//------------------------------//
// Interloper(s) 
// Story: The Alchemist 
// by Hummingbirds 
//------------------------------//

	An endless portrait of light and its gift, slowly drifted, slowly departed, leaving the abyss of night in its wake. 

The day had passed under a veil, the guise of scientific analysis and experimentation on the left eye of the bearer. 

Everything took time, and it would be weeks before absolute safety could be ensured, and the student agreed. Not that it mattered.

Celestia knew. She knew it was safe. For now. 

She needed the time, however. Such power, such knowledge, it was beyond what was meant to be held on this small planet. It was beyond a mortal soul. 

Then how?

Twilight went along with the guards simply. There were many questions, yet no answers. For now, it seemed, she would reiterate the spells she had learned, so some fruit would be born from this event. A small spark of joy burned with her, and followed her through the trials and tests. It was enough.

Soon, days had passed, before the weeks neared their end. Twilight was still very focused, checking and re-checking, before checking again, and then moving on to the next experiment. Nothing was different. Nothing was out of place. All that was left was to have her subconscious scanned by the princess herself, to check for psychological cracks and such. After all, such an event were likely to cause mental trauma.

The princess, despite her efforts, could think of nothing. Nothing but a warning, nothing but simple, religious fear. And she hated it. She had seen what false religion had done to other civilizations, bearing war, hatred, ignorance..

And death.

This was a world the two sisters created. This was a world they perfected. She could not allow conflict to spread after all these years, tearing the unfinished canvas of sentient life asunder.

So she waited, a single, silver tear, falling from her eye.

Her left eye.


And there was a knock.

“Come in, please. I believe things went well?”

The massive wooden door silently gave under the pressure of a single, purple hoof.

“Everything is in check, for now. It seems that nopony can place why there seems to be such a thing just floating about, however. The doctors have looked at it with microscopes, and found no flaw in detail, either. It seems to be more than a pattern or pigment, but an actual system. Furthermore, its structure defies natural formation, as if it were intended to be so.”

The student knew what she was supposed to say. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Years of studying social interaction left her with keen understanding of explanations.

“That’s rather strange, isn’t it? Well, all that’s left is to check for any trauma. Do you feel any different?”

Despite her scientifically planned response, the alicorn would rather…she didn’t know.

“Everything seems fine. I’ve preformed exercises, and have gotten better times than usual.”

And the princesses fears were confirmed.

“Alright, then. I’ll just do a quick check to be sure. Close your eyes, please.”

She let her horn graze along her students, and cast the spell. Immediately, she saw the inner world of her beloved students mind. It, unsurprisingly, was a library. 

The shelves were crafted of finely embellished ebony, curly maple, and redwood, with trinkets and devices of brass and silver. Thin, fruit bearing vines ran along the sides of the shelves, and the ground was a river stone path through winter grass. In between the shelves, floating through the library, were clusters of brightly glowing mushrooms surrounded by fire fly’s, as if they were little planets of their own, illuminating the library.

Cautiously, she strolled through the vast library, checking certain books occasionally, so she could have something to recall and explain to her student. But she knew where she was going, and soon arrived.

Before her, lay the transparent spirits of whom the student had viewed in her brief interlude. Some faint, some more solid. The more of their life she had viewed, or had even been interested in, the more of that person was within her subconscious, at her command. 

They could not influence her directly, much to the alicorns relief, but if her beloved student should wish, she could connect her mind with theirs, and they would live again, within her, until she was done. 

She saw spike, going about, cleaning the library of any insignificant blemish, and tending to the plants.

She saw Starswirl the Bearded, sitting at a desk sleeping. History failed to record his loving for a nap.

And so she was relieved. The spirits were purely intellectual.

Her students mind had no blemish at all, and the kingdom could return. She could not imagine the consequence of having any foreign.. emotions.. within the machinations of her students mind, for they were meant to be discovered. 
She began to walk back to her point of entry, wish a motherly smile planted upon her face.


Behind her, the spirit of the professor suddenly shifted..

He was awoken by another, almost invisible spirit. The spirit of his beloved Dawn.

And soon, his actions changed.

To something more…intimate.