It's Just a Joke, Right?

Twilight felt unsure. Could she really fix this?

"Of course we can," she told herself, "wifh the magic of friendship!" Then a thought pierced her mind. If her element was magic, but she's the princess of friendship, then is her element and title the same exact thing or...wouldn't it be better to call her the princess of magic-

She stopped. This was getting silly. This isn't any problem to worry about. It isn't even a problem. Just a tiny thought that pierced the large beautiful bubble of her mind before dropping to the ground due to gravity in her body. Right?

Twilight was feeling particulary unnerved and lonely today. She canceled her friendship meeting because she had expirements to do with Poison Joke. She felt bad. Yet satisfied.

Zecora had helped Twilight out by supporting her ideas with Poison Joke in many forms: untouched, ground into sugar-sized bits, cooked (Zecora said that poison joke can be cooked in various ways as long as the poisonous crazy joke fluids are sucked out of it. Twilight decided not to eat it anyway.) into strips, bars, cookies, and cakes, and even hardened, liquified and preserved versions were provided! Twilight sent her thank-you with a big bundle of herbs and spices for Zecora's brews along with a sweet handwritten thank you card. Zecora also sent a note of advice, "Be careful Twilight, princess of magic, one mistake might make your plan tragic." Twilight wasn't exactly sure what it meant but she still jot it down in her notes just in case.

Twilight put on her latex gloves and glass goggles. Just to be sure she also put on a tight scientist jacket (covered in a special unicorn-made gloss that makes it strong and protected). Spike said she looked a little odd, but safety first, especially in a crisis.

Of course, Twilight wasn't going to touch the Poison Joke. She was going to levitate it with her magic.

Poison Joke-plant form

was written on the scroll in fancy calligraphy.

note one-plant flourishes in sun

The plant's blue petals seemed to flourish in sun's contact. It seemed to embrace the sun's hot rays falling on its plant body.  Twilight hypothosized that this is where it gets its energy to infect a pony, though she wasn't sure.

note two-joke fluids come from middle of plant

"Joke fluid" is a harmless poison that expels from a special pore hidden in the middle of the plant. With further dissection, Twilight saw that the fluid is contained in a sac in the stem's bottom that has a tiny set of four pores to send its fluid to the top. She then concluded that, poison joke fluids are released when pressure pushes the plant to its stem, pressure like the legs or hooves of a pony. The juices, which a pony's coat can not feel, coat the fur of the pony. They work their magic overnight. More investigation resulted in Twilight's discovery that the fluid is scentless, doesn't feel like anything, and colorless.

note three-joke fluid goes through the body using special passageways

It was a pain to find this fact. She had to reflect on the past when she first fell into the plant's trap, then use a Poison Joke-infected  volunteer or two for for x-rays, and even watch fluid for hours on end. It was a royal pain, but it was worth it. What Twilight discovered was once the joke fluid coats the fur of a pony, it enters the pony using specific passageways. For an earth pony, it used tiny pores in the bottom of the hooves, since earth ponies are strong, especially in their leg and hoof sections (according to Applejack). It uses pores in the wings for pegasi and pores in the horn for unicorns. It explained a lot, but there was still a lot to do.

She decided to stop dissecting for today. The castle library smelled of candle wax. Spike wouldn't be happy, but Twilight was. A piece of the puzzle was coming together at last!

Suddenly, her heart stopped for a moment. The colors of the world drained into black and white, and moved in slow motion. Her breath slowed and deeped and her eyes turned into pin pricks. "What's happening?!" she screamed, but no sound escaped. Her horn shot sparks and her wings were stuck to her coat. Her heart raced faster, and so did her breath. The smell of wax warped into multiple smells. Cake, helium, smoke, cupcakes, warm cookies....things that weren't actually there. She tried to scream. No sound came out yet again. The world fizzed and warped in drippy circles. Her hearing began to falter, but her eyesight was more keen than ever. It was like being forced to watch a horror movie unfold before your eyes. "SPIKE!" she tried to scream, but no sound. At this point who knew if it actually came out? She couldn't hear anything anymore. "Somepony please! Help me! I don't know what's happening! Everything is-"

Suddenly, colors bleeded back in. But the colors were wrong. Twilight was blue, the chandelier was pink, her mirrors were green....

Then everything warped into white, and her eyesight fell until she couldn't see.

It was like her mind was playing tricks on her.

That's when everything went black.

Tricks.