All That Glitters

by Sciver

"Keep safe, Under no circumstances read"

It was a terribly windy day, and the blonde maned mailmare was having great difficulty maintaining her own balance and stability. Weaving and bobbing unintentionally in the turbulent weather, she more than once found herself on a collision course with trees, stumps, rocks and other miscellanea. Finally with one great gust, she tumbled through the air like tissue paper, scattering documents, parcels and other postage through the air.

One of these objects, a weighty but diminutive book of aging form, fell heavily onto a lone pony below. As the deceptively hefty volume of small stature struck the blue mare, it rolled over her horn and landed on the grassy floor with a solid thud. Normally Trixie would have made no small spectacle of her grievance at the offending book and pony assailants, but something stopped her as her eye ran over it:

“Keep safe. Under no circumstances read.”

Trixie’s great eyebrow lifted powerfully at this. It was decided; she would keep this book and learn its precious secrets and that would be the punishment for the klutzy mailmare that had wronged her so. Perhaps if it contained any particularly juicy tidbits, she could even taunt the mare about her embarrassing moments. Immediately Trixie scooped up the book and galloped off to her secluded shelter-cave. She took a moment to lament the loss of her travel-home, but quickly pushed the thought away. She was filled with a mischievous glee at finally having something to do other than eke out a living in these mountains. A book, and one obviously precious to one of those Ponyville stooges no less! (She wasn’t positive the mailmare was from there, but neither did she care!)

Cracking open the worn leather volume, she looked at the first few words, “Working journal of Aqua Regia, Royal Court Occamist.” Oh this was just too good. This was not simply somepony’s childhood crushes. This was a documentation of secret research from the Royal Court itself! Looking again, the book was far too old to be something like a diary, in fact, that mailmare was likely delivering it to somepony in Ponyville… it had to be her! The purple unicorn! This was quite fortuitous indeed! Trixie’s revenge was surely at hand—but Trixie didn’t have time to gloat, she had to read every secret bit of research, every piece of clandestine knowledge that was being fed to the lavender filly that had run her out of town. She would read it, and use it against her.

***

As an occamist, it was her duty to serve the Princess of the Night, Luna, in the advancement of science and magic. Namely, her job was to discover new ways of transmuting things into silver. That was the origin of her title at least, in these modern times however, it was a broader spectrum of research that she was tasked with. One of these extra-territorial researches, which was the task of all Luna’s occamists and Celestia’s alchemists, was the rediscovery of the ancient and lost artifact, the Philosopher’s Stone.

The others in the field had long since abandoned the idea that such an item even existed, nonetheless could be found. Despite this, Aqua Regia’s entire focus was on this mythic thing now. It was tasked to her. By the Princes herself. Personally. She would not abandon a direct order, no matter how ridiculous others believed it to be. Her Royal Highness Luna had asked her to find it, and so it must exist, and find it she would. So far, however, her efforts had yet to bare any fruit. She had noted such in her private research journal.

It was common for occamists and alchemists to keep such secret books to record their findings where others would not see them. While they were working toward the same goals for the same employers, they were still rivals at heart. It was a simple thing to keep them guarded, as they were almost never separated from their owners, but even so, most of these journals had charms to keep them shut to any possessor other than the author. Most. Not all. Aqua had never seen a need to do so, as her research was clearly ridiculous, and everypony expected these books to be magically sealed anyway, and thus none would attempt to open it anyway. She knew this because her colleagues rationalized with their logic to the point that common sense was ignored. They wouldn’t even try to open the book, knowing the book was sealed. They would never discover it was unsealed because they would never even attempt to loose its covers.

She was getting distracted now. Her colleagues were hindering her even now when she was alone, just because of their lack of sense. She returned her attention to the musty tome in front of her. It described all manner of minerals and stones, but obviously this was too obvious a place to find what she was after. What she hoped, was to find a clue. Perhaps the mythic stone was not one rock, but a mixture of stones, each with its own special properties intact.

“Or better yet, maybe it’s not a mixture of stones at all!” She stood immediately at her own revolutionary idea. Upon realizing she had exclaimed her theory aloud she shifted her gaze through the library, cautiously. Resting her journal on the table, she removed her feather quill from its place among her mane and, as casually as possible, documented her revelation, “February 11: The stone may in fact be a fixation of other materials, only taking solid form after combining.”

Placing her quill behind her ear once more and gingerly closing the book, she did her utmost to remain unobtrusive. It wouldn’t do for her colleagues to find out she actually had a lead to follow. Letting out a fake sigh, she replaced the book of magical stones and began searching for another, something pertaining to fluids. It wasn’t uncommon for the interaction of two fluids to create a solid, like a powder or a crystal formation. Not, at least, in alchemy and occamy. Later in the night she would document this, all of it, the entire thought process. She would be able to pick back up from there if she were to forget some time in her sleep.

Comments

[Mach and Gracie]

...pretty intriguing concept, I say.

[Sciver]

248752 much thanks, I wasn't sure how it would be received. I only knew how I felt about it.

I will caution everyone though... I write at a bit of a slow speed, so chapters won't be out daily or anything, and they may not be very long. Still, I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do in my head.