Ponyville Volunteer Ambulance

by PTR-RainbowDash

Nightmare Night: Part One

‘Twas the day of Nightmare Night, the night every little filly and colt loved. To wear colorful costumes, collect sugary delights… why, even I cannot help but get a little excited.

But yes, my little fillies and colts, it would be a memorable day for everyone! …But none so much as a mare by the name of Starshine… Yes, little did this mare know at the time, but tonight, she would make history and not remember a sliver of it! Well, perhaps not history… but at least a few good embarrassing stories! Bah, I have barely started and already I’ve scuttled the excitement. Oh well, Celestia be damned, I shall make this story into something yet!

So where was I… oh yes! Starshine’s day started later in the morning than usual. She was just about to leave her home and head to work when the festivities of today came to mind…

*Gasp* “It’s nightmare night! I completely forgot to schedule the crews and stage the rigs! Not good, not good!” Starshine looked down at the muffin in her hoof, hardly touched she had planned on eating breakfast during her walk to the ambulance station. “Screw breakfast!” she yelled as she tossed the muffin behind her, walked outside and quickly locked the door. She had lots to do and little time. What did this mean exactly? It was running time!

Starshine tightened the straps on her saddle bags before galloping off towards the base. She had about five hours until sundown but that was hardly enough when you took into consideration all that had to be done before Nightmare Night began. As she had procrastinated on all of the tasks related to Nightmare Night, she would need to get at least three partial crews together to staff the three ambulances which would all need to be assigned to stage in several parts of the town. And where would she stage the rigs? Heck, she didn’t even know if the fire department would be helping out at all either! Oy vey… today was going to be the worst kind of days! Paperwork and meetings…

Throughout her run, she ran through all the tasks in her head as well as scenarios of how things would be if things failed. To say the least, it wasn’t helping.
Ahead of her the station loomed into sight. She sprinted to the finish, breathing hard as she closed the gap. Upon reaching the front door she slammed it open and yelled “Everypony panic!” as she stood up, holding the door open and panting, a crazed look in her eyes.

Before her, ponies whom were in the middle of everyday tasks just stared at the loud intruder. Straight ahead, Lyra seemed to have been in the middle of making copies, was the first to break the silence. “Everything okay, Star?”

With a few blinks of confusion, Starshine replied with “I thought that was covered under the “everypony panic”. But more to the point, no everything is not okay, we have a lot of stuff to get done before Nightmare Night!” Starshine let the door slowly swing shut behind her as she walked forward on two legs “We need all three ambulances staffed and out in the community tonight! But before that can happen, all three rigs need a check, we need to plan out the staging areas, fuel all the rigs, wash all the rigs, get crews together, and get more coffee!” She paused and strutted around like a general addressing her troops before continuing. “Lyra! Page out for crews! Roseluck and Butterscotch, you two go check five nine and six nine! Celestia, you’re on coffee duty!”

“Wait… did I just say Celestia!?” she thought to herself, paused in mid-step, eyes wide in shock. “Okay Starshine… you can do this… just turn your head slowly and let’s make sure we’re not hallucinating okay?” She slowly turned her head towards what she thought was the white devil. Unfortunately for her, it was.

“C-celestia!?” Starshine kneeled down into a deep bow. She heard noises of the others following suite. Of all the days the princess could have chosen to throw her off her game with a surprise visit… the princess chose today… the WORST possible day!

“M-my dearest apologies ma’am for addressing you by your name!” she stammered out, trying to decrease the amount of damage done.

“Good afternoon Miss Starshine, I hope you don’t mind but I took it upon myself to see how things are progressing here at the station.” The princess walked forward towards Starshine. “You haven’t been keeping in touch! Though I can understand how your new responsibilities might keep you too occupied to say… visit my student?”

Starshine looked up towards the princess. Only a few things crossed her mind upon seeing the expression on her Royal Highness: “Eep”, “Does she know about my encounter with Twilight!?” and “I wonder who is going to take care of the coffee now”

Celestia turned away from Starshine and moved to the center of the hallway. “I see you all have many things to do. Do not let me keep you from it, Miss Starshine and I shall speak in private. Lead the way, Miss Starshine.”

Oh she was in for it alright. Starshine walked in the direction of her office, muscles trembling beneath her faint pink coat. She unlocked the door then held it open as the Princess walked past her and sat down in her own chair. The Princess then proceeded to examine the room with an unreadable expression on her regal face.

“So how are you coming along with the tasks I have presented you with?”

“Well fine I guess. The budget is kind of confusing so it’s taking some time to get supplies ordered. I’ve got some of the re-designation forms ready to ship though! Hehe…” Starshine put on a large smile, sweat starting to form because of the intense nervousness and worry regarding the appearance of the White Devil.

“I understand how budgets can be intimidating but honestly I would expect you to be further along than you are. If it would help, I may be able to issue a federal grant for your station.”

“It would be greatly appreciated, Princess.” Disappointing the Princess hurt. But not as much as what was about to come.

“There was another reason for my visit… I heard you had an… encounter… with my student, Twilight Sparkle…”

Starshine tried to stand perfectly still, and keep that smile on her face from betraying the true chaos inside her caused by the words of the ruler.

Celestia grabbed Starshine with her magic and pinned her against the wall of her office, glaring with an intense hatred in her eyes not often seen. “Don’t. You. Ever. Hurt. Twilight. Again! Got that, buddy!?”

Her face was almost touching Starshine’s as her hatred burned into Starshine. It was like she had stabbed her with her horn. Repeatedly. All Starshine could do was nod and hope that was enough. Fortunately for Starshine, it was.

Celestia let go of Starshine and smiled “Good. Well I’ll let you get back to work, I know you have a lot to do today!” And with that Celestia opened the door and walked out, leaving Starshine dazed, mildly confused, and quite flustered. As Starshine looked out the door, Celestia was nowhere in sight. She had survived her encounter with the White Devil. She still didn’t have someone assigned to coffee duty though…

“Lyra!” Yelled Starshine as she stood in the doorway of the dispatch office. “I’m taking out seven nine to go deal with liaison-y stuff! Could you sign it on as an ALS fly car, please?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Thank you!” Starshine trotted on and into the garage. The other two girls were currently washing down the rigs, a much appreciated gesture. “Looking good, gals! I’ll be taking out seven nine for a while. Keep up the good work while I’m gone, eh?”

Of the two responses that followed, Starshine only heard one… from the most lovely of mares… Miss Roseluck… shaking her head back and forth as water droplets flew from her flawless mane… her perfect smile, touched with a slight blush as she spoke to Starshine… Ho damn.

Starshine had no idea how long she had been staring, but it seemed that Roseluck didn’t notice as she had gone back to buffing the rig with a rag after thanking Starshine for the compliment and acknowledging the order.

She gave herself one last look at Roseluck for the road then grabbed an ALS bag and Lifepack then walked back over to three seven seven nine, placed the gear in a side compartment, tugged out the shoreline, and hopped into the driver’s seat. The garage door climbed open before her as the engine growled into life. She flicked on the battery switch then checked the center console, turning off the box air and lights before setting the engine in gear and rolling out the driveway. Autumn always was the most poetic time of the year. Had it been different circumstances she might’ve took the time to gaze upon the world and appreciate the true magnificence that we merely pass over in our day to day lives… but there was work to be done… and she still hadn’t had her coffee.

The ambulance lurched to a stop in front of the town hall and Starshine hopped out of the cab, leaving the engine to idle while she spoke with her next target: Mayor Mare. She walked into the lobby and passed the protesting secretary without hesitation and burst through the door to the Mayor’s office. “Mayor Mare! I demand an audience with ye!” Why she said ‘ye’, she didn’t know, but that was neither here nor there.

“You know, it’s often considered impolite to barge in without knocking!” Mayor Mare was peeved, but no matter.

“No time, I need to know the schedule of today’s festivities and the approximate attendance!” Starshine walked forward and stood before the desk.

“My secretary has that information, you know.”

“And that would have been helpful to know ten seconds ago, so will you help me or not!?”

“Oh fine, the festivities start around 7 PM and end around midnight. Expected attendance is the entire town. Anything else…?”

“Mmmm…. Nope! Expect three ambulances staging around town. Bye!” Starshine left the office with a gallop before the mayor could lecture her more. Next stop, the coffee shop!

Starshine yanked open the door and hopped on into the ambulance. Unfortunately for her, tones dropped right as she buckled herself in.

“Ponyville Ambulance, ALS requested for Manehatten Fire Rescue of the 2nd battalion, zone one, priority two, diabetic emergency, patient is reported to be unresponsive, the Orange House, 145 Altai Avenue, cross streets are 11th and 13th street.”

Starshine hit her head against the steering wheel in frustration. “Of course…”

The radio chirped again. “Ponyville acknowledges the advanced life support request, three seven seven nine is responding.” Lyra said from the dispatch office back at the base.

Starshine hit the response lights button on the console and put it in gear, flipping on the siren to hyper and doing a U-turn to drive on towards the town border. She knew the route to Manehatten, but she’d need to use a map once she got into the city. Today was turning out to be just the worst!

20 minutes later, the ambulance was on an express road to Manehatten. Although it was called an express road it was merely a semi-well maintained double wide dirt road.

The radio chirped once more. “Three seven seven nine, from EMS”

Starshine grabbed the mic with her magic. “Three seven seven nine, on.”

“Three seven seven nine, two one four nine is requesting an ETA”

“EMS, three seven seven nine is five minutes out of Manehatten, unknown time from final destination.”

“Three seven seven nine, switch channel to EMS240 and contact 2nd battalion EMS for intercept orders”

“Three seven seven nine, signing off EMS 340 and switching to EMS 240” she replied as she magically turned the channel knob on the radio and flipping over to EMS 240. “EMS, A three seven seven nine signing onto EMS 240, three minutes out of Manehatten city line.”

“Three seven seven nine, stand by for intercept orders.”

Starshine drove on and waited for the intercept information. She waited, and waited, and passed the city line. The suburbs of Manehatten were dense but short. It didn’t take long to pass the entirety of the suburbs and hit the main body of the city of Manehatten. The streets were quite busy with ponies walking on the sidewalks, pulling carts along the sides of the streets, busses stopping and starting with less than optimal warning. She pulled over to the side and cut off the siren and set the traffic bar to the left. It had been eight minutes since the last message from EMS and she was getting pretty nervous.

“EMS, three seven seven nine.”

“Three seven seven nine, go ahead”

“EMS, three seven seven nine, requesting an update on the intercept orders.”

There was a short pause at this point. Something stupid was going on at Manehatten 911, Starshine hypothesized.

“Two one four nine, EMS”

“I’m calling shenanigans on this one!” Starshine thought to herself, quite annoyed with the situation.

Half a minute later and… “Okay, two one four nine arriving at Manehatten General. Three seven seven nine from EMS.”

…What… the… ****

Starshine stared out the front window as she pressed the mic button dejectedly. “Three seven seven nine on.”

“Three seven seven nine is cleared, basic crew transported to hospital.”

“Three seven seven nine copies, switching over to EMS 340.” Starshine switched the radio back over to 340 then proceeded to hit her head repeatedly against the steering wheel for a good 10 or 15 seconds before switching off the emergency lights and starting the long trip back to Ponyville.

Due to rush hour traffic and the distance, it was a good half an hour before Starshine could call back in service and back in the district, and another 10 minutes before rig 3779 backed into the garage. Starshine set it in park then hopped out and re-connected the shore line. The other two rigs looked all clean and shiny; she’d have to thank Roseluck and Butterscotch again for doing such a nice job on them. Bah, she’d have a lot of people to thank by the end of tonight.

Starshine walked opened the door between the garage and the rest of the base only to be greeted with a barrage of noise and chatter. Confused and curious, Starshine trotted around the base, peeking into the dispatch office, the living room, and the computer room. The base had at least half the membership present! Something actually went right today! They had crews! Starshine turned tail and ran back to the dispatch office to find Lyra sitting in her chair, drinking a soda and playing a lyre. “Lyra!”

Lyra looked up from her playing and smiled at Starshine. “Welcome back. I heard you got cancelled while you were in Manehatten.”

Starshine rolled her eyes and walked forward out of the doorway and into the room. “God yeah… I’m calling shenanigans on that one. Oh well… anyways, how in all of Equestria did you get so many people here!?”

“Oh I just paged out a few times and created an incentive for tonight, I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t approve it with you ahead of time, but you have enough on your shoulders as is.”

“You got me a full set of crews, I don’t think I have the right to complain regardless of the incentive. Speaking of which, I suppose I shouldn’t ask what it is?”

Lyra nodded her head and bit her lip “Yeah, probably best if you don’t know about it for now… hopefully it won’t become effective tonight since I set it to only take effect after a certain call volume.”

“Don’t wanna hear it!” And on that note, Starshine left the dispatch office before Lyra could reveal more of her plan. Since the rest of the base appeared to be full, she went to her office to write the PCR. To her surprise, a computer had been placed in her office, likely as a part of the program currently modernizing emergency services in Equestria. She hit the on button then pulled out a blank PCR form and pen. There was definitely going to be some complaints written into this PCR!

An hour later and a lot of complaining off her chest, Starshine decided it was briefing time. She grabbed the phone and pressed the intercom button. “Why hello, everypony! Since it’s getting close to festivities time, I think it’s best we have a briefing on tonight’s events. To the mandatorium! …or for those of you whom do not know it, the meeting room, which shall here forth be called the mandatorium! Huzzah!”

A few minutes later and everypony was taking their seats in the meeting room… err, mandatorium. Starshine stood at a small podium and took attendance, silently muttering the names of each pony as she made note of their appearance. “Lyra, Roseluck, Butterscotch, Amethyst Star, Colgate, Diamond Mint, Bon Bon, Candy Mane, Caramel, Juicy Fruit, Lightning Bolt…” and that was it, it seemed. More than enough to staff all the rigs at least.

“So! At… 6:26, damn time flies, anyways! As well all know, tonight is Nightmare Night and it’s likely there’ll be at least a few calls tonight at the festivities. All three rigs will be placed in service, with two out at the events and one remaining at the station along with a dispatcher or two. Five nine will be designated as the ALS rig for tonight and we will be using a dual response method where five nine will be an ALS fly car until a patient has been designated as worthy of ALS care, at which time five nine will transport. Otherwise, the basic rig will transport. I trust you all can divide yourselves up into teams on your own?” Starshine asked, receiving nods and verbal acknowledgements in return. “Okay then! I will be the ALS tech for five nine. Five nine crew should congregate at the podium, six nine on your left side of the room, seven nine on your right side near the windows, and dispatchers at the door. As a reminder, each rig should have three ponies at most and only two dispatchers overall. Any remaining members shall be placed as a backup team or something… We’ll deal with that once we have the teams… now go my minions! Create your teams!”

Starshine watched as crews began to form. Lyra went to the door for dispatching, Butterscotch joined up with Colgate and Candy Mane at the wall for six nine, Lightning Bolt, Diamond Mint and Juicy Fruit formed a crew for seven nine, and Amethyst Star and… Roseluck joined the five nine crew… Bon Bon was standing next to Lyra, and that left Caramel without an assignment.

“Caramel, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you did lift assists tonight. I can give you a radio and you’ll be free to partake in the festivities.”

“Can do.” Replied Caramel in a slightly disappointed tone. It was likely, Starshine thought, that he was hoping to be paired up with a mare for tonight’s work.

“Alright then! You all have your assignments for the night. All crews will remain signed on until midnight, at which time one or two rigs will be brought out of service for the night. I suggest that all the crews do a final check on their rigs and get everything in order. I’d also suggest stashing some food and drinks in the driver’s compartment. While there will be food and drink available at the festivities, if things turn for the worse, you’ll want something to eat on the way back from Canterlot Hospital. Dismissed!”

Starshine hopped down and began to walk out. She’d have Lyra sign on all the rigs, have her crew work on the rig, leaving her free to check the 3rd Battalion’s status pages.

“Starshine? Could I speak with you a moment?”

Starshine stopped. Who was it that needed her attention? She turned around and froze up. It was Roseluck.

“I was wondering if we could do some training tonight.”

Starshine blinked twice, still frozen in place. “Oh… alright… what sort of training?”

Roseluck raised an eyebrow at her tone but appeared to dismiss it. “Yeah, I’m going through the paramedic class and I’d like to work on some of the physical procedures like starting an IV. Is that all right?”

Starshine shook her head back and forth to shake her brain back into action. “Oh, sure! I have to ask though… have you even done it on a real pony…? Especially one in the back of a moving vehicle?”

“Plenty of times! I’m certified at the EMT-I level!” Replied Roseluck with her cute smile… her silky hair half covering one of her enchanting eyes…

“Oh, sure then… I’d be honored to help you train.” Starshine had subconsciously adorned a small smile and blush, speaking in a soft voice.

“Okay! I’ll go stock some food and drinks in the cab, do you want anything?”

“Oh, anything should be fine. Just put in what you like… check with Amethyst though!” Starshine’s voice returning to normal during the last segment. She watched as Roseluck walked out of the room and turned the corner.

“Somepony’s got a cruuuush!” Somepony half whispered behind her.

Starshine turned around with a scowl, thinking to herself “Oh who the hell is it this time!?” Lyra was standing a foot before her with a knowing grin upon her minty face.

“Going to tell her anytime soon? Hmm?” Said Lyra, tilting her head in towards Starshine and slowly closing the distance between them. “I mean, she is quite the looker.” Lyra stopped, whispering into her ear at this point. “And… single!” Lyra continued to walk away, swinging her tail back and forth “Oh, and I’ll sign on all the rigs for you so you can go do whatever it is you do.”

Though Lyra could be quite a mule about some things, she was still quite an important friend. But anyways, Starshine had more important things to work on at the moment, so she made her way back to her office and logged onto her computer, bringing up the status dispatch page. “So let’s see… EMS, 3rd Battalion… Canterlot has a few rigs on… E-Med… none in the area… and over to fire… what.” Ponyville Fire had no crews signed on for tonight, meaning no support. “Mules!” Starshine exclaimed to no one in particular. Oh well, more things to do.

Starshine picked up the phone and hit the intercom button. “All crews, 15 minute warning, all rigs are now staging.” She put the phone back down and opened up a map of Ponyville on the computer. A few knocks on the door and Lyra walked in.

“What’s the story? All three rigs are going now?” Lyra asked.

“No support from fire tonight… they have absolutely no one on at the moment… so we’re going to show up and show Ponyville we’re serious about public safety. Also, I thought it’d be nicer to the seven nine crew to let them join the festivities for a bit and then I’ll send ‘em back to base to keep you and Bon Bon company.”

“…You just want to lower the fire chief’s reputation.”

Silence ensued for a few moments before Starshine fessed up. “Yeah, that might be my goal. Anyways, I should probably join the crew.” Starshine stood up, grabbed her jacket and slung it on. She walked past Lyra, the minty green mare following behind her. Lyra broke off as Starshine passed the dispatch office. As Starshine entered the ambulance bays, Lyra’s voice was heard over the intercom. “All crews, final call, doors opening in one minute.”

Starshine walked on, doors on the rigs closing with a thunk, engines roaring to life. Five nine was the furthest rig in the bays. Starshine walked around the right side, opened up the side door for the driver’s compartment and hopped in, closing the door behind her. Amethyst Star was already buckled in, one hoof on the steering wheel.

Amethyst Star spoke without looking over “Looks like you pulled it all together.” She turned the key and started the engine with her magic.

Starshine buckled herself in. “We’re not out the door yet. All good back there, Roseluck?”

“Yeah!” Roseluck exclaimed from box. Before Starshine, the garage doors rose up into the ceiling.

Amethyst Star spoke two words as she put the ambulance in gear. “Game time.”

…To be continued…

Comments

[Happy Thoughts]

Yuppieeee!!! A new chapter! I thought you've forgotten about us.... MOAR, MOAR I say!

The only thing I don't get was why did Celestia have a word with Starshine about Twilight? What did Starshine do?

[PTR-RainbowDash]

184062

From chapter 3 A Forgotten Home
"Starshine wouldn’t have this. She’s not disabled. She’s not some lab rat to be experimented on! Starshine grabbed the unicorn’s hoof, twisting around and pushing it away as she withdrew her left hoof and got ready to land a hoof-full of hurt on the offending unicorn. Her hoof was about to make contact with the Twilight’s face when she realized what she was doing. Her hoof slowly lowered as she calmed herself and let go of Twilight. Without looking at Twilight again she made her way to the back door. “I hope your burns heal well.” She said, her voice neutral as she opened the door and hopped out, holding the door open for Twilight, still avoiding eye contact. Once the unicorn was out, Starshine closed the door, walked around to the front, hopped in, and drove off without another word."
Celestia was trolling a bit there, since Starshine didn't actually do all that much to Twilight, but it is also meant to push Starshine to make up with Twilight and accept Twilight's help... I guess... Honestly I wrote that half of Nightmare Night part one like a month or two ago.

[Happy Thoughts]

I get it now , thank you!
ps. MOAR :).

[Chain Link]

Glad to see im not the only medical pony out there , nice story to wish i was in a story like this

[Happy Thoughts]

184072 - do you have any ETA for the next chapter?

[Carpinus Caroliniana]

Interesting. Nice to see another medical brony. I'm a volunteer EMT for a small town andnI can appreciate how hard it is. When I started, my shift was from 1900 to 0200. To make maters worse, I was actually assaulted once and I live in a small and very safe town!

Keep up the good work!

[PTR-RainbowDash]

559440
Sounds like a hell of a night, getting assaulted and all. Statistically speaking, EMS is actually more dangerous than police or fire service.

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't been paying much attention to notifications and such, nor this story.