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       #Post#: 526--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Applejack Date: January 10, 2014, 8:39 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Well, apparently by Rainbow's standards, the only book she read
       was incredibly good. Which, considering her affinity for Daring
       Do, counted for at least something. Though Applejack wondered
       briefly just how much of the book she was playing up. Ah, who
       gave a hoot? Rainbow liked it, and she got the chance to talk to
       the author then and there; Applejack didn't need to rain on her
       parade by getting her to stop embellishing. Of course, what
       followed was a conversation that Applejack couldn't follow since
       she knew nothing about the book, so she just contented herself
       with focusing on her work for the moment. She'd been fully
       prepared to sell all of her treats and converse with only the
       few talkative ponies that got in line.
       As such, she barely noticed when Marked went on to respond to
       her question about his talent. She caught on only after he
       mentioned creative dry spells, making her realize that he was
       addressing her. A light, playful grin crossed her lips when he
       mentioned the attempt at the romance novel he'd written.
       Interesting. Maybe she could look into that to see if it was
       really as 'eh' as he was saying. Plus maybe she could make
       Rainbow groan in disgust with her asking about it.
       Then, as Rainbow began talking about what happened with the
       dragon with her own 'special twist', Applejack rolled her eyes
       again, wondering just what she hoped to gain by 'enhancing' the
       truth like that. She was caught off-guard by Rainbow's question
       about the barn however, earning a wince as she thought maybe
       she'd gotten off free with avoiding that subject... But
       apparently Rainbow had actually been paying attention for once.
       "What about the barn? It's in the past, an' all o' that helped
       me learn a valuable lesson... an' saved the family reunion. So
       everythin' worked out.
       "Oh, an' there weren't no 'battle royale' with fire an' fangs
       an' such, Marked. Most of us had one shot at tryin'a get the
       dragon outta the cave; it just so happened Rainbow's brashness
       ended with her literally roared outta his cave." She giggled for
       a moment as she thought about something. "Heck, it's 'cause o'
       her kickin' him that he tried ta come outta his cave an' attack
       us. If it weren't fer Fluttershy, we'd prolly be dead right now.
       Believe it or not, the puff o' smoke he blew at us was enough ta
       make us shatter the rock he sent us flyin' against. It's a
       wonder we came back home without any broken bones after that.
       Shoot, Ah tell you what though, Fluttershy sure was scary as all
       get out when she started yellin' at him. First time Ah've ever
       seen a dragon cry. Didn't even think it was possible before
       that."
       She grinned for a moment or two longer as she recounted what had
       happened then before continuing. "So, Marked, what's this
       romance novel ya mentioned a few moments ago? What's it called?
       Ah reckon with somepony who wrote somethin' so unpredictable as
       what Rainbow described, this romance novel o' yers has gotta be
       perty interestin' too. Ah've been lookin' fer a few new books ta
       read when Ah cain't go out an' work on mah farm."
       #Post#: 563--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: January 12, 2014, 6:43 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash flipped over on her cloud, now laying on her
       stomach as she shot a wry, backwards glance to Miss
       Party-Pooper. She knew that Applejack was going to discredit the
       awesome parts of the story, but hey, at least the Pegasus tried.
       Then again, Dash didn't technically lie about anything, either.
       "Brashness!?" she exclaimed, now propping her head up with a
       hoof, using the other to continue her various gestures as she
       spoke. "In my defense, nopony was doing anything that worked.
       Action needed to be called for, or Ponyville was going to
       smogged for the next century. So I flew in, bucked it in the
       face, and told it what's what. Looking back on it, that may have
       not been the best idea, but it worked, didn't it? Fire, fangs,
       and claws aside, if that dragon really became a problem, I'm
       pretty sure we could have taken it on." The mare fell silent for
       a moment, scowling somewhat as she recounted those moments.
       "Yeah, Fluttershy really saved our flanks there. She made a
       grown dragon cry. A grown. Dragon. CRY. I'd hate to be on her
       bad side... Not that she really has one, but still. I wonder if
       she's ever used that stare on ponies before. Hmm..."
       Lost in thought for a few brief moments, the Pegasus lazily
       stretched out and fluffed up her cloud like a pillow before
       returning to her original position, this time using both hooves
       to support her head. Dash wasn't quite sure if Applejack was
       still playing the 1-up game, but the orange mare was still
       avoiding the subject about the barn. While Rainbow Dash would
       normally keep up the pressure just at a chance to tease AJ, the
       Pegasus actually didn't know anything of what had happened. But
       she was bound and determined to find out. "Awwww, c'mon, AJ!
       What kind of story is that? 'New barn', 'valuable lesson',
       'everything worked out'? Where's the meat? Where's the
       substance? You've been trying to drag me through the mud here,
       so don't expect to come out of this clean." A short pause... A
       sly smile... "Unless you're scared...~" That would certainly
       catch her attention, although Dash wasn't quite sure she was
       prepared for what may come.
       Before Applejack reacted, Dash turned her attention to Marked,
       flashing a bright smile as if nothing was fixing to happen.
       "Romance shlomance. You should totally tell us about your horror
       story!~ I'm a sucker for scary things. Not that I get scared or
       anything." While Dash was actually somewhat interested in his
       romance novel as well, just the fact that she was around
       Applejack immediately discredited the idea... Perhaps she could
       ask or find out later when she wasn't around. "Heck, science
       fiction is cool, too! By the way, that thing in Chapter 24? How
       would the double-double agent be predictable when he acted
       suspicious? THAT was predictable, but in turn you predicted our
       predictableness to predict the agent's prediction, thus turning
       the suspicion away from the idea." *sage-nod*
       #Post#: 577--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Marked Twine Date: January 13, 2014, 11:02 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Marked looked slightly disappointed when Applejack cleared up
       that no epic battle had in fact taken place between the mares
       and the dragon, his ears drooping slightly as his already formed
       mental image of them facing the giant creature in a contest of
       strategy and strength was shattered. Oh well, his ears didn't
       stay droopy for long as they immediately picked back up and
       tried as hard as they could to hear every little detail the
       farmpony gave, him nodding then having his eyes widen a bit at
       the mention of the dragons puff of smoke and roar being enough
       to send them flying. Suddenly the stallion was very glad his
       earlier idea of them fighting the beast was inaccurate, despite
       Rainbows continued confidence in their ability to hold their own
       against it, since the dragons breath seemed to be a dangerous
       force on its own.
       "Shattered the rock? By... throwing you against it using only
       its breath?" He echoed in disbelief, now wondering if the mares
       were made out of steel. He gave Rainbow an unsure glance at
       their chances in light of this information, but her confidence
       was contagious and his admiration for them convinced him that,
       after facing down such powerful beings as the Spirit of Chaos
       himself, if they really needed to they could probably find a way
       to get the upper hoof on anything, including dragons, if they
       put their minds to it. As such his unsure look turned into
       another grin being worn by a fan as he nodded at the pegasus in
       agreement. "Wow, Fluttershy sounds really brave. Funny, I've
       only ever heard about how she's supposed to he quiet and kind.
       Never thought for a second I'd ever hear about her making a full
       grown dragon cry... What's 'the stare' thing you mentioned?"
       Rainbow, going on to again remind Applejack of her barn, didn't
       seem like she was going to be giving up on this now obvious
       attempts to push buttons, Marked only growing more and more
       curious with what happened every time it was brought up. "So,
       was the barn knocked down by something, or..." He began to ask
       but quickly abandoned, not knowing if it was actually a toy by
       subject or not and being worried that he may offend the mare by
       pressing, especially after shed blatantly said that it was "in
       the past". Still, while his own questions on the subject were
       being quieted with a biting of his tongue, the writer did keep
       his ears open for any response to Rainbow's own attempts to dig
       for info. Especially at the accusation of being scared. Marked
       needed to raise a hoof to his mouth to try and hide his soft
       amused chuckle as the farmponys response to the provocation was
       to give a cross look then conveniantly become suddenly busy with
       her customers in what Marked suspected may have just been an
       excuse to avoid the subject further.
       The interest in his romance novel brought another, albeit
       lighter, blush to his cheeks accompanied by a bashful smile, him
       again finding his eyes be drawn to his hooves and the ground
       they rested on. That had been an odd choice of genre for him to
       suddenly take interest in back then he'd admit, his adventure
       novels on occasion having romance as a subplot but never being
       the full on focus or driving point of the story. "Well, its
       just, you know, I was kinda, well... I guess I was just in a
       romantic mood and just put pen to paper. It's not, you know,
       fantastic compared to those more experienced of course, but I've
       been told its not too bad..." Ugh, stupid! Or so Marked told
       himself, realizing that he'd been rambling over his nervousness
       of Applejack reading his book instead of just giving the title
       as shed asked. "Heh... Sorry... The title is 'A Rush of Wings'
       and-"
       Cut off by Rainbows apparant disinterest in the genre, and
       seeing how Applejack really was becoming distracted by her
       customers now to the point of being unable to comfortably chat
       much more, Marked was asked to instead tell them of his horror
       story, the shyness from earlier going away as he felt more
       confident with this one. "Well, that ones called 'Frigida
       Obscura', and its about a team of archeologists going to
       investigate a newly discovered and ancient ruined city within
       the jungles of Zebrica and... well... I'd be giving things away
       if I said anything more. A thing to note with that story is that
       its heavily based off of something that really happened a few
       years ago. Lots of research went into it." Marked added with a
       proud smile and small nod.
       At her explanation on the predicted predictions prediction,
       Marked returned her sagely nod with one of understanding,
       everything shed just said making perfect sense to him. "The
       science-fiction story, of course, takes place waaaaay in the
       future," he continued, "when we've got all kind of crazy gadgets
       and medical advances. It follows a stallion named Thatcher,
       which is also the title of the book, who was a part of a project
       to try and create the perfect pony, but he was only one of five
       test subjects and was denied the enhancements made to the others
       through body and mind augmentation. Basically, he's as good as a
       pony can naturally be at everything, and the book is about his
       adventures in that futuristic world." He paused and tapped his
       chin with a hoof, him realizing he should probably get back to
       his working on the books sequel... and that he might have been
       rambling again...
       "Of course, compared to what you and your friends have done,
       these are probably all tame and boring. I mean, you guys faced
       Nightmare Moon, Discord, King Sombra, saved Ponyville countless
       times... Nothing I can come up with would ever be able to
       compare to that. Have either of you ever thought about writing
       an autobiography? I bet they would be amazing!"
       #Post#: 917--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: January 29, 2014, 7:28 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash simply waved a hoof of dismissal as Applejack
       buried herself in her work, no longer expecting to receive a
       direct answer to her question regardless of all the poking and
       prodding she's done. Perhaps at a later time, when she could
       properly tease AJ and bait out the response she wanted. With a
       small yawn, Rainbow flipped around to face Marked again. "Well,
       Marked, allow me to reiterate. Fluttershy can be brave. When she
       wants to. And most of the time it's only when we're in trouble,
       so it kinda makes that a catch-twenty-two. Her affinity towards
       animals have helped us quite a few times, and apparently that
       affinity extends to include full grown dragons." She shrugs,
       kicking her back hooves up a little to stretch. "And that stare
       thing? Let's just say you don't want to see Fluttershy angry.
       You wouldn't like it when she's angry." Rainbow chuckled to
       herself at making such a bad reference, but she couldn't help
       it. She had been waited ages to use that line.
       "That horror story sounds awesome. Aaaaand it's based off of a
       true event? Now that's what I like to hear! Although I'm curious
       as to how you got the scoop on a place like Zebrica..." The mare
       paused for a bit, her eyes drifting upward in thought. Rainbow
       remembered Zecora talking a little bit about the place... She
       thought... Then again, she wasn't really paying that much
       attention. "See, now you got me curious. I'm going to have to go
       pick up that book now. And perhaps the other one, too.
       Super-enhanced ponies? Sign me up!~" Rainbow chuckled to herself
       for a moment before she put herself in Thatcher's position,
       wondering just how awesome it would be. Then again, such
       alterations would require doctors... And needles... And tests...
       And worst of all, being grounded for an undisclosed amount of
       time. Rainbow suddenly frowned just thinking about it...
       "Theeennnn again... Maybe not. But yeah, I'll definitely pick
       that one up, too."
       The mare rolled over on her back, seemingly not being able to
       find a comfortable position with as much moving as she's done.
       "I wouldn't describe it as tame and boring. I mean, it's hard to
       top what we've done, but it's much different actually doing it,
       rather than writing about it. Our first priority is keeping
       everypony safe. I mean, we may hold the Elements of Harmony, but
       we're just normal ponies like everypony else. If you want to
       consider me normal, that is. And by normal I mean
       super-awesome." Rainbow shrugged again, but this time with a
       grin. "I'm actually writing a book now, believe it or not. But
       it's not an autobiography. THAT stuff is more suited to somepony
       like Twilight. Besides, if I were to write one, it would never
       make it past publishing because it would be too awesome."
       #Post#: 1151--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Marked Twine Date: February 8, 2014, 9:23 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       A glance back at Applejack showed that the mare was only
       becoming increasingly busy, the queue that had formed growing
       into a moderate, but rather eager and "mostly" straight, line
       with a few individuals leaning or side stepping out further to
       try and see their promised treats before quickly taking back
       their spots and eyeing those who would try to cut past them.
       Pony after pony were served, them munching away on their newly
       obtained and delicious morsels as they dumped their bits then
       walked away with difficulty keeping their eyes open above their
       chubby smiles, but even still the line only seemed to be growing
       as more ponies noticed what was being sold. Still, things seemed
       to be running smoothly with the flow of satisfied customers
       being steady and keeping the gathering from stretching around
       the street corner, something every one of these ponies would
       have most likely claimed was worth it had they been forced to
       wait such a spell.
       "She can get angry too?" Marked asked after a small roll of his
       eyes at the reference, though he smiled in amusement all the
       same, "I never would have guessed... Huh... Guess I barely knew
       anything about her. Or that that kind of info isn't widely known
       to most since it seems that today is just full of all kinds of
       new information about the Bearer of Kindness." He'd never met
       Fluttershy, not even recalling a time where he'd seen that
       particular mare out in town since her more secluded home,
       similar to his own actually, meant that chance meetings weren't
       very likely. This meant that Marked wasn't exactly an expert to
       consult when it came to the true personalities of the Bearers,
       only ever having had the courage to do research and pick up bits
       and pieces from them and never to speak to them personally...
       well, until today at least... Suddenly he felt nervous again
       just being around these two mares...
       Smiling, a little forcefully now as his earlier difficulties
       when talking to an important pony he personally admired
       resurfaced briefly, Marked nodded at the comment over his horror
       story. "Yup," he said, speaking with a small hint of pride over
       the work he'd done to keep things as faithful to real events as
       he dared for his book, "a lot of reading and letter tag went
       into that one. The expedition was also led by a unicorn who
       traveled down that way, so it wasn't as difficult as it could
       have been for me to do my research, though I do still remember
       some pretty late night's reading and trying to figure out who to
       talk to next." At the mention of how she planned on picking up
       not only this book,  it his science fiction one as well,
       Marked's forced smile only became a little more forced as the
       nervousness he'd thought he'd gotten over previously returned,
       worry of whether she would enjoy his stories springing back into
       his mind, especially with these two novels as they strayed away
       from his comfort zone of adventure and tried something new to
       widen his range.
       "W-well, you know, I-its okay if you p-put those two off for a
       little w-while," he stuttured, rubbing the back of his neck out
       of anxiety and having his eyes wander and avoid direct eye
       contact with the speedy mare, "I'm sure you've got p-plenty of
       other b-books lined up to read anyway, s-so you don't have to
       try and f-fit mine in if you d-don't want to..." Marked still
       wholeheartedly disagreed when Rainbow moved on to claim his
       writing wasn't tame and boring when compared to what she had
       done in real life. Of course it didn't seem as incredible to her
       after having lived it, but if you were to put any of her and her
       friends adventures down on paper then publish it, Marked was
       confident it would quickly become an all time best seller.
       Rainbows mention of writing her own- wait! She's writing her own
       book!? Marked nervousness vanished as a hearty grin broadened
       his features, him actually leaning forward with interest now as
       his ears perked up and swiveled to focus better on her, him not
       wanting to miss a single detail about this. "Oh! Oh! What's it
       about? What genre? How long do you plan to make it? Who's the
       main character? How long have you been working on it? Do you
       need a proof rea-" he cut himself off there for two reasons, one
       because he was rambling again, and two, because he was blushing
       at his sudden and unexpected bravery in nearly asking if he
       could help the mare with her work by being allowed to read it
       early. Okay, well, maybe he just really really wanted to read it
       early, but they'd still both benefit, right? ... Okay, well, he
       wasn't going to actually ask since shed probably just say no
       anyway, so instead the writer just clamped his mouth shut for a
       few seconds to prevent anymore excited blabbering. "You know,"
       he started up again with an attempt at playfulness, wanting to
       make things less weird and fix whatever problems his constant
       nervous behavior may have caused, "if an autobiography would
       indeed be too awesome for any publisher to take on, you could
       try publishing it yourself? If the world is truly prepared for
       so much awesome that is..."
       A stallion with a slice of pie balanced on a napkin on his hoof
       attempted to eat and walk at the same time as he left
       Applejack's stand, but didn't want to bother with trying to
       multitask his attention as his senses mostly revolved around the
       dessert he carried and not where he was going, him ending up
       bumping into and smearing pie filling onto the shoulder of the
       writer whom had been nodding along with Rainbow's words. Marked
       looked over at his now messy shoulder, the smell of the filling
       being pleasant on its own, but the fact that it was now probably
       going to make his shoulder sticky causing him to frown a little
       and wave off the stallions muffled apology with a simple "don't
       worry about it." Oh... And then there's how this had happened to
       him right in front of Rainbow... Marked cheeks heated up from
       embarrassment, him doing his best to use his own already dirty
       napkin to try and clean himself off while hoping to swipe a few
       fresh ones from AJ's cart once she was less swamped.
       #Post#: 1245--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: February 12, 2014, 2:42 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       "Fluttershy can get angry... Although it's very rare. It's
       normally only when her friends or animals are in danger, but
       even then she'll spout off something like 'sorry' or 'excuse me'
       or even 'I didn't mean to' while angry... Which doesn't make
       much sense, if you ask me." Rainbow Dash shrugged, taking a peek
       back towards Applejack as if looking for another chance to
       accost her, but quickly thinks better of it as she turned her
       gaze towards Marked again. "Fluttershy is kind, even when angry.
       Try and figure that one out. Oh, and here's one for you. Does
       the name Discord ring any bells for you?" She seemed to spit out
       his name in some sort of disgust, furrowing her brows in
       discontent. "As much as I don't agree with it, and as much as I
       think that it's impossible, Fluttershy managed to convert him to
       our side. Through kindness and friendship. A bit of a tall
       order, if you ask me. I still don't believe it myself, but
       Discord truly seems content being our friend. I just can't
       believe that a no good rotten spirit of chaos--" The mare
       blinked, noticing that her words were increasingly raising in
       volume. She looked around a bit nervously, hoping she wasn't too
       loud.
       "Um... Right. The books," Rainbow continued, fluffing up her
       cloud a little bit before flopping on it once more. "I actually
       don't have much to read right now. The last book I read was the
       new Daring Do novel, which was amazing~~" The mare filled up
       with glee, completely forgetting about what she was angry about
       in the first place. "You should totally read it when you get the
       chance. It's easily her best one yet." Rainbow's beaming smile
       seemed to grow even wider as Marked suddenly showed interest to
       her own book that she was writing. Well, attempting to write.
       Truth be told, she's been much to lazy recently to keep up with
       it properly. With her schedule of flying, training, sleeping,
       and just general awesomeness, Rainbow hadn't really found the
       time to sit down and further work on it. In fact, all she really
       had was a basic idea...
       "Oh, it's nothing much. Probably just the greatest adventure
       book ever written!~... If I can get around to actually writing
       it, that is. I took a page out of A.K. Yearling's book and I'm
       trying to write my own adventure story. Thing is, I haven't
       really had the time." Rainbow's gaze fell a bit, once more
       glancing back at Applejack and her ever growing line. No doubt
       she was probably listening and would immediately jump on the
       chance to discredit the Pegasus again if Rainbow were to dive
       off the deep. The mare didn't really even know the first thing
       about writing a story, so explaining her plans or methods to an
       actual author unnerved her slightly. What if it wasn't as good
       as she let on? Rainbow bit her lip... Might as well tell the
       complete truth, then. "Weeelllll... I haven't done much with it
       at all, actually. I'm making myself the main character, and it's
       this awesome story about traveling Equestria, shutting down
       evil-doers left and right. With the help of friends along the
       way, of course." Rainbow scrunched up her nose a bit... That
       didn't sound nearly as awesome as she originally had thought.
       But the mention of an autobiography immediately brought her to
       smile again. "Well, I coouuulllddd publish my own story... Or
       autobiography. But first I gotta find the time and the drive to
       write it out."
       She paused and shrugged again, eying the stallion that
       inevitably bumped into Marked with a certain air of
       carelessness... Perhaps he was just that hungry? Rainbow giggled
       at the thought, putting together a little sitcom in her head.
       "You know, I can get that out for you if you want... Although it
       might require you getting a little wet. But that's why I have a
       little something called 'Rainbow Dry'." She giggled again, very
       tempted to not even give Marked a choice on the matter. But the
       last time Rainbow did that, she had a rather angry unicorn after
       her.
       #Post#: 1261--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Marked Twine Date: February 12, 2014, 3:55 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Alright, now he had to try and think of a way to meet
       Fluttershy.  She apologized at the same time as she scolded
       ponies? And it still works? From what he was learning, she was
       either a master at persuading others, or that soft gentle mare
       he'd heard so much about had a really intimidating tone when
       upset. There was also that "stare" thing they'd mentioned...
       Whatever that was must have played a part as well... Also, of
       course the name "Discord" rung a bell! He'd even mentioned him
       earlier himself, and he had indeed heard about how the Spirit of
       Chaos was reformed by the Bearers. However, Marked had never
       been clear on the details, him always having assumed that
       Discord had been put under some strict rules or some such with
       some kind of magical restraints set in place. He'd never guessed
       that Fluttershy had been able to lake him turn over a new leaf
       simply out of being nice to him. Marked ears had begun to pin
       back as Rainbow raised her voice, him worried the subject may
       possibly cause her to go off on some kind of rant... or drop the
       conversation all together, neither being something Marked was
       very eager to see happening. Despite all his nervousness, he was
       loving this unexpected opportunity to get speak with and get to
       know these mares.
       Moving on as the rainbow named pony shrugged off her own anger,
       much to Marked's relief, she both gave down news he wasn't
       overly excited hearing and then mentioned something he wasn't
       entirely happy about. First, her reading schedule was open for
       his books to be next, this causing his nervous excitement to
       return as he worried whether she would enjoy his works or not.
       And then she mentioned the newest Daring Do novel... "I haven't
       had the chance to pick it up yet. The last one was fantastic
       though, so I'm sure this new one will be good as well..." Really
       good, actually. A.K. Yearling was a pony Marked was both a big
       fan of... and kind of jealous of at the same time. Her writing
       always somehow managed to have such incredibly vivid detail,
       almost as if what she was writing had not only actually
       happened, but also been witnessed by her first hoof. He'd squee
       if he ever got her autograph, but he'd also scuff his hoof into
       the dirt if ever his own books were compared to hers, the
       inevitable conclusion of the latter's superiority being
       something he'd rather not think about. Again.
       Marked's momentary lapse of enthusiasm was remedied when his
       ears perked up as Rainbow went on to describe her own book, the
       stallion grinning again as he eagerly listened for any details
       he may be lucky enough to hear. Yearling was Dash's favorite
       author if Marked had to guess, him probably admitting to her
       being his as well when in private with those he trusted with his
       life, but at least that meant shed chosen a good writer to be
       inspired by. Progress has been minimal for the mares work it
       seemed, not entirely surprising given how she was often out
       saving the country or some such, but the idea itself... Well,
       since Marked paid close enough attention to the Element Bearers
       for the event of one of them writing a book to be noticed by
       him, he could only assume that this was Rainbow's first, with
       the relatively simplistic of idea of self inserting herself into
       the role of the main protagonist to write out fantastical
       journeys across the country sounding, at this point at least,
       kind of on the fence when it came to success. An experienced
       author could pull off a story where they were the hero, and a
       few ponies make it their living to write such stories and
       pretend that they were non-fictional re-tellings of true events,
       but somepony new to writing could easily make it such a story a
       bit... silly. Maybe a little ridiculous even. And given how
       Rainbow seemed to view herself...
       He could be completely wrong, and he hoped he was as he'd love
       for the mare's book to be amazing, but he felt that the
       possibility of the book playing up and focusing on just how
       'awesome' Dash was could be viewed as pretty likely. "Y-you
       know," Marked began nervously, again having his mind jump back
       to an earlier question he'd cut himself off from asking, "if you
       ever needed a h-hoof with your story, I could give some advice
       whenever you might n-need it? Maybe be a pony to bounce ideas
       off of? My special talent is in this kind of business after all,
       s-so maybe I-I could help?" So... Now he had a few things
       running through his mind. One, was he asking because he really
       did want to help her? Seemed likely, Marked liked helping
       ponies, and with his experience and talent in storytelling he
       figured he'd do pretty okay when it came to helping out with
       Rainbow's own attempt at a book. Two, did he just want to find a
       way to get extra details on this new book early on? Much less
       likely... buuuut he wouldn't exactly mind getting some insider
       knowledge. Three, was he just asking so he could have an excuse
       to be able to approach and talk to Rainbow again? ... Maybe.
       This current talk was a surprise for him, but, as he'd noted
       earlier, he was loving every second of it. Silly nervous
       stuttering, flattered blushing and all. An excuse to speak with
       a mare he was a fan of, instead of nervously wander off at the
       sight of her, would be pretty nice...
       "Oh, could you?" He asked, moving on to her offer to help with
       the pie mess he was still trying to get out of his coat, "I'd
       really appreciate it. Though, at the warning of getting wet, I'm
       pretty sure I can guess where this is going..." He said with a
       small chuckle, eyeing the cloud Rainbow was resting on before
       stuffing whatever writing materials he still had into his saddle
       bags and lightly tossing them to the side to avoid having them
       get ruined by any... unexpected showers. "I don't mind a little
       water, and it would definitely beat getting my hooves all sticky
       from this mess then dirty from the ground, so give me your best
       shot!"
       #Post#: 1402--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: February 17, 2014, 4:32 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow remained silent for a moment, brows raised in thought
       and ears peaked in interest as the author offered to lend a
       helping hoof with her story, although her unflinching gaze
       betrayed some hint of perplexity as if the idea of help was
       foreign to her. And it was, at least to some extent... In the
       past, Rainbow had let her fame and skill take over every facet
       of her life, and she used to think that accepting help showed a
       sign of weakness, no matter how small it was. It had gotten so
       bad, in fact, that her friends staged the illustrious
       Mare-Do-Well to force Rainbow back to her senses, and while she
       harbored an extreme distaste for being tricked in such a way, it
       helped break her of those egotistical tendencies. That being
       said, some of Rainbow's narcissism still remained intact, as was
       usually immediately apparent, but she had definitely learned her
       lesson and was bound and determined not to let it happen again,
       even if it meant swallowing her pride from time to time.
       "You're stuttering again," the mare casually pointed out with a
       smile, trying to poke a little fun at Marked. "You're among
       friends, you know. Or am I just that awesome?" Rainbow's smile
       grew into a wide grin as she sat up on her haunches, allowing
       her wings to unfurl and fall loosely to her side. "You make a
       pretty sound argument there, Marked. Perhaps we can arrange
       something." While Rainbow Dash would rather chalk up her lack of
       writing due to not finding the time, she truly was
       inexperienced, just as Marked had thought. Truth was, she didn't
       even really know where to start, much less develop and expand
       the story correctly. All she had was a rather vague idea of what
       the book should be about, and the more Rainbow thought about it,
       the more keen she was to the idea of accepting the writer's
       help. And what better way to get a good start and gather ideas
       than from an actual author? "We could meet up somewhere. Your
       preference, if you have any."
       The mare turned her head to catch a brief glance at Applejack,
       who was still buried in her work doling out apple-related sweets
       and treats. Rainbow and Marked shouldn't be close enough to
       affect her or her customers. One... The mare studied the
       distance between the stand and herself. She wasn't too concerned
       about it. But... Two... She flexed her wings a couple times,
       turning her head back to Marked. Well... He asked for it.
       Besides, it would do everypony good to have a little excitement,
       right? She locked eyes with Marked. "Marked. Don't move." Three.
       Without any kind of warning, Rainbow Dash threw all caution to
       the wind and shot straight up into the sky with an incredible
       burst of speed, disappearing for a mere second or two before
       returning with a small cascade of water following freely close
       behind her. It almost looked like magic, like the water was
       being held and guided by some sort of spell, but it was actually
       a simple exploit involving physics. In fact, any Pegasus could
       do it if they were fast enough; the trick was to move quick
       enough to create a powerful tailwind capable of carrying mass by
       sheer force like a vacuum, similar to how a strong gust can
       manipulate the direction of rain. Rainbow flew as low to the
       ground as she could, slowing down just a hair as she passed
       right over Marked, allowing the water to drop right on him with
       a rather noisy splash. Without so much as a moment's delay, she
       looped about and began to fly circles around the writer,
       encompassing him in a colorful vortex of wind which would
       ultimately leave him mostly or completely dry. Rainbow contained
       it as best as she could, but she no doubt caused a bit of a
       scene with all the water and wind. If that didn't catch
       anypony's attention, then nothing would. The whole endeavor
       lasted roughly ten seconds, give or take, and in that next
       instant Rainbow Dash was once more situated on her cloud
       straightening out her mane and tail. Marked's bag was clenched
       between her teeth, having picked it up on her first pass to
       avoid getting it wet. "How's that?" she stated proudly, lowering
       his saddlebag to the ground by the strap.
       #Post#: 1408--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Marked Twine Date: February 17, 2014, 8:25 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Marked rolled his eyes at himself when Rainbow pointed out his
       falling back onto his nervous stuttering. He was stuttering. Of
       course he was stuttering. He'd be more surprised if he managed
       to not stutter right now. He then looked a little unsure at her
       question as he wasn't entirely certain if she was joking or
       really asking, him not really knowing given how she behaved. No,
       no, it was a rhetorical question, of course it was rhetorical.
       Marked shook off the silly thought of actually answering her,
       something he'd actually been prepared to and nearly did do as he
       instead tried to relax at her assuring that he was among
       friendlies.
       The next thing she said though was... unexpected. Great, yeah!
       But... really unexpected. Given her attitude and who she is,
       Marked had been expecting Rainbow to brush off his offer to help
       with her book, not really thinking she would believe she would
       need help from somepony like him. But no, she actually wanted
       his help! So, after grinning like an idiot for a second, Marked
       then tried to process the idea of meeting her somewhere to
       discuss her book. And... Blank. Nothing was coming to mind at
       that moment, the writer's brain still trying to figure out if
       this was all some kind of incredibly lucid dream he was having.
       Any moment now he'd start waking up, right after he looked down
       and realized he'd been naked this whole time, that being
       something that would have been preeetty weird. He always wore
       hoodies when it was this cold out.
       He put the question of where they would meet to discuss her
       book, something he still wasn't entirely convinced was an actual
       thing that was happening, to the side for now as the brief
       moment where Rainbow locked her eyes onto his Marked felt a
       slight tinge of worry about what she was about to do, her
       instructions to not move not helping much as he wasn't left with
       much time to even process the words and even less time to
       attempt to open his mouth to request a moment to think about
       things. By the time he'd taken a breath to speak Rainbow was
       already off, the speedy mare returning immediately after take
       off with water trailing behind her in the air. It was something
       rather beautiful to see really, the liquid behind her being
       pulled through the air and reflecting the colors of the rainbow
       streak she seemed to leave behind whenever she dashed away, not
       that Marked had very long to see it though, the brief glimpse
       he'd caught of the water being ended when he got a much more...
       hydrated view of things.
       The writer gave a small surprised gasp as the water hit him, the
       chilly day around him not complimenting things very well as he
       was fully soaked down to the bone, him staying stuck in place
       not because he was following Rainbow's instructions but because
       the sudden dowsing froze him to his spot, locking his muscles up
       as he gritted his teeth and tried not take in any more water
       into his mouth and lungs than his gasp had already allowed. This
       lock up of his body was still I'm affect when Rainbow quickly
       followed up her delivery of water with flying circles around
       him, this again probably being something pretty to see for those
       outside of it watching though, also again, this was missed by
       the writer as his eyes had screwed tightly shut from moments
       before and refused to open yet, the writer only catching the
       very end of the display when he chanced cracking open an eyelid
       and saw the vortex shed created around his start die down before
       dissipating.
       Once things were finished, Marked took a large and audible gasp
       of air, the pony only now noticing that he'd been holding his
       breath as he then fell back into a sitting position and tried to
       catch his breath. His breathing, slowing as he consumed the
       oxygen his body was telling itself it desperately needed, began
       to pick back up however when he remembered his bag that he knew
       he hadn't tossed far enough away to avoid his sudden bath. He
       had notebooks in there! Hos pens! His glasses! He glanced
       around, in a slight panic for his belongings before finding them
       being held by Rainbow, the mare lowering them back the ground
       safely and eliciting a relieved sigh from the writer.
       "That..." ...scared me out of my wits. Could have ruined my
       things. Would have been easier had you given a better warning.
       Could have ruined Applejack's stall.... "... was pretty
       awesome." He ultimately decided on, that really being the most
       prevalent of his thoughts on the matter as what little he'd seen
       had been pretty darn cool to witness. Seeing that his bag and
       its contents were fine, Marked turned his attention to his
       shoulder, the now quite clean, and thankfully completely lacking
       in stickiness, hoodie he wore now being almost good as new.
       Maybe a little bit damp under his legs, but nothing a short walk
       wouldn't take care of, even in this chill.
       "And it certainly got the job done." He announced happily,
       looking back to Rainbow and shining a smile her way as he felt
       hos mane with a hoof to check for any wet spots. "What was it
       you called that again? A 'Rainbow dry'? How often do you get to
       use that on ponies?" He laughed a little, picturing the mare
       sitting on a cloud and lying in wait for somepony to make some
       kind of mess of themselves so she could swoop down with an
       express bath. Marked coughed a bit, a few remnants of the water
       that had been able to dig its way down his throat earlier
       tickling him as he looked around st the other ponies he now was
       noticing were staring at them after Rainbows stunt. He chuckled
       nervously for a moment, then stood up and walked over to his bag
       to pick it up. "I don't really have any preferences for where we
       can meet to talk about your book," he said, speaking a bit
       quieter and calling back to the earlier talk of assisting her,
       "maybe we can just use the cafe? Or, if it gets warmer soon, use
       the park? Really anywhere is fine with me, so whatever is more
       convenient for you. And doesn't involve clouds obviously."
       Blegh. Marked kinda felt silly for just reflecting Rainbow's
       leaving the choice up to him back at her, but he really didn't
       mind where they met up and, probably still put of being kind of
       amazed of was even going to happen, would have liked her to
       choose somewhere she liked for it. Might even help her think too
       should she choose somewhere familiar, which would definitely aid
       the creative process.
       #Post#: 2548--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Blank Pages
       By: Rainbow Dash Date: May 5, 2014, 4:38 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Rainbow Dash looked Marked over carefully at first from her
       cloudy perch, examining his reaction, but more importantly, his
       well being. Despite her giving a warning in what she thought
       would be plenty of time to brace himself, Marked didn't seem to
       have been quite ready for her stunt. Then again, now that Dash
       stopped and thought about it, nopony could truly be ready for
       it, even if they had experienced the Rainbow Dry before. It was
       just simply that awesome. The cyan pegasus beamed brightly at
       Marked's... remark, offering a rather proud nod of approval with
       outstretched wings, like she had won a gold medal or something.
       "Yup!" she exclaimed, now standing on all fours. "That would be
       a Rainbow Dry. Consider yourself lucky; I don't get to do that
       very often anymore. Most ponies get... uh... What's that word?
       Irate? With me. The last time I did this, I had a very angry
       unicorn come after me with the very cloud I was sitting on. I
       think it just kinda comes as a shock to them, even if they know
       what to expect." Rainbow Dash shrugged, now looking over her
       shoulder to see multiple ponies staring her down. She wasn't
       quite sure how to gauge their reactions, but she was going to go
       with the word 'speechless'.
       "Maybe if I gave them five seconds," Dash continued, rubbing a
       hoof thoughtfully against her chin. "Aaaaaanyways, sorry if I
       didn't give you enough time." The mare finally decided to hop
       off of the cloud entirely, lazily poking it out of the way, most
       likely towards Applejack's stall, before moving to stand in
       front of Marked. As the stallion reflected his preferences back
       on her, Rainbow Dash began to cycle through different places
       without a second thought. Her first idea was her very own loft,
       but when the pegasus opened her mouth to mention it, she
       suddenly remember that she would have to find a way to get
       Marked up there. She frowned at herself, quickly abandoning that
       particular idea while she pondered upon new ones. The cafe? Too
       bland. Park? Maybe... The Plaza they were standing in now would
       be too crowded, and most of the outdoors-y diners would likely
       be busy. Swimming hole? Nah... Rainbow bit her bottom lip,
       looking in every direction for new ideas. After a few moments of
       making various, strange faces, Rainbow puffed out her cheeks and
       finally gave an answer. "I guess we can use the cafe. Not quite
       my style, but they do have excellent food. Count me in!."
       *****************************************************
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