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Post by graphitesketch on May 31, 2012 0:29:36 GMT -5
Graph was giving herself quite a ludicrous look in the mirror. She was still a little startled that she was going out to dinner with a stallion."I'm not sure if I was made for this."she groaned, turning away from the mirror and stalking across her room and out onto the main floor of her apartment.
From somewhere in the lower levels of the house an old grandfather clock chimed slowly, the sound reverberating through the house. She stood there listening to the chimes, feeling rather worried, then something clicked in her mind. "This is foolish, its just a thank you dinner." she said, pepping herself up and trotting down the steps, her confidence returning.
Graph wandered around her gallery to pass the time, re-arranging things and sometimes pulling one picture down to replace it with another. Business had been slow as always, the thought put a frown on her face for a moment but she just shrugged it off, someone was bound to come in eventually.
The clock chimed again and she turned to look at it, he would be at the square in about five minutes she figured. Taking one last look around her shop she walked out the front doors and towards the square. The night was cool, and the sky was clear, she couldn't help letting a soft sigh escape her. 'Very nice night.' She thought to herself.
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Post by Red Charge on May 31, 2012 0:56:18 GMT -5
And just as expected a streak of lightning flashed by, going for a spin in the forest again before landing runway-style in the square. "Ah there you are!" Horizon exclaimed happily. Though he had not wore anything, he did seem to be carrying himself in a different, sharper manner. "Well I've actually had zero time to plan anything." He said, "So I brought a cloud with some goodies for a picnic, we can eat on the grass."
He gestured towards the patch of grass where they met, a cloud was hovering over the ground to serve as a table, on which various home made food was prepared, smelling delicious. "I even managed to nab some aged cider from Ponyville before I got here." He gestured at a bottle of the same.
Grinning he took a seat across the cloud table from her, breaking some bread munching on it happily. "So did you ever finish that drawing?"
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Post by graphitesketch on May 31, 2012 1:08:50 GMT -5
Graph perked up when she saw the familiar streak of lightning and remained where she was while Horizon landed. "A picnic sounds great." she said rather enthusiastically, she wasn't much for restaurants anyway. She trotted over to the patch of grass and stared down at the cloud table, deciding what to eat.
"Indeed I did, I am working on a painting right now that I hope to put in my gallery soon." she said, it had taken her ages to get all the oil paint off of her coat. "You will be the first to see it when it is done." she said. The canvas was sitting in her workroom, the first few strokes laid out, but it was far from complete.
She started to nibble on some food, glad for the cool weather."Thank you so much for doing this, it was rather out of the blue." she said, shaking her head a little. "I don't really get to hang out with anyone that often."
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Post by Red Charge on May 31, 2012 1:40:09 GMT -5
"I know that feeling, none of my friends can see me while I'm suspended, or risk being suspended themselves." Horizon said with a sigh, pouring some cider for both of them and then wolfed down a piece of tasty pie.
"Wanna hear some awesome war stories?" He asked, "You seem like the kind who might love to hear some." He started to tell of a most recent one, "So it was me, Whisper Wind and Valkyrie and we're off to the Everfree Forest to go and try and capture, get this, The Iron Shoes." He said outrageously, "So we touch down in there and not a second later he nearly punches Valkyrie's head off. She was too quick though and gave him a one two. So anyway we tussle around with the guy for a while, can't exactly hurt him too much while keeping him out of reach from us but then this unicorn comes along! Right in the middle of Everfree this mare got in the middle of the way and I get socked right in my armor. One punch from that guy shattered my armor completely and left the nastiest bruise. Whisper got one too. So then Valkyrie goes commando on his flank and we drive him off right? Wrong. One second we're helping this unicorn mare up and the next there is a gigantic mass of land torn up right from the ground, about the size of a house, about to crush us."
He raised his hands to try and gesture the size of it. "Well as you can see we managed to get away. That mare was pretty grateful even. But boy that was one crazy day."
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Post by graphitesketch on May 31, 2012 1:50:15 GMT -5
"She cut you off from your friends too? That's terrible!" Graph said, a deep scowl on her face. She didn't much like this Stars leader at the moment. Suspension was one thing but suspension by associating with Horizon? that was crazy.
"That would be great." she said, ears perking up to listen. Little Hoofington usually saw very little action, and when there was it was few and far between. Graph had spent the better part of her childhood playing in dirt and pretending that she could fly.
She listened to his story intently, thinking them crazy for going after Iron Shoes. "You are lucky you got away with just a bruise." she said, wincing at the thought of being hit like that. "That mare better have been grateful. I would have felt awful if I was the reason some warriors where hurt." she shook her head, feeling rather glad that her life was a rather calm one.
"I bet life is pretty boring for you now huh?" she said, taking a sip of cider. Vacations are only fun for a short while, when they are forced on you then they could be unbearable, Graph knew that much.
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Post by Red Charge on May 31, 2012 1:56:51 GMT -5
"Actually I've been keeping real busy. Have even been thinking of quitting entirely, see there's this unicorn, Hind Sight. He found this ancient Equiterian structure or whatever. Don't ask me what Equiter... Equites... whatever they are. I only know they were an ancient empire that was before Equestria was founded, they ruled almost all of the world and then they all suddenly disappeared without leaving a clue."
"So anyway I joined up with him, along with that unicorn mare I mentioned and this other unicorn mare that I don't really like, but anyway we joined up with him on his expedition. It was brilliant, we fought living suits of armor and undead and I got this wicked sword from the Praetorians which has poison from the Celestial Scorpio! This alchemist guy with us wanted to steal it from me, I could just tell. Anyway Hind Sight said he's not bringing him along any more expeditions so it's cool."
"Oh and don't worry about that unicorn, she was VERY grateful." He said casually, "Only problem is now everyone's all up on that Cult thing and are organizing to attack it but I'm left out. Though to be honest I don't care what they say I'm going to head out there myself when it happens." He drank his cider, much more gently than he has his food. "Man that is good cider."
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Post by graphitesketch on May 31, 2012 2:03:36 GMT -5
Graph was a little baffled by all that he was saying but she listened to every word. When he finished she let out a laugh. "You talk about all this amazing stuff then comment on the cider?" she continued to laugh and after a minute she got herself to stop.
"You have done so much stuff, gone on so many adventures." she said, still laughing a little. "I'm a total hermit by comparison. I think the most exciting thing that has happened to me recently was when the store down the road got new pencils in and I had to fight this other pony for them." she snorted.
That duel hadn't lasted long, Graph being much more aggressive than the other pony she just shoved her out of the way when the pony had tried to grab them before her. No one messed with her art supplies.
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Post by Red Charge on May 31, 2012 2:15:13 GMT -5
"Actually if you want, we have new openings on the team. Since that alchemist won't be returning and a bunch of unicorns quit, we could use another pair of hooves. As long as you don't mind the skeletons, suits of armor that try to kill you, traps, or any monsters we may find. Hind Sight could also use a sketcher to sketch all of the amazing stuff we see. He uses his assistant for that but a more professional pony would surely be welcome." Horizon offered, "Sides, you'll get to hang out with me." He said with a wink and a warm chuckle.
Digging in to a lasagna he waited for her to reply politely, the food was delicious. It was obvious that whoever made it had a very good idea of what they were doing. The lasagna he just cut for himself especially smelled great, he was practically devouring his piece with ravenous pleasure.
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Post by graphitesketch on May 31, 2012 2:22:01 GMT -5
Graph was a little startled at his offer, she wasn't sure if she really fit the 'adventurer' qualifications. "It sounds great, but I am just an earth pony." she said, frowning a little as she took her own peice of lasagna and taking a bite out of it.
"I can't fly, or use magic. I don't even know how to fight properly." she said, knowing all to well that she would end up being more of a burden than help. It wasn't the thought of fighting scary things, that she could deal with (so long as it wasn't bugs), but it was her ability to be of any help at all.
"You can't exactly color a monster to death." she said laughing while she dug into her lasagna. She thought of her mother, she would probably have a heart attack and her father would....well her father wouldn't say much of anything, he never talked very much.
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Post by Red Charge on Jun 1, 2012 1:27:33 GMT -5
"Ah, my dear, if you come along I assure you that I will teach you how to fight. Besides, Earth Ponies are usually the best fighters. The only two Field Marshals in history were Earth Ponies, that has to count for something. Even Titan Razorwing or Destrier the most powerful Pegasus and Unicorn didn't get that illustrious rank." He offered.
"We'll get you geared up too. Either way, what you will see in those ruins would be an inspiration for a lifetime. How many ponies can say they were the first to tread on Equiterian soil?" He asked, leaning slightly over the table to look into her eyes.
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Post by graphitesketch on Jun 1, 2012 1:40:42 GMT -5
Graph had finished her food and sat there, wondering if she could really do all these things."I-I'm not sure."she stammered a bit, Hoofington was all she knew, of course that couldn't necessarily be a good thing. She didn't want to be stuck in this small town forever.
"Are you sure I wouldn't be a burden?" she asked, looking down at her hooves now. All she could think about was being in the way and slowing everyone down while they where trying to make all these great discoveries.
Artists usually only drew the adventures that others relayed to them, very few actually got to go on said adventures. Her life seemed to be taking a strange turn today and she was still in the middle about whether she liked it or not.
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Post by Red Charge on Jun 1, 2012 1:45:14 GMT -5
"Hah, trust me if I thought in the least that you might be I wouldn't be inviting you along now would I?" He asked, "Sides, it's an expedition, expeditions are not all about muscle. Sure you might need to carry some stuff and you might need to pull your weight. But leave the fighting to the pros. Besides, there's plenty of time until then. First they have to deal with that big mess in the Bog then he still has to research and assemble the expedition. Plenty of time to prepare, just think about it."
Horizon downed another glass of cider, relaxing and watching the stars. "Either way, it's been a great date. Hardly get to have this much fun on the first ones." The stallion commented
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Post by graphitesketch on Jun 1, 2012 1:51:54 GMT -5
"I guess you are right, and I am not afraid to pull my own weight." she said, working on her fathers farm had proven that. Graph turned her gaze to the sky as well, glad that there was time for her to get prepared for this. When he spoke again she was a little startled.
Graph had allowed herself to think that this was just a thank you dinner, stallions never showed interest in her like that. She blushed a little but regained herself quickly."Were your other first dates boring or something?" she asked, her gaze leaving the sky and turning on him. A curious look on her face as she waited for him to answer.
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Post by Red Charge on Jun 1, 2012 1:56:21 GMT -5
"I don't really get a lot of first dates to be honest." Horizon explained simply, "It comes with the publicity I guess. We're famous in Canterlot and Cloudsdale, so it's usually fans going about. Can't date other Stars, especially can't date Wonderbolts. So all I really got was a bunch of stuck up rich fillies who couldn't shut their mouth to save their life. Yapping on about their fathers and their nifty little dresses and what not. Pure torture."
"What about you?" He asked, "Any noteworthy dates to tell about from the Hoofington farming community?"
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Post by graphitesketch on Jun 1, 2012 2:02:15 GMT -5
Graph had never been to Canterlot, or Cloudsdale for that matter so she had no clue about such things. Other ponies in Hoofington probably did but she wasn't one to follow with the up to date news unless it smacked her right in the face.
"I guess I see your point on that front." she said, ponies from Canterlot came through her town from time to time and some of them just irked her on new levels. Thinking back on it she wasn't sure if she should ever visit Canterlot, she might end up hurting someone.
"I have actually only been on one date." she said rather sheepishly."He was...not my type." she said, not really wanting to talk about it much.
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