Arcane Equilibrium
by Prane
Chapter 5

‘…and that’s why we need your help, Rarity.’, Twilight concluded.

Sunseeker raised a porcelain cup decorated with hoof-painted patterns and took another sip. The warm, aromatic beverage was one of the finest black tea blends, usually served by ponies with expensive taste. And although the Carousel Boutique’s owner was – without a doubt – that type of pony, the stallion couldn’t believe she was so naïve at the same time… or was she?

‘Just to make things clear, Twilight,’, the mare replied. ‘You’re telling me that Princess Celestia sent you, as well as here present Trixie and Sunseeker on a top secret mission to find… a stolen trinket?’

It was the pretty accurate summary of the purple mare’s completely made up tale. Sunseeker had pointed out earlier that getting more ponies involved with the Conclave business might not be the best idea, so Twilight came up with a cover story about how she has recently received an urgent letter from Princess Celestia. The red-maned stallion hovered the cup back on the oaken table. From what he heard from Trixie, those supposed letters were the Ponyville librarian’s excuse for almost anything.

‘Yes! That’s exactly what I meant!’, she said, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

‘And even though the Royal Vault is certainly still full of gemstones and chasing thieves is the task for the Nightguard,’, Rarity enumerated. ‘Even though you know the gem finding spell as well as I do, you still need my assistance?’

Huh. The cover story sounded more reliable when Twilight was telling it.

‘It’s not about the spell. It’s about… having a knack for finding gems!’, the purple mare clarified. ‘Remember what you’ve told me about how you got your cutie mark? We could use that kind of unicorn magic now.’

‘But one gem? You know I tend to be… enthusiastic about gems, but even I consider it vastly exaggerated! Besides, I promised myself to spend more time with Sweetie Belle after the last Sisterhooves Social! What can possibly be so special about one gem?’

‘It’s magical.’, Trixie cut in.

For the most of the ponies’ little tea party, the azure mare was rather quiet. She was now playing with an empty cup, rolling it between her hooves. Trixie gladly let Twilight take charge on recruiting Rarity as a gem huntress, because she was well aware of her current lack of… emotional stability to lead the team.

‘What do you mean? Could you please at least describe its... magicality?’

‘I think we can even show you!’, Twilight clapped her front hooves and grinned. ‘May I use the mirror, Rarity?’

‘That’s what I’ve been trying to encourage you to since we first met…’, the white mare politely pointed out, stroking her indigo mane.

‘Why would I know then I will be needing one now?’, Twilight asked, completely clueless.

Sunseeker facehoofed discreetly, Trixie chuckled and Rarity rolled her eyes.

‘You can use one of those.’

The ponies got up from the table and walked to the middle of the boutique’s main room. Sunseeker lifted one of the three gold and brass framed mirrors and placed it so that everypony could see their reflections. Twilight closed her eyes and enveloped it with magenta mist, just as if she wanted to grab it with telekinesis. The mist imploded with a quiet whistle and turned the mirror’s reflective surface into a transparent glass, shining with a brass glow.

‘What’s that?’, Trixie asked, walking around the see-through mirror.

‘It’s called the pensieve.’, Twilight replied. ‘Many pony and non-pony wizards had them. They allow to share or even relive your memories with others. Just focus on your memory and send it inside.’

‘Send it?’, Sunseeker asked.

‘Observe...’

The purple mare concentrated once again. She sent a magenta streamer from her horn into the air. It danced around the ponies for a while, then was sucked by the pensieve.

The scenery has changed immediately.

The four unicorns were in a clearing of the Everfree Forest. There were burnt bushes and broken branches everywhere. Suddenly, a ring of green fire has appeared. No, not green. It was more like looking on a green fire through a piece of magenta glass. Everything around was composed of different shades of violet.

‘Sparkle, I will keep him distracted, you destroy that gem!’, somepony shouted.

It was a purplish Trixie, fighting side by side with Twilight Sparkle against the greenfire beast and desperately dodging its attacks. Every other lost bolt of lavender fire that shot towards the four unicorns just went through them.

‘Now, Sparkle! Now is our chance!’

The action of the memory froze. The four ponies walked towards the unmoving beast, towering like a sculpture. Trixie took a closer look on her past self, wondering what would she tell about the present one’s problems. Sunseeker was trying to catch motionless bolts of orchid flame. Rarity inspected the beast’s collar to see a large emerald among the colorless, yet slightly thistle diamonds. She nodded and Twilight ended the memory.

They were back at the boutique.

‘You have never told me about that, Twilight.’, Rarity said. ‘Did you destroy it?’

‘Not exactly…’, the purple mare began, but Trixie was already shooting an azure streamer into the pensieve.

The four unicorns were in the empty compartment of the Friendship Express. This time everything was bluish – cerulean seats, cyan walls, ultramarine floor.

‘No, I don’t want anything from the trolley!’

Past Trixie walked in, along with a sapphire raccoon on her back.

‘What? I don’t know what you pests… I mean, pets, eat! I never had one!’

The raccoon protested, pointing at a turquoise bag.

‘Oh, okay, I’ll check… no, nothing to eat… what’s that?’

She took a small shard of the emerald. It was no bigger than her hoof and was glowing faintly, yet in regular intervals.

‘I wonder where did that come from…’, she said, then glanced through the window. ‘Shall I keep it or throw it away?’

Again, the memory froze on Trixie’s pondering the fragment and the shrugging raccoon.

‘So it was not entirely destroyed.’, Rarity said.

‘The unusual thing about it is that it has grown since, back to its original mass and shape.’

‘I need to see the last time you saw it.’

‘That’ll be one of my memories again.’

Trixie created another streamer that enveloped the ponies and transported them elsewhere.

They were now standing on one end of a long corridor, decorated with stained glass on both sides. Again, everything was blue, just as in Trixie’s previous memory. There were two ponies near the doors to the Royal Vault. The memory froze just after past Trixie phased through the four unicorns.

They trotted towards the burglars, walking through the unconscious bodies of two Royal Guards. Rarity walked closer to the bluish grayish unicorn that was putting the emerald into his cape.

‘It has really grown back, from what I see.’, Rarity observed, then pointed at the caped unicorn. ‘And who is this?’

Every single window in the corridor exploded at the same time, scattering thousands of immaterial glass pieces around with a terrifying shriek. Colors changed from shades of blue to grey. Giant cracks of blackness appeared through the floor, walls and ceiling, shattering the memory. Twilight, Rarity and Sunseeker shouted.

Twilight, Rarity and Sunseeker shouted.

All four unicorns were back at the Carousel Boutique. They were staring at the broken mirror, no longer glowing with magic but with its reflective pieces lying on the floor.

‘I’m sorry about the mirror…’, Trixie said, turning away from the smoky gold and brass frame.

Twilight whispered something to Rarity’s ear.

The white mare was puzzled. Perhaps she couldn’t enchant a mirror to show the past, but she was certainly able to interpret the present. While Twilight and Sunseeker were cleaning up the mess around the mirror, Trixie shambled back to the table and poured herself a cup of tea.

‘It’s quite alright, my dear. It’s not your fault.’, Rarity assured. ‘Everypony, I will help you find… Princess Celestia’s missing emerald!’

Twilight and Sunseeker cheered happily, Trixie just raised the porcelain cup in a toast gesture.

‘Great! We’re moving out tomorrow!’, the purple mare said, trotting to boutique’s doors, opening them and causing a bell hanging over to ring. ‘I still want to check something in one of my books. And I have to brief Spike on his upcoming chores.’

‘I go with you!’, Sunseeker followed her. ‘I want to see Spike laughing at those chores… Trixie, you coming?’

The azure mare shook her head.

‘Neigh, I’ll just stay here. You guys have fun!’

Rarity spotted that for a brief second Sunseeker was little reluctant to leave Trixie in the boutique, but he eventually trotted outside, causing the bell to ring again. The azure mare was still sitting at the table, indifferent to her surroundings, with her head pillowed on the wooden table’s edge.

Rarity cleared her throat.

‘Oh?’, Trixie stood up. ‘Sorry, can I stay here? I don’t feel like walking around Ponyville today…’

‘I’m afraid you cannot.’, she stated firmly. ‘I am going to the spa…’

‘Well, have fun, too…’

‘…and you are going with me, of course.’

‘What!? But I don’t want to...’

‘You didn’t expect me to go on another adventure of a lifetime without getting mine coat shined up, did you?’, Rarity interrupted. ‘You want my help, you go to the spa with me. And I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer!’

Trixie stood up, looking daggers at the white mare and keeping her head just little over the ground. She passed by Rarity who was, in turn, gleaming with a joyful smile.

The usual!

Trixie never though the usual could mean so many different things.

Spa ponies beauticians, Aloe and Lotus apparently knew Rarity quite well, as they immediately dressed her in a white bathrobe with golden fur lining and an embroidered letter R. Trixie was asked to chose another bathrobe for herself, so she took a yellow one with red lining.

And then it started.

Steam room, visited. Facial mask and horn filling, both done. Massage, special seaweed bath wrap and mud bath itself – checked, checked and checked.

The last thing on the list was a hoof bath.

Trixie and Rarity entered the room and there was nopony inside except them. The mares stepped into already filled pools. The water had just right temperature and a scent of ripe cherries. There were even soft pillows on the ceramic tiles around each pool.

‘I want to thank you for bringing me here.’, the azure mare said, genuinely grateful. ‘Last week was tough for me and I… thank you.’

‘That’s nothing, really.’, Rarity replied, lying on her side and resting legs in a bubble curtain. ‘It would be a disgrace, not to help the Conclave agent…’

The azure mare was shocked. Spa atmosphere have knocked her vigilance! She sat down unsteadily and cleared her throat.

‘I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, puh-lease!’, Rarity replied with a mixture of kindness and mockery. ‘Twilight is a terrible liar. I was hesitating between that and EIA, but only the Conclave would send three unicorns to find a magical gem…’

‘What do you want?’, Trixie asked, standing up. She recovered from the spa enchantment and readied her magic.

The white mare looked at the showmare with compassion.

‘To help you, of course.’, she replied. ‘I have no idea what war you’re fighting, but I tell you: you can’t win this with the burden you’re carrying.’

What to do now?

Trixie was trying to recall what she was told on Secretive 101 during her training? There must have been something about compromised agents!

Oh, right. She skipped few of these classes. Improvise!

Conjuring a smokescreen would allow her to reach the doors in few skips. But what about Rarity’s magic? Did she have power measurable with Twilight’s? And did the librarian know there was a dangerous unicorn among her friends? The unicorn who was now casually rippling the water by submerging her hoof…

No.

Rarity was right. Trixie had no idea how, but she was right. For too long the azure mare has been running away, suppressing emotions and hiding her feelings.

Not any longer.

Trixie sat on the pillows and let her legs float on the water.

‘I have never applied to be a member, but an inquisitive pony can learn a thing or two’, Rarity said, looking straight at Trixie. ‘Now, why don’t you tell me about Moonwarden?’

‘There is not much to tell.’, the azure mare began. ‘He’s a unicorn… from Trottingham, if I recall correctly. He joined the Conclave roughly at the same time I did. We trained together and excelled in everything we did… but we had much different ways of achieving our goals.’

‘Were you two close?’

‘What?’, Trixie responded nervously. ‘Of course not. I wouldn’t even describe him as a colleague or an associate. More of a rival, probably. Little taunts here, little taunts there…’

‘What about other agents?’

‘There… there were no other agents.’, Trixie replied, surprised by herself. ‘I mean, I was never particularly good at making friends… I even heard I was obnoxious… yet Moonwarden was the only pony who talked to me’

‘And he betrayed you.’

‘And he betrayed me.’, she whispered, then continued with her voice cracking every few words. ‘It was the worst time for betrayal, you know? I met so many ponies: Sunseeker, Twilight, you and your friends… and he… and he…’

‘It’s nothing embarrassing to cry, my dear.’

Trixie sniveled.

‘I want to make a difference in my life. When I finally understood that it’s not worth to go through life alone, that a pony is something more than her completed missions and mastered spells, I was shown that you’d better not trust anypony!’

‘But you trusted me.’, Rarity replied. ‘You could have ran away the second I mentioned the Conclave, but you stayed nevertheless.’

Trixie didn’t answer. She felt good that she had finally talked about her feelings with somepony. Maybe it will be easier now? Maybe friendship works just like magic – spells and tricks are difficult at first, but the more you’re engaged, the more natural it gets?

The mares have their hoof bath finished and went out the spa, fresh as never. Especially Trixie, who stopped on the threshold of the spa, just under a signboard of an orange-maned, butter-colored mare, with a silver horseshoe and five green flowers in the background. She was almost ready to take a step forward, almost back to life.

‘Is there any hope for me?’

Rarity turned around and smiled gently.

‘If you believe it, it’s so.’, she said. ‘And for what it’s worth, I believe it too. I believe that we will succeed on this task, no matter where you’d lead us.’

The azure mare was surprised.

‘Wait, who made me a leader?’

‘Haven’t you read any adventure books?’, Rarity asked. ‘A good team of explorers has to be balanced! I, for example, find myself in the archetypical role of a pretty party member. Twilight is the smart one, of course. And the dazzling gentlecolt is, as a stallion, the strong one.’

‘That doesn’t make sense.’, Trixie neglected. ‘Because of that I am left with being the leader? It’s huge responsibility, I don’t know if I’m ready! What would the others say?’

‘Don’t you worry, my dear.’, the white mare said. ‘Twilight was also alone when I first met her, but she eventually passed through. She surely understands you, you’re very much alike. When it comes to Sunseeker…’, she grinned, but Trixie didn’t get her intentions. ’Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way he looks at you…’

‘I… didn’t?’, she replied, perplexed.

Rarity sighed.

‘So much Twilight…’, she said under her breath. ‘The bottom line is, he’d never betray you like Moonwarden did.’

The azure mare had no idea why Rarity was so certain about that.

‘What about you? You are… willing to put your fate in my hooves?’

‘That’s what trust is about.’

Trixie stepped forward. She couldn’t help not to hug Rarity. And she, like any good friend would do, hugged her back.