The Chronicler Comes to Town

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" said Spike as he hit himself on the head. He had gone over to Rarity's house to help her with "whatever mah lady desires" as he would put it, and everything had gone fine. That is, until he stepped on Opalescence's tail, sending the normally benign feline scrambling up the curtains of the boutique, the result being shredded fabric. He could still see Rarity's face frozen in terror when she saw the damage on the valuable imports, he could probably still see that face if he went back there, being as that is how he had left her when she didn't move or make a sound for a good four minutes. So now here he was, dragging his feet through the town with his head low.

Perhaps a little too low.

He full-on headbutted a grey leg with an audible crack, causing the owner of said leg to yelp and jump, turning around as he did so.

"Oh, sorry sir" Spike said as he rubbed his neck. The collision had been met with no resistance, which wasn't very good for the spine as one can imagine. Spike looked up at the pony he practically assaulted, he was a grey unicorn stallion with a slightly darker grey mane and equally grey glasses. Spike had learned enough from Rarity to know that she would call this a "fashion disaster." The unicorn's demeanor and color made him look older, but closer inspection revealed that he couldn't be any older than around twenty-four.

The unicorn rubbed his leg as well, they didn't call Spike his name for nothing. After making sure that his leg wasn't bleeding, he nodded. "That's quite alright Spike–" he paused for a second as a look flashed across his face, "well, that is your name, right?" Spike nodded, he had never seen the unicorn before, though he reasoned that everyone within a reasonable distance must know about the local dragon. That sure helped his slightly diminished confidence.

"So mister, I haven't seen you before, what brings you to Ponyville?" Spike asked.

The grey unicorn replied, "Well, I was actually about to be on my way to town hall to complete my registration. I'm moving here in fact, on this plot of land." Indeed, Spike saw that the unicorn had been standing in front of an area of land marked off by ribbons and stakes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to be going now. Good day to you." He walked off. Spike apologized one last time and continued to the castle.

Spike made his way through the castle to the only place there that he could reliably find Twilight ninety-nine percent of the time.

"Spike, you're back early." Twilight said as she finished up putting the last books on their respective bookshelves. She then went over to a platter of tea that was no longer steaming, sticking out her tongue at the coldness of it. "Spike, do you mind?"

"Sure," Spike said as he started to take the teakettle over to the oven in the lounge room, which had been made in response to Twilight's time spent in the library. It included a pantry, oven and some comfy couches in front of a fireplace. "Rarity didn't have much for me to do," he finished. That was at least half true. Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't say anything. "Here you go." He gave Twilight the now steaming teakettle after realizing that a few puffs of dragon breath were adequate for reheating. Twilight sighed at the soothing taste as the tea washed over her tongue and down her throat.

Twilight finished the cup and sat down. She gave the bookshelves a once-over to make sure everything was in place. Satisfied with what she saw, she spoke, "Any news from the outside world? I've been cooped up in here cleaning up from that research session the other night."

Spike scratched his head, "Well, there is a new pony moving into that empty space down near Sugarcube Corner."

Twilight's ears perked up at the news, that plot was prime estate. Whoever managed to buy that spot must be pretty well off. "What was he or she like?" She asked.

Spike responded, "First, it's a he, second, all I can say is that he is a grey unicorn with a grey mane and grey glasses. He was in kind of a rush, so I couldn't learn much else about him. He's probably still at town hall."

Twilight pictured the stallion in her head, she likewise thought of how Rarity would react to such a choice of apparel. "Well, I need to get up and move anyways, let's give this newcomer a royal welcome," Twilight said as she got up and stretched. Spike followed her out the door. "I wonder of Pinkie has heard of the newcomer," Twilight remarked as Spike led her to the town hall area. As of on cue, as was probably the case, Pinkie burst out of a barrel that Twilight could've sworn was not there previously.

"Ooo! A new pony in town?" She shouted as the barrel's contents of pickles flew about.

Twilight had to decide between smiling or facehoofing at Pinkie's antics, though Spike had no problem choosing the latter action. "Yes Pinkie," she said, "there is a new pony in town."

Pinkie did a familiar drawn-out gasp. "Oh my gosh! Do you know what this means? It means a party! I'll have to go meet this new pony and bake a cake with lots of frosting!" She didn't stop there, "–and put up decorations and find out his favorite flavor and break into his house and–" she rambled as she ran off. Twilight double checked at that last remark and looked at Spike, who only shrugged.

"Well, that was interesting," she said as she continued to town hall.