With a quick chirp of farewell as the ladies left for the woods, Tik Tok hopped from Spike's claws up to the windowsill, and fluttered quickly out back through town square and to the workshop, Twilight's reply clutched tight in his claws.

>>> TO: Widget Whatsits' Workshop

--> From Town Square

Rainbow Dash only had one friend that was in a relationship of any sort. As much as she hated to say it, Twilight was the expert she needed to talk to. She landed before the door, knocking twice before walking inside. The bottom part of Twilight's home was still the library after all. "Hey, Twilight? Twilight, you home?" she shouted out.

No sooner had Rainbow Dash shouted out than she was immediately shushed by a number of other Ponies who were milling about, reading or studying.  Spike looked up from where he'd been working at the library registry book and frowned a bit over the noise.

"Keep it down, RD.  You're in a library y'know." he scolded, though he blinked in surprise after a moment.  "Huh... you actually used the door for once.  Weird.  Anyway, Twilight's not here right now.  She took Starcrasher out to practice magic at her clearing in the White Tail Woods."

"Of course I used the door... I'm not a barbarian..." Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly as she was hushed by the others there trying to read in peace. "Heh. Sorry! Oops! Sorry...!" She edged her way around the tables, heading towards Spike, apologizing as she passed. "Sorry... sorry... sorry... I love that book, can you believe his sister had the necklace at the end all along...? Sorry, pardon me... excuse me..."

She finally made her way over the Spike who was doing a fine job at playing librarian in Twilight's absence. "So... White Tail Woods, huh? That's not too far." she stuck her tongue out as she thought about just how far it was away. "I mean, it's like next door for the faster flyer in Equestria. Say, do you know which part of the forest she's in?" She asked, then put a hoof over his mouth before he could answer. "No no, don't tell me. That'll take some of the fun out of it. I'll find her, I mean, how hard can it be?" She grinned, moving back towards the exit. "Thanks, Spike, I'll see you later. Hey, uh, come watch my competition, everypony! Or better yet, compete in it!" She shouted, forgetting the rule of quiet already.

Moving to the door, she was in flight before she was out of the library and gone like a shot. First coffee, then to the woods!

To Summer Song Cafe -->

-= Start of Day 9 =-

---

Spike's alarm clock was not having a good morning.

Perhaps it had taken a wrong turn somewhere in its mechanical life. Maybe it felt as as if had shifted into the wrong gear at some point, but that was not something that was so easily fixed when you happened to be a timepiece. It could be that it thought that it was time for a change -- a change of direction from just going around and around in circles, coming and going the same place one had been before, and in the end not really going anywhere. A new tune, something other than the usual old ring-a-ding-ding that nobody really liked hearing anyway.

Or perhaps it was just a soulless, half-broken bit of machinery that needed fixing after Spike had handled the snooze button with more force than had strictly been required. Owlowiscious pondered these things and more, until eventually, he floated down and perched himself on the side of the young dragon's bed.

"Who."

The owl hoo-ed again after a few seconds more... with no response from Spike. He sighed; not only was he being forced to stay up late and act like some poor, landbound, rooster in order to help reinforce the young dragon's silly diurnal habits in their mistress' absence; now he also had to do sully his beak just to get his attention. Ah, the things he did for friendship.

Owlowiscious leaned in and bit the young dragon on the nose.


"Ow!" Spike snapped up, startled by the gesture. He rubbed his snout and gave the owl an accusative look for it. It took a lot to break dragonscales, but shoot! That was no way to wake somebody! "What'd you do that for?"

The owl pointed a wing at the battered clock lying a little off the nightstand.

"Oooh... right. So, is Twilight back yet?"

"Hoo?"

"It's too early for me and practical jokes, Owly, you know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Hoo." Owlowiscious punctuated his response with a sudden, indignant puffing of his feathers, and flew off into the rafters to finally catch some sleep of his own.

Spike frowned a bit after the bird, but he supposed the feathered guy had had a long night and a right to be a little moody. The sun was already up -- Spike realized with slight panic that he was supposed to have been at least two hours ago, give or take a few minutes. Except... "Right." He clambered out of bed and started down the stairs to make himself and Twi-- he turned back for a bit to check on her bedroom. Nope! Nopony there. He'd just have himself to make breakfast for, then. Normally, this would have put him in a good mood, but... Twilight had been out all yesterday, and she still hadn't come back. Spike had to admit he was starting to worry.

"It's not that I mind that she goes out all day," he said to himself as he fixed himself a decently-sized sandwich with an emerald snack on the size, "she's an adult, and a bright one, too! And Widget isn't a bad guy... must be smart to build all those gadgets. Twilight's smart, so there's... that." At this point, he'd wandered through the main room and back upstairs, wherein Twilight's other assistant was attempting to enjoy the silence. Owlowiscious gave Spike a look that the dragon didn't notice, and instead simply continued to talk. "I just wish she'd tell me what's happening, you know?"

"Hoo-hoo?" I am trying to sleep, please go away. Also, weren't you indifferent to this whole situation yesterday morning?

The inflection was lost on Spike.

"It's Twilight, you know? We've been over this." Spike threw Owlowiscious a confused but short look, and continued. The owl just sighed with resignation and floated back down to listen to the dragon. "I mean, I'm glad for all her new friends - and... coltfriend, I guess - but I don't want to be left out, either..." The whole thing sort of reminded Sike of what had happened Owlowiscious joined the joined the household when he thought about it; he didn't bring that up, though. The owl was in one of his weird moods, as always -- give him the time of day and he'd make that silly owl joke again. It was funny, most of the time, but right now Spike wasn't in the mood for it. "I guess I could always just ask... but who knows when she's getting back? She's probably -- oh no! She's probably moving in with him right now! It's why she's been gone all day this last week! Or worse -- they're preparing to abscond from Ponyville right now!" Spike grabbed the owl, as if to underscore the seriousness of the situation. "Owlowiscious! We have to stop them!"

"...hoo?" Owlowiscious got a suspicious look as he said something about Spike's reasoning that wouldn't be at all acceptable to repeat within earshot of any sort of polite company.

"Right, you might have been asleep when he was here. Widget Whatsis..." Was it more than that or just Whatsis? Spike made a note to ask. "But you're right! I should hurry!"

Spike let go of his co-assistant and rushed past him - "Thanks for the talk, Owly!" - he waddled down the stairs, and in his own peculiar way, ran out the door and into the street, stopping only to check that the front sign said "CLOSED" before rushing onwards again.

The owl seemed about to say something after him, but simply bowed instead and excused himself to the rafters. This time, however, he brought earplugs.

--> To: Widget Whatsits' Workshop -->
This message was last edited by the player at 01:58, Tue 05 Feb 2013.

>>From Sweet Apple Acres>>

Most of the ponies in town had more or less ignored the pair of fillies running breakneck through the streets.  It had pretty much become a daily occurrence anyway.

Sweetie rounded the last street corner and saw the library come into view.  Scootaloo was right on her hind-hooves, and gaining fast.  She was already a full gallop, but she did her best to pour on extra speed, so she wouldn’t get caught before she could reach the door.

”Almost…. … There!.... …. Just… a little…. … more….”

She was so focused on gaining speed, that she didn’t see the rock in the middle of the road.  She stumbled over it, slowing just a moment before losing her balance and tumbling head over hooves the remaining distance to the door.

”*AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!*”

From Sweet Apple Acres

Scootaloo raced along, surprised by just how well Sweetie had been able to elude her so far. Still, she was closing in fast and soon she would have Sweetie Belle in her OH NO! Scoots watched as the small unicorn in front of her suddenly tripped and went into a tumbling crash that ended with her against the door. "SWEETIE BELLE!" She cried out, racing up to the door and starting to examine her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? That was a nasty tumble!" She said, nodding in approval of the other filly's wipeout skills.

**WHAM**

Sweetie’s collision was enough to rattle the door to the library, and possibly double as a knock at the same time.  It wasn’t even a second before Scootaloo was there to check on her.

”I- I’m ok…” Sweetie replied from behind a face that had turned as pink as the pink in her mane.  ”I guess I’m just a little clumsy today… “

She started to stand up again when a piece of paper came to settle across her nose, having been dislodged from its place on the door when she slammed against it.  ”Huh? … What’s this?”

She took the flyer in hoof and read it out loud.  ”The Town of Ponyville is C- Corj-ully Invited to the First Annual… Ponyville Saddle *HAWKINS* party?!”  She skipped ahead a bit and kept reading.  ”It’s a party and a dance where the fillies ask the *COLTS* to come, not the other way around….  Oh *WOW!*  That sounds like *FUN!*”

The little filly’s eyes started to glaze over as she tried to imagine all the fun there would be at Faux Paws’ party.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 10:12, Tue 16 Apr 2013.

-Day 9 Afternoon-

Applebloom had followed along in the wake of her friends' hurried exit, trailing behind them the whole way as they raced to see who could make it to the library first.  She wasn't so sure that weapon stuff was the way to go when it came to getting their Cutie Marks... their last experience at the smithy hadn't been any fun at all.  How did Silver Spoon put up with that kind of junk?  The farm filly arrived at the library in time to find Sweetie Belle gushing over some flier and moved aside her to read it as well.

"Well, a party sounds fun, but what's the big deal 'bout who asks who?  Is guys askin' girls a thing?" Applebloom scratched the back of her bow-sporting head in confusion.  Maybe it was a city-pony thing?  Faux Paws was from Manehattan, after all.  It must have been different in the big city since, in Ponyville, there were more women than there were men and social norms adapted to that.

"What's all the noise out here?" the door suddenly swung open to reveal a particular baby Dragon on the other side, looking a bit annoyed at all the ruckus.  However, Spike blinked at the realization that it was the fillies.  "Oh...  hey girls.  If you're looking for Twilight, you just missed her.  She took off for the train station already."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:20, Tue 16 Apr 2013.

Scoots stepped back when Sweetie said she was alright, then paused as a paper fell on her face. She listened to what the little unicorn had to say about what was on the page, her ears perking up a bit. A dance did sound kind of fun, especially after the week she'd have. But she only wanted to ask out one pony and she knew that wouldn't work. "That does sound cool. But we've got to get some Crusading in before hoof!" As if on cue Spike came out of the library. "Hey Spike! We're actually looking for some books on medieval times! Got any?"

Sweetie’s mouth gaped open at Apple Bloom’s question.  ”Of *COURSE* it’s a thing!” she asserted.  ”That’s the way it *ALWAYS* goes in the old Pony Tale Stories!”

She slipped around behind Apple Bloom before emerging on her opposite side, her chest all puffed out trying to look as masculine as a unicorn filly can.  ”The handsome stallion *FIGHTS* through hordes of evildoers to rescue his Lady fair!...”  She parried and thrusted with an imaginary sword to emphasize her point before dropping her attempt at portraying a dashing stallion hero and slipping away again to appear beside Scootaloo.

”Then he goes to her and sweeps her off her hooves! He asks her to be his special somepony, and they live happily ever *AFTER*!…”  She playfully put a hoof to her forehead and swooned, melting over onto Scootaloo in what turned out to be a rather convincing Rarity impersonation, all things considered.

 Spike’s appearance prompted Sweetie to snap back to her hooves.  When the baby dragon told them that they had just missed Twilight, Scootaloo said they were looking for books on Medieval times.

”We are? …”  Sweetie blinked a few times.  ”I thought we were looking for books about wea-“

She was about a half-syllable away from absent-mindedly giving away their whole plan.

Scoots watched as Sweetie acted out the parts of her story, a smile on her face at her antics. She was about to join in when Sweetie appeared behind her and then swooned right on her. Letting out a chuckle, she rolled her eyes at the white unicorn. "The swooning damsel doesn't really fit you Sweetie." She said, but before she could say more Spike opened the door. Sweetie then got off her, started speaking and was about to blow their plan sky high! Reacting quickly she shoved one of her hooves into the little unicorns mouth. "Weaaaaaaasels! Yeah! Weasels! Uh, don't you remember Sweetie? We already tried for our uh, Weasel Catching Cutie Marks. Remember?" She asked, leaning in close to Sweetie's face, eyes extending and nearly touching Sweetie's to make sure she got her point.

---> Town Square

Gale was not exactly sure what was going on with the three fillies in front of her, but she knew from her own days as a wild little hooligan that they were up to something. That, however, was not her problem, right now her problem was, to whit, one missing sister. Sauntering up she introduced herself. "Hey, Applebloom, been awhile. I's betting you two are Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, my sis talked about ya non stop fer a week afta she got back from visiting this town." The strange towering mare stated with assurance, oblivious to having left the fillies in the dark about her own identity.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:37, Tue 23 Apr 2013.

"Medieval Weasels?  Uh... yeah, I think we've got a few books on ancient rodents stashed somewhere.  But you might be better off asking Fluttershy when she gets back, or maybe the vet?" Spike seemed entirely confused at the topic of study but had long since learned better than to question the Cutie Mark Crusaders' efforts.  He turned about to head back inside and waved for them to follow, but it was about that time Gale Seed showed up.

"Gale!" Applebloom chirped at the sight of the tremendous mare and immediately scampered over to give her a friendly hug about one of her legs.  She looked to each of her friends and gestured with a hoof.  "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo; this is Bab's big sister - Gale Seed." the little filly made a quick introduction but immediately perked.  "Y'come t'visit for a while?  Ooh!  If you're here, does that mean Babs is too?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:53, Wed 24 Apr 2013.

“Wea-pmmfs……EEY…WUHHS EUH IIHG IHDEHH!?!?”  Sweetie was taken by surprise as she suddenly found an orange hoof lodged firmly in her mouth.  Finding it impossible to speak properly, she gave up with a defeated sigh as Scootaloo tried to cover for her near screw-up.

After a warning glare from Scoots, the hoof was removed and she was allowed to speak again.  ”Oh… Right… I forgot about our Weasal catching crusade…”  Truth told, she didn’t have a clue what she was going on about, but she knew better than to keep pressing her luck.

A thick Manehatten accent drew their attention as a Pegasus landed nearby and greeted them.  Sweetie perked up noticeably as she realized they were speaking to Babs’s sister, Gale.  Gale asked them all if they had seen Babs around town.

”Yeah… She’s just in time to *JOIN* us on our *CRUSADE*!!!” The little filly practically bounced with excitement as she said each word.

Scoots made sure Sweetie understood what she was trying to get across before gently withdrawing her hoof, wiping it off on the ground. "Yeah, that was awhile ago so it's not surprising you don't remember it." She said to cover up the mistake further, giving a smile to Sweetie before looking at Spike's retreating form. Just as she was about to scold the little unicorn for her misstep a new voice interrupted them. She turned, a huge grin on her face at the mention of the leader of the Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Yeah! Where is she? She'll love this crusade!" She practically cheered herself, rearing up a bit in her excitement. With another Crusader they were sure to get their Cutie Marks!

"Act'chaly I was hopin ya could tell me. Babs left home yestaday ta come see y'all here in Ponyville, but so fa she ain't showed. Has yous otha crusada types seen hah around?" Gale asked confident that if anyone in town had seen the wayward filly it would be these three, and failing that all she had to do was stick with them and her sister would turn up.

Applebloom just shook her bow-laden head.  "Nah, we haven't seen a hair of her.  Ah hope nothin' happened..." the little filly fretted a bit.  There hadn't been any news about trouble with the trains as of late, so it wasn't like Babs couldn't have made it safely from Manehattan.  She looked to her two friends worriedly.  "Y'think maybe she's at th'Clubhouse?"

Scootaloo's eyes widened when the Club House was mentioned, her stuff was still out in plain view there! "No! I-I mean, why would she be there? We didn't even show her the Club House last time, we uh, we ran out of time remember?" She asked, a slightly crazed look in her eye. She didn't want them to go to the Club House and find her things. The topic of where she had been staying hadn't come up yet, and hopefully never would, cause once it was discovered she'd been staying in the Club House that would lead to questions of where she had been staying before then. That was a topic she had no wish to visit.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere, maybe at the schoolhouse?"

Gale was mildly worried at this point, but kept her cool. "Well Babs is a smaat cookie, she's gonna toun up soon enough I'm shua. Mean time I figua I jus sticks with yous three an lends ya a hoof. Afta all I is the 'Moss Paladin' a the Manhattan CMC, so it's technically my job ta help out the young CMC membas with thea crusades." The statuesque Pegasus replied stoutly.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:23, Wed 01 May 2013.

Sweetie Belle cocked her head to one side as Scootaloo reacted to the suggestion of looking for her at the clubhouse, then she claimed they had never shown her the clubhouse.

”What are you talking about, Scootaloo? .. Of *COURSE* we showed her the clubhouse!  We had her initiation there, remember?  … I had to read that dumb *SCROLL* you wrote…”  She rolled her eyes before settling them on her pegasus friend skeptically.

Scootaloo was acting very weird today.

When Gale offered to help them with their crusade, Sweetie turned her skeptical gaze over to the “Paladin” in question.  She cut a glance back to her fellow crusaders, and again to Gale with a reserved, ”Hmm…”

Finally, she loudly announced:  “*CRUSADER HUDDLE!*”

She ushered her friends to join her in a tight, hoofball-style huddle, presumably just out of Gale’s earshot.

Once she was satisfied they wouldn’t be overhead speaking in hushed tones, she spoke.  ”Moss Paladin? … .. .. Is that even *ALLOWED*?!?”  Somehow, her voice managed to pull off combining a squeak with a whisper.

Applebloom quickly leaped into the huddle as it was called.  She was normally accustomed to those being "Apple Family Huddles", so it was practically a reflex to leap to the side and link her forelegs across the shoulders of her friends to tuck into a conspiring conversation.

"Ah dunno what Moss Paladin even is.  Ain't that like a knight or somethin', like Luna's guards?  Ah wonder if Babs has been addin' stuff t'th'Manehattan branch of th'Cutie Mark Crudaders?" she puzzled in a hushed voice.  Since it was just the three of them in Ponyville and the adults were content to let them all do as they pleased, there was never any need for ranks or anything like that.  Maybe the Manehattan branch had grown bigger and needed some kind of structure?

"Well, th'more important thing is t'find Babs and make sure she's okay.  Y'think we should split up, or stick t'gether?"

Scoots didn't say anything about how they'd initiated Babs in the Clubhouse, she'd been hoping they didn't remember that. Thankfully, they were swiftly distracted from that by the call for a Crusader Huddle!

Scootaloo jumped into the huddle, linking her arms with her friends and tucking her head in with theirs. "Yeah, what is that? Some kind of rank? Can she even be in the Crusaders if she's got a Cutie Mark?" She asked, popping her head up to look at Gale before bringing it back down. "Is that allowed?" She asked, not knowing as it hadn't come up with them yet. Her eyes lit up at the prospect of splitting up, that would give her enough time to get her stuff from the Summer Song and get back and get her stuff cleared up from the Clubhouse! "That's perfect! I-I mean, splitting up would be perfect! We can cover a lot more ground that way and one of us is sure to find Babs!"

”But then we’ll have to find all the *OTHERS*…” Sweetie rationalized.  ”Besides, you guys heard Gale… Babs is smart.  She’ll turn up.  And I bet the clubhouse is the *FIRST* place she’ll come looking for us!”  She grinned as she thought of the possibility of having a crusade with four crusaders.  One of them would have to find their cutie marks, for sure!

As far as a “Moss… Paladin” or whatever… I say we give her a shot.  I mean, she is part of your family, right, Apple Bloom?  And she’s Babs’ big *SISTER*… … We’ve asked Rarity and Applejack for help before, so why not Gale?”

Gale played it cool, even though the fillies were not being half as quiet as they thought they were. The 'paladins' of which there were five so far, counting Gale herself, were all adult ponies who would have been part of the CMC if it had existed when they were fillies and colts. The Manehattan CMC had in fact grown beyond all recognition, there were now thirty seven members, counting the Paladins and Babs and the 'Knights Errant' former CMC members that had earned their cutie marks and stuck around to help out.

Their last full chapter crusade, which got rarer and rarer, had been a trip to the library to re-shelve all the books they had checked out for their other crusades a month ago, and had caused another 'Knighting' to happen when some unicorn foal Gale hardly knew named Dewey Mathmagic had had this transcendent moment of clarity and invented a new system of organizing the books that was cutting turn around times on re-shelving in half. There was even talk of exporting it to other major libraries across the Principality.

To be honest the fact that Babs was still a blank flank was an oddity. Then, she was only nine years old, Gale had been 12 before she discovered her talent, which was part of why she was the 'Moss Paladin'. Her sister would find her talent eventually.

Gale however meant to have a word with her sister about not telling the first CMC chapter all of this...