RariTwi: Love is War

by SigmasonicX

13. The Gala, Part 3 - Sweetie Belle Isn't a Horsey

Fluttershy breathed evenly as she ran down the path that Twilight and Sweetie Belle were on. Rarity, meanwhile, zigzagged from tree to tree, hiding behind them but making sure not to actually let them touch her dress. The animal liaison looked around warily, yet the fact remained that she wasn’t entirely clear what she was looking for.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t tell Twilight about the suitors?” she asked when Rarity paused behind a lamp post.

Rarity scoffed. “Darling, where’s the drama in that?” She scrunched her brows. “Or rather, I suppose we’re trying to prevent drama. In any case, we stopped one of them without Twilight realizing, so I’m confident we can stop the rest.”

Fluttershy continued looking around. “I mean, I can’t imagine all of them will be so obvious. It’s not like they’ll be skulking in the bushes or…”

Rarity gasped dramatically and pointed ahead of them. Creeping up behind Twilight and Sweetie and ducking into bushes was a flamboyant woman in a large hat and cape. “I remember that ridiculous ensemble! That’s Trixie, one of the suitors!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Er, forget what I said. Anyway, she’s awfully close. Can we reach her before…?”

Rarity launched forward, coating her legs in magic. Unleashing her mastery of the Northern Darling Style, she skated and twirled past guests. Her magic surged more than it ever had before as she closed the distance.

Trixie peeked out of the bushes and then stepped out, brushing herself off and pulling a bouquet of flowers out of her cape. She only had a second to turn around and widen her eyes before Rarity tackled her.

They tumbled off the path into the grass, then onto another path, then into a closed building, creating a huge crash. This was followed by several fireworks erupting from the stage magician’s dress.

Fluttershy ran to the building and put her hands to her mouth. This all caused quite a stir among the people there, which wasn’t alleviated when the two women came out of the building, smoking and stumbling but not seriously harmed.

“Hah, you fool,” said Trixie in an unstable voice. “Trixie can never die!”

Rarity unsteadily fixed her hair. “You should dye, darling, if you want to hide those unsightly grays.”

Somehow, this seemed to anger her more than the violent tackle. “My hair is blue! It’s all shades of blue!”

“It is good to think like that. Focusing too much on graying will just make them go gray faster, after all.”

Trixie put the back of her hand to her mouth and smiled. “Ah, speaking from experience, I see. Trixie has so much to learn from you about being an ugly loser.”

Despite the simplicity of the comeback, it still dug into Rarity and she stepped forward. “You’re already far ahead of me. For instance, there’s that horrid cape of yours.” Rarity grabbed Trixie’s cape, but she pulled away.

“Ugh! You’re the horrid one! And I bet your friend is horrid too!”

Fluttershy squeaked and backed away.

“Keep Fluttershy out of this! And besides, better to have a friend at all than be a lonely loser like you!”

Trixie gasped. “Trixie has friends!”

Fluttershy wanted to interject, asking if Trixie even knew why she was tackled, but she chose not to speak up as the verbal exchange continued.

---

The changeling assassin sighed as rubbed his eyes under his mask. “That was quite a nuisance,” he said to himself.

He stepped out of the bushes, looking back at the rainbow-haired woman he left behind.

For an annoyingly long time, Rainbow Dash forced him into a dance while disguised as Applejack. When he realized he wasn’t going to be left alone any time soon, he took advantage of Rainbow directing them to a less active part of the campus by smashing her head into a wall. Less active didn’t mean empty, however, and murder in Applejack’s form could make things difficult for his end goal, so he chose to leave her be.

The assassin shook his head. “What in the world would make Rainbow Dash act in such a way?”

It would be best not to use this Applejack disguise again. Well, that would be no big loss. A bigger loss was that drawing Princess Twilight to the garden would be more difficult now, since she surely checked it herself.

There was still another strategy, however. It was risky, but he practiced long and hard to get down this subject’s mannerisms.

And if he pulled it off, it would cause the biggest scandal of them all.

---

“You know, I’m pretty surprised,” Twilight said as she walked with Sweetie Belle. “That you’d be interested in an experimental art exhibit, I mean.”

Sweetie nodded. “Yeah, my sister hates it. I took her to this one black box experimental theater performance, and she complained the entire time.” She stretched out her arms. “There aren’t supposed to be fancy costumes! That’s the point! It’s stripped down and raw!”

“Well I meant more that you’re pretty young to appreciate all that. You’re quite an intellectual young lady!” Twilight winked.

Sweetie blushed. “Yeah, well, I wish you’d tell that to Rarity.” She paused. “Actually, about Rarity, can I ask… what happened with her earlier today?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh right, Applejack said she’d get you to help with Rarity’s curse. She must have told you what happened.”

“Yeah, and I haven’t really had a chance to talk to her since then.” She furrowed her brows. “So, like, is she OK?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, she’s perfectly fine now. The curse is completely gone.”

“Applejack said you needed someone who loved and understood Rarity. So you found someone else like that?”

Twilight froze, her expression twisting. “Uh huh, yeah,” she said, her voice getting higher. “I broke the curse through our professional respect for each other.”

Sweetie blinked. “What, really? I thought for sure it was that person she keeps taking boob pics for.”

Twilight laughed lightly. “Oh, that definitely isn’t me.”

Sweetie narrowed her eyes. “Well, if you say so. Anyway, I am glad Rarity is alright. She can be really annoying a lot of the time, but she can also be really cool. Plus, you know, she is my sister. Oh, and I probably wouldn’t be at my school with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and the others without her.”

“The three of you are pretty close, huh? Are you sure you’re fine going to the art exhibit without them?”

Sweetie nodded. “Yeah, it’s not like I do everything with them. They wouldn’t get the exhibit.”

Twilight smiled. “What other things do you do without them?”

“Oh, well there’s…” She paused.

The path took them alongside the viewing lake, which several people sat at—notably many couples.

Sweetie blushed. “This is kind of embarrassing to talk about. You can’t tell Apple Bloom and Scootaloo this!”

Twilight smiled partially in support, and partially out of happiness that they were close enough for her to be let in on a secret. “Of course. What is it?”

“Well…”

Before Sweetie Belle could continue, spotlights lit up on the water.

In the middle of the pond was an entire floating stage that Twilight could have sworn wasn’t there a moment ago. A group of men stood on top, but all the lights were focused on a single man with prominently luxurious hair.

The people sitting at the pond began to stir.

“Wait, is that…?”

“OMC it is!”

The man on the stage pulled out a microphone and simply said, “Hey.”

The crowd grew wild and, in the excitement, more people started arriving.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Should I know who that is?”

Sweetie Belle gasped and shrieked, making Twilight cover her ears. “It’s Feather Bangs!” She then proceeded to swear loudly as she jumped up and down in excitement.

Twilight blushed. “Sweetie!” she hissed. “Be polite!”

“But he’s the hottest singer out there! And he’s here!” She shrieked, and Twilight covered her ears again.

“Isn’t he like a popular singer? I thought you were more into indie and experimental art.”

Sweetie’s cheeks puffed. “I can like different things.”

On the stage, Feather Bangs swished his hair and a trio of girls in a paddleboat fainted. He pointed forward and said, “This song goes out to the prettiest princess in the world.”

Twilight crossed her arms and watched passively. It seemed like this Feather Bangs person was pointing in her general direction.

Sweetie Belle definitely knew who he was pointing at, however. She jumped up and down and said, “OMC he’s pointing at me!”

Clearly noticing this reaction, Feather Bangs hesitated. “Uh, to clarify, this goes out to the pretty purple-haired princess standing over there, on the path to our future together.”

Sweetie Belle gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. “My hair’s purple!”

Twilight smiled. She knew musicians would say things like this to make people in the audience feel like they were talking about them, when in reality they were speaking generally, but she didn’t want to break Sweetie’s heart. Still, she was surprised there were that many purple haired girls standing on the path. She looked around and saw one to her right, and she imagined the singer could probably see more where he stood.

“And when I say princess,” he sang, “I mean that lit-er-al-ly.”

The audience cheered. Twilight, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at the way the word “literally” continued being corrupted into meaning the opposite.

Feather Bangs sighed in what Twilight almost thought was exasperation. “You know what, let’s get started, and I’ll open my heart to you, girl.”

The music started and he sang about his love for a powerful and magical purple-haired princess. Twilight wasn’t interested in listening, herself, but Sweetie Belle was clearly invested, so there was no way they could leave. She passed the time analyzing how imagery related to the princesses continued to pervade through modern day love songs.

---

Rarity pulled at her hair as she watched Feather Bangs’ performance from a distance. “How did we let this happen?!”

Fluttershy rubbed her arms. “Well, you did spend several minutes insulting Trixie until she said she forgot why she was even here and left.”

Rarity waved her hand. “You can hardly blame me for that.”

“And then you had me spray you down with my perfume.”

“Well yes, because I was all sweaty after dealing with that woman, and I threw my perfume bottle at her earlier. In any case, we need to find a way to stop this performance!”

Fluttershy sighed and looked at the show. “He’s already performing in front of everyone. It’d draw a lot of attention to ourselves if we got on the stage.”

Rarity looked around, then snapped her fingers. “Of course! He’s performing on a pond! Fluttershy, you know what else can be found on ponds?”

Fluttershy tilted her head hesitantly. “You mean my duck and goose friends?”

“Precisely! If you ask them to stop the performance, no one will find it strange at all. Especially the goose attacking the stage.”

Fluttershy brushed her foot on the ground. “I generally prefer not to let them tap into their dark nature, but if I must.”

Rarity flipped her hair. “Splendid! Now, it’s for the best that I don’t be seen by Twilight and Sweetie, and I’m sure that this concert will draw in other hoodlums, so I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

Fluttershy nodded and Rarity ran off. Fluttershy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then honked loudly.

---

Feather Bangs and his backup dancers swished in tune with the music.

“Can’t hold on much longer
But I will never let go!”

He twirled stage left, and by chance dodged a rocketing duck.

Unimpeded, the singing continued as a goose landed on stage and bit at his pant legs, only for his dance moves to pull him away just in time.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this. “Uh, is anyone else seeing this?”

She looked at Sweetie Belle, who was still entranced by the song. As far as she could tell, Feather Bangs himself seemed to be completely unaware of the bird attacks, even as more and more climbed onto the stage. The backup dancers were definitely taking notice, though, and backed away.

However, even Feather Bangs couldn’t ignore the massive seal jumping onto the platform and tipping the other side into the air.

Sweating, Feather Bangs brought his mic to his mouth. “Uh, hey there, big fella. You enjoying the music?”

The seal reared its head back and roared loudly. Scrambling away, everyone on the platform fell into the water.

Sweetie gasped. “Oh no! We need to help him!”

Before they could move, they watched as a group of owls lifted Feather Bangs out of the water and into the air. Then they continued past the shore and disappeared behind a building.

Twilight hesitated. “He’s… probably fine. Come on, Sweetie Belle, let’s go see that art exhibit before it’s too late.”

Sweetie hummed. “Alright.”

---

Rarity glanced around suspiciously. She looked around every corner, peeked behind every bush, and even watched the sky for any more suitors. No one yet. She supposed all the suitors from the initial group were accounted for, but who knew how many got it into their head that they had a chance.

She looked back at the crowd watching the concert, which now diffused—including Twilight and Sweetie Belle walking away. Rarity’s eyes widened. “W-wait!”

She ran forward, only to come to a sudden stop when someone appeared in front of her.

“Woah!” the figure said. When Rarity regained her balance, she realized that it was a young girl with purple hair. She was one of Sweetie’s good friends, Scootaloo, and she was quite fond of Rainbow Dash, as she recalled. And indeed, there was Rainbow Dash… being dragged on the ground by her, unconscious. Scootaloo looked at Rarity, then to Rainbow Dash, then back to Rarity. “It isn’t what it looks like!”

Rarity crossed her arms. “And what, pray tell, is going on?”

She spoke quickly. “I was out looking for Rainbow Dash for Applejack, and I found her lying in some bushes. So I decided to pull her over to Applejack, and now here we are.”

Seemingly roused by the conversation, Rainbow groaned and started getting up. She rubbed her head. “Ugh, what hit me?”

Rarity sighed. “You went to the bar instead of going to see Applejack like you said you would, I imagine.”

Rainbow shook her head. “What are you talking about, Rarity? I definitely danced with Applejack. Oh right! Now I remember!” She parted her hair and revealed a large bump. “Applejack danced really hard and I hit my head against a wall.”

Rarity winced when she looked at the bump. “Ugh, how horrible. We should take you to the guards, they should be able to treat you.”

Scootaloo scratched her head. “Wait, you did dance with Applejack? Then she knocked you out, left you in the bushes, and then went right back to her food stand? And that’s who you married?”

Rainbow looked around. “When you put it like that, it is pretty weird.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Applejack’s at her food stand?”

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “And Princess Twilight said she wanted to go dance with Rainbow Dash, but why would she want to do that if she just danced with her? Well, I mean, I guess that isn’t that weird, but why would she need me to look for Rainbow, then? Wait, did she want to frame me for a crime when people saw me with an unconscious Rainbow Dash?!”

Rarity looked around warily. “No, I don’t think that’s it. Is it possible… that one of our changeling guests is causing trouble?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Oh right, that would make sense. So a changeling was disguised as Applejack, Rainbow danced with her, and then when Rainbow hit the wall, they just left.”

Rainbow, still on the ground, wobbled her head. “I guess Applejack was acting kind of weird. Man, if that was a changeling, they could have just said so.”

Rarity rubbed her chin. “Rainbow, did this Applejack approach you for a dance?”

“Oh, nah, I just snatched her off the ground.”

Scootaloo jumped up. “Ooh! I remember now! Applejack wanted Twilight to go to the garden alone with her.” She crossed her arms. “Which, now that we know they were a fake, seems mighty suspicious now.”

Rarity felt her stomach sink. What in the world could all this mean?

---

Twilight and Sweetie Belle watched an endless waterfall of pure illusion magic flow from the ether and through the holes of a wooden mask. The princess admired the skill required to not only make this illusion, but keep it stabilized for display like this. She glanced at her companion, who tilted her head in contemplation.

“So what do you think?” Twilight asked.

“It definitely looks nice,” Sweetie said. “But the meaning… is pretty basic, isn’t it?”

Twilight had no clue what the art was getting at. “Oh, really? But you know, just because it’s basic doesn’t mean it’s without significance.”

Twilight looked at Sweetie, hoping she wouldn’t have to elaborate. After endless seconds, the girl shrugged and said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The outdoor art gallery was a designated quiet area of the campus for this event, and as such, guards only let in a few people at a time. There were no other students, as she’d expect when they could visit it any day, but she did spot one of the local lords. Lord Gray Bean, as she recalled. As a princess, she probably take the time to talk to him, but she couldn’t abandon Sweetie, and he didn’t seem like the sort she’d be interested in talking to. Thankfully, he turned a corner without showing any interest in her.

Twilight and Sweetie walked down the path to the next exhibit and the princess looked down nervously. This was all well and good, but she needed more bonding and more information for this to be worthwhile. “So Sweetie, is there anything else you like besides Feather Bangs and experimental art?”

Sweetie hummed. “Well, I mean, I like non-experimental art too. Like, uh…” She looked around, as though making sure no one else could hear them. “So, uh, you know those magic comics? The ones that move on their own?”

“Yes, of course. My assistant, Spike, is a big fan of them.” She quickly added, “And I read them too!”

“And you know that just because something is aimed at kids, doesn’t mean only kids can read it, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course! Stories targeted towards children can be wonderfully written and full of imagination, often even more so than works targeted toward adults.”

Sweetie seemed assured hearing this, but her face still twisted as she forced out. “And… have you heard of… My Friendly Horses?”

Sweetie stared at her with expectant eyes, and Twilight smiled back. “Of course! I adore My Friendly Horses!”

Sweetie blinked then leaned forward. “Really? You’re a princess and you like My Friendly Horses?”

“It has loveable characters, great stories, and wonderful lessons. What’s there to not like?”

Sweetie pumped her arms up and down in front of her. “But it’s so kiddy and girly, and young adults shouldn’t be reading it, and anyone who does is a baby. That’s what Diamond Tiara says.”

Diamond Tiara must be a classmate. “Well you can tell Diamond Tiara that the series comes princess approved.” She winked. “So, what characters do you like? I’m a fan of Wind Whistler, myself.”

Sweetie’s eyes sparked. “Ooh, Wind Whistler is a nice choice. A bit low tier for me, but every horse is great!”

Twilight grinned. “So, you have a tier list, then?”

Sweetie grinned back. “Obviously!”

And so they talked for minutes on end, first covering favorite characters and then favorite episodes. They hardly paid attention to the art, or anything around them, until…

“Oh hello there, Council President and my darling sister. Interesting to see you together.”

Broken out of the conversation, Twilight looked up to see Rarity standing before them, arms behind her back and her head tilted with a curious smile.

The princess jumped back in surprise. “R-Rarity! Funny running into you here.” Rarity seeing her with Sweetie Belle was, of course, a possibility, but this entire plan of hers would have looked much less like, well, a plan if Rarity only learned about it afterwards. In any case, hesitating would only make things worse. The best route was to act as though everything was normal and stick to the truth when feasible. On the surface, nothing about how she acted should be strange. “I’ve been showing your sister and her friends around the Gala, though the others have gone off to do other things. She’s been wonderful to talk with.”

Rarity clasped her hands together. “That’s wonderful to hear! May I ask what you were talking about? I overheard something about friendly horses?”

“Oh yes, My Friendly Horses! We were just talking about how much we both like the series.”

Twilight turned to Sweetie Belle for her confirmation, only to find her looking away with her cheeks taut. “Well, I mean, I used to like it when I was a baby. It’s not like I really like it anymore.”

Twilight supposed that Sweetie denying this in front of her older sister wasn’t too strange, but now that left Twilight as the only person there claiming to be a fan. She looked at Rarity, who seemed to just have a curious expression. Could it be that she didn’t know about My Friendly Horses? Well in that case, since she didn’t have preconceived notions, Twilight could explain things the proper way. “Rarity, if you’re wondering, My Friendly Horse is—”

“Hey, whatcha doing?”

Twilight looked to her left to see Pinkie Pie suddenly standing there, leaning in conspiratorially with a big smile. The princess figured she must have become callous, because she somehow completely expected this and didn’t even flinch. Sweetie and Rarity, meanwhile, both jumped back in shock.

“Oh, hello, Pinkie-dear,” Rarity said. “Twilight was just explaining to me this My Friendly Horse business.”

Pinkie stood up straight, her eyes sparkling. “Ooh, My Friendly Horses! Twilight, does that mean you’re a horsey?”

Dread filled Twilight. “Well, uh—”

Rarity raised her finger. “Pardon, but may I ask what you mean by ‘horsey’?”

As Twilight gathered her thoughts on how to best explain this, Pinkie jumped right in. “They’re people that want to marry the horses!”

Both Twilight and Sweetie’s jaws dropped. Why in the world is Pinkie the one explaining this?

Rarity looked back and forth between Pinkie and Twilight, as though trying to determine the best way to react to this information, then finally put her hand to her mouth. “Marrying horses? How disgusting. Surely a princess like you wouldn’t want to do that.”

Twilight waved her arms. “O-of course not!”

Pinkie put her hands together. “Oh, now I get it. Rather than marrying the horses, you want to (bleep) and (bleep) them!”

Twilight’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Pinkie! I don’t know what you said but that can’t be appropriate in front of kids!”

Pinkie tilted her head. “Well, do you?”

“Of course not! No one would want to do that!”

“Y-yeah, no one…” Sweetie Belle said with a shaky voice. Twilight spun to discover Sweetie’s face scrunched up and on the verge of tears.

Twilight smiled uneasily. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, I didn’t mean… I mean, if that’s what you like, then…”

Sweetie Belle dashed away, covering her eyes with her arm and shouting, “I don’t like My Friendly Horses!”

Frozen in place, Twilight reached out with her eye twitching. “S-sweetie…”

Well, there goes that plan.

---

The assassin stood frozen. How in the world was he supposed to react to this? He assumed Rarity would be a safe disguise, and thought he had a good idea of how a proper student council at an elite school would act. But this… this was just silly.

As Twilight kept watching the fleeing young girl, Pinkie Pie adjusted something in her hair while sticking her tongue out in concentration. “Ah, there’s the problem! Turns out I left my bleepers on! They only work on cynical adults, so I always forget about them.” She spread out her arms. “Like I was saying before, you want to love and appreciate the horses!”

The princess blinked and looked at Pinkie. “Oh. Well yes, I suppose I do. I really need to go after Sweetie Belle” She paused for a second. “And I am not cynical!”

The changeling spoke up. “I’ll go with you.” This would be the natural reaction from Rarity, given the girl who ran away was her sister. Plus, this would bring them closer to the gallery entrance, where they would be seen by more people once he performed his job. It would also offer an easy escape, whereupon he could transform into Gray Bean—someone already known to have entered the gallery—report that Rarity passed him, and then get scanned and cleared by a guard.

Pinkie raised her hand. “I’m going too! Can’t leave a crying kid crying!”

Of course, there was the problem of Pinkie Pie. Of all the council members, she was the most unpredictable, and the one he wanted furthest away from his assassination. At the very least, from his reports, she was easy to distract.

They ran down the path, and all the while, he kept a look for anything that could draw away the interloper. “Pinkie Pie,” he said. “There’s a section branching off there. Could you check if Sweetie is there?”

Pinkie nodded and left in a cloud of dust, but before he could even think of the next step of his plan, she returned nearly in the same place. “Nope, no Sweetie Belle there.”

He furrowed his brow. “Well, she could have dived into those bushes there. Could you be a dear and see?”

Pinkie rushed off to the bushes and, as though they weren’t attached to the ground at all, she lifted them up and peered underneath. She put the bushes back and ran up back alongside the changeling. “Nope, nada. Really neat art, though, I gotta say.”

He grimaced. How in the world was he going to accomplish this? He looked at Twilight Sparkle, her focus ahead and seemingly not noticing Pinkie’s antics. Using magic so close to her was a big risk, but it might be necessary.

As a changeling, and not a queen, he wasn’t capable of anything more than an energy blast. However, the process of releasing energy from one’s hand and propelling it forward need not be so simple. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, it could take any shape and follow any predetermined pattern. And as he recalled, something that Pinkie Pie is especially drawn to is…

Molding magic in a closed hand, he discreetly tossed it into a bush. Following its programming, it rose up from the bush in the form of a bright red balloon. He looked back at Pinkie and confirmed that she was utterly fixated on this odd sight and stopped next to it. After floating there for a second, the balloon then drifted up and away, back down the path behind them, and Pinkie followed, shouting, “Whee!”

He waited one second and then another. He looked back again. Pinkie Pie was nowhere in sight.

“Look, there she is!” said Twilight Sparkle.

They were near the entrance and Sweetie Belle lingered outside, sitting at a table, and there was a small crowd milling about nearby, including a guard standing at their post.

“Princess, hold on for a moment,” said the assassin, coming to a stop, with Twilight following suit. “Before we talk to Sweetie, there’s something we must discuss first.”

Twilight blinked in curiosity. “What is it?”

He stepped in close. Under his disguise, he felt the press of his metal blade against his arm.

---

Rarity frantically searched the crowds near the pond. This would have been much easier with Rainbow Dash, but she was in no condition to help, and with any luck, Scootaloo had brought her to a guard by this point. After a few moments, she spotted Fluttershy, sitting by herself below a tree.

“Fluttershy!” Rarity called out, making the pink-haired woman turn her head. “Quick, where’s Twilight?”

Fluttershy stood up. “Oh, uh, she went to the art gallery last I saw. The outdoor one near here, I mean.” Her brows creased. “Is something wrong, Rarity?”

Rarity came to a stop and rested her hand against the tree. “I just ran into Rainbow Dash, and it seems like there was a changeling trying to be alone with Twilight.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my! Was it a suitor?”

Rarity hummed. “They were disguised as Applejack and I can’t say I’ve heard any rumors about her and Twilight. It’s entirely possible we’re dealing with something else here. In any case, we must tell Twilight about this.”

A voice came from the other side of the tree. “The art gallery? I see, I see.”

As Fluttershy jumped in surprise, Rarity spun around the tree to discover Prince Blueblood standing on the other side.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Blueblood! You got out of the garden!”

He tapped his temple. “Yes, that was quite the nefarious trap you two set up for me. I must commend you for that.”

Fluttershy rubbed her elbow. “But I didn’t…”

“There is one thing you failed to consider, however. You see, as little you pretend to care, I am still a prince, and that title demands respect. When I came across a guard in the garden, he was able to confirm that Princess Twilight had left and I had no need to continue searching.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “So you’re saying you just asked a guard for help.”

“Indeed, few can command a guard in such a manner! But that’s not where my actions ended. I talked to a guard at the scene of your confrontation with the street magician and realized you two have been wasting a lot of energy fighting suitors, and that inspired a noble idea. I gave all the guards I came across a very simple instruction, to repeat a certain rumor within earshot of guests. And now that I have a location, I merely have to make use of an item confiscated from that belligerent intruder.”

The prince pulled out a sphere covered in purple star-patterned wrinkled paper.

Rarity crossed her arms. “And what exactly do you intend to do?”

Ignoring her, Blueblood pulled out a map with his magic. “So, the nearby art gallery would be… there.” He pulled his arm back and coated it in magic. He pitched the sphere high and, after stopping in mid-air, it rocketed up and then arced down roughly toward the gallery. Then, it exploded in a bright blue firework.

For a few moments, not much happened. A couple murmuring guests walked toward it, with the words, “rumor” and “true” raising up past the chatter. Then a couple more, moving a bit more quickly. Then they heard the rumbling behind them.

Rarity’s eyes widened. “What did you do?!”

Blueblood merely grinned.

Author's Note:

Sequence with Pinkie based on the preview video for Kaguya-sama season 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxTxrKrYkcY