"Do you have this in a size medium?"
>You show the clerk the red, white and blue socks
>"Yeah, it's in the back of the store. It'll be a minute
>You have 4 minutes left before you have to start go back to the forest
>In your cart you already have some grip tape, some fishing lures, another toque, one that matches your hockey jersey, and some Energy chews
>You see the clerk come back to you, a pair of socks floating in front of her
>"Here you go Miss. Is that everything you needed?"
"Yes, I'm all finished"
>"If you want, I can check you out using the 10 or less line"
>She points to the line, which is significantly shorter than the other few
"That would be great!"
>You walk to the line behind the worker and put your stuff onto the scanner
>"Okay, that'll be 80 bits"
I don't know how much one bit is so I'll just use that number
>You use your magic to grab the amount of bits needed and give it to the cashier
>"Thank you for your service and hope to see you soon!"
>You give her a smile before walking out of the store, in the direction of the forest
>The sun is slowly making it's way past the horizon
>You figure you've been working long enough and decide to call it a day
>You walk to the lodge and open the door
>You see a letter from your boss
>"Maple, please lock up before you leave"
>You collect your bags from shopping and walk out the door, locking it behind you
>A mild trot and you are back at your cozy little house
>Work was especially tiring today
>Plus you really didn't see your sister today
>Which is usually one of your favorite parts of the day
>You had to spread nutrition all over the ground
>Usually Floret does that, but she had to leave early
>Something about her boyfriend
>You never were really into relationships like that
>Too much work
>You are sure when you are ready, the love of your life will find you
>You open your door and put the bag on the ground by the entrance
>Amber isn't home yet
>She always arrives about a half hour after you
>You walk into the kitchen and pull a beer out of the fridge
>You open it with a can opener and make your way to the couch in the living room
>The beer floats to the coffee table next to your favorite spot on the couch
>You jump onto the cushions and turn on the T.V, awaiting you sisters arrival
>You are watching your favorite show
>Breaking Babs
>"My name is ASAC Schrader"
>The burly, earth pony says laying on the ground, with a gun pointed to his head
>"And you can go fuck yourself"
>Before you can see what happens next, you hear a knock on the door
>Damn, it's just getting good too
>You get up from the couch and walk to the door
>You open the door
>It's not Amber...
>It's Rainbow Dash
>She looks really concerned
"Uh, Hey Rainbow. What's up?"
>"I got some bad news"
"Wh-what about?"
>She fails to look you in the eyes
>"It's about Amber"
>Your heart sinks to your stomach
"A-amber... What happened"
>"I'm not entirely sure yet...But Twilight told me to bring you to the hospital..."
"THE HOSPITAL?!?"
>It feels like you were hit by a bomb
>Your vision goes blurry
>Ringing in your ears
>You try to run, but you are frozen
>You feel like you are about to melt
>The heat inside you is rising
>The ringing in your ears gets louder
>Before you know it, you are sprinting as fast as you can towards the hospital
"Where is she! Where is Amber!"
>You are screaming at the top of your lungs
>Trying to figure out where your dear sister is
>That's when you see Twilight
"TWILIGHT WHERE IS SHE?!?"
>She looks up at you
>"She's in room 112, but you can't go in righ-"
>You don't even let her finish before you are running to the room
>106
>108
>110
>112
>Here!
>You open the door to see your sister laying in bed
>Not moving
>A nurse is standing over her
>"Excuse me miss, but you can't be in here"
>The sight takes your breath away
>You instantly collapse
>There are hoses running through her body
>She's hooked up to a bunch of machines
>She's just laying there
>Motionless
>You hear hooves come up from behind you
>Before you know it you are levitated off the ground and brought back into the waiting room
>You know what's going on
>You don't care
>All you care about is your sister
>And she's laying on a bed with tubes running through her
>You are set down on top of a chair next to a few of your friends
>You don't pay them any attention
>You are too busy trying to escape the aura to run back to room 112
>It's been what felt like an hour
>But in reality it's been about 6 minutes
>You were able to calm yourself down enough to be lucid
"Twilight *sniffle*...What happened?"
>You do your best to hold back anymore tears
>"Well. Celestia told me that there was an emergency. Your sister and her squad were on their was to San Palomino, when they were ambushed. They were able to control the situation and take down the targets...But there were two casualties and 4 wounded."
>You are horrified
>You feel as if you are in a dream
>No, a nightmare
>You wish Luna would just wake you up
>But she never does
>"Your sister took a bolt to her shoulder. Her back left to be exact. They were able to rush her back to Ponyville and get the wounded to a hospital"
"I-is she okay? She wasn't moving...She had tubes in her..."
>"She is fine, just resting now. Probably because of the medicines they gave her"
>You can't believe what you hear
>At least she's okay
"When can I see her"
>"They said visitors can see her in a few hours, probably when she wakes up"
"Then I'll wait"
>Her and your friends all agree to wait until here until you can see her
>But the wait feels unbearable
>You just want to go in and give her a huge hug
>But you know you can't
>So you just have to wait some more
>"Ms.Maple? Ms.Maple?"
>Your senses slowly come back to you
"Huh"
>You open your eyes and see the hospital's waiting room
>Suddenly you remember what's going on
>You look to the nurse that just woke you up
"How's Amber doing?!?"
>"Amber is doing quite fine actually. She has woken up and wants to see you"
>You jump up from your chair
>Looking behind you you realized you fell asleep on Twilights shoulder
>Everyone is still sleeping
>You follow the nurse to your sister's room
>She opens the door and lets you in
>"I'll let you two talk."
>She leaves the room as you look to your sister
>Now sitting up on the bed
>Most of the wires are now gonee
>"Hey Maple"
>You run up to her bedside and give her a huge hug
"Oh my gosh! I was so worried about you Amber!"
>She returns the hug
>But you can tell you're pretty much squeezing the life out of her
>"Hey, Maple? Can you please let me breath!"
>Her voice increasingly getting higher in pitch due to the lack of air
>You let go go her
"Oh, sorry..."
>You rub one of your front hooves against the other, in an embarrassed manner
>She just smiles at you
"So, how are you feeling?"
>She looks down to her back hip, where you see a giant gauze bandaid with some red showing through
>"Actually, not to bad. This is gonna make a wicked scar"
>You shake your head at her remark
>How can she be so light hearted at a time like this
>You look around the room and notice her Army jacket, hanging on the window sill
"I was so worried...Everyone was"
>"Yeah, but I'm fine. I just wanna know how my mares and stallions are doing"
>You figure she doesn't know the news yet
>About her squad
>You decide that it's best she doesn't know about it
>Not yet
>You know in the morning, she'll find out
>But you think it would be best if she was told by some of her fellow soldiers
>Not her sister
"Well, sorry for missing lunch with you today"
>"Oh yeah...What was that about?"
"I just got side tracked with work. Sorry..."
>"Nah, it's fine sis"
"Well, today isn't all bad"
>You try to lighten the mood a bit
>"What do you mean?"
"I went shopping today and bought some stuff for you"
>You can see her face lighten up with the news
>"Sick! What did you get?"
"I bought some energy chews, grip tape, for you know, our bats and sticks. Also I bought you some new baseball socks and fishing lures for that trip we have scheduled next weekend"
>"Baseball socks?!? Did you get the Elite ones?"
"Of course I got the Elite ones. Who do you think I am?"
>She chuckles
>"Thanks. I'm also really stoked about our fishing trip"
"Yeah, it should be fun. Oh and you owe me"
>She looks at you with a confused face
>"For what?"
"You interrupted me in the middle of Breaking Babs. Right at the part where Schrader i-"
>"SHHHH! Shut up! I'm not caught up yet!"
>The nurse walks back in and lets the other girls in as well
>Well, all except Fluttershy
>One of her little baby geese fell and got a "boo boo"
>She left a little while ago but said she'd be back soon
>After 10 minutes of small talk the nurse comes back and tells you that Amber needs her rest
>It was like 3 in the morning
>You all say your goodnights and walk out of the room
>"Wait, Maple?"
>You look back at her
>"Can you sleep in here tonight? Theres a couch over there"
>You smile at her question
>With a chuckle, you reply
"Sure"
>You make your way to the couch and levitate a blanket to you
>You already ok'd it with the nurse, so you're good to go
>You snuggle yourself into the couch and wrap the blanket around yourself
>You turn the lights off in the room and get ready to fall asleep
"Goodnight Amber"
>"Goodnight Maple"
>A few minutes go by before Amber starts to talk again
>"Do you know anything about my squad?"
>Twilights words echo in your mind
"I'm not really sure Amber...Sorry"
>You just lied to your sister
>You know what happened
>You know about the casualties
>But you lied to her
>And you feel like shit about it
>But you figure it was for the best
>She needs her rest
>"Oh...I'm sure I'll get an update tomorrow. Goodnight again, Maple. Love you"
"Love you too, Amber"
>And with that
>You fall into a deep sleep
>You wake up the next morning to the sound of commotion
>Nurses walking in and out of the room, taking blood samples and stuff
>You know, the works
>Amber sees you wake up
>"Morning Maple"
"Good morning"
>Right as you finish your exchange, a few Ponies, dressed in Military covers come in
>The nurses funnel out of the room
>"Excuse me Miss, could you please leave the room"
>You know what's about to happen
>"Uhh, Maple. Can you get me a cup of coffee from the cafeteria?"
"On it"
>You get up from the couch and walk out the door
>You hear her voice in the background
>"So, how are my ponies doing"
>You walk faster, trying to escape the conversation
>You can't bear hearing her break down
>And you know it's gonna happen
>You can comfort her after they leave
>Yeah, that's what you're gonna do
>You make a left around the corner, towards the cafeteria
>Oh shoot
>You have to tell Floret you can't come into work today
>You'll tell her after you make Amber's coffee
 
>The coffee pours out of the coffee maker and into the cup
>Now how does she take her coffee?
>You break open 7 packs of sugar and pour the avalanche of sweetness into the cup
>Followed by a shit ton of hazelnut creamer
>You then brew yourself some tea and walk to your sister's room