[Manehattan] Writer's Block

[GingerbreadSpy]

Honeydew sat in front of her typewriter and stared at the blank piece of paper set in it with growing frustration becoming evident on her face. She had a deadline to worry about. She couldn't be sitting here staring at a piece of paper! She lifted a hoof and started to press a key but stopped herself in time. This wasn't working. Maybe she was pushing herself too hard. Maybe she just needed to get out and take a break.

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I'll take a break. Maybe I'll take a jog or something around the block a few times or sit at the park for a little while... she thought.

She put on some legwarmers on each of her legs and put on a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Then, she got out of her apartment and started to trot at an even pace. Maybe if she was really lucky, she'd run into some creatures from another planet or an aristocrat of some kind to chase down and ask questions. That would get the writing juices flowing.

[Neoniie]

(Hope you don't mind me jumping in!)

Neon Stargazer's eyes fluttered open slowly when greeted with the light of a nearby streetlamp. He blinked forcefully, trying to clear the spots from his vision. As he did so, the earth pony tried to remember what exactly had lead to him being on the ground. Um...it's nighttime-ish and... He looked down at himself to find the familiar all black garb of his superhero persona Nighthoof. ...I'm in costume, so it must have had to do with whatever I was chasing as Nighthoof. Mostly via conjecture and pieces of memory, the colt reconstructed the events that led to his fall.

He'd been after some troublemaker or another, leaping around the gaps between Manehatten's apartment complex. He had been so close to catching his quarry, so close to actually managing to stop an evildoer without some embarrassing clumsiness on his part. It was then that a spotted cat had appeared in his path on the rooftops. Neon had tried to adjust his run to sidestep the cat and managed to do so, but his jump had been thrown off and the colt was no pegasus. Still slightly groggy, he picked himself up from the stone street of whatever alley he had fallen into.

Alright Neon, just play it cool. You're an awesome superhero, act like it! Feeling relatively healed of his ego-bruise at the moment, the costume clad pony stepped out into the main streets of Manehatten. His walk was rather wobbly and it seemed like the world around him was shaking. Thankful that fewer ponies would be around to see Nighthoof making such a fool of himself, Neon continued forward determinedly.

[GingerbreadSpy]

(OOC: I don't mind you jumping in at all! The more, the merrier! I don't know if Honeydew would go jogging at night, but then again, she is a pretty head-strong, brave pony... so... *lol*)

Honeydew continued her brisk trot around the neighborhood, secure in the fact that she had a strong set of legs. The cool night air did seem to be helping her clear her thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw someone wobbling, and she slowed down, curious. Could this be just the spark that she needed to cure her writer's block? She walked over to wobbling figure and was a little disappointed to see that it was just a pony in costume instead of some mythical night-wandering creature. Still...

"You there!" She called as she got closer. "What are you up to? Nightmare Night is over, you know!"

[SteelEagle]

Manehattan was a grand place to live. The colors and sounds of the city blended together above it despite the many neighborhoods and folk who lived there. The sound of a Griffon's speech was unique, but wholly lacking in flavor when it was mixed above the city.

Of course, just because you could vaguely hear the vibrations of the city didn't guarantee that you would ever get to partake in it's taste. If you were like Valen, you had the same taste day in and out, a stale diet of the same denizens of Upper Crust. He didn't necessarily dislike them, but their accents annoyed him and it gave him no end of sadness to understand that he was developing the very same.

Still though, living in Upper Crust allowed for a certain sense of routine and comfort to develop. Wake up, take the trolley to the Academy, bounce around with friends and enjoy the fine things in life, and then take the trolley back to his neighborhood. the silly thing about routine, however, is that routine makes one lazy.

And being lazy could lead to falling asleep, and that was just no good.

"Hey foal, end of the line." The conductor gruffly spoke as he nudged Valen. The foal's eyes opened up and he looked around haphazardly, nodding lazily as his slow-to-wake mind followed the man's order and he disembarked, well-manicured hooves making a rather loud click-clack as he cantered down the street in near sleep. Routine dictated that his house- it looked like a modern palace to his eyes- would be on the left in five, four, three, two, one-

-He turned and smacked straight into a wall.

"Oww!" He complained loudly to no one but himself, the knock on his noggin relieving him of cobwebs. He looked around with concern as he registered the fact that it wasn't his neighborhood, eyes darting up and down the rather uncouth streets as he turned to and fro. With every second that passed, he allowed himself a small measure of panic as he realized that his knapsack was wide open. He closed it- tight.

"Oh dear..."

[Neoniie]

Neon registered a voice to his upper left, turning toward it. The effects of his fall were slowly wearing off and his gait was regaining its steadiness, so he was able to make out the figure in this distance. It was a honey-coloured mare, wearing a headband and leg warmers. The colt was surprised to find a pony out so late, especially alone. She was clearly quite the brave pony. He cleared his throat quietly, trying to bring out his superhero-esque voice. "Of course, citizen," he gave a bit of a chuckle at the idea that he was in a Nightmare Night costume. "I am Nighthoof, defeater of the dastardly! Surely you know of my exploits?" He struck a heroic pose, trying to give the mare a good impression of the persona. However, the lack of wind and his still slightly wobbly grasp on the paved road below ruined the effect somewhat.

As he introduced himself, the colt noticed another figure wandering toward them. It seemed to be a smaller pony and their halting movement made Neon wonder whether they knew where they were going. However, a young pony wasn't likely to be an evildoer, so he wouldn't bother the pony unless he was approached.

[SteelEagle]

A sense of dread overcame the foal. This neighborhood smelled like something rotten and the streets were dirty, and very few ponies could be seen, though the sounds were prevelant and seemed to have a desparate flavor. Valen was sure that he was adding to the general sense of fear that pervaded the atmosphere- but that could just have been Valen.

It wasn't that the surroundings were necessarily that terrifying. He wasn't some scaredy pony. But the fact that he just didn't know where he was...well, that certainly made his steps quick and full of a nervous energy.

Up ahead, hope. He spotted two ponies, one who looked a fair bit older and another who was wearing a uniform of some sort. was it some sort of special police officer? Valen had little interaction with the law. They didn't feel the need to patrol Upper Crust and were rarely called as crime was low. Valen took a deep breath and cantered over towards the two ponies.

"Sir, or, uhh, ma'am, officer?" Valen asked hesitantly.

[Neoniie]

(OOC: Sorry for posting out of order, but I didn't want to leave Valen hanging there.)

Before the honey mare could answer, a new voice broke through the silence. With a nearly imperceptible start, Neon turned toward the pony who'd spoken. It was a light orange earth pony foal, shuffling about with some apprehension. Some air about the foal reminded him of an orange, not just his appearance. Neon decided that this was not the time to be analyzing the situation too deeply, he did far too much of that at school. He chuckled internally as he registered the word 'officer', it was the first time he'd been addressed like that. The colt had to admit, on a dark night his costume likely did resemble some sort of law officer.

"Officer," he repeated, his inner chuckle escaping into the outside world slightly. "No, no, I'm not a member of the police force. I'm a vigilante of sorts. Nighthoof's the name, kiddo." Privately, Neon wondered why so few ponies seem to know who we was. Surely somepony must know of him, as he had been patrolling the streets for nearly a month now. Even though he tended to bungle up his attempted superheroics, he did manage to be competent once in a while. That's it, next time we go out on patrol, we've gotta do something big and become famous throughout Manehatten. It's gonna be so awesome!

[SteelEagle]

Valen cocked his head queerly as he stared up at the so-called Nighthoof. Vigilantes were usual little more than rascals imitating true heroes, little more than criminals seeking justification for their crimes, little more than...something lesser trying to be something greater. His parents really said a lot of stuff that didn't make sense, and this 'vagrant' as his father would have called him didn't seem all that bad. Maybe he had a silly outfit on, but Valen liked what his parents called silly outfits so he wasn't going to judge. Would have been unsporting and rude of him to do otherwise, and he was nothing if not sporting and polite.

Still, running into a self-proclaimed superhero was mighty unusual...and the name was familiar.

"Hey, are you that silly pony that my schoolmates told me about?" Valen asked with a smile, somewhat forgetting the other, silent pony in his quest for discovery. Well, discovery in the moment, he still didn't want to spend another minute here. And it wasn't that he wasn't going to be nice to that silent pony, but, well- oh, sometimes Valen hated the fact that he didn't react well to feeling unsettled. He needed to pull himself together. He was an Orange, not some sort of frazzled Razzleberry!

"And, ahh, do you know where we are, my good stallion, and how one may get himself to Upper Crust?" His voice regaining some of its polite and high-class tone.