Afterlife

by Star Sparkle

Day 12: Poison Pony

I woke up while I heard books as they flew off the shelves, but as I opened my eyes, I felt something in my mouth, I chewed a little bit, it was soft, I remembered the plush from yesterday, I took it out of my mouth and saw it was the bunny, now with some chewing marks on its right ear, alongside some drool. As I felt embarrassed about what I did I tossed the plush to the floor and got up.
Once on the floor, I kicked the plush under the bed and walked into the living room, but as Twilight and Spike were not there, I heard books as they flew off the shelves and slammed on the floor and I followed it downstairs.

I saw Twilight and said ‘’Good morning big sis, what are you doing?‘’

She turned to me and said ‘’Star, this is not a ‘good’ morning.‘’ While she pointed at her horn, it was wobbly and had blue spots on it.

I got confused and asked ‘’What happened?‘’

‘’I don’t know, help me look for a cure.‘’ I nodded and she levitated a couple of books over to me and I skimmed each book.

After about half an hour, I had looked through four books as Twilight called out ‘’No, no, no, no, no! None of these books have a cure. Star, have you found anything?‘’

‘’Not yet.‘’

Twilight just groaned while she said ‘’There has to be a real reason for this! An Illness? An allergy?!‘’

Spike held a green book and suggested ‘’A curse!‘’

‘’I said a real reason -- something that points to something real.‘’

Spike showed Twilight the book as he asked ‘’How about this one?‘’

Twilight got closer and said ‘’’Supernaturals’? Spike, the word ‘Supernatural’ refers to things like ghosts and spirits and zombies, which are as make-believe as curses. This book is just a bunch of hooey.‘’

I walked over to him as Spike asked ‘’But what if you’re wrong, Twilight? What if this really is a…‘’

‘’A pfhurse!‘’ I heard from behind me and saw Pinkie. Now next to Twilight I looked at Pinkie and saw her tongue was swollen and with blue spots, just like Twilight’s horn.

Spike then asked ‘’A purse? How could it be a purse?‘’

‘’Pinkie!‘’ Twilight asked ‘’What happened to you?‘’

Pinkie wasn’t helpful as she only spat ‘’Pee pah pah pfurse pah pee pah pah pfurse pah pah!‘’

Spike now covered in Pinkie’s spit said annoyed ‘’Hey, say it, don’t spray it, Pinkie!‘’

A loud bang came from the outside as I heard Rainbow grouted ‘’Ow! Oh!‘’ As she again crashed into the window, but didn’t break it. Rainbow hit it again as she said ‘’She’s… trying to say… Ow! Zecora… Oh.‘’ As I hoped to help Rainbow, I ran to the door and opened it just in time, as Rainbow flew in and passed me as she called ‘’She slapped us all with a… Ow!‘’ She crashed into the bookshelves and got stuck on the ladder as she continued ‘’... Curse!‘’

As I walked over to Rainbow’s aid I heard ‘’I’m afraid I have to agree.‘’ I looked behind me and saw Rarity and I couldn’t avoid cracking a smile as her coat, mane and tail were very long, frizzled and reminded me of a mop.

Rarity blew her mane away from her face, but it came back down, as I walked over to Rainbow I saw both Twilight and Spike were taken aback by her looks.
When I was at Rainbow’s side I saw that her one wing faced the wrong way, I helped her back up and as we walked back to the others, she was still stuck in the ladder.

As Rainbow and I stood next to the others, I heard a high-pitched voice that called ‘’I hate to say I told you so, Twilight, but I told you so!‘’ I looked around the room and Apple Bloom was here as well, with something on her back, I narrowed my eyes and I saw a tiny AJ on her back as she yelled, while jumping in frustration ‘’It’s a curse, I tell ya!‘’

I then noticed Fluttershy was here as well and said ‘’Fluttershy seems to be just fine.‘’

‘’Yes‘’ Rarity agreed ‘’There doesn’t seem to be a thing wrong with her.‘’

Twilight came over to Fluttershy as she asked ‘’Fluttershy? Are you okay?‘’ But she didn’t answer and turned her head away, so Twilight tried again ‘’Is there something wrong with you?‘’

Fluttershy nodded but still didn’t say anything and as nothing looked to be wrong, I then asked softly ‘’Fluttershy? Is it your voice?‘’ She nodded and I continued ‘’Please tell us. We’re your friends.‘’

Fluttershy thought as AJ jumped on the table next to her, but before AJ could say anything a deep male voice came from Fluttershy as she said ‘’I don’t want to talk about it.‘’ I was shocked, it was way deeper than mine was before the transformation.

Spike broke into laughter as he said ‘’Hahahahaha. This is hilarious! Look at all of you! We got Hari’ty, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Apple-Tini, Flutter guy and… Uh… I got nothing.‘’ As Spike referred to Twilight ‘’What do you think Star?‘’ I shook my head, he better not drag me into that, he avoided me and continued ‘’’Twilight Sparkle’... I mean seriously, I can’t even work with that.‘’

‘’Ah-ha-ha-ha. This is no joke, Spike.‘’ Twilight scolded ‘’Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure.‘’ Spike walked off, but left the book he had before, I walked over to it, picked it up and looked through it, as the girls continued their bickering.

As I skimmed, I came across something interesting and I read to myself ‘Poison Joke,’ It looked to be some sort of plant that pulled jokes on its victims, nothing dangerous, only weird things that were supposed to be random, by the reactions they were known to prey on once Cutie Mark. I then looked at the ingredients to the cure, even though I wasn’t sure it was even Poison Joke that was the reason, but one of the ingredients looked rather beautiful, a red flower with blue spots, maybe if I found one, I could get it in my room, as it wasn’t poisoned according to the book.

As I looked around the room, I saw Apple Bloom as she was on her way out, but I trusted her and decided not to tell Twilight or Applejack. But as I thought about AJ, I couldn’t see her and as Apple Bloom was gone I looked around the room before Rainbow said ‘’I don’t care what you say, Twilight! It’s time to pony up and confront Zecora! Come on, gals. Are you with me?!‘’

But as I still couldn’t find her, I asked loudly ‘’Hey, where’s Applejack?!‘’

‘’Pf- She’s gone- pft!‘’ Pinkie answered surprised.

‘’Aah! Somepony stepped on her!‘’ Rarity said before they all checked their hooves, but as I looked on the ground, there were thankfully no red marks.

Twilight feared as she said ‘’Or sat on her?‘’

We continued to look around as Rainbow called out ‘’Rarity’s hair!‘’

Pinkie was over there and looked through Rarity’s mane as Rarity said ‘’Oh! Oh! Pinkie, what are you doing? Really -- Ow! Ever hear of personal space?!‘’ Pinkie shook her head as she either didn’t find AJ or answered Rairty’s question.

Twilight then added ‘’Apple Bloom is gone, too.‘’

‘’I bet they went after Zecora.‘’ Rainbow said.

‘’Well, we’d better go find them.‘’ Twilight said ‘’Come on gals. Let’s go.‘’ Not know if I should go with them, I stayed silence until Twilight called ‘’Star, you can come as well, but stick close to me.‘’

‘’Coming!‘’ I cheerfully called back and we ran towards the Everfree Forest.

As I ran slower than Twilight, we ran at my pace until we entered the forest where Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity had caught up and by the sounds of it, Rainbow was somewhere above us.

Much further into the forest, I began to lose speed and Twilight turned to me ‘’Star? Are you okay.‘’

Sweating and exhausted I muttered ‘’I’m fine, hurry up, and get Apple Bloom, I’ll catch up.‘’

‘’We will and you’ll go back to Ponyville and Spike.‘’ Twilight ordered, I nodded and they continued running.

As I caught my breath, I looked around as I remembered the dangers of the Everfree Forest, as I looked around I spotted something red, just behind a bush.
I walked to it and behind the bush I saw a red flower with blue spots on it, I widened my eyes as I realized it was the same as the one from the book and as there was more than a dusin, I took one with my mouth as I knew it wasn't poisoned.

Happy with my flower, I looked around and I couldn’t see which way led back to Ponyville, it all looked the same, so I hoped for the best and I chose a path and began to walk, after a few steps I looked at the ground, but saw no hoof prints.

As I walked, I looked around and tried to spot something I could recognize, but no such luck, that was until I saw a pink bow and immediately I recognized it as Apple Bloom’s bow, I placed the flower on my hoof and called ‘’Apple Bloom?! Apple Bloom?!‘’

She looked towards me and called back as she ran towards me ‘’Star?!‘’ A few meters away she still ran, jumped and hugged me.

‘’Apple Bloom? What are you doing in here?‘’

‘’I’m helpin’ Zecora finding ingredients for a cure for our big sisters and their friends, but why in tarnation are you in here?‘’

‘’Well, I saw you leave and with Applejack also gone we all came to rescue you, but as you’re fine, I guess it’s a job well done.‘’

‘’Hehe, but it’s not over yet, I still need one more thing.‘’

‘’What’s that?‘’

She was about to take out a piece of paper, but stopped as she looked at my hoof and my flower as she said ‘’That’s it, that’s the flower.‘’

‘’This flower? Wait, is the illness by any chance called ‘poison joke’?‘’ I asked and hoped for the best.

She looked stunned at me as she muttered ‘’Ye, yeah, how did yar know?‘’ I placed the flower in her bag and as we walked I explained that I saw it in a book at the library.

As I walked after Apple Bloom, she asked ‘’Hey Star?‘’

‘’Huh… Yeah?‘’

‘’Why did yar not question me, when I said that I was helpin’ Zecora?‘’

‘’Well, my first impression of her was yesterday and Twilight doesn’t believe in curses, so I guess that the worst part was the rumors. So if you’re helping her, then I guess she isn’t all bad.‘’ I said and gave her a smile.

‘’Thanks Star.‘’ Apple Bloom happily responded.

We walked further until Apple Bloom said ‘’That’s Zecora’s hut.‘’ But there was a lot of yelling from the inside, I locked eyes with Apple Bloom before we galloped to the hut and inside Apple Bloom asked ‘’What in Ponville is going on here?‘’

With Apple-Tini squeaked ‘’Apple Bloom! You’re okay!‘’

‘’Why wouldn’t I be?‘’ Apple Bloom asked.

Twilight jumped in front of us and said ‘’Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup.‘’ I knew I had missed something, but I couldn’t help it as Zecora and Apple Bloom laughed, I joined them.

After a short laugh Apple Bloom said ‘’Oh, Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally get in your head? You know there’s no such thing as curse.‘’

‘’Apple Bloom, you can’t just stand there and tell me this isn’t a curse.‘’

As Apple Bloom walked over towards Zecora, I answered ‘’It isn’t a curse.‘’

Zecora then explained, in rhythm for some reason ‘’If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact.‘’

I thought back to yesterday when she said something about ‘Beware’ before Apple Bloom continued ‘’It was a warning about that blue plant. It’s called ‘Poison Joke’.‘’

‘’That plant is much like poison oak.‘’ Zecora said ‘’But its results are like a joke.‘’

‘’What in the hay does that mean?‘’ Apple-Tini squeaked

‘’It means this plant does not breed wrath.‘’ Zecora said ‘’Instead this plant just want a laugh.‘’

AJ still didn’t get it as she asked ‘’Will somepony please talk normal?‘’

‘’I think.‘’ Twilight said ‘’What she’s saying is when we ran in to save Star and Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke. All our problems are just little jokes it played on us.‘’

AJ, not happy, called out ‘’Little jokes?! Very funny.‘’

Rainbow then asked ‘’Okay. Fine. But what about the cauldron?‘’

‘’And the chanting?‘’ Fluttershy asked.

‘’And the creepy decor?‘’ Rarity asked.

Zecora calmly responded ‘’Treasures of the native land where I am from. This one speaks ‘’Hello‘’, and this -- ‘’Welcome‘’.‘’ As she pointed at two wooden heads with goofy smiles.

Rarity not liking it responded ‘’Not welcome at all, if you ask me.‘’

But Zecora continued ‘’The words I chanted were from olden times -- something you call a nursery rhyme.‘’

As I stood next to my big sis, Twilight asked ‘’But what about the cauldron, the Apple Bloom soup?‘’

‘’Looky here, Twilight.‘’ Apple Bloom said ‘’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. You just gotta take a bubble bath.‘’

Twilight, still a bit confused, said ‘’But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn’t find anything. What book has this natural remedy?‘’

As I knew which book it was I asked ‘’All of your books, big sis?‘’

‘’Yeah…?‘’

‘’All but the one book Spike suggested?‘’ I ended.

Zecora closed the book and said ‘’Here is the book, You see? Sad that you lack it in your library.‘’

Twilight with ears down said ‘’Actually, I do have this book. But I didn’t look inside because the title looked so… Weird.‘’ She then read ‘’Supernaturals, natural remedies and cure-alls that are simply super.‘’ Twilight looked back at Zecora ‘’I… I… I’m so sorry Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I bothered to look inside.‘’

Zecora gave a small laugh before she said ‘’Maybe next time you will take a second look and not judge the cover of the book.‘’

Apple Bloom gave a small laugh before Twilight asked ‘’Zecora, would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?‘’

‘’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 said.

Twilight said ‘’Oh, well, I think we can help you with that. But we need to go to Ponyville.‘’ Zecora took her cloak on and we walked out of her home and towards Ponyville.

As we walked with Twilight next to me she lowered her head and nuzzled me, it caught me a bit off guard, but as I regained my composure, I nuzzled her back as she said ‘’I’m sorry Star.‘’

‘’Huh, for what?‘’

‘’For judging Zecora on the cover of her book, that's not the kind of example I wish to set for you.‘’

‘’Twilight, you made a mistake, nothing else and besides, you still gave her the benefit of the doubt. That’s the best kind of example you can set.‘’ I responded as we walked out of the forest and I got another nuzzle.

As we walked into town all the ponies screamed and ran away, while they yelled something about a curse, so Twilight walked over to a house, knocked and as a pony opened Twilight said ‘’Daisy, we need to talk.‘’ Twilight explained everything about Zecora and why they looked like they did and soon enough all the ponies were back outside and Twilight further explained.
After Zecora had gotten the last of her ingredients, we walked to the spa.

We went in and as Zecora mixed the cure, I went to a massage table, while the others went to the bath and Ahloe came over and began my massage. As I got my massage I thought about how I would say sorry, maybe Twilight had forgotten, but I was interrupted as Pinkie jumped into the water and after Rainbow helped to get the cure in the bath she got down and relaxed.

I got even more lost in my thoughts as this message was extremely comfortable.

I woke up as Twilight nuzzled me and said ‘’Come on Star, it’s time to go home.‘’ I stretched and looked at Twilight’s horn, it was back to normal and as I looked around the rest of the ponies got ready to leave as well and I noticed that they were all better now and we all walked outside.

As we were outside, Twilight got the ponies attention as she said ‘’Girls, Star has something she wants to say.‘’ She remembered.

The ponies and Zecora turned around and as all eyes were on me, I felt my heart beat faster and my breath increase in volume, but as Twilight sat behind me and held me, for some reason it made me more relaxed and I said ‘’I’m sorry about yesterday, you all said the Everfree Forest was dangerous, but I only laughed.‘’ My look turned to the ground, as I hooped to avoid eye contact.

A yellow hoof came and raised my head and Fluttershy’s normal timid voice said ‘’It’s okay Star, I forgive you, you didn’t know any better.‘’ All the girls continued with different kinds of ‘We forgive you Star.’

Twilight hugged me from behind and said ‘’Ohhh, I’m so proud of you little sis.‘’ While she nuzzled the top of my head.

Twilight reminded the girls that Princess Celestia was coming in two days, so both today and tomorrow they would all prepare, Fluttershy mentioned something about gathering flowers, Rainbow wanted to impress the Princess and Rarity had some sort of an idea for her, Pinkie would make sure that Sugarcube Corner would also be ready and AJ would help deliver the apples that would be necessary. After everything was done Twilight and I made our way home.

At home, I immediately told Spike that he was right about the book and he teased Twilight a bit before he was sent to clean up the mess Twilight made earlier, but I was allowed to go to my room and practice my magic.

Inside my room, I went over to the quill, closed my eyes and I surrounded the quill with my magic. I slowly released a small breath of air, as the air hit the quill I felt my aura move, I wanted to replicate the feeling, so I tried over and over again, but as nothing felt to happen I released my magic and opened my eyes.

I looked down at the quill, it had barely moved, annoyed I puffed at the quill, it rolled over and since there was a bit more room now, I lay down, looked at the quill, narrowed my eyes and a bit annoyed I thought ‘If a little wind can move it, so can my magic.’ I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth in determination and as I felt my magic go through me, I felt the quill.
I tried to make it move, but after a few seconds of nothing, I released my magic and as I opened my eyes and looked at the quill, it just stopped rocking.

As I felt more confident, I closed my eyes, bowed my head and pointed my horn directly at the quill and as my magic swarmed the quill I tried to lift it, it weighed much more than I expected, maybe the weight of an apple, but I didn’t feel it was rocking.

I calmed myself down, a deep breath came in and came slowly out, in, out, I continued like that for a few times.
As I felt calm and the quill weighed the same as an apple, but as I lifted my head, I couldn’t feel if I levitated the quill as well.

I wanted to see as this quill was getting a bit heavy and I didn’t knew if I would be able to hold it for much longer, so I opened my eyes and looked to where I thought the quill was, but s I looked it was gone, only a pink light shined from above, my focused slipped a bit in surprise. After a deep breath slowly came in and out, I got my focus back and looked up and saw the quill in mid air, surrounded by a pink aura, my magic, it was so beau-ti…

A few knocks came and I lost my focus completely, as the quill fell down and landed on the floor, I heard as the door opened and Twilight asked ‘’Star, is something wrong? I called for you twice.‘’

‘’I’m fine, I was just levitating the quill.‘’

‘’Really? How did it go?‘’

‘’It went better than last time, but I still can see my aura.‘’

‘’In time it will come, don't you worry.‘’

I smiled before I remembered that she called for me twice and asked ‘’Why did you even call for me?‘’

‘’Huh…? Oh yeah, it’s time for dinner.‘’

‘’Oh, okay.‘’ I said and went with Twilight out into the dining room where Spike sat.

Author's Note:

Next chapter on Saturday

Comments

[zebeede]

what happened to the last chapter?

[Luckyfanisaac]

by the reactions they were known to prey on ones Cutie Mark.

Twilight and Rainbow I can get but not the others in relation to their cutie mark.

Ow! Ever heard of personal space?!‘’ Pinkie shook her head as she either didn’t find AJ or answered Rairty’s question.

Not knowing if I should go with them, I stayed silent until Twilight called

same as the one from the book and as there was more than a dozen, I took one with my mouth as I knew it wasn't poisoned.

‘’What in the hay does that mean?‘’ Apple-Tini squeaked.(——

‘’It means this plant does not breed wrath.‘’ Zecora said ‘’Instead this plant just wants a laugh.‘’

the others went to the bath and Aloe came over and began my massage.

but as I looked it was gone, only a pink light shined

[Killjoy1221]

If Star is friends with Apple Bloom, does that mean the cmc won't be formed because she didn't go to DT's cutecenera alone?

[drFraud]

You know, it's this one pet peeve of mine when it comes ot oc's in these stories: the authors put them in, they become important to the story in some way or another, and then they are sidelined just so the plot can take the same shape as the original with minimum deviation. Star was in a perfect position to point out the section in the book about poison joke, yet all that ment was that she gets one snippet that ultimately matters little in the grand scheme of things.
It's a lovely story, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying it, but this is just my little rant on the matter.

[Star Sparkle]

10797798
Interesting point, maybe I'll do that in the future chapter and thank you so much, but now I'm sad because Star could have told the mane six that, but Twilight might still want to go and apologize to Zecora and the other ponies could then learn a lesson, but Twilight didn't need to.

I hope you get what I mean, but I'll see what I can do for future episodes.