A rapid knock on Fluttershy's door went unheard throughout the quiet of the house. Rainbow Dash paced anxiously out front for a few more moments as she waited for a response. When none came, she quickly rapped her hoof on the door again, louder this time.

" Fluttershy! Fluttershy it's me! Open up already!" She hoped to catch the shy mare's attention. Perhaps she was still asleep? Groaning in annoyance, she glanced behind her to make sure that the nurse and intern were still with her.

Nurse Red Heart sighed as she looked around the small cottage, noting the many obviously well lived in bird houses and nests, but strangely there were no birds to be found. In fact, it was well known around Ponyville that Fluttershy's home was always filled with different sorts of animals, which only made the quiet that surrounded them all the more eerie.

Banging on the door once more, Rainbow Dash began to lose her patience as she took to the air, beating her wings to take a few paces back.

" Fluttershy if you don't open this door right now, I'm busting it down!" She proclaimed, the nurse and intern looking to her in shock.

" Miss Dash! I understand you are upset, but breaking into your friend's home is not the right way to settle this!" Rainbow ignored her advice however as she awaited a response.

" You got to the count of-" The sound of the door creaking open stopped her mid sentence as she and the two other ponies looked into the darkened doorway, expecting to see a somepony there. What greeted them however was something else entirely, Rainbow grimaced at the sight, slowly bringing herself back to the ground.

" Angel." She huffed as the small rabbit looked up to her with a glare. Glancing past her, he saw the nurse and intern, his eyes lighting up as he spied the medical cap on the nurse. Leaping past the weather mare, she gave a shout of indignation at being ignored, he began to jump up and down before the nurse, squeaking and moving his forelegs in the direction of the cottage. Red Heart glanced between the small white rabbit and the dark entryway.

" What is he saying?" Ginger Snap asked as she came up beside the nurse, looking at the bunny inquisitively. Taking a deep and worrying breath, Red Heart stepped past the frantic mammal, giving him ample time to jump on her back as she made her way around Rainbow and through the door.

" I have a guess..." Her voice was low and worried the two who looked after her. Taking a nervous swallow as she worried about what she might find, Rainbow Dash pressed in after her, Ginger Snap tentatively following.

The home was dark, all of the windows having been closed shut. After a few moments of carefully traversing the unknown living area, Red Heart stepped on something that gave out a sharp cracking sound. Lifting her hoof, she leaned down to get a better look. It appeared to be a picture frame, fragments of its glass front were scattered about it.

As their eyes slowly began to adjust to the dark home, more and more of the destruction that had taken place previously became apparent. Rainbow Dash looked around the home in awe, running the edge of her wing over the overturned coffee table.

" What in Equestria?" Their moment of awe was cut short however as Angel began to squeak and jump up and down on Red Heart's back. Looking back at him, he pointed frantically towards a hall of stairs nearby. Only nodding, she turned and began to make her way through the wreckage and up the stairs. Rainbow Dash followed after the nurse quickly, while Ginger Snap took a look through the broken door that lead to the kitchen, her eyes wide at seeing that even that had not been spared.

The stairs creaked as Red Heart and Rainbow Dash made their way up to Fluttershy's room. The air in the house was stuffy, but the tight stairwell only made that even more apparent. The sound of their heavy breathing filled the small hallway.

" I don't see how Fluttershy can live in a house like this..." Rainbow Dash glanced to the walls and ceiling, feeling claustrophobic. Upon finally reaching the top, Red Heart pushed the wooden door open and gasped at the sight before her.

Much like the downstairs, Fluttershy's room was a mess. Her nightstand was overturned, a tray of birdseed scattered on the floor. The closet was open with its myriad contents thrown about. The bed itself remained intact, but the comforter on top was torn, much of it's stuffing strewn across the bed's surface. The sound of whimpering caught her attention and she focused on the mattress where the rest of the blanket was clumped together.

" Miss Fluttershy?" She asked carefully as she approached the bed, Angel jumped off her back and retreated from the room as Rainbow Dash entered behind her. Seeing the state of the room, she stared slack jawed at the mess, before making to dart around the nurse and head for the shaking form beneath the covers.

" Flut-!" She choked slightly as Red Heart held up her foreleg, catching her across the chest and neck while she stared intently at the mare before them. Looking to her in surprise, Rainbow snarled angrily.

" What are you doing!? Let me go!" Red Heart shushed her with a simple motion of her hooves.

" Quiet Miss Dash!" Red Heart hissed, a fierce concern in her eyes. Rainbow growled irritably, before backing away slowly. Nodding in appreciation, Red Heart looked back to the bundle of blanket and began to approach her.

" Miss Fluttershy, my name is Nurse Red Heart from Ponyville General Hospital. I'm here on behalf of Miss Dash. She says that you weren't feeling well and that it was a medical emergency. Can you come out for a moment?" She asked carefully, her tone soft and soothing. The whimpering beneath the blankets continued unabated. Taking a few cautious breaths, Red Heart raised her hoof and gripped the edge of the blanket, slowly beginning to pull it from the mare. Rainbow Dash held her breath nervously as she watched, her chest tight and her heart beating heavily.

Angel watched them from the door, his eyes wide with fear as he waited for the blanket to be removed, his every instinct screaming at him to run.

As she pulled the blanket aside, Red Heart's eyes could only grow wider at what she revealed. The dark red light pulsing through her would-be patient nearly mesmerized her as much as it worried her. She lightly touched her pale yellow fur with her hoof, feeling as the flesh beneath moved and twisted in unnatural and more than likely painful ways. Looking to the mare's face, she noted Fluttershy's pained expression, the blood on her lips and torn skin around her mouth. The sounds of her whimpers far more prominent now that they were no longer muffled beneath the blanket.

" Wh-what's happening to her?" Rainbow asked worriedly, causing the tunnel visioned nurse to jump at her sudden appearance next to her. Gasping for breath out of her shock, she glared at the mare, only to be ignored as Rainbow pushed past her to check on her friend.

" Fluttershy! Fluttershy can you hear me!?" She practically yelled, but to no avail as the mare refused to wake. Pushing her aside, Red Heart stared her down.

" Miss Dash, right now I need you to leave the room." Rainbow looked to her in shock, then anger.

" What? No way!" She spread her wings, giving a hearty flap in agitation as her fur bristled and the two stared one another down.

" Miss Dash, I have to insist that you leave the room! I can't do my work with you hovering over the patient or myself. Ginger Snap!" She shouted in the direction of the door even as she and Rainbow Dash pushed at one another. The sound of hooves rushing up the stairs, a stumble here and there, met their ears.

" Y-yes Nurse?" The young intern stammered as she entered the room, stepping past the rabbit that waited anxiously in the doorway.

" I need you to take notes while I work, Miss Dash, if you please?" Rainbow glared at the nurse, who only met her gaze just as strongly. The sound of Fluttershy's voice whimpering broke the tension in the air however and she sighed in defeat.

" Fine..." Pulling back from the nurse, she grumbled as she glanced to her friend, who whimpered and twitched in pain. Opening her mouth as if to say something, she stopped as nothing came to mind. With a groan of frustration, she turned and stormed from the room, her tail lashing the air angrily. Ginger Snap shut the door behind her as she left, Angel now resorting to lying on the floor and trying to peek under it from the outside of the room.

Giving a sigh of relief, Red Heart turned to look over her patient once more.

" Let's get this started then, Ginger Snap, come here."

• Downstairs-

Rainbow Dash paced the trashed living room angrily, her anxiety and worry only serving to fuel her.

" This is some real manure... I brought them here to help, and now they won't let me see her... Dangit!" She yelled as she swing her hoof forward, kicking it into the leg of the shredded couch.

" Gah!" Yanking her hoof back, she shook it in pain as she hopped out for a moment. Gradually it faded and she found herself sitting in the middle of the living room, the tip of her hoof in her mouth as she nursed it.

" What in Equestria is going on..." She wondered, the memory of the flashing dark red light passing through her friend's body replayed over and over.

' I bet the egg head would know... she knows everything... Wait, that's it!' Her eyes shot open and she grinned as she stood to her hooves.

" I bet Twilight could figure this out in no time!" Trotting to the door, she wrenched it open, her wings spread and ready to fly.

" Don't worry Shy, Twilight will know what to do." Her words were lost to the wind as she snapped her wings hard, sending herself through the air and towards town.

• Upstairs-

Red Heart carefully dabbed a stick with cotton on the end at the wounds around Fluttershy's mouth, the other end of it firmly clasped between her teeth through a thin white medical mask. Both she and Ginger Snap, who sat a short distance behind her, had donned the masks and a pair of medical gloves to prevent infections to either of themselves of the patient. Leaning over, she dropped the now over used stick of cotton onto a small tray that held many more, along with a disk of alcoholic solution and a few other utensils.

She had attempted to take the mare's blood pressure, but the cuff proved useless when it became apparent that the fluctuations of her veins would not give a consistent reading. Even more so, taking a blood sample while they moved in such a way could prove risky. It aggravated the nurse to no end, but for the moment she was reduced to a strictly visual study as she attempted to clean the wounds that she could see.

" Lacerations around the lips appear to have been caused by something jagged, no real internal damage but sutures will be necessary to reduce scarring." Red Heart commented around a new stick of cotton as she cleaned the wounds, the sound of a pencil scribbling away behind her filling the quiet room. As she looked closer, her eyebrows creased upon finding small specks of something in the wounds. Putting down the cotton stick, she retrieved a pair of tweezers from the tray, plucking a small sample of the specks and dripping it into a bio-hazard bag nearby, before sealing it and setting it aside.

" Possible contaminants in the wounds, I'm taking a sample and will have it tested when we arrive back at the hospital." Taking a break from cleaning the wounds around her mouth, Red Heart leaned closer to further inspect the strange arcing red light and motions of the mare's flesh beneath her fur. She watched as the veins stretched and twisted, before snapping back into place as though made of rubber. Listening to her breathing, she could hear the hitch that Fluttershy made with every pulse of the light. Leaning back, Red Heart sighed carefully as she took in the mare as a whole.

" This is way out of my league..." She whispered. The whimpers of pain and anguish from the mare before her drew her from her thoughts and she jumped when, finally, Fluttershy spoke.

" ... So... hungry... hungry..." Red Heart couldn't quite make out what the mare was saying even as she leaned forward and strained her ears.

" Miss Fluttershy? Are you awake? Can you tell me what did this?" She asked, hopeful. But the mare did not respond as she only returned to her quiet whimpers of pain. Sighing, Red Heart picked up the stick with cotton and moved to set to work once more, before pausing. Glancing around at the dimly lit room, she grimaced at having only just now realized that she had been working with minimal light and there was a good chance that there was something she couldn't see because of it.

" Ginger Snap, could you open the windows and let the light in? I need to see more." Ginger Snap quickly placed the clipboard and pencil to the floor as she moved towards the nearest window.

" Y-yes Ma'am." Red Heart rolled her eyes a bit, interns were always nervous wrecks but this filly was the worse case she had seen yet. It wasn't as though they were treating some wild beast for Celestia's sake. Stepping up onto the bed with her forelegs, she leaned forwards with the stick of cotton and reached for Fluttershy's upper lip, just as Ginger Snap opened the window and sunlight flooded the room.

In that brief instant, Fluttershy's eyes snapped open, light blue eyes bloodshot and a film of grey over her pupils. With a horrendous screech that deafened those around her, she snapped forward, clamping her teeth down on the foreleg of the nurse who screamed in both shock and pain. The scream of terror from the intern joined the nurse as she jumped away from them both and huddled against the wall while Red Heart struggled to pull her leg from the mare's mouth.

" LET GO!!" Red Heart shouted in panic, her eyes wild as she yanked her foreleg. But this only served to have Fluttershy bite even harder, blood dripping from her torn lips and the vicious bite in the nurse's leg. Throwing all decorum aside, Red Heart began to strike the mare upon her head with her other hoof, screaming in pain as the bite force increased.

" LET GO OF ME YOU BITCH!!!" She screamed once more, before suddenly a light green lamp shattered against the sickly mare's head. Her grip on the nurse's foreleg vanished and Red Heart scrambled as far back as possible until she was against the wall. Ginger Snap stood a few steps from the bed, shaking as she held the remains of the lamp in her hooves. Blood trailed from the bed where Fluttershy's head lay and Red Heart who was slumped against the wall, breathing and whimpering. She held her leg close to her chest, the blood pouring from a gaping bite wound was staining her white fur to a dark crimson.

Fluttershy now sported a few large bruises on her head and a few more gashes due to the lamp, but her breathing was even for the most part, only interrupted by the occasional whimper of pain. Ginger Snap backed away slowly, her mouth gaping open and tears in her eyes as she trembled.

" Wh-wh-what... I... " She could not find the words as she turned to look at the nurse for guidance, before fearfully snapping her attention back to the mare on the bed. Red Heart cried for a few moments, her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes shut tightly as tears fell.

" G-g-get th-the tra... trauma kit..." She whimpered out after a few moments. Hearing her voice, Ginger Snap looked back to her at a loss, uncertain. Opening her eyes and glaring at the intern, Red Heart forcefully began to crawl towards the discarded saddlebags that she had brought, a trail of blood dragging behind her.

" T-trauma kit! Be-before I bleed to death!" She exclaimed even while trying to reach for the bag with her uninjured hoof. Ginger Snap's heart was pounding in her ears, but finally she moved. Rushing around the downed Nurse, she ripped open the bag and dug through its contents before pulling out medium sized plastic container that read Trauma.

" I-I'll guide you." Red Heart spoke, gasping as the young intern looked to her, fear and panic clear in both of their eyes.

Author's Note

Shaded: You know, they say hindsight is 20/20, yet I can't help but feel that no matter how many times I end up in these situations, I never get any better at avoiding them... Why is that?

Twilight: Because no matter how much you think you " Learn" from these experiences, it never helps when the one putting you in them, is smarter than you.

Shaded: ... Touche....

* The sound of a crank being turned is heard*

Shaded: By the way, where did you get the funding for a tank filled with Piranha to be installed in the floor? For that matter, HOW did you get it built without me knowing!?

Twilight: I drugged you and sold your kidney, now shush.

* Crickets chirp*

Spiderlocke: Oh um.. oh dear... You aren't really going to drop him in there are you?

Twilight: It's not like I can't revive him after... * Mumbles* if there is anything left... Sooo why not do the Disclaimer Spider? You don't get to get out much after all.

Spiderlocke: Oh, Really! I can? *Ahem* Um, H-hello everypony, it's nice to meet you. I-I'm Spiderlocke and um, Shaded Blood does not own MLP:FIM or the Equinox Ponies, um, also Thank you all for reading and supporting the story.

Shaded: Tell them about the Discord!

* Chains drop lower suddenly*

Twilight: I said shush you! Let her have her moment!

Spiderlocke: Oh dear... um, i-if you would like, please join the Discord Server as well, there should be a link around here somewhere...

Discord Link!!