Rune Glare and Dust Glint trotted along the well-trodden path deep into the Everfree Forest. After hearing about Zecora from the ponies of Ponyville, they had been eager to meet the zebra from a strange, new culture. Now the two kirin were good friends with the zebra shaman.

Today, however, the path wound a different route, curving into a small meadow full of flowers. Chief among them was a blue blossom with large leaves, a bulb, and dark streaks across its petals.

“It would seem the forest has led us astray,” Rune huffed, looking back the way they came. “Zecora warned us about that.”

“Still, what a lovely meadow,” Dust said as he trotted over. “I’ve never seen flowers like this before. They almost remind me of foal’s breath.” He leaned in and took a few sniffs.

“We should be careful,” Rune said with a frown, walking over to join her brother. “This is the Everfree Forest. For all we know, they could be poison.”

“Well, they don’t smell poisonous,” Dust said with a smirk. “I feel fine.”

Rune huffed, leaning down and taking a few tentative sniffs. Grains of pollen were sucked into her nostril, and she let out a mighty sneeze that knocked her back on her haunches.

“Well, they do have a bit of pollen,” Dust admitted, letting out a sneeze himself. He sniffled, rubbing at his snout. “Weird… now my nose feels stopped up.”

“Mine too,” Rune said, sniffling herself. “I told you we should’ve left them alone.”

”Well, Zecora’s hut can’t be too much farther,” Dust said. “Maybe she’ll have something for this… this…” He sneezed loudly, knocking himself back on his haunches.

“I sure hope so,” Rune grumbled.

As they got to their hooves, trying to sniffle their noses clear, there came a rustling from the nearby bushes. Glowing green eyes and a wooden snout poked out, followed by the rumbling growls of wood against wood.

Stepping from the underbrush was a canine-like creature, made entirely of bits of mossy woods and sticks. It growled at the two kirin as it approached, stalking low to the ground.

“Fascinating,” Dust said nasally. “An animated creature made of wood.”

“It’s a timberwolf!” Rune snapped.

“Nothing to worry about,” Dusyt said with a smirk. “Wood is very flammable.”

He bravely stepped forward and up to the timberwolf. “You don’t scare me,” he said, before he gave another sneeze.

The timberwolf flinched away from the sneeze, but then lunged forward with a snarling roar. Dust Glint focused all his anger to the surface, and there was an explosion of bright blue.

As Rune waved away the misty smoke that had formed, she stared at her brother in shock. Instead of a proper nirik, his coat and scales were now bright white, tinged with pale blue flames.

And instead of flash frying the lunging timberwolf, it was now encased in a block of ice. Its eyes were wide with surprise as it glanced around at its confinement, shaking this way and that to try and get loose.

“Dusty! Are you alright?” Rune asked.

“That… was weird,” Dust admitted, his flames snuffing out as he shivered. “Ice instead of fire?”

Rune squinted at the flowers. “I remember now! These flowers are poison joke! Zecora told us about them, remember?”

“The flower that plays practical jokes? I thought she was exaggerating,” Dust huffed, letting off another sneeze. “Funny joke, turning flaming niriks into icy niriks. It literally gave us colds.”

“We need to hurry to her hut, maybe she has a cure,” Rune insisted, sneezing once more before the two set off for what they hoped was Zecora’s hut.

Author's Note

Fun Fact: This Poison Joke routine was inspired by the original Ben 10 show, from when Ben got a cold and Heatblast turned into a walking cold front.