J Is For Genius

by SoundOfImpact

The Cauldron's Boiling, Take Your Witching Stance

The Cauldron's Boiling, Take Your Witching Stance

Newt eyes, snails, tails, fingers, knuckles, nails.

---

Trixie was currently engaged in yet another high-life cocktail party, wearing her finest red sequin dress and regaling the rabble with tales of her greatness. The crowd waited eagerly for her to finish her story as she sipped a martini.

"Lulamoon."

"...and then Twilight said, 'what do you mean you've not anchored the arcane field?!'"

"Lulamoon."

"And then Trixie said..."

"Lulamoon."

"...well, Trixie can't actually remember what she said, but it was very witty and clever!"

The crowd was silent for just a moment, almost looking confused. Then they burst out howling with laughter, clutching their bellies. Trixie was a masterful storyteller, after all.

"LULAMOON!"

Everything fell away and Trixie was left floating in a vast, slate blue cloud. The crowd was gone, the party was gone, even Trixie's martini was gone! She didn't have much time to lament this though, as from the swirling cloudy void in front of her stepped a tall, angry looking alicorn. She was a very dark shade of blue, almost black, and with a flowing ethereal mane and tail that seemed to contain the stars themselves. She was scowling at Trixie with a pair of teal serpentine eyes. This must be Nightmare.

"We do NOT take kindly to being ignored, Lulamoon." She sneered.

"Yeah, well I don't take kindly to ponies interrupting my parties! Did you see how that cute pegasus was looking at me?! Trixie was about to get into something!" Trixie protested.

"Do not test us, unicorn." Nightmare glowered. "Need we remind you which one of us is benefiting from this arrangement? Regardless, almost managing to fornicate within your own dreamscape is hardly an achievement."

"Fine, I'll drop it, whatever." Trixie huffed. "Wait, dreamscape?"

"Yes, dreamscape. We had come to tell you to wake up."

---

Trixie woke with a gasp, this time managing to keep herself in the hammock. Somehow Nightmare had managed some insane super powerful teleport and gotten Trixie back to her cart unseen in one hop. Trixie would have to ask about that one, it would probably be very useful. Groggy, she lifted her head and looked around, but everything seemed normal. Well, mostly normal, the cart was fine, but it was still dark outside!

"Hey, what did you wake me up for?" Trixie asked, annoyed.

"You had been asleep for the last 46 hours, it is well past time you started working, Lulamoon."

"Huh? 46 hours?" Trixie asked blearily, still tired. "Working? But it's dark out!"

"The night fosters creativity and a healthy work ethic, Lulamoon. We have taken the liberty of adjusting your sleeping pattern for you."

"No way, the night is for sleeping." Trixie protested, rubbing her eyes.

"The night is most certainly not for sleeping, the night is a muse, a time of beauty and mystery, and it is damn well time that ponies like you started appreciating it!"

"Alright, miss snippy, I'm up, geez!" The unicorn groaned, rolling out of the hammock and landing on the floor of her now bird-free cart with a solid clop.

"We will ignore your snide name calling just this once, Lulamoon, do not let it happen again."

"Whatever, just tell Trixie what we're doing." She said, rolling her eyes.

"You listen closely, Lulamoon. You will treat us with the respect we deserve. We are here for your benefit, but we are very capable of being a detriment, unicorn."

"Oooh, big scary alicorn stuck in a fancy hat! What are you going to do, give me helmet mane?" Trixie chuckled.

She immediately regretted her decision to taunt Nightmare. A wave of pain washed over her, her front legs buckled underneath her. Her horn was killing her, it felt like all the magic had left her body. She struggled to breathe, she couldn't move, it was like all of her muscles were cramping at once. Tears filled her eyes, her head felt like it was about to implode. It was beyond anything she'd ever felt.

Just as quickly as it had set in, the pain left. Trixie was left panting, collapsed in a heap on the floor. There was nothing lingering, no trace of the intense searing agony she'd just experienced.

"Hmph, helmet mane indeed."

Trixie shakily pushed herself back up to her hooves. She trembled, shrinking into herself, absolutely 100% not scared or intimidated at all.

"W-what was that?" She meekly asked.

"A warning. We shall let you off lightly just this time, next time you will not be so lucky."

Trixie huffed as she leaned against the wall. It might not have been the smartest idea she'd ever had to rile up an alicorn that she knew was stupidly powerful. Even if they didn't have a body. Which really did raise some questions that Trixie didn't have answers for.

"Get yourself together. The night is young, and we have ingredients to look for."

"You want me to go out into the forest at night?! Oh sure, in fact, why don't I just jump into a hydra's mouth and cut out the middlemare?!" Trixie snarked.

"Your wish was to become an alicorn, no? We have offered out assistance, we suggest you do not squander it, Lulamoon. Now get to it!"

"Right now? At least give me a minute to recover from whatever that was!" Trixie protested.

"Lulamoon."

"Okay, I'm going! Keep your tail on!" Trixie yelled. She recognised a warning tone when she heard one, so she quickly put on her cape and placed her own hat over the helmet. She wasn't all that happy about it, but she swung the door open and stepped outside into the chilly night.

She noted that she could see perfectly fine, despite the dark. It was odd. She was aware that it was dark, and everything looked dark, but she had no difficulty making anything out. Probably something to do with the whole Nightmare thing. Night vision would be handy when she was running for her life from the creatures that roamed the forest at night.

"Oh, enough of that train of thought. Surely you are aware that we are perfectly capable of defending the both of us?"

Trixie supposed she was right, if how Nightmare had taken care of the manticore was anything to go by. With something as powerful as Nightmare on her side, realistically Trixie had little to fear. Combined with the night vision, Trixie did feel at ease. Or as 'at ease' anypony could feel in the Everfree forest at night.

"What did you drag me out her for, anyway?" Trixie asked, glancing around the small clearing.

"Pay attention, Lulamoon, we have already said that we'd be looking for ingredients."

"Why? I've got plenty of ingredients in the cart. I think. What are we doing?"

"I doubt whatever scraps you have will be suitable. We require fresh ingredients for the alicorn potion, if you are to mix it correctly."

"Sounds difficult, can't I just go buy them from the shaman?"

"You are a witch, are you not? Any mage worth their salt should be more than capable of finding their own ingredients. There's nothing wrong with getting your hooves dirty, Lulamoon."

"Ugh, fine, what are we even looking for?" Trixie relented, scowling at nothing in particular. "My hooves are already dirty anyway..."

"There are a few parts to the potion. The easiest ingredients to gather will likely be the newts and snails. The rest will require some butchering on your part, and we will have to find a Chimera."

"...Trixie wants to go to the shaman."

"Pathetic."

"What do you want me to say?! 'Well gee, that sounds swell Nightmare, let's go!'?" Trixie yelled. "Trixie doesn't know where to find a Chimera, and Trixie doesn't know the first thing about butchery, I'm not a griffon!"

"Butchery is a noble art, and one you should be quite acquainted with as a witch. Processing flesh and bone is a key skill for ingredient gathering, and we're frankly not sure what to make of the fact that your tutor hasn't thought it important."

"We haven't needed to go over it because we can just get things from the shaman! I don't know how long you've been in that helmet for, but things have changed." Trixie said, rolling her eyes. "So if getting ingredients right this second is really that important, Trixie will go buy them."

"Absolutely not, we will not stand idly by while this part of your profession is glossed over."

"Oh, and what are you going go do about it?"

Trixie was smug, right up until the point that she felt her horn light up. She decided that having her own body teleport herself unprompted and really rather against her will was a very unpleasant thing indeed.

---

Trixie appeared in a flash of light, highly disoriented and stumbling. And angry, can't forget angry.

"Do you want to ask before you do something like that?! That's MY horn you're using!" Trixie snapped.

"Oh do be quiet, Lulamoon. You'd do well to speak to you betters with more respect, we are doing this on your behalf, after all. Do all ponies in this era complain as much as you do?"

"Trixie doesn't complain, Trixie merely points out wrongs against herself." Trixie 'hmphed', holding her head high. She might have looked haughty, were it not for the fact that she was still trying to stop herself falling over. She'd forgotten just how much an unexpected teleport could throw her out.

Unsteady, she took a moment to make sure she wasn't going to fall over. She still hadn't had an opportunity to wash, and really didn't need any more mud added to the problem. Getting herself grounded, she took a quick look around. Surprise surprise, she was surrounded by trees. It was a bit different from normal though, all these trees were dead and burned, and everywhere she could see was engulfed in a great big cloud of smoke. Something, Trixie deduced, was on fire.

"Where are we? And why?" Trixie asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Can you not infer, or are you just forgetful? A Chimera, Lulamoon. Snails and Newts we can find by any common river, we thought we'd get the hard part out of the way first."

"Couldn't we go to the river first? I'd really like to wash all this crap off." Trixie looked herself over, coat matted with dry mud and dust.

"In due time, Lulamoon. We shall get to that once we've harvested the Chimera."

Trixie didn't like the sound of harvesting a Chimera. Trixie didn't like the idea of having to wait even longer to wash off, especially since it seemed like Nightmare knew a place where she could actually bathe. She was really hoping that Nightmare might drop the whole 'mystic' shtick soon, it was getting pretty old pretty quickly.

"How do you know we can find a Chimera here, anyway?"

"When you have as much power as we do, you can feel the latent magic in all things, Lulamoon. How do you think we managed to call out to you?"

Trixie honestly hadn't thought about it all that much, but she supposed that made sense. Probably.

It was noticeably much warmer in this part of the forest, the air was close, but forest fires will do that. She had no idea where she was relative to her cart. Or relative to Ponyville, for that matter. For all she knew she could be on the other side of town. Not that it really mattered, if Nightmare could just teleport her anywhere, but it would've been nice to know.

"What exactly are we looking for here?"

"A chimera, Lulamoon."

"Yes, thank you, captain obvious. How do we find a chimera?"

"We jest, we are not dense. Finding the beast is a simple matter, we shall allow you to borrow some of our power, you should be able to feel it in the ley lines.

Trixie suddenly felt wired. Dark was lighter, colours were sharper, she felt like she could run a marathon there and then. More importantly, she could feel everything. She could feel the trees, she could feel the insects buzzing, she could feel a large, lethargic creature not far away.

She supposed that'd be the chimera. Her horn pulled her in the right direction. She didn't necessarily want to find the chimera, but she felt oddly compelled to head towards it for some reason. Surprisingly enough she put up little resistance. She mostly wanted to get this out of the way so that she could get to the river and have an actual wash. Hopefully a drink too, if the water was fresh enough.

Even more surprisingly, it seemed that Nightmare had a sense of humour after all. A pretty shitty one, but still, it was an unexpected development.

It was rather odd knowing where to go, even when Trixie couldn't actually see where she was going. The smoke kept getting thicker and thicker, and it wasn't long before she could hardly see her own snout. The air was getting much more unpleasant, and the more she pressed on the harder Trixie found it to breathe. She hoped it wouldn't take too long to get everything done, the last thing she needed was lung cancer.

The chimera wasn't moving, which made it a little easier to get to. Trixie honed towards it, passing by trees that looked progressively more burnt as she went on. It wasn't long before she started to come across embers in the air, ash falling from the sky. It was all just a teensy bit unsettling.

"Hey Nightmare, what's going on here? Why's everything on fire?"

"We don't know Lulamoon, but we'd suggest that we hurry up. We may be powerful, but we cannot stop you from suffocating or burning, which would be rather detrimental to the both of us."

"I thought you could feel the latent magic in all things?"

"Fire does not interact with the arcane fields Lulamoon, we have no sense of extramagical phenomena."

"Blue fire does."

"Do not start being pedantic now, unicorn. Just focus on finding the beast."

Score one for Trixie.

Head held high from her small but important victory of correcting Nightmare, Trixie drew in on the chimera. The forest was now totally charred and blackened, the fire must have passed through here already. She could hear wood still crackling, somewhere.

It was close. Very close. She could feel that she should be right next to the chimera, but she couldn't see it. That was very concerning. Trixie quickly remembered that she was alone in a smokey forest looking for a dangerous animal, and her cockiness disappeared. She was very quickly on the defensive, scanning anywhere and everywhere for any sign of the creature. She hoped that if she couldn't see it, then it couldn't see her. That's how it worked, right?

"At ease, Lulamoon. It shouldn't pose a threat, not in the state it's in."

"What do you mean-OOF!"

Trixie found herself on the ground, with a mouthful of dirt. Ashy, dry, dirty dirt. She quickly pushed herself up, spitting and spluttering, scraping her tongue to get all the nasty soil out of her mouth. She cast an angry look around to find out what had tripped her up, only to see a leg splayed out in the ash.

Not a pony leg. It was some kind of giant goat leg? Maybe? It had a cloven hoof, that was clear.

It wasn't just a leg either, it was attached to a creature. A large creature with multiple heads and odd body parts. This was the chimera she was looking for. She'd been scanning everywhere except right in front of herself, because of course she had.

It wasn't looking in too good shape. It was splayed out on the ground, wheezing. It looked like it'd taken a very nasty burn across it's back, the flesh was still raw. It was really quite unpleasant to look at, Trixie had to wince at the sight.

Trixie remembered that the thing could still be dangerous and jumped back. It, however, didn't really react, not even looking her way. With any of it's heads. It just layed there, panting and groaning. It was a little sad, really. Trixie had built herself up for a fight, but it looked more like she'd be providing end of life care.

"Trixie's, uh, found the chimera." She announced, unsure of her next move. "What now?"

"We don't need the whole creature for the potion. All we'll need is one of it's paws, and the serpentine tail."

"You want me to take body parts?! What, do you expect me to gnaw them off or something?"

"You'll do no such thing, simply cast an incision spell across the joint, that should cleanly separate it from the leg."

"Oh sure, right, no problem." Trixie snarked. "How can you be so matter-of-fact about this? The thing's still alive!"

"We're not sure why you're so shocked, Lulamoon, we had told you what to expect. You didn't care so much for the manticore that we saved you from. And honestly, look at it. You'd be putting it out of it's misery if anything."

Trixie went to retort, but paused. She couldn't really argue with anything Nightmare had just said. The chimera was on it's way out, and Nightmare had said there'd be some butchery. Maybe she felt a little bad for the creature?

"Hurry up, Lulamoon. There's a very literal fire burning."

"Alright, fine." Trixie sighed, looking at the beast. She lit up her horn and took a deep breath.

...

"What's an incision spell?"

There was a beat of silence, and Trixie had the very unusual experience of hearing a voice in her head exhale.

"We're not sure what your mentor is teaching you, Lulamoon, but we're very sure that her talent has been oversold."

Trixie again felt the unpleasant sensation of losing control over her magic. She didn't have much time to reflect on the feeling, as she immediately felt an unfamiliar spell matrix through her horn. The chimera howled in pain as two swift flashes of dark purple magic sliced the air, and it's body.

The thing's left paw and snake tail body thing had been separated. Blood was quickly pooling under the creature. Trixie couldn't help but feel bad. This wasn't a quick, painless death like with the manticore. This chimera hadn't threatened her, like with the manticore. It didn't even put up a fight. This wasn't brave or exciting, this was just kinda cruel.

"Quickly, Lulamoon the forest is still burning. Your immolation would not be beneficial to either of us."

Uncomfortably, Trixie picked up the paw and the tail with her magic. She absolutely did not squeal even a little bit when the tail started wriggling, the snake apparently still putting up a fight.

"Oh, mare up. It's already dead."

Trixie scowled at the snake-tail-thing, it's spasms getting slower and slower until it flopped down, and moved no more. She sucked in a deep breath, which was a bad move considering how smoke laden the air was, sending her into a coughing fit.

"What now?" Trixie croaked out.

"Now we go to the river."

---

Trixie was once again unprepared for the teleport. She unfortunately didn't manage to keep herself steady this time, and found herself sprawled out on her side in a swathe of damp mud that she had no doubt was already working it's way into her coat.

She was about to open her mouth when the severed paw landed square on her barrel, sliding off and leaving a bloody trail down her other side. Now not only was she dirty, but her hat and cape were filthy too.

Trixie growled.

"Get up, you've work to do."

"Now, you listen to me Nightmare!" Trixie seethed. "I don't know what you are, but you're using Trixie's horn and Trixie's magic, so you'd better start treating me right!"

"We'll have none of your backtalk, unicorn. We are providing you with power, not courting you, we shall proceed as we feel fit."

"Oh, and what if I decide to just take this helmet off?" Trixie threatened. "I don't have to listen to you, Nightmare! I don't need your help!"

"Ha, you wouldn't dare, you're helpless without us!"

"Try me!" Trixie grunted, sitting up and gripping either side of the helm with her hooves. Nightmare was silent, possibly trying to psyche her out. It wasn't going to work, though, Trixie was made of stronger stuff! She began to lift the helmet-

"My my, Trixie, fancy seeing you out here." Spoke a very familiar voice. Trixie snapped her head around over her shoulder to face it. "Goodness, you're an absolute mess!"

Behind her, sauntering out of the treeline and looking very amused was none other than Twilight Sparkle herself. What was her mentor doing out here? Twilight got closer until she was almost face to face with her mentor. Trixie thought she would have heard her approaching, but apparently not. Something seemed different about her, but Trixie couldn't quite put a hoof on it.

"Twilight?"

"I was wondering why you hadn't tried to come back yet, not that I'm surprised." Twilight said, coming to a stop and inspecting a forehoof. "I really wasn't expecting you to prove yourself anyway, if anything you're just saving me a lot of time and energy."

"W-what are you saying?" Trixie stuttered, shocked by her teacher's words.

"I'm saying that you've shown me I was right all along, that you never learn. I mean, if you ever had a chance of getting back into town, wouldn't you already be there by now?" Twilight giggled.

"I-I'm working on-"

"No, don't you worry, it's clear you're not worth the effort. Frankly it must've been a lapse in judgement taking you on in the first place! Why don't you go back to your little two-bit magic show? Kid's love flashy tricks, you'd fit in better with the foals anyway." Twilight winked, eyes seeming much colder than usual.

Trixie was stunned, she almost didn't notice the tears forming in her eyes. Nightmare had been conveniently quiet the whole time, not that Trixie was really listening for her anyway. Twilight being here was the last thing she was expecting, but Twilight talking like this? It hurt.

"W-w-why?"

"Because you're a disappointment, Trixie. Go home, you're not cut out to be a real witch." Twilight turned around, looking Trixie in the eye as she turned to leave. "Ha, great and powerful indeed. Goodbye, Trixie, I won't see you around!"

Trixie snivelled. Why was Twilight doing this? This wasn't like her at all! Why was she here? She didn't really mean any of that, did she? What had Trixie done to deserve this? Twilight was always supportive. Had Trixie really driven her that far? This was all so wrong! She wiped her nose with a fetlock, eyes scrunched closed.

Trixie was always loathe to admit it, but she really did care what Twilight thought of her. How could she not? Twilight was the highest mage in the country, after all. Trixie was so proud to have been taken in as an apprentice. This was pretty damn close to the worst possible thing.

"Are you going to allow her talk to you like that?"

"N-Nightmare?" The voice surprised Trixie. Her eyes snapped open. Twilight was nowhere to be seen, she was alone again in the mud. She must've gotten away quickly. And quietly.

"Honestly, a challenger appears and you cry? Do her words not fill you with rage?"

Trixie sniffed. Twilight's words hurt. They really hurt. Trixie felt they were entirely unjust.

"Are you going to simply sit there and take that treatment from her?"

Trixie frowned.

"Did you not come into the forest to prove her wrong, Lulamoon?"

Trixie wiped her eyes. She did come out here to prove Twilight wrong, and she was gonna do it, too!

"With our help, you can ascend to alicornhood and prove to her that you truly are great and powerful. Make her eat her words, Lulamoon. Channel your feelings, pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Those are powerful emotions, harness them!"

Nightmare was right. It was no good crying, Trixie would have to do something. And do something she would.

Trixie pushed herself up onto her hooves, fleeting despair gone. She had a newfound resolve, the flames of fury being fanned within her. She was not a disappointment, she was not a failure, and she was going to prove it. She had a potion to make, and then she was going to make Twilight Sparkle wish she'd never crossed Trixie Lulamoon.

"What's our next ingredient?"

---

Trixie stared intently at the bubbling cauldron, sat above a large log fire just outside her cart. The chimera paw and tail were currently stewing in water she'd plundered from the muddy banks of the Whisker river. She was still covered in mud and blood, but that didn't bother her so much, she was focused on one thing only, and that was getting the potion done.

Her steely gaze was fixed in a frown. Twilight's words replayed over and over again in her head. This had now gone beyond getting back into town and the tower, it was personal now. Twilight had made it personal.

"You've been very focused since your encounter. Focus is a virtue."

"When do we put the next ingredient in?" Trixie asked bluntly.

"Patience is also a virtue, unicorn. It shan't be long now."

Trixie nodded, and continued to stare at the fire. She'd sat by it since she'd got it started. She lost a lot of body heat out in the damp mud earlier, and the cool, humid air was especially jarring after the forest fire. She'd left her hat and cape to dry, she could at least cast a cleaning spell on those. No such luck for her coat, though. She'd opted not to bathe in the river after all, because the water really was filthy. That, and she wanted, no, needed to finish this potion as fast as possible. Everything else took a back seat.

She watched the water boil, now brownish-red and with chunks of chimera meat and bones floating around in it. Trixie knew it was going to be horrible, but it didn't really matter. A moment of discomfort would be worth it for her grand return to town, with a brand new set of wings to prove that she wasn't a waste of a witch.

Nightmare had had her foraging around the plants along the riverbank, collecting newts and snails, about a dozen of each. They didn't need the whole newt, just their eyes, but removing them was a fiddly job and Trixie wasn't going to do it in the field. She'd waited until she'd gotten back to her cart to finish the job. It was nasty work, but it was a necessity. The eyes were currently sat in a small jar next to her, she'd discarded the newts themselves into the undergrowth. No doubt they'd make a tasty snack for a passing owl or fox or something.

The newts may have been tricky to catch, but the snails were easy at least.

A steady stream of steam was rising from the cauldron, mixing with the smoke from the fire. It played with what little starlight there was below the canopy of the forest. It was getting late, the sun would be rising soon, the sky was already starting to lighten. The weather was turning, too, she could see clouds starting to drift in.

Trixie yawned.

"It's sat enough, put the snails in now."

Trixie did as Nightmare said, taking the lid off the snail jar and tipping it into the brew. The snails clung to the jar, sticky feet holding the glass walls, but a few swift shakes was enough to dislodge them. A small plume of blue smoke rose from the cauldron with the addition of the molluscs.

"Good, we'll let it sit for a few more minutes before we add the newt's eyes."

Trixie just nodded again, and set the jar back down.

She carried on watching the thing boil, observing that the steam rising from the brew had turned a shade of maroon. Trixie was the most observant pony she knew, after all. It also seemed to have started bubbling more violently, more noisily. The liquid itself had darkened, taking on a deeper shade of red. It was quickly coming together now.

The fire crackled, embers rising. Trixie yawned again. Her hammock was calling her, but she couldn't sleep just yet, not when she was this close to finishing her work.

The wind rustled the branches above her, loose leaves gliding down. She had to stop one or two from falling into the brew. Who knew what effect that'd have on the potion?

"It looks to be ready, add in the eyes and give it a swift stir."

Trixie did as she was told, emptying the jar of eyes into the cauldron. The potion reacted violently, frothing and spitting, overflowing. It changed colour again as Trixie stirred it with a ladle, turning a deep crimson. It looked angry, and it only seemed to be getting angrier the more Trixie stirred.

"Stop here, we shall cast the charm."

The unicorn stopped stirring and felt the now familiar sensation of somepony else's magic coursing through her horn. A glow fell over the potion, and it went very still. Perfectly still, even. No more spinning from the stirring, no more bubbling from the heat, it was as calm as a glass of water.

"It's ready."

Trixie felt another wave of magic run through her horn, and the fire went out. Trixie stared at the potion one more time. This would be the solution to all her problems. She would get back into town, upstage Twilight and show her what she was made of, and then...

What would she do after that?

"Drink up, Lulamoon, or it shall go cold."

Trixie looked uneasy, she was sure the potion was going to taste absolutely horrible. That and, well, if it worked, it would be a big change for her, she was mentally preparing herself.

"This is not the time to second guess your decision, Lulamoon. The potion will not sit for long."

Trixie grimaced as she took a large wooden mug and filled it to the brim with the red liquid. The smell coming off it alone was enough to put hairs on her tongue. She had no doubt the taste would be any better. Still, it had been a lot of work to make...

"How much of this do I have to drink?" She asked warily.

"We should think two pints would be enough."

That was quite a lot. Trixie thought it was, anyway, she never did well with measurements. At least Nightmare didn't say all of it. Trixie looked at the mug, sceptically. It was probably half a pint. Maybe? She had no gauge. She thought she used to have a pint measure in Twilight's tower, and the mug wasn't as big as that was. Probably.

"Today, Lulamoon!"

"Alright, keep your tail on!"

Trixie frowned and took a sip of the potion. Her eyes went wide. It was truly revolting. It tasted like charcoal, copper, broccoli and gravel all at once. It took genuine effort not to spit it out. She was especially green at the gills when she felt a lump of something in the mix. She really, really didn't want to know what it was.

"Gods, that's horrible!" She cried, gagging and gurgling.

"Grow up, it's for your benefit."

"It tastes like ass!"

"Where has your resolve gone? You finish it, Lulamoon, see something through for once in your life!"

"Hey, Trixie has seen plenty of things through!"

"Hardly, we've seen your memories, you cannot lie to us. Now, drink it. Maybe then you'll have seen at least one thing through to the end."

"You've seen my memories?! Those are private!" Trixie protested.

"We're as much a part of your experience as you are of ours, Lulamoon. You saw our memories when you put the helm on, and we saw yours. Now stop stalling and drink the damn potion!"

The unicorn grumbled and held her nose with a hoof, let out a deep breath, and quickly downed the rest of the mug. It tasted just as vile as the first sip. Trixie dropped the mug and started heaving, desperately hoping that the potion wasn't going to come back up.

With a gasp and a gurn, she quickly dipped the mug back into the cauldron for a refill. Now just wanting to get it over as quickly as possible, she repeated her actions, quickly chugging the potion down. Her stomach gurgled, and she was fighting very hard not to be sick.

"One more for good measure, Lulamoon."

"Ugh, really?" Trixie groaned. "I don't think I can take anymore..."

"One more for good measure, Lulamoon."

Trixie felt there was no room for negotiation there. Reluctantly, she dipped the mug in the mixture one final time, sighing and drinking the potion down. It wasn't as bad as the first couple, but it was still totally revolting.

But still, the course of the potion was over now. Trixie dropped the mug and concentrated. She was waiting for a surge, for a change, for a feeling. Any second now she'd ascend, probably in a blaze of glory, and it'd be incredible. Yes, she was moments away from alicornhood, she was sure of it.

So how come nothing was happening?

"Isn't something supposed to be happening?" Trixie asked. "Trixie feels normal, if a little queasy."

"The potion will need to run through your body, it may take a few hours before the process starts."

"A few hours?! But I want to be an alicorn now!" Trixie stomped a hoof down in frustration.

"Did we not say patience is a virtue? Regardless, we can hardly make time go any faster, you shall simply have to wait."

"Trixie is patient, Trixie is the most patient pony she knows!" The unicorn answered, annoyed. Nightmare hadn't mentioned a waiting time! All this work, and now she'd just have to sit around until something happened? Trixie wanted to show Twilight up as soon as possible, this was really going to eat into her plan. Still, if there were no other options, Trixie supposed she could persevere through this delay.

It was chilly again now, before dawn and without a fire. Bugs buzzed and chirped, wind rustled the leaves in the trees. There wasn't really anything of note going on. The clouds carried on rolling in, the sky kept getting a little brighter. Everything was normal.

"This sucks, Trixie's going to bed."

---

Pain. Pure, unbridled, blinding pain. It had come on slow, just as the sun had come up. It had only gotten worse since then. Trixie was on the floor of her cart, seething, rolling and twitching. She was in a pool of her own sweat, mouth dry, eyes clenched shut. She felt like she was dying. The worst migraine she had ever experienced in her life made for a toxic combination with nausea.

The worst of it though was her withers. It felt like her shoulders were actually going to break through her skin. She was so incredibly tense, almost unable to move.

Trixie whimpered. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if there was anything she could do. She didn't know what was happening. Had she poisoned herself with the potion? Was she ill? Was it something in the water? In the air? She didn't have an answer. Nightmare had been silent the whole time. She was scared, this could very well be the end of her. Why, why oh why did she ever trust the word of a weird ghost-thing trapped in a helmet? What was she thinking?! If only she'd gone back to Twilight sooner, none of this would've ever happened.

Well, maybe. It seemed pretty clear that Twilight didn't want her back. Everything was going wrong.

Trixie squealed as a fresh wave of pain washed over her. She would've been sick, were it not for the fact that the potion was the only thing there was to come up. She burned all over.

It was all too much. Trixie passed out.

Comments

[aline1]

Hmm, I suspect that Twilight never actually appeared in this chapter though it made for a fine bit of manipulation.

[RTStephens]

I'm not sure who's having it worse. Trixie or the Nightmare? Both need the other to get by but who's will is stronger to withstand the whining of the other?

Ew, this potion does not seem to be as easy as Twilight's transformation was. Curious now to see if Trixie actually does become an alicorn or if she's doomed herself at becoming a monster.

[Scyphi]

Channel your feelings, pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate.

..and hate leads to suffering, I suppose. Who do you think you are, Nightmare, a Sith Lord?

[TheUltimateBalanceChaos]

Nice chapter you really capture Trixie's and Nightmare's personalities and interaction so well I also deeply suspect that Twilight's appearance in this chapter was a fine bit of mental manipulation by Nightmare to motivate Trixie which was a nice touch

Also is it wrong that I ship Nightmare Lulamoon?

[nemryn]

Yeah, that's definitely not the real Twilight.

And I'll be surprised if the potion actually works, and isn't some kind of trick or trap.