Snapshots

by 314

Fever

I tossed and turned in the bed, kicking off the sheets to land on the soft floor. My temperature was shooting through the roof, sweat breaking out and pouring down my back. With a gasp, my eyes flew open and my flailing sent me off the bed. I hit the cloud floor, the shock helping my mind a little bit. I tried to shake my head to clear it, but that did nothing. It made me dizzy instead, my vision swimming as things moved around while I stayed still.

I half crawled, half stumbled to the bathroom and stuck my head in the sink. I punched the raincloud, turning the water on full blast. It pounded over my head, offering some clarity, but did nothing to bring down my temperature. The freezing water drummed against my head, blocking out all other noise of the night. There wasn't much up in the sky to begin with, but it was nice to clear out any other noises.

With a loud gasp of air, I flung my head back out of the sink, falling back to hit the wall and slide down to a sitting position. My head was soaked, mane clinging to my face. The water kept rushing on, my body lacking the strength to get up and stop it. The water already on me dripped down across my shoulders, getting them cooler, but doing nothing to stop the fever wracking my body.

I couldn't remember the last time I was this sick. Filly years for certain. Two hours ago, my temperature had been at 105ºF. Now I felt even hotter, probably edging to 107ºF. As much as I liked breaking records, this was not one I wanted. The fever had sapped me of my strength, confining me to my cloud home for two days. It was all I could do to throw something in the stormcloud to get it warm. I had no idea where the sickness had struck from, but it was absurdly brutal.

And along with the fever, came the fever dreams.

Sleep was a precious thing, and I had scarcely gotten five hours since my sickness started. There was no rest to be found in it, as phantoms kept plaguing my dreams relentlessly, swooping in and out like an air show of terror. There were times I couldn't tell what was real or a dream. My house was surely a mess, as I always tried to stop the dreams by fighting them to the ground. Nothing threatens my friends, dream or not. The only relief from them was waking, and even that didn't always work.

But it had been no use. My house was probably a mess, and it was all I could do to lay there and endure. I was losing my focus, the sickness no doubt starting to come with a stronger wave. I couldn't take it any more. Not by myself. I was burning up so much that even the cloud I was sitting on had started to turn to steam slightly, the water vapor rising and twirling around my hooves.

I rubbed my eyes and got steadily to my hooves, swaying like a tree in a thunderstorm as I did so. I thought my vision was starting to swim again as I stared at my wall, only to realize that it was me who was swaying. I grunted and put one hoof in front of the other, heading for my door. My limbs protested, but I was used to ignoring their cries. I gritted my teeth and toughed it out, pausing to catch a breath at my doorway.

My next adversary was the stairs leading up to my room. I stared at them for a moment before sighing. Closing my eyes, I simply allowed myself to tip forwards, starting my fall down the stairs in no time. I pinballed off the cloud sides and gently rolled to a stop at the bottom of the spiraled stairs. Groundponies may think cloud was soft, but it could be anything but.

Wincing, I got to my hooves again, the process taking much longer than it should have. Eyes fixed on the front door, I staggered across my ruined living room like a drunk pony. I felt like one, only on fire and devoid of any strength. I reached the door after five long minutes. Stopping right in front of it. Rather than use the doorknob, I chose to walk right through it. Only I could do that, but it was incredibly useful. I reached the porch of my house and sat down. Well, flopped down.

My breaths had become ragged, the simple exercise zapping the last bits of strength from my body. I, with as much care as I could muster, creeped to the edge and stared down. My house had been untethered the past few days, so I had no way of knowing which part of Ponyville I was over. Directly below me, I could spot the huge limbs of the library treehouse, the landmark giving my fever-addled brain a location. I rolled back onto solid cloud and thought about my options.

I could try and glide down and hopefully stumble to the hospital for one. But then they would want to run all kinds of tests and there was no way I'd let those doctors near me. The doctors were out. Which meant I had to turn to a friend, because there was no way I could keep going like this. The easiest one to get to would be Twilight, as I could practically fall down there. Fluttershy might have been a better option, but there was no way I'd get to her cottage.

My elbow smashed, or rather, tapped, the space between me and the house. The piece of cloud broke off and started a slow descent, carrying me with it. I laid back and stared at the moon, wondering why Luna hadn't come to my aid. Did she not see the dreams of sick ponies? Was she off duty tonight? Regardless, there had been no relief from the attacks of fake versions of her friends. She couldn't even remember what they said, but the pain was still there, a different kind of pain than the sickness.

The cloud drifted lower, before finally coming to a stop. I turned my head and glanced to see how high up I was. The cloud had stopped about twenty feet above Twilight's tree, the wooden observatory deck easy to see jutting out of the leaves. I curled up into a ball, bringing the cloud a little bit lower. Ten feet now. I closed my eyes and breathed out, before rolling over and off the piece of water.

I fell the short distance and hit the magically reinforced wood with a thump, my bent legs buckling beneath me. My wings were worse than useless, feathers in a disarray from the heat and sickness. I let out a hiss of pain before scooting over to the steps that led down into the library proper. I had just reached the first step and prepared myself for another tumble down them when the door opened.

I looked up, sweat dripping down my face. Twilight stood there, finishing a yawn when she opened the door. We stared at each other for a moment. I blinked.

“Dash, what are you doing here at this time of night?” she asked, confusion plain to see on her face.

“I'm-” I paused, clearing my disused throat and trying again. “I'm sick.”

Her eyes shot open and I felt my body lifted into the air by a magenta hue. I was sure that she was running a dozen spells to figure out what was wrong, and I was able to visibly relax. The sickness still caused my muscles to be tight, but I knew I was in good hooves.

“Rainbow, you're temperature is 108ºF! How are you still conscious?” Her worried tone brought me back to slight attention and I gave her a crooked grin.

“I guess I'm just awesome like that.” She didn't laugh, probably too caught up in the amount of data on my body she was receiving. As I hung there, suspended in her magic, my eyes began to close again. This time I let them, knowing that my friend would be able to take care of me and, somehow, also knowing that it would be a restful sleep without any nightmares.

And I was right.

Author's Note:

Chapters will be sorted chronologically, so just click on whatever says you haven't read it yet. You don't have to go in order though.

Comments

[livinthelife]

Hmmm...

[314]

5162189 Good Hmmm or bad Hmmm?

[Flutter_Bat]

Celestia dammit 314, y u make dis so good?

[314]

5162298 I can't resist the TwiDash. It calls to me, like a Siren song. No, not those Dazzlings. TwiDash is love. TwiDash is life.

[Gypsy Heart]

I like how you-I mean Dash-described the story. This is gonna be one of my fav. I hope I could read next chapter soon;))

;;sorry for my bad English.

[314]

5162376 Thanks! This is kinda my story to chill out and relax with. Most of it will be from Dash POV, but Twilight will have some too. More will probably come in the nect few days because it's fun, easy to write, and takes up a nice hour of time.

[Flutter_Bat]

5162323
So you could say... You're under their spell...

[dragonjek]

Very nice. Although this chapter feels a lot like a pre-relationship event (although it was mostly focused on Rainbow Dash and how sick she was, it seems... I don't know, anticipatory?).

[livinthelife]

5162237 I'm interested, please tell me more 'hmmm...'.

[Tenth]

5160033
It just felt weird reading it...
Maybe it was because I redit before bed?
(haha puns.)

Its still a good story.

[Solas Mean Oiche]

Definitely seems like this chapter should come before Waking Up, if they're supposed to be in chronological order, unless Waking Up was a fever dream?

[Discord Kantus]

Also quite good, but there didn't seem to be any proof whatsoever of the two of them being in a relationship. Hell, Rainbow even referred to Twilight as a friend and not a marefriend.

[Corax Morn]

I was burning up so much that even the cloud I was sitting on had started to turn to steam slightly,

Read that again, slowly.