Beep.
The high-pitched sound tore into her ear. She frowned. Her face felt weirdly stiff. She took a deep breath. The air smelt… pleasant. An odor of pine trees and magnolias.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She way lying on something soft, yet her back felt like she’d it had been granite.
Beep. Beep.
A rumble came from her throat, somepony shut this noise off! Shetland opened her eyes. Bright light stung them, forcing her to close them again. Slowly creating a tiny gap, she managed to get a look at her surroundings. She was lying on a bed. Around her hung mint-colored curtains, blocking her view from everything but the beige walls. On her right was a small, beeping monitor.
She tried to move her legs, but a jolt of pain shot through her right hindleg. Shetland gasped, clenching her teeth as she waited for the pain to subside. A nurse came running to her, her hasty babbling sounding like gibberish. Her throat felt dry once more. Events stormed into Shetlands mind, Ciloa, Press, Crimson…
Mellow.
She raised a hoof to her eyes, but could not banish their last images. She nodded at the concerned nurse's jargon, just wanting her to go away. She covered her ears. The air crackled like a dead radio.
Just then, a door flew open and the only person Shetland could bear to see peeked past the curtains, her eyes moist just like her own.
“Thank Celestia, Shetty, you're safe!” Twilight said, her voice breathy.
“Mom…” Shetland stuttered, a tear rolling from her eye.
“I was so worried!” Twilight cried, throwing any restraint to the wind as she wrapped her forelegs around her daughter's shoulders. “When I heard about the attack, I- I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you!”
Shetland slowly laid her forelegs around Twilight. Although it pained her stiff back, she leaned forward, hiding her face in Twilight’s chest as she let her tears flow. Her tension evaporated as everything flashed before her eyes until she was left only with darkness, and the feel of her mother's warm fur.
Shetland sobbed, hiccups disrupting her words. “Y-you were right. You were so, so right.”