"So... the long and short of it is this..."
Rainbow Dash turned around, sighed, and stared calmly at Zecora from across the hut.
"Maybe I'll find a cure, maybe I won't. But I'm at a point in my life where I need my legs to work, Zecora. I've got a lot of important things to sort out, and I can't do it while sitting on my flank. Besides, who's to know? Maybe they'll invent a newer procedure that can fix me without costing the strength in my wings. All in all, I'd rather die a winner than live as a loser. So... are you going to give me the sample or what?"
"Are you sure you have thoroughly thought about this?" Zecora arched an eyebrow. "I cannot promise infinite bliss."
"We both know it's only a temporary fix," Rainbow Dash said. "And I dunno at the moment how I'm going to get the money for the ingredients... but... I'll think of something." She smiled calmly. "I work the best when under pressure. Stress is like extra adrenaline for me."
"Of that, I have no doubt. I couldn't have expected you to choose a different route."
"Then it's settled, isn't it?" Rainbow Dash took a brash step forward. "Lay it on me, Zecora. I'm thirsty enough as it is anyway."
"You fear not the hallucinations you will have wrought?"
"I've had pure celestial Harmony channeled through my skull and have drowned myself under the table with gallons of cider." Rainbow inhaled deeply. "I'd say my head has been in worse places."
"Then answer me this, Rainbow bright," Zecora spoke. "How do you evade the marsupials' sight?" Her nose fell off, turning into a black puddle on the ground.
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash blinked, leaning back. "Zecora...?"
"Are you not fond of dressing in style?" Apples poured out of Zecora's snout, followed by a pair of oranges hooves. A freckled-face mare ripped the zebra's skin off and stood in the orchards, smiling. "Have yerself a seat and mingle for a while!"
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash backed up into an apple tree—an apple tree that tapped her shoulder. She spun around.
"I know you love her, scamp," Rainbow's father said, his face pale with gangrene. "But don't let her kill you."
"Guh!" Rainbow Dash sat up straight as a stool rattled beneath her haunches.
"Ah! You awaken!" Zecora turned from her alchemy table and trotted across the floor of the hut. "Your nap is over, if I'm not mistaken."
"Nap... nap..." Rainbow Dash gulped and sweated. She blinked. "Nap?"
"You did not get much sleep last night, if I recall your explanation just right." Zecora ran a hoof across the pegasus' forehead. "Hmmm... no fever, from what I can tell, though you do seem to be having a sweating spell."
"It's... k-kind of warm in here," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"An Everfree hut has little air conditioning." Zecora knelt and stared squarely into Rainbow's eyes. "Tell me, Rainbow Dash, how are you feeling?"
"I... I..." Rainbow cleared her throat and put on a brave smile. "I'm pretty well-rested, believe it or not."
"No strange visions or awkward hallucinations?"
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow stared at the zebra's dark nose.
Zecora squinted.
"Nope!" Rainbow grinned wide. "I mean, why should I? I haven't taken a sip of the sample yet!"
The zebra cleared her throat.
Blinking, Rainbow glanced down at the floor. An empty drinking bowl lay beside the stool she was sitting on. "Oh. Huh. Didn't taste as bad as I thought."
"You've been sitting here for the better part of an hour. In your slumber, you've likely forgotten a taste most sour."
"Well, at least it didn't kill me... right?" Rainbow took a deep breath. "But... like... does it work?"
"A most fitting query." Zecora trotted over to a pile of logs. Suddenly, she hoisted one up with her nose, tossed it into the air, and bucked it with her hooves. "You tell me!"
"Gaaah!" Rainbow Dash flinched. Seconds throbbed by. She fluttered her eyes open, then looked at her hooves. She had effortlessly caught the heavy beam of wood in her forelimbs, and was presently holding it above her.
Zecora could only grin.
Rainbow Dash blinked, then glanced at her. "Awwwwwwww yeah..."