Clash sat in a quiet Canterlot bar, nursing his drink. "Bucking laugh at me...I try and tell them how to make it better and they laugh at me...." Clash smacked his drink off his table. "I told them how to fix the water distributions and they bucking laughed at me! Pigs, all of them pigs!"

A sullen looking unicorn sauntered over. "Alright bucky....who bucking laughed at you?"

Clash glared at the unicorn. "Why the buck do you care?"

The unicorn slammed his drink back. "Believe me...I'm probably sympathetic." He joined Clash and slammed the table. "Bucking threw me out of the guard. Misconduct, or some other crap. We're guards, we're the law, how does me dealing out justice count as misconduct!?"

Clash sat upright. "They called me here for the weather report. I found out we're watering parts of the Everfree and the barrens. We could be saving so much water if we just stopped! But those earth ponies kept going on about natural fauna, the unicorns just laughed, they laughed at me, at the mud ponies, they laughed at my studies, my proof, they just threw it back at me!"

The unicorn stuck his hoof out. "Steel Shot."

Clash returned his greeting. "Clash, Cloudsdale Council."

"Oh...are we doing titles too? I- I was...a guard."

Clash took a deep breath. "So I gathered...."

"Hey, don't get smart! I've had enough of it today." Steel leaned back into his chair. "I spent six years working for that cow, five years clawing my way up from recruit. I was gonna make captain, then that little shit, bucking Shining Armor. They give the bucking captainship to a fucking rookie instead of me! That bucking cow, Celestia...bucking cow."

Clash nodded. "I'm not a fan either. She treats those mud ponies like normal ponies. But...I don't care. So long as they keep out of Cloudsdale and stop complaining about the weather." Clash rubbed his mane. "They don't realize how hot it gets up there. They keep asking us to keep the clouds out of the sky, but we need those bucking clouds to keep the ground from drying out! They're idiots, I swear."

"So what, you just...you have to listen to the earth ponies? Just tell them to deal with it!"

Clash nodded angrily. "I wish I could. I keep telling them, they need to listen to us, they need to trust that we know agriculture too. But then the mayor of Cloudsdale shows up with another list. Six clouds here, seven there, nine moved twenty miles south. All for the mud ponies, just because they wanted to settle in the desert!"

Steel looked around the room. "Well...you could do something about it. I could probably help."

Clash snapped upright. "Do what? What the buck can I do?"

Steel licked his lips as he leaned forward. "Take it. Take Cloudsdale for yourself." He looked around sneakily. "You take control, you cut the mud ponies out of the equation."

Clash took a nervous breath. "That's- you realized what you're saying right.... Taking an Equestrian town for one pony...that's--"

"High treason...now keep your bucking voice down." Steel leaned back. "I could make it happen. I call in a few favors...somepony in Cloudsdale has an accident, you did your best to save him, but in the end you're, forced, to take the reins."

Clash glared across the table. "What the buck do you get out of this?"

Steel swallowed hard. "Without Cloudsdale, that cow Celestia would have to pay you for water, I could- I could do the same thing, I could have a town, I- buck the guard! I- I- I could be--"

Clash smacked Steel across the cheek. "Shut up!" Clash stood up and started walking out, whispering into Steel's ear as he passed. "Seven-two-six Orchard St."

Steel let out a shaky laugh. He was in, he had help for the first time since he was kicked from the guard. "Name...need a new name...new coat...new everything." He mulled around a few names, settling on Brass Buckler before leaving the bar. He laughed like a maniac as he trotted outside and started going home. The thought of spiting the guard, the Princess, Caterlot made him giggle like an idiot.

No more would this town run off nepotism and favoritism. He would take this town, turn it into a meritocracy, a truly glorious place to live. He just needed a little help starting things off. Next Chapter: 'Please' Estimated time remaining: 47 Minutes