//------------------------------//
// Lavender Scientist Syndrome 
// Story: Appledashery 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

	"Impossible!"  Trixie snarled, her cheeks red.  "Trixie checked and re-checked every facet of the experiment!  So did the pony assistants from Trottingham!  So did you!"  She pointed a shaking hoof.  "You were there with Trixie!"

"Look, I know I was there!" Rainbow exclaimed, standing across the library.  "But..."  She glanced aside.  "Could it be possible that we overlooked something?"

Twilight Sparkle's muzzle still hung agape.  Her lavender coat was a few shades paler than normal.

Rainbow leaned forward, waving.  "Psssst.  Twi...?!"

"I... I-I..." Twilight gulped.  "Anything is possible, Rainbow..."

"Twilight!" Trixie gasped at her.  "Surely you can't believe that what we did at the Castle of the Two Sisters caused—"

"We chose the center of the Everfree Forest because we felt that the location was distant enough from civilization to not cause harm to other ponies," Twilight said.  "What we didn't take into account is that the true nature of the Everfree Forest may have interfered with the experiment."

"Interfered with the experiment?!" Trixie growled.  "In what way?"

"Look... calm your cloak," Rainbow muttered, waving at Trixie.  "I'm not attacking you two or your egoes."  She gulped.  "I'm just trying to figure stuff out so we can help Apple Bloom.  All of us."

"Apple Bloom..." Twilight held a hoof over her muzzle while her eyes watered.  "I... I can't believe it..."

"Twilight..." Rainbow leaned in.  Her limbs were starting to tingle, but she ignored it and said, "Just what is the essence of the Everfree Forest?"

"Why..." Twilight blinked.  "Chaos, of course."

"Hmmph!" Trixie folded her forelimbs.

"It's factually true, though!"  Twilight dragged a board over and drew a sketchy map of Ponyville and the neighboring forest with a stick of chalk.  "Centuries of experiments confirm that this world is inherently chaotic.  However, the essence of life manifests harmony which resists chaos.  This is what allows our world to survive with a sun and moon in what is otherwise a chaotic ether—"

"The Clop Notes version, egghead, please," Rainbow wheezed.  "Nopony asked for a doorstopper."

Twilight drew several overlapping circles across the map.  "Equestrian civilization functions by magic—and all ponies have magic: earth, unicorn, and pegasi.  Even in small amounts.  However... there are parts of this world that form impenetrable bubbles over time because harmonic resonance has not been present long enough to set a new paradigm."  She pointed at a large gap between the circles.  "The biggest known 'bubble' in our continent is Tartarus.  And it possesses a chaotic field so strong that it bursts into remote, outlying areas... one of which is the Everfree Forest..."  She turned and gave Rainbow a worried glance.  "...where nature runs unchecked by ponykind."

"Funny you should say that."  Rainbow pointed.  "According to Noir and Zecora, the snake that bit Apple Bloom was a Tartarusian Venomancer."

Twilight leaned back as if dealt a massive punch.  "A Tartarusian Venomancer?!"

"Wait..." Trixie squinted at the board.  "Is Trixie to understand that the Everfree Forest can act as an escape route for denizens of Tartarus?"

"It... it's been known to happen," Twilight remarked, still dazed.  "Uhm..." She brushed her bangs back.  "Timberwolves... hydras... manticores—they're all descendants of beasts that once roamed Tartarus only to have bled through the nebulous pockets between the underworld and Equestria."  She gulped and glanced Rainbow's way again.  "Only... a Tartarusian Venomancer?!?"

Rainbow nodded.  "That's what they said."

"But... they've been extinct for—"

"For forever.  Yeah.  I know."  Rainbow nodded.  "But somehow, one landed on Sweet Apple Acres soil.  Noir, Zecora's sarosian buddy, thinks that it was teleported there.  He said that its blood was enchanted and bubbling when he carved the gland out."

"They're trying to form an antidote?" Trixie asked.

"Yeah.  As we speak."

"Hmmm... Trixie will try to help out any way she can."  She looked over at Twilight.  "Sparkle?"

Twilight sniffled, her eyes boring tearful holes in the ground.  "The... chaos must have reacted to our manafeedback.  The buffering system wasn't enough to contain the leylines.  We... we caused this..."  She looked up, muzzle quivering.  "I caused this!  I-I killed Apple Bl-Bloom!"

"Whoah whoah whoah... girl."  Rainbow placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.  "Let's not jump to conclusions."

"What's to jump from?"  Twilight bit her lip.  "It's the only logical assumption."

"I didn't friggin' come here to blame you, Twilight.  I came because I need your help."  She pointed out the window.  "Stu Leaves has gone to grab Nurse Redheart and as many other doctors as he can.  Then he's gonna swing by Fluttershy's cottage to borrow her freaky knowledge on forest critters."

"Of course Trixie and Sparkle will help in any way we can!" Trixie nodded at her mentor.  "Right?"

"I... I-I..." Twilight choked on a sob.

"Look, I can't book well," Rainbow said with a growl.  "So dry your weepy eyes and come with, Twi!  Right now, we need Ponyville's resident egghead.  The egghead!"

Trixie cleared her throat.

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  "And the egghead's sidekick."

"Eh..." Trixie waved a hoof.  "Good enough."  She hollered over her shoulder.  "Spiiiiiike!"

Just then, Twilight awoke from her funk.  "No, Trixie!  Rainbow's right!"  She stared at the mare with a hardened gaze.  "Whether or not our experiment caused this, it's up to me to undo the damage.  So let's do this my way, alright?"  A few seconds passed.  She hollered over her shoulder.  "Spiiiiiike!"