Get Well Soon
by Starlight Fire
(I do not own My Little Pony.)
Rarity had had a busy day. She visited the spa with Fluttershy early on, went out to lunch with Twilight Sparkle, attended to two rather important clients in the afternoon, picked up Sweetie Belle from school and dropped her off at their parents' house, grabbed a quick bite to eat before attending an evening performance of sorts, and come back and worked on a few items on her now unignorably long list of orders until around midnight. When the clock struck twelve, she put down what she was doing, went through her nightly beauty rituals, and had gone to bed. It was now two in the morning and she was finding herself forced to become reacquainted with the delicate, white porcelain curves of her toilet while she felt like she was simultaneously burning up and freezing.
That is to say, Rarity had somehow come down with a case of the stomach flu. She was glad Sweetie Belle was not staying with her at this very moment.
"Oh..." she muttered when she could. "I feel terrible. How did--?" That was all she could say for the moment until her stomach decided to let up again. When the traitorous organ finally decided to behave itself again, Rarity washed her hooves, cleaned her face, and stumbled back to bed.
Things were going swimmingly until one hour later when the process repeated itself. "Maybe that'll be it," Rarity said hopefully. If only. The bonding with the toilet happened about once an hour four more times. She had gotten very little sleep and was utterly exhausted, as one generally is after such a foul experience. The poor Unicorn had to crawl back to her bed, and when she pulled the covers over her body and got the room to stop swaying, she finally fell asleep.
Two hours later, around nine that morning, Twilight Sparkle came by the Carousel Boutique with a book Rarity had asked about during lunch the previous day. The citizens of Ponyville rarely locked their doors, so Twilight simply strode in with the book in tow. She called out for Rarity, who was often somewhere around a corner. When she didn't hear any sort of response, she took to searching.
As she went up the stairs to see if Rarity was awake yet, she heard some odd sounds coming from the water closet. As she listened more closely, she decided that they were just the types of sounds a pony makes in a water closet in front of the toilet when he or she is especially sick. Twilight was proud of herself for figuring out what the noises were and mentally patted herself on her back. After a few seconds, she realized exactly what this implied, and rushed out to get Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. "Perhaps we can try to make her feel better?" the purple Unicorn wondered.
Knock knock knock.
Rarity turned over in her bed.
Knock knock knock.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"It's us, Rarity," answered Twilight.
"...What? No, no, no, you simply can't come in. I look hideous!" the sick Unicorn responded. "And I feel every bit as bad, too," she thought.
"Rare, yer sick. Nopony looks good when they're sick," said Applejack. "Kin we please come in? We brought ya some stuff."
"If that's OK with you, that is," added Fluttershy.
"...I suppose if you must, you must," said Rarity. "I really must be sick if I'm allowing them to see me in this condition," she thought bitterly as the door to her bedroom opened. As everypony entered, she asked, "How did all of you find out that I was sick?"
"Ah, heh, heh," Twilight laughed nervously. "I dropped by earlier to bring you that book you had asked me about during lunch yesterday because you seemed so excited about it and I figured it might be awhile before you could find time to come to the library to pick it up yourself. I called out when I got here and you didn't answer, so I walked up the stairs to see if you were awake yet. I stopped about halfway up when I heard... distinct sounds coming from the bathroom. I put two and two together and decided to get the rest of our friends together to see if we couldn't try to help you feel at least a little bit better."
"...Ah," Rarity said after a couple of seconds. "...Twilight, would you do me a favor?"
"What is it, Rarity?"
"Would you be a dear and help me to the bathroom again? I think I'm going to--"
"Oh, yes, of course, excuse us, everypony!" said Twilight quickly.
Twilight returned with Rarity laying on her back.
"Thank you," Rarity said with a sniff. "I really don't mean to trouble you all."
"Trouble us? What are you talking about? Of course we're gonna show up when a friend needs us!" said Rainbow Dash. "I don't leave my friends hanging!"
"Um, I noticed you seem to have a large number of dresses to make in a short period of time," said Fluttershy. "I could do some work on them for you until you get better. I mean, if you want me to."
Rarity looked at her for a moment. "Oh, Fluttershy! Thank you so much! That means quite a lot. If I'm not worried about that, maybe I'll get better even faster! But... are you sure it's alright?"
"Oh, yes," said Fluttershy. "I don't mind at all."
"Ah've had some experience with this flu stuff an' all, and Ah know from experience that it's important to stay hydrated. But sometimes, plain ol' water just ain't gonna cut it. So I brought ya some apple juice," said Applejack as she held out a bottle with a straw in it. "Sip it slowly now or yer jus' gonna give yerself more tummy trouble."
Rarity did as she was told. "Oh, thank you, Applejack! Remind me to get some more of this after I recover. This is wonderful!"
"No problem, sugarcube. This un's one the house."
"I still have that book if you want to read it," said Twilight. "I've been sick before, and I feel like I've always gotten better more quickly if I wasn't bored. Reading is a great way to keep from getting bored," the purple Unicorn said as she grinned.
"I brought you a pear pastry that you need to try when you can eat again!" said Pinkie. "Oh, don't worry, I put it in your refrigerator with a note. That wouldn't be good if you ate it now, would it? But if you didn't eat it now and it just got left out, it'd get all nasty and yucky and all sorts of stuff and then you might get sick all over again! And a good pastry would be wasted! Both of those would be just horrible! So I put it in your fridge." Rarity blinked. "And I'm gonna throw a 'Yay, Rarity's better!' party when you get better."
Typical Pinkie. Rarity couldn't resist smiling. "Thank you, Pinkie."
Rainbow Dash pawed at the floor slightly. "I... wasn't too sure what I could bring, but sometimes, when I'm really sick, kinda like you are, if I have something nice to look at, it helps me feel better. I, uh..." she trailed off as she flew to the window and opened the curtains. "I pulled a few strings at my job and made a rainbow outside your window for you. It'll last for a bit yet. Oh, and I also made sure to let Sweetie Belle know that you were sick and she shouldn't come over for awhile so she doesn't catch whatever you have."
"Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash! ...That rainbow out there is giving me ideas for my next designs! I simply must get better soon!"
"We should probably let you rest, Rarity," said Twilight. "If you need anything, be sure to let us know, OK? We'd be happy to help you."
"Yeah! Being sick is no fun!" said Pinkie.
Rarity smiled. "Thank you all so much. This means a lot to me. I'm beginning to feel better already!"
Her friends smiled back and told her to get well soon as the left her room. Rarity smiled happily as she snuggled into her bed. She was back to normal the next day.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Being sick is no fun. But yesterday I learned that it doesn't have to be terrible, especially when your friends can make you feel better by helping the pony in question if he or she can't do something he or she would usually be capable of, by bringing him or her a treat, by providing some entertainment so that he or she doesn't get bored, or even by giving him or her something to look forward to for when he or she gets well again. What are friends for, anyway?
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
THE END
