Reality is Magic

by ninjintonic

Scenario 2: The Hospital

The city of Humanehattan had mellowed down. Arriving at the hospital grounds, hastily made my way through the visiting rotating doors, and towards the reception desk.

"I am here to see Pinkie Pie, I am a very good friend of hers."

The receptionist had a mid-length, curly brown hair with glasses and a blue-colored scrubs working attire. She sat in front of the computer, rolling her eyes to input the lack of information I've provided for her in the system to appease what I stormed in here for. After ten minutes, I wasn't quite sure weather she was stalling, or just wasn't savvy enough to find Pinkie Pie's room number. When she finally concluded her side of the job, she slid herself to her credenza behind her, then obtained a one-page form that appeared to be a long list of requirements to fill out, and placed it in front of me.

"Ma'am, it's required by law to have visitors fill out this form prior to seeing a patient."

"I am a nurse who rounds on some nights, I need to see Pinkie Pie now." I trotted out my nursing license.

"Nurse Sunset, I can't give you the information due to privacy concerns, you're still considered a visitor. I must abide to rules and regulations."

I leaned against the front desk placing a palm to my face. Already stressed as is, why is this woman giving me a difficult time?

"Sunset?!"

I turned to the clamorous voice and saw Lyra Heartstrings. She scampered towards me with arms open for an invitation of a hug. I hugged her tightly and hearing her panting cry on my ear. As we let ourselves free, Lyra took my hand and scowled back at the receptionist leading us both to Pinkie Pie's hospital room.

"Don't worry miss, she's with me, her name is on that form that I filled out earlier. Obviously your job is more important than your patients' care."

The receptionist felt belittled and shyly sat back down in front of her computer to continue typing.

Lyra and I continued to walk through these long hallways, seeing one patient room to the next. Humane Hospital is huge, I worked here on some nights when they're needing an extra nurse on staff. A couple of nurses nodded my way with a smile due to their familiarity of my being here at some nights when I was needed, some even waved and blurt out my name.

"Right here Sunset..." Lyra had entered the room before me, and I dreadfully entered after. The bed curtains were half closed only showing Pinkie Pie's lower extremity covered in blanket. The hospital blinds were shut, the room was lit by a small hospital lamp and a TV left running, mounted on high wall. Nervously, I slowly approached closer by the bed for a better view of my poor friend. There she is, Lying unconscious, her face is badly bruised with scars that can perhaps heal in a month or two. Thank goodness the damage done to her wasn't that great where she had to end up with an oxygen, worse yet, to be in a state of coma. She had IV placed on her left arm, her breathing seems normal. I glared at the Vital Monitor observing the heart rhythm and the oxygen level, I sighed in relief. I sat down on one of the visitors chair right beside Pinkie Pie and smiled at Lyra in her frightened state, to assure her with comfort when she is standing right by Pinkie Pie's feet.

"Lyra, relax, she'll be okay."

"Really?" Lyra retorted.

"Yes, hun. She just needs to rest. Thank goodness the accident did not affect her brain, if it did, that would've been it.. Lyra, please sit down."

She approached close towards the other chair next to me and settled down.

"I... I don't know what happened. The police saw my name as the last person she contacted on her cell phone, I got a call from them and came here as soon as I heard."

I crossed my legs and placed my hand upon Lyra's and held it, "Honey, it doesn't matter what happened anymore, important thing is that you're here, I am here, making sure that she's okay. What Pinkie Pie needs right now are her friends. It's what Pinkie Pie always wanted."

Deep down, Me, Lyra and her working partner Vinyl Scratch are the only ones in her life. The others are too busy. I have attempted to call Twilight Sparkle, Apple Jack, Rarity, Flutter Shy, and Rainbow Dash. but have been unsuccessful. Though I did leave voicemails.

"Sun..Sunset, are you okay?"

"..Yeah, I am good. It's just... A lot has happened for the last couple of hours; Work, Trenderhoof being in my apartment, and now this."

Lyra looked at me with concern, "Sunset..."

I positioned my hand back on my lap, then observed Pinkie Pie and the Vital Monitor.

"I am going to the nurses station to get some information, I'll be back."

Lyra nodded with a little grin as I got up to my seat, and headed out the room to the nurse station. I've encountered Nurse Redheart, who always wore the nurse cap over her beautifully long red hair, waved at me with a smile. She appeared to be sitting behind the counter taking a break and eating her sandwich. I entered the station and pulled a chair next to her.

"Hey Nurse Redheart, sorry to trouble you while you're on break, but what exactly happened to Pinkie Pie?"

"I am not supposed to give you the details, but since you work here, I'll make an exception."

She put her half-eaten sandwich away in her brown paper bag, "Pinkie Pie did not get into a car accident, rather, she was involved in a hit and run as what I gathered from the police report."

Sunset was appalled by the information, "I guess it's too soon to ask who the suspect is..."

"HPD are on the case of a speeding vehicle that may appear to be of an SUV. When the incident happened, handful of nice people tried to help bring her to the nearest emergency room, but an ambulance arrived."

"Lyra and I came here as soon as we heard."

Nurse Redheart gazed at Sunset with arms folded with a cunningly grin and dangled one of her crossed legs.

"...Must be really nice to have someone to depend on... I don't have anyone to really rely on anyone's two feet to stand."

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel a warm friendship between you three."

"Yeah, so?"

"Mmm, nothing, it's just rare these days to see anybody so close as much as you three hanging on together as so. Which brings my nostalgic memory of when I was a teenager."

"Yeah... What are you getting at?"

"If weren't for you being here, how did you think Lyra would react to the situation? Furthermore, Looking at Pinkie Pie's medical history, she is quite a story. She was emancipated from..."

"Let me stop you right there." I interrupted.

"Due to HIPAA violation, you weren't supposed to go through all that."

"Sunset, what do you mean? I am just doing my job."

"You're literally went through her privacy information for your own curious gain, not because of your job."

"Sunset... I had to know. How else would I contact her parents for medical help if I didn't go through it? She's a baby at heart for crying out loud."

"Oh, you think Pinkie Pie can't handle her life on her own? Did you really need to read through her detailed history just to find her parents' contacts?"

I sighed heavily to prevent my built up of frustration, and stood up from the chair, "I am sorry, I didn't mean to. I am going to get some coffee and head back to the room."

I pushed the chair under the counter, and exited the nurse station.

Nurse Redheart said loudly, "Sunset, I am sorry too! Everything will be better in the mean time, I promise!" I understood what she's getting at, but I had no choice to ignore her and continued walking through the curved hallway to the main lobby.

The main lobby provided guests limited refreshments such as coffee with condiments, blueberry muffins, and crackers. I haven't eaten in two hours, so it's best to grab a bite or two. I grabbed a tray to place two coffees for Lyra and I, along with the condiments. I pulled a clear plastic to-go bag and grabbed four muffins with the tongs and placed it in the bag. I didn't have the appetite, but I need to gain momentum for myself to. I was holding a half full tray of two coffees on one hand, and a bag of muffins on the other while striving to advance to Pinkie Pie's room without a quiver.

Arriving at the patient room, Lyra helped me with the coffees and muffins, and settled them on the over bed trolley.

"How's she doing?"

"The same as you left here, she hasn't moved an inch."

Lyra gandered on the snacks that I brought and grinned at me, "Thanks, Sunset, you really didn't have to."

"I did have to. Since we're going to stay here for awhile, we can't stay on an empty stomach." I retorted.

As grabbing the bag of muffins, Lyra and I sat down, I took a muffin out with a napkin, and handed it to her. Lyra didn't have the appetite either. She held the muffin still and looked at it with blank expression. A moment of short silence filled between us while the TV was running in the background.

"What's wrong hun, I know it's not Sugar Cube Corner quality, but you're going to need it, so eat up. What I least want to expect next is you on the hospital bed right beside Pinkie Pie due to low blood pressure, lack of protein, and energy."

Lyra slowly and forcefully took a bite of the muffin, bit by bit, and finally eating it all. But the expression was still. She was just looking at a blank space, and a tear dropped from her eyes. Lyra is a sentimental girl, very sweet, sensitive but not vulnerable, and awfully strong-minded. Both her and Pinkie Pie had not adapt well in the adolescence stage, but at least for Pinkie Pie, she was knowledgeable on some level.

I put one of my arms around her, secured her in close, pecked her forehead and swayed her softly side to side.

"I know it's hard to see Pinkie Pie like this, but you have to be strong. Besides, I told you that she's going to be okay. She'll be awake tomorrow morning, but right now she needs to rest."

Lyra, in a low crackling voice, "Seeing her like this pains me. Truthfully, wished I was the one who took her place."

"Lyra, why do you think like that? Could it have been prevented? Maybe, but I sure do know that it happened for a reason. And we'll find out."

I didn't tell Lyra what really happened after having gathered some information from Nurse Redheart, a lot has been going through her mind. I didn't think it would matter anyhow, the important thing is that she heals well. I will find the suspect that hit Pinkie Pie, that person won't know what's coming.

A cute snore sounded coming from Lyra with her head still laying on my inner shoulder. Good thing the hospital chair can recline. I carefully moved her body into position of the chair, and slowly reclined it to extend both her legs. I took an extra pillow and blanket from the vacant bed beside Pinkie Pie, I placed the pillow behind Lyra's head, and laid the blanket on her. I looked at her and smiled in a low voice, "Goodnight, Lyra." I turned around to Pinkie Pie, "Goodnight Pinkie Pie, hope to hear from you tomorrow morning." I grabbed my coffee and a muffin for myself, left the patient room, and closed the door, but not completely, showing a fissure.

Exiting through the rotating doors of the hospital, I stopped for a moment and pulled out my cell phone from my purse to check the time: it's 1 am. But that wasn't the only thing that shocked me, I didn't realized I had twenty missed calls from Vinyl Scratch. I thought I had the phone on vibrate, clearly I didn't. A couple of voicemails were left, didn't bother to check, but instead, I gave her a call. She wasn't answering my phone calls either. As I heard running footsteps getting closer from a side alleyway of the hospital, and there appeared Vinyl Scratch striving to catch her breath.

"How is she?!" Vinyl Scratch asserted.

"Hey.. She's fine, you can relax, don't want you to hyperventilate. What she needs right now is rest."

"I was so late because I was in Hay Jersey for a stupid party that I had to do some DJ-ing." Vinyl Scratch's breath finally eased down, "I shouldn't have went, if I knew this was going to happen."

"Well Vinyl, you can still see her, but be a little quiet, she and Lyra are sleeping."

"Dully noted."

Vinyl Scratched hastily ran pass me and entered the rotating doors. Before I left to go home, I first observed closely from the outside of the hospital, through the glass rotating doors, Vinyl made her way to the reception desk. When stating her explanation to the receptionist, the receptionist pulled the one page policy form out to show Vinyl what she needed to complete. She clanged her own head on the reception desk. I chuckled faintly as remembering what I had to go through that same kind of predicament a couple of hours ago, except Lyra was there to pull me out of it.