Dangerous Alchemy

**Dangerous Alchemy

By: Brickbrock24

Chapter 3**

I really won’t go into too much detail about my experiences in the alchemy school I attended. It sort of goes off topic with the story I’m trying to tell, and I don’t have too much time to write this. But since I brought it up, I guess I can give you a relatively brief summary.

My first day of alchemy school started about three or four days after my family and I moved to Manehatten. As I said before, I really didn’t know what to expect. I tried to meet as many ponies as I could, but I didn’t really get to know them too well. Even today, I couldn’t tell you their names for the life of me. When I first walked into that academy, I noticed at the drop of a hat a crucial detail that made me stick out like a sore hoof. Most of the students in the academy were older than me, and I mean way older than me, like mares and stallions. There were very few fillies and colts who were about my age, and I’m willing to bet that they felt just as awkward and misplaced as me.

Being the alchemy genius that I am, I obviously did outstandingly well. Doubt me? Then go stick a cupcake in your eye! I did learn a few new tricks and recipes, but that wasn’t until very late into my university days. I didn’t make too many new friends. I was so absorbed with my work that the world around me seemed invisible and nonexistent. Again, I don’t want to go into too much detail about my school days, so I’ll just give the bottom line of my four year experience.

My first year in alchemy school took no effort whatsoever. It was mostly about the basics of alchemy, which I already knew like the back of my hoof, with a few projects here and there. I, without a doubt, was the top student in my class. I distinctly remember the dumbfounded looks on most of the students’, and even the professor’s, faces as I knocked off question after question the professor asked at lightning speed. In fact, there were many moments where the professor wouldn’t let me raise my hoof to answer questions because he wanted to give the other students a chance to participate. I didn’t mind it too much. To me, it established and magnified my stance as an absolute power in alchemy knowledge. You know what they say, great power comes in small packages.

I don’t remember too much about my second year in the alchemy academy. The professor went into a bit more detail about some recipes (all of which I knew) and there were more hooves-on experiments. I remember one of the assignments was that each student had to demonstrate up front how to create this recipe that was taught. I can’t recall exactly what we made, but I know I nailed the assignment. It was a cakewalk for me. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing for a few of the students. I remember that many of the students and myself were having intense belly laughs when the pony doing the experiment mixed the ingredients incorrectly and the concoction blew up in his/her face. Luckily, the ingredients and chemicals weren't particularly dangerous.

Some stress had entered my life during my second year; but it didn't come from school work. It came from my parents. Now, Mom and Dad were always pushing me to make new friends, but that was normal. However, for some strange reason, they badgered me a lot more about it during this point in time. I'm not sure if it was because I was getting older or something; but I remember that my father marched into my room one night and told me in a stern tone that I needed to be more social and that I couldn't spend the rest of my life alone mixing potions. I told him that my beakers and cauldrons were my friends; but he told me I was being ridiculous.

What also didn't help my mood was the fact that homesickness really began to ail me, forming an alliance with my stress with the goal of making me miserable. I truly did miss living in Ponyville. I missed the fresh air and the lush green grass that tickled my hooves when I walked on it. I missed my old house, my old lab, and so many other pleasures that humble little town offered. Living in Manehattan just wasn't the same. I really hated living in that type of city. It was loud, it smelled like a swamp, there was no elbow room, certain holidays like Nightmare Night weren't as fun there, it wasn't as vibrant and colorful as Ponyville, my list goes on for miles.

But the thing I missed the most above all else were the friends I left behind. I was having fun with alchemy, but it wasn't the genuine fun I had when I played with my friends. I missed Nightshade. I missed his playful attitude, his mastery at chess, his intelligence, his love of books and high-level vocabulary words, and his colorful imagination. It was that imagination that made Nightshade a really awesome dungeon master whenever we played Dungeons and Dragons. I missed his older brother Sky Blade and his cute-as-buttons little sister Zinnia. I also missed Roger and even Sponduli Moolalli. Spindly and I might not have always gotten along; but deep down, that gluttonous pony is a true, true friend.

Speaking of Sponduli, I learned something interesting much later in my life. Believe it or not, Sponduli Moolalli was actually living in Manehattan the same time I was. The whole time I spent in Manehattan as a lonely alchemist, I never knew that a friend was nearby. Never once did we see each other there. He must have been living on the other side of the city or something; plus the fact that I didn't didn't go out too often because I usually kept myself busy brewing my concoctions. Sponduli told me that the reason he moved to Manehattan was because his father enrolled him in a business school of some sort so that he would have the knowledge to run his family's business in the future.

I'm getting a bit off topic, I apologize. My third year in the university wasn't really any different my second year. Sure, the tests got more difficult, there were more hooves-on experiments, the professors threw much more information at us; but aside from that, everything else felt relatively similar. Admittedly, I did learn one or two new alchemy techniques, but that wasn't the main thing that was on my mind. It was during this year when guilt really began to eat away at me. Why? Because in the three years that I had lived in Manehattan at that point, I was unable to keep the promise I made Nightshade.

Why wasn't I able to visit my friend? Let me try to explain this to the best of my ability. My family never had a lot of money. When my family first moved to Manehattan, my parents realized that it was a lot more expensive to live there than it was to live in Ponyville. We literally had a mountain of bills: my tuition, the rent for the apartment, food, electricity, you name it. My parents had to work long hours for minimal wage in order to keep the family afloat. We almost never had a bit to spare.

Every once in a while, I'd earn a bit or two. I tried my best to save them so I could afford a train ticket to visit Nightshade in Ponyville. But I was blind. I kept forgetting why I was saving that money, and I'd spend it on alchemy ingredients or, occasionally, new alchemy tools. What kind of friend was I? How could I let alchemy keep me away from one of my closest friends? He needed me, he needed a friend! Why did I make that promise to him? Why?! I couldn't even begin to imagine how he must have felt. Every opportunity that I missed to visit Nightshade contributed to his sorrow and slowly drained his hope. At least I didn't say "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," otherwise I imagine the rate of Nightshade's disappointment would have doubled.

My final year in the university was certainly noteworthy. Lots of stuff happened that year. It was graduation year, and I wasn't going to let myself choke on the home stretch. The main thing the class had to do, besides take an absurdly long written test, was create an original alchemy recipe. I had created numerous recipes years before I even moved to Manehattan, so that part of the assignment was as easy as pie. I believe the recipe I presented was my recipe for Magic Glue. It's basically this yellow substance that's a liquid while it's in the bottle or flask, but activates when it's poured on something by turning into a thick, creamy, and foamy goop that is incredibly sticky and durable. I also invented a recipe for glue solvent, just in case some pony foolishly got stuck to something.

It was during this year that I did get to see Nightshade again, but not in the way I had hoped. I was walking home from the academy one evening, and I decided to take a different route home. I passed by the police station and saw something on the window that caught my eye. There were new wanted posters put up. Now, the police hanging wanted posters on the walls and windows of the police station was nothing new. But something about the new ones sparked my curiosity, and I went over to investigate. I stared at the three posters that were lined up in a row on the window. The pictures on the posters weren't photographs, they were police sketches. I took a good long look at them. Those ponies looked awfully familiar, but I couldn't quite wrap my hoof around it.  I racked my brain for a minute, then it hit me. I didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be true. I looked at the names on the posters, and I was shattered to learn that I was right about the identities of the ponies. I was standing in front of wanted posters of, from left to right, Zinnia, Nightshade, and Sky Blade. I read what they were being charged with. Zinnia was being accused of being an accomplice to Nightshade, Sky Blade was being hunted for treason, and Nightshade was accused of a huge series of burglaries.

Was this really happening? Had my friends really gone to the dark side? I wouldn't believe it. I refused to acknowledge the thought of Nightshade and his siblings being criminals. I knew them better than anypony! They would never do such horrible things! I read the posters a bit more. They said that Nightshade, Zinnia, and Sky Blade were last seen heading north of Ponyville and that there was a large reward for any information leading to their capture. I looked at the dates on the posters and saw that they weren't as new as I thought. They were at least eight months old. There was no point in trying to visit Ponyville anymore. My best friend was gone and nowhere to be found.

A few weeks before I graduated from alchemy school, I started thinking about my future. Alchemy was truly a wonderful thing. It can make anything: glue, medicine, chemicals, you name it! I couldn't understand why there weren't many alchemists in Equestria when it was clear as crystal that alchemy had the potential to do so many good things for society. That's when I decided what I would do after I graduated. I would become an alchemy teacher and make it my goal to spread the wonders of alchemy to as many ponies as I possibly could.