The trip back down to the ground was both enlightening and a bit fun: Rather than have Dash drop him off, Spike just waved back to her and casually stepped out of the door and off of the porch. He didn't catch her reaction, instead focusing on pouring mana into his Vitality as he plummeted. The world ripped past him at an ever-increasing speed. It was a feeling he had experienced many times before, but had never gotten a chance to enjoy any of the previous times. And he was definitely enjoying it: If flying was even half as exhilarating as freefall, he knew why Dash was the pony she was. But unlike Dash, he was aiming for the dirt right now, with no assistance or protection except for confidence in his power.
As he expected, the impact was rough, cratering the earth and leaving him staggered by the sheer vibrations through his body... But he didn't even take enough damage for it to have been fatal to him unbuffed! Unless Vitality was a factor in resistances somehow, and not just raw health? Either way, 'any fall you can walk away from' and all that: He was alone again and he had places to be, and not a ton of time to be at them. Spike stood, dusted himself off, and started his way back towards the main square of Ponyville.
Evening was settling over Ponyville in quiet waves, and Spike realized he was surprisingly not as hungry as he'd originally planned. It had been at least a few hours since his lunch with Rarity, but he did have that snack with the Crusaders... and it had been well over eight hours since he had left Pinkie and her enormous tamale at Sugar Cube Corner. Finishing out the rest of his route would involve swinging back to there and picking up dinner, heading to the Library to finish out all of those chores, and then dropping by Fluttershy's place and collecting the last late fee from the address near her house. Unless there were any surprises, that would finish his quests with time to spare.
When he arrived outside of the town's biggest bakery there were a good dozen tables set up outside, taking up the entire stretch from the side of the entrance to the tree across the road. Ponies were gathering with curiosity (and their bit bags) as Pinkie Pie dashed from point to point, laying out plates and utensils in a perfectly-timed cadence. She was humming as she worked (although to be honest, how often was she not?) and Spike began to pick up the tune along with her. It was fast, catchy, and faintly familiar... A familiarity that clicked right around the time his Cantus kicked in, and the Accompaniment buff with it. Pinkie dropped a beat as she suddenly felt the changes roll over her, but Pinkie being Pinkie, she then rolled with it and resumed as she was.
Current song: "Birthday Telegram" (+VIT, +Stamina Regeneration)
It had been towards the end of his training spree with the Crusaders that Cantus had finally levelled up to the point where it worked on ponies other than him. The description promised that eventually it would impact "all allies within hearing range", but right now? It only worked on him and ponies who were actively Accompanying him in the Heartsong. Speaking of those ponies, Pinkie smiled at him from across the table and he waved back, not wanting to interrupt her work. Instead he kicked back and hummed along, using the opportunity to grind out levels on a few of his less-obvious skills.
He was nearly done casting Observe on every pony, plate, utensil and table in the clearing before Pinkie gestured for him to follow her, ponking her way towards the door of Sugar Cube Corner as she did. It made for a fairly lopsided gait, but that just got him laughing as he followed. The door clicked closed behind him and he started picking up his voice, singing more openly since Pinkie herself was still humming along. Her ears perked up and twitch-a-twitched when she heard the lyrics, but instead of freaking out like Rarity she joined in, turning their accompaniment into a proper duet. By the time they hit a good stopping point in the song, they had met back up in the kitchen and Pinkie had fetched down the same apron from his visit in the morning.
"That was a pretty neat trick! And gosh you're tall now. Pinkie very likey!"
"Heh, thanks... Wow, that was after we met, wasn't it? Today has been... a thing."
Pinkie gave him a large wink and cracked the store's back door, gesturing out towards her personal cooking space.
"Well, you've got time to tell me all the things about the things while we finish getting all the sides ready! Although they're not really sides, more like corners? I'd say garnish but you're supposed to eat them not stare at them. Oh and speakin' of starin', did your bluewords change? They're longer!"
Spike had a moment of confusion before nodding, popping up his menus to double-check.
"Yeah, I got a title earlier, and it even has some bonuses... Which makes me wonder about the titles I see on everypony else. But it looks like I can change it back if I want: Can you see this?"
He flicked the option back and forth a few times mentally, making no outward sign of action... But Pinkie's eyes pinged and ponged back and forth as The Gamer and Number One Assistant took turns riding it out overhead.
"Uh-huh! Still can't read it at all, but I totally see it turning all longular and back... Waaait."
"...Yeah? Do you want to go check on the tamale first, or something?"
"No not wait as in stop walking, you can go ahead, I mean wait as in waaaaaaaait! You said you see titles on everypony: Does that mean me?"
He made a wavering gesture in mid-air with one claw, voicing as much hesitance as possible.
"...Sort of? 'Everypony' is actually a stretch, but almost any pony with a double-digit level, and a few without. And then there's you."
"Yup, now here's me! Also now here's some pickled onions, pickled peppers, and a peck of... No, wait, these are soon-to-be carrot medallions. Either way, help me carry all this while we talk!"
Spike looked over all the various jars and containers, shrugging as he picked two of them up. If she wanted to drop the subject, he was fine with it: He still didn't have much, if any, idea of why her title and level were so strange. That is to say, any idea apart from 'It's Pinkie'.
"We're taking out the sid... corners, first?"
Pinkie nodded, the front-most curl of her mane grabbing a small basket of carrots.
"Nah, but I wanna make sure they're super ready before we're done talking. Now hit me with those sweet sweet updates!"
He went over... the rest of the day, slowly working his way backwards. Sure, logically he could have started from the moment he left that morning and moved forward to the present, but that involved two problems. First off Pinkie was never one for 'logically' as an excuse, and secondly, it let him save the biggest doozy for when he got to the way his sudden growth spurt had happened.
"Oooh, I knew that falling object was you!"
"Twitchy tail?"
"Yuppers! 9.3 on the Twitch-a-Twitch Tail Scale: Twitchy Scail for short."
"...9 and a bit seems pretty excessive for what I did."
"The number isn't a fractional whatsit, it's a classifier: 9.x falling objects are 'cool or awesome'."
"Oh. Thanks, in that case! I guess you started that category because of Rainbow Dash?"
"Hee, got it in one!"