“Okay, Fluttershy, you can do this…”
The nervous pegasus pony pushed open to the door to Ponyville Hospital, and found herself shaking as she approached the front counter. The clerk working there gave her a smile, but it didn’t do anything to calm her nerves. She did her best to crack a smile, trying to formulate a greeting. Why, oh why, did she have to be so scared of the doctor’s office? They helped ponies, yet she always found herself totally uncomfortable.
‘Come on, Fluttershy, it’s for your own good…’ She scolded herself, trying to work up the courage to speak.
After a few moments, she cleared her throat. “Um, hi, I need to see Doctor Horse, please…”
“Certainly,” the mare smiled. “You’ll just need to fill out this form.”
Fluttershy took the clipboard she was offered, and pranced over to a seat in the waiting room. That had gone well enough, but the hardest part laid ahead. There were a few other ponies in the waiting room with her, but they mostly kept to themselves as she filled out her form. There was one little colt that kept kicking at her seat, but she did her best to ignore it as she signed her name, followed by the date.
Fluttering over to the counter, she handed the clipboard, with her papers held tightly, back to the clerk. “Thank you very much, Fluttershy. Nurse Redheart will be with you momentarily.”
Fluttershy nodded, and flew back to her seat. ‘Momentarily? Who knows how long that could be… I could be stuck here for hours, or days! Oh gosh, what if I have to spend the rest of my life here?! I’ve gotta get out of—”
“Fluttershy?” Nurse Redheart’s unmistakeable voice tore her away from those scary thoughts, and she let out a sigh.
‘Oh, she meant a few seconds, hehe…’
Fluttershy got up, and made her way over to the nurse she’d come to know over her years in Ponyville. “H-hello, Nurse Redheart.”
“Good afternoon, Fluttershy,” Redheart replied, letting the doorway to the waiting room slam shut behind them. Fluttershy jumped at the noise, and Redheart tittered. “Every time?”
Fluttershy chuckled nervously. “Sorry…”
“It’s fine,” Redheart smiled, stopping just as the pair were about to round a corner. She motioned towards a scale placed up against the wall. “Please step on the scale so we can have your weight.”
Fluttershy climbed onto the scale, and watched as it landed right where she thought it would.
“Hundred and five pounds, very good,” Redheart noted, writing it down in Fluttershy’s file. “How tall are you, Fluttershy?”
“Four feet, one inch,” Fluttershy replied. This was going well, much easier than she remembered it being last time. She watched as Redheart wrote that down as well, then began to trot off around the corner. Quick to follow her, Fluttershy was led into a small room, which she recognized as the doctor’s office. “Um, will Doctor Horse be long?”
Redheart smiled. “Just have a seat on the bed, he’ll be here shortly.” With that, the door slammed shut, and Fluttershy winced. The wait for the doctor was a bit longer than she would have liked, but there was at least a few magazines to flip through to pass the time.
Once the door opened again, a light brown stallion poked his head through the door. “Fluttershy?”
The timid pegasus nodded her head, and Doctor Horse slipped into the room, closing the door quietly behind himself. Walking over to his desk, he took a seat and quickly went over her file. Once he was done, he spun his chair around to face her, and smiled. “I understand you’re here about a cough that’s been bothering you?”
“Oh, yes. It’s been bothering me for a couple weeks now.” She paused, hoping not to insult him with what she said next. “I actually didn’t want to come here, but Rainbow Dash made me.”
“Well, I can assure you there’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure Ms. Dash is simply looking out for your best interests,” he said, putting on his stethoscope and placing the pad on her chest. “Deep breaths, please.”
Fluttershy did as he said, and he pulled away after a few breaths. “She is, it’s just… I’m a bit scared of the doctor’s office,” she admitted. To her surprise, Doctor Horse chuckled as he went back over to her file, writing something down in it.
“Trust me, you’re not alone in having that fear Fluttershy. Anyways, you’re sinuses are most likely acting up as a result of all the pollen in the air this time of year. It’s nothing to worry ab—” Doctor Horse stopped abruptly, and that worried Fluttershy. “Well this is certainly odd.”
“Uh oh, is something wrong, doctor?”
“According to what you’ve filled out here, you’ve never had a tetanus shot?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned back to face her.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Oh, no! I was always too scared as a little filly to get a shot!”
“Well,” he continued, swiveling around in his chair and opening up a cabinet, “that needs to change. If you don’t get a tetanus shot, you could risk infection if you ever get a cut or puncture your skin.”
“Heh, well I’m sure that wouldn’t be so bad.” She wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, herself or Doctor Horse, but she knew she was doing a poor job of both. She had already found out what was wrong, so what would be the problem if she didn’t get a tetanus shot?
“Please, Fluttershy, for my sake. I would sleep better at night knowing you didn’t walk out of here without taking every precaution you could against getting a bad infection and winding back up here.”
Fluttershy let out a sigh at hearing that, and slowly nodded her head. “Alright…”
Her mind changed almost immediately when she saw the size of the needle he pulled out of the cabinet, though, and she practically flew back into the wall away from him. He let out a sigh as her eyes turned to pinpricks. “Fluttershy, I promise you that it’s not as painful as you believe it will be. It’ll just be a little prick.”
Fluttershy wasn’t having any of his lies, though, and flew around the room trying to avoid him, knocking over numerous items as she did. “N-no, please! I don’t wanna die!”
“It’s not going to kill you!” he shouted, grabbing her with his magic. She closed her eyes in fear as he brought the needle over and approached her. “I didn’t want to have to do this, Fluttershy, but you’ve left me no choice.”
The next thing Fluttershy felt was a tiny pinch on her right foreleg for a few seconds, and then nothing. “Wh-what?”
“All done,” he sounded annoyed. “But you’ve completely wrecked my office.”
Fluttershy took a look around. There were vials broken on the floor, papers everywhere, a few paintings had fallen off of the walls, and she’d knocked over a plant and spilled the soil everywhere. Chuckling nervously, she turned back to face him. “Uh, hehe, at least it didn’t hurt?”
Author's Note
Shots suck, but you gotta have them.
That is all.
Oh, and I hope you liked it, Sky Blazer!
