Void Trials

beep. beep. beep. beep.

The noise repeated, again and again, it tirelessly rehearsed itself. Shetland felt something soft and warm beneath her and the air smelled: not filled with lousy fumes, but the odor of grass and flowers. She opened her eyes, but immediately closed them again as the brightness stabbed into her pupils. She moved one leg to cover them and found it weirdly heavy, almost difficult to move. From somewhere, wherever she was, she heard a gasp, and then the quick staccato of hooves rushing somewhere.

Shetland tried opening her eyes again, just tiny slits, and waited until the light became bearable. She looked around. Everything was white: the walls, the ground, the bed she laid in, even the blanket covering her. For a moment she thought she lost the ability to see colors and could only perceive black and white, but as she turned her head and looked at her hoof, she saw her normal brown fur. She looked around further, but there were no other beds. On her left side however, stood a stand, it held a small bag which was connected to her left forehoof. Other cables on her chest were connected to a small device which displayed a small green line which regularly jumped up in beat with the beeping.

She tried to move her legs, but then a sharp pain ran through her right hind leg, Shetland gasped and the pace of the beeping quickened. Shetland took a deep breath as the pain subsided. She felt the urge to lift the cover and look at the injury, but she fought it down. She knew what happened. She swallowed, her throat was dry again. Her leg was burnt. Ciloa, dead. Saw, dead, Press, that earth pony, she couldn't recall his name.

Mellow.

She raised a hoof to her eyes, but she could not banish the look of him. her ears perked up, and she heard a crackle.

The door flew open, startling Shetland out of her thoughts. In the doorway stood the only person who Shetland could bear to see now, who looked at her with eyes just as water-filled as her own.

Twilight Sparkle rushed to Shetland, she wrapped her hooves around her limp, but living body, and both mother and daughter cried into each other's fur.