Starlight and Trixie walked into Sugarcube Corner and were quickly greeted by Pinkie Pie. "Hey, Starlight! Hey, Trixie! Whatcha doing?" She asked.
"Trixie is helping me play hide-and-seek with Screwball."
Pinkie Pie started to get excited. "Screwball is in town! She is so much fun! The cake twins love to play with her! She loves chocolate just as much as I do!"
Starlight smiled. "Great! Have you seen her?" Starlight asked hopefully.
"Nope. Haven't seen her at all today, sorry." Starlight sighed.
"Pinkie, can I get a large chocolate milkshake, with chocolate whip-cream, chocolate fudge, and chocolate sprinkles?" Trixie asked.
"Sure thing, Trixie!"
Starlight looked at Trixie confused. "Wow, get enough chocolate, Trixie?"
"Heh, Guess I forgot to tell you that I love chocolate," Trixie told her bashfully.
"Here you go, Trixie! One extremely chocolate milkshake," Pinkie Pie said as she brought out the milkshake.
"Thanks, Pinkie Pie." Trixie used her magic and brought the chocolate milkshake to her. "Hmm. Screwball did say that there was more than one step to find her, what's the next step?" Trixie asked as she started to drink her milkshake.
"Right!" Starlight took the scroll out and read the second step. "Second, I love to play pranks on my friends. I have friends all over Ponyville but some of my closest friends are the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I also work with Rainbow Dash to pull pranks on other ponies. Okay, so, maybe the CMC knows where Screwball could be or Screwball is with them."
"Oooo, maybe. They're probably at their treehouse right now. We should check," Trixie said as she continued to drink her milkshake.
"Yeah, maybe she is. We should also check the joke shop. She might be there getting pranks," Starlight said.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go!" Then Trixie and Starlight left.
"Good luck, Starlight! Hope you beat Screwy!" Pinkie Pie shouted as they left.
As they were walking to the joke shop, Starlight asked Trixie, "Trixie, you know Screwball, right?"
Trixie nodded. "Everypony in Ponyville knows her," Trixie answered as she continued to drink her chocolate milkshake.
"Has anypony beaten her in hide-and-seek?"
Trixie shook her head. "Nope. Nopony and I mean, nopony, has beaten Screwy at hide-and-seek. She leaves the same three clues that you have so somepony can find her. I haven't met a single pony who has beaten her yet."
Starlight then felt a bit defeated. Screwball seemed to be a master at hide-and-seek, but Starlight refused to give up. "Well, I guess I'll have to be the first," Starlight said confidently. 'We'll see, Starlight. We'll see.'
They arrived at the joke shop and were about to talk to the owner but they saw Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Rainbow Dash," Starlight said as she and Trixie walked over to her.
"Hey, Starlight. I thought Trixie was on tour?" Rainbow asked confused.
"I was but I decided to take a break and hang out with my grrreat and powerful, friend, Starlight!" Trixie told her.
"What are you two doing here? GASP! Are you here to prank somepony?" Rainbow asked hopefully.
"No, I'm actually playing hide-and-seek with Screwball. Have you seen her?"
"Screwball's in town?! And you're playing hide-and-seek?! Is her dad in town?" Rainbow said shocked.
"Yeah, Fluttershy was going to watch her but she and Twilight went on a friendship mission so I offered to watch her. Who's her father?"
Rainbow now knew that Starlight didn't know that Discord was Screwball's father so she put a hoof on her shoulder and said, "Good luck, once Shrewy hides then she is impossible to find."
"Trixie said that too. Screwball must be really good at hide-and-seek," Starlight said concerned.
"Yeah, I love playing with Screwy. You know, she only will play hide-and-seek with you once. Hopefully, you'll be the first to find her."
"How is Screwball so good at hide-and-seek?" Starlight asked.
Rainbow sighed. "I can't tell you. Screwy will though even if you don't find her. Anyway, I have some pranks to pull. Later." Then Rainbow quickly paid for her pranks and flew away quickly.
"Trixie, do you know anything about Screwball?" Trixie nodded as she used her magic to clean out her milkshake cup of all the chocolate inside. "Can you tell me?" She asked hopefully.
"Nope, Screwball requested that she tell somepony about her herself. Anyway, since Screwball isn't here, we should check with the CMC. They might know where she is."
"Right, let's go!" Starlight ran ahead with Trixie behind her. On the way, Trixie threw away her cup and bought three chocolate bars, two for herself and one for Starlight. Starlight ate the chocolate bar and her face turned red. "SPICY!" She ran into the farm and drank a bucket of milk. Trixie laughed as she watched her friend run to get a drink of milk.
"Trixie, what kind of chocolate is that?" Starlight asked as she drank milk to sooth the burning sensation.
"That is the world's hottest chocolate. It's at nine million Scoville units. I thought it would be fun to play a small prank on you after being at the joke shop." Trixie laughed as she also took a bite of the chocolate. He faced turned red and she got a bucket of milk to drink.
"Trixie, are you sure you're feeling okay? You've had two chocolate milkshakes and a taste of the world's hottest chocolate. Plus, you haven't been acting like yourself." Starlight said concerned.
"I'm fine. As I said, chocolate is my favorite food. It's something Screwy and I have in common. We both love chocolate!" Trixie said happily as she continued to eat the chocolate bar. Starlight rolled her eyes playfully as the two continued to walk to the CMC's treehouse after they got cleaned up of course.
Once they arrived, they had just finished a meeting helping another pony with their cutie mark problems. "Hi, Starlight!" They shouted.
"Hey, girls. Have you seen Screwball? I'm playing hide-and-seek with her and I can't seem to find her."
"Screwball's in town? When did she come?" Applebloom asked.
"Earlier today. Fluttershy was asked by Screwball's father if she could watch her but she and Twilight were summoned for a friendship mission so I offered to watch her. She left me clues to find her and she said you were some of her closest friends."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, we've known Screwball since her father introduced us. We became quick friends with her."
"But we haven't seen her. We've been in the treehouse all day. Sorry, Starlight," Scootaloo told her.
"It's alright girls. I'm sure I'll find Screwball."
"I hope so. If you do, then you'll be the first person to find her and win her game of hide-and-seek. Anyway, we got to go, we have another cutie mark problem to deal with. Bye, Starlight. Bye, Trixie." Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom left them alone.
Starlight groaned. "This is bad. Sundown is in two hours and nopony has seen Screwball. How could I lose one earth filly?" Starlight was clearly frustrated. She couldn't seem to find Screwball anywhere.
"Starlight, isn't there one more step to finding Screwball?" Trixie asked.
Starlight used her magic to bring out the scroll that Screwball made for her. "Last step, start from the beginning and then you have found Screwball. Thanks for playing! Okay... so we have to start at the beginning. So, back to the castle, let's go."
Trixie followed suit as the two returned back to the castle throne room. "Okay so, Screwball loves chocolate and she likes to play pranks on her friend. What could that mean? I checked the possible places she could be but we couldn't find her. So, where in the wide wide world of Equestria could she be?! There's just an hour until sundown and Screwball's father will be here then."
"I'm sure you'll find her, Starlight. Don't worry. Even if you don't find her in time, she'll show up. That's what always happens when somepony loses."
Starlight sighed. "I just don't get it. I looked everyone in the castle and we found no trace of her. I just don't understand how I lost a small pink earth filly. She can't fly, she has no magic, how did she disappear?" A knock took Starlight out of her small rant. "Who could that be?" Starlight went to answer the door and she was shocked to see who was at the door.