Medical Procedures

The moment Twilight walked into the Ponyville clinic, she was bombarded with the usual, morning paperwork; a bit more today than usual, but not a problem for her. It didn’t help much, though, that Dr. Stables was right there with forms asking her to sigh on a multitude of predictable spots. She was nearly forced to apologize to him and did her best to make her way passed the crowd and into the hall, only to head right for the dressing room.

Today wasn’t like any normal day at the clinic, partly because it was restock day when new shipments of medical equipment arrived, and many patients were finally able to go home after spending a month or so within the walls. Naturally, with the sudden loss came the inevitably gratuitous amounts of paperwork to fill out.

It fell to Twilight’s professional schedule to handle it. Of course, if Nurse Redheart was still around, it would be her job. However, that was still quite a ways away, so for the time being, Twilight wound up with one of the most painstaking assignments in the whole medical work field.

She quickly got dressed and ready for the tedious task in a matter of minutes, headed out wearing a smile across her face, and entered the lobby which was, by the way, quite filled with ponies, stallions and mares leaving the hospital after being completely healed. Some were a bit angrier than most thanks to the sudden storm of family members coming by to pick their loved ones up, but for the most part, it wasn’t too bad of a situation.

“Twilight,” Dr. Stables chanted from behind the counter. “Over here!”

“Coming!” She shifted through, bumping and excusing herself as she did, until finally reaching the front desk and greeting the steed that called her over.

“It’s about time, and pardon my impatience, but here’s the records. Simply sign and sort.” He lifted a hefty stack over and sat them down before her, but checked himself to make sure he wasn’t pressuring Twilight too much. “This is alright with you, correct?”

The unicorn giggled at him, magically lifted a quill up and got to work, showing him his actions were fine. “Honestly, you call this work?”

The doctor smirked. “I really need to give you a raise for this.” Soon, he stood to help another with walking along while saying, “Oh, right this way, ma’am. Please, mind your trot.”

Once he disappeared through the crowd, Twilight sighed and hastily weaved the utensil along parchment after well worded parchment as though it was nothing. In one folder some went, and into the second others glided. Only an hour later, she was a quarter of the way through. All the while, making sure everypony was well taken care of and found who they were looking for.

However, that was only the first stack, all being categorized alphabetically and rigorously attended to. Some took a second or third looking at while others required a glance before immediately being put away in their rightful placings.

She yawned as another folder was settled down again, looked up and saw Dr. Stables returning from the entryway, some sweat forming around his pores. As for the lobby, what was once an area chock full of patients exiting and entering the building had become a fairly empty room with only a few remaining and waiting for their ticket to go home.

The doctor huffed, but still kept a pleasant smile. He sat down and opened a folder Twilight had justly returned to its initial spot. “Very nice,” he complimented. “Everything looks to be in order, signed with efficiency, double checked and well arranged.”

Twilight looked over to the left to see the next stack sitting on the stallion’s side. She didn’t even have to say anything; all that was needed was a quaint look for Dr. Stables to pick up the hint. Lofting by and gently sitting down, this load looked twice as big, but that wasn’t a problem for Twilight. Even as the day went by, she still found enough time and energy to take care of Rainbow Dash’s abrupt but thankfully required needs.

No longer had Rainbow been pestering Twilight with her constant lust for the unicorn’s attention. It was mostly meal requests and a bandage replacement here and there. Even when patients passed by the front desk, Twilight paused what she was doing to wish them a good day, but then quickly got back to work.

About half way through the challenging day, Twilight finally began to notice her horn hurting from all that lifting, signing and sorting, enough to ask Dr. Stables for a lunchbreak. It came to no surprise he was willing to grant her a full hour, especially after taking care of business with such tolerance and perseverance. However, secretly inside, Twilight was much more overworked than she led on.

The minute Dr. Stables waved his hoof to let her go, Twilight stood and headed for the lounge hoping they’d have something better to eat than yesterday. Grounded oats with crusty flower petals was hardly to her liking. Luckily, with the fresh shipment that just came in, the food there was much more delectable, if only a tad bit without taste.

Soon enough, after Twilight had gotten her lunch and sat down in a fairly secluded table, some of the stallions and nurses gawking at her the way they always did, Dr. Stables wandered in and joined her. He did this partly to distract the others from annoying Twilight with their flirty glances, and to talk with Twilight considering it being one of the rare chances to do so.

“So... You know Rainbow will be fully healed by tomorrow, right?”

Twilight coughed a bit, stopped eating and took a quick sip of her drink before asking, “R-really? This soon? I thought that was still a ways off.”

He chuckled, then said, “Well, time goes by quickly when you’re working so hard... That’s another thing I’d enjoy chatting about.” Twilight tilted her head. “I mean, it’s great you’re so, very committed, but I think you deserve a day off...”

A smile spread suddenly upon Twilight’s muzzle as her opportunity finally showed itself before her. For a few days, she’d been reluctant to offer this very thing, a day off so Rarity could take her place. Though she knew her friend wouldn’t be up to it, Rarity would still be alright in doing so. It was only for a day, too. Nothing too strenuous, and certainly something somepony like Rarity could handle with ease.

“Actually,” Twilight began craftily. “I’ve got the perfect replacement... if you actually wanted to relieve me of duty for... not tomorrow, but how does the day after sound?”

Dr. Stables scratched his chin, thinking about it for a moment, but nodded. “I guess that’s appropriate... However, who might I ask would be filling in for you?”

Twilight gave a toothy grin, a bit giddy she’d be able to give Spike what he’d been wanting for weeks. “You recall the one that referred you to me?”

“Yes... I believe her name was Rarity.” Dr. Stables pondered her for a few seconds. “Her? Twilight, are you sure she’d be okay with this?”

“I don’t know,” the mare confessed. “I’ll have to discuss it with her, first. I’m sure, though, that she’ll have no problem with it.”

Twilight finished her meal on that note, stood up to check the clock and saw it only had fifteen minutes left. Just as she was bidding the doctor goodbye, he remembered there was something else he wished to tell her.

“Oh, Twilight!”

She turned back around. “Yes?”

“I uh... Umm...” He forgot, just like that. And him informing Twilight about Rainbow’s employment was on the tip of his tongue just then, too. “Well,” he blushed. “I’ll probably recall sometime later today.”

Twilight grinned, placed her tray away and walked out the door. Typically, the second she did, it clicked in his mind. “Oh, right! Rainbow... I’ll just tell her later today, I guess...”

Yet another bit of oat was chewed up while the medical physician wondered why he was so forgetful these days.

Meanwhile, Twilight chose to take the extra time she had to visit Rainbow Dash and congratulate her on it being her final day in the clinic. She knocked first, slowly walked in and saw her friend turning the page of her Daring Do book. Twilight wasn’t really shocked, and hoped she could tear Rainbow away long enough to say anything at all, but that wasn’t a problem.

Just as she walked in, Rainbow shifted her head away from the book, removed her hoof from behind her head and sat up smiling Twilight’s way. “Hey Twilight, what brings you here?”

The unicorn came close to look at the book, wanting to take her time. “Oh, you know. I heard tomorrow’s the last day for you...”

“You could say that,” Rainbow giggled smugly as if hiding something.

“How far into this are you?”

While Rainbow let Twilight hold in with her magic, the pegasus proudly said, “At the end; only one more chapter to go!”

Twilight simply hummed, “Mmmhmm...” As she returned the book, she couldn’t help but to be a little mean and jokingly ruin that feeling for her friend. “Too bad, though. After this one, you’ll have to wait another couple of months before the next one comes out.”

Rainbow’s eyebrow twitched while she still kept that smirk. “Another... month?”

“Who knows! Maybe even a year!”

A few seconds of awkward silence ticked by before Twilight finally laughed, “You should see the look on your face, Rainbow. It’s not gonna take that long!” As she placed a hoof around Rainbow’s shoulder, Twilight assured her friend, “You’ve already read the last book through the wait, so the next installment's only around the corner!”

Rainbow blushed, but still smiled. “know it all!”

Twilight giggled again. “Anyways, I just wanted to stop by and say happy last day with us. I’m sure you’re dying to get out of here and fly with the Wonderbolts again.” Rainbow frowned, something Twilight wasn’t expecting. “You... are going to be flying with them again, right?”

The pegasus huffed momentarily, looked out the window and explained, “No, actually... Don’t get all worried, though! I’m still in with the group. It’s just... They left for Las Pegasus about two or three days ago, and won’t be back for another month.”

Twilight lowered her head in an apologetic motion. “Oh, I’m so sorry about that...”

“Heh, don’t be. I’ve found something else to keep me preoccupied while they’re gone.” Rainbow looked at Twilight with a devilish grin. “It should keep me on my hooves for a good while...”

Twilight didn’t really think anything of it, but Rainbow was specifically talking about her. She never was that good at picking up signals, though. “Well,” Twilight said, pleased she didn’t have to worry much about what Rainbow would be doing when waiting for the Wonderbolts to get back. “If you need anything from me, just call.”

She winked and kindly waved goodbye. Watching Twilight exit the room, Rainbow slowly started returning to her book, yawned, and flipped another page.

Back at the front desk, Twilight resumed her diligent work on the stacks of paper, shifting through and bidding somepony leaving the facility, “Bye, have a nice day!”

Once the rather old looking patient left, Dr. Stables got back from his lunch, sat down with Twilight and asked, “Can I have a moment?”

“Shoot.”

“Well, it’s about Rainbow Dash.” Twilight didn’t really hear him, but told him to go on while she wasn’t listening.

“You have my attention, doctor,” Twilight said, when in truth, she was more absorbed with her job than anything and didn’t hear a single word he said or asked.

“Rainbow... will be working here starting the day after tomorrow, the day you're off.” Twilight nodded, and Dr. Stables asked, “You’re... okay with this?”

“Yep.” Twilight had absolutely no clue what the doctor was saying. “Sound’s fine.”

For all she knew, Dr. Stables was just making sure she hadn’t forgotten to look over the new forms he desperately needed signing. Not to mention, Twilight was already so tired from the work she’d done that morning, if one didn’t stop what she was doing then and there, they would've had better luck talking with a brick wall.

Nevertheless, it appeared as though Twilight understood even though she most certainly didn’t. “Well, that went over better than expected...” The doctor resumed his work with Twilight being completely oblivious towards what the doctor just explained.

Naturally, if he knew how undistracted Twilight was from her task, he would’ve made more of an effort to make sure she heard him, but with the mare appearing to understand, he brushed it off as though it were nothing. In all actuality, Twilight wouldn’t have minded knowing this little bit of information regarding Rainbow Dash and her new medical position in the least bit.