I woke up feeling like my body was made of bricks and my head was full of fog. I couldn't find the energy to move my legs or wings, and breathing through my nose as normal was almost impossible.
Skyla, in her bed across the room, was asleep until mom shouted, "Girls, breakfast is ready!" As usual, she woke up and shot out of our room in seconds.
Through the open door, I smelled nothing. "Inova, roll out," I tiredly said to myself before putting in what felt like ten times the usual effort to slowly roll over and get the day started. I succeeded, but I didn't get my legs under my body in time, so I fell onto the floor in a heap.
Mom appeared a moment later. "Inova, are you okay?" I tried to use words to answer her, but the haziness in my head and the pain from the fall only let me groan, then something in my throat made me cough for a bit. Once the coughing ended, she put a hoof on my forehead, right under my horn. "A fever! Inova, you are not going to school today!" Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't argue. Focusing on anything was nearly impossible. "Just stay there. I'll be right back." She left the room.
Dad came in a moment later and put a hoof on my forehead. "This is bad. Honey, we should probably take Inova to the hospital!"
Focusing on mom and dad's conversation was difficult, especially with a tickling sensation in my nose. A few shallow breaths later, I sneezed the strongest sneeze I'd ever sneezed. It stung my throat and blasted a lot of green stuff from my nose onto one of dad's shields. In my daze, I could swear I saw a little trickle of red and some splotches of white in the snot. My sense of smell briefly came back, and I could smell iron, though it hurt to breathe.
I didn't resist or fight against dad levitating me onto his back. There was no energy in me to panic or care.
He went out to the living room. "Meet me there after you take Skyla to school."
"Yes, dear," mom said. "Now go."
Without another word, dad turned and left home. Before long, he was in a full gallop, and the world was going past me in a blurry haze of colors and sounds.
I was doing my best impression of a rag doll on the bed in the doctor's office. Dad had caught more of the stuff I'd sneezed out on the way in his shields, and the doctor had taken it somewhere.
While the doctor was away, mom showed up. "What's going on with Inova?"
"The doctor's testing the stuff she sneezed out," dad said. "I think she might have the pony pox."
"It's probably just a bad cold. I hope."
The time dragged by in silence, broken only by my sniffles, rough breathing, and assurances from mom and dad that I would be okay. Whatever was going on with me was not fun.
Finally, the doctor came in with a clipboard in his magic. "We've figured out what's going on with Inova," he stated. "She's sick with the pony pox and a bad cold at the same time."
Both of my parents gasped. "Is there any kind of treatment we can give her?" Mom pleaded.
"Rest, plenty of fluids, and some common medicine that'll work on both diseases, though the safe doses for her will take longer to work. I am curious, though. How did she contract the pony pox? Shouldn't she have gotten the vaccine for that?"
"About that. She was in first grade when we tried. . ."
"It'll only sting for a moment," Cadence gently assured Inova. "It's very important to keep you from getting sick."
Inova was in the corner of the room, staring in terror not at the doctor, but at the needle in his magic. "No! No no no!"
"A strong princess needs every advantage possible," the doctor calmly said. "A sick princess isn't powerful."
As the doctor slowly approached the hyperventilating Inova, a bright glow surrounded her horn and her eyes lit up with raw energy. "NO!"
Cadence used her levitation to pull the doctor away just before a blast of magic came from the fearful filly, blasting a large circular hole through three walls and scorching the fourth. The only pony harmed was the doctor, with some of his tail coming out slightly singed. The syringe sat shattered and bent on the floor, wasted and unusable.
When the magic surge ended, Inova remained standing, though on shaky legs. She was still looking fearfully around, waiting for the next needle.
Cadence looked at her with a bit of awe. "She's still standing and alert. Doctor, I don't think this is a good idea."
"We can try again." At those words, Inova's horn lit up again. "But yes, that sounds like a bad idea." The glow vanished. "No chance of waiting for her to pass out, is there?"
"I will not betray her trust like that, doctor. If she catches the pony pox, she will suffer through it."
"Alright. I will make a note of her adverse reaction to needles. Have a good day."
Assured that the threat was over, Inova promptly collapsed. She didn't even react to Cadence levitating her onto her back.
"So that's what those orange circles are about in the walls." The doctor looked at the one in the office we were in, the same one from mom's story. "I just transferred in from Canterlot, and nopony told me about those. I thought it was just decoration."
"Nope. As long as it's an oral medication, Inova probably won't resist it. The trick is to keep Skyla away from it."
"It might be as simple as telling her it's medicine for her sister. Skyla cares about her, right?"
"She was pretty sad about Inova not walking to school today, so that might work."
Hearing that Skyla missed me brought me a small amount of happiness. It wasn't enough to do anything against my blegh mood, but it did bring a brief smile to my face.
"We'll put it behind the wards against her just to be safe," dad added.
"I'll write out a three week prescription, then," the doctor said. "It should be more than enough. Here you go, and I hope Inova gets better soon."
"Thank you." Mom floated me onto her back and we left the office. As I rode out, I let myself doze off. Despite missing breakfast, I wasn't feeling hungry, and food just didn't sound appetizing.
Inova Falls Sick
It has been confirmed that Princess Inova has fallen ill, contracting both a bad cold and the pony pox at the same time. While Skyla is still going to school as normal, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor are staying home to tend to Inova. So far, nopony else in Pristine Pearl or the royal family has fallen ill with what Inova has caught.
Inova is taking medication to help her fight off the cold and pony pox, and is sleeping most of the time. When she's awake, she seems rather loopy, and sometimes talks about praising The Grandfather, which she insists is not her own grandfather. She has not given any other details on this Grandfather she talks about.
She didn't react to Pinkie Pie and Discord appearing and acting out a ceremony praising The Grandfather while she was in a cauldron shaped hot tub he had summoned. It's possible that she was loopy enough to not even notice their antics.
Two weeks later
I woke up feeling sore, hungry, and a bit confused. My body ached, yet I couldn't remember doing anything strenuous. My stomach was even worse, and I was craving pancakes.
I rolled out of bed as usual, before Skyla did, and stumbled a bit. My legs felt like I hadn't used them for a while, and looked a bit thinner than I remembered. My wings were a bit droopy and needed grooming badly. Under them, I thought I saw some of my ribs.
The door slowly opened, and mom entered. She looked surprised to see me. "Inova? Are you okay? Is your nose still clogged?"
"I'm hungry," I said. The gargantuan growl from my stomach was enough to take my legs out from under me. "Ow. Can I have some pancakes?"
"Pancakes it will be, then."
"Pancakes?!" Skyla woke up as normal, then she saw me and gasped. "Inova lives! She can have my pancakes, mom."
Both of us looked at her in surprise. Her giving up food was incredibly rare. The only other time I could remember her doing that was after Nightshade flung my lunch away at school.
"I'll get started on it, then." Mom left the door open and went to go make breakfast.
Skyla got her head under mine and helped me get back onto my hooves. "You got this, sis. Mom's pancakes are the best and you're going to eat a whole mountain of them!"
"Yeah, I think I will." I was still a bit shaky, so Skyla helped me get to the dining room. "What day is it, anyways?"
"It's Saturday."
"Really? It feels like Wednesday for some reason."
When we got to the dining room, the first thing I noticed was the delicious smell of mom cooking breakfast. The second thing I noticed was a stack of folders at my spot on the table. For the first time I could remember, it looked like I was going to do my homework at home.