***SPOILERS***
So Flutters has to come to Zecora's rescue this time, rather than Zecora coming to the aid of others. It's a nice little change, and of course it's always fun to see Zecora. In the opening scene, Zecora's helping Fluttershy gather criss-cross moss (make ya, jump jump!) from a bog pond to help make bathing solutions (apparently) for some of the animals in her sanctuary. It's nice to hear Fluttershy's sanctuary is going well, though I do wonder why it's Zecora getting the moss rather than Fluttershy, since Fluttershy is a pegasus and could easily just scoop up the moss in her bag.
Ah well, anyway, so Zecora falls into the water, still manages to get the moss, but as she's swimming to shore, she is dusted by a strange polka dotted flower. Shortly thereafter, Zecora starts feeling very ill. A trip to the doctor shows she has Swamp Fever, an incurable disease by which the sufferer slowly turns into a tree. Knowing she needs help, she runs to Twilight to get that help.
I do have a minor point of contention here. When Twilight is asked by Fluttershy to help find a cure for Zecora, it seems almost like an inconvenience for Twilight. I don't like that, because if anyone would be willing to jump right into research to find a cure for somepony is supposed to be a dear friend, Twilight would be the one. Instead, it's Fluttershy leading the charge, with Twilight playing catchup. I know, I know, cartoons don't always follow general logic for story purposes, but it still doesn't sit right for me.
Anyway, Fluttershy tells a story that, apparently, many years ago, a healer had traveled around Equestria finding cures for ponies in dire need, and Fluttershy figures they find her home, they can see if she left anything in her journals regarding Swamp Fever. So after studying all night while Twilight sleeps (remember when she'd stay awake all night if it was important?), Fluttershy finds a connection between the old mare's tale she once heard, with a book on historic locations, and manages to put two and two together. She rushes into Twilight's bedroom, waking her up, telling her she's found the location. Pushing Twilight towards the door, she insists they have to go, while Twilight insists they could at least have breakfast first (again, dear friend Zecora has an incurable illness, already showing strong signs of infection, turns into a tree which means Zecora herself dies).
Showing that she's already thought of that, Flutters eventually gets Twilight out the door and on their way. They arrive at the home of this fabled mare, named Meadowbrook, and after some searching, find her house built into a tree. For a moment we get Twilight back as she says "anypony who lives in a tree is alright by me!"
Anyhoo, they get inside, and end up meeting the ancestor of Meadowbrook named Cattail. After some back and forth, they begin searching her journals, and find that Meadowbrook dealt with Swamp Fever when her town, and her own mother, came down with the disease. After watching rare zap bees interact with the flowers that cause the disease and find they are immune, she realizes the honey they produce must be the cure.
After reading this, Fluttershy prepares to find these bees, but suddenly begins to show symptoms of the Swamp Fever herself, having caught it from Zecora. She's already exhausted, having not slept for days, and now the fever has begun to work against her. Still, despite Twilight's attempts to stop her, she decides to travel to the zap bee hive and retrieve the curative honey. On her first few attempts, she manages to get stung repeatedly, and ends up passing out. After waking, Twilight informs her she has been out for several days, and learns that Zecora has already begun to sprout leaves. Again, Twilight doesn't seem so concerned, and that bugs me. According to her and Cattail, they've attempted a number of times to retrieve the honey but have failed. I find it odd that Twilight, being an alicorn, can't find a way to retrieve honey from a beehive (smoke them out, honestly).
Flutters realizes, after seeing a zap bee land on Meadowbrook's old medicine mask and nuzzle it, that the mask itself is the answer. It apparently looks like the queen bee in coloration and striping, so Flutters puts on the mask, returns to the hive and successfully retrieves the honey. The next thing we see, she's giving Zecora the honey, and after a few moments, Zecora returns to her hale and healthy self. The moral given this episode is that we must take care of ourselves as well if we want to take care of others, and as a caregiver I understand this quite well, but the way they went about it just doesn't feel right.
In all honesty, Twilight didn't seem like much of a friend for Zecora, with Fluttershy carrying 95% of the bulk work. Research is Twilight's wheelhouse and she didn't seem at all committed. So while the episode was cute, and we got to see Zecora again, and Flutters is always wonderful, Twilight's uncharacteristic behavior kind of dragged it down a bit. So this episode gets a C-. Just my two bits, of course.
