Purity

by LightStriker

Losing All

This particular morning, while reading a fairly complex old tome about transformation and illusion magic, Twilight couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. After all, Ponyville never stayed quiet for that long. A few months ago she even started a few experiments to prove that somehow this small town had a special way of attracting problems. Most of pony's cities never experienced a fraction of the mess that kept falling on that one. She suspected it was because of its proximity with the Everfree forest, but she couldn't prove it.

Yet.

She wondered if her friend Pinkie Pie's 'senses' were not spreading to her. That feeling was there in the back of her head, but the last thing she wanted was her body to start shaking randomly if somepony was about to sneeze. In the last two years, she started to listen to her sixth sense. After all, she was the avatar of the Element of Magic and she knew that in theory the magic field surrounding everypony would react to troubles or strong emotions. One of her theory was that if she could listen enough those vibrations, she could maybe feel a danger before it would happen.

But that was only a theory, nopony was that attuned to magic fields, not even the princesses. After a lot of tests she even managed to discard magic from Pinkie's abilities, in her case it was something else. She shook her head again to get rid of those thoughts, she accepted years ago that she couldn't explain it and the only thing she managed to do was to find what it was not.

She gazed off her book and looked outside; it was a bright sunny day. That tickling in the back of her head was still there, stronger than ever. Maybe it was that after being in so many dangerous situations her brain was getting used to recognizing the mood of a specific situation. Deep in her thoughts, she almost missed the first pony sprinting by her window but she didn't miss the second and the third one.

By the time she had stood up and reached the door, she had lost count of all the ponies running in the same direction. She stepped outside and looked in the way the ponies were going, a large column of black smoke was raising in the distance. Just as she thought that smoke meant fire, the pegasi squad of fireponies flew over her head with large clouds full of water. She didn't waste time and ran in the same direction as them.

She was about half way to the source of the smoke when she stopped in her tracks. She knew very well where that smoke was coming from. After all, in a small town like Ponyville, it would be hard not to. Her eyes went wide with surprise and she sprinted as fast as she could.

When she turned around the last house before her goal, she was almost out of breath. She wished she was wrong, but in front of her was proof that she was right; the Carousel Boutique was ablaze. The fireponies positioned the clouds above the building and started stomping them. Twilight knew very well it was too little too late, the structure of the building was already collapsing.

She looked around, afraid Rarity was still inside the building, but she quickly found the white mare sitting in front of her burning shop with a small saddlebag on her side. She quickly remembered Sweetie Bell was gone with her parents in some kind of summer trip. As she walked toward her friend, she noticed something was very wrong; Rarity's tail and mane were a mess. Even in the darkest time Rarity would never let them in such a bad state. She knew that even when waking up in the morning Rarity's mane was a dozen time cleaner and prettier than Twilight's would be in a good day. She would hate to be seen in such a dirty state. Even when the tailor would work days and night, even tired out, her mane would still be more presentable than that. There was no doubt the fire took her by surprise.

Coming beside her, she put a hoof on her shoulder and looked at her with a kind smile. To her surprise, Rarity didn't take her sight off the building and didn't even acknowledge her presence. Twilight decided she needed to do something and quick, that look on her friend's face was unlike anything she saw before. It was as if she was looking at a ghost or worst. She charged up a teleportation spell that brought her and her friend to the middle of the library.

Rarity lied on the floor, right where she appeared. "Do you want a tea?" Twilight asked.

"No, thanks."

Twilight stood there surprised and staring at her friend, when was the last time Rarity refused a cup of tea? Her memory told her it actually never happened. Didn't she once say that a lady never refuses a cup of tea?

Had Twilight not gotten used to listening to Fluttershy's whispers, she wouldn't have heard what Rarity breathed out almost in silence, "My life is over."

"What?"

It wasn't the first time the Carousel had been damaged or destroyed; the parasprites, the ursa and some other accidents had forced Rarity to repair or rebuild it. Twilight knew very well Rarity never kept a pattern for more than few months as fashion kept changing. Besides, she kept copies of her best works in some safe places. Her tools had been lost before and the Guild of Designers was prompt to replace them. There wasn't anything in the building itself that was worth that much, and every time she rebuilt it she claimed it was better than the previous version.

"Nothing," Rarity answered between her teeth.

Why was Rarity broken like that? Even in the worst moments she would still display a hidden energy not unlike Pinkie Pie, but right now it was all gone.

"Come on Rarity! You can tell a friend," Twilight pushed.

Rarity frowned as if something ticked in her mind, as she just woke up and notice the library. She raised her head and stared at Twilight with a look of pure anger painting her face. Twilight took two steps back, surprised at the display; she never saw Rarity that mad before and she wasn't sure if it wasn't directed at her.

"You! You!" Rarity shouted. "I know you too well. I know that look in your eyes: that cursed curiosity." She sat back and stamped the floor with a hoof. "If I tell you there's nothing, you won't believe me and will poke around to find out and you will get yourself in trouble. If I tell you to stay out of it and to not get involved, you will pace around like a caged animal," Rarity spat out in rage. "Your brain will keep asking 'what if?' up to the point you will ask questions and get yourself in trouble anyway." Rarity stopped and stared at Twilight, tears coming out of her eyes. "For this once, stay out of it," she screamed with her lips shaking.

But what if it's important...

"That! That look in your eyes! You're already going at it!" Rarity barked while pointing at Twilight's face. It was obvious to Twilight her friend was close to a nervous breakdown, after all she had her own share of those. "Why can't you listen for once in your life?" Rarity was shaking and tears were flowing freely off her eyes. "Just once?" She pleaded.

"I will. I promise."

Rarity stared at Twilight for a long moment before lowering her head and letting her tears wet the wooden floor. "Who am I kidding? You will never keep that promise. I know you too well. Not knowing will turn you crazy before long. Maybe it's what makes you a good friend, or the stupidest fool of the universe." Rarity took a deep breath. "I guess I have no choice but to tell you everything. Maybe after that you will understand why you should not get involved."

Twilight sat there in front of her friend, she simply had no idea how to react. Deep down she knew Rarity was right, those urges, that curiosity, she never managed to control them and more than once it got her in danger. She knew that she couldn't sleep not knowing it, whatever 'it' was. Within a week she would be going around asking questions. She closed her eyes; in the past that curiosity hurt her friends more than once. Everypony had their secret and not knowing them doesn't mean they didn't love each other. She was sad and tired that she couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry Rarity," Twilight honestly apologized.

Rarity's face was twisted by conflicting emotions. Rage, sadness, love and that smile she reserved for her friends were fighting for a place. Twilight couldn't say which won as Rarity laid back on the floor and put her front hooves on her face. "Shield, Twilight. Just put a shield around this place so that nopony could hear what we will say."

Twilight obeyed without asking questions. She focused her magic on a spell that was one of her specialty. She changed the spell slightly so that it would only block air vibration, that way it wouldn't show up as a huge and bright purple bubble. She looked around, the only sign that her spell was working was a small refraction in the air. Nopony could see it without being very close to its limits. "There."

Rarity sat once again and stared at the floor. "No pony, no matter how talented, gets a spotlight in the high spheres of Canterlot," she said. "It just doesn't happen. Talent alone doesn't bring you to that point. You need more, you need contacts and influence. Hoity Toity, I'm sure you remember him, he doesn't even think about somepony unless he heard their name a dozen times from his close relations. It took me years to build the network needed for my name to go around. I'm young, it should have taken me another decade to get to the point I was."

"A proof that you are that talented?"

"A proof that I'm that foolish," Rarity said with her anger coming out once again. She sighed loudly. "I got contacts, lot of them. A while ago, I started pushing my name around, up to the point I was contacted by a group of very high influence. Basically, there isn't something that happens in Equestria without them knowing about it. They heard about that Nightmare Moon incident and wanted to help me, or so they said. Saving Equestria once or twice, surprisingly brings you some notoriety."

"They didn't help?"

Tears were coming back to her eyes. "Oh yes, they did, my business rocketed. Such a young and inexperienced designer being visited by Hoity Toity, it was unheard of. There is no doubt that he came here because of them. He simply doesn't go in some small town like Ponyville. Within months, my designs were sold across all over Equestria." She stopped to think about it. "About a year ago, they asked me to officially join their group. Something about an element of harmony being a powerful symbol. I was pleased with the attention."

"Who are they?"

"I have no real precise idea, they don't even have a name. I probably guessed one or two of them, but no real proof to back it up. They are as powerful, if not more, than the Princesses. The high council members are their puppets. I accepted their offer, I had no reason not to. After all, they helped me so much."

"So, what happened?"

Rarity sighed once more. "They have a weird structure. Twice a month, they send to all their members a list of topics to be voted on. A lot of random stuff, like should we allow this contract with this company, do we allow this law to be passed by the council, export toward that country and so on. Two months ago, one of the points was; do you agree on the assassination of the unnatural."

"What?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"I heard rumors before joining that a long time ago they were a group of extremists, that they waged some kind of under-covered war against the Princesses, ut I thought it was just the past, after all, Equestria is quite peaceful now," she explained with a small shrug.

Twilight was quite stunned by the information, she never heard of a group battling against the Princesses. If it really happened, all her history books judged good to omit that information. "And?"

"Influence is one thing, murder is another. I sent a letter saying I was leaving the group." She opened her saddlebag and with her magic drew a letter from it. "Their answers came in two parts. The first one came in the mail today; the Guild of Designers banning me, making all my contracts null and void. In other words, I'm not allowed to sell my design in Equestria anymore."

Twilight's eyes widen in surprise. "They can't simply..."

"Yes, they can simply," Rarity hammered. "They are that powerful. Minutes after I received the letter, my shop was on fire. The link is quite obvious, even if I have no direct proof they did it. Their message is quite simple, they don't even need to kill me to destroy my life." She laid back on the floor staring in front of her. "And they did."

"That's terrible! How... How can anypony do that? And... who is the that unnatural?" Twilight asked, confused by the whole explanations.

"How can anypony do that to another, I have no idea. As for their assassination’s target, I don't know. Some pony in Canterlot's castle from what I understood. Something probably happened recently to make them move like that. There were lot of weird stuff going in the last four or five months, lot of voted topics that made no senses, like bringing the tomatoes industry down to its knees. Why would they do that?"

"The tomatoes industry? That's..." Twilight stopped as her brain started working hard. The link was easy, she knew very well which pony's family was the biggest provider of tomato in Equestria. She wanted it to be wrong, that it was a simple mistake, but it couldn't be. Her eyes were wide in horror. "Oh no, no, no," she said while shaking her head. "They can't do that! Can they? She's only a filly!" She stopped and looked at Rarity that was staring at her. "Come on Rarity! We are going to Canterlot."

"Now?" She asked back, confused.

"Now!" Twilight shouted. "I know who they want to kill."

"Who?"

"Azure!" Seeing Rarity didn't understand who she was talking about, she continued, "the filly that stayed here for a day a few months ago. You know, Luna's student."

"Oh. But why her?" Rarity asked not sure how to react. She remembered Twilight mentioning the filly once or twice, but she never met her. From what she knew, there wasn't any reason to kill an harmless filly.

"From what I understood, some ponies don't like the idea of an earth pony learning and performing magic, even if it's with the help of a unicorn," Twilight explained. "There were a lot of complaints voiced to the princesses when the word got out that Luna took a student that wasn't a unicorn."

"That's silly. But we can't go," Rarity countered.

"Why?"

"They are probably watching me. If we go to Canterlot soon after they burned my shop, they will know we are up to something. We would be of no help if they kill us before we reach the castle," she explained. "And from what I understand, they have no scruple to do that."

"You're right." Twilight sat down, disappointed. But it didn't last long, her brain quickly found a way to get around the problem. Rarity took a step back as a huge grin showed up on Twilight's face. "Only, they won't know we will be in Canterlot."

"What?" Rarity didn't like her friend's smile.

Twilight didn't answer, instead she walked toward the center of the library. She closed her eyes and focused her magic on a very complex spell and aimed it at the table and the equine statue in the middle of the room. The air itself appeared to crystallize and from outside looked like a huge diamond. It slowly grew inside, collapsing on itself as if somepony was pushing it, crushing it. After a moment, it almost looked like a tunnel carved out of reality. With a burst, it somehow flipped inside out and where the table was a moment ago stood a large chest and a thick tome on pedestal.

Rarity shook her head, she simply didn't understand what she just saw. It wasn't a simple teleportation. She understood that much. Her eyes were telling her brain something that made no sense. "What... What was that?"

"Some of the experiments I perform for the Princess are quite... sensitive. I store here anything dangerous or any informations that should never fall into the wrong ponies' hooves. It's a nice trick a friend of mine designed; it's a bubble of reality hidden behind the normal reality. Like a flipping door, the table is now in that bubble and what was inside is now outside. Without knowing exactly where it is and the frequency of activation of the bubble, it's impossible to unlock it," Twilight explained, quite proud of herself. After all, she was the first pony to ever be able to perform that spell. It took her almost a week to build up the magic needed to carve out a bubble of reality, but it was worth it. If the University of Canterlot knew about that spell, there would be raging debate for years about the implications of creating hidden pockets of reality.

Rarity's eyes were wide in amazement. She wasn't an expert in magic like Twilight, but she knew enough to know that this kind of spell was simply out of her reach in both theoretically and practical application. "By Celestia! I never heard of such a spell. Who could create something like that?"

"Azure," Twilight answered while flipping pages of the tome.

"What? That's... That's impossible! She's only a filly! It takes years... decades of study, maybe more before being able to design spells of that level." When Rarity was younger, before she got her cutie mark, she tried her hoof at spell crafting. She quickly learned that the difficulty of designing and casting a spell had a very sharp slope. Telekinesis was a fairly basic one that foals quickly mastered, but even a spell like teleportation, one of Twilight's specialties, which could be considered only a few levels more complex was out of her reach. She might be able to cast it if she would train for it for a few months, but she never felt the need to invest that much time. She was sometimes jealous of how her friend could excel in spell casting, learning new spells in matters of hours or days, but right now she was downright stunned. The spell she cast was beyond anything she had seen her perform before.

“You should see the spells I designed for her. She has a lot to learn. She can’t cast most of them but in time, I’m sure she will succeed. She loves designing new spells and I love casting them," she explained with a large smile. "Ah! There it is," Twilight said as she found the right page. Rarity took a look above Twilight's shoulder but she quickly backed off. The pages obviously displayed the structure of a spell, but simply looking at it made her head spin.

"What is it?"

"After the changelings’ invasion, the Princess asked me and Azure to investigate as much as we could on their transformation spell. Azure managed to replicate it," she said as he tapped the page.

"She drew that? That's insane!" Rarity said, honestly impressed.

"She's good and I heard Luna isn't an easy teacher. Once we knew how they transform, I designed a protective shield against that spell.” She flipped a few pages displaying an even more complex spell. Rarity's eyes went wide when she understood that Twilight was casting that monster of a spell in a recurrent manner. She always assumed Twilight was talented, but she never truly understood up to which point. “My brother is keeping it up at all times on Canterlot and me on Ponyville. Any changelings that would try to get close to the cities would see their disguise fail. We actually caught a few changelings that were trying to get back inside," she explained with a proud smile. "Some other unicorns are keeping it active around other major cities."

"That's... quite impressive," she said, her brain still trying to absorb all that information. "But I don't understand how it would help us."

"This morning, I was doing researches about that. My protection spell works perfectly against the changelings' normal disguise, however it is not flexible enough. Azure wrote me a letter a week ago about a way to slightly modify the transformation spell that would make it able to go pass our defenses. I found the solution, but I haven't sent it yet to Canterlot."

"Sorry, I still don't see how it helps us."

"Twilight and Rarity won't go in Canterlot. Two other ponies will," Twilight said with a huge smile.

Comments

[skyscraper123]

THIS IS SOOOO /)(\ AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

[Crystallize]

LET IT BEGIN

[TheMyth]

Illuminati type group in Equestria... wow... lets see how Twilight defeats them

[RealityCheck]

No evidence of guilds in Equestria. If anything ,evidence against it. I'd change that to them exerting subtle influence on all her contacts, having them drop her contracts.

[AvexedAuthor]

After all, she was the avatar of the Element of Magic

Then everything changed when the Fire ponies attacked.

[Neutrinos are Magic]

[TheGreatEater]

Oh My Freaking Celesita, and Sweet Merciful Nightmare Moon! This is pure, epic win! I love Azure Tomato, and what you are doing with the world building and plot is amazing. I love this story more than I love cookies, and it's now part of my top 4 series that I enjoy reading. Onward to the next chapter!

[D-Bence35]

Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom
"I-I'm sorry sir, but the complexity and the amount of power required for a spell of that magnitude are beyond what we have. There simply isn't such a spell!"
"Wait. Wait. The spell? My boy, we have the spell." *points to notes stolen from Azure* "I've only asked you to make it work on bigger objects."
"Yes, sir, and that's what we're trying to do, but... honestly, it's impossible-"
"AZURE TOMATO WAS ABLE TO DESIGN THIS IN A FOAL'S BEDROOM!!! WITH A BOX OF CRAYONS!!!"

[Emil]

This story looks like it could be pretty good, but I think you need an editor to clean up grammar mistakes and tighten things up a bit.

[untamedwaters]

First chapter was wonderful, but Twilight is so OOC that it's not even funny.

[Willsons]

there wasn't any reason to kill an armless filly. I never knew ponies had arms in the first place.

[Crusadier]

2619292

Oh my god!

I am following you just for that comment!

[TheGreatEater]

s. She focused her magic on a spell that was one of her specialty

specialties
_________________

Something about an element of harmony being a powerful symbol.

Cap.
_______________

"I heard rumors before joining that a long time ago they were a group of extremists, that they waged some kind of under-covered war against the Princesses, ut I thought it was just the past, after all, Equestria is quite peaceful now,"

but
________________________

I stand by my last comment 2618983.

2619292

That would be awesome! I can totally see that happening.

[Carnation83]

All the cool plot stuff aside, and ignoring Rarity's anger (because you can't blame her for being upset at losing her life's work and purpose), I have to agree on one thing. Twilight's curiosity sometimes does goes too far. it's almost like a pathological obsession that whenever she comes across any question, no matter if it's a big or little one, she just has to find the answer, and I wonder if she would pursue it no matter who it may hurt.

[Luckyfanisaac]

"That's terrible! How... How can anypony do that? And... who is the that unnatural?" Twilight asked, confused by the whole explanations.

Azure!
If I were there I would declare war!!