//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 - The Living Daylights // Story: Married to Her Job, Single in Her Heart // by Revenant Wings //------------------------------// 27. Redheart was up later that night than she had been in a long time. For all intents and purposes, she really was thinking about what Applejack had told her. Sure, ponies fell into and out of love all the time, but Applejack was the Element of Honesty and Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty; there was no way in Tartarus either of them could hide or be caught cheating. Would it be so bad to at least talk with Caramel one more time? It was not like he had been kissing Lyra when she had caught him, just walking and talking. Perhaps it was her own jealousy that had gotten in the way of their relationship. And yet it was twice now that she had caught him cheating, and perhaps had she found out at a later time it would have been the same as before. But what brought her back to him nearly eleven weeks ago in the first place? Even after four years and a memory so burnt into her mind, her first idea of him had been to quickly allow herself to fall for him again. Who, then, she asked herself, had made the bigger mistake in the matter: him for thinking he could have gotten away with it or her for believing what was past was past? Even after practically walking in on him with another mare, she had quite nearly jumped into his arms when given even the smallest chance. Was this really a reason to be so spiteful? No, Redheart reasoned with herself. The problem was not ever with him being with another mare other than me, nor was it with my foolish thoughts that everything was fine. It was with him betraying my trust in the worst ways imaginable. But where did that leave Applejack’s response to her and Dash breaking up? Caramel was neither loyal nor honest. Yet Redheart had been neither kind nor understanding. As the night wore on it became a question not of whether or not Redheart should even try to talk with Caramel again but of who was more in the wrong. By the time Redheart went to bed, it was not a matter of her being tired so much as she didn’t want to think of it anymore. Redheart was thankful when Doctor Stable called her in for a night shift the next afternoon; it meant less time to herself thinking. Knowing the night shift was slower, Redheart cooked a rather large lunch of vegetable and noodle soup and sandwiches and packed half to go, in addition to finding A Knight’s Tale and placing it in her saddlebags. When evening came around, Redheart ate an apple and packed her things before heading off for the hospital. Doctor Stable was waiting for her at the front desk. “Redheart, it’s good of you to come. How was your vacation?” “It could have been better,” Redheart said. “You know how it is. After a while, the hotel bed just doesn’t beat the comfort of home.” “I suppose that is the case,” Doctor Stable said disbelievingly. He didn’t pursue the issue any further, however. “Anyways, I called you in because I’m going to have to be on the phone for a little bit and writing up some reports for the officials in Canterlot. There’s not much, but I would like you to make a few runs of the patients and help keep an eye on the phones. There are a few patients who need checkups, but they’re all for minor things. Think you can handle that this late?” “Yes, Doctor,” Redheart said. “Do you need me to start the runs now?” “Yes, if at all possible. I would like it best if you checked in on Twilight last. That way you can spend some time with her. I’m sure she’d appreciate you being back after the weekend away.” “Thank you, doctor.” Redheart set off about her work as the evening turned into night. She stopped for fifteen minutes to have dinner, then continued about her work. She checked the patient’s vital signs, made recordings of any readings from any devices, and changed out IV bags with the pharmacy technicians when needed, in addition to ordering a few more. After every other patient had been checked, Redheart went in to Twilight’s room last as Doctor Stable had asked her to. The room was quiet except for the soft whirring from the artificial breathing machine and the electrocardiograph’s occasional beeping. Redheart went and grabbed the little red book from her bags and brought it to Twilight’s room, where she sat down on the chair next to the hospital bed. “Twilight. It’s me, Nurse Redheart.” Twilight’s ear flicked happily. It was funny, Redheart thought, to see Twilight’s ear alternately flicking and pausing to express her happiness at Redheart’s return as though in Morse code. “I’ll be quite honest with you,” Redheart said, “but I don’t really have much to tell you. If you don’t mind, however, I could tell you a story.” Twilight’s opposite ear flicked. Redheart hadn’t seen it before, but guessed she was wondering. “Remember a long time ago I went into your library and checked out a few books? One of the books I checked out was called A Knight’s Tale. I know you like all the little details, but I’m not a very good storyteller. So, I suppose I’ll give you a little synopsis.” Twilight’s ear flicked once. Redheart coughed to clear her throat and began. “There once was a unicorn knight of Celestia’s guard who was strong, powerful, and brave. He loved to go out on adventures and soon became known as a great adventurer as well as a knight. The stallion loved to go out and wander the roads of Equestria to find new treasures and places to explore for his princess. He took on all sorts of quests and soon became famous.” Twilight gave no response, so Redheart continued. “The stallion eventually took on a quest that had him rescue a young mare from the clutches of a dragon, as most stallions in these kinds of stories do. Very old cliché, if you ask me, but that’s what the story was about. You know what? I’m going to tell the story a different way, since I’m assuming you’ve read this one hundreds of times before.” Twilight flicked an ear. “There once was a young mare who lived in a small town,” Redheart began again, not entirely sure of what she was doing. “She wasn’t strong, but she was determined. She wasn’t powerful, but she was smart. She wasn’t brave, but she could handle herself in whatever situation came her way. She worked at one of the local medical institutions and handled herself with ease. She could take on any patient that came her way, any sort of problem that she had to face, and took great pleasure in her work.” “Eventually, another young mare eventually came into the hospital. The young mare was tasked with taking care of her, but then she found herself faced with a stallion. He was handsome and suave and made the mare feel good about him despite her base feelings and judgment of him. The mare fought with her feelings, but eventually discovered that she could not resist the stallion’s charms and fell for him without concern.” “As time went by, the mare found herself unable to focus without him, unable to go through the weeks without him. She was like the dragons that lived in the mountains, always guarding their precious stores and unwilling to let them go. Yet she was nothing compared to the dragon that had her ensnared, the dragon to whom she had fallen for without him even trying. And while the mare held on to her doubts, they were not fully realized for a long time, and they almost slipped away from her. Her determination faltered, her mind was fogged, and she could hardly stand to even tread above water without him.” “But soon, this dragon, this stallion, found himself focusing on an extra jewel for the cargo, another mare he was interested in. Using that time to escape, the mare left the stallion, left the dragon with his new jewel as her trick, and escaped him. She found solace in caring for the young mare that had arrived in the hospital, the mare whose life had been placed into her hooves.” “Yet without the dragon, without the love of the stallion, the mare felt lost. She was unsure if she could take care of the mare, if she was even qualified to do her job. So she went off to a town that was familiar to her, thinking she could find refuge there. But the problem was that even there the memories of the stallion returned to her.” Redheart stopped and sighed. “That’s where the story ends at the moment, I’m afraid. I have no idea what the conclusion to this one is. Because even with this conversation it’s still being written.” For a long time, there was no response. Then, slowly, Twilight’s eyelids began to flutter. For a long time they refused to stay open, but after a while they refused to stay closed. Redheart watched as the clarity seemed to come back into Twilight’s eyes, the heart rate rose to her normal of 75 beats per minute, and her breathing rate came back up to a normal resting rate. For a while, she stayed looking at the ceiling, but eventually she turned over to and looked at Redheart. “Please…” Her voice was faint, barely over the sounds of the cardiograph and the automatic breathing machine. “Please stay…” “Twilight!” Redheart exclaimed, acting as though she was ignoring what she had been saying. “You’re awake! Please, don’t move until we’ve had a chance to examine you. I’ll call for the doctor.” Redheart figured Doctor Stable must have dropped everything he was doing; he was there less than a minute after she pressed the call button. He came in and saw Twilight staring weakly around the room and nearly leapt for joy at the sight of it. He rushed over and started talking very rapidly. “Oh, Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re awake! Speaking of which, we’ll have to send a letter to Celestia and let her know that her student has awakened, not to mention perhaps a letter to all the Elements of Harmony letting them know the element of magic is restored, probably one to the parents as well to let them know their daughter has awa—” Redheart tapped Doctor Stable on the chest. “While I agree with you on all those issues, wouldn’t it be best to let Celestia know first, then get to work on checking Twilight’s bone and muscle mass to see what sort of diet and exercise regimes she’ll need? I wouldn’t want so much excitement so quickly.” Doctor Stable coughed. “Of course. I’ll go and arrange appointments in the radiation lab to look at her bone and muscle structure and we’ll take a blood sample sometime tomorrow as well. I’ll leave you alone with Twilight for a minute. Let’s wait and see if her vitals are stable before taking her off the breather.” Redheart nodded. Doctor Stable turned around and started to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway and turned around. “In the meantime, you stick with her. It seems like she still wants you.” Redheart turned around to see Twilight reaching a hoof weakly towards her. Doctor Stable left the room and Redheart took Twilight’s hoof in her own two, holding it there for a minute. Twilight, instead of being happy that she was awake, had a rather melancholy look in her face as she looked towards Redheart. “Twilight, you’re awake!” Redheart exclaimed softly to her. “You’ve been in a coma for the past eleven weeks. It’s summertime now. Aren’t you glad you’re getting better?” Twilight still looked sad. “You’re leaving?” It was slightly stronger than the previous yet still strained. Redheart’s mouth opened slightly. “Well… I thought about it.” “Don’t go.” It sounded like it pained Twilight to say it. “I looked for you for eleven weeks. I had no idea you were almost gone.” Twilight broke into a fit of coughing but settled down shortly afterwards. Redheart shushed her until she wasn’t trying to speak anymore. “It’s alright. You haven’t been using those muscles much for the past eleven weeks. You’ll need to rest up. Tomorrow we’ll examine your muscles and figure out some diet, exercise, and vocal re-training programs for you to recover.” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but shut it. “I have to go and check on some of the other patients now, Twilight,” Redheart said. “I’ll be back after a while to check on you and see how you’re doing, okay?” Twilight coughed again for a minute. When she saw that Redheart had not yet left the room, she spoke again. “Don’t leave Ponyville yet. Not when I just found you again.” Redheart smiled. “I won’t,” she said then closed the door behind her. Not yet, at least.