Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of the small hospital in ponyville, checking up on the patients as she passed by each door. Small being relative, of course, it was a big building, but it wasn’t nearly as big or prestigious as ones in Canterlot or Manehatten, but it was in her hometown, so she stayed here. The day was winding down, and there were no patients in severe condition, so she was just making sure that nopony was uncomfortable, hungry, or needed their bedpan emptied. It wasn’t glamorous work, for certain, but she enjoyed doing it. The look of relief on most ponies faces as they finally get discharged was pleasing. They had survived another bout with illness or injury, and come out of it no worse for wear. Though they might hate being in the hospital, being able to leave it was better than the alternative.
Ponyville General was the only hospital in town, so everypony came here eventually. She knew everypony from Princess Twilight, to Screwy. Screwy… rarely left the hospital, but she was a special case. The rest of the ponies came and went, some more often than others, such as Miss Derpy Hooves. She was always getting banged up one way or another, but she was always so very upbeat about it all! The other patients always loved seeing her, and it was a treat to have her, despite her injuries.
She stopped off at the final patient’s room, and carefully opened the door. It was getting close to bed time, so she wasn’t expecting many ponies to be awake. Sure enough, she peeked her head inside, and nopony seemed to be awake. She crept in anyway, just to check, and they were all very much asleep. She nodded, pleased, and took her leave, shutting the door quietly and making her way back to the front desk.
Redheart signed off on her rounds and moved to the front door.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of Ponyville General, pushing a cart covered with pills, foodstuffs, and various medical supplies along the straight, and sometimes dull, paths she always did. She delivered supplies to many ponies, asking them if they needed their pillows fluffed, checking if they needed bandages changed, checking to make sure they were keeping up with their treatments, and otherwise maintaining order and discipline in the hospital.
It was her job and she loved it. Making ponies comfortable in situations where they would otherwise feel miserable was an important talent, and she shone brightly when she performed it. Ponies knew her name, knew to call her if they needed anything, and she felt needed, which was important to her. She didn’t want ponies to keep coming back to the hospital, but she was always happy to help them feel comfortable when they did.
She looked at a clock on the wall as she passed by; 5:00pm. Suppertime! She’d start with the east wings on the top floor first, and work her way down. It was somepony else’s turn for the west wing this week. This meant she’d have to feed Screwy, which might take her a little bit long, but she could handle it. Screwy liked her more than most of the other ponies. She rarely got bit at all!
Nurse Redheart stopped off at the supplies closet first, putting away the supply cart, and shelving some of the less necessary items. Then she went to the cafeteria to pick up her food cart. It had already been laden down with all the lunches, including any special needs or requests by some of the ponies that were currently indisposed. They were labeled, thankfully, so she didn’t have to memorize every single pony that needed or ordered something specific. She had no doubts she could remember them, but it helped to just look and see. She could remember everything.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of Ponyville’s only hospital; Ponyville General. Today there was an emergency patient being taken to the ER. An injury to the left lung and surgery was necessary to pull out a foreign object. Nurse Redheart had been told to take care of the patients in the east wing again. She was always given the east wing these days. She missed her friends from the west wing, but at least Screwy was always happy to see her. The conversation was… lacking, though. Still, she was happy to help, and she would always be happy to help. It was her special talent after all.
She walked up to the door to Screwy’s cell and peeked inside the tiny window.
“Bark! Bark bark bark! Woof!” Screwy panted. She put her hooves up on the door and lifted her head up closer to Redheart, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
Screwy could talk to animals, apparently, which was part of her special talent, but she got a little too… into it. Unlike Fluttershy, who seemed to have no trouble and could just communicate with animals without trying to emulate their noises, Screwy had to speak like them, and if she spent too much time with them, well… here she was. It was unfortunate, but despite her clearly unstable manner, she wasn’t too violent. She’d even gotten out once during one of her more lucid spells. Maybe she’d have another one soon? Redheart hoped so. It pained her to see a pony like this.
Nurse Redheart finished her rounds, checking up on all the ponies, marking any changes or needs on the requisite sheets, and moved down to the front desk. She signed off and moved for the front door.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls where sick ponies were made well again. Many of them came and went, but she was always here, working hard. Once again she had been given the east wing to manage. It didn’t look like anypony had been here since last she’d gone through it. A lot of the rooms were empty, save a few down on the first floor. She brought them their food and was going to ask them if they needed anything, but they appeared to be asleep. She checked over them and read the clipboards next to the bed to see that they had all their supplies. They looked to be fine, though, so she left the room.
She was ahead of schedule, so she went back upstairs to the wing for the mentally ill to check on Screwy. She was doing fine, and as happy to see Redheart as ever, bounding up to the door and barking madly. She was a crazy ray of sunshine on Redheart’s otherwise bleak day, and she reached in a hoof and scratched Screwy on the head. She wasn’t really supposed to. Doctor Horse thought it exacerbated her condition, but Redheart was a nurse without anypony to nurse, and that felt pretty bad. She wasn’t supposed to go over to the west wing unless she was told to, so she had to make do.
She pulled her hoof away from Screwy and shut the window again, then made her rounds once more. Nopony needed any help the first time, and nopony needed help the second time. She checked the supply closet, then the bedpans in all the rooms. Even the empty ones. She checked blankets, pillows, syringes, IV racks, sheets, everything. By the time she had made sure everything was properly stocked, it was time to clock out. With a sigh of relief, Redheart made her way to the front desk, signed out, and moved for the front door.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls where she had spent her entire life. Ever since she had discovered her cutie mark in helping the sick, she had been placed in areas where she could put that talent to excellent use. Today she was feeling much more chipper than usual. She was back in the east wing yet again, but this time there was much more going on! She was helping push supplies to and fro, and administering medicine to everypony she could find. Doctor Horse was experiencing quite the panic attack, unfortunately. It appeared that some sort of epidemic had hit Ponyville, and so the hospital was rather full of ponies at the moment. Some sort of flu, he had said. No matter what it was, though, she was working again, full time, and there was always more going on.
Once all the ponies had been situated in their rooms, Redheart had been told to keep an eye on all of them, make sure they had everything they needed to keep them well, and to notify him or any other doctors if anything changed, for the better, or the worse. It was not the most exciting work, but she took to it like she took to any of her work; with enthusiasm and a good attitude! The ponies she was helping didn’t seem to feel the same way, but she couldn’t blame them. They were sick, after all. None of them appeared to be in critical condition, so that was good, but it still probably wasn’t pleasant. She made her best effort to make them feel comfortable and at home, and provided them with plenty of fluids and food in order to make them comfortable, and in order to help them get better as fast as possible. She was even needed to stay overtime, and although she had wanted to clock out for the day, she knew she was needed, so she stayed.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls where she worked, drained of energy. Her long shift the day before had her running on the last bit of power she had in her, and she was near to falling over. The ponies had been improving, which was excellent. Doctor Horse was pleased that it had just been a regular flu and not something more serious. The way it spread so quickly, he was worried it had been dangerously contagious. He assured Redheart that was not the case, and that it had simply been in the food the ponies had shared at a local restaurant. They’d all had that in common when they came in, he’d found out, so that was likely where it had started. There was an investigation looking into where the hay had come from, which was interesting, but nothing Nurse Redheart needed to worry about. Right now she was just worried about staying upright.
She forced herself to trot in as chipper a manner as possible, in order to convey energy and happiness to the ponies she met, but her voice came out in a tired drawl, and she was afraid she had the opposite effect on most of them. They kind of looked at her funny and assured her they were fine, and that she should really get some rest. She agreed with them, but until she was relieved of duty, she had to keep going. A nurse could not simply abandon her post like that without a replacement, so she kept going.
Her vision started getting blurry after another hour of work, and her hooves weren’t carrying her in straight lines anymore. She stumbled into one of the rooms, attempted to ask them if they needed anything, but nothing but a strangled croak came out. She fell to the floor, and the patients panicked as she toppled. Then everything went black.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of Ponyville General, much more energized than she had been when she collapsed. She’d caught snippets of the conversation after she’d collapsed. Doctor Horse had come to collect her, and she remembered him reprimanding her for not taking a break. The next thing she remembered was being in his office and having a long talk about making sure to recharge herself whenever she has an opportunity during the long work days. Taking fifteen minutes for yourself was a useful trick he’d learned years ago in this business, and she should do the same. If she ever finds herself without work, she should give herself a little break.
She’d nodded and accepted the reprimand, but he had also been pleased that all the sick ponies had gotten well so quickly. She was happy that it had all worked out so well, and had returned to her duties as soon as he’d let her go. She insisted she was feeling up to it, and he had allowed it. She spent the day caring for patients as per the usual, and in both wings this time. He had been so impressed with her work that he trusted her to cover both wings! On the condition she remember to recharge during the day. She wasn’t going to let him down. She’d set an alarm to remind herself just in case there was downtime.
She found that as she covered the wings for supplies and questions from patients, that when she passed by the first floor going from one wing to the next, that she could slip in a good fifteen minutes for herself, which gave her enough energy to continue the other wing. She found that it worked out so well, that she didn’t even need to clock out! She could just keep going all day! Doctor Horse was just an absolute fount of good advice!
Nurse Redheart continued trotting down the halls of Ponyville’s only hospital nonstop. Days went by and she hadn’t ever clocked out. She’d followed Doctor Horse’s advice to the letter, and during any lulls in work she found, she took a short break to recharge, which allowed her to keep working. She went up and down both wings of the hospital, traveling from floor to floor, up and down, east to west. In the middle of the night and during the day. She made sure all the supplies were full at all times, and there was nothing missing form any patient’s rooms. She was just sure she was making sure everything was working for all the other doctors.
That is, until Doctor Horse found her after a week of this behavior. He said they had received complaints about her. She’d been disturbing patients with her midnight jaunts into their rooms to make sure everything was in place. She’d never spoken to any of them when they were sleeping, but they said they found it… creepy. She’d specifically avoided turning any lights on when she did. She knew the rooms by heart, and where to find and check for everything. She didn’t need a light. But her presence in the room, shuffling about in the blackness at night was disturbing to anypony that ended up seeing her.
He told her she needed to leave sleeping ponies alone and don’t enter their rooms unless an alert or call is heard, and she had acquiesced to his orders. She had to, after all. He was the head doctor. He hadn’t minded that she had figured out how to stay working all day every day, which was nice, but she just had to occupy herself with something else. He had promised to teach her something new now that she had so much extra time to work, which sounded good. She was looking forward to it.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the hall of the West wing, headed toward the operating theater. Doctor Horse had asked her to observe an operation up close to see how she felt about learning how to perform surgery herself. She wasn’t going to be doing anything in the theater, just watching, but this was a rare opportunity. She hadn’t even been taught surgery! This was exciting!
She prepared herself to enter the operating theater, making sure she was clean and entered the room. Doctor Horse was already inside, the patient on the table. He ordered her to stand next to him and just watch and remember everything.
So she did.
She didn’t say a word, didn’t ask any questions, she just observed as his magic moved the tools about, pulling prying, poking, slicing, snipping, suturing, excising and swabbing. Doctor Horse had other assistants passing him tools, and she remembered those as well, making sure to catalog what was what, and what each one was used for. She’d done some preliminary reading beforehoof to understand what everything was, and she thought she understood fairly well. Only time would tell, though. She hoped there would be a test afterward so she could prove she’d learned it all.
The surgery went off without a hitch, and the patient was moved to the West wing, where she could go check up on him later. Redheart waited outside the theater for Doctor Horse to clean up and come find her.
“So how do you feel about surgery, Redheart?” Doctor Horse asked.
“I feel confident that I could perform the same surgery again, but I do not know that I could perform any other surgery without first seeing it. Do you wish to test me?” Redheart answered.
“I think we should. Continue your rounds and I’ll find you when I have a test setup this week.” Doctor Horse said.
Redheart nodded and went back to work.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of the hospital, during the day, and the night, continuing her regular work until about a week later when Doctor Horse found her. He asked her to follow him to his office because he finally had that test prepared for her. When they arrived in his office, he had a small simulacrum of a pony on a table set out, with all the tools she remembered from her time in the operating theater.
“Now, I want you to perform the procedure as you recall it from last week in the operating theater.” Doctor Horse told her.
“Of course Doctor.” Redheart responded.
Redheart moved to the table and then…
Nurse Redheart trotted down the hall of the hospital, then stopped. Ponies behind her bumped into her and grumbled as they went around, but she wasn’t really focused on them. She remembered Doctor Horse had asked her to come with him to his office, and she remembered he had been ready to test her, and then… nothing. Why did she forget that? Did she pass? Did she fail? Did she faint at the sight of the fake blood? Surely there had been fake blood. She couldn’t recall for the life of her, and she didn’t know why.
She stood there confused, trying to think of what had happened to her and why. She could ask Doctor Horse, but he was probably busy. She hadn’t woken up in a hospital bed, so she surely hadn’t fainted. She was feeling perfectly fine, so she hadn’t had an accident. She just couldn’t remember what had happened to her between the start of the operation and the end of it. If Doctor Horse had been unhappy with her performance, she’d have been punished or demoted back to the East wing again, but she was told she still had full access to everything, so she decided not to worry about it for now. Doctor Horse would come get her if he needed anything else.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the hall of Ponyville General, uninterested in what was going on around her. She went into her resting nook and laid down, thinking in the short time she had before she was expected in the next wing.
Something was going on, and she didn’t know what. She had all these memories she didn’t recall making, and all these moments of complete blackouts that were going on. Each one was preceded by an interaction with Doctor Horse. She had originally thought he was grooming her to become a surgeon like him, but she couldn’t remember anything beyond her initial meetings with him. He would find her in the halls, ask her to accompany him to the operating wing, and then she would black out. She would completely forget what happened in there, but sometimes she would come away with more knowledge of surgery. She now knew how to stitch up wounds, excise tumors, set broken legs, remove foreign objects, repair a jaw, and much more. It had been going on for several months now, and she was losing more and more time to these blackouts.
She had brought it up with Doctor Horse, but he had dismissed her concerns, telling her that she was just entering what he liked to call the ‘operating trance’. He himself did it when he performed surgery, and she would learn to remember what happened as she got better at it. As long as she recalled how to perform the surgery, then everything was fine. There was no cause for concern.
Redheart trusted him, so she let it be after that one time, but it kept happening, and he hadn’t offered her any advice on how to get better at it so that she would remember all these surgeries that she was taking part in. If she could manage that, she’d be happy. She got back up and continued her rounds, hoping things would improve.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the hall of the East wing once more. She wasn’t sure why, but she had been relegated to the East wing once more, and most of the patients put into the West wing instead. She was never sure why she was singled out in such a way, so that she was left with nothing but Screwy for company, but it probably had to do with one of her blackouts again. She must have done something and she could remember it. She couldn’t remember most of the past week at all, beyond being called in to a meeting with Doctor Horse.
He had mentioned something… about… an important client? Then, something about how it would be fantastic to show off. Then she had laughed excitedly, and then he had put a hoof around her, and she had blacked out there. She couldn’t remember anything else. Next thing she knew she was back at work, and told she couldn’t leave the East wing.
She moved through the patient’s rooms slowly, making sure the few who were here were comfortable. Screwy was always happy to see her, and with only four other patients to take care of, she had plenty of free time, so she spent most of it playing with Screwy.
The poor mare was always so neglected. She really needed to make more time to spend with Screwy. Most other nurses and doctors thought she was a lost cause, so she should just be left in here and provided with the minimum necessities to survive, but Redheart thought with a little more constant interaction with other ponies, she would get better. It was just too bad nopony wanted to spend more time with her. Redheart would be the one to do so! She would prove to Doctor Horse that no matter how far gone, Screwy could be brought back! That would impress him!
Nurse Redheart cheerfully trotted through the halls of the East wing, making her way to Screwy’s cell. She had managed to make time to visit Screwy, what with most of the patients being moved to the West wing, she had a lot of extra time, and talking with Screwy could be said to be part of her treatment, so it wasn’t like Redheart wasn’t working.
She walked up to the lone occupied room on the second floor of the hospital, and slid open the window to check up on Screwy. Screwy had probably been napping, because she was bounding across the floor toward the door. There was a clang as she collided with it, rattling it on its hinges.
“Bark! Bark bark!” Screwy yelped, hooves scrabbling at the door.
“Hello Screwy. How are you today?” Redheart asked.
“Yip!” Screwy said.
“Well, I suppose that sounds good. What shall we talk about today?” Redheart asked.
Screwy just sat down and looked up at the window with a smile on her face. She usually did. Redheart was just hoping that she would eventually get a response from her that was different from a dog’s bark. Even a cat’s meow or a bird’s chirp would indicate something different was going on. All it would take was perseverance, she was sure of it! So she talked, and Screwy listened.
The conversation was incredibly one-sided, and she didn’t stay much longer than a half hour, after which she went through her daily rounds, checking up on the few patients she had, then came back, spending more time with Screwy. She left her alone at night, but whenever Screwy was awake, she was there to chat with her about anything and everything, just to see how she might respond. Maybe one of her words would trigger some sort of reaction from the mare, and she’d have a breakthrough. It was worth a try.
Nurse Redheart tottered down the halls of Ponyville General. She’d spoken with Doctor Horse today, and once again she found herself back where she started, with a gap in her memory almost the full length of the meeting. She hadn’t learned anything new this time. At least, she didn’t think she had. She sifted through the massive body of knowledge that she had sitting in her brain, trying to find one she didn’t recognize. It was kind of scary having a brain full of knowledge that she didn’t remember gathering. It was like there was a different pony inside her that was using her as storage for all the medical knowledge she was gathering.
Nurse Redheart stopped as she contemplated the implications of that possibility. What would this other pony be like? Was she as kind and helpful as Redheart herself? Was she rude? Sweet? Cruel? The possibilities were endless, but if Doctor Horse, who must observe her during these moments, didn’t think there was anything wrong, she couldn’t be all bad, could she? She was at least good at surgery, that much was certain. Redheart looked down at her hooves and wondered how she performed all of these delicate operations without a horn. Was this other pony she became really that dexterous?
She was exhausted, but she wanted to visit Screwy before she took a rest. It had been hours since she’d stopped by, and Screwy would be expecting some sort of visit, even if it was just a hello.
The door to Screwy’s cell was just ahead, and she slowly came closer to it. She slid open the window and looked inside. Screwy was sitting there tossing a ball at the wall and catching it as it came back. Redheart wouldn’t normally think this a big deal, but Screwy was using her hoof instead of her mouth! This was incredible!
Screwy turned to look at Redheart. “Hello Nurse Redheart.”
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of the East wing in the hospital in Ponyville. She was staying on the bottom floor because there was nopony in the upper sections at the moment. Most of the patients who required more strict care were in the West wing, and she was left caring for the day to day needs of stable patients with minor injuries that were well on their way to healing. She wandered down the hall, having taken care of everything, feeling fully rested after her normal fifteen-minute recharge break, and then stopped, feeling confused.
She was looking at the stairs leading up to the second floor. There was something she was forgetting, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember what it was. It had something to do with the second floor, but whenever she thought about it, she started to feel a sort of headache building up behind her eyes. She shook her head and went over her rounds again.
Redheart stood staring at the stairs up to the second floor again, some passing ponies giving her odd looks. There was something she was forgetting, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember what it was. It had something to do with the second floor, but whenever she thought about it, she started to feel a sort of headache building up behind her eyes. She shook her head and went over her rounds again.
Nurse Redheart shuffled back and forth in front of the stairs up to the second floor, shaking her head side to side in frustration. There was something she was forgetting, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember what it was. It had something to do with the second floor, but whenever she thought about it, she started to feel a sort of headache building up behind her eyes. She shook her head and went over her rounds again.
Nurse Redheart walked slowly down the halls of of Ponyville General. She was feeling tired and listless, even though she’d been getting enough rest. She couldn’t remember the last time she left the hospital. No wonder she didn’t have a special somepony. Married to her work, that was her. Looked good, fit, hard worked, but no time for love. Only patients. She meandered in a wavy line down the hallway one direction, then the other, then back again, mumbling to herself. She was the only nurse down here, so she kept doing it until an orderly caught her and called Doctor Horse. He arrived quickly and stopped her.
“Nurse Redheart, what are you doing?” Doctor Horse asked her.
“Doing… my rounds…” She answered, unable to focus on his face.
“Not like this you’re not. What is causing you so much trouble?” He asked.
“I can’t remember.” She responded, finally focusing on his face.
“You don’t remember why you’re doing this?” He asked.
“No… I don’t remember a lot of things, and that’s why. I forgot something upstairs, I’m sure of – nnngh!” Her headache flared up again when she thought about upstairs.
“Ah. I see. Come with me, we’ll get you fixed up.” Doctor Horse said, and beckoned to her. She started following him, and they passed into the West wing where he led her to his office. He opened the door and motioned to her to come inside, but she stopped at the entrance.
If she went in there, she was certain she would forget something again. She might even come out with more knowledge that she didn’t remember gaining, and who knows; she might even be forgetting things important to her that are being replaced by this new knowledge! Her legs shook and she looked at Doctor Horse with fear.
“Come inside, Redheart. I can help you.” Doctor Horse said insistently.
“I’ve been forgetting things. Hours, sometimes a whole day! I wake up having lost so much time, and I don’t know where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing! In addition to that, I find that I’ve learned how to perform surgery that I don’t ever remember learning! What’s happening to me Doctor!” She wailed.
“Redheart please, come inside my office!” Doctor Horse insisted.
Ponies were stopping to stare, orderlies muttered behind her as they walked by, but none of them stopped. Nurses glared at her with hate in their eyes. Why did they hate her? What had she done? Was the reason she was stuck in the East wing alone because of what she did while she didn’t remember anything? Would she forget this as well?
Doctor Horse sighed and stepped out of his office, and Redheart tried to bring herself to back away, but couldn’t manage it. Her legs were locked in place, and she stared in fear, cowering in front of her boss. He reached out a hoof and-
Nurse Redheart tried to open her eyes, but she found she couldn’t, or wasn’t able to. She could hear voices, and they were talking, but she couldn’t see anything, and she couldn’t say anything. She could sort of feel something, but it wasn’t a very strong feeling. She tried to kick a hoof, but even though she strained and strained, nothing happened.
She’d heard of this before: Sleep paralysis. Fairly uncommon, but horrifying to those ponies it happened to, or so she’d heard. From what she’d read about it, it was when the brain wakes up, but the rest of the body has yet to be made aware, and so the pony experiencing it has hallucinations, both auditory and visual. She couldn’t see, but she could hear.
“…forgetting and complains about it?” A voice said. It was feminine, but muffled and distorted. A side-effect of the hallucination.
“Yes. It causes her visible distress, and impairs her work. I know you said she would be more useful, but the memory problems are causing significant difficulties.” That one was male, and she was pretty sure it was Doctor Horse despite the distortion. She was probably hallucinating her concerns from when she was awake. The subconscious mind is a curious thing.
“That’s not good. She shouldn’t have black spots in her memory at all. That wasn’t the intent. It was just supposed to help her improve, not erase anything. You say she still performs the operations flawlessly, despite not remembering?” The female voice said.
“Oh yes indeed. Performing above and beyond what you had promised. She picks it all up extremely quickly, and can emulate it on body shapes that are the same or different than what she observed. Truly skilled work, let me assure you. But outside of the operating room, her regular nurse duties are suffering tremendously.” Doctor Horse said.
“Indeed. That shouldn’t be the case at all… let me see.” The female voice said. Redheart heard shuffling noises, hoofsteps, and scraping sounds, and she was sure something was being moved, but she felt nothing at all.
“Oh! Oh dear.” The female said.
“What is it?” Doctor Horse said.
“I think the spell missed something.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she’s not fully out.”
“Oh! Oh dear indeed. Can you fix it?”
“I think so, let me just…”
“Isn’t it that part?”
“No, the one we want is over here.”
“Ah, of course.”
“Do you think she felt anything?”
“No, that’s active, but she probably heard us talking.”
“Oh that’s terrible!”
“Not at all, she’ll just wake up, and dismiss it as a dream. That’s the beauty of…”
Nurse Redheart trotted down the halls of the West wing, happily helping everypony that needed it. She was feeling absolutely wonderful now that she had spoken to Doctor Horse about her problems, and everything was okay now. She still had those blank spots in her memory, but she was confident that that would eventually come back, and Doctor Horse told her that despite all of that, she was a model surgeon, and he was happy to have her around. She didn’t even remember why she was so worried about it in the first place!
The day wore on, and Nurse Redheart stayed in the West wing like she had been asked. There was plenty to do, since this was where most of the patients were kept, ones that needed more immediate help, or had some form of higher trauma. Coworkers still gave her dirty looks when it seemed like she couldn’t see them, but that was a small problem, not a big one at all. She could deal with jealous coworkers. She just needed to keep working.
“…probably sleeping with…”
“…no she can’t, remember?”
“What good is…”
“…really? I would have thought…”
“…the East wing? Nopony likes…”
“…got bitten. Angry since she…”
“Screwy? Yeah. Much more.”
At hearing the name, Redheart felt a twinge of remembrance. There was somepony she was forgetting, and that name had something to do with it. That was a pony she had forgotten. What was it she had forgotten about them though? Redheart sifted through her memories, trying to find it, but kept coming up with surgery techniques instead. Most of her memories, she realized, were surgery techniques. She knew her own name, her workplace, her cot, medicine, and a map of the entire hospital, but she couldn’t remember much else. She couldn’t remember her family!
Nurse Redheart stood in the middle of the hall, trying to think of her family. Normal ponies have families, right? Right?! A mother, a father, maybe siblings, grandparents, a pet. She couldn’t remember any of it! Those were normal things, right? She should have those!
Somepony bumped into her with a gurney and glared at her.
“Oh look, Redheart is having a breakdown again. Somepony get Doctor Horse. Celestia I don’t know why he keeps her around.” Somepony said.
Doctor Horse… the name brought her back to herself as she remembered that dream from a few days ago. Her subconscious was telling her that Doctor Horse was the cause of these memory problems, and him showing up would only make things worse. She trotted quickly away and went upstairs and stood at the entrance to the East wing.
Screwy.
She’d forgotten something important over here to do with that pony, and she wanted to find out what it was. Screwy was… somewhere in the East wing, and had been… isolated? Quarantined? Hidden? She shook her head. Getting caught up thinking about it would be much less useful than simply investigating. She stood at the double doors that lead into the East wing… and just stood there staring.
She couldn’t bring herself to step through the doors. Doctor Horse had given her explicit instructions not to leave the West wing and he was her boss, after all. She should stay here and keep working, he’d come along and help out like he always did, and then she’d forget all about what had her so worried.
That wouldn’t fix anything though! She was losing her memories! All of them! Family, home, friends. Did she even have friends? She certainly didn’t have any anymore, not that she could remember. She didn’t know of a single pony beyond Dr. Horse that cared about her.
But Screwy might know. If it was so important that she forget about Screwy, why would she keep feeling like she needed to see her? Redheart looked at the door again, as if staring it down could make it open and give way. She lifted a hoof and willed herself to put it down just a little further ahead of the other one. Her hoof trembled in the air, shivering as she tried to force her brain to put it down without success. Why was this so hard? What was holding her back?
“Redheart, come here this instant!” Doctor Horse shouted from down the hall behind her.
At his voice, a chill went down her spine, and she knew she couldn’t let him catch up with her. Her hoof slammed down, and she barreled through the double doors, racing down the East wing.
“Redheart, stop this at once!” Doctor Horse yelled.
She couldn’t stop. She had to find out why she had been forced to forget Screwy, and why the name meant so much that she was trying to remember it. She was looking for something like a quarantine room, an isolation chamber, or… a cell.
Redheart stopped at the single cell door, locked from the outside, with the sliding window at the top where she could peek inside. This was it! She galloped over to it, slid open the window, and called out.
“Screwy! Are you here?” Redheart asked desperately.
There was silence, then a face, disheveled and dirty, popped up in front of her and a tongue stuck out through the bars.
“Woof!” Screwy said cheerfully.
Redheart’s spirits sank. She had been hoping for some profound yet ill pony who held all the secrets that were being kept from her. Romantic yet implausible scenarios had run through her mind that she would have found all the secrets of why her memory was going inside this room. Instead she found a pony acting like a dog. Why was this so important?
Nurse Redheart stood in front of Screwy’s cell, staring inside at the oblivious dog-pony. Screwy looked just happy as could be to see her. She must have been here before sometime, and something happened. Maybe it was triggered by Screwy, but didn’t have anything to do with Screwy herself?
“Screwy, please tell me. Was I here several days ago? Did something happen to me?” Redheart asked.
Screwy whuffed slightly and tilted her head.
“Redheart, come away from that door this instant! You’re aggravating the patient!” Doctor Horse called.
Redheart felt something pulling at her to move away from the door, and one hoof pulled away. She steeled herself and forced her hoof to stay put, unwilling to give up now that she’d come so far.
“Please! You must tell me! What happened here that I can’t remember! Why does thinking of you and this room cause me so much pain! What happened here!?” Redheart pleaded.
“Redheart! Stop this at once. I’m afraid I’m going to have to suspend you until we can get you some serious psychiatric help.” Doctor Horse said, as he and two orderlies surrounded her.
Doctor Horse put a hoof on her shoulder gently and tried to coax her away from the door. She recoiled from his touch and whirled on him fearfully.
“Don’t touch me! I don’t remember anypony important to me anymore, and I’m positive it’s your fault! If I let you take me away I’m going to forget even more, all so you can have some… some… surgery machine!” Redheart screamed at him. She was in hysterics, and she felt like she should be crying, but nothing came out.
“Redheart please, you’re clearly distraught. Come with me to my office and we can get you the help you need.” Doctor Horse said gently.
“Every time I enter your office all I remember is blackness! I’m never going into your office again until you tell me what’s happening!” Redheart said as the orderlies surrounded her.
“Hey Doc, you really ought to tell her.” A voice said.
“What?” Doctor Horse said, looking around.
“Woof!” Screwy’s muzzle was sticking out the little window in her door, her tongue halfway out of her mouth, watching all of them.
“Tell me, what?” Redheart asked, looking up at Screwy. “That was you, I know it was! What should he tell me?”
“Redheart please, all she did was bark. That’s all she’s been capable of for years, please stop this!” Doctor Horse said. “Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have let you work so hard.”
Redheart turned on Doctor Horse. “That has nothing to do with my memories disappearing! You know, don’t you? I can’t even remember my mother and father anymore! What have you been doing to me, Doctor?”
Doctor Horse stared at her for a moment, as if thinking incredibly hard about what he was going to say next. “Alright. Leave me and Redheart alone if you would please.” He said to the two orderlies. They nodded and trotted back toward the West wing, leaving Nurse Redheart with Doctor Horse by themselves in the hallway.
Feeling a little more confident now that they were by themselves, Nurse Redheart stood up straight in front of Doctor Horse. “Now, let’s start with the important question: Why am I losing memories?”
Doctor Horse brought a hoof up to the bridge of his nose and pressed in hard while taking in a deep breath.
Nurse Redheart opened her eyes. She didn’t immediately understand where she was, because it was pitch black. At first she thought she might be having another bout of sleep paralysis, but she was able to move her limbs, she didn’t hear or see anything at all, and when she tried blinking a few times to make sure she was not still sleeping, it worked fine. Once she had verified that, and wiggled every limb, she reached out tentatively in front of her. Her hoof impacted a surface and she pushed gently at it. It shifted, but didn’t open. Something seemed to be blocking it. She pushed harder, only to have it still resist. She shook it repeatedly, and came to realize there was something jammed in the handles of the doors.
“H-hello? I-is any-anypony th-there?” Redheart said, her voice shaking.
There was no answer. She strained her ears to try and hear any sort of activity beyond the door blocking her exit from where she was trapped, but there didn’t seem to be any activity at all. Why was she in here in the first place? What had she been doing that she ended up here? She strained to remember what was going on before she found herself here. She had been working, like normal, and she had… she had…
Her memory was very fuzzy, and she was having a hard time bringing anything into focus. What did she remember? Her name was… Nurse… something? She was a nurse though, right? Images flashed through her mind of surgeries that she knew how to perform. Incisions, sutures, and a lot of blood were easily brought to mind, but despite all of that, she couldn’t remember her name. She shuddered, and felt very tired all of a sudden, but she was sure if she closed her eyes in here, she wouldn’t wake up again.
She struggled to keep her eyes open and pushed against the door once more, pushing at the door with the little leverage she could get. She wiggled around until she could bring her hind hooves up against her torso, and shoved outward as hard as she could. With the snap of old metal, the hinges gave way and the door flew outward, clattering against the wall opposite of her position.
Shakily, she extended a hoof in the darkness, pulling herself weakly out of her confinement. Her whole body was shaking, but she tried to steady herself as she walked slowly out. She looked around, and some part of her brain recognized where she was.
“I-I used t-to wor-ork h-h-h-h…” She began, stopping halfway through, frustrated at being unable to finish the sentence.
Why was it so difficult to move? She didn’t feel cold, but her body felt heavy, and weak. That desire to rest was still there, but she pushed it back. Something was wrong, and she wanted to figure out what. The darkness prevented her from seeing most of what was around, but there was some small moonlight filtering through the shuttered windows, illuminating ruined floors and broken glass all over the place.
This was her hospital, but it was falling apart. This was near the front desk, where she would rest all the time during work. The front doors looked like they were boarded up from what she could see of the windows. She walked over and pushed, and sure enough, they didn’t move much. Her hind left leg felt heavy and unresponsive, but she wasn’t getting any tingling from it, and it still worked. She looked back at it, and it looked like she had been injured. The darkness didn’t let her see much except for something dangling off her flank. It didn’t hurt, so it was either extremely serious, or nothing to worry about.
Nurse… somepony… shuffled aimlessly down the halls of her hospital. It was messy, and broken, and there were scuffs, scratches, dents, holes, and myriad other things strewn out across the floor. Eventually she found one window that was open and not boarded up on the first floor. It looked like it had been ripped open from the outside and somepony had come in. It was a clear night, and she thought about going for help, but then she heard a shuffling noise upstairs. She also noticed there was a tuft of fur, and a small amount of blood on the edge of the window. Somepony had hurt themselves coming in. Probably not serious, but that could lead to tetanus if not treated. She was feeling fine, even if she probably didn’t look it. She should see if they needed help before going to get any for herself. She was a nurse after all, of that she was certain.
Nurse Somepony limped along, left hind leg dragging heavy behind her. She was still shivering, even though she didn’t feel cold, and her leg didn’t feel pain. This really should have concerned her, she realized, but she couldn’t resolve herself to leave the hospital. Not when somepony needed help. She followed the trail of blood, eyes catching the faint glimmering trail in the darkness. Her left eye kept getting unfocused for some reason, and she blinked hard to fix it. She followed the trail upstairs, and as she reached the top of the stairs, she overheard whispering. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but they sounded distressed judging from the tone of voice.
“H-hello? I-I-I saw bloo-uh-uh-uhd. Are you oh-oh-oh-okay? I’m-I’m-I’m a nur-urse.” She stammered out.
The voices went silent after she spoke. She had to admit, it was kind of scary being here, so she’d probably scared them. So long as she kept talking and didn’t try to hide her hoofsteps, she could probably safely approach.
“Plee-ease, d-d-d-don’t be scare-ared. I am trained in oh-oh-oh-over two-hundred-undred-undred medical procedures to ease your suff-suff-suffering-ing and repair any trau-au-auma.” She slowly said, shuffling toward the last place she’d heard the sound.
She pushed open the door and walked through the makeshift barricade that had been erected out of the hospital detritus, then her vision swam as she was struck in the head with something heavy. Her left eye went completely out of focus and swam oddly, but her right swiveled to see a pony, holding a metal bar in his mouth. He had hit her!
She did a swift assessment as he wound up to swing again: Stallion. Young. Physically fit. Likely does sports. No overt habits. Allergies not a factor.
Nurse Somepony extended her right hoof, her head still bent at an odd angle from his first swing. Her hoof split at the end into small filaments of metal, which then became different medical tools. Scalpel, forceps, needle, syringe, bonesaw. She pulled him apart, took a blood, urine, and tissue sample, all within several seconds. The pieces of him fell to the floor, and she blinked her right eye, confused. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Something was wrong. She couldn’t remember how to put him back together
There was a soft whimpering noise and She turned to see the source. There was a young mare with him who had wet herself in the corner. She had a small cut on her flank, and her fur matched the colour of that she had seen on the window. Nurse Somepony advanced on her, and the mare turned her head away and cried harder. With another extension of her hoof, Nurse Somepony swiftly sewed up and patched the small wound, then turned away.
“S-s-s-see the fron-front desk before-ore-ore you leave.” She told the mare, and shuffled back out of the room.
Nurse Somepony felt absolutely exhausted. Some ancient memory was trying to resurface, and she couldn’t fully put it together. Something about what happened in that room was confusing, and she couldn’t fully grasp it. She had seen… something, that had made her uncomfortable a long time ago. Something she wasn’t supposed to have seen. There was a cell, and a pony who acted like a dog…
Now that she had taken care of the injured pony, she should see about helping herself. Her left hind leg was still unresponsive, and now she couldn’t move her left eye at all. She went into the restroom on the first floor and tried to see in the mirror, but it was too dark. She extended her left hoof and looked at it dumbly for a moment, then a small light at the end of a prehensile cable came out of the end. That didn’t seem normal, but she was far too tired to worry about it. She pointed it at what remained of the mirror, and she saw herself in detail.
Her eyes glowed a dim red, the left one held in place by the new dent on the side of her skull the stallion’s strike had made. Her ears were bedraggled and the right one was half-missing. Her coat was peeling off in patches, and her nurses cap that she was so proud of was rotted and torn. Her left hind leg was busted, missing most of its fur, and she could see through the skin to the metal workings beneath. Something was jamming it, preventing it from properly moving. On her right flank, she could see the faded image of a cross, surrounded by red hearts.
Oh… that was her. Nurse Redheart. She had forgotten.
Nurse Redheart trotted down the broken halls of Ponyville General, long since abandoned. She remembered now. Screwy had bit off some of her skin, exposing the metal beneath. She hadn’t been able to reconcile the fact that she wasn’t a pony with herself, and had shut down. She had been used as a surgery machine since then, to great effect. She remembered the many, many ponies she had performed on, Doctor Horse teaching her new ones any time he could. Ponyville had built a new hospital, with all the ponies moving in to be near the new princess, and she had been left here in favor of a newer model. Left to slowly rot in the dark.
Nurse Redheart put away her light, and shuffled slowly back to her charging station, ignoring the bones and corpses that littered the floor. Her charging station miraculously still had enough magic in it. She didn’t know how much longer it would last, but she was still working. Maybe it would last until she herself broke down. She settled into it, unable to close the door now that she had kicked it off its hinges. She closed her good eye and relaxed, letting herself recharge.
The next day, Nurse Redheart opened her eyes. She looked about in confusion, unsure where she was or what was happening. Her hospital was in ruins, and her left eye was unable to focus. She pulled herself up and got out of her resting nook. She looked around, trying to find somepony.
“H-h-h-hello? Is anyp-p-pony there-ere-ere-ere?”
The End.
