Inspiration (Open to All)

[graphitesketch]

Graphite Sketch stood at the top of the steps to her apartment, the short way down led into her small gallery to the left, and to the right was her back door. A pencil was tucked behind her ear and a sketchbook in her mouth as she trotted down the steps with a soft 'clop' noise.

She was having a hard time getting inspiration for anything, her gallery walls still had drawings, and paintings of course, but she felt the need to draw something but wasn't sure what. She left her usual blue hoodie on its rack by the door and strolled outside to the warm air. Behind her shop was fairly empty and she easily strolled down her usual path to the edge of the forest.

She took her time, hoping something would bring about that spark, that one thing she needed to put something decent onto the paper. She found her usual spot and settled down in the grass, the pad lying on the ground in front of her.

Graph sat there for a while, worrying the pencil between her teeth as she stared off into space. Wonderful images of ponies being graceful, and running, sprang through her mind but none seemed appealing enough. A sigh escaped her and she looked up at the sky, ears back.

"Maybe...I am going through-" She didn't even want to finish that horrible sentence. Art block was the dreaded phrase no artist wanted to utter. Groaning she rolled onto her back to stare into space for a while. 'Maybe my daydreams will take me somewhere.' another sigh escaped her as she allowed herself to get lost in her own world.

[Red Charge]

As she was looking up a Pegasus came streaking by over head, a blinding streak of bright lightning in his wake. He flew across the village to the border with the woods and disappeared into it for several silent moments, before flying back out. He slowed down as he passed over the village again. The stallion looked over the village, and spotting Graphite, he began a descent towards the patch of grass next to her.

His coat was a vibrant gradient simulating a sky during sunrise, his cutie mark a sun on a flat horizon. "Hi there!" He called out, electricity still sparking around as he used the floor as a ground for it. She could notice he had a soldier's build, and a very confident walk. If she was also into current affairs she would know he is a member of the Stars. "Sorry for the disturbance, just flying by now and again as added security... you know." He gestured with his head towards Everfree.

[graphitesketch]

Graph was pulled from her thoughts when something streaked across the sky. It took a moment for her mind to wake up and process that it was a Pegasus flying towards the forest. She was rolling over when he re-appeared and landed by her.

"Hullo." She said, rising to a sit, her pencil in the grass beside her, long forgotten in her daydreaming. "Yeah, wouldn't want any more critters to come from the forest." She shivered a little at the thought of the spider creature that had plagued them. Something like that should never be allowed in her opinion.

Graph hated bugs, of any kind, ponies often asked her why she was so terrified and she always responded 'Have you ever seen a butterfly up close?' and leave the questioner rather confused as she stalked away. So a pony spider creature had sent her to hiding quicker than most.

"What brings you down to earth today?" she asked, a little intrigued about his coat, her hoof extending toward her pencil so she could sketch the image out before it slipped her mind. Ideas tended to be that way with her, sometimes they stayed for a visit, other times they floated right out of her mind no matter how hard she tried to grasp at them.

[Red Charge]

"Oh I saw you lying over here on the grass couldn't resist to land and ask what's up." He said with a timid grin. "You draw?" He asked, stepping closer to try and see her sketch book. "My partner Whisper draws. I never figured it out." He continued, before giving a bit of a sheepish look.

Though he wasn't in uniform his posture and stance gave away his military profession pretty straight away, even though he didn't mention it. "How's Hoofington been since the whole mess back here? Saw that there's that new statue in the center of town."

[graphitesketch]

"Uhm, yes. Its what I do to earn a living, and for fun."she said pulling the pad closer and starting on some lines but she kept looking up to show that she was indeed listening. Some ponies got so angry if she drew while they where talking, they thought she was ignoring them but that was the farthest from the truth.

"The real trick is to figure out if you would rather draw with your hoof, or your mouth." she said, preferring to draw with one or the other depending on her mood. Sometimes she wished she was a Unicorn so she could use magic to draw as well.

She thought on that for a moment "We are much better, a little skittish, but we are tough ponies and can bounce back quick." she said, trying hard not to think of the creature that had rent through town like a hurricane. "Though I am sad to say business around here has been a tad bit slow." it was more than a bit slow, it was completely dead. She wasn't going to say that to a soldier though, she didn't want to end up getting some sort of pity buys.

"So how is....work?" She wasn't sure what to ask him, seeing as she wasn't one hundred percent sure what area he worked in or not. She had already sketched out his general shape and was adding details to the picture, pretty pleased that she was able to get this down before it flew away in the wind.

[Red Charge]

"Is that me?" Horizon asked, peeking over her head, "That's awesome!" He hopped up and down excitedly flapping his wings like a fly. He looked carefully at her and grinned happily. "Oh work?" He asked, looking a bit disheartened, "Well I got suspended..." He said with a grimace. "Stupid Valkyrie is ruining the Stars. I've actually been thinking about not going back if she's still Captain." He moaned.

"Back then there was action and excitement and drilling and we'd actually DO something for Equestria. Now we just wait around and do nothing all the time and get yelled at for no reason. Ugh." He lay on the grass next to her with a frown, he obviously loved his job being in the Stars. But Valkyrie was too much. She was insane in his books. He also missed his partner Whisper Wind, who was incidentally also his best friend. They balanced each other out perfectly and were as close as two friends could be. Heck, he even missed Pan's teasing on him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to get all grumpy," He tried to smile again, "You draw awesomely well."

[graphitesketch]

"Oh, yes it is. You gave me part of an idea and I just had to sketch it out before I forgot, or you flew away."she chuckled, adding little lightning bolts around the edges of the image. She listened to him talk about being suspended. "Well that's just terrible." she said, a scowl forming on her face.

"Can't you stand up to her? Your already suspended. Give her a piece of your mind." Graph stomped her hoof on the ground, she didn't really know all to much about the Stars but she figured if you loved your job and someone came around ruining it for you then they needed a good talking to. She couldn't imagine someone coming in and telling her how to draw, she shivered at the thought of it.

She laughed at his last statement "Trust me, its alright to get grumpy."she huffed "I get grumpy all the time, its not one of my better traits, if I do say so myself." she stopped then, ears perking up, a thought just occurring to her.

"I don't think I have caught your name?" she asked, feeling a little ashamed of herself for not asking. "I'm Graphite Sketch, but you can just call me Graph." she said, knowing all to well that her name was sort of a mouthful.

[Red Charge]

"Horizon." The pegasus introduced himself with a bow, "And it's not so easy Graph. The Stars are a military unit. The best military unit. Giving Valkyrie a piece of my mind would mean being you know, sent to jail, permanently losing my position and if I'm very unlucky, being stationed on the Griffin border." He sighed.

He looked at her draw quietly for a while, "If you want I could do that lightning thing again for you." He offered, "It's really easy once you drill it a million times. I can also do smoke and flame. Can't do red lightning though." He was referring to a red lightning trail, combining fire elements with lightning elements, much like the red lightning that can be seen in volcanos at times. Powerfully potent, he hasn't heard of any pegasus not Sun oriented who could perform it.

Of course, the most powerful lightning technique was still Titan's Blade, and there was only one pony in Equestria who could do that. His old commander Percheron Razorwing. "My old CO could have given you a much nicer show." He commented.

[zerosuperhero]

Lightning Flicker soared through the skies with nothing between her and the next down over. She had no idea where she was, but that was alright with her. Her ragged bandana and her sad excuse for a shirt fluttered and tattered in the wind as she flew gracefully throughout the afternoon skies. She has been flying for hours on end, going through the clouds and making sure the skies were clear where ever she went. Throughout the past few weeks, she has already stolen quite a bit from the rich ponies and has given a lot to the poor, but she still has some left over. Slung over her shoulder was a raggedy bag that contained little bits of gold and jewelry. Although it wasnt much, it was started to feel heavier and heavier the more she was in the air. She decided to stop and take a break where no one could find her. She loved talking to people, but big groups is just something that she wasnt very fond of. She decided to take her rest in a small woods just right outside of Hoofington. It seemed like nopony was walking through there, so she decided it was safe. She began to lay up against a tree and fell asleep, using her ragged bag of goods as a pillow to comfort her in the warm forest.

She had awoke with the sun seeming to be around 3 oclock in the afternoon. Her ears twitched as she heard what seemed like a conversation going on in the background of the once quiet forest. Lightning shot up, quietly grabbed her things, and gracefully flew over to where the conversation was taking place. She silently got onto a branch of one of the nearby trees and listened closely. There were two ponies in a group, two of then were talking about how amazing of an artist the third pony was. She took a sigh of relief, thinking that they would be royal guards looking for her.

She trotted over to the pair, but the male seemed too wrapped up in the little ponies artistic abilities that they didnt even seem to notice.

"So, you're an artist?" Lightning said, attempting to strike a conversation. Without the mare having to answer, she continued. "I used to be an artist too, but I gave that up a while ago." She lied. She figured that she might as well impress them while she can. It's not like they're going to become her friends or anything, not like she knew what that felt like.

[graphitesketch]

"That's terrible."she said, a frown on her face. "I hope things go your way soon, I couldn't even imagine." She was saddened by his plight but knew there was nothing she could do to help. She was just a pony from Hoofington, those military ponies would kick her out before she had a chance to say anything at all.

"Its fine, I am almost done. I was just adding that in for a little extra effect." She said, finally looking up from her drawing pad. "Thanks for letting me draw you, most ponies don't like it very much." she said, shaking her head. She liked to sit and draw the townsfolk from time to time but there was always those few ponies that got angry with her for doing it. She was about to ask Horizon if he had any hobbies when another pony trotted out from the forest.

"Well ye-" she began but the pony continued talking without waiting for her answer. "Oh, why did you quit? and while you where being an artist what was your favorite medium?" Graph said excitedly, she didn't see many artists around Hoofington and sometimes she just had a hard time striking up a decent conversation with anyone.

[Red Charge]

"Oh it's no problem, I look so fantastic too." Horizon replied, observing her as she added the details and effects, "Usually I can only get something like this for a couple of bits at a fair." He chuckled, "Gotta say, immortalized on paper like this, almost makes me feel I ought to repay the favor, maybe take you out-" He started as he was cut off very rudely by a teen pegasus dropping in on their conversation.

Teens today had absolutely no respect. Horizon was never one to muscle in to a conversation and he groaned silently when Graphite responded to the teen's uncalled for yapping. Great so not only did she interrupt him very rudely, now she was going to take away his conversation partner with her yapping. He wasn't that bad as a teen, he knew that much. He decided he had not the patience to wait for the pesky pony to finish so he decided to put in a quick word. "Anyway, I was saying, I might repay you by dinner tonight. I'll bring a cloud. Wait for me in the square!" And then he took off, leaving the two fillies to chat.

[zerosuperhero]

Lightning looked over at the pony as he trotted off, feeling that he was absolutely upset at what she did. She felt a little guilty in her heart, but she tried not to let it show. It'd show that she's emotionally weak...

She looked over at the pony to whom she had had made conversation to. "To answer your question, I wasn't much of an artist per say ... But I loved to just draw whatever was on my mind. It helped me kinda get away from the world."

She sat down with her and observed her drawing. Her sketch looked identical to the pony who was just here. "Wow." She gazed at it in awe. "Now, I wasn't that good of an artist, either." She smiled. "He offered to take you to dinner, and even said he'd bring a cloud. That's so rad!" Lightning said excitedly, then she calmed down and looked to her hooves. Her guilt was starting to get worse and worse, but why? Why is she just know succumbing to these stupid emotional standards? She's always been like this, but why is this just weird feeling happening now?

Lightning sighed and gulped a little. "Hey ... I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation, miss." Her ears flipped back. "I'm ... I'm not much of a pony person, y'know?"

She got up on her own four hooves and shook off the grass from her fur. "It's dangerous to be here by ourselves. Let's follow that pony back to town. I'll walk you there so in case anything happens, you'll be safe.

She looked down at the ground again as she had her back turned to the new pony who she was trying to make friends with. A sad attempt, she thought to herself, but at least I'm trying. This is the first time I've tried doing this in, gee, how many years? It was better than nothing. She assumed that the pony behind her was getting her things together as she watched over the woods to make sure that trouble wasn't anywhere near. So far, it didn't seem like anything that could harm them nearby.

"My..." She started out, then cleared her voice nervously. "My name is Lightning Flicker." She said, turning around and helping with picking up the pony's artistic utensils. "I'm not so good with meeting new people, and ..." She sighed, but continued "... I should go give that pony an apology." She groaned. She hated apologizing. It hurt her ego way too much, but she obviously made that pony angry and she needed to owe up to what she had done.

[graphitesketch]

Graph watched Horizon leave and said a small goodbye before turning back towards the other pony"Art is a great escape, no matter what form of art it is."Graph said, a smile on her face as she thought of all the time she had spent up in her room wasting paper.

Graph smiled when the other pony complemented her work."Practice makes perfect, and I have had a ton of practice. Though as an artist you always have to keep in mind that there is always room for improvement." Graph said, she knew some artists who thought their work was always perfect, those ponies always aggravated her to no end. There was no real perfection in art, just a gradual improvement over time.

"I dunno about the dinner thing, it was so out of the blue." Graph said feeling a tad bit nervous. She had never been out to dinner like that before. She shook her head at the pony's last statement. "Its alright, You actually did me a favor." She said, beginning to explain."If you hadn't of shown up I probably would have chickened out and told him I couldn't make it. she laughed.

"Don't worry so much about it, I am not much of a pony person myself. Me talking to two ponies in one day is a miracle. I am usually locked away in my shop." she said cheerfully. She smiled when lightning helped her with her things. "Oh don't worry about him, he was probably just frustrated that he couldn't ask me to dinner the way he had planned, which turned out good for him in the long run." She said, starting to head back towards town.

"My name is Graphite Sketch, but if you would just call me Graph that would be great." she said, stopping to look back at Lighting "You wanna come see my gallery?" she asked, it was open to anyone almost constantly but sometimes she liked to just sit and be able to watch people go through. Plus, making a two new friends in one day couldn't hurt at all.