Despite all the bumps in the road, spending this last month with Glimmer has proved to be quite enlightening. I was very happy my wife talked me into taking Starlight and her wife under my protection; And while she has yet to publish her “Manifesto” as she calls it, she seems to be making good progress.

At the very least, she’s been taking her instruction on the fundamental ideals of Machiavellianism very well; the more I found out about her village and what went down, the more hope I have for Glimmer’s future as an Equestrian politician. From what I’ve been able to gather, she was quite authoritarian in her rule. She was able to convince an entire village to put her on top, conform to her ideology, and live a life of luxury as a sort of dictator.

Another thing I noticed is that despite my initial impressions of sheepishness, Glimmer can get quite passionate during a debate; as though her banging her horseshoe against a podium like a fucking orangutan wasn’t a good enough hint. Not only that, but I’ve realized she has a tendency to get upset when things don’t go her way. I asked Trixie about it, and she claimed that her wife was inclined towards bursts of rage in the face of great opposition.

I was talking to Emmie about the whole thing, and he compared the village to a classical cult. So what I’m saying is, I have a lot of faith in Glimmer. Hopefully it won’t be like that time the Bosses got Kennedy elected. You know- when he put Bobby in as Attorney General and fucked up Cuba. But let’s be honest- we were never getting back into the casinos and in the end they whacked Jimmy for nothing.

I wonder how Irish’s holding up?

Ah, side tangent. But anyways- my sources for Glimmer’s town are from everywhere but the direct source. I hear stories from Trixie, as well as from my spies and correspondence in Equestria. With the current political turmoil, I had to recall most of my spies to leave only a fraction of highly skilled agents.

And speaking of the political turmoil, The Crown has been… Well, they sure as shit have been doing stuff. When the dust settled from the initial unrest, Palistrade Avenue was left in shambles. The Equestrian stock market crashed in the wake of Ponies dumping all their stocks to recover what little money they can. Were it not for the protests already costing many their jobs, there would be much more layoffs as a direct result of this.

But despite this, the vastness of Equestrian coffers has prevented a full on depression, and is closer to recession. As a result, their money printers are running hot trying to keep up- but despite this, you can only inflate your currency so much when you’re on a gold standard.

Not only that, but a lot of money is going towards a sort of secret police, consisting of regular citizens who report Anti-Equestrian behavior. They currently pay them in gold, but who knows how long Equestria can keep that up? But considering the skyrocketing incarceration rate in Equestria and the labor camps being created to support this prison population, ponies may very well start being paid in grain in the near to far-ish future. And of course, these labor camps were created after weakening the nobility by increasing the power of the crown. Because of the clear state of emergency surrounding them, in what I believe to be an unironically good move, Twilight granted Parliament the right to vote to seize land from the nobility to use as they saw fit.

Adding to the dumpster fire, when the nobility fought back, they found themselves facing the same treatment as the commoners they’ve been working so hard to oppress! Something that, when Glimmer heard the news of, she started busting out laughing. But that’s not even starting with the corpo’s. A lot of Equestrian companies are filing for bankruptcy and some industries are in the process of being nationalized to protect them from going under.

A bunch of CEO’s tried to immigrate to Griffonia early on, many of such applications were denied. I made it clear from day one that we are not a tax haven. I set up a couple immigration checkpoints in the busier ports a few years ago, and they’ve been serving me well. The basic stuff- name, occupation, past criminal records, reason for entering the Syndicate, a check for disease.

No passport? That’s fine, the boat you came from should be heading back soon enough. If not, we’ll get you a boat. Oh, you're sick? Don’t worry, we'll let you stay in one of our quarantine wards until you're healthy enough to sail. Jorji, that passport is drawn up in crayon. We can’t risk (openly) accommodating wanted criminals within the borders of our great nation.

Glory to the Syndicate!

Anyways… Barnyard Bargain’s is doing okay, just not as good as it should. It’s like a Walmart, or a K-mart; because of the sheer size of Bargain’s, as well as the steady profits from the Griffonian branch, Ol’ Daddy Rich has a bit of a safety net. As Rich told me, Bargain’s is, and I quote, “Not meeting my high expectations and falling behind on the standards which made my company so great.” Which is about as much of a generic corporate response as I’ve ever heard.

Side note- Glimmer has gotten into… a couple of ideological debates with my father-in-law at the dinner table, which Dee and I find hilarious. They’re so opposed politically that they could get into an argument as to which foot you start walking with. All the meanwhile, Trixie is always getting flustered by trying (and failing) to get her wife to calm down and eat her dinner.

Not gonna lie- during a private conversation I accidentally let slip to Glimmer that were it not for the fact that my wife loved him, I’d have had him whacked for insubordination. I almost backpedaled on that statement, wondering if it was too much… but she laughed. Then she went to joke about how Anastasia would miss her Grampa if he took a dirt nap; I couldn’t help but smile.

I’ve been trying to instill in her the mindset of It’s just business since day one, and I think it’s starting to pay off. When you’re even adjacent to the business, you become desensitized to it. That’s why a lot of these innocent wives that married into the family (back on Earth) just became numb to it all. The death, the killing, the greasiness- it’s just something to be expected. Your husband gets pinched, just stay calm and carry on. Your husband gets whacked, you cry at his funeral and hope your kids don’t meet the same fate, if they haven’t already. Actually if your husband gets whacked, you gotta be paranoid for a while that you might be next… but that’s not part of this metaphor.

Despite this… Glimmer feels different, somehow. When I was introducing her to my Crew on a saturday evening, she had this glimmer in her eyes… pun not intended. But I could tell- she was watching how the crowd moved for me, how the suck-ups had to be held back by the bouncers. I’d tip a fat wad of bills to every employee in the joint that so much as moved a drink in my direction and not even wait for a response before I’m back to what I was doing. Groups of fellow socialites gifted our table ludicrously expensive bottles of booze until I had to tell everyone to knock it off before we ran out of table space.

At one point (Before she got wasted and started ranting socialist rhetoric like a teenager that snuck into a college bar and had too much to drink) she turned to me and whispered, “This is amazing!”

And I just straight up told her, whispering back that I thought “For us, any other way to live is nuts. Those goody-good people who work shit jobs and worry about bills like good citizens are suckers. They got no balls; but if we want something, we take it. When King Grover sent us out to fight in his name, he never expected his entire army and people to turn on him.”

And that was the truth of it all. And if anyone complains twice, they get hit so bad that, honest to fuck, they never complained again.

God. Writing that made me think of Maria somehow and… Ugh. No. Not thinking about her again. She’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do. Distraction. Distraction.

Diamond Tiara. My beloved.

As for her, we’ve all been excited for another baby. Mamma was always happy to have another around and Rich seemed pleased that his daughter was gonna have a foal of her own. In fact, I’ve been thinking about the foal to distract my mind from Maria.

She decided to ask Emmie because he’s probably our closest (male) pony friend. He’s been living in Griffonia for a good five years now, as I’ve essentially been funding his research into the occult, along with Tony who had recently been engaged with my friend. As it turns out, they hit it off real fast when I first introduced them. They stuck around that pizza joint until they closed and Tony invited Emmie to stay at his house, which was just down the road.

The rest is history. Very, very gay history. But as for my wife- when she finally was able to build up to the question, Emmie answered with, and I quote:

“I’m afraid not! As a magician with a vast knowledge of the cosmos, my power would evaporate upon being sullied by the touch of a mare!” If you thought I was a wiseass, you’ve never met Mind’s Eye. My wife was heartbroken for barely a second before she groaned and rolled her eyes, and Emmie clarified- “I’m… not sure if I want to say yes… but I’m absolutely open to the idea!”

Emmie, being engaged and fruiter than an apple tree, understandably didn’t want to bang my wife. Conversely- Dee, being married and fruitier than a peach tree, didn’t want to bang Emmie directly. To be honest, the only reason she joined Adrian and I that time was because I was there. As a result- we decided that artificial insemination was the route to go.

And so, it was decided. Tony has no problem with his future husband being Godfather to my wife’s child, as they already see Anastasia as a niece. She especially loves it when her Uncle Em takes the time to teach her little factoids of ancient Griffonian lore, and the awesome dreamscape scenes painted by her Uncle Tony serve to captivate her imagination; and speaking of these scenes, I’ve started calling the dreamy city from which they originated Carcosa, for the lack of a better name.

But I digress. We all entered a verbal agreement where at any point before my wife goes into heat, if any of us had second thoughts on the matter, we were to speak up. I didn’t think it would be an issue, though; for Emmie’s part, all he has to do is play the role of power bottom to his spouse and aim for the cup.

As for Dee, her preparations were just as light. She was given a draught of boiled and distilled silphium to promote fertility, and a group of unicorn doctors were hired specifically to take care of my wife throughout the process. She had it all planned out- one of our guest bedrooms was converted into a tiny maternity ward; we even had to knock down a wall and use another guest room because of all the emergency equipment. The head doctor, a unicorn named Dr Feel Good, does not moonlight as a porn star despite the obvious name.

Just thought I'd bring that up.

Apparently, the hospital isn’t good enough for her. I think my wife may be a little high maintenance.

But before we started any of that stuff, Emmie did warn us: his eye was the result of birth defect, possibly a mutation of sorts before he was born. But according to my wife, Eh, if he’s not worried then I’m not worried.

Fair enough.

But while that was going on, I was at a rally; this one marking the reformation of the Griffonian education system. It had been going on for years at this point, while propaganda and (definitely not biased) studies convinced the people to rally up in support. But that’s not to say I’m not confident that my reformations will work; on the contraire, I’m so confident in its efficacy that I just had to make sure the majority was on board. But then again- that’s just good practice and planning.

You gotta ease the people into the sweeping reforms, you know?

The rally was just blowing a bunch of smoke up people’s asses before the school year started. Like a sort of, Hey! School year’s almost starting, sign your kids up! It’s free! Aren’t I so great?? Aren’t I? Oh, also. Sign your kids up, I’m not giving you the choice. Seriously. And they better be caught up on their vaccines! If my baby gets the bird flu, I will be immensely pissed.

Or something like that.

That’s right- primary school, being first grade through twelfth, is absolutely free! Paid for by other sources, of course; nothing’s free, after all. Believe me, I know that better than anyone. As it turns out, when you properly tax the rich, your national coffers are all the more lined with gold. Who would’ve thought? But besides that, I have a plan that’s been years in the making which will make me a very wealthy woman. It’s a big score, one that’ll make Lufthansa look like a fuckin’ gas station robbery in the projects.

Not telling, of course!

Anyways… that’s not all we changed. For example: Elementary school. It is, I believe, one of the most important stages of development in life. It’s where they get to dip their toes into a separate, independent life after spending five years under constant guidance from their parents.

The parent(s) teach you the basics: how to talk, the simplest forms of mathematics and grammar. You teach their primordial, animalistic brain how to present themself as you teach them about how polite society functions. You let them participate in your local culture, and try your best to answer the million-and-one questions they’ll inevitably have about their new world. Then, at five, they get sent to school.

The day goes from 9AM to 5PM. I think that's more than fair-it'll give the kids a little extra time to sleep. Plus, 9-5 is the most common type of shift. But even still- through the unions,it's pretty easy to get the time off, paid, to make sure your kid gets to school on time; coupled with the bus routes set up all over the city just for the students, I doubt attendance will be an issue.

In elementary school, lifelong bonds may be formed. It’s where you learn to truly co-operate with your peers to find your place in the world. My reforms were designed to heavily emphasize this fact as students are encouraged to work together to find answers. There’s only so much you can do with elementary- a lot of it consists of memorizing the most basic fundamentals of various subjects. Basically- you can’t make a bunch of kids sit and read a dictionary, obviously. But what you can do is make them get together and read a colorful book full of pictures and easy words, and allow them to learn subconsciously. Not only that- but a heavy emphasis on life experiments, hands-on experiences, and semi-regular field trips serve to stimulate their brains and keep their attention.

As for secondary school, consisting of grades 5-12, a lot of these ideas still stuck and were adapted for the more advanced students. For many kids, book learning is not their forte, and I don’t blame them. When I was in prison, I read and learned for the lack of anything better to do. Here, I read a fuckton, as it was necessary for understanding the world around me.

But why does it all have to be so clinical and boring? Don’t just read about the collapse of the Zebra age; encourage the students to picture what it felt like to be alive at the time, watching their world fall apart around them. Take them on field trips to the sites and monuments of our most ancient civilizations. Don’t just tell the kids what happens when you mix different compounds and chemicals; show them what happens! Don’t teach the kids about bacteria and disease with a bunch of flat chalk drawings- take them to your school’s theater room and show them one of the many colorful animations made specifically as a teacher's aid.

And those cartoons? We went all out. It was one of the first ideas I put forward early on that was met with near-unanimous agreement. For the past five or so years we’ve had animators, educators, and entertainers working together full-time to create educational short films; many of which may or may not contain “”subtle”” propaganda.

Hell, there’s even a series on the founding of the Syndicate depicting me and my friends, along with the plot that allowed the syndicate to form… voiced by me! It was presented as a sort of documentary for kids, with animated versions of Dee and I answering questions they might have, or elaborating on certain things. There was also an entirely different version made for high-school. It’s a lot more honest about the darker aspect and filmed live-action, but glossed over the… extent of civilian life lost.

These decisions weren’t just made by me, of course. I actually had a council formed consisting of teachers and educators throughout the syndicate, and there were a lot of open forums and invitations sent out to discuss the matter. But the bottom line is, quite frankly… the smart kids of today make the cool shit of the future. Need I say more?

As for colleges and trade schools, we decided to keep them privatized but to regulate them heavily. It’s almost like a union, but for students. If they have an issue, they send their complaints and petitions up the usual channels. You know how at a lot of colleges, they make you buy books every year even though little changed? Yeah, fuck that. If I wasn’t dating a rich girl in college, Id’ve been fucked.

But generally, I left the colleges alone. They’re institutions that are based on interest; Someone who doesn’t like animals won’t go to college to learn animal husbandry, you know? As a result of this, it would likely be too detrimental to subject the colleges to such strict standardization. One thing we will be monitoring, however, are tuition fees. Obviously we’ve been monitoring them from day one; what I mean is, I’d like to make it so that in the future, tuition fees can be adjusted based on demand. Right now, tuition in practical engineering and the sciences are particularly cheap to encourage as many bright minds as possible to try for entry; on the contraire, tuition in fields such as history, philosophy and the arts have been bumped up a bit.

While I have great respect for artists, philosophers, and historians, I simply have no use for them right now. If the Census Bureau is correct, there’s gonna be a massive increase in the labor pool in a couple years; ammonia fertilizer has brought the price of fresh foods down, and combined with the economy finally having been un-fucked, Griffonia experienced quite the baby boom. But the bottom line is, blue collar work is respectable, difficult, and takes very little brain power. You can train a bunch of guys to read a blueprint; but it takes years of dedication and practice to actually engineer the project.

Of course, there’s also another reason I lined the education reform up with the baby boom; simply put, I would be remiss to not take advantage of all those soft, impressionable brains. The schools are full of Syndicate iconography; my flag was flown in every classroom and in the morning, the children recited a pledge.

Not gonna lie, I can’t remember how it went; but generally, it was about swearing undying loyalty to your Don and country, yadda yadda, don’t fuck around and don’t find out type shit.

Even better, anti-syndicalist behavior and ideas are monitored, reprimanded, and very much illegal. Hopefully, all the good-government bullshit will convince a few kids to rat out their parents.

This was one of the many things not voted on by committee. I’m not a teacher, but I’m damn good at planning; which is to say, I have a lot of ideas for these schools. In addition to all the propaganda designed to make me look good, I’ve also pushed for the implementation of life skill classes.

Every day, there will be a period dedicated to a particular monthly subject called Life Skills; important skills like cooking, driving, and firearms instruction among other things. For primary school, however, these classes are a bit different. They’re Safety Skills; rather, they’re formatted as an instruction class, these classes serve as PSA’s to keep them safe in this rapidly-changing world.

As for these safety classes, I thought it best to go the route of honest truth on the various subjects. For example, Firearms Knowledge and Safety. It goes over how guns work, how effective they are, and how incredibly dangerous they are… if you don’t know what you’re doing. Negligent discharges happen, but they can almost always be avoided. It was funny- in some of the test runs we did to gauge how entertained the kids were, we discovered they loved watching us shoot watermelons. So we said to them- If you’re ever cleaning your gun, always check the chamber! Otherwise, you’ll end up like mister watermelon!

After the class we had them take a short quiz to determine who was paying attention to the actual lessons and who was just watching watermelons pop all afternoon, and I have to say- I was quite pleased with the results. Of course, we had all kinds of other classes- stop drop and roll, how to properly talk to cops, phone and calculator usage, all kinds of shit!

But what we really leaned into, aside from firearms, were the anti-drug campaigns aimed at teenagers in the middle of their school career. Once again, we went the path of brutal honesty- show the kids the dangers of drugs to scare them, but don’t turn your example into a caricature. Teach them about how drug tolerance works. Tell them how truly easy it is to get hooked on that junk. A lot of the time what we’ll do is we’ll bring in ex-junkies to tell their story. The teens look on in disgust and horror at how this seemingly typical griffon got so desperately hooked on opium that he started freelance hookin’ just to stay high and homeless. What? They’re teens. They know what sex is, believe me.

Source: I was a teenager once, who interacted with many other teenagers my age, on more than one occasion. Hell, I lost my v-card at 14 to, of all the fucking ponies in Ponyville, fucking Twist. We were extremely drunk at a party and I lost some random ass bet, and she made me promise to teach her how to kiss. I said Made, but realistically, her pudgy ass couldn’t do shit to me. But regardless, one thing led to another and next thing I know, I’m waking up with a pounding headache cuddled up against the fuckin lamest girl in school.

Sex… Education. We also have that, right around when they’re (supposed to be) hitting puberty. Originally, I’d never thought about that… then Mamma made a great point one night. She said- “Maybe they should be taught about safe sex practices?”

At first I gave her a look that said I’m sorry, huh? But then she said, “While it worked out wonderfully for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way… I remember, there were quite a few girls in my school who had their lives ruined by an unexpected pregnancy.”

We talked more than that, but I realized- she was absolutely right. And while it wouldn’t have been as easy to avoid in her day, advances in synthetic rubber technology have improved more than just tires; among other things, it’s finally feasible to wrap up a griffonian barbed dick in a thin membrane of rubber. That’s what all my hard work was for- so that for the first time in history, griffons don’t have to slum it with whatever animal skins they could wrap their dick in.

Snrk.

But anyways-

Look. I get it. It sounds bad- out of context, it sounds like they’re being taught how to have sex, or where to find drugs, or how to shoot someone with a gun… but here’s the thing. If I can convince some kid, a single kid even, to just call a cab instead of wrapping his car around a tree on the way from the bar, it’ll be worth it. If only a single kid bothers to check the chamber of Daddy’s hunting rifle before cleaning it, it’ll be worth it. If a single kid stops his parents from jaywalking and forces them to look both ways, it’ll be worth it. If a single teenager stops in the middle of the heat of passion to put on a condom, which are available judgment-free and literally-free from their school, and uses the would-be child support money to go on to college, it will be well worth the awkward conversations at home.

It’s like elementary school for wiseguys! The Golden Rule is not Treat others how you wish to be treated. The Syndicate’s Golden Rule is If you throw a punch, don’t be surprised to receive a punch. It’s a family friendly version of fuck around and find out, and I think it’s beautiful. This is the lesson I hope to instill deep down into every griffonian citizen- Stay out of trouble and don’t fuck around, and you’ll live the good life.

I could go on and on about how these schools will better emphasize mental health and independence. I want the kids to feel like they’re important, that their voices matter to those above them. I want them to look forward to going to school every day, to learn in a safe, supportive environment. And I know my solutions are hardly catch-all solutions. Some kids just don’t find learning to be fun or interesting, or a lot of them may still struggle with math and whatnot. I get it!

But what I’m trying to avoid is using the same awful school system that, I believe, failed me and many others on Earth. I honestly resent my lack of basic education as a human. It’s a travesty; those fuckers made history boring! Literally, fucking history books that got donated to that prison library after it was presumably hot-potatoed through the charities and landed in the prison system, are the reason I’ve been able to build my Syndicate! I remembered falling into a kind of depression for a few years over it; if the teachers had bothered to make their lessons even a little interesting, I might never have gotten slapped with that death sentence!

Note to self- Prison reform. Gotta look into it sometime.

But back to schools- there’s also the Census Bureau, created in semi-secret. Basically, the idea is to covertly profile every future Griffonian citizen and store them in various bunkers throughout the land. Things like anti-syndicate sentiments are not just punished; they’re put into their record, if it’s serious enough. This record, in the future, will be accessible to the various unions for interview purposes.

If someone has a heavy streak of anti-syndicalist behavior, it may make it difficult to gain employment. But generally speaking, public outcry for my actions have been shockingly minimal; whistleblowers tend to disappear rather quietly, after all. And besides, who wants to fight the status quo? This was a fucking military coup, and no single griffon is dumb enough to try anything… and those that do?

Hoo, boy…

That aside, there’s one more thing I have my Census guys working on; all students that are above 18 must take a yearly physical. You know- determine their weight, strength, size, diseases or deformities, what have you. The kind of stuff you’d want to know before implementing compulsory military service, after all. But that’s still a few years away.

All this to say… Anastasia’s starting school soon. And as much as I want her to be my baby forever, she’s getting older. It makes me, and the rest of the family, quite sad knowing she won’t be around the house as often; but despite the temporary heartbreak, I know it’ll be good for her. I met the love of my life and one of my best pony friends in school, and I refuse to deprive her of that opportunity.

I was in my office, and the 7-o-clock sun filtered through the silently swaying drapes of an open window. Smoke from a recently-quenched cigarette gently wafted out of the room as I made sure my outfit was straight. Instead of being behind my desk, I was sitting in one of the other chairs in the room, with another directly next to it.

I was about to have a sit down; a very important one, at that. It was so serious and private that I didn’t even have Ross or Adrian here.

“Door’s unlocked.” I said from the comfortable armchair. This is it. It’s finally happening. The door creaked open, and Anastasia walked in with an equally serious expression. “Sit down. We gotta talk.”

She did as I asked, sitting in the armchair next to me. Her deadly serious, almost commanding facial expression resembled one I can often find in my own mirror. I taught her well, and I never bothered hiding the darker aspects of the family business from her.

“You think you’re ready?” I asked her, voice full of apprehension.

Anastasia smirked. “No, I know I’m ready!” She said, voice full of pride and confidence. She is a very smart girl, but at the same time more hot headed than I; something that in time, I hope to curb.

I put a hand to my beak, acting like I was absorbed in thought. I hid my smile behind my beak as I beheld her somewhat nervous face. “Tell ya’ what. We’ll do a preliminary exam to see if you’ve been listening when I talk.”

Annie smiled. “What you wanna know?” she had a sly tone in her voice that told me maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. Guess you’ll find out?

I just clicked my tongue, glancing off to the side. “Let’s… say…” I trailed off somewhat, thinking of an example. “Say some kid tries shoving you around. Now what?” Without even skipping a beat, she told me she would-

“Shove him back, hard enough for him to hit the ground.” I nodded, but I wasn’t done yet.

“Let’s say he comes back with friends. Then what?” I asked her, and she clicked her tongue.

“Get… my friends together, preferably outnumbering the kid.” She didn’t have to elaborate on what to do next, as she already said it once.

“What if he has more friends than you? Then what?” She took a few moments to formulate her response, but I was alright with that. I assured her she could take all the time she needed to think about the situation. But as soon as I said that, her rapid eye movements told me she was piecing it all together, and she gasped.

“I dunno!” She yelled, spreading her arms wide. “At this point, I’d either try to talk ‘em down or go to one of my bodyguards!” I’ll be honest, I burst out laughing.

“Annie, Annie…” I said, my laughter dying down. “That’s not… exactly the answer I was looking for, but it’s still a valid answer. It shows you think outside the box.” I ruffled her head feathers and chuckled. “Speaking of which- when you punch someone, where do you aim?”

She rolled her eyes at me like I’d just asked her what color the sky was. She balled her fist and gently rested her knuckles right over the decking-zone on the lower jaw. That’s where you wanna go for in a fight because you’re more likely to knock someone out that way.

Call me a terrible mother, I don’t give a fuck. But I will never let my daughter get fucked around when I’m not there to protect her. But I was on to another line of questioning.

“Okay, let’s say… In class, if they try to teach you anything that contradicts something I taught you, you…?” I had a wide grin on my face, one which my daughter matched. We each took in a breath and belted out the answer.

“Fuhgeddaboutit!” I couldn’t help but scooping her into my arms, squeezing her close. For context- some of the details on the curriculum have been changed or straight up censored to make me look better.

I set her back down on the couch and ruffled her headfeathers. “Alright, alright, you know what you’re doin’. Just remember what I told you. Be kind to your peers, but don’t be weak. And if your kindness is mistaken for weakness?”

“Make an example!” she shouted her answer instantly, and I fist-bumped her. Then, I wrapped a wing around her back and gently led her off the chair, the two of us heading to the door, side by side.

“Okay, ya’ little gremlin. Let’s get you somethin’ to eat and we’ll head out.” I said casually, and my baby nodded, giving me a quick Okay, Mamma!

On the way out, I stopped with my hand still on the doorknob. I let out a deep sigh and turned to my daughter, looking into her big, amber eyes. “Someday, Annie…” I said to her, using an arm to gesture around the room with a nostalgic smile. “Someday, you’ll be calling the shots around here. You’ll have a bunch of loyal pals of your own and the wealth of the nation behind you.” But the nostalgic smile morphed into one of genuine seriousness. “But that respect has to be earned. Never resort to your fists before anything else, capiche?”

With a wide smile, she said- “I know, Mamma!” She’s a smart kid. I trust her, signified by me playfully slapping her on the back.

“Let’s eat, I’m starvin’” I mused aloud, and my daughter's rumbling tummy agreed.

We went downstairs and enjoyed the breakfast Mamma cooked for us, consisting of eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, toast made from fresh bread with strawberry jam, orange juice and some actually good coffee. The potatoes were fried in fat left by the bacon, and let me tell you; it’s like an orgasm of the mouth. It was just direct family at the table, as we often did when we wanted privacy. Besides- all the rooms have their own tables set up and Tonio is more than happy to just bring their food up on trays. I mean, it’s not like it’s difficult. We had an extra-spacious dumbwaiter used to bring up multiple trays of food or other things; instead of Tonio making a couple trips up and down stairs, he only has to do one. We actually had to keep the thing locked for a while because Anastasia would hide in it.

“Hey, Mamma.” I said with a smug grin. “Remember my first day of school when I had a bowl of cereal?” Mamma rolled her eyes while we all shared a laugh. That’s basically how breakfast went; most of us sitting around chatting about all the good times.

We were heading out a bit early to get to the school before everyone else did, but there was only one problem; I couldn’t find my keys!

“Anyone seen ‘em?” I asked, checking between the couch cushions. Dee was rooting through drawers when Annie laughed and said-

“Did you check where you last left ‘em?” One of the best skills I’ve learned is how to tell someone not to do something, without directly telling them not to. Just as it works on adults, my baby is able to pick up on subtext surprisingly well.

“You wanna know somethin’, Anastasia?” Her giggling stopped immediately, recognizing my tone and usage of her entire name. She nervously glanced around, trying to avoid eye contact. “I never understood why people ask that. If I remembered, I wouldn’t have to look for them, would I?” I put a hand to her shoulder and regarded her with a smile. “I feel like it insults my intelligence, you know?”

After a few moments, she made eye contact and nodded. “I get it, Mamma! I’m sorry…” I just chuckled, ruffling her feathers again.

“Honey, don’t be sorry, just don’t do it again. You just gotta think about your words; sometimes, people get the wrong impression.” She nodded rapidly.

“Of course, Mamma!” I gave her a quick atta girl! Before resuming the search for my keys.

Turns out, I left them in the car last night. Fucks sakes.

I was driving Annie to school, Dee riding shotgun and Annie buckled in the back seat. We just shared stories about our experiences with school, and I think we blew her mind when we told her that her Mommy and I met in school. It was all so long ago now. It’s strange, really. Somedays, I get the feeling that it all happened just last week. Twenty-five years is, paradoxically, excruciatingly long and mind-bendingly fast.

The new elementary school was state of the art for the modern era, and I was quite happy that Anastasia had the opportunity to experience it. It was a decent sized building, being built of red brick and standing two floors tall. The white frame and small-paned windows contrasted wonderfully with the black tiled roof, with a rounded pantheon-esque dome on top, the bell nestled just beneath; Adjacently disconnected and constructed in a similar style were the library and gymnasium buildings, all of which had accommodations for the many diverse students attending grades one through six.

There were two other buildings on the school ground, the least notable of which was a large utilitarian bus depot; the simply plain structure, rectangular and protected by a tin roof with a nearby mechanics garage, was strategically placed behind a small “fence” of trees, so it wouldn’t contrast heavily with the picturesque architecture of the main campus.

Depending on who you ask, perhaps the most significant monument was a sort of “trial run” for the aptly-named Carcosan Style of architecture, based on the awesome dreamscapes within Tony’s head. It was the auditorium, the inside of which was filled with all the amenities and niceties of a modern theater, with acoustic panelling and roof shape, comfortable audience seating, configurable stage, and climate control. The whole thing was made with the idea that all the schools in the city could essentially “book” appointments for concerts, plays, and that sort of stuff. The external façade, however, was something entirely different from anything I’ve ever seen outside of drawings.

It gave off the impression of something ancient juxtaposed with something futuristic. Ancient, in its resemblance to a Greek temple, being a large rectangular structure of ornately plastered trimming on the roof and corners, with ginormous stone blocks making up the majority. But these bricks were far from ordinary; they were tan, shaped like an arched “eight” made of flat lines. The corner plaster was carved with patterns on the bottom resembling burning flame; the top of the corners was a carved rainstorm. The columns were made from cylindrical stones cut in such a way that they interlock by tightly “screwing” into each other; so instead of being made of discs of stones which can move out of place over time, they should stay defiantly locked in place for millenia. And surmounting the entire structure was the semi-flat triangular roof, It having had the most detail put into it. It was carved beautifully as a relief consisting of the classical Yellow Sign in the center; to the left were depictions of the various subspecies of griffons, and to the right in the same order were the avians which most closely resemble our progenitors.

Whatever it originally represented has been lost to time. Whether Carcosa is even a real place on Equus, or if the architecture and location were even called Carcosa, is totally up to speculation among the very few people that know its origin. That didn’t matter, though; now, it represented a united Griffonian cultural identity. It’s about a people that endured hardship together via teamwork and cooperation. It means we can do anything we put our mind to- not for fun, but to improve the lives of untold millions. It wasn’t Nalotian, Northumbrian, Catlian, Corvinian, or even Fertilian; It was Griffonian, and it was marvellous.

However, earlier I stated depending on who you ask for a reason. To Anastasia, the most important architectural feat wasn’t the school or even the alien auditorium; rather, most important were the large indoor and outdoor playgrounds, where she’ll have an hour a day to eat her lunch and play with her friends. I don’t blame her, though.

We were pulled up outside the building to let Anastasia out and give her a hug and kiss goodbye.

“You’ll have fun, baby.” My wife assured her, wrapping a hoof around her back. Unlike me on my first day, she didn’t seem nervous at all.

“Stay safe and stay out of trouble, ya’ hear?” I asked her, pulling her in for a hug and kissing her on the forehead.

“I know, Mamma!” she said, excitedly sprinting towards the entrance of the auditorium as the bell rang out, her saddlebags bouncing up and down with her lucky yo-yo, clipped to the side. We gave her that for her recent birthday, and she’s brought it everywhere since. “Bye Mommy, bye Mamma! Love you!”

“Love you too, baby! Try and learn somethin’ while you’re there!” I yelled back to her as Dee wrapped a hoof around my back. I heard her sniffle and wrapped both my arms around her.

“Come on, honey. Let’s get to the car.” But despite being nearly brought to tears, I could tell she was happy; after all, she’d be going into heat soon and we all were excited about that… not for perverted reasons, but because that’s her best opportunity to get pregnant… that still sounds oddly perverted, somehow.

Bottom line is, my wife wants a foal, and by fuck she will get a foal. But, you know- it won’t be by fuck, since we’re doing it artificially through… ah, you get the idea. For now, though, I was gonna head home. Dee and Trixie were going out to get their hooves polished, so Glimmer figured that she could try to finish her most recent work.

The wheels are turning, and I’m very excited to see where the road leads from here.

Author's Note

I have a discord server for this fic out now!! It'd be real cool if u joined :333

I'm sure Anastasia won't let the fact that she's the Boss's daughter get to her head :p

As always, thanks so much for reading! Likes and comments are greatly appreciated :3