Exposure Therapy

Twilight sighed in semi-embarrassment. They'd almost gotten to one of the rooms when Spike remembered Luna had said he wouldn't be getting his schedule for another day or so. Along with his having to see the nurse for a checkup. "I am so glad we realized this before actually getting to class-eep!" She squeaked when Sunset poked her in the ribs.

"Twi, chill. Considering what's gone on since yesterday, I'd have been surprised if any of us did remember that. Besides, you and I had to get checkups as well. It's no big deal. And Nurse Redhead is married; I really doubt she'll get his phobia acting up."

Spike sighed. "I really hope that's the case, Sunset..." He winced when his stomach growled violently.

"Spike, when's the last time you ate?" Twilight asked. Biology might not have been her chosen field, but she knew it wasn't supposed to sound like that.

"Not since yesterday morning..." He paused at the look he got from Twilight, then Sunset.

Nurse Redheart jumped when the door of her office was flung open and a...large individual stumbled in, with an unamused Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer behind him; both standing like they'd shoved him in.

"Yike!" He yelped trying not to land in a heap. "Ok, I'll admit it's not a good thing, but don't you think that was an overreaction??"

"Spike, going twenty four hours without eating isn't healthy for anyone!" Sunset replied.

"But..." He paused again when he saw the look Nurse Redheart was now giving him.

"Could you repeat that, Miss Shimmer?"

"Overreacting...!" Spike protested after being shoved into a chair, the legs creaking slightly under his weight.

"I'll be the judge of that, young man." Redheart responded after hearing the story from both girls, before turning her attention to them while jotting something in a notepad. "If you hurry you should get to the cafeteria before it closes. Here, this note should answer any questions they might have."

"Thanks, Nurse Redheart." Twilight took the note and looked at Spike.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he stays here until you get back." Once the girls headed out, she turned back to him, her tail flicking around. "So..." She took a better look at him. "...you're the one Dean Luna said to be ready for." She briefly held up her hand to show the wedding band on it. "If it helps, I'm a happily married woman, so I doubt you have anything to worry about."

Spike returned the look, but his fear wasn't acting up, regardless of how close she got. "Do I at least get a sucker out of this...?'

"Um, Twilight? I know this is probably a bad time to ask, but..." Sunset glanced back the hall. "Is it safe to leave him there?"

"I'm hesitant, but you remember when I said that Spike had been panicking when he learned this was an all-girl school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when Dean Celestia showed, he was more scared about that than her. Granted, she didn't show any indication she was going to react to him like those girls did, but still, he wasn't really scared of her. He wasn't really scared of Dean Luna either."

"Yeah....you think his phobia reacts if they act a certain way to him? Or just a certain age?"

"Maybe, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I'm fairly certain he's as safe with Nurse Redheart as he is with us."

"And the rest of the gang, hopefully." Sunset added.

"Hopefully..."

"All right, let's start off with the usual." Redheart gestured to the scale. "Step on, please."

Spike went over, but as soon as he got on, it beeped an alarm. 'WARNING! WEIGHT LIMIT EXCEEDED!' "Yeah...that's happened before."

"What? But this thing's got a three hundred and fifty pound limit!" She gave the scale a smack.

"Does it help if I say my last weighing had me at four-eighty?" He asked. "Had to use a vet scale, but..."

"F-four hundred and eighty...!?" She looked at him briefly in shock before schooling her features back in business mode. "Right...um, let's do height next."

Unfortunately, the measuring stand only went to six feet. So, she had to resort to a length of medical tubing and fold the excess to add up the total. "Seven-foot...five."

"I'm...big for my age?" Spike offered weakly.

"Pretty much." She exhaled. "Pretty much...all right, let's just get the rest." She pointed to the chair and went to get a thermometer. "Open wide...not that wide!" She recoiled a bit when he managed to show her a mouthful of sharp teeth. ''Right, Dragonblood, I forgot.'' She gently slipped the thermometer under his tongue. It may have been made of medical-grade pyrex, but she wasn't sure which was stronger.

While blood pressure cuff. "Just relax and..." She wrapped it around his bicep and tried to get the velcro to connect. Key word: tried. "Relax."

"Eh am." He replied around the thermometer, accompanied by the scratching of his teeth on the pyrex

"You have to be kidding me!" She blurted out, realizing that his arm was bigger around than the cuff could reach. "Son, normally, this would go against my usual bedside manner, but...you are built like a reinforced concrete shithouse! Even by Dragonblood standards, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity!"

"Uh...thanksh?"

Meanwhile, the girls had managed to get to the cafeteria in time and were trying to figure out what to get Spike.

"How much should we even get?" Sunset asked as Twilight picked up a few cereal cups and a couple pints each of regular and chocolate milk. "Big size doesn't always mean big appetite." She went ahead and grabbed an apple and a pack of still warm bacon.

"True, but then again, we haven't had breakfast yet either, so may as well err on the side of caution." She replied, putting everything into one of the carrying boxes for larger groups.

"Now that you mention it..." A few more pieces of fruit, some sausage, and a couple of chocolate muffins joined the assortment, along with - to Sunset's delight - the last pint of strawberry milk.

"You all right??" Spike asked, helping Redheart regain her balance. He'd sneezed while she was checking his eyes and headbutted her by accident.

"Thank you Prime Minister, is my hula showing?" She slurred, look past him cross-eyed.