here and visit family and get away from all that. Twilight has it really easy being Ponyville's princess. The ponies here are much more laid back...

"If I fail to show I can handle working and taking care of the baby like I'm supposed to the nobles of the Crystal Empire will most likely demand boys be forced back into their subservient roles to fillies, but if I prove I can handle it... Well it be a big step for colts in the Empire... Pretty weird to think I'm the faces of an equal rights campaign hundreds of years after the problem was put to rest for most of the world,"

"You got to take care of the baby all by yourself?" Spike stared.

Shining smiled, "Well not ALL by myself, just during the day when Cadence is working and if the baby makes a fuss at night I need to get out of bed to handle it instead of us taking turns. But well Cadence is off work she can help me a bit and give me a break. We read up on the customs of the Empire a while ago including how their family dynamic work. I can't even get the staff to help me with the baby when I'm working as that would be a sign of shirking my responsibilities in favor of my career,"

"Wow,"

"I'm sure I can manage," Shining looked confident then it seemed a light bulb went off in his head, "Hey Twi," he called for her from across the room. She and Cadence, who she was talking to, came over.

"Yeah?" Twilight smiled.

"Well Spike and I were talking about how I have to portray a certain image now that my wife is ruler of the Crystal Empire and all and I realized... why isn't Spike in school?"

Twilight blinked, "I home school him, you know that, I have since he was a baby,"

"I know that Twi," Shining admitted, "But that was before you became a princess, of friendship no less. Don't you think your ward should be mingling with foals his own age and making friendships of his own,"

"He mingles plenty. We go out and talk to ponies all the time,"

"But what about on his own? Does he even have any friends his own age?"

"Of course he does" Twilight looked offended well Spike looked uncomfortable. He hated it when they talked about him as if he wasn't there, "He hangs out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders all the time,"

"Only when they're hanging out with you," Spike mumbled, unfortunately Twilight heard him.

"What are you talking about" Twilight waved off, "You go to Apple Jack's or Rarity's all the time,"

"That's to hang out with Apple Jack or Rarity," Spike rolled his eyes, "I've never even been to the CMC's clubhouse,"

Twilight's eyes widened and she screamed, "AJ! Rarity!" all her friends gathered instead of just those two. They could tell Twilight was seconds away from her 'threating over nothing' mode, "Why are your sisters excluding Spike from their club!?"

Spike groaned, Twilight could be so over dramatic, "It's called the 'Cutie Mark' Crusaders. I don't know if you realize this Twi but dragons can't get Cutie Marks,"

"That doesn't mean they can't still play with you," Twilight insisted.

"They aren't excluding me Twilight. Just because you, Rarity, and Apple Jack are friends doesn't mean all your siblings have to be to!"

"THERE NOT EVEN YOUR FRIENDS!?!" was all Twilight heard, "But you talk to them all the time,"

Spike shrugged "Well we know each other but it's not like they ever invited me to one of their sleepovers or camping trips or anything. We're friendly but we're not exactly friends,"

Twilight continued to gape before glaring at Apple Jack and Rarity.

AJ rolled her eyes, "I'll talk to Apple Bloom and see to it that she invites Spike to hang out with them more often. That better?"

"No!" Spike frantically waved his arms to get their attention, "Look I appreciate it but I don't want to get them in trouble. Besides I DO have friends outside you guys, I hang out with Big Mac all the time" they talked a lot of hoof ball.

AJ rolled her eyes again, "Well although Big Mac is an overgrown child ya'll need friends your own age,"

"You can't force someone to be friends," Spike insisted.

Shining got their attention again, "Twi, I think school would really help Spike make friends his own age. He might be a good deal more advanced then them academically thanks to your teachings but he needs to socialize more. If he was in school you wouldn't just be forcing the kids you know to accept him. You know that could never work. They're far too old for playdates,"

Twilight sighed, "I know... this is all my fault,"

Spike rolled his eyes, "How exactly do you figure that?"

"I never use to care about friendship before and I made you stay inside and study with me. Now you don't even have any friends"

"I have LOTS of friends!" Spike snapped getting tired of this, "Big Mac is my friend, half the townsfolk are my friends, YOU'RE all my friends!"

Rarity smiled, "Of course we are sweetie but it's really not the same thing. We're all grownups. It's just not healthy spending all your time with us and not foals your own age. You'll have a different kind of friendship with them. I think school is a marvelous idea Twilight. I'll ask Sweetie Belle to look after Spike well he's there,"

And with that the conversation permanently changed from babies to setting up Spike for school.

Chapter 2: First Day of School

Chapter Two: First Day of School

Spike grinned as he posed in front of a mirror. He wanted to look good for his first day of school so he put on some of the custom clothes Rarity made for him. Not the formal stuff of course as he didn't want to be TOO dressed up, just a white Power Ponies T-shirt and red jacket (open of course otherwise he wouldn't be able to show of the large print of the Power Ponies on his shirt). The red really brought out the purple of his scales.

Twilight had to order all his clothes as custom. With his dragon bone structure he couldn't exactly wear the mass produced clothes of his favorite characters, not when they were designed with ponies in mind. That was okay because Rarity's clothes looked a thousand times cooler and it was pretty awesome to have one of a kind shirts. He ponies (and Dragons) might spend most of their days naked but it was nice to wear something.

"Spike!" Twilight called, "Hurry up, you don't want to be late,"

"Coming," Spike grinned.

Truthfully it wasn't school that put him in such a fine mood. It was the fact that today marked the end of his grounding. Twilight, in her true Twilight fashion, completely over analyzed the whole school thing. She wanted to wait to send him until his grounding was over so he wouldn't feel like School was part of his punishment.

It also defeated the purpose of going if the only reason was for him to make friends. You couldn't exactly make friends when you weren't allowed to hang out after school. Plus Twilight said she wanted Spike to feel excited about school so having it start immediately after he got off grounding would make it seem like a reward, not further punishment. Spike didn't know about any of that but he was excited about finally getting out of the castle. Now he knew how those poor dragons felt in all those fantasy stories where they had to stay locked up in a castle forever to guard it.

When Spike got downstairs he gave Twilight a quick hug as she gave him a bagged lunch filled with gem stones. However Spike frowned when he actually got outside and found the Cutie Mark Crusaders waiting for him.

"Hi Spike," grinned Apple Bloom, Apple Jack's little sister. Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle was with her and so was Scootaloo, the little disabled Pegasus Rainbow Dash had adopted. Spike never really talked to Scoot about it but he did understand. Spike was a dragon that didn't even have wings. He could understand what it was like to be a flying creature that couldn't fly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Asked Spike.

Sweetie Belle shrugged, "We figured we'd walk you to school,"

"Errr, thanks but you really don't have to," Spike insisted, "I know where it is,"

Sweetie Belle insisted, "Rarity says you should never let a boy walk somewhere by themselves. It's unlady like,"

Spike rolled his eyes, "Wanna carry my books for me then?"

Scootaloo snorted back a laugh.

Spike smiled and started heading towards school with the Crusaders right behind him. It was a strangely silent and ackward walk. Usually the Crusaders were very chattie.

"Spike," Apple Bloom finally spoke up again after ten minutes of silence.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," Apple Bloom informed but for what Spike couldn't imagine.

"We're sorry," Scootaloo corrected.

Spike raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

Apple Bloom flushed in shame, "For never inviting you to our clubhouse,"

Spike rolled his eyes, "It's fine,"

Scootaloo insisted, "No, it's not,"

Well Sweetie Belle said, "We never meant for you to feel like we weren't your friends,"

Apple Bloom nodded, "We really do think of you as our friend, we're just pretty lousy ones,"

Spike dismissed, "It's okay," thinking their sisters were making them say this, "I'm sorry I got you in trouble,"

"This isn't about that," Insisted Scootaloo, "We aren't just saying this stuff cuz our sisters yelled at us. We really do mean it. We should have been better friends to you,"

Spike sighed, "Look it's not like you were actually 'lousy friends'. I'm pretty sure you need to have at least one actual conversation to qualify as 'friends'. We never hang out without our siblings around, we've never-"

"That's going to change," Scootaloo insisted.

"What if I don't what it to?" Spike shocked the Crusaders, "I don't have anything against you guys but I don't want you to start hanging out with me because you got in trouble. Besides we have absolutely nothing in common. I'm a lot younger than you and I'm a major comic book nerd and you guys are WAY too active for my lazy butt to hope to keep up," and Spike really didn't want to hang out with ponies who were being forced to associate with him.

The Crusaders looked down with an odd look of shame well Sweetie Belle said, "We didn't realize we hurt you so much,"

"You didn't," Spike assured, "Honestly I'm completely fine,"

"Could we try please?" Scootaloo asked, "Like you said we weren't 'lousy friends' so much as we weren't friends at all but could we try to be? We'll do better this time,"

Spike growned, "Fine you can tell you're sisters we're friends,"

"He thinks we're just using him," Apple Bloom moped as they sat at their desk at the school house.

Spike wasn't even sitting with them. He was on the other side of the classroom, fitting in the back looking bored out of his mind as he waited for class to start.

Sweetie Belle shook her head, "I really did think of Spike as our friend," she insisted.

"We just have to prove to him that we are real friends," Scootaloo puffed up her chest.

Apple Bloon blinked, "How do we do that? Even if we invited him to our clubhouse I don't think he'll came at this point. We spent too much time ignoring him,"

"Or treating him like a Butler," Sweetie Belle moped, "He always busted his butt making us treats each time we went to spend time with Twilight and we still never invited him to do anything with us,"

Apple Bloom nodded ,"We might have been trying to find our cutie marks but we still could have invited him to play with us. We did lots of stuff I'm sure he would have enjoyed,"

"We could take him snorkeling!" Scootaloo suggested, "That was pretty fun,"

"I don't know," Apple Bloom thought, "Maybe Spike would prefer to do something less active. He runs around helping Twilight most of the day. I'm sure he'll just want to lay down and relax on his off time,"

Sweetie Belle thought about it, "We could take him to the arcade,"

"He's got his own private one," Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"We have to think of something!" Apple Bloom insisted just as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came in.

Diamond blinked spotting Spike on the other side of the room and quietly asked the Crusaders, "What's Twilight's pet dragon doing here?"

Apple started foaming, "You promised you were going to try to be less of a jerk!"

Diamond gaped at the accusation and demanded, "What I do!?"

Scootaloo glared, "He's not a pet. He's Twilight's ward which pretty much makes him the prince of Ponyville,"

Diamond was stunned speechless for several moments before finding her words, "Really? I-I always assumed he was a pet,"

Apple Bloom insisted, "Dragons are fully sentient creatures just like Ponies. They CAN'T be pets!"

Diamond blushed scuffing her hoof on the floor, "S-sorry," she was still trying to learn to watch what she said but sometimes she still came off as insensitive without realizing it, "... you know my mom is probably going to have a heart attack when she hears Ponyville has a Dragon for a Prince. She already has a problem with that cow colony in our boarders,"

Apple Bloom blinked, "What's she got against cows? Practically all the farms and stores trade with them for milk,"

Diamond shrugged taking a seat next to the Crusaders. Ironically, although they were the ones she bullied the most they were also some of the few kids in class that was giving her a second chance. Paying for the new playground equipment was a nice step in repairing some of the damage she flinched to her own reputation but it was just a start. Most of the school was convinced that was just her trying to buy forgiveness instead of actually working towards it.

"Mother thinks cows and other species are... 'lesser' then ponies," Diamond was trying to find a nicer word for 'inferior' but none of the synonyms sounded very flattering.

Apple Bloom gaped, "B-but your dad is the one buying up most of the milk!"

Diamond couldn't help but shrug with a defeated expression on her face. Her dad had contracts with most of the farms. He bought up most of their goods, commercialized them into various tasty treats, and sold them around Equestria. Her family's livelihood depended on the various farms in Ponyville including not only the Cows but Apple Bloom's family as well... and Diamond's mother thought so little of all of them, "Mom doesn't really care about insulting Dad's business partners, even the ones we relay on the most," Diamond sighed, "You know I never really realized how... messed up she was until you guys forced me to take a good look at her. I can't believe I actually wanted to be like her,"

Sweetie Belle spoke up, "Family can be infuriating sometimes but they're still your family. There is nothing wrong with loving them. Even when you wish they could be nicer,"

Diamond just looked at Sweetie Belle, a bit shocked at how the foal sounded like she was speaking from experience.

Sweetie Belle groaned realizing she had to explain where that little bit of wisdom came from, "Rarity has her moment's where she's a great sister but she also has ones that make me want to crawl into my bed and cry at how selfish she can be. She might be the Element of Generocity but she is one of the most self absorbed Filly you will ever meet, not to mention a complete Drama Queen... I think everyone is like that in some way. They aren't defined by one thing. We all have good things about us and bad things that seem to contradict it. That just how Ponies are,"

Diamond gave a light smile, the 3 were trying so hard to make her feel accepted. They were even trying to get her not to condemn her mom as Diamond tried to better herself, "Thanks..." and she meant it "Want to come over to my mansion after school,"

The Crusaders gave a collective groan.

"Sorry we can't, " Scootaloo informed, "We're trying to figure out what we can do with Spike,"

"The Dragon?" Diamond blinked and when the Crusaders started glaring at her she said, "Why don't you just bring him with you?"

Scoot snorted, "And have your mom tell him to his face that he's a 'lesser' being?"

Diamond crumpled well Sweetie Belle glared at Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom piped up, "We weren't very good friends to Spike, to the point he doesn't think we're friends at all, so we have to figure out a way to convince him we are... and he thinks the only reason we're trying to now is because our sisters yelled at us for excluding him,"

Diamond thought on it a moment, "Well all you really have to do is wait until recess. All the foals will crowd around him and no doubt ask him embarrassing questions about dragons. All you three have to do is swoop in and save him and-"

"DIAMOND!" All three Crusaders snapped.

Apple Bloom informed, "We ain't about to manipulate Spike like that,"

"What's a little manipulation if it helps in the long run," Diamond gave a evil smirk, "Besides, this is going to happen no matter what. The foals are going to be curious about a dragon attending school for the first time since ever and some of them aren't going to be to happy with the idea. The fact of the matter is our dear PRINCE Spike will need someone to look out for him at recess and if it's you three it will help repair whatever damage you did. Or at least be the first step in doing so," The Crusaders looked too uncomfortable so Diamond continued, "My cutie mark revolves around getting ponies to do what I want. My special talent is manipulating ponies and in order to do that I need to understand them. Your the ones who taught me I could use this talent for the betterment of others. What's wrong with helping Spike and taking that first step on the road to forgiveness? You're not manipulating him for malicious reasons and in fact you WILL be helping him and all you want to get in return is forgiveness. It's a win / win for everypony involved,"

Sweetie Belle shifted in her seat, "Well maybe next time you could make it sound a little less like an evil plot well explaining it,"

Diamond blushed and gave a slight smile, "I'll work on that,"

Spike didn't know why, he really didn't, but he felt his face heat up as a young colt sat next to him. The colt was brown with an orange mane cut in an adorable style and a cut little propeller hat. He hid a 'JoyBoy' device under his desk and was playing videogames on it. Spike tried to peek at just what game he was playing and sneakily got out his own JoyBoy from his backpack. He stealthy got the pony's attention by tapping the desk then held up his copy of 'Fable'.

Spike smiled as the pony looked at him. The young Dragon whispered, "Need a player 2?" and it wasn't long before they were killing virtual hobgoblins together... and continued to play after the teacher came into the room.

Chapter 3: First Day & Already in Trouble

Chapter Three: First Day & Already in Trouble

"Good Morning Class," The teacher smiled as she walked into the classroom getting a choir of, "Good morning Miss Cheerlee."

Cheerlee smiled, "Today we have a new student, Spike would you please come up here?... Spike? Spike!? SPIKE!"

Spike yelped and fell out of his chair, still holding his JoyBoy.

"Spike," Cheerlee narrowed her eyes, radiating parental disapproval, "Class has started young colt. Put the game away and come up here and introduce yourself,"

Spike blushed, quickly savings his game and turning it off before putting it in his jacket pocket.

"Button Mash," Cheerlee looked over at the brown colt with the orange mane, "I better not have to tell you to put yours away,"

Button gave a nervous grin and turned his game off as Spike came up the the front of the class.

"Everyone," Cheerlee got the attention of the snickering foals, "Today we have joining us Prince Spike, Ward of Princess Twilight please make him feel welcomed. Spike why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"

"O-oh," Spike blushed and fidgeted, "Well I like comic books, and Videogames, and watching hoofball, and... uhmmm,"

Cheerlee encouraged, "Why don't you tell us how the Princess came to adopt you," she was trying to get all the questions the foals were bound to pester him with out of the way now, as well as get rid of any misconceptions that Spike was just a servant or a pet.

"Oh... hummm..." Spike didn't understand why he was so nervous, he spoke in front of large crowds all the time but somehow this small school house with foals of various ages was the hardest. He felt like he did when he was in front of the tens of thousands at the Equestria Games.

He took a deep breath, "My breed of dragon can only hatch when exposed to a high level of magic, usually that comes from frequent exposure to dragon fire. Someone found my egg and brought it to the Princess, I mean Princess Celestia since there are like a billion Princesses now. Anyway Twilight hatched my egg as part of her entrance exam. Celestia was going to try to return me to the dragons, even sent a letter to the Dragon Lord. Celestia asked Twilight to look after me well she waited for a reply and... well Twilight sort of created a national incident when she refused to give me up when the dragons finally came to collect me," Spike shrugged, "Celestia was about to smooth things over and the Dragons decided a Wingless runt wasn't worth the hassle so they let Twilight keep me."

Cheerlee gave a comforting smile, "Can you tell us why Twilight calls you her 'Assistant',"

"O-oh y-yeah sure," he cleared his throat, "Twilight was never very good at taking care of herself. She'd get too caught up in her research and her various duties. She always took good care of me but she would often forget to feed herself so I would make her sandwiches to make sure she ate. Despite how obsessed she is about organizating things she tends to be a fit messy as she tries to do a billion things at once. I started picking up after her to help and putting things back where she liked them. I helped her keep track of her schedule since she'd put so much work on herself she'd forget what she had to do. Of course she got really obsessive about that later... She started calling me her 'little assistant' because she often said she didn't know what she'd do with herself without me and well... I liked being her little helper and... yeah the title just sort of stuck,"

"Thank you Spike," Cheerlee nodded, "Please have a seat," Spike sighed with relief and ran back to his deck.

"Now class," Cheerlee decided to begin her lesson, "today we will talk about the origins of Equestria.

"I'm sure you've all heard about the three tribes living in conflict and the first Hearts Warming. That was nearly 10 thousand years ago, making Equestria one of the oldest civilizations on the planet. However even after the three tribes came together their was still much conflict in Equestria.

"For the first 200 year the leaders of the three tribes ruled together on a Council until the appearance of the first officially recorded Alicorn, one Queen Black Heart. She ruled Equestria with an Iron hoof and remained in power for 1573 years until she died of old age. She ascended into an Alicorn when she was around 400, so still a relatively young adult seeing with how ponies have an average lifespan of 2000 years (Alicorns included).

"I know it is common to think of Alicorns as gods but in fact they are just ponies who have reached a form of enlightenment, a superior level of self awareness, which greatly increases their magical power and gives them the traits of all three races (The strength and connection to nature of Earth Ponies, The flight and weather magic of Pegasus, and the versatile magical abilities of Unicorns). Queen Black Heart was the first Alicorn who had ever been officially confirmed up until that point, although myths of them had existed throughout all recorded history. She is why so many ponies think of Alicorns as gods. She advertised herself as one and convinced the other ponies to worship her.

"After her passing a new Council was set up, representing the various city states in Equestria. They ruled as a democracy for the next 600 years until the arrival of the Alicorn Dynasty. Queen Justice Divine was just as cruel as her predecessor and demanded ponies worshipper her. However when a second Alicorn appeared Queen Justice Divine invited her into her empire, Declaring her Queen of one of the city states and continued the practice for each Alicorn that appeared.

"The Alicorn Dynasty had the largest population of Alicorns in recorded history. This was a result of Queen Justice Divine purposely teaching others how to become Alicorns. Her school was only accessible to nobles, which is why most noble families are descendants of Alicorns now. Unfortunately the Alicorn Dynasty was filled with greed and corruption with the nobles living in luxury and all others living as peasants. The Alicorn Dynasty stood long after Justice Divine passed and ruled cruelly for thousands of years.

"They were eventually defeated by one of our true gods, the Draconequus. In this case a Spirit of Chaos, Discord himself. Although Discord has proven himself a friend to pony kind in recent years back then he was far from it. Discord destroyed the Alicorns for falsely declaring themselves gods and decided to show Equestria what a real god could do. He spent the next thousand years warping reality and making things very difficult for ponies. However he was overthrown by the Two Sisters, Celestia and Luna, with help of the Elements of Harmony. Once mere Pegasi peasants they achieved enlightenment on there own during the rule of Discord.

"After his defeat the two sisters assumed the role as rulers of Equestria as per tradition with Alicorns. However instead of calling themselves 'Queen' the two sisters, as I'm sure you all know, took the title 'Princess' and declared anyone descended from them was to be called 'Duchess' or 'Prince' well the current nobles retained their titles. They wanted to assure their subjects that they would not hold themselves so above them as their predecessors had done,"

"They even made it impossible for Alicorns to have absolute political power as tradition dictated. They gave each City State the ability to elect someone to represent them on a new Senate. The Senate was to keep the Alicorns in check and hold them accountable as well as have a say in policy. Although Alicorns have the final word in most cases if the Senate votes with a 70% majority against then the Alicorn's ruling is dismissed.

"It should be noted that the Senator also works as the Mayor of their city in between Senate meetings. They are meant to act as the voice of the ponies of their city. However not even they have absolute power even within their borders. Each city has a council of nobles who the mayor must listen to and respect. This makes our current government a mixture of a monarchy and a democracy.

"Since then Celestia has made many social changes, including gender equality in Equestria. She did away with poverty and has turned Equestria into a near utopian society and now that Princess Luna has returned to us things are better then ever. Well Celestia looks at the whole Luna handles the individuals by visiting the dreams of many of her subjects and helping them through personal crisis and... BUTTON!"

Button hurriedly tried to hide his game. Unfortunately it was too late and Cheerlee walked over and held her hoof out. Button groaned but reluctantly handed over his JoyBoy.

"See me during recess," She ordered before walking back to the front of the class and continuing the lecture.

Spike chewed on his bottom lip as the class cleared out and Button reluctantly stepped in front of the teacher. Spike took a deep breath and built up his courage. He got out of his chair and walked over to Cheerlee, "M-miss Cheerlee?" he dared, "B-button wasn't the only one playing videogames... I was playing with him,"

Button stared at the Dragon like he was insane.

"I should receive the same punishment as him," Spike insisted.

Cheerlee smiled, "Thank you for telling me Spike, that was very brave and noble, but Button is in a lot of trouble because this is the 3rd time I caught him playing that game during class. I don't think it be fair to punish you as harshly since this is your first offense,"

"Please Miss Cheerlee, I'd feel just awful otherwise!"

Cheerlee smiled, "Alright Spike but how about I tell you how Button is going to be punished first them you can decide, okay?"

Spike hesitantly nodded.

"Button is going to spend some time over my lap for a firm spanking and after school he'll deliver a note from me to his parents that needs to be signed... do you really want Twilight to learn you got spanked on your first day of school?"

Spike gulped and hesitantly looked at Button, "I-it's only fair,"

Cheerlee continued to smile pleasantly, "Alright," She pulled out her chair from behind her desk and sat down, "Alright boys, both of you get over my lap,"

The boys blushed and crawled over their teacher's lap, pressing right up against each other so they could fit. She patted their butts with her hoof, "Alright boys, you know you're not supposed to play videogames during class right?"

"Yes Miss Cheerlee," Both the boys choired.

"But you did it anyway?"

"Yes Ma'am,"

"That was very very naughty," Cheerlee informed, "and what do naughty colts get?"

Spike blushed well Button wiggle a bit. It felt weird to have fur rubbing against his scales like that.

Button answered, "A spanking Miss Cheerlee,"

"That's right Button. Now Spike, what do naughty boys get?"

"A spanking," Spike blushed.

"That's right," Cheerlee brought her front leg down across both the small bottoms, "They. Get. A. Spanking." SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK. She delivered a series of solid smacks to each getting the boys to cry and squirm from the start.

She began switching between them, going from smacking a scaled to furred hide. She wasn't quite sure how much armor the young dragon's scales provided so she might have been hitting him harder then she would other foals but wasn't giving him as many swats as Button. She wasn't sure if this was the right way to go about this as the litte dragon felt soft, like snake skin.

The boys little legs began to kick as they struggled but Cheerlee had them pinned under her other hoof. The boys continued to cry and gave out little shrieks each time her hoof made contact with their rumps. She smiled as she saw the little dragon's claw tightly grasp Button's hoof and the young colt squeezing right back.

"We're S-sOWWie!" Button cried as his body jetted forward from the force of the smack.

Miss Cheerlee held them both down firmly with her free hoof, pressing the boys tightly next to each other as they both just barely fit over her lap. She held both their tails with that hand and felt them weakly struggle to go back down to protect their rumps.

She gave one last smack and let the boys up. Button reached back with one of his hooves and tenderly rubbed his bottom all the while saying "Ow ow ow ow ow," well Spike did some bizarre little dance where he hopped from foot to foot well rubbing his bottom with his claws. It was cute in a weird way.

"Now wait right there," Cheerlee went to her desk and got out two red notes before quickly writing out a message on both. She then gave the notes to the boys, "Be sure your moms get those as soon as you get home and bring them back signed. Am I clear boys?"

Spike sniffed as he took the note "Y-yes Ma'am" well Button looked at it with dreed.

"Alright boys, you can go play now. Enjoy the rest of your recess"

The boys continued to rub their bottoms as they walked outside. As soon as they were free from earshot Button said, "You know you're crazy right?"

"Eh?" Spike blinked.

"Who in their right mind volunteers for a spanking!?" Button gaped.

Spike blushed, "It wouldn't be fair if you got in trouble and I didn't,"

"I guess," Button was still looking at him weird, "... wanna play on the swings? Miss Cheerlee still has my JoyBoy so we can't play with those anymore,"

"How about something that doesn't involve sitting?"

"... we would lay on our bellies and swing. It might even get out butts to cool down from the breeze,"

Spike blushed at the reasoning, "... ok,"

Button Smiled, "Race ya," and immediately took off.

"Hey no fair," Spike gaped before running after him.

Chapter 4: Politics with Twilight

Chapter Four: Politics with Twilight

Princess Twilight Sparkle was frantically looking over her schedule. It was pretty hard to keep up with everything without Spike around. She had trouble just making the list on her own.

She sighed, missing her little assistant already. Unfortunately her duties as Princess couldn't be put off until after school so Spike could help her.

For example her next meeting. She walked into Mayor Mare's office who was busy filling out paperwork. Her unicorn assistances were levitating the papers over to her for her to quickly read and sign.

"You wanted to see me?" Twilight asked.

"Ah yes, Your Highness," Mayor Mare gently shooed away her helpers and put her quil down, "Sorry I was expecting you to stop by more then an hour ago so I decided to catch up on my work. You're usually so punctual,"

Twilight sighed, "Sorry, it's Spike's first day of school and I'm still adjusting to not having him around,"

Mayor Mare chuckled, "You can hardly expect to get used to not having the foals underhoof in one day. Now shall we start the meeting. I have a formal request to make,"

"Of course," Twilight nodded watching as Mayor Mare walked over to her desk and pulled out a large scroll.

"You might not know this but I've been trying to get Princess Celestia to grant Ponyville the rights of a city state for some years now," She informed bringing the scroll over and giving it to Twilight, "Technically right now we are just considered a large village which falls under the jurisdiction of Canterlot but as a City State we would be allowed to participate in setting down national law. It would greatly increase our trade and help with tourism,"

"That sounds good," Twilight nodded. She knew all about the benefits of being one of the city states. She had been Celestia's apprentice after all and learned a lot about politics, if not just from watching her. This meant she understood the disadvantages of being a City State as well. They could no longer rely on Canterlot's army and would have to form their own royal guard. They would also have more responsibilities and a greater level of independence which could be good or bad.

Mayor Mare continued, "Princess Celestia has denied my various request, stating that Ponyville was just not ready, but after you ascended into an Alicorn she has been giving us a longer leash. She even allowed Ponyville to participate in the Equestria Games. That was a big step in the public's recognition of us... if you were to make the request of her..."

"You want me to ask Princess Celestia if we can be a City State?" Twilight blinked.

"With respect, I think she is waiting for you to ask. You are already considered Ponyville's Princess but it isn't actually official. You would need to personally tell Princess Celestia your ready to lead. You've taken on a large amount of responsibility since you became the Princess of friendship but most of what you do in Ponyville you aren't actually required to since you are technically a resident and not our official Princess. You've been doing the job for near a year now regardless so I think it's time to make it official,"

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She knew the town relied on her a lot but actually seperating from Canterlot and declaring herself Ponyville's official Princess? She didn't even like it when ponies called her by her title.

"In here," Mayor Mare patted the scroll Twilight was now holding, "Are my suggestion for turning Ponyville into a City State. You need to have a firm grasp on where you want Ponyville to go in order for the request to be taken seriously. Firstly there is the matter of officially recognizing Spike as Ponyville's prince,"

"What?" Twilight blinked.

"Well he is your ward and he helps you a great deal with your duties. I think he will be able to handle the responsibility when he's older. Don't you?"

"O-of course," Twilight fumbled over her words for a moment. Spike might let the title 'Prince' go to his head though.

"Much of Ponyville already understands him to be our prince but sadly most of our population believe him to be your... servant," truthfully most of the townsfolk thought Spike was her dragon slave or some kind of familiar.

"WHAT!?" Twilight gaped.

Mayor Mare poked the scroll firmly, "This would help nip that misconception in the bud," she stated, "Next we have the matter of selecting the City's nobles. Obviously you would want your friends to fill that role,"

"I would?" Twilight blinked again.

"Please take this more seriously your highness. If Ponyville is truly to became a City State you would need to hold yourself with highest confidence,"

"R-right," Twilight blushed but steeled herself and tried to act more Regal, "Yes, yes of course but what I mean to say is why would my friends be a good choice? Other then being my friends I mean,"

"Well you already run a 'Council of Friendship' with them were you spread across Equestria handling diplomatic disturbances both large and small. This means each of them have the essential understanding of what it means to be in a position of authority,"

'By solving Friendship problems?' Twilight thought to herself.

"And if they were genuine nobles ponies would be more inclined to listen to them when you send them off on one of these diplomatic ventures. And although you might not realize this the very fact they are your friends plays a large part. They can keep you grounded and won't be afraid to disagree with you or call you out when they think you have gone too far. Such qualities are the very reason City States have governesses to begin with,"

"Well... I imagine Rarity would love being a Governess... still, I need to talk with them to see if they are willing to take the job,"

"Of course and I have one final suggestion for a noble to serve on the Council,"

"Who?"

"Filthy Rich, his family is largely responsible for making Ponyville what it is today. Making him a noble would make him happy and insure his family maintain it's roots here bringing us more business. It would also help him spread his influence and potentially make more money which would again help Ponyville. Also, although it is rude to say, having a stallion on your Council would make you look very good and progressive,"

"So you want a token Stallion," Twilight gaped.

"No of course not, I never meant to imply that. Everything I said was true. Having him serve on your Council would greatly help. His family, along with the Apples, are responsible for building this town and should be recognized for that. As Applejack is serving on your Council of Friendship and would already be made a noble her family would be represented properly. The Rich family might actually be insulted if you gave the Apples such an honor and not them as they are equally responsible for building this town. Besides Filthy Rich is a reasonable colt, even if his wife is a bit unbearable, and his heir has had a dramatic change of heart and might actually be capable of doing some good herself when she's older. Their family already understands politics and you would need someone with such experience as one of your advisors." the fact he was a Stallion, which would look good to the voters, was just a bonus.

Twilight nodded, "That makes sense, I would like to read over the scroll myself, make a few adjustments and get back to you later this week,"

"Of course your highness, that is exactly what you should do,"

A few hours later Twilight's friends were sitting around the map in her house. She just finished explaining in detail the request as well as had a copy of the scroll in front of each of them. She had decided to reschedule her other meetings for later in the day as she was already far behind and this was important... Spike was probably in recess by now, her mind strangely wondered.

Applejack eyed the scroll with disdain, "So Mayor Mare wants us to become fancy-fied nobles. Sorry Twilight but I don't think I'm really cut out for that,"

Rarity scoffed, "Oh Applejack don't let yourself miss out on the opportunity. If nothing else think of what being a Governess will do for your family business. You'll be selling apple confectionaries all across Equestria,"

"I already sell all across Equestria," AJ informed, "I got an agreement with Filthy Rich,"

Rarity shook her head, "I promise you dear it will be great for business. You went to sell apples at the Grand Galloping Gala in order to increase your client base,"

"And look how that turned out,"

"My point is as a governess you will have all those doors opened to you automatically. You're sales will easily increase three fold by the end of the year,"

AJ blinked, "You think so,"

"I know so darling. You might not even be nearly as depend on Filthy Rich as you could start selling to other large companies as well."

"I don't know about that. The Riches and Apples have been doing business since Grannie was a filly, since before Celestia and Luna were even born,"

"You would still be doing business with him of course but you'd also be selling to a lot of other ponies as well,"

Applejack sighed, "I suppose it couldn't hurt. I just ain't like the idea of having to rub elbows with all those snobs. Having to go to the Gala was bad enough,"

Rarity dismissed, "Trust me darling it will be magnificent,"

Twilight assured, "You'll all be compensated as well,"

Rainbow Dash blinked, "Compensated? for getting to be kick ass royalty?"

Twilight sighed, "Being a Governess comes with a lot of responsibility, not just from you but from your family and future generations. It's customary to give the families enough money to support themselves. Governesses have an average salary of twenty thousand bits a month"

The entire room grew quite before Rainbow Dash screamed, "I'm RICH!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Normally that money is gotten from collected Taxes but if we do this the private vault in the Castle will became the town treasury. Money from taxes will go in there and everything else in Ponyville will be paid for through it. I'll have to set up a smaller vault and just pay myself a monthly check out of the castle's vault instead of just buying everything I please like I have been doing... Mayor Mare suggested keeping taxes as a matter of 'Sales Tax' and 'Business Tax' exclusively so we aren't charging ponies more money then they can afford to buy,"

AJ shrugged, "I don't know Twilight, those business taxes are a mite high. Half of what I make goes into taxes,"

"Same here," Rarity nodded.

Pinkie shrugged "Come on they have to get their money from somewhere. And if you didn't give so many bits too the government how could I afford to pay for all those parties?"

Rainbow Dash gaped, "You mean our TAXES pay for your parties,"

Pinkie shrugged, "Well I am the town's party pony. I try to keep things fun but simple so not to take too much money out of the treasury,"

Twilight shrugged, "With how a pony's mood can effect the environment around her it's important to keep them happy. Why wouldn't taxes be used to pay for morale maintenance?"

Dash groaned, "So that meant my birthiversary must have taken a lot out of the Treasury," she moped.

Pinkie shrugged, "Well no, Cheese Sandwich is a certified party pony. He gets funding from Celestia herself to be used at his discretion as he throws parties all around the country. Best. Job. EVER!" she cheered.

Pinkie continued, "I get a small salary from the city as a government employee but I have to work a second job at Sugarcube Corner. Luckily they let me live in a spare bedroom as part of my paycheck. All the party stuff comes out of the treasury so I don't actually have to pay for any of that myself. There are over ten thousand ponies living in Ponyville and I have to plan parties for each one of their birthdays, big ones for when the foals earn their Cutie Marks, not to mention the holidays and festivals. I could never afford all that on my own, but like I said I try to keep everything on a strict budget so I don't impact the treasury too much. Parties are great but the Treasury also pays for the hospital's upkeep, the city wide health insurance policy, the school house, other government employees and offices, and stuff like that. I don't want to be taking their money"

Dash was staring at Pinkie. With how much of an airhead the pink Earth Pony could be it was easy to forget sometimes that she was not only considerate but really smart.

"Wait a minute!" Pinkie suddenly gaped, "If we do this whole Governess thing won't that mean I'll be working THREE jobs!?"

Twilight calmed, "Honestly all a governesses really does is advice their Princess or Mayor, which you gals already do. It just be giving you an official title... and a nice salary," she assured.

"Oh, Okay I'm in," Pinkie bounced.

Twilight looked around at the others.

AJ sighed, "Yeah I guess I'm in too,"

Rarity smiled, "This will be fabulous darlings, just wait and see,"

Rainbow Dash grinned, "You bet I'm in,"

Twilight looked over at the last member of their group, "Fluttershy, you've been pretty quiet,"

"It's just..." the yellow Pegasus tried to explain them choked back her nerves, "I suppose I could give it a try if everyone else is," this sounded like a lot of responsibility and she didn't know if she was really cut out for it. She had made great strides these past few years but to become a legitimate pony in authority? It was a lot to take in but if she had her friends with her she could manage.

"Then it's settled," Twilight smiled, "Now we just need to go through every detail of this request letter and make adjustments where we see fit, SPIKE!" she called then blushed when she remembered Spike was at school. She noticed her friends were looking at her funny. She cleared her throat and said, "Let's get started,"

Chapter 5: Discovering Friends New & Old