Product of Friendship (My Little Pony)

2 The Key Ingredient for Devil's Dust (5/7)

"Ugh," Poison craned her head as she watched Wist mix a black liquid within a beaker with a thin rod. "Why does my head still hurt?"

"That depends," Wist said as she kept her attention on the pot. "How much of the dust did you snort?"

"Don't be asking me questions little filly," Poison leered at the nymph. "Don't forget who's the adult here."

"Yes mom," Wist blankly said. She then pulled her thin rod out of the pot. "Hey mom, I think I'm finished."

"I'll be the judge of that," Poison stepped beside Wist before the table as she tapped her hoof on the liquid and placed her soaked hoof into her mouth. Slurping the liquid to her mouth, Poison clicked her tongue to bask in its taste.

"Come on mom," Wist became antsy of Poison's prolonged analysis. "I know it just as well as you do it. I've seen you make it a hundred times."

"Wist," Poison pulled her hoof from her mouth. "There is no room for mistakes for the kind of job I do. The slightest sign of skepticism could run the risk of ruining everything I got going here."

"But I made it right, didn't I?"

Poison sighed, "It'll do. Well then, I guess now is as good a time as any to start on your lessons."

"Yes," Wist pumped her hoof.

Wist was giddy to practice more on the bountiful of curses that her mother knew. Poison had displayed numerous sorts of horrors upon test animals that left Wist in awe. She couldn't wait to plot on numerous pranks and chaos to set upon the trespassers that would dare to step into their sanctuary.

Her mother said that she learned all of these curses from a grimoire that had long been burned to ashes by Celestia. She never provided details as to why the former Princess would do such a ridiculous thing as to get rid of Wist's best possible reference book, but it matters not since Poison happened to memorize its texts.

After Poison gave Wist a lecture of a certain spell she was eager to learn, Poison placed a cage with a hamster before Wist. "Alright," Poison said. "Let's do a hooves-on work to make sure you paid attention. So, tell me what's the first thing I need to do?"

"Why don't I do it," Wist raised her hoof. "I think I got the gist of it."

"Oh no," Poison shook her head. "I'm not letting that happen again. You have way too much magic in that small body of yours. You might give this critter enough anger to break out this cage and choke the life out of me."

"It was only one time mom," Wist rolled her eyes.

"You had a bird eat and poop an entire hut," Poison raised a brow. "Something like that should be impossible."

"Yeah," Wist chuckled. "That bird was really hungry, wasn't it?"

"Look, Wist, I just need you to pay close attention. I don't want to spend another week building another hut."

"I got it, mom," Wist sighed.

"You better. Now, what's the first step?"

"The first step is to imagine the emotion in your body and mind. The spell must emulate from the caster in order to pass on to the target."

"And what emotion is it that I need to develop?"

Wist sighed and then answered, "Rage."

"Anger," Poison voiced. "Rage is too extreme of a word. You're likely to get carried away with it." Poison lit her horn in a purple glow that gradually turned pitch black. "Once you've created the hate to birth the spell, all that is left is to insert into your target."

The black glow upon Poison's horn floated off of her and appeared as a black wisp that flung upon the hamster. The eyes of the small critter glow red as it bore its buck teeth and rushed upon the gates of the cage, gnawing viciously upon it.

"The intensity of the anger depends on the amount the caster puts into the spell and the limit that the target is potential to possess," Poison said. "Be sure that you remember that."

"This a lot like the other spells you've shown me," Wist said. "You just create the emotion and then slap it onto some creature."

"Wist, there's a method for creating each emotion. Why do you think I give you those long lectures? You gotta be mindful of how much you give and how exactly to do it or else you're gonna put some creature into the deep end."

"I got it, mom," Wist harrumphed.

"Good, now be a good filly and calm this thing down."

Poison was well adept in placing curses on creatures, but the one thing she lacked was undoing them. Luckily for her, Wist has a convenient ability to suck emotions out of creatures.

Wist lit her horn and beamed it upon the feral hamster. The light she enshrouded the critter in pulled out a red aura from its body as Wist inhaled it into her body. Wist canceled her spell immediately and spat her mouth.

"Ugh," Wist spat. "It's so spicy."

"Stop your complaining and finish eating the rest."

Wist groaned and then began feasting on the critter's anger again. After surviving the tangy taste burning her tongue, her mother offered her a cup of water that Wist immediately chugged down.

"See, that wasn't so bad."

"I like you to try it and tell me that again," Wist complained.

"Oh Wist," Poison smiled. "You know ponies can't eat emotions. I'm afraid it's a curse for only you to bear."