Nurse Redheart woke up reluctantly, dragging herself out of bed. She had yet another long day at the hospital ahead of her. After dragging herself out of the warm embrace of her blankets, the cold morning air took hold of her. She stood upon the soft carpet that made up her floor as she pulled the covers back to their tidy looking spots.
She moved groggily toward the bathroom to take a shower and brush her teeth.
The foggy mirror reflected a messy light pink mane flopping this way or that. She ran a brush through her mane and tail with practiced ease and stepped out of the steamy room. A rush of cold air made her shiver slightly.
Redheart made her way to the front door and went through her checklist. “Okay, shower? Check. Teeth? Check. Uniform?” She grabbed a small nurse's hat off of the rack near the door and nodded to herself. “Check.”
The front door swung open and she stepped into the chilly morning. It was still dark and only a few ponies were up and getting ready to start their day, but that was the life of a nurse. The air felt damp as she walked to the end of her property. She turned right and continued to walk toward her destination.
Some of the few jobs that also started this early were sanitation and mail delivery.
***
Derpy Hooves fumbled out of bed as she rushed to get ready. Her alarm had gone off late, or rather, she decided ten more minutes of sleep was more important than waking up for work. She would have to skip her shower to make up for lost time, not that she felt particularly dirty.
She grabbed a brush with her wing and ran it through her mane. After deciding she wasn’t looking like a bale of hay shoved through a grinder she grabbed her saddle bags and headed outside to get to the post office on time, hopefully.
She stepped through her door to another beautiful morning. The morning air felt soft and welcoming compared to her rather humid house. She took in a deep whiff of fresh air and smiled. Nearly every morning of spring was like this, and Derpy hoped it would never end. Alas she stretched her wings a few times and took off into the air.
***
Upon arriving at the post office, the smell of paper and envelope glue filled her nostrils. That smell would never get old.
She made her way to the employee room and clocked in.
“Mornin’ Derpy! Just in the nick of time huh?” The postmaster said to the nearly late worker.
“Sorry, I was having the best sleep, and figured I could make it in time” The clumsy mare responded.
“It’s all fine and well now that you’re here. Your load should be waiting for you in the mailroom. Good luck out there today.” The postmaster was astutely aware of Derpy’s clumsiness, and that she could get injured from time to time.
“Okay, thanks. Have a good day!” Derpy smiled and waved a hoof to him as she made her way to get her workload. The postmaster simply smiled and shook his head.
“She just knows how to brighten up someone’s day, don’t she?”
In the mailroom Derpy picked up her mail and thanked the pony who told her where it was, she would forget a lot of the time and needed a reminder. The first letter had Fluttershy’s address on it, so she would go there first. She stuffed the mail carefully into her bags with a hoof and closed them with a test jiggle to make sure the bags stayed closed. Content that she was ready, she left the post office and began to head toward Fluttershy’s house.
As she soared carefully through the air, she enjoyed every moment of flight. Everything was calmly sliding away from her as she carefully flapped and glided through the morning air. Her destination was fairly far, so she just enjoyed being in the air for as long as she could, smiling to anyone who gave her a glance.
Fluttershy’s small wooden cottage sat peacefully on the ground, reluctantly Derpy landed losing the exciting edge of being airborne. As she approached the small cottage she sifted through her bags to get the owner’s mail out.
She knocked gently, but loudly enough for the mare residing inside to hear and announced, “Mail Service!”
After a few moments the door slid open slowly to reveal a timid yellow mare. “Oh, hello Derpy Hooves. How is your morning?”Fluttershy said after realizing it was indeed Derpy delivering her mail today.
“Just started my shift, but it’s alright I guess. Please, call me Derpy.” She said smiling as always. “Just got a couple letters for you today. Have a good one!” She radiated kindness and joy like the sun gave off light. She placed the letters on Fluttershy’s extended wing.
“Of course, thank you Derpy Hoo-. Have a nice day as well.” She said as shy as ever and waved to the retreating mail mare.
Derpy played mail roulette and picked a random letter. It was to a certain ‘Doctor Whooves’, one of her favorite ponies to deliver to. Occasionally he would give her muffins! How nice is that?
Again she flew through the air, letting the breeze carry her both physically and mentally. As she approached the destination she slowed and landed as carefully as possible. She fumbled over the gravel and fell on her face.
“Pblt” She spit gravel out of her mouth and stood up again. “Mpfh, I’ll have to be more careful I guess.” She stated softly to herself. She approached the small Police Public Call box and knocked on the door. Whenever the box was gone she placed the mail in a locked container where the box usually sat. “Mail Service!”
The twin navy blue doors swung open and a brown pony answered the call. “Hello Derpy! How wonderful to see you again.” The Doctor pulled her into a warm embrace, in which the grey mare blushed lightly.
“Morning Doctor! Got a letter for ya.” She pulled it out in her mouth and gave it to him.
“Ah! I have something for you as well, give me a moment will you?” She nodded and he retreated into his box. Every time he did this was confusing. Where did he need to retreat to in a small blue box?
He popped back out and held a wicker basket filled to the brim with five blueberry muffins. Derpy’s face lit up in joy as she looked at the small offering. “For me?” She said like it was something over the top valuable. The Doctor simply nodded and set them in front of her. “Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She repeated quickly as she pulled him into another hug.
“Really, it’s no problem! I just love seeing you happy.” He managed even though he could barely breathe through the serpentine like hug. “If you would let me breathe, I would be grateful.”
“Oh, I’m sososo sorry.” She pulled away and he took in a big breath of air. She looked at the ground and shuffled her hooves. “I got a little too excited huh?”
“Not at all, I have things to do. Thanks for the mail, have a wonderful day.”
“I will thanks to you!” She said with a mouth full of muffin. He chuckled and went into his magic box. She picked up the basket and darted into the air, well almost fumbled is probably a better word for it.
Her next destination was in canterlot, one Octavia Melody. As she drifted in the air with a basket of three muffins in her mouth she felt a small change in airflow, but corrected enough to recover from her stumble. Another small change, but this one was slightly harder to correct.
She flew lower to hopefully have less of a problem with the wind, she didn’t think to just land and walk however. A large gust of wind made her fumble and overcorrect, she was thrashing about like a kite caught in a tornado.
She couldn’t think straight and was thrown into a tree, hard. Her wing made a terrible snapping noise as she plummeted to the ground. Everything was a dark blur, and getting darker as she lost consciousness. Three uneaten muffins lay strewn about at the base of the tree around the stunned mare.
Off in the distance a voice shouted, “Hey are you alright?”
***
The hospital was quiet. There was a total of two patients by about noon, and Redheart was bored. She fumbled with her hooves, sitting in the staff room sipping on some milk. She heard a couple of shouts of needing a room and got up from her seat. She didn’t want to say that it was good to have a patient, but she was the next nurse on cue so she was happy to be relieved of her boredom.
She stepped into the hall and followed the small gurney to the room it was headed toward. The mare upon it was a soft grey with a blonde mane. Her cutie mark was seven bubbles of varying sizes. “There’s gotta be a good story behind that” she thought to herself. Redheart was definitely only looking at the mare’s cutie mark upon her flank. Nothing else. At all. You’d be lying if you said otherwise.
The mare had a wing in a small makeshift cast to hold it from breaking anymore than it probably was. They eventually made it into a small room, no different than the others in the hospital. Redheart helped another pony carefully lift the wounded onto the bed. Also on the gurney was saddlebags with the mare's cutie mark on each side, she grabbed them and set them in the chair near the bed.
A doctor walked in and handed Redheart a clipboard to write in the patient's condition as he examined further. “Hmm… The left wing appears to be broken but we should get an X-ray to be sure. Other than a few scrapes that’s it physically, she could have a concussion so we will have to wait until she wakes up. If she wakes up.” He finished sadly.
Derpy had never been to this hospital, she usually was at the one closer to where she lived but Octavia was far enough away that she had to go here. They would easily get her records soon enough, but for now she lay unconscious on the bed.
Nurse Redheart was eager to meet this mare, she was rather cute after all. Not that Redheart had a crush or anything. No, she was just analyzing the patient, doing her job. Yeah, that.
***
It was nearly midnight on this bland monday, and Redheart could go home and get some rest before work tomorrow, but decided to stay and watch her patient.
The hospital had gotten her records by now, and Redheart was informed of Derpy’s name. She thought it was a rather odd name, seeing as the pony didn’t look derpy, she was fairly normal. Her train of thought was broken when she saw the mare on the bed stir gently.
“Hmm? What, Where?” She mumbled softly as she opened her eyes. Redheart noticed that Derpy’s eyes were crossed outward.
“Hello,” was all Redheart could say before Derpy jolted up slightly before wincing in pain. “I’m Nurse Redheart and you have been admitted to the hospital due to a rather violent crash.”
Derpy was calm now and smiling again, although she was in a surprising amount more pain than usual. “Nice to meet you Miss! I’m Derpy Hooves.” She said jutting out her hoof toward the nurse. Redheart was slightly taken aback at Derpy’s energy after being in an accident. She took her hoof anyway and shook it gently.
“I’m going to go and get the doctor, will you be okay if I leave?” Redheart said in a soft practiced voice.
“‘Course Miss, nothing can keep this mare down! This happens a lot, so I’m used to it.” Derpy had so much joy in her voice it was spreading to Nurse Redheart. She smiled and gave a curt nod before leaving.
After a few moments she and the doctor returned. “Good morning Miss Hooves, glad to see you are awake,” He was cut off by Derpy looking shocked.
“Morning?! Oh no! I didn’t have a chance to get all of the mail out. Could you get someone to tell the post office I’m super duper sorry? Oh, sorry, continue.” Nurse Redheart chuckled lightly, Derpy had been in an accident, and is in obvious pain, but she’s worrying about getting her job done. How loyal.
“I will make sure to have that done,” The doctor nudged Nurse Redheart and she took the hint to leave and get someone to tell the post office what happened. “As I was saying, your wing seems to be broken in a few places, we can fix it but you won’t be able to fly for about 2 months.” She nodded with a huge smile across her face. He was just as stunned as Redheart had been.
“Great! That will give me a chance to work at the bakery, and make muffins! Sure it sucks, but I have to look at the bright side.” The doctor would never forget this strange encounter.
“Right… Well, We should get started. If you’re ready?” She just nodded and brought the pillow up to her mouth so she could bite it to hopefully dull the pain slightly. She knew how this worked.
As the doctor pulled the small bones into place with magic he wrapped the wing to stay in the position he wanted it to. Derpy groaned softly into the pillow in pain. The procedure took roughly 10 minutes.
“There, you’re all done for now. I want you to come in every two weeks so I can make sure it’s treated right…(Blah blah blah, instructions to keep a broken limb from becoming a more broken limb…) That should be about it. Sign at the front desk and next time you come, bring the bits to cover the cost of today.” He finally finished after what seemed an eternity to the wall eyed mare.
“Thanks doc! Will do.” She waved at him with a smile, she never seemed to be without a smile, grabbed her saddle bags and left. At the front desk, she signed the paper and turned to the front doors before realizing she didn’t know where she was.
“Excuse me sir, but which way is it to Ponyville?” She asked the pony at the front desk.
“Let me get a nurse to walk you home, just a minute please.” He had a gruff tone that Derpy found rude. He called somewhere in the building, and said for somepony to come down. Soon, Redheart appeared and smiled as she saw Derpy sitting wall eyed in a waiting chair, smiling.
“Hello again Miss! Are you walking me home?” Derpy asked.
“Indeed I am.” She said and moved past her to the door, holding it open for Derpy to walk through.
“Thanks Miss.”
“Please, call me Redheart. When you say ‘Miss’ I feel old.” She said jokingly.
“Oh, sorry. Mom always taught me to call strangers Miss or Sir, but I guess you’re not totally a stranger are you?” Derpy said brightly as always.
“She taught you well then. Do you live with her? I’d like to meet such a wonderful pony.” Redheart asked curiously.
“Nah, my parents died awhile ago. Don’t feel bad it happens. At least I know they are watching over me now.” Her smile didn’t so much as falter, even on such a sad topic.
“Of course.” Was all Redheart could think to respond, Derpy was so blunt about it she was still in awe of her happy demeanor. “So, should we drop off your bags at the post office?”
“No, I’ll just turn it in tomorrow no need to make you lead me around familiar territory. Speaking of, I can find my way from here. Thanks for walking me Miss Redheart.” At this Redheart was slightly saddened. She was just getting to know this mare, and she wanted to know much more.
“Uh, well. Hmm. Where could I find you, if I uh, wanted to talk again?” Redheart blushed at how flustered she was, trying to form a simple sentence to a friend (and totally not a crush).
“Oh, I’ll probably be working at Sugarcube Corner It’s a small little sweets shop in ponyville. It’s hard to miss believe me,” Derpy blushed slightly. “I would like to have a bite with you sometime. It’d be nice.” she finished her blush deepening, although it was hidden in the dark of VERY early morning, or so she thought.
“Okay, well I’ll see you around.” Redheart finished with a smile. Derpy grinned and waved as she walked away.
“Can’t Wait!” Derpy shouted.
Both mares would return home that night, one would have work in the morning while the other would have to get a job. It wouldn’t be hard for Derpy to get muffin duty at Sugarcube Corner, she had the most amazing muffins. Almost better than Pinkie Pie’s cakes, almost.
Redheart couldn’t wait for the end of the week, she had weekends off, she could visit Derpy and have a da- friendly meeting, between friends and just that. Maybe a hint of a crush. Just a teensy, little, tiny, really huge one.