The Curse of the Verse

by RangerBeef

Cutie Mark Grief

"How long did you end up staying with her?" Shadow asked taking a sip of his tea.

"Six years," Zecora answered calmly.

Shadow nearly spit out the tea. "Six years!? It took her six years to help you find a cure!?"

Zecora stifled a laugh. "No. It took her five years to teach me everything she knew and the sixth we spent searching our minds for a cure and testing all the potions we could come up with."

"I suppose none of them worked," Shadow said, wiping his mouth.

"You suppose correctly."

-----

In the time I was with Viki she taught me everything she knew and I was never more grateful of a single zebra than when I knew her. Her teachings not only started me on the path of alchemy I now walk, but they also allowed me to earn my cutie mark. That is a day I will never forget and will always be indebted to her for pushing me to be my best.

I had been with her for nearly a year before she allowed me to try my hoof at making a potion. You see, potion making can be a very dangerous profession. The wrong ingredients at the right time can cause a number of catastrophic consequences. The most serious of which being death.

When finally it came time to try my hoof I found that I wasn’t nearly as nervous as Viki. She was worried that something would go wrong, as even she still made mistakes from time to time. I remember laughing when she offered to hold my hoof as we worked on the concoction.

“Just be careful is all.” Viki moved to the opposite side of the swirling green mixture, grabbing a wooden spoon and stirring slowly.

When she indicated the correct time I added each of the ingredients without incident and when I added the final ingredient and the potion was finally ready, I took a small vial and filled it.

“Do you think this will do the trick and remove that which makes me sick?” I remember hoping with all my might that it would.

Viki had hesitated before answering, biting her lip nervously, “I’ll be honest, little Z. It’s a long shot. That potion is pretty simple to remove a curse like the one you’re under. It’s not unheard of, but don’t get your hopes up too high.”

I knew in that instant that the potion would not work but I kept some small hope that it would. While we waited for it to cool, I just stared into the now motionless liquid in our large pot. Something about adding the ingredients had seemed so easy. Even without Viki’s prompting I felt that I would’ve been able to make the potion on my first try.

When it came time to test the potion, this time I did accept Viki’s offer to hold my hoof. We had grown close in that first year and she seemed more like an older sister than a teacher to me. She too hoped that the potion would work, despite its slim chances of doing so.

-----

“And so, hoof in hoof, I drink the first of hundreds of potions. I almost gagged from the foul taste.” Zecora smiled at the memory.

“And it didn’t work,” Shadow said quietly.

“Indeed it didn’t. I didn’t know it hadn’t worked at first. I had to test it with a sentence that didn’t rhyme.”

-----

“Thank you for helping me, Viki.”

And I coughed.

I nearly cried when it started. I just wanted my hardship to be over. Viki held me close and comforted me until I had my emotions under control.

“Thank you for helping me to begin this path of alchemy. I guess we’ll have to try again in another day… or three.”

Viki laughed at my rhyme. “We’ll try again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. Until we’ve tried every potion we can think of, we’ll keep trying. But there is good news from this failure.”

I let my face ask the question. Viki answered me with only a point to my flank, where my cutie mark had appeared.

-----

“Shadow, do you remember the day you received your cutie mark?” Zecora asked.

“Sure do. One of the worst days I’ve ever had, actually.” Shadow answered bluntly.

“Then you will understand why I felt my heart break when I realized that my special talent would be making potions. From that moment, I knew that my life would be filled with potions and that the cure I so desperately sought would be out of my reach for years to come.

“My cutie mark is a constant reminder of the curse that plagued me for many years. I am probably one of the few ponies who detest their cutie mark, Shadow. I am pained every time I look at it.

“And, at the same time, I am happy of the path my life has taken as a result of that curse. I would’ve never seen as much of the world as I have if I hadn’t been cursed. I would not have met all the wonderful alchemists and wizards I know. I would not have moved to Ponyville to meet stallions like yourself. I would have been in Zebria in that village for my whole life. And for that, I am forever thankful to a terrible curse.”

Shadow sat quiet. Thinking on what Zecora had just told him. “What would you have wanted to do if you hadn’t been forced into alchemy?”

Zecora was speechless at his question. “I.. do not know.”

Shadow looked around the hut and smiled. “I think you would’ve been an artist, Z. You make some very neat looking things.”

Zecora looked around her home as if she had never given her ornaments a second thought. “I think I would have liked that cutie mark.”

“So what happened after you got your cutie mark?” Shadow asked, trying not to get too side tracked.

"After I earned my cutie mark we spent the remainder of my years with Viki testing more potions. As I said before, I cannot tell you how many horrible tasting potions I have downed in my time."

"So did you leave when you had exhausted all your ideas?"

Zecora shook her head. "No. I likely would've stayed with Viki until we found a cure."

"So why did you leave?"

"I was left with no choice."

Comments

[englishwitch]

oooh....the plot thickens

[Zubric]

"Sure do. One of the worst days I’ve ever hard, actually"

typo alert!!!

[RangerBeef]

2910382 Fixed! Thanks, I write most of this on my iPhone so a few of those get by on occasion.