"Aghhhh, Damnit!"

The little gray alchemist bashed a hoof on the table, nearly knocking over a bottle of reagent. She was half way into a rather complicated experiment when she realized the lab was out of Aeris essence. One of the simplest of essentia, quick and easy to make, if only she had about 30 minutes. The delicate reaction she was working on however would destabilize in about 10 minutes!

"Thistle? ... Thistle!?" Windy screamed not very loudly at all, hoping her apprentice had stayed late to study again. There was no reply.

"I told you to restock the ingredients when you're done" she muttered, and started frantically trying thing think of what to do next. Who would even have Aeris essence for her to borrow? The guild headquarters was all the way in the center of town, she'd never make it there and back in time. There was a small apothecary at the end of the street however that might have some. It was her only chance.

The door to the lab flew open with a crack, the gray kirin sprinted out almost loosing her hooving on the slick, rain-soaked street. She flew down the road weaving between the oblivious crowds going about their day, before tripping over a garbage barrel that had been blown into the street by the wind. With a thud, she tumbled over the barrel landing on her back in a crumpled heap.

A crowed of concerned onlookers started to gather around the stupid gray kirin. Windy just laid there for a minute looking up at the sky, before she came to her senses and realized why she was there. Groaning and cursing under her breath she got back on to her hooves.

"Miss? Miss are you ok?" One of the bystanders asked. The accident-prone alchemist just looked at him for a second before responding,

"Yeah, I'm good, how are you?" before bolting off down the street before he had a chance to answer. Finally she reached the apothecary, she reached out to grab the door handle but missed the latch as she barreled into the door, crashing right through and breaking the latch. The apothecary standing behind the counter looked terrified at the site of this disheveled, unkept, psychotic looking kirin breaking into her shop.

"Aeris essence!? You have?! Give!" Windy half screamed half cried out.  

"Y-Yes yes! Here, take it" The apothecary  threw a small vial into Windy's hooves.

"Thank you!!" Windy shouted as she turned around and sprinted back to the lab. She burst through the door, this time making sure to hit the latch, and skidded to a stop by her experiment!

"Phew" she sighed with relief upon seeing the experiment still intact. "Right on ti..." The flask suddenly started loudly hissing and with a  fwoomp, emitted a cloud of acrid smoke. The liquid in the flask then turned from a pleasant light blue to a dark tar black.

cough cough she choked on the smoke running over to open a window to let the fumes out. Soon the smoke had largely dissipated, and she went back over to inspect her experiment. The liquid remained a lightless void, and it looked like the flask had half melted. She leaned over, resting her head on the desk dejectedly, rolling a little glass vial around the desk with her hoof. Three days of work and preparation, gone in a flash. She groaned, watching as the little vial caught the light, and read the words on the label. "Aeris Essence."

The alchemist stared at the little vial, and checked the pocket of her robe. Sure enough the bottle she had acquired from the apothecary was still there. Had it really been here the whole time?

“Windy?” A young tan kirin with wavy mauve hair peeked around the corner. “There you are! I was looking for you. I wanted to tell you I made a new bottle of Aeris essence and put it there on the table, but you seem to have found it.”

Thistle’s eyes traveled over the pathetic-looking gray kirin. Windy was covered in mud, and her maroon robe was torn.

“Wait, what happened to you? Are you okay? I thought I saw you running out of the lab, but I wasn’t sure.”

"I'm good, how're yo-"

Bang Bang Bang 

There was a loud knock from the lab door.

"I wonder who that could be?" Thistle opened the door

"Hello there, Sentinel Frost, Civic Guard. Did a crazed Kirin run in here a few minutes ago?"

Thistle slowly looked back at Windy.

Windy, still resting her forehead against the table, raised one muddy hoof.

“Define crazed.”