The Cutie Alchemist

by Visharo

Rainbow Dash

Seven whole sunrises, that's how long the storm lasted. Thankfully, because of the heavy snow, the fires were doused, but several of the trees were now burnt. And, because of Shining Armor's shield, the house sustained zero damage. Also, throughout those seven sunrises, Starswirl endured punishment from everypony.

"Yer not leavin' that corner till ah say so."
"Oooh...looks like you rolled a one, your character slips on some loose gravel and falls down the hill."
"Swirly! Look! Look what I can do!"
"Starswirl, the patterns in the sky are quite curious. See how the lightning flashes?"
"SWIIIIIRLLLLLLLY, I SAW SOMETHING SCARY IN THE TREES!"
"Buck you."

Starswirl sighed. The new pony, Lightning Dusk, was quite difficult in that time. She was always casting hateful glares with no explanation. The only thing that anypony knew about her was her name and that was right after she woke up for the first time. The filly, nearly a mare, immediately kicked and/or whacked everypony away after she woke up fully and huddled in a corner. It took a lot of talking, bribing with food and O&O, beating up Starswirl (that was Granny's idea), tackle hugs from Sunset (only two of them), and annoying the stars out of her to finally get her out of the corner she had camped in.

It was the morning of the 7th, Luna and Starswirl were doodling, it was a new word Luna came up with. The young mare was giggling to herself as she drew silly pictures of ponies, specifically of Lightning. As for Starswirl, he took a liking to drawing nature. For his current picture, he wanted to make a beautiful valley abundant with luscious trees and blooming flowers. And bushes, he liked to draw bushes.

It was then, did he notice Lightning was looking at them. Or maybe, just at him.

"Yes?" He looked up, trying to keep his expression kindly. Normally, that wouldn't be hard, but when one is cooped up for so long as well as harassed...

"Who are you?" The question was sudden and blunt, her face all but stone.

"Starswirl the Bearded?" He replied, almost questioning. He was quite certain he had told her his name. He frowned internally, did he forget to?

"No. I know that. Who are you?"

"I do not know how to answer that."

She stared for a moment, as if sizing him up, and then turned around and left. Starswirl looked, baffled, as she disappeared behind some padded rocks. Not knowing what else to do, he went back to his drawings. Beside him, Luna made even more exaggerated expressions of Lightning, he should probably have told her off, but she was having fun.

Later in the day, Cadance noticed the snow had stopped and announced it to the rest of the group. Starswirl barely had a moment to look to see if she was correct when everypony stampeded out. He smiled softly when giggles and squeals floated to his ears. He took a step outside and basked in the warmth.

There was a time where he would investigate the fresh snow, the glowing sun, the bitter cold, but he let Stygian do the work. Nowadays, he cared more for the smiles on everypony's faces. Feeling a bit tired, he maneuvered through the heavy snow and found a padded rock. He brushed away the snow and sat down.

It started drizzling soon after, but not enough to keep everypony indoors. He actually liked how the water ran through his pelt. The feeling was so nice, his eyes started to droop. It wasn't a bad sight at all, his friends and family playing around in the winter wonderland, a glimmering sun in the distance, a plethora of colors in the sky. He wouldn't mind if this was his last vision. He let out a contented sigh and allowed his body to sag into a more comfortable position. Memories started flickering through his head, he felt a warm embrace wrap around his chest, a small smile played on his lips.

Then his eyes shot open. Wait a minute. Starswirl looked back to the sky. Colors? In the sky? He scrambled to his hooves and shook off the snow and rain that had gathered on him and stared with such intent. There it was, shimmering on the horizon. An arc of color. Then that exact color palette started glowing from next to him. Starswirl glanced back and felt his mouth drop at the sight of the chalice floating and depicted a picture of a cloud and a lightning bolt.

Without warning, a loud bang threw him off his hooves before he felt a sharp pain in his head and then the world went black.

"Dangnabbit Starswirl, if every time a pony spawns into existence and ah find ya unconscious, what's a mare supposed ta think?" He awoke to find a glowering Granny Smith. The sight was so familiar that he didn't even feel the urge to yelp.

"Granny."

"Git up, ya buffoon." Granny grasped his arms and heaved him up without much effort. He sighed heavily once he found his footing.

"Who is it this time?" A pony that came out with an explosion could mean quite a few things. Starswirl wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with such explosiveness.

"She calls 'erself Rainbow Dash. She and the other filly have been sizin' each other up fer the past hour or so." The green mare spat to the side before looking off into the distance. Starswirl followed her eyes and spotted Lightning Dust facing off a cyan pegasus with a shock of a...rainbow? mane. They were circling each other, their stance low and their wings high.

"Wha...what is happening?" He slowly got to his hooves, his vision a bit blurry.

"Weren't ya listenin'? Tcha, old stallions. Ah said, they're sizin' each other up." Granny hummed. "Call it a battle of wings if ya will."

As they watched, the two kept on circling. Neither ever letting their gaze fall off the other. Each tested out their wings, see if the other would react. A sudden breeze blew through the valley causing their manes to flow in the wind. It made the whole scene even more intense. Starswirl wasn't sure what was going to happen and he didn't like that.

He was about to step in and stop the showdown when suddenly, the two pegasi shot upwards. He's seen pegasi fly, mainly Derpy and Cadance, but it seems like he's never seen a pegasus fly fly. He watched in awe.

The two spiraled around each other, like a double helix. Starswirl had no idea what that meant, but those words felt right. When they got to the point where the clouds floated, they dove back down. Behind them, their tails seem to be glowing and exuding a...contrail. Rainbow's was rainbow and Lightning's was turquoise with a lightning streaking down the middle. It was incredible.

But before he could fully enjoy what he was seeing, they had reached the ground and both had pulled up before they crashed. The pegasi kept on flapping their wings as hard as they could, reaching untold speeds. The snow around them flew in all sorts of directions, creating a barren path where the grass could be seen again. All the while, the two were circling each other, looping around, pushing forwards, and falling backwards. It almost seemed like they were testing each other.

Then they dove into the forest and soon the woods were awash with transparent colors and after images of the ponies themselves. Starswirl was beyond baffled.

"I need to inspect them later. The way they use their wings is incredible." Stygian muttered, suddenly appearing next to him. Starswirl yelped only slightly, before nodding. No other creature he's seen was this fast nor had the mobility these two had.

"Yeah...I wonder how they're doing that." There was an almost wistful tone to Cadance's voice as she made her way next to Granny. Starswirl sympathized, he remembered those days when she was a filly, trying his very best to teach her how to fly despite being a unicorn. And then that time when her wings got possessed and dragged them to King Sombra and his weird empire, she was too scared to use her wings for many sunrises. It took the combined effort of Celestia's, Luna's, and Sunset's foal eyes to persuade her to give it a try again.

"Maybe you could get one to teach you." Starswirl offered, he didn't want his daughter feeling sad.

"Yeah. Maybe." She didn't sound convinced.

"Oh, here they come."

The two zoomed past the group that had gathered to watch, sending piles of half melted snow into their pelts. There were shouts of indignation and Starswirl could've sworn he heard a raspy giggle. Then the most unexpected thing happened. Another streak in the air appeared. This time, it was gray and yellow.

Before anypony could react, another pegasus, flying backwards at high speeds, somehow crashed into Rainbow and Lightning. All three pegasi tumbled through the air before crashing into a snow drift. Starswirl was moving before they touched the ground and charged. He didn't make it in time, but he still galloped with everything he had, hoping to Harmony above that they were not hurt.

He skidded to a halt at the edge of the snow crater and peered down, expecting the worst, but found the three of them giggling. It turns out the other pegasus was Derpy. Starswirl couldn't help himself and was astonished to find himself guffawing. Even Granny looked at him funny.

"Derpy! What were you doing?" Cadance exclaimed and clambered into the hole and helped the pegasi to their hooves.

"Message!" She replied cheerfully, before producing a wrapped up piece of paper. On the front, it said it came from Rain Shine.