The myriad sounds of wildlife would normally suffuse the air in the Everfree forest, a constant song speaking to the never ending variety of life that called the wild forest home. However, this night was different. There were no sounds to be heard as the skies above the forest seemed to boil with barely contained rage, slowly spinning over an otherwise uninteresting clearing deep within the forest. There was a palpable tension in the air that was steadily growing as the clouds seemed to spin faster and faster, then suddenly the tension was broken by the sudden sound of paper tearing an instant before the clouds opened up and the rain began to pour. In the center of the clearing a black mass began to stir, and slowly lifted one long spider leg as it began to move...

“Alright, for our first lesson we're going to go over the four laws of alchemy and some of the more basic principles that it functions on.”

It had been roughly a month since I had shown up in Equestria, and in that time I had managed to fall into a relatively comfortable situation, and I was no longer living out of Twilights library. In exchange for agreeing to teach Applebloom the Apples had agreed to set me up in one of their guest rooms and make sure that I had enough to eat as well as providing me with a job as a sort of handyman around the farm so I could earn some actual money, luckily the amount of repair work that always needed doing allowed me to get in quite a bit of practice with the concepts I was learning from studying my book, concepts that I was grasping almost suspiciously easily, however I wasn't about to look this particular gift horse in the mouth and took things as they came.

At least once a week I would find myself in Twilight's library being bombarded with questions, not that it was really much of an issue as she was at least interesting to talk to when I could get her to look up from her notes, that and I bombarded her with almost as many questions myself (particularly about magic and thaumoturgy, I've always been a nerd for the sciences), and after our session she would invariably end up taking me around town to visit her other friends. As such I had become a fairly well acquainted with all of the element bearers, and ,unsurprisingly, I did find myself getting along quite well with them, even so much so that I had almost forgotten about my situation.

Almost. Being ripped from my family still hurt, but I was beginning to cope, so if I wasn't entirely happy yet, I was at least content. Either way however, I had decided yesterday that I had gotten to a point in my understanding of Alchemy and Alkahestry, I studied them both as closely together as I could so that I could better understand both the differences and similarities between the two, that I could begin Appleblooms lessons.

Scootaloo groaned, “Laws, you mean like rules? Why do there have to be rules, I thought this was some kind of fancy non-unicorn magic!”

Sweetie glared at Scootaloo, “Magic has rules! And anyway, if there weren't any rules wouldn't that make all of this way more dangerous?”

Scootaloo glared right back, “But dangerous is awesome! It's like-”

“Will ya'll both stop arguin'? Ah'd like ta git to tha actual lesson.”

Both Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at Applebloom as if they were ready to start arguing with her as well, but then the adults stepped in.

“Seriously, ya'll wanted him ta teach ya'll somethin', so ya'll'd better listen and stop arguin'”

“Indeed, mister Arthas has graciously agreed to let you be the first fillies that learn about his art, with supervision of course, and it would be intolerably rude of you not to pay attention.”

“And anyway squirt, danger may be fun, but even I have to follow some rules when I fly.”

“Besides, the rules are half the fun! Navigating all the mazes of correct and incorrect, finding solutions to seeming impossible questions...and I'll just go back to preparing for notes...”

Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, the Crusaders and myself all slowly turned our flat gazes away from Twilight, who was now an impressive shade of red.

“Anyway! These rules are extremely important, and can literally mean the difference between life and death for not only you but everyone around you.”

I took a deep breath, “First, the law of Equivalent Exchange. This means that nothing can be gained without something of equal value being lost. In other words, you can't make something from nothing. Alchemy is the science of manipulating matter, but without the necessary matter nothing will happen, if your lucky. If you're unlucky you might end up using pieces of yourself.”

All of the ponies looked a little green at that idea, except Twilight, who was only nodding, but considering that she had mentioned a similar rule about conservation of magic when she was answering my questions, it was understandable that she'd be expecting this. That and conservation of mass and energy was a pretty common concept.

As no questions seemed forthcoming I moved on, “Second, you must never use alchemy to create gold.”

Scootaloo frowned, “But why? If you can make yourself rich why shouldn't you?”

I was about to answer her, but Applejack beat me to the punch, “Economic collapse. With any other metal, or even gemstones, the worst you'll do is reduce the item's value, but gold? Nearly every nation on Gaia uses gold to back their money. Take that away, an' suddenly all that money's more worthless than teats on a boar hog.”

When she noticed the other ponies looking at her like she had grown a second head she scowled, “What? Ya'll think runnin' a farm just meant buckin' trees?”

As the other ponies turned their attention back to me I nodded, “She's right. Though I would like to mention, with other precious metals, gemstones, and even finished products, you have to realize that if you do flood the market with things you create more cheaply with alchemy, you will be costing someone their job, so please, don't try and commercialize this.”

I was slightly surprised when everyone immediately agreed with me.

“Darling, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the value of real craftponyship far outweighs our desire for profit.”

I nodded gratefully, “Thank you, but also keep in mind that not everyone will be of the same mind as you, so please be careful if you plan on teaching anyone else once you've begun to really get a handle on alchemy.”

Assuming you don't drop out halfway, Applebloom is in it for the long haul, and I know Twilight's in it to, but the other crusaders? We'll see.

“Anyway, the third law, and one of the most important laws, is never, ever, attempt to raise the dead. You can have all the ingredients needed for a body, but absolutely nothing can provide an equivalent exchange for that spark of life that exists in everything, the soul.”

I looked at everyone present, all of them giving me solemn looks, even Applebloom.

Maybe I misjudged her intentions, but still, it won't hurt to make sure they truly understand.

“I need you to understand, this is not an arbitrary rule, people have tried to raise the dead before, and they always pay. A woman who tried to raise her child lost her womb entirely, of two boys who tried to bring back their mother one lost his body and the other lost a leg and an arm, one of which was so he could at least save his brother's soul by binding it to a suit of armor. You can not raise the dead. And that brings me to my last law.”

I took a deep breath, “This is something that I had to debate on even informing you of, but I believe that it's better you go into this informed, then stumble on a seeming miracle without foreknowledge. There is an artifact, an alchemical reagent, that can allow for you to do almost anything, even bypass equivalent exchange, it could even possibly allow you to actually raise the dead. This item, is the philosopher's stone.”

I raised my hand to stall the torrent of questions that was about to come my way, “Please hold on, let me finish. The philosopher's stone may seem like a cure all, a miracle, but it is possibly the single greatest abomination ever created with alchemy. The reason that it can bypass equivalent exchange, or can even provide exchange for a soul, is because it is made up of sapient souls. Even a very small stone, which is still very powerful, requires at least five souls to create, and the only way to harvest them is to actively murder them while you perform the alchemy required to make a stone.”

Every single pony before me looked absolutely horrified, and eventually Applejack spoke up, “Why, why would ya tell us any o' that?”

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hand, “Because I'm not stupid. I know that supposedly I'm the only source of alchemy on Gaia, or at least in Equestria, but I can't be certain of that, and if there's one thing I know, it's that one in a million chances crop up nine times out of ten. I don't want any of you to stumble onto this without understanding what's actually going on, which is why I'm also going to teach you all the circles needed to both create and destroy the stones, at least after I find a way to get a completely binding promise out of all of you that you'll never make a stone. That way you don't get tricked somehow into making, or becoming a component of, a stone, and so you can destroy a stone if you come across one.”

Applejack pursed her lips, debating on whether or not she wanted her sister to continue learning such a dangerous skill, but after one look at Applebloom's determined expression she sighed, “Ah guess your right, Ah'd much prefer to find out about it now than be surprised by it later, though Ah do think yer bein' paranoid.”

I nodded back towards her, “Thank you, and I hope you're right.”

For a moment an extremely depressing mood descended on all of us, but I decided that there had been enough of that today, “Alright, now down to the nitty gritty! Circles, you're going to learn to hate drawing them.”

“Alright, that's enough. We'll pick up again next week, same time, and I'll actually start teaching you what I've learned about how alchemy works, in the meantime though I want you to keep practicing drawing a circle, and remember, no magic”, Twilight pouted at this, but she had agreed that if the Crusaders had to do it by hoof she would to, that and we didn't know if using her magic would adversely effect any transmutation circles that she would wind up making, “ but for now, I know that I need to go shopping for a bit, so how about we all head down to the market?”

We spent nearly three hours working on circles, or at least the Crusaders and Twilight did. Over the last month I'd managed to get drawing a circle down to muscle memory and the other girls were only there to watch over the Crusaders and ensure that they weren't going to get into trouble, but now I was really getting hungry, and I did need to pick up some more materials for my own continued studies. Thankfully the rest of the girls agreed readily, likely feeling their own stomachs protesting, and since none of the Apples ever had time to cook lunch the market was the best choice to eat.

It didn't take us long to make it down to the market, but we were stalled when we got there by a rather interesting sight.

“I said screw OFF!”

“But you said that you were looking for Rainbow, and I'm looking for Rainbow, so we should both totally-grrk!”

The rather obviously annoyed white headed and tan bodied griffon that Pinkie had been bouncing around cut her off rather quickly by grabbing her by the throat and pulling her close.

Gilda narrowed her eyes and hissed, “Get away from me before I string you up by your own guts, got it?”

Pinkie just blinked and turned to face us, and with a voice that didn't even pretend that it was being strangled shouted, “Oh, Dashie, there you are! And Twily, and Rarity, and Applejack, and Aaron, and-”

Gilda promptly threw Pinkie aside when she got sight of Rainbow, who had just looked down from the cloud she was on when she heard Pinkie call her name, and flew up to meet her.

“Dash, hey! I was wondering where you were.”

“Oh Gilda! Hey what are you doing here?”

“What do ya think? I was in the area because of some dweebs I have to work with and thought I'd stop by.”

“Nice, so what do you...”

The pairs voices started to die down as they flew off, being followed by a very grounded, but still happy as ever, Pinkie Pie. I just shook my head, knowing where this would probably be going.

“Well I'm still hungry, and I suppose those three can find their own food, so let's go and we can catch up with them later.”

The girls just shrugged and got back to walking.

The dull murmur of the party going on in the building behind me barely registered to me over the sound of my chalk scraping across the stone on the street in front of me. I had just put my chalk away when I heard what I'd been waiting for, Gilda storming out of the door right behind me.

“Stupid lameo pony dweebs, stupid dweeby Rainbow Dash, push me out of her life huh? Well I don't need her, if she-”

“You know the party only just started right?”

Gilda started, then glared at me, “And who the hell are you? Actually don't answer that, you were with Rainbow's 'friends' earlier weren't you? You're probably just as bad as the rest of them.”

I rolled my eyes as I placed my hands on the transmutation circle I had just finished, “Yes I was with her friends, and after this last month I'd like to think we are friends, or at least good acquaintances. And maybe you should look at yourself before blaming the others for your bad time.”

Whatever response Gilda was going to make died in her throat as alchemical lightning flashed and I pulled a solid stone Bowie knife out of the ground as the circle did it's work. I stood up and looked at the edge of the blade critically before pulling an apple out of my pocket and cutting it in two. I tossed one half to Gilda while I checked to make sure the cut was clean before I slid the knife into a sheath I had gotten made earlier that day and turned to face Gilda.

She looked at me slack-jawed, the apple in her left claw, and seemed to struggle for a minute before she could figure out what to say.

“What, how, who, what the hell? How did you do that? Actually, what are you that you can do that?”

I blinked, I was honestly surprised it took her so long to ask what I was, and that Rainbow hadn't actually said anything to her about the weird hairless ape who could do magic. I didn't let it throw me too much though.

“I'm human, and that actually has nothing to do with what I just did.”

I pointed to the apple she was holding, “You can eat that by the way. Anyway, I'll gladly tell you what that was, hell, I'll even show you how to do it, or at least try to, if you go back in there and apologize to everyone.

Gilda looked ready to attack me right there for even suggesting something like that, but I interrupted her, “I know it's not entirely your fault, though you did overreact about what went on in there. But believe me, I fully plan on making both Pinkie and Rainbow apologize to you as well. They're just as much at fault for your little, ah, episode. However, that comes later, mostly because I don't actually want to go in there."

Hey, I don't like big gatherings, alright?

Gilda shut her beak and looked at me thoughtfully before turning her eyes to the apple half she had. She tossed it into her mouth, core half and all, and chewed on it slowly while she thought. Eventually she swallowed and looked me in the eye.

“Promise to tell me?”

“Absolutely.”

“Fine, but you have to come in with me. I don't know why you don't like parties like this, but if I have to deal with it, so do you.”

I groaned, but nodded, “Fine, let's go.”

I was about to open the door when Gilda stopped me, “Hey... Aaron. Thanks.”

I smiled, “Don't mention it.”

Author's Note

I had some absolutely massive writers block with this, but about two days ago I finally managed to start forcing something out that I could actually live with, and suddenly the rest just happened. I'm also not sure why the format isn't letting me tab my paragraphs.

By the way, I know that Griffons are supposed to be carnivores, but since they canonically eat scones in mlp I figured that they were omnivores in this case.