“Here we arrrrrre!” Sapphire Shores sing-songed as she tugged Rainbow Finish up to a hanging gallery of crooked black and white photographs. Several ponies standing about brightened at the proximity of the party's “host.” “Let's get this show rollin'! Ow! Photo, darling, you have got to tell us all about what inspired you to make this amazzzzzzzing display!”
“Uhhhhhhhhhh...” Rainbow's violet lenses reflected a pair of scar-faced stallions guarding the apartment's entrance.
“Allo? Heheheh... Equestria to Photo?” Sapphire giggled. “Are you there, hun?”
“Uhhhhhhhhhh—what?” Rainbow turned towards her, then winced. “I mean—vhat?”
“This is a most interesting collage you've made, sugar bumps!” Sapphire said while the flashbulbs of a few attendees went off, capturing the two “celebrities” together. “What ever could it mean?”
“Oh... velll... you see... it is all a representation of—” Rainbow took one glance and caught an eye-full of dead cockroaches and rotting fruit. “Good Goddess!” She covered her muzzle as she saw black-and-white photos of decaying fish and disemboweled rodents.
Sapphire and a few other guests blinked awkwardly at her.
“Uhhh... uhhh...” Rainbow gulped, straightened her wig, and stood tall. “Vhat I mean is... 'Good Goddess!' But of course, zis gallery represents ze... uhhh blessinK of hafinK an alicorn princess like Celestia around to... uh... make sinKs like zis not happen on zeir own all ze time!” Rainbow smiled crookedly under her shades. “By highlighting ze decay, I vish to schow zat... it... is a thing of ze past!”
Silence.
“That... is...” Sapphire's jaw dropped. “... ... ...brilliant!” She whipped her tail. “Ow!”
Several nearby ponies cheered and clapped their hooves against the floor.
“Ah... ah yes, I get it now!” Fancy Pants trotted up, swiveling a champagne glass with his magic. “Well done, Ms. Finish! By making such a grim dark subject matter the focus of your medium, you forced the viewer to think outside of the box, incorporating Manehattan post-modernist aesthetics, or—perhaps—falling back on contemporary Canterlotlian modernist cynicism as a means of an emotional statement.”
“... ... ...” Rainbow gawked. “... ... ...Ja!” She smiled.
The ponies exchanged confused glances.
“Erm...” Fancy Pants adjusted his monocle. “Which one, pray tell?”
Rainbow blinked. “... ... ...Ja!” She smiled again.
“Hrmmmmmm...” Suri Polomare drifted forward, tapping her chin as she squinted at the photographs. “It just looks like a bunch of rotten fruit and dead animals to me.”
“Ach! Zat's just it!” Rainbow Dash grinned, shaking loose bulbs of sweat along her muzzle. “Uhm... you hafe to hafe... erm... ze magiks!”
“Is that a fact?” Suri grinned. “What kind of magiks?”
“... ... ...ze death magiks!” Rainbow waved her hoof. “You knowen sie... like Neigher... or Maretallica!”
“Ah!” Fancy Pants chuckled, raising his glass. “So, Manehattan post-modernist aesthetics it is!”
“... ... ...Ja!”
“I don't get it!” Suri frowned. “It's still just a bunch of dead stuff!”
“I, Photo Finish, don't see vhy you are so surprised!” Rainbow Dash slyly smirked. “Ve took zem photos behind your apartment!”
Several ponies chuckled and laughed.
“Grrrrrrrrrrrr...!” Suri snarled.
“Now now, honey...” Sapphire waved with a smirk. “No need to get your mane in a tangle! Not everpony immediately gets Photo's genius, Miss... Miss...”
“Polomare!!!” Suri howled. “And anyway, I can't be the only pony wondering what made Ms. Finish so interested in sharing her art tonight of all nights!”
“I beg your pardon?” Fancy Pants remarked.
“Uhh... y-yeah!” Rainbow cleared her throat. “Beggen sie pardon?”
“Madame Firefly!” Suri smirked. “Where is she? I bet she would have a very, very interesting interpretation of this artpiece.”
“Madame Firefly?” Fancy Pants grinned. “Color me intrigued! I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting your new friend, Ms. Finish!”
Rainbow flashed him a look. “You haven't?”
The stallion simply blinked.
“I-I mean... you hafen't!” Rainbow slapped her brow. “Ach je! Silly me! Heheheh... ahem.” The pegasus fidgeted in Photo's dress. “Meine schon fraulein is... uhm... avay.”
“Away where?” Suri asked, squinting.
“She had to go... uhm... p-powder her muzzle.”
“Powder her muzzle?” Suri grimaced. “But, her coat's blue as the sky.”
Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Uhhhhhhh!” Rainbow slid in front of Fancy Pants with forelimbs outstretched. “She... uh... uses... sp-special blue powder!”
“Blue powder...?”
“Ja! Imported from her natife kingdom of Awesometopia...” Rainbow blinked. “...land!”
“Pffft. I've never heard of blue makeup powder.”
“Ach! You don't knowen sie vat you are missinK!” Rainbow smiled nervously. “After all, I, Photo Finish, use ze same shtuff for meine own schon hoofsies!” She leaned aside and nudged Sapphire Shores. “Not all powder can be white, you know vat I'm saying?”
Sapphire blinked, then guffawed. “Hah hah!”
Rainbow guffawed back. “Hah hah!”
“Hah hah hah!”
“Haaah haaah haaah!”
Sapphire reeled, wheezing. “Duaaaaaaaaaaaah! Haah haah haaaaah!” She slapped Rainbow's flank. Whap!
Photo's prosthetic tail popped off.
With a gasp, Rainbow caught it with one rear fetlock and snapped it back in place before anypony could see. She exhaled with relief—only to nearly choke when Sapphire's weight leaned against her petite body.
“Ohhhhhh honey you are a riot! Ow! You must show us your other exhibits!”
“I... th-thought...” Rainbow inhaled deeply then spoke in a firmer tone. “Photo Finish sought you vould n-never ask!”
“Right this way, hun!” Sapphire dragged Rainbow along.
Rainbow gritted her teeth, staring off towards a hidden part of the apartment wall. “Lancie... you'd b-better friggin' hurry up...”