Poison's Elixir

by Paxwing

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 2132

When Potent Elixir is enrolled in Cheerilee's class, she is singled out because of her horn.

"Where Astelle's essence touches, bad things follow."

Potent Elixir is a Zebra, and one of the first Selected in nearly a century! Enrolled in Cheerilee's class, she is singled out because of her horn. She must try to survive Diamond Tiara's scathing comments, public judgement, and her expectations she has trouble fulfilling. As carefree and light hearted as she seems, what will it take for her other personality to be triggered?

This is not tagged as dark for no reason, but some scenes later on may or mayn't be disturbing for some young children.

Coverart by StarHeart WaveSong.

This is set mid-way through Season 5.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-12-02 18:36:18 UTC

Chapter 1: Making an Entrance

As she walked to Ponyville Elementary,  Potent Elixir thought about her situation; she could always stay at the Golden Oaks library, or Carousel Boutique,  or Sweet Apple Acres, instead of going to school, couldn't she? Actually,  no, she couldn't: her aunt knew miss Sparkle, miss Rarity and miss Daniels,  she'd introduced them to her.

"Oh well," she thought aloud, "easier to just get it over with."

She stuck to the route aunt Zecora had drawn out for her, not wanting to be late on first day. After she glanced at her map, she looked at the shop she was next to. Sugarcube Corner, read the plaque. It seemed to be some form of candy shop, or bakery, or maybe both!

She didn't realise she had been staring till a bright pink earth pony with a poofy mane pressed her nose against the glass.

"Who the heck is that?" Potent asked herself.

"It's me Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's Pink Premier Party Pony, or PPPPP for short! Actually,  don't ever say that, it sounds like I need the toilet!" Pinkie gabbled, appearing next to her, "Here,"-she handed Potent a card-"have an invite to my monthly 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, you're obviously new here, wanna know how I can tell? Cause I know everypony in the whole of Ponyville! And, like, I used to have a surprise party for everypony new, but after my friend, Twilight Sparkle,  became a princess, there's too many new ponies!" she dramatically wailed, "Too many ponies!  Wahh!"

Until that point, Potent had been covering her horn (the beastly thing) with her mane, but the baker had shocked her so much her mane reverted to its normal style.

"AHHH!"Pinkie screamed upon laying eyes on Potent's horn, running back into the bakery.

It's fine, Potent thought,  I wouldn't want to go to a party with me either.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Just Celestia's sun in her eyes. Not because she had just been rejected,  of course. Never in a million years.

After the encounter with Pinkie Pie,  Potent Elixir's mind began to wander. When she came out of her trance-like thinking, she was in an alleyway; one she didn't recognize.

"Heya there, pal," a voice asked from behind, "watcha doin'?"

"Gah!" spluttered Potent, not expecting to hear a voice. She turned to face the speaker.

A colt and filly stood roughly ten hoofsteps behind her, looking at her, hard.

The colt was a pegasis,  his handsome coat the colour of rainclouds, his short mane and tail like stormclouds somepony had been stamping on repeatedly. His soulful, blue eyes looked trustworthy,  but she wasn't sure if she could trust him or not.

The filly looked like a relative of Applejack; she had a sleek,  shiny coat of burnt orange, and her sandy mane was trimmed neatly into a bob, a small, green band keeping it from her eyes. Her eyes themselves were a piercing, leaf-green; they seemed to be staring right into Potent's soul.

Potent knew these types of pony: every school she went to, these sorts of ponies were either the bullies, or the queen bees; get on their bad side, and, uh-oh, then came the waspish tongue.

Potent made a snap decision.

She ran.

"Hey, where're you going?" the colt called. The duo gave chase. Potent didn't bother to answer - she was too busy wishing she could do magic, already. Stupid horn, she thought.  Can't do anything other than light up, for under a minute, too! Late bloomer and a blank flank!

The chase was a short one. The first alley she sprinted down turned out to be a dead end, and she backed up into a corner, trying to make herself as small as she could. The duo advanced.

"Sheesh, mate, what was all that about?" the colt queried,  "We just wanted to say hi!"

"Yeah, that was kinda rude, pal,"the filly piped up.

Potent did the most intimidating thing she could think of: she puffed herself up, sweeping her mane away from her horn, which she lit up. She always found her horn's aura seemed to intimidate ponies, probably because her aura was a deep red, the same colour as the jewelry she was bedecked in.

"Wow, that's amazing!" they exclaimed, enthralled by her aura.

"Wait, you're not going to run away or anything?" Potent asked, entirely perplexed, "I was trying to intimidate you, I thought you were bullies or meanies!"

"Oops, sorry," the orange one said, "d'you want to walk to school with us? We know the way from here."

"Umm-kay," Potent started, unsure.

The trio began to trot back the way they had come.

"I'm Thunderous Rumble," the colt smiled nervously.

"My name is Caramel Crisp!" the excited filly chirped.

"Thunderous Rumble, Caramel Crisp! You are both late!" a mulberry mare scolded from the doorway.

Who is she, Potent wondered, oh, she's most likely miss Cheerilee

"Sorry we're late miss Cheerilee," they  chorused

"We met that new filly you told us about..." mumbled Rumble

"Oh well," Cheerilee sighed,"I'll let it slide this time, because you were both being hospitable. Now go to your desks, okay?"

Cheerliee continued, "So are you, but you're new. At least now I can welcome you to the class properly, hey? Come on, let's go into class."

Hiding her horn, Potent waited for miss Cheerliee to finish the short speech she was giving; it was nothing special, just the generic 'be kind, welcoming' etc. speech teachers always give before a new student arrives.

"You can come in now, sweetie," Cheerliee prompted, dragging Potent from her thoughts.

She trotted in timidly,  not meeting anypony's eye. She stood shaking (just a smidge) in front of Cheerilee's desk.

"Tell us us about yourself!" called Rumble from the middle row.

Potent took a deep breath,  then started;

"Hi, my name's Potent Elixir, and, as y'all can probably see, I'm a zebra!" she paused to let that sink in.

"Wait a second," a pink, snooty filly in the front row sneered, "don't zebras speak in rhyme?"

"Um, no, not everyzebra..." the zebra mumbled

"Then you're a fake!" the filly barreled on, unawares, " 'cause, like, you're not speaking in rhyme, are you?!"

Potent was shocked and angry at being accused like that; she was a princess, and she darn well wouldn't be treated like that!

Her thoughts boiling, she overcame a strange transformation: her horn lit up by itself, her hooves rising from the floor, and her eyes glowed white.

"Thee shalt speak to us in this manner no longer," Potent ordered, her voice strong, "For we be Zebrican royalty! Unless thee wish-eth to be exiled, along with thine kin, to the Thousand Metre Deserts?!"

Her rageshift ending, she fell to the floor.

Her eyes having stopped glowing, she stood up, shaking.

"Wha-what happened?" Potent stammered.

"Wha-what happened?" Potent stammered.

Nopony was sat at their desk; they were all huddled, scared, at the back of the room.

"Potent!" two foals, a filly and colt, struggled from the pile, sprinting towards her; Strangely, cuts and bruises began to appear over her.

Unbeknowingly, Rumble and Crisp began peppering her with questions:

"OMC, are you ok?"

"What was that?"

"Do you need to see the school nurse?"

Most hearts softened at this display of affection,  but there was one heart, one that stayed cold as stone; Diamond Tiara.

Diamond stared viciously at Potent; rarely did she find a filly who could have more influence than her, but here that filly was, standing right in front of her. She would have to find a way to make sure that 'filly', if that was really what she was, meddling in her schemes. Subconsciously, she began plotting to get this filly, 'Potent Elixir', to become friends with her; give treats, advice, perhaps the spare seat on her left? Maybe, if it came to it, try to be, bleah, genuinely nice to her!

Diamond Tiara was dragged from her thoughts by a chilling breeze, in early Falwethar (6), too!

A shadow filled the doorway, wings outstretched menacingly.

Then the shadow stepped through the doorway, becoming, ultimately, less intimidating. It took the form of an attractive, sleek-coated, cobalt pony; the horn atop her head was exquisitely filed, her phthalo blue, flowing, starry mane and tail free, from knots and tangles. Her wings, though, were the creme de la creme.

Her *wings*! This pony was an alicorn princess!

As others also started to realise this, they too began to hastily bow, though still staying rather graceful.

"Thank-" Princess Luna started, "Oh, I am sorry. I mean, thank you, my littlest ponies! Do rise!"

DT and Silver Spoon let out matching fangirl squeals, rushing over to the alicorn.

Babbling, they said something like this:

"ErMahGushPrincessLunaYaMagestyYouAreLikeTotallyBestPrincessInThaWurld!!"

Rolling her eyes, the princess in question sighed. "Children, need I remind you that I can see your dreams? Methinks Princess Cadence is far in front of me." Simultaneously, they flushed red. "Am I right?" Bowing their heads, they nodded.

"Now, where is Princess Potentax Elixrence of Zebrica?"- Diamond Tiara glared daggers at Potent-" I should like to speak with her. Privately."

Self-consciously,  Potent Elixir stepped from the crowd.

"Just Potent Elixir, please, your Serene Grace," she murmured.

"My dear," Luna said, addressing Cheerilee, "I will need to take your student to Canterlot for awhile; I need to speak with her, and cross-reference some old tomes."

Obviously shaken, Cheerilee stammered, "B-but, of course, y-your Royal Ma-Majesty... of course."  Healing Time cantered over as the teacher fainted.

Potent trailing behind, the princess strode out. An immobile chariot of silver stood a few lengths from the school yard.

The chariot was obviously royal: most likely reinforced by metal, it was silver, with a certain grace about it. It was smaller than you would've thought, though spacious enough to hold around five large stallions. It looked a little like the one from Nightmare Night, though had a higher back to it, and was more stunted. Two Thestrals were harnessed to the chariot, with another two standing guard.

As the guards harnessed themselves, Luna telekinetically opened the door, and the mare and filly stepped in.

Expecting the worst, Potent Elixir simply hung her head as the guards lifted off.

"Potentax Elixrence, what you achieved here was quite unusual. As I was passing by, I felt a disturbance, a magical one. You are incredibly powerful, Elixrence; you have much raw power, but your emotions control it, more than your mind. Have you ever made anything happen, anything you couldn't explain, when you were angry, or scared?" she asked, concerned.

Potent Elixir sighed, "Yes, many times. Why, Your Grace?"

"Do you know the story of Princess Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark?"- Potent nodded -"This was like hers, although you didn't have the Rainboom fueling it too, and no connection to the Elements of Harmony. Nevertheless, they are very similar," the alicorn concluded.

Potent stole a glance at her rump, frowning when she found it bare.

Luna chuckled, "As I said, similar, but not exactly alike! So no glyph mark, unfortunately."

"So, to the task at hoof. Potentax Elixrence, you have the raw power I have seen in a while, but your emotions control it, which is not good. I believe we can train you to control this power, and you may even find your glyph mark. Therefore, I would like you to become,

"my personal student in magic."

Potent Elixir gawked.

"Whaa?!"

Prolouge: Wakeup Call

"Potent!" Zecora called, placing the last fluffy, golden pancake on the large plate, "Potent? Potent Elixir, you better get here right now, missy!"

A young filly stumbled round the bedroom door, bleary eyed with sleep.

She mumbled alarmingly fast," What is it? Is the tree in danger? Is the Everfree on fire? Is Ponyville in trouble?" Her eyes closed, she wandered over to the short table, plonking herself down on a seating cushion.

"No, it's a sch-" Zecora halted, cut off.

Employing the Royal Zebrican Whine , "Do I have to go to school, Aunty?" she whined.

"If you don't go today, you'll still have to go tomorrow!" her aunt sighed, "Go brush your mane

and tail already, sleepy head!"

Potent Elixir frowned,  but trotted over to the dresser. As she brushed out her mane and tail, she peered in the mirror; nothing had changed.  She was still a zebra: the same stripes adorned her body, her two-tone, black and blue, cropped mane was still there.

She finished putting her bracelets on her back hooves, her bow and her choker on. No point protesting; everypony was adamant she wore them, as "Potent Elixir! You are royalty!"

Huh, royalty,  she thought,  Mother's only Queen 'cause I'm a Princess by birth, 'cause I'm one of the "Selected"

Upon thinking that, her eyes drifted to her forehead. Please let it be gone, she prayed silently, please.

But no, it still poked through her mane, the beastly thing:

Her horn.