Twilight downed the last of her coffee and set the mug down on her desk with a smile. “Mhmm! Seaddle’s Best? More like Equestria’s Best!” She ran her tongue across her teeth, savoring the last remnants of the drink. “I need to tell Doubleshot to order as much of this as she can.”

She scribbled a note to that effect on her scratch pad before stepping out from behind her desk. Twilight’s study was furnished much like her work room in the old library, with a chalkboard, a small lab bench, and a trio of bookshelves joining the simple oak desk. Together, they lent the space a warm, welcoming feeling; or at least as much as they could for a room made entirely out of crystal. Even the array of rugs and carpets, and the artwork she borrowed from Celestia and Luna’s vast collections, did little to dull the ever-present glow that filled every space in her new home.

Twilight sighed at that thought, but pushed it aside. "Time to get to work." She straightened her crown, tucked her day planner under a wing, and headed for the throne room.

Members of her small but dedicated staff greeted her with waves and cheery “hellos” as she made her way through the hallways. She took a small measure of satisfaction that many of them had finally stopped bowing every time she passed by. Official functions were another matter, but outside of those, Twilight impressed on her staff her desire to treat each other and herself like they would any friend they’d meet at market.

One final right turn brought her to the side entrance to the throne room. She looked at the nearby wall clock and noted she was a few minutes ahead of schedule. “Good, that means I get more reading time later.” Her magic had just grabbed the ornate door knob when a purple blur raced around the nearby corner.

“Twilight!”

And right into her. “Huh— Ah!”

The impact nearly knocked her over, and sent her planner skidding across the floor. It took her a moment to sort out her hooves from her wings and reorient herself to at least a sitting position, and she spotted the source of the impact sprawled out on his back a few feet away.

“Spike? What did I tell you about sprinting around corners like that?”

Spike scrabbled about for a moment before regaining his feet, and once he did, his manic pace resumed. “I know, Twilight, but I was looking everywhere for you!”

Twilight pursed her lips as she looked about for her planner. “Yes, I know we’re out of waffle batter, but Pinkie said she’d bring some more over tomorrow, so you’ll just have to make do with toast and fruit today.”

Spike waved his arms and snorted. “No, that— yes, I know that, but that’s not the problem here!”

Twilight turned back to him as the planner floated back to her in her magic. “Okay, then what’s going on that’s got you so worked up? A urgent message from Celestia? A report of another loose hydra?”

“No, nothing like that,” Spike replied, shaking his head for emphasis. “But it’s really weird; like ‘never seen this before’ weird.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “Weird as in…”

“As in the there’s a big crowd of ponies in the throne room!”

Twilight tensed, but relaxed just as quickly. “O-oh! Well, it is Wednesday, which means open court.” She checked the contents of her planner again, then looked back at the clock. Court was due to start in less than two minutes. “Honestly, it’ll be a bit refreshing to have more than three of four ponies in line for once.”

Spike’s mouth went slack for a second. “Um, Twi, it’s way more than three of four. I’d say half of Ponyville is in there!”

Her confident smile faltered for a moment, and Twilight gave him a second look. “Seriously?”

“See for yourself.”

Twilight cracked the door just enough to see through the gap in the door frame, and quickly closed it. “Yep, that’s a big crowd alright.”

“See?” Spike pointed a claw at the door. “Told you it was a problem.”

Twilight paused for a second, then smiled and nuzzled his cheek. “Problem? Spike, this is great! I’ve spent a lot of time studying Celestia’s notes and guidebooks for holding court, to say nothing of the pages of notes I took shadowing Luna during night court. A crowd like that just means I finally get to put those notes to the test!”

Spike’s eyes widened. “What? No, I don’t think—”

Twilight nudged him with a wing, almost bouncing on her hooves herself. “Spike, it’s Ponyville! We know these ponies like family! Unless everypony here turned into a diplomat or stuffy noble overnight, I think we can handle this. Now let’s get in there!” She wheeled around and tamped down her smile before swinging the door open and trotting into the bright lights of the throne room.

Spike stared after her and winced. “Who said anything about ‘we’?”



“Slow down there, BonBon, please. Let’s take this from the top again. You said—”

“What I said, Your Highness, was that the town Assessor needs to be investigated for fraud!”

A chorus of claps and cheers rang out from the back of the assembled crowd, and Twilight just stared out at the whole spectacle. Spike’s estimation was turned out to be scarily accurate, and the assembled crowd felt more and more like half the town or more… and all of them had similar grievances to air out in increasingly loud fashion.

“Everypony, please…” Twilight’s words were all but lost among the growing cacophony of voices. “Now look, let’s— oh for the love of Luna…” Twilight channeled a bit of magic into her voice.

“Hey!”

Her voice boomed through the cavernous room and the crowd grew silent in an instant. “There, much better.” Twilight passed her notepad to Spike, who was furiously trying to make sense of any of the notes he had scribbled out over the last thirty minutes. She stood from her throne and looked out over the crowd.

“I understand everypony’s a bit worked up right now, but we can’t solve any problems if everypony is yelling, okay?”

Nods and grumbled apologies came back in response. “Alright. Now, I will be honest here. Balance Sheet has been the town assessor for longer than I’ve even lived here, and this is the first time I’ve heard anything negative said about him, much less an accusation of fraud.” She held up a hoof to quell any further outbursts. “But, it’s obvious that something is amiss. So, show of hooves: Who here has an issue with their property tax assessment?”

Nearly every pony in the room raised a hoof or a wing.

“Okay… so pretty much all of you. And you all have the same issue? That your property taxes went up too much this year?” The crowd nodded as one. Twilight paused, then her horn lit up and a thick book popped into existence in front of her. She flipped it open and stopped on a couple of pages to read. After a minute, she closed the book and magicked it away again.

“According to the latest analysis from the Treasury secretary, economic conditions continued to improve across the board last year, including real estate. So, it’s not unusual to see some increases at the margins when aggregate market activity hits a positive trend…”

“Princess?” Roseluck spoke up from the front of the crowd “Sorry, but if I may… that all makes sense, but these increases are just incredible. I’m no accountant, but I never paid half this much in taxes when my house was brand new.”

“Same for us, Your Highness.” Lyra chimed in, with BonBon standing next to her. “I’ve gone over our numbers a hundred times, and even with the small work shed we added out back, that can’t possibly account for our bill doubling.”

“Gonna have to add me in too, Twi.” Twilight swung her eyes to the right, where Applejack was just joining the back end of the crowd.

“AJ? You too?”

“Oh yeah. Talked to the Cakes on the way over here, and they said their bill nearly tripled, and they haven’t added onto the cafe in years.”

Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “What the… okay, I still doubt that Balance Sheet is trying to actively cheat all of you, but there’s clearly something odd going on. Tell you what, if all of you can pass your tax statements to Spike or to the guards at the door, I’ll look into this immediately. As soon as I have an answer for you, I’ll let everypony know, and if corrected bills need to be sent out, they’ll be sent asap.”

That seemed to placate many in the crowd, who did as requested and left their bills on their way out. After giving a final reassurance to Berry Punch and Ditzy, and a promise to get to the bottom of the whole mess, Twilight watched the throne room’s gilded crystal doors close behind them.

And now Twilight was the one in a rush. “Spike! Gather up all of the bills and meet me at Town Hall!” She took off at a canter for the side door. “I’m going to see the tax stallion!”

---

“You can’t be serious. This has to be a joke, a prank even. Wait, did Discord put you up to this?”

Balance Sheet put down his glasses and sat up in his high-backed green chair. “I have not been asked to, nor would I participate in, any activities of the sort, Your Highness.”

“Then what in Tartarus is going on here? There has to be something else to this!” Twilight stomped a hoof on the floor and stared at him with no small hint of exasperation in her eyes. She had been peppering the pale blue unicorn with questions from the moment she had barged into his office on the second floor of Ponyville’s Town Hall, and so far had little to show for it, other than rising blood pressure and a growing frustration with Balance Sheet’s seemingly unflappable demeanor.

“Nothing untoward, I assure you,” he replied, his voice calm and collected. “Unfortunately, I must refer back to my original answer that all of the property assessments were completed in the same manner, and using the same calculations and ratios, as they always have. Nopony besides myself and my two assistants have access to either the data used to calculate the annual tax assessments, and I verified each and every one by hoof, as I do each year.” He tapped the stack of tax bills that Twilight had thrown down on his desk. “The numbers don’t lie, Your Majesty.”

Twilight took a few deep breaths, then a few more, as she paced back and forth. “Alright, let’s assume you’re right, and the calculations are correct. So what you’re telling me is that the entire town’s property values went through the roof because of me?”

“Well, technically speaking, you are not at any fault in this situation, Your Highness.”

Twilight snorted and continued her pacing. “Okay, so then who is to blame? Tirek? The Elements? Discord? No, I know, let’s blame Celestia!”

Balance Sheet pushed a lock of his brown mane away from his face and sighed. “Princess, I know this is upsetting, but if you’ll just slow—”

Twilight wheeled around and took two very big steps forward, planting her forelegs on his desk. “You think, Balance Sheet? Of course it’s upsetting! How do you think you’d feel if somepony told you that all everypony had to pay more bits out of their saddlebags because of something you did?”

“I suppose I’d be fairly upset as well, Princess. But remember, you didn’t ask for your castle to be built out of crystal and gems.”

“Exactly!” Twilight pounded a hoof on the edge of his desk. “That’s my whole point, Balance! I never asked for a castle. I never really wanted one! Destroying my home was bad enough, but I’d have been perfectly happy with a new library, not that… that thing out there!”

Her eyes blazed for a moment, and she glared out the nearby window, where the tip of her castle’s highest spires could be seen towering over every surrounding building. The anger cooled just as quickly as it arose, and Finally, she let out a defeated sigh and slumped into one of the two chairs in front of his large desk. “Trying to get used to calling a massive castle home is bad enough, but now everypony else has to suffer because of it? Because of me?”

Balance Sheet looked at her for a moment, then set his glasses aside and stepped around the desk to take the seat next to Twilight. “If you’ll hear me out for a second, Your Highness…”

“Please, just call me Twilight.”

“Right, my apologies, Pr– Twilight. But to answer your question, in addition to the specific property itself, Ponyville’s town code also requires the Assessor to factor in the aggregate value of the structures and lands inside the town’s borders. That includes homes, businesses, parks, empty fields, and yes, even the ground your castle stands on. So, just as the closing of one store or the clearing of a field can lower land values, the addition of those same things can raise it. And since the appearance of your castle last year, I think you would agree that the town has seen a surge of new homes and businesses popping up.”

Twilight scratched the bridge of her muzzle with a wing and sighed. “Sure, but I doubt Pinkie and the Cakes would have welcomed the newcomers so warmly if they knew Sugarcube Corner would cost them an extra nine hundred bits as a result.”

Balance Sheet leaned over, and after a moment’s hesitation, gently laid a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Look on the bright side, Twilight. Large and bright your castle may be, but it has brought a surge of new residents and businesses to Ponyville, and with them come more customers, more tourists, and for those who put down roots, an assurance that Ponyville will be well cared for for generations to come. The long term benefits will be tremendous.”

Twilight looked over to him and tried to muster some happiness at the sentiment expressed. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s all wonderful. And of course I want this town to grow and succeed for decades to come. But that doesn’t help today’s residents with today’s bills… and if my home is inflating things even more, that could make it even harder for everypony to keep pace, much less get ahead.”

A knock on the door started them both, and a moment later, a light tan earth pony stuck her head in the room. “Um, excuse me, Balance, Your Highness. May I?”

Seeing no objection from Twilight, Balance Sheet waved the young mare in. “Please, come in. Princess, this is Loophole, one of my assistants.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Princess.” Loophole bowed first, then quickly recovered. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I believe I may have something that can help.”

Twilight’s ears perked with obvious interest. “Oh? And what is it?”

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation from down the hall…” she blushed a bit at the admission, but a reassuring look from Twilight kept her going. “I took the liberty of re-examining the town’s zoning and assessment codes, and something interesting came up.” Her eyes shifted towards Balance Sheet and she hoofed him a folder that she had carried in with her. “Balance, do you remember the Locust Amendment?”

Balance Sheet pondered that for a moment. “Um, yes, I remember part of it, at least. It was passed in the wake of the locust incident, right?”

Loophole nodded. “Yep, that’s the one. Princess, are you familiar with this one?”

Twilight perked up at the question. “Indeed I am. Sixty-five years ago, a change in the jet stream over the South Luna Ocean sent a swarm of migratory locusts through the heart of Equestria. Crops, forests, and towns were ravaged, triggering a sudden and severe famine throughout the region.”

“Right you are, Princess.” Loophole smiled. “Cloudsdale’s weather scientists eventually found a way to steer future swarms away from population centers, but in the immediate aftermath, towns like Ponyville had to take drastic steps to survive.”

Twilight nodded along. “Right. I know food rationing and cooperative farming were two big things to come out of that, and many villages and towns pooled their treasuries to increase their buying power in the bigger cities too.”

“Yes, but what they also did in many cases was grant Assessors and Collectors the ability to adjust town boundary lines without waiting for the biannual zoning calibration cycle.” Loophole nodded toward Balance Sheet as she continued. “This gave Balance’s predecessors the ability to move the town’s boundary lines in emergency situations, to protect against the effects of huge jumps or declines in valuations in the area.”

"They did?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. That’s what led to the Apples’ farm becoming part of Ponyville, actually. Their Zap Apples were one of the few crops the locusts didn’t take a liking too, so their farm was moved inside the town boundary so they could benefit from what little weather team protection was around at the time, and hopefully recover their regular crops that much faster.”

Balance Sheet looked up from the folder, the contents of which he had been skimming the off and on, and held up a hoof. “And while those powers haven’t been used in decades, they were never fully removed from the city code.” He closed the folder and looked to Loophole with a small grin. “Crazy thing is, it just might work.”

“What’s that?” Twilight asked.

“You recall what I said about property assessments needing to factor in the aggregate value of properties throughout Ponyville right?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Why?”

Loophole added her voice. “And those properties include everything inside of Ponyville’s borders…”

“And if the situation calls for it, the Assessor can act to guard against huge shifts in property values...” Loophole added.

“Yes…” Twilight trailed off, then gasped as the pieces began to click together in her mind.

“So with that in mind—” Balance Sheet slipped the papers out of the folder and floated them over to Twilight, along with a Ponyville town map that he kept on his desk. “Princess, I believe we have a bit of a property emergency on our hooves…”

---

Twilight hummed a random tune to herself as she trotted down the hallway to the throne room. It was tuneless, but it had so far helped to keep her anxiety down. The guards at the door gave her a quick salute before opening the massive white doors for her. She quietly bade them good day and continued on in.

At the sound of the closing door, Princess Celestia looked up from her throne, where she was sipping tea and conversing with a couple of aides. “Ah, Twilight! Please come in! I’ll just be a moment.”

Twilight watched the conversation go on for a few more minutes before the aides turned and scurried away in different directions, no doubt tasked with one thing or another. Once the room had otherwise emptied, Celestia waved her forward.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Twilight.”

Twilight trotted up the stairs to the top level, doing her best to keep her wings from fidgeting. “No problem at all, Celestia. I have to confess though, your note left me confused.”

“In what way?” Celestia asked between sips of tea.

“Well, it said that weeks of reports and correspondence had gone missing, and that the Neighponese Ambassador thinks I’m ditching a meeting with him?” Twilight scratched at her leg with a hoof. “I checked and, well, I haven’t received anything from you, the castle, or the ambassador.”

“Ah, totally understandable, Twilight.” Celestia put her teacup down and leaned back in her chair. “You wouldn’t have received anything from us because it never made it to you in the first place.”

Twilight gave her a confused look in return. “Never got there?”

“According to our mail sorters, it was all returned as undeliverable. Apparently, there is no Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville anymore?”

Realization dawned on Twilight immediately, and her eyes took on a very distant look. “Oh… Um…”

Celestia sat up again and looked at a now half-paralyzed Twilight. “So, any chance you can shed some light on this rather odd development?”

Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat and looked at Celestia.

“Look, I can explain…”