Doctor Horse: Adventures in Patience

by CarmenColor

Complicated

Nurse Redheart arrived maybe ten minutes later, though it felt like hours to you. "Hello, [name]," she greeted you cheerily, "I've brought your dinner. Now, I know hospital food isn't the best, but you're going to have to eat it if you want to keep your strength up." You lifted your head to look at her.

She set the tray of food down on the table next to your bed, smiled at you, and then turned to go. It wasn't until she had left that you realized that you couldn't move or use you magic to eat the food she had delivered. With a light groan, you let your head fall back onto the pillow, grimacing.

You squeezed your eyes shut and wondered if this day could possibly get any worse. Not that you really wanted the hospital food, but you were kind of starving so any food would have been nice.

"[name]?" a voice asked, and you heard the door click shut. You opened your eyes and found Dr. Horse staring at you, a concerned frown on his face. "Why haven't you eaten anything? Is everything okay?"

"If I could eat it, I would," you muttered, "but I can't move or use my magic, like you said..."

"Oh! I am terribly sorry about that, [name]. I forgot to tell the nurse that you would need help. Well, no matter. I guess I'll just do it." The doctor smiled a bit and levitated a spoonful of mush off the tray, floating it over in front of your face.

"Wait, hold on--" you started to say, but Dr. Horse had taken the opportunity to stick the spoon into your open mouth. The mush tasted...strange, but not necessarily bad. Still, you didn't like having food shoved in your mouth while you were trying to talk, and you made a face.

"Don't fuss, [name]. You have to eat something," Dr. Horse said, levitating another spoonful of food to your face. You didn't try to talk this time, and you didn't open your mouth. It had been humiliating enough for him to feed you the first time. "[name], don't make this difficult."

"Is there any other way to--?" The spoon found its way into your mouth again, and you grumbled irritably. "Is there another way to do this?" you asked, frowning.

"I'm afraid not. Until you get your magic back, this is how we're going to have to do this." Dr. Horse levitated another spoon to your mouth, and you sighed and opened wide. This was the most humiliating thing you have ever been through.

You very awkwardly finished your meal, your face turning deep shades of red as you became more and more embarrassed about it. Dr. Horse didn't seem to mind, but he was a doctor after all. This probably wasn't the first time he'd had to spoon feed somepony.

"[name]? You feeling alright? You look feverish," the doctor pointed out, putting a hoof on your forehead. You flushed deeper and shook your head slightly, though the motion made you wince.

"No, no. I'm fine," you muttered, looking away. Dr. Horse smiled slightly.

"I know this is a little strange, but it's necessary. I know you might be a little uncomfortable, but I promise you, it isn't as bad as you think it is. Just be glad this won't be necessary once your magic comes back."

"Oh." You looked back at him. "How long will that be? How will I know when I can use magic again?"

"We have some monitors for that. Don't worry, we'll let you know. In the meantime, you might want to spend time getting some much needed rest. I'm sure you'll need it." Dr. Horse used his magic to pull a blanket over you.

With a soft mumble, you closed your eyes and tried to get comfortable, though it wasn't easy. It wasn't exactly comfortable, and you couldn't move to readjust myself. You knew that things would probably be a lot worse though, since Dr. Horse must have put you on some sort of painkiller. Ugh, how awful would it be without that? You didn't really want to think about it.

It had turned to nighttime, which meant the staff were mostly asleep, but you were still awake. You had nodded off once, but based on when you woke up, it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. And of course you couldn't do anything, so most of the time was spent just sitting around, achy and bored.

A nurse on night duty had wandered in once during the night, but you had just closed your eyes and pretended to be asleep. Thinking back on it, you regretted not saying something, but you didn't want any of the nurses to fuss about your lack of sleep. What could they do about it anyway?

Even after the sun finally came up, the hospital didn't quite wake up. You stared at the ceiling, feeling so exhausted that under normal circumstances you would have fallen asleep instantly, but you just ached so much that you couldn't. All you wanted was for someone to come in and save you from your boredom and exhaustion.

"Good morning, [name]. Sleep well?" Dr. Horse greeted you cordially.

"Hm...? Oh, yeah," you lied, smiling at him. The doctor gave you a suspicious glance, but apparently believed you.

"Well, good. I brought breakfast. It's...oatmeal, I think," he said, chuckling lightly. You laughed a bit as well, but stopped abruptly as a spoon appeared in front of your face.

Oh, right. This again.

You reluctantly complied to being force fed something that definitely didn't taste like oatmeal. You could feel the blush creeping into your face again, and Dr. Horse smiled at you. "Something wrong, [name]?" he asked, and you could hear the teasing in his voice.

"No..." you answered, blushing deeper as he set the bowl aside and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, alright then. I'll be back to check up on you in a bit," he said, carrying the bowl out as he left the room. You sighed and tried to get comfortable, but to no avail. Everything just hurt too much.

"It going to be a long day..."

Author's Note:

Dr. Horse is really cute and kinda clueless...