Rarity was planning for her next dresses in her own room. All the windows were closed, because the weather was a bit chilly, and she didn't want to get sick.
Rarity was feeling really energetic, and she had to direct it somewhere. Rarity had found much more inspiration lately, and she knew that it had something to do with Thunderlane.
She had already three new plans for dresses, and was making one for a suit meant for stallions. She was currently working on the finishing touches.
Rarity moved the piece of charcoal around the paper smoothly, and had a concentrated look on her face. She did couple of more small adjustments to the picture, and laid the almost worn out piece of charcoal onto the table next to the paper.
She lifted the paper up with her magic, and examined it closely.
The suit was looking good in her opinion, but something about the pony wearing it didn't please Rarity. It was just a outline of a stallion, and didn't have any body features.
She thought for a second, before laying the paper back to the table. She took a grip from the charcoal with her magic, and in couple of quick sweeps the pony had a mohawk mane. She smiled a little, and added two eyes and smiling mouth.
She then levitated two pencils to her from a desk nearby. One was light blue, and the other one was yellow.
She filled the mohawk with the blue color, while simultaneously using the yellow one to ad color to the eyes of the drawn pony.
Rarity looked at the picture again, and now felt pleased with the results. The pony on the paper looked just like Thunderlane did in real life, except his coat was almost black, while the one in the paper had white.
Rarity didn't mind it though, she just smiled and thought: "I must make this suit for him. He would look so handsome in it."
Rarity subconsciously doodled couple of small hearts around the picture, and giggled when she noticed it.
Then she looked at the clock, and saw that it was almost five.
"Thunderlane should be getting here soon," she thought. She remembered how Thunderlane had told her at The Blue Note about his training and weather duty.
She jumped off from her chair, and walked to a mirror. She looked at her own reflection, and noticed that she had a constant smile on her face. She snickered a little when she realized how unnaturally happy she has been lately. She fluffed her mane a little, and thought that she looked perfect, like always.
Just then she heard the doorbell ringing. She did a last quick check to the mirror, before almost dashing towards downstairs. She trotted down the stairs, and skidded to the stop in front of the door. She checked her mane quickly again, and then opened the door, smiling happily.
"Hi Thund.." she started, but closed her mouth when he saw the wrong Lane sibling in front of her. Rumble looked at her a bit surprised, but then he seemed to remember why he was there in the first place.
"Hi Rarity.." he started, and looked at the white mare in front of him for a second. He then continued: "Thunderlane sent me."
"Oh! Did he now?" she asked, sounding a bit surprised. She watched Rumble nod and say, sounding apologetic: "He has a feather flu."
Rarity's eyes went wide, and she asked: "What? He seemed just fine yesterday!"
Rumble looked at her a bit sheepishly, and said: "He seemed pretty exited about something yesterday, and went flying in the evening."
Rarity let out a small irritated sigh. Evening before had indeed been pretty cold one, and she knew that flying in dry, cold weather would get you sick pretty easily. Her frown disappeared though, and she said: "It's quite alright deary."
Rumble flashed a quick smile at her, and then peeked over her shoulder.
"She's in her room," Rarity said, smiling happily at Rumble.
She let the young colt in, and turned towards the coat rack in the lounge. She picked a slightly pink woolen scarf with a bit deeper pink stripes in it, it was her favorite. Rumble looked at her with interest, as she threw the scarf around her neck.
"Where are you going?" he asked, before starting to climb up the stairs. Rarity turned her head towards him, and said calmly: "To see your brother of course. I can't just leave him alone while he's sick now can I?"
Rumble let out a bit troubled sounding grunt, and said: "Maybe you shouldn't go."
Rarity looked at him with a confused look in her eyes. She turned towards him, and asked: "What do you mean I shouldn't go?"
Rumble seemed really nervous, and she scratched the back of his head. Then he quickly said: "He doesn't want to get you sick!"
Rarity looked at him with a suspicious look, and Rumble looked even more nervous now. Rarity was sure that he was trying to hide something.
"You know.. Feather flu is pretty contagious." Rumble said, and looked at her with a strange grin. Rarity slowly raised one of her eyebrows, and said: "Maybe between pegasies, but unicorns or earth ponies can't get it."
Rumble's expression quickly turned into a look that said 'I'm trapped'. He quickly started to walk up the stairs, and said to Rarity: "You're right! You should go see him."
Rarity looked after him with confused look.
"What did just happen?" she thought.
* * *
Thunderlane sat in his armchair, under a warm blanket. He still felt cold though.
"Luna damn this flu," he thought, and sneezed loudly. He took a tissue paper from a box next to the armchair, and cleaned his runny muzzle. Thunderlane hated that disease. First came the sudden wave of fever, and then it turned to a teeth rattling coldness. It repeated in cycles, but worst of all, his feathers started to come off.
He unfolded his right wing, and looked at it. He nudged it a little, and couple of almost black feathers fell towards the floor. Thunderlane frowned and folded the wing back to under his blanket.
"Why today? Any other day would have been okay, so why now?" he thought angrily, and shivered a little. Just when he was going out with a beautiful mare, he of course had to get feather flu.
"Just my luck," he thought and sighed. Thunderlane sank deeper into his armchair, and started to feel sleepy.
Just as his eyes closed, he heard a knock from the door. He wondered if he had just fallen asleep and been hearing things, but then he heard the knocking again.
"Damn that kid, forgot his keys again," Thunderlane thought. He was just getting warmer under the blanket, and leaving the comfortable armchair didn't seem like a good idea.
The knocking was heard again, and it was a bit more demanding this time. Thunderlane grunted, and threw the blanket away from him, and instantly felt like he had walked trough a cold shower. He shook a little, and stood up slowly. Standing up made him feel dizzy, and he had to lean against the chair for a while, before starting to make his way towards the front door.
He opened the door, and his eyes went wide.
There stood a white mare with curled royal purple mane and tail, azure eyes and long eyelashes. Rarity looked worried, and her cheeks had a healthy redness on them due the chilly weather. She also had a long, pink striped scarf around her neck. She quickly looked at Thunderlane, and said: "Hi Thunderlane."
"H-H-Hi..." Thunderlane said, his teeth rattling against each other when the cold air from outside reached him. It blew some of his black feathers away from his wings too.
Rarity quickly stepped inside, and closed the door behind her. It was then when she realized why Rumble had been acting so strangely, and had not wanted for her to go there.
The place was a total mess.
"S-sorry for t-the mess," Thunderlane said with shaking voice, feeling embarrassed under Rarity's judging stare. The fashionista snapped away from her shock, and looked at Thunderlane. She saw him shaking on his place, and his face was pale.
"It's not important now!" she said, and took the scarf from around her neck. She then wrapped it around Thunderlane's neck, and pushed him towards the living room.
"You need to rest! Sit down," she commanded with serious tone, even the mess in the living room made her feel a bit troubled. She looked around herself, and thought how could somepony live like that.
Thunderlane saw her troubled look and started to apologies: "I'm sorry you had to see this..."
"Sit down!" Rarity commanded again, and Thunderlane did as she wanted. Rarity then gave him a warm smile and lifted the blanket over him. Thunderlane stared at her trough his cloudy vision, and felt her lips touch his forehead lightly.
"You just rest now," she said sweetly. That made him chuckle happily, before he fell asleep.
Rarity smiled and just looked at the sleeping stallion in front of her.
She then remembered the chaos reign around her, and frowned at the sight. There were a lot of dust on the floor, dead plant in the corner, old newspapers and couple of empty beer cans next to the armchair Thunderlane was sleeping in and the couch on the opposite wall had big rip in it. The table between the armchair and couch was full of rubbish too.
Rarity whimpered a little, and folded her ears backwards when she thought of the kitchen. She then took a deep breath, and looked at the calmly sleeping, little bit snoring stallion in the armchair. A small smile crept on her lips, and she perked up. Rarity had a stern expression on her face, and she said: "Let's do this."
* * *
Thunderlane started to open his eyes. He saw the ceiling over him, and realized that he was in the living room. He felt warm, or hot actually. It was time for a high fever again. He noticed that he was under a blanket, and threw it from over himself, trying to cool himself down.
Sweat poured from his forehead, and he was in his thoughts.
"It was just a dream," he thought a bit sadly. He had been dreaming about Rarity, and in his dream she had come over to his place, and kissed him on the head. Thinking about this made him smile, but soon he felt a small discomfort in his neck. He had been sleeping in the armchair with his head tilted backwards.
He closed his eyes and slowly straightened his neck, groaning a little.
When Thunderlane opened his eyes, he thought that he was still asleep.
His eyes went wide from surprise, and he blinked couple of times. Thunderlane rubbed his eyes too, because he couldn't believe what he saw.
The whole living room was tidier than ever before. The old newspapers from next to his armchair had been placed in a neat pile, and the empty can were gone. There was no dust on the floor, and the table was clean. Couch was fixed, and even the dead plant was resurrected back to living.
"We have a mat?" Thunderlane thought confusedly, when he saw a brown mat on the floor. He looked around himself, and noticed that he had a pink scarf around his neck. He looked at it with a strange look.
Then he heard small giggling from behind him.
Thunderlane quickly turned towards the sound in his armchair, and saw Rarity standing right behind him. She wore a broad smile on her lips, and her azure eyes beamed at Thunderlane.
"Rarity?" he asked, thinking that maybe he hadn't seen a dream. The mare smiled and tilted her head a little, asking: "How are you feeling dear?"
Thunderlane didn't answer that question, but he instead asked: "Did you do this? How long was I alseep?"
Rarity nodded to him, and said: "I did it. You slept for half an hour."
Thunderlane's mouth opened, and he looked at Rarity, dumbfounded. He then looked around the room. It would have taken hours for him to clean up that well, and Rarity had done that in thirty minutes.
"Rarity.." he started, and tried to rose up from the chair, but he had to sit down again. His world spun around violently when he tried to stood up, and Rarity was quickly at his side.
"Nonono! Don't try to get up," she said with a caring voice, that was like honey to Thunderlane. He looked at her with happy smile and said slowly: "Thank you so much."
Rarity seemed to blush a little, and said shyly: "You don't need to thank me,"
"You cleaned my living room! Of course I need to thank you!" Thunderlane said, waving his hooves. Rarity just giggled, and corrected Thunderlane: "I cleaned the whole house, except for Rumble's room."
Now Thunderlane started to feel dizzy again. She had cleaned the whole house in less than an hour?
"I have to admit, the kitchen was pretty though one," Rarity said with a small smile on her lips. Thunderlane smiled sheepishly at her, and said: "Sorry."
Rarity rubbed his head gently, and said: "It's nothing honey."
They stared at each other for a while, Rarity rubbing Thunderlane's hot forehead. She then remebered something.
"I'll be right back honey," she said and trotted towards the kitchen, leaving confused Thunderlane all alone. He smiled stupidly, and thought how lucky he was to have a friend like she. The strange feeling in him started to grow again, making him feel weird, but in a good way.
Rarity soon came back with a cup of something steaming and a small chair, that he placed next to the armchair. She then placed the cup on the chair and said: "I made some herbal tea for you, it should give that nasty flu some hard times."
Thunderlane nodded, and took a long sip from it. It didn't taste pretty good, but he knew that anything that tastes good usually didn't work.
Then they again spent a moment in silence, just looking at each other. Then suddenly Rarity looked at the floor, and asked: "Is there room for two in that chair?"
Thunderlane's cheeks felt hot, and it wasn't because of the fever in him. He opened his mouth, only not to manage say anything. He then gulped and said: "Sure."
Rarity smiled, and walked to the armchair. Thunderlane moved a bit, so she could have more room. Rarity wouldn't have needed it, because she climbed right onto his lap, placing her hind legs over the edge of the chair, and pressing her head against Thunderlane's shoulder.
Thunderlane lifted his hoof around her, to keep her from falling off, and felt how Rarity's silky fur brushed his chest, and how her well shaped body pushed against him. He snickered nervously, but Rarity just snuggled closer to him, making her mane brush against his cheeks and neck. Then they sat there for a moment, before Rarity levitated the blanket over the two.
"I like this," Thunderlane said, and leaned his head against Rarity's, who sighed happily and said: "Who wouldn't?"
After a while Thunderlane spoke again: "I'm sorry you had to clean up,"
"I didn't have to, I wanted to," Rarity said, and held her hoof on Thunderlane's. He squeezed her a little tighter, and said: "I'm grateful. And I want to pay you back somehow,"
Rarity snickered and nuzzled his chin, making him blush.
Right then Rarity felt the tug in her chest again, but now it wanted more attention than usually. It almost felt like her heart would have wanted to come trough her chest. She looked at Thunderlane, giving him a sultry, half lidded look and said: "I have something in my mind actually."
"And what's that?" Thunderlane asked, feeling a bit nervous due Rarity's seductive gaze.
Then Rarity moved her head closer to the stallion's, and stopped just before their muzzles touched. She looked at the golden eyes of Thunderlane, who looked back at her. They stared at each other for a second, before both of them closed their eyes, and pushed into a small kiss. When their lips touched, both of them winced a little, but pushed deeper right after. It lasted for couple of seconds, but it had so much feeling in it. They both were in complete nirvana, and they didn't want it to end. Thunderlane felt Rarity's soft lips against his own, and Rarity liked the rough feeling of Thunderlane's lips. When it came to a end, Rarity gave Thunderlane another quick peck to the lips, before resting her head to his shoulder again.
After a moment, stunned Thunderlane managed to say: "Well that was something,"
"It was wonderful," Rarity said quietly, nuzzling his neck softly.