This was terrible. This was a catastrophe. Why, she could’ve dared to call this a crisis!

Well, a minor one. She was sick.. with something. Athens wasn’t quite sure. She didn’t have a long list of symptoms, only one in fact, though this one /impediment/ made living dreadful. It was severe fatigue. Unlike most things, she couldn’t rid herself of the problem through sheer willpower, because it only served to make her even /more/ tired. Her strength was her pride and this illness was dealing a low blow to her ego.

Though it had been a few days since her energy had been forcefully sapped from her limbs, she refused to see a professional doctor. This was the worse thing to ever happen to her, but it was nothing she couldn’t get over herself. Now, Athens had caught wind of a zebra in town and knowing that they had healing properties, decided to track him down.

This was where Athens was now; In the marketplace with a zebra in her sights. In her state, she didn’t quite care to note what exactly the stallion was doing, only that he was /there/ and actually existed.
“Excuse me, sir.” she said, trying sound “usual” irritated, but came out sounding like a kid demanding attention.

This was where Athens was now; In the marketplace with a zebra in her sights. In her state, she didn’t quite care to note what exactly the stallion was doing, only that he was /there/ and actually existed.

“Excuse me, sir.” she said, trying sound “usual” irritated, but came out sounding like a foal demanding attention.

/Sir? Was someone addressing me?/ Roaring Tirade began to panic. Frantically looking all around, the zebra's eyes began scanning the marketplace, searching for the pony that could've directed that statement to him. After exhausting the options in front of him, the striped pony turned around, only to come face to face with Athens. "Ah! I'll assume that you were the one that wished to speak to me, sickly-looking unicorn!" Tirade exclaimed clapping his front hooves together. She looked awful, as if her actual life-force was being drained out of her body. Adjusting his glasses, the zebra cocked his head, awaiting her inevitable response.

"Yeah- It's- Uh-" Athens stammered.
To be quite honest, his greeting had left her quite discombulated for some reason. Perhaps it was his gesture or his voice or... No, it was probably the fact that that he sounded so energetic that stopped Athens for a full moment before:

"Ah, I was wonderin' if you could help me with this illness of mine? I heard you were experienced in medical... issues." The words mostly tumbled out her mouth.

The zebra began to laugh. "Aha! Ahahaha!" He paused, then proceeded to adjust his glasses once again. Turning his focus back to Athens, Tirade responded, "Ma'am, I'm pretty sure that you have confused me with someone else."

"Oh really?" Athens said, lifting her head as she called his bluff.
She was not in the mood for games. I guess, she could understand; being doctor would mean that many more ponies were asking the same thing of him; getting healed at a low price.

"C'mon just name your price..." she reached around to grab her wallet... that she left at home. She silently cursed to herself.
"But seriously, name your price." She wasn't trying get fixed for cheap anyway; she just needed somepony to point her in the right direction. Tell her what exactly was wrong, give some recomendations, and she'll be on her way!

"No. No," Tirade responded briefly. He then lay down on the ground in front of Athens, rolling himself over onto his back to allow him to keep looking into the sick mare's eyes. Lifting his front hooves up, the zebra placed them on the other pony's face, somewhat squashing it and all of its features. "I do not think that you understand," he continued, pulling her head down until it was resting squarely upon his own. "I am not a doctor. I have never, ever been one."

Athens lifted her head as non-mechanically as she could. She couldn't say she /hated/ contact, but any touching that wasn't kicking or body slamming made her terribly uncomfortable and definitely put her on edge.

That moment, combined with the stallion's words, made her face heat up in frustration. She felt quite betrayed by whoever she overheard, then immeadiately tired again.
"Can't you do /something/? I thought zebras could-" then she realized terrible and hypocritical she sounded.

"Ahh, sorry. At least, do you know what this is?" she asked, referring to her fatigue.

Tirade let out a short chuckle, then responded, "Let me see." He then began to circle around Athens, somewhat "inspecting her" to find the root of her fatigue. All the while, the striped pony hopped about as if he were some child that had been hyped up on caffiene.
After a few minutes (and a large number of stares from ponies passing by), Roaring Tirade stopped bouncing about and proceeded to push various parts of Athens' body. Working his way all the way down to her hooves, Tirade looked up to the unicorn and stated, "I've never seen anything like this before."

Athens quickly decided that this was the worse idea she ever implemented as the zebra began to circle her. This feeling was amplified as passerby began to give her stares that burned into her very core.
She chanted /please stop please stop please stop/ ovef and over in her mind until he pointed out her hooves. "What about them?" she said, lifting each in ant!c!pation.

Quizzical, Roaring Tirade looked to the unicorn's hooves, then, realizing that she had misunderstood, cleared his throat. "Ahem," he coughed, "I was actually referring to your 'condition.' I've never run across anyone who has had the same problem." Tirade proceeded to look the sick pony over once again, this time making more physical contact with her. After not only messing up her mane, attempting to push her over, and attracting even more stares, the zebra sat up quickly and stated, "I think that you should come with me."

By this time, Athens couldn't even care about the stares, but the poking and prodding only served to make her more disconcerted. This, added with the knowledge that this zebra actually /couldn't/ help her, made her want go home and chug a gallon orange juice.

Her daydream was interrupted by the stallion's suggestion. She considered declining, since she really did want to lay down with some orange juice, but her ego had been bruised enough today.
"Alrighty." she answered, resisting the urge to pat her mane down.