"Look." Bright wagged his tail eagerly. "The potion did it, but it was magic, with me?"

Rarity inclined her head. "With you?"

"Alright, so... I have magic. So..." He rolled his hands over one another. "If I can work out the right magic, I should be able to do it again whenever I want."

Rarity pointed to her horn. "Darling, beloved little dear, every unicorn spell fits what you've said to every other unicorn, but guessing how to cast it just from seeing it used once? Only a one in a million unicorn could manage such a feat!"

Bright flashed his most winning smile. "Are you implying I'm not one in a million?"

"Point." She patted Bright's head gently, rubbing one long ear. "You shouldn't be able to harm yourself, so if you wish to try, go ahead. You have little but time and effort to spend."

Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes. "Where? Oh! Yes. What is it you--"

Spike put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "You just knocked yourself out getting here, maybe it's break time before you rush headlong into more stuff?"

Twilight blinked slowly, processing Spike's words through the fog still filling her head from the overtaxing teleportation. As cognition gradually started re-engaging, she offered her loyal assistant a wan smile.

"You make a fair point as always, Spike." She gently shifted to a sitting position, taking in the expectant faces of Luna, Rarity and the others patiently awaiting revelation of their mystery potion's obscure workings. Regret pulled at Twilight realizing her positioning hardly projected studious competence at present.

"But I rushed all this way specifically to help analyze whatever agent Sweetie managed to retrieve." Twilight nodded respectfully towards the stern mare who simply arched a brow in response. "I can rally enough focus for initial assessment before we all take a breather."

Her horn sputtered, fizzling faintly as magic reserves ran on fumes. Grimacing, Twilight poured effort into reigniting even a glimmering to get started. This bottle held unknown properties potentially endangering ponies while the trail still blazed hot. She refused to fail Luna or the team counting on her knowledge and skills!

Spike watched worriedly as Twilight visibly strained. "You always gotta be the helpful one, I get it." He pressed a tiny clawed hand comfortingly to her back, lending supportive contact. "But you can't spread yourself so thin your own health suffers!" His tone softened. "What good's that brilliant brain running yourself ragged?"

Twilight leaned subtly into the soothing contact as her technical tracing slowly kindled coherent scans of the deceptively innocuous vial Sweetie had cunningly copied. She offered a tired yet grateful smile Spike's way.

"You're absolutely right - as my trusted Number One Assistant, your advice warrants heeding!" She pulled Spike into a quick hug. "So let's just have a peek into this formula's secrets, then go home and put research on hiatus until we've recharged our personal batteries a bit, deal?"

The scaly face poking from her foreleg grinned up at Twilight fondly if anxiously. "Deal! Just uh, maybe have Luna or Rarity handle the actual casting so you don't overdo things anymore huh?"

Twilight chuckled, shakily putting the bottle down. "That's actually a good idea. Princess? If you would?"

Luna plucked the bottle up firmly in her magic. "Where do you need me to hold it?"

"Just right there, perfect... I need a good view of it, without it touching anything." She let out a happy little noise. "Wow... Holding that was taking more out of me than I wanted to admit... Just one more spell, just one more, promise." She put a hoof to her chest and extended it slowly, calming herself. "Let's get a hint."

With some stamina returned, Twilight lit her horn, focusing entirely on the bottle, and not holding the bottle. "What's hiding in... you... Mmm... Sugar, coloring... I think I see some preservatives..." She began to frown, swimming with motions of her hooves not touching the bottle. "I... Princess? I don't... See.... This is just a sugary drink! It's not healthy, but it's not magic, either."

Luna frowned thoughtfully at the bottle. "Well this is just sugary juice, nothing magical at all! I don't like how those Flim Flam fellers are misleading everypony with their show."

Applejack nodded "I agree it ain't right your Highness. But maybe we can expose their fraud peacefully before taking harsher steps?"

"You may be right, Applejack." Luna sighed. "No need to overreact and force them to drink this stuff. But we need to reveal the truth about their false promises."

Sweetie Drops coughed into a hoof. "You're all forgetting something."

Applejack tilter her hat forward. "Yup. If it ain't got magic, we gotta 'xplain how it already did what it did. We got reports of it doin' other things too, right, or why'd we even go there in the first place?"

"Yes!" roared Bright as he found the right set of magic tumblers, clicking into the key of his own strange form. He grew several feet, crashing his head into the bottle. "Ow..." The bottle shattered, spilling the sugar water and flicks of glass all over him. "That's... Not how I wanted to show off..."

The gathered ponies gasped in surprise as Luna hastily caught falling and regular-sized Bright in a cushioning levitation field, gently lowering the dazed hybrid to the floor amidst shattered sugary drink and bottle fragments.

"Careful dear warrior!" Luna admonished as Twilight hurried to check for cuts from the broken container. "Let this stand as lesson impatience courts catastrophe when meddling medley of might and magic."

Rarity floated over with clucking sounds of motherly concern, buzzing around Bright like anxious hummingbird. "Oh, do say you aren't harmed my poor muffin!"

Twilight carefully plucked slippery container shards clinging to Bright's wet fur with her telekinetic grip. "Just minor abrasions near as I can tell, no need to worry!" Her horn shone softly sealing each oozing scratch.

Applejack clopped over to help mop up spill puddle with a spare towel, shaking her head wryly. "Shoot partner, what was ya tryin' to go provin' makin' a mess o' yerself like that?"

Bright's long ears drooped under gently teasing inspection from all sides. "Just thought I finally got that spell right to get temporarily big again..." He kicked at a stray piece of broken bottle neck self-consciously. "Wanted to be all heroic 'protecting everypony from dangerous things like Luna said."

He blinked up at the hovering lunar princess, grin finding way back through embarrassment. "But I got too revved up too fast I guess without thinking things through."

Luna smiled indulgently down at the damp champion looking abruptly far younger despite his towering albeit temporary size. "A flame too fiercely fans itself out ere targets properly lit, as many avatars of ambition oft learn."

Her steady gaze took in both Bright's contrition and the tower marks of messy growth spurt still visible on walls and ceiling. "Yet the will proves worthy - now We must temper the unwieldy spell."

Rarity gathered up Bright into her grasp. "Now, little dear, I did see you get bigger, if briefly. Did you find the spell or not? You have me beside myself with curiosity."

Bright hopped to his feet and out of Rarity's reach. "I think so! And without the double-vision part. Wow, not looking forward to that part." He frowned with the memory of facing his own worst enemy, himself. "He knows what he did," he promise bitterly to nocreature specifically. "Jerk."

Rarity tittered at the theatrics. "Darling, stop teasing us! Show us if you have this spell. Ooo, it'll be one of your first, will it not?"

Bright spread his wings wide, where they hadn't been a moment before. "Do these counts?"

Rarity shook her head. "Afraid not, dear. That is, entirely, a vampony trick. Not a spell. Subtle, but present."

"Hm. Either way." His vision went distant as he grappled with strange occult matters.

Twilight pulled her eyes away. "I promised I wouldn't be distracted, again... Luna, should I--"

"You are not going home." Luna pointed to the door heading out. "You are to go to the guest quarters, find a bed, and collapse on it. You can return home after you awaken and not before then."

Twilight blushed, scuffing a hoof embarrassed as Luna issued firm instructions to get some rest. "You're absolutely right, I need recharge my batteries a bit." Twilight nodded, already edging reluctantly towards the doorway even as scientific curiosity kept trying to draw her gaze back to the experiment in progress.

Spike took her hoof gently. "C'mon Twilight, let's get you to bed before you fall asleep standing up here!" He shot Luna a grateful wink. "I'll tuck her in safe and sound, Princess. We'll be back bright eyed after some quality hibernation!"

Luna returned a subtle smile and nod, appreciating Spike's doting assistance ensuring the scholarly Sparkle heeded healthful advice. As dragon led pony down decorated halls, Luna turned focus fully back to her remaining agents and Bright still scrunched in magical exertion attempting to recreate his previous giant's growth.

Rarity watched anxiously, gently restraining Applejack from interrupting with an urgent "Ssh!" The farm mare rolled her eyes but settled in beside the tense vampony and princess awaiting their fluffy sorcerer's next trick.

Bright was polite enough to not keep the ladies awaiting. With an audible click, his form shuddered, then shot up in height, almost doubling, and without a bottle in the way that time. "Behold! It is the bright that towers!" He flexed his newly embiggened arms. "Mua ha ha ha ha."

"Oh dear." Rarity didn't look very scared. "You wouldn't hurt a proper lady, not would you?"

"Of course not. These big arms are only for petting and holding proper ladies"

Applejack slid away from Rarity with a snort. "That sounded like an invitation ah don't need to be part of. Alright, good job, Bright. Seriously, mighty useful trick. But we're gettin' distracted." She pointed to where the bottle once was. "If that's a great big bottle ah nothin', what did make Bright grow, the first time that is. To say nothin' ah when he split in two like that! That sure looked like some kinda magic ta me!"

Rarity disentangled herself delicately from Bright's eager affectionate pets now amplified by his looming stature. "While basking in my embiggened champion's flashes holds boundless appeal..." She winked up coyly before prim propriety returned. "Our steadfast Applejack speaks sound sense as ever! This growth brew remains a confounding conundrum..."

The vampony frowned, glancing between empty floor space that had held their mysterious vessel and turned her eyes skywards in consideration. What cryptic catalyst created crowded copies or conjured titanic transformations out of sheer sugar and food dye? Rarity refused assuming coincidence's happenstance answered everything!

Her keen gaze turned sharply back scrutinizing their giant test subject swishing showy fluffy tail seemingly oblivious to deeper doubts shadowing his beaming audience. Rarity pursed her lips. "We know now that what was done to you is a spell. You cast it! Not the first time, clearly. But this time. It was a spell." She clapped her hooves with each syllable of that. "And that's quite important."

Sweetie's eyes grow. "Genius. If it was a spell, any unicorn could, in theory, have been helping perform that show." She clopped a hoof to her forehead. "I feel like a foal! No wonder they didn't always get the magic they wanted. They were relying on a third party, and it's clearly one they don't have full control over. Worse." She scowled even more than her default. "It means they were selling nothing, for something. The poor ponies who bought any got home and it didn't work, at all, ever. On... the bright side... It meant nopony was harmed, but..."

Luna sank to her haunches suddenly with a crash. "That means this case is over." All the others looked to her. "This isn't a cast of the supernatural. This isn't something that bumps in the night, dear agents. These are shysters, quite in the day. We... should report them, surely, and see justice is brought... But... This case is over." She slammer a hoof down with the final loud report of a gavel's clap.

Author's Note

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