//------------------------------//
// 1 
// Story: When Heavens Divide 
// by Mediocre Morsov 
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1


Not for the first time, Spike questioned his role in Equestrian society. Celestia's teachings had been his only instruction growing up, but they applied solely to ponies. Their caste system was reflected in Celestia's doctrine, and nowhere did it make mention of the other species inhabiting their world. Spike's own breed, the dragons, were viewed with the same contempt as many others for their different worldview, seen as little better than the changelings.

Of course, Spike had helped turn a few ponies around about both races. The scaly-skinned fire-breathers were beginning to embrace Equestrian philosophy and law, while the changelings were full heartedly converting to it after ousting their queen. Even the acerbic griffons had begun to rebuild their ruined realm, deciding to do it in the image of the stable and powerful Equestria. It was quite convenient how all these lands and beings, with their radically different views and cultures, were suddenly adopting the practices and beliefs of the one species they had despised - until being bested by a pony champion, more often than not. The only race who hadn't converted entirely, yet were on wonderful diplomatic terms with them, were the yaks.

Yet, despite all the conversion, Celestia didn't make any moves to integrate them into the coalition of pony city-states. She was fine to cooperate and coexist with these "independent" races that now suddenly behaved according to her standards and morals, yet she had no plans for how immigrants or refugees from their allies would function in her utopia. It seemed almost as if they were unwelcome - as if only those with pony blood would ever be accepted and integrated into the world she had created.

And, Spike supposed, that wasn't uncommon. After all, he had learned from his experiences with the more insular species like his own dragons and the changelings, that outsiders were typically detested. What made it odd, though, were Celestia's teachings on inclusion, tolerance, and acceptance. The dragons, the changelings, and the griffons never taught such ideas, so it was not strange to see their lands and subjects viewing others with displeasure, but the realms of Equestria? Despite their teachings, non-ponies were viewed and treated as second-class – a fifth caste beneath even the earth ponies.

Spike had dealt with that subtle prejudice his entire life without thinking about it. He was born and raised a servant to Twilight Sparkle - now a Princess with her own godlike powers, but once a unicorn. Even the earth ponies had some measure of self-determination; Spike had none. Now that he came to realize his place in his adoptive land, he realized how sickeningly kind Equestrian prejudice was. The ponies viewed him as an oddity, crowding around him in wonder when they didn't outright ignore him. They were never rude about it, naturally, never using any racial slurs or assuming he would behave as a stereotype, but they treated him... differently.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Starlight Glimmer asked.

Spike looked at her, wondering if he should voice his concerns. Starlight Glimmer would likely be the most receptive, being a former radical idealist and secessionist. Now, though, the powerful unicorn was Twilight's most faithful student. Her only student, true, but Twilight hammered in Celestia's teachings as surely as Her Majesty herself would.

"It's nothing," he lied, scratching at the scales of his face.

"Come on, Spike," Starlight snorted as she finished sorting her section of the library, levitating books in sorcerous light, "I know it's only been, like, a year, but we've spent enough time together to know each other. I know you're lying."

"It's just," Spike shrugged, "I feel like this system isn't working out..."

"It's the same system every library in Equestria uses," Starlight pointed out, "I think it's pretty efficient."

"No, not the cataloguing system," Spike sighed, "Equestria's system." After a moment, he added in a whisper, "Celestia's system."

Starlight stopped, her stack of books gently floating to the table she was working at. She spared an unreadable look at Spike that made him fidget.

"How so?" she asked.

"Well," the drake avoided eye contact, "there's nothing in her teachings about non-Ponies, except that you can be friends with them and they can learn Equestrian ways..."

"And you've proven that," Starlight smiled, warmly, "Not only are you an example of that, but you helped prove that for all dragons, and the changelings, too. Rainbow Dash proved it for the griffons, as well."

"Y-yeah," Spike agreed, "but that's not what bugs me. What bugs me is Celestia's teachings don't explore it... further."

"Further?"

"Well, it's great that our races and lands can interact and everything, but what about integration?" Spike had trouble with the bigger word, hoping he was using it correctly. Fortunately, spending enough time scribbling Twilight's messages down had helped him learn much in Equestrian language.

"Why would she need to teach about integration?" Starlight giggled as she returned to placing books on shelves with her magic.

"What if a dragon or griffon wants to move to Equestria?" Spike asked, "Or if something happens to the changelings and they need to move here as refugees?"

"Then we treat them as one of us," Starlight shrugged, as if it were that simple.

"But why isn't there anything about it in Celestia's teachings?" Spike pressed, "She's always had so much foresight - she planned things out a thousand years in advance, right? She probably planned out the peace between Equestria and her neighbors, and yet, she never thought to teach her subjects about what to do in the event that beings from our allies want to move here?"

"Why would they?" Starlight asked, "I mean, yeah, they're learning how to be better by taking to Celestia's teachings, but why would they ever want to leave their homeland?"

Spike narrowed his eyes at the 'better' comment and what it implied of his species’ culture.

"For the same reasons ponies have always moved," he pointed out, "Does it matter why they move?"

"It might," Starlight said, "Most of these guys hated ponies for a long time. I don't think they're all chomping at the bit to be our friends. It's likely the ones wanting to move here are dragons or even changelings that still hate us and want to hurt us. After all, if they were good guys, why aren't they staying in their lands where they belong and helping improve them?"

Spike bristled at Starlight's comments and felt hurt that she seemed oblivious to the insults she was dishing out.

"I'm one of 'those guys'," he pointed out with enough bitterness that Starlight turned around, surprised. Rather than apologize, she gave a patronizing smile.

"Oh, Spike, I didn't mean you," she chuckled, "I mean... you know, the bad ones."

"I've met more bad ponies than I've met bad dragons," Spike shot back.

"Ouch, easy there," Starlight gave a nervous giggle, but Spike kept going.

"Trixie, Flim and Flam, King Sombra, you," he counted on his fingers, "and I've heard of plenty of others, too! Should I assume all ponies are bad because of that?"

"Where is this coming from?" Starlight asked, getting angry. Her anger only made Spike angrier.

"You ponies," he growled, "all you ever do is judge the rest of us by your standards. I'm considered a good dragon because I behave like you, engage in your culture, and follow Celestia's teachings! Yet, am I treated like a pony? Do I have the same rights as you?"

Starlight felt her growing anger shrink at those remarks. They struck an entirely different chord with her, and she remembered how much she struggled with learning about friendship.

"You have the same rights as us," Starlight knew it was a lie as she said it.

"No I don't!" Spike laughed, "I was born into servitude! Don't get me wrong, I like my job, and I think Celestia's teachings are great, but I am not considered equal with you. There's a very big equality issue in this country."

That did it. Starlight felt as if she had reawakened from a long sleep. There had been many factors that led to her becoming a political radical, an idealistic secessionist from Celestia's teachings and the Equestrian way. She had been distracted by the fact that, at the root of it, she had started down that road for the petty reason that her closest friend had been taken from her. She had also felt discredited by her own dishonesty and corrupt attempts to hold onto her power. After all, how could she be a champion of virtue if she wasn't virtuous?

"You're right," she said simply, dousing Spike's ire in two words, "I've always noticed the inequality of Pony customs. Of course, I was always focused on the Cutie Mark aspect of it. I never even considered how other races must feel."

"I actually liked your idea, even though I didn't see it," Spike admitted, "I think it could use some improvement, though."

"In retrospect, maybe stealing everyone's Cutie Mark with sorcery - and by extension, their actual ability - was a bad idea," Starlight confessed, "I just had such a vendetta against them..."

"Do you still?"

"The talents, no," the rogue unicorn shook her head, "but the Cutie Marks... those are unjust. No pony should be locked into their career, nor should they be given an unfair edge because of it. How is it fair that Filthy Rich is rich, while Apple Bloom and her friends have to spend the rest of their lives as career consultants?"

"They actually enjoy their job, but I see your point," Spike nodded agreement, "What do we do about this, anyway?"

"Well, taking over a small village and bending ponies to my will is a bust," Starlight joked, "We should compose our ideas and present them to Twilight."

"I'm not sure about that..."

"What's the problem, Spike?" Starlight giggled, "Twilight will help us, I know it!"

“I’m not so sure,” Spike repeated, looking over his shoulder as if the Princess of Friendship might be eavesdropping, “She’s very loyal to Celestia. Twi might not like that we’re questioning her teachings.”

“I think she’ll surprise you,” Starlight smirked, “Twilight might be a hardliner, but I think she’d appreciate our points – if we took the time to build a case for them – and would present the ideas to Celestia, herself. After all, she’s always going on about improving systems and making things more efficient, right?”

“Yeah,” Spike shrugged but was still unconvinced. Twilight always treated him as a kid brother and rarely took his suggestions seriously. They were as close as siblings, to be sure, but he was still an indentured servant while she was godlike royalty.

It wasn’t long until they approached the Princess of Friendship, studying within her sanctuary: the library. Even though Spike preferred comics and other, more visually-stimulating media, even he would look at the filled shelves in awe, amazed at the powerful knowledge gathered under a single roof. Sure as the sun would rise, there was Twilight, speed-reading through ancient tomes as if it were a simple leisure for her. The young dragon cleared his throat, snapping Twilight out of her reverie and rustling the purple-plumage of her wings. She turned with surprise, but smiled warmly at her favorite assistant and acolyte.

“It looks like you two have something on your minds,” she giggled as they approached. Her smile faded at their unease. “If there’s something bothering you, please tell me.”

“Well, now that you mention it,” Spike chuckled, wringing his hands, “Starlight and I have some ideas on how to… improve upon Celestia’s teachings.”

“Oh?” Twilight shifted her focus to her student. It was a little odd to have a student of a student suggest improvements for the doctrine they had been schooled in, but Twilight was open to suggestions. There was also a certain amusement she felt, as Starlight’s former mentor, about her student’s outspoken and darker point of view. It was always interesting to study the friendships and behaviors of ponies who had radically different relationships from her own.

“Actually,” Starlight nudged Spike forward, placing him in front of her, almost as a sacrifice, “Spike is the one who really came up with it. Tell her what you told me, Spike.”

The dragon muttered something dark under his breath before taking a calming breath.

“Um, in a nutshell,” he mumbled faster and in a higher pitch than he wanted to, “I thought, maybe, Celestia didn’t really think about all the other races in her plan.”

“Races? Plan?” Twilight quirked an eyebrow, “I’m not sure why, but hearing those words in the same sentence makes me uneasy.”

“Probably has something to do with that other dimension,” Starlight Glimmer chuckled, “When I was there, boy did I read some interesting histories about-”

“Anyway,” Spike cleared his throat and regained some control over his voice, “What I mean is that I’ve never really understood where I fit in Celestia’s teachings. All of her works are directed towards ponies: how ponies should behave towards one another and other races, how ponies should work within their society, how ponies should structure their classes…”

“Oh, is this another identity crisis?” Twilight tutted, looking almost patronizing with her sudden motherly affection. Spike tried not to bristle in rage as she wrapped a wing around him; she was only trying to help. “Spike, I thought we’ve been over this; you are a pony. Remember the last few times you tried to live with the dragons?”

“Yeah,” the youth muttered through gritted fangs, “I helped abolish their ancient practices and encouraged them to consider Equestria’s way of doing things.”

“And helped pave the way for greater peace between our races!” Twilight beamed, completely missing the tone with which her assistant had spoken.

“Let me try explaining it another way,” Spike sighed, “How are Cutie Marks supposed to be applied to dragons? Or griffons? Or changelings, for that matter?”

“Why would they need Cutie Marks?” Twilight snorted, “They aren’t ponies.”

“Yet we expect them to live by Celestia’s teachings – which are designed exclusively for ponies?” Spike pointed out.

“Oh, Spike,” Twilight wore that discomforted expression he had come to associate with her not knowing an answer, “they don’t have to adopt all of our ways.”

“Why should they have to adopt any of your customs?” Spike challenged, startling himself as well as his friends.

“Spike, do you… do you not consider yourself a pony anymore?” Twilight asked, softly. She looked heartbroken.

“N-no, I do!” the dragon stated, “I just… the dragons are my heritage. The magic in my blood binds me to them, remember? I don’t know how I feel that the society I should have been born into is being forced to change thousands of years of tradition, even if I don’t like those traditions.”

“They aren’t being forced,” Twilight said, an edge of defensiveness entering her tone.

“Twilight, Equestria is ruled over by the super-powerful princesses who control night and day,” Spike deadpanned, “and protected by the Elements of Harmony – six mares whose combined powers can vanquish any pony, even the God of Chaos. All the lands we’ve changed – the dragons, the griffons, the yaks, and the changelings – respected conquest as the right to rule. By having the most power, aren’t we sort of forcing them to accept our ways?”

“They aren’t following our teachings because they see us as the most powerful,” Twilight chided, “they’re following our teachings because they see that we’re right!”

“Oh, so everyone else in the whole world is wrong?!” Spike demanded. Throughout the entire exchange, their voices had become louder and more aggressive; Starlight shrunk away, eyes wide at what she was seeing.

“Yes!” Twilight snapped back.

Deathly silence prevailed, suddenly, as both Princess and Assistant realized all that they had thrown at each other. Faces flushed in shame and frustration, they broke eye contact, scowling and trying not to cry. Starlight only gaped, unsure of what to say or do to repair the situation.

“Let’s go, Starlight,” Spike murmured, “I told you she wouldn’t listen to reason.”

“Oh, I’d listen to reason!” Twilight snapped as Spike trudged out of the room, not even stopping to look back, “What I won’t listen to is half-baked philosophies from a… a… dragon!”

Twilight huffed in an effort to calm her enraged breathing long after Spike had left, trying to ignore a stunned Starlight. Finally, though, she collapsed against her table, slamming her head into its surface and burying herself beneath her forelegs and wings, groaning in misery.

“W-well,” Starlight attempted to lighten the mood, cracking a smirk, “that escalated quickly.”

“I really messed that up, didn’t I?” Twilight groaned from her fortress of limbs and feathers. Starlight could see one violet eye peering out from beneath, crying.

“It could have been worse,” Starlight shrugged, “I mean, you didn’t send him to the Moon or turn him into stone.”

Twilight forced a flat glare at her former student, but sighed.

“Celestia needed to do those things to protect Equestria,” Twilight defended her mentor.

“I know that,” Starlight nodded, “but you have to admit, it’s a little odd that after defeating all of Equestria’s major enemies, the Princesses are sending you on missions to these other lands to convince races there to adopt our way of living…”

“Oh, not you too…”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing!” Starlight added, quickly, “But Spike’s right; there’s not a whole lot in Celestia’s teachings about what to do in order to integrate non-ponies into Equestrian culture.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight climbed out of her little pit, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

“What Spike was trying to say before was that, well…” Starlight shrugged, “Celestia built Equestria for ponies. The law reflects our race and is only worded for our race. Other races are bound by their own magic – we can’t interbreed, despite being similar, and Spike has proven that his dragon blood connects him to the dragons, no matter how much he wants to be a pony.”

Starlight shook her head, realizing she was getting off-topic.

“The point that he was trying to make was that Celestia wants the world to act like Equestria – to be harmonious, united, friendly, and all those good things – but the laws of Equestria, and Celestia’s teachings, don’t address issues about integrating different races into Equestria.”

“Why would they?” Twilight snorted, “I mean, just because other races and lands are living in harmony, it doesn’t mean we all have to be in the same place.”

“But if we’re harmonious, isn’t it better to intermingle and allow the free exchange of citizens between cultures?” Starlight asked.

“Yeah, but why would they want to?” Twilight asked, “They have their own lands and traditions; why come to ours?”

“I asked something similar,” Starlight murmured, “The point is, if we’re trying to create a united world, why aren’t we preparing for the inevitable? Beings from all over are going to want to travel and embrace each other’s cultures, and all the world’s cultures are going to change as a result. Even Equestria’s.”

“Ours won’t change,” Twilight smirked and Starlight saw some of that pony arrogance Spike complained about.

“Why not?” she asked her former mentor, “Because ours is the superior culture?”

Twilight glared at Starlight, but didn’t want to drive away another of her misguided friends.

“I think I need some time alone to collect myself,” the Princess stated, flatly, “I… don’t want to get into politics right now, seeing how that went with Spike. I’ll apologize to him later, but please let me have some alone time.”

“As you wish,” Starlight gave an exaggerated curtsy, smirking with some of her old venom, “Princess.”

With both of them gone, Twilight realized how empty her library seemed, despite the shelves brimming with ancient tomes of wisdom and power. It suddenly seemed far colder in her realm than it should be, especially with the sun gleaming in through the open windows. Everything felt muted – the light, the color, the sweet sounds of wind through branches and birds singing. Twilight sighed as she mulled over what her friends had confided in her, and at how their strong opinions made them so hostile.

There was no logical reason for it. After all, Celestia’s teachings were flawless. The reason she never saw fit to include plans for races outside of Equestria was obviously because she expected them to develop their own doctrines based on her teachings, but relevant for their own species. As for integration, that too was obvious – Celestia didn’t want one world where cultures and races blurred together, but a world of independent species who were harmonious, like the different elements of nature working together. No, everything Celestia taught her made sense when she thought about it. Non-ponies weren’t going to integrate in Equestria; they had their own lands and cultures.

Twilight’s self-confidence withered as she thought about Cranky Doodle, Matilda, Zecora, and Spike. The first three were of races similar to ponies, but Spike was a full-blown dragon. He hadn’t even had a choice on whether or not he wanted to be part of pony or dragon culture. Why didn’t Celestia have rules regarding integration? She was the one who brought Spike into Equestria and allowed open borders, wasn’t she? Shouldn’t she have plans for it?

Twilight figured it was as good a time as any to reach out to her old mentor and address these new problems…