Octavia narrowed her eyes, analyzing her prey. A little shorter than most ponies, certainly no musical talent, and definitely not from Ponyville. Kind of cute, though.
Thorax opened his eyes, finding himself oddly self-aware for no reason. He had been wandering aimlessly since the train station when a suppressed thought managed to thrash its way to the forefront of his mind: find Twilight Sparkle!
Spiracle had said she lived in the library here, which told him nothing. Spiracle had further tried to explain that a library was basically the same as Information Requisition Services back home, which further told him nothing, as he had never visited there before. Spiracle had then desperately tried to explain what a book was, and Thorax had rebuffed her. He had no need of such knowledge, he had said, as he already knew what a book was. At that point Spiracle had grimaced and said, "Deep breaths." A strange compliment, but there it was.
He would simply locate the town directory and locate the library through that. Of course, he would have to phrase it such that he already knew the entirety of the town: Back at the hive, every changeling had memorized the directory. If he came right out and asked about it, the ponies would doubtless be suspicious.
"Hello there," a grey pony said from over a fence. He ignored her.
Octavia's spirits fell. The pony seemed to have a hearing problem, as he gave no notice to her whatsoever as she tried to greet him. Musicians hate two things: hearing impairments, and composers who use fractions in their time signatures. Lost in her own thoughts, Octavia had failed to notice the pony had started to wander off. She trotted to catch up to him.
"Erm, I said, hello there!" she said, this time a little louder.
"Oh, uh. Hi? You are a pony?"
Thorax wanted to slap himself.
"Yeah, sure am. What are you?"
"A pony!," Thorax said, perhaps a bit too loudly. Several of the other cafe patrons turned to look at the display, but returned to their drinks a moment later with mutters of 'out-of-towner' passing between them.
"My name is Octavia. Octavia Melody, actually. How do you do?"
"I do just fine."
Though she could not see it to confirm, Octavia now believed her facial muscles were twitching.
A bet is a bet.
"Well, you seem to be - new - in town. Is that correct?"
"I'm not new! Wait, yes I am! I'm new!" Thorax said coolly. It was a good thing these ponies were so dumb, or they'd have figured him out in an instant.
"Oh how wonderful! Ponyville is a splendid town to make new friends in, if I say so myself. I'm a recent addition too, you know, and I can assure you I felt just the same on my first day as you do now," Octavia said, lying.
"That's great. Do you know where the library is?"
"The library? Well yes, but what do you want there?"
"I need to find Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh yes, the girl who does all that magic stuff. I believe she does live there," Octavia said between clenched teeth. Unforeseen complications were appearing all over, including romantic competitors. She had to make Sparkle seem less attractive than herself, even if it meant excessive lying, because losing this rare catch to a bookworm would be worse than a thousand of Vinyl's taunts. "What do you need with her?"
"I need to spy on her."
That comment sent Octavia's head into a tumble.
"Wait! I mean, uh, I need to - uh, try! Try on her..."
"Try on her - ?"
"Clothes!"
A cross-dressing maniac foreigner with a hearing impairment who could barely speak properly. When she had been challenged by Vinyl, this was certainly not what she had been expecting.
"Well, let me give you a brief tour of our lovely town. I'll show you the library on the way, hmm? It's not too far from my own house," Octavia offered, passing a glance back at Vinyl. Vinyl waved and made a motion with her hooves, which, in Vinyl Language, meant "you're not skipping out on the bill!". Fortunately, Octavia did not speak that particular language, and interpreted it as "good luck". She trotted off towards the town hall, turned around, and returned. Now, she trotted off towards town hall, dragging her prey behind her. If this was what it took, so be it.
"This is the town hall, the center of Ponyville and the place where any good tour ought to begin!" Octavia was probably the last pony who ought to be giving a tour of the town, as she was both fairly new herself and absolutely not a good presenter. She preferred to let her music speak for her, but that wasn't going to work on this one.
Thorax, however, was fascinated by the tour. The town hall was magnificent, with a spire and flags that went up as high as he could see. The ponies had constructed it out of flimsy wood, meaning their engineering knowledge must have been a match for any changeling designer. He followed the mare to the next stop.
"This is the flower shop. I don't care much for gardening myself, but if you've got a green hoof, you're in great company. You know, Ponyville was founded by farmers and gardeners, just under a century ago. Great soil, I've heard."
Thorax had lost interest. Several ponies were wandering around the area, poking at plants with various tools. Some of them were chatting with one another, sneaking glances at him. One, with a red and white mane, had a panicked expression and kept pointing in his direction. Surely nothing to be worried about.
"The market, starts each day at nine a.m. and closes each day at five p.m. You need anything, you can get it here." Octavia was doing her best but it wasn't enough. Ponyville was a pretty boring town, after all. She'd need to up the ante.
"Oh, I believe that's the end of the tour. We're not a big community, you see, and unless you'd like to see Sweet Apple Acres, there isn't much here besides the market and the town hall. Of course, there's a lot going on when there's a festival on, but there's nothing like that right now."
Octavia forced a smile. The brown pony was hardly paying attention.
"So now that I've told you about us, perhaps you should tell me a little about yourself?"
The pony offered nothing. Octavia shuffled in place. Vinyl's comment of "you don't have it in you" was becoming more true by the minute.
"Perhaps your name?"
That seemed to snap something in him.
"Amine! I am Hist Amine. It is good to meet you." The pony grabbed her forehoof and began to swing it up and down wildly.
"Great to meet you too, Hist! Please let go of my hoof, please?"
Hist let go and threw himself into a bow before her. A few of the passing ponies noted the odd tableau before them, but were otherwise unfazed.
"Please forgive me," Hist wheezed.
"Just where are you from?"
Thorax felt sweat drip down his face. He couldn't tell her the truth, but he also couldn't tell a bad lie. He needed something she couldn't verify, and he needed it fast. He cursed himself for not coming up with a better cover story in advance, but Spiracle had not told him he'd need one - he was sure of it.
His eyes darted around.
"I am from..."
He saw a pony tying a bag around another one, pulling it a bit too tight. He came up with a plan.
"I will tell you where I am from when you tell me where you are from," he said.
"Canterlot."
"Oh, that is where I am from as well!" Nailed it.
"What a coincidence! Did you attend Glimmering Gardens High? I thought I may have recognized you!" Octavia was now smiling broadly, which may have not been such a good sign.
"Ah, no."
"Oh. Which school did you go to? Are you perhaps from uptown?"
The sweat came back.
"No I am from... midtown?"
Octavia's eyes narrowed at him. The sweat intensified, he wilted at her gaze. This was it - this was the end, he -
"I knew it! Your accent is totally midtown Canterlot. Aha, I do love meeting a fellow Canterlot resident. Go Trebants!" Octavia shouted, referring to the Canterlot hoofball team. Thorax played along.
"Yeah, go Trabants! Tray-bots. Go!"
Octavia laughed and relaxed her posture. Thorax took this opportunity to stop sweating.
Octavia decided to lead her new friend along a more circuitous route back to her accommodations. The Ponyville Library was literally within line of sight of her house, and once Mr. Hist saw it, he was likely to want to go in. She needed more time to win him over.
Ponyville's attractions were rather limited though, and soon she found herself unable to keep the path from straying to the library. She had a plan, of course.
"So, this is my home sweet home. The Library is that enormous tree just down the way, see it?" she said, motioning with her hoof.
Thorax's ears perked up. "Twilight Sparkle is in there?"
"Indeed. If I may ask, have you elected to stay at the hotel while you're here, or were you staying with a friend?"
Thorax paused to think, but only for a moment.
"Excuse me - " Octavia started to say, but stopped herself. This pony had a hearing problem, so it'd be unfair to get upset with him for ignoring her question like that. He seemed to be focusing on the clouds above.
"I don't know."
That was the best answer Thorax could come up with, and it was in every way correct. Espionage wasn't as hard as he had thought.
"Well, erm, if it's a problem, you could always stay with us. That is, Vinyl and myself, I doubt she'd have a problem allowing you use of the sofa until you find a place."
"We'll see." Thorax said, narrowing his eyes. Octavia was giving him the same dumbfounded look Spiracle had earlier.
Finally free of the grey mare, Thorax made his way towards the enormous tree which doubled as a Library. It wasn't really labelled all that well, save for the sign with a book on it outside and the clearly written words "Ponyville Book Depository: No Soliciting, No Clowns". Thorax knocked on the door, and a - thing - answered.
"Hey there!" it said to him.
Thorax did not react. He played it cool.
"I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle. Where is she?"
"Not here," the purple and green thing said.
"What are you, then?" Thorax asked, leaning down in a sudden burst of intent to intimidate the creature.
"Name's Spike, I'm her assistant. Want to come in?"
Thorax assented. He'd need to case the place first, as he fully intended to visit the building at night to try to find more details about his target. More importantly, he needed to find out what his target looked like, and when she slept. If she slept during the day then breaking in at night would be a fool's errand, and Thorax was no fool.
The purple thing was talking again. "So, you must be new in town, huh? What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle."
"Yeah, I know, and she's not here. She's out of town for two days, but anything you need can be run through me and my associate, Owlowiscious."
At that moment, a brown owl took the initiative and let out a hoot, causing both Thorax and Spike to take notice of it, sitting on a perch in a corner of the otherwise circular room. That was going to present a serious complication, Thorax would need to disable the owl sentry before he could accomplish his mission.
"How do I disable an owl?" he asked.
"If I knew, I'd have done it already," Spike said, scowling.
"Who?" the owl asked.
"Just kidding. If you want a book on owls, I can get you that."
Thorax took a good look at the owl, then back at Spike. "Certainly. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How do I disable you?"
This question elicited a look similar to the one Spiracle and Octavia had given him. Perhaps it was an expression of endearment?
"Well, you could give me so many gems that I eat until I pass out."
"Thank you." Now he'd need to acquire a source of gems.
"Anything else I can do for you?" Spike asked.
"No, that will be all. When is Sparkle returning?"
"Tomorrow evening. I'll let her know you came by if you'd like."
"No, that won't be necessary. In fact, it'd be best if you forgot you ever saw me," Thorax said, and made for the door. It was closed by the time Spike had finished processing what had happened.
"What was up with that pony?" he asked idly.
"Who?"
"The one who - oh don't tell me you've already forgotten!"
With his preliminary scouting complete, Thorax needed to bide his time. He'd need a supply of gems, he'd need to stealthily acquire the book about owls, and he'd need a base to store his Nectar supply while he was out. Fortunately, he had already come up with a plan, and returned to the abode of the gray mare from earlier. He knocked, and waited.
"Oh hello again, that was quick," Octavia said as she opened the door. The smile on her face was indicative of something, but what? Thorax would need to find out - without letting her know, of course.
"Does the offer to sleep with you still stand?"
Somepony had lit a fire beneath Octavia's cheekbones.