NeilWacaster

"Just a bowl of the ... oh dear, how is it pronounced? Sh-chi? I don't know. The cabbage soup."

Newsworthy's heart leapt. She must not find him completely boorish, as she hoped that she would get to see him again.

"I would like that very much," he said, a look of longing in his eyes. Realizing what he had done, he quickly picked up a menu to hide his blushing face. "Uh ... what shall I ... um ... order. The cabbage soup looks good ..."

"Well, as much as I enjoyed the message of the song, it was your lovely singing voice that made it great," Newsworthy said, confidentially. "As for not being able to complete anything, I definitely know the feeling. However, for me at least, it's generally a deficit of motivation rather than ideas. Perhaps, like me, the difficulty you're facing is knowing which of your ideas are worth completing. Often, I have a million things that I should do, but have trouble determining which of them will be most beneficial in the long run."

"I wouldn't say that," Newsworthy said. "For one thing, I haven't been able to get your song out of my head all day." He bobbed his head from side to side, and hummed the first line of the chorus of "One More Time with Feeling."

He finished, smiling. "Who knows? Maybe you have the next Pony Award winning musical? You'll never know if you don't complete it."

Newsworthy looked pleased. "I'm so glad that you like it. I don't usually show my work around, it's mainly just a side hobby. A little secret of mine."

Stuffing the papers back in his briefcase, he asked, "So, now it's your turn. I know that you write plays, but about what, specifically?"

He grinned. "I love adventure novels. I think I mentioned that I used to want to write them for a living. Well, of course, that was before I figured out that what I was actually good at was nonfiction. But that doesn't stop me from penning a little story every now and again."

He pulled a stack of about a dozen pages from his briefcase, and set them before her, a little sheepishly. "If you'll believe it, I actually am writing something about Daring Do at the moment. I don't know if you've read her books, but you might enjoy it, regardless."

(And that gives me the perfect chance to show you my little Daring Do fanfic, if you're interested. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/28819/Daring-Do-and-the-Race-to-the-King%27s-Treasure)

"Oh, absolutely. I'm most often inspired by a well-written book. When I finish a good story, I'm just itching to write something of my own." He took a sip of his cider. It was quite good, and had a strong cinnamon flavor. "Speaking of which, weren't you working on a manuscript yesterday? How is that coming?"

"Syd is an incredible musician and performer," Newsworthy said, his fanboy side coming out. "I especially enjoyed 'Eternal Nights of Love.' It must be a new one, I haven't heard it on the radio yet. As busy as I'm used to being in the news business, I don't think I could handle performing on stage every day or two. So much pressure. Give me my quill and a quiet study any day."

He looked at her questioningly. "I hope that you enjoyed the concert. You seemed to think it was a little loud."

"I am Newsworthy, kind sir," he said, returning the smile and taking his seat. "Charming establishment you have here; I'm just hoping your cider is as good as the hospitality. Could you pour us two mugs?"

"Lead the way," he said, simply.

It was a beautiful night, Luna's moon and stars shining brightly overhead. The city was alive, the streets bustling with shoppers, vacationing families, and couples.

OOC: This is a private RP between Twimsy and NeilWacaster, in which their OCs, Persnickety and Newsworthy, are going on their first date. For anyone who is interested, this is happening the day after the "It all started in a little Café in Stalliongrad ..." RP.

Edit: we decided to continue the RP, now they're going to see a play too.

Edit: The side story linked here might or might not be canon

RP starts below.

Newsworthy walked with Persnickety out through the door of the concert hall, jostled by the loud crowd of other ponies. He had been to many of the musician's concerts before, but he had enjoyed this one even more than the others. For one thing, it was the first time he had seen this concert tour, and Syd had played several new songs. For another, this was the first chance that he and Persnickety had gotten to have some time to themselves after the excitement of the previous day.

Once they were a few steps away from the concert goers, he turned to Persnickety and smiled. "Where would you like to go from here? I'm pretty new to Stalliongrad, but I'm sure you know a good place we can go."

Clairvoyance's daughter had been hiding throughout all that had happened, especially frightened of the ponies that seemed odd in the head.

Seeing her chance to get away from all the visitors, she tugged at her mother's mane. "Mum, want me to go fetch some water for the tea?"

Hello! Welcome to the site. I hope that you SleepyChibiTobi and I can do an awesome adventure RP soon!

All of my friends are joining Canterlot! I'm so happy

You, Squallmane, Partheus and I should start an RP. Ideas?

I am so glad to see you here, friend! Can't wait to start our first online RP!

Hello everyone! I just finished the first chapter of a new fanfic idea, and would love to hear what you guys think:

Chapter 1

Daring Do walked through the streets of Hoofingon determinedly, a mare on a mission. Her official title was forensic archaeologist with the Equestrian Museum of Archaeology, but everypony knew that she was much more.

This, though, was out of her league. She could deal with any predatory animal. Tigers, pythons, manticores - she understood how their minds worked. But these stallions in suits were unpredictable. She didn’t know the rules of their game.

It can’t be that difficult, she thought. Just talk them into giving you the authorization to go in and retrieve the artifacts. Easy.

As she trotted up a long flight of marble stairs, she was struck by the sickening opulence of these bureaucrats. The city was crumbling around them, but they did nothing to help the ordinary citizens. Their administrative office building stood like a sparkling chandelier in a garbage dump.

She stepped through the gigantic glass doors, and spoke briefly with the receptionist. Soon, she was gliding smoothly to the top floor in a cylindrical elevator. Her eyes were treated to a view of the of the metropolis - what little of it could be seen through the blanket of yellow smog. Many of the buildings were abandoned, their windows boarded up. The few structures that showed signs of life appeared to be casinos and brothels. Even now, Hoofington was still a tourist trap, perfect for the wealthy gentlecolt who wanted to enjoy a city with no rules.

The elevator doors opened, and she was greeted by a line of sickeningly fake smiles, ponies arranged in a half circle around an enormous meeting table. “Good morning, Miss Do. What a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, Dr. Brownfield.” She shook his hoof. It was like touching the head of a poisonous snake.

“Please, sit. There is much for us to discuss.” The oval room was covered in dark wood paneling, and the only light came from narrow windows.

“Look. Just give me the paperwork to sign. I want to get to the artifacts out of that cave before the looters do,” she said, easing into a plush leather chair.

“I’m sure you do. But the situation has grown … complicated.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You sent me a scroll yesterday that said everything was under control.”

He ran a hoof through his mane. “Yes, well. There’s been a bit of a misunderstanding with the rebels. They’ve decided to make matters into their own hooves.”

Her mind quickly reviewed all she knew about this situation. The entrance to the cavern had been discovered just three days ago by an amateur archaeologist. Poking around in an abandoned dig a few miles west of the city, he unearthed a small stone door. An inscription stated that it was the entrance to the treasury of King Leonidas II, and that all his wealth was buried within, known to be worth many billions of bits. The amateur had tried to enter, but chickened out when he sprung a protective trap and narrowly missed being decapitated. All would be well if he had kept his big mouth shut. But, like a fool, he had taken the news straight to the press, and soon the entire world knew of the discovery. Despite the military guard posted around the perimeter, the Hoofington government had received a serious threat from the Iron Wings, a local paramilitary organization. They had demanded to be allowed to enter and retrieve the treasure.

“So, what happened?” she asked, expecting the worst.

“The guards around the cave were ambushed last night by Iron Wing troops. They’ve taken dozens of our soldiers captive, as well as a number of over curious civilians who were nearby when the attack took place. They are using the hostages as leverage. If we attack, their lives are forfeit.”

Daring Do’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done to resolve this?”

“What can we do? Every one of our available army units is stationed around the perimeter. But, shedding the blood of civilians is not an option. Some of them are just foals. They hold the trump card.”

This is going to be much more difficult than I thought, Daring mused. Not that that’s unusual.

“Their methods of archaeology are a little more direct than yours, Miss Do,” Dr. Brownfield said, cleaning his monocle with a handkerchief. “Even now, they are using magical energy weapons to blast their way through the traps set to guard the treasure. It’s only a matter of time before they reach their goal.

“Officially, the city can do nothing. But unofficially …” he looked at the burnt-yellow pegasus, his narrow eyes reminiscent of a reptile.

“I think I understand,” she said. “You want me to go in and get to the treasure before they do. Remove the prize, and their motivation disappears. We negotiate release of the hostages, and nopony gets hurt.”

“Precisely. Can you help us?”

It was far too dangerous. Her enemies would be armed with tremendous firepower and a license to kill. She had read about the atrocities the Iron Wings had committed in the past. With them, she would be lucky to get a bullet through her skull.

But then, her mind turned to the hostages trapped by those monsters. She imagined a group of foals huddled together, cowering in fear from grinning soldiers holding assault rifles.

It was simple, really. Those artifacts must be protected, those foals had to be saved, and she was the only pony in the world with the experience to handle such a deadly maze. She had already made her decision.

“I’ll do it. How am I going in?”

The ponies sitting across from her looked uncomfortable. Brownfield chuckled nervously. “That is the question of the hour, Miss Do.”

She was indignant. “You expect me to sneak past an entire army of insurgents, into a cave filled with death traps, past a group of soldiers armed with magical energy weapons, and remove hundreds of pounds of treasure, without being seen? Are you out of your minds?”

“The resources of the city are at your disposal …”

“You don’t understand. What you’re asking me to do isn’t madness. It’s suicide.”

“Be reasonable, Miss Do,” Dr. Brownfield said, lighting a cigar. “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. If it’s money you want, name your price.”

She stood to her hooves, irate. “What do you take me for, a bounty hunter? I’m not doing this for monetary gain, but for ...” She stopped short. Alright. If that’s the way they work in this town, then I’ll play their little game. “Wait. How much money are we talking about?”

The monocled pony smiled, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Now we’re talking.”

HAHAHAHAHA.

Now you just have to wait for the second seal of approval, and you'll be free to jump into the crossover section.

That's awesome! Congrats Partheus!

Shining Armor's eyes sparked. "I never turn down an opportunity for swordplay, so consider your challenge accepted." Grinning, he slapped Partheus on the shoulder. "But be forewarned, I won't take it easy on you just because you're a human."

Shining Armor and Partheus walked down out of the tower together, and parted ways at the foot of the staircase.

---

By midafternoon, Newsworthy had eaten a hearty breakfast and lunch, and had slept soundly for several more hours. His body now just ached all over, and any movement that jostled his wings was painful. The doctor had wrapped his torso so that his wings couldn't move, but even so, he had to walk slowly and carefully.

After he signed yet another piece of paperwork, they finally let him free from the hospital. He strolled out into the late afternoon air, and took the route that Twilight had told him about.

In about half an hour, he reached a small potion shop on the outskirts of town. The sorceress had had a small apartment just above, and Newsworthy climbed the stairs wearily. Just walking the dozen or so blocks from the hospital had been taxing.

He knocked half-heartedly on the door.

"Who's there?" Twilight called from inside.

"It's me."

The door was immediately enveloped in pink magic and swung inward. Twilight sat on the floor, hundreds of books stacked around her in a half moon. She wasn't kidding about the mountain of scrolls, he thought, seeing the enormous stack behind her. The thick dust in the air made it look like she was sitting in a pillar of sunlight, streaming in from a large round window overhead.

She looked up at him, smiling. Several dark lines under her eyes showed that she still hadn't slept.

"You look almost as tired as I feel," she said, yawning cavernously.

"No kidding, although with me it's mostly just soreness, rather than lack of sleep," Newsworthy said, carefully lowering himself to the floor beside her. "So, what did you find?"

Reverently, she opened a huge book nearby and searched for the appropriate page.

"Aha, here we are." The book was hoof written in a decorative script. It had to be at least several hundred years old to have been made before the advent of the printing press. At the top of the page, the chapter name read, "Advanced Spells for Dragon Hunting." She pointed with a hoof to a mess of notes in the margins. "Look, here. This is the spell that will save Equestria."

He squinted at the tiny scrawl. It was barely even readable, and it looked like it had been started and crossed out about a dozen times before the sorceress had gotten it right. Twilight explained that it was an ingenious modification of the classic balefire counterspell, with obscure bits of dissolution and hydrolytics thrown in to deal with the special properties of Sagittarius' magic.

"That's ... great," Newsworthy said, mixed emotions churning through him. On the one hoof, she had found the spell that could stop Sagittarius. On the other hoof, if she used it, it was almost certain to end her life.

"Now that I have the spell that she used, I've been trying to figure out how to modify it to counter the spell remnants ravaging Manehattan," she said, floating a scroll over. "Of course, I don't need the full effect, and I need it to be dispersed over an extremely wide area. That's going to be difficult, but I think that I've almost got it. I may need Professor Deathwish's help to get it precisely right."

"Does that mean we're headed back to Manehattan today?" Newsworthy asked.

"Yes, as soon as I finish. It may take another hour or two." she replied.

"Alright then. I passed by a chariot station on my way here. I'll go order one to be ready and waiting for us."

---

Having nothing better to do while he waited for Twilight to finish her work, Newsworthy took a look inside the potion shop. The walls were packed with shelves holding vials of liquid in every color imaginable.

He spent over an hour just going through the wares. There were potions to cure warts, to be able to see through walls, and to clean laundry instantly. There were vials which claimed they could make you forget, make you remember, make you handsome, and make you fall in love.

He was standing in front of a rack of protection potions when Twilight popped her head in the door. "The charioteers said I could find you in here. They're helping me carry down the books I need, and then I'm ready to leave."

"I'll be right there."

He turned back to the vials. One in particular caught his eye. "Stealthy Hooves: Potion renders one pony completely invisible for several minutes." That sounds like it could be useful if I have to run away from Sagittarius, he said to himself, dropping it into his bag. It's not like the unicorn will miss it, poor girl.

He walked outside and clambered into the chariot. Soon, Twilight and the two pegasi returned, each laden with a large stack of books and scrolls. They loaded them in the trunk, and the charioteers strapped themselves in. Soon, they were in the air.

Almost immediately, Twilight and Newsworthy fell asleep.

Shining Armor rushed over to look at Partheus' burns. "I guess I got a little carried away," he said, sheepishly. "I shouldn't have cast something so powerful for your first counterspell practice. You were doing so well with the other new skills that I overestimated your ability. And yes, that will be all for this day."

He pulled a medical kit from the wall and opened a package which contained glowing white bandages. He quickly rolled up Partheus' sleeves with a spell and wrapped his arms with the cloths.

"There now," he said, smiling kindly. "Firebane bandages. That should make you feel much better. Now, before you come back to see me again, I want you to practice what you have learned. Perhaps you should ask Twilight or one of the other mages to work with you. I'm taking a contingent of soldiers to Appleoosa and checking on their wartime preparations, so I'll be gone until tomorrow night."

He glanced down at Partheus' side. "By the way," the unicorn said, "what have you learned about your sword? I'm sure that Celestia's enchantment makes it a very powerful weapon."

Shining Armor looked concerned. "If you're sure you're alright, then yes, there's one more type of magic that I wanted to teach you today. It's by far the most intricate, and takes a lifetime to master. The counterspell."

Shining Armor went on to explain that there were four basic types of magical energy attacks, corresponding to the elements of water, air, earth and fire. He continued that each one of these types of energy had a specific incantation to counter it, and explained what parts of the incantation were to be modified depending on the size of the attack and what variant of the type of element being used.

"Now, I know that it will take time for you to memorize all four spells, so we'll just concentrate on one of them today. Sagittarius uses balefire, so lets start by countering basic fire attacks. Celestia told me that she has sent Twilight to find a spell to counter the specific type of spell The Hunter uses, but we'll just work on the basics until she returns."

He pulled a lever, and three balls of fire shot from a magical energy cannon mounted on the wall. His horn glowed brightly, and a few feet from him the spells exploded in a small, harmless fireworks display.

"Alright, now it's your turn," the captain grinned. He shot a large jet of flame toward Partheus.

Shining Armor picked up a huge oak table from across the room and flung it at Partheus. His eyes narrowed. This would be a real test of not only his concentration, but also of his raw power. Few magic users would be strong enough to stop such a projectile.

Shining Armor looked genuinely impressed. "Ah ... yes. Something like that, indeed."

He was looking at Partheus curiously. Something had clearly changed since the last time they had met, but what? Before he was an angry, unstable magic user who could barely keep a shield around himself. And now ... but soon enough it would all be clear.

"We shall come back and practice all of these different spells, but since you have already mastered that one, lets move on to the next lesson."

His horn glowing, he cast a thick pink sphere around himself and Partheus. "Area effect spells, a variant of the shield I taught you last time, are my specialty. The main difference is that area effect spells are relatively permanent and stationary, whereas shields are very short-lived and move with you."

He looked at Partheus gravely. "Many times in battle, I have used one of these spells to protect an injured comrade. Unlike a basic shield, it is impervious to almost any ordinary attack, and there are several different types depending on what type of magical energy is being used against you. They are extremely powerful, but come with their cost. It takes a great deal of mental effort to maintain one, making it exceptionally difficult to use other spells simultaneously."

He released the spell, and the shield shattered, drifting away in wisps of fog. Shining Armor went on to explain special incantations for different types of area effect spells, depending on what type of energy you were blocking, if you needed to block light or sound with the spell, and if you were inside or outside of the perimeter.

"Now, I know that's a lot to take in all at once," the unicorn said as he finished, "but trust me, in time it'll be as natural to you as breathing. Now, cast one around yourself, and I will try to break through."

The unicorn just smiled. "Nay, Partheus. Now that you are on your guard, there is nothing more for me to teach from these games. You should just be praying to Celestia that your foes use a trick as simple as that to break your concentration."

"Now," he continued, "I am going to show you one of my favorite magic spells. Twilight said you already know basic levitation, so you should pick this up quickly." He picked up about a dozen daggers, arranging them into a spinning formation around himself. "Attraction spells are especially effective, because they serve as both shield and weapon. They can be performed with a small amount of medium sized objects, as you see here, or a large amount of small items, such as grains of sand or shards of glass."

He floated a spear toward himself with a separate spell, acting as if he was an attacker. He blocked and parried with some of the daggers, stabbing the imaginary foe.

The daggers broke formation and floated over to Partheus' feet. "Give it a try."

Shining Armor nodded in approval. "Very good technique. And I hope to Celestia that what you tell me of your morals is true. If you truly have learned from Twilight and her friends, then you have a strong character, indeed."

Abruptly, he threw Partheus off his feet and brought a large round shield spinning towards him. We shall see how his concentration holds now.