The soft padding along the wet dirt road was enough to keep the young pegasus occupied for the trip home. She had some things to look forward to, one of those being some treats her pony friend had made for her. More so, these treats were made specially for her. Not only do their appearance look astonishing, they also tasted of the pure essence of brilliance. Something that was far greater than magic. And she had them—all for herself—thanks to a special friend.
Finally, at the top of a distant hill, the pegasus reaches the front door of her home. With a gentle push, the door swings open. “Angel bunny, I'm home!” A small white rabbit hopped into the room with tired eyes, just waking up after falling asleep during the storm. The little rabbit sat, staring at the pegasus giving her an implied question.
“Oh, well you see, I had originally gone out to see Rarity for a spa as I do every week, but on the way it started raining. Pinkie Pie let me into Sugarcube Corner to stay with her until the storm passed. Then she gave me these amazing cupcakes and let me bring these home. I'm going to see her next week.
The rabbit nodded and departed from the room. The pegasus set down her two batches of cupcakes and stared, almost drooling. In a quick moment, she snapped back to reality and begin planning. “How will I distribute these over the course of the week until Wednesday?” She counted her batches. There were twelve cupcakes. Twelve mouth-watering cupcakes. All to herself. “I guess I'll have two now, then two each day that passes by...” she grabbed the first two and left the cupcakes, heading off to her room.
The pegasus sat at the edge of her bed and bit into the cupcake immediately, regardless of the wrapper still around the small cake. She took the flimsy paper off and set it aside, biting into the milky, sweet cake, thoroughly enjoying each moment of it. A few bites in and the miniature cake was gone, devoured. Without even pausing, she unwraps the second cupcake, eating almost half the entire thing in her first bite. The pegasus put her free hoof on the bed, propping her up as she leaned back. The next bite, and the remaining half is now a fourth of the original cake. She sat for a moment, letting the taste roll down her tongue, and finally the second cake was gone. She lied back, her hoof on her stomach and the wrappers both on the floor. She squirmed a slight bit in excitement.
The pegasus sat up and looked outside her window. It was almost Six, and it was getting dark fast. She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.
“Fluttershy, it's best to get some sleep. Tomorrow will come early,” she told herself.
The morning rose slowly, sunshine lightly beaming through her window. The walls faintly glowed with orange. The crowing just a short walk from the small cottage woke the young pegasus. With a long stretch and yawn, she slumped out of the bed slowly.
“Day one,” she told herself. “Day one...” With a smirk the grabbed a cupcake, removed its wrapping, and quickly bit into the side. The cupcake oozed its flavour and she quickly became overwhelmed, humming in delight. She finished it off and resumed the start of her day.
With a spring in her step, Fluttershy rushed out the door, humming happily, frolicking with her eyes unwary. With a soft bump, she found she'd run into someone.
“Well, well. I didn't think you'd be so eager for a hug, darling. You should hold out your hooves next time; give a little forewarning?” A white-coated, purple-maned unicorn stood in front of Fluttershy. The two brushed themselves off.
“O-oh, sorry Rarity. I didn't expect you to be up so early.” Her best attempt at apologizing wasn't quite the best.
“Oh, it's quite alright dear. I figured we'd hit the spa a little early due to the events yesterday. I didn't even get a chance to go out before the storm started.” The two mares began to walk as they spoke about recent events.
“I can say the same thing. I was just making my way there and found myself just by Sugarcube Corner when the rain hit.”
“You didn't get soaked, did you? Your coat didn't get dirty? Hooves still as they are?”
“No, no, none of that. Pinkie let me in before it got any worse.”
“Oh? Well how sweet of her. Did you two do anything?”
“Oh, no. Nothing special...” Her voice trailed off as she watched the ground in front of her. The faint clattering of hooves against cobblestone filled in the conversation before they reached the destination of interest. Rarity began talking about her business and various occurrences among the boutique that caused her trouble.
“It's really nice to be out after such work and stress. I can't tell you how many times Sweetie Belle had gone...” Fluttershy was no longer listening, her own mind lost in thought. As she thought more, she slowly drifted into empty staring, everything being droned out by a low hum. Her mind had left her body. She could only ride with the events, though there was nothing to really take her anywhere. The only thing she noticed was the bright ceiling. The longer she stared, the more it seemed to flicker. Eventually the white colour appeared to slowly melt down the walls. Watching in awe as the pale goop covered everything around her, it was then she came to her senses, all the sound rushing back to her. Her head snapped to the side.
“Rarity I--...” She stared, with no one in sight. “Where did she go?” Fluttershy whispered to herself. Turning to her other side, the walls continued to melt its colours. The lights became grey and the room around her slowly faded until a silhouette of two doors were left across the room from her. Looking around, she found herself to be in a hospital bed and gown, clueless as to what happened. The question was more rather “what happened”, if anything. Slowly removing herself from the stiff bed, she took more observance to her surroundings. A cold, checkered floor lied beneath her feet. Beside her was a nightstand with a small stack of brochures and a vase of flowers. She slowly headed to the door and poked her head out.
“Hello..?” Her call had a slight echo, despite the various nurses and doctors strolling through the halls.
“Oh, Fluttershy! I'm glad you're alright!” She was abruptly greeted with a hug. “I was so worried!”
“What happened?” Her voice barely made it out of her throat. It was dry and coarse.
“You sound like you could use a drink.” The two began to walk slowly.
“Yeah, I guess. So what happened? How'd I get here?”
“Well you were lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling when one of the spa girls were putting cream on your face. Hardly a quarter way in, you started losing your breath, gasping, and then...” Tears were forming and rolling down the unicorn's face. “and then... you just stopped. I couldn't see your eyes—they were totally white.” Her words were coming out in gasps now. “As soon as I saw, I panicked and wiped everything off your face and rushed you here.” Fluttershy, too, was crying with Rarity. “They told me you had a seizure and that your heart was straining. I didn't know how to respond and I.. I just...”
“Rarity...” Fluttershy was at a loss for words and simply held her dear friend close to her. “I'm so sorry.” She noticed she was feeling light-headed. “How about we get something to drink?”
“Yeah. That sounds good right now.”
“Yeah...,” Fluttershy whispered quietly. Her pace was quite slower than usual and her head slowly started to throb. “Actually...”
Rarity turned to her side and saw Fluttershy a tad stumbling. “Oh, you don't look well at all, dear.”
“Do you think you could send a drink to my room? I don't think I'm able to carry myself.”
“Of course, darling!” The white unicorn trotted off to the hospital cafeteria.
The frail pegasus quietly walked back to her room. With a small grunt, she heaved herself to her bed, finding her head heavier than usual. Her vision was fuzzy and she couldn't hold her head straight. She stared at the wall until she heard voices outside the door. Rarity slowly walked in, finishing a conversation with another unicorn stallion of similar colours. She pushed a cart to the side of the bed, it holding today's serving and a glass of water.
“Who was that?” Fluttershy asked as she took the glass eagerly, not stopping to breathe as she drank it dry.
“Oh, he's just a visitor. His wife had a bit of an accident. He seems pretty fair, though.”
Fluttershy could only nod. This was typical of Rarity almost every place they went. A sight caught her eye. A certain pony was at the door, trying (unsuccessfully) to conceal themselves.
“Rarity, I'll have to stop you there. I think you should get home. It's certainly not an hour to be at a hospital. And thank you for helping me and coming in to make sure I was okay.”
“O-oh, that's alright, dear. You're welcome.” She nodded and began to trot out of the room. “Be careful now, you hear?”
A section of fluffy hair that was hiding behind the door slowly to reveal the pony it belonged to. The pink mare popped her head and hooves to meet her eyes with Fluttershy's. She slowly trotted in, carrying a small bunch of balloons, a saddlebag on her back.
“Can you believe how hard it is to bring a party into a hospital? I tried bringing much less than I usually would, but they still rejected quite a lot. I mean, I can't bring poppers, candles, or any sort of fun stuff like that. They did let me bring a small cake, though.” Pinkie took out a packaged cake and set it on the nightstand beside the bed, opening it for both of their eyes to admire. “See? Isn't it magnificent?” The pink earth pony lightly bounced around. Fluttershy giggled. “They said you were asleep for a whole day! I couldn't believe it! I hope you're feeling well enough to eat. I'd hate for a cake to go to waste.” She nuzzled Fluttershy's belly, causing the two of them to blush.
“I guess I can have a little...”
Pinkie began to talk about her last two days as they nibbled at their cakes. Not much had actually happened. “Applejack finally accepted going off season. The trees began hibernation and almost all the apples were bucked. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had an increase in demand for fruitcakes, which aren't much of a cake in actuality. I mean, they're called fruitcakes, but they don't taste like either of them! It doesn't even look like I cake! I really ought to complain to the pony who named them; it's ridiculous! Rarity's been doing frequent check-ups with the front desk to see if you were doing any better. Twilight's just been reading. Did you know she's gotten into baking, too? She's been looking at holiday cook books. I think I might want to borrow it from her some time. Everything in there looks delicious! And Rainbow Dash has-... Actually, I don't think I've seen Rainbow lately. She's been so scarce. I hope she's not gotten into any trouble.”
This alerted Fluttershy. She hasn't seen Rainbow in weeks. A pang of guilt surged through her as she empty-mindedly nibbled at her cake. The pink mare beside her noticed and gently nuzzled her arm.
“I know it's hard, Fluttershy, but you'll be okay. I'm sure she's fine. Besides, you've got me here with you. I'll be here to help if anything's ever wrong.” She promptly hugged the soft pegasus, stroking her back as she comforted. This eased her and the two resumed to smalltalk.
“Well, thank you for coming over, Pinkie. It was really sweet of you. I'm getting.... I'm getting sleepy, so I'll see you when I'm let out. Thank you.” With a friendly hug, the pegasus lied down and rested her eyes. The pink earth pony watched as her friend drifted to sleep and slowly walked out of the hospital door.
Heading outside, the sky began to sprinkle with snowflakes. The hospital lights beamed and reflected off the falling ice. It was a night to behold, but to behold it with someone dear. Her hooves made a silent clop with each step against the cobble as she made her way home.