A/N: Ah, it's good to receive feedback. Thanks for the reviews so far, guys. Everypony is being very helpful. Remember that your reviews are helping to keep me on task, so the more of you that give feedback and the more feedback you give, the higher the likelihood that this story will continue to update regularly.

Chapter 3

Inspiration

The sun was just rising as Roller hauled another bag of streamers and confetti into the trash can outside his home. The dew still sat on the grass and glinted in the early morning, producing dots of light that made his tired eyes sting slightly. The sky was cloudy and gray, almost as if it were sad.

"I wish I felt that good," the author muttered as he looked up. He lowered his head and dragged his tired hooves back inside, silently cursing the pink mare that was responsible for the mess he had to clean up. It hadn't been the first time that Roller spent an entire night without sleep, though he wished that it had been because he was writing.

Once he was in the door, Roller let out a long sigh. The main room of his store was cleaner than it had been in days and it was a good thing too. "New book today," he said aloud as he turned his attention to a large poster on the wall, "I kind of wish you were her to play it, guys."

The poster portrayed three stallions. The one in the middle of the group was a reddish color and clad in shining armor with a sword hanging off his side. The one on the left was easily the largest of the three and was a dull, orange color that sharply contrasted with the bright gemstone around his neck. The last pony was the only unicorn in the picture, small and what little could be seen of him from under his green hood was pure white. Roller smiled for a moment before turning his gaze away from the image. "Gotta open early today," he said, "I'll write to you guys about it once the shop is closed."

Just as he stepped behind his counter, he heard someone walk in the door. Without looking, he greeted them through a yawn, "Welcome to the Hobby Horse. We buy and trade games and toys. We've just received a new shipment of the 'Horses and Heroes: Creatures of the Neverfree Woods' source books. Would you like to..." his voice trailed off as he saw a purple unicorn enter his shop, "Oh, it's you. Here for another surprise attack?"

Twilight shook her head, "No. Uh, sorry about that. My friends and I could have thought that through a little more." Suddenly, Spike jumped out from behind her, landing on the counter and causing Roller's eyes to go wide for a brief second before looking past the dragon and giving Twilight an angered look.

"So, it's here today, right?" Spike asked excitedly, "Oh man, I can't wait to roll up my new character! This is gonna be so awesome! I mean-" Spike was cut off mid-sentence as the shop keep gave him a light tap and he lost his footing. Waving his arms frantically to try to help regain his balance, the young dragon fell from the counter and landed flat on his back. Roller shook his head, "Kid, you've got to learn some restraint."

Spike sat up. "But, you have the new book, right?" he asked. Roller reached behind the counter and emerged with a bright red book in his teeth. Placing it next to the register he said, "Ten bits," before turning to Twilight and continuing to give her a nasty glare. The little dragon seemed totally oblivious to this as he put a handful of coins on the counter, took the book and headed out the door.

"Listen," the unicorn spoke sheepishly, "I'm sorry that we scared you like that, but you just seem so-" suddenly, Roller barked out, "So what? Pick you adjective carefully, Filly, I'm not in the mood to be judged right now. Especially not by..." his stopped mid-sentence as he thought for a moment, "Who are you anyway? I mean, besides a party ninja."

Twilight was taken back a bit by the interruption, but tried to remain civil. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," She introduced herself, "I work at the library just a short trot away from here. I'm also a huge fan of your books and was just wondering-"

"When I was going to publish another one?" the author interrupted again, "You and half of Canterlot's book clubs. Every week I have to sift through pound upon pound of pseudo-intellectual little foals that think just because they write a letter, I'm somehow more motivated to push another pile of paper onto the shelves. You know what? I'm kind of sick of-"

Twilight's patience had worn very thin at this point. "That's not what I was going to ask!" now she interrupted him, "I just wanted to know where you got your inspiration from, but if you're going to be like this then I should really just go. Goodbye, Roller."

As he watched her turn and leave, something inside Roller forced him to shout, "Stop!" before he clasped one hoof over his mouth and tried again, "Please, stop. I'm, uh, sorry about not letting you finish. I just... it's been..." he was clearly at a loss for words as his expressions changed from angry to something Twilight wasn't sure of. He looked either very tired or on the verge of tears. "Go on," She said, walking back up to the counter.

A moment of nervous quiet passed between the two. The clock ticked away the seconds, but it didn't seem to mean anything. Roller bowed his head and seemed to let out a series of sighs. Twilight waited for him to say what was on his mind. It seemed as though she was waiting for several minutes for the writer. In a strange way, she was proud of herself for leaving probably one of the most verbose ponies in Equestria totally speechless.

Then she realized that she had been waiting for nearly five minutes and that Roller hadn't moved at all in that time.

"Um, Roller?" she asked, "Are you alright? I can tell that you're not a very happy pony, but you can talk to me. I mean, we're all just bookworms here, right? I completely understand if you're frustrated as a writer. I mean, I have to write these reports to Princess Celestia about the magic of friendship and sometimes it can be very difficult to communica-"

Then she could hear Roller snoring.

"You're ASLEEP?" The mare couldn't believe it, "What kind of inconsiderate, self-centered, lazy excuse for a stallion falls asleep in the middle of a conversation? That's completely inappropriate! You shouldn't..." He started snoring louder and she realized that he couldn't hear her, "WAKE UP!"

With a gasp, Roller's head jerked back up and his eyes widened. "I'm up! I'm up!" he declared, "Who said I wasn't?" His eyes darted around the room before finding Twilight again. "Oh, right," he was reminded, "You're here. Sorry about the power nap, but I had to clean up a mess that SOMEPONY and her friends made of my shop and it took all night."

"Well," Twilight was clearly angry, "Maybe if SOMEPONY wasn't so mopy all the time, Pinkie Pie wouldn't have thought she had to throw that party. Also, if SOMEPONY were a little more appreciative or accepting of other ponies' help, maybe SOMEPONY wouldn't have had to clean up all that party stuff by himself."

Roller gritted his teeth, "Well, maybe if SOMEPONY had decided to mind her own business..." he then suddenly stopped. It took a second, but he finally suggested "It actually sounds like we should both be angry at the pink one. Why are we mad at each other?"

There was another brief pause in the conversation. Twilight and Roller looked at one another with serious expressions. It wasn't nearly as long a time as either of them would have guessed before Twilight had an answer, "I don't know."

The brief pause was drawn out into a long, awkward silence that Twilight eventually broke. "You used to write such great novels," she said, "Where did you get those kind of stories? What got you to write like that? I mean, something must have inspired you."

The author looked away as he answered, "Those are some very personal questions, but you're the first one to ask in..." he thought for another moment, "You're the only one whose ever asked." He looked at her, blinking back some tears in his baggy eyes, and told Twilight, "I'll, uh, tell you, gah, why I-I-" he quietly growled to himself before saying, "I'm sorry, I can't tell you right now. I just- you need to go. Come back later tonight with some friends. I'll show you where I got my stories from."

Twilight smiled gently and nodded. As she turned to leave the shop, she noticed a poster on the wall with a picture of Beopony, Horscules and Robin Hoof standing together heroically as if ready for yet another adventure. She emerged from the dark store blinking in the light of the rising sun and feeling a mix of anxiousness and satisfaction that she would finally be getting some answers.

The sun was going down as Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie turned a corner and could see the Hobby Horse halfway down the street. "I don't know, Twilight," said Fluttershy, "He looked really mad before. Maybe this isn't a good idea."

Twilight rolled her eyes and reassured her friend, "Relax, Fluttershy. He's not bad, he's just tired. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"He could turn out to be a total loser," Rainbow Dash answered, "I mean, he sells those weird rolling game books. I'm kind of surprised he's not living in his mom's basement."

Pinkie Pie chimed in, "Ooh! Or maybe the shop actually IS his mom's basement and he just cast some kind of spell to raise it above ground! Or maybe he used robots to do it! I bet he's some kind of secret robot pony that goes around stealing other ponies' basements to add to his secret, underground lair full of mechanical monsters! Or maybe..."

Pinkie continued talking while the others tried to act as if she didn't. "They're called role-playing games, not rolling games," Twilight corrected Rainbow, "Besides that, he's a brilliant writer. I'm sure that whatever he wants to show us must be incredible."

The blue pegasus shrugged her shoulders as she opened the door to the Hobby horse and held it for the others. "I hope you're right," she stated, "'cause if he's just a jerk then I don't want to put up with Rarity telling us that she told us so." As her friends entered the store, she added, "Maybe she had the right idea when she didn't come with us."

The interior of the shop was much the same as it was earlier that day, but with one major difference. In the middle of the room was a table upon which sat three books, four piles of funny-shaped pieces of plastic, a stack of papers and what looked like a miniature changing screen. Out from the back of the shop came Roller, holding a tray of small sandwiches in his mouth.

He put the food on the table and greeted his guests, his voice shaking slightly at first, "H-hello, Twilight. I see you brought your friends with you..." His voice grew quieter and a look of dull surprise came across his face as he recognized the other four ponies. "These are the friends you decided to bring here?" he sounded displeased, "Really? You don't know anypony else? Just more party ninjas?"

Twilight nodded, "These are my friends. That's not a problem, is it?" Roller looked to the floor before reluctantly gesturing to the far side of the table from himself, "Go on and have a seat. I'm going to show you where a lot of those stories you like so much come from."

The four young mares took their places at the table, Fluttershy examining the odd trinkets there. On close inspection, she could see that they had numbers printed on them. "Are these supposed to be dice?" She asked Twilight.

"Indeed they are," Roller answered first, "At Twilight Sparkle's request, I'm going to host a game of Horses and Heroes for you four." This caused Rainbow Dash to glare at Twilight, who's jaw hung open slightly. "Wait," she spoke, "I never asked you to do this. Where did you get an idea like that?"

"You wanted to know what inspired me," he recalled, "Well, this is where a lot of my stories come from. You'll see, this'll be fun and nopony will have to be picked up off the floor afterwords," to which Twilight simply shrugged her shoulders before using her magic to lift one of the books in front of them. It was identical to the other two with its deep blue cover and silver lettering that read, "Player's Handbook for Horses and Heroes Third-and-A-Half Edition" The blue pegasus sighed, "This is going to be a long night, isn't it?"

"Only if you decide to make it one," Roller replied, "Now, let's start with a little background..."

...and the story began.

It is an age of iron and sorcery for the country of Equestraland. A thousand years ago, Queen Solaria united the land and since that time she has ruled with justice and temperance. Cities and towns all throughout her empire praise her name and feel the utmost loyalty to her, though the same can not be said of the wild things beyond the high walls of civilization.

Somewhere beyond the cities and towns, beyond the reach of Equestraland's ruler, come wild beasts and vicious monsters that steal ponies away in the night. In the past, the royal guard has always been able to put a stop to this, but the latest string of disappearances has gone unsolved. The royal guard seems unable to recover the lost ponies.

To add to these troubles, armies of monsters are gathering at the edges of the wilderness. They build great fortresses and greater numbers of soldiers for an unknown, but certainly vile purpose. Ponies that live on the edge of the Queen's influence fear for their safety in the face of this growing mass of beasts and arms.

Due to the nature of these troubling times, the call has gone out for heroes. Who is so brave as to take a stand against armies of evil? Who is so brave as to shepherd the lost children of the empire back home? Who is so brave as to take on the hopes of their Queen and go on a journey of Horses and Heroes?

...and he awaited an answer.

The four ponies at the table looked at each other before three of them nodded. Roller looked to Rainbow Dash who gave a reluctant, "Fine," causing the author to smile approvingly. "Alright," he said, "Now the first thing we'll have to do is make up some characters for you four..."

A/N: Next chapter is finally going to get some role-playing stuff in this story. Sorry that it took so long, but I kind of wanted to give the proper context. Tell me what you guys think by leaving a review, it'll keep me updating regularly and guarantee that you get more pony next week.