//------------------------------// // Scientific approach two: inquiry // Story: Do I know you? // by TwiwnB //------------------------------// Twilight had brought Spike with her behind a bush near the entrance of the carrousel boutique and both of them were now waiting there, observing the pony going in and out of the shop. “So… what are we doing now?” Spike asked. “Well, I’m glad you want to know.” Twilight replied without even looking at him, obsessed that she was with her current task of observing the shop’s entrance. “We almost got caught when asking Rarity directly, so we need a safer approach to gather information about her.” “Which means?” Spike asked again, almost regretting to encourage her in her endeavor, but also really wanting to grasp an idea of what was going to happen. “We will wait for Rarity to leave the boutique and then we will go in and collect data on the subject by observation, study and sampling.” “You want to break in Rarity’s boutique?” Spike translated out loud. He wasn’t given time to expand on the idea because Rarity had come out and closed the door and was leaving to regain her house. Twilight immediately moved, taking Spike with her, and came close to a window on the side. “Alright.” she said. “Now all we need is to find a subtle, smart and discreet way to enter the boutique.” Spike knew there was no way he could reason Twilight in her obsessive state, so he decided he should better play along to make sure she wouldn’t hurt herself or do something that she could later regret. Therefore, he began examining the window to think of a way to open it in the most efficient and discreet manner. A second later, a levitating stone surrounded with a purple aura passed on his side and crashed into the window. “It’s open!” victoriously noticed Twilight, very proud of her work. She entered the boutique, quickly followed by the dragon who was understanding things were even worse than he had imagined. Twilight began to search the place for stuff, as she was seemingly taking everything she was seeing as the most interesting clue ever. A lamp was suddenly a very telling element on Rarity’s light management. Some dust behind the corner of a desk was a revelation on Rarity’s soul. Some of the clothes they found hidden in the back of the shop were giving a new way of thinking about Rarity’s work and interests. Baby’s clothes. Twilight felt she was getting closer and closer to her ultimate objective of knowing absolutely everything about her friend. But still, she had been there for ten minutes and still hadn’t found out nearly as much as she had expected. She needed a more efficient and systematic approach. All she could think of though was to rely on some detective books she had read where the hero would find the crucial information in the suspect’s trash can. She turned to Spike who immediately understood he wouldn’t like what was coming. A minute later, they had both gone to the back of Rarity’s shop, had found the trash cans and had literally went into them to search for relevant information. “I found a banana peel!” Twilight shouted in victory, showing her discovery to Spike over the edge of the trash can she was in. “Great. Now you know a banana has been eaten in the Carousel boutique. Can we go home now?” the dragon asked, covered with smelling stuff he really didn’t want to know the nature of. A violent light suddenly appeared, blinding both of them, as a very well-known voice made itself heard. “Twilight? Spike?” Rarity asked. “What in Equestria are you doing in my trash cans?” The white unicorn had heard the rock going through the window and, once her surprise and fear had worn off, had gone to find some guards to catch the intruders. The same guards that were now using a spell to blind the two culprits with a violent light. Twilight panicked. Not because she was going to be arrested for breaking into somepony else’s building, but because she couldn’t find another way to explain her behavior to Rarity than to admit she was a horrible friend. And that was something she couldn’t bear to do. She needed a way out. She would have taken anything, no matter how insane or dangerous. The maddest part of her brain got the message and, to happy to finally have a saying in how to do things, gave her a solution in the form of a spell she had once learned and never dared try using. Twilight’s horn lit up in a violent flash that blinded Rarity for a second.