[Enter from... Sugarcube Corner]

The young dragon was walking alongside Widget Whatsits, carefully carrying a basket containing some treats from Sugarcube Corner, although missing one cookie, and some of the sugar-cubes were also mysteriously absent.

"We'd have to find some older ponies without teeth to try it on, and, um, well, the not being able to eat gems," Quill yawned by way of punctuation, "means more for those that do! You are missing out though! It's.."

While Widget knocked on the door, Quill rescued another cookie from it's imprisonment within the basket, cramming the whole thing in to his mouth. While it was probably the most ungainly way possible to eat the cookie, it did conveniently deliver much needed sugar to the dragon, who was starting to sway a little on the spot. Looking up to his new employer, he noticed the odd manner in which he was shifting about.

"Is.. um, boss? Are.. are you okay?"

Applejack beamed at Ming as she took to the complex book and settled to the floor to read. She glanced back at Twilight. "Ah...  think ah could try out those first two books?" she asked. That essay sounded pretty intimidating, then Applejack felt a little ridiculous as even Ming revealed that she'd read it.

"An' ah guess that last one could work, too. If ya' don't mind me checkin' out three at once, Twilight."

When Xing piped up mentioning her thoughts on the author of the essay and her grasp of the various astrological studies far too advanced for a filly her age, Twilight absolutely beamed.  Yes, Xing coming to town was a good thing.  They were going to be best friends and have star-gazing sleepovers and discuss magical theory and this was going to be the best thing ever.  Was this how Pinkie Pie felt all the time?  She internalized a giddy squeal and added 'thank Granny Smith' to her mental checklist of things to do.

"By all means, AJ.  Feel free to check out as many as you like, so long as they all make it back here in one piece."  Twilight stacked the books and placed them in front of Applejack with a grin.  Then the door knocked, which piqued her curiosity.  Today really was getting busy again... "I'll get it."

The door glowed softly and swung open, revealing the sorceress herself on one side and a somewhat battered looking inventor on the other.  "Oh~!  Good afternoon, Widget.  It's nice to see you again~." she smiled brightly but was promptly drawn to the sight of the small dragon at his side... wearing a tie of all things?  "Ah... who's your friend?"

---> From Town Square

As the newcomers arrived, Rainbow Dash seemed to pay them little mind. She was too concentrated on finding the newest Daring Do novel! "Hay, Twilight, where the hay did you file this thing? I can never make sense of the system here... isn't it alphabetical?" she scratched her head in confusion. "Oh hey, uh, Wedgie was it? Wow, you've got a dragon too! This town's just going all nutty!"

I can never make sense of the system here... isn't it alphabetical?

Before she could stop herself, Twilight actually laughed aloud at such a thing.  She'd totally revamped the library's cataloging system from alphabetical soon after she'd moved in permanently to town and had begun expanding the stock to include a much broader variety of topics and languages.  She was quick to bite her lip and silence that sort of expression, bashfully clearing her throat instead.  "Ah... no.  The Daring Do serials are on the eighth shelf, second row from the top.  You can't miss them."  she pointed out quickly.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:14, Tue 08 May 2012.

"Boss? Do you need some tea? I can run back and get you som-"

As the door to the library swung open, he tried quickly to do a couple of things at once - adjusting his tie, shifting the weight of the basket, brush himself down of the remains of the cookie, yawn, rub his eyes and stretch a little. He managed to succeed in the yawning part, and the stretching sort of came naturally after that, but the crumbs and the slightly askew tie would have to be dealt with later.

"My friend here is Widget, he's an... oh, sorry," Quill smiled nervously up at Twilight before taking a few steps to his left, trying to position himself so that he'd be somewhat obscured by Widget.

"What?" Widget asked Quill, looking back at his assistant with a surprised expression. "Of course I'm okay... Do I not look okay? Why? What's wrong?" However, the beginning of his panic attack that he didn't look alright was interrupted by the door opening. He turned to look with a slightly startled expression, and all at once, Widget seemed to changed. His anxious expression blossomed into a sincere but slightly nervous smile, his eyes softened, and while his legs stopped fidgeting back and forth, his knees locked and his body got more tense.

"H-Hello, Twilight... It's good to see you too," he said in a surprisingly mellow tone. "I'm glad you're in today."

There was a pause when she mentioned who his friend was; he hadn't even looked down. "Who?" he asked when her question finally penetrated his brain and his mouth caught up, and he looked down. "Oh! E-Excuse me... Quill, this is Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is Quill. He's new in town, all the way from Canterlot. I've just hired him to be my assistant at the shop."

Now that his head was back together, he looked around the library at the other ponies inside. "Hello, Applejack, Rainbow Dash..." His expression slightly soured when Rainbow called him 'Wedgie'. "Widget. My name's Widget," he mumbled darkly.

Twilight blinked in mild surprise at the mention of Quill and her brows drew together as she felt something nagging at her mind.  She knew that name... Quill... Quill...

"Ah~!  Now I remember: you worked at the Royal Archives, right?  I heard there was another Dragon besides Spike living there, but I don't believe we've ever met." the unicorn turned her smile on Quill and offered out a hoof.  "Nice to meet you~!"

With introductions out of the way, she looked back and forth between the two curiously.  She never knew why Widget always seemed to antsy around her and simply passed it off as one of his many eccentricities.  "Was there something I could do for either of you?"

Feeling a bit relieved that the introduction wasn't quite as terrifying as he feared it probably would be, Quill happily shook the offered hoof, smiling with relief.

"No, I... um, well, I mean, yes, I did work at the Royal Archives and... no, we never got to meet, but I've hard all about you! With the.. um, actually," he yawned again, letting go of Twilight's hoof as he covers his mouth, "I think the boss needs some help with, um, I think there's some.."

He stood up as tall as he could, trying to whisper up towards Twilight.

"...I think there's something wrong with Boss's legs, I think it could be the bones, is.. is there a book on that?"

Widget, however, was once again completely oblivious to anything else around him. He didn't seem to notice Quill whispering to Twilight about his leg at all. "Help me with...?" he asked, and once more, his brain caught up a bit slowly. "Oh yes! I was wondering..."

He paused for a minute, suddenly extremely aware of everyone else around them for the first time. ~Don't wuss out, Widget! This is the perfect opportunity!~ he thought, steeling himself.

"I was wondering if you..."

~Do it...!~

"If you would happen to..."

~DO IT!!!~

"I was wondering if you... would happen to... h-have a book available about... lunar magical effects on animation spells," he finally finished.

~You are so pathetic...~

"The moon rising tonight that everyone's talking about... I was hoping to show Princess Luna one of my prototypes. One of my other ones, of course, haha..." He moved the battered wings a bit lamely, trying his best to ignore his brain, which wasn't as easy as you might think. "But I've never tested them at night before. I want to make sure everything will go alright."

"Come on in.  I'm sure we can find something for you." the unicorn invited the both inside.  She quickly leaned close to Quill and whispered back -- "Upstairs, northern most shelf, second to last row: 'Pony Biology and Degenerative Conditions."

Twilight was entirely unaware of Widget mentally tormenting himself at the time as she cantered along with a swish of her tail, happy to have her library so full of knowledge-seeking people.  She set to skimming her shelves, pondering over what title to suggest for the absent-minded inventor.  "Though just to be careful, I wouldn't advise trying any new inventions out during the Moon Raising, Widget.  If I know how edgy Royal Guards can be -- and I do -- then they're probably not going to be very happy with any airborne demonstrations while Luna is doing her thing.  I mean, what if you crashed again?"

With her stack of books, Applejack turned to wave a hoof to the new arrivals, then trotted over to sit with Rainbow Dash. She watched Widget and the new dragon with curiosity, then glanced over RD's shoulder at the latest Daring Do book. "Ah'm gonna read through the first one later, ah think. Ah got a lot to read, an' work to do, so ah hope ah'll find the time."

"Oh... No... no new inventions... No new spells... I'm just... double-checking calculations... to make sure they'll work fine at night... that's all." He was shifting again nervously, his fragile confidence around girls, and Twilight particular, still in little pieces. "The basic spell is sound. I know better than to tempt Canterlot guards." He paused, watching her look through books. "Um... Are you going to the moonrise? Of course you are, everyone is, eheh... Right?"

"I'll be back in a moment, boss, don't worry about a thing!"

He offered a friendly and very, very gentle pat to the leg of Widget, taking extra care because of his "condition" before setting the basket on one arm and beginning to navigate his way through the library. While he was still obviously looking for the section Twilight had helpfully pointed out, the lure of basically every book on the shelf was perhaps just a little bit too strong.

Quill managed to get no more than a couple of steps away from the side of Widget before he stopped and looked at a shelf of books.

"That's.. that's On The Trot! And, and that's The Hitchhiker's Guide to Equestria and.."

Leaving the basket on the floor, he began to pull out books from their place on the shelves, setting them down in a neat stack on the floor. Yes, Pony Biology and Degenerative Conditions would simply have to wait.

Wow... How can a pony be so smart and so oblivus at the same time? Honey thought to himself as he watched the conversasion between Twilight and Widget.

Better save him while time is. "Hay! My name is Honey. I am new in town!" Honey said as he walked up to Widget with a hoof stretched forward to him.

Quill only getting as far as a few paces along before his intellectual curiosity got the better of him was flat out adorable and it made Twilight giggle brightly at the sight of it.  She didn't mind one bit.  Dragons may have been pretty frightening once they got bigger, but when they were still like Spike and Quill, they were just too cute for words.

"I didn't even know about the Moon Raising until just a little while ago, but there's no way I'd miss out on it.  Besides, it'd be nice to have a chance to hang out with Princess Luna again.  Would you like me to introduce you to her?" Twilight mentioned as she pulled a few books off the shelves, pondered them, then slid them back into place apparently dissatisfied with the contents.  "It's probably going to be packed to the gills at Town Square, so I'll probably just stay here and watch from my balcony.  I'd be happy for the company if you'd like to join me."

It was about then that Honey stepped up with his friendly mannerisms.  Twilight felt a little bad about not introducing him sooner and moved to amend that particular faux pas.  "Right, Honey Sweets, meet Widget Whatsits.  Honey just moved to town and is staying with The Apples for the moment.  Widget is Ponyville's resident inventor and repair-pony."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Tue 08 May 2012.

"Oh... Oh, my, yes, I would love that!" he said, surprised and very pleased at the prospect of getting to actually meet Princess Luna in person. The idea of meeting someone like Princess Luna in person, to show her his invention right up front, was an amazing prospect! And what good it could do for his inventing career... He might even be able to afford to lay off the repair jobs and focus on the actual inventing part. That would just be amazing...!

"Oh, well, hello there, Honey," he said cheerily, giving the colt a hoofshake and a friendly smile. "Welcome to Ponyville. I hope you have a good time here."

He turned to watch Twilight for a second. He felt a hot blush come to his face when she invited him to keep her company during the moonrising, to watch from her balcony. He couldn't help but to stammer a bit, and finally, a smile came to his face. "Well, I would love to come and keep you company... A big crowd like that, I shouldn't take a pair of metal wings into, anyway. Inventor's responsibility, right? Um, provided, of course, we would still get to meet the Princess..."

He smiled weakly and gave a small cough. He felt like this could definitely be a chance to salvage his stumble. "Uh... Are you expecting... um... anyone else? To come up and keep you company, I mean?" he asked in a nervous tone.

"The actual raising of the Moon won't take long at all, so I imagine Princess Luna would have some free time afterward.  We can talk to her then if she's available." Twilight explained without concern.  She'd become fairly good friends with Luna following Nightmare Night, so she wasn't worried about being able to find a way to spend time with her somehow.

"Uh... Are you expecting... um... anyone else? To come up and keep you company, I mean?"

"I only just thought up the idea, so no.  I guess it'd just be the two of us.  Unless anypony else wants to join too?" she asked, looking around the library.  She doubted young ones like Spike and Quill could stay awake long enough past moon rise to enjoy the evening.  Xing Ming was a likely candidate, but no doubt she'd be excited to try and see the event at ground-zero like everypony else.  The same for Honey too, likely.  Applejack would probably have her stand to deal with since other merchants were going to be setting up shop to try and make Bits off the crowd, and Rainbow Dash... well, she was a wild card, really.  Regardless, the invitation was open to anypony who wanted to join them.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Tue 08 May 2012.

~This is your second chance. Just ignore everyone else! You got this! Don't you dare blow it this time!~

"W-Well..." he said, the blush in his cheeks getting darker, "to be honest with you... I would..." He took in a soft breath, causing a gentle pause in his speech.

~Come oooon...~

"I would love..."

~DO IT, WHATSITS!~

"I would love to spend the evening with you... and... just... you."

There was a very pregnant pause, and he smiled, trying to look confident and not overly awkward. "I-If that'd be alright with you, of course."

By the time the offer was made, Quill had already assembled two piles of around half a dozen books each, and it looked like he was working on a third pile. A lone copy of "On The Origin Of The Ponies" suggested that a fourth pile probably was on the cards as well.

"Well, if... if the boss is going, I should probably go too," he looked over at Widget, adding somewhat sadly, "especially with the boss in his condition."

Nodding to himself as if the matter is settled, he pulled out another book and added it to the first pile, which now stood at about the same height as he did.

Applejack flinched and glanced up from reading over Rainbow Dash's shoulder at Widget's tumbling question.  Her own cheeks went a hint shaded, as she was a ground zero witness for somepony asking one of her friends on such a date. She wasn't quite sure that Twilight would spot that for what it was, the mare could be socially awkward.   Applejack didn't look all that unsettled, just a little awkward, and put her nose in one of her own books.

But she was paying attention, in case her friend needed an emotional support of some sort. A support didn't come much more sturdy than her, after all. She did give Rainbow a slight glance, curious to see if she'd picked up on it, or been too engrossed in reading to hear it.

She recalled that same stumbling, shy reaction from her school days, when a colt would ask her out. It could be as tough on the filly as it could on him, though. Some ponies didn't handle outright shocks so well.

Rogue Heart. He was smooth when he was younger... and she, a bit more naive. She'd flipped a bit when he'd asked her on a date. And she'd agreed. Though, now, she couldn't figure him out. She was a wiser pony in the ways of romance, though, and she didn't want to see either of the two getting hurt.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:18, Tue 08 May 2012.

Spike took down Twilight's message to Princess Celestia, rolled it up, and blew a puff of green flame at it. Instantly it turned into a trail of green smoke and flew out the window toward Canterlot. He proudly demonstrates to Honey and Xing, "Dragon-mail! When it absolutely, positively, has to be there in five seconds!"

Spike then navigated the crowded library and resumed his duties reshelving books and taking notes for Twilight Sparkle. He talked as he worked. "What's a moon-rising, anyway? And how can it happen in Ponyville? The moon's way up in- huh?" At that moment he bumped into Quill and realized there was another dragon in the room. "Oh... uh... hi! Excuse me, but I couldn't help but notice that you're, uh, you know..."

Quill almost dropped his book as Spike bumped in to him and, with rather wide eyes, he looked at Spike. As with most of his first encounters with new people today, he was at a loss for something intelligent to say, and instead clutched the book tightly in front of him. Just, you know, in case.

"I'm... um, yes, I am. Ah. Um..." he felt himself tense up a little and looked over at the basket, which still contained a flask of tea and a single cookie, "..I'll split the cookie with you, and, um. I'm... Quill. And... you're a, um, too!"

As far as introductions go, it wasn't his best, but the whole thing had rather taken him by surprise.

Xing had, at long last, looked up from her book as Spike demonstrated his Dragon-mail spell, and gasped with astonishment, watching the string of green smoke drift swiftly out of the open window, and out across the sky toward Canterlot castle. "Oh... that was... so cool!" she breathed, clapping her hooves together. It was only then that she saw Quill, and her jaw just dropped wide open.

"Another... another..." She took in a deep, trembling breath, and all her shyness, and her interesting book, were entirely forgotten. She literally leaped at the two dragons, her eyes wide. "Oh wow! Two dragons?! I can't believe it! This really is the year of the dragon! Um... Hi! I'm Xing Ming," she said to Quill, positively beaming with pleasure.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:57, Tue 08 May 2012.

Applejack would either be relieved or further concerned as the point Widget was getting at soared so far above Twilight's head that it never even risked dinging her horn.  She just canted her head to the side and gave a kindly smile.

"Sure, that's fine by me." the unicorn replied simply.  Stuttered speech, shortness of breath, jitters, flushed face... Widget's general health must have been more poor than she thought.  No wonder Quill was concerned.  Still, there was nothing a quiet evening couldn't fix if it was just nerves that was bothering him.  Maybe he was just nervous about meeting Luna?  "Ooh, I wonder if there's time to stop by Sugarcube Corner and get some snacks for tonight?  Or maybe the Summer Song Cafe?  They have great teas."