//------------------------------// // Potions 11 // Story: The Potion Shop // by Ashfur //------------------------------// Juniper sat in her room at the guild reading the latest issue of Cosmarepolitan.  It was a quiet evening, without much activity, when she was brought from her daydreams of superstardom by a knock at the door.  She got up to answer it. “B-boss?!  What happened?” Arcane Catalyst stood in the doorway, his lab coat slightly ripped, sap oozing from his mane, a huge wad of chewing gum stuck to his back left hoof, and wearing giant novelty sunglasses missing a lens.  “The good news is I found out why Razzle was all crazy and finally stopped it. Turns out she took the brunt of a curse when I helped her escape Tartarus during the great demon civil war. It's a long story, but she's the last living succupony.  The bad news is that now she likes me for fixing that curse, but she promised not to be as… obsessive as she's been. Also, I managed to get myself banned from every restaurant in the changeling kingdom and a few parts of the kingdom itself, so there's that.” “Are you gonna elaborate, or…?” “Nope!  It'd take too long to explain.  It could honestly be one of those short stories you like reading.  So enough about Razzle for now, it's time to get back to work! And you can start by changing into this.”  Arca tossed a pile of fabric at Juniper, which she dutifully caught and inspected. “Uh, boss, this is a Nightmare Night ninja costume.” “Yeah, I lost my library card so we're gonna sneak into the archives for an advanced alchemy textbook I think you could use.” Juniper sighed, relenting.  It seemed the usual routine was back and here to stay.  “Of course we are.” A chill wind blew across the roof of the guild as Juniper trotted across it to the predetermined meeting point.  Standing shrouded in the shadows was that master of stealth, the untraceable wizard of whodunnit, the shadow thief incarnate … Arca in a black lab coat. “Really, boss?  You had me put on this ridiculous getup, complete with weaponry, and you just change coats?” “What?  They expect an orange unicorn in a white lab coat.  Besides, this was just my disguise to get up here undetected.  If I'm gonna bypass security, I'll need something they'll never see coming.  I'll need…” He gripped his lab coat with a hoof, flinging it off dramatically into the darkness. “...a RAINBOW TIE-DYE LABCOAT!” “Remind me why I work for you again?” “No idea, Juniper.  Now stand back, I'm going to use a laser to carefully cut through the roof, as stealthily as equinely possible.  Super mini stealth laser of secrecy… fire!” Below, several apprentices of the guild evacuated the main reading room, just in time for a ten-foot diameter beam of cyan light to reduce the ceiling to rubble and leave a decent crater in the floor.  Arcane dropped down, face planting into floor with a painful THUD.  Five seconds after he hit, a parachute popped out of his back pocket.  Juniper glided gently down on her wings. “Real subtle Boss, I bet they don't even know we're here.” “Ow.  I think I broke my butt.” “Quit whining, Boss.  You've taken worse hits and walked away.  Now let's go… ‘steal’ the catalog so we can find this book.”  Juniper trotted over to the library reception, only to stopped by a magical aura. “Waiiiit!  Never touch the catalog drawer after hours. It might still have the explosive rune I inscribed on it as a security system two hundred years ago!” “Boss, they've changed the cabinet since then. Did you hide any other runes in this place, though?” “Three…” Juniper grabbed the catalog and opened it up, looking through it.  “So you know where they all are, right?” “...hundred.” “Really, Boss?!” “Is it better if half of them are guarding my old stamp collection?  Eh, whatever. Gimmie that catalog. Let's see… ah, here we go. Section seven.  We landed next to section four, so we need to go that way! Better use a potion to make sure the area's clear.”  Reaching into his lab coat, he pulled out a few vials. The first was empty, and he drank from it. “Invisible potion.  Not what I wanted.” The second vial was filled with a clear liquid.  “Ah, fresh water. Tasty. Now, the invisibility potion!” Downing he third potion, he quickly vanished from sight… aside from his lab coat.  “Perfect! Now I can sneak ahead and OOF!” The floating lab coat fell down, having tripped over its own hooves. “Note to self: being invisible makes it hard to see where you're going.  Not my best move.” “This is ridiculous.  You said it was the Tome of Rare and Exotic Tinctures, right?  I'll go get it myself.”  She trotted around the crater and Arca, heading into section seven.  She quickly discarded her outfit, happy that Arca was preoccupied with his invisibility at the moment for all of three seconds until her mentor dropped down from the ceiling on a bungee cord. “Hi Juniper!  I don't know why spies just use these, it beats a rope by a mile!”  The cord then snapped, whipping Arcane with a massive elastic force and knocking a few dozen books off the shelves.  “OW! MY SPLEEN!” Juniper sighed and picked up the tome from the floor, passing it to her mentor as he stood up.  “Here, boss. I found it.” “Great work!  And we snuck in without anypony noticing, AND we didn't find any of my old explosive runes!  I wonder where I hid them all. Oh well, let's see if this old thing is the same as I remember-” As he opened it, a hidden rune on the inside cover detonated, sending Arca flying backwards and wedging him in the overdue book return. “Boss, are you alright?!  That looked pretty bad!” Juniper galloped over to the back half of her mentor, still sticking out of the book slot. “Juniper!  Get me out of here!  But… do it in a few minutes, there's a Detective Surehoof comic in here I haven't read in a while.”  The sound of pages turning came from within the book return, then a loud BOOM.  Smoke leaked out of the slot Arca was sticking out of. “Hey Juniper, I think I found another rune!  And new rule for the list on why I can't be in the library alone.” “Gee, ya think so?  I'm going back to my room, boss.” “Okay, goodnight Juniper!”  Arca's back hoof waved goodbye to her.  “Oh hey, I found a stale cookie in here!” BOOM!