Chapters I tossed and turned in the bed, kicking off the sheets to land on the soft floor. My temperature was shooting through the roof, sweat breaking out and pouring down my back. With a gasp, my eyes flew open and my flailing sent me off the bed. I hit the cloud floor, the shock helping my mind a little bit. I tried to shake my head to clear it, but that did nothing. It made me dizzy instead, my vision swimming as things moved around while I stayed still.
I half crawled, half stumbled to the bathroom and stuck my head in the sink. I punched the raincloud, turning the water on full blast. It pounded over my head, offering some clarity, but did nothing to bring down my temperature. The freezing water drummed against my head, blocking out all other noise of the night. There wasn't much up in the sky to begin with, but it was nice to clear out any other noises.
With a loud gasp of air, I flung my head back out of the sink, falling back to hit the wall and slide down to a sitting position. My head was soaked, mane clinging to my face. The water kept rushing on, my body lacking the strength to get up and stop it. The water already on me dripped down across my shoulders, getting them cooler, but doing nothing to stop the fever wracking my body.
I couldn't remember the last time I was this sick. Filly years for certain. Two hours ago, my temperature had been at 105ºF. Now I felt even hotter, probably edging to 107ºF. As much as I liked breaking records, this was not one I wanted. The fever had sapped me of my strength, confining me to my cloud home for two days. It was all I could do to throw something in the stormcloud to get it warm. I had no idea where the sickness had struck from, but it was absurdly brutal.
And along with the fever, came the fever dreams.
Sleep was a precious thing, and I had scarcely gotten five hours since my sickness started. There was no rest to be found in it, as phantoms kept plaguing my dreams relentlessly, swooping in and out like an air show of terror. There were times I couldn't tell what was real or a dream. My house was surely a mess, as I always tried to stop the dreams by fighting them to the ground. Nothing threatens my friends, dream or not. The only relief from them was waking, and even that didn't always work.
But it had been no use. My house was probably a mess, and it was all I could do to lay there and endure. I was losing my focus, the sickness no doubt starting to come with a stronger wave. I couldn't take it any more. Not by myself. I was burning up so much that even the cloud I was sitting on had started to turn to steam slightly, the water vapor rising and twirling around my hooves.
I rubbed my eyes and got steadily to my hooves, swaying like a tree in a thunderstorm as I did so. I thought my vision was starting to swim again as I stared at my wall, only to realize that it was me who was swaying. I grunted and put one hoof in front of the other, heading for my door. My limbs protested, but I was used to ignoring their cries. I gritted my teeth and toughed it out, pausing to catch a breath at my doorway.
My next adversary was the stairs leading up to my room. I stared at them for a moment before sighing. Closing my eyes, I simply allowed myself to tip forwards, starting my fall down the stairs in no time. I pinballed off the cloud sides and gently rolled to a stop at the bottom of the spiraled stairs. Groundponies may think cloud was soft, but it could be anything but.
Wincing, I got to my hooves again, the process taking much longer than it should have. Eyes fixed on the front door, I staggered across my ruined living room like a drunk pony. I felt like one, only on fire and devoid of any strength. I reached the door after five long minutes. Stopping right in front of it. Rather than use the doorknob, I chose to walk right through it. Only I could do that, but it was incredibly useful. I reached the porch of my house and sat down. Well, flopped down.
My breaths had become ragged, the simple exercise zapping the last bits of strength from my body. I, with as much care as I could muster, creeped to the edge and stared down. My house had been untethered the past few days, so I had no way of knowing which part of Ponyville I was over. Directly below me, I could spot the huge limbs of the library treehouse, the landmark giving my fever-addled brain a location. I rolled back onto solid cloud and thought about my options.
I could try and glide down and hopefully stumble to the hospital for one. But then they would want to run all kinds of tests and there was no way I'd let those doctors near me. The doctors were out. Which meant I had to turn to a friend, because there was no way I could keep going like this. The easiest one to get to would be Twilight, as I could practically fall down there. Fluttershy might have been a better option, but there was no way I'd get to her cottage.
My elbow smashed, or rather, tapped, the space between me and the house. The piece of cloud broke off and started a slow descent, carrying me with it. I laid back and stared at the moon, wondering why Luna hadn't come to my aid. Did she not see the dreams of sick ponies? Was she off duty tonight? Regardless, there had been no relief from the attacks of fake versions of her friends. She couldn't even remember what they said, but the pain was still there, a different kind of pain than the sickness.
The cloud drifted lower, before finally coming to a stop. I turned my head and glanced to see how high up I was. The cloud had stopped about twenty feet above Twilight's tree, the wooden observatory deck easy to see jutting out of the leaves. I curled up into a ball, bringing the cloud a little bit lower. Ten feet now. I closed my eyes and breathed out, before rolling over and off the piece of water.
I fell the short distance and hit the magically reinforced wood with a thump, my bent legs buckling beneath me. My wings were worse than useless, feathers in a disarray from the heat and sickness. I let out a hiss of pain before scooting over to the steps that led down into the library proper. I had just reached the first step and prepared myself for another tumble down them when the door opened.
I looked up, sweat dripping down my face. Twilight stood there, finishing a yawn when she opened the door. We stared at each other for a moment. I blinked.
“Dash, what are you doing here at this time of night?” she asked, confusion plain to see on her face.
“I'm-” I paused, clearing my disused throat and trying again. “I'm sick.”
Her eyes shot open and I felt my body lifted into the air by a magenta hue. I was sure that she was running a dozen spells to figure out what was wrong, and I was able to visibly relax. The sickness still caused my muscles to be tight, but I knew I was in good hooves.
“Rainbow, you're temperature is 108ºF! How are you still conscious?” Her worried tone brought me back to slight attention and I gave her a crooked grin.
“I guess I'm just awesome like that.” She didn't laugh, probably too caught up in the amount of data on my body she was receiving. As I hung there, suspended in her magic, my eyes began to close again. This time I let them, knowing that my friend would be able to take care of me and, somehow, also knowing that it would be a restful sleep without any nightmares.
And I was right.
Author's Note
Chapters will be sorted chronologically, so just click on whatever says you haven't read it yet. You don't have to go in order though.
My mind slowly returned to consciousness, the dreamworld vanishing into a soon-to-be forgotten state. I couldn't remember any details, but I knew that Twilight had been there and that left a smile on my face.
Without cracking an eyelid, I drowsily flailed my hooves, whipping up the sheets as I searched for the other occupant of the bed I was laying on. They soon touched a warm body, one that managed to escape me in the night. How that was possible, I wasn't quite sure. I always went to sleep with every limb, wings included, cuddling her close. She must have been a master escape artist.
Regardless of how she ran away in the night, I would always bring her back in the morning. If I loved something, I was supposed to let it go, but there was no way I was going to let this awesome mare disappear on me. I pulled her tight against my chest, hooves wrapping around her waist. She gave a small moan, telling me that she wasn't quite awake yet.
Her feathered back pressed into my chest, the soft coat so wonderfully warm. She had maintained her wings well, noticeable in the sleek and smooth feel of her feathers. I sat there, just enjoying that sensation of being close. I had knocked the sheets down to just covering our legs, but we were producing enough warmth of our own to compensate.
It wasn't long before my head started to get a little colder, so I burrowed my face into the back of Twilight's neck. I pushed aside her tangled mane and let it fall over my face, breathing deeply to get as much of her scent as I could. She smelled a little of lavender and lemon, two smells that didn't seem to go well together, but made a beautiful scent just the same. Kinda like me and her. I smiled again, rubbing my face against the back of her neck and praising Celestia for what I had been given. Literally praising her , seeing as how she sent Twilight to Ponyville and all.
My eyes closed again, sleep calling my name once again now that I had my mare in my hooves. I wanted to fall asleep again, return to whatever dream I had with Twilight, but I knew that the real world was better for once. I pulled her even tighter, so tight that I was surprised I didn't wake her from a hug equal to Pinkie's. I felt her shift a tiny bit and smiled. She had woken up when I grabbed her but, just like me, she chose to live in the moment.
It was a moment of calm in the hectic life of the castle. Soon, we would both have to get up and run through our day, missing each other and wishing they were at our side. Well, that's how I thought anyways. Every minute without Twilight was to me a minute wasted. I don't know how I went so long without recognizing how absolutely amazing a mare she was. I guess I had her persistence to thank for uniting us.
I nuzzle the back of her neck and licked it a little bit. I felt her shiver slightly, but in a good way. We had kissed before, so I knew she was okay with it. I moved my head around to her ear, lifting my head off the plushy pillow. I flicked her ear with my tongue, then took the whole of it in my mouth like a teething foal would. She jumped, preventing me from doing anything else. Rolling my way, she somehow managed to end up on top of me, my back pressing against the bed and her stomach meeting mine. I glanced up at her and stuck my tongue out playfully, a smile on my face and the faint tinge of red in my cheeks.
I looked into her eyes, oh those wonderful, amazing eyes. Rarity always described eyes as pools of beauty, but I preferred to think of Twilight's as a well. Sure a pool was nice and all for chilling on a hot day, but I would much rather drink from Twilight's massive and way too special love for me. How could I say no to that? Two wells of purple, her purple, stared back at me. An adorably cute nose was right above an even cuter smile, showing no annoyance at my undoubtedly terrible attempts at being half as cute as her.
We sat like that for a moment before I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my hooves around her so that they met at her wingjoint and spun, using my own wings to help catapult myself across the mattress. She gave a squeak of surprise as I was suddenly on top of her, before we both fell off the bed. I had made sure that I would hit the ground first, letting Twilight fall against my much softer stomach. She gave an oof at the impact, before meeting my gaze again. I stuck my tongue out and licked her nose, making her burst out into giggles.
She sat up, butt resting on my belly button. Her mane and most likely tail were an absolute mess, knotted and tangled up as she tossed and turned in the night. She had traces of bags under her eyes, signs of what her new position was depriving her of. I knew I had the same, but mine were at least helped by my naps. Her coat was obviously pushed the wrong way in parts, the short hairs standing up straight. She probably didn't even smell to great to other ponies, but I for one loved her smell. And despite the scattered, first wake appearance of my marefriend, I knew I wouldn't give it up for anything.
She put up with my crazy antics, my own terrible appearance, my constant attempts at romance that fell short most every time, and even my obliviousness at so many things. Despite how poor of a marefriend I was able to be in return to her amazing gifts, she loved me as I was. And that was absolutely brilliant. My heart swelled in my chest, almost threatening to burst out right there and ruin a perfect moment. She was just staring down at me, a hoof at her mouth to stifle the laughter.
“Rainbow, you are an absolute mess this morning.”
“So are you Twi. But ya know what? I love you anyways. Never change egghead.”
Her smile grew bigger and she leaned down to kiss me gently on the mouth, an echo of past romance but made no less special by the slight amount of contact. “I love you too Rainbow.”
I was left laying on the floor giddily as she crawled off of me and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She looked back at me and giggled again, the indescribably awesome sound reaching me in my happiness.
“You have no idea how much I love you Twilight,” I whispered.
I watched yet another one of Pinkie’s parties continue in full swing, ponies mingling and dancing and having all sorts of fun. The ballroom of the new castle had become her favorite place to host them, which meant there was a new confetti cannon exploding every other day. But seeing so many ponies happy was worth it.
And this time the party actually was for something. Rainbow’s birthday and anniversary of moving to Ponyville. Luckily, this party was much less of a mess than last year’s. In fact, Cheese Sandwich had joined together to throw this one, a party so big enough it was starting to spill out of the rather impressive ballroom. But there was more party already being created outside, whipped up by two ponies that were practically on my level of magic somehow.
But as I looked around, I failed to see the distinctive rainbow and cyan colors that marked the pony this whole event was for. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her in at least an hour. Granted, every pony was here and it was quite crowded, but she was in no way a quiet figure. If I had seen Fluttershy three times, I should be able to find Dash.
“Alright, enough is enough. She’s nowhere to be found, so where could she possibly be?”
My horn lit up, searching for her distinctive magical signature. I blinked and the scene in front of me changed; instead of seeing defined and colorful shapes of ponies, I instead saw floating, glowing balls representing their magic. The sight had shocked me the first time I saw it, but I was well used to the aural world by now.
Amid the bland or slightly tinged colors, seven easily stood out. My own, naturally, the five of my friends, and then Cheese Sandwich’s was unusually bright. I cast that thought aside and followed the bright red trail. It was the only one to go into the upper reaches of the room before disappearing out a side door.
Another blink and the world of ponies reappeared. I quickly made my way over to the exit, slipping out and breathing a sigh of relief. Parties were fun and all, but sometimes some alone time was what I really needed. Maybe that’s all Rainbow needed, but I was still worried about her. It wasn’t like her to completely disappear on a party like this one.
Stairs and stairs passed as I kept going up, bewilderment growing as I kept following the magic trail. My breath came in shorter and shorter gasps the further I went, unaccustomed to the strain. I had already passed a half dozen balconies she could have taken off from, but she instead kept climbing the stairs. Climbing them, not flying up them.
Finally, I reached the last staircase, the last spiral that led up to the highest balcony. “I swear, if she flew off from up here—“ I sucked in a big breath of air, taking a breather before going up the last and longest bit.
It took a minute before I could actually feel air in my lungs again and started walking back up the steps. The hallway got narrower and narrower until it was brushing my shoulders gently. The door was slightly skinnier, making me have to push my way through it.
“Rainbow?” I called, looking around the balcony. Before I could look for her aura, a voice came from behind me.
“I’m over here Twi.” She sounded flat, monotone, completely devoid of caring. I thought I heard a note of sadness in there, but she sounded like Maud more than anything else.
I turned to look at her, making my way around the circular platform. A quick jaunt into aural vision showed that her normally smooth-as-crystal magic was stained with black, marring it. Something was very, very wrong. Locks of hair fell down in front of her eyes as she looked sullenly out upon the town. Her legs dangled over the edge and she swung them gently, not worried in the least bit about falling.
I sat down next to her, albeit with all four hooves on the ground. “You okay?” I asked, then mentally berated myself. Of course she isn’t okay. If she was, she’d be down at the party.
“Yeah,” came the flat reply. It didn’t take an Applejack to figure out that was a lie.
“Then why aren’t you at the party?”
“I needed to get away.”
“Why?”
She let out another sigh, then turned to face me. “Cause today isn’t just my birthday and my anniversary to Ponyville. It’s the last day I saw my dad.”
The answer caught me off guard. I hadn’t been sure what to expect, but certainly not that. “Why haven’t you seen him since then?”
“I left on bad terms. It took me a letter from the hospital to make me realize how badly I screwed up.”
...Oh.
“What happened?”
She flopped on her back, looking to the sky and searching the stars. “I was mad. I said I hated him. That I didn’t want to be around him any longer and couldn’t stand him. I flew out in a rage and came down here to Ponyville. I stayed with Fluttershy for a while until I got everything settled. But my dad took it worse.
“From what I’ve heard from other ponies, he got terribly depressed and went out wandering the streets of Cloudsdale. He disappeared for three days. Absolutely no one I’ve talked to knows anything about what happened to him. Then, he shows up on the steps of Cloudsdale General, delirious, bruising, and head trauma. They treated him as best they could and took him in overnight. The next day, he was gone. No trace. The sheets were even neatly made. No one knows what happened to him.”
There was a pause, then she craned her neck to look up at me, meeting my eyes. “I miss him Twi. So much. I’ve tried to find him for years, but no one’s seen hide or hair of him.”
“What about Princess Luna? She dreamwalks, surely she knows where he is.”
“She wouldn’t tell me. Said I had to ‘remedy my mistakes myself.’ But I won’t stop looking for him.” Loyal to the last.
I extended a wing and gently tickled her exposed belly, getting a slight giggle and smile out of it. “Well now I’ll help you find him too.”
Her smile faded and she dropped my gaze, looking back to the sky. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. But this is something I have to do by myself. I was the one to mess it up, I’ll be the one to fix it.”
I shifted over to her, scooping my hooves behind her back and lifting her to my chest with the aid of a little bit—okay, a lot bit—of magic. I hugged her tightly, pressing my nose into her shoulder. “But that’s why you have friends. So you don’t have to do things by yourself.”
It took one very awkward moment, but I felt Rainbow’s wings and hooves press into my back, returning the hug. We stayed like that for a minute or two, quiet and listening to the sounds of the party continuing outside. A drop or two of water dampened my fur. I almost looked up, thinking it was raining, before realizing that Rainbow was crying. Not bawling, but it was still quite a bit for a mare I had never seen cry before. I squeezed her tighter, then let go and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. She nuzzled me in return, rubbing her soft fur along the side of my cheek.
“So what do you say about going back down to the party? And then we can start looking for your dad tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. And you were always great with plans.”
“Were?” I questioned, a smirk on my face. I got the response I wanted: a laugh and an eye roll as she tried to discreetly wipe away the tears. Not 100% Dash again, but better than she was. I blinked, wondering if the blackness from earlier was gone.
It was certainly less present than it was, but it still weaved in and out, tormenting her. It hurt; I wanted to do so much more to help her, but I couldn’t. Not right now. Another blink and she returned, gazing out at the Pinkie Party below. I stepped up next to her and gave her a winghug, pulling her close to me. She didn’t fight it, instead moving towards me willingly.
Then, with a sly look and grin on her face, she yelled “Last one down is an Egghead!” She ran and jumped off the balcony, wings spreading as she fell.
“Wha— Hey!”
