The Feather Wha?!
The late afternoon sun was shining on Sweet Apple Acres, a large apple orchard located in the small town of Ponyville. In the orchard was a broad, crimson stallion heading to a nearby barn after a long day’s worth of work. As he headed into the barn, he swiftly removed his work collar and hung it on the closest hook, messing up his honey-colored hair. The stallion went by the name of Macintosh Apple but was known for his most famous nickname of Big Mac.
After finally finishing his chores, he decided to travel into his kitchen to grab a snack. He searched through the fridge and found that there were still a few apple fritters leftover from Apple Bloom’s bake sale. His younger sister had a blast making them with the rest of her Crusader friends and while they did sell a lot, there were luckily still many fritters remaining for the rest of the family.
As he ate at the counter next to his sink, Big Macintosh looked at his reflection in the window.
Big Mac is usually a very quiet and family oriented stallion. He had two younger sisters, who he loved very much. Apple Bloom was still a growing filly, and he had always tried his hardest to be one of the best older brothers out there. He stared into his emerald green eyes and at the freckles that covered his cheeks. He found himself smiling while looking at his freckles as they reminded him of his marefriend who always spoke so fondly of them. He then found himself looking at his hair, which did seem slightly out of place after putting everything away. He began to smile more, thinking about his marefriend messing it up in a similar manner while teasing him.
Big Mac’s smile slowly faded while thinking about his special somepony so much. It wasn’t because he didn’t like thinking about her, it was because he realized that it had been a few days since he had heard from her, let alone seen her. Of course, Big Macintosh knew it was okay for him and his marefriend to have space every once in a while, but it was unlike her to suddenly cut him off.
What if she was hurt? Did he do something wrong?
“Maybe Ah should go an’ find out” Big Mac whispered to himself.
The stallion stood, took the final bite of his precious apple fritter, fixed his hair, and went out the door. He led himself to a familiar cloud mansion, with beautiful rainbow streams pouring from it. He had been there many times since the two began dating, but he couldn’t help but be amazed at the cloud structure every time he had seen it. Big Mac looked over and saw a hot air balloon ready for him to travel up. He didn’t hesitate to get into the balloon, floating up, and stepping right up to her door.
Big Mac lifted his hoof and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer.
“Derpy? I thought I told you that the package could be left outside,” her raspy voice cracked as she called through the door. Big Mac’s eyebrow raised in concern as he noticed that his marefriend’s voice was cracking more than usual and had even sounded strained.
“Darlin’? It’s me.” Big Mac said softly.
“Mac? You can come in, the door is open.” came the reply.
Big Mac did as he was told, and entered her cloud home. He had looked around, trying to find his marefriend, but didn’t see her. He looked towards her living room, expecting her to be there, but she was nowhere nearby. She must have felt that he was searching for her because he had heard her voice once again.
“In the kitchen!”
Her voice still sounded strained and almost nasal-like, and Big Mac headed for her kitchen to find out why. The minute he had stepped in he could tell that she was cooking something. The room smelled of tomato soup, which wasn’t his favorite food or smell. His nose scrunched up in disgust as he slowly approached his marefriend. When she turned around to face him, his disgusted expression quickly changed to that of concern and shock.
Her prismatic hair was way messier than normal. It was short and was always somewhat messy, but from the looks of it, it seemed as if she hadn’t even brushed it at all. Her normally beautiful magenta eyes had terrible bags underneath them like she hadn’t slept well in days. Her eyes were also almost bloodshot red. Her wings drooped at her sides, almost seeming as if she was too tired to keep them up and her light blue face seemed to have lost all of its color. She stared at him for a few seconds, before looking off into nothing with a dazed look on her face. Overall, she looked exhausted and worn out, and Big Macintosh didn’t hesitate to speak up about it.
“Rainbow Dash,” He stood, almost speechless, “Darlin’, what happened to you?”
“Oh, it’s just a slight cold. No biggie,” she said as cool as she possibly could, “I’d give ya a kiss but I don’t want to infect you.” Rainbow Dash winked at her coltfriend before tending back to her soup.
“This looks a little bit more than jus’’ a cold, Dash.”
“It is! Usually, the regular pony would just get like a stuffed nose and a scratchy throat, but I was lucky enough to get the whole package!” she gave a wide, and obviously fake, smile.
“What do you mean?”
“I got the fever, the puking, the sneezing, the stuffed nose, and I’m just getting my voice back today! Must I go on?”
“You pretty much just explained to me why this isn’t just a small cold.” Big Mac said playfully, however his tone didn’t match his stern expression.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Mac, please. I told you it’s not a big deal. Ponies get colds all the time. They go away after like, what? A week? I’m not dying.”
“Ponies get better when they rest. Somethin’ tells me that you haven’t rested much. I haven’t even seen you for a few days, and Ah can already tell that you’ve gotten worse than how ya started! Have you even gone to the doctor?”
“Uh...”
“Rainbow!”
“What!? I could barely move from my bed for the first few days. I’m still a little dizzy when I walk to my own kitchen! What makes you think I can take myself all the way across town?”
“Alright, Ah apologize. Ah just wish that I could have come here sooner, I would have been able to help ya.”
“Well, you’re here now, Stud. I think that’s all that matters right now.” Rainbow smiled sweetly and stepped closer to Big Mac, still trying to keep her distance.
Big Macintosh smiled back at his marefriend. It was rare for her to say things like this throughout their few months of dating, even if it was something very small. She had just begun to open up more in their relationship, and Big Mac was very satisfied with how things were working out. He also took a few steps closer towards his marefriend, and placed his hoof on her cheek, earning an even larger smile from Rainbow in return. However, he retracted his hoof when he noticed how warm she had felt.
“Darlin’, you said somethin’ about a fever earlier. Do ya still have one?”
“Uh...haven’t checked yet. Go into the bathroom and hand me my thermometer, will ya?”
The stallion smirked and bowed towards Rainbow, who looked ready to sneeze.
“Yes, ma’am.”
After successfully retrieving the thermometer, Big Macintosh returned to the kitchen to find his marefriend standing in the middle of her kitchen with her eyes closed. She seemed to be concentrating or focusing on something, and she even looked as if she were slightly swaying a bit.
“Darlin’?” Big Mac put the thermometer down on the counter, concern was written all over his face and in his tone.
She let out a disgruntled, “Hm?”, and didn’t open her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just a little dizzy, that’s all. It’ll pass in a minute or two.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, and Big Macintosh decided to take action.
“Alright, that’s enough.” He said when her dizzy spell seemed to die down.
“What is it, Mac?”
“You need ta lie down.”
“Mac, I told you, I ’m. Fine. Do you remember who I am? I’m not going to let a cold take me down. Besides, I’ve been dealing with this on my own for a few days, I got this.”
“Yeah, well now Ah’m here, and you don’t have ta do this alone. You are clearly not feeling well and Ah want to help you.” Big Mac draped a hoof over Rainbow in hopes that she’d give in.
He watched her pale cheeks slowly turn a light shade of pink, and she refused to make eye contact with him. Big Mac heard her mumble something that he couldn’t quite hear, despite being so close to her.
“Ah’m sorry, what was that?” He smirked.
“I said that I don’t deserve a coltfriend like you.” She grumbled.
“Aw, sure you do. The most awesome mare in Ponyville deserves to have the best coltfriend.”
Rainbow snorted, “Ponyville? In your dreams! You, sir, are lucky to have the most awesome marefriend in all of Equestria!” She gave a quick pose before leaning back into Mac’s embrace.
“Even better,” Mac replied, kissing her forehead.
The two stood in the kitchen for a few moments, each enjoying the other’s company. Mac realized that Rainbow was right; He was lucky to have her as a marefriend. While the two seemed like complete opposites, they seemed to fit perfect together. Rainbow brought out more of his confidence, and always encouraged him to speak more. Big Macintosh always seemed to calm Rainbow down after a long day. She would open up to him about many things that she wouldn’t tell many other ponies.
Big Macintosh looked down at his marefriend began to cough and hastily moved away from him. He frowned as she couldn’t seem to control her coughing and watched as it increasingly got worse. He watched Rainbow make her way into the bathroom and quickly closed the door, but it didn’t stop Mac from following her.
Cringing, Big Macintosh listened to the unfortunate sounds of Rainbow gagging and emptying the contents of her stomach. It was painful just to listen, and couldn’t imagine being in her position. It was his first time seeing her so sick and weak, and he hated every second of it.
As much as he wanted to help her, he realized that she had closed the door for a reason. She probably didn’t want him to see her in such a state, and she cared a lot about her image. However, he waited until the painful sounds died down before taking his hoof and turning the doorknob slowly, letting Rainbow know that he was going to come in.
“Don’t,” her scratchy and hoarse voice came from the opposite side, stopping Bic Mac in his tracks.
“Dash, are you okay?” Big Macintosh asked, concerned.
“Never better,” came the sarcastic reply. Big Mac couldn’t help but roll his eyes and smile a bit. Even when Rainbow was sick, she still carried that attitude that he loved.
Big Macintosh respected his marefriend’s wishes most of the time, however, he really didn’t want to leave Rainbow Dash alone.
“Darlin’, don’t move. Ah’m comin’ in,” he said, placing his hoof on the doorknob again.
“Mac,” Rainbow whined.
“Dash, Ah’m serious.”
Big Mac frowned as he opened the door. His marefriend was still on the ground, her blue face paler than it already was. All of that seemed to have taken whatever energy she had left, and she looked down in shame. He couldn’t help but feel guilty, as he wasn’t there to look after her from the start.
He moved his way over to his marefriend and wrapped her into a hug.
“Ah’m sorry,” he grimaced.
“For what?” Rainbow said, her voice muffled from the hug.
“Ah wish Ah would have come to check up on ya sooner. You’d probably have been better by now.”
“Mac,” Rainbow gave a tired smile, “You didn’t even know. What are you talking about?”
“Ah should have known somethin’ was up the first couple of days.”
“It’s okay, Mac,” Rainbow hummed, “Now, move away. I don’t want you to get sick.”
“Ah don’t care if Ah get sick,”
“I do. Because if you get sick then I’m going to have to look after you. And I have better things to do you know?” Rainbow gave a weak laugh, and Big Mac laughed as well until Rainbow began to cough again.
He calmed Rainbow down before lifting her onto his back.
“Hey!” she protested and tried to hop off. Being the stronger one out of the two, Big Macintosh made sure that Rainbow would not go anywhere.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
“What are you doing?” she sneered.
“Ah’m takin’ ya to your room.”
“I can walk, you know.”
“Not while Ah’m here.” Big Mac smiled to himself.
He heard Rainbow groan and began to slowly make his way up the stairs. She gently wrapped her hooves around his neck during the small trip, and Mac noticed that she had become quiet. He slowly opened the door to her bedroom, finding a familiar green tortoise on her cloud bed.
“Hey Tank,” Mac greeted Rainbow’s pet quietly, “Is Dash asleep? Ah, can’t see.”
He watched as the reptile looked up at his owner, who had closed her eyes and seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and gave a slow nod.
Mac then proceeded to lift back the purple sheets on Rainbow’s bed, before placing her down. He saw that she had fallen asleep, a frown on her face. She must have felt terrible to have fallen asleep that quickly. The bags under her eyes seemed to have gotten worse compared to what they looked like when he first walked in, and she was sweating. Her mouth was slightly open, mostly due to the fact that she probably couldn’t breathe normally.
His eyes widened as he had forgotten to check her temperature, and quickly went to go and retrieve the thermometer. He returned and realized that he would have to wake her in order to take her temperature correctly.
“Rainbow,” Big Macintosh had barely touched her, yet her eyes fluttered open.
“Hm?” she hummed weakly.
“Ah need to take your temperature, darlin’. You can go right back to sleep after Ah promise.”
Rainbow gave a slight nod and opened her mouth, allowing Big Macintosh to place the thermometer under her tongue. He watched as Rainbow wasn’t able to keep her eyes open halfway through, and quickly fell asleep again.
Mac frowned as he watched the number climbed higher than one hundred, and he placed the thermometer on her nightstand. Looking at Tank, Mac sighed.
“Ah’m gonna go downstairs for a bit. Keep an eye on her alright?” he said to the tortoise, receiving another nod.
Walking downstairs, Big Macintosh took a seat on Rainbow’s couch and stared at the floor. He felt guilty that he hadn’t tried to contact Rainbow sooner. He felt bad because Rainbow felt terrible. He was confused because he didn’t know what had caused Rainbow to catch such a cold.
A knock at Rainbow’s door snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Dashie? Dashie, are you in there?” a worried, soft voice came from behind the front door, and Big Macintosh immediately recognized it. He got up from the couch and opened the door, meeting a pair of two teal eyes full of concern. Her soft pink hair hung in her face, but she was clearly making eye contact.
“Hello, Ms. Shy.” Big Macintosh greeted and allowed the shy pegasus to walk in.
“Hi, Big Macintosh,” Fluttershy said quietly, “Is Rainbow okay? She hasn’t talked to any of the girls for almost a week. We were worried that we did something wrong.”
Fluttershy didn’t hesitate to get right to the point and looked around for her rainbow-haired friend.
“She hasn’t talked to me either. I headed over here earlier to see if everything was alright,” Big Macintosh stated.
“Well, is she?” Fluttershy pushed.
“She’s really sick,” Mac said with a frown, “It’s pretty bad. It seems like the cold had started to hit her a week ago and honestly Ah think that she’s gotten worse than before.”
Fluttershy stepped back and placed a hoof on her chest.
“Oh dear, that’s terrible!” she cried, “Where is she now?”
“She’s upstairs. She just threw up a lot and when Ah put her on my back to carry her upstairs, she fell asleep immediately. Ah was worried that she fainted or somethin’.” Big Macintosh explained. Fluttershy’s worried face turned into one of concentration and thought. Her brows furrowed as she listened to Big Macintosh.
“Wait, she threw up?” she asked, and waited until Big Macintosh nodded, “What are her other symptoms?”
“Coughin’, sneezin’, fever, chills, exhaustion, and her throat has been botherin’ her a lot.”
“How high was the fever?”
“It seemed ta be over one-hundred one.”
Fluttershy stuck her tongue out and nodded her head as if she confirmed something.
“This sounds a lot like the Feather Flu,” she said and walked next to Big Macintosh.
“The feather what?”
“The Feather Flu. It’s something that only pegasi can get. So don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” Fluttershy said before catching herself, “not for you at least.”
“How do ya know you have the ‘Feather Flu’?” Big Mac asked curiously.
Fluttershy paced around for a moment before answering.
“It may sound weird, but whenever a pegasus has the Feather Flu, the tips of the feathers on their wings will turn a darker shade than their usual color,” she explained.
“Do you see how my wings are light yellow?” she pointed at her wings as she spread them out, “Well. if I had the Feather Flu, the tips would be a darker yellow.”
Big Mac tapped a hoof to his chin.
“So, Rainbow’s wings would be dark blue?” he wondered.
“Yes, they would.”
“Should we go check?”
“I should stay out here. The Feather Flu is extremely contagious. If I go in and get sick, it could possibly spread to every pegasus in town!” she worried.
Big Mac smiled slightly.
“It’s alright, Ah’ll be back in a moment. Then we can go out and get her some medicine and things.”
Fluttershy looked at Big Macintosh fondly.
“Rainbow’s really lucky to have someone like you. Soarin is just a bit too busy to look after me when I’m sick.” she looked down with a sad smile, but snapped her head up as she realized what her words might mean.
“N-not that I love him any less! Soarin is a great coltfriend. He’s amazing and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.”
Big Macintosh chucked at Fluttershy’s worry, He began heading up the stairs to Rainbow’s room and slowly opened the door. Rainbow was still asleep on her cloud bed, looking miserable. Mac crept up slowly to the side of her bed and gently lifted the covers slightly so that he would be able to see her wings. The pegasus’ wings were spread out on both of her sides, and sure enough, the tips of her wings were dark blue.
Frowning, Big Macintosh tucked Rainbow back in and went back downstairs to tell Fluttershy.
“She’s got the Feather Flu,” he confirmed sadly.
Fluttershy responded with a small gasp.
“Do we take her to the doctor?” he asked.
“Well, it’s too late for her to do anything. If she’s had it this long, the medicine wouldn’t take effect.” Fluttershy responded quietly.
“Well, how long do we have to wait for her to get better?”
“It usually takes about a week. In this case, this should be Rainbow’s fourth day being sick.” Fluttershy paced around the room, “So that means she should be better soon.”
“Ah’m just worried...she seems like she’s getting worse. When Ah came here, she was able to stand on all four of her hooves. Now Ah’m scared to let her get out of bed.” Big Mac looked down at the ground.
“Mac, things will be fine. It’s probably because she wasn’t resting properly. Now that you’re here to take care of her, she’ll get better in no time.” Fluttershy smiled and started heading for the door.
“Now, come on. We should probably go out and get some things for Rainbow.”
Big Macintosh smiled a bit and followed.
The sky was now turning a light shade of orange as Big Macintosh and Fluttershy returned from their small trip. On their backs were items such as tissues, blankets, various types of medicines, and Rainbow’s favorite candy.
“Thanks for all your help, Fluttershy.” Mac smiled as he saw that the shy pegasus was preparing to leave.
“Anything for Rainbow,” she replied, smiling back, “I’ll check back with her soon. I really wish I could help more, but-”
“It’s alright. Ah wouldn’t want ta get sick either.”
The two ponies said their goodbyes as Mac entered the cloud mansion and set the items on Rainbow’s kitchen counter. He began to make Rainbow Dash a new pot of soup and as it cooked, he took the items out of the bags.
“Mac?” a hoarse voice called from the stairs.
The crimson stallion’s ears perked up in surprise as he rushed over to check on his marefriend.
“You’re still here?” she asked, rubbing at her magenta eyes.
“Of course Ah’m still here, darlin’.” Big Macintosh responded, walking closer to the sick pegasus, “How are ya feelin’?”
“I mean, I guess I feel better than before. I must have been terrible before, I don’t even remember falling asleep.” she said, giving a weak smile.
“Really?” Big Mac raised an eyebrow.
“Nope. But I really needed that nap.”
“Ya still need more rest.”
“Eh, I’ll be fine.” Rainbow insisted and as if right on cue, she sneezed.
“So, um...how long are you planning to stay? It’s getting dark.” Rainbow pointed outside of her window and frowned.
“Oh, you don’t have ta worry about that. Ah’m stayin’ here until ya get better.” Big Macintosh said firmly.
“Mac…” Rainbow whined, “I told you I’m fine by myself. You have farm work and other important things to do rather than just sit around watching me.”
Big Mac’s hard gaze softened as he listened to his marefriend. While she may seem confident and boastful, she does question herself sometimes. She is a pony just like everyone else and doubts herself as well.
“Darlin’, Ah’m staying here because you are more important to me than anything,” he said, throwing a hoof around the rainbow-maned mare.
“Even more important than your apples?” she looked up at Big Macintosh and smiled as her partner got quiet.
“That’s not fair and you know it.” Big Macintosh smirked as his marefriend laugh slightly.
“Well, I don’t want you to sleep next to me tonight, you’ll get sick,” Rainbow said, making her way to her couch.
Big Mac raised an eyebrow in confusion. Didn’t she know that she had the Feather Flu? Didn’t she know that he couldn’t get sick?
“Darlin’, Ah’m...not gonna get sick.”
“Yeah, if you stay away from me.”
“No Ah mean that there’s no way for me to get sick.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed as she laid across the couch, Big Macintosh standing in front of her.
“Mac, what are you talking about?”
“You have the Feather Flu, Ah’m an earth pony. Ah’m not able to-
“I have the WHAT?!” Rainbow exclaimed and her eyes widened dramatically. She hopped off of her couch to look at herself from one of the mirrors on the wall. She spread her wings. After examining herself for a moment, she realized that her wings were a darker blue, and she covered her face with her hooves.
“How did this even happen…” she mumbled.
“Well, Ah did tell ya to put your scarf on when it was snowin’ last week.” Mac nagged and shrank back and Rainbow glared at him.
“And I reminded you that I worked with clouds and the weather for a living. I think that I’m a little used to the cold.”
“Well, it musta been just a bug. Either way, you need ta get rid of it.”
Rainbow made her way over back to her couch and laid her head on the arm. Big Macintosh went into the kitchen and found that the soup was ready. He placed the warm soup into a bowl and got a glass of water. On a small tray, he placed the bowl and the glass next to her bottle of medicine. He then brought Rainbow her blankets and tissues first before heading back into the kitchen to get her meal.
“Here ya go, darlin’.” Mac smiled at his marefriend. She wrapped herself in the blankets that Big Macintosh had given her and noticeably began to cough and sneeze more than usual. She had seen the tray that Mac prepared and gave another weak smile.
“Thanks, Mac.” she smiled, her voice completely gone at this point.
He sat next to her as she ate and took her medicine. The medicine she had taken had caused her to become drowsy not long after and she leaned against Big Macintosh as her eyes began to get heavy.
“Mac,” Rainbow whispered sleepily.
“Yes, darlin’? Everything alright?”
“I’m really glad you’re here,” she mumbled and her words kept decreasing in volume. Her eyes were closed completely and she seemed to have fallen asleep again.
Big Mac smiled and picked his sick marefriend up again and took her back upstairs to her room.
“Ah’m glad Ah’m here too.”
Big Macintosh opened his eyes to see his sleeping marefriend in front of him. It had been a few days since Big Macintosh had decided to stay with Rainbow until she had gotten rid of the Feather Flu, and he was happy to see that she had improved greatly.
He got up from Rainbow’s bed to see that the sun was shining brightly through the windows. He checked the alarm clock on Rainbow’s nightstand. It was a few minutes past eight o’clock in the morning.
Looking at his marefriend, she no longer had bags under her eyes, and her voice had started to come back more and more. Overall, she had begun to have more energy and her fever reduced dramatically.
However, every morning, Big Macintosh would check to see if her wings returned to their normal color, but each day they were still dark blue.
He saw his rainbow haired partner beginning to stir a bit and her eyes fluttered open a few times.
“Good-mornin'.” Mac smiled down at her.
“Morning,” Rainbow mumbled and ran a hoof through her messy prismatic hair. She sounded like herself again, and honestly, she felt way better than before.
“How are ya doin’?” he asked, noticing that she looked healthy.
“I’m actually feeling fine..” Rainbow replied, getting up and spreading her wings, “Are my wings still messed up?”
Mac’s eyes widened as he saw that Rainbow’s wings were back to normal.
“They’re back! You’re okay again!” he smiled, hugging her tightly.
Rainbow laughed as her coltfriend showered her with love.
“Chill, you’re acting like I was away for years or something!” she said, lightly pushing him away.
“Well, Ah’m sorry that I care about ya.” Big Macintosh pretended to pout.
“I didn’t tell you to stop y’know,” Rainbow smiled and kissed the stallion’s cheek before being engulfed in his hugs once again.