It didn't take long for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to find the zebra's home and explain their situation to her.
Zecora looked at both Fluttershy and the foal Rainbow Dash. She was shocked to see the shy pony with a foal and more shocked to find out the foal was in fact Rainbow Dash. The most shocking, however, she was finding out that the way she ended up a foal was due to red poison joke. "Sorry, but the plant that troubles you, cannot be cured with my brew." she said flatly.
"B-but you cured our poison joke problem before. Why not now?" Fluttershy ask worried for her friends well-being.
The zebra sighed and decided to come out and tell them. "You must understand, my friends, brash and meek, that I do not have the cure you seek."
Both of them gasped. "No cuwe!? Then how'd you fix us the first time!?" Dash yelled at the zebra. Zecora raised an eyebrow at Dash's rudeness.
Fluttershy looked down at Rainbow and scowled. "Rainbow Dash, don't be rude," she scolded.
Rainbow looked from the zebra to her friend. "But Fwuttewshy, she won't cuwe me and I dun't wanna be a baby!" The rainbow pegasus was on the verge of yelling. "And what if the othews find out and laugh at me, and... and." Then, the most worst possible thing came to her mind. "And what if I can't become a Wondewbolt!?" That finally broke her. She was now crying like the age she was.
Scooping the small pegasus foal up into her hooves, Fluttershy cuddled her and cooed. "It's ok, Dashie. You can still be a Wonderbolt. I doubt this will last forever and you'll be back to your normal self in no time!"
This calmed Dash down a little as she looked up from Fluttershy's mane and looked her in the eyes. "Weally?" she asked in a child like way.
"Really." the butter coloured mare said back, giving her a big hug that Dash returned by hugging her neck.
Zecora let out a "d'aaw" at the scene before both Rainbow and Fluttershy let go of each other when they remembered that she was present. "Like I said before, I can't help you with your posion joke problem, if I did I told you and more. This time because of the 'red' posion joke. It's a special breed and different from it's blue cousin, it's a rogue. It's quite rare too, however, as unlucky as it may seem. You're lucky it wasn't green."
Fluttershy looked at Zecora with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Why?"
Zecora blushed and muttered, "I'm hesitant to give the reason. Lets just say it's worse than heat season."
Rainbow looked up at the two grown ups and asked, "So what do we do?" She really wanted that cure. If she couldn't get it, then she'd be stuck like this for a while. That thought scared her because that left her with only one possible option... The Orphanage.
She could still remember how horrible it was. The staff were horrid and the food was nasty. The only way she made it through that was because of Fluttershy, who came and visited nearly every day. 'No, I can't go back to that hell hole,' Rainbow thought.
"You're gonna stay with me." Rainbow looked up to Fluttershy. "Weally!?" she asked with a big smile on her face. Fluttershy giggled. "Of course! What? Did you think I was going to send you to an orphanage or something?" She giggled again.
Rainbow crawled towards Fluttershy and hugged her leg. "Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed as excitedly as... as a foal. She realized what she was doing and let go of the leg, her cheeks turning a light pink. Fluttershy just giggled.
"Fluttershy," Zecora called. "the kindest pegasus I ever known. Can I talk to you for a minute, alone?" the Zebra asked.
"Oh um... okay what about Rainbow Dash?" she asked, not wanting to leave a small foal unattended, especially since that foal was Rainbow Dash.
"Come with me, I just have to ask you something, see?" Zecora nodded towards the door to her hut and Fluttershy followed her out leaving Rainbow Dash alone.
"Um, what do you need Zecora? ...If you don't mind me asking." the shy mare asked.
Zecora turned to Fluttershy with a worried expression. "Fluttershy, this isn't something we can dismiss, how old do you think Rainbow Dash is?' the shaman asked.
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment before answering. "Um, I think maybe one year old?"
Zecora shook her head and said, "No Fluttershy. I can tell that isn't the age she has yet met. She isn't even one yet."
"Then how old is she?" she asked curious as to what Rainbows age was.
"If my guess is properly pieced, she's three months at the least." Zecora replied. This shocked the yellow mare. Three months? She knew Rainbow was small but wow. "So what's the big deal?" she inquired not getting what the Zebra was implying.
"Fluttershy, this may sound rather ilk, what do foals drink until they're old enough to drink whole milk?" Zecora asked. She watched the mare think of the answer. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide.
"B-b-breast milk," she said sending a deep red blush down her face. "But she would never-"
Zecora interrupted. "You don't have to do, but if she can't keep formula, you may have to." she said.
"But," Fluttershy protested. "I'm not lactating."
"I can take care of that, my friend. I'll do what I can to help amend." She went over to a shelf and pulled down a bottle of yellow liquid.
"Just take this, and then you'll nurse," she said then hoofing it to Fluttershy, who then put it in her saddle bag. "Well, I think it is time for you two to go now." she said.
Fluttershy went back into the other room and came back out with Rainbow Dash on her back. "Well, we'll be going now. See you later Zecora. Say bye Rainbow."
"Bye bye," she waved.
Zecora waved back. "Bye-bye, and Fluttershy, don't forget what I said!" she yelled before they were out of sight. They couldn't hear the rest of the rhyme.
Now heading back home, Fluttershy's mind aflutter with thoughts of foal-proofing her home, she did not think about the many animals that were also there.