Shimmer stared blankly at the operating table she was once lying on. Typically, when someone went in for surgery, there would be dark crimson blood everywhere. Scalpels would lie on the cart covered in blood. Even masks and disposable gowns would be soaked. It was simply the natural order of things.

But bright purple goo on everything was new. Rocket had explained what had happened. The strange glowing lights, the sparkly shapes in them, and then her blood turning purple; none of it had prepared Shimmer for the assault of confusion. In the five years she had spent studying medicine and the three working at the clinic, she had never encountered this before.

She slowly lifted a vial with her hooves and gently scooped up some of the purple liquid. She began to move over towards some of the equipment in the room. She then placed the vial in one and activated it. The small vial spun rapidly in the centrifuge, preventing it from becoming more of a goo-like substance than a liquid. She watched it spin and spin and the question on her mind became more and more troublesome.

It wasn’t blood that she knew. But it wasn’t poison either. In fact, it probably saved her life. But why had it glowed? Why did it only react once Rocket’s blood touched her own? Could it have been some type of magical interaction between their bloods?

She paused and blinked, looking at the centrifuge. “That… actually make sense,” she said aloud, not realizing she wasn’t alone in the room. Doctor Heartstrings, she had come to find out, was actually a descendant of Lyra Heartstrings. A unicorn pony she had once met while visiting Ponyville several years ago on the recommendation of Fluttershy. Lyra’s lover Bon Bon, and their only child Limerick, had survived the Megaspell disaster in the safety of Stable 27 just north of the Crystal Empire Castle.

Shimmer had also learned that Stable 27 eventually failed and the occupants were forced to abandon the confines. That had been nearly seventy-five years ago. The survivors scattered about and began to explore the remains of the Crystal Empire, only to find it a vast wasteland. Eventually, a group of thirty settled in the nearby town of Broken Barrel. Heartstrings had been born twenty years after settling and took up residency with his dying father in the clinic.

It was then he had decided to become a Doctor and received his cutie mark shortly after. Shimmer chuckled softly at it. The mark looked very similar to her own, but where hers was a ribbon, his was simply a giant pink bow tucked behind the red heart. Against his hazel coat, the cutie mark definitely stood out. But that was only when he wasn’t wearing a giant white doctor’s coat to cover it.

Heartstrings coughed behind Shimmer and she jerked her head back around to meet his gaze. As he strode forward he asked, “What makes sense?” The whir of the centrifuge slowly died as the machine turned off.
Shimmer picked up the vial with her teeth and gently placed it in a small test tube tray. “The idea that whatever this stuff is, it reacted when it came into contact with unicorn magic, which is known to be contained in minute amounts in their blood.” Shimmer moved along the table and pulled a small test cart towards the table. On the cart were several testing devices and several vials of other substances. Eyedroppers, Petri dishes, acid, and other assorted items were floated by Heartstrings magic and placed on the table.

“I’m still having trouble accepting the fact you’re two hundred years old…you don’t look a day over twenty,” Heartstrings said with a smirk as he looked over at Shimmer. “You really worked here back then?”
Shimmer replied with a giggle, “Yep, I was the Head Pharmaceutical Technician. I used to mix and prepare potions for the ponies that lived around here.” She took an eyedropper full of the purple liquid and placed some on the Petri dishes. Then returning for some of the acidic liquids, she applied them to each sample of purple liquid. The two liquids that had any effect were acid and water. Both caused the purple substance to shrivel and disappear.

They both looked down in mass confusion. However as Heartstrings took one Petri dish into his magic, the purple liquid bubbled and then promptly began to glow. Then it began to expand. And then it began to drool out of the Petri dish.

Heartstrings released the dish from his magic and it smashed against the floor. The purple liquid suddenly began to hiss and then turned a solid black before dissolving through the floor and into the darkness below.
“And this stuff saved you?” Heartstrings asked in confusion. “It just ate a hole in my floor…”

“I don’t get it either,” Shimmer replied as she looked at the floor. “I need a blood sample.” Spotting a blood bag, she grabbed a needle and began to hook it up before a hoof came down on the tube.

Heartstrings glared down at her as she looked up at him. “Look, I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but we don’t have the shit to spare for your little science experiment,” he said firmly as he kept his hoof down on the tube. “Now your friend outside said you could compensate us if we saved you. Well, you’re alive, now how do you plan to compensate us?”

Shimmer frowned as she pushed his hoof off of the tube and placed it all on the table. “Have you been able to unlock the sub-basement door?” she asked as she faced him.

“No. We haven’t.” Heartstrings replied with an expression of pure annoyance. “We’ve been trying for years, but the damn interface is both password and retinal locked. And no one from back before the war is still living to-“

Shimmer just began to smirk as he stopped talking. She then slowly moved past him and towards the rear hallway. Heartstrings was stunned for a moment and then scrambled to catch up. “Hold the goddamn scroll for a second! You can unlock the sub-basement?!”

“Yep.”

“You’re not bullshitting me right?!” Heartstrings asked in shock as they reached the main basement doors. Shimmer reached up and pushed on the door and it opened down into darkness. She moved a hoof upward and flicked a small switch. Several lights slowly clicked to life as she descended the stairs with Heartstrings right behind her.

“As long as the system hasn’t entered lockdown mode,” she replied as she moved through the basement. Old equipment littered the large and dusty open space. Several wheelchairs and gurneys sat in different corners and several old arcane mixers also could be seen mixed in the clutter. However, in front of them sat a large concrete door with a terminal sticking out of the wall.

Heartstrings shook his head as they approached the terminal. “We tried all but the final time to unlock it thirty years ago.” He sighed as he shook his head. “Back then this entire clinic was filled with crystal ghouls.”
Shimmer halted in her tracks. “Crystal Ghouls? You mean Crystal Ponies?”

“No I mean Crystal Ghouls,” Heartstrings said, turning around to face her. “Normal Ghouls you can deal with. Crystal Ghouls are three times worse.” He pointed at a few places where the dust on the floor hadn’t quite reached an even level with the rest of the dust. Underneath that spot sat pools of dark stains that Shimmer assumed to be blood.

“What’s so different about Crystal Ghouls?” Shimmer asked as she ran a hoof against the dust, revealing the blood stained floor a bit more. Her eyes turned sympathetic to those that had died and suffered resurrection only to become insane.

Heartstrings shuddered for the briefest of moments before speaking. “Unlike normal Ghouls, Crystal Ghouls are both feral and not. They don’t possess true intelligence to carry a conversation; they’re more like pack animals. They’re smart, coordinated, and extremely deadly.” He paused as he pointed around. “When we first came down here to see what was still here, we lost three in the fight.” He pointed at a small stack of wheelchairs, “Two hid behind there.” He pointed at a stack of filing cabinets. “Three behind there.” He then pointed with both arms at standing boards. “And two behind each of those boards.”

Shimmer instantly felt surrounded despite being the only one with Heartstrings. “They ambushed you,” she said quietly as she looked down at her hooves, another blood pool stain beneath her.

“It wasn’t just an ambush. It was a slaughter,” he said with a shake of his head. “Regular Ferals lost their ability to command magic long ago. Crystal Ghouls, they can use magic as easily as a Pegasus can fly.” He slowly moved towards the door. “Camper was the first one dead. He caught a magical bolt of energy in the back of the head that caused his face to explode outwards.” He ran a hoof along the wall, streaks of blood barely visible.

He moved slowly to his right. “Then Jasmina, who was telekinetically drawn and quartered,” he said, motioning to where he stood; four evenly spaced blood pool stains covered the floor. Shimmer’s mouth suddenly became dry, imagining all of her legs being telekinetically removed from her body.

Heartstrings pointed at her. “Diamond was next,” he said, shuddering. “Being drawn and quartered was horrible, but what they did to her... Nopony should go through that.”

Shimmer gave him a very nervous look. “What’d they do to her?”

Heartstrings looked up at her with sad eyes as he sighed. “They used their magic to skin her alive from the flank to the face.” He looked as if he was going to be sick. “Her screams still haunt my dreams.”

Shimmer collapsed onto her flank as she jammed a forehoof into her mouth, keeping herself from vomiting all over the floor. Heartstrings continued. “The sad thing is, she didn’t die right away.” He sat down and looked at the spot Shimmer sat. “I gave her potion after potion, Cataclysm and Zipper kept them back and killed them one by one.” He chuckled softly, coldly. “The benefits of Power Armor. It’s not easy to get magic through it.”

Shimmer gave a look of annoyance as she thought back to her own suit sitting in her basement back in The Grove. “I’m sorry they died. They sound like they were very close to you.”

Heartstrings smiled softly. “Diamond was carrying my foal when she died. And there weren’t any other mares nearby to do a transfer of the fetus. But thank you,” he said softly as he wiped a few tears from his eyes. He forcefully cleared his throat before standing up. He turned to face the door. “So! That one?”

Shimmer nodded with a forced smile as she moved to the terminal. She tapped one of the keys and the screen lit up. Displaying on the screen were several failed attempts at opening the door to the sub-basement. Typically, a terminal would simply reset when an attempt had been failed. But this terminal was designed to shut down and lock in case someone decided to try to steal the supplies in the sub-basement.
Near the end of the war, the clinic had found itself in the embarrassing situation of being sent too much Med-X. The original clinic staff had begun to skimp off the top of the Med-X crates and began selling them on the streets. While in small quantities Med-X would dull pain and boost adrenaline, large quantities would bring a pony to a sense of euphoria and send them on a rainbow filled high. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had gotten wind of this and were deeply angered at the actions of the ponies running the scheme.
Contacting Fluttershy only days later, the original staff was replaced. Shimmer was given the role of Head Pharmaceutical Technician. In charge of accurate counts of all medicines and devices sent to the clinic. Shimmer had taken pride in her work and knew the exact count of every case inside the sub-basement. After a month, a clinic that had been tainted by selfish ponies, gained a reputation of being a highly welcoming and highly efficient place. In fact, only a week before Megaspell disaster, Princess Cadance had praised the clinic on its rapid change.

Shimmer slowly typed on the keyboard. “Consider yourself lucky Heartstrings, I’m the only one that knows the password to this terminal.”

Heartstrings looked as if a Raptor had crash landed on his head. His jaw lowered as he stared at her typing at the keyboard. Slowly she pressed the keys, entering the password a second time.

On the screen, several dots appeared followed by the words, ‘A.S.C.E.N.S.I.O.N. … PASSWORD ACCEPTED. GOOD MORNING HEAD TECHNICIAN SHIMMER JUBILEE. SUB-BASEMENT LOCKS STANDING BY…RETINAL SCAN REQUIRED FOR FINAL LOCK RELEASE.’ Shimmer smiled as a small panel opened next to the terminal. A small device began to slide outwards and a small rubber piece extended that matched the shape of binoculars. Shimmer lowered her head and looked into the rubber piece.

A red light shone around the small spaces as a beam slowly passed back and forth along her eyes. The beams began scanning the patterns in her pupils. After several seconds the red then turned green. Shimmer lifted her head and blinked several times, making her eyes water in the process.

Heartstrings looked up as he heard metallic grinding coming from the door. A loud groan could be heard from each of the locks as they rotated and then eventually retracted into the wall. Shimmer looked back at Heartstrings who gaped like a foal during Winter Wrap Up.

The giant concrete door slowly began opening outwards towards them. The barely lit basement began to cast a long light beam down the short path leading to an elevator. Shimmer stepped forward and onto the elevator. It groaned slightly but didn’t move. Heartstrings hesitantly approached and stood on the elevator.
“Keep your legs and face inside unless you want to lose them,” Shimmer said as she extended her right hoof and pushed a small lever on the floor forward. The elevator jerked downward quickly—only for a moment—before slowly descending downwards into the sub-basement. At first, it was simply pitch black. But as it descended further downward, the few bulbs that worked began to kick on.

Light began filling the wide sub-basement and Heartstrings gasped in surprise. The place was completely intact. Inside it, large stacks of unopened crates of medical supplies were found. Shimmer smiled as she looked at the crates. “You’ll find twenty-five crates of each major mass produced medical devices. Healing potions, Med-X, RadAway, Psycho, Jet, Hydra, and Party Time Mint-als, all still good from the war.”

Heartstrings looked at her in disbelief. “Just how… How is this place still standing?”

“The sub-basement was originally designed to be converted to a Stable. But they never got around to actually building it, instead prioritizing on the Stable under Canterlot and 99 near Hoofington.” She replied with a shrug as the elevator reached the bottom. She pushed open the gate and moved towards the nearest crate. She placed a hoof on the wooden box and smiled, “Each crate has one hundred vials of each item. I trust this will cover our expenses? Present and future?”

Heartstrings looked at her as if she had fifty heads. Shimmer frowned at him. “Seriously? I bring you to a treasure trove of medical supplies and it’s not enough to offer us free healing?”

Heartstrings frowned at her. “Now wait just a minute here, this is my clinic and-“

“You have every right to run it as you see fit,” Shimmer said softly, “but at the same time, there is so much to go around you shouldn’t hoard it to yourselves.” She moved forward and looked him in the eye. “As a healer, I swore an oath, I want to repeat it to you. Maybe it’ll change your mind.”

Heartstrings looked annoyed but he nodded none the less. He admitted to himself that he was in fact curious. She was from another time, but she still showed him this cache of medical supplies. Any other pony would have shot him and stolen the supplies. But Shimmer, she was different—and he knew it.

Shimmer smiled as she looked at the crates. “I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific and magical gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.” She paused to take a breath. “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science and magic, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug, or the conjurors spell.”

She paused once again to take a breath but to also see the look on Heartstrings’ face. She continued as she saw his face softening with each word, “I will not be ashamed to say ‘I know not,’ nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at being a Goddess. I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick equine being, whose illness may affect the next ponies family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.”

Heartstrings looked both impressed and heartbroken. The oath was from a time forgotten. And in this world it held no place in any ponies hearts any longer. The ones that did heal, knew on some level they should help. But more often than not, that help came at a price. From what Shimmer was saying and how she was saying it, she would give healing away for free. Caring only about healing the sick and injured, no matter the cost.

She continued uninterrupted and proudly “I will prevent disease wherever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow equine beings and others, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.” She paused only to gather a breath and continued a bit louder and even more confidently. “If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art and friendship, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing and those who seek my help.”

She finally stopped and looked at Heartstrings and then motioned a hoof around. “These medicines are the last surviving pieces of a time forgotten. It is our job to help the sick and weak and not exploit them out of their caps.”

Heartstrings slowly wandered to one of the nearby crates and pushed it open. Inside were several vials filled with Hydra. He looked back at Shimmer and sighed. “One hundred units in each crate?” he asked quietly as he looked down at the Hydra once again.

Shimmer nodded as she stepped forward. “More than enough to go around and then some.” She gently placed a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s our job to do good and do it right. Two hundred years ago and even now, as healers, we must tend to all who come through our doors. Evil intent or not, we cannot deny a pony or creature medicine because of what they’ve done.”

Heartstrings slowly closed the crate and looked at Shimmer. “You truly believe we can do better? Do good?” Shimmer nodded in reply and he remained silent for a moment; thinking on the oath and the future of the clinic. He turned away from her and looked at the elevator, the bright lights from above illuminating it as if they were spotlights.

He turned to face her once again. “Can anyone take the oath?”

Shimmer smiled and nodded, “You’re a healer, and it’s your oath to take. Live by it, apply it, and you’ll feel much better with yourself and what you do.” Shimmer said before sitting down on her flank. “Raise your right hoof and repeat after me.”

An hour passed before Shimmer and Heartstrings returned to the surface. Heartstrings called a meeting of all his staff. Shimmer reluctantly agreed that they simply couldn’t just hand out free medical supplies. They would be gone with all the liars and desperate that wanted a quick fix. However, the fixed price they agreed on was more generous than previously posted.

Shimmer smiled as she watched as one by one, the ponies in the clinic began to smile. Even the rescued ponies from the Raider camp seemed happier. Heartstrings promised to heal them free of charge and provide shelter for those that wanted to stay. However, many agreed that going to The Grove was probably the best decision for them as a whole.

Rocket agreed and gave them instructions on how to find The Grove, but told them that the small yellow house near the entrance to the river bridge belonged to Shimmer. They unanimously agreed to leave the small home alone for Shimmer, but promised to fix it up a bit so that it wouldn’t completely fall over.
It was just prior to leaving that one of the rescued ponies approached Shimmer. On his head rested a red boonie hat with a logo of crossed rifles. He introduced himself as Vista, a Lieutenant in The Crystal Pony Regiment, CPR for short. The CPR in pre-war times acted as a sort of Home-guard against threats such as King Sombra. The CPR at the end of the war prevented a massive Zebra assault from breaching the Empire’s outer limits. The engagement was the only battle in the entire war for the Crystal Empire.

“What can I help you with Vista?” Shimmer asked as she looked at him. His neck sported a scar that snaked its way down his left side and ended just above his right foreleg. His boonie was weathered but still shone vibrantly against his yellow coat.

Vista looked her up and down before clearing his throat. A year in the raider camp had dried it up long ago and he spoke with a raspy deep tone, “You came up with the plan to save us from the Raiders is this correct?”

Shimmer nodded in reply, “I did. Though it didn’t quite go according to plan…I was nearly killed.”
“Yet you still saved over two dozen from certain death and now give us a place to call home.” Vista said as he began to bow slightly, “You have my eternal thanks. But I must ask, how did you learn to think that way for a healer?”

“My husband was a soldier before the war, he taught me strategy through several long games of chess.” She said to him just as she had explained earlier to Zephyr and Rocket.

Vista nodded while running a hoof under his chin, “Interesting. Very interesting…” he then lowered his hoof and smiled, “Well then I may have something to ask of you.”

Rocket stepped up next to Shimmer with a curious look on her face. Shimmer raised an eyebrow in confusion as Vista reached into a small pack next to him. “I was captured less than a week ago. We were attacked by those Raiders and my unit was scattered to hell and back.” He pulled a map from his pack and opened it and pointed with a hoof. The map was that of the Crystal Empire and he was pointing to a small gem quarry.

“My unit and I were supposed to rendezvous at this Quarry.” He said looking up at Shimmer, “If they managed to escape, they will be here.” He moved his hoof away from the map and rubbed the back of his head, “Normally I’d go. But someone needs to lead these folks to The Grove. I hate to ask but could you maybe see if my unit is still alive? And if they are, tell them to come to The Grove?”

Shimmer looked at Rocket, “What do you think?”

“Well considering there’s not much else to do? Why the hell not!” Rocket said with a smirk.

Vista smiled as he rolled up the map. “Now that you’ve seen the map, your Pip-Buck should have the information on the location and a reminder added under the Data Section.”

Shimmer raised an eyebrow, “It can do that?” She raised her hoof and activated the Pip-Buck and scrolled through the windows to Data. And sure enough, the reminder was there. And then she swapped to the Map section. And right there ‘Gem Quarry’ was labeled with a giant solid arrow pointed above it.

As she lowered her hoof she said, “Well, that’s certainly handy.” She turned quickly as she felt a hoof tapping her shoulder. Heartstrings stood behind her with a small satchel.

“For all your help and unlocking the sub-basement, I want you to have this.” He said presenting the satchel. She took the satchel and looked inside. Packed to the very top were bottles of Hydra, Med-X, and Radaway.
“Thank you Heartstrings. I appreciate it.” Shimmer said as she added the satchels contents into her bags.
Heartstrings took his satchel back and smiled, “I’ll also keep those samples of that purple stuff on hand. I know you’ll probably want to come back and take a look at it.”

Shimmer nodded with a smile as she pulled him into a gentle hug, “Thank you. Be good. Help as many as you can.” She said with a content sigh before pulling away. She then looked at Rocket, “Let’s find Zephyr and get going. We’ve got some ponies to find.”

Author's Note

This was an interesting chapter to write. The Hypocratic Oath was something I stumbled on accidentally and wanted to include. It was fun modifying it for Fallout Equestria.

As always, thank you Kkat for writing Fallout Equestria and encouraging us to play in the world!

And big thanks to Aeluna for her hard work and putting up with my terrible grammar and thus making the story readable for everyone to enjoy!