Chapter 4:
The day dawned crisp and cool, with pale grey cloud cover and a breeze that sent the fallen leaves dancing across the ground in a swirl of autumnal color. There was a hint of moisture in the air, but as far as Rarity knew, the Weather Patrol had no rain showers scheduled for today. Still, the chill in the air put her in the mood for something warm and comforting, so she bundled up in a scarf and hat, then slipped quietly out of the boutique.
The delightful aroma of cinnamon and apples already filled the air, drifting from Sugarcube Corner. The Cakes were both early risers so they could supply Ponyville with their delicious baked goods. With the abundant harvest from Sweet Apple Acres, it seemed apple muffins and cakes were on the menu.
“Hi Rarity!” A bright pink pony with wildly curly hair greeted the unicorn at the door. She carried a small basket covered with a blue checkered cloth. “This is funny running into you here because I was just on my way to your house! Don’t you think that’s funny? Of all the ponies to show up at the door...I’ll bet you woke up thinking that some muffins would be really nice on a cold day like this and I woke up thinking that you and Rainbow Dash would probably want muffins on a cold day like this, especially poor Rainbow Dash…I know I sure like a good, hot muffin when I’m sick!”
Rarity blinked, startled by Pinkie Pie’s sudden appearance, though she was not at all surprised by her rapid fire speech or the fact that she knew about Rainbow Dash’s illness. Such odd insight was an everyday occurrence with the hyperactive pony.
“Oh, good morning, Pinkie…you’re up early. Yes, I thought some warm muffins would be just the thing on a morning like this.” She glanced over her shoulder at the grey sky and winced as a cold droplet of water struck her nose. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was going to rain.” She shivered delicately, then smiled down at the basket. “Are they apple cinnamon?”
“Mm hmm! Applejack dropped off a big, huge, giant bushel of apples last night. We’ve got so many apples we don’t know what to do with them all. We’re making cakes and fritters and turnovers and muffins…such yummy, yummy muffins! I know these are some of Rainbow Dash’s favorites. Is it true Dashie is covered with lots of spots?”
“Unfortunately yes. She’s very sick with pegapox…she can’t even fly right now, so she’s staying with me and Sweetie.”
The pink pony’s cheerful grin fell and she shook her head. “That’s too bad.” Perking up again, she continued, “Maybe she should come stay here with me! I’ll take extra super duper looper care of her!”
Rarity chuckled uneasily. “Yes, well, Pinkie, that was mentioned actually…and Rainbow did say that you’re one of her best friends…but right now what the poor dear needs is lots of peace and quiet and it will be hard for her to get that above a bakery.” She paused to breath deep of the delicious aroma of baking muffins. “Especially with such delightful treats to draw everypony here. The boutique is much quieter. But I’m sure she would love to have you visit...”
“Oh.” Pinkie looked disappointed again.
“Besides,” Rarity quickly went on, “I’m sure you’ll be far too busy here since the Cakes absolutely depend on you.”
“I guess…” Her bright blue eyes began to sparkle. “And I’ll be busy planning too!”
“Planning?”
“Yes! Dashie’s gonna need a party when she’s all better. All that time cooped up in bed with nothing fun to do…ooh! I know! I can make her a fun package with games and music and toys—”
“That’s a fine idea, darling! You can bring it by later…maybe with some more muffins?” The unicorn pulled the basket closer with a hoof, briefly closing her eyes with pleasure as apple-scented steam wafted up from beneath the cloth. “And I should really be getting back, dear. I’m sure Rainbow and Sweetie will be waking up any minute.”
“Oki doki loki!” Cheered by the task before her, Pinkie Pie waved frenetically, then bounced back inside the bakery, the door slamming behind her. With a sigh of relief, Rarity picked up the basket in her mouth and cantered back to the boutique just as the sky opened up and fat drops of rain spattered down.
“That’s odd…I was sure there was no rain forecasted for today.” She slipped inside and hung her scarf and hat by the door, shaking rain from her mane. “Brr…and it sure is cold.”
She heard clattering coming from the kitchen and followed the noise down the hall. Sweetie Belle was awake and hard at work, the counters covered with a messy array of dishes and boxes and bottles. The filly was standing on a stool, struggling to reach a jar of cocoa powder on the top shelf. Her little horn glowed as she tried to levitate it down, but her magic powers were not fully developed and she could manage little more than an erratic wobble.
“Sweetie! What in the world…oh, don’t move, darling!”
Her sudden appearance startled the little unicorn, who overbalanced on the chair and began swaying back and forth precariously. Rarity dropped the muffins and hurried across the room, catching her sister before she fell into an open bag of flour.
“Thanks, sis!”
“Darling, what are you doing in here? I’ve only been gone a few minutes.”
“Oh this? I’m going to make breakfast for Rainbow Dash!”
“Breakfast?”
“Uh huh…pancakes! I was thinking about it last night…maybe this is what I need to do to get my cutie mark. Maybe I’m going to be a nurse pony and I’ll help take care of everypony whenever they get sick or hurt!” She scrambled free of her sister’s hooves and clambered back onto the stool. “Do you think Rainbow Dash would like some cocoa with her pancakes? I can’t reach it and—what’s that smell?”
“Smell?” Rarity was looking helplessly around her normally spotless kitchen, wondering how a few moments of absence had resulted in a mess that would take hours to clean up.
“Yeah, it smells really good.”
“Oh, that…I got some apple muffins from Sugarcube Corner. It’s so cold out I thought something freshly baked would warm us right up.”
Sweetie Belle drooped visibly. “But what about my pancakes?”
“I didn’t know you wanted to make pancakes, darling.” Despite the mess, her sister’s forlorn eyes nearly broke the generous unicorn’s heart. “But I’ll tell you what…I will help you make some cocoa to go with the muffins today, and we’ll save the pancakes for tomorrow.”
“Well…” Sweetie looked ready to argue, but the aroma of muffins won her over and she hopped from the stool. “Okay. Mmm! These smell so good! Did Pinkie Pie make them?”
“Of course. Why don’t you get out a nice plate and some butter for them? I’ll start the cocoa and we’ll—”
“Aaiiiih!”
Sweetie dropped the basket of muffins and looked towards the kitchen door in shocked horror. “That was Rainbow Dash! Oh no! She’s dying!”
Rarity burst out laughing and quickly hugged her little sister. “No, Sweetie, she’s probably just having a nightmare—fevers can do that sometimes. The poor thing—it must have been a bad one.” Rarity quickly levitated the cocoa powder from the top shelf. “You stay here. I’ll go check on her.”
“Okay…” The filly didn’t look entirely convinced, but nodded. “I’ll get her some juice.”
She hurried to this important task while Rarity trotted upstairs and into Sweetie’s room.
“Rainbow, darling…are you alright? Did you have a night—” She stopped in her tracks raising an eyebrow. “Um, what are you doing?”
Rainbow Dash was fully awake and pressed against the wall, all four hooves squeezed together on one of the bedposts, her chest heaving erratically and her mane and tail had standing straight up. Her eyes were wide and white, the magenta irises and pupils shrunk in her terror. Seeing Rarity, she pointed a trembling hoof down at the little chartreuse teddy bear lying on one of the pillows.
“H-h-how did th-that g-get there?” she stammered.
Rarity laughed for the second time in as many minutes. “I put it there yesterday afternoon, remember? Really, Rainbow…it’s just a teddy bear.”
The pegasus shook her head emphatically. “N-no…I moved it before I went to sleep last night. It wasn’t…I didn’t…I swear that I…” She swallowed hard, her mane dropping back against her neck. “Rarity, it’s staring at me.”
“Darling, you’re being silly…it must be the fever.” Rarity scooped up the bear and plunked it on Sweetie’s desk. “Come down from there. Honestly, I don’t know how you manage to perch like a bird on tiny things like fenceposts and branches and headboards, yet you still crash into barns and houses on a daily basis.”
“Not a daily basis.” Rainbow cast the bear a wary, suspicious glance, then crept down to the bed and slipped down between the covers once more. Rarity tucked them around her and held up the thermometer.
“Open up.”
Rainbow opened her mouth without a struggle this time and even suffered the unicorn to feel her forehead with a hoof. Her fever was still high, making her mane cling damply to her face and neck.
“Are you feeling any better this morning? No? Well, I have something that will cheer you up…freshly baked apple cinnamon muffins! I got up early and went to Sugarcube Corner…so they’re still warm and steaming from the oven. Sweetie’s downstairs getting one ready for you with a cup of cocoa. I’d say that’s just the start for such a cold, rainy day, wouldn’t you?”
Rainbow Dash sat up with a start, looking confused. “Waiwy?”
“What was that?”
“Waiwing? Iz waiwing?”
“What in Equestria is a waiwing? Is that some kind of bird?”
Rainbow shook her head and pointed a hoof at the curtained window. “Wain!”
“Oh!” Rarity laughed as she finally understood. “Rain! Why didn’t you just say so? Yes, it’s raining…it started when I was leaving Pinkie’s.” She opened the curtain to show her patient the heavy droplets sheeting hard against the glass. “Fall is definitely here. But I must have gotten the days wrong—I didn’t think we were getting rain for a few more days.”
“Nt spsd wain!”
“I’m sorry? Honestly, darling, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Rarity closed the curtain and trotted back to the bed, plucking the thermometer from Rainbow’s mouth with her magic and checking the reading.
“I said, it’s not supposed to rain today!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her voice squeaking and breaking into a fit of coughs. “Who’ve they got doing the weather? It’s Cloudkicker, isn’t it? He can never stick to the schedule! Remember that big storm we had at the beginning of summer? All his fault, because he decided to skip a shower that was meant for the farms.” She slapped the blankets angrily with a hoof. “Ooh, when I get back on my wings I am going to give that pigeon-headed pony a piece of my mind! You know he’s been trying to steal my weather duties out from under me, don’t you?”
Rarity had listened to this tirade with wide eyes. When Rainbow Dash finally paused for a breath, she interjected with a carefully straight face, “Well, I hardly think an unprecedented and cold storm like this is going to win him any votes to oust you, darling. Sit forward please.”
The flustered pegasus huffed but leaned forward so Rarity could plump her pillows. The motion made her cough violently, but she continued to complain about the unscheduled storm.
“This is all going to fall back on me, you know. I’m gonna get better and then I’ll have to work my feathers off just getting the weather back to normal. The mayor will probably even blame me when he decides to make it snow tomorrow or some—”
“Lie back.” Rarity didn’t wait for her to obey, but shoved her rather brusquely into the pillows and pulled the covers up to her chin. “Comfy?” She leaned over the pegasus until their noses were almost touching, staring sternly into her eyes until Rainbow Dash meekly nodded just to escape the glare. “Good. And don’t worry so much about the weather—a little rain is expected in autumn. I’m sure you can skip a storm next week or something and make up for—”
An incredibly loud crash from downstairs made them both jump in fright. A moment later, a tiny voice drifted up.
“Uh oh.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
Rarity groaned, hanging her head in despair. “That filly…” With a fierce glance at Rainbow and an order to remain in bed no matter what the vicious teddy bear did, she raced downstairs to the kitchen.
Suddenly reminded of Bobo’s presence, Rainbow leaned back in her elbows and watched the teddy bear closely. It stared beadily back, the sewn on grin seeming to sneer at her. She blew a snorting breath out her nose.
“I’m watching you,” she said, then yipped in fright when a strong gust of window shook the boutique and the bear toppled forward, tumbling off the desk to land on the floor. Rainbow Dash stretched her neck out, straining to keep it in view while staying safely under the covers. She fully expected the bear to leap over the edge of the bed at any second, so when Sweetie Belle pushed the door open and whispered good morning, she screamed and jumped backwards, falling off the mattress in a tangle of hooves, blankets, and feathers.
“Oh no! Are you alright! I didn’t mean to scare you!” The little unicorn bounded around her bed to help, but stopped when she saw Rainbow Dash sprawled upside down on the floor, her hind legs folded over her head so her tail swished in her eyes. Her spotted wings were flapping uselessly as she tried to unwrap herself from the blanket and muttered under her breath. Sweetie’s lip twitched and she began to laugh helplessly.
“What was that for? I only said ‘good morning’.” She watched Rainbow Dash struggle for a moment longer, then shook her head pityingly. “Hold on…you’re just making it worse.”
With the filly’s help, Rainbow managed to get free of the binding folds of blanket and fell over onto her side. With a groan, she sat up and rubbed her aching head, then hopped back into the bed.
“Do pegapox make you fall off things too?” Sweetie wanted to know. With an effort, she pulled the blankets back onto the mattress. “Because that was just weird.”
“No.” Rainbow petulantly smoothed the blanket and leaned back against the pillows. “It was the bear.”
“The be—oh!” Sweetie bounced to the floor and collected the fallen Bobo, placing him back on the bed. “He must have fallen off. You should keep him close, Rainbow Dash. He’ll take good care of you. He’s one of my favorites.”
Rainbow Dash stared at the bear now sitting only inches from her hoof and tried to think of a way to tell Sweetie that it was evil without hurting the filly’s feelings. But there was no denying the fondness in the unicorn’s green eyes as she looked at the bear and even Rainbow Dash had enough tact to swallow her words. Instead, she asked, “What was that crash down there?”
Sweetie ducked her head ruefully. “Oh, you heard that, huh?”
“Princess Celestia probably heard it in Canterlot. Did you knock down a wall or something?” She tipped her head to one side with a smile. “I’ve done that before.”
“No…I was getting you some juice and, well, I kinda spilled some flour…and the juice…and a brand new jar of cherries. But it’s weird…I thought Rarity was gonna yell at me when she came downstairs, but her eye only started twitching a little and then she said that you were lonely up here and you wanted me to keep you company.”
“Oh, uh…ye—” Rainbow Dash burst into a fit of coughing, doubling up on the bed from the sheer force of them.
“Ouch. That sounds bad,” Sweetie observed. “And you’ve got more spots than before… but don’t feel bad,” she added quickly when Rainbow Dash glanced at her from under her eyelashes. “They’re really pretty. At least the spots aren’t brown or a really ugly green. Rarity makes clothes with pink polka dots all the time.” Sweetie sat down on the floor, looking thoughtful. “So, what do you wanna do? You just woke up, so you’re not sleepy anymore, right? We could play a game or color or maybe I could put on a puppet show for you or…”
“Uh, Sweetie…” The pegasus cleared her sore throat with a small whimper. “You know you don’t have to hang out with me all day, don’t you? It’s Saturday. Don’t you usually play with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo all weekend?”
“I don’t mind! I’m gonna go over to Apple Bloom’s later do so some homework, but it’s too wet and cold to play outside.”
“Homework? On a Saturday?”
“We have to do a four page report.” Sweetie Belle stuck out her tongue in disgust. “How boring is that? We get to work together, but we have to turn it in on Monday. We’re gonna meet at Sweet Apple Acres so Applejack can tell us what farmer ponies do for irrigation.”
“Irrigation? Why didn’t you say so before? I can tell you all about irrigation.”
“You can? Really?”
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms over her chest and fixed the filly with a withering look. “Duh, weather ponies have to know about irrigation…we’re the ones who bring the weather to the farms. It’s important for us to know where to drop the rain so the ditches will channel it properly to the fields and orchards.”
“Ooh! Hold on!” Sweetie raced from the room to get her school saddlebags. When she returned, she plopped herself on the bed, notebook on the mattress before her, pencil held ready in her mouth. “Okay…how does a weather pony know where to send the rain?”
Rainbow Dash was still explaining the long standing relationship between Ponyville’s weather patrol and the farm ponies when Rarity arrived with a tray of muffins, juice, and steaming cocoa. The white unicorn looked slightly frazzled and there was still a dusting of flour in her purple hair, but she managed to smile.
“And what are you two discussing so seriously up here?” she asked.
“Rarity…you were wrong! Rainbow Dash does know all about irrigation! Farm ponies like Applejack need the weather ponies to make sure the rain goes to the right places. I can’t wait to show all this to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo—I’ll bet no one else in class is gonna write their paper from the weather si—ooh, those muffins smell good!”
While the filly helped herself to breakfast, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her friend. “What did she mean, you were wrong?”
“Wrong? Oh, it’s nothing. Here, I brought you some juice too and some cough medicine.” She poured a generous dollop of thick, green fluid onto a spoon. “That cough of yours is getting worse.” Lifting the spoon with her magic, she expertly popped it into Rainbow Dash’s mouth before the pegasus could protest.
Unprepared for the sudden, bitter taste, Rainbow Dash gagged and sputtered, then grabbed frantically for her glass of juice. Draining it in a single gulp, she made a face at Rarity.
“Yuck! A little warning next time?” She licked her lips and grimaced into the empty glass. “You’d think ponies would have figured out a way to make medicine taste good by now,” she muttered.
“I agree…but hopefully this will keep you from coughing so much. Now, have a muffin and some cocoa—even if you don’t feel like eating, you need to keep up your strength.” She gave Rainbow an apple muffin, watched her take a bite, then added almost as an afterthought, “Oh, by the way, Pinkie Pie will probably be stopping by later today with a…a care basket for you. And she’s already planning your party for when you’re better.”
Rainbow started to protest, but the delicious muffin buoyed her spirits. She shrugged resignedly and leaned over to sip her cocoa. “She’s Pinkie Pie. It was bound to happen. She can throw me a hundred parties if they all have muffins like this.”
“Well, that’s the spirit! Now, I have an order I have to work on today, Rainbow, but I’m going to be right downstairs, so you yell or send your ‘nurse’ if you need me.” She gestured to Sweetie Belle, who beamed at her with a cocoa mustache coloring the tip of her nose.
The little ‘nurse’ dutifully kept Rainbow company for the next hour, working on her essay and then playing another game of Bubble Jump. Sweetie was in the process of winning, again, when a cheerful voice exclaimed, “I love that game!”
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared on the bed, a bulging basket in her mouth.
“Hey, Dashie! Wow, look at you! If you get anymore spots, they’re gonna connect and you’ll look like me! Ooh! We’ll be twins! And I love the pjs! Is it true you can’t fly right now because you’re all spotty? I’ll bet you hate not being able to fly. I would hate not being able to fly too…well, I would if I had wings. Did you like the muffins? I love muffins on a cold day like today? It is really cold, isn’t it? I didn’t think it was supposed to rain today, but I had to walk all the way here in the rain, so I guess it was supposed to rain today, but it was alright because I had muffins for breakfast so I was nice and warm.”
She finally paused for breath, smiling brightly. Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash both stared, then exchanged glances.
“Whoa,” Sweetie murmured. “How does she do that without passing out?”
Rainbow shrugged. She had no idea.
“I brought you some goodies so you won’t be bored since you have to stay in bed for so long.” She pushed the basket closer to Rainbow Dash. “There’s books, and games, and stuff to color—I love to color when I don’t feel well—and some yummy snacks, and—”
“Aaahh!”
Rainbow had reached curiously into the basket, but jerked backwards, frantically shaking her hoof in an effort to dislodge the tiny, purple-eyed alligator that had clamped onto her.
“Oh, there you are, Gummy! I was looking for you everywhere!”
Laughing, Pinkie tugged the little reptile from Rainbow’s leg. Gummy snapped toothlessly onto her mane and hung there, blinking vapidly. “I guess he wanted to come and say get well to you, Dashie.”
“Gee…uh, thanks, Gummy.”
“Ooh! Look at all this stuff!” Sweetie Belle examined the contents of the basket and laid them out, piece by piece, on the bed. There were coloring books and crayons, card games, a packet of cookies, a yoyo, and several books bearing the stamp of the Ponyville Library. The cover of one had an elaborate picture of a pony in armor, wielding a long sword and battling a legion of goblin-like creatures.
“I took those out a few days ago from the library and I was supposed to return them, but then I heard you were sick and I got to thinking that you might like them, especially since you can’t really do much when you’re sick but lie in bed and I figured Twilight wouldn’t mind if I lent them to you first and brought them back a little late.”
“Cool! Thanks!” Contrary to belief, Rainbow Dash actually liked reading, but between her flight practice sessions, Weather Patrol chores, and her general dislike of sitting still for any extended period of time, she couldn’t find much time to curl up with a book. Now, with three weeks of enforced stillness to look forward to, she could probably get through half the library.
“That looks good!” Sweetie said.
“It is!” Pinkie Pie assured her. She stood on her hind legs and mimed swinging a sword through the air, then batted her eyes and fell into a phony swoon. “It’s about this really handsome prince who has to go on a long and dangerous journey to save the pony he loves, and along the way he meets all these really strange friends and fights these really big meanie monsters. But I’m not gonna tell you anymore because then it’ll ruin the surprise at the end and it’s a really, really good one. Oh! And one more thing…check this out, Rainbow Dash. You’re going to love this!”
Pinkie dove head first into the basket and emerged with the wooden handle of a bronze bell in her mouth. She shook her head from side to side and a loud, melodious note chimed out.
“Nice…what’s it for?”
“To ring when you need somepony to come and help you. You know, what if Rarity’s all the way downstairs and you really, really need her help but your throat hurts or you’re coughing too much to call her? Then you can just ring this and she’ll know to come!”
“Oh! Well…that can be useful I guess.”
“Useful and fun!” Pinkie shook her head back and forth rapidly, making the bell sing out until Rainbow winced and Sweetie covered her ears. When the pink pony finally stopped, her eyes shook briefly in her skull and she had to blink to straighten them again. Laughing, she placed the bell on Sweetie’s nightstand, within easy reach of Rainbow Dash.
“Did I hear something ringing in here?” Rarity suddenly appeared in the doorway with Twilight Sparkle at her side. The purple unicorn was wearing a heavy set of saddlebags and had a troubled look on her face that turned to surprise when she saw Pinkie Pie in the room.
“Oh, hey Pinkie.”
“Hi Twilight! See, Rainbow Dash? I told you it would work. Did you come to give Dashie a care package too? What’s in yours? Books, I’ll bet. I brought Dashie those books I took from the library—I hope you don’t mind.”
“Huh? Oh, uh, no…no, that’s alright.” Twilight glanced at the floor and scuffed a hoof on the rug. “Um…”
“That’s not a good look,” Rainbow Dash remarked, coughing into her hoof.
“Twilight’s had news from Canterlot,” Rarity said. She also looked subdued.
“What news?”
“It seems the pegapox has spread over Manehattan. We don’t know if your dorm mate was the first to have it or if she caught it from some other pegasus, but over half of the city’s winged ponies are grounded with spots. There are even a few cases reported now from Fillydelphia. It’s…” Twilight paused and fidgeted again. “It’s pretty bad, Rainbow. With so many pegasi down, the princess is worried that the rest won’t be able to manage the weather properly. She’s called out an Equestria wide quarantine for all pegasi showing symptoms so no other ponies will get sick.”
“Quarantine!” Pinkie repeated, looking shocked.
“All ill pegasi in Manehattan and Fillydelphia are ordered to present themselves at special infirmaries so they can be cared for by unicorns or earth ponies until they get better. And, uh, Princess Celestia wanted to know if we’d had any cases here in Ponyville and—”
“You didn’t tell her about me, did you?” Rainbow Dash was horrified and began to sink down beneath the covers. “I have to be quarantined? Is she gonna make me go back to Manehattan?” She was now buried beneath the blanket up to her nose, but her eyes were wide and upset. “I don’t want to leave—I feel awful. And do you have any idea how long it will take to get to Manehattan when I can’t fly?”
“Does Rainbow Dash really have to leave, Twilight?” Pinkie asked. She looked ready to cry. “Because she doesn’t have any friends in Manehattan to take care of her and make sure she gets plenty of rest and lots of juice and reads really good books so she won’t be bored and—”
“It’s alright, Pinkie!” Twilight interrupted. “Rainbow’s not going anywhere.”
“She’s not?”
“I’m not?” Rainbow had sunk even further under the blanket so only her magenta eyes, ears, and forelock were visible. Now she crept out again, staring at Twilight suspiciously. “So…you didn’t tell the princess I have pegapox?”
“Of course I did! I’m her most trusted student.” When Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle and Rarity gaped at her, she added, “But it’s alright. Rainbow has the only case of pegapox in Ponyville and we were very lucky that she didn’t meet up with any other pegasi when she got back from the city. Princess Celestia said she’d be better off staying here—there’s less of a chance that she’ll infect anypony. We just have to make sure she doesn’t have contact with any pegasi. So, Rainbow, you’re effectively under quarantine like all the others, but your quarantine is here in the Carousel Boutique.”
“Oh, well that’s not so bad!” Sweetie Belle piped up. “She was staying here anyway. We can take much better care of her than some stranger in an infirmary.” The little unicorn crossed the mattress to lean against the pillows beside Rainbow Dash and gave the pegasus a hug. Grinning at Twilight, she announced, “I think this could even help me get my cutie mark! Maybe I’ll be a nurse pony!”
Twilight smiled at the filly. She was always trying to gently guide Sweetie Belle and her friends in their search for their cutie marks. “Well, it looks like you’re in good hooves, Rainbow. I’ll write Princess Celestia and let her know. And in the meantime, I was reading through the book on herbal remedies and I whipped up a couple of tonics, a tincture or two, and even an herbal bath that might make you feel better.” She lifted a small, dark green bottle from her saddlebags and unstoppered it. Instantly, an incredibly sour, putrid odor filled the room. Rarity gasped, turning slightly green, while Rainbow and Sweetie Belle both hid their noses under the blankets.
“Twilight! What is in that stuff!” Pinkie Pie crept closer to the unicorn and leaned over to sniff the green fumes leaching from the bottle. She stiffened, her pink hair standing straight up, then toppled off the bed as her eyes rolled back in her head. A second later, she bounced up again and stuck out her tongue. “Yuck! You want Rainbow Dash to bathe in that stuff? She’ll smell like a skunk…oh, maybe it’ll make her look like a skunk too. Could you see Dashie with a black coat and white mane, though I guess she’d have a black coat covered with pink spots so she wouldn’t look completely like a skunk but…”
“Actually, that’s one of the tonics. She doesn’t bathe in it…she has to drink it.”
“What!” Rainbow pulled the blanket from her nose and stared at Twilight, outraged. “No way! Are you crazy!”
Ignoring her, Twilight stoppered the tonic, then removed a large paper envelope from her bags and opened it. “This is the herbal bathe,” she said, revealing a mixture of salt crystals, pink powder, and tiny leaves. A new smell filled the room, but this one was immensely wonderful, sweet and herbal and flowery all at once. “You just shake about a cupful of this into a hot bathe and soak until the water cools. It should help with your achiness.”
“And…that?” Rarity pointed a hoof at the tonic bottle.
“That one is for her sneezes. And I have one here to help lower your fever and…oh, this one is neat.” She lifted out a small clay jar and showed them a creamy salve that had a strong, almost minty smell that wasn’t unpleasant. Scooping out a dollop, she smeared it on Rainbow’s throat before the pegasus could stop her. The blue pony’s nostrils were immediately filled with the sharp smell and she winced, but as she breathed in she noticed that the annoying tickle she’d had in the back of her throat and the urge to cough had diminished. She took another deep breath and let it out in a snort of surprise.
“Whoa! That’s even better than Rarity’s cough syrup.”
“Really? Oh, good, because I wasn’t sure I was making it right and there was a slight chance that it wouldn’t stop your cough so much as set you on fire, but it looks like…” Twilight broke off with a nervous giggle when the other ponies all stared at her. “Well, anyway, these will make you feel a little better even if they can’t make the pegapox go away completely. I’m going to head home to write Princess Celestia and let her know how you’re doing.” She winked at Sweetie Belle. “And that you have a great nurse taking care of you here in Ponyville. Let me know if you want me to make any more of these.” She quickly emptied the contents of her saddlebags onto the nightstand and pointed out the hastily written labels that described what each one did.
“Thanks, Twilight. And tell the princess thanks too…you know, for not making me go back to Manehattan.”
“I will. Feel better, Rainbow. You’ll be good as new before you know it.”
“Ooh, Twilight, wait up. I’ll come with you. I need to take out some more books to read while I’m baking muffins.” Pinkie Pie bounced after the unicorn as she left the room and they could hear her babbling away all the way down the stairs. “What do you think is a good baking book? Something about volcanoes? Ooh, or how about a desert?”
“Well, that was nice of her,” Sweetie Belle spoke up when Pinkie’s voice had finally faded away. She hopped over Rainbow to inspect the array of bottles. “I wonder what’s in all of these?”
“It’s probably better if we didn’t know,” Rarity said dryly.
“Yeah, I agree,” Rainbow drawled. “In fact…um, dump that one down the sink for me, would you?”
“What?” Sweetie turned to scowl at the pegasus. “You can’t do that! Twilight made it for you so you would feel better.”
“If it’s a choice between sneezing and drinking that…stuff…I’ll sneeze my nose off. There’s no way I’m drinking that…whatever it is.”
“But it’s medicine. Medicine is good for you.”
“Sweetie, don’t badger her. If you want to know the truth, I probably wouldn’t take it if it was me.” Rarity lifted the bottle with her horn, her lip curling in disgust. “I don’t even think I could take opening this again.”
“But, Rarity! How am I supposed to become a nurse pony if I can’t even get my patient to take her medicine?”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the filly. “Tell you what, squirt, I’ll take some if you take some.”
“I…um…” Sweetie Belle glanced at the bottle, then back at the ill pegasus. “Uh…okay. I guess sneezes aren’t so bad.” A clock in the hallway started to chime and she gasped. “I have to go over to Apple Bloom’s and work on my report.” She grabbed her notebook and pencils, shoving them into her saddlebags. “Thanks for your help, Rainbow Dash! You get some sleep and drink lots of juice and I’ll read you our report when I get home!”
The filly skipped out of the room and Rarity waited for the sound of the front door slamming before smiling at Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, thank you for being so nice to her. I know this can’t be easy for you—being sick, being grounded, and now being quarantined—and Sweetie can be a little…enthusiastic.”
“It’s fine. She’s pretty cool.” Rainbow snuggled down in the bed and yawned suddenly. “Though she’s freaky with that Bubble Jump game…I think she cheats, but I can’t figure out how.”
“It’s uncanny, isn’t it? I haven’t won a single game against her yet.” Seeing that Rainbow Dash was getting drowsy, the white unicorn excused herself so her friend could get some sleep and went to her own room to work on the sewing order and pajamas she had started the night before. With Sweetie out of the house and Rainbow Dash sleeping, she had the peaceful atmosphere she preferred for her work. Even when Sweetie returned from Apple Bloom’s several hours later, she volunteered to bring juice and soup up to their guest, leaving Rarity to complete her work. The afternoon passed so smoothly that Rarity was startled to look up from her sewing machine and see that the sun had set.
Realizing she hadn’t heard from her sister or her friend in hours, Rarity trotted upstairs to Sweetie’s room, but froze in the doorway at what she saw.
The nightstand was still cluttered with Twilight’s remedies and empty juice glasses, but now held a pair of handmade Get Well cards from the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders and Sweetie’s report. Rainbow was curled under the blankets, her head resting on the pillows with her mane spread out in a messy fan. Sweetie Belle, a book tented open on her belly, was cuddled up beside her. Both ponies were sound asleep.
Charmed by the scene, Rarity crept into the room, carefully draped the blanket over her sister, and kissed her on the forehead. “Goodnight, darling,” she whispered, placing the book on the nightstand. “Keep this up and you’ll have that cutie mark in no time.”