[Canterlot] Exchanging Words (open to ApollineAllura, PM for permission to join)

[Inkwell]

The day before Rose went to the bookstore, she realized that her life had gotten into a bit of a rut. When she set out to join the modelling tour of Equestria, she said it would just be a lark, a horizon-broadening experience that would help her write. But instead it turned out to be a whirlwind event that dominated her life on tour (and Inkwell's too, she supposed) to the extent that she simply forgot to write with all of her modeling, posing, and socializing. In the end, she returned to Canterlot with a photo collection, addresses for several charming ponies she'd met on the trip, and not one single word of prose.

After such a prolonged period of life in the fast lane, living in alone in a meager apartment seemed like sleeping in molasses to her. More than once she spent an entire day in her room reading an exciting pulp fiction book in the confines of her apartment and neglecting the outside world entirely. On top of that, she'd been seeking out easier access to food, which meant lower quality nutrition and more pudge around her waist. That was the breaking point in the end, when she felt just how soft she'd gotten in the shower that day.

Today was the day to change everything. She'd gotten up early, cleaned the apartment, had a good breakfast at the Cafe Viridian, and hiked to a bookstore she'd never been to before. When she entered it, she found herself having to wipe the sweat from her brow. Her haunches ached from the walk, tired from what used to come naturally to her. Rose wasn't looking forward to subjecting them to the burn again, but she had no choice, not if she wanted to get back to the way she used to be.

So she settled down in the cafe and took out her notebook. The final and most important step was upon her: making the effort to write again. The money she'd received from her first book wouldn't last her forever, and the publishing house was anxious for her next work of art. Thankfully the manuscript was still intact at her apartment, but she could probably stand for some warm-up exercises before she added to it again.

As she looked for something to inspire her, she saw a little display case of her first book leaning up against a shelf. A Single Note's cover featured its protagonist slumped over a desk, looking despondent, and Rose couldn't help but empathize. "I feel you, buddy," she mumbled to herself.

[Apolline Allura]

A new quill set, five bits.

A scroll of parchment, ten bits.

The cumulative total of these items bought in bulk? Eighty bits.

Looking into her purse to find that she had fewer than twenty bits, and then reminiscing on how she had spent most of it on eating out in the past month?

Priceless.

Blaze Bright grumbled as she stepped out of the line, embarrassed at her own lack of self-control when it came to spending. And on top of that, she would have to go on some sort of diet to get rid of the few pounds she had added onto herself with her unusual craving for sweet things and other unhealthy foodstuff. It wasn't her fault, she tried to tell herself. It was a by-product of her writers block. It made her nervous, it depressed her a little, it sat on her shoulder, glaring disapprovingly every time she even had a thought. It was the kind of rut that frightened her right out of beginning a work, and right into starting a meal.

The accursed pastry stores, all throughout the city, accentuating her problem by offering delicious treats that offered seconds-long escape from her problems while secretly adding onto them! How dare they have marzipan mascarpone meringue madness, right on the display cases? After all, it's not like her sister hadn't told her early on in life how eating too many sweets could really do a number on her figure if she wasn't careful.

The red filly stalked the store with a rather dour look on he face before nearly passing a shelf with a copy of her own book, One Pony, sitting on the shelf. She scoffed as she levitated it to her face, and started wondering what bookstore would sully their shelves with her amateur script.

"Hmph. They even charge fourteen bits for this bile," said Blaze, keeping the book held aloft with her magic as she scouted for a table to sit down at.

There were enough open tables that she could spread out the contents of her bag upon one of them, but in her search, she caught the sight of a mare with a rather familiar longing gaze. Notebook and writing tool in front of her, she seemed to be grasping for straws in her thoughts. The curse of the writer, Blaze knew...

'One have a measure of masochism to be a writer. After all, who else could agonize over a thought for hours on end?' It was a quote she had shared with her sister once, when writing her first book.

Blaze sat down in the chair adjacent to the mare, and set her bag on the floor and her book on the table. "A bit for your thoughts, miss," she said to the mare with small, sardonic smile, levitating her own inkwell and quill to the table as the book opened to the first page.

[Inkwell]

Rose looked up at this newcomer. She was a young mare, perhaps technically still a filly, with a fiery mane. When she asked Rose for her thoughts, she shrugged and did her best to sit up straighter. “Uh, sure. All I’ve done since I got here is think. I got plenty of thoughts.” Now she had to consider which one to share with this stranger who struck up a conversation with her out of the blue.

She pondered the matter, tapping a hind hoof on the floor. “Well, I’m trying to figure out what to do. You ever get like that, when you just run out of momentum and it feels like you’re trying to pull a cart out of a mudhole in order to get going again? That’s kind of where I am now.” She shrugged and turned up the corner of her mouth. “I thought maybe a change of scenery would do me some good.”

Before she thought of something else about herself to talk about, she spotted the cover of the book this other mare had taken with her. “Ooh, you have a taste for forbidden fruit, huh?” she asks, her eyes lighting up. “It’s been a while since I read that book. I’m not sure if you’ll like it. It has some interesting ideas and a likable protagonist, but I was never able to get into it that much. Every time it felt like I was getting immersed I noticed a ten-bit word being used wrong, or some awkwardly worded sentence, or a pacing issue or plot hole.” She frowned and sighed, looking down at the table. “Basically it needed a lot more editing and polish. Right now it comes across like a rough draft. Oh well.”

She looked back up into the face of the other unicorn and smiled, sticking her hoof out for her to shake. “You seem like a nice gal. I’m Rose Madder. What’s your name?”

[Apolline Allura]

"Blaze Bright," said the filly, taking Rose's hoof against hers in kind and shaking with her, "and you flatter me, Madder, for not many ponies think the same of the author of this drivel." She pointed at her own book, "One Pony". Rose's words floated through her head once more and her ears perked up. "I've noted how it does all that you've just said, and I'm trying to fix it all."

She tempered her sigh with a smile, "However, it'd seem that I'm in the same position as you. Dilly dally, shilly shally and such. I haven't had a decent idea in forever. It's got me so stressed, I..." The filly trailed off to look down at her belly wistfully, which was rounder than usual, thanks to all the foods Ashsmoke had warned her away from. "But to be fair, I'm an amateur, and I know it. That I was able to get this onto shelves, self funded and published is beyond me. And out in Trottingham, according to the letters I receive, it's flourishing..."

Blaze laughed, "Too bad their currency doesn't match up as well as it does in Canterlot. They need ten of what they have to make a bit around here." Oh dear, was she fluffing herself? Blaze mentally admonished her vain manners, especially after intruding on another pony's space to talk to them.

"I say too much. What's your project? It seems like it's just chomping at the bit to burst into life." She chuckled a bit at the empty page in front of the mare opposite of her.

[Inkwell]

Rose flinched a bit when Blaze Bright gave her name. It was the same name that adorned the cover of One Pony. For a moment she considered backpedaling on her honest opinion, but it was too late for that, especially since Blaze had already agreed with it. Plus, it would be dishonest to sugarcoat it. Her grandfather (the one she actually liked) had told her that the worst thing you could do to an artist was tell her that her work was perfect when it wasn’t. So she just nodded along with Blaze, giggling a bit when she saw that Blaze had gotten just as pudgy as she herself had. It wasn’t until Blaze mentioned Trottingham that she spoke up again.

“Really? Trottingham?” She snorted and shook her head. “Doesn’t that beat all! The Trottingham I know wouldn’t lap up something that subversive. Maybe things are finally changing over there!”

But then Blaze started getting down on herself, making Rose frown and tap her on the shoulder. “Hey. Listen. I said you had potential, alright? Don’t tell yourself you don’t deserve it, get better and make use of the lucky break you got!” She leaned back and shrugged. “But then, I don’t really know what you’ve got planned next.

“As for me, well…” She tapped her hoof on the table. “After A Single Note, I honestly don’t know what to do next. I’ve got several directions I could go in, but all I know is that I don’t want to do a repeat of A Single Note.” Would Blaze recognize the novel and give her own opinion on it? “Right now I’m writing some short stories and sending them out to magazines. Maybe I can collect the ones I don’t expand to novel length later.”

[Apolline Allura]

Blaze perked up a bit at the encouraging tap on the shoulder. It wasn't often things like that came from somepony other than Ash. The filly smiled at Rose, listening to her words and embracing them as she took them in, internalizing them and drawing new resolve. What she had planned next? Not even she knew. But there was surely another project in the works, in fact, there was definitely another project in the works. She could just feel it.

Then she noticed that Rose had little weight on her herself, and figured they were going through the same issue more or less. When encountering a sort of lull in between life and inspiration to write, these things more or less just happened. Not spirals of downward sadness per se, but just how the times were. She could tell Rose still had a figure; it was just a little thrown off. As were her eating habits, she was sure. Blaze equated the well-being of one to their state of affairs. And with personal interests and hopes getting dashed by brief periods of inactivity and dead muses, the equine mind could only wait them out before they found the inspiration to keep going.

A Single Note? Blaze wrinkled her muzzle in concentration, as she tried to pull the title from her memory. It sounded like something she had read when she was younger. It was....a horror story? The details were fuzzy, but Blaze was sure the book was sitting on one of her shelves. Or it was....the one shelf, with the sixteen books. Yes. Her birthday book shelf.

"I'll have to read that one again, miss. I'm a bit young in the head, which means I'm short in the memory." she laughed nervously, hoping the mare wouldn't be offended. "Rest assured, I still have the fresh copy of when it was bought for me on my birthday. Clearly it had a presence enough that I'm going to drive myself crazy trying to remember the details."

"Do you have any of the short stories with you? I'd love to read the--"

It struck.

Her quill poofed into existence between the two of them in a burst of light, jotting down prose and set up based on the abstract details collected from the encounter so far. And then it began to build.

The process was lightning fast, and fleeting thoughts whispered things to her as the quill furiously scribbled against the back of the used parchment in her saddlebag.

Two ponies...a filly and mare searching for success...tasting it once, and hungry for more...searching....despairing...meeting one another...providing motivation...a beautiful friendship...

Was she getting too ahead of herself? She HAD just met Rose Madd-

"Rose," she said, acknowledging her senior, "I've a proposal. Would you be my co-author? And allow me to be yours?"

[Blueblood]

There are few happier creatures in Equestria than a pony with their first week's pay in their pocket, and among these was Earth Writer, who walked along the streets of Canterlot feeling the coins jingle in the pocket of his old windbreaker. This morning, he'd sold his first bit of copy to a daily periodical, and had decided to treat himself. As the lanky unicorn strolled by the rows of little shops, he felt like a king looking over a choice selection of artists to extend his patronage. Here there was a chocolate shop, there a clothier, and a little further on a watchmaker. He paused to look at them all, taking note of all the window displays, but not entering any of the shops until he reached the end of the street, where there stood a little bookstore and cafe.

Window shopping never does justice to such a place; you can't judge a book by its cover, after all. The best thing to do is to go in and peruse the merchandise yourself, and this Earth Writer did. Coming into view, he presented the figure of a tan stallion with a black mane and muzzle, with a dark green jacket hanging loosely on his frame. He only briefly looked over the new releases, he didn't have enough bits to spare on a hardcover. So, he had gone over to the paperbacks, loosing himself for a while in the cover synopses and prologues, and also in the inimitable smell of books, a mixture of ink, paper and binding glue. He could spend hours in this fashion before he bought anything, and had often done so without making a purchase back he hadn't any bits to spare, much to the annoyance of the various proprietors.

*Ponies are hardly ever themselves, except in a bookstore.* He remembered the quote from somewhere, but he couldn't place it. As for what he was... well, he divided his attention pretty near equally to the cheap reprints of old literature, and the cheap first prints of the newest fiction with no pretense to literature. While dividing his attention between these two camps, he found himself beside a table where two mares- well, a mare and a filly, were talking. Perking up his ear, he managed to pick up that they were two authors, "talking shop," as it were, in a bookstore.

*Not something you see every day, worth looking into, maybe?* Well, perhaps for a short journalistic sketch, he reflected as he levitated his own little notebook from his pocket. As he did so, he heard the offer of co-authorship. "Eh, what's that?" Startling a bit at the realization that he'd spoken this aloud, he walked up to the pair a little sheepishly. "Sorry, couldn't help overhearing, and, well, one doesn't often get a chance to meet authors, and, er..." He trailed off in a little confusion, then shrugged with an apologetic smile and extended a hoof. "My name's Earth Writer. And you?"

[Inkwell]

Rose smiled and pointed at the display of her book, which she could see over Blaze's shoulder. "There it is. I'm sure you could flip through it a little to jog your memory. Glad you liked it." Unlike Blaze, Rose wasn't the least bit ashamed of her debut piece. It may have been a bit digressive and disjointed at points, but Rose had a setting she didn't want going to waste. Her biggest concern was how well she foreshadowed the twist at the end. Was she perhaps too heavy-hoofed about it? How many readers saw it coming? It was too late to fix whatever little faults A Single Note had now that it was published, but she could still learn and do better with her next pieces.

Speaking of which, Blaze had asked her about them, and Rose looked over at get saddlebag. "I think I might have brought them with me, actually. Lemme see." She was reaching into her bag when she saw Blaze's face go slack. It was a look that Rose knew well. Before she knew it, Blaze was scratching the tip of her quill on paper, pinning jagged letters, words and ideas down befor they could fly away. Rose had gotten out Of her seat and looked over Blaze's shoulder in an attempt to see what she'd written, but she'd barely deciphered the first word when Blaze stopped and asked for a partnership.

The idea was so stunning it was a wonder Rose hadn't thought of it herself. "Sure thing!" she said, before it occurred to her to think harder about it. One Pony was a galvanizing work and Rose was curious to see what would happen if she were to help shape the passion that spawned it. "I guess you got a big idea just now, huh? Tell you what, just lemme look over those notes while, ngh..." She pulled out a sheaf of papers and set them in front of Blaze. If she remembered right, that story was the one about the staff that could implant fake memories in a pony's head. "You can read this!"

Her horn glowed, and she levitated Blaze's paper up to her face. Then she remembered that a stallion had introduced himself to the two of them and she hadn't even looked his way! She smiled and bumped her hoof unto his. "I'm Rose Madder, but you might know me as Black Orchid." She tipped her head in the direction of that book display again. An artist had to know how to promote herself, after all.

[Apolline Allura]

"And I'm Blaze Bright." said the red filly, pausing in her frenetic scribbling to look up at the third unicorn to join the the table. "No relation to the author of that other book on the table," she continued, referring to One Pony. Though Rose's praise had given her some heart, it certainly wasn't enough to get over her phobia of her old work. Or rather, others seeing it. As a writer, it was important that the world could see her in the light of her growth. Past work was difficult to look at because one never ceases to advance between the time that the original is put out and then the sequel.

Rose's reply came in the midst of Earth Writer's reply, and Blaze paused in greeting him, to beam at the other pony. A co-author. Somepony to help 'sharpen the blade at the other end'. That was an old metaphor that grew from Ashsmoke using the term "the pen is mightier than the sword". Rose could organize better, and Blaze knew her strength was in split-second moments of brilliance. With those two things, Blaze'd learn how to master her impulses and become the writer she knew she could be. Rose's magic took the paper she was writing on and she pulled the quill away before it could stain.

"How are you fairing today, Earth Writer? What divine purpose has brought you to two of us today?" said Blaze dreamily, still ecstatic with ideas for the story she was thinking of starting with Rose Madder.

[Blueblood]

The stallion's stomach lurched in the few seconds his introduction went unacknowledged. Indeed, can there be a more awkward a position than to wait beside two mares after introducing oneself, not knowing if they were even going to acknowledge one's existence?

*Easy, you're losing your head, they're just busy right now.* His rationality had caught on to the obvious, but could do nothing to settle the rest of him until one of them bumped his proffered hoof.

"Pleased to meet you both!" Earth Writer gave a polite nod to Rose and Blaze before sitting down on the other side of the table, an air of relief hanging about him. Once the first difficult hurdles of introduction were over, he felt equal to whatever the conversation would throw at him. After all, this was a bookstore, these were authors; they shouldn't falter for want of subjects, at least.

"I hope you don't mind my interruptions, I know it's rather annoying to have a stranger walk into the middle of a moment of inspiration." He smiled at Blaze as he saw her pen scamper across the sheaves of her notebook, and felt an inclination just to sit back and watch. After all, there was a book beginning right in front of him! Not many are privileged to see such a thing.

He relaxed a little as Blaze addressed him as well. His eyebrows rose a fraction at her denial of authoring the book with her name on the front, but he let it pass as he moved on to her questions. "Oh, I'm quite alright. I wouldn't know about divine purpose, I just came in here looking for a book to read. Speaking of..." He levitated a copy of One Pony from the stand Rose indicated, turning it over. The Publisher had seen fit to dedicate more space on the back cover to quotes from literary critics than any kind of plot synopsis.

"So..." He asked Rose, after waiting for a moment where she wasn't talking with her new co-author. "What's this about?"

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Instead of going to pick up her own book, as Rose expected, Earth Writer had instead gone for another copy of One Pony. The head-tilting motion that Rose used to indicate her book was vague enough for it to indicate either book, since they store had arranged for both of them to be on adjacent displays. Rose liked to think this was the case, even though Earth Writer could have legitimately been more curious about Blaze's book. She remembered it kicking up more of a fuss than A Single Note, probably because it directly opposed traditional Equestrian values, and with a certain interpretation, it could be argued that A Single Note supported those same values, though that wasn't Rose's intended message.

Regardless, Rose shrugged and glanced at the cover of the copy Earth Writer held. "Well, basically it's about this teenage filly's attempts to emancipate herself from her family, their business, and the kind of society she grew up in. It's got some heavy individualist themes going on, which rubbed a lot of folk the wrong way. Oh, and it's a debut thing, so there's gonna be some melodrama and groan-worthy bits here and there. Try not to be too hard on the author, though. She's gotten a lot better since that was published." She resisted the temptation to wink or even look at Blaze.

"I ended up writing A Single Note over there last year. It gets weird and uncomfortable in places, but I'm still pretty proud of it. Basically this one stallion goes to the underworld in the hopes of getting his wife back. You might not want to read it if you don't have a strong stomach. Just saying."[/colour]

[Apolline Allura]

Blaze giggled when Rose mentioned the nature of the story, the memorable encounters with the most creatively designed horrors she could imagine. [colour=#ff0033]"The final confrontation with Hades himself was the most thrilling of all the high fantasy I had ever read as a filly."[/colour] she reminisced fondly. [colour=#ff0033]"His attack was a three pronged assault on the hero's conscience, his body and his soul. But he managed to--" [/colour]

[colour=#ff0033]Darn it, Blaze, spoilers! Nopony likes them![/colour]

She shut her mouth quickly with a small[colour=#ff0033] 'eep!'[/colour] and kept a hoof to her mouth as her quill neatly set itself down next to the paper. Her blush was brief, but not unnoticeable, since her coat as well as her face would turn [colour=#ff6666]lighter [/colour]instead of [colour=#cc0033]darker.[/colour] A side effect of having such a deep shade of red as a natural coat, and the worst 'tell' possible. All the same, she continued after a second.

[colour=#ff0033]"It's a great read regardless of the stomach you have, Earth Writer."[/colour] said Blaze with a smile, [colour=#ff0033]"in fact, I'll have to take another look at it when I get home...or just buy a new copy when I can..."[/colour] She looked to Rose, [colour=#ff0033]"When you're younger, your pages tend to get dog-eared and carry a surprising amount of personal notes in the unoccupied spaces of certain pages."[/colour]

The proposal was put together at last, along with a basic idea of what they'd be writing about. Though Blaze was definitely counting on Rose Madder to bring some supernatural themes into it, since they always were a great hook. Blaze would have mentioned that herself in her notes, but she had no idea how to go about the whole thing.

[colour=#ff0033]"What project are you currently working on, Earth Writer?"[/colour] the red pony had just caught on to the notebook he had levitated with him. She studied him carefully for a moment, [colour=#ff0033]"Are you working for a periodical?"[/colour]

[Blueblood]

"[colour=#8b4513]Hm..[/colour]." Earth Writer weighed the book he'd got in his magic, musing. "[colour=#8b4513]The only really convincing individualist I ever encountered in literature was Robincolt Crusoe. He served as a really well written argument for how much a pony could really do by oneself. Oddly enough though, that book also contained the best rebuttal to it's own individualist arguments, Stallion Friday.[/colour]"

He set One Pony aside, levitating a copy of A Single Note towards him, considering it. "[colour=#8b4513]Hm, sounds very... mythical. I rather like this sort of thing, actually.[/colour]" A smile tugged at his lips. "[colour=#8b4513]I do believe I shall pick this up. If you're here next week, I should like to go over it with you. It's not often I get the chance to go over a book with its author.[/colour]"

While the two authors were going over their proposal, the stallion chanced another look through his notebook. He wondered if he could tease a column out of this meeting; perhaps if he could tease the conversation into the sociological vein? *[colour=#8b4513]The Impact of Books and Bookstores upon Social Construction...[/colour]* He frowned a bit. That sounded way too Ivory Tower-ish. Subject was good, snappier headline needed.

He looked up at Blaze's question. "[colour=#8b4513]Yes, provisionally, at least. I work as a columnist for one of the papers, sold my first bit of copy last night. It was actually kind of neat the way it turned out; the Princesses were soliciting letters from their subjects, and Princess Celestia told me about the founding of Canterlot. Odd thing is, it was based off a military fortress, back in the Reign of Discord. All the different ponies who first came here were refugees; after the war ended, they decided to bring together their architectural heritage to make it into a proper city.[/colour]" He settled back, a thoughtful look on his face. "[colour=#8b4513]Most ponies who move here seem to fall in love with Canterlot's beauty, but it had to be loved before it could be beautiful. That was the point I was trying to get across, anyway.[/colour]"

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]As Blaze ended up gushing over Rose's book, Rose couldn't help but notice an incongruity in her statements. There hadn't been a Hades in her book, nor an epic, heroic confrontation. "Uh, Blaze? I think you might be thinking of the Dead World trilogy. That's pretty good too, and it was kind of an inspiration for A Single Note, but trust me, they're not the same thing at all." She smiled and shrugged. "I guess I can't blame you for mistaking the two of them. Same setting and setup, and I think I may have ripped off a scene or two."

But Earth Writer seemed convinced of the book's quality, and hearing him say he'd pick it up made Rose smile. Then he brought up his own work. "Huh, I never thought of it that way," she said. "I mean, I remember moving to Canterlot years ago probably because it was closer to my hometown than Manehattan. The architecture never really played into it until I already lived there. I like the ponies and the sights and the culture more. But hey, we could all stand to learn a bit more history, right?"[/colour]

[Apolline Allura]

Blaze went pink once more when she realized her literary folly, but laughed off the embarrassment. So many books had she ready when she was younger! She really would have to get to another copy of A Single Note. It was no big deal that Rose had taken a few things from the Dead World series. They were honestly quite original in their own right, even if that series itself was derivative from old notes of ponykind from years past.

[colour=#ff0033]"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery when tempered by one's own thoughts and actions,"[/colour] she said cheerfully to Rose, [colour=#ff0033]"besides, we all need a little inspiration sometimes." [/colour]

Earth Writers words on history were rather interesting, and caused Blazed to consider a viewpoint that she found herself agreeing with herself. History was important, as the old saying went. How could a pony know where they were going when they never knew where they came from?

[colour=#ff0033]"This explains why it feels like a cohesive visual of equinity. Canterlot is probably the most relatable place for a pony there is, regardless of the breed."[/colour] said Blaze. She turned to Rose. [colour=#ff0033]"Dear Rose, where in our wonderful Canterlot do you live by the way? I'm out in Solstice Hills at the last cottage on the left."[/colour]

[Blueblood]

"[colour=#8b4513]Oh. Really?[/colour]" It seemed Blaze Bright had been slightly mistaken on the book's contents. Still, It would have been rude to put it back now, and it was supposed to be similar, so it probably wouldn't be a waste of bits. The quotes on the cover didn't move him much; he knew pretty well that jacket blurbs were the bare minimum of out-of-context praise any publisher worth his salt could get... though on two separate occasions he'd made the mistake of trying to read a book that couldn't even get that.

As for geography, that he was on firmer ground. He considered the question of relatability, in reference to Canterlot. "[colour=#8b4513]Hm, I can't say I've thought about that much, though I will say, I found it easier to be a scholar here than where I grew up. There's more space to allow sectors for ponies to pursue their aims, though they do tend to be somewhat isolated from each other. The academic quarter, where I live, really has more to do with Canterbridge town than, say, the warehouse district of its own city.[/colour]"

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Rose shrugged and nodded at Blaze Bright. "Too true. And every writer has a influences that stretch back to the dawn of storytelling if you're dedicated enough to track them back through time." She looked up at the ceiling and pondered the question. "Unless you get back to missing gaps from stories that have been lost to time. You'll have to use some loose generalizations to get past those."

At the mention of Solstice heights, Rose's eyes lit up, and she smiled wide enough to dimple her cheeks. "No way! I live there too! I found a nice apartment to live in, the Riverrun Valley complex, room 315. It's a pretty sweet place. You can visit anytime."

Earth Writer started talking about how much easier it was to study in this city than wherever it was he was from, and Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, I found a whole lot of artistic types to hob-knob with here. Well, there were plenty of them back in Trottingham too, but I just wanted to get away from my family. Every artist from there just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but Canterlot's got a different, more eclectic feel to its culture. I love it."[/colour]