The Final Push

by PropMaster

Trauma

“We need more bandages over here!”

“Keep the pressure on it, push!”

“Get this one closed up, we’ve done all we can.”

“She’s out, get the saw!”

Behind the lines, the hospital tents were a place of frantic action as badly wounded ponies were brought in from the front. Doctors, nurses, apothecaries, and healers worked in tandem, tending to the hurt, injured, and dying soldiers that came through their tents. Amber herself assisted, moving patients with calm efficiency from place to place, using her strong back and surehooved steps to ferry her charges with little to no bumping or jostling. The gasping cries of the injured filled the air, adding to the noise of the stressed medical workers shouting for assistance or supplies.

Amber had finished moving an unconscious pony into a vacant cot when a nurse grabbed her by the tail, tugging urgently. “Hey! We need an extra pair of hooves, and you’re it!”

Amber yelped, spinning around, before nodding sharply and trotting to the nearest basin of soap and clean water. She cleaned off her hooves and muzzle carefully before dashing back into the hospital tent’s trauma center. The floors were covered with reed mats that were soaking up the spilled fluids of the doctor’s work, leaving them swollen and slick. Earth pony and unicorn orderlies moved rapidly, replacing mats as swiftly as they could with clean coverings, but they were shorthooved, leaving them in a constant losing race to maintain some sense of sterility.

Amber searched the area, before she saw the nurse that had called her in and trotted over, ducking around working ponies and slipping past more soldiers being brought in. The nurse glanced at her white tabard briefly. “Battlefield trauma training?”

“Certified three days ago,” Amber replied quickly.

“Good enough, get over here,” the nurse gestured to a nearby table where a unicorn doctor was working over a soldier.

Amber stepped up to the table and reared up on her back legs to free up her front hooves and get a better look at what she was doing. “Doctor, what can I—”

The unicorn interrupted her, “Bandages over there, I need somepony to keep pressure down by her left side and stabilize the crossbow bolt there while I work on cleaning up this spear wound.”

Amber looked down to the soldier on the table, grimacing slightly as she noted the crossbow bolt stuck deep in the wounded mare’s side, secured by a few carefully wrapped bandages. Blood was seeping through the cloth, pooling around her flank. Amber ignored the second wound, an ugly hole in the mare’s upper torso, and quickly began mopping up the blood and packing several fresh bandages around the wound. She worked on wrapping the bandages in circular patterns around the bolt, building them up higher and stabilizing the shaft. She glanced up as the doctor worked swiftly, cleaning around the spear wound and then carefully cutting it a little wider, probing in with magic and a few tools to examine the injury. He gestured with a flick of his eyes. “Blue potion on the table. Quickly.”

Amber reached out and grabbed the blue potion off of the small table to her right, bringing it closer as the doctor examined deeper into the wound. His magic captured the bottle as she brought it close enough, the cork popping away and a few drops of the blue liquid dripping into the open wound. The doctor worked mechanically, shifting through the injury, dripping the blue potion into it strategically. Amber noticed the blood seeping from the wound begin to lessen. The doctor glanced up to Amber. “What’s our mare’s status?”

Amber reached a hoof up to the mare’s neck, finding her pulse. “Weak pulse, breathing shallow.”

“Small red vial. Pour the whole thing into her mouth and make her swallow it.”

Amber did as she was told, pouring the red potion into the pony’s mouth and massaging her throat gently to force the unconscious mare to reflexively swallow the small bit of liquid. Amber waited a few moments, one hoof on the mare’s neck, before she felt the mare’s pulse quicken slightly. “More stable, her pulse is getting stronger.”

“Good. Hold that bolt.”

“It’s secured, I’ve got pressure on it.”

The unicorn didn’t acknowledge her statement, his eyes narrow as his horn’s glow intensified. He began removing instruments from the wound as a needle and thread flowed into the air and began to stitch the injury closed. He poured a small amount more of the blue potion onto the wound once it was shut, using the tip of his hoof to gently rub it into the tightly stitched injury. The bleeding had all but stopped, and he gestured to Amber. “Get this covered. I’ll work on the crossbow bolt.”

Amber and the doctor switched places, and the doctor unwrapped the bolt carefully as Amber put fresh bandages over the stitches. She exhaled slowly, some of the stress leaving her, and the doctor glanced up at her. "New?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, don't relax yet. You're doing good, but we've got at least another dozen soldiers to see to before we're done. Go grab some fresh bandages for me."

Amber nodded, smiling slightly at the praise, and went to go get some more supplies.

Comments

[PropMaster]

Please make sure to refresh this chapter if you jumped on reading it just as I posted it, I did a few quick edits.

[PropMaster]

3935009
Griffons launched an unprovoked invasion after a shift in the power structure of their country.

But, yeah, Celestia has unrealistic expectations.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Ooo, tense situation in the med tent!

~Skeeter The Lurker