Courage couldn’t help but admire the home. The more time she studied it, the friendlier it became. The place was huge, far larger than the standard baobab tree huts of the Zebrican Shamans. Likely a family of eight could live in this single tree and still have plenty of space. She wondered idly what it would be like to live here, working nonstop on sensual potions that would tease the body and ensnare the mind. What possibilities lay within?

She found herself getting wetter by the moment just thinking of it. And so, when she reached the front door, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest to throw it open, despite Starry’s protests.

Courage glanced into the darkness and lit her horn, sending waves of violet light out over the interior.

“Oh look. No ghosts.” Courage grinned back at Starry.

Starry didn’t look amused.

Something teased Courage further in. A strange sensation in her needy sex pulsed and she practically hopped over the threshold. When she landed on the smooth wood of the entryway, she almost came right then and there. Having all four hooves on the ground in this place felt so right.

Starry stumbled beside her, shaking her head. “Ugh, this place gives me the creeps.”

Courage didn’t bother looking at her. She was far too entranced by her surroundings.

The entryway of the large baobab home looked perfectly in order. There wasn’t a speck of dust in sight. To the left and the right were curving sets of stairs that led to the upper stories of the immense tree. Before them stood a pair of thick, carved wooden doors, flanked on either side by statues of two impressively-curved rearing zebra mares.

On the sides of the room stood shelves and dozens upon dozens of potions and trinkets. Despite the lack of use, everything looked perfect.

“Okay, yeah, this is all kinds of wrong.”

Courage rolled her eyes and glared at Starry. “You weren’t nearly this skittish when we found the Craven’s Crystal Caverns. And that was ten times worse than that.”

Starry ruffled her wings, her slitted eyes dancing back and forth. “That’s because we were about an hour away from freezing to death in the Deep North!”

“So the zebra… or zebras… who lived here had some sort of system that mimics a prestidigitation spell for the home. Plenty of unicorn homes have that!”

“Those homes don’t have something watching us!” Starry shot back.

Courage growled under her breath. “Okay, that’s it. I’m going forward.”

As soon as Courage said that, another pulse came from the spinning ball of wind between her legs. She barely caught herself from moaning out loud.

Courage used her horn to throw the doors before them open… and finally gasped in perfect time with Starry. This time, Starry didn’t resist when they walked in together.

Courage had been an enchantress for most of her life. Alchemy had been a natural outgrowth of that particular field of work. During their time exploring the far reaches of the world, she’d seen many different kinds of enchanting and alchemical setups. Some advanced and refined, such as those in Canterlot University’s Magebrook Wing, some wild and strange, like the Potion Forge of Red Crabapple.

What she saw before her put all of them to shame.

The entire central hub of the great treehouse was an alchemical wonderland. A massive series of glass tubes and reservoirs dominated the ceiling above them. Tables lined the room, each set up with multiple motar and pestle sets. The tables were all crafted from a different substance, from jade to bronze. If she wasn’t mistaken, one entire table was full of planters of the delicate flower, Heart’s Desire. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see that here, especially considering the owner’s name.

Alembics, retorts, aduels, beakers, tubes, droppers and hundreds of other tools were carefully placed throughout the chamber in perfect order. All of it centered around a massive combination of what had to be a device that doubled as both athanor and magical furnace.

But the greatest find was when she brightened her horn and revealed the walls.

“Shelves…” Courage squeaked. “Those are… labeled, alchemical storage shelves! Enough reagents to go dominate half Equestria’s alchemical industry for a decade!”

“Maybe more…” Starry murmured.

“Celestia on a pogo stick,” Courage whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. “This… this is incredible…”

“No arguments here,” Starry whispered as she stared around the immense display of alchemical genius.

Courage slowly wandered through the room. She only recognized maybe half of the devices, yet they all seemed strangely familiar. She ran a hoof across a finished and labeled potion sitting on a table all by itself, the liquid a strange swirling mixture of white and black. It seemed rather beautiful, actually. She stared at it, only to see the flicker of light play across it’s surface.

She glanced up as her saddlebag rustled. Far above, she spied a dark blue sky with a few gray clouds floating lazily by. The center of the treehouse rose up to an enormous skylight. In fact, Courage almost though she could see mirrors positioned at various points down the central shaft—through which no tube went. Maybe it was for alchemical work requiring certain aspects of the sun, moon and stars. Equestrian alchemy rarely had such requirements, but the zebras had been doing things with alchemy for far longer than ponies.

She finally crossed to the other side of the room and froze in place, gasping.

“Courage?” In a few moments, Starry was at Courage’s side. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh… uh…”

Just looking at the magic circle that lay on the other side of the athanor furnace from the entryway door made her ache with need. She wanted nothing more than to settle herself in that circle, drop her front, jut out her hips and lift her tail. She wanted to bloom so badly, even though she didn’t even fully understand what that meant. She didn’t need to. She wanted it. She needed it.

“That’s… a very strange circle.” Starry strode forward, though she didn’t cross the circle’s threshold. “I’m no expert on zebra alchemical formula, but this circle seems multipurpose. It has symbols for both males and females. Maybe Shauku—assuming that’s who lived here—was exploring the manipulation of genders?”

Courage knew what this meant, but it was just slightly beyond her. She scratched at her mane. A few locks of hair fell in front of her face. To her shock, they were… they were black! In fact, a piece of it was… white? That—

That’s completely normal. Always had that.

She shivered slightly and smiled. “That’s what I was interested in, actually. It’s strange to have a circle to do both.”

“Hrm,” Starry scratched her head before turning back to Courage. “Now, you probably want to inventory the whole room or something, but we need to check out the rest of the house first, okay?”

“But…”

“Courage,” Starry said firmly.

“Fine,” Courage muttered, glowering at her marefriend. “Let’s at least do it quick then.”

Starry gave her a sunny smile and the two of them left the alchemical wonderland through the other pair of doors, revealing the room beyond to be a full kitchen, with a fully-stocked pantry. Starry made another comment about the place being creepy, one that Courage promptly ignored. She knew what should be here. And that’s exactly what was here. Everything was perfect.

When they reached the first floor, Starry pulled out her notebook. Using her wand and a quill, she began to take notes on everything she was seeing. Courage still had yet to figure out why her marefriend was so obsessed with keeping all of their journeys logged neatly, but it had never been worth complaining about. And since it prevented her from making comments about the house being creepy, she didn’t protest.

The second floor contained what appeared to be a large dining chamber, a plush living room and a massive library, with the library taking up a full half of the circumference around the center of the tree. Starry pulled Courage out before Courage could dive into the wonders of the zebra texts. At least Starry promised they could explore it later.

The third floor contained the living quarters, eight medium-sized bedrooms with full-sized bed and a small bathroom with magical plumbing. Each one of these looked the same, reminding Courage of nothing more than small hotel rooms. The only odd thing was the mask in each room seemed to be a mask of apprenticeship. Odd, but nothing truly strange.

Thoughts on the masks vanished when Courage and Starry investigated the ninth bedroom at the very end of the circular hallway. This proved to be much more interesting.

Courage pushed open the doors to reveal what had to be the bedchambers of the master of the house. Dark wood lined the walls and the ceiling, while friendly masks of greeting, comfort, rest and—Courage smiled—passion hung in strategic points. A mammoth Canterlot Princess-sized bed dominated the room while perfectly neat and tidy while sofas, bookcases, ornaments were set against the wall. Six potion-filled show globes hung from the ceiling, each filled with a different ever-churning liquid, including one directly above the bed. Lights were provided by small alchemical globes set into the walls, as they were in all the chambers of the massive treehouse.

“This… okay, it’s official, I want to live here,” Courage declared.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Starry replied with a shake of her head. “I think we’ve been thorough enough. It’s time to check out the lab, then the library if we have time. If we’re lucky, we might make it back to Assem Village before nightfall.”

Without even bothering to ask Courage’s opinion, Starry turned tail and marched back downstairs.

Then, another pulse came within her sex. A wonderful pulse that felt just so very right. And it told her to go with it for now. She was getting closer by the moment. A little longer. Just a little longer.

Courage trotted behind Starry as they made their way downstairs to the ground floor. Before Courage could get into the lab, Starry stopped her.

“Let’s check outside. With all the windows shut and that odd blue glow, I can’t figure out what time it is.”

Starry once again left without asking for Courage’s opinion. But this time, it worked to her advantage.

Because the moment Starry opened the door, a crack of lightning crashed through the sky overhead. Starry squealed and jumped back, staring out at the raging storm outside. Winds whipped at the trees, rain was practically going sideways and thunder rolled overhead.

“How did we not hear this?!” Starry cried as she turned to glare at Courage, as if this was somehow her fault.

“You’re the pegasi!” Courage shot back. “You tell me!”

Starry squinted into the jungle, though it was very quickly becoming impossible to see. The storm had already hastened the coming of the night. Finally, Starry sighed and yanked the doors closed.

“Looks like you get your wish. We’re staying here tonight,” Starry muttered. “Even if this feels like one of those bad cliches…”

Courage beamed at her… though she couldn’t help feel that something else was smiling even wider.

Author's Note

BOO~! Did I scare you? No!? Awww. *pout*

Lemme know if you find some mistakes by PM! <3