Home Brewed Healing

Chapters

The Quickening of Discovery
Earth Pony Sense and Sensibility.
It's All in the Diaphram
Unicorn Blood isn't Really Silver
Alicorn Allegations

The Quickening of Discovery

Wake Vortex sighed as he walked out of Ponyville General Hospital, his lean body and wings covered in bruises and bandages. Wake’s job was fairly simple, flying fast and low over the train tracks leading in and out of town to blow debris off the tracks, but it had dangers. A freak storm blowing in from the Everfree Forest was nothing new but Wake had been caught off guard by just how strong the wind gusts were today and had been sent tumbling across the ground, earning himself a few days on the ground while he healed up. Another sigh left his muzzle as he began the trudging walk home. Thankfully Wake’s home was firmly planted on the ground so he wouldn’t have to ask another Pegasus for a lift up to a cloud house, being grounded meant zero flying. If Dr. Feelgood caught him flying, he would be admitted back to the hospital for “observation” until his recovery was complete.

His thoughts trailing away with visions of being endlessly chained to a hospital bed, Wake barely registered a large green shape standing in front of him before he collided bodily with it and fell to the ground with a squawk.

A low chuckle came from the shape, “Good morning to you as well, my friend. While I was hoping to run into you, I wasn’t meaning literally. I had been calling your name before you ran into me.”

Recognizing the voice, Wake Vortex felt a small trickle of dread creep down his spine as he finally found his bearings and got a good look at who he had smacked into. Standing before him was a green Earth pony of average build with a short brown-red mane and tail. Armed with a wide smile and manic eyes, the look his friend was giving him while offering his hoof was more than a little unnerving.

“Sorry High Light, I somehow didn’t see you there. Jeez bud, you stocky ‘ole Earth ponies are tough. That felt like I hit a brick wall!” Wake joked with High Light, accepting the offered hoof for help up. “You might have to take me back to the hospital!”

As High Light’s grin grew ever more unnerving, Wake knew what kind of day he was in for. High Light ran a little tea shop called The Tea Spot alongside his wife Brighten Early, the Earth/Unicorn duo had taken the town by storm with their herbal blends that cured seemingly every ailment that wasn’t a life threatening injury or illness. The residents of Ponyville had quickly found a new way of life after the couple had moved from Canterlot. Sniffles? Cold? Sore throat? Don’t go to the hospital, go to The Tea Spot. Two cups and some leaves to steep at home before bed and you’d be back on your hooves in the morning. Wake had even seen Zecora, the local Zebra, at The Tea Spot enjoying the restorative effects most of their teas had so he knew there were no hard feelings between the couple and her.

What most ponies didn’t know, High Light and Brighten Early were also former doctors. They had left their different fields shortly after meeting while working at the Canterlot Specialist Hospital. They had never mentioned what their specializations were in but Wake knew the medical, mental and informational sciences were no stranger to either of these ponies. Wake had met the couple shortly after they moved to Ponyville, answering a flier for needing help to test new products. Their almost matching cutie marks spoke of knowledge Wake knew better than to question, but the testing often had...side effects.

“How funny you should say that, my feathered friend! We’re actually working on something quite amazing back at The Spot, it could have you back in the air tomorrow morning if you feel like lending a hoof.” High Light slid alongside Wake Vortex, gently nudging him away from his path home and more towards The Tea Spot at a fork in the road. Letting out an excited whinny, High Light nearly shouted while he urged Wake to go faster. “I can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on!”

The tan colored Pegasus covered in bruises eyed the bubbling cauldron before him with no small amount of trepidation, this stuff was giving off some serious funk. “So, let me get this straight” he begins, speaking to the other two ponies in the room “you want me to drink this stuff? High Light…what is this supposed to do?”

The green Earth pony of the group sighed, rolling his eyes. “How many times do I have to explain this, Wake? This is going to get you back in the air much faster than “conventional” healing methods. A traditional healing spell or potion only accelerates the healing process of whoever it’s used on, instead of just healing the damage.” High Light looked to his wife Brighten Early to continue the explanation as he made notes on the consistency and color changes of the boiling fluid.

At this the golden coated Unicorn continued adding ingredients by hoof and stirred the cauldron with a large spoon while speaking “The problem with this, Mr. Vortex, is that while healing very quickly is wonderful it is also very draining on the one being healed. They will require vast amounts of energy, food and rest to complete the healing cycle. Most ponies fall asleep seconds after the healing starts. Not very practical in a dangerous situation, is it?”

“Yeah that doesn’t sound like it would work very well if you needed it while still in danger,” Wake Vortex agreed while nodding. “but that doesn’t explain what you’re doing with this…stuff and why I have to drink it.” Raising a hoof towards the slop bubbling in the cauldron, he quickly pulled it back after seeing the large black bubbles popping and leaving greasy stains on whatever the splatters touched. “I'm only going to be grounded for three days, five tops. I doubt I even need a potion for it.”

High Light's eyes got misty as his bottom lip quivered, earning a grimace from Wake. “Please, Wake? You're not only my best friend in the whole town but the only injured pony I know, let alone like.” As Wake Vortex stared at his sniffling friend, he knew how to deal with this. Wake began slowly and silently counting down from five. At two, High Light suddenly stopped sniffling and started chuckling. Snapping back to his previous demeanor when the quiet count reached one, he continued speaking.

“Well Brighten has been studying the spell matrix of a healing spell while I’ve been taking apart the ingredients for a healing potion to determine exactly what we could fix. This,” High Light explained to his winged friend, pointing a hoof at the cauldron. ”is our first attempt at a healing potion that will no longer incapacitate the imbiber.” Seeing the look of hesitation still on his friend’s muzzle, he pushed one last time. “Look, we really need you. We can’t test the potion on ourselves because we have to record the various effects or lack thereof within the scope of our perspective talents. We’ve combined all of our knowledge for this potion, reaching further than ever before and you are quite literally our only hope of revolutionizing healing as Equestria knows it!”

The enthusiasm of the green Earth pony was evident from how high pitched and loud he became during the explanation and Wave Vortex was sure that he had seen the strange black lines and dots that make up High Light’s cutie mark glowing a bit, but after shaking his head and blinking several times no glow was present. ’Must have been something in my eyes, and it is kinda dark in here’, he thought to himself before turning his attention back to the cauldron.

Several more ingredients had been added during High Light’s impromptu speech, the liquid in the cauldron was now a strange blue and purple-ish color with swirls of gold laced through it. It was almost like watching the sunset before a perfectly clear night of star gazing. Lost in the glittering effect of the potion, Wake Vortex half heard High Light speak and a light touch on his left wing before a sharp pain snapped him back to attention.

“Sweet Celestia’s burning flanks, not a primary!” Wake shouted, flailing his wings about to slap away his attackers before a golden glow surrounded his entire body and held him still. Once he settled down a bit he felt the magic release him, causing him to drop a few inches to the ground. Hooves down, thankfully.

“Yes, yes Mr. Vortex.” began Brighten Early, rolling her eyes “I understand these feathers are incredibly important for flight and therefore very sensitive. I do apologize, but we’ve all made our contributions to this experiment. Also, should-”

“When!” High Light indignantly corrected.

“When our efforts are successful the primary flight feather will be regrown as if nothing had happened.” Brighten Early stated flatly.

High Light snipped the feather into two equal pieces before speaking, “You know, Wake. Once this experiment is over I would love to do some research into the curl in your feathers, I’m not sure I’ve observed a Pegasus with so much before.” He stopped to tap his chin for a moment before continuing. “What could be the reason for this mutation?” he mused placing the pieces into separate jars.

One thing had caught Wake’s attention, causing his ears to swivel towards Brighten. He was almost afraid to ask, but the Pegasus’ curiosity was an insatiable thing. “Contributions? What contributions have you made?” It was then that Wake Vortex noticed to slight limp to High Light’s gait and just how pale Brighten Early seemed.

High Light looked over his withers back to his friend before lifting his back left hoof to show off a large chunk missing. “I had too much of my special tea and fell down some stairs, chipping my back hoof. I’ve ground it up finely while Brighten was kind enough to donate some blood. She wanted to use her horn velvet but I believe it too risky.” He answered and set his hoof down, ignoring the heated glare from his wife. Science is one thing, safety is another.

“Regardless of what we’ve donated to the project, each is vitally important. Notice I’m not touching any of your reagents with my magic? I don’t want to cause an adverse effect from the addition of my magic to your reagents. The blood is infused with my magical essence so we’re safe there, little chance of over-charging without willing it so. Now Mr. Vortex, if there are no other questions..” Brighten trailed off after noticing Wake staring intently at the bubbling pot.

“Yeah I’ve got one, should we really be using pony parts for this? I’m not sure I want to be drinking something that is made of your blood and hooves.” Wake stated, grimacing at the thought of choking down a mud and blood flavored concoction while High Light and Brighten Early cackled like mad scientist ponies in the background. Blinking his eyes and shaking his head several times to clear the vile image, Wake looked through his brown mane at his two friends who showed signs of confusion.

“Wake,” High Light began, glancing over to Brighten before continuing “the pony parts are critical to seeing what type of magic will cause what sort of reaction. We’ll try one small vial’s worth of potion for each tribe before trying all three at once. Based off the other ingredients, these should have some rather interesting and profound results.”

Wake Vortex was about to raise his hoof with more questions, name exactly what the other ingredients were, before Brighten cleared her throat and threw a glare around the room before speaking. “AHEM. If you two are quite done, the science calls for discovery!”

Author's Note

Alright guys, here it is! First chapter of Home Brewed Healing. Hopefully you all enjoy the ride so far! Stick around for the next chapter, we've got some potions with unknown effects to chug!

Earth Pony Sense and Sensibility.

“What do you mean, nopony has ever done this before?” Wake asked, standing before a table with a small bowl of..whatever this stuff was. The “special” ingredient had yet to be added, so it remained the dark swirly starry mess with golden streaks from before. He felt an almost endless supply of dread, he really wasn’t sure if he was ready for this and closed his eyes to gather his courage.

“It’s exactly as I said, I’m rather sure nopony has thought to use these particular components with these particular reagents. Most scientists are too weak stomached to use pony reagents so we’re breaking ground here, I’m sure of it!” High Light explained, setting a jar containing the finely ground hoof chip on the table beside the bowl and looked up at his best friend. “Come on Wake, don’t be afraid. None of this is going to hurt you, I promise. As soon as Brighten gets back with my..ah there she is.” He turned to face his wife as she reentered the room, a steaming mug held in her yellow-gold magic, and held out a hoof. “Thank you darling, just what I needed.”

“Two o’clock is tea time, every day. We all know what happens if you don’t get your tea.” Brighten said as she ignored Wake shivering at the memory and picked up a pencil and notepad with her magic. Taking a moment to be sure everything else was in order, she looked back to her husband. “I am ready for observation when you are, Doctor.” She said with a small grin on her lips. She was excited for this experiment and had let herself slip into their old habit of speaking using titles, though their former “official” titles had to stay unspoken around company.

“Of course, Doctor.” High Light replied with a wide smile before his face lost all emotion and he began speaking in a dull monotone voice. “Base potion has been prepared, please refer to previous notes for ingredients and brewing instructions. Approximately four point two grams of finely ground Earth pony hoof will be added, sample provided by myself.” Slowly picking up the jar and a measuring spoon, he scooped one tea spoon worth of powder out of the jar, “Adding reagent to potion.” and dumped it into the bowl. The effect was immediate and made everypony in the room jump back a bit at the high pitched hissing noise emanating from the bowl as the hoof disintegrated into the potion. Watching as the powdered hoof was swallowed by the potion, High Light continued speaking his observations. “Reagent has been introduced to base potion, uncomfortably high pitched sonic reaction is strong but brief.” He droned on about the apparent viscosity, light color change and other small reactions as the hissing died off before picking up a large metal spoon. “Commencing stirring to ensure equal distribution of reagent throughout potion.” The stirring had another effect on the potion, the strange colors of the potion faded to a plethora of dark greens yet the golden streaks remained. “Earth Pony Potion has been prepared successfully.”, he finished with a nod of his head, shaking his mane a bit.

Upon hearing that the potion was now prepared and ready for consumption, Brighten turned to Wake and began speaking in the same dull monotone High Light used as her magic continued to write on the notepad for her. “Subject used for all potion testing will be one Wake Vortex, male Pegasus resident of Ponyville, Equestria. Please reference subject file for in-depth details regarding subject.”

Wake’s ears perked at this, “Wait, file? You have a file on me?” he asked in almost disbelief. Just how much research were these two doing around town? Was he only picked to be a “best friend” because of some strange variable or quirk? His thoughts turned to the mysterious curl in his feathers, High Light had mentioned wanting to look into them..’No,' he thought ‘they’ve both gone out of their way to help me without asking a thing in return. They’re great friends, just odd’. Snapping back to the present, Wake almost missed Brighten starting to speak.

“Well of course we have a file on you, Mr. Vortex!” came Brighten Early’s cheery response. “We have extensive files on everypony we allow close to us and at least a dozen observations of almost everypony else in town!” Her chest puffed out a bit with pride, making the patch of fluff she had there stick out. “Now, I think we’ve delayed long enough. You wouldn’t want your potion to get cold, would you?” she asked with a quirked eyebrow and small smile. The monotone voice came back as she began taking notes again. “Earth Pony Potion has been prepared by Dr. High Light, subject will now ingest potion. Ready for observation.”

Wake felt the full weight of both gazes burning into him, waiting for him to drink. Staring down at the strange brew before him, he felt is worry lift some. ‘They wouldn’t let me drink something actually dangerous. So…bottoms up!’ was his last thought before quickly picking up the bowl and chugging the liquid within. Instantly, Wake knew he had made a huge mistake. As he had feared, the taste of dirt was front and foremost in the potion but eventually faded to a sweet grass taste that Wake didn’t mind much. The texture left something to be desired, it was almost as if the potion didn’t want to be drank but swallowed whole instead. There was something hidden behind all the different flavors, something he couldn’t quite put his hoof on but could tell was there. Shuddering slightly as he gulped down the last of the potion before setting the bowl back on the table, Wake Vortex looked at his friends, licked his lips, smiled and said “Not bad.”

Opening his mouth to say more, Wake felt the room suddenly shift. Up became down, left became right and Wake couldn’t stop himself from shivering as the potions effects began. “Shshshiii..” was all that could be said before he felt a sort of haze develop over his mind, slowing the world down to a crawl. He didn’t feel less intelligent, just slower. Like everything he did required a solid thought rather than relying on instinct to guide him. Then, as suddenly as the negative effects had begun, it was over. The world was right again, yet the strange haze remained. Looking around he saw Brighten Early talking excitedly with High Light while both stared at him, Brighten’s magic causing the pencil to smoke across the pad from the speed of her note taking. Wake went to take a step forward and cried out in surprise as his hoof leapt forward to smash the table in front of him to pieces. ‘Oh, I’m strong’ he thought, ‘VERY strong’.

Both High Light and Brighten Early’s eyes went wide when the table hit the wall, thankfully they were out the path of destruction. The couple looked to each other before nodding and beginning different tasks. Brighten went about gathering all the shattered wood from the table and reconstructing it using her magic while High Light went to Wake and threw a foreleg over his withers. “Well Wake, it would appear you have some Earth pony strength going on and some of your bruising has gone down. Best of all, you’re not unconscious! Can you describe anything else you are feeling?”

Looking down at his hooves Wake noticed his fetlocks had grown quite a bit since this morning, he could officially be considered ‘shaggy’. “I’m hairy, strong and slow. My wings feel like they’re not there at all, but it's not causing me to panic like I think I normally would. I feel something else too, somethings off.” he said, looking around. He could feel something inside, something screaming at him to get something done about whatever this problem is. Very carefully and slowly he began to pace around the room, using the feeling like a sonar to hopefully find out what it was. In the back of his mind he noticed the grin on High Light’s face and that the table was already repaired but at the moment he didn’t care. That small feeling of wrong was threatening to blossom into a full blown anxiety attack if Wake didn’t find out what in Equestria was making him feel this way. Nudging a few boxes on a table near a window, he spotted it and the feeling SCREAMED at him to do something. A small planter. A small, wilted, planter built for growing basic herbs, shoved onto the window ledge with boxes placed in front of it. That’s what this was all about, Wake Vortex suddenly had Earth pony abilities with no idea how to control them. Gently picking up the planter and holding it against his barrel, he used his other hoof to gently pull any dead weeds and leaves from the soil before turning to face Brighten and High Light. “I could feel this, it needs water.” Wake said to his two friends, enjoying the shared look of astonishment on their muzzles.

While Wake searched around the room for a faucet, High Light pulled his wife into a close huddle for rapid fire observations. “He’s not unconscious.” “Manticore wing? The extra acidity might have..” “..light healing of bruising, no other healing..” “..was very unexpected, such strength..” “I wonder how long this will last.”. At this last question, both ponies looked up at Wake, sitting comfortably on the floor with the now freshly watered planter between his hooves. High Light noticed the plants were no longer wilted and instead looking healthy and vibrant.

“Mr. Vortex?” Brighten called out hesitantly, “How are you feeling now? Could you describe any additional feelings or urges?”. Glancing between Wake and High Light, she watched the tan Pegasus appear to evaluate his words carefully before speaking.

“I feel fine, still a little sore from the landing this morning. The weird feeling is almost gone, went mostly away as soon as I watered these little guys and focused on taking care of them. Look, I think the water and attention is really them turning around!” Wake replied after taking his moment, lifting the planter to show off his revitalized herbs before narrowing his eyes at High Light. “You should take better care of your plants. Other than that, I think I’m pretty much back to normal.”

High Light ignored the glare and began plonking around the small room. “Fantastic! Let’s prepare the second potion and keep this momentum rolling!” he said with unbridled enthusiasm, grabbing another bowl and the jar with a piece of feather in it and placing them on the recently repaired table. Looking up at the other two ponies in the room, he felt a prickle of irritation upon seeing them both standing where he left them. “Come on ponies, let’s go!” he said with mild irritation.

Brighten looked around the cramped experiment room before putting down her pencil and pad, leveling her gaze at High Light. “In a moment,” she began, “it is time to put the kettle back on. I think we both need a calming blend before we proceed with the experiments. I would include Mr. Vortex in this round of tea but it appears to me he is under the influence of your special tea. We shouldn’t mix much more in his system for at least another hour.”

Knowing he was defeated by his wife’s sound logic, High Light let out a sigh and responded in a low tone “Yes, dear. Extra honey for this cup please.”. Looking around, he spotted Wake still sitting quietly with a dreamy look on his face. “Looks like he hit the euphoria stage, shouldn’t be much longer before he’s completely sober. I’ll stay with him until it’s time for the next experiment.”

“If this is how you feel on your tea all the time, High Light, I’m gonna need some for my house.” Wake Vortex said with a slow giggle before shifting into a laying position on the floor, planter still firmly gripped in his forelegs, and began nodding off. “Nudge me when there’s more potion, I’m just resting my eyes...”

Author's Note

Alright guys, first potion down! What did you think about it? Remember, I'm working without an editor so feel free to PM me any mistakes you see! Feel free to thumbs up and leave a comment about what you liked!

It's All in the Diaphram

Wake awoke to a slight nudging against his barrel and soft voices calling out. Slowly opening his eyes, his ears swiveled around for the source of the voices. He remembered something about this morning but not much. An accident? Memories flashed through Wake Vortex’s mind as he suddenly remembered everything. The crash, the hospital, High Light, the potion, the planter. It all came back to him as a blur to be sorted out later, right now he had a potion to test. Blinking rapidly to clear his head, Wake finally locked eyes with the scientist couple and smiled. “How long was I out?”

High Light opened his mouth to respond but was beaten to the punch. “One point five hours.” Brighten Early responded briskly. “We wanted to let you rest but not enough to activate any remaining regenerative properties of the potions. If you sleep too much, you’ll heal naturally.” She explained in her normal neutral tone.

“Yea buddy, we’re gonna have to get going again soon or we’ll be here all night.” Said High Light, pointing a hoof towards a small window showing the afternoon sun crawling slowly towards the horizon. “It’s about three hours until dinner, we’ll knock this potion out and see how it goes before we plan a break. You’re of course invited to stay, sound good?”

Standing from his resting position with a smile, Wake approached the simmering cauldron and began looking around for the next potion. “Sounds great, I love your cooking!” he said, “I’m ready. Let’s chug this thing and see what happens.”

Once again the bowls and jars had been set up on the small table, this time with a jar of tan powder instead of the darker color of High Light’s hoof.

High Light once again began speaking in his dull note taking tone. “Again, base potion has been prepared. Exactly 4.2 grams of powered Pegasus primary feather will be added, sample provided by experiment subject Wake Vortex.” Preparing the measuring spoon again, he continued to speak “Adding reagent to potion, bracing for reaction.” and dumped it in. The effect was profoundly different from the previous potion, instead of hearing the expected high pitch sound there was a sudden lack of sound. Ears suddenly clogged , everypony in the room noticeably yawned or flexed their jaws to alleviate the feeling caused by such a sharp decrease in air pressure. “Reagent has been introduced to base potion,” High Light repeated from the last test, still fighting back yawns to combat the pressure. ”Uncomfortable high pitched noise noticeably absent, drastic change in room air pressure is noted, will ask subject for approximation” he finished, looking up to Wake Vortex when a questioning expression.

“It feels..” Wake began, “almost as if I’m at 10,000ft. The air is thinner, easier to move around but it’s missing oxygen too.” Nostrils flaring and barrel extending while he paused to take deep breaths, he continued “We should be safe to keep going, just be on the lookout for feeling light headed or having a sudden sense of euphoria.”

Nodding, High Light began to speak again about the various changes brought about after adding the reagent while holding the cleaned metal spoon from earlier in his hoof. “Ensuring equal distribution of reagent throughout potion.” The stirring once again changed the color of the potion; the golden streaks lost their vibrancy and became more of a copper color with the base color turning a strange icy blue with tan curly wisps of smoke rising from it. High Light looked around the room before glancing back to the newly finished potion, shrugged and said “Pegasus Potion has been prepared successfully.”, before stepping away from the table and motioning towards Wake.

As before, Wake approached the table with slight trepidation. The effects so far hadn’t been too bad, really. At least with the magic “reagent” being his own there was less chance of him not being able to handle the result. With enthusiasm that he did not quite feel he exclaimed a quick, “Salute!” and proceeded to skul the phial. Expecting the potion to fight being drank was his first mistake as the damn thing rocketed down his throat, burning like the worst Appleloosan whiskey. Coughing and gagging at the same time, Wake struggled for breath as his eyes burned and watered. His second mistake was to attempt a burp, hoping to settle the vile liquid. Three gagging attempts were made before he felt a large POP in his barrel and suddenly felt better, like he could breathe more than ever before. Still lightly coughing and patting his barrel with a hoof, Wake started making hoof motions towards High Light without speaking. As if reading his mind, High Light moved with surprising agility and speed to provide his friend with a much needed sip of water.

“Here you are, friend. How are you feeling? I’m not noticing much of a physical change in terms of healing, your coat and mane seem much shinier and healthier though.” High Light asked, hoofing over a mug while looking over his winged friend. “It seemed to not go down as well as the last one, are you feeling anything like before?”

Lightly shaking his head, Wake continued to gently sip the provided water and physically assess what could have changed. Fluttering his wings caused Wake to notice that the strange curl to the tips of his wings went further down his wings and had changed the tips to a light blue from his normal tan coloration. Opening his muzzle to announce this discovery was the third mistake he made with this potion. As the first syllable was formed by his lips, Wake felt a great and powerful force build in his barrel before erupting out of his lips. ”MY WING CURLS!” was all that escaped before he clamped his muzzle shut but the damage was done. The sheer gale force of his statement had blown High Light and Brighten Early’s hair straight back and knocked almost every item lining the walls and tabletops to the floor while somehow forming a thin layer of frost over the entire room, dropping the temperature several degrees in the process. Looking around in wide eyed panic, Wake let out a tiny whinny that made the room feel even colder before slamming his eyes closed and slumping to the floor.

Wake could hear the scientist couple discussing this new potions side effects but smartly kept his muzzle clamped shut. As the fear and panic subsided Wake noticed the cold he was emitting seemed to be linked to his emotions. ‘Get it together, you’re going to be fine once the potion wears off.’ he thought, trying to focus his mind and calm himself. While taking deep breaths and trying to center himself, Wake couldn’t help but overhear the mutterings of the other two ponies in the room as they brushed off the frost.

“Certainly a reaction to the Windigo teeth, I warned you..” “Yes yes but we needed the ice essence..” “..Royal Canterlot Voice has Pegasus origins? Might have to ask..” “..perhaps Windigo magic could..” “Think the wing coloration change is permanent?” The couple’s muttering was barely audible over the fierce scratching of pencils over note pads. At this point, Brighten had abandoned trying to fit all of High Light’s observations onto a single note pad and was using her impressive magic fields to record both pony’s audible notes. Wake sat back, cautiously awaiting the end of this potions side effects while making observations of his own. The frost coating everything in the room was slowly melting, leaving behind a wet mess on all the various items blown around the room from his…outburst. Bowing his head in shame, Wake vowed to himself that once he could speak again he would apologize and help clean up. A sudden lack of sound caused Wake to look up, noticing that the couple had finished taking notes and had moved on to the questioning phase of the test with both ponies standing over him with inquisitive looks.

“So,” began High Light “it would seem that while you haven’t healed any of your previous injuries but have gained a few interesting abilities. Just for clarity, I’ll list them off as we’ve recorded them; healthier coat and mane, the curls on your wings has decreased in angle while changing colors to an ice blue and you’ve gained what could only be described as The Royal Canterlot Voice.” Looking around the room as he finished the list with a smile on his face, he asked “Remember when Princess Luna visited a few years ago for Nightmare Night?” The collective shudders around the room answered his question for him. “Yes, well. All that shouting about town was her Royal Canterlot Voice. Let’s give it a bit to wear off before you try to talk again. That sound okay to you, Wake?”

Nodding, Wake returned his head to the floor and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long before a familiar groggy feeling overtook him, and while the room quietly reassembled itself in a golden glow, Wake Vortex slipped off to sleep again.

Author's Note

Hey guys! I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, the holidays got extended be a month long ordeal due to a wedding after New Years. So now that I'm back and my schedule has cleared up a bit I can finally finish this damn story! Two chapters to go!

Unicorn Blood isn't Really Silver

Soft muttering stirred Wake Vortex from his light nap, kicking in the Pegasus’ urge to stretch like a cat before standing again. With a groan and a few pops along his spine Wake rose to his four hooves, knowing he was in for a visit to the Ponyville Day Spa. He might even get High Light to pay for the trip, this potion testing stuff called for Wake getting a little more than a “I’ll owe ya, buddy” and a hot dinner from his best friend. Nodding his head in silent agreement with himself, Wake finally looked around the room for High Light and Brighten Early. From his position in the room, he could see their backs turned to him as they discussed something in hushed tones. They obviously hadn’t noticed his waking as neither had turned to speak with him and he was pretty sure they were eager to continue testing, if their excited but hushed tones told him anything. He was about to politely cough just loud enough to catch somepony’s ear when Brighten suddenly spun and locked eyes with her prey.

“Ah, he wakes again. Thirty minutes, almost exactly.” The unicorn stated, adjusting her rectangle framed glasses with her magic.

‘Has she been wearing those the whole time?’ was all that could pass through Wake’s mind before he was abruptly placed before the now familiar table. With a wide grin, High Light began again with his dull and empty tone to go over the basics of the potion. Before long, he was ready to add the reagent.The red liquid splashed around the small bottle before being unceremoniously dumped in the potion base. Everypony froze for a moment, wondering exactly what the Unicorn blood’s reaction will be. After a few seconds of waiting for something to happen, High Light shrugged and grabbed the spoon to begin stirring. It was in that moment Wake made a huge mistake and relaxed. The second the spoon broke the surface of the potion stock, with blood floating on top, the room began heating up. Instead of a slow enjoyable raise in temperature like a campfire this heat was like being suddenly thrust into an inferno.

Brighten Early looked around the room, sweat beginning to mat her golden coat in several places, before she spoke in a much firmer tone than usual. “Reagent reaction is indicative of an event we had not anticipated. This heat will likely continue to build until all the magic power stored in my blood is expended.”

“What's causing the reaction? How long will it take to run out of power?” High Light all but panted. It had become sweltering in the small room, various candles and miscellaneous soft items had begun to melt. Something needed to happen to stop the heat before something bad happened.

“I’m a Sun-Touched Class-B Unicorn.” She replied curtly.

Ears twitching from High Light’s inventive swearing, Wake felt a little confused by her statement. He knew that she was Sun-Touched, that much was obvious to anypony paying attention. He didn’t know much about the Unicorn ranking system for their magic power but he knew it was a very personal and private thing. The class ranks were also very varied, as one could go as high as Class-S and as low as Class-D. You never asked a Unicorn what their rank was so it didn’t look like you were trying to brag about your high rank. ‘Unicorns are weird.’, he thought, looking to the potion. As the heat poured out the color of the potion had changed to a shiny metallic color, almost like liquid silver. It looked amazing and part of Wake was a little excited to try it. Compared to everything else in the room the potion remained unchanged by the temperature change. If anything, it looked slightly frosty. The heat kept rising and he needed to drink something.

Curious, Wake lowered his head closer to the bowl of “Unicorn Potion” to test if it actually was cold. Sticking his tongue out to gently lick the potion Wake heard Brighten’s cry of warning just before his tongue touched the liquid. The heat suddenly vanished, leaving the two scientists staring in shock at the events transpiring before their eyes. Wake had pulled his head back but that didn’t matter. The silver liquid was freely flowing out of the bowl and through the air and into Wake’s body. The poor stallion’s eyes had taken on a bright white glow while the potion oozed into his eyes, nose and mouth. As the last drops of potion slithered their way up Wake’s left nostril he began to shake while rising into the air, though not by using his wings. A golden outline of a horn grew from his forehead as he floated before the shocked couple.

Eying the small items that were beginning to float as well, Brighten accessed the situation. “Subject appears to be in the middle of an incredibly powerful mana surge. Any second now..ah there we go” she stated as the larger furniture began to float as well. “A false horn has appeared on Subject’s head, most like imitating my own as an outlet for his imbibed magic. Curiously, he’s not radiating heat like a Sun-Touched during a surge. He’s burning through a lot of power, this should be over soon..”

As soon as she said this Wake Vortex flared his wings out and a massive surge of magic pulsed off them and his horn. High Light’s only hope of not getting pushed around by the wild energy was to stay close to his wife, who had erected a shimmering golden shield. Eyes narrowing in focus, Brighten increased the power flowing into the shield to protect herself and High Light. A massive crack appeared in the golden magic with a loud crunching sound and Brighten felt her pulse quicken a bit. They just needed to survive a little longer and Wake would run out of power.

Like the flicking of a switch, the light snapped out of Wake’s eyes and the pseudo horn disappeared. With no more power to fuel the levitation, Wake fell from the air with the grace of a stone. As everything came crashing down around them the scientists sat safely inside the cracked golden dome until the final item had settled. They quietly walked towards Wake, hearing the sounds of light snoring and heavy breathing. After staring at him for few seconds, High Light was the first to speak.

“Well,” Was all he was able to say before Wake’s eyes snapped open and he bolted upright. The ensuing flood of vomit that emerged from the Pegasus was beyond imagination, as was Brighten’s shocked exclamation.

“Sweet Celestia, it’s rainbow colored! He’s puking bucking rainbows! Holy buck!”

Author's Note

Sun-Touched - Unicorns that gain a small sliver of the sun's power but only when bathed in sunlight. Their base strength and mana pool are increased. These Unicorns naturally run hotter than other ponies and most of their spells are fire based.
Yes, there also Moon-Touched.

Hey guys! Not ded! Sorry about the delay, the new year DESTROYED me and my motivation. Hopefully I've got some of that back now so onward! One more chapter to go!

Alicorn Allegations

After a short break to clean up the surprisingly not sour smelling vomit the three ponies again sat around the small table in a room smelling faintly of Fruit Bat Loops. Each had a small jar before them, holding the last pieces of their “donations” to the experiment. Clearing his throat, High Light began to speak.

“So. We are at the final phase of testing and need to combine our reagents before adding them to the base potion. Brighten Early and I have agreed that an equally proportioned solution being added at once instead of adding each reagent separately would not only be safer but potentially yield better results.” Nodding to himself, he looked towards Wake before continuing. “Wake, I just wanted to say…thank you. Thank you for helping us with these experiments but thank you the most for being my friend. Your friendship is very valuable to me, and I appreciate you for it.”

Wake blinked quickly several times, he had never heard anything like this out of High Light. Well, at least not while sober. He was quite huggy when hitting the hard cider. “Oh uh, well. It’s not a problem, really. We’ve been friends for years and I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, except you almost blowing me up a lot but meh.” he replied with a smile and a shrug.

Wake Vortex held out a front hoof towards his friend, High Light quickly meeting it for a hoof bump with a hearty smile. Hearing the clink of metal jerked both sets of eyes back to the table. Brighten looked up from the bowl and stirring spoon in her hooves. “I took the liberty of combining our reagents while you two were being sentimental. Absolutely zero reaction from all three reagents when combined. It’s a bit distressing, and frankly disgusting.” She stated bluntly. “In for an acorn in for an oak, as they say. Adding combined reagents to base potion, brace for reaction.” she said, scraping the strange gritty substance into the base potion’s bowl.

As the nasty sludge-like reagent hit the potion, everypony froze. A pregnant silence filled the room, they all remembered what happened last time they relaxed. After several seconds Brighten’s eyes flashed around the room. “Somepony that isn’t me, stir it.”

Meeting each other’s eyes, the two stallions stared at each other for a moment before High Light puffed his chest out and spoke. “Wake, stand over by Brighten. Darling, be ready throw up a shield should the reagent react...negatively”. Once Wake was standing beside Brighten he positioned himself to quickly jump back within her shield range and grabbed the spoon. Sweating visibly he said “Stirring reagent into base, possible reaction unknown.”, dipped the spoon into the potion and began stirring.

The only sound in the room was the gentle click of the spoon occasionally tapping the side of the bowl. It felt like time had stopped and nopony dared breathe until the reaction started. High Light stirred the potion for a solid fifteen seconds before stopping and looking over his withers to Wake and Brighten, his expression a mix of confusion and alarm. “Stirring complete, ‘Alicorn’ Potion completed with zero reaction. No color or viscosity change is apparent. Did the reagent sink to the bottom of the bowl and not mix in?” he questioned, using the spoon to drag the bottom while looking for chunks of the reagent. “Might as well try it, Wake. It should have dissolved into the base.” he said with a heavy sigh, already mentally preparing for a failure.

High Light stepped off to the side to join Brighten, a scowl on his face, as Wake approached the table. The potion looked…just like the potion base. It was as if nothing had changed. Wake shrugged and lifted the bowl to his lips with his hooves. “Here goes nothing” he whispered before closing his eyes and sipping the potion. Quickly finishing the bowl, Wake let out a tiny burp and turned to his friends. “It uh, kinda didn’t taste like anything. Almost like drinking water.” he admitted with a chuckle. “Sorry guys I gues-” before his eyes took on a familiar bright white glow. His wings flared out far wider than his normal wingspan would allow and his suddenly massive hooves cracked the tiles beneath them.

From behind her shining golden shield Brighten and High Light could only stare in amazement and watch as a horn of burning pink flames erupted from his head, it’s size easily matching Princess Celestia’s. Wake’s body continued to swell and grow at an alarming rate until he stood at least double High Light’s height, bones popping as the now much larger stallion rolled his neck and withers around in discomfort. Wings, hooves, and horn ablaze with the same burning pink Wake looked down to his terrified companions with a curious expression. High Light met the burning Alicorn’s eyes and quickly shouted “Lower the shield! I know now! I KNOW!”.

Brighten gave her husband a bewildered look before looking back to the creature before them. If any part of her was scared, she did not show it as she dropped the shield. The pink flamed Alicorn lowered it’s head down to High Light’s level as they stared at each other for a moment before High Light whispered “Thank you, I see what I was missing now.”. The Alicorn smiled, it’s head shifting so it’s glowing white eyes could look from High Light to Brighten Early before a blazing white light overtook the room.

Eyes clinched tight, it took what seemed like forever for Brighten to be brave enough to blink several times before attempting to hold them open. Before her stood High Light and a smiling Wake Vortex, seemingly whole of mind and body. Brighten couldn’t help but notice all of Wake’s injuries appeared to be gone, if anything he looked shinier and healthier than ever before. The same could not be said about the room around them. It was in shambles and she had no idea why.

It would appear that High Light had recovered quickly, as he had a quill in his hooves scribbling away on a piece of parchment. Looking to Wake for answers, all she received was a small cough that let out a pink puff of heart shaped smoke and a sheepish smile. “Let me guess, something amazing happened and I can’t remember any of it.” she deadpanned. The scratching of High Light’s quill never slowed as he stared intensely at the parchment.

Wake looked back and forth between the two before speaking.“To be fair Brighten, I don’t think we remember anything either, I know for sure I don’t. All the research notes are gone too. High hasn’t said a word but has been scratching at that paper since he could open his eyes though, so he might know something.”. Curious, Brighten moved to read over her husband’s shoulder be. Eyes wide, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. He had done it. Whatever that had happened had inspired the Earth pony; High Light had figured out what all the other healing potions were missing. It wasn’t going to be easy, but they could make this. Barely noticing the quill’s scratching had stopped, Brighten saw High Light move to face her in the corner of her vision. Looking over at him, they stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before they smiled wildly. Both looking over to Wake Vortex, they said in almost perfect unison “Hey Wake, want to help us test a potion?”

Author's Note

Guys, it's done. I finally finished this damn thing. A major shout out to Lear_Tiberius, who owns Wake Vortex! I wanted to wrap this story up by his birthday and BY THE OLD GODS AND NEW I PULLED IT OFF! Happy Birthday Wake, you're one of a kind.