As you flew through the air to Fluttershy's house, you couldn't help but worry. The thought of Rainbow being in pain hurt you. The thought of any of your friends being in pain hurt you.

As much as you would've liked to take in the view again, you were too focused on flying as fast as you could to bother.

At last, you reached the familiar cottage that was known to house Fluttershy. It had only been a week since you were last here, and you could see that the fence you had repaired was still holding strong.

Either that or the chickens were too afraid to try escaping again.

You approached the front door and knocked on it a few times, not heavily, but still loud enough to be heard. At first, there was no response, but before long you heard some light footsteps heading towards the door.

Fluttershy slowly opened the door, slowly like she always does. Upon seeing it was you at the door, however, she quickly opened the door fully and a smile emerged onto her face.

"O-Oh, hello, Storm!" she greeted you with a quiet tone.

"Hi, Fluttershy, you haven't seen Rainbow Dash around anywhere, have you?" you asked, hurrying to find out what was wrong with the cyan Pegasus. You didn't even know if there was something wrong with her, but you could feel it. Something felt off.

Fluttershy's smile quickly disappeared off her face, just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Wait there." she commanded, quietly, before swiftly closing the door. You stared blankly at the now closed door, wondering what she could be doing.

You stood outside for almost 5 minutes, watching the chickens roaming their coop, before the door finally reopened.

"She's, um..." Fluttershy said, looking down to the ground. You walked back over to the door from the chicken pen before she finished her sentence, "She's in here."

Those three words set of some alarm bells in your head. Typically, something or somepony would only stay with Fluttershy if they needed help. And of course, it is Rainbow Dash. She wouldn't give up a night in her floating cloud house unless she absolutely had too.

"She's in your house?" you asked, in a state of disbelief. For some reason, you didn't quite believe that Rainbow would be willing to stay in a small cottage on the ground, but deep down you knew she was being truthful.

Fluttershy nodded, weakly, before allowing you to continue your questioning.

"Why?" you asked, a hint of worry beginning to form in your voice.

"She caught Tank's illness." she explained, looking up to you, sadly. Well, that answered your questions. You now knew what was wrong with Rainbow and that tortoise illnesses can be passed on to ponies.

Although, it did leave you with other questions too. Like how Fluttershy hadn't caught the tortoise's illness. Nevertheless, you realise these aren't questions you should be asking yourself right now.

"Can I see her?" you asked. Fluttershy once again nodded in response, before stepping into her house and allowing you to enter.

"She's in the guest room." Fluttershy said, pointing a hoof up the stairs. You thanked her before making your way over to the staircase. To be honest, you weren't even aware her house had a guest room.

You couldn't hear anypony in the upstairs of the house, so you simply continued ascending the staircase. Much like in the Golden Oak Library, there was a hallway with 3 doors on its walls. Two must have lead to Fluttershy's room and a bathroom, while the other lead to the guest room.

You gradually opened the door, half expecting Rainbow Dash to jump out in an attempt to scare you. But she didn't.

Instead you saw her laying in a bed, her eyes half closed. The usual cyan colour of her coat was drained slightly, now paler than how it usually is. Even her rainbow mane seemed affected, the contrasting colour now seeming less vibrant.

Her legs were sprawled out in front of her, as she lay on her side staring blankly at a wall.

"Hey." you said, causing her to quickly turn her head towards you. She may be ill, yet she hadn't lost her speed.

"Heyyyyy…" was all she could say, before beginning to cough, "Sorry."

"It's ok, you can't help it." you relied, wondering why she was apologising for coughing.

"No, I mean I'm sorry you have to see me like this." Rainbow said, sitting up on the bed. She leaned against the wall, finding it difficult to sit up properly without help.

"It's fine but... How'd you even get ill?" You already knew, it was from Tank, but you still weren't quite sure how tortoise illnesses could be passed on to ponies.

"Tank-" she attempted to say, before bursting into a fit of coughs again, "Gave it to me."

"Is that even possible?" you asked. Rainbow was attempting to move away from the wall, using her forelegs to support herself. Thankfully, it worked, allowing her to move away from the wall.

"I don't know, but I'd say I just found a new illness!" she boasted, still holding on to her usual personality. Despite the cockiness, Rainbow's personality was what made you like her more than the others, and you were glad that some illness wasn't gonna change that.

"And what're you gonna name it?" you joked, with a smirk.

"How about..." Rainbow said, seeming to be deep in thought for a moment, "The Pegasus Plague!"

The two of you laughed, despite the fact that Rainbow's laughter was occasionally interrupted by coughing. You didn't think it could be called that considering she had gotten the illness from a tortoise.

"How about a cold?" you suggested, causing her ears to droop with mock sadness.

"Yeah. I guess that makes more sense." she admitted, before slowly sliding back down the back of her bed. She slumped back down under the covers of the bed, and rolled back over onto her side. This time however, she maintained her eye contact with you even whilst laying down.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" you asked, not really knowing what to do. You weren't usually used to Rainbow being this quite.

"You're already doing it." She smiled at you, weakly. Now that she was laying down whilst looking at you, you could see that the front of her mane was deflated slightly, now slightly covering one of her eyes.

"Doing what?" you asked, seeking some clarification.

"Talking to me, duh!" she said in her typical fashion. Her voice was a lot quieter and shakier than normal, yet it still had that usual boastful flare it usually had.

You chuckled at your own inability to see the obvious, causing a smile to grow onto Rainbow's face.

Glancing outside the window, you could tell it was beginning to get quite late. You had been working for a while longer today, as you had to look after the Cutie Mark Crusaders, too.

"Hey, Rainbow, I'm gonna have to go." you explained, sadly. You didn't want to leave her like this, but you knew she was in good hands. Besides, you didn't really have a choice. You had pinkie promised to help Twilight clean the library, and no pony breaks a pinkie promise.

"O-Oh. You'll be back tomorrow, though, right?" the weakened mare asked, her voice suddenly shrouded with panic. She had shot up from her bed, holding herself up with her forelegs, as soon as you announced your leave.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." you reassured her, placing a hoof on your shoulder.

"O-Ok. Thanks, Storm," she thanked you, a warm smile on her face, "Oh, and don't tell anypony about this, ok?"

Her voice now seemed to be riddled with worry, as she thought about her image being tarnished by her illness.

"I pinkie promise." you said with a smile, as you began to turn towards the door.

Rainbow once again smiled in response. Seeing her smile at your made you feel strange. It was a smile you had never seen her do on the show before. It almost felt more sincere and from the heart.

"I'm gonna get some sleep now. See ya, Storm!" Rainbow said, in an attempt to maintain her usual image, before her eyes slowly crept shut.

"Bye, Rainbow." you said, quietly.

Already, the cyan mare was snoring beside you. You couldn't help but smile at the way she looked while sleeping. It was almost... cute.

Nevertheless, you slowly walked out of the guest room door, taking one last look at the sleeping Pegasus before silently closing the door.

You knew the rest of this day was going to drag, but it would be worth it. As long as you knew that she was safe, you could get through anything.

Author's Notes:

I got it out in a day. Honestly wasn't expecting that, but oh well.

This chapter is quite a lot shorter than most others, and that's because I wanted a shorter chapter focusing on Rainbow Dash in this weakened state. I didn't have enough ideas for a full length 2-3K words chapter where Rainbow can't even leave her bed, so this was as long as I could stretch it to.

Next chapter will also feature an ill Rainbow Dash, but she can actually leave her bed, meaning it won't be as short. It'll most likely still take 2 days to write though, since no iPad and all.

Thank you for reading