//------------------------------// // Judas Be My Guide // Story: Fairy Gothmother // by forbloodysummer //------------------------------// “Wait! I have so many questions!” Twilight hurried after the other girl down the narrow aisle between the T-shirt racks, away from the sales counter and back towards the entrance. The girl managed to move faster than Twilight despite carrying an unwieldy, hard-to-fold new leather jacket under her arm. But then, she was taller than Twilight, especially in those boots, so longer legs gave her a speed advantage, and she probably knew the territory better. And she seemed determined to leave as quickly as possible, too. “I have just one,” the girl barked, not slowing or bothering to turn back to look at Twilight while speaking. “What part of ‘get bent’ do you not understand?” She probably didn’t mean to sound that hostile. Most likely just had to raise her voice to be sure of being heard over the raucous music playing over the shop speakers. The first impression could definitely have gone a lot better, but Twilight was pretty sure no one would be that unfriendly for no reason. The girl reached the shop doorway and stepped outside, still without pausing. Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but stumbled when she passed through the doorway herself, hands flying to cover her eyes. So bright! She couldn’t have been in Nightmare Loom more than ten minutes. Probably less, given how quickly the other girl had picked a jacket and taken it to the counter as soon as Twilight introduced herself. But the human eye was an incredible thing, and hers were now paying for adapting so quickly to the gloom of the shop. Fluttershy had mentioned bats, and how they’d inspired her own clothing experiment. Was this a good sign Twilight was on the right path, cringing away from the sunlight? No time for that now! Shielding her eyes with a hand, she looked after the other girl, who must have already been twenty paces away. No longer penned in by rows of dark clothes, Twilight walked as fast as she could after the girl. But she kept it to a walk, if only just – chasing strangers at a run probably wasn’t the best way to get them to like you. She was closing the distance between them, and only then thought to look around and see where she was actually being led. They’d left behind the winding alleys of boutiques and independent shops, where Nightmare Loom had squeezed in between much cheerier-looking storefronts. Now they were reaching the back streets, with parked cars lining both sides of the road, but no moving traffic. In the distance, Twilight heard the high whine of an engine growing nearer. The girl Twilight was following stepped between the parked cars and out into the road, walking down one carriageway. The source of noise burst into view: a motorbike coming around the corner, now heading down the street towards them. The bike skidded to a stop next to the girl, the rider putting a boot-clad foot down to stay upright. Up that close, Twilight could see the motorbike was a beaten-up machine with a skeletal frame turned dusty white from heavy use, something that spent more time off-road than on. Twilight hung back, watching from the side of the street and trying to be unobtrusive, since the mysterious girl from the shop had slid her arm around the helmeted biker’s waist in a very familiar way, and Twilight didn’t really want to stand around like an awkward third wheel. That gave her a better chance to inspect the person on the bike, too. A battered black leather coat that must have almost reached the floor even when the wearer was standing up, and big black military-ish boots to match. The coat fell open as the biker pulled the shop girl closer in return, revealing camouflage trousers and a black top of mesh-type material so ripped it looked like cobwebs, covering so little Twilight could clearly see the– Huh. Yep, definitely a bra beneath – black, shiny and really not small. Still processing that detail, Twilight almost missed that the girl from the shop had reached up both hands to pull the biker’s helmet off, diving into a passionate kiss the moment it came free. The girl on the bike was differing hues of grey – thankfully only two of them, though the reminder of Twilight’s sister-in-law’s reading habits still brought a shudder – with hair a little lighter than her skin. That hair was cut short and harshly, hanging down one side but not the other. Kind of like it wanted to join the military but also not follow the rules. Twilight had been assuming rebellious hair had to be big and colourful, but this girl made it streamlined and efficient, brutal in its simplicity. A second person Twilight very much needed to learn from! With a blush, she realised that her studying the girl had amounted to her staring at two women making out in the street. They hadn’t noticed her, but still, the implication was a lot less wholesome than she’d intended. ...Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing? She was aiming to rebel, after all, and society expected science to be divorced from sexuality or emotion. She frowned. No… No, that would be going too far. She wouldn’t compromise scientific methods for this or for anything else. The results would never be worth that sacrifice. Only a sudden movement snapped Twilight out of her ethical quandary, realising that both women now wore bike helmets, and the one from the shop had just swung her leg over the bike, so she perched behind the rider. “Wait!” Twilight cried, struggling to be heard over a revving of the engine. “I need your help!” The rider’s head turned in Twilight’s direction, a second later raising a hand to lift her helmet visor. Hard eyes in a grey face stared at her – although, Twilight did notice, those eyes were a very striking green. And vaguely familiar? She also heard a growl of “Fuck’s sake…” from the back of the bike. The grey girl looked back at her passenger. “Friend of yours?” “Parasite, more like. Syphilis is easier to get rid of.” Green eyes narrowed quizzically. “...Sonata?” The girl from the shop still had the visor down on her helmet, and from behind it Twilight heard a snort. “Who else?” The grey girl turned out her bottom lip and tilted her head to one side. “Not exactly a lack of options in your household.” That prompted the visor being raised, revealing flat purple eyes. “You’re calling us all massive disease-ridden skanks.” “Nah, I wouldn’t waste my breath stating something that obvious.” “Call it a difference in standards. My family don’t consider smiling at a rock to be promiscuous.” Their eyes were locked together. Slowly, a grin spread across each of their faces, the kind of grins that exposed sharp teeth and would frighten children. Then, without any warning, the girl from the shop snapped her attention to Twilight. “What?” Twilight jumped. She’d thought they’d forgotten she was there. She’d been so engrossed in the bitter exchange of insults between a couple where one still had arms around the other that she’d almost forgotten she was there herself, too. “I, um…” All the words left her head, as two very intense pairs of eyes held her in place. “I was hoping for some advice.” She was vaguely aware of how tightly she was clasping her hands together in front of her, fingers entwined, but ignored the discomfort to try to get the words out. “On rebelling. On being a… bad girl.” The grey girl raised an eyebrow but said nothing, while the purple girl behind her leaned her head back and wiped a hand down her face. “My sister’s bedroom is usually where bad girls are found,” she said, more to the grey girl than to Twilight. “If the cries coming through the door are to be believed, anyway.” Blushing and trying to lift her eyes higher than her own feet, Twilight shook her head at her choice of phrasing, realising how it’d sounded the moment she’d said it. “Look,” the grey girl said, her voice naturally abrasive enough to command Twilight’s attention and drag her gaze back up again whether she wanted to or not, “all you really need are these – ” she counted quickly on her fingers, mouthing as she did so “ – nine words: Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.” After a moment, she added, “Say that back to me,” which meant Twilight had probably been standing there dumbly while trying to process incoming data. “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me?” The grey girl gave a weak smile. “You just did.” Twilight felt her eyes widen, but again she was struck that she’d seen her before somewhere. “Let it sink in,” the girl added, then shifted her weight on the bike and looked ahead to the road. Twilight quickly spoke up, before they were too set on departing. “But I don’t know any goths!” Thinking of Fluttershy’s recent revelation, she amended, “Not proper ones, like you, anyway. Who should I ask about costume tips?” Immediately, Twilight knew she’d said something wrong. Not something that they’d mock her for, as she had with the ‘bad girl’ line, but something that made both their faces harden. The grey girl looked down at her clothes, then back to Twilight. “They’re not costumes.” From behind her, the purple girl followed up. “And we’re not goths. I’m a punk, and she’s a rivethead.” Before the confusion could claim Twilight completely, the grey girl turned back to her companion and nudged her in the ribs, telling her more quietly, “You do have your cyber moments, though.” “Oh piss off, twat stains.” I… I don’t know what any of that means… “Not a bad idea.” And before Twilight had a chance to get her wits together, the engine revved again, the rear tyre screeched and span on the tarmac, and seconds later the bike was rocketing away, leaving her there at the side of the road. Still dumbstruck, she saw visors being pulled down without looking back. When she finally returned to the moment enough to look around, to take in all that had happened and replay events in her head, Twilight hardly knew what to think. One little thought did keep nagging at her, though. She’d seen the grey girl on the bike before. Somewhere. But she’d never seen anyone dressed like that before, so, either this was a new look for the girl – which didn’t seem at all likely, if she’d been offended by Twilight calling it a costume – or Twilight had only previously seen her face. Wait, yes, that was it. Her face, poking around a doorway. Twilight couldn’t remember what the girl had said or why, but the doorway and wall behind it in her memory seemed more familiar. A sleepover at Pinkie’s house. The girl on the bike… was she Pinkie’s eldest sister?