Broadhoof Files: Herbal Remedy

by Inanimatelotus

First published March 14th, 2018 01:00

Broadhoof Memorial: a place of healing and recovery for hundreds of ponies year-round. After a suicide attempt lands her behind its walls, the borderline psychotic Herbal Remedy finds herself up the stream without a paddle. The doctors and therapists say they can help her, that she's a sick pony, but as her symptoms become more pronounced and severe she can't help but feel as though they don't actually want her to get better. Maybe she doesn't want to get better either.

Chapters

In Which Expectations Were Not Reality
In Which the End was Farther than Expected

In Which Expectations Were Not Reality
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Broadhoof Files: Herbal Remedy

In Which Expectations Were Not Reality

Herbal Remedy found herself across from a rather portly stallion as he asked her question after question from his list. True to the doctor's word Remedy had been transferred to Broadhoof Memorial the very next day, although the hospital was nothing like she expected. As cliche as it was, Remedy had been expecting dark halls, white padded rooms, and screams of ponies being electrocuted. Instead, she had been greeted by colors, open spaces, and large windows with natural light. The place was still all-around depressing, but not what she was expecting.

"Miss Remedy?"

Remedy blinked, realizing she had completely zoned out. "Huh?"

The stallion across from her gave her a rather annoyed look. He was about as dull-looking as a pony could get, with a drab brown coat and a gray mane. His stubby horn barely showed through his mane and his nametag read "Pencil Pusher".

"I asked you if you've ever taken drugs recreationally."

"Oh."

They both sat in silence for a moment longer.

He gave her another annoyed look. "Well?"

She glared at him, "what does it matter? Are you going to go tell your boss? Do you want to lock me up in here too?" With a defiant snort, she stamped the edge of her chair.

Pencil Pusher rolled his eyes and marked yes, continuing on with his questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When that ordeal was finally over Remedy was left alone again, feeling a mix of self-loathing and betrayal. She shouldn't have been so rude. But at the same time weren't these ponies supposed to help her? Then why were they being so rude to her?

With a sigh, she pushed herself to her hooves and trotted over to the bathroom. The door didn't lock behind her, which stressed her out immensely, but she wasn't in there to pee so she tried to tell herself it didn't really matter. She was actually there to see just how rough she looked. She reared up and put her forehooves on the sink.

What stared back at her made her wince. Instead of a shimmering crystalline pony, there was a mossy green mare with dull stone-colored eyes. The bags under her eyes made her look so old. Her mane was tangled and frizzy, and the color of clay. This pony didn't even look like her. Is this how others saw her? She shuddered and walked back out to the waiting room, where Pencil Pusher was already waiting for her and looking as sour as ever.

"So I get to leave now right? Now that my evaluation is completed?"

"I'm afraid not" the fat unicorn replied smugly.

Herbal Remedy started to shake as her hooves beat a nervous tempo on the tile floor. This couldn't be right. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to go home. Pencil Pusher must have told them something, or maybe that damn doctor in Brindleton said-

"Remedy?"

Her head snapped up, locking eyes with a very concerned nurse.

"Pencil Pusher...?"

The nurse shook her head and smiled kindly. "Nope, Pencil Pusher ended up leaving the office earlier to take care of things with one of the doctors. I'm Sweet Pea. I came to let you know that you'll be staying with us for awhile. If you come with me I will take you up to your room."

Remedy blinked. "My room? But I don't want to stay here. I don't need to stay here."

Sweet Pea gave her a soft look, "It's okay dear, you'll get to talk to your doctor about that. I don't get to make those calls. Just think of it as a sleepover!"

The idea of going with Sweet Pea filled her with dread, especially with her condescending tone, but her only other option would be to sit in this room alone. The chances of getting herself out of this mess seemed to be dwindling, but that seemed to be even more so if she didn't cooperate.

"If you hadn't been such a fuck up and had just killed yourself you wouldn't be here Remedy."

The voice was feminine, but not the nurse. Her stomach dropped and her ears pricked as she searched for the mystery speaker. Meanwhile, the nurse had already started towards the door, slowly ushering Remedy towards the door.

The walk was not a long one by any standards, but it wound its way through the hospital enough that Remedy was completely lost without her guide. The only indicator of her current location was a single plaque next to a set of double doors that read "Gamma Unit" that they had passed through. Finally, Sweet Pea stopped at one of the completely identical doors that lined the hall and opened it.

"This is your room Remedy. You've got clothes on your bed for you to change into. One of the nurses will come by shortly to check on you, and everypony else should be back from group soon." The smile that the nurse gave her made Remedy want to slap her. How she refrained, she had no idea, but she found herself alone again in one of the two-toned rooms that seemed to make up the entire hospital. Again, she was surprised. It was far less like a dungeon or torture room than she had anticipated.

With no way to check the time and nothing but exhaustion driving her, Remedy pushed the pale green scrubs off of the bed and simply climbed in, wrapped up in the very pathetic blanket, and went to sleep.

In Which the End was Farther than Expected
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Broadhoof Files: Herbal Remedy

In Which the End was Farther than Expected

Herbal Remedy peeled her eyes open for what felt like the first time in months, a steady throbbing behind her eyes reminding her of another night of questionable decisions. She shut her eyes against the fluorescent burn of the lights and groaned, pulling her forelegs up to her face to shield herself from its harshness.

Goddesses, what kind of night did I have that I fell asleep with the lights on? Herbal Remedy internally groaned as she rolled over to her side. This wasn't the first time she had woken up questioning her actions from the previous night, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

A steady beep caught her attention as she realized what had pulled her from the blissful peace of sleep. It didn't sound like her alarm, and Remedy groaned again as it continued, both because of the sound and what it meant. She felt like horseshit, and not at all like explaining herself to some equally hungover mare or stallion. Who had she gone home with? She only vaguely remembered the night before, but she didn't remember-

And then she did. A cold tendril of panic spread through her heart as flashes of last night ran through her mind. A photograph. A bottle of pills. Shallow cuts littering her flank and foreleg.

Tears started to spill out of her eyes before she even opened them. What greeted her was an empty room painted in a cheap, mass-produced beige. The beeping sped up as IV needles in her left hind leg caught her attention. Her mind raced as she struggled to grasp what was going on, and she found herself unable to breathe. She was only vaguely aware when some kind of alarm started to sound and hoofsteps came racing into her room.

"Herbal Remedy! Kind Heart, page Doctor Triage!"

Herbal Remedy felt the familiar warmth of a unicorns magic envelop her as somepony, probably a nurse, attempted to retrain her. She flailed against the invisible force in between choked sobs.

"I need a sedative!"

Moments later warmth spread through her veins, relaxing her muscles. Her breathing slowed and the monitor along with it. The magic that had previously retrained her was withdrawn as the familiar haze of drug usage clouded her mind.

"Herbal Remedy?"

Remedy turned her head towards the voice and found herself looking at two disheveled nurses.

"It's okay sugar, do you know where you are?"

Before she could answer a stallion trotted in without so much as glancing at her and started speaking in low tones to the nurses, whose faces turned grim as they trotted out.

The stallion turned to her with a professional and detached smile. "I'm glad you're awake Herbal Remedy, you had us very worried. How are you feeling, do you know where you are?"

Remedy tried to sit up but found her body sluggish and unresponsive. "Hospital?" she croaked, more tears spilling over when his nod confirmed this.

"Yes, you're at East Bridleton Medical Center. You took an awful lot of those pills. You've been unconscious for roughly 28 hours." The doctor checked her chart and gave her another detached smile. "But you're going to be okay Herbal Remedy. We're having you transferred to Broadhoof Memorial for an eval-"

Panic began worming its way into Remedy's mind as the doctor gave her a sinister smile. "You can't send me there! That place is for crazy ponies! I AM NOT A CRAZY PONY!"

The doctor took a step back in surprise. "it's just for an evaluation Remedy. Nopony said you were crazy. I just think you might need some help."

Remedy wasn't listening. She was starting to feel bad again. Starting to feel like she did the other night. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to be alive. It was hurting her to be alive. All of these ponies just wanted to hurt her, they wanted to lock her away and hurt her. Her ears pricked as she heard soft whispers calling her name, but the doctor had left. Panic raced through her as the shadows near her bed shifted.

She just wanted it to end.

Author's Note

So, I'm completely revamping my original Broadhoof story to be from the perspective of Herbal Remedy, and not from her doctor. I quickly realized how little I could do with it, especially without any development or depth to the characters.