Chapter 1: The Midnight Run
October 8th, 2023
It was a night just like most others at the Ponyville Ambulance Company. Quiet. Very quiet. No calls, nothing to do but wait. Wait for a call that may or may not come. I couldn't even figure out how the company even stayed in business. Founded in 1920, the Ponyville Ambulance Company had for many years provided ambulance services to the Ponyville General Hospital, until around 2012, after 92 years of service, Ponyville General finally terminated the contract with the PAC, as they began to provide their own ambulance services. Many people and Ponies thought that this would be the end for the PAC, and its 2 ancient ambulances, dating back to the 1970's, but somehow, it wasn't. Time marched on, and the building began to look rather rundown, but was still being repaired enough to keep with modern building standards, but its interior remained unchanged since the 1970's with tacky pink carpets (quite stained), wood-paneled walls, an ancient antenna TV, various old pieces of office furniture, and pictures of our ambulances when they were brand-new. The building itself was brick, and shaped like an "L", with the tiny lobby, a bathroom, the break room, my desk, Moonbeam's (my co-worker) desk, a messy archive, and Med Runner's (our boss) office on the short side, and the ambulance garage bay on the long side. A faded, semi-lit sign read "Ponyville Ambulance Company, est. 1920" over the main door.
The company had only 3 employees; Med Runner, a Bat-Pony male in his early 60's, with dark gray fur, an ashy mane and tail, black wings, and always dressed like he worked at an office in the 70's, complete with those ridiculous fat ties. He was the boss of the operation, and owned the company, just as his Dad and Grandfather had before him. And then there was his daughter, Moonbeam. She was a 28 year old Bat-Pony with bluish fur, a dyed-black mane and tail, black wings, and dressed in a blue EMT's jumpsuit and black boots. And then there was me, Joel “Scar” Griffith. I'm a 25 year old male Human with brown hair, blue eyes, also dressed in a blue EMT's jumpsuit with black boots, and I also have a tattoo of a black wolf's pawprint on my shoulder, and a scar over my left eye. For the most part, Med Runner stays in his office, and works all day on paperwork for his day-job, while Moonbeam and I keep the building clean, and the ambulances in working order. Aside from this, we read, watch movies, talk, play games on our phones, and chat, but while we were on-call 5-6 days a week, we were barely working at all. It made no sense to us. Why was the PAC even still in business if we had no clients, and no calls? It made no sense to either of us, but we both knew about the Midnight Runs, which was the one thing that seemed to keep us going, yet neither of us knew anything about what was really going on with them.
On the night of October 8th, it was a night like most others, though it was raining. Med Runner was in his office, I was watching TV on my laptop at my desk, while Moonbeam was playing on her phone at hers next to mine. As usual, it was all quiet, and there were no calls. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. 11:57pm. I then turned back to the episode of "The Last Ship" I was watching, but just as I did, I suddenly heard it, the distinct sound of an old phone ringing. I paused the episode, and Moonbeam looked up from her phone. We both then looked towards her Dad's office, which was where the phone was ringing. Sure enough, a few seconds later, he answered.
"Hello, Ponyville Ambulance Company. How may I assist you this evening?" We heard him ask. Then there was a pause. "Yes. The usual then? Ok, I'll send them over right away. Thank you." He then called us into his office.
"Another Midnight Run, Sir?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yes, another Midnight Run. You two know the drill, so hop to it!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"On it, Dad!"
We both then left Med Runner's office, and after pausing to pull our boots on, as well as our ambulance company hats, we also put on our jackets, as it was raining, and a bit chilly, and after grabbing a set of keys from a hook on the wall, we went out through a door behind my desk that led to the garage bay. Once we were there, I looked at the 2 bays. Both of them had ambulances in them, but only one was working at any given time (the one in Bay 2 was a real lemon. It NEVER worked like it was supposed to, and was mostly used for spare parts for the ambulance in Bay 1). Both of them were 1973 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Lifeliner Ambulances, painted red and white.
I then got into the driver's seat of the ambulance in Bay 1, Moonbeam climbed into the passenger's seat, we shut the doors, opened the main garage door, set the timer to close it once we left, and once it was fully open, I started the ambulance, turned on the lights and siren, and we were soon out of the garage, and roaring off into the night to make our pickup.
Pretty soon, we were heading off down the road towards our destination. I had the windshield wipers going, and we were listening to the radio too, though due to the ambulance's age, we only had AM Radio, which gave us a lot of static. I'd been trying to install an FM radio, but I hadn't been able to get it to work properly yet. After driving for about 20 minutes, we reached our destination, the Greenhill Resort. The Greenhill Resort had opened in the 1950's, and served as a great nature-oriented family retreat until the early 2000's, when it closed for money-related reasons. It was passed around between buyers, but hadn't reopened yet. However, it was from here that the calls for our services came, but yet neither of us knew why. Clearly someone, or somepony was using the resort for something, but what? My theory was that it was being used as a psychiatric therapy center, while Moonbeam thought that it was owned by some kind of cult. In any case though, we pulled up under the shelter of the main resort building, and I turned off the lights and siren. Moonbeam and I then got out of the ambulance, and opened the back door. I then looked over at the main door, which had black-tinted glass, and was guarded by several security officers. One of them then radioed to someone inside the main resort building that we'd arrived for pickup, and sure enough, like clockwork, someone dressed as a medical orderly came out from the door, pushing what seemed to be a patient on a gurney. The patient's body was completely covered in white sheets, save for their head and arms, which were covered in bandages. They were also strapped to the gurney, and I couldn't even tell if they were a Human or a Pony, much less their gender. I tried to get a better look at one of the patients once, only to be met with a pistol in my face from one of the security officers, who warned me to never do that again if I wanted to keep breathing. The orderly then rolled the gurney over to the back of the Ambulance, and as quickly as we could, Moonbeam and I lifted the gurney up, and loaded it into the back of the ambulance. Then, the orderly climbed into the back of the ambulance with the patient on the gurney, Moonbeam shut and secured the back door, and we both climbed back inside the cab of the ambulance. The orderly then banged on the frosted-glass bulkhead that separated the cab of the ambulance with the rear, signifying that he was ready, and after turning the lights and sirens back on, off we went again.
Only the orderly was ever allowed to ride in the back with the patient, and over the course of the many times that Moonbeam and I had done this, we saw several different orderlies, some male, some female, though most were Humans, and only 1-2 were Ponies. We also weren't able to see into the back of the Ambulance, due to the frosted-glass bulkhead, so we had no idea what was going on back there during our journey, if anything. We also weren't allowed to talk to the orderly, and even when we tried, he or she never said a word. Neither did the patient, who always seemed to be sedated, and/or unconscious, but they sometimes groaned a bit.
"What do you think goes on back there, Scar?" Moonbeam asked me. "Is that orderly even an orderly, or are they just dressed like one?"
I shrugged. "Honestly, Mooney, I have no idea. If I had to guess though, I'd say that they have some kind of medical training, and their job is to keep the patient stable, safe, and comfortable on their way to the Old Hollow Hospital."
"And about those patients, are they even patients at all? Why're they always covered head to toe in sheets an bandages?"
"I assume that that's to protect their identity, but the question is why? Who are they? They've always been adults, and I assume that they've been both Humans and Ponies, but who are they? And what kind of medical treatment do they need?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Scar. But I can only hope that we're not caught up in some kind of kidnapping, Human/Pony-smuggling or trafficking operation."
"That's what worries me too, Mooney. I keep worrying that one of these days, either at the resort, or the hospital, someone's gonna grab us, drag us away, and put a bullet in our heads because we're no longer useful to them."
"Oh god, don't say that, Scar."
Both of us then became aware of the sounds of the orderly moving around in the back, possibly checking on the patient on the gurney, though neither of us could say for sure.
After driving for almost an hour, we passed through the winding switchbacks up Canterlot Mountain, and after hanging a right, we found ourselves pulling up to the gates of the Old Hollow Hospital. This hospital, which opened its doors for the first time in 1882, had been quite important for the early history of Canterlot, until it was supplemented by the Royal Canterlot Hospital in 1918, and over the years, the hospital saw fewer and fewer patients, until finally, it was closed, and decommissioned in 1997, though because of the building's historical significance, it was maintained, and eventually bought by an anonymous buyer, who continued to maintain the property, but it was unclear if it was being used for anything, though the grounds were patrolled by security. And it was to this old hospital that we would deliver our patients. I then pulled up to the massive wrought iron front gates, and after turning off the ambulance’s siren, I hit the intercom buzzer.
"Yes?" A crackly voice replied.
"PAC Ambulance #1, here to make a delivery."
"Copy that. Proceed to the main Emergency Room receiving area upon the gates opening."
"Copy that."
Once the gates were opened, I pulled the ambulance through the entrance, and up the road leading to the hospital, past the main parking lot (which was mostly empty), and up towards the covered entrance to the Emergency Room. As I did, I looked up at the old hospital. It was made of stone, was quite tall, and looked very foreboding. And yes, on that stormy Fall night, it looked like it would have fit right in as a setting for a horror movie. I also noted that at least some of the hospital's lights were on, and I could see shadows moving past some of the windows, but I was way too far down to see who or what was making those shadows. Shortly afterwards, we pulled up to the Emergency Room's covered entrance. Back in the day, this was where patients who arrived by ambulance were taken in for immediate care, but now, the only ambulance that came here was Ponyville Ambulance Company Ambulance #1, and the only patients being dropped off were the ones we delivered.
When we arrived, sure enough, there were more security personnel, looking very much the same as the ones at the resort, though this time there were also several Humans and Ponies dressed like nurses waiting for us. After we came to a stop, Moonbeam and I got out, and after heading to the back of the Ambulance, we opened it, and after the orderly got out, Moonbeam and I grabbed the gurney, and gently pulled it out before setting it on the ground, and rolling it over to where the medical staff were waiting. Once there, they thanked us for making our delivery in a timely manner, before taking the gurney, and rolling it into the hospital, followed closely by the orderly. Of course, I tried to follow them in the past, as had Moonbeam, only to be stopped by those security officers, and roughly pushed back. We were then reminded that our job was only to make the pickups and deliveries, not to ask questions, and not to snoop around. However, I had looked inside the hospital through the main Emergency Room doors before they swung closed, but all I was able to see was the Emergency Room reception desk, and part of a waiting area. It was no different tonight when I looked inside before the doors closed.
"Oh well, we tried." I muttered. I then walked back to the ambulance, and after shutting the back door, Moonbeam and I climbed back inside, and after turning off the lights save for the headlights, we pulled away from the hospital.
About an hour later, we arrived back at the Ponyville Ambulance Company. Med Runner had already gone home for the night, so it was up to us to lock up. After opening the main garage door, I backed the ambulance inside, before shutting it off, and closing the garage door. We then went back inside the main area, shut everything down, clocked out for the night, made sure everything was locked, before heading to my car, and breathing a sigh of relief.
"Wanna go to Waffle House for some food? I'm starving."
I agreed. "Yeah, Waffle House is good. And then we can crash at your place for the night."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Moonbeam giggled.
And thus concluded another Midnight Run at the Ponyville Ambulance Company. Full of more questions, zero answers, and a lot of intrigue.
THE END
Author's Note
Well, that was an interesting story, wasn't it? I decided to try something new with this one. I didn't want it to be a horror story, as I wanted it to have some mystery elements, while also leaving a lot of things vague, and mysterious, so as to allow my Readers to speculate a lot, and talk about what they think is going on in the comments, and there is no right or wrong answers. I hope that you enjoyed the story, and perhaps someday we will hear more from the Ponyville Ambulance Company, and from Scar and Moonbeam. In the meantime though, I hope that you all really enjoyed this story, and as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again soon!
ScarFox out for now!
