Old Mare, New Tricks

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]If you were to ask Rose Madder right to her face if she had any regrets, she's shrug off the question. Regrets were the enemy. It wasn't healthy to think too much about what you could have done differently in the past, because it was the past. You made your bed, and you had to sleep in it. Besides, Rose's bed was pretty sweet. She had a nice apartment and she was living the dream.

Still, witnessing a performance from a dedicated illusionist in the the square the day before had made her start to wonder things. She'd been pretty interested in magic before, but in order to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, she had to study, and study hard. When she was just a little filly who hadn't gotten her cutie mark yet, she had no work ethic. It was grueling drudgery that gave her a headache from all the concentration and memorization. The best parts came from practicing practical magic, and even that left her winded and light-headed after a while. As time went on, she spent more of her study hours reading and writing, sneaking horror stories inside her textbooks. Everything came to a head after she wrote that one story, and suddenly she had her cutie mark. Not much point in going to magic school now, she thought, and that was that.

But this magician made absolutely amazing illusions, transforming the entire square into a mountaintop, or under the ocean. It all felt so real. Rose had heard that some unicorns were capable of this, but seeing something like that was something else entirely. What would she be like, she wondered, if she'd just sucked it up and studied hard like her mum told her to? Would she be making those awesome illusions? Then again, those were only good for live performances. You couldn't take them with you like you could a good book, and they didn't last outside of memories.

So even though she told herself she made the right choice in writing stories instead of studying magic, she found herself checking out a new part of her favorite bookshelf anyway, the self-help section. There were manuals on how to train for anything, including learning magic. It wouldn't be as good as tutelage at an elite academy, but it would be something, wouldn't it?

She levitated a copy of Illusions for Dummies to her face and promptly buried her nose in the book. So excited was she to start reading that she forgot to get out of the aisle for any other ponies in the area.[/colour]

[Bellosh]

[colour=#008080]“Meh..... meh..... meh.....”[/colour] Browsing through bookstores was not an ideal pastime of Ingrid Marie. Not that she hated books; Ingrid wouldn’t have gotten far in life as a magic counselor without a willingness to read. On the contrary, it was Ingrid’s very academic curiosity that made bookstores such a chore for her to go through. Technically, the beige unicorn was here on a mission to buy a beginner-level magic book for a young daughter of a friend of hers, but Ingrid’s mission so far had proven fruitless. Acquainted with the scholarly tomes and ancient manuscripts one could find in the archives of Princess Celestia’s School and other such Canterlot libraries, Counselor Marie could not bring herself to approve of books written for a more... general readership in mind.

It only took fifteen minutes for Ingrid Marie to lose all patience skimming through the self-help section. Too many magic books sold at the store tried to seduce readers with promises of shortcuts and quick-fix solutions towards magic mastery. As a magic educator, Ingrid was repulsed down to her very core over the thought that unicorns could bypass years of studying and practice to become magic-proficient.[colour=#008080] “Arrrgh… the heck with this!”[/colour] the unicorn angrily spoke to herself;[colour=#008080] “I’ll just get a first-year textbook instead; it'd be better than all this dribble.”[/colour]

Ingrid Marie attempted to make a getaway out of the aisle and out of the Celestia-forsaken store, but her way was blocked by somepony reading a copy of Illusions for Dummies. [colour=#008080]“Ahem… excuse me ma’am,”[/colour] the unicorn attempted to politely address the aisle-blocker, even though the blank tone of her voice betrayed her inner frustration; [colour=#008080]“Could you make some room please?”[/colour]

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Rose snapped her book shut and backed away into the space between bookshelves. "Oh shoot, yeah, of course," she muttered. [/colour]

[colour=#e32636]Only after she'd gotten out of the way did she look at the pony who requested it of her. To put it blankly, this mare looked boring, officious, and entirely too serious. She had a straight, uniform cut to her mane and tail with not a single hair allowed to be out of place. To top off the look, she looked to be wearing a brown vest and black tie. A tie! Who would wear one of those outside of work? By contrast, Rose sported an unkempt, almost punk, manecut and wore nothing save for her usual saddlebags.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]This was not the kind of pony Rose normally chose to talk to at all. But for some reason, she remembered this mare's tone of voice and some faint words that Rose had heard her say while Rose was reading. "Guess you're having a rough day," she said to the mare. "Honestly, this part of the store kinda frustrates me, too. It's hard for me to trust most of these." She gave Illusions for Dummies a bemused look and levitated it back onto the shelf it came from. "Textbooks are sounding like a better deal already, but I don't exactly know where to find one, not being a student and all."[/colour]

[Bellosh]

The pony quickly responded to Ingrid Marie’s request to make some room, closing her book and letting the elder unicorn get a good look at her in the process. The young rose-coloured mare didn’t look too oddly-different from everypony else thought the counselor, save from a poorly-brushed mane. Ingrid didn’t question the lack of clothing on the other pony; pretty much all the students at Celestia’s school remained undressed throughout day-to-day activity.

Ingrid Marie however wasn’t expecting the younger mare to have overheard her grumbling a minute ago. As the other pony also expressed her dissatisfaction with the bookstore’s selection of magic-instruction books, the magic counselor’s face softened. Nice to see that there was at least one non-professional magic user who didn’t buy into these shoddy self-help books. [colour=#008080]“You’re correct miss; you are indeed better off with textbooks,”[/colour] a now-happier Ingrid chuckled;[colour=#008080] “I know this from years of personal experience, he he he.”[/colour] Extending her right forehoof towards the other mare for a hoofshake, Counselor Marie introduced herself; [colour=#008080]“My name’s Ingrid Marie, and I’m the magic counselor at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I don’t recognize you though… I take it you never enrolled in the school?”[/colour]

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Wow, Rose didn't think she'd be able to get this fuddy-duddy mare to open up to her so easily. But as she told her brother the other day, a great part of socializing was indeed all about listening to ponies and figuring out what they wanted to talk about. Rose extended a hoof to meet Ingrid Marie's and gave it a firm shake. "I'm Rose Madder," she said with a smile. "I've written a couple of books under the Black Orchid name. You can find them in this shop, assuming you aren't above the fiction section." It would have been hard to miss her second book, a collection of short stories entitled Dispatches Beyond the Veil, since there was a display of it front and center in the bookstore.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]"And no, I never got into that school," she said with a shrug. "I tried, but it wasn't hard enough, and then I got these before the entrance exam came about." She turned her head and glanced at one of her cutie marks. "Let's just say I didn't get that studying, so I figured, why bother? It only took fifteen years for me to start thinking of what-ifs and should-haves. Go me."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]She chuckled and crossed her forelegs, trying to play it cool. "So now I'm wondering if it's too late for me to try and learn more magic stuff. Maybe my mind's not as pliable and stuff anymore, or maybe I'm just being greedy, wanting to be good at magic and writing? I guess it's a good thing I ran into you. Would you mind setting me straight, if you're not too busy?" Rose's face wasn't particularly animated, and her smile looked faint and effortless, almost like she wasn't getting her hopes up for an optimistic answer.[/colour]

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor grumbled as he moved down the aisle, in his claws he had four books, Stress and You, Relaxation for Idiots, and Anger Management tips. He grumbled more as he walked.

"Anger management problems? I don't have problems!" Razor said to himself, "I swear my mum is still suffering empty nest syndrome. Only I seem to be the one getting all the worry."

Razor sighed, he didn't know why his mother wanted him to buy these stupid books. But if it would get her off his back, he guessed he would ablige, 'Well at least I managed to find something for my own personal enjoyment.'

He looked at the fourth books title, which he kept between two of the other books: The Tale of Three Kingdoms: The Rosen War. A well known romance, trajedy novel, second book in a series of four, and quiet popular among more....female readers. Though he guessed there might be a few male ones that read it, it had a good plot, strong character development and some very juicy action moments in it and besides he couldn't be the only guy to like various forms of literature right? Right!?!

Now, Razor was a griffon to his core. Proud, honorable and fiercly independent. Which meant that he would rather be roasted alive before he let anypony or griffon know that he was reading a romance novel. So he kept it hidden in the other books and when he paid for it, he would just say he was getting it for his sister, or mother. Of course, he was so caught up in his plans of how to avoid embaressment that he didn't see the ponies in front of him and ended up walking right into one of them.

[Bellosh]

[colour=#008080]“So you’re Black Orchid?”[/colour] Ingrid Marie questioned elatedly, who in fact was not above fiction stories; [colour=#008080]“I absolutely loooooved A Single Note; it kept me in suspense all the way through! I must say though Ms. Orch- err… Madder; you look nothing like how I imagined.”[/colour] Ingrid chuckled as she left go of Rose’s hoof, having believed that somepony named Black Orchid would be well... black-coloured.

[colour=#008080]~I think I saw Rose’s new book displayed near the front too! This trip now won’t be a total bust~[/colour]

Counselor Marie listened attentively as Rose Madder expressed her desire to improve her magic proficiency. The beige unicorn didn’t relish being a buzz-kill, but she knew that Rose’s prospects in that field were pretty dim. One of the biggest advantages of attending a magic school as a young foal was undoubtedly the opportunity to practice magic without juggling a career at the same time. Not only that, but Ingrid also questioned whether Rose actually needed increased skill in magic; if the author didn’t have real motivation, her resolve to improve would probably fade very quickly.

Despite such poor odds, Ingrid Marie could bring herself to completely quash the hopes of an aspiring magic-user like Rose Madder; [colour=#008080]“You see, mmkay… becoming better at magic is very much like losing weight. It’s not something that you can expect to accomplish just because you made it your New Year’s resolution. Like staying in shape, you have to view improving your magic proficiency as a lifestyle choice… one that can be very hard to keep up with at times, but also one that’s very rewarding.”[/colour]

Adding a note of seriousness in her voice, Ingrid then asked; [colour=#008080]“Now then Ms. Madder; would you be willing to commit months… years even, towards discovering the full extent of your magic abilities?”[/colour] Before Rose Madder had time to answer, Ingrid glimpsed an ambling griffon just as he was about to collide with the author.....

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Rose Madder showed as many teeth as she could when Ingrid Marie praised her debut novel. Her first impression of the mare had been pretty much swept under the rug at this point, since anypony who loved weird stories, especially her weird stories, couldn't be all bad. Rose could practically feel her ego swelling from the personal compliment, and she was about to answer the hoofful of questions Ingrid asked when a griffon knocked her over and into a shelf, dumping several books on her head.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]"Owwww!" she whined, rubbing her head as she got up. She looked at the griffon, giving him a glare, until she spotted the book he was carrying. It made her curious enough to forget the irritation she felt at this other shopper barging into her (Not even she was gauche enough to do that!). "Oh cool, haven't seen that book in a while," she said, peering at it to get a closer look. "Good choice. That one's a genre milestone. Honestly, it might be too much of a milestone. So many fantasy romances in the last few decades took a leaf out of Three Kingdoms's book that I'm surprised you're not just holding a detached spine and cover there."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]As she levitated the books back into an approximation of where she remembered them being, she went back to Ingrid. "Well, I was told by another author that putting up a pseudonym and not putting my photo in the book would help me access fans on my own terms. I know most fans are reasonable but I've seen some pretty questionable behavior firsthoof." Her mind flashed to a pegasus she'd encountered once who not only dressed as Daring Do, but based her entire lifestyle around those books. That was scary, and not in the way Rose was comfortable with. "And at the time I was kind of sick of being the dozenth gal named Rose in Trottingham, so I took my cutie mark and made a name out of it." Sure enough, her flanks featured an image including a literal black orchid.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]Rose had gotten the softball stuff out of the way, and now came the hard question. She pursed her lips, thinking of how she'd best respond. Honesty, even blunt honesty, was probably the best policy at this point. "It's not going to be my number one priority," she admitted. "I spend hours a day writing stuff that might not even end up being good enough for publishing, but that still leaves me with plenty of time to myself, you know? I don't want to give you the impression that this is just going to be a new hobby for me or anything. It's not like I want to master everything. It's not like I was completely inept with magic as a child! I was actually kind of good at illusion, and honestly I'd be satisfied with just more of that."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]She bit her lip, realizing she was coming across as defensive at the moment. Why did she have to do that? Now her mystique was completely ruined for this fan of hers, and the gossip would probably spread about how Black Orchid was really just a flaky, insecure young punk. Oh well, she'd burn that bridge when she came to it.[/colour]

[ShadowWalking18]

"Oh shoot, sorry I-" Razor began as he picked up his books, after bumping into the pony. Until she brought up that book. Then he went into panic mode.

"I wasn't buying it for myself!" Razor snapped, as he pointed a claw at the pony he bumped into, "my mother's birthday is in a few days so I' buying it for her. Don't think that I'm buying it cause I'm not."

Razor breathed in and out swiftly as he quickly picke up his books, only realizing his outburst which caused him to blush and faceclaw himself, rubbing his eyes with a groan.

"Uh....sorry about running int you. Uh.....sorry uh..oh crude." Razor groaned, tucking his books under his wings to hide them all, "I...shouldn't have snapped like that....sorry. But I'm not buying it for me okay."

[Bellosh]

Before Ingrid Marie could shout out a warning, the male griffon collided with Rose Madder, causing him to drop his books all over the floor. Ingrid watched as Rose took it upon herself to help pick up the books for the griffon, one of which happened to be a romance novel of all things. The beige unicorn never really cared for romantic stories, finding what few she’s read to be either too cliché or too naïve about how relationships worked. At any rate, the griffon vehemently denied getting the book for himself; rolling her eyes over the blatant falsehood, Ms. Marie kept her mouth shut as the griffon calmed himself down.

Eventually, Miss Madder was able to bring her attention back to the magic counselor as she explained how she made her pseudonym. Ingrid Marie understood the logic behind it; she herself had also heard rumors of various celebrities who wound up followed by nutty stalkers. Looking at Rose’s black orchid cutie mark, Counselor Marie nodded as she understood where the author’s penname came from.

After that was taken care of, Rose finally elaborated on how committed she actually was towards increasing her magic aptitude. Or at least tried too; the magic counselor didn’t really know what to make of the younger unicorn’s statement quite yet. One thing was for certain though, and that was that the author had a peculiar interest in illusion magic. Now, the big mystery was now what prompted Miss Madder’s newfound desire to rekindle her abilities.

[colour=#008080]“Uhhh... I was just wondering Miss Madder,”[/colour] Ingrid asked out of curiosity; [colour=#008080]“But may I ask what exactly has encouraged you to take a new look into illusion magic?”[/colour]

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Rose had to stop herself from raising an eyebrow. She knew defensiveness when she saw it, and this griffon was putting way too much effort into explaining what that book was doing in his possession. But that wasn't any of her business. If he couldn't own up to liking the genre, she could understand why. "Well now, your mum has a very thoughtful son! She'll be happy with your gift, I'm sure." She gave him her most sincere smile.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]She had a phase way back in her adolescence when she bought into that claptrap unironically, a phase which ended at her first breakup. Now she was only interested in the trappings of the genre so she could twist them into grotesque, unique and fascinating shapes. A Simple Note was her first major success in that regard, and some ponies took issue with the glee she took in tearing apart a genre they didn't hate the way they thought she did. But she was grateful for ponies like Ingrid Marie who got what she was going for and loved it the result. As long as ponies like her existed, Rose would be happy to keep the fire burning.

Speaking of Ingrid Marie, the counselor had asked her another question about her magical ambitions. Hmm, how to answer this one... "Well, if you're asking me why I prefer illusion magic in particular, I thought it would be kind of obvious, right? Most unicorns really only get talent in a way that relates to their real talent in life, unless they're willing to sink a lot of time and effort into expanding their repertoire. My talent lies in the writing of fiction, which is kind of like illusion, you know? Thorn Tender never really existed and I'm pretty sure the underworld he went through doesn't either, but I did my best to make them seem real anyway." She smiled, hoping that Ingrid would understand her analogy.

"As for actual illusion magic, I mostly end up using it to help me visualize scenes in my book, how characters and monsters look so I can describe them consistently, and other things like that, supplementary things to help me write. Oh, and I use little touches sometimes when I dress in costumes on Nightmare Night, but at least eighty percent of the costume is practical effects. I just use a light touch of illusion to cover up the seams... wait, what was the question?"

But before Ingrid could reply, Rose raised a hoof up to her face and smiled. "Oh right, why I want to get better. Well, I happened to catch Phantasmagoria's show the other day. You know him? He's amazing!" She widened her eyes and stared off past Ingrid, still remembering how he conjured up a lifelike mountainside out of the ether, spreading out in all directions, and even a flock of dragons. "I didn't know one unicorn could do all that, so I thought I'd look into improving my own illusions. They're pretty basic and I don't think I ever made them move that much, or make them in three dimensions. Just the bare minimum for what I needed at the moment."[/colour]

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor knew he was bad at telling a lie. Also he knew when his attempts at such were found out. Razor blushed immensly as he backed up from the two mares, glad his feathers hid the blush.

"Yeah well...she deserves it considering she has had to put up raising four boys, me included." Razor said with a chuckle.

"I....I uh....I guess I better go." Razor said moving a bit to get a clear dash to the check out desk, "Uh.....bye."

With that Razor dashed off, purchased his books and took to the skies. Flying fast to a secluded area and landed as he opened his bag. He looked left and right with wide searching eyes before he pulled out the book he was looking to reading.

"Chapter one. A Fallen Rose." Razor said, as he started to read.

((Thats where he leaves, since a griffon can't talk much on magic. Thanks for the rp ))

[Bellosh]

In all honesty, Ingrid Marie didn’t think Rose Madder’s talent for fiction was an obvious reason for her curiosity in illusion magic. Then again, the counselor was more familiar with the process of asking ponies for answers rather then seeking out clues in between the lines. Either way, it seemed like Miss Madder in fact had a practical use in mind for casting illusions. Unlike in the world of fiction, the brain did not actually produce clear images due to its tendency to rely on mental shortcuts and the like, so creative ponies always benefited from writing or drawing their ideas down somewhere. Showing the young mare that she understood her reasoning, Ingrid simply nodded at appropriate moments.

After Rose got sidetracked by costume-making, Ingrid attempted to bring her back on-topic. [colour=#008080]“You wanted to know if-”[/colour] Counselor Marie didn’t get a chance to finish, as the author remembered the original subject at that moment. As it turned out, Miss Madder had recently attended the performance of a professional illusionist. Ingrid remembered Phantasmagoria's brilliant routine too, having been in attendance herself. The counselor guessed that this had been the real reason Rose Madder wanted to learn illusions, due to being awed by Phantasmagoria and wanting to replicate some of his feats.

If Rose was any other unicorn not enrolled at the School, Ingrid Marie would have simply given her a stock speech about how a pony could easily get by without knowledge of advanced magic. In this specific case though, the beige middle-aged mare reasoned that the author did have an interesting application for illusion spells; one the counselor was tempted to see in action herself. Giving Miss Madder a piercing-yet-serene stare for a few seconds, Ingrid waited a few moments as she rubbed her chin with a hoof before speaking up; [colour=#008080]“Hmmm... I believe I could assist you with improving your illusions. The good news for you is that you already have basic competency in the core principles of illusion casting, so all you’d have to worry about are things like improved visual effects and such. And since you show no need to demonstrate your abilities in public, you’ll have no need to master really complicated effects to impress anypony.”[/colour]

[colour=#008080]“Yes yes... I would be willing to tutor you on brushing up your illusion abilities, Miss Madder. Now normally, I’d ask for a small fee whenever I’m working with somepony other than a student, but in this case...”[/colour] Ingrid cast a mischievous grin in Rose’s direction; [colour=#008080]“I can waive my fees if you provide me with advance copies of your future stories... Black Orchid.”[/colour]

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Rose thought she knew how this conversation was going to go. Even though she knew that ponies never really stopped learning until the day they died, the bulk of learning too place in childhood, and Rose hadn't been a child for a long time. The rat race of her daily life, though it was so much better than any other job she could think of, was always a drain on her time, and what time it didn't strictly require it politely asked for, and who was Rose to deny it what it wanted?

But much to her surprise, Ingrid Marie was not letting Rose down gently, or at all. Downplaying the amount of magic she wanted to learn and selling Ingrid on her already existing abilities had paid off. Not only was Ingrid willing to offer Rose her guidance, but her usual fee was being waived in favour of a sneak peek at all her stories! It was the very essence of a win-win situation, and the only thing that Rose could think of to ruin it was if her stories suddenly stopped being good. But what were the odds of that happening.

"You've got a deal!" Rose said, extending her hoof for Ingrid to bump. She remembered when she was a filly that she used to bump hooves all the time when she made bets or deals with foals her age. Usually the deal would be sealed with a glob of saliva from each party, but even if Rose hadn't outgrown that part of the ritual, she doubted Ingrid would be keen on it, dressed the way she was. "How 'bout I go buy you a copy of Dispatches to start you off?"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

[colour=#008080]“That’s splendid!”[/colour] Ingrid cried out as Rose Madder brought her hoof. Due to working with students all the time, the counselor could tell by the exact positioning of the author’s foreleg that she wanted a hoofbump instead of the more-formal shake. Being the “hip” adult that she was, Ms. Marie eagerly complied with the author’s unspoken request. While her face tried valiantly to hide her feelings, Ingrid on the inside was especially giddier than usual. Not only would she work with one of her favorite upcoming authors, but she’d be getting advance copies of her books in exchange!

Sealing the deal even more, Miss Madder offered to buy Counselor Marie a copy of Dispatches. [colour=#008080]“Of course, I’d love that very much!”[/colour] Ingrid exclaimed in gratitude; [colour=#008080]“Just one thing though...”[/colour] the counselor paused for a couple seconds to chuckle; [colour=#008080]“Will this be a signed copy?”[/colour] The middle-aged unicorn thought she’d be able to push her luck today, seeing how well things were going.....

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Ingrid Marie bumped her hoof, and Rose had to suppress a giggle, creating an ache in her muscles that could only come from resisting the temptation to give into hilarity. She hadn't seen a hoofbump this awkward and stilted since she tried it out with her own mother years and years ago. Now that Rose thought about it, Marie was easily old enough to be her mother, and yet had outed herself as a gleeful fan of her work. That fact was so surreal that Rose had to chuckle at it. Hopefully Marie wouldn't take that as an insult.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]But she herself was chuckling soon after that, as she built up the suggestion that Rose give her a signed copy of Dispatches from Beyond the Veil. "Well, since you asked so nicely, how could I refuse?" she asked with barely restrained mirth. "I'll go get one!" She tried her best not to prance while going to the front of the store, since she was sure that if she jumped too high in this mood she'd float off into the sky and stay up there all day. An autograph! Somepony had asked her for her autograph! It was a day she'd anticipated for years (along with the day she got on the bestseller's list, the day she landed a publishing deal, the day she won her first award, and so on), and now it was finally here![/colour]

[colour=#e32636]She bounded up to the front of the store to the Black Orchid display, with both of her books on display. For both of them, she'd taken care to select an amazing cover that would catch the eyes of ponies and serve as a good work of art in and of itself. Her novel, A Single Note, featured a black and white drawing of the protagonist desperately reaching out for a mare who sat slumped and despondent in the corner. He fought valiantly against ink tendrils of darkness that sprouted from the dark borders of the image and held him back, but it was clearly a losing battle. The entire image was drawn in stark detail, with no shades of gray and linework that evoked an oppressive, uncomfortable feeling.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]The cover of Dispatches brought back the colour its predecessor lacked and then some. Most of it was dominated by Rose's own face, though thanks to the anonymity of her author persona the casual viewer wouldn't know it was her. It could have been any mare, really. Said face stared directly into the viewer's soul, eyes wide open and distorted so that they'd look bigger, like Rose was staring through a distorted fish-eye lens that was way too close to her. The rest of her face looked relaxed, and judging by her slack jaws, it looked like she had completely zoned out, the thoughts in her head drowning out any outside stimulus.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]If the viewer needed further evidence of it, they could look to the eyes, which had no pupil or iris, instead displaying a wide panorama of images from the stories contained in the book. Rose's personal favorite was the mare staring, horrified, at her own hoof, which had somehow turned into a gnarled, wicked-looking set of claws. Runners up included a stallion wrapped head to toe in something black, tight, and shiny, a couple kissing so hard that their mouths appeared to be physically merging, and a second stallion, with plush cloth skin and button eyes, idly toying with the zipper on his stomach.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]Rose was proud of the metaphor that she conveyed with that commission, though her smile dampened when she remembered one or two critics pointing out how obvious and on the nose it was. She thought it was just fine, thank you, though they were entirely correct in pointing out that she had given away her face to the public she was trying to screen herself from. Rats. At least it was a fun commission to order (she still kept the original paintings of both covers at her place), and the actual contents of the book had no problems whatsoever.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]The inside front cover of the book was blank, providing the perfect space for her to provide her autograph. Rose took out her inkwell and calligraphy pen and applied the first steps to drawing the intricate signature of Black Orchid, a process well engraved into her magic memory. In preparation of this day she'd practiced autographing, making changes to the design with each iteration, until she got it down right. The resulting sigil looked slick and exact enough to have come from a printing device, and looked like a series of shadows that bled together and didn't look like letters at first until you looked at them the right way. Perfect.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]Rose's bright red aura surrounded the book and passed it over to Marie, before she heard an annoyed cough. Turning her head, she saw the face of the clerk at the front of the store, who had seen her deface a book without paying for it first. "Oh, right, heheh. Whoops." She took it back to the front desk and fished out the bits to pay for it. "Alright, there, now it's yours," she told Marie, passing the book back. "Give it a minute to dry, okay?"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

Judging by Rose Madder’s look of bemusement, Ingrid Marie had once again screwed up a hoof bump. Not that Ingrid really cared however, for she long ago came to terms with the fact that she’ll never master a gesture perfected by the youth of her time. The good ole’ hoof shake suited the middle-aged unicorn just fine; as she believed her pupils would say these days, “shakers gonna’ shake”.

For all of Rose’s previous mirth, the author was absolutely over the moon when Ingrid asked for an autograph. Ms. Marie assumed at first that ponies asked the talented Rose for autographs all the time, so Ingrid didn’t expect the younger mare to react so enthusiastically to her request. Then the counselor remembered that Rose kept a pretty low profile to avoid overzealous fans. Still though, why would an author who avoided publicity be so happy about signing a book? Ingrid didn’t think that it was because this was the first book Ms. Madder ever signed before; that thought was just outright absurd!

Following Rose Madder to the front of the store, Ingrid Marie took a look at the Dispatches display and recognized the mare on the front cover as the author herself! [colour=#008080]“Say,”[/colour] jested the beige mare; [colour=#008080]“I thought you didn’t really want your readers to know how you looked like, yet here you are on the cover Ms. Madder. I must say though, that’s an ingeniously designed cover your book has. Did your publisher come up with that?”[/colour] As Ingrid understood it, publishers generally had most of the control over actual book covers since they needed catchy images to convince readers to buy their products.

Once Rose finished signing Dispatches and hoofed it over to Ingrid (after momentarily taking it away to pay for it), the elder unicorn became mired in the struggle to read the author’s sigil. Ms. Marie glared at the mess of shadows for a few moments, until she accidentally positioned the page the right way, making the signature readable. [colour=#008080]“Oh, ohhhhh,”[/colour] beamed the unicorn; [colour=#008080]“That’s actually a neat trick you pulled there, Ms. Madder. How ever did you learn to write like that?”[/colour]

[Inkwell]

[colour=#e32636]Of course, since Ingrid Marie knew what Rose looked like in the flesh, she immediately caught on that she was the distorted mare on the cover of Dispatches. Rose cleared her throat. "Well, funny story there. My brother was the one who drew that. See, he kind of got a deal where he's making illustrations for books, inside and covers, at the same publishing house I've got a contract with. So I thought I'd do him a favour and let him draw the covers for my books. I basically gave him free reign to draw whatever he wanted, since he knows his stuff and I can't draw for beans." She laughed.[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]"Anyway, by the time I figured out that it was me he was drawing on the cover and that it would risk ponies knowing what I looked like, the whole thing was finished. It just looked so awesome that I didn't have the heart to ask him to do it over or redraw the mare as somepony else." This wasn't technically true. The two of them had gotten in a minor argument about that very issue, and it made Rose reconsider just how far she was willing to let this secret identity thing extend. Would she go so far as to dye her mane and coat to appear at conventions, magically modify her voice, disguise herself completely, all because she didn't trust her fans? Inkwell convinced her that since she basically introduced herself as Black Orchid to every pony she met in person, there wasn't much point in hiding it. In the end, her ego won out. "So that's the painting that went through and onto the cover of the book."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]Marie was also curious about the way she signed her autograph. Rose inhaled again, ready to go off on another tangent. "Oh, that? Well, I was actually inspired by Canterlot's underground comic scene. This city has a lot of neat underground comic artists who do interesting experimental work. Most ponies only know comics as vehicles for pulp entertainment stories like Daring Do or Supermare, but there's a lot of potential in combining words and images. Granted, some of it is messy and confusing, dare I say even embarrassing, but I always get the sense that the artists are trying to pull off something new, something that means something to them, and honestly I'd rather get that out of something than knowing that the creator was just going through the motions, wishing he was making just about anything else instead. Contractual obligations and all."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]She gave the autograph another glance. "Some of my favorite artists in the medium took to literally combining words and pictures, usually in their signatures, and so I decided to practice my own. I'd love to try writing a comic book like that except, like I said, I can't draw. I'll have to see if I can convince my brother to help me out there, but he's mostly experienced with single images, not sequential ones."[/colour]

[colour=#e32636]With a shrug, she closed the cover of the book for Marie. The ink seemed dry enough. "Anyway, now that we've got the fun part over with, we should probably talk about when and where my first lesson's gonna be. Do you make house calls?"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

Ingrid Marie listened intently as Rose Madder explained how it was her brother who drew the cover art. The beige unicorn thought it a tad bit unusual that Rose’s brother wouldn’t have known about her sister’s preferences for anonymity, but at least it sounded like the author was happy with the end result regardless. Rose’s next story about how her autograph came to be was even more interesting since the magic counselor had absolutely no knowledge of any comic scene, underground or mainstream. It was too bad Ingrid never read any comic books though; as far as she was concerned, they were stories mainly for young adults and younger ponies.

And then just like that, it was down to business as Ms. Madder inquired about when the first meeting would be. [colour=#008080]“I am able to make house calls, [/colour][colour=#008080]Ms. Madder[/colour][colour=#008080],”[/colour] Ingrid Marie stated; [colour=#008080]“I can drop by your house on most Friday and Saturday nights around 7PM or so. However I have a prior engagement to go to this coming Friday; something about establishing some new magic guild here in town. We’ll have to wait til’ Saturday for your first tutoring session... if that's convenient for you, mmkay.”[/colour]