Chapters Nerds Make the Best Nurses
Chapter 1: Fallen Star
"Scooore! Wondercolts player captain Rainbow Dash nets another goal! Canterlot High leads Crystal Prep, three-to-two!" Pinkie Pie announced jubilantly over the school's loudspeaker. A fierce soccer game against the Shadowbolts from Crystal Prep Academy was underway, and thanks to Canterlot High School's star player, the game was currently in their favor.
"Wooo. Gooo, Wondercolts." Fluttershy cheered, in her usual soft-spoken manner. She was of course excited that the team was winning, despite her timid voice barely rising above its usual register.
Twilight Sparkle was watching the game with her friends, her glasses slipping down her slim nose. She pushed them back, looking anxiously at Rainbow Dash, who looked confident and eager or the challenge as usual. "You can do it, Rainbow Dash." she whispered, twisting her hands in her lap.
Rarity glanced at Twilight Sparkle, seeing her anxiety. "Relax, Twlight. She's as much a natural athlete as I am a fashion designer."As the Shadowbolts players raced down the field with the ball, Rainbow Dash was in hot pursuit, her prismatic hair whipping around in its ponytail as she prepared to intercept the opposing forward. When she saw her opportunity, she made her move and stole the ball, dribbling it towards the other team's goal expertly. Her expression was one of intense concentration, her eyes watching out for an opening to pass the ball or shoot for another goal.
"Wooo-wee! Atta girl, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack hollered from the seats, cheering on her friend and band mate. "Bring us another one!"
Pinkie Pie blew a horn and set off the cannon of confetti she brought for reasons that still mystified her friends to this day. "GO RAINBOW DASH!" she screamed, making the nearby members of the crowd cover their ears.
The other friends rolled their eyes. "PInkie." they sighed.
Thankfully, Pinkie's enthusiastic screaming didn't break Rainbow Dash's concentration. She passed the ball to one of her team mates and got into position near the goal, but without costing her team a penalty. When her team mate kicked the ball into the air, she leaped and struck it with the top of her head, scoring a goal!
But when she came down, ready to celebrate as the whistle blew, something unexpected happened as she landed. Her right knee twisted inward, and as her left foot came down to join her right, there was a sickening snap! followed by an earsplitting scream. Rainbow Dash crumpled to the ground, clutching her right knee as tears sprang to her cerise eyes.
The entire crowd gasped as they saw the Wondercolts' star player and team captain writhing on the ground, shrieking in pain. The referee blew the whistle as the coach called a time out before rushing out onto the field to assess the situation.
Coach Rising Star knelt next to his star player, concern etched on his face. "Are you all right?"
"M-my knee...!!! S-something's wrong wi-with my kn-knee...!!!" Rainbow Dash cried through gritted teeth as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She stopped rolling around and sat up, still clutching her knee as pain tore through it. "I-it...it hu-hurts...!!!"
"Oh, no! Rainbow Dash is hurt!" Sunset Shimmer realized as she observed from the sidelines. She ran to the teachers' seats where Principal Celestia sat with Vice-Principal Luna, both wearing identical worried expressions on their faces. "Principal Celestia, what should we do? I think Rainbow Dash is really seriously injured!"
Principal Celestia strode over to the group gathered around Rainbow Dash and said with authority. "Coach Rising Star, carry her to the nurse's office. I call for an ambulance. She should go to the hospital to have it checked out."
Vice-Principal Luna joined her sister, crouching down to assist Rainbow Dash in getting to her feet. "Come on, Rainbow Dash. Let's get you to Nurse Redheart. Sunset Shimmer? Would you help us, please?"
Sunset Shimmer nodded, biting her lip as she came to her friend's side. "Of course, Vice-Principal Luna." She crouched beside Rainbow Dash and took her arm, slinging it around her neck to support her on one side. "Here we go, Rainbow Dash, lean on me."
"Th-thanks, S-suns-set Sh-Shimmer..." Rainbow Dash whimpered, struggling to get to her feet with the help of the Vice-Principal and her friend. She was a little embarrassed that she was being seen in such a vulnerable state, but her knee hurt too much to let her pride get in the way.
Coach Rising Star followed. "Here, let me carry you. You look like you're having trouble there." he offered.
Vice-Principal Luna and Sunset Shimmer backed away as Coach Rising Star picked up Rainbow Dash bridal-style, careful not to jostle her injured knee. One of the Wondercolts players rushed over with Rainbow Dash's duffel bag, handing it off to Sunset Shimmer.
Coach Rising Star carried her with Sunset Shimmer hurrying ahead of them. She opened the school doors and led them to the nurse's office. Once inside, the nurse looked up. "What happened?" she asked with a gasp, rising from her desk.
"She hurt her knee playing soccer. Principal Celestia is calling for an ambulance." Coach Rising Star explained, setting Rainbow Dash carefully on the cot.
"Ow, ow, ow..." Rainbow Dash continued to whimper as she was carefully set down on the cot, her cerulean cheeks wet with a mixture of tears and perspiration. She continued to clutch her knee, which had now visibly begun to swell as the skin was turning purple.
Not long after they arrived, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle burst through the doors, all of them looking concerned and anxious.
"Oh dear, oh dear! Are you all right, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, immediately coming to her long-time friend's side.
Nurse Redheart checked her knee. "It looks like a serious injury. You definitely need to go to the hospital and have it looked at."
Rainbow Dash looked at Nurse Redheart through tear-filled eyes. "How...how b-bad do you th-think it is...?"
To Fluttershy's question, she met her worried cyan eyes and shook her head. "N-no...m-my knee re-really hurts..."
"Poor Dashie!" Pinkie Pie said sadly, reaching over and wrapping her pained friend in a tight hug.
"There could be many possible things." Nurse Redheart replied. Depending on what it is, you might need surgery. But don't worry about that, the doctor will decide."
"D-Does th-that mean...I c-ca-can't play any more soccer...?" Rainbow Dash asked, biting her lip against the pain. She struggled to push Pinkie Pie away, the tight hug tensing her body and worsening the pain in her injured knee.
"Let 'er go, Pinkie." Applejack chided the hyper party lover as she pried her away from the injured athlete.
"Not necessarily. You could recover full mobility of the knee. But you might be out for a while."
Rainbow Dash groaned. She hated the idea of being out of sports action for any length of time.
Fluttershy patted her shoulder sympathetically, fighting tears in her own eyes. "It'll be okay, Dashie. You'll get better, and you'll play soccer, again. I know you will."
"Statistics say that having a positive outlook on something increases your chances of having a positive outcome." Twilight Sparkle piped up, sounding like she'd swallowed a textbook.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Trust nerdy Twilight to say something straight out of a psychology textbook. Despite this, she looked towards the bespectacled girl and gave her a half-smile. "Thanks, Twilight...come with me to the hospital?"
"We'll all go with you, Rainbow Dash." Sunset Shimmer spoke up with a smile, nodding to herself and the rest of the girls. "We want to see you through this. Right, girls?"
"Of course." the other girls nodded, smiling.
"Ah'll get Big Mac to drive us all in the truck." Applejack offered with a smile, tipping her cowboy hat.
They could hear a siren faintly in the distance, getting louder. A few minutes later, Principal Celestia opened the door to the office to let two paramedics in with a gurney. "What's your name?" the first one asked, placing a blood pressure cuff on her arm as the other one placed a splint on her knee.
"R-Rainbow D-Dash..." She told the paramedic, gritting her teeth again.
"Well, my name is Healing Hands and we're going to do our best to make you feel better." He relayed the vitals to the other paramedic and removed the blood pressure cuff. "I know this is going to hurt, but it will be brief, okay? You can hold a friend's hand if you want." he suggested.
Rainbow Dash nodded, reaching for the closest hand. It happened to be Twilight Sparkle's, which made her blush lightly.
Healing Hands and the other paramedic lifted Rainbow Dash carefully and quickly transferred her to the stretcher. He covered her with a blanket. "It's cold out, let us know if you need another blanket."
Rainbow Dash nodded, still gripping Twilight's hand. She leaned against the back of the stretcher as they raised it to keep her in a sitting position, keeping her injured leg outstretched.
The paramedics wheeled her to the ambulance and loaded her into the back. "We'll be at the hospital soon." he promised.
"Can my friend ride, too?" Rainbow Dash pleaded, unwilling to release Twilight's hand. Holding it somehow gave her comfort, especially since this would be her first ride in an ambulance.
"Sure. Just please stay out of the way so we can do our job." Helping Hands requested, glancing at Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash smiled against the pain and nodded as Twilight Sparkle came to her side to be out of the paramedics' way. "See you girls at the hospital..." She called weakly to the others, waving with her free hand.
Before the doors closed, Sunset Shimmer stepped into the back of the ambulance, still holding Rainbow Dash's sports bag. "Do you want me to call your mom and dad for you?"
"See you soon." Fluttershy made her voice loud enough so Rainbow Dash could hear. "You take care of her." she told the paramedics.
"We will." Healing Hands promised. "We need to go. The sooner she gets examined the better." The other paramedic closed the doors and got into the driver's seat. He started the ambulance and drove off. "Relax as best as you can, and we'll be there in no time."
Before the doors closed, Sunset Shimmer stepped into the back of the ambulance, still holding Rainbow Dash's sports bag. "Do you want me to call your mom and dad for you?"
“Thanks.” Rainbow Dash smiled weakly.
"Okay..." Rainbow Dash said, giving Twilight Sparkle's hand a squeeze. The pain was still intense, but lessened slightly from the initial injury.
The ambulance disappeared as the remaining mane six watched, worried about their friend.
Nerds Make the Best Nurses
"When is the doctor going to get in here?" Rainbow Dash groaned, hating to wait, almost as much as the pain in her knee bringing tears to her eyes. "We've been waiting for hours!"
"Relax, Rainbow, they'll get to you when they have time. They have a lot of patients and have to prioritize them." Twilight explained in her swallowed-a-textbook sort of way.
Despite the pain, Rainbow Dash managed to roll her eyes. "I wish they would at least give me something for the pain. My leg really hurts."
A nurse bustled in just then, her high blond ponytail swinging as she walked. "Miss Dash, is it? My name is Tenderheart. What brings you to the ER today?" she asked briskly, looking up from the chart she was holding in her hands.
"My leg clearly." Rainbow Dash gestured impatiently to her injured knee. "When's the doc going to see me?" she demanded, forgetting to be polite.
"Rainbow Dash, be polite." Sunset Shimmer chided, giving her a look. "Sorry about my friend. She's in a lot of pain. Can you give her something for it?"
"I'll have to wait for the doctor to look at it." The nurse noticed that it was swelling and made a noise. "I can at least get you an ice pack for the swelling."
Rainbow Dash sighed in relief, knowing that would help with the pain, having used it in her post-soccer matches routine in the past. "Thanks." she gave her a small smile.
"No problem. I'll give your chart to the first available doctor and they'll be in to see you as soon as they can." the nurse patted her shoulder and left the room.
Rainbow Dash flopped back onto the bed in frustration and groaned. "I hate hospitals." she grumbled.
"Dashie?! Where's my Dashie!" a shrill voice cried from outside the curtain and Rainbow Dash groaned audibly.
"What's wrong?" Sunset Shimmer asked, startled.
Her question was answered as an older woman that very much resembled Rainbow Dash except with scarlet hair streaked with orange, yanked the curtain aside, hair a mess and her eyes wild with worry. "Dashie, are you okay?" she cried. She strode over and grabbed Rainbow Dash in a stranglehold.
"Mom, it's just my knee." Rainbow Dash struggled to free herself from her mom's grip, turning beet red. She looked toward Twilight Sparkle, pleadingly.
"Windy Whistles, come on, she needs to rest." Twilight took the woman by the arm and gently tugged. Wind Whistles finally released Rainbow Dash, wringing her hands frantically. "I'm sure the doctors will take care of her."
"I know. Your father and I just worry about you. You know we're your biggest fans." Windy Whistles gave her a sheepish smile.
Rainbow Dash gave her a small smile. "I know. "
"Now," Windy Whistles said brusquely, all business now. "I'm going to find that darn doctor. He's got to get the best soccer player back on her feet as soon as possible."
Rainbow Dash waited until her mother was gone and groaned. "See what my mom is like?" she asked Sunset Shimmer.
"I thought she was really nice. A little zealous, but really nice." Sunset grinned.
"Thanks." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
The nurse returned with the ice pack and placed it on Rainbow Dash's knee. "There you go. The doctor will be with you soon." she promised.
"Thanks." Rainbow sighed, relieved.
A half hour later, a young doctor entered the room. "Hello, my name is Dr. Horse. You hurt your knee playing soccer?" he asked, perusing the chart he held in his hands.
"Yes, and it still hurts." Rainbow Dash winced.
"Have you had any injuries in either knees before?"
"I've bumped them before, but who doesn't?" Rainbow shrugged.
Dr. Horse chuckled. "True." He began examining her right knee, moving it this way and that to check how badly it was injured. Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Can you walk on it?" Rainbow shook her head. After a moment he set her leg down. "I'm going to send you for a few tests, is that okay?" he asked, looking up at her?"
"No needles, right?" Rainbow asked, and failed to keep the fear out of her voice.
Dr. Horse chuckled again. "For now, no. If we can find what's wrong with these, we won't have to do any poking or cutting yet."
"Yet?" Rainbow picked up on the word.
"Depending on the injury you might need surgery. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?" Dr. Horse asked, as Wind Whistles returned.
"What's wrong with my daughter? Is she okay? Is she going to die? Will she walk again?" Windy Whistles fired at him in rapid succession, managing to catch him off guard.
"You must be her mother. Relax, we have to get the tests back before we know anything. But I am confident she will make a recovery." Dr. Horse assured her. "A nurse will be in to take you to the tests."
"What tests?" Windy Whistles demanded, turning on her daughter.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "He didn't say."
"Probably an X-ray or an MRI." Twilight Sparkle informed them, surprisingly knowledgeable in the subject. "Those tests usually can see injuries of that sort of area."
"Have you read up on knee injuries?" Sunset Shimmer looked at her with surprise.
"No, but I'm sure it would work the same as say, a broken bone. After all, the knee is a bone." Twilight pointed out.
Tenderheart returned. "I'm here to take you to the MRI and X-ray. You guys will have to wait here. It won't be long." She assured her, unlocking the wheels on the bed.
"See you when I get back." Rainbow Dash waved glumly at them as Tenderheart wheeled her away.
"We'll be right here when you get back." Sunset Shimmer assured her, waving as they watched her leave.
Rainbow Dash returned from her test and waited for the doctor to return to tell her what was going to happen. Dr. Horse finally arrived, not looking happy. "Miss Dash, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is you have an ACL tear."
Rainbow Dash groaned. As an athlete she knew that was not a good injury to sustain. "The good news?"
"It's not a very severe tear, so it's easily fixed by surgery. So I'm going to have an orthopedic surgeon come talk to you and get you set up with a time for surgery."
"Do I really have to have surgery?" Rainbow complained.
"If you want to have full use of that knee again, yes. ACL tears can be a serious thing." Dr. Horse patted her shoulder and left.
"We'll be here for you." Sunset Shimmer promised.
"Of course we will." Twilight nodded.
Twenty minutes later a young, full-figured woman came through the curtain. "I'm Dr. Calliope, your Orthopedic surgeon. But you can call me Callie. I hear you have an ACL tear?"
"Yeah. Do I really have to have surgery?" Rainbow Dash asked giving her a look that said she was hoping she wouldn't.
"I'm afraid you do." Dr. Calliope looked thoughtful. "You seem like a betting type. Me too. I'll tell you what. If you have the surgery, I'll bet you that you can't beat me in a wheelchair race across the hospital. Do we have a bet?"
"Oh, you're on!" Rainbow exclaimed, pumping her fist.
"I thought so. Just to warn you, you will have a lot of work ahead of you." Dr. Calliope warned.
"Aw, work?" Rainbow Dash groaned.
Twilight giggled. "Rainbow Dash does NOT like work."
"It'll be important to do this work. It'll build up your knee again after the injury. Promise me you'll do it, okay?" Dr. Calliope.
"Okay," Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Okay, I'll set up your surgery. You rest up, okay?" Dr. Calliope patted her on the shoulder and headed for the door.
"Dr. Callie?" Rainbow Dash called, and gave a small smile when she turned. "Thanks."
"No problem." Dr. Calliope gave a small smile in return and left.
Nerds Make the Best Nurses
A few days later, Rainbow Dash was finally going to have the surgery. Of course Windy Whistles was hovering over her daughter, refusing to let her go without handing over every good luck charm she could. "Now don't forget your lucky horse shoe, your lucky four leaf clover-"
"Mom, do you really think this is necessary?" Rainbow Dash complained, groaning as she took the heavy horse shoe.
"You can never have enough good luck when you go have surgery." Windy Whistles tittered, flustered. She brushed a hand over Rainbow Dash's forehead.
Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to smack her mom's hand away, afraid to hurt her feelings. "It'll be fine. Remember what Dr. Callie said? It's an easy procedure." Rainbow Dash reminded her.
Windy Whistles managed a weak smile. "I'll try not to worry so much. But you know me."
"Yeah, I know." Rainbow Dash smiled.
Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer entered the room just then converging on the bed. Windy Whistles hustled out of the way, giving them room. "Good luck, Rainbow." Sunset murmured, giving her friend a hug.
Twilight gave her a tight hug. "You'll do great, Rainbow. I'm sure of it."
"I bet you could do the surgery, you nerd." Rainbow Dash teased.
"I'm no orthopedic surgeon." Twilight laughed, flattered.
"That's my job." a familiar voice answered, as Dr. Calliope entered, a broad smile on her face. "Ready for your surgery?"
"As I'll ever be." Rainbow Dash nodded.
Dr. Calliope looked over at Windy Whistles. "I need you to sign some consent forms for the surgery. And after the surgery, you will need to have some rehab."
"Rehab? How long will that take?" Rainbow Dash looked concerned. "I want to get back to soccer as soon as possible."
"Six to nine months, depending on how well you do. Plus recovery from the surgery." Dr. Calliope explained.
"Six to-That means my season's over!" Rainbow Dash wailed, horrified.
"Well, you'll need it to make sure you can play." Dr. Calliope reminded her.
Rainbow Dash groaned. "Fine." She sighed.
Windy Whistles signed the consent forms and handed the paperwork over. "Oh, Dashie. Come back to me." She hugged Rainbow Dash so tightly that Rainbow Dash felt strangled.
"Mom, please, I will be fine." Rainbow Dash gave a pleading look to her friends.
"Come on, we need to give her some room." Sunset Shimmer suggested.
Windy Whistles finally let go of her daughter, sniffling. "You better do just fine in this surgery, Dashie." she whispered, starting to bawl all over again.
"Oh, Mom." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"All set up. I'll get these forms filed and have a nurse come in to get you prepped for surgery. They'll take you up to the operating room and give you something to sleep and when you wake up the surgery will be over. You'll be in some pain, but we can give you something for that." Dr. Calliope assured her.
Rainbow fiddled with the frayed edge of the blanket. "Pain?" she whimpered. "I thought we were trying to get rid of the pain?"
"We need to do the surgery to fix it, therefore you need to go through pain." Dr. Calliope explained. "I'll see you in the operating room." She left the room.
Rainbow Dash groaned. "This is awful." she complained.
"We'll be here for you." Twilight assured her.
A nurse entered the room and prepared Rainbow Dash for the surgery. "I'll take you to the operating room now." she told her, raising the rails on the bed.
"See you when you get back." Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, see you when you get back." Sunset Shimmer hugged her.
Rainbow Dash was wheeled to the operating room and was lifted onto the operating table. An older man sat at the head of the table holding a mask as people bustled about the room. "Ready to start?" he asked the other people.
"Go ahead." another voice responded.
"Ready?" he asked Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash nodded nervously. "Count backward slowly from 100."
"100...99..." Rainbow Dash started, slowing down as she continued. "98...ninty..." Rainbow didn't finish as she drifted off to sleep.
"Okay, she's out." the anesthesiologist declared, and the surgery began.
