Silver Spanner was coming to the conclusion that either everypony in Canterlot was crazy or just flat out insane and should be locked inside a mental ward.

“Who in Equestria needs all of that space?” Silver Spanner waved a hoof out of Sunset’s window over to a nearby house. “I mean, back in Ponyville you’re lucky if you get a three bedroom house. Two storys practically makes you rich.”

“That’s Bluebloods house. He’s somehow related to Celestia,” Twinkleshine answered and poked a plant with a hoof, writing in her notebook. “Ivory Melody’s mom is in the hospital according to Mrs. Gloriosa. This Equestrian Lilac has a very soft feel to it.”

“It’s also poisonous,” Sunset noted without looking up from her position on her bed, turning the page of her book and Twinkleshine froze as Silver Spanner gulped. “But only if you eat it. I found out the hard way. It’s safe to touch and smell.”

Twinkleshine exhaled in relief and added that to the notes she and the others had been taking down.

“What’s that?” Silver Spanner leaned out the window and pointed at some a pale blue house and Sunset looked outside her with a frown.

“Bluebloods house,” Sunset answered and Twinkleshine gagged into a hoof. “That’s about how I feel about him too.”

“He’s annoying and power hungry,” Twinkleshine explained to the confused Silver Spanner. “He’s rude, arrogant and self centered to put it mildly. I’m glad I never have to see or interact with him outside the few times I’ve been to the gala.”

“Lucky,” Sunset muttered and stretched out her bed. “Wish I didn’t have to. But at least he isn’t allowed at any of the national defense meetings or any diplomatic summits anymore after last time.”

Twinkleshine snorted and levitated the Equestrian Lilac back to where it had been sitting on Sunset’s top shelf in a glass case. She had heard some rumors about those two events. Something offending one of the Saddle Arabians daughter and almost causing an international incident. Twinkleshine did recall seeing a upspike in royal guards on duty for the next month until Celestia had smoothed things over somehow.

“How did she fix that again?” Twinkleshine glanced at Sunset and the unicorn grinned widely.

“Made him give a public apology, stay in Saddle Arabia for a year to learn their customs. Oh, and pay a settlement of five hundred bits personally, not from the crown or the treasury. It was nice to see. He did come back a lot more respectful, so there was a benefit,” Sunset chuckled with a smirk and Twinkleshine gave a soft laugh.

“Five hundred bits? T-that’s a lot,” Silver Spanner circled a hoof in the carpet anxiously. More money than Silver Spanner personally thought she would ever see. She spent most of her allowance whenever she did get some on more materials for her projects. “I could buy hundreds of iron for my experimenting. Maybe some more tools. Benzene, hydrogen peroxide from a hospital maybe.”

“Uh, you do know you need a permit to buy Benzene, right?” Sunset asked as she sat up and Silver Spanner frowned. “What do you even need hydrogen peroxide for, anyway?”

“Oh you know, just gonna blow up that Equestrian Office of International Relations down town,” Silver Spanner remarked sarcastically and rolled her eyes as the other two stared at her with stunned expressions. “For legal reasons, that’s a joke. I use it to clean my hooves when I get cut and believe me, I get hurt a lot in my hobby. A lot.”

“Be very careful joking about that,” Sunset warned and looked around nervously. “The royal guard takes stuff like that seriously.”

“Heh, yeah sorry. My friends in Ponyville had a really bucked up sense of humor. I’m really sorry,” Silver Spanner crossed her forelegs awkwardly. “Wooh, this got weird, didn’t it?”

“I’m friends with Lyra. You won’t believe the wildly offensive and outrageous stuff I have to deal with that comes out her mouth,” Twinkleshine deadpanned with a flat expression. “She’s my friend and I love Lyra, but I sometimes need some fresh air. But she is pretty dang good at lightening up boring situations.”

“So I’ve heard,” Silver Spanner mused and Sunset chuckled. “Say, Sunset. What are you doing this Friday?”

“Hanging out at the castle. Probably play some card games with Raven and Mom. Got nothing else going on. Normally, I got some meetings I attend with mom, but nothing is on the schedule. And thank God I have no press conferences with the media,” Sunset answered and growled softly as she slammed a hoof into the pillow as the other two watched.

Sunset always hated having press conferences with the media. They were all idiots in her opinion, twisted her words and reminded her of sharks instead of ponies. Most of the time Sunset had to bite back from telling them what she really thought about their occupation of choice.

Twinkleshine and Silver Spanner made brief eye contact, the white unicorn nodding subtly. Sunset levitated her book on plants back in front of her muzzle as she laid back on her bed, crossing her hind legs.

“Well, wanna have a sleepover?” Twinkleshine took over and Sunset’s book fell onto her lap as she sat up straight, staring in surprise at the other two unicorns.

“R-really? You’d have a sleepover with me?” Sunset poked her chest with a hoof and Twinkleshine nodded along with Silver Spanner a half second later.

“Well, yeah. Why not?” Silver Spanner answered and approached the bed, shooting Sunset a quizzical look and Sunset gestured her forward. “Thanks.”

Silver Spanner struggled to climb on the bed, her hindlegs kicking for a brief second as Twinkleshine nudged her forward with her magic.

“Thanks,” Silver Spanner leaned against the wall as Twinkleshine joined her. “Wow, this is soft. Anyway, I have no friends I guess I’d say outside the two of you really. And well, you said you don’t have any friends at CSGU you said so yeah. Why not? I mean-”

“Yes,” Sunset interrupted her and gave a small smile, wagging her tail a little. “Uhm, who’s house?”

“Here works,” Twinkleshine waved a hoof and elbowed Silver Spanner subtly.

“Castle is fine by me. Maybe you can have those two ponies you grew up with join. I don’t mind if there’s a colt,” Silver Spanner shrugged and received two confused looks. “I grew up with a lot of colts. It’s different back there than it is here.”

“I can imagine,” Sunset answered and tapped a hoof against her thigh. “Hey, wait. We’re friends?”

“I guess? Unless you randomly have sleep overs with strangers. I wouldn’t be opposed to being friends I guess. It would make school a bit more tolerable,” Silver Spanner admitted and the brown mare’s stomach rumbled. “Uhm I may have forgot lunch. I’ll catch you girls later at school. I’ll get my portion of the project done.”

“Actually,” Sunset held up a hoof and Silver Spoon stopped sliding off the bed. “Lunch is soon. Join me and my mom for lunch. Both of you,” Sunset added after a second of thinking.

Twinkleshine managed to catch her jaw before it could drop open. Being invited to lunch by the daughter of the Princess wasn’t something you necessarily turned down. And she was kinda hungry herself, if she was being honest.

“Wow.” That was pretty much the only word going through Silver Spanners mind. “Nice room.”

Twinkleshine was inclined to agree as she looked around the castle dining room. Or well, one of the many she assumed the castle had. Twinkleshine obviously didn’t really spend time around the castle for the obvious reasons.

She ran a hoof along the wall, admiring the gold and striped walls as Silver Spanner continued her examination of the large room.

“Sheesh, they really go big or go home here with you Canterlotians, don’t they?” Silver Spanner asked and Sunset joined her at a window.

“Yeah, I suppose. Hey, what’s Ponyville like?”

“Quiet, unless the Everfree decides to act up and some random monster decides to give Ponyville a visit. Everypony knows everypony. There’s no crime, nopony locks their doors,” Silver Spanner answered and her tail flicked as her eyes looked around, admiring the view.

Sunset was mind blown as she stared at her slackjawed. Everypony in Canterlot locked their doors, even the castle locked their doors. All the royal guards and staff had keys to every door in the castle.

Just because Canterlot was the capital of Equestria and had an obvious heavy royal guard presence, but that didn’t remove crime.

But yet some small town that Sunset could see from her bed room window had seemingly no crime whatsoever or felt unsafe enough to lock their doors at might.

Heck, some ponies even locked their doors during the day. Especially in places like Manehatten or Las Pegasus.

“Most everypony is friends with each other and if they aren’t, they hide it very well. Unless they don’t want to,” Silver Spanner gave a small grin to Sunset. “Trust me, there’s a ponies like that I know.”

“Same.” Sunset sniffed the air briefly and cracked her neck. “Well, lunch is here. Hey mom.”

Celestia leaned down to nuzzle Sunset and everypony else bowed as Sunset hugged the alicorn briefly.

“I see your schoolmates are joining us. Good,” Celestia winked at the two behind Sunset’s back.

“So you’re telling me the cooks have to make food for everypony in here?” Silver Spanner wondered aloud as she awkwardly stood in line behind some other ponies.

“Yeah. The cooks are perfectly okay with doing their best around here to support their guards and other staff as long as every pony else does their job around here. Heck, I sometimes volunteer to help cook but I’m not the best at it.”

Sunset decided to not bring up the incident where she almost burned the castle down. Sunset already had a reputation for blowing stuff up, sometimes admittedly for her own entertainment. Last thing she needed was having ponies knew she could burn water, something she never even knew was possible.

“Who exactly is the pony with the annoying country sounding accent?” A pony asked and Silver Spanner spun around, levitating her plate onto the table as Celestia turned around.

“Excuse me?” Silver Spanner growled as the other ponies nervously stepped away from her, Twinkleshine and Sunset included. “It’s not annoying, it’s cultured. Get your facts straight.”

The stallion opened his mouth and Silver Spanner held her hoof up as she took a step an angry step forward.

“Shouldn’t we stop her?” Twinkleshine whispered to Celestia and Sunset found herself agreeing, her blue eyes landing on her mom.

“No,” Celestia answered quietly and Sunset’s jaw dropped. “I want to see what happens. Let her continue.”

Oh boy, Sunset thought.

“You know what’s wrong with you Canterlotians?” Silver Spanner tapped a hoof against the stallions chest. “You’re all assholes, except for like three or four. You’re idiots. I mean, who cares where some pony comes from? Who cares what tribe I’m from? I don’t give a damn if I’m a unicorn, I’m no better than anypony else in Equestria and that’s a fact. Ponies in Canterlot could serve to be more humble and less of jerks. Half of you are rich beyond belief or are responsible for helping run Equestria. How about you guys actually use your influence and money to help ponies instead of helping yourselves? I can think of countless ponies back in Ponyville who could use help. Like the eighteen year old mail mare dealing with a new born on her own, eh? Or how about actually assigning some royal guards to protect Ponyvillians from monster attacks? Or actually have the Equestrian government help out homeless ponies around Equestria.”

“Wow,” Sunset whispered and she stared as Silver Spanner panted slightly, levitating a glass of water to her lips.

“Is she done or getting a second wind?” Twinkleshine muttered and Sunset had no idea how to answer that. But she did know she respected the mare even more than before. Most ponies wouldn’t even dream of going off like that in public.

Silver Spanner opened her mouth as somepony stared clapping and Sunset gave her mom a stunned look as Celestia sat down on her chair.

“She brings up some very fair points and I do approve of honesty, however harsh and blunt she may have been. I do agree that the ponies who help run Equestria could serve to do more,” Celestia commented as Silver Spanner blushed and hid behind her two classmates. “What do you think, Coffee Top?”

“I-I agree,” the stallion stammered and Celestia hid a grin behind her hoof as she turned to Silver Spanner.

“Thank you for voicing your opinions. It takes a lot of courage to be able to do that. Being honest is always the hard thing to do,” Celestia smiled warmly at the brown mare. “I approve of your friendship with my daughter. Even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t intervene. But I feel you three can help each other learn something.”

Sunset and Twinkleshine both shot Silver Spanner an impressed look as she inhaled.

“I’ll take her somewhere to calm down for a few.” Sunset jumped as Raven appeared behind her. Raven always did have a way of randomly appearing like that. “Right this way, Miss.”

“Send her to my private quarters. We will be there soon,” Celestia commented and Raven gave a nod. “Thank you.”

Silver Spanner gulped.

I’m so dead when I get home, she thought as she followed Raven.

Author's Note

So instead of just having Sunset meeting the Mane Six all in one go, she's gonna meet them slowly over time. First is obviously Silver Spanner.

But I'm still debating if I just want this to be a Mane Six or go the EQG route and have a Main Seven. I'll let you decide but I'm leaning towards Six.