//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Personal Assistant // Story: Guide Dogs // by Yosh-E-O //------------------------------// Spike got himself quite acquainted with canine Crossroads as the purple dragon was directed all over the place before finally finding himself in front of Town Hall. CLI-SHOO! “Oh!” cried Isabelle as she turned towards the door. “Do you have an appointment?” The emerald-eyed little dragon huffed-and-puffed. “What… have… you…,” he struggled to say while catching his breath. “Hey, Spike!” called Yosh. “I’m so happy you’re here!” The dragon-duck went to dash around the desk without recalling he had yet to make a mental map of what the place looked like. This is a huge mistake for a totally blind quacker as he’d very likely soon find himself falling flat on his bill in his hurry to greet his pal. DING-A-LING-LI-LING CLASP Yosh found himself seamlessly making his way towards Spike by an unseen force. It felt familiar but he had to pause for a moment when he realized the folly of dashing through such an unfamiliar place as he just did. “I see you do have an appointment!” cheered Isabelle as she relaxed her hooked hold at the elebow with Yosh. “Shall I make you both some tea? Perhaps coffee?” “Tea is good,” quacked Yosh as he forgot how he had made it safely over to meet his pal. “Tea… for… me,” puffed Spike. “You both wait here and I’ll take care of setting us all up for some tea!” clapped Isabelle as she trotted off to another room in the Town Hall. “We then have new ordinances to go through, Mr. Mayor.” “Mr. Mayor?” baffled Spike. “Yeah…,” trailed Yosh with a shrug as he fidgeted his fingers. “Isabelle says the entire town thinks I’m their new mayor and she has been sharing all the crazy ordinance-a-whatcha-ma-bobs that sound like a total Twilight Sparkle nightmare.” Spike chuckled. “So, they’re very unorganized?” he inquired. “To say the least,” Yosh remarked. “By the way did you notice how I got from the desk to you without tripping over a single thing?” Spike blinked as he recalled having seen Isabelle making simple motions with Yosh that kept his pace without him bumping into any of the decour scattered throughout the room. “Uh…,” he replied while thinking of how best to put it. “You didn’t notice the yellow dog in the vest and skirt by your side the whole time you walked here?” “Huh?” quacked Yosh. “Tea’s ready!” singsonged Isabelle as she entered intothe room with a tea set. “Allow me to clear the table and then we’ll get you all set up, Mr. Mayor.” “Isabelle?” asked Yosh nervously. “Yes, mayor?” she replied in anticipation of his forthcoming question. “Did you ‘guide’ me through the room just a moment ago?” he asked. “Hmm,” she smiled as she allowed the bells tied in her hair to jingle. “I only did my job of assisting you, Mr. Mayor.” “And that is?” inquired Spike. “Why,” chuckled the Shih Tzu. “I’m the Administrative Assistant to the town mayor of canine Crossroads.” “And the delegate who sent for us to come here in the first place,” added Twilight Sparkle upon making her way into Town Hall. “I got to learn all about it as Tom Nook sold me this very wonderful patch of property that is built into a tree in the town. He said it’d only be 500,000 bells and, well, I couldn’t resist!” “Bells?” wondered both Spike and Yosh. “Bells are our currency herein canine Crossroads,” stated Isabelle. “Tom Nook is our local realtor and is quite good at selling what properties we have available.” “Twilight?” asked Spike. “By any chance do you know the bit to bell conversion rate?” “What’s that?” the very excited and super tired Princess of Friendship replied. CLI-SHOO! “Ms. Isabelle,” called a tall raccoon with a very big smile across his face. “Could you notarize this for me, please?” “Of course, Tom!” she cheered. “You should be very happy, Mr. Mayor! Tom here is our biggest tax paying citizen and when he sells property it not only brings inincome for the town but also gives us hope that our ways are not lost as our detractors believed them to be.” “Huh?” baffled Yosh as his young mind tried to understand what was being said. “Well, well!” greeted the charismatic raccoon. “I see you are already making a huge difference in our town since becoming mayor. I have a good feelingabout you, kiddo.” “Thanks…,” replied Yosh as Spike helped him to shake Tom’s hand. “Those are quite the peepers you have,” Mr. Nook stated. “can’t say I’ve seen eyes like that around. Perhaps it’s a sign of good fortune?” Spike wrapped an arm aroundhis friend. “Remember,” he calmed. “Most don’t know what it’s like to be totally blind. Yet alone as functionally blind as you are, Yosh.” The dragon-duck swallowed the unpleasant feelinghe that he got from Tom and replaced it with a smile. “Thanks, Mr. Nook,” he cheerfully replied. “We’re here to help.” “Well,” he remarked while patting Twilight on the head. “Keep bringing us new property owners like this fine lady and we’ll be better off than we were in our glory days!” “I’m still curious of the bell to bit ratio,” groaned Spike. “500,000 sounds like a lot.” “You know what?” redirected Tom. “Why don’t I take you to our local history museum? Your pony friend with the horn and wings did say she likes museums?” “Ooh!” awed Twilight. “I really would like to see more of the town!” “Come along, squirt!” cried Tom with a wave of his hand. “Or do you still have business with our mayor?” Spike shrugged and leaned into Yosh. “This is why I keep telling Twi she shouldn’t stay up all night,”he whispered. “She tends to not make the, uh, best decisions after an overnight study marathon.” “Coming, Spike?” called twilight. “Then Ican show you the tree houseI just got fromTom that is exactly like our old home in Ponyville!” Spike patted his friend on the back. “You’ve got things here, Yosh,” he assured. “I’ll be back once I know Twilight isn’t going to be potentially swindled further by this raccoon guy.” CLI-SHOO! “Oh,” pouted Isabelle as she came back with the notarized deed to the property twilight had just purchased. “I suppose Tom and your friends had other business in town?” Yosh sighed as he kept finding himself directed towards Isabelle’s location by the bells in her hair. “Seems that way,” he replied. “Well,” she gleed. “How about we not let this tea go to waste as we work on those town ordinances, Mr. Mayor!” “Sounds good,” chirped Yosh as he, yet again, thoughtlessly went back towards where he knew the desk was without the aid of either his guiding staff nor having a mental map of the room. JINGLE CLASP And yet he found himself sat perfectly in his chair holding a cup of tea as Isabelle took a seat and started to talk with him about all that the townsfolk had in mind to improve their fine city.”