Dark Side Of The Gala

[Dubstep]

The Grand Galloping Gala, the yearly ball, such a wondrous occasion; all the ponies in their Gala garb and bursting into song at the front gate randomly it's all so..."Sickening! BAH! These foals don't realize that their doom lurks just outside these very walls" said a certain pelt dyed pony; his tuxedo was the same dark purple as his signature cape, as was the fedora he wore and he was also sporting a fetching white mask, "Now, if I can get the right speed I should be able to scale this with little to no effort." he plotted to himself; it's not like he didn't have a ticket, his parents sent him one as a late birthday present, but Dark Core wasn't the one to EVER do things the good or legitimate way, no, he'd much rather go the sneaky and evil route.

Backing up a ways, Dark sprinted towards the low rise wall, using the free running he picked up as a foal in Stalliongrad to run right up it and jump down the other side gracefully, "GAH! OUCH!" well not gracefully really, coming down the other side the villain landed in a stray rose bush, "Confound it! OW! Bah I better go hide somewhere, no telling what kind of guards heard my subtle entrance..." he said slinking off towards a less thorny type bush nearby, "Now...time to lay low for a bit."

[Tempest Rime]

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!"

[Dubstep]

'Blast it all, I've been found out!...Come on DC, play it cool, you've not done anything wrong....YET.' Dark thought to himself; holding up a forehoof out from the bush to signify he meant no harm he slowly walked out, "Don't worry your pretty little head, I'm not sneaking up on anypony, simply....observing, watching the way the foolish and subservient commence their useless merrymaking...it's all so ridiculous." he said with a scoff whilst adjusting his mask and brushing off some leaves, "Aahhh, but where are my manners? Hoof DeMasque, at your service" Dark Core said to hide his true name; though no one knew who he was anyway, "Now, may I inquire as to your identity?" the young unicorn asked in his Stalliongrad accent.

[Tempest Rime]

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.

[Dubstep]

"A pleasure to meet you Malediction." Dark Core said with a bow to the unicorn mare, "A masquerade? Heheh no, I'd rather not have that fool Celestia know who I really am; what with plotting her downfall and all." he said with a smirk, she seemed to be a pony who didn't care what was said around her; who knows, perhaps she would feel the same way, maybe even up to causing some trouble for Celestia and her guests; adjusting his mask again Dark smiled, "So what brings YOU to the Gala hmm? You don't look like the Gala type"

[Tempest Rime]

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.

[Dubstep]

"Look, I wear whatever I like alright, if you don't like it, TOO BAD, as for who I'm working for, I work for no one but myself, I'm not a noble, I have no master and I don't care what magic you want, you want magic, go for it sister!" 'Hoof' said scoffing and doing his best to ignore the freaky eye, this pony already looked like she could snap at any moment and with her voice raising it could get ugly, "Now if ponies really ARE after you, your yelling is NOT gonna help!"

[Tempest Rime]

"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."

[Dubstep]

"It's quite alright, I understand, can't be too careful eh?" Dark said with a smile and a nod; it seemed there was more to this girl than meets the eye; no pun intended, "One would think they were watching you though, that they would have already sprung right? I mean with you talking with me, it would have been a perfect chance to grab you." he said with a slight shrug, "Yes I'm actually vying for world domination at some point; yeah I know, it sounds silly, but aim high and all that jazz; and yeah no offense taken. 'DeMasque' said with a wink, "So why would this peryton rat you out to 'lestia or what ever?"

[Tempest Rime]

"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.

[Dubstep]

"Tonight is more about watching and finding flaws than anything; I'd have to be a FOOL to just waltz in and try to take over, I'm a villain, not insane" he said shaking his head lightly, "Somehow I doubt that you'd be standing here talking to me if Celestia wanted you captured for causing a bit of fun in the woods; trees'll grow back anyway" Dark stated as he glanced over Mal to look at the window to the ballroom, pondering, he asked what probably was not a good idea to ask, but he was never known for having good ideas all the time, "So, wanna go dance?"

[Tempest Rime]

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."

[Dio]

As the two unicorns turned away to continue their conversation, a shadowy figure slinked along the parapets of the castle walls. Curiously indistinct, the phantasm glided from one stone projection to the next with nary a sound, always just on the edge of visible and audible perception. With a flick of its neck, the vaguely pony-like form dropped a line from the top of the parapet to the garden floor below.

Securing a carabiner to his grapnel line, White Feather gingerly stepped over the edge of the castle wall and quickly abseiled down to the garden grounds. Out of earshot of Malediction and Dark Core, the ice blue earth pony dropped his saddlebags behind a tree and dusted off his suit jacket, slipping on his black masquerade mask in the process. Purposely taking the long way around, White Feather was careful to keep a hedge between himself and the unicorn pair. Work was work, and undue distractions were always an additional complication which would probably irritate his boss. The earth pony chuckled to himself and took a deep breath, letting the distant sounds and smells flood his senses. What was life without complications?

'May as well have some fun while I'm in town!' he said to himself. 'It's not every day I get to visit Canterlot Castle and get away with mingling!'

Peeking over the hedge, he noted that Mal and Dark Core were still in the garden, chatting away. Something about dancing? White Feather suppressed a smirk. Though they were between him and the castle proper, they were distracted with each other; he'd be able to slip right past. With almost feline grace, White Feather moved silently around the hedge, coming up behind Malediction, intending to pass her quietly as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

[Dubstep]

"Perhaps the peryton thought it to be a gesture to show kindness and 'no hard feelings' in an attempt to dissuade you from future mishaps of chaos induced flames?" Dark said pondering on the matter for a moment while listening to Mal speak of the reason that her magic is a bit off, it didn't matter much to him if her magic was good or not, but he nodded and listened all the same; as she finally came to answer his question of a dance he smiled, he had expected to get smacked or yelled at or worse, but he was pleasantly surprised, "Great, I've been getting a tad rusty, and if I'm to mingle I could use some practice after all, and it does help to have a nice looking partner." he said with a nod as the music coming from the ballroom could be heard changing to a waltz, "Ahh! A waltz, well Malediction, shall we?" the 'villain' said holding out his hoof with a smile, completely unaware of the sneaking earth pony lurking not too far away.

[Tempest Rime]

"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."

[Dubstep]

Dark smiles at Mal, "It's not so bad, the eye thing doesn't bother me in the least, I honestly think you look nice." he said as Mal took his hoof and, to his surprise, started to lead; she was rather good at it too, which took Dark aback a bit which caused him to blush a little bit, he never had to follow before, "I err hmm...Yeah...as I said I think you look pretty nice..." he said nervously just before she stopped to let him lead, "Heheh, it's alright really, hehe, uh...here we go." Dark said as he took the lead this time, his motions more fluid and his form well done, years of being forced to ballroom dance finally payed off as he led the mare in a surprisingly nice waltz.

[Kalpira]

That garden was such a beautiful place to be! All of those flowers, scents, and if one heard closely, the sounds of so many animals. It seemed to be so vast, yet so mysterious. The sound from the party could be heard in the outside, but still it was possible to hear the sounds that surrounded the garden. That garden was mystic. Nopony could deny it. It could almost show the way Princess Celestia truly was.

And all of that amazed a certain filly...

Wind Mist stepped carefully oer the green and fluffy grass that grew beneath her hooves, her transparent pink dress flowing right behind her. She had a wide smile on her muzzle, and her eyes sparkled with a glitter of their own. Her muzzle was almost completely covered with her usual seethrough veil, with the few coins she had collected over the ears attached to the tips of it. She followed the trail of a passing by bee, that didn't seem to bother that it was night time already. She giggled to herself at such a sight, which made the happiness inside of her grow even more. Her happy eyes were matching the beauty of that place, and the filly herself looked like a creature of that place. In silence, she twirled in her own spot, as if dancing with herself and not caring about anythng else. After all, the Gala wasn't all about acting fancy and stand still in the same place for hours. It was about being herself.

After a second wave of crystal-like giggles, the filly finally sighed and kept smiling. But all of that happiness always brought, as usual, her urge to express herself. Her urge to let out how happy she was and how amazed her mind was. So as she kept walking, her crystaline voice made itself hearable as she unintentionally approached the now dancing ponies more and more.

And happily that being sang:

"My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold.

Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be

Who love a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea.

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold.

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold."

[Tempest Rime]

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."

[Dio]

It seemed more ponies were starting to show up, crowding the entrance way and making it tougher to slip through unnoticed. However, White Feather wasn't concerned. In fact, the ice blue pony grinned, welcoming a fresh challenge for his skills. White Feather raised his head and began stepping normally, adopting the gait of a more 'average' patron of the Gala; he had to blend in somehow. White Feather strode past just feet away from an unawares Malediction on his way to the ballroom.

'You two lovebirds gonna stay out here all night?' He chuckled as he brushed past. 'The ballroom is this way if you're intent on cutting a rug!'

[Dubstep]

Dark couldn't help but smile to himself as the dance went on; Mal was obviously was better than she let on, she followed along the steps fluidly, "For just watching ponies, you're doing marvelously, and as for looks, who cares what someone thinks eh? I think you look fine, but it's what you think of yourself that really matters" he said with a nod; Dark guessed it couldn't hurt him to be nice for a little while, especially with such a good looking dancing partner; as they danced a voice rang out singing some song, it was rather pleasant to the ears, but Dark, and Mal too it seemed, wasn't a big fan of the love song that the pegasus was singing, "Oi...yeah lets head in, it's becoming a moot point to slink about out here; thanks, I had to learn a long time ago to ballroom dance and such, guess it comes in handy now and then" Dark said before Whitefeather walked by and made his remark, 'Lovebirds?! W-what?!' he thought to himself as a blush creeped across his face, sure she was nice looking, but she wouldn't think that even if he did, which he didn't...right?

[Tempest Rime]

"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.

[Dio]

White Feather cocked his head at Mal's less than amicable response. She was definitely a mage of some sort, judging by the flaming manifestation of magical might floating above her head. It was all the blue stallion could do to keep himself from bursting out laughing at Malediction's predicament. She shrieked and stomped and threw her little tantrum, she fumed and fussed and muddled with her flames.

White Feather's tail twitched ever so slightly when he ascertained that he could very well be vaporized in an instant if she decided to fire. He trusted his reflexes to get him out of the way… but there was always the off-chance he wouldn't be able to make the dodge. But would the unicorn even dare to pull that kind of stunt? It was kind of a public area and a full on murder would not go over well with the palace guard. A smile tugged at White Feather's lips as he decided to stand his ground. It was a game of chicken now, and he was the best there was at it.

The unicorn finally dropped the flame, leaving nothing but a tired mare panting in a magically chilled circle of swirling air. 'Well there, I didn't expect quite such a warm reception from you, miss. Do you greet all your neighbors this way?'

The unicorn seemed to ignore him. With a huff, she marched off with Dark Core, leaving White Feather to chuckle bemusedly to himself. The stallion turned and headed towards the far entrance of the ballroom. Work was work...

[ White Feather exits ]

[Dubstep]

Dark Core stood in awe, watching as Malediction flipped out, seeing the green flames flicker into existence and feeling the air chill as they danced around for a moment before being focused at a point, causing it to get colder and colder and colder still, up until it felt like Winter Wrap Up all over again; normally he disliked the cold, it reminded him of his home city too much, but something about it was awe inspiring to him; all the cold left a light frost on his pelt, "...That was amazing Mal! Whoa..." he said with an impressed smile on his face as she finally started to regain her composure and turned to him, "Alright then, let us take our leave shall we?" Dark said with a soft bow as he made his way towards the Ballroom.

[Tempest Rime]

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)