Book one of "Who We Become".
Sunset always knew that she was destined for greatness, but she never dreamed of how great she could become. Not until she had seen it - the mirror had shown her as an alicorn. Ignoring Celestia's warnings, Sunset goes l...
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Being a child was not without its advantages. No one expected Sunset would know what she was supposed to be doing while they were at the hospital, so they gave her very clear instructions. When she was clearly hesitant to follow them, they interpreted that as basic childlike fear, rather than genuine distrust of their intentions. They patiently explained what every tool did, which helped calm her nerves. At least it seemed that everybody genuinely wanted to help her.
Everybody – that was one of their words. It was amazing that both worlds used the same language, but they did have differences. That was another advantage of her age. She wasn't expected to participate in conversation outside of answering a few questions, so she could focus on listening to them talk to one another. She hadn't yet heard them say what they called their species, but she was rapidly learning more about them.
That too helped put her mind to rest, if only by giving her something else to focus on. While they came in just as many colors as ponies, they lacked any other obvious differences. Well, they did come in different sizes, but none of them had wings or horns, to be sure. Of course, there was the possibility that something aside from the obvious was being concealed under the clothes that everyone seemed to wear, but nothing too distinct insofar as Sunset could tell. Initially, she thought that she noticed two distinct variations, based on general form differences and prominent growths on the chests of some of them, but soon enough she realized she was just noticing the differences in adult males and females.
It was good she had so much to focus on, because there were certainly plenty of things that caused her to panic. The devices they used were like nothing Sunset had ever seen. The worst one had been something they called an MRI, where she had to lie down in a tube and remain still, while all the while there was a constant pounding noise. It had triggered another wave of anxiety, but afterwards the doctor showed her a picture the machine had made of her brain. Losing herself for a moment in wonderment, she had called it magic. The doctor laughed and said it was only science, and Sunset kept all her other comments to herself.
In between tests, Blue Stripe and Swift Star, the officers who had brought her to the hospital, took pictures of her to conduct a search for her parents. Then they left, taking her saddlebag with them. Sunset had protested but it didn't do her any good. They said they'd use it to try and identify her in their search, and promised they'd get her home soon. In the end, she had to let it go. It wasn't like she actually needed any of the things in it, but it would have been comforting to have something of her own.
Meanwhile, the doctors decided there was nothing physically wrong with her, so she moved on to a psych evaluation. She had planned for that. They brought her into a room with a female doctor, then left the two of them to talk.
"Hello, my name's Diamond Facet," the doctor said. She motioned towards a chair across from her desk. "Please, take a seat."
Sunset did as she was instructed, but remained quiet.
