Nurse Redheart was walking in the dimly-lit main corridor of the pouliatrics ward of Ponyville’s hospital. The weak light barely revealed murals, hung paintings and pinned drawings in grayscale as opposed to the triumph of colours and small details apparent during the day.
“So much for a week with regular sleep cycles…” She whispered to herself -- a brown lightly-clanking bag strapped to her flank -- as she passed past the other two storage rooms of the General Medicine ward. “Oh well. It’s my job, I had to do it again sooner or later, and at least the hard parts are over for tonight.”
Redheart stopped to take a better look at the walls around her and savour the nightly quietness of that part of the hospital -- only broken by the snoring of a few patients, the beeping machinery of the worst-off ponies, the clanking instruments of the bag and the echo of her own steps -- and reflect on what going to follow soon.
“I know I am not supposed to let this happen either on or off the clock, but…” she let out a deep longing sigh. “he’s just that much of a cutie.”
Nurse Redheart pictured him the way he was admitted in the hospital. He was shivering and whimpering his mother and grandma’s names out, his little hooves were holding on his aching stomach while he used what little force he had left to squirm and to protest against the unpleasant -- and probably scary for him -- necessities of getting him ready for his stay. She recalled his many attempts -- as adorable as they were vain -- to escape daily check-ups and when medicines were administered and his utter fear at the sight of white coats he didn’t know.
Nurse Redheart walked forward, past increasingly-decorated walls, storage rooms with open doors, well-hidden staff changing rooms and the ward’s unoccupied desk, before arriving to the first patient bedroom in the ward. Nurse Redheart’s smile grew a little, as she then slowly opened the dark green door inwardly.
Only one bed was occupied. And, on the occupied bed, there laid a young pegasus colt lying on his side with his bandaged light blue belly exposed to Redheart, his hay yellow messy locks going over his eyelids like a decoration on a balcony, and his freckled face deformed by a frown. His breath was irregular, with soft whines coming out of him.
“Aaaw!” She said at a low voice as she slowly walked close to him, before undoing the straps binding her bag. “Don’t worry Friendly Skies: whatever is bothering you, Hearty is gonna make it go away!”
She petted his silky mane and shushed him, while he whimpered and moaned in an anguish that was almost unbearable to Redheart.
“Let’s start with checking out your pulse,” Nurse Redheart said, moving her hoof away to grab the stethoscope.
When the colt had been checked, Nurse Redheart stopped to watch him while he slept. A small, pained frown was on his face, which caused Redheart to frown a little, as sight -- along with the other ones she had seen in the past few days -- would have been enough to get Nurse Redheart to find him quite cute and worthy of the extra friendly reassuring pat on the head.
However, Friendly Skies was different for Nurse Redheart, for he was more than a little patient in need of care and some reassurance until healing. He was a young one that she would have liked to meet sometimes in her off hours, perhaps even playing with him if he wished to.
“Oh, how’d love to adopt you…” she muttered bittersweetly. “But you have parents, good ones at that… very good ones in fact. Your father is the grandson of a great pony and, while I don’t know your mother, I bet she’s equally good..”
She looked up at the ceiling. The moment when she had discovered the colt’s origins was firmly engraved in her memory. She had seen her old medical mentor, Dr. Bone Shard, walking inside the hospital room -- his mane greyed by time, his long beard grizzled, his walking reduced to the waddle of fragile and yet determined and dignified old people, his face wrinkled up and his eyes dulled but not completely spent -- gifting a little purple sack of candies to Friendly Skies.
She remembered how -- when Bone Shard had mentioned that Friendly Skies was his great-grandson -- almost all of the sudden, she felt that the colt wasn’t just “cute” anymore, but something else -- something more important for her, something that went against her professional conduct and common sense, something that called her attention at every step done in his presence.
Suddenly, just as Redheart was setting her instruments back into her bag and going to the next room, she noticed Friendly Skies suddenly twitching and rolling around in his bed, throwing his covers away, as well as moaning in what -- she assumed -- was terror.
“Oh dear.” Nurse Redheart immediately shook him to wake him up. He opened his eyes wide, croaking out a choked cry of anguish that made Redheart’s heart clench in ways she wished were not possible.
“Ssshhh, it’s okay little one,” she said, giving him a hug as tight as her strength and his current feebleness allowed her to.”I’m here just for you, it’s all right.”
However, the colt kept sobbing and whimpering in Redheart’s candid fur, staining it with his tears, which quickly made Redheart realize that she had to change her tactic.
“Did you have a bad dream? Do you mind telling me what that was about?” She asked, moving her chest away from his face in order to allow him to speak freely -- as well as allow her to pet his head better.
“I-I was in a r-room, a really big one,” he said in-between his sobs. “M-mommy and some docs was staring at me with a giant syringe, she told me that I was really bad and that I was in hospital because I was bad and then she hit me with the syringe and then the doctors hit me and drained all my blood, mommy then opened her mouth and swallowed me whole…”
Nurse Redheart smiled, as she hugged him again.
“Aaawww, I can see why you are so scared, but it was just an horrible nightmare,” she said, undoing her hug and smiling down at him. “And, even if it came true… I would be there to protect you, my sweetie.”
He looked up at her sniffling, tears shining in his eyes still as he spoke.
“R-really? You’d do that?” He whimpered, a few of his teardrops falling down onto the mattress below. “You would…”
“Yes, I would, Skies,” Nurse Redheart said with a small blush, as she realized the small slip she had beforehand. “I would protect you. It’s my job and, let me be honest here, you’re too cute and nice to go through that horrible thing.”
“B-but… why am I here, then?” He asked. “W-why do I…”
Nurse Redheart chuckled and ruffled his mane. She didn’t mind answering it answering to him one more time, even if she had asked the reason for his hospital stay many times beforehand.
“Remember when, some time ago, you had a really bad tummy ache?” She asked, her smile fading. He slowly nodded and hummed. “Well, that’s because there’s something wrong inside your body. It’s not because you did something bad, it’s not because you’ve been mean to your mom, not because you ate too much candy or anything else. It just happened to you, and, now, in order for you to come back healthy and strong as you were before, you have to stay here for a few weeks.”
He nodded again. “I understand…”
Nurse Redheart smiled again, before deeply sighing as she realized that she had to quickly move to check on the other patients.
“Good night Skies, sweetheart,” she said while she turned around towards the door. “I’m going to take care of other colts and fillies like you now. I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise!”
The colt let out a small disappointed whine, as Redheart’s steps steps echoed through the room.
“Can’t you stay a little more? Sleep with me a little bit?” He said pleadingly.
“N-no, I can’t…” she said while reaching the door’s threshold. “I really can’t.”
She stepped her left front hoof outside before stopping, desire and pity filling her heart and contrasting with her sense of duty.
“Sure, I shouldn’t do this in the first place and I have other ponies to attend to as well.” She muttered to herself. “But, if I don’t do this now, when will I do it? There’s no emergency ongoing, it’s deep in the night, so... they can all wait for me a lil’ more.”
“Nevermind, I will accompany you to sleep,” she said. “But then I must go. Understood?”
The colt let out a little squeal and nodded. Nurse Redheart in turn delicately climbed onto the colt’s bed and laid by his side, holding him close to her chest. He let out a small giggle and buried his head in his fur, slowly breathing as he did so.
Nurse Redheart then started to hum a little gentle song, slowly trying to rock Friendly Skies along as she did so, until he started to lightly snore, deeply asleep in her hooves.