"Jasper! let me through! what's happening!?" a younger Flurry heart asked. she was standing in front of her bedroom door while a red coated pegasus guard blocked her way. she was Aurora's height and had her mane in a loose bun with her fringe in a large loose curl.

"I'm sorry princess, but I have direct orders from queen Cadence to keep you safe in your bedroom" the guard replied.

they both froze when they heard the sound of Cadence yelling in frustration before screaming in pain from the other side of the castle.

"mom!" Flurry yelled, pushing him aside and running out.

"your highness wait!" the pony called out as she ran down the hallway to the throne room.

"princess Flurry heart!" a guard in the hallways yelled after her as she ran past him.

she froze in shock when she saw the bloody remains of the horrible incident in front of the throne as a shadowy figure leaving through the window.

"mom..." queen Flurry heart trailed off as tears escaped her eyes and she lost the crystal effect on her coat and mane, letting her mane loose down her shoulders.

Sunny groaned as she woke up, the sky still dark.

"I finally fell asleep at a normal hour and then woke up even before Zipp" Sunny grumbled, looking over at Zipps desk where the white pegasus was fast asleep.

Sunny lay back down, wincing at the ache in her back and head.

taking a quick glance at the alarm-clock on her bedside table she saw it saying '4:21 am'.

she tossed and turned in bed, the pain very slowly getting worse every minute.

her horn crackled and her wings fluttered as she finally fell back asleep.

Sunnys alarm began ringing loudly, waking everypony in the room.

she groaned, rolling over and turning off the alarm.

"you okay?" Pipp asked, yawning as she sat up in bed.

"my head and back are killing me" Sunny grumbled, grabbing her pillow and pressing it against her see-through horn.

"that does not sound fun" Misty responded, already beginning to braid her long curly mane.

"on a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?" Zipp questioned as she stood up from her chair.

"at least a three" Sunny complained, still pushing her pillow against her horn.

"when did this start?" Izzy asked before giving a small yawn.

"like, three hours ago" Sunny replied, turning her head to look at the alarm-clock on her bedside table.

"how much sleep did you get!?" Pipp questioned as she tied up her mane.

"I fell asleep at like, ten pm and then woke up at 4 am with my head and back hurting. took me like, an hour to fall back asleep" Sunny explained, flipping onto her side.

"eleven, twelve, one..." Zipp trailed off as she continued the math in her head.

"if your head and back hurt so much, I think you should take a day off from the smoothie cart" Misty said as Zipp grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from her desk.

"probably" Sunny mumbled while Zipp wrote down something.

"according to my math, you got about six hours of sleep last night" Zipp announced, slamming the pen on the partially cluttered desk.

"go back to sleep Sunny" Izzy said, tying her mane in a tight bun.

"I'm going to get some cereal" Pipp shrugged as she started leaving the room.

"good idea" Misty smiled as she hopped off her bed and began to follow the pink pegasus.

"well I'm going to make a sandwich. anypony else want one?" Zipp asked, looking back as she walked over to the entrance to the bedroom.

"I'll have a jam and cheese sandwich" Izzy replied as she stood up.

"peanut butter and jelly" Sunny groaned.

Zipp nodded before leaving the room.

Sunny lied in bed as Izzy left the bedroom as well.

she groaned in pain as she sat up, the pain in her head and back refusing to lessen.

she flinched as she got out of bed and walked to the elevator leading to where the pony crystals were being kept.

Sunny activated the elevator, causing it to begin going up.

"hm?" Zipp squeaked when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

she looked over to see what looked like a tiny ball of blue with wings.

"how'd you get in here?" Zipp asked the small creature, still making Izzy's sandwich.

the strange creature stretched its mouth impossibly wide and ate an entire apple in one go.

"well I guess that's impressive" Zipp shrugged right before the creature spat out a blob of brown gunk.

"what the?" she mumbled, only for the the brown gunk to then turn into a complete replica of the first creature in every way except color.

Zipp shrieked in fright at what she had just saw, tossing a spatula at the second creature, which quickly swallowed it whole.

"what's wrong!?" Pipp yelled, rushing into the room as the brown creature spat out a blob of yellow gunk.

"the blue creature somehow got in and then it ate an apple and spat out some brown gunk that turned into that brown creature and then I panicked and threw the spatula at it and it ate it whole and spat out the yellow gunk!" Zipp shouted in a panic as the yellow gunk turned into another one of the creature.

"oh Celestia no" Misty muttered when she saw what all the yelling was about.

"not parasprites!" the blue unicorn spoke in horror.

Sunny groaned, leaning against the railing of the balcony.

"what's wrong?" CC asked, appearing on the other side of the balcony.

"my head and back are killing me and I don't have any idea why" Sunny replied.

CC gave a blank stare before she began chuckling.

"what's so funny?" Sunny groaned when she heard the sound continue.

"nothing, nothing. now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make a pamphlet" CC smiled a mischievous smile.

"a what?" Sunny asked as the hybrid back-flipped over the railings and out of view.

she rolled her eyes and went back to watching ponies walk through the streets of mare time bay.

CC gave a small chuckle as she teleported to the dining room of her castle where she quickly made art supplies appear.

"its finally happening" she whispered as she sat down and began folding a piece of paper into a pamphlet.

"shoo! shoo! no! stop!" Zipp shrieked, waving around a wooden spoon that was then eaten by one of the parasprites.

Misty shot a laser at one of the parasprites, exploding it into four pieces that then turned into four more of the insect like creatures.

"maybe don't do that" Pipp nervously said.

"whats going on?" Izzy asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"parasprite infestation" Misty responded, dodging as one of them flew down and tried to munch on her mane.

"ugh, I hate those things" Izzy groaned.

"you've heard of them?" Pipp questioned.

"every unicorn has heard of them. now pass me the mustard" Izzy replied, walking over and holding out her hoof to Zipp, who was standing next to the fridge.

"ah! anti-sprite formula! why didn't I think of that?" Misty asked herself, slapping her forehead with her hoof.

Zipp opened the fridge and quickly gave Izzy the bottle of mustard.

the purple unicorn then grabbed the salt shaker, an empty spray bottle and apple juice while Misty quickly dashed to the bathroom and grabbed a four in one shampoo bottle.

she gave the shampoo bottle to Izzy, who then mixed all the ingredients into the spray bottle.

Izzy then put the lid back on and began spraying it at the parasprites, which quickly disintegrated when the disgusting mixture touched them.

"what are you guys doing?" Sunny asked as she walked into the room, stopping herself from groaning from pain.

"parasprite infestation. no! the mane is off limits!" Pipp said, waving away a parasprite trying to munch on her mane.

Izzy spun the spray bottle once the last of the disgusting bugs had been killed with a smug look.

"you feeling better Sunny?" Zipp asked, turning her attention to the orange alicorn.

"no. the pain just seems to be getting worse every minute" Sunny complained, her wings fluttering.

"the stupid bugs ate the sandwiches" Izzy declared, looking at the empty chopping board.

"I'll make more. Sunny, why don't you just rest on the couch" Zipp stated, gesturing to the couch in clear view.

Sunny nodded and walked over to the couch.

she then lay down as Zipp began preparing more sandwiches.

"you still want peanut butter and jelly?" Zipp called from the kitchen.

"yeah" Sunny called back.

"how bad is your pain from a scale of one to ten?" Izzy asked as she sat in the armchair next to the couch.

"five" Sunny replied, lying on her side to prevent groaning from the pain in her back.

"oof" Izzy mumbled before grabbing the TV remote.

"can you not? I just want to sleep right now" Sunny groaned.

"sorry" Izzy responded, putting down the remote before leaving the room.

Sunny then closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

a minute later, Zipp walked into the room.

"how you doing?" the white pegasus asked.

"horrible" Sunny grumbled.

"is the pain showing any sign of going away yet?" Zipp questioned, walking over and leaning against the back of the couch.

"no. its only getting worse" Sunny groaned, not looking towards Zipp.

"that sounds really concerning. maybe we should get you to the hospital" Zipp suggested.

"trust me, she'll be fine. the pain will be gone by this time tomorrow" CC responded, appearing in the middle of the air.

"if the pain still isn't gone by tomorrow morning, we're taking her to the hospital" Zipp scowled.

"sounds reasonable! you got a deal" CC smiled.

"now if you'll excuse me, I've got to write about when somepony has the magic of four alicorns at once" CC said before vanishing from sight.

Zipp gave a confused expression before looking over at Sunny.

"do you want to try ice packs?" Zipp asked.

Sunny nodded in reply, her eyes still shut.

Zipp then began heading to the kitchen to check the freezer.

"is it working?" Zipp asked, walking over to where Sunny was lying with ice packs on her back and pressed against her horn.

"no" Sunny groaned.

Zipp sighed with concern.

"how's she doing?" Pipp questioned as she flew past.

"not good, ice packs don't seem to be working" Zipp replied.

"just making me cold" Sunny added.

"well at least you probably don't have a fever" Zipp spoke.

"on a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?" Misty asked as she walked down the ramp. Sunny was now lying on the couch with her head on a pillow and a blanket over her while the moon had just finished rising.

"eight" Sunny groaned.

"oh gosh" Misty mumbled.

"uh...Izzy! do we have any like...pain killers?" Misty asked the purple unicorn walking past.

"we tried that, it didn't work" Izzy replied with a concerned expression.

Sunny groaned from the pain, causing Misty to look at her with worry.

Sunny's alarm clock ticked '2:13 am', the bed next to it empty.

the orange alicorn quietly groaned with her eyes shut tight as she lay on the couch, feeling almost like the world was spinning from how bad her head hurt. even lying on her side wasn't helping anymore.

her horn and wings then suddenly gave off a dim glow as the pain finally calmed down, disappearing in seconds.

she then fell asleep, unaware of the reason the pain had disappeared as the glowing continued on.

to be continued...

credits

writing: hanhanlovesbananas

inspiration: my little pony make your mark, my little pony a new generation, my little pony friendship is magic