DustyQuill

My thinking is that the characters will drive the story more than some preliminary discussion, so as far as establishing a plotline goes I will keep it minimum. As Bre will recall, Dusty's calling is to write, so the Royal family has started a program that pays for ponies like him to travel and write. So basically he's on a paid trip to literally anywhere the wind takes him. That's generally how the story begins

I'm okay with stallion on stallion action, though I won't deny I'm a mare sort of guy myself. I don't actually know how my OC is about it though. We may or may not find out haha

Phony, couldn't be happier to have ya No worries Eclipse, I'll look once I have access to my laptop. Bre, I'll leave that to your discretion. You do what you like

Haha sorry Eclipse, I forgot that the mobile version of the site excludes sigs. Bre, I'm not too worried about what you've got going, except for my general wariness of Alicorn OCs

Sounds like a good group we have so far. Rainbow Eclipse, could we get a link to some descriptions about your characters please?

Duly noted, just wanted to be sure. And Bre, it'd be great to have you back :3 Dusk is also looking good

Sounds cool, I think I'd like to have maybe anywhere from five to ten participants for this one. Also, I feel it's worth noting, I see your OC has a pretty grim backstory, so I feel it's worth noting I'd like to try and keep this as grimdark-free as possible

Hey there everyone! I'm just kinda looking for a general slice of life where-the-wind-takes-us type of RP that's open to everyone. There will be action, oh yes. There will be romance, oh yes. There will be nonsense, Sweet Luna yes. It will be fun, it will be crazy, and there may or may not be pastries involved. Who's in? Link to the RP thread: http://mlpforums.com/topic/105599-by-the-grace-of-lunas-deep-pockets-a-saga/

Alright kids, I assume you've maybe deduced this on your own, but the fact of the matter is I'm probably just out by this point. I know the story more or less relies on me moving it forward, and I hope you find a workaround, but honestly I'm just not going to be able to do this anymore. Sorry I took so long to fill you guys in. It's been fun, but the fact is, I just don't have the will to continue with this sort of thing at present. I have to focus on just keeping myself going, and that's proving more and more difficult every day. So I hope you scoobies aren't too mad at me, I just can't right now. Sorry.

I am in generous chef mode, so I grin in response to Star's apology. "It's all good. Now all of you foals best get to eating up, because we have a big day today! We have no time to waste! The whole of Equestria waits for us, and I don't wish to keep it waiting long! So all of you need to get over your hangovers quickly, and Star, we will need to find a wagon or something for you, unless you think you can fly for a while. In any case, I do not plan to wait even another day! We have the biggest chance of our lives here, and I don't mean to waste it!" I say while somehow eating at the same time. By now the whole room smells of delicious breakfast as opposed to the vomitous mess it had been hours earlier. I turn to Stratus. "Hi, by the way. They call me Dust. Writer, traveler, and yes, a decent chef as it turns out. Nice to meet ya, though I guess the circumstances of our meeting were less than pleasant, one may say," I say, smiling a bit guiltily at Stratus. As a means of forgetting whatever has happened up to this point, I extent a piece of bacon to him.

Between bites I grin at the question. "That's right! The good old MU has introduced a new program that pays for aspiring writers like me to travel across Equestria, writing and selling our work. The deal is, with travel expenses paid for, we just have to give half our profits to the university until we break even with them and become financially independent. It's kinda complicated, and it'll take a while to complete the process, but it'll all work out in the end. I mean to use this chance to see all the world, if I can, and experience the whole world to fuel my writing," I explain at length. "However, I figured I want to avoid getting lonely on the road, so I figure, why not find some ponies that can come with me and see the world? If only five ponies get this kind of chance, why not allow a few more to tag along?" I take a massive bite of bacon and egg sandwich. I eventually swallow it, laughing. "That was too big a bite. Anyway, I was going to ask if you and Bre are willing and able to come with me on this quest for adventure and greater inspiration!"

I see the sun finally break the horizon through the kitchen window and decide that will be my cue. I pick up all of the many steaming platters of various egg, bacon, and toast combos and carry them all silently into Spacer's room. Thankfully, she and Bre are already there. Spacer seems a bit better off than Bre, but I don't really venture to guess who drank more. While setting down all my plates on virtually every available horizontal surface, at the same time I grin goofily at Spacer and whisper in my best old-pony voice, "You damn foals! Partying and causing all manner a ruckus and making life difficult for the responsible ones! Git offa my property!" I shake a hoof playfully to seal the act. I then settle in and with slow, undisturbing movements, I sit on a sofa. I see Spacer's look of what I figure is surprise at all this food, and I explain, "I figured you lot were gonna be nine kinds of messed up this morning, and I know that one of the best cures to a hangover is a hearty, greasy breakfast! Ergo, this was my way of taking care of you pretty pony party plotfaces." I grin again, taking a bite of some very crispy bacon. "Maybe I overdid it a bit, but that's what was fun."

I groan a bit as I hear her follow behind me, then jump a bit when I hear the thud of her hitting the floor. I turn around and set my bag of food down. I get down and look at Star's snout. "Yep. Looks beaten up pretty bad. Not broken, I think, but I wouldn't be surprised if it swells like a balloon." I then look at the hoof. "Maybe sprained. Somepony in town will be able to fix that, no doubt." In the meantime, I lift her up with some magic and gingerly place her on the back of the Pegasus stallion. "Take her into town, if you'd please. Nurses should be in the clinic there, I'd think." He nods, and I pick my bag back up and get back on track. I trot into what I deem to be the kitchen, and happily note that the cooking appliances are top of the line. I try to put Star and her new friend out of my mind by cooking, which seems to go very well. In no time, I have whipped up some fried bacon, some scrambled eggs, and some perfectly browned toast. All in all, a perfect cure by my standards. "Wonder if Star made it okay.." I catch myself wondering. I check the time. It is now 5:30am

As I sit watching the stars go by, I realize that the morning isn't too far off. Since I know I basically blew everypony off, I decide I will try to make it up to them. Since they will all be hungover before too long, I figure I would make them a little morning pick-me-up. I don't have to walk far to find a small town, one with a 24 hour supermarket. I trot in and buy a ton of eggs, bacon, and quality bread. I silently thank the Luna Program for all the funding. I carry all the food in a bag hoisted with some magic back to the club; by then, the moon was long retreating. I laughed a bit to myself as I realized how silly all this was, me just showing up to the club with this much food. As I walk back up to the door, Brick Break looks at me funny for a second. "Thought you were heading out there, Mister Big Shot Writer," he comments. "No worries, Brick," I assure, "just gonna try and be a nice pony for once." I gesture to the bag. "There a place to cook up this nonsense?" He replies, "The kitchen is right by Spacer's room, actually." I thank him and get to walking in, but on the way I run into Star and some stallion. They both appear plastered. I feel my throat catch a bit. After a second I choke out, "Oh, hi there Star. Just, uh.. I'm going this way." I pick a random hallway and start trotting down it, just wanting to put some distance between myself and them.

I grimace at the rebuttal in subject change. When I'm offered a drink again, I once more decline. "Look Star, now is not the time to discuss why I won't, but I can explain later if I have to. For now, please, please, don't put that on me." I wait until she says that she dares me before I finally lower my head. I then look up, visibly off-put. "Star. I do not like the pony I become when I've had drink, okay? I was hoping that would have been enough." I look around, and immediately the party feels very out of place to me. All the darkness with the foreign glowing shapes dancing and laughing, and I suddenly no longer feel part of it. "I'm... gonna go. I'll be up the road north apiece when you're done here. Find Spacer and make sure she knows the same. Bring Bre if he wants," I say, pulling off my glowsticks and setting them on the bar with some magic. I then try to leave as quietly as I can, but because I can no longer be seen, ponies keep bumping into me. It takes a few minutes, but eventually I make it out the door. On the way, I see the bouncer from before, still standing guard dutifully. As I pass, I give him an apologetic smile. "I guess I gave you a rough time today, huh?" He nods grimly, hoping to forget it. "Well, you'll be happy to know I got my comeuppance. I probably just ruined a few friendships in there." I look down slightly. As I start walking out, he says in an extremely low voice, "Don't let yourself get discouraged. I saw who you are today, I think. And I don't think you're a bad pony, just maybe putting your eggs in the wrong baskets sometimes." I am surprised somepony for whom I'd caused so much trouble would say something so nice, but it lifts my spirits immensely. I turn back to him. "By the way, the name's Dusty. Dusty Quill. I'm a writer. And someday, all of Equestria will know my name and my work!" He laughs a bit, but not cruelly. "Well, I'll be sure to buy your book when it gets published. Then, when you're famous, I'll be able to tell ponies I got run half to death by THE Dusty Quill! Ahahaha!" He and I laugh for a minute, then he adds, "And my name's Brick Break, in case you were wondering." I nod, smile, and walk away, saying, "Goodbye, Mister Brick Break! Work on that cardio for me, eh?" I walk for a few minutes along the road, then pick a spot by some flowers to sit down and watch the moon.

When Star asks if I want to try some shots, I open my mouth to answer, but by then it's a futile effort, as she has already abandoned ship and is ahead of me. I also notice my scarf is gone, and my eyes narrow as I search for and quickly spot my flapping scarf as she equips it while fleeing. I chase after her, nimbly leaping over other ponies to catch up. I catch her at the bar, and because I'm slightly winded, I gasp out, "I.. Don't.. Drink.. [sigh]." I gather myself a bit. "Yeah, I am not the drinking type. I don't judge, mind you, it's just not for me." I already feel like a jerk for passing up the offer, so I try to change the subject. "Anyway, I guess we should start thinking about what happens after tonight. Where will we go? We have the whole of Equestria before us, and with the program paying for us, we can afford to go anywhere. Least, we can for a while. So I think it is time to get the ideas flowing about where we should head next. Do you have any preferences, or should we wait until we can talk about it with Spacer and I would guess Bre if he wants to come as well?"

As soon as Star kisses my cheek, I for the first time feel completely comfortable with how much of a fool I've looked like all night. Watching her dance is almost more fun than dancing itself, but I still dance too since I know it'll make Star happy. When Spacer finishes her set, I cheer with all my might and bellow her name loudly, but I don't get the chance to talk to her for now. After a while, when the lights go down, I feel my way over to Star again. "Bubbly indeed," I comment. "To be honest, I'm kinda new to the party scene, so this is all mostly unfamiliar to me. Not to say that I don't know how to have fun, just that I'm not used to this sort of thing." I consider for a moment. "I'm glad the first party I went to, I went with friends as good as you. I guess what I'm saying is, thank you." With that, I decide to shut myself up by attempting to kiss what I thought was her snout, but instead ended up being her ear. I laugh a bit apologetically, but decide to recover by picking her up with a bit of magic and place her on my back and start prancing around, laughing.

As soon as Star grabs my scarf, I am immediately in Get the Scarf Back Mode. However, since she can easily evade me with her wings, I have to settle for keeping an eye on her and her silly antics. She finally lands and taunts me a bit to coerce me to come closer. I see the smirk forming on her face and I wonder what exactly she has in mind when I come closer. When I am within range, she tosses the scarf around my neck and uses it to pull me in close, causing me to yelp in momentary surprise. I find myself immediately blushing furiously and laugh nervously. She comes in close to whisper in my ear, and remarkably, even over the loud and pervading beat of Spacer's song, I can hear her perfectly. I find myself caught off guard by her words, and turn even redder somehow. "I, hehe, don't know if you did, Star. I think I'd have remembered that." I have totally lost my cool once more. "I mean to say, heh, that I'm glad you think so! And, uh, uhm..." I have achieved perfect redness by this point. "I think you're.." and my air supply stops even as my mouth keeps moving. I clear my throat some and try again. "I think you're very cute too," I manage. Sweet Celestia could you be handling this any worse? I berate myself.

When Star gets close to me ear and speaks, I am taken off guard completely. Oh wow. Is she being... No, that can't be it, I'm just overreacting. We're just some new friends dancing at our new friend's concert. I think. Shoot, thinking too long, gotta keep dancing. I look at Star to see the way she dances, and try to emulate her style of movement. It proves largely successful, as I feel much more confident following the lead of somepony who seems to know what she is doing. Eventually I forget my confusion and just start laughing and dancing free of care, feeling my scarf twirl around me like a ribbon on a ballet dancer. I let the music's beat fill me up and just let loose, this time confident and sure of myself. After a while though, I notice that some of the moves I have been imitating from Star seem to be a bit... forward, somepony could say. I then realized that since I had been imitating her, I was doing them too. This both made me laugh at myself and wonder at Star. There must be more to her than I saw at first. She seemed so sweet and innocent and bubbly before, but once the concert started she has gotten a little, well, flirty. I considered for a moment. I definitely am okay with this development, I decided, then started dancing my way closer to Star. "What do you think, Catch? Have I improved?" I ask while whirling about, returning her broad smile with one of my own.

Hahaha no worries there Space, we all have a day or two like that once in a while. No explanations or excuses needed

I am immediately thrilled by the sight of Spacer. "There she is! WOOHOO!" I cry out as I cheer with the rest of the crowd. I am shocked and pleased by the immediate explosion of light and sound. This is, in fact, my first ever live concert to speak of, so I didn't know what to expect, which meant this was a pleasant surprise. For a few seconds I am almost mesmerized by the sight of Spacer in her element, spinning discs and otherwise looking like a sheer wave of confident talent. I can tell already that this night is going to yield some really good material for writing, which makes me very excited to say the least. When I realize Star was talking to me when she asked to dance, I blush a bit in spite of myself. However, I recover quickly enough. "Haha, I would love to! Just a warning, though: I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never danced in front of others like this, let alone danced with anypony." With that, I start to dance again, now facing Star, but now that I've gone and gotten myself good and nervous, I find myself tripping periodically and hope desperately that she isn't expecting too much of my ability (or lack thereof).

((OOC: trying a reply on my iPhone. We will see how this goes)) "Well, while I think your idea is solid Bre, I'm thinking that presently it is time to jaunty on out to the dance floor and make some bodacious dancing happen," I say, grinning at Bre as I use what I just decided was a Bre-word. "Soooo..." I say, getting up and lifting Bre and Star just barely off the floor with some magic and leaping out the doorway, ponies in tow behind me. "Spacer, do us proud, eh?" I call after her as I sprint from the room down the hall to the main hall. I carry the pair all the way to the front of the already-massive crowd, eventually setting them down next to me. I start dancing somewhat to the pre-music, but I'm saving my real energy for Spacer. My dance is a bit weird to say the least; limbs and appendages flail with reckless abandon and I generally make a fool of myself. I notice the pair not dancing with as much wild energy as I, so I grab each of them by a hoof and we all start twirling around. I laugh gratuitously and call out "This is awesome! When's Spacer gonna come out??"

By now the bouncer (who clearly needed some work on his endurance) had been largely worn out by all the chasing and had fallen to the ground, gasping for breath, so I as a good sport erase the stache from his face. I trotted over to him, lightly booped him on the snout, to which he growled a bit but didn't get up yet. "No worries, good sir, I'm actually a VIP here," I promise him. As I start to walk away, he moans incoherently and gives a nod that basically says "Go ahead, I don't care anymore." I grin and stroll into the hall. I see that the backstage bouncer has apparently been better informed than his front door counterpart, as he lets me past into the backstage area. I trot along the hallway until I reach Spacer's room. "Spacer, I'm not sure if you'd quite believe what I just went through out there. Not to mention the poor bouncer. He's in half-cardiac arrest it looked like, so I let him catch his breath some. Anyway, this is a nice looking place you got here!" I enter the room and pick the fluffiest looking couch onto which I flop unceremoniously. "Very comfy. A stallion like me could get used to this, yes indeed." I grin up at Spacer. "So, you getting psyched for the show? I'm sure you'll do great! After all, a few handsome stallions like me and Bre here oughta keep the morale up, no?" I wink slyly, then dramatically flip one end of my scarf around my neck.

I spose, but we sort of put ourselves in a situation where it makes way more sense for Spacer to return to us *shrug*