Spell Immunity
April 6th, 2013
As I drove through the deep section of the Dovere territories in the Everfree Forest, trying to navigate without getting stuck, I noticed Twilight staring out the window, looking a little distraught.
"This isn't your fault, Twilight. You had no idea this would even happen." I tried to comfort.
"I know that, but I just can't get over the fact that you almost... well, you know." Twilight said.
"Well, try not to worry about that because I'm right here and still alive," I said "For now, let's just stay focused on whether we can fix my problem or not. And if we can't, no biggie at all. I mean, it's not like I need to have spells casted upon me everyday to stay alive."
"You're right," Twilight nodded. "Who knows. Maybe something good will come out of our visit to Zecora's"
I only shrugged in response.
The deeper I would go into the forest, the more dense and narrow the path would become. So narrow that it would be impossible to turn around.
"Alright, we're gonna have to walk from here," I said.
"I suppose so." Twilight said, checking out the surrounding area. "Otherwise, you'll have to become the world's most skilled backwards driver."
"Yeah, no kidding there." I said.
Once we hopped out of the Defender, we continued on-foot to Zecora's hut.
Along the way, I realized how much this part of the Everfree felt like a jungle because the last time I was in these parts was during the fall, where most of the leaves fall off the trees. The whole atmosphere was moist and a tad bit humid. There was the sound of insects chirping in the background and there were gnats all over the place.
"Rrgh! Pests!" I grumbled towards the gnats while swiping at them.
Twilight took hint of my complaint and created a purple bubble shield with her magic that repelled the insects and protected both of us. I then placed my hand on the shield, and it was as solid as a rock.
"A bubble shield? Niiice." I said
"Magic does have its helpful moments at times." Twilight said.
With Twilight's shield covering us, we continued onwards to Zecora's.
"Can you use magic to wish anything you want? Like a genie?" I asked.
Twilight gave a blank stare before answering.
"Actually... no. I never heard of any magic spells that extraordinarily advanced."
"Oh."
"The only pony who could possibly cast that spell would be Star Swirl The Bearded, but there never was documentation of him casting a spell like that." Twilight said.
"Oh yeah, I heard about him in the history book for Equestria. He created over two hundred magic spells, right?" I asked
"Two hundred and fifty to be exact." Twilight corrected.
"And he's, like, your idol?" I asked.
"Mmm-hmm. He is one of the reasons why I strife in my studies in magic and the magic of friendship." Twilight said.
I grinned and nodded to her statement.
"Hey Twilight." I began.
"Yes?"
"I'm just wondering, but am I also part in your studies of the magic of friendship? Or is it just circulated around you, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash? Since you six are the elements of harmony."
"Of course you're part of my studies the magic of friendship. Everypony can be part of the magic of friendship. The magic of friendship is what makes us all whole, just like you and every single friend you've made in Equestria. And so far, I believe the magic of friendship will never fail between you and us, even if we somehow go through tough times in the future." Twilight said.
"Good. I'm glad to hear that, Twilight." I said before both me and Twilight turned our heads to a knocking sound that came from the outside our shield, which turned out to be Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Rainbow Dash." I greeted.
"How did you find us?" Twilight asked.
"Well, I came by your place to see how Caleb was doing, and Spike told me that you two were going to Zecora's hut. He said you two are hoping that Zecora can fix Caleb's immunity problem." Rainbow explained.
"Spell immunity." Twilight clarified.
"Wait, your theory was correct?" Rainbow asked me.
"So far were not considering it to be the answer to my problem, but it's the best we've got for now." I said.
"Oh, I gotcha," Rainbow said, inspecting our shield. "What's with the shield?"
"Are the gnats gone?" I asked.
"Uhh, no gnats here." Rainbow replied.
Twilight then deactivated her shield, allowing Rainbow Dash to group up with us.
"You 'comin?" I asked.
"Yep. As you know, loyalty is my element, and I ain't leaving a friend's side in a time of need." Rainbow said.
"Alright then, let's go." I said.
About eight minutes had to of gone by before all three of us smelled something. If my nose is correct, it smelled like herbal scents, clear indication that we were close to Zecora's place.
"We must be close." I said.
"Zecora's hut should be down this path right here." Twilight said.
Soon enough, we found Zecora's relatively distinctive tree-hut, still having all of those colored potion bottles hanging from the branches. We then walked up to the front door and knocked three times.
"Hey Zecora, it's Caleb, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash." I called out.
Zecora opened the door, giving me a welcoming expression.
"Hi, Zecora," I greeted, taking in the herbal scent that had a little spice in it. "How are you?" I asked.
"I am doing quite fine, my fellow human. For I was just mixing a stew with a dash of cumin." Zecora replied in her usual rhyming couplets.
"Ah." I said.
"What is your intention to be here, if I may mention?" Zecora asked.
Twilight then stepped forward to explain what is going on.
"We need your help, Zecora. Caleb seems to be experiencing a new effect from the strength potion he took." Twilight said.
"Is this effect bad? Judging by your expression, you look very unglad." Zecora noticed.
"Yeah. Really bad! He nearly died from it!" Rainbow said.
"Die, you say? Oh my!" Zecora said, very shocked about this bold statement.
"What Rainbow is trying to say," Twilight butted in, blocking Rainbow, "is that we think that the potion is creating its own immunity to foreign spells, rendering them unusable for him."
"I am quite perplexed, but I think I might be able to save a quest for an answer." Zecora said.
"You do?" I asked.
Yes. I have an idea on how to fix what I've mixed in your potion." Zecora replied.
Zecora walked over to a shelf with a lined up row of potions. She then grabbed a familiar looking potion, but a lighter green color. Me, Twilight and Rainbow all looked at each other from curiosity.
"Hey, that's the same potion I took back when I first got here." I said.
"That is most correct, but I have made some adjustments that might connect with you." Zecora said as she shook the liquid.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Minus the searing pain, out of my kindness." Zecora referenced.
"Well man, that's good news." I said
"Indeed. But it cannot fit the need for a bearable taste." Zecora said.
"Eh, that's okay. At least my insides won't feel like they're on fire, so that's a plus." I said.
"But wait, did you modify the potion or something?" Rainbow asked.
"Not yet. But I have the fix in that net." Zecora replied, walking over towards a medium hammock on the wall that held several flowers, herbs, and all kinds of ingredients necessary for her potion creating needs.
She shuffled through the multicolored flowers and pulled out a flower that had grey petals and darker shade of gray in the middle, almost as if the color had been saturated out of existence.
"Oooh, what kind of plant is that?" Twilight asked with interest.
"A Behgon. A flower that possesses an ability that the others can't." Zecora replied. "A plant that can remove any effect that one wishes, but must be told the words to avoid any misses." Zecora explained.
"What do you mean by 'misses'?" I asked.
"The user has to tell the plant what must be expelled in a certain way. If one quells for too long, it will miss the point and will become all but useless," Zecora explained. "So please, it must be silent so that I can be at ease."
Me, Twilight, and Rainbow all nodded and kept our mouths shut.
Zecora then set the flower ever so gently on the wooden table and slowly placed her forelegs on the table while standing on her hind legs. Her eyes closed and she drooped her head over the flower for a few seconds before she began to quietly talk at a rapid pace. She was talking so fast that it would seem as if she was speaking a thousand words a minute. I tried to listen to what she was saying to the plant. I could easily make out her strong African accent, but the words were just so indistinguishable for me. Who knows what she was saying to it. I mean, all she had to do was tell the plant what she wanted to be removed, but maybe there's a deeper meaning behind this little ritual she's doing. Me and two mares watched Zecora with anticipation for about a minute or so before her speaking slowed down.
"And that is why I need this to be removed. To allow my human friend to move on with the magic inside of him." Zecora finished.
Zecora then got back on all fours and walked over towards a counter to grab a wooden bowl. Once the bowl was settled on the table, she picked up the flower and placed it inside the bowl. She then looked down into it, waiting for something.
"Is it-" I began.
"Shh! No words!" Zecora shushed in a quiet yet firm tone.
Me and the girls looked at each other once again from how intrigued we were at the moment. A few seconds had past, and we noticed something changing; something we weren't expecting. The flower then began to dry up as if it were in a desert for a week.
"What?" I asked myself in my head.
The flower then disintegrated into millions of pieces, looking like a pile of fresh ash. Zecora then took the bowl and began to gyrate it elegantly like a work of art for three times before tilting it the bowl at the top of the potion bottle, pouring the flower into the green mixture inside. The potion instantly reacted and tiny white strands in the light green liquid began to disappear, giving the color a more green texture rather than whitish-green.
"It is done. Now come and see." Zecora instructed us three.
We walked over towards Zecora and looked at the potion in front of us.
"Did that get rid of the immunity inside this potion?" I asked.
"Yes, Caleb. Drink and tell me what you think." Zecora said.
I grabbed the bottle, examined the liquid again, and looked at the girls.
"Bottoms up." I said before bringing my head back and chugging down the potion to avoid the extremely bitter taste.
I then brought the bottle down on the table with a *clank*.
"Any better?" Twilight asked.
"Has the bitter taste, but not that bad, actually," I replied. "Now what?" I asked Zecora.
"Give it time. Five minutes shouldn't be much of a crime." Zecora said, flipping a five minutes hourglass on the opposite side of the sand filled side.
"So, what will happen to me now? Will I get even taller and stronger?" I asked.
"No. But I will say that the immunity will be gone by today." Zecora said.
"Excellent!" I exclaimed.
"Thank you so much, Zecora!" Twilight thanked.
"Yeah, thanks! Who knows what we would've done if we didn't have a potion expert like you." Rainbow said.
"You are quite welcome." Zecora replied for the thanks.
As we waited for the minutes passed, I asked Zecora why she did the ritual the way she did, hoping she wouldn't be annoyed with the question.
"So, what were you saying to the plant?" I asked.
"Hmm?" Zecora hummed.
"When you were talking to the Behgon. What were you saying, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked.
"I was connecting with it, telling it why I met with it," Zecora said. "The Behgon needs a reason to remove a certain ingredient. For example, it will not take a reason that involves with treason."
"Oh, I see what you mean." I understood.
"So, if somepony were to eat the Behgon, would that mean they would fade from existence?" Twilight asked.
"Precisely, Twilight Sparkle." Zecora replied.
"Wow. I never would've thought a plant could do something so deadly." Rainbow said.
"Equestria sure is full of mysterious things." I said.
"Uh-huh." everypony agreed.
"Oh, I believe the five minutes is up." Zecora noticed the hourglass. "Time to test if the potion will come to your aleve."
"I know how we could test it." Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"How?" I asked.
"Twilight casted the cloud-walk spell on you earlier, right?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh, I see what you're going with. Do you remember how to do the spell, Twilight?" I asked.
"Yep. Good idea, Rainbow Dash." Twilight praised.
"I'll head up into the sky and grab a patch of cloud for you to stand on." Rainbow said before flying out the door.
With that, I went outside where there was plenty of open space for Twilight to cast the spell on me again. Once the misty magic was absorbed into me once again, Rainbow Dash came back down from the sky with a two foot wide patch of white, puffy cumulus. Zecora then walked outside to observe if her efforts fixed my problem. Rainbow settled the patch of cloud steadily, floating off the ground a little bit. I then stepped forward and stood next to the cloud while everypony stared in anticipation.
"This is it." I said.
"Moment of truth." Rainbow added.
I then jumped upwards and fell feet first, only to have myself fall straight through the cloud, poofing it out into multiple vapors before dissipating into the air. Everypony gasped loudly to the failure.
"Damn!" I exclaimed. "Well... I guess my theory was correct."
"Aw man!" Rainbow said.
"I'm sorry, Caleb. I did the best I could." Zecora apologized.
"Hey, it's no problem. At least you tried, and that's the important thing." I said.
"Perhaps the magic from the original potion has been in your body for so long that it has become irreversible." Twilight added on to our proven theory.
"I agree." Zecora said.
I then let out a small sigh.
"Welp, I'd like to thank you again, Zecora. Thanks for being who you are and helping out a friend in need." I said.
"My pleasure, but it is a bit of a displeasure for me, that I couldn't fix your immunity." Zecora said.
"Don't worry about it. I'll get by fine with the immunity." I said.
"Before you go back to Ponyville, I have a snack for all three of you." Zecora offered.
"I like snacks." I said.
"Me too." Twilight said.
"Count me in on that." Rainbow said.
Zecora headed back into her hut and came back out with three bowls of her stew she was cooking earlier.
"Please. Take some of herbal vegetable stew with the kick of cumin. It is good for both pony and human." Zecora said.
"Nice." Rainbow said.
As I sipped on the stew with my spoon, I was quite pleased. The broth and the cumin are a perfect mix for each other, like peas and carrots, and the vegetables actually tasted pretty fresh for sitting in a boiling pot of broth.
"Mmm, that's really, really good." I admitted through my slurps.
"Mmm-hmm." Twilight and Rainbow agreed.
After we finished our stew and handed back our bowls, we said our farewells to Zecora and left back for Ponyville. Even though I couldn't get this immunity ridded of, I'm still happy Zecora was glad to help out. We'll just have to see how thing will go for now.