It was hot. Correction, it was very hot. Heck, I'd say that it's hotter than Hell itself.
And what was Applejack doing? She was bucking apples. Bucking apples on the hottest day in a century.
"Dammit, Twi, I'd give my right hind leg to be in your air conditioned castle for five damn minutes," she said as she kicked the apple tree behind her.
Twilight was in Canterlot with royal duties, Rainbow and Fluttershy were in Cloudsdale due to a misfortune in the weather factory, and Pinkie was in Manehatten helping Cheese Sandwich and Rarity. Rarity preferred not to get dirty. She had made the excuse of ' I need to spend quality time with Sweetie, I promised I'd take her to the spa.' So this year she had the help of family.
While she was taking a small break, she heard a familiar poof.
"Hello Applejack! I-I-I-ACHOO! Wanted to see if I can h-h-h-ACHOO! Help with the applebucking season." He sniffed.
Applejack looked up to see Discord. He spoke in a raspy voice, almost like he had pneumonia.
"Are you okay, Sugarcube? You don't sound or look too good."
Discord's face was pale, his eyes were bloodshot and crusted around the eyelids. His legs were shaky and his nose had mucus clogging it. His horns drooped slightly and eagle claw was paler than usual.
"Nonsense, I'm *COUGH, COUGH, HACK, WHEEZE* fine, I wanted to see if you needed help, and I think it would impress Fluttershy.............." Suddenly Discord collapsed.
Applejack ran over to him and put a hoof to his forehead.
"Oh, my sweet Celestia! You're burnin' up sugar. You're awful sick, you need help!" She gave a shrill whistle.
Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Braeburn, who were helping with the harvest, came running.
"I thought I'd never say this, but Discord's sick and a doctor. He poofed here to see if we needed help, and he was coughin' and a sneezin' his head off, he was talkin' and he just passed out. He has an awful fever! We need to get him inside!"
"He's too big to move! I'll get the stretcher from the house, it should be big enough," Braeburn said as he started to gallop to the farm house.
"He may need an actual doctor, sis, but I'll start to grind herb for him just in case," Apple Bloom said as she took off after
Braeburn.
"And I'll go get somepony that's a doctor," Big Mac said taking off in the opposite direction.
"And I'll stay with him. I'll try and get him under some shade," Applejack yelled out to Big Mac as he ran.
Quickly, Applejack turned on her heel, and started to drag Discord under the shade of a near by apple tree. She started to stroke his mane.
"Come on, Sugarcube, you'll be just fine." Applejack took out her canteen of cold water, and put it on Discord's head.
Meanwhile, in the emergency room of Ponyville hospital, it was quiet until Big Mac came busting in. He was breathing heavily.
"Somepony help! Discord passed out, and we're not sure what to do. We need an ambulance!"
"Please, calm down sir, do you remember if he was pale or red in the face?"
"He was awful pale, and he has a fever," Big Mac said reaching for the bottle of water the nurse handed to him.
"This could be dangerous. He may have a heat stroke, we must hurry."
They got an ambulance and paid him triple to gallop at top speed.
They got there just in time. The doctor levitated a bucket filled to the brim with ice water over Discord's head, and dumped it.
"Well, we need a new stretcher, ours isn't big enough!"
"No problem, ours is!" Braeburn came running with the large stretcher rolling in front of him with Apple Bloom behind him.
The doctor put his hoof on Discord's forehead.
"He's a little cooler, but I'd like him to be examined for heat stroke. Please contact all of his friends and see if there is anypony who can take care of him after we let him go home."
"Yes, of course." Applejack said in a reply.
~***^***~
Discord's eyes fluttered open, his head throbbing. When his vision adjusted, he saw that he was no longer in Sweet Apple Acres.
"Oh, my head! W-W-Where am I?" he said, his voice still raspy.
"In Ponyville Hospital. You passed out while you were asking Applejack if she needed any help." Princess Twilight stood in front of him.
"I-I-I passed out? But *COUGH, COUGH, WHEEZE* why?"
"We, detected a strange form of virus in you. We suspect that that is the culprit."
"I-I-I need to talk to Fluttershy. *COUGH COUGH COUGH, WHEEZE, COUGH COUGH COUGH HACK WHEEZE COUGH*”.
"No, you need to be put on oxygen," she said levitating his air mask to his face. He gladly took it, and started to breath a little more normally.
"I'm, *COUGH* fine, it's just a little bit of Hay Fever. I'll be back to normal in a week or two. I don't see what all the fuss is about." Discord said rolling his eyes.
Twilight gave him a confused look.
"What the hay is Hay Fever? If it were a normal disease then trust me, I'd know about it. I've read every medical book in Canterlot library.
"
"It's like a worse version of the flu, it just infects ponies when it's super hot out instead of freezing. A-A-ACHOO! Will, you so kind as to get me a couple boxes of tissue, I'm going to need it and if you can, a decongestant."
"I don't understand, can't you just poof yourself better?"
"Twi*COUGH, COUGH* light, if I could, I wouldn't have passed out."
"True, but what if you're pulling another one of your tricks? What if it's like the 'Blue Flu' a couple years back."
"Do I have to*COUGH WHEEZE COUGH* remind you that I, the lord of all things *COUGH* chaos, would be so willing to pass out, on the hottest damn day in a damn century, to play a god damn trick?!" When Discord tried to yell at Twilight, he ended up in another coughing fit.
"Look at me *COUGH COUGH COUGH WHEEZE COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH* I'm bucking miserable! Do you really think that I would *COUGH COUGH WHEEZE COUGH* want to put myself through this to play a bucking trick?! *COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH*.
"Okay, I'm sorry. It's just that it's hard to believe that there's such a disease that you are vulnerable to it."
"A-A-ACHOOOOOO! How about that decongestant? I can barely breath."
"I'll go get you some." Twilight sighed as she walked out the room.
"Discord? Oh, you poor poor thing! What's the matter?" Fluttershy said as she ran up to the bed.
"It's nothing, just some *COUGH COUGH COUGH* Hay Fever. I'll be back to normal in a week or two."
The doctor walked in.
"Um, Mr. Discord, I presume?"
"Yes,*COUGH COUGH*"
"I'm Doctor Cross. Well, it looks like it's a severe case of the flu. You didn't have a heat stroke so you may be discharged, but I would like some pony watching over you."
"I'll watch over him. Is there anything he needs to take?" Fluttershy volunteered.
"Um, yes, quite. He needs to take this tonic three times a day. And for that awful cough, he takes the syrup as many times needed at night. He takes both until he's better."
"Thank you, Doctor." Fluttershy said before taking the bag in her mouth.
The doctor disappeared and brought back a wheelchair. Discord weakly got up and flopped back down on the wheel chair.
"I'll take him to my cottage and bring the chair back immediately."
"No, please, take the chair and just bring it back when he gets better."
"Thank you," Fluttershy said. "Let's go Discord."
"Here, I think I have the strength to teleport us to the house. *COUGH HACK*"
He weakly snapped his talon and we were a few paces from the door.
"Save your strength. You need it to get better."
Discord coughed some more and nodded.
"Let's get inside you poor thing."
Fluttershy rolled Discord inside and shut the door.
"Make yourself comfortable on the couch, and I'll make some hay noodle soup."
"Thank you Fluttershy, *COUGH COUGH COUGH*"
"It's no problem, I hope you'll get better soon."
She walked in the kitchen and made some nice steaming hot soup.
"Can you pick up the spoon?"
Discord tried, he was pretty shaky but could manage.
"It's delicious, it helps my throat too." Discord slowly slurped down the soup.
After the bowl was empty, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.
~***^***~
Discord stirred in his dreamless sleep. His eyes fluttered open.
*COUGH COUGH COUGH HACK WHEEZE COUGH*
Discord's stomach was sour, and didn't seem settling.
"Oh, you're awake, do you want a drink of water?"
"Yes, that would be nice," Discord said as he tried to readjust.
His stomach bubbled. He decided he needed something to nibble on.
"Fluttershy, do you think you could bring me some crackers?"
"Of course. I'll be right back."
His stomach gave a low rumble.
Fluttershy came back with a box of crackers and a small glass of water.
As soon as Fluttershy gave him the glass, he took it and started to sip at it.
"Thank you Fluttershy, my throat feels better," said Discord. His voice was less raspy.
"That's good, so how are you feeling overall?"
"Not as bad as before I woke up." Discord said as he took a bit of cracker. "But I still feel like absolute horse crap."
"Well, if you say you feel a little bit better, let me take your temperature."
Thirty seconds later, the thermometer beeped.
"Oh, you still have a fever, but it's gone down to 100.4"
"That's good, oh no......." Discord said as his cheeks puffed.
He threw the blanket off of him and flew up the stairs and into the bathroom. It was followed by a wrenching sound that was unmistakable, she had heard it from her animals when they had a round of the flu.
Fluttershy flew up the stairs and came to stop at the bathroom door.
She slowly opened the door.
She found him kneeling at the toilet with his paw and claw on the seat, tears running down his face at the taste and smell of the orange colored vomit floating in the water.
Another wave of sick came over him. Fluttershy put her mane in a nearby scrunchy on the bathroom counter, and walked up behind the vomiting Discord.
She rubbed her hoof up and down his upper back. Yet another wave of vomit came up. Discord was breathing in and out heavily, yet slowly. He was shaking. He bent his head down for a final wave of vomit. He sat there spitting into the water like he thought there was more coming.
"You done?" Fluttershy said in a gentle voice.
He took a minute to decide and he nodded his head.
"Here, wipe your mouth."
He shakily took the paper towel and ran it across his mouth,threw it in the toilet and flushed.
"C-Can I h-have another glass of water?"
"Here, come to the kitchen and we'll rinse that awful taste out of your mouth."
" Y-Yeah, I've never thrown up you know, i-it's awful. How come you haven’t gotten sick yet?"
"Yeah, I have an immune system of steel because I care for so many animals."
"Yeah. That makes sense."
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."
He gave a nod, and went to the kitchen with Fluttershy.
“Thank you, Fluttershy, for helping me through this.”
“It’s no problem, that’s what friends are for, right?”
He nodded again.
Friends, he thought. She really is my friend, isn’t she. When I get better, I’m going to find a way to make it up to her, say the Summer-Sun Celebration is just around the corner isn’t it. I’ll take her to that! Everything is gonna be fine.
