__ __ My Little Pony...My Little Pony | \/ | What will today's adventure be? | \ / |_ _ My Little Pony...My Little Pony | |\/| | | | | Will there be exciting sights to see? | | | | |_| | Where will you wander? Hither and yonder |_| |_|\__, | Letting your heart be your guide __/ | My Little Pony...My Little Pony |___/ I'll be there right by your side _ _ _ _ _ _____ | | (_) | | | | | | __ \ | | _| |_| |_| | ___ | |__) |__ _ __ _ _ | | | | __| __| |/ _ \ | ___/ _ \| '_ \| | | | | |____| | |_| |_| | __/ | | | (_) | | | | |_| | |______|_|\__|\__|_|\___| |_| \___/|_| |_|\__, | __/ | |___/ __ __ _ _ _____ _ _ | \/ | | | |/ ____| | | | | \ / | | | | (___ | |__| | | |\/| | | | |\___ \| __ | | | | | |__| |____) | | | | |_| |_|\____/|_____/|_| |_| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [ May 08, 2005 ] Rainbow Falls The sound of the falls is almost deafening, here, and while the current wouldn't kill you, it's certainly pounding down into the river at an incredible rate, sending up spumes of white mist into the air that display the water's spectral rainbow qualities, glimmering in the sun. It's a far swim to either shore from here, and the rocks flanking the falls look a little too slick to climb, but it looks as though for those not minding a little roughing-up, you might be able to plunge through the heavy curtains of water to a spot behind the torrents. Obvious exits: leads to Behind the Falls. leads to River Glen. leads to Rainbow Bank. ======= Tincture ==== Female == Earth Pony ===================================== Tincture's leaf-green eyes gleam, their facets catching the light and seeming to highlight this pony's usual soft smile. There's a hint of extra pink on her cheeks; the rest of her face and body is a soft pinkish grey. Her mane shades from grey-green through a brighter yellowish tone, salmon pink, and finally pale violet. Her tail is the same subtle mix of colors. Both her mane and tail are a fraction shorter than average, giving Tincture a slightly scruffy look, especially when her mane manages to flop over her eyes. Her symbol is clearly marked on either side of her rump: a maple and an oak leaf, both partway through their color change from green to Autumn's red-orange. ================================================================================ Cyclone Cyclone is a slightly smaller than average pony, though her presence more than makes up for it. Vivid wide slashes of black and white alternate across her body and feathery wings. Her mane and tail are similarly colored onyx, then platinum, and as wild as her name. Her symbol is that of a swirling vortex in shades of grey, a combination of her two base colors as well as contrasting with each. Her feral eyes burn a golden-yellow from behind a shaggy forelock. Rainbow Falls tumbles over the cliff as usual, its bright colors streaming in the sunlight. In contrast to the colorful water, a crazed streak of black and white zooms through the air just short of the water. With little squeals and whinnies of excitement, Cyclone flies as close to the water as she can, even occasionally pushing off of an outcropping of rock with her hind legs, risking getting caught in the torrent of the falling river and dashed to the rocks below. Tincture trots in, her head held high and her expression focused. She had the head of one of the sunflowers in her mouth, precariously held by the petals between her lips, and she is finding it difficult to walk on the water-slicked rocks with the necessary caution while still keeping hold of the flower, especially as now and again it flips upwards and obscures her view. In one of her passes across the waterfall, Cyclone catches sight of the approaching pony. She makes one more push off of a rock by the side of the falls, does a loop in the air, then hovers momentarily, studying the twinkle-eye. She tosses her forelock out of her face, then, rather hesitantly, moves a bit closer to the stranger and the ground. Tincture is forced to stop completely as her view is abruptly full of sunflower, the movement of air from Cyclone's nearer-by flying sending the flower up against her face. She shakes her head, along with a faint noise of distress, but this doesn't allow her to see anything more, and finally she lowers her head to carefully put the flower safe between her front hooves. When the pony looks up again she sees Cyclone, and her mouth opens slightly in wonder at the sight. Cyclone regards Tincture with her wild yellow eyes for another moment, then is suddenly moving. She zips towards the earth pony, stopping just short of actually touching the other, but definitely intruding in the mare's personal space. "What are you doing with that?" she asks, indicating the sunflower with a quick gesture and a moment's touch of a hoof on the ground. Then she's moving again, fluttering over Tincture's head and coming to rest on the ground a short distance away, her tail swishing frantically from side to side as she tosses her forelock out of her eyes again. Tincture turns herself enough to continue looking at Cyclone once she lands, but she is careful of her apparently-precious flower. Indeed, at first she is reluctant to answer Cyclone's question, but after a few thoughtful tips of her head, jewel-bright eyes gleaming, she finally says, quietly, "Drop it on the water." The color-swirled pony stops dead in her tracks for just a moment, regarding Tincture with surprise, then she's moving again, one leg up, then another, practically trotting in place. "Why would you want to do that?" she asks, looking first at the other pony, then the sunflower, then tossing her head once more to get her too-long forelock out of her eyes. Tincture opens and closes her mouth once or twice, initially at a loss as to how to respond. Perhaps she assumed that her plan would, somehow, be obvious. "I want to see where it goes," she says a length. "And where it goes faster." She could just watch the falls themselves, of course... it seems such direct observation wouldn't be sufficient, to her mind. So a nice big flower to see bobbing along is. "Oh," Cyclone responds with a less-than-interested tone. She glances at the insurmountable rocks leading up to where the falls crash down, then the earth pony, and snorts disdainfully. "You'll never get up there," she says, spreading one wing, then the other, admiring her own wildly striped plumage. She glances at the other pony again, then shakes her head. "Never, never never!" she chants, jumping with each iteration of the word. Tincture hunches her shoulders, leaning protectively over her laboriously-selected sunflower. Her ears flick back, and she's plainly made uncomfortable by the chanting, as well as rather hurt by the curt dismissal of her plan, let alone abilities. She might be looking past Cyclone, trying to be aloof, or might in fact be glaring at her with some defiance; it's hard to tell the motivation behind those faceted eyes. Cyclone's mood changes suddenly from mocking to pitying. "You poor thing," she croons, suddenly dashing towards Tincture and stopping just short of running into the larger pony. "However do you get anywhere without wings? That's just too, too bad. I'll take it!" she suddenly declares brightly, then ducks to try to grab the sunflower. Whether or not she actually gets it, she'll leap back into the air and hover just out of reach of Tincture. Tincture swings around at Cyclone lunges towards her, and that movement is her undoing; with her head lifted again, and her front hooves wider-spaced to keep the earth-bound pony blanced on the rocks, her precious sunflower is easily snatched. She stares in indignant shock as Cyclone hovers--out of touching range even if Tincture were so foolish as to try moving suddenly on these slippery rocks--with the rudely-grabbed flower. Cyclone, her mouth full, can't exactly say anything at the moment, but as Tincture stares up at her, the pegasus giggles behind the flower. She tauntingly swoops over the earth pony a few times, rolling her eyes with delight as she carefully stays just out of reach. She quickly tires of this game, though, and speedily gains altitude until she's just above where the river tumbles into the waterfall. She glances down to make sure Tincture is watching, then drops the sunflower into the swirling water. Tincture lifts her forefeet off the rocks, a sort of precarious half-rearing, all too obviously distressed at how Cyclone is taunting her. She voices a high note of distress as the Pegasus lets go of the flower, and it tumbles downward, lost. But then the current catches it and the bright patch of the sunflower tumbles down with the waterfall. Tincture strains forward, all her hooves back on the ground, and watches with fascination as the flower drops under the falls, is briefly lost in the rush of water there, but then bobs to the surface once more, quickling floating past Tincture and away. Cyclone, too, watches the flower as it drops, continuing to hover just above the falls. When it disappears under the force of the water, she dives down to flutter above the pool, getting there just about the time the bright yellow bloom bobs back to the surface. She watches for another few moments, then returns to flit around Tincture. "That wasn't very interesting," she informs the earth pony with some disappointment in her voice. The sunflower is already out of sight, and Tincture looks to Cyclone, instead. With a toss of her head, she asserts, boldly, "Yes it was." She is glaring, if the stiff way she is holding herself is any indication. So much for appreciating Cyclone's help in the experiment; Tincture might have, and even said thank you, if Cyclone hadn't been so rude as to simply snatch the flower, and then drop it--albeit in the right place--without so much as a by-your-leave. "No it wasn't," Cyclone contradicts the other pony. "It was just like anything else that goes down the falls. A stick, a leaf, a flower. They all do the same thing," the little pegasus insists, even though her bored tone seems to indicate the very subject isn't very interesting to her. "Boring, boring, boring," she goes back to chanting, this time "leaping" along the top of the water, letting her hooves just barely touch it each time she repeats the word. Tincture shakes herself, even her short mane and tail whipping around and shedding a few stray droplets of water. She is bothered enough by Cyclone's attitude to ignore her comment, and certainly to not reply to the chant. "Goodbye," she says, abruptly, turning away and aiming to go somewhere else, probably back to the sunflower field to comfort herself with the still-growing bright flowers there. She can peacefully think on the path /her/ flower took over the falls, and try not to dwell on the rude Pegasus who set it moving there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~