The world was out to get her today. Sunset knew that. She couldn’t find her lucky guitar pick during band rehearsal, so her confidence in her playing was bad. Even though the girl’s said otherwise, Sunset knew that she sounded bad. She didn’t want to bring her motorcycle to school because supposedly it wasn’t going to rain. But it decided to rain. So that was the longest walk home.
But after getting home, she changed into more dryer clothes then she checked the fridge and noticed that the fridge looked a little empty, by a little she meant the entire left side was empty. Letting out a loud groan in the large kitchen, Sunset cursed whatever god that was messing with her.
Hopping into the red convertible, waving to the older posh lady that lived next door to her. She really liked living in a mansion, it was nice but besides her sister who owns the house but had a very hard job that kept her away and Ray, her adorable lizard. Sunset sighed as she pulled out the driveway, narrowly avoiding the mailbox. She may have passed the driving test but she still had a little trouble driving.
After getting her groceries, and food for her sister's dog, whom she forgot to feed, Sunset felt the universe had finally decided to leave her alone.
But her stomach let out a very angry noise. She was driving where basically nobody lived, it couldn’t hurt to take her eyes off of the road for a few seconds. Sunset reached over and grabbed a carrot. It was looking right at her through the bag.
In retrospect, it was a terrible idea, as she didn’t see a small shadow run out from a very familiar van on the side of the road. But she felt the small bump. She hadn’t even gotten a bite out of her carrot when she felt her car run over something. Slamming on the breaks, she quickly got out of her car, fear settling in her gut as she saw a cat laying on its side.
“TACO!”
Sunset’s body freezing up as she saw running towards the cat was a familiar blue girl. Sonata Dusk, one of the sirens. The girl had tears streaming down her face as she went to the cat's side. Sunset watched in horror as the girl picked up the injured cat. Letting out a small pained meow as Sonata moved it gently.
“Sonata, what the hell don’t run out in the street like that,” Sunset heard another voice, running towards the siren were the other two Dazzlings. Adagio and Aria both looked angry but there was obvious panic. Adagio let out a small huff when she saw the cat.
“Oh boy,”
“Can we save him?” Sonata asked through tears. Adagio looked at her and rubbed her neck.
“I don-”
“I can,” Sunset spoke up, finally getting the attention of the sirens. Aria and Adagio looked up at her and glared. “Haven’t you done enough, Shimmer?” The purple-haired girl pointed at her, another hand on her hip.
Sunset felt her body rack with guilt as she looked at the slowly breathing cat. She let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“I know and I feel really bad about how everything turned out but that cat is gonna die if we don’t get him to a vet soon enough,” She insisted, pointing to the cat. Then she winced when she saw the younger siren’s face, more tears rushing down her face. Aria groaned and glared at her, giving her a ‘Why the hell would you say that’
“That’s correct, we have time to discuss everything later, we need to get him to the vet,” Adagio agreed, standing up. The other siren nodded her head. Sunset let out a small sigh of relief but it was cut short when Sonata asked a question.
“But the van doesn’t work anymore, we don’t have a way to get there,” She cried, holding the cat tighter. Adagio frowned at her. Sunset piped up, remembering she had a car and she hit the cat with it. No the image of the cat will not leave her mind and it never will.
“We can go in my car since I ran over him,” She blanched at her words but the other three didn’t seem to notice. They glanced at each other before nodding.
“Of course, it only seems right,” Adagio said, looking down at the blue siren. The four girls scrambled into the car and Sunset sped off to the nearest vet.
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As they rounded the corner of the vet, Sunset pulled up in a parking lot, Sonata got out of the car, her injured cat in her arms. The girl ran inside, scaring the receptionist. The woman’s eyes widened at the sight of the girl holding the injured cat.
“Can you save Taco?” Sonata cried, holding her cat out to the lady. She gulped and ran to the back, opening a door and ushering her to the back.
Sunset and the other two entered the building behind her. Sunset stood at the desk, waiting for someone Aria opted to sit down in one of the chairs and read one of the family life magazines. Adagio sighed and leaned against the desk, Sunset standing awkwardly next to her. The taller girl went to open her mouth but was cut off by Adagio.
“You don't need to say anything, Shimmer, you’ve already caused enough problems,” Adagio said, looking over at her. Sunset furrowed her eyebrows. “Okay but you guys were trying to take over the school,” She said, trying to deflect the blame. She shouldn’t though, she just ran over the cat. Adagio rolled her eyes.
“It was a terrible idea, but I’m talking about the cat, idiot,”
Sunset let out a nervous chuckle. “Oh yeah, that was a major problem I caused,” She tapped the desk as the room went quiet again. The silence was heavier than an elephant. Sunset glanced around, looking at the cat clock on the wall. 4:25.
Her eyes were drawn back to Adagio, who was staring at the door that leads to the back. She looked anxious, eyes trained on the door waiting for anything. Sunset shouldn’t say anything, but a little reassurance might go a long way. “Hey, I’m sure the cat will be fine, I’ve heard really good stuff about this place,” She reassured, putting a hand on Adagio’s shoulder. She internally cheered when Adagio didn’t cut off her hand. The siren didn’t look at her, but she felt the muscle under her hand relax.
Adagio sighed and looked at Sunset. “I know that it’s just,” She started but was cut off by the back door opening and Sonata walking out with the receptionist and a nurse beside her. The older woman was rubbing her back as the two walked. Sonata’s tears had stopped but she was still sniffling. Sunset let her hand fall as Sonata walked over to them. The blue-haired girl immediately latched onto Adagio, who rubbed the girl’s back.
A nurse, a woman named Rose walked back to her desk. The woman had some papers under her arm and she placed them in front of Sunset, who panicked internally. Rose opened the file and pulled out three different scans of the cat’s body.
“Sonny go sit next to Aria, I have to look at something real quick,” Adagio spoke to the girl, in a low whisper but Sunset still heard it and it calmed her panic down a little. Sonata nodded her head and trudged over to Aria and sat down right next to her. The younger siren laid her head down on the girl’s shoulder, who just patted her head but kept reading the magazine.
Adagio walked closer to Sunset, the taller girl scooting over to give her some room. The paper showed that multiple parts of the cat’s front paws have been broken in several places.
“The car that ran over him missed his entire body except for the front of his body,” The nurse started to explain. She pointed to the front legs than the jaw which looked unhinged but was still in one piece. Rose pointed to a smaller part of the jaw, small pieces of the jaw were fractured. “This part is fractured, so the vets will need to do surgery on him to remove the small pieces that broke off in his jaw and legs," She finished before collecting the papers and putting them back in the file.
Rose handed the file to the receptionist in exchange for a single piece of paper. The older woman glanced at the paper, a quick look of shock before it was overtaken by a look of neutrality. She then placed the paper down in front of them. The woman went to speak but was cut off by someone calling her from the back.
"I'll let you two discuss this, if you have any questions, Miss Lock will help you," She gestured to the woman behind the desk, who gave a small wave to the two. Adagio nodded her head and grabbed the paper, eyes scanning the paper.
Sunset nodded her head at the woman not knowing what to do, she didn't really have any say in this so she looked over at Adagio. The shorter female was staring at the paper. Adagio ran a hand over her face, a look of unease settled on her face.
Even if it's a bad thought, that wasn't her cat she shouldn't be giving a flying fuck about it. But the way Sonata had sobbed and the nervousness of Adagio, also the fact that she ran over it. She also imagined Fluttershy, the animal-loving girl that she was, would be very disappointed in her. Before her mind could change, Sunset took a deep breath and held her hand out for the paper. Adagio glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, can I see it?" She asked, nervously.
Adagio rolled her eyes and handed it to her, looking at her with skeptical eyes. Sunset mentally prepared herself for the price.
But she wasn't prepared enough.
The price punched her in the stomach before stabbing her in the eye. Sunset felt a large boulder slam on her back as she looked at the price.
$4,893 for some fractured limbs on a cat. Incredible. Sunset wanted to run in the back and grab the cat, she'll just magic the cat back to health. It could work, maybe.
But an option that probably had no good solution, Sunset decided on the one that made more sense.
Her sister had a sensible job that made good money, good enough to keep them in a mansion.
It wouldn't hurt, she would just have to pay it back. That was like her next fifteen paychecks, it could work or not. Depending on her sister's mood, Sunset could get away with it.
She sighed and looked at the receptionist. "Can we pay for it now?" She asked, pulling out a black card. The woman behind the desk widened her eyes and looked up at the card then at Sunset before nodding her head. She pulled a payment terminal out from somewhere and placed it on the desk.
With a swipe of her card, the surgery of Taco the cat was paid for.
Now, who was going to pay for Sunset's surgery when her sister finds out?
Sunset sighed as she felt the boulder on her shoulders grow in size. Putting the card back, she turned to Adagio. The older siren was looking at her in such a way that it was making the teenager sweat.
"What?" Sunset squeaked, her cheeks turning red under the gaze of the fluffy-haired girl.
The siren shook her head before walking over to the other two. The blue-haired girl had fallen asleep on Aria's shoulder. Adagio smiled softly at the sight before sitting next to Sonata.
Sunset turned back to the receptionist, getting the woman's attention. "Do you know how long the surgery will be?"
The woman tapped the desk. "I'd say maybe two to three hours, but one of the nurses should come back out to inform you if he needs an overnight stay or not," She informed, smiling up at the teenager. Sunset smiled back at her. "Thank you,"
"Of course,"
Sunset nodded and went to sit across from the three, twiddling her fingers together and focusing on a really interesting black tile on the ground.
It was going to be a long afternoon.