//------------------------------//
// Chaos (325) 
// Story: AlwaysDressesInStyle's Ponyville CiderFest '23 Interactive App Stories 
// by AlwaysDressesInStyle 
//------------------------------//

ENDING A (CHAOS): 

You push the thoughts urging you to make witchweed potion to the back of your mind and seek out Katrina. She’s trying to solve the problem logically, but no one is listening to her.

You volunteer your services, and she seems surprised that you’re even remotely functional.  The two of you try herding the Frazzits back into the barrel to no avail.  The now-hyperactive Heart Throb thwarts your efforts, running through the Frazzits and scattering them in every direction.

Witchweed!

The unwanted voice in your head gives you an idea.  “Katrina, do you remember how to make the potion?”

Her eyes fly open in recognition and she hesitantly nods.

“Can you make it from what’s available?”

“Maybe, why?”

Yes, witchweed potion!

“You need to drink some, and restore the balance.”

“But…”

“No buts.  It can’t be me.”

She nods, understanding. It’s a complicated process, and the only reason it’s possible at all is because of all the machinery the Dell Dwellers possess.

Katrina manages to make the potion and she drinks it.  She grows to twenty feet tall and shoots laser beams from her eyes.  The Frazzits react poorly to magic, doubling in number. Katrina roars in frustration.

“Grab the barrel and scoop them up with it!” you shout.

She follows your directions, and soon the Frazzits are returned from whence they came.  Order is restored and there’s much rejoicing. Katrina’s intentionally limited her intake of the potion and shrinks back to normal, her energy boost completely expended.

While the immediate danger has passed, there’s still work to be done.  

If Katrina is dealing with anything like what you’ve just experienced, she deserves comfort and empathy, to help keep those evil urges at bay.  You walk over to her, and without saying a word, the look the two of you shares conveys things neither of you wishes to admit to anyone else present. You nod and she nods back.

Witchweed potion is powerful and addictive.  Good cause or not, Katrina’s just relapsed because of you.  She’s back in withdrawal, and that’s what caused her to become so cold all those years ago and enslave the Bushwoolies.  Witchweed was all she could think about, so much so that it became her.  It’s up to you to keep her on the straight and narrow and prevent her from falling off the wagon.