"When's she gonna get here?" Applebloom whispered to the other two fillies. I didn't have a clue who they were talking about but evidently I was meant to know that they were coming, the three fillies seemed to believe that I was asleep and were trying not to wake me. I had been in that world for almost a week at that point and was dead on my hooves. I felt sickly and nauseous even when I wasn't casting the spell to move the sun. Over that week I had become more adept at casting the spell but even as I became more experienced in using it my body had become weaker and weaker from over exertion. I had quickly fallen into a regular routine, every morning I would help raise the sun, after that I would get a small bite to eat in the city then return to the shack to see the fillies and have a rest. In the evening I would return to the palace for the second casting before collapsing into bed at the palace bunk room. Morning and evening Rarity would without fail offer my her sympathies, sharing food and medicine with me to help keep me going and questioning me on why I had done what I had done.
"She should be here any minute, don't worry, Bloom," Silver Spoon whispered back. On the other side of the portal I couldn't stand the girl but here she was starting to grow on me. The three of them really did seem to care about my well being and it seemed to go above simple gratitude, like Rarity they had been growing increasingly worried about my failing health. As if on cue there came a loud knocking at the door and the three fillies jumped up. I shifted my head slightly to look at the door but couldn't find the energy to rise. I could just about make out Scootaloo pulling the door open and inviting a purple unicorn in a slightly bloody smock inside.
"Okay girls, where is the patient?" I flinched at the voice and examined the unicorn in closer detail while Scootaloo pointed her in my direction. It was you, Twilight. The unicorn was you. She was pretty much identical to you in every way except for the smock, a pair of glasses perched upon her nose and a distinct lack of wings. Also her cutie mark, instead of having your trademark star this Twilight had a pair of scissors. "Hey there," she said with a smile as she crouched down beside me. "I'm Twilight Sparkle and I'll be your doctor today."
I groaned in pain and (with a little encouragement from the girls) Twilight began looking me over. She pulled various tools (stethoscopes and the like) out of a hefty looking doctors bag and began checking my vitals as the girls watched in fear. Occasionally she would cast a small spell or make some quiet comment about me under her breathe but she never really spoke to me during her check up. After a little while I managed to muster enough energy to speak.
"Hey girls," I whispered, managing to get everyponys' attention. "Think you could go outside for a bit? Me and Twilight need to speak in private." They were reluctant to leave but with a little encouragement from Twilight the three scooted outside. Once they were presumably out of earshot I turned to Twilight. "You working for free or are they paying you?" I asked her.
"They... they paid me to come here," she admitted, tugging nervously on her mane. "I very rarely work entirely free of charge," she admitted sighing in disappointment.
"Then leave please, pack up your tools and go. The girls don't have enough bits to waste on paying for a doctor to look at me."
"I'd hardly call it a waste," Twilight perked up. "I'm not going to try and sugar coat this, you have one of the worst cases of magical exhaustion I have ever seen. If it wasn't for those girls I imagine you'd be casting your way into an early grave. As it stands though I think we caught this just in time, if we can see about getting you some medicine and limit your casting for the foreseeable future then we might be able to reverse the worst of the damage and you should be able to make a full recovery."
"No," I said causing Twilight's face to drop. "The girls can't afford it and I won't be around long enough for it to even matter," I coughed into my hoof and stared at my flank, then tugged at the cloak to show Twilight the brand. "Even if I was sticking around I wouldn't be able to stop casting, I'm obliged to." Her reaction was about the same as Rarity's had been. Evidently unicorns very rarely signed into contracts. Twilight clammed up at that point and seemed unsure what to say.
"Scissors are a pretty odd cutie mark for a doctor, Twilight," I said hoping to break the silence.
"I'm not... I'm not actually a doctor," Twilight mumbled forlornly. "I dropped out of medical school, I'm a barber." She nervously rubbed one hoof over her leg as she looked over her tools and smock. "I do a little bit of medicine and the occasional piece of surgery on the side, I don't charge much though so I get a fair bit of business from ponies who can't afford normal medical care."
"Earth ponies and pegasi."
"Yeah, mostly." She looked absolutely crushed and I felt a stab of guilt at having brought the matter up. "But I am trying to make a difference!" She shouted perking up a little. "Normal unicorn medicine has been stagnating over the past few years but I've been doing some independent research in my own free time! I've been tracking details, making studies... soon I should have a decent enough case put together to show the medical authorities and demand some proper change! Like this new disease cholera! I've been tracking cases and I think I might have managed to work out the transmission vector for-" I cut her off there. She seemed to have gotten back into good spirits but I really didn't want to hear about horrible life threatening diseases.
"Sounds good, Twilight. You do that, make the world a better place," I yawned and put my head back down on the floor, nestled among the ratty old blankets of the shack.
"Seriously though, let me do something. You really don't look too great." Before I could tell Twilight to leave me alone we were interrupted by a commotion at the door. There was a lot of shouting, some of which was recognizable as belonging to the fillies, before the door to the shack burst open in a rush of magic. Rarity came storming into the room with the three fillies trying desperately to stop her.
"I demand to see Sunset Shimmer!" she shouted as she entered. Twilight leaped up in surprise and moved to try and stop her but Rarity pushed past her and walked over to me. "Darling, you are coming with me. We are going to be getting you a proper bed and some good medical care. I will not be having you killing yourself under my supervision any longer!"
"I'm technically her doctor at the moment," Twilight mumbled nervously, clearly out of sorts before the more forceful unicorn.
"A proper doctor! Not some charlatan!" I know Rarity meant well but it hurt me to see the way Twilight deflated upon hearing her words. "Darling," Rarity smiled at me returning to a calmer volume and a more amiable tone. "I've been thinking things over and I have a few ideas, we can claim that you were forced to sign under duress, or that you weren't of sound mind! There are so many things we could try to get you out of this awful contract. Just come with me and everything will be alright."
"Can you actually help her, Miss?" Scootaloo asked her, no longer trying to stop Rarity from getting too close to me.
"I can't promise anything, but I am certainly willing to try." The fillies seemed to light up at that and even Twilight nodded in approval.
"No," I mumbled, surprising them all. "I keep trying to tell you, there's no point in wasting time trying to help me. I'll be gone soon anyway."
"No, absolutely not!" Rarity shouted.
"We care for ya, Sunset!" Applebloom chimed in.
"I can't say I know you as well as they seem to," Twilight continued, pointing at the other four. "But I for one don't want to see anypony just dying when they could be saved.
"Not dying...I'm just going. Going to be gone." I sighed, I hadn't bothered trying to explain the nature of my situation to any of them, it had felt like I'd be wasting effort. "Look you want to help?" They all nodded. "Then the two of you look after the three of them." I pointed from the two mares to the fillies, "and all of you... be better than this. Everypony seems to be out for themselves. Don't. Help others, be kind be charitable, bring back the old Equestria."
"Darling, while I appreciate the sentiment what are we meant to do about it? I'm a glorified secretary and she's a hairdresser."
"Barber..." Twilight muttered unpleasantly beneath her breath.
"Maybe you don't change anything, maybe you do fail. Doesn't mean you can't try." Rarity reached down to try and pat me on the back but quickly jumped backwards as a spark of magic leaped from my coat onto her hoof.
"Get back!" Twilight gasped, pushing the three fillies away from my body as more sparks began to form. "This isn't just magical exhaustion! This is magic instability! Her horn must have been damaged by whatever she's been doing to herself, if her magic goes out of control anything could happen!" I smiled to myself there, remembering how back when the portal had first appeared in Sombra's Equestria I had jumped to similar conclusions. "Stay where you are, Sunset, we'll get some professional help and be back for you soon, just... don't move!" Twilight ushered the others out of the room, the fear in here voice adding to her sense of urgency. I wondered if Twilight actually expected to be able to help me or if she was just trying to get everypony clear of the room in case I exploded, judging from the fact that she shut the door behind herself I guessed it was probably the latter. So it was that when the portal appeared to pluck my limp body from the floor I was entirely alone.
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It's weird to think there was a version of me out there who never really discovered magic...
Probably multiple versions of you. You weren't Celestia's student in the other worlds either, who knows what your talent was in them?
That's a scary thought.
I did have on question about that world for you actually, Twilight.
Oh?
In this world... Scootaloo is a pegasus right?
Yeah...
Thought so... Just wanted to check.