The first thing Twilight was aware of was that her body was aching. Her memories were hazy. There was AJ and....some sort of reptile....running....falling?
"Hey, I think she's waking up!"
She knew that voice! It was Applebloom! But what was she doing here? Slowly, she began to sit up...
....until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder gently pushing her back down.
"Please, you need your rest, if you wish to be at your best."
Confused by the rich, accented voice, Twilight began to blink open her eyes, clearing her vision and looked around.
What she saw was a large, round room filled with various potions, plants and books. Several strange and exotic masks and other relics also decorated the walls, though Twilight couldn't place their origin at the moment. In the center of the room was a large cauldron brewing with something over a fire.
Finally, she focused on the two other figures in the room. The first she recognized instantly as Applebloom with a look of relief on her face.
The second was new to Twilight. She was about a tall as Luna,with light grey skin with several....strips? along the legs and under her blue eyes. She wore some sort of traditional white dress with black markings with a purple sash tied around the waist. She wore several large gold bands around her wrists, ankles and ever her neck! On her ears were large, gold hoop earrings. What really caught Twilight's attention was her hair. Not only was it striped with white and grey, but it was styled in a mohawk!
"Uh...hello?" Twilight managed to weakly ask. "Where am I?"
"You took a mighty fall, thankfully it wasn't such a close call."
The stranger went over to the table, picked up a cup and ladle before going to the cauldron and pouring some of the mixture into the cup before handing it to Twilight.
Twilight sniffed the strange concoction, not seeing anything like it before. But since she wasn't in any position to be picky, she slowly drank it down.
The various herbs and spices tasted strange on her tongue, but it soon filled her belly and warmed her up. It also seemed to heal the pain too.
It was then Twilight noticed several 'patches' of sorts along her arms, legs, and stomach.
It was also at that moment she realized she was just wearing her undergarments and she quickly clutched the blanket back to her chest, blushing.
The stranger chuckled at her antics.
"You do not need to fret, my dear. We are all women here."
It was then Applebloom stepped forward and introduced the stranger.
"Twilight, this is Zecora. She found us after you fell and has been using her plants and skills to heal you up. Turns out, she's the Witch of the Everfree!"
Zecora chuckled again.
"I assure you, I am no witch, and possess no magic. I am merely a healer, who keeps wounds from turning tragic."
With that, she gesture for Twilight to move the blanket so she could check her work. Twilight reluctantly did so and Zecora began scraping away the patches there, and nodding with approval when she saw there was nothing but healthy, undamaged skin underneath.
"Nothing more than some bruises and scratches. Cured quickly thanks to my special mixture patches."
Just as she began examining the work on Twilight's arm, the door flew open, revealing a determined Applejack.
"Let my friend and sister go you witch!"
Zecora, startled, took a step back while Applebloom stepped forward.
"Applejack, it's ok! Zecora is-"
"Get away from her Applebloom! I saw her taking you and Twi back here. And I saw that Twi was unconscious-"
"APPLEJACK!"
Twilight quickly jumped up from the bed and ran over to her friend and grabbed her arm.
"It's alright! She helped me! I was hurt and she was healing me!"
AJ just blinked, taking in those words while looking Twilight over.
"Err...Twi?....Do I wanna know why you don't got your clothes on?"
Twilight blinked, realized she was still in her underwear, and began blushing madly while attempting, in vain, to cover herself up."
'Okay...I'm going put on my clothes...and then we'll explain."
Thankfully, Zecora had taken the liberty of washing, drying, and even folding Twilight's clothes while she was out.
Soon enough, they were all sitting at the table drinking tea while everything was explained.
"So....you not an evil witch?" Applebloom asked.
Zecora shook her head. "As I have stated before, I am a simple healer, not a witch of lore."
"Then, why in the world would you live in the Everfree Forest?" Aj asked before taking a sip.
"This forest has many unique plants to use for my potions. However, working with them can be dangerous and often lead to explosions. But that is why I work out here. The people I might hurt are nowhere near."
"Oh..." AJ hung her head. "Then...I'm sorry about they way I yelled at you, and what I said...."
"It is quite alright. I'm just happy we didn't have to fight."
It was Twilight's turn to speak. "And thank you for healing me. I've never seen anything like it before."
"It was my pleasure. Helping those in need is my own treasure. In my homeland I've studied this for years. Using plants to heal the body and making sure the wound disappears."
"If I may ask...what made you decide to come here? Now?"
In summary (because the writer doesn't want to beat herself up over trying to keep rhyming), Zecora explained that her people believed in divination using the stars. A few weeks ago, she noticed some changes in the positions in several key stars and and began using several divination techniques before she realized the stars were telling her to come here, to near Canterlot.
"Why do you suppose that?" Twilight asked.
"For that I cannot tell. Right now I am content to wait, and see if all is well."
They chatted some more, with Twilight explaining her Atlas idea with Zecora agreeing to help with mapping the area and recording and identifying the different types of plants and animals! Soon it got late at the girls left the carved out tree, waving goodbye to their new friend.
"She sure was nice!" Applebloom noted.
"Yeah...I feel real bad how I treated her." AJ sighed. "It's just...after I took care of the cragadile I saw her carrying you back to her home. And you weren't moving..."
Twilight put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "She said she forgave you. Thanks for being so concerned about us."
"I can't wait to tell all about her to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle!" Applebloom said.
AJ smiled. "Yeah...looks like we've got some rumors to correct."
Twilight smiled. "And tell them about our new friend!"
With that, the girls went to some well deserved rest.