MyriadDreaming

Starscape watched Silverbolt fly away with the injured pony on his back and breathed a sigh of relief that at least the hurt unicorn would be safe. Now it was just - oh dear. She couldn't believe Ember - he was either extremely brave or very stupid, and she was going to buy him the biggest cake she could if -when- they got out of this situation and wow that was a humongous hydra. And it was angry at them. [colour=#008080]"Oh no, no no no...."[/colour] She mumbled under her breath, terrified. [colour=#800080]"Starescape, run!" [/colour] Starscape needed little prompting to bolt and was already running by the time Ember shouted to her. She skidded through the undergrowth, stark terror lending her hooves speed. How long she could keep this up, she didn't know, running had never been much of her thing, but if she stopped... The roars of the beast behind her were growing louder by the second as the hydra, no doubt annoyed by the flight of its prey, gained on them. She jumped a small river and kept going, scrambling up the other side, cursing her damaged wing. [colour=#008080]"Come on, Ember! We've got to f-find some way to l-lose it!"[/colour] She shouted at the unicorn in front of her. [colour=#008080]"I c-can't keep this u-up!"[/colour] Jumping another stream, she slid down the bank on the other side and kept on galloping, hoping he could come up with something. She didn't know anything about Hydras. Why was one even here? All she wanted was to stargaze.

Starscape jumped when the purple unicorn spoke to her and looked a little flustered. "Oh... ah... Hello..." She said quietly. Probably the only thing that had sunk into Starscape's mind from her mother's constant drilling was her accent, which was somewhat posh, in contrast with the rest of the indigo pegasus' generally dishevelled appearance. She brightened when he mentioned that it was his book store though and smiled. "So this is your store? It's rather nice. I... ah, do you have a book of moon maps from before the Mare in the Moon vanished? I have my own drawings and charts, but something official would help when I have to teach the foals that visit my observatory about it..."

Starscape Quill ambled through Ponyville without much of a particular destination in mind. After the fiasco that had been her holiday in Fillydelphia, she'd tried to return home and start working in the observatory again, only to have her coworkers once again throw her out of her own place and told to go somewhere else on holiday. Apparently six days was not enough after two years of practically solid working. She wasn't angry - they clearly were worried about her, but after all of the rigmarole in Fillydelphia, she wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed and get back to watching stars. So she'd decided to wander a little bit, mostly walking. Her wing was still slightly sore, so she tried to rest it a little bit by trotting everywhere. Only, walking was a lot harder because she kept going off on tangents inside her head and tripping over things and was that a stone beneath her hooves? She stopped walking and shook her head. Her mother would scold her again, but that was Mother for you - always trying to get Starscape to act like a proper lady, never minding her continuously dishevelled mane and tail, and her general distractedness. Looking around, she rubbed her eyes. It was too bright out here for a pony that spent most of her time awake in the night, and her sunglasses had been broken in that incident with the hydra. She sighed and then spotted a sign that proclaimed 'Grand Opening' hanging from the second floor of the shop. Well, it was more of a banner than a sign, really, when she thought about it. The sign on the shop stated "Textual Treasures", and had an image of a treasure chest bursting with books. Starscape brightened up considerably. A bookstore, where she might be able to buy some new stationary and a few more books on astonomy, and shade. While Celestia's sun was certainly very... sun-like, all bright and shiny and warm, it made Starscape's eyes hurt, and she hated that because she couldn't see where she was going and tended to walk into things even more often than usual. Which wasn't good. She shook her head again and looked around. She'd been standing there staring at the shop, lost in thought for almost ten minutes now and probably looked very silly, so she trotted in and looked around with delight. Now this was a bookshop! After a few minutes she realised she'd been staring, blocking the door as she did, and sighed. What was with her and spacing out lately? Having managed to move out of the way or the door, Starscape looked about, trying to find anything on Astronomy or the night sky.

((OoC: Sorry about vanishing, Started back at work doing ridiculous hours, and barely had time enough to chill and eat dinner, never mind roleplay.)) Starscape watched Silverbolt speak and then listened to Ember. All the while she was shuffling her feet and fighting the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. "Y-yes, but... Can we keep th-this up?" She asked. "H-how far is it?" She looked about as the crashing of the hydra grew closer and closed her eyes, trying to stay calm. As Silverbolt flew up into the air, another thought crashed into the calmness she had fought to maintain. She still couldn't fly. What if it got her? She swallowed and shut her eyes tighter, waiting for the signal to come to start running. That was all they could do right now, right? Just run. "C-come on S-Starscape, j-just a little l-longer." She whispered to herself. "Just r-run for a b-bit l-longer."

Simon Templeman for either an awesome villain or some kind of gruff knight person. Also Patrick Stewart definitely needs to get in this show.

When I saw the name, I was really hoping it was a reference to this

Starscape skidded to a halt near the black unicorn and Silverbolt as Ember got to them and she shuffled her hooves anxiously. She couldn't carry him. She could barely carry herself with how her legs were feeling, never mind another pony. She breathed a sigh of relief as Silverbolt picked up the fallen unicorn and held them on his back. She closed her eyes for a second as the rumbling and crashing behind them got louder and then opened them in shock, fighting back terrified tears. This was supposed to be a holiday, where had it all gone wrong? "Uhm, we should go. I think it's close." Starscape said, trembling. "I-" She noticed Silverbolt had galloped off, paused for a second and then followed, trying to make sure Ember kept with her, running through the trees. They had to be close to Fillydelphia soon, right? Though would everypony appreciate a hydra being led there? Uh oh.

Myriad is the name of a character in the novel I'm writing, and she/it has a lot to do with dreams and the subconscious. Hence, Myriad Dreaming. Ordinarily, I go by Belle Jangles, but I've started liking this one.

Starscape jumped about three feet into the air when the unicorn rushed past and galloped off, and she winced at the pain as her wings opened themselves. Landing back down, she looked as Silverbolt galloped off and then jumped again at the roar behind them, galloping after the departing unicorn. She chanced a glance behind her to make sure Ember was following.

OoC: Sorry for being gone for a while, life got hectic and I spent most of the last week offline. Starscape started trembling when Silverbolt mentioned how close the hydra would be, but was luckily distracted by Ember asking her to navigate. "Yes, I can. Ah..." She looked up at the stars. "North is... um, that way. Thank Celestia it's a clear night." Starscape looked about. She pointed slightly to the left of where they were. "We should head that way to Fillydelphia!" She pawed the ground. "Ah, I think we should run. I'm not sure, but I think I can hear it coming."

Starscape looked worried for a moment. "I hope it goes away soon, it's getting too cold to be out here and I still can't fly..." She looked about nervously. "How far away was it?" While waiting for Silverbolt's answer, Starscape turned to Ember. "Do you know what direction we should head in to go back to town?"

Starscape smiled at the praise for her drawings. If somepony actually enjoyed them then that made the entire effort worthwhile, at least in Starscape's eyes. Her mind rambled to itself about future drawings before she realised Ember was answering her question. "Aside from rescuing silly pegasi, eh? Not much really. I work in my mother's jointly owned bakery for bits. I spend some of my downtime practicing my magic. Most of my spare time is spent with my friends. They always seem so pull me away from something." The Stallion chuckled. "I really wouldn't have any fun if they weren't there to pull me away from whatever I am doing. Then again, there is always something fun to do in Fillydelphia!" Starscape nodded as Ember pulled out another muffin. He really must have been hungry, but the muffins were also very delicious. Hadn't he said that he worked in his mother's bakery? Perhaps they were from said bakery... Maybe inadvertently she had given him food that he had baked himself. What a small and strange world it was. Or perhaps it simply wasn't and she was being silly again. She returned her attention to him, realising she was being rude again. "My real goal is to st-" "HYDRA!"The shout nearly made Starscape jump out of her skin and she stood up in fright, looking about for the aforementioned beast. When the tree nearby was suddenly filled with another Pegasus, Starscape jumped again and spread her wings, trying to flap them and failing, crashing back ground to earth with a light 'thud'. She shook herself and looked up at the Pegasus a moment. "It seems to be raining Pegasi today." She commented to herself. "Either that or everyone suddenly became really clumsy. Maybe it's because it's..." Ember was talking again. Starscape made sure to pay attention. "Starscape, kill the fire if you can. Leave your things. We can fetch them later." She nodded and started kicking dirt onto the fire, slowly putting it out. She looked at her things and then looked unsure. "But... my telescope... My..." She shook her head, realising that Ember was right. He was an expert in rescuing after all. Were Hydras a normal part of rescuing? She didn't know, but maybe! He certainly seemed to know what he was doing. "Okay..." She ran along towards Ember and the Pegasus and stopped behind Ember, looking curiously at the newcomer. "That looks like it hurt. Which is probably right as I flew into that tree over there a while ago and that hurt and Ember found me and helped me up which was good ebcause it was getting cold and I needed my cloak and it was dark as well, but I love the night sky, and my name's Starscape Quill, what's yours?" She put a hoof on her mouth and looked frightened a moment. "Oh, I rambled again and that's not good because we need to be quiet." She closed her mouth and looked down. "Sorry." She whispered.

Starscape reached into the saddlebags again and promptly brought out a box, which she set near to Ember. She rooted around in the saddlebags a bit more and brought out two apples. "There are muffins in the box from this really nice bakery in town. I found it when I first came to Fillydelphia and it was such a nice looking bakery that I had to buy something, and then I saw they had muffins and I love muffins so I bought loads and now I buy a small box every day, because I always seem to miss dinner time at my hotel and..." She shut herself up. She nudged the food closer to Ember. "Have as much as you like!" She said with a smile. "It's the least I could do for rescuing me, and I ate a small picnic before I set back off and I have a little food left and some more water because I always pack lots." She sat down closer to the fire and nodded at Ember's question. "Oh, yes. I love the night time an the stars and all of the things up there. My observatory is between Cloudsdale and Trottingham and is in a nice little town. I don't know if it's very obvious but because I'm mostly awake at night I don't tend to speak to many ponies, but it's okay because I love the night sky and drawing star charts and painting night scenes and..." She shut herself up again and pulled a small sketchbook out of her saddlebags. "Here, have a look if you want! Oh, and the moon! The moon is very lovely too, but It wasn't very fun when the Mare in the Moon disappeared and I had to redraw all of my charts. That took a long time to do! Still, it's very nice and I love my work." She stopped and collected her thoughts before looking at Ember again. "What do you do? Besides rescuing silly pegasi, I mean?"

Starscape took a peek after the flash and let out a giggle at Ember's standing on end mane. When he lit the fire she felt the warmth wash over her and sighed in relief. It really had been too cold for her liking. “Don’t move until the branch is gone! No matter what!” The stallion said, and Starscape nodded seriously. She held herself as still as possible while Ember lifted the branch off her wing. She breathed another sigh as it was set onto the fire. She looked at the wing and slowly tried pulling it back up, giving it an experimental flap. "Ouch!" she said loudly as it twinged somewhat painfully. She checked it over once more. There were bruises and the whole thing felt tender. She flapped it again. It seemed like it wasn't broken or too badly damaged, just sore and painful. Maybe a little swollen. She sighed and flapped both of them, but it hurt a little too much at the moment for her to be able to fly. She stood up properly again and moved away form the rock, revelling in being able to move again - her legs had been stiffening. Promptly, starscape sorted her cloak out, putting her wings through the specially designed holes in the side and folding them up again "Thank you." She smiled and then sat near her bags, putting all her belongings back in them, except for the water flash, which she held out to Ember. "Are you thirsty? Or hungry, or anything? I have a lot of snacks and a good amount of water, because I never know how long I'm going to be out I mean, it's probably obvious, but I can get really badly sidetracked and sort-of often end up missing dinner and stuff so-" She put a hoof on her mouth and calmed down. "I mean, I have food if you want some." ((It keeps going small for me too.))

((Chicken noodle soup for the win Hope your cold is defeated soon! Also, long post is long. I have to stop making rambly characters.)) Starscape pawed the ground again as Ember spoke. "That certainly is some story you have there." She went slightly red again. "Well, not the situation, but the way it was told." "Um, I'm sorry. I just ramble and talk and my friends say it's because I don't get out enough but the stars are really really amazing and it is a good place to stargaze? Wow, that's really-" She shut herself up again. As he spoke again she winced at the pain in her head. "Interesting and more than a bit painful. Trees are not my favourite thing ever to run into - I mean, I've plowed into the ground before, or ran into something, but never flown into a tree. I suppose it's a first." She winced again and rubbed her face. "I certainly have never trapped my wing before..." She trailed off, aware he was talking again. “Well, Starscape, I have quite a bit of good news for you. By the looks of it you should be relatively ok once I lift the branch. Your wing might be injured internally but I am not sure. That’s not really my area of expertise.” She perked up instantly. "Oh, that's good, because I don't know how I could fix the mirrors and lenses at my observatory - that's where I work by the way, and live. Well, there really isn't much difference, but fixing the mirrors without wings is really hard because we have this one really really big telescope and it's very hard for one of my coworkers to reach up with scaffolding because he's an earth pony and-" She shivered. "Oh, it's getting colder. I like wintertime because it's longer nights and more stargazing but I don't like the cold. Mama says it's because I'm too thin but I just don't like being too cold..." She watched slightly enviously as the unicorn tightened his scarf. Why didn't she think to bring a scarf? Or buy one? She looked down. Then brightened as she remembered her cloak. She sat on the ground to check in her saddlebags again when she realised Ember was speaking to her again. Honestly, her mother would tell her she was being very rude to the nice young stallion that had rescued her. She focused her attention at him again. “The problem is that I no longer have a lantern and I can’t lift the branch if I am casting this spell. I can start a small fire if you have a flame based lantern available. It would certainly solve two of our current problems.” Starscape nodded as she shivered again. Two problems? The only problem she could she was the lack of light if he didn't have his horn doing that glowy thing unicorns' horns could do... wait... The cold! He was talking about the cold!“If not I am sure we can figure out another way to start one!” Starscape brightened considerably at both Ember's cheeriness and the fact that she'd remembered something. Her lantern! Why hadn't she thought of getting it out before? "Well, ah, I definitely packed a lantern because it's sort of a habit for me because I tend to be really nocturnal. I hope it's okay, the lantern, not the fact that I'm nocturnal, not that I'm saying your opinion doesn't matter! I mean, I did crash quite hard, but my head took most of the impact, but I was tangled a bit when I woke up so-" She facehoofed and unbuckled her saddlebags from her side, shifting them in front of her and rooting through them. "Let's see... Water, snacks, starcharts, Ink, quills, hmmm." She dug through a little longer, a small pile of objects growing next to the bags, and then she smiled widely. "Aha!" Starscape pulled out a small canvas bag from within the bag, which she lay reverently on the ground It opened and she sighed in relief once it was open. Inside was a decently sized fold up telescope and a fold up tripod for it. "Oh, thank Celestia my telescope is okay!" She then pulled another small bag out. "And the lamp!" She grinned widely. "Here you go..." Starscape shivered again as she put it on a clear part of the boulder her wing was trapped on. "I think there's a bottle of oil in the bag. Maybe some flint..." She said, picking the bag up and depositing it next to the lantern. She rummaged in her saddlebags one final time and brought out a thick woollen cloak, rubbing her face against it a second before wrapping it over herself. Not very well, but she'd fix it once her wing was free. ((Edit: Stupid font size thing... Sadface))