The next morning dawned bright and early, as they always did. Balanced Aspect rolled over and shielded his face with a wing, trying to block out Celestia’s sun. He could swear that she knew exactly how to raise the thing just to annoy him. Some would argue that surely, Princess Celestia would never do such a thing to her foster father.

Aspect would reply with evidence of her having a rebellious foalhood and never doing as her father telling her to anyways. The stallion rolled out of the bed in Twilight’s guest bedroom and walked into the main lobby, grunting something unintelligible.

“Wow, guess you’re not a morning pony,” Spike said as he took notice of their guest walking out of their spare bedroom in a state not dissimilar from a zompony. “Guess you’re gonna want some coffee before we have a real conversation.”

The stallion’s reply was to grunt again, causing Spike to nod and head into the kitchen. The dragon knew exactly what to do to get Twilight up and moving after a heavy night of studying, and he figured the same thing would work on this stallion. One pot of extra-strong coffee on the double was the order of the day.

All too soon, it was brewed and ready for both Aspect and Twilight, and the stallion sniffed a few times before slowly turning his head to the pot. The way he watched Spike pour two cups was a little unnerving, but once he was given his cup, he calmed down considerably. The pegasus sipped at his drink and sighed.

“Thanks Spike,” he finally said. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Heh, and I didn’t even have to make you breakfast yet,” the dragon boasted.

“It gets better?” Aspect asked with a raised eyebrow. He couldn’t imagine it got a whole lot better than coffee first thing in the morning. The breakfast at the palace had been nice, yes, but surely the dragon couldn’t mean to say his was better?

Aspect soon found out how wrong he was on that front. Pancakes. Sweet, delicious, fluffy pancakes, with rich butter and just the right amount of maple syrup. There was even orange juice and haybacon!

The thought of bacon made him gulp nervously. Hopefully, he’d be able to hunt soon. Bacon made of actual meat was far tastier. Still, for the whole blending in stint, he’d be able to grin and bear it.

He’d barely begun his attack on the delicious breakfast, when who should appear but Twilight Sparkle herself, in a similar state as he once was before his coffee. She came down the stairs and sat down at an open chair before pulling her coffee mug close and taking a good, long pull from it. “Never change, Spike,” she said once she was done. “Without your coffee, I don’t know where I’d be.”

“In bed, probably,” Spike replied as he sat down to join them at the breakfast table.

“Amen to that,” Aspect said before digging into his own breakfast once again. Spike turned to the stallion and tilted his head, before turning back to Twilight.

“So, this is that very dear friend of Celestia’s and her father?” At their stares, the dragon shrugged. “I remember you reading those things out to me, Twilight. And I hafta say, I don’t see it.”

“I like this dragon,” Aspect chuckled. “He’s clever.” With that, the stallion preened a little bit, flaring his wings and sticking a hoof out. “Well, let’s just say there’s more to me than meets the eye.”

“So, what, are you an alicorn in disguise or something?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Something like that,” Twilight and Aspect said in the same moment, causing them to look at one another and chuckle. The drake was confused for a moment, before shrugging and joining the ponies in the demolition of the breakfast.

“So, what are your plans for today, Aspect?” Twilight asked once she’d finished.

“Gonna look around town, see if there’s any jobs I can do for bits. Yeah, Celestia might be able to secure me a place to live, but I need my own income if I’m going to survive on my own,” the stallion replied. “It’d be better to start looking now than when I need it.”

“A sound plan, would you like me to accompany you on it?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, I got this,” Aspect said, waving her concerns off. “I mean, it’s only a job. How hard could it be?”

Aspect walked around the village, looking for a certain mare. A sky-blue one with a rainbow tail and mane. They really did make her noticeable.

Eventually the stallion spotted the mare and opted to watch her morning routine instead of call out to her. He of all ponies knew the danger of being distracted while flying. He could be patient.

The mare noticed him soon enough and made to land right in front of him, sending up a wave of dust as she hit the road. “Well hey there Aspect!” she greeted him. “You up for a spar right now?”

“Eh, I’m a little busy at the moment,” he said. “I need a job. Know of any that I could take up?”

The weathermare hummed. “You any good with weather work?”

“That’s...not a good idea for me,” he said, wincing slightly. “Here, let’s find a cloud and I can show you what I mean.” With that he spread his wings and took off into the sky, Rainbow Dash following him. A cloud was quickly found, and Aspect hovered over it.

The moment he landed on it, though, the cloud started turning...grey. A rumble of thunder could be heard in it, and it started to go from just a storm cloud to a full-blown thunderhead, rapidly turning black the longer he stayed on it. After another moment, the stallion flew off the cloud and looked at Rainbow Dash. “Something about me turns regular clouds into stormclouds, and then thunderheads the longer I stay on them,” he said apologetically. “If I could help you with weather work without this happening, I would. But it’s always happened.”

“So you’re a specialist,” the cyan mare said. “I’ll call you in if we have a storm we need to set up in a hurry, but yeah, I get your point. We can’t have random storms popping up just because you moved a cloud.” She pondered for a moment before putting a hoof to her chin. “Does it work with snow as well?”

“Only in the winter,” the stallion said. “I can make all the snow I want in the winter, but the moment spring comes back, it’s back to rain and thunder.”

“Sweet,” Rainbow replied. “That’ll save us a bundle on snow clouds from Cloudsdale’s weather factory. Heck, you’re just a walking discount.”

“I appreciate your appreciation for my talents,” Aspect chuckled. “But a specialist job does not a salary make.”

“I getcha,” Rainbow said with a nod. “Well, you could always check the town hall. Ponies needing help with their businesses post work notices there.”

“I think I’ll do that,” the stallion said as he looked down at the town. “Hmm, is it that one?”

“Close, that’s the schoolhouse,” Rainbow said before pointing a little further on. “That’s the Town Hall.”

Aspect followed her hoof, and then noticed something on the horizon. Something he hadn’t seen in a long time. Black smoke coming from a mountain nearby. There was only one way this much smoke could be coming from a mountain.

“Oh boy,” he said. “We’ve got ourselves a dragon.”

“I’m telling you, we can handle a dragon,” Twilight said to the stallion in the library.

“And I’m telling you, you can’t,” Aspect replied. “I’ve dealt with dragons before, I know their ways a lot better than you. Some of my old friends were dragons, I know a lot about them.”

“Really?” Twilight said, turning to him. “You’ll have to write it down when I come back.”

“When we come back,” he corrected her. “I am going with you, in case you need a capable sword or a quick bit of insight into how to handle a dragon.”

“We can handle it,” Twilight repeated.

“Oh really?” the stallion asked with a raised eyebrow. “Tell me, what would you do if it was a nesting mother? How would you properly flatter an elder? What’s the best way to deal with a young adult? And how do you outwit any of them?”

Twilight paused for a moment as he presented so many possible scenarios to her before sighing and admitting he had more than one point. “Fine,” she said. “You can come with us. But I want your word that violence will be your last resort.”

“I swear on Yggdrasil,” the stallion said, holding a hoof to his chest. “My sword will only come to bear if all else fails.”

“You’re going to have to explain who Yggdrasil is one of these days,” Twilight said as she kept packing. “That’s the second time I’ve heard you swear by...him?”

“Yeah, Yggdrasil has a male personality. More of an ‘it’ though,” Aspect said. “And I’ll tell you the story behind his creation one day. He’s basically the best son I could ask for.”

“You have kids?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not really, not biological kids. I made them with magic, also a long story. Sheesh, I have a lot to tell you…” The stallion rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to get through it all…”

“I’m sure that if you try, you’ll be able to hit at least all the important points,” Twilight said. “For now, we have a mountain to climb and a dragon to oust.”

“Dude,” Rainbow said as she looked at Aspect. “Coming with us to take on a dragon? I know I asked for a spar, but you don’t have to go to this length to impress me!”

“I’m coming along for your safety more than anything,” the stallion said. “I’ve seen a lot of things, done a lot of things. And you all are pretty important.”

“What, you think we can’t handle ourselves?” the cyan mare asked.

“More like, I’m willing to throw myself in the way of whatever draconic foe we might be facing if need be. I’m a lot less killable than you are.”

“Oh yeah?” the pegasus asked. “Prove it!”

“Hmm,” the stallion hummed. “Difficult to prove. How about this, I’ll list off the foes I’ve faced off against. You all can tell me if you’ve heard of them. I think that’ll prove my point quite nicely, especially when you hear their titles.”

“Dunno, you could be lying,” Rainbow said.

“Nah, I’ll watch ‘im,” Applejack joined in, having become curious about what they’d been talking about. “If he lies, I’ll spot it right away sugarcube.”

“I’m sure you will,” the stallion chuckled. “Okay, let’s see. Lavan the Lava Demon, Arabus the Storm Demon, Crunch the Rockdog, King Charlatan, Somnabula the Sorceress, Squirk, Lord of the Ocean, Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle, the Witches of Mount Gloom, Grogar the Necromancer, and finally, last but not least...the Boogeyman.”

“That last one doesn’t sound so tough,” Rainbow said.

“Au contraire,” Aspect said. “That last one was the original dream-demon. He walked through the Dreamscape and terrified all that slept, making sure that nobody got a restful night with him around.”

“Sounds right despicable,” Applejack said. “So how’d you deal with him?”

“By accident,” the stallion chuckled. “He was interested in me and stood over me one night, to better access my dreams and turn them into nightmares. He was successful, but maybe he shouldn’t have been. I woke up screaming and waving my sword around...and it was only after I calmed down that I saw I’d killed something in fright.”

“You...were scared?” Fluttershy spoke up from her pose of perpetual cowardice.

“Everyone gets scared, dear Fluttershy. Even dragons get scared.” Aspect stated while looking at her with kind eyes. “What defines us is how we react to it. Heck, some days I’m still scared about whether or not my kids turned out right.”

“You have kids?” Rainbow asked, her eyes widening with surprise. “That’s…”

“I’ll tell you later,” the stallion brushed off as they reached the base of the mountain. “For now, we have a dragon to oust.”

The ascent up the mountain was something to tell for ages.

If only for Fluttershy’s legendary cowardice at every single aspect. Aspect didn’t say anything, though, merely standing nearby and offering her a helping hoof whenever she had difficulty.

Though, the avalanche that she’d accidentally triggered was something he hadn’t been expecting. If not for him wanting to stay mostly in disguise, he’d have done something about trying to clear a path for them all.

Still, he was, so he didn’t. And all too soon, the seven ponies were standing outside the dragon’s cave. Twilight listed off everything they were going to do…

“I’m not certain that last item is feasible, Miss Sparkle,” Aspect said.

“What?” Twilight said, turning to him. The stallion merely held up a wing and pointed at Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the ground.

“I...I...I can’t go in the cave,” the yellow mare said.

“Oh great,” Rainbow Dash said with an eyeroll. “She’s scared of caves now too.”

“No,” Aspect said as he looked at the smoke. “I’d think it’d be quite obvious what she’s scared of, Miss Dash.”

“I’m scared of…” Fluttershy said before trailing off into a mumble.

“Whut was that?” Applejack asked.

“I’m scared of…” the yellow pegasus mare tried to say again.

“Come now, dear Fluttershy,” the stallion of the group said. “I promise we won’t laugh.”

“I’M SCARED OF DRAGONS!”

Her statement had either perfect timing, or the ability to cause the dragon to snore, as he did right after her outburst. “But Fluttershy,” Twilight said after the smoke cleared. “You have a wonderful talent dealing with all sorts of animals.”

“Yes, because they’re not dragons,” the butterscotch mare pointed out. Aspect had to admit, she had a very good point.

“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash argued from the air. “We’ve seen you walk right up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing!”

An impressive feat, the stallion thought to himself. And Fluttershy had her rebuttal ready. “Yes, because he wasn’t a dragon.”

“Spike is a dragon,” Pinkie said. “You’re not scared of him.”

Aspect was about to chime in with his thoughts, when Fluttershy beat him to it. “Yes, because he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown-up dragon!”

The dragon snored once more, and the mare whimpered.

“But if you’re so afraid of dragons,” Twilight said. “Why didn’t you say something before we came all the way up here?”

“I was afraid to,” the yellow mare whimpered.

Rainbow Dash groaned again, and Applejack drew closer and gave her friend a comforting hoof around her withers. “All of us are scared of that dragon,” she said reassuringly.

“I’m not!” the blue pegasus said, to which Aspect and Applejack gave her questioning looks.

“Almost all of us are scared of that dragon,” the farmmare corrected herself. “But we’ve got a job to do. So, get in there with Twilight and show her what you’re made of.”

“I...I…” Fluttershy said, before sighing and falling to the ground once more. “I just...can’t.”

“Oh, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’m going in,” she said a moment later to the group. “He probably just doesn’t realize what he’s doing, right?”

“I’ll go with you,” Aspect said. “I know a few things about dragons, I might be able to resolve this with words.”

The pair of ponies slowly walked into the cave, Twilight calling out every so often for the dragon’s attention. Something Aspect wasn’t sure they actually wanted.

After all, if the dragon was of a belligerent nature, he’d have to show off a bit of his true self, and there was no way that would get by the others without a good deal of explanation.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Twilight said as they neared the dragon itself. Aspect took in a few things about the dragon as she started her speech.

Hmm. Young adult. Roughly three to five centuries of age, judging by the spines. Amount of treasure indicates a hoard suitable for about four centuries, reinforcing earlier hypothesis. Coloration is non-indicative of temperament, though the smoke that is produced when it snores places it as a relation to...oh ho ho. Well. This is going to be...interesting. That family never did like me, but they bowed their heads to the Dragon King nonetheless. Fifty-fifty odds on my words working.

“So you’ll find another place to sleep?” Twilight asked the dragon. His only response was to blow more smoke at her, sending her from the cave in defeat. The pegasus took center stage then, smiling at the drake all the while.

“So,” the stallion said. “A new drake from the Vileflame family? That’s certainly interesting,” he mused. “Last time I heard, they were happy with their family the size it was. Then again, that was about...seven hundred years or so ago, and through a few intermediaries besides. I don’t get over to the dragon lands all that often, and they don’t have the best opinion of me.”

The dragon snorted. “You lie,” he said in a rumbling voice. “No pony knows that much about dragons. They’re all too busy running in fear from us.”

“And that’s certainly very true, but then, tell me,” the stallion said with a vicious smile. “How do I know the given name of the dragon king? The name that only one being on this planet has the gall to call him?”

“Impossible,” the dragon retorted. “The one that gave the king that degrading name was no pony. And should be long dead by now.”

“One name,” the stallion said as he held out a hoof. “One simple name. Five letters long. I really couldn’t hold back when we met. He even said he liked it when I told him about the story it came from.” There was silence for a moment, and then the pony spoke again. “Smaug.”

“Then he passed the name along to the pony races!” the dragon roared. “You are not the biped that gifted us with magical fire! BEGONE!” And with a roar and a blast of smoke, the stallion was sent tumbling out of the cave.

“So much for persuading him,” Rainbow Dash observed.

“Now what?” Applejack asked. To which Rarity answered by drawing forward and tossing her curled mane.

“Obviously, this situation just calls for a little pony charm,” she said before walking into the cave.

“Alright Aspect,” Twilight said quietly to him. “What do you know about dragons?”

“Well,” the stallion said in just as quiet a tone as he sat near the entrance of the cave. “They’re ruled by a king, and each family’s eldest representative serves on his council. I met him once,” the pegasus said wistfully. “He liked the ideas I had. And the gift I gave to his kind. So much so that he said that all I would have to do is call on his name, and the other dragons should respect me. I guess not showing up in my, ahem, ‘natural’ form worked against me here. But I don’t want to show off…”

There was a roar as Rarity fled from the cave. “I was this close to getting that diamond,” she said, pouting on a nearby rock.

“You mean...getting rid of that dragon, right?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, sure,” the white unicorn mare said.

Then there was a honk. And all the gathered ponies looked over in the direction where it had come from, only to see the most absurd sight they’d seen yet.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack asked. Pinkie appeared to be wearing balloon animals as a hat, had some tied to her tail, was wearing flippers on her hooves, and had a present box wrapped around her barrel.

All in all, one of the more ridiculous armors Aspect had seen yet. Then she blew on a noisemaker.

“Darling, you look ridiculous,” Rarity observed.

“Exactly!” Pinkie said as she turned to enter the cave next. “Sharing a laugh is a surefire way to get someone on your side.”

That attempt lasted less than two seconds.

“Apparently he doesn’t like laughing,” Pinkie said as she left the cave, most of her balloons popped and half her flippers missing. Even the box was crumpled. “Or sharing.”

“All right, that’s it!” Rainbow Dash said, clearly frustrated that nothing was happening. “We’ve tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is Pinkie Pie does.” The cyan pegasus took a position in front of the cave. “It’s time to stop wasting time!”

“No!” Aspect called out. He still had a trump card, and he’d rather play it than let them suffer just because he was keeping a secret.

Rainbow Dash didn’t hear him, though. “I’m going in!” With a rainbow contrail, she was off into the cave.

“Rainbow! No!” Twilight spoke up as well.

“Oh boy,” Aspect said as his sword began to glow. He was preparing to do something he’d never done before. If the situation called for it, he would try and transform, while he was already transformed. Maybe then he’d get the dragon to back off. He couldn’t imagine a pony made out of lava wouldn’t get the winged beast to reconsider its stance on not listening to him.

There was a roar, and Rainbow Dash was ejected from the cave at high velocity and without any control. She easily bowled the mares over, while Aspect had been standing to one side. He turned towards the cave and let out a growl of his own. So it would come to this, then?

The mares huddled together as the dragon came out of the cave, and with a roar and another blast of smoke, the five mares had been pushed back against a nearby boulder...which fell apart after they hit it.

Not that Aspect could see that, as he’d interposed himself between the mares and the dragon, sword shining brightly. “Last chance, descendant of the line of Verdant Vileflame,” the stallion spat at the dragon. “Back off, or I will tell Smaug about you.”

“You’ll go first,” the dragon rumbled as he drew closer.

Then there was another noise. One that neither of them had ever heard before.

“How dare you!” Fluttershy screamed as she flew up to the dragon and, of all things, began scolding it. It was a scolding of such power, that even Aspect powered down his sword and began listening to the sheer steel coming out of Fluttershy’s mouth.

And of all things, the dragon actually cowered under her gaze.

“Well?” Fluttershy asked.

“But that rainbow one kicked me,” the dragon said. “And that stallion is a boasting liar.”

“And I am very sorry about her and that you think that,” the mare said. “But you’re bigger than they are and you should know better.”

Of all things, as the scolding proceeded, the dragon actually cried, which surprised Aspect to no end that the mare had not only stood up to her fears, but got the dragon to agree to leave with simple words. With a moment to gather up his hoard, the dragon left the mountaintop, to find a new place to hibernate.

“So, uh, Aspect,” Twilight said as they made their way back down the mountain. “You said something about the dragon being a descendant of some Vileflame?”

“Yeah,” the stallion said with a nod. “I knew it was one of two families back in Ponyville. The Vileflames or the Earth-Gougers. Both of them have trouble with their snoring when they settle down to hibernate for a hundred years or so. But just my luck, it’s the family that dislikes me.”

“You somehow ticked off an entire clan of dragons?” Applejack asked.

“You make one comment about what you think about the Dragon King’s name, and they take offense,” the stallion sighed dramatically. “I swear, Smaug’s a better one. Easier to remember and has a lot of titles associated with it.”

“Yeah right,” Rainbow said as she flew above the group. “You, meet with a King of Dragons? You couldn’t even get one to leave!”

“True, I had nothing to do thanks to Fluttershy here,” the stallion said with a nod. “And Smaug’s actually a pretty nice dragon, once you get to know him. He’s fun to hang out with. I shoulda gone to see him a few times...maybe in the future.”

“Yeah right,” Rainbow said. “I still think you’re making it up.”

“He ain’t lyin’, sugarcube,” Applejack said. And that’s what worried her. What kind of pony up and made friends with monsters…? Well, aside from Fluttershy.

“Well, seeing as half of you know, I think I can share a small secret with the other half of you, so that you understand just how I could be telling the truth.” the stallion said. “So long as you all promise to keep it a secret until I tell it myself.”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly,” Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash echoed. “Stick a cupcake in my eye.” Then they looked at Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and realized just who already knew, and started wondering when they’d learned this secret.

“I’m actually Celestia and Luna’s father,” the stallion said as he continued walking.

“Whaaaaaaat!?” Rarity whinnied as she stared wide-eyed at the stallion. She looked towards Twilight and the others, before chuckling nervously. “Ahehe...hehehe…G-Good one darling. You had me going there.”

With a flash from both the sword and his forehead, the stallion was now sporting a horn much like a unicorn’s, though he hadn’t changed size at all to match Celestia’s. He could take another disguise for a moment to keep the half-lie going. “I’m here in disguise,” he said. “And I’d like to keep it.”

Rarity blinked again, before a chaise lounge came out of nowhere and she fainted on it. The stallion blinked before he and the sword flashed again, the horn disappearing as he looked at Rarity, then at her friends.

“She do this often?” he asked of them.

Twilight shrugged, while Fluttershy and Applejack nodded.

“Rarity’s a bit of a drama queen,” The earth pony replied. “Ah still don’t know how she gets that there chair though.”

“A lady simply doesn’t faint in the… urgh, dirt.” Rarity deadpanned from her seat.

“But she does faint when she realizes she’s been on an adventure with no less than the father of the Princesses?” Aspect asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or even designed a cape for one?”

Rarity gasped as she recalled that. “I-I… I have to redesign it! I cannot have the parent of royalty walk around in common—”

“Recall what I said about my saddlebags,” the stallion deadpanned. “I was happy with a simple cape, because you said it would be durable. That’s all I want out of any clothing I wear: for it to withstand the test of nature.” He rolled his eyes and snorted. “Sakes, I can recall a time when not even Celestia and Luna wore more than ribbons in their manes and tails!”

Twilight had never seen Princess Celestia with a ribbon in her tail before. The mental image she conjured up made her blush slightly.

“And even then,” Aspect continued. “It was a rare thing. Mostly they asked for it for things like when we had visitors. No, the simple cape will do, miss Rarity. Now if you are done fainting, I do believe we have a village to inform of the fact that the resident dragon has been ousted.”

“Oh, uh, yes of course dear…” She magicked the couch away as Rainbow continued to glare at him out of the corner of her eyes. She still didn’t trust him…

“All right, Miss Dash,” the stallion said after they’d walked about twenty feet. “I can all but feel your eyes burrowing into the back of my skull. What’ll it take to prove that I am who I say I am?”

“Alright. You’re their dad. Supposedly older than they are…” Rainbow flew down in front of his face. “So where were you when your daughter became freakin’ Nightmare Moon!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight gasped.

“Battling her shades,” the stallion said softly. “The shadows and nightmares she’d conjured up to torment the castle. Only Celestia was close enough to the Elements…” He sobbed a little as he turned away. “I...failed her as a father. I should have done more to help her. I should have listened more to her worries, the fact that she’d been hearing voices…”

“Consarnit Dash,” Applejack slugged the prismatic mare’s shoulder, causing her to yelp and rub the now bruised body part. “Look Aspect, ah’m sure Rainbow didn’t mean to be such a jerk.”

“Hey!”

“But look,” the mare placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Y’all made a mistake, sure. But they still love ya right? Cause family sticks together, no matter whut. And Princess Luna’s jus’ fine now. Princess Celestia has kept the peace fer a thousand years. Y’all did a fine job as their Pa.”

“That’s…” The stallion sighed. “You all don’t know the real story behind how she started down that path...otherwise you wouldn’t be saying that.”

“And ah reckon it might help if ya shared one day, but now ain’t the time fer that,” Applejack smiled and nodded.

Rainbow scuffed at the ground with a hoof. “L-Look… m’sorry okay?” she mumbled under her breath.

“I really should talk about it a little more,” the stallion agreed. “Maybe when I get a place of my own.” With that, he resumed leading the mares back home, though his head was noticeably not held nearly as high as when he’d first started.

Once the party of ponies had returned to Ponyville, and Twilight had had Spike send a message to Celestia detailing the events of the day, the little dragon motioned towards the table in the middle of the library portion of the Golden Oaks. “We got mail while you were out,” he said. “One from the building inspector, and two from Princess Celestia.”

Aspect trotted over and picked the first letter up. “Hmm,” he said. “Okay, so the building is up to code, and I can move in whenever,” he said. “Pretty nice. What’s these letters from Cel?”

He picked one up and read it, his eyes narrowing as he did. “Oh you little minx,” he muttered. “No, I do not need a stipend. I do not want a stipend. I do not need you paying my bills for me, little lady.” Still muttering, he picked up the second letter and opened it, his eyes widening in shock as he let the letter fall from his grasp once he’d read it.

“Aspect?” Spike asked as he trotted over, before picking up the letter and becoming shocked himself. “Sweet Celestia!” the dragon exclaimed.

“What? What’s wrong!?” Twilight gasped. “Did somepony send you a threatening letter?”

Spike wordlessly held out the letter to Twilight. She picked it up and read the simple scroll.

Dear father,

It has occurred to me that you have one-thousand years of back-pay as the royal advisor sitting in my coffers. Please find enclosed a check for the sum.

Your daughter,

Celestia

And then there was a slip of paper. And that...was a lot of zeroes. She took one look and blinked as she went over the math in her head.

“Y-You could buy a large town for that, maybe a small city!” she exclaimed.

“I think I’ll take the stipend,” Aspect said in a small voice. “I should have known better than to try and trick Cel, or try to get out of a trick of hers.”

“She uh… do that often?” Applejack gulped as she looked at the check. Her mind danced with all the things she could do to the farm with that money.

“Only when she wants to maneuver me,” the stallion sighed. “She knows I don’t like taking money from her, so when faced with taking a small amount or a large one, I’ll go for the smaller one every time.”

“Only this time is either big, or a sum so huge that any dragon would give their wings to own,” Spike nodded as he held the check again. “And since I don’t have any wings…”

“Spike,” Aspect said warningly. “This is an either-or scenario, and I’ve already made my choice. We’ll be sending the check back with a letter saying I’ll accept the stipend.”

“Dang, I was gonna buy so many comics with that,” Spike groaned as the stallion took the check.

“You know, there’s always the third option,” Applejack smiled.

“Oh?” Aspect asked with a raised eyebrow. “And what is that?”

Princess Celestia got two letters that day. One from her student detailing how they’d ousted a dragon and learned a valuable thing about friendship and having faith in her friends.

And another from her father.

Dear daughter of mine,

After much consideration, I have decided to donate the money to the town, in case of emergencies. I will be living here, after all, it would behoove me to make sure that things around here can continue to run smoothly. With a small donation given to the Apple Family’s farm, in honor of their ancestor and our friendship back in the days of Dream Valley.

I will also accept the stipend until the day comes when I get a job of my own.

Your move.

Aspect.

Celestia read, then reread the letter as her eye twitched a little. “Why that rotten, sneaky little…”

“Is something wrong sister?” Luna asked as she walked into the room, seeing Celestia’s mane flicker angrily.

“No… it’s nothing Lulu,” Celestia whisked the letter away to her room and smiled. “Father is just being his usual stubborn self.”

Author's Notes:

In case you didn't know, editing these chapters is a pain. Though I think I've hit on the perfect way to do so, I'll try it out next week. Assuming FimFiction doesn't unscrew whatever it is that inserts Bold, Italic, and Center tags everywhere by then. Then again, they haven't done it by now, so I'm not holding my breath.

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