Cauldron Club

by Biplane

All Under Control. Really? No.

Trixie headed to her wagon outside Ponyville, humming happily to herself as she plodded along, her modest (“Dazzling!”) cauldron and her brand new potion suspended alongside her in her pale blue telekinetic aura.

She was proud of herself, and the truth she would never admit to anypony else was that it was the first time in a long time that she really had been. It really had taken courage for her to go to Cauldron Club. She had almost doubted that she could stand the shame and embarrassment that came from simply being around Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Trixie had to admit that her greatness had been a bit too much for Ponyville the first time she visited, and she also had to admit that the Alicorn Amulet incident had been taking things too far.

Zecora followed Trixie at a distance, sneaking stealthily through the bushes. She didn't know what sinister plans the tricky Trixie had in store, but she did not trust her one moment with whatever potion it was that she had made.

Still, Trixie thought, It’ll be hard for them to argue how much you’ve changed when you drink this! She floated the potion she had made in her pale blue telekinetic aura, examining it with a smile. She just wanted everypony to love her as much as she did. As great as she was, it was like she’d be doing them all a service to make them finally notice it too! Why, they should be thanking her! And they will be! she thought to herself happily.

Zecora leaned forward, trying to glean what little she could from a dark-colored liquid in a frosted glass bottle at a distance under moonlight. What she could glean was, understandably, not much.

. . .

Berry Punch was a little under the weather. Well... a little more under the weather than perhaps normal. Like... the weather was positioned at least 15% more directly over her than would be considered the aggregate average.

Metaphorically.

Like... there were no pegasi or rain clouds above her at the moment, so far as she was aware. I mean, there could have been. It was night, though, so she probably wouldn’t be able to see if there were, and she was indoors besides. Okay, you know what? This metaphor has completely gotten out of hand. Berry Punch felt like garbage.

“Ugh,” had been her favorite commentary on the club this evening. She had totally enjoyed herself, but she wasn’t feeling well enough to express that in non-grunt, multisyllabic locution. Which was a shame, because there was a lot to talk about. Talking just happened to make her feel sicker was all.

Thankfully, Lyra and Bon-Bon had offered to let her crash at their place for the night. Their house was a lot closer than her own, and their couch was comfier than her bed was by a mile anyway.

Unthankfully, they didn’t have any cider in their cupboards, or their icebox. Some cider would be just the thing to soothe her massively pounding head and roiling stomach. Yes, that would be just the ticket. Berry licked her dry lips.

“Hello, Berry!”

“Oh no! No! Not you! Not again!” Berry said in a panicked tone, her eyes widening as she turned to face the familiar voice.

Before her stood, in the middle of the kitchen, Cidery the Talking Cider, a pony-sized, frothing mug of hard apple cider that was able to talk.

“Why are you back!? I thought you’d gone away forever! You aren’t real! You aren’t real! They told me you weren’t real and you went away forever! You aren't real!”

“Well, duh, Berry. I mean, seriously. I’m a talking mug of cider. How would that even work in real life? I mean, I don’t have lungs or vocal chords! Plus, how did I get here? Can’t walk, can’t fly, can’t teleport. I mean, really. This should be Main Street, Obvioustowne, here. I’m a hallucination, Berry. I’m not exactly disguising it. Anyway, you should drink some cider. Totally.” The bubbles in Cidery’s frothy head popped and fizzed as he “talked.”

Berry didn't know what to say. Her own hallucination had a point about the fact that it was a hallucination. But sometimes he looked so real. She decided to just respond, "But there isn't any cider here, Cidery."

"Wait, what? Really?" Cidery frothed. "Are you sure? Did you check everywhere?"

Now it was Berry's turn to admonish, and admonish she did, with gusto, "This isn't the first time I've rooted through a friend's house looking for cider, Cidery. Come on now. If it was here, I would have found it," she admonished.

Cidery was admonished. As admonished as a hallucinated giant mug of alcoholic cider could be expected to be, likely. Berry was right, she was quite old hat at this. It was silly of him to think she had missed something in her search. Actually, it was probably silly of Berry to hallucinate Cidery to think that she had missed something in her search, but, well... anyway. Cidery tried not to get too existential. Or... Berry tried not hallucinate Cidery to try to get too existential, I suppose. "Well, what have they got then? Any strong punch?" Cidery tried.

Berry rolled her eyes at her alcohol-induced hallucination. "No. All they have is... wait a minute. The potion!"

"The potion?"

"The potion!"

The potion. It was still on the table, where they'd left it when they'd come in, before everypony had gone to bed.

And it was alcoholic.

Now. The potion that she and Lyra and Bon-Bon had made had been fun to make, but they'd never intended to actually use it for anything. Plus, they'd kept making mistakes. Plus plus, it was really three potions thrown together. Who knew what would happen?

Berry didn't, that was for sure. But what she did know was that there was alcohol in the stuff.

Worth the risk?

Absolutely not!

But Berry's sense of "risk" had always been slightly... off.

"Do it, Berry," whisper-frothed Cidery.

Berry licked her dry lips.

. . .

Carrot Top left the library tree after saying goodbye to Twilight and the others. She trotted home happily, her potion and cauldron secured safely in her little cart.

Hmm. I wonder what I'll use it for? she thought. Maybe I should try telekinesis on something small first? Something soft would be a good idea too.

"Hey! CT!"

Carrot Top was stirred from her thoughts by the familiar voice of one of her best friends: Derpy Hooves, the wall-eyed, bubbly pegasus. She looked up to see Derpy smiling at her, hovering somewhat unsteadily in the evening air.

"Oh! Hi, D!" Carrot top replied, waving her forehoof in greeting.

Derpy landed carefully nearby, she was clumsy by nature, and so had to take great care to land gently on the ground a slight (and safe) distance away. She took two steps towards Carrot Top, tripped, and fell on her face.

She shook her head to clear it and look up at Carrot Top from her new ground-level perspective.

They both started giggling at the same time. This sort of thing happened to Derpy all the time, and she'd learned a long time ago not to let stuff like this bother her. She was a naturally happy and carefree soul, and no amount of clumsiness was going to get in the way of that on her watch! For her part, Carrot Top had learned this about her friend long ago, and was comfortable laughing along with Derpy when stuff like this happened. Which was often.

Carrot Top offered Derpy a hoof up, which her friend accepted with a smile, dusting herself off and fluffing her wings back into shape.

"So hey! Did you go to the club? Was it fun?" Derpy said excitedly, her left eye focus on Carrot Top while her right pupil slowly rolled upward.

Carrot Top has often wondered what it looked like to see in two different directions at the same time, though she rarely gave the question much thought, as even pondering it seemed to give her a headache before long.

"Yeah! It was really fun! Twilight was very nice and helpful, and there were lots of ponies there to talk to!" Carrot Top replied.

"What kinds of potions did you make, CT? Anything cool?"

"Oh," Carrot Top said, a little uncertainly, "I just made the one potion," she said, waving her forehoof back towards her cart. She hoped Derpy might not ask her any more about it. Derpy knew that she had, in the past, struggled a little bit with unicorn and pegasus envy both. Despite what she'd told Twilight, it was a problem she'd had, and Derpy was sure to suspect something if she found out what the potion did.

When Carrot Top had convinced Derpy to take her flying one time "Just to see what it was like," Derpy had been happy to share the skies with her, but afterwards, Carrot Top had started becoming a little bit obsessed with flying. She had dreamt about flying, she had talked about flying, and she had walked around Ponyville looking upwards at clouds all day. It had finally become a problem when she had decided to build a "flying machine" in her back yard, and Derpy had had to rush her to the Ponyville hospital when she had jumped off of her roof to test it.

The broken leg had been no fun, but it had introduced Carrot Top to unicorn healing magic, which she had been thinking about ever since.

Derpy, for her part, had taken it upon herself since the flying machine incident to watch over her friend for signs of her psychological problem re-emerging. She was also much more perceptive than ponies gave her credit for, at least where her friends were concerned. Noticing the slight change in Carrot Top's voice and demeanor when she'd asked about the potion, Derpy's suspicions were immediately aroused. "Just one potion, huh?" she said, her voice brightly and cheerfully masking her suspicions, "What kind? I bet it's something really great!"

"Hmm? Oh, no, D. It's... it's nothing interesting. Just a... a simple plant growth potion. Gonna try to make some super carrots," it felt awful to lie to Derpy, who was likely the nicest and most caring pony she had ever known, but she did have a bit of a problem, and problems could make you do things sometimes.

One of Derpy's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Carrot Top in the gathering dark, the other locked itself squarely upon the cart and its contents. She knew something was up, but she would have to respect CT's privacy... for now. Derpy silently vowed to keep an eye, or both eyes, if she could get them to agree on it, on CT tonight, just in case.

"Oh, okay, well, it's getting late, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, CT!" Derpy said.

"Okay, D! See you tomorrow!" Carrot Top said a tad bit too happily, barely resisting the urge to breathe a sigh of relief.

As Carrot Top walked away and into her house, Derpy ducked around a corner, looking for good vantage points to spy from.

Oh, Derpy. You respect Carrot Top's privacy enough to not press her about the potion, but you think it's perfectly alright to spy on her all night? You silly pony.

. . .

It was a journey of many miles that had brought them here. They were simple creatures, and so were unaware of this fact. Nevertheless, when one considers the odds, one would have to say it may have been fate that had brought them to this place, so far from home.

Gus was a pelican, and tonight he was flying far from the salty winds of his ocean home. By lucky chance, he had scooped up four crabs into his mouth before taking the fairly long flight to his old friend Fluttershy's cottage in the inland pony village of Ponyville.

He was rather looking forward to a lovely crab dinner tonight, but he just wasn't hungry yet. It was a bit annoying, though, feeling their tiny pinching claws inside his mouth the whole trip, but it would all be worth it later.

Simple creatures as they were, the crabs were only dimly aware that their present situation was a dire one, but they were unwilling to simply sit and wait for whatever vaguely conceptualized threat might await them, so pinch they did. They pinched with gusto.

Gus rolled his pelican-y eyes as he felt another annoying pinch inside his mouth. Fortunately, he was almost to Ponyville.

Pelicans can’t really smile, and Gus’s mouth was full, so it would have been a bad idea anyway, but if he could have smiled he would’ve when he sighted the cottage near the edge of the forest. Fluttershy was a wonderful pony. Gentle, kind, a great friend; all the animals loved her. Angel Bunny could be a brat, though.

Gus landed gently near the stream that ran through Fluttershy’s yard. He fluffed his wings a couple times. Whew, long flight. He was starting to get a bit hungry, he supposed, but he thought the stream water might feel good on his wing muscles first.

He waddled two steps toward the stream, tripped, and fell flat on his face. The crabs flew out of his mouth and bumped and rolled down into the stream, disappearing from sight.

Pelicans can’t really frown, but if you could have seen the forlorn look in Gus’s eyes right then... well. You would think they could.

. . .

“My head hurts,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You know what helps me when I have a headache?! CANDY!” Pinkie said in reply, both too loud and too close to Dash’s ears.

Rainbow Dash winced, then sighed. Her wings and neck drooped as she walked. Poncy the bear patted her gently on the back.

“Um. Pinkie? I think Rainbow would like a little...”

“CANDY?!”

“Um. No. Um... quiet. Most ponies like quiet when they have a headache.”

Really?! Pinkie mouthed silently in reply. Oh gosh I feel like a jerk! I’m so sorry Dashie!

Of course, Rainbow Dash wasn’t looking at Pinkie when she mouthed that at her, so of course Pinkie being Pinkie she continued to mouth the words ever more and more intensely.

Fluttershy, free to talk at a normal volume because, well, she was always quiet, said, “Well, the book might have been a little... much, but at least you get to try your new potion out! Imagine the tricks you’ll pull off!”

Rainbow smiled back, “Thanks, Fluttershy. It will be awesome, won’t it?”

Pinkie was silently screaming an apology at Rainbow now, but Rainbow still hadn't caught it, as they'd arrived at Fluttershy's college.

"Thank you all for walking home with me, you didn't have to!" Fluttershy said, smiling at her friends. "Would you like to come in for some tea?"

"That actually sounds fluid dynamics right now... I mean, uh... good. That actually sounds good right now," said Rainbow, her head throbbing with advanced aeronautical theory with every step her hooves took. Geez. That tea must've sounded good: tea wasn't normally a Rainbow Dash kind of beverage.

Pinkie collapsed on the ground panting, her face pinker than usual, her silent apologetic shouts failing to register with their target.

"Um... Pinkie? I think Rainbow Dash forgives you. Would you like some tea?" Fluttershy said, cocking her head slightly as she stared down at her friend.

"Huh?" Dash said.

"Really?! Thanks, Dashie! And tea sounds super-duper!" Pinkie jumped up, smiling brightly. Tea was normally a Pinkie Pie kind of beverage, provided enough sugar was added.

"Oh! Hello, Gus! It's so nice to see you! What brings you here?" Fluttershy said, noticing the pelican looking forlornly at the little stream that ran across her yard.

Gus said nothing. He was a pelican. Pelicans can't talk. Surely you must find the idea of talking animals completely ridiculous?

"Oh dear, you look hungry! I think I have something for you inside, won't you come in with us?" Fluttershy said.

Gus nodded, which was a perfectly normal pelican thing to do, of course.

And so the motley party of pink pony, blue pony, yellow pony, bear, and pelican entered Fluttershy's cozy cottage for some evening tea. Of course nothing could go wrong here. Of course.

. . .

"Gummy freaks me out," Scootaloo decided. She was having an epic staredown with Pinkie Pie's toothless alligator.

"I think he's adorable!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Y'all ain't never gonna win a staring contest with him. Ya know that, right?" Apple Bloom said, paying the competition only passing interest as she munched on an apple.

Scootaloo ignored them and concentrated on the task at hand. Her eyes burned. Gummy's eyes stared blankly back, drifting slowly and slightly outward to both sides.

"Well, this is nice. It's quieter'n ah might've hoped tonight," said Applejack to Rarity as the two watched over the Crusaders from some distance away, on Applejack's couch. And it was true. Considering they were pet-sitting Winona the dog, Opal the cat, and Gummy the alligator tonight, not to mention the CMC, it was proving to be a very relaxing evening.

Rarity nodded her agreement, "Oh, indeed."

Scootaloo's eyes were on fire. Tears streamed down her face. Her eyelids twitched like racers at the starting gate. Gummy's eyes remained blank. His mouth opened slightly, revealing his toothless gums. A cocky expression of triumph, perhaps? Or maybe he just needed to dry his mouth out, who knows. Maybe his jaws muscles were just taking a short break.

Blink.

"Aaaauuugh!" said the little orange pegasus.

"Aww, it's okay. You did really well!" said Sweetie, patting Scootaloo on the back.

Scootaloo, rubbing her eyes, gave Gummy one more appraising look. "What... are you?!" she said, melodramatically.

Sweetie and Apple Bloom rolled their eyes. They really did have excellent technique.

Gummy blinked, one eye at a time.

Winner and still champion, folks. He may have to challenge Fluttershy someday.

"So, Applejack, dear, how are things going around the farm?" asked Rarity.

"Things are goin' okay. We're gettin' set up for zap apple season. Gotta get all our ducks in a row before harvest time, 'cause it's so short."

"I was so sorry to miss our dinner date the other night, I was simply swamped at the Boutique."

"Aw, that's all right, Rare. I've had stuff come up before too."

"Yes, well," Rarity said, staring at the floor, "I don't want to be... that pony, if you know what I mean."

"Uhhh... no?" Applejack said, raising an eyebrow. "What pony?"

"The pony who puts her work and herself before her friends. Like I did on Twilight's birthday."

Applejack furrowed her brow in thought for a second, "Ya mean that time in Canterlot, when ya wanted to go to that fancy party that was happening at the same time as Twilight's?"

"...And I didn't finish Twilight's dress because I was too busy going to social events, yes," Rarity said, looking a little sad. She sniffed. "Some Element of Generosity I am."

"Well, Ah don't know much about fancy parties and dresses, and Ah wonder sometimes how much stock we should really put in them fancy rocks of ours, but Ah do figure that Ah fit the bill of Element of Honesty pretty darn good. So listen to me when Ah tell you, honestly, that there ain't nopony Ah know who's more generous'n you, Rare. Anypony who says otherwise is a darn liar."

Rarity was a bit taken aback. Applejack could be as blunt with her compliments as she was with everything else, but that was one of the things her friends liked about her. "T-thank you, Applejack, that's very kind of you to say."

Applejack smiled. "Rare, if you think Ah'm just gonna sit here and watch that goofy pegasus filly stare at an alligator all night 'n' let you beat yourself up over nothin', then y'all got another thing comin'."

"Goofy?!" said Scootaloo from across the room, having only caught the bit about her. She didn't break eye contact with Gummy, though. Staredown: Round 2 was just getting heated up.

"Well, you are pretty goofy," Apple Bloom observed, offhoofedly.

Applejack gave Rarity a sidelong glance and a wry grin, "'Sides," she said, "Ah think ya were just fishin' for compliments anyway."

There was that bluntness again. Rarity turned a corner of her mouth down and rolled her eyes in an over-exaggerated fashion in a perfectly dainty display of annoyance.

"My eyes... like... fire..." Scootaloo said in a strained voice. Gummy stared back, unmoved. Pitiless. Quite possibly oblivious.

"Ah know! Let's try out that potion!" Apple Bloom said suddenly, ruffling through a saddlebag on the floor nearby and producing from it the flight potion they'd made earlier that evening.

Applejack's eyes shot wide open, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

. . .

Trixie reached her wagon, setting her cauldron down and carefully examining her potion once more.

Zecora peered from the bushes.

"I've been laughed at," Trixie said to herself suddenly, staring at the potion. Well, staring more through it than at it, really. Her voice sounded somewhat tired, somewhat distant.

Zecora was a bit taken aback for a moment, at the sudden sound of Trixie's voice in what had until now been a mostly silent evening, as well as the fact that she had not referred to herself in third person, as she always did. Zecora found herself suddenly conscious of the fact that she was intruding on what should have been a private moment for Trixie. She felt a bit ashamed of herself. She found herself thinking back to her early days in Ponyville, when everypony had regarded her with fear and suspicion.

She reminded herself that this was Trixie, of all ponies. She could be plotting another scheme, or at least might be trying to get back at Twilight somehow.

"I've been laughed at. I've been humiliated. I've been ridiculed," Trixie continued to herself, still staring thoughtfully at the potion. "I just wanted to show everypony I was great," she gave a sad half-sigh, half-laugh, "I guess I'm not so great after all. Everypony seems to agree on that, at least. They can't really all be wrong, can they?"

Zecora was shocked to see this side of Trixie. She seemed so... beat down. For the first time in her life, Zecora felt herself feeling sad for the arrogant showmare.

"Twilight Sparkle," the words were... complicated coming out of Trixie's mouth. Zecora could hear bitter jealousy, grudging admiration, and even a bit of anger and fear with each syllable, "Twilight Sparkle... is right. I'm alone and unloved because I have no friends. Because I need to change. But how can I?" Trixie slumped to her haunches, her gaze drifting to the ground. A few tears collected in her eyes, sparkling in the faint evening light, reflecting the pale blue of the telekinetic aura sparkling around the potion bottle.

She blinked them away. Throwing a determined look on her face, pulling herself back together, Trixie stood. She brought the potion bottle closer. "This," Trixie said, her voice beginning to steel with resolve, "This is the only way."

What could that possibly mean? How can friendship a potion glean? Zecora thought to herself. Then, it clicked. Twilight's spellbook that Trixie had tried so hard to hide during Cauldron Club. The odd ingredients Zecora had watched Trixie assemble. Trixie's desire, but weak ability to make friends. A potion that could make friends for her. Zecora had not been present when Twilight had originally cast her now-infamous want-it need-it spell, nor had Trixie, but word of the embarrassing incident had spread quite far quite quickly. If this potion was an infusion of that spell, and Trixie was planning to drink it.... Oh no! It isn't so!

Trixie uncorked the bottle, and brought it to her mouth, the first few drops of liquid touching her lips just as Zecora burst out of the bushes, shouting, "Don't drink that brew! You don't know what it'll do to you!"

. . .

"Do it, Berry," frothed Cidery the Talking Hard Cider, as she reached for the potion on the table.

Berry licked her dry lips once more. She uncorked the bottle, raising it to her mouth.

. . .

Derpy watched from Carrot Top's neighbor's roof, spying through Carrot Top's window.

Inside, Carrot Top was getting a pillow, and placing it on a chair. One of Derpy's eyes started to drift, but she forced it back to focus. What could CT be doing?

Walking to the other side of the room, Carrot Top stepped up to the small table on which her potion sat, and uncorked it with her teeth. Taking a small swig, Carrot Top's face scrunched up. Guess it doesn't taste very good, huh, CT?

It looked like a very small bump had formed on Carrot Top's forehead. She turned to face the pillow in the chair, her face intense with concentration. To Derpy's utter shock, a very, very faint yellow aura began to slowly form around the pillow. Carrot Top's eyes narrowed, and she grit her teeth. The pillow began to rise, floating in mid-air a couple inches off the chair. Unicorn magic?! Oh no... oh no... this can't be good.

The pillow dropped, and Carrot Top did a happy little dance. She looked over at the potion bottle, still almost completely full. A thoughtful look crossed her face.

Oh no.

Carrot Top new telekinetic aura wrapped around the potion bottle and lifted it up.

Oh no!

The bottle began to float towards Carrot Top.

Derpy jumped up from her spying spot, aiming herself at the window.

Carrot Top brought the bottle to her lips.

Derpy's wings beat furiously as she dove at the window. "Don't do it, CT!" she shouted.

Carrot Top upended the bottle, gulping down the entire thing in a matter of seconds.

. . .

Four crabs crawled out of the stream by Fluttershy's house. Where would they go now?

. . .

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Poncy Vurpawven the bear, and Gus the pelican were enjoying tea.

Or, to be more techically accurate, they were drinking it, but not particularly enjoying it.

"This doesn't taste very good, Fluttershy. No offense, I'm not a tea drinker anyway," Dash said. Making a face as she took another sip. "Maybe the honey's gone bad? Or the milk?" she gamely tried another sip, wincing again at the taste as she did so.

"Oh dear, do you think so? And it seems like I just got both recently.... Wait a minute."

"Hmm?" Dash said from around her cup.

Fluttershy's yellow face went white. "I don't remember bringing the milk or the honey out here."

"Then what did we... oh. Oh no!" Dash's eyes scanned the table. On it was various tea-related paraphenalia: cups, saucers, a teapot... and the potion bottles, now half-empty. One contained a viscous yellow potion, the other a milky white one. Well. That was a pretty embarrassing mistake.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's eyes shot wide. They looked at each other, their mouths agape. Then they passed out.

Pinkie and Poncy followed suit.

Gus's mouth was full of tea, but he had not yet swallowed (it's a pelican thing). He looked around him for a couple seconds, his eyes wide with shock and confusion, then he set his teacup down and slowly backed out of the room.

. . .

"Ugh!" Scootaloo said, dropping the potion bottle on the floor and wiping her mouth with her foreleg. "This stuff tastes gross!"

The other two Crusaders gathered around Scootaloo excitedly, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Applejack and Rarity watched from a ("safe" in AJ's case, peering over the couch from behind it, and "comfortable" in Rarity's, lazing upon it gracefully) distance away, Applejack with growing unease and Rarity with passing interest.

None of them watched as Gummy the alligator waddled over to the still-mostly-full potion bottle that had landed so roughly on the floor.

. . .

"What a perfect evening," said Twilight contendedly as she crawled into bed.

"Can't I have just a few more cookies?"

"No, Spike! It's time for bed! You've had enough!"

Spike crawled into bed, grumbling under his breath, "I'll tell you when I've had enough!"

Twilight sighed as she pulled up the covers. Yes, just a perfect evening!

Author's Note:

Took longer than I thought it would! This writing thing is pretty hard!

I expect the next part I'll break into many smaller chapters. I find that stories read easier that way anyway.

Thank you so much for reading, all!

Comments

[Seether00]

Of course nothing could go wrong here. Of course.

HAHA MUAHAAHAHAHAHAA! It commences!

[Biplane]

2870030

Tea parties is serious business.

[RTStephens]

It begins...

And I'm sure everypony got exactly what they asked for. The poor fools...

[Biplane]

2876606
I'm sure they've all thought this through.

[Biplane]

So, I've run into just a couple... clunks that I'd like to iron out, so it might be a little time before the next series of chapters get posted.

Just a combination of having to reformat a couple parts, rearrange some things, and just a titch of writers block in a couple of places.

Don't worry, though! I'm still plugging away at it!

[Hobbestc]

This story is full of happy fun times. I'm very happy that I didn't see it until it was complete and now I get to read it all the way through. Fun times ahead!!

[Emperor]

Man, this chapter got a little bit dark. Adult ponies having problems and stuff.

After, Discord is gonna have to demand Twilight becomes his student next, she makes him so proud!