My Little Diseases

Twilight was making her way through Ponyville, her wings spread wide as she walked through the streets toward the market square, which she was planning on going through, as a shortcut, toward the edge of town. Her saddle bag swayed a bit with her movements.

As she got to the market, many ponies greeted her, smiling wide and waving to the purple alicorn as she made her way past many tents, selling different products. From fruit and vegetables, to flowers, and even pet supplies.

The market was always busy with ponies. Either walking through to go home, or going through the pathway in the middle to go to another sales tent. It was always quite difficult to make her way through swiftly. Especially during this time of day. Many tents were able to restock as well, so everything was fresh. The air was filled with the different smells of products being sold, many spices, some flowers, some food being cooked in different tents.
It was very crowded and Twilight was somewhat struggling to get through, even as she was saying hi to everyone who greeted her.

Her hooves clicked along the stone path as she walked, so distracted by trying to get through the market in one piece, that she accidentally bumped into Pinkie Pie, who was purchasing extra confetti from a party stand.

The 2 ponies fell to the ground in a small pile, catching the attention of a few onlookers. The 2 ponies blushed a bit as they got up and brushed themselves off, before Twilight used her magic to gather up the bags Pinkie had dropped, and slipping them into her white saddle bag.

“I'm so sorry Pinkie, I didn't see you, are you alright?”
Twilight asked the party pony, as she pulled a leaf from her puffy mane.

“Haha, I'm alright Twilight don't worry, but you seem to be in a bit of a rush, where are you headed off to?”
Pinkie asked, finally getting to her hooves and checking the ground for any other items that may have dropped, before finally looking up at Twilight, their eyes locking. They couldn't help but smile at each other as their gazes met, and their cheeks reddened a bit.

After a moment of the 2 staring at each other, Pinkie cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck, before repeating her question.
“S-So uh… Where did you say you were headed?”

Twilight quickly snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head a bit, before responding in a slightly flustered tone.
“O-oh haha, i'm going to visit Zecora. She sent me a scroll asking for my help in the Everfree Forest. She needs some help gathering ingredients and believes having the extra help would help cover more ground.”

She explained quickly before giving Pinkie the scroll she had tucked in her own saddle bag for Pinkie to read over. Now that Zecora had spent so much time around ponies, she was able to write in ‘pony speak’.
But she preferred to talk out loud in her usual, rhyming dialogue. She felt more comfortable that way.

The scroll read:
“Dear Twilight.
I hope this scroll finds you well. I am writing to ask a favour from you. I need to gather more supplies from around my home, and I would like to formally request your help. I believe that the 2 of us working together would work a lot faster than just myself.

If you have the time,please come and see me at my home in the Everfree Forest, and I will take you to where my supply gathering clearing is.

Thankyou and see you soon

• Zecora”

Pinkie finished reading the scroll and chuckled a bit.
“It's always strange seeing Zecora write in the way we speak, especially since she’s always rhyming when she speaks, she’s like a poet!”

Twilight laughed and nodded in agreement before taking the scroll back and rolling it back up so it fit snug back into her bag.
“You have a point there Pinkie. But I best get going, Zecora’s waiting for me.”

The pair then said their goodbyes, Twilight’s smile never leaving her face as she made her way out of town, past Fluttershy's cottage and toward the Everfree Forest.

As Twilight stepped into the intimidating woodland, the thick foliage and leaves cut off almost all sunlight, making the trek through the forest rather eerie, especially with all the creatures that roamed free within the woods, all the different properties that you’d never see in Ponyville. Such as the clouds moving on their own, or certain things being seen out of the corner of your eye.

The occasional twig snap was enough to cause Twilight to jolt in surprise, before she picked up the pace from a walk to a quick trot.
She had been in the forest many times, but the odd noise from an unknown direction would put any pony on edge. Soon enough she arrived at Zecora’s home, knocking gently on the door and calling inside.

“Zecora? I'm here! Are you home?”
After a moment of silence, Zecora opened her door, the wave of warm air washed over Twilight’s body, giving the alicorn a gentle embrace, along with the different smells of mixed herbs and spices greeted Twilight’s nostrils.

The alicorn always felt very welcomed and relaxed at Zecora’s home, and she found herself visiting more often nowadays, just chatting over a cup of herbal tea.

Zecora smiled wide to Twilight, always happy to see her alicorn friend.
“Ah, Twilight, so glad you’re here. You’re not usually free this time of year”

Twilight returned Zecora’s smile with a bright grin of her own, before responding.
“Haha yeah, normally I’d be in Canterlot planning the Grand Galloping Gala by now. But I managed to find some time to get away and come home for a bit to hand out invitations. So I thought I'd make some time and stop by.”

She explained before Zecora invited her inside. The aroma of mixed spices and herbs filled the air, and Twilight’s ears were greeted by bamboo windchimes, as the door bumped into them, and the warmth that radiated from Zecora’s open fire under her cauldron, always made the hut feel cozy and inviting. Especially during the colder months.

Zecora then spoke up.
“As the message in my scroll inquired, to refill my store, several items I require.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, standing beside Zecora and taking off her saddle bag with her magic. She sat her bag on a nearby chair so it was out of the way, before turning to her Zebra friend.
“Yeah, your scroll mentioned that you wanted to go to a nearby clearing to gather resources for your remedies. How far is this clearing anyways? I'm curious.”

Zecora then pulls out a map from a nearby set of cabinets. It was a map of the nearby vicinity, pointing to the clearing that they were going to. It was about a 5 minute walk from here.
Zecora then pointed toward the back of her home.
“I have many tools in my shack. Help yourselves to the ones in the back”

“Oh alright, thanks Zecora!”
Twilight responded before making her way out of Zecora’s house and around the back. There was a small wooden shack that was decorated with different masks from Zecora’s homeland, that she couldn't fit on the walls inside her home.

Twilight took a moment to admire the masks, all the different colours of paint and dye used on the perfectly carved woodwork to make the masks what they are, and what they mean. Different species' cultures always fascinated Twilight, and she had become very interested in Zecora’s culture recently, which prompted the more recent visits, not just for a friendly chat, but so Twilight could learn more about Zecora and her roots. Zecora, of course, was always happy to share this information.

Twilight then gently opened the door of the shack and poked her head inside. It was lined with shelves of different items.
Those being some empty jars, a few brown fabric bags and some protective gloves, which Twilight took for her hooves. She also spotted some common gardening tools in the back, such as a shovel, a pickaxe and a couple of sickles.
Twilight went for the shovel, and used her magic to put the gloves onto her front hooves.

When she emerged from the shack, Zecora was already there waiting for her, holding Twilight’s saddle bag in her teeth, along with her own bag on her back, Zecora also had a pair of gloves on her front hooves, and she grabbed one of the sickles from the shack, before closing the door.
Twilight took her bag and sat it down on her own back, her wings fitting comfortably on either side of the back strap.

With Twilight following close behind Zecora, they made their way to the clearing. It was fully surrounded in thick, dark trees, with a canopy so dense that it almost fully blocked out the sunlight. Say for the odd ray of sun that managed to fight its way through the leaves to shine through into the shadows.

The clearing was rather large, and would take any pony a good 5 minutes to walk around its perimeter.
Along the edge, as well as dotted around the clearings centre, were many different species of plant. Some bright blue and glowing faintly, some were bright red that stood proud. And others were a variety of colours that all looked like they could be dangerous just to look at.

Zecora smiled, looking at twilight and telling her to go in one direction, while Zecora walked in the other. Soon enough the pair were working their way through, collecting plants, wild herbs and vines.

Zecora was using her sickle to cut through the roots of the plants, while Twilight was uprooting the entire plant, so Zecora could make the most out of what they gathered. After about 20 minutes of gathering, their bags were nearly full, so many colours were mixed together, many different scents emerged between the woven sides of their bags, plaguing their nostrils and causing the occasional cough from Zecora and Twilight.

Twilight had decided to grab one more plant and call it quits before the scents got too overwhelming.
She found a glowing blue flower that stood proud on its own, almost picture perfect with the shadows of the forest behind it, and a singular, tiny ray of light shining on it.
Twilight smiled wide at her discovery and grabbed her shovel.

“Zecora! I'm going to grab one more and then I'll be done!” Twilight called out, getting a nod from Zecora in response.
Twilight then pushed her shovel into the ground, just an inch away from the plant, so she could also gather some of the roots.
It took a bit of extra force, as the ground was rather dry around the plant, before Twilight’s shovel suddenly broke through something that was buried in the dirt, that sprayed a black liquid into Twilight’s face.

Causing the Alicorn to drop her shovel, gagging and coughing.
Her eyes shut tightly as her face was caked in the thick spore and liquid mix that suddenly shot out of the ground. She tried to wipe her face clean, but she only managed to spread it further across her face.
The liquid clung to her fur, staining it and refusing to move with the efforts Twilight was making.

All the racket caught the attention of Zecora who came trotting over with worry on her face.

“My, Twilight, are you alright? I wouldn’t want you catching a blight.”
Zecora asked, with concern lining her tone as she saw the Alicorn still coughing violently.

“I don't… ugh… I don't know what happened, I tried digging up that plant and something sprayed in my face…”
Twilight explained as Zecora looked past her, at the plant that was now half uprooted.
The sun ray from earlier shone down into the small hole that was made, causing something to glimmer.
Zecora then walked over, gently shifting the dirt to the side with the shovel, to reveal that Twilight had broken through what looked like a glass sphere, the inside of it being caked in a layer of spores and condensation, with a singular tiny mushroom growing on the inside.

“Well that's strange, I do not recognize this sphere. Come, my home should still be near”

Twilight gave a nod, reaching out a hoof to try and reach Zecora. Her eyes shut tight to keep the spore filled liquid from flooding her vision.
Instead, Zecora nudged her muzzle under Twilight’s wing, promoting her to use that instead.
With Twilight’s wing resting across Zecora’s back, she managed to guide the purple alicorn back to her home. Where she gently sat twilight down and began making a bowl of warm water and a rag.

“First let’s get you clean” Zecora said softly, telling Twilight what she was about to do, since her eyes were still closed.

Zecora walked over to Twilight and began gently wiping the liquid away, the warm water managed to wipe the liquid away with ease. Her purple fur was now slightly darker around her face from the pigment of the spores and liquid mix.
Once Twilight’s face was cleared, the alicorn finally opened her eyes, only to be greeted by Zecora’s worried face.

“D-do i really look that bad?”
Twilight asked with concern, her ears folding back and her wings opening a bit.
The Zebra then took out a small wooden stick and signalled for Twilight to open her mouth, which she did.
She used the stick to hold Twilight’s tongue out of the way so she could look into her mouth better, only to see that her throat was stained black. Twilight had inhaled whatever spores were inside that sphere.

“It appears you inhaled that stuff to a high degree. Maybe we should stop for now, wouldn’t you agree?” Zecora asked as she put the rag away, and put her gloves into the nearby trash can.

“Alright well, I'm glad I was able to help out Zecora. Sorry for suddenly causing so much chaos…”
Twilight responded, before coughing a bit into her front hoof. She then used her magic to remove the gloves and throw them away in the nearby trash can.

Zecora simply gave a dismissive wave before opening the door, the bamboo wind chimes clinking together again, filling the room with their simple melody.

“You look rough, go home and rest. You have done more than enough, I can do the rest.” Zecora instructed with a smile, which was met with a simple nod from Twilight.

The alicorn picked up her bag, leaving the gathered materials on the nearby table along with Zecora’s load, before making her way out and back to Ponyville. Though not without a few small coughs and splutters.
Which surely didn't go unnoticed by some of the citizens. Twilight soon reached her castle, still coughing slightly as she closed the door.

“S-spike? Are you home?”
Twilight called out into the castle, putting her now empty saddle bag down by the door, and slowly walking through the halls of her castle.
Her hoofsteps echoed on the crystal floor, and the rooms shone with a grand display of small rainbow prisms that slowly faded the deeper she went into the castle.

She soon came to the castle’s kitchen, where she found Spike. He was making a cake with a new cook-book that Twilight had not seen before. Walking in, she peeked at the front cover, it was a cook book written by Mr and Mrs cake, all about baking and many different recipes they had discovered over the years.
“Baking through the years” the title read, and the front cover was the Cakes holding some baking equipment like whisks and baking trays.

“Hey twilight!” Spike finally said, he had seen Twilight come in, but was focused on counting some pony friendly, edible gemstones for his muffins he was making.
Once he had finished counting and putting them into separate containers by colour, he hopped off of his stool and hugged the purple alicorn.

“Hey… are you ok? You look rough. Did something happen while you were with Zecora?”
Spike asked, looking at Twilight’s half lidded eyes.

“Yeah.. We were almost done and something that was hidden in the dirt I had accidentally smashed open, spraying my face with some kind of liquid.
Zecora looked me over and asked me to go home and rest up. I don't feel right, I'm hoping some rest will do me some good, especially with the Gala coming up.”
Twilight explained, before smiling down at the dragon.

“I'm sure I'll be ok. If anything changes, I'll let you know.”
She then gave Spike a tight hug, wrapping her hooves and wings around him in a warm embrace, before making her way upstairs and to her bedroom, where she climbed into her bed, wrapped herself in her blankets, and drifted off to sleep.