Round 1
Preread, Edited, and Reviewed By
El Oso, Illustrious Q, BronyWriter, Winston, Wanderer D, Level Dasher
Cover Art By RyuRedwings
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“Okay, I have my errands to run in town. That should take me until lunch. After that a few princess duties for a few hours, and then just me, a good book, and my fiction-reading chair,” Twilight said as she reviewed her checklist near the front door of the castle. She had a carefully organized morning, with the first item on the list being to review the day’s schedule. Still, she had to glance back towards the center of her castle as there was one thing on her checklist that was already unaccounted for.
“Spike!” Twilight called. She listened, ears swiveling to try and hear his voice over the echoes of her own. She hadn’t been able to find Spike all morning, which had her a little worried. He usually let her know if he had morning plans, but on the other hoof, this wouldn’t be the first time he rushed off because Rarity needed his help at the last moment.
Crinkling her nose, Twilight scratched out the second item on her checklist, “Find Spike,” and replaced it with “Check in at Carousel Boutique for Spike.” If nothing else, it was on the way to her first stop of the morning, so the detour wouldn’t disrupt her plans too much. That and she added one more thing to the list she had noticed that morning. “Check on map table.”
In brief passing, Twilight was sure she had seen the map table glowing. Still, when she gave it a second look, everything seemed normal. She’d give it a proper check later. For now, she didn’t want to dawdle any longer.
Twilight turned her head to open the door, taking a single step forward to better position her body, only to feel her hoof step down on something unfamiliar. She quickly lifted it back up, seeing a flyer resting on the floor. Actually, several copies of the same advertisement had been slipped under her door, looking like a printing press had thrown up a dozen flyers to form an undesired welcome mat.
Picking up the flyers, Twilight levitated them into a neat, single pile and then looked at the one on the top. She frowned as she read over the advertisement. Zecora and Mage Meadowbrook were pictured on the flyer, facing each other and scowling. Bright splashes of green and red surrounded them respectively, and at the bottom of the ad was a cauldron overflowing with a bubbling brew. At the top was clear, bright, and bold lettering.
“ChaosCo presents a once-in-an-era contest. One day only at the Coliseum of Ponyville. Come and see who shall be crowned ‘The Elixir Master,’” Twilight read, her brows furrowing as she began to comprehend the situation. Discord was causing trouble, and worse, he was ruining her perfectly scheduled day! Still, maybe she could get out ahead of this if she hurried. Twilight nodded to herself, spreading her wings and magically opening the front doors of her castle.
But, before she could take off, she stopped dead in her tracks to process what she was seeing.
While most of Ponyville was untouched, it seemed every shop, business, and public building had been plucked from the ground and stacked on top of one another to form a single structure: a coliseum. Like a mismatched quilt, the buildings had been fused together to form the walls, the ticket booth, and every other aspect of the structure. From where Twilight stood she could see Sugarcube Corner and Carousel Boutique. Even the tents and stalls that made up Ponyville’s Farmers' Market had not been spared, as she could see them lining the top of the coliseum walls like the pointy tips of a crown.
“Discord,” Twilight growled under her breath as she took off and began flying towards the “new” Ponyville Coliseum.
After getting a ticket for whistling a happy tune, Twilight marched through the interior of the coliseum, which in truth felt more like one of those large malls Sunset Shimmer had shown her in the human world. Every business that had been uprooted to help build the coliseum’s outer structure was accessible from the interior hallways. In fact, the ponies of Ponyville seemed to be taking most of it in stride, going about their daily routines and perhaps even enjoying the convenience of everything being so close together.
“Cider! Can’t watch the contest without delicious Cider! We got Apple Cinnamon Rolls and Apple Fritters too!”
Twilight’s ears perked, and she quickly trotted ahead, following the gentle bend of the hallway until she saw an apple-themed concession stand. Applejack was right at the counter, happily giving out brown paper bags filled with delicious apple treats to a waiting line of ponies, and she wasn’t alone. Rainbow Dash was in her booth as well, helping the second line of customers with her impressive speed.
“Please tell me you two aren’t under Discord’s mind control or something,” Twilight said as she approached the booth.
“Oh, there you are, Twilight. We were wondering when you’d stick your head out of your castle and see what was happening.” Applejack bagged an order for a pony at the front of her line. “And nope, no mind control here… at least, not anything I’ve noticed.”
Twilight frowned. “I don’t think you’re lying, but if you were lying, that would probably be what you’d say.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled as she took the bits from a customer. “She’s got you there, Applejack.”
“I suppose she does, but I honestly don’t think Discord did anything to us… at least not directly. He did turn my apple cart into this here concession stand in the middle of the night, but with how good business has been this morning, I haven’t had time to be grumpy about it.” There was a poof of magic behind AJ, and she saw a bag of bits. It was accompanied by a piece of paper and a blue, star-speckled mug. “Though these dang VIP delivery orders are sure getting on my nerves.”
“Can one of you at least tell me what’s going on?” Twilight whined as she took out the stack of flyers she had brought with her from her castle. “Did something really happen between Mage Meadowbrook and Zecora?”
“Fluttershy knows what happened. We’ve only heard a bit about it in passing.” Rainbow Dash paused from helping customers for a moment to lean over the counter and point at a small door that was down the hallway. The door itself looked like an entrance to some dark and mysterious crypt, complete with an up-right standing crocodile door guard. “Fluttershy said you should be on the list to get backstage.”
“That’s kind of why I’m just rolling with the bucks this time. If Fluttershy isn’t worried, then I can guess Discord plans to fix all this sooner rather than later. But, if y’all need us to use the Elements of Harmony, just come find us here,” Applejack said as she finished with another customer. “Though I wouldn’t mind if ya waited until after this morning rush.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I can’t make any promises. Just try to be ready. Though… do both of you really need to be working one concession stand?”
“Discord’s put up a prize for the businesses that are willing to sell foods that ponies can eat while they’re watching the contest,” Applejack explained, her eyes focusing to the other side of the hallway where some of the other local farmers had concession stands as well. “Sweet Apple Acres ain’t about to lose out on that prize.”
“And I get a barrel of cider for helping,” Rainbow said as she waved the next customer in her line to come forward. “An entire barrel, double if Sweet Apple Acres ends up winning! Sorry, but until we’re ready to rainbow blast something, I’m staying right here and selling apples.”
Twilight ran her hoof down the front of her muzzle, groaning a little and shaking her head as she turned away from the Sweet Apple Acres concession stand. Applejack did have a point. If Fluttershy wasn’t worried or nervous about what Discord was doing, that probably meant this was largely harmless.
It was, however, still chaos and was still totally throwing off her day, which meant Discord still was overdue for a strongly worded complaint from her.
“After that, I spent the whole afternoon trying to get them to reconsider, but I couldn’t convince them to call it off.”
Twilight nodded her head as she and Fluttershy walked around the bowels of the coliseum, which mostly looked like the back alleys of Ponyville all pieced together into a circular shape. Everything she had just heard tumbled about in her head, leaving Twilight with a mix of emotions about the situation.
“Okay, that explains almost everything… except why you’re dressed like that,” Twilight said, gesturing to Fluttershy’s sparkly green dress.
“I was hoping that during the contest I could try talking to Zecora and Meadowbrook, but the only way I could do that was by agreeing to be part of the show. Discord is the master of ceremonies. Pinkie Pie and I are going to be his assistants.”
“Discord roped Pinkie Pie into this?”
Fluttershy nodded as the pair kept walking, following signs that pointed towards the center stage of the coliseum. “From what Pinkie Pie told me, he recruited her last night. While he was building the coliseum, she was putting up advertisements and filling out forms for permits. That and helping him brainstorm ideas for the contest itself.”
“Discord got the permits?” Twilight balked. “What kind of permit lets him turn Ponyville into a coliseum!?”
“It was an RCPP-CL permit. Discord and Pinkie Pie said it so many times this morning, I doubt I’ll forget that permit’s name for weeks.”
Twilight’s encyclopedia memory shuffled, and she frowned as she shook her head. “No, that can’t be right. An RCPP-CL is a Royal Colossal Pony Party permit signed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. That’s the kind of permit I had to get for the Festival of Friendship. Why in the world would Princess Celestia and Princess Luna give Discord and Pinkie that kind of permit?”
Fluttershy could only shrug as the pair of them reached the doors that led out onto the stage. “I don’t know, but you might be able to ask them yourself.”
“Ask them myself,” Twilight parroted. “Wait… Are you saying they’re here?!”
“Yes, Princess Celestia is one of the judges,” Fluttershy answered as the pair pushed through the doors and stepped onto the stage. The coliseum was open air, the bright, beautiful blue sky shining down and filling the stadium with light as ponies crowded into their seats. The coliseum was classically constructed, at least in its basic shape. The audience seating —the entire building— formed a thick ring, not unlike a donut. In the center of the donut, where the hole would normally be, was the polished, circular wooden stage where the contest would surely occur.
Twilight quickly began to orient herself, looking up at the ceiling and seeing the relative position of the sun. She and Fluttershy had stepped onto the stage from a pair of doors on the south side of the coliseum. Directly across the stage from them, on the north side, she could see what looked like the judges' section. It was a part of the stage raised about a foot higher than the rest. On that raised section she could see three cushions lined up in a row, two of which were occupied. The center cushion was occupied by Princess Celestia. The one to the right of that, from Twilight’s perspective, was occupied by Starswirl the Bearded.
The rest of the stage was dominated by two large potion labs, which were situated on the east and west sides of the circular stage. The two labs were exactly the same in their configuration. They each featured a cauldron, plenty of counter space, and just about every tool one could think of using when making potions. The only notable differences between the two labs were the primary color and the occupant. The lab on the west side of the stage had red accents and was occupied by Mage Meadowbrook. The opposite lab was green toned, and Zecora sat in the center, balancing on a bamboo pole in preparatory meditation.
“Uh oh, the fun police have arrived. You can’t touch me, copper. I plead the forty-second.” Discord snapped into existence in front of the two mares, smiling as he dusted some chaotic sparkles off his outfit: a truly ostentatious outfit that seemed befitting of a circus ringmaster. “Though I am so glad you could join us this morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“How did you get Princess Celestia and Starswirl the Bearded to agree to this?” Twilight’s carefully thought out lecture was blown from her mind by the sight of her mentor and her idol sitting on the stage as willing participants.
“Well, not to reveal my secrets, but Starswirl saw it as an opportunity to see how potion making has advanced since his time,” Discord answered, making a sock puppet appear on his paw that looked like Starswirl.
Somehow the sock puppet managed to stroke its beard and nod its head while speaking in an approximation of Starswirl’s voice, pitched up by an octave. “While I do not approve of one of my colleagues being goaded into such a meaningless contest, I can’t say I am not intrigued.”
“And Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.
Discord chuckled, putting the sock puppet behind his back for a moment before bringing it back out. The puppet had changed appearance to match Celestia, and gave a little giggle of its own. “Though some of my work in Canterlot will have to be rescheduled, I suppose I might as well participate if I happened to be pleasantly foalnapped.”
“Did she really say ‘pleasantly foalnapped?’”
Discord shrugged as he removed the sock and tossed it over his shoulder, where it sprouted wings and flew off to become a souvenir for some lucky fan. “I might be paraphrasing a touch, but the spirit of the message is there. Still, I can’t float her playing twenty questions with you. I do have a show to put on.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but Discord snapped his claw and was gone, leaving her to scowl. “He’s really going all out this time.”
Fluttershy forced a smile. “Yeah, but… at least ponies seem to mostly be enjoying it.” The smile fell from Fluttershy’s face as she looked out across the stage. “I’m just worried all this spectacle will make things worse between Zecora and Meadowbrook.”
“It does seem a bit much, but they’re both fairly level-headed mares,” Twilight said. “I’m sure a little competition won’t make things that bad between them. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are competing all the time.”
“Yes, that is true,” Fluttershy admitted, “but this isn’t a friendly competition. This is more like when Applejack challenged Rainbow Dash to race in the Running of the Leaves after she felt she had been cheated during their Iron Pony contest. Yes, things worked out, but I think that’s because those two were friends even before you came to Ponyville. But Zecora and Meadowbrook only just met yesterday. All this reminds me more of what it was like when we first met Trixie.”
“You can’t seriously think things will get so bad that Meadowbrook or Zecora will try and come back and conquer Ponyville using an ancient evil amulet.”
“No, but even after all this time, even after Trixie became Starlight’s friend, I wouldn’t say you and Trixie were friends. And maybe you’ll be able to be friends in the future, but—”
“It’s not as bad as all that,” Twilight said, trying to wave Fluttershy’s concern off.
A new voice entered into the conversation from behind Twilight. “Really, well then, maybe the three of us should have a sleepover, or maybe Trixie can move into the castle with us. After all, whenever she’s in Ponyville, she parks her cart in your backyard. We’re practically roommates already.”
Twilight winced and turned around to see Starlight and Trixie walking up behind them. She blushed a little for being caught trying to downplay the volatile relationship she had with Trixie, but tried not to linger on it or the idea of Trixie moving in. “You two got roped into this, too?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to provide entertaining judge banter.”
Twilight’s wings flared and she pointed a hoof at Trixie. “You’re a judge?!”
“No, Discord asked me to help judge,” Starlight said. “Trixie just happened to overhear and managed to talk him into letting her sit with us and provide color commentary.”
“That, and when Trixie heard Starswirl The Bearded was going to also be a judge, she just had to take the opportunity to meet him,” Trixie said with a flare of her cap. “Maybe Trixie will even convince him to take Trixie on as a student. With his lessons, Trixie would surely become a unicorn to rival even you, Twilight Sparkle. After all, we already both share a fondness for hats and capes.”
“If Starswirl doesn’t turn you into a lump of cheese by the end of the day, I’ll be surprised,” Twilight snipped.
“Girls, please,” Fluttershy interjected before focusing back on Twilight. “This is exactly what I’m worried will happen with Zecora and Meadowbrook, that instead of being friends they’ll turn into bitter rivals. I saw how they got along before the accident with the potion. They were already becoming fast friends. I just want to help them get over this disagreement.”
Twilight sighed. “You’re right, Fluttershy. Helping Zecora and Meadowbrook make amends is the most important thing, and I’ll do anything I can to help.”
Starlight nodded in agreement. “So will I.”
“Trixie will think about helping out as well, if Trixie is capable to do so while also impressing Starswirl the Bearded.”
Twilight rolled her eyes while Starlight stifled a giggle. “That’s quite the heart of gold you got there, Trixie,” Twilight said, her words heavy with sarcasm.
“Thank you, Twilight. That’s so kind of you to notice,” Trixie said with a wave of her hoof and a big grin.
With all the show’s major roles filled on stage, Twilight had to head up to the royal box seats. They were directly above the judges' table, and the royal box seemed to be comprised primarily of a train’s dining car which had been splayed open like a fancy dollhouse. Cartoonishly large hinges were visible where the roof and side walls connected with the back of the dining car.
Twilight saw Princess Luna sitting in the royal box, a poof of magic appearing on a table beside her just as Twilight was landing. Appearing from inside the magic smoke was a blue, star-decorated mug and a brown paper bag. The sweet aromas of Sweet Apple Acres baked goods wafted from the bag, mixing with the subtle bitter aroma of Luna’s chosen beverage of the morning: coffee.
“Princess Luna, it’s a surprise to see you here,” Twilight said as she took her own seat in the royal box.
Luna stifled a yawn and took a sip of her coffee before even attempting to answer. “Yes, well, Discord was very insistent. And with Celestia already here, her duties of the day might have fallen to me if I had remained in Canterlot. My choice was simple. Either I could be here, enjoying this coffee and the spectacle of this contest, or I could be in Canterlot suffering through endless meetings with only my sister’s mild teas.
“Thus, I decided to race off to rescue my sister from her unknown fate and left Canterlot quite gallantly.” Luna brought her mug to her mouth to take another sip of coffee before gently levitating one of the apple fritters she had ordered in front of Twilight. Twilight politely declined the offer and opened her mouth to continue the conversation.
However, the coliseum suddenly started getting darker. Looking up, Twilight could see storm clouds blotting out the sun. But the clouds were not being moved by pegasi. No, they were brewing on their own, and then there was a sharp crack. The audience, as a whole, yelped as a bolt of lightning lanced down from the clouds and struck the dead center of the stage. Where the lighting struck, Discord appeared, wearing his ostentatious outfit and standing with limbs spread as he smiled to the audience.
“Mares and stallions. Fillies and colts of all ages,” Discord began, his voice filling the coliseum. “What you are about to witness is a spectacle never seen before. On this stage, a battle will brew as skills and wills clash.” The stadium began to fill with the sounds of combat. Shadows danced across the walls and audience seating: silhouettes of ponies clashing with weapons both on the ground and in the air.
“From an elixir to cure the sniffles to a substance that might very well rip apart the fabric of reality, we are all about to take a trip from the mundane to the legendary.” The cauldrons in each of the two labs began to stew and boil, putting out huge plumes of smoke. The smoke was appropriately tinted to be red and green, like the labs themselves. From the smoking cauldrons, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy rose into view, wearing their red and green dresses respectively.
Pinkie and Fluttershy climbed down from the cauldrons and walked across the stage to join Discord as he continued speaking. “So please join me, your humble host, Discord, and my lovely assistants as we watch two mares enter into pitched combat with cauldrons and fire. Sit and join us as they meet on this battlefield to defend their honor and to prove which of them truly is—”
With a snap of Discord’s claw, the whole coliseum went pitch black. Then, from the cauldrons bubbling in the two labs, bright bursts of colors and fireworks shot out. The audience oohed and ahhed, and eventually, the sparkles of the fireworks spelled out words in the air which twirled and danced for all to see. They spelled out the words which Discord said, his voice echoing in the darkness.
“The Elixir Master!”
With that, the lighting returned to normal, and the audience cheered. Ponies were waving green and red flags, almost every pony showing their support for either Zecora or Meadowbrook.
Twilight hated to admit it, but even she was a little excited after an opening ceremony like that.
Discord took a brief few minutes to explain the rules, and the fact he did so calmly left Twilight pretty impressed. There would be five rounds. During each round, Zecora and Meadowbrook would be challenged to fix a problem using their expertise and skill sets. The fruit of their efforts would then be judged by Celestia, Starswirl, and Starlight to see who won each round. Whoever won three out of the five rounds would be crowned the Elixir Master.
On top of that, Discord had even accounted for the fact that potions could normally take hours to prepare. When the first round started, Discord put each potion lab inside a temporal acceleration bubble. Though only a few minutes would pass for everyone outside the bubbles, inside the bubbles a few hours sped by. That was also why Discord had both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy acting as his assistant. Each of them would be inside the bubbles as well, Pinkie Pie with Meadowbrook and Fluttershy with Zecora. They would send out little reports regularly that Discord would display to the audience, not unlike the internet videos Twilight had seen during her first visit to Canterlot High.
It would allow the audience to get glimpses of the process, to see moments of triumph and struggle by the two potion-makers. At the same time, the whole contest would be completed over the course of a single day instead of several.
The first round was already well underway as Twilight watched from the royal box seat with Luna. The first round’s challenge was what Discord called a “cornerstone” of any potion maker’s repertoire: an unsniffle elixir. Twilight herself remembered reading about it in Mage Meadowbrook’s journal. After finally getting the unsniffle elixir right for the first time, Meadowbrook received her first healer’s mask from her mother.
Though, as she sat waiting for the first reports from inside the temporal acceleration bubbles to come in, Twilight couldn’t help but glance over to Luna. Luna was finishing what had to be her third mug of coffee and seemed to be more awake than she was a few minutes ago.
Luna was awake enough, in fact, that she noticed that Twilight’s nervous gaze was resting upon her. “You seemed troubled, Twilight Sparkle. A bit for your thoughts, or perhaps an apple fritter?”
“Why shouldn’t I be troubled?” The simple question was enough to get Twilight to gush out her anxious energy as she looked back to the stage. “Discord is causing this huge ruckus, he might be driving Mage Meadowbrook and Zecora further apart, and he’s messed up my carefully scheduled day!”
Princess Luna chuckled and set a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Well, I cannot speak for your upended schedule, but I will give up this one piece of information to hopefully calm your nerves.” Luna set down her coffee mug, letting it be whisked away by magic to be refilled at one of the concession stands. “There is a method to Discord’s madness. He had to explain to me and Celestia the full extent of his plans before we would issue him his permit.”
“I wish that made me feel better, but the fact there’s a plan behind all this only makes me worry more,” Twilight said before the first reports from inside the time bubbles started to play, projected above the stage by Discord’s magic.
Zecora and Meadowbrook were both hard at work, and though they were making the same thing, Twilight was able to glean from the reports that the pair of them were using different recipes. She couldn't deny, she had almost been hoping the pair would end up producing the exact same unsniffle elixir. In her opinion, a tie in the first round would help diffuse the tension between Zecora and Meadowbrook. She and Fluttershy then could make an attempt before the second round started to talk the two potion makers out of continuing their duel.
The first plan, however, was already crumbling. If Zecora and Meadowbrook were using different recipes with different ingredients, the chances of the recipes coming out exactly the same were greatly diminished. In the end, like the rest of the audience, Twilight could only watch anxiously as the first round progressed.
“Three… two… one… and time’s up!” Discord said, the crowd joining him in the countdown and then cheering as the time bubbles dissipated. Zecora and Meadowbrook both stood holding their potions in simple wood bowls, and they were accompanied by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie respectively. The four mares all began moving away from the potion labs and towards the center of the stage, but even in the early moments of the judging phase, Twilight could see the potions had different colors.
Once the four mares had gotten close to the center of the stage, Discord grew out from between the wooden boards like a weed. “Now, let us meet our volunteer patient for the first round. She’s a rising star in Equestrian fashion and a proud resident of Ponyville. Please welcome to the stage, Rarity!”
The audience cheered as not one but two Raritys walked onto the stage. They were both coughing, sneezing, and stumbling about as if they were afflicted with one of the worst colds imaginable. Though based on what Twilight knew about the unsniffle elixir, the worst thing the pair of them had was a head cold. Still, despite the fact they were hamming up the illness, both Raritys were being dutifully helped on stage and cared for by a single Spike. Now Twilight understood where her number one assistant had disappeared to that morning.
Each Rarity took a seat in center stage, and each one was soon provided with a potion. Discord appeared behind them, now wearing a blue polo shirt. “Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. Our duplicate Rarity today is brought to you by your local mirror pool. Yes, I’m The Spirit of Chaos, Discord, here with one of the finest products you can’t find anywhere, literally.” With a twirl of his claw Discord produced a jug of water, which he held aloft. “For those times when you need to be in more than one place at the same time, Mirror Pool water is there to create copies of you like a cheap printing press. Order now, and we might even teach you the spell to make those cheap copies go back where they came from.”
Discord poofed away, several copies of himself appearing near the audience. In a single, choreographed motion they all gestured inward to the stage as a single copy of Discord’s voice filled the coliseum. “Still, let’s not delay a moment more and watch as our duplicate Raritys are given their unsniffle elixirs.”
The real Rarity and the fake, who seemed to sniffle and blow their noses in perfect unison, were each given a potion to drink. Each held the bowl in her magic, and each took a sniff of it. That was when their behavior began to differ. The Rarity that was given Meadowbrook’s potion scrunched up her nose and quickly pushed the potion away, repulsed by the smell. The Rarity holding Zecora’s potion, however, seemed to be mildly surprised at the pleasantness of her potion’s aroma.
Zecora’s Rarity began drinking the potion without fuss, downing the dose quickly and then even licking her lips a little bit. “My, what a delightful berry flavor,” she said as she returned the bowl to Zecora.
Meadowbrook’s Rarity had to hold her nose as she drank her potion, choking it down and quickly shoving the emptied bowl back into Meadowbrook’s hooves. She shivered and used a tissue to wipe her mouth.
Yet, in the moments that passed and Twilight watched from her seat, Meadowbrook’s Rarity began to perk up. She took a few deep breaths, and the redness of her nose quickly vanished. She even smiled and got out of her seat, stretching her neck and once more breathing deeply. Zecora’s Rarity, on the other hoof, still coughed and sniffled. It didn’t seem as bad, but it was not a drastic or sudden improvement either.
Discord smiled, moving between the two Raritys and floating back towards the judges' table. “Now that both potions have had time to begin taking effect, let’s hear from our judges. Let’s begin with Starlight Glimmer. What are your thoughts?”
Starlight held up two pieces of paper that had been given to her during the early stages of the round. “Well, I looked over the recipes Zecora and Meadowbrook were going to use. They both use ingredients that share several common traits, as far as I can tell. I think Zecora is using the more modern recipe. Some of the ingredients in Meadowbrook’s chosen recipe are a lot harder to come by nowadays.”
“Modern, however, does not mean better,” Starswirl interjected with a stroke of his beard. “We need only to look at the results. Meadowbrook’s potion provided immediate and complete relief while Zecora’s patient is still very much congested and ill.”
“Yes, but I think I know the reason why Zecora chose her particular recipe,” Celestia said. “Neither she nor Meadowbrook knew who their patient was going to be. All they knew was they needed to make an elixir and that its effectiveness would be proven on stage. There are two weaknesses in the recipe Meadowbrook chose. The first is its foul taste. It can be difficult to get certain kinds of patients to take medicine willing if its taste is too horrible.”
“What kind of pony would rather endure an illness than take a bad tasting potion?” Starswirl asked.
“Young colts and fillies are the first examples that come to my mind.”
There was a murmur in the crowd as ponies quietly discussed the simple, but important, consideration that Celestia had pointed out. Twilight herself appreciated it, as she could fairly clearly remember how much she disliked her family’s favored brand of cough syrup and how much she’d whine about having to take it the few times she got sick as a filly.
“The second issue with Meadowbrook’s potion is that it’s not suitable for all kinds of creatures. Dragons, for example, would suffer some undesirable side effects. After all, Meadowbrook's potion uses a bit of pollen from dragon sneeze trees. As the name suggests, it causes sneezing fits in dragons.”
Starswirl huffed at Celestia’s observation. “Well, in the end, both mares prepared their recipes exceptionally, so the only way we can judge them is on their recipe choice. In that regard, I cast my vote for Meadowbrook. The effectiveness of a potion must always be the top priority.” Starswirl’s horn glowed, and from beneath the judges' table, he withdrew a small wooden sign that had a red base color and had Meadowbrook’s cutie mark painted on it.
“I am sorry to say, I must disagree,” Celestia said as she lifted a green colored sign that had Zecora’s cutie mark on it. “I cast my vote for Zecora. A potion maker that makes considerations for her patients, even in this environment, is to be commended.”
“Ooo, it’s only the first round and already we’re seeing the tension on our judges' table.” Discord drew out a butter knife and ran it through the air between Celestia and Starswirl. He managed to get some orange tinted looking butter to appear. He spread the orange butter on toast and quickly ate it before licking his lips. “Hmmm, yes, that is delicious tension. Now, our swing vote comes down to Starlight Glimmer.”
Starlight chuckled a little, nervously looking back and forth between Zecora and Meadowbrook. She glanced back at Trixie, to perhaps get some support from her, but Trixie was munching on a piece of toast with the orange tension butter. Looking back forward, Starlight held her breath a moment before picking one of her two signs and holding it up.
The sign she had selected was Meadowbrook’s.
“I get that it’s important to consider young ponies, but in the end, Zecora’s potion is still working while Meadowbrook’s has been done this whole time. I think most fillies and colts could forgive five seconds of bad taste if they started feeling better immediately.”
“And the first round goes to Mage Meadowbrook, the living legend and pillar of Equestria,” Discord said loudly as the audience members holding red flags cheered loudly.
Twilight, however, did not cheer, and as she looked down on the stage, she could tell Fluttershy was not celebrating either. The first round had not ended in a draw. Worse than that, Twilight felt she could see the hostility growing between Meadowbrook and Zecora. Meadowbrook returned to her lab with pride in her step. She even smiled and waved at some of the audience members close to the stage.
Zecora, on the other hoof, marched back to her lab. It was hard to tell if she was irritated at herself or Meadowbrook, but Twilight was sure Zecora did not look happy with how things had gone. She did not take her rage out on anything or anyone, but there was a sharpness in Zecora’s movements.
Things were only getting worse between the two, and if things didn’t change soon, Twilight feared the hope of the two of them being friends would become irreversibly damaged.
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Lightning de Lancie.
I love how Discord put this together perfectly legally and legitimately. It's still Discord-flavored chaos, but it's government-approved Discord-flavored chaos.
9341099
So it’s not much different from non-Discord-flavored, government-approved chaos?
I’ll take a jar of that tension butter please LOL
Discord didn't do a backflip and take a bite out of a bell pepper?
Boring.
Judging portion is well thought out here to me.
I'd watch it on Food Network.