//------------------------------// // 16 - Special Holidays - Sunset - Homeward Bound // Story: Sunset Shimmer - Six Friends One Heart // by Babroniedad //------------------------------// Sunset - Homeward Bound Sitting in her borrowed wheelchair, Sunset surveyed everything she would be taking home. On her bed were several boxes, filled with supplies the hospital was sending home for her care. Packages of adult diapers, wipes, disposable nitrile gloves, and bed pads. Suppositories, creams and gels. A bed pan - she hadn’t even known what one was a week ago, let alone what it looked like or was for. She shook her head. Travel kits - an odd name for the small packages of soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and deodorant placed in little plastic tubs. A walker - not that she was walking yet. But with help, she could stand for about thirty seconds or so, holding tightly to the walker, shaking the entire time. But progress. Progress, not perfection. A transfer board. A practical name for the mobile butt slide, letting her glide from one seat to another. In practice, it was a literal pain in the behind. She was always afraid she was going to fall. And falling was now an uncontrolled flight to the floor, a painful one way ride she was determined to avoid. Her nurses and therapists had drummed into her head; falling was dangerous, killing many in her circumstance. It was to be avoided at all costs. Her hope was she could strengthen herself to the point she never needed the board, and could stand and shift herself to wherever she needed to go. Folders and books, the most notable being titled ‘Living with SCI’, featuring an older couple sitting in wheelchairs while holding hands. It was large, thicker than she expected, and featured many pictures and diagrams. She briefly glanced through it, but put off reading it until later. An exercise packet she had previously reviewed while going through all the exercises with her PT therapist. She’d promised to keep them up, building on what they had started to keep her mobility, such as it was, intact. A folder full of paperwork, including orders for full leg compression stockings - like nylons, but much less fashionable, and thicker. What they lacked in style they made up for in function - keeping her legs from swelling. An order for a block of foam to be used to keep her legs elevated while she rested in bed. Celestia promised she would get her a power bed, similar to what she was using here at the hospital. But until then, the block would do. Referrals to specialists, including the OT department downstairs, who would work with the vendors to order and fit her custom wheelchair. And the order for the therapist specializing in PTSD and trauma recovery. It was all a bit overwhelming. She wheeled over to the cabinet that served as her hospital room’s closet. Opening the doors, she noticed her backpack, buried under blankets tossed into the bottom of the cabinet. She placed the pack on her lap, and felt the pack vibrate. “The Journal! Twilight!” gasped Sunset. She quickly rolled over to the bed, pulling the vibrating journal from her pack. Flipping to the last written page, she read Twilight’s reply. ‘Sunset! Hang on, what the hay is happening there? This sounds like it’s become serious? Are you okay? Do you need anything? Sunset, please let me know!’ The messages continued, each becoming more distressed and urgent, up to the final one. ‘Sunset, I am coming through the portal. Meet me at the base of the statue, and we’ll work through this together. I promise, we will get through this! Yours in Friendship, Twilight’ “Horse Apples! When did she send this? Ugh… I’ve got to get someone to go meet her. Damnit…” She grabbed her phone, scrolled through to Vice-Principal Luna’s number and hit dial. “Come on Luna, pick up…. Please!” She got voice mail, so she left a quick message. “Ms. Luna, it’s me, Sunset! I have a bit of an emergency, can you please send someone to the Wondercolts statue and pick up Twilight? I got a message from her, she is waiting for me there. But I have no way to reach her! Tell her I am coming, please?” She disconnected. “Ugh!” “There has to be someone else I can call… who, who?” Sunset groaned, hands to her head. “Wait! Flash… I still have his number, right?” She scrolled through her contacts, found it, and hit dail. “Come on Flash, pick up, please…” “Sunset?” came the answer from the phone. “Hey Sunset, where are you? Are you alright? No one’s seen you all morning, and there are some really bad rumors going around…” “Flash! Oh thank Celestia! Flash, can you help me out, please? And why the heck have you not responded to my messages all last week?!” “Uh, yeah, sorry Sunset. I lost my phone making deliveries last week! I just got the replacement yesterday. I changed it overnight. I was going to call you honest! So where are you? What’s going on? Vice-Principal Luna just called a general assembly, and rumor is it’s about you. Are you okay?” “No. No, I’m not okay. But Flash, I need your help! Princess Twilight is there, she came through the portal! Do you see her there? Did someone pick her up?” “Twilight is here?! Ugh.. wha.. Twilight? Okay. Uhm… Wow. Yeah, no… There’s been no sign of her here. One sec…” Sunset heard Flash in the background. “Mr. Doodle? I need to be excused for a moment. Family emergency, I need to go to the office.. Okay thanks!” A moment later he was back on the phone. “Okay back. I’m checking the statue now. Need a moment.” She could hear him moving though the hall then opening the door. “Okay, no sign of her. Checking around the building.” He must’ve been running, she could hear his labored breath through the phone. A minute later “Sorry no sign of her Sunset. I’m going to check with the office. Hang on…” Back through the door. “Ms. Raven? Vice-Principal Luna? Anyone?” called out Flash. A moment later, Vice-Principal Luna’s door opened. “Mr. Sentry, please come in.” She turned, returning to her desk and sat down. “Are you still there Sunset? I’m putting you on speaker. I’m heading into Vice-Principal Luna’s office now…” “Okay Flash. Thank you!” answered Sunset. “Mr. Sentry! What can I do for you today? Is everything alright?” Sunset heard Luna greet. “Vice-Principal Luna. Hi, uhm… no, actually I think something is wrong. Princess Twilight is here I think. Uhm… one second. I have Sunset on the phone here. She’s on speaker.” “Sunset! How are you? Is everything okay? What’s this about Princess Twilight?” “Ms. Luna! Thank you! Thank you Flash. Ms. Luna, I got a message from Twilight saying she was coming through the portal, and would meet me by the Wondercolts statue. I’m not sure exactly when she sent it, but have you seen her? Is she still there?” asked Sunset. “No, sorry Sunset. I haven't seen Twilight, and she hasn’t come through the office. Could she have possibly gone back through the portal when she saw you weren't there?” replied Luna. “Maybe? I don’t know.” Sunset groaned. “Flash said he didn’t see any sign or her, and he checked the school grounds, right Flash?” “Yeah. That’s right, I ran around the building and looked. I didn’t check the fields or anything but no, I didn’t see any sign of her,” responded Flash. “And I haven’t seen her in the office or around the school this morning either, Sunset. I’m sorry, but she likely tired of waiting and returned to her home,” answered Luna. Sunset sighed. “Okay. okay… one sec. Let me check. I have the journal right here.” She put the phone on speaker, and set it on the table by her bed. She opened the journal.. “Pen… pen, where is it?” Digging through the drawers, she found a pen found and prepared to write. ‘Dear Twilight. Where are you? Did you come here? Are you back in your castle? I’m sorry I couldn’t get to the portal to meet you, long story. Let me know where you are and I’ll ask someone to meet you. Thanks! Your friend, Sunset.’ “Ugh. I feel like an idiot. I should have done that first,” grumbled Sunset. “What’s that Sunset? I couldn’t quite hear you,” responded Luna. “Nothing… I was just saying I was an idiot for not responding to Twilight first,” groaned Sunset. “I’ll give her a minute or two to respond. And will definitely let you know if she says anything.” “Okay. Yes please. And Sunset? Don’t worry, we will sort this out. I’ll see you tonight when I get home,” answered Luna. “Sunset, Mr. Sentry and I have an assembly to attend. I’ll call you back after it’s completed. We have to ‘sign off’ now. Goodbye Sunset.” “Okay. Goodbye Ms. Luna. See you soon. And thank you!” “So Sunset, you’re living with Vice-Principal Luna? That’s cool. When did that start?” asked Flash. “Not now, Mr. Sentry. We have to leave. Tell Sunset goodbye. Let’s go.” “Bye Sunset. I’ll call you back later. Take care, okay?” Flash hung up the phone. “Ugh. So frustrating…” Sunset stared at the journal, willing some response to appear. Still nothing. Celestia entered the room. “Sunset. How’s it going in here? Almost ready? They’re getting the final papers together now.” She noticed the journal. “Ah, what’s that? I’ve never seen that book before. It looks rather fancy.” “This is my Journal from, er.. Okay. you know how I came over through the portal from my Equestria, right? The world I come from is kind of a parallel to your world. A lot of the people here are also in my world too. Well not exactly… but I mean they are there too. Like the people here are people, uhm…. Well creatures? Anyways, they are creatures in my world too. Like parallel. I was a pony. A unicorn, studying magic, and I was the personal student of Princess… uhm. I was the personal student of your counterpart. Princess Celestia. She rules Equestria, where I come from. I was her student. And she gave me this Journal so I could communicate with her while we were apart, when she had to leave and couldn’t be with me during my studies.” “Uh… Oh. Okay.” The shocked look on Principal Celestia’s face was priceless. “So… uhm. Yeah. So I was your student… I mean your counterpart’s student, back in Equestria. And this Journal lets me communicate with her… well not her. Not anymore. She gave it to Twilight. So now it lets me communicate with Princess Twilight. And we use it to talk. Like a phone.. But, well… not like a phone. But like text messages. You know,” finished Sunset lamely. “Okayyyy….. So what’s going on then, are you talking with her now?” “No. No see that’s the thing. She sent a message she was coming through the portal to meet me. She wanted me to meet her at the base of the Wondercolt statue. But my Journal was buried in my backpack, and apparently covered with blankets.. Ugh.. whatever. But I haven’t used it since yesterday afternoon! So I have no idea when she came over. It might have been yesterday, or today. But whenever it was, apparently no one was there to meet her! And she may have gone back. Or not. We don’t know. Ms. Luna said she didn’t see her, and Flash looked all over the grounds, and I sent a message back but she hasn’t responded… and I’m starting to get worried.” Sunset huffed. “Okay, deep breaths Sunset. There’s no point in letting this get you worked up. It will sort itself out.” Celestia pulled the guest chair over and sat next to Sunset. Holding Sunset’s hands, she gave them a gentle squeeze. “We’ll sort this out. Together. Okay Sunset?” Sunset raised her head, and looked into Celestia’s eyes. “Yes. Yes, together. Thank Celestia yes! Together.” She took a deep breath. “Uhm. Sunset?” “Yes?” “Why do you keep using my name like that?” Sunset groaned.