Author's Notes:

Edit:
Aug 31, 2019

I altered how the calendar works so it isn't so insane.

---

There are 1095 days in a pony year but with the traditional 12 months.

However the months last 90 days each. With each week being about 10 days. A week is measured by Lunar cycles, which takes it about 10 days to go through no moon to full moon. There are 100 moons in a year.

Each month is a different season, with the seasons repeating themselves in order 3 times.

Example: October is the last Summer of the year, November is the last Fall, and December is the final Winter.

As a result the most celebrated Holidays were held during these months final months.

Each Season has it's own holidays but the big ones (Birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve) are only celebrated once a year. Other holidays involving presents and candy replaced them during the regular seasons but aren't as big a deal, getting no more then a week off school.

However, for the last 3 months, Kids got off school as a Year End Break (instead of every Summer having a break) to celebrate the holidays with with families.

Many parents choose to send their kids to camp in October for all but the last week, so they could still spend Halloween together.

Days last 30 hours on The Halo Rings and Citadel, with 20 hours of daylight and 10 hours of night, based on the Leviathans' homeworld before the creation of the Citadel Galaxy. This is considered the standard amount of time in a day according to the Galactic standard Calendar, which the ponies have used for hundreds of years thanks to Luna's discoveries.

The average species have a life expectancy of passed 150 Galactic Standard Years and some living much longer. As the Ponies themselves live decades past 500 galactic standard years.

10 years earlier

Twilight felt like crying but they were happy tears... maybe a little sad. Spike was growing up. It was the weirdest feeling, pride and joy mixed with sorrow. Her little dragon wasn't so little anymore.

Spike stood tall on all four of his legs. He was getting bigger and it was starting to put strain on his back to walk on two... At least that's what he said. Twilight suspected he was just self-conscious of how big he was getting.

It was probably for the best as even on 4 legs he was as big as Big Mac now. He had lost all his baby fat. He was such a skinny guy but his face was still round with a short snout. His tail was long and dragged on the floor behind him as he walked onto the stage. Despite his size he was still an adorably cute little thing. Twilight didn't know what it was but he just seemed smaller then he really was.

He was wearing a white robe as was tradition. Ever since Twilight learned about this little ceremony she wanted Spike to have it. Spike didn't get to experience much of his dragon heritage due to being raised by a pony but this... this was important to them. It was the first step on the road to adulthood. She couldn't deny Spike such an important moment in a dragons life.

When a dragon turns 20 they go through this little ceremony. They stand before a Cleric of Io, the dragon god of peace and balance and leader of all the dragon gods. There they are baptismed in fire and declared a Fledgling, the dragon equivalent of a child instead of a baby.

Spike looked nervous as he stood before the huge dragon. Twilight often wondered why the Tree of Harmony gave her such a tall ceiling but it was kind of obvious now. It was big enough to let a full grown dragon wander the halls and enter all the important rooms. There were even a few dozen large bedrooms with ridiculously sized bathrooms... it was for Spike. The castle was designed so Spike could live comfortably in it for the rest of his eternal life.

It was one of the reasons she had so much faith in the map. Whatever gave them this castle it was clearly intelligent and it clearly cared about them. Showing off it's affection in little ways like making sure her family was taken care of.

"Little dragon," The dragon Cleric spoke once Spike was in front of him, "Are you ready to prove to your family that you aren't a hatchling anymore?"

Spike gulped and hesitantly nodded. The great dragon gently turned Spike around so he was facing the audience and softly pushed him to the eage of the stage.

Beside Twilight, Shining Armor was already in tears as he yelled out, "You can do it little bro!"

Cadence eagerly stumbled her hooves well little Flurry Heart cheered. Mom and dad were here to, crying softly at the beautiful moment. Even Celestia had come and all of Spike's friends, including Discord who was cheering loudly well waving a ridiculous foam finger and wearing a hoofball shirt. Thorax looked nervous well Ember looked proud. It really is amazing just how many friends Spike had gained among all the species of Equestria, and all of them were here.

Spike sucked in a breath and let out a "Mighty" roar. Twilight did her best not to snicker about how cute it was. She knew how hard he had been practicing it all month. Twilight couldn't help but feel nostalgic as she remembered how he used to sound like a little colt screaming impudently at the world but now... now he sounded like a little lion cub. It was absolutely adorable but not a sound a pony could make. Twilight had come to understand that's just how dragons are... it's part of growing up. Their vocal cords change and allowed them let out a true roar.

As Spike roared the Cleric allowed flames to burst from his mouth and completely consume the much smaller dragon. The little dragon continued to roar as his robes where burned away. It was a truly impressive sight. The flames continued to burn until the robed were incinerated to nothing. Finally the large Dragon choked them back and Spike continued to burn for a moment longer. When the flames died there Spike stood completely unharmed. His bare scales shining as if freshly polished.

The old dragon smiled and greeted, "Welcome to the world Fledgling,"

Normally the Ceremony would end there but Twilight had asked the Cleric for something special. He pulled out a small crown and put it on Spike's head before bowing to the little dragon, "All hail Spike Sparkle, ward of Twilight Sparkle, and Prince of Ponyville,"

Spike gaped as the crowd bowed to him.

###

Present Day

Spike yawned as he rewatched a movie from the projector. He was already caught up with all his shows and movies before they even left Ponyville. Mostly he spent the month rewatching his favorites.

He had already read all the new comic books Twilight had bought him soon after they left. He really should have done as she said and savior them.

Since Mouthy talked to Twilight, Spike had a lot more free time but unfortunately he didn't know what to do with it. All his friends were on duty right now and he didn't know what to do with himself on his off hours. Especially since Twilight was making a point of not letting him help. The young dragon knew Mouthy meant well but Spike wasn't used to doing nothing.

He fiddled with his phone as a movie played from the projector. Just as he was about to surrend himself to boredom he gave out a belch. A puff of flames burst from his mouth and morphed into a letter. He looked at the Seal and blinked realizing it was addressed to him.

He was tickled by a tinge of hope as he opened it.

"Dear Spike.

"Sorry this took a bit longer then expected. Some of the Companies were having trouble figuring out how to send the raw files to me and it took some coaching to teach many of the crew's families how to work a computer to send the video letters. Rest assured next month's pack will arrive promptly on the first."

With the letter came with something very special indeed. Spike grinned excitedly as he jumped up and ran out the door.

Spike smiled so hard his face hurt as he ran into the computer lab. He burst in excitedly and collided with one of his old friends from school.

Canned Cream was a white Earth Pony with a brown mane and green highlights, a gifted shadow bender. Before the space program started he was Apprenticing in the Canterlot royal guard on the night shift. He was probably guarding the lab to make sure no one messed with the computer network or it's Apps. Good thing Spike had authorization.

"Sorry CC," Spike helped the Stallion back to his feet.

Canned Cream groaned as he collected himself, "Getting run over by a stamping dragon isn't how I thought I'd spend my night. What's the hurry?"

Spike, barely phased due to his excitement, held up the SD card, "Look what I just barfed up. Courtesy of Celestia," he boasted.

CC blinked and slowly smiled, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep," Spike didn't lose his grin, "Our first computer update for all the shows we missed this month!"

"I'm more interested in the letters," CC confessed, "I know you're a freakishly rich Prince but most ponies can't afford a computer. I never even had a phone until we got on this boat. Couldn't exactly watch the Apps without that," As a result CC didn't really care to check out the Shows now that he had access to them. It was just so much too catch up on... though he had gotten into watching the "Friendship is Magic" cartoon based off the Twilight's friendship journal.

Still CC prefered the audio drama on public radio called "Doctor Who" based on the Doctor's life. Apparently each of the Doctor's face's kept a different diary about their adventures. A way of not only remembering but to keep his time line straight when interacting with other time travelers. 50 years ago one of the Doctor's pony companions, a miss Vinyl Scratch, convinced him to let her turn it into a radio series on her station. True she mostly played music but every night, beginning as soon as the sun went down, she played a bunch of different audio dramas. CC had been listening to those stories since before he ever went to the Doctor's school. It was awe inspiring to learn they were real.

"They have Radio shows to," Spike assured, everypony had access to radio shows, "and PDFs of books and comics and-and all kinds of cool stuff,"

"And letters from our families," CC reminded.

Spike shrugged as he hopped over to the computer terminal and plugged the SD card in. Hopping into the chair he began typing away on the keyboard, "Flurry Heart has been sending us near daily updates of how things are going in Ponyville since she took over and Shining has been sending us tons of letters about how worried he is about Flurry Heart. Then Twilight and Celestia have been trading letters like crazy talking about everything that is going on with us as well as back home. I think I might actually be hearing from them MORE often since we came out here,"

Canned Cream rolled his eyes, "Not all of us have Dragon breath. I have to wait for Celestia to mail us our letters,"

Spike blushed, "S-sorry, I didn't think... I'll working on uploading the letters first. They should be sent to all the appropriate Email Apps in an hour,"

CC smiled contently, "Did you tell The Doc about the Update?"

"Errrrr..." Spike blushed as he started the letter upload.

CC just chuckled, "I'll call him. You keep working. Everyone has been waiting for this stuff for a month,"

"Aye Aye, colt who has the exact same rank as me," Spike snarked with a solute.

CC rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, I get it. I can't boss you around," Still CC couldn't help but smirk as he pulled on the contacts on his phone, "But don't forget. I was the hall monitor when we were in school,"

"We went to a school 'House'. There was only a single room with no halls,"

"I was still the Hall Monitor!" CC insisted as he called the Doctor. Strangely the Doctor didn't accept any video and was only playing audio.

"Yes I'm a bit busy slaying dragons at the moment," The Doctor loudly panted through the speakers.

"SLAYING DRAGONS!" Spike yelped from where he was.

"Sorry Fledgling, I meant Slaying 'evil' dragons," The Doctor smiled, "I'm in the enchanted book 'Knights of Last Ember". Basically I'm a good dragon fighting an evil dragon Empire. It was actually written by a Dragon. Strange seeing myself as a Dragon. Never regenerated into one but I have been a verity of alien reptiles before. Been so long since I had hands and 2 feet. Bit tricky to walk upright after so long as a quadruped,"

"Doctor," CC tried to get him to focus.

"Right you called for a reason didn't you. GAH! The dragon summoned his kobold minions!"

"Doctor!" CC huffed.

"It's not like there is a pause button in a book!" The Doctor huffed back, "Anyway tell me what you need,"

"Nothing really. Just wanted to tell you we got our first month's update,"

"That's great! The crew could really use the morale boost. Unfortunately I'm in a book right now so you'll have to inform the Captain directly,"

CC blinked, "Why would I have to tell Firebrand anything?"

"Oh for- HE'S THE CAPTAIN! You need to tell him what's going on! Honestly Creamy I thought at least my own students would support him in this. You're his friends! Can't you at least be happy for him!"

CC fidgeted as he felt his face heat up, "I am happy for him Doc, really, but..."

"... you think he's just a poster boy to,"

"Well if he wasn't a poster colt then the rest of us really got screwed," CC snarked.

The Doctor sighed, "One second," there was an explosion followed by the sound of Kobolds screaming, "There now I have a few moments to talk,"

"... Where you..." CC blinked, "Seriously just fighting an army this whole time?"

"What? You've never single handedly, errr hoofedly, maybe claw-edly, defeated an army well talking on the phone? Besides this is just a book. It's much harder to do that in real life," CC could practically hear the Doctor shrug after that little comment, "Now Creamy-"

"Please don't call me that," CC sighed.

"I want you to understand that just because Firebrand ascended in rank quicker then you doesn't mean the rest of you haven't accomplished quite a bit yourselves. You should be proud of what you've done. There are only a handful of people in all of Equestria who can say they got to serve on your world's first starship. You're extraordinary. You shouldn't feel jealous just because one of your peers is doing better then you. I have every bit of confidence you'll get there eventually,"

CC blushed and squirmed a bit, "T-thanks Doc,"

"Now run along and tell your Captain what's going on,"

"Aye sir,"

"GAH! Sir!? How could you be so cruel!?"

CC rolled his eyes, "Sorry my parents raised me to be respectful to my elders,"

"ELDERS! I'm still in my prime!"

"Goodbye Doctor,"

"Bye Creamy,"

###

Firebrand sat at his desk in the observation lounge.

The Lounge was a pretty big room behind the helm. It was filled with enchanted tables which ran the deep space scans and other advantages the ship had gained thanks to the doctor reverse engineering Ferengi technology as enchantments. There were large magic windows on the walls which let them see great distances away in any direction of the ship. A giant crystal ball, used for communication with other vessels, was in the center of the room. It was in the middle of a round table (not the Cutie Map, that was outside where the helm could see it for directions).

Firebrand liked to do his work in here instead of his office which was just behind them at the back. He liked being surrounded by his crew... even if they didn't think much of him.

He lifted his head and looked out the windows. Just taking a moment to stare at the giant Ring they were passing.

"Giant" doesn't really cover it. It was massive, beyond huge. It had the diameter of a star. Solopax called it "Halo Ring"

Thousands of years ago, Luna had discovered rings like this one all over the Galaxy. There was at least one in every star cluster, like the Mass Relays. They just kinda sat there, floating between star systems.

She had taken measurements of how long the days lasted from her telescope.The first telescope powerful enough to observe stars in other galaxies. She used it to map out the patterns of the stars and recorded them in great detail. It was actually how she earned her Cutie Mark.

After Luna was banished Celestia put the patterns into effect as the Equestrian Calendar and started basing the orbit of their own planet's sun and moon on the length of time on the rings.

When Luna returned and learned her star charts were not only accepted by ponies but in common use... Well the older guards told stories of how she wept.

Firebrand couldn't imagine it. Devoting so much of yourself to something only for it to be ignored by the world. Then coming back and seeing ponies couldn't even function without it. It was a truly great thing Celestia did for her sister.

Firebrand had gotten to know Celestia pretty well over the years. As a monster hunter he got his missions directly from her and as a member of Canterlot's royal guard he spent many mornings with her.

She wasn't as informal as Twilight and was very proud of the mask she wore for the public but that's what it was, a mask. A mask she didn't wear around her guard. Her real personality was very snarky with a love of pranks, bordering on troll levels. She hated those fancy parties she had to host every year but still handled herself with dignity and respect during them.

She also regretted how she treated her sister in her youth. Not cruelly but indifferent, which she claims is even worse. Ever since Luna came back Celestia has been trying to do little things to show her sister she cared, like making her breakfast after the Night Princess comes back from shepherding dreams and battling nightmares all night.

Working at the Palace in Canterlot Firebrand got to see just how amazing the two sisters really were. However he spent most of his time with Celestia

Truthfully he missed those days. Working at the Castle of Friendship certainly had a lot more action (what with Ponyville being on the very edge of the Everfree Forest and suffering from frequent monster attacks). However he still missed the days were he stood by Celestia throne and listened to her tease the nobles and get them all flustered. It was calmer days, with not even the smallest taste of adventure, but it was much more personal.

Twilight treated all the guards like they were her friends but Celestia... you felt like family serving her. It was like all your fellow guards were your siblings and Celestia was the mother to all of them... He missed that.

Firebrand's mind stopped idly shifting from topic to topic (out of boredom) as his ears caught the sound of his ringing phone.

he accepted the videochat and CC popped up, "Go ahead,"

"Captain," CC saluted and Firebrand couldn't help but smile. Where Firebrand served Celestia directly Canned Cream served Luna on the night shift. True he was only an Apprentice but he still got to spend time with her. It was no secret amongst the guard that the colt had a crush on the Princess of the night. There were even rumors that it was more then a crush and that he was Luna's secret consort. Although Firebrand couldn't imagine Luna would let him leave the planet if that was true.

"Report," Firebrand tried acting like a captain since CC was actually treating him like one. The flame pony really did appreciated it. As tension built among the crew they were showing him less and less respect. One of the older Commanders even absentmindedly called him "sport" well they were going over the sensor readings. He didn't mean anything by it but it was obvious he thought he was just a poster colt to.

"Spike just got last month's care package from Celestia. He's uploading our families letters now and will get to work on updating the apps afterwards,"

Firebrand smiled, "That's great news. I'll send a ship wide test altering the crew. Knowing the letters are here should raise their spirits, but keep an eye on the Prince. Make sure no one harasses him well he's working. It will take him longer if he has to stop to answer a bunch of questions,"

"Aye Sir! Over and out," The screen cut of.

Firebrand smiled and put his phone away.

"That was good thinking," One of the Helms ponies working a magic table smiled encouragingly, "Better we get those letters quickly then everyone pestering Spike about them,"

Firebrand... wished the guy didn't sound so condescending right then. Like he was amazed Firebrand thought of that on his own. No one had a problem with him being the commander of Ponyville's forces but they were all shocked he could adapt those same skills here. He choice not to comment on it and instead made small talk about the letters. He was trying his best to act like a captain instead of an easily offended child, like the Doctor said he should... of course part of him wandered... was he really in charge or was he exactly what everypony thought he was, a figure head. Everypony listened to the doctor and went to him with everything. True they were supposed to be maybe Firebrand should deal with the crew more directly. It was something to think about.

###

Diamond grinned eagerly as her email dinged. She found two letters on her phone, just for her. She knew she should be working but she hadn't heard from her parents in so long... and she hadn't left things in the most stable of circumstances. Her desire to finally know what happened took over everything. Playing the video from her mom her smile slowly failed and her face distorted into tears.

"What's wrong Diamond?" Apple Bloom asked as she wandered away from the soil she was tending to.

They were in the green house deck working the water melon patch. They were grewing all kinds of things so that it could be turned into raw material for the Replicators. It was easier then mining asteroids for rocks as Solopax suggested.

It only took an Earth Pony a month to grow a fruit to be completely ripe in Equestria but it was even easier out her without having to fight against the chaos magic in the soil. It took a matter of seconds now but they didn't need so much food so they merely tended the soil and kept the plants watered and made the Replicator bars as needed.

"My... my dad... he really did it... my parents are really divorced," Diamond whispered, "Mom sent me a letter... yelling at me for costing her her seat on the Ponyville Council,"

"Her seat?" Apple Bloom glared.

"You know how my dad was made governor after Ponyville became a City State?"

"Yeah, Applejack convinced Twilight to do it after she was made a Governess. Since ya'll Riches have done just as much for Ponyville as my family it only seemed fair,"

Diamond weakly smiled, but quickly lost it, "Well mom was the one going to all those meetings well dad handled the business but since the title comes from him Mom has no legal standing to advise Twilight anymore,"

"No offense Diamond but that's probably a good thing. I know Applejack was upset your mom wouldn't let Filthy go to those meetings himself,"

"He didn't want to go," Diamond informed, "I mean, dad appreciates the thought but he's interested in business, not politics. After that whole incident when he ran for mayor he learned he's really bad at that. The only reason he even accepted the title was because Grandma said he had to but he was able to pawn off his responsibilities on mom. Now dad has to start helping Flurry Heart run Ponyville,"

"Don't worry," Apple Bloom insisted, "They got Big Mac helping them, and Maud is standing in for Pinkie. I'm sure they'll do a good job,"

Diamond sighed, "I'm sure they will but... I realize you don't like my mom and probably think this is a good thing but she swore to cut all ties with me for this,"

Apple Bloom's ears pinned, "I'm sorry Diamond. I might not... understand your mom but I know you love her,"

Diamond sighed, "Thanks Apple Bloom... but I think I might request to be let off work early so I can talk to Doctor Wolf,"

"That's probably a good idea," Apple Bloom nodded, "But you should probably get ready for a lecture about answering your email at work. I doubt they'll tan you this time, considering,"

Diamond rolled her eyes, "I've never been spanked a day in my life,"

"Which probably explains why you were such a brat as a child," Apple Bloom snickered in an attempt to distract her friend.

"HEY!"

It worked!

###

Applejack smirked looking at the video on her phone. Grannie had her hoof on the Webcam's lense. AJ couldn't see anything but Grannie's tapping hoof.

"Is dis thing on?" Grannie hollered.

"Yep," AJ grinned, hearing the annoyed voice of her big brother, Big Mac.

"How can you tell?" Grannie finally took her hoof away and AJ could see them both clearly.

"It says it right there," Big Mac pointed.

"Where?"

"That blinking light,"

"Well how is anypony supposed to know what a blinking light means. Dang modern doohickey,"

Applejack laughed. She knew the old mare would probably pull her ear if she heard her laugh at her but the orange Earth Pony couldn't help it. She missed her family so much and it was nice to see them up to their usual antics. Grannie was over 500 years old and still not used to the boom in technology these past couple hundred years, especially these last few decades.

"Applejack!" Grannie suddenly yelled at the screen, getting her face up close to the webcam, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Nope," Big Mac shook his head, "We're recording a message for her. Then we wait for her to send a message back to us, like letters,"

"Well what's the point of that!?"

"So she can see us," Big Mac assured.

"What difference does that make?"

Applejack just smiled, "It makes a world of difference Grannie," she said out loud even though she knew her family couldn't see her.

"Well Applejack," Grannie finally started filling her in on what happened this month, "since you left and took little Apple Bloom with ya I had to hire some new hands. Dar working out fine, although dar some of those Apple fanatics that are just obsessed with all things Applejack. They keeping asking a million questions about you. Ever since you girls had that book of yours adapted into a cartoon on dat dar computer we've been getting more of them. It's not as bad as when ya'll first published that book but it's still insane. At least our sales are going up as a result,"

Big Mac informed, "We've had to start using the apples to make those dense bricks of raw matter for the Replicators. Flurry Heart dipped into the town treasury to outfit all the houses and restaurants in Ponyville with Replicators since it's healthier. She even made it illegal to sell regular food within Ponyville's boarders. Now the market is filled with ponies selling these Replicator bars. Filthy convinced Flurry to give the vendors portable Replicators to make their meals at their stands.

"Filthy even financed a new restaurant which has a replicator at every table. You just select what you want from the screen, insert a few bits, and the food appears in front of you. They don't even have waitresses, just bus-colts to clean the tables and restock the Replicators with bars,"

Grannie informed, "Well I refuse to get caught up in all this 'pre programmed' food. Sweet Apple Acres is still making everything by hoof. We have to use the ingredients from the Replicator now because of that stupid law Flurry passed-"

"They're supposedly healthier," Said Big Mac

"and they don't taste right!" Grannie insisted, "We had to completely rethink our recipes. 1500 years of tradition down the toilet! Those recipes were made by MY grandfather, who poured his heart and soul into their dishes,"

"Actually," Big Mac sighed, "Grannie insisting on still making everything from scratch has helped business. It's considered 'novelty food' and is selling well. A few of the restaurants in town are doing the same thing but most of them are focusing purely on programming the Replicators with their meals for convenience. But like Grannie said they don't quite taste the same so Chiefs have to completely relearn their palette,"

Applejack just smiled as she listened to her family complain. Well Grannie was doing most of the Complaining. Big Mac was doing his best to be the voice of reason. AJ really appreciated how much effort Big Mac was putting into the video. She knew he wasn't much of a talker but it was nice to hear his voice right now.

###

Smart Mouth grinned looking at the various videos from his family. They were all doing well.

Street Smart's job was going great in fact. He even got Miss Scratch to play one of his songs during the morning rush to work. He worked at Vinyl Scratch's global radio station as a composer. She played music during the day but at night She played Audio Dramas. That's how most radio stations worked. That way when most ponies were off work they could relax at home by listening to their shows.

Street Smart mostly wrote music for the Audio Dramas but occasionally Miss Scratch played the songs he composed on her daytime radio.

Miss Scratch had a lot of ponies working for her, especially when it came to creating the Audio Dramas. There were like 30 ponies working on the editing alone. Then they had who-knows how many musicians but only a handful of composers.

Dad had forced all the kids in his house to study music (Smart Mouth himself played the Cello) but Street Smart found he was better at writing it. Even got his cutie mark for composition.

Book Smarts got his cutie mark in business management and had recently graduated from his Apprenticeship at Filthy's store. Filthy made him the night time story manager. He'd been doing that job for years but now he officially had the title he trained for. He was getting a nice sized paycheck now and a large discount at the store. Book Smarts was really proud that he finally managed it.

Curious Cat was still apprenticing and would be for another 9 years. She studying as a ranger / vet at Fluttershy's animal Sanctuary. She did get her cutie mark in taking care of animals after all.

Know it all Junior was going to a university of higher learning instead of an Apprenticeship. He'd gotten a scholarship to study there for the next 9 years. He could get a Doctorate during that time.

Even Outsmart was doing well. She was Auntie's niece who came to live with them when Mouthy was 10. The family curse had gotten her and she fell on hard times but she had been able to pick herself back up in Ponyville and make some friends. Even got a good job and just moved into an apartment of her own.

Dad had been promoted as head of his scout platoon. His Rogue Class making it easy for him to infiltrate the forest unseen to observe the monsters.

Yep the family was all doing well and each of them sent him a video. Mouthy would be pretty busy on his off hours answering them all.

###

Twilight sighed watching her videos from home. Despite Flurry being technically in charge of Ponyville at the moment she was very self-conscious. She was just so unsure of herself she was sending the Alicorn of Friendship letters by Spike daily. Flurry passed everything by Twilight before taking action but Twilight was trying to give her free range. Watching Flurry on the video was almost heart breaking. She still seemed so unsure of herself.

"I've been trying to work with the makeshift Council you left me but..." The 19 year old Alicorn sighed, "Well they keep looking at me like I'm supposed to know EVERYTHING! I didn't ascend into Alicorn-hood like you and all the other Princesses did! These wings are just a birth defect but mom actually expects me to look after my own city. I know having me watch over your city is supposed to easy me into the concept but I don't... I need help Twilight but every time I ask you I just get a 'follow your gut'. I know I have the Council but they're as new to this as I am!

"Spoiled was probably the only pony who actually served with you and now she's GONE! Starlight thinks I'm too high strung and that's a laugh coming from her...

"I'm trying to bring Ponyville into the Space Age. The Replicators are the key, I know they are... I just don't know if I'm going about this right. I gave all the houses and restaurants and even the venders Replicators for free. I even created a Replicator based factory out in the middle of no where to mass produce everything from toys to computers.

"The Replicators can make them for practically nothing, I just have to replace the Crystals which power the facility every few moons, which is expensive but much cheaper then getting thousands of raw materials and paying for labor to put them all together. I can even make laptops and smart phones for the same cost of making a child's toy! The most complex technology we have is now as easy to build as pushing a button!

"Replicators will put Ponyville on the map, I know it. It won't be long before we are the capital of trade not only on our own planet but our entire sector of Space! I believe we can do it but the cost of converting everything...

"When I asked you if I should use your castle treasury to fund converting the town you just said 'do what you think is best'. I could BANKRUPT all of Ponyville! I'm still having trouble prioritizing what I need to do and... I raised taxes...

"I made sure to only use a Sales and business tax like you do but I had to raise them, temporarily, just until the treasury is stable again, but it pissed everyone off! I tried to explain it was only for a year so that the treasury can be sustained as I go through all these new advancements but ponies don't care about that!

"It doesn't help that Filthy asked for funding to build a fleet of space ships. I even managed to convince the Ferengi to act as advisors to the merchant vessels as there is so much they can teach us. He thinks we can use them for trading with other worlds well you explore the universe. He made a lesser model to your own which we can quickly enchant in the next 30 moons. They're even quicker them your ship but the shields and environmental bubble aren't as powerful. They won't be able to survive getting close to the ring but we can make ourselves an amazing powerhouse of interstellar trade in our own sector...

"I think I'm going good in the long term but short term everypony is upset with me!"

Twilight sighed listening to Flurry condemn herself. The filly spent an hour explaining everything she already told Twilight in greater, albeit more abstract, detail.

Twilight was sure to make a video of herself, not sure another written letter could cover it, as she assured her niece she was doing a fine job and how she thought her ideas for Ponyville were brilliant. Yes the average citizens had trouble looking at the big picture but they would come to appreciate her... likely after Twilight returned and Flurry stepped down. It was just how ponies are.

###

Firebrand smiled after looking through all the videos of his family. Most of the crew was in a much better mood as well but a hoof-ful had gotten had news... which was bringing down the morale of all there friends. They needed something more. They couldn't keep traveling like this. Cutie Map or not the crew needed some shore leave.