Chapter 14b, Meeting
Rainbow Dash stood outside of Carousel Boutique, looking at the closed sign on the door and the dark curtains ominously obscuring the windows.
Rarity had found her in the market the day before and asked her to come by at eleven in the morning. Now it was about fifteen minutes after eleven, and judging from the appearance of the store Rarity was waiting for her.
Sensing nothing better to do she stepped up to the door and knocked. Barely a second later Rarity opened the door.
“Welcome darling,” she said, “please, come in.”
Rarity stepped back and pulled the door the whole way open, shutting it again once Rainbow was safely inside.
It took Rainbow's eyes a moment to fully adjust to the dim light afforded by the candles laid out around the room. Once they did she could see that she and Rarity weren't alone. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were also present, sitting on pillows set out by Rarity.
They were laid out in a circle pattern, broken by a large chalkboard that Rarity acquired from somewhere. There were two spots, one for Rarity that was obviously being used and one for Rainbow, between Rarity and Applejack.
“Have a seat,” Rarity said as she trotted over to her own spot. Rainbow followed and sat down beside her.
Seeing that everypony was ready, Rarity began, “So, I've asked you all to come here to discuss a matter of some importance.
“As I'm sure you're all aware, Rainbow has recently begun to become suspicious of Twilight and Fluttershy, and she has be expressing it rather excessively. Seeing as it's begun to become problematic, I've asked you to come here to discuss it, to see if we can't come to some kind of understanding.”
“Ain't nothin' to discuss,” Applejack said, “none of it's true!”
“Please feel free to support that argument Applejack, but you also need to listen to everypony else's,” Rarity said calmly.
“I haven’t called you here to tell Rainbow to stop,” she said, “I've asked you here so we can discuss both sides of the argument. We explain why we feel that Rainbows fears are unwarranted, and she explains how she's reached her conclusions.
“Personally I'm not entirely sure myself what to think...”
“How can you say that?,” Pinkie said accusingly, interrupting Rarity, “How could you doubt Twilight and Fluttershy like that, haven't they been great friends?”
“Yeah, how could ya say you support Rainbow, this is crazy!” Applejack added.
“I'm not saying I support Rainbow, not entirely at least for the moment, but I will admit I've seen the most of this whole situation, if you wish to call it that. I don't question them as friends but I do worry about their honesty. Twilight and Fluttershy are out of town today, going to meet 'a friend of a friend' as she called it. You must admit that this in itself is a little suspicious, even without suspecting anything else.”
Rarity looked around, Rainbow looked grateful that one pony believed her, while the other two looked angry.
“So, are there any questions?” she asked, looking around to see if anypony had anything to say. When they didn't say anything she continued, “Very well, let's get started then.”
Rarity levitated a piece of chalk over to the board and said, “We're going to start by going over everything we know. If you have something to add, then please, say so.”
She started, “So, about a month ago something suspicious happened. At a little after seven o'clock Fluttershy came in and asked me a few very suspicious question about topics she shouldn't have known about.”
She adopted a very serious look before continuing, “What I'm about to tell you is something that you aren't supposed to know, so keep this in mind and don't repeat it to anypony, and if you must talk about it amongst yourselves make sure nopony else is listening in. The only reason I'm even mentioning it is because Fluttershy asked me first. Know your enemy, as it were.”
On the board she wrote the word 'Questions', and under that she listed blood magic and necromancy. With a deep breath she said, “When she came to me she asked me about two different forms of dark magic,–” She tapped the chalk on the board “–blood magic and necromancy. Both have been forbidden and highly illegal since long before Nightmare Moon, and they aren’t something you simply come across, in fact, as I've warned you, their very mention can become trouble if word gets out.”
“If they're so bad, then how do you know 'bout them?” Applejack asked accusingly.
“Yeah,” Rainbow added, “How do we know that you aren't working with them?”
Though she didn't want to admit it to her friends, under pressure Rarity accepted defeat. With a heavy sigh she said, “I never wanted to bring this up, but before moving to Ponyville I attended, and graduated from, Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns.”
“Why would you not TELL ANYPONY ABOUT THAT?” Pinkie asked somewhat loudly, causing everypony to flinch.
“It was a part of my life I would rather forget, and can we please leave it at that?” Rarity requested.
“How do we know you really went?” Rainbow accused, “If you've been working with them, then how do we know you're not just telling us something that makes sense?”
Rarity looked around again. This time Applejack was glaring at Rainbow while Pinkie had her hoof on her chin as if in thought. Rainbow was looking at her sternly.
She sighed again, “If I must prove my innocence, then keep in mind that I didn't know anything other than the broad definitions of these magics, I warned Fluttershy that she wasn't meant to know about them, and I gave you information that I easily could have covered up and prevented you from having ever gotten suspicious in the first place. If I was involved I wouldn't be supporting the argument that something, is in fact, not right.”
On the board she added below the questions she added 'Two Fluttershys'. “Remember that, according to Twilight, while Fluttershy was here, she was also at the library, having supposedly fallen ill around the same time.”
Rarity drew an arrow out and at the end wrote 'Changelings'. “Twilight also explained the possibility of changelings being involved.”
“Can ya get ta the point already?” Applejack added.”
“Yes, we can,” Rarity said, drawing arrows from everything to one place where she added 'Cover-up? She circled the words and said, “The point is, what happened, and were they trying to cover up their involvement?”
“Ah don't see what about Twilight's explanation doesn't make sense to you.”
Rarity sighed yet again, and explained, “It makes sense but then again so does the conspiracy theory. The problem is that nopony has any proof, but Twilight and Fluttershy have continued to act strangely ever since.”
After a moments thought Rarity added another arrow from the questions to a new point where she wrote 'Curiosity'. “Thinking back to that day, Fluttershy wasn't asking about how or what these magics could do, she was more interested in what they were. Perhaps she saw them while she was visiting Twilight. Either way, from where I stand somepony wouldn't simply know the name. If you know the name of these magics at all then you should at least also know they are.”
“Then it couldn't have been changelings!” Rainbow exclaimed suddenly, “If it was changelings than they would have had to find out about it somehow, and they couldn't have found out about it unless they got it from somepony... or maybe a book or something, but if they did they would have figured out what it is at the same time, and they would have known nopony could do it or know what it can do!”
Rarity crossed the changeling theory off the board, and then had an realization, and added arrows from the crossed-out changelings and curiosity to a new text called 'Threat Potential'. The she drew another arrow from there the the cover up theory and said, “That means that one of Twilight's points about the changeling explanation is impossible. She said they may be gauging how much of a threat we pose to them after the attack on Canterlot, but then that explanation means they would have known about the magics but not know that we couldn't use them.”
“See Applejack, Twilight was covering for Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, looking pleased with herself.
“So,” Applejack replied, “It's a bit suspicious, but it doesn’t prove nothin', Twilight can get books about that stuff no problem. How do ya beat that one?”
“Unless she wasn't supposed to have them.”
Everypony looked at Pinkie, who had been strangely quiet. She just shrugged, “What, it makes sense.”
Rarity shrugged along with her and connected questions to a new point for the possibility of dark magic being part of Twilight’s studies and from there to one for the possibility that those studies where illicit.
They looked over the existing evidence for a while longer, but couldn't come up with anything new.
Finally, Rarity came up with an idea, “Why don't we go over what we have and come up with a story that explains everything, and see what else we come up with by the time we're done. It's all I can think of at the moment.
Rainbow took the opportunity to start right away, “Okay, so we know that Fluttershy was visiting Twilight, and we think she saw something, like a book or some notes, and got curious and didn't want to ask Twilight...”
“Or maybe Twilight wouldn't tell her?” Pinkie added in.
“And so she came here,” Rarity continued for her, “and asked me what I knew, but I couldn’t give her anything about the magics themselves or creatures that could have used the without the harmful and deadly side effects...”
“Wait just a minute! You never mentioned this before,” Applejack said.
Rarity added it to the board but didn't connect it to anything, and then said, “As you can see, I didn't bring it up because I couldn't see where it would have been relevant.
“She thought that somepony, presumably Twilight, may have been replaced by a changeling or something similar when I told her what the magics were and how dangerous they were to anypony casting them. She went back and took something Twilight had me make to her...”
Rarity suddenly had an epiphany, and crossed off the two Fluttershys point. Then she added a new point 'Necklace', and added a line between the two.
“Twilight had requested that I make her a necklace about a week before this happened. I let Fluttershy deliver it because she offered, and I saw Twilight wearing it a few days later. If Fluttershy was with Twilight and fell ill around the same time then how did she get the necklace?”
“So we know that Fluttershy went back to Twilight,” Rainbow said, continuing where they left off, “and when she got back she gave Twilight the necklace, and then she got sick... wait a minute, do we actually know that she was sick, or is than just another cover for something else?”
Rarity added 'No Illness?' and drew a line between it and cover-up, “So if it wasn't an illness, what could it have been?”
“Maybe,” said Applejack, who had been silent and observing the growing evidence until now, “just maybe, it really was just an illness.”
Pinkie gasped, “Maybe Twilight used dark magic made her sick so she couldn't go out and tell everypony her big secret!”
“As far fetched as it seems” – She added 'Illness Caused?' and connected it with Twilight's dark magic studies and the cover-up – “It makes sense.”
“So she gets to Twilight and Twilight finds out how much she knows, so she does something to her so she can't tell anypony,” Rainbow went on to say.
“How could she do something like that? Only a really really evil pony would do something like that to Fluttershy!” Pinkie interjected, earning a smug look from Rainbow and a glare from Applejack that silently said not to encourage them.
“If Twi made Fluttershy sick, then why's she a suspect now?” Applejack asked, “Why would she go along with any of Twilight's plans after that?”
“I don't know, maybe Twilight convinced her that she wasn't evil?” Rainbow said, earning a disappointed look that told her that Applejack wasn't amused.
“Or maybe she isn't going along with this of her free will,” Rarity added in. “What if Twilight is using other forms of dark magic we don't know she's learning to control Fluttershy?”
Everypony, even Applejack, agreed that this explanation made sense, and Rarity connected cover-up to both 'Convinced' and 'Controlled', and both of those to and new point called 'Strange Behavior'.
“So basically, Fluttershy found out Twilight was studying dark magic, then Twilight made sure she couldn't tell anypony about it, and now she's either being controlled or believes that Twilight isn't evil, right?” Rainbow asked.
“That's about the gist of it,” Applejack said in response.
But then Pinkie said the one thing that completely overturned the sense of confidence they had from everything they had pieced together, “But girls, you forgot the really important, super big question. Why is Twilight studying dark magic in the first place?”
At once they all looked at the board, which was over half full of information in a web-like layout. Nothing on their explained why.
“Indeed, that is a very good question. What possible reason could she have for studying dark magic?” Rarity asked, “From this point we can get rid of the possibility that she's doing this as part of her studies for Princess Celestia, if she were she would have no reason to cover it up as such.”
“So, she wasn't supposed to be doing this, and she's trying to hide it,” Applejack stated.
“But there are so many different reasons that she could have,” Rainbow said, “She could be involved in a cult, or trying to defeat the princesses and take over Equestria. Maybe she just want to be evil in general, or maybe she wants to feel powerful. In fact, we don't even know that there is a reason, she might just be learning it for fun.”
Soon the board was all but completely full as Rarity tried to put down everything they could think of and decide which of the two explanations for Fluttershy's strange behavior fit best with each one, or both if applicable.
When she realized they were out of room on this side of the board she flipped it over and started writing their conclusion. Nopony had anything to add, so she wrote out a time line over the board that explained the events as they know them. In the top right corner of the board she wrote each of the theories for why Twilight would be involved and put with it the most likely explanation as to how Fluttershy was involved along side her, whether it said that she was convinced that Twilight was just studying dark magic out of professional interest or forced to keep quiet about her evil nature or her plot to make all of Equestria bow before her, or if she was recruited for a cult or either forced or convinced to keep it a secret that Twilight was involved with one.
Finally they had everything they could come up, and to conclude Rarity asked, “Looking over the evidence, do you two still think that there's absolutely nothing going on? Absolutely nothing at all?”
Pinkie shook her head, but Applejack asked, “Even if somethin' is goin' on, which it probably is, isn't it Twi's business what she decides to do with her life, not ours?”
“It might be if she's just studying it, or even if she joined a cult, but if she's trying to take the throne then wouldn't it be in the better interests of Equestria if we stopped her?” Rarity replied.
“If you can find me some proof that she really is trying to take over Equestria, then I'll help you. Otherwise, it's none of my business.”
Rarity supposed that it was better than nothing, and thought that Applejack might be right and it would be better to just let Twilight decide her own business, but her inner curiosity couldn't let her give it up. Besides, what kind of friend would she be if she didn't try to help Twilight get out of whatever she was caught up in.”
“Oh, are we gonna be spies? I love spying, with spy equipment, and spy outfits, and grappling hooks, can't be a spy without 'em!”
“Er... maaaaybe you should just let Rarity and I do the spying,” Rainbow said, making Pinkie frown sadly, “Alright fine, why don't you do all the conspiracy theory stuff with the chalkboard –” She looked over at the board “– you can start by getting a bigger board.”
Pinkie perked back up with a huge smile, and Rarity said, “Well, if that's settled, I guess...”
“Wait a minute!” Dash interrupted, “Everything we’ve talked about was over a month ago, what about everything that's happened since then?”
“Well, I saw Twilight a few days after, and she asked me to...” Rarity trailed off, earning curious looks from the others.”
“Asked you to what?” Applejack questioned.
Rarity remained quiet for a moment, and then said, “It really isn't my place to say. If Twilight chooses to share with you the details of her personal life that's her business, but I won't give out her secrets. I promise it's nothing important to this particular discussion.”
“I ran into Fluttershy...” Rarity didn't even take a moment to pause before adding a new point on the already nearly full board called 'Silver Wing' and another called 'Friend of a Friend'. She drew an arrow from Fluttershy's strange behavior to Silver Wing and another to friend of a friend.
“I ran into Fluttershy a few weeks ago, she was out in the Everfree Forest at five in the morning with somepony named Silver Wing, she said they were taking a walk, and said the forest isn't as dangerous as it seems. She said that Silver Wing was a friend of Twilight's and that she introduced them.”
“Even I'll admit, that's a little bit suspicious,” Applejack said.
“So you think that the pony Twilight went to go meet is somepony this Silver Wing knows?” Rainbow asked, standing up and stretching before she had to leave.
Rarity smiled, standing up herself, “I would say that if she really is meeting somepony, this might be how they're getting together.”
“So's that all?” Applejack asked, mimicking them and standing up.
“That's all, at least until next time.”
“Next time,” said Applejack, “Don't invite me. Ah don't like lookin' into other ponies business.”
Rarity just rolled her eyes. They said their farewells and left with a new mission.
Spy on Twilight and Fluttershy.
Stats
Page generated in 0.039 seconds
Total duration
653 users online
833,858 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Too long chapters are a myth.
There're only too short ones(unless they're filled with errors/mistakes and it hurts to read)
5029408 Fixed, thanks!