Alchemist's Law

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight

Chapter One

The market in Ponyville was bustling along while the shopkeepers were eagerly selling off their goods to any approaching customers. As the morning ticked by, many customers came to see Applejack as she sold off the crop she had harvested from the day prior. Occasionally one of her friends would come by and chat for a bit while business was slow, perhaps buying some of her wares for themselves.

“Excuse me miss,” came a high pitched squeak from near the ground in front of the apple stand. “May I buy an apple please?”

The apple farmer leaned over the counter to see her customer, a small pink unicorn filly standing there. AJ recalled that the filly was the daughter of Ditzy Doo, the town mailmare. “Indeed ya can Dinky. That’ll be two bits for an apple.” The orange mare said with a somewhat jovial voice.

The filly’s smile fell at this and her voice took a sad tone as she spoke “I only have one bit miss.”

Just as Applejack was about to lower the price for the filly, she had made enough profit that day to make up for the small one bit loss, a stallion walked stiffly in front of the stand.

“Six apples,” the stallion said in a gruff gravelly tone as he dropped the twelve bits onto the counter of the apple stand.

As he spoke Applejack turned to face the new arrival. He wore an old, worn top hat low on his head. It covered the entirety of his forehead and cast his eyes in shadow. Aside from the hat the stallion appeared to be wearing no other clothing. Looking closer at the eyes that sat in the shadow of the hat, Applejack could make out the grey ring that composed the eye color.

Somewhat irritated at this interrupter but deciding that she could spare a few moments to take care of the customer, the orange mare retrieved the apples and set them down on the stand in front of her. The stallion glanced at the apples then back at Applejack then back at the apples. With careful actions, the odd pony picked up and moved three of the apples into his saddle bags before nodding to her and walking off.

AJ called out after him, “You forgot these apples mister.”

The stallion paused and turned to face the mare, his eyes were apathetic and unmoving.

“I remember it differently. I remember that the filly there paid for those three apples when I interrupted. Make sure she can get them home in one piece.”

With those words the black stallion with a stark white mane walked off again.

There was a moment of silence before Applejack put the apples into the bag and handed them to Dinky, who was overjoyed due to the kindness the stranger showed.

He’s an odd one, if he wanted to give her apples he sure went about it in an strange way, the apple farmer thought to herself before the daily market kicked back into full swing for lunch.

Monochrome walked away from the apple farmer and the small filly. After he turned a corner, he reached into the saddle bags, which sat strategically over his cutie mark. Pulling out one of the apples, he took a bite before dropping the remains back into his bag.

“Yup, still tastes like ash. But what else is new?” he said to himself as he walked along.

As the black and white pony walked along, he would gather a few stares here and there because of his odd coloring. Most of them would just shrug it off and continue on their route. For those whose stares lingered, they were met with one in return. The returned stare held no emotion, no rage, no joy, no jealousy. They only held emptiness. It made all ponies uncomfortable and they looked away quickly.

While Monochrome was staring back at a mint green unicorn, he managed to run into somepony else. When he looked to see and apologize to the mare he ran into, he saw a yellow pegasus with a pink mane already saying quite a few sorries and blaming herself for the accident.

“No it’s my fault,” the black and white pony responded, “I should have watched where I was going.”

The yellow pegasus stopped talking and looked up into his eyes. She gasped and quickly lowered her look to the ground.

“What?” Monochrome asked.

Before the shy pegasus could answer, two other pegasi flew up from behind the mysterious stallion. Both wore smugs grins on their faces as they approached the shaking mare.

“Managed to run into someone else Cluttzershy?” one of them asked with a sardonic tone. “The pegasus who is afraid of heights, what’s the deal with that?”

The two pegasi continued to tease for a moment before they were interrupted by a cough from Monochrome. He looked at them, the ever present apathy in his eyes, as he looked at the two bullies. They began to back away before making a comment about how they needed to go somewhere and they both flew away hastily.

“Now miss,” the black and white stallion said to Fluttershy, “Why don’t I walk you home. Unless, of course, you have some other business to take care of at the market.”

The yellow pegasus smiled at him in response.

“Just home please.”

With a nod from Monochrome he followed the pegasus back to her house earning him a few more stares from the customers in the market.

Upon arrival at the small cottage made of wood, Fluttershy made her quiet remarks of thanks. Monochrome nodded slowly in response. The odd pony with a top hat made at leaving, but was stopped by a sudden call from the pegasus who still stood at her door.

“Wait, I mean um, if you would please.”

Monochrome turned around and faced the pony, waiting for her to continue.

“Um, I was just wondering, what’s your name?”

“My name is Monochrome. Its nice to meet you...”

“Fluttershy.” came the quiet reply.

Monochrome strained to hear the shy pegasus. It took him a moment to piece together what the pegasus had said to him.

“It’s nice to meet you miss Fluttershy. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

With that, Monochrome headed back into the small town, hoping that perhaps one of the hotel rooms was still available for rent. He wasn’t going to be getting much sleep that night regardless of how comfortable the bed was, but the stallion didn’t yet realize that was the case.

That night, as the majority of Ponyville slept in their beds, a fire broke out. The fire forced Monochrome out of his bed due to his throbbing head. "Magic Overload," he managed to get out between struggling, pained breaths as he put his top hat on in its usual position on his forehead. He quickly darted out of the hotel in the direction of the disturbance that was causing his pounding headache.

As he lurched around the corner, he heard a panicked voice shouting, "Fire at the library! Fire at the library! Please someone help! Twilight is still in there!"

He approached the noise and could make out the hollow tree being consumed in purple tinted flames. His headache spiked once again but the stallion ignored it. Monochrome ran faster towards the burning house once again. The fire didn't appear to be actually consuming anything but Monochrome knew it would burn living organisms like any normal flame.

With a cry, he ran into the flaming door which broke open under his assault. Lying on the floor in the middle of a stack of books, the purple unicorn was unconscious as the flames slowly advanced on her from the burning walls. A glass cup lay by her front hoof but it was quickly shattered as Monochrome trampled over it in his rush to her and tossed her over his back. It occurred to him that he had forgotten his saddlebags in his hurry and silently cursed himself as he ran out of the building.

When he ran out of the building he saw a small dragon with purple scales talking to two pegasi. One of them Monochrome recognized as the shy one who he had escorted home yesterday afternoon, while the blue one that was with her didn't ring any bells. A look of relief flashed across the faces of all three of the ponies but they disappeared as Monochrome ran past them to be replaced with looks of confusion.

His hurried hoofsteps took him in the direction of the hospital he had made a point of finding upon first entering town, as he ran through the streets his breath became shallower and shallower and his body began to beg him to give in. Ignoring this familiar Monochrome continued his run and eventually made it into the hospital as a blue pegasus began to close in on him followed by four other mares and a dragon.

Monochrome put Twilight onto the gurney that a nurse quickly wheeled out. Twilight was taken away and put into a room which the black stallion followed and took a defending, yet nonetheless powerful, presence .

“What’s the big idea?” Came a call from the hallway. “Let us see our friend!”

Monochrome turned to face the voice as the full form of Rainbow Dash came into view, the black stallion shook his head back and forth as his eyes remained apathetic.

"Move aside or I'll make you," Rainbow Dash sneered as she dropped to the ground and tensed up in a runner's stance.

Monochrome shook his head side to side once more in response and Dash took off. She rocketed through the hall and rammed into the shoulder of the black and white pony.

A sharp cracking noise shattered through the air of the room and the hallway. As the abrupt noise broke the relative silence, Rainbow backed away, eyes wide and body unharmed. Monochrome stood completely still, the attack having failed to move him from the doorway. His eyes were even as he looked at Rainbow. With a voice filled with spite and eyes filled with apathy Monochrome spoke.

"You will not enter, not while I have life in my bones will I let you pave your friend's road to hell with your golden intentions."

The words were powerful and the friends all stood still as they looked at the strange stallion who blocked the door to their friend. Fluttershy stood off to the side of the hall and had looked at the floor of the hallway. Rainbow walked nervously around in circles keeping a steady glare on Monochrome. Applejack seemed unsure of what to do and so she leaned against a wall, also keeping watch on the stallion. Rarity had left shortly after on account of the fact that she had some work to finish before the night was out. Pinkie Pie rode the elevator up and down in excitement, hoping that Twilight would be released soon. All the while the clock on the wall silently watched the remains of the night.

(Everyone thank the editors that made my text suitable for human eyes. Prince of Hyrule and V-Dub)

Chapter Two

(Make sure to thank V-Dub, the editor, in the comments. Also, WTB Constructive Criticisms - N64Fan)

As the night wore on, the friends of the unicorn drifted off into fitful sleeps in the hall of the hospital. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were the last to fall asleep. The group decided on having one person awake at all times to to keep a watch on the odd stallion that stood in the doorway to Twilight’s room. Fluttershy was the current volunteer. Occasionally a doctor would approach to check on the status of the unicorn. The doctor would be allowed in as long as they weren’t unicorns. Those that were quickly paled as they were met with the barrier and the apathetic stare.

Eventually Fluttershy gained the courage to talk to the traveler who stood at the door. As she approached, his eyes turned to look at the mustard colored mare and she flinched at the lack of feeling they held. They gave the appearance that the stallion wasn’t even alive, let alone cared about anything.

The mare continued her walk to the doorway and with her eyes firmly locked on the ground, asked “Why is it that you won’t let any of us in the room? Um, that is, if you want to answer my question,” she finished shyly.

The black stallion continued to look at her, lost in thought. “She’s suffering from magical overload. If a unicorn casts a large amount of magic in a short amount of time, their body becomes unstable and any magic that gets near them while in this state has a chance of infecting them and killing them within minutes.” the stallion said as his gaze slowly drifted back to the hallway, his eyes glazing over.

“But, um, me and Rainbow are pegasi and Applejack and Pinkie are earth ponies.” Fluttershy said as she let her gaze up slowly from the floor.

“You are all also the Elements of Harmony and the magical power coming from you because of that is powerful. Besides, even the innate magic from the other pony races can affect a unicorn in this state of magic overload if they are in her vicinity for too long. She should be fine by morning though, then you and your friends can hug and all that.”

“But, if what you just said is true then wouldn’t you being in the same room affect her as well? I mean, not to sound rude or anything, but you are an earth pony.” Fluttershy said.

No response was forthcoming and Monochrome continued to gaze down the hall. The shy pegasus cast a brief glance at the stallion’s cutie mark in another attempt at conversation. It was a rectangle that was cut in half. The left half was black and the right half was gold. Behind the rectangle was a potion.

“That’s an interesting cutie mark. What’s your talent?”

Again no response was forthcoming from the pony except a subtle shifting of his body to obscure the mark slightly. Fluttershy went back over to the spot she had slept until she was woken for her watch. Her eyes never drifted from the strange stallion who stood still under the doorway. Eventually she woke up Pinkie Pie who would keep the next watch and the shy pegasus drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The hours past dully as Pinkie Pie was rebuffed by Monochrome. A familiar pain shot through the black stallion's head as the sun rose, following shortly thereafter was a more powerful burst akin to a migraine.

“Crap,” Monochrome said louder than he intended to as he shook off the after effects of the pain shooting through his head, “What is the princess doing here?”

The stallion began to visibly sweat with nervousness as he walked over to the unicorn at the hospital bed, his sprained leg sending waves of pain the entire way.

“That takes away jumping out of a window as a possible avenue of escape.” He lowered his head near Twilight’s brow and, after a few moments, raised it again with an exhale of relief. Walking back over to the door, he nodded to Pinkie.

“Her magic has settled and you can see her now.”

The pink mare immediately exploded into action. She woke her friends and told them the news. Just as they were about to enter the room, a white alicorn arrived on the top floor, her coat shining under the hospital’s hall lights. Monochrome had retreated back within the room and was standing near Twilight’s bedside watching as her eyes began to flutter, indicating that she would be waking up soon.

The surprised group of friends greeted Celestia who informed them that she was visiting Twilight since she had received word of the mysterious fire that had caught at the Ponyville library. The group of ponies entered the room, each eyeing the black stallion at the bedside with different looks. From his place by the bed, Monochrome noticed them all.

Rainbow viewed him with distrust, which she had all the right to. Ponies had trusted him once, before he got his cutie mark. Trust was a flimsy thing and held no real value in the apathetic pony’s eyes. It was like a rainbow, for sight alone, and would disappear as easily as it appeared and leave behind no evidence it was ever there except for how it affected a life.

Rarity viewed him with a somewhat hesitant glance. Her sight seemed to doubt his very existence and yet it seemed to rejoice it at the same time. She was happy her friend was alive,and she suspected that it was Monochrome she had to thank for that. Her eyes were like gems, they would reflect what was beyond them, with perhaps a little bit of color to liven it up.

AJ looked at him with a look similar to Rainbow’s, except for the fact that underneath the gaze was a look of understanding. She viewed everyone as something like herself. As such she assumed truth until the pony was proven false. The red fruit she was named after were the same way. They were all the same, on the inside and outside. Unless a bug got within the apple and messed up the insides of the fruit to something unrecognizable.

Pinkie Pie eyed him with a look of pure excitement and it caught the stallion off guard. She was bouncing happily as Twilight’s eyes began to slowly open. Balloons were similar, bouncy, erratic, and filled all kinds of ponies with joy on sight but only when they were filled with the necessary materials. Namely air from someone else’s lungs or air pumped from tanks. Without someone to fill them up they were limp and inspired no emotion.

Fluttershy viewed him with insecurity, she felt that he was something to be feared and she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. She was like a butterfly. If you try to chase after them to catch and admire them all you get is exhaustion. If you wait patiently on the other hoof, they will eventually come and rest on you. Act and they will fly away. But if you just sit there, enjoying the day, they may very well stay with you until it has to leave.

Celestia looked at him in surprise before her eyes narrowed into an analyzing look, searching for something. She was like the sun, leaving nothing uncovered. She expected her gaze to see everything. She wanted it all laid out before her so she would never be caught off guard. Every now and then though, something hit her headlong from the shadows where she couldn’t see and would confuse her.

Silence enveloped the room as the group gathered around the bed where Twilight was waking. The five mares were eying their friend excitedly as she began to wake. The silence was eventually shattered by the purple mare herself.

“Where am I?” she managed.

As the librarian spoke the stallion made a move to exit the room.

The door was slammed shut with a yellow glow and he collapsed to floor grasping his head in pain.

“What did you do to him?” Fluttershy said to the alicorn who was looking at the writhing stallion on the ground dumbfoundedly.

“I didn’t do anything to him. I just shut the door to prevent him from escaping. He shouldn’t have collapsed like that,” Celestia responded.

“Curse you to Tartarus, Celestia,” the stallion managed as he slowly lifted himself from the ground. “Act first. Ask questions later. Why not?”

The friends were stammering by the bed, scared by the events that had just occured. Twilight looked confused and Celestia was completely caught off guard. The alicorn quickly recovered and decided the best course of action was a simple question.

“Why do you curse me so? What did I do to you, my little pony?”

The stallion stood from the ground as his top hat rolled away. Rarity gasped in horror. Twilight looked like she was unsure if she was dreaming or not. Rainbow was stunned silent. Fluttershy looked on with a feeling of empathy. Applejack turned away. A large gouge was set in the middle of his forehead, the red scab ‘X’ crisscrossed over it.

“You made my life a living pit of carnivorous worms and you never even knew it,” he responded and bent down to pick up his top hat.

As he turned to the side he revealed his cutie mark to the sun princess and she gasped lightly.

“A talent in alchemy? But that’s impossible. It’s -”

“Against the law? Yes it is. Congratulations on remembering a law you made thirty years ago,” the stallion said as he placed his top hat back on his head and lowered it to hide his forehead. “So what now? If I remember the punishment is dungeon time or death. What’s your choice.”

A hesitant call came from the hallway.

“B-but, wait princess, he saved Twilight’s life. We just got the test results back. She was indeed suffering from magic overload. By keeping the elements out of the room he saved her life.”

An earth pony doctor walked into the room with paperwork that was attached to his side. Taking it into his mouth, the pony showed the princess the test results.

As the white alicorn paused for a moment to read the papers, she thought back on the law.

“There is the third option of you stopping the practice of alchemy.”

“Ha,” was the reply from the white-maned stallion, he turned to Rainbow Dash and continued. “You want to quit your talent cold turkey with me Rainbow? You don’t race anymore and I won’t do alchemy.” A shiver ran down the cyan pegasus back as the thought went through her mind.

“Point taken,” Celestia said and went over the law one more time.

There was brief pause before the alicorn continued “I believe that my sister or I am allowed to distribute alternative punishments to breakers of the law. What’s your name?”

“Monochrome,” was the cold reply.

“Monochrome, I hereby declare that you shall stay in Ponyville until such a time as I see fit. In the time between, you will run all alchemical projects you plan by me to ensure that no illicit creations shall be made. Do you accept the proposal?” the princess asked.

A smile graced the face of Monochrome as he looked up at the princess yet his eyes contained the same indifferent appearance.

“I do indeed Celestia.”

Twilight decided now was a good time to speak up.

"Um, what just happened?" she asked, completely confused.

Laughter echoed around the room from Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy and Rarity smiled. Celestia and Monochrome looked at each other with a shakey trust.

Chapter Three

(Thanks again to the editor V-Dub. - N64Fan)

Celestia had asked Twilight to give Monochrome a room in her library, to which of course the purple mare agreed to. The white alicorn said it was an attempt to make amends for how her law had affected the black unicorn’s life in such a negative way. The alchemist doubted this and suspected the treatise was more to keep an eye on him then anything else. As a result, the stallion was now accompanying the purple mare to her hollowed out home in the tree.

The trip was mostly silent as the two trotted back to the library. As they walked, Twilight would sneak a glance at the odd stallion that walked next to her, before quickly turning her attention back to the road ahead. At one point as they walked, she decided to take another look at Monochrome. Her eyes were met by a glare from the stallion. A shudder ran down her spine as she had the distinct feeling of being in a dark room.

“What do you want to ask?” the stallion said with a poorly disguised exasperated tone as they rounded the final corner before reaching the straight-away to the library.

“Well, I was just um, wondering. That gash on your forehead, are you a unicorn?” Twilight managed hesitantly as she kept her eyes locked firmly on the road ahead, having no desire to look into those emotionless pits again.

“I was,” Monochrome said in a tone that blatantly told the lavender unicorn not to push it any further.

Twilight took the hint and the remainder of the trip was as quiet as a graveyard. The two arrived at the door to the library and as soon they walked into the dark interior, the lights flashed on and a pink pony greeted them with a loud “SURPRISE.”

She jumped directly in front of Monochrome’s face but he didn’t flinch. He calmly gazed back into the eyes of the party obsessed pony. Twilight was suddenly filled with worry for her friend as she had no idea how the odd stallion would react.

There was an awkward silence as the two looked at each other, no one daring to break the surreal staring contest. Pinkie’s smile never faltered and Monochrome’s gaze never left the mare. Then the black stallion turned back to the door and opened it. He walked out and spoke back to Twilight.

“I’m going to go get my stuff.”

With that brief goodbye, the door was slammed shut and silence fell once again. Monochrome walked along the road back towards the hotel he had left his saddlebags in. No other ponies were walking the roads this early morning except for the few shopkeepers who were bringing their goods to market. The black stallion trotted silently as he gazed down the road toward the hotel.

“Everypony in this town is crazy,” was all he said as his eyes began to glaze over.

The alchemist glanced quickly to his side as if hearing something. He froze and stared at empty air for a moment as a look of fear slowly began to spread across his face. With a shake of his head the stallion continued down the path and continued on. The stallion walked into the hotel and began his way up the stairs, his eyes seeming to flicker as the frosted expression merely became more obvious.

Upon entering his room the stallion looked around and spotted his saddlebag. He reached inside one of them and pulled out a bottle that contained a cloudy blue liquid. He took several gulps of the odd potion before putting it back down and corking the neck of the half empty bottle once more. As he paused for a moment, the glazed look slowly faded from Monochrome's eyes. He slung the saddlebags over his back, once again blocking his cutie mark from view.

On his way out, Monochrome dropped a small stack of bits on the counter of the hotel to pay for his room and then left. As he walked back, the stallion was completely silent and, from the look in his eye. His mind was running at less than full capacity, his apathetic gaze shifting across the road in front of him seemingly without a guide or purpose.

Eventually the self-imposed exile was over. He had arrived back at the library and lightly opened the door. With a glance around he realized the party was in full swing and all the ponies were either excitedly talking with Rainbow Dash, who was telling various exaggerated stories, were checking in with Twilight in regards to her hospital stay, or had their attention held by any of the various party games. With another quick look around the room to look for the pink pony, he entered the house slowly and closed the door behind him with his teeth.

When he turned around, Pinkie stood directly in front of him. The alchemist couldn’t help but jump slightly at this before the party pony burst out into a rant.

“There you are, when you left I was worried that you weren’t going to be coming back to my party. But then I thought 'who doesn’t love parties right?' So I knew you would be coming back for some of the delicious cake. You do like cake right? Of course you do, why would anyone not love cake?” the mare rattled off quickly.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry,” Monochrome said levelly as he began to walk away from the odd party master.

Pinkie was having none of that however and once more appeared in front of the black stallion.

“Well then how about a party game? I know some really great party games that we could play. Ooh ooh like pin the tail on the pony and ummm, oooh we have a pinata,” the pony said in a flood of words.

The alchemist’s eyebrow twitched once as the pink pony continued to talk, his eyes never lost their cold stare though. “No thanks.” He repeated as he pushed his way through the crowd while all of the ponies gave him an odd stare as he passed them.

“Okay then, maybe later!” Pinkie shouted jovially after him as the black stallion managed to reach the door to the basement of the house and pull himself in.

Kicking the door shut behind him, the alchemist looked around the empty basement, bar the square table that sat in the middle of the circular room. After walking down the semi-spiral stairs that went around the edge of the room, the pony began to set up his three pieces of chemistry equipment around the room. The smallest equipment was set on the table in the middle. The one large piece of equipment that had come out of the saddlebags in separate parts was set up on the opposite side of the room as the door, as the party music beat slowly through the wood walls.

To finish the setup, there was an oddly shaped brewing stand that had pieces of softly glowing metal under it that was set on the table. After finishing, Monochrome stood back from the room and took a quick glance around the room to ensure the few select pieces of equipment that he still owned had made it intact. It was at about this time that the door to the basement opened and a lavender unicorn made her way down the stairs.

As she approached, the black stallion had his attention drawn to a piece of untouched cake that the mare levitated alongside herself. As she descended the stairs the librarian noticed the alchemy equipment. She paused for a moment on the descent before shaking her head to clear it and arrived at the bottom next to Monochrome who now had a mild headache from the magic in the air.

“Piece of cake with regards from Pinkie,” Twilight stated as she levitated the piece of cake over to the stallion.

He nodded and held out his hoof. The lavender unicorn placed the cake on his hoof before cutting her levitation. The stallion quickly ate the pastry in a few bites and returned his attention to the magical prodigy.

“So, that’s some pretty advanced looking chemistry equipment you have there,” the purple mare said as she tried to start up a conversation.

“It’s all I have left. You should have seen my laboratory back in my hometown before they kicked me out,” the stallion replied and paused as he slowly approached the table.

Though he didn't notice, Twilight flinched slightly at the mention of his eviction.

“Thanks for letting me use this basement for my equipment. I guess I’ll have to go pick up some ingredients for this stuff then, so it’s not completely useless. Until then however,” the hornless unicorn said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small plastic bag that contained several plant remains.

As the stallion approached the equipment in the middle of the room Twilight spoke up. “Aren’t you supposed to run any alchemy by Celestia before you do it?” She asked hesitantly of the black stallion.

“It’s just plain chemistry Twilight, no alchemy involved in this potion I’m brewing,” came the response from the alchemist.

He received a nod from the lavender mare as he continued the brewing. After placing the bag on the table, the stallion split a few of the odd plant parts aside and placed them inside a bottle and lit the burner beneath it.

Seeing that the odd pony was out of things to say, the librarian returned upstairs. As she was about to leave, Monochrome called back to her.

“Tell Pinkie thanks for the cake. It was delicious.”

With a smile on her face, the mare looked briefly back at the black stallion before exiting the basement and delivering the complement to the party pony. Perhaps this odd pony wasn’t as bad as he first seemed to be.

Back at the table the alchemist sighed in the company-free basement.

“I’m sure it would taste amazing if my tongue could taste more than ash and bitter,” he said to himself before turning his full attention back to the work that sat in front of him.

The red potion began to bubble and was soon boiling. The stallion carefully removed the concoction and took a sip before placing it back over the heat with a grimace

“- and death of course, can’t forget that,” the chemist finished absentmindedly.

Chapter Four

(Edited by v-dub)

The next day found the drowsy stallion awakened in the basement where he had fallen asleep after he had gotten carried away with his potion making. With a sigh Monochrome picked himself off the ground as a blanket softly rolled away from him. With a glance at the blanket the stallion stood to his full height and went to pick up his now empty saddlebags.

Merely two days since the stallion had found himself in this town, he was now involved with all six of the elements and had saved one of their lives, far more involvement than he ever intended to have when he had first arrived. Regardless of that though, Monochrome decided he was going to continue what he had been doing ever since he had been evicted from the public eye. He was going to roll with the punches.

With this in mind, the stallion exited the library with his saddlebags filled with a few potions in case of emergency, one of which glowed curiously. Due to this, the bags were lighter than Monochrome could remember and with Twilight at his side, Monochrome headed towards the small cottage that Fluttershy owned on the edge of the Everfree.

There was a squabble between the two about if Fluttershy could come or not, but it was a fact that the animal enthusiast was knowledgeable of the vast majority of the plants that the forest had to offer. The poisonous effects from the more malignant plants and the curative properties of the few medicinal plants in the forest were well known by the mare since many of her animals had encountered them inside of the forest proper. In addition to this, she also knew the general layout of the forest due to the knowledge that the animals she took care of shared with her, knowledge which would be invaluable should they get lost in the labyrinthine woods.

With this knowledge in mind, the stallion knocked lightly on the door and waited for it to open. He didn’t have to wait long until the door opened to reveal a white rabbit tapping his foot on the ground, looking at Monochrome with a perturbed expression. When he saw Twilight at the alchemist’s side, the rabbit moved to the side to allow entry into the household.

As they entered the small, cozy cottage, the yellow pegasus entered into the room as well with her saddlebags resting easily on her back. She smiled shyly at Monochrome before turning her attention to Twilight. They had a discussion about the issue at hand.

“I’m ready to go whenever you two are,” stated Fluttershy.

The duo conferred briefly before informing the shy mare that they were indeed ready to head off. Twilight quickly double checked her saddlebags and the three headed off to the parting wave of the rabbit, who had been at the door earlier, who now had something akin to worry on his white face.

“So, Monochrome, what plants did you have in mind to pick today?” the lavender mare asked with a glance at the alchemist as they entered the forest. Despite the reasons the librarian had given for coming along in the first place, the pessimistic majority of Monochrome’s mind was screaming that she had come along for the sole purpose of checking whatever plants the pony picked up on this excursion into the forest.

The stallion glanced at Twilight from underneath his top hat and his cold glare sent shivers down her spine. She would never get used to those eyes. “I will be picking any plants I can find that are helpful for my potions. A few of said ingredients will be used in alchemy, but those I will pass off to your precious tiara wearing princess first, have no fear.”

The bitter tone the stallion spoke with made the unicorn flinch slightly, but she didn’t say any more words as they began the expedition into the dark forest. It was mostly a small exploration trip and Twilight had decided she couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. She pulled out a small compass, a sheet of paper, and a thick reference guide titled Cartography and You.

The first time that the stallion stopped to pick a plant, Fluttershy looked over his shoulder and took notice of what he was pulling. At the same time, Twilight would flip open her book and began to sketch a remedial map of the area they had traversed so far. As they continued on. the process was the same, repeating until Monochrome eventually began talking to the shy pegasus.

“Do you know what this plant is Fluttershy?” the stallion asked as he indicated a small shrub in front of him. Doing so broke the silence that had accompanied the group so far.

“It looks like thremroot,” the pegasus responded quietly to the stallion’s question.

“Good eye, it is thremroot. In regular chemistry, the roots of this plant can be used to create minor poisons as well as antidotes depending on how long you cook it; the leaves can be used to make balms. In alchemy, the roots can be used to create an instant smog when the liquid is exposed to air and the leaves can be used to make a liquid that shifts a metal to a liquid state for a few moments before hardening again.”

“Um, I don’t mean to disbelieve you, but it seems kind of strange that the same plant can be used for poisons and antidotes,” the yellow pegasus asked as she looked at the stallion from under her pink mane.

“Indeed it can be. The poisons are created at low temperatures; a lazy chemist may accidentally make lethal poisons simply because they didn’t let it cook long enough at a high enough temperature,” he said as he looked at the yellow pegasus at his side. His eyes began to glaze over and they widened in horror though the uncaring feeling remained.

“Twilight, blue potion in my right saddlebag, could you get it for me?” he asked quickly as he looked down at the ground keeping his gaze locked on the dirt trodden path that had been made from a few ponies who traveled the outskirts of the forest. Sensing the urgency in his voice, the librarian immediately did as directed to and pulled out the potion and put it in front of the stallion’s gaze.

“There you are. Why did you need it?”

Ignoring the lavender unicorn, the alchemist quickly uncorked the bottle and gulped down the remaining half of the draught. With an exhale, the glaze disappeared from his eyes. After placing the now empty bottle back into his saddlebags, the stallion turned his attention back to the path.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said as the stallion was about to continue walking down the path. “I didn’t mean to do whatever it is that just happened.” The pegasus was once more looking at the ground at her feet.

“It isn’t your fault Fluttershy. I have some nightmares that occasionally try to surface during the day from time to time. The potion I just quaffed is named ‘piercing darkness’ in the old tongue. It helps to even out the balance,” the stallion said before he could stop himself. he paused now in mid-trot as thoughts ran through his head. He hadn’t told anyone about that since it had started happening and he had just told this mare he hadn’t known for even three days.

As the thoughts continued to race through his mind, he was well aware of the curious glare that Twilight was giving him. With that as encouragement to keep moving, the stallion continued on his way along the path. Twilight continued to keep her stare on him, as the thoughts of what he just said ran through her mind. Eventually she spoke up.

“So, if you have nightmares during the day, what do you have at night?”

“Pretty dreams about bunnies,” came the sardonic reply from the ex-unicorn as he continued trotting on.

The remainder of the trip in the forest went by without words as the alchemist continued his collecting of ingredients and Twilight fleshed out the basic map of the area she had been creating. It was mostly without detail, but a few pointed landmarks were laid onto the sheet of paper, with the castle of the royal pony sisters as well as Zecora’s house among them.

When the bags of the alchemist were loaded to near bursting with several different plants, the stallion stole a glance to Fluttershy to inform her that he was finished. The group began to exit the forest as the sun began to set behind the horizon. After they left, the group began to walk in the direction of Fluttershy’s house near the edge of the forest to drop her off before the two unicorns went back to the library for the night.

The trip was interrupted when a high pitched scream pierced the night. The stallion immediately ran in the direction of the noise, while the mares paused briefly before following. When the alchemist arrived at the location, he found a timber wolf attacking a small pink unicorn filly. Once again, without pause, the stallion barreled into the side of the wolf and sent it flying off of the helpless foal.

It landed on its feet and turned to face the new attacker. Just as it was about to charge, a bottle hit it squarely in forehead, shattering a sending shards of broken glass into the carapace of the monster. In addition to this, a silvery mist covered its snout, blocking not only its vision but also its sense of smell, effectively blinded the beast. This caused it to fearfully ran back into the forest. With the timber wolf gone, the alchemist turned his attention to the small filly, who lay on her side as blood poured out of several small wounds across her body.

The stallion pulled out a clear bottle that had a shimmering liquid inside as Twilight and Fluttershy arrived on the scene. He glanced at the purple mare before he spoke as he held a piece of cloth the the end of the now uncorked bottle.

“This is an alchemical brew that will prevent the filly from bleeding out. Make sure to inform the princess that I’m not going to heed her requirements if a life is on the line.”

Without waiting for a response from Twilight he took the damp rag and rubbed the filly’s wounds. The blood seemed to stop flowing from the wounds and the lavender mare noticed that the blood was thickening immediately at the edge of the wound. The skin slowly began to close around the wound and the stallion replaced the bottle back into his saddlebags.

As he did so, he noticed a grey pegasus half-running, half-flying her way to their location. The stallion backed away from the foal and set off in direction of the library leaving the lavender unicorn and the yellow pegasus to deal with the situation.

“Oh, my little muffin are you alright?” Ditzy asked as she stepped over to her daughter, who was just beginning to come back to consciousness.

“She’ll be fine, Miss Doo. Her wounds are all healed up,” came the soft reply from the yellow pegasus. Twilight looked at Fluttershy with a look of disbelief on her face but the grey mare turned to her with a look of appreciation on her face.

“Thank you for helping my daughter, Fluttershy. I don’t know what I would do if I were to lose her.”

“Oh it wasn’t me, it was a stallion friend of mine. Sadly, he had to go take care of some other business and he couldn’t stick around.”

“A stallion friend huh?” Ditzy said with a gleam in her eye. “Well make sure to send him by to my house some time so I can reward him with a few homemade muffins.”

“Will do Ditzy. If I can get him to come outside for something I’ll make sure we swing by your house for some of your delicious muffins.”

With a few parting words the groups disbanded and went their separate ways. Fluttershy was heading back to her cottage, Twilight to her library and Ditzy and Dinky to their house.

When Twilight arrived, she immediately went to the door to the basement. When she opened it, a flood of horribly scented smoke burst forth from the room and hit her in the face. Ignoring the less than pleasant scent the lavender mare made it down to the floor of the room where the scent was much more bearable. There she found the alchemist working over his equipment as several odd liquids bubbled in their vials.

“Why did you walk away like that? She just wanted to thank you,” the librarian said as she found her voice amidst the smoke of the brewing potions.

“Because the last time I saved a filly with an alchemical potion, I was banished from the town and my horn got gouged out of my head,” came the deadpan reply from the alchemist. This was enough to end the conversation before it started and, after a few moments, sent Twilight back up into the library proper.

“Not to mention, of course, that the colt I saved was being chased by law hounds who were tearing through his skin merely because he had stolen a piece of bread,” the stallion replied under his breath to nopony in particular. “And that’s why I have always hated small towns.”

(If some of you are wondering why the chapters are coming at odd intervals it is because this is an intermediate project I work on while my mind ticks away the chapters of my other story. Thanks for your patience. -N64Fan)

Chapter Five

The following morning found Fluttershy outside of the hollowed out tree that was the Ponyville library. She knocked lightly on the door and after a few moments the wooden entryway was swung open to reveal a disheveled Twilight. Fluttershy looked at her friend blankly for a moment before remembering why she had come in the first place.

“Oh, um, Twilight. I was just wondering, could you ask Monochrome to come with me into town today? I figure he could do with a proper tour of the town, um, that is, if he would like to.” The yellow mare said quietly as she spoke to her lavender friend.

A look of relief crossed Twilight’s face, “Certainly, I’ll go get him. Just come on in for a moment.” The shy pegasus came into the library and the unicorn closed the door behind, signaling Fluttershy to wait a moment the librarian walked to a nearby door and flung it open. A burst of chemical fumes exited the door into the air and Twilight coughed heavily.

“Monochrome, Fluttershy wants to show you around the town. I think you should go and give my tree time to detox so I don’t have to grow a new library.” Twilight shouted down into the room before slamming the door shut. With another series of coughs she pulled a vial of purple liquid from a nearby stand and quaffed it. The effect was immediate as the coughing stopped and Twilight levitated another of the purple potions over to Fluttershy.

“Our local maniac chemist cooked these up in the middle of the night and demanded that if we breathe in any of the gas from the basement that we drink it. At first I wasn’t sure why he wanted us to drink them if he doesn’t have any down there himself, but I ran a simple identification spell on one of them and found that it will nullify any poisons that had been inhaled a few minutes prior to drinking it.” Twilight said as Fluttershy hesitantly downed the purple liquid.

The concoction was as thick as a milkshake as it ran down the pegasus’ throat, which she slightly expected from her meager experience with potions, what she didn’t expect was for it to taste like someone had taken five fruits and mashed them together. She happily swallowed the exocticly flavored liquid and was about to grab another one when she realized what she was about to drink and stopped herself.

Slowly the hissing in the basement died down and after about thirty minutes, during which time Twilight had set about to other parts of the library putting things in order, the door opened to reveal Monochrome with stains of varying colors running down his coat, which is quite a feat to do on black fur, and some scorch marks on his hooves. Fluttershy was about to say something when he smiled at her. “I’ll just go take a shower and then we can get going alright?” She nodded in response and the alchemist rested his saddlebags by the door with a clinking noise before he headed upstairs.

Fluttershy waited patiently as she heard the sounds of running water coming from the bathroom up the stairs. Fluttershy was never one for idle waiting however and slowly she approached the still-open door to the basement. With a glance inside she saw that Monochrome had turned off all his alchemy equipment and had left what remained of the ingredients on the table in the middle of the room. Next to the plant parts rested a small, faded notebook.

The yellow mare couldn’t control her curiosity as she descended the stairs and looked into the small notebook. The pages were covered in notes, some were in a beautiful cursive while others were done in a blocky print. There was hardly any open room on any of the pages as even the margins were filled with the writing, some notes detailed how to brew potions while others focused on the intricacies of the various plants.

A cough from the top of the stairs broke the yellow mare out of her reading session. With a glance up the stairs she saw a freshly cleaned Monochrome looking down to her with his cold eyes. At first Fluttershy thought he was disappointed in her when she remembered that his eyes always looked like that. “I’m sorry Monochrome, I just saw this open notebook and you were busy and...” Her voice fell off as she looked shamefully at the ground.

“Nonsense Fluttershy, It’s alright, I never told you not to look in my notebook. Nothing to hide in there anyway. If, however, you see a book with a black cover I would ask that you not open that, as it is my personal diary.” With a nod from the mare the stallion grinned, Fluttershy shivered slightly at the sight. A legitimate grin and uncaring eyes, it seemed to exude feelings of discomfort.

After the shivers passed the pegasus made her way back up the stairs, as she did Monochrome left the doorway and when she exited the basement, making sure to close the door behind her, he had his saddlebags over his flank and Cutie Mark once again. With a nod to Fluttershy he opened the door in indication for her to go first.

As the yellow mare crossed the threshold Monochrome called out to Twilight to inform her that he was leaving with Fluttershy, he received a muffled reply in return and he set to leave. As he did so he grabbed a few of the purple liquid vials and slid them into his saddlebags along with the rest of the potions he had brought.

It didn’t take much convincing to get Fluttershy to swallow another of the purple potions to ensure that any poisons that may have made way into her lungs while she was in the basement were gone. Not only did she enjoy the flavor but she also really didn’t feel like being victim to a chemical sickness.

The yellow mare led the way around the town and showed off several of the landmarks that were used for the everyday commute through the small town, such as the statue of princess Celestia and various other small points of recognition. As they finished their quick trip of the town they arrived at a small house near the edge of Ponyville. Monochrome glanced at her with a raised eyebrow as she knocked on the door.

When it opened Monochrome was greeted with a hug from the owner of the household, as she pulled out of the lightning quick hug he noticed that something looked familiar about her, he just couldn’t place what. After a few seconds he had no trouble guessing as a small filly he had seen twice now came out and looked at him wide-eyed.

“Hey it’s the nice stallion who bought me some apples, thanks for that mister.” She said as she looked up at the black stallion. “I never did get to thank you before for that. With you getting away like that so fast.”

“Yeah, well, I’m very busy most of the time, you know, stuff to do.” He replied as he looked between mother and daughter. “Speaking of which..” Monochrome said as he began to back away, the gray pegasus floated behind him and began to push him slowly towards the door.

“We can’t let you just run off without giving you the muffins that me and Dinky made for you.” Derpy said as she strained to move the ex-unicorn towards the door.

His hooves were losing purchase on the loose dirt of the roads that were at the outskirts and he began to slide toward the door. “No thank you, you see I really do need to be going. Give them to Fluttershy or something I really need to be off.” He said as he looked at his surroundings, he noticed the filly once more and he smiled.

“Would you like to see a cool trick Dinky?” Monochrome said, “I just have to do it outside, it really is a neat thing.”

Dinky began to jump up and down excitedly and Fluttershy also looked like she was also excited at seeing another of Monochrome’s potions.

“If you would be so kind as to stop pushing me miss pegasus, I would like to be stationary when I show this trick.” The pegasus nodded and stopped pushing him, she instead circled around to her filly and sat down to watch what the alchemist was going to do. He reached into one of his saddlebags and pulled out a silvery potion that he held in front of himself for a moment before tossing it into the air.

When the bottle fell to the ground mere seconds later a burst of flashing powder filled the air and made the two mares look on in awe while the filly just looked at the now settling powder with a dropped jaw. The three regained their composure and Ditzy was the first to manage a few words. “Well, that really was some-” She stopped as she looked around and realized that the black stallion was gone.

Fluttershy quickly covered for the vanishing chemist and told the two that he had a busy day today and that he needed to be other places, with a nod from the filly and the mare Fluttershy managed to convince them that he really was quite a busy pony. Before she could leave to track Monochrome down once more she was stopped by Ditzy, the grey mare gave her a package of homemade muffins and then sent her on her way.

Fluttershy managed to find Monochrome at a nearby restaurant, a table for two. A cup of warm tea sat on both sides of the table and he waved the yellow pegasus over. She approached a thanked the stallion for the drink as she settled into the seat at the opposite the table from the chemist. Silence hung in the air for a few moments as both of the ponies quietly sipped their tea but Fluttershy eventually found enough courage to speak.

“Why did you run away like that? They just wanted to thank you for what you’d done.”

“Because running is what I do best, I run and I run because if I so much as think of the past I need to guzzle a potion to keep my mind straight.” He said to her as he looked at her face. “Besides, they probably just felt obligated to do that, I don’t think they felt that they should do it as a thank you gift. It was probably just a social thing where if they didn’t offer me a gift they would be looked down on by their neighbors.” The stallion said as he took another sip of his tea.

“They aren’t like that.”

“What?”

“They aren’t like that.” Fluttershy repeated, “They are caring and kind-hearted and they just wanted to thank you, and you ran away from them without even stopping to apologize.” Her voice was soft but Monochrome could hear the truth in the words and he took another sip of his tea to avoid having to answer. “Why do you do it if you don’t want thanks? Why do you do so much and then expect so little for your troubles?”

“Because that’s what the good guys do isn’t it?” Monochrome asked as he kept the tea cup in front of his mouth, “I want to be good, I want so much to be worthy of being my parent’s child, and if that means I have to be as cliche as a superhero in latex then that is what I will do, because honestly I don’t think that if I were to be myself I would be anywhere near heroic.” Fluttershy leaned forward and nuzzled Monochrome’s neck for a second before he jerked away from her.

Silence fell once again and Monochrome looked upwards at the sun that hung suspended at about midday. “I’m going to head back to the library, I still have a few potions that I need to brew.” He stood from the seat at the table and set back off towards the library, making sure to leave a few bits on the table to pay for the drinks so that Fluttershy could enjoy the rest of the day.

As he entered the library he immediately noticed something was off, and to be fair it would be hard not to notice it, a large white alicorn stood in the middle of the library. Monochrome glanced to Celestia and she glanced back, he set off to head for the basement when the stallion was stopped by a call from the princess.

He turned his head around and looked at her, she looked back and with a sigh Monochrome approached the princess until they were close enough to chat in normal tones. “Hello Princess, I see that you are doing well.” The alchemist said in a lame attempt to keep her off whatever subject had brought her to the library.

It didn’t work.

“Hello, Monochrome. Twilight informed me that you used an alchemical potion last night without me or my sister’s say in the matter.” Monochrome nodded in response to confirm the words and the princess continued. “However we also understand that you used this potion to save the life of a foal so we are willing to ignore -”

“No.” Monochrome said levelly to the princess.

The alicorn raised an eyebrow at the outburst and spoke “Is there any particular reason that you declined that offer?”

“You have to punish me, I can’t be above the law, that’s what caused the issues with the alchemists in the first place, I have to answer for breaking laws Celestia, regardless of why I did it.” He said to the alicorn.

“Very well, the punishment is a pain spell, the spell will affect your nervous system and you will feel as though you are being physically wounded. The spell was used wildly at the end of the first and last gryphon war three hundred years ago, after the war it was forbidden as being cruel and unusual torture to retrieve information.

"From then on it swiftly fell out of use. The spell itself will only last for a few minutes but if you’re sure that you still want to go through with it.” Celestia said, her eyes pleading for the stallion to take the offer to get off the hook. Monochrome saw the look in her eyes but his course of action remained rock hard.

“Alright, it was your choice.”

The yellow aura of the princess’ magic enveloped Monochrome for a minute before it disappeared, Monochrome retained a steady look at the princess as the spell took effect. She had expected at least some indication of pain but she found none in Monochrome, he merely gazed at her with his cold unfeeling eyes as the magic coursed through his body. It was almost worse than the screams that she could still remember from the last pony she had cast that spell on. Those cold eyes remained locked on the princess until another flash of yellow surrounded Monochrome to indicate that the spell was gone.

He turned on a dime and went back to the door of the basement but made sure to call out to the white alicorn that was still standing in the middle of the library. “Thank you princess Celestia, that is probably the best thing you have ever done for me. Oh, and don't worry, that spell probably hurt you a lot more then it hurt me.” With those words the chemist disappeared once more into the basement of the hollow tree.

The princess returned to the castle to finish her duties for the day but despite how much she tried to get her mind off of it the words of thanks still rang cryptically in the ears of the princess. What did he mean ‘the best thing I’ve ever done for him’, that doesn’t make any sense. How did me causing him pain help the situation at all? She thought to herself, then a realization hit the alicorn, He's been doing alchemical projects for the past ten years, but he didn't have very many potions on himself when he came to town, so that means... Celestia stopped for a moment in shock, she hid it behind her normal mask of composure but the thought actually shocked her. Oh, Monochrome, what have you done to yourself from testing volatile potions on yourself.

Chapter Six

(Well, its another short chapter. So sue me. I'm still messing around with where I want this story to go. -N64Fan)

Twilight was startled from her sleep by the sound of a pained scream from the basement. Rushing blindly from her room and through the house in a panic the mare barely had enough consciousness of her mind to quaff one of the purple anti poisons that sat next to the door before she ran into the smoke filled basement.

She descended the stairs several leaps at a time as she rushed to the bottom. When she arrived the librarian found the familiar form of Monochrome writhing in pain next to a line of several propped up bottles that rested mere inches from his hoof. “What is going on Monochrome?” She shouted at the collapsed stallion who merely attempted to grab a green potion that so sat so close to him and yet so far as well.

Realizing his desperation Twilight grabbed the green potion with her magic and swung it through the air towards his lips. He hurriedly drained the liquid and coughed. “Now the red one please.” he said in a raspy voice as his painful movements decreased in occurrence and potency. Twilight did as asked and hoofed him the red potive as well.

He downed it with the same speed as he did the green one and stood still for a moment as he looked into the empty bottle. “Thank you, that should keep me. It seems the more effects have worn off and I will be back to normal within a few hours.” Monochrome said as raised his gaze to look at Twilight with his apathetic eyes. This time Twilight didn’t react to his cold glare she merely met his eyes.

“Happy to help Monochrome but would you mind telling me what exactly just happened?” Twilight said with concern in her voice.

“I’m sure that the princess informed you of our... meeting last night?” The stallion questioned as he carefully placed the now empty bottles back upon their shelves. Twilight nodded. For a minute all the white ex-unicorn did was move the bottles of ingredients around the room. With a sigh to himself he spoke up again. “Delayed reaction.”

“Delayed reaction?” Twilight said doubtfully, “how is that possible?”

“I’m usually good at my usage of potions however, when I stopped at one particular town to get my equipment reenchanted the unicorn put a time curse on it.” The stallion said. “I suppose it was obvious enough to him that I was an alchemist so he decided to mess with my wares. Fortunately I discovered the curse for myself when I drank a potion.”

The stallion paused to take a breath and move a few more ingredients. “The potion that the curse was placed upon was a mind/body healing potion. With the new addition of this alien spell the effect of the drink was changed and since then I have had my mind and nervous system out of sync with one another when it comes to extreme pain. The usual delay is about six hours and I try and prepare numbing potions in that time but it seems I was just a second to slow today.”

Sudden rage filled his voice as he whirled around to face Twilight. “But why am I telling you this? What spell did you cast on me?”

“I didn’t cast any spell.”

“Lies!” Monochrome yelled, “You must have cast a spell on me. I’m stronger then this, I can control my emotions better than this. Why would I suddenly have the need for closure if not for a spell!” Despite the angered words Monochrome turned slowly away from the librarian and whispered something under his voice. Despite the bubbling potions around the room Twilight thought she heard him say something about failing himself.

“Monochrome..?” Twilight asked as she approached the stallion. She received no response as she slowly inched nearer. Upon reaching him she had just rested her foreleg over his back with a comforting intent when he flinched and tossed the appendage off of him.

“Don’t touch me.” Monochrome hissed through his clenched teeth as he turned to glare daggers at the mare. For a minute neither of them did anything until Monochrome suddenly turned off all the alchemy equipment, grabbed his pair of full saddlebags off the floor, and made his way up the stairs.

After a few moments Twilight also left the basement and followed the alchemist up the stairs. When she closed the door behind her she saw Monochrome carefully examining the top hat that still rested on his head. Content with his headgear the stallion turned to look at Twilight, “I’m going out to make some reparations. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Without waiting for the mare to talk he left the library, closing the door loudly behind himself as he did so. Outside of the library Monochrome made his way towards the house Fluttershy had escorted him to the day prior. He walked slowly through the town, all the ponies who were awake at such an early hour pointedly avoided looking at him as he maneuvered through the streets of the town.

After a few twists and turns the stallion found himself in front of the door to the building that housed the gray mailmare and her young daughter. With a glance around Monochrome retrieved a basket from his right saddlebag and placed it in front of the door. With a light knock on the door he left the building and was out of sight when he heard the door open behind him. It was a basket of healing potions, each with clearly labeled instructions on the vials that contained them.

With another glance around Monochrome left the confines of the tight town and approached the Everfree forest. The forest was not his actual destination but rather a cottage just outside the treeline. The stallion silently approached the building and left the second of the two baskets at the doorstep. The basket was almost completely identical to the one that Derpy had received but with a few added potions that were geared towards dealing with smaller animals.

The stallion had just knocked lightly on the door when a call from behind him made him turn around. “What are you doing at Fluttershy’s home so early?” Came the brash voice. Monochrome slowly turned to look at the polar opposite of his own color scheme.

“Hello Rainbow Dash, I came to give a gift. That’s all.” Monochrome said.

“Oh, I see.” The cyan mare managed.

“Do you have anything else to say or can I go?” the white stallion pressed as he looked toward that town that now sat a fair distance away from his own position currently.

“Your just gonna leave without listening to what Fluttershy has to say about your gift?”

“I’m not into looking back after I do something.”

“But if you never look back then don’t you just make the same mistakes again?” Rainbow asked as she tilted her head to the sides.

“That’s extremely profound of you to say Rainbow.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Twilight more often recently, she’s always talking about how we study the past so we can learn from other’s mistakes.”

“I don’t look because it causes me too much pain. Sometimes I don’t even look forward. I just wander.”

“Well that’s dumb.” Now it was Monochrome’s turn to raise an eyebrow at the statement. “What I mean is, in all the Daring Do books she’s using something that she learned before to help her achieve the goal she has in the future. If you don’t persue a goal then life is kind of pointless isn’t it?”

“And what’s your goal?”

“I’m going to join the Wonder Bolts.”

“Best of luck to you then, that is quite a challenging goal. I suppose I had better be off now. Say, Rainbow, could you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you tell me the look on Fluttershy’s face when she sees that basket?”

“Sure thing Doc.”

“Call me Monochrome.”

“Whatever you say Doc.”

Monochrome shook his head and left the area as he headed back towards Ponyville. Something was different. He wasn’t exactly happy but he wasn’t sad either. For the first time in a long time Monochrome was content, truly content. “Crazy ponies, How do these elements of harmony have so much heart?”

Chapter Seven

Though his face was indifferent and his eyes still looked on apathetically Monochrome was actually quite happy at that moment. He sat in a small restaurant that was positioned in the middle of Ponyville. The air of the restaurant was filled with the scent of cooked greens and Monochrome couldn’t help but sigh as he reminisced about the last time he had eaten cooked food. After he had screwed up his taste buds he found no real point in eating pricey food but now he was in the mood for some kind of normality in his messed up life that seemed to be heading toward a brighter future.

When his order arrived Monochrome gave an appreciative nod and thanked the waiter before clumsily digging into his meal. After a few bites Monochrome leaned back in his chair and did something he hadn’t done in a long time, he smiled. It wasn’t that he was happy it was mostly because new hope had been restored to his self, a thought that perhaps the world could be better.

As Monochrome relaxed in his seat with a content grin on his face a voice from behind him made his blood suddenly drop severely in temperature. “Hello my alchemical friend, how have things been going for you lately?”

Monochrome remained completely still with his gaze fixed on the opposite wall, “Things have been going ok, how’s the bounty hunter business been treating you Merc?”

“It’s been going pretty good, I’ve had to track down this evasive nomad recently. The town that he escaped from a while back upped the bounty of his head for some reason. That caught my attention, as you can imagine, so I set out after him.”

“I see.”

“So I was tracking him down and my path led me through this little hamlet; feeling slightly exhausted I decided to take a short break in this town and try to collect some info on where I could find my target. Wouldn’t you know it I found him delivering gift baskets, I guess he’s made some friends in this town and has decided to settle down.” Merc paused to take a short sip of the steaming coffee in front of him. “Shame if something were to happen to those friends though wouldn’t it?”

Monochrome quickly stood from his seat and spun around to face the stallion. He was just as the alchemist remembered, a dull green coated earth pony who looked to have been fighting serrated blades for the entirety of his life. Faded scars covered his coat from his vast combat experience to match the mottled appearance of his grass green coat and brown mane. In complete rebellion to his camouflage colors his yellow eyes shone brightly with a sinister gleam.

“You lay a finger on their coats and I will personally end you.” Monochrome hissed under his breath.

“Ohohoho, will you now? I remember the last time you tried to ‘end me’.” Merc stopped again as he took another drink of his coffee before continuing. “You know what? Come to think of it, I’m certain you do as well.” At Merc’s words a subconscious shiver shot through the alchemist’s body, in recollection of the event a phantom pain shot through his skull in a wave of searing.

“Alright, what do you want me to do?” Monochrome growled in submission, realizing there was nothing he could do about it.

“Oh nothing much, I’d just like you to meet me outside the forest to the north of here tonight. Alone.” Merc smiled as he finished his drink with a large gulp before continuing, “Oh, and if you don’t show up I will take great pleasure in hurting these ‘friends’ of yours. I think I’ll start with that cream colored mare, you two seem to be close and her face could probably do with a few scars don’t you think? All these weaklings walking around unharmed almost makes me sick.” At his words Monochrome froze stiff.

Merc slowly stood from his seat and placed a few bits on the table before leaving the restaurant. Even with the earth pony no longer in the restaurant the alchemist couldn’t bring himself to move from his position at the table, his eyes wide as he stared at the table in front of him. Lost to the hours that stirred around him the ex-unicorn didn’t raise his gaze from the table until, an unidentifiable amount of time later, a familiar voice stirred him from his shock.

“Hey Doc! What are you doing here? I thought you’d be all cooped up in Twi’s basement again with your chemistry set.” Monochrome slowly raised his gaze from the table to see none other than Rainbow Dash approaching his table with her usual confident swagger.

“Hello Rainbow, just came for some breakfast is all.” Monochrome replied quickly as he stood from his seat and placed the bits owed for his meal on the table.

“Breakfast? Don’t you mean Dinner?” At her words the alchemist turned his gaze to the sky and, much to his shock, saw the sun was getting close to setting behind the horizon in the distance.

“Yes, dinner indeed.” The stallion responded as he silently cursed himself for letting time get away from him as it had. “My mind is a bit preoccupied is all, I must have slipped up on my words.”

“No problem Doc. Oh! Fluttershy loved your gift, she was surprised at first but she tried one of those potions on an injured animal today. I gotta say, I doubted you when you said you were good with potions but that wound practically sealed itself immediately. Fluttershy was really happy after that and asked me if I knew who delivered it. I was so close to telling her too, but I think I’ll let you do that.” Rainbow Dash winked mischievously at Monochrome, which he ignored.

“Good to hear she’s getting some use out of my gifts. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get going.”

The alchemist left without waiting for a reply and made his way off in the direction of the library. He had some preparing to do and little time to do it in. As he walked through the streets the stallion couldn’t help but let his gaze wander to all of the citizens that wandered through the streets, the vast majority of which had happiness plastered on their faces.

All these weaklings walking around unharmed almost makes me sick.

Monochrome paused in his walk once again and let his gaze wander over the various different colored ponies, not particular searching for anything unique among them. Though he had been to several other towns that looked like this they all had the similarity of being the ones that would attack him or chase him out for fear of what he might do. When Celestia banned alchemy she made the wise and foolish decision of not telling the various inhabitants of Equestria why she had done so.

To tell them why would almost encourage the act of course, but because of this decision for silence fear rampantly sprouted about what dark secrets alchemists utilized in their twisted magic. After all, if the great princess Celestia deemed it wrong then surely it was something horrid that should be disposed of for the betterment of all of Equestria.

Lost in his thoughts as he was Monochrome didn’t notice the approach of yet another pony who knew him. To be more specific it was more of a flying tackle.

“HEY! MONOCHROME!” Before the stallion had time to even look over his shoulder he found himself knocked to the ground with a pegasus apologizing profusely and trying to help him up. After the ringing left his ears he managed to stand himself up and look towards the gray mare.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t focusing and so my depth perception wasn’t that good. I didn’t realize you were so close or else I would have stopped. Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. What did you want to say to me.”

“I just wanted to thank you for those potions you put outside my door. I crashed into a box of sandpaper today and messed up my hide really bad, but after I drank one of those potions I felt peachy keen and fit as a fiddle!”

“Glad I could help, now if you’ll excuse me...”

“Nope! Not gonna let you get away like that again! This time I brought the muffins to you!” The gray mare said with a grin as she reached into her mailbags and pulled out two packages filled to the brim with muffins.

“Thank you Derpy they look delicious, but I really must be going.” The stallion responded as he placed the muffins in his currently empty saddlebags.

“Alright then! See ya later Monochrome!” The gray mare shouted happily as the alchemist walked away, bidding him a farewell with a parting wave and a smile on her face as he went. After she was done she took to the sky, did an odd loop, and headed back home.

With his mind abuzz about how much had happened that day Monochrome returned to the library, though he knew it wasn’t going to be for too long. Upon arrival he found Twilight and Spike both missing and a note detailing a short trip to a pen and parchment shop. After carefully reading the note the alchemist set about gathering what he deemed to be essentials. As he started to head into the basement he realized that he shouldn’t bring the equipment for his trade with him and instead settled on a few separate potions that could prove vital, these potions were placed next to the packages of muffins in his saddlebags.

After double checking his saddlebags to make sure the weight was as balanced as he could get it Monochrome proceeded up the stairs to the library main room once again. Upon entering the room he found Twilight pouring over a few books in the corner and the stallion was briefly faced with the idea of trying to sneak out of the building. After a moment of thought he decided against it and let out a very audible cough.

“Hmm?” Twilight mused as she turned to face the source of the sound. “Oh, hi Monochrome. How did the day go? Did you get your ‘reparations’ fixed?”

“Yes,” Monochrome paused for a minute as he debated inwardly over his next words. “In fact.... one of them has invited me over to a dinner party, I just thought I should let you know that I probably won’t be back until late tonight.” A moral ache made itself known as the lie left his lips but the alchemist shoved it off, having become quite used to the feeling in his travels.

“Oh? Someone invited you to a party? That’s wonderful! I can come with you if you’d like. I know you aren’t exactly used to social gatherings.”

“No!” Monochrome shouted, “I mean... no thank you. I think I need to see how this goes by myself.”

“Alright, if you say so. Just remember that you can count on me if you find yourself unable to handle a burden.”

“Ok Twilight, I’ll keep that in mind.” Having finished speaking, Monochrome turned to the door of the building and opened it. He paused for a moment at the threshold before stepping over the wooden boundary and exiting into the approaching dusk. After closing the door behind him Monochrome took a moment to breath in what was mostly likely his last deep breath of Ponyvillian air. After a length exhale of what was left of that air Monochrome looked towards the Everfree with determined eyes and set off through the approaching darkness towards the forest.

As he passed Fluttershy’s house he stopped for a moment and looked in through the window. Asleep on the couch Fluttershy lay, completely exhausted. Next to her on the ground was a fox, also asleep, with a bandaged leg. Slowly Monochrome backed away from the window and looked around to make sure he wasn’t being observed. Having confirmed he was unobserved the stallion left the illumination that poured out of the glass window and finished his trip to the forest edge.

After arriving Monochrome let his gaze wander across the edge of the forest for a moment before stopping and squinting. A moment of silence later and a pair of yellow eyes flicked fully open from the spot where the stallion watched and Monochrome returned to his regular standing position. “You’re getting sloppy Merc, you were far too easy to spot.”

“I prefer to blame it on that ‘5 senses’ potion you swallowed a while back, it’s been a pain to sneak up on you since you did that. I still have no idea how you didn’t realize when I came into that restaurant.”

“Whatever. Where is the rest of your outfit Merc? Stable Eye and Illusion seem to be missing.”

“They’re over in Las Pegasus, waiting for further orders. They sure will be surprised when I show up with you in chains. I’ll owe so much to that lucky Illusion, she was the only one who bet we would catch you in a town.”

“Great, let’s get going then.”

“If you say so, rushing to your grave are we?”

“If it means getting you as far away from this town as possible? Sure.”

“Your funeral.” The stallion said with a shrug as he stepped aside so that Monochrome could lead the way into the forest. “I’d tell you not to get lost, but well, I’m pretty sure you know this place like the back of your hoof from when you hid in here.”

“Not going to do anything to ensure that I don’t lead you astray and leave you to die?”

“I’ve been following you for the last year and for a few years before that as well, you may be an alchemist but I know you couldn’t harm a fly.”

“Alright then, Let’s go.” Monochrome said with finality as he marched into the forest.

When Monochrome had gone a significant distance Merc lowered his neck and whispered to himself under the sounds of the awakening forest before heading into the forest after the telltale, stark white mane that danced against the dark green. “Too bad your head is worth so much, otherwise I would be letting you go free.”

Chapter Eight

Monochrome forced himself another step and gasped, trying to keep himself moving. Merc wasn’t a lightweight that much was for sure, of course it didn’t help that Monochrome could barely lift his own weight, let alone a full grown stallion. “You knew… You knew they’d be there didn’t you.” Merc gasped out, barely clinging to consciousness, blood running down a gash in his face until it came to the tip of his muzzle and dripped off.

“I didn’t.” Monochrome responded, pacing his words so as to avoid wasting the oxygen his lungs strived for. “You stepped wrong… timberwolves… ears like dogs…” He managed and stepped forward a little bit. “Now shut up… don’t die… before the hospital.” Specks were dancing in Monochrome’s vision now. Buildings were coming into view now. He just needed a few more steps, he could see the hospital from here. Just a few more…

He felt his leg give out suddenly and he toppled over onto his back, the stallion he was lugging ended up next to him in the dirt, the wound on his chest now fully visible, the blood flowing out faster now that Monochrome’s body wasn’t pressed up against it. Merc let out a gasp of pain and Monochrome blinked back the specks in an effort to see clearly again.

“Nice try Mr. Chemist. Looks like we’re not gonna make it now.”

“Shut up. Gotta…” Monochrome heaved himself back up and placed his hooves against the wound on Merc’s chest as best as possible. “Gotta keep you alive.”

“I apprecia-“ Merc blinked and shook his head, trying to throw off the delirium that was taking his mind. “I appreciate it. But you don’t have to pretend you care. What kinda favor you gonna call me on if I live huh? I can’t get rid of your bounty, you know that right?”

“Of course I know that. I don’t…” Monochrome coughed to the side as his lungs fought against him. “I don’t have motives. But you don’t get to die. You wouldn’t kill me so I’m not going to let you get there first. I deserve it more you snob.”

“Awww, ain’t that cute. Little alchemist grew a heart.” Merc said with a grim grin, the blood still leaving the wound and soaking into Monochrome’s fur, despite his best endeavors to the stop the flow. “Why ya gotta get all soft now huh? So I feel all guilty when I pass on? You folks are all the same, so damn sweet to everybody.”

“Shut Up!” Monochrome shouted. “YOU AREN’T GOING TO DIE.” He looked back at the wound that was bubbling up and shook his head again. “If I still had my horn, there’s a simple binding spell that would stabilize you until we could get you to the hospital. Maybe if I could replicate that spell using common materials…” Monochrome’s eyes widened. “No, of course.”

He pulled his hooves off the wound and Merc coughed again in pain. “Hey, thought you said you weren’t trying to kill me over here.” Merc watched through fading eyes as Monochrome searched the nearby grass. “Whatcha think you’re doin’ anyway huh? Gonna patch me up with grass?”

“Yea, I do. Grass has an element of life and endurance in it, if it contains the RIGHT kind of matricies from the nearby occurings of the Everfree then maybe… maybe…” He twirled a blade of grass between his hooves and looked at it with slitted eyes. Then, they widened. “Perfect. Yes.”

He returned to Merc with a collection of the grass and looked at the wound. Monochrome looked at Merc with a dead expression. He paused there for a moment as Merc’s blood continued to flow. Merc didn’t seem to mind, he knew the look in Monochrome’s eyes. Then, without warning, Merc felt warm. Monochrome closed his eyes and began to sweat from exertion. Particles of light lifted out of the ground and moved towards Monochrome’s forehead until it looked like a unicorn horn. Blood began to leak from where it touched his forehead and the sweat dripped even faster down his face. The collection of grass spiraled into the air and transformed into strings of green and grey light, weaving together. Merc’s blood on Monochrome’s hooves lifted up and joined the pattern in a string of red as well.

“Please be awake. Just this once Twilight, catch me.” He said as he weaved the spell and laid it down over Merc’s wound. It rested neatly over it like a blanket and the wound began to close in response. Then, there was an explosion. Merc let loose a blood curdling shout and Monochrome went tumbling back. A crisscross of red seared Merc’s skin, and he felt the fire inside him for several too-long minutes before it went away.

What replaced it was consuming anger. Merc moved onto his feet and approached Monochrome with a face of scarlet rage. “What the hell did you think you were doing? You get some kinda sick joy outta seeing me squirm?”

He stood over Monochrome, who remained on his back, rivulets of blood running down his forehead, the faux horn gone. “Impurities… Couldn’t distill… had to be used… Sorry.”

Merc was about to launch into another rant before he realized that he was standing, easily, on his own hooves. The discovery came as a surprise to him and for a moment he wasn’t sure he believed it himself. He felt no pain, he saw no blood. Well… not on himself anyway. Monochrome though… His hooves were still decked in the dried blood of Merc and his own still poured freely down his forehead. Additionally, his breaths were shallow, his eyes were blinking forcefully to try and stay awake.

Merc moved forward to lift Monochrome onto his back, Merc knew that he’d be able to get them both to the hospital. He was much stronger than the alchemist ever was, after all. When he bent down to lift Monochrome from his place in the dirt though, he felt Monochrome bite into his ear, he backed away in sudden pain. “What the hell alchemist? Just wanna help.”

With blood streaming between his eyes Monochrome managed to level a deadly glare at Merc. He forced himself back onto his hooves again, not breaking eye contact. Merc knew the look, he’d been wondering where it’d gone. “Don’t. Pity. Me.” He breathed, snarling more and more with each word. “You hunted me for YEARS. You DON’T get to be the hero now.” Death was the only thing in that look. Monochrome wore it uncomfortably well.

“Monochrome!” Both turned to see the source of the shout, Monochrome already suspected who it might be. Twilight was covering large distances in a combination of mad dash and short range teleports. She was next to the pair of them before too long. “What did you do?” She was angry, rightfully so. It died and went away as she saw the streaks of blood draining from the victim of her anger. She looked between the two of the stallions and decided to rephrase her question. “Why did you do it?”

“Because I’m an idiot and suicidal maniac. Pretty sure you already knew about that though.” Monochrome made to take another step towards town, but almost fell as his legs buckled again. Twilight lunged forward out of instinct to catch him but he managed to support himself on his own. He blinked heavily as a small streak of blood found it's way into his eyes, making sure that he couldn’t see quite as well as he would’ve liked. “Agh, I just… I just…” He stumbled again and fell down into the dirt again. “Just need to…” He murmured as he finally lost his stance in consciousness, sucked into the tempting sweetness of the darkness that edged in on his mind.

Twilight’s mind snapped into reality and she wrapped Monochrome in magic, she was preparing a teleport spell, knowing precisely where she was going. Before she left for the hospital though she looked towards Merc with slanted eyes, determination bright in her irises. “I don’t know who you are, but you better not go anywhere. I’ve got questions that need answers.” With a flash of light she teleported away and left Merc on the road to find his own way to the hospital, remembering that Monochrome had said his ‘cure’ was temporary.

“You ain’t the only one doll.” He said idly as he moved on from the location of so much, nothing but a streak or two of blood to indicate anything had happened there at all.

Author's Note

Surprise.