The sun began creeping over the horizon, blanketing the small town of Ponyville in its warm glow. Matthew Nabal awoke to the sound of birds singing, something nearly unknown to him. The noise he was used to waking up to were the bustling sounds of a busy city. Struck with confusion, he began to remember what had happened during the last two days. Trans-dimensional travel, ponies, a particularly agonizing party. The bed he had awoken in was a tad small for him, and he could feel an ache beginning in his back.
He rose and stretched, trying to work out the kink in his back to no avail. There wasn't a clock in his room, but judging from the position of the sun, it was around seven o'clock in the morning. His gracious hosts probably weren't awake yet. Since he would be here for an undetermined amount of time, he'd guess a week or so, he thought best to read up on his current residence's culture. He went out into the main chamber of the library, gazing at the plethora of knowledge before him. Half of the books were knocked off their shelves, resting in piles in front of them. He grabbed a book from a nearby pile entitled 'The Encyclopedia of Easy Equestrian Ecology' and began to read.
Twilight Sparkle awoke before her scheduled time to the sound of floorboard creaks throughout her old wooden home. She assumed her new house guest was up and about. Spike was still asleep and she opted to let him stay that way while she went and got more acquainted with her new friend. She was the first pony to see a human, and wanted to learn as much about him as possible. She telekinetically made her bed and brushed her mane before proceeding to the main room of the library.
Her suspicions were confirmed when she spotted Matt flipping through the pages of a moderately sized book. He didn't turn to face her, so she thought he was immersed in his reading. She drew closer until she was peering over his shoulder, eager to see what he was reading about.
He couldn't help but be amused. His guess that ponies replaced humans in nearly every aspect was accurate, although their anatomy wasn't the exact same to equines from his home. He was absorbed in the influx of new knowledge that he didn't notice the purple pony standing right behind him.
"What chapt-"
Before she could finish her sentence Matt had jumped from surprise and dropped his book. He turned to her, eyes full of fear before realizing it was her and calming down. She couldn't help but giggle before apologizing profusely.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I thought you knew I was here."
He probably should've heard her moving or felt her breath on his shoulder, but he was far too enthralled to pay any mind to anything else. He quickly tried to play off his unnatural reaction.
"It's perfectly fine; I'm still not... situated yet. I'm still a bit jumpy..."
After giving it some thought, if his assumption of her intelligence was correct, she'd probably noticed his behavior around crowds and surprises and would probably ask about it.
"Is something wrong?"
He hated being right. There was no point in lying to her.
"Well, not that it's a major concern, but I suffer from-"
"Some type of phobia?"
His assessment of her intellect was correct again.
"Yes. Like I said, it's not a major concern."
"No wonder you were shaking at the party yesterday. You should've said something, we could've had a smaller one." she said, concern in her voice.
He was beginning to wonder how obvious his faults were.
"Well, I, uh... A-anyways, these books are quite fascinating. Is there any that you recommend I should read? To help settle in?"
Her expression changed immediately from concern to elation.
"You should definitely check out 'The Big Book of Equestrian History'. Oh, and 'The Scientific Study of Magic', that's one of my favorites."
He smiled as she went on. She was just as passionate about learning and information as he was. At least if he was stuck there for a few days he was stuck with someone he could tolerate.
The next few hours were spent mutually reading with occasional conversing. Twilight said she had some studying to catch up on and Matt continued to study Equestrian history and culture. Apparently their monarchs, the princesses Luna and Celestia, have lived for at least one thousand years. It is also unknown where they came from, one passage citing it as 'the place where the sky and earth met', with no mention of parents. For some reason, the older books weren't in pure English, involving another type of lettering in their composition.
They continued on for quite some time, until the serenity of reading was interrupted by a very frantic Spike.
"Twilight! I'm sorry for waking up so late, I'll get started on your breakfast right away!" he said, rushing down the stairs.
"Settle down, Spike. We already ate."
That they did, although Matt couldn't say he was satisfied. The only things ponies seemed to eat were fruits, sweets, and some vegetation. He should've expected the fact that there wouldn't be any meat, seeing as horses were herbivorous. He settled on eating a few apples, which themselves were far sweeter than normal ones.
"We?" he said, confused. He noticed Matt sitting near her, reading intently and seemingly not paying any mind to them. "Oh... him..."
During the few days he'd been there, Spike had seemed nervous and wary around him. Matt could feel the young dragon's eyes on him while he continued to read, ignoring his stare entirely. Provided Spike wouldn't make things difficult, there was no reason to interact with him.
Spike broke off his stare to resume talking to his friend.
"Well... is there anything I can get you?" he said.
"Could you find that book on diplomacy we got last week?"
Spike dashed off to fetch the book. He returned in a few seconds, book in hand.
"Oh, and that one on foreign policy?"
Again, he was gone in an instant and back just as quick.
"Thanks. What about that new book detailing early rule in Equestria?"
This time, Spike grabbed a ladder and rushed over near where Matt was sitting and began climbing. He secured the ladder rather poorly; as it would wobble with every step he took. By the time he found what he was looking for, he had to drop the book to maintain his balance. Matt noticed this, but wasn't fast enough to react. The book collided with his head and fell into his lap. Though upset initially, he glanced at the cover and smirked. It was called 'Equestrian Rulers - A Reference Guide'. He couldn't help but wonder what she'd need a book like that for, seeing as the country has had the same rulers for quite awhile. Spike climbed down and hesitantly took the book from Matt's grasp. After he had, Matt immediately turned his attention back to the open book resting on his lap.
Spike sat the third book down on a small table next to Twilight.
"Alright, what else?" he said.
"Hmm... That's all for now." she said, stacking the books in the order she'd read them.
Spike raised an eyebrow. Twilight usually had him doing a lot more than bringing her just a few books. She seemed to be focusing on fewer things these days.
Twilight had cracked open one of the books and was beginning to read, when she noticed Spike still standing in front of her. He apparently didn't have anything else to do. She had to come up with something to keep him occupied while she was studying. An idea came to her as she glanced over to the quiet figure reading across the room.
"Why don't you go see if Matt needs anything?"
Spike's eyes widened as he shot a look at Matt, then back to her. She gave him an encouraging nod. He gave a sigh and walked over to where the young man sat.
"Uh... h-hey."
Matt's rather enthralling reading session was interrupted by a quivering voice. He lowered the book in his hands to see Spike stood in front of him, with a nervous look in his eyes.
"C-can I get you anything?"
It was Matt's turn to wear a bewildered look. Why would Spike go out of his way to socialize with him? He was clearly frightened and uncomfortable with the situation. He pondered for a few seconds, wondering what could have possessed the young dragon to do such a thing, before realizing that he could use Spike as a reliable book-fetcher.
"Actually, yes. Can you find something on Mechanical Engineering?"
"Mechana-what...?"
"... Industrial technology?"
Spike merely shrugged.
"... Machines."
He seemingly understood that one, and scurried off to retrieve a suitable book. As expected, he returned in a few seconds, handing said book to Matt.
"Thank you."
"... Anything else?"
Matt was slightly annoyed by Spike's unexpected persistence, but decided to humor him.
"Can you get me something on local history? A reference guide, preferably."
He thought such a task would take him a bit longer, but he was gone and back, just as quick as the last time. He had to think of something to challenge him.
"Thanks... What about some type of compendium on pony biology? The bigger, the better."
He thought that would do it, but Spike was gone in an instant, wobbling back with an unnecessarily large, golden-bound book. He sat it down on the small table near them, causing what felt like a small tremor.
"Ah... Well done. You're really quite astute for someone your age."
"Oh, uh... thanks."
Spike seemed calmer now, looking far less terrified than before. Although Matt wasn't necessarily found of the child, he didn't particularly dislike him. He seemed to really enjoy his work as an assistant, which only made Matt wonder how he ended up being an assistant to a librarian in the first place. From his limited knowledge on Dragons, they typically didn't live in Equestria long-term. Spike must've been quite the rarity.
Twilight could hear Spike and Matt having a conversation across the room. She was glad that they were getting along. As she continued studying the governmental structure of early Equestria, a rather large red flag went up in her mind. She hadn't informed princess Celestia of her extra dimensional guest yet. Naturally, she was overcome with panic.
She sprang up from her seat and began pacing back and forth rather irregularly.
Matt and Spike stopped talking and looked over to her, confusion on their faces.
"I haven't told the princess that you're here yet! She'd probably want to see you right away. This is a major scientific discovery..."
She continued running back and forth in the library's main chamber, frantically muttering about things she'd need to do in order to explain the situation properly.
"I'll need to send a letter right away... Oh, and a copy of the spell and the method I used..."
A thought entered her mind. As the first pony to see a human, it would be only fitting that she sent a research paper along with her report to the princess. But, how exactly would she go about asking him to be the subject for a scientific study? She'd have to approach this carefully.
Matt watched Twilight pace back and forth, muttering incomprehensible things to herself. It was amusing to see someone so orderly and organized in such a panicked state. She stopped abruptly however, and turned to him, smiling sheepishly.
"Uh, hehe... Do you think you can help with a little project?"