Author's Note

After seventeen days of rewriting and checking, it's finally here. Chapter 5. Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Painful Reunion

Sunset lay in her hospital bed as she looked out of the window. It was still the middle of the day, the Sun shining brightly in the sky. She looked down at her left wrist, now covered in bandages with an IV needle inserted into it.

The doctor had told her that she would be okay; the knife had only cut through her capillaries and wrist vein. The surgery had taken about three hours, after which Sunset had almost instantly fallen asleep, so deeply that a speeding train passing feet away from her wouldn’t wake her up.

The next day, seeing that Sunset was awake, her friends went to school after spending the night with their friend at the hospital. While her friends were at school, Sunset mostly remained in her bed, staring out the window and occasionally reading a magazine from the newsstand. She couldn’t concentrate on the magazine, however, as her thoughts constantly returned to what had happened the day before.

After school was over, the Rainboom came back to the hospital to visit Sunset. The six girls mainly spent time talking to her and helping her recover after the surgery.

Sunset had something else on her mind, however.

“I’ve never seen someone that terrified,” she said, looking out of the window. “It was as if he was staring at death itself.” Sunset turned to her friends. “I want to know what happened to him yesterday. It worries me.”

Her friends glanced at each other uncomfortably.

“Er… now that you mention it, Sunset… Lightning… didn’t come to school today,” Rainbow stammered as if each word was stuck in her throat and she was struggling to spit them out.

“What? But why?” Sunset asked in bewilderment.

“Ah’m not sure, exactly. But the teacher did say something about Lightning’s parents saying that he was in the hospital…,” Applejack trailed off, now wishing that she hadn’t said that.

Concern covered Sunset’s expression. “That can’t be good. He panics like he’s out of his mind, and then he’s in the hospital the next day? That doesn’t sound right.”

“But… what can we do about it, then? Can we do something about it?” Twilight asked.

Sunset began to think deeply. Just then, the doctor came in.

“Alright, Miss Shimmer, it looks like your blood vessels and skin are healing pretty well, just like you are doing right now. I think you’ll be good to go. The muscle in your arm will recover pretty soon, so don’t worry too much about not being able to move your arm. I recommend not doing any harsh activities, though; we wouldn’t want the wound to reopen or the muscle tissue being irreparably damaged,” said the doctor, looking at a piece of paper on a clipboard.

“Thank you, doctor… err…,” Sunset stammered.

“Veins. And don’t mention it,” Doctor Veins answered with a wink and a smile. He then stepped out of the room. As he did so, a nurse came in to remove the IV.

As the door closed, Sunset got up and changed into a clean set of clothes, which had been brought by her friends.

Just then, as she finished changing, a thought came to her mind.

“I should go back to his house,” she said with an air of finality, “alone.”

Her friends stared at her in silent surprise.

“Darling, are you sure that’s a good idea? We’ve all seen the state he was in,” said Rarity.

“I know. And he needs help. That’s why I’m going to his house.”

“I get that you’re trying to help Lightning, Sunset, but is there a reason to go alone?” Rainbow asked.

“Right now, he’s probably quite psychologically unstable. If we all barged into his house at once, he’d probably be overwhelmed. I think it’s better if I talked to him alone,” Sunset explained.

“Ah get that, sugarcube, but why does it have to be you? Why can’t it be me or Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash or… ya know, someone else?”

“Because I’m the one who’s responsible for this.” Sunset raised a hand before Applejack could object. “Listen, Applejack. I’m the one who misplaced the knife. Lightning tried to warn me, but the knife fell out before he could. Plus, the emotions he was going through? During that short moment when he held my wrist, AJ, I could feel his emotion turning from panic to a literal hellhole in seconds. Someone with a mind like that…,” she faltered. Then shook her head. And looked at the farmgirl.

“He needs help, AJ. He needs help from someone who can not only listen but empathize with what he’s going through,” Sunset said as she turned towards the door. “I’m going, no matter what. He needs our help and well… I promised that I’d be there for him.”

“Well, shoot. Guess I can’t argue with ya. Mind if we tagged along?” Applejack asked. When Sunset looked at her in confusion, she added, “We won’t barge into his house at once, mind ya, but we will come along just in case something goes wrong. How’s that sound?”

Sunset smiled, grateful for her friends. “I… can accept that, I guess.”

The bus ride to Lightning’s house from the hospital took longer than the EMS had taken yesterday. It had been forty minutes since the girls boarded the city bus, and it was still crawling through the busy Canterlot traffic.

All the while Sunset stared out the window, deep in her thoughts. Twilight gently nudged her.

Sunset looked at her. “Hm?”

“Are you alright, Sunset? You were frowning the whole time we’ve been on this bus,” she said.

“Yeah, just…,” Sunset let out a sigh. “I’m really worried about Lightning, you know? Goddess knows how he’s doing right now, and I’m afraid he might have done something… rather drastic while we were gone. It scares me.”

This created a heavy silence between the girls. Then Applejack reached out and put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

“Don’t ya worry none, sugarcube, ‘cause Ah’m sure he’ll pull through. It’s goin’ to be alright,” Applejack assured her, although she sounded unconvinced herself.

“Wish I could believe that, too, AJ,” Sunset replied, a concerned note in her voice.

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

Another twenty minutes later, and they were standing in front of Lightning’s apartment.

“Alright, we’ll wait here. If something happens, call out to us. We’ll get in there immediately. Got it?” Applejack asked as she and the others hung back in the hallway near the front door of Lightning’s house.

“Got it. And thanks a lot, girls, for doing this for me,” Sunset answered as she stood in front of the door.

“Don’t mention it, darling. You’re our friend, just like Lightning is. And this is what friends do. Now, go on, do what you need to do,” said Rarity.

“Okay, then. Here goes nothing.” She took in a deep breath, let it out, and knocked on the door. Three times.

No response came.

Sunset glanced at her friends, then knocked three more times. No response came.

Sunset tilted her head as she said, “Huh, that’s… unexpected.”

“So… what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked, clearly uncomfortable at the thought of having to wait for a long time in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Just as Sunset opened her mouth to respond, the elevator doors slid open, and a teenage boy stepped out. The boy, who was wearing a grey hoodie and looking down at the ground, looked up.

It was Lightning. He stared at the sight of his friends gathered in front of his house, not knowing how to react. The girls stared back at him as they took a good look at the state he was in.

Lightning Storm was a mess. The small bit of his light brown hair that was visible under the hoodie was frazzled and unkempt, while the dark bags under his eyes were much more pronounced. His eyes were red and puffy as if he had been crying. The usual sparkle that lighted his eyes was gone, replaced by a dull, empty gaze. Tear marks stained his pale grey cheeks.

They stared at each other like that for what seemed like an eternity until Lightning finally spoke.

“Why are you here?” His voice was devoid of the usual joy and happiness, carrying a slight edge in it instead. His expression showed nothing but fatigue and weariness.

Fluttershy spoke up. “We were worried about you, Lightning. You didn’t come to school today, and, well… after what happened yesterday, we wanted to see if you were alright.”

Lightning stayed silent for a moment, before saying, “I’m alright, thank you very much,” once again with an ire in his voice.

“Are you sure, sugarcube? Ya look quite terrible to me,” AJ asked, concern shimmering in her voice.

“I’m fine, AJ. Now, is there anything else that you girls want?” Lightning snapped, annoyance and frustration clearly showing.

After a bit of deliberation, Sunset spoke up. “Lightning, we… we need to talk about what happened yesterday.”

Lightning tensed up for a moment, and there was a flash of emotions in his eyes. He stared at Sunset, and she could see flames of fury dancing in the pupils of his eyes. Yet she could see something else as well, something deeper and stronger. “There’s nothing to talk about it,” he said as he turned towards the door.

Sunset grabbed him by his right wrist. Lightning jumped and tried to jerk away, but her grip was too strong. As he looked at Sunset, he saw her eyes shining with an intensity he had never seen before.

“Nothing? Nothing? You went through a mental breakdown yesterday, Lightning, and today you didn’t come to school with the pretense of ‘being in the hospital’ or something. You sat there in the corner of the kitchen, crying your eyes out for Goddess knows how long, and yet you say there’s nothing to say about it? Are you serious?” Sunset shouted at him while the others hung back. They had never seen Sunset be so angry at someone before.

Lightning jerked himself free from Sunset’s grip. “So what if I did?” he shot back. “What if I did have a mental breakdown in the middle of cooking? What if I did cry my eyes out, crouched in the middle of a puddle of blood? What does it have to do with you? What does it matter to you?”

“Because we’re your friends, Lightning. Friends just don’t turn away when one of their friends is in trouble. We’re always ready to help you, to be there for you when you need it. What part of it don’t you understand? Why do you keep rejecting our, no, my offer for help?” Sunset pleaded, a tinge of sadness now mixing into her tone.

“Because you wouldn’t understand, goddammit! Do you, do any of you understand what it’s like to be in my situation? No, you wouldn’t, because none of you ever experienced it. And as long as nobody understands what I’m going through, I won’t ask for help. This is my problem, not yours,” he spat as he opened the door.

Sunset opened her mouth to reply, to plead with him once more. However, she was cut short as someone slammed into him, surprising everyone except for the offender. Fluttershy let out a surprised yelp.

“Don’t you get it? We’re trying to help you, Lightning! We’re here to try to understand your situation. But no, you have to reject every single offer to lend you a helping hand. You just have to trap yourself up within your goddamn boundaries. So much, in fact, that you don’t even understand our efforts!” Rainbow shouted, holding him by the collar and pinning him against the wall.

“Rainbow! Back off, now!” Applejack shouted.

Lightning roughly shoved Rainbow Dash away, pointing an accusing finger at her as he shouted, “No, you don’t understand! You don’t know what I’m going through, Rainbow. You don’t know why I was in the hospital today. And certainly, none of you understand what had happened to me!” He glared at the girls standing in front of him, panting slightly. For a long moment, his face spoke of pure rage. After a minute or so, however, they could see something softening in his eyes.

He leaned against the wall as he said, “I… I tried, okay? I tried to tell people, to talk to others about what I was going through. Hell, I must’ve tried at least a dozen times. But… they didn’t listen. And the few who did? They never understood me. They never did.” He looked down again. “Come to think of it, I guess I never understood myself either. And maybe I’m still unable to. And this… all this… started because of her…,” Lightning trailed off. His eyes began to moisture. “Why? Why did she have to do it?” He whispered. “Even worse, why did I have to be the one to find her? Ever since that day I just wanted this to end… wanted this to be over….” As he spoke, Lightning finally gave in. He slid down the wall and onto the ground as he began to cry. Tears began to cascade down his cheeks while Lightning tried to wipe them away to no avail. He let out a shaky breath as he said, “B-but the pain… it doesn’t end…. It never ends. I tried to fight it away but I couldn’t. Why can’t it end? Why can’t it leave me alone?”

“Lightning…,” Sunset said as she approached him. She knelt and held him close. Lightning tensed up for a moment, then his whole body sagged. He leaned into Sunset and let his cries flow as he held on as if his life depended on her.

“I-I’m sick of it!” Lightning screamed between cries. “I’m t-tired of running f-from my past, yet I’m too s-scared to face it! I d-don’t know what t-to do, Sunset! I-I want th-this to just end, b-but I s-see no w-way out!” He shouted, crying harder than ever. Sunset just held him in her arms.

“Shh… shh…,” Sunset whispered as she soothed him, “it’s going to be alright, Lightning…. We’re here…. I’m here….”

She held him as Lightning continued to weep into her, his cries carrying the agony of a bereaved child.

They held onto each other like that for a long time as the Sun slowly lowered itself towards the horizon.