Arcane Equilibrium
by Prane
Chapter 1

‘Again.’

‘Are you sure, agent? It’s been over an hour now…’

‘I said, again!’

An old dueling hall on the outskirts of Canterlot had seen better days.

What had once been a place for noble skirmishes and enlightening training, was now nothing but a shadow of its former glory. It was raining outside and water was dripping from the leaky roof. Wind got inside as well, through wooden walls, now bitten by the tooth of time. Nowadays, ponies would rather spend their time in modern facilities, like fitness and gyms, leaving this place of tradition abandoned and forsaken.

Which was a good thing, considered what was happening here right now.

A group of four unicorns took up their positions in the hall. Three of them were standing on a temporarily painted silver ring, at equal distances from each other. The fourth unicorn stood alone inside the provisional arena, facing two ponies and having one at the back.

‘Begin!’

Colorful auras appeared around the horns of the three unicorns. The air became dense and heavy, infused with the crackling magical energy as they simultaneously casted their spells. One of the unicorns gathered enough water from the floor to freeze it and form up a massive icy comet, the other raised a wooden stick with a telekinetic grip, imbuing it with explosive energy. The third unicorn enchanted a large pile of rubble and joined the forceful assault, sending a heavy stream of stone and wooden shards towards the middle of the ring.

Three against one was not a fair fight.

Yet the lone unicorn smiled, quickly evaluating the situation. She turned around and dashed forward, lowering her head and pretending to slide underneath the upcoming explosive stick. Her opponent spotted that and decreased the altitude of the improvised bomb. A second before the stick would hit the mare, she jumped. While in midair, she performed an acrobatic flip and used her magic to gently alter the course of the spinning projectile. Its wielder was not able to compensate the change on time, which resulted in the explosive collision between the stick and the icy comet coming from behind. Fragments of ice were scattered around the arena.

The mare saw the stream of rubble heading her way. She easily conjured three smoke bombs and concealed herself in a dark fog. Over the years she found that simple spell pretty useful for anything from impressing the audience to fooling the enemy. Or covering her escape...

The stream flew inside the pillar of smoke but, oddly enough, didn’t come out on the other side. The three unicorns slowly walked towards the dark fog but immediately stopped as the sound of something spinning got louder. They also saw chunks of ice rolling on the floor towards the center of the arena.

‘Are you okay, agent?’

‘What the…’

Soon, the smoke was gone.

‘Snake! Sweet Celestia, it’s a snake!’

The giant serpent made of ice and stone was towering over the unicorns, hissing frightfully. Every glacial part of snake’s long body was iridescent with at least a dozen of colors, with shades of blue and purple being the most common. With a single glare of its creator, the serpent dived at the unicorns. They were desperately trying to find cover but wherever they went, the massive body was blocking their path.

One of the unicorns was soon launched in the air with the serpent’s tail, ending up being hopelessly struck in the roof. The other was trying to escape the immobilizing constrict, while the third one was sneaking towards the exit, aware that the battle is lost. He looked back to see if it’s safe, but when he turned around, the mare was already there. She stomped both of her front hooves to create a powerful telekinetic blast at a point-blank range.

‘Not fair…’, the unicorn managed to squeak before being send across the hall.

Indeed, three against one was not the fair fight, because even at their finest, the three unicorns were no match for that particular mare.

Just outside the main hall, Sunseeker approached an old janitor pony, who was sitting in front of large, wooden doors with the faded word GYM on them.

‘Hi, have you seen Trixie?’, the white stallion asked. ‘About this tall, azure coat, looks as if she could conquer the world by putting a hoof on a map?’

Suddenly, the doors flew of their hinges, shattering over the opposite wall, burying the surprised janitor and one of the fighters under dozens of oaken bars. Sunseeker barely managed to avoid the unexpected blow.

‘Never mind!’, he said, smiling down at the pile of shattered wood.

Sunseeker entered the hall and saw her.

The azure unicorn mare, known as Trixie, one of the most prominent agents of the Conclave, stood in the middle of the battle circle.

She had her pale blue mane in a mess, her coat covered in dust and sweat and her hooves in a desperate need of a wellness center. Although the three unicorns were clearly defeated, Trixie was still concentrating at the ravaging snake on the other side of the hall, breathing heavily and putting a greatly painful effort to keep the spell from falling apart.

‘Okay, that’s enough…’, Sunseeker muttered and conjured a fiery whip, which he was about to lash at the mare to break her concentration.

Trixie caught a glimpse of it, so she immediately countered the whip and made it wrap around Sunseeker’s legs, turning him upside-down and pulling through the floor to meet her face to face.

‘You want some, too!?’, she shouted at the stallion.

There was something in her violet eyes. Something both worth admiring and terrifying at the same time. There was a burning passion, an ultimate focus on the goal, full devotion to the cause. On the other hoof, there was that terrifying part, but Sunseeker didn’t want to think about it.

‘It’s okay, Trixie.’, he said. ‘I bring the message from the Council. They want to speak with you.’

Without a word, the azure mare ended her spells, which made the stone and ice serpent collapse. She trotted outside, leaving Sunseeker looking around. Broken benches, demolished floor, roof full of holes, splinters of wood, rocks and melting ice everywhere… Trixie has not been idle.

‘Guys, come on!’, he said to the stallion lying on the floor. ‘Clean up this mess, will you?’

The unicorn stuck in the ceiling finally freed himself and fell down.

‘You can start with the roof.’, Sunseeker added, then went outside to catch up with Trixie.

Trixie went out of the ruined dueling hall and headed back to the city. She’s going to need a new place to train. Again. The azure mare pondered upon her duel, grading her performance as poor. She should have taken out her sparring partners sooner, and that snake would have been bigger if she had used the roof tiles. Anyway, assuming that three opponents…

‘…to you. Trixie, are you even listening? The Council thinks that you should be suspended!’, she heard a voice from behind, pulling her out of the pensivness.

She looked back without stopping and saw Sunseeker.

‘What? Who came up with that!?’, the mare asked angrily.

‘Firehoof, I guess.’, the white stallion answered. ‘But it’s not important. I’m trying to tell you that I think you’re a bit distracted lately!’

‘What are you saying!?’, she shouted back, upset at the world. ‘I’m in a great shape, what makes you think I’m distracted!?’

‘Because,’, Sunseeker answered patiently. ‘You forgot to take your cloak, didn’t notice that it’s raining and you’re heading the wrong direction.’

Trixie halted to slowly think about what the white stallion just said.

Her dark blue cape was tightly packed in her saddlebag, so what’s the deal? Oh. The bag itself wasn’t on her back, but on Sunseeker’s. It was raining, but she wasn’t wet. Why wasn’t she wet? Sunseeker was wet. Isn’t the rain making everypony and everything wet? She noticed a bluish force field hovering over her, repelling the water. Its color was very similar to the stallion’s eyes, and his horn was glowing. It seemed he was unable to sustain two force fields at the same time and he chose to shield Trixie over himself.

And there was that wrong direction thing. Indeed, instead to the Archives she was on her way to the Royal Castle. She went back with her thoughts to the events of the Nightmare Night and what she saw back then…

Trixie walked towards the nearest building to look upon her reflection in the window. What she saw scared her. She didn’t quite recognize the mare on the other side of the glass. Sure, she knew it was her face, but was different from what she had in mind. This Trixie was clearly tired of whatever she was doing lately and she surely didn’t get enough sleep, judging by the bags under her eyes. The expression on this Trixie’s face was full of weakness and grief, grimaced in a sorrowful manner. It seemed that this mare was likely to get distracted, Trixie had to admit that.

She turned around at Sunseeker and saw his short red mane being flattened under the falling curtain of rain.

‘I’m sorry…’, she murmured and conjured a force field over the stallion.

‘That’s nothing, really.’, Sunseeker answered. ‘Look, I understand what you’re going through…’

‘I’m fine!’, she interrupted, grabbing her cloak and saddlebag.

It was the obvious lie and the white stallion saw right through it.

‘You’re not, but I’m not going to push it. Just remember that you’re not alone.’

You’re not alone. It sounded well, but then why she felt so abandoned?

Trixie tried to find an answer on her way to the Conclave Tower, but came up with nothing.

Betrayal. That was the word she was looking for. It didn’t fit the language she was recently trying to learn, but who had time for it when stuff like that happens. Anyway…

Somepony poked her. It was Sunseeker, who was standing beside her. He pointed at the stallion sitting on the middle chair.

‘Agent Trixie, would you please focus?’, said Councilor Stormcoat. ‘You seem a little bit distracted.’

Oh, not that again.

‘Yes.’, she answered, moving her attention back to the middle of the well-furnished top floor of the tower. Rain was drumming on the colorful windows of the Conclave headquarters. ‘You were saying…?’

The trio of councilors exchanged glances and sighed. Trixie was working with the Conclave long enough so they got used to the azure mare’s behavior, which was annoying and obnoxious at least, while insufferable and unbearable at most. But she was one of their best agents, if not the best one.

‘As you might know, we were considering to suspend you… please, don’t interrupt,’, said Councilor Firehoof, waving at Trixie. ‘And we have every reason to do so.’

‘How possibly could you get banned from every single gym in Canterlot?’, Stormcoat asked. ‘Your recent behavior was inappropriate and reckless.’

‘In my own defense, that was last week.’, Trixie answered.

‘But since Canterlot was infiltrated so easily, as we recently witnessed, we decided we cannot let you go.’

Of course they couldn’t. The mysterious cult which she encountered in Hoofington was still a threat, and Trixie had the biggest experience in fighting them.

‘So, your mission will be to track down stallions responsible for the unfortunate events of the last Nightmare Night. And of course do what you can to end the threat.’, said Firehoof. ‘But first, we need to know if you’re capable of doing that. We understand that it became personal for you. Just say a word and we’ll find somepony else for the job.’

Even if she wanted to consider the offer, Trixie knew there was only one answer.

She will not let him destroy everything she recently discovered she valued.

‘No. This is my responsibility.’, the azure mare confidently answered. ‘I can confront him, but he’ll be extra difficult to track down. I can’t… I prefer not to do this alone.’

Before the Everfree Fire incident, Trixie would have never considered teamwork worth pondering upon. But she has learned a lot since then.

The councilors nodded.

‘You may begin with questioning the cult member we’ve captured.’, Councilor Icemane joined the conversation and passed Trixie a small scroll. ‘This safe-conduct will grant you access to the prison.’

She turned her attention at the white stallion.

‘Agent Sunseeker, you are now indefinitely reassigned to help Trixie with her task.’

‘But… what about my duties in Hoofington?’, he asked.

‘We’ll send somepony, don’t worry.’, the mare assured. ‘I am sorry to keep you away from home, but this is the priority one task. Not to mention you already fought the cult.’

Trixie could swear she heard a silent ‘but they know me there…’ and felt bad that she stood between Sunseeker and his regular life. Like if she wasn’t upset enough. Could it get any worse?

‘Sunseeker isn’t the only one who will be helping you.’, Stormcoat added. ‘We’ve managed to get some brains for your magical brawn… ah, there she is.’

Ornamented ivory doors opened and as a well-known mare entered the room, Trixie realized that it could get worse.

It was Twilight Sparkle.