If there was one thing about youngsters that virtually everypony could agree on, it’s that they were possessed of boundless energy. And so it was that Spike, having prepared himself for his coming day, began to leap out of the bedroom he and Twilight shared, before making a break for the stairs. After nearly crashing into Trixie as she came out of her own room, Spike darted past and leapt down the stairs, practically sliding down the railing as he did so. Once he landed at the bottom, he raced for the front door, ready to leave the library and greet the day. However, before his claw managed to reach it, he was stopped dead in his tracks, and now found himself bathed in a distinct and familiar purple glow. Knowing exactly who was responsible for this, Spike slumped his shoulders as the magical aura both lifted him off the ground and started to turn him in the opposite direction. Once he was turned, he found that, as expected, Twilight was there, bearing quite the mischievous smirk upon her face. Rolling his eyes at that, Spike waited patiently before his adopted mother lowered him back down to the ground, which, thankfully, she did soon afterwards. Now free of her magic, Spike watched as she approached, and noticed at last that she was levitating a scroll of parchment beside her.

"Sorry to interrupt your day, Spike, but I need you to send this message to Princess Celestia."

Instinctively, the young dragon held out his clawed hands and watched as the scroll was lowered into it. He stared at the thing carefully, knowing that it looked even more official than Twilight's other letters, even being used with the good ribbons today. Looking up at her, Spike raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Twilight thought long and hard over that before, eventually, simply breaking out into a small smile.

"Just a little something I think she'd be interested to know."

Spike kept his eyebrow as high as it would go after hearing that, not really feeling comfortable whenever Twilight acted in her, as some of their friends had put it, "cloak and dagger" manner. Nevertheless, he sighed and relented, taking in a deep breath before blowing on the parchment. As had occurred a thousand times before, a sparkling green flame erupted from his mouth and enveloped it, immediately transporting it by way of magic to wherever Princess Celestia was at this moment. With that done, Spike gestured to the door behind him with a slightly annoyed look, prompting Twilight to give him a silent nod, thus allowing him to leave at last. Smiling widely at that, Spike spun around and immediately darted outside, closing the door behind him as he did so. Now outside at long last, he ran down the main street of Ponyville, waving in greeting to anypony who said "good morning" to him on the way. Eventually, he caught sight of his destination; Ponyville Elementary, the town's only school. Smiling at this, he changed course and headed straight for the schoolhouse. Once he’d finally reached the place, he started glancing around, seeing a few colts and fillies here and there, but nopony he wanted. Then, finally, he managed to spot his quarry, and began running off yet again.

The targets in question were none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Spike's special somepony, Sweetie Belle. All three of them were sitting beside one of the wooden tables scattered around the school grounds, all looking as bored as Spike had ever seen them. When he got close enough, the young fillies finally noticed him, with Sweetie, naturally, being the most pleased to see him. She rushed forward and embraced him in a hug, which, quite frankly, was more of a tackle, which almost sent the young drake to the ground. As one might expect, this affectionate display earned them both a fit of giggles from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who always took amusement from their little get-togethers. Although appreciating the embrace of the filly, Spike then parted from her, looking to the others and placing his hands upon his hips.

"So...what's up for today?"

Hearing that question, Sweetie slumped her shoulders a little and let out a grunt of annoyance.

"Ugh! Not much! Me and the girls got this new assignment from our school newspaper. We've got to get really juicy stories. Otherwise...nopony's going to want to read it!"

Looking to his fillyfriend, Spike tilted his head somewhat.

"You know...most ponies don't really take school newspapers that seriously."

Sweetie turned to him, frowning slightly.

"I know that! But that's no excuse for us not to try!"

Spike nodded slightly, finding little means, or even cause, to argue with a point like that.

"Alright then...so...these stories...just how juicy are we talking?"

Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders.

"Ya got us! It seems like there's just nothing going on in Ponyville that would make an interesting newspaper article."

Spike gave a brief and hearty chuckle at that.

"Nothing? Just wait. Something good usually happens every week around here. Though...I do admit that usually only last about twenty minutes or so. Maybe forty on special occasions."

The fillies all looked at him, showing equal confusion about how he seemed to be talking in a Pinkie-style out-there manner. Realising this himself, Spike soon shook himself from that state, turning to the fillies as a whole.

"Look...the point is, there's gotta be something going on you can report on."

Hearing that, Apple Bloom started to look somewhat nervous.

"Well...our new editor did say we should get...ya know...real personal stories an such. Ya know, the kind they'd keep behind closed doors an stuff?"

Spike looked to the filly with another raised eyebrow.

"Really? That doesn't sound like something an editor should encourage. Who is it?"

Sweetie turned to him and grimaced slightly before giving him his answer.

"Diamond Tiara."

Upon hearing that name, Spike immediately felt a shiver of intense dislike travel up his spine, to which the Crusaders looked to him with clear understanding. After recovering from that shiver, he looked to each of them in turn, expressing a massive amount of confusion.

"Diamond? She's the one you're taking orders from? Why, in the name of all things holy, would you want to do what she says?!"

Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders again.

"Well...she's the editor. And we want to work for the newspaper, so...that pretty much means she's the boss of us for now."

With those words, the group all shared yet another unpleasant sensation running through them, this time simultaneously, given the unfortunate circumstances they'd found themselves in. Shaking his head slightly, Spike turned to Sweetie.

"How did that arrogant, self-important, vain, narcissistic, shallow, kick-a-pony-when-they're-down, entitled, spoiled..."

His expression then became one of confusion.

"Um...where was I going with this?"

Sweetie smirked slightly as she gave him a gentle nudge on the side of his arm.

"I think you were going to ask how she got in charge."

Spike immediately snapped his fingers after hearing that, during which he gave an appreciative smile to his sweetheart, and afterwards got right back on track.

"Right! So...how did she get in charge?"

Sighing slightly, Sweetie gave his answer.

"Miss Cheerilee put her in control. She said it was her turn, and then...she just left her there."

Spike turned to her, clearly surprised at that.

"So...Cheerilee just put her in charge...and then didn't stick around to see what she was doing?"

Collectively, the fillies all shook their heads, which prompted Spike to start scratching his chin as he thought over this whole matter.

"So...you have to work for somepony you don't like, doing something you don't like, with that something being probably very intrusive and not what you agree with, with you not really likely to get anything out of it except doubt as to whether or not you’ve done the right thing...and the teacher isn't here to make sure this isn't getting out of hoof?"

Although they paused for a moment, the girls all looked to each other, as if daring the other to be the first to answer back to that. In the end, they all simply nodded to him at once, giving him his answer. After raising a clawed hand and scratching the top of his head, Spike spoke up again.

"Well...couldn't you just tell Cheerilee what’s going on? Just tell her you're not okay with this?"

The girls, yet again, looked to each other, as if they'd just been told that the sky was blue and were only now realising it. After a long and very awkward silence, they looked back to Spike, with Apple Bloom speaking up.

"Why didn't we think of that?"

Scootaloo then stood up afterwards, looking more than a little angry.

"Yeah! Why are we putting up with Diamond after everything she's done to us? We should have quit the moment we found out who was editor!"

There was a general chorus of approval amongst all of them, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo then started trotting off, perhaps to either tell Diamond that they were quitting being her lackeys, or perhaps to inform Cheerilee of everything the former had been doing behind her back. However, Sweetie Belle stayed behind, looking to Spike and giving him a massive smile of appreciation. The young drake watched as his fillyfriend leaned forward and gave a tender kiss upon his cheek, which, as usual, caused him to go as red as a tomato. Turning around, Sweetie started running off, no doubt to re-join her friends, leaving Spike looking rather pleased with himself, as he then placed his hands upon his hips.

"Eyup, solving problems every day. I wonder if this is what Mom feels like when she helps ponies?"