The Mercy of Screwball

by Professor Coruptus

Rating: teen
Tags: Bon-Bon, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Lyra, Romance
Length: 21118

In the midst of Discord's release, a mild-manned nurse undergoes a Jekyll and Hyde transformation.

A slightly different take on everypony's favorite daughter of Discord. We've all noticed the similarities between Screwball and one of the nurses at Ponyville Hospital, but what if there was a connection to another nurse as well? Discover what would make a pony want to lose herself in the wonders of chaos, and take a glimpse into what it was like for the rest of Ponyville's citizens when their home became the next "Capital of Chaos."

And oh yeah, and there's a Fillyfooler love triangle. You all love Fillyfooler love triangles, right?

Cover image used with permission by highray on diviantART.

Published 2012-08-17 20:14:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-29 01:51:51 UTC

I don't want to remember

It was beautiful.

No, more than beautiful, this was heaven.

Everything was beyond perfect. The flowers sang in harmony, the grass was waving happily at her, and the sky was so cool and inviting. Her eyes were spinning as she tried to take in all the beauty around her. But then, her eyes had been spinning for a while now.

As she floated by a row of dancing houses, she felt her lips start to tingle with a pleasant electricity. Giggling she lifted a hoof and started to flick them idly. She even made a babyish buzzing sound as she did so; almost giggling as the vibrations of her voice made her lips tingle even more.

She couldn’t remember what she had been doing before all this wonderfulness had started, or even who she had been. All she knew now was that she simply was. Or rather wasn’t. At times she seemed to be everywhere at once; watching, listening, drinking in and even breathing the beauty that surrounded her, while other times she seemed to be nowhere at all. Just a blissful thought in a sea of marvelous void. It didn’t matter to her. Whether she was here or there wasn’t relevant as long as she still surrounded by this amazing wonderfulness.

As she continued to float along with no real destination, she came across something not entirely beautiful. It looked dark for one thing, nothing like the amazing palette of pastels and neon’s she was enjoying, and it was also moving slowly, dragging its feet with its head down. How could it look so sad? Didn’t it notice all the amazing things around it? Why was it ignoring the pretty cloud hovering over its head that was showering it in deliciousness? Whatever it was, it was weird, and it would probably be best to just ignore it.

As she passed by the strange creature she continued to play with her lips, trying to lose herself in that funny electrical feeling. She tried not to look at it, tried focus her attention everywhere but on that odd grey thing that was ruining the scenery, but as she drifted away from it she felt something stir in her… whatever that thing was that connected her neck and forelegs together was called. It was a strange sort of feeling. A bad sort of feeling. It was telling her to go back and try to help the weird creature, make it feel better and take care of it. She felt warmth on her flank and she slowly turned her head to look at her cutie mark. It seemed blurry, indistinct; as if something were trying to smear it up so it looked like something else. She frowned pushing away the bad feeling until her flank was clear and cool again, showing proudly the screw and baseball that adorned her plum colored coat.

Just as it should be. Shouldn’t it?

She shook her head to clear away the doubt, and after a minute the word “doubt” fell right out of her ear and scurried away on tiny feet. There, all better.

Her mind free of distractions again, she continued to lazily float along, passing houses and fountains and other pretty things.

Life was wonderful

Life was terrible.

Something was wrong. That grey thing from earlier was back, and it had changed. She had seen it come out of a very ugly house a week ago (or was it an hour?), and it was no longer grey. It was also very dangerous. It wasn’t like her beautiful world. It was ugly and cruel. She had seen it change other grey things like it had been into monsters like it was now, and they terrified her. The monsters radiated with something, something bad that tarnished her world’s beauty.

Her bicycle pump, (or was it called a heart?) froze as she realized that terrible thing was coming closer. She could hear the sounds it made over the music around her like the crash of thunder. She could make out at least two or three more of those things with it, too. Fear rushed through her. What if they were coming for her? Coming to turn her into one of those awful things? There was nowhere for her to hide, and nowhere for miles, (or was it inches) that she could run to. Going off of base instinct, she turned herself into a potted shrub. The perfect disguise for an open country road.

As she complemented herself on her ingenious plan, she heard the creatures coming near.

“I just can’t possible apologize enough to you, my dears,” one of the things was saying. “I was simply monstrous, especially to you Applejack! I do hope you can forgive that kick I gave you.”

The thing with that hat laughed, its voice harsh and resounding like a line of cannons being fired.

“Aw, don’t worry none about it, Rare. None of us was acting right in the head, ‘cept Twilight here.” The purple monster turned slightly red as the orange monster gestured at it with one of the terrible clubs it was walking on. “Cides, Ah’ve had worse in my little scuffles with R.D. Though Ah’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed. Maybe I ought’a have you help out with applebucking season next year?”

The thing with the hat laughed horribly again as the eyes of the white creature rolled sickeningly in their sockets. As they passed by her hiding place, the fourth monster, a fearsome looking yellow thing with wings, stopped to look at her pot. The other three stopped quickly too.

“What is it Fluttershy?” the purple thing asked, looking back at its fellow and the slightly trembling potted shrub.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” the yellow thing said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to hold everypony up.” The creature quickly rejoined its fellows and together they continued on their way. As soon as they were out of sight, the potted plant dissolved instantly back into the shape of a pony, which rolled onto the ground clutching its potato sack, (or was it its head?) The yellow thing’s voice echoed through her mind, burning away at the wonderful bliss she clung to like a dragon’s flame. Memories tried to surface, memories she fought with all her might to push back. She didn’t want to remember anything before the beauty, but that terrible, echoing voice dragged something to the surface.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, Fluttershy,” the white earth pony said, her voice sincere as she watched the timid pegasus close her saddle bags. “I’m afraid that’s just all we can spare right now. This season is always a bad time for chest colds and flu for ponies, but I didn’t know it was a dangerous season for rabbits too.”

The veterinarian smiled weakly back at her. “Oh, Angel’s always gotten bad allergies in the spring. At first we thought that’s all it was, until… until he started to have trouble breathing. I tried hot soup, steam baths, he even tried some of my special herbal tea, but he just keeps getting weaker and weaker… He couldn’t even get out of bed when I left to see you…”

Fluttershy's voice cracked as the tears began to flow. The nurse was over her desk and had her hooves around the sobbing pony in a second.

“Shhhhh, Fluttershy, you can’t fall apart now,” the mare whispered to her friend, her voice just barely audible over the sobs of the pony in her hooves. “You’ve got a very important patient who needs you right now, and you can’t help him if you’re crying too hard to find your way home.” The earth pony pulled away and took the vet’s face gently in her hooves. “Come on now, you have to be strong.”

The pegasus blinked at her, sniffling and wiping her nose. “You’re right,” she agreed, trying to clean herself up and make some attempt to seem brave. “You’re right. I can’t fall apart now. I need to get this medicine back to Angel right away!”

“Remember, just two drops at most,” the Nurse cautioned. “This is powerful medicine for a foal, and I’m not sure how much can safely be used on a rabbit.”

Fluttershy nodded and went to hug the earth pony one last time before leaving. “Thank you, Nurse Redheart. You’re… you’re a real friend.”

As the pegasus pulled away and flew out the door towards her home, the Head Nurse of the Ponyville Medical Center watched her leave with sad eyes. She waved weakly at the beautiful retreating form of the kindhearted vet as she disappeared into the fading evening light.

Nurse Redheart let out a defeated sigh as she let her face and head drop. “Just let her go, Serenity,” she mumbled to herself, using her first name. “She’s probably not even into mares anyway.”

As the Head Nurse stood up and went back behind her desk to finish her paperwork, she didn’t notice that a third pony had been watching her from just around the corner. Mostly out of sight, but still close enough to have heard everything that had been said. The plum colored earth pony stared with one quivering blue eye peeked around the corner as she realized that the love of her life, her secret crush and boss for two years, had eyes for another mare.

But I can't forget

The purple pony rolled on the checkerboard grass, singing out in honks, whistles, and fog horns of pain as memories of who she had been flooded her mind. The mark on her flank continued to distort and blur. Sometimes it seemed to be a baseball, other times it looked like an ivory white cross surrounded by little pink hearts. Her eyes were changing, too. One was beautiful, a swirling white spiral on a purple iris, while the other was ugly and blue with only a single glistening black orb for a pupil.

The pony honked in agony again as the terrible memories burned at her mind.

The depressed earth pony stirred her tea absentmindedly as she glared at the chalkboard on the wall beside her. The names of every member of staff were written in block letters along with the days of the week and the hours each employee was scheduled for that day. One line in particular was holding mare’s attention.

“Sweetheart: 7:00Am-5:00PM” and then in all too familiar mouthwriting were the words, “Mercy take a lunch!” carefully crammed into the space beneath the time.

Nurse Mercy Sweetheart sighed as she turned her attention to her swirling tea. She hated breaks. When she was working she could keep her mind focused on the task at hoof; on giving foals their checkups or taking inventory in the Medical Center’s store rooms, but during a break she had nothing to focus on and her thoughts were free to wander to things she’d rather not think about. Things like her boss.

When she had first transferred to Ponyville Medical Center she had thought it would be a cakewalk compared to her brief stay at Fillydelphia Hospital. Oh how very wrong she was. The plum colored mare smiled weakly as she thought back to her first day on the job. It had been a whirlwind of calamity from the moment she had stepped through the door. Ponies of every shape and size had filled the waiting area, though strangely enough they were all the same color; green.

“You there!” an authoritative voice had called from the back of the room. She had turned to see a beautiful white mare with a pink mane, steel blue eyes, and a red cross for a cutie mark galloping up to her. “Are you the new transfer?”

“Y-yes,” Mercy had stammered, nervously offering a hoof. “I’m Nurse Mercy Sweetheart, from Fillydelphia Hospital. What is going on here? Why are all these ponies green?”

The ivory mare shook her hoof quickly and introduced herself. “My name’s Serenity Redheart, I’m the Head Nurse here and I am very happy to see you,” she said smiling widely at the plum mare. “We had a massive outbreak of Mossmane this morning and we’re short on staff until Aloe and Lotus get the spa ready.”

“Moss what?”

Redheart just turned and jerked her head to the hallway she had come from. “I’ll explain on the way, right now we need to get you inoculated so you can start on the other patients. Hope you don’t mind a quick bath before work,” she added with a wink.

“Wh-what?” Mercy repeated staring at the Head Nurse as if she were a mad pony.

“Come on!”

Mercy had spent the next several minutes being washed and lectured by the strange ivory mare, during which she explained that Mossmane was a fast spreading, parasitic fungus that had originated from the Everfree forest, (a border of Ponyville that Sweetheart’s superiors had failed to mention when offering her the transfer,) and demonstrating on the plum mare’s body how to apply the medicinal shampoo that they were using to treat it. Mercy had spent most of the briefing/bath wondering if there was still a time to turn down the position and go back to Fillydelphia.

Yet, as strange and unorthodox as that day had started, she couldn’t help but follow her new superior’s instructions wholeheartedly. Serenity, or Nurse Redheart as she was more commonly known, had a way of making ponies feel calm and focused in times of crisis; both her subordinates and her patients. The plum colored mare had never met another pony who could calm others down so quickly.

As she continued to idly stir her tea as she thought back to that first day, she became so lost in memories that she didn’t hear the only door into the room click open.

“You know, tea doesn’t constitute a full lunch, Mercy,” a teasing voice said from behind the reminiscing mare.

Mercy jumped in her seat and turned to see the very pony she had been thinking of, smiling at her the same way she did when she was trying to get picky foals to eat their alfalfa.

“I, ah, just started,” the plum earth pony lied. She was really almost half way through her lunch break and had barely even sipped her tea.

“Well you won’t mind if I join you then,” Redheart replied, trotting over to the break room pantry and finding her own lunch. Mercy suppressed a groan as she realized she had been caught, and worse, the reason for all her problems had been the one to catch her.

The Head Nurse pulled up a seat opposite to her and opened the paper sack she had retrieved. “Here,” she said, offering Mercy half of what looked like a daisy and lettuce sandwich.

“No thanks,” the plum pony said, pushing the half of the sandwich back across the table. “I already ate.”

“Oh?” Redheart asked, arching an eyebrow. “I thought you had just started your lunch?”

Mercy flinched. If she hadn’t been caught before, then she certainly had now. What a stupid lie to get tripped up in. Redheart frowned from across the table and pushed the sandwich towards her again.

“Mercy,” she began, causing the other mare to feel like flinching again. Nearly everypony else in Ponyville called her Nurse Sweetheart or just Sweetheart, but for some reason the Head Nurse had always called her Mercy when they were alone or off duty. She hated it. It made her feel like she was somepony special.

“I know you haven’t been eating at work lately.”

Ponyfeathers.

“And judging by the weight you’ve lost I don’t think you’ve been eating much at home either.”

Crabapples.

“Mercy, is there something worrying you?” Without warning, the white mare reached across the table and put her hoof over Mercy’s plum colored one. “Please, you’ve been acting distracted all week and it’s starting to worry me. What’s wrong?”

…Damn it to the moon.

“I… ah…” Mercy couldn’t speak. She couldn’t just tell the object of her two year crush that she had broken her heart because said crush apparently liked mares with wings, but the feeling of her superior’s hoof over her own was sending an electrical buzz throughout her entire body, and she was finding it hard to come up with an excuse. Looking around, desperate for any kind of escape, she noticed a sunny yellow cup somepony had left on the sink along with a stray white sugar cube beside it.

“I was worried about Fluttershy’s rabbit!” she blurted out. The ivory mare stared back at her in surprise.

“Angel? But, how did you hear about that?”

“I, um, heard some ponies talking about it in town,” Mercy answered, praying she wouldn’t get caught up in this lie too. “Her friends, the white unicorn who owns the boutique and that rainbow maned pegasus, I overheard them talking about how Fluttershy’s pet rabbit was sick and I was… worried for her…” As her voice trailed off, Redheart continued to blink at her. Then after a few seconds the Head Nurse closed her eyes and laughed softly.

“You know, sometimes I think you’re too empathetic to be a nurse, Mercy,” she said smiling fondly at the mare across the table. “You’ll worry yourself into a tizzy over somepony you don’t even know. Or somerabbit you don’t know.”

“Yeah,” Mercy replied, forcing herself to grin and give an empty chuckle as well. “Guess I just care too much, huh?”

“Yes… but I like that about you,” Redheart said, looking thoughtfully at her uneaten sandwich. Mercy’s heart skipped a beat before the Head Nurse continued, “You’re a lot like her in that way.”

The plum colored mare felt her heart plummet into a vat of dry ice and shatter.

“O-oh? Who?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Fluttershy,” Redheart replied, still not looking up from her sandwich. “She really cares about others, too. More than she cares about herself, actually. Especially animals. Did you know that she even takes care of the monsters she finds on the outskirts of the Everfree? She can just… pacify them into letting her fix them up. She just looks at them and suddenly a giant pony eating manticore is just as tame as a kitten. Don’t know how she does it. She’s just amazing…”

Mercy took a long drink of her tea in an attempt to thaw out the painful ice that had set into her chest, but her drink had lost its warmth some time ago.

“So… you admire her skills as a vet then?” Mercy asked. Maybe she could try to deceive herself into thinking Redheart only liked the pegasus in a professional capacity.

“Not only,” Redheart replied adamantly, suddenly turning to look her friend straight in the eye. “She’s one of the kindest ponies I’ve ever met. She makes you feel… calm just by being around her. Like everything’s going to be okay. You really should meet her sometime, Mercy; I think you two would be great friends. And between you and me, I think she could really use more pony friends. She spends so much time with her animals, I think she’s actually a little scared of most ponies.”

“Oh…” Mercy replied flatly. She glanced up at the clock, though she didn’t actually look at the time it displayed. “Well my lunch is about up,” she said standing up. “Guess I better get back to work.”

“Oh, before you go, you should know, Angel, Fluttershy’s rabbit that is, he’s doing fine!” Redheart said hastily. “Fluttershy came to see me a few days ago and I gave her some medicine for him. I talked to her yesterday and she said he’s almost back to his old self again, little monster that he is… But he’s doing fine so you don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

“Shouldn’t she have gone to a vet instead of a pony doctor?” Mercy snapped before she could stop herself. Redheart seemed not to notice her friend’s tone and just shrugged.

“Like I said, I think Fluttershy is scared of most ponies. The only one’s she seems comfortable around is her little circle of friends, and me.”

“Oh… good to know,” Mercy replied, picking up the sandwich half Redheart had offered her in her mouth and making her way out the door. She didn’t taste the bread or any of the fillings as she briskly made her way to the third floor terrace, passing patients and coworkers without so much as a nod of acknowledgement to them. When she finally reached her destination she flung open the glass door and slammed it shut behind her so hard it nearly shattered.

The terrace was empty of course. The third floor had been converted into their pharmaceutical’s wing since before she had been transferred, and since patients weren’t allowed on that floor, and none of the other staff ever visited this particular spot, she could be alone.

She slowly slid down the side of the railing as the tears welled up in her eyes. Celestia’s sun beat down on her in the summer heat, but it could do nothing to melt the icy pain that had enveloped her heart. It wasn’t fair. Redheart was in love with Fluttershy, for exactly the same reasons Mercy was in love with her! And what was worse was that since Fluttershy apparently had a very small circle of friends, and Redheart had given her the medicine to save her stupid rabbit, she would undoubtedly climb to the top of the pegasus’s list and she would see just how wonderful Redheart really was. Then Fluttershy would fall in love with her, and they would live happily ever after. Heck, Redheart might even make Mercy her best mare for the wedding.

The devastated nurse let the sandwich fall from her mouth and onto the floor. She didn’t know why she had taken it. She just had. Perhaps she just wanted some part of Redheart to take with her, even if it was just a hoof made sandwich. Mercy smirked humorlessly at the bread and flora before shoving it off the edge of the terrace and watching it fall through the bars.

It fell apart in mid air, the heavy bread and attached lettuce falling first, while two of the uncut daisies caught the wind. Mercy watched as the two flowers drifted together on the air currents for a few seconds. Then, a passing bird snatched up one of the blossoms, and the remaining flower fell onto the road beneath, dirtied and unwanted.

The honking had turned to screaming as Mercy fought to stop remembering her past. She didn’t want to remember who she was. Didn’t want to remember Redheart. She didn’t want to remember anything, but that damned yellow pegasus just had to come along and ruin it all again. Why couldn’t she just leave her alone? She had already taken the love of her life from her; did she have to take her bliss too? Was it her goal in life to completely and utterly ruin every shred of happiness the poor nurse ever had?

As she flayed about on the ground she felt something wet suddenly engulf the side of her face. Surprised, Mercy pulled her head back and looked down into the rippling waters of a crystal green pool. She felt the pain and memories dying back slightly as the liquid seeped into her skin and the taste of tropical punch flooded her mouth. Slowly she began to calm down. After a few minutes she looked over the edge of what she vaguely recognized as the pond at Ponyville Park.

As she looked closely at the calming green waters, she saw her face reflected in its emerald surface, or at least half of her face. It was like she was wearing only part of a Nightmare Night mask. Her normally neatly combed and tightly bunned mane was wild and curly, the white streaks of her hair forming a swirling coil, like a line of vanilla in a berry shake and she could see a yellow and orange beanie cap with a paddle like propeller on top of the curls. The part of her head that had splashed in the green water looked smooth and rubbery, and the eye was a purple, swirling orb that rolled lazily in her skull. The other side still held the dimples that usually speckled her cheeks and appeared to still be made of flesh and plum colored coat. But the eye… the eye on the ‘normal’ side of her face was blue. Blue, just like the eyes of that retched Fluttershy.

Mercy grimaced as he stared at the eye reflected in the water. How she hated it, loathed it, wished it gone with every fiber of her being. In a blind flash of pain and fury she opened her mouth and lunged at the glimmering sapphire, making to tear it out of her reflection's face with her bare teeth. As her head submerged completely, she gnashed her teeth and swallowed gulp after gulp of the strange fruity liquid.

The burning, painful memories were quenched and disappeared in a swirl of bliss and chaos.

Asking for Mercy

The plum colored pony floated about in the sky, careless and ignorant of the world beneath it. It merrily tumbled tail over teakettle, (sometimes producing an actual teakettle from its hair just for that purpose,) in the half day, half night sky as its eyes swirled in different directions. Half way through one of its winterpeppers, (or maybe they were called summersaults,) the pony stopped and stared upside down at one of the less beautiful houses she had ever seen.

The house was huge, at least as big as a frog, (or maybe it was a dragon she was thinking of) and it was a dull, sandy tan color. It also had a large white X with hearts around it painted on the side, but some silly pony had tilted the house when they had painted it so the X looked like a plus sign, but then who would paint a big white plus sign on a building?

‘Everypony,’ the purple mare answered herself, although her voice was more of a rubber duck squeak than an actual word. There was something funny about that building. It made her propeller beanie buzz and her eyes stop spinning for a second. It was an ugly building, not quite like the rest of her beautiful world, but there was something about it that made her want to get closer.

As she floated up to the enormous building she stretched out her arms to hug it. Her limps stretched all the way around the cold brick, and she pressed her cheek against its as hard as she could, but whatever she was expecting to happen, didn’t. The pony wrapped its forelegs around the building a few more times and tried to bury her face in the cool tan painted stone as its brain started to burn again. Sugared cumquats began to grow in the corners of her clenched eyes and drop down her face as she blew sorrowful raspberries into the brick.

The raspberries and cumquats slowly turned into sobbing and tears as her forelegs retracted and the harsh memories burned their way into her skull again. She slid down the wall and landed on the roof just above a small terrace on the third floor. Why couldn’t she just forget? Why did she have to keep remembering all the things she didn’t want to?

Her tears stopped as she heard a voice from inside shouting orders.

“I don’t care if the neonatal wing has turned into a Zebrainian jungle, we’ve got foals in there that need attention! Get that pony to the operating room stat! Zecora, how is that potion coming along? This stallion is falling to pieces; I want somepony with a broom and tape in here now!”

Mercy, or the thing that used to be Mercy, perked up her ears as she listened to the voice. It was so strong, so familiar…

It was crowded almost to bursting inside the hospital. The examination rooms were all filled by ponies suffering from some strange ailment, such as a sudden disregard for gravity, partial transparency, or the inability to stop singing show tunes. Though one particular room contained only a confused carrot farmer and a utterly devastated looking blond and grey pegasus cradling what appeared to be a banana nut muffin.

The friends and family of these poor ponies crowded against the walls of the medical center’s hallways as they waited for any word of progress; trying to keep a path clear for the nurses and volunteers that were frantically galloping from room to room carrying first aid, buckets, and other supplies. Ordinarily they would have been asked to stay in the waiting room, but it was already more packed down there then it was in the halls.

Chaos seemed to reign inside and out of the medical center. It was raining chocolate milk outside and ponies where spontaneously combusting into confetti on the inside. And yet, throughout all the disorder and panic raging outside the hospital doors, one singular earth pony mare was keeping the staff and patents inside the hospital from giving into the overwhelming fear and worry they all felt creeping down their necks.

“Tenderheart, I need you to take these blankets to the ponies in the east wing. Yes, the ones that keep freezing solid every time they sneeze. Raindancer, have you made any progress with getting those earth ponies off the roof? Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! I see you two trying to sneak out. I know you’re worried about Appleblooom but I’m sure she’s safe with her family, now please just go back and stay with Cheerilie and the other colts and fillies.”

Nurse Redheart paused for a moment to make sure the two fillies actually did go back to the room before turning her attention back to her staff. The pink maned mare continued to give directions and reassure her patients as she made her rounds through the building. She wanted desperately to join her fellow care givers in helping those poor ponies directly, but she knew she was more helpful like this. Besides, as long as she kept moving she wouldn’t have to think about…

“Serenity!”

The Head Nurse turned her head sharply as she heard her name being called. Two mares, one a mint green unicorn, the other a cream colored earth pony with a curling blue and pink mane, were fighting their way towards her.

“Bon Bon! Lyra!” The Head Nurse called back anxiously, her calm façade momentarily. Scolding herself, Redheart quickly regained her composure as the two approached.

“Serenity, we-” Bon Bon began, but Redheart put up her hoof to silence her.

“Follow me,” she said simply, and led the two mares away, continuing to issue directions and comfort the scared as needed. It wasn’t long before they reached their destination; the third floor terrace, the only part of the building that was still vacant of ponies. Not bothering to open the blinds, the head nurse instead opened the sliding glass door and stepped through them. The other two did the same and when Redheart finally closed the door behind Lyra, cutting them off both visually and auditory from the ponies in side, the pony that had been holding the entire hospital together fell to pieces.

“Did you find her?” she asked frantically, reaching up to grab Bob Bon by the shoulders, “Where is she? Is she okay?”

“Serenity, calm down,” the blue and pink maned earth pony replied, reaching out and steadying the hysterical mare. “Please, we looked all over Ponyville but we couldn’t find her anywhere. ..I’m sorry.”

“What about her house, did you look there?”

“We checked there first, Seri,” Lyra replied stepping between the two earth ponies. “We followed the directions you gave us to the letter, but everything’s all topsy turvy now and all we could find were a few enormous houses of cards. We looked everywhere, but there was no sign of her anywhere.”

The unicorn’s eyes were sympathetic and sincere, but they did nothing to calm the panic and fear in Redheart’s chest. The earth pony turned away and learned against railing overlooking the new chaos capital of Equestria. Lyra cautiously followed her and wrapped her forelegs around the trembling mare.

“Come on Seri, you gott’a pull yourself together. Just because we don’t know where she is doesn’t mean she’s in trouble. Knowing her she’s probably busy helping some stragglers who are still lost out there. I’m sure she’s fine.”

Her words did little to help the poor mare as she began to sob into the unicorn’s shoulder. Sighing, Lyra reached up and began to rub the ivory earth pony’s back as she cried. Eventually the Head Nurse managed to regain her self control and pulled away from the mint colored pony whipping her eyes.

“Sorry,” she choked out. Then she cleared her throat and took a deep, calming breath. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right, Lyra,” Redheart agreed, striating her back and whipping her expression clean again. “There’s no reason to lose my head over her yet. There are still plenty of ponies who need me right now. Thank you both for your help, now if you’ll excuse me I better get back to my-”

“Hold it,” the unicorn countered, stopping the white mare before she could so much as stand. “Acting like there’s nothing wrong isn’t going to help you either. You’ve been working nonstop for hours, at least take a break before you go back in there.”

“But I…”

“You should listen to your cousin, Serenity,” Bon Bon chimed in. “I know things are maybe complete chaos right now, but you look ready to drop on you hooves. Just take a breather and try to relax a bit first.”

The white earth pony looked between both of them helplessly before caving in with a sigh. “Fine, let me finish my round and I’ll take a quick fifteen minutes in the break room.”

“Why don’t you just get some fresh air out here and let us finish your round?” Lyra offered hopefully, but the ivory mare just smiled softly and shook her head.

“A Nurse shouldn’t leave her job half finished. Even though that’s what I just did…” she admitted shamefacedly.

“Nopony’s going to blame you for that,” her unicorn cousin assured her, as she pulled the Head Nurse to her feat. “Or for taking a twenty minute break instead,” she added, giving Redheart a meaningful look.

The earth pony gave a dry chuckle as Bon Bon pulled open the door for them. “Maybe if I get my best nurse back I’ll think about it,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Lyra sighed back in response at her cousin’s stubbornness.

As the three mares went back inside the building, none of them noticed the green, paddle like propeller peeking over the roof above them, slowly turning as if processing everything its owner had just over heard.

Just another day on the job

The thing that had been Mercy lifted her head up and looked down at the now empty terrace below. Redheart was looking for somepony, actually frantic with worry over whoever it was. The plum mare had never seen her boss act like that over anypony. Whoever it was had to be very important to her, and with her beloved cousin already there with her, there was little doubt in half deranged mare’s mind who it was.

“Awww, the poor little pony’s lost her soul mate,” a strange, terrible but beautiful voice said in her ear.

“Who’s there?” Mercy snapped, her head turning around to face whoever it was, but there was no one there.

“You know, it is nice when everything goes according to plan, but I wouldn’t be much of an embodiment of chaos if I didn’t look forward to at least a few of my smaller projects going against my expectations. I couldn’t be happier that it was you my dear. I was so sure you would be a perfect candidate for my special treatment. You were practically begging for help when I came across you, so sad and melancholy, and I positively abhor ill feelings when I’m not the one causing them.”

That voice, it was so familiar, and yet she couldn’t quite…

The burring began in her brain began to prickle again, and in an instant she remembered where she had heard that voice before.

“You,” she gasped, her face literally split between horror and delight. “You were the one who did this to me. I was on my way to the medical center and you… attacked me on the road!”

“Oh!,” the disembodied voice said in a joyous surprise. “You must have an excellent memory if you can recall all that by yourself. It’s almost a pity you precious saviors didn’t have such a skill, it might have made breaking their spirits take a little longer too.”

“What are you?” Mercy began but she was cut off as a cool haziness began to overtake the ‘sane’ part of her mind.

“Of course, I can’t have you running around half finished like this. What would the neighbors think?” the voice said jovially through the haze. “Shame I didn’t know it was another mare who was the source of your little heartache earlier. I have a fondness for anything that goes against the act of nature you see, even if that old sunspot happens to share the sentiment on this particular matter. Love and tolerance and all that nonsense, belch!”

The fog in her brain grew thicker until she could barely tell if she was on the ground or in the air again. Even so, the voice cut through the mists with perfect clarity, wrought with sarcasm and over the top theatrics. “But I’ll tell you what I’ll do. As equestrian’s new, and original ruler, I shall show my benevolence towards my subjects by helping you, my little pony, obtain that which you most desire.”

Suddenly the fog lifted and her mind was once again filled with a love for all things chaos, and something else; a burring, overwhelming desire for one white and pink earth pony mare.

“The extra hormones ought to keep that photographic breadbox of yours occupied too,” the voice added flatly, but the plum colored mare did hear it. She was too busy exuding tiny floating hearts. “Now, go be naughty girl my little Screwball,” the voice said, christening its creation as it began to float away in search of her prey.

“And remember, if she says ‘no’ but doesn’t trap you in stone for two thousand years it’s really a ‘yes!”

“You’re sure this potion is safe, right?” Nurse Redheart asked quietly as she and Zecora made their way around the ponies cluttering the hallways. The zebra was carrying a small caldron by the handle, but as they approached the wing they were destined for the black and white equine gently set down her precious cargo to answer.

“This broth is made from herbal things. Flowers and sap, not harpies’ wings. There is nothing that’s poisonous in my brew, of this I can assure you true.”

“Good, good,” the white mare mumbled, fishing out a set of keys from her hat and fumbling with them as she looked for the one that would open the door in front of them. “Some of these ponies are… wrong, and we’ve been scared to even try any of our usual medicines on them for fear of it might do to them.”

“You’re concern’s are justified, I must agree,” Zecora replied, her voice grim and serious. “For the symptoms of chaos maybe far more than we see. But my remedy potion cleanses body and soul, helping those taken by chaos become once again whole.”

“I sure hope so, Zecora,” Redheart said under her breath as the zebra reclaimed her cauldron. Finding the correct key, the Head Nurse opened the door into detention ward. Both of the mares shuddered as the door opened and they were met with the horrible noises echoing from within what should have been sound proofed walls. “This way,” Redheart said grimly, leading the zebra inside and closing the door behind her.

Normally, this section of the hospital housed saw very little use, but now almost every one of its padded rooms held an occupant; a pony who had been touched by the darker, or more dangerous side of chaos, a pony unrecognizable for who they once were.

As the two healers passed by the doors, eyes glistening with mania followed them from behind reinforced glass, and the squawks, barks, and insane gibbering coming from beneath the iron doors mixed with each other in a disjointed chorus.

“This one,” Redheart said, coming to a stop in front of an unlit room. The zebra put down her cauldron and cautiously approached the door to peer inside the small, square window in its center. “The patient appears to be extremely photosensitive,” The Head Nurse explained, answering the zebra’s unvoiced question. “He’s been fairly calm compared to the other patients in here too, so-” The earth pony was interrupted as the thing in the cell threw itself violently against the door, cracking the glass and causing the zebra to quickly jump back from the cell.

“Like I said…” the nurse continued slowly, watching a heavily scaled black foreleg slide down the broken glass. “Compared to the other patients he’s been fairly calm, so I think he’s a best option for a test subject right now.”

The striped equine nodded, not taking her eyes away from the window. “I can feel the evil of this beast. It wishes upon my flesh to feast. But worry not, my pony friend. This nightmare now shall meet its end. ”

“Right,” the earth pony replied, a bit skeptically. She signaled to two of her larger earth pony volunteers to come assist them, and after looking uncertainly at each other, they complied. “How will you need to administer the potion?”

“A broth it is, but an ointment too,” Zecora replied taking the lid off her caldron and pulling up the small ladle dipped inside. “I need but splash it on for its work to do.”

Both the Head Nurse and the two volunteers breathed sighs of relief. “Good. I’m not sure if we could get close enough to some of these poor ponies to make them swallow it,” Redheart replied. “Alright, when I count three, you two open the door. The light from the hall should stun him and keep him in one spot long enough for you to splash him.” The other three nodded and the two stallions took their place at the door as Zecora filled her ladle.

“Alright…” the nurse began, taking a steadying breath and waiting for her assistants to do the same. “One… Two… Three!”

The door swung open in a flash, letting light poor into the darkened room. What it revealed was a hissing and writhing thing of nightmares. Its shape was still vaguely pony like, four legs, one head and a tail, but its skin was covered in black scales and green feathers, and its eyes burned like red coals under its jutting brow. Its tail was long and snake like, and its mouth opened impossibly wide to hiss like an enraged crocodile as it began to smoke under the glare of the light.

“Zecora, now!” Redheart screamed, but she needn’t have bothered. The Zebra was already stepping forward, pulling her head back and then swinging it forward to splash her potent mixture across the demon thing in the cell. As awkward as using the ladle for such a purpose must have been, her aim was true and long ark of amber liquid speed strait for its intended target. Unfortunately, the creatures painful writhing, and the unexpected flexibility of its unusual body caused it to unintentionally duck most of the potion, leaving it to splash uselessly against the padded back. What little that did make it onto the creature bubbled angrily, seemingly causing the monster even more pain than the light did. The zebra swore in her native tongue before turning back to fill her ladle for another attempt.

“Look out!”

The warning came almost too late, for no sooner had she filled her ladle, then the black and white mare turned round to see the monster in the room flying at her with a terrifying snarl. Time seemed to slow down for her at that moment and she watched the creature’s mouth stretch wide enough to swallow her whole, saw the grey mussel inside of it glisten with saliva and what she could only suspect to be orange venom. The creature came closer, and closer as each instant stretched into a life time.

Its jaws were just about to close on her head with the abomination was suddenly pushed to the right. As it slowly arced away from her, the reptilian and feathered head turned to look back at the reason for its altered trajectory. Nurse Serenity Redheart grit her teeth with determination as she tackled the chaos fuelled monster right out of the air, and way from striped alchemist.

Time resumed its normal speed as the two hit the linoleum floor with a scraping ‘thud.’ The demure earth pony wrestled with the monster as it thrashed and hissed under the direct glow of the overhead lights.

“Zecora!” the Head Nurse shouted, attempting to hold the creature still as it writhed and beat her with its oddly shaped hooves and tail. The zebra snapped to her sense a second wave of her brew flying at the struggling figures. Nurse Redheart rolled the creature on its side just in time for it to take the full arc of the potion across its back and head. The monster went ridged as the herbal concoction bubbled and fizzed over its skin, slowly covering every scale and feather in amber froth. Redheart took this as her cue and released her patient and rolled away lest she be covered in foam as well. The creature continued to bubble and gurgle for almost a minute until the liquid began to evaporate away, leaving an unconscious charcoal grey pegasus stallion with a teal and white mane and tail in its place.

Zecora stepped cautiously towards the stallion while the volunteers rushed to the side of the battered nurse as she began to get to her feet. “He is alive, no worse for wear,” she proclaimed after checking his pulse and breathing. “All thanks to you, my courageous mare.”

The alchemist looked up at the Head Nurse as she stood up, assisted on either side by the two abashed looking stallions. “Don’t worry, I’m all right,” she told them, then added to Zecroa, “Are you okay?”

“It is not the first time I have averted deaths gaze,” the zebra replied. “Yet you Equestrian ponies never cease to amaze. I owe you my life, my care giving friend. Pray, what might I do to begin my amend?”

Despite the way her legs were trembling under her, the white mare shook her head. “It was my fault you were put in danger in the first place. We should have had a better plan then just throw open the door and hope it stayed still.” Then on reflection she added, “But if you really want to help you could make up some more of that potion. We’ll need a safer way to deliver it though… I think there are some empty spray bottles in some of the janitorial closets. Maybe we could use those and just squirt them through the food slots?”

“On both of those matters, I shall seek brisk solutions,” Zecora answered, reaching out the help steady the shaking mare. “But for now you should rest, and see to your contusions.”

The white pony winced as the zebra gently pressed against her back where the creature has stuck her. There was going to be a very angry bruise there and several other places for at least a week. Her mind turned to the ice packs and heat pads kept in the break room. “Actually,” the Head Nurse replied, letting her facade drop so that she finally looked as tired as she felt. “A little break doesn’t sound like a bad idea…”

Family time

Zecora accompanied Redheart back to the break room and gingerly helped her onto the old worn out couch inside. “I may prepare for you a healing balm,” the zebra said as the battered mare lowered herself onto the couch and gave a small hiss of pain. “It shall sooth your pain, and your shaking calm.”

“I’ll be fine,” the Head Nurse replied, trying to find a position on the hard cushions that was only ‘uncomfortable’ rather than ‘painful.’ “You just get back to work on that cure. Although, before you go, could you fetch me a couple of icepacks from the freezer over there?”

The alchemist nodded her head and retrieved several cold-bags from the fridge before laying them gently over the nurse’s beaten body. “Thank you,” Redheart replied, adjusting the bags so that they covered the right areas.

“I must thank you again for saving my skin,” Zecora said heading for the door. “I’ll ask you not be disturbed, so you may rest here within.”

The ivory mare nodded and almost as soon as the door had closed, leaving her alone in the small room, she begrudgingly pulled off her nurse’s cap and rested her head on the stiff arm of the couch. Loath though she was to admit it, especially while Ponyville was still in a time of crisis, but she was completely wiped out. She had been on duty for close to ten hours straight, and she had just wrapped up her extended shift by having a wrestling match with a mutated monster that hit like a bucking steam shovel. It was a good thing she loved her job, because it certainly wasn’t worth the twelve bits an hour she was currently making.

As she toyed with the notion of asking for a raise once this latest crisis was behind them, the sound of a door opening caught her attention. Before she could speak to politely tell whoever it was that she actually wanted her rest this time, the door slid open and a mint green horn poked inside the room; quickly followed by a similarly colored face.

“Wow, Seri, what happened to you?” Lyra asked, stepping inside and closing the door.

“Just another patient who didn’t want to take his medicine,” the earth pony replied with a wiry smile. “I’ll be fine. Though I thought Zecora said she was going to keep everypony out so I could rest?”

“She probably was,” Lyra said, sitting down on one of the cushions by the table. “But I overheard her telling the other nurses to leave you alone, so I figured I should make sure you actually were taking a break this time. Especially since you promised us you were going to have one about an hour ago,” she added, giving her cousin a disapproving look.

“I believe I said I would think about it, if I got my best nurse back to cover for me,” Redheart corrected, returning the unicorn’s look with a stern glare of her own. “And I still haven’t seen any sign of her yet.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think she’d want to see you like this, Seri,” Lyra replied, gesturing to the numerous cold bags covering the other mare’s legs and back.

Redheart looked away from the mint colored pony and frowned. The room fell quite, save for the rhythmic ticking of the mounted clock above them.

“Seri… Serenity,” Lyra said, breaking the silence and using the earth pony’s full name when her cousin refused to look at her. “This has been really getting to you. I’ve never seen you obsess about anypony else like this except me.”

“I’ve never obsessed over you Lyra,” Redheart said, finally looking over at her cousin to glare at her. “And if you’re referring to that time you got lost in Whitetail Woods when I was six, I was only upset because I thought my parents were going to ground me for loosing you.”

The unicorn looked back with an affectionate but incredulous smile. “You cried the whole time I was gone, and when the rangers finally brought me back you latched onto my neck and wouldn’t stop apologizing until we went to bed, and even then you wouldn’t let go of me.”

Redheart’s cheeks flushed scarlet and she turned away again. “How would you remember,” she mumbled, “you were only five.”

“My point is,” the lyricist continued, still smiling, “that you only act this way over ponies you really care about. And… well… If there’s anything you want to… tell me, I’m all ears.”

The earth pony blinked and looked back at her cousin, her brow furrowed with confusion. “Huh?”

“Well I’m just saying,” Lyra continued, doing her best to appear innocent and innocuous. “Nopony really had a problem with it when Bon Bon and I started dating. So there’s really no reason for you to…”

The mint colored musician let her words trail off as she looked meaningfully at the cold pack covered mare on the couch in front of her. It took a minute of confused and prompting looks being exchanged between the two before Redheart caught onto to what her cousin was implying.

“Oh, no!” she replied sitting up quickly and instantly regretting doing so. Hissing, Redheart gently eased herself back down and continued. “No, Mercy and I aren’t… We aren’t like that. She… she isn’t even into mares, I don’t think.”

“So… you haven’t even told her how you feel?” Lyra asked, using her magic to readjust the injured pony’s ice packs.

“It’s not like that!” Redheart insisted. “I… She’s like… Do you remember my old blanket? The white one with my mom’s cutie mark on the front?”

The unicorn nodded. “The heart and blue cross, right? How could I forget it, you took that thing everywhere with you till you were like ten. I teased you about it all the time.”

“Yeah well, it’s a little like that with me and Mercy,” Redheart admitted, looking down at her hooves uncomfortably. “When I first transferred to Ponyville Medical, the whole place was a mess. My boss just called me into the office one day and offered me the position as Head Nurse out here, said it was in a quiet little town not far from Canterlot, and that I’d only have a small staff to worry about, a perfect opportunity for a promising young mare like myself to gain some ‘hoofs on leadership experience,” the earth pony quoted, rolling her eyes at the words. “Nopony bothered to tell me that Ponyville was right on the edge of the bucking Everfree, or that Medical Center was horribly understaffed because nopony else was crazy enough to work out here.”

“Well you certainly fit the ‘crazy’ requirement,” Lyra quipped. Redheart just laughed.

“I must of,” she admitted proudly. “After only five months here I was ready to settle down and extend my contract for another ten years.”

“Yeah, I remember. You invited me down here for the weekend so you could throw a proper house warming party for yourself.”

“Hey, it was Pinkie Pie who threw the party, not me,” the Head Nurse corrected her. “And you met somepony pretty special at that party if I remember correctly.”

The musician smiled at the memory. “Pinkie did the organizing, I got talked into doing the music, and Bon Bon did the catering…” The mint colored mare gave a pleasant sigh before adding. “You know I was still finding bits of dried chocolate in my mane for a week after that night?”

Both mares shared a laugh before Redheart continued. “Yeah well, a great as Pinkie ‘accidently’ catapulting the contents of the buffet table onto my visiting cousin while she practiced her lyre was, you almost didn’t meet Bon Bon that night.” The lyricist looked at her curiously. “Believe it or not, four months and two weeks after coming to Ponyville, I was one bad day away from tearing up my contract and moving back in with you in Canterlot.”

“You’re kidding me,” Lyra replied, completely floored. “You gotta be! When I first came here you kept smiling like you had won the lottery or something.”

“I in a way I did, actually. We were so drastically understaffed those first few months that I had to work myself to the bone just to keep this place up and running. Everypony did, but when I became Head Nurse I also became health care manager, accountant, pharmacist, chief of staff, and I still had help treat the patients during the bi monthly crises that kept popping up. During my first week alone I had to rebalance our budget, take a full inventory on or medical supplies, and help pull the splinters out the poor ponies who had been victims of timber wolf attacks. And it only got worse from there!”

“So what happened to make you change your mind?” Lyra asked, settling down in her cushion for what she hoped would be a good story.

“Mercy happened,” Redheart replied, her eyes growing a bit wistful. “I was on my last legs, and Celestia sent her to me like an angle of… well, you know.”

There was an awkward silence between the two mares and then, “And I thought Bon Bon was a hopeless romantic,” Lyra said under her breath. Redheart blushed again.

“I know it sounds like a cheesy line, but that’s really what happened!” the Head Nurse protested. The musician just rolled her eyes skeptically. “I’m serious,” Redheart repeated. “Look, when I started at Ponyville Medical we were incredibly understaffed. The first thing I did was start sending letters to the chairponys in Canterlot asking for more nurses and a few actual doctors, but all I got back was the same reply, ‘we’re sorry, we cannot process your request at this time. Please try again in a few weeks.”

“Sounds like they were stonewalling you,” the unicorn observed, well aware of how the Canterlot bureaucracy worked. The ivory mare nodded in agreement.

“After four months of getting the same reply I figured I was never going to get anything else. So I decided to just go right over their pointy little heads, no offence. I sent a letter explaining my predicament right to Princess Celestia herself.”

“You’re kidding,” Lyra said, again completely floored by her cousin’s admission. The earth pony only smiled proudly.

“Nope. Sent it right to the top and brought the hammer down on those overweight pencil pushers so fast they nearly flew the ‘position open’ letters out themselves.”

The unicorn shook her head slowly. “I’m just amazed it actually got through. I hear they try to filter the Princess’s mail as much as possible before it reaches the palace.”

“Yeah well, the mailmare I sent the letter with made sure to deliver it right to the Princess’s hooves. Even if she nearly crashed through a few palace windows to do so…”

“I can only guess who delivered it then,” Lyra commented, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, I’ve made sure that she and little Dinky have free checkups and covered medical expenses as long as I’m here. It’s the least I could do after she went to such lengths to save the Medical Center.”

“I guess,” the unicorn admitted, “but that still doesn’t explain how you’re best nurse is like an old blanket. Unless she’s been keeping you warm on those long night shifts.” She added, smiling suggestively. Redheart just blushed again.

“I already told you we aren’t like that,” she repeated quietly. “But I’m getting to that.”

“Oh?” The lyricist asked, looking surprised but pleased. Her cousin blushed harder.

“Not that! The ‘like a blanket’ thing!”

“Oh…” The unicorn deflated slightly, but after a moment motioned for the earth pony to continue.

“… Well anyway, after I sent the letter to the Princess I was assured that the ponies we needed would be sent our way soon, and to hold tight until they arrived. But even with the words coming almost straight from the Princess herself, I still almost lost it when the Mossmane epidemic broke out. Almost everypony in town had gotten hit with the stuff practically overnight, and I just didn’t have enough hoof power to deal with it. We even had to requisition the Spa along with Lotus and Aloe to treat them all before anypony got seriously ill. I was at my wits end, I had only gotten an hour of sleep at most before the break out and they had to call me back in, and our antifungal supplies were running low so we had no room for any mistakes.

“Then… she arrived. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sight then when Mercy first stepped into our lobby. She was practically strait out of medical school, but I was so happy to finally be getting some help I didn’t care if she was green or not. Well, she wasn’t literally green. All the other ponies in the lobby were green, she was just inexperienced.”

“I get it, I get it,” Lyra said, waving her hoof impatiently. “So what happened next?”

“Honestly? I nearly cried with joy. She was the absolute perfect assistant. She was a little freaked out by the kind of stuff we dealt with during the first month or so of course, though really who’s actually ready for Ponyville when they first move here, but she learned amazingly fast. I only had to show her how to do something once, and she could remember it perfectly months later. I swear that pony has a photographic memory or something because she can recall the smallest detail about anything she’s ever seen or heard with absolute clarity. She’s memorized everything from complicated medical procedures to how I like my coffee in the mornings with just one lesson.

“As soon as she came into my life, things became a thousand times easier. She could balance an account book faster than any Marestreet stock broker in Manehattan, take inventory with just a glance, and as if she wasn’t wonderful enough, she made for the greatest friend I could ask for in this crazy town.”

“Present company not included of course,” Lyra added with a smirk. Redheart shot her a mock angry look before continuing.

“After a while the rest of the current staff started to show up as well. None of them could hold a candle to Mercy though. I’m still called the Head Nurse, but almost every pony acknowledges that I’m really still the chief of staff and everything else around here, except a few of those stuck up stallions from Manehattan. Still, everypony knows that when its crisis time I’m the one who’s in charge, and if I’m not around, they listen to Mercy.”

“So how is she like your moldy old blanket?” the unicorn repeated, causing the pride that had been building in her cousin’s posture to suddenly take a massive nosedive. Redheart looked somewhat abashed and rubbed her neck with her hoof before answering.

“Well… you know how I used to carry my blanket around with me wherever I went? And how I would get really cranky and antsy if I didn’t have it because it was in the wash or something? Well… Mercy’s kind of like my new blanket. I’ve come to depend on her so much that when she’s not around I… I have a have to really force myself to do my job or I just fall to pieces. I start feeling really anxious and worried, like everything’s spiraling out of control and I can’t do anything to stop it. It’s not like I need her to be right there next to me all the time, but I just need to know that she’s there for me, you know?

“I’ve always scheduled us to be on shift together for at least a few hours, and even if we’re not she’s just seems to show up when I need her, on the clock or off. This is the first time we’ve… I’ve been in a crisis and she hasn’t been with me. I’ve been doing my best to focus on what everypony needs me to do, but having her just missing like this with no clue to what’s happened to her, I…” The ivory mare trailed off helplessly as the worry and anxiety she had been suppressing again found its way to the surface. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this…”

“Seri…” Lyra said softly, getting up so that she could sit next to the frazzled mare. The earth pony leaned into her and was quickly gathered up in the forelegs of her younger cousin. Lyra tried to her best to be gentle as she rubbed the other mares back, and Redheart was quick to return the embrace and bury her face in the unicorn’s shoulder, crying quietly.

“I just want her back…” the earth pony sniffed.

She had no idea that what remained of the pony she was thinking about, was watching her from the window at that very moment, or that it was literally looking daggers at the embracing pair within.

A Screwball romance

The plum colored pony was turning red with fury. She had finally found her ivory goddess, only to discover her cuddling with some strange green horned monster! Of course it was understandable that her snuzzy wuzzums could get a little impatient waiting for her. It had taken her fifty (or was it five?) times around the building to find her pink haired goddess, but that ugly creature holding on to her, that vial abomination would suffer.

Though, even as the spiral eyed pony readied the custard pie she had procured from… somewhere to throw at the creature, or at least the window, the ugly green thing let go of her white and pink squirty-flower and pulled away. The thing seemed to be saying something and the floating mare pressed her nose against the glass to listen.

“…haven’t changed at all since we were fillies,” the creature said, laughing. “Just traded one blanket for another.”

“Well what about you?” her goddess replied, poking the monster in the chest with a hoof. “You could never get to bed unless you had that old teddy ursa of yours. The only difference now is she actually gets up and bakes for you too.”

The horned beast grinned sheepishly as its face turned scarlet and it began to rub the back of its head. “Yeah well, speaking of Bon Bon, I should probably go back to helping her out in the kitchens. You think you can stay here and actual rest for a while?”

Her ivory beauty closed her eyes and waved a hoof at the creature, smiling gently. “Go. I don’t plan on getting up from this couch until I’m numb as a rock.” The creature smiled back and stood to leave. It made it half way to the door before (insert name here) added, “though I would have thought you’d be serenading the patients instead. A little music might help lighten the atmosphere around here.”

The green creature froze in its tracks, causing the pink maned goddess to blink at it in confusion. “What?”

“I… sort of had to leave my lyre at home today…” the abomination admitted hesitantly. “A few of the notes I played while tuning it this morning sort of… exploded.” Then looking back added, “Do you think our house insurance cover’s musical accidents?”

“Knowing Bon Bon she probably asked for specifically when she moved in with you,” the other mare deadpanned. Then with a teasing smile added, “now go, she’s probably worrying about where you got off too.”

The creature gave a nod and one last smile before opening the door and exiting, leaving her beautiful marshmallow pony all alone at last. The white mare sighed and began readjusting her cold packs again before laying her head down on the worn out couch once more. The spiral eyed face outside took on a cat like grin.

Now, all she had to do was make a romantic entrance.

Nurse Redheart let out a deep breath as her cousin disappeared behind the closing door. Laying her head back down on the arm of the less than plush couch, the Head Nurse began what was bound to be a lengthy search for a spot on the polyester and lumpy cotton that could be deemed comfortable. However, no sooner had she found a position that she could pretend to relax in than she felt a familiar tingling sensation begin to build in her nose. “Ah… Achoo!”

“Aardvark,” a singsong voice said politely.

“Thank you,” the Head Nurse replied, rubbing her nose and readjusting herself. A second latter her eyes flew open and she sat up as quickly as her bruised body would allow. “Who’s there?”

The startled mare looked all about the room for the source of the peculiar remark, but she was completely alone, but there was one thing amiss that she did notice. The window, which she was sure had been shut tight just a few minutes ago, was open wide and letting in a gentle breeze carrying the scent of chocolate milk and soap. Being that the aroma wasn’t entirely pleasant, and a strict order was in effect that all windows were to be kept shut at all times during a crisis situation, the Head Nurse forced herself to her feet to close it.

The cold packs slid off of her and fell with a sloshy ‘plut’ when they hit the ground as she stood. The cheep anesthetics had already done their work however, and while stiff, she was able to make it to the window without pain. She closed and secured the window closed without difficulty, but after double checking the latch and turning around she was met with a startling sight.

The room had completely changed.

The walls were draped in tie-dye sheets and pillow cases. No pillows though, just the cases. Several lava lamps of varying colors and sizes had been placed about the room on the table, the sink, the floor, and along the back of the couch, and a large and expensive looking stereo system stood against where the door to the hall should have been. Confused, and a bit frightened by the sudden change in decorum her hospital break room had taken, Redheart took a few tentative steps forward before realizing that the chipping tile floor had been covered by slices of freshly baked bread. As she bent down to examine them closer, there was the sound of curtains being pulled shut and she was plunged into almost complete darkness.

The earth pony quickly turned around to find nothing but darkness and took several more steps back until she felt her flank bump against the table. Her heart began pounding as she pleaded with her eyes to adjust to the gloom just a little faster. She could just make out something moving in the shadows but the uneven and shifting light from the lava lamps made it impossible to discern a distinctive shape, if it even had one. Redheart was no foal; this had to be the work of Chaos, and after her last encounter with its terrible, disfiguring, and mind warping effects she was in no hurry to go hoof to hoof with another of the heavily infected.

“H-hello?” she called out into the shadowy room. “Who’s there?”

She was answered by a hungry (or possibly seductive,) growl. Redheart swallowed involuntarily.

“Listen,” she said, doing her best to seem calming and sincere. “I know you’re very confused right now, but I’m a nurse. I can help you. We’ve discovered a cure, so if you can just calm down and open the door I’m sure we can-” She was interrupted by a soft buzzing sound and several catcalls that were suddenly whistled at her from the darkness. The mare stopped for a few seconds in surprise before continuing, “…help you…”

By this time her eyes were finally starting to adjust to the dim light, and she could just make out the shape of a mare standing on her hind legs, leaning causally against the wall near the curtained off window. Growing up with Lyra, it was a silhouette she was more familiar with than most ponies. In fact, there was something very familiar the shape of the head and body.

“Please,” Redheart asked, squinting her eyes as she attempted to penetrate the gloom. “Just… come into the light so we can see each other.” There was a few seconds pause before the other mare reacted. Sliding off the wall, the pony landed on all fours and slowly made her way into the space just beyond the glow of the light.

“That’s it,” Redheart prompted, her smile friendly and beckoning the other mare to come closer with her hoof. “It’s okay now, don’t be shy.”

The light from the closest lava lamp turned white before the other mare slid smoothly into view. The neutral light clearly illuminated her plum coat as well as a yellow and orange propeller beanie that rested atop a mane of wild purple and white streaked hair. The violet swirls of her eyes were partially hidden between half closed lids, and her smile was small and playful, (though it was difficult to distinguish in which sense of the word.) Redheart’s own eyes widened and she brought a hoof to her mouth to cover the gasp that escaped her lips when she recognized the other mare.

“M-Mercy? she asked, her voice small and frightened. Is… is that you?”

The plum pony batted her swirling eyes and stepped closer, swaying her hips slightly as she did so. Redheart stood stalk still, frozen to the spot as she stared, eyes nearly the size of saucers. Screwball, the thing that had once been Mercy Sweetheart, continued to creep closer and closer to her prey in the dim light until,

*GLOMP*

“Sweet Celestia, you have no idea how worried I’ve been!”

The spiral eyed mare felt herself skid across the bread strewn floor on her back after being tackled by a white a pink blur that had grabbed her about the neck. Which was odd because even with a mind flooded with chaos and almost boiling over hormones, she had been quite certain she had been on her feet a second ago.

“When you didn’t show up at the Medical Center I thought something had happened to you. I even sent Bon Bon and Lyra to look for you so I could try to focus on keeping the hospital together. I swear I would have gone to look for you myself, but everypony needed me here and… well… oh Mercy I’m just so glad you’re okay!”

The confused Screwball felt the mare grabbing her squeeze her even more tightly, eliciting her to let out a squeak like a rubber duck. The babbling pony on top of her gave no indication of hearing the noise, and instead continued to repeat over and over how happy she was to see her missing friend. After several seconds, reality finally dawned on Screwball that the object of her affections was currently laying on top of her with her forelegs around her neck and her face buried in her shoulder, almost sobbing with joy at seeing her. The plum pony made a very wide a goofy smile as she began to proliferate tiny floating hearts again. She began to see the appeal of plans not going entirely as expected.

“Don’t ever leave me like that again, okay?” Redheart continued, her eyes shut as she gently shook the other mare to emphasize her words. “Understand? I was going out of my mind with worry over you, you… you silly pony!”

Screwball nodded her head in def agreement. Given in the state of bliss she was in the ivory mare could have asked her to cut off her own head and she would have happily agreed. Not that it would have done any lasting damage of course.

But something was causing a lasting effect in the plum pony’s mind. Something was beginning to wake up admits the desire, chaos, and pocket full that made up Screwball’s brain. The warmth that twice before burned her bliss and euphoria that was Screwball was rising again. The memories and pain of Mercy Sweetheart rose with the prickling heat, but instead of burring away what was already there, the two minds began to swirl and mix. Like oil and water, they would not truly combine, but they were both present, and both the mind of a single mare. A mare who was exceptionally calm and contented in the embrace of her two year crush.

Sadly, one of the few rules of the universe the lord of chaos had not overwritten was that all good things must come to an end, and all too soon the sniffling white pony was climbing off of her plum colored friend, much to Screwball’s disappointment.

“I’m sorry about that,” Redheart said, horribly embarrassed yet still smiling as she wiped her eyes with the back of the hoof. “I just… Lyra says I get emotional when I miss somepony I care about. And, well, I guess it’s no secret that I care about you…”

The ivory mare looking away shyly, her faced clearly tinged scarlet even in the soft multicolored light and Screwball felt herself turn to into a puddle of jelly. She quickly reformed herself into a pony when she heard the Head Nurse begin speaking again after a few seconds.

“Um, look I… I know this probably isn’t the time or place,” Redheart said nervously, looking down at her hooves. “But… well, I want to tell you that you’re my… I’m not even really sure how to say it.”

Screwball was on her hooves and sitting at the ivory mare’s side in an instant.

“Well… Mercy, you’re…”

‘Yes?’ The plum pony thought, leaning closer.

“You’re my…”

‘Yes?’

“My…”

‘YES?’

Redheart took a deep breath to steady herself. Then she turned to face the waiting mare and said, “Mercy, you’re my bla…”

The words died in her throat as she locked eyes with the other mare’s violet/blue orbs. They were large, pleading and glistened with hope in the soft glow of the lava lamps around them. Those quivering, spiral and solid sapphire eyes looked at her as if she held the power of life and death. The plum pony’s mind had stopped. Every synapse and scrap of lint poised with absolute focus as she waited to hear the completion of what could have been the most important sentence she would ever hear.

Redheart remained silent however, simply looking at the slightly smaller mare just as much attention. Then slowly, hesitantly, the ivory mare reached up to gently cup Mercy/Screwball’s face.

“Mercy…” she whispered, slowly moving her head closer to the other mare. The both halves of the other pony mirrored her actions and slowly rose up to meet her. Her two toned eyes began to flutter shut and she felt her lips pulled forward like magnets searching for their counterpart. She could feel the warmth radiating off Redheart’s face, almost taste her lips, and then...

“Is there something wrong with your eye?” Redheart asked concernedly, taking a firmer hold on the other mare’s head and using her other hoof to pull open one of the now duckfaced pony’s eye lids. “Err, hold on I can’t see in this awful light. Come over here.”

The Head Nurse stood and walked back towards the window, leaving the other mare frozen with her lips pursed and both of her minds completely blank. She remained in that awkward tableau for several seconds until the other mare realized she wasn’t following grabbed her by the shoulder to pull her along.

Light flooded the room as soon as the baby draconequus patterned curtains (which had not been part of the room’s original decor,) were pulled away. Both, or perhaps all three, ponies had to shield their eyes from the harsh and blinding light outside. Redheart wasted no time however and immediately grabbed Screwball’s head to examine her. The mare wriggled in her hooves like a little filly as she continued to try to shield her eyes, her more mature half still stunned into complete indifference. “Hold still,” Redheart cooed instinctively, “I need to see.”

Her words had an almost immediate effect, and the plum mare settled down to allow the Head Nurse to perform her examination.

“Clammy coat, almost to the point of feeling artificial,” Redheart said to herself, habitually listing symptoms. “No bruises or discoloration along face, neck or shoulders. Temperature feels normal. Eyes…” Redheart gently pried open the more unusual eye of her friend, absentmindedly stroking the mare’s neck with her other hoof as she did so to keep calm her.

“Dilated? No, discolored? No, I… I’ve never seen anything like this,” she muttered, again moving closer for a better look as her friend’s spiral patterned eye.

She came almost nose to nose with the plum mare, and still slowly stroking Screwball’s neck in a way that was supposed to be relaxing. The response wasn’t quite the one she was trying to elicit however, and her assistant’s face began to glow crimson and warm.

“It looks like you have a high fever as well,” Redheart commented, pushing up the mare’s overly curly bangs to press their foreheads together. As she did so her hooves moved down Screwball’s neck and began checking the now whirling eyed mare’s chest and sides for any swellings or inflamed tissue. Her patient however, was nearly ready to sprout steam from her ears as her boss intimately investigated her body for any signs of illness.

As both sides of her brain began to panic, the poor creature began to tremble so badly, due to various reasons, that Redheart had to lead her over to the couch and lay her down to finish her examination.

“Cough,” she instructed, pressing her ear against the mare’s chest. Screwball, upon feeling her love’s face pressed so snuggly against her, and the tickle of warm breath against the sensitive nerves of her stomach could only manage to hiccup.

“It’s worse than I thought,” Redheart said worriedly, lifting her head from Screwball’s stomach and moving up to look down at her face to face. “Mercy, listen to me. You’ve been infected by what we’re calling the Chaos bug. We’re not sure what’s causing it yet, but Zecora has a potion read that can reverse it. I’m going to go see if I can move that thing in front of the door so I can get it for you. I want you stay here and keep calm, okay?”

Screwball, once again in her blissfully complaint state nodded goofily. What remained of Mercy was nearly catatonic from built up tension. Seeing her best nurse in such a condition wasn’t entirely confidence boosting, and after biting her lip Redheart dove forward to encircle the mare in another tremendous hug, one which Screwball eagerly returned, and nearly finished off poor Mercy.

“I’m so sorry, Mercy,” the Head Nurse whispered into her ear. “I knew I should have gone to look for you myself. It must have been terrifying out there for you.” Again Screwball just nodded in compliance, her eyes sliding shut as she enjoyed the feel and scent of her love who was so willingly embracing her. Even Mercy relaxed into place eventually, making the plum pony whole, contented, and at peace.

It was the most wonderful, and perfect moment she had ever experienced.

“It’s going to be okay,” Redheart continued, giving the mare under her a gentle squeeze. “I’m not going to let anything happen to my best friend.”

Screwball and Mercy’s contented smile faltered at those words and their eyes popped open. Redheart didn’t notice the change in expression as she pulled away and started purposefully for the five by six stereo system that blocked them off from the rest of the hospital.

The Head Nurse groaned as she put her shoulder against the massive black and silver box that was blocking her only path to her friend’s cure. If she could just move it over a few feet she could reach the door knob and hopefully open it far enough to call for help. She couldn’t hear anything past the walls, but she hoped that was just an effect of the strange tie-dye sheets, and not an ill omen. Try as she might though, she could not get the over sized music box to budge even an inch. Stopping to collect herself, and perhaps back up for a running start, the earth pony became aware of a presence to her right. Turning her head, she saw the plum colored earth pony standing next to her, her head tilted down slightly and her curly purple and white bangs covering her eyes from view.

“Mercy, I told you to lay down,” Redheart said pleadingly. “Please, I don’t want you to exert yourse-”

Her words were cut off as the mare slammed a hoof into the wall beside her with a thunderous bang, cornering the white pony between the wall and the stereo. Redheart understandably jumped and her eyes darted from the hoof to the mare’s partially concealed face. “M-Mercy?”

The pony didn’t answer, but instead stretched out her tail flicked it over to manipulate some of the controls on the stereo. The speakers came to life instantly.

“And now here’s the new hit single from D.J. Pon3,” the voice on the radio said before the tail flicked again and changed the station with an audible click of the dial.

“Reports are showing a slight chance for Chocolate rain showers and scattered Chaos,”

*Click*

“We now return to ‘The Adventures of Doctor-”

*Click*

“Good evening fiiiiillieees-,”

*Click*

The bushy tail fell away as a smooth jazzy tune began to play. It was the kind of music that would be complementary to a candle lint dinner, as well as to certain events that might ensue afterwards. The plum colored mare slowly lifted her face to revile two swirling amethyst eyes, both glimmering with a hungry, almost predatory light.

“M-Mercy?” Redheart said asked, her voice shaking as she tried to push herself further into corner.

The multicolor eyed pony began to move closer.

“M-Mercy, Please! Don’t come any closer,” Redheart said, trying to sound braver than she felt. “I-I’m warning you don’t…”

Her voice trailed off as the plum pony came almost nose to nose with her. She could feel the other mare’s body heat against her chest, and knew they were almost flush against one another. Redheart became lost in those strange, swirling eyes. She watched, entranced, as the hunger inside them became a longing; a deep, powerful need that both frightened and, for some reason, excited her.

“Wha… what are you going to do to me?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

The plum pony answered by closing her eyes and capturing the white mare’s lips with her own. Redheart went ridged with shock for an instant before trying (and failing) to vocalize a protest and push the other mare away. Her captor was having none of it however, and pinned her victim to wall whilst deepening her kiss. The Head Nurse struggled for a few seconds more before going completely limp. After a few more seconds her limbs soon found the will to move again and her forelegs slowly snaked their way up to wrap around the plum pony’s neck. Her eyes rolled back and closed lazily as her own lips began hungrily tasting the invasive pair.

Now completely wrapped in their own world, the various signs of chaotic influence began to fall away from the room. The lava lamps collapsed into themselves and evaporated, the stereo beside them sank into the bread strewn floor, and the tie-dye sheets and pillow cases began to detach from the walls and fall into wisps of multicolored smoke. One such sheet fell over the oblivious pair. It covered their gently moving profiles while it was solid, but as it vanished into thin air, so too did the bodies of the two mares.

When the last whips of smoke and crumb of bread had disappeared from the room, all that remained was normal and completely empty break room.

Back to order

“Lyra, I’m sure she’s fine,” Bon Bon repeated for the fiftieth time as she followed her marefriend around the crowded hospital. “She probably thought she was feeling better and just went back to work.”

“I know Bonsy,” the unicorn replied, checking every hallway they passed for her earth pony cousin. “And if she is I’m going to drag her stubborn flank right back to the couch and tie her down to it. But no pony saw her leave, and her hat was still next to the couch, so-”

The musician was interrupted as several ponies’s gasped and began pointing out the windows of the hallway ahead of them. Putting on speed, the two mares raced forward just in time to see an enormous rainbow spit in two and begin descending over them like an dome.

“Everypony get down!” Lyra shouted as she realized that one of the rainbows was about to fall right on top of them.

Grabbing on to each other for dear life, Bon Bon and Lyra felt the spectrum of colors sweep over them. Everypony in the building, and indeed everypony in Ponyville felt the rainbow pass through them like a wave of sunshine. Then there was a terrific blast of light, and everything fell silent.

Slowly, ponies began to stand up and look around.

“Is everypony okay?” Bon Bon asked, as she and Lyra got to their feet, still holding on to each other. There was a round of mumbled, “yes,” “I think so,” and “so intense,” from the crowd.

Then the familiar voice yelled out from one of the examination rooms. “Dinky!” Lyra and Bon Bon rushed for the door without a second thought. Flinging it open, they braced themselves for the worst, but instead saw a grey and blond pegasus hugging her tiny unicorn daughter and almost sobbing with joy. The little filly was hugging her mother back as best she could with her little hooves and seemed about to burst into tears herself. Beside them, a yellow earth pony with a curly orange mane and three carrots for her cutie mark was staring at the mother and daughter in shock and amazement.

“She… She was a muffin!” Carrot Top exclaimed to two mares in the doorway, gesturing wildly at the blond and lavender filly. “She really was a muffin!”

Then all around the hospital reports began coming in those touched by the chaos bug had been miraculously cured. Stallions had come down from the ceiling, mares had stopped bursting into flames every time they blinked their eyes, and everywhere ponies were crying in joy or laughing in relief at seeing their loved ones restored safe and sound. The view from the windows reviled that the town had changed back as well. The checker board hills and streams of slick soap that had made up the new capital of chaos gone and the green, grassy fields and familiar dirt roads Ponyville had returned. Buildings had stopped floating about and were in there proper places and positions, homes destroyed in stampedes of light-footed buffalo had been miraculously repaired, and the sun shone bright and immovable in the clear blue sky.

“Do you think it’s over?” Bon Bon asked tentatively, looking over at the teal mare as they stood in front of a large window overlooking the serine landscape.

“I think so,” Lyra replied looking at all the happy ponies in the halls. Then she turned her attention back to the world outside. Everything seemed normal, but as she stood up on her hind legs to get a better view at the area directly below them she let out a small gasp. Before Bon Bon could ask what was wrong, the unicorn turned and began running bipedaly towards the stairs.

“Lyra, down!” her marefriend yelled after her as she made to follow, apologizing to the startled ponies in the hall as she raced after her eccentric marefriend before she caused any undo panic.

Upon making it outside, Lyra, now on four hooves due to necessity, turned full speed for the far corner of the building she had seen from the window. Standing nearby, and looking around in pleasant confusion was a white earth pony with a pink mane and a red cross surrounded by hearts on her flank.

“Seri!” the unicorn called out.

Redheart turned around upon hearing the voice and seeing her fast approaching cousin, smiled and waved happily.

“Hello, Lyra,” she said cheerfully as the slightly panting unicorn came to a stop in front of her. “Where have you been?”

“Where have I been?” the musician asked incredulous. “Where have you been? You just disappeared when I came back to check on you half an hour ago and I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Serenity!” Bon Bon called out in surprise, catching up to the two mares. She wasn’t quite as out of breath as her unicorn counterpart, but after quickly descending two flights marefriend of stairs chasing after her she still a bit out of sorts.

“Hey are you two okay?” Redheart asked, reaching out a foreleg to steady her wheezing cousin.

“We’re fine,” the beige earth pony answered. “What about you?”

It wasn’t an unwarranted question. The Head Nurse’s mane, which was usually done up in a tight bun even when she wasn’t on duty, was free flowing across her face and neck and appeared slightly damp. Her pristine white coat was also extremely ruffled and glistening, especially around her neck and cutie mark, and there appeared to be bits of either cloud or whipped cream in her tail.

“I feel great,” the white mare answered honestly, smiling widely again. “Better than I’ve felt in a long time in fact. I don’t know what Berry put in those drinks last night, but we should tell her to write down the recipe if she can remember.”

Both ponies looked at her and then at each other in confusion. “Seri,” Lyra said after she had finished catching her breath. “We haven’t gone drinking with Berry Punch since last Friday. It’s Thursday today, or at least it was this morning.” She added, glancing up at the sky as if afraid the sun and moon were about to randomly trade places again.

“Uh huh,” Redheart said skeptically, looking at her cousin as if she was telling a bad joke, but Bon Bon nodded in agreement.

“It’s true,” the beige earth pony said, her expression serious. “Ponyville was just hit with a massive crisis a few hours ago. Houses starting floating around and the roads turned into soap so you couldn’t walk without falling down. Everything was in bright colors and there were buffalos in tutus and pink leotards dancing all over the place. Then a double rainbow exploded a few minutes ago and now everything’s fine again.”

“Okay, maybe we shouldn’t go drinking with Berry anymore,” Redheart said, looking at Bon Bon with sincere concern and putting a hoof out to feel the earth pony’s temperature.

“She’s not making it up!” Lyra yelled, slapping her cousin’s hoof away from her marefriend. “Look you can ask the Mayor and everypony else in town about it, but it’s true! You were here at the hospital making sure everypony was okay during the whole thing! Hay, you were going out of you mind worrying about Sweetheart most of the-”

The musician was interrupted as her cousin suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. “What about Mercy?” Redheart asked, her steely blue eyes suddenly brimming with panic at the mention of her coworker. “What happened? Is she okay?”

Lyra and Bon Bon exchanged worried looks. “Well, we don’t really-” the unicorn began, but she was interrupted a second time buy a painful groan from a nearby bush.

Redheart immediately let go of the unicorn and all three of them rushed over to the source of the disgruntled sound, noticing that a curly white and purple striped tail was peeking out from under it. After a moment’s digging through the leaves and branches, they uncovered a plum colored earth pony lying on her back in what looked like a rather uncomfortable bed of twigs and dry underbrush. Moaning, and lifting a foreleg up to shield herself from the far to bring sunlight now leaking in to her little den, the mare opened her eyes to blink up at them with bright, solid sapphire orbs.

“Mmmm,” the pony groaned as she let her eyes adjust to the uncomfortable brightness. Then she noticed a familiar, and relieved face smiling looking down at her. “…Serenity?” she asked, squinting up at them.

“She’s never called you that before,” Lyra commented. Redheart giggled in response and with the help of her cousin reached down and pulled the disoriented mare out of the bush. Bon Bon began brushing the leaves and debris off of her back as Mercy attempted to sit up on her own. The attempt was thwarted by the worlds refusal to stop spinning before her eyes and plum colored mare ended up falling forward into her boss.

“Whoa,” Readheart said quietly, catching her subordinate and letting her assistant burry her freckled face into her shoulder in an attempt to hid from the oppressive sunlight. “Easy there, Mercy. How are you feeling?”

“My head feels like somepony broke off my horn and stabbed me with it,” Mercy moaned, not raising her voice too loudly. Redheart exchanged confused glances with the other mares.

“Uh, Mercy,” Redheart said carefully. “You’re an earth pony. You’ve never had a horn.”

“Well somepony better tell that to my skull,” Mercy grumbled angrily, moving her face from the crook of Redheart’s neck to burying it in the damp fluff of her boss’s chest as she further attempted to hide from the sun. The Head Nurse giggled softly at her assistant’s adorable antics and adjusted herself so that she could wrap her hooves around the slightly smaller mare and offer her some additional shade.

Lyra and Bon Bon stared open mouthed at the cuddling mares. Lyra in particular was completely dumbfounded.

“What?” Redheart asked innocently, noticing the gawking pair and looking at them as if she frequently let her subordinate use her chest as a makeshift cave.

“Nothing,” Bon Bon said quickly, regaining her senses and trying to look innocent. Upon realizing the Lyra was till gapping at pair she gave her lover a subtle kick.

“Ow,” the unicorn whined, rubbing her ankle where the beige pony had hit it.

Redheart watched as the two mares begin to argue with minimal interest as she cradled her groaning assistant. It gave quite a nice feeling, just holding the groaning mare that way. It made her feel almost, complete. Mercy meanwhile was attempting to tune out the rising voices of the couple beside them, and instead focus on the wonderful darkness and unique aroma her boss’s chest had to offer. It was quite a pleasant smell actually. A bit musky and sweaty, but still sweet and floral; a little like marshmallows and roses. It was such a familiar scent too if only she could remember where…

The teal and beige ponies stopped their bickering as Mercy suddenly began to struggle and flung herself away from her boss as quickly as possible, her eyes wide as saucers and her cheeks blazing crimson.

“Mercy?” Redheart asked in surprise. Looking at her subordinate worryingly she took a step forward, even as the mare crawled away from her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Mercy screamed back. “Why would anything be wrong? I certainly haven’t done anything wrong! Why would you think I had, Ow! Oh, ow, ow ow ow…”

The plum pony grabbed her head miserably as she realized that leaving her dark sanctuary and raising her voice had been a horrendous mistake. No matter what guilty revelation she had just had.

“Oh come here you, silly pony,” Redheart said exasperatedly walking forward and gathering up the migraine ridden pony in her hooves again. “Honestly, you ought to know better than to move around like that with a hangover. What got into you anyway?”

‘A hangover?’ Mercy mulled the idea around in her mind. Of course, that must be it. She had a hangover, and if she had a hangover then that meant she must have gotten drunk and then woken up, and of course only a very inebriated imagination could have concocted such an absurd fiasco as the one in her memory which meant she had nothing to panic over.

“We didn’t go drinking!” Lyra repeated for the third time, causing Mercy’s guilt and embarrassment to come swimming back to with merciless speed. “Look, reality took a rain check this morning and only decided to come back about ten minutes ago. We live in Ponyville, Seri, why is this so hard to believe!”

“For the last time, Lyra, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Redheart replied, petting her assistant’s mane absentmindedly. “The last thing I remember is going to the bar with our usual crowed of friends. After that all I know is I woke up beside the road here feeling like a million bits. Now stop yelling, you’re starting to hurt my head too.”

‘She doesn’t remember?’ Mercy thought, not sure if she was more relieved or disappointed.

“Wait…” Redheart said slowly, looking up at the sky and tapping her chin thoughtfully. The plum mare on her chest winced up at her in fear. “I actually do remember coming into work on Monday... then on at lunch on Tuesday I remember I had to make Mercy here actually eat cause she was being silly,” she said, smiling down at the plum mare and gently ruffling her white striped mane. Mercy smiled sheepishly back up at her, before the ivory mare continued, “Then on Wednesday…”

“Yes?” Lyra prompted.

‘No,’ Mercy thought.

Redheart seemed to wrack her brain for close to a minute before giving her cousin an imperturbable shrug. “Nothing,” she said. “That must have been the night we went drinking.”

Mercy sighed in relief while Lyra nearly blew a fuse. “For the last time, Seri, we did not go-” This time the unicorn was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. “What, Bon Bon!” she snapped, turning to look at the earth pony next to her.

Her attitude was met by a surprised and displeased face that foretold her spending the night on the living room couch if she did not rephrase her response very quickly.

“Er, I mean, what is it, Honey?” the unicorn asked, smiling her sweetest and trying to make her tone as sugary a possible. Her second response seemed to appease her better half as Bon Bon’s face changed to a less ominous, though not necessarily forgiving expression before replying.

“Lyra, there may be a reason she doesn’t remember,” the beige pony said quietly to her marefriend, though her words were caught by a plum colored ear as well. “I read somewhere that when a pony goes through a traumatic experience, they sometimes repress the memory as a kind of coping mechanism.”

Mercy’s guilt nearly tripled upon hearing that. She felt ill, and bottom of her stomach seemed to drop out. She had done something so terrible, so vile, so sick and obscene to the very mare that was stroking her mane so tenderly at that moment that it had forced the innocent Head Nurse to strip over twenty four hours from her own memory. …Well, come to think of it, Mercy’s own memory was still a big hazy towards past the beginning of their ‘encounter.’ Could her mind be trying to block out the memory in an effort to spare her the worst of her sins? Forcing herself to shut out everything else, Mercy pushed herself to remember every detail of what had happened, knowing in her heart that she didn’t deserve to spare herself even an instant horrific transgression she had committed against her pure, helpless victim.

Several seconds latter every inch of Mercy’s plum colored coat, from her hooves to the tips of her ears turned red as her memories informed that her ‘victim’ wasn’t quite so pure and helpless after all, and just why her boss’s first name had been on her lips when she had awoken. As sights, sounds, and indescribable sensations flashed through her mind making her relive the previous hour and ten minutes, sixty nine seconds, the already exhausted endorphins and synapses of her brain screamed out in refusal and pulled the emergency off switch.

Redheart looked down felt the poor mare go completely limp against her as she passed out again.

“Mercy?” she asked quietly, gently shaking the plum colored mare. “Meeeercy?” The near comatose nurse gave absolutely no repose.

‘Poor thing,’ Redheart thought, gently brushing the lavender curls out of her friend’s closed eyes. ‘She must be exhausted...”

Epilogue: Memories

------3 Weeks Later-----

Nurse Mercy Sweetheart sighed as she absentmindedly stirred her tea. She hated taking breaks. Well, no that wasn’t exactly true anymore. She didn’t mind taking a little time out of the work day to eat and arrange her thoughts now. She just hated being in the room where she had to take those breaks.

The plum colored mare closed her eyes as a not entirely unpleasant chill ran up her spine at the memory of what had started in this room a less than a month ago. The guilt that welled up in her stomach was unpleasant however, and entirely deserved. She knew she hadn’t been in control of herself at the time, she still felt completely accountable for her actions, even if nopony else remembered them what she had done.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the door behind her click open.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before,” a familiar voice said behind her. “But tea alone doesn’t constitute a full lunch, Mercy.”

The purple and white maned pony opened her eyes and turned to see the reason for her troubles smiling gently at her from the door way. A smile she wearily returned.

“I’m just waiting for it to cool a little,” she answered honestly, picking up a brown paper bag from beside her and setting it on the table for the other mare to see. “The rest is in here.”

“Well, you better get started on it then,” Redheart replied, still smiling as she closed the door and went to retrieve her own lunch. “We haven’t had any massive calamites for a while and I’d say we about due for one any time now.”

The plum pony sighed again as she opened her bag and pulled out a small rose on rye sandwich. “You’re probably right,” she replied, looking down at the slightly wilted petals sticking out of the bread. “Still, it’s been nice having a little down time after that last… incident.”

Redheart nodded and unpacked her own meal. They may have called it a lunch, but it was really more like an early dinner for them since they were both on the late afternoon shift.

The two mares ate in silence for a while. One simply enjoying the company of her assistant, the other wracking her brain as she tried for the four hundred and ninth time to broach the subject that had been weighing on her conscience for the last few weeks. It wasn’t like she could just say, ‘Hey Redheart, remember when we woke up next to the medical center a few weeks ago? Well, that was because we had boinked so hard it wiped your memory of everything that had happened in the last thirty six hours or so. Also I’m gay, thanks for noticing after two years of working together.’

“Hey Mercy,” Redheart asked finally, picking at what remained of her salad and glancing up at the pony across from her. “Remember when we woke up next to the medical center a few weeks ago?”

Mercy nearly choked on a rose stem before answering. “Um, yeah? Why?”

“Have you been able to remember anything that happened before then?” Redheart asked, looking thoughtfully at the freckled mare.

Mercy immediately shook her head. “Nope,” she lied, swallowing hard. “It’s all still one big, hazy mess. Why?”

‘Coward,’ she mentally berated herself, stuffing the rest of her R&R in her mouth to keep her from actually saying it. That had been a perfect opportunity to get it all out in the open.

The ivory mare just shook her head. “No reason,” she replied. “It just must be pretty annoying for you to have something you can’t remember though. You’re memory is so good I’m honestly surprised it’s not your special talent,” Redheart giggled.

The plum pony looked up at her curiously. “It is my special talent,” she said smirking glad for the change of topic. Redheart looked slightly taken a back.

“But… But you’re cutie mark?” she asked gesturing at the other pony’s rear. Mercy stood up and turned so her boss could see the white cross and pink hearts that adorned her flank.

“This?” she asked, wiggling her rear. “Well, I guess it is a little on the more abstract side,” she giggled. “Basically, the cross represents my passion for the medical field, and the hearts represent the hearts I’ve touched during my life.”

“Well that’s obvious enough, Mercy,” Redheart said, frowning. “Mine’s almost the same way. But how does that work if your special talent is your memory?”

“Look close,” Mercy replied, walking around the table so the ivory mare could see better. “Each one of the hearts is slightly different. One’s a little smaller, another is a bit brighter shade of pink; each one has something about it that sets it apart from the others, some tinny distinguishing detail that only I seem to notice. I actually got my cutie mark because I saved a lot of lives with that attention to detail.”

Nurse Redheart looked from her assistant’s flank to her face, with a wiry smile. “Tell me the story?”

Mercy laughed and nodded. “Okay, but only the short version. My dad worded as the chief of staff at our local hospital. One day he was about to go to work to deliver a new pamphlet to his staff about how to prepare a new type of vaccine. Out of curiosity I read one of the ones he had left behind, and noticed there was a typo in it that could have put a lot of ponies in danger. I rushed out of the house and nearly knocked him down on the sidewalk trying to tell him the pamphlet said ‘sulfate’ instead of ‘sulfa.”

“That could have caused some problems,” Redheart agreed nervously, knowing full well the damage a slip up like that could have caused. Mercy nodded her head.

“My dad said basically the same thing and had the whole lot of them destroyed so that nopony would make the mistake. After that he told me how many lives I had saved by catching the mistake, this little thing showed up,” she finished, nodding towards her cutie mark. “After that, everything was pretty much set in stone for medical college.”

“And after that you came… here,” Redheart added, smiling as she looked down at the cryptic hearts on her friend’s flank.

“Yeah…” Mercy agreed, turning away to hide the soft blush on her cheeks. The way Redheart had paused made her wonder if the ivory mare had meant to say something different.

…to me.

The plum pony jumped a little as she felt a hoof brush gently against her flank. She turned to see her boss leaning forward to closely examine her cutie mark, evidently attempting the smooth out her coat to better spot the key differences between the four hearts. Upon noticing the plum pony looking down at her, Redheart quickly withdrew her foreleg and straightened up, looking sheepish. “Sorry,” she said apologetically, a blush forming on her cheeks.

“It’s alright,” Mercy replied, fighting her own blush and making her way back to her seat to avoid provoking the ivory mare’s curiosity again. She gave her head a little shake as her memory recalled several other times when she had felt Redheart’s hoof against her flank, both gently and otherwise. She shook her head a little harder as her blush deepened and nearly fell over as she rounded the corner of the table.

“Um, are you alright there, Mercy?” Redheart asked, looking uncertainly at the stumbling mare.

“Uh, yeah,” Mercy replied. Well at least now she could contribute her reddened complexion to that embarrassment. “Just… had something in my ear.”

“Oh,” Redheart replied going back to her salad. “You know, most ponies just wiggle their ear instead. Makes walking a bit easier.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Mercy replied sulkily, resuming her seat and taking a sip of her tea. Stupid perfect memory; she wished the bucking thing came with an off switch.

The two sat in silence again for a few minutes, and again Mercy’s mind turned toward broaching the subject of her confession. She had told herself before that she just didn’t know how to start, but after her bald faced lie earlier she had to face the truth. She was scared. Scared that Redheart had only been caught up in heat of the moment when she had returned the plum pony’s feelings, scared her that boss and best friend would be disgusted or feel violated after learning what they had done, and most of all, scared that it had been Screwball, not Mercy who had been the cause her love’s euphoric amnesia.

She felt almost silly for worrying about such a thing, but still, the bar had been raised rather high on their first ‘encounter.’ She was certain that no normal or sane pony could have devised all the ways she had pleased her passionate, if temporary, lover. Then again, Redheart had gotten pretty creative as well. Mercy suppressed a pleasant shudder as she began to recall again their raunchy escapades. Sweet Celestia , she needed an off switch for her memory. If this kept up any longer she was likely to pass out again.

Trying to clear her head, Mercy turned her thoughts towards her other friends. Not that that helped much. Bon Bon had been dropping subtle hints lately that she should ask the ivory mare out to dinner soon. Such as purposefully mentioning quality restaurants around town that offered candle light dinners, or choice picnic spots to go star gazing. Contrariwise, Lyra had been dropping very unsubtle hints. Such as taking her aside and whispering “just ask her out for Peat’s sake!” every time they went out for drinks together.

Mercy actually pondered the idea of asking her boss out as she absentmindedly began to stir her tea again. Now that she thought about it, Redheart had been paying her quite a bit of attention since the incident. Whenever they had gotten out together after work the ivory mare almost never seemed to leave the her side, and each excursion inevitable ended with the two slightly tipsy ponies walking home together before Redheart gave her a goodnight hug and nuzzle at her front door. Mercy often wondered what that exchange would be like if one or both of them were any more than tipsy, but being that an unexpected crisis was always to be expected in Ponyville, it was a temptation that could not be afforded.

Mercy took a long drink from her cup as she reviewed this new evidence. The odds certainly seemed in her favor now, quite a change from how they had been before Discord’s release. Maybe Celestia really did work in mysterious ways? Still, if she was ever going to ask the mare out, then she’d need to come clean first. Glancing at the clock, she took note that they still had a good ten minutes left before they were due back on duty. She briefly considered waiting until the weekend when they would have more time, but the guilty feeling in her stomach refused to wait so long. This had to be done now.

“So,” Mercy began casually, rummaging in her lunch sack for her dessert. “Have you been able to remember anything?”

‘May as well see where to start,’ she figured.

The head nurse shook her head and took a sip of her juice box. “About that day? Nothing,” she replied bitterly. “I’ve been wracking my brain every night ever since then and I still can’t get anything more than some vague feelings.”

“Feelings?” Mercy asked curiously as she withdrew shiny red apple from the sack. “What do you mean?”

“Just… stuff,” Redheart replied offhoofedly, extracting a large green tea brownie from her own bag. “A lot of stressing out and worrying mostly, but then Lyra said I was doing quite a bit of that anyway,” she added, averting her eyes as she neglected to mention what else her cousin said she had done.

Mercy frowned. That didn’t give her a lot to work on. “Anything else?”

Redheart blushed slightly. “Well… yeah. I remember feeling really good too.”

“Good?” Mercy asked uncertainly, recalling how absolutely miserable she had felt after waking up in the rosemary bush.

“Yeah, good,” the Head Nurse repeated, looking out the window wistfully. “I don’t know how else to explain it. It was like… It was the most amazing feeling ever, almost to the point it was scary. I can’t really put it into words. What’s really frustrating is I think I have dreams about it sometimes. I wake up feeling like I did that day, but it always fades away so fast and I can never remember what I dreamed about…”

Redheart sighed and took another sip of her fruit drink as Mercy bit into her apple. Well, that was a little better. The plum pony chewed her food slowly as she planned out her words. She was almost ready to speak when the sulking pony suddenly sat up.

“Oh! Wait a minute there was something else.” The ivory mare got up from the table and quickly crossed to one of the cupboards where began running rummaging around inside. “I saw this in the window of that old joke shop when I went out shopping yesterday. I was going to show it to you after we got off work but... Ah, here it is.”

Mercy watched as the other earth pony turned around. In her mouth, was an orange and yellow beanie cap, with a green propeller sticking out the top. The plum pony’s eyes bulged to size of plates as she recognized it. It couldn’t possibly be…

Redheart dropped the innocent looking hat into her hooves and looked down at it musingly. “When I saw it in the window I… I don’t know, it kind of triggered something in me. Not really a memory but…”

“W-where did you say you found that again?” Mercy asked, her eyes fixed on the cap as if she were afraid it might attack.

“Wiz Bang’s Joke Shop near Ponyville Central Plaza,” Redheart replied, still looking at the small hat with a dreamy expression. “It was so strange. I just happened to see it out of the corner of my eye as I was passing by and then it was like it just grabbed my attention. Suddenly I felt hot and tingly all over my body, and then I remembered I… I wanted something that day. I could feel the good feelings again but for the first time I remembered there something I wanted, needed to make that feeling complete…”

Mercy watched uncertainly as the ivory mare frowned down at the odd little hat. She searched her own memory quickly trying to recall what it could have been that Redheart had wanted so badly, she had been quite certain she had seen to every possible desire the Head Nurse had had during their encounter. When her mind came up blank she asked, “Did… did you remember what it was you wanted?”

Redheart looked up slowly and set the hat down on the counter behind her. “Blue eyes,” she said quietly, staring vulnerably at plum pony in front of her. “I… I wanted to see blue eyes…”

Mercy felt her own sapphire eyes widen and her heart skip a beat. Inside her mind, a small pessimistic voice tried to say something but was quickly stamped out. For a few seconds she forgot how to breathe, which only added to the dizzy lightheaded sensation in her brain. When she finally did remember how to work her respiratory system, Redheart had hesitantly closed most of the distance between them and seemed to be waiting for some kind of reply.

Swallowing, Mercy new it was now or never. “Redheart, listen. There’s-”

“Serenity,” the ivory mare interrupted. Mercy closed her mouth and blinked at her. “I… like it better when you call me Serenity,” Redheart added softly.

“Serenity,” Mercy repeated slowly. She saw the Head Nurse’s steel blue eyes light up at the sound of her name. Resigning herself, Mercy reached out and took the ivory mare’s forehooves in her own. “Look, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell…”

Her resolved, and focuses, died as she became aware of a strange noise emanating from the window. Both ponies turned their heads to look towards it, and then back to each other as if to verify that the other mare had heard it too. It was the sound of raised voices and fighting, and as Mercy let go of Serenity’s forelegs and the two of them crossed to look out the window. Their jaws dropped at what they saw.

Dozens of ponies of all ages, types, and genders were fighting tooth and hoof with each other in the picnic fields in front of the hospital. At least half a dozen miniature brawls had broken out and while the sight of the small riot was terrible, it was cast it involved that propped the baffled looks from the two nurses above.

“Is that the Mayor?” Serenity asked, squinting down into the crowd.

“I think it is,” Mercy replied, both horrified and impressed as the town leader delivered a well placed kick to an unsuspecting Rain Drops. “She’s certainly holding her own isn’t she? Wait a minute, is that a doll their fighting over?”

Serenity nodded before catching herself. Interesting as the fight was to watch, those were still her ponies out there getting hurt. “We better get the center ready for patients,” she said grimly, her expresion growing stern as she once again became the no nonsence Head Nurse of the Ponyville Medical Center.

“I’ll tell Coldheart and Dr. Cross to start brining gurneys out to reception,” Redheart continued turning to face her right hoof mare. “You get some of the other nurses and find some flashlights. It’s practically sunset out there and Celestia knows how-”

“Twilight Sparkle!”

The Head Nurse fell silent as a regal and displeased voice sounded from outside. Both ponies turned back to the window just in time to be blinded by a flash of golden light. After their eyes had readjusted they gingerly looked back out the window to see that the fighting had suddenly stopped. Ponies were helping each other up and seemed to be apologizing to each other, as well as gathering around the Mayor and local mailmare or at least something next to them. They were also surprised to see Princess Celestia herself, standing in front of six familiar heroes. As she had her back to them, the Nurse’s could only assume that she was congratulating them on the aversion of another crises.

“Well, speak of the devil. Eerr, Princess, I mean.” Mercy corrected herself.

Redheart shot her disapproving smirk. “Come on, we better get down there. Nopony looks to beat up from hear but I want to make sure we at least look at those fillies before they escape.”

Mercy nodded and headed for the door. She silently cursed herself for her inability to speak for a third time, but as always their duty as care giver’s came first. She made it all the way to the door before she realized her boss wasn’t following her. Looking back she saw that Redheart had made it only a few steps before coming to a stop and looking slowly around the room with a confused expression.

“Serenity?” Mercy asked tentatively. The ivory pony snapped out of her daze and shook her head.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly walking forward again. Mercy watched her uneasily as the Head Nurse opened the door and made it half way into the hall again before stopping. She slowly turned to her assistant and gestured back into the room asking, “Mercy… Did we ever have any curtains on that window?”

The plum pony looked at her in surprise. “I… It…” She sighed. “It’s a long story,” Mercy said wearily. “But I promise I’ll tell you after our shift.”

Serenity nodded, but didn’t take her eyes away from the room. “…and lava lamps?”

“Right now I think we better head down to reception,” Mercy replied quickly, pushing her boss out the door and closing behind them.

“Mercy, why can I remember the taste of banana flavored whip cream?” Serenity asked, looking at her assistant suspiciously. “I’ve never even had banana flavored-”

“Foals now, stories latter!” the scarlet turning plum pony nearly yelled back as she continued to push her boss down the hall.

It was a night of new beginnings in Ponyville for many of its inhabitants, but as what would soon become the towns newest, and for several days most blushing couple descended the stairs of Ponyville Medical Center, the paddle like propeller of the beanie cap inside the break room gave a small twitch.

The End