Some time had passed since Maglor had arrived in Ponyville. A week, in fact. During this week, he had met many ponies, first and foremost of which were the five friends of Sweetie’s sister Rarity, the so-called Elements of Harmony. Maglor had whispered a quiet prayer to Eru that these Elements had been moved to a place called Canterlot; seeing jewellery like that would only bring back bad memories.
But the Bearers themselves were nice enough, even if Pinkie had insisted on a party for him (which was far different from any party he’d ever attended, and he still wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or not) and Twilight had asked far too many questions (about half of which Maglor couldn’t answer himself).
Of course, those were not the only ponies Maglor had met. Sweetie had two friends as well, Appebloom and Scootaloo. The trio rather reminded Maglor of Amrod and Amras, and the acts of mischief and chaos they got up to in Valinor, and even in Beleriand when the Ñoldor were still numerous and mighty.
Maglor was quietly impressed by the chaos the Cutie Mark Crusaders managed to cause on a daily basis. It almost matched that of his youngest brothers, though their tricks had (mostly) been planned beforehand, while the Crusaders’ chaos appeared to be accidental.
There were many other ponies that Maglor had met as well, but many of them only in passing, such as the brother and grandmother of Applebloom and Applejack. Or the Mayor of Ponyville, who’d taken care of some paperwork for him. Now he was actually a citizen of Ponyville and Equestria, instead of just a wanderer.
Maglor, if he was completely honest with himself, wasn’t sure if this was what he wanted. He was still sleeping in Rarity’s house, which was emptier now that her parents had headed to their home in a city called Manehattan. But, if he was going to stay in Ponyville for a longer time, he’d need his own home.
And there was, frankly, no way he could afford one.
He had no coin, and no instrument to play. He could try singing, of course, but it would take a long time before he would scrape enough gold - or Bits, as the currency here was apparently called - to buy a house for himself. And there was no way he was accepting more generosity from Rarity or her friends. They’d already given him much more than he deserved, but Maglor was polite enough to not refuse their offers.
One of those offers had been by Rarity; to repair his clothes. Maglor had protested, after all they’d served him well enough for thousands of years, but he hadn’t been able to convince Rarity that she shouldn’t bother herself, and now he had new clothes that were far more comfortable than he was used to. It was a very odd feeling, but Maglor wasn’t going to complain.
The sun shone down on him as he made his way through Ponyville, no particular destination in mind. He hadn’t yet had much of an opportunity to fully explore the town, and that was something he aimed to rectify.
The town was… well, rural. Certainly when compared to the great cities of stone that he had lived in in the past. But Maglor found he didn’t mind it that much; yes, he would have preferred being in a Ñoldorin city with all the things that encompassed, but residing in Ponyville was certainly better than wandering the coast for the rest of eternity.
Ponies still stared at him, obviously intimidated by his size and appearance. But more than a few also offered him smiles, and some even waved. Maglor made sure to smile as well, and waved back at the ponies who’d waved at him.
His feet, eventually, brought him to Twilight’s home, the Golden Oaks Library. A library inside a tree wasn’t entirely a novel concept to Maglor, but it wasn’t something the Ñoldor usually did.
He knocked on the door, and Spike opened the door. ‘’Good morning, Maglor!’’
‘’Good morning to you as well, Spike,’’ Maglor returned the greeting. The idea of a friendly baby dragon had been a little difficult to wrap his head around, but the thing couldn’t even breathe fire for more than a few seconds, and barely came up to Maglor’s knee. It was hard to be afraid of that.
‘’May I come in?’’ he asked.
‘’Sure!’’ Spike pulled open the door further, then stepped aside to allow him in. Maglor had gotten used to bowing before entering through a door by now, but fortunately the ponies built their homes high enough that he could stand without being bent over constantly.
For a farming town, there was an impressive collection of books inside the library. Maglor couldn’t actually read any of them yet, as they were written in an alphabet that was distinct from any he’d ever seen.
‘’Twilight’s visiting Fluttershy,’’ Spike said before Maglor could ask where the unicorn was. ‘’But I can check out a book for you, if you want.’’
‘’That is not the reason I am here,’’ Maglor admitted. ‘’Obtaining a book from this library is rather premature if I can’t read its contents, no?’’
Spike frowned. ‘’You can’t read?’’
‘’I can,’’ Maglor said, ‘’but not these letters.’’ He gestured around at the room. ‘’They are very different from my own.’’
Spike nodded. ‘’Well, I think there’s a book for learning letters around here somewhere. Or there should be. If not I can always order it.’’
‘’That is kind of you.’’
Spike flicked a claw dismissively. ‘’Twi would have my scales if she found out I didn’t help you with something like this. She’s a little obsessive over her books.’’
Maglor chuckled. ‘’Rarity said something about that, yes.’’
‘’She was probably underselling it,’’ Spike declared, ‘’but you’ve got an idea, at least. I’ll go and look for that book for you, and then we’ll work on it together, alright?’’
‘’That’s kind of you, but I’m sure you have better things to do,’’ Maglor said.
‘’I really don’t,’’ Spike countered. ‘’I was just going to read some of my comics again. This will be something new, at least.’’
Well, Maglor couldn’t really refuse his help. And it would probably make things easier for him. But still…
‘’Very well then,’’ he agreed. ‘’If you’ve a quill and parchment, I will write down the letters of Tengwar so we can compare.’’
‘’Over in that cabinet.’’ Spike pointed at a wooden cabinet in the corner. ‘’Be right back.’’
Maglor quickly collected the quill and an inkpot, as well as some parchment, then sat down at the table and began to write out the Tengwar letters. His fingers were unused to writing after so many centuries of not using a quill, but after a few failed attempts he managed to get his muscle memory working again, and it went quite quickly after that.
He was just finished with the last letter when Spike reappeared, holding a small book in his claws. ‘’Here we go,’’ he said as he dumped the book on the table, then pulled out a chair next to Maglor and sat down on it.
‘’Wow. Those look way different from ours,’’ he remarked as he looked at the Tengwar.
‘’Indeed,’’ Maglor dryly agreed. ‘’Let’s compare them, shall we?’’
‘’Sure.’’
And so, an unlikely friendship was born.