Appledashery

by Just Essay

Make Like a Snake and Leaf

Five frantic minutes later, Apple Bloom was being laid out on the Apple Family's living room couch. Granny Smith tried lying a blanket over her, but Zecora interrupted by blocking with her hoof.

"I know you wish to give her care," she said. "But what Apple Bloom needs now is air."

The zebra moved in, propping several pillows under Apple Bloom's body so that her upper half rested higher than her lower half. The little filly twitched in tiny spasms, and pink foam still lingered across her muzzle.

Zecora saw it. She whipped out a glass tube and—with use of a metal file—scooped some of the saliva up and stored it in the container. She placed a tiny cork on it and set it aside.

"What good is that?" Rainbow asked.

"All remains to be seen. Now, Apple Bloom's blood we must clean." Zecora looked over her shoulder. "My tools."

"Macky?!?" Applejack called out.

Almost on cue, Big Macintosh came bursting through the front door, hauling the entire wooden cart of Zecora's belongings over his flank. He stomped into the living room on heavy hooves and plopped the thing down by the fireplace.

Zecora rushed past Big Mac and immediately rummaged through her cart, grabbing several random potions. "Shadows guide me. I must go about this delicately."

From afar, Rainbow watched. Her eyes glanced at Big Mac, then back at Zecora. It was as though they were both worlds apart.

"Mmmm... sweat of a manticore... and phoenix tears..." Zecora poured several potions into the same jar, causing a purple cloud of smoke to billow up into the ceiling. "This will not cure her, but it will allay our fears." She added a final ingredient, and the potion began shimmering with a magical shine. She then rushed over and poured a little of it over Apple Bloom's chest. Murmuring incantations, she applied the salve, and Apple Bloom's spasms grew more and more apart.

"What..." Applejack sniffed, still rubbing her cheek. "What are ya doin' now, Zecora?"

"It's simply to ease in her breathing," Zecora said. "Her lungs, the venom is leeching."

Applejack fought another sob. "Oh Celestia..." Granny Smith held a hoof on her shoulder.

With a growl, Zecora glanced at the windows. "Noirrrr?!" She swallowed a lump down her throat. "I need... need..."

"'Without the antitode, that's all she wrote?'" Rainbow remarked.

"You are not the shaman here," Zecora blunted. "I do the talking and you lend your ear."

Rainbow winced, ears folding back. "Sorry..."

"I may need you to summon Noir if he is not here in—"

FWOOSH! Noir arrived in a black glide. "I have the gland!" He landed next to Zecora. "Most of it."

"Good. Then you must tend to the filly." Zecora grabbed a bloody wad of tissue from the sarosian and rushed back to her cart. "I shall work up an antidote in a jiffy."

Noir squatted by the sofa, cradled Apple Bloom's upper limb, then pressed his fanged mouth to the tiny cut he had made minutes before. Tasting, he spat onto the floorboard and hissed, "You must hurry, Zecora. The venom's spreading. And fast."

"Of this, I am most aware," Zecora muttered while she laid out a sheet of papyrus and spread herbs and medicines across a sample of the snake. "Let us be glad she is in our care."

"But... but..." Applejack fidgeted where she stood. "This is gonna cure her... r-right?"

"Miss Applejack," Noir spoke. "I cannot emphasize this enough. The Tatarusian Venomancer has long been considered extinct."

"Ya mean they're all supposed to be dead?!" Granny Smith's eyes narrowed. "Then how in blazes did one of 'em end up on our farm?"

"I cannot pretend to tell, but I noticed something peculiar in its blood while I was extracting the gland," Noir said.

"Like what?" Rainbow asked.

Before Noir could answer, a series of hoofsteps rolled in through the front entrance.

"Uhhh... AJ?" Stu Leaves stepped into the living room, carrying a bundle of sticks. "Hey AJ. I... uh... I got the special firewood you requested from the Harvest family. But... uhm..." He blinked at the scene. "What in Celestia's mane is happening here?"

"Stu!" Applejack exhaled. Her body quivered, and she had to lean on Granny Smith for support as she fought another sob. "Oh Stu... it's awful! Plum awful!"

"Huh? What is?!" Stu Leaves dropped the logs and galloped into the center of the room. He gasped—skidding to a stop—at the sight of the dying foal. "Apple Bloom!" With a grimacing expression, he turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow...?"

"She got bit by a snake," Rainbow said. "A very, very nasty snake."

"Goddess..." Stu's ears folded back. "Then... th-then we have to get Nurse Redheart in here! The doctors from Ponyville Central!"

"We already got Zecora," Applejack said, wiping her tears dry. "She's the best there is—"

"We could use all the help we can get, actually," Zecora said. "It's quite possible that this is beyond Noir and me."

"Be... beyond you?" Applejack asked, shivering.

"As I was saying," Noir spoke. In the comfort of the indoor shade, he lowered his hood and gazed seriously at the Apple Family. "The blood of the snake was bubbling slightly, not to mention giving off a faint bio-luminescence."

"Bio-luminescence?" Applejack wheezed.

"Yes. Faintly." Noir nodded. "A sign of recent leyline entanglement."

"Leyline... entanglement?" Stu remarked.

Rainbow blinked. She then winced. "You mean the snake was just teleported?"

"That's a possibility," Noir said. "Or enchanted. Or even conjured. Only a full autopsy would tell for certain, but we can't afford to do that right now." He pointed at Zecora at her cart. "What we need is a swift antidote to stave off the Venomancer's bite."

"Right!" Stu nodded, already galloping for the front entrance. "And we can use all the help we can get!" He gasped, for he was being shoved speedily out the door.

"You go fetch Redheart and the hospital ponies," Rainbow said, then took off alongside the stallion as the two glided over the ochards. "Me? I gotta make a stop by the library."

"Huh?! The library?!" Stu gasped, then smiled. "But of course! Twilight Sparkle! She can make a magic spell to help us!"

Rainbow bit her lip.

Stu gulped. "Or... not...?"

"I'm super... super afraid that it's the other way around, Stu..."

Comments

[Lord Dragon]

Squee.

[viofriedsevey]

0 to heart pounding real quick. I'd really love it though, if this brought them all together again, this wouldnt happen, but it would be epic if they all had to go on an adventure together this time.

[Aatxe360]

Rainbow blinked. She then winced. "You mean the snake was just teleported?"

Egghead.

[Mister Saxon]

Make Like a Snake and Leaf

[Sheendough]

6099609 Could it be that Twilight would be the one responsible due to her experiments?

[Lightning Bearer]

It's times like this when daily bite-sized updates are painful.

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/21/e9/f3/21e9f34df4e4a64d2d1dcf58d6de36f5.gif

[Nasty Mister Monket]

Well, Colon old boy. Looks like I'm here. The word train has ceased.
In four days, I have read five hundred and eighty seven chapters, and now I can do little more than hopelessly attempt to spend the last few hours of this day doing what I was actually supposed to be doing in those four days.

...Bloody hell, should I have paced myself a bit more. This is a real nasty place to catch up, after the hopes of Rainbow Dash using slightly more romantic horse words than the ones I've been indulging to finally pave the way towards progressing the fulfillment of those aforementioned not so romantic horse words were completely laid to waste, we find Apple Bloom is currently attempting to fend off an excessively agonising and painful death from the excessively debilitating biting of an excessively crushed, excessively hazardous legless reptile.
Hence, I find myself mourning the "Next" button next to that drop-down list of chapters that has led me through the tension, the misery and the unknown thus far. Damn it all, even when I've caught up I'm not happy.

Ah well, looks like I'm just as hopelessly trapped within this never-ending chasm of fuzzy sorrow as the rest of you people. Onwards and Eastwards, I suppose.

[MidnightReflection]

6100295 Get ready, because it'll be a couple months or so before we get back to another slice of life arc.

[RoboRed]

The suspense...is so palpable...

[RainbowJack2000]

Is it bad that even after all we've been through, I still don't like Stu all that much?

[Teraphim]

6100295
Welcome to our pain, was on chapter 480 or so when I caught up lol.

[Teraphim]

6101172
Nah he "was" competition for AJ, even after the Red Rook awesomeness we still have to be on guard with him.

[Jay_Baker]

Lancie to the rescue?

[Leftover of Saikano]

This seems like the work of the Legion of Doom

[Mister Saxon]

6102472 Legion of Doom? I was thinking Evil League of Evil, or Every Villain is Lemons.

Wait, no! Every Villain is Lemurs! It's perfect!

[Leftover of Saikano]

6103222 Doom rhymes with Applebloom. Zecora could use that.

[zaponator]

Damnit, Twilight...

[LucyHorseThing]

"You mean the snake was just teleported?"

TWILIGHT...

[arancaytar]

and phoenix tears...

Accio referencium

[arancaytar]

"'Without the antitode, that's all she wrote?'" Rainbow remarked.

Don't even start.