Silence, a heart wrenching lack of noise only broken from the silent whimpers that escaped from Sunset Shimmer. The sudden transition from cold to warm was unexpected and shocking. She was too weak to move, too weak to speak or open her eyes, but she could roughly hear some sound that she had not been expecting to hear.

“Take a left on the next rode Big Mac.” Twilight ordered, hoping to get to her home as soon as possible. She looked to her frigid friend whose head laid upon her lap. She bit her lip in fear, They had to get her someplace warmer than this truck or her friend might be in trouble.

“I still don't understand why we can’t just take her to the hospital.” Rainbow chimed a little annoyed. She cared about her friends no doubt, but the fact that they were ignoring the obvious solution was starting to bother her.

“Rainbow Dash, it’s not that easy.” Twilight spoke softly looking at her rainbow haired friend.

“You all keep saying that” Rainbow yelled, obvious annoyance begin to rise in her tone. “But why not? That’s what they’re there for. To make people better and to take in the sick. We should just take her there and then they can handle everything.” She contoured. Rainbow was never one for trying to argue logic into a situation but this time, she felt it necessary.

“Let me ask you this Rainbow Dash” Applejack spoke from the front seat. “Who's going to pay for her?”

Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head thinking, she never really thought about the bill before. “Doesn’t she have insurance or something?” She responded.

“Darling, she’s from another world remember?” Rarity spoke, trying to keep a calm demeanor.

“Then we can pay for it, I mean how much could it be really?” Rainbow Dash replied, sounding just a little too cocky for the moment.

“A bed alone could cost anywhere from one to three thousand dollars.” Twilight spoke, staring at Sunset the whole time.

“WHAT!?” Rainbow was obviously shocked by this answer. “Just to be in one of their beds!? That’s ridiculous.”

“That’s doctors for you.” Applejack replied. Normally show would relish in the moment of seeing Rainbow Dash shocked by what she had heard. Rainbow Dash was used to going to the hospital for injuries from sporting events, but she always had insurance to cover her. Sunset however, was not even technically a legal citizen as far as they knew. She was from another world entirely, one filled with magic and talking horses. There was no way she would have the means to pay for a hospital trip let alone avoid questioning from officials. Applejack let out a sigh, sometimes being Sunset’s friend proved to be a little difficult.

“Right up ahead Big Mac, you can pull into the alley.” Twilight broke the silence again, pointing out a house the group was quickly approaching. It wasn’t anything too spectacular, a two floor home with an average size yard, a two car garage and a large oak tree growing in the back. Big Mac pulled the truck to the end of the alley and shifted to park.

“Nice place Twi.” Rainbow remarked, exiting the truck first. With her friends help, the gently lifted and passed Sunset into Rainbow’s arms, next to Applejack she was one of the stronger girls physically. Sunset would be no problem for her to carry.

The rest of the girls scurried out of the truck back into the unforgiving cold. They made their way quickly to the door of the home, letting Twilight go ahead to open the way for them. Applejack stayed towards the back and gave a quick wave to Big Mac, signaling that he could head off for now. The truck began to pull away just as Twilight finished unlocking the door.

“Alright, let’s get her into the spare bedroom.” Twilight suggested, dropping her school bag and helping Rainbow through the threshold of the door. The posse of girls scurried into the home, all trying to avoid the cold. As Twilight began guiding Rainbow Dash to the spare room she heard the scurrying sound of foot steps.

“BARK, BARK!!” A barking sound could be heard along with the tiny steps when suddenly, a purple dog slid in front of the group, baring it’s teeth letting out a low growl.

“Spike, it’s just us, calm down.” Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes after spotting her closest friend.

“Oh, sorry Twi, didn’t know you were going to have company over, just sorta kicked into guard dog mode.” Spike replied. If it wasn’t for one of the eventful meetings that Twilight had with one of her now closest friends it would have been weird to hear the dog talking back to her. But after having accepted that magic was real, it was something she had grown used to. She did however have to continue to hide this fact from her parents and brother. Just to be safe.

Spike looked at Rainbow Dash, still holding Sunset. “What happened to Sunset? Is she okay?” Panic began to form in the little dog’s voice. Twilight bent down and lifted her friend into her arms.

“Don’t worry Spike, Sunset should be fine after we let her get some rest.” She bit her lip and looked away for a moment, letting a single tear drip down her face. “I hope” She whispered to herself.

Twilight continued leading her friends through the house. They had been friends with Twilight for a little while now but had never actually been to her home before, weather it be because she was too nervous about them judging her or her being worried about what her parents might think, now was not the time to be thinking that. After a moment, they had reached a door that Twilight hesitated on. She drew a sharp breath and then opened the door.

The room was pretty plain, a large bed sat in the middle of the room with a nightstand next to it. Across from the bed sat a wooden desk. From the markings on it, it was clear that it was a worn piece of furniture that had seen plenty of use.

“This room used to belong to my brother before he got married. Now he lives the Dean Cadence.” She explained. “I’ve been a little hesitant about letting others into this room but this is a little bit of an emergency.” Using her free arm she motioned for Rainbow to bring Sunset into the room. Rainbow nodded and slowly walked into the room, followed shortly by Fluttershy.

“Here, let me help.” Fluttershy spoke, and short octave higher than normal. She reached down and pulled the sheets of the bed up to allow Rainbow to place Sunset in more comfortably. Right before she was placed into the bed, Fluttershy reached out and gently removed Sunset’s boots. Sleeping with those on would not be an easy or comfortable feat. With Sunset now gently tucked into the bed, the rest of the girls decided to head out of the room, lest they wake her and make the situation worse.

“Well at least now she can get a bit of rest.” Applejack spoke, stating her relief. “Do you really think she’ll be okay Twi?”

Twilight shook her head a little. “I wish I could be more sure about it, from what it looks like it might be moderate hypothermia.” The rest of her friends all visibly winced after her assumption. Hypothermia was not something you wanted to have, especially not moderate to severe hypothermia.

“Are you sure about that Darling?” Rarity spoke, hoping for some other type of response. Once again, Twilight shook her head.

“I need to find one of my old medical books, it might have some information in there on what to look for.”

“Well, get to looking then.” Rainbow chimed in, using her hand to tell her to get to looking. Twilight nodded before taking off to her room.

“Come on Spike, let’s get looking.” Twilight pet the head of her friend.

Some time passed before Twilight returned. Her friend had gotten somewhat comfortable waiting for her, sitting and discussing the issues that they had just gone through.

“This all could have been avoided if she had just told us.”Applejack was quite clear in her thought. “Why did she keep this from us, we could have helped her. Gotten her out of the cold. Given her a warm place to stay.”

“Yeah, and thrown her an awesome Getting out of the Cold party.” Pinky spoke up, her hair had frizzled down into much more controllable flat strands after finding Sunset. Only with the recent thought had some of the bounce come back.

“I don’t think a party is what she needs at the moment Darling.” Rarity interjected, biting her thumb nail as she spoke. A disgusting habit unfit for a lady but a coping mechanism she had picked up regardless. Fluttershy gently placed her hand on top of Rarity's, lowering it from her mouth.

“It’s okay Rarity, I’m sure Twilight will be able to figure something out.” Fluttershy spoke calmly. She had been used to working with animals at the animal shelter, and helping people with their pets, so she had quickly learned to keep a calm tone around people who were beginning to worry.

“Fluttershy’s right.” Rainbow said, resting her arms behind her head. “Twilight’s smart, I’m sure she has an idea on what to do. She’s probably got this all figured out already.” She cracked a small grin feeling confident in what she had said. The sound of footsteps breaking her from her relaxation.

“I just hope your confidence in me isn’t misplaced.” Twilight said, having just returned from her room. A large book resting in her hands. Spike accompanying her as they entered the room and sat down on the couch. Spike sitting on his friends lap.

“So whats up doc?” Rainbow said, hoping to defuse some of the tension in the air with a little bit of humor.

“Let’s just say, it might be a little while before Sunset is back up to her old self. And that we may have a few problems to worry about.”

Author's Note

So a short chapter this time. I did not have as much time to work on this as I had hoped with work being a bit of a pain right now. There is also the fact that several new story ideas have popped into my head that I also want to start working on. That being said I want to also keep working on this. There may be a few spelling or grammar mistakes since once again I don't really have anyone to proof read this when I finish.

Okay, enough talking about problems. This is a short chapter so I promise the next one will be longer and far more entertaining. I am not going to give and estimate this time on when I will have the chapter done since these upcoming months is subject to change. But expect to see a new chapter soon. As always please tell me what you think in the comments and thanks for sticking with the story for so long.