Her dark fetlocks dug and dug at the ground. Finally, after a deep enough trough had been carved, Zecora lowered her muzzle and deposited a smattering of seeds. Smiling to herself, Zecora covered the patch of Everfree soil back up. She then turned around and trotted towards her hut, grasping a pitcher of water in her teeth.
Right as the zebra spun around, a bright blue blur landed from the sky, slamming into the ground that she was about to water. Th-Thud!
“Mrmmmfff!” Zecora's eyes bulged. She jumped back, dropping the pitcher with a violent splash. “By the shadows, Rainbow!” She panted and panted, a hoof over her beating chest. “You gave my breath quite a go!”
“Zecora, I'm sorry!” Rainbow squeaked, breathless herself. She gulped and stammered, “But there's a huge friggin' emergency and I need your expertise really, really, really badly!”
“Please, sl-slow down, my friend.” Zecora gulped and leaned forward. “On what skill of mine do you depend?”
“Your super awesome zebra medical fixer-upper skills!”
“But Rainbow Dash!” Zecora squinted. “You do not appear to be suffering either a bruise or a rash!”
“It's not me! It's somepony else! A friend of mine!” Rainbow leaned forward. “Please, Zecora! You're the only one who I know can totally help out!”
“Very well, then. Please, you must not dismay!” Zecora dashed into the hut. “Let me just grab my personal effects and I'll be on my way!”
Zecora was in and out of her hut in a flash. She hobbled out into the open, fussing with the straps of her bulging saddlebags. At last, she skidded to a stop in front of Rainbow.
“Alas, who is in need of my care?! Twilight? Applejack? Another mare?”
“Actually, we're not going to Ponyville.”
“Then somepony is injured inside Everfree?!” Zecora took a deep breath. “Show me the way and I'll follow swiftly!”
“I'm sorry, Zecora.” Rainbow Dash reached over and grasped the zebra's shoulders. “But this is going to require a little bit of wind in your mane.”
“Rainbow, precisely what do you meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan—?!” Zecora shrieked in an uncharacteristically high voice as she was hoisted off the ground and flown speedily over the treetops of Everfree Forest. Her striped legs did nervous little hoof-kicks as Rainbow soared the two of them past the uneven canopy, down a winding ravine, and over rampaging river rapids.
Ten minutes later, under the haze of a lazy afternoon, Rainbow touched the two of them down onto an isolated plateau of rock in the center of the forest.
“Zecora...?” Rainbow shook the mare. “Zecora?! It's okay! We're here!”
“Guh...” The zebra opened one eye after another. Her body still shivered with tense spasms. “Great bubbling broth! I felt like my stripes would fly off!”
“Sorry, girl. I-I suppose I should have given you a bit of a warning before I grabbed you...”
“Honestly, I had no inclination that flight involved such exhiliration!” Zecora wobbled on her hooves. “How you accomplish such a constant velocity is leaps and bounds beyond me!”
“I'll gladly talk Flight 101 with you another time. Right now, I really-really need your help.”
“Well, Rainbow, just point and click and I'll put my skills to the quick—” Zecora took one look at the structure ahead of them and gasped intensely. “Sun bloated buffalo blisters! The Castle of the Royal Sisters!”
“Wow... didn't think you'd actually recognize it,” Rainbow said, galloping towards the decrepit front gate of the delapidated castle. The gray stone walls of the crumbled structure were stained over with mildew and entangled in vines. A ghostly howl of wind flew through the vacious interior, blowing at Rainbow's bangs as she spun and glanced back at the zebra. “Look, I know it isn't exactly Ponyville Medical, but it's the only place I could risk taking him where he'd be safe.”
“'Him?!'” Zecora trotted nervously forward. “Rainbow Dash, this is very strange. Just what kind of a situation have you arranged?”
“There's no time! He needs your expertise!” Rainbow motioned. “Follow me! We gotta hurry!”
As Rainbow Dash galloped inside, Zecora swiftly followed suit. The zebra followed her into the spacious grand hall of the castle, lined with tattered banners and tapestries. There—positioned at the top of a flight of steps before the ancient throne—was a squirming stallion with a midnight-black coat. Noir writhed in pain, his leather wings twitching.
“Shadows, sp-spare me!” Zecora gasped. “Is that a sarosian that I see?!”
“Good! You know about them?!” Rainbow asked.
Zecora gulped. “Only in legend, my feathered friend. Of their kind, I have only read. But this is a real rush to the h-head!”
“You think you know enough to fix this guy up?!” Rainbow asked, grimacing as she crouched by his side. “He's suffering multiple burns and bruises. But something else is wrong with him! Maybe on the inside!” She gulped. “He didn't seem to like the sunlight much, so I made sure to keep him inside where it's dark.”
“That's because darkness is best kin to a sarosian's sensitive skin!” Zecora knelt beside the stallion, leaning in to examine his injuries. “He's suffered great trauma, I fear. Exactly what dire straits brought him here?!”
“Well, I flew him here,” Rainbow Dash said. “Right after hoisting him from an exploding building—”
“An exploding building, Rainbow Dash?!” Zecora's muzzle dropped. “How could you have gotten entangled in something so brash?!”
Rainbow was already wincing. “And I-I think some nasty griffon may have roughed him up, th-though I can't tell from looking at his bruises—”
“Rainbow, answer the question! What kind of danger have you been entangled in?!”
“Zecora, please...” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “One thing at a time. You can chew my head off all you like, but first... he needs you. Can you fix him?”
Zecora took a deep breath. She unstrapped her saddlebag and began unloading the items within. “His lungs are in a constant case of collapse. I believe he's been exposed to some sort of toxic gas.”
“Whoah... you already figured that out?!”
“Rainbow, please, if you want him healed then I need you to keep your eyes peeled.” Zecora whipped out a patch of paper and scribbled several words on it. “Mrmmff... here...”
“Wh-what's this?”
“A list of ingredients you must find to assist in restoring your companion's heart, body, and mind.”
“S-sure thing!” Rainbow Dash was already flapping her wings. “These descriptions all sound like plants and flowers.”
“Yes, across Everfree you will find what I need.” Zecora mixed a few potions and poured it all into a bowl, creating a column of purple steam. “Find every root, graft, and seed.”
“S-Sure thing.”
“And Rainbow...?”
The pegasus froze in mid-flight. She spun and glanced down. “Y-yeah, Zecora?”
“After we've delivered your friend from his deathly brush, you and I will have a great deal to discuss.”
Rainbow gulped. “I kinda sorta figured that.”
“No go; be swift. Meanwhile, his spirits I will attempt to lift.”
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow sped out of the castle and began blazing her way through the forests of Everfree...