//------------------------------// // Things heat up. // Story: The Phoenix Princess // by Sonic Rainboom Dash //------------------------------// Ever since Twilight returned from the hospital, Spike almost instantly knew something was wrong. It had taken a tub of ice-cream and a flawless diamond for Spike to calm down after learning that his best friend/mother/older sister was dying. For the rest of the day, Spike stayed by Twilight’s side. He even turned down the invitation to Moondancer’s party when some of Twilight’s classmates came by. After arriving in Ponyville, Twilight and her family had first checked around for a hotel or inn, but couldn’t find any. Thankfully, the Princess set them up in the town’s library for the day, thinking that Twilight would like to be surrounded by something she was familiar with before the inevitable happened. Strangely, Twilight, nor Spike could recall seeing any ponies in town when they had arrived the night before. Thinking back to last night when Twilight had seen the mare in the moon, Spike thought he saw a tear form in her eye, though, even he had trouble hiding his tears when he read the legend of ‘The Mare In The Moon. Of how the younger sister sacrificed herself to save her elder sister from a terrible monster that nearly destroyed Equestria 1000 years ago. It came as a shock for him to have read that the ‘Mare in the Moon’ was in memory of Celestia’s sister. Twilight woke up from her restless sleep the next morning with a rush to the bathroom, as she threw up last nights food, along with a concerning amount of blood. Spike was startled awake by Twilight’s rush to the bathroom, which caused him great concern. Spike hopped out of his basket and landed on the floor with a thump as he headed for the bathroom where Twilight was. Twilight finished heaving up into the toilet before slowly reaching out to the handle and flushing it. After a moment of her body shaking, Twilight moved to the door of the bathroom only to be greeted by Spike who was looking up at her with concern. Spike’s concern radiated through his voice, “Twilight, Are you ok? Do you need me to bring you anything?” he asked, hoping that today wouldn’t be her last. After coughing out the excess blood that started forming in her mouth, Twilight replied. “No. Thank you Spike, but I-I’m just going to not w-worry about it,” She said, knowing that the fact that she was coughing up blood almost every minute now, she was getting one step closer to the end. Spike frowned in worry as he looked up into her strong lavender eyes before letting out a sigh, “Ok. I’ll just go get a glass of water for you real quick. That should help a little bit.” With that he turned and went off to get the glass of water leaving Twilight alone in the room as Spike exited the room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Twilight sighed when Spike left, knowing he’d be devastated to know that as of last night, her hair and fur had started falling out, though, she was confused a bit when she saw a lavender feather poking out of her mane while she was in the restroom. It was there that Spike saw Twilight Velvet and Night Light preparing breakfast for the family. He greeted them with a small half-hearted wave, “Morning Mom and Dad. How are you all doing today?” Velvet turned to him with a half smile, “Oh things are going just fine Spike. We’ll have breakfast ready in a bit. Did you come in here for something?” Spike rubbed the back of his head for a moment before sighing, “Yeah. I came in here to get a glass of water for Twilight. She had another of her throw up sessions and it looks like it was one of the worse ones. I figured some water would help clear her throat at the very least.” Velvet sighed sadly as she pulled a glass from a cupboard with her magic. She levitated it over to the sink before filling it with water. She proceeded to hand it to Spike with her magic, “There you go dear. Go on and take it up to Twilight. Your right in that she could probably use this right now.” Spike nodded with a small smile, “Thanks, Mom. We’ll both be down in a little bit.” He turned and left the kitchen to head back upstairs to Twilight. Spike entered the room a moment later with the glass of water in his claw as he spoke up in a cheery voice that was rather forced, “Here you are Twilight. This should help clear your throat at the very least. And you seem to be looking a lot better now.” He held out the glass of water and watched silently as she took it in her magical grip which was rather shaky. Twilight still managed bring it to her lips despite her waning magic affecting her telekinesis. She slowly sipped the water from the glass until it was all gone. Afterwards Spike quickly took the glass back as she let go of it. There were several knocks on the door to her temporary bedroom of rather heavy variety. Though muffled, Twilight could still recognize her brothers voice, “Hey, Twilight. Breakfast is ready downstairs,” Shining said, opening the door in the process. After a moment he looked at the state she was in and almost rushed over to her, though he did move fast enough to catch her before she fell over. “I really wish this wasn’t happening to you sis. I’m supposed to be there to protect you from things like this, but how can I when it’s not something I can protect you from.” he cried as he felt Twilight coughing again. Twilight looked up at him as she lay on her back in his forelegs, “I’m sorry big brother but there are just some things you can’t protect me from. This just so happens to be one of them. But there’s nothing to be worried about, I’ll be fine again in just a moment.” Her body shuddered for a moment before it stalled and she was able to slowly get back to her hooves with Shining Armor’s assistance. She cheerily spoke up, “So did you just say something about breakfast? Let’s go get ourselves some!” Shining nodded as he and spike helped Twilight down the stairs, a little miffed that the bedrooms were upstairs and not close to ground level. Twilight leaned against her brother on the way down the stairs. And once on the ground level, was able to walk on her own towards the kitchen. She slipped into the kitchen to the table and took her seat on a stool even as her parents moved all the breakfast food to the table so they could eat breakfast as a family. As the family is eating at the table Velvet decided to ask, “so Spike what is on the list that needs to be done?” Which made Spike give her a quizzical look before he realized what she meant and pulls out the list. “Well, we need to check on food, weather, decorations, and music before the celebration can begin.” Says Spike, “the food is being taken cared of by the Apple Family at Sweet Apple Acres, the weather by Rainbow Dash, decorations by Rarity, and finally music by Fluttershy.” Throughout all of this Spike did quickly, once or twice, look at Twilight with a remorseful look. At the end of the list he looked to everypony else for help. Shining saw this and concluded what might be the best solution. “Well, I’d say we take care of the weather since we don’t know where Miss Dash’s central location is.” Night Light caught on what Shining and Spike was getting at and decides to add in.“Plus whoever we end up nearest to after we meet with Miss Dash is the one that is to be visited next.” “But who is to be the main pony to be with you Twi since somepony needs to be with you to make sure that your illness doesn’t get worse.” Says Shining as all of them looked to Twilight. “I think Spike is enough since he is my number one assistant.” stats Twilight to not make everypony worried. “I would disagree Twilight for we don’t know when we need to get you to the doctors for when your condition gets worse.” Says Night in a factual tone. Twilight opened her mouth to argue her case but she coughed a bit which made her sigh in defeat “I guess it won’t hurt to be careful.” “I will be the one to stay with you since then I can carry you on my back with magic if need be.” Says Shining to Twilight with determination in his eyes to keep his little sister safe. “Alright with that settled let’s finish breakfast and head off to our respective duties,” says Velvet before the family went back to eating their meal. Unbeknownst to the family two sets of eyes was looking at them. The first set of eyes was a certain cerulean blue and what she heard made her a bit concerned of what this “condition” was and set to find out. The second set was the eyes of a blue jay and he too heard of the “condition” of the lavender unicorn and filed it away in his mind of later, but for now he is being called to do a rehearsal. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the family had their breakfast and cleaned the dishes Twilight, Spike, and Shining has went out to find the head of the weather patrol, Rainbow Dash, but Velvet and Night Light had their own preparations to make. Luckily for the trio, the rainbow maned pegasus was doing one of her stunts but she was going to slam into Twilight, but with Shinings training he was able to see this ahead of time and made a small barrier for Twilight. Which did stop the cyan pony from (bumping) into Twilight but it left her dizzy. “Thank you Shining.” thanked Twilight while she inspected the mare to make sure she was ok and to identify the pony. “That is what big brothers are for.” Said Shining, “Now may I ask you of who you are Miss…?” The cyan pony had shaken off her dizziness and began to introduce herself. “I am the one and only Rainbow Dash.” as she says this she starts to hover over the trio. “What, have you heard of me?” “We’ve heard that you are supposed to keep the sky clear.” Says Twilight with a sigh, “I am Twilight Sparkle and this is my brother Shining Armor and my number one assistant Spike. The princess has sent me to check on the weather.” “Ya ya, I’ll have it done in a jiffy after I’m done with practicing.” Quips Dash as she flys up to a cloud. “Practicing for what?” Asks Shining. “The Wonderbolts!” Dash exclaimed while pointing to a poster. “They are going to do a performance at the celebration and I’m going to show them my stuff.” “The Wonderbolts?” asked Shining. “Eyup.” Rainbow boasted, rubbing a hoof across her barrel. “The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?” Asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow as a devious prank came to mind. “Eyup.” Rainbow still boasted as she flopped onto her back on the cloud. “Please, they wouldn’t accept a pegasus that can’t keep the sky clear for one day,” Twilight said with a smirk, knowing that this pegasus’s pride would play right into her trap. “Oh ya I can clear the sky in ten. Seconds. Flat!” Rainbow said as she brought the cloud closer to Twilight. “Prove it,” Twilight said, hiding the growing smirk. Dash glared at Twilight before she took off at high speeds, kicking the cloud she was laying on and poofing it out of existence. This high speed takeoff had the unfortunate side effect of kicking up a lot of dust, making Twilight start coughing harder. After Dash has cleared the sky the trio was in shock at the display of speed. “There see, ten seconds flat,” says Dash “I must admit Miss Dash you are a fast flyer.” Complements Shining. As the two were mindlessly taking to eachother Twilight felt her temperature rising due to her condition. She does sense it happening but doesn’t comment on it for it was, admittingly, relaxing for her. She realises that this shouldn’t be possible but she doesn’t feel the need to worry. Twilight was about to let Shining and Spike be but her cough caches Shining’s attention. “I’m sorry Dash but i need to stay by Twi’s side so I’ll be seeing you later at the celebration.” Spike has said his goodbye as well before the trio went to the town hall “Oh it’s cool and see ya three at the celebration.” Says Dash as she leaves. Before she completely leaves she looks at Twilight for a moment. “Huh, she does have same mane style as the statue of the filly.” Dash mulled over this thought for a bit. “Hmm, now that I think about it she did have the same posture as the filly too.” Alas Dash has concluded it to a form of a coincidence with a shrug and flies off.