Princess Celestia departed for Canterlot before we got into town, so things look less out of the ordinary with our little party. By and large it seemed to work, I got the odd glance from passerby, but nothing that indicated they thought anything was up. We finally returned to the library after seeing the others to their respective homes. I looked around at the rows upon rows of books, all along the walls, seemingly without end, even thought it was in such a relatively small space. I looked at Twilight,
"Do you mind if I switch back?" She shook her head,
"Go right ahead. I just need to go tell Spike that we're having guests." I nodded and began to shift back to my human form, noticing Twilight stopped near the top of the stairs, looking at me with an almost morbid curiosity. She hurried up the last few steps when I caught her staring, trying to hide a slight embarrassed blush. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up, if only for the fact that for the first time in nearly a month, I was in civilization and no one was trying to kill me yet. The illusion of the library's vastness seemed to fade a fair bit once I changed back, guess it was meant more for a 4-foot frame than a 6-foot one. That rule applied to everything else in the library, as well. Everything looked way too small, which it admittedly is for a guy my size, even for a guy a foot shorter than I am. I sat down in one of the couches, shifting my weight so I wouldn't immediately fall through. Twilight came back downstairs a couple of minutes later, a half-asleep baby dragon behind her,
"So, whassa thig you're talkin about, Twilight?" He got his answer when he saw me on the couch. It's amazing how white a bright green and purple dragon can turn. He got back to sleep in a hurry, at least. Twilight caught him before he fell, "Oh dear. Spike, are you okay?"
I took a quick sniff of the air, "He should be fine."
She looked at me, "How can you know? He could be having an aneurysm, or a heart attack, or..."
I put up a hand to stop her, "Twilight, one, I'm a doctor, two, his blood flow is still normal. His brain activity and heart rate pinned for a moment, but it's within acceptable boundaries for sleeping children."
While I was technically lying, it was only technically. I'm not a pediatrician, but I roomed with one for two years, and I really could sense Spike's heart rate, and it was fine. It was mostly just to reassure Twilight, anyway. She carried him back upstairs, coming down after she'd calmed down herself. I looked at her, "So, did you schedule the meet and greet with the Mayor?"
She nodded, "It'll be happening in one hour, twelve minutes and eight seconds."
I chuckled slightly at her characteristic obsession with schedules. She looked at me with a bit of indignation, "What?"
I smiled kindly at her, "Nothing, I'm just in overall high spirits."
She sat in a chair across from me, studying me, "Why's that?"
I hesitated. As far as I knew, violence was a borderline unheard-of circumstance in Equestria. On Earth, it was a fact of life, it happened every day, the varieties I inflicted among some of the worst kinds. Does she really deserve to know how bad things were where I came from? Well, she'll probably keep asking until I cave, knowing her. So I gave her a summarized version of my last three weeks on Earth, telling her as much as I think I should say. Even still, by the end she looked like I just curb-stomped a puppy, then lit it on fire, "I-it's really that bad on Earth?"
She asked, looking a touch green around the gills. I nodded grimly, "That's why I'm so happy to be here, to finally escape the madness, the violence, the pestilence, the death..."
I shook my head, clearing away the memories, "And in my first few hours here, I'm already taken in by a sweet young mare without a second thought on her part."
I gave her the first genuinely warm smile I'd given in quite some time, which made her try to hide a fierce blush. I took a quick glance at the clock, "You said the meeting was at 5:30, right?"
She nodded, the blush fading. I got up, "Then I guess we'd better get moving, it's a quarter past now."
She quickly looked back at the clock, "Oh no, we're going to be late!" She jumped up and started grabbing things for my presentation. I got up and put a hand on her shoulder, "Twilight, calm down, we won't be late. Take the essentials, go to town square, and I'll meet you there."
She jumped slightly when I touched her. I turned her to face me, "Okay?"
We locked eyes for a moment, staying there before she nodded, "Okay."
I flashed her another smile and turned to go upstairs. I took another whiff of the air, "You blushing, Twilight?"
I remarked. I could feel her turn even redder, and shrugged, dismissing it as nothing. I cracked open her bedroom window, slipping out into the night.
I sat up on a rooftop, watching the beginning of the presentation. I guess when the Mayor calls for a sudden town meeting, it's taken pretty seriously, as it looked like every able-bodied pony in town was present. Mayor Mare had just stepped down from the podium and Twilight was beginning introductions,
"...And so, I'd like to introduce-" I bolted to the stage, snatching the microphone,
"Ryan O'Connor." I could hear everyone in the crowd quickly draw in breath all at once. There was a brief moment of silence, everyone was staring at me, some with fear, some curiosity, a few just outright confusion. After a moment, I saw a little filly raise her hoof, "Yes?" She trotted to the front of the crowd,
"Are you a monster?"
I shook my head, "No, I'm not a monster."
A colt trotted up next to her, he looked to be her brother, "Are you gonna eat us?"
Again, I shook my head, "No, I don't eat ponies."
More silence. I looked around the crowd, their expressions starting to relax. There's no way it's going to be this easy, impossible...right? It was at that moment I realized my wings were still out, and reabsorbed them without thinking. The instant they were gone, roughly a dozen ponies screamed and bolted, causing a big 'ol domino effect, sending just about everyone in every direction away from me. I put my head in my hand once everything quieted down, silently raking myself over the coals for that misstep, "So close..."
Twilight came over and gave me a pat on the back, "Don't worry, they'll come around eventually. Ponyville has had more than its share of strange things happen in it, housing a whole new sentient species is hardly the most outlandish."
I nodded, "I think I'm going to go for a walk. I'll see you back at the Library, Twi." Before she could respond, I dropped down from the stage and wandered off into the streets of Ponyville.
When I got back to the Library, it was well past 9. The walk didn't do much to help my social standing after that monumental faux pas at the meeting. The best I got was a filly looking at me, fascinated, before getting yanked away from the window by her parents and the shutters snapped shut. The whole thing reminded me far too much of home. Hell, at least back on Earth, people had to see you on the news to know you were a freak, there was no illusions about that here. I was a stranger in a strange land, and it was more than evident to the residents that I didn't belong. Twilight was reading a book by the fireplace, her eyes glued to the pages, oblivious to my entry. I squeezed myself into the chair across from her and just sat there, watching her read, the firelight dancing in her eyes as she tore through the book, turning the page almost every other minute. She jumped when she finally noticed me, nearly dropping the book,
"Oh! Hey, Ryan, how long have you been sitting there?" I felt the corners of my mouth turn up,
"A few minutes."
She quickly put a bookmark in and snapped the book shut, putting it by her side, "How was your walk?"
I shrugged, "Didn't do much for me, in all honesty."
She looked at me, concerned, "Are you okay?"
I pushed away the bad memories from home, "Yeah, I'm fine, just annoyed at myself for managing to screw up my first meeting with my new neighbors so badly."
She got up and trotted over to me, "Feel like a fish out of water, you don't belong here?"
I nodded. She put a hoof on my arm, "I know the feeling, Ryan. I came from Canterlot when I was the personal student of Princess Celestia, out to some random rural town out in the middle of nowhere. You're not going to fit in, at first, but the ponies of Ponyville are nice, they'll accept you soon enough."
I looked at her, smiling softly, "Thanks, Twilight, that...that really helps."
And it did. It's amazing what a few kind words, even from a relative stranger, can do to make you feel better about yourself. She smiled back and returned to her chair, "So, I learned plenty about what happened to you, but I never got much about who you are."
The smile broadened, if only from the sheer relief of just having a normal conversation with someone, "Well, what would you like to know?"
Her eyes lit up, "Oh, anything and everything."
I let out a little chuckle and relaxed into the tiny chair, "Well, I was born in Woodlawn, it's a neighborhood in one of the big cities back home, New York City. My mother was a high school art teacher, my father was a construction worker..."
We spent the next three hours learning about each other. As it turns out, aside from one very specific fact for each of us, mine being a shape-shifter, Twilight's being the Element of Magic, we both lived rather boring lives. This realization got a ripple of laughter from both of us. I glanced at the clock,
"Getting pretty late, I think I'll catch myself some shuteye." Twilight looked at the clock,
"I'm gonna stay up a little while longer, I still have another couple of chapters to finish."
I forced myself out of the chair, "Alright, guess I'll see you in the morning."
She smiled sweetly, "See you in the morning." I returned the smile, heading to the guest bedroom,
"G'night."
The bed was far from built for my size, but I made it work. It felt like maybe an hour and a half later that I felt someone pulling the covers back over me and a kiss on my cheek, "Sweet dreams." I couldn't quite identify the voice in my haze of semi-consciousness, but I remember the scent, halfway between lavender and a well-preserved book, it was a nice smell. I dreamed of purple sheep that night.