The Genie's Lamp Zecora's Wishes

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Zecora clopped through the town square. She needed ingredients, for her most recent... Well, what do I see? I don't remember what this is in front of me... There was a large wagon, filled to the brim with strange items. A heavy built stallion with a large mustache was trying to get the attention of any pony that passed by.

Finally, he came up to Zecora. "Gree'ings, weary travelah! Please, come into my caravahn! Oi am Murgo, mystical magical menagerie salesman! Would you loike a trinket and or magical oitem? Oi'd be pleased to help you foind what you are looking for." He grabbed onto her, and pulled her right in, picking up a mirror. "This little beau'y lets you pee'uh into a magical realm, where everything is backwahds!" Murgo grabbed a music box. "This is a vewy special ahtifact. Too special. Not for sale!" He tossed it behind his back, giving a wide grin.

"Um, thank you for the offer, but I think I will pass. There doesn't seem to be anything for me, at last." Zecora turned around, and began walking out of the caravan.

"W-Wait! I have something! Something vewy powerful from Saddle Awabia!" Zecora paused, turning back to Murgo, who seemed relieved she had turned around. "Y-Yes! I was saving it for a vewy special customah! You seem to be that pony-Oi mean, zebra. This way..." Zecora followed him into the back, where he pulled out a lamp. "This is dah Genie's Lamp! Give it a good rub, and maike a wish! Three wishes per customah!"

Zecora raised an eyebrow, taking the lamp from Murgo. "I do not see how, this dusty lamp makes wishes come true. It is filthy and dingy, but the truth I shall prove!" Zecora began rubbing the lamp. "Wishes seem impossible, but the possible could also be, so, for my first wish, I wish that everypony have to talk in rhymes like me."

[Time Turner]

According to his sources, there was apparently some new wagon in town selling magical artifacts and other trinkets. While not normally his thing, Time Turner found that his curiosity was piqued enough he snuck out of town hall to go take a look at what was being offered. Luckily enough it was in the town square, just a short trot down from the town hall. Furthermore, it was pretty hard to miss the wagon; the giant stallion running it was quite loud. It was also of no surprise to him that the Everfree’s resident zebra was hanging about; he figured she’d have an eye for this sort of thing too.

Walking up, he noticed that she had in her possession some kind of lamp thing. Having missed the spiel, or the wish, Time Turner just trotted up beside her with a nice cheerful smile as he looked it over.

”Good morning Zecora. What do you got there? I hope this place isn’t some kind of…snare?”

Uh, that was odd; why did he say snare? He had wanted to say tourist trap or something like that, but it was like he HAD to say something that rhymed. Hmm, maybe it was just his mind being odd. After all, wouldn’t be the first time his mind was wanting to do something than what he thought about…if that made any sense. Probably didn’t but whatever.

”If you don’t mind, I want to do a test. Hopefully this will put my questions to…rest.”

Oh now that was getting rather interesting. Even if that sentence made sense, he still felt like he had to rhyme it. Any other word he could think of he felt like he couldn’t say; it had to be ‘rest’. Something funny was going on, but at least it was harmless enough. He could use an excuse to practice rhyming. Still, he should probably try and figure out what was responsible for this…

”Zecora, quick, we must solve this curse. Otherwise things might get worse!” Time Turner said, pushing Zecora along. He always needed a partner to do this sort of thing. In his haste, he knocked out the lamp from Zecora’s grasp.

OOC: If you don’t mind, I did that last bit as an excuse to get the lamp away from Zecora. After all, not fun if she can wish it away immediately XD.

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Zecora was surprised when Time Turner came in. She thought she'd be the only one willing to look through "magical" artifacts. Then, he began rhyming his sentences. "Oh, Celestia, it worked! I can't believe it!" She grinned, but her smile immediately disappeared. "I'm not rhyming anymore! That's it, I'm taking the lamp and I'm walking out the d-d-d-d-wagon."

Then, suddenly, Time Turner grabbed her. The lamp flew from her hooves, and she cried out as she was pulled out of the wagon. "Wait! You fo'got dah lamp! I don't want it anymo'uh! It's eyvil! Take it! Don't leave it! I don't want tah use my last wish!" Murgo grabbed the lamp, and threw it towards them.

A crow caught it in midair, and flew away with it in its talons. "Time Turner, the lamp! It's getting away! I need to rhyme! It hurts inside with what I s-s-s-speak."

[inkie]

Inkie Pie was on her way back to Sugarcube Corner. She was in a mood was the closest to her seeming "cheerful". She had quickly learned the benefits of knowing Pinkie's friends. Today, she had visited the library to pick up a few books for herself. She had a small stack of famous plays tucked into her saddlebags. She had only planned on getting one, but thanks to Twilight, she could barely fit all of them in her bags.

Suddenly, a commotion in the town square caught her attention. She saw Zecora with another pony, and some kind of shiny lamp thing getting carried off by a bird. "What's going on over here? Some kind of trouble, I fear?" she asked, then hesitated, thinking about her own statement.

"A couplet? What a coincidence to say. Just like the ones from a play. Huh, there again... something's wrong. Tell me please, what's going on?!" She began to gallop after the two of them in a slight panic.

[Time Turner]

Time Turner was caught up in his own wild dreams to really pay much attention to Zecora’s speaking. It had been a while since he had gotten something exciting like this happen to him in Ponyville; he seemed to always be absent during the monster attacks and other big events. All he got was apple cider salesponies and fashion critics. Changeling attack was exhilarating though. Anyway, enough about there, there was mysterious rhyming curse inflicting Ponyville!

”Zecora, isn’t this exciting! I wonder what did this thing!”

Huh, it was starting to become easier to speak in rhyme. Continuing with the running, Time Turner was finally listening as he watched a crow fly away with a lamp…and Zecora mentioning that the lamp was the cause of everything. Wait, was she not speaking in rhyme? Meh, not important. The important thing was to get that crow!

”The lamp is the cause of this you say? Well, at least this is turning into an interesting day. You and me? Allons-y!”

With that he was off again, at least this time having a target to chase after. Within moments they were joined by a third party, some grey colored pony he didn’t recognize. At least she seemed to have caught onto the issue. Now let’s see if he could think of a way to describe what was happening.

”Zecora made a wish that went wrong, forcing us to speak like a…song? We’re now forced to rhyme, and it’ll happen every time. The lamp the crow holds is the cause. Now hurry up this is no time to pause! A way to knock it free is what we need, with great speed indeed.”

Meh, this was starting to lose its charm very quickly; somepony like him who liked to ramble really couldn’t force everything into a rhyme. How did Zecora do it?