I was just lonely ...

by Rune Caster the First

Problems and Potion Ingredients

“Now what shall we do?” said Rarity, once everyone was outside Chrysalis’s room. The ponies all looked at one another. Spike just gave a bemused shrug, and then burped out a letter. BURP! Twilight levitated the letter to her, and her face broke into a smile.

“It’s a letter from the Princesses! It says that they’re in an important meeting with the diplomats from Saddle Arabia at the moment, but they will come here in a couple of days.” Fluttershy looked somewhat relieved.

“That’s just as well as Chrysalis mustn’t be moved until she’s feeling a whole lot better.” Even though the former changeling queen scared her a bit, Fluttershy was very good at caring for animals when they were sick. The purple alicorn raised an eyebrow, and then chuckled to herself. Fluttershy was the Element of Kindness, after all. Applejack, meanwhile, was frowning.
“There’s somethin’ ah still don’t understand,” she said. “How in ‘tarnation could Chrysalis have FOUR maladies all at the SAME time?” This was something that Twilight had been thinking about for the past hour.

“Well,” the alicorn began. Starlight and Spike mentally prepared themselves for the reappearance of ‘Research Twilight’. “Of late, I’ve been reading up about alicorn abilities such as their long endurance and incredible stamina. By definition, alicorns can be tougher and endure more than other ponies. Now Chrysalis seems to be a creature who has been through and survived things that most ponies would not stand, so her endurance and stamina could be similar to that of an alicorn.” Twilight would have gone on and on talking if Rainbow had not put a hoof to Twilight’s mouth. The blue pegasus rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Look, all of this talking doesn’t change the fact that the changeling inside that room (points at the door) is very sick”, Rainbow said. “Rarity is right: what do we do next?” Starlight then decided to speak.

“Twilight and I have figured out that the type of malnutrition Chrysalis has is long-term. She must have been starving for quite some time. But we’ve solved that problem.” Her teacher nodded. “We’re planning to give Chrysalis small doses of friendship love every two hours of each day.” The pink unicorn thought for a moment before continuing. “In a day … maybe two days, the changeling will no longer be starving.”

The purple alicorn’s expression wasn’t as joyful as her student’s. Twilight spoke in a very quiet voice.

“Her inner reservoir of magic is in a very bad way: most of it is gone, only a little is left. It’s almost like she’s been drained … somehow … I don’t know what the cause is.”

“Neither do I,” Starlight chimed in. “There are some possible causes: the big, magical explosion at the hive when the rest of the Changelings changed into their present forms, could have been sustaining herself purely by magical energy for a long time … it could be lots of things.” Spike shrugged once again.

“Well, whatever the cause was, Chrysalis won’t be using magic very much for a while”, he said.

“You’re right, Spike”, replied Twilight. “The exhaustion brought on by the fever and magic drainage will sap the changeling’s strength for quite some time.” Pinkie Pie nodded vigorously at that.

“Uh huh”, the pink pony said, bouncing up and down. “She’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug.” Pinkie grinned. “Heh … bug.” Everypony (and dragon) just rolled their eyes. Starlight facehooved. ‘Ridiculous.’

The purple alicorn decided to change the subject.

“On the topic of curing Chrysalis’s fever, how is it going, Fluttershy?” The yellow pegasus thought for a moment.

“The changeling needs to eat more pieces of willow bark and a few bowls of vegetable gruel for two more days to conquer the fever … I think.” Fluttershy then looked a bit downhearted. “Oh, but I don’t know how to deal with the other problems. The cures will probably be more to do with magic than any herbs I know”, she mumbled. “Twilight? Starlight? What do you think?” She looked at the two ponies in question. The pink unicorn held a hoof to her muzzle in thought.

“I’ve found a few spells that can replenish the magic of ponies in the castle library”, Starlight said. “I’m just not sure if they’ll work on changelings”, she added in a lower tone.

“We can still try though”, Twilight said encouragingly. “But it’ll be good to try different methods of restoring magic.” An idea suddenly sprang to life in Applejack’s mind.

“Speaking of a ‘different method’, we could try asking a certain pony … or might ah say: a certain zebra?” she said pointedly. Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves together.

“Zecora! Whoopee! Yes, we could go to Zecora’s place and ask her to help us out!” The rest of the friends agreed as well.

“Awesome idea!”

“Works for me!”

“Oh yeah!”

“What a marvellous idea!”

“How about this”, Applejack began, “Pinkie and I could go to Zecora’s treehome and ask her for any tips on remedies that could restore Chrysalis’s magic.” The pink earth pony nodded, bouncing up and down even faster.

“Yep, yep! Ready when you are!” Twilight smiled with satisfaction.

“In the meantime, I’ll do some more research into how changeling magic works in the library.”

“Is it okay if I join you?” asked Starlight. The purple alicorn nodded.

“Umm, I need to go back to my cottage for more herbs and bark, if that’s okay?” mumbled the yellow pegasus, trying to hide behind her mane again. Rainbow Dash’s stomach rumbled, and she gave out a sigh.

“Right, I’m off to Sugarcube Corner for a quick snack. All this taking-care-of-a-changeling stuff has made me hungry.”

“Me too”, Rarity said. “I must admit I’m quite famished.”

“Well, it looks like we’ve all got things to do”, the alicorn said. “Let’s get to it.” The group of friends agreed and left on their tasks, or snacktimes in Rainbow Dash and Rarity’s case.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack walked briskly through the trees of the Everfree Forest, keeping an eye out for any monsters that might appear. The pink pony bounced forward quickly, humming ‘Giggle at the Ghostie’ very quietly. Luckily, they made it to Zecora’s tree without being attacked or troubled by anything. Applejack knocked, but there was no reply. The orange earth pony paused for a moment, before pushing open the door.

The room inside looked more or less the same as it did before, except the occupant wasn’t Zecora. It was Apple Bloom. The red and yellow filly held a duster in her mouth and seemed to be tidying the room.

“Apple Bloom?” The filly looked up, and promptly dropped the duster. “What are you doing here? And where is Zecora?” The questions all seemed to spill out of Applejack’s mouth at the same time. Apple Bloom smiled nervously and scuffed the floor a little with one hoof.

“Well, Zecora told me today that she was going on a trip to her homeland: Zebrica. She left an hour ago, and according to her this visit will last for a week.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other with shock.

“Oh no!” they said. Applejack gave out a huff of annoyance.

“Great, we find the former queen of the changelings in the woods … she’s very sick … we’re trying to find cures … thought Zecora might be able to help, but oh no, she went on a trip to Zebrica.” She turned around, and saw the pink pony frowning at her. Applejack sighed. “No, Zecora didn’t know about it … it’s not her fault. Ah’m sorry, Pinkie. It just feels frustrating.” Apple Bloom’s jaw had dropped when she heard Applejack’s news, but she quickly closed it.

“So, you’re here to find remedies?” she said. “Maybe I could help you?” Apple Bloom put on her ‘big, sparkly eye’ look. “After all, I have been helping Zecora out with her potions sometimes: measuring the ingredients and so forth. Zecora trusts me to be careful now … that’s why before she left, she asked me to tidy up her home for her.” The two older ponies shared a glance.

“Maybe you can! Do you know anything about herbs or plants that can strengthen a creature’s magic?” Pinkie asked. Apple Bloom thought for a couple of seconds, and then nodded.

“Yes, there were a couple of plants that Zecora showed me last week.”

“Can we see them?” Pinkie Pie’s excited response made the filly a little tense.

“Why?” Apple Bloom asked warily. It wasn’t that she distrusted Applejack and Pinkie Pie, but she had then just remembered the day of the ‘cutie pox’: the day that she’d misused one of Zecora’s ingredients and then everything had turned to chaos.

“It’s all right, lil’ sis,” Applejack said. She smiled reassuringly at Apple Bloom. “Everypony has agreed to try to help Chrysalis, an’ these magical plants could indeed do her good.” Feeling better about it, Apple Bloom relaxed and nodded.

“These are the plants Zecora told me about”, the filly said, pointing to a bunch of roots and two bowls full of a familiar blue plant.

“Poison Joke!” Applejack exclaimed, and narrowed her eyes. “Are ye sure that that plant strengthens magic?” Her little sister nodded.

“Yes, I’m sure. Zecora said it would.” Pinkie Pie and Applejack were listening intently.

“Okay … so what’s that then?” the pink pony said, pointing at the roots.

“Bogwurt root: another plant that is good at renewing magic in creatures.” Applejack looked thoughtful.

“Do you think that Zecora will mind if we take a bit of each of these ingredients to help the changeling?” she asked her little sister. Apple Bloom was hesitant momentarily, before replying in the affirmative.

“If it’s to make somebody better, I’m sure that Zecora would approve of it. I’ll get a couple of bowls.” The filly turned and went over to a cupboard at the other side of the room. She took out two bowls and gave them to the other two ponies. Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie.

“I’ll get some bogwurt roots. Can you get the poison joke petals, Pinkie?”

“Okay”, the pink pony said, and bounced over to the two bowls of poison joke.

“Be careful not to get them mixed up”, Apple Bloom said hastily. “The petals are in the bowl on your left.” The pink pony gingerly picked up the bowl of petals and started to pour them into her bowl … but then a calamity happened! She accidently jogged the bowl of leaves, spilling the leaves onto the table, and into her bowl! Oops! Now there were petals and leaves in her bowl!

Pinkie Pie hurriedly set the bowl of petals down, and looked sideways at her friends. Applejack and Apple Bloom were choosing suitable bogwurt roots and, so far, hadn’t noticed the incident. The panicking Pinkie, using incredible speed that was only available to her, roughly sorted the petals and leaves into two piles … the leaves went back into their bowl … petals into her bowl. Pinkie put the first two bowls in their original order, and turned around to see Applejack turn around too.

“Right, Pinkie, I’ve got the roots”, she said, holding a bowl of bogwurt roots.

“Yep, I’ve got mine too!!” The pink pony held her bowl of poison joke petals out, with a very wide smile. Applejack and Apple Bloom looked at each other in a bemused way.

“Come on Pinkie, let’s go. See you later, Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom waved ‘goodbye’ to the two older ponies as they left. Pinkie was unusually quiet on the way back, feeling very nervous about the earlier incident with the petals and the leaves.

What if I sorted them wrong? What if there still are leaves in the bowl with the petals? She shook her head, banishing the gloomy thoughts by thinking: ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen?’

Author's Note:

Hi everypony!

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting chapters for quite a long time. There were some problems: holidays, broken hard drive etc. Anyway, the plot continues!

Those of you who know about Poison Joke can probably guess at what happens next. But can anybody guess what the effect is going to be?

Comments

[Doctor_Den]

Of course, messing around with dosages in preparing a medicine is the most sensible idea.
what can happen? you think that "the most useful medicine in the wrong amount turns into a deadly poison."
of course, you can always fix everything when something irreparable happens.

[Razzy]

Gotta fix'er up.

What the worst that could ha- *the planet explodes*