Water Lily's Story

Lily breathed in a great, shaking breath. They were on the leafy ground outside the hut. Cattail lay beside her; he looked at her with concern in his eyes. "Lily, I'm glad you're alright. After we put out the fire you stopped flapping your wings and fell to the ground. We were worried," He explained. Zecora nodded in agreement. Water Lily tried to move her wings, wincing as she found they were sore and bruised.

"You two should rest; that would be best," Zecora assured Cattail and Lily. Lily noticed that, though the tree was still standing, it had a gap in the top where the wood had been burned through. Zecora set two potions in front of her and her brother, telling them it would ease their pain and calm their nerves. Lily drank it, ignoring the bitter taste so she would be able to get up again soon.

...

"Good morning," greeted Cattail; he already seemed to be back to his cheerful self. It was a new day. Lily forced a smile. She wasn't a morning pony, and she was frustrated that Zecora hadn't warned her about the drowsy side-effects of the potion. She guessed that Zecora had brought them into the hut the night before, as she had woken there. The hut was drafty and smelled smoky, but seemed otherwise back to normal.

Lily sat up and studied her tree home. It needed repair; that was certain. The flames had left a hole in the top of it. Lily thought back to a gardening technique she had recently discovered. She found that if she made a slit in a tree's bark and attached a branch from another tree inside it, the adopted branch would become part of the tree over time and grow into it. She found a knife Zecora used for slicing potion ingredients and went outside.

...

By the time Lily had started fastening new tree branches into the burned area of the tree, she was already certain she would be able to fix the bare spot. The additional branches were now covering it almost completely. Zecora, who had been mixing potions in the hut, came out to see what Lily had been doing.

"I can see you are grafting the tree," She observed

"So that's what you call it when you harvest another tree's branches. Yes, I am," Lily replied. The hut would look better in no time!