"Teaching a filly, you say?" Celestia asked, baffled by the information she had just been told.
Twilight nodded as she poured herself another cup of tea. "Yes. For the last few weeks, Grigori has been teaching Silver Spoon about metalworking. I asked her about it just yesterday, and from what she says, it's been going along fine."
"That's good to hear." Celestia deduced before taking a sip of tea. "What might Silver Spoon's mother have to say about this arrangement?" Celestia had vaguely remembered Silver Spoon as the daughter of the renowned jeweler Sterling Silver, who used to operate in Canterlot before she became pregnant with her. Celestia had even wished her good luck on her new life in Ponyville where she would have and raise her daughter. Smart choice...
The princess of the sun, however, returned to the present when Twilight began to reply. "Well, even now, she's still reluctant on the agreement she set up out of simple fear of a large dragon such as Grigori. Being grown and foreign to Equestria are the main reasons. Presumably, she had no problems at all around Spike, but between him, her, and her daughter, Sterling Silver is the only one who was ever fearful of Grigori to begin with. But her reasoning for her animosity is her concern for her daughter's safety. Grigori said he didn't blame her." the faithful student's long and detailed explanation gave Celestia quite a bit to digest.
The princess rubbed her chin at that. "It's safe to say that Grigori knows what he's gotten himself into, and took necessary precautions to... keep Sterling agreeable. I imagine she's incredibly stressed about the situation, still. A heartfelt talk is in order, even if to just reassure her."
"That would definitely help to relax her around Grigori. I considered having me or one of the girls supervise, but Grigori argued that would just impede the progress of trust." Twilight threw out as an afterthought.
"He has a point." Celestia pointed out. "If somepony supervised, the trust would go to them and not Grigori, and in the matter of her daughter, nopony can put that trust into him other than Sterling. It would be better if nopony else helped supervise."
XXXXX
Silver Spoon was bored out of her mind.
For the last few weeks, Silver was obsessed with learning how to forge. She was like a racehorse at the gate when it came to being able to finally take a hammer and hit a piece of metal with it. And boy, was it heavy, as if the welding mask, front padding, and the carrying weren't already enough. But a few weeks of that did grow in a little bit of muscle. Playing Tag on the playground became a trifle since she didn't have to carry all that weight. That is, up until Applebloom caught her, then Scootaloo later on. But she'd give them that one. It wasn't like only a few weeks of labor would put her up there with-
"Silver Spoon?" uh-oh. There was only one time when Miss Cherilee spoke with that tone of voice. And looking up, her guess was confirmed. She'd been caught in Lala Land. Punishment? Risk of embarrassment. "Might you know the correct answer to this equation?" Silver could already hear the cackles and giggles from her fellow classmates, most notably from Scootaloo, and her friends not far behind.
A quick glance at the chalkboard, and... "Twenty one?"
"... Somepony has been paying attention in class. Bravo, Silver Spoon." returning to kickstanding her head on a hoof, the grey filly caught sight of Scootaloo, put out of her excitement and frantically searching her notes for how she got the right answer. She also caught sight of her BFF Diamond Tiara holding back a giggle, no doubt at how she so cooly shot down their rivals' attempt to embarrass her. She herself had to take a deep breath, disguised as a subtle sigh, to control the self-righteous grin from ruining her non-nonchalant expression.
*Yawn*
Silver Spoon could've swore she just blinked, and the day was over. It wasn't like her to sleep in class, but ever since her lessons started, the majority of her attention had been elsewhere. As she got up to follow her classmates out of the door, she was called again.
"Silver Spoon, could you stay for a moment?"
With a sigh, the grey filly nodded and set her saddlebags down next to her chair. She gave a glance to the door, and met eyes with Diamond Tiara, who mouthed 'Meet me at the park.' which Silver nodded to before her friend departed. Turning her attention back to her teacher, Silver Spoon approached the mare with a raised brow.
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Cheerilee assured with a hoof. "I just wanted to see if anything was bothering you, dear."
"Nothing bad. Just... thinking about things." no need to be dishonest.
"You're not one to let thoughts get in the way of what you're doing. Not saying it's a bad thing, as you proved otherwise in class today." The gaze of Cheerilee sees all... Silver Spoon thought with a huff. "What's on your mind, my little pony?"
"Well, for that, I'd have to start at the beginning..."
"I've got nothing but time, dear."
And so Silver Spoon proceeded to tell Cheerilee about her lessons with Grigori, why he stopped his own forge, her mother's animosity towards him and this idea, how much of her time it occupied, and now that she thinks of it, how that might affect her relationship with Diamond Tiara. It was a lot to take in, no doubt, and it was a minute before Cheerilee formulated her thoughts enough to speak. "It's a complex situation you're in indeed, Silver Spoon. But Grigori's been known as a nice person around town, especially if he closed his forge to stop impeding your mother's business."
"I know, right?! She's completely overreacting about this whole thing! I know she cares, but she's wasting her breath on-" she would've kept going if it wasn't for her teacher's silencing hoof.
"Now now, you can't blame her for just trying to protect you. I'm sure you already know that she loves you to death, and she just wants what's best for you. But if she's allowing this to begin with, just give her time and she'll come around. Grigori is smart. How you put it, he knows how to compromise, and he understands where Sterling is coming from. You just have to let things happen. As for your friendship with Diamond Tiara, that can be fixed if you just told Grigori you want to resume your life. He has lots of free time to help around the town. I'm sure he'll understand if you simply ask to stop the lessons for a time."
"Yeah, but I like the lessons. They're fun, they're satisfying, and it's all I think about now." the grey filly whined, falling back on her haunches.
Seeing such a sight made Cheerilee giggle. "Like I said, Grigori should understand if you want to resume being a filly and put the blacksmith apprentice on hold. And it could take a load off of your mother if she's so against the idea. And let's not forget that Diamond Tiara might be feeling a little bit lonely."
Silver Spoon sighed again. "Yeah, I guess those are good reasons. Thanks, Miss Cheerilee."
"I'm always eager to make my little ponies happy." the teacher declared, giving her student a brief, but comforting hug before making her way to the door. "Now, I think Diamond Tiara is waiting for you."
How did she notice that?
XXXXX
Grigori had received some interesting news this morning.
An old acquaintance of his, Garble, had informed him of the upcoming election of a new Dragon Lord for Equestria. Lord Torch, the old fool, was finally convinced he was too old to continue governing the dragons residing here, so he's deciding to pass the mantle of lordship to someone else among the young dragons. Of course, he himself was overqualified, and the only real competition would be Garble, if any, or Torch's daughter, Ember. He had no idea how much the young dragoness had grown since they had seen each other last, and she was more than competent for her age.
So after talking with Garble, the other G cut his morning fly-around short and headed to Equestria's volcanic region to search for the dragon lord's daughter. The thought crossed his mind that his search could have been mistaken for some kind of arbitrary love story, but that wasn't the case. He was simply taking the opportunity to see who exactly he was up against.
Upon arrival, all he could make out as far as the dragon eye could see were the charred cliffs and pillars of land created purely from volcanic activity. The volcano itself was still active, and he assumed the dragon lord was out doing something since the massive dragon wasn't taking up the whole mouth of it. Meaning I can be alone with his daughter...
Stop it, Grigori... he chided himself with an amused chuckle as he landed on the rim of the volcano. There's no telling how Ember grew over the years, given the lack of need to with her father around and the lack of meat options in this corner of Equestria. Both of those factors couldn't have done much for her size...
"You know..." Grigori perked his ears. "You're a lot skinnier than I thought you'e be, Grigori." he looked up behind him, and sure enough, there she was. Hovering above him with her brilliant cyan scales, red eyes trained on him in a bemused expression, was Princess Ember.
"I could say the same. You could stand to gain some shape yourself, Ember." Grigori requite with somewhat of a smirk. Ember herself was good-looking by dragon standards, as she grew out of the teardrop shape that most other dragons seemed to have, but she was fairly slim in build.
At his remark, Ember's bemused expression turned into a scowl. "You know my dad hates surprise visits, right?" just about every young dragon was scared into submission by Ember's gargantuan father.
But not this one "Then I see it as lucky he's not here at the moment. Besides," Grigori reasoned, jumping down from the lip of the volcano to land on the ground inside. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to see an old friend, is there?"
The blue dragoness raised a peculiar brow. "Dragons don't do friends, Grigori." she argued, landing nearby.
"Acquaintance, then." he corrected himself. "I have no intention of being your enemy."
"Well, I'm gonna be your competition if you're participating in the Gauntlet of Fire. Why else would you come here? Not to be friends, I hope." minus that last sentence, Ember had a point. Dragons were talking about Lord Torch's announcement for a while now. There'd be no other reason to come here if not to see what they were up against.
"You're right. But I know for a fact that you're much sharper in mind than other dragons. You'd be even more of a threat if you grew as much as I have. Fortunately for me, that's not the case."
Ember's nostrils flared in agitation. "You're just like my dumb dad."
"Not at all." Grigori waved that notion off. "Brawn is important, yes of course, but with brain, you can do what the former cannot."
Ember tilted her head in interest. "Alright. You're not completely boulder-headed."
Just take the compliment... he told himself. "A smart dragon lord is preferable to a strong dragon lord in this lifetime. I prefer that to be either one of us."
Her expression softened somewhat. "I do want to prove that there's better things than size or strength."
"You're far from being the first dragon to think that way. But here in Equestria, that is a foreign concept for... most dragons. If you intend to do as you say, perhaps I can help you."
Now, Ember was confused. "Why would you do that?"
It really pained Grigori how alien the concept of friendship was to dragons. But he can't just come out with it to someone so against the idea of friendship. He'll let Spike and his expertise on the matter handle it when the time comes. "Let's just say our goals are alike." the drake explained, walking past her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must depart before your father returns." and with that, the crimson drake spread his wings and took off. "Fare thee well, Princess Ember."
XXXXX
Spike had the nagging feeling he needed to get stronger.
Like something was on the horizon, and he needed to be prepared. He had no idea what, though. There'd been so many dangerous adventures he dove head-first in without a second thought, like leaving because he felt useless, or even saving the Crystal Empire. But now, he felt his gut warning him of something. Something big. Something that could maybe change his life.
He had a good feeling Grigori might know, so grabbing a quill and ink, he sent the larger dragon a letter. He went outside to read a Mane-iac comic book while he waited, but he was barely out the door when the loud flapping of dragon wings hit his ears. "And here, I thought I'd have to wait for him." Spike mused as he leaned back against the library as Grigori landed in front of him.
"Greetings, Spike." came the crimson drake's respectful greeting.
"Hey Grigori. You get my letter?" the smaller of the two asked, stepping aside to allow his company in.
The older drake nodded as he stepped aside. "Indeed I have, though I would have found my way here regardless. I came to tell you something, but you did call me here, so I will entertain your questions first."
XXXXX
"Twilight, Imma be goin' out with Grigori for a few days."
"Whoa whoa whoa, says who, Spike?" Twilight interjected. Such a tall order out of the blue demanded some answers.
"Uhh... me, I guess."
"What're you even going out for?"
"Dragon things. Flying, gem hunting, fire-breathing, and the like. Big guy's gotten soft, and I pretty much am soft." Spike observed, rubbing his gut.
"And what's wrong with that, Sugarcube?" Applejack argued, raising a concerned brow.
"Well, what's wrong with wanting being a dragon for once in my life?" the sudden defense in his words set off at least a few alarms for the girls.
The farm pony was honestly taken aback at such a remark coming from Spike. "N-nothin', hon! Ah'm jus' sayin' there ain't anythin' wrong with jus' bein' the way ya are." that could've been taken so many ways with how smart Spike is, Applejack realized.
"What if I wanna change? For the better, I might add? I'm ready to move on in life, you know? I've been ready for a while now." he could go on and on about how some change for him would be a good thing but he'd just keep it simple for now.
"Why do you want to change so bad, Spike?" Spike felt that Twilight wanted for him to stay little, and his thoughts briefly drifted to mothers their difficulty with accepting change. But he felt this was important. That, and accepting change was a friendship lesson. He should know, cause he wrote all of them.
"Twilight, you went from bookworm, to bookworm with friends, to savior of Equestria. I think I'm due for a little bit of evolution myself, wouldn't you say?" with how blatantly he put it, he did have a point.
Twilight was consumed with doubt, to say the least. Not just for Spike's safety with doing dragon things, but she had a feeling they were going to be doing a bit more than gem-hunting and fire-breathing. But still, she trusted Grigori as a guardian and a friend to Spike. But still...
"I say let them go." Rainbow cut in. "Spike could use some toughening up. I say the little guy could use it."
"Quite right, Rainbow Dash." Rarity agreed. "We've all went through changes, and we've all came out better ponies for it. Who are we to stop Spike from bettering himself?"
"I totally agree!" Pinkie Pie piped up after a rare period of silence from her. "Some evolution is just what Spike needs!" as she said this, she looked exactly like a cavepony, thick brows, unruly fur and all, and as she slipped past her friends, she somehow changed to look more and more modern until she was herself again. "No offense." she added sheepishly to Spike, who just shrugged.
As all other opinions were known, every set of eyes looked over to Fluttershy, who's eyes widened in realization that they wanted her opinion. "Oh uh, I think it would be good for Spike." she admitted, lowering her head.
"Four to two, I like those odds." Rainbow commented, crossing her hooves.
"Cool. Then I'll be back in a week. See ya later!" he was out in a puff of smoke before the others could even say goodbye.