Tempest Shadow surveyed the damage at the Canterlot Mall. An entire corridor had been marked off with plastic sheeting and she could see piles of dust seeping out from underneath it. She looked around the corridor and up at the ceiling. She could see broken ceiling tiles, the damage in a straight line leading back to where the plastic had been hung.
Tempest turned and began walking back toward the mall food court. Mall management wouldn't be available until Monday, so she didn't have access to the security footage yet. It still paid to survey the scene of an incident. Seeing the damage up close could provide insight as to what had happened.
She rounded the corner and paused as she saw the Nobody Loves Me store. She pulled out her phone and opened the copy of the case file she had Grubber upload to her before she left Vanhoover. She found one of the pictures from the rampage the week before. Sure enough, the woman in the overcoat had been stalking out of that store.
Tempest considered for a moment, then headed for her car. She left her sport jacket inside and grabbed a small bag from the trunk. She opened the bag and pulled out a hair brush and some styling gel. She unzipped her suitcase and grabbed a pair of jeans and a small travel jewelry case. She closed both bags and walked back into the mall.
A quick trip to the ladies room, and Senior STORM Field Agent Tempest Shadow was gone, replaced by a tall, imposing punk with an impressive bright red mohawk, a nose stud, and several ear piercings. She had ripped the sleeves and neck off her turtleneck and changed into the jeans. She dumped the things she didn't need back into her car and went back to Nobody Loves Me.
Loud music, borderline fetish clothing, and cheap pop culture trinkets were in evidence at the store. Tempest idly browsed, taking in the other shoppers and the staff. She spotted one salesgirl in particular. A teenager with three toned hair in three vertical stripes; orange, pink, and purple. She had a beach ball shaped pendant around her neck, and most interestingly, a bright red cast on one arm.
Tempest grabbed a t-shirt for a band she would never admit to liking at the office and walked up to the counter where the girl was manning the register.
“Find everything okay?” the girl asked. She took the shirt and scanned the price tag.
“Yeah,” Tempest answered, fishing in her back pocket for her wallet. She looked at the store. “Looks like you guys put this place back together pretty quick after last week.”
The girl looked up and blinked. “Yeah. Hell of day. That'll be $23.50.”
Tempest handed over a credit card. “Is that how that happened?” She gestured with her chin at the cast.
“Kind of,” The girl said reluctantly. She swiped the card and handed it back. “Receipt?”
“Yes, please.”
The girl bagged the shirt and handed it to Tempest. “There you go. Thank you.” Her voice held a note of finality to it.
Tempest took the bag and smiled at the girl. “See you around.”
The girl definitely knew something. She may have even encountered the woman in the overcoat and the girls with wings. Tempest made a mental note to visit again in a more official capacity in a couple of days. Tempest entered the food court and began making her way to the exit. She passed by a monitor right as an announcement came on.
“Hey, musicians and dancers! It's that time again!” came the enthusiastic announcer's voice. Tempest found herself stopping to watch the video in spite of herself.
“The Canterlot Mall Chance to Prance Contest is back! All you need is a music video of an original song and dance and you could be prancing your way to fame and a huge cash prize! Just like the winners of our last contest!”
The image on the screen changed to a music video with a peppy beat and eleven teenage girls in a variety of colorful outfits performing a variety of dance styles. Tempest watched and a grin spread across her face as she noticed seven of the girls had something she was looking for.
“Horse ears and a couple of you have wings,” she murmured.
“Yeah, it's a great video,” came a voice. Tempest turned her head to see a teenage girl next to her. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Her dark blue hair was topped with a pair of goggles. She folded her arms. “Too bad I was busy that week and couldn't help out. Would have been a blast.”
“You know those girls?” Tempest asked.
“I go to school with some of them. Crystal Prep,” Goggles girl answered. “The others go to Canterlot High.”
“Huh,” Tempest replied. “Interesting costumes. The ears and wings are a nice touch.”
“Oh, those aren't –“ The girl blinked and grinned. “ – cheap! Cost them a fortune, which is why all of them aren't wearing them. The could only afford seven sets of ears and three sets of wings.”
“Good thing they won the contest then. Probably helped pay for them all.”
“Yep, also got us the money to hold our spring dance last year on a yacht! Principal Cinch wouldn't have ever gone for that! Never thought I'd be so glad she's gone.”
Tempest quirked an eyebrow. “She is?”
“Yeah, when the Friendship Games competition we had with Canterlot High ended in a tie and the parents found out that she'd been making things super competitive at CPA to make herself look good, they forced her out.”
“Did they? That's interesting.”
“Yeah, that was a weird day.” The girl looked at her watch. “Oh, jeez, I've been talking your ear off and I'm gonna be late to the movie. Sorry to bug you!”
“No, that's fine. It was... interesting.” Tempest smiled. She held out a hand. “Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”
The girl shook it. “Indigo Zap. Nice to meetcha! Bye!”
“Bye!” Tempest smirked as Indigo rushed off. True, she hadn't asked her to specify which girls in the video went to which school, but a quick trip to either school would solve that. And it sounded like something had happened at these “Friendship Games” that didn't seem quite on the up and up.
Tempest pulled out her phone and made a note.
Have Grubber locate former Principal Cinch of Crystal Prep. Re: Friendship Games.
The STORM agent walked out of the mall to her car. She had a preliminary report to send back to the Director.