Edward steps over the blown open door with Twilight and Starlight into the somewhat messy emporium. A small distance in front of them can be seen a barrier of orange light, which is protecting half of the emporium where the counter and more important alchemical ingredients are kept on shelves. Sitting on the counter behind the orange light barrier is a slightly tall, slim build girl with long fire red hair that has lightning yellow highlights and cyan eyes. She wears a long white lab coat, purple shirt with a sun motif on the front, blue jeans and black boots.

"This looks like one hell of a mess..." Edward observes as he steps over several broken phials.

"Observant as always Edward... What is it about an explosion that draws people like you to them? I took my eyes off of her for just a second..." The girl sighs as she looks down at a girl lying on the floor.

The downed girl has long straw blonde hair with dark purple highlights and dark purple eyes. Her figure is smaller than that of the girl sitting on the counter. She wears a black lab coat with red trim, black jeans and black boots.

"Hehe... Go boom..." The small girl exclaims raising her right hand up in a cheer motion.

"Oh, you are embarrassing..." The girl on the counter comments rolling her eyes.

"I imagine the girl on the floor is Mai, while that girl is Phoenix?" Twilight asks pointing at them both.

"Edward... Guys... These things aren't light, you know..." Alexander walks through the broken doorway and stops just before the group.

"Fancy seeing you show up, 'Lexi'..." Phoenix raises her eyebrow.

"Wasn't my choice, 'Nixie'..." Alexander glares at Phoenix.

"The atmosphere just got a lot tenser didn't it?" Twilight looks at Edward.

"That's an understatement..." Edward sighs deeply.

"Well, you hardly have any other reason to visit? It's not like we dated at all..." Phoenix states jumping off the counter and moving back behind it.

"Oh fuck off... You know my sister is scary as hell, you don't exactly have much of a backbone either when it comes to her." Alexander puts the bags down onto the floor hard.

"That's hardly the point, everyone is scared of your sister. It's the fact you didn't defend 'us'." Phoenix states crossing her arms.

"Did you miss episode two part one where she blew me out the window for telling her to leave you alone? Or that might have been because I refused to cook breakfast, but I'm fairly confident they are related." Alexander attempts to defend himself.

"They were, I remember... She was mean that day." Edward shivers.

"Why does it always seems like your sister is depicted as the devil? She isn't that bad." Starlight states crossing her arms.

Both Alexander and Phoenix's mouths drop open as they stare at Starlight who looks between the two.

"Did she just..?" Phoenix asks, looking at Alexander.

"Yeah... I know..." Alexander replies rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I'm going to assume you're new around here and a familiar given you're with these two..." Phoenix sighs deeply as she begins to arrange the ingredients on the shelves using magic.

"She's nice to me~" Mai stands up suddenly and brushes herself off.

"Fuck off Singulton..." Alexander and Phoenix state together.

"Anyway... I was mainly curious to see what was going on." Edward states as he starts to help clean up.

"Piss off you lying rat bastard! You know exactly why you dragged us here!" Alexander picks up the bags and begins to leave.

"Hey, Lexi!" Phoenix exclaims making Alexander turn around.

"What do you want now..?" Alexander groans as he turns around.

"Do you still cook that cookie type thingy you used to do..?" Phoenix asks still sorting shelves.

"I might vaguely remember the recipe we came up with... Why?" Alexander asks raising an eyebrow.

"Don't be an ass... I know you never forget a recipe... I might want/be requesting... You too maybe make me some..." Phoenix stops briefly during her sorting as she waits for an answer.

"I guess... I'll need the ingredient you added then." Alexander replies as he walks out of the emporium.

"What the buck did we just witness..?" Starlight asks confused.

"That's the 'Nixie & Lexi' conundrum, trust me everyone has been trying to figure them out." Mai comments before skipping outside.

"And nobody has come close yet... You're still paying for all this, Singulton!" Phoenix yells after the small girl.

Starlight seems even more confused than before but snaps back to reality when a jar is placed in her hands using an orange aura.

"Those are the crystallised fire wyvern tears he will need for the recipe." Phoenix states to Starlight as she leans on the counter.

"I'm sorry, what?! The recipe uses fire wyvern tears? That's expensive!" Edward protests.

"That's Alexander, you should know this by now. Oh, just so you know pony girl, there is nothing between me and Lexi. If anything, it's close friends/ex's/something I don't even know... But not really anything romantic." Phoneix explains.

"So... Friendship with benefits?" Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

"This girl's a funny one. Believe me, sweetie, I wish. If you'd seen half the shit I have, she'd wish something too. I could tell you, but that'd be a spoiler." Phoenix chuckles as she takes a crate into the back room.

"What have you seen? Phoenix? Come on!" Starlight protests.

Edward sighs as he and Twilight start leaving. Starlight turns and looks sharply at them.

"Edward! You know what she is on about, tell me!" Starlight starts running after the two.

Alexander opens the dorm room door, lugging the heavy bags through before dropping them on the coffee table as a loud creaking sound is heard. Edward comes in with the mares a few seconds later sighing deeply when he looks at the coffee table.

"That table is going to break one of these days from you doing that..." Edward states taking off his blazer.

"It's fine, it's withstood more than our workloads." Alexander states as the coffee table groans before breaking.

Starlight gives Alexander a deadpan expression while Edward rubs his forehead hard.

"Shit... Must be heavier than normal... Weird." Alexander ponders the broken table for a moment.

"How much did those bags weigh?" Starlight asks raising an eyebrow.

"I'd wager a few tonnes... Given they are gems and metal... Yeah, a few tonnes at least." Alexander states before pulling out a rectangle device with a navy blue fire decal design on the back.

"How... I don't see how the buck you could carry both those bags..." Starlight sighs before placing the jar she is holding in the kitchen.

Twilight walks over to four shopping bags which sit by the hallway entrance towards the bedroom. Looking through them she finds several outfits matching her and Starlight's tastes.

"I think Rari- I mean Racheal sent over some extra outfits." Twilight stands back up before stretching.

"Least we have clothes now, maybe we could get her something to say thank you." Starlight states before the pair share a grim expression.

"Money..." They sigh together.

"You'll have to get jobs then." Edward states as he struggles to drag his workload bag towards the bathroom.

"Do you need a hand?" Alexander asks, looking up from his phone.

"I got it... I think." Edward grunts a few more times.

"If you say so..." Alexander shrugs as he sits up.

"Oh, I should mention as Edward is busy, but we ran into Jerry before going to Glimmers. He told us that his sister found some information on the gems he gave you, apparently they are recorded as being of Equestrian nature." Twilight informs Alexander.

"If that's true, where did they come from? Or more accurately, who?" Starlight asks crossing her arms.

"Well, whoever they are... There is no question where they came from, but the real question is when and how they got to be here in this world." Twilight ponders deeply.

"Well, while you girls figure out that mystery, we have workloads to start." Alexander states as he leaves the room.

After several minutes, Alexander comes back through with a sheet of black metal which he sits against the wall underneath the window beside the armchair. He then sits a stool in front of it before searching through his bag of gems for a red one.

"Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you're going to do..?" Starlight asks hesitantly.

"I'm only going to use the wrist wind manipulation technique my family developed over countless generations to cut these gems before adding a polish... What did you think I was going to do?" Alexander asks as he prepares his right wrist.

"Oh... I thought you were going to pull out something else that you're really good at and cut them..." Starlight shrugs.

"What? No... What do you think I am? A Deus ex-character from anime? Fuck off..." Alexander rolls his eyes before turning back to the gem.

Using his wrist technique with a slightly different twist he precisely cuts the red gem into a diamond shape by rotating it and cutting it repeatedly.

"You masturbate with your right hand don't you..?" Starlight asks raising an eyebrow.

"Where the fuck did that come from? No... I mean, yeah, but... Fuck off." Alexander shakes his head blushing before going back to his work.

"I'm just going to watch Edward work his metal." Twilight sighs as she starts to walk off.

"Oh, so that's what he calls it?" Starlight now looks at Twilight who blushes deeply.

"You are insufferable sometimes!" Twilight yells as she walks into the bathroom.

Starlight chuckles to herself before relaxing on the beanbag as she watches Alexander cut and polish the gems.

Author's Notes:

Sorry, this chapter is a bit late, there were complications on some game on Xbox One and I got distracted. Luckily my co-author is with me here otherwise, chapters wouldn't be this regular. We proof these ourselves and go through them the best we can as my main proofreader didn't want to proof this story, which is fine it's up to him and I don't blame him for that. Hopefully, after this week chapters should go back to their regular pace.