Labelled
A short retelling of a classic Filipino horror story.
Dr. Stables was your average doctor. He was as skilled as any other doctor, yet, unlike most, he believed in superstitions and urban legends. Most ponies would always expect a doctor to be steadfast and skeptical about these kinds of things, however he isn’t like most doctors.
Stables is the main go-to doctor in the town of Ponyville, but as of now, was called on to the Canterlot General Hospital. Invited by the Equestrian Medical Association to run a few errands, Stables was more than happy to accept an invitation from such a prestigious hospital, except that the errands consisted mainly of teaching the newbie doctors on how to dissect a dead body. Stables hated the sight of dead ponies. It reminds him of the first time he experienced a patient die in his hooves. Never again would he want anything like that to ever happen. He felt like each death he fails to prevent will haunt him until his death, and seeing dead ponies reminds him of that thought. Nevertheless, he couldn’t just deny an invitation like this from a prestigious hospital.
After the long trip via train, he finally arrived at Canterlot Hospital. It was a large hospital; capable of housing numerous patients, and utilized state of the art technology; having elevators and air conditioning almost everywhere inside. He remembered reading from a history book that this specific hospital is over five centuries old, housing numerous ponies who were taking refuge from war and taking care of injured soldiers. This meant that this place also had numerous bodies buried underneath it from several centuries of war… Stables feared that this place would be haunted, expecting it to be traditional looking hospital with architecture reminiscent of the centuries that have passed. Yet, surprisingly enough, the hospital was modernized, even having an entire cafe built inside the hospital. Strange, but convenient. It was a good place to wait for the event as it was supposed to begin later this afternoon.
After drinking some brewed coffee, he now went to the avenue for the event. It was at the morgue, where considerably younger doctors were now silently looking at Stables; waiting for him to do something. The atmosphere was tense, especially with all of the lockers behind him, all filled with the once-living.
“Alright, all of you,” Stables said. “Please be respectful of the body you’re going to be dissecting.” He said as he opened a locker and started carrying a fresh corpse draped with a cloth covering the front.
Looking at the black label tied around the pony’s hoof, he sighed in sadness. From what Stables could tell, the pony died about a day ago seeing as it was still undergoing pallor mortis (muscle stiffening). That didn't make it any better for him. He was tense, but he made sure to show a confident stature. Being careful not to shake the body too much in order to show respect to the dead, Stables made sure that he was able to show the proper way of opening a body. Removing the cloth revealed a mare with scarlet locks and a pale white skin. He cringed, but retained his mental strength. Grabbing his scalpel, he went to work; showing the young doctors on pony anatomy.
All of a sudden, a nurse broke inside the morgue, breaking the silence of the room.
“Doctor Stables!” the nurse yelled in a panic, which nearly gave Stables a heart attack due to how sudden it was. “You’re the only available cardiologist around at the moment! Mr. Striker is dying!”
“What!?” he exclaimed. “Alright, I’ll be right there! Get somepony to substitute me while I get there!”
In a hurry, Stables ran to the operating room where other nurses have already relocated Striker onto the operating bed. Quickly wearing his scrubs, he then followed proper surgical procedures in the heart transplant for the poor pegasus pony. Trying to not be nervous nor let a single drop of sweat fall into the body, he then proceed with the operation.
Please Celestia, let me not lose another one…
It was now midnight and he felt that sacrificing his time in order to help that pony was of good use. Last he checked, the heartbeat was stabilized for now around three hours ago. He never liked seeing the hospital at night so he was pretty tense at the moment. Being an avid believer of superstitions would do that to a pony. Arriving at the elevator doors, he pressed the button going down. The metallic doors slid open and there he saw a familiar looking stallion. He couldn’t put a hoof on it, but he shrugged it off.
The elevator went down a couple of floors and the doors opened. The hallway’s lights were turned off, but the light emanating from the elevator was enough to light up some parts of the hall. From the shadows, he saw a mare, red mane and a cream coat, clearly a patient, wearing a johnny gown and what seems to be something black around her hoof, slowly making her way towards the elevator. It appeared to be a normal looking mare, yet Stables knew what she was.
“Is there enough room there?” the mare said, tilting her head, as she was now by the elevator doors.
“Yeah, I mean, why wouldn’t there be--?” the stallion was cut off as Stables nervously but quickly shoved the mare back away from the elevator. The mare fell back on her rump and started to twitch. Stables could’ve sworn that he heard a gurgling noise coming from within her when she was near the door.
“No there isn't!” Stables said as he quickly pushed the close button. The elevator doors then closed. As it did, the mare had a yellowish glint in her eyes as it looked back at the elevator. With a shut of the elevator doors, Stables sighed in relief.
“What the hay?!” the stallion beside him said. “What’s wrong with you!?”
“I-it was a Ghoul.” Stables stuttered, breathing heavily to compensate for his rapid heartbeat. “Didn’t you notice that black label on its hoof? Hospitals usually tie labels with different colors on its patients. Black is how we label dead bodies.”
“A black label?”
“Yes.” Stables responded. “And seeing those labels on anything else is definitely not a pony…”
After responding, Stables then heard slight gurgling.
He then quickly turned to his left, taking a good look at the stallion. His pupils shrunk and the fear in his gut rose upon finally recognizing this stallion.
“Like this one?” Striker raised his hoof, showing a black label tied around it.
