Rarity walked slowly home. She didn’t care what her friends said—if it weren’t for that order, she would have stayed right where she was, helping poor Twilight with the care of their two friends. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had left to work on some simple meals and to decide on whether or not to have a party.
Rarity sighed. She felt as though a giant boulder was resting on her back, threatening to crush her beneath its heavy load. She should have tried harder! She should have held Rainbow down better... She stopped herself from going farther. It was none of their faults. What happened, happened, and now she needed a few hours of rest and a quick emotional release sewing.
At least it wasn’t a large order, she thought to herself. Only about fifteen dresses and five high-class tuxedos. She sighed. Twenty outfits in three days. Could she handle it?
She slowly walked up the path leading to the boutique. She also wanted to make Rainbow a marvelous girdle, one to match Applejack’s. She bit her lip. Maybe should make it an awesome one. Rainbow didn’t appreciate marvelous.
She smiled sadly, her magic locking upon the door’s handle. Slowly it turned.
Hoof prints! Rarity’s eye twitched as she glanced around the entry room. The room was a disaster! There was a trail of mud stretching from the door to the stairs. It was simply a disaster!
Trembling, she followed the trail, afraid of what she would find at the other end. The tracks led up her finely polished stairs to the bathroom. “Oh Celestia, no!” she whispered to herself. From behind the doors, she could hear a chorus of giggling.
“SWEETIE! NO!”
“Scoot! You will smell like a flower!” Sweetie giggled back.
“Apple Bloom! Save me!”
Rarity opened the door. If she had thought the rest of the house was a disaster, it didn’t hold a candle to the state of her once finely polished, neatly organized, immaculate bathroom.
Rarity’s eye twitched. Slowly, one by one, the three silly fillies turned to look at Sweetie’s elder sister.
“Uhhh, h-h-hello R-r-Rarity,” Sweetie stammered nervously.
“What! Oh Sweet-!” Rarity could feel the world fading, the ground coming up to meet her.
“RARITY!” Sweetie cried, leaping towards her crumbling sister.
Rarity then knew nothing but darkness.
-------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash felt awful. A cold wet rag was draped over her forehead, and her body itched from ear to tail.
“Flutter-”
Fluttershy looked up and over her book. She was younger than Dash remembered, or maybe not. “How do you feel?”
Rainbow Dash looked around her childhood room. Half of her told her that this wasn’t right, and yet, maybe it was? “I itch!” Dash complained.
The much younger Fluttershy looked over her shoulder to the door. “The doctor said that was normal for Pega Pox.”
Rainbow Dash nodded weakly, trying to scratch her arm. Fluttershy caught the hoof and moved it away.
“Dash, you can’t scratch! It’ll leave scars.”
“BUT IT ITCHES!” Rainbow complained.
Fluttershy sighed. “I know. Remember, I had it last month.”
Rainbow growled, “I WANT TO SCRATCH!”
Fluttershy grabbed a salve and rubbed it onto the itchy patch. “Don’t scratch Rainbow, please!”
Tears filled the corners of Dash’s eyes. “Make it stop!” she sobbed.
“I can’t,” Fluttershy said helplessly. “I can’t make it stop!”
“DADDY!” Rainbow wailed, suddenly realizing she was no longer itching, but hurting. Everywhere hurt. Her head, her back, her legs, her wings—she couldn’t move her wings! “DADDY!” The young Rainbow Dash began to panic. She couldn’t feel her wings, and she hurt. Did Pega pox make you lose feeling? Would she have to lose her wings? “DADDY, IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! FLUTTERSHY” Her voice became louder and higher pitched, her body tensing. “DADDY! MAKE HURT GO ‘WAY!”
“Rainbow, please-please calm down!” Fluttershy pleaded beside her.
Dash suddenly realized she couldn’t move, something was holding her very tightly still, “DADDY!” she cried once more.
Slowly, even her vision faded, folding in upon her like sheets of blackness. She struggled to stay where she was, fought to stay awake until her Father got there to tell her it was all right, but it was of no use. With one final wave, she was swept under into nothingness.
-----------------------
She was so still. Rainbow Dash was almost never still.
“Please Miss Apple, pay attention.”
Applejack’s eyes wandered back to the doctor. She swallowed hard. “She’s so still!” she said quietly.
The doctor sighed, glancing to Twilight, who had buried herself in a book. “Yes, sometimes they look like they aren’t even breathing,” Doctor Stable sighed. “But I assure you Miss Apple, Rainbow Dash will wake up soon.”
“But will it be our Dash?” Applejack asked.
Twilight glanced up from the book. “Doctor?”
Doctor Stable removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then returned them to his nose. “We can’t be sure. At the first sign of consciousness, we will have to hold her still until we are sure.”
Twilight looked uncomfortably over at the very still form of Rainbow Dash. “It’s hard to believe she could be that still,” Twilight sighed.
The doctor nodded. “It is hard to believe.” He then turned back to Applejack. “Miss Apple, we aren’t finished.”
Applejack sighed, “Ah know.” She closed her eyes.
“Alright, pay attention.”
Applejack nodded. “I want you to try to grab the pen. I’m going to move it to different places. Let me know when and if it hurts, also if you get stuck.”
Applejack bit her lip, her cheeks burning. “Alright Doc,” she sighed.
The doctor kept the pen easy to reach at first, then moved it out further and further, down, up, left, right...
“Uh, Doc?” Applejack said, both hooves over her head. “Ah’m stuck.”
The doctor moved her hooves to a point where she could then move them safely to her sides.
“Ah ain’t ever gunna get used ta that,” she complained.
“Those muscles are what move those arms down. You tore one of the longest muscles in your barrel. That is why you have to be careful walking.”
“But then, how can ah walk?” Applejack asked.
“Because more than one muscle work together to do the job. The muscle torn goes from your backbone, around, and down to your pelvic bone.”
Applejack nodded. “Ah see doc,” she sighed, looking a tad uncomfortable.
He shook his head. “Alright, about those spasms.” He sighed, “Have they been getting more frequent?”
Applejack shrugged. “Ah guess, ah really ain’t sure.”
“Would you like to describe one?” he asked.
Applejack looked even more uncomfortable. “Uh, ya saw one!”
“That doesn’t mean I can see through your eyes or feel it,” he said.
Applejack nodded. “Ah guess yer right.”
“They happen when you are...?”
Applejack blinked. “More active, ah guess, or when ah get upset.”
The doctor nodded. “Indeed, that is to be expected. What are the first warning signs?”
Applejack thought for a moment. Did she see a pattern at all? “Ah don’t know,” she said. “They just kind of happen.”
The doctor nodded. “I’m sure they do have early warning signs, you just aren’t paying attention.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow, looking up and over her book once more, her ears perking forward to listen more closely.
Applejack scratched behind her left ear. “Ah guess, but ah ain’t sure what.”
The doctor pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Normally, it’s tightness or itching.”
“Itching?” Twilight asked.
“Itching,” he confirmed. “Like after you bang up your knee really bad, it tends to itch as it heals.”
Twilight nodded, “Indeed.”
“Alright, ah’ll watch for it, but right now, ah can’t pull mahself out!”
The doctor nodded. “You said activity causes them... or stress.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Yeah,” she said thoughtfully.
“That is normal. Alright, when you feel one coming on, I want you to try to relax, take deep breaths, and try to distance yourself from what is disturbing you.”
“What if it’s Discord?” Applejack asked.
Doctor Stable opened his mouth, but no words came out. “Discord?” he finally squeaked. “If he shows up, just try not to get worked up.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Sounds brilliant,” she said.
The doctor sighed. “With you two back in the same room and not trying to worry about the other, I doubt we will have as many problems... I hope,” he sighed.
“Dad?” Dash mumbled dreamily.
Twilight, however, was already beside Rainbow Dash, her magic locked on her to prevent her from thrashing.
----------------------------------------------
Fluttershy had her head cocked to the side, one eyebrow raised. “Pinkie?”
Pinkie Pie had not budged, but had sat frozen, unmoving for some time.
“Pinkie? Um... Pinkie?”
Pinkie’s color slowly reverted back to its normal hue. She glanced up at Fluttershy. She blinked twice, shaking her head as if to clear it.
“Pinkie?” Fluttershy said again. “Are you alright?”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You weren’t moving,” Fluttershy observed. “I came up here to check on you, and you were just sitting there.”
“Sure I was! Just too quickly for you to see! It made me look like I wasn’t moving at all,” Pinkie explained quickly.
Fluttershy blinked, cocking her head to the side.
“Alright Fluttershy, we have work to do,” Pinkie said, rising to her hooves.
“Work?” Fluttershy asked, getting more confused by the second. She glanced about Pinkie’s bedroom. “Pinkie?”
Fluttershy blinked. “Pinkie, how do you know all this?”
“No time!” Pinkie shouted, thrusting some weird outfit over Fluttershy’s head. “Dashie thinks she has the Pega Pox!”
“But she can’t get the Pega Pox again,” Fluttershy stated. “She had it when we were in school.”
Pinkie was, however, bouncing down the stairs at a tremendous pace.
“PINKIE! WHAT?” Fluttershy called after her. “PINKIE! Weren’t we going to...” Fluttershy shook her head, blinking. Not a word. She had understood not one word of what Pinkie had just said. How did she know any of this? She sighed. “Pinkie will be Pinkie.”
“She said Rarity’s.” Fluttershy said. “Something about the girls wearing home a garden... and panic. I think.”
Mrs. Cake could only shake her head. “Well, we’ve fixed up a care package while you were up there for the poor girls.”
Fluttershy smiled sweetly. “Thank you, this will mean a lot.”
Mrs. Cake nodded, “It isn’t easy taking care of a pony who is sick, let alone two.”
Fluttershy nodded once more. “Pinkie told me that I was needed back at the castle now, so I can’t stay to-”
“I will hear none of it. Your friends need you more than we do. Don’t worry about a thing.”
Fluttershy nodded shyly, but placed the bundles over her back like a saddle bag. “Good to see you Mrs. Cake, and thank you again.”
Fluttershy made a hasty departure, her gut telling her to hurry, as did Pinkie’s crazy knowledge. Dash thought she had Pega Pox? Fluttershy shook her head to clear it. They had had that years ago! There was no way Rainbow Dash could get it again. Unless...
The thought that crossed her mind almost made her heart stop. Either Discord was up to his tricks again, or Dash was out of it. Neither one of them was something they wanted to deal with again. Discord, he was simple. Just tell him to quit. But the other...
Fluttershy decided not to think about it, but rather focused on getting back to the castle.
--------------------------------------
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all looked down at the prone form of Sweetie’s elder sister Rarity. “Now what?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t know,” Sweetie groaned. “She wasn’t supposed to come home!”
Apple Bloom sat down. “Maybe we should have tried Scoot’s house.”
“Eh, I don’t think Mom would have let us in. We would have gotten the water hose treatment,” Scootaloo reminded them.
“Yeah, and now we have to clean up this mess,” Sweetie sighed, “before Rarity wakes up.”
“And how long will that take?” Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie sat down beside Apple Bloom. “Could be a minute, could be an hour,” she sighed.
The other two sighed alongside her. “Now what?” Scootaloo asked.
The three exchanged looks. “Uhhh, finish our baths?” Apple Bloom suggested, her own mane still filled with soap suds.
The other two looked at her, then cringed. “Yeah, but we’d better hurry,” Sweetie said. However, she didn’t move.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo giggled nervously.
The three friends scuffled their hooves, each one of them not daring to move a muscle. “Uh, yeah, maybe... you should go first?” Apple Bloom said to Scootaloo.
“Oh that’s alright,” Scootaloo said. “You can.”
“One of us should,” Sweetie added.
The bell attached to the door downstairs chimed, and a thunder of hooves could be heard coming up the stairs.
“What’s the chance that that is... trouble?” Scootaloo asked.
“Ah don’t know any ponies named Trouble,” Apple Bloom said.
They didn’t get a chance to find out, for just at that moment the tub behind them gurgled and out popped Pinkie Pie. “WAIT!” she exclaimed, shooting several feet into the air.
The fillies each lept just as high into the air, letting out a screech that could have woken the dead, but didn’t even make Rarity stir.
“Ahh! yourself, silly,” Pinkie giggled. “Aw man! I was hoping I could get here before she did,” she moaned.
The three fillies exchanged looks and blinked several times.
“Oh, don’t just stand there silly, you have things to do!”
“Uh, Pinkie,” Apple Bloom asked, “How’d ya-”
Pinkie giggled. “Ask the author.”
“Author?” they said together.
Pinkie nodded, examining Rarity. “I think she’s fainted.”
“The author, or Rarity?” Sweetie asked.
“Maybe both. Cowgirl, did you faint?” Pinkie asks.
“Pinkie, get back in the book,” I growl.
“Alright, Just Rarity,” Pinkie stated.
“I think Pinkie has lost it,” Scootaloo whispered, leaning over to her friends.
“Ya think?” Apple Boom whispered back.
“I think I’ll finish my bath now,” Sweetie whispered.
------------------------
The sun beat down hot upon Sweet Apple Acres. “Phew! I think it’s summer,” Cheerilee said, smiling and looking out over the many more trees they had to harvest.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said, nodding.
Cheerilee giggled, “Why did I not expect that from you?”
Big Mac raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the purple mare. “Ah don’t know,” he muttered just loud enough to be heard.
Cheerilee sighed, “Is it time for lunch yet?”
The large red stallion glanced to the sun, then to the rows of trees. “Eeyup.”
Cheerilee giggled, “Oh Mackie!”
Big Mac raised an eyebrow, studying his marefriend. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Nothing, just you giving your normal response to a normal question.”
“That don’t sound like nutin’ ta me,” Big Mac observed.
Cheerilee giggled again. “Come on, let’s see how the fillies did on the garden. They should’ve finished by now and reported in.”
Big Mac paused and looked back at her. “Eeyup!”
“I guess we ought to hurry?” Cheerilee inquired.
Big Mac said nothing, but took off towards the small garden patch at a full gallop. Cheerilee shook her head, but said nothing, thundering off after her beloved. As they neared the patch, they could tell that the rows had in fact been hoed and every weed removed. But what they didn’t see were the fillies.
“Big Mac, where are they?” Cheerilee asked shakily.
Big Mac started walking about, studying the ground. Cheerilee took a step forward.
“Don’t move,” he snapped at her.
She paused, frozen in place. “Why?”
Big Mac did not respond for several moments as he continued to study the ground. “They headed in the direction o’ town,” he finally said.
Cheerilee let out a breath she had not known she had been holding. “At least they didn’t venture into the Everfree again.”
“Eeyup. Go inform Granny that we’re headin ta town. ah’ll go get Winona.”
------------------
“Surprise!”
Rarity awoke dripping wet.
“Did I surprise you? Huh, huh, huh?” Pinkie bounced about Rarity’s neat, tidy, and wet room.
“PINKIE!” Rarity cried. “These sheets are SILK! They are RUINED!” Rarity dramatically placed her hoof to her forehead. “What am I to DO!”
Pinkie Pie quit bouncing and started giggling. “Nah, I placed a plastic lining down before I put you on the bed. Your sheets are all okey dokey lokey.”
Rarity blinked, realization dawning on her. Her face started draining of its barely existent color, becoming all the more white. “MY HOUSE!”
“All clean!” Pinkie giggled. “You were out for almost ten minutes. Plenty of time for us to mop all the floors, shine the steps, and tidy the wash room.”
Rarity’s eye twitched. “What?”
“Oh, and for the fillies to finish their baths,” Pinkie added. “They are in Sweetie’s room.”
Rarity’s eye twitched again. “It really happened?”
Pinkie Pie giggled, “Sure did, silly. Your sister wants to know why you didn’t come home last night.”
“What?”
“Sweetie-”
Pinkie Pie giggled, “I told them nothing, silly. I said you’d be up in a minute.”
“Don’t worry Rarity, you have plenty of time on that order, what you don’t have time for is making those fillies wait!”
Rarity rolled off her bed and landed on her soft, carpeted floor. “Please darling, why is it so important?”
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “Because they are in the dumpy wumpies because they don’t know what is going on!” Pinkie explained rapidly. “Last time they saw, both of them were in the hospital. Who knows what they think?”
Rarity sighed. “Knowing them, anything.”
---------------
“Ah hurt,” Apple Bloom complained, flopped down on Sweetie’s large purple flower rug.
“Me too!” Scootaloo groaned, curled up at the foot of the bed.
Sweetie sighed, pacing between the door and the vanity. “How long till they get here? We just spent all morning pulling weeds-” She shivered. “And then at least an hour, if not two, sweeping, dusting, and getting this place looking better than when we first got here!”
The other two groaned. “Don’t remind me,” Scootaloo said. “It’ll make it hurt worse. At least you had your magic!”
Sweetie rubbed her temples. “Yeah, and now I have a headache.”
The other two groaned. “Maybe you should lie down, Sweetie.” Apple Bloom said from her vantage point on the floor.
Sweetie paused mid step. “Nah, I-”
Just then, the doorknob turned. Sweetie spun around to face the door, and the other two both lept to their hooves. Rarity, somewhat disheveled, entered.
“RARITY!” Sweetie Belle cried, throwing herself at her sister. “I thought you would never wake up!”
Rarity blinked. “What do you mean Sweetie? Pinkie said I was only out for ten minutes-”
“What?!” Sweetie squeaked. “It’s been at least an hour!”
Rarity shook her head to clear it, then blinked several times. “Discord!” she growled.
“NOPE!” said the snake like voice from everywhere.
Rarity groaned. “At least we know he is here and not messing with poor Rainbow.”
Scootaloo’s ears perked up. “What? How is Rainbow Dash?”
Rarity bit her lip, chastising herself for letting it slip. “She’s alright, Scoot-”
“Then why didn’t you guys let me see her yesterday? And what was all that noise? And the doctor!”
Rarity froze, eyes widening. She bit her lip, her mind racing. “Scootaloo, please, calm down.”
“I’m not about to-”
“Yeah, and how’s Applejack?” Apple Bloom complained loudly. “Why weren’t we allowed ta go see ya’ll?”
“And where were you last night?” Sweetie added in.
“Girls please, one at a time!” Rarity stammered uneasily.
“Rarity, what is going on?” Sweetie said, giving her sister the puppy dog face.
Rarity closed her eyes, trying to organize her thoughts. “Girls, please, have a seat, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
“Everything they need to know, or just what you think they can handle?” Discord said, appearing on Sweetie’s bed as one of her pillows. Poor Sweetie screamed bloody murder and lept towards Rarity, hiding beneath her sister for protection.
“Am I really that scary?” Discord growled. He glanced down at himself, materializing a mirror in front of his face so he could see too. “Nope, I look the same as I always have, except not with as upset of a face.”
Sweetie glanced out from under her sister, watching the draconequus warily.
“Really, Rarity, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for not telling your sister! It could force her to run away again, and we both know you don’t want that,” Discord cooed.
Rarity gulped, glancing down at Sweetie. “I-I.” She took a deep breath. “Discord, I don’t know what evil game you are playing, but please, I’ll tell them on my own. Without your help.”
Discord laughed. “Oh, so you don’t want to admit, even to yourself, that you girls are failing. That they both are getting worse.”
“If you would stay out of it, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in right now!” Rarity fired back.
Discord laughed, eyeing the now worried fillies with a pleased look. “Who left poor Rainbow Dash alone after the Doctor told you not too, hum? I do believe that was you. If it hadn’t been for me, she would have hurt herself when-”
“Discord, get out of my house!” Rarity growled. “I don’t need you telling me any of this.”
“Such a temper from such a lovely lady,” Discord cooed, now appearing as a brush that kept going through, smoothing Rarity’s locks.
Rarity froze solid, her eyes darting around almost petrified. “Discord! Please, OUT OF MY HOUSE!” She almost barked the final words, the rest of her unable to move.
“DISCORD!” Sweetie yelled, taking the situation in hoof herself. “Leave my sister ALONE!” Her horn flickered with small green sparks.
Discord rolled his eyes. “I’m only repaying what she did to the Queen of the Clouds.”
The fillies blinked, uncertain of how to respond to this statement.
“Discord, I’m fully capable of telling my sister and her friends, and brushing my own mane. Would you please go someplace else?”
Discord blinked. “Oh yes, I do believe that there is a certain red stallion I could pick on... or a certain guest that is coming- no, I’ll leave her alone. I don’t want the fiery one to join her and-” Discord paused, clearly uncomfortable. “Ta-ta,” he chirped., “But I won’t stay away for long. You have exactly half a turn of the long hand of the clock before I return and tell them everything myself. Everything!”
With that, Discord was gone.
Rarity groaned. “Some days that-that-that-!” She stomped a forehoof hard against the floor. “If I weren’t a lady!”
The fillies blinked, Scootaloo coming to stand before Rarity. “What happened to Rainbow Dash? Is-”
Rarity sighed, sitting down. “She’ll be fine Scootaloo. We just came upon a little-” She squirmed, trying to think of a word.
“Problem?” Scootaloo said, hoping she was wrong.
“LUNA!” all three exclaimed together.
“Why?”
“When?”
“IS SHE ALRIGHT?” Scootaloo finished.
Rarity gulped, glancing to the door. “Girls, I can’t tell you if you keep interrupting.”
“Ya kept stoppin’,” Apple Bloom observed.
Rarity sighed, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed. “Alright, but no interrupting.”
“Stop treatin’ us like foals! We ain’t little no more!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“Treating, and any more,” Rarity corrected.
Apple Bloom pouted. “What is wrong with mah sis?”
“Nothing is wrong with her, at least-” Rarity paused, taking a deep breath, “Nothing new. It just takes a while for things like this to heal.”
“What about Dash?” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“And why didn’t you come home last night?” Sweetie whined.
Rarity took another deep breath, trying not to lose her cool. “Alright, I’ll start with Sweetie’s question. I spent the night... all of us spent the night last night because-” She bit her lip, trying to keep it from quivering. “Scootaloo, your sister started going on a slight guilt trip, and we decided to just keep an eye on both of them all night long, just to make sure nothing bad happened.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “What happened?”
Rarity closed her eyes, her stomach doing flip flops. “How do I say this tactfully? Rainbow kind of... left us for a while.”
Scootaloo’s face fell. “Is she-”
“And that’s why ya got Luna,” Apple Bloom stated.
Rarity nodded. “Yes, because in her sleepy state, we couldn’t get through to find out what was wrong.”
“What was wrong?” Scootaloo asked.
Rarity shook her head. “You will have to ask her yourself. I’m not at liberty to tell anypony.”
Scootaloo groaned. “And when will that be?”
Rarity sighed. “As soon as I can take you.”
“Now?” asked Apple Bloom hopefully.
Rarity shook her head. “No girls, I have to at least get my order set out to make. I only have a couple days left before my client is supposed to show up to pick it up.”
“Can’t Pinkie Pie take us?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully.
Rarity nodded slowly, lost in deep thought. “I guess she could...”