(https://i.imgur.com/ksdBLt0.png)
Remind you guys of anything? *cough* FoE Killing Joke*cough*
i <3 that they are giving zicora a little more love.
Reminds me more of that disease in which a person gets bark-like skin and horn-shaped branches, due to a specific rare cancer that requires constant surgery. Though I imagine it's one way for a pony to become immortal so long as the everfree doesn't burn or they get chopped down. Then again, the minotaurs were slicing down a bunch of trees in that small comic arc, so it's hard to say if they were affected by the pollen as well.
And of course, we see even more dangerous insects. Why they stay in the Everfree and not swarm unto Ponyville rooftops to make massive hives is anyone's guess.