//------------------------------//
// Getting discharged 
// Story: The Technician 
// by Pyrus_uk 
//------------------------------//

The rays of the morning sun broke through the openings of the curtain. All was still in the hospital ward as Charlie slept peacefully in his bed. There was total silence in the ward, except for Charlie’s light snores. Even the door made no noise as it was slowly opened. The barely audible patter of hoofsteps echoed around the room, not nearly loud enough to wake the sleeping human.

“Is this him?” A voice whispered.

“Looks like it. Certainly matches the description.” Another voice whispered back.

“Alright then.” A third voice whispered. “Let’s get to work.”

Charlie remained asleep as the new arrivals surrounded his bed. He didn’t even stir as one of them pulled out a small object. “We need more information about him before we can start the operation.” The voice said. “We can’t risk waking him.”

“His mouth is closed. We can’t do it unless we open his mouth.” The voice across the other side of the bed whispered.

“That will wake him up. How do we know that’s the best place anyway? We’ve never seen a human before.” The other voice across the bed whispered.

“We need this data. We’ll just have to improvise.” The owner the object whispered. “Here goes.”

Charlie’s blissful sleep was suddenly interrupted as a thermometer was shoved up his nose.

“AAAHHH!” Charlie yelped as he jerked bolt upright.

“You put it in too hard, Scootaloo! Why’d ya stick it up his nose!?”

“How was I supposed to know how hard to do it!? I guessed!”

“We need to get it out, girls! Quick!”

Charlie was trying to kick away the covers as he suddenly clocked the three fillies surrounding him. The orange one quickly leapt up at him and snatched the thermometer dangling awkwardly from his nose.

Charlie quickly covered his nose. “OW! Owowowowow!”

“Omygosh! We’re mighty sorry, mister.”

Charlie looked up and saw the small yellow filly with a large bow in her mane gazing up at him apologetically. Next to her, was a white filly with a similar expression. “What did you do that for?” Charlie asked from behind his hands.

“We were trying to treat ya. Seeing how you’re in the hospital an’ all.” The yellow filly said.

The obvious question came to Charlie’s mind. “Why?”

“You’re a human! When we overheard Rainbow Dash that you were in the hospital, we came over to try and fix you up!” The white filly said, excitedly.

“I can’t believe this” Charlie thought to himself.

“Who are you three?” He asked.

“Ahm Applebloom.” The yellow one replied.

“I’m Sweetie Belle.” The white one followed up.

“Scootaloo.” The orange one finalised.

Charlie groaned to himself as he lowered his hands from his nose. It was way earlier than he would have liked but, after everything that just happened, there was no way he was going back to sleep now. He was still too tired to care about the cute faces these fillies were making right now.

“Well, you three. Nurse Redheart is already taking care of me. Besides, you lot don’t strike me as medical professionals.” He said as his aching nose twitched as if to prove the point.

“Well, duh!” Scootaloo replied, causing Charlie to raise an eyebrow at her. “That’s why we did it, to see if we’d be good at it or not.” She elaborated.

Charlie sighed, truly confused. “Why me?” He asked.

“To see if we could get our human medical practitioner cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle chirped.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Charlie thought to himself.

Charlie scooted back so he could rest back against the headboard of the bed. Scootaloo had moved round to stand next to her friends next to the other side of Charlie’s bed. 

“Listen Applebloom, Scootaloo and....Sweetie Belle was it?” Charlie asked before seeing the white filly nod. “Well, I don’t think that you’re gonn-“ He stopped in realisation. “Sweetie Belle, you’re Rarity’s little sister?” She nodded again before replying.

“She told me about you, mister. She didn’t tell me what you’re name was, but she told me to stay out of your way until you settled in.” she said.

“And you thought sticking a thermometer up my nose was an exception?” Charlie deadpanned. 

Sweetie Belle looked to the floor, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Please don’t tell my sister. She’ll kill me.”

Charlie sighed. “Only if you promise not to do it again. And the name’s Charlie”

Sweetie Belle’s face lit up. “Oh thanks, Charlie. We promise!”
“Well girls, we better go before Nurse Redheart finds us. It won’t be easy sneaking past her again once she’s had her morning coffee.” Scootaloo said, turning towards the door.

“Yeah, ahm coming. See ya mister Charlie!” Applebloom said, following Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle gave Charlie a smile before following her friends. Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle wore content expressions on their faces, but Scootaloo seemed a little down in the dumps.

“Must be feeling down after their failed attempt to get their cutie marks.” He thought as the fillies left the room. “Pfft, Cutie Marks. What a sissy name. I wonder if the stallions call them that.” 

Charlie leant over and drew the curtains, revealing a sunny morning. He figured he’d just wait in bed until Redheart came to check on him.





It was late morning. Nurse Redheart had come to check on him about an hour ago. She brought with her Charlie’s equipment that Rainbow had gone to collect last night. With a quick check-up, Redheart confirmed that he was OK and should be ready to leave once she finishes the paperwork. In the meantime, Charlie decided to finalise yesterday’s work.

Charlie currently had the dish setup on a desk next to the window. Thankfully, he could just about see the tower from the window. Happy with the dish pointing at the tower, he booted up his PDA.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Charlie smiled as he heard the PDA chime and saw the text flash on the screen.

*ALIGNMENT CONFIRMED - CONNECTION ESTABLISHED*

“Finally.” He thought to himself. “One working dish.”

With the test complete, he began packing up his gear. Nurse Redheart would be back soon to approve his discharge from the hospital. 





--- 30 minutes later ---

“Well that proves my theory as true. The scenery outside the window does not become more interesting after 25 minutes of staring at it.” 

Charlie had been staring out the window, feeling rather bored. He was still waiting for Redheart to appear.

“Where is she? Something must have come up in the hospital this morning” He thought.

His attention shifted as he heard a knock at the door. “Come in” he called.

The door opened, revealing Twilight. She stepped into the room. “Good morning, Charlie. Thought I’d come see how you’re feeling.”

Charlie smiled as she made her way to his bedside. “Morning, Twilight. Yeah, I feel much better today thanks. My head’s stopped throbbing but my foot’s still a little stiff. I reckon I’ll be fine to leave as soon as Redheart will turn up to discharge me.”

Twilight sat down in the chair next to his bed. “Yeah, I met her at the front desk just now. She did seem a little flustered though. I think there must have been an emergen-“ Twilight was interrupted as the door was quickly opened. Redheart quickly walked in, carrying a clipboard.
“Sorry about that. A stallion decided to get his head stuck in a garden gate this morning and we had to get it off rather quickly. It wouldn’t usually cause such a fuss, but he started to panic when my colleague mentioned a saw.” She said nonchalantly. Twilight and Charlie gave each other awkward glances. “Anyway! I have your discharge papers here Charlie. I trust you’re still feeling OK?” Redheart asked.

“Yeah I’m OK. My foot’s still a little stiff.” Charlie replied.

“That’s because of the support magic that’s been administered. It simply restricts the movements and pressure applied to your ankle and foot. It should wear off in a couple of days. I wouldn’t suggest any running during that time.” Redheart said in a professional manner. After a nod from Charlie, she handed over the clipboard. “Please sign at the bottom. After that, you’re free to leave.”

Charlie signed the discharge papers before packing up his stuff. He was handed back his work clothes, which he quickly changed back into. He absolutely didn’t want to stroll through Ponyville in nothing but a hospital gown. It wasn’t long before he was all packed up and ready to leave. Twilight led him out of the hospital after exchanging farewells to the hospital staff. 

“So, would you like me to walk you back home?” Twilight asked as they walked out the hospital entrance.

“Actually, yes I would. I was wondering if you could help me with something.” Charlie replied. This peaked Twilight’s interest. 

“Oh?” She said as they began walking down the street toward Charlie’s facility.

“I’ve finished calibrating this communications dish. And now that I’ve fixed the main tower, I’m ready to start work on the first installation. I figure, you might be interested?” Charlie said with a slight smile.

Twilight’s eyes widened, before a smile spread across her face. “You mean, I get to have the first try?”

Charlie shrugged. “Sure, I first have to get the terminal hardware from the facility. Then, after bolting this dish to the side of your library, I can get to work on installing the terminal somewhere inside. Obviously, I’d need your input for a lot of that.”

Twilight couldn’t keep the smile off her face. To say that she was excited about the prospect of getting her own human technology to use was a grave understatement. She continued to ask Charlie a myriad of questions about what was to happen as they continued their walk out of town and up the mountain. For the majority of the trip, Charlie tried his best to answer the barrage of questions coming at him from the unicorn. The stiffness of his foot, however, was a considerable distraction. He was quite thankful when he spied the front door of his facility.

“Alright” he said as he opened the door. “Let me just get changed out of this suit, and then we’ll start collecting what we need. I won’t be long, so just wait for me.” He started making his way to his bedroom. “Please don’t touch anything.” he called as he walked through his bedroom door, closing it behind him.

Twilight immediately walked over to the closest computer terminal. The various flashing lights and scrolling text fascinated her. She could read the words ‘SYSTEMS STATUS’ written at the top. There was a small box underneath containing the word ‘SUMMARY’. Under that was a lot of text which was slowly scrolling down.

“Broadcaster, Receiver, Main Power, Sub-System Power, Ventilation, Lighting” she muttered to herself as she read the list. Each one had the word “OK” written in green next to it. She looked up and saw another terminal across the room. The screen looked different to the one in front of her. She made her way over to the other terminal. This screen was titled ‘HARDWARE DIAGNOSTICS’. She saw that the screen was divided into two sections that were titled: ‘Diagnostic Processing/Results’ and ‘Calibrations’.

“Charlie mentioned hardware earlier. He also said he was calibrating that dish. This must have been what he used to do it. I wonder how it works.” She said to herself, not really noticing her hoof slowly approaching the screen.

“What did I say about touching anything?” Charlie suddenly said from his bedroom doorway.

“Oh! Uhhh...” Twilight stammered as she quickly retracted her hoof away from the screen. “This is all so interesting. I don’t really know what any of this does, but I know that we have nothing like it in Equestria.”

Charlie walked over to her. “Well, interesting or not, if you had gone all the way and touched that screen with your hoof...you would have blown up this place.”

“WHAT!?” She yelped before quickly backing away from the terminal.

Charlie tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. Upon seeing Twilight’s now irritated expression, he brought himself down to a chuckle. “Oooooh, that’s rich! But seriously, it’s OK. You can’t blow up the facility with this thing. It’s just for checking and setting up some of the hardware I use.” Charlie managed another chuckle. “Sorry about that, Twilight. I shouldn’t take advantage of your ignorance like that.”

Twilight said nothing. She simply gave him her best attempt at a death glare. Charlie thought it best to move things along.

“Anyway, shall we get packed? I think I could use your help moving some of the heavier equipment, especially with this foot.” He said.

“I suppose.” Twilight replied, still rather annoyed. Charlie led her outside and over to his garage. He opened the garage door and went inside. Twilight followed his instructions and waited outside. Twilight heard a lot of rummaging around come from inside. She decided to take the opportunity to relax and feel the sun warm her coat.

“Hiya, Twilight!” A familiar voice chimed above. Twilight looked up to see her friend, Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus slowly descended until she landed next to Twilight.

“Good morning. Looking for Charlie?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, has he fallen off anything yet? Do I need to drag his sorry butt back to the hospital again?” Rainbow joked.

Twilight chuckled. “No, not yet. He’s getting something from in there.” She said as the gestured to the garage behind her. A loud crash could be heard from inside as if to prove her point. “Aren’t you supposed to be working today, Rainbow?”

“I am. I’m doing it right now, actually. I’m clearing this cloud sector. I’m ahead of schedule, so I figured I’d check on the big guy. I figured he’d be out of hospital by now.” Rainbow replied.

Another loud crash echoed out the garage. “I’m okay!” Charlie called after. Both Rainbow and Twilight rolled their eyes. Charlie stumbled out the garage shortly after.

“Oh, hey Rainbow. Oh! This is perfect. You got a minute?” Charlie asked.

“Sure, what’s up?” Rainbow replied.

“I just remembered, I left my quadbike up at the tower after yesterday’s fiasco. While I go up and get it, can you both drag out some stuff from in there?” Charlie asked as he gestured into the garage.
“Alright” Twilight replied. “What do you need?”

Charlie led them into the garage.

“Well, I’ve secured and bagged all the loose parts I need.” He said as he pointed to a fairly large green bag. It was roughly the size of a mini-fridge. ”It needs to be loaded on this trailer. Then the trailer needs to the brought out the front.” 

Both Rainbow and Twilight nodded before getting to work. With both of them on the job, Charlie headed out to retrieve his quadbike. He knew it would be a considerable walk, but the strengthening magic placed on his ankle was helping. It took him about 15 minutes to reach the tower. Looking up, he could see the point up the ladder where he fell. He actually felt quite impressed with himself that he fell from such a height and only got such minor injuries.  Shaking his head to get the thoughts away, he made his way over to his quadbike. Going through the familiar routine, he jumped on, set himself up and started the engine. Opening up the throttle, he began his drive back down to the garage.





“Well, that seems to be everything. Guess we just need to wait for Charlie to come back.” Twilight said, leaning against the now packed trailer.

“I’ll leave you to it, Twi. I gotta get back to work. See you later!” Rainbow said before taking off, not even waiting for a response.

“Yeah, OK by-...hmppf...Probably wants to finish up her work so she can get a head start on her afternoon nap.” Twilight muttered to herself. She heard a distant noise approaching from up the mountain path. She looked over and saw a small cloud of dust rising in the distance. Squinting her eyes, she could just about make out a human riding some machine coming towards her. “That must be him.”

Charlie could see that Twilight and Rainbow had managed to pack the trailer like he asked. He drove toward the trailer before slamming on the brakes. He came to a stop just next to the trailer as the cloud of dust engulfed the small area. “Alright” Charlie said though his helmet. “Ready to go?”

Twilight covered her eyes while the dust settled. When everything cleared up, she fixed her gaze on the quadbike. “What’s that?” she asked.

Charlie looked down at the machine he was sitting on. “This? It’s my quadbike. It’s pretty useful to get around quickly. I’m gonna use it to bring the trailer you packed to the library. It's also carrying my tool bag. Fancy a ride back to the library?”

“Umm, is it safe?” Twilight asked nervously.

“Well, I’m not going to drive too fast dragging that trailer.” Charlie shrugged. “I think you’ll be alright if you hold on tight. Certainly beats walking.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “It will be much safer if I just teleport back home...buuuut...this could be interesting....might even be fun”

Twilight nodded. “OK, if you say so.”

Charlie nodded back before getting off the quadbike. “Alright, lemme just connect the trailer.” As he did so, Twilight took a closer look at the quadbike which she quickly noticed was still switched on. Charlie finished connecting the trailer. He sat back on the quadbike.

“Are you sure you won’t go fast?” Twilight asked.

“I promise.” He replied. “Now, take a seat behind me, just like I am.”

Twilight did as he said. She sat on the back seat with one leg either side of the bike. She could feel the vibrations of the engine underneath her. Charlie twisted around as best he could to see how she was doing. “OK, good. You need to keep your back hoofs on the footrest like you are. You also probably want to keep your tail away from those exhaust pipes. They can get pretty hot.” Twilight swished her tail back around and wrapped it in front of her. Charlie continued to inspect how she was sat. Satisfied that she was as safe as she was going to be, he turned back around to face the front.

“Sorry, but I don’t have a helmet that will fit your head.” Charlie said as he checked the fuel gauge.

Twilight swatted his back lightly. “Are you saying I have a big head?”

Charlie chuckled. “I’m saying that we don’t make helmets shaped for any pony’s head.” He said as he tapped his own helmet to emphasise. “OK, now you’re going to need to stay on the bike when we start moving. Hold onto my waist so you don’t fall off.” Twilight wrapped her hoofs around his waist, a bit more tightly that Charlie expected. “Alright, if you need me to stop, just shout. OK?”

Twilight rested her head against his back. “OK” she called.

Charlie couldn’t remember the last time someone had been this close to him before. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head. “Ready to go?” He asked.

“Umm, yeah.” she called back.

Charlie twisted the throttle slowly and the quadbike revved. It slowly began to creep forward, pulling the trailer behind them. Satisfied that everything was connected and working, he increased their speed slightly. Twilight quickly realised that it wasn’t as bad as she feared. In fact, it felt rather nice. She continued to watch the scenery pass by them as they slowly drove down the mountainside.