The Lady and the Alchemist

(I don't mind)

This time, Rose let her sigh fall from her lips. Resigned, she turned to face Brew, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

The scarf around her neck had not been merely a smart fashion choice. It hid something deeper, something terrifying to Rose, terrifying that she could have done something so horrible for such a small problem. It hid the mental side of her, the angry, bitter, introverted mess of a mare.

Located on her chest, right above where the real, beating heart itself pumped life through Rose's crystallized veins, was a scar. It was not easily recognizable as a scar on a crystal pony, due to the thick, unyielding texture of the rock, but more of a rough carving of a comically typical heart-shape. It was about a centimeter deep, and it was large. It was as if somepony had angrily gone at a statue with a dull chisel, which was true.

"See?" she whispered. "This is why I don't get close to ponies. This is why I'm better off alone. It's okay. I'll leave my book with you. You'll get to finish the potion. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

Brew gave Rose a confused look.

"What? Why would you do that? You've got a heart scar on you. Trust me, I've seen far, far worse. Ponies turn to alchemy when a doctor just can't cut it. I've seen injuries and deformities you'd shudder at just the thought of. Leave if you want, but I really don't care if you have the scar or not."

He held out the scarf to her. It was hers after all, and he didn't want be a thief. Brew observed the scar. He could feel something coming in his head. Then it hit- an idea! His blue eye shone as he ran to his book collection and flicked through injury healing potions. Since crystal ponies were new, but still had the same genetic composition, this idea should work. Brew looked to Rose, grinning like a small colt who just found all his Hearth's Warming presents.

"Rose! You've just given me an idea. What about a healing potion for crystal ponies? Normally healing potions cure actual internal injuries, but what about actually restoring the crystal? That scar of yours could be gone in a heartbeat if you wanted! If not, I'm sure there'll be lots of other ponies who will! It'll be great- we'll be helping the restoration of the crystal empire!"

He bounced up and down excitedly- he was getting into this idea.

(Small note- this is still a shipping. Brew just doesn't see himself going out with Rose, or anypony for that matter. He'll take a while.)

Rose shook her head in disbelief. Oh, this was new. She'd never, ever had somepony ignore it. Not once. Either somepony stared and whispered, or looks of disgust followed with a speech about the damn crystal ponies and their melodramatic shows of distress to grab attention. For once, Rose was shocked out of her mood swing, and she said the first thing that came to her mind in response.

"You really are attached to your work. Not one thought goes by where you can't attach it to some form of alchemy, does it? Crystal scars are permanent, Brew, as noted by our Princess herself, when it was consciously made by the victim herself. I doubt you'd be able to make it go away. It's a reminder to myself to not meddle in affairs that make a mare's brain fail miserably."

She stopped, frowning, but she gently took the scarf back and gingerly returned it to its position around her neck. The wool settled over the scar with finality.

"Thank you," she continued quietly. "It was a nice change of reaction."

Brew shrugged at the alchemy comment.

"I don't think about much else since I don't really do much else. I run the shop all day every day. I mean, I'll play a sport or something every once in a while but nearly all my time is spent on alchemy. It's just my ambition- I want to make new potions, until eventually I make a revolutionary mix that becomes used by everypony. I'll make a difference in the world there."

He then thought about her remark on the scar.

"Judging by the shape of your scar I'm getting an idea if what these "affairs" are. I'm not an expert on that stuff- bad memories there. Plus, I don't know exactly what happened and I don't want to pry."

Brew just smiled at being thanked. It was a nice little change certainly. He went upstairs and checked the pot for crystallisation they'd left. He pulled the top off and looked in- it looked like it was done.

"Hey, I think the potion's done. What do we do next?"

He sat back in his place, eager to learn.

(Ack, sorry for the late post, I thought I sent the reply and I just discovered a way to play gameboy pokemon games on my phone. I'm OBSESSED)

Rose followed Brew upstairs, nodding in an unheeded response. She rather liked Brew; he didn't pry, like so many other ponies she'd met, and, as far as she could tell, he wasn't judging her on her poor decisions. Either he didn't care (bad) or he was letting her get there on her own (good). How lucky was she to have ever met somepony who defied the norm!

"Hmm. Well, I've never seen it turn that shade of blue before," she noted as she peered into the large black cauldron. "It's usually clear. Uhm, I guess we can follow procedure as normal. Grab a paddle or something of the sort and stir it five times counterclockwise, turn the heat down to low, two times clockwise, then finish once more counterclockwise. That should be it, and we can test it then. How 'bout it?"

She nervously glanced his way, but the previous mishap didn't seem to be of much importance. Solaced, she flicked at the bottom of her hair, which had returned to its natural voluminous and sparkly state, and silently thanked Celestia that She had not wrecked Brew's shop.

(Yeah, pokemon has that effect.)

Brew followed Rose's instructions, stirring it and turning the heat down as he was told. While he did so, he thought a bit. The smooth turning motion of the mixture was relaxing to look at, and it calmed him. He thought about Rose- she seemed nice, albeit a little strange. Then again we are all a little bit weird he reasoned, so she wasn't exactly abnormal. Ironic really- the weird are normal. Huh.

Anyway, Brew finished up the potion and looked to Rose, grinning in excitement. His new friend was certainly smart- she knew what she was doing she was doing and she wasn't too forceful on the subjects she taught him.

"So, let's get testing! Celestia, this is so much fun!"

It was hard in this lighting to notice the faint blush crossing his face.

Rose nodded, sticking her nose into the saddlebag lying open on the counter and extracting a long-stemmed, dethorned orange rose in her own name. Careful not to crush it, she gently made her way to the pot and dropped the flower inside, cutting the heat and watching it intently.

It seemed like nothing happened for the first few moments. Then, the changes started to become visible, and then the flower started to go transparent, solidifying and sinking to the bottom of the mixture. Rose's smile started to appear; it seemed that this one just might have worked.

And then the mixture exploded with a bang.

She stood there in silence for a moment, a comically funny expression on her face as she caught a glimpse of the cartoonish black soot covering her face and the unnatural state of her mane. And then she started laughing uncontrollably, teas streaming from her eyes. They kept flickering back to the smoking pot, and every time it happened, her laughter was renewed, striking harder each time.

Rose walked to the pot and pried the black flower from the bottom of the pot, bowing with a flourish with the ruined stem in her mouth.

"Fawr 'ou, Mifter Bwew!" she said around the flower in her mouth.

Brew watched Rose put the flower into the mixture. He stared, transfixed at the strange effects the substance had on the flower. Then, with an almighty BOOM, Brew stood with ash all over his face. He looked to check if Rose was okay, then fell about laughing like crazy- her face was hilarious! She was laughing too and it was evidently contagious. He laughed and laughed and laughed, then eased off. He got up- since he'd fallen on the floor- and looked to Rose, who was giving him the flower. He smiled and took it.

"Thanks! Suppose I could study and perfect crystallisation with this somehow."

Brew looked it over- there was something else about it he liked. The memory it would give he guessed, of the time he and a friend accidentally almost...blew...up......the......................shop.....

He quickly darted around the shop, checking nothing was broken and none of the aftermath had gotten into the potions. Satisfied, he came back to Rose while grinning.

Rose extracted a second bottle from her saddlebags after wiping her face off with a flick of her tail, rubbing her hooves over her mane to settle it back into its usual long, silky-smooth 'do. Remnants of the ashes littered her roots and was smudged across her nose, but she didn't seem to notice as she set the bottle in front of Brew.

"Well, this is the one that doesn't explode. Each batch starts out with a few drops or more, depending on how big your pot is.... like I said, it's a sourdough thing."

She looked back up at Brew, noting a bit of ash marking his own face. For reasons unknown, she gently reached out and rubbed it off, returning his white fur to its natural shade.

Realizing what she did, a furious blush popped up on her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, silently scolding herself. "That was uncalled for."

Her hoof tingled where it had touched his fur, and she tried to ignore it, but to no avail. The mare quickly looked down at her hooves.

Brew picked up the potion, studying it. It really was interesting to be studying this stuff, even if it would be difficult to test since there wasn't a huge amount of crystal ponies in ponyville.

"Thanks Rose! You've been really good at teaching me this stuff."

When she wiped the ash off his face, Brew twitched and gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to run. He managed to hold his ground- she had just given him a quick help. Nothing to get worked up over. He looked to her, suppressing the terror raging in his chest as his face blushed like it was on fire.

"Please. Don't touch me, okay? I'm really sensitive to that. Been like that since I was a teen. Nothing wrong with you, I'm just not the kind of guy for that stuff."

Rose nodded, mortification showing in her terribly sad eyes as she backed off a little, her crystal hoof clinking against the glass of the counter's glass display.

"I'm really sorry," she said again, but it was much quieter. "I don't know what I was thinking. I don't normally do that sort of thing... Not for a long time. It's not something I take lightly, Brew. I'm..."

She grimaced, and then she had faded back into her more depressing appearance, still not getting completely shoved off her controls, but the normal Rosie was in a funk. Her grip on Her had gotten stronger, but she didn't want to be around Brew's shop anymore, especially since she couldn't pay for the damages done if She did something regrettable.

"I have to go," she said abruptly, walking quickly towards the door.

"N-no. It's fine Rose- stay if you want. It was just a childhood harassment thing. I was overreacting there."

Brew watched Rose going to the door. It was a shame if she was leaving- they got on pretty well. Still, he wasn't in charge of her. Though he felt something....weird. It was an urge to hug her, which he didn't understand- he wasn't used to it. He wanted to talk to her more so he could get to grips with it.

"I don't want to keep you here if you don't want to be, but do you maybe want to hear exactly why I'm so afraid of that romantic stuff? There's and actually little story behind it if you wanna hear it."

Despite this, he gave her a wave and prepared to start closing up the shop in case she just wanted to leave.

Rose stopped abruptly, taking a deep breath to try and settle the uncomfortable burning in her cheeks and the pounding of her heart against her lungs. She pawed anxiously at the inside of her left leg with her right hoof, trying to make up her mind as to what to do. Finally, she slowly turned back, her expression unreadable.

"I'll make you a deal: A story for a story. It wouldn't be fair of me to know yours without you knowing mine. We'll see if I can keep it together. Would that be alright with you? I'm warning you; I'm a depressing pony on the inside..."

She looked up at the hourglass on a shelf, then out at the setting sun.

"It's getting rather late. If you'd like, I can help you close up, and then we can go get dinner. I haven't eaten all day, another problem I'm going to have to explain."

Brew nodded. He wouldn't mind learning what made Rose tick- she seemed to have a story behind her, so he might as well listen.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I'll just get the place tidied up."

He proceeded to take all the crystallisation stuff down into the basement, hoofing back the stuff Rose brought. He made sure the potions were all in their rightful places. Finally, he checked that the box he kept under his desk was secure- he didn't want it spilling or anypony coming across it, Celestia forbid. Brew shut the shop, locked the door and stood outside with Rose.

"So, where should we go then? There's a few restaurants or cafés and such in the square I guess."

Rose thought for a moment, trying to shake off her dismay and put on a braver face.

"Well, we could go down to the marketplace. There's always Sugarcube, and then there's a cafe behind the tea shop.... and the tea shop, of course. Really, it's whatever you're happy with: cupcakes and pies; soups, salads, hot sandwiches and drinks; and then just a relaxing cuppa tea."

She stuffed her papers and notebooks into her saddlebag, tossing the empty potion bottles into a nearby wastebin and slipping the bag back over her hips.

"Um, thanks for letting me stay for a while. It was kind of cool to see alchemy at it's finest, if you don't mind me saying. I've never seen a process other than my own, and it's fascinating."

(Okay, I think I've got my bucking act together.)

"I guess the café will be fine. Could do with something warm."

The café wasn't very far so they were seated and reading the menu pretty quickly. Brew picked his food- a salad with a hay toastie. (Not sure what you Americans call that). He sat down with his food, then looked over at Rose as he ate.

"So, d'you wanna go first or should I?"

Brew had to say, this place was nice. There wasn't the snobbery of the upper class or violence and xenophobia of the tougher areas back in manehatten. Brew had kind of lost his accent- he moved out after the incident so he gradually picked up more of a ponyville accent, though the city way of talking did occasionally come across.

Rose followed Brew along, sitting across from him with careful grace and lifting the menu enough to hide her face behind it. She ordered a cup of piping hot butternut squash soup and sat quietly with it, her breath rising in almost invisible puffs of condensation as she sipped at the creamy concoction.

"Whatever you wish," she said, slipping into the formal, thousand-year-old crystal dialect she had used up until about a year ago. "I do think, however, that you should precede me; mine is rather long and dramatic. I would rather you see me as I am now than what I was."

She continued to sip at her soup, poking at the single mint leaf floating in the orange puree with her spoon. It was an extremely small portion, no wider than her hoof, but she preferred it that way for reasons to be disclosed later. She attempted to swallow around the lump of fear forming in her throat, just managing to get it down without throwing up with anxiety. Faust almighty, she had never remembered the last time she had ever been so hesitant about telling her story. She scolded herself and told her mind to get its bloody act together.

Brew nodded, and started talking.

"Well, I guess the first thing you need to know is I grew up in manehatten. I've lost the accent a bit, granted but nevertheless it's where in from. Lots of schools there...."

As Brew talked, the story was already going in his head.

Brew ate in the cafeteria, making idle chatter with Stone and Shimmers. As he ate, he fumbled his saddle bag as he thought about the best way to test his invention. He wanted an element of suprise- he needed to observe the effects as they'd naturally occur, not as a test would. Brew grinned- marketing in business had given him an idea.

About ten minutes later, he set his plan into action. While everypony was outside and talking in the yard he jumped atop a table and put on his usual charismatic grin. Loudly, he proclaimed:

"Fillies and Gentlecolts! Who would wanna try one ah the newest lil' potions ya can get? Developed by me, this potion will be rev-o-loutionary! So take number, and we'll see who gets the honor of helpin' me out!"

About three quarters of the student present stepped forward and took a number. Brew smiled- this'll be fun.

"Alright...lessay, number two hundred and thirty two! Step up!"

A mare by the name of Icy word stepped up. Her blue coat and mane certainly suited the name, and arguably her attitude. Brew have her the potion before she could start complaining like she always did. At first, nothing happened and Brew made a mental note to rip life potion out of the book. Then, her eyes started going all pink and were half shut as she gave Brew a weird look.

"Erm...are you okay?" Brew asked her.

Wordlessly, Icy hugged him. She buried her face in his fur, still smiling. He gently pushed her off, blushing.

"H-hey, what're ya- MMMPH!"

Next thing he knew, she was kissing him. Her grip was like a vice, and the kiss was suffocating. Brew's head was spinning- he couldn't think, but he could feel. And that feeling was complete and utter terror. Tears were starting to run down his face, and his friends who had at first been giving him encouragement started to notice something was wrong. They pulled Icy off him. Brew couldn't do it earlier- for all his charisma and intelligence he was pretty weak physically. Brew collapsed, lying on the floor as he cried and clutched his head.

Presently

"...so that's the story. I moved out of Manehatten- every time I passed the place it happened I started crying, and it was becoming detrimental to my education. Been terrified of any romantic or sexual stuff ever since."

Brew took a deep breath, calming down. He finished his food and looked expectantly at Rose as he waited to hear her story.

"Oh," Rose said in surprise. "Well, I suppose now I probably should have gone first. Then you might not have felt so bad about your situation."

She leaned across the table and stared deep into his mismatched eyes, begging for forgiveness for something that might or might not happen.

"Before I start, I would like to give you a fair warning, as this is pretty serious." She took a deep breath. "After I left the Crystal Empire for good, I thought I had gotten rid of Her, too. She dominated my life, taking my friends from me and ending any cordial relationships I had with anyone. My own mother couldn't stand the thought of me, and I think she would have shipped me off anyways.... to a mental asylum... if Sombra hadn't chosen just then to take over. Under his influence, She became more of a shield than a hindrance, protecting me from his wrath with her own attitude.

I thought I was free from Her impulse when the crystal heart purged us of Sombra's rule, and I was... for a while."

She gently took one of Brew's hooves, just to have something with which to anchor herself down to Equestria. The mare hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way; she had seen what happened when he did.

"I went to go see a doctor after the incident. A psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Mind, in Canterlot, if I can recall correctly. She diagnosed me with what I feared I had harbored within me for a very long time. I have multiple disorders, see, but this one was by far the worst I had been told about. I was diagnosed with a severe case of multiple personality disorder, but here's the best part: I, myself, Rosie, am totally conscious when She takes control of my body. She's a wreck, and, by extension, so am I."

She took a shuddering breath and leaned back, releasing Brew's hoof like an explosive. There. She had hung on so far. She waited for his reaction before continuing her story.

Brew listened to Rose, nodding occasionally. He was a little weirded out when she stared so deeply into his eyes like that, but he let it slide. He was being paranoid after all. The story itself was pretty interesting- he'd never met anypony with MPD, at least not to his knowledge. He could tell that it was difficult. He also had to try really hard not to yell when she held his hoof. She knew fine what his problem was after all. Then again, from that angle she probably really needed it if she was risking the only pony who was listening to her. He begrudgingly gave her hoof a little comforting squeeze. He calmed down when she let go.

He was blushing, ever so slightly.

Anyway, Brew gave Rose a smile and a nod to encourage her to keep telling the story. He wanted to listen.

(Sorry if it's short- totally reactionary.)

(Italics are in the past as she's speaking about them, blue is from Recurve's PoV, and I will be breaking this up into segments... it is rather long.)

"It started with him."

Rosie took a hop, skip, and a leap, and landed face-first in somepony's yard.

"Rats," she cried. "I did it again. Really sorr.... YAY!!! NEW CRYSTAL PONY!!!"

She started running towards the new pony, but she tripped and landed on her chest.

"Nice to meet you, sir," she said politely, cowed by the embarrassment of her current situation. "My name's Rosella, but you can call me Rosie. I'm here on business, but today, I'm just having some fun. What about you?"

"I was a bit of a spaz back then. The elation of being newly free from all of my chains gave the impression that I had gone completely insane. There was nothing in the world that could bring me, Rosie, down! And all I wanted to do was make everyone happy. That was all. I'd had a coltfriend before, but it ended rather badly for him under Sombra's rule... You know what, I'm not going to talk about that now. Different tragic story."

Rosie stuck her nose up in the air. If friendliness wouldn't work on this pony, maybe her crystally charm would.

Cleverly, she kicked off her saddlebag so fast, she wasn't even sure she did it, but her flowers and potions and list of enchantments spilled all over the ground, rolling around. She groaned very convincingly and did her best mare-in-distress impression.

"Oh, no! Those are all my expensive ingredients! What ever shall I do?"

Rosie batted her long eyelashes and started picking up the flowers nearest to her, making sure Recurve could see all of the little gems embedded in each strand of her long, silky mane.

Recurve went back into his original mode, where he hates everything and shows no emotion. He looked over and saw her ingredients fall all over the ground and pleading for help. Normally, he would've just sat and laughed. Then he noticed how hard she was trying to get his attention. As of now, he was actually feeling things other than hatred and anger. He began talking to himself, holding himself back from the crystal mare. "No, love is the enemy. No emotions...Do not help the mare... just stand back and watch... Oh, to hay with it!" Recurve walked over and began helping her pick up her stuff. He thought to himself "What am I doing?!"


"I thought we had hit it off rather well, see. Alas, I was delusional, and my attraction wasn't returned quite as much. That was the last I saw of him for a while, but that didn't stop me from dreaming..."

She snuck a glance at Brew, making sure she wasn't putting him off.

Brew had put his hooves together, his brow furrowing as he listened.

"A nice story to be sure, but judging by your current star it didn't end well I'm guessing."

(Sowwy it's so short but he's just listening to the story now, so he can't react much.)

Rose sighed and nodded, continuing.

"That was the last I saw of him for a while, but that didn't stop my mind from running away from me. I fell in love with this feeling I had. He was my project, the unfinished, the impossible, and the desirable. I wanted nothing more than to take him, this hardened, depressed stallion, and show him the joy of life.

"So I dreamed. I dreamed, and when I dreamed about him, that's what I did. I showed him happiness. Oh, it was so beautiful. That was when I started to fall, hopelessly, terribly, and irrevocably in love with my dream Recurve."

"You wouldn't want to imagine how I felt when I learned he had found another. They were engaged to be married, and last I heard, she had been pregnant with twins."

Rosie looked absolutely horrible, if you couldn't see it yet. Ponies were giving her strange looks. Her mane was twisted and tangled, and some parts were shorter than others where she had ripped it apart in frustration. Her chest sported a heart-shaped cut where the mare had tried to chip out her heart with a chisel before a horrified Amina Abbasi had ripped the weapon away from her.

"Calm yourself, little flower!" the Arabian had scolded. "Good Faust, Rosella. You never even told me about zis stallion, other zan to mention you had once tried to cheer up ze pony. You have never expressed an interest in him. What is going on?"

Cloud Dancer had had the same reaction to the distraught mare. Only Calla had understood her pain just a tad, but she did not understand why Rosie was having such a reaction.

Rosie didn't know why, either. It wasn't even important. However, the mare had already booked a train to Trottingham. There was no need to stay in Ponyville, anyways, since the town was not her home. She had spent far too much time in the little town, and it was time for a change of scenery and ponies. This was her last night in Ponyville. Her dye was almost done. All it required was focus, and Rosie had none of that here.

Might as well make the best of it. Alcohol would make her forget the worst for at least the night.

"Of course, with a couple drinks, a little blood and a permanent stone carving felt like nothing. But, then he showed up."

"She's beautiful, that unicorn. I know her name, but I can't tell... She's a friend of Calla's. I couldn't... She's sweet, kind, pretty, and not hyper, not too seductive... I'm too weird for him."

"I convinced myself then that it was my fault, that I had been trying too hard to win his affections when we met that first time. And then, despite all odds, he showed up, right when I needed him to be away for good."

Brew nodded, taking all this in. This was turning into quite the story.

"And how did that turn out?"

(Refer to earlier apology.)

Rose shuddered a little, but moved to continue the story.

"It didn't turn out so great. I dumped some alcohol on his head, he probably thought it was hilarious, and then I punched him and left.

Sounded like she was really upset that he found another mare. How could she really blame him? They've only met one time, and haven't talked since. True, he did have some feelings for her at the time. But the feelings died due to the negligence.

Recurve felt terrible now. Not just from the pain. Why did he keep hurting other ponies? When will the misery end? Is Recurve doomed to this pain forever? He decided, even though it was probably a death wish, follow Rosie. He could at least try to comfort her.

"Rosie, wait!" Recurve followed her out of the Tavern. "I'm sorry I hurt you like that. And I'm sorry that I caused another pony to hate me. I didn't think you would actually like me in any sense. As for Sweet Dreams? She was there when I needed somepony the most. I'm sorry Rosie.... I'm sorry"

Recurve hung his head in shame and depression. Why was it that he always had this problem? He held back tears, thinking of what a horrible pony he was. No matter what he did, ponies always seemed to hate him.

"Then I realized how stupid I was being, and it just hurt a lot more. And then he kissed me--HE KISSED ME!--and I realized then that all I was going to do was break a lot of hearts if I continued the way I did. Sweet Dreams didn't deserve to be messed with, and I was happy for her. So I left town, and really, this is the first time I've been back to Ponyville... in a long time."