The Riddle

“Twilight.” Rarity held the door to the boutique open, giving Twilight a curious glance. “What brings you here?”

“Hey. Uhm... I need your help with something.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, maybe expecting her to elaborate, but then just shrugged and stepped aside.

“Of course. Come in.”

Twilight nodded. “I tried to reach you yesterday,” she said, closing the door behind her, “but you weren’t home.”

“Ah, yes. I was out.”

“Out?”

“At a bar. Do you want tea?”

“I...” Twilight produced a small box. “... brought some, actually.” She floated it over. “You want to try?”

“Certainly.” Rarity took the box in her telekinesis, turning it around.

“Seventy degrees, two and a half minutes, one tablespoon per cup,” Twilight instructed. Rarity nodded, and began to put on water.

“This is delicious.”

“Thanks.”

“This, ah.” Rarity took another sip. “This might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“It probably is the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” Twilight said truthfully. “It’s a shame that I don’t have more.”

“How-”

“From Zecora. I helped her with a really tricky spell a couple of weeks ago. She said this was from her homeland, and that she didn’t have a lot of it left herself.”

“I see. A rare gift, then. Do you know what it is?”

“Only that half of it is ordinary Sencha. The rest, Zecora said it’s a secret. But even if we knew, I don’t think the plants would grow around here.”

“A shame.” Rarity brought the cup to her lips once more, closing her eyes at the taste. “Mhhhh... heavenly. Well then.” She put it back down. “With such a wonderful gift, you have earned my full attention. How can I help you?”

“Well...”

And Twilight told her everything that had led up to this point, starting with her initial letter. She had almost forgotten that Rarity had helped rescuing the egg in the first place, so the fact that she even had this opportunity was partially her doing. When she was done, she asked if Rarity saw something obvious she had missed, either something about phoenixes themselves, or just something she could do to find out more. Rarity made a number of remarks that made sense, but were all things she had already thought of herself. In the end, she had to concede that there probably was no obvious solution.

“I’m sorry,” Rarity offered, but Twilight shook her head.

“Don’t be. I don’t even know if there is an answer, or if can be inferred from what I know.”

“I see. If I may ask, why did you come to me with this?”

“Uhm...” Twilight shrugged. “You’re smart. And it’s pretty common that sometimes you just don’t see things yourself, even if they’re right there.”

“Well... I guess I’m not that smart, then, if I didn’t come up with anything new.”

“You said a lot of what I came up with.” Twilight frowned, a spark of her horn causing a flat paper to materialize on the table between them. “Anchoring spell,” she explained at the questioning look she received from Rarity. “I learned it a while ago, it lets me enchant objects so I can recall them from anywhere. I do it to keep easy access to important documents. And here...” Her eyes darted across the list. “Yeah, you covered most of this.”

“Still, why me? Fluttershy is the one who actually took care of a phoenix, and Pinkie would be my first address to finding things that nopony else is seeing. And what about Spike?”

“I already asked Spike.” Twilight drank the rest of her tea, the taste lifting up her mood. “But you have a point. I’ll ask them, too.”

Rarity nodded. “And do pressure the princess a bit more. This isn’t the right time to be mysterious, she should just tell you everything she knows.”

“...”

“What?”

Twilight was flabbergasted. “You... you’re questioning the princess’ judgment!”

“Oh. I suppose I am, indeed.”

“She’s hundreds of years old! Hundreds of years of experience, maybe even longer-”

“Well, but so is Luna.”

Twilight opened her mouth, but closed it without saying anything. Rarity’s remark had beaten her speechless.

“Well,” she said at last, “I guess that’s one thing I hadn’t thought of myself.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

Twilight giggled. “Alright.” She stood up. “I guess I won’t bother you further. Oh and, do you want some of my mysterious super-delicious tea as a reward?”

Rarity’s face lit up. “That would be marvelous.” Twilight nodded, and Rarity followed her into the kitchen. “I’ll make sure to save it for special occasions.”