Sunset gasps, her body jerking into a sitting position, her bed covers flying off of her. She’s breathing heavily, eyes wide and darting from one corner of her room to the other, in search of an enemy that isn’t present. Memories from the night before flood her head, but, if that was the case, shouldn’t she be a body upon her doorstep, drained of life? Was it all just a bad dream? The girl slowly raises her left arm, rotating and feeling it. It doesn’t send waves of agony into her, but it does feel stiff though, perhaps she was simply sleeping on it? Sunset isn’t entirely sure what to think right now. She does know one thing though. She feels absolutely terrible. Her head is pounding, sending waves of discomfort through her system. Her throat feels as dry as the middle of a desert and her stomach twists and turns with each small movement she gives. The messy haired girl’s throbbing brain quickly gives her the excuse she needs to leave her bed. It was all simply a fever dream.
She reaches for the cellphone on the nightstand near her bed as she absentmindedly scratches at the right side of her neck. For some odd reason, that spot in particular is irritated. She lifts her device up, causing it to light up. Her eyes immediately tighten and she lets out a sharp hiss, the illumination blinding her and sending a wave of pain to her head. Just what she needs, a migraine. She quickly peeks her eyes open a bit so she can dim her phone. Thankfully, with only a few swipes of her fingers. What greets her as she enters the home screen causes her to let out a groan of annoyance. It’s nearly two o’clock in the afternoon. She pretty much missed all of school. The several notifications lighting up her call and message apps show that her friends definitely noticed her absence.
Coughing due to her dry throat, she sent a quick text to her group message explaining that she is sick and that hopefully she’ll be in school tomorrow. Deciding it’s about time she fixed her thirst problem she crawls out of her bedding, only realizing now just how dark it is in her townhouse. When did she draw all the curtains? Why did she do that? She chalks it, again, up to the night she can’t seem to remember. All she can remember is that nightmare. Anyway, she doesn’t mind the dark anyway. It feels better for her, more comfortable.
The frazzled-haired girl moves over to the steps to get down from her loft. She leans forward, takes a step, and promptly hits her couch. Her eyes widen and she leans forward over the arm of the couch. The room is practically pulsating, her head throbbing harder. She hacks and gags, thankfully her stomach is empty, or she surely would have just emptied it onto her couch. She grips the couch as her body slowly rights itself, finally able to work her mind around what just happened. She barely even blinks and she’s gone down twelve stairs and across about five feet of floor. This is the weirdest fever she’s ever had. She takes a few slow breaths before standing up straight, though keeps her hand on the couch. Sliding her feet along the floor, she moves towards the kitchen, keeping her hands on the couch or the wall, just whatever she can grab, she has no idea if she’ll get another sudden bout of motion sickness.
Finally, after a few moments of shuffling into her small kitchen, she opens the fridge, squinting her eyes as she tries to ignore the burning light and grabs her water bottle. She swiftly unscrews the cap and upends the bottle, starting to drink from it. She realizes just how thirsty she is, she takes gulp after gulp, trying to satisfy her thirst. Soon she feels the stream of water end, and she finally takes a heavy breath. Thankfully, her throat no longer feels like she swallowed a mouthful of sand. Unfortunately though, her thirst doesn't seem to have gone down at all. Well, she knows she should drink a lot of fluids when sick, so that might explain it. She again itches at that pesky spot on her neck, heading over to the sink to refill her water bottle.
Suddenly a loud “ding” hits her ears, startling her but also making her recoil in a bit of pain, the sound ringing in her ears. Sunset groans as she slowly starts to walk to her front door, the ding being her doorbell. The girl couldn’t believe how unlucky she was, sick, a migraine and sensitive hearing now? How could things get worse?
“Sunset? Darling? Are you alright?” Comes a voice from her front door. It was Rarity, though Sunset catches the sound of two pairs of feet walking in, meaning her fashionista friend brought someone else. The sick girl gives a small sigh, not really wanting to see her friends while she probably looks like a mess, heck, she feels like a mess. Still, they’re here, so she slides her way over to the living room to meet them.
“Hey girls, sorry about the dark, I have a migraine, the light’s killing me,” Sunset explained, noticing that the other arrival is Twilight. Unlike her two friends, Sunset doesn’t have any problem seeing them, in fact, it’s as if the lights aren’t even off in her view, though that’s probably because she spent so long in the dark. Due to this, however, she notices how her two friends seem to be… cuter? She never really noticed it before, how Rarity carries herself, her hand on her hip just so while she’s resting, and then Twilight with her cute glasses and her somewhat messy hair and that nice se-. Sunset shakes her head, getting those thoughts out of her head, why in Tartarus she thought about that she doesn’t know.
“It’s ok, Sunset. Getting sick can give some side effects like that,” Twilight smiled as she steps forward, adjusting her glasses, “We just came to see you to make sure you have everything you need. The others wanted to come but they all had prior engagements.”
“Yea, I’m fine girls, just feel like shit. Oh yeah, you reminded me: I was refilling my water bottle when you girls rang the doorbell,” Sunset says, turning around to walk. She immediately hits the counter, bending over it as she starts to hack and gag. The wave of nausea overwhelms her senses as he body tries to right itself. She doesn’t even hear the two others call out to her over her heaving and gagging. Finally, after a moment, she regains control of herself, breathing heavily as Twilight pats her back.
“T-thanks girls…” Sunset coughs one last time, slowly standing back up straight, “You can tell this is going great for me.”
“Maybe you should go to the hospital dear, your flu seems to be rather bad,” Rarity keeps a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, just in case the sick girl’s weakness overtakes her. Sunset moves some hair behind her ear, trying to maintain some semblance of normality as she waves her hand.
“I’m fine Rarity… well I’m not that sick at least, I’m sure I’ll feel better in a day or so. If you want to help though I just kind of want to get a glass of water then head to bed.”
Her two friends nod, Twilight taking the job of getting water while Rarity starts to help her at the journey back to her bed. It isn’t a long walk, but in order to keep Sunset from being sick her purple haired friend decides to take things slow, not that Sunset minds much. In fact, she can’t help but enjoy the smell of her friend. The shampoo she used this morning was a nice lavender, apparently, Sunset can still tell, it accents her pretty well. Rarity always works so hard for her beauty but Sunset knows she doesn’t have to, she’s so beautiful as is.
“Uh… Sunset? Dear? What are you doing?” Rarity’s crystalline voice catches Sunset’s attention and she has to mentally close her drooling mouth. The girl also noticed finally that she had her face in the fashionista’s long flowing hair. Blinking, Sunset shook her head, though more for show, her brain not really understanding why what she did was wrong, she was showing affection and interest. Still though, part of her mind told her that it wasn’t the thing to do right now.
“S-sorry Rarity, I kind of just zoned out, I didn’t even realize. Uh sorry.”
“Right… well here’s your bed Sunset, do get some rest, you could really use it,” Rarity gives her a small smile, probably trying to forget that little interaction between the two. She helps her friend sit down in bed and Twilight comes along with the glass of water, placing it on Sunset’s night stand. Sunset gives a nod.
“Thanks girls, sorry for all of this, let’s just hope this will be over in a couple of days.”
“Just be sure to drink water and eat when you can, not eating won’t help at all,” Twilight smiles, adjusting her glasses.
With a quick set of goodbyes, her two friends made their way down the stairs and to the front door. Sunset hears them say something to each other but it is a bit too quick to hear fully, the only word she makes out is ‘oddly’. Shrugging, the girl lifts the glass of water Twilight kindly got her and sips from it a couple of times. Unfortunately, like before, it does nothing to help her thirst. She gave an annoyed sigh as she places it back on her nightstand. She’ll deal with thirst later, it’s not bothering her that much anyway. She lowers herself onto her back and pulls at her covers, going to try to nap whatever it is that’s happening to her, away.
The bright white orb that is the moon hangs high in the sky. The streets are mostly devoid of people, save for the occasional person or group walking to a club or going to their homes. Not Sunset, however. When Sunset awoke from her nap earlier, she still felt thirsty, but she didn’t feel weak anymore. The thirst gave her energy. Energy to get up and go feed. Sunset Shimmer is on the hunt. Gone is her hope that it was all just a sickness; replacing that, is the knowledge of what she became, and the desire to live, live more freely and powerfully then she ever has before. Fuck being the calm, shy, and insecure Sunset Shimmer, she would never amount to anything when it came down to it. This Sunset Shimmer? She would take what she wants; by force if necessary. Right now, she wants blood.