My Little Homunculus: Alchemy Is Magic Rewrite

All three of them were panting from the run to the cave. Once Twilight regained her breath she asked the question she’d been wanting to, “Why is this place called the Lost Caverns?”

“They say that there used to be a kingdom down here, but one day it just disappeared.” Garble explained.

”But, how can that be?” Twilight asked, “How can a whole kingdom just disappear?”

“I don’t know.” he told her. After that they just stayed like that, letting the sound of rain pounding against the ground calm them. Garble sat up. “I’m hungry.” he said. He got up, and walked over to a wall, in which was a particularly good looking ruby. He grabbed it, and tried pulling it out, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried pulling it with both hands, but still nothing.

“Need some help?” asked Twilight.l

“No. I. Don’t!” he grunted, pulling at the gem. “That’s it!” he said, grabbing the gem, and putting his feet on the wall. “You are coming out!” he yelled, pulling at the ruby. Finally he gave one more tug, and went flying as the ruby was pulled out. When that happened, though, the wall where the ruby was embedded collapsed.

“What?! What was that?!” asked Ed, who’d been woken up from his nap.

“Ugh. I don’t know.” said Garble, rubbing the spot where he had hit his head.

“It... It looks like a passageway.” Twilight observed.

“How convenient. You think we should go in there?” asked Ed.

“Well there’s nothing else to do until the storm passes.” said Garble, taking out a torch. He took a breath, and blew fire on it, lighting it. “I’ll go first.” he said, walking into the darkness. Ed, and Twilight followed close behind, because there wasn’t much light from the torch. The corridor was long, and dark, but after a few minutes of walking they came to a lighted room.

“What?! There shouldn’t be any light underground!” Twilight said.

“Look up there.” Garble told her, pointing at the ceiling.

“What... What are those?” Twilight asked. On the ceiling were light blue gems, that were glowing eerily.

“Light stones. A very valuable resource.” Garble told her, “They are very rare though, I’ve never seen this many in one place.”

“What are they for?” she asked.

“They are used for lighting caves. Mostly rich people use them, cause they’re so rare.” Garble explained.

“It looks like there’s another passage over there.” Twilight observed, “Do you want to keep going?”

“Yeah.” he said, “Luckily there’s light stones that way. I can save this torch.” He blew out the torch, and put it back in his bag. “Let’s go.” he said, walking into the passage, followed by the other two.

“Where do you think this leads?” Ed asked.

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.” Garble told him. For a few minutes they walked through the eerily lighted corridor.

“I wonder what this leads to.” pondered Twilight.

“Whatever it is we’ll have to be prepared.” Ed told her. They all nodded in agreement, but when they finally exited the corridor, what they found, they were not ready for. They gaped in amazement at the gigantic space. A ways away, the ground sunk down, and then in the middle was a giant, bigger than Canterlot, city. Lighting all of this were tons of giant light stones.

“This... What is this?” Twilight asked in wonder.

“I think we just found the lost kingdom.” said Garble.

“It’s amazing.” she whispered. Suddenly she noticed something. “Look! Somepony is over there.” she said, pointing at a brown dragon, sitting with his back propped against the stone wall. She trotted towards him, and Ed, and Garble followed. “Hello! Can you help us?!” she called. There was no answer. “Hello?!” she called again. It was then Garble realized something.

“He’s dead.” he said, walking over to the corpse. Where it’s eyes should be were just empty sockets.

“He’s d-dead?” said Twilight.

“Yeah.” Garble said, tapping the body, and making an echoing sound. “See. A dragon’s scales are hard, so when it decays it leaves behind a shell.” he explained. Twilight shuddered.

“Come on. We’re not going to get anywheres by staying here. Let’s head into the city.” Ed told them.

“Right.” said Twilight, just wanting to get away from that spot.

“Look, there’s some stairs over there.” Ed pointed out. “Let’s go!” he said, before running off. Garble, and Twilight ran after him, not wanting to get left behind. Ed reached the stairs, and suddenly stopped.

“What’s wro-” Twilight cut off as she saw what Ed did. There were about 6 dragon bodies on the stairs. They looked like they were climbing up. They must have died that way. “Oh Celestia.” Twilight said, looking like she’d vomit.

“This doesn’t look natural.” Ed pointed out, “It looks like all of them died at the same time. And I bet when we go into the city we’ll find more.”

“This... This is horrible.” Twilight choked out. Ed nodded.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” he told her, “You can stay here.” She shook her head.

“N-No. I have to go.” she said. Ed nodded, impressed with her courage.

“Let’s go.” he said, walking down the stairs. Twilight shuddered as she passed the corpses, and followed Ed. When they reached the bottom, Ed’s theory was proven correct. The streets were filled with dead dragons. Some behind stalls, others reaching out for food that’s been long gone, and some just plain walking. Twilight gagged, but then regained her composure.

“We should head to the castle.” Garble said, pointing at the giant building at the end of the city, “We can probably find something there.”

“Right.” Ed said. He started walking in that direction. As they passed through the streets they saw more and more bodies. They were all doing something, suggesting further that this all happened at once. They even passed a mother carrying her baby, and Twilight had to look away. “I don’t understand what happened here, but I’ll find out.” Ed said, determined.

Finally after passing street after street, and body after body, they finally reached a large open area in front of a wall, and gate, which lead to the castle. There was even a fountain in the middle, but it had long since stopped working. Ed went up to the gates, and pushed on them. They were too rusted, though, and wouldn’t budge. “Great, how are we supposed to get in?” he wondered.

“Let me handle this.” said Garble. Ed stepped back as Garble took a deep breath. He then blew fire out at the bars. After a few seconds the bars started to melt. After a minute enough had been melted that they could get through, and Garble cut off the flames. “Neat, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Ed said, “Let’s go.” He stepped through the gap in the fence, and started walking up the path towards the castle. They passed a body who had been chipping away at a half finished statue of something standing on two legs. It didn’t have scales like a dragon through. . Ed couldn’t tell what it was, but somehow it seemed familiar.

Soon enough they finally reached the castle. It seemed bigger up close, then when they were in the city. The door was rusted, but luckily it wasn’t stuck. When they opened it they found that it lead into a large courtroom. “This reminds me of the castle in Canterlot.” Twilight reminisced.

“We should check out the throne room first.” Ed told them.

“I know where that probably is.” said Twilight.

“Great, bring us there.” Ed said. Twilight nodded, and lead them through an intricate amount of halls, and past the bodies of many servants. Soon they were in front of a giant door. It was so heavy that all three of them had to push on it to get it open. They walked into the room to find a throne, and a dragon sitting on it with a crown on his head, and a book in his hand.

“Looks like the king.” Garble stated.

“What’s that he’s holding?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s find out.” Ed said, walking up to the body.

“Wait!” Twilight called out, making him stop.

“What?” he asked.

“Take a closer look at that book.” she told him, “It’s old. I don’t want it to get destroyed. I know a spell that’ll preserve it, let me use that first.” He nodded.

“Alright then.” he said. She walked up, and her horn started glowing, and the book was surrounded by the same hue. It lasted a few seconds, until the light faded.

“There.” she said, “It should be safe to pick up now.” Ed nodded, and carefully removed the old book from the kings cold hand. “What is it?” asked Twilight.

“It... It looks like some kind of journal.” Ed told her.

“Well open it.” she said. He nodded, and opened the book to the first page. He started to read out loud.

“Entry one. A strange dragon entered the throne room today. What was even more interesting, though, was what he offered me. He offered the Stone of Power. The Red Gem. The chance to live forever. Dragons may live longer than any other species, but we still die. I must admit I was swayed by the possibility of being immortal, so I agreed.”

“Entry two. It has been a few days since the strange dragon told me the secret to creating the Red Gem. At first I was appalled, but I’ve realized that you can’t gain something without sacrifice, so now we are plotting how to create it.”

“Entry three. It has been a month now, and I’ve started having trenches dug around the city. The citizens have no idea what I’m plotting. I’ve also ordered a family attacked, to form one of the needed blood seals.”

“Entry four. It has been five months, and the circle is almost complete. There is also only one more blood seal that needs to be formed. In a few days I shall be immortal.”

“Entry five. The dragon has betrayed me! He was only using me, so he could create the gem for himself! I write this, so when, and if, anyone finds this, they can avenge me. The dragon's name is Env-”

“And it cuts off there.” Ed finished. Twilight looked horrified by what she’d heard. “So what do you think it means?” Ed asked.

“I-I don’t know.” Twilight said.

“I think I know what stone they were talking about, but I can’t figure out the rest.” Ed admitted, “I think it’s the Philosopher's Stone.”

“Philosopher's Stone?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah. It’s a powerful red stone that lets you bypass the laws of equivalence.” Ed told her.

“Laws of equivalence?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s the first rule of alchemy. To gain something, something of equal value must be lost. That is the law of equivalence, but the stone lets you bypass that law.” he said.

“So this king wanted to get the stone?” asked Twilight.

“Probably.” he told her.

“But why?” she asked, “If it caused all of this, then why would anyone ever want the stone?”

“I don’t know.” Ed answered, “For power maybe. Or maybe to fix something.”

“Well, in any case, we should keep this.” said Twilight, levitating the book into her saddlebag.

“Maybe we’ll find out more about what happened when we get to the capitol.” Ed said.

“Maybe.” she agreed. Just then her stomach growled.

“Sounds like you’re hungry.” he said. Then his stomach growled too.

“We’re all hungry.” said Garble, “Why don’t we get outta here first.” They nodded in agreement, and walked out of the castle.

It was a bit too convenient how we found this place. Ed thought. Almost like someone wanted us to find it. He kept this to himself, though. as they walked back through the town. Soon enough they were back at the stairs. They climbed up, and went back through the passage they came from. They reached the room with light stones, and stopped.

“Let’s eat here.” Garble said, sitting down. The others complied, glad they got to rest. They got out their food, and started eating.

“We still don’t know what happened to those people down there, but at least we know it has something to do with the Philosopher's Stone.” Ed commented, “Next we’re headed to Drakonia, the capitol.”

“The capitol.” Garble echoed. I didn’t expect to go there again. He thought.

“I wonder what it’s like.” said Twilight. Soon they finished their meal, and Garble took out the torch again, and lit it.

“Let’s get going.” he said, walking into the dark tunnel. When they reached the entrance they were surprised. The storm was still going, but not as bad, which allowed them to see that it was night time.

“I didn’t think we were gone long enough for Luna to raise the moon.” Twilight commented.

“Who?” asked Garble.

“Princess Luna.” Twilight said, “You know, she turns the day into night, and raises the moon.” Garble started laughing.

“I can’t believe you believe in something like that.” he said, “No one raises the moon.” Twilight stomped her hoof.

“She does too! And Princess Celestia raises the sun!” she told him. He just laughed even harder, though.

“That’s rich.” he said, “Raising the moon, and sun. What a laugh.” Twilight wasn’t sure to react. She’d never met anyone who didn’t believe in Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna. Probably because everypony in Equestria had seen them. Finally Garble’s laughter stopped. “We should probably get some sleep now.” he said, “We have a long trip ahead of us.”

“You’re right.” she said. She hadn’t realized it, but she was tired. So much so, that she fell asleep, almost immediately. Her sleep was restless, though. Her dreams were haunted by the things she saw earlier that day. When they awoke the next morning the storm had stopped.

“Let’s get moving.” Garble said after breakfast, “Hopefully we can make some good time.” Ed, and Twilight agreed, and for the whole day they walked across the barren wastelands of the dragon kingdom, with only an odd plant or two for decoration.

“I don’t see how anything could live out here.” said Twilight.

“Dragons are adapted to live here.” Garble told her. She sighed, and continued walking.

“I’m kinda sick of the scenery.” she said.

“Yeah, there’s not much to look at.” Garble pointed out. She sighed again, and continued walking. This continued on for four days, until they came within sight of Drakonia. “Almost there.” he said, “Only a few more hours.”

“Let’s go!” Ed said with renewed vigor, and ran off. Garble, and Twilight ran after him. Finally they reached the city just as the sun was going down.

“Let’s find a hotel for tonight, and then tomorrow we can visit the archives.” Garble said. They nodded in agreement, and they walked around town. Unluckily they walked through the streets, going to hotel after hotel, and being rejected until finally one dragon said that he’d give them a room. Ed yawned as he got into bed.

"I'm going to sleep. See you guys in the morning." he said. The other two took his example, and fell asleep on their own beds.