Nurse Redheart walked to Ward 20, depositing the cart of medicine just outside the door and peeked in. As predicted, the usual five ponies and one dragon surrounded the patient.
"I'm afraid visiting time is over, please leave the ward," the nurse told the group.
The pink one, Pinkie Pie, spoke up. "Aww, can't we just have one more teensy weensy minute?" The bubbly pony's glassy eyes stared straight into Redheart's blue ones, pleading for the nurse to give them an exception.
Shaking her head, she pointed her hoof at the door, sadly glancing at each of the visitors. They all let out a sigh of disappointment but dutifully walked out. If only I got friends as good as them, or even anypony that care as much about me, Redheart thought bitterly to herself. Her mind raced back to when she was a little filly, when her good for nothing parents dumped her in the orphanage, when her so called 'friends' at school pushed her around for having no parents. She had never felt any affection from ponies. That is why she decided to be a nurse, wanting to care for patients so that they would not deal what she had went through.
The sound of the visitors' hooves faded away as Redheart approached the patient. Rainbow Dash, once the energetic athlete that could be always seen performing flying tricks up in the sky, now laid on the hospital bed, unable to do anything. No, she still can do them, its just that she is not allowed to. The last time she tried, a suicide attempt happened.
Redheart could still recall that incident. The ripple of gasp that spread through the crowd of ponies, and the turning of heads to glance up at the sky, to glance up at Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolt, the awesome, the suicidal. The cyan pegasus was zooming down to the ground at top speed. It took a team of pegasi to restrain her and some ponies to carry her off to the Ponyville Hospital. Redheart could remember Dash strapped in the stretcher, yelling about demons on her tail.
That was the most horrifying day of her life.
Ever since Redheart moved into Ponyville, she was drawn to the cyan pegasus. She was a symbol for her to try her best, to achieve what she thought she could not, to perform her best as a nurse. She had realised that she was infatuated with the pegasus. She tried making moves to her, engaging her into conversations but were always interrupted by her call of duty, the Wonderbolts.
Redheart inspected the equipments around the bed and went out to the cart take some medicine. Selecting some bottles of pills and syrup, she quickly went back into the ward, afraid that anything bad would happen. The last time Dash was left alone, she had tried to destroy the ward. That day, when the number of ponies visiting the hospital had gone up an absurd number, Redheart was forced to leave Dash's ward to treat other ponies. When an alarm went off, Redheart raced to ward 10, fearing for the worst, which of course happened. The sprinkler system in the smoke detector had gone off, showering everypony nearby and Dash was there, hovering between the floor and ceiling and tugging at the various wires of the machines beside her bed. They had to repair that ward and transfer Dash to ward 20.
From that day on, Redheart had paid her fullest attention on Dash, not letting her try anything funny. She cared for the pegasus, she loved her. She had vowed to not let Dash die in her hooves, no matter what.
"Hi Rainbow, these are your schizophrenia pills," Redheart started, but was smacked across the face by Dash's hoof.
"I don't have scri-sizo-whatever crap disease you said!" Dash snarled. She pushed herself to sit up on her bed, but was held back by the worried Redheart.
"Are you feeling bad, Rainbow?" Redheart asked Dash.
The glower on the cyan pegasus slowly subsided, and the pegasus laid back onto the bed, relaxed while the nurse pulled a chair and sat down next to Dash.
"Tell me about your day, Rainbow,"
"Well there was Dark," Dash started.
Redheart cursed silently. Dark, according to Dash, was a demon who prompt her to do bad things such as commiting suicide, among others. In fact, it was Dark that had convinced the pegasus to destroy ward 10. Redheart knew better to believe a schizophrenic patient, Dark was just a figment of Dash's hallucination. Still, it was hard for the nurse to ignore what Dash says, she cared for her after all.
"He was at the corner of the ward earlier today, and told me to strangle Rarity. I said no! I said, she's my friend, I would never kill my friends!"
"Good job Rainbow," Redheart smiled and held the pills out to Dash, who took it and swallowed them with a sip of water. Redheart then proceeded to pour some syrup into a measuring cup when Dash interrupted her.
"When is this going to end?" The pegasus asked the nurse.
"I hate this, I don't want to spend my life like this!" Dash continued, "I need to get out of hospital, go back home!"
Tears welled up in the cyan pegasus' eyes as she stared at Redheart, who set down Dash's medicine to attend to Dash.
"I understand, Dash," Redheart held the pegasus' hoof in her own. Dash looked at the nurse, but did not pull her hoof free. Redheart is also equally surprised by her own daring action. She had not tried to make a move ever since Dash was admitted into hospital.
Before she knew it, she was rambling on about her childhood, how she got rejected by her parents, how bad she got treated at school, how she became a nurse. She spoke of her affection for the pegasus, how she inspired her. Redheart felt Dash lean into her chest. Warmth rushed up her face and her heart beat furiously as she glanced down at the cyan pegasus snuggling herself in her chest.
Redheart let go of Dash's hoof to pull Dash closer to herself. With her hooves wrapped closely around the pegasus' body, Redneck stared into Dash's face.
"Don't worry. I will get you out of here," Redheart promised the cyan pegasus.
As much as she wanted to make a move and kiss Dash, Redheart knew she could not. It was inappopriate and unprofessional behaviour. This was the furthest she could go. Smiling at her, Redheart gave Dash the syrup which she downed in a gulp.
Redheart collected the cup and bottles of pills and headed out of the room. She wanted to spend more time with Dash, but she knew patients need their rest. Placing them on the cart, Redheart walked off.
Dash's soft voice could be heard trailing from ward 20 and Redheart stopped to listen to it. That song, Redheart thought. The pegasus could be heard singing that ever since she was in the hospital, but nopony knew why.
Redheart finally understood, and smiled.
"I still see your shadows in my room,"