Gunsmoke

by Wanderer D

Chapter 20: Luna

"We need to figure out a way to find the diary," Twilight explained to Cadance as they watched the clerks load the latter's car with the purchased medical equipment.

Mirage had given Cadance more than enough cash to procure all she could have needed, including several IV bags, an IV stand, plenty of basic equipment, a couple of catheters, and even a basic medical bed and additional pillows.

Seeing a young girl in such a state was never easy, despite Cadance's courses and practice as an ER intern, and it was especially true when it involved someone she knew in person, even if peripherally. It didn't help either that Sunset happened to be a good, close friend of Twilight's—the first one she'd ever made, in fact—and it caused her additional pain to see her young charge so upset about it.

Then again, Lemon Zest had been comforting Twilight quite thoroughly, which was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise crummy day. How she had not seen that coming—well, to be fair, she had never expected Lemon Zest to be the one. Where had that even come from? And they were so cute together, sharing headphones, listening to music together, and leaning into each other! It was so adorable she could almost giggle despite it all.

Cadance cleared her throat. "It does appear to be an important part of this whole mess. Do you know how to do it?"

Twilight grimaced, and waited for the clerk to go back inside before responding. "Well, provided Mirage can help me out, I could create another detector... I'd just have to make sure it wasn't sucking the magic out of things so I don't end up almost destroying the world again..."

Lemon Zest hugged Twilight around the shoulders and Cadance almost giggled in glee. She wondered if Shiny knew. "Well, we know that won't happen, Twily, so would that be the only problem?"

Twilight gave them both a thankful smile but shook her head. "We don't even know if the book is still in this world. For all we know it could have ended up in GGO."

That gave the other two pause.

"How would we even find it if such a thing had happened?" Cadance whispered as the last of the equipment was put inside the car. "You can't use your device for other worlds, right?"

Twilight shook her head. "I have no idea. I imagine Mirage could do it, since she has all her powers, but only if we managed to somehow get her back there."

The trio boarded the Lexus and set off towards Sunset's apartment, and Cadance had to ask. "So, if we can't take Mirage back into GGO, what will happen to Sunset Shimmer?"

Twilight bit her lip before sighing heavily and answering, "She might remain in a coma forever, and Mirage is going to watch herself slowly grow old and die."

Silence followed Twilight's statement for a few minutes before Lemon Zest finally spoke up. "How does anyone even deal with that?"

"Hopefully we won't have to find out," Cadance said softly. "But we need to be supportive, whether we get the diary back or not, or Mirage back into Sunset's body, she's not going to have an easy time of it." She hesitated. "What's going on with my aunt and Sunset?"

"Um, she's her team's sniper..." Twilight said.

"Wait." Lemon Zest gasped, eyes widening. "Vice Principal Luna is Nightmare Moon?! No way! How come our teachers and staff aren't that cool?" She wilted under Cadance's glare. "Um, present company excluded?"

Cadance ignored her. "So you're saying that my aunt also has a gun-crazy avatar of death?" She sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Is auntie Celestia also in her team?"

"Um, no," Twilight said, tapping her fingers together. "I don't think she plays."

"Well, at least you're too smart to start playing violent video games," Cadance said, patting Twilight's shoulder thankfully. "I don't know what I would do if I found out you were into that sort of thing, shooting people for fun and such."

Lemon Zest snorted.

Cadance's frown deepened, but she kept her eyes on the road. "Why is that funny?"

"So," Twilight spoke up when Lemon Zest refused to answer, having chosen to put on her earphones and look out the window. "How long before we get back?"

"Twilight..."

"Are we there yet? I'm hungry, I think I could use a snack and then dive into the hard drives and look at all the amazing data..."

"Twilight, what are you not telling me?"

"Did you know alicorns get to live for thousands of years? I wonder how that translates to a human conversion?"

"Twilight!"

"...I'd have to figure out the exact frequency, but I imagine that I can cast a spell that will allow me to find the diary, provided it wasn't destroyed," Desert Mirage explained to Luna as they both sat side by side on the floor across from the bed, drinking a beer.

"Is that going to be difficult?"

"I don't think so, there's not much magic in this world and Twilight already detected inter-dimensional magic before with human technology. I'm sure that with some thought I can design a simple matrix to pin-point its location. Maybe even over a map."

Luna chuckled. "A magical GPS for your diary," she teased.

"Of sorts, yeah." Mirage smiled a bit sadly, locking her eyes on her body. "That is provided it wasn't destroyed." She sighed and leaned on Luna's shoulder. "If that happened, I'm not sure what's going to become of me."

Luna nodded and wrapped an arm around Mirage's shoulder. "I'm sure we'll figure something out," she said.

Mirage sighed. "You know, it's kind of ironic. For so many months I've kept to myself my real feelings... which I know is not healthy, but... I didn't have the heart to tell the girls that I was faking happiness... they weren't paying attention to what I wanted, but they were going out of their way to make me feel loved and respected. It ate at me that I could be so selfish despite their acceptance after all that happened." She tried to glare at her old body but she only managed to look hurt.

"I started playing GGO because I'm still ambitious," she continued. "I'm rash, and tough and proud. Arrogant even, at times. I don't want to be 'one more' anything. I want to be Sunset Shimmer. Or Desert Mirage. I want people to recognize that I have talent, that I have power and indomitable will... but that I have learned from my mistakes. That I can be me in all my glorious imperfection and still be better than I was. That I can shoot for the top, and be a good person." She held up a hand and bubbles made of light materialized around it drifting in an invisible breeze. "That my magic can create beauty. That my magic is not something I have to hide for fear of being seen again as a demon.

"And now, I'm in a different body. Similar enough, but independent for all intents and purposes. I could grab my money and gems, disintegrate my old body, walk out that door and become someone new with all those characteristics in the real world. Only four people would ever know what became of Sunset Shimmer." She chuckled. "And yet, as easy at that sounds, I can't help but look at my old body and think... 'it would be a lie. I would still be lying to everyone about who I am.'" She sighed. "I know I'm being stupid, Luna but—"

"You're not," Luna interrupted. "For the longest time, when I was younger I wanted to be someone else. My sister thought her popularity affected me... and it did, a little. Being a goth back a few years wasn't nearly as accepted as it is today."

Mirage gave her a look.

Luna smirked. "My point exactly. Imagine how bad it was back then. But—I changed. I did things I'm not proud of. Things that took a long time to get out of my system literally and metaphorically. After that, I was in a situation similar to yours. It lasted until about a year or two before you arrived here. I wanted so badly to be someone else so that people that knew me wouldn't look at me and see... the other me."

She drew Mirage closer. "I'm proud of what you've achieved, Sunset. I'm proud to see you be strong and not fall into despair like... like I would. I'm proud to see you in all your power, pride and glory and be the woman I fell in love with." She looked at the body in the bed. "You might be resting there, but the true you, the one I suspect will blossom when you're not afraid of being who you are... your soul is right here next to me. And I am proud to know such a beautiful, strong soul."

Mirage bit her lip and choked back a sob before looking up, ignoring her tears, and smiling at Luna, "Now I know you're just sweet-talking me. You already got the girl, why tease her?"

Luna chuckled and planted a kiss in Mirage's lips. "You're adorable when you're trying to be tough."

"Don't tell the others, I don't want to ruin my street rep." Mirage chuckled and used the back of her sleeve to clean her eyes.

Luna tapped her chin. "Speaking of your reputation, I'm going to have to think of a way to dodge questions about your school absence."

Mirage blinked. "I hadn't even thought of that."

"Well, it's important that we keep this quiet..." Luna muttered. "We don't want people to find out about this."

Mirage was about to say something else when she heard a ping. Incredulous, she raised her hand and swiped it down, eyes widening when a menu appeared. "What. The. Hay?"

Luna blinked. "What are you doing?"

"You can't see it?" Mirage asked.

"See what?"

"The menu... I can see my user menu." She grimaced. "But no log out option... can't you see it?"

Luna looked from Mirage's hand back to her and back to the hand. "Um. No."

Mirage shook her head. "I have an email from Surgeon... he's asking what happened. But how can I receive this? I'm not logged in!"

Luna moved back and frowned. "That's strange... but, I also recall that you disappeared before the announcement appeared about our victory, and your name was on the list, so the system didn't count you as unplugged at the time."

Mirage shook her head. "But... how?" She scrolled to another screen, and bit her lip, before confirming. As if she were in the middle of a science-fiction movie, a gun materialized in front of her.

Luna gasped. "What is that?"

"My reward from the battle..." Mirage said softly, a Mateba Model 6 Unica in her hands. "It's not the MVP drop, I think that would go to you, but the chances of getting it are astronomically low." Mirage smirked, hand flashing as she opened her menu again, and selected a skill. Several items materialized in front of her, and she set to work right in front of the amazed Luna.

With a few token motions, the Mateba's finish was a trio of shades of blue, going from midnight blue to aquamarine with a metallic sheen, and the handle now looked very similar to moonstone. Although Luna couldn't see what Mirage was doing, it was clear that she had summoned her keyboard, as she typed something very quickly.

"There," Mirage said, handing the gun to Luna, who took it in her hands carefully.

It felt completely real, although lighter than expected. "What did you do to it?"

"I upgraded it," Mirage said, smirk firmly in place. "Ultra-light material coating to make it more durable, still takes .357 magnum, but now it has an added effect with each shot, plus additional damage... I'm actually amazed all of this works in this world... oh, and I changed the color scheme to match its new name."

"What did you call it?"

"Luna."

Luna's smile could have lit the room, and she was just leaning in to thank Mirage more properly when they heard the front door open.

"We're back!" Cadance announced, pushing the door open with one hand, while she held a box on the other. "We're going to need help with the stuff downstairs... Mirage is the guest room clean?"

"Yeah," Mirage answered, emerging from her room, followed by Luna.

Cadance's eyebrow twitched. "Auntie, why are you holding a gun?"

Luna looked down at Luna and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, just admiring the—"

"Oh!" A voice came from behind Cadance, who stepped to the side to allow a box-carrying Twilight to step into the room. "Is that a .357 Mateba?!" she asked, unaware of Cadance's double-take or Lemon Zest snickering. "Was that the drop from your fight with Arachnid King? What are the odds of getting it? Can I hold it?"

Luna was already handling the gun to Twilight when Cadance stepped in between. "I am deeply disturbed by this callous gun-handling as it is, please don't give it to my student."

"But I know how to use them an—" Twilight trailed off at Cadance's glare. "...aaand I think that it's irresponsible to give someone a gun because they asked nicely?"

Luna shrugged. "I supposed it is indeed a bit misguided to randomly hand a young girl a gun." She gave it back to Mirage.

Mirage chuckled and put it away. "As much as I love them in-game we should really remember they're real here as far as we can tell."

Cadance leaned forward and looked at the two. "Wait. Have you both been drinking?"

"So the stuff the needs to be brought up," Mirage said with a smile. "Where is it?"

"In my car." Cadance gritted her teeth. "Bring the medical bed first, we need to put it together and then transfer Sunset into it." She took a breath. "And then drink some water, grab a notebook and pay attention to how to take care of your comatose body.

Mirage and Luna nodded, heading down to the car while Cadance directed Twilight and Lemon Zest to put the boxes on the table before sending them down to help bring more things inside while she checked on Sunset.

It took some time, but eventually they had assembled the bed, set up and dressed the mattress, and transferred Sunset's body into it.

After that, Cadance walked the whole group through the basic procedures to change an unconscious patient, how to perform range of motion movements to ensure her muscles would not atrophy, as well as explaining what every piece of equipment they bought was for, and how to use it.

"Now, most of this stuff is simple but requires a lot of practice and real training, but I'm not going to send you over to get a nurse assistant certification... for now."

"For now?" Mirage asked.

Cadance took a deep breath. "We're assuming the best outcome will happen soon," she said, looking at the group. "If this takes longer than planned and we can't take you to a hospital, then I will insist on you getting a certification. But for now, I'll be coming by frequently to check on you, so while you follow the instructions I'm giving you, I feel confident you'll be fine."

Mirage nodded soberly.

"Now, as I've emphasized over and over, we need to be very clean for doing any of these things or you risk getting a really bad infection," Cadance continued, "and since you're covered in oil, dirt, crystals fragments and gunpowder, I'm going to do everything—including the stuff you will be doing on your own—this first time. But there are a couple of things only I can do, and I don't want you to attempt it unless I'm here and I give you permission first, understood?"

Mirage nodded a lot more nervously.

Cadance sighed. "Okay. Girls, auntie... please get out of the room, I don't think Sunset wants you to see this."

Luna and the others nodded, walking out and closing the door behind them.

"W-what are we doing now?" Mirage stammered.

"Now I teach you how to insert an indwelling catheter into your body here." Cadance smiled. "And you will not like it."

Mirage gulped and followed Cadance to the bathroom. "Now, first of all, this is how you wash your hands. It's not the usual rinse and shake, so pay attention. And when you dry them, pat them down, don't scrub..."

The group looked up when a slightly green-looking Mirage stepped out of the room, followed by Cadance.

"Is everything alright?" Luna asked.

"Y-yeah," Mirage choked out. "It's good."

"Well, everything's set up, I've written down the change schedule for you, and now we can all go home and panic in peace," Cadance stated.

The others chuckled uncertainly.

"I'm not joking," Cadance said, giving them a flat look. "I'm going home, taking a shower, crawling into my bed and I'm going to have a meltdown."

"Well," Mirage spoke up. "For what it's worth... thank you, Cadance, I don't know what we would have done without you."

Cadance smiled and patted Mirage's shoulder. "We'll get you in your body soon, Mirage... stay strong."

Mirage nodded, pulling Cadance into a hug, before doing the same for Twilight and Zest. "Thank you girls. I have no words..."

"We'll be back tomorrow after classes to help," Twilight promised. "I still have my PC in the lab I used to work on the magic detection tech, so I'll start going through the data... I'll also fish out the notes for my magic detector so we can go over them together and see if we can use it."

"Sounds like a plan," Mirage said. "I'll be working on a spell matrix and taking care of... myself."

Cadance nodded. "Well, come on girls, I'll give you a ride home." She walked to the door with the two girls and looked over her shoulder. "I'll talk to you later, auntie."

Luna nodded waving as they closed the door behind them. She felt Mirage's hand wrap around her own the moment the door closed, and turned to look at her.

"Can you stay?" Mirage asked uncertainly.

Luna took in how she looked even more vulnerable than she had earlier that day, if possible. She couldn't help but nod. "I can." She smiled. "But I'll need to leave early to get home in time to change."

"Thank you," Mirage whispered, pulling Luna into a hug, which she quickly reciprocated.

"However there is something that must be done first," Luna said after a moment. "You need to take a shower. And I'll order some food. Korean?"

Mirage chuckled. "Sure."