Shards of Sunset

by fmriver


Science of Sisterhood - CH00 - Prologue

“So Shiny, are you excited to work at the District Attorney’s office? I’m so proud that you were able to get the job!” Twilight Sparkle asked her brother excitedly from the backseat. Even though she was going on 14, she still idolized her big brother, and was proud that he was pursuing a career in law.

“Twily, it’s just an internship, it’s not that big a deal. I’m just glad I was able to get one back in my hometown. Thankfully I was able to use the old crystal prep alumni network to score an interview.” Shining Armor replied bashfully, being as humble as always. Their mother just smiled from the driver’s seat, happy to have her eldest home for the next couple of months before his final year in college.

It was a clear moonlit evening in Canterlot. Twilight Velvet was glad that it hadn’t rained, as it had been threatening to do so earlier in the afternoon, otherwise Shining’s flight may have been delayed even more, after his plane was grounded for a couple hours due to mechanical issues.
Thankfully he arrived safe and sound, and they were just about 20 minutes from the house if what her GPS told her was true. Oddly it had rerouted them away from the freeway and through some suburbs, since apparently traffic was pretty bad.

She slowed down as she came up on another red light, this time with the first pedestrian she had seen in the area. The redheaded girl looked somewhat lost, as she kept looking around as if to get her bearings. However, it seems she found what she had been looking for, as she began to cross the street. Velvet made eye contact with the kid as she passed in front of the car, and for some reason made note that she looked to be as young as her daughter, right before a giant hand seemed to have swatted her car from behind.

The next thing Twilight Velvet knew, there was broken glass everywhere, and shouting. Her face and shoulder hurt a bit from the seat belt and airbag. She could hear Shining Armor checking on Twilight, whom was shaken up, but both also seemed alright. Thankfully she’d taken the SUV to have space for all of her son’s bags. Her relief was short lived however, as she finally got the airbag out of the way.

The car had been hit hard enough to have crossed into the intersection from a full stop, just some 10 feet or so. It apparently was also hard enough to flip a 100 pound body onto the roof of the car, if the limp arm across the windshield was what she feared the most. It couldn’t be any bigger than her baby girl’s.

“Shiny… call 911.” Twilight Velvet said as she stared at the small hand at the end of that arm.


The first thing Sunset felt as she came to was nausea followed by throbbing pain in her legs, hips, head and hands.

“What...happened?” she croaked, looking around at what seemed to be a hospital bed. It seemed very similar to what she had previously seen in Equestria, though there did seem to have a few more gadgets beyond the incessant beep from the heart monitor.

The window in the room was letting in some morning light, she raised her right foreleg and felt along her head. It seemed to have some gauze on wrapped around it, and her temple felt incredibly bruised.

Her left foreleg had a needle jabbed into it connected to a saline drip, along with a cast at the end. Looking down she noticed her left back leg was also encased in a cast. She looked like she had lost a fight with an avalanche. The last thing she remembered was crossing the street in search for alternative lodging, after she was almost caught at the school she had stayed at the last couple weeks. Thankfully it was long enough for her to get some information from the library, however clearly not enough if she was hurt this badly within 15 minutes of leaving.

“Oh Good morning! So glad to see you’re awake dear ” A voice chirped from the doorway, as a nurse came in. “Let me see here… I’ll go get the doctor in a moment, but before that, can you tell me what is the last thing you recall?”

“I was… crossing the street and then… I remember flying in the air before hitting my head… what happened?” Sunset asked, her voice scratchy from lack of water.

“Well dear, you were in a car accident. It seems a distracted driver slammed the accelerator instead of the brakes. Thankfully they plowed into another car first, which slowed the collision down enough. If they had hit you directly we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” The nurse explained as she moved about, reading  the instruments Sunset was hooked up to.

“From what I can see from the notes on your chart, you were knocked out from the hit to the side of the head, but while you have a fractured wrist and broken leg, and a LOT of bruising and cuts, there wasn’t any internal bleeding or swelling of the brain, so you got off pretty lightly. Not to mention you got to keep that beautiful hair.” The nurse informed her, as she flipped through some pages on a noteboard on the end of the bed.

“I do notice we don’t have any personal information on file though. Think you can provide your name, along with contacts for your parents or guardians? They must be pretty worried right now”

“Sunset Shimmer, and I don’t have… I don’t have anybody…” If Sunset had not been high on morphine, or as shaken up, she likely would have lied. While she immediately regretted letting that tidbit out, she knew she couldn’t take it back.

“Ok… hon, let me go get the doctor now, and the social worker I guess…” From the change in demeanor on the nurses face, Sunset had cleary made a mistake. The nurses had become hesitant and nervous, when before she was pretty matter-of-fact and even a bit upbeat.

Sunset would deal with it, just as she dealt with everything else thrown at her.