//------------------------------//
// You Jelly? 
// Story: Sparkling Field Research: RotE Episode 10 
// by Dream Volt 
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	They were a little crude, but they should work.  The important thing is they were made of the one substance we were sure the Smooze couldn't eat, glass.  There are a couple more it probably can't, but glass has been peer tested countless times.  I couldn't see the sigils anymore except the one I was standing on, but it didn't matter.  The array was complete which meant I could cast.  All around me was a sea of purple.  It was pretty in a way, but there was so much I could prove with this single test, and it's not like the Smooze had any other redeeming qualities.

"Become one with us.  All shall be the Smooze."

I took a deep breath and did my best to ignore the discordant chorus of voices.  Part of me was still yelling there is no way this can work.  That I simply don't have that kind of power, even with the array and other unicorns supporting me once I start it up.  Another part was terrified that Moonfire was right and I wouldn't even need their help.  But I can't ignore reality forever.  So I sparked my horn and began to cast.  In a way it was a simple spell.  Stripping one set of components from another.  Usually used to separate alloys or other compounds, with only a minor modification.  I even tested it so it should work here.  Except I can't find a spell anywhere that works quite the same way, and this is very different and on a huge scale.

"All shall be one.  Nothing shall escape our joy."

I smiled.  Moonfire was wrong.  It was far more than any unicorn should have, but I couldn’t quite do it.  I put everything into it I could, my horn glowing with more magic than I'd ever used before in my life, finally after so long pushing my limits, but it still wasn't enough.  Maybe I am the most powerful unicorn in the world, but I'm nothing else but that.  After a while of holding it as planned I felt other energy being added to my own, filling in the gaps in the magical array.  Then I cast the spell with not much, but some borrowed magic.  It felt amazing, but was over in an instant, a bright flash the only sign anything had happened initially.  I collapsed a moment later.

The purple sea churned like mad, but then rolled out like the tide, most of it's mass gone.  It still covered everything several hooves deep.  It was probably a bad idea but it was literally everywhere so I took a little lick.  Even though it was logically hundreds of years old that was some really great grape jelly.  I then looked up at a grape colored pony in front of me.  His mane was pink I think, but he was covered in jelly like so many other things in the distance.  I noticed not just a plethora of ponies, but plants, and various other animals as well.  His cutie mark was a jar with a pie in it.  I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be filled with jelly, or his mark just let his coat show through there.  He was exactly the same shade as the mass of jelly around us.

"You…"  I gasped.  "Jelly?"

He blinked.  "What?  What's going on, what happened?"

I took a deep breath and tried again.  "Are you…"  again a deep breath.  "Are you Jelly Pie, the town baker?"

"Uh, yes, but…"  He paused.  "I think something might have happened.  Before I woke in this wonderful sea of jelly."

"That's, safe to, say."

Then suddenly realized I didn't have the energy to even keep my head up anymore.  The jelly was cold, but oddly comforting.