//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash Part 1: Times Flies When You're Having Fun // Story: Trauma Team: Equestrian Chronicles // by ThatCanadianDude //------------------------------// Thirty... Twenty-five... Twenty... There were few sensations Rainbow liked more than the feeling of wind rushing through her mane. Admittedly, the nurses and orderlies she was whizzing past probably weren’t as enthusiastic, but she had a job to do, and time was closing in. Fifteen... Ten... Five... She could see it ahead. She had the straight away now. It was time to pile on the juice. Three... Two... One... With a loud crash, the Emergency Doors of the hospital flew open. As Rainbow Dash came to a hault, the first couple patients were landing as the hospital’s team of paramedics look on. “Awesome! Right on time, as usual,” she smugly remarked. One of the paramedics saluted. “Ms. Dashfeld! Right on time, as usual.” Rainbow pushed the paramedic back. “Well, what else did you expect? Now step aside; I’ve got ponies to save! You go do... whatever it is you colts do!” “Right away, Ms. Dashfeld.” Rainbow looked over the approaching ponies. She turned to the other paramedics. “Alright, buckos, listen up! I want as many ponies as you can get doctors for inside the hospital yesterday! I don’t care if you have to clear off the tables in the cafeteria to get them into surgery, you get that done this instant!” “Yes, Ms. Dashfeld!” “Right away, ma’am!” “Gotcha, boss!” With remarkable speed, the injured ponies were taken inside, one after another. Alright, looks like this going even quicker than expect... “Ms. Dashfeld!” Rainbow sighed and turned to face the paramedic calling her name. “What is it?” “We’ve officially ran out of doctors! Many of them were busy with other surgeries! Should we take the remaining patients to the waiting rooms and administer minor treatment until something becomes available?” His reward for this announcement was an agitated look from Rainbow. “Haul them inside for basic paramedic work? Are you crazy? That’d take way to freakin’ long!” She reached out, grabbing his medical satchel. “Gimme that! I’ll show you how to actually use it.” As Rainbow approached the first patient, she was already in the middle of opening up the satchel. She pulled out a small jar of gel and some cotton patches before looking over her shoulder back at the paramedic. “Pay close attention, cause I’m only showing you this once, and it’s gonna go by real quick!” she proclaimed, before turning her attention to the patient. Rainbow nodded, noting multiple pieces of glass stuck in the ponies abdomen. “Alright, we got broken glass. No sweat. Step 1: Extraction.” Reaching back into the satchel, Rainbow retrieved a pair of forceps and a pan. Holding the pan in one hoof, she began quickly and smoothly pulling out all the various pieces of glass and dropping them nimbly in the pan. Once she retrieved all the pieces, she placed the pan down. “Step 2: Disinfection,” she casually remarked, placing her cotton patches quickly across the various wounds. After placing them, she began to rub the green gel into the patches. “Aa-augh!” came a gasp of pain from the patient. Rainbow quickly looked up. “Calm down, sir. That’s just the disinfectant working. It’s gonna sting a bit, but it’s for your own good, alright?” The patient nodded shakily. “Alright. Let’s keep going them.” After a moment, the bandages were all saturated in the gel. Pulling out a roll of surgical tape, Rainbow quickly secured the lot. “And that’s how you deal with a patient, surprise surprise, quickly. Now get him inside.” The paramedic nodded before wheeling the pony inside. “Alright, how many more we got left?” “Two, ma’am,” responded another paramedic, currently examining one of the remaining patients. Rainbow stepped up and pushed the paramedic aside. “Make room. I’ll handle this.” Another quick examination was made. “Burns... How’d he get burnt?” “Ma’am, the ponies who brought him in say he managed to fall into the kettle for the kettle corn.” “... Huh. Not a very lucky stallion, are we?” “Ma’am, he is conscious and can hear you.” “... Oh. Sorry, buddy. Well... You lucked out with one thing; you got me, Rainbow Dashfeld, here to treat you! Let’s get to fixing you up, shall we?” “First, we start by disinfecting the burns,” Rainbow began as she began to spread the gel over the burns. Things were looking good until... “G-g-g-g-gah!” grunted the pony as his body started to convulse. “Woah! What the buck? Hey! Stop moving! You’re making it hard to work here! What’s wrong?” “...I... Insulin...” “Well, that’s just great...” mumbled Rainbow, lifting her head up to look to the paramedic. “Hey, buddy!” “Yes, ma’am?” “Get down to pharmaceuticals and get me some insulin. This guy’s a diabetic and he’s going into shock, and it’s getting hard to treat his wounds.” “Right away, ma’am!” replied the paramedic before heading off into the building. Rainbow sat next to the patient, still convulsing, impatiently tapping her hoof. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you some insulin... eventually...” she half-mumbled, staring at the door. After a minute, the paramedic returned with a syringe. “Alright, time to carefully measure the...” Rainbow grabbed the needle from the paramedic, took a look, and jabbed it into the ponies front leg. “M-Ma’am! I didn’t have a chance to make sure it was the correct dos...” “Don’t got time! Colt’s got burns that could get infected. Needed him to start shimmying and shaking. Besides, you can’t overdose on insulin,” came Rainbows reply as she resumed coating his burns in gel. “A-are you sure about that, ma’am?” “Well, kinda sure,” came another half-hearted response as Rainbow place the cotton patches across the wounds. “But what does matter is that he isn’t shaking, so we can deal with his injuries.” “This doesn’t seem right...” Rainbow ignored the comment and quickly had the remaining wounds gelled, bandaged, gelled, and taped, before having the paramedic take him inside to await further treatment. “Alright, one more...” Rainbow mumbled to herself, dashing to the final patient. Looking over the patient, Rainbow started out a tad confused. From what she saw of the pony lying on her back, there wasn’t any actual injury. Rainbow leaned in close to the pony. “Miss, can you tell me what’s wrong with you?” “M-my left wing... I-I can’t feel my l-left wing...” Rainbow was taken aback at this revelation. “They sent you here on your back with a broken wing? Are they crazy? You can cause permanent damage doing that kinda stuff! You know what? Doesn’t matter! I’ll deal with them later. Right now, I need to get you flipped onto your front so I can have a look. Are you strong enough to get up?” “I-it hurts! It hurts!” “That’s not answering my question. Can you get up?” “I-I can’t get up.” Rainbow sighed. She knew that a broken wing was painful, and the preliminary shock was enough to leave a lot of pegasi in a nigh-on useless state, but being on this end, it was really slowing her down. “Alright, this is a bit problematic. I’m the only one out here, and I can’t lift you by myself. Can you try? Please? We’re burning daylight he...” Rainbow’s train of thought was interrupted by a familiar sound. A small buzzing off in the distance. She turned to look at the source as it came around a corner. It was a small scooter with an orange pegasus on it, wearing a yellow and blue windbreaker, wings flapping like there was no tomorrow. It skidded to a stop a few yards away before the orange pegasus jumped off and quickly hoofed it over to Rainbow and the patient. The pegasus stopped, pulling off her helmet, revealing a matted purple mane. She saluted. “Ms. Rainbow Dash! Scarlet Luminada, reporting for duty!” Rainbow gave a look that was half-smirk, half-sneer. “You’re late, Scootaloo. But you picked a good time to finally show up. Give me a hoof with this patient; we need to get her on her stomach.” “Yes, Ms. Dash! Right away!” Together, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were able to make short work of getting the injure mare on her stomach. Rainbow crouched to get a better look at the wing. “Wow... that’s at least 3 fractures I’m seeing there... Scootaloo?” “What can I do for you, Ms. Dash?” “Run inside and get me the wing brace.” “Consider it done!” As Scootaloo ran off into the building, Rainbow went around to the front of the injure pegasus. “Hey, you listening?” The pegasus looked up, tears in her eyes. “It really, really hurts...” “I know it does, and I’m afraid to say it going to hurt a lot more before it’s done.” “W-why would you do that?” “It’s your wing. You’ve broken it in three different places. For that many injuries, we need to use a special brace, and in order to do so, I’m going to need you to extend your wings.” The pegasus blinked a few times, still clearly in pain. “Extend my wings? But I can’t! It hurts so much...” “Don’t worry. I’ve broken my fair share of wings. I’ll be here to help you make sure it fully extends so we can secure it. You have my word on it.” “Why... why...” Rainbow shook her head. “Do you like flying?” “Y-yeah... I love flying...” “Well, if we don’t set that wing right, your flying days are over. Your wing won’t heal properly, and it’ll be impossible to flap it in conjunction with the other, or generate enough lift. And you don’t want that, do you?” The pegasus sniffed before shaking her head. “That’s good... wait a second...” Rainbow mentioned before turning back to the medical bag. She pulled out a small wooden splint. “Take this in your mouth and when I say ‘extend’, bite down as hard as you can while extending your wings. It’ll help. Trust me. I’m a professional, both at helping broken wings and having them.” The patient nodded before taking the stick in mouth. “Ms. Rainbow Dash! I’ve got the wing brace!” came a cry from the hospital. Rainbow turned to see Scootaloo, holding a large white plastic rectangle with multiple straps. “Good! Bring it over here and put it in place.” Soon the wing brace was in place. “Ok, Scoots. Here’s what I need you to do. I’m gonna make sure the wing extends and is set properly, and then I want you to fasten the straps. Can you do that for me?” “With pleasure!” Rainbow nodded. “Alright, missy. I want you to start extending in three... two... one... Now!” The found of teeth clenching into wood could be heard mixing with the sound of sliding broken bones as Rainbow gently, but firmly pulled the fractured wing into place. “Alright, hold it...” she spoke as she looked over the wing. “Scoots, strap closest to the patient.” “On it!” While Scootaloo tied the strap closest to the wing’s base, Rainbow looked over the wing. She made slight pushes in spots, attempting to align the bone as best she could. “God, why do ponies do this? You don’t send an unsecured fracture wing on her back for transport! It’s common freakin’ sense!” “What’s that, Ms. Dash?” Rainbow looked up. “Oh, it’s nothing, Scootaloo. Start tying off the remaining straps.” “Right away, Ms. Dash!” Rainbow took a step back as Scootaloo finished strapping the wing up. “Alright, missy. You can relax now.” The pegasus looked to still be in pain, but she visibly loosened up. “Alright, Scootaloo, get her to a waiting room. Give her priority one over any other patients present. A fractured wing ain’t no laughing matter.” “No argument here, Ms. Dash. On my way.” Rainbow sat outside, awaiting news from inside. After a moment, a familiar voice caught her attention. “All patients are either being treated, have been treated, or are in the waiting rooms awaiting treatment. All of them are in relatively stable condition, and in record time to boot. Way to go, Ms. Dash!” Rainbow turned to see Scootaloo standing in the hospital door way, saluting once again. “You know, Scootaloo, you should probably cut out the saluting all the time. You’re going to give your hooves carpal tunnel with how much you do that.” A blush came over Scootaloo’s face as she lowered her hoof. “My apologies, Ms. Dash.” A smirked from Rainbow was what she got in turn, followed by a slap on the shoulder. “Loosen up, squirt. You’re doing fine. Colt, I don’t think I’ve seen a single other paramedic as tense as you..” “Sorry, Ms. Dash. Just trying to do my best for you and the hospital.” “That’s admirable, but perhaps you should start by showing up to your shifts on time. The Mayor’ll have my flank if she finds out I keep covering you.” Scootaloo lowered her head. “I’m really sorry, Ms. Dash. I keep having problems getting through traffic.” Rainbow laughed. “Is that all? Transportation problems? Kid, let me make you an offer; how about, after work, I give you some tips on how to speed up your commute? Might help you be late a little less often.” Scootaloo’s eyes lit up at the offer. “R-really, Ms. Dash? You’d do that for me?” Rainbow couldn’t help but give a little chuckle at the young pegasus’ enthusiasm. “Of course. What kinda boss would I be if I wasn’t looking out for my peons. Meet me out back when your shift is done. I’ll be waiting.” “Y-You won’t have to wait long, Ms. Dash! I’ll be right there.” “Good. That’s what I like to hear.” Looking at her watch, Rainbow nodded. “Well, looks like it’s time for me 3:34 nap in the library. Hopefully Doctor Egghead won’t catch me and ruin it this time. Caio, Scoots. See you after work,” Rainbow replied, gliding on into the hospital and down the halls. “S-see ya, Rainbow Dash...” Scootaloo replied, slowly trailing off. As Scootaloo walked into the hospital herself, she began talking. “Free lessons on racing... from Rainbow Dash herself...” Scootaloo’s grin quickly grew as she let out a little fangirl giggle. “This is gonna be SO AWESOME!”