(Thanks again to the editor V-Dub. - N64Fan)
Celestia had asked Twilight to give Monochrome a room in her library, to which of course the purple mare agreed to. The white alicorn said it was an attempt to make amends for how her law had affected the black unicorn’s life in such a negative way. The alchemist doubted this and suspected the treatise was more to keep an eye on him then anything else. As a result, the stallion was now accompanying the purple mare to her hollowed out home in the tree.
The trip was mostly silent as the two trotted back to the library. As they walked, Twilight would sneak a glance at the odd stallion that walked next to her, before quickly turning her attention back to the road ahead. At one point as they walked, she decided to take another look at Monochrome. Her eyes were met by a glare from the stallion. A shudder ran down her spine as she had the distinct feeling of being in a dark room.
“What do you want to ask?” the stallion said with a poorly disguised exasperated tone as they rounded the final corner before reaching the straight-away to the library.
“Well, I was just um, wondering. That gash on your forehead, are you a unicorn?” Twilight managed hesitantly as she kept her eyes locked firmly on the road ahead, having no desire to look into those emotionless pits again.
“I was,” Monochrome said in a tone that blatantly told the lavender unicorn not to push it any further.
Twilight took the hint and the remainder of the trip was as quiet as a graveyard. The two arrived at the door to the library and as soon they walked into the dark interior, the lights flashed on and a pink pony greeted them with a loud “SURPRISE.”
She jumped directly in front of Monochrome’s face but he didn’t flinch. He calmly gazed back into the eyes of the party obsessed pony. Twilight was suddenly filled with worry for her friend as she had no idea how the odd stallion would react.
There was an awkward silence as the two looked at each other, no one daring to break the surreal staring contest. Pinkie’s smile never faltered and Monochrome’s gaze never left the mare. Then the black stallion turned back to the door and opened it. He walked out and spoke back to Twilight.
“I’m going to go get my stuff.”
With that brief goodbye, the door was slammed shut and silence fell once again. Monochrome walked along the road back towards the hotel he had left his saddlebags in. No other ponies were walking the roads this early morning except for the few shopkeepers who were bringing their goods to market. The black stallion trotted silently as he gazed down the road toward the hotel.
“Everypony in this town is crazy,” was all he said as his eyes began to glaze over.
The alchemist glanced quickly to his side as if hearing something. He froze and stared at empty air for a moment as a look of fear slowly began to spread across his face. With a shake of his head the stallion continued down the path and continued on. The stallion walked into the hotel and began his way up the stairs, his eyes seeming to flicker as the frosted expression merely became more obvious.
Upon entering his room the stallion looked around and spotted his saddlebag. He reached inside one of them and pulled out a bottle that contained a cloudy blue liquid. He took several gulps of the odd potion before putting it back down and corking the neck of the half empty bottle once more. As he paused for a moment, the glazed look slowly faded from Monochrome's eyes. He slung the saddlebags over his back, once again blocking his cutie mark from view.
On his way out, Monochrome dropped a small stack of bits on the counter of the hotel to pay for his room and then left. As he walked back, the stallion was completely silent and, from the look in his eye. His mind was running at less than full capacity, his apathetic gaze shifting across the road in front of him seemingly without a guide or purpose.
Eventually the self-imposed exile was over. He had arrived back at the library and lightly opened the door. With a glance around he realized the party was in full swing and all the ponies were either excitedly talking with Rainbow Dash, who was telling various exaggerated stories, were checking in with Twilight in regards to her hospital stay, or had their attention held by any of the various party games. With another quick look around the room to look for the pink pony, he entered the house slowly and closed the door behind him with his teeth.
When he turned around, Pinkie stood directly in front of him. The alchemist couldn’t help but jump slightly at this before the party pony burst out into a rant.
“There you are, when you left I was worried that you weren’t going to be coming back to my party. But then I thought 'who doesn’t love parties right?' So I knew you would be coming back for some of the delicious cake. You do like cake right? Of course you do, why would anyone not love cake?” the mare rattled off quickly.
“No thanks, I’m not hungry,” Monochrome said levelly as he began to walk away from the odd party master.
Pinkie was having none of that however and once more appeared in front of the black stallion.
“Well then how about a party game? I know some really great party games that we could play. Ooh ooh like pin the tail on the pony and ummm, oooh we have a pinata,” the pony said in a flood of words.
The alchemist’s eyebrow twitched once as the pink pony continued to talk, his eyes never lost their cold stare though. “No thanks.” He repeated as he pushed his way through the crowd while all of the ponies gave him an odd stare as he passed them.
“Okay then, maybe later!” Pinkie shouted jovially after him as the black stallion managed to reach the door to the basement of the house and pull himself in.
Kicking the door shut behind him, the alchemist looked around the empty basement, bar the square table that sat in the middle of the circular room. After walking down the semi-spiral stairs that went around the edge of the room, the pony began to set up his three pieces of chemistry equipment around the room. The smallest equipment was set on the table in the middle. The one large piece of equipment that had come out of the saddlebags in separate parts was set up on the opposite side of the room as the door, as the party music beat slowly through the wood walls.
To finish the setup, there was an oddly shaped brewing stand that had pieces of softly glowing metal under it that was set on the table. After finishing, Monochrome stood back from the room and took a quick glance around the room to ensure the few select pieces of equipment that he still owned had made it intact. It was at about this time that the door to the basement opened and a lavender unicorn made her way down the stairs.
As she approached, the black stallion had his attention drawn to a piece of untouched cake that the mare levitated alongside herself. As she descended the stairs the librarian noticed the alchemy equipment. She paused for a moment on the descent before shaking her head to clear it and arrived at the bottom next to Monochrome who now had a mild headache from the magic in the air.
“Piece of cake with regards from Pinkie,” Twilight stated as she levitated the piece of cake over to the stallion.
He nodded and held out his hoof. The lavender unicorn placed the cake on his hoof before cutting her levitation. The stallion quickly ate the pastry in a few bites and returned his attention to the magical prodigy.
“So, that’s some pretty advanced looking chemistry equipment you have there,” the purple mare said as she tried to start up a conversation.
“It’s all I have left. You should have seen my laboratory back in my hometown before they kicked me out,” the stallion replied and paused as he slowly approached the table.
Though he didn't notice, Twilight flinched slightly at the mention of his eviction.
“Thanks for letting me use this basement for my equipment. I guess I’ll have to go pick up some ingredients for this stuff then, so it’s not completely useless. Until then however,” the hornless unicorn said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small plastic bag that contained several plant remains.
As the stallion approached the equipment in the middle of the room Twilight spoke up. “Aren’t you supposed to run any alchemy by Celestia before you do it?” She asked hesitantly of the black stallion.
“It’s just plain chemistry Twilight, no alchemy involved in this potion I’m brewing,” came the response from the alchemist.
He received a nod from the lavender mare as he continued the brewing. After placing the bag on the table, the stallion split a few of the odd plant parts aside and placed them inside a bottle and lit the burner beneath it.
Seeing that the odd pony was out of things to say, the librarian returned upstairs. As she was about to leave, Monochrome called back to her.
“Tell Pinkie thanks for the cake. It was delicious.”
With a smile on her face, the mare looked briefly back at the black stallion before exiting the basement and delivering the complement to the party pony. Perhaps this odd pony wasn’t as bad as he first seemed to be.
Back at the table the alchemist sighed in the company-free basement.
“I’m sure it would taste amazing if my tongue could taste more than ash and bitter,” he said to himself before turning his full attention back to the work that sat in front of him.
The red potion began to bubble and was soon boiling. The stallion carefully removed the concoction and took a sip before placing it back over the heat with a grimace
“- and death of course, can’t forget that,” the chemist finished absentmindedly.