------[GOOD END VERSION]------ >The Everfree held host to dozens of magical plants found nowhere else in Equestria. >It was for this reason Zecora traveled so far, and put up with such dreadful conditions. >The fuel for her alchemist's trade was everywhere in the forest, and with such rare ingredients always close at hoof she could experiment in ways most would call wasteful. >Often when there was left over materials she would simply brew something up and see what happens. >It was for this reason she came to combine hydra's scales, ground Poison Joke petal dust, and Heart's Desire stem clippings. >Casting her eyes about, Zecora settled on a bowl of activated almonds. >Covering the cauldron, she set it to simmer and went to sleep. >The next day was, well, it went differently from how zecora expected. >The crude potion had vaporized over night, and sprayed out into a purple cloud that filled her hut once the lid was lifted. >Coughing and hacking from the cloying mist, Zecora quickly stumbled her way out of the hut. >The sickly-sweet lungfuls she'd taken inside were more than enough of a dose, though. >No matter how much she coughed, Zecora never managed to get the vapor out of her chest. >If anything, it was getting worse. >Seconds ticked by as worry set in. >The zebra rapidly found herself filling with the airy potion, letting out great purple puffs with each cough. >Her stomach gurgled and joined in soon enough. >As her reflexes wore off and the coughing lightened, Zecora found she could do nothing to hold back a foggy purple belch. >Zecora finished the burp only to feel another gurgling inside her. >The second was louder and longer, and she felt the third growing even before the second tapered off. >It didn’t stop. >The poor zebra kept getting fuller and fuller with the purple gas, and nothing she could do was letting it out fast enough. >It wasn’t long before the zebra mare started to round out, and it wasn’t much longer after that she began to vent from the other end. >For all the world, Zecora looked like she had swallowed a beach ball, and the poor mare was blasting streams of the aerosolized potion from both ends. >Her belly only grew as the gas kept filling her. >Eventually the growth spread, rounding her whole self out like a balloon full of the strange mist. >There was only so much space to fill inside the alchemist. >The vent at her rear turned to a higher and higher pitch as the gas was forced out faster. >Her cheeks puffed out from the constant outward flow. >The zebra mare’s skin tightened and squeaked as zecora reached her fullest. >The belches were constant now, barely affording her time to breathe, and the long continuous fart showed no signs of slowing. >The gassy ball of a zebra rolled back and forth, wiggling her now-stubby legs in an attempt to gain purchase. >After a few gassy bounces, Zecora finally landed a solid hoof on the ground. >It was a slow process, but she managed to start herself moving in an awkward and slow waddle. >Help was a long way away. >It took until sunset before the gassy bubble of a mare made it out of the forest. >The whole way she left behind a slowly spreading trail of purple potion vapors. >Zecora had wondered how her noisy waddle hadn’t attracted any unwanted attention on the long trek through the dangerous greenwood. >The truth is, it had. >A pack of timberwolves, a manticore, and a mated pair of cockatrices had all heard her gassy venting and took it for a dinner bell. >Now they, and countless other denizens of the Everfree Forest were ballooning with the potion’s effects themselves. >Everything that breathed it swelled with the stuff, leaking it from everywhere in belches and farts when the space inside them ran out. >Free of the tree line and exhausted, Zecora could finally see Ponyville in the distance. >Zecora set down to rest for a moment, only to find her rounded body rolling down the road to town as soon as she left her stubby hooves. >The Zebra balloon bounced and spun her way down the smooth path, careening past the Sweet Apple Acres and a highly confused apple family. >All the way, she left a twin-spiraled trail of purple noxious fumes. >Applebloom let out a petite burp as Zecora crested the next hill and rolled into Ponyville proper. >The black and white boulder crashed over the back of the flower trio’s stand, and let out as sharp belch as she bounced off the top, arcing into the air over the market. >Lilly, Daisy, and Roseluck were washed in the mist as zecora flew over their heads. >”The horror! The ho- BURP!” >Zecora flew in a spiraling whirl as she flew to the center of the market square. >The dizzy zebra finally came to rest with a splash, finding herself floating in Ponyville’s fountain. >There she sat and slowly spun on the water, watching in horror as everypony around her in the market began to bloat and swell. >Dozens of rumbling belches and long farts joined her own as the infectious vapors took hold. >Soon creaks and groans sounded as the other ponies fully rounded out, and stretched to their limits. >Everywhere, the gassy ponies rolled, bounced, waddled, and flapped in attempts to orient themselves. >All the while the purple haze in the air thickened, and began to flow out of the market square. >It would be days before the potion finally spoiled, during which time all of Ponyville had been quarantined by Celestial edict. >Even once the potion stopped filling them, it was still days before everypony was completely empty of the built up vapors. >It was collectively decided to never talk about that week again. >At least, until Rarity discovered on a day trip to Canterlot that eating activated almonds could kick the potion back into gear. ------[BAD END VERSION]------ >The Everfree held host to dozens of magical plants found nowhere else in Equestria. >It was for this reason Zecora traveled so far, and put up with such dreadful conditions. >The fuel for her alchemist's trade was everywhere in the forest, and with such rare ingredients always close at hoof she could experiment in ways most would call wasteful. >Often when there was left over materials she would simply brew something up and see what happens. >It was for this reason she came to combine hydra's scales, ground Poison Joke petal dust, and Heart's Desire stem clippings. >Deciding that wasn't enough, Zecora also added a jarful of popcorn kernels - mostly because they were starting to get old. >Covering the cauldron, she set it to simmer and went to sleep. >The next morning was disastrous. >The crude potion had vaporized over night, spraying out into a purple cloud that filled her hut once the lid was lifted. >Coughing and hacking from the cloying mist, Zecora quickly stumbled her way out of the hut. >The sickly-sweet lungfuls she'd taken inside were more than enough of a dose, though. >No matter how much she coughed, Zecora never managed to get the vapor out of her chest. >If anything, it was getting worse. >Seconds ticked by as worry set in. >The zebra rapidly found herself filling with the airy potion, letting out great purple puffs with each cough. >Her stomach joined in soon enough. >As her reflexes wore off and the coughing lightened, Zecora found she could do nothing to hold back a foggy purple belch. >Zecora finished the burp only to feel another gurgling inside her. >The second was louder and longer, and she felt the third growing even before the second tapered off. >It didn’t stop. >The poor zebra kept getting fuller and fuller with the purple gas, and nothing she could do was letting it out fast enough. >It wasn’t long before the zebra mare started to round out, and it wasn’t much longer after that she began to vent from the other end. >For all the world, Zecora looked like she had swallowed a beach ball, and the poor mare was blasting streams of the aerosolized potion from both ends. >Her belly only grew as the gas kept filling her. >Eventually the growth spread, rounding her whole self out like a balloon full of toxic mist. >There was only so much room inside the alchemist. >The vent at her rear turned to a higher and higher pitch as the gas was forced out faster. >Her cheeks puffed out from the constant outward flow. >The zebra balloon rolled and twisted on the ground as the pressure inside reached a fever pitch. Fweeeeeeeeeeeeeee-BOOM >Zecora detonated into a cloud of purple fog like an over filled party balloon. >The cloud left behind swirled and twisted, now freed to the wind. >After a few hours, the clearing around Zecora’s hut was filled with a light haze. >For the next week the sounds of pops and bangs were heard through the muffling trees. >Small pops and snaps as birds and other such animals tasted the brew. >Echoing booms when massive creatures like manticores or craggodiles burst. >Each left behind their own addition to the growing miasma. >The first of these was heard by ponyville when the fog reached the great green dragon laired in the Everfree. >The gas cloud left behind was taller than the treeline. >After a week contained in the forest, the vaporous potion finally began to seep out. >Fluttershy’s cottage, being so close to the Everfree, was the first effected. >The many critters contributed a massive cloud around her home, with fluttershy herself adding quite a bit when she burst like Zecora. >Hours later, the edge of the cloud touched the first ponyville street, and chaos set in. >A constant din of popping ponies rolled for hours while the fog crept and grew. Pop-thump-pop-pop-bang-pop-boom.