Tempest Rime

I said NEVER. That includes if it were canon, which it is not.

Rarity, of course. She's too fabulous to be anything less.

Pinkie giggled at Sweet's comments. "Oh yeah, I didn't even think of periwinkle, that's a great one! There's a lot of great colors: chartreuse, periwinkle, turquoise, russet, cerulean, sepia, fuchsia, vermilion, mauve, aquamarine, magenta, and of course PINKIE!" As she got to her name, she stood on her hind legs and waved her forelegs in the air, sending a small blast of confetti out and blowing a party horn. She turned back to Apple Bloom. "Are you kidding? Applejack would KILL me!" She ducked out of the room to return the bottle to the Cakes' liquor cabinet. Upon returning, she bore a tray with a glass for everypony. "You can have some of this, though. The perfect thing to wash down those cookies, some cool, refreshing milk! Enough for everypony." She set the tray down on a counter and bounced back behind the counter. The ponies seemed content to socialize, which was fine with her, but she did need to keep the place open, and there was no telling when the smells of all the wonderful treats would inspire them to make a purchase.

Oh boy, time to over-analyse this again. My general thoughts on their ages are: AJ is the oldest, as she makes a comment about being the last in her class to get her cutie mark, while none of the others make any such comments about their marks coming late. Fluttershy is probably the next eldest, as in her flashback she seems the most physically developed. AJ is smaller in their flashbacks, but Fluttershy could simply have hit a growth spurt earlier than AJ. Rarity is most likely next up, as she is the only other one to own their own business, and in general she has a more adult attitude than the rest. Twilight is most likely next, as she's old enough to be in the magical equivalent of grad school. Pinkie probably never went to college, but is still close enough to that age to be a wild party girl. She hasn't had time to really mellow out yet, as many of that sort of women tend to do. Rainbow Dash is probably the youngest, as she's just hitting her athletic prime, and that tends to happen at a fairly young age.

Mal frowned. "Next? You go talk to the doc and get yourself looked at." She pointed at a receptionist. "I'll grab you a number, it won't be too long. Don't worry about the minor injuries, I got everything you could need to patch up cuts and scrapes in my kit." She finally noticed his anxiety. "What's wrong, you afraid of doctors or something? Don't worry so much, these ponies will make sure you're fine, I've been here plenty. Much better to get looked at now than to come back when it's too late." She pointed a hoof at her missing eye. She pushed Zephyr forward with her magic, helping him forward as she walked him to a seat. She released him slowly, making sure he didn't collapse in a heap before trotting to the receptionist. She exchanged a few pointed snippets of conversation with the mare before returning to Zephyr's side. "The desk pony up there thought I was here for me, she was shocked when I told her I wasn't the injured one for once." She grinned.

PinkieDash is the only acceptable Dash ship. Well, maybe SpitDash, but never FlutterDash, regardless of how cute they look together.

Mal flushed a little and nuzzled Zephyr briefly before trotting ahead. "Don't think you're in the clear yet just because I'm glad to see you and that old harpy is gone. I'm still not happy that you hurt youself. Or that your community service turned out to be something dangerous. Seriously, you should at least be getting hazard pay, being forced to do this for punishment is unacceptable. If you get hurt you will totally have cause to sue the flank off this guy, and the guards who let him buy out your sentence. Seriously, is that even legal? It certainly sounds pretty shady to me." Walking ahead, she led the way to the hospital. "Here we are. These ponies are pretty good at patching me up whenever I get myself into trouble. Just a heads up, though, they will ask you a lot of questions, keep your answers short and to the point or it'll take forever. Oh, and don't call me Copper in there, the last thing I need is for who I really am to get out. At least you weren't doing anything questionable, so you won't have anything to hide." Mal took a deep breath and pushed open the door, holding it open for him. She looked back at him and smiled, a big, bright smile of the sort that had not graced her face in many years. Just hearing him say her name, just that once, had had quite an effect on her.

Pinkie pondered the possibility of a breakfast cookie. "Well, there's already egg in most cookie recipes, but I dunno how well most of the veggies that go into omelettes would work in an actual cookie. I suppose if you caramelized the onions it might work with the right sort of cookie. Maybe an oatmeal cookie, to keep with the breakfast theme. Tomatoes and peppers though... yeah, I don't that would work in any normal cookie." Suddenly her eyes lit up. "Oh oh oh! Of course! I can try it the other way around, an omelette with cookie-type things in it, then split it up into cookie-sized portions. I mean, it technically would be a cookie since it wouldn't be baked, but if it tastes good who cares. It shouldn't even take that long to make since it wouldn't have to bake. Ooh, and I bet it would go great with some chimicherrychangas!" While thinking, she perked an ear up to listen in on Sweet and Apple Bloom's conversation. At the mention of chartreuse, she poked her head in. "Oh, I think we have a bottle of that somewhere." She dashed out of the room and returned with a bottle of chartreuse liquid. "This is chartreuse. Chartreuse is chartreuse, but it's not called chartreuse because it's chartreuse, in fact, the color chartreuse is called chartreuse after the chartreuse liqour chartreuse. Chartreuse chartreuse chartreuse chartreuse chartreuse!" She giggled. "Isn't it a fun word to say?"

I am one too, but if my sister sang a song like that about me I'd be kinda creeped out.

Chekhov's Gun is a type of plot device, not a literal gun.

I actually really hated BBBFF. Probably the worst song of the season. This Day Aria was good enough to overlook it, but I still really dislike it. Edit- also, I know what you were talking about Davroth, I was just teasing. And I do love Chrysalis, she nails both the creepy and cute look at the same time.

What do you mean "compared to Ursula"? She's cute on her own without having to compare her to the sea witch. Now that is interesting. I have never noticed it before, didn't even notice it in this episode until it was pointed out. Learn something everyday, I guess.

When Shard landed in the city, she was greeted with distrusting glares and fear. Not an unexpected turn of events in any city, but here in the heart of the griffon territories, there was an air of menace over the whole thing. It was hard to ignore that for all her skill at fighting, there were lots and lots of griffons here, and they didn't much want a dragon around. She tried to ignore the atmosphere and act casually, unfolding a crumpled paper and checking that she had found the right place. Looking at the paper seemed to be the cue for most of the onlookers to go back to their business, reasonably satisfied that the dragon amongst them wasn't going to start any trouble. The griffons still seemed wary, but they didn't seem to want to make the first move on her, and she was quite content to stay out of trouble. At least, until she was being paid for the trouble, or it was for a worthy cause. Spotting the contact wasn't difficult. Blue is not a particularly common color among griffons, and few of the clientele wore fancy clothing. Shard walked up hesitantly and addressed the blue griffon. "Um, M... Mia Small?" Shard guessed, not actually familiar with the word. "Is that you? You should totally hire me! Uh, Shard. Shard Talyn. I mean, that's me. My name is that. Uh, but with just the one Shard. Er, just call me Shard, anyway." She glanced nervously at the other griffon, hoping that they weren't going to have to compete for the job.

Mal rolled her eyes at Steel's comments as Zephyr picked himself up. "Please, who'd want to be kissed by this." She pushed aside her mane to give the old pegasus a good look at her missing eye and the claw marks running down her face. Mal turned an irate glare on Zephyr. "You're fine huh? You're okay, you don't want any help." She snarled the words contemptuously. "It that what you were thinking when you crashed, too? Or when you pulled that stunt with the guards? And now you're a bodyguard, you're just letting yourself get taken advantage of?" Her voice rose as the continued. "This is just UNACCEPTABLE! You've gotta take care of yourself, and don't just... just push away anyone who tries to help you. If you aren't careful, you'll end up like me," she brushed aside her mane again to show off her scars. "Or worse! Now SHUT UP and let me HELP!" The hypocrisy of asking him to stop pushing ponies away was quite lost on her. At that, she engulfed him in the red and green glow of her magic, carefully supporting some of his weight, though she didn't dare go so far as to actually pick him up. "Now come on, we're going to get you to the hospital, and that means NOW!"

"Great," Pinkie shouted loudly, "OK, so you talk to Apple Bloom here and see what she wants out of the party, get all the details. Attention to details is important. And then once you do that, try to get a rough plan for the party. That part doesn't have to be too detailed yet, because once you have that much, you can come to me, and I'll see how you're doing. And in the mean time," Pinkie turned to the other ponies in the store, "I've got other customers to..." Pinkie trailed off, watching as two more ponies burst into tears for no reason. "Geez, and I'm not even babysitting again until next thurday," she muttered. "Ok, ok, first things first." She dashed behind a counter and in seconds had boxed up the cookies for the blue pegasus. "Box of cookies, no problem, next." She dashed over to Flourish. "Hey, don't worry about it," she said, comforting the crying mare, "you were right, I wasn't being very nice, but I apologized and everything's A-OK now, see." She grinned. "So do you still want that cake, I'd love to try to make it for you." Her ear perked up. "Uh, just a second." She turned to Timid and leapt right into his personal space. "Did you just say 'omelet cookie'? I've never even heard of such a thing, tell me how to make it! Uh, that is, if it's not a secret."

No, you're not the only one. It's a horrible lopsided ship. The shy one and the braggart? Yeah no, that never ends well.

That's funny, I'm pretty sure you are playing the first one. But seriously, It would not be that difficult to allow for Chrysalis. She's a far cry from Discord's godmode power level. Most of her power actually came from her amassed changeling army and the power she stole from Shining Armor. She may be able to stop Princess Celestia temporarily while bloated with stolen power and wielding the element of surprise, but on her own she certainly would be no match for the Princesses. At the end of the episode the changelings were scattered in every direction, and if they went to ground or were pursued by the royal army, it is likely that their army has been irrevocably shattered. With no power base, and her supply of power cut off, she is unlikely to bother Equestria again for a long time. Changelings themselves wouldn't actually be that hard to keep from being imbalanced. The lesser ones don't seem to have any abilities but shapeshifting and flight, probably because they haven't fed on stolen love. Any magic they use would have to be directly fueled by stolen emotions, and the power of the character being siphoned is likely a factor. Unless they manage to steal the love of another extremely powerful magic-user, none of them could ever reach anything close to the level of power of their Queen, and she's likely able to hold more energy herself than any of her people. As for all the Changelings we've seen being evil... well, so were all the Diamond Dogs.

Personally, I like it when a fantasy book is able to create a setting that actually differs a lot from the standard fare. When they can create something with a rich and fantastic setting without resorting to the same old elves, humans, dwarves, wizards, kings, and dragons. The His Dark Materials books are a brilliant example of this, though I'd advise avoiding the movie, as it was rather disappointing. I also love it when they take some of the overused ideas and try to actually show how those can affect the setting. The Vlad Taltos books, for example, have fairly easy to come by resurrection magic, and it drastically changes how many people feel about hiring the main character, an assassin. It actually looks at the oft-overlooked social implications of being able to bring back the dead and applies them to the setting. And then there are books that take the traditional pulp fantasy elements and poke fun at them. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, for instance, is an absolutely hilarious twist on the standard knights and dragons and wizards, and of as mentioned above, the Discworld books offer a wonderful deconstruction of nearly any fantastic story element you can think of, from fairies to vampires to the phantom of the opera to eldritch horrors to religion itself. And of course, there's always room for a grand, epic tale that doesn't stray too far from the standard. Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire, for example, are fairly standard settings (though in the case of LotR, that's because the setting Tolkien created actually BECAME the standard), but they are so vibrant and detailed that they really come alive and feel unique in spite of the familiar elements. But then again, there's ALSO something to be said for the lighthearted pulp fantasy stories too. The SERRAted Edge series, or the Dresden Files are both fairly standard modern-fantasy settings without a lot of real weight behind them, but they make for fun, easy, light reading. They are self-aware enough that they can avoid taking themselves too seriously, but they don't go as far as dissolving into actual parodies of themselves either, in spite of the sheer ridiculousness of their settings. Oh, and of course I can't forget the Harry Potter books, they may be easy to read, but it takes an incredibly skilled writer to make a story that's both light and so coherent at the same time.

"Okie dokie loki," said Pinkie amiably as Dark took cover. "Let's see what happens." Without further ado, she dumped the entire vial into the box. There was a hissing sound, and the amount of smoke pouring out intensified. The smoke billowed out unnaturally, and strange, monstrous faces began to form in it, each grinning ghoulishly in the air before dissolving back into smoke. Pinkie burst out laughing and began to make silly faces right back at the smoke. "Eeeeheeheehee, oh that one was great, now the smoke makes funny faces, see!" She shot a doofy grin back at Dark. "Come on, hand me another one. Or more than one. Lets see what they all do!" She giggled again, and the smoke billowed out a grasping claw that flailed at her while her back was turned, but it was still just smoke, and it broke back into harmless plumes when it hit her.

Pinkie's eyes went wide at Muffin's statement. "You've never has sweets before?" She asked, her jaw dropping in amazement. "That's it, I'm buying you all a cookie." She distributed them to Muffin Top, Apple Bloom, and the newcomer before somehow appearing behind Timid. She spun him around, shoved his cookie into his mouth, and said, "Didn't you hear what I was just yelling. It's never a bad time." Her happly-go-lucky expression turned deadly serious for a moment as she added in a low whisper "Never." She pranced back over to Apple Bloom and Sweet Surprise, pushing the latter forward presentably. "So... you need a party planner, and I need a place for a party planner's apprentice to practice planning parties. How about I put this pony in place as principal party planner, presided over by me personally, for a purely provisional purpose. I promise you, this party will be so prodigiously prosperous that everypony in Ponyville will be praising it perpetually, and Sweet's place as a prominent party pony will be perfected!"

Mal rolled her eyes. "Like this, idiot," she said, and darted over to kiss him, gently. She broke off quickly, glancing sheepishly at Steelwalt for just a moment before turning back to Zephyr. "So... you're alright then? Nothing broken I assume since you managed to push yourself up. A few scrapes and bruises, but nothing I'm not well-versed in patching up" She winked at him, frowning when she noticed his befuddled expression. "Hmm, I bet you're bit concussed, you look kinda out of it. Come on, see if you can walk, we'll get you checked out by a doctor, and NO FLYING, understand? The last thing you need is to fly around with a concussion and hit your head again." "I told you not to go getting yourself killed," Mal grumbled, "and what do you do? Slam yourself into the ground! I swear, if the earth hadn't already done it for me, I'd smack you." She glared suddenly at the old mare. "And you! What in the name of Discord were you trying to pull with that stunt, anyway? I mean really, there's tricks and then there's just tempting fate, and that needlessly dangerous move coulda got him killed!"

"Oh, no I wasn't upset," Pinkie insisted, "I was just... suspicious. I wasn't gonna be upset until you actually cheated me, and if you don't have any plans for doing that, then there's nothing to worry about, right? Uh, just a minute, lemme deal with these other ponies, I'll be right back." She grabbed a cookie and shoved it into Sweet's mouth to distract her. "Here, have one on the house." She trotted over to the newcomer. "Hay there, it's not a bad time. It's never a bad time. NEVER!" She said it with significantly more force than was necessary. She waved a hoof at Apple Bloom as well. "Hi Apple Bloom, how's it goin'? Oh! Are you all gonna throw Granny Smith a big party this year?" She glanced back at Sweet. "'Cause I could totally help you out if are." It would give her the perfect opportunity to show Sweet the ropes too.

Pinkie rolled her eyes as Rainbow Dash . "Oh Rainbow, you can't just jump in on a joke like that, you need the proper timing. The whole comedy dynamic changes when you add another pony to the mix like that. I have a book on comedy I can lend you if you want, oh oh oh, and the chapter on practical jokes is fantabulorius!" She smiled and turned back to Twilight, who seemed a little put-off for some reason. She must have been expecting a bigger laugh. Spontaneously, Pinkie leapt at her friend and gave her a big hug to take her mind of whatever was bothering her. She may not always understand Twilight, but she definitely wanted the purple unicorn to be happy. "Come on Twilight, lets sing a song about shopping for Hearts and Hooves gifts!" She released Twilight, took a deep breath before pausing for a moment and looking around. "Actually on second thought, that might attract too much attention, it is supposed to be a secret and all." Disappointed, she ambled after Spike, though her disappointment didn't affect her mood for long as her thoughts turned back to the gift itself. "Hmm, I bet Rarity would be extra critical of how romantic the gift really is. Really, the best pony to ask would be..." She gasped. "Of course! We could ask HER! Pinkie, you are a genius! Hmm, but we'll need disguises..." She trailed off, considering.

"Zephyr!" Mal bolted up from where she'd been watching the flight lesson, rushing to his side. She glared daggers at Steelwalt. "What the hay do you think you were doing? What kind of stupid trick was that, he could be seriously hurt!" She blinked back tears as she yelled at the old mare. She didn't actually get in the way, however. She recognized the smelling salts, and while she did have a first aid kit, there were no salts in it. She yanked out her own kit, just so it would be ready, but as she looked over him, she saw no obvious breaks. She didn't risk moving him yet, but she did pull out a bottle of iodine and a rag, floating it in to apply to the scrapes he'd picked up from the crash. "Zephyr!" She scolded his unconscious form. "You had better not die, or I swear to Celestia I will KILL you!"

She doesn't really know much about mercenary work herself, but mostly she presumes she'll be hired to protect weaker creatures who need to travel through dangerous areas, such as the Everfree Forest, track down criminals, protect the weak, etc. She's only a mercenary in occupation, not in mindset. She certainly wouldn't take any jobs that would put her on the wrong side of her moral compass, even if she doesn't actually have a code of conduct that's set in stone. On the other hand, her tastes are rather expensive, as she is a dragon, so better pay means better eating.