Tempest Rime

"Oh no!" Tempest began to visibly panic. "Oh no oh no oh no, what did I do?" The little green pegasus was so accustomed to the cold that she didn't understand just how badly she had chilled the other pegasus. "She's fainted! You there!" She turned to yell at Turns again. "Help me get her to the infirmary! Quick-like, there's no telling how long she's got!" With that, she swooped down to try to pick up Starburst. Tempest was not a particularly strong pony by any stretch of the imagination, and she was smaller than average as well. Still, as her adrenaline surged, she managed to lift the white pegasus unsteadily into the air before Turns could actually get there to help her, and she began to fly towards the tent the nurses had set up. In order to keep her grip on Starburst, Tempest had to hold the other pegasus quite close to her own body. It served to reinforce just how chilled the unconscious pony really was, and also served to transfer some of Tempest's own body heat to Starburst. "Argh, she's like ice," Tempest yelped, her own teeth beginning to chatter.

"Oh good, it came out. I was worried, marshmallows are awfully sticky and all." She flitted back into the sky to replace the mostly-expended cloud back where she'd found it. Upon returning to find Starburst awfully close to the fire, she panicked again, and dived down to push Starburst away from it. "Goodness, do be careful! You'll set your mane on fire, that would be far worse than-" She only then noticed how chilled the other pegasus was. "Oh no wonder, you're chilled to the bone. Here, I'm not the best at this, but I can certainly create a bit of wind when I need to. I am a weather pony, after all." She began to circle around Starburst, succeeding at creating a breeze to dry her, but also only making it more chilly as she did so.

"Don't worry! You won't have to cut it. Probably. Um, well lets just try this first." She flew up and positioned the cloud where it wouldn't get anything else wet. "Over here, just put your mane under here and I'll push the rain out. Try to get the marshmallow stuff out quick while it's still goopy. Oh, you should probably be careful not to get your costume too wet either, I don't know what that'll do to it." With that she began to stomp on center of the raincloud, sending a thinly concentrated stream of rainwater down from the center of the bottom of the small cloud. Releasing the water this way would concentrate it all in one place where Starburst could more easily make use of it.

Lola pondered for a moment. No mass production would hinder testing, and would mean her family couldn't retrofit her fleet. Still, there was always an angle that could be exploited. Perhaps she simply needed to think a bit more ling-term. "Well, if you insist. I can't actually retrofit any of my family's ships without extensive safety testing, and you'd have to be willing to give up at least enough information on the drive for the engineers to perform emergency maintenance should problems arise. Airships are quite an investment, and without testing, I really can't risk them. Even if your drive does work perfectly in the lab, field-use is an entirely different animal." "Here," she reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. "Take my card and do let me know when you are ready to begin implementation. At the very least I would love to have our top-line ships outfitted with your engine. Every little bit of efficiency the airships can get is that much less coal burned to power them."

"Espresso is..." Mal paused. "Uh, well I don't really know how it's made, to be honest. All I know is it's kinda like coffee, but it comes in little tiny glasses, and packs way more punch than even a big cup of coffee. You don't drink it by the mug, that's for sure, it'd probably give you a heart attack if you tried. It's great for nights when you gotta stay up a while but are still tired. If you do want to get to sleep tonight, though, I don't recommend it. I don't usually go for the flavored stuff either, always seemed a bit bourgeoisie to me." She relaxed a little. Talking to these two was already helping ease her mind. When the conversation shifted back to magic, she pondered another attempt at a spell. Maybe lightening her mood was all she'd needed. She attempted to conjure a wisp of flame as they walked, but all that happened was a small shower of sparks as the spell fizzled. Another frustrated sigh escaped her, still not working. "Amazing stuff my flank. Just because you can do a lot with it don't mean that anypony can use it well. I only ever managed two and a half spells at my best, and now only my levitation is working properly. Thank Celestia that hasn't failed too or I'd be out of a job!" She scowled, but for once the scowl did not seem to be directed at anypony in particular.

"That's not working!" Tempest scolded him, "do it better, you're scaring her!" Tempest frowned hesitantly. "Miss Starburst, please don't fret, he's just a customer. He's offering to help with your mess, and I will too. We'll have you back up and running in a jiffy." She flitted back through the air to the new earth pony. "Oh no you don't, you're going to stay here and help her business, she hasn't been getting much traffic out here, so don't go backing off now!" She shooed him back towards the concessions stand. Back to Starburst she flew again, snagging the cloud she'd brought down earlier. "Here, I grabbed a cloud you can use to clean your mane. It's only... ugh, sticky molten sugars, do those come out of hair with just water?" Tempest had little experience in cleaning such messes, she was always extremely fastidious when eating.

Tempest roasted the marshmallow carefully, focusing on not getting too close to the fire. Fire spooked her more than most anything else around, a fear possibly born of never having actually been around it most of her life. Clouds don't burn, after all. So when Starburst accidentally started a fire nearby, Tempest panicked. She yelped and dropped her marshmallow into the flames, darting into the air and grabbing a cloud to squeeze out onto it before an imagined wildfire destroyed everything. She returned with a cloud in tow, but Starburst had already doused the fire. "Oh... uh, you got it, I see." She gawked as the white pegasus proceeded to make a mess of herself. "Oh no, it... um..." Tempest tried to think of some words of encouragement, but fell short. Social interaction really wasn't her strong suit. She wanted to make Starburst feel better, but had no idea how to do so. "You!" She said, zipping towards the new pony. "Make her feel better! I don't know how!" Tempest paused. "Um, I mean... she's the one with the marshmallows, so she'll maybe give you one if you help."

Tempest smiled politely. In spite of the awkward feeling of the conversation, Tempest found herself quite liking this pegasus. Perhaps it was because they both seemed equally awkward, even if it was in slightly different ways. She thought back to her own younger days. "Hmm, I can barely remember being so young I couldn't fly. I was one of the first in my class to pick up the basics." She smiled proudly, but quickly frowned again, remembering what had come after that. "Of course, that just meant I got sent off to flight camp that much faster." "Not being able to fly would be unfortunate, though. It's always so much more peaceful in the air." She sighed and daydreamed for a moment, smiling politely at Starburst's story about a fan without really listening. When the other pegasus waved a skewer right in her eye, she was caught off-guard and toppled over backwards as she flinched away from it. "Waaah, oh dear. Do be careful with that." She flitted into the air briefly to get back onto her feet. "Um, I suppose that a marshmallow would be nice, thank you." Carefully, she took the skewer from Starburst and began to roast it. Tempest wasn't particularly fond of sweet things, but she didn't want to be rude by refusing it.

"Good grief, how awful!" Tempest harrumphed. "I almost wish I was a police officer just so I could go give those hooligans a proper scolding. In spite of its name, that stuff is no joke. I've never touched it myself, but I've heard seen the things it's done to some of the locals out in Ponyville. The best flier on our weather team even wound up unable to fly! We had to call in several other ponies just to make up for her missing her shift." She sat down and continued to sip her own tea. "Well, at least you got it treated. I'd never even heard of the stuff before that incident, and lately it's been popping up all over the place. Horrible noxious weeds."

You can always try the IRC chat, too, there's often people on there who might be open to join, an may have just not seen the thread.

"Sorry about that," Tempest said, somewhat sheepishly. "Though I guess that means my costume is a success." She smiled smugly. "I like your costume too. Can you actually fly with those wings on? They look like they'd come off if you flapped too quickly." "Anyway, I'm a bit surprised you haven't been doing well. A nice hot cup of tea or hot cocoa seem like just the thing for a night like this, and you're out here away from the bustle of the main attractions. Nice place to take a breather. Hmm... although I supposed that could be part of the problem, actually. You're not particularly visible out here. I mean, they can see you, obviously, but only if they come to this area. Perhaps if you put up a few signs near the big attractions like exit of the corn maze or around the main festival grounds you might see some more customers." She took a deep breath, that had been a mouthful. She then frowned as another thought occurred to her. "Although... I'm not sure I'm the best pony to be listening to on sales advice, I'm just a weather pony, I've never been particularly good at uh... this sort of thing."

Had Mal been in a better mood, she probably would have taunted Scale mercilessly for getting embarrassed like that, and she certainly would have expressed some ire at being called a friend. As it was, she just sighed and glanced up at the sky. "Yeah, right, whatever. Well, if you want coffee, I know a little 24-hour place that's got some strong espresso. Not that I'm like, trying to hang out with you guys or anything. I'm just bored and wouldn't really mind coffee." She paused, it was far too early for her to drink coffee under normal circumstances, but she really had nothing better to do, and at least being around other ponies would distract her from her own problems."Um, maybe not the espresso, that's kind of overkill at this hour, but I've never tried their other stuff. I mean, if you want. It's not like I care." She sighed again. This was stupid, the last thing she needed was to get attached to more ponies. But then she thought back to what Zephyr had said the first time she'd met him. Something about friends giving back more than they took. Not to mention the many, many times she'd seen references to the power of harmony and friendship in magical books, references she'd been dismissing as meaningless propaganda. Well what the hay, maybe if she acted like these irritating foals were her friends her magic would benefit somehow. It was worth a shot. "No, actually, I do care," she said in an angry tone, glaring at the other ponies. She was utterly failing to express any sort of friendliness in her mien. "Now come on and follow me to this crummy place already. I'm tired of wandering around these stupid streets." With an emphatic stomp, she turned to lead them to her usual coffee stop.

Tempest dropped out of character again. "I'm Tempest Rime, it's nice to meet you Miss Starburst. I'm on the Ponyville weather team." It suddenly occurred to her that the costume might be misleading her. "Uh, I'm not really a police officer, it's just my costume. I don't wish to give anypony the wrong idea." She posed so that her badge was showing clearly. Upon it was written the words 'Nightmare Night Police Department: To Scare and Distress'. "I don't believe I've seen you around before, are you from Cloudsdale?" She sighed softly and took a long sip of tea. "I haven't been back there in years." She smiled, dismissing the thoughts of home from her mind. "Well, regardless this tea is delicious, thank you very much."

I may be alone in this, but I like these as official names for them.

"Oh don't be silly, just because it works on poison joke doesn't mean it doesn't work on other things. At at least it can reverse one kind of transformation, so it just might work on this one too!" She paused, thinking about his earlier words. "Hmm, you know, if you want to look more villainous, you should get one of those mustaches you can twirl while laughing menacingly. I know just the pony to help with that, Twilight can grow great mustaches. I even saw Spike wandering around in a getup kinda like yours once, it was so cute! And you gotta make sure you get the laugh down, like this." She paused and reared up on her hind legs and let loose with a long, blood-chilling, cackle, a hideous crazed expression building in her eyes as she laughed. "MuahahahahahahahAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAAAAA! Oh, we're here!" Her malicious mien vanished instantly and she dragged Dark Core inside without further ado. "Helloooo," she called. "Lotus? Aloe? Anypony here? I brought you a customer!"

"Well, Monsieur Jace, Mademoiselle Estrella, and 'omever you are," Beach said, giving a mildly reproachful glance at Vinyl, "Shall we 'ead into town? I am in no real 'urry to get there, so if you wish to do something else, I am open to suggestions." She reached into one of the pockets on her wetsuit and pulled out a canister of moisturizing cream, which she rubbed into her exposed fur with a hoof. "I am eager to learn more about the ways of you four-legs. I mean, I 'ave 'eard many things from my father, but never 'ave I been in a real four-leg city before. May'aps we could go into town, and you two could find some form of equitable arrangement to rectify your disagreement on 'om the glasses belong too. After all, if you did simply find them on the ground, it's possible that this one 'ere dropped them earlier without realizing it." She was certain that a reasonable approach would win her the friendship and respect of the four-legs, and from there she was bound to find some kind of adventure up here on the land. There was adventure all over the place, if the stories she'd heard were anything to go by.

Mal wandered the streets of Canterlot in a morose stupor. She'd been in a funk since Zephyr Burst had visited her the other day, and she'd been unable to accomplish anything. The only thing she'd been able to focus on had been her work, and now it was her day off. Normally she'd use the time off to take a trip to look for ruins, but that too had lost its appeal. Even working on getting the new spell she'd learned was going nowhere, as she couldn't really get into the right mindset to do any magic. So it was that she'd taken to meandering about the city without looking where she was going. One clumsy mistep was all it took, and she went tumbling clumsilly to the ground, not far from where Scale and Dazzle were talking. "Watch it you stupid..." Mal looked up from where she'd tumbled to find out who had tripped her. "Uh... curb." She struggled to her hooves and looked around, hoping nopony had seen that. Spotting the two ponies she recognized, she blinked. She walked over to them and emphatically exclaimed "You didn't see nothing!" She paused, frowning at them. "So I guess you two took my suggestion to heart, huh? Well, uh... good, 'cause I certainly didn't want to be bothered by you again." She sounded unconvinced. "S-so what are you doing out here tonight? Uh, if it's a date, don't let me interrupt."

Mal shot a dirty look at the Doctor. "D-don't get me wrong, I just... I could see that there was no way I was gonna convince you to leave them, s-so my best course of action is to help. 'S not like I care 'bout 'em or anything." Mal was not a particularly good liar, and her tone gave her away. She followed him out, spotting another trio of clockwork ponies milling about behind a ruined building. She whipped one of the flames she'd conjured out toward them and back, misjudging the distance and not actually striking any of them. "BLOODY MISSING EYE!" She shouted. The shout was enough to catch their attention, however, and they joined the other two in chasing them. Now with five of the Autonies in persuit, she glanced around for a way to slow them down. "Doctor! See that fallen log just off the road way up there? Can you get your cart over that? If you can, I'll set it on fire with another curtain like I used to stop you earlier once we're past, it ought to at least slow these guys down. Not that they're that fast, but they won't get tired like we will." She paused, huffing. Running and shouting were taxing on the breath. "I can try to levitate it some if that'll help, but I'd rather not blow my magic floating the cart around when there are things to burn."

Lola examined the blueprints with fascination. "Intriguing. And it works entirely without the use of magic?" She considered the implications of this technology. If she were to acquire local manufacturing rights as well, she would be competing with NIS, which would be awfully rude, and might cause problems down the line. Plus, if griffins were manufacturing the drives, she'd have no excuse not to sell them to the Razorclaws. However, if she let NIS develop them, the fact that a pony company was making them would probably be enough to keep the traditionalist Razorclaws from outfitting their own fleets, while Lola could take advantage of the new technology. Plus engines weren't exactly her family's primary area of expertise. She nodded. "If you start manufacturing these, and they perform in practice as well as they should in theory, I would be highly interested in retrofitting my family's fleet with them. On one condition. I want to be sure it's known who is responsible for this advance." She pointed at Rivet and smiled disarmingly. "I don't know if you're aware, but the prevailing opinion on non-griffin technologies in Aquelia has not been one of high regard. It's an old-fashioned, outdated mode of thought that I've been trying to break through for some time now, and I think making it known that a pony can not only build, but improve upon our own technologies would be an important step forward." And it would be certain to keep those infernal Razorclaws from taking advantage of the technology, she added mentally.

In a mild funk, Beachnut wandered into some kind of attraction. It wasn't until she was inside that she realized what it was. She smiled. Everypony knew, of course, that the mythical gorgony's gaze was deadly, much like that of the cockatrice of the basilisk, but her reflection was not. She grinned at the myriad serpentine ponies around her and began to walk through the maze, easily navigating her way through. The mirrors didn't confuse her in the slightest, she was used to navigating around reflective surfaces, since that's what the air looked like from beneath the sea. Unfortunately, while the mirrors failed to confuse Bea, the maze itself was fairly complex, and she spent quite a bit of time retracing her steps. She couldn't remember exactly how to get back out, so picked a direction and started following the wall. Eventually she'd find her way out.

Beachnut gasped as the Princess herself appeared. She'd heard tales of the splendor and glory of Princess Celestia from her father, but they hadn't come close to reality. She stood dumbfounded as the Princess passed out candies, and almost forgot to kneel when the Princess came to her. Fortunately, a few of the manners her mother had tried to impress upon her were still there, and when the Princess looked upon her she came to her senses and dropped to her knees. When she received her piece of candy, she gasped. She was sure she should thank the Princess, but the words didn't come to her, and before she knew it, the Princess was gone. Feeling slightly dejected, Bea stashed the piece of candy in her pocket and dragged herself off into the forest, not really sure where she was going.

Mal shot a smug grin at Rainbow, but the goody-four-shoes didn't seem to notice. Oh well, she'd gotten a rise out of the famous pegasus, she didn't really care for much more than that. The talk of love, however, drew her attention back to the first pegasus, and the vaguely familiar dark unicorn. She snorted and looked at the red unicorn who was still paying attention to her. "Love, bah, what a... a..." She trailed off as recognition slowly dawned on her. Sure he had been wearing a mask, but the voice, coloration, and physique all pointed at one pony. Green flame burst from her horn, flaring off into the air above her and sending long shadows skittering around the area. "YOU!" She shouted at Dark. "YOU'RE WITH, WITH THAT... THING?!" Her voice built into a shriek and she pointed a hoof furiously at the pathetic, runty pegasus. She took a deep breath and quickly took control of her flame, stopping the dangerous flare before it hurt anypony. A very dangerous look came over Mal as she narrowed her eyes. She'd kind of liked this jerk, maybe, a little bit. For him to suddenly go gaga over such a pathetic nopony... well, it had actually managed to ruin what she had thought was an unruinable good mood. "So tell me, 'Dark' or whatever you're going by now, does she know all about your plans to MURDER THE PRINCESS!?" She shouted the last line, making sure it was loud enough that Rainbow Dash could hear it.

An ophidian monster came into the clearing with a half-walking, half-slithering gait. In place of its rear hooves, there was a long, serpentine tail, and its mane was made of quite convincing serpents. Beachnut had disguised herself cleverly, in a costume that would appear identically on a four-legged pony or a hippocamp. Now she could walk/slither among the four-legs without anyone noticing her species. Disguised as the dreaded gorgony, no one would know she wasn't a simple earth pony in one of the strange costumes they were all wearing. She'd heard of Nightmare Night, of course, and she'd been looking forward to the opportunity to observe the four-legs without being discovered. Upon entering the clearing she gasped in awe. The idol of the dark god Nightmare Moon! Bea had not actually heard much of recent events, and was unaware of Nightmare Moons return or redemption, so she considered the imposing statue as a mysterious and exiting relic of a bygone age. And, of course, an incredibly interesting holiday. She read the inscription with a faint grin. She mused to herself. "So... I 'ave to leave a tribute to the moon goddess. But I do not 'ave any candy yet! I shall 'ave to follow along with these traditions the four-legs are observing and take part in this! It sounds most exciting!" She smiled and dragged herself to the side of the clearing to try to find out where the candies were actually coming from.

Mal heard somepony call out. "Don't mean any harm, sure," she grumbled, "you can say that, but how do I know it's true." Still, nothing had appeared in the lit area yet, and Mal was not a patient pony. She abandoned her hiding spot and slunk in the direction she'd heard the voice, moving the fire into the air in front of her. She finally spotted them, at the edge of the newly illuminated area. Ponies. "Oh, you're ponies. Good, I was suspicious you might be like, dragons or griffins or something. You never know in this pla-" She caught her breath as she spotted the flowing starry mane, horn, and wings of the bigger pony. Her flame flickered as her concentration was disturbed. "Nightmare Moon!?" She exclaimed in instant fascination. She didn't bow or scream, she merely stood there staring.