A Bond Across Dimensions

by AuraMastermg

Episode 5: Earning your mark

It was 6 months since Aura took Mystic Knight as his apprentice, and the young colt has been making a ton of progress. He was like a sponge, absorbing every detail and information that Aura was teaching him, so much that now Mystic has a tendency to carry around a notebook with him just incase he learns something new.

Currently, Aura was quizzing Mystic on Alchemy compatibility and synergy. "Alright, now let's say that I am currently using 20 grams of Silicon dioxide and I want to make a potion of invisibility, what options are there that I can use?"

"Easy. There are 3 options, the first one is to use a combination of dust from a snow moth and the petals from a sunset orchid. The second one is to use a mixture of mushroom spores from the crystal cap, spider silk, and hydra scales. And the third option is to use mycelium root and a Roc feather. Each one should be about twice the weight of the Silicon dioxide for maximum efficiency." Mystic answered quickly.

"Very good, and what do you use if you want to use an invisibility spell with a circle?"

"Simple, the pollen from a Moon Blossom. Then combine it with the Silicon dioxide and a claw of a chimera, sprinkle a small bit of the mixture on the circle and once it activates those inside it will remain invisible for a total of 1 hour."

Aura nodded his head. "Correct. Follow up question; what is Silicon dioxide and why is it the main ingredient for invisibility?"

"Silicon dioxide is classified as quartz and it is used as invisibility since it's alchemic make up is more transparent, even at small amounts."

Aura clapped at the response. "Perfect!"

He went over to the colt and ruffled his head. "You've been making a lot of progress in these past few months. I'm impressed."

Mystic blushed and rubbed the back of his neck and blushed.

"I think your now ready for a hands on lesson." Aura stated as he erased the chalk board.

"Really!" Mystic jumped out of his desk and landed directly on it with stars in his eyes.

Aura rubbed the colt's head and scuffed his mane. "You bet. But you have to come up with it yourself. Shouldn't be too hard with that head of yours." He created a circle and activated it, turning the room they were in back into Aura's laboratory.

"I'll give you one week to come up with something of your own. It can be anything, a potion, transmutation, summoning, construction, it's all up to you."

Mystic put his hoof up to his chin and started to think of some ideas. "And I'll also have to create the circle as well?"

"Yep. But this time don't turn the mansion into a forest." Aura teased, causing Mystic to puff up his cheeks and pout.

"Geez, you mess up a circle one time and you never hear the end of it." Mystic grumbled as he walked away to start his independent project.

The moment that Mystic fully exited the room Aura took a sigh of relief. "Well that should buy me some time, time to go to work." He pressed a button underneath his table and a large screen appeared and a chair rose from the ground. Once Aura took a seat the screen turned on and 7 beings popped up on screen.

"Alright Guardians, here are your missions..."

Meanwhile within his room, Mystic was searching through his stack of notebooks to find some type of idea on what to do for his independent project, but so far none of them would really prove his worth. After the whole incident 6 months ago, he has been wanting to prove himself and erase that whole thing for good. He just needed to find the perfect assignment.

"Construct a castle? No that would take too long, and requires a lot of resources. A healing circle? That is was to easy and lazy, so that is off the table. Summon a..." He read the last line and instantly closed the notebook with a slam with a hard sweat. "Hard pass."

He threw the notebook into a pile and groaned as he collapsed onto his bed and then screamed into his pillow. "Why is it so hard to come up with something!?"

He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "Maybe I'll sleep it off and start over with a fresh mind."

And thus, Mystic pulled up his covers and took a small nap to clear his mind.

---

The next day Mystic searching through his book on Alchemy while having lunch with his brother Gladius. The pegasus was flirting with some mares, and as a result getting a slap on the cheek each time.

"Man, why are all these mares so violent? Can't they tell when a stallion is joking?" He asked himself as he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek.

"Hmm. Maybe I can... no then I would have to do a double cross with some rare materials."

Mystic was in his own little world as he kept searching through the book, writing down and ideas that would work for a project. His brother sighed and took went over to him.

"Your really taking this seriously huh?" Gladius asked as he took a bite of his sunflower sandwich.

Mystic didn't look up from his book but responded none the less. "This is the first time Aura is letting me do a circle by myself." He paused for a moment and chuckled nervously. "Well, that and I really want to redeem myself after what happened 6 months ago. I just want this to really wow him... without it blowing up in my face again."

Gladius hummed and nodded. "Oh believe me little brother, I understand completely. But don't you think that your trying too hard?"

The colt lowered his book and glanced at his brother. "Pardon?"

"I mean, did Aura give you a particular assignment that had to be done in a certain way?"

"Well... um..." Mystic started to choke on his own words while Gladius leaned in with a teasing grin.

"Well? Did he or did he not?" Gladius asked again.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Mystic finally gave his answer. "He said that it could be anything I want."

Suddenly Mystic felt his mane being ruffled. "There you go. Like always, your overthinking things." Gladius pointed out. "If he said that it can be anything, then just use the first thing that comes to your head. Any more and you might overload your brain kid."

Mystic groaned and pushed his brother's hoof off of his head. "It's not that simple Gladius." He explained.

He lifted up his notebook and showed it to Gladius. Each page was filled with elaborate equations and factions that started to make his head hurt.

"I have to come up with something without making it seem like I'm just copying it from a book. I want my real first time using a circle to be memorable. Something that can really prove just how far I've come as a budding Alchemist."

Gladius was taken back. His own little brother had gone a long way from that shy and scared colt. It was enough to bring a tear to his eye.

"I see." He wiped a tear from his eye. "Well then, maybe I have a suggestion for you. Have you ever heard of the metal called Oricalcum?"

This was something that sparked Mystic's curiosity as he stared at his older brother with wide eyes. "Of course I do! Its supposedly a rare metal that is magic by nature! Infact, it might be the only metal that is magic by nature! But it is so rare that many call it a myth, and that is also ontop that is also resembles brass so miners have a real hard time determining if it's even real or not!" Mystic rambled eagerly.

But once he stopped he gave his brother a weird look. "But what does that have to do with my project?"

Gladius smiled and wrote down something down in the notebook.

'Main two ingredients: Copper and Zinc.'

"From what the eggheads back at the castle said, most of the findings of Oricalcum has traces of those two metals. Maybe it's a clue on how they were made." Gladius noted.

Slowly, Mystic's head rose and he started to grin with an open mouth.

"YOUR THE BEST BIG BROTHER EVER!"

Mystic hugged Gladius and ran over to various stores, excited to start his project and ace it all the same.

Gladius chuckled and sat back down. "Just doing my job as the elder brother." He stated and leaned back to take a sip of his drink, but when a mare passed him he grinned and went after her.

"Excuse me beautiful, care to have a member of the royal guard escort yo..."*SMACK*

Gladius was sent flying into a stall as the mare huffed and flicked her tail at him.

"Ouch."

---

Back in Aura's laboratory.

"And I think that should do it for your assignments. Send me your reports once your done." Aura finished up and closed the screen, then he collapsed onto his chair and took in a breath of fresh air.

"Thank the Creator that's done. Is it really that hard for them to accept the jobs they're assigned?" He asked himself then got ready to do his own job. "Luckily this one isn't too long so I should be back before dinner. I hope."

The God snapped his fingers and went through the portal to start his mission.

But not long after, Mystic opened the door and peeked inside. "Um, Aura? You here?"

The colt opened the door and looked around for any sign of his mentor. "Seems like he's on another trip. Right!" He slapped both cheeks and put on a determined face. "Time to get what I need."

Mystic went over to the cases filled with different supplies and grabbed a copper ingot and a sack of zinc. He then walked out of the laboratory to his room, closed the door and locked it so that he can have full concentration.

"Okay, first things first is that I have to create is the circle for testing compatibility. Draw the circle and draw the runes needed for the circle."

The colt drew the circle and then the runes in it making sure that it was nice and even as one miss step could result in disaster.

"Next, I'll have to test each ingredient to make sure that they match. First is the Copper and Zinc." The colt placed the two ingredients down and immediately, the circle lit green and showed a writing that said 'MAGICLESS ORICALCUM'.

"Okay, now to test each ingredient to see what links up with these two." He looked up at all his items and gulped. "This may take a while."

---

For the next 3 days Mystic has been comparing compatibility with the two main ingredient. So far he was able to cut the list in half but since he needed 4 ingredients, he needed one more, so he had to compare each combination to and widdle down the list to 10 possible choices.

But since he didn't know what they made, he now had to produce test simulations to see their outcome. And to say that they were taking a toll on the colt was an understatement. His bags under his eyes had bags and there were notes scattered around him.

Yet at the end of the tunnel, all his work finally paid off. At the center of his circle was a small magically charged ingot of Oricalcum.

"I... I did it. I actually did it." He lifted the small ingot in his hooves and grinned. "Now to write down the ingredients and... then..."

Mystic swayed back and forth then collapsed on his table from sheer exhaustion. He gripped the ingot in his hooves, but what he didn't notice was that the circle on the table didn't say Oricalcum, it said something else entirely.

Something far more valuable and powerful.

---

The following days Mystic had to rest after all that, but when the day for him to present his project to Aura came, he was bouncing with glee like a school girl filly.

Aura stood outside next to a tree with a smile on his face. Truth be told, he too was excited for whatever Mystic had came up with, and from what he heard from Gladius, it was going to be something great.

Once Mystic ran up he stood tall as Aura walked up to him. "This is it Mystic." He encouraged the colt. "Your first real transmutation. Are you ready?"

Mystic nodded and gripped his bag. "Yes."

"Alright, your test starts NOW!" Aura announced with a swing on a gong.

Mystic hurried to the center of the area and went to grab his items but Aura stopped him.

"No no no, it wouldn't be a test if you had your items premade." He clapped his hands and a small circle appeared on his palm, drawing Mystic's bag over to him. "You'll get this back once the test is over. But for now I have a table of items and several tools to either grind, liquidate, or measure."

Aura put the bag over his shoulder and sat down. "I'm testing more then your ability to create a circle, I'm also testing you on all your knowledge. That and an Alchemist will need to make a circle on the fly to be successful."

This new rule didn't bother Mystic at all. He had all the information he needed in his head. So he ran up to the ingredients and grabbed what he needed.

However this was when he started to have trouble, many ingredients looked the same and didn't have any labels. No doubt this was a test to see if he memorized what each ingredient was.

Mystic carefully scanned the table and found the ingredients that he needed then he went over to the grinder to crush the non metal parts into a fine powder. All this while Aura took notes Mystic's performance.

The colt remembered that the weight amount of the copper and zinc equaled 210 ounces. And since he had 500 this time he needed to grind up that much from the other two ingredients.

He placed a scale under the grinder and carefully watched the number go up bit by bit. Mystic was keeping a very close eye on it while still using the grinder in a very slow motion until he hit his targeted weight.

"Good, now for the magic enhancer." The colt went back to the table and picked up a Moonblossom and some Sapphire moss then put it in a purifier. The magical essence of the plants seethed out like tea and slowly dripped into a small bottle. Then Mystic added a pinch of salt and the liquid started to glow like the moon.

With all the preparations done it was now time to create the circle. So Mystic grabbed some chalk and drew the circle he memorized on a slab of stone.

'That circle, it's the one for life alterations. Why would he use that one for merging. Could it be possible that he... Nonsense Kaiser, there's no way that he possibly found the equation for the holy grail in all of Alchemy.'

With the circle drawn, Mystic then poured the magic enhancing potion in the center and watched the circle glow a bright blue. "So far so good. Now for the transmutation."

Mystic placed the ingot of Copper and Zinc directly in the center, but when he went to the outer ring, he didn't notice that he accidentally dropped the small piece of Oricalcum in with the ingots.

Once he was at the Outer ring, Mystic took a deep breath and calmed his mind. If his mind was full of fear and doubt, then the circle wouldn't activate or worst, it would spiral out of control and take Mystic with him just like what happened back then.

But this time was different. This time Mystic knew what he was doing and he knew that he had what it takes.

So with a clear mind and no regrets, he plunged his hooves on the outer ring and activated the circle. The light of the circle glowed intensely and started to spin in place.

Aura looked at the metals at the center of the circle mix and swirl. He was impressed, normally it would take a budding Alchemist 5 to 8 years before they could make something as advance as Oricalcum, but from the looks of it it seems like Mystic was able to nail it down with such precision.

However, the circle then turned red and Aura's eyes began to widen. He's only seen this once, and he couldn't believe that he was seeing it again.

But to Mystic, once he opened his eyes, was in shock as he saw the results, and that was a mistake.

The air started to pull in and many other items from the table were pulled in as well, merging with the metal and threatened to create a large explosion.

"Not this time." The colt pushed his hooves harder and he was able to use the wind to push back the items before they could enter the ingots and soon they were enveloped into a bright light that blinded both Aura and Mystic. And Mystic suddenly felt a warm feeling on his flank.

---

"Ugh... what hit me?" Mystic groaned and slowly got up. The area where he placed his circle was singed and had light blue flames around it. When he looked at the center his hopes were shattered as what he saw wasn't Oricalcum, but what appeared to be a small red sphere that pulsed a red light.

The colt fell to his knees and felt crushed. "I messed something up. I couldn't create Oricalcum." He gritted his teeth and slammed his hooves into the dirt out of frustration.

"WHY CAN'T I DO ANYTHING RIGHT!?"

Behind him, Aura emerged from some rubble and gasped. He slowly made his way to the center of the circle and picked up the red pebble.

"Mystic... do you know what you've just created?"

The Unicorn colt in question sniffled and avoided eye contact. "A worthless pebble yeah?"

But Aura shook his head. "Far from it. This here is the most valuable thing that an Alchemist can create." He said as he held it up and let the light refract off of it.

"The Philosopher's Stone."

Mystic's eyes widened as he gasped in disbelief. "You mean... the Philosopher's Stone? The very same stone that is said to have the same matter as all of creation itself, and could theoretically produce unlimited amounts of power, an unlimited source of magic and science!?"

Aura's nod nearly made Mystic faint, but he saw Aura point to him. "Your flank..."

The colt turned to look at his flank and saw that he had a special Alchemy Circle with a red stone in the center.

It was his cutie mark.

"I got my Cutie Mark." This was all that Mystic could say before he collapsed and fell unconscious.

Aura recovered and slowly went over to his student and picked him up. "You are one of a kind Mystic. A real diamond in the rough." He proudly said and walked him back home.

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

From what I've seen of Fullmetal Alchemist, don't Philosipher Stones need another ingredient?

[AuraMastermg]

11553952
They do but I'm not using that. As I said in a post long ago, this Philosopher's Stone doesn't use souls. In my head canon due to the high concentrated amount of raw magic in Equestria, it is possible to create it if used with Oricalcum and a high amount of magic, like... Alicorn amount of magic.

I am a huge Fullmetal Alchemist fanboy. But I want to use an Equestria spin on it. Different dimensions, different rules.

[AstralFlare42]

11553961
Makes sense. BTW, OC offer is still available if you need it.

[JNKing]

Well done, Mystic. 👍

I was kinda hopeful that the Philosopher's Stone Mystic created was the same stone Aura used for his prosthetic arm, but I'm not sure if that lines up with the timeline of when Aura got the arm. Neat idea though.

Also, poor Gladius having no luck with the mares. Too bad Jazz wasn't around then; as her interactions with Saki showed, she's got no problem being flirted with . Though I imagine Gladius is already happy with Phoenix. Just another thing that makes reading this prequel fun.

You're doing an awesome job, buddy. Can't wait for more.

Until then,

👏