Sunset's first hint that she wasn't dead was the pain. A deep searing pain, like her body was burning into ash. After she had a moment to adjust to her new and painful form of life, she heard her second proof of life. Voices, pounding through her through her skull and sending tremors of pain through her brain like drills. She groaned, trying to force a voice, any voice, to escape her parched throat. Her second attempt managed a few indecipherable words that sounded more like mumblings from a dying walrus that had washed ashore hours ago.

But she had met her objective with her third attempt; a simple harsh bark. The voices stopped and Sunset weakly flinched at the freezing touch of a gentle hand. The voice that spoke was soft, and gentle, and managed to cut through the void of darkness Sunset found herself trapped in. "I don't know what to really say. We already dressed the wounds, and we know they aren’t infected. But she is burning up and I can’t really do anything help with that here." Sunset thought on that. She shouldn't be burning up. After taking a mana refresher potion, and as long as you remember to take the counter potion, it should only hurt while it burns itself up.

A moment later and Sunset gasped, forcing herself up. More freezing hands closed on her chest, keeping her down as she tried to stand. She coughed, trying to speak. "Blech- Ble- BLUE! Fridge!"

There were several loud noises; heavy footsteps, clanging of glass, the obnoxious slamming of the fridge door, each one causing strained groans from Sunset. Then she felt someone grab her hand and placing a small cold plastic bottle in between her brittle fingers that weakly clutched around it. Her hands wobbled as she shakily brought the bottle towards her mouth, grimacing when she realized she needed someone’s, anyone’s, helpful hands to untwist the small plastic cap. Once the cap was off, she took a few small sips. The pain that until moments ago had been burning her to dust, quickly faded to a dull ache that, while forcing her to remain still, wasn't making her actively wish for death. Just passively.

With another groan to voice her displeasure at her continued existence, Sunset decided to experiment. She cracked her eyes open, facing the world as best she could. The light didn’t burn her sight like she had feared, instead, she found herself able to glance around her environment. She was right, this was in her humble home. She fought to move her damaged arm, but found it tied up and bandaged at her side. A stern voice spoke up. "Don't move your arm. I'm not sure how you managed to get shot, but you aren't moving that arm until you get to a hospital."

Sunset turned to face the speaker with a grunt. She looked over to find white skin of Nurse Redheart in a pair of khaki pants, with a bulging backpack over her plain black polo shirt., who held a hand over her arm while looking down at her with a stern look of disapproval. Sunset tried to force a witty one-liner about not expecting her here, or fake a mangled shocked gasp at the fact she was exposed without her mask. Instead, she struggled to shake her head and motion for water. Nurse Redheart sighed and nudged her head to the right, where Sunset found a disheveled and teary-eyed Trixie holding a glass of water and a cheap plastic straw. Trixie raised the cup and moved the straw in between Sunset’s lips, who then took a few hearty slurps of the cool water that soothed her ashy throat. "No hospitals,” she wheezed out, “they'll probably kill me."

Redheart rolled her eyes and forced a lighthearted chuckle. "A couple of teens have told me they’re scared of hospitals before, but hospitals purposely killing you? Come on Sunset, that’s ridiculous."

Sunset coughed, gesturing for a hand to sit up, which Redheart reluctantly gave. Once Sunset was sitting up she spoke again. "I’m not afraid of them, it’s just… I'm an alien with inhuman abilities. If the government ever saw an official report, it’d be a lengthy interrogation for dinner and a cold vivisection for dessert."

There was a scoff from behind her followed by some hushed muttering. Ignoring whoever was behind her, Sunset instead focused on Nurse Redheart and Trixie. "Thank you, both of you,” Sunset said with a much less raspy voice. “I know this has been really difficult for you guys, but, I need help with one more thing than you,” she pointed a feeble finger at Redheart, “can name your price and I’ll get some sleep. I need help to take a shower but before I do so, and this is very important, in the fridge is a yellow bottle with a white ‘x’ written on its orange cap. I need it.”

Redheart looked at Sunset's shoulder that was currently mummified in blood coated bandages. "That’s fine,” Redheart said with a sigh, “I’ll need to wash and wipe down the blood anyway, but we’ll need to get it covered before you shower.”

Sunset shook her head. "No, the wound will need to be cleaned after I drink the bottle, it’s going to be..” Sunset gazed off into the corner of the room, then winced as she thought about the previous night. “Rough.”

Redheart leveled a glare, but helped her regardless, carefully escorting the limping and exhausted Sunset towards the shower before letting her lean against the formerly spotless sink while Trixie left to find the potion. Sunset glumly turned to face the mirror and cringed when she saw her reflection. Gone was her light amber skin, instead, it was clammy and gray that made her look like a raccoon when she noticed the large dark bags underneath her eyes. Large portions of hair were matted down with dried sweat and grimy blood while other portions made normal bedhead look pristine. Gripping the side of the countertop, she bit her lip sending a small shockwave of pain across her body as she struggled to stand still. C’mon Sunset, this ain’t the first time Death came to your Gaia, and you know it won’t be the last.

Sunset glanced at the reflection at Redheart, who was watching her with a frown as she leaned against the doorframe. She opened her mouth for a moment, then closed it when Trixie called out from behind the duo. “Trixie apologizes for the delay, your fridge is improperly sorted for haste.” She handed the bottle to Redheart who quickly shooed her out of the bathroom.

"Fair warning Nurse,” Sunset turned and grabbed the uncorked bottle from Redheart, “you know how you’re constantly denying magic?” Redheart nodded as Sunset held the lid against her lips. “Well, now you’re about to get a front row seat.” With a smirk, she tilted the back and slugged down her post-run potion.

Sunset’s stomach dropped as the potion began to take effect; at the beginning, it was only damp spots that started appearing across her clothes that started to sag lower and lower down her body as dust, bile, and whatever else she rolled in the previous night began mixing with the blood and sweat. She instinctively gagged at the rancid mixture of blood, sweat, and vomit had permeated across bathroom as it filled her nostrils and mouth. As if I could any more gross, right? She clenched her eyes shut taking a deep breath in then exhaling it through her nose. “I’m allowed to shower now, right?”

Nurse Redheart cringed at the nauseating sight of her patient. “Well,” she hesitated, pinching her nose and shaking her head, “normally I’d have you wait until I covered your bandage, but my normal patients don’t make dumpster divers seem clean. You need my help with this or are you good?” Sunset shrugged. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few moments, I need to get some things first then we can begin.” Redheart opened the door and left.

With her one good arm, Sunset rolled the bottom of her t-shirt? Sunset blinked. What happened to my hoodie? Sliding the strapless t-shirt up her body, she grimaced as she slowly maneuvered around her bad shoulder before slipping out of it and dropping it into her sink. She slid her fingers between the loose elastic waistband of the pajamas she only just realized she was wearing when someone knocked on the bathroom door, a few seconds later Redheart stepped in holding a bucket filled with warm water and a large soft sponge. “Figured you wouldn’t want me to just randomly open the door with Trixie still here.” Sunset nodded and pulled the pajamas and underwear down to her ankles. "I promise, I hate this even more than you do.”

Redheart carefully led Sunset into her shower and helped her sit on her knees underneath the nozzle. Redheart un-tied the grimy bandages and set them to the side. Sunset glanced to it, seeing her own wound for the first time. It was stitched shut, but a line of blue string about an inch long was sitting softly in her shoulder, betraying the severity of the wound by the simple use of heavy duty stitches. Redheart spoke up when she noticed Sunset's stare. "All things considered, you were fairly lucky.” Redheart wrung the sponge and gently pressed down on the top of Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset briefly glanced down to the entry wound of where she had been shot. “The bullet managed to slide in the narrow gap between your the clavicle and scapula while also avoiding the main arteries and muscles surrounding them before completely exited your body. It wasn’t a clean exit, so you did manage to lose a lot of blood, and I also had to pick out a few splinters that where etched inside, but when it comes down to it, just bed rest and plenty of water is all you need at this point. And since Trixie is here, I’m going to assume they came from your run, Flanksy."

Sunset watched with morbid fascination as Redheart would routinely load the sponge up with water, then gently apply pressure along the wound as streams of pink water slid down her body and pooled around her knees before draining the sponge behind her and dipping it back into the bucket. "Yeah,” she winced as the sponge was applied directly on of the wound. “I may have had a few more hobbies than I led you to believe."

"More than a few, it seems." The two sat in silence in the bathroom; Sunset would occasionally wince and groan when the sponge touched her skin where the bullet left while Redheart would dunk, wipe, rinse, wring, and repeat, occasionally pausing to fully examine the wound before making her way down to her lower back. Eventually, she stopped and leaned back, letting Sunset know she needed to turn around. “When I discovered a vigilante patching herself up in my apartment, I can’t say I expected it to be one of my students. And no offense, let alone one I truly hated at the time.”

Sunset cringed. "Yeah, I had to deal with the fact I was an awful person somehow."

Redheart’s and Sunset’s eyes momentarily met as the sponge gently started cleaning the front. "I only accepted you that evening because you were still helping out the students even if you were torturing them during throughout each day.” Her voice never rose, or changed pitch, she didn’t talk faster or slower, she was just calm. Steady. Detached. "Care to explain?"

Sunset sighed. "The truth is, when I came across the portal it wasn’t because I couldn’t be a princess, or because I wasn’t given a pair of wings. It was a job. Though, I may have implied differently when I left. My mo-” Sunset paused, feeling the sponge slowly scoop up a drop of some unknown substance on her back. “The Princess was getting protective and blocking my path. I said some things I regret, and left. But the point is, I was hunting something from my side of the portal that fed of anger and flourished in spite-filled environments. I couldn’t leave the portal alone so I figured that I had to find away to stay nearby, and lure them here.” Sunset winced as some water dropped through her stitches. Each drop it made down her wound was liquid fire, until Redheart tapped it with the sponge. Sunset let out a deep breath. "I spent my first three years living on the streets learning everything I could about anything and everything. Eventually, I got lucky. I secured this place and enrolled in Canterlot High.”

Redheart motioned for Sunset to stand and began to wipe down her legs. "But, that doesn't answer my question."

Sunset sighed. "I- Like I said, I couldn’t leave the portal alone so I had to draw them to Canterlot. Once I could ID them, I’d simply take them out and start trying to figure out how to sneak home. But the only thing I knew that I could use as bait was the school, and even with the underground contacts I had built up over the years, the only things I had to use as a lure was pain and heartache. It just so happens Canterlot High was perfect for it."

Redheart moved from Sunset's upper-legs to her around her ankles and feet. The nurse had managed to avoid any private areas for which Sunset was very grateful and glad she could keep some measure of dignity. "Based off what you’re saying, I’d assume you were hunting the sirens, you know, like the girl currently asleep on the couch in your living room."

Sunset nodded. "You're not wrong, but Sonata... When it came down to it, she was remorseful, she wanted to change. Be better than what she was born to become." Sunset managed a tired smile. "And if I didn't help her, it would mean I never truly changed."

Redheart nodded, handing the sponge to Sunset who quickly snatched it up and began scrubbing her face, before turning around and cleaned her chest and other areas with as much dignity as possible. “That’s fair,” Redheart said as she began going through the medicine cabinet. “But, what would you have done if you had found the sirens earlier? Would one still be sleeping soundly on your couch?”

Sunset froze, scrambling to think up any plausible lie. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it. The blood on her chest stared up at Sunset, mocking her. Be better, she thought to herself remembering all the times Nurse Redheart had patched her up or saved her life- the only person Sunset could truly trust on this side of the portal. “I… I probably would have taken care of them the same way that I’ve done all my other jobs with monsters who’ve fed on so many lives. You don’t play games with magical creatures, Redheart, you put them down as hard as you can and as fast you can.."

Redheart scoffed behind her. "And how much blood did those three really get to feed from? The only thing they could do was make a high school turn on itself. That’s not exactly mythic levels of magic and skill."

Sunset finished by scrubbing the dried blood and gunk out of her hair, which took longer than any other portion she had been able to do. "In the one year they wreaked havoc in Equestria, the sirens redesigned an entire coastal front, snuffing out eight cities of various sizes leaving only ash and dust that blew away in a simple breeze. It took a team of the greatest warriors of their time to hold them down while the greatest spellcaster barely managed to transport them away.” Once Sunset was satisfied with her hair, she turned to face Redheart, who held a pill bottle in one of her hands. "At that time, populations for towns and cities weren’t well tracked so numbers vary like they always do in history. But it was somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand."

Nurse Redheart froze. "That many?" Sunset nodded, dumping the water left inside the bucket along the bottom of the shower. Redheart forced a cough into the back of her hand. "Yes, well, now I have more reason to question your sanity for letting her stay here." She watched Sunset in silence as she went and grabbed a towel from her closet. “Here,” she said while taking the towel and wrapping it around her patient, “But I do think you’re doing the right thing. A year ago, I’d have been terrified if I had discovered you were taking someone under your wing, but now? Now I think you may just be able to help her out. And you should be proud of that.”

Sunset nodded, "Yeah, well, lets see if it sticks." She paused for a minute, letting her thoughts materialize before speaking. "And could I ask for one more favor?" Nurse Redheart nodded, making Sunset smile. "Could you call Celestia and ask her for a quick favor?"

Nurse Redheart nodded. "Of course, but we have one very important thing to talk about first." Sunset raised an eyebrow until Redheart raised four prescription medicine bottles in her hand. "Why do you have hospital-grade antibiotics in your medicine cabinet?"

Author's Note

Thanks to Blue Horizon for editing, and all of you loyal readers who wander in and comment, you're all beautiful in your own way. And remember this, you too will die, so stay humble, and spit in the face of God and become immortal.

Edited by kitkataddel posted 2/16/19