“Here’s your soup sis. I had to get some help and no it wasn’t Sweetie Belle.” Aegis Flare started to chuckle at her sister’s joke but it soon dissolved into a hacking cough. She partially regretted going off into the Everfree before being fully recovered from her magical burnout and then immediately being caught out in a storm. She was glad that she had taught her sister how to cook a bit for herself though her it was nice having friends that could help.
Granted she was a bit wary when Pinkie Pie showed up earlier but she was relieved when she didn’t cause issues and just helped and cleaned up a bit. It was unusual to see the pink pony not bouncing around in excitement but seeing her like this made her feel special somehow. She hadn’t shown up recently though so she was guessing that she had left after she finished helping Scootaloo cook the soup.
As her she helped her sister eat her soup, Scootaloo was thinking of how she else she could help her. Looking around the room she took note of the various things she kept around it for when she went out into the Everfree forest. Looking at the various dried flowers and fruit her eyes finally settled on a mask that stood out from the rest of the objects. “Hey Sis, you said that your friend Zecora makes all kind of potions right? Do you think that she would have something that could help you?”
Aegis Flare savored the taste of the soup as it soothed her dried throat as she pondered the question. Since it hurt a bit to talk she just nodded to her sister until she noticed what she did and brought a hoof up to her face. When she removed it she saw her sister bouncing around and she interrupted her by rapping the side of the bowl with her spoon.
After getting her sister’s attention the two stared at each other and eventually she just sighed and pointed towards a set of saddlebags on the side of the room. Scootaloo looked confused for a moment before she realized what her sister meant causing her to roll her eyes. “Right, right, be prepared for anything. You don’t have to keep reminding me you know, I always remember that.” At her sister’s smirk and raised eyebrow she sighed and corrected herself. “All right so I forget about it sometimes.”
Under her sister’s watchful eye she gathered up various things from around the room. As she was about to leave her sister made another sound and she sighed before turning back once more. Scootaloo saw her sister pointing across the room at one more object and she followed the direction of the hoof to a pair of goggles. Moving over to them she reverently picked them up and hung them around her neck before turning back to see her sister nod. With that she heads out the door and on her way to the Everfree Forest.
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“If I may be so bold, you have nothing more than a simple cold. With a potion made outside of the light, you will be able to put up such a fight.” The zebra, Zecora, stood at the side of the sick unicorn’s bed as she offered her a bottle of the strange substance she had mixed up. Scootaloo watched from just outside of the room in curiosity as she hadn’t met the striped equine before and only had what her sister told her to go on, as well as the false rumors from the rest of town.
Looking at the zebra from behind the young filly couldn’t really see what all the talk was about as she seemed rather normal other than her propensity for talking in rhymes. She was a bit conflicted though as what she saw and her sister said conflicted with some of the things she had heard from her idol. She kept an eye on her the entire time she was there just to be on the safe side but everything seemed to be going well.
Soon enough her sister was asleep and she escorted the zebra to the door where she watched her head off towards the center of town. Heading back upstairs she looked at the now sleeping form of her sister before pulling up the blanket to fully cover her form with it. Heading over to the door, Scootaloo gave a final look at her sister before going downstairs to make a meal for herself since she hadn’t eaten much that day.
vvvvvvv
Pinkie Pie watched as the cloaked figure left the home of her friend and started towards the center of town. Seeing no sign of movement within she let out a gasp and ran off towards Sugarcube Corner to warn the rest of her friends before the zebra could arrive.
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The next morning Aegis Flare was feeling better than ever as she nearly bounced around her home with excess energy. While she couldn’t say much about the taste of the potions, the things that Zecora made definitely worked extremely well and often better than anything in the Ponyville hospital. She stepped outside of her home to take in the warmth of the sun when she saw one of the oddest sights ever.
Running down the street she caught the sight of Fluttershy and another pony running in the direction of the library. She was pretty sure that the other pony was Rarity from the colors, but for some reason she looked like a walking carpet. “What did I miss while I was down with that cold?”
After letting Scootaloo know where she was going, as well as why, she took off after the two at a more sedate pace. She didn’t see anything else that was strange as she moved through the town which made her even curious about what was going on. As she reached the library she bumped into Applebloom as she was leaving in a way that looked as if she was sneaking out for some reason. “Hey, Applebloom. Where are you off to?”
She was immediately suspicious when the filly wouldn’t meet her eyes as she had learned her poor lying skills from her sister. “I’m not going anywhere. Why would I be following after Zecora alone?” The unicorn wondered what she was talking about but a voice from the filly’s butt answered her.
“Ah knew it! Ah told you ta stay away from her, Apple Bloom! How dare you disobey me on this again!?” The two turned to look in that direction to see a tiny Applejack crawl out of her tail and stand on her rear looking a tad angry. Aegis Flare had to cover her mouth with a hoof to contain a laugh before she shook her head.
“Come on you two; let’s get inside so you can tell me what happened though I think I might have an idea. Besides a filly really shouldn’t be running around in the Everfree alone, especially if they don’t know the way there.” Apple Bloom tried to protest as she was pushed back inside the library and tried to argue how she had seen others go in there alone but it all fell on deaf ears. When the unicorn closed the door and looked up to see the rest of the room she froze in place.
The five ponies in there just stared at her as she took everything in and looked a bit confused when the corner of her mouth starting twitching. She tried to avert her eyes but happened to look at the tiny pony again before taking in the obvious problems but when Fluttershy let out a manly sounding “Eep!” she couldn’t hold it any longer and broke down laughing.
The six changed ponies all look at her with a mixture of surprise and a deadpanned look as they never expected to see her like this and weren’t amused by her laughing. Their gazes shifted as Spike joined in on the laughter and walked up to her. “I know right? I mean look! Flutterguy, Spittie Pie, Rainbow Crash, Hairity, and Appleteenie! I’m still working on Twilight though, not much to work with there but I’m leaning towards Twilight Flopple.”
With each successive name Aegis Flare’s laughter got even stronger until she had to lie on the floor pounding her hoof as she tried to regain control of herself. “I don’t see what is so amusing about all of this. While I’m not sure why Zecora didn’t get you with this curse since Pinkie saw her at your place but could you please stop laughing and help us?”
Aegis Flare tried to glare at Rarity for her words, but each time she looked at her it caused her laughter to restart. She closed her eyes and tried to avoid looking at them all as she took a few deep breaths trying to get under control again while. When she heard Twilight complain about “there not being such things as curses” she pointed a hoof at her and tried to make sounds of agreement.
Eventually she was able to stop laughing as Apple Bloom brought her a glass of water which she drank before settling back into her usual controlled look. “Oh, I can’t believe that you still don’t believe me when I say that there is nothing wrong with Zecora. What all happened while I was sick to cause all of this?”
She sat there listening as they retold what had happened through all of yesterday and how they had all gathered together today. She traded looks with Apple Bloom and rolled her eyes during Pinkie Pie’s song, sung by Fluttershy which stole another chuckle from the unicorn, then sighed when they finished. “I’m guessing that Apple Bloom never touched those flowers that Zecora warned you about. It’s a good thing that Spike already found the book explaining things.”
She pointed at the book that she had noticed Spike had in his arms which drew some odd looks, especially from Twilight. “But that’s a book on creatures like ghosts and the like, isn’t it?” Aegis Flare looked at the cover of the book again and groaned as she realized what Twilight was talking about.
“Oh how I really want to give a talking to with the editor of this book for allowing that title through. Twilight, the N is capitalized making it Super Naturals, not Supernaturals. Spike, which section did you find this in?” He pointed towards where he found the book and Twilight looked to see that it was from the botany section causing her to facehoof.
Flipping open the book, the orange unicorn showed them the page on poison joke which told them exactly how the plant worked. They all calmed a bit when they read it though only Twilight seemed to understand what it all meant. “Where are we supposed to get all of these ingredients at a time like this? Some of these could take weeks or even months to get sent here.”
They all looked wary when Aegis Flare smirked at them all. “Well it just so happens that I know an alchemist who has most of these already. In fact she helped me with my illness yesterday and probably deserves an apology from somepony for being a very poor neighbor.”
The five that had lived in Ponyville the longest looked a bit ashamed when she tossed a small glare at them but they still filed their way outside. As Twilight walked next to her she paused for a moment. “How did you know about what had happened to us anyways? These plants can’t be all that common, can they?”
She considered not saying anything as she lifted Apple Bloom onto her back but decided it wouldn’t be fair after her laughing. “The day before I first met Zecora I ran into a patch of poison joke myself. She helped cure me of the problems as well but before then every time I tried to use magic my horn would spray a small torrent of water all over me.” She glances over at Spike and tosses a slight grin. “I believe the nickname Aegis Flush would be appropriate, don’t you?”
Twilight rolled her eyes at her as they left Spike behind with him laughing hysterically at them.