Zecora makes sneezing powder

	Zecora was taking a break from her work. These days, most of her time was spent either making various remedies for sick ponies, or researching the properties of new plants that she found. Today, she was doing neither of these. Occasionally, she would get a request to prepare some potion or other substance in high volume, so that it could be sold in a shop somewhere. She didn't like that type of work. For one thing, making the same potion over and over again got repetitive. Furthermore, it removed the aspect of her life that she loved most: getting to see the joy on somepony's face when they were cured of whatever was ailing them.
	As much as she disliked fulfilling orders, Zecora had to admit that it brought in quite a lot of money. She did it as infrequently as she was able, so occasionally she could get repeat customers to bid on her services a bit. After all, the more money she made doing this like this, the less she would have to charge to the ponies who truly needed her help.
	Zecora tried to negotiate her jobs so that she that her creations would end up benefiting as many ponies as possible, regardless of whether or not she would get to meet these ponies. She knew how to make poisons which could sicken a pony, or even kill them, but she never took contracts like that. Today, she was making sneezing powder, of all things. Not only did it not help anypony, but it could cause extreme displeasure if used incorrectly.
	She had only taken this job at all because of the ridiculous amount of money it had offered, combined with the fact that she was making it for a laboratory which was using it for some type of research. Surely they would be responsible, and not use the powder to cause anypony harm.
	Zecora got off of her seat, and went back to the table where she was preparing the sneezing powder. She put a mask over her snout, to keep any potential irritants from reaching her nose. She then filled her mortar with poison joke leaves, which were a sickly light blue after drying for days in the sun. Working her pestle, she began the process of turning them into a powder.
	Most sneezing powders used poison joke in some way. Commercial powders usually had a low content, under ten percent, which was just enough to make ponies sneeze, but not enough to make the powder ludicrously expensive. After all, who was going to spend more than five bits on sneezing powder?
	Well, her customer would. The order had come in for sneezing powder of the maximum possibly potency. So, where most sneezing powders were mostly fluff, and a little poison joke, hers was mostly poison joke, with a touch of other ingredients. Hot peppers were used to 'wake up' the nose so that the poison joke could begin its work. There was a rare flower from her homeland which had pollen which was particularly irritating to the nose, so that went in too.
	The final ingredient was new to Zecora. A few days after she agreed to take the job, a small, airtight container had come in the mail, filled with tiny metallic flakes. There was a note with the lab's letterhead explaining that the substance was non-toxic, and that she was to make the sneezing powder normally, and add it in when she was mixing for the last time. The note hadn't specified any ratios, so Zecora just assumed that they had pre-calculated it based on the amount she said she was going to make, five pounds.
	A second shipment had come in just yesterday, with hundreds of tiny bottles, each with a cork, and instructions explaining that the powder needed to be placed within them, and that they had included extra in case of breakage. She sighed, grabbed a funnel, and began filling them. It was mindless work, and Zecora found herself thinking about how she was going to spend all of the money she was making. There were so many rare and expensive ingredients that she could buy!
	Finally, the work was done, and all of the powder was safely contained within the bottles. She removed her mask, and began placing the bottles safely inside a wooden box. Once that was done, she pushed the box out to her front room, and loaded it into her cart so that she could deliver it to Ponyville tomorrow to be shipped.
	Zecora walked back into her kitchen, and began preparing a salad. She decided that she was going to take the rest of the night off, unless any emergencies arose, of course. Her hoof brushed against something glass, and it toppled over. Zecora looked down. A small cloud of light blue powder was rising out of the open bottle. She didn't know how a bottle of product had made it into her kitchen, but she couldn't concentrate right now; a massive sneeze was growing inside of her nose.
	"Ahhh... Ehh.." Zecora's mouth opened, and her eyes squinted. She tilted her head back and let the sneeze overtake her. "Ehhehh... AHHH! HEHH!! HHEEEEHCHHOOOOO!"
	The sneeze bellowed out, much louder than was normal for her. The powder wasn't through with her yet, though. "Ahh... Aahhhh.. ACHHHOOOOOO! Ehhhh.. AHHH! HAHHHCHOOOO!"
	"Ahh... Haahh... Ehh..." What was going on? Surely she should have sneezed the powder out by now. But no, her nose still tickled, almost as strong as when she first inhaled the vile stuff. Zecora's hoof fanned in front of her face. "Hehhh.. AHHH! HHEEEEEETIISSHHHOOOOO!"
	"Hehh... Hehehh... Hehh..." Zecora rubbed her snout, trying to stop herself. Her nose tickled fiercely, but she was able to hold on, and not sneeze. Perhaps she would just release one last time, she really needed to... "HEHEHH! EYYYYEEETTTSHOOO! Ahh... AHH.. ACHHHOOOOIIEE! Ahh... Ehhh..."
	The tickle didn't show any signs of stopping, so she pressed her hoof hard into her nose and her breathing returned to normal. Zecora rubbed until she felt as if she was in control of herself again. With the tickle reduced to a minor bother, she returned to her workstation and grabbed one of the tiny stoppers that went with the bottles of sneezing powder.
	As she sealed the bottle of sneezing powder, the itch in her nose returned for revenge. It came on her all of a sudden, and she turned her head away and violently sneezed. "KKEEERRRTTCHOOOO!"
	Zecora massaged her nostrils, trying to get rid of the pervasive tickle. Instead, she felt another sneeze building up. "Hehh... Ehh... Ahhh..."
	She continued rubbing at her nose, and the sneeze faded away again. Zecora picked the bottle of sneezing powder up with her teeth, and walked towards her storage area to put it away. Suddenly, the urge to sneeze overtook her again. It snuck up on her, so she did not have time to react. "HEHH!"
	Zecora's mouth opened, and the container of sneezing powder fell to the ground and shattered. Blue powder flew across the floor, and began to rise in a cloud. A large pile sat between shards of broken glass. "Ahhh.. Ehh... ACHOOOOOOO!"
	As she sneezed, Zecora's head snapped forwards, and the gust from her sneeze managed to kick even more powder into the air. Her head reared back, and tears streamed down her face from the massive urge to sneeze. Her ears flattened against her head as her breath hitched again. "HEHHEHHHEHHH! HHHEEEEEETIIISHHHHIIIOOOO!"
	The sneeze bellowed out of her, and her back arched inwards as her front legs gave out and her head was carried to the ground. Luckily, she managed to avoid the broken glass. Unluckily, she had sneezed right into the pile of powder, and what she hadn't blown up into the air was currently between her nostrils and the ground. Her nose crawled, and she reflexively sniffled, filling her nose with powder. She sneezed instantly, and desperately. "CHOOOO! CHOOO!"
	"CHOOO! CHOO! Choo! choo.." Zecora's lungs ached as she sneezed out every last bit of air. She was seeing spots when her body finally decided she needed oxygen. As she breathed in, Zecora scrambled to her feet, trying to get away from the powder and broken glass. She made it a few steps away, hitching madly. "AHH... AHHH! AHHHH! HEHHEHH!"
	Zecora had never wanted to sneeze so badly in her life. Powder still caked the inside of her nose, and lined her lips. Her entire snout itched, along with her eyes. The powder was tormenting her, and drawing out the buildup. Zecora had had enough, so she glanced at the sun through her window, and stopped hitching long enough to draw in one massive breath. "HEHHEHHEHHHEHHH!! KKKKERRTTIIIIIEEEECHHHAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
	"Ahhhh... HEHHH! HEHHEHHEHH!" Zecora was helpless to do anything besides build up to another monstrous sneeze. As she drew in desperate hitching breaths, she glanced around the room. All of the powder was gone from where she had originally dropped the bottle, and as she turned her head towards the open window, she could see the powder floating through the air, dancing in the sun's rays. Her sudden awareness that the air was full of sneezing powder, combined with the light of the sun made her explode. "HHHAAAAAHHHTIIISSSHHHHIIIIOOOOOO!! Ehh.. HEHHH.. HEHHH! HHHURRRREESSSSHHOOOOOOOOO!!"
	With the second sneeze, Zecora's front knees buckled and she found herself looking between her back feet, head resting against the ground. She stood back up. The sneezing powder was everywhere, and she needed to get outside. She took one step towards the door, and halted. Her tongue pushed into the side of her cheek, and her eyes closed. She really should be headed for the door, but there was a sneeze inside of her that couldn't wait to be released. Her head went back and forth as she drew in massive breaths. "Ehhh... AHHH... AHHHHH! EHHEHH! EEEYYYEEETTTCHOOOOOOOO!"
	Zecora made a dash for the door. As her hoof grasped the knob, her head began to tilt back, involuntarily. Her lips quivered as she desperately tried to resisit breathing in. She fumbled with the doorknob, as the nerve endings in her nostrils burned, begging her to submit to the growing sneeze. "Hehh... Ahhh.. AHHH! AHHHH! HHHAAAAAACHOOOOOIIIEE! EHH! YEHEHHH! KKEEERRRTIIIEEEEECHHHOOOOO!!"
	"Ahh... EHH... EHHHH!" Zecora began. She opened the door and rushed outside. Once she got a few yards away from her cottage, she threw back her head, took a final breath, and exploded. "EHHEHHHEHH! HHHUURRRUUUUSSHOOOOOOO!"
	"Ahhhh.. Hehh.. HEHHEHH... HEHHH!" Zecora's breath hitched as she stood in the grass. She tilted her head back and squinted at the sun. Her hoof fanned idly in front of her face. The sneeze was stuck, although her nose still tickled massively. She sniffed slightly. "HEHHH!! AAHHHH! AHHAHH! HEHHHEHEHEHH! GGAAAAAATTCHHHOOOOOOO!"
	As the sneeze bellowed out of her, Zecora's upper body rocketed forwards, and she rolled forwards as if doing a somersault. She ended up laying on her back, facing the sky. Zecora gave in to sneeze after sneeze, until she finally got up to try and wash the powder off of her face, and out of her nose. She knew that she would be sneezing all night, at this rate.