The Master Alchemist

********************

Zecora's eyes cracked open.

A blistering light scarred them, burning the retina, crashing in waves through the nerves, shutting down Zecora's whole system for a moment. She blinked, but the light only got stronger. Reluctantly, Zecora closed her eyes. She slid a hoof around. Cold, stony ground. Warm air--there were others nearby. The scent of sweat filled the place. As her hoof clacked along the ground, Zecora's ears found a subtle echo. Maybe... thirty by thirty room, with an open end in front of her.

"Hello there, Ms. Zecora," a voice pleasantly flowed. A stallion with a strange accent Zecora couldn't place. It wasn't of Canterlot or Zebraska... Odd.

Despite her nagging curiosity, Zecora remained silent.

"It is Ms. Zecora, yes?" the voice asked.

Once more, Zecora kept her peace.

"Well, while you may not want to talk, I certainly do. Since one of my compatriots is about to admister the Jester's Death Poison to you, I figured that I should, as any courteous host would, tell you why you must die," he paused for a moment, sucking in a breath. Zecora smelled pipeweed.

"You work for Princess Celestia of Equestria, yes?"

No response.

"I assume that is a confirmation. In any case, I believe that you have knowledge of the Book of Velnishar. You killed my men, stopped their operations, and interfered with a decree straight from the unfortunately late Councilor. If you have anything to say that might make me refute this claim, speak now."

Silence.

"What do you know about Yorlug Island?"

Nothing.

"The Yang Benevolent Association, what of them?"

I pity your stupidity, fool.

"I see that you remain uncooperative. Give her the poison."

You never kill an alchemist with a potion, you incompetent bottle of mane lotion!

Zecora opened her mouth slightly, allowing the bottle's threshold to cross her bottom lip. The liquid was tasteless, and it almost felt like nothing was there at all. Ideal for making someone choke or spasm. Which was exactly how the poison worked--the chemicals alone did nothing. Wild motions that sent electrical signals to the brain could actually trigger a reaction, causing the corrosive ingredients to activate and burn the lining of the stomach or throat.

Naturally, the alchemist knew how to avoid this. Whoever this zebra or pony was, they were either making it easy for her or just plain stupid. The bullet wound had even been healed. Who did these fellows think they were dealing with?

After a while, the ponies left--about four sets of hooves, all told. They must have assumed their poison had worked. Opening her eyes once more, Zecora found the blinding light gone. In front of her were bars. Up was an open sky, with hanging moss and such from the walls. The room was actually about 30x30. But leaving the cell was the easy part.

Bracing herself, Zecora slowly and carefully leaned onto her stomach, pushing herself to her back knees. Opening her mouth, she slid a hoof in and flicked her uvula. Vomit came up, burning her throat and spewing over the floor. Because of the neural signal required to vomit, the contents of her stomach began to corrode. Looking around, Zecora ripped off a twig from a sprawling bush coming out of the overgrown wall. Poking it into the mess, she tossed it up and into the bars of her prison. A sizzling sound emanated from the corroding metal. A hole soon was burned through the bars, allowing Zecora to slip out.

But as she was about to step out, she realized something--this was all too easy. Surely somezebra would know Jester's Death Poison well enough that the outcome of the situation would be clear.

However, the zebra still needed to find her gear, so she pressed on. The halls of the prison seemed to be lit from magical lights embedded in the ceiling. Corridors of emptiness--not even a single voice or the clop of a hoof aside from Zecora's fast pace. Signs aided the way: ARMORY, CELL BLOCK A, CELL BLOCK C, CELL BLOCK D, EXIT, STORAGE. Running for the storage and exit areas, Zecora's suspicions began to multiply. Signs leading her out? What was this?

As she grabbed her gear from a chest and kicked open an unlocked door, she had a sudden moment of realization. She stood on a secluded pier in a jungle just outside of Zebraska. Across the clear water, she saw the edge of the city, and one small ship, nestled slightly away from the others on the docks. It had two red stripes painted along it. Nothing could be clearer.

You want me to find this book for you, then, eh? Well, I won't make it easy for you to track me.

She tore a piece of paper from a pad in her bags, and scribbled a note on it with a charcoal pen, leaving it on the front step of the pier. It read:

"GOOD LUCK."

******************

Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Applebloom reflected on this rather pessimistic thought as she strained her muscles against the ropes holding the sail up. Even her, an earth pony, had trouble fighting the strength of the wind and the tossing sea. All around her, zebras and ponies galloped to and fro, sealing hatches, closing bulkheads, holding down ropes, and on the bridge, Voraloxle and his friend directed all of these actions, yelling orders every which way. Storm clouds gathered above, threatening lighting as the spewed rain in warning. Thunder cracked in the distance, but Applebloom was too occupied manuevering the sail to pay any close attention to where the flashes were. Her hooves and the insides of her legs chafed against the rope, and her teeth gripped a compass tightly. She glanced down at it occasionally to administer strength to the sail to keep it going east.

Out here, in the middle of the ocean, there were no weather teams to control the storms. Chaos reigned here, and while the chaos of biology had some order to it, the ocean was without rhyme or reason. Rainwater spattered along the deck, slapping Applebloom like a whipping branch. And it was cold--far colder than anything Applebloom had ever felt, even the snow of winter in Ponyville. Wind snapped it back and forth, contorting the sail against Applebloom and her valiant compatriots, who kept the ship from going too far off course.

Voraloxle manned the helm, spinning the wheel as his overcoat rolled with the rain. His zebra friend shouted the commands now, mostly telling non essential ponies to duck and cover. Most found shelter under the decks or in the map room, hiding from the storm.

It lasted for what must have been a full day. As the waters calmed and the clouds dispersed, Applebloom dropped to the deck. Her ligaments ached--shoulders burned with pain, and the compass clacked out of her mouth, nearly crushed from the strength of her bite. Even the splintery wood of the midship felt like a cushion of feathers. Her body found rest on the protruding nails and wet lumber.

But, just as she began to relax, a massive thud under the ship threw her up and across, aftward. Her head bonked against the upbound port stair, and she groaned.

"Great."

"Oh, wonderful."

"Man, this is a perfect day."

The sarcastic cries of the understandably tired crewmen sang through Applebloom's ringing ears. Some had been helping her direct the sail, others bailing water out through the day, and possibly the night.The crew under the deck had kept the bulkheads from splitting with pressure.

"Oh, look. A reef," Voraloxle said cheerfully. He conjured up a magical eyeball and sent it underwater. The now-standing Applebloom watched as he concentrated deeply.

Then he said, "Well, the damage isn't too bad, but I don't think we should try and move for the rest of the day. I could probably make repairs, and if necessary I think the combined power of us unicorns," he indicated four crewmen, "we could use telekinesis to float the ship out of the reef."

The ponies groaned at the imagined stress. The Diamond's Destiny was huge. Such a task would be difficult even for Twilight Sparkle herself.

"Well, we've got some extra materials belowdecks. Use that and make the repairs," Varos told Voraloxle.

"Ah. Very good. I'll start immediately." Voraloxle trotted off.

Just then, a thought occured to Applebloom.

"Hey, Captain Varos," she said.

"Yes?"

"Aren't reefs generally near land?"

"Well... generally. I suppose this could be an exception," he still seemed doubtful.

Applebloom found the spyglass after climbing to the crow's nest to confirm or deny her suspicion. Unfolding it to its full length, she stuck an eye at one end and swiveled it around. Nothing. Wait, no... she did see something. Off in the distance, very far to the south. An island. And judging by its size, it was Yorlug Island!

"Land ho!" she called.

Confused and bewildered sailors looked up at her in puzzlement.

"To the south. We overshot it," she said, looking once more. There it was--griffin airships thundered along around it. "I can even see the airships!"

Varos had been climbing up beside her, and jumped into the nest. She hadn't heard him coming up, and she jumped, dropping the spyglass. He caught it, and smiled.

"Tsk, tsk. Be careful with that," he said mockingly, giving a casual knock on the wrist. Looking for himself, he said, "Ah. Of course the griffins would excessively fortify their only hoof--claw?--hold in the West Ocean. Hasn't stopped me from making several 'diplomatic exchanges' with them," he drolled on, "which may or may not have involved firearms, cannons, and blades."

Despite his admission of a criminal past, Applebloom laughed.

"Oh," he said, somewhat surprised yet also slightly frightened. "That... that is a sky chariot squadron," His black stripes seemed to blanch with the color of the skin under his fur. "And that is a Zebra Navy frigate flotilla." he sucked air through his teeth. "Our landing just got a little more difficult, my friend."

****************

Celestia floated on long wings beside her war chariots. Dozens of elite troops piled into them, handling spears, crossbows, carbines, whatever they could carry. The more powerful, dedicated spellcaster unicorns had a lighter burden, and only took the knowledge of their advanced magic.

A few pegasi would remain with the chariots after disembark. Should air support be necessary, archers and rifleponies were ready to provide it. Celestia had another moment of brief doubt, but then she knew it again. This show of force was necessary.

And should everything turn to hell, Twilight Sparkle and thirty other unicorns were ready to uncloak the entire Equestrian Navy from its magical veil. This was the last straw the radicals had pulled. Celestia was ready.

For anything.

*****************

The brush of Yorlug Island swayed in the wind. For a moment, an onlooker just might have seen the tip of a barrel, the point of an arrow. A spear seemed to come into existence as the shadows of the palms drifted across the sands. But even the sharp-eyed Griffin patrols noticed no such disturbances. An entire army aside from the one they expected waited right under their beaks.

****************

Voraloxle's magical eyeball had allowed the crew of the Diamond's Destiny to tear away the coral from the underside and replace the wood effectively before a major failure occured. It had taken them most of the rest of the day. The sun was setting straight ahead of the ship, casting a brilliant glow in the eyes of the beholders but blinding Applebloom and the actual spotter enough so that neither of them could see the island.

The crew had decided to make landfall in a rowboat the next day, but as night fell and chill set in, a skeleton watch manned the craft, switching off every couple of hours. Applebloom tossed and turned on the rough seaponies' cot, but finally gave in to pestering Voraloxle.

"Do ya know if we'll find the book here?" she said, a little worried. Despite her supposedly being an adult, she still felt comfort in the knowledge of older ponies like Zecora or Voraloxle.

"I only know what you told me," Voraloxle said, a little bemused. "However, I do believe the final ingredient to Zecora's potion might grow on this island."

Applebloom's heart jumped a bit. "Ya really think so?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yes, I do. But searching for it, the Book of Velnishar, and evading the patrols of all these colliding forces will be difficult to do without sleep," he commented, turning his back to her.

But Applebloom was not satisfied with that. In any case, she couldn't sleep, even on the anchored boat, with only the slight motions of the waves.

"Voraloxle, where did you come from? How do you know Zecora?" she'd been wondering about the smuggler's origins for a time, but she hadn't had the opportunity to voice them.

Voraloxle remained silent. His quiet almost made Applebloom doubt that he was even awake, but then he spoke after an age of nothing.

"I met Zecora one night in a little tavern off the side of the road. She was lovely, more so than even now. Longer mane, too. But she cut it for a reason, which I might tell you about later. So I was making a deal with some guys about a few rare items, the first one after--" he stopped, and it almost sounded like he was choking.

"After what?"

"... let's just say it had been a while." he stayed facing away from her for a few minutes as he continued to talk. "Anyways, I had lost my previous compatriots and was on my own for a while. The others didn't like my price, and it got... physical. Or, almost did. When you could cut the tension with a knife, a young Zebra mare trotted by, sprinkling a fine, almost invisible powder into the drinks. They didn't see it, but I did. After a few more drinks, they were ready to fight. Except they completely collapsed onto the floor.

Now he turned to face her. "I was a scrawny little thing, like you but weaker, and I had no clue how to defend myself aside from the ancient art of street brawling." he laughed at that. "When I talked to her later, she ruined my cocky little ego I had. And it was at that moment that I realized I loved her completely and totally." he stared at the top of his cot onto an empty bunk above him.

He told Applebloom a few of their misadventures together. Applebloom never knew where Zecora had learned her skill in alchemy or combat, and neither did Voraloxle. What he did know was that she taught him a few basic virtues. A little "thieve's honor" as the smuggler put it.

"We had a little cottage on Horseshoe Bay. I did have a legitimate business for a while, as a general craftspony. But that lacked adventure," he said.

When he saw the growing look of suspicion on Applebloom's face, he huffed a bit.

"Okay, yeah, we did it a few times. You'll find someone too, eventually. But Zecora really does look better with a long mane." he remarked.

"And how did she end up in the Everfree Forest?" Applebloom questioned the missing link, but she knew she would get no answer.

Voraloxle did not disappoint. "Another tale for another time. Now is best used to sleep."