DustyQuill

My eyes glint a bit at the suggestion, though with my smile it's hard to tell whether it's in anger or glee. "I wouldn't worry too much about that. I've been given assurance that the card will be kept track of by a contact in Canterlot at all times. It's a dangerous toy to leave unsupervised, right?" A spark of magic creeps up my horn. "Plus, while I'm far from a combat expert, I think I could hold off the average ragamuffin thief."

I chucke a bit at the question, then pull from my bags a shiny metal card about three inches by two inches, on which is a silver rendition of Luna's cutie mark on a navy blue background. "For any shopkeeper in Equestria, this oughta be enough to cover it. See, this card allows the shopkeeper to take the amount of my purchase out of their taxes, plus a couple courtesy bits. Basically, I'm a walking tax break. So everypony wins!"

I grin. "Starting tomorrow, we all could set off on the greatest adventure than anypony ever adventured! It'll be magical, and what's more, I suspect we all will make some wonderful new friendships on the way. Sound good to anypony else, because it sure does to me."

I clear my throat and stand up tall. When I speak, my voice is a bit lower than normal, and more serious. "It is my duty and my quest to travels these lands and inscribe all that I survey, gaining knowledge, wisdom, following, and yes, money, for the purposes of both my personal glory and the glory of the princess of the night, our own Luna." My voice returns to normal. "Y'see, I am a recent graduate of the Manehatten University School of Scholars, and when I graduated I was given a stellar opportunity. There's this new program that all the top tier schools in Equestria are participating in called Luna's Travelling Writers. It's basically a program wherein a new writer like me is given funds from the royal treasury to finance the writer's travels around Equestria in order to sell and spread his or her work. In other words, I get to go wherever I please, and the condition is that I give a percentage of all my profits back to the treasury for the rest of my life. It's a tough bargain, but I plan to make the most of it by seeing the world!

"Which brings me to my real point. I have been given an indefinite amount of money to spend, and I know full well that without interesting friends and companions my writing will suffer. So in the interest of preserving my career, and yes, in the name of fun, I would like to offer you all a chance to come with me and see the world! Whaddaya say?" I grin pleadingly.

Thanks for helping us out! This is what we get for trusting me with any sort of organization >_<

Haha you got it! As far as the PG13 goes I'm sure this gaggle of goons will keep a lid on it. Is there anything I can do at this point to expedite the process or make things less messy?

Okay kids, here it is for real: http://mlpforums.com/topic/105626-by-the-grace-of-lunas-deep-pockets-a-saga-only-actually-now/

I find myself increasingly elated by the wave of new arrivals. The one downside up to this point in my travels has been the solitude, but I see now that there may be a chance for companionship after all.

"Everypony?" I summon the group's attention despite the equally-enthralling s'mores. "I have an offer, no, a request, that I think you all would like to hear."

Maybe just open a new topic in the normal section and post a new link there?

How do I contact them? Blargh, I'm a doof

How do I change that? Is it possible at this point?

I laugh a bit as Chelsea asks me if she can have some of the food. "Haha, not mine to give I'm afraid. You'll have no choice but to take it up with Miss Spacer over here," I say with a smile and a friendly wink. "So, not all pony but not all griffin, either, huh? Interesting combo, and if my writer's sense is correct, and it always is, there must be one hay of a story behind that. Am I close?" I say, eyes gleaming behind my glasses. In the meantime, I get out my scrolls once more, but as I try to pull out a blank one, a couple others fall out. One in particular loses its lavender ribbon binding and comes unfurled. In a fraction of a second, my eyes widen and I scramble to pick it up and roll it back into shape with my magic, while the others are placed back in my bag. With my mini-crisis averted, I laugh off my nerves and once again turn to Chelsea, horn glowing, ready to begin writing. "Would you mind giving me a short synopsis of how something like that comes about? It could be an excellent supplement to an idea I've been playing around with."

Upon seeing Spacer return, I point a hoof at her dramatically. "And this must be the pony in question! I suspect that this is your campsite, is it not??" I then promptly lower my hoof and smile amiably. "Whether or not that's true, nice to meet ya! Name's Dusty Quill, and this is...uh..." I turned my head to look at my seated companion, then turned back, "a friend of mine. Nice place you got here, and," I smell your cooking supplies, "nice goods you seem to have brought back. I don't suppose you have enough to share?"

As if on cue, after the word 'share' two others appear almost at the same time. "Well I hope the answer is yes, because apparently this is the place to be on this lonely autumn night!" I extend a white hoof to the new additions to the night's company. "Hi there! If this were my campsite, I'd say make yourselves at home, but as it is, I'll stick with it's nice to meet you all!" I magic my small, roundish glasses off and polish them with my scarf, then put them back on. "Ah, so your name is Chelsea," I say with a smile as the griffin introduces herself. "And who might you be?" I ask the remaining denizen.

Is there another kind? I have no idea haha

I listen intently as my company explains his bizarre living quarters. Once he is finished explaining, I am just about beaming. "You carry your entire living space on your back?? That's so cool! As is the fact that you work with half a horn as if it were whole. You think I couldn't glean a story out of that? Good sir, I'm afraid you couldn't be more wrong. Unique ponies like yourself are what keep writers like me in business."

I stand up and stretch, then once more begin pacing, my striped scarf fluttering lazily behind me. "To tell the truth, I have no idea who lives here. I only got here just a bit ago, hoping to find somepony here, but the camp appears empty. What's suspicious to me is that there's no way that's true. You see," I say, pointing at the fire, "the fire here is still burning bright, freshly fueled. Whoever set this fire was also tending to it not long ago at all. In addition," I point to the tent, "the tent is completely free of dirt or any other sign of having been here long. The fact is, whether this camp is abandoned or not, it hasn't been for long."

Fair warning to all of you. I will never apologize for even the most detestable of puns.

As the pony with the coffin on his back emerges, I brighten up considerably. "What brings me to this part of these woods? Why, the same thing that brings me to any part of any woods!" I explain. "I am a travelling writer, an author whose sole passion is to travel all this land and write about all that I see, and as I travel, to share that writing with others. I will see the world, and when I am finished I will have become a household name! In case you were wondering, that name is Dusty Quill. Most ponies just stick with Dusty though." I pause, then gather up all my scrolls and replace them in my bag. I turn back to the strange pony, and notice his broken horn.

"Hey there, you may wanna get that looked at. Kinda looks painful, to be honest." I then see the coffin and recognize it for what it is. "By the way, if you don't mind my asking, why are you carrying such, uh, uncommon cargo with you? Not here to ditch the body of your latest in a series of heinous crimes, are you?" I say with a smirk. "Although if that's the case, I imagine that'd make for some killer writing material."

((That's fine))

As I hear the branch break, I start backwards a bit. I look around the campsite, looking intently for anypony that might be hiding just outside the fire's reach. The campfire creates strangely-shaped shadows that make it very difficult to tell if it's just plants or if there really is something out there. I start pacing around the fire in wide circles, looking in all directions for something to happen. While I am acutely aware that I could just light up my horn to get a much more satisfying light that would tell me plenty, the writer in me can't help but wait and see rather than ruin this suspenseful moment. After a moment, I sigh and pop a squat on one of the stumps around the fire ring that serves as a chair. I open my black leather saddlebag and pull out my scrolls that I had filled that day: ten full scrolls in all, an excellent day's haul. Eventually, I look up.

"Not to be cliche or anything, but is somepony out there?" I ask, looking up, down, and around the entire area, eyeing everything carefully.

Ooh, me likey. I'll be using Riley and Anala.

I'm game for this. I'll be using my OC Bayonet/Shivty.

Just making sure you two are still game. We haven't heard back from you two yet but we'd hate to see you go!

Well, let's give them a few minutes. I'd say that in like half an hour/an hour it'll be safe to say no one is responding.

Unless you really want to, that is.

Alrighty fillies and gentlecolts, we are a go!

http://mlpforums.com/topic/105599-by-the-grace-of-lunas-deep-pockets-a-saga/

As the sun starts to set far off to the west, the sky's blue hue begins to lose the battle with orange and purple shafts of light that blend and twist into what can only be described as a picture-book sunset. I turn my gaze back away from the dying influence of the sun and whirl around to the east, watching intently as the moon's ghostly glow breaks the horizon, shining brightly and leaving me without a moment of true darkness. As the moon finally rises fully over the hills to the east, I whistle in admiration, a low whistle that breaks the until-then silent majesty of the whole spectacle.

"Geez," I say to myself as I pull out my trusty scroll and with a flash of blue unicorn magic begin to write a description of what I just saw. "Those two sure know how to put on a show," I mutter as I finish writing minutes later. By now the sun has completely abandoned my field of view, and night's cool blue shade wraps the earth in nocturnal comfort. It was only at this time that I notice the sun was not the only source of fire's light in the area; a little ways to the north, up the trail, I notice a faint glow of a campfire off the side of the road.

I trot happily up the trail, pleased as punch with the writing I had accomplished that day. A few moments later, I reach the campsite and notice the canvas tent pitched near the welcoming and radiant fire. I look around for a moment, but see nopony so far.

"Hello there! Anypony here?" I ask to the air in front of me.

((OOC: wherein anyone can jump in))

Link to the OOC thread: http://mlpforums.com/topic/105492-slice-of-life-the-return-of-dusty-edition/

We'd love to have you, Spacer. And with that I think we at least have enough to start. I'm gonna write the first post here in a bit, I just finished fixing up my car and haven't gotten to a computer yet

Alright, so last time there were plenty of folk like "yeah, I'm in" who never showed up. To show that you are, in fact, in, can everyone who's participating comment asap indicating such?

It seems like a good story seed, leaving lots of room for variables and character-driven plot, which is what works best I find