The Alchemist

by Hummingbirds

Unnoticed

Retiring from her day, our little student went to her bed at last, and let her eyes fall closed yet again, the moonlight shining gently through her balcony window. Slowly, the physical world left her, and she awoke again, in a hazed field of grass and stone. Slowly, she stood, again looking around, seeing the endless sea of planets and stars around her. Encircling her spot of awakening, lay small, wide mushrooms, glowing a low blue, with minute strands of silvery thread hanging from the edges.

Walking to a rather large selection of said mushrooms, she leaned down, her eyes closing, and gently inhaled.

The luminescent fungus smelled of what could only be described as the purest of air, the crisp night wafting through her. Sleepily noting this, the little pony opened her eyes, only to see the world floating away from her, only to float through nothingness. Soon, she set her feet down on yet another planet, fields of wheat surrounding her.

There stood more pillars, erected of stone, and square in shape. These were far and few between, yet stretched miles high, tattered flags hanging from the sides. Around her, wisps of sentient light flowed, danced, in the air, circling her form.

The student found herself weightless, and adrift, as the light encompassed her. Floating, the little pony wandered to the top of the nearest pillar, and landed, the wisps breaking off and watching.

With a ripple, the world below shifted, warped, and she saw, rather than crisp winter grass, endless plains of wheat.

The pillar began to crumble, and as she stood at its peak, the falling stones revealed a figure, the frame of a phoenix. Its wings spread, sending ripples through the wheat, and with Twilight aboard, the colossus took flight, soaring through the feilds. She felt joy, as the massive bird began to ascend, and fly through the space, only to land amongst the standing stones of Twilights original planet. Lowering her head, the bird let twilight down, and the student grazed her hoof along the stone beak of the giant.

Unbeknownst to her, the fiery, yet sage spirit of the phoenix became one with hers, another mind to wander her subconscious library. The bird stood, and took off, ascending the stars.

Twilight returned to the glowing circle of fungi, and fell to sleep in the center.
Her eyes opened again, to be greeted by the sun. Spike was nowhere to be found, likely waking early in his youth and adventuring yet again. With a spark, she appeared again in the foyer, heading to the kitchen, before preparing a salad.

Eating it quickly, she decided to go and visit her farmer friend. The weeks of experiments had left her with little exercise, so she felt helping her friend would help her.

Trotting gleefuly, she approached the farm, to be greeted by the farmers older brother. He was slowly, dutifully pulling a large wagon full of apples.

“Mornin, miss Sparkle. Nice to see y’all round these parts again. What brings ya here?”

She liked to hear him speak, enjoying the simplicity of his speech.

“I was just coming to see Applejack! I wanted to help around today.”

Nodding, he pointed her down the left path, towards the western orchards. “Saw her headin’ thata way.”

Offering a thanks, she trotted down the path, to meet her friend. Needless to say, the day went with much work. But Applejack noticed something different.

Twilight, the calm, demure student, was competitive.

“Now are y’all sure you’re alright? You been actin.. different.” Applejack suddenly asked in the middle of apple harvesting.

Twilight shot a burst of magic at a nearby tree, shuddering the trunk, and sending the apples into her auras grasp.

“Why do you ask? Is something wrong?” She replied, as Applejack sent a swift kick to her tree, sending the apples into half-cut barrels.

And the farmer figured it out. Twilight always picked each apple from the tree with her magic, with precision. Now, she was simply sending a small blast at the tree, knocking them loose. Now normally, this would just be a minor change in style, but Applejack had known twilight long and well. The purple pony would always have the same bright face, cheerily going about and going the safe way, but now she wore an expression similar to the prismatic-maned Rainbow Dash, and was practically running around, as if she was daring applejack to beat her.

So, like any prideful farmer, she accepted that challenge, forgetting all else.

..Needless to say, the orchards were clear in Ten. Hours. Flat.

(A/N: Notice a change in the mood? Sorry if you enjoyed the eerie parts, but dont worry, those will always be there, and I'm fond of writing those, so there is bound to be more. Otherwise, writing like that is rather.. disturbing. It damages my sanity, which i only recently got control over again, so im going to be taking on other notes throughout. Also, Playoff, by Cyril Morin. If you're going to want to enhance the super creepy aspect of the first few chapters, and when twilight ends up in "That place", it helps. Alot. :D )

Comments

[Hummingbirds]

Sorry for finally breaking the mood, but It'll be back. I promise.

...

[RaptorJesus]

762797
I, for one, have no problem with this new mood. Actually having Twilight act OOC in a "natural" situation adds to that eerie feeling - that something isn't quite right, but you don't know exactly WHAT.
And every single theory I can come up with about Spike's disappearance makes me uneasy.

Also, sorry to hear that you've got some troubles with your sanity. I'm all too aware of the hardship of using the frontier of insanity as a jump rope.
(I'm still jumping)