Hubris and Rainbows

Hubris and Rainbows

Pride and Envy are called deadly sins for a reason. Pride makes you blind to the limit of your own abilities. Envy makes you blind to your own capability. Some muted part of her fully realized the truth of those thoughts as she flew backwards across her workshop. Sparks and shards of Quartz spraying out in what had to be some adrenaline induced slow motion.

Needless to say, the experiment was a failure. Two years, two damned years carefully growing a crystal that took her entire life to design. In a matter of minutes it turned on her, perhaps some flaw in the stone. Either way, it was good that the stone cracked. The moment she put on the plain metal band that served as her ‘jeweled crown’ she felt something that threatened to eat her from the inside. She’d probably hit her head and pass out for a while, not the first nor the worst setback.

Her left hand was black. It wasn’t black before. No, half of her body was black. She looked from her hand to a now cracked wall mounted mirror with her form gazing back in that same dumbstruck panic. The wide patch of black on her face had a lustful gold eye, replacing her turquoise blue. That side smirked, making her want to gasp if she were not suspended in a syrupy flow of time.

The floor met her back as time returned to its normal flow, she rolled ten feet and slammed into a heavy vat of purple liquid, her eyes staring blankly ahead.

Twelve Years Ago

___

She walked down her spiral staircase with a backpack slung over her slumped shoulder, her blue eyes locked ahead of her in the glazed stare of someone who didn’t get a minute of useful sleep. Despite fatigue her heart beat rapidly. Thoughts of puberty and her thirteenth year panicked her in ways most didn’t write self help books about. Her body would change, breasts, periods, balls dropping, inconvenient erections, bla bla bla. She didn’t waste two minutes on the mundane details. Today, or some day very soon she would find out why her name was Arcane Gears.

When she was younger she asked why her mother named her that, and even back then Arcane never explained why the name upset her. Maybe they would have changed it if she said something, if that made a difference.

“I didn’t, dear.” her mother said to her five year old foal, “The FateSeer took you in her arms and looked deep into your eyes before saying your name. I even asked her why. She only laughed and asked for her fee.”

She heard shuffling down the hall through the kitchen door. She let out a huff, closed her eyes, and put on her best ‘neutral’ face. In five clicks of her hooves she pushed the swinging door of her kitchen, ready to fake surprise.

“Happy Birthday, Arcane!”, the synchronized voices of mom and dad cheered as Dad pulled a cake from behind her back. A white and pink frosted devil's food with thirteen burning candles.

Arcane paused and looked at Ivar Gears with her left brow arched. The dusky golden furred mare stood tall with a cake platter held with both hands, behind her folded transparent wings made from a warm grey sunlight. “Dad, why do you have your wings out?”

Ivar looked over her shoulder, even turning slightly to make absolutely sure that wasn’t the case. Arcane watched as the left wing passed through a chair and the kitchen table like a ghost. “Honey, I don’t have my wings…”

“Arcane, stop tricking your dumb father and sit down. Also, put your bag away. Birthday girls don’t go to school.”

Silver Quill was the short and curvy counterpart of Ivar’s tall and toned form, but she carried herself with a confidence that tamed the buff ex military flier over thirty years ago. Arcane did as she was told but put her school bag between her hooves. She would gladly spend all day in class if she could escape this.

Ivar began with a few lines of “Happy Birthday” as she made her way closer to Arcane and lowered the cake gently before her daughter. She kept humming as Quill spoke up enthusiastically.

“Come on, honey, make a wish.”

She looked down into the thirteen little fires on her white cake, the very first thought she had made her grateful it was tradition to never share a birthday wish. As she blew the wish echoed in her mind.

:: I need this to be just a nightmare::

Her parents cheered and as Ivar scooted the opposite chair out to pull her digital camera from its hiding place. Her mother closed her eyes in that graceful way she always did before casting a spell. Arcane tilted her head wondering why Mom’s horn was already visible. She doubted her own eyes as a shimmer crawled from the spiraled base to its fine point. It was only then Arcane realized what was off about dad’s wings. They were paler than they normally were, as pale as mom’s horn before actually using it.

Tendrils of pale silver light slithered from Silver Quill’s horn and traveled down towards the cake. Her eyes followed the extending lengths, watching how detailed the musculature of this developing tentacle was. Segments stretched and flexed as it neared the cake before the tip bulged and regurgitated the blade of a butcher knife.

Arcane kicked the floor and forced her chair to scrape back three feet, her eyes wide circles and her pupils now tiny pin pricks. That horrible thing vanished moments before Silver Quill rushed to her daughter, crouching down to look into her eyes with that motherly concern.

“Honey? Honey what’s wrong?”

Arcane Stared through her mother for a few more moments before her attention was on Silver.

“What the hell was that”

“Wh- what was what?”

“The tentacle mom, the knife vomiting tentacle”

It was Silver Quill’s turn to look shocked, soon melting into embarrassment. “You can see that?”

Arcane only lifted her eyebrows in a silent ‘no fucking duh’ face.

Silver let out a little sigh and lowered herself down, gently cupping Arcane’s knees. “Well, honey, magic is like forcing your will into reality. Problem is, in order for reality to accept it you have to know what you’re doing in detail. It can’t be some vague notion, otherwise your spells are chaotic at best. When I was younger I was really into anime, so I studied octopuses-“

Arcane threw up a hand. “I think I get it mom”, not wanting to hear more for fear this was going into hentai territory.

“I get it!”, Ivar raised her voice and spoke as she laughed like the sole person who got a joke or solved the riddle. She stepped next to Silver, making Arcane feel more claustrophobic. “It’s like when I work on a watch. I have to open it up to see the gears, see how it’s all put together. You can see how magic works.”

The thirteen year old mare looked up at her dad with hurt in her eyes, something that immediately removed the grin from Ivar’s face. Both parents looked at each other in a mix of confusion and worry. Their extended stare was a silent conversation, but there was no answer in either face.

Arcane let out a bitter chuckle as her eyes glazed, the corners growing red. “What would either of you know about it? You’re a military hero, dad, and mom… your name is on half of the books in my school’s library. What about my type? We stand in the background of Ethereal and Celestial murals. We live thankless quiet lives. The only time I read of a Terran in history it’s about how they pointed the brave soldier in the right direction, guided some Celestial into knighthood. That Terran doesn’t even have a name in the record because it was some racist Etherial that wrote it.”

She stood up as her chair fell over and clattered behind her. “And my special talent is to see in detail how I’ll never be as good as either of you. I would have been better off with the ability to talk to animals or make pies. Move to Everfield with Grandma and vanish into the background. I never asked for my god-dess damned name or these god-dess damned eyes!”

Arcane kicked the chair into a nearby wall, the cheap wood cracking into several pieces . “Well, at least Terrans can kick good.” She said sourly as she walked out her front door.

“Arcane Gears!”, she made it five steps down the cobbled pathway of her front lawn before she heard the heavy hoof fall of her dad. The bright yellow light warned her of what she would see and she squinted before turning around. Ivar stood there with a scowl and wings out. The true form of those massive ghosts of sunlight looked poised to come down on her like a bald eagle swooping down on her prey. Ivar closed the distance and enveloped Arcane in that warm light as her arms pulled her child to her chest.

Arcane felt the gentle heat all around her along with the strong but loving embrace of her father. All that anger drained and the sadness it was trying to damn up came rushing forth in a visceral wave. Onlookers be damned, Arcane began to cry.

“I want to tell you something I’ve only told your mother.” Ivar began as her large hand stroked down Arcane’s wavy pink hair. She shook as rage and sadness fought inside the young teenager. “I never wanted to be a ‘war hero’. I never even wanted to join the military.” Arcane’s head tilted up and met Ivar’s. “My dad was the real war hero, and he let me know every time he had the chance. When I was your age I saw him cry for the very first time, and you won’t believe what it was over. It was my Fatesign.” Ivar slapped her hip where the symbol of a Gear with Clock hands hid under her trousers. “My talent was working with small mechanisms and memorizing the exact place they needed to be placed, and later that year the pattern on my hip manifested and made it loud and clear my role in this life was to make watches. My dad looked broken hearted, even tried to rationalize the symbol to mean something relevant to the military. Well, I couldn’t see him like that so I decided to join the military and give it my all. I used my talent to fly into enemy territory and sabotage their machines. That’s what earned me all those metals.

Even then I was empty inside. I grew so resentful about lying to myself that I hated seeing my dad smile. I never got the guts to tell him, and I only bought my shop after his funeral.”

Arcane sniffled and looked down, feeling shame for showing so much anger in front of two people that loved her this much. Her attention returned to Ivar when the large hand touched her chin and tilted her smaller head up. “I wanted to live by my talent and had to defy it for my dad. You can defy your talent, but only for yourself. The choice should always be yours, and yours alone. Whatever the case, Me and your Mother will always stand by you.”

She found herself watching this scene from several paces away, her perspective higher. Her thirteen year old self remained embraced by Ivar’s golden wings for several more minutes until they began to walk back to the house. Ivar ruffled her younger head and laughed. “Now, let’s fix that chair”.

“... And that’s how you were born.”

Arcane spun around to see where that voice came from, the tone smoother but definitely her own. “Who the hell are you?”, she spat out, her fists clenching in a rage that mirrored the one she felt only moments ago.

“That’s a great question, but who are you? I’m…”

Six Years Ago

___

She found herself sitting in a black plastic chair, second in a row of four long tables. The beret on her head was itchy, starched, and smelling of some terrible generic detergent. She looked down at the mirror polish of that black marble table and saw her nineteen year old self looking back, military uniform pressed and neat. On either side of her were two strangers who looked ahead as if she were not there at all, others casually chatting.

“Ten-Hut!!”, the booming voice of her wide-bodied teacher made everyone, including her, spring to their hooves and salute as a black stallion, far too thin for his ornate uniform, walked in. He seemed to be assessing the class like a professional poker player would read faces. After a few silent and uncomfortable moments the slender stallion took a labored deep breath and began speaking.

“The twenty of you are relatively new, but as you know we’ve had some conflict in the west regarding dragons and rumors or portals. There is a very safe bet this is going to come to blows and your services will be invalue. You will be trusted with the production of the Military’s latest development”

He turned his back on the desk and drew the rough outline of an Equarian body. “Our phantom limbs emerge from patches of flesh just below the skin. Minor damage to these projection sights…” drawing two upside triangles over the drawings shoulder blades and a circle just above the bridge of the nose. …” will cause little to no change, but significant damage will prevent Celestial flight and Ethereal magic.”.

He turned again and slid his hand into the oversized black duster he wore. He showed the group a small jewelry box that opened with a flick. In the box were simple looking stud earrings.

“Holy hell…” Arcane’s solitary voice spoke up, getting the slender stallions full attention.

“Miss Gears, are you familiar with this already?”, the question making the larger man standing near rather uncomfortable, reluctant to interrupt the black stallion.

“No, but I’m jealous I didn’t make it myself… but I do have a question.”

“General, Miss Gears has the talent to see the mechanics of magical constructs, and she’s a voracious reader.”, the large and now nervous teacher said quietly while bent close to the skinner stallion's ear.

“Plenty of time to read when you never party”, some random mare mumbled behind Arcane.

The black stallion gave the larger male a curt nod before turning back to Arcane. “And this question?”

“The Pink earring is for Celestials, I can see the pattern for manifesting wings, but the casing is all wrong. It’s the same metal you used for the Ethereal stone. That one targets the cerebrum. Celestial magic is instinctual. It needs to be directed to the cerebellum and thalamus.”

Arcane’s face began to burn as she felt every eye on her. Odd as it might seem, she forgot the others were even there as she explained the problem with the pink stud’s alloy.

“That’s quite an insight. We will certainly look into it, Miss Gears”, The stallion began with a small but delighted smile. She gave a soft nod, hoping to vanish back into the background and give her introverted heart a chance to stop beating rapidly, “With your help of course. I’ll expect you to be in Military R&D at 0700 hours tomorrow.

The crowd of her peers were now whispering among themselves. Normally these whispers would be about how weird this loner Terran was, but they were all talking about what she had to say. Most were jealous, more of them were actively discussing the implications. More to the point the General himself wanted to talk to her. Arcane Gears, the Terran.

She did something no one saw her do since she was twelve. She grinned.

Three Years Ago

___

She sprinted across an expanse of dust as hell carried on above her head. Celestial’s and dragons swooped with sword and fire, the heat kissing Arcane’s back, singing the satchel bouncing wildly on her hip. For once in her life she was glad to be a Terran, her strength and speed more developed than her talented cousins.

Her eyes squinted to see past all the red dust kicked up and swirling from the countless phantom and bat-like wings flapping about. After half a mile she finally found what she was looking for.

The flailing shape came into focus just as she braced her hooves and skidded to a stop just inches away from the injured soldier.

“Turn on your stomach” she barked out impatiently as she crouched down and opened her satchel. A brown Celestial with a single white patch over the left eye looked up in a dazed expression, further cutting short Arcane’s patience. She reached over and grasped the male’s shoulder, flopping him onto his belly.

Her training prepared her to see gruesome things, but the two years as medic long ago cured her of a squeamish stomach. Luckily it was only a second degree burn that left his muscles intact. Unfortunately, his ability to form phantom wings was literally burnt off his back with dragon fire.

“Give me a weapon, I’ll fight from the ground if I have to.”

His brave words gave Arcane a little grin as she pulled two more objects from her bag. One was a box with an opaque glass panel, the other was a piercing gun. “You’ll be airborne in no time.”

The Celestial looked dumbfounded as Arcane pressed her finger to the glass panel. A bright line ran down her fingerprint before making a light chime. The black box popped open revealing a shape-foam lining holding three pink stud earrings with gold mounts and two purple with silver mounts. With a practiced efficiency Arcane loaded the pink stud in the jaws of her piercing gun. Flicking the trigger forward spread the jaws open, separating earring from backing. She pushed it to the base of his left ear lobe and pulled the trigger. It bore down for a single painful second before the jaws opened again, allowing Arcane to toss it back into her bag along with her box.

“What the hell!”, the Celestial screamed out in shock, but Arcane didn’t have time to be nice about it. She snatched a canister from her satchel and shook it, depressing the button. A clear liquid sprayed onto his back that immediately expanded into a white foam. The stallion screamed and braced for fifteen seconds before relaxing into a slow panting.

Arcane’s special gift allowed her to see the Emulator at work. It began to radiate a soft light that shifted along the spectrum until landing on its host's hue, cyan like his wings used to be. This indicated the Emulator was now his and his alone. The light began to travel along the nerves in his ear and into the lower portions of his mind. Then it shot down his spine and webbed out under the burnt and damaged flesh. No one but her could see this, this aurora flowing across the stallion’s shoulder blades. Others could easily see the wings rushing out from his back, two massive ghostly cyan wings rushing down and launching him up into the air. He gave Arcane one last grateful look before jetting upward into the fray.

“Touch it to turn it… off”, she sighed knowing the guy didn’t hear her. Maybe he would figure it out on his own.

“Attention all Field Medics. We have a sentry down at the Nest. Anyone have Morphine?”

Arcane heard the tinny shout from her bag and snatched her radio from it, “Gears here, I have two doses.”

“Thank The Goddesses, Arcane, hurry to Nest Alpha, The Egg is Cracking”

It was all code. A far off medical base needed an Ethereal Emulator. One of the soldiers keeping up a protective barrier was down and their defenses were growing weak.

“Confirming Base Alpha?! Bad news, I’m closer to Delta. That’s twenty miles and a Draconic Defense barrier away from me.”

“Shit. Any other units with morphine?!”

Arcanes chest went cold with fear as a series of ‘No’s’ and ‘Sorries’ played out on her radio.

“Fuck.”

She looked into her satchel, the chrome surface reflecting the clashing blur of bodies flying overhead. She felt helpless for only a few moments before an insane idea crossed her mind. Before she could doubt herself she loaded the gun with a pink stud, placed it on her right ear lobe, and pulled the trigger. She hissed in air and loaded a purple stud, placing it near the first.

She took a deep breath and raised her right hand. It shook as she proverbially leaped head first into the unknown. She readied herself to deactivate the Ethereal Emulator. Even her overwhelming curiosity kept her from going that far just yet. Just yet. Both stones began their automated process of learning their new host.

She wouldn’t get the chance to be careful. Her body froze up as every muscle in her body seized. She remained looking up towards the sky as the most terrifying feeling of Paranoia overtook her. Every noise, every thought, the motion of every mote of dust for miles around her was glaringly vivid to her. Her need for fight or flight raged. Her mind reeling to make sense of this information overload.

It took all her will to regain control and all she could manage was a scream. In the same split second three beams of light shot out of her, two from her back and one from her forehead. The two hit the ground behind her like legs of a tripod. Once they grew to full size they began to randomly flicker into the shape of bird wings, bat, dragon, moth, and fey. The third twisted into a spiral and narrowed to a thin point before expanding into a beam of light three times wider than a manhole cover. The light flickered every color without any pattern. To Arcane’s eyes it was almost maddening. She could see symbols flash within the light faster than she could read them. As they began to repeat she realized what they were. They were all the spells she memorized.

She forced her will to expand, but all she could manage was to bend her right index finger slowly, painfully against the aching tendons in her arm. As her finger tip slowly edged towards the purple emulator, black spots began to appear near her newly manifested horn. They slowly grew like corruption. One spot grew wide enough to touch her left eyebrow, the pink hairs shifting into lavender.

She collapsed onto her knees as the horn and its light went out, her hand falling after deactivating the purple stud. The wings flickered only once more, settling on an angelic shape in bubblegum pink.

The paranoia downgraded into severe anxiety. Her thoughts were no longer going a thousand miles a minute, now it was just a vague notion she couldn’t figure out. Dread hung in the air yet she couldn’t remember why. Something terrible. Something not aimed at her but still horrible.

The first wet thud stole her attention. Then came four more, one after another like a giant playing hopscotch in the mud. Five dragons lay in a path before her, all obviously dead. So she hoped. Each one looked like a maniac’s completed jigsaw puzzle. Random areas on their body were either burnt, frozen solid, petrified, or crumbling into sand.

It wasn’t until a solid minute of starring in disbelief that she realized how quiet it was. She could hear the sound of wind, the tinny squawk of her radio, and a panicked word shouted over and over in the Dragon’s language.

“Alokin! Alokin! Va den Alokin!”

She mumbled the words under her breath, translating it.

“Alicorn. Alicorn. She is an Alicorn…”

The Dragons fled in fear until she could only see those in the distance still at war. Some enemy soldiers tried to run, but an older scarred dragon began to kill a handful of deserters, convincing those far enough from the threat to keep up the fight.

A group of Celestials folded their wings to drop out of the sky, flapping yards away from the ground to slow their fall and land gracefully on their hooves. There must have been two hundred in total, but six took the lead. All six of those winged stallions and mares were flawless, not a scratch or spot of dirt on them.

The six fell down to one knee and bowed their heads before the others followed suit. Arcane’s jaw fell open and brows furrowed.

“What, the hell… are…” the words came slowly. It was bad enough she felt the worst vague dread since she believed in monsters under her bed, now this nonsense. “Holy shit, you think I’m a Princess. I’m n-“

“I felt that light and my wounds mended. You’re too humble, Lady-“. A broad chested tan stallion said without raising his head.

“Arcane…”

“Lady Arcane. Is there news from the Capital? Have you been sent to-“

Every radio blared with a screeching alarm before a panicked female voice began to speak.

“Mayday! Mayday! Nest Alpha is compromised, the barrier is down. Requesting any assistance immediately.” The message was repeated over and over as the sound of a growing fire could be heard between screams and roars.

“They’re in T-“

An explosion of air knocked the Celestials onto their back as a pink and white blur raced ahead of the word “Trouble”. The sound was stretched twenty miles over the heads of an airborne war in Doppler effect, much like the sound of a race car’s engine rushing past the crowd. Arcane had no time to realize her wings had flapped the speed of sound to catapult her just below the clouds. Before she could make any sense of it her wings spread out and sent her straight up. Looking down she could see the tents with red crosses on their sides, many of them already being torched by dragon fire. She folded her wings just like the Celestials did and fell like a dart straight down. Once she sensed it was the right time her wings flapped, making her bob up and down in the air until coming to a soft landing.

This time she tapped the pink stud before touching the purple one. Her wings flickered out of existence and were replaced by a purple spiraling jet of energy that stuck out by ten inches. She took in a deep breath and focused on a clear and detailed intention. She closed her eyes and cast a simple barrier spell. A shell of purple light expanded from the center of camp and spread outward towards the perimeter. As it did the fires were snuffed out and the dragons pushed back by the growing wall. The lavender light passed through her allies harmlessly.

Her only mistake was opening her eyes. She could see that spell in fine detail. Reading it made her immediately think about how it could be better, then her thoughts ran away with her. The shell expanded to the horizon and sent the dragon horde flying in every direction. Before this could turn into some chaotic nightmare she tapped the purple stud. A supreme relief washed over her, at least mentally. Her back arched in tight knots as a line of blood ran from her nose. She managed to toss her satchel at a fellow medic before she fell like a puppet with cut strings.

Now

___

“Three weeks in a coma and two years of physical therapy, yet that didn’t stop us.”

“We got right back on our feet after that. The war was over and inherited Grandma’s Cottage, renovating the saw mill into our workshop.”

She was back in the present. Reinforced vats filled with various colored fluids buttled away, inside were crystals of varying stages of growth. Everything else was a mess. Tools, papers, and materials scattered around like the aftermath of an explosion. Above her through a clay tile roof was a hole three times the size of a manhole cover. Opposite of that was her body, her eyes glazed over and barely twitching side to side.

She walked over to the prone figure trying to hold back the fear welling up inside. Those black spots had grown so much it now covered half of her body in a random pattern. Half of her hair was lavender, one of her eyes was gold.

“So you’re ready to finally admit it?”

Arcane turned to a voice just behind her. She wished it were a surprise but it wasn’t. Standing a few paces away was a mare shaped just like her with stark differences. Her hair was straight, her eyes gold, hair and skin lavender, fur black.

“Admit what?”

The dark figure stepped closer, steady clicks of her hooves across the wooden floor. “You are not Arcane. Part of her, but not all.

“That’s bull sh-”

“Who are you?”, the dark version drew so close their noses almost touched. “Who am I?”

Arcane stared daggers into the dark forms eyes. She hesitated, but the word was already on her tongue, “Pride.”

“I’m the part of her that doesn’t let others get to me. I’m the part that’s confident, cocky, but undeterred by anyone else. You’re the part that seethes, the part that is like a kettle ready to scream at any moment. You’re brash, emotional. It was you that put both emulators in our ears.”

“No, that was you!”

“Maybe, but it was you that hesitated a moment too long, putting us in a hospital for over a year. Who are you… say it.”

“I’m Arcane Gears.”

“Who are you?”

“Arcane…”

“No. Who. Are. You?”

“...Gear..”

“WHO ARE YOU?”

Arcane’s teeth grit and her eyes narrowed into a scowl. She felt every muscle in her body tense as a rage boiled up inside her.

“Envy”, an explosion of pink light ripped a new hole in the roof as Arcane jetted up into the air, wings folded back from a sudden launching flap. On the end of her fist was Pride’s jaw.

Pride flew back flipping head over hoof until her own wings spread, dark lavender raven shape spanning three times her body’s height. “So that’s how it is?” A ring of lavender fire spread across Pride’s forehead, slowly shaping itself into a crown of seven horns, the tall center horn curved and sharp, the outer two pointed back like gazelle’s.

“Envy, you know where we are and you know what has to happen. How long has she been on the ground? How many days since she drank anything? Neither of us have any clue how much time we have left.”

Envy growled and clenched her fist as pink fire spread above her eyes. Her crown only had two horns, thick and curled back like a ram. “Then let me wake up and die!” A blur of wings set Envy head first towards Pride, but the black mare only smirked as she blinked out of existence. She appeared a short distance behind Envy with a lavender spear made of light already in the act of flinging it.

Envy moved before she realized there was danger. She merely felt her body’s need to dive and so she did, the point grazing her shoulder. “You don’t care about anything but yourself. I’m not letting you out.”

Pride laughed bitterly, “I’m the narcissist, huh? Just because I want power doesn’t mean I’ll use it purely for my own vanity. That’s you. I want peace, pleasure, not to seethe in self hate like you.”

“ENOUGH”

A voice echoed everywhere, soft and high pitched but mature and confident. It was only then Envy and Pride noticed two suns in the sky. Both hung just under the horizon. One beyond the old growth forest of Everfree painted the night sky with violet dawn light. The other was beyond the small Town of Everfeild where land gave way to the ocean. The light was a soft pink and Orange dusky hue.

Two figures seemed to emerge out of those lights. From the Dawn came a purple alicorn with long straight hair and bangs spread by her long narrow horn, wings flapping in a steady rate to keep her hovering in place. From the Dusk came an Orange-yellow figure with wavy red streaks in her hair and piercing blue eyes.

“What the hell is this? Spare me, Pride”, Envy said, sounding more weary than angry. “I don’t know what sort of trick this is but let’s cut the crap and fight.”

Pride frowned, “Is that some attempt at reverse psychology?”

The two figures looked at each other. The yellow-orange Alicorn pointed a thumb at herself and nudged her head in Envy’s direction. They both moved in streaks of light. The Violet stranger punched Pride in the stomach, sending her flying, then teleported to knee the black mare in the back. The yellow-orange one simply flew past Envy, baiting the white mare into a rage.

Pride kept trying to throw spells and dive out of the way, but the purple Alicorn predicted every move and spell she attempted. The Orange-Yellow mare started with simply dodging every one of Envy’s punches, then slowed down so her fists struck.

“You b..itch” Pride spat blood as she panted and drew her hands together to gather a fire spell. The Purple mare opened her arms to mock her. The lavender flare shot at the speed of sound yet passed right through her. A tap on Pride’s shoulder let her know she was fooled. The strange mare pulled arms behind Pride’s back and plummeted towards the ground.

“Fight back Damit!”, Envy screamed and spat as she lunged. Her hand gripped the Orange-yellow Mare’s throat, her elbow pushing her chest downward until displacing soil and grass in a plume.

“Fight me!” Envy’s other fist reeled back as her horns began to burn brighter. Her fist was shaking, vibrating unnaturally fast and gaining potential momentum for a punch that would crack the earth. “Defend yourself! Don’t you even care?” Her voice began to crack. All her misplaced rage had nowhere to go but inward. What kind of monster fights someone who doesn’t fight back? “Hit me!”, she screamed, yet what was meant to be hate came out as sorrow. Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her white cheeks. Her energy left her. Envy collapsed on top and all the Alicorn did was wrap arms around her.

Pride was silent, her face unreadable as she lay in a her-shaped pothole under the purple one. She couldn’t understand it. How could *she* lose. Perhaps, it didn’t need any explanation. Her body went slack with a sigh. “Please get off of me.” The Purple one slid to her side and pulled Pride up, holding the black mare’s back to her chest. Pride looked down at the arms about her waist and folded her own over them.

The Orange-yellow mare sat up with Envy still in her arms. The white mare shivered and sobbed, letting her pink hair obscure her face.

Sunset Shimmer touched Envy’s chin so their blue eyes looked into one another, then she gave a smile Envy wouldn’t soon forget, “Long ago I tried the same thing, but I wasn’t smart enough to make a crown from scratch. I stole her’s”, she nudged her head over to her partner. “I unlocked something terrible inside me and hurt many people. All I cared about was getting stronger, not what that strength meant.”

Twilight rested her chin on Pride’s shoulder and hugged the black figure tighter. “When I was younger I thought I could do everything on my own, that others just slowed me down. My friends were there for me when I needed them, I just had to admit it to myself.”

“I do need help.” Pride said quietly, the words so difficult to utter. “Sometimes, I just can’t understand people.”

“Why… why don’t we learn together?”, Envy reached out to lace her fingers with Pride’s.

The world went black and shapeless for a long moment. Sensation returned to her slowly. Her body was covered in thin sheets, her head propped up by a soft pillow. The slow and steady beep of a machine could be heard to the right of her. She felt several soft presses on her forehead. As she looked up, the fingertips of two hands touched her temples.

She could barely believe what she was seeing. For just the first few seconds between waking and opening her eyes she was sure this was all some fever dream. Her eyes flicked from left to right, Lady Sunset and Lady Twilight hovered over her like Arcane’s personal nurses.

The fan girl shyness was overwhelming. Her mouth went dry and lips parted to make words her mind refused to form. Sunset laughed softly as Twilight leaned forward.

“Welcome back.”

Arcane forced herself to sit up. She wasn’t new to this sort of pain. She controlled her breathing and lay back on the oak headboard of a hospital bed that belonged in a castle. She looked about at the high ceiling, balcony, and silk curtains. She was in a castle.

“What was that? I studied Alicorns and they never mentioned some weird spirit quest.”, Arcane looked to her right arm. It was black and an iv was delivering fluids directly onto her blood.

“More of a test.”, Sunset began, “I failed it the first time. Pure magic whittles us down to our essences, In that instance ‘Insecurity’ won.”

“And the second?”, Arcane knew her eyes were like her arms, two different colors. Sunset’s focus jumped from Arcane’s left eye to her right, as if she were talking to two people at one time.

“Forgiveness”, Sunset smiled with just a hint of pride.

“You seem to be an unusual case, however.”, Twilight cut in, “The process was cut short. Most of the time a forced ascension is caused by enchantments or a cursed item. Yours was artificially induced. Maybe if we waited too long one of you would have emerged.”

“But Envy and Pride called it a tie, so no Alicorn for me. What does that leave me as?”, Arcane sighed, looking down at her black and white arms.

“Balance, I suppose.”

Arcane turned to Sunset and said nothing, something in her eyes saying ‘go on?’

“Too much sun is a drought, too much night and the world would freeze over. Maybe apart they would be corrupt, but fused into you, they become something new.”

Arcane’s smile was small but genuine. She felt some sort of peace come over her, something she hadn’t known her entire life, “Equanimity?”

Sunset mouthed the words ‘what does that mean?’ to Twilight. The bookworm of a princess smiled. “Google it.”

The End