My Little Pony: Will Of Fire

The Fire Element Alicorn

Chapter 14

Flu By You

It was so sudden and came out of nowhere so fast no one was able to prepare for it. The town of Ponyville had been hit the Ponyflux. A disease that is similar to the flu, but much worse. Luckily for Flareon, he didn't catch it. Unfortunately, Twilight did, so Flareon had to take her to the Ponyville Hospital, but when he got there, a nurse stopped him from going inside. "I'm sorry sir," the pony said, "The hospital has reached max capacity and we don't have any more rooms available." So left without any choice, Flareon took Twilight back home and was going to have to take care of her himself until she recovered. "Spike sure took a perfect time for a vacation. Looks like it's up to me. Don't worry Twilight...I'll take care of you!' As Flareon went inside their house, he was completely shocked to see all his friends. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, everyone...what are you doing?!" Apparently, they too were sent away by the nurse and told to return home, but instead they had come to his house. "Why did you guys come to my house? I can't take care of all you by myself!" Flareon yelled, but everyone, including Applejack and Pinkie Pie, were the only ones at their houses at the moment. Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, along with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, had all caught the Ponyflux and were currently at the hospital. "Ok, so I now have to take care of six ponies...by myself. Looks like I have no choice," Flareon said as he took everyone upstairs and began to put together five more beds. After everyone got into their beds, he decided to take their temperatures. "Looks like everyone is averaging a 102 degree fever. Wow...this Ponyflux sure is bad news," Flareon said as he put all the thermometers away, "Listen up everyone! Don't get out of bed ok? Rest is the most important thing you all can do right now. Just relax and let me take care of everything." As everyone gave him a weak smile, Flareon decided to give everyone some ice packs to help cool down their fevers.

Soon after, Flareon prepared to give everyone some cold medicine, but one pony was refusing to take it. "No...I'm not drinking that disgusting stuff," Rainbow Dash said as she kept closing her mouth when the medicine would get near it. "Rainbow Dash...this is for you own good, quit being a baby," Flareon replied. As he began to make one more attempt, she swung at the spoon and caused it to fly into his face. As she began to laugh at him, Flareon wiped off the medicine from his face and said, "Oh...real mature Rainbow Dash." Flareon then was hit with an idea. Flareon quickly went down stairs into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and took out a bottle of soda. After he poured the contents into the sink, Flareon put the cold medicine into the soda bottle. He then retuned upstairs and said, "Hey Rainbow Dash...want some ice, cold, refreshing soda?" As she signaled for him to bring it to her, Flareon walked up to her bed, and Rainbow Dash quickly took the bottle. She immediately began to drink it. Right away, Rainbow Dash knew she had been tricked and dropped the bottle as she began to spit out the medicine that was still in her mouth. "Yuck...I can still taste it." Rainbow Dash then laid her head back on her pillow. She looked at Flareon and said, "I hate you." Even though Rainbow Dash told him that, Flareon knew it was for her own good and she would eventually thank him.

The next day, Flareon once again had to give every some medicine. This time though, Rainbow Dash didn't fret over it, and drank the medicine without arguing. She once again told him, "I hate you." After he gave Fluttershy her medicine, she looked at him and said, "Flareon...can you please go to my house and feed my animals? I'm worried about Angel and everyone." Flareon quickly remembered the fist time he met her animals and soon hoped that they changed their attitude towards him. "Yeah...I should have seen this coming," Flareon said as he was sitting tied up inside a giant soup pot. Apparently, right when he went inside Fluttershy's house, it only took a couple of seconds before the animals attacked him. Eventually though, Flareon was able to convince Angel and the animals that Fluttershy sent him there to feed them. Right when he said the word food, the animals quickly untied him. After he feed everyone, Flareon was able to return home, but not after promising Angel he would never come back again, unless it was to feed them.

The second day was more of the usual. As this point, Flareon was already exhausted by having to take care of six ponies, but he knew there was no other option available. After Flareon refilled everyone's ice packs, Twilight asked, "Flareon...can you please get me a book called, 'The Sunset Pony'. I want to finish reading it." Soon after, he walked downstairs and began to search the bookshelves. "Why is it me and Twilight can never find what we're looking for? We live in a library for crying out loud!" It took Flareon a good 30 minutes before he finally found the book she had asked for. "Thank you Flareon," Twilight said as he gave her the book. Suddenly, his head began to throb, but since Flareon had more pressing matters at the moment, he decided to ignore it. Since they were running low on cold medicine, Flareon had to visit the pharmacy in town. As he was flying there, Flareon started to become dizzy, and had to land on the ground. "Is it possible I'm starting to catch the Ponyflux?" Flareon said to himself. "It doesn't matter though...everyone is counted on me. I can't let them down." He then decided to walk to the pharmacy instead, and after Flareon purchased more medicine, he went back to Golden Oak Library.

Two days later, Twilight and the others finally were able to recover from the Ponyflux. At first, they were preparing to get out of their beds and return home, that is until, Rainbow Dash began to speak up. "You know...I've actually gotten use to Flareon taking care of me. Whatever I need, he goes and gets it. He's like my own personal butler. It's so awesome!" It turns out she wasn't the only one who felt that way. "You know...you're right Rainbow Dash. I can't argue with you there," Applejack replied. "I have to agree," Rarity said, "I wouldn't mind it lasting a few more hours...or days." Twilight was actually surprised by what everyone was saying. "Are you suggesting that we fake being sick? I absolutely refuse to take advantage of Flareon like that, especially after all he's done for us!" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and replied, "Oh come on Twilight...I bet you wish you were still sick right now...right?" There was no way around it, even Twilight wanted things to continue like they have been for the last fours day. So after some thought, she decided to play along with everyone, and fake being sick for a couple more days.

For three more days, everyone continued to fake being sick, and enjoyed every minute of it. At this point, Flareon was barely able to stand as he was starting to feel symptoms of the Ponyflux. As Flareon was in the kitchen, preparing to make food for everyone, he said to himself, "It's been a week already and yet everyone still hasn't recovered. I don't care if I have the Ponyflux. I will not let the others, especially Twilight, down!" As he was preparing to bring the food to everyone, Flareon could hear them talking about him. "How about we fake being sick for a little longer, just till Saturday?" Rainbow Dash said, "I'm sure Flareon won't mind. He's such a good boy." As everyone began to laugh, he started to hear Applejack speak. "I'm sure Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith are all back at the farm already. I'm sure they won't mind if I spend a couple more days here." What he heard next from Twilight completely shocked him. "I agree with you two, I think we can stretch this charade. Does everyone agree?" As they cheered in agreement, Flareon was absolutely speechless. How long have they been lying to him? Two days...three days? What if they recovered after the first day? That means he was taking care of six perfectly healthy ponies for six days and they were actually planning on faking being sick for longer?

At that moment, Flareon decided he had enough. "Well...how is everyone doing today? Still sick after seven days? Wow! That sure it a long time...isn't it?" he said sarcastically. Twilight immediately picked up on his sarcasm and asked, "Is something wrong Flareon?" He quickly turned to her and replied, "Oh no...of course not. There's nothing wrong with me...nothing at all. I've just been taking care off all my friends and wife nonstop for the past week. Feeding you, giving you medicine, getting things for you, refilling your ice pack, and pretty much everything for everyone. I'm sure after all this time, you would never do something like...fake being sick so I would be forced to continue taking care of you!" Right away, everyone knew that Flareon had overheard what they had said a couple of minutes ago. "I can't believe you guys...I took care of you for a whole week! When did the lying start...huh? I've bust my hoof for you and this is how I'm treated...like a common mule? You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" After some thought, the result of their actions about lying to Flareon, had finally sunk in. "Flareon...we're sorry. It's just that...we liked you taking care of us and it looks like we took it to far," Twilight said. She then looked around the room. "Right everyone?" As they nodded their head in agreement, everyone looked at him and said together, "We're sorry!" As Flareon was finally relieved to hear them apologize, he suddenly felt light-headed and fell to the ground, and soon after, he fainted. When he opened his eyes, Flareon noticed he was lying in their bed. When he looked around, Flareon saw everyone staring at him concerned. "Flareon...are you ok? You just fainted a couple of hours ago," Twilight asked, "Oh no...you didn't catch the Ponyflux did you?" Right away, everyone began to feel bad. Flareon had caught the Ponyflux and he still managed to care of them. "Flareon...this all our fault," Rainbow Dash said as she had tears in her eyes, "While we were faking being sick, you were sick this entire time." She then looked at everyone and they didn't even to say anything to each other. Everyone knew they had to make it up to him. "Flareon, this time...we'll take care of you!" Twilight said. As everyone smiled at him, Flareon felt a warm sensation of gratitude as he slowly closed his eyes, and fell asleep.