Chapter 53: The Cold

Twilight had shown Dusk where the bathroom is, before walking towards where Spike is. He has started has started to fill up the bath, before noticing a light scent of lavender in the room.

‘I find it quite clichéd that this room smells of lavender, and that she has a purple coat. Maybe it’s a higher power.’

He then turn to the various washing products that she owns. His right eye twitches when he sees that she owns just as many products as Fluttershy does, and he still couldn’t recognise what any of them are for. (Besides the shampoo and soap/body wash) When he gave up trying to figure out what the bottles of... whatever were, he sees that the bath is filled with warm water. He puts a hoof in the water for a test and unsurprisingly, it is the perfect temperature.

He steps into the bath, and immediately grabs the bodywash. He then hastily washes off all of the dirt and mud of his body...

‘These soap companies should really make a stallions body wash.’

---------- (5 Minutes Later)

Dusk had steps out of the bathroom, feeling cleaner than he has ever felt in a long time. (Since it’s felt like that he has been this dirty for ages.) As he walks out, he could see that Twilight had a fairly damp, light purple towel being levitated by her magic. ‘Of course it’s purple.’ She was still drying herself with said towel. Spike on the other hand, had a mop out, and he was cleaning up the mess caused by Dusk and Twilight. One thing popped into his head when he saw this.

“Twilight, why’d you make Spike mop up?”

“Well we couldn’t clean up in the condition that we were in, we would have only made it worse.”

“Point taken, but I could have done it after I washed up.”

‘Wait, why am I offering to help?’

“No need. Spike was supposed to clean up the library after Rarity and I agreed to let him help in the Boutique. We had a deal.”

Dusk is confused as to why Spike would want to want to willingly work with Rarity at the Boutique. “Why would he do this?”

“He has a massive crush on Rarity.”

Dusk’s jaw drops. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNN! (Let the shipping fics commence) Quick Author’s Note: Gripping stuff. What a twist!

---------- (After recovering from the shock) [slightly exaggerated]

“So Twilight, instead of me having to walk through the rain in order to get back to Shy’s, why don’t you just teleport me back, like you did just before?”

She shakes her head. “Sorry Dusk, but I can’t. I can only teleport somepony a certain distance, and Fluttershy’s is just too far for me. You’ll need to walk the rest of the way.”

He shrugs... somehow. “Meh, I like the rain. Just as long as I don’t stay in it for too long. Could you teleport me now?”

“You sure?”

“Ayep.”

He felt a familiar, and sensational magic surround him. Before he felt a chilling, wet feeling the very next second. The freezing gusts chills Dusk in each and every fiber of his body. He is outside.

He recognizes the area, as the outskirts of the town. He is standing on the start of the pathway to both Fluttershy’s home, and the Everfree Forest. He begins to trudge down the freezing path. He hated the heavy gusts of wind; they made it unbearable cold to be outside, even for pegasi, who are naturally resistant to the effects of weather. It is about a fifteen minute walk to Fluttershy’s residency.

‘Curse the natural magics that causes this wind. It’s too cold...’

---------- (10 minutes later)

The winds and rain had not let up, and they were taking it’s effects on Dusk. His walking is slowed, and he is uncontrollably shivering.

‘Why didn’t I say at Twilight’s until the storm is over? Why am I such an idiot!?’

He has never felt so cold in his life. He has to squint, just so he could see where he is heading, without the rain going in his eyes. All that he wanted to do is to huddle into a ball, to try and hold the little heat that he has left, but he knows that this is a very bad idea.

The only thing that he can do, is to continue walking...

---------- (A few minutes later)

Dusk is fighting a losing battle against the weather. The wind and the rain blew fiercely against him, and impeded his progress. He is now a lot weaker on his hooves, and he felt light headed. He could no longer walk properly, being reduced to a limp, and he still hasn’t seen Fluttershy’s home yet.

Suddenly, luck finally a`goes his way again. The wind has stopped, and because he could stop shielding his eyes, he could see the cottage in the distance. He does an imaginary hoof pump, before limping as fast as his legs would let him limp. He has the look of utter determination as he eyes the door of his marefriend’s home. He forgets about the rain and the cold, as he steels himself towards the house...

He gets to the front door, and stumbles inside the house. He looks up to see Fluttershy in a room, filled with various animals which reside near her house. Fluttershy could see the shivering and the pain that he is in, and she instantly recognised what is wrong with him.

“Hello Shy...” He says in a pained way, although he isn’t aware of said pain.

“Oh no Dusk... not again...” She looks at him with an extremely saddened expression. “I don’t want you to have to suffer again Dusk.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” He didn't understand what she meant.

“Hypothermia.” Next Chapter: Chapter 54: Hypothermia Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 34 Minutes