Trixie looked nervously around as she and Pennington walked together through the dark forest. When Pennington had told her that the "doctor" that he wanted to see lived in the Everfree Forest, she had immediately balked at the idea, but he had reminded her promise with a smug grin that she was quickly coming to hate.
Eventually, they reached a small hut some ways into the forest. Still bearing his smug grin, Pennington gave a short series of knocks on the door. After a few seconds, the door swung open, revealing a zerbra with an array of gold jewery, from gold bands around her neck to large, hooped earrings.
"Ah, Pennington, my dear friend! Have you come to go camping, yet again?"
"Sorry, Zecora, but I'm not on a pleasure trip, this time..." Pennington shook his head. "I need a little medical help. Do you have the time for a check-up?"
"You want me to see if you are sick? Wouldn't a trip to the doctor do the trick?" She asked as she stepped back to let them inside.
"That's what I keep telling him..." Trixie muttered under her breath. "He needs real medicine, not some mystic voodoo-"
"I've been having trouble sleeping!" Pennington shot Trixie a glare as he cut her off. The zebra was giving her a aggravated look, but continued on as if nothing had happened. "It's when I wake up, actually. Sometimes I can't move, sometimes I even have trouble breathing..."
Zecora looked at Pennington, then nodded towards Trixie with a questioning glance. Pennington replied with a cringe and a shrug, as if asking her to simply bear with him.
"Well, in this issue, I can assist. It sounds like a case of sleep paralysis!"
"That's what he just told you..." Trixie muttered. She didn't like this zebra. She didn't know why, but she just didn't.
"What you describe is not the symptom, but the condition! To aid you right now has become my mission!" She began pulling different herbs from around the room, tossing them together in a small bowl. "I have seen this kind of case a few times before... I can help you to stop it, but it cannot be cured."
"Are you sure that there's nothing we can do to get rid of it for good?" Pennington asked.
"If that was possible, I certainly would." Zecora replied.
"Oh, great. Now they're rhyming together." Trixie rolled her eyes as both of them turned to glare at her.
"Trixie, please! You're being rude!" Pennington whispered while Zecora continued to blend herbs. "Zecora is a very good friend of mine, and she's one of the ponies I trust the most! She knows more about obscure medicine and magic than any pony in Ponyville, and maybe even the majority of students in Canterlot!"
"Pennington, do you really think that she's going to be able to do anything to help you?" Trixie whispered in return as she gestured to the tribal masks on the walls and the bubbling cauldron in the center of the room. "You need a real doctor, not a witch doctor!"
Zecora's ears perked up on the top of her head, indicating that she had heard them.
"While I can assure you that I am no witch, it would be wise for you not to be such a-"
"SO, Zecora! What exactly is in this?" Pennington asked, giving Trixie a threatening glare and nodding his head towards the corner of the room. "I see a little heart's desire, some willow leaves... Is that poison joke?"
"This herbal mix will save you from strife, and help urge your body to rise back to life." Zecora smiled as she looked over at Pennington. "As for the poison joke, that's simply for scares, to add some hilarity to your nightmares."
Pennington smiled, then looked back at Trixie, who was sulking near the door.
"This is normally a symptom of narcolepsy, but you've proven that is not the case, I can see. Any normal physician would find themselves baffled, but I've seen accounts of the cases, only few, as I've dabbled." She ground the herbs into a powder, then added a few drops of a thick liquid that turned it white. With a few quick gestures, she moved the bowl to a small contraption that pressed the powder into capsules, creating small pills. "Take one of these every night before bed, and your cases will slow. Perhaps stop, instead!" She gave Pennington a serious look, though Trixie could hardly take her rhymes seriously. "But if you take one too many, be very wary, the consequential insomnia could be even more scary! You'll be unable to sleep for hours, perhaps the whole night. Addiction could follow, and that's a far greater plight."
Pennington nodded solemnly as Zecora put the pills into a small hollowed-out gourd, her version of a prescription bottle. "How much do I owe you for this, old friend?"
"First, let me know if they work for you, see? Take them and report back with results for me." She gave him a light wink, then looked back at Trixie. "And next time, come alone, if it's not too much trouble. Your friend makes the room's bad energy double."
"Hey!" Trixie stood up indignantly, ready to return with an insult before Pennington pushed her out the door. "I don't have to take this from you, you stripy little-"
"Thank you, Zecora! I'll be back soon!" He called back as he swung the door shut with a grin. When they were out of her sight, he turned back to Trixie, looking legitimately angry with her. "Trixie! What is wrong with you? Zecora may be unorthodox, but there is no pony I would trust more with my medicine! She's been my guide through this forest on more than a few occasions, and we're lucky that she chooses to stay here, near Ponyville!"
Trixie rolled her eyes at Pennington. "Look, Pennington, you really need to see a real doctor. A physician!"
"Look, I have! Okay, I have seen doctors! They couldn't help!" Pennington suddenly turned on her, growing very angry. "So far, Zecora has been the only one who's been able to do anything for me! I've been to doctors, physicians, even sleep clinics! None of them were able to help me! And I hated it. I slept with breathing masks on, sat through MRI's, been assigned pointless medicines and placebos and been shrugged at by all of them! Even if they could help me, I'm having a very hard time giving you or your advice any kind of respect after the way you treated Zecora!" Panting slightly from his outburst, Pennington turned around and began walking away down the path.
Trixie blinked in surprise as she ran to catch up with him. "You- you mean you've been trying?"
"For a long time." Pennington nodded in reply. "I just never asked Zecora because I didn't want to bother her when she already helps me and gives me a place to stay when I'm coming by on my trips into the forest! She's really generous, and usually helps ponies without charging them any kind of fee... And I always thought that, if she did know a cure, it would be really hard for her to find and that she would still refuse to charge me for it..."
Trixie blinked again in surprise. "You mean, you worried that you were going to get something for free?"
"I worried that I was going to take advantage of her." Pennington looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "Don't you understand that concept?" When Trixie shook her head, he looked at her as if she had just told him that she didn't know the alphabet the whole way through. "Some ponies are kinder than they ought to be. They give until it costs them personally... and they don't tell anypony. It's up to those whom they're giving to to recognize when they're taking too much and stop accepting it."
Trixie nodded slowly as the concept sank in. As it did, a question began to rise in her mind. "Pennington... am I taking advantage of you?"
She thought that she saw a coy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"You're staying in my house as a live-in assistant, making sure that my needs are cared for and that I can get my work done, and you're asking if you're taking advantage of me?"
"I'm taking your only bedroom, living in your house... You gave me a job that you didn't need to create and you're taking time out of your life to make sure that I'm cared for. You're even here just to ease my fears."
Pennington thought for a moment before he spoke again. "I wouldn't offer it if it wasn't mine to give."
As they continued walking, Trixie continued to think. So, some ponies give more than they can afford to... and it would be my responsibility to know when to stop them...
As they continued to walk, they finally emerged from the woods. Somehow, Pennington had found another path, and they had come out at a different place than they had come in. As Trixie looked around, she recognized the rolling fields of apple trees as Sweet Apple Acres. The walk back had felt longer, but Trixie hadn't imagined that they had gotten so far out of town.
"I must have taken the wrong way..." Pennington muttered as he examined his surroundings. "Good thing I was craving apples..." He pulled a small sack of bits out of his bag and lifted it up into the air with him magic. With a thought, he sent it flying through the air, levitating through the trees and towards the Apple Family's house. Trixie could barely see the bag as it floated in through one of the upper windows.
"What was that?"
"Apple Bloom and I have a special arrangement, so that I can get apples without buying from her sister..." He grinned as he pulled an apple from a nearby tree and took a large bite. "And she can feel like she's helping her family sell apples when she's not very good at it!"
Trixie smiled and plucked an apple of her own. "And how many did you just pay for?"
"Six!" Pennington laughed as the two of them continued walking. "I knew you would want some..."
Trixie took a large bite, letting the crisp flesh and sweet juice fill her mouth as she slowly chewed. "So, are we headed back to the shop?"
"Well, considering we're both supposed to be working right now... I would say 'yes.'" Pennington had finished his apple in a few more bites and tossed a couple more into his bag. "That's my three. Grab two more for the walk home and we'll get going!" He glanced at the core, which was hovering in the air in front of him. With a shrug, he tossed it back into Everfree.
Trixie looked around, then blushed slightly. "Would you mind carrying mine for me? I didn't bring my saddlebag. not that I want to take advantage of you, or anything." She winked at the last comment, showing that she now understood the idea.
Pennington smiled and rolled his eyes as the opened up his bag and let her place two more apples inside.
As they were about to emerge from the orchards, Pennington held out his hoof, indicating for Trixie to stop. As she looked around, she spotted something that he had already seen: Applejack, on the prowl. Well, actually she was just collecting apples from the trees, but it may as well have been the same thing.
"If she catches us, she'll think we've been stealing apples to snack on..." He whispered. "I don't normally come this way, but... I just feel the need to pull one over on her now and then and get a little trespassing in behind her back."
Trixie gave him a sly glance. "You knew exactly where we were in the forest, didn't you?"
"Eeyup." He gave her a small wink. "Okay, when I say 'run-'"
"Hey! What're y'all doin' in mah orchard?" Applejack cried, quickly advancing on the two of them.
"RUN!" With a chortle of laughter, Pennington took off at a full sprint and leaped over the fence, leaving a flabbergasted Trixie behind.
Trixie felt an irresistible burst of giddy laughter burst out from her chest as she took off running, jumping over the fence with equal ease. "Hey! Wait up, Penny! No fair!"
As the two of them ran alongside one another, both laughing so hard, they were nearly tripping over their own hooves, Trixie felt as if nothing in the world could catch her. Not Applejack, not that stupid Zebra, not even her tattered reputation could ruin this moment, and not one of them could change how happy she was. Taking advantage or not... I want to stay here, most of all stay with Pennington. It's like the whole "ursa incident" never happened! He treats me kindly, which is more than I can say about most other stallions I've met...
"Penn! Ah'll forgive ya 'cause you're family, but keep that snake of a girlfriend outta mah fields!" Applejack shook a baleful hoof at the two of them.
Immediately, Pennington stopped running. Trixie nearly fell over her own hooves trying to slide to a stop on the dirt road, but Pennington had come to a complete stop.
"Excuse me?" Pennington asked as he began marching back towards Applejack's farm.
Trixie wasn't sure which surprised her more: the fact that Pennington had taken such great offense at the comment or the fact that he hadn't realized that Applejack was insulting her. She had dealt with hecklers in her early performing days, but she had become finely tuned to be set off at the slightest insult over the years. It may have simply been because she had been reduced so low while on the streets, but Applejack's comment was beginning to sink in, and a flame was beginning to ignite.
"Y'all heard me!" Applejack replied with a stubborn look on her face. "Trixie's a snake, through and through! To be honest, since that's mah Element, even Ah'm surprised that you would associate with the likes of her, Pennington!"
Pennington growled as he reached the fence, obviously keeping his temper only barely in check.
"Take that back."
"No!"
His hoof raised from the fence, and Trixie felt almost certain that he was going to start another fight. At this point, she wouldn't have minded helping him get in a few punches. To her surprise, with his hoof just barely trembling with restraint, Trixie watched Pennington inhale deeply through his nose, make a deep retching sound in the back of his throat, and spit onto his hoof.
"You. Me. Iron Pony Competition. Right now."
Applejack's face broke out into a smug grin. "You do remember our current record?"
When Pennington nodded, she repeated the action of inhaling, retching, and spitting into her hoof.
"You're on. Our typical wager?"
"You bet..." With a sudden lunge, both ponies grabbed hooves, making the spit and mucus mingle disgustingly to seal the deal.
Trixie's momentary anger was washed away by a wave of confusion. "What's an 'Iron Pony Competition?'"