The dragon looked visibly relieved as he was informed he wasn't late yet and, glancing back up the staircase, he considered that maybe there was time for that pre-breakfast nap he was sleepily considering earlier. Avoiding the siren call of his bed, he settled on clambering up on to the Widget's desk, sitting down upon the top a respectful and, hopefully, safe distance away from his work.

"I was kind of hoping to, um, sorry," he moved his tail to one side as a gear floated past and in to place, "well, I wanted to have a wander about the town, you know, get to know the place. And I still need to fix your ledger book, but I could do that after the town exploration but before lunch with Miss Twili- oh! You're, um, going.. did, did the date go well then? I mean, if you're asking her out to lunch again, I, I guess so. But it could be like when you when you do something wrong, so you have to do it right the second time. Is, is everything okay?"

"Oh yes, everything's just wonderful," said Widget as he at last paused in his work to gaze up slightly at the calendar on the wall, which featured a complicated piece of machinery labeled 'Hydroelectric Generator, Three Gaures Dam, Chineigh', a dreamy sort of smile coming over his face that didn't seem to have anything to do with the picture he was looking at, and sighed slowly. He quickly snapped himself out of it and turned back to his assistant, pulling up the jewel glasses so he could actually look at the young dragon. "The date went very well indeed. So well in fact that she said she wanted another. I thought today might be a good day. We'll see how busy she is."

He turned back to his work, magicking up the gears and tools again to pick up where he left off. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea, Quill. Get to know the layout of town, meet a few ponies. So long as you come back by lunch time. I ordered those concert tickets express certified, which means somepony has to sign for them or they won't be dropped off with the rest of the mail, and I'm not sure how soon they're due to come."

Quill noticed the odd, dreamy smile that spread across Widget's features for a moment and, rather than bring it up, he simply decided to file it alongside "Wobbly Leg Syndrome" as some kind of date-related physical ailment. Along with a mental note to make sure that sort of thing isn't contagious.

"There, um," he began as Widget turned back to his work, smiling nervously all the while, "is there a doctor in the town? Or somepony specialising in contagious diseases, or how to avoid known transmission vectors? I could go to the, um, library, but..."

Twilight could be infected too.

"...maybe going to find, um, an expert rather than a book might be in order."

"There are several doctors in town. Most work at the hospital, but a few work at the general care facility in town square. There's also an acupuncturist, chiropractor, and a vet's a doctor of animals... Why, do you feel sick?" He looked to his assisstant with a critical eye.

"No, no, not me, I'm feeling fine," Quill tried his best to reassure Widget, demonstrating his general fitness and health by briefly sticking out his tongue with the accompanying "aaaah" noise, which is something he'd assumed doctors would be interested in seeing, "see? My tongue hasn't fallen out, teeth still there, knees are fine too."

"It's for, um, somebody I, um, met, the day before yesterday, when I arrived. It's probably nothing," he added, looking a little guilty for keeping the whole truth from Widget, "but, it'd be remiss of me not to make sure it's nothing serious. What if it starts an epidemic? No, no, best to, um, nip it in the bud, right? I'll try the hospital!"

Realising that his alibi probably wouldn't stand up to any further scrutiny, he began climbing back down from the top of the desk, taking great care not to disturb Widget's invention as he went. After making it to the floor, he offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile up towards Widget as he adjusted his tie.

"Is there anything, um, you need? From town?"

Widget watched Quill for a few moments with obvious scrutiny, paying attention to the Dragon's tongue, teeth, and even knees. He did seem alright, full of energy as always, which begged the question why he wanted to see a doctor so much. At last, however, he was forced to accept that Quill looked just fine, and relaxed a bit, deciding to believe Quill's story about somepony he met when he arrived who was ill.

"No, I think we're good on supplies for now," he said, satisfied that his assistant was feeling alright, though he highly doubted they were on the precipice of disaster, and going back to his work, flicking the jeweler lenses back down as he focused once more on the intricate gears before him.

There was a loud sound from outdoors that caused Widget to glance up again curiously, but it only lasted a moment before he realized it was a loud belch he had heard and went back to his work. "Pinkie Pie's having some kind of fun out there, so be careful heading out," he advised his assistant.

Quill paused by the door as he heard the belch and, with one claw about to push open the door, he paused. There was something strangely ominous about being warned that somebody is having fun, Quill considered, but that was an awfully loud belch. Still, he had a job to do and, turning back to glance up at Widget, he gave a little nod.

"I'll try a safe distance from the fun, no need to worry, boss! Enjoy the music and gears, I'll be back for lunch. Maybe even brunch!"

After opening the door a tiny bit and peering out to make sure that the fun wasn't happening right on their doorstep, Quill swung the door wide open and broke in to a rather ungainly run. Time was of the essence, after all, who could be sure how long Widget had left?

[Exit to... Ponyville Hospital]

Widget watched his assistant leave, shaking his head and snickering as he went back to his work. His first level prototype of the inertia powered wing design Pinkie Pie had presented him with was nearly finished. Long leather straps set with gears and pulleys cupped around the hooves like shoes, tugging at the inner gears and wound up stored power for flight within the small pack that cupped around the back where the wings connected, and wore more like a vest or harness than his original designs that just strapped around the waist. Having experienced real flight, he better understood how different muscles worked and what muscles a non-flyer had to make up for, except of course for the obvious ones in the wings. It had been challenging, but that was what had made it so fun. Like most of his first run prototypes, his hopes were not pinning on success, but on learning how to improve for the next model. As his mother had always said, there was no such thing as failure provided you learned something.

Leaning back slightly, Widget pulled off his square glasses to rub his eyes with his hooves, the tight vision brought by the jeweler lenses granting him a bit of a headache after working with them all morning. He was glad he was nearly done with the intricate interior, at least for now. It'd get easier as his models continued to improve. Stretching his neck and standing to stretch his legs, he rested his eyes on a small picture near the back of his desk set in a thin silver frame, half hidden behind stacks of notes and sketches. Gently pushing these out of the way, he looked down at the picture he had spent many hours in his life staring at, and smiled to himself as good memories flooded him.

A midnight purple unicorn mare looked out of the picture back at him, with soft green eyes behind lavender glasses, and long, untidy rust red and blue mane and tail. She wore a lab coat, sitting before a long wooden desk that looked somehow just like Widget's, cluttered with notes, sketches, tools, and spare bits of gears and other metal pieces. She was only glancing slightly at whoever had taken the picture, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth, despite the otherwise serious expression she wore as she worked on a piece of equipment who's purpose, to the casual observer, not easily discerned. In the background, looking over a bookshelf and out of focus, was a light orange stallion, tall and paying no attention to the camera or the work going on behind him, his wings folded tight to his side as to knock nothing over in the cluttered workshop, and looking far too severe for his own good.



A low sigh escaped Widget again, and he turned instead to the little clockwork bird that had been his companion for some time now. The automaton, gears powered only by magic, looked back, waiting patiently for Widget's command. A smile came across his face as an idea began to blossom in his mind, and he was quick to grab a quill and a roll of parchment. As he wrote, he grinned wider and even slightly flushed. He hoped that Twilight would have time to spend with him today - they had both been very busy with Star and with their work and studies, and while he had indeed just seen her the day before, it felt as if they hadn't been able to spend any real time together for a few days. It was surprising how that made his heart ache just a little bit...

After he finished his letter in his signature slightly blocky scrawl, he pulled one of the daisies from a vase near the front window and tucked it into the parchment, rolling it up tight, and nodding to his bird, who was quick to hop forward and grip the parchment roll in its claws. "Take this to Twilight Sparkle," he said very clearly, "in the Branches and Books library, right away." The bird gave a mechanical sounding chirp, apparently in confirmation, as it lifted up, struggling with the parchment slightly, and bumbled out the open window.

>>> Tik Tok exits to Ponyville Time Square

[Enters from Ponyville Hospital]

"I'm back, I'm back," was the first thing Quill called out as he pushed the door to the workshop open, a little fearful that he might have spent too much time dawdling between the hospital and the workshop. The little dragon didn't waste any time in heading over to Widget and, in his excitement, he left the door wide open, along with a trail of muddy claw-prints behind him upon the floor.

"I spoke to Nurse Redheart at the hospital about everything and told her the symptoms and explained what was going on and she said that the knee-thing and the strange smile didn't mean it was some kind of disease or infection and, and," he finally paused to take in a lungful of air, "there might be some tummy problems, but not like a tummy ache, but more like bugs or insects in your stomach, b-b-but the good news is that you're not ill or contagious! You're going to be okay!"

"That certainly took less time than I expected. I thought it would take much more time to get the layout of town and meet a few ponies," said Widget with obvious amusement as his assistant entered the workshop, turning from his work to look at the dragon through his jewel lenses, making his eyes look beady and tiny before he flipped them up and out of the way.

He glanced at the door, left wide open, and at the trail of muddy footprints the little dragon had left, before his eyes fell at last to his assistant, and he raised a brow in curiosity. He listened to what Quill said, but honestly couldn't make heads or tails of it. "Nurse Redheart?" he asked. Of course he knew who the good nurse was - he, after all, had spent a lot of time getting patched up in the hospital, and knew most of the nurses and doctors there by name. "Knee thing? Strange smile? Disease?" he repeated with an incredulous, confused, and amused laugh. "Quill, what are you talking about? Of course, I'm alright. I've been in the hospital enough times to know when I'm not. Did you think I was ill?"

It was about then that the mechanical bird known as Tik Tok bustled in through the wide open door, still with plenty of charge left from Twilight's boost, and landed squarely on the desk. For a moment, Quill's strange proclamation that he was healthy was forgotten, Widget's eyes fixated on the note that he had brought with him. He hurriedly took the parchment and unbound it to read Twilight's response, hoping for good news.

The rolled paper held by Tik Tok contained a simple note in Twilight's tidy, flowing penmanship.  She was very accustomed to writing letters and it showed.

~

Dear Widget,

I find myself in complete agreement.  Fortunately, I happen to be teaching Starcrasher out in the clearing this morning.  Her lesson ends shortly before lunch time.  With that, I will already be anxiously awaiting you at the designated spot.

Affectionately yours,

Twilight Sparkle

~

"I've still got time to go out agai- well, it was just that I was a teeny bit, um, concerned, but it's fine! Nurse Redheart explained everything, the whole crush thing, so now it all makes sense. Mostly."

Quill glanced up as Tik-Tok came sailing through the open door and landed upon the desk and, judging by the hurried way in which Widget set about getting at the parchment the mechanical contraption carried, the dragon assumed it was something very important indeed. Relating, no doubt, to the mysterious crush business.

"Good news, boss?"

Widget smiled happily at Twilight's reply and let out a soft, high sigh of pleasure. He loved the look of Twilight's tidy penmanship - it was so much neater than his own! He looked to Quill once he was finished reading it, folding up the note and tucking it into the stack of papers that filled the paper dividers at the head of the desk. "Well, I suppose it was nice of you to be concerned, but you could have just asked me. I would have told you what you needed to know," he chuckled, though his cheeks flushed red with the knowledge that it had been so obvious that he had been twitterpated, even to his baby dragon companion.

"Yes, very good news," he said brightly as he stood up from his desk, lifting the devise he had been working on with a glow of soft blue magic. "Twilight said yes to my lunch invitation, so I have a little bit of shopping to do before I leave. But you said you wanted to go out again, did you?"

The contraption looked more like a harness with a box on it than anything else, with two metal 'D's' folded down flat, one on each side. A series of clockwork gears was visible beneath the glass panel he had placed over the top to make the inner workings visible and more easily discernible if there was a problem. Widget began to put it on, slipping his back and front hooves into the leather shoes and strapping them around his legs with buckles just below and above the knee to keep them in place. He shifted his front right leg up, and the right wing flexed and pulled open in a fan of bluish white metal. He stepped backward, moving to a conveyor belt that had been set on the floor like a treadmill. As he began to trot and work the belt, both wings had folded out and moved up and down slowly with his slow movements. A series of gears and belts was visible beneath the wing sheets, moving smoothly as he trotted.

"So far so good," he commented as his wings moved with his motions, stepping off the treadmill and curling up his legs one at a time. The gears folded back and down into place and out of the way. He grimaced slightly, looking down at the leather straps that locked to his legs. "Guess I'll want to get used to wearing them if I ever want to fly with it," he said as he shrugged his shoulders back and got more comfortable.

"So, Quill, it's nearly lunch time now. I have a little shopping to do before hand. The mailmare usually comes around this part of town at about two or three... If you're back by then to check the mail and do your cleaning duties, feel free to go look around Ponyville this morning," he offered. With that, Widget made his way upstairs and packed a few things into his empty picnic basket, namely his chess set, a long thin box full of cards, and a small wooden cube complete with tiny black discs about the size of a filly's horseshoe.

"See you later then," he said brightly to his assistant, his basket balanced on his back, as he made his way out to do a bit of shopping before heading to the woods.

>>> TO: Summer Song Cafe
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Sun 23 Sept 2012.

--> From: The Everfree Forest -->

There would be a knocking on the door, followed by the sound of someone trying to turn the handle -- rather clumsily by the sound of it.

Thankfully for Starcrasher, she'd find that the shop wasn't locked.  Whether it was merely an oversight or done on purpose was anyone's guess.  What was more catching though was that she would find a distinct lack of a Dragon on the premise.  Quill was nowhere to be found and his bag was gone too.  A hastily scribbled note was on the floor next to the table -- it looked as though it had been left on the work bench, but knocked aside unwittingly earlier in the day.

It read:

-~-
Dear Mister Whatsits, Starcrasher, and Tik Tok,

I'm sorry to make this so abrupt, but I'm afraid I've been called back to Canterlot rather unexpectedly.  I was hoping to be out on my own a while longer, but duty calls.  Well, actually, Princess Celestia calls, but that's not something you ignore one way or the other.  Hopefully we can meet again soon though.

-Quill
-~-

Starcrasher read the note, illuminating the room in a soft glow from her horn that for once did not deplete the entire area of magic. She then placed the note back on the desk, a bit sad that Quill had to leave all of a sudden, but then again she had been spending some time with Princess Luna herself. What if she would be requested to return as well?

Regardless, Luna's lulliby that was still lingering in her ears caused her to stifle a yawn again. The note was placed where Widget would be able to find it, and she just felt everything would be much clearer in the morning. Heading up the stairs, she headed into Widget's bedroom before halting in the door opening, having completely forgotten which bed she was supposed to sleep in now. A small voice told her that if Quill had left, she could sleep in his bed, but Widget's bed just looked so inviting...

...Well okay, maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt until he'd return.

Beginning of Day 9:

Starcrasher took a deep breath as the sunlight started beaming in through the window onto her face. Mumbling something, she turned around for a moment longer, deciding to want to hold onto her sleep for a couple more minutes before finally waking up. After stretching out, she got out of bed, now noticing that she had been lying in Widget's bed. Looked like that nap she had wanted to take ended up being a full night's sleep!

- "Oh wow... Must have been out like a log."

She took a deep breath, looking around for signs of Widget. Not seeing any for the moment, she decided to simply head downstairs to see if he was already up.

Day 9 Start!

While Twilight may have idly teased about the fact that all their meetings as of late ended up becoming full-day dates, she frankly couldn't have been happier in spending time with Widget.  Last evening they'd returned to his home to have a light meal and cozy themselves in front of the fire place to finish their game of chess... and that was just where they'd ended up staying the entire night.  Starcrasher would no doubt be surprised (or at least amused) to come downstairs and find the two Ponies lying together in front of the now cooled hearth, cuddled up under a blanket looking entirely content as they snoozed the morning away.

Start of Day 9

There had been many nights where Widget had not gone to bed, almost all of them related to his work. This was by far the best sleep he'd ever gotten while out of bed, though that was most likely because of the pony he was cuddled up next to. His long neck was curled around her front over her hooves, his glasses off and chin resting on the ground, while her neck leaned slightly over his and her head rested gently on his shoulder as a pillow. Curled up together as they were, Widget had never in his life been so comfortable. The chess game still sat before them, the white pieces and black pieces on their squares, the plates from their dinner still on either side of them with nothing but crumbs as testament to the meal that had been upon them.

Even as Starcrasher came downstairs, he slept on, so cozy and warm that he would likely sleep most of the day. It had been a good while since he had slept this well, and his tired body was in much need of such rest.

As Starcrasher looked around the workshop, it didn't take her long to spot the blanket in front of the fireplace, two Pony-sized mounds half-hidden below them. Sneaking closer, she recognized both her boss and her teacher, and couldn't help but grin. The first day he had fixed her breakfast, so this was actually a perfect opportunity to return the favor.

Sneaking off again to not wake the pair, she went into the kitchen, trying to recall just what had been pulled from where. She'd need coffee and bread and butter and that one jar of ground daisies that was on the table the other day too... Now where did he keep those flakes again?

As always, Twilight Sparkle was not a morning person.  She was more than content to miss the sunrise her mentor brought up each day if it meant grabbing a few more hours under the covers before she had to get moving.  It was an old holdover from her days at the academy where she'd burn the candle low into the night, unable to stop studying and thus wearing herself out to sleep in odd hours.  But last night she'd been up late talking, playing, and just keeping the company of her coltfriend... a much different source of diversion, but a pleasant one all the same.  And, all the same, it resulted in refusing to rise come morning.

However, Twilight wasn't so heavy a sleeper that the sound of another moving around (particularly a somewhat clumsy filly) went unnoticed.  As Starcrasher rifled around in the kitchen getting breakfast going, Twilight's ears flicked sharply at the faint noise and prodded her mind into groggy activity.  With a low groan she slowly blinked her eyes open, unable to focus at first or remember quite where she was.  Clarity came gradually and, thankfully for her still-snoozing beau, she didn't startle when she realized the position she was in or what had happened.  The Unicorn tilted her head aside to gaze down at Widget's sleeping expression and smiled lazily, unable to resist tucking down to snuggle at him and remain by his side a while longer.

Eventually they'd have to wake up though.  Be it through the smell of breakfast getting underway or the noise of chaos from Starcrasher (one way or the other...), the two studious Ponies would have to rise and maybe shine with a firm application of coffee first.  Once Widget began to stir on his own, Twilight leaned in and nuzzled his cheek fondly, greeting him with a good-morning kiss.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:46, Thu 31 Jan 2013.

Widget was a light sleeper, to be frank. His mind was always rushing over new inventions or ideas and improvements to his existing ones. While his wing pack was his pride and joy, and his favorite invention so far, he had a million other things going on at once. He had even, at one time when he was a young teen, slept with a pebble inside his hoof and a pot at his bedside, so if he ever had a dream. he would twitch, drop the stone, and wake himself with the clang so he could quickly jot down the idea that had woken him. It had worked for a while, until he started falling asleep in class...

Thus, it was easy to understand why he had woken when Starcrasher had begun to move about the kitchen, clanging pots and pans to make breakfast. He had felt the warmth of Twilight against him under the cozy blankets, and had decided before he had even fully woken that he was not going to move. He was far too comfortable, far too warm, and far too close to Twilight to want to disturb the situation. Under normal circumstances, he was actually not too bad of a morning pony. But today was... special. And he had no desire at all to move.

He felt when Twilight stirred, caught himself between sleep and awake, and felt her nuzzle back into his warmth. He had been slightly worried that she'd move away (he was unfortunately well aware of her states of panic unfamiliar situations could bring), but she seemed to take it all in stride. That made him feel strangely far more happy than he expected to feel...

A smile pulled at his mouth as Twilight kissed his muzzle, even though his eyes remained closed for the moment. "I think I could wake up to that everyday and be quite happy indeed," he said sleepily as full wakefulness came to him, and he opened his eyes. Everything more than a few feet away was blurry, but Twilight's lovely face, so close, was in perfect focus. "Good morning... Sleep well?"

The particular choice of phrase, and the implications it carried (unwittingly or not), made Twilight's brows raise and her ears pin back reflexively.  Ah, there was that blush of hers again.  While she was growing well-accustomed to being so close with Widget, there were still things that set off her bashfulness.

"Actually... yeah, I really did." she replied in a soft tone.  Twilight reached a hoof over to retrieve her coltfriend's glasses and held them up, gesturing for him to close his eyes so that she could safely slide them onto his face and give him his full field of view back.  "I'm kind of surprised though... I didn't expect to fall asleep."

Despite now being awake and somewhat active, Twilight still hadn't fully raised up from the floor or Widget's side just yet.  She would have to soon -- her hips were starting to ache and demand that she stretch after laying curled for so long, but she was just too darn cozy to give in so soon.  "Sounds like Star Dasher is already up... or maybe Quill?"

At that moment, Starcrasher emerged from the kitchen area carying a tray with six cups of coffee on it, and a couple of hastily made sandwiches. She had intended for them to lok a bit nicer, but since the ponies she wanted to make breakfast for were already starting to wake up she had had to rush it a bit more.

- "Good morning! I didn't know just how much coffee would go into a cup to make it strong enough so i just made two cups at three different strengths, just... drink the ones that ended up the best."

She smiled, balancing the tray though not using her magic, while she would technically have been able to levitate the tray on her own by now she really didn't want to risk ruining breakfast -- or spill her first attempts at making coffee. She'd place the tray next to Widget and Twilight, though closer to Widget to avoid having to step over him. Twilight was pretty good at levitation anyway from what she could tell, and then there was that whole gentlecolty thing with Widget handing her a cup -- after testing -- for what she believed was called an indirect kiss. Or something along those lines.

- "Anyway, i could make a couple more sandwiches if you want, i kind of had to gamble how hungry you'd be and i still need to make breakfast for myself anyway."

And with that, she was backup up back into the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast, keeping an ear open to listen to the results of her attempt at breakfast and any other requests.

---> Arrival from Ponyville Residential - Library

There was a knock upon the door.

And then there was a dozen more.

The thirteen knocks came in a flurry.

Whoever knocked was in a hurry.