The Chronicler Comes to Town

The next few days had passed by uneventfully, and school for the fillies, or for the purposes of this text, Dew Drop, was starting again. The morning of Dew Drop's first day was dreabdfully stereotypical.

"Daddy, Daddy!" cried Dew Drop as she jumped on Quill's bed, "first day of school, first day of school!"

Dry Quill groaned, "three hundred more seconds, please."

"Not you dad, me!"

Suddenly, Dry Quill got up and on his hooves, "Pfft, I knew that," he said playfully with a grin. "Now, is my little girl prepared with all of her things?"

"I've already packed everything this morning!" she said excitedly, then ran downstairs with Quill in tow.

When they got to the kitchen, Zakuru was making breakfast again, but Brain Storm was missing, as he had been for the past few days. "Hey Zakuru," Dry Quill said, "is Brain Storm any better?"

"His condition still is drab," Zakuru responded, beating the oats with every syllable, "but he's been working in his lab."

"On what?"

"That is a mystery to me, and he won't let anybody see." Zakuru shrugged and set the breakfast on the table, and they all sat down to eat.

After the food was eaten and Brain Storm still didn't come out of his lab, Dry Quill walked Dew Drop to school. They joined a procession of other parents, most of them nearly dragging their protesting foals to school. Unlike Dew Drop, the foals had experienced freedom for only a week and would take twice as long to get them used to school again.

Ms. Cheerilee knew this as she watched the students with a sort of grayness hanging over their heads sulk past her. Speaking of gray, here came a stallion with a filly she supposed to be a new student. Ms. Cheerilee looked back into the school and saw that there was one seat left, and thought of how the school was running out of room for new students. She turned back to find the grey stallion's face four inches from hers.

"Hello there, I am Dry Quill," he said. She drew back a bit, not used to this proximity. Dry Quill pretended not to notice. He continued, "I understand that you are the resident teacher of this town, and I have a new student for you, Ms. Cheerilee. Say hello, Dew Drop."

"Hello," Dew Drop said, then turned to Dry Quill, "she's not my mother."

Cheerilee's eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern; she was used to most of the strange eccentricities exhibited by foals, but this was something else entirely, especially if it was a parental matter. She put it aside for now. "Well, I'm sure she'll be a great student. We have one more chair near the front, so just put your stuff there and you can introduce yourself to the class."

"Alright Dew Drop," Dry Quill said, "you have fun now. I'll be getting our plumbing installed so we don't have to use Sugarcube Corner's bathroom anymore." He and Dew Drop hugged and went their separate ways.

After hiring a burly stallion with a scruffy beard to install said plumbing, Dry Quill went to the castle library for more than one reason. "Good day Spike," he said with slight emphasis and a smile. Spike raised a claw to his lips and shushed Quill. Quill nodded and went to the magic semi-fiction section of the library and observed the titles. Eventually Twilight came through the door and attended to the library's visitors, most of whom wanted a book on the highest shelf or part of the central display for some reason. After all who were left were the ponies who would read an entire book while in the library without ever actually borrowing it, Twilight picked up a stack of returned semi-fiction and set to work putting them back on the shelf.

"You're missing the first volume of The Ballad of the Crystal King," a familiar voice said next to her.

Twilight jumped and didn't drop her books in surprise, having had much experience carrying them. She looked and saw that it was indeed Dry Quill. "Oh, well, the first volume was manually copied and is very hard to get you know."

"Indeed," Dry Quill slowly and thoughtfully said as he promptly walked out, leaving a confused Twilight looking at the door.

Mrs. Cheerilee hoofed out an assignment to the class. "Alright everyone, now I know that you are all still in that vacation daze, so though we are starting a new topic, I'll try to make it easy for you all." She started to write on the chalkboard.

Sweetie Bell leaned over to Apple Bloom and whispered, "does the new filly have her cutie mark?"

"Ah dun't know," said Apple Bloom, "Ah need a better angle. Uh oh."

"What?" Said Sweetie Bell, but then she saw Diamond Tiara whispering to Silver Spoon and gesturing to Dew Drop– and giggling. “Uh oh,” she parroted. “Well, at least we know that Dew Drop doesn’t have her cutie mark.”

“Yep,” said Apple Bloom, “and that means trouble.”

Cheerilee was talking again, “alright everypony, you may all start on your assignments now.” She looked to Dew Drop. “Dew Drop, aren’t you going to do your work?”

Dew Drop took a second to realize she was being addressed. “Oh, I did my work while you were talking.”

“You knew this already?”

“Uh-huh, I was taught this stuff a while ago.”

Cheerilee felt a sweat form on her back, home schooled kids, she thought, they always complicated things. It was nothing she wasn’t used to though, due to the high amount of farmers around here. Still, she would have to find out what Dew Drop has and hasn’t learned.

Nobody, especially the teacher, saw the sneer that Diamond Tiara was giving Dew Drop at that moment.

At recess, Dew Drop sat alone with her legs folded beneath her, having never been around so many foals before– never been around foals, for that matter. “Just be yourself and all that cheesy nonsense,” Daddy had said, “make some friends, talk to people.” It was very much the same advice he gave to Brain Storm. Nevertheless, she was shy as many new foals were. Oh look, here came two potential friends.

"Well," started the pink one in a voice that grated the ears, "looks like we have a teachers pet." She spat the last word. "And a blank flank to boot." A crowd of foals surrounded the exchange, this being a common occurrence.

Dew Drop frowned; this filly did not seem friendly.

Tiara took the frown as progress; it fueled her arrogance. "Well, can't you talk, or are teachers the only ones good enough to talk to?"

"Are you?" said Silver Spoon.

Dew Drop shook her head. "Nope, I don't hold anyone here higher than anyone else."

Diamond Tiara sneered again. "Well you should. Me."

"Yeah," Silver Spoon repeated, albeit with slightly less confidence.

Dew drop tilted her head. "Why?"

Tiara looked taken aback. "What do you mean why?" She took a few moments to think. "Because– because I'm better than you, that's why!"

"Ohhhh, I see," said Dew Drop.

Diamond Tiara smiled, happy to have gotten her point across.

Dew Drop continued, "you must be one of those bullies my dad has told me about, aren't you?"

Diamond Tiara felt something start to crumple inside her, but her eyes burned with anger. "What did you call me?"

This was getting interesting to the crowd, who usually didn't see someone hold their ground like this against Diamond Tiara. Then again, none of them had had Brain Storm as a tutor and babysitter. Silver Spoon thought it wise to stay out of it.

"Yeah." Dew Drop thought for a second and stood up. "My daddy told me about how I'll meet bullies, and how they're mean because they don't get enough attention at home or something like that," she paused, "does your daddy not talk to you?"

Diamond Tiara's lip quivered almost unnoticably.

Dew Drop looked up in thought. "Well, daddy did say that they could also just be jerks."

It was then that Dew Drop was viciously tackled by a screaming Diamond Tiara.

Dry Quill poked his head through the door of the schoolhouse. Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara sat on the near side of the school, with Filthy Rich sitting behind Tiara. Diamond Tiara had her bent up tiara off to the side. She was covered in splotches of dirt and had a small scratch. Dew Drop sat on the far side and kept her head hung and her eyes to the ground. She was in much better condition, with only a messed up mane. Ms. Cheerilee sat patiently behind her desk with a stern face; she wasn't even grading the papers next to her. Dry Quill loudly cleared his throat and everyone looked at him.

"Sit," Ms. Cheerilee said as politely as the situation could allow, which wasn't much. Dry Quill first walked over to her desk.

"Ms. Cheerilee, how nice to see you," he said curtly, "I can see why you smile all the time. This current face doesn't suit you too well."

Cheerilee's features softened a little, and was about to say something when Filthy Rich spoke. "I would like to get on with this if that is all right," he said with a little irritation.

Dry Quill turned his head toward Filthy Rich and raised an eyebrow. "Very well, Filthy."

"Rich, please."

"Naturally," Quill said. He silently went over and sat next to Dew Drop. He smoothed out her mussed-up mane. "How are you sweetie?" he said. He saw Diamond Tiara looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"Now," Ms. Cheerilee said, "as you all may know, I caught Dew Drop and Diamond Tiara fighting during recess." She sighed. "As this was the first incident, I stopped them before much happened and let them off with a warning. However," -she looked to each student- "I found them fighting after school with a cheering crowd of school foals surrounding them. I must remind all of you that such behavior will not be tolerated in my or any school."

"Well," Filthy Rich said, "I believe we know the proper course of discipline here. I say that the instigator of this conflict be suspended for two weeks."

"Yes!" Dry Quill said abruptly as he pounded his desk, "let's suspend this student! Furthermore, let's make her give the other one of her tiaras as an apology!" He smiled at Filthy Rich.

Filthy Rich snorted. "You don't mean to say that my daughter is the one to be the cause of this?"

Dry Quill took off and wiped his glasses. After he put them back on, he got up and walked over to Rich. "Look Rich, you seem like a reasonable stallion; I am as well. As Ms. Cheerilee only saw the end of things, what say we ask the girls what happened?"

Filthy Rich checked his watch and frowned. "Fine, but this better be quick."

"Splendid," said Dry Quill brightly. He looked to Diamond Tiara. "Tiara, we'll start with you."

Diamond Tiara folded her front legs in front of her. "I don't need to explain anything."

Dry Quill breathed in deeply, then slowly released it. He shrugged. "Alright, that's your choice. Dew Drop, would you like to speak?"

Filthy Rich cut in, "I don't see the point of this."

Dry Quill snapped around. "I just want to see what they have to say, to ascertain to the highest accuracy what has transposed here between them."

"I already know what happened. Your daughter obviously beat up my daughter, and now we have to waste our time here arguing about it." Filthy Rich said with increasing irritation. He got up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting I'm late for." He went for the door.

"You are not excused."

"What?" Filthy Rich turned around. "This conversation is over," he said as he did so, only to find Dry Quill right in front of him. Something about Dry Quill was different. His hat and glasses were off, and his sharp grey eyes were reading Filthy Rich up and down.

"This conversation is not over!" Quill nearly yelled, then went down to a firm growl "and do you know why? It's because we've been in a schoolhouse for the past ten minutes, and you haven't learned a thing!" He snorted contentiously. "Do you know what your problem is, Filthy? You aren't upset that your daughter got absolutely floored by mine, but rather that you are missing a chance to crunch numbers and sit in some quiet office all day, that's why." His head cranked a little to the side. "You don't have a daughter, you have a liability, don't you? She's just a little distraction from your wealth, and your assets, and your business."

"Now hold just a minute here, I care about my little Diamond just as much as you care for your daughter."

You could care less what happens to her short of foalnapping," Quill deadpanned, "but only because you'd have to pay a ransom."

"That's a ridiculous accusation!"

Quill calmed down, but still radiated vigor. "Maybe. Maybe," he said, "but I need to make you think." He growled again, "you know a lot about the job of a business-stallion Filthy, but there is one occupation with which you obviously have great qualification for, but just as obviously have no passion, and it's only taken me five minutes to figure it out. Now I suggest that you and Diamond Tiara have a long talk about what it means to be father and daughter."

The room was silent any highly uncomfortable to be in all of a sudden. Without a word, Dry Quill picked up his hat, wiped his glasses again and put them on, and motioned for Dew Drop to follow him out the door. He turned towards the door, and to no one in particular said, "I apologize that you had to see that." Before he left, though, he turned to Filthy Rich. "Look, if you're looking for any sort of compensation, we'll talk. Good day, Rich," he said, reaching out to fix Rich's tie, the gesture of which surprising him. He walked out of the schoolhouse, and Ms. Cheerilee, seeing that there was nothing left for her to do, soon followed.

Filthy Rich sat there dumbfounded for an entire two minutes. He briefly considered Dry Quill's offer, but then heard sobbing and looked around, and found it was Diamond Tiara. He looked at her, and for perhaps the first time in his life, saw his daughter.

Twilight heard the library door open and turned around. It was Dry Quill, and he looked tired; the sharpness in his eyes was gone for the time being. He had with him an aging book, the kind with hoof-made pages of slightly varying sizes. "You're back," Twilight said in an almost questioning manner.

Dry Quill smiled wearily. "Apologies, but I wanted to make this a surprise." He showed the cover of the book, The Ballad of the Crystal King: A Romanticized Account of King Sombra's Reign and Fall.

Twilight's jaw hung open for a second, then she walked over to the book and hovered it in front of her, taking care to handle it like a holy relic. Then again, it kind of was. Carefully flipping through the pages she asked, "how did you get this?"

Pretending it was no big deal, Dry Quill said, "I've had it in my possession for quite some time, and have already read through it several times. So I thought to myself, gee, I have this old priceless book as part of a series, and a certain librarian has the other two, so I put the two and two together and figured I should give it to you to add to your collection– Oof!"

Twilight had run into him and hugged him. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she said excitedly. They hugged there for longer than one would expect. Suddenly Twilight let go and busied herself with dusting off the book, as to not let Dry Quill see her face. When she was done, she remembered Dry Quill's condition. "Dry Quill?"

"Hmm?"

"You look exhausted."

"That I do," he said with a yawn, "I had a couple of draining tasks to do today."

"Uh..." Twilight said as she looked around. "Oh! Sit here," she said as she went to the couch in the lounge area.

"Much appreciated," Dry Quill said as he stretched out. He looked at Twilight, suddenly dead serious. "Now Twilight, I have something to tell you, and well, it's strictly for royal ears only."

Twilight was taken aback by this strange turn of events. "What is it?" she asked as she sat next to him.

He leaned in close and whispered, "you see... I am really an alicorn in disguise."

"What?" Twilight said. She stared at him for a few seconds with a confused look.

"Yeah," he said solemnly as he slowly nodded. "I am actually the long lost cousin of Princess Celestia herself, and have been wandering the land, waiting for the right moment to reveal myself in my true form. And my true color scheme is a blood red with icy blue eyes."

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Wait..."

Dry Quill burst into laughter to the extent of tears. "Oh– oh my– I re– I really had you going there, didn't I?" He gasped in air. "I'm sorry," he laughed, "that wasn't very proper of me." He started coughing and beat on his chest a couple of times.

Twilight playfully hit him. "Since when were you one to joke around?"

"What, I can not have fun every so often? Now, how about we read that book?"

They read that book, which was large and nine-hundred eighty-two pages long, accompanied by tea served by a somewhat begrudging Spike. The book was full of historical inaccuracies and exaggerations of which were humorous, but it also provided interesting insight into Sombra's rise to power and early years.

As on Dry Quill's first day, it got late. And as on his first day, they didn't care. Twilight woke up in the morning on the couch with a blanket draped over her. Spike was nowhere to be seen. She looked where the book was sitting on the side table. There was a note on top. "Had a splendid time," it said, "and not in any way that would upset your parents. You fell asleep midway through the book surprisingly, and so I had to go home. I left a bookmark where we left off, and would be glad to finish the book with you at some other time.

–Dry Quill

Twilight smiled and noticed that the note was in fact written in italics.