Princess Celestia raised the sun in Equestria like every day and as usual, everypony would start their day by now. The sun was slowly rising on the horizon and the sunlight would often wake Star Twinkle from his sleep but this time, he had a hard time getting out of his bed. It was unbelievable hot outside, sweat was dripping down Star Twinkles face and it became hard to breathe.
Star Twinkle was immediately taking a bath after crawling out of his bed but that only helped for a few minutes to cool him down. He realized that he was already late for work and tried to skip some of his morning routines in order to make it on time somehow.
He stepped out of his house and slowly walked in the direction of the Iron Hammer but it somehow became very exhausting really fast after only a few steps outside.
"Wow. The princess is really overdoing today with the heat," he mumbled to himself, even though he didn't know if it works that way.
A few steps later, he noticed Twilight approaching her with an owl on her back, that he never saw before. It was not the best time for her to talk with him right now since he had to go to work real quick.
"Good morning, Star Twinkle!" She greeted happily, followed by a "who" from the owl.
"Morning, Twilight. I'm sorry but I can't talk now. I'm already late for work," he quickly replied, wasting no more time so that he can go to work.
But Twilight looked at him after he walked past her, noticing his slow steps and how sweaty he was even though it was relatively cool today. Out of curiosity, she decided to follow him and inspected him further only to realize that he was breathing heavily and had problems walking straight.
"Are you alright?" She asked out of worry while following him.
"Of course. It's only a little hot right now but I'm sure that will change later," Star Twinkle replied not even bothering to look back at her.
Suddenly Twilight walked in front of him, blocking his path. He wondered what this is all about and felt annoyed since she will cause him to be even later at work now. Twilight then took her left front hoof and placed it on Star Twinkle's forehead only to realize that it was burning hot.
"My goodness, Star Twinkle! You're glowing," Twilight exclaimed.
"I am?" He asked confused. "I thought it was hotter than usual today," Star Twinkle wondered.
"It's probably a fever. You can't go to work like this. You need rest!" Twilight demanded.
"I'm sure I get better after a while," Star Twinkle assured.
"Not if you spent the day with working! You look like you will collapse any second!" Twilight exclaimed worriedly.
"I'll be fine, don-"
But he stopped after realizing how serious Twilight was. She looked angry but he could swear he saw how her eyes were tearing up a bit out of worry.
Now Star Twinkle began to think about the situation a bit more logically. It probably would not be a good idea if he was working in this state, in fact, it only would make things worse which was probably the reason why Twilight asked him to rest.
After some more thinking, Star Twinkle came to the conclusion that it would be better to stay home and rest just like Twilight said.
"It's really that bad, huh?" He asked out of the blue making Twilight calm down again.
"Don't worry. You'll be alright again soon," she said relieved. "First we need to get you in your bed again," she said before levitating him over the ground with her magic and carrying him back inside.
Normally Star Twinkle would get annoyed and tell her to let him go since he doesn't like it whenever she was doing that but he was way too exhausted to complain right now.
After placing him inside of his bed again, Twilight took his bed sheet and covered him in it. It felt weird for him that somepony was taking care of him like that. He couldn't remember when he was ill the last time but it always came down that he had to take care of himself and had to wait till he got better.
"You just stay like this and relax until you feel better, okay?" Twilight said with a carrying smile that a mother would show to her beloved son.
"Alright," Star Twinkle replied quietly, not sure how he should respond to this situation.
Twilight was making sure that Star Twinkle had everything he needed. A cup of water on the commode next to his bed and a bowl of water with a cloth inside of it, which Twilight took out with her magic, placing it on Star Twinkles forehead.
Meanwhile, the owl watched everything from the window next to Star Twinkle, making him wonder why Twilight was carrying an owl with her in the first place.
"By the way. Why is this owl following you?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Oh! Owlicious? Well, it's a long story. He is basically my new pet since Spike got in good terms with him," Twilight roughly explained.
Star Twinkle didn't exactly understand what she meant but he also didn't care to this extent. The owl didn't bother him and just watched everything so Star Twinkle thought Owlicious was okay.
"Is there anything you need?" Twilight asked.
"No. I think I just take a nap," he said, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. There was nothing else he could do anyway.
"But could you go and tell Steel Hammer that I won't show up today?" Star Twinkle added.
"Of course. Leave that to me!" Twilight replied confidently. "I'm afraid I can't stay any longer for now but I'll make sure that you will be taken care of,' she explained.
“What do you mean with that?” Star Twinkle asked.
“You don't have to worry about that just relax for now. You need all the rest that you can get,” Twilight explained winking at him.
She seemed to have a lot more fun in this situation than she should. Did she like to take care of Star Twinkle? Or was she just happy that she could help him in his current situation? Those were usually questions that would circle around his head but his fever prevented him from thinking clearly.
Meanwhile, Twilight was looking around in Star Twinkle's house, inspecting every little detail. Of course, Star Twinkle didn't know what this was about first but he figured that it was because it was the first time since Twilight was inside of his house.
His house was nothing special. It was made out of woods, as well as all the furniture inside of it. Everything was in a light brown color and there was not much decoration at all, like pictures, flowers or stuff like that so there was not much to look at but Twilight was staring at random stuff as if they were the most interesting things she ever saw.
Before it got awkward, Twilight realized how she spaced out and talked with him again.
“I have to do some work in the library but I'll make sure to check on you later. So you better stay in bed until then,” Twilight said with a gentle smile on her face.
"Yes, doctor Sparkle," Star Twinkle replied sarcastically.
"At least your humor isn't suffering from your fever," Twilight said followed by a giggle.
“I have something like that?” Star Twinkle wondered.
Before he knew it Twilight left the room and the owl was following her. Star Twinkle leaned over his window and saw how Twilight was walking away from his house. She turned around for a moment and noticed Star Twinkle to which she angrily pointed to his house. Star Twinkle figured that she was telling him to get back in his bed again to which he quickly returned to his bed.
“Well, time to get some sleep then...” he said to himself, closing his eyes to get some sleep.
It didn't take long until he fell asleep from the fever, it actually made it easier.
While sleeping, Star Twinkle had a strange dream again. It was one of those dreams that had no images or images that were clear enough to identify them as some kind of pictures. At least that's all that Star Twinkle can remember about his dreams after waking up. They were always confusing him, making it rather pointless to put many thoughts into them. It felt like a waste of time for him. The words that he could hear this time were:
You better recover fast...
Seeing you like that really worries me...
His nap didn't take too long and he was quickly awake again. Star Twinkle's eyes were slowly opening and he saw a pink color in front of his half-opened eyes. But before everything became clear again, a loud shout woke him up.
"Surprise!" Pinkie Pie shouted, startling Star Twinkle, nearly giving him a heart attack.
"Pinkie Pie?" Star Twinkle asked confused, while still recovering from the shock.
"Welcome to your "Get well" party! Want some cake?" She said offering him a piece of cake.
But Star Twinkle refused and wondered why there were balloons, confetti, streamers and even a giant cake in the middle of the room.
"Twilight told me you were sick so I quickly went to your house to visit you but then I had an even better idea! I thought why not throw a party for you? After all, that's way more fun than just laying in your bed all day,"
Of course, Pinkie Pies solution for everything would be a party but right now, that is exactly what he doesn't need.
"Yes, but having fun won't make me feel better while staying in bed and resting does," Star Twinkle explained.
"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Pinkie Pie said in a sad voice but she also seemed to understand. "Okey dokey, then get well soon so that I can throw a "got well" party," she added before bouncing out of the room.
After this little interruption, Star Twinkle laid down in his bed again but not before looking around the room which was filled with colorful decorations, wondering why she was going through the trouble to set all this up.
"Must have been a lot of work to put this all together..." he mumbled before closing his eyes again.
I'll make sure that you get well again...
After all, there's nothing more healthy than a good laugh!
Again his nap didn't take too long and he opened his eyes again.
And again somepony else was in the room.
He started to wonder if that's what Twilight meant with "You will be taken care of".
"Howdy Sugarcube! Hope I didn't wake you up," said Applejack, greeting the still half asleep Star Twinkle who didn't reply and just wondered what Applejack was doing in his house.
He noticed how she was placing a warm, delicious smelling apple pie on Star Twinkle's commode. While never openly admit it, Star Twinkle was starving and could almost not hold back just by smelling that apple pie.
"Since you were stuck in your bed all day I figured you're might be too weak to make yourself something to eat. So I prepared a little something just for you,” she said winking at him happily.
“Oh. Thank you Applejack...” Star Twinkle said hesitantly with a light smile on his face.
“Ah, no need to thank me. I just want you to be healthy again as soon as possible,” Applejack assured. "But now I have to go back to my chores so do me a favor and get better again, will ya?"
Moments later, Applejack left and Star Twinkle didn't waste any time and ate the apple pie in almost one swoop. Maybe it was because of his fever but this pie tasted for him like the most delicious thing in the world. Probably because it was the first thing that he ate today.
He eventually decided to continue his nap and closed his eyes, falling asleep really easily again.
If there is anything that I can do to make you feel better, just tell me.
That's what friends are for!
Once again Star Twinkles nap didn't take long. He was awoken again by some noises in his house. This time, it was Fluttershy who was placing a soup on Star Twinkles commode.
"Uh..."
"Oh my! I'm sorry if I woke you up..." Fluttershy apologized right away.
"It's okay..." Star Twinkle replied looking at the soup that Fluttershy brought.
“It's just a little soup to help you get better. It's mostly made out of carrots. Angel and all the other animals always get better after some of those,” she explained calmly with a gentle smile on her face.
Star Twinkle was about to say that he is not one of her animals but he noticed how he was still hungry and decided to not refuse anything edible right now.
“Thank you, Fluttershy but you didn't have to,”
“Oh, it's nothing special if it helps you to recover fast. I just wanted to bring this over and let you rest again,” Fluttershy assured.
Eventually, Fluttershy left the room and Star Twinkle tried to close his eyes again to get some sleep after eating her soup.
It did taste really good and just by eating it, he already felt better for some reason.
He could feel that he was getting better already just from sleeping through most of the day so he continued to do so.
After some minutes it was peacefully silent in his room again and he closed his eyes to take a nap again...
But...
"Hey, champ!" Shouted a familiar voice into Star Twinkle's ear.
Startled from that shout, Star Twinkle's eyes were wide open again unable to get some sleep for at least a few minutes.
He then looked at Rainbow Dash with an annoyed look on his face, who was flying in front of Star Twinkle's window.
"Oops, hehe sorry," said Rainbow Dash embarrassed.
"I wasn't about to sleep anyway," Star Twinkle sarcastically replied.
He then sat up and looked at Rainbow Dash, who sat down in his window and looked back at him silently.
...
There was an awkward silence between the two, making Star Twinkle feel very uncomfortable.
“What does she want? She is just standing in the window without saying anything,” he thought in annoyance.
"Sooo...is there something you want?" Star Twinkle asked.
"No, not really, just checking up on you," Rainbow Dash replied.
She was looking around confused as if she was searching for something but still didn't said anything, making her appearance rather pointless. Meanwhile, Star Twinkle got thirsty and grabbed a glass of water next to him, drinking it in one big swoop. The glass was only half empty so his thirst was not completely satisfied, making him look almost sad into the empty glass.
“Oh! You're thirsty?” Rainbow Dash asked after noticing Star Twinkle's look into the glass.
“Yes a little but-”
But before he finished his sentence, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed the glass and flew off into Star Twinkles house only to return in a few seconds with a full glass of water again.
“There you go!” She said before handing it over to Star Twinkle.
“Uh...thank you,” he replied hesitantly before taking another sip.
“Must be really boring to be stuck in your bed all day,”
“Uh...yeah,” he replied, even though it didn't felt much different for him than any other day.
When he is not spending time at work or with his friends, this is pretty much his whole day. The only difference now is that he is sick and has to stay a few hours more inside of his bed.
“Well, I will take a nap- err I mean work nearby in the clouds so if you need anything just holly and I'll be there in a filly-second!” Rainbow Dash explained.
She then flew off and left Star Twinkle confused in his room. He kinda figured that it was the same as with Fluttershy and that Rainbow Dash just wanted to help in some way. She was probably trying to find out how she could help because she clearly had no idea what to do. But instead of helping it kinda started to bother him that everypony was invading his house, keeping him from resting.
He took this moment of silence to close his eyes again and get some sleep. And of course, his sleep was accompanied by some strange dreams again.
You'll be fine in no time!
As long as you have friends that will support you!
I'll do anything...
If it means helping a friend...
Again, Star Twinkle woke up by some noises from downstairs. A few seconds later Rarity walked up the stairs and greeted Star Twinkle who was already fully awake again.
“Darling! Have you slept well?” She greeted Star Twinkle.
“How is everypony entering my house anyway? Did Twilight leave the door open when she left?” Star Twinkle wondered.
“What are you doing here, Rarity?” Star Twinkle said while trying to hide how annoyed he is,
"Well you see, after hearing that you were sick, I just wanted to help in some way. But I didn't know how so I decided to clean your house a little since you were probably too weak to do it yourself right now," Rarity explained.
"Wait, the whole house?" Star Twinkle replied confused.
"Yes of course. I took out the trash, cleaned your furniture, made your dishes...
Star Twinkle felt kind of embarrassed since he was not doing all this work properly in the first place given the lazy pony he is. He felt like some filly who could not do his homework and had to ask his mother to help him.
“You really should not have to go to the trouble of all that,” Star Twinkle said embarrassed, covering his face with one hoof.
“Oh, darling don't be ridiculous! You are ill and somepony has to take care of you in the meantime,” Rarity protested, clearly not noticing how embarrassed Star Twinkle was.
That may be true but Star Twinkle didn't understand what cleaning the house would have to do with him getting better again. Rarity explained that it was not hard at all, to do all the work in the house but Star Twinkle only got more embarrassed after hearing that. It was clearly a lot of work but Rarity would never admit it.
It felt unusual to Star Twinkle to be treated like this but since he was still sick, he pretty much had no choice but to accept any help that he could get. It was not like he could stop her in his current state anyway. He just thought that it was nice, that she wanted to help just for the sake of helping.
“Anyway, I'm done here and let you rest again,” she said leaving the room.
Rarity seemed to be done with the work in his house and left the house. And again since it became pretty much routine, Star Twinkle closed his eyes and went to sleep again.
You need rest...
So rest...
“You think he is asleep?”
“Of course not, he is supposed to rest!”
“Then shouldn't we leave him alone?”
Some voices were slowly pulling Star Twinkle out of his sleep resulting him to open his eyes. When his eyes were open again, he saw three familiar fillies who were watching him closely.
“Good morning!” all of them shouted together right into his face, making him jump in shock.
“I don't think it's morning anymore,” said Star Twinkle while looking out of the window where he could see that it was already getting dark.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't seem to notice how annoyed Star Twinkle was from all those interruptions.
Meanwhile, Twilight was coming up the stairs, surprised to see Star Twinkle awake.
“Girls, you're not bothering Star Twinkle are you?” Twilight asked, almost scolding the Crusaders.
“We just wanted to make sure that one of our members is healthy again,” Scootaloo explained.
“And maybe getting our medicine Cutie Mark,” Sweetie Belle added.
Twilight then got close to Star Twinkle and put her left front hoof on his forehead again, to check his temperature.
“Looks like you're already better,” Twilight said with a smile on her face.
That confused Star Twinkle at first but then he noticed how much better he already felt. He wasn't sweating anymore and felt way less exhausted, in fact, he felt like completely fine again.
“I think you're right. I feel much better now,” he said while getting out of his bed.
“You think you can get out already?” Twilight asked worriedly.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” he replied calmly.
“Well, how about we go and tell the others right away?” Apple Bloom suggested.
“Right! Go down and tell them,” Twilight said to the three fillies who then rushed downstairs.
“The others?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“Yes follow me,” Twilight replied before going back downstairs.
Star Twinkle followed her and walked down the stairs only to find out that all of his friends were downstairs and getting shouted at from Pinkie Pie again.
“Surprise!” She shouted in Star Twinkles ear, who jumped as a reaction.
Everypony then quickly noticed Star Twinkle walking downstairs, welcoming him in his own house.
Everypony he knew was there. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders It was the first time that his house was filled with so many ponies. But before realizing what actually was happening, he spent the first minutes assuring everypony that he was alright again.
“Must have been my Apple Pie that cured you,” Applejack proudly said.
“Who cares?
As long as Star Twinkle is better again,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“They are all here...”
“We were all so worried about you,” Fluttershy said.
“Yes, I was shocked after hearing that you were sick, darling,” said Rarity.
“They were all worried...”
“Yes but now we can all celebrate with a “got well” party!” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Yes but we should not overdo it, he just got better after all,” Twilight added.
“I was just sick for one day...”
“You think it's polite to ask for a slice of cake, even though it's his party?” Scootaloo asked Applebloom, who just shrugged her shoulders.
“And now they were all happy...”
Star Twinkle was not saying much like always when he is with all of his friends. Normally it is out of disinterest or because he felt like he was dragged around by his friends. But this time, he didn't know what to say and was just kind of happy.
It was a quiet party since it was already late and everypony left after around one hour. Now he was all alone again just the way how he liked it.
“Were they always taking care of me like that? I just seemed to notice just now,”
He then looked at the ceiling confused, thinking how the day went.
“Now what do I do?” he asked himself, realizing that he was fully awake because of all the sleep that he got.
But eventually, he slept through the night quietly without interruptions, even though it was especially those that he missed right now.