//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Without a Scope 
// by mathwiz617 
//------------------------------//

	Assembling outside of town hall, the fifteen recruits waited for Princess Luna to say something. Four of them looked rather sheepish. They didn’t have to wait long.

“Good job, recruits,” she told them. “From here, I could see both the battles around the town. The team that took out the timberwolf pack at Sweet Apple Acres was superb. The five of you who took on a manticore, well, you could use a little training in reducing collateral damage. To those of you who decided to spend the time interacting with the locals, I am sorely disappointed. You will be sent home.”

The flight back to Canterlot was quiet, with only the rushing of the wind to fill the recruits' ears. By the time they arrived, Far's wings ached. It had been a long day. The two remaining groups separated, each sitting at a different table. Sprocket was the last to sit down.

"So, what was that thing you had earlier?" Obsidian asked.

"Oh, it was just something I cobbled together to launch fireworks," the light blue earth pony responded. "My neighbor, Pinkie Pie, who you probably know as the Bearer of Laughter, would call it a bazooka. Actually, that mare taught me everything I know about making homemade equipment. Of course, I've always been better at taking stuff apart than putting it back together."

"How'd you know to come to the farm?" Windy asked.

"Simple. It's Monday." Sprocket's statement was met with confused stares. "Oh, I guess I should explain. Mondays are when something happens to the Apples. It's every week, like clockwork. Tuesdays are when Pinkie experiments with cupcake flavors, Wednesdays are the weekly meltdown between Rarity and her sister, Thursdays are when the Crusaders run rampant, Fridays Fluttershy finds something new on the edge of the Everfree, and Saturday Twilight writes Princess Celestia about what she learned that week. Sunday's normally quiet, but it's kinda a wild card."

"Every week?" Far asked him.

"Yep. Like I said, it's like clockwork. Twilight even has a theory on why. She thinks that it's a mixture of chaos and harmony that was the result of the Princess' battle there with Discord ages ago, and strengthened by the more recent release of the draqueonous. Sounds crazy, but living in Ponyville, crazy seems to be the norm. It's nice to have a schedule."

"Wow." Blink shook his head. "I had heard stories, but I had no idea." He thought for a second. "Why do you call the Bearers by name?"

"Makes them feel normal," Sprocket said, shoving some food in his mouth. "Basically, all of Ponyville calls them by their names. Not only does 'Bearer of the Element' sound a little to formal for such a small town, Twilight has said repeatedly that she doesn't want to be treated any differently. 'Miss Sparkle' makes her uncomfortable enough, I don't want to set her off. She can get a little... twitchy when something goes wrong."

"Hmm," Far mumbled as he finished his dinner quickly. "Well, as interesting as this is, the flight back wore me out. I'm going to bed early tonight."