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// Always by Your Side 
// Story: Always by Your Side 
// by GunsNRoses365 
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It was another gorgeous and peaceful morning in the land of Equestria. In her cottage, Fluttershy was heading upstairs to wake her son, Lightning Twister. Going upstairs and down the hall she hummed a happy tune to herself until she reached her son's room. She then knocked on the door and went inside.

"Lightning, Sweetheart, It's time to wake up." She said sweetly with a smile on her face.

However, the smile on her face quickly disappeared when she saw Lightning Twister hold his head as well as covering his ears. 

"Ow, M-Momma, please don't talk so loud, m-my head really hurts."  He said as tears stung the edges of his eyes.

Fluttershy looked at her son with concern and started to go over to his side. As she got closer and closer, a look of shock formed on her face. She saw the Lightning was sweating a lot. 

"I-I don't feel very good, M-Momma." Lightning said in a very hoarse and pain filled tone of voice.

Fluttershy stared at her son in shock for a moment when she heard him speak. She then pulled the covers off him slightly, and placed an ear on his chest, his breathing sounded as raspy as his voice. She then placed a hoof on his forehead, but quickly put it away when she found out he was burning hot to the touch, it was a very high fever. Fluttershy became instantly worried, there was something very wrong with her son. 

Lightning then began to cough very violently, almost to the point where he couldn't catch his breath. He eventually stopped and felt his eyes closing.

"All right, Lightning, I'm going to go get the doctor to come look at you, you try to go back to sleep until I come back." She said very softly so she didn't hurt his ears again. 

The moment the word "sleep" left his mother's mouth, Lightning passed out as his raspy wheezing became more audible. Fluttershy pulled the covers all the way back over her son and quickly ran out of the cottage and into town at a speed that would give Rainbow Dash a run for her money.

After about twenty minutes Fluttershy was back home gently stroking her son's mane as he slept peacefully with a wet cloth she placed over his head to help try to lower his fever. By they're side was a young stallion that had recently moved into Ponyville, and much to Fluttershy's luck and happiness he was a house call doctor. The doctor placed a stethoscope over the sleeping Lightning's chest and moved it around for a few minutes, as Fluttershy sadly stared at her ill child. The doctor eventually put the stethoscope away, and took out a thermometer he had placed in the young colt's mouth. He then stood up and looked at Fluttershy as she did the same.

"Well, Ms. Fluttershy," he said to her softly and quietly so he didn't wake Lightning. "It seems that your son has the flu. It's not life threatening, but it's still a very bad case."

Fluttershy let out a sad sigh and nodded her head. The doctor chuckled and gave her a soft smile.

"Don't worry, Ms. Fluttershy," he said to her "Your son's going to be just fine, I'll give you everything you need to help him." The doctors face then turned much more serious. "However, the flu will sap the strength of a child his size and age, so he's going to be very weak for a while. You'll have to physically carry him and feed him for a few days until he gets back enough strength to move around and eat on his own."

Fluttershy nodded her head, understanding what the doctor was telling her. He then handed her a small bottle with a dark blue liquid inside.

"Have your son drink this medicine when he wakes up, to help lower the pain he feels in head." The doctor said to her as he stood up and prepared to leave.

Fluttershy was about to give him a few bits for his services and he smiled and shook his head.

"I'll let this one be on the house, Ms. Fluttershy." He said as he turned around.

Thank You very much, Doctor." Fluttershy said with a smile. 

The doctor smiled at her and replied, "You're very welcome, I hope your son gets better very soon."

With nothing left to be said, the doctor left the cottage and the sound of the closing door echoed through the halls and reached Lightning Twisters room. Slowly Opening his eyes he looked into his mothers loving eyes as she gave him a soft smile and held his small body in her forelegs. 

"H-hi *cough* *Cough* Momma." He wheezed almost inaudibly. 

Fluttershy wanted to cry right then and there, her son looked pale and weak and she was hating every second of seeing him in this kind of state. However she tried to keep positive thoughts in her mind because the doctor had told that even though he was very sick it wasn't life threatening and he would feel better in a few weeks.

"Hi, sweetheart, how are you feeling?" She asked him sweetly.

Lightning looked at her sadly and replied, "I feel bad."

Fluttershy simply nuzzled her son before saying, "Your very sick right now, Lightning, but I'm going to take care of you and help you feel better."

Lightning stared at his mother until he felt his eyes closing so he could sleep, but Fluttershy shook her head letting him know to stay awake for a few minutes. 

"I know you want to sleep, sweetie, but the doctor told me to give you some medicine when you woke up." 

Lightning's vision was a little blurry, but he was able to make out the bottle of medicine in his mothers hoof. 

"It's not going to taste good, but it will help your head not hurt so much." Fluttershy said to her son softly as he let out a violent series of coughs.

Fluttershy then gently laid Lightning's body down so she could get the medicine ready. She put some of the medicine in a small teaspoon that the doctor gave her. She then very gently held Lightning's upper body in the crook of her foreleg so she could support him. Lightning stared at the medicine even though in his eyes it looked like nothing but a dark blue blur. 

"All right, sweetheart, here we go." Fluttershy said softly to Lightning, as she brought the medicine to his mouth.

Lightning opened his mouth and Fluttershy put the medicine inside and let it run down his throat. Lightning instantly began to gag at the terrible taste of the medicine but Fluttershy kept a gentle but firm grip on him so he didn't move around too much. She then fed him one last spoonful of the medicine as he did the same thing as before when the horrible tasting liquid went into his mouth. 

Lightning looked at his mother with concern, he didn't want to take the medicine again, he just wanted to sleep.

Fluttershy softly giggled and said, "Don't worry, sweetie, we're done for now." 

Lightning nodded his head as sleep began to over come him. Fluttershy very gently placed him back down and pulled the covers over him. 

She then gave him a soft smile and said, "All right, Lightning, I'm going to give you a bath, you can sleep right now if you want to while I go get the bath ready. 

Lightning nodded his head and closed his eyes. He then was sleeping soundly in a matter of seconds. Fluttershy stared at her son sadly before standing up and leaving the room. She then went into the bathroom and started the bath, only putting a little bit of water in the tub since Lightning couldn't move. She then went back to Lightning's room and pulled the covers off of her son. She decided not wake Lightning up since she was going to bathe him and he needed all the rest he could get. 

Being as careful as possible, Fluttershy gently picked up her son without waking him and held him like a newborn child with his head resting in the crook of her foreleg. The sweat pouring from his fur drenched her fur, but she didn't care. She hoped this would help cool his body down a little bit. Without saying a word Fluttershy flew to the bathroom as she listened to her sons raspy breathing. 

When she arrived at the bathroom she went inside and gently placed her son in the tub of cool water. She then got into the tub herself and held Lightning close to her as took a sponge and began to gently scrubbed him as he slept. While she scrubbed she hummed a soft song in his ear as he rested his head against her neck. When she was finished she got out of the tub with Lightning in her forelegs and began to dry him of softly but thoroughly. 

Once Lightning was good and dry, he was back in his room and in his bed in about a minute. Fluttershy then put a thermometer in his mouth to check his temperature, and she smiled when she saw his fever went down a little bit, but it was still very high. Fluttershy then took a bowl of water she had made when the doctor came and placed a new cloth in it. She let it sit for a minute, before taking it out and squeezing all of the excess water out of it. She then put the cloth on Lightning's forehead to help keep his fever down. 

Watching her son sleep for a moment she nuzzled his cheek to wake him. Lightning's eyes opened slowly and he was able to see his mother through his blurry vision. Fluttershy nuzzled his cheek again for a few minutes to give both him and herself some comfort. Lightning nuzzled his mothers cheek as well until he let out another violent series of coughs. Fluttershy stopped nuzzling him and started to stroke his back to calm him down a little bit. 

"Alright, sweetheart, I'm going you a bowl of soup so you can eat something, I'll be right back."

"Alright, Momma." Lightning replied hoarsely.

Fluttershy smiled at Lightning and flew out of the room. In the kitchen she began making a small bowl of daffodil soup because she knew that Lightning probably wouldn't eat much. Once the soup was finished she took it carefully and flew back upstairs. When she entered Lightning's room she placed the bowl on a nightstand beside Lightning. 

The delicious smell of the soup filled the air and entered Lightning's nostrils. Fluttershy sat down on the side of the bed and sat her son up straight and made sure he was comfortable. She then took a spoonful of the soup and blew on it feeding it to lightning who weakly opened his mouth. 

He was only able to eat about three bites before saying, "I *cough* *cough* *cough* can't eat anymore M-Momma"

Fluttershy nodded her head and set the spoon down before tucking lightning back into the bed as sleep began to overcome him once more. Fluttershy figured that all he should do now was sleep for the rest of the day.

"Alright sweetheart," Fluttershy said softly to her son. "You get some rest for a while and I'll come back later and read you a bedtime story."

Lightning smiled at the thought of that, he always enjoyed his mother reading to him at night but right now all he wanted to sleep. Fluttershy gave him a soft kiss on the cheek as began to leave the room only for Lightning to call out her name.

"M-Momma!" He called hoarsely

Turning around Fluttershy went back over to him and looked at him.

"Thank you for *cough* *cough* taking care of me." He said softly.

Fluttershy smiled and nuzzled his cheek while saying, "Oh, sweetheart you don't have to thank me, this is just what mothers do. They take care of their little ones, and I will always be by your side to take care of you when you need me."

Lightning said nothing and wrapped his little forelegs around Fluttershy's neck as he nuzzled her cheek. The two soon broke the embrace only for Lightning to speak up once more.

"Momma," He said softly "Could you stay with me for a little while longer while I sleep?"

Fluttershy simply nuzzled Lightning again and said, "Of course I will my sweet baby boy."

Lightning smile kissed his mothers cheek and laid his head back down on the pillow as sleep overcame him once again. He then slept peacefully as his mother smiled at him and began humming a soft song to him while he slept peacefully with a soft smile on his face.


The End