The Cutie Alchemist

by Visharo

Lightning Dust

Lightning: a sudden stroke of fortune

Dust: something worthless

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Many moons have passed since... she disappeared. Starswirl didn't feel better, but he felt more...acclimated. He was smiling and laughing, he could hold full conversations for a lengthy amount of time without breaking down. But all this positivity had an end sooner or later, and he would spend his lows either up on a hill or in the hut.

In those months, he had his family and friends expand the hut so more ponies could fit inside due to the coming cold. After the first snowfall, they hustled as fast as they could and was just in time right before the big dump. Now, the whole world was covered in white and mists appeared with every breath. It was peaceful in a way, now that Starswirl knew what to expect.

Starswirl sat in front of the open doorway and looked out into the winter wonderland. He didn't know where he got that description, but it felt right. It did feel wintery and it did feel wondrous. He sighed, his thoughts flicking back to her again. Ever since they finished with the extended hut, the lack of work allowed him to have a lot of time towards thinking. Very much unlike earlier in his life where he thought he could spend his entire existence thinking.

"Swirly?" Celestia trotted up to him with a tentative smile.

"Yes?" He didn't move a muscle. There was no reply, so he turned around. His filly was no longer a filly, a beautiful full grown mare and the sight made him smile sadly. Fizzlepop would never grow up like her. Behind Celestia, Luna was giggling along with Sunset who had a leaf stuck in her mane and was trying, with not much success, to get it out.

"Come spend time with us, Shining invented a game for us to play. It's called...Og...Ohg..." She stopped and smiled sheepishly. "I have no idea what he called it. But won't you join us?"

Starswirl thought about it then thought better of it. "Sure."

Celestia beamed and grabbed his hand and dragged him to where Shining and Cadance were setting up...something. Golden Harvest was already there, vibrating in place, while Granny watched from a corner with a thoughtful frown. Starswirl took his place next to Harvest and watched with avid interest. The other stallion was pulling out several objects, all with different shapes and colors. He also had a bunch of paper with various scribbles, no doubt given to him by Stygian. When Starswirl was looking around to figure out where his friend was, he was surprised to find that he was right next to him.

"Stygian! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" The gray stallion grinned widely.

"My apologies, it was not my intention."

"Ha, no matter. Do you know what this game is about?"

"I have no clue. Shining Armor did not share any information with me when he inquired about my paper."

"Guess we will just have to figure it out ourselves."

"Shhhh!" Harvest shushed, her playful gaze focused on whatever Shining was bringing out now.

The two stallions looked back and watched with confusion as the white unicorn brought out more objects and even more paper. What kind of game is this that requires so much paper? It took many countings before Shining was finally done with whatever he was doing. Then he looked up and looked surprised.

Starswirl looked around and noticed everypony had gathered around the large flat rock. Zecora and Fluttershy, Luna, Celestia, and Sunset. Granny Smith had gotten closer, Muad was here too...somehow. Starswirl thought she had left some time ago. Muffins had somehow found her way between himself and Golden Harvest, much to his confusion.

"Oh...heh, I wasn't expecting everypony..." Shining looked embarrassed and trailed off.

"It's okay, honey. You've got this!" Cadance cheered and kissed his cheek. Starswirl felt an old parental surge, but quickly tempered it when he noticed a glance from Granny.

"Hoo, okay. Okay, so this is a game I invented. I call it Ogres and Oubliettes, or O&O for short. It's a rocktop roleplaying game. Basically, you have this...character you invent for yourself and you play that character. With that character, I have this world where I drop your characters in and then I give you a story and you interact with my world in the way you would think your character would act. So uhh...yeah? It's better if we play." Shining smiled self consciously.

Everypony murmured their agreement in various fashions.

"Right, okay. So this is a character sheet and..."

***

It was well into the night when they finished with their first 'session'. Because of the amount of ponies, there were two 'campaigns', one hosted by Shining Armor and the other by Cadance. Celestia, Luna, Sunset, and Fluttershy played with Cadance and from the amount of giggles, Starswirl concluded they were having fun. That left himself, Stygian, Granny, Harvest, Maud, and Zecora with Shining.

Despite the large 'party', Shining, the 'Game Master', handled them pretty well. Starswirl certainly had fun, playing a sorcerer. Zecora was a tribal priest, Stygian a scholarly wizard, Harvest a perky Bard, Maud was a stoic paladin, and Granny the scary fighter. The party was 'well balanced', whatever that meant.

By the end of it, Shining was out like a nightlight with a content smile, while the rest of us sipped at some warm apple cider. It was delicious, like always. Starswirl let himself drift after the second sip, let all his emotions drain out of him, leaving only a warmed up husk. It felt nice, not thinking, for once. But before he knew it, it was over.

"Starswirl?" Granny shook him with a concerned expression.

"Heh. I am fine." He smiled and genuinely meant it. He did indeed feel fine. "Thanks, Granny."

***

A few sunrises later, the snow stopped falling and the outside was pure white. After a talk with Granny, Starswirl decided that it would be interesting to explore outside. They didn't really have the luxury when they were up further north and especially not with all these new ponies. For the majority of them, Granny included, this was their first snowfall.

"Wooo!" Sunset burst outside with a big grin and immediately disappeared.

"Sunset!" Starswirl got struck in the chest and burst through after her, desperate to find her. He couldn't lose another one! His vision started losing focus, his breaths came rapidly and erratic. He was about to destroy the winter wonderland with his magic when a hand was placed on his shoulder. He turned around. "Granny?"

"It got ya hard, didn't it?" He stared at her uncomprehending. "Look around, ya oaf. Sunset's fine, look." He turned to look and saw the orange unicorn giggling and rolling around in the snow. Starswirl felt his blood pressure return to normal as he shot a grateful glance to Granny.

Then a solid thump landed on his back. "Not it!" Celestia rushed past with a giggle, but then immediately tripped in the heavy snow. Before Starswirl could register anything, she was back on her hooves and wading her way through the snow.

"Wait!" Starswirl the Bearded, old as he was, rushed after her feeling young again. More ponies joined in the game, until it was just Stygian watching with amused disinterest. There were tackles, snowball fights, and no mercy. It was soon after tagging Maud, did everypony realize she was a force to be reckoned with. Starswirl found himself running for his life when her soulless eyes lit up with the tinniest of interest when she spotted him. All in all, they were having fun.

He had no idea how long they played when in the distance, thunder cracked. The game slowed and everypony started to gather around each other.

"How unfortunate for this storm to appear, we were having such good cheer." Zecora said sadly, shaking her head.

"Starswirl." Granny trotted up to him. "Something about this is unnatural."

He looked up then looked towards Stygian. "Stygian, tell me about this storm."

"It is most unique, no clouds were accumulating and then suddenly they were there. I think...oh, there it was again. Yes, there are magical flashes in the storm too. This is magical in nature, not natural magic. I suggest we get inside before it arrives." Stygian commented almost casually, but Starswirl noted the stress behind those words.

"Alright everypony, inside!" He shouted and was met with groans. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

They all filed in grumpily. Starswirl casted on last look behind him before going in. Through these last few days, they experimented with Stygian's paper. So Sunset and Luna immediately went back to their paper projects while Celestia started chatting with Fluttershy and Zecora. Maud started inspecting rocks she somehow had gotten while playing their game of tag. Shining and Cadance started going over some O&O stuff. That left Granny, Starswirl, and Stygian watching out a window.

"What could cause this?" The gray stallion asked.

"I'm not sure." Stygian replied.

"Somethin' hooey, ah'm sure." Granny added.

As they watched, the clouds gathered at an alarming rate and lightning strikes happened more frequently. Starswirl could've sworn he saw a picture in the darkened sky, but before he could make it out, it disappeared. He frowned. He was about to turn around when suddenly the Chalice of Life started glowing once again.

"Another pony?" Stygian asked, curious.

Starswirl didn't reply and instead held up the glass, wondering what the trigger was this time. Then without warning, the glass shot out of his hands and hovered out of a window that was somehow open. The three stared in shock as the glass rose up into the air and just at the moment, lightning shot from the heavens and struck the glass. The world was awash in blue and yellow, blinding everycreature in the vicinity. When vision came back to Starswirl, he witnessed a pony-shaped silhouette fall from the sky.

Without a second of thought, he rushed through the doorway and galloped for the pony. Luckily, due to their antics, the snow was trampled and gave Starswirl enough grip for his hooves. Then the snow storm started to pick up and he soon found himself in a snow storm. He barely had time to register the fact that none of this made any sense. As if reading his thoughts, the storm kicked another lightning bolt in his direction.

Starswirl threw himself to the side and the lightning missed, but the now the ground was on fire. He ignored that and kept on running, determined to save whoever this pony was. The first thing he caught was the Chalice, it was still intact and whole. Then the pony hurtled ever closer.

The crazy storm was messing with his concentration, but he was able to wrap his hue around the pony and break their fall. The pegasus, he saw, lay in a hole filled with dust and slushy snow. He quickly tucked away the glass and grabbed the pegasus and heaved. He was about to change tactics when Granny suddenly appeared out of nowhere and together, the two were able to heave the unconscious pegasus back to the house.

By the time they got back, their pelts were drenched and several fires were spreading around the house. Shining wasted no time and erected a shield around the house and as if offended, the storm chucked another bolt which made the white unicorn flinch in pain.

"SWIRLY!" Celestia all but tackled him, followed by Luna and Sunset. "What were you thinking!"

"You could've died!" Luna was sobbing.

"Why did you do that?" Sunset's expression was the worst, her filly eyes wide and flittering, just hit him like a punch from Maud.

Starswirl just gestured weakly to the pegasus they saved and then collapsed, his energy spent. "I think...I think I am going to take a nap."

Author's Note:

Now aren't those definitions quite interesting.

mmm, I wish snow would fall like that again. Stupid climate change.
Kudos to everybody! Have a good one.

We're also nearing the 1 year mark! Crazy stuff.