Medical Procedures

The room Spitfire had entered was unlike any other hospital room she’d ever been inside of. She could literally see the shadows of where it’d been previously used by Rainbow, however nopony else for quite some time. As she came closer towards the interior, checking the curtained off cubical to her right, she made sure she was alone before coming up to the end of the bed.

She commented as she felt the iron bars that propped the mattress, “Sheets are still undone.” The pillow could be found on the ground, and to say the bed was unmade was a bit of an understatement. It probably needed new sheets entirely.

The next thing that came into sight was the nightstand, and the window that, thanks to the sun, shined brightly behind it, and to the left a little. To Spitfire, it looked big enough for her to easily fit through once she had finished here.

The next thing to come into view was a few dirty looking marks on the wall, and lying on the ground was a bouncy ball. “She must’ve been pretty bored at times…” Looking up, there were more marks on the ceiling itself to be discovered.

She turned back around to look more closely at the nightstand, and came up to it to see what was sitting on its wooden surface. From afar, it just looked like an ordinary framed picture, but upon more inspection, it turned out to be a picture of a Rainbow with her closest friends.

Spitfire immediately saw Twilight amongst all the others, all the way to the right. Rainbow was found on the other side, next to a butter yellow coated pegasus. “Taken well before Rainbow and Twilight fell in love, obviously… How did it come to this?” She backed away slowly, and considered leaving, gulping as the thought began to sound more and more tempting.

She could see the instance happening before her very eyes. Twilight ran in, Rainbow coughing and pleading for her to just remove the vase. Twilight, of course, does so, and her shadow runs right by Spitfire. She’s out the door, and the Polifern goes with her.

To Spitfire, there seemed to be nothing left for her to investigate here. Her campaign for Rainbow’s heart had clearly reached its end, right there, in that room. “Before it even began?”

She turned and faced the door, now scowling, but not because she was angry. Spitfire scowled because she had to fight back her tears. Her hoof rested on the cool doorknob, and time slowed down. She shivered, trying not to look back at the scene, but she couldn’t stop herself.

Her head was held low, and as she glanced to the bed for what she believed to be one last time, her sights trailed right by the hanging blanket shielding the bottom portion of the bed. Sitting right there, shriveled and shadowy laid a Polifern flower beneath. It had fallen off the vase so long ago, and had gotten pushed by the wind Twilight made when she closed the door behind herself. It had gone unnoticed by anypony for all this time.

The pegasus’s eyes went wide with a mixture of realization, and regret. “Is that…?” She stumbled for a second, but completed what she was saying nevertheless. “Is that what I think it is?” She stared at it blankly, her body persisting to inch ever closer.

She forced herself to turn back into the room, the walls becoming more darker as the sun was blocked slightly by the clouds. Her movements towards the bed were unsteady, and slow, too. Her mouth hung open slightly, and the more the flower came into sight, the more Spitfire wanted to lose it.

She finally reached the end, squatted down to the floor, and reached out for it without looking. Her eyes checked the door to see if anypony was coming, but the coast still remained clear for now. As it noticeably slid out and into better view, Spitfire sighed remorsefully. She held the Polifern that Zecora had tweaked so long ago in her shaky hooves, and could feel her body trembling that much more.

“It was here… all along.” Her head jerked up, and her voice became that much more pained. “But, that would mean… they're truly in love?”

Another sigh, and then a huff. This was all so much for Spitfire to take in at once. It was enough to make her head spin. While she still held the thing, she murmured, “There was nothing I could’ve done, then.” She breathed heavily. “Pony feathers… Now what?”

Just then, she came back to reality thanks to the noises she heard coming from behind her. “Just a minute,” came a muffled, though familiar voice through the walls. This made Spitfire stop breathing so erratically for a moment. It was Rainbow Dash without a doubt. “I’ve gotta clean this room. Okay?”

The doorknob jiggled, causing Spitfire’s senses to kick in. She leaped to the ceiling in flight, rushed over to the cornered off cubical with the green curtains, and hid as silently as possible. The knob made another jiggling sound just as Spitfire was able to properly adjust herself, still holding onto the Polifern, and listened.

She breathed much more calmly now under pressure like this, not making a sound while Rainbow entered. She slammed the door, but it opened right back up, and that’s when Spitfire heard Rainbow gruff. “Now’s not the time, Beat!”

Then, a french accented voice smoothly sounded after the door closed yet again. “But, Dash! Why not have some fun? Twilight is busy, and more times than I can count I’ve caught you staring…”

Rainbow’s voice trailed. “Likewise… S-still, I’m with Twilight now! All I wanna do is clean this room. Not mess it up even more!”

The mare apparently named Beat commented after a second of silence, “If you were to mess it up, it would be with that lavender bookworm of your’s anyways. Huh?!” Spitfire heard Rainbow scoff, but neither pegasus said a word. So, Beat proceeded to ask, “What’s holding you back, Dash?”

“I… You have a special somepony! Doesn’t Medical Pleasure mean anything to you?” Rainbow asked, and Beat didn’t respond. “If you’ve been seeing other ponies than her-”

“I haven’t,” Beat responded abruptly. “This is the first I’ve ever even tried this.”

Rainbow’s shadow moved closer. “I’m the element of loyalty. You know that!”

Beat seemed to back away, and said, “Still, I liked you first! Remember?” Now, real sweet sounding, she mentioned, “Showed you my flank and everything…”

“That doesn’t matter! Even if you were single, the answer would still be no.” Rainbow stepped away. “I just… I just need to tidy up this room. Okay?” Spitfire began to sweat. If Rainbow cleaned up in here, she would unavoidably be found out.

“Fine,” Beat answered finally. “You’re probably right anyways, but still… Rainbow? Why did you have to come in that day with a broken hoof?”

“Huh?” Rainbow’s shadow motioned towards Beat. “What do you mean?”

It took her a moment to work up the nerve to say it, but finally, Beat managed to tell Rainbow, “Ever since I met you, I’ve had such mixed emotions. I think, though, that I just need to focus my attention on Medical Pleasure, and… not be distracted with you, or anypony else.”

“That sounds like a start, Beat…”

Her voice hiccuped, and growing cold, Beat said, “Then this will be the hard part…”

“Beat?” Rainbow asked, the shade of her hoof raising towards the mare across from her.

“That’s Nurse Quickpulse to you from now on.”

Rainbow took her time responding, but eventually nodded after putting down her hoof, and agreed. “Got it.”

Then, Beat Quickpulse simply left, which meant it was just Rainbow and Spitfire now. Spitfire inhaled deeply, but stayed mute while furtively hiding so closely near Rainbow. The pegasus beyond the green ruffles turned away from the door, her breathing getting louder, and then she groaned.

Rainbow walked up to the window, and stared out at the rays reaching down to touch the town. She stayed motionless for a moment, enough that Spitfire took a chance, and peered above the rails to see what Rainbow was doing.

She just stood there, staring. Then, out of nowhere, she asked in concern, “Spitfire?” This startled Spitfire so much that she had to duck, and she waited, listening with raised eyebrows. Had she been found out? How? She merely poked her head out to take a peak. She gulped as Rainbow continued to speak. “I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”

Spitfire heard Rainbow shuffle, and grunt, “No, no… Spitfire, I need to tell you something...” To Spitfire’s great relief, she was merely rehearsing. “I might’ve had a small crush on you… before I got admitted into the clinic. Now, though, I’ve fallen in love with a unicorn named Twilight, a friend of mine that works along side me at the Ponyville Clinic.”

She breathed out through her nose. “So, even though you didn’t show any direct attraction to me, I, uh…” Once again, Spitfire peered, and this time, she saw Rainbow with her head bowed, looking at the bouncy ball beneath her. She seemed lost in her words. “I just want you to know, I’m...”

Just then, the door opened for the last time. It was Twilight intruding, and Spitfire moved out of the way so quickly that she knocked herself into the bed, revealing her location to Rainbow, and that she hadn’t been alone.

“Rainbow,” Twilight said first. “I’m done with my shift, and I need your help with-”

“Err, yeah!” Rainbow cooperated awkwardly, and voiced over to the other occupant of the room, “Sorry for disturbing your sleep, sir! Or… ma’am.”

As quickly as her rehearsal had ended, she was out of there. Spitfire could hear the two talking for a bit longer, Rainbow explaining in a hushed and hurried tone what was going on while leaving out plenty of detail, and Twilight asking her usual probing questions. Their voices eventually faded, and Spitfire was alone again, finally.

She exited the cubicle, blinked, and tilted her head to the bed. Laying the flower down on the sheets to look at it more closely, it now a bit crushed thanks to being under her unsettled grip for so long, it was rotted slightly purple, but mostly grey. The stem was bent, but it still resembled the ones Spitfire used to see at Zecora’s hut all the time.

As if she were picking up right where she’d left off at, Spitfire asked aloud, “What now?”

She weighed her options while standing over the dead flower. “Tell Twilight and Rainbow of what I’ve done? Just tell Twilight? Just Rainbow Dash? Just tell Zecora? Or, just tell nopony?” She closed her eyes tight, gritting her teeth. “No, I need to tell Zecora,” Spitfire told herself. “I should see what advice she has to offer further.”

After Spitfire began to take better care for the flower by placing it in her front pocket, she opened the window. Gracefully as ever, Spitfire leaped out and began to soar up to the clouds above, headed straight for the Everfree Forest with the sun shining brightly over head.