In the Days That Followed

by shallow15

At the End of the Day

Rarity let out a cry of exertion and finally allowed herself to slide back down the track. Tough Love grinned.

“Nice work! Another set of ten and you'll be done for the day.”

“Another set?” Rarity turned her head and glared at her therapist with one eye. “I bare my soul to you, share one of my deepest secrets, and you force me into another set?! You, sir, are a cad and a charlatan and... and... oh, damn!”

“I knew you'd run dry eventually,” Tough Love teased. “Ten more, let's go!”

“Just you wait until our next session. I'll show you who's run dry.” Rarity returned to looking up the incline of the exercise machine and flexed her arms once more. As she continued running through her exercises, she suddenly felt something she hadn't in a while. A distinct pressure and a familiar tingling sensation was building in her abdomen. Rarity's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She slid back down to the bottom of the ramp.

“Don't give up!” said Tough Love. “Three more to go!”

“Um, I need to stop.” Rarity said.

“Oh come on! I know you can do it!”

“It's not that! I... need to use the facilities!”

Tough Love blinked, noticing the urgency in Rarity's voice. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes!” Rarity practically shrieked. Tough Love took the hint and quickly got Rarity off the machine and into her chair. He wheeled her to the rest room and held the door open as Rarity wheeled herself in.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, I can get myself situated, thank you.”

Tough Love closed the door, allowing Rarity her privacy. “I want to test something. When you're done, don't get off. I'll be right back.”

“All right.”

Tough Love went to one of the examination rooms and opened a drawer. He withdrew a small instrument consisting of a handle and a wheel surrounded by small spikes. He rummaged through another drawer and found a plastic protector the instrument would fit in.

He went back to the restroom and knocked on the door. “Everything okay in there?”

“Yes, I've finished, thank you,” Rarity answered.

“Okay, I'm going to open the door slightly and slide something to you. Don't freak out when you see it.”

Tough Love opened the door and slid the instrument, secure in the protector, across the floor. He let the door close and stood up. “Can you reach it?”

“Yes, it's right here by my foot.” There was a grunt of exertion, then: “I have it. I... WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS?!”

Tough Love sighed. “I told you not to freak out. It's called a Wartenburg wheel. It's used to determine nerve activity. What I want you to do is run it over your legs and... other areas. Do it lightly, don't press while you do. Those spikes are sharp. Since you felt your bladder reacting, we want to figure out if you can feel anything else below your waist. Okay?”

“All right. Just a minute.”

Tough Love waited and smiled when he heard an “Ow. Ow. Owowowowowowowowow!” coming from behind the door. The “ows” died down and he called again.

“You all right in there?”

“Yes, I'm fine.”

“Okay, get yourself situated and come out. We'll talk then.”

After a few minutes, as Rarity got herself back in her chair and washed her hands, she rolled back out, handing the Wartenburg wheel to Tough Love.

“All right, I was able to feel it on my abdomen, my thighs and my... intimate areas,” she reported. “I could feel it a bit on my knees, but not very well. Nothing below there.”

She looked up at the therapist, hope in her eyes. “Does this mean...?”

“I'm not sure, and I don't want to get your hopes up if this is only temporary,” Tough Love said, coming down to Rarity's level. “Because the injury you suffered was more to your brain than your spine, it's kind of unpredictable. This might be permanent, or it might go away after a couple of days. So, be smart about this, okay? No taking unnecessary risks. We'll keep an eye on it over the next few days and if you can still feel down to your knees after that, we might be able to start working with braces.”

Rarity smiled, tears of joy forming in the corners of her eyes. She leaned forward and hugged Tough Love. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Tough Love smiled. “Okay, since that's a pretty good reason, we'll skip the rest of the set and go straight to the massage. I want to see what's happening on your back side.”

Rarity said nothing. She just nodded and made a happy squeak of hope.

---

Tempest Shadow watched as the SUV pulled into the driveway of the nice suburban home belonging to the Rarity girl who had entered the Chance to Prance contest. She had been watching the house ever since the local schools had let out for the day. She had expected to see her quarry soon afterward, but she had been waiting for a couple of hours. Then, a woman Tempest assumed was Rarity's mother had come out of the house and drove off in the SUV.

Now the vehicle had returned. The woman opened the back of the SUV and much to Tempest's surprise, pulled out and set up a wheelchair. She rolled it over to the passenger side and opened the door. Tempest pulled out her phone, turned on the camera and zoomed in on the driveway. She hit the “record” icon and watched as the woman helped a white teenage girl with flowing purple hair into the chair.

Tempest frowned. The girl, Rarity, was definitely one of the horse-eared girls from both the music video and the security footage, but there were no horse ears in evidence now. The fact she was in a wheelchair indicated something had happened to her between now and the incident at the mall.

“Note to self,” the agent said aloud so it would be recorded. “Check hospital records for paralysis cases admitted in the past week.”

Mother and daughter entered the house through the garage and disappeared from sight. Tempest stopped recording and considered. Rarity had clearly suffered a major injury, which probably meant physical therapy at the least. Which would explain her delayed return home.

Once again, Tempest didn't notice her hand rising up to rub the scar around her eye as she thought. As much as she wanted to interview the girl now, something told her it would be a bad idea at this point. A parent who had a recently injured child was a parent who wouldn't have any qualms about throwing her out if said child became upset.

Better to talk to the girl when she was away from home.

Tempest waited another half hour before deciding that the family was home for the night. She started the engine and drove off. She made her way back toward her hotel. As she made her way through the streets, she thought of something and began scanning the buildings. She found what she was looking for and pulled up to the curb.

She got out of the car and walked back down the block to the coffee shop she had spotted. She glanced at the name etched on the door.

Sugarcube Corner. Cute.

She opened the door and was nearly bowled over by a pink blur that shot out of the open door. Tempest regained her balance and was nearly knocked over again by two other blurs of blue and orange. As she tried

“I told you givin' her espresso was a bad idea! But noooo, you just had to make a contest out of it!” A voice with a pronounced drawl yelled. Another voice, harsher and more high pitched, responded.

“Like you weren't right there chugging it down with us!”

The argument dopplered away. Tempest blinked, then shook her head and straightened her jacket. She stepped into the shop and walked up to the counter. She was placing her order when she felt movement behind her and heard the bell on the door ring. She turned to see who had left and caught a glimpse of red hair. She frowned in thought.

“Here you are, dear!” said the proprietor of the coffee shop. Tempest turned to find her coffee waiting for her. She paid for the drink and left the store. She looked around outside and saw several redheads walking away from the store. Her frown returned and she returned to her car, lost in thought.

---

Sunset Shimmer entered her apartment and threw herself on the couch. She yawned. She'd never been a morning person and going in early for the meeting with Celestia and Luna had wiped her out. She had thought about getting a coffee at Sugarcube Corner, but Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack's espresso drinking contest had cured that.

She yawned again. She debated on taking a nap now versus how much it would affect her sleep later. She rolled onto her back and glanced up at the journal half-laying on the end table. She reached up, grabbed it, and opened it. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and pondered the blank page. She frowned as she considered whether or not to let Princess Twilight know what was going on.

After a moment, she sat up and closed the journal. Twilight had her hands – er, hooves– full with the upcoming Festival of Friendship, and Sunset didn't want to worry her unnecessarily. She put the book back on the end table and laid down on her back.

She stared at the bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and yawned again. She let her mind begin to drift. It had been a hard week for all of them, but they had come together. There were challenges and problems, but they would overcome them. There were more troubles coming, but much like the meeting with Firecracker Burst's parents, Sunset was confident that with the love and support from her friends, they'd be able to protect themselves from Tempest Shadow and her STORM overlords.

Sunset's eyes closed and soon she was fast asleep, a small smile forming on her face. Whatever happened, they would face it together.

---

A spark of magic, dark blue in color, floated across the rooftops of the suburbs. It had been floating for a while without landing anywhere in particular. It passed over houses and streets before floating up and over the domed roof of Canterlot High. It weaved around the clock tower and dropped behind the building near the faculty lot.

It zipped through the lot and the chain link fence surrounding it before disappearing into the woods behind the school. After a moment, there was another flash of blue from deep within the trees.

Followed by an ominous growling, and the sound of something large and muscular moving through the forest.

Author's Note:

And here we are at the end of the second act of this tale. Admittedly, this wound up being shorter than I thought it would, and has quite a few dangling threads, but considering I thought this story was originally going to be a bunch of unconnected vignettes, I think it turned out pretty well.

As for what happens next... well, you're going to have to wait for the final installment of what I've come to term "The Repercussions Trilogy." I have a couple of other stories to tell that have waited long enough.

First off, I need to finish A Is For.... It's been far too long since I worked on that, and people are wanting to know what happens next.

I also have a promise to keep to readers of Sunset Sexytimes, now that the contest it was written for is over. I'll need something light as a palate cleanser after all the drama in this story and A Is For...

I also want "Consequences," the third volume of this trilogy, to be the best it can. As such, I'm taking my time plotting it out and I have a few bonus elements in store for everyone as well when it becomes time to release it. But that will happen in a few months.

So, once "A Is For..." is done and I've fulfilled my promise on "Sunset Sexytimes," what is going to happen between then and "Consequences?"

Tell me... do you like the circus?

Comments

[NebulaNyx]

Cant wait for the next one. This gon be good.

[ArcanaMaverick7]

Oh man, what's going to happen next?!

[The Crazed Werewolf]

This story was awesome.

[Aweirdassguy]

Quick question; do they still have their geodes with them, like on the their person, in case they end up needing them but just take them off so they don’t feel tempted to use magic, or do they’d just leave them at home and just pretend they just completely don’t exist.

[DullDragon2070]

It looks like Rarity may possibly getting some feeling back into her lower body, and is one step closer to recovering... hopefully.

Man, there were a couple of close calls where Tempest almost came face to face with some of the girls. Finally, a little good luck comes there way. How long it lasts... we’ll just have to see.

And once again, rogue magic has created something dangerous. Which means the girls will have to step in and take care of it sooner than they would have liked. And with Tempest close by... as the saying goes: “Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.”

So, we’ve finally reached the end of the story. It was pretty good. A lot of emotional ups and downs. But, in the end, the girls’ friendships remain strong. Which is good, because with things to come, they are going to need each other, more than ever before.

Another great story! I’ll be watching for the next one!

[p61blkwidow]

great story as always, so glad that i am following.the wait makes the next part even more exciting.

[Machine]

I can wait but my other alliance HUMMER is a bit what you humans called it impatient. Don't ask me! Ask him if you dare.

[Hummer]

That's because I am the Humans' Ultimate Military Machine Explore Robot. HUMMER for short.

[CapNTilfy]

Holy crap, I just realized that was the last chapter of this series. Wow.

Can't wait to see how this trilogy ends! ^_^

[Dream of Ponies]

This was a good story. It delved nicely into Sunsets guilt, the consequences of uncontained magic and the role of good friends in your life. I look forward very excitedly to the next installment of this trilogy! Keep up the great work!
:sunsetsmile: (This needs to be an emote)

[DragonxFlutter]

I have finished this story. And I will not lie, it got me tearing up a little during the more emotional chapters.

I have nothing really to add to the story itself, as many have probably said anything I could have said. What I will say, however, is that it was confirmed for me that this is not the end of the tale. I feel like something as big as if not bigger than Repercussions is on the horizon, and that this was just an intermediary story to help bring things back down and tie up the loose ends of Book One. In essence, we could consider this as Book One-point-Five; considering all the setup it does for Book Two.

And that snippet of a sneak peak to an unrelated project at the end? I'm excited.

8873148
Well. They actually have proper characterization for these two in canon. Color me surprised. In that case, we have only two potential side stories: Rarity and Tough Love fluff, and VP Luna's past. As I said before, it is up to the author to decide if these stories are to be told; as I get the impression that Repercussions, this, and the third entry are meant to be a self-contained trilogy and nothing more. But the idea is interesting to me. I've wanted to know VP Luna's version of her story for so long. And after this particular story, it'd be even more interesting to compare and contrast various interpretations.

But again, that's all if the author wills it to be.

[Noctis Prism]

Loving this and so eager for kore!

[Csquared08]

Oh man, this was phenomenal. The last story was good, yes. Good action, good plot development, and so on. But you really outdid yourself with character development here. And at the end of the day, it's character development and interaction that drew me to the show in the first place.

[lazyreader19]

Oh thank God this story is so memorable!

Wanted to start consequences finally, but I hadnt read this story since it was first completed. Thankfully reading the last chapter of Repurcussions jolted my memory of that story, and then the first and last chapters of this.

Not that rereading all of it would be the worst thing, but I'm not a huge fan of re-reading for some odd reason. XP

Wanted to comment that, and say I look forward to getting invested in Consequences!

[Person_For_Sale]

9991860
I was saying it jokingly. I've already finished reading it and I love it :)

[Teraunce]

Darn it this is too good to put down!