After my little adventure with the quietest pony and her glaring bunny, I decided to focus on something a little less... strange. I mean, sure walking around and doing nothing was fine by me, most days, but right now… I needed to know more about this world, and until I did, well… just walking around wasn’t a productive use of my time. After all, if I’m going to be stuck in this world, I might as well start figuring out the lay of the land.

That, well… I’ve been meaning to check out that library ever since Scootaloo dragged me around town.

The library was closed when I first saw it, but maybe now that I’m the so-called sheriff, I can poke around. Who knows, maybe they’ve got something useful in there. A map. A guide to understanding magical ponies. A beginner’s manual on surviving whatever cartoonish nightmare I’m living in.

Jokes aside, my main goal there was reading about this world and its history.

Decision made, I head toward the mayor’s office, after all, if anyone can give me access to the library, it was probably the pony in charge. Mayor Mare, the pony with the redundant name. Still can't get over that. Talk about setting someone up for their life path.

The walk to her office is peaceful enough, although a few ponies wave at me every now and then, like I’m some kind of celebrity. It’s weird being greeted by everyone, especially when I’m used to people just not acknowledging each other on a day to day basis, unless they know each other personally.

After a few minutes of trotting, I finally made it to the town hall, the building looking just as cutesy and colorful as I remembered. Rolling my eyes, I push the door open, and there she is—Mayor Redundant, sitting behind her desk, shuffling some papers. She looks up the moment I enter and gives me the same overly cheery smile I’ve seen a hundred times since I got here.

“Ah! Sheriff Jax!” she says, standing up to greet me. “I was just about to look for you!”

I raise an eyebrow. “You were?”

She nods enthusiastically. “Yes! There are a few things I wanted to go over with you, now that you’ve officially started your duties.”

I can’t help but smirk. “Right. ‘Official duties.’ Gotta say, I’ve been doing a lot of patrolling and, uh... dealing with bunnies so far.”

She laughs lightly, clearly not picking up on the sarcasm. “Oh, don’t worry. Things tend to be peaceful around here, but it’s always good to have a sheriff around just in case, it gives everyone around the piece of mind to know there’s somepony as capable as you to protect them, should anything go wrong.”

“Uh-huh.” I glance around her office, which is pretty standard for a small-town mayor—lots of papers, a couple of plaques on the wall, and a little potted plant that looks like it’s seen better days. “So, I was actually wondering if I could check out the library. You know, since I’m supposed to be familiar with the town and all.”

“Oh, of course!” Mayor Mare says, perking up. “In fact, I was just about to give you these.” She pulls open a drawer and takes out a ring of keys—a lot of keys.

I blink. “That’s a lot of keys for a library.”

“Oh, well, that’s because these are the keys to all the town buildings!” she says proudly, holding them out to me like she’s bestowing some ancient treasure. “You’ll need these for your duties, of course.”

I stare at the ring of keys, my brain still processing what she just said. “Uh… shouldn’t you… first, I don’t know, see if my performance is up to standards before giving me these?”

She nods. “Nonsense! You are overqualified as it is, besides, as the sheriff, you should have access to all the important places in town—the library, the schoolhouse, my office, and a few other places, like the playground.”

I take the keys slowly, feeling the weight of them in my hoof. “If you say so.”

I’m starting to think that background checks don’t exist in this world. I mean, sure, I hadn’t done anything bad… but, I don’t know, it just feels weird all this blind trust.

Mayor Mare just waves a hoof dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry about that. You’re the sheriff! You’ll need access to everything so you can act quickly if anything happens.”

I open my mouth to reply, but then I remember where I am. This is Ponyville. The same town that put me in charge within five minutes of meeting me. Why would they think twice about handing me the keys to the whole place?

I glance down at the keys in my hoof again. “Right. So I’ve got access to... everything.”

“Everything important, yes!” she says with a smile. “The library, the school, the town’s vault, and even the town hall after hours.”

Did… did she say the Town’s vault, as in… the place where the town keeps their money? Has… has no one scammed or swindled these ponies before?

“Well that’s to be expected,” I mutter under my breath, shaking my head. “Totally normal.”

She doesn’t seem to catch my sarcasm—or if she does, she’s ignoring it. “If you have any questions, just let me know! And don’t hesitate to make yourself at home.”

I nod slowly, still staring at the keys like she’s about to tell me it was all a joke, or something. “Thanks.”

Mayor Mare beams. “We’re so lucky to have you, Sheriff Jax. I just know you’ll do a wonderful job. Ponies are already talking about you taking Scootaloo to class, instead of letting her skip. Such a dutiful Sheriff.”

I force a smile. “No skipping on my watch.” It wasn’t like I had taken her to school just to get her off my back for a few hours. No no no, it was me being responsible.

[New Quest Available!

Title: "Knowledge is Power."

Objective: Read a few books from the library.

Description:
The land you now find yourself in holds many secrets, and the key to understanding them lies within the vast halls of the local library. Ancient tomes and scrolls may reveal the wisdom you need to navigate these new surroundings. Make your way to the library, explore its shelves, and uncover the knowledge that could change your fate.

Rewards: One Gachapon Roll, One Pound of Premium Coffee Beans, Basic Tutorial.]

NO! You don’t get to take credit for my initiative! That being said… I do want those premium coffee beans… And I’m already going to the library regardless, so why not?

With the ring of keys still jingling in my mouth, I make my way toward the library. They are lucky I’m not a criminal, but they don’t know that. For all they know, I could be planning a heist, and they’ve just handed me the golden ticket to rob them blind, but again, they were lucky.

Shaking my head, I reach the library and find it exactly as I last saw it—quiet, closed, and looking like it hasn’t been touched in ages. I fiddle with the keys for a moment before finding the right one and unlocking the door.

Huh, who would’ve thought that opening doors with your mouth wasn’t that hard.

As I step inside, the first thing that hits me is the dust. This place smells like it’s been abandoned for years. Cobwebs line the corners of the ceiling, and the bookshelves are covered in a fine layer of dust. It's like the place has been collecting dust as a hobby.

“Does no one in this town reads?” I mutter under my breath, shutting the door behind me.

I walk through the rows of bookshelves, scanning the spines of the books. Most of them are thick, leather-bound things with titles that don’t mean much to me—things like “Magical Theory 101,” “Equestrian Geography,” and “The Magic of Smiles.” That last one makes me gag a little.

After wandering around for a bit, I start pulling a few books off the shelves. I grab one on Equestrian history, another on customs and culture, and a few others on law and economics. If this world was to be my new… ugh, home, I might as well learn how it works. And hey, maybe one of these books will explain why everything here looks like it was designed by a kindergarten art class on a sugar rush.

I take the stack of books over to a small table near the window, brushing off a layer of dust before sitting down. The sunlight streams through the dirty window, giving the place a weird, gloomy vibe, which is fitting for how I feel right now.

“Alright,” I mutter, cracking open the book on culture. “Let’s see what kind of society I’m dealing with.”

The first few pages are pretty standard—stuff about pony tribes, how unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies all have different abilities, blah blah blah. I skim through most of it, flipping past sections about ancient pony traditions and festivals that sound suspiciously like excuses to throw confetti everywhere. But then I hit a section that makes me stop.

“Wait... what?”

I blink, rereading the paragraph. It talks about something called “herds,” which, apparently, is a common practice in Equestria. With more mares than stallions, it’s encouraged for stallions to... share themselves among multiple mares. As in, they’re supposed to have more than one partner. It’s not just accepted—it’s expected.

I stare at the page. “So... basically... polygamy the norm here.”

According to the book, stallions are encouraged to form herds with multiple mares because of the massive gender imbalance in Equestria. There are multiple reasons listed as to why this is, but the main one is because it helps maintain a healthy population.

I slowly close the book, my mind still buzzing. “Okay, well... that was uncomfortable.” I toss the book onto the table, not caring that it sends up a small cloud of dust. “That’s not something I needed to know right now.”

The last thing I want to think about is some kind of polygamy system, especially considering the already looming threat of the harem cliche… waiting to strike when I least expect it.

I rub my temple, sighing. “I suppose that if I think about it… this might be one of the easiest cliches to avoid, I mean, had it been a world with humans or at least, humanoid creatures… it would’ve actually been a challenge to avoid succumbing to my base desires, thankfully that isn’t the case here.”

Shoving the book aside, I grab the one on history, hoping it’ll be a little less... awkward. The cover is plain, just “Equestrian History” written in gold lettering. I flip it open, skimming the first few chapters. It talks about the founding of Equestria, some kind of big freeze caused by magical creatures called Windigos, and how the three pony tribes had to come together to survive.

Okay, that’s more like it. Normal history stuff. Well, as normal as it can be at least.

The further I read, the more I don’t understand. “Well… this has to be bullshit…” According to the book, the unicorns used to be in charge of raising the sun and the moon, instead of the planet doing what it's supposed to do, rotate around the sun… the book also states that the unicorns stopped doing that a few thousand years ago. It doesn’t really explain why, but it mentions that the task was taken over by some kind of magical princess.

I keep reading, flipping through sections about ancient wars, treaties, and a bunch of royal drama that sounds like something out of a soap opera.

“Alright, so a magic princess controls the sun and moon, and everyone seems cool with that,” I mutter. “Ignoring the fact that… well, it’s hard to believe, and I'm not sure there's enough science to back that up, how can anyone be okay with that?”

I mean, if it was true… It meant that said Princess could kill all living beings on earth by just moving the sun a few inches closer to the planet, or not moving it at all. And that’s just the sun, moving the moon around without care could drown everyone…

If someone with that kind of power… ever became evil or had a tantrum, life as they know it would cease to exist before they can even register what happened.

“Ok… I need to get my head out of that can of worms,” Sighing, I toss the history book aside and pick up the one on law. Might as well find out what the rules are around here, in case I accidentally break some ancient pony tradition and get banished or worse… betrothed to someone without knowing because I smiled at them the wrong way, or something.

The law book is just as dry as I expected. It’s mostly a lot of rules about property, contracts, and other legal jargon that makes my eyes glaze over. But there are a few things that stand out—like how there’s apparently a law that says you can’t turn down an invitation to a royal hearing if said hearing is hosted by someone named Celestia.

I flip through a few more pages, skimming over more nonsense about party permits and something about cake courts whatever that means.

Finally, I grab the last book in the stack—economics. Not the most exciting topic, but I figure it’s worth knowing how money works here, especially since I just got paid in a bag of shiny gold coins. I crack it open, flipping through the pages. Most of it is pretty standard stuff—trade, supply and demand, the value of bits, all that.

But then there’s a section that catches my eye. It talks about something called cutie mark consultancy, where ponies with special talents offer their services to others for a fee. Basically, if you’re good at something, you can charge people—er, ponies—to help them figure out their own talents. It’s like career counseling, but with more magical butt tattoos.

“Cutie mark consultancy,” I mutter to myself. “That’s one way to make a living, I guess.”

I shut the book, leaning back in my chair and staring up at the ceiling. So, to sum up: I’m in a world where the sun and moon, and by proxy all living creatures are controlled by a magical princess, there’s a weird gender imbalance that encourages polygamy, and you can make money by helping people figure out what picture should be on their butt. Fantastic.

I glance over at the stack of books on the table. “Well, that was... informative. Not sure if I’m better off knowing any of this, but at least I’ve got a better idea of how things work around here.”

[Quest Completed!

Title: "Knowledge is Power."

Objective: Read a few books from the library.

Description:
The land you now find yourself in holds many secrets, and the key to understanding them lies within the vast halls of the local library. Ancient tomes and scrolls may reveal the wisdom you need to navigate these new surroundings. Make your way to the library, explore its shelves, and uncover the knowledge that could change your fate.

Rewards: One Gachapon Roll, One Pound of Premium Coffee Beans, Basic Tutorial.]

Author's Note

He has two Gachapon rolls to use.