Darkness Rising

by SkyHighFlyer

Chapter 16, Tensions Rising

The bell above the door chimed to indicate the arrival of a customer in Carousel Boutique.

Rarity, who was trying to use Applejack as a model much to their mutual annoyance, called out, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Alright, I can wait,” called out an uncomfortably familiar voice, one that made Rarity nearly drop the needles she was holding.

“Twilight! I wasn’t expecting you, please come in,” she said uncomfortably, having trouble holding the needles steady now as she put the finishing touches on the new dress she was designing.

“Howdy Twi,” Applejack said, aware of the source of Rarity’s discomfort but not bound by the same growing paranoia.

“Hello Applejack, and thank you by the way, for staying out of other ponies business, and their desk drawers,” Twilight said.

Applejack was moderately annoyed with the others for going on, and was somewhat pleased with herself when Twilight thanked her for not being involved in their insane scheme, but was thoroughly confused when she mentioned desk drawers.

Rarity meanwhile was startled when it came up, and she briefly stumbled, and this time she did drop her needles.

“Ah don’t mean to be rude, but anypony want to fill me in on what happened?”

“Yes Rarity, would you like to fill Applejack in on what happened, and how horrendously it failed,” Twilight said, looking at Rarity with almost amused eyes.

“I, um... well you see... how was I supposed to know it would do that?” Rarity stuttered, earning Applejacks amusement as well.

Twilight turned her attention back to Applejack and said, “Maybe we should just say that I outsmarted her and leave it at that, we wouldn’t want to embarrass her too much.”

This was enough, and Applejack couldn’t help but laugh. Twilight may not have had the most mischievous personality, but when she could she took advantage of it well.

“Yes, well,” Rarity said, recovering herself, “I believe that will be all Applejack. After all, I’m sure that Twilight would love to help me finish.”

Applejacks amusement wore off when the tables were turned, but Twilight kept smiling, “It’s fine Applejack, there are some things I need to discuss with Rarity anyway, including the desk drawers.”

Rarity went off into another minor fit when she heard about that again, but Twilight said, “It’s alright Rarity, I’m not mad about it, it was easy enough to fix.”

“Well, Ah suppose I should go then, have fun you two.”

Applejack walked past Twilight and left the building, leaving Rarity alone with Twilight.

“Now, about why I’m here,” Twilight began, “I would like you’re help with something.”

She produced a worn brown cloak and continued, “I’ve been wearing this for the past month, but it’s really old and I need something new. I was hoping that you could make something similar to this. Nothing to outrageous, just a single color and one that doesn’t stand out, and it needs to be like this one, not too thick but with multiple layers, and preferably more comfortable than this.”

Rarity took the cloak with her magic. It was obviously enchanted with a number spells, but Rarity didn’t recognize most of them. As she looked it over she said, “Darling, this is... the most polite way to say it is that this is hideous, why do you even need a cloak anyway?”

“Why do you need glasses?” Twilight shot back. Rarity’s attention was momentarily drawn to the glasses perched on her face.

Rarity could see just fine without them, but when she wore them she felt like she was more immersed in her work. It was obvious that Twilight’s question was meant to be a polite way to tell her that it was none of her business. Going along with it, she replied, “Good point.”

“Would you like me to help you finish your dress?” Twilight asked.

“No, I can finish it myself, I was simply jesting when I said that,” Rarity replied. “Anyway, we both know that you aren’t just here to place an order, so what do you want?”

Twilight smiled, “Well, originally I was planning to just talk, as friends, but after I found out that you were trying to pick the lock on my drawers, I figured we might as well talk this out. Starting with, why in Celestia’s name would you try to pick the lock on my drawers?”

“We didn’t know that it was enchanted, we were just going to see what was inside, we thought that maybe it was evidence. How were we supposed to know that it would melt the tool?”

Twilight calmly replied, “Rarity, you shouldn’t have been trying anyway. Why can’t you just trust me when I say that I know what I’m doing and anything I do is my business, not yours?”

“Twilight, we really don’t know what to think, and you’ve only been making our suspicions worse with your ‘business’,” Rarity said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we feel that you’ve been suspicious for less that honorable reasons, and we know that you were studying dark magic.”

Twilight sighed, “Rarity, would it help if I was a little more forthcoming with you right now?”

Rarity nodded, and Twilight took that as a sign to continue. She wasn’t planning on giving away any actually important information, but she would be reassuring.

“Alright, I’ll admit that I’ve been going out of town a lot recently to meet a number of ponies across Equestria, and most of the time I’ve invited Fluttershy to come along with me. The reason is, and please don’t tell anypony, is that Fluttershy and I are... in a relationship. It’s a way for us to spend more time together, and meeting new ponies had really been helping her confidence.”

None it was actually lying, but there was also a lot she wasn’t saying for good reason.

“Oh Twilight I’m so happy for you! I’m sure you two make the cutest couple!” Rarity said somewhat overenthusiastically.

“Thanks?” Twilight said, “What I’m trying to say is that I’m not trying to push you away or anything. I’ve had a busy month, but I’m done going out of town for the most part, and I think that maybe if the six of us start getting together again more often then you’ll see that nothing’s changed since before. I just want to get past this and get back to normal life, but we can’t do that unless you give us a chance.”

“While I would like that more than anything, I agree with the others on this matter. We’re worried about you Twilight, and we don’t want to let anything happen to you.”

“Show me,” Twilight said simply.

“Show you what?” Rarity asked, not catching the vague request.

“Your evidence,” Twilight replied, “if you really think there’s something wrong and that I can’t handle it, show me whatever evidence you have.”

“Err... I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Rarity said in response.

Twilight laughed weakly, “Rarity, what’s the worst I could do, suddenly make everything you know wrong? There is nothing I can do in this situation other than tell you there’s nothing for you to find.”

Rarity hesitated for a moment, but the truth of Twilights words sank in and she gave in. she silently motioned for Twilight to follow and led her to the back room.

“I’m actually somewhat surprised that Sweetie Belle hasn’t found this yet,” Rarity said as Twilight stepped into the back room and caught sight of the board.

From her perspective, it had a lot of information, all of it correct, but it was nothing but information. It couldn’t help them.

“Well, none of this is wrong. Useless, but not wrong... except one thing on this board is a little bit outdated,” Twilight said. Without asking permission she erased the part of the board about the locks melting anything except the key and rewrote it, this time saying that the lock ripped apart anything other than the proper key, and then she said, “I’ve upgraded the locks since last time. I figured that you could probably find a way around the old ones, so I put something a bit harder. I’m hoping it won’t be necessary.”

“Twilight, I don’t like having to doubt you,” Rarity said. “Why don’t you just tell us the truth? We’re your friends, I would have imagined that would necessitate a certain level of trust, and you know we would accept you regardless of whatever secrets you might have.”

“Because there are some things you aren’t meant to know!” Twilight suddenly said angrily, “You’re playing a dangerous game Rarity, so please, quit while you still can.”

Rarity took a step back, and Twilight took a deep breath, and then she said, “I don’t want to scare you Rarity, but some secrets aren’t meant to be known, and if you continue this search there will be consequences. My advice to you is to quit while you’re ahead and let us all continue our lives and mend our friendships in peace.”

Rarity looked at Twilight with fear. Whatever she and Fluttershy were doing they obviously didn’t want it to be discovered.

Twilight took another moment to calm down and said, “I would like that cloak by the end of the day tomorrow, earlier if you can.”

Twilight trotted out of the room briskly, leaving behind a stunned Rarity. In parting she yelled back, “And think about what I’ve said!”

Comments

[dangerbrony]

Anticipation of giant crash increasing.

Way to go Rarity. Also nice job not being suspicious Twilight.

[Love Moth]

Dun dun dun

[hamiltonds]

"I wouldd like that cloak by tomorrow (or I will spill some precious rubies