MLP: Broken Lights

Life had days were people feel invincible, as if they have all the time in the world, that they could do anything. Good days happen all the time in all parts of the world, from a baby being born to someone winning the lottery. Love can bloom, long lost family can finally meet for the first time ever, and someone's birthday will include their favorite cake and tons of presents for them to unwrap and share with their friends and family.

Life also had days when nothing goes right, where people can feel so low that they feel at one with the dirt, worthless and like they have done nothing useful in their life. A beloved pet or family member can pass away, someone could get robbed of their life savings. A fire can destroy the way of life for both human and animal, the divorce of a long lasting marriage can suddenly come despite the couple being 'happy', and friends can suddenly become enemies after a simple fight.

For times like those, people usually turn to their friends or family for comfort and support, knowing that things will get better over time, and others had different ways of coping with when their days are glum. Going out with a large group of friends to party and forget, staying with family to talk about all of the good times, or even just staying home to let their emotions run their course.

However... at times even those methods start to lose their effectiveness, or just weren't effective in the first place.

"Aura Lotus! Hurry up, you don't want to be late! We have a project in Biology that we have to present today, did you forget?" A green-and-yellow haired male called out, the pink haired male that had been following him at a distance finally noticing how far the other had gotten and jogging to catch up.

"Sorry, Storm Fern. I've been kind of lethargic today, I wasn't feeling too well when I woke up," Aura said softly with an apologetic smile, rubbing the back of his neck before covering a cough with his arm. He had been coughing ever since he woke up and it confused the male to no end. Why would he be coughing like this even though just the day before he had been feeling just fine? He hadn't really done anything and slept properly the day before as it was a Sunday and he had stayed at home to help his mother bake for her friend's son's birthday the following Tuesday.

As he pushed those thoughts out of his mind for the moment, he suddenly lurched forwards as a tall as hell body collided with his back, arms wrapping around his waist to stop him from landing face first on the sidewalk.

"OI, JUPITER! You know I hate that!" He whined as the shit-eating grin of the giant Jupiter Fire came into view before disappearing behind a well-timed smack with a folder. The owner of the folder, Apple Custard, peeked over with an apologetic smile before laughing as Jupiter pouted with a slightly red nose.

"Sorry about that. Giant over here stayed at my house since we have a group Literature project to hand in tomorrow. We have to pretend to be teenagers in love..." Apple made a face of disgust before nearly sinking to the ground as Jupiter leaned all of his weight on the smaller boy, eliciting a strangled groan of effort as Apple tried his best to stay standing.

"You're lucky I'm such a wonderful lover, giving you huggles and cheek kisses~."

"If by wonderful, you mean annoyingly clingy with no sense of personal space, then I agree."

Aura and Storm couldn't help but laugh as Apple smacked Jupiter again as the taller tried to lean in for a kiss, cringing a little as they walked. Sometimes it seemed like the red giant really did have a thing for the brown-haired male, what with how often the smaller boy was complimented, the taller basically acting like a koala. Sometimes Aura wondered if Apple really didn't like the attention, or if he secretly enjoyed it and only pretended to hate it to keep the two from being teased and bullied.

The gates of the school finally came into view, three figures standing there as if they were waiting for someone before one started to wave to the four. Stalwart Sails, Torch Light, and Sky Melody - or Skymel as the group has taken to calling him - had been waiting for them, having gotten up a little too early due to Skymel's alarm clock, as the three roomed together in a dorm due to their families being too far away to commute properly.

"Hey guys, where's Wild Road?" Storm Fern asked as he looked around, trying to look for the colt who had recently dyed his hair brown in support for one of his favorite idols who had been injured in an accident.

"He in school already, teacher needed help printing test for students," Skymel said softly, his Japanese accent apparent even though he tried to sound the words out properly. Wild Road was go-to guy for teachers to ask for help, as his organizational skills were envied by even some of the school's faculty, due to his father being the CEO of a large consultant firm. While Wild Road was in the upper class in terms of wealth and status, he acted nearly the opposite, not wanting to take over his father's company and instead started taking singing lessons the previous month. He stated the reason being that he did not like to sit down for too long and that being behind a desk, signing papers and organizing more papers was boring and suffocating. He wanted to go out and experience the world doing something fun.

As the 7 friends stepped into the school and started on their way to Wild's homeroom, Aura had to cover a cough again, this one stronger than the last as he cleared his throat, accepting a water bottle from Storm and sipping it. He tried to give it back but was told to keep it as it looked like he needed it a lot more, thanking the other with a chuckle. This new cough had brought up concerns again, but before he could really try to look into them, Wild finally appeared.

"WILD!" Jupiter suddenly boomed out, scaring the shit out of the guy and anyone else that was within 300 feet of the group. Wild had nearly dropped the papers that he was carrying, catching them just in time then whacking the giant in the shoulder, causing him to groan at the surprising pain. Who the hell knew that a stack of paper could weigh enough to make an audible smacking sound when hitting someone? "God, Wild, how much does that weigh?!"

"2.4kg," Wild replied easily, grinning at Jupiter's gaping mouth before catching one of Aura's small coughing fits, walking over and putting the back of his hand to the unofficial leader of the group's forehead. "You aren't getting sick, are you?" He asked, the pink haired male shrugging to show that he too had no idea what was going on before they all finally settled down in their homerooms.

It was during his and Storm's Biology class, where they were presenting their project about the different chemicals some insects created to protect themselves that Aura soon knew something was wrong. He suddenly felt dizzy, he couldn't breathe without pain stabbing his lungs and throat, and as soon as he went to cover his mouth upon feeling more coughing coming up, more violent than the last...

The class went dead silent. No one spoke as the world seemed to slow to a crawl for Aura. The instant the noise started up, it was slowly being drowned out by the sudden ringing in his ears. It was as if he was the only person in the room, his vision becoming blurry as he stared down at the tile of the Biology classroom.

All he could see was red on the floor that was coming up to meet him.