“God has abandoned us and existence is torment,” I moaned as I blew my nose.

“It’s just a cold, you big baby,” Starlight teased.

“No! This is the worst kind of cold! It’s the kind that leaves you just sick enough to be absolutely miserable, but just barely not sick enough to sap all your energy and leave you wanting to sleep in bed all day!” I protested as best I could through my stuffy nose.

“Those are the worst,” Twilight agreed sympathetically.

As was utterly typical for me, I had gotten sick the night before I was supposed to do something important. In this instance, I had been supposed to close on a plot of land on the northern outskirts of Ponyville. It was about 5 acres of land, which I thought was maybe a little too much room, but I adored the location and the worst that could happen was I simply did nothing with the extra square footage.

Fortunately, Luna ‘just so happened’ to be in Ponyville and offered to take care of it for me. The lunar diarch had been skulking around Ponyville a lot recently. I had my suspicions as to why; I like to think I’m not quite as dense as the original Ranma, but I also got the feeling there was supposed to be some sort of formality Luna wanted me to observe. So in the interest of pulling a fast one, I had been secretly looking up various mating rituals while pretending to be completely oblivious. Turnabout is fair play, after all.

Of course, I wasn’t going to manage to do that for at least a couple of days, given Twilight had gone full mother hen and recruited Spike to her cause. To be quite honest, I didn’t mind the attention, even if I thought it was a little over-the-top for a common cold. What can I say? I liked having a pretty girl worry over me, so sue me.

I shuffled myself deeper into my cocoon of blankets. I have always been and continue to be a firm believer in the value of sweating out your sickness. I know it doesn’t actually make you heal any faster, but I’ve always felt significantly better after a toasty nap and a warm shower.

Just then Spike returned with a tray bearing chicken noodle soup, a glass of water, and some pills to help relieve my symptoms.

“Thank you Spike,” Twilight and I said at the same time.

“No problem,” He said, “You’re supposed to take the pills every four hours as needed, so eat the soup and try and get some rest.”

“Will do Spike,” I replied and popped the pills into my mouth before washing them down with some water. Spike nodded in satisfaction and left my room.

“Anything else I can get you Ranma?” Twilight asked.

“I’ll probably need another box of tissues in the somewhat near future, but other than that I think I’m fine. I’m gonna eat the soup and try for a nap,” I replied with a sniffle.

“Alright, rest well Ranma. Hope you feel better soon,” Twilight wish.

“What she said. And if you get the rest of the castle sick I’ll never forgive you,” Starlight snarked.

“Duly noted,” I replied dryly as Twilight swatted her. Starlight giggled as Twilight then ushered her out of my room.

Left alone, I slurped down the soup, drank the rest of the water, and lay down to take a much needed nap.

They say to write what you know and what I know right now is that I've been chain sick all month. I started the month with a stomach bug that lasted about a week, came down with strep throat a few days after that which lasted a week and a half, and now I have both a cold and covid despite being vaccinated and I'm 97% sure I know exactly who gave it to me, given I virtually never leave the house and the person in question frequently goes out partying in questionable neighborhoods.

The real kicker? As soon as I got my positive test back, the little shit starts screaming at me when I went to the bathroom, telling me I'm somehow "selfish" for not having an attached bathroom to my room and thus needing to leave my room to use the toilet.

Fortunately the Covid itself is supremely mild and I'm recovering from the cold. Hopefully September finds me not as constantly sick.