Tempest Rime

Nightmare Before Christmas The Princess Bride Labyrinth Time Bandits The Dark Crystal I've seen most of the others that have been brought up, but those 5 are easily the ones that I loved the most as a kid, and they still hold up fantastically. Unlike, say, The Last Unicorn or Ferngully, both of which I have rewatched fairly recently and was disappointed by.

"Psh, parties like the Gala? They are booooooring, seriously, if that's the only kind of party you've been to you're totally missing out." Pinkie fluttered her eyes at Strawberry in what she thought was a disarming manner. "Ooh ooh, you have your own shop!? What do you sell? We should go by later on, after all if there's a new store in town, those of us who are giving tours really ought to know about, right?" Pinkie smiled broadly at Dash's praise. Compliments on her parties was the most gratifying praise she could ever imagine receiving. "Oh, oh, I know where what we should see first. The park!" She gestured to the trees around them. "And here we are! The park! Over there is a bench, and other there is a great little stream, and along there is the road, and that there is the bridge where the road goes over the stream, and way further back that way is the way to Fluttershy's house, and even further that way is the Everfree Forest, and even further still is Zecora's house in the Everfree Forest, she's a bit scary-looking, but she turned out to be pretty nice once we got to know her." She grinned again. "Ok, now we can head into town and show you the town proper. Follow me, everypony." She bounded down from the tree and unhesitatingly took the lead, heading towards the town square.

When Malediction had arrived at her run down house and workplace to find an invitation to the Gala, she immediately suspected a trap. That Skye fellow must have given the tyrant Celestia her name, and they were attempting to bring her in for questioning, or possibly to make her disappear, like they had done with Princess Luna so long ago. Mal, however, was never one to back down from a challenge, and a trap was exactly the sort of provocation she couldn't ignore, so she'd picked up a slinky black dress that didn't limit her mobility overmuch, and shown up anyway. When she hadn't been ambushed or led away in shackles at the door, she stalked cautiously through the crowds, sickened by all the bourgeois sycophants. After much restless casing, she made her way outside where there were fewer bystanders to keep an eye on, and slunk into a more secluded part of the castle. Whatever was going to happen, she'd prefer it happen in an area with fewer guards. She ducked down a pathway in the gardens to avoid the groundskeeper as he passed by, only to hear rusting in the bushes nearby. "Who's there," she hissed, trying to make herself heard by the ambusher without alerting anypony else who might be nearby. "I'm warning you, I'm dangerous to sneak up on!"

"You haven't seen Canterlot in a while? Oh, because of... oh. I, uh, see. Umm..." Tempest lapsed into an awkward silence, not wanting to bring up the whole 'trapped in the moon' thing. That couldn't possibly be a pleasant subject for the Princess. At Scale's suggestion, she pounced on the opportunity to avoid the subject. "Oh, yes, exploring. It would be an honor if you would allow us to accompany you, Princess. I am new to the city myself, but I would love to join you. I was just marveling at the architecture, some of it is hundreds of years old, but has been preserved so well that it looks like it was built yesterday." She paused again. The Princess didn't look it, but Tempest suddenly recalled that she was actually over a thousand years old. Maybe the architecture wasn't a good topic either. What subjects did one talk to millennium-old ponies of unimaginable power about?

Lola gawked at the display of magic. This unicorn truly was leagues above the rare few Unicorns she had met on her visits to Rockwington. "Bravo! My goodness I've never seen anything like that before! With power like that, why, I'm having trouble conceiving of what limits you would have, especially if you were to apply it properly. You know, electricity alone can be used to power all sorts of things. With the proper equipment, you could probably widen the scope of your abilities even further." Lola pulled a business card from her bag. "Here, take my card. If you're ever in Rockwington or Talonopolis for any reason, one of our business offices will be able to point you in my direction. I would love to test what sorts of things we can do if we combine your incredible magic with my company's cutting-edge technology."

Pinkie cautiously opened one eye. It hadn't felt like she'd lost a tooth. Or maybe it was just so bad that it came right out on its own. The faint taste of blood wasn't a good sign either. She looked at the little piece of candy. "That's... that's not a tooth." She ran her tongue over her teeth, verifying that they were still intact. Relief flooded over her, and her usual bubbly demeanor flooded back. "That's it? Oh thank goodness, I was sooooooo worried! I mean, it's not like I don't brush, my teeth are important, how else would I eat sweets? I guess I could probably still manage cake and pudding and ice cream and cheesecake and custard and shakes and that nice soft fudge that sort of melts in your mouth, but there'd be a world of goodies I'd miss out on."

Mal responded to Tenderbloom without looking. "I am Mal. Short for Malediction. And I'm a malicious, malign, and malcontented malefactor who you don't want to make friends with." She sneered smugly. As Champ charged her, she made no attempt to evade the blow, instead shoving back into the charge with all her adult strength, making Champ pay for his recklessness. She had to admit, he wasn't that weak, at least for a kid. "Not too bad. You just made one mistake. You forgot about this." She conjured a wisp of flame from her horn, waving it through the air close enough to Champ for him to feel its chill. "Never trust anypony not to retaliate with the full extent of their abilities. But you landed the blow, I'll keep my word. It wasn't even a wussy blow like I'd expect from a kid." She finally turned to face Tenderbloom. "Woah, you sure you're the same pegasus we were just talking to? And what kind of family lives in this forsaken place? Not that the house itself is bad, I mean, it beats the dive I rent back in Canterlot, but the Everfree forest isn't exactly known for its nurturing atmosphere, you know?"

"Of course, I will likely travel this way again on my trip back, and I shall certainly speak to you first." Lola smiled smugly. "I had hoped you might have encountered some political or business rival of ours coming through here, cursing our name. If you're not making enemies, you're probably doing something wrong, I always say. Still, it's no surprise that griffins who come through here would know the name, we are one of the three most influential clans in the griffin empire." "My father runs the family business, which includes a very large share of all the industry in Talonopolis, so we have made more than a few enemies there. Ah, but I am getting carried away, perhaps you could tell me a bit about the pony kingdom. I know but a handful of facts about your society, mostly relating to the royal Princess who supposedly raises the sun and the moon with her magic. I must admit, I'd be disinclined to believe it had I not been there on the day when the sun failed to rise for much of the day, what was the story behind that, anyway?" Lola paid no heed to the fact that she was monopolizing Sterling's attention. She was generally used to being the center of attention due to her status, and didn't even deign to notice the fact that she keeping the hostess preoccupied.

Tempest managed a wan smile back at Knightly as he mentioned a safe current. Hopefully that would keep this from turning into a disaster. She watched impassively as Dio did his little tricks. He wasn't bad, she had to admit, but it was hard to be impressed by most tricks when she was used to Rainbow Dash constantly showing off. "Hmm... not bad, not bad, but can you do this?" She soared forward into a particularly wet cloud, and circled for a few moments, letting her mane and tail soak up the water. She then pumped her wings and headed up, climbing higher and higher until she hit the altitude she needed. She coasted for a moment and let the water chill before diving back down towards the others, a trail of frost glittering after her in the sunlight. The key to freezing water was actually making sure you didn't fly too fast, as that would just blow the water away or evaporate it, but you also had to hit the right temperature of high-altitude winds and properly adjust your speed based on theirs. Tempest was a specialist at it, and was quite proud of her ability to pull it off perfectly, every time. Even if she wasn't great at other weather tricks, this was where she shined. She soared down and did a lazy circle around the boys, trailing snowflakes after her. "Let's see if you can pull that off." She smiled coolly, forgetting about where she was for the time being. She glanced back at the white pegasus. "How about you, Mr. Knightly? You have any tricks to show off?"

"What's to understand? Art's pretty." Pinkie said, summing up her opinions succinctly for once. "But no, I heard your name from..." She paused, trying to recall. "Maybe it was from Inkwell, that would make sense, he's an artist too, I think. You've met him, right? And of course you can come, the more the merrier." She glanced back at Dash. "Well I don't know how it works, it's your art. It's not like I could do what you do. I'm just good at parties. OH!" She turned back to Cat and Strawberry. "Have either of you had welcoming parties yet? 'Cause I could totally help you out with setting up and invitations and stuff. I know pretty much everypony in town. Nothing like a good party to get to know new people in town, I mean, look at Twilight!" "So where should we go first? Sugarcube Corner? Oh wait, no, we should save that for last, 'cause I won't want to leave. Plus if we go there last, I can bake you guys something."

Woooaaah, awesome

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"Aqua!" Tempest jumped into the air and darted after the hippocamp. "Are you alright? That fall looked really bad..." She peered at Aqua Drop with concern for a moment, ignoring the small crowd until she was sure her new friend was unharmed. Once it was apparent that Aqua was alright, she turned her attention to the other ponies, taking a loud formal tone as she addressed the group. "Ahem, good afternoon everypony. This is Aqua Drop, she is a hippocamp." She glared briefly at the pony who had rudely phrased the query. "Miss Drop is new in town, so please give her a warm Ponyville welcome." The introduction made, she fluttered down so that Aqua could answer the inevitable barrage of questions herself. Tempest was only slightly more familiar with most of these ponies than Aqua was, so she elected to let them give their own introductions.

Spearmint's quip prompted a giggle from Pinkie, made somewhat awkward by her open mouth. This was soon replaced by a look of surprise as the sweet-tasting gel hit her tongue. She resisted the urge to swallow it, but the funny tingling sensation it made as it numbed the side of her mouth invoked an urge to poke at it with her tongue which she could not deny, causing the tip of her tongue to go numb as well. Then the metal things came out. This was the part where it got unpleasant. She considered how to respond to Spearmint for a moment before settling on "aye aye." It was the only affirmative phrase she could say without closing her mouth. She shut her eyes and concentrated on keeping her mouth open above all else. It wasn't going to be long now before she got the bad news. Thoughts of losing her teeth were already bouncing through her head. How would she eat taffy or toffee or tarts or tiramisu without teeth?

In spite of Trixie's dismissal of the device, Lola was unwilling to ignore a possibly revolutionary technology without some testing. "Hmm, well, why don't we put his little gadget to the test then. Now then, Lady Trixie, I'll deploy the device here, and you can summon up some of your impressive magics over there. After all, if it can't even detect your high-powered spells, it would certainly be useless in detecting ambient energy coming out of the forest, wouldn't it." While the Doctor was busy with whatever he thought he was doing, Lola took the opportunity to examine the device, and set it up at ground level, where Trixie's spells could best affect it. The device itself seemed remarkably simple, once its function was explained, and she was reasonably certain she could reproduce it later on provided she could gain access to the crystals. With one last glance towards the earth pony, she winked at Trixie. "Let's find out if this poorly-mannered little pony is for real or not."

Not a partier? No wonder Pinkie never really saw this pony around. She was like, the most opposite kind of pony there could possibly be. Where Pinkie was outgoing, she seemed rather reserved, and where Pinkie made sweets, she was a dentist. "Oh," Pinkie muttered sadly, at a loss for what to talk about once more. But no, this wouldn't do. This wasn't the Pinkamina way. The fact that Spearmint didn't go to parties was just too sad. She would make friends with this unicorn somehow. She just needed to figure out how. Aha! A brilliant thought occurred to her as she opened her mouth to comply with the dentist's orders. "Aaa~aaa~aaa~aaa~aaa~aaa~aah." She made her ahhs into a scale and sang them as if it was a little song. Perhaps a little music would brighten her day.

Pinkie gulped and walked over to the peculiarly shaped chair. It was time to really face her fears. With a grunt, she hoisted herself into the seat, her forelegs sticking up into the air. She wriggled in place for a few seconds to push herself into position, and leaned head head back. "So..." she muttered, nervously trying to think of a topic for small talk while Spearmint prepared. "I haven't seen you around in a while." Oh no, this was a bad subject, she'd draw attention to the fact that she didn't go to the dentist very often. "I mean, I don't remember seeing you at the post Winter Wrap Up party, did you manage to make it to that? Or at the lunch party we had when Princess Celestia visited..." Under any other circumstance, Pinkie would have had trouble saying so little, but in here the constant stream of words that usually burbled forth from her mind finally ran dry.

It doesn't sound too far-fetched to me that the students of the most prestigious school of magic around would have dragon assistants as a mark of honor. When the dragons get too big to reside in pony cities, they depart for the untamed wilds. There are probably very few unicorns powerful enough to actually hatch the dragons. Besides, without an initial test, how would they find an appropriate, fair entrance test for each unicorn. As for the eggs, it's possible that as reptilian creatures, dragon mothers don't actually care for their eggs, and abandon them, laying them in the mountains around Canterlot due to the relative safety from the predation they would encounter in the mountains closer to the Everfree or Griffin territories. The Unicorns take in these eggs and magically hatch them and care for them as a sort of symbiotic relationship. As for growth, it seems likely to me that they grow much faster in their first few years. In terms of relative size, Spike is still waaaaaaay smaller than the adult dragons, but it may also take a hundred years for them to get even half that big.

"Naw, I haven't seen anypony in the forest all day. Well, until I suddenly ran into you two. Unless she's got some trick like your mandrake or my fire, I'd wager she's already in the stomach of some beast. Maybe that's why the forest was so quiet today, the hungry critters already had their meal." Mal commented brusquely, never one to give false hope... or even real hope if she could avoid it. She rolled her eyes at the 'cross-pollination' thing. What a load of rubbish, sensitive experiments for a bunch of stupid plants. Still, she wasn't eager to get hit by that mandrake again, so she stayed put. She sniffed at the tarts briefly, but she wasn't hungry, and she didn't trust food from a probably insane pegasus living out in the Everfree. As Tenderbloom wandered off, she turned her attention back to the Champ. "The forest will step aside for you, huh? Yeah, right. You ever even get into a real fight, tough guy? I'll tell to what, chump, if you can even land a blow on me, I'll take you wherever it is you're going. I got a map and everything." She sneered and dropped into a defensive posture.

Pinkie managed an apprehensive smile. Even if she didn't want to be here, there was no reason not to be friendly... and there was every reason not to be rude to someone who might be drilling into your teeth in a few minutes. "Hi, uh... Spearmint, isn't it? It's my tooth. Oh, I guess that would be obvious, since I'm here, but it's a toof over herr..." She jamed a hoof into her mouth and pulled on her cheek to show it. "It's been all hurty for the past few days, I guess there's probably something wrong with it." She sighed mournfully, visions of drills and needles and those strangely-shaped tooth-scrapey thingies. Pinkie was rarely afraid of anything, but when it came to the dentist, even her usual trick of laughing the fear away couldn't quell the feeling of dread. "So... um... yeah. It's probably bad, isn't it."

"Come on Pinkie Pie, you can do this." Pinkie walked slowly towards the dentists office, the usual bounce conspicuously absent from her gait. She paused outside the door, trying to psyche herself up. The dentist was probably her least favorite place in all of Ponyville. Destists always chided her for not brushing enough and eating too many sweets. Too many sweets! Like that was even possible. Unfortunately, she'd been suffering from a toothache for the last few days, and it was showing no sign of letting up. After Mrs. Cake had noticed Pinkie rubbing her cheeks and eating slowly (for Pinkie), she had pressed the issue, and had insisted that Pinkie see the dentist. She had even gone so far as to set up the appointment herself, so Pinkie couldn't wiggle out of it somehow. With a resolute sigh, the pink earth pony stepped up and pushed open the door. Nothing to do now but get this over with. "Hello? Anypony here?" Maybe the Dentist had had some kind of dentist emergency come up, and wouldn't be there.

"Art?" Pinkie thought for a moment. "I don't think I've seen any of yours, at least not that I know of, unless maybe I have seen it but not known it was yours, in which case I have seen it, but I wouldn't know it was yours unless I saw it again. Ooh ooh, I know! We were just about to show Strawberry Orange here around town, we could visit your place while we're doing that and take a look at your art!" She grinned. Art wasn't quite as great as sweets or parties, but there was nothing wrong with pretty pictures. Some of the brightest and most colorful works of art she'd seen were almost as wonderful as rainbows. In fact, it occurred to her that rainbows basically were art. And so were bright sunny days and rainstorms and snow. Blithely following this train of thought, she looked at Rainbow quizzically. "What do you mean Dashie? You make art all the time!"

"O-of course, Princess Luna. It's an honor to make your acquaintance. I, uh, is there anything I can do for you? I've never met royalty before! Oh, I can't wait to tell Aqua Drop about this!" Her initial panic overcome, Tempest began to grow very excited. Sure Princess Celestia visited Ponyville on occasion, and she'd seen Luna before, but she had never actually had the opportunity to speak with them. Everypony in Ponyville was so informal, but the nobility were so much more proper, it was rather refreshing. A small crowd was starting to gather around the Princess. "Oh, I am Tempest Rime. Uh, and I am at you service, Princess Luna, if you need anything." She paused. "I'm really sorry, again, for bumping into you. I didn't expect royalty to be out here. Er... why are you out here, anyway? I mean, if it's not too much to ask, I don't mean to question you."

Tempest nearly fell back down to the ground from the short wind created by Dio's massive wings. She frowned and pumped her wings, ignoring their aches. She had to flap her small wings several times for each beat of his, but her stubbornness provided her with the motivation to ignore her body's protests. Once she was actually up in the air, things got much easier. It was a lot less straining to maintain altitude than to increase it. High altitudes were easy for her, she often flew far higher than this when she was chilling water to create ice. In fact, the higher she was, the more comfortable she'd be when they got near the forest, in case monsters were waiting under the canopy to swoop into the air after them. "Uh... I've heard that the wild weather over the forest can be really unpredictable. But I guess you're the expert, since you've been here before..." As they got closer and closer to the forest, Tempest's anxiety grew rapidly. She glanced back at Knightly nervously, hoping he might be able to lighten the mood.

Lola cleared her throat, her patience already wearing thin for this poor-mannered pony. "It's right here." She gestured at him with it, though she did not give it back just yet, for fear of distracting him again. "Whatever it is. Now if you're quite done fooling around, perhaps you would be kind enough to introduce yourself." She held up the object and examined it for a moment. "You called it a manavane? And earlier you mentioned it was a magical sensor of some kind. I assume 'mana' is a reference to magic, and vane implies it's used as a weather vane. So it detects the ambient flows of magic then? It must be made of a material that's sensitive to the aethiric fields, then." Her eyes lit up. This could be exactly what she was looking for. "What material is that? Does it just sense the flows, or can it affect them as well?" She turned back to Trixie. "Perhaps your expertise can shed some light on the matter. Have you encountered something like this before, Lady Trixie?"