Laud had decided that his clothing made for functionality over pomp would be proper. He would introduce himself as a man of action, not a social flower. He considered his sword. Would bringing it sour the atmosphere? The ponies seemed quite insistent on their pacifism, with most of them seeming to prefer being passive and relying entirely on their few warriors to even consider the very notion of actually fighting.
Well, it just wouldn't do to present a false face. He strapped his blade belt on, though he doubted he would be using it that day. "But I am ready to." He nodded at his reflection before moving with purpose. His meeting was coming.
"Hey Laud," spoke Starlight who was descending the stairs as well. "Ready for your chat?"
"I hope it will be more than a casual conversation." He had high hopes that he could start his social climb. "Tell me, do you know how Mayor Mare obtained their position?"
Starlight seemed to consider it a moment. "Mmm, I think I remember someone saying she was elected?"
An elected leader? Well, that could work for a local leader, perhaps... "What if someone very popular, but unfit to rule, were to receive the winning votes?"
Starlight's shoulders lifted in a gesture a normal horse could never replicate. "Then Ponyville gets a bad mayor and people learn their lesson. Why? How do they do it where you come from?"
"One earns leadership in two ways, most of the time." He held up one finger. "One is by birth to another leader. You are instructed in the art from a young age and are ready to assume the mantle when the time comes, ensuring a smooth governance." He raised a second finger. "The other is by virtue of deed. A person can be given leadership for proving the strength of their character, ability to lead, and other positive traits and a greater ruler may make a lesser ruler of them. For instance, if your Princess Celestia selected a specific pony to be mayor of this city, one would think she would select carefully and well."
"I'd hope so," she agreed as they reached the bottom. "Still, I haven't heard anyone complain about Mayor Mare. She's been mayor for a long time. Good luck with your meeting." She reached up to pat Laud on the side before she trotted onwards to her own destination.
Laud proceeded out the door to find a short figure waiting for him, Spike. "Good day, Spike."
"Hey, uh, just thought I'd show the way." He flashed his too-wide-obviously-lying smile.
Laud glanced down into the city, where the town hall projected clearly from the smaller buildings around it. "I don't think my chances of becoming lost are very high. We're meeting to discuss matters of state and governing. Is that something you have interest in?"
"Oh, um... yeah..." he said in an entirely unconvincing way. His posture suddenly straightened. "Look, you're a stallion--" Ponies liked to refer to all males as stallions, despite living in a multi-racial world. Pride? "And you're in charge. I mean, you expect it. I want to see how you work."
Laud could not argue the fact that ponies seemed to err on the side of a matriarchy, in defiance of his own ways, still... "I'm seeking to make a good impression with the mayor."
Spike put up a hand, eyes closing. "And you'll look all the better with the assistant to the local princess at your side. I know Mayor Mare, and she knows me."
Laud gestured towards the large building that was his target. "Very well then, do you know what would be the ideal gift for her to show my eagerness to move together, as rulers, for the betterment of our people?"
Spike's head tilted a bit as an eye cracked open. "Wha? I mean, nobody around here is 'your' people, right?"
"Is that your answer?" He hiked a brow and looked down on Spike. As he had predicted, the small drake quickly changed his approach.
"No no! I mean, uh, lessee, good gift... Not hair dye!"
That caught him by surprise. "Does she have need for it?"
"Oh, well, um, no? She isn't a natural grey though."
A pony dyed their hair. Grey? Laud struggled with the concept. "Alright, no dye. What do you suggest?"
"Honestly... nothing. I think showing up with anything physical will make the wrong impression." He shrugged helplessly as he said it. "But maybe I'm not so good at this."
"Nonsense." He slapped the smaller male on the shoulder. "That's a fine answer, and encouraging as well. Those who come calling to me with gifts too grand set the tone that they want something from me, something I might not want to give. Come on then, we'll greet her with the gift of our company."
Spike let out a little laugh at that, rubbing the lightly-thwacked shoulder. "Now there's a gift..."
"Presence is a gift." There was a pun there. What boggled Laud was that the pun was still there in equine sounds, though his untrained hearing could only barely make it out. "Let's not keep her waiting."
They strode into town. With permission given, much of Spike's tensions faded away and he started ambling along easily. "So, hey... you know how being royalty works, right? Think you could teach a guy?"
"That is a long task you're asking," he warned, looking aside at the young dragon. "And you are not royalty. Still, there are lessons you could learn about comporting yourself around them, but I think you know most of that. I've seen you do it, but you're not consistent. I think that's your weakness, Spike."
Spike put a hand behind his head. "Yeah, y'see, the girls don't... We'll talk about that later." He rolled out the same hand towards the town hall. "Here we are."
Lyra waved from a bench she was seated on in a very humanoid way beside Bon Bon. "Hey! Getting something from town hall?"
Laud dipped his head faintly to the pair. "A social visit, and one I don't wish to be late for. A pleasure seeing you again."
Lyra let him go, even waving him and Spike along. Bon Bon eyed them subtly, but not too subtly for Laud to notice. She was watching them with an intensity that she hid decently.
There was little time to deal with her, however. He ascended the few stairs that led to the main doors of the building. A glance showed Spike was at his side. This door had no knob. It had no bar or anything else. He presumed that meant it was pushed and gave it a nudge. It moved quite easily on well-oiled hinges. Inside was a low din of activity. Ponies were working hard, typing on keyboards that appeared to defy all logic and somehow work with two keys, scribbling notes with quills held in their mouths, and scrambling around putting things in filing cabinets while taking other things free of them.
It was, ultimately, a haven of governing. He had been to such places in the past, and it was comforting in a way to return to one. The back of the door, he noticed, had a handle. The handle was a small curved bit of metal that looked perfectly functional... if one had fingers to wrap around it and give it a pull. He shoved aside the mystery of pony architecture for the time being as he rose to his full height, towering over the ponies. It wasn't fair, he knew.
They were on all fours.
Despite that, he took advantage of his height. He meant to make impressions. Spike dashed forward and waved for him to follow. Laud nudged the door shut behind himself and they wove their way through the activity.
A pony with large glasses looked up at him as he walked by. "Are you here for the mayor?" Her eyes moved past him to find Spike. "He knows where she is. Welcome to Ponyville." Her attention fell right back to her work without a pause.
Laud had to silently commend the administrators on their work ethic. He followed Spike into an adjoining hallway where he scampered to a door and hiked his thumb at it. "This is her office." He started patting himself down, as if his scales could be straightened out and organized with the mild effort.
Fortuantely for Laud, his clothing could be, and he took the time to do just that, fussing over his clothing a moment before he strode up to the door and rapped on it twice with the back of a hand.
"Yes?" came a mature female voice before it opened, revealing a grey-maned mare with blue eyes and a pale amber coat. "Why, hello. A pleasure to meet you... Sir Mountbatten was it?" She stepped to the side to allow them in. "And you've brought Spike. Hello."
"Heya Mayor," Spike greeted with a friendly wave, walking past her.
Laud crossed an arm over his chest and offered a proper bow towards Mayor Mare. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Mare." That sounded so very odd to say to him. "I hear you are an excellent manager of the city, and have come to introduce myself, and perhaps learn more about the governance you oversee."
Mayor Mare's eyes lit up. "Is that a passion of yours?" She trotted away from the door and hopped up into a chair just behind her desk. "It would be a pleasure, but I must point out that I am never entirely off-duty, especially while I'm here at Town Hall. Any moment, a pony could come in with a matter needing my eyes and input, and I do apologize for that, but I take my position very seriously."
Her warning only sounded like a good sign. She took her role seriously. "It's good to know you take your responsibility with the gravity it deserves." He closed the door behind himself and approached her desk. "There is a matter of politics that will soon crash on your shores, and I hope to have your country ready for its happening, so it can proceed with efficiency and minimum disruption."
Mayor Mare's smile eased, a careful frown replacing it. "That sounds very dire, indeed. Can you be more specific?"
Laud waved upwards with one hand. "I came from up there, and I am the representative of but one of many houses that might seek to take control of this land, for its resources. It's a wonderful world, ripe for human habitation, which means it's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'."
Mayor Mare was quiet a moment. She gave a faint nod. "And you are another, who would control the world entire?"
Laud raised his hands. "Not the way you are likely thinking. You, for instance, are a model manager. There would be no reason to get in your way. Ideally, everyone would stay where they are, but there has to be something that speaks for the world as a whole, and will defend it against others that will come and take what they think is undefended. I will be frank, because we are both people of leadership."
Spike's eyes moved to each person as they talked, looking just a little lost.
"I appreciate your forthrightness, but, forgive me. What evidence do you have of your words?" She gave a little smile. "You're hardly the first to come into my office with words of doom and gloom, you see. It's become something of a task of mine to sift through it all and throw most of it aside."
At that, Spike raised a claw. "Well, we do know he's from the sky, past Equestria, somewhere... out there. Twilight has all the parts of the thing he rode on, Maud has the rest."
Laud nodded lightly. "My ship was small, but the ones that follow could be much larger, with enough people to mount a proper offensive. If it came down to a war, which I do not want, it would be long, brutal, and hopeless."
Mayor Mare brought her hooves together without a sound. "You underestimate ponies. Your people would be far from the first to try and take what is ours, and we've fought them all off. We may... seem weak, but our heroes have all our hopes and strengths. They will turn your people back."
"I don't want them to need to be turned back," countered Laud. "You will become part of the larger society. Let's do it elegantly, with battles of commerce and culture, instead of on the field of war."