Zoop

Spoke with Feld0, we're going to let it run through Sunday, actually. So uh... yeah, plenty of time to get some entries in. Don't be nervous~

Just a heads-up... given that Feld0 is going to be away for a couple days and thus unable to actually judge anything... I'd say that submissions up to Saturday as a cut-off point will be fine. So if you're sweating bullets, relax a little.

One moment, there was nothing; a great void, impressive and incomprehensible in the vast expanse of nothingness contained within. There was no concept of time, nor space. Then, there was an explosion. Of pain. The formerly empty expanse was suddenly filled up; where just prior there had been nothing, there were now thoughts and memories, faded and frayed, as though viewed through a particularly crummy second-hand VCR. They played themselves out all at once in the metaphysical space in Keystone's mind, overloading the stallion's recently battered skull as it attempted to make sense of them. The last thing he remembered was arriving to do work on some locks in a well-off griffon's recently robbed summer home located on the edge of a forest. The home, though it was more like a small mansion than anything else, had, of course, been the wrong edge, making a trip over the forest necessary in order to reach the blasted place in a reasonable amount of time. He remembered completing the work and being asked some questions about pick and other tamper resistant locks that were available, in fact, just before his memories cut off... The pink stallion's eyes snapped open as he leaped to his feet. Before his mind even had time to comprehend where he was, his mouth was moving as he desperately attempted to continue on from the last thing he could remember. "secondarymechanismsareimportantforstoppingthecylinderfrombeingcompromisedbythingslikepickingandbumpkeysusuallythisisaccomplishedthroughtheuseofasidebarmechanismsuchaswithour---" Key's jaw stopped mid-sentence the moment he became aware of his surroundings. He didn't know what the hell was going on, or where he was, but he had a reasonable idea that he wasn't in Alioth's summer home. Instead, he found himself in a much more modest looking room, completely and utterly surrounded by ponies that he had never seen before in his life. Keystone blinked, and slowly closed his still-open mouth. He blinked once again, then twice, thrice, and once again as the holes in his memory started to fill up. He remembered bidding the agreeable seeming griffon farewell and (foolishly, it now seemed) declining an offer to stay the night in a guest room for the sake of waiting out the weather before leaving the small mansion behind and attempting to make his way back home despite the brewing storm. He remembered the storm worsening beyond anything he would have imagined, as he desperately attempted to make the trip as quickly as possible, cursing both his poor luck and his poor judgement the entire way. He remembered surveying the landscape below as he flew, and finding potential shelter below in a home, which he supposed he was probably now inside of. He remembered crashing into it, and he remembered being struck by something not unlike a squishy bowling ball as well, but those memories were far more tattered and difficult to make sense of. An incomprehensible and strangled sound uttered its way forth from Keystone's mouth as he saw more than one pony staring, looking at him like he was insane. He sighed, sat down where he stood, and brought a hoof to his face at his own actions, blushing furiously and mentally berating himself for his own foolishness.

Space is fun. I like space. Do you like space? Space is totally awesome. Just look, Pinkie lies space.

Nope. You've been grandfathered in. There's no escape for you. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. You're here with me foreverrrr~

Everyone loves Keystone. Seriously, don't everyone line up all at once you get in on this action. He's like five star material.

Big eyes don't do anything for me without creepy grins, bro.

I actually find that pretty cute. I like the grins.

Minor clarification: Basically the core issue is that no matter what you come up with, it has to be something that nobody can claim to own, one way or another. This means no show assets (since Hasbro owns them) and/or no OC characters designed by, used by, or otherwise owned by other people.

Key studied Winterglade's body language as she told her own story. He'd readily admit that he wasn't the most perceptive pony when it came to reading the expressions of other ponies, but in this case he figured it would be a bit difficult to not catch on to the less than fond impression he was getting from her as she spoke of her childhood... not that he could blame her, being tossed into factory work immediately upon getting her cutiemark could not have been a nice experience at all. A frown tugged at his face as he pondered what it must have been like for the young mare. Key heard the chiming of a wall clock, followed by the sight of Winterglade leaping out of the chair and toward her room. Keystone considered the two options, weighing each in his head. Instant noodles were obviously the choice that made the most financial sense given the situation, but at the same time... "Tell you what..." Key started, "... why don't we head down to the cafe? My treat, as thanks for taking me in so easily and being so willing to lend a hoof despite knowing absolutely nothing about me... and honestly, after the way my day has gone I think I could use a good lunch. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to enjoy instant noodles later on, at any rate. What do you think, Winterglade?" Between his own story of family friction, and the impression he had gotten from Winter's, Keystone figured that they could probably both use a bit of cheering up - and what easier way to do so than with a good meal?

Well, it is pretty much the best cheese ever, so that's fine x3

I love cheese. Cheddar, mozzarella, pepperjack, havarti, jarlsberg, gouda, etc. DELICIOUS STUFF. When did Rinnosuke get ponified?

Jonke is a criminal. Breakin' all the rules, breakin' all the laws. Wait, you were in trouble? Pfffffff. You've never been in trouble. As for myself, Nico was also the first person that even uttered a single word to me in private conversation. We hit it off fairly well from there. Then came Jonke~

Yup. I AM SURE TO WIN. RIGHT? RIGHT? right? ... man, looks like I missed the party.

Keystone's apologies for his loopiness had barely left his mouth before Winterglade burst into laughter, causing him to blink and tilt his head slightly in confusion at her unexpected outburst. Keystone began to open his mouth to ask about the laughter when she spoke, Scratching the back of his head with a hoof, Key began to reply to Winter's comments and questions, each in turn. "Oh, no, I'm completely taken care of job-wise. Unless something completely awful were to happen ---" Key paused for a moment, reflecting on the awful things that already had happened, before shaking his head and continuing on, "--- I don't see there being any issue at all with the job. I'll be doing work at a lock shop on the far West side of town, though I don't start until Monday. Figured it'd be a good idea to give myself a couple days to familiarize myself with the town before throwing myself into a regular work schedule, you know?" Keystone gave off a light yawn and stretched a bit before settling further into the chair upon which he was sprawled out on. The furniture didn't seem particularly fancy or expensive, but was definitely comfortable. He paused a moment to collect his thoughts and to offer Winterglade a silent compliment in her taste in furniture before continuing, "As for where I'm from, I was born and raised in Canterlot... it's not a bad place, but... well, let's just say that I don't have the best relationship with my family... my parents are great, but I'm... not really fond of being around any of my other family members, of which there are a great many. As for Ponyville, I only just moved out from my parent's place, I'll admit... the cost of living in Canterlot is a bit higher than I'd be able to manage on my own, so Ponyville seemed like a good place to strike it out on my own that wasn't too far from home." Another pause, this one as Key considered the issue of his family. Being born the only pegasus in a family that was populated entirely by Earth ponies had caused a number of less than friendly rumors to circle around, on both sides of the family. Nobody had ever said anything to his face about anything, but they hadn't exactly taken any great lengths to hide their distaste for him, or the fact that they had some less than respectable theories as to his origins... things had improved somewhat when he had taken on the family trade, but at that point nobody had any illusions that there was any desire for reconciliation among anyone involved. Keystone rolled his eyes slightly as he forced the mildly sour look that had come over his face for a brief moment away, before continuing on with Winter's questions. "My cutiemark... well, it's fairly straight forward and bland to be completely honest. I'm a locksmith by profession, my father's family has a shop that has been in the family for several generations. I got it one day when I was tinkering with some junk stock in the back of the shop while waiting for my father to get off work... I managed to restore something that was apparently going to be thrown out into somewhat working order, heh." Key chuckled a bit, remembering how one of his uncles that had been working in the back had tried to yell at him for messing with things before realizing that he had managed to get the entire bloody thing working. "I don't mind the questions at all, by the way... it makes perfect sense for us to get to know each other a bit if we're going to be living together after all, right?" Key smiled and directed his wandering gaze back on to Winterglade, "Speaking of which, what about you, Winterglade? Are you a Ponyville native, or an import like myself? And what of your cutiemark?

The mention of a bed was enough to perk Key's ears up, though he figured that just sitting back and relaxing in the living room would probably be enough for the time being. While it was true that he had been on his feet for most of the morning upon getting off the train several hours earlier, the day was still young enough that he didn't think it would be necessary to sleep right through it. Besides, assuming Winterglade didn't have any plans for the afternoon it would probably make for a decent time to speak a bit and work some details of their arrangement out. With those thoughts in mind a tired smile slipped back onto his face as he gave an affirmative nod and followed the mare into the building. In short order they had traveled through the hall, up a set of stairs, and through another hall before stopping briefly in front of the door to what Keystone assumed must be the apartment as she opened the door with her key and spoke again, Key blinked. Magical locking systems were typically reserved only for things that required obscene amounts of security, or for people that had a great deal of money to spend. In all probability the place just used a simp--- Keystone shook his head slightly as he forcefully derailed his own train of thought. He'd no doubt spend enough time obsessing over locks, keys, and all of the nauseatingly mundane issues involved with them once he started in at his new job. He followed her in as she practically bounced inside with what seemed to be boundless energy, before she turned back around at him, swinging a hoof out in a somewhat dramatic fashion, Keystone laughed a bit at her antics as he followed her as she proceeded to direct him around the apartment. It was clean, if indeed a bit sparse, but overall probably a considerable step-up from what he had originally had in line. He listened at her description of the rooms, and followed her back out to the living room, plopping down in a chair not too far from her. "This is... an extremely nice apartment, I must say. Much nicer than I had originally planned on having, to be honest... and, I really need to thank you for agreeing to everything so.. well, so rapidly, even though we've not even spoken of my financial situation ---" Key paused mid thought, realizing that he was probably making it sound as though he was unemployed or otherwise in a financial bind, "--- which is fine, really! I've already got a job here in town, and will be starting next week, I'll be fully able to pay rent and everything, so everything is completely dandy in that regard! Nothing to worry about here!" Key blinked at his own moment of panic and took a hoof to his face with a sigh. "Talk about wonderful first impressions, huh? I swear that I'm not usually this loopy."

Yeah. Not huge fans, but I do like a few songs from both artists, and a number of similar ones. I'm a locksmith. I smith locks. Less expensive than living on my own. There are ups and downs. I hide in my room a lot. Fleeing from an extremely pissed off ex-marine alongside several compatriots in the midst of a rain forest. I was the only one that evaded capture. I don't think so. I barbecued my right arm really good when I was like four years old (when your parents tell you not to play around a charcoal grill, they really mean i!), but other than that I've not really had any near brushes that I can recall. That's a tough one. Silent Hill 2 is pretty far up on the list, along with things like Super Metroid and a large portion of the Legend of Zelda series. YOU DON'T KNOW ME VERY WELL, DO YOU? Gotta go fast! Other than that... Freelancer and Giants: Citizen Kabuto get honorable mentions for both being multiplayer games that in the past ate up horrifying amounts of my life. Soul Calibur (one, two, and four) as well, not to mention Melty Blood and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. I want to say... since 1995? I was an idiot kid on AOL. Too difficult to pick just one thing. Seriously, I've seen some really dumb stuff. All in the name of science! There's a post about that! Black as the inside of a coffin on a moonless night. Because you're clearly very, very bored! I don't even want to think about that. I'll be old. Independent millionaire badass. Totally worked the way I thought it would. Oh, you know. Doesn't exist, totally available. Why are you taking the time out of your day to ask me this shit? I NEED AN ADULT.

Key blinked. Three rooms? Space enough for four ponies? That was a far cry from the relatively small two bedroom apartment that he had been expecting. It was true that the price was a fair bit higher than he would have had to have paid at the other building, but based on his estimations as to his income after taxes at his new job, it would be perfectly doable... just a bit tight. Less eating out, and no fancy deserts it seemed, Key thought with a slight sigh. Key nearly stumbled a bit upon hearing this, seemingly out of nowhere, from the otherwise friendly seeming Mare. He only barely managed to maintain a poker face - an impressive feat, for him - as saw her face twist into a decidedly unfriendly grin as she spoke. 'Note to self...' he thought to himself has he suppressed the urge to gulp, '...don't make her angry... and hope that nobody will notice if I install a deadbolt on my bedroom door.' Just as quickly as the change had come over her, it was gone without a trace, causing Keystone to blink rapidly in complete confusion as she latched on to him and began to pull him in what he guessed to be the direction of the building. Did she have a split personality, or had he simply imagined the whole thing? Had she simply been messing with him? It certainly didn't seem completely unreasonable to presume that it may have simply been his mind playing tricks on him; after all, he had been through one hell of an emotional roller coaster the entire day... and, even if there was something weird afoot, the fact remained that he needed a place to stay, and this seemed to be his best bet on such short notice. In what seemed no time at all they arrived in front at a tall building, in front of which Winterglade stopped. Key studied the building's exterior. It didn't look like a bad place, even if it did seem a bit odd considering all of the small houses that surrounded it. Given the building's impressive size, Key had little trouble believing Winterglade's apartment to be as spacious as she had implied. The rent would probably be a bit of a pain given Keystone's preference for having decent amounts of disposable income at the cost of low housing, but he thought, it probably wouldn't be that difficult to adjust to. A fresh smile spread across Keystone's face, this time without interruption, "Sounds good to me... I'd love to see the place!" Key winced a bit as his body made known the fact that it hadn't approved of the amount of random wandering around he had done before arriving at the city hall, nor of the amount of sheer stress that he had felt through the day, stress that now left his body feeling impressively tense and on edge, even as his mind had started to calm itself. "... and ... I think I could use a bit of a sit-down for a while... I.... well, I've had a hell of a day, to say the least." Keystone's ears drooped a bit and felt a sigh escape him as he reviewed the day's events in his mind for a moment, before shaking his head and forcing himself back to the present. Things had looked bad, awful even, but he could mope about it later on, and in private.

With a single word, Keystone felt as though a significant weight was lifted from his back. 'Fantastic' tended not to be the words uttered by someone that was planning on turning someone down, after all. For the first time since he had laid his eyes upon the burning wreckage of what should have been his home, Key felt a smile drawing itself across his face as he fought against a bout of happy laughter... laughter that was interrupted before it could escape when the pony he was speaking with promptly fell from the cloud into a nearby bush. Once again, Keystone blinked... once, twice, thrice, and once more yet again. Just as Key began to shake himself from his shock and prepared to move to help the downed pegasus, the pony - a mare, he now noted - managed to extract herself from the offending shrubbery and approached him. Once again, Key's face lit up; not only had he found somepony willing to bring him in, she appeared to be a bloody friendly one to boot. Just as he began to open his mouth to respond though, she began speaking once again, Keystone paused, and let off a small sigh. This wasn't the first time someone had mistaken him for a mare at a distance (or close up, for that matter, in a couple instances involving ponies with extremely poor eyesight), and he knew it wouldn't be the last. While a bit exasperating, it wasn't something he found terribly offensive, so he did his best to not give it a great deal of thought. "That's... fine, really. You're not the first person to make that mistake, as you could probably guess... At any rate... I'm Keystone - new here in town, arrived earlier today. The apartment building I was going to be staying in apparently burned to the ground... with... well... everything that I own inside of it, for the most part actually... so... I, ah... found your ad... and was hoping to..." a sudden thought entered Key's mind, bringing with it a quick stab of panic and a small twitch to his left eye "assuming, of course, that you're okay rooming with a stallion, I didn't realize that you were a... and obviously you thought I was..." Key swallowed before continuing, "you're... fine... with rooming with a bloke, right?"

Keystone had barely had a chance to sit down when he heard someone calling down from above in the sky. It was difficult to make out for certain due to the distance and the ambient sounds present around him, but it sounded something like, Key's ears perked up immediately as he began to scan the sky with his eyes, trying to find the source of the voice. Hearing the voice call out again, this time more clearly now that he was listening in for it, Key was able to locate the source: what seemed to be a... pegasus wearing a cape hanging upside down on a cloud, while waving down to him excitedly. He blinked. Once, twice, thrice, and once again before raising a hoof up in what he meant to be an affirmative wave. He was confused, a bit frightened, but at the same time hopeful. He collected himself for a moment and called out, in as loud a voice as he could muster, "I am, yes! I'm new here and am desperately in need of a place to stay!"