"It's just not normal for her. I mean, we had to make her agree to only those staying longer than a day or two. Are you certain you saw her? Maybe she's sick...no, Redheart had to track her down that one time. I just don't understand, it's so unlike her."

Cherry had stopped by on her way to work, presumably because the pair had forgotten to tell him when the office opened. Shortly after they'd headed out, the mare realized that Recon's arrival was missing something, something that was so normal the lack of it was causing her no small degree of distress.

"I talked to Pinkie yesterday. We didn't exactly hit it off, but I don't hold it against her," the changeling said, unconcerned.

"I know it doesn't mean much to you, but it's strange," the earth pony insisted. "She's always the first person to greet newcomers, she even keeps the town population on the board by the station."

"With the pink paint? Yes, I saw that. Thought it was a bit weird how accurate someone was keeping it but I've seen some weird stuff while wandering Equis. A pony who's able to keep the town population sign updated is far from the strangest thing I've seen."

"Oh? Like what?" She asked, curious.

"Let's see...dragon chef, used his fire to cook the food. He even had a disclaimer on the menu that he brushed and used mouthwash after his meals."

"Okay that is a bit odd, but-"

"Pony who swore he had dragon in his blood. Guy added gems to his meals, I watched him bite down on a topaz and his teeth shattered it."

"That's wierd but-"

"How about a unicorn who's eyes changed color every time she cast a spell?" Recon offered with a smile.

The mare had in fact been a changeling who suffered from a defect in her disguise. It allowed her to mask her true magic causing her aura to look like an actual unicorns aura, but the eye-color change had left her terrified that she'd be discovered. Recon had convinced her to use it as a novelty, expressing awe after witnessing it in public and earning the mare a good deal of interest and affection as ponies of the town swarmed her, clambering to get a chance to see the change for themselves. The two had talked over the dangers of too much publicity in private, Recon warning her about the possibility of ponies wanting to run her through tests that could expose her true nature, though most would ask permission beforehand.

"Alright, alright. It's not that weird in comparison to other things out there, but that doesn't change the fact that it wasn't her usual behavior."

"If you'd like, stop by during your lunch or something. Talk to her, make sure she's okay."

Cherry nodded mutely, moving ahead to open the door to the Town Hall.

"Miss Scroll? We're here!"

"You brought Recon?" the mayor asked. "Good. If you'll follow me, we'll get all the official paperwork done today. You have a resume?"

The changeling dug into his now much lighter bags, pulling out several pages of references and work experience.

"Good, this way."

Sealed Scroll led him back to her office and gestured to the cushion on the other side of her desk as she made herself comfortable.

"Now there are a few forms I need you to sign, as some of the information you come across here may be a ponies personal information. Just signed promises to not use or alter the information for profit or to cause harm to the individuals," the toffee colored mare explained while trading the forms for his resume. He heard a few chuckles from her and looked up, seeing her watching him.

"You'd be surprised how many ponies don't read the forms."

"Not as much as you'd think, Miss Scroll," he responded. " Cons don't need to be illegal, they just need their victims to not pay attention."

"True, true. You moved here from the outer territories? Do you have Citizenship papers?"

Recon stopped cold mid-signature.

"I, was told by several ponies that there wasn't anything like that. They said..."

The mayor frowned looking over his resume.

"You did hold these positions though, correct? And told them you were from outside of Equestria? That's...Two Song... Trottingham...nopony in these places talked to you about official citizenship?"

"I asked and was told it was something that only really mattered for nobility."

The mayor bit her lip before pulling out another folder from her desk.

"I apologize, Miss Scroll. I thought-"

"They're not wrong, citizenship papers aren't normally something ponies think about. That being said, employers are urged by the crown to direct those seeking citizenship to the proper offices. The fact you worked in a place that was likely down the hall from such an office and weren't told this..."

Pulling out a few old papers, the earth pony spread them out on her desk.

"I'm not throwing out your resume or anything like that. The apartment you chose went up for sale almost two years ago, about the time you said you started seeing adds for Ponyville, right? Cherry experienced the same thing, as did Roadhouse and Colgate. Sometimes there's a bit of a push for individuals to end up in certain locations."

Pointing to a particular scrap of paper, the mayor smiled.

Your first Equestrian place of employment was in Bushels, right? Yes, right there," she said, tapping his resume. "We had an add that was put out for a job in town, and for some reason when I tracked down all the places that received notices of the position, Bushels was on the list."

"I enjoy finding out how Equis tries to direct ponies, Recon. It's both interesting in the strange, almost circumstantial things that occur, but it gets even stranger when you see ponies resist the push. In each of the places you went to there were notices from Ponyville in their wanted adds. Not only that but the jobs that were available changed as well, like the available jobs were changing to try and lure you in."

"I like to think I've seen this enough to know you're supposed to be here. I'll help you through the process but I do need to know. Have you had any run-ins with the Royal Guard?"

The changeling pondered that. Technically, the guards had belonged to Bushels and the mayor had kind of gone crazy.

"The town of Bushels was put into lockdown while I was there, but I've never been arrested or accused of anything."

The mare rolled a hoof, motioning for him to continue.

"The mayor got a bit crazy, screaming about pod-ponies. Guards came by and did an investigation, found out some mare was throwing around mind-magic that was leaving her neighbors kind of out of it."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that kind of thing happening here. I'll have to double check with Canterlot's public records and send an inquiry to the Royal Guard, but if nothing comes back from the Guard it shouldn't take too long to make it all official."

"Um,"the stallion started, not really certain how to take the turn of events. "Just like that?"

"It would have been easier if there wasn't this delay. Bushels could have had you an official citizen in a week or two, but that would be counting the slow post from that town. Having been in the country for so long...did you have taxes pulled from your pay?" At his nod the mayor grinned. "Two years in the country and you paid taxes. I see nothing that could really slow the process. In fact, there would have to be a major crime in the Royal Guard's records to prevent me from setting you up with the proper papers."

The door opened up that moment, Cherry leading another mare with a large satchel into the office.

"Package from Canterlot, mayor. She said she needs a signature from you, no substitutes."

"Oh perfect!" Scroll said, rushing over to a file cabinet and pulling out a form. Rushing back over to the desk, she started filling it out at a pace that left Recon's head spinning. Finishing a final signature with a flourish and putting it into an envelope, she trotted over to the messenger, took the package, signed for it, and gave the envelope to the messenger.

"Just tell Proper Parchment I'll send him the full account as soon as I have the time. With how he loves these stories he may come here to meet Recon himself. Stop by Sugarcube Corner on your way out of town and let them know I sent you there, the Cakes will set you up with something to cool you down and get some energy in your wings again."

The messenger nodded thankfully before following Cherry out.

"Um, what..."

"The parcel was from Canterlot. I needed to run the check anyway, so I sent the request with her. Don't be surprised if Proper Parchment stops by to talk to you about your experience, we both enjoy seeing how far fate is willing to go to direct ponies to the proper place for them."

"Now then, back to the interview I suppose, what do you know about-"

Recon shoved another stack of papers into a large bag. The trash can was already full again, so he'd need to take it out but the floor was starting to peek out at him from under the mess.

'Thank god it's a hard-wood floor,' he thought with relief. The ink would likely leave it stained but at least the floor wouldn't need to be steamed or specially cleaned like a carpet would.

"Sooner Tinker figures out how to power those vacuum cleaners the better."

"Recon? It's about-oh wow."

"Yea, turns out I have a hardwood floor. Who would have guessed?"

"Mayor Scroll wants to speak with us before we're done for the day. Make sure to close the window before you leave."

Recon nodded, fluttering over the mess to push the window closed before flying back to the island of clean the was starting to form at the door.

"Ready. The rest of this stuff isn't going anywhere."

Cherry chuckled at his progress.

"The sad part is that you haven't even started looking at the reports. A full three hours in here and..."

"Please don't crush my will to continue. I'm taking my victories as I can get them. Three trash cans and two bags of weather reports, including the time I had to carefully pick out shards of a shattered ink jar from them? I think that it was a fairly productive day."

The two arrived at the mayor's office to find the older mare looking over a large list.

"Thank you Cherry. I have here a list of...of jobs and names Princess Celestia sent in preparation for the Summer Sun Festival. It's the first time in over a decade we've had the opportunity to host it, so we'll be going over it in detail later. I just wanted you two to know that were going to be expecting some important company."

Recon's jaw dropped.

"You're joking. I just found out the floor to that office is hardwood-wait, before I panic too much when is this celebration?"

"It's still a few weeks off. Plenty of time, don't worry. Now unless you have something for me Cherry, I'll see you tomorrow."

The mayor watched her secretary leave before walking over to her window and opening it wide.

"Alright, come on in."

A light purple Pegasus with an almost silvery mane flew in the window, landing lightly on her hooves before turning to Recon.

"It's best you know who your going to be working with. Aside from myself and Cherry, you'll be receiving most of your reports from Cloudchaser here," the mayor explained, gesturing to the giggling mare.

"Cloudchaser, as weather-team captain, you'll be filing your reports to Recon for proper record-keeping."

Staring at the smiling pegasus as she introduced herself, the changeling's brain had experienced a critical error.

Rainbow Dash /= Cloudchaser

Rainbow Dash = captain

If Cloudchaser = captain than Rainbow Dash /= captain

'Wat?' Next Chapter: Conspiracy Estimated time remaining: 32 Minutes