Post by Derpy on Oct 27, 2015 1:45:46 GMT -5
This is the kick-off for our chief Nightmare Night plot of 2015, and is also my debut roleplay as Celestia! I encourage everypony to get involved somehow. That may mean joining the investigation for where the missing mirror is, perhaps playing someone in the Magical Academy, or it may simply mean being affected by the mirror when things get surreal, as they are wont to do at this time of year.
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
<OOC> You say, "There we are!"
<OOC> You say, "Anyway, if you found me creepy a moment ago, that isn't such a shame, is it? After all, a certain holiday is just around the corner..."
<OOC> Marble_Memory says, "Well, I mean... I'm scared of everything. I was frightened by how the coffee was dripping this morning during the morning meeting."
<OOC> Celestia nods knowingly. "I instructed the custodian to refill the pot in a spooky manner for the holiday season."
<OOC> Marble_Memory whimpers.
<OOC> Celestia nods with satisfaction. "Shall we go in character?"
<OOC> Marble_Memory shrieks. "*In* character?"
<OOC> You say, "Well, what else are we to do with our characters? Simply use them as decoration?"
<OOC> Marble_Memory says, "Well... I *am* pretty."
Celestia sits comfortably on the plush, gold-tasseled pillow at the end of the low table in her Morning Meeting Room. Twin cuckoo clocks have pendulums that swing in unison on either side of the wall behind her. Coffee drips ominously nearby, but otherwise the room is perfectly cheery, sunlight shining in somehow from both side walls even though it's fairly certain there's noplace in the palace constructed quite like that. "Now then, Marble," she says, placing her front hooves neatly on the table. "You were telling me about your monthly inventory?"
Marble is visibly flinchng with every dri of teh coffee into the pot. Something about the way it's progressing is... just not NATURAL. Flinch, flinch, flinch. "We have completed..." Flinch. "...it three days..." Flinch. "...early."
Celestia notices the flinching and flicks her left ear in unison with each drop of coffee. Flick. Flick. Flick. She doesn't acknowledge this in conversation, of course. "I'm pleased, Marble! Your team deserves congratulations for getting better at what they do. And yet... your report mentioned an item that had gone missing? Or... not returned in time? One of Meadowbrook's artifacts?"
"Oh, well..." Marble finally just stares at the coffee maker in abject horror. HE stands up and flies over tot he coffee maker and taps at it desperately.
The coffee maker starts dripping at its normal rhythm. Celestia turns and smiles innocently, placing her front hooves on the floor. She waits for her master of artifacts to compose himself. "Is everything all right?" she inquires.
Marble sighs with relief at seeing that the coffee maker is back in operation, and his life can go on once more. He takes his seat back at the table and clears his throat. "Just fine." He says calmly.
Celestia seems pleased but altogether unsurprised to hear it. Her left ear is once more just as calm as her right. "Excellent. So then, Marble. The missing item of Meadowbrook's? Can you tell me what happened?"
Marble mutters distractedly as he gets to work looking through the papers he brought with him to the meeting. "As you are no doubt aware, there are eight registered artifacts attributed to be created by the unicorn mage known as Meadowbrook. Earlier this year Princess Twilight had encountered a forgery of one such artifact. Something she would have figured out had she consulted with me before proceeding... what's disturbing is what we discovered much more recently."
Celestia listes patiently to the briefing and nods, the mischief from a minute ago forgotten. Her mane silently flows and ripples, the baby and royal blues undisturbed by this news. "Twilight told me about the so-called Staff of Sameness in one of her reports," she replies. "And its wielder, Starlight Glimmer, is not unknown to me. But please, proceed."
"Well, a *real* one is missing." Marble finally pulls out the registry document. "The Mirror of Escalation. This one is possibly more dangerous. It's disturbing how so many powerful historical unicorns seemed so obsessed with messing with cutie marks. I've come to believe that unicorn mages were always doing this because they hate their special talents..."
For the first time, Celestia registers concern, though it's nothing more than a tightening of the skin, and a subtle repositioning of the pinions. The perpetual ocean of her mane seems to swell a bit upon the news, silent as always. "That the mirror is missing worries me," says the monarch. "The fact it exists does not. Meadowbrook was, as I understand it, laboring to discover a cure for the Cutie Pox when she invented it... or so went her cover story." She sits in thought. "When was it last accounted for?"
"Two days ago. It would have been discovered sooner but we had to reinventory the entire collection of the Pins of Inconsistency. We did our darndest but the numbers kept coming up different." Marble explains.
Celestia sighs. "Some of the pins always get caught in Luna's coat when she sleeps on them. Then she sends them back as she discovers them. I'm not certain we need such precise figures." She lifts her cup of coffee--light roast, with hazelnut and cream--and returns her attention to Marble. "I don't mean when you discovered the mirror was gone. When is it last %accounted for?% When did we last know for certain that it was in our possession? And was it loaned out?"
Marble twitches quite visibly at the phrase "I'm not certain we need such precise figures." It's like telling Twilight that friendship's probably not that important after all and that Cliff's Notes are sufficient for education. He fidgets, distressed, a few moments, before he says. "A week ago. And no, I don't lend out artifacts unless it's absolutely positively beyond a doubt necessary."
Celestia frowns. "Well, I suppose this isn't the time for me to make a plea on behalf of a more liberal policy for the use of our magic artifacts... but it does seem a shame to have them locked away all the time." She finishes her coffee on the second gulp. "Then it would appear our vaults were cracked? Within a five-day window? Or is there some other explanation. Perhaps a bureaucratic error? Because if someone did access our vaults and steal a valuable and powerful artifact, they could presumably have stolen others!" She rises to her hooves.
Well, this is naturally upsetting to Marble. He keeps excellent records, after all. It's his special talent. But he's always had a good track record of keeping the artifacts in his vault. "There's only supposed to be three ponies with access..."
Celestia can see the keeper is upset. That's good. She is too. Her tail can be seen cascading silently, with navy blues and indigos prevailing more than usual. "Myself included?" she inquires, curious as to what the official policy is regarding that these days. She knows she can always obtain access to her own vault if necessary, of course...
"Yes. The other two parties are myself and your sister. Not even your much-beloved protoge is supposed to have access. So I am uncertain how it could have disappeared." Marble says, unhappy.
Celestia is also worried by this. "What of Nightshade?" she asks, puzzled. "I should think she would be authorized--I doubt she would rest for long before finding a way to access the vaults if not, and I should rather have it recorded when someone enters than not."
"Not even Nightshade. I came into the position told only I and the princesses should go in there, largely because of how unpredictable artifacts are when they are close to unicorns. The wrong artifact gets the wrong idea around a unicorn and it's Hearth's Warming Eve three years ago all over again. I mean, it took me weeks to get all those chocolate stains out of the meeting room."
Celestia nods seriously, trying not to lick her lips. She sits down again, forehooves on the floor, tush on the tasseled pillow. "Have you been conducting an investigation? What about the tracing spells we were in the process of having the Academy cast on everything in the vault? Did they get to the Mirror of Escalation?"
And it is then that maybe the mystery of how it vanished is revealed, as Marble gives Celestia a stare that basically screams "what in Equestria are you talking about?" "... Waiwaiwait..." Marble leans up against the table. "There were COLLEGE STUDENTS in my vault?!"
Celestia stares back. "...Didn't..." Her eyes pull back as she reflects. "I'd thought you were the one who told me... but no, no, it was Nettleglum, wasn't it? Oh dear." Her tail sinks to the floor. "She did assure me you knew, Marble. The idea was to make sure that if anything ever went missing, we could find it magically. The spell was meant to be more robust than a standard tracing spell, which can be easily broken, because it operates solely through riddles." She levitates her coffee mug back to the counter and frowns coldly. "I imagine my sister gave them access, believing it was by your order."
Marble seems to be facefirst on the table now. Through miscommunication he's had a large number of ponies in his vaults without his knowledge. Now he has to go hunting for an artifact which may be n the wrong hooves.
Celestia places her forehooves on the table and lowers her head toward Marble, lifting his head slightly through levitation so that she can see him eye to eye. "I'm sorry, Marble. I will have a word with Nettleglum... and Luna. But now we have a bit of a crisis. There's little telling who may have the mirror in their possession now. And if it should be used..." She takes a deep breath, wondering whether Marble knows what it does.
Good chance of it. He's the Keeper of Artifacts; he made himsself an expert for the position. He lifts his head. "It's up to me, isn't it?"
Celestia bestows a sweet smile upon Marble. "I'm afraid my schedule is fairly packed, and there really isn't anyone else whose jurisdiction it falls under." She places her warm hoof against the frog of Marble's own. "Don't think of this as an unexpected burden. Think of it as a chance to prove yourself a hero. Your duties must be dull from day to day, Marble Memory... now you get a chance for some adventure." She rises and walks around the table to him. "Feel free to consult the head of the Academy for help. If Twilight Sparkle has time, of course, I would suggest enlisting her! If it does turn out the mirror had the spell placed on it, I imagine Twilight and her friends might be able to solve the riddles that will narrow down its location." She takes a deep breath. "And if an emergency arises, Marble, don't hesitate to call me. I %will% make time." She gives him a sweet little kiss on the cheek.
Marble doesn't move, though at least he's happy that Celestia believes in him. Oh, remember the days when things go wrong and he didn't have anything to do with it? Adventure? Excitement? Heroism? This is Dr. Marble Roosevelt Memory we're discussing here. All the same, he has duties.
Celestia gives Marble a pat on the head that turns into a friendly tousling of the mane. "I trust in you, Marble," she says. And as she strides slowly from the meeting room, she adds: "Oh--and keep an eye out for trouble, just in case. Nightmare Night is coming, after all." Her left ear flicks as she walks away.
On that note, the coffee maker goes back to dripping ominously at Marble, who remains splatted up against the table a bit longer.
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
<OOC> You say, "There we are!"
<OOC> You say, "Anyway, if you found me creepy a moment ago, that isn't such a shame, is it? After all, a certain holiday is just around the corner..."
<OOC> Marble_Memory says, "Well, I mean... I'm scared of everything. I was frightened by how the coffee was dripping this morning during the morning meeting."
<OOC> Celestia nods knowingly. "I instructed the custodian to refill the pot in a spooky manner for the holiday season."
<OOC> Marble_Memory whimpers.
<OOC> Celestia nods with satisfaction. "Shall we go in character?"
<OOC> Marble_Memory shrieks. "*In* character?"
<OOC> You say, "Well, what else are we to do with our characters? Simply use them as decoration?"
<OOC> Marble_Memory says, "Well... I *am* pretty."
Celestia sits comfortably on the plush, gold-tasseled pillow at the end of the low table in her Morning Meeting Room. Twin cuckoo clocks have pendulums that swing in unison on either side of the wall behind her. Coffee drips ominously nearby, but otherwise the room is perfectly cheery, sunlight shining in somehow from both side walls even though it's fairly certain there's noplace in the palace constructed quite like that. "Now then, Marble," she says, placing her front hooves neatly on the table. "You were telling me about your monthly inventory?"
Marble is visibly flinchng with every dri of teh coffee into the pot. Something about the way it's progressing is... just not NATURAL. Flinch, flinch, flinch. "We have completed..." Flinch. "...it three days..." Flinch. "...early."
Celestia notices the flinching and flicks her left ear in unison with each drop of coffee. Flick. Flick. Flick. She doesn't acknowledge this in conversation, of course. "I'm pleased, Marble! Your team deserves congratulations for getting better at what they do. And yet... your report mentioned an item that had gone missing? Or... not returned in time? One of Meadowbrook's artifacts?"
"Oh, well..." Marble finally just stares at the coffee maker in abject horror. HE stands up and flies over tot he coffee maker and taps at it desperately.
The coffee maker starts dripping at its normal rhythm. Celestia turns and smiles innocently, placing her front hooves on the floor. She waits for her master of artifacts to compose himself. "Is everything all right?" she inquires.
Marble sighs with relief at seeing that the coffee maker is back in operation, and his life can go on once more. He takes his seat back at the table and clears his throat. "Just fine." He says calmly.
Celestia seems pleased but altogether unsurprised to hear it. Her left ear is once more just as calm as her right. "Excellent. So then, Marble. The missing item of Meadowbrook's? Can you tell me what happened?"
Marble mutters distractedly as he gets to work looking through the papers he brought with him to the meeting. "As you are no doubt aware, there are eight registered artifacts attributed to be created by the unicorn mage known as Meadowbrook. Earlier this year Princess Twilight had encountered a forgery of one such artifact. Something she would have figured out had she consulted with me before proceeding... what's disturbing is what we discovered much more recently."
Celestia listes patiently to the briefing and nods, the mischief from a minute ago forgotten. Her mane silently flows and ripples, the baby and royal blues undisturbed by this news. "Twilight told me about the so-called Staff of Sameness in one of her reports," she replies. "And its wielder, Starlight Glimmer, is not unknown to me. But please, proceed."
"Well, a *real* one is missing." Marble finally pulls out the registry document. "The Mirror of Escalation. This one is possibly more dangerous. It's disturbing how so many powerful historical unicorns seemed so obsessed with messing with cutie marks. I've come to believe that unicorn mages were always doing this because they hate their special talents..."
For the first time, Celestia registers concern, though it's nothing more than a tightening of the skin, and a subtle repositioning of the pinions. The perpetual ocean of her mane seems to swell a bit upon the news, silent as always. "That the mirror is missing worries me," says the monarch. "The fact it exists does not. Meadowbrook was, as I understand it, laboring to discover a cure for the Cutie Pox when she invented it... or so went her cover story." She sits in thought. "When was it last accounted for?"
"Two days ago. It would have been discovered sooner but we had to reinventory the entire collection of the Pins of Inconsistency. We did our darndest but the numbers kept coming up different." Marble explains.
Celestia sighs. "Some of the pins always get caught in Luna's coat when she sleeps on them. Then she sends them back as she discovers them. I'm not certain we need such precise figures." She lifts her cup of coffee--light roast, with hazelnut and cream--and returns her attention to Marble. "I don't mean when you discovered the mirror was gone. When is it last %accounted for?% When did we last know for certain that it was in our possession? And was it loaned out?"
Marble twitches quite visibly at the phrase "I'm not certain we need such precise figures." It's like telling Twilight that friendship's probably not that important after all and that Cliff's Notes are sufficient for education. He fidgets, distressed, a few moments, before he says. "A week ago. And no, I don't lend out artifacts unless it's absolutely positively beyond a doubt necessary."
Celestia frowns. "Well, I suppose this isn't the time for me to make a plea on behalf of a more liberal policy for the use of our magic artifacts... but it does seem a shame to have them locked away all the time." She finishes her coffee on the second gulp. "Then it would appear our vaults were cracked? Within a five-day window? Or is there some other explanation. Perhaps a bureaucratic error? Because if someone did access our vaults and steal a valuable and powerful artifact, they could presumably have stolen others!" She rises to her hooves.
Well, this is naturally upsetting to Marble. He keeps excellent records, after all. It's his special talent. But he's always had a good track record of keeping the artifacts in his vault. "There's only supposed to be three ponies with access..."
Celestia can see the keeper is upset. That's good. She is too. Her tail can be seen cascading silently, with navy blues and indigos prevailing more than usual. "Myself included?" she inquires, curious as to what the official policy is regarding that these days. She knows she can always obtain access to her own vault if necessary, of course...
"Yes. The other two parties are myself and your sister. Not even your much-beloved protoge is supposed to have access. So I am uncertain how it could have disappeared." Marble says, unhappy.
Celestia is also worried by this. "What of Nightshade?" she asks, puzzled. "I should think she would be authorized--I doubt she would rest for long before finding a way to access the vaults if not, and I should rather have it recorded when someone enters than not."
"Not even Nightshade. I came into the position told only I and the princesses should go in there, largely because of how unpredictable artifacts are when they are close to unicorns. The wrong artifact gets the wrong idea around a unicorn and it's Hearth's Warming Eve three years ago all over again. I mean, it took me weeks to get all those chocolate stains out of the meeting room."
Celestia nods seriously, trying not to lick her lips. She sits down again, forehooves on the floor, tush on the tasseled pillow. "Have you been conducting an investigation? What about the tracing spells we were in the process of having the Academy cast on everything in the vault? Did they get to the Mirror of Escalation?"
And it is then that maybe the mystery of how it vanished is revealed, as Marble gives Celestia a stare that basically screams "what in Equestria are you talking about?" "... Waiwaiwait..." Marble leans up against the table. "There were COLLEGE STUDENTS in my vault?!"
Celestia stares back. "...Didn't..." Her eyes pull back as she reflects. "I'd thought you were the one who told me... but no, no, it was Nettleglum, wasn't it? Oh dear." Her tail sinks to the floor. "She did assure me you knew, Marble. The idea was to make sure that if anything ever went missing, we could find it magically. The spell was meant to be more robust than a standard tracing spell, which can be easily broken, because it operates solely through riddles." She levitates her coffee mug back to the counter and frowns coldly. "I imagine my sister gave them access, believing it was by your order."
Marble seems to be facefirst on the table now. Through miscommunication he's had a large number of ponies in his vaults without his knowledge. Now he has to go hunting for an artifact which may be n the wrong hooves.
Celestia places her forehooves on the table and lowers her head toward Marble, lifting his head slightly through levitation so that she can see him eye to eye. "I'm sorry, Marble. I will have a word with Nettleglum... and Luna. But now we have a bit of a crisis. There's little telling who may have the mirror in their possession now. And if it should be used..." She takes a deep breath, wondering whether Marble knows what it does.
Good chance of it. He's the Keeper of Artifacts; he made himsself an expert for the position. He lifts his head. "It's up to me, isn't it?"
Celestia bestows a sweet smile upon Marble. "I'm afraid my schedule is fairly packed, and there really isn't anyone else whose jurisdiction it falls under." She places her warm hoof against the frog of Marble's own. "Don't think of this as an unexpected burden. Think of it as a chance to prove yourself a hero. Your duties must be dull from day to day, Marble Memory... now you get a chance for some adventure." She rises and walks around the table to him. "Feel free to consult the head of the Academy for help. If Twilight Sparkle has time, of course, I would suggest enlisting her! If it does turn out the mirror had the spell placed on it, I imagine Twilight and her friends might be able to solve the riddles that will narrow down its location." She takes a deep breath. "And if an emergency arises, Marble, don't hesitate to call me. I %will% make time." She gives him a sweet little kiss on the cheek.
Marble doesn't move, though at least he's happy that Celestia believes in him. Oh, remember the days when things go wrong and he didn't have anything to do with it? Adventure? Excitement? Heroism? This is Dr. Marble Roosevelt Memory we're discussing here. All the same, he has duties.
Celestia gives Marble a pat on the head that turns into a friendly tousling of the mane. "I trust in you, Marble," she says. And as she strides slowly from the meeting room, she adds: "Oh--and keep an eye out for trouble, just in case. Nightmare Night is coming, after all." Her left ear flicks as she walks away.
On that note, the coffee maker goes back to dripping ominously at Marble, who remains splatted up against the table a bit longer.