"One of us should go to look after Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said.
"I volunteer," Rarity said. "I'll leave immediately, and you can all visit on the morrow."
"You can't go to Sweet Apple Acres right now. It's still raining!" Mrs. Bennet said.
"I'll take the carriage," Rarity said.
"No, you can't go out this late at—"
"Let Rarity be," Mr. Bennet said, stepping forward. "The last pony our daughters should listen to right now is you."
"Mr. Bennet!" Mrs. Bennet exclaimed.
"I like to think that I am a reasonable pony," Mr. Bennet said, in a tone of forced calm. "I put up with a lot of silly nonsense about stallions and marriages, because I love you. But I draw the line at almost murdering one of my daughters!"
"It was a dreadful accident—"
"NO!" Mr. Bennet said, clomping his hooves on the ground. "You should never have interfered in the first place! Fluttershy wanted to have lunch with Mr. Macintosh, and that was perfectly reasonable! I told you this! Fluttershy told you this! Everypony agreed a lunch would be sufficient!"
"I...just thought...dinner..." Mrs. Bennet said, sounding more like Fluttershy than herself.
"Instead, you forced Fluttershy to leave during a rainstorm," Mr. Bennet said. "Now she's lying on her deathbed. If she doesn't come out of this alive, I...I..."
"You'll dismiss me?" Mrs. Bennet gasped.
"I'm not sure what I'll do," Mr. Bennet said. He turned around. "In any case, Fluttershy's bed is now available, and I suggest you make use of it. You certainly shall not be sleeping in our bedroom tonight. Nor tomorrow, nor the next."
"Husband!" Mrs. Bennet said, grabbing Mr. Bennet's hoof. "I didn't mean for this to happen!"
A tear appear in Mr. Bennet's eye. "I want to be alone right now," he said. "Fluttershy is...she could be...where do we keep the key to the liquor cabinet?"
Rarity took the carriage to Sweet Apple Acres, but the farm was not designed for carriage traffic. She had to walk the last hundred yards on hoof, and by the time she arrived at the front door, she had been thoroughly rained on. Her hair was disheveled, and her petticoat had mud all over it, but she didn't care in the slightest.
Big Macintosh was at Sweet Apple Acres with his sisters and, much to Rarity's displeasure, Mr. Darcy. Darcy's mouth fell open in shock, when he saw Rarity's wet mane.
"Dear me," Mr. Darcy said. "Are all the mares in Ponyville so impetuous, as to walk in the rain without an umbrella?"
"I had no time to retrieve one," Rarity said. "My first priority was ensuring my sister's health."
Mr. Darcy nodded. "I confess I would probably act in a similar manner, were my sister Fleur to fall ill. Still, it is unseemly for a mare to appear—"
"Perhaps I did not make myself clear," Rarity said. "Fluttershy is my first priority, not engaging in idle chatter. Where is she?"
"We put her upstairs, in a guest room," Big Macintosh said. "I can take you there immediately."
"Please do," Rarity said.
"Hold it!" Applejack said. "First, get a towel from the linen closet and dry off! We can't have you trackin' mud all over the house."
Rarity scowled at her, then trotted off with Big Mac to get a towel. Applejack snorted, then walked over to Mr. Darcy, who watched Rarity leave from across the room. "What is with the mares in that family?" Applejack asked. "Do those fools want to catch their death of cold?"
"...Very attractive," Mr. Darcy muttered.
"What?" Applejack said loudly.
Mr. Darcy shook his head. "Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment there," he said. "What did you say, Miss Applejack?"
"You were makin' goo-goo eyes at that mare!" Applejack accused.
"I was not!" Mr. Darcy said. "I would never pay attention to a mare with such a bold attitude and...passionate devotion to her family and...long silky hair which reaches to the ground..."
Applejack snorted. "Typical stallion," she said. "A mare comes in, looking like a tramp, and all of a sudden, she has your complete attention. I'll have you know that's the mare you refused to dance with last night."
"The—what?" Mr. Darcy asked. "No, you misunderstand. The mare I refused to dance with was that plain-looking unicorn with the purple mane and—"
He paused. Miss Bennet did look a good deal like the mare who had just left the room. If she was the same mare he had declined to dance with...
"I...how do you know about that?" Mr. Darcy asked. "I didn't tell anyone, besides your brother."
"Shucks, everypony knows," Applejack said. "The story of you turning her down was the biggest gossip of the party."
Mr. Darcy gulped. "Oh, dear," he said.
Fluttershy was lying in a bed with thick covers, despite her complaints that it felt too warm. Rarity flung herself over her ailing sister's body, while Mr. Macintosh stood nearby in sober silence.
"Fluttershy, don't die!" Rarity sobbed. "You have too much to live for!"
"I...I'll be fine," Fluttershy said with a weak smile. She coughed heavily.
Rarity brushed her sister's hair aside. "Are you all right? Do you need water? An extra pillow?"
Fluttershy coughed some more. "I just...I need rest..."
"Your constitution is too delicate for a struggle like this," Rarity said. "If only we could afford a doctor! A thousand curses upon Collins!"
"Er...what?" Big Macintosh asked.
Rarity explained. Their father's estate made about a quarter of a million bits per year. Since Equestrian law favored male inheritors, and all of the Bennet children were female, most of the family's money went to an unknown cousin named Mr. Collins.
"That slime Collins took advantage of a legal loophole!" Rarity said angrily. "I don't care if there are fewer stallions than mares! That doesn't mean they should get preferential treatment! He's been stealing our money for years, even though he's just a colt!"
"That doesn't seem fair at all," Big Macintosh agreed. He shuffled towards the doorway.
"Where are you going?" Rarity asked.
"To get a doctor," he said. "Since y'all can't afford one, I'll pay for it. I don't want to see Fluttershy sick any more'n you do."
Rarity was struck by Mr. Macintosh's generosity towards a girl he had only met the night before. "That...that's very kind of you," she said.
"It's the least I can do," Big Mac said. "I'm the reason she was walking in the rain, after all." He nodded, then left the room.
"You know, Fluttershy..." Rarity said softly. "Maybe you have a chance of marrying Mr. Macintosh after all."
Fluttershy coughed.