//------------------------------// // Back Home // Story: Hubris and Rainbows (Rewritten) // by ArcaneGears //------------------------------// Age 23 The engine of her motorcycle was the only sound apart from birdsong and the barking of a single squirrel.  It was practically silent and exactly what Arcane needed.  The constant beeping of heart monitors and the squeaking of hospital gurneys was close to driving her mad after the coma and her rehab. That whole time IronHeart was by her side, but even from the first day she woke it was clear their status was as friends-only.  She would never turn Arcane in for nearly becoming the next threat to the world, but she would also never trust her enough to share their lives together.  It was for the best and she knew that.   Still, it didn't hurt any less. The burble of water let her know the next turn down her winding forest road was her destination.  Around a bend to the left a wooden bridge as old as some of the surrounding trees stood sturdy as ever.  She rode across a seven meter river that fed a vast network of waterways serving the agricultural expanse known as Everfeild. The road continued into a line of trees that grew gradually denser from this point forward.  Looking deep enough between those trees you’d only find shade where the canopy blocked all light.  Though it was a shortcut to many places, few would ever venture down into the abandoned old-growth forest called “Ever Free”.  Rumor had it that the ruins of the first Capital city can still be found among the swamps and sentient plants with a rather long and disgruntled memory. Arcane parked her cycle and cut the engine before detaching a saddle bag and slinging it over her shoulder.  Her hooves clicked over mossy cobble stones forming a path through tall grass.  Down that short trail was a two meter narrow bridge over a Stone-bottom stream that joined the greater river.  Past that was her Grandfather’s cottage. The home was a relatively humble six by five meter cottage with two floors and a steep angled thatch roof.  Skylights we’re on either side of the roof and the front had a triangular face with a tall window.  Along the river-side of the home was a second-floor balcony and a reading nook with wide reinforced windows below that. Her maternal grandad was a master carpenter and this was his opus.  The old place stood against Timberwolf attacks and every ridiculous crisis Everfield had suffered for the past 150 years.  Now it was hers to make all her own. However, this wasn’t the only reason Arcane decided to accept her parent’s gift.  Behind the cottage was a less humble fifteen by seven meter brick building choked in ivy and covered with a less steep clay tile roof.  Grandad’s old wood mill had its own doc and water wheel to generate power.  With time and a little elbow grease it would soon be her new workshop.  A year passed by before she even knew it.  She renovated her home and installed an entire machine shop and Crystal incubator tank set up.  To pad her bank account she took to repairing the arcane machines of the townsfolk, earning many friendships in the process. Her ambition never died, but here she found something just as precious.  Peace of mind. Then the fateful night came.  She finished what she believed to be her own opus.  A silver tiara with an artificial Diamond set in the center. “So?” The dark version of Arcane crossed her arms and waited as if the magically paralyzed twin could respond.  After a moment of sheer silence she gave an exasperated sigh and dropped her arms. “Fine, let me spell it out for you.  This isn’t our workshop, nor is it a dream.  We are where ponies go before they ascend.  Yeah, you heard that right.  Our mark two regulators failed big time.   This is also where Alicorns-to-be gain their element.  Of course, it’s not always a nice element, hence you and me.  One of us needs to absorb the other, otherwise we will never wake up.  Sure, we might become Target Practice for the Lovebirds and their crew, but that’s just a part of the deal. You need to realize who you are.  You are not her, and having her face isn’t going to change that.  Your true nature is showing, even now.  I just can’t imagine why you’re running from this.  Don’t you want power?” The mischievous act began to fall away from the black Arcane as real fear welled up inside.   “Listen, We are going to die.  Our body is out there defenseless and probably dying of thirst as we speak.  Time does not move the same here so Goddess knows how long it’s been.” Silence followed, her honesty met with more silence. “Damn you!  Get out of that shell right now and fight me, coward!  I am Avarice!  I am the Element of Greed and desire!  I will rise and I will know everything!  I will experience everything and no one will deny me again!  I refuse to be powerless, refuse to be under another’s shadow! And you?!  I know you and I know why you refuse to fight.  It isn’t because you’re afraid to lose.  It’s because you’re afraid you’ll win.  Then what?  You’ll be a Goddess, you’ll be able to obtain anything you want and that is so contrary to your nature that you can’t stand it.  Your element depends on your disparity, your grudges.  What’s the point of being powerful when all you are is E—-.” The only word for it was ‘reset’.  The world flickered and reality skipped.  Avarice found herself being bodily ejected from her counterpart before rolling across the wood floor.  For the third time she looked up at a bright moon high in the sky. Avarice slowly sat up and took a few moments to wipe away tears and work up the mental strength to do this dance again.  She slowly made her way to her counterpart and whispered. “Remember the Beach?” She repeated all the same steps.  Show off the clock,  show off the bag.  Lay a mixture of blatant information and clues along the way to nudge her counterpart into realizing her nature and hopefully end this hap-hazard accent, or to be honest, this botched corruption.  The only thing she couldn’t do is say her name.  Envy. Several flashback sequences later “What is it going to take?  What can I do to get through your thick skull?” She cupped her face and screamed into her hands before hugging herself. “What do you need?!  Should I get Queen Celestia to do a musical number while we review your life again?  Just tell me…” Her act fell apart once again.  Avarice fell onto her knees and squeezed herself harder.  For all her ambition the real threat of death was enough to make her think of what truly mattered.  Her dad, her mother, IronHeart. “I’ll never win her back.  I’ll never have a daughter.  I’ll never…” Avarice wasn’t the half of Arcane prone to tears.  That should have made things easier, yet it made this emotion so much harder.  Her counterpart handled strong emotions, she was the logic.  Was the logic.  Having to carry this burden on her own was truly overwhelming.  One after another she realized all the things she was almost certain she would lose.  It was almost funny.  Her first love and a future with her were the first two things that came to mind.  Ruling the world from her very own castle seemed so petty she couldn’t even put it into words. Avarice couldn’t sob, she couldn’t cry the same way Envy did.  Her tears came out quietly, her eyes distant and void of any remaining sense of determination. Through a veil of tears Avarice saw a moth fluttering.  It rose up through the ceiling’s hole and vanished among the millions of stars. She moved! What?  Are you sure? Photographic memory, remember? And such humility too. Come on, I think we can reach her this time. Fine, but if teleportation doesn’t work to free our arms a second time then you’re wearing the leather catsuit tonight.  The one with the milk p- Sunset Shimmer!  She could be listening!!!! Well, maybe it will wake her up? The two voices echoing off the walls were absolutely unmistakable.  Those two were in the news every night and the couple Pinkie wouldn’t shut up about.  They were also the last two Avarice would want to see right now. Fragments of artificial Diamond fell, soon followed by the heavy clink of a silver tiara.  Envy began to slowly collapse.  She truly looked like Arcane in almost every way, only the eyes differed.  An invisible force sat the white pony up as her turquoise green eyes met her counterpart. Before Avarice would part her lips ten lights appeared about Envy’s temples. Five lights  on her left temple were deep purple, five on her right temple was a warm shade of yellow-orange.  The lights extended and merged as they formed a hands, then arms, and entire forms.  Colors filled in the shapes as Princess Shimmer and Princess Sparkle appeared on either side of Envy with two supporting hands on her back. Avarice backed away and crouched like a cat ready to pounce.  In that same instant a lavender hued fire swirled over her forehead to form a long curved horn.   Envy raised her hand. “Stop.  Please.” Avarice’s gold eyes flicked between the purple Element of Friendship and the Yellow-Orange Element of Redemption.  Oddly enough, neither were in their armor.  They wore sweaters, Tights, and Toboggans that coordinated with their natural colors. “Remember what General Raven said?  Every power has its downside.” Envy smiled softly, not reacting at all to the two Princesses on either side of her. “But… you’re Envy?” Avarice’s voice cracking in confusion. She nodded once softly. “Still am.  I still feel a void in me.   I just think it’s best to choose what is truly worth my Envy.  Avarice, you’re the me that has all the confidence and I contain our pain.  Honestly, I intended to let you absorb me at first.  However, looking back taught me something.” She huffed, “And what is that?” “Try to forget your pain, and you forget another’s.  Like IronHeart’s, for example?” Avarice went quiet yet stood up.  She walked closer and fell onto her knees so close they brushed Envy’s, her horn extinguished.  Her eyes were cast low and tears continued to run down her cheeks.  Twilight and Sunset looked at each other with a confused worry in their eyes.   Twilight mouthed the words ‘What is happening right now?’  Sunset simply smiled and quietly shushed her wife. Avarice began to laugh between sobs. “Hel’s Arse, we would have made crappy Alicorns.” Her fingers laced with Envy’s “Perhaps never.” Avarice smirked and rolled her eyes. “Now now, one hard life lesson at a time, please.” Sunset lowered herself onto her knees like Envy and Avarice.  She extended her arm to cup the black mare’s back, looking from one to the next. “Speaking of lessons, why don’t you learn under us?  We can train you, put you on missions as things evolve.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll ascend naturally.” Twilight slid down on the other side and mimicked Sunset, though her hands rested on Envy and Avarice’s laps.  She looked into each of their eyes as if deliberating something.  She was always the skeptical sort, humming and hawing to herself as she thought it over.  It took a glance into Sunset’s blue eyes to make her finally cave. “Well, we were on our way here to ask for your help, so I suppose we could call that a fair trade.  Just promise me that you won’t do whatever this was again.” Avarice and Envy looked from Twilight to each other.  The two nodded at the same time, blinked at the same time, and turned back to Twilight at the same time.  They answered at the same time. “I think that would be best.  I would be honored.” The two turned heads to face each other again, the same confused and slightly annoyed look on their faces. “Hey, stop that.”  They cocked their heads back in surprise.  “Cumquat monkey dishwasher.  Twelve, Pi, Ruby Dust.” They spoke complete nonsense to see if the other was simply playing some bad joke on the other, but that was far from the truth.  The same relieved sigh came out of Envy and Avarice before leaning in and resting forehead to forehead.  Eyes closed. Arcane felt the chill on her face and two arms hooked under her shoulders, propping up her laying form.   The cool autumn morning light beamed through that very real hole in her workshop clay roof.  Several incubation tanks were cracked and her expensive machining/ metalworking/ gem cutting tools were in utter disarray. She felt the cold metal of that failed experiment still on her head and pulled it off, ready to toss it away.  She paused, seeing her reflection in the silvery band.  She was no longer pure white, her eyes no longer blue, her hair not fully a wavy pink.  The left side of her head and right side of her neck was blotched in black.  The left parting of her hair was straight and lavender.  Her left eye was gold like Avarice’s.  Her left arm and right hip were as well.  The skin under ther black fur being lavender.  The rest of her body was virtually unchained apart from her right eye.  The Turquoise green of Envy stared back. The band fell from Arcane’s hand with a reserved sigh.  She shook her head and bit her lower lip with a growing anxiety. “How in Hades will I explain this?” Twilight rested her hand over Arcane’s. “You always were a Pinto breed pony with heterochromia.  You just decided to stop dying your hair and fur.  You also stopped wearing color-change contacts?” Sunset leaned forward enough to stare right at Twilight with a smug grin. “Princess of Friendship is a master liar?  How scandalous!” Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. “You’re confusing me for AppleJack, love.”