Chapter 28
I carefully made my way to the side of Fluttershy's bed, wary of the many tissues littering the bedroom floor. Fluttershy was a wreck. Her eyes and nose were puffy and red, a small trickle of mucus hanging from her nose. She shivered slightly as I placed my palm to her forehead. She was burning up and yet huddled as tightly as possible in her blankets.
Taking my hand back, being sure to wipe off the fever sweat off on my pants, I ran to the bathroom to grab a wet cloth. Folding it up and gently placing it on her forehead, Fluttershy stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
"Oh... Hello David, What are you *sniff* doing here?" Fluttershy asked with a weak smile followed shortly after by a fit of sneezes.
"I just came to see how you were doing. Would you like anything? Food, water, more tissue?" I replied While going around the room, picking up discarded tissues.
"Thank you, but I'm okay, really."
I gave her a dead pan look as she broke out into another fit of sneezes. When she finally recovered and used the tissue I handed to her she looked up at me with apologetic eyes. "Okay maybe a cup of tea?" Fluttershy asked with a blush and a small grin.
"Coming right up!" I said with a smile as I headed towards the kitchen.
I returned moments later with two mugs of tea and a fresh box of tissues for the sick Pegasus. She thanked me quietly as I handed her a mug of hot tea and we soon lapsed into a comfortable silence as we enjoyed the hot beverage, only interrupted by dainty sneezes every now and then by the yellow mare by my side.
Eventually I heard Shy shuffling her hooves around nervously. She was staring deep into her half empty mug in thought.
"What's on your mind?" I asked, causing the poor mare to start and look up at me quickly.
"Oh, um... I was just thinking. What are we going to do about the show? I mean, if I don't get better in time then we can't play and I-" I cut off her rant as I grabbed hold of one of her hooves. She looked at me, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
"It'll be okay, you getting better is more important at the moment. No sense getting upset about something we can't control, right?"
She didn't reply, opting to look back into her mug and take a small sip.
"Right?" I asked one more time, tilting her chin up with my hand and giving her a caring smile.
"Uh... r-right." She stammered before giving me a smile of her own and leaning over and giving me a light hug before laying back down.
"Good. Now, you look hungry, I'm gunna go whip us up some soup. Any preferences?" I asked as I stood up from my spot on the beds edge.
"A-alphabet, please."
"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't quite here you."
"Alphabet, please" She repeated with a small blush on her cheeks and she gave me a sheepish grin.
"Coming right up, Shy." I said with a chuckle as I head back to the kitchen.
Twilight showed up not long after we had finished eating. I explained to her the situation at hand and she understood completely, although she still seemed a little upset that we may not even play in the battle of the bands if Fluttershy isn't better in time.
Fluttershy was taking it the worst, claiming she was perfectly healthy and could perform anyways. I wasn't having any of that though. The last thing she needed was to over exert herself. No, what needed was plenty of rest and lots of fluids.
We all hung out for a little while longer before Fluttershy started nodding off. Taking that as our cue to leave, Twilight and I said our goodbyes and headed out the door. It was late afternoon and the sun was just sitting over the horizon. Seeing that it was a nice evening, Twilight and I decided to go for a walk around the town.
Ponies were out and about, enjoying the evening rays of sun as they went about their business, throwing a casual nod or wave our way as we passed by.
The walk was silent for a while, just the two of us enjoying each others company and the cool breeze that graced Ponyville that evening.
"Are you sure you're okay with this, David? I know how much you were looking forward to the show." Twilight asked as we walked to nowhere in particular. I gave her a sidelong glance before looking out at the horizon and letting out a light sigh.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sure it sucks that we may not get to play, but I'd feel better knowing that Fluttershy's feeling better before we perform and all." Taking that as a suitable answer, we continued our walk in silence .
We found ourselves in the middle of a park just passed Twilight's library in no time and we decided to take a seat on one of the nearby benches.
"I wouldn't mind going to check out some of the other performers though." I finally said as a passing couple walked by with their foal.
"Yeah, It would be interesting to see who we would have been playing against. But what about Fluttershy?"
"I guess it would depend on how she's feeling in a couple days... That and it wouldn't feel right going without her..." I stared at the ground in thought, Twilight doing the same.
A cold breeze swept through the park, eliciting a a shiver from my purple pony companion. "Come on, we should head home, It's getting pretty late." I said, looking out at the horizon, the sun barely visible now beyond the mountains. "We can talk with Fluttershy tomorrow and try and figure something out."
Twilight gave me a tired smile and a nod as we got up and headed home. Twilight gave me a light hug as we stopped at the Library. Saying our goodbyes, I went on my way back to the cottage to check on the little sick pegasus before going to bed.
It was going to be a long day tomorrow. Hopefully Fluttershy gets better soon.