To Babysit a Crusader

"...yep, that's the last of it," Scootaloo boringly groaned.

"We've taken out everything from the toy box, and there's nothing fun looking," Sweetie Belle whined.

"I guess we aren't Cutie Mark Crusader fun finders," Apple Bloom finished, no enthusiasm in her voice.

It had been about an hour, and the girls were still just SO BORED. There was nothing fun to do down here. Nothing. If only Wyatt hadn't set up all those restrictions. Those other rooms were looking very mysterious and explorable, but if they went in there, Wyatt would get mad. Not that he wasn't already. He didn't seem like a very jolly fellow. Defeated by the looming sense of ennui, the three girls sat on the couch.

"What're we suppose ta do down here?" Apple Bloom asked the other two. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom, and then at each other, hoping the other would have an idea. Both of them just shrugged, followed by all three sighing from boredom and frustration. When all hope seemed lost, an idea hit Sweetie Belle.

"Girls, I've got it! Whenever Rarity wants me to stay outside and not bother her work, she tells me to use my imagination. We should just imagine something fun!" With nothing else to do, the other to Crusaders agreed to go with Operation: Imagination. "I'll start," Sweetie...started. "Alright, let's say...we're at sea."

"Um...we're pirates, and we've just taken the loot of another ship," Scootaloo added.

"And the ship was...deliverin' baked goods! Yeah! We're good pirates, tryin' ta get food for hungry ponies," Apple Bloom continued. Their imaginations took over, and instead of seeing a dank, boring basement, they saw the deck of a ship. Each crusader was now decked out in some kind of pirate get up, as their crew began taking the spoils of the ship they had just raided. All three, of course, shared the position of captain.

"Move it along mateys! We'd like to get back to port by sundown!" Scootaloo commanded the crew. As the girls watched their crew work, a husky stallion walked up to them from behind.

"Captains," he began. The three turned to attention. "I was wondering what ye might want to do with the captain of this ship," he asked as he slid a pony off of his back. Said pony tried struggling in the ropes he was tied in, but to no avail. He looked like Mr. Cake, except in a uniform you'd expect to see from a royal chef.

"What should we do with 'im?" Apple Bloom asked aloud, trying her hardest to mix her natural southern accent with a pirate's.

"I say we make him walk the plank!" Sweetie Belle suggested. At this, the captain/chef's expression turned to that of horror as he erratically shook his head. It was all he could do to signal his feelings towards that suggestion. He couldn't talk over that rag in his mouth, after all.

"No, Ah've a better idea!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as she walked over to the still scared pony. She removed the rag from his mouth, and looked him dead in the eye. "Where are your recipes?" The captain/chef gave her a shocked look. "I'll never tell! You can take all the bakery items you want, but not the recipes!"

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Well, either ye speak up, or walk the plank." At this, the captain/chef's expression turned to one of hopelessness. He decided it'd be better to lose his secret recipes than lose his life. With a sigh, he spoke.

"The recipes are in my cabin, inside the bottom drawer in the desk, kept under lock and key."

"And where's the key?" Scootaloo spoke up.

"...under the doormat..." the captain/chef reluctantly revealed.

With this information in mind, the three captains rushed over to the cabin, and looked under the doormat. Sure enough, a key was under it. Odd place to put it for something that's supposed to go in a drawer inside the cabin, but now's not the time to think about that. They entered the cabin, which looked like any other cabin you'd see. A small room with a desk and candle on top. The walls were strewn about with pictures of what were assumed to be the best creations of the captain/chef, considering how tasty they looked. The captains proceeded to move behind the desk, find the bottom drawer, and insert the key into the lock. They turned the key, and heard a small click!

They opened the drawer, and couldn't believe their little filly eyes. The recipes not only held the information on how to bake the foods, but came with pictures of them too, but that wasn't the amazing part. What was amazing, was that the foods looked absolutely delicious! The pictures of the food on the walls were garbage in comparison to these! There were cakes drizzled in chocolate sauce and cherries, bagels dipped in honey with cinnamon, donuts filled to the brim with raspberry filling, cookies covered in frosting and ice cream-

A loud, low groan brought the girls back to reality.  "What was that?" Scootaloo wondered. Another groan came from seemingly nowhere.

"There it is again!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. The girls stood around listening for a moment, then heard another groan. Tracing the noise, each individual Crusader looked at their own stomach as they each gave off one more loud growl. They hadn't even noticed how hungry they were until now. "Gee, Ah'm starved!" Apple Bloom remarked.

"Well, Wyatt's upstairs. Maybe we could ask him for something to eat," Sweetie Belle suggested. All in agreement that they had to put a stop to the rumbling in their bellies, the Crusaders headed up the stairs.

--

It had been only an hour since I sent the Crusaders into the basement, and for once, things were a bit quiet up here. It felt nice. And I mean REALLY nice (although I'm a bit curious as to why the Crusaders have been so quiet). I didn't really know anything that was going on around me. I was just reading on the computer, minding my own business. The rain outside was still pounding, so it really added to the sense of pea-the basement door just opened.

"Oh boy, I wonder what they wanna bother me with," I quietly muttered. I turned around to see that the three had already gathered around the computer chair I was sitting in (damn they're fast!), and were all staring at me with those giant eyes of theirs.

Sweetie Belle was the first to say something. "Uh, Wyatt we were just kinda-"

"Kinda hungry!" Scootaloo interrupted.

"We know you told us to stay downstairs an' all, but while we were down there our stomachs started growlin'," Apple Bloom added in.

"Isn't it weird how they all did it one after the other? It's like they were talking to each other!" Scootaloo said while rubbing her stomach, intrigued at such an idea.

"Ah don't think stomachs can talk to each other."

"I bet they could! We'd just-" I didn't hear what came next, because my mind was deep in thought. I completely forgot that I'd have to feed them! What were they going to eat? It's not like I keep some oats or someth- ...wait a minute! I could give them cereal! (Just not the sugary kinds. Lord knows I don't need to make them even MORE hyper). But what kinds of cereal did I have? I really hoped my mother had at least bought something that was remotely close to the oats that the Crusaders knew and loved.

"...all Ah'm sayin' is that we'd need to do so much work for such a little translator that probably wouldn't even be able to work!"

I spoke up before Scootaloo could offer what I assumed would be such a LOVELY counter-argument.

"Girls, wait right here. And quit arguing. Believe me, I've had enough of that in my lifetime." I got up from my chair and headed into the kitchen. I opened my cereal cabinet and peered in. Sugar cereal...sugar cereal...sugar cereal...Ah! There! A box of Cheerios! Perfect! I proceeded to take out the box and close the cabinet door. I turned around, then turned to my left to get three bowls out of another cabinet. As I poured a bowl, I glanced behind me and saw the girls' ears slightly perk up (Pouring a bowl of cereal isn't a silent act, after all).

"What exactly are you doin' in there Wyatt?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I'm getting you supper," I said back.

"Oh! Oh! What're we having?" Sweetie Belle asked excitedly.

I poured the second bowl. "Well, I guess you could call them oats..."

Scootaloo eyed me suspiciously. "You guess?"

I poured the third bowl. "Yeah. I guess. Don't ask alright?"

As I looked at the bowls of cereal, I wondered if I should pour milk into them. Cereal is NEVER complete without milk! It just doesn't work without it! I wondered though. Would they still eat it? And even if they did, would they drink the milk? I'm not exactly sure how a pony's digestive system works, but I didn't want to accidentally poison them. I'd never hear the end of it. But haven't they had milk in the show before...?

"How long's that meal gunna take? We're starvin' out here!" Apple Bloom yelled. Eh, fuck it. I won't put any milk in. I proceeded to take the three bowls to the tables (I also grabbed three spoons in the process, even though I'm not sure they can use them) and set the first two bowls and spoons on the opposite ends of the table. The third set was put on the middle-ish region of the table.

"Dinner's served," I called out. No sooner had I said that the Crusaders all rushed in, plopped themselves on the chairs in front of the bowls, and began eating away. Oh good. It seems the Cheerios bode well with them. I wonder if they can tell the difference between them and normal oats? ...oh look at them, just eating away. Their adorable little way of nibbling on the little processed oats. The sight was pretty cute, but not enough to melt my icy heart. No sir. They may be cute, but-

"Wyatt, can I have a glass of water with this?" Sweetie Belle asked me,  sitting in a position similar to a begging dog, her voice so curious, and her giant eyes looking straight into mine.

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG.

"Okay," I responded, slightly trembling.  I never thought an overload of cuteness existed. I just got proved wrong. I proceeded to the fridge as I grabbed a glass, pulled out the water jug, and poured Sweetie some water.

"Thank you." Sweetie responded in an adorable tone as I handed her the glass.

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG. Again. How do they do it? How are they just SO ADOWABLE!? I JUST WANNA SCOOP 'EM UP AND-whoa...what just happened...? Confound these ponies! Their cuteness is turning me into an adoring little pansy! Ugh...I should just stop thinking about it. As long as they're having dinner, I figure I should too.

I went to my freezer and grabbed some frozen hot wings (a wholesome healthy dinner for them, and an additive and artificial preserver filled meal for me). I set the wings on a tray to be cooked on the toaster oven, and the Crusaders eyed me curiously as I did it.

"What?" I asked as I put the wings in to cook.

I didn't even do so much as glance behind me, and I knew they were staring at me (I'm psychic. Maybe. That, or I can just feel when someone's looking at me). The Crusaders slightly jumped as they heard me speak (Believe me, I heard them jump) and went back to finishing their food. An unspecified amount of time later, my meal was finished, and I sat down on the couch to eat. That's when I noticed them, standing in the opening to the kitchen, eyeing me curiously again.

"No seriously, what is it?" I asked, wing in hand.

"What is that you're eating?" Scootaloo asked, apprehension (apprehension?) in her voice.

"Hot wings."

"Hot...wings?"

"Uh, yeah. Hot wings." Scootaloo gulped, Sweetie Belle took a few steps back, and Apple Bloom froze, a scared expression on her face.

"You mean...t-those are actually wings?" Scootaloo asked, eyes glued to the food in my hand with a fresh bite in it.

"Mm-hm." I said nonchalantly, unaware of their rising fear and taking another bite.

"They aren't little p-pegasus wings, are they?" Scoots was trembling a bit now.

"Oh no, they're not pegasus wings." I said with a small laugh.

The three breathed a sigh of relief. "Then what're they made of? Bits a' celery with hot sauce on 'em?" Apple Bloom inquired, somewhat giggling at the thought of being able to make wings out of celery.

"No, not celery" I replied. "They're made of wings from chickens and covered in hot sauce."

--

Back at the library, all ponies but Lyra were startled by this discovery. Wyatt was eating chickens!? It was good that Fluttershy wasn't here, or else she'd have a heart attack!

"Heh, yeah. I probably ought to have mentioned that humans eat meat..." Lyra said, hoof scratching the back of her head.

--

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I shouldn't have told them what the wings were made of. I completely forgot that in pony society, eating meat wasn't normal. At all. I was rudely reminded of that fact as soon as I informed them of the horrible main ingredient that makes up a hot wing (what with all three of them screaming, running to the bathroom, and locking themselves in it as they yelled something about me being a monster). Why? Why did my brain think it would be a good idea to eat HOT WINGS in front of them? Of course they'd think I was a monster if I was eating chickens! (The weirdest part is, Scootaloo seemed the most freaked out of the three).

Ugh, it's been about a half hour, and they're still hiding in there! What am I gonna do? How will I get them to come back out? I got up and and walked from the couch to the bathroom door. I gave a few knocks on the door.

"Come on! I'm not going to eat you!" I said, merely just to test how they would answer.

"Then why'd you eat a chicken!?" I heard Scootaloo shout.

"Because people like me normally eat chicken! It's part of our diet!"

"You mean you're not the ONLY one who eats chickens!?" (Probably wasn't the best thing to say...) "What's next, you're gonna say you eat cows?"

"Uh...well..."

Before I could finish that statement, three screams came from the bathroom. The ponies were now probably even MORE horrified of me then before.

"He eats cows too!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Hey, it doesn't mean I like to eat ponies!"

"Yeah, but what if yer lyin’?!"

Apple Bloom definitely had me there. Damn, I underestimated these ponies' smarts (especially the farmer, of all things). Defeated, I only walked back to my couch and sat down. I needed to formulate some plan to get them to come out (I don't think their sisters/idol would exactly appreciate that I've almost traumatized them).

What, really, could I do though? It's not like I can just say 'Oh hey I don't actually eat meat!', because that has been proven absolutely wrong. ...hey wait...that doesn't mean I don't eat other food groups too! Maybe I could show them that I don't only eat meat. With this thought in mind, I proceeded to the fridge and grabbed an apple (Hey, if this didn't work, at least it might make relations with Apple Bloom a bit better). I knocked on the bathroom door again.

"Whaddaya want now?" Apple Bloom answered.

"Just to show you girls that I eat other things too."

"Like what? Pigs?" Scootaloo shouted.

Knowing that if I answered anything other than no would get me in an even worse situation (Despite the fact that I wanted to praise these girls' good guessing skills), I decided to go with the latter answer.

"Nope," I responded, taking a bite of the apple. It only took me a few seconds after taking a bite to remember one crucial fact: I don't really like apples. But it was too late now. If I stopped after one bite with this disgusted look on my face, the girls wouldn't trust me, and my mother would get angry at me for being wasteful (she'd know if I wasted food, as odd as that sounds).

I heard a bit of moving around in there and put my ear to the door, ready to pick up anything they said. From what I heard of their conversation, I assumed that the moving around was them forming into some kind of huddle.

"Girls, Ah'm pretty sure he's eatin' an apple. Ah'd know that crunch from anywhere." I heard Apple Bloom whisper.

"But what if he's just eating a piece of meat that sounds like an apple?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah! Do we even know what ponies being eaten sounds like?" Scootaloo skeptically stated.

I heard a small movement.

"Wyatt, what exactly are ya eatin'?"

"Why don't you open the door and find out?" I said with another bite of the apple, a small grimace on my face.

Movement.

"I don't trust him!" I heard Scootaloo say.

"What other choice do we have?" Sweetie Belle said, being rational.

"...waiting in the bathroom 'till he goes to sleep?" I assumed the pegasus said with a sheepish grin.

"Here's the plan: We open that door and he's eatin' an apple, we come out, but still watch 'im to make sure he doesn't try anythin' funny. He's eatin' meat, we close an' lock the door an' wait 'im out." (If Apple Bloom isn't the leader, I don't know who is). And with that, they enacted their little plan. I heard the lock slowly turn, then the door knob, and finally, the door opening. I sat criss-cross in front of the door as I continued to reluctantly eat the apple. When the door finally opened all the way, I looked at the three Crusaders with a bored expression on my face, trying to hide the grimace from eating the apple.

"Hi there," I greeted sarcastically. All three breathed sighs of relief and walked out of the bathroom. I got up from the floor and onto my feet.

"See? Ah knew it was an apple!" Apple Bloom claimed to Scootaloo in triumph. I went into the kitchen and threw away the rest of the apple (I finished most of it, mother!), then continued on into the living room and back onto the computer. I assumed the girls went back into the basement, so I just went back to my business of reading fics. I continued to read, when I heard a small noise behind me. They were still up here? I turned around and saw nothing.

"Hrrmm..." I skeptically sounded out. I turned back around and continued- another sound. Was that the lamp they were tapping or something? I decided to look back after the sound rang out a third time. Again, nothing. "Am I the only one up here...?" I said with a mocking tone, sure that if the Crusaders were up here, it'd maybe draw them out. ...nothing. I turned around and- noise. I reacted as fast as possible.

"Ha!" I yelled as I turned back to the empty room. Where were they?  I could hear small giggles coming the side table near the couch. The one with the lamp on it. Maybe they were tapping it. Ready to make them stop their tomfoolery, I got up from the computer chair and slowly approached the table. I tried as much as I could to be silent, but the floorboards were WAY too creaky. I moved towards the table, getting closer until I was right next to it. I readied for a moment, then quickly jumped past the table, ready to grab the Crusaders.

"Gotcha!" I almost yelled at the empty space. "Where the...?"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SURPRISE ATTACK!" I heard from behind me. I only had enough time to glance behind me before I felt the weight of three fillies jump on my back and bring me to the ground.

"Dammit," I said into the ground, so that it'd be muffled.

"We got you!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

"Mm-hm," I answered back, slightly frustrated. "Now, if you'd please get off of me."

"Not until you admit defeat!" Scootaloo shouted.

I gave them a glare. "You aren't serious?" They nodded. I gave a large sigh. "You beat me. I lose. You win." The three looked at each other.

"Works for me," Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah. That's all great and stuff. Now get off," I said with a threatening look. The girls complied and stepped off my back. "Alright, you three had your fun," I said as I got up. "Now if you'd go back into the basement I'd appreciate it."

They gave me disappointed looks. "But it's SO boring down there!" Sweetie Belle complained.

"Yeah! Couldn't we just stay up here?" Scootaloo added.

I squinted my eyes and rubbed my chin. "I don't know."

"Pleeeeeasssse?" The three of them asked in unison, giving me puppy dog eyes.

I sighed. "...fine." Before they could 'YAY!' together, I said something else. "But it's going to be as equally boring up here."

"YAY!" They yelled anyways.

Not wanting to waste electricity, I went downstairs to turn everything off. As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs, I almost had a heart attack. "Toys...everywhere..." I muttered, horrified. Well, I guess the three weren't exactly that great at cleaning up their own messes. Done giving a fuck, I proceeded to clean everything up, the process taking about a half hour.

--

The three little fillies just stared at the bright screen, curious as to what secrets it hid. It was...pretty...especially that little thing in the lower left corner. With its four colors shining brightly, it was enough to put anypony into a deep trance. But there was still that question that lingered in your head as you stared at it: What is it? All of ponykind may never know...

--

As I returned upstairs and entered the living room again, I saw the Crusaders all sitting next to the computer, staring at it. Had they been staring at the computer screen the whole time I was down there? Probably not good for their eyes. ...wait...they weren't READING were they!? I had left a tab open on a fanfiction site, forgetting to go back to my music tab (I usually do that when leaving the computer to do something, for added privacy). I rushed right back to the computer and switched to the music tab.

"You weren't reading that were you!?"

"...huh? No, we were just wonderin' what that little thingie right there was," Apple Bloom answered as she pointed to the Windows logo. PHEW! Possible paradox averted! I knew that since the Crusaders were up here, I wouldn't be able to read my fanfiction without possibly causing the Universe to implode.

"Welp, since you three are up here and will no doubt be bored out of your skulls, you wanna watch some YouTube videos?"

"What's a YouTube?" Scootaloo asked.

"And a video?" Apple Bloom also asked.

Uggggghhhhh. I knew this explanation would have to come eventually.

"YouTube is this thing called a web site, which is part of this thing called the Internet. The Internet is where people can communicate with each other wherever, as long as they're connected to a network. People can do pretty much whatever and let others see it." I finished my bad explanation of the Internet to the girls, and hoped their curiosity would be satiated with that.

"Oooo..." They all sounded out together (kids are satisfied with ANY explanation!).

Not forgetting Apple Bloom's question, I continued. "A video is like a little scene recorded on a camera. It's stored in the camera's memory, and it can be uploaded to certain web sites like YouTube, where others can see what was recorded." (Another bad explanation). Well, they didn't seem as amazed at that one, but I think they were satisfied.

"So do you guys wanna watch videos?" They nodded excitedly. I closed my fanfiction tab, and went to my music one. Since I always listened to stuff on YouTube, I didn't have to type in any address. We started with a video called “Teh Cat”. All throughout, I heard them laughing. Like, a lot. I didn't find it THAT funny, so I'm not sure what they saw in it.

"Another one!" Sweetie Belle said between bouts of trying to breathe. So I guess they liked cat videos, because that's what we watched pretty much the whole time. They found each and every one funny, and they wouldn't stop laughing, even at ones that were just of cats being...cats. I'd have to remember to erase all of this stuff from my history, because this wasn't something I usually did (and I hated having unusual things in my history!). Oh well, it was nice that they were entertained.

As we finished another cat video, something of a MUCH darker tone appeared in the related videos.

"What's...Slender Man?" Apple Bloom asked as she pointed to a video titled “The Slender Man Documentary” (Seriously, what is that even doing here?).

This was an explanation that, despite how bad it would probably be, I would actually enjoy. "Well...I don't know if you want me to tell you about him...” I challenged them, trying to sound disinterested.

"I wanna know what Slender Man is, too!" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"And me!" Scootaloo joined.

"Hmmm... Are you sure you wanna hear about Slender Man? It's pretty scary." I warned them with a smirk.

"I'm not scared!" Scootaloo said as she stood up, striking a brave pose.

"Ah'm not either!" Apple Bloom said as she repeated Scootaloo's actions.

Sweetie Belle looked unsure, but both her friends and I were looking at her. I wasn't really expecting her to get up and put on a brave face, but I could tell the other two were. Hesitantly, she got up. "Me neither!" Sweetie said, somewhat failing to sound brave.

I gave them an evil grin. "Well, alright. But don't blame me if you get scared." They all stayed put, in the same poses. "The Slender Man is a creature. An odd creature that, well, imagine me." They nodded. "Now pretend I have no hair on my head, I'm wearing a black business suit with a red tie, and my arms and legs are really long. But the creepiest part?" They were held in suspense, like clay in my hands. "He has no face. Eyes? Nope. Ears? No. Nose? You wish. He has a blank. White. Face."

Sweetie was slightly trembling, and the other two probably weren't far behind her. The faces on all three of them showed fear, and they were priceless. "And that's not all. He can grow tentacles out of his back. He can split his limbs apart to create more of them. If you see him, he's going to hunt you. And there's no use running, either. He can teleport. He knows where you are at all times. What does he do to his captured victims, you might wonder? Nobody knows. They just seem to disappear..."

All three were shivering now. This was actually pretty fun.

"But worst of all?"

"W-w-what?" They asked fearfully together.

"Not only does he like hunting people, or ponies in your case, but his favorite ponies to hunt?" They all stared at me in fear. "Children. Kids. Ponies your age. They are his favorite. Maybe he's hunting you and you don't know it." All three gulped. I looked up from the three and out a window, and saw a porch light on in the distance, which could look like Slendy's head. There was also a red decoration below it that looked like it could be his tie. This would be the icing on the cake.

"Hey," I said as I got up from the chair and walked towards the window. "I think I can see Slender Man out here right now." I pointed out towards the porch light. The Crusaders looked out the window, and instead of seeing a porch light and red decoration, they saw Slender Man.

"SLENDER MAN!" Sweetie Belle shouted. All three of them screamed and hid under the computer desk.

I laughed. "Man, I wasn't even sure if that would work!" I said to myself. I walked over to the computer desk and peered under it. The girls were all shivering and covering their eyes. Scootaloo removed a hoof from one of her eyes to see me giving her a devilish smirk. "Consider that payback for pouncing me earlier." I said as I reached under to scoop them out. They all uncovered their eyes and looked at me. Then, something I didn't expect happened. They started laughing.

"That was a good one!" Apple Bloom remarked. I pulled them out from under the desk, and they got back on their hooves. I'm not sure what it was, but being around these three actually made me feel happier (or at least in a more positive state of mind), so I also felt more playful. Weird huh?

--

Twilight felt a shiver go down her spine. Despite the fact that the 'Slender Man' sounded absolutely ridiculous, it also sounded frightening. Good thing she wasn't a filly anymore! It probably scared the Crusaders much more than it did her, that's for sure! "So Twilight, did that effect the score at all?" Lyra asked sarcastically.

The librarian gasped. She had been so caught up in observing that she completely forgot about scoring! "Oh no oh no oh no!" she repeated to herself as she looked at her almost blank chart. She'd have to fill this out STAT!

"What's wrong dear?" Rarity asked Twilight.

"I've been too caught up in watching this whole thing! I haven't been scoring him at all!"

Everypony but Twilight gave each other expressions of no concern. But they remembered what happened when they didn't take her problems into consideration, and they didn't want her to go insane again.

"Alright look sugarcube," Applejack started. "We'll pay more attention to this while you catch up on your gradin'. We'll be sure to tell you if anything worth notin' happens." Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank you girls. What would I do without you?"

--

As the hours passed, I continued to show the Crusaders the glory of the Internet. However, after so much of it, it’s not surprising they would get tired. "...and this is one of the greatest websites of all: Wikipedia. It's like an online encyclopedia, except anyone can make edits to it," I said as I trashed a page about how water is created.

Scootaloo yawned. "Hm...? Oh, cool..."

I turned around and saw the Crusaders trying to fight off sleep, and failing adorably. Their eyes wouldn't stay open, and the way they'd always try and not lay on the ground and pass out; FUCKING. ADORABLE. What time was it anyways? I looked at my watch. "10:00? You're all tired only at 10:00 at night?" Well, I guess I should take into consideration how young they were. And how much energy they used up.

"Mm-hm..." Sweetie Belle sleepily answered.

Looks like it was time for them to go to bed. I got up, scooped the three into my arms, and carried them upstairs. They didn't even resist. In fact, I think they just got even more sleepy once I had them in my grip. I walked up the stairs, into the hallway, and through the door at the end. This was my mother's room, and her king sized bed would certainly fit these three cuddly ponies. Using one arm to wrap the Crusaders, and the other to pull back the bed sheets, I set them on the bed one by one, and then tucked them individually. As an added bonus, I also decided to stroke their manes, just to see how it felt. Soft. Very soft. As I stroked Sweetie Belle's mane, she did something I didn't expect. She grabbed onto my arm and hugged it.

"Hmm..." She muttered in her sleep, smiling. This was too much adorableness. I'm definitely going to be diagnosed with diabetes tomorrow. I gently took her hooves off of my arm walked to the door.

"Good night." I called to the three as I shut the door. They only mumbled sleepily in response, which by the way, nearly blew up my heart from cuteness. I closed the door, then looked at the door to my room. Why was it shut again? ...oh right! That little bastard Smokey was in there! I opened my door, and he walked out, rubbing against my legs. "Oh no. I know your game. Only nice when you get what you want. You spoiled brat!" I said to him.

I descended the stairs, turned off the computer and the lights, and then returned to my room. If I'm gonna get up at five in the morning (like I do every morning), I'd better get more sleep. And hey, maybe tomorrow morning I'll find out if this whole day actually happened, or if it was just some kind of crazy dream. I was too lazy to put on pajamas and just crawled into my bed. I took off my watch, glasses, and grey fedora and put them on my nightstand. I'm not sure what time it was when I finally fell asleep.