“I wish… I wish I had alligator fists.” Rainbow Dash lay in your parents bed, bundled up amongst the plush blankets as she batted at the air with her forelegs. “That would be cool.”

“Yes Dash, it would be.” You gather a soup bowl from next to her in the bed and place it on a carrying tray before placing a hoof on her forehead. “You still feel pretty hot…”

“You’re hot.” Dash giggles as she grabs your hoof and begins to playfully kiss it. “You’re like… a hot bowl of hot… stuff.”

You pull your hoof away and flash Dash a faux-smile as you wipe your hoof dry on one of the sheets. “You need to rest, Rainbow. “

“Your face needs to rest.”

You nod and give her a slight chuckle before leaving the room with the breakfast tray on balanced on your back. Since last night, Rainbow Dash’s condition had grown progressively worse. Around midnight, you awoke to find yourself alone in the living room, only to hear the faint sounds of crying and retching coming from the upstairs bathroom. After making sure she was finished, you took her to your parent’s room where she fell asleep in their bed until about two in the morning when she awoke complaining of being cold. Like your mother did for you when you were young, you placed a hoof on her forehead, only to immediately pull it back when you realized how hot she was. Since then you had remained awake, diligently tending to her every need. But within the last hour her needs began to grow more and more bizarre. She was still burning up as well as growing very pale and clammy. She had begun to talk to herself and ask you strange question that you could only respond to with a nod or a shrug. She was growing delirious; a bad sign for a pony with a fever as high as hers. Your medical knowledge didn’t extend much past the old adage of “Starve a cold feed a fever”, but you knew that if she didn’t get proper help soon, things were going to get much worse.

However, seeking medical help was far easier said than done. For one, you couldn’t very well leave Dash alone in her condition. The other problem was that the storm from last night had almost completely washed out the roads, making travel from your home to Ponyville dangerous with all the debris that had been strewn about. But Dash was more important to you then a few muddy sinkholes and over turned trees, and you would willingly risk life and limb to make sure she was safe. The only question now was “Who would look after her while you were gone?” As you placed the breakfast trey and it’s contents into the porcelain wash basin in your kitchen, you happen to glance out the window. A flock of birds passes by, flying in a v shape, and behind them is a yellow and pink spec. Your heart races as you realize that the speck is a pegasus pony, guiding the birds as they fly across the grey sky. Without turning off the water, you rush outside and begin jumping and waving your forelimbs in the air.

“Hey! Hey, down here!”  You feel your heart sink for a second as you realize that the honking of the birds overhead is  to loud and drowning out the sound of your voice. Looking around on the ground you spot a small cluster of pinecones laying in a patch of damp grass. Taking only a second to aim, you toss one of the pinecones up in the air, watching as it soars upwards and causes the birds to scatter. There is a slight yelp from the pegasus as the pine cone passes just near them before gravity takes over and brings it back down to earth.

“Hey! Down here! I need help!” you sigh in relief as the pegasus breaks away from the reforming flock and begins to make their decent towards you. As they land, you make a quick mental not of their features. Yellow coat, pink hair, butterflies for a cutie mark. What really caught your attention as the look on her face as she walked over to you, her eyes wide and watery as she approached the pony who was throwing pinecones at her.

“Why were you throwing pinecones at me!?”  Her voice was high and shrill, but at the same time soft. From the way she talked you gathered she was on the verge of tears.

“I'm sorry! I really don’t throw pinecones at passing pegasus, but my friend is really sick and I need help!”

Her face instantly changes from sadness to one of sudden realization.  “Oh my! That sounds very serious! Are they ok?”

You sigh and shake your head. “Their fever is very high, and they are having on and off again delusions. They need medicine but I really can’t leave them alone.  Can you please look after them while I run to town? I can pay you for your trouble, bits aren’t a problem.”

The yellow pegasus smiles and shakes her head, holding up a forehoof. “Oh no, that’s quite alright. I take care of animals all the time, I’m sure I can watch after your friend for you.” She smiles as you introduce yourself, thanking her profusely for her help.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Fluttershy. What did you say your friends name was?”

“Oh, sorry. Her name is Rainbow Dash. She’s up on the second-“ In a blur of yellow and pink, Fluttershy dashes up the stairs shouting “Rainbow Dash is sick!? Oh my goodness! Rainbow! Are you alright!?”  You blink a few times and rub your eyes as your mind makes the connection that the two must be friends. You only hope she is a friend and not a “friend” like spitfire had mentioned the other night.  Running on the assumption that Rainbow Dash was in good hooves, you walk back into the house in order to get your saddle bags and the pouch of 500 bits your parents had left for you. It was only for emergencies, but if having a sick, possibly bi-sexual love interest in your parents bed while being tended to by another, equally attractive pegasus wasn’t an emergency, then you didn’t know what was.

You stop for a moment, wondering if you really did need to leave before shaking the thought out of your head, grabbing the bag of bits and heading out the front door.

After half an hour of avoiding deep puddles of water, climbing over broken tree limbs, and having to find an alternate path into town, you finally manage to stumble into the Ponyville infirmary where nurse Red Heart was administering a shot to a small, white and brown colt.

“Oh my! You look out of breath dear! Is everything alright?” The small colt winches as she pulls the shot out, but smiles when she brings out a bright green lollipop for him. You stand in the door way, fore limbs braced against the sides of the door frame as your chest heaves up and down. Against your better judgment you had run most of the way there, only slowing down when you tripped over a half sunk log and taken a tumble down a small embankment.

“I (puff) My friend… (huff) is sick, and she needs (pant) medicine…. Oh man, I think I swallowed a bug on the way here…” You shut the door and slump down against the wall as your breath slowly returns to you. Nurse Red Heart helps the small colt down from the examining table and brings you a class of water that you eagerly gulp down.

“Alright dear, take your time. What symptoms does your friend have?”

You finish off the glass and take a moment to think. “Uh… Cold sweats, delusions, high fever, vomiting… and I think she mentioned something about body aches last night.”

The nurse began to scribble in a small notepad, nodding along as you spoke. “Mm-hmm… It sounds like pneumonia… was this friend of yours out in the storm last night?”

You nod. “Yeah, for about an hour or so.”

The nurse gasps as she closes her notebook. “Oh my! Well, they are certainly lucky to have someone like you looking out for them.” She tots off to a white cabinet with a red cross on the front and opens it, searching for the proper medicine.

“Oh dear… I seem to be out of my pneumonia medicine…” She closes the metal cabinet and turns back to you with a

slightly sorry look on her face. “I hate to ask you this, but today is the Ponyville elementary school’s vaccination today and I am completely swamped with work. Could I trouble you to get some of the essentials I need to make the medicine?”

You nod and climb to your hooves. If it meant Rainbow Dash feeling better, you would do just about anything. “Of course. What do you need?”

Again the nurse takes out her notepad and begins to write down the needed items as she tells you them. “Well, I’ll need the “Book of Pony Medical remedies”, I believe the librarian borrowed it for some studying. Opal dust is needed to filter the medicine once it’s mixed; you can get that over at Carousel boutique. Then you will need to stop by Sugar cube corner and pick up some chocolate to help the taste of the medicine, and Sweet Apple Acres to get some sour green apples; they have the some good vitamins in them that I would have to mix by hoof otherwise.” She tears off the paper and hands it to you. “The main medical ingredients I have here, so I can prepare the bulk of the medicine after I finish with the children. The rest is up to you.”

You take the note and give it a quick “once over” before thanking nurse Red Heart and heading back out the door towards your first stop. Since the infirmary was located in the heart of Ponyville, then it would only make sense that you work outwards, visiting the places closest to you first then moving outwards. This meant Sugar Cube corner was first, followed by Carousel Boutique, then the library followed by Sweet Apple Acres. The entire list would take you maybe a half hour tops. With that in mind you set off towards Sugar Cube corner, your nose held high in the air to detect the smell of sweet culinary confections. You had been there countless times before in the past; often time’s mother would get a craving for something sweet, or father would require a special ingredient for a new batch of wine, so getting what you needed would be no problem. What would be a problem however is if that pink pony was there.

You didn’t mind it so much when the Cake’s took your order; they were polite and kept conversation short. But when the pink pony was there taking orders, you would find yourself under attack from a barrage of questions. What’s worse, you couldn’t leave until you had answered all of them.

“Hi! What’s your name? Do I know you? I don’t know if I know you, but if I did know you then we wouldn’t be having this conversation! Do you like parties, I LOVE parties! (GASP) We should throw you a party! Are you new? Is that why I haven’t seen you before? I throw parties for all the new ponies in town! Hey you look familiar, have I seen you around before?”

You had never had as many close calls with your identity then you did when you met with the pink pony. If she could focus for more than five seconds, she would perhaps have drawn the conclusion that the pony on the bottles of festive wine she sells had the same face as you. But you thanked you’re lucky stars that her attention span was worse than that of the cross eyed pegasus that delivered the mail every day.

As you approached the door to Sugar Cube corner, you take a moment to collect yourself. “Alright… stand tall… look imposing... scowl a bit, maybe she will pick up on the hint that you don’t want to talk.”

You stand up tall with your chest held out and a serious look on your face as you push the door open. But before you can use tour “serious voice” to order the chocolate for Nurse Red Heart, your face falls as you look upon what is quite possibly the saddest thing you had ever seen in your life: The pink pony, the same pink pony whose bubbly attitude bordered on diabetic levels of cuteness, was crying.

It wasn’t anything like the heartfelt sobs delivered by Rainbow last night, but with each subtle sniff and wipe of her eyes, you felt your heart break just a little bit more. Her signature fluffy and bouncy hair is not flat and straight down across half of her face. Sighing in defeat as your realize that acting authoritative and intimidating now would only make you the biggest ass in all of equestrian history, you slowly walk over to the counter where the melancholy pink pony resides.

“Um.. Are you alright?”

The pink pony wipes her eyes and looks up at you, nodding before looking back down. “Yeah, um… I’m fine, sorry. What can I get for you?”

You dig around in your saddle bags and produce the list of ingredients, handing them to the pony and pointing at the line of words depicting what kind of chocolate was needed.

“Oh… this is from Nurse Red Heart? Yeah, we… we have the chocolate she needs back here… just… give me a… oh… I’m sorry…”  The list drops from her hooves as she wipes away a stream of newly emerging tears.  “I'm sorry… I don’t mean to cry… “

Your heart feels like its weighted down as you reach across the counter and place a hoof on the pink ponies shoulder. “Hey…. You can talk to me if something is bothering you…”

The pink pony looks up at you with her watery blue eyes as you give her a soft smile. While socially awkward was practically your middle name, you always found that you had a knack for helping others when they were upset. For a moment the pink pony wipes away her eyes before sighing and looking to you.

“It’s just… I went by my friend Rainbow Dash’s house today and it was blown apart from the storm last night. No one knows where she is and I’m just really worried something happened to her…”

You breathe a sigh of relief and chuckle a bit. “Is that all? Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash is fine.”

The pink pony looks at you for a moment, and you take the chance to illustrate how you know what you do.

“She got caught in the storm last night and needed a place to stay so I let her stay with me. She’s really sick though, that’s why I’m getting the Ingredients for Nurse Red Heart.”

With a sound not unlike air being blown into a balloon, the pink ponies hair begin to rises until it pops back into its normal, puffy style. She gasped and practically pulled you over counter as she threw her forelimbs around your neck in a vice like lock of happiness.

“Oh my gosh! Thank you for telling me that! I was so worried about her, I was all sad and crying, but you were here so DUH you saw that! Oh but thank you thank you thank you for that telling me that! Anything you need in the store is yours, for free!”

“Air… would be… appreciated!” The Pink pony lets you go, blushing a bit and apologizing as she ducks under the counter and pulls out a glass bottle labeled “Dark, 90% Cocoa Chocolate Syrup”.

“Here you go! Free of charge! Oh, silly me! I'm Pinkie Pie by the way!” Pinkie Pie eagerly grabs your hoof and shakes it up and down like a fish out of water. You nod and give her a nervous laugh as you take your hoof back and put the bottle carefully in your saddle bags. You introduce yourself and for a moment, you a spark light up in Pinkie’s eyes.

“Like the pony on the wine bottle?”

“Yeah, that’s my dad. Ponies say we look alike but, I don’t see it.”

Pinkie squeals with excitement at your admittance. “Oh my gosh! I knew I knew you from somewhere! Your dad is Pinot Noir! You DO look like him! Well, except you don’t have grey hair and wear a monocle, but you both have the same eyes, and your ears are the same length! Oh wow, that means your famous! Well, your dad is famous, but you’re related to your dad so that makes you famous by blood! Wow! I haven’t met a famous pony before! Well, except princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And there was the time I met DJ-PON3 at that dance event!”

Just like magic, Pinkie Pie is back to her old self, gabbing away and asking question after question as you simply nod in response. After what feels like an hour of half hearted responses, Pinkie Pie slaps a hoof on her forehead and gasps.

“Oh man! You said Rainbow Dash is sick! I should go visit her, she’s at your place right? Can I get directions! Oh….never mind, I’m sure I can find it on my own! Can you close up for me? Here are the keys to all the displays and the front door, and make sure the oven is off in the back! Alright, thank you for telling me where Dashie is! I’m gonna go see her right now, Bye!”

In a blur of pink, Pinkie Pie leaps over the counter and bounces out the door, laughing and signing to herself as she walks down the road. You stand alone in the shop now, dumbfounded and holding the keys to the shop in your hoof. You look around the place and try to comprehend what the heck just happened.

Next Chapter: The Errands Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 5 Minutes