Angel woke up one morning to feeling overheated, it was during the summer so of course she would feel this way, but when she got up she felt like she had a cider or 12. She had a pounding headache to the point where she couldn't walk a straight line and she was actually shivering.
"Ugh, just great, now I have to cancel my lunch date this afternoon..."
She then felt herself going into a dizzy spell due to her headache, "And probably any other dates for the rest of the week."
She then climbed back into bed and went back to sleep, it felt like she only slept a few minutes when she heard knocks on her door. She stretched and clumsily made her way to the door, she opened it to reveal Big Mac whose face went from happiness from seeing her to concern.
"Angel? You alright?"
She groaned from another wave of her dizzying headache, "Sorry Big Mac, I'm not going to be able to make it to lunch...I'm not feeling well today..."
"Here, let me see..."
Reluctantly she let him in and he felt her forehead, "Have ya taken yer temperature?"
Shaking her head, Big Mac then asked where the thermometer was; Angel told him it was in the bathroom upstairs. he took her to the couch and had her sit down while he went to fetch the thermometer. He was only gone a minute when he came back and gently placed it in her mouth, once it was done, the reading was 100.5 degrees.
"How about this, Ah'll stay here and take care of ya."
"Big Mac, you have a farm to tend to..."
"Ah'll explain it to 'em later, right now, you are my only concern."
She smiled as he kissed her forehead, and then scooped her up and carried her with one arm up to her room and placed Angel in her bed.
"Ah'll be downstairs if ya need anything alright?"
"Okay."
Big Mac nuzzled her forehead, "You just get some rest."
"I will..."
Big Mac left and she waited for sleep to take her, which it did in about a few seconds due to her being sick that day and the comfort of her bed; not long after, she began to dream. She dreamt she was someplace underground and someplace steaming hot, she then heard voices screaming bloody murder and moved toward the sound. She was then walking through a tunnel with a fiery glow at the end, she then smelled death as she came closer. She came to the end of the tunnel and was shocked at what she saw, she saw who she guessed was Satan himself. She was literally in… Tartarus!
"No...no! Why...why am I...."
"You have been deceitful, you've lied to everypony...you honestly thought you were going to heaven?"
"I...I..."
"Well tough luck Angel! If only you weren't really thinking of only yourself and told the truth!"
He then stomped the ground with one hoof, which summoned his demons who were ponies whose coats were charcoal black with bat wings and their whole eye was red. Angel began to panic and turned to try and escape, but a demon landed in front of her, hissing and revealing its fangs.
"No escape for sinners!" said Satan.
Angel then noticed that there were shackles around her front hooves.
"Take her to the torture pit, you know the plan for her," Satan addressed the Demons
They nodded as they herded her down the path to the torture pit, she was beyond frightened at this point but decided not to show it. Once they were at the pit, Angel saw the horrors happening there. The souls of dead ponies who had done wrong in their lives being tortured mercilessly.
Angel then found herself being forcefully strapped down to a table; after being tied down for a few seconds, she felt long sharp pains in her midsection that made her scream in agony. She looked to see one of them hold a threaded needle and in her midsection they embroidered the word 'liar.' She screamed even more as the demons continued to sew into her.
Angel woke with a shriek, she felt herself sweating and shaking, was that where she was heading if she kept this up too long?
"Angel? Angel are you alright? Ah'm comin'!" Big Mac called as he ran up the stairs to her room.
Angel didn't hear him, she was too distraught and engrossed in her nightmare that showed her worst fear: not knowing what comes after death. The door quickly opened and Big Mac saw Angel on her bed with her arms crossed over her stomach and slowly rocking back and forth.
"Angel?"
She responded to her name by looking at him; he could clearly see the fear in her eyes. She tried but couldn't hold it in anymore and began sobbing and that was when he figured it out.
"Nightmare?"
She only nodded and he was immediately sitting on the foot of her bed and wrapping he held her close to him. "Ah gotcha Angel, nuthin' bad's gonna happen to ya, Ah won't let that happen."
Angel's heart leaped as she hugged her back with all the strength she had and her tears lessened. He held her for what seemed like a long time, but she liked it like this, feeling his warmth and smelling the scent of fresh apples and musk coming off of him. She listened to his steady heartbeat and it managed to calm her down, she looked up at him smiling lovingly; he did the same in return and kissed her forehead.
"Do ya want me ta stay with you till ya fall asleep again?"
Angel thought for a moment, it seemed harmless enough and he knew his boundaries.
"Please? I just don't think I can fall asleep again right now."
"Alright."
Angel laid down again and Big Mac did the same beside her, Angel suddenly felt herself blushing and he noticed.
"Angel, you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just...never done this before and..."
"Angel. You know me, Ah would never pull ya into something ya didn't want."
That made her more calm, "Alright, thank you."
He then covered them both with the quilt, and he held Angel close to him once again. Angel's heart began to flutter as she nuzzled his chest, she wanted to say the words, but she couldn't force them out. What if he felt she was being too forward? What if it was too soon? She just couldn't bring herself to say it yet and what's more, if she did, she would have to tell him, and his heart would be broken. Then what would he do? Another one of her fears? Not knowing the foreseeable future.