The bleached, white hallways laid empty, everypony had gone home for the day and seemingly left everything in place. Book laid opened on tables and equations laid spread across chalk boards, waiting to get finished. Chairs stood in a ring, with lab-coats resting on them they played their pretend games while the ponies of science stayed away. There was no sound, not a peep or pin drop, the normally busy building reduced to a eerie silence. However, in the other room was the scratching of pencil on paper, on occasions the sounds of science echoed down the halls.
A unicorn, leaning over the large centralised table, a test tube rack filled with many different concoctions, ranging from every colour of the rainbow. He picked one up in his magical grip, reaching out for a small tea spoon of a crystallised powder, then tipping it in. The liquid bubbled, the powdered dust disappearing in the sea of dark blue acid. The scientist held his breath, with his eyes wide in anticipation, the chemicals continued to fizz, but nothing more. He gave it a experimental shake, the fizzing stopped and the colour changed from sapphire to a dull crimson. His eye twitched.
The scientist cried out in rage, lowering his head to the table, nestling it into his forehooves.
A key turned in the lock, the door partially opening to let a dinky earth pony mare into the lab. She wore no lab-coat or safety goggles, she did have a brown satchel by her side with text books peeking out the flaps. The scientist turned his head though it never left the table, when he saw the mare, a smile grew. When she saw him, a similar smile grew.
“I didn't know you were still here,” The scientist mumbled, his voice faded to nothing more than a whisper at the end.
“I just dropped in to collect some books, what about you, why are you still here?” The mare attempted to make conversation, her eyes moved around the room to anywhere so long as it wasn't at him, her pale green fur made it hard to hide a blush.
He jumped up at the question, leaning with one hoof on the table with the other at his hip. Trying his best to be between her and the concoction he was trying to create. “Oh nothing, just a lit' prep, got that big exam soon,” he force a cheesy grin to his face to mask his lie.
“Yeah, that's the reason I got the books,” They shared a awkward chuckle, “What you trying to make?” she continued to pry, the scientist became more defensive, trying his best to keep his secrets. She caught sight of the book he was working from and quickly became interested, “Oh, it that a copy of 'Mystical Magic's and Potent Potions', I don't think we have questions on that,” she informed, the stallion silently screamed in his head.
“Y-yeah, I know, I just thought I'd take a break and mix up something wacky,” He removed the hoof from his side after he realised how weird it probably looked, instead he flicked the black hairs from his eyes.
“Oh cool, do you need any help?” she offered, the stallion moved away the test tubes without looking and pulled out a notebook. He turned shy, looking up to the corner of the room.
“Actually, can you help with some questions from today's class, it's ok if you don't want to,” he admitted his weakness, she looked down to the paper, the opened her bag, pulling out a pencil case.
“Sure, I'll do my best,” the small smile couldn't express her excitement, but it was all she let show.
“Oh thank you, I'll fetch us some chairs,” he went off to the other end of the classroom to where the chairs were stacked up. Before he did however, he took a deep breath to stop his heart from thumping out his chest. Looking at the window to try to see his reflection, hating his imperfections. The state his hair was in, his boring blue eyes and dull colours. Unlike her, a beautiful mare with rosy eyes and cute freckles that were sparsely dotted around her cheeks, her colours were matching and vibrant. 'She'd never fall for me' he thought.
Over on her side, she was looking at her own reflection in the door's limited glass panel. She closed and opened her eyes, hoping her imperfections would disappear. She had weird, out of place eyes, ugly looking freckles and silly looking colours. Unlike him, a handsome stallion with sexy blue eyes and sensible grey and black colours with a charming sliver streak through his hair. 'He'd never fall for me' she thought.
They both turned back to each other, smiles returning to their lips. Two chairs were levitated over to the table, next to the mare. He quickly made his way over to her and took his seat, making sure the mare was comfortable and had all she needed before they got started. Then they worked, the mare walking the stallion through all the complex equations and fancy mathematics until it clicked in his head.
“See, you've got it,” the mare cheered, tapping lightly on his back until she swiftly retreated her hoof in embarrassment. The stallion folded the paper and tucked in away in his lab-coat pocket, turning back to her with a confident smile.
“I couldn't have done it without your help,” he said, the mare dismissed the statement with her hoof.
“Nah, you're a smart guy, you'd of got it without my help,” she replied. Emotions erupted like fireworks in the stallion's chest, 'She thinks I'm smart!' he internally cheered. Emotions also burst in her chest, though of a different nature, 'Oh no, have I made this awkward? Why'd I say that' she scolded herself, 'He's not talking! You've mess it up me, congratulations'
She opened her mouth to apologise, though he broke out in words at the same time. Their words mashed together in a inaudible mess, both quickly turned away from each other and eyes turned to the floor.
“Sorry, you go first,” he offered.
“No, you go first,” she protested.
“Oh, ok...” he cleared his throat, “I just wanted you to know, I think your the smartest in the whole class, way smarter than me at least, I wouldn't have learnt all this without your help,” he wanted to describe her brilliance further, but his lips sealed over.
Her heart nearly jumped out her chest at his complement, 'He thinks I'm smart!' she internally scream in glee. “Oh, that's sweet of you to say,” she began to fiddle with her flowing mane, untangling the green from the yellow and the yellow from the mint.
“Just thought you should know, it been a stressful time for all of us, sometimes we forgot how good we actually are,”
“I know, don't forgot about yourself though, your talented to,” she pointed out.
The both stared into each others eyes, time slowed to a crawl as nothing else mattered in the world except for the two of them. Unfortunately, this moment had to end, she coughed to break the silence.
“Anyway, I've gotta run, I'll see you tomorrow,” she hopped out her chair and picked up her bag from the floor, he opened the door for her as she reached it.
“See you tomorrow,” he said as she walked out the door and he released his magic hold on it, it slowly slide closed. After a short pause, he leaned against the wall and slide down it, “Oh, why is she so perfect,” he cried.
Not to far away from the door, she had done a similar action, curling up into a ball in the middle of the hall, back against the wall, “Oh, why is he so perfect,” she held her hoof to her chest.
The scientist approached his equipment again, moving the book closer to him. Flipping over the pages until he reached the page he was looking for. He had all the ingredient he needed, but each time he mixed them, something went wrong.
“I will get it right this time,” he vowed to himself. Mixing the dusts with the liquids swiftly, he had a lot of practice with these chemicals, his eyes constantly darting back to the book's instructions to make sure he was getting it right. Until he was faced with a familiar crystallized powder, he raised the small spoon to the tube, hesitating.
He lowered it away, now knowing the point of the blurb on the page. He wandered to a cabinet, opening and closing the shelves until he found the thin, sharp object he wanted. The small pin was sharp enough for this, he moved back over and hovered his hoof over the test tube. Then poked the pin in his hoof, thoughts of her happy smile and the sound of her laughter replaying in his head.
A single drop of his blood trickled down his hoof and dropped into the tube, its color changing from the ocean blue to a yellowy brown. He smiled, picking up the spoon again and quickly tipped it in before doubt could cloud his thoughts.
The potion stayed the same for a few moments, he shuffled his hooves around each other as the nerves set in. Then the concoction began to glow, its color changing again to a brilliant gold. He poured it into a clear vial, then kissed it in glee.
Without even bothering to put away any equipment or to take off his lab-coat, he rushed out the door, vial in his magical grasp. Hoping to catch her before she left. He caught her just as she was walking out the door, but turned his body around to drink the courage potion before facing her.
“Something wrong?” she asked him, taking a step back into the building. He approached her, looking deep into her eyes.
“Yes... I need to ask you something,” he voice was assertive, but still possessed some of his nerves. She looked at him curiously, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “Will you... Will you...” he stuttered, voice failing despite the courage potion's effects. 'Will you go out with me?' he screamed in his head, hoping by some force of nature that she'd hear his thoughts.
She moved closer, muzzles mere inches away. She could feels his nervous breaths coming from his slightly agape mouth on her own face, no doubt he could feels her's too. “Will I?”
“Will you...” he winced away. But the liquid courage kicked in, however, it felt more like liquid stupidity. He moved his head forward and planted his lips on hers. Her heart fluttered out her chest, she had spend many nights dreaming of this moment, her dreams hadn't come close the perfect feeling she felt.
He took a peek at her, his eyes opening a sliver to catch sight of her. She had her eyes closed and her face was lost in the bliss of the moment. When he parted, her face stayed stunned in place for a few moments, not quite realizing the kiss was over.
Blood rushed to his cheek and his head angled to the floor. “I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that,”
She raised up his head with her hoof, “I know... you ended that kiss way too early,” she didn't wait for his response, instead moving in for another kiss.