Curtain Call in Trottingham [Spotlight // PM for Invite]

[GhostGirl]

"Come, Ponius; 'tis your penance but to hear

The story of your loves discovered:

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;

One feast, one house, one mutual happiness."

Ghost Writer shivered in delight as she heard the final lines leave Spotlight's mouth. The air around her tingled as she heard the curtain close and the roar of stamping hooves fill the air. She let out a sigh and set her Colta-Cola on the table backstage as she watched the actors line up for the curtain call. The stagehands waited until the applause died down some before pulling the curtain open to even louder cheers and hoofstamps. There was a twinkling in Ghost's eye while she watched the actors take their bows, each to a louder cheer than the one before him. Finally, the co-stars, Spotlight and Eloquence, took center stage for their bows to the loudest stamping of hooves Ghost had heard since... well... since their performance in Hoofington.

The Two Gentlemares of Trottingham was going far better than she expected, and she had only Shakesbeard to thank for her success. She needed something to allow her a break to write an original play again, and she felt a little self-centered if they did runs of two of her plays one right after another anyhow.

As the crowd continued cheering and stamping their hooves, Ghost Writer slipped out of the backstage area and into the crowd. She figured if she got out before the actors descended from the stage, she'd have a better chance of avoiding too much attention. Adoring fans and swarming ponies didn't suit the young playwright as well as they did her actors and actresses.

[Apolline Allura]

With the din of the audience in her ears, and the final words spoken, Spotlight and her co-star narrator took a bow. This was truly a wonderful production. One of Ghost Writer's best. She'd be sure to take the two of them out for a round after they left. Some sort of post show celebration was in order. This couldn't have been a better crowd! The ground was practically quaking under her hooves, from the stamping and cheering. She was sustained. Her cup was filled. This was life, and she would never life it any other way. Reveling in the admiration, Spotlight wanted to wade into the crowd, to be amongst those who delighted in how she handled her craft. But she knew better. Ghost Writer was her ticket into all of this.

"Thank you, thank you all!" shouted Spotlight, wings fanning out, "Please! Come again to see us the next time we come to Trottingham! You ponies really are Equestria's elite, given your choice of entertainment!" the mare chuckled at her own joke, as did many of the audience members.

She took one last bow, before looking over to Eloquence, and giving her a knowing wink. It was time to depart, and hopefully retrieve their dearest Ghost Writer before she became to comfortable where ever she had taken refuge from the deluge of ponies outside the stage. With a sweeping gesture of her wings, she made her way back into the makeup area, to remove the blush. After that, and a bottle of water, it was back outside to find her friend. Hopefully, Eloquence was right behind her.

"Simply marvelous!" proclaimed the mare to the sky. The mare was running high on excitement over a job well done. It was time to share with her friends.

[Hurricane]

The crowds roars felt hollow in Eloquence's ears. She cared not for the whoops and cheers, the stomping of hooves in applause, it was not the reason she performed. She bowed graciously, though, and even had a huge smile upon her face as she followed on behind Spotlight, the real star of the show, nodding and smiling as fans jostled them. She followed her to the make-up room, where she removed the props from her own visage, and shook her knotted hair free, before tying it back into her trademark dreadlocks.

She sighed faintly as she sat down there, watching Spotlight remove her makeup. "The story is over for another night," she said, wistfully, looking back out at the stage. She sighed again. That was the reason she did this, night after night. To spread the joy, the wonder of a story to as many people as she could, that was why she lived, and to get to tell one of the greatest, most well written stories, by one of the best writers in Equestrian history, was an honour granted to her by the leader of their little troupe, Ghost Writer.

Once Spotlight had finished her nightly routine, she followed her costar out into the crisp evening air, taking a breath of the chilly evening. She glanced to the pegasus as she proclaimed to the skies above, and chuckled merrily. "Indeed, like the dune bug that works tirelessly all throughout the day, our work is done," she said with a happy nod, pacing on a little before turning back to her. "Perhaps we should seek out Writer. I do not think that she would have gone too far. Seek, noble dune bug!" she said with a bit of a flair.

[GhostGirl]

The young playwright watched from the edge of the crowd as it dispersed. Mares and stallions disappeared towards home as the sky grew dimmer and stars began to appear. This was a sight she always enjoyed: the actors heading offstage to remove their costumes, the stagehands milling about to prepare the teardown, the audience departing with a satisfied look about them, and the way the stars and moon cast a dim glow on it all. Just a few years ago, she'd never have though she'd be out of Canterlot, on her own, writing and directing plays with an acting troupe of her very own. With a smile, she glanced to the ground for a moment, then back up to see Spotlight and Eloquence returning from backstage. Spotlight was exuberant, as she always was after a successful show.

Ghost Writer chuckled lightly before weaving her way through the last remnants of the crowd, careful not to venture to close to any of the straggling audience members, not out of hubris, but out of intimidation. She may have managed to scrounge up the courage to leave home with the troupe and travel Equestria, but she still couldn't face a crowd, least of all a crowd of would-be fans if they knew who she was. At last, she met up the stars, a sheepish smile still sitting on her face.

"Do we have plans tonight, girls?" she asked lightly, taking stride alongside Spotlight.

[Apolline Allura]

On cue, as a playwright should always have things, Ghost Writer appeared right next to Spotlight after Eloquence's agreeing with her. The white coated mare beamed brightly at the spike-maned mare. "Plans? Tonight, we dine in Trottingham!" she brought a hoof around Ghost Writer and Eloquence each pulling the two close to her. "Tonight, we celebrate yet another success as the fantastic, fanciful, fearless and everypony's favorite Traveling Players!"

Clearing her throat, and turning her head quickly (for she had become quite adept at knowing when a fan was on the approach, Spotlight struck an extravagant pose for the camera. It flashed once, and she was right back to her friends. "You two are going to know the BEST food in all of Equestria tonight. And after that? Who the tartarus knows? We'll make the most of this night. And maybe even the morning."

[Hurricane]

Upon seeing the troupe's prolific writer, Eloquence's grin grew even wider than it had been. She approached the mare, and touched her hoof to the mare's forehead, as a sign of respect. She fell into step between the two ponies, her dreadlocks bobbing about as she walked. "There is much planned, as the Dune bug has told. I shall tell you more, if I might be so bold," she said, before coughing a little. She had been trying to avoid rhythmic patterns in her speech, but every so often, they cropped in, a remnant from her time in Unyasi.

"Forgive me. I was getting into old habits. There is much planned for the evening," she said, blushing lightly at her folly. "After the fabulous dinner, I had hoped we might take in a late night performance of poetry and fable. There is a small cafe not too far from here that stays open until late for just such a purpose. I thought perhaps it would be a nice rest from all the noise and bustle of the show," she said, knowing full well that Spotlight, the vibrant, energetic, and above all, extravagant pony, would not be so fond of the idea.

"Of course, we could always find a club. Full of ponies, noisy like the cicada in the summer heat, chirruping away as they jostle and bump into one another, and make themselves rowdy and ruckus all the night long, with pumping music and these mysterious wubs I have been told of," she said, a devilish twinkle in her eye. What better way to persuade the notoriously reclusive pony to her activity than to remind her of what might befall her should she choose otherwise.

[GhostGirl]

Ghost Writer spluttered a little as she heard Spotlight's thoughts. "But-- well-- see here--!" She couldn't quite get out what she was attempting to say in response. We need to leave in the morning, Spotlight! We can't be out having fun until Celestia knows what time! The young mare wished opening her mouth were just a little bit easier. Her time spent in Canterlot learning to be quiet around high society hadn't quite set her up to be a loud and boisterous sort of leader. Her spluttering ended as Eloquence's calm demeanor broke into her hearing and line of sight. She was still only just getting used to the feeling of a zebra hoof just below her horn.

As Eloquence explained what she and Spotlight had planned, or rather, the difference between what the two thought they had planned, Ghost Writer chuckled a little and winked at the zebra mare. "The cafe sounds delightful, I must say. I'm much less likely to find a nice cup of tea in a club. And perhaps the 'poetry and fable' will provide me a little bit of inspiration to finish up our next play! After all, I need to finish that before our Fet Loch performance so that we'll have it stage-ready by the time we get back to Canterlot! Maybe this time the princesses will even be in attendance!"

Her hopes and dreams had caught hold of her once more, and her vivid imagination ran away with the idea of her performance gaining nationwide acclaim from Princess Celestia herself. Another moment and she'd remembered herself, and where she was. "Anyway, if we go to a club -- I apologize, Spotlight -- we won't likely be ready to leave in the morning. We've got an early start for Stalliongrad in the morning, after all." With a soft smile, she could only hope the pegasus mare would understand completely.

[Apolline Allura]

"What in-" Spotlight broke into a gigglefit when Eloquence mentioned "mysterious wubs". While she had adjusted well in her time from coming here from Unyasi, Eloquence was still charmingly clueless on occasion regarding the customs of Equestria. It was an endearing trait that Spotlight had grown to appreciate, since it gave her the opportunity to expose her to all sorts of wonderful things.

"Yes, yes El, the wubs are indeed mysterious. Rumor has it that nopony has ever actually seen them, but that if one merely stands in the presence of a DJ-" clowned Spotlight before she was cut off by the zebra's next suggestion.

A quiet cafe? Oh come on. As if that was Spotlight's setting. The lights! The satisfaction! Hollyhoof! The ponies, the parties, the expensive things to be bought! Trottingham was the place where she could live out all of her vices at once. But if anything was even more powerful than her desire to revel in the light of success, it was her respect and dedication to her craft. She gave a mock-indignant huff at Ghost Writer's response and even puffed out her cheeks before turning her nose to the air.

"A stallion recently hit on me when we arrived to this city anyway. We have work more important than whatever I would have done to him for even thinking his status and vast bank account would be anything to a mare like I." she laughed at her own expense at that statement. The finer things were always a draw for her, but in truth, she still wouldn't be swayed. Money and status aren't anything unless you have somepony you want to share them with. And she'd share them with those that mattered to her for the time being.

But they were going to head to a cafe! Spotlight would still capitalize on this opportunity to enjoy herself and her friends. In a flash, she had galloped off to the dressing room and came back to the three of them with a pair of frameless shades, a black turtleneck sweater, and a white and grey plaid cabbie hat. "The night is young, girls. Shall we?"

[Hurricane]

The zebra bard's smile did not waiver as the actress mocked her little speech, she knew that it was all in good fun, especially since it was she who had started the pseudo insult war to begin with. "Dear Spotlight, you are like the tickbalang, laughing at it's own shadow for being able to climb walls," she said, not knowing that this little parable would likely sail over the heads of both the ponies, for they were unlikely to know of the legendary Tickbalang and it's antics.

Swiping the hat from the mare, she rolled her eyes, before placing it atop her own head, the headpiece resting nicely upon her dreadlocks. She shook to better settle it, before turning to Ghost Writer. "Writer, it is of course up to you, but I believe Spotlight and myself are both now prepared to spend our evening enjoying the finest roasted beans and depressing poetry that Trottingham has to offer. We three are the dragonfly, skimming along the surface of a magnificent lake, at dawn's break, ready to enjoy the rising sun," she said with a nod.

[GhostGirl]

"Tick...balang...?" Ghost Writer murmured, her eyes watching the stars as they slowly began to appear. Something about the name sounded familiar. Mayhap she'd glanced over it in a book in one of the many libraries in Canterlot, but she couldn't remember. She shook the faint memory away and glanced to Eloquence and Spotlight as the former claimed the latter's hat. "Right, yes. Roasted beans and depressing poetry and we're a dragonfly. I'll stick to steeped tea leaves, of course."

Before the trio were too far from the unicorn's cart, she magicked her saddlebag (still packed with the script for her next play and a few quills and ink jars) out the window. With the bags securely in place, she gave her slight signature hop of muted excitement and beamed at her star actresses.

"On we go, then! To dinner!" The young mare started forward at a brisk pace, then suddenly faltered and stumbled and glanced back at Eloquence and Spotlight sheepishly. "Um... I don't know where we're going."

[Apolline Allura]

Spotlight simply threw her head back and laughed, "Dear Ghost Writer, this way is the way to the cafe... The name of the place is Nihilus Nix Naught."

Another chuckle. Somepony must have had a zero fetish.

"This way, ladies!"

Spotlight led the other two deep into the city, passing fewer and few ponies as the entered streets with stores of more abstract interests. One store sold nothing but board games, another sold implements to change the appearance and use of unicorn magic. Another store held plenty of glass jars full of green liquid, some of them containing body parts... Not that Spotlight thought they were real, or that she freaked out at all on the way. No, that full body jerk that landed her face first in the snow when that eye that she imagined turning to look at her was just a test of her...instincts, yes, that was it.

Eventually, the black building came into view. A small, almost cramped looking setting, with three large jagged neon purple N's at it's front, above the door. Stepping into the place, Spotlight, who was usually only fond of the color black when it came to whatever she was wearing, had to admire the interior. It wasn't terribly populated, the walls were made of an inverted marble, white against black, and the same purple that decorated the front was the color of the stage lights hanging above the aquamarine unicorn stallion, who seemed the be deep in reading.

And the rats took my cereal

And my wife lay on the floor

My lament was ignored by the raven

Nevermore, nevermore

"I'm not sure if this was better than the club." whispered Spotlight, and that's when she spotted the bar.

"They have Sweet Apple Whiskey. Never mind."

[Hurricane]

Truging through the snow, Eloquence shivered delicately. She was certainly used to warmer climes than this, and while watching her own breath as it escaped her muzzle entertained her for a little while, it had now lost it's charm, and she was shivering. "I feel that I perhaps should have dressed up for the weather," she confessed her body shaking as she tried to warm herself up by trotting in place.

She was, of course, nonplussed by the store that had freaked Spotlight out so much; back home shaman and herbalists had done far stranger things in the name of the hunt for knowledge. She had known one mare who had been all but killed by a rampaging Tickbalang, and saved thanks to the timely replacement of several of her organs. "These potions do not look suitable for consumption," she commented idly, tapping at a curious blue mixture in a long, thin vial. She did, however, take one of them, paying for it with a trio of coins. "Perhaps it will make a good joke, however," she said with a chuckle.

The cafe was an interesting place, no doubt, and the glowing sign made her laugh. "It glows like the firefly's bottom!" she said with a girlish giggle, dashing ahead and pointing up at it. "See how it shines!" she said, letting her excitement get the better of her for a few moments. She tried to maintain an aura of calm knowledge abot her at all times, but moments like that, the thrill of discovery, could send her into almost childish levels of exuberance. She entered last of the three, watching the neon sign, listening to it's buzz, before the cold got too muc for her, forcing her inside.

She all but ignored the poetry for now, which was lucky for her, since it was a rather famous, and very depressing, little edict, about the madness a solitary death can bring about. "They have Unyabsinthe too!" she exclaimed, ordering a glass of the aniseed drink, sniffing it and shuddering as she did so. "It has been so long since I last enjoyed this drink," she said, gripping the glass in her teeth, knocking back the liquid in a single gulp.

[GhostGirl]

Ghost Writer lingered at the store full of board games, her eyes darting from box to box, picking out names and logos and brands. At least half of the boxes in the display window carried her brother's seal. Those boxes didn't just carry games; they carried fond memories. She caught back up with her friends when she realized their voices had gotten farther away than she'd intended them to get while she reminisced. She'd have to ask her brother to sit down and play a game with her this Hearth's Warming Eve, like they used to.

With a smile on her face, she quietly followed Spotlight into the cafe, only to let out an exasperated sigh when both Pegasus and Zebra went off to the bar. Even among friends she was out of place. "What happened to roasted beans and being a dragonfly...?" she muttered, walking up to the counter and ordering a peppermint tea and a blueberry muffin. Spotlight was going to be rambunctious tonight, and wouldn't leave her cart in the morning, if her memories of previous nights out served her right. Dropping the bits onto the counter and levitating her muffin and tea along with her, she found an empty table and settled in, hoping her companions wouldn't waste the whole night at the bar.

[RoyalDice]

Royal Dice, bounty hunter, treasure hunter, traveler, trader and scavenger was fired once again from one of his many, many jobs. It was one of those unpleasant jobs that didn't even pay well. But hey, at least he was payed! The jack-of-trades tried to drown his sorrows with a few bottles of cider. Sadly, he only had enough bits for one bottle. This was not enough for the stallion, so he was silently staring at the bottom of the bottle, alone with his thoughts.

Why couldn't he be more successful? Why can't he be rich like before? Why can't it be like it was before? Why can't his mother actually find a decent place to live? Why can't his father be back. Why? Why? Why?

A forlorn sigh escaped the stallion's mouth. He had to get away from these stupid thoughts before he'd go back to doing one of those.. he shuddered.. terrible, terrible jobs. He couldn't go back to doing those.. but he had to.. for him, for his mother, and.. for his father. Staggering away from the bar, he saw a table with a .. other pony there. She wasn't there before.. was she? She seemed alone, for as far as he could tell.

He trotted over to the table, and took the seat opposite of her. He grinned, and tipped his hat at the mare. ''Hello to you.. '' he mutters slowly, and chuckles. ''Fancy seeing a pony like you in a place like this..'' he said, tilting back his hat a bit so he could look over the top of his sunglasses, allowing to see the mare with his own two eyes.

[Apolline Allura]

Meanwhile, at the bar, Spotlight was in the midst of demonstrating massive amounts of self control not to simply get cooked silly and stumble her way on up to the stool to start improvising poetry. At other junctures, for when they had real downtime, she would have been on her fifth right now, the wet contents of some bottle sloshing their way down her neck. But as it was, her image was more important to her than the fun she was having. Not that she couldn't just make up her own fun on the spot. Spotlight was the kind of mare that thrived from entertainment in more ways than one.

"That one," she said to Eloquence, pointing a hoof at a mare waiting the door, looking down at the ground every now and then, "she's been stood up. Her date was probably a mare by the looks of her. I have a fooler radar that can detect anything, and she's one of em. Her cutie mark is a...oh my, it's a gift. And she looks rather well kept...shame about her date, but this must mean she was too good for her in the end...ouch." Spotlight usually got like this whenever she was tipsy. Suddenly becoming a relationship guru, despite the fact that her limited knowledge of romance all came from plays she was either in, or had seen.

She turned to see poor Ghost Writer all alone at some empty table, and immediately felt a pang of guilt. Spotlight set a hoof on Eloquence's shoulder, about to bring her over to Ghost's table before a cream colored earth pony came into view. Her first instinct was to move straight in and protect the writer by laying a kiss on her cheek and telling him that she was taken, and the impulse grew stronger with the more whiskey she pounded down.

"El...look over there..." said Spotlight, her words slurring a bit. "You see that? Look who's trying to hit on Ghost. Can you believe the brass ones on this guy?" she made to stand up. Who'd this stallion think he was? Trying to muscle his nonexistent muscles in on their Ghost Writer.

Unfortunately, gravity seemed to tilt just enough for the mare to hit the ground, her cabbie hat flying off, and her head hitting the bar base just hard enough to bump the drink off the edge and onto her head. Her face was covered in shattered glass, sweet apple whiskey, and rivulets of blood from where the glass hit. It was probably not going too far to assume she had went over her limit for the night as she stared up at the ceiling through her dark shades.

[Hurricane]

Eloquence marvelled at the place with wide eyed enrapturement. There were so many ponies, even a griffon or two, and she believed she had spotted a dragon at one point, all conversing, drinking, and listening to the poetry as and when it came. It seemed the mix was quite... eclectic, sometimes, dark, depressing poetry, sometimes upbeat, happy folk music. It would have been a fair shock to her system, had her system not been dulled to the point of numbness by her three or four shots of Unyabsinthe.

"The dragonfly must occasionally stop to drink," she replied to Ghostwriter with a silly grin upon her face, before seeking out Spotlight. She found her near the stage, having been removed from it by a surly looking stallion wearing a black cap and a microphone. "Forgive the cackling hyena. She has been sniffing at carcasses all day," she said, with a giggle. She pulled the mare back to the bar, where she began talking. And talking. And talking. "If you believe that she has been abandoned like the baby cuckoo, why not pick her up and take her back to your nest?" she asked.

Once she had noticed the stallion talking to Writer, and, forgetting that it was her charge to keep Spotlight from injury, began to pace over to the table. She had almost gotten to them when she heard the telltale sound of a prima donna falling over, and she let out a sigh, turning back to where she had left the mare, her tail flicking against Writer's flank to let her know that they were around if needed.

"You foolish Hyena," she said with a smirk upon her face, gently raising the mare onto her back, grunting a little at the weight. "As accident prone as the dodo bird..." she muttered as she walked back to the cap wearing stallion, to ask him if he knew of anywhere that had first aid capabilities.

[GhostGirl]

Ghost Writer was metaphorically neck-deep in the tail end of the play she was writer, her face scrunched up in concentration as she furiously scribbled words and sentences and witty lines onto the scroll before her. It took a moment for her to register that somepony was talking to her, let alone what he'd said.

"And precisely what do you mean by a 'pony like me?'" she asked, her words tinted by a sharp edge. She neither looked up from her work nor slowed in her writing until she felt a tickle at her throat. At that point, she set her quill down and levitated her tea to her mouth for a sip. The hot, bittersweet peppermint stung the back of her throat and left her content. It wasn't as good as her loose leaf brews, but it wasn't as bad as tea she'd had in some cafes.

Returning the tea to it's spot on the table, she glanced up and saw a slight commotion around Eloquence and Spotlight. She opted to ignore it, because it was probably just Spotlight being her general overdramatic self, and besides that, it would be rude to ignore the stallion who'd spoken to her. Finally she turned her attention toward him, and her gaze was as sharp as the response she'd thrown at him.

[RoyalDice]

The stallion cleared his throat and continued grinning at the mare. He was quite unsure to what extent the mare was currently busy, and he certainly didn't want to be a burden. Even so, he was talking, and he wasn't sure if he wanted her to reply to what he said. He wasn't exactly the most 'kind' stallion. He sure as heck wasn't that! Ha! At least try to show some manners, regardless if he had them or not.

As soon as he heard the mare talking to him, he refrained from thinking like he usually did. She sounded so cold and snappy. He liked it. ''Well, y'know, the ones that sit alone in cafes, drinking tea.'' he chuckled, and grinned. ''That can never be the bad kind, when there's a bar over there and they still choose a cup of tea..'' he added, his grin slowly fading away as he heard a bit of ruckus behind him.

Turning around and looking at a clumsy mare that had gotten her face glass'd and a zebra close by telling her how accident prone she was. He rose his eyebrow and looked back at the mare in front of him. ''.. Friends of yours?'' he asked, and snickered. ''Shouldn't.. we.. help her? She looks like she's bleeding.'' he tapped his chin, and looked back at the mare on the ground.

''Regardless, my name is Domino.'' he quickly added, before grinning again, and held out a hoof to shake. At least show off those fancy manners you've been thought, even if you never use 'em, Dice!

[Apolline Allura]

The first thing she noticed was that her the floor, the lights, and the smashed remains of her glass had gotten fuzzy...was her fur always so fuzzy too? She lifted a foreleg and stared at it for quite some time before giving it an experimental lick. Yup. Her fur was fuzzy indeed.

Eloquence continued to give her the business from on her seat. Darn zebra. Didn't she know who she was? And just what the hay was a dodo bird? Wait....was she comparing her to--?

She made to stand up, and slipped on her on her cabbie hat, which then prompted her to stay on the floor a few minutes longer. Spotlight rolled onto her back and pointed a hoof at Eloquence, "I'll be the...hye-een-ya when...YOU....um..." And it was through her now nearly destroyed command of the Equestrian language that she was able to summon one coherent sentence.

"I'm going to throw up."

[Hurricane]

The movement was simple, concise, and, above all, fast. Gripping the mare's mane in her teeth, the Zebra tugged her upright, and slid beneath her, lifting the prima donna onto her back. Then, as quick as she could must with only about a tenth of her usual body control, she headed for the nearest convenient place for the mare to hurl, which would have been the toilets, but thee Unyasian spotted the back door first, and pushed through there, into the back alleys of Trottingham. making sure that she continued to hold back Spotlight's mane, she looked up into the sky again.

The zebra felt a chill run down her spine as she glanced back into the club. "It seems that Writer's found a beau. His name is what I would like to know..." she muttered, her speech pattern falling back into that of her home country, using a silly amount of rhyming couplets to express herself. "Hyena, tell me, are you done? I wish to return to the joyous fun. This chilly air is like October, it's crisp and fresh, but making me sober," she said, pushing a hoof against the mare teasingly.

[GhostGirl]

"I wasn't supposed to be sitting alone. It just... happened," she said, a bitter edge on her tone as she put the finishing touches on the finale of the play she was writing. It was all set for proofreading and editing on the way to Stalliongrad tomorrow. A smile softened her expression, and then she looked up at Domino's next words. "Bleeding?!" Alarm filled her eyes and receded as she saw Eloquence taking care of the pegasus. "No... No, she's in good hooves. I don't need to worry about her right now. I'll see how she feels tomorrow morning and make her drink a lot of very bitter tea before we leave town."

As he introduced himself, Ghost Writer regarded Domino with a scrutinous eye. Warily, she accepted his hoofshake.

"I'm Ghost Writer... and yes, the very same Ghost Writer that is a novelist and playwright, before you even ask, and if you're a fanboy, please just leave now. I'm trying to relax."

[RoyalDice]

Such a sour mood. Even if she did react to her friend being in peril, this was one serious mare. A bit too serious, he had to admit. She didn't seem to care for his company, at all. Granted, he wasn't a pony somebody would normally want to be around, but she was almost as rude as he was! Well, maybe not as rude as he was, but close. ''Fanboy, eh?'' he asked, and shook his head. ''.. I.. don't think i've heard of you. Then again, i don't.. read a lot.'' he frowns, and coughs.

Looking at the so-called hyena and the zebra standing close-by, he grunted. Friends of the mare? They were .. quite the characters. He rolled his eyes lightly behind his sunglasses and glanced at the bar. Well, he could try to talk to the bartender.. maybe he'd get a free drink!

''.. Would you.. excuse me? Or actually, i'll just be going!'' he said, and quietly grunted as he got up from his seat and left the table, walking straight to the bar. He set down on one of the stools, and started his conversation with the bartender. He seemed a lot more friendly, anyway.

[Apolline Allura]

How Eloquence continued to move with little difficulty after taking on a glass of much heavier stuff than she was drinking, Spotlight would remain forever envious. The zebra was quick to get her out of the place and managed to keep her steady while she puked over the railing for a few minutes. Curses. The chances of her getting a name in her little black book were falling dropping exponentially, and the worst part was that said chances were dropping from her mouth into the tied trash bags below the staircase where El took her.

"I..." -cough- "...wh-" -spit- "...nngh..."

Spotlight managed to grab a napkin from her saddlebag and wiped her mouth at the very least. She took one look at Eloquence through her drunken haze and hit the ground, unconscious for the night.

[Hurricane]

Eloquence was feeling rather worse for wear. She could barely think, she was barely aware of those around her, and she couldn't seem to shift this large weight that had seemed to attach itself to her back. She seemed to remember that she was helping someone, and that black bags were involved, so it must have been that. She was taking a bag back to base. Through her drunken haze, she managed to approach Writer.

"Ah be heddin home!" she managed to rumble, wiggling through the crowd, the large, heavy weight still upon her back.

Back at their quarters, Eloquence slumped down onto her bed, and let out a groan. This bed was far too hard. She bet Spotlight had a much fancier bed, and the mare had somehow disappeared after the incident with the bags, so she assumed that she was safe to rest there for the night. Sneaking through her room, she felt the temptation to rifle through her belongings, but it quickly subsided as fatigue reared it's ugly head. She collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep within moments.