Bright Green Monster Realm, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Undeath

by ArtieStroke

Lesson 9: Alchemy

'Al-che-myˈ\'al-kə-mē'\

n.

The school of magic pertaining to the combination of reagents to create a spell-like effects, usually through the use of potions, poultices, tinctures, and serums.

---

"Watch out!"

Twilight gasped as Sunset tackled her to the side, the manticore barely missing them by a hair. Twilight hit the ground hard, while Sunset continued to roll into a crouching position and immediately sprang back into action- fire bursting forth from her as she yelled. Shakily, Twilight got up into a sitting position; the rest of the group falling into combat as the manticore swung wildly.

"Twilight!"

Twilight looked over to Spike, who slid to a stop next to her and tried to help her up.

"It's fine- Spike, please you have to stay back from me."

Spike hesitated. For the first time, it really hit him how Twilight had changed now. All the little nervous tics of the past few hours stood out in his memory- but come on, she was his SISTER, that had to count for something.

Twilight finally made it to her feet, looking over the battle; Applejack and Dash switched in and out, trading devastating heavy smacks and flurrying blows to keep the manticore on her toes. Combined with Sunset going all out on the fire powers, the team seemed to have it handled-

Then Dash took a nasty tail slash across her side. With a yelp, she crashed to the ground, trying to get up- but the poison was making quick work of her. She groaned, and collapsed onto her hands and knees, breathing heavily.

"Dashie!" Pinkie popped up, rolling under the manticore's tail- Rarity soon took Dash's spot, jumping in with a high kick. Pinkie made her way over to her friend, carrying her over to Twilight and Spike.

"Man... this stinks..." Dash wheezed, her face flushed with red. Twilight grimaced- the manticore's poison was now doing to Dash what her own stupid pride had been doing to her over the past couple weeks, just at an accelerated rate.

"Just try to stay still, don't want the poison to spread quicker," Twilight said, kneeling down next to them and rummaging through her bag. She knew she had packed a few varieties of antidotes, there had to be something for her in here.

"Yeah, I think I'll just... lie here a bit." Dash replied, head leaning against Pinkie's lap.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

Twilight nodded, pulling out a vial of pinkish liquid.

"She will now- alright Dash, open wide."

"Jeeze, take a girl out on a date first, will ya-"

Dash's reply was cut short as Twilight shoved the antidote into Dash's mouth, her face screwing up from the fowl taste.

"EURGH!"

Back at the fight, Rarity and AJ were quickly losing ground- taking better care to avoid the manticore's tail but being put on the backfoot for it.

"We could use a little help here, y'all!"

"I'm working on it!" Sunset growled, trying to swoop back around- but the manticore was wiser to her magic now, and fended her off with cowering ferocity.

"Fluttershy, please do something!" Rarity yelped, as she barely ducked under the manticore's tail once more.

Fluttershy squeaked, having taken refuge behind the rock, "I- I can't! I don't know how to fight!"

"Can't you just hypnowhatsit her or something!?" AJ shouted.

"If she did that here, it would hit everyone- ESPECIALLY Twilight and Spike!" Sunset cut her off, landing in front of the group and raising up a wall of fire. The manticore jumped back for a moment, and Sunset continued to focus on her magic. Applejack and Rarity paled at that thought, while Spike stared through the wall of flames.

Dammit, he knew he could do more than just cower behind everyone else.

Breaking off into a sprint, Spike charged at the wall of fire, screaming as he pulled a dagger from his belt and green flames sprouted in his other hand. Nobody had the time to react as he shot a gout of flame through the wall, temporarily punching a hole through it as he jumped through. Twilight screamed.

"SPIKE!"

"YOU FUCKING-"

Sunset dropped the wall, moving to rush forward- before Rarity darted ahead of her. Spike was already in melee with the monster, who seemed almost desperate to pin the boy- of course.

A thread shot from her wrist, wrapping around Spike's waist and pulling him back just in time to avoid one of the manticore's poisonous barbs, and a glint of light sparkled off Rarity's form as her glamour dropped.

Eight, chitinous legs. Pointed ears. Two extra sets of eyes, set on top of the original sapphire blue ones. Another thread shot out, sticking to the manticore's tail, who growled and tried to swipe at her. Deftly, Rarity made her way around the manticore's back, sticking more and more thread to the brute as she wrapped her up into a veritable cocoon of webbing. With another roar, the manticore fell to the ground- struggling, but trapped. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief, a sad smile painted onto her face as she looked back over her compatriots.

"I'm... terribly sorry you have to see me like this."

---

"So, you're an arachne?" Spike asked, as Fluttershy tended to everyone else's cuts and bruises.

"Jorou-gumo," Twilight spoke up, and Rarity looked over to her.

"And you figured this out...?"

"Just before we entered the forest- I kept noticing the glint from your glamour."

Rarity nodded, "Ah, yes I suppose that would give it away."

"You could have busted that move earlier and saved us all a lot of trouble, you know." Sunset groused, as Fluttershy nervously dabbed at a cut on her forehead.

"Yes, well... I haven't always been too eagerly accepted by strangers who know the truth."

Spike frowned, "Wait- but... I mean aside from me, everyone here is a mamono."

"There's an unfortunate bit of history the nation of Equestria has had with particular tribes of Jorou-gumo in the past," Twilight said, "Their natural ability to glamour themselves and hide in plain sight make them well suited for infiltration and-" Twilight caught Rarity's downward glance, and cleared her throat.

"Well, I'll just leave it at that."

"Well that's dumb," Spike snorted, earning a thankful smile from Rarity.

"Sometimes people can be fucking morons," Sunset said, and turned to Twilight, "Speaking of."

"Listen, I just-"

"No, you listen," Sunset said, standing up as Fluttershy quickly scooted back, "If you don't replenish your spirit energy, you're gonna go as crazed as that manticore," She pointed towards the (now knocked out thanks to a safely administered scream from Fluttershy) brute. Twilight looked away.

"I-I'm pretty sure there should be herbs in the Everfree that can replenish magic," Fluttershy spoke up. Sunset nodded.

"That works, but we don't have the time for that," she pinched the bridge of her nose, gritting her teeth.

"I can't believe this- okay, I know a ritual for transferring spirit energy, and I've got more than enough to spare," She poked Twilight in the sternum, "BUT this is a one-time deal! I'm only bringing this up as an option because I'm already fucking bound to you, and if I want to have ANY hope of getting out of this god forsaken contract then I need you to not turn into a fucking shambler on me, capisce?"

Twilight gulped, and weighed her options- try and hold out longer in hopes that they stumble upon the herb by accident- or be subject to a magical ritual with a girl who turned herself into a demon.

The shake in her knees gave her a quick reminder of how desperate her situation was.

"Okay- alright, what do I need to do?"

"Just- follow me," She turned to everyone else, pointing a finger at them, "And NONE of you better follow us, either."

"No dice, I don't trust like that," Dash said, crossing her wings, "What's to stop you from trying something and getting out of... whatever contract you guys have the hard way?"

"She's magically incapable of harming me while under the contract," Twilight said, "But I appreciate your concern."

Dash shrugged, "Yeah, just... okay then. You're the expert."

Sunset snorted, before grabbing Twilight by the wrist, "Alright, come on."

The two of them quickly disappeared into the treeline, and silence descended on the group. Pinkie blinked.

"Oooooooooooooooooooh, I get it."

"Get what?" Dash asked, and Pinkie skipped over, whispering something in her ear. After a moment, Dash's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull.

"You're- that's- no way! She HATES her!"

"Silly Dashie," Pinkie ruffled her hair, "This is JUST like one of Fluttershy's animes!"

"Huh?"

"Well, it's a bit of a stretch, but Sunset IS almost overly vocal about her distaste for Twilight," Rarity murmured, and Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Aw, come on- ain't no way."

"I mean, I've known Twilight since... basically forever- she's never really shown any kind of interest in romance or anything." Spike mused.

"Actually, as much as I enjoy it we probably shouldn't gossip," Rarity said, "I would rather not incur Sunset's wrath should she walk in on the middle of it."

Everyone nodded, giving their various agreements. With a breath, Rarity reapplied her glamour, and crossed her legs primly. Spike scooted closer to her.

"So, does that work like a spell or is it more of a... natural ability?"

"I would describe it as spell-adjacent," Rarity nodded, "There's a certain bit of formula that goes into it, but all Jorou-gumo are intrinsically capable of using this type of magic."

"That's pretty cool."

"Thank you," Rarity smiled, "You're a very kind young man, Spike."

Spike blushed a little, scratching the back of his head, "Well, you know- being raised in a castle, kind of pushes a guy to be more... noble?"

Rarity laughed, putting a hand to her mouth, "Yes, a real knight in shining armor."

"Nah, that's Twilight's other brother."

After a few more minutes of idle chit-chat, Sunset and Twilight emerged from the thicker part of the forest once more- the undead nerd looking slightly disheveled, while Sunset had nary a hair out of place. Dash stared hard at the two of them, while Pinkie waggled her eyebrows.

"See?"

"I'm still not convinced."

Twilight cleared her throat, grabbing her pack and slinging it back over her shoulders, "Okay, I think we've wasted enough time- back on the trail, folks."

Comments

[ArtieStroke]

8913464
Right abooooooooooooooooooout now.

[ValNitak Choas]

yea for update, good chapter,

[ArtieStroke]

9044317
Yeah this particular bottled genie situation is definitely messy, but intentionally so- I have specific plans on how this plays out, trust me when I say I understand the concerns there.

[Ponyninja88]

Well this was a fun chapter, good to see that the Mantacore was handled well, as well as Twilight's Mana problem, i got to say that it did take me a little while to figure out what the ritual Sunset and Twilight did really was (nice reference to Fate/ Stay Night by the way), and yeah Sunset is kind of a Tsundere, which i am fine with.

[ArtieStroke]

9045121
Ive actually never played/watched any of the Fate/Stay related media X,D

[Ponyninja88]

9045199
Oh well then, that is quite the coincidence :D

[Poet Knight]

You tease!

[Starlight Nova]

What does Celestia have to say about the mamono that look like children in this story?

[Inferno Heart]

Ok interesting concept to the story, good character interaction, and got a couple good laughs from me. Ayup got my like and fave. Can't wait to see more. Although I'm very curious to the type of undead twilight is. We can assume we can scratch off the list vampire and lich (and possibly zombie) that just leaves...ghoul, jiangshi, mummy, revenant, and wight?

[Chris Russell]

why dash it have a sex tag?

[Naturefang]

You got this hopeless weebs attention.

[Ephedianroyalty]

Moar?

[FolkloreBrony]

Bring me more chapters

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