Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): You may be in for a rough few days.

Early Morning

"Flash?"

A gentle but insistent shaking wakes me up. I open my eyes; they hurt. My head hurts. Everything hurts. "Ugh..."

"Flash? Are you okay?"

It's Twilight. She stops shaking me. I sit up. "What time is it?"

"It's almost eight," Twilight says. I feel her hand press against my forehead. "Oh my gosh!" She rushes out of my room.

My head's fuzzy...

Wait, it's what time? Crap!

I push myself to the edge of the bed. I still feel tired...actually, I feel worse than I did when I went to bed last night.

Cadance enters, with Twilight right behind her. She touches my forehead, then jams a thermometer in my mouth. After a minute, it lets out several shrill beeps. Cadance pulls it out of my mouth, looks at it, and frowns. "Twilight, out. Now. You're not to set foot in Flash's room again until I say otherwise. And I'd better give you some Bannaflu. Again."

Twilight gasps. "Is...is he...?"

"He has a pretty high fever," Cadance says. She looks sternly at me. "How sick do you feel?"

"I feel like crap," I say. "Really tired...kinda achy."

Cadance sighs. "It's going around, alright. I'd better make another announcement about flu shots...not that it'll do any good." She looks at Twilight and snaps her fingers. "Out!"

Twilight eeps and ducks out of the room, pausing only long enough to call out "Feel better!" to me.

"Back in bed," Cadance orders. "I'll bring you up some breakfast and some medicine."

"Did I catch Fluttershy's flu?" I ask.

"I don't think Fluttershy had the flu," Cadance says. "I think she had...something else."

"Something...female?" I ask.

"Yeah, more or less," Cadance says. "But you have the flu. Probably. I've sent three kids home this week with high fevers. It's going around."

I sigh. "Great."

"Rest up...I'll bring you something to eat and some orange juice. Take the meds I give you then go back to sleep. I'll come back at noon to check up on you."

I lie back down, adjusting my pillows to prop myself up. Going back to bed sounds good...

Several minutes later, Cadance returns with a bed tray containing a bowl of oatmeal, some toast, some scrambled eggs, and a tall glass of orange juice, as well as more Bannaflu and a small cup of NyteNyte. She leaves; I eat breakfast and take my medicine, then lay back down.

The NyteNyte kicks in pretty fast...

Lunch

I wake up to the sounds and smells of Cadance bringing me lunch. "How are you feeling?" she asks.

"Miserable." I'm hurting worse now than I was this morning. I have a chill.

Cadance must have picked up on this, because she spreads an extra blanket over my bed. "I brought you a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup," she says. "I need to take your temp again first, though." She sticks her thermometer in my mouth again; it makes the same series of shrill beeps. She frowns at it. "101.4," she says. "I'll get the doctor to come by this evening." She lays out some more medication on the tray, then sets it up over me. I sit up. "Eat up, take your medicine, go back to sleep...if you can't sleep, just watch TV...don't get up unless you have to go to the bathroom." She heads out again.

I eat my lunch and take my medicine, then turn on the TV and find something to watch...

The only thing on worth watching is some old cartoons. I fall asleep watching them. As I'm drifting off, I wonder at the fact that Cadance knows a doctor who still makes house calls...

Evening

I'm still feeling as miserable as I was earlier today.

I'm watching the evening news when Cadance walks in with an older man with dusky blue skin and salt-and-pepper hair who's wearing a white lab coat. The man walks up to me and starts feeling my lymph nodes, then shines a light in my mouth. He takes my temperature with an ear thermometer, then listens to my chest. "Yep, this kid's got the flu," he says. "You didn't need to call me all the way out here to tell you that, Cadenza."

"I had to," Cadance says. "Procedure, you know..."

"Right, right..." The doctor shakes his head. "You know what to do. Keep him in bed at least three days...if his fever goes over 103, take him to the emergency room." He claps a hand on my shoulder. "Take it easy, kid." He takes a moment to scribble something on a prescription pad, which he hands to Cadance, then leaves.

Cadance shakes her head. "Well, you heard him. I'll let your coach know you're not playing on Saturday. What do you want to eat for dinner?"

"Not really hungry," I say. "Maybe just some more tomato soup."

Cadance smiles. "Alright."

"I didn't know doctors still made house calls," I say.

Cadance looks sheepish. "Umm...well...that was my dad," she says. "He'll make house calls for me."

"Oh." I frown. "He called you...what?"

"Nevermind that," Cadance says. "I'll go get your soup."

"Thanks."

Celestia peeks in. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asks.

"Actually, could you run to the pharmacy for me?" Cadance asks, holding out the prescription.

"Sure," Celestia says. She looks at me with pity. "I hope you feel better soon," she says.

"Thanks."

Cadance leaves. I pull out my phone and scroll through a dozen or so messages from friends, all wishing me well. I reply to most of them.

Cadance comes back with more soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, as well as a big glass of juice. She also puts an entire bottle of orange juice in my fridge. "You need to drink as much of that as you can stand," she says.

A little while later, Celestia returns with the medicine the doctor prescribed, as well as a quart of vanilla fudge swirl ice cream. "Ice cream always makes me feel better when I'm sick," she says, handing me the ice cream and a spoon.

"Thank you." The ice cream is good...it does feel good to my throat, which has gotten a bit sore since this afternoon.

"Get some rest," Celestia says.

After I finish my ice cream, I spend some time texting Twilight. Feeling tired and weak, I go to sleep at about nine...somewhere around there.

I haven't had the flu since I was ten. Man, it sucks...