Chapter 11: Experiments with Poison Joke
Twilight walked to James' house, seeing the mess of the twisted wreck. She pulled out a pocket watch from her saddle. Then looked at it. She timed it right, for five minutes later... *BOOM!* ...the place made a explosion. Not big enough to destroy the entire place, but enough to shake the place. Entering, Twilight saw that the place shook some stuff off shelves and tables.
Soon, the door to the basement lab opened, revealing a smoking James, all charted and black. She was about to talk to him when she saw something she didn't expect. What she didn't expect was Princess Celestia, stumbling out of the lab, all black and charted. "Wow! What a bang.", she said. When she said 'wow', smoke came out of her mouth which caused Twilight's jaw to drop. James laughed at the smoking Celestia, then started laughing harder at Twilight's reaction. Soon, the Princess started to join in James' laughter. Then it died down, only for them to see themselves as a mess, causing both of them to start busting out in laughter again.
"What is going on here? I leave you here for nine hours, only to find you and the Princess in a tizzy." Twilight asked, trying not to laugh. James giggled, then said, "I showed Princess the strange specimens, then I showed her the plant sample I got on my first day here. She stayed over to look over it. The next day...*snicker*...we test the effects of the flower with Nitroglycerin, and... Wait for it! It literally blew up in our face." he said. He then started laughing again, followed by Celestia. But soon, it faded away. "I'll tell you something, nobody has treated me like a normal pony before.", she said. James smiled, then said, "No problem, Princess. Let's do this again soon.", he said. She shook herself off, then nodded in agreement. "Yes, we should.", she said. She then teleported.
James smiled at the memory, then turned toward Twilight, who was still in shock. "What?", he said. Twilight started to speak gibberish, then finally said, "WHAT!". James smiled, then said, "There's no need to curse Twilight.". He then left down the stairs, laughing still. Twilight followed, still in shock.
Going down to the lab, James opened the door. He entered, followed by Twilight Sparkle. She still wasn't used to the laboratory. She went and sat down on a stool. "So, let's get started on this experiment.", he said. "Why? Why did you act like the Princess was a friend?". James turned toward the frightened Twilight. "Twilight, my dear friend.", he said, "If you were royal, and you've been around for...". James stopped trying to think, when Twilight said, "1000 years." "Exactly. If you were around for at least that long, wouldn't you be tired of being treated like royalty? I would, and I'm not even royal.". Twilight thought for a moment, then realized he's right. As she was thinking, James pulled out a jar with a flower in it.
Twilight snapped out of it, when the jar was smacked on the counter. It wasn't cracked or anything, but she could make out what it was. "Is that-?" "Yes, it is. It is Poison Joke." he said, "Today, we're going to be experimenting with it." Twilight gulped, as she looked between the Poison Joke, and him. He then smiled as he placed on green latex gloves. Then, he opened the jar, pulling out the flower. He then set it onto the scanner. As it scanned the plant, Twilight looked at James, then stared at the monitor. It soon started spitting out information on the plant.
"This is amazing! It's exactly like I theorized. Natural made chaos, or 'Natural Chaos' to put it simply." he said, surprised. Twilight looked at the information that was it was telling them. She looked at the DNA strand that showed that it had a different type of chaos like he said. James smiled as he pulled out the flower from the scanner, then activated the Bunsen burner. He then placed a piece of the flower into the beaker full of water. As it started to break down, it turned into a different shade of blue. "Let's test the effects of this flower." he said, with a smile.
Twilight had no clue what was going to happen next. Funny thing, neither did James.
An Hour Later...
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike all headed for James' house, curious as to why Twilight stayed an hour with James at his house. They had a few theories, but wanted to be sure.
After Vinyl let the girls in, she pointed them to the downstairs lab. Downstairs the manes went, and entered the lab. They soon spotted him, lying on a cot, was the scientist sleeping with a hat on his face. Pinkie then nudged him with her hoof, which caused James to mumble something, then slightly shifted. Pinkie took a deep, DEEP, breath, then yelled, "WAKE UP!"
It startled everyone and caused James' hat to hop once, except for James. He soon woke up, five seconds after Pinkie yelled. "Was that really needed?" he said, calmly, slowly getting up. Pinkie just shrugged, then Fluttershy said, "Um, where is Twilight?". That's when James removed the hat off his face, revealing that he looked more animated. Placing the hat onto his head, he looked at his nose to see a small purple unicorn, sleeping on his nose. James chuckled, then slid Twilight onto his finger. She soon woke up with a squeak.
He then placed her onto the countertop as he got a quick scan. Meanwhile, the five other ponies thought that they were still dreaming. The only explanation that could explain why they were like this, was because of the infamous Poison Joke. Their fears (kinda a fear) were confirmed by a blue flower sitting in a jar. "Hold on guys, I've got a few things to finish." he said. James soon started laughing, amazed by the results. But then, he was pulled by a invisible force, toward the other five. Meanwhile, James cursed himself for using a certain formula on a certain unicorn.
At the same time, Twilight felt insignificant next to the rest of her friends. They were about to take some painful drastic measures, when Twilight yelled, "STOP!" Everyone turned toward the source of the sound, taken by surprise by the yell. Even James was surprised by what just happened. Rarity suddenly let go of him, causing him to land flat on his face.
"Don't attack him. He was just experimenting with the flower, and I decided to get involved as well. If James thought that it was poisonous and dangerous, he would test it on himself. He knew that this plant isn't a deadly poison." she said James got himself off, then nodded. "That's right. From what Princess Celestia, and Twilight told me. It's just a natural prank to us. And..." he paused, "It's also a self-defense mechanism for it. Like when a snake was threatened, it would bite with venom in its fangs.", he said. As he talked he grew fangs, and had snake-like eyes. He hissed, like a snake, causing Fluttershy to hide behind Applejack. James was curious as to why that happened, when he reached toward his mouth and felt the fang. "Yipe!" he said, then quickly sped off and hid under the pillow on his cot. Soon, the pillow shook in fear, and two eyes peaked out.
Soon he climbed out from underneath his pillow, then said, "Anyways, she wanted to join in on this experiment. She also knew that I was making a antidote, with help from Zecora.", he said. Twilight looked at James, then said, "You didn't get a cure from Zecora.", she said. James thought for a moment, then realization hit him. Five seconds later, a noise was heard.
"James, it's crazy to live in here. It's not natural.", Applejack said. Everyone followed James, until he came to a complete stop. He then turned toward them. "What's so unnatural about the Everfree?", James said. The ponies looked at each other, then Fluttershy said, "Animals take care of themselves..." "Plants gro' on their own..." "And clouds move..." "All on their own.", they finally finished. James didn't seemed impressed, then he started acting scared. "Oh no! It'll almost be... exactly the same as before. C'mon guys, you're telling me the reason is because it's magically unnatural and it's unpredictable?" he said. They nodded.
James chuckled, then said, "Welcome to Earth.". He soon started up on the trip again. That's when they were confused, and started following James again. "What exactly do you mean by that?" Rainbow Dash said. "Look guys, the Everfree may seem unnatural to you, but back on Earth it's a everyday occurrence. Well, aside from most creatures, and some of the plant life.", he said, "But other then that, it's a basic life on Earth."
They soon came up to a tree, with a black and white striped zebra. She was watering her garden, when she looked up at her friends and smiled. "Hello, friends of Twilight. What brings you to my nice life?" Zecora said. James smiled, then stepped forward. "Hello, my name is James. You must be Zecora. I've heard some good stuff about you.", he said, grabbing her hoof and shaking it like a handshake. Zecora was surprised, and went into a state of shock. James, realizing this, tells them to go inside while he grabs her, and brings her inside.
He sets her down, then quickly starts making a tea from the herbs. He then makes a cup of tea, and hands it to her. She soon smells the tea and it snaps her back to her senses. He smiles as she grasps the teacup and starts drinking. "You alright?", James said. She looked at him, then did a spit-take at him. He then slowly wiped the tea off his face. "I'll take that as a no" he said. Zecora was amazed that the creature was civilized like this. "Who are you that is friendly in my house? You are not a pony, nor a mouse." James smiled, as he heard the Zecora talk. "James Rouse is my name." he said with a bow, "And science is my game."
He then walked to her, then leaned on the table. "Now, I hear that you have a cure for Poison Joke. Is that true?" he said out of curiousity
Five minutes later...
Zecora had made the cure in her home. James then grabs a ladle and takes a sip. "Hmm. Tastes funny, needs a little more salt." he said. Zecora shook her head, then said, "Young man, don't you know the truth? That is for a bath, not a warm bowl of soup."
James thought for a moment, then shrugged. He then pulled Twilight off his shoulder and dropped her into the drink. Ten seconds later, she came out full sized. James then joined in by doing a cannonball, soaking everyone around him. He soon came out looking normal, as he pulled out a brush and comically scrubbed himself down. "Thank you. You know, I didn't get your name, what is it?" he asked. "Zecora is my name, and herbs and potions are my game." she said. James knew that this was going to be the beginnings of some odd things. He smiled as he looked around, knowing all the new friends in this new world.