In the peak of any being's mating season, the female can begin to initiate a cycle called estrus in the warmer seasons. And during those times when the many are expected to prepare for the long winter months, there is a cycle called anestrus. Both cycles run in tandem together much like yin and yang, achieving polar opposite purposes. One is where the body can tell you that you should be invested in having offspring, the other tells you to focus on your own survival in the often inhospitable weather.

Although, with the modern improvements to home building, anestrus for equines have become a thing of the past, allowing for ponies to more actively procreate out of mere recreation. Species like yaks, bovines, bison, arimaspi, and griffons still carry out their anestrus cycles, provided that they remain in their native climates. Meanwhile those who don't, or creatures in more temperate dwellings likes ponies, kirin, hippogriffs, and zebra do not. The only drawback is that the estrus cycles, in spite of being in more climate-controlled dwellings, will actively worsen and go on for longer periods of time. Some creatures like diamond dogs, abyssinians, and dragons are periodically activated on cycle with the possibility of synchronizing along with others. So while we can procreate recreationally, those periods of time can be a peculiar nuisance.

However, there are even fewer species who offer themselves the luxury of being able to mate without any time-bound limit or seasonal window. Humans and changelings are often the outliers. For them, it's only the matter of a light switch, turn it off to get your relatively docile setting, or turn it on to get your hyper-engaged setting. And since both creatures are masters of adaptation to their climate, they have no need for things like anestrus or estrus cycles. The females of their species may encounter periodic hormonal changes, but neither truly stop the process of seeking a mate. Long story short, they don't start until when triggered, and they don't stop until they're ready.

Having that said...

Smolder and I were beyond unprepared for an activated changeling engaging in hyper mode. It seems that our little bid for fun ended up in an unexpected romp that lasted for hours and hours and hours on end. So instead of watching a movie for a few hours while messing over some unwanted pizza crusts, Smolder and I left a box and a half of uneaten pizza on table, a prompt on the TV screen questioning if we were still watching the movie currently on hold, a bunch of knocked-over furnishings, and a bed with a cracked box spring.

I have never expected myself to be used in such a manner where I could be seen as disposable. I have never seen Smolder be in a position where she's the submissive one. I've also never had my dick sucked, orgasmed, and then milked for another load... twenty-seven times in a row. I didn't think chafing was a thing during sex, but I soon find that out while lying in a bed with my dick on semi soft, and there's a changeling cackling like a maniacal despot overlooking the razed ruin of her conquest. Smolder tapped out hours ago, she's clutched and clutched until her muscles cramped. I gave until there were naught but ghost loads. And still I am made to thrust. The changeling, she's feeding on every moment I'm brought to a painful rapture, so much that her wings are prismatic and florescent in the otherwise pitch black room.

Queen Chrysalis' daughter indeed... a greed befitting a cruel dictator with the endurance of stone, and the determination of a crazed loli hellbent on absorbing all the magic of Equestria for herself. That last comparison is more of a nod to Cozy Glow, but it's even more of an affirmation that her plan held no flame to the changeling that currently grinds herself against my pelvis with the same broken cackle her mother once had in her prime.

Dear Princess Twilight: What I learned about friendship today is that I should NEVER, IN ANY CAPACITY, BULLY THE CHANGELING THAT HAS MATED TWO DRAGONS AT ONCE... AND WON BY TWO COUNTS OF SUBMISSION.

My alarm wakes me to get ready for my day, and my hips and legs do more than remember the torture Ocellus provided after nibbling both her ears. I look down to see I'm sheathed but aching a bit from all the extracurricular activity. Smolder's lying on the edge of the bed, legs splayed open and no covers to air herself out. She's out like a rock. And comfortably coiled up in our tails is none other than the changeling responsible for our current state.

Smolder stirs after I deactivate my alarm. Ocellus sits up and stretches her hooves like she's had a good night's rest. The changeling is the first to speak. "Morning, you two. How are my lovely dragon buns doing today?"

Smolder groans groggily from her sleep. "Why are we still called buns? Can you call us something else other than that?"

"What, I like being sandwiched between the both of you." She says as she yanks us both into her. Her wings give off a light buzz as she nuzzles herself between our bodies. The both of us groan, fearing that she was still in an activated mood. "What, don't tell me you two are still complaining about last night. We can go another round if you want, I'm game. "

"Please no." Smolder complains.

"Well you both shouldn't have pushed me into that. Maybe next time you won't overload my triggers so suddenly to cause me to go into breeder mode. Now, do we have an understanding my, lovely dragon buns?"

"Yes ma'am." The both of us dragons grumble in unison.

*♪Life in Equestria shimmeeeers! Life in Equestria Shiiiiiiines♫!─*

Already expecting the call, I cut my ringer short to answer it. "Y'all hold up a sec." I advise to the pair before tending to the princess on the other line. "Hello?"

"Spike. You and I are going to have a long talk, mister."

"What did I do this time?" I ask with a roll of my eyes.

"Look, I know you're a growing drake, and it's normal for you to go have fun on occasion. But what I don't need to hear about is what Rarity ran into on Friday night. I don't need to hear about whoever doing whatever to that part of you in such graphic detail! You know she talks about those things on the frequent, and now I and the others have to hear about it! Sweetie Belle even caught it on camera!"

Yeah, I figured she'd say something about that. "Sorry."

I almost want to place my phone down and do something else while she continues her rant. "I get it, you're young, but you have the funds to get a room. Do that there instead of a club like you're asking for trouble. The press is already trying to get any scoop for whatever reason to publish out to the masses for a small bag of bits, and a story of you receiving fellatio in a VIP booth will NOT go over well for us! It can ultimately get out past the boarders of the country, and then you'll get a reputation of being some sex-crazed party boy looking for some dignitary's daughter to defile! Equestria can't do business with a pseudo pervert in charge of foreign relations! You got that!?"

"Got it." I answer without much life in my words.

"Good. Now you haven't forgot what today is, right?"

"No, I didn't forget." I mumble.

"Good. Now report to the castle for duty so that I can take the time I need to make good for myself, and try to make Rarity forget about what she saw from her 'young and innocent Spikey Wikey' on Friday."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Be there in a bit." I answer, mashing the end-call icon so quick that it's a secondary nature at this point.

Ocellus teases me over my getting chewed out, as though she wasn't also the root of the problem. "You gotta go now?"

"Duty calls." I answer.

The changeling expresses her disappointment. "Aww... now my sandwich is ruined!"

"Pizza's still on the table if you want to heat up a slice for the go." Smolder suggests.

I get off the bed and start my way towards the bathroom. "Eh, I'll do that after my shower.

From the moment I set foot to the castle grounds, I'm already being greeted by a number of the guards on post and the maids working the grounds. Once more, I'm back in my place of work and residence, mainly the former. And already, things are off to a dry start. And I don't mean dry by the sense of bad, just by the means of my day looking to be as uneventful as ever.

"Morning, sir!" A non-commanding officer snaps with a salute.

"Morning." I say as I walk into the castle foyer.

The maids continue their work as they keep their eyes on their assigned tasks. And much like usual, I am greeted by a cream-colored unicorn mare with a black mane with a few silver hairs between here or there. Her brown eyes lock on to me as she approaches with a firm and professional tone. "Good morning, Sir Friendship Advisor Spike!" Her name is Raven Inkwell, one of the few holdovers from Celestia's administration. Twilight was already familiar with her workflow and opted to keep her after Celestia visually certified her retirement. From there, she did everything to keep Twilight from Twilighting and to keep me honest on all my work.

"Morning to you, Inkwell." I say as I continue walking.

While she's not as fast as she used to be keeping up with Celestia, she's still sharp on giving herself a head start to keep pace with whoever she walks with. "Sir, the princess has this scroll she wishes you to follow." She's also a stickler for paperwork, another reason why Twilight hasn't retired her yet.

"Of course she does." I mutter to myself before taking the scroll. Once I started to unroll it, I felt the familiar weight of parchment pulling me down mentally. Even as the bottom of the scroll drops and unfurls several feet out behind me, I can't help but to roll my eyes in annoyance and disgust. In a rapid motion, I start to roll back up the seemingly ever-ongoing parchment. "Can you just photograph this and convert this into PDF format for me?"

"The princess figured you would want that, I've already sent you the PDF in your email. This, however, is just the physical copy in case something were to happen to your mobile device."

Always prepared for the unlikely occasion, another reason why Twilight kept her around. "Typical."

"She also wished you'd take more initiative in not ignoring your physical mediums for digital substitutions." And traditional, she's all about maintaining the status quo, even as evolution proceeds to give us alternatives that would make this magnitudes easier. Yup, she's not getting fired anytime soon.

"Yeah I know. But given it is a stupid reason, I've elected not to give a damn. I'm not making my arms sore carrying a bunch of paperwork around like we haven't gone through the troubles of trading for access to human tech. If we're going to do this, we're going to keep it efficient and smooth. Now if you would so kindly fetch me my phone charger, we can get started." She summons one for me to use, it's not mine but it fits my device all the same. "Much obliged."

"Sir!"

Oh yeah, in speaking of holdouts from Celestia's administration, here comes another one now. "Captain Solemn Oath, you're as diligent as ever. Status report."

She's the current captain of the guard, replacing the previous captain of the guard who was... safeguarded to say the least. I don't mean he was lazy or entitled by any means, but Celestia did actively keep him away from a lot of the additional drama and world-saving missions that popped up soon after that necro-terrorist incident from years back. And when she retired, he did the same as per some personal agreement they had with one another. His stint was always controversial in the eyes of many, a human who suddenly popped up in the realm gets trained for a few months, then thrown to the captain's seat soon after basic training, goes on a few missions, saves the world once, and then gets thrown in a glass trophy case for everyone to see. It didn't go well with a lot of the guards from the initial offset, and it especially didn't go well with Solemn Oath.

The two did, however, learn to work together. And in doing so, they earned a mutual respect for one another. But when it was his time to hang it up, he tabbed her for the job. Twilight wasn't so sure if she could keep the job, she actually made several requests for him to not retire and build up ranks before doing so. But part of that was really because she had a thing for him. He reinforced his decision, left the city, and Solemn Oath's been pretty much working uphill since then. I can't say she's done a bad job, if anything she's by the book.

The lack of large scale problems have been mostly because of the element bearers. But she's been great at one thing in particular, and that's nipping the issue from the bud. Equestria's been quiet in part because of her bypassing a lot of bureaucratic red tape. Twilight only enables her to do so, and it's achieved notable merit. She's here because of her proactive nature. "Security level is at green."

"It's been green for almost a year now." Green is a step above blue, which means we're still pretty damn quiet, albeit with a few incidents needing preemptive intervention.

"Well the only reason it's been elevated is because of the uptick in demonstrations from the denizens of the old Corrotto guilds. If we knew where they were all popping up from, we'd be in better shape. We'd probably might even go blue for a change." Did I mention she's a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to public safety?

"Green isn't a problem either."

"But it's still something of note to take into concern. We should always be cautious." She's also quite argumentative.

"Look, these weirdos will phase out after a few more years. It ain't like Corrotto's gonna change back for them anytime soon."

"Believe me when I say that these cultist can hold on to some dangerous habits. I'd recommend a security crackdown that will further prosecute these creatures before they cultivate a stronger following." Once more, she shows the same proactive nature that keeps her seat filled.

"Are our surveillance figures not enough?"

"They aren't doing a bad job. It's just that more and more reports are starting to crop up." By up, she means a factor of 3 more protests than this time last year.

Of course the only way to satisfy her is to give her the room to operate when she requests it. "Tell you what, if I give permission to elevate the level to yellow, will that help you find peace with all of this?"

"Personally, orange would do it better." As one can imagine, yellow is a heightened level of alert to indicate there may be a problem in need of addressing on a slightly larger scale. However, orange is to say that there should be some significant military involvement. There are levels like red, brown, and black that could be discussed, but those are for another day.

Right now, I have to explain to her why we can't go that high just yet. "You can't let your past dictate a harsher course of action in an era peace. I can't explain that high of a security level elevation to any of the other diplomats, nomads, and even the citizenry. You're asking for a lot of panic to come from that sharp of an uptick."

"I understand that."

"So then, I'll give you a week of yellow clearance to do what you need to do. You already work quick, so this will probably be best. That way we can write it off as a security drill for a future threat instead of making it a concern to the citizens. Diplomats won't even know a thing, the nomads won't see it as a hinderance to trade. Everyone wins."

"So, limited questioning of creatures of interest?" She inquires.

"Exactly."

"What if they won't talk?"

"I'll trust you'll make the right decision, but I want you to make the more conservative option a priority."

"If that's what you wish, sir." She says with a salute before walking onward. Raven and I stop as we see a growing line of ponies looking to enter the throne room to voice their royal concerns.

"It seems our first item will be a bit overdrawn on time." Raven comments.

"No shit, there's a line for inquiry." I say as we walk into the throne room. I practically burst off into my seat just to keep the others from waiting for me to sit down. "Okay, send the first one in." I prompt to the unicorn secretary.

She nods and signals to two of the guards at the door, both donning silver armor and moon sigils on their chests to signify their high ranks. The doors open to reveal yet another guard, this one with a crystalline sheen and a slicked back mane. He seems to hail from the Crystal Empire. The stallion approaches reverently and bows. "Sir Spike the brave, honorable, and glorious."

"Ah, so you're from up north." I acknowledge, a little amused over the different figure breaking the mold of my expectations right out the gate. I'm sure Twilight would like to keep tabs on the family up that way. "Okay, I know your trip was pretty exhausting, coming so far south. I'll try to keep you a short while so you can get some rest. How's everything going with the royal family up that way? What's the update?"

The stallion gives a heavy sigh as he gives me exactly what I ask for. "Sir, Sombra cultists have continued their insurrectionist campaign against the Crystal Empire."

The news is surprising considering how strong the imperial tandem have become over the passing years. Cadance knows world-breaking magic and Shining is a juggernaut of brutal precision when wielding a blade. And Flurry is already showing signs of taking both their attributes as her own, all while exhibiting rapid mental, physical, magical, and spiritual growth. A certain victory was what I'm expecting. "Still? I thought Shining would've nixed that in the bud by now."

"Well the reason for the cultists' strengthened front is their newly acquired skill in the art of beast-taming. It's been keeping most of the forces busy taking down some much larger beasts known natively to the mountains."

That's not good. "Princess Cadance, how's she?"

"She's been keeping a barrier over the city for the time being. Her magic still holds strong." That's typical of her, she's put out barriers that have put Shining's to shame.

"Have they requested reinforcements?"

"So far there have been no such requests in pending." Ah, Shining's afraid to ask his younger sister for help. I guess he's not quite over the fact that his little sister controls the kingdom at large, much less being higher in status. He doesn't like to show it, but his pride has cracks in it. These are one of these cracks he likes to hide until they inevitably get worse.

"Then let's beat them to the punch." Since Twilight is out, she'll just have to go searching in the paperwork to find out what happening. Meh, I'm sure she'll keep mum on it until they meet the next time. For now, there are more important matters that need resolving. "Second Lieutenant Cobalt!" One of the guards at the door saluted firmly. "I wish you to send a platoon of guards to aid the Crystal Guardians up north. The situation is deemed stable, but anything can and will change that. It will be our job to make sure that stability is maintained." I guess Solemn Oath's proactiveness is wearing on me.

"Sir!"

I turn my attention back to our guest from the north. "How's Flurry Heart?"

"She's growing more and more eager in her pursuit of magic. She wishes also for Princess Twilight to give her instruction should she find the time."

Yeah, she'll do it... and probably dump the remaining workload on me as always. That's gonna be fun. "I'll be sure to pass that one on to her."

"Thank you, sir." He says with a final bow before exiting the room from whence he came.

As he leaves, I call for the next group of individuals. "State your business."

Instead of being a guard from up north, this one is a guard from in town. "Sir, a situation update on an issue taking place in the Corrotto town square."

"Cultists?" I guess.

"Not so much cultists, just a small group of protestors arguing that the museum is, and I quote, 'Inaccurate to all accounts of the incident that occurred seven years ago.' They say the displays are inaccurate representations."

Well I guess it's time to find out what these guys are all about, and how to deal with them. Let's do a lightening round. "Do they advocate for a return of the old Corrotto?"

"Yes."

Probably not cultists, but definitely regurgitating cultist talking points. I shouldn't let them go about freely spreading misinformation, but I shouldn't lock them away without knowing what's the deal. Better to play it safe. "Have them detained for questioning. See what their motives are. After that, report your findings and we'll move from there."

"Sir!"

The second guard departed and a residential informant walks forward to give me an update from the south. "State your business."

"Sir, there's been an influx of complaints made about the school down in Ponyville. Many parents have requested an explanation from the princess as to why their youth have been granted the option of touring the memorial museum. They cite the extremity of the displays as a primary concern."

Of course they do. Goddammit, this is where the civil complaints begin. "...This is going to be a long day."

It took at least four hours to go through that line of ponies all looking to voice their concerns and opinions. It went from residential informants giving me updates on the towns across the land, to groups of complaining citizens looking to get some sort of grant, all the way to a bunch of noisy politicians complaining about their bills not getting a look in parliament. I simply tell them that accepting donations from larger corporations and personal business interest groups are not allowed in the coming cycle of elections. I then remind them why that law was passed to begin with. They then complain, I don't budge, they look at me as though they want to legislate my existence into a grey area of legality, and the process repeats another fifteen times.

I don't care what the list says at this point, I'm going out for lunch.

I go to a local hotspot for great food and drinks down in the Corrotto District. I shoot a quick text to Smolder and Ocellus to see if they're still in town. They shoot me back saying that they had left town and arrived back in Ponyville about an hour ago. Guess that just leaves me to my lonesome.

I sit at the counter, watching the game on the TV. It seems to be a competitive matchup of American football. I barely know what the emblems represent location-wise but the team names are just as easy to read on screen. It's Cowboys vs Colts, and there's a minute and some change on the clock. Looks like the Colts are losing. "Quarterback takes the snap. Three defenders on him, he avoids the blitz, throws into heavy coverage! HAINES! A ONE-ARM CATCH JUST BEFORE FALLING OUT OF BOUNDS FOR THE HUGE 53 YARD RECEPTION! And that will put them in the red zone, first and 10 on the 18 yard line! The QB is rushing everyone to the line of scrimmage! They're going up-tempo! Ryan takes the snap. Colts will go to Haines again, AND HE SCORES AGAIN! TOUCHDOWN, INDIANAPOLIS! HAINES GETS FREE FROM HIS DEFENDER AND HAULS IN A SPECTACULAR SET OF CATCHES TO PUT THE COLTS UP BY TWO! EXTRA KICK... WIDE LEFT!"

"Spoiler alert, Colts lose." One stallion says to me as he sits himself down.

While I'm not exactly a human sports fanatic, it's hard to not keep up with the only two teams that everyone seems to go for here in this world; Colts and Broncos being the only two teams that are remotely equine-themed. And last I checked, it's currently March. "Ain't the season over? Superbowl was like last month."

"Yup." He says as he extends his hoof for me to bump. "We ain't win shit, obviously."

I return the gesture, knowing by voice who the stallion is sitting next to me. "Didn't think you'd be stalking around here, Stanton."

"Hey now, low profile. Keep it that way." He says as his ears pin back and his head ducks low.

"Oh, sorry." I quietly apologize to the disguised human.

"It's been pretty lively around here these days. What's been going on?" He asks as we sit in a mostly empty sports bar, the both of us missing the busier post-lunch rush.

"New museum opened up in the entertainment district. There's been some... well... dissent."

"I can imagine." He scoffs sarcastically.

"Hey, you know what Alex's been up to?" I ask him.

"Overseas trade deals and shit. Guy is running a Fortune 500, he's all over the place these days."

"You've kept in touch?"

"Not really, not as much as I should. I've got my schedule, plus he's been hard to reach out to. I'd argue he's harder to talk to than Nondis, but I can at least tail him down. The moment he posts a picture to Instagram, it's like 'Oh, he's in Shanghai. He's in Shibuya. London, Paris, New York, L.A., Berlin, Dubai, whatever.' Shit like that, it's there. With Nondis, it's fucking 'Where's Waldo' in this big ass foreign world where there's hardly any cell phone reception outside of the bigger towns. And then there's the fucking boat. Like I don't even have one of those, I want one but my damn accountant is all up in my shit telling me not to buy one. When did that asshole learn to sail a fucking luxury-class yacht?"

"I guess he picked it up during retirement." I say as a waiter provides me with a menu to choose from.

"How many times do I have to tell people, that man still has a job. He's the damn crosswalk guard for some elementary school in Silver Shoals. You'd think with a job like that, he's easy to find."

Huh... strange career choice after being Captain of the Royal Guard. "A cross-walk guard? He retired from the actual guard that pays like triple that salary to help fillies walk across the street? A street with no trolleys or drawn carts?"

"Like bro, c'mon." The waiter offers him a menu as well. "Thanks."

As I lean over the counter, my mind is mostly made up on what I'm going to eat. "So, what brings you around here?"

"Gave myself a vacay. All the hustle and bustle of the human world is fun at times, but the mental strain of being in the midst of all the politics, social issues, social media, discrimination, economic warfare is the main one I'm seeing these days, it's too much to keep absorbing. Like there were two football games I went to where we had a moment of silence to honor the victims of mass shootings. Yeah, getting away is a pretty nice alternative if you ask me. I mainly come here to unplug."

"You ain't got no girlfriend to take that off your shoulders, at least rub you down a bit?" I give him a playful nudge.

"Spike, I'm a pro athlete. Every woman I've ran into thus far has been all about child support or Instagram status. The most successful relationship I ever had was to this one lady who had a premium Snap. And that was my junior year in college before I dipped to the draft. After that, my PR team said I couldn't stick with it because of her notoriety online, that and the fact that I have some identifiable tattoos on my person. Yeah, had to cut it after that."

"Damn, sounds rough." I comment as we both get our drinks.

"Oh yeah. We were pretty good about each other too. But she liked being a sex worker and I didn't want to take that away from her because that was her empowerment, you know. I mean she was a baddie too." He gives out a dejected sigh before going in for his first sip. "Gotta admit, no woman ever turned me out like she did, or even kept it real like she did. Goddamn, I miss her."

"Maybe you should reconnect." I suggest.

"Can't." He says from the side of his mouth.

"Why not?"

"COVID got to her before I could. Shit took her out just like it did Melanie's parents, she died in December of that year. It is what it is." He says before taking another swig.

Wow, shitty news. "Sorry to hear that."

"It's life, especially in our world these days." He says as he places his menu down to get his order out the way. "Let me get the fried pickles, and the Seafarer Shrimp Special. Cocktail sauce on the side."

The waiter takes down his order and looks to me. "You ready to order, sir?"

"I'll get the Griffon's Choice." I announce. The waiter takes our menus and we continue our conversation. "So... you plan on seeing someone else?"

"Dunno, might have my eye on someone, but I don't know how it will work out though. What about you? I know you got something goin' on by now."

My pelvis still hurts thinking about it. "Yeah. It's a fun one. I'm thinking of giving herding a try."

"Hey, you be careful of who's heart you toy with. I know some girls ain't into that. Try to be open about it before you get things moving." He warns.

"We did. They came to me about it. Thankfully we've all been knowing each other for some years, so I guess those first few steps can get moved aside."

"Well that's good." He says as he takes another gulp of his beer. "So, you say they're pretty close to you already? They from Ponyville?"

"Well... yes and no." I begin. But before I can get to explaining, the doors of the bar open to reveal a pegasus guard dressed in their uniform. They quickly fly over to me to salute me.

"Sir."

Damn, my lunchbreak ain't worth shit. "Give me a sec." I turn my full attention to the armored pegasus. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but your presence has been requested at the castle."

I call for the waiter. "Hey, you guys do deliveries?"

"No sir, but we do takeouts." He answers.

"Okay then." Well I'll send a maid to get my food then. Too bad it'll be cold by the time I get it. Now back to this guard who so happily interrupted my lunch. "What am I being asked for?"

"Um, it's a matter of diplomatic sensitivity, sir."

I sigh in defeat as Stanton makes note of the guard's response. "Sounds pretty serious. You probably need to head out then."

"Yeah." I say as I guzzle down my own drink without interruption. "It was good catching up with you again."

"Same here. You've done some growing up since you were no higher than my knees." He says with a smirk, giving me a parting fist bump. "Take care of yourself."

"Will try to."

Arriving back at the castle, I sight out the cream colored middle-aged mare, she's still holding on to that enormous scroll I told her to do away with. I try to quietly avoid her, but her eyes are too quick to cut to me. I try to pretend as though I don't see her, but the next thing that's shoved in my face is the scroll I don't want to carry. Even as she's approaching, she makes sure that I don't sneak out of her sight. "Inkwell, I see you're still bringing the hardware that I'm not gonna ever carry again."

"I understand your intent, more than anyone else, sir. But it's princess' orders that─"

I start walking away with the intent to cut her rant short. "Okay, whatever. My lunch is ruined, I was conversing with a friend, having a nice drink, waiting on some good food, and now my vibes are all fucked up. So let's get down to it, what's the big deal?"

She guides me to the throne room once more. "I sent a guard in the event that you wouldn't check your email on the recommended quarter-hour intervals. If you did, you would've seen that the purpose of your arrival. It's the prince of Ponyland, sir. He highly requests an audience."

Ponyland, ain't that the huge country from the other side of the world? What's a guy like that doing here on today, much less a prince? In all the years I know of and have served, we haven't been able to establish trade and commute with those guys because of some administrative squabbling. It brings up the question. What does he want coming here?"

"Well, sir, see for yourself." She says as she opens the door for me to enter into the throne room.

Upon entering, I see a well-dressed black unicorn stallion with a silver mane. He appears to be looking up at one of the stained glass windows, particularly the one above the throne with Twilight's profile on it. He appears to be mumbling a mess of things to himself just before I grab his attention. "Hello?"

He startles out of his rumblings and sees me standing on the other side of the room. "Ah, you must be Sir Spike, the dragon her majesty speaks of so favorably! How does the day bid you, I hope well." His voice is young and high-timbered. The amount of exuberance catches me off guard, especially coming from a figure who represents Equestria's most established rival.

While he knows my name, I'm not too keen on knowing his. I look to Inkwell with the intent to find out more about him before going any further. "I'm fine, sir. Can you excuse me for just a moment? I'll be with you in a sec."

"Not a problem." He responds.

I walk back to the doorway, whispering to Inkwell. "So... who this be?"

Prince Amor Ambrosia

Ponyland prince, Lesser Blood

"That's High Prince Amor Ambrosia. He's the eighteenth in the line of succession to the Emperor of Ponyland, quite possibly the largest country in the world based on population. I'm sure you'd remember just how prosperous they are, had you gone on the visit with Princess Twilight."

I vexingly combat her pointed commentary with an excuse. "Hey, sorry. My visit to that place was postponed to an unforeseeable date on the account of a nasty stomach virus, if I recall that correctly." In truth, I was dealing with something else, and I wasn't up for it.

"Forgive me, I was under the impression that you were faking it rather than being present for the meeting of the global powers that takes place every five years." Well she's not wrong there. "But back to our topic at hoof. He usually attends to represent Ponyland in it's entirety, and that summit is also where he first laid eyes on Princess Twilight. He and she seemed to be frequent writers at one point."

Oh... so she has been treading the international waters a bit. "Frequent writers? Like how frequent and on what subject?"

"The matter of the letters were deemed classified, but the frequency to which the letters were exchanged could be noted to be up to three letters a month, which is more than frequent by their standards."

Yeah, considering that most of the world is still running on the old system of delivering letters and mail, it makes sense that the exchange is so slow. Still, I'm starting to swell with pride. She can finally shut up about her past relationship and how this and that went wrong. Can't wait for these two to get it in. "You think this guy might be trying to send some smoke signals to Twilight over a few things?"

"Perhaps, but their status to one another is a secret even I'm unsure of."

"Right." Maybe she's shy about it. Or maybe there's some sort of taboo going on with the two of them interacting. It's happened before, she's not the only princess who's done it. "Guess I'll let him know Twilight's out and about, and that he can't really reach out to her today."

"Please do so, carefully." She emphasizes in a cautious manner.

I nod and walk back into the room to converse with the bright-eyed prince. "Okay, I apologize for my sudden break away from you. I wanted to be sure that I would approach you with all the respect that's due, your highness. So you are Prince Amor Ambrosio." As I'm bowing to him, he's gone right back to being in Lala Land. "Sir?"

He startles once more and apologizes for his attention's brief absence. "You'll have to forgive me, I have much to inquire about these stained glass windows. They depict much, they're almost like the tapestries back home." His eyes lift to an image of the younger Twilight still with the Element of Magic adorning her head. "And in that one, she looks to be younger."

"Oh, you mean Twilight's initial coronation into the royal fold. Oh yeah, that's her alright. Probably looks a bit smaller than what you remember seeing from the summit two years back."

He sighs longingly, gazing at the portrait. "She's always been beautiful in my eyes."

Yup, he's struck. "You really seem to be all in for her. I hear you two exchange letters."

"We did! We sent out a lot of letters to one another in the first few months, then I guess she started to get a little busy in her schedule. It's been pretty one-sided for a while now." Goddammit, Twilight. "I know that my visit is probably more than unexpected, but I didn't wish to cause an uproar because of it. So I'll hope you'll forgive me for my lack of transparency and the informality of arriving unannounced."

"I get it, not everyone wants to make a scene everywhere you go." I agree quietly, thinking back earlier to my time with Stanton.

"Exactly!" He cheers for a moment before springing back to the reason of his sudden appearance. "So where is she, Princess Twilight?"

"She's out for the day for some R&R. Actually, I think she's gone to the spa with her friends. She and the others had the bulk of their Friendship Summit set for today. I think they should be finishing up with a little indulgent pampering come a few hours from now."

"My heart wishes to stay, but my absence from home is not what one could call a... you know, sanctioned leave." He promptly explains.

Ah, so he snuck out and he's gotta get back home without them noticing. Now I finally get why he wants to keep things low-key. I still look to encourage him. "So... you drop by for an unexpected visit to a foreign land for the sake of love, might as well go the full distance."

"I couldn't!" He argues, much to his own chagrin. "To remain waiting while being unannounced would be an affront to not only her status, but also her dignity. Perhaps my lack of advanced notice has caused her to not be present for my visit. And for that, I will have to take full responsibility."

Damn, he's pretty modest. I wonder why Twilight just decided to pull the olden version of being left on 'seen'. Perhaps if I give her the message myself, she'll give it a little more thought. "So, I know you're probably tired of leaving your heart on some old piece of parchment, but I'll be sure to keep her updated if you leave a message."

He doesn't just accept my offer, he whips out a letter sealed with a dollop of rich blue wax and places it in my claws. "Thank you so much. I haven't been easy on the mind as of late, and you doing this puts me in a much better state. I didn't know if my recent letters have been getting through or if they've been sequestered to some idle pile of brochures trying to inform you of your chariot's extended warranty."

I cackle out loud at his joke. "Right. Don't you hate when they come from a no-name source?"

"Can't even return to sender because the address don't even exist, or it's tethered to some plot of uninhabited rural land."

"Right, damn scams." I say as I take his letter. "But yeah, I'll be sure Twilight sees it."

He gives off a sigh of relief, bowing his head to me to show gratitude. "Thank you so much."

"All in a day's work... if you can call it that."

"Hardly working is the best kind of work, if you ask me." He responds a moment before a stallion walks from behind a pillar wearing a black cloak, approaching him from his side. The figure is masked, but bears a sigil on his cloak. The pair proceeds to walk out of the throne room, but not without the young prince offering his farewell. "Until we meet again, Sir Spike. Ciao."

As he and his shady escort departs down the hall, Inkwell approaches with disbelief over what had just occurred. "I can't believe he showed up like that! To call it bold would be a vast understatement!"

"Eh, I'm sure Twilight would appreciate the boost in her romantic getaways. I think she deserves something like that, we all do. She sure as hell needs it." I say with a smirk, eager to play matchmaker for the two.

Inkwell rolls her eyes at me. "Always referencing the princess' amorous inefficiencies, I see."

I shrug in response. "When do I not?"

Meanwhile at Canterlot Body Promenade...

Within the session room of what is often ranked the most luxurious and reputable spas in town, seven mares continue to sink in the warmth of a heated mineral water pool. More are without mud masks on their faces than not. Twilight is fairly quiet while the others are going about various topics.

However, her sulking has drawn a silence from the others who begin to observe her notable lack of participation in the topics of mutual interests. The high princess doesn't even know that someone is calling out to her as she's going in and out of her zone. "Hellooooo?"

"Huh!? What!?" The purple princess is suddenly made attentive, finally snapping back to the present. "Oh. Sorry."

Rarity calls out to the mentally distracted royal. "Darling, what's the matter?"

"Yeah, ya ain't even asked fer ya usual full-body, hooficure, horn cleanse, preen package." Applejack adds.

"And that's like your favorite thing!" Rainbow Dash adds as she adjusts the slices of zucchini over her eyes. "Even I know that it's good to be treated for what you are every now and then! So what gives?"

Twilight shakes her head as she sinks a little further into the bath. "I'm just thinking about a few things is all."

"Like what?" Fluttershy asks in a soft voice.

"Just... coming of age things." The alicorn briefly explains while trying to negate the topic altogether. "It's not a big deal."

Rarity already has an idea of where the princess' mind is at. "Oh, you mean those coming of age things."

The princess moans out of frustration as she sits back up in her bath. "I swear he's different from what I've known him to be throughout my life! Now he's going into this bad-boy, youth-is-wild, I'll-do-what-is-more-convenient-as-opposed-to-doing-it-by-the-book lifestyle. I don't even know what Spike is these days."

"Well I can tell you what he is: Hung." Calls out the youngest mare of the bunch.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Rarity scolds her younger sister for her brash statement. "Sorry, darling. If it's watching as your sibling grows up and becomes more of an adult, I can clearly empathize."

"I just thought somewhere in my mind that he would stay the same no matter how old he got. To me, he's always been this snarky little dragon who grew warm to mostly anyone. I mean yeah he has his cold moments, but I just thought that part of his... maturity was better subdued. Then I find out he had a serious case of dragon lust, then there's the accidental run-in with him on the dating app, then his late arrival at the processional this past Monday. Now Blue's got a hold of him and I don't know what all he's got going on. I'm starting to believe that he's been around some bad influence. Perhaps his time with the dragons altered him somehow."

Everyone else in the room is silent for just a moment before they start to laugh loudly. Applejack is especially the loudest of the bunch. "Ah shucks, Twilight. Spike ain't did nothing but become more of himself. I mean yer the prettiest of our bunch by a wide country mile and a moon, but you ain't gonna see us broodin' over the fact that ya grew out of yer humble unicorn frame. You gotta look at it like we do!"

Rarity cosigns with another close example of seeing growth. "Darling, we all grow up and out. Look at Fluttershy, she used to be the quiet one with small little moments of whispering her assertions. Now she's more outspoken when she needs to be, and she's not nearly as afraid of taking a runway every now and then."

Fluttershy joins in with her own testimony. "My brother's still the same... despite being a successful hair dresser in Las Pegasus. He's just allocated his usual habit of changing venues to a more regional method. So I guess in a way he is different... still the same lazy brother I know when it comes to other things."

"And that's a lot coming from Fluttershy." Rainbow agrees.

Rarity applies the same prospect to the troubled princess, but with a shifted context. "Don't you think Shining Armor ever saw you that way? I mean you two were so attached for the longest, and then he got married, became the ruler of a city-state, that's had to have changed him in some way too. But then when he saw you get into a relationship, do you think he looked at you in a different light after that?"

Twilight sighs in admittance. "I guess so."

"Ah yeah, that one situation between Shining and your ex." Pinkie mulls.

"You mean OUR ex?" Twilight corrects the pink earth pony.

"Hey, I only kissed him. You and Rarity were the ones who full-on rode the meat train." She argues.

The young mare blurts out her complaint for the direction the topic is taking. "I'm not jealous in any way, thanks for asking."

"Sweetie, you were a literal foal." Rarity stresses.

"And that changes what, the legality of it all? Legal or not, I was still humping pillows with his fine-ass face on it."

Distressed over her younger sister's crass commentary, Rarity calls her by full name. "Sweetie Falabella Belle, please show some candidacy!"

"Just being real about it all. I know I wasn't the only one riding their bed over it." The younger sister points out, calling out her elder subliminally.

The aforementioned sibling gives a dejected sigh. "I'd just wish you'd practice having a bit of a filter."

The younger snaps back. "I. Have. A filter. I use it at the school, I will use it again tomorrow. As for today, much like any other day I'm not at work, that filter can kiss my ass."

The two continue to argue a bit longer. "While I suppose that argument is fair for the time being, not everypony wants to hear about your prepubescent exploits."

"Well we all had them. We all came from somewhere, didn't we? And we're all of age here, might as well keep it real."

Applejack chuckles as she goads on the fashionista. "Sugarcube, you think she's bad about this."

"I know. Your sister's even worse." Rarity complains with admission.

"Would ya believe the fact that she tried to sneak a feller in the barn in the estrus season? She was 'bout to make a lot of trouble fer him! Legally! Ah kept tellin' her about fibbin her age just to get it in with a guy she likes. Darn girl nearly got him arrested."

"I thought he did get arrested." Sweetie says, breaking away from the argument with her sibling.

"By who, Big Mac? Nah, he had other plans." Applejack says before she shifted her tone to a much lower but deadlier one. "Can't say Ah ever reckoned him as an enforcer, that version of him was the most scary. In short, that feller ain't never showed his face in town since then."

"All's well that ends well." Rainbow cheers briefly.

Pinkie goes a little further on the topic with her own unique view. "We all change as we get older, Twilight. Spike is only doing the same, just differently than what you're expecting. I just had my little baby back in late May of last year. But even I know my Little Cheese is gonna grow up too, and he's gonna be different than what I think he's gonna be. It's sad to think about looking forward, but it's also fun to think about too. Now you get to have the more nuanced conversations with him instead of holding back all the time. And he gets to communicate those things with you too. I think that's the much better way to look at it. Like seriously, consider all the conversations you had with your brother and Cadance up till now about relationships. Or even your mom and dad, do you think they talk down to you about it or do they respect the fact that you're grown and keep it honest?"

Pinkie's more rational approach to the princess proves to have the greater effect. Twilight mulls her conversations with Spike and begins to look at things differently. "Maybe you're right, girls. Perhaps I'm just overreacting like always."

Rarity wades over to the princess, giving her a hug. "That's right, darling. Try not to stress it too much. Deep down he's still the same little Spikey Wikey we all remember him to be."

Then comes Sweetie with her off-color retort. "Rarity, you know he's not that little in your eyes anymore. You know how big he is now."

The two siblings strike back up their argument. "Sweetie Belle, I'm going to strangle you if you keep talking."

"I'm just saying, he's obviously on the market. He's young. We've seen he's got some experience. And he's literally built for the ride. Ribbed for your pleasure, if you will."

Twilight's entire face glows red as that statement triggers a vivid reminder of an accidental memory that she can't quite shed out of her mind. She quickly ducks her head under the water and surfaces with the intent to cleanse her mind of the memory, only to fail in obvious fashion. "CAN EVERYPONY STOP SAYING THAT!?"

Rarity cuts her eyes to her younger sister, who continues her ribbing. "What? Oh don't look at me like you wouldn't give that monster a test drive."

"A lady does not offer test drives." Rarity says with a pout.

"A lady also doesn't offer paid parking either, but I guess that excludes us both." Everyone gawks at the comment Sweetie makes about both herself and her sister. Rarity raises up slowly out of the water, horn glowing with a burning sapphire glow. "Hey, I just take after you. You the one who taught me what it's like to go after the finer things in life."

Already sensing where things are headed, Twilight teleports herself and the other four non-combatants out of the pool, following her quick act with the raising of a containment barrier around the quarreling duo. Rainbow Dash sheepishly leans over and side-mouths to Pinkie Pie. "I'm beginning to think there was some merit to having an underground arena built for blood sport."

The pink mare hits her hoof twice into the air. "Sound the bell."

*DING-DING*

Later at the Royal Castle...

After some time away, Twilight appears back in the castle in full regalia. She makes her way towards the royal residential wing, walking silently with an expression that causes many passing workers to not utter a word at her in greeting. Along the way, she and I run into one another.

Inkwell is still with me, but greets the princess warmly. "Your royal highness, it's good to see you again."

While she doesn't pay no mind to the scowl on her face, I can tell that she didn't exactly have a good time. "Hey Twilight. Didn't expect you back so soon."

"I just had some time at the spa with the girls. That's all." Uh oh, something's got her in a really bad mood.

"Summit finale didn't go too well today?" I ask.

"Let's just forget about it. There's always next month." She replies as she walks past me.

I catch her in step, matching her pace as I inform her of our special guest. "So, your boyfriend came by today."

"What boyfriend?" She asks.

"You know, the prince from Ponyland."

Her hooves come to a near screeching halt as she shouts loudly at me. "THE WHAT FROM WHERE!?"

Inkwell appears to look back at me with a nervous and strained expression. "You know, Prince Amor Ambrosio."

"Oh gosh. He came here!?"

She sounds somewhat disgusted at the idea. I wonder if something happened to make her feel this way about him. "Yeah."

"He talked to you?"

Her disgust is very apparent. "Yeah. And he left a note." I said, prompting Inkwell to pass the letter with the wax seal over to the princess.

Twilight levitates the letter and notices the color of the wax seal. She exhales and calls out to the secretary sitting right next to her. "Raven!"

"Yes, your majesty?" She replies with an unquestionably hospitable demeanor.

Without even opening the letter, she levitates it back to the estute secretary. "Sort this with the other letters."

"At once, your majesty." Inkwell complies, seemingly poofing the letter out of existence.

While she appears to be firm on not granting the young prince any sort of audience in that field, I still do my part to come to his defense, at least to see if something could possibly shake between the pair. "Seems like a pretty nice guy. I think you should at least hear him out."

Twilight turns to me with a serious scowl on her face. "Spike, Ponyland is one of our fiercest trade adversaries. Diplomatically speaking, we're supposed to be neutral oppositions at best. Why is a high prince of a foreign nation paying us a visit unannounced? Where was his escort brigade? Why was there no alarm sounded!? Are you that trusting that you're borderline incompetent!?"

I reply back to her. "Other than one guy, he came alone. He also seemed to be on the hush side by sneaking away from home. He did all of that just to see you. I even heard you two were exchanging letters for a while. so I just thought─."

She interrupts me before I can finish. "Yeah we exchanged letters, for diplomatic negotiations and nothing else."

"Diplomatic negotiations, huh? You're doing that when you've literally assigned me to that very field?" I say while folding my arms. "If you're looking for a little extracurricular friendship, you can just say that. We're both grown here."

Her glare turns cold and threatening, her voice even quieter than usual. Her horn gives off a soft pulsing glow to indicate some violent magics are stirring within her. She grits her teeth before loosening her jaw to speak. "Spike, I know you're feeling all boisterous and brave because you've gotten fresh with a few girls who brag about your endowment. But I am not the one to be played with right now, do you understand me?"

I raise my claws, showing that I have no intent to antagonize her. "Hey, put the artillery away, I'm on your side."

"You don't seem to understand, Spike." She mutters.

I take a step back, not trying to show any intent of quelling her anger or forcibly quenching her magic. "I understand he's head over hooves for you. And if this could smooth things out diplomatically, why is that a bad thing? Maybe I'm in the wrong, maybe I'm misunderstood. So please clarify to me what the issue is, and I'll come correct."

For the moment, the two of us have a quiet standoff. I even try to breathe slowly just to show that I'm not trying to batter back against her in some way, because I know her temper is a dangerous thing once she pops off. Even as a unicorn, her fits were so magically explosive that it launched us into the air and sent us crashing back to ground level. She finally takes the first step in calming down, taking deep slow breaths, and even subduing the magic that visibly stirred. Her voice softens again, but still issuing a stern warning. "Let's just leave this alone, never talk about this openly... EVER! We won't have an international incident, we won't have an issue with the reigning king of that realm, and we won't ever have to find out the consequences that entails."

I back out of her way, separating myself to one side of the hall for her to walk by unimpeded. "I just thought the two of you would be cute together. I didn't mean─"

"Spike..." She walks over to the doors of her bedroom, opening the doors to enter inside. "...Just leave me alone today."

Even Inkwell offers her some space as the doors close to the bedroom. I look over to her to inquire what I did wrong. "Was it something I said?"

She's a lot more reserved in her judgement, but takes the side of the storm-minded princess. "Maybe you should keep separate from the princess for a while." She, too, walks off to leave me by my lonesome.

And still, not a word on what I did wrong. "...Sorry?"