Fictionationality - Equestria

by Spirit Guide

Bridle Schmoozing

"Aaaaah."

"Whoa, Spirit. Not so loud and not so close."

"Don't exaggerate, Fang. It was a just sigh of appreciation."

"I agree with Silver; it's a beautiful day today."

"But Silver didn't say it was a beautiful day. He was only correcting Fang."

Spirit smiled as his friends continued to converse. The five of them had shared a relatively quiet breakfast and were now out enjoying the sunlight. The last few days had been a bit wild, introducing Silver to Twilight and the others. Like Rainbow Dash, if not more so, Applejack was a bit suspicious of Silver's new motives but soon came to accept him. Rarity had little to no argument on the topic whereas Fluttershy welcomed him in like a cute critter she'd just found. Pinkie Pie went through the roof with excitement and Spike spent a while hiding in his bed. But Twilight had insisted on studying Silver, from his gaseous body to his vaporous mane and tail to his slitted namesake eyes. Silver, wanting to please Twilight as much as he could, agreed to all her examinations with little argument and found he enjoyed the other ponies' company more than he expected.

"Yes. Sorry Fang. I didn't mean to bother you. You're right Silver, it was a sigh of appreciation because yes, Twilight, it is a beautiful day and thanks, Spike, I find correcting Fang tiresome as he denies anything and everything I say on more than one occasion."

Twilight and Fang burst out laughing, Silver smiled and Spike just looked confused. "I don't get it," he said blankly.

"When you're older, Spike," Fang told him, sidling up beside the smaller dragon. "When you're older."

They arrived at town hall and Silver looked around. "Guys," he asked. "Don't you think it's strange that on the exact same day you ask me to come out into the open that everypony in town is gone?"

Spirit stopped. A quick scan around the center of Ponyville confirmed Silver's statement: there was nopony in sight. The fillies and colts weren't playing in the streets, the older ponies weren't going about their business. The whole place seemed empty.

"Is it some kind of pony holiday?" Fang asked, dropping a rock he had been searching under.

"Not that I know of," Twilight replied.

"Does my breath stink?" Spike wondered. He belched a gout of fire and sniffed.

"Not more than usual," Silver commented, covering his nose and turning away. "Although that probably wouldn't be why anyway."

Spirit squinted down one street and saw a filly standing on a doorstep. The young pony looked up and down the street before a mare pulled her inside the house by the tail. "That's odd," Spirit muttered. "You'd think they were expecting something bad."

Spike blanched. "Is it....... zombies!?" he yelped, not hiding the fear in his voice.

"Ah, hell no, not zombies!" Fang groaned. "I hate zombies. They smell, they don't stay down when you kill 'em and they always hunt in packs."

"Uh... not very likely," Twilight said reassuringly.

"Not likely," Spike repeated, "but possible?"

"It's not zombies, Spike," Spirit guaranteed. "I could smell undead creatures a mile away."

"Whatever it is, it's got all of Ponyville spooked," Silver added.

They walked around town square, Spirit and Twilight using their magic trying to find out anything useful while Spike, Fang and Silver kept their eyes peeled. The quintet gathered together to report their findings, but were interrupted when they heard an ineffectively loud whisper coming from behind them, from a dark and previously quiet Sugarcube Corner.

Pinkie's head was framed in the open top-half of the bakery door. For one second, before disappearing out of sight behind the door. "Twilight!" she hissed in a voice loud enough for them all to hear, popping her head up again and pulling it back in an instant. "Spirit! Spike! Fang! Silver!" Pinkie whispered loudly. She dropped out of sight and gestured with her hoof at them. "Come here!"

The five friends stared at the now-empty doorway in befuddlement. Pinkie opened the bottom half of the door, stuck her head and neck all the way outside and hissed aloud, "Come here! Hurry! Before she gets you!"

Twilight, with Spike on her back, followed Pinkie inside without question, closely followed by Silver and Spirit, who was similarly saddled by Fang. Once inside, they found the entire bakery pitch black. A light shined on the friends' faces, emitting from a flashlight held by Pinkie.

"Who?" Spike asked, gripping Twilight as hard as he could. "The zombie pony?"

"Zooombie pony?" Pinkie uttered dramatically, pointing the flashlight at her face.

Spike cringed and gripped Twilight harder. Spirit groaned and Fang slid of his back. "Spike, there are no zombie ponies," Spirit said reassuringly.

"Why are you alone in the dark, Pinkie?" Silver asked, trying to steer the conversation.

"I'm not alone in the dark," Pinkie said. The bakery lights turned on, revealing the place to be positively occupied. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and, even more unexpectedly, Apple Bloom were all in Sugarcube Corner, everypony looking tense.

"Okay," Silver said, quickly getting over this surprise. "What are you all doing here in the dark?"

Applejack pointed through the curtained windows. "We're hidin' from...... her," she said tensely.

The others joined her and looked out onto the empty streets. Standing in the middle of the dirt road, pawing at the ground with a hoof, was a cloaked equine figure. Its brown, sackcloth-like cloak made it impossible to tell what kind of creature it was, but Spirit recognized the bangles on the figure's leg.

The figure suddenly stopped digging and turned in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Its eyes flashed yellow. The other ponies and Spike quickly ducked behind the walls and windowsill, leaving Spirit, Twilight, Silver and Fang standing alone.

"Gee, what's gotten into all of you?" Fang asked, pulling Pinkie off the wall.

Silver sniffed the air disgustedly. "Fear. That's all I can smell. A whole lot of fear."

"You can smell emotion?" Twilight exclaimed, her eyes glinting.

"Later Twi," Spirit cut in. "Later."

"Oh right. Sorry."

Apple Bloom leapt in between the two unicorns. "Did ya see her?" she asked, looking first at Spirit then at Twilight. "Did you see Zecora?"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack scolded. "I told you never to say that name."

Twilight and Spirit exchanged looks. "All she did was look this way—" Spirit began to say.

"Look evilly this way!" Pinkie interrupted, leaning in.

"And you all flip out for no good reason," Twilight finished for him.

"No good reason?" Applejack cried indignantly, throwing a hoof over Apple Bloom's back. "You call protectin' yer kin no good reason? Why, as soon as mah sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her lil' horseshoes." At this point, Applejack was shaking her Apple Bloom to help emphasize her point.

"Di-i-id no-o-ot," Apple Bloom managed to say.

Applejack ignored this and threw the filly onto her back. "So ah swept her up and brought her here."

"I walked here mahself!" Apple Bloom objected.

"For safe keepin'," Applejack finished.

Apple Bloom jumped off her sister's back. "Applejack, ah'm not a baby! I can take care of mahself!"

"Not from that creepy Zecora," Applejack retorted.

"She's mysterious," Fluttershy said.

"Sinister," Rainbow Dash agreed.

"And spoooooky!" Pinkie hooted.

Ai yai yai Spirit thought to himself. He peered out the window, only for everypony to pile themselves on top and around him to get a good look too. The figure in the street reached up for its hood and flipped it off, revealing a grey-and-white mohawk and huge gold earrings. Everypony else gasped, even Silver.

"Will you cut that out?" Twilight demanded, unimpressed and confused with her friends' overreacting.

"Just look at those stripes!" Rarity complained, diving into something she actually knew about. "So garish."

"What's the biggie?" Fang asked, not seeing the problem. "She's a zebra."

"A WHAT?" This question was magnified by everyone who asked it, being Applejack, Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

"A zebra," Twilight told them, then added, "and her stripes aren't a fashion choice Rarity, they're what she was born with."

When Rarity heard this, she gasped shakily and fell to the floor in an over-melodramatic faint.

Fang tsked loudly. "Spike," he called to the other dragon. "Help me out here."

"Born where?" Applejack asked while the dragons lifted Rarity to her hooves. "I've never seen a pony like that in these parts, 'cept... her!"

"Well, she's probably not from here," Twilight replied. "And she's not a pony. My books say that zebras come from a far away land. But I've never seen her in Ponyville."

"I've seen her before," Spirit declared.

More gasps, this time surprised ones. "Where?" Twilight asked, happy that somepony was supplying crucial information.

"In the Everfree Forest."

CRASH! A loud clatter echoed around the bakery, shaking the floor and scaring everypony. Twilight swung her head in the direction of the kitchen. "Spike!" she yelled angrily. After he had helped Fang with Rarity, the small dragon had sneaked into the kitchen to grab a few treats and knocked over a couple of dishes.

"Uh, sorry," Spike said apologetically, a cupcake in one claw and a candy cane in the other.

"Yeah," Spirit continued, as though nothing had happened. "I saw Zecora in the Everfree on the night of the storm. The manifestation that's now in the Hogwarts Seal was causing her trouble when Silver stepped in." He patted the shadowy pony on the back and Silver smiled. "Then she took off."

"You never mentioned that to us," Rarity said in surprise.

Spirit shrugged. "It didn't seem important at the time. I thought she was just somepony wandering about the forest."

"And anyways, what's the big deal with the Everfree anyways?" Fang inquired. "Whenever I hear somepony talking about it, you'd think it was something a lot worse."

"The Everfree Forest just ain't natural," Applejack explained with deadly seriousness. "The plants grow..."

"Animals care for themselves..." Fluttershy said frighteningly.

"And the clouds move..." Rainbow Dash put in, landing between the other two.

"All on their own!" the three mares chorused.

It was too much for Rarity. She sighed loudly again and fell backwards, this time landing on Silver's back.

"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil... stuff!" Pinkie declared, while Silver seated Rarity in a chair. "She's so evil I even wrote a song about her!"

"Here we go," Rainbow sighed, but Fang leaned forward in anticipation as Pinkie began to sing and jump around the room.

She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out!

Pinkie stood on top of one of the bakery tables, breathing so heavily or stomach rose up and down. The others just stared at her. "Wow," Twilight finally said. "Catchy."

"Interesting composition," Spirit commented.

"It's a work in progress," Pinkie admitted, climbing down from the table.

"What I don't get is what's got you all worried," Spirit went on. "All I've understood is that she's from the Everfree Forest and that's it."

"This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors," Twilight added. "Now tell me; what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?"

"Well..." Rainbow Dash said thoughtfully. "Once a month, she comes into Ponyville."

"Oooooh," Fang exclaimed dramatically, clutching his tail for no particular reason.

"Then, she lurks by the stores," Rarity continued.

"No way," Silver whispered, his vaporous mane swirling in two directions

"And then, she digs at the ground," Fluttershy finished.

"Good gracious!" Twilight uttered. She shot a look at Fang, who's face split into a silly smile. "Okay, I'm sorry," Twilight announced, shaking her head, "but how is any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town to visit?"

"Visiting is good," Fang agreed

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom seconded. "Maybe she's just tryin' to be neighborly."

"As for lurking by the stores," Spirit said, now standing beside the window, "I'm sure we could put that down as going to them, non-lurking. Maybe for some shopping."

"Yeah! Everypony likes to shop," Apple Bloom remarked. "You know what I think?"

"Apple Bloom! Hush an' let the big ponies talk!" Applejack chided.

Apple Bloom walked off. "Ah am a big pony," she said to herself, the sound not escaping Spirit's ears.

"What about digging at the ground?" Rainbow reminded. "You got to admit that's weird."

"Itchy hooves?" Fang offered, still not entirely in.

"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" Fluttershy wondered.

"That's ridiculous," Silver said. "What would a zebra want with something that lives underground?" Behind them, Pinkie started singing her song again.

"I am sure there is an explanation for everything Zecora does," Twilight declared. "And if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, she would find out the truth."

"Buuuuut," Spirit said, his eyes trained on the streets, "nopony has the guts to even attempt such a thing for no other reason than Zecora being different."

"She's more than different," Rainbow Dash shot back. "She's freaky!"

"You ponies are being ridiculous!" Twilight criticized.

"Well," Pinkie said in an undertone, "I heard that Zecora eats hay.

That did it. Fang fell to the ground, laughing so hard smoke was coming out of his nostrils and getting caught in Silver's mane, who had to put a hoof over his muzzle not to join the dragon.

"Pinkie, I eat hay," Spirit pointed out, paying little attention to the conversation. "Twilight eats hay. You eat hay."

"Yeah, but I heard it's the evil way she eats hay."

"There's an evil way to eat hay?" Silver asked incredulously.

Fang shrugged. "Must be how the other manifestations eat."

"Excuse me."

Spirit's words were drowned out by the other ponies and Fang, who had somehow gotten into a deep discussion over the many (and there were many) ways of eating hay. Sighing, he raised his horn and fired a magical outburst of sound, magnified by the room's acoustics. The arguers were immediately silenced and began to rub their aching ears.

"What was that for, Spirit?" Rainbow Dash complained, her head ringing from the noise.

"I really don't mean to interrupt your important discussion," Spirit began, "but we appear to be one pony short."

Applejack looked frantically around the room. "Hey! Where's Apple Bloom?"

Spirit pointed. "Through the open door, most likely."

"She went outside!" Rarity gasped.

"And Zecora's still out there," Rainbow Dash said worriedly.

"That silly lil' filly!" Applejacks sighed. "Ah told her to stay put!"

"C'mon, everypony!" Silver yelled, bounding to the door. "Let's go after her."

Everypony quickly followed him out the door, save for Spirit and Twilight. "Spike," Twilight said to the dragon. "You and Fang stay here in case Apple Bloom comes back."

"Will do!" Spike said dutifully, raising a claw to his cooking pot-helmet in a salute.

"Keep him from raiding the Cakes' kitchen, will you?" Spirit whispered to Fang as he hurried to catch up.

Fang nodded and watched his friend gallop away. He went to the window and caught sight of the eight ponies running off towards the Everfree. "There is evil afoot," he said to Spike, who was cleaning up the mess he'd made as best as he could, "and it's not the zebra."

*

Applejack and Silver led the way into the Everfree Forest, carefully looking for signs of Apple Bloom's passage. The other ponies followed behind them, but Spirit hung back just a bit, his eyes scanning the foliage on either side.

Twilight slowed down a bit to gallop beside him. "What's going on?" she asked Spirit.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "Something feels wrong."

"You mean aside from us chasing Apple Bloom who's gone after Zecora?" Twilight wondered sarcastically.

"I'm just telling you what I felt," Spirit explained, peering through the fog. He shook his head, turned back to the trail and resumed a quick pace with Twilight. "Must've been my imagination."

And that's when a manifestation burst out of the woods and onto the path.

From the brief appearance it made directly in front of the unicorns, Twilight and Spirit distinguished it as a female earth pony manifestation. It cackled and ran towards the others, who dived aside as the black equine ran past them. Silver reacted quickly, stretching out his neck and chomping down on the manifestation's tail. She grunted and picked up speed, dragging Silver along behind her.

"Oh yeah!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying after the manifestations. "Hold on, Silver!"

"Hurry up!" Spirit called, galloping past Rainbow. "I don't know how long Silver can stay with it, but that manifestation may know where Apple Bloom is."

That spurred Applejack instantly. She quickly caught up to Spirit and the other mares followed. They made an interesting procession running though the Everfree. Twilight hurried past the other ponies the run in time with Spirit and Applejack. "What kind of manifestation is it?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," the dark blue stallion replied. "I can't focus too well with my energy being spent on running, but maybe if we could get it to stop—"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Silver yelled as the new manifestation skidded to a sudden halt, whipping her tail around and sending him into a patch of bright blue flowers. Silver slid through the pretty plants like a lawnmower, sending petals and stalks everywhere.

"That'll teach you not to tail me!" the mare manifestation shrieked at Silver.

The other ponies caught up to Twilight, Spirit and Applejack. "Now's our chance!" Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Let's get her!" Applejack muttered in agreement. The two ponies dived at the black equine, Applejack spinning round for a buck and Rainbow Dash kicking in the air, and slammed her aside. Spirit rushed forward while the manifestation was dazed, summoning his staff and charging his magic. When his horn glowed with power, he released it into the staff and conjured a new Seal.

Not pausing to examine the Seal or even wait for it to stop glowing, Spirit flung it at the manifestation. A cloud of bright spots flew towards the earth pony's neck, materializing around it as a rosary of dark beads and teeth with a round pinkish gem. The manifestation rose, snarling angrily. "You," she hissed when she saw Spirit.

"Me," he replied, then smugly said, "Sit!"

The necklace flashed blue and the manifestation crashed suddenly into the ground, creating a nice little indent in the soft forest floor. Spirit walked around the fallen pony as the other mares joined him. "That was awesome," Rainbow cheered. "What is that thing?"

"The Shikon Jewel and the Beads of Subjugation," Spirit explained. He approached the manifestation and poked the necklace. "Although this is more of a Shikon Seal."

"You seem to have a lot of exotic names for objects," Twilight commented.

"As do you." Spirit levitated the manifestation by the Shikon Seal. "This one is tricky. I can't tell what kind of manifestation it is, normal, hex or cursed. Either way, it's caught." He lit his horn and the Seal reacted, quickly and silently sucking the manifestation into the Jewel. The pearl glowed a dark purple momentarily before returning to its original pink color.

"Well, that's that," Rarity sighed contentedly as Spirit slid the Seal over his head and onto his neck.

"But where's Apple Bloom?" Applejack inquired.

"Over here!"

The seven ponies turned. Silver was standing in the patch of flowers, waving at something on the other side. They hurried over to him and saw Apple Bloom a little way past the flowers, carefully following Zecora.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack yelled.

Zecora swung her hooded head around, as did Apple Bloom in surprise and shock.

"You git back her right now!" Applejack demanded.

"Beware! Beware, you pony folk!" Zecora called, slowly stepping backwards into a fog-bank. "Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"

Spirit glanced down at the flowers they were all standing on, but couldn't sense anything particularly strange about them. He'd seen weirder growth than these. Applejack scampered forwards, scooped Apple Bloom onto her back, then retreated towards the other ponies. "Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?" she shouted at Zecora.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie joined her in yelling at the slowly-vanishing Zecora (although Pinkie's were just words she plucked out of her song). It made quite a dissonance, not including the fact that everything they were saying was negative. "Remind me," Spirit whispered to Twilight. "What did Zecora do again?"

"Nothing," Twilight sighed as Zecora shouted another warning. "They're all getting worked up about something that doesn't exist."

"Curses?" Silver trotted over to the two unicorns. "Hate to break it to you Twilight, but curses exist." He squinted at the fog-bank, which Zecora had disappeared behind. "Whether that zebra can induce them or not is another matter."

Twilight couldn't begin arguing with Silver over the existence of curses because Applejack chose that moment to scold Apple Bloom. "And you!" she said to the filly on her back. "Why couldn't you just listen to yer big sister?"

"I...I...," Apple Bloom stammered.

"Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have just put on you?" Applejack went on.

"Just like in my song!" Pinkie realized, then started singing snatches of her song, leaping around in the blue flowers.

"You guys, there's no such thing as curses!" Twilight declared.

"Objection!" Spirit announced, dramatically raising his hoof to the heavens. "Curses are either one of seven spell types, unnatural afflictions passed down in various ways, or one of the three kinds of manifestation. They are not tools of the uncommon zebra living in the woods!"

Rainbow Dash flapped through the flowers towards him and tapped his and Twilight's horns. "While that's interesting and all, it made less sense than what Miss Magic Pants here said," Rainbow teased. "You guys practically live on magic."

Twilight didn't look the least bit deterred. "Our unicorn magic, real magic, comes from within," she explained. "It's a skill your born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic."

"Aah, no," Spirit contradicted. "Curses are very, very real."

"I'm trying to wrap this up," Twilight argued. "Can you at least help?"

"Not if it means lying," the dark-blue unicorn replied. He turned to the other ponies. "If I were to misinform you, that would be wrong so I'll be honest with you: curses exist, but you're all worrying about the wrong pony. Zecora's just an average equine who takes regular walks into town and looks around."

"It's conjured with potions and incantations!" Twilight objected. "All smoke and mirrors meant to scare."

"We came for Apple Bloom," Silver cut in, gently booping the filly. Apple Bloom jumped onto his wispy-looking but solid back. "And we've done just that. I vote we go back to Ponyville and forget about all this. All those in favor, say 'yay'."

"Yay!" came the reply from Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack. They all turned-tail and followed Silver towards the edge of the forest.

"No point being left behind," Spirit said to Twilight. He took one more look at the fog-bank then took off after the others.

Twilight followed him. "But curses have no real power," she insisted once they'd caught up. "They're just an old pony tale.

Applejack looked at Twilight with deadly seriousness. "Just you wait, Twilight," the orange earth pony said. "You're gonna learn that some pony tales really are true."

*

That night was not an easy one for either unicorn residents of the Golden Oak Library. Out of concern, Spirit cast a mental link to Twilight so as to gain a share of what she was thinking. As they lay in their beds, Twilight's mind began leafing through everything that had happened that day: Applejack's last words, the other ponies' shouting, bits of Pinkie's song (more often that not), Zecora's warnings and an evil laugh neither of them could remember hearing. These thoughts kept Twilight and, unknown to her, Spirit, stirring in their sleep for a good part of the night, while their dragon friends slept soundly with no crazy events to disturb them.

Twilight felt almost relieved when sunlight poked through the window and woke her. "Ugh... what a dream..." she groaned groggily. "Curses, schmurses."

She got up from bed and Spirit's eyelids fluttered. "Morning Spirit," Twilight called over when she noticed him stirring.

The stallion nodded dreamily in reply. He yawned, stretched, then recited, "I thank you, living and enduring king, for You have graciously returned my soul within me. Great is your faithfulness." Then he opened his eyes and smiled. "You didn't sleep well last night, did you?"

"Nope. How did you know?" Twilight asked.

Spirit tapped his horn. "Mind link. I thought the past day's events might affect you're subconsciousness." he shifted under the sheets as though scratching an itch he couldn't reach. "I was right."

"Our friends are getting freaked out by make-believe curses," Twilight complained, looking in the mirror. She had horrible bedmane. "The only thing Zecora may have cursed is my hair," she chuckled, levitating her brush to straighten out her mane.

"Yeah," Spirit laughed. "Maybe." His chest was still itching and he flipped over under the blankets.

Twilight eyes widened as she parted her built-up mane. She stuttered and slowly turned around.

"What's up, Twi?" Spirit asked concernedly, sitting up in bed to see. "Found a blue hair in your mane? Is your muzzle too long? Has—"

He stopped short when he saw what was troubling his friend. Twilight's horn was flecked with blue spots and the whole thing flopped over like a rubber willow tree, wiggling when she moved. "What's happening?" she cried, staring up at her flimsy horn.

"Let's have a look." Spirit threw off the covers and started to get out of bed, but overbalanced and flopped onto the floor with a loud crash, waking up Spike and Fang.

"Wuzzgoingon?" Fang muttered, still half-asleep. "Are we under attack?"

"Twilight, I thought I was gonna sleep in today," Spike grumbled, buried under his blanket.

Now Twilight was focused solely on Spirit. Or rather, his torso. Or, to be more precise, where his torso had once been.

"What's going on?" she gasped disbelievingly.

Spirit glanced down at his body, barely raising an eyebrow. From his horn to his front hooves he was still normal, his coat the same dark-blue that pleased him, but beyond that his body had stretched out to three times its length and covered with tiny scales of the same color, the scales on the underside paler than those on top and around. His back hooves and tail were completely gone, his body ending instead with a pointed serpent tail. His cutie mark sat halfway down his elongated body on either side.

Fang shook his head and grinned. "Dude, you look like someone who slipped away from the Inn!" he laughed.

"A what from the where?" Spike questioned, eyeing Spirit's strange form.

"How did this happen?" Twilight asked, sitting down beside her friend and poking his scaly torso. It was warm and muscly like a real snake.

"I could ask you the same question," Spirit said, flicking Twilight's wobbly horn.

Hey guys?" a voice floated up from the library's first floor. It was Silver. "Is everything okay up there?"

"No," replied Spirit plainly and Twilight loudly.

"Should I come up?"

"Yes," Fang called down, still grinning.

Silver's hoofsteps could be heard as he climbed the stairs. When he pushed the door open, both Twilight and Spirit gasped. The manifestation pony's black smoky body had gained the color and texture of butterscotch ice-cream, complete with brown lines running along his sides. His mane still flowed but it looked more like whipped cream than the smoke it once was. His silver eyes showed boredom and a lack of amusement.

"Same boat, huh?" Silver remarked once he saw Twilight's and Spirit's afflictions.

"Yep." Spirit reared up on his scaly torso, doubling his height and slowly regaining his balance.

"There's got to be a reasonable explanation for all this," Twilight mumbled hurriedly.

"Okay," Fang said bemusedly. "What?"

"I don't now yet! Let's go down and see if we can find a book or something." With that, Twilight trotted down the stairs, her speckled horn bouncing to and fro. Spike followed wordlessly and Fang was trying to straighten out his face. Silver slipped down the stairs after them, looking more like a melted sundae slopping down the side of a table. Spirit took a minute to figure out how to move his body.

"There we go," he muttered triumphantly once he had gotten the hang of the scutes on his underside. It had been a while since he'd last had coils. Carefully sliding his right scutes forward and then his left ones, he smoothly slid down the stairs. The others were already picking through the library.

"No no no no no!" Twilight shouted, books strewn all over the floor and table. "None of these books have a cure!"

"'A cure to what?' is the question we should be asking," Fang announced from his perch on the fourth shelf.

"There has to be a real reason for this!" Twilight declared, awkwardly poking her flabby horn. "An illness? An allergy?!"

Spike looked up from the book he was going through. "A curse!"

Twilight frowned. "I said a real reason. Something that points to something real."

"Curses are real!" Silver shouted from underneath the biggest book pile. "Do not underestimate them!"

"Quit it," Spirit muttered, tapping the top of the leather-bound heap where a white wisp poked out. "This is serious and unless you want to look like a tasty dessert forever Silver, I suggest you stop messing and start helping."

Silver poked his head out of the mound. "I am helping," he said smugly.

Spirit shook his head. "Hey, what's that you've got there, Spike?" he asked the dragon.

"This book?" Spike said. "I dunno. Just picked it up when we came down to look for a cure." He handed the book to Spirit.

"Wanna give it a try, Twi?" the stallion asked.

Twilight read the cover. "Supernaturals? Spirit, the word 'supernatural' refers to things like ghosts and spirits and zombies, which are as make-believe as curses."

"Ghosts, spirits and zombies are real toooooo!" Silver howled.

"This book is just a bunch of hooey!" Twilight finished, ignoring the pegasus' comment.

Spirit shook his head again. When will she come to understand? Spike took the book back from the half-serpent stallion and looked at it again. "But what if you're wrong, Twilight?" he wondered. "What if this really is a—"

"Ah pfurse!" Pinkie yelled, appearing with an unpronounced, unclear entrance.

Spike cocked his head. "A purse? How could it be a purse?"

The others stared at Pinkie in horror. The pink pony was completely normal except for one thing: her tongue hung out of her mouth, no longer able to fit inside on account of being swollen several items its normal size. The slimy pink organ was flecked with the same blue spots that were on Twilight's horn and saliva constantly dripped from the end.

"Pinkie!" Twilight said in shock. "What happened?"

"Pee pah Zthecora!" Pinkie spat, spraying spittle everywhere including all over Spike. "Sthe put a cursthe on me!"

"Hey, say it, don't spray it, Pinkie!" Spike said in disgust, wiping the drool from his arms.

Fang flapped down from the shelf to help clean up the smaller dragon. "This is slowly turning into a very interesting day," he said mildly.

"By interesting, you must mean problematic for everypony," Spirit corrected him dryly.

"Uh huh. Can't wait to see what's next. By the way," Fang added, "did anyone catch what Pinkie said?"

Twilight, Silver and Spirit were about to get to analyzing their friend's words when a loud crash shook the tree. They all turned to look at the window, which was empty for a second before being filled with Rainbow Dash's squashed face. She looked as though she had just flown into the glass.

Rainbow Dash flew backwards and zoomed back into the window, talking the whole time. "Ow!" she yelled. "She's — thud — trying to say — ow! — Zecora thud — oh! — crash!" The pegasus smashed down the door and whizzed by — "She slapped us all with a — ow!" — And smashed into a bookshelf, getting herself tangled in the ladder.

"Curse!" Rainbow finished.

Spirit scuted over. Rainbow Dash wasn't flying so great because her wings had flipped over and repositioned themselves on her sides. "And more of this," he said dismally, lifting her up.

"I'm afraid I have to agree," came a voice from the busted doorway, followed by a ffffff of somepony blowing.

Thanks to Rainbow Dash's loud entrance, Rarity, Fluttershy and Apple Bloom had entered the Golden Oak Library unnoticed. Out of the trio, Rarity looked to be in the worse predicament: her mane, tail and even her coat had become frizzy, looking horribly unnatural and obscuring her vision.

Spike cringed at the sight of the white unicorn. Fang, who had finished wiping Spike down, raised his eyebrows. Twilight was slowly looked more and more freaked out by the minute but if Spirit was feeling the same way, he wasn't showing it. Silver seemed to be eyeing Pinkie shrewdly, as if worried the earth pony might try to lick him.

"Aren't we one short?" Fang asked after making a silent headcount.

"Short?" came an high-pitched indignant shout from Apple Bloom. Or rather, behind her. "Was that supposed to be funny?!"

Apple Bloom turned ninety degrees, showing everyone what she was...... carrying. On the filly's back was an apple-sized pony, looking very annoyed yet still formidable. Orange coat, blonde man, Stetson.

"Lemme tell ya: it wasn't!" Applejack yelled, shouting as loud as she could to make up for her tiny stature.

Fang stared at the miniature pony with a mixture of amusement and amazement. Then without warning, smoke gushed out of his nostrils and he fell over backwards, unconscious.

"You," Spirit said slowly, "have got to be kidding me." Rolling his middle coils, he pushed the green dragon back up and sat him down in a chair.

"What happened to Fang?" Rainbow asked, the ladder still stuck around her lower body.

"Nothing to worry about," Spirit promised. "Just a habit of his."

"Whatever could that be?" Rarity asked.

"A cuUUUuuuuUUUUUrse!" Silver moaned, floating around the room like a cloud.

"See, Twilight?" Applejack squeaked, pointed a tiny hoof at the manifestation pony. "Even Silver admits it. It's a curse, Ah tells ya!"

Twilight glanced hastily around the room. "But Fluttershy... seems just fine!" she pointed out.

"Yes, there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with her," Rarity agreed.

Spirit slid over to Fluttershy, curling his long body in a circle around her. Although she looked to be the same and was speaking less than normal, there was something off about the yellow pegasus. "Fluttershy, are you okay?" Twilight asked her. Fluttershy closed her eyes and turned her head in reply.

Silver landed outside the ring of dark-blue scales. "Is there something wrong with you?" he asked. This time, a nod.

"Would you care to tell us?" Spirit coaxed gently. With her eyes screwed shut, Fluttershy attempted to hide herself further.

Twilight frowned. This wasn't going anywhere. "So... you're not going to tell us?" she asked. A short nod from Fluttershy. "Yes you're not, or yes you will?" Twilight tried to understand. Head shake.

Applejack had grown tired of the half-conversation going on so, jumping off Apple Bloom's back and onto the table, she got as close as she could to Fluttershy and yelled, "Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you?!"

Fluttershy stared in shock at the tiny pony. "I don't want to talk about it," she said softly. In a voice that was low, deep and, above all, male. It reminded Spirit of Erebyss.

The moment Fluttershy spoke in her new voice, the world seemed to crack. Well, for the dragons at least. Spike burst out laughing and Fang snapped back into reality and he too roared with mirth. Twilight and the other ponies, who were likewise afflicted, didn't see much to laugh about.

"This is hilarious!" Spike laughed.

"You're telling me!" Fang snorted, holding his sides. "Let's see what we've got: Hairity—"

"—Rainbow Crash—"

"—Spitty Pie—"

"—Apple Teeny—"

"—Flutterguy—"

"—Silver Sundae—"

"—Slither Guide—"

"—and......" Spike stopped, stared at Twilight's horn and gave up. "I got nothing. 'Twilight Sparkle'. I mean seriously, I can't even work with that."

"We'll think of something," Fang said.

"Aha ha ha," Twilight laughed sarcastically. "Both of you, stop it. Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure!"

Spike groaned. Fang draped a wing around him. "C'mon Spike. Let's go look for a 'cure'."

Rainbow Dash succeeded in pulling herself out of the ladder and flew into the air. "I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!" she said surely, hovering awkwardly.

"It's not a curse!" Twilight shouted at her. Rainbow zipped backwards and crashed again.

"I agree with Dash!" Applejack announced from the table. "We'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex!"

"Make up your mind please," Silver requested, holding his sprinkled head in his hooves. "There is a difference, you know."

"It's not a hex either!" Twilight argued.

The ponies all began to argue on what they should do next, Spirit trying not to get involved but eventually got swept up into the discussion. Apple Bloom watched the older ponies bicker. "This is all mah fault," she said to herself sadly. "If Ah hadn't followed Zecora in the first place, none of this woulda happened. Ah just gotta fix this." She turned towards the door and began to walk out.

Applejack had just squeaked her opinion at Silver when she saw Apple Bloom leaving out of the corner of her eye. "Now where does she think she's goin' this time?" Applejack wondered. Leaving her argument behind, the tiny mare leapt over several books and into her little sister's tail, out of sight.

The others were so busy quarreling and 'reading', they'd failed to notice both Apples disappearing on them. "I don't care what you say, Twilight!" Rainbow shouted, hovering with her back legs sticking outwards. "It's time to pony up and confront Zecora."

"Who said it was Zecora?" Spirit challenged.

"Well, who else could it be?" Rarity asked.

"The manifestation we caught the other day." The unicorn stallion leaned back and rested on his coils. "I didn't have time to check it but it may have been a manifestation of a higher level: either hex or cursed. If that's the case, then Zecora can be ruled out."

"But pfwe paptured it, plike oo sthaid!" Pinkie reminded.

"Yeah, it didn't have time to do anything," Rainbow Dash agreed. "We stopped it quick. Zecora's the one behind this!" She turned to the others. "Come on, girls. Are you with me?"

"Ah am-pft!" Pinkie replied.

"And I as well," Rarity said from behind her curtain of dreadlocks.

Fluttershy looked down. "Uh, I don't know. Seems awfully dangerous," she said shyly, which sounded pretty ridiculous in her changed voice. So much in fact that the dragons could barely hold back their giggles.

"How about you Applejack?" Rainbow continued. She looked at the table where the farmpony had been standing. "Applejack?"

"Pf-she's gone-pft!" Pinkie stated obviously, sending everypony into panic-mode.

Rarity screamed. "Or somepony stepped on her!" She lifted her hoof to check, as did everypony else, although Spirit could only check his existing front legs.

Twilight flinched. "Or sat on her?" That got everypony checking their flanks, which received a barely stifled laugh from Fang.

Rainbow Dash looked up from staring at her cutie mark. "Rarity's hair!" she cried, designating another possible locating for the missing mare.

Pinkie took to the task with gusto, pushing the fashionista's frizzy mane and fur around. Needless to say, Rarity did not enjoy being handled so. "Pinkie, what are you doing?" she cried as the pink pony poked around. "You ever hear of personal space?"

"Nopthe."

"Apple Bloom is gone too!" Twilight noticed.

"I bet they went after Zecora," Rainbow said.

"I don't," Spirit replied. "But they've probably gone to the same place: the Everfree Forest."

Twilight stepped towards the door. "Well we better go find them. Come on everypony, let's go." She walked outside, closely followed by Spirit, Fluttershy and Silver, who were the only ponies not being delayed. Rarity was stuck because Pinkie was standing on one of her mop-like coat hairs and Rainbow Dash was flying upside-down on the floor with her mane sweeping the floor in an acceptable imitation of a low-ground hovercraft.

"Hey, a little help here?" the cyan pegasus yelled.

"Oopsie," Fluttershy uttered. She and Pinkie stopped to help her up. "Sorry."

Rainbow Dash buzzed her wings and zipped headlong into the wall, missing the doorway and leaving a pony imprint on the inside of the tree. She righted herself, smiled apologetically at the two mares who'd helped her up and flew out the door. Fluttershy looked over at the table, where the dragons were looking over Supernaturals. Uh... Spike? Fang? Are you guys coming?"

Resisting the hilarity of her voice, Fang replied without looking up, "Nope. We're gonna... um...."

"Keep looking for a cure!" Spike spoke up.

"Yes, a cure!" Fang agreed, nodding furiously.

Fluttershy exchanged looks with Pinkie Pie, shrugged, and the two ponies left. Once they were alone, Fang sighed. "That was a close one."

"Tell me about it," Spike said. He scratched his chin with his quill. "So, you got something yet?"

Fang cricked his neck. "How about 'Twilight Flopple'?"

*

Twilight, Spirit and the other affected ponies ran as fast as they could, ignoring the Ponyvillians going about and eyeing them, towards the Everfree. They galloped into the dark woods, keeping their eyes open for any sign of Applejack or Apple Bloom.

"Okay Spirit," Twilight said. "If we find Zecora before we find the others, what should we do?" She waited a minute before realizing there was no reply. "Spirit?" Twilight looked around and found that the unicorn stallion was no longer running beside her. In fact, he was nowhere in sight. "Where did Spirit go?" she called back to the other ponies.

"He went down the other path when we passed that fork," Silver told her, catching up. "He said something about our chances being better of finding Applejack and Apple Bloom if we split up. And speaking of which," he added as they neared another fork.

"Shouldn't we all stick together?" Rarity asked, tripping over her coat for the 4th time.

"Only if you feel uncomfortable going alone," Silver replied. "I'm actually used to it. You girls keep going, I'll go this way." And he flared his chocolate-syrup wings and zoomed down the other trail.

"I hope he's right," Twilight said, watching the manifestation disappear into the forest. "But then again, if we do spread out, our chances of running into them are higher."

Hairity nodded in agreement. "The faster we find Applejack and her sister, the sooner we can find a solution to all our..... mishaps."

"I'm telling you," Rainbow said, struggling to hover straight, "it's Zecora! We oughta go right to her and—"

"Whatever we do, it should be after we find the others," Twilight said sternly. "And I'm still doubtful over this whole curse thing."

"We'l phsettle eveweypshing onpshe phwe find plem," Pinkie yelped, her tongue trailing behind her like a dog as she ran.

"We'd better hurry then," Flutterguy agreed

"Come on, girls," Twilight said to them. The five mares went back to running, glancing here and there for a speck of orange or a sight of yellow among the trees and bushes. Rarity kept falling over and Rainbow Dash could barely control her flight, yet she refused to trot like the others.

"Hey, wait for me!" she yelled as she whizzed off the path again. Rainbow soared through the trees, grunting in pain as the branches pulled at her. When she made it through, she found herself flying along a different path with nopony on it. She looked right and saw Apple Bloom hurrying along.

"Hey! AB!" Rainbow Dash called. But the filly didn't reply; she just kept of running. While Rainbow tried to figure out why Apple Bloom didn't hear her, she zoomed through a bush and crashed into yet another tree, knocking the top half down and falling onto the rather plush leafy foliage.

Rainbow groaned. Well she tried, but something in her mouth prevented her from making a sound. The thing inside shifted and a saliva-sodden Applejack poked out between her lips.

"Rainbow!" she squeaked, sounding relieved. "Thank Celestia!"

Rainbow Dash was about to ask her to get the hay out when she heard a slithering nearby. She turned her head, her mouth still full of Applejack, and watched the forest apprehensively. Applejack caught on and she too turned as much as she could, balancing her hooves on Dashie's teeth. With barely a sound, Slither Guide slipped out of the darkness, his eyes shining like blue flashlights. He turned his gaze on the two ponies, one normal and the other tiny, and a look of surprised amusement appeared on his face.

"No way," he mumbled, a wry smile playing on his face. Spirit chuckled, shook his head and quickly slid towards them. Then, leaning in close, he asked, "Whatcha up to, Applejack?"

"What am Ah up to?" the tiny pony repeated. "Ah'm up to mah flank in Dashie's drool, that's what!" She shook, trying to get free of Rainbow's mouth.

"Here, let me help you." Spirit curled his body for balance and reached out a hoof. Applejack grabbed it with her forelegs and Spirit tugged her out of Rainbow's maw, placing her gently on his shoulder.

Rainbow Dash hovered off of the bush and spat. "I hope that never happens again," she mumbled.

"Who're you to complain?" Applejack grumbled. "You're not the one who was—"

"Girls, quit it," Spirit cut in. "Fighting about it will not change our situation."

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "Finding Zecora will, though."

Spirit sighed. "You're probably right."

Applejack and Rainbow stared at him. "Really?" Applejack wondered. "Ah thought you said that the manifestation was the one who did it."

"Yes, I did say that. But while we were in the library, I discovered that the manifestation we caught was too weak to put lingering effects on ponies, especially not ones such as these." He gestured to their conditions. "I've been taught not to seek out or allow witchcraft and although I've encountered many types of unnatural talents, this is the kind which the laws I follow forbid."

"Does this mean we're going after Zecora?"

Spirit nodded. "With any luck, we'll find Apple Bloom on the way or Silver will."

"Aw yeah! Then let's go." Rainbow Crash flapped her misplaced wings and flew on ahead of them, just missing another tree, closely followed by Apple Teeny and Slither Guide.

Applejack snagged a creeper, some leaves and a branch and fashioned a makeshift bit and reins which she stuck onto Spirit's muzzle. Then, mounting his head, she pulled on the reins and yelled, "Come on, Spirit! We gotta get to Zecora's. Giddyup pony!"

Spirit sighed. "I should've known."

Applejack, sensing noncooperation, jabbed her back leg into Spirit's ear, causing him to rear suddenly on his snake body and quickly zip forwards. "YEEE-HAW!"

*

Twilight, Flutterguy, Hairity and Spitty Pie had arrived in a clearing where a large tree dominated. It was hollowed out and planted all around it were strange masks. Colored bottles hung from its branches and the whole place gave off an aura of mystery and other-worldliness.

"Oh," Rarity whimpered. "I look horrible!" While they were running, leaves and twigs had caught in her locks and she looked overly bedraggled.

Pinkie pushed the unicorn's obscuring hair out of her eyes. "Plis place plooks horrible!" she dribbled.

Oh my," Rarity mumbled in agreement. "That place really does look horrible."

Twilight sneaked over to the window, followed by the others, and they peaked in. The inside of the tree was filled with even more bottles and masks, hanging from the walls and sitting on shelves. In the middle of the room sat a large boiling cauldron full of a bubbling green liquid. "Nice decorations," Rarity commented sarcastically. "if you like creepy!"

Suddenly, the door opened. Zecora walked in, no longer wearing her cloak, with a small jar in her mouth. She looked even more alien with her gold bangles and earrings, strangely braided tail and mohawk. The ponies quickly ducked out of sight (all except Pinkie) as the zebra stepped towards the cauldron, tipped her jar and poured in a number of small purple particles. Then she began to chant over the steaming concoction.

Pinkie zipped from the window. "Sthe sthtole my sthong! Shthe shtole mm mm!" she spewed.

"She stole your song?" Hairty inquired.

"Oh Pinkie," Twilight said. "It doesn't sound anything like your song."

"Ah. Hmm..." Pinkie struggled to say, but failed. She slid along the ground towards Fluttershy and grabbed her leg. "Pbth!" she whimpered, looking up at the pegasus with big sad eyes.

Flutterguy sighed. She knew what her friend wanted. So, while Pinkie made up for her lack of voice with a dance, she sang,

She's an evil enchantress
And she does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She will put you in trances
Then what would she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out.

Rarity pointed her hoof at the window. "You saw those terrible things. Now do you believe us Twilight?"

Twilight frowned unsurely and listed the signs. "Scary looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldron?" She sighed in defeat. "Everything is pointing to Zecora being... bad. Or..." she said suddenly, "what if Zecora is just making soup?"

And that's when the zebra licked the concoction, 'mmm'd contentedly and said, "The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?"

"Or..." Twilight said, fearing the worst, "what if she's making Apple Bloom soup?!"

The four ponies glanced at each other in horror and simultaneously burst out screaming, Fluttershy's bass voice sounding strangely odd mixed in with the wails of the other mares.

"I'm comin' for ya, Apple Bloom!"

Without warning, the door to Zecora's hut crashed open and Rainbow Crash soared through, closely followed by a Slither Guide-mounted Apple Teeny. Rainbow flew around the hut like a mad firefly, bumping into walls and knocking things over. Zecora shouted in her native language as Applejack steered Spirit behind the zebra, using her reins to make him rear.

Twilight and the other ponies charged through the door. "What have you done with Apple Bloom?" Twilight demanded.

"No! No!" Zecora yelled, ignoring the new arrivals. She babbled in her native tongue as Rainbow Crash continued to tear about the room. Applejack twisted her reins and Spirit wrapped his middle coils around the zebra, holding her in place. Then the tiny pony threw a lasso and slipped it over Zecora's ear, which she jumped on and began to wrestle with, much to both Zecora's and Spirit's surprise.

Zecora turned her head to the mares in the doorway, as the rest of her body was caught. "Ponies! What is this you—" But she stopped when Rainbow crashed into the cauldron, sending the contents across the floor.

"No!" the zebra cried out. "You know not what you do! You've gone and spilled my precious brew!"

"We're onto you Zecora," Twilight said indignantly. "I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!"

"You made me look ridiculous," Hairty whined.

"You made me sound ridiculous!" Flutterguy stated.

"Pthou pade me ptheak plidicpulous!" Spitty Pie sprayed.

"You ruined my horn!" Twilight Flopple accused.

"You altered my form!" Slither Guide complained.

"You made me miniscule!" Apple Teeny grumped.

"You messed up my flying!" Rainbow Crash yelled.

Zecora stood up. "How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?" Indeed, when she put it that way, it made the ponies seem like the wrongdoers.

But Rainbow Dash heard none of this. "You put this curse on us, now you're gonna uncurse us."

"It is unwise to venture down this road," Zecora said dangerously, stomping a hoof. "Your actions will make my anger explode!"

"Where is Apple Bloom!?" Twilight demanded again, leaning towards the zebra. The otehr ponies were about to join in when they heard voices from outside.

"So, that's how it happened?" came a male voice

"Uh huh. It's all just a big misunderstandin'," said a younger, more feminine voice.

"Well, this should fix everything up."

"An' here we are." Acting as though everything was perfect, Apple Bloom and Silver stepped into the hut, the later bearing saddlebags that looked more suited for the filly. "Zecora!" Apple Bloom called. "I think I found all the things ya asked for." She stopped and looked around at the general chaos. "What in Ponyville is goin' on here?"

"What a mess," Silver Sundae said blandly.

Applejack gasped. "Apple Bloom!" she cried from her perch on Zecora's head. "You're okay!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" the filly asked innocently.

Twilight dashed in front of her protectively. "Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!"

Apple Bloom and Silver stared wide-eyed across the room at Zecora, who stared back with equal astonishment. Then all three started to laugh. "Oh Twilight," Apple Bloom giggled. "Did those silly fillies finally git in yer head? Sure, there are curses, but this isn't one of 'em."

Twilight smiled kindly. "Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse." She pointed at the other ponies.

Apple Bloom walked past the seven affected equines towards Zecora and said, "This isn't a curse."

"If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact," Zecora said mysteriously. "I advised you to beware but you did not take great care."

"It was a warnin'," Apple Bloom explained. "About that blue plant. It's called Poison Joke."

"It's a bit like poison oak," Silver offered, "but has another way of working."

"What in the hay does that mean?" Apple Teeny questioned.

Zecora looked up at the tiny mare. "It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh."

Applejack deadpanned. "Will somepony please talk normal?"

"I think what she's saying is that when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the Poison Joke," Twilight figured.

"No wonder I felt something weird about those plants," Spirit said.

"All our problems are just little jokes it played on us," Silver announced.

"Little jokes?!" Applejack cried out. "Very funny."

Rainbow Crash still looked skeptical. "But what about the cauldron?"

"And the chanting?" Flutterguy added.

"And the creepy decor?" Hairity felt the need to ask.

"Treasures of the native land where I am from," Zecora informed, pointing to the different masks. "This one speaks 'hello', and this 'welcome'."

"Now, that's a language I've got to learn," Spirit said wistfully.

"Not welcoming at all, if you ask me," Rarity muttered nonchalantly.

"The words I chanted were from olden times," Zecora went on. "Something you call a nursery rhyme."

"Is that really what we think of old sayings?" Silver wondered.

"Uh uh," Spirit replied.

"But the cauldron," Twilight remembered. "The Apple Bloom soup?"

Silver looked amazed. "Did she really say that?"

"Well," Flutterguy said slowly. "Sort of... not exactly."

"Looky here, Twilight." Apple Bloom pointed at an open book on Zecra's still-standing table. "That pot of water wasn't for me, it was for all these herbal ingredients. The cure for poison joke is a simple old-natural remedy." She held out her hoof and helped her sister off Zecora's head. "You just gotta take a bubble bath!"

Spirit peered over Twilight's shoulder. "Too simple to be real," he muttered, "but here it is."

"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything," Twilight said. "What book has this natural remedy?"

Zecora closed the book and showed them its cover. It was Supernaturals. "Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library."

Twilight and Spirit exchanged looks. "The answer was under our noses the whole time," Spirit said bitterly. "I'm disappointed with myself."

"We do have this book," Twilight recalled, "but I didn't look inside because the title was so... Weird." She read from the book. "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super."

"We messed up," Spirit informed the other ponies.

"I'm so sorry, Zecora," Twilight apologized, lowering her head. Spirit wrapped her in a comfort hug. "We had the answer the whole time, if only we had bothered to look inside."

The zebra smiled and chuckled. "Maybe next time you will take a second look," she said to the ashamed ponies before her, "and not judge the cover of the book." Apple Bloom laughed at the funny-sounding message.

"Zecora, would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?" Twilight asked.

"Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville."

"But whenever Zecora comes to town, all the shops are mysteriously closed," Apple Bloom reported.

"Can't imagine why," Rainbow Dash seriously.

"What do you think, Twilight?" Spirit asked, loosening his coils. "Think we can solve this?"

Twilight looked at their friends. "I think we can come up with something."

*

Daisy, Rose and Lily were setting up bouquets outside the flower shop for the customers. Suddenly, Daisy saw a group of ponies coming up the road, all of them looking very strange. And between them was—

"Look, Rose! How awful!" she cried.

Rose looked. "The wicked enchantress has cursed them all."

"The horror, the horror!" Lily screamed, throwing Ponyville into panic mode. Ponies ran hither and dither, rushing to get to the safety of their homes. Within seconds, the town was deserted. Again.

Sighing, Twilight led the party to the flower shop and Spirit knocked on the door. A frightened Daisy opened the door a crack.

"Find any snakes in the flower beds?" Spirit joked, twirling his long body behind him.

Twilight slapped him lightly. "Daisy, we need to talk."

*

With a little coaxing and a lot of explaining, the news of Zecora's true colors spread quickly throughout the town. The desired herbs were brought to the spa, which had the only bath big enough for eight ponies in need of a remedy. A separation was placed in the bath to divide the mares from the stallions. Spirit, however, refused to wash off the effects of the Poison Joke until after he had said his morning prayers, which, in their rush to the Everfree, he had forgotten to do and was very upset about it. Once he had completed his service, he slipped in and joined the others.

"Aaah," he sighed peacefully as he slipped the last of his coils into the water. "Lord, bless us all."

Silver dunked and when he resurfaced, he had regained his black smoky form. His mane, not being wet at all, resumed its flowing habit. Pinkie belly-flopped into the water, splashing everypony and reducing her tongue to its normal but still obnoxious size. Twilight's horn straightened and strengthened, losing its spots. Rarity's hair curled back into place. Fluttershy's voice became soft. Rainbow's wings slid back to her shoulders and she whizzed around the room before landing gently in the bath. On the edge, Apple Bloom and Zecora continued to pour in various herbs and ingredients.

Lotus, one of the spa ponies, walked over. "Miss Zecora," she said politely, "I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!"

Suddenly, Apple Bloom cried out. "Hey, where's Applejack?!"

That sent the mares into a panic. They splashed around, hoping that they didn't accidentally squash the farmpony. Spirit watched them for a moment more before announcing, "Calm down, girls." He lit his horn and levitated a small tub full of water. Applejack was jammed into it, full sized and smug.

"Ah'm right here, little sis," she said. " I ain't tiny no more!"

Spirit tipped the tub, spilling Applejack into the bath and sending water everywhere. Spirit grinned and started laughing. The others joined in, happy to be back to normal. "I know what I'm going to be writing to Celestia about today," Twilight said contentedly.

"I'm glad your happy, Twilight," Spirit replied, his thoughts wandering as he laughed with the others. "But I do hope Luna will feel up to seeing me."

Don't worry, Spirit," Twilight said comfortingly, reaching across the separation. "I'm sure it will be soon."

Spirit smiled. "Me too. Thanks."

Their quiet exchange was interrupted by a sudden wave of water. Fang stood on the edge of the tub, a now-empty bucket poised in his claws. Spike stood next to him, also holding a bucket, this one full. "Are you ready?" Fang asked rhetorically, for in his mind, the decision was made.

Twilight and Spirit exchanged looks, smiled and started up their magic together. The dragons' buckets whipped around, knocking them into the water. Everypony laughed as Spike and Fang squirted water and shook themselves from the surprise sneak-attack.

Author's Note:

I can see the rest of the show-based chapters are gonna be draaaaaaaagged out so I'm going to apologize now to all those who don't like reading a lot of words.

Comments

[Ink Sword]

Not bad, it's good to get an update.

[Spirit Guide]

5420144 It's a pleasure to update

[Ink Sword]

5420243 random question, have you heard about Artem Yegorov?

[Spirit Guide]

5420248 Ehhhh, I'm gonna have to say no.
Why?

[Ink Sword]

5420314 He is just a good musician. [youtube=27XBU7OuFCY] Tell me what you think of it.

[Spirit Guide]

5420327 Nice
Not something I would jump for joy about, but it's pleasing

[Ink Sword]

5420364