The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter One: Medical Procedure
“A…changeling!?”
Fluttershy looked on at the heavily damaged changeling’s body in complete and total shock, unsure of what to do. It looked much smaller than the ones she faced at Canterlot, which made her believe that it was a child. For a few moments, she just stared at it, mindlessly thinking all sorts of thoughts. She found herself having a battle in her mind about how to tackle this situation.
‘Why is it here in the Everfree Forest?’
‘Oh, my goodness! I have to help it!’
‘If Twilight hears about this, it’s all over for it!'
‘I need to go get medical supplies now!’
‘If I get discovered helping it, it’s all over for me!’
‘It needs help now!’
‘I’ll have to relive my past!’
‘I can’t let it die like this! It’s a child!’
During her war of thoughts, she started to hyperventilate rapidly and desperately began to look around the woods for an answer to solve her problem. In her time of desperation, she could’ve sworn she heard a small, crackling sound coming from the changeling. Looking over to it, she could see that it had changed position slightly, giving her a glimpse of hope that it was still alive and she still had a chance to save it.
Galloping over to it, she put her ear down to its chest, and faintly could she hear a beating sound within. From its mouth, she could feel a warm, shallow breath being exhaled. She knew little of how to perform any CPR, so she knocked that idea out of her head. She knew she had started her walk about ten minutes ago, so she could gallop back to her cottage and return in probably about three minutes. She knew it would have to be a very speedy three minutes, Deciding on her best instinct, she turned tail and galloped back in the direction of her cottage.
Not even a minute later, she returned to her cottage and threw open the door, which almost broke off its hinges from the momentum. Not even noticing the stares that all of her animals were giving her, she hurried upstairs to her bed platform and pulled the sheets off, easily allowing her to access the underside of her bed.
From underneath the mattress she pulled a large red pouch with a white cross on the center of it. She opened it, revealing a bunch of different types of bandages, as well as a large roll of medical tape, some alcohol and peroxide. Digging through it, she saw that this is all that she had. Believing that she could make it work with what she had, she quickly zipped it back shut and bolted straight out the front door.
Within a minute and a half, she had arrived back to where the changeling was. She opened up the pouch and pulled out all of the contents, setting them on top of the pouch. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she took the peroxide and poured it over all the scratches she could, causing them to foam. She then grabbed the bandages and started to place them over them. She then took the tape and gently started to wrap it around the changeling’s twisted foreleg. Slowly, she unraveled the tape, switching it between her hooves. After finishing with that leg, she switched it to the next. She continued the same process for this leg, as well as its hind legs. With each leg, she made sure to wrap up above its legs, into its shoulders and flanks, to make it more difficult for the changeling to move when it did wake up. Softly, she rolled it over onto its back.
She was stuck for her next move. Examining the creature more closely, she could see that a bone was sticking out of the side of the hip that was face down, leading to her belief that its entire pelvic area was broken. The gossamer wing on the same side was also folded. This made her much more concerned about the small specimen than she was before.
Moving away from it, she gathered some twigs from the trees and started to arrange them into a makeshift gurney. She weaved the sticks together to create a basic stretcher with a hole in the center, and then used some of the leaves off of the trees, which were very sturdy and strong, to hold it all together.
She went back over to the supposedly young changeling and carefully put one hoof under its neck and another, very cautiously, under its backside. She lifted it up and put it on the gurney, making sure to lay it so that there was space in-between the sides of the stretchers and the changeling’s body. She lifted the tape back up and started to wrap it around its small lower torso, trying to be extra careful around it back end. Slowly bandaging its pelvis, she accidentally slipped her hoof, causing her to jab it right in the side.
A small crack sounded out as Fluttershy heard a high-pitched squeak come from its mouth. Dropping her tape, she gasped, putting a hoof against her mouth.
“Oh, my goodness!” she cried out as she delicately put a hoof to the spot she had hit.
She was immediately able to notice just by touching the area she had hit that there was another splinter. She gritted her teeth from frustration as she growled to herself. Realizing this would get her nowhere, she calmed herself with a deep breath before going back to cloaking its torso. This time, she made sure not to spike it in his side, successfully finishing it off.
Looking over its upper torso, she didn’t see any major injuries, and all she saw were a couple scratches. Tenderly, she pressed a hoof against its chest, and she couldn’t feel any breaks, which relieved her greatly. Taking a look over its head, the only thing she saw was its left fang was chipped, but that was a minor injury compared to the rest of its body.
Seeing those as the majority of its injuries, she placed a hoof around the large insect’s shoulders and the other under its flank, softly lifting up. The changeling was lifted from the false gurney and into her arms. Fluttershy used her wings and lifted off of the ground, and that’s when she realized that the changeling was heavier than it looked. She struggled to stay off the ground as she flew forward with it. She wasn’t a very strong flier, and it was apparent when she dropped back down to the ground after fifteen seconds of flying with it.
She softly set it on the ground, lying against a tree to regain her breath. She took this moment to think.
‘I’m going to need to be very careful with what I say and what I do around Ponyville if I’m going to keep this a secret. This child… even after all the bandaging I’ve put it through, I’m unsure if it’ll make it. I really want it to make it… Please, make it out okay, little one…' she prayed, looking over to the changeling. She took another minute to rest. 'Okay, I think I’ll try to lift it up again. I can do better this time.'
After taking these moments to rest, she lifted herself back up and once again attempted to fly with the changeling in her forearms. This time, she got much further than the last time, holding her and the changeling up for at least forty seconds. Once again, she rested until she found herself fit to carry the changeling. This pattern of carrying and resting kept up for about a half an hour before she finally reached her home.
By this point, it was almost time for the night to fall. She set the changeling on the ground and opened her door. Lifting it up one last time, she entered her home. Once she was inside her cottage, she made the final stretch and flew the changeling up to her bed, gently placing it down.
“There you go, little one. You should be safe from any other harm now. Don’t worry,” she requested from the small, unconscious insect, “I promise that you won’t be hurt again.”
Following this statement, she gave a gentle nuzzle to the changeling’s head before going off to feed her animals. After this, she remembered the salad she had prepared earlier. Going to her fridge, she pulled it out and moved it to her dining table.
“I forgot how hungry I was. Carrying that little one sure made me hungry,” she reflected to herself, lifting her fork to take a bite out of her salad. It was a very good bite, and she started to eat.
After she had finished with this, she figured that it was about time to go to bed. Glancing over to her clock, it was almost 9:30, which was about when she went to sleep every night. Before going to bed, she went up the stairs to check on the changeling, and it was sleeping soundly. She walked over to the bed, pulling a blanket out from under her matress, nuzzling the changeling affectionately on the way down. After this, she flew herself down to the couch and landed, laying down on the soft fabric. She pulled the blanket over her before falling into her sleep, unaware of what the next stage of her life would bring.