Tempest Rime

"Oh, call me Pinkie. My second cousin is named Missy Pie, so being called 'Miss Pie' is super weird to me. Although, you could also call me other things if you felt like it. Like 'Pinks' or 'Pinkster' or 'Pinkarella' or 'Diane'." Pinkie smiled happily at the unicorn. "Anyway, I can't guarantee that it'll be sweet, my last few tries have been mostly inedible. But here, we can enjoy one of each of the unmodified lollipops first. The controlling group, Twilight would call it." She pulled out two lollipops, and offered one to Carousel, popping the other into her mouth and sucking on it instead of chomping down as she usually would due to dentist's orders. Then the sound of in intruder knocking over pans brought back her attention. "Ah spah," she exclaimed, immediately disregarding the dentist's orders and chomping down on the candy. "Mmm, those are good," she added as she grabbed a rope from a drawer. "Now... how does Applejack do this?" She shrugged and pounced upon the caped invader in a wild, flailing attempt to tie him up.

Mal scowled, ignoring the newcomer's jibe. She'd grown up with one eye, living in an orphanage, taking an insult was easy for her, so long as that most insulting word of all, love, was left out of it. She gave a smug smile at Hoof's awed response. "As I said before, power is not something I lack, just the ability to employ it in a great variety of ways." She stepped up to his side and stepped close to him as she followed him into the ballroom. (Continued in http://canterlot.com/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1769)

Malediction pushed her way into the ballroom at the side of the mysterious masked stallion who had introduced himself as 'Hoof DeMasque'. She recognized the last few notes of the waltz that had been playing, and an idea occurred to her. "Wait a sec," she said to her partner. The copper-maned unicorn stepped up to the musicians as they finished their song, whispering a request to them. After they nodded their assent, she returned to the side of her dance partner, and pulled him alongside her into the center of the room. Mal gave the dark stallion a mischievous grin. "I hope you don't mind, I requested something a little different... a dance I've never gotten the opportunity to try, but always wanted to. Don't worry if you don't know it, just follow my queues and don't drop me." She placed a hoof to his chest and began to dance as spirited tango music began to fill the air. She knew the dance only too well, of course, though she'd never have admit it under normal circumstances. Dancing with a partner meant that she'd finally get to do the moves that required two ponies, and she was eager to take advantage of that fact. She danced with a burning passion, channeling her inner rage into a cathartic revelry. Her queues to her partner were good enough that even if he was unfamiliar with the dance, he was able to follow along easily, even giving him the appearance of leading. Mal couldn't gauge his level of experience herself, however, as she far was too enraptured by the dance itself.

Tempest shrugged at the other two. "They were OK tricks, I suppose. I didn't mean to insult you, it's just a bit hard to be particularly impressed. I work with Miss Rainbow Dash, and she is easily one of the best best fliers in Equestria. Don't let her know I said as much, though, I'd never hear the end of it. Anyway, the point is that flashy high-speed tricks really can't compare to what she can do. I hear she can even managed to pull off s Sonic Rainboom, though I've never actually seen that myself." She considered Dio. "You know, technically our weather team is still a bit understaffed. Because we have Miss Dash around to pick up the slack, it rarely affects us meaningfully, but on occasion we have days like yesterday when somepony gets sick and an extra set of wings would be nice to have on call. If you're serious about getting on the weather team, you should swing by the weather office tomorrow when we're open and pick up an application." A pegasus with a big strong pair of wings like Dio's would probably be a natural at dragging clouds around. In spite of her cold treatment of him, she was actually inclined to give him the job, though she didn't go so far as to say as much. "We can take a break if you want," she said detachedly. "I'm fine with high altitude, though, so it's up to you two. And my wings have loosened up fairly well, this flight was actually good for my sore muscles."

Tempest cheerfully stepped back out of the building, her tools stored away, her paperwork filed, and an application and pen held carefully in her mouth for Aqua. She handed them over, already quite anticipating not having to dredge the rivers this year. She smiled broadly after handing over the papers, as she'd found some good news. "Ahh, here you are Miss Drop. An application for the nature bureau, and for referral, you can go ahead and put me down. As it turns out, there is actually a position for river maintenance, which we have never actually had filled, so I'd wager it's all but a sure thing, you'd just need to file the application and you can go ahead and get started anytime." Tempest clapped her hooves together happily. She glanced around. "Oh, where did Miss... uh Gracie, was it? Um, where did Miss Gracie go?"

"SO! How about this architecture? I bet a lot of it had to be supported with some highly advanced magic, especially some of these spires. They don't really look structurally sound on their own, and of course, stone is such a cumbersome material to work with. Clouds really are much easier, what with the way they float on their own, don't you agree your ma-uh, I mean, Princess Luna?" Tempest gave an exceedingly fake smile, wide-eyed with anxiety. She was trying desperately to steer the conversation away from any sensitive subjects. "How about we head downtown, I bet there's lots of interesting... uh... whatever there is in downtown Canterlot... there."

These ponies don't want to party, they want to PAR-TAY.

"What to try next," Pinkie mused, looking over the array of random ingredients she had gathered together. "There's gotta be something that'll work. Lets try the peanut butter next." She scooped a bit of it into another pan, and started it simmering in an unknown substance, where it turned a vibrant blue, started glowing, and began to make loud, angry popping noises. "That's me," she yelled from the back as the lollipop delivery showed up. "Come on back, I'm right in the middle of something." She tossed the lid onto the pan and shoved her materials to the side, hiding her secret ingredient among them. Satisfied that her plans were not about to be discovered, she spun around to meet the unicorn. The kitchen was a bizarre mixture of not entirely wholesome scents as she greeted the newcomer. "Hi there, you're just in time, I was totally out of lollipops. If you want, you can help me try out a new recipe, too!"

Lola smiled. "Of course, I will be in Canterlot for the next month or two continuing my research here, but anytime after that feel free to call on me. Rockwington is probably the more preferable place to do so, Talonopolis is... not the most friendly of places to ponies, though with your abilities I'm sure you could take care of yourself." She gave the Doctor a smug smile. "I wouldn't precisely say that griffin technology has reached that level, but I'm hardly an average griffin. My company has been pushing our technology forward without rest for years, and I am personally one of its biggest driving forces. Anything we might develop would be the vanguard of a bran new era of progress! Why, we could change the whole world! Reshape it into magitechnological paradise! Tame the Everfree! Turn the desert into a lush grassland! Perhaps even reach up and bend the heavens themselves to our will!!" As Lola spoke her excitement grew until she was nearly shouting.

A pink griffin with an elegant gown made her way toward the Princess and her entourage. "Princess Celestia," she said with a flourish, falling into her most formal tones, "it is an honor to finally get to meet you. I am Lola Silverbeak, heiress to the Silverbeak clan, I'm sure you've heard of us. I've been hoping to increase trade between Talonopolis and the pony territories, and I had a few propositions that might benefit everyone involved." She gave the Princess an appropriate bow of respect. After all, the Princess was responsible for raising the sun every morning, and she was the ruler of this nation, even if Lola herself was as close to a princess as existed among the griffin clans. "But the diplomatic business can wait, I see you are most busy with your guests, I shant take any more of your time. Ta~." Having made her appearance to the hostess, Lola swept away again without waiting for a response. Off to hobnob with upper echelons of pony society.

"Shhh!" Tempest hissed at the ponies addressing her. "Sorry, I just saw some ponies from Cloudsdale I didn't want to speak to, but I think that singing was enough of a distraction that they didn't notice me. They didn't linger out here, at least." She breathed a sigh of relief. "I should have expected him to be here, of course. The head of the weather factory is an important pony." She turned and smiled at Rose. "Really? You like it? Oh good, I was afraid it might seem silly, making a dress out of ice and all. I'm afraid I really don't know much about dresses, I just wanted something sort of personal, and I do know frost." "Oh, and I didn't finish my introduction. Sorry, Mister Klondike. Aqua Drop and I are also from Ponyville, actually, though we are also not natives. Miss Drop moved in just recently, and I've lived there a few years." She blinked at the empty space where Mudbug had been. "Who was that filly?"

"Lovebirds!?" Mal spun about to face whoever had spoken. Her temper flared, and she reflexively called up some of her flame, which licked up from her horn. She managed to maintain enough restraint to hold onto it rather than immolate half the gardens "How dare you! I don't even know this guy. We're just practicing you... you..." She let out a frustrated shriek and stomped her hooves impotently. She desperately wanted to hurt someone, but doing so in the middle of the castle grounds was suicidal. Instead, she just channeled her rage into flames, which she focused into the smallest point she could manage, adding more and more flame until it was a small orb of blinding green light that sucked the heat out of a five yard radius around it. After Mal let her momentary rage out, the flame winked out, and she panted for a few moments, her breath still visible in the chilled area. She turned back to her dance partner. "Alright, let's ditch this scene. After you," she said, gesturing toward the ballroom.

Tempest gave Luna a nervous glance when Granola kicked up the dust, but was somewhat reassured by Luna's impassive greeting. "Oh! Miss Gracie! Your Majes-er, I mean, Princess Luna, this is Miss Granola Gracie, she's also from Ponyville." She hoped she'd gotten the name right, the last time they'd met, Tempest had been more concerned with protecting Aqua Drop than actually being sociable. "So... uh, what brings you to Canterlot, Miss Gracie?" She gave a somewhat overwhelmed smile to the green and brown pony, grateful to see a somewhat familiar face. Perhaps the newcomer could help to diffuse the awkward air that was threatening to stifle the conversation.

It was hard to tell through the mask, but the stranger's voice clued Mal in to the fact that he'd been taken off guard. "Uh, well, I've seen ponies dance... but you know, it's not really my thing... dancing doesn't really, uh, fit my whole image, you know." She blushed in embarrassment. A twinge of irritation passed over her as she heard song. She felt nothing but disdain for the sentiment behind it, though the melody itself softened her contempt. "Ugh, I think we got company. There's not really any reason to stay out here if we start to draw a crowd, we may as well head in. You seem like you know what you're doing, anyway. And I don't really have any reason to hide anymore." A slight smile appeared on her face. "We can totally show up everyone on the dance floor."

Tempest shrugged at Aqua's comments. "It's probably best to assume the Princesses know of most anything that happens in Ponyville. I mean, her personal protégé lives in town and sends her all kinds of reports. And Princess Luna was quite soft-spoken. Nothing like how she was when she first got back and terrorized the summer sun celebration." She shuddered at the memory. Tempest's ears perked up as she overhead Klondike and the unfamiliar filly. "Oh, over here, there's some other Ponyvillians. Salutations, I'm Tempest Rime, and this is my friend Aqua Drop, we're also from--EEP! Hide me!" She stopped abruptly as she spotted a group of pegasus ponies flying in. She recognized them from Cloudsdale, and did not want to be seen, so she ducked behind Aqua Drop to hide.

Tempest trotted alongside happily, pleased that Aqua was making a good first impression, and content to stay out of Aqua's way while she met people. Tempest would only foul things up with her awkwardness if she tried to edge in on the conversation. Still, at the mention of Aqua leaving for the winter, a thought occurred to her. "You know, we do have a very skilled unicorn in town, I can't make any promises, but she may be able to throw together some kind of spell to keep the lake warm through the winter. She lives in the library, I believe, I'll show you where that is in a moment." Finally they arrived at the town hall. "Ah, here we are. This is the town square, and this is town hall, where the weather office is located. Though, I'm usually the only one who actually uses the office, most of the real work happens out of doors, of course." She glanced at the small entourage they had picked up. "Um, the office is rather small, why don't you stay out here and greet your, uh, fans while I drop off these forms and pick you up that application. I'll be back momentarily." With that, she darted inside, leaving Aqua and the others alone for the time being.

A curly-haired pink earth pony was poking around in the kitchen, humming to herself as she worked on something. "Alright, what's next? Oh of course, the lemons. But first, safety." Pinkie pulled on a pair of safety goggles, and reached onto the counter for her pet alligator. She put a smaller pair of goggles around his face, which he evidently was less than enthused about. He made an unhappy noise and chomped down on her hair, where he hung for a few moments. "I know you don't like them, but they're important. We're experimenting! Anything could happen!" She pulled Gummy out of her hair and sat him on the floor, where he immediately turned to face Dark Core, making an angry noise, though Pinkie completely failed to notice him. Pinkie squeezed some lemons and poured the juice into a pan. Immediately, a streak of fire shot upwards, and Pinkie slammed the lid down to keep it from setting the house ablaze. "Woah, that's no good. Scratch lemons off the list. The last thing we want is a combustible lemon. But see, that's why we wear goggles." She glanced down at her pet. "Oh you're not even paying attention. Come on, Gummy, there's loads more stuff to try."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I suppose that is something someponies supposedly do sometimes. A peace offering sort of thing" Mal shrugged. "Well I guess it doesn't really matter. I didn't really have a grudge against him or anything, otherwise I'd have just burned him when we'd met, instead of a tree." She shook her head and dismissed her concerns, feeling significantly better with that anxiety dealt with. With her nerves calmed and her paranoia abandoned, she stood no chance of noticing the stealthy earth pony behind her. "Anyway, who are you calling nice looking? Did you miss the eye? I did just do the hair toss thing not ten minutes ago, didn't I?" She snorted sarcastically and perked an ear back towards the ballroom, hearing the distinctive sound of her favorite kind of music. "I... don't hate waltzes," she said reservedly. She took his hoof and immediately took the lead before he could do so himself. It was instantly apparent that her claim to have never danced before was a half-truth at best. She'd never actually danced with another pony, it was true, but she had on occasion danced in the privacy of her home in order to unwind, and she'd seen enough dances that she already knew the general idea. She considered it such a frivolous activity that ashamed to admit as much, but she was obviously no novice. She stopped after a moment of this. "Oh, you're supposed to lead, aren't you, sorry, I'll switch."

Mal frowned. "I guess you're right, but that still begs the question of how a pony like me got an invitation. I'm not exactly the most amenable pony around, I don't have a lot of money, I'm not related to any nobles, and I don't have any contacts in the upper classes. Even my magical talent, which is ample, is limited by the vast number of spells that are simply incompatible with my pyromalificent pneuma, I think there's some core incongruity in my aetheric fields that inhibits any spells that rely on an auspicious matrix in order to materialize. Which is like, almost all of them, in case you skipped out on your aetheric science courses." She sighed. "Anyway, being a villain is cool with me, I got no love for the current regime. I have no idea why you'd want to take over, though. Leading ponies is a lot of work, you'd basically be consigning yourself to one of the most stressful and dangerous occupations in the world. Magical power is far superior to political power." She opened her mouth to continue rambling off on a tangent, but her train of thought derailed as she realized what the stallion had asked. "Wait, what did you say last there? You want to... dance?" She gave him a quizzical look. Dancing? Really? Her? "I... uh... I've never done that before. Although... not like I've got anything better to do, and I guess it can't hurt." Dancing seemed stupid, but who knew, maybe it wasn't that bad. "Alright then, but first show me how to do it out here. I don't want to trip over my own hooves and draw tons of attention to myself once we're inside, especially with your getup already drawing attention."

I haven't had Pinkie show up at the gala yet. I'm sure the previous gala's failure will do nothing to slow her down. And as they learned last time, the key to making the gala great is friends, so you can count her in.

"Aqua Drop!" Tempest flitted towards the hippocamp happily, glad to see a familiar face on her way in. The green pegasus was wearing a lacey gown that sparkled as it if was made from lines of frost. Which was only natural, as it was in fact made partially out of frost that Tempest had made herself. She'd gotten a unicorn to place a nevermelt enchantment on the ice. "Aqua, I'm so glad you're here." She fluttered over casually. "I'm awfully nervous, do you think my dress is ok? Yours is amazing, by the way." She glanced out over the ponies funneling in, an eye toward their outfits. "Oh! Did I ever tell you about the last time I was in Canterlot? I actually got to meet Princess Luna! And I don't mean just see her, I actually spoke to her and got to walk around town with her a bit. I wonder if she'll remember me. Maybe she's the one who sent me my invitation, I was awfully surprised to get one." Tempest's nervousness manifested as a restless inability to keep her hooves on the ground. She fluttered around a few inches above the ground as she orbited her friend.

"Yeah..." Mal mused. "I suppose that might not be how I got the invite, but I really have no other theory who would invite me. It's not like I have friends, and the invitation was just sitting in my house when I got back from my last trip to the Everfree. But I had expected trouble when I first got here, this waiting around and pretending I care about all the noble trash is not what I came for." "If you really want to get yourself killed, go right ahead. Celestia is gonna take more than a little disguise to off. But like I said, I don't care about her either way. Do what you will. Get exiled or executed." She sighed. This was clearly some kind of madpony, and she didn't want to have to deal with him herself. "Anyway, as for the peryton, I ran into him just when he was about to get into a fight with a griffin. They ended up not fighting, so I torched a bit of his forest to make sure they didn't follow me. He claimed he was tasked by Celestia to protect it, so I figured he might have been telling the truth and reported the whole deal." Mal saw little reason to keep it secret, since if he was working for Celestia, it meant she already knew, and if not, there was nothing to worry about.

"They know I... you know where... I mean..." Mal's rage disappated abruptly. She was indeed being stupid. And perhaps this pony was not a spy after all. She sputtered momentarilly. "Well, you, uh, you could have been after me. Uh... Sorry," she apologized uncharacteristically. "I'm just worried. The only way I can think of that I'd get an invitation is if that peryton I ran afoul of a while back reported me to the Princess, and I thought there might be some kind of trickery going down. But you're right, making a scene is playing right into their hooves." She glanced around nervously, breaking her gaze on the stallion for the first time. When the area appeared to still be clear, she relaxed slightly. "So... did you mean what you said? You're actually actively working against the government? That could be pretty dangerous, I mean, you know what happened to the last pony who tried that, right?" Mal pointed a hoof up at the moon overhead. "And she was Celestia's sister. I don't even know what she might do to some nobody. No offense, I mean that from her perspective."

Mal's eyes narrowed. Either this pony was a fool, or this was some sort of poorly fashioned attempt to entrap her. "I'm here 'cause I got invited, and I wanted to find out why. Simple as that. Though the event itself has been little more than a pathetic display of pointless decadence." She still hadn't taken her eye off of him. "So you're plotting to overthrow the Princess, huh? Is announcing that fact to every stranger you meet part of your plot? Or wearing a ridiculous disguise that could easily be stripped from you if you were captured? You do realize that wearing a mask in a gathering where nopony else wears one only makes you stand out more, right?" Abruptly she changed her line of questioning. "So who are you working for anyway? Are you some kind of undercover agent for the monarchy? Or maybe some fool noble who reads too many adventure novels?" She edged closer to him with each question. "You're here to spy on me, aren't you! Feed me some stupid story about deposing the tyrant and then arrest me if I show any interest. Well I got news for you, I could care less about the Princess or ruling the world, I just want the magic I deserve! You can tell your masters that, and tell them to leave me alone!" Her voice got louder and louder until she was shouting at 'DeMasque.' She'd gone just a bit off the deep end under the strain of her paranoia. She tossed her head and her mane flew back, showing off her empty eye socket and the claw marks down the left side of her face. She fixed a burning glare on the stallion, her face twisted in throughly misdirected rage.

Mal did a double take when instead of a guard or ninja, a preposterously dressed stallion in a ridiculous costume appeared. "What the heck? I was expecting an assassin, not..." She struggled to even find a properly demeaning word to describe the masked pony, and fell unusually short. "Well, whatever." She hesitated, but didn't see any reason to hide her identity. Celestia clearly knew who she was, so there wasn't much point in attempting to conceal it. "My name's Malediction. You can call me Mal if that's too much for you." She let herself relax just a bit, but she kept an eye out for the telltale glow of magic on the newcomer's horn. "What's with the mask? This ain't no masquerade party. You trying to draw attention to yourself or something?" Between her wariness toward him and her nervousness about the whole Gala, she had trouble mustering the usual level of scorn, and the question almost came off as sincere.