Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and yawned, finding herself face to face with a smiling Discord. “Discord, what are you doing here? I thought I saw you disappear.” Her eyes widened. “Whoa, what I said was kinda weird. All of a sudden rhymes appeared,” she said, blinked twice, and pushed past Discord towards the bathroom mirror, splashing some cold water into her face. “Alright, that’s strange, it’s not a dream… so a prank of yours it seems?” she glared at Discord.

“Correct my darling Rainbow Dashey, but please don’t judge me quite so rashly. Just come down to see our zebra friend, a silly sight, I recommend. For though she speaks in cryptic verse, I’ve freed her today from this curse, and now her rhyming skill is gone, with no idea what’s going on,” Discord said, rocking back and forth on an invisible cradle in the air.

“Hold on a minute, why are you… talking like this and rhyming too?” Rainbow Dash asked, scratching her mane.

“I’m not affected by my spell, but enjoy playing along as well, for it wouldn’t be quite as fun if all were rhyming but this one,” Discord said. “But now let’s watch Zecora talk while taking a Ponyville walk.” He snapped his fingers on his tail, and Rainbow Dash’s bed flung her out the window before giving Discord a high-five.

Rainbow Dash caught herself in midair as Discord appeared beside her, pointing down at a very shaky Zebra on the ground. She was skipping around in a strange pattern around Ponyville market.

“Good morning, merchant. I’d like to buy some oranges,” Zecora said happily as she placed a basket filled with oranges on the counter. The merchant’s jaw dropped. “Funny story, I’ve always wanted to try these, but nothing ever rhymed with orange, so I could never ask.” She paid the merchant and skipped away with the basket, happily singing “Orange, Orange, ORANGE!”

“Morning’ Zecora, how you doing? Couldn’t help but see you chewin’!” Pinkie Pie burst out from under a basket, causing Zecora to spit out a slice of orange.

“These fruits are simply divine!” Zecora said. Pinkie Pie smiled and stared at her expectantly. Zecora calmly took out another slice of fruit and began chewing again.

Pinkie Pie looked at her in confusion. “Aren’t you going to rhyme your words? Like all the other times I heard?”

“Nope! That’s not my problem anymore!” Zecora said, grinning. “Want an orange? Orange.” She repeated, giggling. “Maybe I’ll paint my home orange.”

“Or maybe paint it lemon-lime! You sure that you don’t want to rhyme? ‘Cuz you know from your speech I inferred that rhyming was what you preferred,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing up and down. “I just noticed, I’m rhyming too! I’m rhyming now instead of you!” She grinned. “I love these rhymes, they’re so much fun. I’m going to go rhyme a ton!” Pinkie Pie bounced away from Zecora. “Thanks for the orange, by the way! I found a door hinge in the hay.” Zecora blinked suspiciously, and then walked over to a nearby haybale, where there was, indeed, a rusted door hinge.

“Hey Zecora, how’s your day? I saw you staring at my hay, it looked real weird from far away,” Applejack said, walking over from her apple stand and chuckling. “Heh, look at me, rhyming too, I guess for us now that makes two.” She blinked. “Whoa, that time I wasn’t trying, though that was something, not denying.”

“You know, from another point of view, this does get kind of annoying really fast,” Zecora said. “And I’m not rhyming anymore. Thank goodness for that. Besides, I can start again anytime I want to. See? It’s nice to see you, Applejack. I’m just eating a healthy orange. I mean snack. Wait, what?” She blinked, and tried again. “I know I can rhyme if I try, if you can make an apple tart. I mean… pie.”

“Sounds to be quite problematic, for me it’s stuck on automatic,” Applejack said. “Well I must be getting to my stand, can’t leave it for too long unmanned.” As she walked away, Zecora felt an overwhelming sense of dread engulf her.

“My brain just can’t rhyme anymore. And suddenly my back feels… perfectly comfortable,” Zecora grumbled, rubbing her sore back. “I guess it really wasn’t bad to rhyme so much: it made me… happy. In a way I didn’t see, rhyming was just a part of… myself,” she struggled with the phrases, unable to match them with their proper rhyme. “I just wish for it to all turn back… now that I realize what I lack.”

Zecora’s eyes widened as she noticed what had just happened. “What? It’s back? I swear I rhymed, in verses were those words I chimed.” She grinned and walked over to her basket of oranges. “I’m glad I got to try these oranges, I…” her face blanked out as she realized what she had done.

Unnoticed to Zecora, fifty meters above her, Rainbow Dash and Discord laughed as an ear splitting shriek cut through the air.

Next Chapter: Muffinstorm Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 6 Minutes