Tempest Rime

(Deleted)

Yes. Also, if you're looking to get into Westerns, it's hard to go wrong with any Clint Eastwood western. If you didn't like Superbad, I really doubt you'll appreciate the others. I liked Superbad, but Pineapple Express was decent at best, and I refused to watch the Hangover at all.

"I, uh, wha-OH!" Tempest stammered for a bit before realizing that the bee pony must be trying to stay in character. She paused for a moment as she got back into character. "Now then, what seems to 'bee' the problem?" She winked, quite pleased with the pun, even if nopony else got it. "Don't you know that eating bees is against the law?" She glanced past them towards the refreshments. "Besides, what kind of a snack would a bee make for a dragon, especially when there's a nice hot kettle o' tea right there." Tempest smiled at Starburst, dropping the accent for a moment. "Can I get some hot tea, please? Oh, and, um, what is your name, if I may ask?"

Tempest adjusted the hat on her costume as she flitted through the sky, double-checking the phenominally spooky Nightmare Night weather. She compulsivly tweaked one of the clouds near the moon that wasn't quite wispy enough for her tastes, but she had to admit that the weather team had done a great job. Her hat slipped again, it was far from aerodynamic, and flying kept pushing it over. She was dressed as a traditional Trottingham policemare, complete with a truncheon strapped to the side. She had no idea how they actually used the things effectively, but hers was made of soft foam anyway, so if anyone decided to resist arrest, she was well-equipped to give them a play beat-down. Tempest landed and pulled off the bulbous hat, adjusting it and putting it back on securely. Upon finishing costume maintainence, she spotted some other pegasus ponies over by a fire. She didn't much care for open fires, but her usual scarf didn't fit with her costume, and she was getting a bit chilly. A warm drink would really hit the spot. She trotted over and paused. This was Nightmare Night, after all, she ought to get into character. "Well, well, well," she said as she arrived, speaking with a phony Trottingham accent. "What's all this, then?" Recognizing the storm pony from the Ponyville weather team as she got closer, she dropped the act momentarily. "Oh, hello Miss Medley, fantastic job with the weather tonight." She also waved politely at the unfamiliar pegasus. "Greetings, I am Tempest Rime, pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, you're welcome," said Pinkie brightly. "It's the least I can do, especially since you helped me out and got turned blue. Though it's not really a bad color for you, you know. Black is a pretty dreary color, really." She didn't really mean to offend him, she simply failed to consider that he might actually like black. "Wait a minute!" Dark's words reminded Pinkie of something. "Wash it away! Of course! Not with normal water, of course, but Lotus and Aloe can brew you up a batch of that stuff that clears up all those poison joke changes. I betcha that might just work on this, too! Come on, Darky, lets get you to the spa!" Without giving him a chance to object, she hooked a hoof around him and dragged him towards the bath house.

Lola raised an eyebrow at Snowfall's request. She, of course, was always interested in new ideas, but it was unusual for most individuals on the business end of things to think about the technical side at all. Perhaps things were a little different in Equestria, or perhaps the CEO was only being polite. Either way, Lola had no more reason to remain silent on the matter. "I must profess my own curiosity about the kind of inventions you've come up with. It's no secret that our peoples often approach things radically differently, mostly because of the existence of unicorn magic. As it happens, I am a bit of an inventor myself, though of course, as the head of my family's R&D firm I do tend to end up sticking to the design side of the work over the actual implementation." She grinned slyly. "Mostly." It had been a long time since Lola had found conversing with a pony to be so interesting. She wondered if perhaps this strange unicorn might be a sort of kindred spirit. Even a great visionary would have gone overlooked in Aquellia had they no means of speaking, but in Equestria Rivet seemed to have done well enough. At least, well enough to get invited to a corporate party on the other side of the country.

Mal turned away when she noticed Zephyr looking her way. She got into bed and pulled the sheets over her head to conceal herself from him. Sleep would help, everything would be much clearer in the morning. No more doubts. She wasn't remotely tired, but she forced herself to try to sleep anyway. Working late nights and odd hours had left her with a greater than average ability to force herself to sleep. It took a little while, but she managed to drift off into a dreamless slumber for a while before she was jarred awake by a guard banging on the door. She felt far more tired than when she'd fallen asleep. "Rise and shine. And get the hay out." Mal followed groggily, and was given her possessions, including the book Zephyr had delivered, and the package it had come in. She blinked at it a few times before asking for a pen, signing her name on the invoice still attached to it, and then handing the invoice to the guard. "This belongs to the pegasus who was brought in with me," she said. She walked home slowly, thinking about what Zephyr had said. He couldn't be right. But what if he was? Everypony now knew the stories of how friendship powered the Elements of Harmony. What if there was a mystical component that she was missing? Her thoughts went round and round as she walked, and before she knew it, she was home. She made up her mind. She turned around and walked right back to the jail. She asked to see the sergeant on duty so that she could file a formal complaint, insisting that she would see nopony else when they tried to get her to simply fill out a form. Finally the officer on duty relented, and she was able to get in to see the lieutenant. She was grateful to see that it wasn't still Bonfire, though she'd figured the shifts must have changed by now. "I would like to complain about the conduct of your night watch. One of your officers attempted to assault me, and when an associate of mine interceded, he was charged with assaulting an officer. I maintain that he was attempting to protect me, and does not deserve the full punishment. Furthermore, his punishment is a severe detriment to his livelyhood, as he will lose his job should he serve a full week term jailed here." She exhaled in relief when she'd finished talking. She'd been practicing that line in her head the whole walk back. The officer frowned, opened up his files, and read as far as the name of the sergeant on duty. Bonfire. A formal inquiry would not look good for Bonfire, as Bonfire's temper was well-known. Plus, Bonfire was a good sergeant, and the lieutenant didn't want to tie him up with an inquiry. He scanned the rest of the information before deciding on the details, but his mind was already made up. "Even if it was an attempt to protect you, striking an officer is a serious offense. However, given his dependancy on a job," he paused dramatically, "I believe I can commute the rest of his prison sentence, on condition that he completes at least 100 hours of community service, which he can schedule with the local department at his home town. That is, provided you are willing to let this incident go..." Mal scowled. Just like the guard to try to pull one over on her. But if she didn't take his offer, Zephyr would stay stuck in jail and lose his job. She might already be too late to stop that. "Fine. That's fine, just..." She looked away. "Don't tell him I stood up for him like this." She looked back in time to see the lieutenant nod before she slunk back out. Feeling extremely tired now, she went straight home and collapsed into her nice, not-too-comfortable bed.

Mal frowned at Zephyr when he turned her, but gave no other outward indications of being overly upset. When he mentioned feeling empty, she found herself echoing his sentiments with the word "hollow." She looked away as he continued speaking, looking very depressed. Maybe he was right. Maybe the whole foundation she'd lived her life on was wrong. It was too much for her to accept. "No," she said cooly, standing up and pacing back and forth. There was just a hint of wetness around her eyes as if she was near to tears, but nothing else in her demeanor suggested as much. "No. That's nothing but short-sighted, sentimental foalishness." without warning, she exploded in a tirade of shrieking. "THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP! NOTHING, YOU HEAR ME!? IT'S A LIE! YOU CA-" She was cut off suddenly, as the guard had very quickly called in some help and several of them burst into the cell to put a stop to it. Mal was led down the hall into another cell, where she couldn't converse with Zephyr without yelling. As the guards went back to their duties elsewhere, Mal cast a slightly regretful glance down the hall towards Zephyr.

"Why? Why? Where do I start?" Mal sighed in exasperation. "It's not just about trust. Somepony can be completely trustworthy one day, and circumstances could still turn them against you on the next. And even discounting extenuating circumstances, ponies chance. Somepony who claims to be your friend can always change their mind. If you do ever need help with something, just work out an equal trade with somepony. A professional relationship is more equitable for both parties, and there's no pointless emotional attachments or false notions of dependancy. And that way if they ever stand in your way, you can freely oppose them, since you don't owe them anything." Mal took a deep breath. "And friends tie you down as much as material wealth. Once you get all sentimental, you start feeling like you don't want to leave them behind. Before you know it, you're trapped in one place, one life. Freedom comes from not having attachments like that to tie you down. Friendships, family, material wealth, power, fame, love, they're all traps laid to rob you of your freedom." She paused, considering for a moment. Her tone fell to a morbid grumble. "Also... emotional attachments are weaknesses waiting to be exploited. If somepony you care for is threatened, you would want to protect them. And even if nopony takes advantage of that weakness, accidents and time can still hurt you through them." She exhaled sharply. That was a lot of explaining, but hopefully it would get him off her case about it.

"Yeah, yeah," Mal muttered, "ease off on the flattery already. You may say something I don't take kindly too if you're not careful. Just 'cause I respect you doesn't mean we're friends or anything. I don't do friendship." She sighed. "Anyway, I doubt it was me, unless it happened in Trottingham. I've never been to Manehattan, and I have to be extra careful around Canterlot. You saw what got the guards riled up, they'd probably execute you on the spot if you ever hurt another pony. Even one who was trying to steal from you, which incidentally, is not a crime you really ever see in this town. Heh, if it was, I'd probably be making a whole lot more from my locksmithing business." She chuckled slightly at the thought. "I did get into trouble in Trottingham though. A one-eyed new kid at the orphanage who doesn't speak with the local accent, I may as well have been begging to get picked on. So I did what you gotta do to avoid getting bullied, I became the biggest bully there." She wasn't looking for sympathy, she was actually a little proud of being a bully.

"Hmm, Hoofinton," said Lola thoughtfully. "I made a stop there on my last trip to Canterlot. Rather a quaint little town, but rather well-situated for trade out in the east. I'd love set up a shipyard there. Sea ships that is, though I would tend to favor steam power over the wind-powered vessels ponies tend to favor, as we griffins don't have easy access to weather manipulation. Airships, while they are not limited by terrain, are sadly quite costly to build and maintain. Still, should one of our airships happen to be in your area, I'll let them know there's a qualified mechanic down. It's quite rare to find one in that area. That is, if you don't mind the occasional interruption, of course." Lola had no intention of sharing that information with the other noble clans, of course. Being able to service their airship at a location that the others were ignorant of would give her a slight edge in the trade, and when it came to her rivals, Lola took every advantage she could get. She also refrained from inquiring about this ponies inventions, as Snowfall's remark made it clear that getting to technical might be detrimental to the conversation.

Pipsqueak's role was to be the new foal in town, so they'd have an excuse to fuel exposition on what Nightmare Night was all about. It's a very standard plot device.

"I don't? Uh, I mean, of course not. Not here, at least," Mal said, not really thinking about her words. "I mean, there's that guard watching and this headache is kinda screwing with me, you know. I'm just cold, is all." At that, she gave up on personal space and pressed herself against him. Immediately she felt warmer, as she'd almost been falling out of the blanket in trying to maintain space between them. "I mean, when I end up spending the night in the forest I usually just start a fire. Not pyromantically, I mean, the fire I conjure is cold and doesn't actually work like normal fire, it'd be counterproductive to conjure it up for heat. But it's not hard to start a little fire if you know how, just using levitation magic and friction. I hear it takes a lot more effort if you can't just levitate the spindle, but it's still possible. You ever live out in the forest? It's way better than dealing with all the jerks you get in town. Nopony bothers you, and if you know how you can live out there indefinitely. There are sometimes monsters, but that just makes it more exciting, and who cares if you beat up a monster, anyway." She finally stopped rambling and considered his compliment. It wasn't extolling some false-virtue or weakness that was commonly perceived as a positive trait, nor was it a comment on anything superficial like her appearance. "I... respect you too. Um... thank you." She was not used to receiving compliments, and was even less used to receiving compliments that she didn't find demeaning.

I'm glad we got as much time as we did for Luna, if they'd tied up a few minutes for a song they wouldn't have been able to fit as much in as they did. A Nightmare Night song would have been awesome, but but c'est la vie.

Luna gets to be Equestria's Jack Skellington. Too awesome. I preferred Celestia before, simply because there was nothing official to go off of for Luna, but now that we have canon, Luna is so much cooler.

Mal stiffened when Zephyr bumped into her, but she didn't comment. This was a terrible idea, she thought. How was she going to get any sleep when she was so nervous around him. What had he said? His parents weren't worth remembering. "That's not why-" Mal started, but she quickly changed her mind, she didn't want to think about that. Fortunately, he brought up another topic. "What do you mean what did I mean? It's just a saying, and a fairly appropriate one too. You tried to jump in and help me out, and for your attempt at being good you just got tossed into prison. And Don Juan... uh, w-well, I was just trying to be insulting. It's a, um, literary reference. He was a stallion who w-was, um, well, he was famous for getting into trouble because of, uh, his love of the ladies." Mal was growing quite embarassed. "I mean, I was just trying to offend you, 'cause I thought that maybe that was why y-you decided to help. It's a kind of a derogatory term, it's not because I was thinking of, um, doing anything like that."

"Now it's time for cookies!" On queue, the oven timer dinged, and Pinkie trotted over to turn it off. She pulled the tray out carefully. She'd made a full batch this time, so there were a lot more. "Hmm, looks good, let it sit a few minutes so we don't burn ourselves. Hopefully it's not one of those recipes where you can put the same stuff in and get something completely different." She picked one up gingerly, ignoring her own advice. After blowing on it a little, she took a tiny bite, shivering at the delightful little tingly feeling. "Nope, it's still just as good. Alrighty," she grabbed a box and slid the still-hot cookies in so they could be carried along. "Lets go try and get that blue fixed up." The weather ponies had finished clearing up the horrible smoke, but Pinkie cautiously led Dark out the back door, just in case. "Um... what do you think we should try first?"

Mal had almost relaxed her guard, but at the mention of that incident, she stiffened and turned away from Zephyr. "I don't." She said sharply. He wasn't actually trying to accuse her of anything, so she tried to push the thoughts of that away. She tried to steer the conversation away from that. "After they... um, well, I wandered into the forest. The Everfree. That's where I got this." She ran her hoof over her scars. "There was a manticore. I was such a stupid, weak, pathetic, little filly. I could have prevented it if I'd struck first. But I hesitated, and it clawed my eye out. Funny, that actually gave me the focus I needed to strike back and kill the monster." She spat the word. She had no love of monsters. "It took me days of blundering around half-blind and bleeding before I wound up in Trottingham. By then there was nothing they could do, even restoration magic couldn't help once it had already begun to heal." She pushed her man back over so she could see again, covering the scar. "So that's one lesson I've learned well. Never hesitate to defend yourself." She closed her eye for a moment, and her thoughts immediately went back to her parents, screaming. Mal shuddered. "You're lucky. I wish I couldn't remember my parents."

If you're going to watch just one James Bond movie, I recommend From Russia With Love. I have seen every single film, and that is my favorite. Anyway, movies I need to see off the top of my head: The Godfather trilogy Jacob's Ladder The Devil's Backbone Once Upon A Time in China and America Metropolis True Grit (the original)

"Attractive?" Mal attempted to glare at him, but it was spoiled by a small, involuntary smile. "Here, maybe this'll help." She reached up and brushed her mane over to the other side, so the disfigured side of her face was clearly visible. Of course, now her mane fell over her good eye, effectively blinding her, but she figured she didn't really need to see at the moment anyway. "How do you like me now? Hah." She laughed sharply and climbed blindly back onto the bed. She pulled the sheets up and gestured in the direction Zephyr had last been in. "Well come on, climb on in. I don't bite... gently." She grinned and lay back. She quickly realized that she wasn't actually the slightest bit tired yet. "So..." She started, but realized she'd run out of the usual things she would talk to ponies about. He hadn't argued or made issues out of most of it, so she'd run out much faster than she usually did. Now she wasn't quite sure what to talk about. She just sat there blindly and let the awkward silence continue. "Um, you still awake?"

Pinkie Pie happily sat down after a long, busy day. She'd sent off a lot of party invitations, but since she'd gotten Princess Celestia's letter, she wanted to write something to go along with that one. She grabbed a pen and started to scrawl out a letter, writing in a messy, undisciplined script.

Pinkie grinned at Dark as he realized that he'd been singing, but she didn't comment. She'd have joined in, but she didn't know the lyrics to this song all that well. "I'll catch it in this," she said, grabbing the pot she'd used to boil the iced lollipop back into a liquid. She held out the pot and let Dark dislodge the mess on the ceiling. The crud didn't resist, falling into the pot with a splash. Some of the water hit Pinkie in the face, and she laughed for a moment. "Hee hee, I go-" Before she could finish the thought, the sound of rushing wind errupted from the pot, and the water that had splashed suddenly rushed back in, pulling Pinkie along with it, into and through the pot. The pot then fell to the floor, empty. Nothing happened for a few moments. Then there was a bright flash of light, and Pinkie reappeared next to the pot, holding a glowing orb in her mouth. She shifted it onto one of her hooves so she could speak. "WHEE! That was FUN. Whatever it was. Look, I found a, uh, shiny ball. And some weird-looking pony got real mad when I picked it up. Then I was back here. Oh well." She picked up the now-empty pot and washed it up as if nothing had happened.

Mal glared. "Mean? I'm trying to give you some helpful advice. If I wanted to be mean, I wouldn't have offered the bed in the first place, let alone try and give you advice. This is me being nice. And before you get all weepy, it's not out of some pathetic altruistic spirit, it's just because we're stuck in here together, and this night will be a lot less miserable for both of us if we can manage to get along. It's just enlightened self-interest." Having cleared that up, Mal stood up and attempted to levitate the sheets off the bed without thinking about it. "Here," she said, as nothing happened. She took a moment to realize her mistake. "Uh, I mean..." She reached down and pulled off the sheet manually, slightly flustered. "There," she said when she'd managed to get it off. She was so used to having magic for menial tasks that she felt especially awkward getting it off without it. "I guess we got a lot in common. We both got a lot of raw talent without the training to take advantage of it. We both know the 'joys' of getting kicked around by the law. Heh, next you're gonna tell me you're an orphan, too." She snickered. "Seriously though, we really are shining examples of our kind. A unicorn who wants more magic and a pegasus who wants to get better at flying. Hah!" Mal looked at the bed. Without the sheets, it seemed significantly less inviting. It was already chilly in the cell, who knew how much colder it would get. Maybe Zephyr was actually getting the better deal with the sheets. Sure, the floor would be hard, but he wouldn't be cold. She couldn't just let him trick her like that. "Uh, you know," she paused, nervous at what she was about to suggest. "The bed's not that small, we could sh-" She paused again, the word caught in her throat. "We could, um... s-share the bed." She glanced away to hide her embarassment. "I, uh, I mean, provided you can keep your hooves to yourself!"

Mal grinned snidely at Dash. "A problem with you? Why in Equestria would I have a problem with you? I was merely asking an honest question. I mean, you're famous enough that I've heard of you, but I haven't heard of anything of worth you've actually done yourself." She paused, considering. Mal didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to pegasus competitions, so she'd not heard about the Best Young Flier competition, but she did recall the big scandal that had gone down at the Gala. "I mean, aside from smashing up the castle at the Grand Galloping Gala. That was pretty cool." She added the last bit grudgingly. "Besides, I'm already fresh off a fight. I got no need to go picking another. I'd rather get this mess cleaned up and this cut bandaged. With any luck it'll make a nice new scar." She beamed proudly. "On that note, and to answer polychrome-dome's earlier question, every one of these is one less enemy of ponykind left to wander free out there. Uh, well, except this one, that's from falling into a briar patch... though there were monsters involved in that incident later on. Oh, uh, and this burn over here was a metalworking accident, no monsters involved at all." Mal glanced over herself, recalling each incident to be sure she wasn't forgetting anything. "Um.... Yeah. All the others were monsters." She grinned. Her gaze passed over Dark briefly when Cat went to speak to him, but she didn't recognize him immediately without the mask.

"Oh don't give me that pathetic self-sacrifice act. If you don't stand up for yourself and ask for it, I'm not giving it to you." She sounded somewhat reproachful, but the earlier bite to her words was missing. She sighed. "What matters isn't the things you have, it's the things you can do. Personal prowess. That's one thing they can't take away from you. Well," her hoof went to her eye, "they can, I mean... that's the whole point of incarceration. Mutilation isn't something they generally go for, though." She looked up at the ceiling. "Look at it like this. You're a delivery pony right? I mean, who knows what tomorrow will bring, but for tonight you still haven't been fired yet. But is that all you are? I make keys for a living, sure, and that gets me enough money to stay warm and dry in the winter, and it keeps me fed. But that's not all I am. I..." She trailed off again. She hadn't really put a lot of thought into this line of thinking before, and it made her a little uncomfortable. She did her best not to show her discomfort. "I'm a magician. I mean, I'm not formally trained, and I can't actually muster up more than your standard levitation spell, a few lock-picking tricks, and my green fire. There's... something off with my... well, with the way I manipulate magical energy. I can't cast normal spells. But the way I... uh." She paused. Trying to explain it in laymans terms was rather mind-boggling. "Ugh, well the point is, I'm trying to learn to expand my magical repertoire. I'm trying to do things with magic that are completely unknown... even if that may only be because Celestia's government deemed the knowledge too dangerous to teach." Mal sighed again. "Anyway," she said, trying to shift away from the awkward topic, "what about you? Don't you have something else that motivates you, aside from transporting packages to strangers?"