For Sandbar, it had started out like any other day: With the sun's rays poking through the blinds in the dorm room he resided in at the School of Friendship. By now it was no secret that he and Yona were a couple, they'd made no effort to hide it from anyone: Not their friends, not their teachers, not even the citizens of Ponyville. As a result, it had taken very little convincing for the two to be allowed to share their own dorm room together (and on a few occasions, Yona had been invited to spend the night at Sandbar's house).
Between the bright glare of the sun and the ringing of a nearby alarm clock, Sandbar knew it was time to get up. So he rose and went about his usual morning routine, all the while not finding it at all odd that Yona wasn't already up and about, busy and bustling to and fro. Despite her energetic nature, Yona wasn't really what you'd call a morning creature (not to mention she was a fairly heavy sleeper most of the time). So Yona not being up yet didn't give Sandbar any reason to be concerned. Knowing his girlfriend, she'd be up and about before long anyway. So why bother waking her up if she'd rather sleep in for a few more minutes?
Yet just as the colt was preparing to head to the cafeteria to have breakfast and meet up with his friends, his ears picked up a most unusual sound. Even if he and Yona occupied their own dorm room, there were plenty of adjacent rooms whose occupants made plenty of noise. Despite the modest cacophony, the young earth pony swore he could hear the sound of sniffling. The kind of sniffling that could only come from having a stuffed up nose. And if he listened closely, he could just make what sounded like a faint cough.
Sandbar turned around, and when he did so his eyes beheld a sight he hadn't been expecting to see: There stood Yona, the yak's nose looking red and puffy, and it seemed like the color was draining from around her, leaving the yak with a very pale face. And was it his imagination, or did she seem to be wobbling ever so slightly?
It didn't take a genius to figure out Yona probably wasn't feeling well. It didn't appear to be serious, but then again Sandbar was by no means an expert on yaks. So he decided to speak up and rush to Yona's side anyway, just to be sure she was okay (more or less). "Yona?" He asked as his tone of voice reflected his worry.
Yona sniffled some more, and a few dry coughs escaped her lips as her legs betrayed her and sent her tumbling to the floor. "Sandbar," She spoke, her tone of voice sounding noticeably raspy. "Yona not feel good. Yona's head hurt."
The colt trotted close but not too close, wisely opting to keep his distance. "It's okay, Yona," He spoke in a sweet and sympathetic tone of voice. "You probably just have a cold, that's all. It is the cold and flu season after all."
The sickly yak sniffled and coughed some more before replying. "But how can Yona be cold? Yona have yak fur, yak fur keep Yona warm."
Sandbar giggled. "Yona, a cold has nothing to do with you actually being cold. A cold is a cold, it's an illness. It happens all the time. I'm sure even yaks get sick every now and then."
Yona coughed and then let out a sneeze as she tried to rise to her hooves, only to find that they wouldn't cooperate. "But, Yona not been sick for a long time. Yona not been sick since she came to Ponyville."
Sandbar gently cooed as he locked eyes with his girlfriend. "Well then, it's probably nothing to worry about. Everycreature has a sick day now and again. Even Princess Twilight could get sick sometimes. Heck, I've gotten sick a few times," And he sweetly reassured her. "You don't need to worry about anything. If you're sick, I'll help you out. You can just focus on resting. My mom always says plenty of bedrest cures a cold: That, and some cold medicine."
Yona made a gag face as she tried to plug her nose. "Yona hate cold medicine! Yakyakistan cold medicine smell awful! And it taste awful too!"
The earth pony colt with a sandy yellow colt just chuckled to himself. "Don't worry, we have much better tasting medicine here. I'm sure I can find some eventually," But then he looked at the clock and gasped! "Oh my gosh! If I don't make it to the cafeteria soon, breakfast will be over and they'll stop serving it!" He quickly made up his mind as he told the yak with whom he was in love. "I'll try to bring you back something for breakfast. And don't worry, I'll make sure all our professors know you're sick and can't come to class today."
Slowly finding her balance again, Yona asked in a raspy voice. "Then, what Yona to do while Sandbar gone?"
Sandbar sweetly replied. "Just try to get some rest, okay? Just stay in bed. I promise, I'll come back for you as soon as I find time." And with that, he departed the dorm room.
Yona, for her part, just slowly climbed back into the rather large bed that she always slept in. Strangely, despite her having a cold, she felt strangely "warm" for lack of a better reason. And now it wasn't just her head that was hurting, her whole body ached. Staying in bed definitely sounded good right about now. Yona wasn't sure she'd have the strength to take even five steps with the way her body was feeling at the moment.
The sickly yak only faintly recalled shutting her eyes for a moment, before she suddenly woke again in her bed and glanced over to a nearby clock to see that almost half an hour had passed. That earlier "warm" feeling had left her, now she was definitely feeling "cold", so she clumsily pulled the sheets up to her neck in the hopes it would dispel the chill in her body.
Just then, Yona's ears picked up the sound of the dorm room door creaking. Soon, she could see Sandbar approaching her as he whistled a little tune to himself. And balanced on his back was a tray holding up a carton of some unfamiliar liquid, a medicine bottle (and a spoon to go with it), and a small plastic cup a plain white in color.
Sandbar stopped at the foot of Yona's bed. Then, carefully grabbing the tray with his mouth, he set it ever so delicately upon the bedsheets. "I'm back!" He called, before blushing. "Turns out I had no reason to worry, breakfast won't be over for another half hour at least. Still, at least that gave me time to stop by the nurse's office. I got cold medicine, and some orange juice. My mom says orange juice always helps when you're feeling sick."
Yona sat up in bed very slowly. The pain in her head had subsided, but her hooves still felt like jelly as she tried to reach out for the tray to pull it close. When her boyfriend subsequently nudged the tray forward so she could grab it without expending much effort, the lack of color on her face only made the raging blush that much more noticeable. The yak's olive green eyes eyed the medicine bottle very cautiously. "Does Yona really have to take medicine?" She seemed to whimper in shame.
"Come on, it's not that bad. It's grape flavored," Sandbar replied as he picked up the bottle and held it close. "Says so right on the bottle. And you wanna get better, right?"
With a reluctant nod, Yona watched as Sandbar unscrewed the bottle's white cap and poured the bottle's contents onto the spoon nearby. She was very hesitant as it was slowly brought to her, but any will she might have had to fight back was drained completely by the shivering feeling in her body and the continued pressure on her forehead. Anything that could alleviate the symptoms would be welcome, no matter how foul it tasted. Besides, Sandbar said it was grape flavored, and the purple color of the liquid seemed to confirm it. What reason would he have to lie to her?
The yak slowly and very reluctantly let the medicine enter her lips and pass on through her mouth. Sure enough, a sweet grape taste tickled her taste buds. In fact, it was so sweet it was almost overwhelming. But it was leagues above what she could remember having to take when she'd been sick back in Yakyakistan. Just thinking about it made her shudder.
The grin on Sandbar's face looked almost playful with the way it appeared. "See? That wasn't so bad," He spoke in an almost childish tone, as if taunting Yona over her hesitancy. Then he got up, trotted a slightly ways away and came back with several small boxes holding some white paper. "I can't stay for long," He told Yona. "I'll need to get to class soon. Just let the medicine do its job. I'll be back for lunch. In the meantime, try to blow your nose a little. Trust me, you'll feel a lot better when you do."
Yona did so, grabbing a tissue from one of the boxes and blowing her nose like a trumpet blast. "Sandbar not have to do these things for Yona," She insisted as that blush returned with a vengeance. "Yona can take care of herself."
Sandbar waved a hoof as he sat at the foot of Yona's bed. "Hey, you've always been there for me when I needed you. So now it's my turn to be there for you. Isn't that what anycreature would do for their special someone?" Rising from the bed, he instructed further. "Just relax, and help yourself to some orange juice. I also brought you some crackers. I promise I'll bring something better for lunch." And then he was gone again, leaving Yona alone once more.
Time seemed to pass slowly for Yona as she lay sick in bed. After polishing off at least two cups of orange juice and helping herself to the crackers, the yak felt just the slightest bit better. The pressure in her forehead was fading away, and her nose was starting to feel just a little bit better after she'd blown it several times (despite the huge stack of discarded tissues building up beside her). But she still couldn't help coughing and sneezing quite often, which did nothing to alleviate the aches in her body.
With nothing else to do but to stare up at the ceiling and the walls, the yak shut her eyes again as she tried to drift off to sleep. It seemed like it took a while to do so this time.
Yona's "dream", if you could call it that, felt very weird to her. Everything and everyone was a blur. She couldn't make out a single familiar face or familiar place. Everything and everyone around her was a mess of shapes and colors that were so overwhelming just to look at. And there was this constant, awful buzzing sound.
Suddenly, from out of the blue, a voice called out to her. "Yona?"
The yak's eyes fluttered open, and she sat up in bed with a start as she started to pant. It took her a moment to turn around and see the welcoming, comforting gaze of Sandbar as he once again stood at the foot of her bed. "Oh, Sandbar came back again?" She commented, her voice still raspy and scratchy.
The earth pony colt nodded his head quite firmly. "Yeah, cause it's time for lunch," Then he asked. "Are you okay? Seems like you were having a bad dream."
"Dream not important, Yona not remember it," Yona insisted as she tried to clear her head and focus on other things, like the faint rumbling in her stomach. "What for lunch?"
Sandbar smiled as he carefully set another tray down in front of Yona, this one featuring a bowl with some kind of steamy liquid inside of it. "The best thing to fight a cold with: Chicken soup. Mom always makes it for me whenever I'm sick."
"Sandbar tell his mom about Yona's cold?" Yona blinked in confusion.
The colt chuckled as he corrected. "No. They always have soup at the cafeteria. And lucky for you, today's specialty was chicken soup."
"Oh, right." Yona blushed as she realized how obvious that must've sounded. Was this "cold" also making her do this? Ask silly questions with obvious answers?
Sandbar then began to not so subtlely nudge the tray with the soup on it towards his sick girlfriend. "It's okay. I know this is probably hard for you. Being sick is never any fun. But you don't have to go through it alone this time. You have me," He then sweetly added. "And no matter what, I'll always be here for you, Yona. Haven't you learned that by now from all we've been through as a couple?"
Yona didn't answer, she was too busy helping herself to the soup. Maybe it was just because it had been a long time since her last meal, but the smell alone was so enticing. And as soon as the first spoonful reached her lips, she immediately wanted a second and then a third. In no time at all, she had consumed the entire soup, even the little bits of vegetables floating in the broth.
"Goodness, Yona, you must've been really hungry," The earth pony colt commented. "That was the biggest sized bowl they'd let me take back with me."
Yona tried to reply, but instead she felt a twitch and a tickle in her nose and shut her eyes! Sandbar only just managed to duck out of the way before he heard Yona utter a mighty "Achoo!"
"Bless you." Sandbar sweetly said to his girlfriend as he got back up.
Yona just looked ashamed.
The colt didn't seem bothered in the slightest as he instead just looked into Yona's eyes with that dreamy look of his. It was just like the night after the Amity Ball when he'd confessed his feelings to the yak.
As for the yak, she just threw her head back upon the pillow. The soup had definitely been satisfying, and now she was feeling sleepy again.
Sandbar stood up, softly and sweetly whispering as he picked up the tray. "I'll be back after classes are done for the day, Yona. I promise. You just keep doing what you're doing, fight that cold."
Yona yawned, that drowsy feeling swiftly overtaking her as she shut her eyes once more.
Compared to last time, it seemed like it had only been a few minutes for Yona since she'd fallen asleep. But when she again opened her eyes, she could tell just from the change in light within the dorm room that a significant amount of time must've passed.
"Feeling better at all, Yona?" Sandbar asked in that sweet, concerned and caring tone of his.
The yak yawned and wiped the sand from her eyes. She was hoping that by now she would feel at least somewhat better than she had been feeling all day. But her nose was still stuffy, her head still hurt and her whole body still shuddered and shook even though she knew she should be warm. And any doubt as to her condition was erased when she again sneezed audibly! "Ugh!" She groaned and rolled over on her side, turning her face away from Sandbar.
Unconcerned, the colt just smiled. He had come up with another idea about how to help his girlfriend get over this illness that still had hold of her. Without saying a word, he trotted off. But the lack of creaking and slamming meant that he had not left the dorm room.
Yona thought she could hear something, but she was too focused on what she was currently feeling to pay much attention to it.
Eventually, Sandbar came back and sweetly called. "Hey, Yona, think you can come with me for a little bit? I wanna try something that I think will really help you get over this cold. I know it always makes me feel better whenever I'm sick."
Slowly, Yona rolled over, sat up and climbed out of her huge bed. Just trying to stand felt like a challenge with her whole body working against her. And almost a day spent entirely in bed certainly hadn't helped matters. "Won't Yona get Sandbar sick?" She asked with concern. "Yona not want Sandbar to get sick too."
Sandbar waved a hoof. "Come on, Yona. I'm being careful, aren't I? I'm keeping my distance," And he then instructed. "Come on, follow me."
Hesitantly, the young yak followed her boyfriend until he led her into their dorm room's bathroom and towards the tub. It was then that she saw that a bath had been drawn, the tub all but filled to the brim. She watched as Sandbar carefully put a hoof to the tub.
"Good, not too hot," The colt said to himself as he then turned to Yona and gestured. "Go on, the water's fine. I think a nice warm bath will be just the thing."
Yona carefully strolled forward as Sandbar stepped to one side, taking care not to be too close to her in case she sneezed or coughed. Dipping her hooves into the water, she was almost taken aback by how soothing the waters felt to her. All her aches and pains faded away as her body relaxed. A pleasant, happy sigh escaped her lips as she slowly sat down and let the warm bath waters swirl all around her.
Sandbar smiled in satisfaction. "See? It's just like being at the spa, isn't it? I mentioned your cold to Professor Rarity, she suggested these special bath salts," He held up a small tube of some kind. "Apparently, they're just like the ones used at the spa. So it's like you're taking a spa bath without actually being at the spa. Know what I'm saying?"
"Yona guess so." The yak heistantly replied in uncertainty. She really didn't know or care about stuff like that.
The earth pony colt nodded. "Okay, now why don't you just..." But as he took a step back he failed to notice something, a light green colored bar of soap. Suddenly, as he stepped on the bar he felt his hooves give way! "Whoa!" He cried and tumbled forward, thankfully landing in the tub with a splash at the opposite end from Yona.
"Sandbar okay?!" Yona gasped as she tried to stand up and make her way over to him.
"N-no! I'm fine!" Sandbar insisted as he frantically waved his hooves! Then his whole face was flush with red. "I... I meant to do that! I swear!" He did his best to ignore the stare Yona was giving him (he was a terrible liar and she knew it). "B-besides, I was gonna take a bath anyway. And this way we save water, especially warm water."
Yona giggled despite the raspy feeling in her throat. "Sandbar no need to lie. If Sandbar want to take bath with Yona, Yona okay with that. Yona not mind. Yona once share bath with Silverstream."
After the bath, Sandbar spent the rest of the evening keeping watch over Yona from afar, taking care not to get too close. What a relief that he and Yona had separate beds.
When the next day dawned, Yona awoke feeling much better. The combination of the cold medicine, the orange juice, the soup and of course the nice, warm bath had all worked wonders. And a good night's rest certainly helped. The yak felt much better now. Her nose no longer felt stuffed up, the color had returned to her face and her throat no longer had that scratchy and raspy feeling to it.
"Sandbar! Sandbar, wake up!" Yona eagerly shouted upon realizing her boyfriend wasn't up yet. "Yona not sick anymore! Yona all better!"
But all Sandbar could say in reply was a faint "Achoo!", followed by a sniffle and then a cough.
Immediately, the young yak became stricken with dread! "Sandbar?!" She asked as she rushed to his bedside! When she did so, she got a good look at him. And her eyes began to widen in surprise.
Sandbar looked exactly the same way Yona had looked the day before: His face was drained of color, his body was shaking all over and already there was a pile of tissues starting to form beside him. "Hey, Yona," He greeted before coughing into a hoof. "Glad to hear you're feeling better. Wish I could say the same for me. But as you can see..." He trailed off as he felt another sneeze come on. And sure enough, he soon let out another "Achoo!".
Yona smiled. "Now it Yona's turn to return the favor. Yona take good care of Sandbar while he sick. Yona make sure Sandbar in good hooves."
Despite his sickly state, the colt managed to smile. "I don't doubt that, Yona. Not for a second."
Author's Note
This idea was born from a request by someone, but I have forgotten who it was. But the idea latched onto me all the same and wouldn't let go.
