//------------------------------// // Hot Stuff // Story: The Element of Concord // by Loyal Defender //------------------------------// Well...everypony was here, standing below an orange evening sky, so I might as well give them what I promised. Sighing, I stood in front of Applejack's home door, and gave it a loud knock. "If I end up breathing fire from this, if any one of you calls me Dragon Boy, just know it means I'm not replacing Spike as a messenger. Just telling you now." Twilight gave a light chuckle. "That's fair. I doubt it'd work anyway." 'Why'd it have to be peppers? Why couldn't I have just made the stake to be a library assistant for a week?' I thought. I heard hoofsteps come up to the door, as the handle clicked, the door gently swinging open. 'Well...there's no turning back now..' "Heh...hey, AJ. I assume you likely heard about the bet I lost earlier?" I guessed, wondering if she'd watch the show, too. "Sure did. You gotta eat a plate of hot peppers, don'tcha?" Applejack asked, smiling, but for a reason - she did like a show. "Y-Yeah...I guess it warrants me to ask - which kinds of peppers do you have in store?" *'Please don't say ghost, please don't say ghost, PLEASE DON'T SAY GHOST!'* My mind thought, freaking out. "Oh, y'know, just ghost peppers." *"Damn it!*" "Oh...uh....okay. That...that works. Shall we head on back, then?" "Whenever you're ready!" As I was lead around the back, I noticed the hard-to-miss equipment on the side of the house, with tug-of-war ropes, mud pits, and a climbing wall. "What's with the field-day equipment?" I asked. "Oh, that's, uh, that's for an Iron Pony competiton, is all...." "What's the occasion?" I asked, wondering how long it took to make this thing. "Well...." Applejack took a deep breath. "I want my title as strongest in Ponyville back." "Hmm. Well, next chance I get, I'll be sure to participate to challenge for the title...provided the peppers don't kill me first." I was led to a table, with a plate, PILED with ghost peppers, creating the same width as a book. Just looking at them made me feel hot. "Oh, Celestial Christ..." I muttered. As some ponies sat in the seats in front of the barn (and the girls plus Starlight in the front), I gulped. I wasn't about to let them all down now. I looked in front of me, and noted that the pile of chili peppers was half as thick as a normal book. It wasn't too much, but it wasn't too little. 'I have to do this! Show them you're a man!' I thought. But I didn't want to take forever, I mean it would be anticlimactic. Plus...doing them one at a time would make the pain last longer. There was only one way out of this. And God, it was going to suck. I stood up, and proclaimed, "Fillies and gentlecolts! You all came to see Equestria's only human pay the price for a bet! But instead, you'll see a human perform a feat no other human would do!" "Wait...is he about to..." Spike began, hoping Loyal was not about to do what he thought he was about to do. I sat down, grabbed the plate, tilted it towards me and ate the peppers.... *all at once*. "Oh boy..." Twilight gulped. "That's gonna be painful..." Let me tell you, that was the dumbest move I'd ever made. Not because it wasn't common sense, but because I didn't realize what eating all those peppers would do when combined with the pumpkin spice...the only other thing I had today. I stood up, and shrugged. "Wasn't *so* bad. Didn't even taste anything." I started to walk away, when I felt my body become hot. My palms and forehead started to sweat. "Okay..just...just a little hot.." I said, sitting back down. My tongue started to slowly burn up. "Kind of hot.....little painful..." My vision started to sway a bit, and I suddenly felt incredibly dizzy. My body started to burn up. "Okay..it...it hurts...a *lot*!" Soon after, my chest started to burn, as did my throat. "Okay...ow...ow. Ow! It burns....it's burning! My throat feels like it's on fire!" Some of the ponies gasped in slight astonishment. They weren't sure if Loyal was going to make it or not. But they were sure of one thing - whether he survived or not, it was going to be painful. "If I weren't fireproof, I would sympathize." Spike commented. He knew how using fire felt. But it didn't hurt him. "Isn't anypony going to do anything to help?! Spike! Do you know anything about eating too much spicy food?!" "Not really, to a dragon, eating spicy food is like drinking water. Besides, he's the one who made the stake, and he stuck to his part of the deal to do it. Although, we probably *should* make sure he isn't cooked alive." My head started to pound, and my legs felt a bit weaker. I was pretty sure these weren't the side effects of eating the peppers. I could feel my legs giving in, bit by bit. My hearing got a bit faint, making everything a bit distorted. My vision blurred a bit more, sharpening and blurring in between. I could hear some of the girls calling out to me in concern. I could very faintly see a bucket of water near me. As I staggered over to it, I could feel my tongue numbing. "It....it wasn't worth it.." I said, kneeling over the bucket, and planting my face into the water. I swallowed some of the fresh water, trying to wash the hot taste out of my mouth. Pulling my face out of the bucket, I inhaled sharply, before placing it back in. I knew me feeling weak was not from the peppers...but from something else. Pulling my face out of the bucket, I staggered up against the wall, and slouched down. "I'm burning up....and I feel like something else is affecting me..." My vision kept blurring and sharpening, my hearing slowly faded out, and the body symptoms got worse, more painful and more dizzying. "Luke fired a torpedo into the Death Star, and now it's blowing up!" I said, referencing the Death Star as the peppers burning me up. Those were my words before finally, my body couldn't take anymore and collapsed onto the ground. Some of the ponies in the crowd gasped in shock. Some ponies thought it was part of the act. "Wow, he's really nailing this!" One said. "It's almost like he actually passed out!" "SOMEONE GO GET HELP!" Twilight shouted, clearly now in a panic. All I could hear, very faintly, was what sounded like a rumbling sound. I had fallen unconscious into the state of not being able to wake up for some time, yet I could faintly hear things. The rumbling grew louder, before slowly descending to a silent standstill. My hearing faded out for some time...before fading in again, this time hearing faint clamoring, and hearing the sound of a door opening. What was going on...? I woke up a while later, and my vision came into focus, revealing that I was in a hospital bed. The girls were surrounding it, and Nurse Redheart was, too. I knew her (thanks to Pinkie when she 'toured' me) for a while, but never figured I'd *actually* end up in the hospital she worked at. The nurse was busy feeling my forehead, likely to see if it was still burning. Well...it was difficult to tell if I'd recovered from the peppers or not. "Hmm....he seems fine, but we'll have to be sure." She said, and pulled out one of those bandage things they use to......oh, Celestia, I knew where this was headed. "Now, this might hurt for just a moment, but I'll be quick." She said, pulling out a small needle. She gently gripped my arm, and inserted the needle into it, causing me to jolt a bit. "Sorry.." She said. "Wh-What happened? Why am I hospitalized?" I asked, trying my hardest to ignore the sharp needle in my arm, and noticing that my stomach and body felt regulated again. "I think you had some kind of reaction to the peppers or something..." Twilight said, stepping forward. "You went unconscious and then we kinda had to bring you here..." "Oh...my God, I'd...I'd never actually felt pain *that* intense. It was worse than being injured. How long was I out?" "I'm.... not sure...." Nurse Redheart finally removed the needle from my arm, but it still gently pierced the 'side' of my skin. This is why I was glad I had my shots. "Oh..well, if you're wondering if I learned my lesson, yes...yes, I did. That was not worth betting on...I knew I should have gone with the library assistant stake...still, I'm sorry you had to see that....and that I was stupid enough to think betting with a stake like that was a good idea.." "No, no, you weren't stupid... you just made a bad choice. It's okay, we've all done that." Okay, as sweet and understanding as Twilight was being, I was well aware there was no denying there was no way in Hell I'd ever bother to do such a ridiculous stunt ever again. So calling it a 'bad choice' was a good statement. "Heh, not surprising you'd understand...okay, a little surprising, considering that was one of the worst moments in my life. But...I do plan on keeping my end of another promise I made. Once I 'recover' from what happened, Applejack, I'll do your offered 'Iron Pony' competition, to see who deserves the title of 'Strongest Pony'. I just need a bit of R&R, and F&D - that's food and drink - and I'll be up for it." "Speaking of food, if I may ask, what exactly happened?" Nurse Redheart asked. "I was told by your friends, as Twilight just stated, that you ate a lot of ghost peppers, and passed out." "Well, from my point of view, I don't think it was the peppers...something else came up and COMBINED with the painful, practically flaming sensation, and caused me to feel ill and dizzy...and then I collapsed." I explained. "Hmm...it sounds familiar... But judging by recent analysis, I think I can tell you exactly what went wrong.." Redheart replied, trotting over to a small metal desk, and retrieving a report, or something. "We ran a few other tests, and based on analysis, he seems to have allergies to....'pumpkin spice'. Do any of you know the last time he came into contact with it?" "Uh.... no? Not really...." Twilight said, thinking. "Wait a minute....Twilight, I ended up getting a drink this morning at the Crystal Empire. Didn't I mention that the flavor was pumpkin spice?" "Did you...? ....Maybe I was half awake at the time...." "Oh...right, I forgot those who are half-awake don't usually process much until they're awake. So, what you're telling me, Nurse, is....combined with the fact I downed at least 25 ghost peppers, I have an allergy to pumpkin spice lattes?" "Well, pumpkin spice in general, but yes, that's correct." Redheart replied, placing the report back onto the desk. "Well...that explains a few things, such as the nausea and dizziness...and it's all because of the spice. But if I have an allergy to pumpkin spice, why didn't I have a reaction before?" "Well, there's two possibilities - either there wasn't enough of it to make an instant allergic reaction, and took several hours to respond to your body, or the peppers caused a chemical reaction, instantly forcing the allergic reaction to occur." "Are the results severe? Do I need to be here for a few days to recover?" "I don't think that'll be necessary. You seem to have recovered from the reaction, and your temperature and health seems fine. Though..I don't recommend eating or drinking anything for the next fifteen hours, just to be safe." "Okay. Glad to know I'm okay." "But since we're unsure if your legs still work, after a reaction like that, it's best to wheel yourself home." "Oh. Wait, you don't mean...heh, okay, you're joking." *5 minutes later* "*They weren't joking.*" I said, as I was rolled out of the hospital. I had been placed in a wheelchair, likely to give my legs some time to get used to not lying on a bed, until we got back. "Do they do this for EVERY pony that comes in here?" "Even if it does seem mistakable, and can make me look like I was internally injured, they could be smart for this, if something can go wrong if left un-taken care of." As I wheeled myself through town, the ponies all looked at me funny, some confused, others...happy? "Why are they all looking at me like that..?" I gently spoke, trying not to draw more attention. One of my friends, Eli, a green pony with a blue mane and tail (and yellow eyes), came to my side. "Hey, Loyal! Good to see you're still kickin'! Everypony's all talk about how you're the Chili Champion!" He said. "Chili...Champion?" "Heh, yup! Everypony's heard about how Equestria's one human downed a lot of ghost peppers and survived! You've gained a title, Loyal!" "Chili Champion, huh? Hm..not too bad of a title. Though if this is one of those titles that somehow earns me privileges, I'll pass. I only did it because I--" "--lost a bet about if something bad happened in the Crystal Empire? Yeah, they know about that, too. I mean, some *did* see you carrying Flurry through town. One said you even tried to *mail* her back! Are you trying to accomplish some kinda record for the most ridiculous things done in a day or somethin'?" "Not really...I've just been having a slightly off day. But I'll be kicking back tomorrow. Maybe read a bit, do some experiments....see if there's anything worth doing." "Read.....and experiment? Heh, look out everyone, Loyal's been turned into another Twilight Sparkle! Alls ya need now is a friendship journal!" It didn't take Eli long to notice Princess Twilight close to me. "Oh, uh...*ahem*..I meant, uh....heh...I intend no disrespect, Princess.." He said, bowing slightly. "None taken." Twilight gave a smile. "Y'know, reading and experimenting can be fairly enjoyable activities! Why, once I-" Twilight stopped herself. "Nevermind. It's not important." "Anyways, I gotta rest up. You just go before you cause more trouble, Eli, ya rascal." I said, not meaning the rascal part. We just liked being tough with one another. "Don't count on it!" He said, grinning, spreading his wings (forgot to mention he's a Pegasus), using one to ruffle my hair (we also played tough), and took off. "He's going to wind up getting into more trouble than he's worth." I said. "Heh, when will he learn?" After wheeling my way back to the castle, I stood up and discarded the wheelchair. "Boy, what a day..." I trudged up the stairs, eager to get to bed. Although it proved difficult, since my legs were actually weakened still. So when I made it to the top, I fell forward onto the floor. "Ugh, great....well, looks like I'll have to call the emergency stretcher again... ...*Chryssi, can you come out here?*" I called, waiting a few moments, before her voice called back. "Oh, there you are!" She said, exiting from the throne room. "I was looking outside all day wondering why you were gone so l--" She got a good look at me, meaning I must have looked worn out. "What in Equestria happened to YOU?" "Returned a hitchhiking baby, ate ghost peppers, was hospitalized, the end, help me to my room, please." I said, all in one go. Sighing, Chrysalis lifted me onto her back, and headed down to my room. "I'll be heading to bed early!" I said, noticing the ponies were all there. They must have *all* followed to make sure I was okay. "So...goodnight, Starlight, Twilight, AJ, RD, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy...and Spike. I'll see you tomorrow...if I'm feeling better."