"How have you been?"
Tempest slid the spoon out of her mouth and dipped it back into her yogurt. "Things here aren't too bad, actually. The food is quite good, and the bed is comfortable. Pity about the lack of conversations, but the nurses are too busy to waste time on that."
Twilight gave a look around the room. A pot with some flowers near the window added a splash of colour to the otherwise sterile monotony typical of hospitals, and overall the place looked clean and pleasant enough. "I'm glad to hear that, but it doesn't answer my question. How have you been?"
Tempest finished another spoonful of yogurt. "I've picked up reading to pass the time, you know? I can't exactly go out in these conditions so I had to distract myself some way. There's a little newspapers shop on the first floor that sells comic books too, so I picked up an issue of Power Ponies." Another spoon of white yogurt in and out of her mouth. "It's fun."
Twilight quirked an eyebrow, her expression one of annoyance but in even greater part understanding. "Tempest."
"Well, I know it's not high literature, or maybe not even really literature depending on your definition, but I'm still technically reading okay? You can't ask me to jump right into-"
"Fizzlepop Berrytwist," Twilight said, voice rising a little, "I asked you a question and I expect you to answer it. I did not ask about the place, I did not ask about the food, I did not ask what you've been up to. How have you been?"
Tempest looked down and to the side, almost smirking. She sighed. "Not well. I know it's for my own good, and I accept that, and I know perfectly well that things have to be like this. But I can't like this no matter what." Her eyes turned towards the window. "The pain is the least bad part. I'm used to it, I've lived through worse than most of it. But being stuck in here... Being useless, when so much help could be needed out there."
She looked down again. "And, well, when I could be doing stuff. Stuff that isn't spending my days confined to one building, barely able to walk at times, walking the same spotless white hallways and eating the same white yogurt every day because it's better than the chocolate pudding which is the only other dessert they give out and honestly I actually really like the yogurt but it's me, Twilight! I'm not a yogurt kind of mare!"
Twilight chuckled as she heard that. "Sorry, sorry. I understand." She smiled cheekily at the unicorn. "I could bring you some oranges if you want. Just don't tell Applejack about it."
Tempest smiled back. "I wouldn't mind."
Then Twilight's expression faltered a little. "And what about..."
A different tinge fell over Tempest's face. Not angry, not bitter, more resigned than anything. "Well..." She looked down at herself. "It's... It's manageable, I'd say. It hurts less nowadays, and it's..." She sighed. "I think I can live with it."