Before the disaster
“I have a voice in my head too.” Spike answered with a smile.
Normally any sane pony would be shocked or at least worried when one of your friends tells you he is hearing voices, but not Apple Bloom, and most certainly not today.
The weekend started normally enough, well as normal as a herbalists apprentices weekend can. After spending her week busy with school and crusading with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, she still had to make time to do what Zecora asked of her.
First she had to find some Butterfly Weed, which in itself was a daunting task since the plant was not easy to find. She herself never heard of it, neither did the rest of the Apples, or her teacher miss Cheerilee for that matter, not even Ponyville resident florists had ever heard of it.
So she went to the library and searched for it in ‘The Equestrian Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers (Equestrian Horticultural Society Practical Guides)’ all thirty volumes, as well as in the ‘Exotic flora or the Everfree’ and in ‘Rare herbs from beyond’, with no success. What made matters worse was that in those books the plants were listed by their botanical names, and not their common name.
After a few long afternoons of looking through them, she finally found it, ‘Asclepias tuberosa’ or more commonly known as Butterfly Weed.
The article described the physical appearance of the plant.
Asclepias tuberosa is a species of milkweed not native to Equestria. It is a perennial plant growing 10 in–3 ft 3 in tall, with clustered orange or yellow flowers from early summer to early fall. The leaves are spirally arranged, lanceolate [...]
It's natural habitat.
This plant favors dry, sand or gravel soil, but has also been reported on stream margins. It requires full sun.
The animals that feed upon it.
It is commonly known as Butterfly Weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its copious production of nectar. It is also the larval food plant of the Queen and Monarch butterflies. Hummingbirds, bees and other insects are also attracted.
And it provided other information as well.
Extracts were used in older times by zebras as an expectorant for wet coughs and other pulmonary ailments. Use of the herb is contraindicated in pregnancy, during lactation or with foals due to the small amount of cardiac glycosides...
The article went on describing the more physical characteristics of the plant as well as other aspects of it that could prove more or less useful.
“So...” Apple Bloom said, trying to figure out what she just read.
“So, a plant that like dry sandy or gravel earth, can grow up to to the high of a pony, has spirally leaves and clusters of orange and yellow flowers, and should still be in season... ” She stopped for a moment to think where she could find it.
There were very few small patches of land that were covered in sand or gravel, except for the roads, but she could not recall seeing such plants growing in the middle of the road.
“Well it also says that it can grow near streams. And there is a stream running near Fluttershys, maybe she saw it somewhere... Hummingbirds and butterflies eat its nectar so thats my best bet of finding it.”
She looked around and saw that the library was empty, Twilight must have been upstairs working on something and Spike was in the kitchen, so she put the book back and quietly left.
Somehow, after reaching Fluttershy's cottage that same day, she found the yellow pegasus busy making sure all her animals were there for the night. The two talked briefly and Fluttershy pointed her towards a little place upstream. Apple Bloom wasted no time getting there, and she easily found the plant. After grabbing about half the brush worth and placing it in her saddles, she returned and thanked Fluttershy again, before heading home.
It was already dark when she reached the farm.
After a brief scolding by her sister, she ate dinner and went to her room, but not before taking a glass of water with her and a large piece of string, much to the surprise of the rest of her family.
She tied the flowers with the string, mostly so she wouldn’t forget to take it along tomorrow, closed her door, then placed the glass on her nightstand and climbed into bed.
‘The dragon encyclopedia. Condensed version. By Doctor, Sage’ the title became visible when her wet hoof slid across the cover.
“Condensed version my blank flank!” she said as she read the title for a second time.
“Apple Bloom!” Her sister yelled from downstairs, making the yellow filly turn a lot pinker.
“SORRY!” She yelled back.
Applejack did not respond.
“How the hay am I going to get this done my tomorrow?” she asked in a more quieter tone, so that the rest of the family would not hear her.
“It’s going to be a long night.” she said as she started reading the book.
She dipped her hoof in the water, then used it to make the writing visible. After reading the first couple of pages she fell asleep.
She awake bright and early the next morning, albeit not by choice.
A loud sneeze that seemed to shake the entire house had woken her up. Thinking it was just a dream she tried to go back to sleep, her plan failed when the sneezing sound was heard again, this time a lot louder.
A vase fell and broke upon reaching the floor, and a few framed picture were now crooked or fell down entirely. Three more sneezes came in quick succession almost knocking down the lamp from her stand.
“Uh...” She said as she got out of bed, “Big Mac’s sick again.”
The rest of the family was already in the kitchen. Applejack sat at the table drinking a large cup of coffee, while Granny Smith was at the stove making soup for her sick grandson, a family recipe. The next couple of days would be rough for them, luckily Apple Bloom was leaving for the weekend to go stay at Zecora, the others were not so lucky.
“Hey Apple Bloom, you're going to Zecora today?” Applejack asked after finishing her drink.
“Yeah.” The filly said grabbing a piece of pie.
“Can you ask her is she ain't got any potion for Big Mac?”
“Sure sis, but I won’t be coming back for two days.”
“That’s fine. We can manage for two days..."
She was interrupted by a sneeze that cause a couple of empty jars to fall from their places and shatter on the floor.
“Somehow,” she muttered.
Apple Bloom had finished her breakfast and headed upstairs, back to her room. She put the book in her saddle bags, brushed her mane and tied it with her bow, afterwards she tossed the bags on her back, and left for Zecora's.
The journey was uneventful. Zecora greeted her and the filly spent the better part of her day cleaning and catching up on her reading. After a full day's work Apple Bloom told her how bad her brothers colds could be and asked if she could make him a potion or something.
Zecora declined, but said that she could make it, if she wanted to. Apple Bloom was overjoyed, she was going to make her first potion.
On the second day they got to work.
It was a simple remedy, a few local herbs chopped or grinded, some rare oils and a couple of drops of timberwolf sap. Nothing dangerous, however Zecora made the mistake of letting Apple Bloom tend to the boiling concoction for a couple of minutes while she excused herself.
The overzealous filly stirred faster and faster, until her chair started rocking from the motions.
Zecora returned just in time to save the her from falling into the boiling brew, unfortunately by doing so she had spilled a couple of vials from a nearby shelf into the pot, causing a violent reaction.
The resulting blast knocked Apple Bloom aside and caused fumes to appear from the pot and head towards the closest pony, or in this case zebra. The funes swirled around her a couple of times before making their way into her body by any available orifice.
Zecora fell to the ground and blue mist started emanating from her body, just like sweat would. The mist started forming a cloud around her, and Apple Bloom could notice that Zecora’s body became more and more transparent, until nothing remained except for her golden earrings and neck rings, who promptly fell to the ground.
“Zecora!” She screamed, but as soon as she opened her mouth the cloud flowed into her causing her to choke and cough as her body tried to expectorate the foreign substance.
She did not know why, but, she immediately pulled out a wooden tub and started filling it with various substances from all around the hut, some she never saw before, while others were hidden in secret compartments she had no idea even existed.
As soon as the tub was filled she jumped into it. It was cold, colder than any winter night, cold and sticky. In mere moments every inch of her body was covered in it, from head to tail nothing was spared.
Then came a knock at the door.