#cedar apple rust

Putting it under a cut because it's very intentionally kinda nasty, no gore or blood but fungus and spores are involved and essentially a zombie pony.

wasn't sure about the colors, but i figure since they're kinda.. yknow, a zombie, technically, they're most likely duller and their fur is probably much darker than normal, so i went with it for a first draft at least figuring i can change it later.

Looking back on this I don't love the colors at all, the cutie mark especially, so i think I'll change it, but perhaps the spores change the pigments in the fur and corrupts the magic in a pony, therefore changing the cutie mark as well.

Found these on some cedar trees in my back field, was wondering if you knew what these were?

[submitted by @lady8ces]

Yes! This is a Gymnosporangium species; I think they’re older clusters of  Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae - known as cedar apple rust.

Really interestingly, it relies on two trees to live and spread.

Spores infect apple and crabapple trees, causing the rust red spots from which it gets its common name. Once mature, these bodies release spores which will infect juniper and cedar trees. The spores from an apple tree cannot infect another apple tree, and those from a coniferous tree cannot infect another coniferous tree; each year reproductive bodies of this fungus will release spores and move between the two hosts. It therefore thrives in areas where these two kinds of tree coexist. You can read more about this intricate lifecycle here.

Guess this means there are apple trees nearby.

as i got older, i became convinced they were part of the tree’s male reproductive cycle because for some reason i’ve only ever noticed them infect male trees?