Mayor Mare lifted one hoof up and to the right as her shoulders lifted. "Very finely said, but I wonder why you've brought it to me. Even if you speak the whole truth, by your own words, I am a 'manager' of the city. What do you hope I'll do?"
A fair question, Laud figured. "There is a matter of propriety. I could go marching directly for the highest office in the land, but that would make me a brute, an intruder, and unliked deservedly." He put a hand down on her desk. "You are the local leader. If you see merit in my words, you can direct me with a reference to the next higher, until I arrive properly where I need to be, instead of clumsily forcing my way there."
She lowered her hooves and took measure of Laud for several silent moments. "How very interesting." She pulled a paper over and grabbed a quill in her mouth. "As you have undoubtedly heard, we are a monarchy. Technically a diarchy, but everyone knows which of the two makes the final decisions. She loves her sister, but this much is obvious." She scrawled something on her paper that Laud couldn't quite make out. "Which is why I'm sending you to see the lesser of the two. She has a greater affinity for what lies outside this world we know."
Spike scratched at his right cheek. "Luna?"
"The same." She put the quill down, grabbed a stamp and thud it against the paper, making an ornate seal. "I presume Twilight can arrange transportation. Good luck."
She sounded cheerful enough, but Laud could read between the lines. She was washing her... hooves of him, whisking him along as quickly as possible to be handled, one way or the other, by more powerful people. Still, it was exactly what he had asked for. He couldn't be too upset at that. "Thank you, Miss Mare." He reached for the paper and she did not stop him from claiming it. It was a letter of introduction, but he wouldn't read it in front of the mayor, that would be testing patiences. "I won't take up more of your valuable time with that, but I do wonder if you could tell me what Ponyville's main exports and imports are?"
The question seemed to perk up the politely dismissive mayor. "Our primary export remains agrarian in nature. Have you visited the orchard? It's what started this town, and we've grown since then. Many other farmers have added their output to the basket, as it were. With our growth, we have developed a healthy commercial and service sector, but as far as direct exports go, food is the number one by a healthy margin."
Spike raised a claw. "What about Rarity's clothes?"
"Ah, yes." Mayor Mare gave a slight nod. "She is a jewel of the community. Her business has expanded outside of Ponyville, however. Still, she does make one of the closest competitors for foodstuffs. Ponies pay quite a bit to have one of her outfits. You would do well to speak to her, Mister Mountbatten. She is a well-connected pony." She pushed her glasses up as she smiled. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Laud was impressed by how cleanly she got his name each time she said it. He wondered if she had spent time practicing to get it right. "Thank you, for your time. If you need to reach us, you know how to do so." It had been made abundantly clear that the mayor knew exactly where he was staying.
"Good luck." She raised a hoof in a wave. "Do let the front clerk know you're leaving."
They departed. The moment the door was closed behind them in the hallway, Spike let out a breath he had been holding. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That?" He waved at the closed door. "You came to ask questions and suddenly went full war face, then you're back to harmless questions again. What was that?"
Laud turned for the exit and began walking. "I do not know how much time we have before the gate is properly repaired, but it scarcely pays to assume more time than there is, so I plan to move this as swiftly as I can without breaking decorum. I don't think she believes me, at least the gravity of my words, but she's done exactly as I asked." A better response than many local leaders he knew, who would have rebuffed him, possibly angrily. He had been ready for a fight, and was met with simple dismissal in the direction he wanted.
"How was your meeting?" asked the same clerk that they had passed on the way in. "Everything go well?"
Laud could see she wasn't actually looking up. She was endeavoring to be polite in a half-assed fashion. "She said to mention she was done."
"Thank you." She grabbed a folder in her mouth and dropped it in a filing cabinet. "Busy day."
Laud saw no reason to disturb the machine that seemed to be serving its people well enough and led the way to the light of day. "Did you learn anything from that, Spike?"
"Uh... not really." Spike rubbed at one arm with the opposing hand. "I mean, how can you tell when it's a good time to stick to your guns, or a good time to play it safe?"
"That's a fantastic question." Laud raised the paper he had been given. His curiosity was getting the better of him, and the mayor had not closed or sealed the letter in anyway, so there seemed little harm in a little peek. "Much of it comes down to practice, but you have to learn to assert yourself and have confidence in your own decisions before you learn when to yield in the face of other qualified opinions. Ultimately, that is what we both did. I said my part, the mayor said hers, and neither of us, in the end, changed our mind. She was mature in passing the situation to a person better able to make a decision on it."
Dear Princess Luna,
The holder of this letter, a tall bipedal stallion of unknown species, has a matter he would like to discuss with you. I'm unsure what to make of it, save for perhaps being another issue that the girls could take care of, but he is rather insistent. If you can afford a moment of your evening for him, it may prove enlightening.
Humbly Yours,
Mayor Mare
"The girls?" What had she meant by that? "Spike, do you know of 'the girls?'"
"Oh yeah, Twilight and her friends." He was bobbing his head as he walked along with Laud. "What about them?"
"Would they be able to handle a full invasion of armed aliens?"
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "They'd figure it out. I mean, best case scenario, it's fixed with a musical number. They do love their musical numbers."
A... musical number? Laud shook his head slowly. "I should imagine it is difficult to sing when being stabbed or slashed."
"Hey, you'd think so... You need to get to know Pinkie better." He hiked a thumb towards the building that seemed like a huge gingerbread house. "We could visit her, actually. Might not be a bad idea. We can get some victory snacks to celebrate your meeting since it went so well. It did go well, right?"
Laud neatly folded the paper to tuck away. "It went as well as it could have, save for her arranging a meeting to the top, though that might have had its own downfalls. No, this was a success. Spike?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you speak to Twilight, about formalizing your place?"
Spike looked confused a moment before he slapped one balled hand against the opposing palm. "Oh, right, the knight thing! I mean... wouldn't that officially make me under Twilight?"
"You already are," countered Laud. "Being a knight will not change that, between you and her. Being a knight would make you higher compared to many others. For instance... Lady Rarity."
Spike began to pinken.
"You favor her, do you not?"
Spike squirmed in place. "Uh... we should--"
"--Finish this conversation," finished Laud with a firm nod. "She clearly fancies those of title, a common trait among women, and men, come to think. If you rise to the formal station you are already living, it could aid you in your... romantic quest."
"R-really?" Spike frowned a moment before he nodded. "Hey yeah, you do have a point. She does! If I... I'll have to talk to Twilight about it, but..." He looked up at Laud with a serious expression. "You said I shouldn't do it unless I plan to do it right."
"I'm glad you remembered that." The little dragon was... easy to like, in his opinion. It was like the son he hadn't had yet. "Do you fully intend to serve as Twilight's knight, to be her sword and shield, her eyes and ears? Her commands would be your reason for living, and her success would be yours. Though one hopes against it, should it prove needed, your life would be forfeit if it meant protecting her. It is a heavy task, but a sacred one, to be admired and respected. Even I can tip my head towards a loyal knight and would be honor-bound to afford them respect and some deference."
Spike's claws interwove, fidgeting among themselves. "I mean... I already love Twilight. Not... like Rarity... you know? She's... I would do almost anything for her, even if I complain sometimes." His eyes went downcast. "I mean... she made me..."
Laud stopped his walk. "Did I mishear that word?"
"What word?"
"Made. She... created you?" Was Spike a golem of some kind?
"Well... I mean..." He looked everywhere but Laud. "It's kind of complicated. So... I was an egg, like most dragons are, but I wasn't hatching... Then Twilight's asked to make it happen, with magic."
"Were you... struggling to hatch?" He could imagine an egg rocking around, the drake inside being too weak to escape. A sad fate.
"N-no. I was... just an egg..."
"She was tasked with making life from an otherwise lifeless egg?" He boggled at the very notion. "Is that possible?" And even if it was, was it right?
"Well... she didn't do so good at first." He waved his claws as if trying to do magic. "She was about to give up when she was startled and all her magic spilled out. Pow!" He punched his own palm. "I hatched."
A sudden new presence dropped down right between the two. It was a pink presence. "Hey! Are we talking about how we all got our cutie marks? I love this story! Can I go, huh huh?" Pinkie was smiling, as she tended to do, bright and cheerful. "Did I ever tell you about the rock farm I grew up on, Laud?"
"A quarry?" Laud could not imagine rocks being 'farmed' in the traditional way one farmed anything.
She waved it off. "It's more than that! Spike, tell him!"
Spike blinked at the command. "I think it's more of an earth pony thing."
"Exactly! And that's what I am." She pointed at herself. "And so is my whole family! I saw you guys out the window, looking all serious so I thought I'd come over and put some smiles on those faces." Her fore hooves raised, a cupcake balancing on either. "A little sweet to sweeten the day?"
Laud accepted the gift with a brief nod. "You are a thoughtful friend, Pinkie. Are we distracting you from your duties?"
She gasped with sudden alarm. "Thanks for reminding me!" She dashed off in a wild springing gait back into the bakery.
Spike reached up and took the cupcake she left behind that still hovered in the air a moment until just before he got to it, falling into his claws. "For an earth pony, she sure seems to have magic at times."