My Little Diseases

She ached, she hurt, she could barely move, out of fear of causing some kind of rupture…
Fluttershy lay in her cell, laying on her side, as her stomach had begun to bulge from the amount of liquid gathering in her stomach, causing them to swell slightly.

Her wings were still held open with those wooden poles. The skin on her wings getting splinters from rubbing against the wood. The base of her wings had developed a large mass of bulbous spots, possibly filled with something. So even if she COULD move her wings, it would either be very painful, or never allow her to fly anyways.
Some of those same black spots had gathered on her stomach, causing the skin on her stomach to stretch and strain around them.

Her bloodshot eyes were too sore to keep open for long periods of time, and when she did, they were surrounded with Rheum. Along with almost the entirety of her eye whites, being completely red. She also had large bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. It was always hard to sleep on the stone floor since she arrived there.

Fluttershy let out a cough, which grew more and more violent, and chesty. Ending up in her coughing up a liquid. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, to try and see what bile she had brought up, only to be greeted with a red substance… Blood.

“T… Twilight…?” Fluttershy croaked out into the basement, trying to see past the bars and into the lab.
Twilight and Pinkie were on the other side of the cellar, on the section they had renovated into a lab. But they couldn't hear her strained and hoarse voice from across the room, as they were conversing over the cure they were currently trying to make for her. But who knows if they’d make the cure in time.

Fluttershy tried again, a bit louder this time.
“Twilight…!” She croaked again, and coughed up more blood onto her front hoof. She attempted to sit up, but only succeeded in holding herself up a few inches off of the ground, her back legs refusing to move on command.

The yellow pegasus slowly dragged herself across the cell floor, finding a loose stone, and pulling it from the ground.
Using what little strength she had, she threw the stone through the bars and onto the ground, the loud clacking noise it made got the attention of the two mad scientists.

They quickly turned to look in Fluttershy’s direction, a look of confusion in their eyes,
“Twilight.. It's getting worse…” Fluttershy said, before her front legs gave out, causing her to flop back down onto the ground, laying on her side again.
The purple alicorn quickly ran over to Fluttershy’s cell, the lab coat she was wearing bellowing behind her like a cape. She skidded to a halt at the bars and gently held Fluttershy’s hoof.

“It’ll be ok Fluttershy… I know you’re scared.. But I promise I'm doing everything I can to find a cure. Just hold on, you’re gonna be ok.”
Twilight reassures the yellow pegasus. Before she could respond, she gave another chesty cough, bringing up another large splash of blood, it spread over the ground and got onto Twilight’s hooves.

Twilight’s ears folded back, her eyes widening as she began to worry for her friend. She then turned to Pinkie, who remained where she stood, looking over their notes.
She too was wearing a lab coat, as well as wore her flat mane in a ponytail to keep it from getting mixed in with anything, and she still had the black eye from her and Fluttershy’s fight. But it was healing steadily.

“What do you think Pinkie? We’ve gone through nearly all of our resources trying to get something to work. We’re against the clock, there must be something we can do.”

Pinkie gave a soft sigh, putting the clipboard down that contained Fluttershy’s notes on her infection progress.
“There are some herbs we haven't tried, but they’re deeper within the everfree forest. I read about them earlier today. If you want I can go and try to find some.”

Twilight nodded in agreement.
“That could work, The everfree forest has been very helpful so far, it couldnt hurt to go looking deeper.”

Twilight thought aloud, putting a hoof to her chin in thought before looking back at Pinkie.
“Just… Put your stockings on first, I don't want anything nicking you or clinging to your fur, that could potentially get you sick. You’re my right hand pony! I don't know what I'd do without your advice.”
Twilight quickly responded with a soft smile on her face, walking over to Pinkie and kissing her forehead before Pinkie turned to leave.

Pinkie Pie returned a few moments later, now wearing her tight leather stockings, they were thick enough to keep her legs protected from the plants that may nick them otherwise. As she walked in to say goodbye before leaving, she saw Twilight sitting in front of fluttershy, the bars of the cell separating them.

“Twilight….” Fluttershy croaked, gently putting a hoof on Twilight’s. “I know… you want to save me… But please… Just let me go. Put me out of my misery… the pain is too great… I can't..-”
Her sentences were cut off by Fluttershy suddenly coughing up a large glob of blood over the ground, it smeared over her face as she leaned forward to cough.
Twilight quickly got up to get some materials to clean up, but Pinkie was already on it, carrying a small box, she opened the door and stepped into Fluttershy’s cell. She used a rag to clean the ground, while using softer tissues to clean Fluttershy’s face.

When she was done, she offered Fluttershy some water, but she refused, turning her head away and slowly shuffling away from the pair.
Pinkie’s ears folded back, giving a soft sigh before closing the door again.

Twilight ran to the other side of the lab, going through her notes, frantically trying to think of a combination they hadnt tried yet. Her ears were folded back, her eyes were wide and glossy. She was panicking.
While Twilight tried to figure out what to do, Pinkie decided to update Fluttershy’s infection board.

Fluttershy - Subject 1
- Dehydrated, hungry, frightened.
- Infection rate: 45% (Stage 2)
- Symptoms: Black spots on wings and torso, thin skin on stomach, coughing up blood.

Pinkie then put the board back on its hook and turned to Twilight, who was still trying to find something, Anything, they could do.
“Hey… Twilight?” Pinkie started, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.
The purple alicorn looked at Pinkie, tilting her head.

“I feel like… This is going too far. We should stop. Put fluttershy out of her misery and let her stop suffering. We’ve found a cure for the ‘unseen blight’ that cured you. And we’ve made princesses Luna, Cadence and Celestia immune to it too. You’re making these infections and using them on ponies, just under the idea that they MAY come into existence one day.”

Pinkie said, her ears folding back. She knew she was just as willing to do all of this like Twilight. But she wasn't sure if what they were doing to fluttershy was the right way to go about it.

Twilight slowly put her clipboard and quill down, her head tilting. She didn't look upset or annoyed, but more, confused.
“Why should we stop now? We’re so close to helping Fluttershy, her symptoms have slowed down thanks to this weak version of the cure we managed to make. We can save her, its possible, we just need to add the right thing to other batches of the weaker cure, to make it work completely. We’re making progress, and you want to stop before we reach the finish line?”

Twilight explained, holding up the large container that had the weakened version of the cure for Fluttershy’s ‘flightless bird syndrome’. As Twilight spoke, she got more and more upset.

“You can't just give up! We’ve got ourselves too deep into this mess. We made a cover story for her vanishing!”
Pinkie pie then cuts her off.

“Then what happens if she IS cured? We can't release her into the public again, everypony will think they saw a ghost!”
Pinkie shouted, getting upset at how adamant Twilight was being.

“If she’s cured, then we can let her live here until we find a cover story that explains why the article was wrong! Ive been thinking all this through pinkie! You’re in this too! You might as well see it to the end with me!”
Twilight shouted back, her nose scrunched up, her eyes now filled with anger, her wings opening to make herself look bigger.

Pinkie didn't try to argue… because truthfully, Twilight was right. Pinkie decided on her own will to join Twilight on this journey of science and trying to find cures for her made up infections. Even if she wanted to back out, the others will have questions, and they would want to know why they haven't seen Twilight since all this went down.

Pinkie slowly gave a sigh, at least wanting to get the last word in before storming out.
“You’re crazy… You have been from the start. Just crazy…”

Pinkie said that in a cold and almost heartless tone, before storming out. Twilight, not changing from her anger, watches Pinkie leave.

As Pinkie left the basement, she stormed toward the castle doors, she wasn't going to the everfree forest right away. She wanted some time alone before she could even think about getting what they needed for the cure. She took her lab coat off, discarding it on the ground before getting to the door, only leaving her bag and stockings on.

As she opens the door, she sees Rainbow Dash standing there, hoof raised, as if she was about to knock. Pinkie didn't say anything, just walked past Rainbow Dash and toward Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash saw the black eye on Pinkie’s face, and many emotions swam around her head. Anger, sadness, confusion.
Was Twilight hitting Pinkie? No… Twilight would never do such a thing…

Rainbow shook herself out of these thoughts and made her way inside.
“Twilight? Spike asked me to come and check on you! He’s worried about you and said it would put him at ease if I came and did a quick check-in.”
She called into the castle.

In the basement, Twilight hears Rainbow’s voice, and an all too familiar voice rang out in her head. Rarity’s voice… Spoke up in a sing-song tone.
“You’ve got company…~”