"heh heh.. There ya go..." she added encouragingly, and trotted briskly out the door, and back to her apple cart.

Actually, she stopped dead, half through the Library door. "Uh, Twilight. Ah' didn't bring mah cart inside, fer some reason, did I?" she asked, and trotted out into the open, to give her friend room to join her.  The spot where the cart had been sitting behind Applejack when Twilight had let her in was empty, now.

With her brush floated over to the nearby desk at the center of the library floor, Twilight trotted along after her friend... only to end up bumping into her from behind with a sharp 'oomph!' as the sturdier pony stopped short.  Darn Earth Ponies and their gravitational stability!  That felt like walking into a wall.

"Huh?  Your apple cart?  No... I was half-asleep, but even I would've noticed that coming through the front door."  Twilight said as she rubbed her snout gingerly.  She slipped outside herself and looked around, curiously peering about to see where the cart could have gone off to.  She looked to the grassy ground to try and spot any tracks leading away.  "You didn't forget to set the wheel brake, did you?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:17, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

"Woaah no. Ah learned mah lesson on that a long time ago." Applejack replied. She did think back though. she was pretty sure she'd set it, but it wasn't something she distinctly remembered one way or the other. What stuck out in her mind was the commotion inside the library after she'd knocked.

"Ah'm sure I set it.." she said, and trotted over, leaning down and eying the dirt for anything disturbed.

Sure enough, as the two ponies set about investigating the grasses around the Library, they'd find tracks.  There were Applejack's tracks and the cart wheel lines leading up the way to where she'd left it.  Another set of hoof prints ran along the ground as well until they crossed paths with the original set.  Where the wheel tracks left off there were divots in the ground -- it looked as though the cart had been turned in place -- and apparently run off behind another set of hooves.

Based on the evidence, somepony had taken Applejack's cart!  But the real problem was that the fine grass and earth that surrounded the Library only went of for a short while before it transitioned into Ponyville's paved streets.  While the two could track the initial direction of the cart thief, beyond that the trail went cold.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:50, Sun 15 Apr 2012.

"Uh-oh... from the looks of things, it looks like somepony un-set your brake." Twilight grimaced as she spied the cart tracks headed away from her home apparently under the locomotion of some unknown pony.  She raised a hoof to point off in the direction the cart had been dragged away in, but there was no sign of anypony about to even ask if they'd seen anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:17, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Applejack felt rather hurt, but it also seemed... rather unusual. Everpony in town generally looked up to her. Her cart was known. Somepony just taking it didn't make any sense. "Yeah. Ah dunno who would've done it, though. Looks like they went straight inta' town with it. Ya still up to visitin' the market, Twilight? Ah could use your help to find out what's goin' on here."

Confident in her friend's aid, Applejack trotted from grass to paved stones, hooves clicking lightly.

Moving to Ponyville Town Square
This message was last edited by the player at 00:41, Mon 16 Apr 2012.

"Of course!  Let's dig up some clues."  Twilight gave her friend a reassuring nod as the two of them took off in pursuit of the missing apple cart.  Part of her wished Pinkie was around so that she could wear that nifty detective's hat again... ah well.

--> Exit to Ponyville Town Square
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

In from Ponyville Schoolhouse, Afternoon

Applejack smiled to Mei Mei as she led the honorary Apple along through town. She pointed out a few buildings to her, Sugarcube Corner, Rarity's Boutique, and then there was Branches and Books. As they arrived, she paused and pointed ahoof up to the balcony with Twilight's telescopes and astronomy gear out on it, open to the air with no particular storm scheduled by the weather ponies. "Have a look up there."

Surely, Twilight had only the very best equipment. "Ya' ready to go in? Even if she ain't here yet, ya' can meet Spike. Ya' ever met a Dragon?"

<<< FROM: Ponyville Schoolhouse

Xing Ming's mouth opened slightly as they approached the tree library. "Oh... wow..." she murmured at the sight of the huge telescope peeking through the branches. She quickly followed Applejack to the building door, her eyes only pulled away from the great telescope when Applejack mentioned a dragon. "A... A real dragon...?!" she gasped, her eyes wide as saucers. "Oh... No, I've... I've never seen one. But oh, how I would like to!"

Applejack grinned at the girl, as she went wide-eyed.  Her 'Big Sister' put a hoof around her, and laughed. "Well, you're about to. Mei mei..." She paused and glanced down at her with a bemused but lighthearted smile. "Welcome ta' Ponyville!"

Applejack moved on to the library door, knocked a couple of times, and then turned to have a glance about the street and yard while waiting.

<-- Enter from Town Square with Honey Sweets and Rainbow Dash

Twilight came trotting up the way with her friends in tow and a string of parcels floating above her head, held aloft by her magical efforts.  Home was just a few moments beyond the next string of houses and she was eager to pop in and talk to Spike about the evening.  He'd surely be excited to hear about Princess Luna's arrival~!

"Oh, looks like they beat us here."  the unicorn observed as she spotted Applejack and Xing already at her hearth.

Spike had slept in and was still behind on his chores, so he was busy reshelving two great armfuls of books when he heard the knock at the door. When he leaned forward and opened the door, he lost hold of the stack of books and collapsed into a pile on the floor. He poked out of the top of the pile and waved. "Oh! Hi, Applejack! Hi, somepony else! Please excuse the mess! And by 'excuse' I mean 'don't tell Twilight!'"

It was right about then that Spike noticed Twilight Sparkle coming up behind Applejack. "Oh! Hi, Twilight! We were just talking about you!" He grins and tries to act innocent.

<-- Enter from Town Square

"Wow. They don't make buildings like this where I am from." Honey said as he followed Twilight up to the great tree house.
"Hay Applejack, Hay Xing. Hay there fellow." Honey said when he got close enough to see the small dragon laying in the door. "I'm Honey." He said with a big and jolly smile.

Xing's eyes grew as wide as saucers at the sight of Spike, and the greeting she had for Twilight died in her throat. It was very reminiscent of Flutteryshy's first meeting of Spike, as a matter of fact, her narrow blue eyes fixated on him with almost a hungry, excited expression. "Oh... Oh, wow! A real life dragon!" she breathed out, her voice no bigger than a whisper. "N-Nihao, um, Spike. I'm... I'm Xing Ming... Oh, my goodness, a real life dragon!" She giggled in pleasure. "How fortunate for me to meet a real dragon this year! In the Chineighs zodiac, it's the year of the dragon, you see." She was practically dancing on the tips of her hooves. "Zhe shi jingren! Zhen long!"* she squealed in Chineighs. "You were right, Jei Jei, Ponyville is amazing!"

*This is amazing! A real dragon!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:13, Tue 08 May 2012.

Spike hops up on the pile of books and offers hoofshakes to Xing and Honey. "Nice to meet you two! Let me know if I can help you find anything! Wow, I didn't know there was a whole year for dragons!" He looks back at Twilight and puts on his winningest smile, with just a little nervousness in his eyes. "Did you hear that, Twilight? This year's the year to be nice to your favorite dragon and forgive him for not getting his chores done on time!"

Applejack laughed lightly, and turned about at her friend's arrival. "Hay there, Twilight. Guess we did beat 'ya here." she chimed. "Ya'll doin' alright?  There's some big news  'round town. Ya' hear?  Princess Luna's gonna' be doin' a Moon Raising."

Twilight seemed mildly perturbed over the state of the library as she ambled in with the rest of the bunch, but she couldn't fault Spike too much.  It was mostly her own mess, after all.  Yet another late-night study sesson come and gone, and the heaps of books strewn about were the casualties of the war for knowledge.

"That's not quite how it works, Spike.  But if you're looking for niceties, then there's always leftovers -- Granny Smith's home cooking." Twilight giggled softly as she magicked the parcels she was carrying over to the center table, all packed full of fresh apple treats still warm from lunch.  She often went out without Spike, so she always liked to bring him something back to make up for it.

"Honey and Xing Ming both just moved into town, Spike.  Xing will be staying with the Apples." the unicorn explained her guests with a kindly gesture.  When Applejack mentioned the moon raising, Twilight nodded in reply.  "Yeah, we ran into Zecora on the way here and she mentioned it.  I wasn't expecting Luna to be in town all a sudden.  Do you think Princess Celestia even knows about it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:46, Tue 08 May 2012.

"Ah'm sure everything is fine." Applejack waved a hoof, then trotted out of anypony's way if she was blocking the door.  She helped Spike gather up a couple of the books and put them on one of the tables. "Hay, Twi, you got any of those Star-Farmin' books Xing was talkin' about earlier..." She rubbed her hoof to he rhat atop her head for a moment. Hopefully. she'd be able to understand what Twilight picked out for her. Glancing at the wall with the prospect of reading made it feel ten trees tall.

"Wow, thanks, Twilight!"

Spike clears the books off a nearby table and starts digging in to a parcel full of goodies. "Mm, I haven't gotten any mail about it. You think Princess Celestia would let us know if she knew it was happening. But then, she can be funny about that kind of thing. Maybe we should let her know, just in case?"

"Wait wait wait. There are no way you can get a message all the way to Canterlot at this time of the day, and having to send it to Celestia is much harder." Honey said with a disbelieving look on his face. She might know Celestia but this is just over the top. He thought to himself. "And if Princess Luna is in town wouldn't it be better to ask her if Celestia knows about it?"

"That's actually not a bad idea, Spike." Twilight agreed as she hovered over a quill and parchment.  Normally it was Spike's duty to 'take a note', but he looked so happy stuffing his face with treats that she'd leave him to it for the moment.  Besides, she had a Friendship Report bubbling around in the back of her mind that would need dictating later, so that would more than make up for it.  When Honey expressed incredulity over the situation, Twilight just giggled softly and shrugged.

"Well, you see, I'm Princess Celestia's protege at the very least." the purple unicorn explained as she wrote, multitasking easily.  "It's my responsibility to study the Magic of Friendship and report my findings to her regularly, though we're pretty close pen-pals too.  She taught Spike a spell for the sake of communication at long range."

The little dragon would have the opportunity to display said skill as Twilight finished her quick letter and rolled it up, binding the parchment with a conjured seal.  It was ready to go as soon as he had a moment to blow it away.

"Honestly, Princess Celestia practically raised me as a second mother while I was in her tutelage back in Canterlot.  And now that my big brother, Shining Armor, is married to her niece Princess Cadence, that makes me Princess Celestia and Luna's niece-in-law.  Wait... does that mean I'm technically royalty now?  I never actually stopped to look at it too hard." she mulled aloud.  She was already tempted to try and pull down a familial tree chart to begin plotting the ancestry lines, but thought better of it for the moment.  That could wait until later.

"Hay, Twi, you got any of those Star-Farmin' books Xing was talkin' about earlier..."

"Hehe... right over here, AJ." she giggled as she cantered over and hovered a few tomes from down off a high shelf for Xing to peruse.  One in particular was packed full of loose pages that had been added in somewhat haphazardly, laced with all sorts of unique notes and observations based on astrological research.  "This is a really good one -- it's got an absolutely captivating essay set on the seasonal migration and hibernation patterns of Ursa Majors."

Of course, then that raised the question of what sort of book Applejack would like.  Rainbow Dash was easy to pick for -- being a new reader and easily bored with more heavy-texted works, Daring Do was the perfect starting place to get her into reading.  Speaking of which, Twilight was careful to take a moment in her pondering and point Rainbow Dash over to the row that held the adventure stories where she could find the newest release fresh at the end.  Back to point - Applejack was a tougher customer.  She was an experienced reader, but Twilight didn't want to crush her under heavy terminology.  While by no means dumb, AJ didn't really seem the sort to appreciate particularly verbose explorations into a topic...

"Let's see... for you?  Did you have anything you were in the mood for?  Light comedy, historical discussion, mystery novels, agricultural studies, soft romance...?" she quizzed as various books came floating off the shelves to circle overhead in her magical grasp.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Tue 08 May 2012.

As Twilight mused about being royalty, Applejack laughed a little. "Aww, Twilight.  Don't ya' know there's more t' bein' royal than blood and family?" She patted a hoof on her shoulder, then looked where twilight pointed along the shelves.  The first book she indicated, with all the extra pages, looked so intimidating. Then Twilight looked over to the Daring Do books, interest sparked by the cover art. But she wante dsomethin' that'd help the farm out.

Twilight looked between them, a little intimidated.

"Well... Ah would like somethin' that might be useful on tha' farm. I mean. But ah'd love to talk Daring Do with RD some, too. Ahhh.." She put a hoof to her lip, and looked to Twilight. "That's wht ah thought ah'd ask you. Yer' the book expert, right, yer highness?" she chimed, the last bit in a playful tease.

"Honestly, I'd be more concerned over the varying sociopolitical ramifications brought on by the constant state of fluidity the lower noble class is caught up in.  The last thing I need is a wealthy industrialist or débutante trying to curry court favor through some off-hoof hope that I'm a direct link to the Princesses.  Or even worse if that sort of thing horned in on any of your guys' lives." Twilight rambled on at length, obviously annoyed by the idea she was proposing.  While the upper tiers of Equestrian rulership were peaceful, the lower ones... well, those could get pretty messy as nobles and the wealthy elite kept themselves locked in a constant class-war for no reason other than their own sense of prestige and boredom.

"Anyway, light reading... hmmm..."  the librarian mused as she sorted through a few books quickly, flipping their pages about to skim past the topics in a practiced manner.  She presented a few different books in short order.  "Well, how about we start with familiar territory?  This one is a practical guide focusing on standard and non-standard irrigation methods for large-scale farming plots.  This one is a spare copy of the newest Daring Do novel -- don't worry, they're pretty episodic, so continuity is an afterthought." she suggested eagerly, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed over the idea of spreading the joys of reading.  "Ooh, and this one is great too~!  I've read it eighty-seven times now; it's an exploitative essay discussing the merits of industrialization verses magical-technological development.  Purely tongue in cheek, of course -- the author is a riot~!"

<<< FROM: Sugarcube Corner

"Well, I'm afraid that would only solve half the problem, Quill," said Widget to his assistant as they walked up to the library. "Sure, I could invent something to grind them down, but pony stomachs aren't nearly as hearty as dragon stomachs. That, I'm afraid, I don't think, there's much that can be done about. Gemstones, even in dust form, would cut right through our soft insides... Ponies just aren't meant for such a diet. Though you have given me an interesting idea for an invention for ponies who lose their teeth due to age or whatever... A pair of clockwork teeth to chew your food for you... How convenient would that be?"

Pondering this idea for a pair of wind-up metal teeth that would chew your food for you, Widget knocked at the library door. Though it was a public library, it was also somepony's home, and it was only basic manners to knock first. "I hope Twilight's home," he mumbled to himself. He knew Spike would be there, and while he liked Spike just fine, he wanted to see Twilight in person, even if every time he did, he acted like a bit of a foal. He shifted slightly about in a nervous fashion; he always did around Twilight...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Tue 08 May 2012.

Finally pulling her eyes away from Spike at the mention of books for her, Xing turned to Twilight as she pulled down the heavy tombs from the higher shelves. This was more her style, her idea of a great way to spend an afternoon... quiet study with a big heavy book and a cup of buckwheat tea. "Ooh... Yes... this is just... just what I was looking for," said Xing happily as she began flicking through pages eagerly. "Positional relation of constellations by latitude and longitude... the effects of extinguished stars... the movements of the planets and comets... positions of nebulae and galactic bands... the draw of star magic by star and position... Oh, this is excellent..."

She actually settled down on the floor and began to read while Twilight tried to pick a book out for Applejack, her blue eyes moving rapidly and hungrily over the loose pages, though she had stacked them neatly inside so they wouldn't get out of order. "I read that essay," she said, without looking up. "Mama wasn't happy... that I'd read it. She said I was... too young to understand... but I thought the author, Mr. Swift... was a genius..."