Stardust Sparkle was on her hindhooves, her forehooves holding a potion in each. Both potions held the potential reactants to create her desired potion, or a deadly explosion. Her tounge was out, and her face was scrunched in concentration. Beads of sweat ran down her face and dewed her long blue mane.
Her mane also had a stripe of red in it. Her heart was beating rigorously in her chest, slightly moving the purple fur of that area of her coat. Her breathing was deep and slow, though slightly tense. She slowly tilted the yellow flask in her right forehoof, allowing a small drop of liquid to seperate from the rest of the liquid.
But Starla; as she perfers to be called; was tilting the flask now in a way that kept the drop at the tip of the flask, letting the rest of the yellow liquid fall to the bottem of the yellow potion's flask. She had to be careful. Yellow potions act as powerful catalysts. Though many factors can influance a potion, just one drop from a catalyst potion can drastically affect the potion it reacts with.
Improper measurements when dealing with catalyst potions usually result in a devestating explosion. This is why yellow potions arent commonly seen in an alchemist's lab. However, the potion Starla was pouring the drop into was just as volitile. Though the green potion in her left forehoof was usually used to slightly restore fatigue, Starla had put crushed ruby into it, which now lay at the bottem of the green flask.
Crushed ruby also acted as a catalyst. Every aspiring alchemist knows that it is highly dangerous to mix two catalyst reactants together. The measurements would have to be precise. Which is why no alchemist has been successful at what Starla was doing.
Other alchemists could not brew the potion without it exploding. But Starla believed she could get the measurements right. And if she could, then the restore fatigue potion's effects would be quadrupaled! Of course, if she failed, she could kiss her home, and herself, good-bye.
Starla let the drop slip off the flask and into the fatigue potion. She then immidiately corked the catalyst potion and put it on a seperate shelf, and put the reacting green potion on an empty table in front of her. She didn't want any mistakes. The yellow drop of liquid had disperssed itself throught the green potion as much as its volume would allow.
The green potion now looked like it had swirls of yellow in it. But the dangerous reaction was still to come. It began bubbling, creating lime green foam at the top. Then it began to shake. Starla dived behind an empty table and kicked it over to make a shield.
Then a spark emmited from within the flask as the yellow liquid hit the crushed ruby. A loud bang followed. This in turn caused the potion--and Starla--to jump slightly. Starla peeked out from behind the table to observe the potions reactions.
The potion then sparked twice in succession, causing it to jump once, then again in midair. Astonishingly, the potion landed back on the table perfectly, though it was still bubbling and foaming. Starla gulped. Had she miscalculated?
She would've checked her notes, but with the potion reacting so violently, she couldn't afford the risk. The potion sparked and jumped agian, emitting an even brighter spark and louder bang. Then it sparked an jumped three more times, and upon the seventh time, Starla heard the flask crack. Oh no, she thought. At this rate... She hid behind the table, covered her ears, closed her eyes, and braced herself for the worst...
Starla had braced for the worst...But as the seconds passed by, no further reactions from the potion arised. Starla poked her head out from behind the table. The potion sat intact on the floor.
Starla wiped her brow, and let out a sigh of relief. She then approached the flask with caution, for it was still bubbling. The crack in the vile was ever so slight. No leaking liquids emerged from the damaged portion of the flask.
She grabbed her notepad, and used her levitation magic to grab a quill and a bottle of ink. She dipped the quill in the ink, and began writing down everything that the potion went through. The sparking, the violance of the reaction, how many times it jumped, the banging noises, etc. Starla also observed that the potion had turned emerald green, which was supposed to happen.
Since the potion was no longer reacting, she could safely cork it. She did so, then put labling tape on the flask. She then wrote on the label: Untested Revitalization Potion. She then set everything down and took a deep breath.
"I'm sure glad that's over with", she said to herself. "Whoever said the life of an alchemist was easy?" She sighed again. "Now I gotta' find somepony willing to test this. It only works on those who have basically gone through extreme physical turmoil. Now who do I know that goes through extreme physical turmoil? Hmm..."
Starla approached the Brave Mail Mailing Company building. Brave Mail was run solely by one pegusus. A pale cyan coated stallion with a spiky, rainbow-colored mane and tail, blue eyes, and a cutie mark that was a diamond with a red, yellow, and blue stripe pattern filling it, and had cyan wings protruding from either side of the diamond. The stallions name is Prism Brave.
Prism Brave delivered mail all across Equuestria by himself, and Celestia knows it's a very difficult--and physically exhausting--task. He'd be the perfect test subject. Starla merrily walked through the doors; which caused the bell above the door to chime; with her potion contained in the simple blue bag she wore. Prism Brave was looking through letters on his front desk, not glancing up.
He spoke in a monotone, exhausted voice. "Welcome to Brave Mail. Traving Equestria to deliver mail so you don't have to," he then yawned before continuing. "No matter the danger, I'll get your requests delivered gauranteed.Cuz' I'm brave--," he yawned again. "And won't fall to my grave."
"If you have any letters, then put them in the mailing bin for me to sort through when I get the time. If you have a package, then put it with the rest of them in the corner with the big red arrow, and the word delivery over it." Prism yawned again, sorting through the various letters in his hooves, but continued before Starla could interrupt.
"Note that depending on the size and fagility of the package, it may take a bit longer to deliver. No I do not deliver ponies, hazardous objects or materials, houses, food that's not canned or originally in a box container, or huge objects such as trains. Yes toy trains are acceptable so long as they aren't life size. Please leave your fee, which is viewable on the fees board, in the can on the desk, and have a nice day."
Starla cleared her throat, and Prism looked away from the mail. "Starla?!" he excaimed.
