Aztec's Suffering

Chapter 3: "I'm Fine"

Hey guys! I made a slight change to Chapter 2; Chloe and Zoey are staying back at Horseland and doing the chores when everyone else is gone. That's it. Enjoy this chapter!

Aztec woke up to the sunlight shining down on him through his stall window. He looked around. Bailey didn't come for their early morning practice! His eyes lit up happily at the thought of being able to sleep in, but he was still so tired! He didn't feel any better either. His head hurt, his throat hurt, his whole body hurt!

'Great,' Aztec let out an annoyed sigh, 'Just great! '

He groaned loudly as he struggled to get up. As he did so, he heard to barn door open. This time everyone came in at once. Bailey walked towards Aztec's stall, and he pricked his ears toward his direction.

"Morning, boy," Bailey rubbed Aztec's nose, "Sorry we didn't practice this morning, but after how yesterday went, I thought we would both benefit in some rest."

Aztec nickered forcefully, his throat hurt so bad!

Bailey poured some oats in Aztec's feed bucket. Aztec looked at them reluctantly.

"Eat up," Bailey urged, "Today is our last day of practice."

Aztec twitched his ears, and dug into his food. It hurt so much to swallow, but he had to let Bailey know that he was fine! So, he finished his breakfast, allowed Bailey to tack him up, and they headed off to the practice ring.

........................

In the arena, Aztec felt progressively worse. However, he made sure that he and Bailey cleared every jump, despite his body's painful protests. He can't let anyone know about this, and he was going to make sure of it.

.........................

At break time, Aztec could hardly stay standing, but he forced himself to look confident. However, his friends were starting to get onto him.

"Aztec, we all know that something's wrong with you!" Scarlet urged, "Why don't you just tell us?"

Aztec rolled his eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm fine! I'm just-"

Before he could finish, Aztec broke into a coughing fit. When the coughs subsided, he closed his eyes to fight to pain in his chest.

"Yeah right," Chili rolled his eyes. He touched his nose to Aztec's forehead, and stared at him wide-eyed.

"Dude! You are burning up!" Chili exclaimed.

"It's nothing," Aztec frowned, "And I don't want Bailey to know!"

Calypso shook her head.

"Well, we can't stop you there, but you have to get some rest!"

"Look!" Button looked in the humans' direction, "Will called for practice to be over."

"Thank goodness," Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief.

Aztec was relieved too. For the next few days, he can do nothing but get the rest that he so desperately needed. 

So this is a shorter one, but that's ok! Enjoy! <3

R&R