A Series of Semi-Fortunate Events
Chapter 1
“Do you think we’ll get our cutie marks in alchemy?” Scootaloo ponders aloud.
“I don’t know, what do you think Zecora?” Applebloom asks the smiling zebra.
“As I said, we will not mix until tomorrow, best learn the ideas first lest the actions lead to sorrow.” Zecora calmly states.
“Well alright.” Scootaloo says.
As they near the hut, Zecora ushers the three little fillies into her residence, the rucksack of apples Applebloom had insisted on bringing as snacks in tow. “When I speak I tend to rhyme, but that would make us crunched for time. If you would children take a look, one of you read aloud this book.”
. Sweetie Belle takes the book and starts reading aloud to everypony, and zebra. Excruciatingly slowly, she begins. “A beginner’s guide to ‘al chimmey’”
“It’s pronounced ‘al kimmy’ silly. Give me that book, I’ll read.” Applebloom says, and Sweetie Belle nods her head in agreement. “A beginner’s guide to alchemy…”
After finishing chapter seven, Applebloom looks up and notices both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asleep with blankets having been draped over top of them. “They’ve been asleep for a while now, haven’t they?” Applebloom asks, to which Zecora nods. “Do you mind if I keep reading, silently then?” Zecora shakes her head no, with a smile on her face. Applebloom smiles back.
Chapter 8: On Permanent Alteration of the Living
As stated in chapter seven, the amount of time an alteration potion will last depends on how tightly connected is the potion drinker is to the binding agent. Whether this is a literal or metaphorical connection is irrelevant. Once again, we remind our readers that changing a normal pony into an alicorn is most likely impossible. This is because in order to become an alicorn, one must possess qualities of all three pony races, and so two of the following ingredients are required, a pony feather, horn dust, or the clippings of an earth pony hoofnail, but adding any extra ingredients will cause the potion to fail. There are thus three possible outcomes, only one of which tends to be beneficial. The Pegacorn is the most ill advised alteration. The horn is hollow for having the bones of a pegasus, and therefore has difficulties focusing magic, is easily broken, and no longer grows back in like the hoofnails do. The Pegearth has limited flight capabilities for having solid bones, but has no other differences, it is therefore unwise for a pegasus to use this transformation, but it has no ill effects on an earth pony, so is not unadvisable. The most useful change is between an Earcorn. The Earcorn has no negative side effects from either starting point. If it does turn out to be possible to become an alicorn via this method, it would suffer none of the consequences, and should be just as powerful as an alicorn created another way.
Ingredients;
one cup water
one leaf of elf’s ear
one petal from the flower of the poison joke plant
one fruit ripe with juice
one edible thing that represents the drinker
one of the three ingredients listed above
Stir all but the final ingredient together over an open flame. Once bubbling, add the ingredient desired. It will cool instantly. Drink immediately and drink every last drop.
Applebloom thinks to herself, what if one of the ingredients can count for two? I got it! She looks up, seeing Zecora had fallen asleep herself, and decides to take matters into her own hoofs. The only thing that she wasn’t sure where to find was the poison joke, it being one of the ingredients Zecora had not lain out. Looking for it proved not to be difficult though, Applebloom finds it in the first shelf she looks at. Gathering all the ingredients (she was glad she’d brought her hoofnail file, that way she could file Sweetie Belle’s horn a little, she wouldn’t mind, would she?) she strokes the fire that had been burning since they’d arrived. After bringing all the first ingredients together, seeing as she had already thought to use an apple as the fruit and as what she was connected to, she was a member of the apple family, through and through, bringing them to a boil. She then carefully adds some of the powder from Sweetie Belle’s horn, and quickly plucks one of Scootaloo’s feathers, and adds that as well. The potion doesn’t collapse like the book said it would if made improperly, so she dives in, drinking it all up. If something went wrong, Zecora was there to help, so she wasn’t thinking about any possible consequences.
After drinking it all up, and licking the inside of the cauldron to make sure she got every last drop, Applebloom falls back on her haunches, bringing the cauldron with her. The clanging wakes the others. Just as Applebloom was about to say something, there was a flash of light, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both started squealing with delight. “What?” Applebloom tries to ask, but all that comes out is a scream, pain suddenly burning through her forehead and back. The pain is so intense it causes Applebloom to flail about, knocking over premade potions that truly ought not be mixed. Two of the mixed potions create a magical fireball that gets launched at Sweetie Belle and Zecora. Sweetie Belle screams, a yellow pane of magical energy appearing in front of them. A shield? She thought. Did I make a shield? The pane then starts to bend. Wait, shields don’t bend, they shatter. She watches as the fireball starts to come to her, the, whatever it is, not shattering. The whatever it is slows the decent, then bounces back, tossing the fireball away, right towards Scootaloo. The flame hits the dumbfounded Scootaloo, and is seemingly absorbed into her.
Immediately after the chaos that only lasted less than a second, two more flashes of light appear. After the foursome comes out of their shock, they first realize, they all had cutie marks now. After a little self celebration, three of them notice the alicorn in the room.
Once Zecora gets over her shock of what she was seeing before her, it finally clicked that she should be panicking. An innocent earth pony filly just became an alicorn through alchemy, what happens when a not so innocent pony figures out how she did it. In a panic, she grabbed a sleep potion, and slammed the glass container against the floor, allowing it to shatter. A fume fills up the room, as Zecora holds her breath. She watches the three little fillies fall back asleep. She then runs off to town. Princess Celestia will know what to do, right? She thinks to herself.
Zecora runs up to the library tree at full speed, not even taking the time to open the door, she just busts through it. Twilight and Spike just stand there wide-eyed at her dramatic entrance. “Spike, take a letter to Princess Celestia, tell her to teleport here immediately, it is an emergency”
“You, you’re not rhyming.” Spike and Twilight stammer in unison.
“Because it is an emergency that is pressed for time. Take the letter, and send it to her now.
Spike nods, and takes the letter as quickly as he can, not even bothering to roll it before sending it to Celestia via his draconic messenger flame.
Celestia appears in a flash, with a worried expression on her face. Wasting no time, Zecora barks, “Teleport us to my hut now, just you and I.” Celestia nods, still wearing a look of concern, and obliges.
“You’d best have a good reason for ordering your princess around like that.” Celestia spits as she enters the hut.
“Is an earth pony that just became an alicorn through alchemy a good enough reason?” Zecora asks, pointing a hoof at the sleeping Applebloom.
Celestia just stands there speechlessly, mouth agape. Finally she says, “I will need to tell their caregivers that I must keep them away from everypony else for the time being, what will I say to them?”
“I am in their charge until noon, so you won’t have to decide too soon.” Zecora rhymes, finally calming down. With a grateful nod, Celestia teleports herself and the three little fillies to her bedroom.
Once there she starts to calm. Stepping just outside her bedroom door, she turns to the surprised guards, who thought she had already left her room, and says, “Get my sister at once, tell her it is of the utmost importance. As the guards go to fulfill her command, she turns and walks back into her room, and ponders what she’s going to have to do next.