The Alchemist

by Hummingbirds

A Road Astray

Once again our little student found herself awoken, greeted by the cool, crisp air of her second home. She had grown used to its effect, now going about her given time with a slightly more active conscious. That, however, did little to resist her deeper wishes. Aside from her first visit, she had never viewed into the minds and lives of any other, and was contempt shortly. With time, the everlasting mortal desire for knowledge came upon her once again, intertwining itself within her mind during her studies of psychopathy. The medical world of Equesria, even aided by magic and otherworldly minds, still understood relatively little about those few who developed, or were born with, an outlier mentality. Her studies most recently were of a slightly more famous, slightly more strange alchemist, whom was known as only Valerian. He lived not long ago, supposedly perishing two years back, and leaving almost none of his works behind. His shop had exploded, presumed to be an experiment gone wrong. There was no body.

Such things were rare, and hardly understood. In such a utopian society, it was nearly impossible to meet such a quick, violent death while under the sisters blessing. Almost everyone had passed peacefully, and painlessly, only to live amongst the others in a separate realm. Twilight had read what she could, before the parchment knowledge ran dry. Deciding to end the night, she had a cup of sedative tea, and headed off to bed.

Walking plainly, a soft padded thud sounded in rhythm with her movement, following her about the plains. She passed ten, hundreds of pillars, some drawing her attention. One such stone construct had a soft violet glow emitting from a cryptic text written upon its sides. She walked on, regardless, eventually reaching her destination. Unsuprisingly, the stones that constructed this particular pillar were jagged quartz, casting a shimmer around her. In its center, lay his mark- a cracked phial.

Without further hesitation, she raised her delicate hoof to graze its features, to be enveloped in a light, and spawned into another life. Quickly deciding to view the moments prior to the blast, and his death, she came to see the alchemist walking from his house at night, to the edge of town, where he turned and watched from a secluded location. Shortly after, there was a brilliant blue flash, and a small crater lie in place of his home. He walked on. He was alive.

Panning to his current moments, she found the colt simply watching his alembic boil. Its contents curiously simmered about, while a silver liquid fell from the condenser into a clay bowl, inscribed with a crescent moon on its side.

Hello.

She mentally jumped, startled by the sudden voice she was hearing. She didn’t feel his jaw moving, however. He knew she was there.

Eh, hello? Twilight attempted to voice in her mind.

Hi, yes. Welcome, I suppose. Now do you mind telling me just why you are invading my mind? Its quite distracting.

His voice was rather syrupy, like a blues singer. A nice change from the raspy and gruff voices of the few men she knew.
She barely processed that though, her rapid cognition shot. Basic speech was easily accomplished, albeit with little “filtering”.

I just wanted to see how you died. You aren’t dead. Why fake it?

Now, that surprised him. He had honestly thought that his mind was going awry again. Focusing a little, he reciprocated his response.

Well, aside from the fact that a sentient being is in my head that isn’t of my own creation, I guess I have a tad of explaining. You see, I had grown tired of the locals being so fearful. I decided to give them peace, and some fireworks. Now, I can work in silence. Well, I could.

It made a bit of sense. People don’t like having a madman with incredible power in their neighborhood. He probably had some trouble socializing, too.

Alright, and sorry about that. I do suppose I should leave. But.. could you first tell me what formula that is? Ive rarely seen that liquor. Actually, I thought only Luna knew about it.

Twice today, Valerian was startled. Not only was there a sentient being in his head, but it was curious about his work! This brought great joy to him.

Ah! A fellow alchemist, I see?

Actually I’m jus- She was cut off shortly.

Well, its actually very interesting how I got this ability. Its actually made from arcane ingredients, you see. The reason nopony could make it, is because you need 13 spells to conjure the necessities. Also, as for Luna, she and I are… rather close. She doesn’t call me insane, either. That, and the lass was my teacher. She knew I would be leaving soon, to live in a forest far from my home. Its tedious, but the everfree has many advantages. First off, only one person knows im here.

Wait, make that two.

But anyway, the both of us are alchemists anyways, and she has a good understanding of me, so im kept secret. I’ve learned quite a few recipes from the zebra, as well.

Twilight, being ever so curious, pressed for more, also explaining her situation.

Well, I suppose I could teach you. Just think about it, and you’ll know the spells then…I think. Meet me under the harvest moon, however. There lies one special part, and the ingredient only grows near here. Anyhow, I need some rest! See you soon!

And with that, the purple pony suddenly awoke in her bed, seemingly ejected. No surprise, considering that the madpony could hear her.

Tending to her day, she found herself home again at night. The harvest moon was in two days, leaving her just enough time to prepare plenty of the magically conjured ingredients. In front of her lay 13 large flasks, each with a label. Looking at the first one, labeled ”Foals Joy”, she focused on her horn, suddenly knowing the spell needed. Shortly after, a burst erupted from its tip, and the bottle was filled to the brim with the essence of care-free laughter. Corking it, she went on to the next flask, labeled “Midnight’s Desire”, and again cast a spell. The bottle was soon filled with a deep purple luminescent fluid, flowing slowly of its own accord. And so she went on, in her basement laboratory. The time was ticking.

And in the depths of her innermost sanctum, within the towering shelves of her library, a cleanly groomed unicorn sat upon a cluster of glowing mushrooms, merrily humming a horrifically catchy tune.

Comments

[Hummingbirds]

Aha! Did it! I know i'm certainly not very good, but things do get better with time i suppose. I would absolutely love to become a recognized writer one day, so y'all gonna have to deal with my crap for a while!

Oh, and yeah. I have plaaaaaanss...

[RaptorJesus]

Hey, that's pretty cool~
So now she wanders into the minds of the livings, and tries out alchemy...
That's gonna be good :D

[Aziraphael]

Hmmm....you have a very interesting writing style. It's not one that I enjoy reading very often, if only because I find it to be more than a little depressing, but you use it very well. The tone you create with your writing is incredibly compelling. I'm very much looking forward to where you go with this story. It's very good so far, so all I can really say is good luck and keep up the good work.

[Hummingbirds]

Oh, thank you x 7^3! I was really on a low streak recently, with my mind losing grip more often than I was used too. Eh, oh well. And I get the depressing feel primarily because I make sure to create that atmosphere around me, commonly involving dark setting and music, with a few of my homemade medicinal pills, or tea, to aid me. As for the mind numbing part I notice, that's primarily a result of my mental capacities mortal failure, and it's task of keeping multiple things in check. Its rather hard to focus very well, basically. That, and I have multiple little worlds In my head, so it gets hard to manifest just one into text.

AAAAaaaannyyyywayy...

Again, thank you! I'll be getting a new chapter worked out soon enough.

[Hummingbirds]

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