//------------------------------// // Back in Bed, Again... // Story: The Empressess, A Continuation of a Continuation // by Stalin with Da Spoon //------------------------------// It had been 3 hours since Sunset was splashed with that searing hot coffee, and she was already back in her bed within her medical room, around a dozen nurses and doctors swarming her bed, taking her temperature, checking readings, heartbeat, bombarding her with questions, and ice packs being shoved into her face. The pain had already been numbed quite a bit, and even though she still could not open her eyelids, they were not hurting nearly as bad as they were upon first contact with the literal magma temperature coffee. However, Sunset was too zoned out to truly pay attention to these little details, as she was hung up on a single question that had been eating away at her since she was returned to her room. Why did the servant refer to Fluttershy as 'Empress'? Was it some sort of title she gave herself? Was she a leader now? Did she have her own nation? It made no sense to sunset, especially since she wasn't really the type of pony to refer to herself like that. A title that would make more sense for her would be 'Queen'. She then thought about what happened to that servant who splashed that red hot lava on her face. Honestly, she did not blame the poor fellow for his mistake, everyone can trip at any time, Sunset knew this better than anyone. She wondered what happened to the poor fellow, as she was too busy wallowing in pain and being surrounded by paramedics for her to see, but she could swear she heard screaming as the paramedics loaded her onto a stretcher, and as she looked towards the source, she swore she could see an ornate amethyst scythe raised in the air as it was brought down and another scream followed. The thing that truly caught her attention was... It had a cutie mark she had never seen before, yet she felt it was familiar... Something was wrong... Very wrong, and she had to find out soon, but right now, it didn't matter, as she snapped back to reality, with most of the nurses and doctors now having left, with her slowly trying to sit up in bed, straining her arms as she did so, taking a deep breath. "Oooooh, damn it that hurts..." As she grunted, one of the doctors walked over quickly to assist her, supporting her back and ensuring she did not hurt herself. The doctor then put his hand to her head, which was still warm, however the doctor's hand was absolutely frigid cold, like as cold as the frozen pole she got her tongue stuck to as a kid. She kinda winced at the coldness, but it actually helped cool her off, making her feel slightly better, as the doctor spoke out to her. "Careful now, you're still quite weak, and we do not know if that splash of coffee had any adverse effects on your already weakened condition. I highly advise minimizing your movement." Sunset nodded at the doctor's words, considering that she did indeed still feel like absolute weak shit. "Yeah, thanks for the concern... Man your hand's cold, doc." "Apologies, and please, refer to me simply as Robert." "Right... Anyways, thanks for help... Tell me, where are my friends?" "Oh, the emper-" He stopped himself before he could finish his sentence, remembering what it would mean if he revealed their true status to her. "Your friends, are... Are..." The doctor was very nervous, maybe even panicking a little bit, before he spit it out. "They are making you the best get well soon card you have ever seen." Sunset smiled at the thought of her friends making a nice get well soon card. "Thats good to hear... Thanks for the help Robert." "Anytime, madam Sunset." The doctor slowly stood up as they walked to the door, which was already opening, as standing there would be Fluttershy, as the doctor nodded towards her. "The patient is ready, lady Fluttershy." Fluttershy simply nodded towards the doctor, smiling at both the fact sunset was awake and well, and that doctor knew how to address her in the presence of Sunset. As she moved to allow the doctor to leave, she turned and smiled at Sunset, who in turn smiled back, as she quickly walked up to the side of sunset's bed, kneeling down and giving her a tight hug. "Are you okay sweetie? Are you still hurt? Do you need more ice?" "No, Fluttershy, I feel fine, those doctors know how to fix burn wounds." "Indeed, we made sure to get you the best there is..." She then paused, as a tiny tear slowly streamed down her cheek as she slowly looked away. "Im so sorry... Its all my fault... if I hadn't..." Sunset slowly patted Fluttershy on the back, smiling at her. "Hey, don't be sad, its not your fault, in fact, its not even that one guy's fault either, he simply just tripped, no need to blame anyone here." Fluttershy slowly looked away, feeling a small amount of remorse and sadness for the poor servant... It was because of her that he dropped the coffee on sunset, it was because of her what Midnight did to him... And the next question sunset spoke only made her regret what she did even more. "What even happened to the poor guy? Must be worried sick, maybe we should tell him what happen-" "That... Won't be necessary... Twilight... Took care of it..." She grimaced at the mention of it, praying sunset heard nothing of the... Execution. The next query to arise from sunset's mouth truly frightened Fluttershy. "Why the heck did he call you empress, anyway?" Fluttershy went blank, thinking that the illusion had come undone, that she had seen everything, but she still tried to keep calm and explain things to her. "Well... Its just ummmm... A nickname, yes, a nickname! Just a little joke started around the place!" "Ahhhhh, I see... Weird, I always thought of you as more like a queen." The words slightly touched Fluttershy, feeling happy that her friend would think of her like that, as she smiled, patting sunset on the head. "Now get some more rest dear, tommorow we can try going for a walk again." Sunset nodded, slowly lying back, closing her eyes, and hitting the hay, as Fluttershy stood up and slowly walked out, feeling both at ease, and tense at the same time. As she exited the room, she found the doctor standing right beside the door, as he appeared to be listening, when she gave him a look of suspicion, he turned away from her, walking away slowly. She payed no mind to it, as the doctor breathed in a sigh of relief. Sunset could not help but feel that Fluttershy was hiding something. In fact, she felt all of her friends had been hiding something from her, and she felt like she had to find out soon. Meanwhile, doctor Robert quickly made his way through the halls of the tower, past the guards wheeling by weapons and materials as he ducked into a supply closet, pulling out a small communications device, and making a call. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Establishing connection...] [Establishing...] [Connection confirmed.] Commander, this is agent Roberts, target has successfully recovered from burning wounds of coffee, and will be on the move again tomorrow. Hopefully, the illusion can be shattered then. Excellent work, roberts, this means were back on track, continue observation and alert me if anything changes. Remember, the world is at stake here. If we fail to get her out of there before they get project reunification up and running again, then we are all well and truly screwed. [Connection terminated.]