A Nurse Story

by Die4Ever1337

Cherry

It was still early in the morning when Redheart woke with a start. She rubbed her eyes with her good hoof and lifted her blanket to inspect her plastered hoof. It looked like the day before, but it throbbed a bit. Her sight wandered over the tube to a catheter. The dropping noises were annoying and it it felt also a bit strange how the colourless fluid made its way to her front hoof. Sighing, she turned to her side and gazed at the big clock that was hanging at the far side of the room. She thought about it and realised that it was 5.50 am. She learned how to read a clock very early, she was in general a pretty intelligent pony. “If the white angels will come fluttering to wish me a good morning?”

Redheart did not know why she said that out loud. It was a little bit strange, but it probably had something to do with the bitter loneliness she was exposed to. She missed her mommy and her daddy. She turned back on her back and embraced her plush pony, which she got form the night shift nurse. The nurses gave it to her with when she woke up in the middle of the night and drew their attention by snivelling in her lonely room. They plucked up courage and gave Redheart the small stuffed pony they called “Cherry” to have something to cuddle with. Cautiously, Redheart embraced the small toy animal with her left front hoof and pressed it against her chest. “Soon, my parents will come visit me and then I will introduce you to them” she said with a monotone voice and stroked affectingly the stuffed pony’s mane. But suddenly, she was interrupted by an orange pony with a blonde mane and a bandage as her cutie mark who opened the heavy door to the sick room.
“Good Morning little one, time to get up” said Honey Bandage to little Redheart and stopped confused as she realised that her young patient was already fully awake. “Well what do we have here, you are up early.” She smiled at Redheart happily and walked to the window to open the curtains and open the window. Honey Bandage was still a very young Nurse, but she could work very well with fillies, so she was assigned to the children’s ward. Redheart gazed at the new Nurse with big eyes and followed her with her eyes through the room. “Good morning Mrs Angel, how are you?” she asked with her squeaky, sweet as sugar-voice.

“Awww, you are a sweet little filly” said Honey Bandage and smiled at Redheart delighted. “Now what’s your name?” “My… My name is Redheart.” The small Redheart now had her blanket pulled from her head and smiled at Honey Bandage as fresh as a daisy while she was still holding Cherry in her good hoof. She seemed to be fine for the moment. “Now that is a pretty name. By the way, my name is Honey Bandage, but for friends it is just Honey!” Honey Bandage smiled at Redheart and came closer to her sick bed. “So you are new here as I see…” Honey scanned the patient’s file and made some notes in her head. “Oh dear, that does not look well. Oh you poor little thing. And all that in your age. However what am I talking about. I am just 22 years old and sound like my own grandma.” Honey giggled a bit and entered the floor to get a cart with medical equipment.

“Please don’t go, Mrs Honey!” Redheart cried after her und hoped that she would not end alone again. But then she realised with a relieved sigh that she just went through the door to fetch some strange looking, longish instruments which were lying tidy on the roll cart. “I am sorry my dear, but I fear I have to take a blood sample from you.” Honey Bandage took a syringe with her hoof and fixed a long tube to the needle who was leading to a small vial. “Is it going to hurt, Mrs Honey?” Redheart asked a little bit shy. She had always been sceptical to new things introduced to her.

“It will prick just a little bit, I promise!” Redheart nodded relieved and put the red toy pony Cherry away. Then, she uncovered her right front hoof that the nurse could aim properly. Honey stuck the needle in her good hoof and the red lifeblood flew through the tube. “Ouch, that hurts!” cried Redheart with tears in her eyes and began to sob terribly. “I thought you said it won’t hurt at all!” said Redheart reproachfully to Honey Bandage, who removed the needle from her hoof and applied a plaster. “I am sorry I lied to you Redheart, but otherwise you would not have accepted the syringe. But I have something for you. Thank you for being so brave!” Honey smiled at Redheart and fetched a red Lollypop from a drawer from the roll cart. Like a miracle, the tears vanished from her face and were replaced by a childlike smile. Honey Bandage loved this facial expression from young fillies and gave the lollypop to Redheart, who started, without even thinking about it, to lick at it. “Thank you Honey. I feel much better yet, but please tell me dear angel… Why do you need my blood?”
She look curious to the now puzzled nurse. The question was quite unusual for such a young filly at her age. “I uhm…. I am going to analyse your blood later to see if everything is alright. But now for something completely different, my dear. Why are you interested in such a thing?” Redheart sucked happily at her lolly and answered: “Oh, just so.” Now with a comfortable smile on her face, she indirectly stated that the chat was over. The nurse nodded appreciative, smiled overjoyed when she saw little Redheart sucking at her lollypop with a happy smile and exited the room.

Later, she brought Redheart some hospital food. It was, like nearly every day, pasta, the hospital was well known for its excellent treating, but in the matter of nutrition and taste, the cooks did not cover themselves with glory. After Redheart had finished her lollypop (her mother was surely to reproach her for doing so), she tried some of the noodle soup. It tasted relatively boring, but she did not care. When Redheart was finished, she took Cherry again in her hooves and put the warm and cuddly blanket over her head. She cuddled herself to Cherry and slowly fell asleep. Time flew by because it just felt like five minutes when she was woken up by someone knocking at the door.

“Yes?” she asked towards the doors direction. Some seconds passed by and her parents entered the room. Ever Line still wore his working jacket and her mother had bought a bouquet from Rosepenny. “Hello my dear, how are you?” Paper Clip put the vase on Redheart’s night table and kissed her daughter full of love on her forehead. “Tell me my darling, how are you?” Ever Line stood a bit grumpy next to his wife and tried to smile at Redheart, which cost him quite some effort due to a hard day’s work. “So-so. Sometimes, I got some ouch in my hoof but it is not that bad like before.” Redheart showed her mother the red stuffed pony. “Look at what they gave me, mommy! Her name is Cherry and she is my best friend here! Well, beside Honey, of course.” When she said this, she had to smirk because the nurse pony really was really likeable and she even played with her a little bit Mau Mau with her before her lunch.

Of course she did not know how to play the game, but Honey Bandage taught it to her and after three rounds, Redheart beat her for real. The first two times, the nurse lost on purpose. The two liked each other straightaway. Paper Clip looked at the stuffed pony overjoyed and took it into her hooves. “Ooh, this is very nice. Mhh it is really cute.” She lifted the pony playfully and let it run over Redheart’s belly. The two played a little bit around und had a lot of fun together. But the father just had a tired smile remaining. He walked over to the window and gazed at the wide grassland which was stretching till Canterlot.

“Is something wrong, daddy?” Redheart asked curiously when she discovered after some time and several tickle attacks from her mother that her father, who was normally full of live, stood afflicted at the window. He smiled at her and just said: “Oh it is nothing darling. I just had some trouble at the factory.” In reality, he was worried about something different. Redheart was the only pony in her class who had not her cutie mark and therefor who had not found her destiny yet. That bothered Ever Line because he wanted not that his daughter turned to be a failure. He would love to introduce her to his boss. But somehow, she was still a little bit too young.

He sighed and turned back to the window. Paper Clip knew what was going on. Both had often talked about this matter in bed. She also realised that her daughter had not the much effort with her cutie mark, but she did not want to force it, Altough she knew, how it could go on in the world. The most exhausting job at the Ponyville town hall was the best example for that. In her spare time, Paper Clip enjoyed painting, especially happy ponies and she also lived by the philosophy that you should do your own thing. Because of that, she did not want to force her daughter. That still had time.

Even though Ever Line and Paper Clip were different in that matter, they almost never quarrelled about it. They had a dispute from time to time but till that day, it never grew injurious or off-topic. They liked each other from the mane to the tail. Redheart waved exited with her left hoof in front of her mother’s eyes. “Is everything alright, mommy?” Paper Clip was startled and realised that she was in lost in her thoughts a little bit too long. So, she smiled again as she she saw her daughter and embraced her. “Of course everything is alright, my little sugar pony.” The rest of the afternoon, Paper Clip and Redheart still had a lot of fun and even convinced Ever Line to play a round Mau Mau with them.

When her parents had to leave again, her emotions were again coming up, but she bravely fought them down and said goodbye to her parents. The rest of the evening was as the evening the day before, but this time she had the wonderful feeling that she had talked to someone. After thinking about the strange behaviour of her father, Redheart pressed the stuffed pony called Cherry to her chest and fell asleep with a mild smile on her face.