Hi! Hyena King here! Well, what can I say. This will probably wrap up the story, so I won't bore you with anything less. Well, without further ado, here's chapter 6!
The ponies all looked at each other for a moment after Twilight's proclamation. Then all the mares screamed, causing Thunder and Lightning to cover their ears and wince in pain. At that same moment, Applejack and her upside down pegasus steed came hurtling forward. "I,m coming for you Apple Bloom!" she cried. The two mares crashed through the front door, much to the surprise of Zecora, then began to crash into everything in the house, creating one big mess.
"That's it!" Lightning cried. With that, he ran into the house, the other ponies right behind him. Zecora, who was trying to give directions to the chaotic duo that were Rainbow and Applejack, was greeted by Lightning's angry face. "OK, what'd you do with Apple Bloom?!" Lightning demanded. At that moment, Rainbow's latest crash caused a mask to fall off the wall onto Lightning's head. "Hey, who turned out the lights?! I can't see!"
Lightning began to flail about, knocking over tables, jars and basically causing a bigger mess then there already was. Thunder gave a groan and went to help Lightning. Meanwhile, Applejack jumped of Rainbow and began to assault Zecora's ear, while Rainbow still flew around uncontrollably. Unaffected by Applejack's attack Zecora turned to the other ponies.
"Ponies! what is this-?" before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow flew by, knocking over the caldron and spilling it's contents. "No! You know not what you do! you've gone and spilled my brew!"
"Where on to you Zecora." Twilight said, determination on her face. "I didn't want to believe you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming."
"You made me look ridiculous." Rarity said, pointing out her hair. "You made me sound ridiculous." Fluttershy added with her manly voice. Pinkie said something incomprehensible, but her meaning was clear. "You ruined my horn!" Twilight said, pointing out the floppy thing. "And we're here to seek justice!" Lightning cried, talking to the wall. Thunder removed the mask and turned him around to face Zecora.
"How dare you!" Zecora cried, outraged. "You destroy my home! You destroy my work! And you falsely accuse me of being a jerk!" "You put this curse on us! Now you're gonna uncurse us!" Rainbow said, having recovered from her erratic flight.
"It is unwise to venture down this road. You're actions will make my anger explode!"
The brothers suddenly appeared, putting themselves between Zecora and the mane six. "You try anything and we'll tear you apart!" Lightning said, an angry look about him. "Look, we don't want trouble, just answer one question." Thunder said, looking a lot calmer then his golden-maned brother. "And that would be?" Zecora asked, clearly trying to keep her anger under control.
"Where's Apple Bloom?" Twilight asked, looking ready to attack the zebra. "Zecora, I think I've found all the things you asked for." Apple Bloom said walking in from out of nowhere. "What in tar nation is going on here?" she asked as she looked around the room.
Applejack ceased her attack on Zecora's ear and gasped. "Apple Bloom! You're OK!" "Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Apple Bloom responded. "Because Zecora's an evil enchantress and was going to cook you into soup!" Twilight said, putting herself in front of Apple Bloom.
There was a brief silence. Then Zecora and Apple Bloom started to laugh, to the surprise of all the ponies. "Oh Twilight," Apple Bloom said, "did those silly fillies finally get to your head? You know there's no such thing as a curse."
Lightning suddenly spoke up. "OK, I,m completely lost." "No surprise there." Thunder said, ticking Lightning off. "Apple Bloom, sweetie, you can't tell me that this isn't a curse." Twilight said, indicating the rest of the mares. "This isn't a curse." Apple Bloom said, walking up to Zecora.
"If you remember back, the words I said were quite exact." Zecora said simply. The ponies took a moment as they remembered the strange rhythm that they thought was the zebra cursing them. "It was a warning," Apple Bloom continued, "About that blue plant. It's called Poison Joke."
"It's much like Poison Oak, except it's results are like a joke." Zecora explained. "What the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked confused.
"It means that this plant does not reek wrath. Instead, it just wants a laugh."
"What?" Lightning asked, only more confused by Zecora's answer. "Will somepony please talk normal?" Applejack said, trying to make sense of it as well. "I think what she's saying is that when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the Poison Joke." Twilight explained, "our problems are just little joke that it played on us." "Little jokes! Very funny." Applejack said, quite angry about the whole situation
"That explains why we weren't affected." Thunder said, putting it all together. "OK, fine." Rainbow said. "but what about the caldron?"
"And the chanting?" Fluttershy added.
"And the creepy decor?" Rarity chimed in.
"Treasures from the native land where I am from." Zecora said, indicating to masks on the floor, one of which had blinded Lightning earlier. "This on says "hello", and this one "welcome."
"Not welcoming at all, if you ask me." Rarity said simply.
"the words I chanted were from ancient times, something you would call a nursery rhyme."
"But the caldron, the Apple Bloom soup?" Twilight asked, still skeptical on the whole thing. "Looky here, Twilight." Apple Bloom said, taking out a green book. "It wasn't for me, it was for all this herbal ingredients. The cure for Poison Joke is an all natural remedy. You just got to take a bubble bath."
"But I tried to find a book in all my books and couldn't find anything." Twilight said, looking through the book and it's contents. "What book has this all natural remedy."
Zecora came up and indicated the cover. "Here is the book, you see. Sad that you lack it in the Library."
"Actually, I do have this book," Twilight admitted, "But I didn't look inside it because the title was so...weird." Zecora pointed out the title, which Twilight read out loud. Supernaturals, naturals and remedies that are simply super. "They should probably rename that." Thunder said, thinking that the title was very misleading. Twilight looked at Zecora with embarrasment."I...I... I'm so sorry Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside."
Zecora simply chuckled. "Maybe next time you'll take a closer look and not judge the cover of the book." Apple Bloom laughed a little. "let me get this straight." Lightning suddenly said. "This whole mess was caused by a plant with a sense of humor and this could have all been avoided by reading a book?' Zecora nodded, causing Lightning to groan loudly. "And here I was thinking that there was something evil actually going on." Thunder rolled his eyes. "That's what you get for jumping to conclusions." he said, a triumphant smile on his face, which caused Lightning's already foal mood to darken.
"Zecora, would you be kind enough to make another batch of your herbal bath?" Twilight asked, a humble look about her face.
"Another batch, I certainly will. But I,m missing an herb from Ponyville." "But whenever Zecora comes into town, all the shops mysteriously close." Apple Bloom explained. "I think we can help with that." Twilight said, smiling. As the ponies, Zecora included, left for Ponyville, Thunder pulled Lightning aside. "Come on, I've got an Idea that just might help." With that, he flew further into the forest, Lightning trailing behind.
Later, the mares were in a giant bath tub, the thing filled to the brim with Zecora's herbal remedy. They all rejoiced as their various aliments went away. They were just laughing at a close call that had them thinking that they had squashed Applejack when Thunder and Lightning came in, each one holding a bouquet of blue flowers.
"We thought that we'd bring you something to help the healing process." Thunder said, a big smile on his face, matched only by Lightning's grin. Instead of the happy faces they expected to see, however, the mares faces were alight with horror.
"Guys, that's the Poison Joke!" Twilight cried. The brothers looked at each other, then at the flowers, then at the mares. "Uh oh" was all they could say. Then they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Thunder and Lightning looked completely different. Thunder was now neon-blue with a black mane while Lightning was golden with a white mane.
There was silence for a moment. Then both pegasi flew up and nose dived into the tub, splashing all the mane six, who were laughing as the brothers proceeded to scrub themselves, trying to rid themselves of their affliction.
There you have it. I was not pleased by my earlier work on this chapter, so I fixed it and reposted it. This is the result. I hope this is a lot better than my earlier attempt. R&r Please!