//------------------------------//
// 1 The Cockatrice's Victim 
// Story: Crystal Heart Attack 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight Sparkle was often awake at a late hour and this time, it was because a question occurred to her while she was lying half-awake in her bed. She opened one of her favourite books and wrote her query onto the first blank page she found.
“Hello, Sunset. I want to know if you saw anything strange about the alternate moon at all since you left Equestria,” she recited as she wrote. “After all, no one uses magic to raise and lower the sun and moon there.”
She sat with Princess Celestia’s old correspondence book open in front of her wondering how long she should wait for Sunset Shimmer to write back. It was unlikely that she would be awake at this hour, but twice, back when Twilight was avoiding her new home in Ponyville Castle, she once asked Sunset if she could spend the night with her in the alternate world, and they’d been up until about 2AM on both occasions engaged in pillow talk. After half an hour, there was no response, and Twilight was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. She spent the rest of the night back in her bed.

Celestia’s book was her alarm call the following morning. Twilight zipped from her bed and opened the buzzing book to where she’d left off.
“Hey, Twilight. Yes, I have seen the moon here do strange things. Four times,” Sunset’s spidery scrawl was flashing. “Three times, the moon stayed in the sky during the day. The first time it lasted all morning, the second time it lasted two weeks, and the third time it lasted all day.”
Twilight blinked. She couldn’t think what that two-week-long period could have been. The morning-long one must have been from the time Nightmare Moon had escaped from her lunar prison. And the all-day one was obviously the time Equestria was under threat of takeover by Plunder Plants. But no recollection of a night that lasted two weeks came to Twilight.
“And once, for a whole night,” Sunset’s message went on, “the sun was up.”
“The sun?!” exclaimed Twilight.
“It stayed sitting on the horizon all night. I still hear people talking about that weird night from time to time,” Sunset’s reply finished.
Twilight quickly wrote back asking if Sunset was sure about that two-week-long day moon and the night-long sun on the horizon. This time, she waited for a reply for hours. It then occurred to her that school must have started at Canterlot High and Sunset would be busy now. Prompted by Spike bidding her good morning and requesting breakfast, Twilight went about her business.

During breakfast, Spike burped a scroll onto Twilight’s plate. For the second time that day, Twilight was delighted to get a reply. This one was from Princess Celestia, and it was about a search party she’d formed.
“Do you think they found Crosspatch and Lazybug’s parents?” asked Spike.
“Let’s find out,” Twilight said as she unrolled the scroll.
“Dear Princess Twilight,” the letter said, “my investigation team was succeeded in finding Pulp Puree and Winter Squash.”
“They did it!” cried Twilight.
Spike beamed, but frowned when he saw Twilight’s face fall.
“However, they have requested to not arrange any sort of reunion with Crosspatch and Lazybug,” the letter went on. “I am sorry to say that they do not share your view that their children have redeemed themselves for trying to claim Sweet Apple Acres for themselves by means of the Zap-O-Lantern.”
“I think Pulp Puree and Winter Squash are ashamed of their children for their crimes,” Twilight said glumly.
“Sounds like they’re not as forgiving as you are,” said Spike, remembering the aftermath of his birthday rampage.
Twilight read the last part of Celestia’s letter and felt worse and worse.
“I shall leave it to you to decide how to proceed with this news. As the Princess of Friendship, the choice is yours. Farewell for now.”
“I’ll have to tell them that their parents don’t want to see them,” Twilight groaned. “But I don’t know how.”

An opportunity came to Twilight that evening, as Crosspatch arrived at the front door of the castle. Spike lead her in and took her to Twilight.
Crosspatch bowed. “Evening, your Highness.”
“Good evening,” Twilight nodded, hoping she didn’t look nervous.
“I just wanted to ask if you’ve seen any spiders around since I was last here,” said Crosspatch.
Twilight’s worry that she wasn’t keeping a straight face was intensified by the fact that Crosspatch was having trouble keeping her face straight herself. It seemed that Crosspatch’s real reason for coming was wanting a status report, and she clearly thought it’d be awkward to just ask.
“No, I haven’t,” said Twilight. “And, um…”
Another visitor entered the room. Spike looked taken aback. Very rarely do ponies barge into the castle. Twilight was sure that this meant there was urgent news.
“Princess Twilight! There’s an emergency!” Flitter cried, panting. “A cockatrice is running around town turning ponies to stone!”
Twilight gasped. Crosspatch grinned and pelted towards the door.
“Leave it to me!” she called before running out of the room.

The castle’s front doors banged open, and Crosspatch zoomed out into the red glow of the evening. Many yards away were three stone ponies. There stood the statues of Amethyst Star, Golden Grape, and Rarity, all of whom looked very shocked. Crosspatch squinted around. There was a sudden movement. Crosspatch shut her eyes, but then she heard a voice that told her that it wasn’t a cockatrice.
“It turned Rarity into a statue and then ran that way!”
Crosspatch opened her eyes and saw that Sweetie Belle was peering behind her rock-solid sister and pointing back towards the castle. She looked back at the large front doors just as Twilight, Flitter and Spike, who was carrying the spritzing bottle she’d left behind, ran outside.
“Careful!” Crosspatch called to them. “The cockatrice might be…!”
Flitter heard a fierce squawk and turned to see a chocolate-and-cream coloured chicken/snake hybrid staring her in the face. She had no time to look away before she was petrified. Spike jumped to his left to avoid Flitter toppling onto him.
“Shut your eyes!” shouted Crosspatch, running towards the scene.
Twilight and Spike did so, and Crosspatch copied them while still running. She skidded to a halt and listened for the cockatrice’s wing-flaps and footsteps.

Crosspatch opened her eyes. The cockatrice squawked and flinched. Twilight and Spike shuddered. They still had their eyes shut, yet they felt uncomfortable.
“You think you can come bursting into this town and turn ponies to stone just because you feel like it?” Crosspatch growled at the quivering cockatrice. “Think again. There’s a new pest pony in town. So you can just turn everyone you’ve looked at back to normal and go on home. Get me?”
The cockatrice nodded and walked gladly away from the intensity of Crosspatch’s gaze. Twilight and Spike opened their eyes and watched the cockatrice scuttle towards Flitter’s statue.
“You can use the Stare?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah. Didn’t Fluttershy tell you about our Staring contest in the schoolhouse?” asked Crosspatch.

Flitter wasn’t too disoriented. The first thing she saw when she was restored was Fluttershy flying as quickly as she could towards the castle.
“I’ve only just heard!” she called to Twilight.
“Everything’s under control, Fluttershy,” grinned Crosspatch as Fluttershy watched the intruder returning Rarity to normal. “Sorry to leave you outta the fun.”
“Oh, well I’m just happy there’s another pony in town who can keep others safe from invading Everfree creatures,” Fluttershy smiled.
Her smile faltered.
“Anything wrong?” asked Twilight.
“Um… no…” said Fluttershy. “I just have this funny feeling that this kind of thing has happened before.
Twilight grinned. “You mean the time I was turned to stone that day you were foalsitting the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“Well, what do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“I don’t know, but something’s telling me that animals from the Everfree Forest have attacked Ponyville before.”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “What did that happen?”
Fluttershy looked like she was sucking on a sour candy. “I can’t remember.”
She watched the cockatrice move from Rarity, to Golden Grape, to Amethyst Star.
“Maybe I’m just remembering a nightmare I had once,” she decided.

After Crosspatch, Fluttershy and Twilight had watched the cockatrice leave the town and return home to Everfree, Crosspatch was thanked by several ponies as she made her own way back home. The following morning at the schoolhouse, Sweetie Belle was telling all of her classmates about how that cockatrice had popped out of thin air and looked her sister square in the eyes rendering her immobile. Lazybug seemed quite interested as well.
“Didn’t Crosspatch tell you about it herself?” asked Gilt Eyes.
“No, she never said a thing about yesterday evening,” replied Lazybug.
“That’s funny,” remarked Twist. “Why wouldn’t your sister tell you something like that?”
“I dunno,” Lazybug shrugged. “I mean I know she can use the Stare, so I don’t think she’d be worried about surprising me or anything.”
“She probably didn’t want to make you jealous,” said Diamond Tiara. “You can’t use the Stare, can you?”
“Uh… I’ve never tried,” said Lazybug.
“Try it on Diamond Tiara,” smirked Scootaloo.
He never had the chance, as Cheerilee had arrived and called for silence so she could begin her lesson for the day.

After hours of explaining why the city of Clopley Hill often has unseasonable snow flurries, the recess bell was due to ring.
“If anyone has any questions before recess begins,” said Cheerilee, “I’ll be happy to answer them.”
Lazybug looked around. He was glad to see no one had raised their hooves. He was keen to go out and see if he could use the Stare on someone.
“Alright, have a good break,” said Cheerilee.
“Does anyone ever ask the teacher a question before recess?” Lazybug asked Diamond Tiara.
Diamond Tiara looked confused for a second, but then she said “No way. Nopony likes a short recess.”
Lazybug wasn’t convinced. Something about the look on Diamond Tiara’s face suggested that she was doubting her answer.
The school ponies began to leave their seats and gather their things, but the bell didn’t ring.
“Hm. I wonder what’s keeping Daisy,” Cheerilee said, walking to the door to see to the pony who’d volunteered to ring the bell that day.

Cheerilee shut the door as quickly as she’d opened it. She hastily ushered Button Mash, Snails and Dinky, who were closest to the door, back towards the desks.
“There’s a cockatrice outside!” she exclaimed.
“Another one?!” cried Sweetie Belle.
Most of the foals gasped, but Lazybug beamed.
“I’ll get it!” he called.
By the time Cheerilee realised what she was seeing, Lazybug had bolted to the door and opened it.
“Hey, I think it’s the same one!” Lazybug shouted.
This cockatrice had the same chocolate down, cream comb and purple eyes that Sweetie Belle had described in class. He was looking all around him, no doubt searching for someone to turn to stone.
Cheerilee appeared in the doorway as Lazybug was sizing up the situation.
“Lazybug, get back inside!” she cried.
She made a grab for Lazybug’s tail with her teeth, but Lazybug shot forward and she missed.
“If my sister can use the Stare, so can I!” he shouted as he bolted towards the cockatrice.
“Lazybug! Stop!” Cheerilee called after him.
Lazybug did just what Sweetie Belle said Crosspatch did. He skidded to a halt in front of the cockatrice with his eyes shut, and when he was sure that the creature was right in front of him, he opened his eyes and looked at him with his fiercest gaze.

The cockatrice didn’t flinch or squawk. He just looked puzzled. Lazybug’s eyes began to water. He tried holding his eyelids open, but he soon found he had to close them.
“Uh, oh,” he groaned as the cockatrice looked at him.
He was surprised to find that he was still intact. The cockatrice started squawking.
“Lazybug, come back!” Cheerilee shouted. “You’ll be turned to stone!”
Some of the other students were looking out of the windows.
“Hey! Lazybug’s OK,” Apple Bloom grinned.
Twist opened a window. “Did ya use the Stare on it?!”
“No!” Lazybug called back.
“Then how come you haven’t been turned into a statue?!” asked Twist.
“I don’t know! I think he wants something!” Lazybug called.
When Lazybug looked back, he saw why the recess bell hadn’t rang.
“I think Daisy fainted when she saw the cockatrice!”
He pointed to the school rooftop. Cheerilee could see one of Daisy’s forelegs hanging over the side of the gutter.

The cockatrice started squawking at Lazybug again.
“What does it want?!” called Twist.
“I don’t know! I don’t speak cockatrice!” Lazybug grunted. “Maybe someone should go get Fluttershy!”
“I’ll go!” Scootaloo left the open window and cantered to the door.
“Stay away from the cockatrice now,” said Cheerilee as Scootaloo exited the building. “Lazybug, would you please come back in now?!”
Lazybug didn’t move. “Am I a pest pony or not?! I’ll just keep an eye on him!”
Scootaloo had collected her scooter from the bike rack outside the school and was now racing away towards Fluttershy’s cottage. The wind she created as she scooted away blew a newspaper up to one of the windows. Gilt Eyes caught it with his magic.
“Daisy must’ve dropped that when she saw the cockatrice,” said Apple Bloom.
The photograph in the headline article caught Twist’s eye. It was a pencil drawing of a shaggy-haired mare with talons coming from its hooves.
“This says there’s a rumour going around the Crystal Empire,” she told the others. “Someone said they think they saw an abominable snowmare outside the city.”
“You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that article that made Daisy faint rather than the cockatrice,” Silver Spoon chuckled.

The cockatrice understood that the ponies were sending for a translator, and was sitting patiently with Lazybug out in the grounds. Eventually, Lazybug asked for somepony to toss him his water spritzing bottle. Apple Bloom collected it from his desk and tossed it out of the window.
“Careful!” Lazybug shouted as the cockatrice squawked in annoyance at almost getting hit by the bottle. “If you make him angry, we will turn us to stone!”
“You were supposed to catch it!” Apple Bloom retorted as Lazybug hydrated himself.
The cockatrice settled down.

It was twelve minutes before Scootaloo returned.
“I found her!” she called to Lazybug. “And Crosspatch was with her.”
Soon enough, Fluttershy and Crosspatch ran towards Lazybug and the cockatrice. Fluttershy looked concerned. Crosspatch looked incensed.
“Lazybug, did you really try to use the Stare on an animal?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yeah,” Lazybug’s face turned red. “I guess I can’t do it.”
The cockatrice jumped at the sight of Crosspatch.
“Looking for a rematch?” she growled.
The cockatrice started squawking again. Fluttershy nodded as he did so.
“He says he can’t find one of the ponies he turned to stone,” Fluttershy said to Crosspatch and Lazybug.
“What? But everyone he looked at last evening is fine now,” said Crosspatch.
“He says he turned somepony to stone before last night,” Fluttershy continued.
“Huh.”
Crosspatch wasn’t using the Stare on the cockatrice, but he was still squirming.

“Who was this pony?” asked Lazybug.
The cockatrice squawked his answer to Fluttershy, who raised an eyebrow.
“Well?” asked Crosspatch. “Who’s left?”
“He says,” Fluttershy spoke, “that the pony he’s looking for is an alicorn filly with a black coat, purple mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and a blue shield cutie mark.”
Crosspatch and Lazybug hadn’t lived in Ponyville long, but even they knew that this sounded odd. They’d been told that no hereditary alicorns lived in Ponyville.
“Are you making that up?” demanded Crosspatch.
The cockatrice shook his head.
“That doesn’t sound like anypony I know,” said Scootaloo thoughtfully.
Over at the schoolhouse, everyone else was thinking the same.
“A black alicorn filly with turquoise eyes?” Apple Bloom asked. “Sounds like a young Nightmare Moon to me.”
Cheerilee gave a start.
“Do you know somepony like that, Miss Cheerilee?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“I… I don’t think I do,” replied Cheerilee.
It was Tuesday, so Crosspatch offered to bring this news to Twilight while Fluttershy was entertaining a certain chaos spirit. Lazybug, who was often excused from class to attend to pest control jobs, accompanied Crosspatch as she ushered the cockatrice towards Twilight’s Castle.

Twilight had been trying to make herself look busy all morning, fretting all the while over how to break the news of Pulp Puree’s and Winter Squash’s refusal to re-join their children. By now, she was on one of the balconies looking through her telescope at nothing in particular.
Spike stepped out onto the balcony with a plate of cheese and crackers. “Crosspatch and Lazybug are here.”
“Oh, no,” groaned Twilight. “They’re just gonna keep coming. I’ll have to…”
“They have the cockatrice from last night with them.”
Twilight jumped. “What?! Why?”
“Appearently, it’s got one more pony to turn from stone to normal,” said Spike, “and nopony knows who this pony is.”
“Well, OK. Bring them up,” Twilight nodded.

Twilight tried not to look uncomfortable with having a cockatrice on her balcony. It helped that the beast looked just as unnerved as she was. It seemed intimidated by Crosspatch, even though she wasn’t using the Stare.
“This guy swears there’s one more pony he needs to restore,” said Crosspatch, nibbling on a cracker. “An alicorn filly.”
“Alicorn filly? That doesn’t sound right,” Twilight scratched her head. “But I’ll send a missing pony report to Princess Celestia.”
Twilight’s heart jumped. She hoped this wouldn’t start Crosspatch and Lazybug on how the search for their parents are going. When it became clear that the matter and hoof was still on their minds, she asked Spike for a quill and paper.
“Dear Princess Celestia…”
Lazybug wandered around the balcony inspecting Twilight’s telescope.
“I have reason to believe that somewhere in Equestria, someone is missing their foal.”
Lazybug peered into the telescope.
“There is an alicorn filly described by a cockatrice who is black and purple and most likely petrified.”
“I don’t think that telescope will make your stare any more intense,” chuckled Crosspatch.
Lazybug shouted. “Crosspatch! Look at this!”
Twilight looked away from her unfinished note. “What is it?”
“It’s Mom!”

Crosspatch’s eyes went wider that last night when she’d Stared down the cockatrice. She zipped to the telescope and looked where Lazybug was looking. There in the eyepiece was a short, dumpy earth pony mare with a dark green coat and light blue mane and tail. She was wearing inappropriate clothing for springtime.
“It is our mom!” cried Crosspatch. “She… she found us!”
Twilight was puzzled. “Um… I’ll fly down and invite her to the castle. You three head down…”
The cockatrice uttered a slightly annoyed grunt.
“Uh, you four head down to the atrium,” finished Twilight.
It took a while for Spike to convince Crosspatch and Lazybug to leave the balcony. The two pest ponies kept fighting over the eyepiece to see Twilight approach their mom. The heavily dressed old mare looked rather confused, and even more so when Twilight approached her. Crosspatch was finally convinced to head downstairs when the cockatrice gave her what might have been an encouraging chirp. Lazybug wasn’t far behind her as she galloped down the stairs.

“My, it’s warm in here,” Winter Squash was sweating under her woolly hat, scarf and boots as she entered the castle.
“Uh, you can take off your hat and scarf if you like,” said Twilight.
Winter Squash goggled. “Huh. I completely forgot I was wearing all this. Um, could you give me a hoof, please? I can’t seem to remember how to undo a scarf.”
Twilight magiced Winter Squash’s snow apparel off of her, Crosspatch, Lazybug, Spike and the cockatrice burst into the atrium.
“It’s really her!” exclaimed Lazybug. “Cutie mark and all!”
Crosspatch recognised the large yellow gourd as well.
“Wow. She sure aged well,” Crosspatch caught herself saying out loud.
“Oh, yes. She doesn’t look a day over twenty,” Winter Squash replied, looking a pink-faced Twilight over.
“Uh, I was talking about you, Mom,” Crosspatch thought Winter Squash would have been more pleased to see her and Lazybug.
“Mom? My name’s Winter Squash,” chuckled the old mare.
Crosspatch and Lazybug looked slightly alarmed.
“Don’t you recognise us?” asked Crosspatch.
Winter Squash squinted at Crosspatch and Lazybug, and tilted her head.
“I think she has amnesia, you two,” said Twilight.

“Mom, it’s me. Lazybug.”
Winter Squash shook her son’s hoof. “Nice to meet you, Lazybug.”
“She’s doesn’t know me,” frowned Lazybug.
“Yes, I do,” insisted Winter Squash. “You’re Lazybug. You just told me.”
“Mom, do you remember your husband Pulp Puree?” asked Crosspatch.
“Uh… no,” Winter Squash answered.
“Do you remember what kind of farm you used to live on?” asked Crosspatch.
“Um… a potato farm?” Winter Squash guessed.
“No,” said Crosspatch. “Do you know where you came to this castle from?”
“Uh… Cloudsdale?” guessed Winter Squash.
“No, Mom. You couldn’t have lived in Cloudsdale,” said Crosspatch. “You’re an earth pony.”
“I am?!” Winter Squash looked at her wingless sides with shock.

“Is there any way we can jog her memory?” Lazybug asked Twilight imploringly.
Before Twilight could answer, Crosspatch slammed the floor with her hoof.
“I know!”
Crosspatch crouched down on the floor and looked up at Winter Squash.
“Really, Mom and Dad?” asked said in a high voice. “I’m gonna have a brother?”
Winter Squash’s mouth hung open a bit.
“Oh? You’re gonna name him Lazybug?” Crosspatch went on squeakily.
“I remember that!” cried Winter Squash. “You’re… you’re…”
The old mare shook her head a few times and gave her mane a scratch.
“I feel like I know who you are, but… I can’t place it,” she sighed.
Crosspatch stood up. “It’s no use. She just can’t remember us.”

“It’s alright, everypony,” said Twilight, magicing a bookshelf on wheels into the hallway. “I can cure her amnesia with this potion.”
She magiced a book off the shelf and opened it to a page on a memory retrieval draught.
“If you could just give me an hour or so…”
“Sure, Twilight,” replied Lazybug. “Uh, you don’t mind me calling you Twilight, do you, your highness?”
“It’s alright, Lazybug,” smiled Twilight. “Spike, why don’t you fix everyone some lunch while I work on this potion?”
“Sure thing,” said Spike, stepping towards the kitchen. “Come on, ponies. Any requests?”
“I feel like soup, if you don’t mind,” said Winter Squash.
“Alright. What kind?” asked Spike.
“Oh, I’m not fussed,” said Winter Squash.
She probably can’t remember any types of soup, thought Lazybug.
“How about celery soup?” suggested Crosspatch.
Twilight and Spike didn’t say or do anything for a moment. Crosspatch seemed to have touched a nerve there. But in seconds, Spike was leading the way to the dining room, and Twilight was heading to the castle laboratory to gather the ingredients she needed to make the memory recovery potion.

Before they’d all left the atrium, Twilight watched with slight discomfort as the cockatrice scuttled past her carrying Crosspatch and Lazybug’s spritzing bottle in his beak.
“I forgot about him,” said Twilight.
Crosspatch felt a tap on her hind leg before she crossed the threshold into the dining room.
“Oh, thanks,” she said, taking her bottle from the cockatrice.
Winter Squash turned around. “Whoa! Did that thing come from the Everfree Forest?!”
“Uh, yes,” said Crosspatch, eyebrows raised.
“You remember the Everfree Forest?” asked Lazybug.
“Yeah! It’s full of dangerous things! You’ve gotta send that beast back!” Winter Squash snapped. “We can’t have it hanging around ponies!”
The cockatrice trembled. He looked even more disturbed at Winter Squash than when Crosspatch had Stared at him.
“Mom, we have to keep him around,” said Crosspatch. “He turned somepony to stone a while ago and I got him to promise to undo the damage if we can find this pony.”
“Oh, so he’s been causing trouble, has he?” frowned Winter Squash. “How do you know he won’t creep up on you unawares and turn you to stone, like he did to that filly?”
“He’s too creeped out,” Crosspatch insisted. “I subdued him with the…
“Hey,” Spike interrupted, “how did you know it was a filly he turned to stone?”
Winter Squash screwed up her face. “Not sure. Who was this filly?”
“We don’t know,” sighed Lazybug.
“Come on. Let’s just eat. Mom will have her memories back soon,” said Crosspatch, steering herself and her family towards the table.

“Still working on it, Twilight?” Spike asked after the party had left the dining room and their empty soup bowls.
Twilight was pacing in front of a cluttered table in the lab with two small cups of strange liquids hovering alongside her.
“Almost done,” said Twilight. “But I’m a bit worried. I got stuck on some of the instructions. This potion’s more complicated than I realised. There’s a warning on the last page that says if it’s brewed incorrectly, it’ll cause severe heartburn.”
“Whoa! I don’t want our mom drinking something that might give her heartburn,” Crosspatch’s eyes were wide.
“Uh, actually, you don’t drink it,” said Twilight. “You rub the foam on yourself.”
Spike looked on the table. All of the containers on it (he couldn’t tell which was the potion Twilight was making), had any foam on the top.
“What foam?” he asked.
There was a ding. Spike spotted a timer on the table.
“Well, now that it’s done sitting for six minutes and twenty-four seconds,” said Twilight, magicing the cups of liquid over one of the containers.
She poured a measure of each liquid into a brown mixture. It frothed instantly, spilling over the side of the container a little bit.
“There. It’s ready,” grinned Twilight.

“So how do we tell if it’ll cause heartburn or not?” asked Lazybug.
“I’m sorry, but the only way to know is to take the potion,” frowned Twilight.
“We can’t let Mom take it,” said Crosspatch. “That’d be a heck of a Welcome Back, wouldn’t it? How about I test it?”
Twilight scratched her chin. “I don’t know. You and Lazybug are a lot more absorbent than other ponies because of your mutation. If I made this potion wrong, the heartburn it’ll give you will be a lot worse.”
“Well, someone’s gotta test it,” Crosspatch looked around the room for a suitable guinea pig.
The cockatrice shuffled towards Twilight’s levitating potion container sticking out a shaking wing.
“Hey, hey, hey. No need for that,” Crosspatch waved the cockatrice away. “You don’t have to be my slave or anything. I’m only gonna Stare you down again if you refuse to fix that filly. No, no, you keep your wings to yourself. There’s a good boy.”
The cockatrice stepped back looking relieved and grateful.
“How about I test it?” asked Winter Squash.
“Mom, you’re the one we want to test it for,” Lazybug reminded.

“I’ll test it,” said Spike. “I’m a dragon. I’m made of tough stuff.”
Before Twilight could say anything, Spike snatched the potion, stuck a claw into it, and wiped it on his arm.
“Hmm,” Twilight wasn’t happy about Spike being the test subject, but now that the deed was done, she figured she might as well role with the experiment. “Well, it might take longer to take effect on you. With your thick scales, it’ll me a few seconds before it soaks in.”
“Say, what will that potion do to him?” asked Lazybug. “Spike hasn’t lost his memory.”
“It won’t do anything,” answered Twilight. “It doesn’t affect someone not suffering for amnesia at all. Unless it’s not brewed right. Then it’ll still case heartburn.”
Spike’s legs gave way and he sat down hard on the floor.
“Spike? How do you feel?” asked Twilight.
They looked at him. He didn’t appear pained, but rather shaken. He was breathing with his mouth open and his claws were clasping his knees.
“Is it heartburn?” asked Crosspatch.
“Are you alright?” asked Twilight.
Spike breathed, “Nyx.”