//------------------------------// // Healing // Story: The Last One // by computerneek //------------------------------// “Miss, uh, Last One, was it?” She pauses briefly in her chewing, looking at the entity that had used her name. It’s the white one- Nurse Redheart. She nods slightly, and finishes off her ice cream cone with one last bite.  A strange noise immediately comes up from the side- something the pink one had called the ‘trumpet’. The said pink one, at the table next to her, stops halfway through her own ice cream cone.  “What? How- but that’s impossible!” “She ate the whole thing,” the white, metal-wearing entity with the trumpet states.  “It’s a clean win.” “But- but- but that’s not possible!  It was as big as she is!” He seems to shrug.  “I don’t know where she put it all either- but it’s true.  You’ve been beaten.” She smiles.  Even though the metal all the white entities are wearing makes her uneasy, their spears are a good sign for some reason.  “Can I have another?” The pink one wolfs down the rest of her cone.  “I want a rematch!” “Absolutely!” He blinks.  “You sure about that?” Then the pink one plunks down a new ice cream cone, this one at least as big as a full-grown entity, rather than her own size, in front of her.  It’s one of two. “ThreeTwoOneGo!”  The pink one immediately starts engulfing her cone. She grins, and attacks her ice cream. The trumpet sounds again. “Aaaand, Last One wins…  again. Sorry, Pinkie, it looks like there’s a new champion at the table.” She smiles at the pink one.  Then a rumble comes from her belly somewhere. Pinkie stares at her.  “Uhh… how is that even possible?” She grins.  “Can I have a cupcake?” Pinkie blinks.  “Uh…” She looks back at the kitchen.  “I’m all out… Um…” “Last One?” Nurse Redheart asks again. She looks over at her.  “Mm?” “Can we, uh, talk, maybe?” She blinks.  “Uhh…” “Yes,” one of the metal-wearing entities states- and not the one with the trumpet.  “Before Twilight wakes up.” She looks up at him.  “Huh?” “Whatever you’re worried about with Nurse Redheart, it can’t possibly be as bad as the experimentation Twilight is almost certainly going to subject you to when she wakes up.”  He sighs. “I might be her brother, but even I can’t stop her when she gets going. Especially now that she’s ascended.” “What?” “No- go.  Nurse Redheart will only help you- but Twi’s experiments tend to be more harmful than not.  And she’s waking up.” He practically herds her towards the other entity. I obey. Nurse Redheart blinks over at Twilight.  “Why was she sleeping?” “Sugar crash, coupled with exhaustion from the game,” he states.  “She’ll be fine.” “Roger.”  Nurse Redheart leads her away from the table, then just outside, where she glances around- as if to make sure nopony’s listening.  “Um, Last One. Do you remember what happened in the hospital earlier?” She blinks.  “Maybe?” Sigh.  “You remember riding on somepony’s back?” “Yes.” “Whose back was it?” “Rainbow.” “Even though she was hurt.” “She…  Her pain went away.”  She averts her eyes. “Then we crashed.” “Do you remember…  dying?” “I remember getting close, but…  But my chest-thumping came back.”  She blinks. “What’s a crash cart?” “Wha-  You were aware during that?” “Uh…  yes?” “Even though you were dangerously malnourished with a severe case of dehydration- and low blood pressure- to go with it?” “Was I not supposed to be?” She blinks.  “Uh… We’re definitely keeping you from Twilight.  She’d probably kill you in an attempt to find out how far you can go without losing consciousness.” “I’m hard to kill.”  She doesn’t know where it came from, or why, but she knows that to be cold, hard fact. “I’m glad, but that won’t stop Twilight.  Um… Do you know how Rainbow seemed to heal…  well, crazy fast, after the crash?” She tilts her head.  “Her pains went away,” she states.  “Isn’t that normal?” “Normal?  … Well, yes, I suppose, but not nearly that fast.  And broken bones normally require help to heal properly.” “Huh?  Am I…?”  She blinks, shrinking away. “Oh, no, it’s not a problem- rather, it’s a miracle.  Do you know if you- or she- did something to make her pains…  go away?” She shakes her head.  “I sensed her pains… then they went away.” “Uh…  can you elaborate?” “That’s what happened.  I sensed her pains, and they went away.” She frowns.  “... strange.  When did you sense her pains?” “When they happened, during the crash.” “...  Her wing was broken before that jump, yet she used it just fine.” “That pain had already gone away.” “When did you first sense that one?” “When I met her.” “Ahh…  Um, can you sense my pains?” Shake.  “No.” “Do you remember how you sensed her pains?” “I…  just sensed them.” “Ahh…  Um, would you mind returning to the hospital with me?  I’d like to make sure you’ve recovered properly from… Well, from whatever else we didn’t see.  Some of those wounds you had looked like they had infections.” “All my pains went away.” Nod.  “I know- but I’d like to make sure they stay away.” “Okay.” She then follows Nurse Redheart back to that building she’d fled earlier.  Now that voices aren’t as… well, terrible any more, she isn’t afraid of it. Once in the room, Nurse Redheart lifts her up onto the bed. “I sense it,” she states. Redheart looks up.  “Mm?” “Lingering knee pain, mild headache…  and something doesn’t feel right about your spine, but I can’t decide how.”  She sighs, closing her eyes. “The first two will go away, but the last…”  She shrugs. “You’re not a pegasus- I don’t know.” Redheart blinks.  “It is true… my knee never did heal properly after surgical reconstruction, I’m about due for my migraine headaches…  and I’ve always had random, low-grade back pains we could never identify. Um, when did you start feeling that?” “While you were lifting me up.” “Hmm…  Is it possible it’s spread by physical contact?” She shrugs.  “Possible, yes.  I didn’t feel Rainbow’s pains until I touched her, then…”  She sighs. “But I didn’t feel anypony’s pains before her, and I think somepony touched me beforehand.” “Hmm…  But Rainbow would have been after the IV drained entirely into your bloodstream, whereas everypony before Rainbow would be before the IV.  It’s possible you were too far into your nutritional deficiencies beforehand for it to register. Hmm…” She proceeds to perform a few standard tests of her vitals. She watches Nurse Redheart calmly.  She can sense when the knee pain goes away, but the headache will take a few minutes. “Well…  Still a little on the nutrition deficiency, but nothing dangerous- and how you’re not massively hyper with that high of blood sugar levels, I don’t know.”  She smiles. “Probably from the ice cream.” Then she glances down at her foreleg, flexing it a couple times.  “And hey, you’re right- it did go away.  Um, does that sense extend to you as well?” “Huh?  Oh… yes.  All my pains went away during and after the party.” “Hmm…  Would you like to try touching a few other patients, find if that’s what it takes?” Shrug.  “Sure.” “Just this way, then.”  She helps her down from the bed, leads her to another ward, down to a bed all the way at the end. “Good evening, Roseluck,” Nurse Redheart greets the entity in the bed.   The cream-colored, red-haired entity in the bed lets out a cough before struggling to speak.  “ ‘Eve, Redhar’.” Even from her position on the floor, she can see numerous bits of white covering Roseluck’s body.  Both her front legs seem to be suspended by cords of some kind, the hind legs on some sort of table overtop the bed.  Add the strange-looking brace wrapped around the entity’s neck… “How is everything going?” Nurse Redheart asks. “ ‘Urts,” Roseluck breathes. Redheart winces.  “Is it getting worse again?” “ ‘Ots.” She scowls, looking at the IV.  “Uh… Well. I originally came in to offer a new, experimental treatment that will, in theory, accelerate recovery phenomenally.  It’s been pretty effective on Rainbow and myself so far, but we don’t know how it works just yet, so… Would you like to try it, or go conventional again?” “ ‘Es,” she breathes.  “ ‘Try.” “Alright,” Nurse Redheart nods, before looking down at her.  “Last One, this is Roseluck. Roseluck, uh, this is Last One.”  She helps lift Last One onto the mattress. She smiles, waving and smiling briefly at the entity’s distorted face before gingerly reaching over to touch a rare patch of exposed fur. Then her breath catches. She senses the pains blossoming throughout the entity’s form.  Massive pains. Lots of important ones, some very important ones. And one that’s truly critical…  but it won’t go away on its own.  She’ll have to relieve the pressure on the entity’s chest before that pain can be removed.  “I-” she begins. “I sense! It’s- it’s too tight! It’s hurting!” As she talks, she moves to relieve that pressure. Nurse Redheart doesn’t move.  She seems to be stunned by her statement. So she grasps two parts of the white thing wrapped around Roseluck’s chest and pulls.  One side one way, the other side the other way. A sharp screeching sound greets her, and her pressure relief effort is successful.  Roseluck screams. “Wha- what are you doing-?” Redheart asks. She flattens the white thing out, showing the cause of that pain.  It’s coated in red, but it’s very hard- and sticking out of her chest at an odd angle.  She waits just long enough for Redheart to see it- and gasp- before she grips it with her hoof, keeping it from coming out too fast.  That could make an even worse pain.  “Sorry!” she yelps. “Sorry it hurts!  But- but this way, you’ll live.” Redheart blinks a couple times.  “That’s- That’s a floating rib! …  in her heart! Um-!” She begins moving forwards. “Not fast!” she declares.  “Not fast, that’ll hurt! Going slow lets the pain go away without creating more.”  She feels more pains creating as she slowly, carefully removes it.  But they’re all unimportant pains that will go away later. “What’s the red?” she asks, gesturing with one hoof at all the red stuff seeping out around it- one of the reasons she’s not going fast.  Roseluck doesn’t have too much of it left. Redheart blinks, then slams a hoof briefly- twice- on a button above Roseluck’s head.  “That’s blood,” she states. “You know her blood pressure?” “No.” “Is there enough of it for her heart to work properly?” “There won’t be.” Then the door flies open, and another entity comes charging in.  He blinks upon seeing her on the bed. “Doctor Horse!” Redheart calls.  “It’s part of her- she can sense it- but she found a floating rib in Roseluck’s heart!” He rounds the corner, moving closer. “Not fast,” she repeats, motioning slightly to the object she’s pulling from Roseluck’s chest. Or, more appropriately, holding in place.  It’s out of the super-important danger zone it was in before, and that pain has stopped getting worse, now slowly fading.  Now she’s just waiting for the small pains to build up around it, releasing the tension she can sense between it and the entity’s belly tissues.  To let her remove it without causing further damage, as returning it would be… Well, dangerous, at the least. He takes one glance at her position, and the shredded bandage underneath, before nodding, his horn glowing.  Moments later, fresh bags of red stuff appear, attach themselves to the stand and the tubes, and begin emptying themselves into Roseluck. Then the changes she’s waiting for complete.  She waits briefly for a few more of the pains to change around the object before she pulls it free of the entity’s chest, dropping it on the bed next to her.  She looks up at the entity’s face; Roseluck seems to be whimpering in pain. “Sorry,” she states again.  “Sorry it hurt. It’s gone now, the pains will go away.” That they do, she senses, starting with the other, similar objects, that haven’t been pushed so far from their intended locations. “But- with a missing rib-!” the doctor begins. “The pain will go away,” she declares again, before glancing at the object she’d pulled out, and gingerly touching Roseluck’s side, where it’s supposed to be.  “It will come back.”