Sunset Shimmer enjoyed the privacy of this waiting room at night; it was quiet, relaxing even. And gave her plenty of time to place some phone calls, calling in some favours… and letting the proper people know just what the fuck had happened. She sighed faintly as she stared at her phone, scowling at her reflection in the black screen.

“Fuckin’ cowards,” she growled to herself, feeling herself shake as she replayed the fight again.

‘Who tries to murder someone in a mugging anyway?’

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before flicking her phone on, selecting most of her contact list with a swipe of a thumb. This was not going to be fun. She was fairly sure what most of them would do, but even then… few of her friends that she knew of could actually get here, and others would try, but… Well, at least Spitfire was handling Soarin’s group of friends.

“Code Red.” Send.

Closing her eyes, the red-gold haired girl leaned back against the beige waiting room walls. Images from the fight danced in mind’s eyes. The glitter of the man’s knife, the flashing cop-car lights, the shattered, blood-streaked face of her friend… Sunset’s nails dug into the cloth of the chair’s armrests.

“Fuck me, I should have… damnit, talked with her more,” she muttered,
smacking her thigh in frustration, “What was I thinking, letting her-”

Buzzzz. The vibration of the phone caused it, and her own body, to jump a bit, and she frantically scrubbed at her eyes so she could see the screen. A familiar, blue-haired hair grinned up at her- Vinyl’s notification. A relieved grin broke Sunset’s melancholy for a moment as she hit the answer tab.

“Hey girl, talk to me,” Vinyl spoke instantly, sounding more serious than Sunset had ever remembered her being.

The Code Red alert was not to be taken lightly, they had all agreed on that.

“H-hey Vinyl,” Sunset replied weakly,rubbing her eyes again as she struggled to collect herself, “There was… I mean, S-soarin’ and Twilight Sparkle, fuck… c-can you come to Lenox Hill Hospital? Soarin’ and Twilight are both really hurt, and-”

“No problem, Sunny, me and Octy will be there soon as we can. Heh, we’re kind of in Newark though, so gimme a bit, okay?. YO OCTY! Get your stuff, we gotta go! Sun-” Click.

Sunset could not help but grin to herself, shaking her head. Newark? Must be a last-minute gig again. Vinyl and Octavia’s music had gotten really popular the last few years, and shows had come along more and more often. But that unfortunately meant that it would be an hour or three before she saw them, depending on the crowds in the subway. Sunset was not too surprised that the others had not contacted her yet. It was late, and they all had their own lives and schooling to deal with.

Leaning back against the wall again, Sunset struggled to keep her eyes open, but it was a losing battle. She was so fucking tired… and tomorrow was sure to be busy. All she wanted to do was march back to her apartment and sleep for a day and a half. ...but she owed it to her friend to stay strong.

“Rainbow Dash, no! Stop and think, please! You need to wait!” Sunset all but shouted into the phone, ignoring the glare from the nurse’s station.

“What do you mean, wait?” Rainbow snapped back, a perceptible growl to her voice, “My friend is in the hospital, and I am coming up there!”

‘Deep breath, Sunset, you can do this.’

“Rainbow, listen, you just got that scholarship, right? You know how finicky sports scholarships are. And I know you, Dash. If you come up here, you won’t leave her side, and if you miss so many days…”

There was silence on the other end of the line for several seconds, followed by a quiet sniffle. Sunset rubbed her eyes softly, trying her hardest to master her own tears. It was the first call that morning to end like this.

“I know you care about her,” Sunset went on in a gentler tone, “But if you toss aside your dreams for her, you know Twilight will blame herself even more. You know how she is… I… I’m gonna be with her, once Cadence and Shining Armor get here to sign off on letting me in to see her.”

“W-what should I do then?!”

“The minute she gets a new phone, I’ll give you the number and you can call her, or Skype her. And come up here- when you safely can. Okay?”

Sunset held her breath at the ensuing silence, and only let it out when Dash gave a quiet agreement, and ended the call. Sunset could trust Dash to keep her word, as with the rest of her friends. She tossed the phone back into her bag, wincing at the twinge of pain that shot up her arm. That was the last of the people on her message list to get back in touch with her, thankfully. She groaned quietly, holding her head in her hands- the last of the adrenaline had faded from her system, leaving her sore and strained. A headache was beginning to form behind her eyes, and Sunset would kill for a chance to smoke.

“Sunset!”

A small, blue-haired girl slammed into Sunset’s chest as she turned; she sighed in relief, clutching Vinyl Scratch tight. The young woman had not changed out of her DJ outfit- tight white leather pants and a blue crop top, covered by a white leather jacket, with a pink treble clef on her left shoulder.

“You okay, girl?” Vinyl asked quietly, frowning up at her worriedly, “You’re shaking…”

Sunset snorted and chuckled weakly, shaking her head, “I’ll be alright. It’s just been… a rough few hours.”

“I can imagine.” Octavia smiled softly as she walked over, joining the hug as she pressed into Sunset’s side.

Octavia was in her own clubbing outfit- a short black dress matched with black boots, with a set of blue bridged eight notes on the side of each. And wearing her ever present pink bow tie, of course. The little incongruity with her appearance always got a grin out of Sunset. Octavia brushed back a length of her charcoal, waist length hair from her eyes, then bit her lip nervously.

“How is she?”

Sunset let out a breath, “They wouldn’t tell me much, just that she’s stable and they don’t think her life is… i-is in danger. H-her brother has to get here before they’ll tell me anything else.”

Both her friends winced in unison; Octavia squeezed Sunset’s arm gently.

“Come on,” she told her gently, “Let’s get you home, you need some rest, I’m thinking.”

Sunset gulped, nodding after a moment’s thought. Sleep likely wouldn’t come easily, but she was exhausted. Octavia smiled in reply and took her hand, tugging her along, while Vinyl took up the rear with a quiet, amused chuckle.

Octavia led them out to the street and hailed a cab, while Sunset peered around her adopted home sheepishly, trying to think. Just needed to get back to the building, see if the manager will let her check on Spike… She rubbed at her eyes, smiling weakly into her palm.

‘Heh, well. ...maybe I do need a nap.’

“Poor thing.”

Octavia smiled down at Sunset gently once they had her tucked into the bed; she had all but passed out on the cab ride home. Thankfully she and Vinyl were stronger than they looked, and had managed to get her in the elevator and up to their room. Vinyl had it in good with the building manager, and a quick explanation of the details got a very quick, supervised visit of Twilight’s apartment to pick up her restless, worried dog, who was now snuggled all up against Sunset’s stomach. Thankfully the older Italian woman had remembered seeing Twilight and Sunset hanging out a few times in the building’s lobby, and had not questioned things too harshly.

Vinyl sighed softly from her spot, leaning against the doorframe, “Yeah… seein’ someone you like gettin’ hurt is no small thing. Two people… heh, I’m impressed though. Our Sunset won a knife-fight! That is badass, Tavi.”

“I think Sunset has a lot of skills that would surprise us, love,” Octavia teased, chuckling quietly.

And it was true. When Sunset had first moved to New York, Vinyl had been elated to find out that Sunset was learning to work on motorcycles- she had just gotten a sports bike, and having a friend that could keep it in tip-top condition… well, it had been a unique bonding experience for all of them.

Vinyl let out a breath, “I uh, I’ll get something going for lunch. I’ll put in my headphones.”
At Octavia’s nod, she turned to go, but hesitated.

“Hey uh… maybe we should take Sunny out. Not, y’know, tonight, but… to that little pizzeria on Lafeyette Street sometime.”

Octavia blinked at Vinyl in surprise- and then beamed at her girlfriend in admiration, hurrying to give her a firm hug. Vinyl’s usual suggestion for cheering up tended to run the gambit between “that dance club dive” or “that big-ass party by the piers.” Progress!

“I think that’d be lovely, hun.”