Trauma Center: Equestrian Opinion

by Legion222

Chapter Six: Crash

Trauma Center: Equestrian Opinion
Chapter Six: Crash

Location: Ponyville Medical

“Ah, Doctor Styles, come in.” Doctor Healing, Director of Ponyville Medical, sat behind his desk in his large, well-furnished office. In keeping with his place as ‘everypony’s grandpa,’ his office looked more like a living room than a place of business. Comfortable chairs and a sofa sat along the walls, and a grandfather clock ticked off to one side. His desk was, like the pony himself, large but not imposing. The dark mahogany shone like new, despite its clear signs of wear.

Direct nervously took his place in the chair placed directly across the desk from the Director. There were a few moments of silence as Doctor Healing studied him, almost as if he were expecting him to start blurting out excuses. When nothing was forthcoming, the Director stared back down at the papers in front of him. "I'm sure you're aware of why I called you here today, Doctor Styles." He glanced expectantly at the young doctor, who responded with a nod.

"Your negligence in Mrs. Doo's operation yesterday nearly cost her her life, though I'm sure you're already well aware of that." Looking back up from his papers, Doctor Healing gazed intently at Doctor Styles. "What I want to talk about, Direct, is not what happened, but why. You’ve been nothing short of excellent in your work ever since you started learning under Nurse Redheart, and even despite your… less than perfect relationship with your partner, Doctor Stables tells me that, aside from a hiccup or two, your record is flawless.” The former surgeon gestured to a stack of reports on the desk beside him.

Doctor Styles chuckled nervously, a bit embarrassed at how he and Nurse Temperament had been getting along. Or rather, had not been getting along. “You uh... you heard about that, huh?”

The elder doctor’s eyes practically twinkled as he cracked a smile. “My boy, sometimes it can be a little hard to not hear the two of you, even at my age!” As Direct blushed in embarrassment, the Director leaned across the table a bit and added “Besides, I was there when it all started, remember?”

“Oh... yeah, you were,” he replied after a moment's thought.

The Director allowed himself another small chuckle before returning to the matter at hoof. “Coworkers aside, Direct, your performance in the Operating Room has been spectacular.”

“Until yesterday,” Direct pointed out.

“Until yesterday,” Director Healing agreed with a nod. “I’m sure you can understand why this would concern me, Direct: one of the most promising young surgeons in Equestria nearly loses a patient because he suddenly forgot to check the patient’s vitals before ending the operation.” Direct winced at that. Nurse Temperament had pointed out that the vitals weren’t stabilizing, but he had brushed off her concerns in favor of finishing the operation, all so he could impress the parents that weren’t even coming in the first place. Hindsight reared its ugly head and the blue Unicorn’s ears drooped as he realized he had not only foolishly put a mare’s life in danger, but had ultimately done so for nothing.

Direct’s shift in demeanor did not pass undetected by the Director, who feared he may have damaged the young doctor’s fragile confidence. “Direct, I’m not mad at you, I just want to underst-” he began, but was cut off by a commotion coming from the other side of the office door.

“Miss Temperament, you can’t go in there!” shouted a voice that Direct placed as the Director’s secretary just before the door flew open. As the voice had indicated, Nurse Temperament stood in the doorway, looking very upset. Behind her, the Unicorn secretary shook her head helplessly as the agitated Pegasus stomped into the room.

“Miss Temperament, what is the meaning of-”

“Please excuse my interruption, Director,” she said in a deceptively calm tone, not so much as sparing a glance at the elder surgeon, instead glaring angrily at Direct, “but I need to say something.”

Eyeing the young nurse warily, he nevertheless nodded his assent. “What is it?”

Her body relaxed a bit, her attention turning to the director. “It’s about the careless attitude that Mr. Styles displayed during the operation yesterday. I’m confident that he never so much as opened the patient’s file prior to the operation; otherwise he would have known about the patient’s test results and seen the warnings from the lab. Furthermore, he ignored my briefing and proceeded with the operation with nothing more than a basic understanding of the procedure. I repeatedly expressed my concerns about the patient during the operation, but he brushed me off, citing an 'important reservation' that he had to make. He rushed out the door practically the moment he finished the operation, leaving me to clean up and move the patient to Recovery on my own. What kind of doctor does that!?" Turning at last to face the target of her frustration, Nurse Temperament raised her voice. "Do you even care about this job and what it means? You certainly don't act like it! Why did you even become a doctor in the first place!?"

Director Healing's expression remained unchanged throughout the nurse's laundry list of complaints. When she finally finished, the aged doctor leaned back in his chair, tapping his hooves together. "Thank you, Miss Temperament. Please wait outside my office; I'd like to speak with you when I'm finished with Direct." The young surgeon, who had been silent during his partner's tirade, winced as he heard the door close behind her.

Silence reigned over the room for several long moments as Styles's head hung. At long last, Revered Healing spoke in a gentle voice. "Direct, I can tell that this whole incident has had an effect on you. I want you to take the next few days off, try to get yourself back on track." Checking to be sure the door was closed, the Director stood and slipped around his desk to put a hoof on the Unicorn's shoulder. "Everypony makes mistakes sometimes, but we can't allow those mistakes to drag us into making more. Believe me, son, the worst thing you can do is refuse to move forward."

The office fell silent once more, and remained that way until the elderly stallion moved back around his desk. Soft hoofsteps echoed through the air as Direct Styles took his leave, neither looking up nor saying a word as he made his way out of the hospital and back to his apartment.

---

Why had he been so eager to abandon his home all those years ago? He could have just stayed there and gone into fashion and art critiquing like his parents had wanted. His family certainly had the connections to at least get him going. Even if he hated every moment of it, at least he wouldn't be needlessly endangering other ponies' lives.

So why did I leave? The answer was simple.

I had a plan. It all seemed so easy, back then: Go to med school, get my degree, then spend the rest of my time saving ponies' lives. After all, it's what I'm good at... right? Isn't that my special talent? One glance at the mark on his flank reminded him of the real truth; the nondescript pentagram left him as clueless as it always had. I thought it was. It was a guess more than anything else. A guess and a whole lot of wishful thinking. Direct Styles hung his head with a defeated sigh.

I don't know what my Mark means. I never did. I have no idea what my "special talent" really is. I don't even know if I have one, really. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do. He wasn't even sure if he could ever go back to the hospital after that...

Do you even care about this job and what it means?

Why did you even become a doctor in the first place!?

He winced as Nurse Temperament's words rang through his mind once more. I only cared about what it meant to me, he mentally answered. It was never about helping ponies. It was about proving a point: proving to Dad that I could succeed where he promised I'd fail. That's why I became a doctor; getting this job was my ultimate justification. The whole reason I left home in Canterlot was to become a doctor, so that's all that being a doctor meant to me. That's all it's ever meant to me.

---

"Wow Direct, should I call the exterminator?"

The blue stallion jumped as he suddenly heard a voice right beside him. The small road on the outskirts of Ponyville was usually completely abandoned, making it the perfect place for the troubled doctor to take a late afternoon walk to clear his head. He had been lost in his thoughts then, when he found himself greeted rather strangely by a pair of bright blue eyes in the midst of an overwhelming wall of pink. "Gah! Pinkie? Exterminator? What the hay?" He backpedaled and tried to make sense of what she was talking about, but found no success with either as he tripped and landed in a confused heap.

The pink mare gave him a huge, cheesy smile. "Why, because something's bugging you, of course!" She hopped closer to the scrambling stallion and offered a hoof to help him up. "I could feel your frowny-face all the way from Sugarcube Corner, and as the Element of Laughter you know I can't allow that!" Pulling him up and leading him over to a nearby bench, Pinkie Pie sat down with Direct as her bubbly expression became solemn, though she still managed to radiate cheerfulness. "Now tell Auntie Pinkie your troubles."

As reluctant as he was to talk about what he was feeling, Direct was struck with how sincere the normally childish pony was being. Before he even realized it, he was already explaining everything; beginning with his parents disowning him all the way to the events of the night before and his meeting with the Director that morning. It wasn't long into his story that he felt tears begin to flow; the wound of his parents' rejection felt as fresh as the day he'd left. Pinkie was silent the entire time, offering a shoulder to cry on as he recounted his many failings. At times he was simply unable to continue, but the mare's comforting hoof gave him the strength to carry on with his story until he reached the end, sharing at last the conclusions he had made earlier that day.

"I can't be a doctor anymore, Pinkie," he said, his red, puffy eyes watching the sky turn brilliant shades of pink, purple and orange with the setting sun. "I can't keep pretending that I'm trying to help ponies when that's never been it. I'm just selfishly putting others at risk to prove a pointless point."

After another few moments of silence, Pinkie finally replied. "You know, I may not be the chocolate-chippiest cookie in the batch, but even I can tell that's just silly." At Direct's blank stare, she gave a soft smile and elaborated. "If you really only care about yourself instead of helping ponies, then why are you so upset about what happened? Being scared of hurting somepony doesn't sound very selfish to me."

As much as a part of Direct wanted to accept her reassurances, he knew the party pony just didn't understand. "You don't get it. I'm doing more harm than good, and it's all because of some wishful thinking that I was meant to help ponies. The only thing I'm 'meant' to do is wonder what the hay my Cutie Mark is supposed to mean!" He was nearly shouting by then, but his companion remained as unfazed as she had been the entire time. That's seriously weird. Since when is Pinkie so calm?

No sooner had he thought this, of course, than Pinkie began to twitch strangely. Parts of her body spasmed in a seemingly random pattern for a couple of seconds before culminating in a full-body shudder. "Woah," she breathed as the shaking stopped. "This one's gonna be a doozy."

"What happened?" With the onset of Pinkie's innate early-warning system, his focus shifted to the more pressing matter at hoof. "Er, what will happen?"

"No time to explain," Pinkie started, jumping up from the bench. "Just do exactly as I say and everything will be alright.

"Now I need you to stand right here and look at that tree over there." Direct complied, and as soon as his eyes locked onto the tree in question, he felt a rush of wind as Pinkie took off. "Greatnowdon'tmoveI'llberightback!"

The stallion looked back just in time to see a Pinkie-shaped cloud of dust dissipate, then returned to his impromptu staring match with the large, sturdy oak tree across the street.

I wonder what's going to happen this time? he mused as he waited. He'd seen the Pinkie Sense in action before, and had learned to just take Pinkie's word for it on matters of the immediate future. Maybe that Ursa Minor found its way back to town? He'd heard about that incident a number of times, though he'd still been in med school when it happened. Come to think of it, it was right about that time that property values in Ponyville began to drop. That's why I chose to move here, after all...

He continued to wonder on the cause of Pinkie's Sense going off for several moments, ideas ranging from another Parasprite Invasion to the re-return of Discord passed through his mind until a loud, long sound that could only be called a whoop rang through the air. Refocusing his attention on the world around him, Direct quickly found its source.

An orange Pegasus filly on a blue scooter came zooming down the road at high speed, laughing giddily as two more fillies tried and failed to keep up, cheering her on. She was practically a blur as she approached Direct, going much faster than she should have been able to. Just before she passed him, however, the scooter suddenly lurched, throwing the ecstatic filly into both the air and a brief state of terror for a matter of seconds. The momentum launched her off the road and into the trunk of the tree Pinkie had instructed Direct to watch with a sickening crunch.

By the time his brain restarted, the other two fillies were already nearing where their friend lay crumpled under the tree. He couldn't make out anything specific from the distance he was at, but something was clearly wrong; he was pretty sure that the pony body wasn't supposed to look like that. Ponies were resilient, foals much more so, but she'd been going very fast when she hit that tree...

Direct began to panic, but then he remembered; insecurities or no, he had still gone through years of medical schooling, and right now the things he had learned there could mean the difference between this filly living and dying. Will you let her die? he asked himself. After all, you're just a selfish foal who only cares about proving himself to his parents, right?

To Tartarus with that, he answered as he ran towards the small gathering of fillies. No way am I letting a foal die like that. Grim determination quickened his steps and he reached the tree in no time. "Stand back!" he called, seeing the fillies rushing to their friend. "Touching her might just make things worse."

An up-close view of the Pegasus's broken body confirmed that suspicion. Her limbs were twisted in all the wrong ways and her deflated chest pointed to broken or possibly collapsed ribs. What was worse, the filly didn't seem to be breathing. "Scootaloo!" one of the other fillies, a yellow Earth Pony wearing a red mane-bow was shouting, trying to get her friend to wake up.

Meanwhile, the white-coated Unicorn filly gazed up at Direct, her fear for her friend written plainly across her face. "Can you help her?" she asked simply.

Can I? he had to wonder. He had no supplies, and even if he did, the side of the road was hardly the ideal place for such a complicated surgery. Apart from that, though he still wasn't sure he was really cut out to be a doctor. What if his 'helping,' just like the fillies' attempts to shake their friend awake, only made it worse?

Just then, he heard the distant wail of an ambulance siren. It was coming their way. Direct smiled, and put a hoof on the Unicorn filly's shoulder. "Kid, your friend's gonna be just fine."

The ambulance pulled up moments later, three ponies in EMT gear and one tired-looking Pinkie Pie hopping out before the carriage had stopped moving. Immediately the Emergency Technicians began to assess the orange filly's condition while the Unicorn among them carefully transferred her to a stretcher. Pinkie, for her part, just smiled and waved at Direct before gathering the other two fillies together, presumably to offer comfort and reassurance.

Once the Unicorn levitating the broken filly finally managed to get her settled on the stretcher, she turned to face Direct, who was surprised to recognize Doctor Civil Duty, Ponyville Medical's head anesthesiologist and most certainly not one of the EMTs. She seemed equally surprised to see him. "Doctor Styles?"

"Doctor Duty? When did you join the EMT crew?" he halfheartedly joked.

"I wish my change of position were that simple," the mare grumbled. "Thank Celestia you're here, Direct. We need you to come with us."

"What? Why?" he was genuinely confused. Had she not heard that he'd been 'relieved' for the next few days?

"No time to explain, just get in!" the anesthesiologist-turned-first-responder shouted, brooking no argument as the other two EMTs hopped back into the carriage, preparing a large, secure table to hold the patient in place during the ride. Clambering in himself, he lent his magic to help levitate the orange filly onto the table, where the EMTs began strapping the stretcher into place and hooking up some minor life support systems to help their charge survive the journey.

"Hyah!" Doctor Duty shouted out when the last strap was secure, signalling the two stallions pulling the cart to start moving. The siren resumed as the ambulance sped back in the direction of Ponyville Medical.

With nothing left but a short wait, Direct spoke up again. "Mind telling me why you need me so badly?"

The other three ponies shared a grim look before Doctor Duty replied. "Somepony messed something up really bad, Direct. It wasn't until Miss Pie showed up that we realized that almost nopony was left in the entire hospital."

"WHAT!?"

The three ponies in EMT gear nodded. "For some reason, it looks like almost the entire hospital staff has the night off. Took me a few minutes just to find these two and somepony to pull the ambulance. What's worse, we couldn't find a single surgeon in the building. Just a few nurses, the night receptionist, and me."

"So what you're saying is..." Direct began, knowing now why he had been brought along.

Civil Duty laid a hoof on Direct's shoulder. "Yes, Direct. I know what happened last night, but we need you to operate." She gestured towards the unconscious filly. "It's her only chance."

The doubts he had been feeling since the day before came back, threatening to drown him in a tidal wave of fear. He almost refused, so nearly succumbed to the crushing doubts that had consumed him. Then, he remembered that Unicorn foal, and the sight of her hope-filled eyes. She believed, without knowing a thing about him, that he could help. That feeling was enough to hold all of the fears and doubts from the past twenty-four hours at bay. For the first time in he-didn't-know-how-long, he felt that same purpose, that same drive to help that had led him to leave his parents' home and go to medical school. This is why I became a doctor, he remembered. This is what it's all about. Being the reason for that hope.

Author's Note:

Man, writing depression sucks. Sorry for the delay everyone (as though you haven't already come to expect it). I've heard tell that feedback inspires creativity in writers. Anyone want to help test that theory?

This is one of those chapters that turned out very differently from my original plan, but as always when talking about me that's a good thing. My plan for this chapter was so short and weak, but I kept getting hit with ideas as I wrote and wound up with something much longer and (hopefully) better.

Anyway, if any of you Trauma Center fans (do any of you who read this actually know anything about the game?) are looking for something else to read while you wait for my lazy rear to produce something, you might consider checking out this story. It hasn't updated in longer than mine, but it's a rather well-done combination of MLP with Trauma Team. Unlike mine which really follows the original story, this guy branched off and took some great liberties with each source, which I think pay off in making it unique. Plus, the author is a very cool dude

Read on,
Legion

Comments

[Setokaiva]

I have indeed played the first two games through to completion. It's a great series; I nearly cried at the part where Derek (the character from Trauma Center 1) got to convince that one girl to give life another shot after she tried to OD on perscription-strength antihistamines in a suicide attempt. You seem to be following the original storyline pretty faithfully at least in concept, so I'm really looking forward to how you're going to handle things like magic-related illnesses in pony-verse with this crossover. You're already taking a pretty unexpected twist here with Scootaloo apparently being the one the MC works on as opposed to that girl who had her heart sliced by glass. This one is probably gonna be more along the lines of emergency orthopedic surgery.

And hey, don't sell yourself too short, man. IMO, that fic you keep referencing is still really darn impressive, but you managed to pull things off pretty well here, too. One thing I'm grateful for is that you take the time to establish more background and personality for Direct himself, not to mention deal with the daily goings-on of the hospital; you never got to see much of that in the game(s) aside from a bunch of terms and things that happened offscreen, such as the anesthesiologist setting up before you even begin the operation. It's all these little things that combine to add just the right amount of tension to a scene. Heck, that part about them all giving Nurse Redheart a proper send-off was very welcome, because you got almost nothing except "Yo Derek I'm heading for another hospital kthxbai" in the first game. I shall continue to follow this fic in the interest of seeing how even more of this is gonna unfold.

[Legofan]

Yay, it's here!

It's great to see Styles begin getting himself sorted out, especially now that he's needed. Hopefully things only go uphill for him from here.

Scootaloo has perfectly exemplified why I stay away from being outside. It's really dangerous out there. And there's no AC, but that's more of a nitpick.

Anyway, fantastic chapter, and hopefully the next one'll be soon.

-Lego

[Legion222]

6000235

I can't even describe how happy you just made me. I've really enjoyed working on this fic, but getting next to no feedback from anyone but my editor has been really discouraging. For all I knew no one was even reading the updates.

On to actually responding to your comment. I too loved the games - hence why I decided to write a fanfiction about one - but I totally agree that some things just weren't covered as well as they should have been - yet another reason to write. It's fun getting to expand on the game's characters and write them in new situations, and I especially look forward to getting to take a deeper look at Derek and Angie/Direct and Angel's relationship after the upcoming operation.

Some of the crossover elements have been really fun, like explaining parts of the game in a world with magic, for instance. I hope you like what I've done with this world's Delphi; we'll be hearing a thing or two from them pretty soon. You might have noticed, but while I am following the same storyline for the most part, I'm doing my best to add my own little twists

Thanks so much for reading and even more so for commenting. If I could I'd give you a cookie.

Write on,
Legion

[Legion222]

6000783
Already underway.

Yes, the outdoors are dangerous. Especially when you don't have a protagonist with a hero complex in the immediate vicinity. Stay indoors. Stay safe. Stay at a comfortable ambient temperature.

I won't say only uphill, mostly because I know I have a tendency to add/change things as I go, but some things will certainly be getting better soon

Write on,
Legion