Luna yawned and walked into Sunset’s hospital room on Saturday afternoon. She ended up having to go to the school in order to finished all or her own paperwork form the week on top of her sister’s. Usually, if Celestia was off, Luna would just bring it home for her but this was a special case, Celestia didn’t need to worry about work at a time like this.
“What time did you get here?” Luna asked.
Celestia looked at the clock, “Only a couple of hours ago.”
“At least you actually came home last night.” Luna said, “You haven’t been back for a few days.”
“I do need to shower from time to time.” Celestia half joked.
Luna handed her a plastic bag and she looked at it questioningly.
“What is it?” Celestia asked.
Luna smiled, “For when she wakes up.”
Celestia looked inside the bag and smiled, “I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
A little while later a nurse walked in to check on Sunset. At the time, Celestia was holding the girl’s hand while she read a book. It was something she had started doing in the last few days, offering the girl as much comfort she could so Sunset knew she wasn’t alone.
“That’s strange…” the nurse mused, looking Sunset over.
“What is?” Celestia asked worriedly, “Is there something wrong?”
“No,” She said, “I’ll be right back.”
Celestia and Luna exchanged confused glances and waited for the nurse to return.
After twenty minutes, the nurse returned with Sunset’s doctor.
He moved to Sunset’s left side, then stood back and looked the girl over.
“Are you her caretaker?” He asked Celestia.
“I am.” She nodded.
“Well, it seems that your ward has been...well, fidgety.” He said, “Her IV came out and it was fine last night.”
“We double checked the tapes to be sure, she does move ever so slightly throughout the night.” She said.
“So, what does this mean?” Luna asked cautiously.
“Well, it’s not uncommon for some coma patients to twitch from muscle memory, but it seems that she was actually moving.” He explained, “Besides, she was completely motionless until last night. If I were to take an educated guess, I’d say that Sunset here was just about ready to get up.”
Celestia smiled.
The nurse went over to Sunset to replace her IV. When she attempted to press the needle back in to her arm, Sunset’s arm jerked itself out of the way. The needle ended cutting the Nurse’s finger.
“Ow, OK.” She said, sucking on the cut, “She doesn’t like needles. Got it.”
The doctor chuckled, “Here.” He replaced the needle itself, then put it back in Sunset’s arm then securely taped it down. “Like I said, I think she’s ready.”
He grabbed her chart and read it over. At one point, he looked from the paper to Sunset a few times.
“A building fell on top of her?” he questioned, “And she’s alive?”
“Yes,” Luna smiled, “I believe the other nurse’s words were, ‘rock star’.”
“I can see why.” He chuckled, “Anyway, I’ll leave you ladies alone.”
With that, he replaced Sunset’s chart then left the room, followed by the nurse.
Out of curiosity, Luna looked at Sunset’s chart, and her eyes almost popped out of her head.
“He wasn’t kidding.” Luna said, “She’s one tough girl.”
“I know,” Celestia said, “I’ve read the chart.”
Luna sat back down next to her sister who was just staring worriedly at the girl in the bed. She hoped that Sunset would wake up soon. Celestia was only going to worry until she woke up, no matter how much good news she received.
Again, Celestia just grabbed Sunset’s hand again, and rubbed her knuckle with her thumb.
***
The sun was starting to set, casting a warm glow into Sunset’s hospital room. The only other change was the absence of Luna and a black bag next to Celestia with Sunset’s leather jacket and some clothes. Chrysalis and Luna had gone to the location of Sunset’s building to see what they could recover.
Luckily, since it was the old part of town, not everything got cleaned up right away. The majority of Sunset’s clothes were safe along with some of her books and notebooks. Sunset’s phone was relatively fine, the screen just had a couple cracks. Her laptop was, unsurprisingly, not OK. The screen was completely shattered and the casing was coming off. It was, however in a decent case so the actual system might be alright. They could at least retrieve the contents of the hard drive.
The only things of value that had been destroyed was her laptop and acoustic guitar. Other than that, Sunset didn’t have much in regard to personal belongings.
Now, though, Celestia sat in her chair, holding Sunset’s hand, looking at the sky. That was, until Sunset’s fingers twitched. She looked at Sunset’s face then at the hand she was holding. When it didn’t move again, she resumed looking out the window.
What caught her attention again was a small groan from Sunset. Celestia’s head snapped towards the girl to see her brows furrowing.
“Sunset?” Celestia asked, standing up to get a better look at Sunset’s face.
Sunset did another small groan as she struggled to move her arm. She gave up after a moment then opened her eyes slightly and stared at the ceiling. Celestia pressed the call button as she continued watching Sunset.
Sunset moved her head slightly then moved her eyes to look at Celestia. She seemed to study to older woman.
Celestia smiled, “Sunset, welcome back.”
The sliding door opened and a couple nurses and the doctor came into the room. Celestia went to move out of the way so they could work but Sunset had gripped her hand. It wasn’t strong, but just enough to make Celestia stop and look at her. Sunset had furrowed her brows again, looking at Celestia with the expression of ‘please don’t leave me’.
Celestia smiled, “I’m not going to leave. I just have the move out of the way so the doctors can take a look at you. I’ll be right outside.”
Sunset seemed to have understood and released her grip.
Celestia moved out of the room and smiled.
“Tia?” Luna said, walking down the hall with Chrysalis. “What’s going on?”
“Sunset woke up.” Celestia said with a smile, “They are just looking her over.”
Luna grinned, “That’s great news!”
Celestia smiled as she watched the doctor and nurses through the glass, chewing on her nail. The doctor had said something to one of the nurses and she left the room, smiling at Celestia as she passed.
“It’s like watching your Mom. It’s uncanny.” Chrysalis said to Luna in a hushed whisper.
“I know. This is what I’ve been dealing with all week.” Luna replied in the same tone, “I call it ‘Mother Mode’.”
Celestia glared at the two, “I can hear you.”
The other two snickered.
The doctor exited the room after another five minutes and smiled, “For such a bad accident, everything looks good. She’s asleep right now but you can go on in.”
Celestia nodded a ‘thank you’ before going back into the room. The doctor had changed the bandages on her head and removed the respirator. Sunset was, indeed, asleep as her mouth was slightly ajar.
“Oh my god!” Chrysalis yelled suddenly.
Celestia and Luna shushed her.
“Sorry.” She apologized, “It’s just…she sleeps exactly like Luna.”
Celestia studied looked at Sunset for a moment before letting out a chuckle, “If she could move, I’m pretty sure she would look exactly like her. Contorted limbs and all.”
Chrysalis and Luna started to laugh too but they soon stopped as to not wake Sunset. It was entertaining that after a week of wanting her to wake up, they were making an effort to not wake her now.
Celestia instinctively grabbed her hand again after she sat down. Now that the respirator was gone, Sunset looked a lot better. She was still a little paler than usual but that was to be expected.
Luna and Chrys stuck around for another few minutes but, as it was nearing ten, they bid Celestia a farewell, knowing, especially now that she was out of her coma, they weren’t going to get her away from Sunset.
Once they, left, the Doctor came in and approached Celestia.
He looked to Sunset with a frown, “Can I speak to you outside for a moment?”
Celestia nodded and followed the doctor out of the room. He slid the door closed then turned to the other woman.
“So, I didn’t want to worry you more but now, I have to ask,” He bit his lower lip, “Are you aware that Miss Shimmer has large scarring on her back?”
“Scarring?” Celestia questioned.
The doctor nodded, “There are two, two-inch scars on her shoulder blades.” When he saw the look of horror on her face, he continued, “It doesn’t look like anything to worry about, I was just wondering if you happen to know how she got them.” He lowered his voice, “What are her parents like when they’re around?”
Celestia snapped out of her initial shock then placed her hand to her chin in thought, Her shoulder blades? What would hav-,
It was all too obvious. The way she had moved at the formal, the minor wincing when she moved or was touched a certain way in her suspension, the scars were where her wings had sat.
“Oh, Sunset…” Celestia whispered so only she could hear.
“Ma’am?”
Celestia shook her head, “The situation has been resolved.”
He nodded, “Good.”
The doctor walked off and Celestia went back into the room. She sat down next to a sleeping Sunset. It was then she did something out of instinct. She brushed Sunset’s hair out of her face and placed her hand on the girl’s cheek, rubbing it with her thumb.
Sunset seemed to react positively to the touch, slightly leaning into her hand. Celestia smiled and lightly placed a kiss on her forehead.
She sat there and contemplated the days to come. It will definitely take getting used to but Celestia hoped that it would be a positive change, for all parties involved. Then she thought about the room she and Luna had set up.
It made her smile.
Of course, when the timing was better, she’d approach Sunset about the scars on her back, but for now, she was just happy that the girl was alive.