He shouldn't have been surprised when he arrived at the address on his list of fines, but he still sort of was. The largest amount of owed bits on his list... and the address was a random animal burrow on the same wide plot of land as Fluttershy's cottage. He supposed it was possible that one of her critter friends had checked out what looked like a dozen books and kept them for a week over the maximum, but Twilight had taught him about reducing possibilities in broad strokes. The more likely answer (not to mention the easiest one to eliminate) was to just ask Fluttershy herself first. Rather than head into the burrow, he cancelled all of the various skills and effects he had been messing with en route (to the rather profitable tune of a dozen skill-ups and a few stat points) and knocked.
They'd known each other long enough that he quickly fell into the established pattern for trying to get Fluttershy to answer the door: First one gentle knock, as soft as possible. Since the top half of her door was closed, he stood far enough back that she could see him by peeking out of a window if need be. When that didn't get a response he followed with three modest knocks, about as loud as he'd use at any other pony's house. The next step would usually be to check around back, but he could already hear the discordant patter of hooves coming down so he opted to stand and wait.
[Behind a Curtain]
Fluttershy
LV 25
Thanks to the way she opened the top half of the door, he actually saw her title before he saw the pony herself (which answered at least one question while raising a few more), until a moment later the whole door swung open. Fluttershy was looking significantly more mellow than usual, and her smile only wavered a little bit when she noticed his new height. She didn't comment on it out loud at all, instead stepping aside to let him make his way inside.
"Oh... Hello, Spike! I hadn't been expecting anypony today, so I was relaxing upstairs. Would you care to join me?"
He stepped inside with a grateful nod and moved well out of her way to stand near the couch.
"I'd really like to, but I do have a bit of a schedule crunch today. It's... kind of a long story."
"I understand: Some days are just like that. If that's the case, what brought you out all this way?"
A quick dip into his pouch (and Inventory, by extension) gave him the original list of fines, which he held towards Fluttershy with only the last entry visible. He was a bit surprised by her immediate reaction, which was to blush and nod rapidly before he could even say anything.
"Ohmigosh, I'll go get those right now! And I need to remind myself to apologize to Twilight, I completely forgot-"
She was still berating herself about it as she swiftly ran upstairs, leaving Spike holding the list up towards nopony... He dropped it back into the inventory and shook his head. Even on her better days, Fluttershy still got nervous when she made a mistake or was confronted with frightening things. Still, it had gotten less common with each passing month, and accelerated as she made new friends outside of their circle of Elements. That had been a development over the last year or two, and while Spike hadn't met many of them personally? Fluttershy spoke highly of them and he trusted her instincts for character just as highly as Applejack's or Pinkie Pie's... Maybe not as highly as Celestia's, but it's a bit hard to step to thousands of years of experience in any field.
Fluttershy came back down the stairs at a canter, a pair of saddlebags over her flanks. She opened one side to reveal a sizable stack of coins, and the other to show him the various books, before shrugging the whole assemblage off at his feet.
"Um, here you go... This should be enough to cover the late fees, right? I got so caught up with my other reading that I just completely forgot I had taken these out."
"No worries! It was a lot of books though, so I'll need a sec to make sure everything is in order..."
He 'counted' the coins first, only bothering with a manual double-check to confirm that Observe was correctly judging the quantity. After that was settled, Spike started flipping through the books in the other bag, trying to ignore the way Fluttershy's eyes darted from side to side as he did so.
"So... assumed name for these, huh?"
His pegasus friend pursed her lips and nodded jerkily at that, letting her hair cover a slight blush.
"Twilight lets me take out my more... personal books under a pseudonym, in return for letting her archive some of the writing I do. It's very nice of her, and keeps the checkout slips from being too terribly... revealing."
Spike vaguely remembered Twilight telling him something about that earlier this year... which was a good reminder that his Dragon's Mind didn't apply retroactively. Compared to even the most minute details of today, that fairly important conversation just a few months ago was a foggy mess. He'd have to be careful about reacquainting himself with things he learned before becoming The Gamer, just to make sure he wasn't taking things for granted and forgetting anything important.
"Gotcha. Well, I don't see anything weird here: Couple of courtroom dramas, a romance piece that Rarity also took out recently: Recommended it on spa day?"
"Oh, yes. It was... nice."
"Glad to hear it! A few Neighponese comics... I should try this one myself-"
"I'd really like that: I don't have anypony in town to talk about that sort of thing with."
"And we wrap it all up with what looks like three volumes on... non-unicorn magic manipulation. You know, we just got in a huge shipment of stuff like this today: Unpacked and shelved it myself with the Crusaders."
Her previous reactions had been couched in the demure and slightly-abashed tone Fluttershy used when she was trying not to get angry with herself over a mistake. That statement, however, got a totally different reaction: She practically leapt over the saddlebags and grabbed one of his claws between her hooves, her eyes filled with vividly bright enthusiasm.
"Really? Oh that sounds wonderful! Do you think I could come check them out later? I know it's already very late in the day, but I've been trying to find more resources on the subject and I guess Twilight got wind of it and-"
"Slow down, Fluttershy! Of course you can check them out... But maybe not tonight? I've got no problems opening late for friends, but... I did just find out a secret of yours. Want one of mine in return?"
She straightened up a bit at that, nodding with a surprisingly solemn expression. Spike grinned and held up his free claw, breathing a gout of green flame into it... and then solidifying it with Stagnet.
"I mentioned being on a schedule today: I might have gotten the dragon equivalent of a Cutie Mark this morning, so when Twilight gets home tonight we have a lot of science to do. It's based on games, to make a long story short... Once we know a little bit more, I'm hoping to tell you and the girls all about it."
The crystalline fire seemed to transfix his friend as she nodded, focused on the strange stone.
"That's fantastic news, Spike! Let me know if you need anything. I may not know anything good about dragons that aren't you, but if any biological concerns come up I'll do what I can to help."
"Means a lot coming from you: And before I forget, this all adds up. These are all the books, and the bits are more than enough to cover your fine."
> Serve overdue fines (see List F7)
Reward: Matching Money
> "Chores"
Reward: +2 All Stats
"Hold on to the rest yourself: I was going to say it was for the trouble of coming out all this way, but let's call it your cuteceañera gift!"
He tried to muster up some anger about that, but the most he could give was a chuckle.
"I'm not a filly, you know?"
"Well you're not a colt either, and we don't have celebration names for dragon milestones. Honestly it's just nice having an excuse to give a gift to a friend."
Spike pulled his claw away from her hooves, primarily so he could reach out and bring her into a hug. It was good knowing that all of his friends had his back and were willing to take these new changes of his in stride. Even somepony like Fluttershy, the poster-pony for ‘doesn’t do well with sudden change’, was taking it well. That, if nothing else, gave him a lot of hope for how things would turn out when Twilight got back. Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek before they pulled away and he stepped back towards the door.
"I didn't keep you too long, right? I know I took a while getting everything-"
"Nope! In fact, I think it was just long enough: We'll get together again soon and I'll show you all the new books on magic we got in, alright?"
That unfamiliar expression of excitement came back as she waved him out. He took a deep breath of the air outside and tamped down on his nerves. One of the messages for his quests had appeared already, but he was still waiting on...
> Visit Other Ponies (as needed)
Reward: Susurration
> "Free Time"
Reward: Behind the Curtain
[Susurration] (Passive) Lv 1 EXP: 0.00%
Communication, the proper clear and secure exchange of information, is a crucial aspect of any endeavor taken by a group. Subtlety can be just as important, especially in terms of maintaining that security. With this skill, you have a method of reaching out across the relationships that tie you to others in order to share information without any risk of corruption or interception.
You and your party members may communicate subvocally over a distance of 100 yards.
Communication may be 'relayed' through one member to reach a second out of range of the user.
As this skill develops, the ability will be applicable over a wider distance and to other targets.
[Behind the Curtain] (Subskill) Lv Max EXP: 0.00% MP: N/A
Historically, those who obtain this skill have an affinity for knowing things, especially knowing those around them. This takes it further, to understanding what drives and empowers them. Seeking the meaning behind words, as well as the meanings above them, is a habit worth cultivating.
Your Observe is now usable on the individual statuses and titles affecting yourself and others.
This ability will reveal a variable amount of the history, function, and nature of those effects.
The quality of information is based on Observe's level and the target's relative power.
If the quest rewards hadn't taken so long to pop up, Spike would have probably turned around and asked Fluttershy to form a party so he could test these skills out... As-is, the system almost seemed to have been waiting until that was no longer an option. Regardless, these looked like some of his best pickups yet: A hundred yards was a ludicrous distance to try and communicate over, especially if you weren't Bulk or somepony else with the lungs to scream like that... And the idea of finding out what all of the titles and status effects he had seen really meant felt like one half 'another invasion of privacy power' and one half 'the coolest thing he could think of'... And Spike was hedging towards the second half already.