Medical Procedures

Awake earlier in the day than what Rainbow was used to, she arrived at the front entrance to meet Rarity, but only to go over their plans, and so Rainbow’s mane could be done up correctly.

“We’ll simply have to take today’s time after your work to meddle around with this,” Rarity said while twirling a loose strand back in place. “I honestly can not be coming here everyday just to fix up your hair when we both know you could be doing it yourself.”

“Mmhmm,” Rainbow said, muffling her voice. She was actually far too concerned with the book than anything else, reading its contents while Rarity tended to her mane.

“What… do you have there? Some sort of book, or…?”

Rainbow showed Rarity what she held, and said, “Pinkie gave it to me. At least, I think it was Pinkie… I’m still confused… on… that…” Rainbow’s attention just kept on being distracted by the book.

Every word she spoke was derailed from where it was originally going, and though Rainbow was trying hard to focus on Twilight more so than what she was reading, Rarity did her best to instruct Rainbow in the right direction.

“Listen, Rainbow,” Rarity said.

“I’m listening,” Rainbow muttered.

With a roll of the eyes, the unicorn resumed. “When confronted by Twilight, you’ll want to behave natural, as though you’re supposed to be there. A good idea is to make it seem as though Twilight should’ve known you’d be in today.”

Rainbow gave a sideways glance and asked, “But, why?”

“Because,” Rarity said, walking forward to peak around the corner, then returned to Rainbow. “No doubt, Dr. Stables informed Twilight about your employment. But, you’d think she would’ve congratulated you by now, or gave the slightest inclination of all that happening recently, correct? I’m betting she was so busy, she didn’t really hear him, and thus, will be rather shocked to see you of all ponies working there.”

Rainbow nodded. “And that way, she’ll maybe be looking at me more, caught off guard…”

“Correct!” Rarity double checked Rainbow briefly, making sure her mane was perfectly done right, lest it became unraveled while she worked. “Hmm… I suppose that will have to do. You should hurry along now, dear.”

Rainbow closed the book and breathed in. “Right! And, thanks again for all your help, Rarity. Means a whole lot to me.”

The unicorn smirked with closed eyes. “D’aww, no problem! What’re friends for, after all?”

After observing Rainbow enter the clinic, Rarity trotted along back home. Along her way, she could see the library tree house’s door opening, and Spike wishing Twilight a good workday. Meanwhile, back at the Ponyville Clinic, Rainbow got dressed, and did the first of many exercises instructed within the book’s pages, which just so happened to be wing-ups.

However, there were several other points it made that Rainbow had never known about, like stretching them as far as they would go, and keeping them open apart for a good five minutes rather than letting them relax.

According to the technical training manual, this kept them twice as tense far after the minor morning warm-up was finished and done with. Hints after useful tips were genuinely coated throughout the whole entirety of the book, every chapter being something new and mind bogglingly helpful in not only routine practice, but specifically for those who might’ve broken a wing or two within the last month. It was almost as if…

But no, Rainbow told herself she wouldn’t dwindle on such unimportant bits and pieces of the Pinkie Pie phenomenon. With what she could gather from it, an investigation didn’t sound too good of an idea at all, either. Rainbow soon accepted the fact that she’d just need to focus on two things. Training for the Wonderbolts, and Twilight.

Speak of the devil, right then and there, while Rainbow sat in her seat fully attired and somewhat distracted by her readings, Twilight came in through the front door. Even though she didn’t yet know Rainbow would be working there, the unicorn just kept walking on by as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, oblivious to who she just greeted. Soon enough, though, she stopped right before rounding the corner and walked backwards. Staring blankly at her friend, she asked, “... Rainbow?”

She looked over. “Yeah?” For a minute or two, they both just stayed where they were, gawking at one another. Twilight wondered if she was in some sort of dream while Rainbow held back her giggles as best she could. “Is there something wrong, Twilight?”

“Err…” Twilight looked around for Dr. Stables. “What… are you doing here?”

Rainbow blinked, acting like she hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was going on. “I’m… working? Didn’t one of the superiors tell you about this the other day?”

Twilight became slightly animated. “I didn’t receive any such word about you working here, like, at all… What will you be doing exactly?”

Raising a hoof to count, Rainbow said, “Being your assistant, locking up after hours, greeting customers, so on and so forth.”

Twilight’s ears rose at the first. “My assistant? For a week? Where’s Dr. Stables? I’ve gotta talk to him about this and get it from the horse’s mouth.”

Just then, guess who arrived at the scene. “Whose mouth?” Dr. Stables asked, coming from the hallway.”

Twilight looked his way while appearing slightly annoyed. “May I please talk to you in your office privately?”

He quickly looked from Twilight to Rainbow, and nodded once coming back to Twilight. “Uh, sure. I don’t see any harm in it.”

While they left Rainbow alone in the front, she simply kept reading, every once in a while inspecting her wings with a slightly surprised expression. Within Dr. Stables little medical sanctuary, Twilight glanced around the room, taking in all the familiarities that hung on the wall, or sat on his desk.

Things like mementos from earlier starting points within the medical work field and degrees decorated the back of the room behind his table, and upon that, some metals for outstanding breakthroughs. Not to say he was a miracle worker, but he definitely was astute with what he chose to do for a living.

Along the sides of the room, book shelves stacked with knowledgeable inquiries all relating to medical research stood stacked, side by side in alphabetical order. Not the usual kind some might find in libraries; these told no tales, all were for the benefit of improving one’s skills with taking good care of a patient, or even performing extensive surgery.

While Twilight skimmed through the various titles, she asked Dr. Stables, “What’s the big deal with hiring Rainbow Dash?”

He became instantly confused. “Eh… What?”

“Furthermore, why wasn’t I informed about her being my assistant?”

For the life of him, Dr. Stables couldn’t figure out where Twilight’s peculiar attitude was coming from. “I told you about all this just recently, before your day off. Weren’t you listening?” Twilight squinted her eyes, trying to remember. “We sat right out there, you were filing, and I relayed the news. You seemed to be utterly tolerable towards the notion. You mean.. you’re against it?”

She shook her head, looking around the room, and said, ”Not really… It’s just, you know how much time I’ve spent with her. It should be obvious Rainbow’s under the spell by now. It all seems suspicious to me.”

The doctor chuckled, “You actually think Rainbow’s plotting something? Come now. Don’t be silly. She knows good and well about the clothes, and that unicorns can’t possibly be affected by them.” He put his hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “If she’s planning anything, it’s to help you with the work I’ve been providing.”

Twilight averted her eyes even more, and said, “But, she’ll only be here a week more, like me. What’s the point?”

Dr Stables smiled again, but not as if he was happy. More like he’d been found out of being responsible for some sort of childish prank. “Well, there’s another matter I had hoped would wait until the end of the day.”

Twilight looked him in the eyes, curious as to what he was getting at. “Yes?”

He gulp, then revealed, “I was hoping to hire you officially. And, by that, I mean full time.”

Twilight squinted her eyes even more. “What about Nurse Redheart?”

“Oh, she’ll be working here as well, but I’ve found your expertise to be enormously valuable. Never have I been so organized, and felt sated with the way things are kept around here in all my years as a medical professional.” He came closed to ask, “So, what this boils down to is… Twilight, would you be willing to resume working with us instead of ending it in a few days the way we planned?”

The mare shuffled her hooves, thought hard and long about it, but with so little time, there was no way she’d have an answer right then and there. “I’ll need some time, you see.”

“Oh,” Dr. Stables stuttered. “Of course. Take all day. I don’t mean to overwhelm you, but I’d just gotten word from Nurse Redheart. She seems to like the idea of working with someone of your stature quite a bit…”

Twilight looked back up. “You mean, you’ve told her about me?”

“Indeed I have,” the stallion admitted openly. “How could I not? You’re hardly ever left out of my letters, with the way you keep things controlled, make sure others are happy, mingling, associating… You’re almost always the spotlight of my conversations with her.”

Twilight didn’t want to show it, but she was every bit flattered by this detailing. Though, regardless, she’d still need time to think it over. “I’ll get back to you on my thoughts, Doctor.”

A rather indifferent style to end any type of negotiation, but Dr. Stables understood he probably scared her into doing so. Such praise out of nowhere left her quite speechless and humble, so much that she couldn’t very well wrap her feelings around anything else but what the possibilities were by that point.

Outside the office, Rainbow sat holding her right wing, still reading that questionable book, but Twilight couldn’t care about that anymore. She was plenty preoccupied with which path to take, after all.

She could either stay and be concerned with patient after patient, bothered by Rainbow dash falling further into incurable love for her, and more than likely wind up with even less time for her magical studies.

Or, she could take the easy road and be without work, always staying home with Spike, reading, practicing magic, and missing out on some grand friendship experiences with the very pegasus that sat next to her at that very moment.

“Which do you think I should do, Rainbow?”

“Hmm?” Twilight’s friend hadn’t even been informed about anything. For obvious purposes, Twilight went ahead and explained the news. Once that was done and out of the way, Rainbow nodded. “Well, even if you quit, I won’t. I just started here, and was… kinda looking forward to working with a friend, just to pass the time until the Wonderbolts get back. You want my honest thoughts, Twilight? I think you should stay. That way, we can work together. You know?”

She still felt unsure, shaking her head. “I just don’t know what I wanna do right now.”

Taking a chance, Rainbow started to warily plead, “Just stay, Twilight. For me?”

She glanced over at the smiling pegasus, nodded, and got to work on her daily things. “I’ll think about it.”

Nearly all day, Rainbow would spend most of her time being serious with Twilight while containing her desperation quite well for the most part. Only a few times did she accidentally blurt out a sexual compliment, but Twilight didn’t seem to mind. She took it well, and got right back to her tedious assignments.

More than once, though, Rainbow Dash felt compelled to flirt at every turn, but she remembered what Rarity said. She needed to allow the enchantment to worm its way in, not try to force things upon Twilight. Reluctantly, she followed her orders.

Even then, one thing she noticed was Twilight’s undistributed, usual ways. Rainbow didn’t even get a peak from Twilight. Despite that, there was something growing inside the mare that Rainbow couldn’t possibly have any knowledge about.

Twilight didn’t exactly welcome it at first, or wished to admit her newly developing feelings towards Rainbow, but in all truthfulness, she found her friend highly attractive in that outfit, but hid her blushing cheeks when she could.