How to Cure the Feather Flu

by Short Stories

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Rainbow Dash
Length: 1136

Rainbow catches the feather flu, and needs somepony to keep her company.

Rainbow catches the feather flu, and tries to cover it up. She runs into a certain alicorn on her way down to the ground.

Cover
This story is for The Abyss’s contest

Published 2015-07-31 20:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-31 20:00:01 UTC

Well, one of the cures, at least.

Rainbow woke up that morning and immediately found herself covered with bright red dots. Not only that, but her throat felt dry, her nose was runny, and her eyes were watering non-stop. She had experienced some early signs of this yesterday, and the day before, but she couldn't deny it anymore.

She had the Feather Flu.

She had the feather flu! That was the worst possible thing to happen to an athlete-in-training! And, of course it had to happen on the day the Wonderbolts were having their final training session. Just my dumb luck, she thought, scowling.

“I could try to--” She interrupted herself with a nasty sounding cough. “I could try to enter anyways…” That thought gave her motivation. She slowly crawled out of bed and over to her mirror. It was a long, painful process, but she thought it was worth it.

She just needed to cover up these nasty spots...but she wasn’t sure how. She just couldn't grow extra fur, or paint over them or anything.

Wait--could she paint over them? She didn’t know, but she knew she had to try! Crawling over to her door, she lifted her weakened wings, and stepped off the cloud.

Only to find herself plummeting to the earth. She had placed her house higher last night, because Twilight had wanted to show her a comet. Rainbow had made a big deal about it then, but she was almost overjoyed when Twilight saw her shivering and placed a wing around her to keep her warm.

Just when she thought she was going to crash and burn, her wings too weak to lift her up, a flash of lavender zoomed by, catching Rainbow on her back. Without meaning to, Rainbow screamed in fright, thinking that some monster was about to eat her.

“Rainbow Dash! Stop screaming!” A familiar voice instructed.

Rainbow turned her head to see the profile of Twilight, for she was trying to look and talk to her friend as she flew towards a nearby cloud.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow coughed. “I wasn’t screaming.” She felt Twilight slump a little as soon as those three words left her mouth.

“You weren't screaming, huh?” Twilight retorted. “Well, a high-pitched but raspy sound came out of your mouth as soon as I caught you.” She finally landed on the cloud big enough to support the two of them. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s called screaming.”

Rainbow crawled off of Twilight’s back, only to land with a soft thump on the cloud below her. “Fine, fine, I was screaming.” She said, her voice barely audible. “Excuse me if I’m scared of dying.”

Twilight allowed herself a small laugh. “Rainbow Dash, I never said that it was stupid to be scared of dying, I was just telling you to stop screaming; what, with you having the feather flu and all.”

“The feather flu? How’d you know I got the feather flu?” Rainbow asked, shifting herself so she was in a sitting position.

Twilight sat down as well, facing her prism-maned friend. “It’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?” Twilight asked. “I mean, I’ve seen some pegasi who had the feather flu before. I know the symptoms, I--”

“Wait...you know the symptoms? How?” Rainbow interrupted. Twilight glared at her, upset that Rainbow had interrupted her in the middle of her little speech, but she decided to tell her the truth.

“I read about it.” She said simply. Rainbow could see she was trying to hide something, though.

“And…?”

Twilight cocked her head. “And what?” She asked, trying to avoid the obvious question.

“And...how else do you know the symptoms?” Rainbow was beginning to enjoy this.

Twilight blushed, saying nothing for the longest time. Eventually, Rainbow crawled forward a bit and placed her hoof on Twilight’s, only making Twilight blush harder.

“You can tell me, Twi.” She said, the raspiness in her voice somehow comforting the agitated alicorn.

Twilight finally decided to tell her, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “I got the flu, too.” She explained. “I had it a week ago, which is why I didn’t come and watch you practice. I thought the comet last night would make up for it.” She finished her last sentence by hanging her head and looking at the cloud that she sat on, a little sad that she hadn’t been able to see her friend, that she loved, practice.

She was mainly scared that, since she didn’t get to see her loved one practice, Rainbow wouldn't love her back, if Rainbow loved her already.

That’s when she felt a small kiss on her horn. Surprised, she looked up and saw Rainbow’s face an inch away from her own. She also felt the blush she had before deepen, making her whole face the same shade as Big Mac’s.

“R-r-rainbow…?” Twilight stuttered.

A flash of worry passed over the pegasus's face. What if Twilight didn’t appreciate that? What if she had Celestia banish her to the moon? Worst of all--what if Twilight didn’t want to be her friend anymore? Or she didn’t have feelings for Rainbow the same way Rainbow had for Twi?

“I’m sorry! It just seemed like the right thing to do, and I didn’t want you feeling bad, and--” She was cut off by Twilight leaning in and kissing her back on the lips.

Caught off guard, Rainbow wasn’t sure what to do for a moment. She stood on her hind legs, her eyes wide and looked down at Twilight’s head, and she could almost see the alicorn’s thoughts of regret; she could almost see her own thoughts just a moment ago, except floating around in Twilight’s brain.

She had been there just a few seconds ago, and she knew the awkward feeling of wondering if you did something wrong. Plus, she loved Twilight and was hopeful Twilight felt the same way, so she returned the favor with just as much passion a second later.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked, pulling back after a moment. Rainbow was disappointed the kiss had ended so soon, but she answered Twilight anyways.

“Yeah, Twilight?”

“I do know one of the cures for the Feather Flu…” She started to lean towards Dashie again.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Some T--” She began as she kissed one of Dashie’s wings. “--L--” She kissed the other wing. “---C.” She finished by kissing Dashie’s forehead.

Rainbow giggled, a hard thing to do when it felt like her throat was on fire, and laid down, snuggling up next to Twilight.“I hope we can become more than friends one day, Twi…” She murmured, forgetting all about the Wonderbolt finals.

Twilight, who was still sitting, looked down at Rainbow, then wrapped her wing around the cyan pegasus.“Who says we can’t today?” She replied.