Medical Procedures

During the early evening hours of her highness’s night, in which Twilight and Rainbow enjoyed themselves behind the closed and locked doors of the Ponyville Clinic wardrobe, Dr. Stables sat at Nurse Redheart’s rather expensive desk, the very same piece of furniture he’d bought her special. The pages of her diary flipped once more, and he smiled at some past instance that had happened long ago.

“Seems like yesterday, we were in medical school,” he thought. “I trained extensively, and watched from afar as Nurse Redheart practiced what she had learned in class. Those were the days.”

He read a bit more along the middle lines, and even took in the familiar smells of his colleague, whose perfume still permeated throughout the area, and sometimes, he could even detect such scents within the halls themselves while passing by. It was almost always intoxicating, in fact, to walk near her door during work hours, and sniff away, daydreaming.

Naturally, he’d snap out of it in good time, and often enough resumed his tedious work, but of course, there were a few different instances when he just couldn’t remember what he was doing exactly. It was all thanks to Nurse Redheart’s potently distracting aroma.

The more time he spent within her private office, the less he felt like that of an intruder. “She’ll be wondering where this is, though,” the good doctor mumbled to himself. “Seeing as how I’ll be asking her out this weekend for dinner, probably tomorrow afternoon, she’ll have something new to jot down. Celestia forbid her finding out what I’ve done.”

His hoof rose to his chin as he mentioned aloud, “Such devious behavior I’ve acted upon lately…”

Though, as Dr. Stables would soon find out, his is not that far off from the nurse’s own questionable acts. For the time being, he just stood there, but instead of going for the desk drawers, he displayed yet another act of attraction for the mare he secretly likes so much. The page was magically turned, and he read on. “Just… one more entry.”

Many more written recordings were looked over, however, despite the promise he’d just made to himself, for he couldn’t stop, even when it all became so, very repetitive. The mare’s diary just told him over and over again, that he was almost always her key focus in life, but she never knew how he felt about her in return. Finally, the last page was reached, and reading this in particular influx was a surprise to him.

There’s just nothing better than having a friend there to help me out, and it came from the most unlikely source, too. Twilight Sparkle, my replacement that I mentioned earlier, has agreed to help me out with Dr. Stables.

Apparently, he has personal files, and much like this diary, it undoubtedly says whether or not he likes me the same way I like him. It’s not exactly the proper way of doing things, but what else am I to do?

She’s to retrieve the folder containing everything I need to know, and with this, I’ll be able to feel more confident while flirting with him. It’s not my cup of tea, to woo a stallion into asking me out, but he’s never once done so on his own.

That’s the only problem with him. I know he’s timid and all, but I’ve dropped hints already. I’ve been tempted to take control, too, but I always back down from doing so, and every time I do that, I feel this much closer to thinking that he’s just not into me.

If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what I’ll do. If I find out that he has absolutely no desire for the likes of me, I might just switch clinics, because being around a stallion that I love, and having him feel nothing but plane friendship towards me really sucks.

I’ll leave the records in my sliding top drawer, where I keep my pencils and loose papers. Hopefully, those files will contain just what I want to hear. If not… I should stop writing now. I’m depressing myself. Until later on, Diary. Keep my secret safe.

Dr. Stables backed away with widened eyes, and an open mouth. He looked at the desk’s opposite end, and gulped. “S-she… had Twilight…” Blinking, he finished, “She knows…?”

Despite there being a chill in the air that wasn’t present moments ago, he remained calm. His hooves resisted the urge to tremble at the knees, and not a single sweat formed upon his brow. He knew that if she understood his feelings, then things could possibly work out better than expected.

Though, had she gotten Twilight’s delivery yet? He had to know. He simply had to find out, and there could be no waiting. He walked around, along side the bookshelf, and opened the desk to see what was inside.

Sure enough, right there, laying comfily along the assorted writing utensils were his very own files. The proof in which he’d written himself had definitely been rummaged through. There were definite signs of scuffling along the sides, but that was alright, he supposed. After all, he’d done the exact same with her diary, and had done worse if one thought about it for a few minutes.

Going through a mare’s private desk, let alone encroaching upon her very own working quarters while she wasn't there could scarcely be called professional, especially for a leading doctor like himself; not at all.

With this knowledge, he was sure there’d be nothing stopping the two from finally pairing up, and not just for the usual medical reasons, either, like surgery and routine check-ups. Nothing except Nurse Redheart walking through her office door right then and there, that is.

As one might expect, she’d forgotten her purse yet again. Dr. Stables had never known of this furtive habit of hers, but would soon be learning of it for sure. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the pink, laced accessory lying there, to his left, and raised his eyebrows at it, but not as much as compared to when the mare entered silently.

She walked in holding a signature clinic skeleton key, and just stared at the doctor, who by now had his own notes grasped within his magic aura. They fell abruptly, followed by him saying, “N-nurse… I, uh...”

Her eyes waned down to focus in on her diary, and inspected which page it’d been turned to. She gasped suddenly, and looked up to make eye contact. There was a moment of silence, but in that brief moment, everything became clear to the both of them, especially when Dr. Stables attempted to explain himself while putting his notes down.

“I… h-had Rainbow Dash retrieve your d-diary for me the other day ago, because I wasn’t sure how you felt about me!” He stammered, “S-s-she was just trying to help! Please, don’t take this out on her.”

Nurse Redheart couldn’t come up with a response. She’d done the same thing, and though Dr. Stables was more at fault for infringing within her personal space, she just couldn’t notice this. To her, this must’ve been the best way for them to figure things out. She couldn’t possibly feel upset about all this, either.

“I… think you should just ask me to dinner, doctor.”

He looked ever onwards at her; in her direction, but not directly at her. If anything, he merely kept gazing towards her pleasant simper, unable to comprehend what was going on, until finally, his brain kicked into high gear.

“Your place or mine?” He blinked, and made an embarrassed expression before correcting himself, “Dah- I mean… do you, that is… if it’s alright, I’d really like to- Oh, but it’s not really the weekend yet, and-”

“Dr. Stables,” the mare responded, and rather than saying much more, she waited for him to take charge of the situation with accuracy.

Amazingly, the stallion gulped again before becoming more relaxed, and asked with a coy voice, “Would… you like to go out sometime?”

She smiled with pink cheeks, and commented, “Only if we count it as our second date. That way, you won’t feel so unobligated to kiss me when you drop me off back home.”

He nodded. “Heh… I suppose Hearts and Hooves could technically be considered our first date, right?”

She beamed even more at the fondest of memories. “My thoughts exactly.” Turning to the side, and out of his way, Nurse Redheart voiced, “Seeing as how I’m… basically your special somepony now, don’t you think you should get the door for me, and walk me to my house?”

The unicorn gave a short sigh, and walked forth, grabbing her purse as he did. However, upon offering it to her, she took a powerful chance, and kissed him right on the lips without hesitation, and with closed eyes.

All he could do was allow her the satisfaction, but it didn’t really go very far. It was a simple beginner’s smooch. No tongue, or even five whole seconds, but to Nurse Redheart, it was enough to tease his emotions for the time being.

They left that night, right before Rainbow and Twilight awoke, and as they trotted more closely together, Nurse Redheart ventured to ask, “I don’t exactly have all the details, by the way…. Why were you in my office to begin with?”

Dr. Stables held back a cheeky smile, but grinned at least. “I was trying to return the diary… Speaking of which, please be sure to return my own belongings to my desk tomorrow. And, we’ll have to give Twilight and Rainbow much better hours for this… If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be together right now.”

The nurse nodded contently. “You’re right. Not only that, but we should also try and have them work full time, and right beside one another.”

As they reached her home, Dr. Stables turned to look at her. “About that date…”

“Tomorrow, after work. Just take me somewhere special, okay?”

He shook his head, and in return, Nurse Redheart tilted her’s. He then asked her forwardly, “I’ve got two special places that I can get us into. One is the Golden Pot.” The nurse’s eyes widened, but not as much as compared to the next. “Or, we can go to the Horsey Banquet.”

She held her cheeks with both hooves for a moment while contemplating which would be better. Both were divine, and yet, a thought occurred to her. “How would you book a reservation?”

He snickered, “I’m a doctor. I've saved the right lives.”

There was no arguing that, so Nurse Redheart thought a bit harder, and chose, “The Golden Pot.”

He continued to snicker before backing away to leave her be. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Yep!”

Thus, she walked in after unlocking her door, and a light or two came on following the door shutting softly. Dr. Stables walked home afterwards, alone, and in the dark. Ponyville had never looked more exhilarating that night.

Twilight got into bed, and looked out the window. She often enjoyed watching the night sky, but that’s not all she’d see before heading off to bed. Down below, due to the placing of Nurse Redheart’s home, Dr. Stables was passing along. He hardly noticed where he was, or more importantly, who's tree house he was wandering by, but Twilight knew well enough where he was coming from.

Given her position, she looked closely through the curtains and glass to observe his movements. A smile here, and a glance there. “Yep! He’s definitely coming from Nurse Redheart’s house.”

Rainbow leaped up next to her and took a peek as well. “Ha! Nice, and check out that goofy looking grin. This is priceless!”

“Alright, Rainbow. Settle down,” Twilight said with a smile. “You know, I wonder if he remembered to mention our new hours…”

As they watched him walk off into the shadows, Twilight guessed that they’d find out tomorrow. If anything, Twilight could simply have Rainbow do it for her, or just check in with Nurse Redheart herself. The two agreed soon after that it wasn’t that big of a deal, and fell asleep for the night thinking of tomorrow's expected schedule change.