My Little Diseases

The news has been out for over 2 weeks now. The remaining elements of Harmony were not taking the news well, they had lost 2 close friends, so close to each other.
Everyone had their own way of coping with the news of Fluttershy’s passing.

One night, the moon was high in the sky. The farm of Sweet Apple Acres had settled down for the night, all but one. Applejack, who had been taking the time to take care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Seeing as Rarity had passed, leaving Sweetie Belle alone and Scootaloo hadn't seen Rainbow Dash since the funeral.
The 3 friends were currently asleep on spare beds in Applebloom’s bedroom, who agreed to let her friends sleep there.
Spike had also decided to stay at the farm for a while. He couldn't bring himself to be at the castle where everything happened, given all the screams he could hear from outside as he returned from returning Rarity’s letter to SweetieBelle.

He had decided to stay at the farm with Applejack, not only to help out around the farm by picking apples that hasn't fallen from the tree, but also to help keep an eye on sweetie Belle, as she hadn't taken the news very well, and was staying close to her friends like a piece of velcro.
He was asleep in the same room as Big Macintosh, staying on a small bed the farm family had made up of extra hay and blankets, it wasn't perfect, but it worked, and Spike managed to sleep fairly well. Though Big Mac wasn't such a heavy sleeper.

Big Macintosh stirred awake from his sleep, as he heard muttering and a small crash from the kitchen. Lighting a hoof-held lantern, he made his way downstairs, to see Applejack walking around the kitchen, cooking apple pie filling in a pot, preparing meals for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, for school the next day.
On the table in the middle of the kitchen, were 3 opened lunch boxes waiting to be filled with food.
Each box was metal, with a little sticker on the top, so the fillies knew whose was whose. AppleBloom's had an apple sticker, Sweetie Belle’s had a heart sticker, and Scootaloo’s had a lightning bolt. All of them were propped open with a water bottle, with a small bag containing an apple and a daisy sandwich inside.

“Sis…?” Big Mac said quietly, catching Applejack off guard, and causing her to drop an apple she had in her mouth. Applejack slowly turned to Big Mac, she was a mess. She didn't look tired or overworked, but she just looked messy. Her mane was rather out of control, her hide was grubby from cooking and doing her chores around the farm. She hadn't given herself the time to clean up from the day before.

Applejack gave Big Mac a soft smile, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Ah’m sorry Big Mac, ah didn't mean to scare ya. Ah’ve just been preparin’ the girls lunches for tomorrow.”
She explains, before turning to the stove and giving the pot a quick mix, not wanting the mixture inside to overcook or burn.
She then turned back to Big Macintosh, looking at him.
“Ah’m nearly done. Ah’ll head to bed soon, ah promise.”

“Look, sis, I know you want to give the girls a good experience while living here. And that’s very kind and generous of you. But you need to take time for yourself. Get yourself cleaned up. It’ll be good for you.”
Big Mac says, as he rubs his eyes, allowing himself to focus a bit more on his younger sister.
Applejack took a moment to think, before nodding in agreement.
“Alright, ya right. Ah’ll finish these meals for the girls, and take tomorrow morning to get myself cleaned up.”

This satisfied her older brother, who gave a soft smile, before hugging Applejack gently.

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A few days later, in the Wonderbolt academy.
Rainbow Dash, who had been one of the closest with fluttershy, had not been taking the news very well. Many sleepless nights, thinking of the good times the 2 pegasi had together. She had begun taking extra shifts, working on weather duty at Cloudsdale, or staying behind at the Wonderbolt academy, training way after the other academy members had gone to bed.

Rainbow Dash was actually training right now, flying through the obstacle course the academy had for students, weaving in and out of clouds and practising the many tricks and stunts the Wonderbolts always performed at shows. As she was about to weave around another cloud, a loud whistle cut her out of her thoughts, causing her to fly off course and crash into said cloud. At least the landing was soft.

With a groan, she looked down from the cloud, her dark circled eyes focusing on her captain; Spitfire, looking up at her.
She wasn't angry or upset. But she looked worried.

Spitfire called out to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash… What are you doing training so late? You’re going to cause more injuries if you don't allow your body time to recover. Come down.”
That last sentence was more of an order than a request. To which Rainbow obliged, flying down and standing in front of spitfire. Her eyes were sore with large bags under them, her mane was more messy than usual, and some of her feathers on her wings were bent or clipped from many crashes due to being so tired.

“Look… I understand what you’re going through. Losing a close friend is never easy, but you can't do stuff like this to yourself. I've seen you train through the night, from sundown to sunrise, you haven't been sleeping.”
Spitfire started, pausing for a moment to look over Rainbow’s state again, the matted fur, the bloodshot eyes, the loss of weight from all the training. Not to mention the multiple bruises that lined her legs and torso from crashing so much while flying off course.
She then continued, her gruff voice at a soft tone, not wanting to cause Rainbow to become more upset than she already is.

“Listen… You’re going to end up seriously hurting yourself one of these days. Please, come back to your room in the academy. Wash up, eat something and get some rest. We will have time for more training, but now you need to allow yourself time… For the next week, I don't want to see you anywhere near these training grounds. I want to see you get some rest, get yourself cleaned up, and back to a more healthy state.”
Spitfire said, once again, sounding more like a command than a suggestion. And rainbow Dash simply nodded in agreement.

She then spoke up, her ears folded back, tears filling her eyes.
“I'm sorry Captain Spitfire… I just haven't been able to get the thoughts of Fluttershy out of my head. It's been keeping me awake, and I thought training would help clear my head.”
Rainbow Dash explained, her voice gruff and horse, She then began to walk back to her room after saluting Spitfire. Making her way to her room, before laying in her bed, and letting the urge to sleep take over her.

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“Ah dont understand…” Applebloom said, looking over the news article once more. The yellow filly spread the newspaper out on the floor of their clubhouse, reading it over. Spike was sitting beside Applebloom, looking over the same article with her.
It was the news article that explained fluttershy’s passing.
It read:
‘Fluttershy: Element of kindness, found mauled at her sanctuary, by a pack of up to 3 bears. Leading to this event, Fluttershy had been feeding and taking care of all the animals at her sanctuary, a place for animals big and small to come and live in peace, or stay temporarily to recover from any injuries before returning to the wild.

While at this sanctuary, Fluttershy had neglected to feed the bears that were taking up residence at the sanctuary, causing them to attack fluttershy and maul her to death, leaving nothing behind but a few feathers and a strand of hair, which was later identified to belong to Fluttershy, through lab testing and DNA results.’

“Yeah… I don't get it either.” Scootaloo spoke up, looking over the same news article with Sweetie Belle.
“It isn't like Fluttershy to… Not feed her animals. She can talk to them, she understands them, wouldn't she know if any of them weren’t eating?”

“No you’re right.” Sweetie Belle spoke up, confusion playing her face.
The 3 fillies looked at eachother, each with their own confused expressions as they looked over the article over and over again.

“Maybe… we can ask Discord? Somethin’s fishy here… Maybe he can shed some light on it?” Applebloom suggested, which was followed by a moment of silence and a bit of pondering. It was the only idea they had for a while, what's the harm in trying it?
“Uh… I'll... stay here. I think Applejack and Big Mac will begin their chores soon, and they may need my help again.” Spike quickly said, an awkward smile playing his face, but the fillies accepted that reason, and got up to set off, giving the baby dragon a quick hug before leaving.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders made their way into the cottage Fluttershy used to live in. The cottage had become slightly run down due to the lack of maintenance, and the animals had all fled the cottage to either live in the sanctuary, or try their luck out in the wild. All except for 1 creature. Discord. He was sitting on the cottage’s doorstep, staring at the ground. He didn't notice the fillies approaching as he continued to stare at the ground, idly drawing random shapes in the dirt with his claw.

“D-discord?” Sweetie Belle spoke up, slowly approaching the Draconequus, but he didn't move. All except for a single ear twitch, indicating that he heard Sweetie Belle.

After a few moments, Discord began to look at the fillies. His eyes were sore from nights of crying, his fur, scales and skin were grubby as he tried to keep the cottage standing,and his body looked skinnier than normal.

“Hello girls…” Discord croaked, his tone monotone and flat. “What are you doing here? I thought you were living on sweet apple acres…”

Scootaloo walked forward, looking up at Discord with concern.
“We…. We wanted to ask you about Fluttershy. We were reading the paper about her, and it didn't make sense.” She started, before Applebloom piped up.

“Fluttershy never skipped a day of feedin’ her animals. Why would she suddenly stop feedin’ a specific animal, to the point of them attackin’ her?”
Applebloom questioned, looking over the article once more, since the girls brought the newspaper with them.

Discord put his paw to his chin in thought. The fillies were right, it didn't make sense. The Draconequus gently took the newspaper from Applebloom, giving it a once over, summoning a pair of reading glasses and having them sit on his nose.
“No you 3 are right. Something’s off here…”

Discord then looked at the fillies, giving a soft sigh.
“You said you had other questions, what were they?”

“Well…” Sweetie Belle began. “We know this may be hard for you to think about. But do you remember where Fluttershy was, the day that she went missing?”

Discord put his claw to his chin, his goat hoof tapping on the ground and his tail swaying slowly behind him. He stared up into the sky as he racked his brain to remember what happened that day.
“I don't remember much. All I remember was being rather annoyed toward her that day. And she said she was going to look for Angel. That was the last I saw of her… We had a tea party set up ready for her return…”

Discord then pointed to the table in the middle of the living room. It had a light green, chequered table cloth on it. There was a set of 2 tea cups and saucers placed on opposite ends of the table, with a teapot in the middle, that was originally filled with tea, but has since dried up, leaving the tea leaves at the bottom as a sticky viscous goo.
The table also had a large plate, which had a cake sitting on it, which has now gone stale and covered in a fine layer of dust.

The cutie mark crusaders peeked inside to look at the table, their ears folding back as they looked at eachother with concern for the Draconequus.

“Do ya remember where she went?” Applebloom asked, and Discord nodded.

“She said she was going to look through Ponyville to find her beloved fur ball…”
He responded in an upset tone, pointing in the direction of town.
“She went toward town and she never returned… Then I heard the news about her…”
Discord couldn't finish the sentence without getting choked up, tears filling his eyes.
The Cutiemark Crusaders looked at each other with concern, before giving a soft nod to each other, they’ve bothered Discord enough.

Applebloom stepped forward, touching his paw to get his attention.
“Ya know. The others are rather worried about ya… They haven't seen ya since the news broke out. They were fully expectin’ to see chaos break out everywhere, and they think something happened… Why don't ya go to sweet Apple Acres for a while? I'm sure they’d be happy to see ya.”

Discord looked at the yellow filly with slight confusion, before giving a soft sigh, running his talons through his mane.
“While I appreciate your concern, I think i’ll stay here for a bit longer.. I wouldnt want to intrude.”
Discord responds, before going back into Fluttershy’s cottage and closing the door.

“Well girls, if we’re going to get any more answers, there’s only one other place we can go.” Sweetie Bell said, as the fillies began to run toward Ponyville.

They began to make their way through town. Asking different residents of Ponyville, if they remember where they had last seen fluttershy before the news.
A lot of their investigations ended up in a dead end, or with them going in circles a few times.
Sweetie Belle even used what limited magic she had, to lift Scootaloo onto a low hanging cloud to attract the attention of some Pegasi to ask them if they had seen her.
Slowly but surely, they had asked throughout town, with all their investigations being nothing but a bust.
“UGH! This is harder than I thought. I thought we’d hear something that would add up to how fluttershy went missing! She was found in her sanctuary, and all we’ve got as answers is that she was looking for Angel.”
Scootaloo groaned in frustration, her ears folding back as they walked.

The 3 fillies were about to give up, before they saw Twilight's castle. They looked at each other again.
They hadn't asked Twilight yet, and it would be nice to see her again.

The 3 fillies smiled and ran up the castle steps, and went to knock on the door, only for it to open before their hooves made contact. Only to be greeted with Pinkie Pie, with some empty saddle bags sat across her back.

“Oh! Hello girls, what are you 2 doing here, I thought you were staying with Applejack.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, looking rather surprised to see them there.

“We are,” Sweetie Belle began.
“We have been retracing the steps that fluttershy took before the news took out, because something doesn't sit right with us. We’ve looked all over Ponyville, and we haven't found any clues. Do you mind if we look in the castle for anything?”

Pinkie put her hoof to her chin, before giving a wide smile.
“Of course you can! Fluttershy actually came in here, thinking Angel got in here while the door was open. So go ahead, maybe there’s something here you 3 can find!”

As the cutie mark crusaders entered the castle, Pinkie trotted ahead at a rather brisk pace, hiding the panicked depression on her face as she walked away.
As the 3 fillies began looking in the rooms closest to the entrance, Pinkie made her way to the castle library, which was deeper down the hallway. Where she found Twilight going over her notes.

“Twilight, we have a problem.”
Pinkie quickly said, catching the attention of the messy alicorn, who pulled her gaze away from her papers to meet the pink pony.

“What is it Pinkie? Are we out of syringes again?” Twilight asked, slowly walking over and planting a kiss on Pinkie’s forehead, in an attempt to calm her down.
The pink pony smiled a bit, before quickly continuing with her explanation.

“Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle and Applebloom are here looking for anything that may involve fluttershy vanishing. Do you have anything we can use to hide the basement door before they see it?”
Pinkie quickly asked, occasionally looking out of the door to see if the fillies were getting any closer.
Twilight gave a quick gasp before trotting across the hall to the location of the basement door, which was beside the throne room.
Twilight lit up her horn, the black aura surrounding it as she aimed it at the closed basement door. She cast a spell on the door, putting a temporary camouflage spell on the door, making it look like part of the wall, instead of another door.

With a sigh of relief, the 2 looked at eachother, before seeing the 3 fillies walking over, confused looks on their faces.
Twilight walked over and the 3 fillies stopped in their tracks, looking at the alicorn in shock, this is the first time they had seen her since Rarity’s funeral.

“H-hey twilight….”
Sweetiebelle said softly, her eyes fixated on Twilight’s bright white horn.
Twilight immediately knew why, and she gave a soft sigh.

“Hello girls… Pinkie Pie got me caught up on what’s going on.”
Twilight explained, before sitting down in front of them, lowering herself down to their level.
“I understand that what’s going on is hard to understand. And I know what you 3 are like, you’re very determined to find answers. It's admirable, you stop at nothing to get what you’re looking for… But unfortunately, for this time, you’re going to have to leave it… There’s nothing else we can do… Fluttershy is gone, and we have to accept that…”

The 3 fillies looked at eachother, nodding slowly as their eyes slowly went glossy, filling with tears. Twilight quickly opened her wings and pulled them in for a group embrace.
“I miss her too…. I miss rarity as well… I miss them both… Just know you’re not alone in how you feel… And you’re more than welcome to come back to the castle if you need someone to talk to… Pinkie and I are always available.”

“T-Thankyou twilight.”
Scootaloo said, burying her head into one of Twilight’s shoulders.

“We greatly appreciate it..”
Applebloom said, her face buried on Twilight’s other shoulder.

“We’ll be sure to keep it in mind.”
Sweetie Bell said, still looking at Twilight’s horn.

Soon, Twilight released the embrace, and Scootaloo and Applebloom gave a bow before quickly leaving to go home, but Sweetie Belle stayed behind, catching Twilight’s attention. Her ears folding back.

“I know it's hard to look at.. Isn't it…?”
Twilight said, referring to her horn, and Sweetie Belle gave a soft nod.

The alicorn didn't say anything, simply walking back over and lowering her head to Sweetie Bell, who gently ran her hoof over Twilight’s horn.
“Rarity really was amazing… wasn't she?”
Sweetie Belle said, trying to hold it together.

“You have no idea..”
Twilight responded softly, her own eyes beginning to go glossy.
“She saved my life.. And I promise.. I will take great care of what she gave me… It's the least i can do… especially with everything she did for me…”

Sweetie Belle took a moment of silence, before embracing Twilight tightly, crying into her chest, and twilight quickly returned the embrace, tears running down her own face.
She always felt guilty for Rarity sacrificing herself. Especially since if she had just been more careful, rarity would still be here today…

“Do you think I can come and visit you again later? And we just talk, it may help.”
Sweetie Belle asked.

“That's perfectly fine.. You deserve to understand what has gone on.”
And with that, Sweetie Belle turned and left the castle.

Once Sweetie Belle was out of earshot, Twilight gave a soft sigh, drying her face with her hoof and giving a soft sniffle. She really did miss rarity, but she didn't want it to bring her down to the point of falling back on her findings. She turned to Pinkie, who had been standing there for the whole thing, and she gave a soft smile.

“Well… Shall we get back to work? I believe we have a certain Pegasus waiting for us…”
Twilight asked, her voice still shaky from crying, and Pinkis gave a nod, as Twilight cut off the camouflage spell to the basement door, and opened it, going down the stairs.