[Ponyville Outskirts] "Have at you, foul beast!" [Closed]

[Cat Napper]

Ever since Cat's arrival in Ponyville, there'd been a spot nearby that was, in her mind, unknown to anypony other than herself. She felt it to be her sanctuary for when life became a little too much for her hooves alone, somewhere to sit back and let the worries roll off of her aching wings.

A few miles outside of the little mountainside town a secluded clearing could be found, a golden field of wild barely so tall that the little pegasus sometimes found it tickling her ear tips (not entirely unbelievable thanks to the filly's abnormally small size). It was dotted with a few flat, sun warmed rocks and hidden from the harsh day's light by a massive oak tree centered perfectly in the area, branches extending and shielding it from the intensity of the sun and allowing only a small amount of green tinted light to filter between the leaves and dapple the ground beneath.

More often than not, if one managed to find the hidden place, they'd happen upon the little mare resting safely tucked away among the massive roots of the tree. Today was such a day, and most likely the last warm day outside Cat would be enjoying until next Winter Wrap Up. After the Running of the Leaves, the behemoth of a tree Cat was lying beneath had been stripped bare of its covering, and the sight was almost melancholic to her. It meant she had nowhere to forget her troubles if only for a moment, until Spring that is.

Lazily lying on her back, limbs splayed and soft belly exposed, the filly sighed and let this silent moment apart from the world be taken as a moment to roll through her thoughts.

Life was good, her business kept her fed each day and paid her rent on time, ponies gave her interesting subjects to experiment in her various paintings and sculptures alike. More important than her income still was how happy she made her clients, how many of them she made smile with the work she made for them. The filly grinned at the thought, all those ponies she'd given a laugh, all the wonderful souls she'd met through her work, that was what really was important to her.

With this in mind, what would young Cat have to worry about? Aside from work though, there was a whole other world Cat was involved in. And that was romance and friendship, social things that Cat held to be the most important matters of all. Inkwell was the first she'd thought of, being so similar to herself, but was it really worth risking their friendship to dive into something like that? She liked him, but she would be devastated if she lost him as a result of a bad dating experience. He was simply far too important to her for something like that. On the other hoof, there was her other closest friend, somepony Cat wasn't all too sure felt the same way towards her. That cute little master of evil introduced himself to her a few months previously at the Gala, Dark Core. Childish, immature, cocky, altogether obnoxious, and rather destructive of property, it wasn't easy to see why the girl even bothered befriending the colt. She'd seen more than her fair share of evidence that Dark wasn't treated nicely in the past, resulting in this rebellious stage that gave him such a terrible rep. All he needed was somepony he would trust, right? Cat nodded to herself, she did want to help him and be a true friend to him, but now that Inky wasn't much of a love interest, she started to feel her emotions come onto the little villain. She was stupidly defensive of him and very, very caring. For a while it seemed like friend stuff, but now it seemed more apparent that there WAS something more..

The artist would have spent more time pondering her feelings.. if it wasn't for that telltale prickling of tiny, devilish legs crawling up the side of her exposed stomach. She froze in place, and after a moment of panic silently rising inside her, the pegasus shrieked and leaped to her hooves, violently shaking in a canine way to remove the spider from her fur.

"GAH! Wh.. oh.. dear Luna why is there ALWAYS a spider..?" Cat squeaked, quaking from her newly gained perch at the top of a low branch.

Unusual for her though, Cat felt brave.. and angry at the creature for interrupting her peace. And she'd been thinking.. if spiders are so common, she'd need to get over her silly fear at some point..

"HYAH!" She raised her voice in a mock battlecry and leaped down, obviously quaking as she faced the almost confused looking black arachnid. "Wanna mess with me...? Have at you, foul beast!" The pegasus took a defensive stance, but made no move to harm the bug. More out of fear than mercy.

Even with how secluded the clearing was, it would seem curious to any observers that Cat came here so often and practically wore down a path. It wouldn't be too surprising if somepony happened along and found the artist's separate peace.

[Tempest Rime]

Malediction was in a wicked good mood. She'd been on a trip to the Everfree, and gotten into an immensely satisfying fight with a giant centipede. She left the forest and veered around the city, deviating from her normal path in order to head for the river to wash up. She was still spattered in ichor from the foul creature, and there was a nasty gash on her shoulder, so she planned to wash up and dress her wound.

She cut through a field of irritatingly tall grass, pushing through without heed to where she was going. Instead of a river or lake, however, there simply seemed to be a big, empty clearing. The natural beauty was lost on Mal, and she grimaced as she glanced around. Still, even this setback wasn't enough to kill her good mood, and the occasional blades of grass swishing into her shoulder only served to remind her of her victory, rather than actually cause significant pain. She grinned sadistically as she thought about it, and set off again, only to pause when she heard someone shout.

Mal blinked. Was there a fight? Could she really be so lucky as to run into trouble twice in one day. She licked her lips and crouched down into the grass, stalking towards the voice. It didn't take long. There was a runty little pegasus who was glaring menacingly at... nothing? Mal did a double take, and only then did she spot the tiny little spider.

It was too absurd. Mal burst out laughing, a mean-spirited, unpleasant sound. "Aaaahhahahahahahaa, oho wow, you sure know how to pick your battles, huh runt? You know, if you keep at it, maybe one day you'll be able to actually HURT a FLY! HAAAhahahaha!" She shoved through the grasses she'd been hiding behind, a truly horrific sight, as the slime that had spattered her had also turned her mane into a sticky mess. It was stuck back from where she usually let it fall, leaving her disfigured eye socket exposed as she grinned sadistically at the little pegasus.

[Dusky Wing]

The weather was in order, her friends were doing their own thing and Dash had some free time! Her wings pumped steadily as she zoomed through the air, loving the feel of the wind flowing along her blue feathers, tail streamlining behind her as she left her multicolor trail of rainbows behind her. She knew of a clearing on the outskirts of town that was PERFECT for a nap. She could practically feel her blue blanket and red pillow calling out to her, driving her to fly faster towards the clearing. She zipped out of Ponyville and out towards the woods, smile on her face as she flew.

She made it to the clearing pretty quick, she was the fastest Pegasus in Equestria after all. She could see her favored tree beckoning her now! She gave a small buck in the air as she banked down towards the clearing.

"Time for that na..."

"Wanna mess with me...? Have at you, foul beast!"

Whoa whoa whoa, somepony was movin in on HER spot and calling her foul?! She huffed in annoyance, wings flaring as she came to a complete stop, searching around for the pony brave enough to insult her. She spied a tiny Pegasus stomping at....something. Oh hey she remembered that short artist pegasus zebra thing...What was her name again? She shrugged as she flew down to say hi, it was obvious she wasn't the pony being insulted and that was good...for the other Pegasus that is.

"Hey....uh...you!" She began, only to be interrupted by another pony. Jeez could she get one sentence out? She turned to the sound of the other voice before that cackle of a laugh reached her ears, that along with the vicious scar on the pony's shoulder was enough to make her fall out of the sky in surprise.

"WHAT IN THE HAY HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

[SunsetSombra]

Whilst all this was carrying on, a certain young mare was currently venturing nearby in search of her normal supplies of fruits and berries found growing 'naturally' on the outer edges of the forest outskirts...her basket half-full of delicious foodstuffs to be washed off and turned into her finest punches and wines over the course of the week. She did, of course, have a small garden of berries for this sort of thing, but these particular variety was harder to grow in controlled circumstances, so she just went with the natural resources available.

Berry still had plenty to go, but the noises coming from nearby were interestingly loud enough to attract her attention, drawing the pony to stop what she was doing for the moment and come take a look at the commotion being caused by a select few loudmouth ponies who were apparently just a little bit aways from where she was.

" What in Equestria is all this NOISE about? " she mutters to herself as she canters off in the direction of the others, not entirely sure just what she was likely to bump into.

What she saw when she arrived was an interesting sight - a smaller-than-normal pegasus pony attacking something on the ground nearby whilst another pony, whom she was not familiar with, standing by and seemingly laughing at the unknown pony...along with Rainbow Dash, whom Berry was only familiar with in passing, questioning the other pony about something. She hadn't heard about WHAT, exactly, but it had apparently been enough to bring her down from the clouds and check it out...which was rare, for the pegasus!

If this was an interesting enough scenario to have the 'somewhat famous' rainbow dash involved, then something had to be up...and Berry figured that she might as well have a close look to find out just what was so funny that it had attracted both the odd other pony and Rainbow Dash.

She made her way over to the other two with a curious look in her eyes. " Uh, So just what's all this noise about anyhow? I could hear you ponies from over there! "

Berry was curious, and she was keen to find out just what this was all about before going back to her fruit gathering!

[Dubstep]

"C'mon Dark, you can do this! You're going to rule the world someday after all! How hard can it be?" a certain caped villain said to himself as he paced outside his lair, "Today's the day you tell her! That you llll...looo....lo...liii...lik....lllliii...don't hate her in the least....." Dark Core, master of evil said to himself, psyching himself up for what would probably be one of the hardest things he had ever done. He had met the particular pegasus at the Grand Galloping Gala not that long ago, and since then, the young villain couldn't seem to get her out of his mind for anything; every turn she was there, no matter what he did, she was there, and he didn't know why. Until a couple days ago; he kept seeing happy couples smiling, enjoying themselves and in, that word....Maybe that's what it was. All the signs seemed to be there, she brought a smile to his face, gave him butterflies in his stomach, seemed to know how to calm him down. All that mushy stuff. "I can do this I can do this I can do this." he kept repeating to himself like a mantra as he headed out in search of the pegasus.

Dark sat out from his villainous abode in Froggy Bottom Bog, towards a lovely clearing where he had spied the pegasus before, only watching her, unable to come out and form any words to say or anything, he would stay there and watch her with a smile on his face for hours until she left, taking another piece of him with her each time. A small sigh escaped the villain as he continued his trek, when suddenly, his ears pricked, hearing a familiar yell coming from the clearing, "Cat? Good she's here! I can finally tell her!" he said as he trotted to the sound of her voice, stopping a few feet from being seen as he heard another voice, a familiar laughter, followed shortly by two other voices that he didn't recognize, "W-wha?...B-blast....so many ponies...." he said hunkering down in the barley, "I...I can't do this....not with all these ponies here....But I was so close....I was ready this time!" the villain said as he pounding on his head in disappointment, all they psyching up, all that planning, for nothing at this rate.

Staying hunkered down out of sight, at least to his knowledge, Dark sighed once more, this time in anxiety, "Maybe if I wait long enough...they'll leave before she does! Yeah....I hope so...." he said, his spirits waning as time went on, not that much had passed.

[Inkwell]

Five days after she arrived in Ponyville for the Running of the Leaves, Rose was not-so-seriously considering just staying in Ponyville a while longer, just living at her brother's apartment and annoying him to death. It wasn't because of the town's atmosphere, though it was charming in its own way. It wasn't because of the cool ponies she'd met here, since she could still write them and there were more awesome ponies back home. And it certainly wasn't because of her proximity to Inkwell, which was starting to irritate the two of them and make Inky eye his calender when he thought she wasn't watching.

No, it was because of the delicious apple pies that came out of Sweet Apple Acres. After the Running of the Leaves after-party, Rose had stopped by the ranch to buy a pie from Applejack. Then she came back for another one the next day, then two more after that. By this time Rose had spent so much money on those apple pies (and a bit more on some other sort of treat from the Acres or Sugarcube Corner that inevitably proved less satisfying) that even money-conscious Applejack was starting to look scared at the sight of Rose approaching her farm. Honestly, the gal acted like she'd never had a fan of her cooking before!

Of course, she wasn't just eating pie all day. She'd started work on a new story idea, experimenting with a new concept or two. At the moment she wandered around the outskirts of town, wondering if she should focus entirely on one idea or make a sort of anthology out of all of them. But did she have enough ideas to make a decent anthology? If so, should she come up with a frame narrative for them all or just make a collection of unrelated short stories? Was it a good idea to link any of this to her published novel? So many decisions!

As she walked, she noticed parts of her rubbing together where they didn't before. She stopped and peered underneath herself. My, but it looked bigger there than before. Softer, too. That settled it. She had to leave Ponyville soon before those pies became the death of her. It would probably help if she started running, too. Right after the Running of the Leaves she felt sore all over, but she'd gotten plenty of time to recover.

Before she could think about resuming or even stepping up her usual Canterlot jogging routine, her train of thought was derailed by the sound of a very familiar voice. She knew it to be that little artist "friend" of Inky's, the one she saw in the Running for a few minutes or so. Poor little girl didn't do quite so well in it, not that Rose was surprised. One look at her short little legs told Rose that Cat would have an uphill battle in a race. Now she sounded like she'd gotten into a fight, or more accurately reenacting a fight in a sort of melodramatic way. Rose had to see this!

She bounded towards it, through the thickening trees in her way, until she found a clearing with quite a few other ponies in it. There was Cat and Rainbow Dash and an intense-looking mare with an empty eye socket! Rose did a double-take at it, slowly approaching the one-eyed mare from the edge of the clearing. On her way, she passed a young colt that she would have recognized from somewhere if she had her mind free.

"Wow," she said, staring at the empty socket like a little filly who was shown a glowing magical artifact for the first time. "There must be some story behind that." Then she remembered that it could potentially be rude to stare or single somepony out because of their disability. Whoops. She broke eye contact and studied a dandelion on the ground. "Um, you know, if you don't mind telling it..." She craned her head down and munched on the dandelion. The better to get used to non-pie foods again.

[Cat Napper]

The spider, clearly some kind of hairy, demonic wolf spider, MENACINGLY crawled closer to Cat, causing the filly to let out a loud shriek and leap away from her foe just as another pony approached her. The pegasus snorted and shot a brief glare at her, that is until she got a full look at what this new mare looked like. "FFAAHH..!" Cat's wings bolted out, entire body giving a startled jolt, though she soon calmed herself and got a good look at the slime coated filly.

"Oh gosh.. wh-what happened to you..?" The mean spirited words the stranger had spat at her went completely unheard, and the caring pegasus took a small step towards the unicorn, looking deeply concerned. "Are you hurt at all..?"

She would have pressed on in trying to help the unicorn, who the filly could very clearly see now sported a frightening gash in her shoulder, if it hadn't been for another pegasus acquaintance of hers calling out a greeting, and then joining her in being completely shocked by Mal's appearance.

"H-hi again Rainbow Dash.." She nodded, taking a step back to greet the prismatic mare with a happy smile and a subtle wave of her wings. She cleared her throat, trying so desperately to calm her heart rate after two scares at once, and all thoughts of the evil spider had left her mind. "We're a 'lil ways away from Ponyville, what brings you both out 'ere..?" She said with minor irritation detectable in her voice, this was supposed to be her private hideout that nopony else new about!

The little artist managed to suppress a groan as yet another pony marched in on her secret getaway, this one carrying with her a basket of wild grown fruits. "Bluh.. that's what I'd like to know." Cat responded to the new mare questioning the noise. "I WAS gonna take a nap.."

Still, she was completely unaware of the arrival of two of her closest friends, Dark remaining hidden nearby and Rose making herself clearly seen as she trotted in and questioned the vicious looking mare about her missing eye. Had her rest not been interrupted, the pegasus would have been thrilled about seeing Rose again.. but they'd all happened to catch the filly in a very rare moment of low tolerance, and so many crowding around her was quickly making her anxious.

"Alright.. what are you all doing here anyways, if you don't mind me askin'?" She took a few deep breaths, managing to slowly calm herself and keep her temper from flaring too badly.

[Tempest Rime]

Mal glared at the little pegasus, suddenly conscious of all the other ponies who had shown up. "Fine," she snapped. "But you should learn..." she stepped forward and stomped on the little spider viciously. It darted away as fast as it could, but it was still partly caught under her hoof, mortally wounding it without killing it entirely. Mal grinned as it dragged itself away from her as best it could with its few remaining, functional legs. "...not to take your eye off an enemy"

To emphasize her point, Mal was about to ram into the little pegasus, but in stomping on the spider, part of the wound on her shoulder had reopened. She winced and drew back, bleeding. "Horseapples," she swore. "Forgot about that. I don't supposed anyone's got any alcohol on 'em?" She needed to get this stupid injury cleaned and bandaged already. She glanced dismissively at the rainbow pegasus. "Just some monster out in the woods. I took care of him, though."

The noise seemed to be attracting every pony in miles. Mal shook her head and looked over the group, her gaze lingering on the red unicorn that was staring at her. Mal was used to stares, but she stared back anyway in hopes that it would make the other unicorn feel uncomfortable. It seemed effective, as she broke eye contact quickly. "Not much of a story. Manticore took my eye. I took his heart. You know, the usual."

When Cat mentioned the name of the rainbow pegasus, though, Mal lost interest in anypony else. "Rainbow Dash, huh?" Mal sneered. "I've heard of you. You're one of Celestia's goon squad who get hooked into that magical artifact every time one of her political prisoners gets out. I wonder, how does it feel, knowing that your greatest contribution to the world is to be Twilight Sparkle's 'friendship' battery?"

[Dusky Wing]

Ponies were moving in on her napping spot, under any other circumstances Dash might have put her hoof down and staked her claim, she had gotten to this place first….as far as she knew…and that was good enough! She hopped up onto her hooves, giving her body a brisk shake, flicking her wings out slightly before settling them back against her sides. It looked like the smaller Pegasus was doing her questioning for her…well there was one problem down.

She looked back over to the wounded Unicorn, most of the conversation lost due to how shocked she was from the scar…and now she noticed the mare had a missing EYEBALL. What kind of foul luck did THIS pony run into? She was going to ask just that question when the mare said something about a Manticore taking her eye…well that was pretty intense… If she could beat up survive a Manticore attack then Dash could give her some respect. The mare’s next comment bucked any and all respect Dash had for her right out the window. Did she just insult the Princess AND her friends? There was no force in Equestria that excused that kind of behavior. She flared her wings and flew up in front of the mare, hovering face to face with the Unicorn, not even caring about her fight with whatever was in the forest.

“Listen lady. I don’t know who you are or what your problem is, but I’m not gonna just stand here and let you bad mouth me, the Princess OR my friends.” She pulled back slightly and tilted her head left and right, stretching herself out for a fight that she had a feeling was on its way.

“You got a problem with me then we can settle it right here and now…”

[SunsetSombra]

Berry had been silently observing the events of the last few minutes carefully...it appeared as though the one-eyed pony had one heck of an attitude problem, and that was rubbing the purple earth pony the wrong way. No matter who you were or whatever you thought you needed to express to the world, that kinda crude brutish manner was never an acceptable first resort - Berry felt herself bristling at the very notion of the words being thrown out by the rather ill-mannered pony, but didn't get a chance to make her thoughts known because the one known as Rainbow Dash was making her own point well known...much to Berry's own personal amusement.

" Well at least that'll keep things between them a moment... " the berry-collecting pony says as she looks at Cat, deciding that this was probably the best point to explain that she'd always come out near here to pick the particular breed of Fruit she had in her basket.

" I'm only here because I was drawn by all the noise I heard whilst over nearby doin' some of my monthly fruit gathering... "

She points out to the small pegasus, whilst keeping an eye on the arguing pair nearby.

" It's really not so rare to see me over this side of the woods! "

The berry-picking earth pony wasn't really sure what else she could do...but the other pony with the one-eye was calling out for alcohol.

Perhaps she should probably try reaching out to the foul-mothed equine and see if that helped any.

" And if you need alcohol for your wound... " Berry says in the direction of the noisy abrasive Unicorn, one hoof rubbing the back of her head as she gives a slightly annoyed grunt. " Now I might have some at home I can use - on condition that you both quit arguing about pointless things. You two are beginning to give me a headache. "

[Dubstep]

"This so isn't fair....The ONE time I get the chance, the ONE time I work up the courage, the ONE time I muster all the powers of evil to back me up, there has to be a crowd!" Dark said to himself with a sigh as he listened on to the conversations, Malediction, the mare with whom he had danced with at the Gala, was arguing with somepony who was called Rainbow Dash, the name rang a bell, but he couldn't place it, or more, he didn't care to place it. To him she was just another goody two hooves pony who'd probably get in his way on his quest for domination. Malediction however, wasn't SO bad, and the villain doubted she'd care if he tried to take over or not, which was just fine by him.

Gasping slightly, Dark thought his cover blown as a red pelted mare had walked by, but with a sigh of relief, she said nothing to him, but instead continued on and conversed with Mal, inquiring about the reason for her missing eye, always an interesting conversation starter indeed, albeit a bit, morbid for diner parties though. Quietly Dark mumbled to himself, wondering when and if this crowd would ever disperse long enough for him to even say hello to Cat, let alone give him time to confess his 'Not Hate'. "C'mon c'mon go away all of you go away!" he said to himself, slightly flailing in the brush, causing a slight rustle through the barley, "I just want to talk to her...."

[Inkwell]

"The Usual?" Rose asked. "So fights to the death are just an everyday thing for you, is that it?" Just who was this mare? Rose found herself in awe of Malediction, a character she wasn't expecting to actually meet around Ponyville. The battered mare stuck out like a sore thumb around the kind and friendly town of Ponyville, and judging by the harsh, completely unprovoked words she said to Rainbow Dash, fitting in was the last thing she wanted to do.

The altercation between the two mares made Rose back away a bit. She felt concern for Mal and Dash; she kind of liked both of them based on what little experience she had with them. Mal was an unpleasant pony, sure, but an interesting character nonetheless. Rose could already catch herself filing away aspects of the disfigured unicorn for future reference in her writing. Dash reminded Rose so much of herself it was kind of scary; it was like the world had made the same soul twice, but with different interests. It'd be hard for Rose to watch either of them hurting each other, moreso than for most real-life ponies fighting.

"Yeah, no need to kill each other," she said, agreeing with the berry-picking pony. Rose didn't even notice her until she spoke up. "Probably better if you two stayed apart, really." It was a feeble attempt to stop them from coming to blows and she knew it. The awkwardness of the situation was starting to get the better of her.

Fortunately, she happened to hear a whisper from the young colt she passed earlier. She turned to him and suddenly remembered where she remembered him from. Inkwell had mentioned a weird wannabe villain he'd met before, somepony who just wasn't meant to be a bad guy, not like Malediction. And now he wanted to talk to Cat in private, huh? Well, she could help with that; Cat seemed to want privacy, too. She called out to her and pointed a hoof in his direction. "Hey Cat! I think this guy wants a word with you alone! Wanna indulge him?"

[Cat Napper]

Oooohh... Cat didn't know if she was too find of this one-eyed unicorn girl here, what she'd said to Dash was.. well, not cool! She wanted to pipe in, say that if it wasn't for the element stuff that.. Cat didn't completely understand, they would all likely be in a lot of trouble right then. But rather, the little artist flattened her ears and backed away from the fight, mumbling something incoherent as she slowly backed her small form behind her friend Rose. Softly she cursed herself for being too small to really stand up for what she felt was right, already feeling very irritated anyways now that her relaxation spot had been turned into a battleground.

"Wha..?" Cat perked up and turned to curiously look at Rose, head slightly tilted. "Somepony wants.." She trotted and peered out a little ways behind her friend, goggles raised to her eyes, and soon the form of the very reason she'd left her apartment became much clearer among the barley. "Oh! Dark! I, eh.." The filly's ears lowered guiltily and she turned back to the crowd of ponies, one looking pretty irritated herself with Rainbow Dash and the one-eyed mare's aggression, she couldn't just leave the poor girl there with those two at each other's throats!

But really, what could she do? Being petite definitely had its disadvantages sometimes.. Cat tried to shrug off the issue behind her and trotted over to greet her dear friend, who oddly seemed very nervous as she got a closer look. "Hey.." She said softly, genuinely concerned as she trotted a bit closer to the young villain. "S'everything okay Dark..?"

[Tempest Rime]

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.

[Dusky Wing]

Most of what the pony said was lost. All she knew was that there was no problem...well there were always ponies that didn't like the princess, for whatever reasons they had. Ponies were free to their own opinions and stuff she guessed. But ugh...what she said though just ticked her off! She wasn't a friendship battery.... She watched the other pony turn to talk to somepony else and decided to leave it at that, she wasn't gonna get into a fight so there was more important business to attend to!

However the the more she thought about it the more napping seemed boring, she was wound up now! A nap could wait. For now she needed to get back up into the air! She shook her body and flicked her wings, preparing to leap into the sky before she spotted Berry not too far away.

"Oh hey Berry....when did you get here?" She asked, trotting over to the mare. It was always nice to have a little chat with friends...she began to wonder if that scarred unicorn even had any friends with her attitude.

[SunsetSombra]

Berry gave a loud huff as it was plain that the other angry pony was entirely oblivious to her offer of help...oh the insolence, that was gonna be the last time Berry decided to ever suggest so boldly to such an arrogant brat of a pony. No, she was done giving out a freebie to somepony like that...

The female exhales sharply and starts to turn back to tend to the berries on the bushes behind her - there were some plump looking blackberries available here that she wasn't just going to let them go to waste...not when they could be part and parcel of her wide range of beverages, wines and drinks. Muttering loudly to herself a moment as she did so, Berry begins to take some time to size up and nudge the juiciest berries from the selection before her into the basket she'd placed on the ground beneath them...humming to herself as she does this.

"Oh hey Berry....when did you get here?"

"ACK!" Berry shrieks as she's taken by surprise, almost scattering all over the place the bunch of berries she was currently tending to - she turns around and glares angrily for a moment at the pegasus behind her, one hoof held to her chest as she catches her breath back.

" Holy Hayberries, what the...are you trying to scare me to death, or somethin'?! "

[Dubstep]

"What?! Wait no no it's f...Heh, hey Cat..." Dark say; practically his whole face was bright red through his pitch dyed pelt; his heart beating a mile a minute; so many ponies were around, not to mention one of them he knew. Having met Malediction at the Gala a while back, Dark knew that she would be the type to mercilessly taunt anything that could be construed as weakness, such as signs of affection or, well, anything really...But Dark had come too far now to just let that get to him now. After all, it would be weak to let the opinions of a minion; no matter HOW good of a dancer they were; get in the way of his goals.

Taking a few deep calming breaths as Cat took a couple moments to gauge the other's situation, Dark reassured himself, 'You can do this Dark, you're an evil overlord. If you can tell this filly you l...ll....don't hate her, you'll never be able to rule the world. It's so simple!', shaking his head to snap himself out of it Dark stammered, "N-no...I MEAN YES! I mean...well...I uhm....Cat, err...well that is to say..." sweating a little, Dark didn't take notice his pelt dye began to run slightly, "Uhm...I was doing a little, th-thinking about...see it's like....I don't hate you...You're...the farthest from hate, by that I mean....I l....o....I lo.....I uhm...." Dark's ear twitched in annoyance, "BLAST IT WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SAY I THINK I LOVE YOU CAT?!....Erk!" slamming his hooves over his mouth, Dark's eyes went wide as he realized what he had just done.

[Inkwell]

Malediction's casual recounting of encounters with so-called monsters made Rose take another look at her body. It certainly did have its share of scars, scars that kind of made Rose wince due to their sheer numbers. She could barely find an unblemished patch of blue coat thanks to all of the cuts and burns that Mal suffered in the past. "So that makes you a monster hunter, then?" she asked, looking back at Mal's empty eye socket. "Never really met one before. I bet you must have a lot of interesting stories..."

But then Rose's mood was broken by the loud and clumsy declaration of love from behind her. It made her giggle, which she realized this battle-tested unicorn might take the wrong way. "Sorry, that was him, not you," she said, still smiling. "I guess I have a soft spot for young love." But then she remembered something that made her smile fade.

It was her meetup with Cat and Inkwell at the Grand Galloping Gala. Though she didn't stick around to see how the two of them made out, she could tell that there was something between them. After years of relationship turbulence, she'd gotten a bit of a seventh sense regarding attractions like that.

But now it looked like this other colt, Dark Core, was going to complicate things. She turned an eye toward him and Cat to see how things would play out. While her first guess (and a secret little hope) told her that Cat would let him down gently, she admitted to herself that she barely knew Cat, and the possibility existed that the little pegasus could well have changed her mind.

It was Cat's move now. What was it going to be?

[Cat Napper]

Wait... what?

Cat's eyes shot open, she almost wanted to be sure her ears were working, if she'd heard her villainous friend correctly. After a moment or two of staring like a deer in headlights, straight ahead at nothing in particular with ears perked in surprise, the outburst from Dark finally started to sink into her. "Wait.. R-really? You.." Her pale face nearly instantly lit up in a bright red blush, everypony else in that scene suddenly seemed to disappear as her heart picked up into a flutter. He DID love her, now she didn't have to be the one to tell him how SHE felt! It was as if a heavy saddle had been lifted from her back, and she almost let out a sigh of relief. "You, you think you love me..?"

The artist lowered her ears, eyes flashing back and forth nervously. Dark had witnessed her open affections towards Inky, what would he think of her suddenly coming onto him? Well... seeing how he clearly was planning on admitting his feelings towards the filly, he didn't seem to see that she and Inky were crushing on one another. And, clearly as well was the fact that it didn't seem to bother him.

Thoughts of Inkwell were soon turned aside as a small smile made its way onto her face. Shuffling her hooves nervously and casting her gaze down to the grass in front of her, Cat was amazed by the amount of bravery it took this colt to admit how he felt. Now was her chance, she would be able to tell him how she felt in turn, always be there for him, never let anypony hurt him again.. but how the hay would she go about saying that to him?

She looked up again, after the moment of silence, and finally spoke in an attempt to come clean. "Dark... I uh.." Ears folded, the little filly's mind was suddenly drawing a blank on what to say, unusual since she was pretty good at wording things the right way.

Before she knew what she was doing, as in her actions were on auto pilot, she stepped forth, soft blades of grass brushing past her sides as she stood up as high on her hooves as she could, and locked Dark in a brief little kiss, lasting no more than ten seconds at the most.

After pulling away, she realized what she'd done, and the fact that Inkwell's darn sister had witnessed it. "I uhhh... heheh.." She smiled shyly and looked away, ears flattened back against her skull again and blushing once more. "I.. guess actions speak louder than words... heheh."

[Tempest Rime]

Mal shot a smug grin at Rainbow, but the goody-four-shoes didn't seem to notice. Oh well, she'd gotten a rise out of the famous pegasus, she didn't really care for much more than that. The talk of love, however, drew her attention back to the first pegasus, and the vaguely familiar dark unicorn. She snorted and looked at the red unicorn who was still paying attention to her. "Love, bah, what a... a..." She trailed off as recognition slowly dawned on her. Sure he had been wearing a mask, but the voice, coloration, and physique all pointed at one pony.

Green flame burst from her horn, flaring off into the air above her and sending long shadows skittering around the area. "YOU!" She shouted at Dark. "YOU'RE WITH, WITH THAT... THING?!" Her voice built into a shriek and she pointed a hoof furiously at the pathetic, runty pegasus. She took a deep breath and quickly took control of her flame, stopping the dangerous flare before it hurt anypony.

A very dangerous look came over Mal as she narrowed her eyes. She'd kind of liked this jerk, maybe, a little bit. For him to suddenly go gaga over such a pathetic nopony... well, it had actually managed to ruin what she had thought was an unruinable good mood. "So tell me, 'Dark' or whatever you're going by now, does she know all about your plans to MURDER THE PRINCESS!?" She shouted the last line, making sure it was loud enough that Rainbow Dash could hear it.

[Dusky Wing]

Rainbow was instantly cured of that sour mood that Mal had given her, grinning wide at the flustered pony. Even when she wasn't trying to be a prankster she still had that spark! She snerked softly at the other pony before trotting over to help collect some of the berries that escaped.

"Not trying to." She chuckled, flicking her wings slightly in a more comfortable position. That pony was always so wound up! She needed to relax sometime. She was about to chat some more with the pony when Mal's next words were blatantly shouted out, no doubt to get another outburst from her, but that was a pretty good lie...and if it was the truth....well she was gonna put an end to that right here and now.

She turned back to Mal, it was obvious she was in control of this plot, stomping over to the other mare, getting right up close and personal, the fact that the unicorn was missing an eye not even hindering her. She would protect the princess without a doubt and there was not a single chance in all of Equestria that this pony was gonna stop her!

"You wanna murder the Princess? You're gonna have to go through me first."

[SunsetSombra]

Berry found herself immediately annoyed at Mal's blustered and bold-faced words, stomping a hoof into the ground in frustration as she lets out an annoyed grunt.

" WHAT...in the world? " Berry snaps looking back at the offending pony - almost having half a mind to go and give the irritant a piece of her mind.

" WHO in their right mind says something so incredulously stupid in the middle of the day and expects to be taken SERIOUSLY?! "

She snorts loudly as she turns back around - even the random proclamation of love between Catnapper and Dark couldn't exactly lighten her mood...whoever this one eyed bad tempered mule of a pony was, Berry Punch was neither amused nor enamored by her current state of mind or attempts to goad the Blue Pegasus into a catfight...and although berry wasn't exactly the most impressed with Rainbow Dash either, she didn't really consider her to be anywhere near as intolerable as a pony with as bad a temper as the one she was witnessing here.

Giving one last frustrated sigh of annoyance, she shrugs and turns back to the bushes...trying once more to continue her days planned work.

[Dubstep]

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything, I know you probably like that one guy and I'm just an annoying pest and I should learn to keep my mouth shut andMMPH!" Dark's eyes flew open in shock as Cat kissed him, 'Did she just, did that just, does that mean that?...' the villain's mind started running at a mile a minute in the short amount of time that the kiss lasted; a bright blush spreading across his face, as well as a happy dopey smile, "Eheheh...W-wow...I uhm...w...y-yeah I suppose they do..." he said with a chuckle; nothing could ruin the moment right now, nothing in the...scratch that, one thing could.

Ducking down as the flames shot into the air, Dark gulped and stammered lightly, "Heh...uh...h-hi Malediction...Uhm...long time no see eh?" he said slowly standing back up, brushing his mane out from his face. What the temperamental unicorn said next though made Dark twitch in anger, "THING?! How DARE you call her a thing! You...You're just bitter because you're a no account, addle brained, hotheaded, cyclops! Amazing dance skills do NOT make up for you insulting her!" he said snorting; inside he felt bad for having turned Cat's relaxation area into, what's possibly about to become a small battleground, but he wasn't about to let Male talk bad about her; he didn't WANT to lose a good dance partner, but no matter HOW good of a dancer she was, Dark wouldn't let that stand, "And for YOUR information, I've not ONCE planed regicide. Simply usurping someday is all. Nothing wrong with that." brushing off his cape, Dark took an arrogant pose; he wasn't about to let himself lose his swagger in front of the girl he cared for, not a chance.

[Inkwell]

Rose sighed. So that was it, then. Cat made her choice, kissed this Dark Core colt without provocation. It was a pretty good kiss too, for one so short and without tongue. When Cat looked around, Rose caught her eyes and started walking up to her. "Cat, you know what you have to do, ri-"

"YOU!"

She turned to watch Malediction interject herself into the scene apropos of nothing. As if the emergent love triangle centered around Cat wasn't enough, it appeared that Dark had one of his own, too. This one looked to be twice his age, no less! She proceeded to act like a complete tramp, calling Cat a thing and throwing wild accusations.

"Murder the princess?" Rose repeated, her voice dripping with incredulity. She hadn't been exposed to such stupidity since she saw Sweet Refrain's analysis of the Chains of Light and Shadow series. She didn't care how dangerous Mal or Dark were, they had a better chance of eating Manehattan than they had of killing Princess Celestia!

But the damage had been done, and public opinion swiftly turned against Malediction, rather than her intended target. "You're actually taking her seriously?" she asked Dash. "She's just being a spiteful nag."

Not even Dark Core was happy with Mal's stunt. Rose barely knew anything about him, but she was certain that he was too good for Mal.

"And for YOUR information, I've not ONCE planned regicide. Simply usurping someday is all. Nothing wrong with that."

Rose facehoofed. Now she was slightly less than certain.

[Cat Napper]

After all the troubles for a brief moment had been fogged from the filly's mind, there came a moment of sheer bliss, something not quite as beautiful as anything she could remember having experienced in her life. The sadly short lived moment came to a close quickly, Cat snapping out of her euphoria with a surprised squeak as the one-eyed unicorn suddenly erupted in anger, and particularly deadly looking flames.

Instinctively flaring her wings to a full span in an attempt to shield herself and Dark from the sudden rage, Cat grew abnormally silent after Malediction's outburst. The insult spat at her seemed to hit her normally solid heart for the first time anypony here in Ponyville would have known of. Insults didn't bother her, in fact, it seemed nearly impossible to penetrate the filly's young heart with cruelty. Something about Mal, and her immediate dislike of Cat upon meeting her for no more than a few minutes...

The filly's azure rimmed ears slammed flat against her head, wide, shocked eyes looking almost as if she'd been stabbed in the back. She tore her gaze away from the unicorn, looking a little panicked as she couldn't really figure out why the scar covered mare hated her so much, and, with a small distressed snort, trotted away from the group through her clearing with her head held low, trying to hide her welling tears from detection.

Boy, was THAT embarrassing or what? Nopony had ever managed to upset her like that so quickly, especially not after such a wonderful moment..

The little pegasus peeked tentatively up from above the grass after walking out a few feet from her tree, and cast her silver glance back to the group, eyes lingering on Dark for a moment as he spoke up in her defense. Panic faded after that, the amount of bravery it took to admit his feelings.. AND to stand up to somepony as threatening as Mal all at once.. In all honesty, Cat didn't ever expect the young colt to have that much goodness in him, and her heart fluttered with a happy, warm joy seeing this. She'd chosen good, this petty little colt might be seen as a pest to most of the locals, but to the half-sized pegasus artist, he really could end up being what she'd always wanted.

She'd calmed herself notably quickly, returning to her normal attitude in a few moments, and slowly edged herself back into the scene, sticking near Rose Madder this time and trying to keep a low profile this time.

"Rose," She began, sounding very apologetic as she decided to explain herself. "You know I like Inky.. I like him a lot, but, you know.. I did a lot of thinking, and well.." She looked saddened even by the thought of losing her dorky little artist companion. "He's too important to me, he's my best friend, you know? And... thing is, I like Inky and all, but.. I really, really like Dark." The filly nodded, shuffling her hooves nervously again. "I've never really been more sure, but I do. And not in a friend sort of way either. M-more than that.." Blushing hotly, she couldn't bare to even make eye contact with Rose after that having been said, and spoke up in a weaker, but hopeful tone. "... do you think he'll understand? And.. still want to be my friend?"