Over the course of the slow and mundane trek to the small town of Red Springs, nothing of major interest occurred until the third day of the journey when they finally arrived and began unloading the wagons. Nephila let out a groan upon realizing she can finally get up and stretch her legs, however as she eagerly made her way to the back of the wagon she face planted after realizing too late that her legs had fallen asleep and had all the rigidity of a bowl of hive jelly.

After she was done stretching her legs she turned back to the cart and with her magic lifted the small box of supplies off the wagon. As she checked the box of supplies to see what was still left inside some of the guards came up to her and gave her some additional rations so she would have enough food for at least the next four days. After thanking the guards for the rations and for transporting her she waved goodbye and began her walk around town looking over the many small structures and the fairly large and obvious hospital in the distance, most of the buildings were a sort of adobe like material, using a mixture of mud bricks and magic infused fibers making the homes and businesses far more durable than simple mud and straw should allow. She figured it made sense they’d use buildings like these to deal with with the heat of the semi-arid region instead of the massive underground tunnel complexes her hive used since ponies obviously prefer sunlight and space, which befuddled her because who wouldn’t want the safe confines of a cozy tunnel.

She was yanked violently from her thoughts when she walked muzzle first into the front door of the hospital bouncing her back onto her plot with an audible thud. She groaned and gently rubbed her nose to make sure it wasn’t broken when one of the nurses at the front desk rushed out to check on her.

“Oh Celetstia, let me look at you!” The nurse moved Nephila’s hooves out of the way and looked her over, “You should really watch where you are going dear, you could have seriously hurt yourself.” While the nurse spoke Nephila looked up at the bronze coated mare, noting she has a cutie mark very similar to her own false one, but where the changeling had a toy train and rattle the pony only had pink hearts. “It’s gonna be sore, but you didn’t break it. Come inside and I’ll get you an ice pack. My name is Spearmint, by the way.” She said helping Nephila to her hooves and holding the door open. When the nurse noticed Nephila’s cutie mark she let out an adorable squee and practically pounced upon her while stating, “Oh sweet Celestia are you a nurse?! Please tell me you are! We really, really, really need more staff! Does your mark mean you only work with foals? We’re desperate for MedSurg but we’ll take anyone at this point! Please please please join us! There’s a really nice sign on bonus too!” Nephila honestly looked at her in surprise and alarm. She honestly thought Spearmint might burst into tears. Without really thinking about it she nodded nervously but excited at the prospect of finding a new job so soon, “I am needing a job… and a place to stay. What do I need to do?”

The nurse excitedly led Nephila inside and gave her a stack of forms to fill out for the application and her education and experience. Nephila explained to the nurse about how she had come from way out west and that she was a newly arrived immigrant to Equestria as she filled out the paperwork, making up most of her background information on the fly. Her tale caught Spearmint’s attention as she didn’t know of any pony settlements to the west of Equestria’s borders. As Nephila was talking to the nurse and filling out the various forms, she discovered that there was a rather complicated test on the last few pages to gauge her medical training. If it wasn’t for her decades of experience as a nursery drone she probably would have brutally failed the test, but to her luck she practically aced it thanks to her the requirement she be taught pony anatomy in case she ever had to help care for any captives. It didn’t hurt that one of the many infiltrators she raised ended up becoming an Equestrian nurse who would tell her all sorts of fascinating and absurd stories about working in the dreaded Emergency Room of Manehattan General Hospital.

After the nurse took the forms from her and literally galloped off to the Pony Resources Office she came back with a small box saying, “Here’s your new uniform and temporary badge, please make sure to wear it when you arrive tomorrow for your first shift. You’ll be on nights at least for a while, be here at eighteen-thirty, your shift starts at nineteen hundred.” Spearmint told her while loading more books and binder into her telekinetic field. “These are your employee handbook and proficiencies, your tax forms, insurance options, temporary schedule, lunch vouchers, the latest issue of Nursing Monthly, and Helping Hooves Regional Medical Center coffee mug.”

Nephila’s head spun as Spearmint piled on all the stuff she’d need as a new hire. “What? I’m already hired that fast?” She had to crane her neck to the side to see around her leaning tower of paperwork.

Spearmint nodded so quickly the changeling thought her head might pop off, “Yup! I can’t wait to work with you!” The nurse hugged her, “Thank you so, so much.” Wait, was she actually crying? Spearmint finally let her go and straightened her scrubs. “Sorry about that. It’s just we’ve been desperate for anypony for so long now.” She cleared her throat and wiped her nose before continuing, “Also since you now work for HHRMC we’ll get you set up with a place to stay nearby, but that might take a week or two. Or six months. In the meantime here’s a voucher for the hotel down the street.”

Nephila made her way outside the hospital a little bit too quickly as she needed to catch her breath from that crazy encounter, letting it sink in that she managed to get a freaking job at a hospital on her first day in the town, her mind was galloping a million miles a minute as she replayed the entire encounter over and over again trying to wrap her head around how it happened so quickly and if she had made a horrible mistake in accepting the offer.

She snapped from her thoughts when she realized she had been walking to the hotel without really looking where she was going. Now that it was evening and the sun was just starting to touch the horizon in the distance, the ponies in the town were starting to make their way either home or to the few bars and local hangouts Red Springs had to offer. She noticed there were a few thestrals and griffons getting out and about too.

Once again distracted and not paying attention to what’s in front of her she almost bumped into a door a second time and only just barely managing to stop herself. Her muzzle would never forgive her if she did it again so soon after all. She slowly opened the door and made her way inside pulling out the voucher when she walked up to the front desk where a silver coated unicorn mare with blue hair stared at her with a mix of surprise and curiosity.

“Why hello there! Welcome to Red Springs most popular hotel, are you here for a room?” The mare asked as Nephila nodded and handed the voucher for a free room for the week. The unicorn gave Nephila the keys to her room directions down the hall. Nephila nodded and said her thanks, then immediately made her way to the designated room and opened its door, rushed inside and placed everything down as she collapsed upon the bed with an exhausted sigh, “A bed! A real, actual bed! Oh how I missed you! Never again will I travel in a wagon without one!” she rejoiced, stretching out and rolling on the soft blanket. “It’s so comfy~” she said as she hugged the hugged nuzzling her face into the pillow, letting her disguise finally drop in a burst of magical flame for what felt like the first time in forever, her horn was aching from the overuse of the disguise spell and when she finally was able to be free it was like a vice had been removed from her skull. Sighing in contented relief she quickly drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

Hello everyone glad to release chapter 7, was able to knock it all out today with the help of my proof readers, now below is the link to the official server for A Nurse in Disguise! There you can find out about future updates, talk about the story, and see official chapter art before it's added to the story!

https://discord.com/invite/725453VKQv