Hello again! This time we will be finishing Longest Night, Longest Day by RainbowDoubleDash. Phew, I am glad to be finally finished with this project. I am a little shocking just how much I turned against the fic in the end. I really liked it when I first read it. I guess I let the story’s flaws sour the story for me. But, this is only the beginning of the Lunaverse! Eventually the Lunaverse worked out the kinks in its narrative and is a thriving AU. I don’t think I will be returning to the Lunaverse for awhile. I want to move on to other stories now. Next will be Kingdom of Monsters by hielispace.

        I am actually doing another riff series called Discord's Funtastic Theater 3000 with a user named Key Strix.  We will be riffing a fantastically bad story named  Sonic and Shadow in Equestria by Will Atkinson. The riff is almost done so expect to see it soon! Enough ramblings, on with the fic!

If you have a fanfic recommendation, comments, or criticisms please leave a comment or PM me at my fimfiction account or my blog on Tumblr. Please NO clop or fanfiction with extreme violence. I am not going to do those. I want to do a more family friendly series and it is going to be relatively clean. Besides everyone else does them. Okay, I might do one for a special occasion. But otherwise no clop or extreme gore fics. Ok, enough rambling. On with the fic!

Special thanks to RainbowDoubleDash for letting me do his story. You are awesome!

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Doctor and Ditzy’s Science Theater

by Rixizu

Episode 24 - Part 1

        Diamond Tiara frowned as she watched Dinky’s parents mill about. They weren’t doing anything in particular. They were chatting, but it was about almost certainly something pointless. No matter how much she looked at it, these two didn’t have any romantic chemistry in the slightest. They were friends and seemed quite happy to stay that way. They were almost siblings in a way. She wondered what happened in this alternate timeline that turned them from a loving couple to this. It was really quite confusing.

        Dinky took what happened last week pretty hard. She’d been in a state of depression ever since. Underneath it was anger, maybe even bitterness. She was starting to lose hope and it hurt Diamond Tiara to see her friend like this. Every attempt to cheer her up failed and Silver Spoon suggested to just give her space. Diamond Tiara didn’t want to do that though. She was a mare of action and she hated sitting on her butt and letting things happen.

        “Howdy princess!” A voice greeted from out of nowhere and Diamond Tiara jumped. Her heart nearly beat out of her chest.

        Diamond Tiara scowled at the intruder. It was that Star Shot, Dinky’s so called protector and friend. Somepony that Diamond Tiara didn’t trust at all. It might have to do with the fact that it felt that she was mocking you whenever she talked to you and she knew something you didn’t.

Diamond Tiara glared at her. “Don’t do that.” She said evenly with a hint of a threat in her voice.

        Star Shot just grinned. “My apologies princess. I didn’t want to scare you.”

        “Fine.” Diamond Tiara just rolled her eyes.

“How’s the squirt doing?” Star Shop asked.

“Not great.” Diamond Tiara admitted. “I was hoping the experiment would cheer her up.”

        Star Shot stroked her chin with a hoof. “Oh dear. This might be a problem.”

        Diamond Tiara nodded. ‘You’ve known her longer, what might cheer her up?”

        Star Shot looked thoughtful. “What a quandary.”  Diamond Tiara looked at her expectantly before the older mare’s expression changed to a cheerful one. “I have no idea.”

        Diamond Tiara glared. “Really? Come on! You don’t have anything?”

        Star Shot shrugged. “Sorry, got nothing. But, hey, I’ll think of something.”

        Diamond Tiara groaned and just sighed turned to the screens again deciding to ignore her. This was so big and it was frustrating unable to do anything.

“Hey, don’t be so glum. I’m sure it will all work out.” Star Shot pipped in.

After a few minutes Silver Spoon trotted in. “So, is Dinky here yet?”

“Nope, it isn’t really like her. She likes to be punctual.”  Star Shot explained. Silver Spoon frowned concern obvious on her face.

        “She probably just like, needs a little more time. Then, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Silver Spoon suggested and Diamond Tiara reluctantly agreed.

        It was five minutes before the experiment before Dinky finally entered the control room. She looked haggard and awful, but she seemed to cheer up when she saw her friends.

        “Hey guys.” Dinky said in a weak voice.

        “How have you been?” Diamond Tiara asked.

        “Okay.” Dinky walked over to the chair in front of the monitors and sat down. “I’m doing okay.”

        “So, do you need anything?” Silver Spoon asked.

        Dinky smiled. “A soda would be nice.”

        “I’ll go get one.” Silver Spoon left for the kitchen. It was a small one, but had plenty of treats and food for a quick snack.

        “We’ve been worried Squirt.” Star Shot piped in.

        Dinky gave a weak smile. “Thanks. I think I’m fine now.”

        “Good to hear!” Star Shot grinned and smacked Dinky across the head. The tiny unicorn almost fell out of her seat. She gave Star Shot an annoyed glare, one that seemed to be ignored.

        Dinky hit a switch and spoke into a microphone. “Hello my little test subjects.”

        Doctor waved a hoof. “Hey Dinky.” Ditzy waved as well.

        “Today we will be finishing up Longest Night, Longest Day by RainbowDoubleDash with chapters 9 through 12 and two epilogues.” Dinky announced getting to the point right away this time.

“Finally.” Ditzy said in relief.

“Two epilogues?” The Doctor gave a snort. “Figures.”

“Enjoy.” Instead of her typical evil laugh, it was more of a chuckle. The experiment alarm went off.

“Dinky seemed downer than usual.” Ditzy commented.

The Doctor grinned. “I think we’re finally breaking her down. Can’t be easy dealing with us every day.”

Ditzy nodded and smiled. “Soon she’ll throw us out just be rid of us.”

Dinky scowled and just sat there brooding. Diamond Tiara put a comforting hoof on her back and she smiled appreciatively. Star Shot just stood there seemingly deep in thought.

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Ditzy: I don’t believe this. Two epilogues. Two!

Doctor: (Sighs) Any particular reason why they can’t just be one?

Ditzy: This story just won’t end!

Being as unaffected by the sirens as she had been,

Doctor: Like it really matter either way.

Ditzy: So, ‘He’s a dragon’ is all we get for an explanation?

Doctor: What more do you want?

Spike was at Lyra’s side before anypony else, but Trixie reacted faster, reaching out with telekinesis and hauling Lyra up and out of the river’s bank.

Doctor: Sorry Spike, you're not allowed to be helpful in any way.

The other unicorn was shivering and had her teeth chattering, and was now covered head to hoof in mud and freezing water as she was laid onto Carrot Top’s waiting back. Once she was firmly in place, the ponies, zebra, and baby dragon took off from the river at full-speed,

Ditzy: Right into a hydra's nest.

Spike hopping once more onto Zecora’s back after grabbing Lyra’s fallen lyre.

Ditzy: Does it matter? Couldn’t she just summon it back to her? Or did she create it? I have no idea what was going on there.

        “Anypony else having second thoughts about this?” Trixie asked as they galloped, before looking to Zecora.

All: Nope.

Ditzy: You better get used to this. It’s going to happen a lot from now on.

“And why weren’t you helping Lyra? Those sirens were gonna kill us!”

        “Yeah!” Cheerilee joined in. “You just stood there talking to yourself!”

Doctor: Which is the actually the first sign of sanity.

        Zecora shot the two of them glares as they finally came to a stop in a clearing far from the river.

Ditzy: (Zecora) You don’t need to get into such a huff, I was just doing... stuff.

Most of the snow in it had melted, leaving wet, dead grass and mud that reached up to their fetlocks. “I am not immune to the siren’s spell,” she said, “without my mantra, they would have enthralled me as well. This way she had only five to save from a watery grave, rather than six from the sirens’ tricks.”

Ditzy: But couldn’t they just use their magic shock wave attack to knock you out of your mantra then enthral you? Hmm, or they could just knock you out. Or have one or two of them attack you and distract you while the other enthrals you.

        Trixie shook her head. “The sirens said that they’d met you before, though. I didn’t think that Raindrops had to specify this, but you’re supposed to be guiding us safely to the Palace, not right past a bunch of sirens! If you knew they were going to be there – “

Doctor: Sorry, but nothing in the fine print says anything about actually protecting your lives if you’re in danger.

Ditzy: You should have really worded this agreement a little better.

        Zecora looked indignant. “That river is many miles long,” she interrupted, jabbing a hoof in the direction that they had galloped from. “I do not know the range of the siren’s song, nor could I know where they chose to lair.

Ditzy: Maybe they mentioned it on their Ponybook page?

I did not intentionally bring us there!”

Doctor: Uh huh.

Ditzy: Oh no, I already see where this is going...

        Trixie opened her mouth to raise another objection, when she heard Lyra cough from atop Carrot Top’s back. The zebra probably had some good points, but Trixie didn’t have to acknowledge that, and she had more immediate concerns anyway.

Doctor: I’m sure ignoring the possibility of a traitor in your group won’t bite you in the behind later.

Trixie trotted over to Carrot Top and Lyra, looking her fellow unicorn over. Lyra’s eyes were closed, and she was breathing in short, quick gasps and still shivering.

        “Is she gonna be alright?” Carrot Top asked, craning her neck to look at the pony on her back. “What’s wrong?”

        “She’s overchanneled,” Trixie said,

Ditzy: Which isn’t that big of deal. She’ll only take 1d8 points of damage.

shaking her head again as she stepped back a few feet and looked down to the ground, her own horn glowing as she singled out a large section of grass. “Hang on, let me try to dry this – ”

        Her spell was interrupted by a burst of green flame across the grass. The other ponies backed away in fright,

Doctor: Fire bad.

looking to the flame’s source and seeing Spike, atop Zecora’s back, exhaling as hard as he could. After a moment, he stopped, panting a little. The area of grass that Trixie had singled out was now blackened to a crisp, but thanks to the overall wetness of the clearing there was no danger of a fire.

Ditzy: And left the refreshing smell of pine.

After a second, he made a curious gesture of extending a hand with fist clenched, except for his thumb, which pointed straight up.

Ditzy: Good work Spike! ...Too bad Trixie could have just done it herself anyway.

        “…thanks,” Trixie decided,

Doctor: (Trixie) Thanks for taking away my cool moment, jerk.

as she removed her cape and lay it across the burned grass, the enchantments in it ensuring that it was in no danger of catching fire,

Ditzy: Makes sense. Her cape could carelessly catch on fire while camping or something. Does she have a spell preventing it from accidentally getting caught on something and killing her?

Doctor: Or having it thrown over her head while fighting someone?

at least from the few fuel-starved embers that remained. She then took Lyra from Carrot Top’s back and set her down on the ground.

        “Overchanneled?” Ditzy Doo asked after she was done. “What is that? Like magically working yourself to exhaustion?”

        “No,” Trixie said, as she took Lyra’s lyre from Spike and laid it down next to the prone unicorn, “it’s like having ninety percent of the blood in your body sucked right out while trying to run a marathon.”

Ditzy: I knew it was a bad idea to cover the contestants’ bodies in leeches before the race.

The others recoiled in shock at that, as Trixie continued. “She poured all the magic in her body into what she just did. She’s running on fumes right now, basically.”

Doctor: That’s why you need Venom Energy. It provided piercing energy that strikes back.

        “Will she be okay?” Cheerilee demanded, dropping to her knees next to her friend.

        Trixie shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

Ditzy: (Trixie) Dammit Cheerilee. I’m a magician, not a doctor!

“She needs magic. If I had an ether she’d probably already be awake, but right now all she can do is sleep and recover her magic naturally. It might take hours or days or…longer.”

Doctor: (Trixie) To a commercial break at least!

        “I could fly back to Ponyville and get an ether,” Raindrops suggested.

Ditzy: Don’t split the party.

“The hospital would have a few, right?”’

Doctor: (Raindrops) Is Lyra insured?

Ditzy: (Trixie) Meh, who cares. If she didn’t sign up for Lunacare, than it’s her own fault.

        Trixie grimaced. “Or we could all go back – ” she began, but was interrupted by Carrot Top.

        “Wait,” she said. “Ether? Like from an ether flower?”

Doctor: (Carrot Top) I knew my convenient knowledge of Everfree plant life would be useful somehow.

        Trixie blinked. “Um…sort of?” she guessed. “Except no, ether flowers are too rare, so they’re really a mix of – ”

Doctor: (Trixie) Well, let’s just say she’s going to see pink elephants for awhile.

        “They’re not rare,” Carrot Top interrupted, again. “I mean, not really rare.

Ditzy: (Carrot Top) They just have a low spawn rate.

They’re just hard to get since they only grow in the Everfree and nopony wants to make a habit out of coming here.

Ditzy: Pansies. Zecora does it all the time.

Doctor: And...Applebloom and her friends apparently.

But they blossom year-round since they feed off of magic rather than sunlight! I could go looking for some.”

Doctor: (Carrot Top) They’re just guarded by a giant space scorpion.

        “A flower that restores lost magic power?” Zecora asked. “Tell me the appearance of your claim; I may know it by another name.”

        “Blue, with red stripes,” Carrot Top provided. “The petals sort of look like small maple leaves. The stem is very toxic, but the petals aren’t. They grow low to the ground.”

        “Ah, in my tongue this plant is uchawi maua,

Doctor: Hold on. If it is only native to the Everfree Forest, how can the zebras have a name for it?

and I am familiar with its power.

Doctor: Yet unable to instantly identify it by its unique characteristics.

I know of a grove where we can find the flower; we could be there in half an hour.”

Ditzy: (Zecora) It’s not a trap to a terrible beast! Let us hurry, it’s to the east.

        “And it’ll still be there?” Trixie asked, not wholly trusting Zecora’s sense of direction anymore. “Some animals won’t of come along and eaten them, will they?”

Doctor: ...No Trixie. I highly doubt animals would eat every single flower in a groove. And the flower’s stem is poisonous so they won’t eat it anyway.

        Carrot Top and Zecora both shook their heads, however. “Like I said,” the earth pony explained, “the stem is poisonous, so most animals stay away.”

Ditzy: Duh.

        “Alright,” Cheerilee said, pointing to herself and then Ditzy Doo. “Ditzy and I will stay with Lyra and keep an eye on her…I don’t want to move her more. Ditzy can take to the air in half an hour and provide a way for Raindrops to find us when you’re heading back.”

Ditzy: Oh great, they’re splitting the party, again. Don’t they realize that leads to death?

        “Got it,” Raindrops said with a slight salute, while the rest of them turned and galloped off.

Doctor: And they seem completely unaware to the dangers.

---

        “You weren’t serious about giving up, were you?” Raindrops asked.

Ditzy: (Raindrops) You were trained by Princess Luna! You probably know how to make somepony’s head explode or something!

Despite the initial speed of their pace, the ground of the Everfree – covered with overgrown roots, mud, and still-mounting mist that was now reaching their knees – had slowed their stride quickly. Zecora assured them, however, that they were making good time.

Doctor: And reminded them again that this totally isn’t a trap.

Despite this, Spike and Zecora seemed to of taken up arguing with each other over something, though in low voices and not entirely in Equestrian. The three ponies chose not to intercede.

        Trixie looked to Raindrops. “Lyra’s been hurt now. This is why I wanted to just come in here by myself.”

Ditzy: (Trixie) Right now I would have been super overleveled to the point nothing could challenge me.

        “You’d be siren food if you had come in alone,” Carrot Top pointed out.

Doctor: (Carrot Top) You would be grilled and served with potatoes and green beans.

“Or worse. A lot of things that might attack a single pony would leave a group alone.”

Doctor: Those monsters are very shy and hate being around groups.

        Trixie shivered slightly as she dwelled on that, though also for more natural reasons. She hadn’t realize how much she had been relying on her cape to keep her warm;

Doctor: Despite never shutting up about it.

despite the sunlight being warm enough to melt snow and create fog and mist, it was still quite chilly in the Everfree, something that she wasn’t really used to dealing with for the past few years ever since she had first enchanted her cape. At least she still had her hat. It didn’t bear any elements-resisting enchantments of its own, but it was keeping her ears warm.

        “So how do you know about ether flowers anyway?” Trixie asked, changing the subject.

        “I tried to grow them once,” Carrot Top said,

Doctor: (Carrot Top) They sell well on the streets as a...medicinal herb!

chuckling slightly at the thought. “I thought that maybe all they’d need is a little earth pony magic and care.

Doctor: (Carrot Top) Trixie, why are you snickering?

But the seeds I’d managed to find never even budded until I dug them back up and put them back in the Ever – uh, Zecora, stop walking!”

Doctor: (Carrot Top) You’re about to step in some...animal business.

        The zebra froze, looking back to Carrot Top curiously, then down. Poking just up and out of the mist was a shoot covered with blue leaves. Zecora’s eyes widened and she said something else in her native language as she stepped backwards from it,

Ditzy: Phew, that was close. Zecora has terrible allergies.

Spike looking equally concerned atop her back, eyes very wide.

        Carrot Top had stopped as well, as had Raindrops and Trixie. “What is it?” Trixie asked, eyes as wide as everypony else’s. Carrot Top was waving a hoof, trying to disperse the fog, but to no avail. “Raindrops?” she asked, “do you think you could maybe move some of this?”

        Raindrops nodded, rearing up on her hind legs and beating her wings furiously several times in rapid succession. Her natural pegasus abilities made her far better at moving fog than the others,

Ditzy: Really, and here I thought Carrot Top’s waving of her hoof would do the trick!

and in a few moments a large area of the muddy, root-choked ground was revealed. However, where Zecora had been about to step was covered in blue plants, most of them only fetlock-high but some growing much taller.

Doctor: Oh no! Campanulas!

        Carrot Top breathed out a sigh of relief, though Zecora’s own was larger. “Thank you, Carrot Top,” the zebra said. “I would not have wanted to walk through that foul crop.”

        The earth pony nodded before looking to her companions. “Poison joke,” she explained. “Another magical flower, grows largest in the winter. Its effects are…less than fun…if it touches you.”

Ditzy: But perfect for comedic gags.

        “No kidding,” Spike noted in a low voice. From the sound of it, he probably had some kind of personal experience with it.

Doctor: (Spike) I was a filly for a week!

        “These were not here when last I went this way,” Zecora said. “Its presence my cause significant delay…”

Doctor: Uh, huh.

Ditzy: What? What are you trying to say? That somehow this entire groove of flowers grew over the span of a couple days?

        Trixie decided not to raise a point about this being the second time Zecora had managed to nearly lead them to disaster, though not out of a sense of altruism. Trixie may not have been an official part of the Night Court until a few days ago, but she had certainly had ample opportunity to experience it. Amongst the Night Court, there was a saying: once was coincidence, but twice was conspiracy.

Ditzy: Maybe, but she’s doing a terrible job if she almost offed herself twice.

Doctor: They must be really paranoid. Usually the expression is ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action’.

Ditzy: Well with all the dirty deads and backstabbing it isn't surprising.

        On the other hoof, Zecora had nearly walked into the poison joke herself, and her ‘plan,’ if it had been one, seemed poorly thought out.

Doctor: Yes, you would think she would lure you into a more effective trap.

Ditzy: And actually watch where she is going.

One used a poison because it could be done discretely, with little evidence leading back to the poisoner.

Ditzy: Wow, the Night Court sound’s absolutely nasty if this stuff happens all the time.

One did not simply lead the hapless victims to a grove of poisonous plants and invite them to frolic.

        Nevertheless, Trixie filed away her suspicions into her ‘interesting’ mental folder.

Doctor: Again, the fact you have a potential traitor group is only ‘interesting’ no need to get too worried about it.

Ditzy: And ignore the fact she might have tried to kill you.

        Raindrops trotted closer to the poison joke, rearing up and beating her wings once more and clearing more fog.

Ditzy: Raindrops used defog!

The blue patch was large, stretching in the direction they had to go further than Raindrop’s wings could clear, while also stretching a long ways to the left and right, even as the pegasus moved to clear as much ground as possible.

Doctor: Hmm. Those are a lot of flowers to spontaneous appear Zecora.

“Nuts,” Raindrops proclaimed as she settling back on her hooves, as Carrot Top and Trixie joined her. “This could take a while…”

        “Time we don’t really have,” Trixie pointed out. “Leaving Lyra, Cheerilee, and Ditzy Doo by themselves, never mind whatever Corona is up to…”

Ditzy: Right now she’s making the hostages play board games to keep them busy! The monster!

        “What does poison joke even do?” Raindrops asked.

Doctor: How do you feel about memes?

        “Depends on the pony,” Carrot Top noted. “It basically takes whatever you’re proudest of or something you really want and inverts it somehow, like some kind of cruel joke.

Doctor: (Lyra) No! Not my stamp collection!

It’s not poisonous, exactly, it won’t kill you or really harm you,

Doctor: Except your pride.

and it takes hours to set in, but its effects can only be stopped by a special brew, which we can’t make this time of year; or really, really powerful magic, which we don’t have; or by just wearing off, which takes weeks.”

Ditzy: But hey, it good if you want to join vocal quintet.

        “We’ll have to find another patch of ether flowers,” Spike said, looking to Zecora. Nopony noticed the slight smile on his face. “There’s another one somewhere, right?”

Doctor: Couldn’t Spike just burn them with his fire breath?

Ditzy: Do you really want to breath in poison joke?

Doctor: Good point.

        “Indeed, that is true, one that is hopefully not obstructed by leaves of blue,” Zecora responded with a nod as she looked back to the group. “But it is several hours from here. We will have to hurry, else – have you gone mad?”

        Carrot Top had taken in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and before Trixie or Raindrops could stop her, leapt forward, into the poison joke. A part of Trixie’s mind had registered that Zecora’s rhyming habit had been broken in shock, but most of her was focused on what Carrot Top had done.

Doctor: Yes, that was stunningly dumb thing to do.

        The earth pony opened her eyes, then let out a long sigh as she turned around. “We need those ether flowers as soon as possible,” she stated in a determined voice. “Like I said, poison joke takes hours to set in. Zecora, just give me directions, I’ll get them myself, and we can deal with me later, after we’ve saved the world.”

Ditzy: (Carrot Top) And hey, I’ll be great comic relief for the rest of the fic.

        Zecora blinked a few times. “Merely travel ten minutes that way,” she said after a moment, still fighting shock from her voice as she pointed straight ahead. “After that time, you should be able to gather away.”

Doctor: Maybe you should have asked that before jumping in. Couldn’t Raindrops just fly over and get them?

        “Alright, thanks.” Carrot Top said as she turned around and began trotting off.

        Raindrops and Trixie looked to each other, then the poison joke and Carrot Top, then back to each other. With a nearly simultaneous sigh, both started after Carrot Top, eliciting a gasp of surprise from Zecora and Spike and prompting Carrot Top to turn around, eyes wide. “What are you – ?” she began to demand.

        “Don’t ask stupid questions,” Raindrops interrupted.

Doctor: Like why you didn’t just fly over the flowers?

Ditzy: Or why you couldn’t just carry them over?

“You said that the ether flower grows close to the ground, right? Might need my wings to clear the fog away.”

Ditzy: What, is it Silent Hill fog? It can’t be that bad.

        “And you might need my spells for…stuff. Or junk,” Trixie said, waving a hoof.

Doctor: Right, you could use your coin from the ear trick to distract and impress monsters.

“We’re already on a time limit, think of this as extra motivation.

Doctor: It isn’t like Corona is going to kill the hostages in an hour if you don’t get the Elements of Harmony. Besides, it decreases your chance for success if all of you are affected.

Besides, we can’t have you going off by yourself all martyr-like and making us look bad.”

Ditzy: Uh, I think you just do that yourself Trixie.

        “Uh, for the record?” Spike called from atop Zecora’s back, the zebra having not moved an inch as she was still trying to take in the insanity of the three ponies. “I’m perfectly okay with you going off by yourself all martyr-like. Me and Zecora will just stay right here.”

Ditzy: Yeah, if I am going to sacrifice myself, it’s going to be for a sane reason.

Doctor: It’s like taking a bullet for someone, when you could have easily just pulled them out of the way.

        “Understood,” Raindrops responded, using a wing to give a lazy salute before turning back to Carrot Top. “Come on, let’s get going,” she said, trotting away. The unicorn and earth pony soon joined her.

        “You two are idiots,” Carrot Top proclaimed as the blue leaves of the poison joke brushed against their fetlocks, their knees, and occasionally their barrels.

Ditzy: Takes one to know one.

        “Yeah. Yeah we are,” Trixie assured the earth pony. “Not that you’re much better. What if I have a spell that could have gotten us through this without having to touch it?”

Ditzy: Like just using your magic to clear them away?

Doctor: Or just using something to cover the flowers so you can cross it safely?

Ditzy: Or Trixie could create a bubble around herself.

        “Or I have, uh, these?” Raindrops reminded Carrot Top as she flapped her wings several times. “I could have gone after the ether flowers.”

Doctor: Maybe you shouldn’t point out the plotholes.

Ditzy: Yeah, it puts us out of a job.

        Carrot Top looked between Trixie and Raindrops, then hung her head. “I didn’t think of that,” she said morosely. “I was just thinking about Lyra.”

Doctor: (Carrot Top) Who I barely know, only met a few days ago, and only had a few conversations with.

        “Yes, yes, yes, you’re a giving mare to the point of being willing to walk through poison joke for somepony you don’t even know all that well,” Trixie said in a dry voice,

Ditzy: She’s the spirit of the Element of Generosity. Get it! Get it!

though a smile appeared on her face as she said it. “And we’re the stupid mares who followed you ‘cause you’re rubbing off on us.”

Ditzy: Really? I barely remember she exists half of the time.

        “And making us look bad,” Raindrops reminded Trixie.

        “Yeah, that too. Plus, you’re the one who pointed out how dangerous it is for a single pony in here, rather than a group.”

        Carrot Top let out a long sigh at that, before raising her head. “Okay,” she said, forcing herself to smile.

Doctor: So, Rarity proved she was the Element of Generosity by being self sacrificing, clever, and thoughtful. Carrot Top did it by being foolhardy, reckless, and just plain dim.

        The trio continued in relative silence at that point, soon finding themselves free from the poison joke that had dominated that part of the Everfree Forest. Raindrops beat her wings at regular intervals to dispel the fog, then the three of them would begin searching the ground for signs of the red-and-blue flower they were looking for.

Doctor: Ether flower tracks. 2, 3 days old.

At length, they actually managed to find the grove Zecora had spoken of,

Doctor: If Zecora is actually out to get them, it was pretty dumb to lead them exactly to what they were looking for.

Ditzy: Won’t it be funny if this was a complete accident and Zecora had no idea these were here?

set in the shadow of a cliff face where the sunlight probably rarely touched, even when it moved across the sky. The petals of the flowers did indeed look like maple leaves individually, though clustered together in bloom the appearance was more like a twelve-pointed, mostly blue star, with red lines running from the tips of the petals down the stem. The grove was large, at least as large as the poison joke grove, though compacted together rather than spread out.

Doctor: (Raindrops) It’s a good thing we got here when we did. The animals left almost none at all for us.

        “How many do we need?” Raindrops asked as she gingerly poked a few of the flowers.

        “I don’t know, exactly,” Carrot Top admitted as she began using her teeth to tear off flower petals, carefully avoided the toxic stem. Trixie offered her hat to carry them. “I guess just fill up Trixie’s hat?”

        The unicorn took an experimental sniff as Carrot Top, Raindrops, and herself began gathering petals. The flowers smelled a bit like dandelions – not an unpleasant smell, so she wasn’t going to regret this, at least,

Ditzy: Come on. That can’t be your only hat right?

though a rumbling in her stomach suggested that she was going to be hungry from the experience of smelling something normally not available in winter.

Ditzy: You know greenhouses exist right?

Doctor: (Trixie) It couldn’t hurt to eat just one right?

After several minutes, Trixie’s hat was brimming, and the three ponies looked to each other.

        “This was…anticlimactic,” Trixie said, as the three began trotting back the way they had come from, Trixie using telekinesis to hold her hat aloft. As they reached the edge of the poison joke patch, Trixie continued. “I was expecting something more…well…more.”

Ditzy: Again, maybe you shouldn’t point out this in your story.

        “Things can’t be trying to eat us all the time,” Carrot Top pointed out.

Doctor: Oh, how wrong you are.

“Besides, we’ll be getting all the more we could want once the poison joke sets in.”

        Trixie winced at that. Took something she was good at and twisted it, huh? Probably every spell she’d try to cast would be a fireball or something, then.

Ditzy: But, how would that be a cruel joke? That would be cool!

Either that or she’d become so clumsy as to trip over her own hooves.

Ditzy: (Sighs) Insert joke about me here.

        It didn’t take the three of them long to find Spike and Zecora again, the two of them being heard before they were seen – once again the two seemed to be arguing over something, though their argument quickly died when they spotted the returning three. “That was fast,” Spike noted.

Doctor: (Spike) I’m surprised you all made it back here alive.

        “I know, made for a nice change,” Raindrops noted, as she beat her wings and climbed into the air so as to get a bead on Ditzy Doo.

Ditzy: They’ve split the party three times already...and absolutely nothing happened to them. How is that possible?

        Zecora looked over their haul of ether flowers. “With the power these petals can invoke,” she noted, looking to Trixie, “you could perhaps cure yourself of the poison joke. It would be wise to do so soon, lest the plant’s joke seal your doom.”

        “Doom?” Trixie asked, raising an eyebrow.

All: Doom!

        “That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Carrot Top asked. She looked to Trixie. “Like I said, whatever it does to you, it won’t be dangerous. I mean, you might shrink down to half your height, or your voice might change, or something. But it won’t be innately harmful.”

Doctor: Yes, but you’re overlooking that the joke might make your life more dangerous. Like falling into puddle while shrunk and drowning for example.

        Trixie blinked a few times as she considered. “We’ll see how much Lyra needs first,” Trixie decided. “Then see what we can do with the rest."

Ditzy: So much for Carrot Top’s trial. All she did was stupidly get herself infected with poison joke, something that isn’t harmful or dangerous, and wasn’t threatened or menaced by any monsters whatsoever on her way to the ether flowers. Oh, and she had two ponies to help her too.

Doctor: A bit of letdown after Lyra’s trial.

Ditzy: Seriously, they couldn’t be guarded by some terrible beast or something?

Doctor: Well, the author likes to slow things down considerably after something exciting happens. Maybe he thought the audience couldn’t take that much excitement.

Next Chapter: Episode 24 - Longest Night, Longest Day - Chapter 14 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 13 Minutes