“Bucky, I have something for you,” Rising Star said in a muted voice as he tried to blink away the sleepy crusts from his eyes. "I finished this last night… you were working. I wanted to give this to you face to face… something I’ve been working on.”

“What is it?” Bucky asked in reply as he waited expectantly.

With a half awake grin, Rising Star held out something small and silver in his magic before Bucky, who took it into his own magical field to have a closer look at it. “I made this. I’ve enchanted it a bit… I’ve been learning from some of your books and from Scorch.”

Held in his magic, Bucky saw a snowflake. It was small, silver, weightless. There was a fine corded chain. The detail was exquisite, beautiful, the attention to detail was amazing. “Is this moon-silver?”

Nodding, Rising Star smiled. “I’m going to make more. For our tribe. It seems appropriate for our cause. Equestria was founded during the winter, and has since been refounded by The Lord of Winter. One might say we’ve been brought together by the cold.” As he spoke, he felt a burst of pride as Bucky slipped the snowflake over his neck. “If you look closely, the snowflake itself is made up of a whole bunch of tiny suns, moons, and stars, all arranged in such a way that they form a snowflake,” the excited colt added.

“Thank you Rising Star,” Bucky said in a voice thick and somewhat raspy with emotion. Straining to reach, he raised one foreleg high and did his best to hug Rising Star, who was now much taller. Bucky felt a foreleg wrap around his neck and he was overcome with emotion.

“I plan to make more,” Rising Star promised in a low voice. “It is time for us to stand apart and be recognised,” he stated.

“We have cafeteria staff ready to go. Janitorial staff is looking good. We have some teachers, but not enough. Since we're only going to open with a little over one hundred students, we should be okay. Your apprentice has finally agreed to do a little teaching. I think we are ready,” Violet Velvet reported as she set down a folder in front of Bucky.

“Wagon pullers?” Bucky asked just before taking a gulp of hot coffee. “We need a way for foals to get to and from school. Some are quite some ways away.”

“We need to clear city permits for those still. City hall is dragging their hooves on the issue,” Violet answered, looking very disturbed as she did so.

“I want that cleared before the end of today,” Bucky commanded in a soft voice.

“I will make it happen,” Violet replied in a harsh voice. “I need help though. You there! Belisama! You’re coming with me!”

“Me?” Belisama asked as she came to wakefulness with a snort.

“Yes you. Queen of the griffons. Today you get a crash course in politics,” Violet barked.

“I don’t know…” Belisama muttered as she rubbed her eyes.

Flinching, Bucky winced when he heard the sound of a newspaper being rolled up tightly.

“I suppose I can… what do I do?” Belisama inquired, now mostly awake and looking curiously at Violet Velvet.

Bucky heard the newspaper unroll and he relaxed, his pucker unclenching.

“That’s easy. You be sweet and I’ll be sour. I’ll teach you what you need to know. Just don’t be an idiot. I can’t stand idiots. As a queen, you really should know more about the local political processes anyway. We’ll have fun. I’ll be your bodyguard,” Violet said as a half smile cracked her face. The abrasive mare looked pleased.

“Belisama needs to be back this afternoon. Surprise is giving flight lessons for the next few days,” Bucky said as he remembered events posted on today’s schedule.

“Fine, I’ll have city hall broken by noon. Shall I issue executive order Caged Bird for an emergency meeting?” Violet questioned in reply.

“Yes,” Bucky responded as he brought his coffee cup to his lips. “Use the police if necessary to bring them in. The city council needs to learn that they are expected to work for a living just like the rest of us. If they want to drag their heels they need to know that they can be replaced. Remind them that Princess Celestia gave Princess Twilight the power to call for an emergency vote for a new city council.”

“Sir, you should have been given that power,” Violet muttered angrily.

“I would use it far too frequently,” Bucky admitted as he shook his head. “Twilight will be responsible with it. She has more patience than I do for bureaucracy.” Bucky scowled and pondered going down to city hall himself.

“Also sir, I need for you to look over that proposal for the factory. I know Twilight Sparkle said that she doesn’t want big factories polluting Ponyville, but this isn’t a big factory. This is a large collection of woodshops really… they need ponies to carve wooden propellers, wooden carriage assemblies, wagon sections, and machine lathe things like wagon spokes. It will actually be a series of small cozy looking little buildings rather than one big soulless factory. It will bring about three hundred jobs to the area… good paying jobs,” Violet said as she gently banged her hoof upon a purple high priority folder that was on the table.

“Have they offered anything to help influence a decision?” Bucky questioned shrewdly.

“They’re offering to send a pony to your school to be a woodshop teacher. And they are offering to pay the pony’s salary, whatever the going rate is for a teacher in your school,” Violet responded as she rested her hoof upon the purple folder.

“I will look over the proposal and give you my opinion soon,” Bucky stated, nodding his head slightly as he spoke. “I like the sounds of this.”

“Sir, if I may offer my opinion, earth ponies are great woodcarvers. Sure, unicorns can shape wood with magic, but earth ponies do marvellous things with wood and basic tools. There are a lot of earth ponies here that need the work and the world needs their finely made craft. I urge you to pass this,” Violet said in a remarkably soft voice. “With a simple carving shoe, an earth pony can do amazing things. They bring beauty to the world.”

“Your opinion is noted and appreciated,” Bucky acknowledged with a nod of his head.

“I am off… come Belisama… we must go and terrorise city hall,” Violet announced.

“What’s this?” Rising Star inquired as he looked over the strange blueprints laying on his workshop table. “Wait, I think I’ve seen one of these before in a movie.”

“This is a gyrocopter. Spanner and I are working on a new kind of design. We want to use aluminium to manufacture the body rather than depend upon a unicorn’s featherlight spells. We’ll use a steel frame and aluminium panels for practical griffon style construction. It will be light and strong,” Lugnut explained as looked up at Rising Star from where he was standing upon the workbench.

“Hmm,” Scorch hummed as he tapped his hoof upon the floor. “I like this. I like this a lot.”

“Current models are made of wood, brass, lots of solid heavy construction and they rely upon featherlight magic. This will be light of weight, strong enough to be safe, and we think we could power it with an airship arcano-tech turbine motor,” Lugnut continued as he ran a talon tip along the blueprints. He pointed at the back of the gyrocopter drawing. “The turbine would power this push prop mounted in the rear.”

“I have to wonder, why would a griffon want to make a flying machine?” Rising Star questioned as he looked down at Lugnut, his eyebrow raised in curiousity.

“Machines must be made. Lots of ponies cannot fly, neither can other species,” Lugnut responded as he looked down at the blueprints. “This will be beautiful… new… different. A whole new way of making autogyros, gyrocopters, and gyroplanes. The age of the non magically lightened ultralight is upon us.”

“I gotta agree with the griffon. Besides… this workshop is funded by the Crown. Princess Celestia subtly suggested she wants to see some war machines come out of this shop. A practical flying machine like this might be handy in a war,” Scorch remarked as he looked over the blueprints. “We could mount solar collectors here and here. Maybe we could rig up a small place to stuff and super compress cloudstuff to make a storm generator for electricity.”

“Okay… we’ll get to work on this. I’ll order some aluminium from our supplier and see what I can do about getting us an engine,” Rising Star said as he glanced at Scorch.

“Thank you for looking after Tourmaline,” the guard said as he departed. He gave the jet black foal a final smile and then took wing, flying off towards Canterlot.

“Hello Tourmaline… we’re glad to have you,” Derpy said in a friendly voice. “The foals are in school but I’m sure you can find stuff to do here. Bucky is asleep… he finally went to sleep. Are you looking forward to spending the night?”

Nodding, Tourmaline looked up at Derpy, drinking in the love she felt from the grey pegasus mare. “Thank you for looking after me,” Tourmaline said in a soft pleasant sounding voice as she leaned up against Derpy and rubbed her cheek against Derpy’s front leg.

“Princess Celestia is going to be a little busy for a while and so is Princess Luna. That’s why you were brought here. Twilight is going to bring Glass Slipper by later so you to can spend some time together,” Derpy said as she enjoyed the foal’s affection.

“Auntie Sunshine says you know my secret,” Tourmaline whispered. “I’m really good at hiding it now. She’s been teaching me magic and she gave me something that helps hide me.”

“Yes I know your secret,” Derpy said in a low voice. “But you must keep it a secret.”

“I’ll try,” Tourmaline promised.

“You’ll do fine,” Derpy responded reassuringly. “You’re so sweet,” she said a moment later as she peered down at the pink maned filly through her good eye.

“I know,” Tourmaline whispered bashfully as she peered up at Derpy through her glasses. “You’re pretty.”

“Oh… thank you,” Derpy gasped when she heard the compliment. “Come on inside.”

“Can I call you Auntie Bubbles?” Tourmaline questioned, a hopeful look up her small face.

Giggling, Derpy nodded.

“Oh dear… this is going to keep happening, isn’t it?” Fluttershy said as she peered into the mirror and looked at herself. She nervously took a deep breath and then felt a little better when she felt Discord’s lion paw settle across her croup. She felt her dock twitch at his touch.

“I find them beautiful,” Discord said in a warm sincere voice as he looked at Fluttershy. “The right one looks a little like a budding ibex or antelope horn. The other one looks like an antler bud,” he remarked as he peered into the mirror.

“They itch,” Fluttershy breathed as her eyes narrowed. She felt Discord’s paw trailing down her rump and then linger over the butterflies that she had left on her right side. She felt her pulse quicken at his touch.

“It’s only fair you know,” Discord quipped as he rubbed his paw over Fluttershy’s butterflies in a slow gentle circle. “You made me become more like you on the inside… and now you are becoming more like me on the outside.”

“How does having a cutie mark feel?” Fluttershy questioned as she began to go limp under Discord’s touch.

“I have the uncontrollable need to be kind… to knit cute fluffy little things for foals… to hug other ponies… and look after cute fuzzy animals… I now understand what it means to be you,” Discord replied as he listened to Fluttershy’s breathing become a little heavier.

“Oh Discord… don’t stop,” Fluttershy begged in a low soft squeaky whisper.

“I hadn’t planned on it… you horny mare,” Discord giggled. “Get it? Because you have horns now… and you’re feeling perky!”

“Oh I am a horny mare,” Fluttershy whispered in an embarrassed squeak as she flipped up her tail and allowed it to fall off to one side. “I have needs Discord… you be a kind draconequus now and look after my needs.”

“Of course, my dearest Fluttershy,” Discord answered with a gentle growl.

Author's Notes:

City hall is going to need to requisition a Violet alarm klaxon that goes off when she approaches.

I need a typo alarm myself.