//------------------------------// // 4. What in flippety flappety floppety nibbly nackity?!? (Tache bleue) // Story: The Sky Is a Lady and She Is Gay: A RariTwi Exquisite Corpse // by SigmasonicX //------------------------------// Twilight Velvet quickly dashed out through the door, slowing and completing a hastey survey as she did so until spotting the petulant duo, her target with her daughter, running into a quaint bakery. She knew that the skybound pirates might not stay put, but this takes priority. Zephyr will be… fine, likely. She gave chase.             -----------    -----------     ----------- Pinkie Pie was labouring over her latest batch of cupcakes behind her counter when the door’s little bell of the bakery struck louder than it ought to be, cause her to break her focused-concentration and instead snap it to the source of the commotion.  Her eyes widened with excitement once she saw Rarity coming through the door, and widened a little more when she saw Twilight Sparkle come up beside her as Rarity let go of Twilight’s wrist. “Oh! Hi Rarity, Hi Twilight!” Pinkie said enthusiastically, only to wane when something in her said they weren’t here just to talk. “Good afternoon Pinkie!” Rarity said cheerfully, “I’m afraid Twilight and I can’t stick around, but we would very much appreciate it if you could… intercept your next customer. They're looking for Spectre."  With that, Pinkie came to full realisation as to what she was saying, her eyes widening once more, this time with surprise accompanied by a gasp. “You’ve been discovered?!” She exclaimed, as Twilight looked back and forth between them with surprise of her own. Rarity nodded. “Could we have one of the bakery’s rooms to ourselves?” she said, as she grabbed hold of Twilight’s wrist again and led her behind the counter. Pinke nodded quickly, and then used her head to point out an open door, and the two women followed her indication with haste. Rarity walked through first, then quickly closed the door behind Twilight, who then turned towards her. “...So what had you stolen? ‘Armed Robbery’?” she asked, a quizzical look on her face. “And what martial art was that? How does Pink-” “I’ll tell you about it later, but it had been a noble’s rather valuable plaything.” Rarity had started powering a spell but slowed as she heard and answered the first question. She glanced to the door, “Is there a way for you to block the door, blushie?” Twilight, already having realised why she had called her that, blushed anyways despite herself. She eyed a large cabinet, and raising her arm she levitated it, but in the process lightly bumped a credenza with some vases on it, to against the door gently, careful not to damage anything. Twilight considered asking her girlfriend what she's doing, but thought better not to distract- The duo heard the sound of a door getting kicked in, and a little bell getting struck.  Velvet now stood in the confectioners' bakery, her eyes completing a search in a second before bringing her whole attention to the pink-haired cake-covered lady, a confectionery baker presumably. Forming the most disarming and reassuring smile she could, she approached the young woman. She asked, “Hello there! I think I saw my daughter come in here, do you know her?” Pinkie eyed the woman with suspicion hidden behind jolliness. “Daughter? There’s an awful lot of those here!” She joked, then gasped. “I don’t think I’ve met you before! I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?" The older woman replied without missing a beat, “My name is Twilight Velvet, do you know a Twilight Spark-" "Nope!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I don't know anybody by that name, sorry! Would you like to pick some cupcakes?" She said jollily. Velvet couldn't stop herself from narrowing her eyes a little, but otherwise kept herself calm. Another youthful child, she thinks, lying to an agent of the Principality, albeit unknowingly. Time to change that. She knew that they can simply wipe her memory afterwards, so, readying a stun spell with her left and pulling out her sash with her right, she calmly proclaimed, "Miss Pinkie, I am an agent of the Bureau of Magic, Mana and the Arcane, and you will tell me where they went." But before another word could be said, the commotion of ceramic breaking sound through a closed door. A quarter second, a half second passed, and Pinkie leaped towards Velvet. As her jump reached it's apex, Velvet started a simple but very well drilled side-step to dodge the incoming projectile, while she released her stun at the fool. With the product of a took taken care of, she looked to the closed door where the noise had come from. She thought to herself that a show of force might put the Sequined Spectre more properly on edge, or at least erode the… Irritating amount of confidence. Her daughter won't be stuck in a relationship with that liar. She never could find good friends, she needs her help for that. She readied a spell with her left arm, and from her right she fired a weaker destructive shot to the door, resulting in a miniature explosion directed into the door. It had the intended effect of destroying it, but instead of seeing a clear passage she saw the back of a cabinet. Hardly a problem she thought to herself, seeing as how the duo won't be escaping anytime soon. As she prepared her second destructive spell, she decided to inform the over-dramatic thief of her predicament, and yelled out. "It's over, Rarity, you've got nowhere to go!" With a greater boom than before, the splinters of the cabinet fell as she dashed in through the door with her left arm primed, only to watch as a portal closed behind her daughter as she stepped through it, with Rarity nowhere in sight. ---------- Rarity carefully pulled the stray splinter from her hair, she was otherwise in a… acceptable state. As she finished, her attention was grabbed by Twilight cutely clearing her throat in front of her, with a serious expression. She smiled a loving one at her, and then turned her head to look out the window of the house to see her boutique. "Yes, darling?" Twilight took a deep breath. She had a flurry of questions, but she had to focus on a few, they might not have much time. "Why does Pinkie know?" She decided. Rarity eyes snapped back to Twilight's, but then broke off. "I… Pinkie had known since the start, the lady can't be fooled." Her eyes connected with the other's again. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I should have told you. It wasn't at all right to lie to you." "I know you are, Rarity… we can talk about it later." Twilight took another deep breath as she moved in closer until they were only a third of a metre apart. "What had you stolen, and why does my mother, an… agent of the BMMA, want you for it?"  "Well, I told you it was something i took from a noble, right?" Twilight nodded. "Well, the something was an ancient arcane artefact, and the noble was one of the most prestigious nobles in all of Canterlot. But I thought I'd lost them, you see, and I had thought that they didn't know my identity, but it would seem I had been wrong about that part. "I just wished it hadn't been your mother who'd find me." Rarity sighed. "You really hadn't known?" "No, I didn't… but it explains a lot to me." "Well, in any case, I believe it's her loss that she doesn't really know you as you are now." Rarity said, earning a light blush from her girlfriend. "How are you feeling, darling?" Twilight blushed a little bit more, and smiled as she said, "Well, I'm with you." Rarity blushed a little at that, but seeing an opportunity, "I feel the same way, too." Her blush intensified. "And… about what almost happened earlier." Twilight's eyes widened slightly and her breathing hitched, her blushing grew as Rarity pulled her into an embrace, one Twilight let happen. "I'm still quite interested in finishing that kiss." Oh, how Twilight so wanted to give in and accept her… preposition. But now simply wasn't the time for this. "R-rarity," she stuttered as her eyes were locked with those of Rarity. "W-we, um, should do t-this afterwards…" Rarity held her for another moment, before relenting. "Oh, fiiine!" She said, drawing out the vowel. "I'll just have to kiss you later." The remark made her blush harder. Twilight mourned the embrace breaking, but they needed to get back on track. She looked out the window, and widened her eyes as she saw a group of people gathered outside of Rarity's boutique.