Gary awoke the next morning, mind already churning about the future. He had taken an early night, mostly due to the fact that he needed to be at one hundred percent, but partly because he wanted to leave before the others woke up. He rolled off his pile of hay and trotted out the door of the barn, grinning coyly to himself. As he reached the gate of the farm, he heard a bark come from his left.
"Darn it." Gary muttered, looking at the source of the bark, where he could see Big Mac sitting with his back against the tree.
"Have ya had somethin' t' eat yet?" Big Mac asked quietly, chewing on a strand of hay as he patted Winona on the head.
"I think I'll skip on breakfast today." Gary shook his head. "I have some research to do."
"Not anythin' bad ah hope." Applejack said.
"Oh ye of little faith." Gary tutted. "I realized last night I can't live in this world on my own old terms, so I have to make due with some new ones. Sarge said something surprisingly smart for a shisno, so I considered it and decided it was the best course of action."
"Then what research are ya doin'?"
"Oh, you know, the laws. Need to make sure I don't break any, even if shisno laws are stupid." Gary said, trotting out the gate, towards Ponyville, leaving no room for questions.
Ten minutes later, Gary walked through Ponyville, again avoiding each pony he came cross, and arrived at Town Hall, where he knocked politely on the door. Mayor Mare came to the door and slowly opened it.
"Good morning."
"Neighoming, good morning. You're here early." Mayor Mare said, stepping to the side.
"So are you." Gary smiled as he walked inside the office, where there was already a second desk set up. "That was fast."
"Time and efficiency are important for our jobs." Mayor Mare noted, walking Gary to his desk. "You have everything you need here."
"Fantastic." Gary said, forcing sincerity. "Does it have a book of all the laws in Ponyville?"
"Yes, first drawer left hoof side. In it you should also find an agenda, your name plate, a few quills and a few different colors of ink."
"Great." Gary said as he began filing through the drawer, looking for the book.
It only took him a couple seconds to find the book, which he took out of the desk and stared at with a dark grin.
"Oh, you might also need this." Mayor Mare said, dropping a small parchment of paper on his desk, making Gary nearly jump up.
"What is this?" Gary asked hesitantly.
Gary reached for the paper and snatched it up, before reading the top. The Ponyvillian pledge.
"In technical terms, you do not have the job yet." Mayor Mare said slowly. "First, you have to stand in front of the town and recite that pledge. You have a day to memorize it, and I have utmost confidence in you. After all, you have done this in Minneighsota, correct?"
"Of course." Gary said quietly, beginning to doubt his plans. "It has just been a long time since I stood in front of hundreds of shis- I mean ponies."
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Mayor Mare nodded, making her way to her desk. "If you need anything, I will be more than happy to help you."
"Thanks." Gary mumbled, no intent on asking a shisno for help unless he needed help with being lazy. Gary chuckled at this thought.
"Is something wrong?" Mayor Mare asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just remembered something, that's all."
"Remembered what?"
"Just an inside joke." Gary said as he grabbed the pledge, knowing his current plans would have to wait. "So do the citizens already know about me then?"
"Some do. Even though our population is large, word spreads quickly. I also wrote a note explaining it on the Ponyville bulletin board, as well as first page news in the Ponyville Express, so the entire town will be informed tomorrow morning."
"Will they all show up?" Gary asked, holding back a shudder.
"Not all of them. It is in no way mandatory, but we are a friendly bunch and love making ponies feel welcome, so most will probably show up."
Ugh, disgusting. Gary though to himself. At least they won't all be there.
"Speaking of ponies that like making others feel welcome, I should probably warn you about one of our residents." Mayor Mare coughed. "She, uh... really likes meeting new ponies."
"That's... nice..." Gary twitched.
"No need to be nervous." Mayor Mare said quickly, seeing how uncomfortable he was. "She is really nice, just a little on the eccentric side. And she has a nice friend. Maybe not all there, but he's nice. They shouldn't be so much trouble to you, seeing as you've been in this sort of situation before."
"Yes, I have." Gary forced out a laugh. "This is great news... I like meeting new ponies as well. What is their-"
Suddenly, confetti shot out from under Gary's desk, and something tackled him to the ground.
"What is happening?" Gary yelped in fear as his attacker tumbled along the ground with him.
"Weee!" An all too familiar voice exclaimed.
"Oh no..." Gary groaned as he angled his head to see Caboose gripping onto him for dear life.
"That was fun!" Caboose laughed as the tumbling came to a stop.
"Hardly." Gary muttered, scrambling to get off the ground and away from Caboose.
As he started backing away from the blue menace, he bumped into something and fell to the ground.
"Sorry about that! I should have really watched where you were going!" Pinkie chuckled with closed eyes, reaching down to the annoyed Gary.
Gary got off the ground without grabbing her hoof and turned away, when he heard a gasp. Gary turned around to see Pinkie staring at him with wide eyes.
"You're the Mayor's assistant?" Pinkie asked.
"You know each other?" Mayor Mare asked with surprise.
"Yeah, we met each other how long ago? A few weeks? Maybe two?"
"Two weeks? Neighoming came here just a few nights ago, correct?"
"Neighoming?" Pinkie asked with a wild giggle. "He isn't Neighoming, his name is Gary, and he-"
"In the name of all that is non shisno, shut you mouth!" Gary hissed quietly, stuffing his right fore hoof into Pinkie's mouth.
"Are we playing a game?" Caboose asked. "I love-"
Gary extended his left hind hoof into Caboose's mouth, makin it hard to balance with his last two hooves.
"What's going on?" Mayor Mare asked slowly.
"Are we playing twister?" Gary heard Caboose muffle into his hoof.
"Both of you, please be quiet while I explain to the Mayor what is happening." Gary muttered, forcing out his plead. "Think of it as a game."
Pinkie and Caboose shook their heads, thinking Gary was playing a game, so he placed his hooves back on the ground.
"What did she mean by Gary?" Mayor Mare asked. "I could understand if she had mistake you for somepony else, but you aren't exactly like every other pony."
"You are aware of how I am staying with the Apples?" Gary asked.
"Yes." Mayor Mare confirmed.
"Well, I visited them a few weeks ago to see if they had any room for me. Naturally I didn't want to be here with nowhere to stay. When I got there, this pink pony as well as a bunch of others were there. And as you know, I don't really like my name, so I told them to call me Gary. That's what I tell most new shis- ponies, but I wanted to be formal with you." Gary said, smiling at himself, turning to the pair. "Now if you two will excuse me, I have a pledge to memorize."
"I'll be there for that!" Caboose said with surprise.
"And then I can throw you a really big party, and I'll invite the whole town!" Pinkie added.
"Yes, yes, you do that." Gary said, wanting to shoo away the pests. "Please, I only have one day, so I want to make the best of it."
"Alrighy." Pinkie said, opening the window and placing the cannon net to it. "Anything else you need?"
"Hardly." Gary murmured.
"Okay then. Caboose, get in!" Pinkie said loudly.
"Okay!" Caboose said, jumping into the cannon.
"Can't wait for your speech tomorrow, Gary!" Pinkie said, climbing into the cannon, before slamming her hoof on the back of it, propelling them out the window.
"You handled that well." Mayor Mare noted.
"Thank you." Gary said as he grabbed the pledge and began reading it to himself, cringing at each line.