Black Flask opened the front door to his home and sighed. As usual, Canterlot city was gray as ever, if not even more so. Black Flask straightened his jet black hair, which parted at the front due to his horn, and fixed his suit. He took his first step, not realizing the puddle that rested before him. Before Black Flask could even notice, his hoof splashed into the puddle, and tiny droplets sprayed on to his suit. The colt groaned, realizing at the exact same moment that it was his only suit that he owned. Knowing he can't let his beautiful mare waiting at the restaurant, Black Flask avoided the rest of the puddle and made his way down the quiet streets.
Black Flask was a scientist, more importantly a chemist. Before, he took major pride in his work, letting no one criticize his work. Nowadays, it seemed more and more that it didn't matter anymore. His studies barely held any attention, and those that did were only laughed at, only making the glum scientist's mood more and more darker. Of course, Black Flask already seriously considered suicide, but that would conflict with his lifetime goal; to die with dignity.
Black Flask was celebrating his anniversary with a beautiful young unicorn mare, only a year younger than him, whose name was Ember Soul. She was a fine mare, who was both intelligent and great in the looks department. Even with Black Flask's attitude, she still stuck with him to share the brutalities of life together. However, it appeared more and more apparent that Ember Soul was sick of the endless moaning and groaning, and has tried numerous times to lighten Black Flask's attitude, only to be shot down by him in one of his anti-world speeches, which Ember Soul hated.
It was a dark evening, and Black Flask forgot his coat in the midst of the chilly air. His breath was easily visible as he trotted through the many streets of Canterlot. The ground was layered with stone, and the lampposts shone brightly overhead, bringing down light to only one spot. Only few ponies went out at night, with the werepony problem still at large.
Wereponies. Just uttering the word was completely silly. It was almost expected of Black Flask to challenge the use of black magic and such and such. While ordinary magic prospered, there was almost no doubt about that, black magic soon started to pop into view, with rumours of black magic being used for evil intentions. Of course, Black Flask shot these claims down as soon as they were mentioned, and Black Flask shrugged off the claims as if they were annoying flies, and the fact that wereponies had something to do with it was just absurd.
Black Flask trotted down the many empty and barren streets, trying to find the restaurant that the couple were supposed to meet. It was a particularly new restaurant, which opened a few months ago, and it soon became a new attraction that many ponies liked. Ember Soul was also a fan of the restaurant (Her reasoning being the pasta was delicious), and she was the one who suggested the idea. Black Flask agreed to the restaurant, even though he hated the service there, and he was almost certain that the waiters gave him dirty looks.
Soon, the sign of the restaurant came into view, and soon enough, Black Flask was at the entrance of the establishment. He peered through the see through glass and scanned the various tables for his date. He spotted the mare, looking more beautiful than ever. She had a nice red dress on, and her mane was glowingly blonde, with lipstick on her lips. She stared at her forks and fidgeted, visually looking annoyed. Black Flask took out his pocket-watch from his suit, and studied the time.
Dear Celestia, I'm twenty minutes late! Black Flask stuffed the pocket watch back into his suit and quickly pushed open the doors to the restaurant. The establishment wasn't exactly large, but it was nice enough. The walls were decorated with fancy patterns and pictures, which had a nice gold glow to it. Black Flask walked towards the table, before being stopped by a sharply dressed gray colt with with a black beard and combed hair. He glared at the sight of Black Flask, with his messy mane, wrinkled suit
"I'm sorry, but have you reserved a table?" the colt asked. Black Flask cleared his throat and spoke as politely as possible.
"My apologies. A Mr. Black Flask, with a table for two." The colt looked at his list, trailing his hoof through the list. The colt rested his hoof on Black Flask's name.
"Ah, yes. Mr. Black Flask. Would you like to be directed to your table?" Black Flask waved his hoof.
"No, thank you. I can find it myself." With that, Black Flask passed the colt, who was slightly insulted, and traveled to the table to where Ember Soul resided. She was fidgeting with her fork, obviously bored. Black Flask cleared his throat to make him acknowledged. Ember Soul glanced from her and frowned, not impressed with Black Flask's late arrival.
"You're late," Ember Soul exclaimed. Black Flask pulled up his chair and sat down on it, enjoying the comfort of the leather cushioning of the seat. If this restaurant got one thing right, it was the seats, as they were one of the most comfortable seats he has ever sat his flank on. Black Flask once again cleared his throat.
"And hello to you too, darling"
"You know, with your intelligence, I thought you could at least keep track of time."
"Yes, well, things tend to happen when something important springs up. So, my dear, how have things been recently?"
"Oh, nothing important. It was a pain to get my hair to get perfectly right today. Just because I want to make an impression for you," Ember Soul said, almost like she wanted to seduce the chemist. Black Flask snickered at the sentence.
"First time anypony, especially mares, actually wanted to look nice for me."
"You don't always have to be negative about every little thing, Black Flask. Besides, it's obvious that you didn't want to make an impression on me," Ember Soul said, staring at Black Flask's uncombed hair. Black Flask stared up at his mane as well, sighing at the putrid look of the chemist's hair.
"I told you several times before, my hair is always like this. Why can't you accept the fact that it's always messy?"
"Must we start our anniversary like this, Black Flask? I don't want things to go sour before we even start our main course." Black Flask sighed and looked at the menu choices. Even though the chemist could name all of the elements from the periodic table, he wasn't as fond with the several choices, which was in a foreign language. By then, the waiter arrived at the table and put down orders.
The rest of the evening was a standard anniversary out. The two chuckled at each other's jokes, conveying about topics that both didn't know until that very night. The atmosphere was very lively, and the meal was delicious. After the two exited the restaurant, Ember Soul's expression changed from a peppy attitude, to a face of regret. Black Flask immediately took notice, taking advantage of the skill of noticing ponies emotions.
"Darling, what's wrong?" Black Flask asked, with a little worry audible in his tone. Ember Soul looked down at the ground, with a single tear dropping from her cheek. Black Flask stood in confusion, but knew exactly what was happening at the same time. Black Flask started to stutter with his words, his lips quivering slightly. "W-what is it?"
"Black Flask, you know I love you very-" Ember Soul was about to explain before a screech coming from the chemist's mouth entered her ears.
"Who was it?! I'll kill him if I see him!" Ember Soul contorted her face, a face that told everypony to stray away or face the consequences.
"Do you believe I sleep with other colts every week? You of all ponies should know better! How could you betray me like this?"
"Ember, I can't believe what I am hearing! We were going well for a year! A year! What went wrong?"
"Black Flask, you are never fun to be around! You always have this dark tone that you want to spray around to everypony! I want a colt who is at least a little optimistic! Can't you see a lighter view?"
"For the love of sweet Celestia, is that what this is all about? Everypony needs to learn because they are horribly un-educated of the terror's of this dark and cruel world. How are other ponies going to know if they don't even know there is a problem?" Ember Soul didn't respond. Black Flask was red with anger. Ember Soul turned around and started to walk away.
"Hey! Answer me! Answer my question!" Black Flask followed Ember Soul and pulled her to him. Ember Soul struggled to get away from the colt, and slapped him with her hoof. Black Flask, without thinking, struck her face down, sending her to the ground. At that split second, Black Flask realized what he had just done. Ember Soul rested her hoof on her mouth, which was bleeding, with blood pouring down her mouth in little red droplets. Black Flask breathed heavily, silently apologizing. He reached a hoof down to Ember Soul, who immediately swatted the hoof away. She got herself and stared at Black Flask.
"Ember, I..I..." Black Flask started to say, before he was interrupted.
"Black Flask, I never want to see your horrible face ever again. Goodbye." With that, she stormed off into the darkness.
What proceeded next was a mix of anger and regret. Black Flask walked to his small home, in which the lights were still on, and closed the door behind him. He immediately grabbed the vase that rested on a small table, and smashed it to the wall. He toppled over furniture and paintings, all of which he painted himself. Before being a chemist, his dream was to be an amazing artist. Many of his works were of dark skies and random splatters, to which nobody paid attention to. After the fit of rage, they hang on the walls, defaced by their own artist.
Black Flask took up to his stairs and entered his bedroom. He quickly studied around the room. He had a little lab, with all of his test tubes and beakers resting on a table just beside his bed. He grabbed a cane for rainy days and began to swat all the glass to the floor, shattering to little pieces. All of his work and his devotion to chemistry have all been destroyed. He threw the cane across the room and broke down in shambles.
In the midst of Black Flask's sorrow, he remembered the memories that Ember Soul and Black Flask shared together. Even though there was a fair share of fights, most of them were replaced by more happier memories, when the two were happy together. As time wore on, the sadness only turned into anger. She was never on my side at all. She never cared about anything I said! Good Riddance she's gone! He stared at a painting that he had created one day, with the two enjoying a nice picnic together. Black Flask got up from his bed and grabbed the painting and smashed it with a nearby hammer. As he did so, he heard a thumping noise behind him. He turned his back to see a pegasi mare with a brown knapsack, who was climbing through the window of his bedroom.
At first, Black Flask did not know how to react to the intruder. After a few seconds of processing, he took his hammer and immediately charged at the mare. The mare quickly dodged the swinging chemist and pushed him down to the floor. Black Flask quickly got up and wildly swung his hammer again, hoping for a blow in the head. The mare ducked down and connected her hoof with his ribcage. The only thing that Black Flask felt was pain, and a lot of it.
Black Flask spat out blood, and fell down to the floor, breathing quickly. The mare crouched down to the level of which Black Flask was, which was floor level, and whispered into his ear.
"I can make all the pain go away." Black Flask snickered.
"I'm sorry, but I can't afford you." The mare rised up and kicked Black Flask's stomach, to which he immediately spat out more blood, painting the wooden floor red.
"You shouldn't insult me, because you know I can clearly kill you in a second." Black Flask stared at his hoofs, which were empty. He looked up to the mare and noticed that she had the hammer in her hoof, gripping it tight. Black Flask gulped down and took a moment to look at the mysterious mare's physical features. Her mane was green with purple highlights, and her hair almost touched the floor in length. Her coat was crimson red, the color of blood. It wouldn't surprise Black Flask is the color of her coat happened to be stained with her victims blood.
"So, care to explain why you were crawling through my window in the middle of the night like that?" Black Flask inquired, attempting not to make any more wise cracks, as his life was at stake. The mare chuckled at the question, and threw the hammer aside. She lowered herself down, almost seductively, and spoke in a soft cheerful voice.
"I've seen you break up with your important mare. It was so sad to see you two fight, including what lead to your relationship's demise." Black Flask glared at the mare, but kept speaking in the cheerful tone. "I can make her come back to you."
"What do you propose? We tie her up and force her to come back to me? Because that seems like the only logical way in this situation," Black Flask joked, but immediately regretted after a swift kick sent blood spewing through his mouth to the floor. He coughed a few droplets of blood, before he heard a rustling of a bag. He looked up to see the mare was pulling something out of her knapsack. What eventually emerged from the bag was a beaker with a pinkish liquid inside. Black Flask didn't know what the substance was, even though he was a chemist. The mysterious mare sloshed it around for a few moments, and stared at Black Flask.
"What this beaker holds is the Dream Remedy. It will make all of your wildest dreams come true." Black Flask snickered again.
"Dream Remedy? The only substance with that description can be an hallucinogen, or acid, as it's most preferably called. Even though I drink, that doesn't mean I would succumb myself to drugs. I'm not that pathetic." The mare frowned. She once again lowered herself down, and placed her private parts on to where Black Flask's private parts were kept hidden by the suit. She stroked his bruising face and wrapped her calming wings around his body. She stared into his eyes and spoke in a seductive tone.
"Oh, don't you want a taste of what the good life feels like? I bet your dying for at least one of your theories to be fully realized, don't you?" Black Flask started sweating, struggling to keep his hormones under control. Black Flask had another goal in mind; to never mount an obvious prostitute. But Ember Soul's departure made Black Flask wonder if it was alright to have one nice night for a change. He immediately shrugged the thought away as it entered his mind and tried his best to raise his front hoofs, but the pain kept them bound to the ground. The mare sloshed the liquid in front of his face, almost like pointing a flashlight at a cat. Black Flask sighed, regretting beforehand what he was about to say next.
"Will you leave me be if I drink this?" The mare giggled and gave the beaker to Black Flask.
"If that is what you wish." The mare took her knapsack and spread her wings. She flapped her wings and flew out the window. Black Flask struggled to raise himself up, grabbing a nearby chair as support, keeping the beaker in his hoof. He sat his flank down on the chair and studied the chemical. The liquid was pinkish, as mentioned before, and it didn't appear to be the least bit lethal. He stared at it for a few moments, and eventually decided to drink down the substance. With one swift movement, he raised the beaker to his lips and gulped down all the drops of the liquid.
At first, the substance tasted like milk extremely past it's expiry date. Then it tasted a little like a caramel sweet. Black Flask's eyes started to grow heavy, and before he even knew what transpired next, he fell into a deep slumber in which he wished he didn't take the fall.
