Author's Note

Here's the second chapter, though it hasn't been edited. I've been having trouble reaching my editors, so if you see a problem please let me know.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and feel free to comment.

Alchemy

“AHHHHH!”

“AHHHHH!

“AHHH-oof!”

I grunted as my screaming was interrupted by a book falling onto my stomach, apparently from nowhere. I regarded it curiously, ignoring the continued screaming of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“AHHHHH!”

Or at least I tried to.

“Hey! I understand that you’re freaked out, but I’m trying to figure out what’s going on myself, so could you please STOP. SCREAMING!”

The three fillies immediately shut up, though Sweetie Belle continued to whimper.

“Thank you, and please don’t run off, I swear I’m not going to hurt you.”

The three fillies looked at each other for a moment before Apple Bloom spoke up, “You mean, you’re not going to eat us?”

I gave her a flat look, “No, I’m not going to eat you.”

I blinked as another thought occurred to me, “Also, if you thought I would eat you, why were you about to poke me with a stick?”

“Hey, Ah didn’t want to do that in the first place!”

“Yeah, neither did I!”

I turned my gaze to Scootaloo, who held her hooves up defensively, “Hey, don’t look at me, I thought you were dead!”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as I sighed.

“Look, it doesn’t matter now. The point is I’m not going to hurt you, so if you would please be quiet I would like to take a look at this book please.”

The three looked at each other, apparently holding a whole conversation just with their glances.
Finally the three shrugged and responded.

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

“Only if you agree to tell us what you are after.”

I looked at Sweetie bell, and this time she raised her hooves up, “What? I’m curious.”

I shook my head at them, but acquiesced, “Alright, just, just don’t run off okay? The forest is dangerous.”

And I’d hate to have to deal with their sisters, or sister figures, if something happened and it got traced back to me somehow.

All three of them rolled their eyes at my comment, obviously they knew how dangerous the everfree could be, they were big fillies after all. I just shook my head and looked back at the book getting off of my back and sitting up straight as I did.

The book itself was about the size of an average textbook, and weighed about as much as well. It was bound in what appeared to be leather, but it felt more pulpy, kind of like paper, but stronger. Whatever it was, it was a material I wasn’t familiar with. On the cover was an embossed image of a transmutation circle, one I was unfamiliar with as it wasn’t one that I had ever seen on Fullmetal before. I opened the book and began flipping through the pages, and was immediately overwhelmed with the wonderful scent of old paper. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of that heavenly aroma.

If there was one thing I truly loved more than nearly anything else in life, it was books, and the scent of old books was as welcome and comforting to me as the embrace of my own mother. After about a minute of flipping through the pages I noticed that something was wrong, given the size of the book I should have finished flipping through it nearly half a minute ago, but instead I was still flipping through it, and no matter how many pages I flipped through, the back end of the book didn’t seem to get any thinner, and the front didn’t seem to get any thicker.

I frowned and closed the book before reopening it to the title page. In bold letters across the top were the words, ‘A Complete Guide to All Things Alchemical’. There was no author mentioned, but there was a message printed in flowing script below the title.

Hello Aaron, as you have no doubt guessed, you are now in Equestria. What you may not have realized is that you now have the ability to perform alchemy, and yes, those rings are exactly what you think they are. I have provided you with this book as per the terms of a game that I have found myself partaking in. It contains all of the knowledge of Amestrian alchemy and Eastern Alchestry. You are free to use it as you see fit to face the challenges to come. While I am not permitted to reveal to you the parameters of this game, I can tell you that if you perform well you will be richly rewarded. Do not expect any more aid from me however, as I can no longer interfere.

Good luck, you will need it.

Demon E(A/R)TH

Huh, it looks like Anthony hit that one right on the head. Who would’ve thunk it?

I closed my eyes and sighed as I snapped the book shut. I honestly had no idea how to process this information, and I had no idea how I felt about this situation. On the one hand, I had wanted to go to Equestria ever since I first saw My Little Pony, on the other hand.

My family.

I shook my head to push those thoughts out of my mind. There was no point in worrying about what I couldn’t control, so instead I decided to worry about something I could control.

Or at least I hoped I could.

I lifted my right hand up and took a close look at my rings. They seemed normal, even more so than they had when I first put them on. I looked around me, looking for something with which to test the alchemy that they supposedly would allow me to do. Eventually I settled on a stick laying near me. I picked it up and held it up in front of my eyes, and focused intently on trying to shove energy through my rings and into the stick.

Even though I was half expecting it, I was still startled when the ring on my middle finger flashed with a dark green lightning that seemed to leap from the gemstone to dance around the stick. The lightning only lasted for a split second, but after it faded I was exposed to a shocking sight. Right in front of my eyes the stick began to rot, rapidly the stick seemed to swell up, and shrivel back down to a brittle dry husk that broke apart and composted into rich soil before it even hit the ground.

I absently noted that the air around us seemed dryer, which meant the alchemy probably took the moisture out of the air to speed up the rot. Slowly I brought my shaking, and now empty, hand closer so I could look at the rings again. I ran my eyes over all three of the rings, now knowing exactly what they did, and my eyes settled on the one adorning my index finger.

When I had made the character that used these rings, I had focused on a very specific form of alchemy, that of rot and decay. One ring was for the decay of metals such as iron and tin, one was for the rot of plants and plant products, and the third, the one that adorned both of my index fingers.

That one was for flesh.
I shuddered, the forum that I had made this character for had been very heavily combat based, and even though its universe was separate from the canon of Fullmetal Alchemist, it was just as dark, so the inclusion of that particular ability only made sense. However, now I found myself in a peaceful land, with an ability that was designed for use in wartime by a character that I had made in one of my ‘edgier’ phases. The worst part though, was that from the sound of that letter, I was going to need it.

“Hey! Are you done staring at your weird hooves yet? You said you’d tell us about you, but you’ve been focusing on those things foreeever!”

“Scootaloo, you can’t just call somepony’s hooves weird!”

“Why not, they are!”

I was pulled out of my reverie by the sound of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo getting into another argument. However, when I looked up at them, I found myself staring into the very serious eyes of Applebloom, who was being oddly silent.

There was, something, about that gaze that made me uncomfortable, so I decided to get the attention of the other two so I could try and distract all three of them.

“Hey!, stop arguing, you wanted to know what I was right? How can I tell you that if you aren’t paying attention?”

Immediately Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo broke off their argument and turned to me, eager looks on their faces.

I sighed, “Alright, since I expect that I’ll have to give this explanation multiple times, I’ll give you the short version. I’m something called a human, a kind of bipedal primate with very little body hair. My name is Aaron Arthas.”

Scootaloo tilted her head just a bit in confusion, “What’s bipedal mean? Oh, and my name’s Scootaloo.”

Sweetie Belle perked up as she spoke, “Oh oh, that means that you walk on two legs, right?”

I nodded in confirmation and Sweetie Belle’s grin grew even wider. “I got it!”

Almost as an afterthought Sweetie added, “My name’s Sweetie Belle!”

Applebloom continued to stare at me, making me slightly uncomfortable, but she did at least speak, “Ahm Applebloom. It’s a… pleasure to meet ya.”

I forced out a weak chuckle as I broke away from Applebloom’s gaze, seriously, that look was just creepy!

“All right, well, It’s a pleasure to meet you all, but I think that we should really try and leave the scary forest filled with predators ready to eat us, don’t you? I ah, don’t suppose you know the way out do you?”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took one look at each other before leaping up with a shout, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Trail Leaders YAY!”, and before I could even react they had run off, leaving me alone with Applebloom. Either they hadn’t noticed that she hadn’t gone with them, or they didn’t care. I was betting on the former.

I stood up, absently noticing just how small Applebloom really was compared to my own six foot stature, and sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.

“I, ah, I suppose we should follow them huh? I don’t want to get lost.”

“How.”

I blinked, “Um, I just supposed we’d follow the trail they left, they weren’t exactly-”

Applebloom stood up and stomped her hoof, “Not that, Ah mean how’d ya do that fancy magic! Ya ain’t got no horn or anythin, so how!”

Oh. Ooohhh. “Er, that wasn’t really magic per se, it was something called alchemy, it, um, it involves rearranging the atoms of something, or in some cases stimulating them, to cause a desired effect. Listen, I’ll be glad to tell you more later but we really should be-”

“Can ah learn it?”

I blinked again, “Um, I...guess so? I don’t really know, but I-”

“Teach me.”

“Oh, um. I really don’t know, I’m only just learning myself, so I don’t think-”

“Then let teach me as ya go, or something. Just, please, teach me how to do it.”

“Um, okay, I don’t see why not, but why?”

“Because. Because. Because ah’m just an earth pony! Sweetie Belle’s got her horn, Scoot’s got her wings, and even if I can grow a tree, that don’t help me none when it matters! I can’t levitate or fly or, or, or anything! And if somepony had, if anypony on the farm might have known that alchemy stuff, then maybe, maybe...maybe ma and pa would still be around.”

By the end of her outburst Applebloom had fallen back on her haunches, and tears were streaming down her muzzle.

I didn’t even think, I immediately knelt down and pulled her into a hug. I couldn’t imagine what she must have been feeling, but from the sound of it, she had actually been old enough to see her parents die, and it hadn’t been pretty. No child, pony or otherwise, deserved to see that.

I held her for another few seconds, and I would have loved to let her cry it out, but we really did need to catch up to the others.

“Shhh, it’s alright, it’s alright. Of course I’ll teach you, but for now, we need to go, or else we’ll completely lose track of your friends, ok?”

She pulled herself out of my arms and sniffed as she rubbed at her eyes, “R-right, sorry. Let’s, let’s go. Um, sorry about your shirt, and about yelling.”

I smiled, “It’s alright.”

She smiled back at me, it was a watery smile, but it was genuine.

“Alright then, let’s go find the others.”

Any response by Applebloom however, was cut off by two very high pitched, and very terrified screams.

We looked at each other with wide eyes, then without another word we both jumped into the brush, sprinting towards the sounds of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screams.