//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Memories // Story: The Mercy of Screwball // by Professor Coruptus //------------------------------// ------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