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       #Post#: 3595--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: September 22, 2014, 6:50 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash couldn't help but giggle at the mare's joke,
       although it seemed to be short lived as the author himself burst
       through the door, earning many of the same, prying looks that
       the Pegasus had received earlier when she careened into the
       door. "Looks like I might be fine-tuning his entrance..." The
       cyan mare muttered to herself, waving Marked over to her table.
       She was very pleased and relieved at the stallion's arrival,
       although the state he found himself in made Dash frown a bit...
       Had she known that it was going to rain this bad, she might have
       taken some preemptive measures against it. Scratching her head,
       the mare now couldn't help but wonder what exactly the weather
       schedule stated. She might have some flanks to chew out later...
       "Glad you could make it, Marked! Truth be told, I was a little
       late myself... I do apologize about the sudden onset of weather,
       though. It seems like nopony was expecting this little torrent.
       Come, have a seat.~" Rainbow Dash would clear off some of her
       paperwork from the opposite side of the table so Marked could
       have somewhere to set his bags, careful not to get any of it out
       of order. "I'd offer my drying services again, but I'm not so
       sure that would go over so well inside an establishment like
       this. Or any building, for that matter."
       The mare chuckled nervously... Obviously another bad joke. She
       seemed to have quite a knack for doing that, but her intentions
       were in the right place, at least. Dash blinked as the
       mysterious mare finally introduced herself, albeit not towards
       her. Still, she had a name to work with now. "Ah, Agilene
       Flow... It's a good name. Well, Agilene, you're more than
       welcome to join us if you'd like. It's the least I could do
       after scaring the tails off of everypony in here. I'll even get
       you a drink, if you'd like."
       Rainbow Dash was obviously trying to make the best impression
       she could after her earlier blunder. While normally everypony
       would pass it off as a stunt and have a quiet chuckle at her
       expense, she would rather not be scolded for something crazy she
       did... The Pegasus did that enough to herself as-is.
       #Post#: 3597--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Marked Twine Date: September 22, 2014, 7:40 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       "I'd say that's a pretty safe assumption. It's a pleasure, Miss
       Flow," Marked would offer a hoof to bump or shake should Agilene
       accept, him noticing how dripping wet it was and then trying to
       wipe it off first on his jacket, which did nothing due to it
       being specifically made to not accept the water, then on part of
       his hoodie that was sticking out very noticeably from the back
       end of the jacket, this also doing nothing to help as the soaked
       garment merely reinforced its wetness further. One last try to
       dry off his hoof by wiping it off on his coat itself, again, met
       with no success as drying to dry something off on something that
       wasn't dry, surprise surprise, continued to not be possible.
       "Er... Sorry," he apologized as he retracted his hoof and tried
       to smile "cool" again. Boy was he bad at that...
       "Don't mind if I do," Marked was beyond happy to accept
       Rainbow's offer of a seat, the stallion nearly flopping down
       into it before catching himself and attempting a more cool half
       flop, his legs having at this point decided to begin screaming
       at him over how he'd done that "running" thing more active
       ponies liked. I mean, he just put them through all that stress!
       What was he thinking? Once flank met cushion Marked's back legs
       were finished, them just shutting down on him as they clocked
       out for now and got the rest they needed. His front hooves,
       while a bit sluggish in their responses, still remained active
       enough for basic tasks such as slapping himself for freaking out
       so much. Maybe he wasn't as late as he'd thought. Especially if
       Rainbow was late too. Was there a clock in there? Where? Eh,
       forget it. Didn't matter now anyway since he hadn't missed her.
       "Hehe, and I'd probably take you up on that offer," the
       exhausted pony replied with a chuckle at Rainbow's second offer,
       a mental image of the cafe being tossed into chaos as a small
       whirlwind was conjured inside of it and pulled in anything not
       nailed down, causing a huge mess but, in the end, leaving him
       dry, "If, of course, it didn't risk completely demolishing the
       place from within. Would probably be quite the thing to see
       though."
       When Rainbow went on and turned her attention to Agilene, Marked
       took the opportunity to rest his head back against his seat,
       relaxing himself as best as he could and allowing his muscles
       to- wait. He was supposed to stretch before an after running
       like that, wasn't he? R-right? Awww... come on... He hadn't
       stretched before he started, so could he cheat and just not go
       through with a cool down? No matter how cool he tried to make
       the down? Ugh. He was going to take a gosh darn minute to relax
       first either way, so, as having no objections to voice in
       regards to Agilene joining them, Marked continued to rest in his
       seat, his front hooves being the only things active as they
       slowly went about trying to take off his jacket, a task made
       tricky with his back resting against his seat but not
       impossible. Couldn't just leave the jacket on, after all. Needed
       to get to his saddle bags easier, and then would need to take
       off that darn wet hoodie! Blegh. He could feel the spots where
       it had chaffed against him... It wasn't pleasant...
       Slowly but surely he was making progress as he wondered what
       Rainbow had apparently done to frighten this new mare and,
       Marked guessed, everypony else in the room.
       #Post#: 3599--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Agilene Date: September 22, 2014, 8:28 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Agilene faced both of them one by one, darting her view of
       Rainbow Dash and Mark Twain back to back. So far, they both seem
       like interesting individuals, even if she only met them for a
       few minutes. They're better than the ponies she met for longer,
       that's for sure. Ponies that looked to be worthy companions, but
       would betray her in the last minute. Her brows furrowed for a
       second at the thought of that, making her seem angry for a short
       moment, before returning to the current situation.
       Based on the condition of the two ponies, and their reason for
       being here, Agilene was not sure if she should stay, despite
       Rainbow Dash's kind offer. It seemed very important, and her
       being in the middle of it would feel awkward. She couldn't begin
       to consider the thought of staying still and quiet while the
       others spoke back and forth. Perhaps she can find some way of
       being a part of the conversation? But what would Agilene even
       contribute? The only writing she's done was for a personal diary
       during her younger years.
       After a short second of deciding, she replies to Rainbow Dash,
       "It looks like you two are busy, and have important topics to
       cover. Thank you for the offer, Miss Dash, but it appears me
       being here in the middle of your meeting would be rather
       distracting."
       #Post#: 3604--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: September 23, 2014, 11:20 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash simply watched quietly as Marked and Agilene
       exchanged pleasantries, glancing down at the table every so
       often to jot something down on the paper in front of her. The
       mare absentmindedly gnawed at the pencil clenched between her
       teeth as she pondered what to write next; so deep in thought, in
       fact, that Dash unintentionally snapped the writing instrument
       in two, prompting a rather disgruntled whine. "Blegh!
       Horseapples... I really gotta stop doing that." Fortunately, the
       Pegasus came prepared as she dug for another pencil in her own
       satchel, gently brushing out any splinters of wood from her
       mouth with her free hoof. "I've done that with a pen once," the
       mare said, talking more to herself than anypony else that was
       paying attention. "Once... Looked like a Chow-Chow for a week,
       whatever in Equestria that is."
       The mare trailed off as Marked took his seat in front of her. Or
       perhaps flopped, to be more accurate... The stallion seemed to
       be utterly exhausted, most likely contributed to his efforts of
       arriving on time and keeping dry, which may also explain his
       multiple layers of clothing. A jacket? A hoodie? One might think
       the stallion would be dressing up for winter at this rate. But
       then again, few ponies enjoy being thoroughly soaked in a storm.
       Dash couldn't help but grin as her thoughts turn to Rarity,
       perhaps the ultimate de' facto in such a situation. That diva of
       a mare would nary get her hooves wet from a small puddle, much
       less being caught out in the rain. It would be, as she would
       say, the worse, possible, thing, ever.
       "You okay there, Marked?" the rainbow-maned Pegasus finally
       replied, shifting her attention to the near-bursting bag he
       carried once it was revealed. "Jeeze, Marked. Did you bring your
       typewriter, too? What all did you pack in that thing?" Dash took
       another joking jab at the stallion, giggling to herself a
       little. "I hope I brought enough," she continued, shuffling her
       pages around again as she searched for one piece of paper in
       particular. "I figured it might be best to start from scratch. I
       was going over what I had already written and decided that it
       wasn't quite... well. Cool enough." Her cerise eyes snapped to
       the table for a moment as she blatantly lied; the mare hadn't
       previously written anything at all, in fact... She had it all
       thought out in her head, though, but it was only until just a
       few hours ago that the mare had actually put it down on paper.
       Quite a bold move, but Dash was certain that her rough-draft, so
       to speak, would live up to expectations with a quality awesome
       seal of approval. Her hopes were high, but perhaps unnecessarily
       so.
       A short silence followed as Rainbow Dash patiently waited for
       Marked to get settled before it was eventually broken by
       Agilene's short statement, much to the mare's relief. She
       couldn't stand awkward silence, second only to boring lectures.
       Despite the mare's preconceived actions, Dash was actually quite
       the over-thinker. When she wasn't moving, her mind raced
       instead, which usually caused problems in of itself. "Oh! you're
       more than welcome to join us, Agilene." The Pegasus would glance
       over, offering a small smile at the mare. "Three heads are
       better than one, after all. The only thing that would really
       distract me at the moment is what kind of drink to get. Perhaps
       some hot cocoa..." Dash mused to herself a moment before
       grabbing the menu tucked carefully between the condiments,
       glancing through her options with a rather stern hmmm... "Yeah,
       that sounds awesome. Coffee is probably a bad idea for me,
       anyways. I might accidentally turn this whole place upside-down
       if I get too jittery. And believe it or not, it really hurts my
       performance. Actually wound up hurting myself once because of
       that, actually. All those trees and their branches..." The mare
       trailed off again, blinking as she realized she had just
       distracted herself. "Ah, never mind that mess. Feel free to
       stick around, Agilene; we certainly wouldn't mind the company."
       #Post#: 3610--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Marked Twine Date: September 23, 2014, 8:24 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Marked didn't have the energy needed to physically do anything
       more than just brighten his cheeks with a slight shade of
       embarrassment over Rainbow's jokes over both his condition and
       the weight of his saddle bags. His jacket was almost entirely
       off by this point though, thankfully, his saddle bags and their
       girth then in plain view for everypony to see.
       "Er... Heh. You know. Stuff. This and that. Things,
       what-have-you and the sort," he didn't want to go about making
       himself look like too much of a goof by explaining how he ended
       up carrying so much with him to the cafe, so instead he settled
       on being enough of a goof as to give a pretty unhelpful and
       silly answer. Awesome. Eh, he'd get over it, just like how his
       jacket was getting over the rest of him as he gave it one final
       slightly awkward and clearly tired tug to remove it from his
       body entirely and toss it to the side where it would be out of
       the way. Yup. This hoodie sure was uncomfortable. And wet. And
       cold. He gave Rainbow a nod when she explained her plan for
       starting their meeting with her idea being brought up from
       scratch as his hooves moved to the strap of his saddle bags to
       loosen them.
       "Sure, that should work. Actually, if you've got a few things
       that are ready to be looked at right away, I would gladly-" one
       of his hooves, which had detoured from the buckle of his bags
       and headed for the bag itself, was stopped short as it tried to
       open his bag up and reach inside, it only softly thudding
       against the spine of one of the books he'd brought along. This
       would certainly make reaching his reading glasses difficult
       seeing how they were now, he assumed and hoped, beneath the
       books threatening to tear out of his bag and fall out at any
       moment.
       "Uh... Gladly listen to anything you can sum up before tossing
       me into the heavy stuff." Lame finish, Marked wanted to see if
       she had any notes he could get right to work on checking out,
       but without his glasses all he'd be able to do was stare at a
       page and pretend to understand. Unless he wanted to hold the
       paper only a mere inch or so away from his face and completely
       abandon his new quest to achieve some semblance of "cool". Can
       you look cool doing that? Was it worth the risk? Marked was
       really excited to see what Rainbow had in mind for her book, so
       maybe he could risk it...? Or wait like an adult until he had
       his glasses. OR risk it because its going to be a book written
       by one of the element bearers and he was super duper-
       Forcing himself to take a breath and shake away his distracting
       thoughts as Rainbow returned her attention to Agilene, Marked
       returning his hooves to their job of attempting to remove these
       heavy weights strapped to his body. He couldn't help but wonder
       about that mention of Rainbow Dash being on coffee... That must
       have been a stressful day for everypony in Ponyville if Marked
       had to guess about the already fast pony being dosed with
       caffeine
       "Yeah, it wouldn't be any problem if you wanted to hang out with
       us be it as a friendly meeting or just until the rain passes,"
       he added to Rainbow's assurance that Agilene would not in fact
       distract or be unwelcome, "former would be nice and the later
       would arrive sooner with good company after all. Also, oh my
       gosh does some hot cocoa sound good right now!" Marked's
       attention would shift between the two mares should Agilene
       decide to stay, his work on his buckles getting him somewhere as
       his saddle bags finally fell off of him, causing his weight to
       shift so drastically that he swayed and nearly fell over in his
       seat, a quick hoof rescuing him from a clumsy tumble as he
       righted himself and tried to play it off as if nothing had
       happened. "Snuggling up in my seat and watching the rain outside
       as I sip some hot cocoa with marshmallows and have myself a
       slice of pie with a big ol' dollop of whipped cream on top... If
       my hoodie wasn't so wet right now I would feel so cozy just
       thinking about that..." He gave a slight shiver as he remembered
       how chilled he'd actually become during his sprint through the
       rain and wind, the darn hoodie responsible for harshing his mood
       being his next target for being pulled off of his body.
       "I haven't had a chance to do something like that in forever.
       Those kind of nice evenings always do me wonders for creativity.
       Maybe it will help you with yours too, Rainbow? Or has it been
       helping already?"
       #Post#: 3612--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Agilene Date: September 23, 2014, 9:58 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Agilene shrugged as she felt glad by the welcoming offer to
       allow her to stay. She had a lot of time to kill, so a night
       sitting by writers would be a fine reason to stay late. In fact,
       she has grown interested in what will both Rainbow and Marked
       have in store. Ponies with facinating characteristics, based on
       what she's seen so far, surely they won't pull out something as
       dull as a rock on a concrete table. And as she thought before,
       maybe she would provide some input as well.
       The mention of hot cocoa also encouraged Agilene replace her
       spilled Prance Vanilla coffee. Just the thought of the sweet
       scent of warm chocolate made Agilene lick her lips as if she
       were tasting it. It was also cheaper than her Prance Vanilla, so
       it gave her another reason to order one.
       Agilene stood up from her seat, looking back and forth at her
       two table companions, Marked in particular. "In that case, I
       shall join you after I order a hot cocoa." She left her seat and
       casually walked over to the counter to order what she wanted. As
       Agilene did, she turned her head back to them, "I look forward
       in hearing what you two have to say about your writing."
       She approached the cashier, a blue earth pony with pigtails and
       wearing a flower apron, and kindly asked her for a hot cocoa
       drink. Agilene carefully dropped the bits she needed to spend,
       and then stood to the side as she waited for her drink. From
       where she stood, the succulent oder of chocolate filled the air.
       
       #Post#: 3625--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: September 25, 2014, 10:05 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash merely watched comically as Marked continued to
       struggle with the removal of his attire, as well as unclasping
       that brick that he called a bag. The mare would offer to help,
       of course, but she wasn't entirely sure how comfortable the
       stallion was with other ponies invading his personal space,
       especially if it was a mare. Even then, Rainbow Dash couldn't
       really think of a way to help, and would most likely just make
       things much worse. Instead, the mare simply chose to sit and
       stare at the menu, occasionally peeking over to watch Marked's
       progress. She'd give him a bit longer before ordering, finding
       the idea of hot cocoa to be more and more divine as the stallion
       proceeded to describe what he would like to eat.
       "Well, in that case..." The Pegasus paused, watching Agilene as
       she stood up to go order something, deciding to wait until she
       came back to start in on her awesome ideas. If she was willing
       to stay and participate, she might as well start from the
       beginning, right? "My writing style would perhaps be best
       described as adventure. With authors like you and A.K. Yearling
       to take inspiration from, how could I do it any other way?" Dash
       chuckles to herself, but so far doesn't make any moves to reach
       for one of her papers littering the table.
       "So here's the basic jist... Playing off of the idea that all
       the races were at each other's throats before Equestria itself
       was formed and the Hearth's-Warming Eve legend took place...
       What if we were never brought together? What if we lived in
       constant fear of each other, each race holed up somewhere where
       the other couldn't easily get to?" Rainbow Dash would let that
       sink in for a moment before continuing. It was hard for her to
       conform the idea to words while remaining interesting at the
       same time. "Now imagine, if you will, a Pegasus filly appearing
       out of the blue in a remote Earth village. Nopony knew where she
       came from, but she was accepted into a kind-hearted family
       willing to take care of her, despite her differences. Without
       going into long, boring detail, her ultimate task through the
       story would be to unite the three races against a common foe."
       The mare trailed off again, wondering why that sounded so much
       better in her head... Oh well. It was certain to garner at least
       some interest, right? She was playing well out of her field of
       expertise, and if she thought she could get away with it, Dash
       would have most certainly written something entirely too
       cliche`like random destined hero number one goes and beats up
       random egotistical villain number two. With explosions. And
       other awesome things. But for now, Dash just left it at that,
       curious to see any reactions the two might have, if any.
       #Post#: 3641--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Marked Twine Date: September 27, 2014, 11:01 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       By the time Agilene was of ordering her new drink, Marked had
       his hoodie over his head and nearly off of him, the wet clothing
       mussing up his mane on its way to being removed and causing his
       hair to stick out in odd directions, something Marked tried not
       to acknowledge as he just dropped the hoodie on top of his
       jacket and let out a long and happy sigh. His sides were left a
       bit sore from all the uncomfortable rubbing caused by his
       hoodie, but it wasn't too bad as now that it was removed he felt
       some relief coming on with the assurance that he would finally
       start to feel dry again and not need to deal with a weird tossed
       together attire on his way home. He rested his head back against
       his seat once again and closed his eyes, attempting to ingore
       the thought of how he should probably get up and do some
       stretches for the sake of his muscles as he wasn't sure if his
       legs would even be able to support him.
       He stayed this way until Rainbow began to explain her idea,
       Marked's eyes snapping open and ears swiveling as he eagerly
       lifted his head to listen to what the mare had in mind for her
       own book. He diverted his eyes for a second and put on a bit of
       a small and bashful smile when she mentioned him along side of
       A.K. Yearling as authors she was taking inspiration from. It was
       still a little weird to think somepony like her would enjoy his
       work that much, though that was most likely just him telling
       himself that it was weird instead of having it actually achieve
       any real level of weirdness. He did however find it amusing that
       Rainbow, one of the ponies that often inspired his own work, was
       being inspired by his work that was partly inspired by her and
       her friends exploits. So she in a way helped inspire the work
       that was contributing to her own inspiration. Layers upon
       layers.
       Marked was thankful for Rainbow not yet passing any papers his
       way, his glasses still being trapped in his saddle bags and out
       of his reach for now, and listened intently as she gave a quick
       description of what she had in mind, giving the occasional
       polite nod or hum to show that he was paying attention through
       out.
       "So an alternate history type story," Marked commented once
       she'd finished, leaning forward in his seat and now wishing he
       had his glasses so he could take a look at the papers on the
       table for heavier details, "that's not a bad start really. Gives
       loads of creative freedom with the setting. You could rebuild
       the entire world with that idea, creating alternate versions of
       well known locations, explaining what may or may not have been
       put in the place of settlements like Ponyville, explain separate
       ruling bodies for each of the three, create your own events for
       their in canon history beyond what actually happened... You
       could pretty much do anything with this kind of setup if you
       gave it enough thought." It really wasn't a bad start, Marked
       not being able to help himself as he started to have ideas on
       what may have been had pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies not
       come together under a single banner of friendship. "Do you plan
       on fleshing out the universe or just use it as a backdrop and
       focus on the main idea? I'll admit that I do enjoy delving into
       the worlds created by others and learning new lore, but that's
       just the kind of pony I am, you know?"
       He paused to give Agilene a chance to chime in should she wish,
       then almost sighed... He knew he needed to get this over with
       before he forgot, so, with a worried look, he shimmied his way
       off of his seat and stood back up on his still slightly shaky
       hooves. It was time to stretch. "Also, um, please ignore me
       doing this," he pleaded Rainbow and Agilene should the other
       mare be back with her cocoa, "I sorta sprinted here from my
       house and didn't stretch first, so..." Rainbow was an athlete,
       so surely she would understand, right? Besides, it would be
       better to stretch a bit in front of the mares and look kind of
       silly in front of them and everypony else in the building since
       the alternative would be risking pulling a muscle or suffering a
       cramp later and then looking silly for not having done this.
       So Marked stretched a bit and trotted in place a little to help
       loosen up his muscles for more proper rest, him feeling
       embarrassed as he assumed this wasn't the most "cool" thing to
       do right then...
       "Er... Tell me about the main character," he tried to move on
       without having the slight coloring of his cheeks grow to any
       level of notability, "The pegasus filly? Also, feel free to go
       into long boring detail. The long boring details are what
       usually make stories great, in my opinion. Shows depth and all."
       #Post#: 3651--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Agilene Date: September 27, 2014, 11:19 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       The cashier gives Agilene her hot cocoa right when Rainbow Dash
       had finished her explanation of her story. The story was rather
       intriguing from what she had heard. She sniffed the warm,
       chocolate scent that radiated from the cup. She knew this was
       worth spending a couple bits on. As Agilene turned back to the
       table, she found Marked stretching and trotting in place for a
       short moment. This seemed rather odd, and out of the blue to
       her. It was until Agilene remembered what he had said about 'not
       stretching,' at which point things began making sense. She
       shrugged before calmly walking back, making sure she doesn't
       make much noise as she sat back down.
       Agilene turned to the window for a moment. Outside, the rain
       appeared calmer than its intense state a few minutes ago. She
       was glad, but it just needed to be gone for good before she
       could return to the station to wait for a train that leads to
       Detrot. Agilene also had the thought of flying back to home
       instead of wasting bits and time at the station. But that
       thought was quickly countered by the idea of flying in the dark,
       perhaps flying into areas where there is still rainfall. As fast
       as she was avoiding obstacles, avoiding them in the dark was not
       her strong suit. Maybe it would be better to wait in the station
       than to risk flying, she thought.
       Agilene returned to Rainbow Dash's story about the alternate
       Equestria. She already had a good number of thoughts floating
       around in her mind about it. "So, instead of the 3 leaders
       uniting each race by coping with their differences, it is one
       young girl instead?" Agilene paused for a moment to think before
       continuing, "Interesting concept, as Marked said."
       #Post#: 3680--------------------------------------------------
       Re: A Quiet Evening at the Café
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: September 29, 2014, 11:32 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       "Yup!" Rainbow Dash immediately followed up on Agilene's
       question, even though it was more of an observation instead. The
       mare seemed to watch intently as Marked had gotten up to
       stretch, resisting the urge to correct anything the author was
       doing improperly. While stretching in of itself was a very
       simple act, the coach inside Dash knew that the chances of the
       stallion injuring himself were more than doubled if it was done
       inappropriately, especially after a strenuous run like that. In
       her time leading the Ponyville Weather Team, Dash had seen, and
       experienced, her fair share of nasty injuries all attributed to
       the cause... "Hooves should be hip and shoulder-width apart.
       Keep your back straight, wings preferably at forty-five degree
       angle, no more than-" The Pegasus blinked, smirking playfully at
       her own error. "Uh, ignore that last part. It's a habit I picked
       up when I started coaching. Anyways..."
       The mare watched for a moment longer, briefly considering
       ordering herself a drink before she continued on. However, Dash
       thought it would perhaps be best to continue while it was still
       fresh on her mind. "I'm planning on, er... fleshing out the
       world, yes. After all, a whole universe would take an awfully
       long time. But for now, I'm just working on developing the main
       point, as you say, before expanding out." Dash attempted to
       answer Marked's first question the best she could, but she was
       rather lost on the various points the author had made. But it
       wasn't a bad start, he said... That was certainly better than
       she had expected to begin with despite all of her bravado and
       usual 'charm'.
       "As for the long, boring details..." Rainbow Dash frowned a bit.
       This was where it was going to get tricky, considering she
       hasn't had a whole lot of time to think about character
       development or story-line order. "The main character, uhhhhh-"
       The mare shuffled through a few pieces of paper, quickly
       scanning over them. "-Rumina Dawn, is an oddity among the
       village and its Earth Pony citizens. She suddenly appeared in
       the middle of the night with a bright flash of light as if she
       simply teleported in, causing quite a stir. While the villagers
       were distrusting and wanted to get rid of her, one family had it
       in their heart to take responsibility of the filly. Even as she
       grew up, the villagers remained cold and callous, convinced that
       Rumina was somehow a spy for the Pegasi. And of course, Rumina's
       constant antics and natural curiosity didn't quite help her
       situation, either."
       The mare paused, uncertain of just how much detail Marked
       wanted. "One night, after a particularly awful nightmare,
       Rumina, perhaps in her early or late teens now, slipped out of
       the house for a midnight flight, only to stumble across an
       armored Pegasus guard arguing rather violently with one of the
       village farmers being dragged out of his home. The guard
       demanded requisition of the farmer's crops to feed his troops,
       but when the Earth Pony continued to decline, a wave of armed
       Pegasi swooped in to take it, and the village, by force. Rumina
       sped off to warn the others, but was ultimately caught, bound,
       and sent to Cloudsdale for questioning, charged with treason and
       rendering aide to the enemy." Dash paused again, deciding to
       stop there for a moment. Any further and she would start having
       to reference her papers.
       "Here's a little food for thought, though... Rumina is the
       daughter of a Pegasus and a Unicorn and was teleported to the
       village because they were being chased by that guard and his
       regiment. Rumina won't find that out until much later, and it
       will be later still that she discovers she can tap into her
       latent, magical prowess from her Unicorn half. It won't be as
       strong as an actual Unicorn, though... And the constant
       nightmares? A vision, actually, from a Crystal Pony Seer. It's
       the first step in unraveling the mystery about where she came
       from, what she's meant to do, and who the real foe is in all
       this. If it's this far back in time and a Crystal Pony Seer is
       involved, it might not be too much of a stretch to figure out
       who that is. Speaking of food..."
       Rainbow Dash excused herself as she half walked, half floated
       over to the counter to order herself and Marked some cocoa as
       well as a big, juicy stack of pancakes to share between the
       three. Once she returned, Dash carefully pushed all of her
       things out of the way and set the plate down on the table,
       offering Marked his drink. "Like I said this afternoon, it's on
       me. And the pancakes are for all three of us, so dig in if ya
       want.~"
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