Spike smiled to himself in his snazzy tuxedo. 'Another Grand Galloping Gala, no Smooze, no stampede, no Rainbow Dash acting like a clown, Rarity at my side not trying to charm Prince Blueblood, and tons of extra helpings of gems everywhere. Short of our few surviving villains joining forces to attack us all at once, nothing can go wrong.' Spike braced himself, but no sign of Chrysalis joining up with Flim and Flam and Lightning Dust. So all was good with the world.

"Announcing the friends of Former-Dragon Lord Master Kenbroath Gilspotten Heathspike The Forth!"

"Huh?"

"Dragon Lord Ember!" And Ember stepped in, looking rather out of place, wearing her warrior's armor for lack of anything else to wear since she knew ponies for some odd reason 'covered themselves up' for things like this.

"Wow! I didn't know Ember was invited!" Spike asked.

"And... Runner-Up Dragon Lord Garble The Hugger and his guests Fizzle, Clump, and Fume."

"WHAT?!" Spike exclaimed.

And in came Garble, along with the white, brown, and purple teenage dragon bullies he kept under his sway. His head held high and not even hiding his disgust for all the ponies around him.

"And Not-Father, Sludge The Dragon."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Spike smacked himself in the head.

And Sludge moseyed in like he owned the place, swaying his big fat hips. And immediately went to the buffet table and began stuffing his face.

"<S>Replacement Element of Harmony Crusader</s> Student of Friendship Smolder."

And in came Smolder, wearing a frilly dress and make-up, and blushing up a storm... Spike wondered who she had lost a bet with to dress up like THAT in public! At least Smolder and Ember would keep the trouble makers in line... 'No way any of them would ignore or challenge the dragon lord if she tells them to keep in line,' Spike thought hopefully.

"And finally, Mina of Dragon Town, Fillydelphia."

'OH! NO!' Spike broke out into a cold sweat.

"WOW! I can't believe I get to be here! To see all this! So many important ponies! Good thing I brought my camera! Who here reads comic books? Who here reads 'Flashfire' comics?"

'Okay, think! What would Twilight do? She'd have a panic attack and do her breathing exercise. Okay, what would she do next? Make a check list of what to do. And after that? She'd deal with one crisis at a time! Okay!'

"Rarity! Will be right back!"

"... Be careful Spikey Wikey... I'll keep an eye on the ruffians."

"They aren't what I'm worried about!"

"Spike dear whatever do you mean? Spike? SPIKE!"

Spike hurried up straight to Princess Celestia.

"Princess! Princess! I don't know what's going on here! But over half of those dragons are NOT my friends!"

"Oh? This is very concerning, which ones?" Celestia said giving Spike her full attention.

"Uh, the ones that aren't girls."

"Oh Spike, you sly whelp you," Celestia gave Smile #9.

"I JUST HAVE EYES FOR RARITY!" Spike said blushing like a tomato. "Look! The big red guy Garble said if he became Dragon Lord he'd loot Equestria then burn it to the ground. And those three with him are his pilot fish! And the big guy is a leech who pretended to be my dad!"

"I understand your concern Spike... but they've been formally invited, have accepted that invite, and have arrived in a civilized manner. Unless they cause trouble, to expel them from the Gala now would... well, I've had many a noble who wanted guests from previous Galas thrown out for what they 'might do'. Like you."

"Neighsay?"

"Neighsay. Raven, what did you do?"

The 'paper pusher behind the throne' as she was known answered, "Well... I was having a very busy day, and I was worried the invitations wouldn't make it out in time. And I wasn't sure who Spike's 'dragon friends' were, so I just sent out a general message to all dragons that 'whoever is a dragon and a friend of Master Kenbroath Gilspotten Heathspike IV, otherwise known as Spike The Dragon, is invited to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"I see... I'm sorry for putting too much on you Raven."

"No your Majesty, it was my fault."

Celestia sighed, knowing better than to argue after a thousand years of this. "Spike. I apologize. I thought dragons who were friends of yours, (and thus I thought could be trusted not to give dragons a worse name among ponies) could liven things up... in case you've forgotten, the Grand Galloping Gala on its own is criminally boring. And last time I tried to disband it I almost triggered a revolution.

"Spike, I promise the Guard will tell them to leave if they cause trouble. But until they cause trouble, I can't in good conscience ORDER them to leave. And I'll personally make them leave myself if they won't. Maybe if they see all this, they might change their views on ponies just a little. Perhaps your REAL friends can show not all dragons are the same... then again ponies are likely to focus on just the negative. The point is, if we tell them to leave because their invite was an error... I'd rather not have to deal with troublesome dragons unless I have to. Make sure Ember has personally ordered them to behave. If Ember is half as intelligent as I know she is, she'll have already done so."

"Okay! Fine. But there's a biggest mess! Ember rules the migrant dragons! Mina is indigenous? No. Native? No. Settler? Agh! The point is that she's not from the same flight as Ember, and from how ponies described it, they consider Mina's flight the 'nice ones' and they were still paranoid around them!"

"Well... Dragon Town was founded less than a century ago. And ponies finally stopped being scared of the dragons who had settled down on their doorstep after BUYING LAND to settle on only a few years ago. But I seriously doubt-"

"TRAITOR!"

"TYRANT!"

"EXILE!"

"WE WEREN'T EXILED! WE LEFT!"

"SO YOU ADMIT YOU ABANDONED YOUR FLIGHT?!"

"YOU'RE NOT MY FLIGHT!"

Mina and Ember were spewing fire and trying to claw each other's eyes out. Mina impressively holding her own against a dragon in armor.

Nearly all the dragons, INCLUDING SMOLDER, were cheering on Ember. The only one cheering on Mina, to Spike's disgust, was Sludge.

"GIVE'ER WHAT SHE'S GOT COMING TO HER!" Smolder cheered.

"Strike a blow for dragon freedom!" Sludge shouted.

The guests were all in a circle, too fascinated by the drakaina fight to turn away or flee.

Spike flew right into the melee.

"EMBER! MINA! STOP! STOP! OW! OW! OW! OW!"

"SPIKE! You're friends with this... TRAITOR?!"

"SPIKE! You were a Dragon Lord?! I believed in you!"

"I hadn't been a Dragon Lord when we first met! And I was one for like less than minute! I did it just so Garble wouldn't win and set all of Equestria on fire! And Ember you're acting like Chrysalis, calling her a traitor just for living a different way?"

"I care for my subjects and want them to better themselves, therefore your statement is irreverent."

'Geeze... normally the 'you're acting like this bad person you don't like' works every time.'

The two hadn't stopped fighting.

Photographers were taking pictures now. This wasn't good.

'Okay Spike! Think! How to end an age old blood feud between two branches of your people in seconds before dragons get demonized in front of all of Equestria's elite?... Nothing's coming!'

"I've lived like a REAL dragon! Not some weak pot bellied city dweller who's never had to fight to survive!"

"At least I'm CIVILIZED and don't think 'who can bully other dragons the most' is a good form of election!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

Now Spike dived in between them for real and didn't back out. "... STOP IT! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER!"

This time... Mina and Ember did stop, at least to prevent ripping Spike to pieces.

Spike huffed and puffed.

"Mina! Have you ever even MET any migrant dragons in your life?! Remember what you told me?! When I said I called myself a pony at heart? That I'd lumped dragons together into one big pile because of Garble and his goons?

"Ember! Were you even HATCHED before Mina's family left the Dragon Lands?! Didn't you tell me over and over that you want Dragons to be BETTER, and you're sick of being road blocked because nopony wants to give you a chance?!"

Spike pointed at Mina. "YOU are lumping the Dragon Lands into one big pile!"

Spike pointed at Ember. "YOU aren't giving Mina a chance!"

The two drakaina were stunned silent, and stood up, and paced away from each other, not taking their eyes off Spike. The crowd of dragons were silent too.

Finally, Mina raised her claw outward. "Hello, my name is Mina, I run a comic book shop in Dragon Town, I sell comics that show dragons can be heroes too."

Ember raised her own claw. "Nice to meet you, Mina. My name is Ember. I've been trying to teach dragons to be more than bullies while not giving up our own identity as dragons."

"I'm a proud citizen of Equestria, but that doesn't mean I'm not a proud dragon too."

"And I'm a rather proud dragon myself too. Seems we have something in common after all."

--

"'Dragon Lord Ember and Dragon Town Ambassador Mina give dragon wrestling demonstration during Grand Galloping Gala...' Well. Could be worse," Spike said reading the paper the next morning.

"I'm proud of you Spike," Princess Twilight said putting a wing on his shoulder. "I was tempted to magically force them apart, but I knew that a dragon had to be the one to show the nobles dragons aren't 'savages.' But I was scared you were going to go Spikezilla for a minute to pull them apart."

"... Maybe I could have... if I wanted to bully them into behaving... And when Ember threw 'you're acting like Chrysalis' back in my face without missing a beat... it made me realize... We can't tell ponies, or dragons, to be better just by telling them they're acting like a worse person... You have to remind me of the GOOD they're trying to do..."

Twilight hugged him. "That's my little dragon!"

~Fin