“Ah! Fraulein Firefly! Zere you are!” Photo Finish trotted up, led forward by her grin. “Ze efenink vas growink kold visout you!”
“Was it really?” Rainbow droned and turned about. “I couldn't notice—” At one sight of a particular griffon, her pupils shrank and she hid behind Trenderhoof. “Meep!”
“Is this the sensational marefriend that you've been telling me so much about, Photo Baby?” Sapphire Shores said through a tight grin.
“Ermmm...” Photo adjusted her shades, gazing quizzically at Rainbow's shivering figure. “Ja. More or less...”
“Awww! The Princess is so shy!” Sapphire rolled her eyes. “I guess I do have that effect on ponies.” She turned towards Baron von Claw. “Even royalty!”
“Yes. Quite.” The creature's hawkeyes narrowed. “Hmmm...”
“Vat is it, Baron?” Photo remarked.
“A most remarkable manestyle,” the griffon wheezed. “I find it curiously familiar...”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow trembled, causing Trenderhoof's armor to rattle. “Uhhhhhh—”
“Why, of course you recognize it!” Sapphire Shores beamed. “It's all the rage!” She turned and fluffed her own blue threads. “I'll be sporting a style just like it when I'm performing my role!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! After all, that's how the minotaur described the unsung hero's mane! He's getting credit for technical support, after all... … … not to mention heading the stunt team.”
“Wonderbar!” Photo Finish leaned in and threw a forelimb around Rainbow's shoulder. “But meine shpecial friend here vas born vis zese colorful magiks! Isn't zat right, Madame?”
“Oh...” Rainbow nod-nod-nodded. “Totally!”
The griffon tilted his feathery head aside. “Just where did you say you were from, milady?”
“Awesome—... Awesome—... Awesome—”
“She is a natural Awesometopialander!” Photo Finish chirped. “As blue blooded as zey get!”
Baron Von Claw nodded. “I see...”
“You know, Madame, I was wondering...” Suri drifted in. “Just where on the map could one find Awesometopia?”
Rainbow gulped. “Errrrr...” She sweated in Photo's grip, all the while trying to hide her profile from the griffon.
“And just who is zis?” Photo asked.
“SURI POLOMARE!” the fashionista hopped up and down, red-in-the-face. “Celestia on a bike! Do I have to wear a friggin' banner over my head?!” She spun and shouted across the snack bar. “Pommel! Make a note for one big, bright banner!”
“Uhhhhh... I-I'll get right on that!”
“That reminds me!” Sapphire Shores grinned. “Did you hear about Celestia volunteering to oversee this year's Tour De Prance?”
Suri butted in, almost knocking the pop star off her hooves. “I think I have an even better question!” She sneered in Rainbow's face. “Just how is the ruling council of Awesometopia fairing for over ten days straight...” She leaned in, frowning harder. “...without it's patron matriarch?!”
“Now that, I would like to know,” the griffon said with a curve to his beaked lips.
“Why, the nerve of some ponies!” Trenderhoof shoved his armored way in. “And pigeons!”
“Errr...” Von Claw blinked at him.
“Isn't this a special occasion?!” Trenderhoof patriotically saluted with a rattle to his helmet. “Shouldn't we—like loyal pegasi of the past—cast aside the trivialities of interrogation and simply bask in the art and romance of the moment?”
Suri rolled her eyes. “Oh, of all the sanctimonious garbage-guzzling bulls—”
“You know what?!” Rainbow grinned plastically. “My coltfriend's right!” She hooked her forelimb with Trenderhoof's. “And I couldn't agree more!”
“Koltfriend?” Photo droned. “Vat.”
“You c-couldn't?” Trenderhoof breathily stammered, blushing.
“Nope! And you know what—I'm late for some really snazzy art-gazing!” Rainbow cooed while forcing her and Trenderhoof around. “Catch ya later, Photo Filly!” She waved with a wing as the two trotted awkwardly off.
Suri growled at them like an angry cat. “Oh, not so fast, you wolf in sheep's clothing! I'm going to hang you out to dry and watch you shrink like—OOF!”
“YOW!” Sapphire bumped her way into the scene, grinning. “Young love! Isn't it most divine?”
“Ennngh...” Photo wretched. “It drifes vone to fomit!” She fanned herself, shivering slightly. “I sink meine friend has been sniffink too much of ze photography paper, ja?”
“A common mistake, if I've ever heard of one,” the griffin said with a smirk. “But, enough with the wayward banter. Madame Finish, you simply must tell me more of this latest masterpiece of yours.”
“Uh uh uh. Vhy the hurry, Fon Claw? Ze unfeilink schall commence soon enough! Vonce everypony who's anypony is gasered togezer!”
“Please, Madame, I did not fly all this way to wait like a common peasant!” the griffin said with a chuckle and a sneer all at once.
“Patience. Patience, meine fine feathered friend. If zere's anysing I'fe learned zis week, it's ze fine art of appreciating beauty as it desires to come.”
“Ahem...” A stallion in a suit trotted up. “Madame Finish, I presume?”
“Hmmm?” Photo turned around, squinting through her shades. “Bah! You shmell like turpentine! Do I, Photo Finish, know you? Prayen sie tell zat I don't!”
“You may not know me, Madame,” the stallion said with calm smile. “But I do believe you know the stallion that I work for.” He cleared his throat. “Don Canter...”
Photo's ear-tips twitched. She glanced over his shoulder, noticing a thick group of stallions—all standing in the corner of the festive, busy apartment like dark statues. “Vat? But... how did you get—”
“Let's just say that a certain agent in your employ has been... very smart as of late.” The stallion smiled. “Now... I do believe we're overdue for a long chat.”
Photo Finish gulped. “Ja...” She grabbed a champagne glass from a passing waiter and glugged it all down in an instant. “Ja... I sink ve just might...”
Sapphire Shores blinked. “Photo, darlin', do you know this stallion?”
“Nefer you mind, fraulein.” Photo pointed blindly while shuffling slowly across the apartment. “Hafe yourself somesink to drink. I... uh... I, Photo Finish, vill be vis you shortly...”
As she trotted off with the messenger, the griffon watched on, eyes narrow. Slowly, he turned about and took a quiet survey of the loud, bustling party. Eventually, he scanned the walls, his hawkeyes trailing over every visible inch.