"What's this painting about?"
"It's about bats."
"I can see that. But what is it about? What's the meaning behind it?"
"I have no idea. I didn't make the painting. I didn't read up anything about it. I didn't even know it existed before seeing it."
"Sorry. I figured you might have some experience with art or something."
"None at all, actually. Never really been to a museum outside of school visits back in the day, or the occasional obligated trip whilst on vacation. It's not that I dislike art or something, but I don't find it particularly engaging or at the top of my priority list."
"That's fair enough. Do you at least like this one? On a personal level, no need to justify it."
"I like the technique. I don't really like the colours though. I feel like they're too dark and muddy and uniform. It makes the whole thing feel too needlessly moody. It's not even depressing, it's just too brown. Throw some blue in there."
"Do you like blue?"
"Find me a pony who doesn't like the colour of the sky."
"You know what we should do?"
"What?"
"Wear masks. Like, domino masks or something similar. That would be cool."
"That would make us stand out horribly and probably raise suspicions about us that would otherwise have no reason to exist."
"But we would look cool. Maybe put them on when we run away?"
"We don't have masks with us. Are you suggesting we leave in the middle of this to go grab a pair of masks?"
"I could probably sneak out and come back. It's not like anyone would notice."
"There are guards around the perimeter. They would notice. They would absolutely notice."
"Well, okay, I guess that might look kind of suspicious to them."
Dust looked at the painting some more, then moved on to another one, and Brush followed him. They were still killing time in the gallery, and surprisingly had only run into two couples trying to eat each other's faces in places vaguely similar to corners by then. They still had ample time to get back, both the reason they were there and the one they pretended to be there for wouldn't require their attention for a while longer. Looking at art, even if boring, was the best way to pass the time without arousing suspicions, as staying in the main room but refusing all small talk with the other guests would have seemed out of place.
"Say," said Brush to Dust as they stood in front of the next piece of artwork. She spoke quietly as to not disturb the second couple they'd found, at that moment on a couch refusing to go elsewhere even though there were others there. Maybe they liked it that way. "Once this whole thing is done, payment and all, then what? Do you have any other plans for me, anything I could work on?"
Dust looked sideways at her. "Do you want to work on something else? I could probably find something, but it'll depend on how things go."