"Rainbow Dash, I must insist!" Zecora leaned pensively out the front door to her hut. "There is no need for you to persist!"
"Pffft! Think nothing of it!" Rainbow Dash heaved with a grunt and dropped the last bundle of firewood onto the cement block lying besides the zebra's stoop. "It gets super chilly in the Everfree Forest at night! You need something to warm yourself with!"
"But I chopped those very planks weeks ago!" Zecora stifled a chuckle. "They are no large burden for me to juggle!"
"Well, now the time that you could have spent lugging wood around can instead be spent resting..." Rainbow Dash flexed her forelimbs mightily from where she hovered. "Or, y'know... rhyming or brewing or... shamaning."
Zecora sighed defeatedly. "I see that I have no way of convincing you." She smiled. "Thank you, Rainbow, I appreciate your generosity through and through."
"Hey, don't mention it. Besides..." Rainbow smirked. "You're the one responsible for getting my spark back." She winked. "Again."
"Indeed." Zecora nodded. "Improvements I made to the overall quaff. Hopefully it will carry your ailment longer aloft."
"Wowsers." Rainbow backflipped and landed in the grass beside her. "You really do think ahead, do you?"
"It's a wise precaution to keep in mind," Zecora said. "Perhaps you too have practiced wisdom of a similar kind?"
"Buh?"
"Have you any thoughts on finding a cure?" The zebra raised one eyebrow. "A permanent solution, I cannot yet assure."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow fidgeted, glancing down at her fully-functioning limbs. "You sure I can't just... y'know... live off the star-spider-silk-and-alicornia-diet?"
Zecora's ears drooped while her face sported the mother of all lethargic expressions. The hint of a growl lit her throat, like an angrily trilling cat.
"Alright, alright." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I'm working on planning something out. I promise! But still, between your smarts and my endurance, I bet we can totally find a cure on our own!"
"Your optimism is certainly inspiring, but I still fear for your life expiring."
"Heh. I feel you, sister, but I'm still of the philosophy of enjoying the living instead of stressing so much about the dying."
"Surely you can understand the benefit of ample foresight," Zecora remarked with a knowing smirk. "I imagine such precautions help you in day-to-day flight."
"Yes, but I'm trying to preserve that too, remember?" Rainbow Dash said, plopping down on her haunches. "The 'flight' part, that is."
Zecora cocked her head to the side. "And you're certain your mind hasn't amassed any degree of hallucinations that hamper and harass?"
"I... uhm..." Rainbow fidgeted slightly. She looked towards the side.
Her saddlebag lay dormant on the ground, completely still and unmoving.
With a shuddering breath, Rainbow Dash looked back at Zecora. "If you ask me, I'd say things are just peachy keen."
"Are you certain the potion has you so blessed? I can tell when a pony is undergoing stress."
"Well, no point in hiding it." Rainbow Dash stretched, stifled a yawn, and muttered, "I've been working around the clock lately. And I really do mean around the clock."
"Not entirely for the bits to bring this rare potion out of the pits?!"
"What?! No! Pffft... Don't be silly." Rainbow Dash grinned. "I've used the money to treat my best pals out to dinner'n'such. It's not all that hard to believe. Occasionally, y'know, I'll look at Rarity and go 'Hey, girl, that's one fine element you've got! Can I give generosity a shot?! Yeah? Cool beans! Stay frosty, ya vampiric marshmallow!'"
Zecora outright giggled.
"Aaaaaaaaand... next thing you know..." Rainbow shrugged with a smirk. "I'm lugging around firewood for a super-sweet zebra who takes for granted how awesome and smexical she is." With a shrill gasp, Rainbow flapped her wings and ascended in a happy hover. "You and I should totally hang out in town sometime!"
"Oh, I do not know..." Zecora dug at the floor with pensive hooves. "There aren't many places for a shaman to go."
"Except for across the whole friggin' continent, setting herself apart from family, friends, and cacti a'plenty?!" Rainbow smirked devilishly. "You better put your striped thinking cap on, girl, 'cuz soon I'm gonna treat you to something fancy and you're going to like it!"
"Rainbow, you are far too charming—"
"And a zebra that refuses to have fun is alarming!" Rainbow winked. "See? I can rhyme too, ya walking newspaper!"
"Unnngh..." Zecora rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"I mean it! Think it over!" Rainbow Dash dipped down, grabbed her saddlebag, and slipped it over her shoulders. "There's gotta be some place you'd like to visit in Ponyville! Without having to brew anypony anything or do some sort of crazy mystic rain dance!"
"I... erm..." Zecora avoided Rainbow's gaze. "I suppose I have always wanted to sample the produce that is sold in the market most ample."
"Uh huh..." Rainbow nodded. "So, then, shopping?"
Zecora shrugged and nodded.
"It isn't..." Rainbow leaned in with a wicked smirk. "...just a desire to sample delicious green apple halves?"
"Hrmmm..." Zecora fought a blushing smile. "Please, you have me quite bewitched, you mischievous sonuva—"
"Righto! To the market we will go!" Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in the air. "And maybe we'll stop by Sugarcube Corner! I've always wondered if a zebra had a sweet tooth."
"Stranger things have been known to transpire." Zecora waved. "I wish you good sleep as you retire."
"But I'm not... not..." Rainbow yawned like an exhausted foal, then hovered with a stupid grin. "Friggin' smartflank zebra."
"Heheheheh..."
"Hey, what's black and white and red all over?"
"I... am at a loss over the words you've just tossed."
"You!" Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out and flew towards the sunset sky. "On the borders of Sweet Apple Acres, that is!"
Zecora rolled her eyes with a lasting chuckle and closed the door to her hut behind her.
Rainbow Dash turned towards the heavens, her nostrils flaring as she bore a happy grin against the winds. "You and me both, sister..."
And she flew home, performing a few felcitous backflips and corkscrews along the way.