School Days

by Dai Kirai

The Joys of Doctor's Visits

Stormy wrote a quick reply accepting her offer and left, still dazed, not sure or caring if he signed out or turned off the computer. He found his way back to clinic. With a hof touch the door slid open, to a field of deep orange yellows of hay. The floor, the walls, he was in the middle of a field where earlier had been clouds. The air felt a little warmer with some unfamiliar scent in the air.

The peach mare looked as the door opened. “Stormy! Perfect timing, the doctor just finished and should be ready to see you in a few minutes. So if you will follow me to a room we can get started.” The door between the waiting room and the hall beyond opened by itself, with the mare gladly waiting for the stallion. The hallway was U-shaped with only one on this side of the reception counter and what looked liked six patient rooms. “Was it productive?”

“K-kinda.” Heat rose to his cheeks, wings repositioned.

“That’s good.” She lightly giggled. “Here we are, room two.” The mare ushered him in.

“Now if you can take a seat, it should just be a few moments.” With that she left.

It was spartan but the cloud motif had returned. There were two fluffed sitting pillows and a low table covered in a white paper at knee height probably the exam table. Cabinets were set along one wall with a sink in the middle. Stormy moved his hoof along the wall. The white distorted into prismatic lights that radiated out a few inches. The wall felt like sand, smooth yet granular, the lights and color washed over its surface. Even with that knowledge the clouds held sway casting their magic spell over him. A cool day off, relaxing in the clouds, watching ponies going about their lives below.

The door clicked open, allowing an indigo unicorn in, the stallion walked with a slight limp to his right rear leg. “You must be Stormy Skies.” The stallion lifted his hoof to bump in greeting. “Call me Doctor Horse, it's nice to meet you.”

“Doctor Horse?”

“I didn’t pick it, but the name fits.” Doctor Horse settle into the other pillow. “So what brings you in today?”

“I need medical clearance for study on Earth.”

“That should not be a problem.” The indigo pony levitated a clipboard from a drawer and pen over, he scratched his short cut mahogany mane with the pen. “Have you ever visited Earth Before?”

“About a two months ago for a few days. It was orientation.”

“Ok. How was the flight? Heard pegasi have a problem getting used to human air travel.” Horse took notes on everything Stormy said.

“It was rough. I freaked out, I slapped a person with my wings.” Stormy looked to the floor, it was still embarrassing.

The doctor gave a deep throaty chuckle. “As first experiences go, that one doesn’t sound too bad. Watch, in a few years you will find it funny. Did anything notable happen while you were there?”

“Nothing really. It was crazy.”

Scritch scritch went the pen. “Any allergies or problems with the food?”

“I woke up the second morning feeling really sick, but that went away pretty quickly. Had some sort of supplement that helped.” Feathers ruffled.

“Is that all? No problem with magic?” Doctor Horse stood to ruffle through a lower cabinet.

“There was a little trouble flying. My wings had tingled some and wouldn’t provide lift but it was only a few hours.” A few worrying hours Stormy reminded himself.

“Okay.” The doctor came back over a glass tube. “I need to take a feather sample, is that okay?”

“Um, sure?” Stormy replied hesitantly, taking a look at his wings.

A feather was plucked in light purple aura and gently placed into the tube followed by some clear liquid. Almost instantly it fluoresced and copied the yellow of his body.

“How much of that medication did you take?” The doctor asked while taking a few more notes.
Stormy stared at the tube. “Two pills. That's what Edward gave me. They were really small.” His mouth dried out. “Was that wrong??”

“No, nothing of the sort, but that medication is extremely potent on equestrians. A regular dose should be half a pill, I will write up a script for something herbal you can take with you with a prescription while there.” He stared up to the ceiling, his eyes and off grey. “There have been a few very rare instances of pegasi being introduced to high levels of anti-histamines losing the ability to fly for hours. It seems to block the distribution of magic to the feathers by binding to certain receptors. There should be no lasting side effects unless you abuse it regularly. The body flushes all traces of it within twenty-four hours with trace amounts left in ancillary feathers.”

“. . .”

“Don’t worry,” Doctor Horse reassured, his straight posture and authoritative voice carried weight. “There is stuff like that in Equestria. Poison Joke comes to mind as something much worse. If you have any questions, I personally know the Equestrian doctor at UCLA and she is top notch.”
Stormy’s ears perked.

“It also goes the other way. There was this unicorn last year. He had a sneezing fit in the middle of class and started turning the projector on and off along with at least one laptop.” Doctor Horse pulled out another tube, this one attached to a needle “Now how have you been sleeping?”

His ears drooped faster than the falling rain.

“That bad huh? This will pinch a little.” The needle smoothly entered the pegasi’s leg with no sensation and the tube quickly filled with blood, a piece of gauze and tape covered the area as the needle was removed. The doctor moved to feeling the wings, taking a temperature and a few other parts of a physical exam. “Earth isn’t for everypony, I can prescribe something to help with sleep but I highly suggest you see a psychologist. There is one here that is really skilled and could probably see you today.”

“I would rather not.” Stormy felt some wind leave his body, as if he was deflating under pressure and weight. “I don’t want to risk not being allowed to return. It’s something I need to do.”

“I can understand and even admire that.” Doctor Horse set the blood vial and other tools on the counter. “But not at the risk of your health. The only two ponies who can ultimately decide if you can return are you and Princess Celestia, it is not my place to stop you but I will be sending a letter to her majesty to decide.”

“I understand.” Stormy sat there weightless among the clouds, floating among nothing.

“You can come back next week for the tests result and are free to go unless you have any questions for me.”

“Are there any spells to block hearing?” Stormy continued to stare at the floor. He had to ask though, had to know.

“Huh.” The corner of the doctor’s muzzle lifted. “That is an odd question.” He moved from the door “Why do you ask?”

“I have a friend on Earth who can’t hear.” Stormy rubbed one leg against the other, and looked up to meet Horse’s eyes. “I can’t understand it and I really want to.”

“I’ve had several young ponies asking for similar to help them study. To block out the noise and I have always said no. The reason is there will always be problems and shortcuts would just make them dependent instead of grow. However, I will also have a single dose for you later. See Peachy Keen in about two hours for your medications.”

Author's Note:

Its funny how quick people are to give out medications, not that they aren't needed mind you as quite a few are. But how would that change with other species? I take allergy meds daily and offer them to people I know with allergies if they are having problems.

I also really hate doctors

Comments

[Ebony Gryphon]

But how would that change with other species?

in principal, not much, but rather in either whats in the medicine and/or how much is taken with variances there in based on each case, and with ponies, differences in tribes

I take allergy meds daily and offer them to people I know with allergies if they are having problems.

probably shouldn't.

[sorenxoras]

“I have a friend on Earth who can’t hear.” Stormy rubbed one leg against the other, and looked up to meet Horse’s eyes. “I can’t understand it and I really want to.”

Admirable that he wants to gain some understanding of how a deaf person perceives their life. It's going to be interesting reading about how disoriented he gets during the period. I've done similar experiments and found it surprising how much i depend on audio cues in life. even in quiet environments it becomes unnerving how silent it is.

[DoctorWhoooves]

I haven't even read the story yet but I'm glad I can read the Kanji cutie mark for once.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Haven't read yours yet. (I usually wait until it's complete or at least 100k words). Still, I'm going to start. It seems a similar idea to Silver Glow's Journal by Admiral Biscuit
https://www.fimfiction.net/stories?q=silver+glow%27s+journal. Don't read more than 2-3 days at once -that much sugar is bad for you. The sex tag is for nothing graphic. I'd say PG-13 or what you'd see on a prime time sitcom.

I only mention it if you'd like to see someone else's take on the same idea. One big difference is that he assumes Equish is completely different from English

As to "What is he poking at?" (cover picture). My best guess would be "An unpopped bag of microwave popcorn", although it depends on "how big are your ponies?"

[harts fire]

a vary good chapter.
i am glade to see you are back Dai Kirai and i wish you luck.
mlpforums.com/uploads/monthly_07_2014/blogentry-8319-0-16406700-1406419166.jpg

[Foxfax]

Yay, it's back! Welcome back, author.

[Morphy]

Sharing medication is an accident waiting to happen. You could injure or kill someone with your medication-- you (and possibly them) have no idea if there will be any complications due to allergic reactions or interactions with other medications. Don't do it.