Twilight is sick

	Spike awoke as the morning sun peeked over the windowsill. As was the norm these past few days, his roommate, boss, and friend Twilight Sparkle was already awake. She had probably been awake for a while already. Late nights and early mornings were a staple of Twilight's schedule ever since she had gotten her last assignment from Celestia. Spike was worried that she was working herself to death, but his pleas to get her to rest fell on deaf ears.
	Twilight didn't normally work so hard on her assignments, but the last letter had come in marked 'Important,' and Twilight had been taking it really seriously. Spike yawned, got out of bed, and walked into the libraries common area. Twilight was hunched over a desk, scratching at a paper with a feather pen.
	"Good morning, Twilight." Spike said.
	"Hmmm.." Twilight responded, absentmindedly.
	"How long have you been up?"
	"Oh, since..." Twilight's voice sounded raspy, and she cleared her throat. "*ahem* around nine-forty-five."
	"You sound awful," Spike stated, truthfully. He looked at the clock. "And are you really trying to tell me you've only been up for twelve minutes?"
	"What...?" Twilight asked, still sounding raspy and distracted. "No, Spike, twelve hours. I took a nap while you were in the bath last night. I've been up since then."
	"Twilight..." Spike said, annoyed. She was really putting herself in danger, and he didn't have any way of making her see it. "There is no way that can be healthy. I'm sure Princess Celestia didn't mean for you to harm yourself when she sent that letter."
	"The letter said... *yawn*... important..." Twilight stated. "How can I know what the Princess wants if I've never gotten a letter like that before? Besides, I've already told you, I know my limits, and I'm fine missing a bit of sleep here and there."
	"Here and there?" Spike said, incredulous. "You really call losing four hours of sleep every night for almost a week 'here and there?' Twilight, you really need to get some rest!"
	"But I got so behind in my research that I have to make up time! Invisibility is a lot harder than it sounds!" Twilight replied.
	"So, the Princess will understand if you take a little longer to write your report on it." Spike argued. "This may be 'Important,' whatever that means, but it's not like it's a national emergency. If it was, she would put all of the Elements on it, not just you."
	"*YAWN* I really don't feel like arguing any more about this Spike, so I'll lie down for a few minutes if it will make you happy." Twilight walked upstairs.
	Spike went to the kitchen, and fixed himself a sandwich. Normally he didn't like pony food very much but Twilight had bought this new thing called 'peanut butter,' and it kind of tasted like opals. He walked back out to the main part of the library. When he stopped chewing, he could hear Twilight's snoring coming from her bedroom.
---
	Spike had left Twilight undisturbed for as long as he could, but now it was time for him to go to bed as well. He walked upstairs. As he laid down in his bed, Twilight stirred.
	"...Spike?" Twilight sounded really groggy, and her voice was even more raspy then it had been that morning. "What time is it?"
	"Eleven thirty." Spike stated. He clarified himself, so as not to have a repeat of this morning's confusion. "PM."
	Twilight moved slowly, but her face showed urgency. "I was out for that long? I've got to get back to work. Huhh... Huhcheww!"
	A few steps from her bed, Twilight sneezed. Spike could see mucous beginning to drip from her nose. She took another step, and collapsed on the ground. Spike rushed to her side. He felt her forehead.
	"Twilight, you have a fever. Let's get you back into bed." Spike helped her to her feet. She wobbled a bit, so Spike moved underneath her belly, and pressed his head and his back into her, lifting as much of her weight as he could manage. Slowly, the pair moved towards Twilight's bed. Spike was half-surprised that Twilight wasn't still arguing, and insisting that he bring her down to her desk. Perhaps she realized that she did not have a choice in the matter. Spike strained to lift Twilight into bed, and between the two of them, they managed.
	"Th-thanks, Spike..." Twilight said. Her eyelashes fluttered. "Huh-huh... Huuuhcheeeeew!"
	Spike grabbed a box of tissues and put them next to Twilight. He grabbed one and began cleaning the mucous off of her face. He could feel her nostrils flaring beneath the tissue. Her mouth opened.
	"Spike... Huhh... igotta..."
	Spike grabbed a fresh tissue and held it to Twilight's nose. She sneezed. "Huhh... HuhhhCHEEW!"
	"I am very sick..." Twilight said, as if Spike didn't get it. He was trying to be a good dragon and not rub it in her face that he had been right all along. "What is... Celestia... zzzz"
	Spike sighed. There was no way that even a sick pony who was overworked was going to sleep through until morning. He laid down next to Twilight, rather than on his own bed, so that he would hear her when she woke up.
---
	"Huhh... Huhh... Huhh! HuhhPNXT! Husshhiiiiooo!" Twilight sneezed. Spike was covered in spray. He was glad that dragons had a different set of diseases than ponies, so he was pretty much in the clear, even if he was forced to take a regular dose of her germs.
	"Sorry, Spidke..." Twilight rasped, congested. Spike lit a candle. Twilight's face revealed that there was another sneeze coming. "I was trying to.. huhh.. be quied... Huh-huh... Huhhchooo!"
	"It's OK," Spike said. "I was planning on waking up when you did anyways. You need someone to take care of you."
	"In thad case, cad you help be to the bathroob? I'b seriously aboudt to wet the bed."
	Spike helped Twilight out of bed and she leaned on him as they walked to the bathroom. He could tell by the way Twilight was moving her hind legs that she probably hadn't been exaggerating about the urgency of this. She halted, all of a sudden.
	"Huhh..." This couldn't be good. If Twilight sneezed right now, she might lose control over her bladder. Spike shifted a bit and rubbed her nose with his claw. "Huhhh.. HUHHH... Wheew... Thanks."
	The pair moved through the bathroom door. Suddenly, Spike could feel Twilight's nose quaking beneath his claw. He rubbed at it again. Twilight stopped, and her head tilted back. Spike stood on his tiptoes to reach her nose and continue rubbing. Without Spike's support, Twilight's back legs fell out from under her, and her rump hit the ground.
	"Huhh.... Huhhhh... Huuuuhhh..." Twilight's breath hitched. Spike doubled his efforts to keep her sneeze from surfacing.
	"Twilight... You really shouldn't sneeze right now..." He stated, but Twilight either wasn't listening, or she didn't have a choice in the matter.
	"HUHHH! HUHHHHH!"
	Spike pinched her nostrils shut.
	"Oh, wow Spike, I albost... Huhh...." Spike sighed, and lifted Twilight's rump, straining to get it onto the toilet. This end of her was a bit heavier than the front one, but he managed.
	"Huhhh... Huhhh..."
	Spike turned away from Twilight, to give her some privacy, but he could hear the stream as she relieved her bladder, which turned into a raging torrent as she released her sneeze.
	"Kuuuucheeeeww!"
	"Would you like me to start you a bath?" Spike asked. "It might make you feel better."
	"Ugh... I dod't think so.  I would probably fall asleep." Twilight said. She got a faraway look in her eyes, which squinted shut. "I just wadda... Uhhhh... just wadduhhhh... justwadduhHHHH! HuhCHEEEWW! Just wadda go back to bed."
	Spike helped Twilight off of the toilet and back into bed. He cleaned her face with a tissue, and when he finished, he spoke up. "Try to stay awake for a minute while I run and grab you a glass of water."
	Spike rushed down to the kitchen, and filled a glass. When he returned to the bedroom, she was already asleep, and softly snoring. Twilight needed to get some fluid in her; she probably had not had anything to drink since this time yesterday morning. Spike reached for her shoulder to shake her awake, but then he had a better idea. He would make Twilight think that she woke herself!
	He grabbed one of the many quills lying around their room. He began running the feather end of the quill back and forth across her nose. When this did not have an effect, he began tracing the outside of her nostrils, which began to flare. Twilight's brow wrinkled, and her mouth opened a bit. She moved a hoof to scratch her nose, so Spike temporarily moved the feather away.
	Spike looked closely at Twilight's nose. She was laying on her right side, and all of the mucous had coagulated in her right nostril. So, he began pushing the feather into her right nostril, twisting it as he went. Twilight's mouth opened fully, and her tongue curled.
	"Huhh.. Huhhh..." Spike pushed the feather all the way in, and rotated it full circle so that it would tickle all of the walls of her nostril. "Huuuuhhh... Huuuhhhh! HUHHH! HUHHH! HUUHHH!"
	Twilight clearly needed to sneeze, but for some reason she wasn't waking up to do it. It was like her body had somehow decided that this sneeze was too small, and wasn't worth the effort. Well, not for long. Spike yanked the feather out of her nose as quickly as he could.
	"HUUHHHUUHHH! KUHHHHCHOOOOOOO!" Twilight sneezed. She blinked a few times. "Oh, wow, ble... Huh... Huhhhcheeeew! Bless be."
	"Here, Twilight, drink this." Spike handed her the glass of water, and she quickly gulped it down. Her lips looked pretty dry. "Let me just go and refill that for you."
---
	Twilight rolled over as Spike exited the room. He was being so kind to her when she needed it most. She was going to have to remember to reward the little dragon later by taking him to a restaurant or something. Twilight really wanted to stay awake and have some more water, but her eyelids were getting very heavy. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, Spike darted back into the room.
	"Twilight!" Spike whispered, harshly. "Somepony is inside the library! I just heard the front door close!"
	Twilight swiveled her ears, and she could hear something moving about on the lower floor of the library. She whispered a reply. "Cobe here, Spike."
	Twilight's horn glowed purple, and she put a bit of her recent research into action, turning both her and Spike invisible. She could still see Spike, but his form was kind of hazy and she could see things on the wall behind him.
	"Whoa... this is weird..." Spike said what she was thinking. She had turned Spike, herself, and various objects invisible as part of her research, but she had never done two beings at the same time before. Luckily, as hard as invisibility was to figure out, it turned out to be a fairly easy spell once she optimized it, so she was able to maintain it, even in her weakened state.
	"Shh..." Twilight put a hoof over Spike's mouth. She slid out of the covers on her bed. If the intruder was aware of whose home they were breaking into, they might expect an invisible pony, and she didn't want to give her position away with something as stupid as displacing her bedsheet at the wrong moment.
	Spike climbed on top of the bed with her, trying to be as quiet as possible. Twilight felt a tickle in the back of her nose. She didn't want to sneeze right now, for obvious reasons, so she rubbed her nose with the back of her hoof. However, this only made the tickle worse. Twilight's eyelids fluttered shut, and her jaw dropped open. Her tongue pushed against the side of her cheek.
	"Huhh... Spike... Huhhh... igodda.." Twilight's breath was hitching, which made it difficult to speak. Luckily, Spike caught her meaning and reached for her snout, rubbing a claw up and down across her nostrils. Her breathing returned to normal, but the tickle was still growing.
	In the absence of Twilight's ragged breathing, the pair could hear the sound of hooves, getting closer. Somepony was ascending the staircase. Twilight's felt as if her nose was on fire. Her lips quivered as she fought the urge to begin taking pre-sneeze gasps.
	"Huhh... HUHHH!" Twilight lost her internal battle. The intruder must have heard the second gasp, because the sound of hoofs suddenly stopped. Twilight's heart was beating rapidly. "HUUUHHHHH!"
	The intruder began moving again, ever closer. They had to be almost all the way up the staircase by now. Twilight was about to explode. "HUUUHHUUHHH!"
	Spike grasped at her nose, pinching it inwards with his claw. It hurt pretty badly, distracting her from the impending sneeze long enough for her to once again begin breathing normally. A loud creak came out from the staircase, alerting them that the pony who was ascending it had reached the third to last step. Twilight felt the pain from her pinched nose beginning to dull, drowned out by the tremendous tickle. Her lips quivered as she again struggled for control.
	"HUHHHH!" Twilight gave in. The tickle was just too much. Perhaps her sneeze would be loud enough to scare the intruder off. Her head reared back. She could hear hoofsteps just outside of her door. "HUUUHHHHH!"
	"HUUUHHHHHHHH!" With one final, desperate breath, Twilight lost control of the invisibility spell, and she and Spike blinked back into existence, just in time to see a pink mane as their friend Fluttershy rounded the corner into their bedroom. Twilight exploded. "HUUUUUUHHHRIIISSSSSHHHHHIIIIIOOOOOO!"
	Fluttershy jumped a few feet into the air. Twilight's head shot forwards, releasing an enormous misty cloud of saliva. Luckily, Fluttershy was far enough away to avoid the spray.
	"Oh my..." The yellow pegasus exclaimed as she floated back to the ground. "Bless you. That was some sneeze..."
	Twilight and Spike just looked at each other, and breathed a sigh of relief.