This, the longest day she'd known yet, was finally over - at least that was what the clock said, as far as she could tell in the moonlight. Sunset had stayed up past midnight going over the day again and again in her head. Her new parents had headed home, but only after Princess Celestia herself was forced to send them home. It was the third hardest thing that she'd had to do that day, but even her authority is more or less superseded in a hospital, and rules were rules. Her parents had been so concerned that they'd attempted to ignore the doctor and the nurses and stay to offer Sunset any assistance they could. Celestia left after they did, explaining things to the frustrated doctor. The look on her face as she said goodbye was one that had almost brought a small bright spot to Sunset's day, it was so full of concern and care. But the last thing she had said before leaving was only more bad news. She supposed that she should have expected it, but it still felt like a slap to the face.
"Physical therapy," Sunset sighed to herself. "I expected to have physical therapy if I did something stupid like get hit by a car, but I never expected that I'd have to go through it for..." She stiffened before she could finish the sentence. She concentrated on maintaining the inner dam she had begun to construct, a weak attempt at keeping back the floodwaters caused by her fragile emotional state. It didn't help that one wrong word, one stray thought was all it took to foil her best efforts.
She rolled onto her side, stretching out all four of her legs for a moment, attempting to get more comfortable. She'd never get to sleep if she kept thinking like this, and she needed to get her rest for tomorrow. Tomorrow would be her first day of physical therapy, and it wouldn’t be over until she was at least able to handle the basics. "I never thought I'd have to relearn how to walk, run, jump, even eat." She chuckled grimly to herself, "I can't even eat properly." It was something that everyone could do from birth, and she would have to relearn how to do it, at least appropriately anyway. Her meals today were in the form of nutrient-rich liquids with the consistency of a milkshake. She was too busy working the muscles in her new throat and feeling the liquid move through her to be embarrassed that a nurse had to hold the cup for her as she drank through a straw.
Sunset rolled over again and thought some more about the subject. "What do they eat? They're horses - or, uh, ponies. Are they vegan? Wait, horses and ponies aren't vegan. Are the foods even the same though? Do they have sandwiches? What about pasta? Oh no, what if they don't have pizza!" She groaned. "Of all the times to worry about this, I pick now. I should be trying to get to sleep!"
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. She didn’t need any help figuring out how to breathe. That and talking came involuntarily to her. When she finally settled and got comfortable again, she let herself start to drift. The darkness subdued her and her head sank into the soft pillow beneath it.
But just as she was about to doze off, the worst happened. She gasped in what she could only have described as the most absolute of horrors.
"Oh no..." A certain pressure built up in a place she was now definitely sure was her new bladder. She struggled fruitlessly for a moment to at least attempt to get up on her own. After a moment of utter failure, during which she'd barely managed to scoot an inch on the mattress, the pressure was unbearable, and she renounced her pride. "NURSE!" she cried as loudly as she could, fighting with all her strength to keep from crying.
A nurse came rushing in not a moment later. "What's wrong?" she asked, seeing the mortified look on the young mare's face.
"I-I need to-to pee." Sunset stuttered as she burst into new tears, no longer able to fight on two fronts and settling for one.
The nurse struggled to keep her own tears down. She'd heard everything about Sunset, and though she could sympathize with her patient’s condition, it was one she couldn't bear imagining herself going through. "Don't worry, I'll get you there in a jiffy,” she said, trying to console her patient to the best of her ability. “And I'll make sure that this stays between the two of us, okay?"
As her horn began to glow, the nurse quickly levitated Sunset out of the bed and into the bathroom. Sunset fought desperately against her bladder, but the position in which she was being levitated only added to the problem. A combination of weightlessness and the inability of her legs to cross had Sunset feel something that horrified her greatly: the feeling of a warm liquid running down her leg. The nurse, thanking her lucky stars that she'd caught on just in time, instead put Sunset in the shower stall, started running the water, turned around, and bit her lip as Sunset's crying turned into sobbing.
Sunset lay on her stomach, letting out all of her tears and frustrations. The only comfort she took in the moment was the warm water running over her body. She was still, however, focused on all the many things she'd have to relearn. She weeped as she added the current priority of emptying her bladder to the list.
She silently and bitterly hoped that her other was having just as much trouble as she was, and she cursed her for what she did, wishing she could get vengeance on her but knowing that it was now and forever impossible.