//------------------------------// // Tension // Story: Her Sunlit Lineage // by Graglithan The Greater //------------------------------// If there existed one thing she hated most about hospital visits, it was that she couldn’t stand the constant beeping from the heart monitor. Yes, it was telling the doctors that somepony’s heart still worked. Yes, it showed that they were still alive. The problem was that waking up to that sound usually meant something went wrong. Worse was sitting next to it, waiting for somepony to wake up. Twilight’s ears pressed to her head as she sat in silence next to Sunset’s bed. The doctors had done an excellent job healing her burns, leaving only faint scarring that would fade with time. What scared her most was when they learned just how far Sunset had pushed herself. Her magic was at such critically low levels that even one of Tirek’s victims would have more than she did. The evil centaur at least left enough in the ponies he attacked that their lives weren’t in danger, even if it was only to keep them as slaves for later. Sunset, however, had managed to burn through an exceptionally unsafe amount. The only option was to wait for her reserves to restore themselves naturally since there wasn’t some villain to get her magic back from. Speaking of villains, Twilight’s eyes moved for a moment towards the door, and her teeth clenched. Sure, he wasn’t behind it directly. Still, the fact Line Writer’s injuries consisted of less life-threatening conditions made her feel emotions unfitting for the Princess of Friendship. At least he wouldn’t be running away from justice. Shaking her head violently, Twilight snorted. She didn’t want to think about him. Instead, she focused on the third victim of late. Hot Air, for all he had been through, came out fine physically. The most he complained about was a slight headache, and kept his overall personality, from what the nurses said. It was everything else they were talking about that made her worry. Twilight’s musing was only going in circles, so she got up and put a hoof on Sunset’s. She wanted to say something, anything, but all her words felt like sand in her mouth. With a resigned sigh, Twilight’s head felt heavy as she walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind her. Even crying was out of her reach, having long since run out of tears. Taking a seat at the door, Twilight pressed her back into the cold glass and rubbed her face with a hoof. “What do I do?” Asking herself out loud did little to help find the answer to that question. What she would give for some advice from a friend. The thought of friends made her heart go cold. In all of the excitement and worry, she’d forgotten about Sunset’s friends. “I have to tell them, but how?” “Princess?” Twilight looked over and saw Dr. Throb walking towards her with a frown. “Do you need a moment?” “I’ll- I’ll be alright.” Standing, Twilight composed herself as much as she could. “Is there something you need?” “Not me, no.” Dr. Throb sighed and adjusted her mane out of her eyes. “But when I heard you were still here, I was beginning to get worried.” Twilight’s head fell back down. “I’m sorry for worrying you.” The two looked at the door to Sunset’s room. “I-I’m just having a hard time figuring out what to do from here.” Dr. Throb put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder and gave her a small smile. “Well, since it seems like Sunset’s a good friend of yours, I have no doubt you’ll figure it out.” Dr. Throb frowned a moment later and looked at her clipboard. “That being said, though, I take it you know her emergency contact? With her father already in our care, we tried to find a second, but her paperwork didn’t have anypony else.” Sighing yet again, Twilight shook her head. “Unfortunately, no.” Dr. Throb rubbed her chin as she looked closer at the paperwork. “Perhaps I should forward a letter to Celestia. She was her student at some point, so maybe she-” “T-That won’t be necessary!” Twilight interrupted. “I, uh, I’ll write to her myself. That way, the message doesn’t have to go through the mail.” She hadn’t meant to be rude, but the thought that Sunset might wake up with Celestia in the room had made her panic. Dr. Throb narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Princess, if I may ask, Sunset didn’t do anything that could potentially sour her relationship with Princess Celestia, did she?” A bead of sweat trailed down Twilight’s cheek as she looked to the side. “Uh...” A sigh escaped Dr. Throb as she put a hoof to her face. “Really, Sunset? Of all the things to do... I wanted to think you’d just graduated early.” Twilight gave a sad smile as she glanced back at Sunset’s room. “Does it help any that she feels really guilty about it?” “A little.” Dr. Throb joined Twilight in looking through the glass. The two sat there silently as time silently passed, interrupted only by the sound of the hospital around them. If they could, Twilight’s ears would have pressed back farther. “Celestia’s, not the only one I have to tell.” Dr. Throb glanced over curiously. “Sunset’s been in a rather unique place since she stopped being Celestia’s student. Sure, Sunset’s time there was not the definition of peaceful at first, on her own part, but as of recent, she’s found reasons to call it home. A group of friends that she holds as close to her heart; close as I hold my own.” A trembling grimace danced on Twilight’s face. Morbidly, it was funny. She thought she’d long run out of tears by the time they’d arrived at the hospital. “How... How am I supposed to tell them about this? It was just supposed to be her visiting her dad, not being put into danger! She promised that she’d be back in a week, and it has already been three-” Twilight’s words were halted as Dr. Throb put a hoof over her lips and smiled, pain dancing in her eyes. “Princess, you won’t get anywhere if you keep going on like this. I’ve seen it enough times to know.” Gently waving a hoof towards Sunset’s room, Dr. Throb turned around to head back into the hospital. “If you’re still worried, you can stay until visiting hours are over. In the meantime, take a moment to figure out how you’re going to tell those friends of hers. You should also look into finding somewhere to sleep for the night.” Twilight gave her a small smile as she placed a hoof on Sunset’s door. “Thank you.” With the door shutting behind her as she sat next to Sunset’s bed once more, Twilight sighed. “I have to tell them, but there’s no way I could force Spike to write this.” She hummed in thought before perking up. “I hope the book can survive travel by dragon-fire.” She looked down to the floor next to the bed before blinking. “Shoot, I forgot my bags.” Thankfully for the staff, it only took a few minutes of her asking for something to write on that didn’t have medical information on it to find just that. “You had WHAT stuffed in your closet!?” Not much time had passed since Rainbow shot her friends the group text. When she’d first made it to her house, only to find the building ransacked, Rainbow panicked and called the police. While smart, that meant her father was notified as well, seeing as his house was broken into. And it was her father, who was busy staring down at his daughter in both shock and surprise. Blushing, Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Uh, Heh... my bad? Cause well, it technically is, seeing as I gave it to myself. The Equestrian me that is.” Chuckling nervously, she gave the best grin she could. “You’re not mad, are you?” Sighing, Bow Hothoof could only rub the bridge of his nose and shake his head. “Rainbow, I would normally support you, but keeping something that could level our home in the closet is a bit extreme even for your mother and me.” “I know, and I-” Rainbow’s brain caught up to the situation, and she blinked a bit in surprise before her jaw dropped. “Wait a sec... That’s what it took to break you out of the ‘eternal supporting fan’ mode you’ve been in for years!? A bottle of condensed thunderstorm being stolen from my room?” “I’m also upset you didn’t share something that only my amazing daughter could have managed to get.” Bow pouted a bit, which was both familiar and unsettling at the same time for Rainbow. “Dad, are you serious right now?” Rainbow groaned and put her face in her hands. The two’s heads rose at the sound of tires screeching. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Applejack’s truck just as it skidded to a halt, quickly followed by Applejack and Fluttershy frantically exiting the vehicle. Bow raised an eyebrow and patted his daughter on the shoulder. “I’m going to see if the police figured anything else out. You keep your friends from barreling in to help.” Rainbow gave him a nod and turned around to meet her friends halfway. When they all came to a stop, it was Applejack that spoke first. “Rainbow, what happened?” Rainbow sighed and looked over to her friends. “Well... You know those souvenirs we got and stuff? Someone kinda broke into my place and stole mine.” Applejack raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Someone broke into yer place for... books? That was what that other you sent over, right?” Fluttershy frowned in thought. “I guess since they’re from another world they might... no wait, Daring Do already has a series here. That wouldn’t make sense.” Rainbow hissed a bit as she sucked in a strained breath. “Not... exactly. Uh, Other me kinda... hid an extra one with the books?” The deadpan stare fired at Rainbow would have leveled buildings, but only made Applejack sigh in frustration. “Alright then, what are we dealing with? An enchanted whoopie cushion? A magic hand buzzer? Some other form of pranking gone wrong?” Her eyes slowly slid to the side as Rainbow let out a nervous laugh. “Uh... the second one’s close?” Fluttershy frowned and put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes. “Rainbow, what did you bring over?” Rainbow froze under the piercing stare, sweat slowly starting to trickle down her face. “Ah, c-come on Flutters, you don’t have to break out the stare.” The stare intensified, and Rainbow winced back. “Okay! I’ll spill! Just stop with the stare!” Fluttershy nodded with closed eyes before tapping her foot and looking back at Rainbow again. “It was, uh, It was a bottle of lightning.” Applejack blinked and looked concerned. “A bottle of what now?” Unable to help the small smile, Rainbow’s eyes sparkled a bit. “Lightning. Like, there was a full-on storm in a bottle. It was so cool, cause you could see the bolts just bouncing off of the glass.” Her smile faltered a bit as her mind caught back up with her. “But I knew that if Sunset knew I had it, she’d probably chew me out and make me give it back, so I hid it in my closet and didn’t tell anyone about it. You know, as a reminder to not screw up again.” “Uh, Ah think it gettin’ stolen is kinda on the side of screwing up again.” Applejack glared. Fluttershy’s gaze snapped over to Applejack, and her hands found themselves on her hips. “Applejack, that was uncalled for! There’s no way she could have known someone would break in!” Fluttershy turned to glare at Applejack and made the farmer wince. With a sigh, Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “Yer right. Sorry ‘bout that Rainbow.” Rainbow waved a hand dismissively. “It’s cool. We’re all kinda on edge right now, so I can’t really blame you. That, and it was kinda stupid to keep that secret from you girls.” “Have you had a chance to tell anyone else?” Fluttershy worriedly glanced at Rainbow’s house, where the police were starting to exit. “No, just you two and my dad.” Rainbow blinked before a groan. “Oh, man. The Princess is going to go ballistic if she finds out!” Applejack sighed and shook her head. “Ah think you mean, when, she finds out. Ah, doubt Sunset’s not gonna tell her about this when she gets back.” Fluttershy looked around for a moment before looking back at Rainbow. “Rainbow, where’s Pinkie?” The groan that left Rainbow made both her friends worry. “That is an entirely different can of worms.” She walked over to the curb and sat down next to Applejack’s truck, and the other’s followed. “Can we, like, wait for the others before explaining anything else? Just thinking about what happened at Pinkie’s place is giving me a headache.”