Story
The clipboard held the names of ponies recently admitted to the hospital. Nurse Redheart flipped through it, checking the status of new patients. It was something she did every morning.
She let out a sigh while skimming through the clipboard. It wasn’t even noon, but the day already felt like it was going to be a long one. So much to do, so little time. It seemed like all she did was serve others while most of them didn’t even acknowledge her.
At first glance, one would think Redheart was well suited to the job of working at a hospital. Ponies looked to her sterile white coat and red cross cutie mark as an indication that there was nothing she’d rather do than take care of patients.
Redheart noted a new patient admitted in the east wing who hadn’t been seen to yet. Covering the whole hospital was not her duty, but nopony else had taken care of it, the task fell to her. Checking the time before her next round of patient visits were scheduled, Redheart set off to visit the new patient.
She found the room and knocked before entering. An elderly stallion lay on the bed, the sheets pulled away from his body. He was mostly a pale color, and his mane looked like it may have been darker before going grey with age.
He greeted her as he came in. “Could you open the window, please? It’s a little warm in here.”
“Certainly.” The first thing out of his mouth was a request for her to do something for him.
Redheart turned away to open the window. “My name is Nurse Redheart and I’ll be taking care of you, Mr….?"
“Business,” he replied.
As the window went up and a cool breeze began to enter the room, the stallion pulled up his sheet a little, but not enough to cover a black lightning bolt on his hip.
Redheart took note. “That’s an interesting cutie mark.”
He chuckled. “Well young lady, I got it when I realized I wanted to be a superhero.”
“Oh really?” Redheart quirked an eyebrow.
The stallion smiled. “Of course, that never happened, but I sure looked cool when pretendin' with my Nightmare Night costume.”
Redheart frowned as she picked up his chart and made a few updates. She finished up, but curiosity held her in the room. “How does that work? Your special talent is something you never actually did?”
“It’s not that simple.” He smiled. “Do you have a moment to listen?”
There were things Redheart typically spent her precious spare minutes on, like getting an early start on the afternoon’s tasks or taking advantage of the fresh pot of coffee in the break room to get her through the afternoon. Instead, she smiled and took a seat in the chair beside the bed. “Sure, I’ll listen.”
He smiled again. “My name is Big Business. Many years ago, when I was just a young colt, I was a dreamer. I dreamed of grand ideas; things I could see or do, worldwide things larger than just myself. Actually, I still do a lot of dreamin' about grander things. Despite being named Business, I never got higher up the corporate ladder than manufacturing... now isn't that a rub?”
He cleared his throat. The cough did not sound healthy, but Business seemed like he didn't want Redheart to worry about him. He asked, “What do you dream about, miss?”
Redheart was taken aback. “I… I’m not really sure.”
“What would you like to do with your life?” Business asked gently.
Redheart glanced away for a moment. “Well, I have a good job here at the hospital."
“It’s a fine profession.” Business nodded approvingly. “I myself worked in a couch factory for years.”
He seemed cheerful about it, and Redheart politely smiled in return. Continuing the conversation, she asked, “And how did that relate to your cutie mark?”
“Oh, it didn’t. What you do isn’t who you are, you know.” Business smiled. “I was never a superhero, but I could sure pretend. I never worked at anything more glamorous than makin' couches, but that didn’t mean I had to be miserable about it.”
“If that’s what you like to do,” Redheart allowed.
“Do you like working here?” he asked.
“Of course.” Redheart nodded. “Taking care of ponies is my special talent.”
“But do you like it?” Business persisted.
Redheart paused. “The hospital has its ups and downs.”
“But you take care of them, I imagine.” Business smiled placidly and moved slightly on the bed. “Going back to earlier, what is it that would you like to do with your life?”
Redheart glanced away. A second passed.
“It’s okay,” Business said gently. “We can come back to that.”
“I guess I’ve always been planning to just stay here at the hospital,” Redheart said, in reply to the question.
“You don’t have to.” Business nodded. “The demand for nurses is pretty high. Any hospital or clinic would hire you.”
“I’ve never really thought about it.” Redheart looked around the room. “I suppose I like it here.”
“That’s a good thing.” Business covered his mouth and suppressed a hard cough. Redheart reached forward, but he drew a clear breath and went back to smiling.
“And the job itself? I assume you also enjoy the work, not just the place?” he asked. “I know how it can be sometimes. Not every job nets you praise just for doing it.”
Redheart found herself nodding in agreement.
Business leaned forward slightly, as if confiding a secret. “Professional pride in a job well done. Even if a pony has to bestow it on themselves, they deserve it. One day I realized the most important thing of my life. The thought just came out of nowhere. You might even say it struck me like a bolt of lightning, heh. But that realization changed my life.”
Redheart leaned forward slightly, ears perking. “What was it?”
Business put on a smile like a stage performer. “It wasn't the desire to be a superhero that was important. It was wanting to be myself...to be whoever I wanted to be. That was the most important thing.”
“I wouldn’t want to act like entitled,” Redheart said.
“It’s not about expecting that others treat you a certain way,” Business said. “It’s about how you treat yourself. You do so much for others, but you need to take time to make sure your own needs are met. You’re the one who best knows you, and you can become whoever you want to be, no matter what situation life dropped you into.”
Redheart dropped her eyes, taking it in. A few seconds passed, and she looked up. “You got a lightning bolt cutie mark because your special talent is being who you want to be?”
He smiled. “And yours says that you want to help ponies. Just don’t forget that one of those ponies should be yourself from time to time. That's what I learned in my life; I knew I had to be takin' care of others, takin' care of my job, and takin' care of my family, but through it all I never let myself stop takin' care of Business.”
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Very true. Thank you!
Nice simple story with a damn good message.
...I... Actually needed to hear this.
Thank you.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I like the simplicity. I admittedly expected some jabs at TCB because of that cover. Doesn't matter; great little story.
He's a wise stallion. :')
Workin' over time!
Ya know? I was kinda expecting Pony Elvis, but this was just as enjoyable. Thank ya, thank ya very much.
3762866 Yeah, the cover art is sort of Elvis' personal logo.
3762940 I know that. Also I take it you're a bit of an Elvis fan? Must be since I picked up another Elvis reference in the story. After all, Elvis got the idea for that logo from somewhere
ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Marvel_Family.jpg
A story where one of the characters, aside from the Bearers of Harmony, notice that their cutie mark doesn't directly represent their name/profession?
GASP!
But, aside from the refreshing occurance, this is story that applies to many people. I just wish some of them would notice that they have to 'take care of Business' before others.
I feel that his story could be told in greentext format...
But in other news, this was a moving story that I really enjoyed reading. It had a great message and taught a great lesson.
Great stuff :3
Glad to see this finally get published. As noted while prereading, I really like the message of the story. It's a good lesson for everyone, even if (like me) they had no idea about that being Elvis's logo.
The tastiest dish is food for the soul. Nicely done!
Your choice of cover art caught my eye; “There are still straight Conversion Bureau fics being written? Wait, no, just an unfortunate choice of acronym.”
3765835 I actually went back and forth with Xepher on how many people I would hook with TCB. Maybe I should have added a disclaimer.
3766276
Thankfully, it doesn’t appear to have been necessary so far — no knee‐jerk downvotes, AFAICT — but it’s anybody’s guess as to just how many people saw “TCB” and decided to go read something other than Takin’ Care of Business. If we had some way of running a double blind It’d be an interesting case study.
Very nice. Short and sweet, you might say. I was slightly concerned that this could be a case of "Hey, I've thought of a great title; better dash out a short story so I can show it off!" but I'm glad I stopped to read it. I could imagine Business as a background/side pony in the show (probably as a one-off, but still) quite easily.
Oh so this is what happened to Elvis.
The feels, i can feel them
Good job, great play on words
(Looks around-> looks like im late to the party)