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// Episode 20: Royal Fundraising 
// Story: Last Week Tonight with Discord 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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        When it came to things that ponies hated, some things seem either reasonable or downright meaningless. If you were a filly or colt, you would not like it if your parents had you stop whatever fun thing you were doing in order to do chores around the house. If you were a mare or stallion, you would have that same feeling of hate towards having to pay rent or taxes. However… despite all of these things that many ponies despised, none of them could have made Discord more curious than the last time that he was in Canterlot… and he overheard how several key political figures and several nobles hated one thing that was somehow attached to their position in Canterlot.

        Royal Fundraising. Two words that sound more boring, stupid and meaningless other than the words ‘featuring Gladmane’. But… it’s something that’s not as frequently covered as standard political fundraising. And when Discord took the time to look into it with some of Twilight’s assistants, including Filthy Rich, what they found was rather eye opening. And what was even more eye opening was that such a subject was something that ponies would only be aware of it whenever some big story in the news about it comes up. Something’s that is seen as rare compared to what is happening on a daily basis in Equestria.

        And it seemed like the proper story in order to cover tonight. So, suiting up in his standard black suit jacket with a light green colored shirt underneath and a tie to match the jacket, Discord greeted his audience like he did with almost every other show that he had done so far. “Welcome, welcome to Last Week Tonight! I’m your host, Discord, and thank you so much for joining us tonight. Because we got a pretty big story to cover now,” He addressed his audience right from the start as he began with his opening line. “Because our main story tonight involves Political Fundraising… And full disclaimer here, this is not one of those stories about how money corrupts ponies. If you want to hear more about that, just listen to that one annoying friend of yours ramble on for two minutes at the worst time possible.”

        That was followed by what looked like one mare talking to a stallion as he was trying to keep himself composed at what looked like a celebration for Mr. and Ms. Cake. “Dandylion, I know what you are trying to talk about, but do you HAVE to do in the middle of the cake’s baby shower!? They’re expecting twins for Celestia’s sake!!” Discord impersonated the stallion, getting laughs from his crowd before refocusing on what he was going to say next. “This story is focused on another topic that’s not as commonly known about, but still important nonetheless. Royal Fundraising… The kind of name that you would think about if Blueblood was putting up a charity auction.”

        That was followed by an image of a desperate Prince Blueblood at a podium trying to sell of anything that he no longer thought was of value anymore as the crowd laughed. “But Royal Fundraising in itself is rather astonishing… back during the last main election cycle for public office, the candidates for the Royal House and for many important political positions in Equestria had raised close to over one billion bits… One billion with a b. That’s enough money to buy over two hundred and thirty million tubes of athlete's hoof antifungal cream… and somehow, it’s even more upsetting.”

        More of the crowd began to laugh at his comments, even though some were surprised by the sheer amount of money used. “And much of that money has to be raised one way or another by the politicians and candidates themselves. And it’s something that they have complained about a lot over the years. Some of them going as far to say that it’s the worst part of their job.”



        “You know… I hated raising money… hated it.”

        “It’s painful really… to be continually asking ponies for money every time we had an election year…”

        “If I can tell you how much time… how many hours that me and my colleagues had to put into in order to raise money so we can attend to issues on our side of the aisle, it would be just embarrassing.”



        Discord blinked for a moment, shortly before focusing on his audience again. “Wow, an embarrassment… That is a rather firm statement. Although… he must be underestimating Canterlot’s capacity for embarrassment because we are talking about a place where two guards fought with each other on duty over which friendship lesson is the best, where a filly just learning to use magic made somepony who was showering end up in the middle of the city… and also there is when these moments happen…”



        “I want to ask… who was the pony who wanted to petition a poll about which princess has the best flank?”

        “I’m glad to be taking part in ‘bring your child to work day’ and I would like to introduce everypony to my daughter, Sunny.”

        “Can I cast my vote for that poll that was mentioned earlier, because I would like to have Luna be my choice.”



        That last one got a lot of attention and even had Discord with a shocked face. “If you think that last one wasn’t embarrassing enough, that was in the middle of day court with Celestia actually being present in the room! If that guy wasn’t careful with his words, he would find himself banished to the moon in a heartbeat!” After saying that, Discord got back on topic as he looked back at his audience. “But fundraising is not just embarrassing… it’s completely frightening. Some sources say that representatives could spend close to a quarter or half of their time at work, fundraising… but, one former noble told us that during an election year, that number increases to two-thirds. And if two thirds of what you strictly do is about the job, you’re not seen as a legislature, you’re basically Sapphire Shores at that point.”

        More of the crowd began to laugh as a series of posters from the amount of times that Sapphire Shores participated in fashion events and movies was shown briefly on the left side of the screen. “So for tonight… let’s see where most of that time actually goes. And let’s begin with the first form of fundraising… fundraisers themselves. Most of the time, these are sh*yay*tty parties that are hosted in restaurants, bars or town halls and there a lot of them. A group known as the Moonlight Foundation estimates that over the course of a year during an election cycle, almost three thousand different fundraisers were hosted. So by that estimate… Canterlot is like Vinyl Scratch’s mane.”

        An image of the famous DJ soon appeared to replace that of the title card that was there as Discord began to explain his reason for the comparison. “Party in the front… Party in the back… maybe even too much party and no business anywhere to be found.”

        That had the crowd laugh some more as Discord prepared to pick up where he left off. “Fundraisers are so omnipresent in Canterlot that some lawmakers even have built their entire days around them to where they host fundraising breakfasts, lunches and evening receptions. And by that time, the ponies hosting those events are less seen as lawmakers and political officials then they are seen as a storage container for prench themed entrees… not only that, but fundraisers have now become an integral part of Canterlot’s economy. Just look at Restaurant Row… each of those restaurants, no matter what they serve, gets a decent amount of income from fundraisers held at their restaurants. And there’s one particular seafood restaurant called Rocky’s High Tide that has hosted a massive amount of those fundraisers… And don’t take that from me. Sources say that there had been 948 fundraising events there in the last 10 years… and it’s a restaurant that markets itself like this…”



        “Here’s to the champagne and the oysters at Rocky’s!” A mare said while sitting at a bar with her friends, toasting the camera that was focusing on her before shifting to somepony else.

        “Here’s to the crab cakes and shrimp.” One stallion said, looking like he was eating a little too much to the point that he had to run to the bathroom to throw up.

        “Here’s to the specials at happy hour!” Another mare cheered in celebration.

        “Here’s to Rocky’s Half Shells at Rocky’s High Tide,” A stallion that looked like a professional lawmaker said now as he wore a business suit and tie. Just before it switched to a group of people celebrating at a table.

        “Here’s to Rocky’s!!”

        And lastly, the advertisement finished with a shot at a gruffy looking stallion who’s name was actually ‘Rocky Shores’ holding up a glass of alcohol with a orange wedge at the top. “Here’s to you and your time here at Rocky’s High Tide.”



        At the end of the commercial, Discord was grimly looking back at his audience as he tried to restrain his laughter. “Yes… that scruffy looking pony is actually a prominent figure in Canterlot when hosting these events. Important decisions are being made under the watchful eye of a guy who looks more like a former backup dancer for one of Countess Coloratura’s concerts!”

        At that moment, the image was changed back to the title picture used to start the piece as Discord cleared his throat. “And if you think that this couldn’t get any weirder, well… trust me, it can. Because some lawmakers actually turned some of their own personal milestones into fundraising opportunities. One representative from Califoalnia turned their 45th birthday celebration into a fundraising opportunity, which costed almost four hundred bits per pony to attend and another one in Pi-ami, who actually turned her thirtieth anniversary into a fundraiser… and, from my perspective… That is just completely sad.”

        Then, the chaos deity began to explain his reasons why. “Because a thirtieth wedding anniversary should not be about raising capital for your political base. It should be eating a silent dinner, wasting two bottles of wine, forgetting to have sex and then falling asleep while in the middle of watching a sitcom rerun on tv,” An image of two ponies fast asleep with wine spilled all over the floor and the TV on while they were asleep was now seen on screen as the crowd was laughing at that predicament. “You honor the anniversary by doing it right!”

        But Discord was not yet done as he looked back at his audience. “But if you think that’s just obscene… wait til you hear where else they do some political fundraisers. Because some politicians have taken the pathetic approach in fundraisers by staging them at pop concerts. In fact, on the day of the Friendship Festival, there was a fundraiser that was being done with the Songbird Serenade concert… and then there’s this.”



        “The music and power behind Countess Coloratura’s songs have not only changed the music industry, but it makes money. So much so that many of Canterlot’s elite lawmakers are capitalizing on her world tour, which stops in Canterlot tonight.”

        “We got many groups from both sides of the aisle who are making money off of this concert, with several tickets ranging thousands of bits. One of the guys that we talked too said that his daughter was the one who got him into this. He likes her lyrics, her music and that’s why he is moving forward.”



        Many ponies stared in disbelief at it showed what looked like an aged stallion with a silver mane in the left hand corner as Discord looked back at his audience. “It’s true… A political representative at Celestia’s day court got fundraising from a Countess Coloratura concert… and let’s just be lucky that during the concert, Coloratura was the Mane Attraction at that instead of this guy. Because this guy’s age has definitely taken a toll.”

        Then, the spirit of chaos began to strike more of a serious tone when he looked back at his audience. “But everything that you have seen so far is just classy compared to all of the time that politicians have to spend fundraising through other means, like sending out letters to other ponies. Because a couple years back, a presentation that was given to lawmakers who were just starting out their political careers leaked to the press and that presentation suggests that you spend four hours writing letters… four hours! That only makes sense if you are in a relationship with somepony and your trying to send them nude pictures of yourself by carrier bird.” The image of such a incident was then demonstrated by somepony waiting at the window of their home, groaning to themselves. “‘Come on, I can’t do this all day…’ and horrendously enough, some ponies, like this retired representative from Manehattan, are even pulled out of severely important meeting just so that they can meet their quota on letters.”



        “The first few days I was down here, we were having a committee meeting in improving the education system and after a while, my chief of staff came in at the time and told me that I needed to leave… so we left and I asked her why I needed to leave. She told me that I needed to write letters… and I was like… this is my first committee hearing and you want me to leave? How am I going to learn anything? How are we going to get anything done?”



        “Exactly,” Discord pointed out as the camera focused back on him. “She was a rookie legislature at the time and she needed to learn how to do her job. The Wonderbolts don’t pull out Rainbow Dash halfway through a competitive race so she can write letters to season ticket holders,” That was followed by a picture of a bored Rainbow Dash in a flight suit at a desk trying to write something on a piece of parchment. “Because we all know that would be a huge waste of Rainbow Dash’s time.”

        Of course, the draconequus was not quite exactly done on the subject as he continued from where he left off. “And if you think this is beyond humiliating… rest assured, it is. Because there have been several senior lawmakers who have said that they felt like they were used, with one guy saying… and I’m not making this up… ‘You go outside for a whole day and are forced to write letters to jerks you’ve never even heard of to get money out of them’,” He told the audience before adding more to it. “And he’s absolutely right… Because if you want to get money from jerks that you never heard of, you don’t write them letters… you just open up an antique cigar shop. Boom! Done! Done…”

        For a brief second, it showed a very jerk like stallion in charge of a cigar store while smoking one and giving the audience an expression that they had to pay up their money or get beaten within an inch of their life. Shortly before Discord changed it back. “And if you are wondering about why they have to go outside… there’s a reason for that. According to regulations, it’s illegal for lawmakers to obtain or receive donations in their offices. So each party member has their own designated call center. We couldn’t find any footage of what things are like in those centers, but from what we could find… things sounded pretty grim.”



        “They got small cubicles in there and each pony has a small bottle of ink and a quill on a desk along with only one sheet of paper. They have a minder who watches over you and makes sure that you aren’t taking too long. They also say that it gets to smell pretty bad in there and after a few hours, it smells like a locker room at a gym.”



        “Yeah, but what do you expect?” Discord soon interjected. “Most of those ponies probably spent their morning having shrimp cocktails at this ponies sweaty crab shack!” An image of the pony who runs Rocky’s High Tide was seen again shortly before looking back at his crowd as they were laughing at that comparison. “Now, you might think that this is only for certain ponies… you might be surprised when I tell you that all lawmakers have to do this. Even those whose seats are fundamentally safe… safe in which they don’t even need campaign funds for themselves.”

        That had a lot of ponies in the room seem confused while Discord was trying to explain the reason why. “The problem is… party members are still expected to pay dues to their political party so the money could be used to help candidates in tougher races. MuzzFeed news got a spreadsheet on just how much some ponies had to pay and they range from a hundred thousand bits at the low end… to over eight hundred thousand bits at the top. So it’s no wonder that these politicians are hitting up their customer base like a filly scout with gambling debts.”

        The next image showed a very stern looking filly scout with a wagon of cookies as she looked back at the camera with a deadpanned glare. “Two? Two Boxes!? Nah, F*yay*ck that! Four boxes or I walk away, right now! Four boxes!! I know where you live! …… Four!” Discord impersonated the filly in the image before looking back at his audience. “And if you are trying to rack up serious amounts of cash, that could really affect who exactly you are trying to write to as one lawmaker explained.”



        “If it’s a majority race for a council seat, I would not write to anyone that would not possibly at least give me a thousand bits, maybe even more… So you would expect the kind of ponies I would be trying to reach out to are those making like… a half a million to a million bits a year, and they have fundamentally different problems than everypony else.”



        And with that revelation, Discord pounced at the opportunity to follow up on that. “And that is a huge problem. Because that cannot help but affect how you see the world if the only ponies you’re accepting money from are those who are more concerned about estate taxes, maintaining a perfectly legal business with no form of shadiness whatsoever and also what kind of neighpon kimono their cat would be wearing.”

        The next image that was presented was of Opalescence wearing a fashionable kimono, along with Discord complimenting the cat and saying that her decision was a rather good choice. “But to be fair to these guys… direct fundraising is only one part of a flawed and messed up system that also includes pacts of politicians and so called ‘dark money’, which is money from those who use it for nefarious purposes… but to be even fairer, it’s still the biggest part,” The Draconequus explained to his audience. “And with this, regulating any form of royal campaign finance is going to be rather difficult. One of the reason’s why is the well known ‘Buckly Vs. Paleo’ case that was held in Day Court and the results of that trial led to them declaring that… and this is true… ‘spending money is a form of speech’. And I know that is probably true for any pony that’s a millionaire trying to pick up a mare because of their fair share of wealth, even though they might be in it for just the money and not your personality… I’m not saying this as a joke, I think I’m speaking from somepony’s own personal experience here.”

        For a brief moment, an image of Filthy and Spoiled Rich in their younger years was presented to the crowd, before being changed back to the title picture. “A bigger problem though is that even though ponies on both sides of the issue agree that they hate this… neither of them are wanting to independently back down first. It’s basically a stand still where both sides are saying what they don’t like about it, but aren’t actually doing anything to fix this.”

        But, before any ponies could demonstrate how much they did not like this, Discord caught them by surprise once again. “But it’s not to say that the issue is not being touched. Because some lawmakers are actually working on ways to try and fix key flaws with this system. For example, one piece of legislation called the Disclosure Act, which would force more clarity and transparency on dark money. Another example is the Block Act, which would permanently end having lawmakers, nobles and politicians from personally asking for donations. Both of these are steps in the right direction, but they are just very small fixes to a big problem.”

        The draconequus paused for a moment to catch his breath as he addressed his audience again and continued to speak. “Now, a much larger idea that may seem like something that can work would be the Governance of Society Act, which would not only give tax credits but also provide public funding for candidates that would match smaller donations at a ratio of six to one,” Some of the ponies in the room actually seemed to like this idea and were even all for it. But that was when the spirit of chaos told them something else that caught them by surprise. “But, before you get excited about that idea, there are two slight hiccups. One, we asked Filthy Rich and Janice from accounting to crunch the numbers on this to see how much it would cost and they say it would cost five hundred million bits, which is a lot. And two, affiliates with a group that tracks the possibility of whether or not bills are likely to pass… gave it a zero percent chance in our current royal assembly.”

        That had the whole crowd shocked, with some of them going as far as to laugh at the predicament before the chaos spirit continued. “Just a flat zero… which kind of makes me wonder if they didn’t try to use anything more harsh than just zero like… negative zero, a zero with a frowny face inside of it… or my personal favorite, AW HELLLLLLL ZERO!!”

        All three of those negative results were given their own separate image as the crowd laughed some more. “And seeing that is rather baffling. Because remember… it’s the ponies in the royal assembly that are complaining about this all the time. So… what are we going to do to actually find a solution to this? Because right now, almost any form of fixing the problem just immediately gets denied right off the bat. Though… there are many things that we don’t entirely know about this system, but there is a way that we can find out.”

        That had the crowd looking at one another for a moment, before looking towards Discord as he began to explain the reason why. “That’s because earlier this year, assembly mare Fair Play announced her retirement earlier this year and with it, she said that one of the reasons for it was that she could not see herself writing another letter to anypony begging them for money. So, since she is leaving anyways, I thought I would have the chance to sit down with her and have her shine a light on some on the subject. Take a look.”



Interview- Assemblymare Fair Play

        “Assemblymare, thank you so much for agreeing to talk with me.” Discord thanked the unicorn mare that he was talking too. She had a short black mane and tail, but had a light yellow fur color on while wearing a suit as she shook Discord’s paw with a hoof and thanking him in response. “So… let’s start with Royal Fundraising. When you were one of the top members of the assembly during your prime, how many fundraisers would you having to go to on average?”

        “Well… over the course of my fifteen year career, for my own re-election, I’ve had to do over 1500 fundraisers.” The mare answered, and that statistic left Discord bewildered.

        “Holy sh*yay*t. That’s like one almost every three days.” The draconequus replied back.

        “More or less, over the course of fifteen years. Yeah… it’s a lot,” Fair replied back, before adding more to it. “Many would actually like the chance for publicity, but when some of these fundraisers got in the way of family events and such, I… had no other choice but to attend. Now that I’m retiring, I can finally be able to spend more time with my family.”

        “Well, I’m personally glad that you get to have that chance now,” Discord complimented, before beginning to say something else. “Now… I’m going to say three words to you. Rocky’s High Tide.”

        All the mare did originally was nod her head, a small grin on her face as she began to speak again. “I know it rather well.”

        “Oh yeah, no kidding you do,” Discord sarcastically commented before asking something else. “What is it like in there? I’m not exactly one for seafood, so I wouldn’t really be wanting to actually go in and such.”

        “Well, it’s like any other restaurant in Equestria-”

        “That’s full of ponies in suits there… attempting to raise money…”

        “-The difference is that you have nominees and members of the royal assembly along with supporters who would pay a thousand bits for the chance to have salmon there,” She added in order to finish up my statement. “And just because you set it up there doesn’t mean that you like having the food there. I mean… I’m personally not a fan of seafood at all.”

        “Really?” Discord asked.

        “Yeah, but the ponies who make sure that I attend these events want to make sure that I’m eating and talking with supporters, so I cast a spell that would nullify my sense of taste,” The unicorn then told the draconequus. “Afterwards, I take the time in order to try and get the smell out of my mouth because having seafood on your breath is very unprofessional.”

        “I agree on that, though… it’s interesting to me that almost all working ponies of the royal assembly and even the nobles have some kind of understanding to what Rocky’s High Tide is,” The draconequus responded back. “I mean… one of the fundraisers that you had was at the High Tide for a breakfast at 8:30 am… Assemblymare, with all due respect, nopony gets up at 8:30 in the morning to have seafood for breakfast unless you have a pet grizzly bear.”

        “And that’s the problem with the system… because some ponies believe that if they are in that room alongside somepony, having supported a campaign that they get access to us.” The unicorn explained.

        “Even if it’s for the most ridiculous reasons?” Discord asked.

        “Yeah… but it depends on which occasion,” The mare replied back as she adjusted her seat. “All of the ones involving personal milestones to me are just trying too hard to get ponies attention and to care about your accomplishments. I mean… there have been ridiculous ones over the years and some that I’ve had to attend because my staff told me that it would present me in a positive light.”

        “Oh?” The draconequus then decided to ask a follow up question afterwards. “What kinds of celebrations?”

        “Birthdays, Anniversaries, weddings, family reunions… hay, practically anything can be the grounds for a fundraiser… except funerals,” She stated. “Trust me, somepony tried that and it did not go well for them in the slightest. And other ponies had a common theme for each one of the events they held.”

        “Some of these things had themes?”

        “Well… it’s less like themes and more like something that’s common at each even for a certain pony,” Fair Play clarified. “For example, Court Order, the assemblycolt in Far Island had a bit of a common theme where each one of his events had a Far Island wine tasting as part of the event. No matter what the occasion was. The wine’s good, but… he had it at literally everything.”

        “With how often you said the events were, that guy sounds more like an alcoholic if he’s having a lot of wine within a few days of one another,” The draconequus commented. “I mean, did he have it with every event?”

        “Actually, no…” The assemblymare replied back, surprising Discord. “There was one event where they were having food from Shanghay and the food from it does not pair well with Far Island wine.”

        “What does the food pair up with then? Street violence?” The chaos spirit asked, which actually got a bit of a crack out of the mare before she was able to form a reply back to him.

        “Nah, it’s just that the taste of it doesn’t blend well.”

        Yes, that may be true… but I did not come here to talk with a retiring assemblymare about terrible wine. Instead, I wanted to talk more about the room that is known as the heart of royal fundraising.

        “Tell me more about the letter room.” Discord then asked.

        “Well, it’s a place in the main headquarters that’s designated for it.” Fair Play simply told him.

        “Okay, but I’ve never been inside there… so try to paint me a word picture so I can visualize it for myself,” He replied back to the assemblymare. “Are there like motivational posters of Celestia on that wall telling you to hang in there?”

        “Well, what you got are like these little cubicles… and they have a series of fabric dividers at each one. And in each cubicle, you have a desk. One that has a writing easel, a bottle of ink, a quill, several sheets of paper if necessary and also a book. That book has the names and the information of each pony that you are trying to write letters too and after you complete one, your assistant turns the page and has it go to the next one… and the next one, and so on and so forth. And you keep on making those letters until you eventually have the funds that you need to get re-elected.”

        Discord, upon hearing that, just blankly stared at Fair Play for a few moments. But soon, he was eventually able to speak. “Dear sweet Celestia, that’s just depressing… Are there like scripts for how you should write to them?”

        “Well, every official has their own way of doing it,” She replied back. “But just in case, there are templates pinned to the wall of the cubicle as a way to help those who are often new to the whole process.”

        “I guess that makes sense… is there any time in order for you to take a break in between letters?”

        Fair Play shook her head in response to that. “No, you just gotta keep moving. If you are in a very competitive district and you have a goal for fundraising that needs to be reached, you know that there’s a certain goal to reach for every quarter… you figure out how much money you need to make per month, per week and lastly, how much money through each hour that you put into those letters.”

        That lead to a rather baffled Discord then replying back with another thing on his mind. “This whole thing sounds like a very bad marketing operation with very sh*yay*tty working conditions. Do you have scented candles in there or something?”

        “Personally… I think this whole thing is just a form of torture and the real victims of it is the creatures that call Equestria their home because they don’t believe that those who work in the royal assembly will not hear their voices.”

        The draconequus nodded his head at that, before coming up with his next question. “Now… on my earlier remark with marketing operations, normally, those kinds of environments have a boss that would hold one's hooves to the fire and try to force them to make their quotas. Who was that pony in this instance?”

        “Well, my ‘boss’ was the possibility that I might lose to somepony else that could possibly undo all of my work, trying to help ponies that were in the middle class-”

        “Yeah, but you were the chairmare…” Discord countered mid statement.

        That forced Fair Play to pause for a moment, before clarifying what she said. “Oh, I see… Yes, I was the chairmare for my party at the time.”

        “So you were the one who was telling others to hit quotas?”

        “I had a responsibility at the time to tell those who I worked with that you needed to spend time, raising money to come to Canterlot to change the system.”

        And she must’ve told them a lot, because in Fair Play’s time as chairmare, she managed to have the members of her party to hit record fundraising levels. And it can’t have been easy for her to hate something that she was exceptionally good at. It’s like finding out that a beekeeper hates having bees swarm around him. I mean, they’re not wrong, they’re absolutely revolting. It’s just bizarre that he chose to do it in the first place. And with her career coming to an end, I thought it would be best to toast her in the most appropriate way possible.

        “Well, since you are retiring soon, I thought I bring some Far Island wine,” Discord told her, getting out the wine and conjuring two glasses for him to pour it in, before letting her hold a glass in her levitation spell as Discord held up his glass. “How about a toast? To Change…”

        The mare smiled in response, having both glass cling with one another as she smiled. “To change and reform.”

        Yes. What better way to end a bittersweet political career with the taste of bittersweet northfoal chardonnay and a toast to change? You earned it, assemblymare. You definitely earned it.



The following day

        When Twilight was taking a break from teaching and making sure that everypony else was in their classes, there was something that caught her attention… and that was the sight of what looked like a rather sleep deprived Filthy Rich almost passed out on the floor in her office. “Mr. Rich? Are you okay?” She asked as the stallion tried to rub his eyes in order to see who he was talking too.

        “O-oh… G-good morning, princess…” The stallion replied back, slowly lifted up his head. “What time is it?”

        “Filthy, it’s almost one in the afternoon,” The princess then told her in response. “What have you been doing recently? You look like you haven’t had any sleep at all.”

        “W-well… Janice and I were a-assisting Discord with another one of his e-episodes…” Flithy yawned, trying to wrap his head around everything. “I was w-working so hard on f-finding out the s-statistics for money that those i-in the Royal Assembly needed to fundraise that I must’ve fallen asleep.” Of course, before he could be able to say anything else, what looked like another video was placed on the ‘Chaos-Vision’ TV that Discord had conjured in Twilight’s office as both ponies looked towards it.

        “Something tells me that you helped him out a lot if he has another episode for us to watch,” Twilight grumbled. “And personally, I’m still trying to wrap my head about the inner workings of what went on last week with Rainbow and Applejack… Hopefully, this one is a bit easier to understand.”