Rarity gasped in awe at the sight that lay before her. The flower was positively stunning. Its large petals had an elegant curve to them, each with a tight little curl at the end. The surface was slightly reflective, and seemed to change hue from blue to purple depending upon your vantage point and the angle of the lighting. She had never before seen such a beautiful plant!
"Zecora darling, it's absolutely radiant!" Rarity beamed. "Wherever did you find it?!"
The zebra smiled. "In Everfree are many plants. I happened upon this one by chance."
"It's simply exquisite!" the fashionista exclaimed, leaning in a little to observe it more closely.
"Since you so often make fabric creations, I thought that its beauty might lend inspiration. I am very glad that with it you are pleased. This flower is my gift to you for helping me."
Rarity's wide eyes shot up to meet her friend's gaze. "A gift for... me?! But Zecora, I merely assisted you in the mending of your cloak. You didn't need to get me anything!"
"That old cloak was very torn. Now it is like-new thanks to your horn. All my attempts to repair it had ended in frustration, so I simply wanted to show you my appreciation," Zecora finished, offering the potted plant.
"Thank you, Zecora," Rarity replied, a tinge of amazement still in her tone. She took the gift into her magical grasp reverently.
"This particular flower is really quite rare." Zecora pulled out a piece of paper. "I've compiled a list that pertains to its care."
"Mhmm," the unicorn replied distractedly, still enamored by the loveliness of the plant she was holding.
Zecora raised an eyebrow and waved the list in front of Rarity's nose to get her attention.
"Oh! Right." The unicorn accepted the list sheepishly. "Thank you, darling. I'll be sure to... do that."
The zebra smiled. "I certainly hope so, but I see it grows late so perhaps you should go. The forest is easier to navigate in the day, but during the night a pony could lose their way."
"Oh, yes," Rarity confirmed over her shoulder, opening the door to leave. "And don't worry about the plant, darling! I'll take good care of it!" She began to trot her way along the path to Ponyville.
Zecora waved from the doorway, smiling amiably. "It was good to see you, my friend. Bye for now. Come again!"
---*---
The door to Carousel Boutique creaked open and the alabaster mare entered carrying her items. She felt the warmth of the room envelop her - a welcome feeling in contrast to cold outdoors. Rarity promptly closed the door behind her, preventing any more of the chill night air from seeping in.
"My, it certainly is late," she remarked aloud to nopony. With a yawn, Rarity placed the plant and list beside each other on a small table nearby, and proceeded to make her way to her bedroom to settle in for the evening. Unbeknownst to her however, in her exhaustion she had placed the list a little too close to the edge of the table, and it slipped off and fell, drifting lazily back and forth before ultimately landing beneath a close-by couch.
---*---
The sun rose brightly over Ponyville and Rarity awoke to a few stray rays of light seeping in through her window. Her eyelids fluttered open and she stretched and smacked her lips before sleepily pushing aside the covers. Today she had much to do. Now seated at the edge of the bed, she levitated a hairbrush from the nightstand alongside and used it to comb through her messy lavender mane, the first task of many in her own daily hygienic ritual. Hair all smooth and shiny again, she arose from her mattress and proceeded to work on her tail. She yawned as she brushed, musing that the next line of business would be making the bed.
---*---
Rarity hummed whimsically as she stepped outside of her bedroom. She walked towards the kitchen, wondering what she could fix herself for breakfast. She stepped over an overgrown vine on her way. Perhaps an apple and some oats would be good. She was quite fond of—Rarity froze and her eyes widened in realization. She just stepped over a what?!?
Rarity whirled around to verify that she hadn't been imagining things, but low and behold a long thin vine did indeed lay across the boutique's ground floor. Rarity walked along, following the vine, only to discover many others stretching out across the tile and curled around furniture. She stopped at the apparent source just about eight feet away from where she'd started. The vines were coming from the flower pot she'd brought home just last night.
The unicorn gasped. Surely the flower Zecora gave her wasn't supposed to grow this fast naturally! Her eyes searched frantically for the piece of paper her friend had given her, there had to be an explanation! It wasn't on the table. No! She was sure she'd put it there last night! Rarity looked down and proceeded to scan the floor. Nothing. She bent down and looked beneath the table, under the couch, up on the table again. Nothing.
Had she dropped it on her way home and forgotten? Perhaps—A soft mew sounded from the corner. Rarity turned to see her cat Opalescence shredding something. In a flash of realization, the unicorn galloped over quickly and magically snatched up the remains of the list from the feline's destructive grasp.
"No, Opal!" she scolded forcefully.
The cat hissed at Rarity for taking away her new toy, then sat down and began to lick her paw.
The harried fashionista sighed in exasperation. The list was in many tiny, mangled little pieces. She held them aloft in her magical light blue aura, rearranging them and matching each one together as best as she could. If she could only fit them with one another correctly, she would be able to read the written contents.
Of course, no need to panic, Rarity! she told herself. The pieces are still roughly in their original positions. Yes, yes it was all beginning to seem clearer and clearer now. All she had to do was rotate this piece, move this other one, turn that one over and—
Knock knock!
The unexpected rapping at the front door startled the unicorn into dropping all the shredded scraps, and they quickly scattered to the floor below. She regarded the fallen pieces with her jaw agape and an eye twitching.
Knock knock!
Rarity turned and glared at the offending pony... or at least she would have had there not been a door between her and them. She sputtered and stomped a hoof angrily in place before thumping her way over to the entrance and swinging the door open.
"What?!?" she demanded.
The addressed purple alicorn quickly shrunk back, her eyes awide in surprise at the... unusual greeting. She had only come in the hopes of checking up on the progress of the gown her friend was making for her - the one she was intending on wearing to a royal ball in Canterlot in just a few days time. Twilight glanced awkwardly off to the side, wondering if perhaps she should come back later. She grinned nervously.
"Hey Rarity!" Twilight managed, beads of sweat quickly appearing on her forehead. "Is now a bad time?"
The ivory unicorn sighed quietly and dropped her head low in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, darling. I've just had a terrible morning! Zecora gave me this plant and I don't know what's wrong with—Twilight!"
"What?! What's wrong?" The princess looked down at her coat, trying to find out what her friend was staring it.
"You're just the pony I needed to see!" Rarity exclaimed before grabbing hold of Twilight with her forehooves and pulling her inside. The unicorn quickly shut the door after.
"Rarity, what is going on with—Woah!" Twilight saw the many vines stretching across the room, all originating from the same flower pot. "What happened here?!"
"A disaster!" Rarity cried, raising the back of her hoof to her forehead dramatically. "A complete and utter disaster, Twilight!"
"Would you care to be more specific?" the purple pony deadpanned.
"Of course, darling," Rarity began. "Last evening I brought home this beautiful flower - a gift from Zecora, you see. Yesterday it was no bigger than this!" The unicorn mimed a small box with her forehooves.
"Did Zecora warn you that anything like this might happen?" Twilight asked.
"No!" the unicorn cried. "I just woke up to find that my home and place of business had been transformed into a jungle overnight! I thought I should consult the list of tasks Zecora gave me with the plant, but Opalescence had already made confetti out of it!"
"Did you throw away the pieces?"
"No. I was just attempting to arrange them into a coherent message when you interrup—er—came by!"
It was no longer a mystery to Twilight as to why her friend's greeting had been so curt. "Where are the pieces?" she asked.
"There!" Rarity replied, pointing a hoof to the spot.
Twilight trotted over and sat on her haunches by the pile. She viewed the shreds quizzically and her horn fizzled a few sparks. Her magical magenta aura enveloped the papery puzzle and she rapidly fit all pieces together into their proper places in just under thirty seconds. She set the arranged pieces down gently on the floor in front of her, ceasing to hold her magical grip on it. It was in rough shape, but it had been reformed well enough to read.
Rarity was amazed. "How did you do that so fast!"
"Practice." Twilight grinned. "Spike had a tendency to tear up paper when his claws first came in. I managed to save several books using this same technique... that and with some translucent tape, that is." The alicorn looked down and began to read through the instructions. "Hmm."
"Anything?" Rarity asked, her tone hopeful.
"Aside from the usual instructions for plant care phrased in rhyme? No. There's nothing here about accelerated growth or how to stop it. Are you sure this flower isn't just fast-growing normally?"
"I don't think so," Rarity replied thoughtfully. "Zecora seemed to know exactly what it was. She never would have given it to me if she'd thought it would do this!" She gestured about the room.
"Hmm." Twilight looked closely at a nearby vine, her eyes narrowing. "You know... I think I've seen this sort of plant before... in an illustration in one of my books on plant life. Perhaps if I check, there'll be some information there on how to stop it from growing so much."
"That's good news!" Rarity cried, clapping her forehooves together in delight.
"Wait here," Twilight instructed as she stood up. "I'll be back with the book shortly."
"Do hurry, darling!" Rarity pleaded as the alicorn rushed out of the boutique.
Her friend gone, the white unicorn cast a weary eye about her showroom. The vines had already seemed to have grown a full foot since she had first discovered them just minutes ago! If that was what it was going to do from now on, she would have to devote a great deal of her time to trimming it. She stomped a hoof stubbornly. "Perhaps it is a temporary measure," she thought aloud, lifting a pair of scissors with her horn magic. "But at the present time, it's certainly better than nothing!"
---*---
"Nothing!" cried Rarity's harried voice. "I choose nothing!"
The unicorn had managed to trim off a few of the vines before those snipped suddenly began to grow back again at an alarming rate. Some had even coiled around her legs, and she was sure they were even longer and thicker this time!"
The door opened and Twilight emerged from the outdoors. "Rarity, I found the book we nee—" She stopped and gawked at the sight of her friend's predicament.
"Twilight!" Rarity practically screamed, trying fruitlessly to wriggle herself free while simultaneously pulling at the vines with her magic.
The alicorn's eyes widened and she rushed to her friend. She lit up her horn and her magenta magic mixed with her friend's light blue, the combined purplish effort releasing the unicorn from the plant's unwelcoming grasp.
"Thank... you... Twilight," Rarity uttered in between her panted breaths.
"What happened?!" Twilight asked, joining her friend in stepping further away from the threatening tendrils.
"Well, I thought that perhaps I could trim the vines, but then all of a sudden—"
"They grew back in an instant except even thicker and tougher than they were before?" Twilight finished.
"Y-yes," Rarity replied, wide-eyed.
"It's all in the book," Twilight explained, opening the hardback to the relevant page. "See? Here it explains how the plant has something similar to adrenaline. If it detects a threat, the plant will reach into its nutritional reserves immediately, growing back faster and thicker as a defense."
"That's insane!" Rarity's eyes were bulging. "What kind of crazy plant did Zecora give me?!"
"Actually, Rarity, these vines aren't naturally a part of the flower you received," Twilight stated matter-of-factly. "What Zecora gave you was a flower called 'Bluemoon Hue' - a plant that is quite beautiful and more importantly, completely harmless. The trouble we're getting comes from a parasitic plant called 'Vile Vine'."
"Aptly named," Rarity put in.
"Precisely," Twilight continued. "The Vile Vine latches onto another plant's roots and siphons the nutrients from it. You'll note how the flower itself is a bit wilted while the surrounding vines themselves appear quite healthy. Additionally, you'll see that all the vines are coming from the dirt surrounding the Bluemoon Hue's stem and not the stem itself. This is all because the parasitic plant is simply robbing the other of its reserves."
"Oh my, Twilight. But... wouldn't Zecora have noticed the parasitic plant when she potted the Bluemoon Hue for me?"
"Not necessarily. Vile Vine is actually even rarer than the unusually nutrient-rich Bluemoon Hue, and with all the dirt obscuring the roots when Zecora moved it, it's hardly surprising she didn't notice the early signs of an infection."
"Oh. Well, it would probably be better not to tell her about all this. She gave the flower to me as a thank-you gift. But just how do we fix this, Twilight?! I don't want to discard the lovely Bluemoon Hue, but I can hardly abide my home becoming a second Everfree!"
"And you won't have to," Twilight replied, placing a reassuring forehoof on her friend's shoulder. "Rarity, do you have that E-flat tuning fork that you use for Ponytones practice?"
"W-why, yes, Twilight. But why would you need...?"
"Trust me," the alicorn told her.
---*---
Twilight struck the tuning fork against the hard edge of a forehoof, commencing to hum in mimicry of the E-flat note it emitted. Rarity joined in the humming, and each time the vibrating metal was about to still, Twilight would hit it hard against her hoof to keep the sound going.
With a nod from Twilight, Rarity used her scissors to snip off one of the vines and the unicorn braced herself for what she was sure would grow after. After a few moments though, Rarity observed that the cut she'd made had sustained, and the weed hadn't grown to replace what she'd lopped off like last time.
Her eyes widened in delight at the sight, and she commenced to carefully snip another vine, and another, and another... Twilight leaned in close as the unicorn trimmed, the two ponies humming in E-flat all the while.
Finally, the last vine fell to the ground, and as per the alicorn's earlier instructions, Rarity lifted the flower out of the pot to float it in mid-air. Twilight narrowed her eyes in concentration as she studied the dirty roots, and spotting what she identified as the infected Bluemoon Hue roots that the weed had latched onto, she took Rarity's scissors into her magical grasp and used it for a last few snips. Tossing aside the mess of the remaining weed after it fell, she gave a nod of satisfaction and stopped humming.
"Mmmm... Mmmmm..."
"You can stop humming now, Rarity."
"Mmmm—Oh." Rarity giggled. "Thank you, Twilight." Satisfied that vines weren't shooting out from anywhere anymore, the unicorn lowered the plant back into the pot and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness that's over!"
"Here, Rarity." Twilight hoofed her friend the tuning fork. "You shouldn't have anymore trouble with Vile Vine from now on. The Bluemoon Hue looks like it could use a little water and plant food though."
"Oh, yes! I'll get right on that!" Rarity affirmed with great enthusiasm. "Hmm." The unicorn surveyed the room that was now covered with severed vines. "I know you've already done so much, Twilight. But, I don't suppose you'd mind staying and helping with the cleanup, would you, darling? It's just that I should be opening the boutique up fairly soon, and I haven't even managed breakfast for myself! I forgot to feed Opalescence too, come to think of it."
Twilight smiled. "Of course, Rarity. I'd be happy to help you."
"Thank you, Twilight. You know, I still don't understand why all that humming stopped the weed from growing though."
The alicorn chuckled, commencing to cut and gather the dead vines into a pile for discarding. "It's very simple, Rarity. The Vile Vine uses specific frequencies to send signals to direct its growth - it's very quiet, but its there all the same. When we hummed E-flat, we were imitating the Everfree Weasel in the method it uses to scramble the weed's signals, rendering its defense systems inept. Of course in this case, we did it to save a flower and reclaim your boutique... not so we could eat the vines while they were still tender and toxin free."
"The vines grew back with a toxin in them?!"
"Don't worry," Twilight reassured. "It's only harmful if you eat it. And even then, the worst it could do to a pony is give them a stomachache."
"That's a relief!" Rarity remarked, placing a trash barrel nearby to put the vines in.
"Oh. Were you intending on throwing these away?" Twilight asked, sounding slightly surprised.
"Why, yes," Rarity replied, raising an eyebrow in dismay. "Whatever else would I do with them?"
"Well, you could save the non-toxic ones for a stew. I hear that in many parts of Equestria it's actually quite a sought after delicacy."
Rarity blinked. She then lifted the cut vines into the trash can and slammed the lid on tightly with a bang.
Twilight watched as her friend put the barrel outside for the trash collectors. "So... that would be a 'no' then?"
THE END
Author's Note
December 2nd, 2018: Henceforth, please direct your grammar and spelling corrections to PM. Thank you. 
