• Published 28th Jun 2012
  • 1,319 Views, 24 Comments

Trauma Team: Equestrian Chronicles - ThatCanadianDude



What If Trauma Team... Had Ponies?

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Prologue

“Now, if you’ll just sign here, Miss Pie...”

“Okey-Dokey-Lokey!”

“And now I initial here and... done. Welcome aboard, Miss Pie. The hospital is glad to have you with us.”

The prospect made her giddy. Pinkie Pie, resident surgeon for one of the greatest medical facilities in Equestria. It was all she could do to keep from...

“Woo-Hoo! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she yelped, bouncing around the office in euphoric glee, stopping just short of smacking her head into the office roof.

The grey haired earth-pony sitting at the desk cleared her throat. “Miss Pie, I must ask you to calm down. You’re messing up my office.”

Realizing her folly, the pink pony came to a stop, a somewhat embarrassed grin spreading across her face. “I’m sorry. It’s just... Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted this? I’ve wanted to be here ever since this hospital opened! Do you have any idea how long that is? That’s fifteen years! Fifteen years waiting and studying and practising and...”

A glare shot across the desk. Pinkie took the hint. “Um, yeah. So... what should we do now?”

“Well, I’d like to get you started as soon as possible, so how about I take you on a tour of our facilities?” the grey-haired pony said, adjusting her glasses as she stood up from her desk.

Pinkie’s face lit up once more. “That sound super-dee-duper-rific! Lead the way Miss-“

Her comment was cut short as the other pony raised her hoof. “Just call me ‘the Mayor’. Everypony else does. It’s my pseudonym around here. Now, shall we?” she inquired, motioning towards the office door. An eager smile came back at her, and Pinkie quickly exited the room. Before she followed, the Mayor looked back at the file on her desk. One line was highlighted on the front page; ‘Amazingly calm and stable under pressure’. She scoffed. She was seriously beginning to doubt that.


“Alrighty! Where to first?” Pinkie questioned, hopping gingerly down the shining white hallway.

“First, Miss Pie, allow me to show you our state of the art orthopaedics ward. It’s one of the most advanced in Equestria and very close by. It’s just down the next hall,” the Mayor replied, a hint of pride entering her voice.

“Yeah, that sounds great!” Pinkie responded, hopping ahead, squeezing her eyes closed as though she was going to a surprise party she already knew was happening. She squee’d happily to herself. After untold years of study, she was finally here; ready to help anypony who came along. She knew she was going to make Granny Pie proud.

“What th... LOOK OUT!”

A loud ‘CRASH’ echoed down the mostly empty hallway. When Pinkie opened her now dazed eyes, it was an orange pony in a doctor’s coat and cowboy hat who was hauling her to her hooves. “You ok there, little miss?” came a heavily accented voice from the orange pony, freckles coating her muzzle. She pulled a small flashlight from one of her pockets and shined it directly in Pinkie’s eyes, moving her free hoof back and forth, which Pinkie’s eyes absent-mindedly followed.

A contended smile came over the orange pony’s face as she placed the flash light back in her pocket. “Y’all seem to be doing alright. You better start looking where you’re going, little missy. Lotsa accidents can occur in a hospital... though I ‘spose if you’re gonna have an accident to begin with, this is prob’ly one-a the best places to have one.” Pinkie blinked a few times, still slightly disoriented from her impact with whatever it was she hit.

As if on cue, the Mayor walked up. “Miss Pie! Watch what you’re doing! You’re going to break vital equipment! Those machines are expensive!” Looking around herself, Pinkie located what she had hit. She recognized it as an outdated x-ray machine, which a grey Pegasus in a white nurse’s coat was in the process of picking up and looking over.

The orange pony tipped her cowboy hat back a bit. “Calm down, Mayor. This is an authentic FR-X23. These babies are built to last. Why, mah big brother could kick one of these things, and it’d still run happier than a caterpillar in an orchard in fall.” She looked back to Pinkie, who shook her head, finally clearing out most of the ringing. “Ah, darn. Where are mah manners?” The orange pony stuck out a hoof. “Dr. Appelisa Jackson, Chief o’ Orthopaedics. But you can call me ‘AppleJack’.”

Pinkie grinned, reaching out and shaking the offered hoof. “Pinkamena Diane Pie; but my friends call me Pinkie Pie, so you can call me that!” The Mayor stepped in. “She’s our new surgical resident. I was just taking her on a tour. We were about to head down to the orthopaedics ward when we had the pleasure of... running into you.”

“No kidding? Well, the least I can do is escort y’all the rest o’ the way there,” AppleJack replied. The grey Pegasus turned around, and said, “Dr. AppleJack. The machine appears to be in perfect running order.” Pinkie gasped at what she saw. The Pegasus’ eyes were bright yellow, but the confusing part was that both eyes were going off in completely different directions. “Ohmigosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” The comment was received by a rather confused look from the Pegasus. “You didn’t hit me. You hit the machine. What are you apolo...”

At the point, Dr. AppleJack stepped in. “Uh, it’s nothing, Derpy. She’s probably still a little confused from the impact ‘n all. Now, we’d best be getting these fine fillies and that ol’ hunk a’ gizmos down to the ward.” The Pegasus nodded, turning around and wheeling the machine down the hallway. AppleJack leaned over to speak to Pinkie. “Don’ bring up her eyes, Miss Pie. She don’ right like talkin’ bout ‘em.” Pinkie nodded in silence as the four ponies made their way down the hall.

It was the Mayor who decided to break the silence. “Dr. AppleJack, exactly why are you wheeling this outdated equipment to our ward?”

“Well, Mayor, we just gotta message over from Fillydelphia General. There was a big accident over at the carnival, and they simply don’t got room there for all the broken bones and the like, so we got ‘bout ten or so injured ponies coming our way real quick. I figured it’d be best to get out some more equipment so we can speed things along real nice.”

The Mayor gave AppleJack a surprisingly dirty look. “Dr. AppleJack, you know that using those outdated machines of yours makes the Board of Directors nervous. Can’t you simply treat them with the newer equipment we just brought in?”

AppleJack nodded before giving her reply. “Course we could. But I don’t rightly think we should be tellin’ folks to sit around with their bones all a’cracked while we take our sweet time. Best to work as fast as we can and get them all fixed up lickety-split. Don’ worry, I got the youngin’s working the new fangled stuff. I’ll be handling ol’FR here mahself.” As she said it, AppleJack backhooved the machine, as if to show it’s sturdiness. “Trust me; I know what I’m doing.”


“Aight, here we are. Derpy, help me set up the machine in the corner.”

As Dr. AppleJack and Nurse Derpy moved the bulky machine off into the corner, Pinkie Pie marvelled at the room around her. This ward had its reputation for a reason, with at least 3 sets of high tech x-rays, laser crafting stations for artificial bone, and state of the art operating stations positively dripping with various tools of the trade, from bone saws to drills. Next to these glorious white shining examples of technology, the machine they’d just wheeled in might as well have ran on steam and been made out of a wood. Pinkie was about to give herself a little examination of the machines when her attention was wrenched elsewhere by a loud yelp, followed by the distinctly aggravated sounding tones of a not-so-friendly sounding AppleJack.

“What the... RD! What in Tarnation are you doing sleepin’ on the job again?” came the Doctor’s agitated tones, “and in mah ward, no less!”

Pinkie looked over, to see a blue pegasus with rainbow hair and a black jacket with badges sewn on it hovering a few feet in the air, right in the corner of the room. Her voice came out, young but slightly gravely. “Come on, Doc. It’s my break, and you should watch where you’re shoving those machines.” The Pegasus clenched her hoof and looked down at the doctor. “Somepony’s gonna get hurt if you keep doing that.”

AppleJack returned the gaze. “Is that a threat, RD? I’ll have you know that it’s by mah good graces that I haven’t reported these little naps o’ yours to the higher ups. You’re the Chief Paramedic, for crying out loud, and you’re sleeping on the floor of the orthopaedics ward when we got at least ten ponies coming in from Fillydelphia who are gonna be here in less than ten minutes!”

The pegasus crossed her arms and scoffed. “Ten minutes is nothing. I’ll be ready in two. I can nap until then.” “Not in mah ward, you don’t. Get outa here! Unlike someponies, I’ve actually got work to do!” Taking the hint, the rainbow maned pegasus flew over them and left the doctor and nurse to their work.

The Mayor, her face red with a combination of anger and embarrassment, broke the silence. “Rainbow Dash, if you have a minute, I’d like to introduce a new member of the staff.” Pinkie smiled her usual smile, sticking out a hoof. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” The pegasus took the hoof, but rather shaking it normally, pulled Pinkie in until they bumped chests lightly. “Rainbow Dashfeld. You can call me Dash,” she replied.

“Rainbow, Miss Pie here is our new resident surgeon. Pinkie, Miss Dashfeld here is our Chief Paramedic,” the Mayor stated, facing each in turn. “I suspect the two of you will be working together quite a bit. Miss Pie, most of the patients you’ll be dealing with will be emergencies brought in by Miss Dash. As such, I do hope the two of you will put some time aside to get to know one another better.”

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “So you’re the new blood, eh? Good. I was getting sick of calling Dr. Sparkle the Newbie. Nicknames aren’t fun if the other pony doesn’t respond. How about you, Pinkie; you mind if I call you Newbie?” Rainbow said in a playful manner. Pinkie shook her head. “Not at all, RD,” she replied with her typical chipper enthusiasm. Rainbow giggled. “I think I’m gonna like you, Newbie.”

As Pinkie looked over the flying pegasus, some gears started turning in her head. She’d seen her somewhere before. Rather than keep this fact for later, she allowed it to come to the forefront. “Say, RD, you look kinda familiar... did we share a kindergarten classroom?” Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow, her smirk melting off her face. “Um, not unless you’re hiding some wings under that coat of yours. I’m a Cloudsdale local, born and raised, and in the clouds was where I spent most of my days.”

Just as Pinkie was about to inject another idea as to where she might have seen Rainbow Dash before, a message came over the intercom system, interrupting her. “To all paramedics and orthopaedic crew, the Fillydelphian drop-ins arrive in two.” Rainbow perked up at this revelation. “That’s my cue. Sorry girls, I gotta dash!” and without so much as a goodbye, she was out the door.

“I apologize for our... colourful crew. Good help is difficult to find these days.”

“Oh, that’s ok, Mayor. I like colourful ponies! I hope you got lots more fun ponies to be friends with!”

“Unfortunately, yes, I do.”


The halls of the hospital were easy to get lost in, mostly featureless save for the doors, all the same off beige to help them stand out slightly from the white walls. But the door the Mayor led Pinkie too was different. It was an oaken door with the name ‘Dr. Twilight Sparkle’ carved into it. The most bizarre part was what appeared to be a burn mark in the centre of the door.

The Mayor raised her hoof and knocked on the door. “Dr. Sparkle, are you in?” They waited a moment. They heard shuffling behind the door along with what sounded like grunting, but the door didn’t open. A second knock yielded pretty much the same result. A third and final knock finally got a response.

“Hold your horses. I’m trying to move the ladder.”

The voice sounded like a young male. Pinkie found it hard to believe that someone that young sounding could be a doctor. As if to answer her confusion, the shuffling stopped, and the door swung open.

Standing in the doorway was a small step ladder, and standing on this step ladder was a small purple dragon wearing hospital scrubs. Behind him was a rather extravagant office, with an oaken desk, a couch, and a coffee table, on which a medical file was spread open. The walls were lined with medical files and textbooks, broken up only by another oaken door in the left wall.

“Hello, Spike. Is Dr. Sparkle in?” the Mayor inquired. The dragon shot back a look that was a combination of pity and annoyance.

“No, Mayor. I thought I told you, I can’t keep her in this office for anything other than sleep and patients. She already slept, and her next appointment isn’t for an hour, so where do you think she is?”

The Mayor looked up reflectively for a moment. “Ah, yes. My apologies, Spike. Please, return to whatever it was you were doing.”

The dragon nodded, a sarcastic look plastering his face, and remarked, “Thanks,” before slamming the door in the two ponies’ faces.

The Mayor turned and started heading down yet another hallway, and Pinkie hopped along behind. “So, who is this Dr. Twilight Sparkle anyway? Why does she get such a fancy-shmancy office? Even your office wasn’t that hoity-toity.”

“That is none of your concern, Miss Pie. Just know that, even though Dr. Sparkle is the newest member of our crew next to you, she is to be treated with respect. She has quite the resume.”

“Ooh, ooh, ooh! Can you tell me? Huh-huh-huh?”

As the two spoke, they arrived at a set of stairs going down, which the Mayor promptly descended. “Well, Miss Pie, Dr. Sparkle was actually a member of the Equestrian Centre for Disease Research and Control’s Canterlot Division before she came to be our Chief Diagnostician.”

As Pinkie followed, she thought for a moment. “I’ve heard of those guys. The ECDRC are, like, super important in the medical world, right? They’re not run by the government, so they are able to do all kinds of things to learn more about fighting diseases, right? My Granny got the offer to join them, but she refused. Said she didn’t like the idea of being away from the ponies. But still, they sound awesome! Why would someone want to leave a job like that?”

The Mayor shrugged. “That I do not know.” As they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, they stood before a door labelled ‘Hospital Library’. The Mayor pushed the doors open to reveal a world class medical library. They stood on the second floor of a massive medical library. The floor was red carpet, and the shelves were all polished wood. It was at least half-a-kilometre square, and the upper floor circled around so that you could see down the reading tables in the centre. “Every book you could ever want about medicine is in this library. Sometimes twice.”

Pinkie gazed around in amazement as the Mayor looked over the edge into the middle. “Ah, there we are. Follow me, please, Miss Pie.” Leading her down another flight of stairs, the two ponies made their way to the centre. There at one of the reading tables sat a purple unicorn, mane done up neatly out of her eyes, sitting at a table completely riddled with books. There was a neat stack of books to one side, and a messy pile to the other. A book hovered in front of the unicorns face, awash in a purple magical glow. As the final page flipped, the unicorn’s magic slammed the book shut and threw it onto the messy pile. Her magic than enveloped the book on top of the neat pile, which gently floated down and opened itself in front of her.

The Mayor approached and cleared her throat. “Dr. Sparkle, I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

The unicorn looked up from her book. Seeing the new blood, she put on a small smile, and the book neatly placed itself in the center of the table. She stood up and walked over to Pinkie, extending a hoof. “Welcome to Granifred Pie Memorial Hospital. Dr. Twilight Sparkle, diagnostics, and your name is?”

Pinkie took the hoof and shook it vigorously, glancing around the room in continued amazement. “Hey, Dr. Twilight! I’m Pinkie! I’m the new surgical resident!”

Twilight giggled. “Well, you certainly seem to be enthusiastic. Don’t lose that.”

Pinkie smiled. “The Mayor says you used to work for the Equestrian Center for Disease Research and Control! That must of been awesome! But why’d you come from somewhere like that to work in a hospital?” Pinkie inquired, tilting her head to the side as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Twilight looked back at her with a look somewhere between surprise and contempt. She cleared her throat and spoke. “Pardon me, Miss Pinkie, but I don’t believe that’s any of your business.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I won’t ask any more questions,” Pinkie said, miming zipping her mouth shut. This seemed to do the trick, as Dr. Twilight giggled slightly, and returned to a more relaxed demeanour... or at least as relaxed as she ever seemed to be. Even smiling, she looked incredibly professional and bookish.

“ Now, I’d love to chat some more, but I have an appointment in an hour, so I must get as much research done before that point, so if you’ll excuse me...” With nary another word, Dr. Sparkle sat back down, and returned to her book.


“Alright, one last stop for the day, and that’s the mane surgical room,” said the Mayor, leading Pinkie onwards.

“Oh boy!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “Finally, the place where I’ll get to do my epic battles with all manners of diseases!” Pinkie started jumping around, yelling ‘hi-ya’ and ‘take that’ over and over. The Mayor let out a resigned sigh. If she was truly the wonder child the schools said she was, than it was getting harder and harder to find that believable.

As they headed down yet another hallway towards the surgical room, the door itself suddenly swung open, revealing a white unicorn with a purple mane emerging. “Well, Fluttershy, it was nice talking again,” she said, “I’ll call you if I require anything. We’re still on for the spa this Sunday, correct? I’ll see you there.” With that, she closed the door behind her and started walking in Pinkie’s direction.

This time it was Pinkie who initiated the conversation, sticking out a hoof at the unicorn as it walked towards her. “Hey there, Missy! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m new here!”

The unicorn stopped for a second, looked down at Pinkies hoof, then back up to Pinkie’s beaming smile. Cautiously, she reached out and took Pinkie’s hoof. “Uh, Rarity Demond, MD. Charmed, I’m sure.”

“Ooh, you’re a doctor too? What’s your job around here? Huh-huh-huh?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically, only for the Mayor to step in.

“I apologize, Miss Demond. She’s our new surgical resident, and she’s a bit... overtly excited.”

Rarity nodded. “I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Miss Pie, but I do not work here.

Pinkie’s enthusiastic grin died down somewhat at this revelation. “Oh, I’m sorry. You were just coming out the surgery room, so I thought maybe you were a surgeon or something.”

Rarity shook her head. “Nothing like that at all, deary. I’m Ponyville’s mortician. I run the Carousel Funeral Parlour. I’m simply here asking a hoof of my dear friend, Dr. Kindred. She and I go way back. We shared a few classes in Canterlot U while we were getting our degrees.”

“Oooh, sounds cool. What did you need a hoof for?” Pinkie inquired, eyes wide open, shining with curiosity.

Rarity stifled a giggle at the almost pleading gaze, and relented. She produced a photograph of a white earth pony lying down at the beach. “I’m investigating a possible murder. Sometimes Ponyville PD requests my assistance on matters. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the stallion in this picture, would you?”

Pinkie shook her head.

“Ah, very well. If you’re really that curious, I was simply asking Dr. Kindred if she knew how much force you would need to apply to back of the skull in order to leave a compound fracture. She wasn’t very comfortable with the question, to tell the truth,” Rarity mentioned, giggling softly to herself.

At this moment, a soft ringing came from Rarity. She pulled out a small cell phone and looked at the caller ID. Her eyes lit up. “Ah, this is an important one. I must ask my leave, I’ve been waiting for this call for awhile. Perhaps we shall meet again, Miss Pie. Until then.” Rarity made a little mock-bow, which Pinkie returned. Rarity than levitated the phone up to her head. “Ah, Fancy Pants. It’s been entirely too long since we last spoke. Do you have the test results yet?” Rarity spoke as she trotted off.


The Mayor had been standing to the side while Pinkie and Rarity spoke. “Excuse me, Miss Pie, but if you’re finished talking to random strangers, we have a tour to finish.”

Pinkie looked over at the Mayor and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry...”

The Mayor stepped forward and headed into the surgery room. Pinkie followed, and emerged into a large room, cut in half with plastic sheets. On the side she was on, there was a small counter, a sink, a few chairs, an x-ray reader and a white board. Past the clear plastic sheet, she saw the familiar lights of an operating room, and a large operating table. Standing at the white board, scribbling down notes in a neat and fancy hoof was a yellow pegasus in a white doctor’s coat.

The pegasus did not seem to notice the two’s entrance, and was still writing on the white board. Pinkie Pie decided the best way get attention was to shout, “Hey there! Whatcha doing?”

In reaction to this, the yellow pegasus jumped, drawing a mark over a good portion of the notes while a soft squeak escaped her throat. She turned around, breathing heavily. Pinkie’s smile fell right off her face. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Did I startle you?”

The yellow pegasus breathed heavily for a moment eventually calming down. “P... Please don’t sneak up on me like that,” she half-heartedly mumbled to nopony but herself.

Pinkie leaned in closer. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

The Mayor interrupted, stepping towards the pegasus first. “I apologize, Dr. Kindred. She’s the new surgical resident, and I forgot to mention your nerves when we were coming here.”

The pegasus straightened up. “Oh, it’s alright. I’m fine... though I will have to rewrite all the notes for the surgery this afternoon.” The doctor gave a resigned sigh, before turning to Pinkie.

The Mayor spoke for her. “This is Dr. Fluttershy Kindred. She’s our senior staff member, and a master with the endoscope.” The compliment caused Dr. Fluttershy’s become a deep red.

Pinkie gave a little wave. “Hi, Dr. Fluttershy! I’m Pinkie Pie. I really like the hospital you guys have here!”

“Oh, yes, isn’t it wonderful? It’s so great that we have all this equipment to help with the healing process. It makes things so much nicer for the patients. I have to ask, though... Miss Pie, are by chance related to the great surgeon, Granifred Pie?”

Pinkie beamed once more. “Abso-total-lutely! She was my Granny! When I was growing up, she always told me stories, like when he had to surgically remove a tumour from the chief of the Equestrian Bureau of Intelligence’s liver, or when a bank robber who’d been shot by the police wandered into the hospital, and she refused to let the cops take him away until he finished recuperating! She was so great; I wanted to be just like her when I grew up, and since I’ve already done the growing up part, that’s why I’m here!”

Fluttershy smiled. “What a lovely story. I’m glad you found your own reason to become a doctor. I too was brought in by the kindness of doctors. I was very sick as a child, so the hospital was my second home. They were all so kind to me, so I wanted to do what they did,“ Fluttershy announced, “and now I am. Yay.”

“Dr. Fluttershy, don’t you have notes to write up for the surgery?” the Mayor injected.

Suddenly snapping back, Dr. Fluttershy picked back up the marker. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mayor. I’ll get that done right away,” she promised as she began to hurriedly rewrite everything down.

The Mayor turned to Pinkie Pie. “Well, I do believe you’ve seen all there is to see in Granifred Pie Memorial. I was you here bright and early tomorrow so that we can-“

“Mayor! We have a small problem!”

Pinkie turned around just in time to see the wall-eyed pegasus from before fly into the room. “What’s the problem, Nurse Derpy?”

“Well, Mayor, we just got a call from Caramel. He’s dreadfully ill and won’t be able to make the surgery today.”

The Mayor smacked herself on the forehead with her hoof. “That’s... unacceptable! That’s the 3rd time. Call him back and tell him he’s fired!” Derpy nodded, and flew out the door.

The Mayor tapped her chin. “This is bad. It’s just a routine surgery, but it’s in 20 minutes. I don’t have time to call in another surgeon.”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, ooh, ooh, what kinda surgery is it?”

“Well, it’s just a typically removal of some dormant tumours from the lower intesti... Wait. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not going to happen! You’ve just arrived, and I am not entrusting you with the reigns just yet. The insurance companies would have my head on a platter if you pulled something like that.”

“Um, Mayor, could I please say something?” came the timid little voice of Dr. Fluttershy.

The Mayor turned and sighed. “What is it, Dr. Kindred?”

Fluttershy stepped over to Pinkie Pie. “Well, Miss Pie does need some hooves-on experience in the surgical room. I don’t have any more patients today, so I can assist her in the operating room. It’s very simple, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.” She capped off her plea with a cute little smile, which Pinkie Pie gave as well.

“... Ugh. Fine. But if something goes wrong, I’m firing both of you,” the Mayor said, leaving the room.

Pinkie turned to Fluttershy. “Thanks, Dr. Fluttershy. I’m really glad you’ll be helping me out with my first big surgery.”

Fluttershy responded, “Oh, it’s no problem at all, Miss Pie.”

“Please, call me Pinkie,” Pinkie replied, grinning ear to ear.

“Oh, ok. Well, Miss Pinkie, we should probably go over the procedure now while we have the time. The patient should be here shortly.”

Pinkie nodded. “Teach away, Dr. Fluttershy!”


As Pinkie washed her hooves in preparation, Dr. Fluttershy poked her head in through the plastic curtains. “The patient is sedated, Miss Pinkie. We’re ready when you are.”

Pinkie nodded. “I’ll be out in an itsy-bitsy minute. Just let me get my tools.” Fluttershy nodded, and ducked back through the curtain, returning to the unconscious pony on the table.

Pinkie walked to the counter. Sitting on the counter was a selection of medical tools. A syringe, a pair of tweezers, a small jar of antibiotic gel, and... the scalpel.


The scalpel. She never liked knives. Not since... the incident.

You know, Pinkie, she thought, you could just leave. Why keep this charade up? Do you really deserve to save lives after what you’ve done?

Pinkie reached out a hoof towards the scalpel, but hesitated. Remember the screams, Pinkie. Remember the noise. Remember the blood. Do you really think you can make up for that?

Clenching her eyes closed, she forced herself to grab the scalpel.

And then... silence.

Fluttershy poked her head back in. “Um, Miss Pinkie, we’re waiting on you, so could you please come in? I mean, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Pinkie’s eyes opened. No longer were they full of giddy joy. Rather, they rang hollow and cold. “I’m coming in now, Dr. Kindred.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Ok, that’s good,” and popped back into the surgical chamber.

She glanced at the scalpel once more, and picked up the rest of her tools.

“Alright, Pinkamena. Time to do what we do best.”