//------------------------------// // 4) Eavesdropping // Story: A Stitch In Time // by Short Stories //------------------------------// Twilight and Rarity left the library, five books held in both aura’s. “I can’t wait to read all these!” Twilight cheered as they rounded the corner to the camp. They had spent two hours in the library, before it announced it was closing. Thankfully, she had her ten books ready to go a minute or two after the announcement. “Oh, I knew you would have fun here, Twilight!” said Rarity excitedly, “I simply knew you would! Now, once we get back to the hotel, you must try this massage treatment they offer to the guests! I’ve been desperate for a gentle hoof to rub all my aches and pains away! Come, darling, let’s hurry back!” “Okay!” Twilight cheered as she followed her friend towards the building. As the pair trotted briskly back to the hotel, Twilight couldn’t deny that she felt delighted.  Despite almost dreading coming with Rarity on this trip, little to none of it turned out as unfortunate as she’s envisioned.  And Rarity was more than willing to accompany Twilight in activities the latter enjoyed, as a sort of payment for being on this trip.  Overall, it wasn’t so bad, and Twilight no longer had a reason to complain.  Her guilt about not coming clean about her feelings about this excursion had all but dissipated, and Twilight no longer felt the need to.  She was now having all the fun she thought she’d never have. As soon as they got inside the fashion camp, they headed up to their room so Twilight could drop off her books, and they could get their spa robes on. Once they were all set, only Rarity headed for the door, while Twilight lagged behind. “Twilight, darling, do hurry!” Rarity told her eagerly just before her hoof touched the door.  “If we leave now, we can catch which of the stallions is the masseur tonight!” Twilight smiled. “Just a second, Rarity. I can’t decide which book to bring. They all look so good!” Rarity began prancing in place, clearly nervous. Twilight turned her head towards the antsy unicorn. “Go ahead, Rarity.” She said. “I’ll meet you down there in a minute.” Rarity quickly opened the door, but left one last sing-songy comment, “All right, but don’t get mad when the best-looking stallions are taken!”  With that, she rushed out and closed the door, giggling like a school filly. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. Classic Rarity… She thought, as she spread her books out and scanned over the titles yet again. She realized it would be a while if she did what she usually did, which would be, sorting out the pros and cons. So, after about five minutes, she closed her eyes and levitated a book randomly. She opened them to see which one she choose. “Ah! The Modern Approaches to Ancient Unicorn Sorcery! A classic!” said Twilight before stowing the book away and nonchalantly making her way out of the hotel room.  She closed and locked the door, looked up and down the hall, and hoped to just barely see Rarity turning a corner.  When she saw nopony around, she frowned—she completely forgot where the hotel spa was. Maybe I’ll bump into somepony and they’ll tell me. She thought. That thought calmed her nerves just a tad, and she walked in—what she hoped—was the right direction. After several wrong turns and flights of stairs, she found herself in the basement of the camp. She looked from left to right as she walked down the narrow hallway. “I think I’ll just go back up to the lobby.” She mused to herself, slowly starting to turn around. As she did, she saw somepony run into a dark, empty room out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she followed. Twilight’s pace was slow and steady as she approached the departing pony, but when she saw the pony turn a corner, she sped up a bit.  She reached out a hoof to call out, but before she could, she heard a door slam.  Sighing, Twilight rushed over to the corner in the hall and turned, seeing only one door at that end of the hall.  Well, that makes things a little easier, she thought to herself, glad not to have to check multiple doors.  Who knows?  This could even be the door to the spa. Twilight walked closer to the door and attempted to open the door, but she heard a voice, loud and apparently enraged, coming from the other side, and recoiled.  Whoever it was didn’t sound happy at all, and Twilight’s first instinct was to leave.  However, her curiosity rooted her to the spot, and she felt a surge of shock and anxiety when she recognized the voice as that of Suri Polomare. A bulk of the shock came not from who said it, but what was said. “All right, jeez… Now, you promised, remember?” she asked warily.  “You discredit Rarity for me if I bring you Twilight—” Another, voice cut off Suri’s. It was louder and bossier. Twilight just couldn’t put her off on who the voice’s owner was. “You think I’d back out of the deal?!” the voice bellowed.  “You honestly think, after all you’ve been through, that you can afford to run the risk of questioning my integrity?!” After taking a deeper listen, Twilight suddenly felt that that angry voice sounded somewhat familiar.  Still, she could not place it, but she knew she’d heard it somewhere.  From where, she may not have known, but why the voice was so upset, and what it and Suri meant by a deal, she had even less of a clue.  But one thing was clear from Suri’s words: She and Rarity were set up. Twilight started to panic. Being set up was not fun. She and her friends had been set up countless times before, and she didn’t want it to happen again. Except—it was happening again—at least, Suri, and whoever was in there, we're planning something horrible for her and Rarity. She had to tell her friend immediately. So lost in thought, she hadn’t realized when the door handle began to move. Panicking, Twilight ran out into the hallway before rational thought took over. Firing up her magic, she promptly teleported up to the lobby. “Rarity! Rarity, it’s terrible! We have to get out of here, right now!!” Twilight had finally found the spa, and had located Rarity immediately.  Her relaxing back rub interrupted, Rarity looked up irritably at Twilight, glanced at her masseur, and quipped, “You know, darling, I realize he’s large, but he’s quite harmless.” The stallion looked at Rarity questioningly. “No, Rarity, not him!” Twilight cried. “I heard something. I got lost in the basement and heard something terrible!” Rarity finally pulled herself up after hearing this.  She looked at the stallion and asked, “Would you give us a moment? Be back soon, though, I’d rather like to work on the flanks soon.”  When the masseur left, Rarity got up from her table and hopped back down to the floor.  “Right then, Twilight. Whatever is the matter, now?” “Well, I got lost and somehow made my way down to the basement, and—” “The basement?” Rarity interrupted with a grimace.  “Why would you insist on getting lost there, of all places? Besides, weren’t you right behind me?” “No, I was picking out a book, remember?” Twilight gasped as if it was the last breath she would ever take. “The book!! Where is it? Where did I put that book?!” She began frantically looking around the area she and Rarity were standing. Other ponies started to stare at her in confusion. “Now, now, darling, do calm yourself,” Rarity advised, sounding more than a little concerned herself, “you probably just dropped it somewhere on your way here. I could help you look, you know, if you need me to.” “No no no…” She mumbled to herself, barely paying attention to a word Rarity said. “I must have dropped it when I teleported... or ran away!” She grabbed Rarity’s shoulders. “Rarity! Do you know what this means?!” Rarity seemed disturbed by Twilight’s sudden raving.  “You’ll understand that I shudder to imagine, dear...” “It means they might know that I was there!” Twilight stopped raving, seeming to remember the whole reason she came in to the spa room in the first place. “Rarity, we need to get out of this camp. Now.” She said the last sentence through gritted teeth. By this time, Rarity was right back to being worried.  “Twilight... I don’t understand. Why... why would you say these things? I know this trip was far from your idea, but... but to try and convince me of shady dealings is so unlike you...” Twilight noticed a small tear flowing down Rarity’s white fur. “Oh, Rarity, don’t cry…” She tried to calm her friend. “I didn’t mean it like that... In fact, I’ve been enjoying this trip quite a lot! I just-” “Well, if that’s true, then why the hesitation? And the stuttering, and the sighing, and the constant silence, all of which you’ve done since we left Ponyville? If you’d been having fun on this trip like you’d told me, you would have shown it more, wouldn’t you? But you don’t speak up, you insist on whiling away the hours at the library instead of accompanying me to my lectures, and now this....”  Rarity wound down her rant to a mere croak, visibly in pain over this seemingly built-up tension.  Her voice softened, though, as she continued, “Then again... you did tell the truth at your brother’s wedding... and I didn’t listen to you then....” “Excuse me? You kinda dropped this... okay?” Twilight whipped around to see none other that Suri herself holding out Twilight’s book. The book she dropped in the basement. The book that could be proof that Twilight was down there. Her eyes went wide, her ears folded back, and her mouth moved soundlessly. She was too scared to say anything at all to this backstabbing earth pony. Rarity glanced to Twilight, taking in her sudden fear.  “Why, Twilight, what’s the matter?” she asked.  “That is your book, isn’t it? The one you were missing? And Suri was kind enough to find it and bring it back to you! Isn’t that lovely? How very considerate of her!”  There was a slight edge to her tone that told Twilight she wasn’t quite being sincere, but it was well hidden enough for nopony else to notice. Twilight still wasn't able to do anything, still stuck the the spot. There were a million thoughts running amok in her head, but not one came out in speech. After a while, Rarity soffed and levitated Twilight’s book out of Suri’s open hoof. “I’m sorry for my friend.” Rarity told Suri, the slight edge still there. “She’s being quite rude right now.” “Oh, no problem,” Suri replied, returning Rarity’s slightly insincere tone back to her, “just hope this helps bury the hatchet between us.”  She then looked at Twilight and continued, “You just make sure you don’t get lost again. Wouldn’t want to end up in a place you’re not entirely sure you should be.”  She gave a lazy chuckle before adding, “Okay?” Rarity returned the chuckle. “Yes, dear, I’m sure it does.” There was some awkward silence before Suri turned around and left the spa room. Rarity looked over at Twilight, seeing she was in the same state as before. She sighed and looked over at where her mausser had been. He was already working on another client. Disappointed, Rarity turned back toward her friend.  “Well, really, Twilight! Here you were, lecturing me about giving Suri another chance, and you come to me with some far-fetched story that we have to leave? What could you possibly have heard that could have been so terrible, anyway?” Twilight slowly came back to reality and faced her friend. “Rarity, I’ve been trying to tell you what happened. I got lost and wound up in the basement. I saw somepony head down a hallway, and I thought it was the way to the spa, or they could tell me where the spa is—” “Darling, I’m afraid you’re rambling,” Rarity interrupted, “if you want to tell me what’s on your mind, then please, say so.” “I’m trying to!” Twilight cried. “I’m trying to tell you what’s wrong!!” Ponies around them turned to stare at them again. Soon, the whole spa room—and some ponies who were passing by—were staring at them. Rarity started to blush, but Twilight didn’t seem to notice. Rarity addressed everypony in the spa politely, yet nervously, “Excuse us, won’t you?”  She then picked Twilight up by the tail with her magic, forcing her to trot briskly on her front hooves as Rarity ushered her aside.  Once the pair had reached the door, Rarity dropped Twilight, and she landed hard on her rump.  “Twilight, I don’t know what is going on here,” Rarity spoke in a low, almost growling whisper, “but you are embarrassing me! If you weren’t having a good time, this is not the best way to let me know it!” “I am having a great time!” Twilight tried to convince her friend once more. “I just need to tell you something really urgent!”The purple princess looked around, as if just now noticing the many pony eyes that were facing their way, and the many pony ears, perked up, trying to hear what they were saying. “Can’t we leave the spa room for a minute, and you can come back when we're done talking?” She asked in a hushed whisper, craning her neck down a tiny bit. Her fretted look only getting worse, Rarity glanced between Twilight and the spa door.  “Why can’t you just tell me, Twilight?” the unicorn finally asked, in a sad, desperate tone that made Twilight’s heartache.  “Why can’t you just tell me the truth?” Twilight looked around again, extremely nervous that one of these ponies watching them was some sort of spy and would leak the information to Suri and that other pony. “I-I just can’t okay?!” She said in an angry huff. Why won’t Rarity just go up to our room so I can tell her?! After a weighty pause, Rarity sighed and bowed her head, pressing a hoof to her temple.  “Twilight, I...” she began, unsteadily, “. . . I... you know I want to believe you. Not trusting your instincts once nearly cost us everything. But this... I just...”  Suddenly, her eyes began to well up with tears.  “I just don’t know what to think. I was hoping you wouldn’t have to keep anything from me, and even though you insist it’s the truth, I have seen reason to doubt you after we left....”  She shook her head to pull herself together before yelling, “I just cannot answer you now, Twilight! Whatever is going on here, I need to think it over!”  And with that, she turned and stormed out of the spa, stifling her sobs. “Rarity, wait!” Twilight called, feeling her heart plunge.  She went after her, but stopped; Rarity was the type of pony that needed a moment to herself to recuperate from emotional turmoil.  And although whatever she overheard between Suri and the mystery pony did seem dangerous enough, there was no reason to believe whatever actions they were planning could be sprung just yet.  And even with Twilight’s inadvertent interference, making a move now would look out of the ordinary for the other ponies, so risking blowing their cover now might be foolish.  Furthermore, Twilight knew that Rarity was on her way back up to their room, and would thus be safe in case of Suri decided to act.  At the very least, Twilight would know where she was, and would be able to act quickly. Still, knowing that Suri was dealing with some shady character in a hidden plot was disconcerting, and no amount of rationalization could change that. Glancing out a nearby window to see day fading to dusk, Twilight set her mind to work on a plan, when she heard hoof steps behind her.  Turning warily, she saw a most welcome sight: Coco Pommel, a look of concern on her face. “Oh, hello, Coco,” Twilight greeted her as calmly as she could in spite of her panic.  “I... I guess you heard that, huh? Look, I hope you didn’t get a bad impression from that—” Coco gently put a hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “It’s fine, Twilight. I know I wasn’t there when you were there, but-” She hesitated. “-I think I know what you were trying to say.” She took her hoof away from Twilight’s mouth. “And I believe you.”