//------------------------------// // Scientific approach one: interrogation // Story: Do I know you? // by TwiwnB //------------------------------// “Hellooooooo…” Twilight saluted Rarity with a tone that certainly wasn’t creepy at all. “Oh… Hello Twilight.” Rarity replied, a bit startled by her alicorn friend. “I dare to ask, but is everything alright?” Twilight flinched, then turned to Spike who was getting his breath back and whispered to him: “I think she knows I don’t know!” And then, Twilight turned back to Rarity, showing one giant smile going from her left ear to her right, and replied: “Everything is fine. Nothing to worry about. Just fine. Perfect even. Never been better. Fine.” An awkward silence ensued, during which Twilight quickly turned to Spike again, preventing him to intervene, and whispered to him again: “I saved it. Everything is going according to plan.” Spike sighed. If there was a plan, he had no idea what it was. And more than anything, he wanted to find a way to escape because he didn’t want Rarity to associate him with Twilight’s current state, but was unable to at the same time because he just couldn’t find it in him to leave Twilight alone. That was just the kind of dragon he was: loyal to the very end no matter what. But he decided to stay as quiet as possible until he could figure out what was going on and what he could possibly do. “So…” Rarity began, not sure what to think of the whole mess. “Tell me your favorite color!” Twilight ordered, incapable of controlling herself. “My favorite color?” Rarity asked in reply, having no idea what that question had to do with anything. “Tell me everything!” Twilight demanded. “Who is your favorite designer, the names of your parents, the date of your birthday, who you have a crush on, how much sugar you put into your tea, your weight, every single thing you know about couture, if you wore braces, the names of your aunts and uncles, your academic records, their academic records, your age, the precise length of your mane, the median time you wake up in the morning, where you took every vacation you ever took, the dimensions of your cutie mark and how much time you need to digest two pounds of hay.” Twilight only stopped because she was out of breath. As for Rarity, she was feeling completely and definitely lost. She had pretty much only heard the words “birthday”, “sugar” and “couture” and was therefore trying to find any logical connection between them without success. “I… hum…” the white unicorn only said, to Twilight dissatisfaction. It was clear the direct approach had failed. She would need a more subtle strategy if she were to succeed. “Actually, I was just wondering what you were doing right now this instant and nothing else whatsoever.” Twilight quickly stated. “Well, I was about to finish drawing my latest creation. I think it will turn to be quite an achievement if I might say so.” Rarity replied, happy to find another lighter subject to talk about. “Can I watch you do it?” Twilight asked, taking the opportunity to observe her prey in her working environment. “Huh… yes, I guess…” Rarity responded, not sure if she really wanted to, but even less sure if it was wise to refuse given Twilight’s strange behavior. She went to her drawing board and, trying to ignore Twilight’s look over her shoulder and her breath against her neck, she drew a curve on the paper. “Why did you draw it that way?” asked Twilight, putting her hoof on the curve and interrupting Rarity’s work. “What?” Rarity asked. “There were theoretically an infinity of ways you could have drawn it, but you chose that way between all the infinite possibilities. I’m just wondering what the factors influencing your decision were.” Twilight explained. Her explanation made it even more difficult for Rarity to understand. Out of words, out of pretty much everything, with no other resource, the white unicorn just said: “I don’t know.” “I don’t know?” Twilight repeated, suddenly back into her anxious frenzy. “Of course I know. Why would you think I don’t know? I’m a good friend, I know what I need to know. Me? Not knowing, this is outrageous.” And then, feeling cornered as it was clear Rarity had found out what she was up to and was about to confront her about it, Twilight decided to escape. And for that, she needed a very clever well thought out plan. “I… have to go.” the alicorn said, before trotting away in panic. Rarity turned to Spike, and asked him what was wrong with Twilight, but the alicorn suddenly teleported near the dragon, made a sign that everything was alright, and then abducted the dragon with another teleportation, leaving a very puzzled Rarity behind. The direct approach had failed, but Twilight wasn’t ready to throw the towel.