"Hmm, this town is starting to bore me...so much technology, but yet still, not enough new knowledge."
"Their applications could be useful, I guess."
Pulsar ruminated to himself, closing his eyes as he began walking back toward the school, thinking back on how he could use some of their perspectives for new spells, efficient magics, it wasn't like this place was without new ideas for him, but it beg-.
"There you are," a deep feminine voice came behind him while a hand landed on his shoulder and his mind was filled with the memories of his arrivals and happenings here, "left Celestia as soon as you got her permission, huh?"
Pulsar Splash tried to teleport, but his magic was gone, sucked away from his rune when he attempted the spell, he tried again and the same action occured.
"You're...you're a unicorn," he breathed out before smiling, "and...you're overriding my locks."
"Princess Twilight said you were coming, but you are a lot more mischievous than she let on," her hand stayed on Pulsar Splash's shoulder.
And soon the memories flooded Pulsar Splash's mind of when he first casted his immortality spell, "and...looks like you're hiding something."
Pulsar Splash whipped about and readied his rune for offensive magic, "who do you think you are?!"
"You should know, you're the immortal eye over Equestria."
"Sunset...Sunset Shimmer, ex-student of Princess Celestia, fallen from grace. I see you had access to the restricted section," he did a mind read spell on her to gather information.
"Starswirl's journal mentioned you, Pulsar Splash. Your name change was mentioned in it as well, you're really trying to cover up your sin, huh?" She approached him and grabbed his rune, controlling the magic to rest itself back in the artifact.
"You're well versed in magic despite no having been a unicorn in years," Pulsar Splash observed, intrigued by this pony in front of him, "I redacted my new moniker from it..how did you ever manage to figure that out?"
"You searched all over this town for something interesting to study and the most intersting thing of your day was me," she smirked, "Princess Twilight, I owe you for this wonderful occassion. Listen, silly, your ways of spellcraft and handwriting, the logic you use...you read enough and you learn about a someone's habits and when something is their work or not. Those reactions had your magic all in it of course."
Pulsar gripped the rune tightly and ripped it out of her hands before he took off running toward the school. Sunset Shimmer could easily keep pace, the master mage could not use this new body as effectively as her and teleporting would be useless if she could use the magic from his rune, too...and if she could search through his memories, there must have been a lot more she could do.
Only after a minute or two of running did Pulsar stop in a heavy pant, "yeeeah, figured you'd come to that conclusion. You're here to learn friendship, so you might as well stick around and give up on running."
"Where....are those other...six?" He heaved out.
"Nowhere close, they don't even know you're here. You don't seem like one to socialize so I figured this was the best way to get you to co-operate, Pulsar Splash," a knowing smile crossed her face.
It was as if politics of old were right in front of him again, "what do you want?"
"To keep your identity a secret? I want you to stay here for a full week," she outright demanded, still expecting a heavy resistance from the uni-.
"Done," her expression changed to one of shock, "I know when I've been bested and somehow you bested me without even the need for proper magic."
"Wow...smart with common sense, too. How is it you stay away from ponies?" Sunset Shimmer spun him around and clapped his back, prompting him to walk down the street with her, "you'd be quite a hit with a lot of unicorn mares."
"I actually was, way back then. It was a constant battle to keep mares away, for Starswirl and I at least. It was awful when they discovered where my tower was," Sunset was making him reminense quite well, "but they were all just distractions from my true pursuit of magic."
"Well, you accomplished that now, with that immortality spell you wrote. Soooo, why not now?" She asked.
"I...magic research never stops."
"True, but haven't you got an eternity? Albeit you might outlive some, why not make memories?" She posed a different notion and Pulsar Splash fell quiet.
Maybe he had grown into an anti-social bitter pony who could not stand others from all his isolation. That would make him some kind of mentally ill, but his fortitude was something he prided himself on. He came to a second conclusion.
Sunset Shimmer was a very wise...somepony to be so direct and straightforward about it all.
"Something on your mind? Celestia would make a similar face."
"Guess where she got it from."
"Starswirl? And that was a thing between you two? And Dingy Coat?"
The mage stopped, staring up at the clouds, "Dingy Coat."
The master mage dug through his hair and retrieved a small vial of white liquid that was kept tied to the hairs close to his scalp, "Dingy Coat, I was always kind of jealous of him."
"Sorry, bad memory?"
"He was the best alchemist Equestria ever knew and so many of his projects were lost. Every Saturday of mine is dedicated to performing the same experiments he discussed to rediscover and publish his works under his name to be found once more."
"Some of Starswirl's journal in the restricted section...it mentioned a lot of your exploits, especially how much mayhem all three of you caused at King Bullion's and Princess Platinum's balls."
Pulsar laughed...aloud and continued walking. It was a strange sensation, "Sunset, you may end up coming back to Equestria with me. You're a breath of fresh air," Pulsar was slipping back into his old self talking with her.
"Thanks!" She smiled wide while they began walking into the other side of town, the commerical area, "so, you think staying isolated for more than a thousand years changed you?"
"No, not exactly. It was when Starswirl rejected me as he rejected all those ideas of lower thinking mages. Friends can just toss you the moment you've become something they despise."
"Yeah, I know...I uh, kinda caused that to happen to some people and felt it firsthand."
"I see, that explains why you don't see me as some huge asshole who made the laws of nature his plaything."
Sunset laughed, "I didn't make myself immortal, but I almost marched on Equestria as a demon with an army, but you would have stopped me right?"
"Actually...no. I decided to not take part in Equestria's history, but to only dedicate my knowledge to her and her inhabitants, so they can live better lives."
"That's noble...you've definitely lived an interesting life," Sunset looked to the mage, "I didn't expect to talk with you this well."
"Well, you were very much like a metaphorical slap in my muzzle. You're making me question everything I've built in the last thousand years. If I only stonewalled you...neither of us would find the week passing quickly, so why not indulge you some. It's also a great learning opportunity. "
"Is this what's called a mid-life crisis?" Sunset chuckled.
"I suppose so. Are you still gonna make me stay a week here?"
"Absolutely. You're already this interesting to me. So, tell me, what has Equestria seen since I left?"
Pulsar Splash began filling her in on all the adventures Twilight Sparkle had, how Celestia and Luna grew and much more that happened during the time she was gone.
"My, they're quite busy...but, what have you done?" Pulsar grew quiet at the mention.
"Nothing quite so grand, huh? Have you ever thought of even going on such a big adventure as everypony else does?"
"That would involve Equestria and I co-."
"That's a poor excuse, Pulsar Splash," he didn't want to admit it, but he enjoyed being challenged by this ex-student.
He even grew a fondness for her company and conversation, she was the pony that did draw out who he really was after all, very much like his past two best friends.
"Yeah...I really did just grow into this bitter pony when Starswirl tossed me out," the rune left his pocket to be stared at in front of him, "it's time I live again, huh?"
"Equestria has been deprived of a most important pony and only by sheer luck...and Twilight, has it survived. You're a line of defense there, Pulsar, even if you don't know it."
"I see why the cutiemark map sent Twilight to me. Sunset, why take the time to even try and change my mind?"
"You remind me of some old tutors I had once
growing up...it was fun to talk informally to someone like them," she smirked, "and because I was like that for a while, not nearly as long as you, but afraid of interacting with people again."
And so they talked and they talked. Pulsar Splash learned more of Sunset Shimmer and of the new world they were walking the streets in. He felt ready to go back to Equestria, but he had made a deal to stay in this world for a week, and no unicorn worth his salt goes back on his word.
"I admit, I didn't expect you to be this open, Pulsar."
"I like you, you're just good company," Sunset smiled at first at his words before she stared at the vial he still held.
"So...what's that?" She pointed.
He raised the vial, "well...it was made a really, really long time ago. It's an alchemical recipe I've never been able to replicate."
"But...what is it?"
"Hold on, mare, I'm getting to that point," Sunset felt...timid at his response, he didn't see her as exactly a friend.
If she learned anything over the years, it's that people choose their words on purpose whether they know it or not and this connation meant more.
"It can be rubbed as a salve, drank, diffused...everything still has the same effect. Dingy Coat made it, picked a silly name, too. It can cure any disease, illness, prevent death from any wound. He called it Sacred Solvent."
"That's...a lost Equestrian knowledge, then. Why haven't you released knowledge of it?"
"It's in the restricted library in Canterlot, only as small recording that it exists, not anyhing more on how to make it or what it is composed of. Dingy Coat...he went through a lot of failures that I and Starswirl had to bail him out of when he tried to make it."
"Oh...how long did it take him to make it?" Sunset inquired and held her hand out to ask to hold the vial.
Pulsar Splash stopped walking and held it up so she could see it more clearly, "took him twenty years working on and off to make it. It's a very special recipe. He even had to ask Starswirl and I to pull some strings for him to make it, used to be more, but we had to use a lot during a crisis nopony knew about."
"Could I see it?" Sunset held her hand out with a smile.
"Sorry...it's too important to lose," Pulsar solemnly said.
Sunset's cheeks took on a tint as her curiosity got the better of her and she held his hand that gingerly gripped the vial and moved it closer to her eyes and then against the sun.
There were specs of constantly changing colors, glimmering in the sunlight of this liquid. She had the impression there was something magical in it, but she couldn't deduce what it was at all.
"It definitely looks interesting...what crisis did you use it in?" Her attention was directed to the liquid and all the hues swirling in it.
"When the Crystal Empire first disappeared, there was nopony aware that it went for the first day, Sombra planted corruption in the snow and that coruption was spreading at an alarming rate."
"Sacred Solvent was the only thing that could treat it?" Sunset guessed.
"Of course! Nopony had seen this magic and when Dingy Coat made the suggestion, the crystals covered in it vanished...just vanished with the liquid as if it had never happened."
"What about that healer legend? Mystical Mask?" Sunset Shimmer questioned.
"She...she um...didn't come close to what Dingy Coat could do. A lot of our knowledge was lost during the tragedies Equestria faced and a lot of it hidden or locked away as we know the current Equestria back then could not handle that kind of information responsibly."
"So...why not make it available now?" She smiled.
"Hidden away meant Dingy Coat and Starswirl both hid their research and didn't tell anypony where it was, not even me. Sometimes we would share our research amongst each other if we thought it was safe enough, but a lot of times, we jsut shared the struggle of our pursuits. My knowledge ends up in the main libraries and most often Princess Twilight's library as she is always going through it, it's bound to be discovered."
"And you're still not on good terms with the Princess?"
"No...she's much too excited for knowledge and doesn't focus up. The excitement comes in the application, not the research."
"Still sounds like you would have gotten along."
"Maybe I could tolerate her..."
Pulsar Splash pulled his hand out of Sunset's, who until now was enamoured with the Sacred Solvent. Pulsar reached into his hair and tied it back close to his scalp once more. He hadn't mastered the use of his fingers so he used his magic to tie it for him.
Sunset withdrew from the conversation and the two walked quietly down the street.