Sonata opened her eyes. She was in a drab, dim room, surrounded by curtains. There was a smell in the air that she couldn't describe, but knew she didn't like. She sat up. All she could see was the plain white cot she was laying on, and the curtains pulled close around it. She set her bare feet on the cold tile floor and slowly stood up. She cautiously opened the curtain and peered out. She saw nothing but more curtains. She stepped out, becoming vaguely aware of the sounds around her. They sounded far away, but she knew she heard the sound of people talking, though she couldn't make out any of the individual voices or what they were saying.
She walked along the corridor of curtains, slowly. She was unsteady on her feet. Turning a corner, she spotted a door. The voices were getting louder now, though they were still muffled. She approached the door and reached for the handle, struggling to turn it and open the door. She pried it open and stepped out into a hallway. The voices became louder, but she still couldn't make out any voices. There were people walking around in the hallway. Most of them paid her no mind and stepped around her, clearly in a rush. Others stood along the wall talking quietly, some sat in chairs waiting, worried expressions on her face. Sonata looked around. The faces were blurry, she didn't recognize any of them.
"Hey, what are you doing out of bed? You aren't supposed to be out here!" The voice came from behind, suddenly clear to Sonata. She jumped and spun around to face the voice's owner, but her lack of coordination caused her to stumble, and she became dizzy from the fast movement.
"Oh dear, are you alright?" The voice asked. "Here, just sit down, okay?"
Sonata's noticed her vision start to blacken around the edges, and she suddenly fell unconscious.
"Sonata? Are you awake?"
Sonata opened her eyes, then blinked them shut against the harsh overhead lights.
"Oh, good. You're up. How are you feeling?"
Sonata slowly opened her eyes again, and stared up into the light above her. She tried to look around but her vision was blurry. "Where am I?" She asked.
"You're in a hospital. Don't worry, you're going to be perfectly fine." The voice said reassuringly.
"Are... are you a doctor?" Sonata asked, dazed.
"No, I'm a nurse." The voice replied. "My name is Redheart. I've been taking care of you for the past two weeks. Do you remember me at all?"
"No... Two weeks? I don't remember any of that... I was asleep that whole time?" Sonata asked, confused.
"You were in and out. We've talked a number of times."
"What happened to me?" Sonata's vision was starting to clear, and she was able to pick out the worried look on Redheart's face.
"Well... You became quite traumatized after witnessing something... rather nasty. You didn't respond to anyone or anything, so we kept you at the hospital to try and figure out how to help you. Every once in a while you would come to, but you'd go back to your state after we told you..." She trailed off, cautiously.
"Told me what?" Sonata asked.
"Well... I'm hesitant to tell you because I don't want to lose our progress a fifth time." Redheart said honestly. "But I'm hoping that maybe the presence of your friends might keep you from relapsing."
Sonata stared at her, confused.
"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be saying any of this to you." Redheart sighed, clearly tired and a bit frustrated. "Let me get your friends, then we'll try this again."
Sonata pulled herself up and sat on the edge of her bed as Redheart stepped out and hailed her friends. Twilight and Adagio followed the nurse in, also donning concerned expressions.
"Hi guys." Sonata said, breaking the silence in the room. Her two friends gave her weak smiles.
"Hi Sonata." Twilight said kindly. "How are you feeling?"
"A little confused. Disoriented." Sonata replied. She looked at Redheart. "Do I get to know what's going on now?"
Redheart sighed and nodded. "Yes, I suppose so." She looked at the two girls she had lead in. "I guess I'll let you two take it from here."
Twilight nodded to Redheart and turned back to Sonata, biting her lip. "So... What's the last thing you remember?"
Sonata thought for a moment. "I'm... not really sure. I think the last solid thing I remember was..." She thought some more. "I'm not really sure. Everything is a blur."
Adagio and Twilight looked at each other. They seemed to be asking each other who should be the one to break the news. In their hesitation, Sonata realized something.
"Hey, where's Aria?" Sonata asked. "Is she in the hospital too? Were we in an accident? Tell me what's going on. I'm so confused."
Twilight bit her lip and sat down in a chair, facing Sonata. Adagio took a seat on the bed next to Sonata, and stared down at her feet.
Composing herself, Twilight looked up at Sonata. "Well, that's just the thing. We were hoping that you'd be able to shed some light on what happened to Aria."
Sonata blinked. What did that mean? "Is Aria missing?"
"Aria's... gone, Sonata." Adagio said. "She isn't coming back."
"Gone? You don't mean..." Sonata's eyes widened at the thought and she looked at Twilight, hoping that her newest friend would tell her that she was mistaken.
Unfortunately, Twilight nodded solemnly. "Aria died, Sonata." She said, sadly. "The police say that what happened to her is similar to what happened to the other victims of the serial killer. You remember the murders, right?"
"Murders?" Sonata whispered, her eyes staring straight through Twilight as her memory was jogged. That's right, there was a serial killer picking off students at Canterlot High. "So... So Aria was the fourth one?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah." She took a deep breath in. "Sonata, on the night of the murder, the police... they found you there, with Aria's body. We were hoping that you'd be able to tell us what happened, and if you saw who did it."
Sonata didn't notice, but Redheart, who was standing off to the side observing, was nervously biting her fist. She was, like the many times before this one, that Sonata's lack of responsiveness would not be triggered once again by the memory of watching one of her best friends being brutally murdered.
The room was silent for a long time.
"Sonata?" Twilight asked, studying the girl's unseeing eyes carefully. Adagio waved a hand in front of Sonata's face. There was no response.
Redheart sighed deeply and massaged her temples. "Well girls, thanks for coming in and doing this. I thought maybe being with her friends would reduce the shock, but clearly it wasn't enough." She shook her head sadly. "I just hope she can recover, even if we can't get any answers from her."
"I didn't see who did it."
Redheart, Twilight, and Adagio turned to look at Sonata, who's eyes were concealed beneath her bangs as she stared down at her hands resting in her lap.
"I tried to stop them." She said. "But I couldn't get there. My mind just kept blanking and I couldn't get to Aria in time to help her."
Adagio put a hand on Sonata's shoulder, reassuringly. "It's okay, Sonata. You did everything you could have. And they'll catch whoever did this."
There was silence again.
"When is the funeral?" Sonata asked, her voice cracking.
Twilight and Adagio looked at each other.
"It... Was last week." Adagio said. "You were still out of it then. I'm sorry."
"Oh." Sonata replied.
There was a heavy pause, then Twilight spoke up. "We can take you to... visit her once you're better. If you want."
"Yeah." Sonata said. "I'd like that." She looked up at Redheart. "When can I go home?"
The nurse looked down at her clipboard, expecting to find an answer, but ultimately made a decision on the spot. "Well, I think I'll keep you one more night, but as long as you stay responsive during that time and everything is normal, I'll be happy to let you go home."
"We can stop by and drive you home, then." Adagio offered.
"That would be nice." Sonata said. She had a feeling she would be too tired to walk all the way home. The hospital was on the other side of town from her house.
Redheart looked at her watch, then at the two visitors. "Visiting hours are over in half an hour." She said. "But, I think this is a special case, so take as much time as you need. Just press the call button if you need anything."