Insomniacby Phoenix QuillChaptersPrologue, a strange illness.Night one.Night Two.Night Seven.Week 2Prologue, a strange illness.Nopony in Equestria really knew where this strange new disease came from, nor how it managed to sweep across the nation so quickly. All of the correct precautions were taken, all non essential businesses were closed, and home delivery became the norm. For most ponies, everything was almost normal, the lights stayed on, ponies went to work at essential jobs, or stayed home with pay from the royal coffers now open to help everypony in need. The only real sign to an outside observer that there was an illness going around, was that the streets were all abandoned. Naturally, a weakened Equestria brought about some of the most insufferable problems for Rarity and her friends. Celestia had seen it fit to boost her royal guard in Canterlot to protect that city built into a mountainside, but when it came to the rest of the country, they were either on their own, or relied on the guards at the nearest outpost. Unfortunately for Rarity, when it came to problems big enough, or, she secretly wondered too expensive for the military to handle, that meant that she would soon be getting a visit from Twilight to go and save the world. Again. Now don't take it the wrong way, Rarity was always fond of visitors, especially from her five best friends, but ever since the pandemic gripped Equestria, she dreaded anytime she saw purple headed her way. It had seemed that there was almost a seventy percent chance that Equestria was in peril and it was all up to her and her friends to save the world, again. Now at first it was interesting enough, anything to get a break from the monotonous nothing to do but collect unemployment checks for her temporarily closed shops, or sewing dresses that nopony would wear since they had nowhere to go. But by the time the Flim Flam Brothers from trying to take over Equestria by claiming that the disease was a hoax from Celestia, and they sent a small army of so called "truthers" to put themselves on the throne instead. Well, despite how unprecedented that was, by the time it happened, Rarity and a few of her friends had found that they had a bingo on that years pandemic card. Not too long after that, Rarity found out that she'd caught it. No doubt from getting too close to one of the protesters while trying to save the princesses. At this point, a vaccine had been just available that day, and Rarity wanted to be protected from that whole bit of nonsense as soon as possible, only to walk away with a shot in the flank, and the nurse saying that hopefully the vaccine will help her to get over it all sooner. The next two weeks were a blur in her memory, she placed a black ribbon at her door to mark that she had the plague that had been ravaging Equestria for a little more than a year now. After that, she remembered tossing and turning in bed, wheezing and coughing constantly, the feeling of immense pressure on her chest. A runny nose and sneezes showed up and left several times in that blur, along with several mugs of different teas, herbs, roots, berries, pills, tinctures, all that were supposed to help her to get over it faster. After two weeks, she didn't feel any better, but her mind had adjusted to this feeling in her chest like it's being crushed, and slowly, her brain felt like a fog were lifting, leaving Rarity in a state of shock over how poorly she'd come out the other side. With a clean bill of health from her doctor, she went home and felt no better than she had yesterday, or a week ago for that matter. This is where our story begins. Night one.Today, I went to the doctor as planned. It was very mildly chilly with a layer of frost on the ground. I wore a warm saddle, scarf, hat, and boots. Purple with white faux fur trim. No breakfast today, I didn't have an apatite when I woke up. On my way to the doctor's office I saw some birds that were running late for heading south for the winter, but... ah their songs did cheer me up as I headed into the Doctors. I do believe I am rambling... The point is, is that the doctor says I'm good to go out in public again, and not to worry about the other symptoms, they should go away soon. Rarity took her quill and tapped the feathery tip against her lips a few times in thought. She looked out the window and saw that the sun had set a while ago, but ponies were out and about, confident that since most everypony was vaccinated it was now safe to go out and about. Normally, Rarity would have opened the doors to her home so everypony could come and shop for new outfits, or at the very least browse her selections before making a custom order. While Rarity for you, and Canterlot Carrousel were open for business, and were doing quite well at the moment, Rarity's own home store remained closed, with a black ribbon on the door. Rarity looked at the diary and wrote down only a few more words, "I hope that they do," before closing the book and looking back at the clock. She almost did a double take when she saw that it was only Six in the evening, and made an audible groan. "It feels like midnight!" She looked over the closed boutique and gave off a very deep yawn. "Oh, well that certainly wasn't very lady like," she grumbled to herself before heading up stairs. It didn't take long to grab her night clothes and mask, put her hair in curlers, and snuggle up in bed with the lights off. Rarity gave off a sigh, and tried to relax. It didn't take long for her to notice that she was developing a cramped feeling in her back, and so she changed positions to lay flat on her back in hopes of fixing it. She was rewarded with a satisfying pop from near her flanks and the weight of sleep rolling across her eyes. In the darkness of her vision, she saw something, but did not have time for her mind to focus on what when she suddenly found herself sitting up and gasping for breath. She hooked her left rear leg over the edge of the bed and pulled herself so that she had her rear hooves in her fuzzy slippers and her mask was resting around her neck as she stared at the moon outside her window. She remained still like that for thirty minutes, not moving, not wondering, not even truly aware what she was doing entirely. Flashes of dreams danced across her eyes if she blinked, but were gone as soon as her eyes opened. The moon hung guilt free of any wrong doing as she heard her cat scratch at the bedroom door. Finally, she realized that this wasn't normal, and looked at the clock beside her bed to see that it was now eight at night. Rarity looked at her bed, and felt an uncomfortable subconscious feeling wash over her. She wasn't sure why, but she felt as though she had just dodged death itself. "Now really," she said out loud, "we are being a touch over dramatic." She gave off a shudder and fell to her hooves. "Maybe I went to bed too early, or I just needed a nap is all." She opened the door and Opalescence quickly made way for the bed and claimed it her own. Rarity took a little time to change out of her sleepwear before heading down stairs. As she headed down, she gave a deep yawn and stumbled on the last few steps before landing in a rather graceless manner on the ground floor. Rarity let out a deep moan of discomfort as she tried to pick herself up from the floor. "Oh, oh... my. I can't believe I missed that step," she complained aloud. As she stood up, she felt a sudden ache arch across her lower back, just above her flanks. "Oh sweet Celestia, what was that?" She almost yelled the question at how sudden the pain hit her as she hobbled off to the kitchen to sit down. From there, she took stock of what she was even in there for, the fog of sleepiness still gripping her brain. If one were to look inside the window, you would have assumed that Rarity had been replaced with a statue for how little she moved. She didn't move for a while, her eyes open but dull as she stared at the cupboard, all the while thinking to herself about what she wanted. Finally, a single syllable passed her lips as animation came back to her body. "Tea." She got up and winced as pain bolted across her back, and the tell tale sign of a pulled muscle groaned in her back. Using her magic, she set the kettle to boil and grabbed a mug and teabag of herbal tea that was supposed to cause drowsiness. Then, as suddenly as she had started moving, she stopped again to wait for the hot water, once again sitting in the chair. A few minutes later she'd prepared and drank down a cup of tea, and was working on the second one when she looked at the clock in the kitchen. "Well, for how little I've done, I'm certainly surprised, it's almost eleven!" It was true, somehow between sitting up in bed gasping, and now, almost three hours had passed. A yawn escaped her lips, and she felt the familiar itch cross her eyes that signaled that it was indeed, time for sleep. She stood up and groaned in pain as the ache in her muscles signaled that something was wrong, and she made a note to go to the spa to try and work that out later as she levitated the dishes to the sink. Rarity stumbled and hobbled her way back to the stairs and slowly made her way up. With each step she heard a soft clicking coming from somewhere in her body. Not loud enough to hear it audibly, but transferred through her body to her ears so that she knew only she could hear it. Rarity finally made it back to her room and looked at her sleepwear with bleary eyes. She spent several minutes staring at the robe, mask, and slippers before just falling into bed without them. She lay on her back hoping to ease the pain in her flanks. Soon enough her breath grew labored from the position, and she rolled to one side, then the other. Her mind stayed blank for hours, and she only rose with the sun several hours later. Night Two.Last night I slept rather terribly, I'm not quite sure why, perhaps it's because when I was ill I had slept too much? I suppose that it is no true matter, I found that after some tea I still failed to fall asleep, but I don't feel too terrible having lie down without any actual sleep. Rarity paused her writing to yawn deeply. She looked around in the dimly lit room with a pair of bleary eyes before pushing her glasses up her muzzle. I had taken down the black ribbon this morning, and opened the shop, there was a serious lack of customers, but I suppose that it'll take some time before they start coming back into Carrousel Boutique. The good news is that I had received word from Manehatten and Canterlot. Business is well over there as the elite and trendy seek out accessories to show that they've made it through the latest disaster. Mostly ribbons, broaches and pins in purple for our flag, and a black stripe for the plague. Fortunately these are cheap and easy to make in good quality and quantity. Rarity put down her quill to rub at her eyes and yawned once more. She looked over at the soft ticking clock over the fireplace mantle and thought that she saw something unusual about it, but decided to ignore it for now. I almost lost myself there. Anyway, I spent most of today deep in the accounting books, and writing correspondence letters to Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel, not to mention sketching new ideas for the coming spring season. Rarity paused to look around at the dummy she was already pinning fabric onto with a sketch pinned to the wall above it. She gave off yet another yawn before looking at the clock again. Rarity smiled to see that the time had indeed moved since she last looked at the time, it had been about fifteen minutes. She then levitated the quill and continued, I didn't have that strong of an apatite for anything today. All day I'd been followed by some strange scent of unknown origin. It smells like over ripe cheese, or something fermenting in the sun. I showered twice and brushed my teeth and hair several times, and tried perfumes and incense but... all these things smell bad too. I'm not sure if my friends noticed it today when I went out to see them at Twilight's, but I did manage to pull through the event rather well in my opinion. Although, at one point I was informed that I was snoring. Naturally, I denied it, for a lady doesn't snore, but alas, I think that I pulled that off rather well today. I plan on staying up until nine, well into the evening with hopes that I'll be fully exhausted enough to sleep through the night. Rarity looked out over the room she was in, and looked again at the clock, it was half past seven. She turned to the dummy and levitated a few pieces of fabric to hang in a slightly different angle, letting the hem of the skirt cock at a different angle that brought a smile to her face. Rarity then exited the room and turned off the light before heading down stairs, and made notice that with every step of her left rear hoof, she could faintly hear the click, click, click, sound coming from her left flank. "It's probably nothing, after all, I walked quite a bit today and didn't feel anything." She turned into her showroom and did a quick scan to make sure that nopony had snuck inside while she was working upstairs. Normally, she'd be alerted from the bell above her door, but with how drowsy she'd felt all day, Rarity felt worried that she might be missing something. Her intuition proved right. Lyra was sitting upright in her unusual fashion on one of the couches. "Hey Rarity," she said in the casual way somepony would discuss the weather. "I was wondering when you'd come down, I need help with a nice warm saddle blanket for the upcoming blizzard that's scheduled." Rarity blinked and smiled at the customer in a dizzy sense of confusion. "Ahh, yes. I can certainly help," she said as she trotted over to the corner where winter gear was on display. "We have a great variety of saddles, blankets, dresses, and hats for the season. Oh, and of course alterations to taste as needed." Lyra looked over the saddle blankets a few moments, letting an awkward silence sit between them. Rarity tried to stifle a yawn off to the side before smiling at Lyra. "Excuse me, but how long have you been waiting for customer service today?" Lyra paused for a moment, then answered, "about, twenty minutes, why?" Rarity didn't respond, but was internally upset that she'd let a customer sit for that long before helping them. Suddenly, Lyra grabbed a blanket at seemingly random. An olive colored blanket with a faux fur fringe. "This one, I think looks warm enough," she said with a smile before grabbing her bit bag. "How much?" Rarity motioned for Lyra to follow her and walked to the register. "It's fifteen bits for the blanket," she started. "We also ask if you would like to donate anything to the Equestrian Plague Fund for victims of the disease that's been plaguing us these last few months?" Lyra tilted her head at the little jar by the register as she fished out fifteen coins. "Yeah, I'm not donating today, I gave earlier," she said absentmindedly. She then lay the coins down on the counter, and started to head out with her blanket. Rarity watched as the mare left, not quite sure what to say or do now that the interaction was over. Finally, she rushed to the door and called out, "Have a good evening, take care!" Before she shut the door, locked it, and flipped the sign to closed. Rarity gave off a sigh as she thought again about how she'd let down a customer. But then a more disturbing thought crossed her mind, and she shuddered. "Now, let's keep it together Rarity," she said to herself. "No need to get into a panic." Rarity could not sleep at all. Despite the lateness of the hour, and how little she slept the night before, Rarity was in full paranoia mode as she jumped at the sound of every little squeak, every gust of wind, and every rattle of trees. She was sitting upright in the same unusual way that Lyra was in her shop earlier, one hoof in a fuzzy slipper, the other absently pawing the floor next to the matching slipper. Rarity wore her glasses on her face, which had a blank paranoid expression as she blinked, one eye offset from the other. Her mane was frazzled in loose curls and frizzles, and her right front hoof was stroking her tail as Opalescence watched in mild interest. Suddenly Rarity fell forward and shuffled her way to the desk, and reopened her diary. Her quill levitated and missed the inkwell and she cursed a word that was not quite lady like before trying again. This time with success. The snow is not yet falling but I feel a chill in the air. Is somepony in my house? I checked every room before laying down, including the one I'm lying in now. I keep hearing things, but it's likely the cat every time. I don't think I can sleep here, what should I do? Rarity blinked as she suddenly realized that she was crying. She wasn't sure why, and it confused her. She was so confused about the fact that she was crying that she closed her book without thinking to grab a scrap from her sewing to use as a handkerchief. She wiped her eyes a few times before she started pacing the room. And pacing. And crying. And mumbling. And circling. And crying. And pacing. She looked to her right and saw the sunlight crest over the hill and into the window, and it was as if she were pulled out of a trance. She looked at the floor in her room in surprise to find empty snack wrappers, several soiled rags used as handkerchiefs, and clear signs of tread patterns on the floor from her pacing back and forth in circles. The strange part to her was that she didn't remember doing any of this, at least not long enough to cause this level of damage. Rarity's horn lit up and she started to levitate objects to put them away, or throw them out when she noticed her diary on the floor. There, in her own hornwriting she saw five words. I need to see Twilight. Night Seven.Dear Diary, I think that it's been a week? I am not certain by any means except by looking back at the records in this diary. After going to the spa, I still find my back is aching by my flanks, so I saw the doctor about it. She suggested that I should move more, that I'm not getting enough exercise after my bout with the illness. But it's so hard! Ever since I came down with the plague that was moving around, I'll admit I was bedridden for that, but now I can't hardly move three buildings away from home before I feel like I need a seat. Rarity wiped some beads of sweat from her brow as she put down the quill. She was standing while writing, and as if to emphasize the point, her hip groaned in protest to the position. She tried to stretch her leg out only for another unsatisfying and painful click to be heard. She looked out the window and saw that the sun had long set, but there was little difference to her at the moment because the snow that had been threatened for a few weeks now had finally began to fall steadily to the ground. Somewhere in the distance she heard foals singing the Equestrian anthem as Hearths Warming Eve was just around the corner. Rarity took a few clumsy steps around the room and was soon finding herself short of breath a lot sooner than she'd expected. She soon gave into the pain, and sat down back at the table to keep writing. There's a hopeful feeling in the air as Hearths Warming comes around. Everypony is going about with how thankful they are for what they have, and I am grateful for all I have as well, but if I were to wish for anything personally, it's to get back to where I was just a month ago. There was a strange clicking coming from behind her, and Rarity turned to look. She saw there in the corner of her room a shadow moving swiftly away from a corner before disappearing into an air vent. She shuddered and continued to write. Hallucinations are beginning to get worse, I was warned about this from the doctor that lack of sleep catches up one way or the other. Normally such things aren't a bother for ponies, but being a unicorn, I've heard rumors that magical dispersal can occur from such a state as mine. Five days ago, Rarity heard as much from Twilight when she went to see her. It was one of the worst visits she could remember in recent memory. She showed up slumped over, leaning against whatever wall she could to try to support her weight and sobbing. "It's just not fair Twilight," Rarity cried as she lay on one side. I haven't slept for two nights in a row now, and I'm starting to feel like I'm being ripped apart in my bed!" Twilight held a small light up to Rarity's eye and looked into her pupils. "Tell me, have you been seeing anything that is keeping you awake, or any irrational thoughts when you try to sleep?" "Well no," Rarity said with a little hesitation. "I mean, I thought I saw a shadow move last night, but it could have been the flame dancing in my lamps for all I know." Twilight didn't react to that as she pulled what looked like a colander with light bulbs and wires attached to it at several points. She floated it over to Rarity and strapped it onto her head. "I thought you had electric light," Twilight stated as she plugged some wires into a bulky machine. "In fact, you invited us all over a few months ago to brag about how wonderful it is, and how it lights everything better." Rarity scoffed and turned her nose up at that. "A lady does not brag, and it just so happens that I like to use oil lamps in my private chambers when I'm not working. It saves on the electric bill." Twilight didn't acknowledge her as she flipped a switch and the machine hummed to life, with lights blinking and a pen slowly moving left and right over a slowly feeding roll of paper. "What pray tell is that?" "This machine is going to be reading your brainwave and magical field patterns to determine if there's anything unusual we should be looking for, if there's any stress related magical discharge going on, that sort of thing." She then looked at Rarity and asked, "Didn't your physician test these when you saw her yesterday?" Rarity shook her head a few times, making one of the pencils, the green one, waggle left and right on the paper. "I haven't seen her yet, because I found this when I came out of my... whatever it was, trance?" She floated over her Diary to Twilight where she saw the writing from that morning. "I don't remember writing it, I found it after some sort of a fit." Suddenly, Rarity found herself sitting strangely, her back to the wall, knees to her barrel, and her forelegs wrapped around her rear legs. "Was I asleep?" She asked out loud to herself. She was back in her room, her quill behind an ear and her diary still open on the floor a few feet away from her. foolish filly, she chided herself. you manage to pass out finally only to dream about a few days ago. She thought about it for a moment or so longer before unwrapping her legs and getting up. "Was that a dream? Or more of a memory hole?" She looked around the room and saw that at some point she'd crafted a rather ugly doll out of scrap rags. "I don't remember that," she said as she turned it over. Suddenly, in a flash she did remember. It was only a few hours ago when she decided to make a doll for Sweetie Belle only, "Why would I? She's too grown up for such toys now." She studied the doll for a few moments longer, it's uneven button eyes, and a crooked smile stitched of red thread. One corner wasn't quite finished, and some was dangling, almost like... She shivered, the clown like cloth that made up the clothes of the doll, and the droop of red in one corner of the mouth was too much like the mouth of a predator on a pony for her. A predator that just ate somepony, and he found her delicious. Rarity muffled a small scream as she put the doll down and walked away. She blinked and found herself in the kitchen. She blinked again and found herself halfway through a tub of ice-cream and a cup of tea. "Woah," Rarity said in a voice very different from her own, sounding more like one of those ponies that hang out on the beach all the time rather than the successful owner of a fashion enterprise. She put down the tub of ice-cream and tried to not blink. "I need to take control here," she mumbled to herself. She blinked. Rarity stretched and yawned deeply as the alarm clock rang without mercy. It was time to get up. Week 2It had been two weeks since she'd last had a solid night of sleep, and it was beginning to show on her face. Rarity was unsure of what was happening anymore to her, but she felt a constant sense of worry. She'd seen doctors, Twilight, and even asked Celestia and Luna for help, only for none to come her way. Now here she was once again at Twilight's castle, once again she had equipment probing her vital signs as she was being told to relax. "Rarity, we won't be able to get much done unless you can relax." "Can't sleep," Rarity mumbled as her legs gave an involuntary twitch. She tried to cover it up by rubbing one hoof along her other foreleg. "No, no no no no no no, can't it just can not be done. I can not sleep." Twilight looked at the paper feed as it came out before glancing at her friend. "And why can't you sleep exactly?" She asked in a tone that unfortunately came across as cold and clinical. "Because I'll die," Rarity said with all the casualness of explaining that pegasus ponies direct the weather. She then began to sob uncontrollably for several minutes before stopping as suddenly as it started. She then took an extreme interest with a dark corner of the room. "Do you see that?" "See what?" Twilight asked as she looked at the same corner with mild, unattached interest. Rarity didn't answer the question, because she had instead actually fallen asleep for one of those rare moments. She snored softly as her rear legs twitched randomly. Twilight did not try to wake her friend or peruse farther in bothering her. Instead she focused entirely on the feed out and took a few notes. No change between being awake or asleep, mild sense of hallucination carries over. One of the readings began to shake violently as Rarity slumbered. Twilight looked over at it and realized that her friend's heart was racing far too quickly for somepony that's asleep. She turned and saw that all four of Rarity's hooves were twitching, her eyes half lidded, and that she wasn't breathing at all. Twilight felt panic set in as she rushed over to her friend and began to scan her over with her horn. Rarity's lungs were empty of air, and fighting to get their breath, she followed the line up and saw that in Rarity's throat there was some sort of blockage. Not a foreign object, but her own throat had turned against her and decided to choke instead of stay open. Using a small spell, Twilight forced the airway to open allowing Rarity to breathe at last, and with one great deep breath of oxygen hitting her brain Rarity shot upright and fully awake. "IN THE CORNER IS A DEMON!" She shouted before falling off the couch in a flump. Rarity looked up at Twilight as she looked down on her. "Rarity, you know there's no such things as demons..." Rarity passed out before she could register what had happened. I don't remember sleeping at all, but Twilight says that I had. Rarity wrote in her diary as she sat in a waiting room at the hospital. Her hair was no longer in those perfect loose curls, but frayed and frizzled. She was now almost constantly wearing her glasses, usually needed only for up close work because everything was blurry lately. She'd taken a habit of keeping her diary on her person at all times, just in case, and it turns out that she'd been busy with writing in it whether she remembers it or not. "Rarity, no last name, Rarity?" A nurse called from an open doorway. Rarity stood and followed the nurse into a small private room. "So you're back again? Still having trouble sleeping dear?" "Yes," Rarity said with a nod. "I was hoping for a sleep study, maybe a spell or potion for sleep?" The nurse gave a sad smile as she stepped aside to let Rarity through the open door. "Well, we'll see what the doctor says shall we?" So it went the usual way that office visits go, the nurse poked, prodded, checked temperature, height, weight, blood pressure, and asked a series of questions. "Any changes in your diet, or exercise routine? You've gained a little." If looks could kill, the nurse would have died on the spot for the way Rarity looked at her. "Well if you must know, I've been having gaps in my memory lately. Sometimes I find myself eating when I come back to myself." The nurse nodded and made a note before spitting the pencil out. "Alright, anything else I should let the Doctor know before he comes in?" "A severe pain in my left flank, it's been making me hobble lately, and I don't feel like walking much like that." Rarity said as she folded her forelegs over each other. "Alright," the nurse said after making another note. "The doctor will be right with you in just a moment." Rarity gave a silent thanks in the form of a nod, and settled into the silence of the room. She looked at a clock hanging on the wall and watched as the hands silently slid the minutes by, and by. Rarity continued to wait as the minutes slipped away, before she knew it, an hour had passed. Then two, then three. "Enough's enough," Rarity said as she slammed a hoof onto the tile. "I'm getting to the bottom of this!" Rarity got up with a click in her back as she hobbled to the door. She opened it and saw that all the lights outside of the room had dimmed. "How odd," Rarity commented as she looked around. "Are we conserving energy?" A red light was slowly blinking on and off at the nurses station where she'd checked in. She saw that nopony was there to check anypony in. Rarity opened the door and looked into the waiting room and saw everything was cast in a soft blue light, with the red light on a wall flashing on and off slowly, casting weird shadows on the empty chairs. "Hello? Anypony here?" She called out, only to receive an echo in return. She continued to step out into the hallway of the hospital and was again greeted by the odd red light. She continued down the hall in hopes of finding somepony to tell her what was going on, when she heard the sound of hooves behind her. "Wait!" Rarity called out as she turned around. There, she saw a filly, was it one of Sweetie Belle's friends? She couldn't tell from here. "What are you doing here..." She struggled for a name before settling on, "Little one?" The filly opened her mouth, and a black, viscus liquid began to drip out as she gave off a screech. The eyes of the filly shone bright as the fires from a lighthouse. Rarity gave off a gasp as she took off running. It was hard to run through the halls of the hospital with the slowly blinking red light casting weird shadows everywhere. There was the sound of a door bursting open, and Rarity saw that a great mass of ponies were flooding into the hall now. She took a turn and saw that she was in an operating room. Rarity's sharp eyes took innovatory of everything in the room that could be useful, and found some equipment on wheels. She quickly slid the equipment to the door and overturned it to block the door. Continuing to search, she found a collection of scalpels and needles for stitching patients up. She gathered up all these potential weapons up in her magic and aimed them at the door, as she heard the creatures begin to bang hard on the door. She then felt somepony poke her in the shoulder. She screamed and spun around, landing hard on the tile floor. "Miss Rarity!" The doctor called out in surprise. Rarity looked around the well lit room, not the operating room, but the examination room she'd started in. Rarity looked at the clock and saw that it had only been thirty minutes since she was left alone in this room. Rarity now noticed that there was, as impossible as it sounds, a box of tissues embedded in the wall. "Did I?" Rarity looked at the doctor as she nodded. "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry. I didn't mean, that is to say-" The doctor gave a comforting hush to Rarity as she held up a hoof "It's alright dear," her voice had switched so quickly from harsh to comforting that Rarity was feeling a sense of emotional whiplash. "Just breathe, and tell me what brings you here today." Rarity went over the list of problems she'd been dealing with. From how she'd come in contact with the virus, to how she'd been having heart and breathing problems since, and a severe lack of sleep despite how exhausted she felt. She then brought up that her back and hip has yet to make a full recovery since the incident on the stairs, and that she suspected that it was part of what was keeping her awake. The doctor for her part was patient and nodded at just the right times, giving Rarity plenty of time to talk out everything that was bothering her. Until finally Rarity came to a pause, she stayed silent. "Well, that is quite the list Miss Rarity," the doctor said with a frown. She took a few notes in her notepad and then looked at Rarity with concern in her eyes. "What I'm most worried about right now, is that you seem to be drifting into sleep randomly." Rarity looked blankly at the one black tile in the middle of the floor for several more seconds like a broken doll before animation suddenly came back to her body, moving more than any mare normally would as if compensating for how stiff she was moments ago. "Well that's the thing," she said with a twitch, "I don't recognize that I am asleep. I just suddenly am... plunged into some sort of alternate reality, there doesn't seem to be a gap anymore. Do you understand?" "BJrp, ivhek ni pop." The doctor said with confidence as she took down another note. "I'm sorry, what was that dear?" Rarity asked as the black tile scuttled away. "I'm afraid that the pudding is burning..." Rarity turned and saw a pony with a saucepan for a face had smoke belching from deep within. "I SAID" Rarity jerked awake to see the doctor was now looking slightly frustrated. "That without some real sleep soon, you're going to wind up a long term resident at the rate you are going." She then wrote something down on the paper and tore it from the notepad. "I'm giving you a magic inhibitor, for your safety." The doctor said now with a curt, but polite tone. "As far as a sleeping potion goes," the doctor continued. "According to your records, what we usually give patients has had no effect on you." Rarity began to feel crestfallen, sure that she was doomed. "But," the doctor continued. "Have you gone to see Zecora?" "Well, no," Rarity said dumbfounded. "Why?" "Zecora is a very talented mixer of elixirs and potions, she volunteers here fairly regularly. I'd recommend that you see her." I went to see Zecora, and she had decided that I try a tea based herbal product. There is a plesent odor throughout the house. She told me to try to stay awake until bed time, I think that 8 will be late enough. I've been rather fortunate that I haven't had anypony schedule appointments, but instead have been able to just sell things off the rack. It's now 7:30, and the smell of the tea is strong, even though I have not yet added it to the water. I just flipped the sign on the door to closed, and cleaned up the shop for the day. Donations for the Equestrian Plague Fund are doing a little better. With these donations, I hope that they can find out more ways to help the victims of the plague, not just for my sake, but for the sake of all. Rarity paused, the sound of the kettle whistling suddenly cut across the sound of the ticking clock. It was now just around seven forty five, she gave a shrug and sauntered over to the stove and poured the hot water into a teapot to let the brew from Zecora steep. She then looked over at the table and thought for a moment if she wanted to write some more and shook her head. Instead she opened the fridge and floated over a salad from the Café she stopped by earlier and sat to pick at it while waiting for the brew to be ready. The flavor of the salad was fine, if not a little bland, so she added just a few shakes of salt to it before continuing. She then looked at the inhibitor ring on the table with a little sadness. It wasn't too different from the kind that is worn by ponies headed to prison, except that it had grooves to make it easy for her to remove with her own hooves. The clock struck eight, and Rarity poured herself a cup of the tea and sipped lightly. Again, she thought it was a rather bland affair. She sighed, knowing that honey or sugar would make it better, but knew not to add it. Once finished, she slipped the ring over her horn, then tried to float the dishes to the sink, only to groan as nothing happened. "Of course..." She then grabbed the dishes in her teeth and put them in the sink. She thought about grabbing the journal, and decided to leave it. A yawn escaped her lips as she walked up the stairs, and weariness took hold. As she ascended the stairs, she felt her hooves stumble slightly. That stuff is strong... Rarity thought to herself as she wandered into her bedroom. The last thing she thought to herself before sleep really, finally took a grip on her was, "I need to get to Manehatten for... and then she fell, finally, into a deep, dark, dreamless sleep.
Prologue, a strange illness.Nopony in Equestria really knew where this strange new disease came from, nor how it managed to sweep across the nation so quickly. All of the correct precautions were taken, all non essential businesses were closed, and home delivery became the norm. For most ponies, everything was almost normal, the lights stayed on, ponies went to work at essential jobs, or stayed home with pay from the royal coffers now open to help everypony in need. The only real sign to an outside observer that there was an illness going around, was that the streets were all abandoned. Naturally, a weakened Equestria brought about some of the most insufferable problems for Rarity and her friends. Celestia had seen it fit to boost her royal guard in Canterlot to protect that city built into a mountainside, but when it came to the rest of the country, they were either on their own, or relied on the guards at the nearest outpost. Unfortunately for Rarity, when it came to problems big enough, or, she secretly wondered too expensive for the military to handle, that meant that she would soon be getting a visit from Twilight to go and save the world. Again. Now don't take it the wrong way, Rarity was always fond of visitors, especially from her five best friends, but ever since the pandemic gripped Equestria, she dreaded anytime she saw purple headed her way. It had seemed that there was almost a seventy percent chance that Equestria was in peril and it was all up to her and her friends to save the world, again. Now at first it was interesting enough, anything to get a break from the monotonous nothing to do but collect unemployment checks for her temporarily closed shops, or sewing dresses that nopony would wear since they had nowhere to go. But by the time the Flim Flam Brothers from trying to take over Equestria by claiming that the disease was a hoax from Celestia, and they sent a small army of so called "truthers" to put themselves on the throne instead. Well, despite how unprecedented that was, by the time it happened, Rarity and a few of her friends had found that they had a bingo on that years pandemic card. Not too long after that, Rarity found out that she'd caught it. No doubt from getting too close to one of the protesters while trying to save the princesses. At this point, a vaccine had been just available that day, and Rarity wanted to be protected from that whole bit of nonsense as soon as possible, only to walk away with a shot in the flank, and the nurse saying that hopefully the vaccine will help her to get over it all sooner. The next two weeks were a blur in her memory, she placed a black ribbon at her door to mark that she had the plague that had been ravaging Equestria for a little more than a year now. After that, she remembered tossing and turning in bed, wheezing and coughing constantly, the feeling of immense pressure on her chest. A runny nose and sneezes showed up and left several times in that blur, along with several mugs of different teas, herbs, roots, berries, pills, tinctures, all that were supposed to help her to get over it faster. After two weeks, she didn't feel any better, but her mind had adjusted to this feeling in her chest like it's being crushed, and slowly, her brain felt like a fog were lifting, leaving Rarity in a state of shock over how poorly she'd come out the other side. With a clean bill of health from her doctor, she went home and felt no better than she had yesterday, or a week ago for that matter. This is where our story begins.
Night one.Today, I went to the doctor as planned. It was very mildly chilly with a layer of frost on the ground. I wore a warm saddle, scarf, hat, and boots. Purple with white faux fur trim. No breakfast today, I didn't have an apatite when I woke up. On my way to the doctor's office I saw some birds that were running late for heading south for the winter, but... ah their songs did cheer me up as I headed into the Doctors. I do believe I am rambling... The point is, is that the doctor says I'm good to go out in public again, and not to worry about the other symptoms, they should go away soon. Rarity took her quill and tapped the feathery tip against her lips a few times in thought. She looked out the window and saw that the sun had set a while ago, but ponies were out and about, confident that since most everypony was vaccinated it was now safe to go out and about. Normally, Rarity would have opened the doors to her home so everypony could come and shop for new outfits, or at the very least browse her selections before making a custom order. While Rarity for you, and Canterlot Carrousel were open for business, and were doing quite well at the moment, Rarity's own home store remained closed, with a black ribbon on the door. Rarity looked at the diary and wrote down only a few more words, "I hope that they do," before closing the book and looking back at the clock. She almost did a double take when she saw that it was only Six in the evening, and made an audible groan. "It feels like midnight!" She looked over the closed boutique and gave off a very deep yawn. "Oh, well that certainly wasn't very lady like," she grumbled to herself before heading up stairs. It didn't take long to grab her night clothes and mask, put her hair in curlers, and snuggle up in bed with the lights off. Rarity gave off a sigh, and tried to relax. It didn't take long for her to notice that she was developing a cramped feeling in her back, and so she changed positions to lay flat on her back in hopes of fixing it. She was rewarded with a satisfying pop from near her flanks and the weight of sleep rolling across her eyes. In the darkness of her vision, she saw something, but did not have time for her mind to focus on what when she suddenly found herself sitting up and gasping for breath. She hooked her left rear leg over the edge of the bed and pulled herself so that she had her rear hooves in her fuzzy slippers and her mask was resting around her neck as she stared at the moon outside her window. She remained still like that for thirty minutes, not moving, not wondering, not even truly aware what she was doing entirely. Flashes of dreams danced across her eyes if she blinked, but were gone as soon as her eyes opened. The moon hung guilt free of any wrong doing as she heard her cat scratch at the bedroom door. Finally, she realized that this wasn't normal, and looked at the clock beside her bed to see that it was now eight at night. Rarity looked at her bed, and felt an uncomfortable subconscious feeling wash over her. She wasn't sure why, but she felt as though she had just dodged death itself. "Now really," she said out loud, "we are being a touch over dramatic." She gave off a shudder and fell to her hooves. "Maybe I went to bed too early, or I just needed a nap is all." She opened the door and Opalescence quickly made way for the bed and claimed it her own. Rarity took a little time to change out of her sleepwear before heading down stairs. As she headed down, she gave a deep yawn and stumbled on the last few steps before landing in a rather graceless manner on the ground floor. Rarity let out a deep moan of discomfort as she tried to pick herself up from the floor. "Oh, oh... my. I can't believe I missed that step," she complained aloud. As she stood up, she felt a sudden ache arch across her lower back, just above her flanks. "Oh sweet Celestia, what was that?" She almost yelled the question at how sudden the pain hit her as she hobbled off to the kitchen to sit down. From there, she took stock of what she was even in there for, the fog of sleepiness still gripping her brain. If one were to look inside the window, you would have assumed that Rarity had been replaced with a statue for how little she moved. She didn't move for a while, her eyes open but dull as she stared at the cupboard, all the while thinking to herself about what she wanted. Finally, a single syllable passed her lips as animation came back to her body. "Tea." She got up and winced as pain bolted across her back, and the tell tale sign of a pulled muscle groaned in her back. Using her magic, she set the kettle to boil and grabbed a mug and teabag of herbal tea that was supposed to cause drowsiness. Then, as suddenly as she had started moving, she stopped again to wait for the hot water, once again sitting in the chair. A few minutes later she'd prepared and drank down a cup of tea, and was working on the second one when she looked at the clock in the kitchen. "Well, for how little I've done, I'm certainly surprised, it's almost eleven!" It was true, somehow between sitting up in bed gasping, and now, almost three hours had passed. A yawn escaped her lips, and she felt the familiar itch cross her eyes that signaled that it was indeed, time for sleep. She stood up and groaned in pain as the ache in her muscles signaled that something was wrong, and she made a note to go to the spa to try and work that out later as she levitated the dishes to the sink. Rarity stumbled and hobbled her way back to the stairs and slowly made her way up. With each step she heard a soft clicking coming from somewhere in her body. Not loud enough to hear it audibly, but transferred through her body to her ears so that she knew only she could hear it. Rarity finally made it back to her room and looked at her sleepwear with bleary eyes. She spent several minutes staring at the robe, mask, and slippers before just falling into bed without them. She lay on her back hoping to ease the pain in her flanks. Soon enough her breath grew labored from the position, and she rolled to one side, then the other. Her mind stayed blank for hours, and she only rose with the sun several hours later.
Night Two.Last night I slept rather terribly, I'm not quite sure why, perhaps it's because when I was ill I had slept too much? I suppose that it is no true matter, I found that after some tea I still failed to fall asleep, but I don't feel too terrible having lie down without any actual sleep. Rarity paused her writing to yawn deeply. She looked around in the dimly lit room with a pair of bleary eyes before pushing her glasses up her muzzle. I had taken down the black ribbon this morning, and opened the shop, there was a serious lack of customers, but I suppose that it'll take some time before they start coming back into Carrousel Boutique. The good news is that I had received word from Manehatten and Canterlot. Business is well over there as the elite and trendy seek out accessories to show that they've made it through the latest disaster. Mostly ribbons, broaches and pins in purple for our flag, and a black stripe for the plague. Fortunately these are cheap and easy to make in good quality and quantity. Rarity put down her quill to rub at her eyes and yawned once more. She looked over at the soft ticking clock over the fireplace mantle and thought that she saw something unusual about it, but decided to ignore it for now. I almost lost myself there. Anyway, I spent most of today deep in the accounting books, and writing correspondence letters to Sassy Saddles and Coco Pommel, not to mention sketching new ideas for the coming spring season. Rarity paused to look around at the dummy she was already pinning fabric onto with a sketch pinned to the wall above it. She gave off yet another yawn before looking at the clock again. Rarity smiled to see that the time had indeed moved since she last looked at the time, it had been about fifteen minutes. She then levitated the quill and continued, I didn't have that strong of an apatite for anything today. All day I'd been followed by some strange scent of unknown origin. It smells like over ripe cheese, or something fermenting in the sun. I showered twice and brushed my teeth and hair several times, and tried perfumes and incense but... all these things smell bad too. I'm not sure if my friends noticed it today when I went out to see them at Twilight's, but I did manage to pull through the event rather well in my opinion. Although, at one point I was informed that I was snoring. Naturally, I denied it, for a lady doesn't snore, but alas, I think that I pulled that off rather well today. I plan on staying up until nine, well into the evening with hopes that I'll be fully exhausted enough to sleep through the night. Rarity looked out over the room she was in, and looked again at the clock, it was half past seven. She turned to the dummy and levitated a few pieces of fabric to hang in a slightly different angle, letting the hem of the skirt cock at a different angle that brought a smile to her face. Rarity then exited the room and turned off the light before heading down stairs, and made notice that with every step of her left rear hoof, she could faintly hear the click, click, click, sound coming from her left flank. "It's probably nothing, after all, I walked quite a bit today and didn't feel anything." She turned into her showroom and did a quick scan to make sure that nopony had snuck inside while she was working upstairs. Normally, she'd be alerted from the bell above her door, but with how drowsy she'd felt all day, Rarity felt worried that she might be missing something. Her intuition proved right. Lyra was sitting upright in her unusual fashion on one of the couches. "Hey Rarity," she said in the casual way somepony would discuss the weather. "I was wondering when you'd come down, I need help with a nice warm saddle blanket for the upcoming blizzard that's scheduled." Rarity blinked and smiled at the customer in a dizzy sense of confusion. "Ahh, yes. I can certainly help," she said as she trotted over to the corner where winter gear was on display. "We have a great variety of saddles, blankets, dresses, and hats for the season. Oh, and of course alterations to taste as needed." Lyra looked over the saddle blankets a few moments, letting an awkward silence sit between them. Rarity tried to stifle a yawn off to the side before smiling at Lyra. "Excuse me, but how long have you been waiting for customer service today?" Lyra paused for a moment, then answered, "about, twenty minutes, why?" Rarity didn't respond, but was internally upset that she'd let a customer sit for that long before helping them. Suddenly, Lyra grabbed a blanket at seemingly random. An olive colored blanket with a faux fur fringe. "This one, I think looks warm enough," she said with a smile before grabbing her bit bag. "How much?" Rarity motioned for Lyra to follow her and walked to the register. "It's fifteen bits for the blanket," she started. "We also ask if you would like to donate anything to the Equestrian Plague Fund for victims of the disease that's been plaguing us these last few months?" Lyra tilted her head at the little jar by the register as she fished out fifteen coins. "Yeah, I'm not donating today, I gave earlier," she said absentmindedly. She then lay the coins down on the counter, and started to head out with her blanket. Rarity watched as the mare left, not quite sure what to say or do now that the interaction was over. Finally, she rushed to the door and called out, "Have a good evening, take care!" Before she shut the door, locked it, and flipped the sign to closed. Rarity gave off a sigh as she thought again about how she'd let down a customer. But then a more disturbing thought crossed her mind, and she shuddered. "Now, let's keep it together Rarity," she said to herself. "No need to get into a panic." Rarity could not sleep at all. Despite the lateness of the hour, and how little she slept the night before, Rarity was in full paranoia mode as she jumped at the sound of every little squeak, every gust of wind, and every rattle of trees. She was sitting upright in the same unusual way that Lyra was in her shop earlier, one hoof in a fuzzy slipper, the other absently pawing the floor next to the matching slipper. Rarity wore her glasses on her face, which had a blank paranoid expression as she blinked, one eye offset from the other. Her mane was frazzled in loose curls and frizzles, and her right front hoof was stroking her tail as Opalescence watched in mild interest. Suddenly Rarity fell forward and shuffled her way to the desk, and reopened her diary. Her quill levitated and missed the inkwell and she cursed a word that was not quite lady like before trying again. This time with success. The snow is not yet falling but I feel a chill in the air. Is somepony in my house? I checked every room before laying down, including the one I'm lying in now. I keep hearing things, but it's likely the cat every time. I don't think I can sleep here, what should I do? Rarity blinked as she suddenly realized that she was crying. She wasn't sure why, and it confused her. She was so confused about the fact that she was crying that she closed her book without thinking to grab a scrap from her sewing to use as a handkerchief. She wiped her eyes a few times before she started pacing the room. And pacing. And crying. And mumbling. And circling. And crying. And pacing. She looked to her right and saw the sunlight crest over the hill and into the window, and it was as if she were pulled out of a trance. She looked at the floor in her room in surprise to find empty snack wrappers, several soiled rags used as handkerchiefs, and clear signs of tread patterns on the floor from her pacing back and forth in circles. The strange part to her was that she didn't remember doing any of this, at least not long enough to cause this level of damage. Rarity's horn lit up and she started to levitate objects to put them away, or throw them out when she noticed her diary on the floor. There, in her own hornwriting she saw five words. I need to see Twilight.
Night Seven.Dear Diary, I think that it's been a week? I am not certain by any means except by looking back at the records in this diary. After going to the spa, I still find my back is aching by my flanks, so I saw the doctor about it. She suggested that I should move more, that I'm not getting enough exercise after my bout with the illness. But it's so hard! Ever since I came down with the plague that was moving around, I'll admit I was bedridden for that, but now I can't hardly move three buildings away from home before I feel like I need a seat. Rarity wiped some beads of sweat from her brow as she put down the quill. She was standing while writing, and as if to emphasize the point, her hip groaned in protest to the position. She tried to stretch her leg out only for another unsatisfying and painful click to be heard. She looked out the window and saw that the sun had long set, but there was little difference to her at the moment because the snow that had been threatened for a few weeks now had finally began to fall steadily to the ground. Somewhere in the distance she heard foals singing the Equestrian anthem as Hearths Warming Eve was just around the corner. Rarity took a few clumsy steps around the room and was soon finding herself short of breath a lot sooner than she'd expected. She soon gave into the pain, and sat down back at the table to keep writing. There's a hopeful feeling in the air as Hearths Warming comes around. Everypony is going about with how thankful they are for what they have, and I am grateful for all I have as well, but if I were to wish for anything personally, it's to get back to where I was just a month ago. There was a strange clicking coming from behind her, and Rarity turned to look. She saw there in the corner of her room a shadow moving swiftly away from a corner before disappearing into an air vent. She shuddered and continued to write. Hallucinations are beginning to get worse, I was warned about this from the doctor that lack of sleep catches up one way or the other. Normally such things aren't a bother for ponies, but being a unicorn, I've heard rumors that magical dispersal can occur from such a state as mine. Five days ago, Rarity heard as much from Twilight when she went to see her. It was one of the worst visits she could remember in recent memory. She showed up slumped over, leaning against whatever wall she could to try to support her weight and sobbing. "It's just not fair Twilight," Rarity cried as she lay on one side. I haven't slept for two nights in a row now, and I'm starting to feel like I'm being ripped apart in my bed!" Twilight held a small light up to Rarity's eye and looked into her pupils. "Tell me, have you been seeing anything that is keeping you awake, or any irrational thoughts when you try to sleep?" "Well no," Rarity said with a little hesitation. "I mean, I thought I saw a shadow move last night, but it could have been the flame dancing in my lamps for all I know." Twilight didn't react to that as she pulled what looked like a colander with light bulbs and wires attached to it at several points. She floated it over to Rarity and strapped it onto her head. "I thought you had electric light," Twilight stated as she plugged some wires into a bulky machine. "In fact, you invited us all over a few months ago to brag about how wonderful it is, and how it lights everything better." Rarity scoffed and turned her nose up at that. "A lady does not brag, and it just so happens that I like to use oil lamps in my private chambers when I'm not working. It saves on the electric bill." Twilight didn't acknowledge her as she flipped a switch and the machine hummed to life, with lights blinking and a pen slowly moving left and right over a slowly feeding roll of paper. "What pray tell is that?" "This machine is going to be reading your brainwave and magical field patterns to determine if there's anything unusual we should be looking for, if there's any stress related magical discharge going on, that sort of thing." She then looked at Rarity and asked, "Didn't your physician test these when you saw her yesterday?" Rarity shook her head a few times, making one of the pencils, the green one, waggle left and right on the paper. "I haven't seen her yet, because I found this when I came out of my... whatever it was, trance?" She floated over her Diary to Twilight where she saw the writing from that morning. "I don't remember writing it, I found it after some sort of a fit." Suddenly, Rarity found herself sitting strangely, her back to the wall, knees to her barrel, and her forelegs wrapped around her rear legs. "Was I asleep?" She asked out loud to herself. She was back in her room, her quill behind an ear and her diary still open on the floor a few feet away from her. foolish filly, she chided herself. you manage to pass out finally only to dream about a few days ago. She thought about it for a moment or so longer before unwrapping her legs and getting up. "Was that a dream? Or more of a memory hole?" She looked around the room and saw that at some point she'd crafted a rather ugly doll out of scrap rags. "I don't remember that," she said as she turned it over. Suddenly, in a flash she did remember. It was only a few hours ago when she decided to make a doll for Sweetie Belle only, "Why would I? She's too grown up for such toys now." She studied the doll for a few moments longer, it's uneven button eyes, and a crooked smile stitched of red thread. One corner wasn't quite finished, and some was dangling, almost like... She shivered, the clown like cloth that made up the clothes of the doll, and the droop of red in one corner of the mouth was too much like the mouth of a predator on a pony for her. A predator that just ate somepony, and he found her delicious. Rarity muffled a small scream as she put the doll down and walked away. She blinked and found herself in the kitchen. She blinked again and found herself halfway through a tub of ice-cream and a cup of tea. "Woah," Rarity said in a voice very different from her own, sounding more like one of those ponies that hang out on the beach all the time rather than the successful owner of a fashion enterprise. She put down the tub of ice-cream and tried to not blink. "I need to take control here," she mumbled to herself. She blinked. Rarity stretched and yawned deeply as the alarm clock rang without mercy. It was time to get up.
Week 2It had been two weeks since she'd last had a solid night of sleep, and it was beginning to show on her face. Rarity was unsure of what was happening anymore to her, but she felt a constant sense of worry. She'd seen doctors, Twilight, and even asked Celestia and Luna for help, only for none to come her way. Now here she was once again at Twilight's castle, once again she had equipment probing her vital signs as she was being told to relax. "Rarity, we won't be able to get much done unless you can relax." "Can't sleep," Rarity mumbled as her legs gave an involuntary twitch. She tried to cover it up by rubbing one hoof along her other foreleg. "No, no no no no no no, can't it just can not be done. I can not sleep." Twilight looked at the paper feed as it came out before glancing at her friend. "And why can't you sleep exactly?" She asked in a tone that unfortunately came across as cold and clinical. "Because I'll die," Rarity said with all the casualness of explaining that pegasus ponies direct the weather. She then began to sob uncontrollably for several minutes before stopping as suddenly as it started. She then took an extreme interest with a dark corner of the room. "Do you see that?" "See what?" Twilight asked as she looked at the same corner with mild, unattached interest. Rarity didn't answer the question, because she had instead actually fallen asleep for one of those rare moments. She snored softly as her rear legs twitched randomly. Twilight did not try to wake her friend or peruse farther in bothering her. Instead she focused entirely on the feed out and took a few notes. No change between being awake or asleep, mild sense of hallucination carries over. One of the readings began to shake violently as Rarity slumbered. Twilight looked over at it and realized that her friend's heart was racing far too quickly for somepony that's asleep. She turned and saw that all four of Rarity's hooves were twitching, her eyes half lidded, and that she wasn't breathing at all. Twilight felt panic set in as she rushed over to her friend and began to scan her over with her horn. Rarity's lungs were empty of air, and fighting to get their breath, she followed the line up and saw that in Rarity's throat there was some sort of blockage. Not a foreign object, but her own throat had turned against her and decided to choke instead of stay open. Using a small spell, Twilight forced the airway to open allowing Rarity to breathe at last, and with one great deep breath of oxygen hitting her brain Rarity shot upright and fully awake. "IN THE CORNER IS A DEMON!" She shouted before falling off the couch in a flump. Rarity looked up at Twilight as she looked down on her. "Rarity, you know there's no such things as demons..." Rarity passed out before she could register what had happened. I don't remember sleeping at all, but Twilight says that I had. Rarity wrote in her diary as she sat in a waiting room at the hospital. Her hair was no longer in those perfect loose curls, but frayed and frizzled. She was now almost constantly wearing her glasses, usually needed only for up close work because everything was blurry lately. She'd taken a habit of keeping her diary on her person at all times, just in case, and it turns out that she'd been busy with writing in it whether she remembers it or not. "Rarity, no last name, Rarity?" A nurse called from an open doorway. Rarity stood and followed the nurse into a small private room. "So you're back again? Still having trouble sleeping dear?" "Yes," Rarity said with a nod. "I was hoping for a sleep study, maybe a spell or potion for sleep?" The nurse gave a sad smile as she stepped aside to let Rarity through the open door. "Well, we'll see what the doctor says shall we?" So it went the usual way that office visits go, the nurse poked, prodded, checked temperature, height, weight, blood pressure, and asked a series of questions. "Any changes in your diet, or exercise routine? You've gained a little." If looks could kill, the nurse would have died on the spot for the way Rarity looked at her. "Well if you must know, I've been having gaps in my memory lately. Sometimes I find myself eating when I come back to myself." The nurse nodded and made a note before spitting the pencil out. "Alright, anything else I should let the Doctor know before he comes in?" "A severe pain in my left flank, it's been making me hobble lately, and I don't feel like walking much like that." Rarity said as she folded her forelegs over each other. "Alright," the nurse said after making another note. "The doctor will be right with you in just a moment." Rarity gave a silent thanks in the form of a nod, and settled into the silence of the room. She looked at a clock hanging on the wall and watched as the hands silently slid the minutes by, and by. Rarity continued to wait as the minutes slipped away, before she knew it, an hour had passed. Then two, then three. "Enough's enough," Rarity said as she slammed a hoof onto the tile. "I'm getting to the bottom of this!" Rarity got up with a click in her back as she hobbled to the door. She opened it and saw that all the lights outside of the room had dimmed. "How odd," Rarity commented as she looked around. "Are we conserving energy?" A red light was slowly blinking on and off at the nurses station where she'd checked in. She saw that nopony was there to check anypony in. Rarity opened the door and looked into the waiting room and saw everything was cast in a soft blue light, with the red light on a wall flashing on and off slowly, casting weird shadows on the empty chairs. "Hello? Anypony here?" She called out, only to receive an echo in return. She continued to step out into the hallway of the hospital and was again greeted by the odd red light. She continued down the hall in hopes of finding somepony to tell her what was going on, when she heard the sound of hooves behind her. "Wait!" Rarity called out as she turned around. There, she saw a filly, was it one of Sweetie Belle's friends? She couldn't tell from here. "What are you doing here..." She struggled for a name before settling on, "Little one?" The filly opened her mouth, and a black, viscus liquid began to drip out as she gave off a screech. The eyes of the filly shone bright as the fires from a lighthouse. Rarity gave off a gasp as she took off running. It was hard to run through the halls of the hospital with the slowly blinking red light casting weird shadows everywhere. There was the sound of a door bursting open, and Rarity saw that a great mass of ponies were flooding into the hall now. She took a turn and saw that she was in an operating room. Rarity's sharp eyes took innovatory of everything in the room that could be useful, and found some equipment on wheels. She quickly slid the equipment to the door and overturned it to block the door. Continuing to search, she found a collection of scalpels and needles for stitching patients up. She gathered up all these potential weapons up in her magic and aimed them at the door, as she heard the creatures begin to bang hard on the door. She then felt somepony poke her in the shoulder. She screamed and spun around, landing hard on the tile floor. "Miss Rarity!" The doctor called out in surprise. Rarity looked around the well lit room, not the operating room, but the examination room she'd started in. Rarity looked at the clock and saw that it had only been thirty minutes since she was left alone in this room. Rarity now noticed that there was, as impossible as it sounds, a box of tissues embedded in the wall. "Did I?" Rarity looked at the doctor as she nodded. "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry. I didn't mean, that is to say-" The doctor gave a comforting hush to Rarity as she held up a hoof "It's alright dear," her voice had switched so quickly from harsh to comforting that Rarity was feeling a sense of emotional whiplash. "Just breathe, and tell me what brings you here today." Rarity went over the list of problems she'd been dealing with. From how she'd come in contact with the virus, to how she'd been having heart and breathing problems since, and a severe lack of sleep despite how exhausted she felt. She then brought up that her back and hip has yet to make a full recovery since the incident on the stairs, and that she suspected that it was part of what was keeping her awake. The doctor for her part was patient and nodded at just the right times, giving Rarity plenty of time to talk out everything that was bothering her. Until finally Rarity came to a pause, she stayed silent. "Well, that is quite the list Miss Rarity," the doctor said with a frown. She took a few notes in her notepad and then looked at Rarity with concern in her eyes. "What I'm most worried about right now, is that you seem to be drifting into sleep randomly." Rarity looked blankly at the one black tile in the middle of the floor for several more seconds like a broken doll before animation suddenly came back to her body, moving more than any mare normally would as if compensating for how stiff she was moments ago. "Well that's the thing," she said with a twitch, "I don't recognize that I am asleep. I just suddenly am... plunged into some sort of alternate reality, there doesn't seem to be a gap anymore. Do you understand?" "BJrp, ivhek ni pop." The doctor said with confidence as she took down another note. "I'm sorry, what was that dear?" Rarity asked as the black tile scuttled away. "I'm afraid that the pudding is burning..." Rarity turned and saw a pony with a saucepan for a face had smoke belching from deep within. "I SAID" Rarity jerked awake to see the doctor was now looking slightly frustrated. "That without some real sleep soon, you're going to wind up a long term resident at the rate you are going." She then wrote something down on the paper and tore it from the notepad. "I'm giving you a magic inhibitor, for your safety." The doctor said now with a curt, but polite tone. "As far as a sleeping potion goes," the doctor continued. "According to your records, what we usually give patients has had no effect on you." Rarity began to feel crestfallen, sure that she was doomed. "But," the doctor continued. "Have you gone to see Zecora?" "Well, no," Rarity said dumbfounded. "Why?" "Zecora is a very talented mixer of elixirs and potions, she volunteers here fairly regularly. I'd recommend that you see her." I went to see Zecora, and she had decided that I try a tea based herbal product. There is a plesent odor throughout the house. She told me to try to stay awake until bed time, I think that 8 will be late enough. I've been rather fortunate that I haven't had anypony schedule appointments, but instead have been able to just sell things off the rack. It's now 7:30, and the smell of the tea is strong, even though I have not yet added it to the water. I just flipped the sign on the door to closed, and cleaned up the shop for the day. Donations for the Equestrian Plague Fund are doing a little better. With these donations, I hope that they can find out more ways to help the victims of the plague, not just for my sake, but for the sake of all. Rarity paused, the sound of the kettle whistling suddenly cut across the sound of the ticking clock. It was now just around seven forty five, she gave a shrug and sauntered over to the stove and poured the hot water into a teapot to let the brew from Zecora steep. She then looked over at the table and thought for a moment if she wanted to write some more and shook her head. Instead she opened the fridge and floated over a salad from the Café she stopped by earlier and sat to pick at it while waiting for the brew to be ready. The flavor of the salad was fine, if not a little bland, so she added just a few shakes of salt to it before continuing. She then looked at the inhibitor ring on the table with a little sadness. It wasn't too different from the kind that is worn by ponies headed to prison, except that it had grooves to make it easy for her to remove with her own hooves. The clock struck eight, and Rarity poured herself a cup of the tea and sipped lightly. Again, she thought it was a rather bland affair. She sighed, knowing that honey or sugar would make it better, but knew not to add it. Once finished, she slipped the ring over her horn, then tried to float the dishes to the sink, only to groan as nothing happened. "Of course..." She then grabbed the dishes in her teeth and put them in the sink. She thought about grabbing the journal, and decided to leave it. A yawn escaped her lips as she walked up the stairs, and weariness took hold. As she ascended the stairs, she felt her hooves stumble slightly. That stuff is strong... Rarity thought to herself as she wandered into her bedroom. The last thing she thought to herself before sleep really, finally took a grip on her was, "I need to get to Manehatten for... and then she fell, finally, into a deep, dark, dreamless sleep.
