hey guys, how are you? sorry about not adding the smile last time, kind distracted by a rampaging fashionmonger. so anyways, summers almost over, doggone it all, but soon winter will be here. weeee! snow! unless you live somewhere that doesn't snow. then, weeeeee! not getting sunburned! unless you do get sunburned in which case, um, I dunno, wee, less hot?
Twilight-"um, you like cold don't you?"
oh yeah! if there was no school during winter then it would be my favorite. but anyways, um chapter time? yeah I suppose.

"good morning Diamond, Scootaloo-Chan."
"morning" they said in unison. "jinx! double jinx!"
"when you are done with your shenanigans, school starts soon, so eat up." he put two plates of leftovers on the mat. he uses a mat and not a table, and sits on the floor, just so you aren't confused. "then, we're going to have a picnic."
"yay! picnic!"
"now hurry up you two." he chuckled and started picking up some games from a storage space in the back to restock.

"hey, what's this?" Gamemaster always kept a careful count of the bits in the register, but some were missing. "I could swear there was a hundred, there's only ninety-one."
"hey G, how's my favorite game maker?" Twilight walked in the door.
"fine, you need something? I'm busy."
"oh, what do you need?" Twilight asked, as she went around the counter to give him a quick peck.
"i-it's nothing, I'll take care of it." he smiled nervously and he went back to his ponyboy game. he wanted at least three games before he started selling it.
"really? I'm here to help."
"I'm fine!" he snapped.
"alright, I-I'll just go."
"thank you." he said exasperated.

"dammit, how did they get in? I have the only key to the register, and it was locked when I walked in." he'd been puzzling for hours, he needed to get the girls in an hour, but he was too preoccupied to notice. "am I going crazy?"
'um, sorry to break it to you, but I think I count as you being crazy.'
'shut up!' he thought as he growled in frustration. "there's no way anypony could have gotten in."
"hello Gamemaster." Jericho walked in.
"Jericho-San, did you see anypony come in here who looked suspicious?" Gamemaster asked frantically, as he he searched the register for some clue for the nineteenth time.
"no, no one suspicious, sorry. and how many times do I have to tell you, just call me Jericho."
"sorry Jericho, I'm just worried, somepony broke in here and stole nine bits, normally I wouldn't worry but there's nothing but the bits missing, and there were more, and why only nine? I have more valuable things in here and more bits."
"I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill, you probably just miscounted." he shrugged.
Gamemaster sighed "you're probably right." he shook his head and looked at the clock on the wall. "wait, the girls are out of school!" he made an AB and rushed out. "I will see you later!"

"hello Deli-San." he ran up to the town deli and bar panting.
"hey there G, you taken the girls for a picnic?" Deli Dan asked in a deep voice and a canadian accent.
"so, I need two tomato sandwiches, a cod sandwich, and a pint of potato salad."
"you want a drink?"
"oh wait, yes, can I get a gallon of plain tea?"
"it's called un-sweetened." he was always an argumentative pony.
"so you took out the sugar?" Gamemaster asked, his usual tame attitude did not extend toward sweet tea, he always thought it was too sweet and that it wasn't really tea.
"ugh, you know what? screw it, here, sandwiches, potato salad, and plain *cough unsweetened cough* tea."
"thank you." Gamemaster said as he ran to the park with the meal, throwing him a bundle of bits.
"you should stop butting head with him, he is kinda right." said one of the deli/bar patrons.
"oh quiet." he said as he started polishing a glass.

"hello girls, sorry if I'm late." Gamemaster panted as he stumbled into the park.
"don't worry G, we just got here." Scootaloo lied, they had been waiting for at least am hour.
"oh thank amaterasu." he sighed as he put down the bag of food.
"ooh, Deli Dan's stuff is good!" Diamond cried out as she unpacked the bag.
"alright, so, how was school?" Gamemaster asked while he caught his breath.
"good, we learned about Dragon culture. did you know that male dragons collect gems to show females that they are a good husband?" Scootaloo said as she set the spoons and bowls around.
"and that some females, which are called toms, actually don't get married and collect their own gems by working with ponies instead of taking them?" Diamond said as they finished setting up.
"well then, it sounds like you guys learned a lot." Gamemaster said as they sat down and started eating.
"amphd sphhinsdke infds ash fphempanhs." Scootaloo said, her mouth stuffed with potatoes and tomato.
"Scootaloo-Chan, don't talk with you mouth full." gamemaster said glaring at her.
Scootaloo swallowed with an audible gulp. "and Spike is a fems, or a male dragon that works with ponies." she said, and she took another giant bite of food.
"well you guys are definitely learning a lot." he smiled and took a bite of his sandwich. "so, real quick, did either of you take any money from the register at the Blaster?"
"no, why?" Diamond asked, now slightly worried.
"oh, don't worry, I'm sure I just made a mistake." he smiled and ate more sandwich.

"hello Twilight." Gamemaster had slept the missing bits out of his memory and he just continued on to the 'morrow.
"hey G, how are you?"
"good, thanks." he smiled and gave her a kiss.
"how has business been today?" she asked as she browsed around.
"fine, Twi, I-I'm sorry about how I snapped at you yesterday."
"oh, it's fine, I'm sure you had a lot on your mind." she smiled.
"ten." Gamemaster said under his breath as he unlocked the register.
"what?" Twilight asked as she walked over.
"oh, every hour I check the register, you know, make sure it's all there. there should be about a hundred twenty in here." he smiled and began counting.

"kyuu-juu-kyuu, hyaku." he counted again. this was the third time in a row he counted the money, no doubt, there was twenty bits missing. "baka! dare ga watashi no okane ototta-ka?"
"what?" Jericho passed by to hear the outraged Neighpanese spout off his native tongue like a banshee.
"that's it, I'm not crazy! somepony is stealing it!" he shouted, anger boiling over like a rice pot.
"alright, calm down, who came today?" Jericho said.
"Twilight, Diamond, Scootaloo-Chan, and you!" Gamemaster said, searching the area around he register like an angry diamond-dog.
"alright, so that means that they got in without you noticing, what other entrances are there?"
"the back, but that door just goes into the back, they would still need to face me!"
"unless you weren't facing the door. let's say I'm the thief." Jericho walked back to the rear door and opened and closed it quietly. "now then, we'll say I just walked in, the door is well greased, obviously, and so you don't know I'm back here." he walked forward and slipped into a nook behind the door. "now then, you walk back here." he motioned him over to the back and he walked to the cash register. "since you're over there I can open the register take some bits, and the hide here." he hid behind the wall, and Gamemaster walked back into the front. "from here I walk behind you and leave. you get preoccupied easily so you wouldn't notice then walking behind you." Jericho smiled, proud of himself.
"you missed something, I keep the register locked, and it locks every time I close it, watch." he opened the register and then slid it shut. "try opening it." Gamemaster motioned over and Jericho walked over and tried to open it. "see?"
"but what if you aren't trying to shut it tightly?" Jericho shut it nonchalantly and went to a chair nearby and sat down. "you try." Gamemaster rolled his eyes and pulled on the register, and it opened!
"wait, what?" Gamemaster looked at the register, astonished.
"easy, if you look here." Jericho walked over and pointed to the lock. "the lock is slightly bent, if you don't shut really firm, then the auto-locking mechanism doesn't work."
"how did you notice that?" Gamemaster looked amazed as he gently bent the piece in place.
"I wasn't always so, respectful of the law." he said grinning as he left. "you shouldn't have to deal with it anymore." he waved as he walked out and took off to perform his rounds.
"sayounora."

"hey there G, how are you?" Diamond and Scootaloo were off to the side reading. it was the end of the day and they were visiting Twilight.
"good, somepony was stealing from the register, but Jericho helped me fix it, so it should stop."
"is that the problem you were having yesterday?" Twilight asked as she pulled a book on Neighpanese culture off the shelf.
"yeah, um, real quick, when I adopted Diamond, Celestia-Sama mentioned an orphanage?" Gamemaster grabbed a mug of water,added tea leaves, and sat down to relax.
"oh, yes, Celestia and the Mayor both donate tax bits to the orphanages, just enough to feed them,give them a place to stay, and get them new winter clothes." she smiled and opened her book. "though other ponies will give them money when there's something that happens, like a storm, or an influx of new children." she sighed. "if I could I would adopt one of them, but I have enough to worry about with Spike and my duties to Celestia." she turned the page of her book and shook her head.
"well, they are just kids, don't they have toys, games?" Gamemaster asked, with a look of an almost idea on his face.
"no, Celestia and the Mayor give as much as they can spare, but that's just enough for food and clothes. they regularly get unlucky, they had to spend the rest of their savings on fixing the roof last year when it started leaking." she sighed.
"hmm." Gamemaster almost idea face evolved into the look somepony gets when they had one of the best ideas of their life.

"alright, that's should be enough." he lifted a yoke over his shoulders and began pulling a wagon filled to the brim with games and toys slowly toward the orphanage. "man, I never realized how heavy wood can get." he tugged again and he felt, just barely, a loosening of the burden.
"hey Dad." Diamond smiled at him.
"Diamond! why aren't you in school?" Gamemaster looked behind him and saw more and more of the schoolkids pushing the wagon.
"well Mr. Koseinajogi, on the way over I saw you loading the cart, so I told the kids that we were going to help you take these over there. school is to learn about the world around us, and adult life, and I think this counts." she smiled and though one colt was a small change, twenty made the trip easy to manage.

"hello umm…?" Gamemaster had arrived at the decrepit building, and the children were talking with the orphans, and you could hear the occasional laugh echoing from them.
"Care, Chil Care, might I ask why you're here?" she asked as she nodded to Cheerilee as she began giving all of them there the daily math lesson.
"well, I was talking to Twilight and I learned that you are often tight on money and that the children have no toys, so, I brought some of my creations over here. one thing I learned as a colt was that all work on no play made asobi a sad boy." he chuckled.
"ah, wait, you must be Gamemaster? the one who opened the store?" she asked as she began to bring the donations in and organized them.
"yes, I am." he bowed to her.
"well, my friends have been raving about your wares, I was thinking about visiting to talk, but it seems you came to me." she let out what was obviously a rare laugh. "this job isn't very rich in bits, but I find caring for the young ones so much more rewarding than bits could ever give. and yes, you're definitely right about them needing playthings, about a week ago some of our older kids ran away, I still don't know where they went." she shook her head.
"well, that's why I brought them." he smiled. "but, um, if you don't mind could you not tell the children I brought them? I-I don't really like a lot of attention. twenty years of exile does that to you." he smiled.
'why wouldn't you want credit? are you an idiot?'
'oh really? would you want credit for something that would have ponies swarming you?'
'oh fine.'
"of course, we're used to anonymous donations." she smiled. "thank you though, I can guarantee that the foals will love it." Gamemaster nodded and left to return to work.

"G, I heard that the orphanage got an anonymous donations of toys and games. I have a sneaking suspicion it was you." she grinned.
"you caught me." he smiled and chuckled. "what was your day like?"
"oh usual, paperwork, meetings, boring stuff." she sighed. "I may only be a minor pony in the system but it's still so complex."
"well don't worry." he kissed her and went to the kitchen. "now then, you've done enough today, I'll make dinner." he walked into the kitchen and began examining the tools he had.
"here you are Twilight, Ramen noodles and stir fried vegetables." he handed her a bowl of steaming soup and a plate of vegetables.
"thank you honey." Twilight said inhaling the aroma of broth and vegetables.
"what are you reading?" he looked at the title. 'how to understand the Neighpanese and their culture.'
"well, I figured I need to get as much information on the culture as possible." she smiled and sipped some broth.
"interesting." Gamemaster smiled, he was never that into reading.
"yes it is." she smiled and both were silent for a while before Gamemaster stood up. "um, I need to repaint the counter at the Blaster." he said and he left.

"wait, what was that?" Gamemaster heard somepony whisper when he walked in.
"who's in here!?" he called out.
"shhh!" he saw a shadow dash to the back.
"stop!" shouted a new AB that was now standing in front of the door.
"ahhh! listen, when you said we'd get some money like this you said we weren't gonna get caught! I'm outta here!" a teenaged colt dashed back and smacked into Gamemaster.
"bring the other one over here!" Gamemaster called to the AB and soon two colts and a filly, all teenaged were floating by Gamemaster's magic in front of them.
"are you the ones who were stealing my bits?" he asked them.
"we'll never tell you anything!" the older colt said defiantly.
"maybe not you! y-yeah! he said we wouldn't get caught." said the younger colt, squirming.
"you snitch!" the first one yelled.
"I'm with the kid!" the filly shouted. "we needed food, and your register was busted. we didn't think you'd notice a few bits going missing!"
"you are fools. if you needed food you would have only needed to ask!" Gamemaster said. "now then, you two who admitted, I'll let you go. and if you two need food, just come over here and ask. I won't flat out give you bits, but you can do some work for me." he put down the younger colt and the filly and they went to the chairs and sat down. "but as for you." he looked at the older, and clearly the ring leader. "you should have known better than to steal and lead these two along, and then deny what you did. you I'll take over to Jericho, I'm sure that him and the Mayor can think of a fitting punishment for you." he called the griffon and soon the colt was off to be detained until a trial could be set.

"thank you Gamemaster!" the two remaining kids cried out as they helped to paint the counter.
"of course, I take you three were the foals who ran from the orphanage?"
"yeah, that older kid said we'd be better off with him, so we went with." the filly said as she rounded a corner.
"well, I'll say it again, if you two need some money you can always come do some work for me. and for tonight you can sleep in my workroom upstairs."
"thankyou! thankyou! thankyou! thank you!" they shouted as they finished the work.
"of course, now then, I have to make dinner for Diamond, so you two settle in, and no taking anything." he said chuckling.

alright, I actually tried to set this one up like a detective story, so tell me how I did with that. I may give the two orphans names, or maybe not. try giving them cool names and I may use them. thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, and left a review. and if you haven't done those, then you should! and of course, don't forget to give someone a smile today :)