Medical Procedures

The next morning, Twilight woke up rather jumpy from last night’s dream. Or, was it a nightmare? It was different at best, and she couldn’t understand why it made her feel uneasy that day. All she could do was shake her head and try to remember, but as often dream and nightmares do, this one escaped her.

“Maybe later on, I’ll remember it,” she said while shifting upwards, but something, or someone stopped her for a moment. A purple claw wrapping around her side held Twilight tightly, its owner mumbling as he awoke himself.

“Twilight?”

“Let go, Spike,” the mare said calmly. “I need to get ready for work.”

Instead, he hugged her even more, and said, “I missed you. You’re never around anymore.”

Rubbing her eyes, Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I know… But, today’s a new day, and it just so happens I’ll be home early from now on.”

He leaned up half awake, and asked, “R-really?”

With a kind smile, Twilight explained, “I told you about how I’ll be working there from now on, right? Dr. Stables is also giving me more time to myself so I can do my studying, and help Rainbow out with her training.”

He let her go, and then curled up with the blanket. “I suppose that’s better than nothing…”

Giving her dragon a peck on the head, Twilight said, “I’ll be back around four with Rainbow. Can I count on my number one assistant to have flight books stacked and ready for when I get back?”

He opened his eyes slightly with a smirk. “That, and more.”

After his assurance was received, Twilight took her time brushing her mane, writing to Celestia, and then left for the clinic. On her way there, after getting situated with her looks and alertness, she began recapping on what she needed to do throughout the day.

In order to make sure her outfit was working in perfectly fine condition, she’d need to track how much dirt was being automatically cleaned from her hooves, and see if the ponies around her were gaining anything beneficial to their health.

This was fairly simple, for Twilight was already assigned to a new patient. He had a mild flu, nothing too serious, but being his age made his condition a bit more life threatening. If her outfit was working the way it should be, he would be halfway cured of the illness by the end of the day.

However, if Twilight discovered abnormalities, such as him gaining no such treatment from her uniform, or her hooves being much more messy compared to somepony else like Nurse Redheart, then Twilight would have her proof.

The next step necessary would be to consult Dr. Stables about it, and eventually, an investigation would unfold. Rainbow would be heart broken to know Twilight refused to accept her new emotions into her life, and shortly following that, the events would unravel at a dull pace.

Which is why Twilight wouldn’t discover anything wrong, because then the story would be derailed from its original destination. No, Twilight wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary with her nurse outfit… Not yet, anyway.

Still, the way she pushed on with her own little tests was humorous at best, and for most of the day, it irritated Rainbow to see her friend avoiding her at nearly every turn. Even at lunch hour, Twilight told Rainbow she should go ahead and eat without her.

Predictably, Rainbow would’ve demanded an explanation for Twilight’s irregular behavior were it not for Dr. Stables coming around the corner asking, “Rainbow, now’s a good time for me to answer those questions you had.”

Rainbow stood on the outside of the counter, ready to ask Twilight what had gotten into her, and why she seemed so lost, almost not even there for most of the day, but it would have to wait. “Ugh, coming doc…”

She glanced down at Twilight one more time, only to see the unicorn bring her hooves up to her mouth, and resume pondering Celestia only knows what. So, Rainbow unwillingly left Twilight to do just that, but later in the day, one way or another, she’d confront Twilight about it.

Inside the doctor’s office, both sat beside the desk under a dimly lit lamp. Dr. Stables sighed, and asked with a smirk, “What’s on your mind?”

She scratched the back of her neck, hesitated for a few seconds, but soon enough said, “I needed to know more about these outfits that Twilight and I and all the other nurses wear.”

With a slightly raised eyebrow, Dr. Stables said, “Okay, what would you like to know?”

His kind grin disappeared once she asked her question. “Does the side effect work on unicorns?”

He looked out the window blocked by blinders at Twilight’s shadow, then back at Rainbow, and mumbled, “Didn’t you read the forms I gave you?”

“... I might’ve skimmed over them.”

Tilting his head down and shaking it, the doctor sighed, “Oh, Rainbow Dash…” He looked back at her and took a deep breath before saying, “No. Unicorns can’t fall in love with somepony who’s wearing the uniform. Not to say it’s impossible, that is.”

Rainbow squinted her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

With an annoyed attitude, he explained, “I know about you, Twilight, and the little love game you two have been playing. It’s silly, really. You’re in love with her, but she’s been talking to me about some potential flaw that I don’t know about. She’s blatantly falling in love with you, and you know it, but you can’t simply go to her because you and I both know she’ll deny it. So long as she’s still determined to find out the nonexistent reason of why she’s falling in love with you, I’ll have not one but two nurses squabbling to me about their problems, one being magical, the other natural. Neither being medical, so we remain at an impasse.”

Rainbow fidgeted with her words for a bit, but was able to ask, “Then what do I do? Wait?”

“That’s probably all you can do. Twilight’s slowly warming up to you, obviously… Then again, Nurse Redheart’s been doing the same thing with me for a long time, too…”

Rainbow nudged him on the shoulder, asking, “Doc? You alright?”

He looked up, a little startled at how he could get side-tracked by a few simple words. “Uh… Nothing, Rainbow. It’s just, well, you know about my little crush on Nurse Redheart, right?”

“Yeah. Everyone knows about that.”

“Well,” the doctor looked over to the left as though checking to make sure nopony but Rainbow was listening, and said, “you and I are in the same boat. You like Twilight because of her uniform. I like Nurse Redheart, but not because of her uniform, but because of us being friends for so long.”

Rainbow interrupted. “Hey, don’t get me wrong. I like Twilight because of the same thing! The uniform’s only sped things up for me. Eventually, I probably would’ve asked her out even without that enchantment.”

“That’s good, I suppose,” Dr. Stables said. “You understand with me being a unicorn, I’m immune, right?”

“I remember.”

“So, me and Nurse Redheart, we’ve been friends ever since med school, and we’ve never been manipulated by the uniforms. We’re still falling in love, though. As corny as it sounds, I wanna ask her out, but I’m too scared. Every day, I feel like she’s begging me to invite her to see a movie or something. I just can’t, though, not without solid evidence of her wanting me to go through with it."

Rainbow snarled, “Oh, man! This is straight outta some romance novel! Okay, so, let me collect my thoughts. If I get some evidence of Nurse Redheart liking you in any way that’s more than just friendly, you’ll maybe help Twilight realize she’s totally in love with me?”

He shook his head. “No, but what I can do for you is assign you less hours alone, without her, and more with her. That is, if you want.”

“Deal!”

It didn’t take Rainbow hardly a second to shake on it, for any gradual amount of time spent with Twilight was still a plus to her. How she was going to get the information she needed, though, was beyond her.

When returning to the main desk, Rainbow noticed Twilight was away. She shrugged it off figuring Twilight probably had a patient ringing for her somewhere. In all actuality, Twilight had been summoned by Nurse Redheart who wished to talk, if only for a few minutes. Knocking on the door, and waiting a moment before entering, Twilight heard Nurse Redheart say, “Come in…”

The door opened to a room completely redone. To Twilight’s surprise, a lot of Nurse Redheart’s belongings had been shelved from boxes. Books stacked orderly, pictures on the walls… and a framed photo of her and Dr. Stables on the desk where she sat reading, the very same kind the doctor had. Along next to the bookcase was the boxes, and then a pillow sitting in front of the desk.

“You wanted to see me?” Twilight asked as she took a seat.

The nurse had been reviewing some paperwork, but placed it back down once Twilight had arrived. “Remarkable… These well thought out… ways of your’s, they're informative, and helpful when it comes to my line of work.”

“Really?” Twilight asked.

“Not only that, but things have really shaped up over here, too! The nurses and doctors that were just starting out when I left are seemingly up to date. Having you around might be just the thing this place needed.”

Twilight blushed. “When you left, the front desk was so disorderly. It took me a while to get the hang of it, actually.”

Nurse Redheart nodded with closed eyes. Upon reopening them, she asked, “And… what about Rainbow Dash? What happened there?”

Twilight chuckled a bit, and then said, “She’s harmless. She came in once you left for Canterlot, and I was assigned to look after her. Unfortunately, this outfit kinda made her fall in love with me… Didn’t Dr. Stables explain this in his letters?”

Grabbing one up, and reading aloud, Nurse Redheart quoted, “The spa sounds wonderful, though I wouldn’t mind hearing more about the convention. Anyways, Rainbow’s just asked me if she could work at the clinic while the Wonderbolts are away. This is either because she wants something to do in the meantime, or she’s enchanted by Twilight’s uniform.”

Twilight watched the letter be put down with the others, and said, “Like I said, she’s harmless.”

“I understand she is,” Redheart said. “I’m more concerned about you. Why didn’t you offer her another place to work at? The assistant’s assistant? I mean, I’m sorry to sound so forward, but you’re tolerating more than what regular friends usually do.”

Twilight averted her eyes, almost like she’d been caught. “I’m working on that as well,” Twilight said through her teeth.

“How so?” Nurse Redheart put both her hooves on the desk, showing a tilted eyebrow.

“I’ve been working on a test, one that will prove… How do I explain this?”

“Explain what?” Nurse Redheart asked.

Twilight looked up, and questioned, “Have you ever heard of the Polifern?”

Slowly, the mare’s eyebrows rose, and then a snicker. She brought a hoof up to hide her giggles. “That extinct plant? Yes, I’ve heard of it. I even did a paper on it in school, but Twilight, it hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not still out there, and this test will prove I’ve somehow come into contact with it.”

Nurse Redheart leaned in closer, intrigued by Twilight’s confidence. “Just how will this test carry out?”

Twilight sighed, and did her best to explain. “If I scan myself by the end of the day, and compare how clean I am with one of the other nurses, I’ll be able to tell if it’s working. Even then, I’m assigned to look after somepony who can be healed by my outfit over time. By the end of the day, if he’s not feeling any better, and I need to go home and take a shower, then it’s a safe bet that my uniform’s not quite functioning properly, and I’m also being seduced by Rainbow’s working uniform.

Nurse Redheart nodded. “Okay… However, what if your uniform’s working just fine?”

Twilight blinked. “Then, I’ll…”

Nurse Redheart waited while Twilight took a moment to ponder on that. After a good silence, the nurse finally said, “Once you’re done with your tests, I want you to come see me at the end of the day. Either way the coin flips, I think I’ll want to see the end result and try to help.”

Twilight looked up. “How would you help?”

Bluntly, Nurse Redheart said, “I can persuade Dr. Stables to give you more, or less time with Rainbow Dash. Whichever you might prefer.”

Twilight was going to say something, but brought her hoof to her lip in thought. Then, she stood to leave while thanking the nurse for her offer of assistance. The short day would be filled with more paperwork, Rainbow Dash, and tending to her patient. Twilight would have her results compiled soon, and be back inside Nurse Redheart’s office once again.