Twilight leaves Nick waiting outside her newly but poorly pronounced room, number N-42, and follows Celestia's trail through corridor O to reach the upper courtyard. She makes her way down the staircase to the level below and through the double doors leading to the reception. She marches past the reception desk, ignoring the recognising glances from Grace seated on her chair, through the main doors and out of the building into the bright morning sun. From the top of the steps, she closes her eyes and inhales as the warmth of the sunrays bounce off her glum face tearing a much-needed smile between her lips. She kicks her hooves, stretches her legs, and yawns heftily before making her way down the steps and takes a right towards the university's conditioned marketplace.
The markets were typically quieter on weekday mornings, mainly due to students attending their first lessons of the day, and the stalls were less crowded as a result. This gave non-students and visitors a quieter shopping experience and plenty of room to browse to their heart's content. This also means Twilight can bag and buy whatever she needed to help clean her room without any distractions or hindrances; or so she thought.
Twilight makes her way down the cool lanes, passing the thinly crowded stalls she did not need, and steps into the notably larger DIY stall, titled 'Do It Yourself' with the subtitle 'For all your DIY needs' underneath. She is immediately greeted by the stall owner, carrying a small carboard box that was currently empty, and is told to feel free to take her time browsing before disappearing through the aisles. The stall is large, spanning a two-by-two area and extending twice the height of the other stalls that surround it, devouring them in its colossal shadow. It is filled to the brim with carious electronic power tools, slabs of wood, and steel beams, in and out of boxes placed on metal shelves stretching to the top of the stall.
Twilight walks down one aisle and back up another as she zigzags her way around the store. She carefully scans her eyes across the shelves as she walks beside the racks in search for the protective equipment that she headed out for. However, despite her keen eyesight and carefully glances, she finds nothing of the sort.
Twilight loops around the end shelving rack and spots the stall owner standing on a step ladder, reaching up and taking down broken shards of glass from the shelves. "Where do you keep you PPE?" She asks on approach, watching her place with care the glass shards into the box.
"P-PP"?" The owner repeats with a minor stutter, glancing down at her. "All P-PPE are found near the t-till." She says, pointing with her free hand in the direction of the equipment.
"Oh..." Twilight says before turn tailing back to the cash register near the entrance of the stall.
Upon exiting the aisle, she immediately spots the equipment hanging on a stand with the sign 'PPE' in bold letters above it at the side of the entrance opposite the cash register. Her cheeks blush a little when she realises she had walked right past them but her face remains indifferent. She stands at the till and, using her magic, lifts a pair of loose thin rubber gloves from the stand and places them on the counter near the till. She notices boxes of plastic goggles and does the same with a cheap pair, but she finds no boxes of dust masks on the stand. She glances around her vicinity to make sure she had not missed them and finds no sign of them.
The stall owner emerges from the aisle after having collected all glass shards and placing down the box near the ladder to attend the stall's customer. Twilight spots the owner walking towards her and asks before the owner could reach the cash register, "Where are your masks?"
"Huh?" The owner says in confusion. "They sh-should be, oh..."
The owner glances to the stand and, upon realising the masks were not on show, walks past Twilight towards it. Standing at the side of the stand, she turns to face Twilight, places a hand on the stand and spins it around revealing the contents on its back. Twilight expression drops and she shimmies as boxes of masks, earmuff, and clear bags of thin aprons are revealed to her.
Twilight glances away. "I'm just tired." She says.
The owner grins. "I-I figured you might be." She says. "The rings under your eyes give i-it away. How many mask-sks do you need?" She adds, removing a box from the stand's counter and hovering a hand over the others. "Good morning." She greets with a smile as a large customer slowly ventures into her stall and is told to feel free to take his time browsing.
"Twilight grumbles and rubs the underside of her eyes but says nothing. She waits for the slow-moving customer to move out of the way before using her magic from where she stands to remove two boxes of masks and a bag of aprons from the stand. She places them on the counter and the owner returns the box she was holding to the stand and returns herself behind the register.
"I-is that everything?" The owner asks.
Twilight pauses to think for a moment before answering her question. "Do you have any garbage bags?"
"We do." The owner says. "They're near the back, give me a moment." She throws up a hand and waves it in the air to lower her sleeve and raises her wrist to her mouth. She speaks into the mechanical strap wrapped around her wrist. "Alpha one t-to I-India One, over." The device beeps and they wait for a response.
A few silent seconds pass without a word from India One. The owner waits a few moments before repeating her call through the microphone. Still only silence returns. The owner shifts body posture as she becomes more agitated by the lack of communication coming through the radio.
“I-I'm sorry about this." The owner says. "I-Iris i-is never around when I-I actually need him."
The owner marches out from behind the desk, calling for her employee one more time with infuriation slipping into her town, and curses to herself stating in annoyance she being the only one to do anything around the stall. Twilight watches as she disappears down the aisle and rolls her eyes to stare back at the register. She glances up to the homemade digital clock hanging above the counter and impatiently taps her hoof.
While Twilight patiently stands there waiting for the owner to return, the customer that had entered earlier slowly creeps up to her and stands behind her in line for the till. She could feel the weight of his heavy breathing blowing through her mane and down her spine. His rotten egg-like breath wraps around her head and pierces her nostrils, forcing its way through her nasal cavities and down the back of her throat. She coughs heavily and tears are brought to her eyes as she forcefully covers her nose with her hoof as the large stranger continues to inadvertently breathe on her.
Twilight turns her head to look at the stranger, who stares straight with glazed eyes. His yellow hardhat and stained white tight-fit vest give him a stereotypical road maintenance appeal. He carries under each muscular arm multiple heavy slates of wood that are handled with ease.
"Excuse me." Twilight says with her breathing holes covered. "Can you stop breathing on me?"
The man slowly lowers his gaze and stares down at the young unicorn. He inhales deeply before slowly parting his lips to show a seemingly benign, yet intimidating, toothless smile. From his empty mouth pours another wave of his bad breath that flows over Twilight's entire body. Twilight grumbles and turns to face away from him and stares at the blinking clock, which shows 08:34.
The clock adds a minute to its timer, which felt like ten minutes to Twilight, before the owner returns with two bags of garbage bags and drops them on the counter. "I-I'm so sorry about that, Miss." She says to Twilight with annoyed sympathy. "I-it was very unp-profesh-sional of me. I-is that all you need?" Twilight nods and tears fall from her closed eyes.
The items on the counter are priced up and the cash register is tallied. The price of the assembled items is shown and the operator repeats. "That's thirteen dollars and eighty-seven cents."
Upon hearing the price, Twilight gasps as she realises she had left her purse in her travel bag atop her suitcase outside her room. She twitches and glances towards the favourable exit of the stall figuring out what her best plan of action is.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money on me right now." She explains through another wave of bad breath. "I left my..." she coughs. "I left my purse next to my room. If you give me a moment, I can go back and get it."
"You're a st-student here?" The owner asks, and Twilight rushes a nod. "T-tell you what, since you're in a hurry, I-I'll put these i-items on credit for you."
"Yes, yes, whatever," Twilight sharply snaps, just make it quick."
The owner takes out from beneath the counter a small book with a pen fastened to it and places it open on the counter's surface. "One of the benefits of being a st-student." She says with a chuckle. Twilight does not respond, and the owner continues. "All I-I need i-is your name and your room number."
"Twilight..." She coughs again. "Sparkle. Room R-7... I mean, N42."
"N-40-t-2?" The owner repeats with shock, glancing up from the book. "You're joking, right?"
"No, just hurry up!" Twilight tells her, on the verge of drowning in a sea of rotten eggs.
"Sorry... T-Twilight Sp-Sparkle... N-40-t-2..." The owner repeats slowly and writes down slower, as if tormenting Twilight who is becoming more agitated. "There," she says, forcing a full stop, "now I-I just need your signature, here." She places the pen in the folds and spins the book around. Twilight signs with the pen using her magic in a hurry and drops the pen back on the book. "Thank you, Miss T-Twilight."
The owner removes the book from the countertop and places it back underneath. She emerges with a handled bag and places the purchased items inside the bag with precision. She pushes the bag to Twilight, who rapidly removes it from the counter.
"Thanks." Twilight says with a cough and charges out of the stall.
"You're quite welcome." The owner says with a smile as Twilight exits the stall with her bag of goods. The man behind then moves forward and drops his wooden slates on the counter and is dealt with professionally.
Twilight thankfully exits the DIY stall at full speed and hops across the aisle and stops at the opposite stall, breathing in deeply the conditioned air. With her shopping bag floating behind her, and wishing she had grabbed her satchel before heading out, she heads up the lanes towards the exit and glances into the passing stalls out of curiosity. She walks by and glances inside the stall where Rarity works, aptly titled 'Fashionista's Boutique', and spots the small stature of the stall owner draping coats over hangers near the entrance while Rarity attends a customer at the register.
Rarity spots Twilight over the shoulder of her customer and gives her a decisive wave to wait there for her. Twilight waves back but does not wait and walks past the stall and out of the markets. Rarity finishes dealing with the customer and hops out of her seat, runs past Mia and out of the stall, only to find Twilight had already left. She sighs and returns to her seat to await her next customer.
Twilight makes her way over the university grounds, heads through the reception through its main entrance, hops up the staircase in the courtyard, and steps into corridor N. To her delight, Nick was no longer standing by the door to their room. The corridor had become a little livelier from students passing through and making their way to their classrooms. Thinking he had left the corridor altogether, Twilight heads down the corridor, passing the groups of people and ponies along the way, and is taken by surprise upon realising that the door to her room was open despite it never being closed.
Twilight stands in the doorway and peers into the room and, frowning, spots Nick arched at the back, sliding out of the way boxes and debris. Twilight notices footprints imbedded in the dust-covered floor, like footprints in the snow, where Nick had made his way in from the entrance. Large dust particles were spinning and floating around him as he continues to move objects around his vicinity.
Twilight clears her throat to grab his attention, and he turns around. His mouth and nose were covered by the collar of his shirt, but he shows a pleasant smile regardless.
"Twilight," Nick says with a wave, straightening up, "welcome back. You took your time, so I had a quick look around, see if I could find that rat. Did you get everything?"
"I got everything I thought you might need." Twilight says, holding aloft the bag of protective equipment. "Gloves, masks, goggles, aprons, bags."
"Ah, excellent!" He says, clapping his hands together, agitating the already disturbed dust even more.
"But you seem to be doing just fine without them so I guess I'll hang on to them." Twilight adds with a smirk and a shake of the bag.
"No, wait!" Nick says, hurrying towards her. He slides between a set of drawers and the couch, nudging a decayed box resting on its torn cushions, unaware of its contents spilling onto the floor. Twilight steps aside as he jumps out of the room, followed by a cloud of black dust like soot flying out from a chimney. Grabbing the shopping bag by its handle out of the air, he coughs heavily as he enters the corridor. "Ugh, I think I swallowed some dust." He heftily coughs to clear his throat. He opens the bag and peers inside, examining everything Twilight had bought. "Goggles? Aprons? A little excessive, don't you think?"
"You wanted PPE, you got PPE." Twilight says. "Consider yourself lucky I brought anything back."
"I'm surprised you didn't buy hardhats and boots with everything else." Nick says with a chuckle. He glances to Twilight who looks at him with an unamused stare. "Sorry." He says, losing his amusement, realising she had no intention of humouring him. "Thanks for getting the gear. You did good with this."
He places the shopping bag on the floor and empties its contents, one by one, placing them at the side. With the bag empty, Nick puts on the protective gear. He starts with the apron, looping it over his head and fastening it around his waist.
"I thought you didn't want the apron?" Twilight rhetorically asks.
"You bought them, might as well use them." Nick answers. "Do you need help to tie it?" He asks, passing Twilight an apron.
"No." Twilight says, who reluctantly takes the apron and ties it around herself. "I can tie it myself."
Nick then opens a box of masks and loops one around his ears which covers his mouth and nose. Twilight takes one also and wraps it around herself. Nick pulls a tight pair of gloves over his hands while Twilight straps a pair of goggles to her head.
"I really don't want to do this." Twilight says, adjusting the goggles for a more comfortable fit. "Why did you have to suggest we do this anyway?"
"It won't be as bad as you think." Nick says, resting his own goggles on his nose above his mask. "We'll make it fun."
"How?" Twilight asks. "How can you make cleaning a dump fun?"
"If hanging around with Pinkie has taught me anything," Nick begins, ripping open the bag that the garbage bags came in and shaking one open, "it's that anything practical can be made fun."
"Pinkie, I can believe." Twilight says as Nick shakes open another bag and hands it to her.
Nick places all the equipment back into the shopping bag, with the open bag of garbage bags on the top, and stands to his feet with the shopping bag in one hand and his empty garbage bag in the other. He leans into the room and places the shopping bag at the side of the door slowly as not to further disturb the already agitated dust. He pulls his mask from his mouth and breathes deeply before releasing it and heading inside with no hesitation.
"Come on." Nick says to Twilight. "First one to fill their first bag gets to choose their room." Nick navigates his way through the clutter to reach where he had been standing before Twilight returned.
Twilight slowly follows with a sigh. She steps inside the room and glances around at the mess she has been tasked to clean with Nick. Her hooves are immediately stuck with dust and feel uncomfortable as she stands on them. Her clean goggles begin to attract the dust that was floating around, sticking to the clear plastic eye-shields, and she is no longer able to see clearly without wiping them with her hoof. Her mask too is starting to stick thick with dust which made breathing a little more difficult than it already was. Regardless, she follows Nick's trail to his position.
"By the way," Nick calls to Twilight from his position, "how much did you pay for the equipment?"
"Thirteen dollars, and eighty-seven cents." Twilight calls back.
"Oof." nick says. “They really know how to price their stuff."
"But I couldn't pay her." Twilight continues. "I had to get credit because I left my purse in my bag outsi-AAAAAAAH!"
Twilight screams a deafening cry which loudly echoes around the room and down the corridor. Nick instantly turns around to see Twilight stumbling back and pressing herself against the wall. Her face is cringing from pain and her closed eyes shimmer with the beginning of tears welling in her eyes.
"Twilight!" Nick calls in a panic.
Nick drops his empty bag and promptly rushes towards her, scurrying past the couch and the drawers, and notices her holding up her forehoof as he nears. He reaches her and wraps his arms around her. He lifts her up and holds her in his arms, and she instinctively wraps her forelegs around his neck. Nick could feel her body. Twilight rests her head on his shoulder, and the scent of his sweet shower gel flows through her nose and washes clean away the stench of the bad breath left by the trip to the DIY stall. Nick quickly but strainingly carries her out of the room, kneels, and gently places her on the floor and leans her against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor.
With Twilight now safely set outside her room, her breathing gains weight from the shock and her body twitches severely. Her face had lost a little bit of its colour and was turning a little pale under her mask, which worries Nick.
"What happened?" Nick asks, removing his mask to breathe easier.
A teardrop falls from the corner of Twilight's eye which leaks down her cheek. She tears off her own mask and answers with a yell. "What do you think happened, idiot?"
Nick leans away and glances down to her hoof to find something dull sticking out of it. He reaches down and takes her hoof in hand, lifting it up for a closer look, careful as to not touch the object. Twilight tries pulling away but Nick holds it firmly in place. Her hoof in bleeding slightly, leaking out of the point of penetration which bother Nick. He wants to look away but refuses to give in to the disgust. Upon closer examination, he recognises that a nail, long and rusted, is the object that pierced her hoof.
"Oof," he says, grimacing at the sight, "that looks nasty."
He lifts his gloves hand to his mouth, bites the fingertip, and pulls it off with his teeth. He spits the glove out of his mouth and gently rubs his finger around Twilight's hoof, avoiding the seeping blood, and Twilight sharply flinches. "Ow!" She cries in pain. "Don't touch it, idiot! It hurts."
"I didn't touch it." He says, letting go of her hoof. "It looks fine, all things considered. There's not a lot of blood which means it must just be a puncture, which is good."
"There is nothing 'good' about this." Twilight says. "My hoof is in agony!"
"Trust me, Twilight, it could be a lot worse." Nick firmly tells her. "Here..." He removes Twilight's goggles from her face and unwraps the apron around her waist. "We need to get you to the infirmary." He pauses for a second before adding, "Only problem is I don't know where the infirmary is."
"First floor." Twilight answers, gently rubbing her hoof. "E-91."
"Oh, that's good, we're already on... Wait, E-91?" Nick says. "Ugh, that's so far away." He groans and sighs before adding. "Alright, come on." He wraps his arms around Twilight once more and lifts her up off the ground.
Immediately, before he could stand up straight, a shooting pain courses through his leg, and he staggers and collapses with a grunt. He places Twilight back on the floor and presses a hand on his leg where the sharp pain emerged.
Twilight follows his hand movement and gasps. "You're bleeding." She says, staring at his leg in shock.
Nick glances to his leg to find part of his apron and his trouser leg had been torn, and thick, crimson fluid was building and pouring out of a thin gash down his leg in shallow stream. His palm feels the warmth of the fluid and is coloured red. He looks back into the room and spots the object that had sliced him; a steel wire that was poking out of a cupboard drawer was dripping with his blood.
"Well, sh-oot." Nick says, trying to hide the sharp, inconsistent pain of the deep scratch. He inhales and attempts to stand up, but his leg is in too much pain to stand on its own. He falls onto the wall over Twilight with his leg held, balancing the pressure on his other leg. "I'm sorry, Twilight." Nick grunts. "I can't carry you like this."
"But you did earlier." Twilight responds.
"It must have been the adrenaline of it all." Nick says. "Your scream startled me; I knew I had to make sure you were okay." He pauses, glancing down the corridor. Neither he nor Twilight had realised the crowd of students gathering around and them with curiosity in their gazes, nor could they care. "Do you think you can stand on your own?"
"Of course, I can." Twilight says. "I don't need any human carrying me."
Twilight shakily stands to her hooves, holding her damaged hoof to her chest, and leans against the wall for balance. She slowly limps down the corridor using the wall as leverage, taking each step slowly and steadily.
Nick calls to the crowd gathered in front of her. "Someone give her a hand, she needs to go to the infirmary."
"I don't need any help." Twilight calls out.
Despite Nick's request, not a single person stepped forward out of the crowd. Instead, they all stared in sick curiosity at Twilight's struggling self, with few stepping away from the wall so she could walk by unhindered. Nick shakes his head in anger and hops to Twilight's side. He stops her by placing a hand on her hip, and she flinches at the unexpected touch. He stands her on her hindlegs and throws her pierced hoof over his shoulders despite her efforts to tell him she was fine. With his back arched slightly, and with the weight of Twilight on his leg, he forces himself down the corridor using the wall to steady himself, limping on his bad leg.
"Moróin aineolacha." Nick whispers under his breath, glancing at the watching people. Twilight hears this and sharply looks at Nick, who does not meet her stare and concentrates on exiting the corridor.
Nick strenuously carries Twilight out of the corridor, down the emergency staircase, and slowly onto corridor E to where the infirmary is located near their entrance. The doors to the infirmary are a light blue colour with a red cross in the middle to stand out and is kept open during servicing hours. The room itself is spacious enough to its practice; fitting four single beds with cabinets between each one and a wooden desk, occupied with a computer screen, servicing as the reception near the entrance. Nick leads Twilight to the reception, where they are greeted by one of the few nurses of the university.
"Good morning." The nurse greets with a smile. The name badge on her outfit indicates that the pony is Nurse Redheart. "How can I help you?" She asks before noticing Twilight's blood-stained hoof, and she gasps. "Oh, my goodness." She says, coming out from behind the desk. "That looks serious. We'll get you fixed up in no time." She adds.
"You said it looked fine!" Twilight says to Nick through gritted teeth. Nick shrugs.
Nick removes Twilight's foreleg from around him and Nurse Redheart takes his place, and he leans on the desk. She leads Twilight to a readymade bed and is helped onto the sheets. She sits with her hindlegs dangling off the ledge, pierced hoof facing upwards. She glances to Nick, who nervously glances around the infirmary.
"So, you'll be alright, now, Twilight?" Nick calls.
"I will be now." Twilight answers.
"I'll see you later, then." Nick says and turns to the exit with the intention of leaving.
Nurse Redheart turns to face Nick and notices the blood pouring down his leg. She runs over to him and takes his hand in her hoof before he can leave. "You need seeing to as well." She says, tugging his arm into the room. "I simply cannot allow you to wander the corridors in such a state."
"I'm fine, really." Nick says, tugging back. "It's just a scratch, nothing serious. I'll put a bandage on it and be on my way. You should concentrate on Twilight." He turns sharply and staggers into the doorway, using the frame to hold himself up.
Nurse Redheart rushes to block the exit before he could leave. "I don't think so, young man." She says sternly. She pushes him forcefully into the room, and he is unwillingly lead towards a bed. "You're in far too serious a state to simply require a bandage. Sit down and I'll see to you first."
"I told you, I'm fine." Nick tells her as he is forcefully seated on the bed opposite Twilight.
"And I told you to take a seat." Nurse Redheart tells him with a huff.
"Stop acting like a baby and sit down." Twilight tells him, annoyed at his unnecessary hindrance.
Nick stares at Twilight, taking offense at being slated, and grunts. "Fine." He says, reluctantly. "But make it quick, and painless."
"What is wrong with you?" Twilight asks.
"Nothing." Nick answers sharply. "I just don't want to be here."
"I need to check if the wound is infected, so give me a moment." Nurse Redheart says before stepping away from Nick.
"Your wound will take ages to heal on its own." Twilight says. She stares at Nick and notices him staring at the nurse, shivering from nervousness. "You're afraid of the infirmary, aren't you?"
"What?" Nick says, looking at Twilight. "I'm not afraid of the infirmary."
"Then why are you so nervous?" Twilight asks.
"Nervous?" Nick repeats. "Who's nervous? I'm not nervous. What's wrong with you?"
"Hmph, whatever." Twilight says, turning her head away.
Nick glances back to the nurse, who has opened the door to the medical cabinet and was rummaging through the bottles, clinging and clanging as she does so. He watches her for a while and his thoughts slowly shift to Princess Celestia, and what she expects from him. "I don't know." Nick sighs in avoidance.
"Hmm?" Twilight says, turning to face him.
"I don't know why I'm afraid of this place." Nick says.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Twilight asks.
"I mean what I say." Nick snaps, affected by the nerves. He gulps in hesitation before continuing. "My ma told me I had some trauma in the hospital when I was just a baby, caused me grave anxiety ever since." He pauses for a while, staring into oblivion. "It's not something I want to delve into right now, if that's alright with you." He adds, glancing sharply back to Twilight.
Twilight turns quiet as Nurse Redheart finishes removing and placing what she needs to help disinfect the wounds of both persons on to trolley by her side. She wheels the trolley to Nick's side, and he shoots upright.
"Can't you attend Twilight first?" Nick says, leaning away from her. "She needs your help more."
"Twilight has a more serious case on her hooves." Nurse Redheart says, and Twilight gulps. She removes from its packaging a syringe with a clean, sharp needle at the end. Nick's face drops to a panic upon seeing the point and dramatically winces away. "I'll need more time to deal with her wound. Yours on the other hand is a simple clean-and-spray cut, but first I have to check for any bacteria that may have infect the wound." She places the tip of the needle on the broken flesh, and Nick jumps at the slight prick. "Now relax while I extract some samples for examination."
"Ouch!" Nick yells in pain as the needle is pressed into his wound, and Twilight chuckles at his discomfort.
"You should have relaxed." Nurse Redheart says.
Nurse Redheart squeezes out a few drops of his blood and places the needle on the trolley with the needle hanging over a tray. She then proceeds to wipe the leg wound clean of blood with disinfectant medical wipes. After the wound has been wiped and he is told she is done, she takes the needle and releases only a few drops into a small device that dissects to cells and determines with high accuracy whether it had been infected or not.
"Is that it?" Nick asks. "All that pain for a few drops?"
"It was a slight jab." Nurse Redheart firmly tells him.
"Will you quit your whining." Twilight says. "At least you don't have a nail wedged in your leg."
The device beeps after only a few seconds and Nurse Redheart checks the results. "That's it, you're all clear." She says with a smile. "Let me just spray some, hey!" As soon as she gave him the all-clear, Nick stood up from the bed and was on the verge of running out of the infirmary without a glance back. "Sit back down."
"I thought you said I was done?" Nick says.
"You are." Nurse Redheart answers. "But I can't let you leave without spraying your wound, first. It stops any diseases that may infect the wound."
Nick groans and sits back on the bed. Nurse Redheart takes from the trolley a small spray bottle filled with healing chemicals and hovers the nozzle over the wound. "Yowch!" Nick yells and jumps up and away from the spray in searing pain as the wound is coated in medicine. "What sort of medieval medical methods are you practicing here?" He shouts at her.
"Calm down." Nurse Redheart tells him. "It wasn't even that bad."
"Not that bad?" Nick repeats, twitching his fingers, wanting desperately to scratch the wound. "It stings."
"You'll be fine." Nurse Redheart says, turning away from him and placing the spray bottle back down on the trolley. "And here's a lollipop for being such a good boy."
"Hmph." He says, swiping the lollipop out of her hoof. He unwraps the lollipop, places it into his mouth, and sucks. "I was a good boy, wasn't I." He says with a grin, the stick protruding from his cheek.
Nurse Redheart picks up a long roll of sticky band aids and cuts off a large section to cover up the full size of the wound. With Nick now attended to, she manoeuvres the trolley away from his side to Twilight’s side. She takes Twilight's pierced hoof in her own and examines it closely. "Hmm, looks like it's in pretty deep." Nurse Redheart says to herself.
"Can you get it out?" Twilight asks with worry.
"I can," Nurse Redheart says, "but it won't be easy; you're going to feel a lot of pain." Twilight's face drops and is stricken with fear upon hearing this news. "Or, alternatively, I can give you some sedatives that will ease the pain, but the flavour is very unpleasant."
"Yes!" Twilight hastily says. "Anything to make it hurt less."
"Okay." Nurse Redheart nods. "I'll need to request them from the other nurses." She gently places Twilight's hoof back on her lap and heads to the exit. "I'll be back in a jiffy. Oh, you're free to go, by the way." She adds to Nick and disappears out of the room.
Nick wastes no time and stands up and follows Nurse Redheart towards the exit.
"Where are you going?" Twilight asks.
"I'm going to get some breakfast." Nick says, marching towards the exit.
"You're just going to leave me here?" Twilight says. The sound of her fear clear to Nick's hearing, and he stands in the doorway and turns to face her.
"I'm starving, I haven't had anything to eat yet. I'll see you later."
Twilight shouts after him as he disappears and leaves Twilight alone to face her fears.