As the sun started to rise, ponies started to do their usual labors, working to earn the bread of the day, the mothers starting to help their foals to get ready for the day. And those, whose school wouldn’t be in a while, were running around, playing with each other. Almost every foal and/or filly was outside. Except for a certain white filly, whose mane was a two-tone color of purple.
The day before, she had broken her leg while trying to get her long awaited cutie mark. She and her friends planned on earning their cutie marks for diving, just as Scootaloo saw in the Ponylimpics. However, they had never tried something like this before. Therefore, Sweetie broke her hind left leg when she landed in the water in a bad position. Her friends didn't know what to do. Therefore, they took her to her sister’s house. All Rarity could do was to wrap her sister’s leg clumsily with some bandages made from an unsuccessful dress.
Filled with fright for her sister and her parents telling her to never be able to take care of her little sister again, she tucked Sweetie Belle into her bed, hoping that she would get better. The next day, she was the same.
Sweetie Belle was absolutely BORED in that day. She and her friends were supposed to try to get their cutie marks again, this time with the (not very good) idea of practicing with a bow and arrow. However, having her leg broken and almost immobilized by the bandages, she couldn’t even walk.
“Sweetie Belle, are you awake?” Rarity said while entering the room.
Rarity tried her best to comfort her in this particular day. She even put her work aside to be with her especial little sister.
“Yoohoo! Sweetie Belle?” Rarity sang while looking in the room.
“Hi, Rarity.” Sweetie Belle said from her bed.
“Hello, little sister. How are you doing?”
Sweetie Belle just turned around to bury her face in her pillow.
“I’m BORED!” She lifted her head to look out of the window, her eyes focused in a pair of birds flying in the distance.
“Well, you can’t do anything with that leg. But… how about I bring some paper for you to draw something!?”
“AGAIN? Rarity, I've been drawing since I broke my leg! Just look at that pile over there!”
Rarity turn around to the corner Sweetie had pointed her. Her jaw came down when she saw the three-foot pile of paper made by Sweetie Belle.
“Sweetie Belle! You drew this enormous mountain of paper?” She asked with a surprised tone, but to Sweetie, it seemed like another tone.
“That’s all I can do with this stupid broken leg!”
Rarity turned again to look at her sister, who was crying quietly in her bed. She felt so sorry for her, but still so useless because she didn't know what to do. She only saw an option: to get over her fear.
“Stay in your bed. I will go to get some help for you.”
“Really!? You’re going to do something to get my leg fixed?!”
“Yes, I will. I swear in Celestia's name, for I will not rest until I find a way for you to recover to perfect health!”
With a few hoof steps, she exited the room, leaving Sweetie Belle thinking of her as a good big sister.
Meanwhile, at Ponyville’s Hospital, Rarity was barely inside before she saw the counter. Luckily for her, the mare in charge was there. With no time to waste, she ran over to the desk, surprising the poor mare in there.
“IWANTYOURBESTDOCTORTOHELPMYLITTLESISTERTOGETCUREDOFHERBROKENLEGSOSHECAN-!”
“Woah! Wait, miss Rarity! Please, I beg you to slow down your speech so I can help you accurately.” The mare said in a calmed tone, trying to get the mare to calm down.
Rarity took some deep breaths before she could even stand in the proper posture of a lady, as she usually referred to it.
“Right, sorry about that. I have come for your best doctor to help my little sister to get cured as fast as possible of her broken leg. She is very upset about it, so I'm asking this for her.”
The nurse in the counter checked on her list. Every name was assigned to at least one patient… except for one. She double-checked the list again, finding only one doctor available.
“Well… we have one-“
“I WANT HIM!” Rarity shouted in her face before she could even end her speech.
Seeing the frustration in her face, the nurse just headed for the microphone. Once there, she put the file on the table to contact him. Rarity just saw the upper part of the file, where she could read “Soft Heart”. The nurse started to talk to the doctor by the microphone, making a certain allusion to the “desperate mare in front of the counter” asking for help. Done that, she turned again to Rarity
“He’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“I hope so.”
"It'll take a few minutes for him to get here. If you want to wait for him, there are some chairs in the next room."
"Alright. Thank you very much."
Rarity sat in a couch at the other room. She was just tapping the floor with her hoof, waiting impatient for the doctor Soft Heart to show up.
She was so impatient that she even got in her hooves and started to walk around. She walked more deeply in the hospital until she stopped in a corridor, not too far away from the waiting room.
Soft Heart... That name sounded kind of weird. It even sounded like an old pony's name. She even started to picture him: An old pony, using a cane (judging by the time he was taking in getting there) and with a mind as slow as his pace.
She kept pacing around with those thoughts for a while, trying to think on something else, but failing miserably. Suddenly, a young stallion came running around. His fur was light yellow, while his mane was brown with stripes of a slightly lighter brown.
Other fact Rarity noted from this pony was that he was panting heavily.
"Um... Hello there! Are you okay?" She asked, trying to be polite. Though, she was more concerned by the looks of him.
“Hello there! Hey… do you… know… where the… counter is? ...” The pony asked, still panting heavily.
“Umm… yeah. It’s over there.” She said pointing with her hoof toward the room at the other side of the corridor.
“… Thank you… very much!”
He turned around and walked clumsily, still panting heavily. That was until he fell on the floor. Rarity saw this and ran toward him.
“Oh, by Celestia! Are you okay?”
“Puff… Sort of…"
Rarity helped him to get in his hooves again, only for him to fall again. After a few falls, he was able to stand by himself again.
"…thank you. I’m… better know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah… much better. Thank you, miss…?”
“Rarity. Miss Rarity.”
“Thank you, Miss Rarity. Well, if you excuse me, I have to go to the counter.”
“Mind if I go with you? I’m waiting for somepony to come.” The pony just looked at her for a few moments before answering.
“Umm… yeah, sure. I mean, no… no problem at all. You’re welcome.”
“Thank you.” She said as she stood at his side, walking with him.
The waiting room didn't was too far away, but it took them awhile to walk. The stallion asked Rarity why she was in there.
She started to tell him about Sweetie Belle’s problem with her broken leg. How she looked so depressed in her bed, and how she was so bored in her bed, not able to even stand in her hooves. The stallion was shocked and saddened, to say at least.
“Gosh… that’s a serious one. Hope I could do something for her. It’s so devastating to hear about it. A filly who can’t run, play, or do something fun.”
“Yes. That’s really depressing. That’s the why I came here. I asked for a doctor to come to help me, but he hasn't appeared.”
“Well, just be patient. I’m sure he’ll show up.”
“I’m sure. Otherwise I’m going to—“
“Um, Miss Rarity? We’re here.”
Noticing he was right, she just looked to the mare in the counter, who seemed to recognize her as well.
“Well, ladies first.” The stallion told her, pointing her to go first.
“Thank you.”
She went to the counter, still with her lady posture, while the stallion stood where he was, a little far from where she was.
“Has the doctor I requested arrived yet?”
“No, he hasn't come yet.” Rarity groaned softly as she got more annoyed.
“… Well, thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome. Next one!” The mare said while Rarity turned around. She started to walk again to the waiting room when she heard the mare speaking.
“Doctor Soft Heart, welcome.”
Hearing that, she rushed again to the counter, knocking out somepony who was already in front of the counter.
“He’s here? Where? Where?” She asked, frantically looking around.
The nurse stood up and went to the other side of the counter. She turned to the floor to see something.
“I think you just knock him out.” She said, much to Rarity’s surprise. However, upon knowing that Rarity ran to the other side of the counter, only to find the same colt she met earlier, whose eyes were rolling on their place and stars could be seen on them.
“YOU are doctor Soft Heart?” The stallion, now known as Soft heart, simply waited for his eyes to stop rolling to answer.
“Glad to see you again, miss Rarity.”
Rarity began to feel dizzy. The same colt she thought to be a generous and good looking colt was the same doctor she thought to be a good-for-nothing old stallion.
“You… you… What did take you so long on coming?!”
“My most sincerely apologies, but I don’t know this hospital. I was just assigned here.”
“…What?” Rarity asked lowly as she found herself confused. The mare in the counter started to talk right away, clearing her throat.
“Reason is that he is a just-graduated colt from Medicine school in Canterlot. He was just transferred here. That’s the why he’s the only one available.” The mare said, making Rarity’s eyes to grow wide in surprise. “… I tried to tell you.”
Rarity froze at the thought of her little sister being treated by a colt who had just graduated, maybe without any experience at all in this sort of thing. However, the image of her little sister crying came around.
“Listen, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you when all of this finishes. However, my sister needs your help and I don’t plan on doing nothing for her. Therefore, you’re coming with me.”
Not knowing what this mare was capable of, he only saw one logical answer.
“Umm, sure. Let’s go.” Soft said while his heart started to race up.
Walking toward the boutique of Rarity, he was wondering what she would do with him once the treatment was done. However, the image of a little filly in her home, sad and alone was more powerful than his own fears. That was his weakness: the pain of others.
Once in the boutique, when they got into Sweetie Belle's room, he only saw a depressed little filly, drawing something in her bed.
“Sweetie Belle! I brought a friend who claims to be a doctor!”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes barely left her sad look to see upon Soft Heart. After seeing him, she went again in her drawings. Soft Heart was the first one on talk.
“Sweetie Belle, uh? That’s a cute name. Mine is Soft Heart. I have come to help you.”
Once said this, Soft Heart headed for Sweetie’s bed, only to see something that crashed him even more: she was drawing herself, running along with other two fillies in a camp full of apple trees. She was looking happy, heavily in contrast with the real her, who was crying silently.
“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle. I’ll do whatever I can for you to run again, just like in your drawing.”
Sweetie Belle looked at him, still with some tears in her face. The only thing that made her to react was a tear going down his Soft Heart’s face. It was only then, when she saw the hope.
“Do you really say so? You can?”
“I’ll try my best.”
Sweetie Belle’s face changed suddenly from extreme sadness to an overwhelming joy.
“Thank you, doctor Soft Heart! And thank you too, big sister!”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.”
Doctor Soft Heart spent the rest of the day checking Sweetie Belle’s leg. Sweetie Belle started to like this "Doctor Soft Heart", as Rarity called him. Even Rarity seemed to like him, despite their little situation back on the hospital.
Soft Heart tried to cheer her with jokes and stories made by himself. For a while, it worked...
But the day turned to worse when the results of his tests came to light.
Checking upon her leg, Soft discovered something very unusual:
Usually, a horse leg can be cured with time and a lot of medicines. However, this one could not be cured.
Downstairs, Rarity was walking around in the boutique, looking to the ground, waiting for the doctor to tell her good news. Just in that moment, Soft Heart came down.
“Oh, Soft Heart. How is she?”
“Until now…" He turned to the stairs. "... very well, I’d say.”
“Then… is she going to cure?”
Soft Heart eyes went to the ground, while trying to articulate the correct words. He just sighed and gestured Rarity to the door.
“I… I… I t-think we should talk outside.”
Soft Heart asked Rarity to go outside for Sweetie Belle not to hear the bad news.
Once outside, Soft tried to compose himself, before giving the blow.
“First of all… who made her bandage? It was all wrong and… and… and…”
Rarity could tell Soft Heart was holding something from her.
“Doctor? What’s wrong?”
Soft Heart’s head then turned to the ground, not looking at her.
“…Everything”
Rarity could tell by the look on his face that good news would not be given this time.
“…Miss Rarity… this is some kind of rupture that cannot be treated just like that. The usual treatments are not going to work with this. Therefore, I must say this…”
“What is going to happen to my sister?”
“… She will lose her leg. I’d give her… two weeks at the most.”
Rarity’s mouth went wide open by this fact. Her little sister, the energetic little filly that ran all the day with her friends, searching for her cutie mark, would end in a few weeks. She could not get it.
“But… but…”
“I’m sorry… but this is the truth.”
“But… you’re a unicorn, just like me! Can’t you do anything with your magic to help her!?”
Soft Heart turned around to search for something. Then, he looked to the tree in front of them.
“Would you say this tree could grow up healthy, even if it’s cut in nine different parts?”
Rarity’s eyes went wide open. It could be true?
“Her bone is destroyed… in nine different parts?”
“Unfortunately, yes. My magic can only fix a broken bone in at least 4 parts. But a broken bone like this one has never occurred before. The amount of magic to do this is about the same as the elements of harmony. However, this kind of energy upon a single pony is too much. It would kill her… and the caster.”
“But what if we can find somepony with that capacity?”
“Listen. I’m not talking about the caster pony, but to the one who's being cast on. Just look at the other time the elements of harmony have been used. First one: Nightmare Moon was sent to the moon. Second one: Nightmare Moon returns only to be destroyed by the elements of Harmony. Three: Discord is turned into a stone by the elements of harmony.”
“And with that you are saying…?”
“I’m saying that casting the elements of harmony in Sweetie Belle, having this evidence on what they can do… I’m not too sure if they will do something good on her.”
Rarity huffed, trying to understand what he was talking about. Finally, she gave up.
“Then what do you suggest?”
“I suggest, by what has been told to me, for you to contact the Royal sisters. Maybe they can do something for her.”
Rarity started to think it. Suddenly, she stands up with a huge smile on her face.
“YES! You’re right! I’ll tell Spike to help me.”
Said this, she started to gallop to Twilight’s house. Soft Heart had barely advanced a few steps before stopping and started to cry silently.
“What are you doing, Soft?”
The next morning...
Soft Heart woke up after a bad night, thinking about that poor filly. She was so excited when he promised to do everything he could to cure her. And now, it was obvious that he had done everything he could. That crushed on him, causing him to start to cry again in his bed. He had promised something impossible.
Downstairs, he sat on his couch. Silently, he started to think. Somehow, the image of Sweetie Belle couldn’t be taken out of his mind. Since his graduation in Canterlot, he had never treated nopony. She was his first patience, and he was about to lose the battle.
His mind returned to the day when he got graduated:
All the ponies of the eighteenth class were in a single file. Then, Celestia herself made her apparition in front of the class.
“Dear ponies of the eighteenth class! I have come to you in this day to give you the opportunity of working alongside with me in order to keep the love and happiness in this beautiful land. But only with one condition: you shall swear to do your best on this job.”
Soft Heart was the last one on the file. Therefore, he could hear all the other ponies mumblings and whispers. Suddenly, an idea rushed to his mind. Telling the same than his comrades would be dishonest. Once his turn to pass to the front came, he stood in front of Celestia.
With a raised hoof, he declared:
“I swear, by the lives of all the ponies in Equestria, that I will never fail doing my job! I swear not to let anypony feel pain, even if I have to sacrifice myself.”
The room was silent by the last sentence. Nopony had made the promise of sacrifice themselves in order to keep the well-being of a patient. Celestia saw this not in a rude way, but as prove of his determination of doing the good to others instead of himself.
Soft Heart’s remembering was interrupted by a knock in his door. When he went to the door, he saw nopony standing there. Instead of that, he found a letter in the floor.
Dear doctor Soft Heart.
Miss Rarity needs you at her house right away after you finish of reading this.
With a deep anxiety in his mind, he took his saddlebags and went to the Boutique. Once at the door, he knocked a few times and waited outside. When the door opened, Rarity came out.
“Doctor Soft Heart! Good to see you! I have something to tell you!”
“Good morning, Miss Rarity. What is it? Is something wrong?”
“No. Please, come inside.”
He never hoped to see what was happening in front of him: Sweetie Belle was on her four hooves, running from side to side of the boutique. She had still the same bandages in her leg, but still… she was running. Soft Heart found no words coming out from his mouth.
Sweetie Belle stopped for a second to see upon the surprised pony at the door. The yellow colt just stood there, without knowing the how and why of the situation.
“Good morning, Doctor!”
Sweetie Belle rushed to wrap her little hooves around the bigger hoof of the surprised unicorn in a warm hug.
“I don’t know what you did to me yesterday, but I feel a lot better right now. Thank you so very much!”
“… Um… well… you’re… welcome?”
“Sweetie Belle, why don’t you show the doctor the drawing you made this morning?”
“Yes, big sister! I’ll go upstairs to get them!”
In a rush of white, she disappeared from the room, leaving her smiling sister and the surprised doctor alone.
Rarity turned to Soft, who held his sight in the floor, like if there was something invisible. He then turned to her, a confused expression on his face.
“... Since when is she like that?”
“She just started this morning. She jumped from her bed and started to walk around.”
Soft Heart could not believe it. There was only one reason for that to happen.
“Celestia helped you, didn’t she?”
“Actually… no, she didn’t. Her response letter hasn’t even arrived yet.”
“She hasn’t answered?”
“No.”
Then again, there was no apparent reason for this to be happening. Her leg was so devastated by the accident that there were no chances of getting it cured. It was impossible to say at least.
It was confirmed when Sweetie Belle started to scream in the upper floor. Rarity and Soft quickly got to her room, where she was screaming in pain, holding her leg.
Soft Heart knew what had happened: she was so excited about her leg being cured that she had forgotten about her leg. However, when he showed up again, she remembered it, causing the pain to become even stronger than before. When they approached to help her, Soft saw a drawing in the floor, which had a yellow colt in it holding the hoof of a smaller white filly. On it, there was a single phrase: my hero.
