Ponyville Volunteer Ambulance

by PTR-RainbowDash

Cardiac Arrest (Revision 2)

Chapter 1

Alarm bells rang out across some parts of the station, electronic buzzers in the other areas, combining to create a rather ad-hoc melody that was so very common to the building.

“Ponyville Ambulance… priority 1 call outside Sweet Apple Acres, for the 28 year old male, possible cardiac arrest from electrical shock. Shock obtained from live power lines. Patient is one of two Mane Grid workers on scene. Fire department and additional utilities en-route. Once again, that’s Ponyville Ambulance for the priority 1 call, outside Sweet Apple Acres, cardiac arrest. Ponyville?”

An electronic chirp signaled the transmission of sound waves from this station back out into the world; “Ponyville Ambulance acknowledges the call, three seven five nine will be en-route shortly”

Out in the garage, a white pony with violet hair wearing a white work shirt, that blended in with her coat, patches on the sleeves and black pants to complete the outfit, took hold of the handle of the driver side door of the ambulance, pulled it open, and hopped in. She reached out to her left and pulled it closed, her wings emitting a purple glow as the seat belt glows and clicked into place.

Outside, Luna’s night cast soft light down upon the land, the full moon rising above the trees as ponies of all sorts walked around the town, shopping and chatting and all other sorts of things. Out on the outskirts of town is where the ambulance station lay, where the nights are quite serene… except when a call comes in.

The passenger side door to the ambulance swung open and a caramel colored unicorn hopped in.

Starshine, the white pegasus, gave a grin towards the other, a new member at their station. “Ready for some fun?”

Butterscotch rolled her eyes in response, having already been subjected to Starshine's locally infamous insanity, and muttered “Hit it already”

Outside the station, one of 4 garage doors opened and the ambulance inside roared into life. Red and white lights splashed out onto the ground, the trees, and everything around as the ambulance rolled out of the station and turned right onto the road. 25 meters ahead was a short stone bridge, and past that was a cluster of buildings and residences; the town of Ponyville.

The siren wailed as the ambulance crested the bridge, ponies cleared the street as the ambulance made its way through the town. Butterscotch sighed and leaned back in her seat. She was nervous, no doubt about that.

Unfortunately for Butterscotch, Starshine had a personality that well… could get on her nerves to put it nicely.
“So… do you like coffee?”

“…What?”

“Do you like coffee? Y’know, the dark, earthy, hot beverage full of caffeine? Unless you're talkin' decaf, but that's just silly!“

Butterscotch didn’t even bother to repress a groan. Starshine could be so unprofessional sometimes and never seemed to take things seriously, at least to Butterscotch. How was she supposed to learn anything from someone like that!? “I’m about five minutes away from my first cardiac arrest call and you’re asking me about coffee?”

Starshine just smiled as she replied "Why not? Coffee soothes the soul... plus now you’re not thinking about impending doom or something silly like that.”

Starshine had a point... to some degree... Butterscotch was quite tense before the sudden question, but now her mind was occupied by other things such as scheduling her shifts with a different trainer.

With a roll of her eyes and another groan, Butterscotch was back at relaxing, then uttered “I hate you sometimes.” Though that wasn't quite true either. Through all her flaws, she had some admiration for the white pegasus. In even the toughest of days she never seemed to run out of energy or enthusiasm. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Starshine was supposed to be training her, she might have even enjoyed the pegasus's company...if only a slight amount.

Starshine replied with her biggest mocking grin, closing her eyes for just a second before returning her attention to the road. That was another thing that bugged Butterscotch... Starshine spent a little too much time messing around on the road for Butterscotch's level of comfort.

At that moment the radio chirped to life. “three seven five nine, fire department is on scene, medical 500 confirmed, requesting that the ambulance step it up”

Starshine grabbed the radio mic with her magic and replied with “three seven five nine copies, will step it up”.

The roar of the diesel engine intensified as Starshine pressed down further on the accelerator. Ahead of them, Sweet Apple Acres came into view and the accident nearby. Halogen lights on the sides of fire trucks bathed the scene in light. Red lights flash as passing by residents stopped and stared.

The ambulance slowed down as it reached the accident. Starshine switched off the siren and turned right before coming to a halt with the left side of the ambulance facing the scene. She flicked on all the halogen scene lamps and put the ambulance in park before grabbing the radio “Ponyville Ambulance, three seven five nine”

“Ponyville base on”

“Three seven five nine, on scene”
With that, she hopped out and walked to the back of the rig where butterscotch had already opened up the rear doors and was pulling out the stretcher. Starshine reached out a hoof to catch the stretcher wheels as they descended. She then used her magic to release the latch. With the stretcher fully deployed, Butterscotch pulled it over towards the main cluster of emergency ponies. On the ground was the victim… a severe electrical burn on the right side of his chest… the smell of burned fur was in the air.

Starshine hopped into the rig and grabbed the automated external defibrillator (AED) from one of the interior cabinets and carried it out in her mouth and over to the patient, where some fire ponies were doing chest compressions.

Butterscotch’s horn glowed with fury as she pulled the jump bag off of the stretcher and grabbed the oxygen tank, oropharyngeal airway (OPA) kit, and a bag valve mask (BVM) from inside. She opened the regulator on the tank and connected the BVM. Before continuing she looked at the patient’s jaw and selected an appropriately sized OPA from the kit and quickly placed it inside the patient’s mouth. The BVM glowed as magic moved it to and pressed it against the patient’s mouth, the bag compressing and releasing twice between sets of chest compressions.

Meanwhile, Starshine had placed the AED on the ground and opened up the pack. The fire ponies stopped compressions on her command as she took the razor from inside the pack and shaved off fur in two spots on the patient’s chest. She tore open the pad package and placed them in the correct spots before plugging them in and turning on the AED.

“Alright, clear the patient!” yelled Starshine. Butterscotch removed the BVM and waited for the AED to analyze the patient’s heart rhythm.

“Clear the patient, analyzing heart rhythm” said the AED, through an internal speaker.

“Analyzing heart rhythm. Shock advised, clear the patient”

Starshine looked around to make sure no pony was touching the patient, waiting for the AED to finish charging.

The AED started to beep rapidly, indicating that the charge was ready for deployment.

Starshine took a final look around before yelling “Clear!” and pressing the shock button. The patient’s back suddenly arched then went limp as energy surged into the body from one pad, hitting all nerves and muscles in the chest like a bomb before it returned to the second pad and left the body. .

END CHAPTER 1