Blueblood Has A Point

Friendship Ambassador Spike was getting a bit big to walk around the palace gardens, but right now, he could still manage it.

The gardens had expanded over time. New alliances with new lands had led to samples of new plants, and Princess Twilight Sparkle had seen an opportunity. There were numerous sections in the gardens, each with soil carefully maintained, small weather zones placed to ensure ideal temperature and humidity, and a hundred of other little things done to make sure the plants were healthy. Tours for botany students often went through the gardens, and when certain specimens were needed for medical reasons, or other important research, and the palace would generously donate.

The animal collection in the gardens had, conversely, gone down over the years. While some had grown up in Canterlot before her ascension, and it would've been more harm than good to uproot them, Twilight had thrown her full support behind Sweet Feather Sanctuary, especially after Fluttershy's passing, and now all new exotic animals that were gifted to the palace went there instead.

The garden had grown slowly, and so had he. He'd stalled out at a minotaur-like size for significant time, and then had started up again, and it was only in the last couple of decades that he'd had to stop walking on his hind limbs. His did his best to walk with care, placing his claws where they wouldn't either harm the plants or his apprentice prancing at his side.

Chinook Wind was a kirin born within Equestria's borders, the grandfilly of immigrants, and she admirably kept up with his strides with a trot that occasionally shifted into a canter and back again. Her scales were a bluish shade that reminded him of Ember's scales, and it wasn't the only point of comparison between two of them, as she'd been a prickly filly when they'd first met, prone to starting small fires, and only now starting to mellow.

"So, one thing you've got to know," Spike started once he was sure that Chinook was paying attention to him and not the flowers; she had grown up in Vanhoover, and so could still be a bit of a tourist when she visited Canterlot. "Is that diplomacy is a bit different than ordinary friendship."

Her ear twitched, and she tilted her head at him. "How?"

He paused, and shifted his weight to one side, letting him raise a forelimb so he could count off on a claw. "Well, for one thing, you might be asked to make friends with a creature that you wouldn't normally. They might have an abrasive reputation, made a bad first impression, or just seem like they don't have much in common with you, and you might be put off, but you still have to make an attempt, because that's the job."

Her long tail's tip twitched. "...Even if they're a jerk?"

He chuckled. "Sometimes especially then." He counted off on a second claw. "What's jerkishness at first might be culture clash, or them being stressed or upset about something else, or sometimes... Well, sometimes it's like Discord, and making an honest attempt to get to know them throws them right off and shows you a different side of them. It really depends on the creature, but chances are if they're representing their people, someone believes they're qualified to do it, and there's a reason for it."

"I guess that makes sense." She pawed lightly at the ground, sketching out a few letters in Kirinese. "So, if this is Friendship: Hard Mode... where do I even start?"

Spike held up a third claw. "Well, that brings to me the next thing. Sometimes it's better to start with everyone around them. Their family, friends, and even creatures who work for them. Get to know these creatures, chat with them, see if you can make friends with them first. They could let you know things to help you make a good first impression, but even better, they might tell the creature you're trying to befriend good things about you."

"...I can see how that'd work," Chinook grudgingly admitted, and wrote out more Kirinese with her hoof. "I'd be in a better mood meeting someone who'd been nice to my parents, after all." She made a face like she'd eaten a lemon. "Feels a bit manipulative, though."

"It can be," Spike admitted with a shrug. "Diplomacy is always going to be a bit manipulative. You can't fully get away from it, because it relies on getting along when we might not originally want to." He offered a smile, his apprentice used to the amount of sharp teeth the facial expression exposed. "You know how you make sure it isn't the icky kind, though?"

"No, how?"

Rather than keep counting, he extended his forelimb and gave her a gentle poke with one of his claws. "You follow your conscience about it. Don't coldly go through the motions, and instead actually make an attempt to connect. All the tricks are really just about making a good impression and helping them let their guard down so you can connect." He grinned. "Speaking of, you remember how you and Yasmin bonded when she started asking about the book you were reading? How she was curious because she'd never read literature from outside of Yakyakistan before?"

Chinook took a second to regain her balance. Even a gentle prod from Spike could threaten to topple a smaller creature. "Yeah, why?"

"That's one of the best tricks you've got. Novelty. Let them try a new game, new song, new food... It doesn't have to be good, either. You can go to a theatre and laugh and bond over a bad film as much as you can bond over a good one. The point's to make them curious and get them in the right, open mindset."

"Hmm..." Another few letters found themselves scratched in the ground. "I kind of like that one."

"And don't feel bad about taking notes." He tapped nearby where she'd been pawing the earth. "More permanent ones, I mean. About these strategies, or about your new friend. Everyone forgets things sometimes, and it'll help you make sure you don't forget important things, like what you tried together that they liked. I have all kinds of--"

"Well if they aren't edible, why are they in the garden!?"

Both looked up at the shout, and glanced at each other. It only look a few dragon-sized strides to reveal the source. Princess Twilight Sparkle was wearing a carefully-placed, patient smile, but the creature next to her was not. The large deer had his head held high despite the weight of impressive antlers, his ears pointed forward aggressively. A small bush covered in flowers sat between them, presumably the one that the buck had tried to eat.

Spike didn't miss a beat, glancing down at Chinook. "Want to give it a try?"

She grimaced. "He's kinda a jerk..."

"Kinda," Spike agreed pleasantly. "But remember what I said."

"Right." She took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing..."

He watched her trot away, her tail still giving uncertain twitches as she approached the angry deer, and Spike couldn't help but smile as the buck was predictably disarmed at the sight of a young kirin grinning up at him with all the enthusiasm she could muster.

Spike's growth had been slow, but it still happened, and he'd been feeling the pull of a nap for some years now. He could put it off for a while, but wouldn't be able to forever. Dragons needed those long sleeps, and he'd made peace with the fact that he would eventually settle in a nice cave and snooze away a century.

Ember, facing her own sleep, was setting up things for her heir to take on the Dragon Lord title, and he needed to train a new ambassador. Chinook still clearly wasn't sure why he'd chosen her of all creatures, but if his life had taught him anything, it was those who stepped up and took the positions that life thrust upon them who were the best to take them. Ordinary folks could do extraordinary things, if given half a chance.

There would be a Council of Friendship meeting in a few days. The previous members had stepped down, then passed on, and new friends had stepped into those places. Ones who had proven themselves as creatures who could see their princess as not some lofty goddess, but a mare, and could help keep her grounded. They, and their successors, would help keep her steady in his absence, he was sure. She hadn't needed her Number One Assistant directly hovering over her shoulder for a while now.

He watched Chinook coax the deer ambassador to follow her. To the publicly-accessible part of the Canterlot Archives, if he had to hazard a guess, in order to show off some local books. And as he did, he thought of Blueblood. After his retirement, and Spike took the reins, there hadn't been much time to spend together, even for games, but he'd still tried to keep room for the prince at his table.

By the end of his life... Spike liked to think he and Blueblood had been friends. He chose to remember him that way, and leave small tokens of the friendship at his grave, whenever he had the chance.

Spike sighed. The world was evolving so fast, and so many creatures' lives were so short. New magics and technologies, new foes, new friends. Celestia's reign had been a period of stability, and now Twilight's was one of upheaval, with brand new discoveries around every corner. Countless things will have changed when he woke up, he was sure. He couldn't know for certain what the world would look like.

But he had faith that things would be just fine.