Ocean Blues

by TalkingToMyself

Chapter 14

The sun was already up and shining when Blue woke up from what had to be the best sleep in her life. She sat at the edge of her bed and tried to get up, but standing on her legs was very difficult, so she used her wings for better balance.
Wait, what? Wings? What in... oh.

With her wings flapping slightly, she slowly lowered herself down to standing on four hooves instead of only two. It was much easier, and it felt right in this body, but it was strange nevertheless. Blue stared down at her hooves for a moment, then shrugged it off
"Whatever. I just gotta get used to it, that's all."

She turned towards the bathroom door and reached for the doorknob. It was already easier to turn it and push the door open, but she doubted that she had already reached the point where she could use forks and knives again. Oh well. One step at a time.

The bathroom had a large soaking tub, but Blue guessed it had to be late morning already, so instead she stepped into the shower. And stepped inside was the right expression, as it was a pony-sized walk-in shower. She wondered for a moment how a home without any electricity (even the lights were magic) would have indoor plumbing, but she didn't question it. Right now, she just wanted a quick shower and maybe a bite for breakfast, even though she had eaten more last night then the entire week before.

Her quick shower took almost half an hour. She played around with the knobs for a while, but the water was always either too hot or too cold, since she didn't have enough fine control. Then, she struggled with the showerhead. She couldn't pick it up with her hooves, so instead she just turned the water on full force and stepped under the stream, turning around to reach all the spots.

Water on her coat instead of skin felt very weird. It was almost like she would expect showering with all her clothes on might feel. She felt more wet than ever, as the coat seemed to soak up the water somewhat like a sponge. Her wings on the other hand or hoof? were very sensitive and the dark blue feathers repelled the water.

She browsed through the gallery of bottles she found on a small holder and wondered why there were so many. She picked up a shampoo bottle and clumsily poured a dollop on her head and tried to rub it into her mane. She wasn't used to this much hair, as her mane had considerably more volume than the short haircut she'd preferred as a human. Having hooves instead of hands didn't help much either.

She reached for the brush she found hanging next to the holder and tried to brush through her coat, but it was nearly impossible with her hooves. In the end, she used her mouth for most of it, glad that she was alone, and nobody could see her making a fool of herself. She blushed even at the thought of someone catching her with a brush between her teeth.

The brush, however, felt very nice on her coat and the skin beneath. She'd have to get used to that as well, but after a good brushing under the warm water, she felt much cleaner and refreshed.

Using a towel to dry herself seemed futile, with that much moisture clung in her coat and only a small towel left out for her, so she simply wrapped it around her mane and stepped out of the bathroom again. She walked to the window and into the bright sunlight in hope that the warm sun would help her dry faster.

This also gave her a good chance to look at the strange tattoo on her butt.

She had not noticed it the night before, with so many different, new, and frankly scary things happening at once, but now she had the chance to look at it closely in the light.

The design covered a good portion of her side, or was it called a flank now? It was very well made and looked like it was part of her coat rather than something that had been dyed or sprayed on.

The image was very appealing to her as well. On her dark blue coat was a white cloud with seven stylized raindrops falling out of it. The cloud was a little dented, like a strong breeze was blowing against it. Blue nodded in approval. She would never have thought about getting a tattoo, but that was an image she could agree on. Strange as it was, it just looked right on her flank. It fitted her perfectly. The only thing she couldn't understand was why she had the exact same tattoo on both sides of her flanks. Who would go to so much effort to paint a detailed picture like that not once, but twice perfectly on her coat?

Her pondering was interrupted by a knock on the door and a pony walking in, before she had even the chance to ask who was at the door. Starlight Glimmer smiled at her and didn't seem to have any problems with entering her room, so Blue pushed her annoyance aside and returned the smile
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Ocean Shore. I hope you had some good sleep."
"Yeah, thanks. Best I had in weeks, if not longer."

Starlight smiled brightly and Blue could tell it wasn't only from her answer. Starlight looked up and down Blue's still wet body and hid a giggle behind her hoof
"And I see you found the bathroom. Did you have some troubles with the shower?"
Blue tried her hardest not to blush and nodded
"My hooves and I had a little trouble working together, but I think we managed in the end."

This time, Starlight didn't hide her giggling, but Blue could sense no malice behind it, so she just rolled her eyes and smiled along
"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. I've seen your first steps when you were a human, can't say you were a picture of grace either."
They laughed together and Starlight nodded
"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time. For now though, want me to help out?"

Blue blinked and since she couldn't shrug as usual, she tilted her head
"Help out with what?"
Starlight chuckled and waved her hoof up and down as she pointed at her
"I'd say with getting you dry first of all. We'll see how much else."
Blue rolled her eyes and nodded
"It's such a pain with so much hair all over. How can you deal with this each morning?"

Starlight laughed kindly and her horn glowed a little. At the same time, the towel around Blue's head floated away and released her half-dried mane
"Well, if you take good care of your coat, it will repel most of the moisture, even if you're soaked you can just shake most of it off. Didn't you use the coat lotion?"

Blue just blinked rapidly
"I just used some shampoo I think."
"But that's for your mane. You didn't use anything for your coat?"
"Nope. Just a brush."
Starlight giggled with another nod
"Normally, you use the brush to lather your coat with the lotion and then rinse off. If you do that, your coat will stay healthy and shiny."

Blue noticed the glow around Starlight's horn again and nearly the same glow travelling down her body, so she held still. The glow was warm, almost like a blow-dryer, and her coat was dry when it passed. She smiled to Starlight
"Thank you. That was magic, right?"
"Yup. Just a quick low-scale heat spell."
Blue nodded and flapped her wings to get all her feathers straight
"I can't imagine doing that every morning."
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."
"You speak for yourself. You have a magic horn, but I have to pick up things with my mouth."

Blue blushed and pressed her ears to the side of her head as she had to admit, but Starlight wasn't fazed at all
"So? That's normal around here, you know. Not everypony is a unicorn. It's like the bowl at the dinner table. It's not a big deal unless you make it one."
Blue nodded but the blush wouldn’t fade
“This is all so strange. You can do everything just by thinking about it, and I don’t even know what I can do at all.”
Starlight chuckled and pointed to her flank
“Well, obviously you can fly with those wings. And if we go by your cutie mark, I bet you have a talent for weathermaking.”

“My cutie whatnow?”
Starlight pointed at the tattoo on her flank and Blue blinked confused
“Oh, that? I just thought someone painted that for decoration.”
“Nope. That’s a cutie mark. Everypony gets one eventually, they are a sign for your special talent or ambition. Like mine, it means I’m good at magic.”
She pointed at the starburst on her own flank
“And it’s not painted, it appears magically. So even if you’d get injured, it will grow back with your coat.”

Blue watched the raincloud mark on her flank more closely
“So in essence, it’s like my ID and my job description for everyone to see.”
“Well, it could be. It’s not always as clear and it’s not necessarily your job. It’s a special talent, something in which you excel, so most ponies make a job of it.”
“Huh. So I’m practically destined to be a water maker.”
Starlight giggled behind her hoof
“Weather maker, and as I said, you don’t have to be. But if you want, you’d first need somepony to give you some flying lessons. Well, maybe breakfast first of all, then a flying teacher.”

Blue looked out of the window and the high standing sun
“Shouldn’t it be close to lunch already?”
“Nope, why would you think that? The sun was just raised maybe an hour ago.”
“But… how is it already that high, then?”

Before Starlight got more confused, Princess Twilight who came from another corridor saved her
“Princess Celestia raises the sun in this world, Ocean Shore. She puts it up into the right position very quickly and sets it down faster than you’re familiar. Same with Princess Luna and the moon, by the way. You’ll get used to it.”

Blue turned around to greet Twilight and smiled when she saw her sister walking next to her. Apparently, they had similar problems with showers, since Spring’s mane was also a little damp still
“Hi sis. How was your first night as a horse?”
“It started kind of weird, but then I slept like a rock.”
“Yeah, same here.”

They chatted a little as they followed Starlight and Twilight through the castle to a dining room, where they met Cadance, Spike and Sunset Shimmer again. They had obviously been waiting for them, since the table was full of breakfast treats. As soon as everyone was seated, they dug in, only with less awkwardness this time, as Twilight and Cadance behaved a lot less princess-like as the night before.

---

Cadance and Spring Meadow walked along a little dirt path behind the castle. Twilight had told them that she’d found no signs of their doppelgängers anywhere, so Spring took the chance to see more of this place while Princess Cadance made sure she didn’t get lost, and also got some more questions out of her.

“When did you decide you want to be a nurse, Spring Meadow?”
“Well, I wanted to become a doctor really, since I was little. I wanted to help other people when they were sick, but I didn’t know how. First aid and all is nice, but it’s not always enough. Since I couldn’t become a doctor, I went for the next best thing, which was nurse training.”

“And you would like to keep this profession?”
At this Spring looked up to the taller alicorn
“If that’s a thing here, I would. But I guess you can just cast magic spells and heal everything anyway, why would you even need nurses? And even with that, since I don’t have a magic horn, would I even be allowed to be a nurse?”

Princess Cadance watched her now, with some concern
“Well, for starters, magic has its limits, even alicorn magic. Nopony can just cure every disease with the right spell. That usually only works if the disease is magical itself, and that’s very rare.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
Cadance smiled kindly
“I wouldn’t expect you to know. That’s why we’re talking, so you can learn all you need if you wish to stay in Equestria.”
“I do. I really do. Even if I couldn’t be a nurse anymore.”
“And why wouldn’t you?”

“Well, I don’t have a horn for starters.”
“Many doctors and nurses are earth ponies like you, Spring Meadow.”
“Really? The way I understand, earth ponies are farmers and labourers and such. You know, like workers in an ant hive. Keep everything going but try to reach too far and you’re put back into place.”

Cadance froze in her step and put a wing on Spring Meadow’s back, which made her stop as well and look at the disturbed princess
“Spring Meadow, I won’t lie to you, there certainly were times when earth ponies were seen as… commoners or peasants. But those times are long past. Today, every pony can seek out their path to happiness as they see fit. So if you want to be a nurse, nopony in Equestria would keep you from it.”
Spring Meadow seemed reassured, but not fully convinced
“Still, without a magic horn to help…”

“Spring Meadow, I’ve been born without a horn and I grew up in a village of earth ponies. You don’t need magic to put on a bandage or fix a potion. All magic in Equestria is worthless if you don’t know how to fight back a fever.”
Spring looked down at her hooves
“All my knowledge is based on human medicine though. I don’t even know if it’s compatible.”
“Then our first step would be to find out just that. Would that be something you like, Spring Meadow?”

She looked back up at the princess and nodded
“Yes. Yes of course. If it means I could stay here with Ocean, I’m willing to learn everything I need.”
Cadance still had that kind smile for her
“Then I believe I know where our first stop should be.”

---

Blue flapped her wings and fluttered straight up, until she was hovering under the ceiling. She then leaned to her side and flew a sharp turn, just like Twilight had demonstrated
“Very good. A little stiff, but since it’s your first day with wings, it’s astounding what you can already do.”

Blue grinned and flapped her wings some more, doing a few turns in different directions, as if she was dodging some invisible obstacles
“I guess I’m finally good at something.”
Twilight laughed gently but nodded
“I’d say so. With some more refinement, you could probably start at the local weather patrol if that’s what you want.”
“Well, Starlight put the idea into my head. It’s a job based around flying and I seem to be good at it, so sounds like a good idea, right?”

Twilight nodded and landed back on the floor, Blue next to her with a good form
“Yes it does, though there are other jobs that involve flying. The postal service relies heavily on pegasus mailponies as well, for example. I’m sure there will be something that suits you, Ocean Shore. After a couple of flying lessons.”
“Sure. When can we start?”

Twilight smiled and shook her head
“I can give you a few pointers, but I think you’d benefit more from a more experienced flyer. Fortunately, I know one of the best flyers in Equestria.”
“Oh? And who would that be?”

On cue, Blue felt a sharp breeze from behind her and a familiar voice along with it
“Somepony mention… me?”
Blue just rolled her eyes out of instinct
“Shut up, Dash.”

She heard a thunk behind her as hooves landed on the crystal floor of the castle with some force behind them
“Wow. Rude much?”

Blue turned around and saw… Rainbow Dash. No doubt about it. The same prismatic hair, maybe a little longer, the same sky-blue colour, the same confident stance, the same cocky voice. But at the same time, she was not Rainbow Dash as she knew her. She ended up staring at the unfamiliar familiar pegasus pony and just now realized what she had said on pure instinct
“I… you… what… how…?”

She blushed hard when both Twilight and the pony Rainbow Dash laughed at her stuttering
“Sheesh, I know I’m awesome like that, but keep it together, will you? I thought you humans were made of tougher stuff.”
Blue blinked confused and turned to Twilight
“Wait, so you told her? What about ‘keeping it a secret for now’?”

Twilight giggled and flapped her wings once
“Well, my friends are the exception, obviously. I'd never keep secrets from them. Besides, Rainbow Dash can help you with your flying.”
“You betcha. We’ll have you breaking records before you can say ‘parasprite parade’.
Blue just blinked more
"What's a parasprite?"

Both Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight chuckled
"Doesn't matter. What really matters is that we get you in the air as fast as possible. Come on, show me what you got."

Blue watched that other Rainbow Dash for a minute. There was a challenge in her voice, like she knew from her friend in the human world, but the eyes didn't match. This Rainbow Dash didn't have that burning rivalry and that urge to win at any cost, even if it meant going against her friends. Instead, she smiled encouragingly at Blue, like a coach or a teacher might. She really seemed interested in helping first, showing off could wait until later. She was so much like her Rainbow Dash, just maybe a couple years older and more mature.

After a minute of pondering, Blue returned that smile with a smirk of her own and stretched her wings. A couple of flaps and she was airborne again. She flew up to the ceiling again and went for a dive, catching herself with a hard flap before she got too close to the grounds. She then performed some sharp and swift turns and even a slow spin. She alighted again in front of Rainbow Dash with a hard thud of her hooves on the floor. She was still smirking, even as she had to catch her breath after this exercise.

"How's that?"
Rainbow Dash smirked right back
"Not bad, for your first day. You're almost good enough for junior flight school."
Blue's grin instantly turned into a scowl
"Oh yeah? Well, what do you know? You're just big talk and no game like always."
Rainbow Dash now seemed to get angry as well
"What do you mean, like always? We've just met!"

Blue's scowl faded and instead she now looked confused. Even though she knew that this Rainbow Dash wasn't the one she'd grown close with, for a moment it just felt like she was. The resemblance was just so uncanny and ever their personalities nearly matched.

Princess Twilight noticed Blue's expression and decided to step in
"Actually, Rainbow Dash is one of the best flyers in the land and she's part of the Wonderbolts, the most famous flying squad of Equestria. She knows her flying, that's for sure."

Rainbow Dash had that smile again and winked
"How about we take this outside and then I'll show you what I've got? The weather is perfect for flying. Twilight, you're coming along too."
Princess Twilight nodded eagerly, but Blue hesitated
"What happened to the 'stay inside'-rule?"

Twilight just smiled
"It doesn't seem that you have any counterparts nearby, so everypony you meet will just assume you're new in town, which is true after all. And with Rainbow Dash and me around, we can make sure you won't get lost."
Blue hesitated for a moment, but then just shrugged it off. Nopony knew her, there would be no rumours and no blame from the other world waiting for her. This would a fresh start on a clean slate
“So, let’s go already!”

---

Spring Meadow followed Cadance to one of the bigger buildings in town. It didn’t look any special from the outside, but once she was inside, Spring immediately knew that this was a hospital. It had the same sterile scent with a hint of disinfectant hanging in the air, in the waiting area she saw ponies with that same uneasy expression humans had too whenever they had to visit a hospital, and there were busy ponies running around with clipboards. The only difference, except that it was all ponies instead of humans of course, was that the nurses didn’t wear much of a uniform, instead they all only had white caps with a red cross. She saw a stallion (Male horses are stallions, right? Right.) with a doctor’s coat and a stethoscope as well.

Cadance walked up to the reception and almost shocked the nurse sitting there out of her fur. The small mare dashed around the counter to bow to the pony princess. Cadance didn’t wear a crown or anything and she had asked Spring to just call her Cadance, but it seemed that this whole princess thing really was more than just an honorary title. Pony-Celestia and Pony-Luna sure made more of a regal impression, but Cadance and Twilight had just acted like normal people at breakfast.

Once the mare had recovered from meeting a princess, they talked and Spring Meadow got a better look at the small mare. She had white fur and a pale pink mane that was bound up into a loose bun. Spring also noticed that she didn’t only have the red cross on her cap, but also as her flank mark. As Spring glanced around, all the nurses had a variation of a red cross on their flanks, probably instead of name tags. Spring looked at her own flank and frowned. Where Blue had a cloud and Starlight Glimmer had stars and sparkles, she had flowers in red, yellow and a light blue colour. They were all spring flowers, arranged in a slightly heart-shaped bouquet, and they looked very nice on her lime green fur. Like a spring meadow for Spring Meadow. She really liked it, but she’d change it for a job as a nurse, of course.

Princess Cadance finally turned to Spring and invited her closer with a nod of her head
“Spring Meadow, meet Nurse Redheart. Nurse Redheart, this is Spring Meadow. She's new in Ponyville and she's very interested in the work you do here in Ponyville Hospital. Maybe you could give us a tour?”
“Oh, absolutely Princess Cadance! It's nice to meet you, Spring Meadow.”

Even though the nurse was clearly fawning over Cadance, Redheart still had an honest smile for her, which Spring felt herself return on instinct. The mare didn't seem suspicious of her or angry that she was competing for the attention of the princess. She was also a pony without horn or wings, just like herself.

Redheart led them through some corridors with patient's rooms and explained the basic stuff Spring already knew, so she only listened halfway and tried to get a closer look at things. Despite everything being pony-sized, this wasn't too far from what she knew of a human hospital. She saw the typical medical equipment, even if the plugs were missing. Probably everything was powered by magic, just like the lights in Princess Twilight's castle. If there was any difference, it would be that there were far less screens and more paper files instead.

“So, what brought you to Ponyville and our hospital, Spring Meadow?”
Spring blanched at this question since she didn't really had thought of a backstory for her presence, but Princess Cadance came to her aid
“Spring Meadow comes from a rather small village far west. She's been helping ill ponies there as well.”

Redheart smiled more and didn't even question her for a second
“Ah, so you are the town healer. I've heard that's still more common in the smaller rural towns.”
Spring shook her head with a blush
“I, um, I was just helping people whenever I could. I never finished my training so I'm not a real healer and nowhere close to a doctor.”

Redheart just giggled behind her hoof
“I'm sure you did great! If you're a town healer at your young age, you must know a lot already. So let me show you how we work here in the hospital.”

The nurse led them down another corridor while talking
“As a healer, you need to be able to do a lot in general, but here we have different departments that all specialize in a certain field, like the foal's ward for our youngest patients or the intensive care unit for emergencies.”

Spring Meadow nodded and glanced into the rooms as they walked through the foal's ward. She was used to see a lot of crying children in a hospital, but here she saw a lot more smiles in general, especially from the nurses. Every pony she saw seemed to have a more positive attitude in general.

“We also have specialized jobs. Nurses like me take care of the general needs of our patients and assist the doctors who perform treatments that are more difficult. For example, I'm allowed to give out regular herbal potions to the patients, but our doctors handle more complex medication. That said, we only have half a dozen doctors here in Ponyville Hospital, compared to big clinics like in Canterlot we are rather small.”

Spring nodded again and listened attentively. She remembered something she had learned from Cadance earlier and chimed in
“What about magical treatments?”
“Oh, we have a unicorn doctor and two nurses for those, but most of the time we try to shift the patients with magical diseases to more specialized clinics, since Canterlot is just a short train ride away. Any reason why you're asking about magic, Spring Meadow?”

Spring found herself blushing and stammering again, only to have Princess Cadance save her once more
“Spring Meadow comes from a village with mostly earth ponies. In fact, her sister is the only pegasus pony from there.”
“Oh, I see. So you’ve not come in contact with magic a lot.”
Spring Meadow shook her head rapidly
“Never. It’s all a bit overwhelming to be honest.”

Spring didn’t know if she could physically blush any harder as Redheart laughed at her. Then she heard Cadance chuckle as well and looked a little closer. Redheart was not laughing at her at all
“Trust me, I know what you mean. When Princess Twilight moved to Ponyville a few years back, there were more magical shenanigans than I was happy to deal with. And she wasn’t even a princess back then! When she became an alicorn, it just dialled up a notch.”

Sunset Shimmer had explained a few things about unicorns, alicorns and magic after breakfast, but Spring didn’t really get any of it. To see that Redheart as a regular hornless pony had similar problems felt good, in a way. Magic was all around in this world, but it was a bit like high-tech at home. Spring Meadow didn’t exactly know how a computer worked, but she was still using it a lot during the job. Redheart probably didn’t know how the ultrasonic was powered exactly, but she could still use it anyway.
Spring felt her blush fade a little as she joined with a polite chuckle of her own.

Redheart stopped when she noticed another nurse walk up to them, visibly nervous because of Princess Cadance. She excused herself for a moment and the two nurses huddled over a patient’s file the younger nurse carried in her horn-glow. Spring Meadow got curious and took a closer look when she saw an X-ray picture as well, she wouldn’t ever have imagined that ponies could have that kind of technology, when she suddenly frowned
“There’s a fissured fracture. Right here.”

She pointed at the spot on the image and both nurses blinked surprised. They took a closer look at the X-ray image, but a voice behind them answered
“That is correct.”
They all turned towards the new voice and Spring recognized the stallion doctor she had seen before. He looked at her with some interest, almost to the point that he ignored the alicorn princess who stood next to her
“And what kind of treatment would you recommend for this?”

Spring easily slipped back into a professional mind-set and looked at the X-ray image again
“Well, it doesn’t look like a complicated fracture, so I suppose a cast to keep it stable for a couple of weeks should suffice and painkillers for the first two weeks. If the pain is still present after that, there might be a slight displacement we can’t see on X-ray. In that case, the patient needs an operation most likely.”

Every pony around her just watched as Spring rattled down medical facts like it was nothing. When she was done, both nurses looked at the doctor who, after a minute of thinking, nodded in affirmation
“I agree. Nurse Redheart, Nurse Rhyme, would you please prepare everything? I’ll be there with you in a minute.”
“Of course, Doctor.”

The nurse with the horn, Nurse Rhyme, quickly sprang into action and trotted off. Redheart nodded but turned around for a shy smile towards the princess and saw Cadance beaming back at her
“Thank you very much for the tour, Nurse Redheart.”
“It was my pleasure, Princess Cadance.”
Nurse Redheart bowed her head before she followed the younger mare.

Once they were out of earshot, the doctor turned towards Spring and Cadance again
“I was not expecting a royal visit today. I hope you find everything to your liking, Your Highness.”
He focused back on Spring
“And I certainly didn’t expect a visit from another colleague. My name is Lucky Clover, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor..?”

Spring immediately blushed furiously once again
“Um, Spring Meadow. But I’m not a doctor! I’m not even a real nurse! I just picked up things here and there.”
“Really? Because it sounded like you knew very well what you are talking about, and clearly more than a typical village healer would know.”

Spring never got a chance to recover from blushing, especially when Princess Cadance joined in the chuckling
“Have you been eavesdropping, Doctor?”
The stallion just ignored that and instead held his clipboard with another medical file under Spring’s nose
“Can you tell me what this is, Miss Meadow?”

And she could, after a quick glance
“That’s a full blood count.”
Doctor Lucky Clover just grinned “And?” so Spring took a closer look
“Um, iron level seems to be a little low and blood sugar is absurdly high. And I don’t know what that means.”

She pointed at some words at the bottom of the file. The doctor just laughed heartily
“I can assure you, everything is in order with this patient. You see, he’s a unicorn and their use of magic burns through a lot of calories, hence the high blood sugar. And those are enzymes that are typical for unicorns as well, but living in a village of earth ponies, I assumed you would not be familiar with them.”

Something about the way he said that make her feel almost sick, so Spring took a few steps backwards, away from the stallion.

Princess Cadance noticed Spring’s uneasiness right away and took a step closer to her. Her wing spread out to hover protectively over the smaller mare, but she still had a friendly smile for Lucky Clover
“So you have been listening in, I see. Since you know about Spring Meadow already, maybe you’d like to tell us a bit about yourself now, Doctor?”

Lucky Clover now bowed his head to the princess, just like the nurses had done earlier
“Of course, Your Highness. You have to forgive me, but if there’s one weakness I can’t control, it’s my curiosity. As I said, I’m Doctor Lucky Clover, and I am a general practitioner here in Ponyville Hospital. I’m also the head of the hospital for almost five years now.”

Princess Cadance nodded but Spring Meadow cowered under the princess’ wing as soon as she heard that. He’s the CA and I just made a fool of myself on our first meeting. I’ve already messed up any chance I ever had with him. She felt her chest tighten up and cut off her breathing.

When Cadance realized this, she turned to the stallion again
“Then I believe you are the pony we need to talk to, Doctor. Perhaps after you’ve taken care of your patient, you have some time for us?”
Lucky Clover immediately got the hint and bowed his head
“Of course, Your Highness. Please excuse me.”

Cadance waited for him to be out of earshot before she leaned her head down to Spring Meadow
“Are you alright? Do you want to step outside for a moment?”
Spring Meadow could only nod and Princess Cadance quickly guided her back outside with her wing covering her protectively.

Once outside, Spring Meadow could finally breathe normally again, but she stayed close to the taller pony who took her to a bench where they could sit
“Is everything alright, Spring Meadow? Did something scare you?”

Spring shook her head and cowered under the wing Cadance kept around her, trying to fight back her desperation. Cadance waited for her answer, so eventually she had to say something
“I already messed up.”
“What? What makes you think that, Spring Meadow?”

Spring shook her head. She would not have a nervous breakdown in front of a princess, so she forced out a calm voice
“I just messed up in front of the head in charge. I couldn’t answer all his questions and I made a mistake. He’ll never hire me as a nurse after that.”

The wing around her flexed into something like a hug and Princess Cadance spoke softly
“Why do you think that? You showed him that you already know a lot and you helped Nurse Redheart with her problem. One little mistake won’t make much of a difference.”

“You don’t understand.”
Spring’s voice was desperately close to a sob
“In every hospital I worked, the doctors always demand perfection. If you mess up even once, they report you and berate you, especially when you’re new. They don’t think too high of nurses. I already messed up any chance I ever had of becoming a nurse in this world, too.”

Spring Meadow didn’t quite cry, but she sounded so desperate that Princess Cadance pulled her into a quick hug. She tried to protest, but the princess wouldn’t let her
“Calm down, Spring Meadow. Just take a few breaths, nice and easy.”
Spring did so for a minute or two, then found Cadance looking directly into her eyes
“There, much better. Now why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind?”

Her first instinct was to lie. Make up something that would get the princess off her back. However, something in the way Cadance looked at her made her stop. With a deep sigh, she answered her question truthfully instead
“It’s Blue. I have to make this work. If we have to go back into the other world, they will take her away from me! I can’t live without her, she’s only got me and I only have her and ever since my parents…. since they… we only have each other left! So I have to convince you all to let us stay! I need to get a job and show that I can do this! I need to make this for Blue! I have to make this work, I have to!”

Princess Cadance listened quietly and spread her wings over the smaller mare when she saw some tears in her eyes. Even though Spring didn’t seem to be overly proud, nopony would like to be seen in a moment of weakness like this.

Once Spring had calmed down at least some, Cadance tried to talk to her
“It sounds to me that the world you come from is a very harsh place to live. Especially for two young ma-… women like you and your sister.”
Spring shook her head with a bitter expression
“You have no idea.

Spring Meadow didn't give any further explanations and Cadance didn't want any if she was honest. All she heard last night and seeing Spring Meadow break down like this gave her more than enough reasons to know she'd never want to visit that other world. It also made it very clear that she didn't want to send Spring Meadow and Ocean Shore back. She could tell how much they cared about each other and depended on each other, so there was no way she would send them to a world that would separate them, not even if her aunts would recommend it.

For now though, she had something more important to do. Spring Meadow was still devastated about her meeting with the doctor, and she needed a boost to her self-esteem. Luckily, Cadance knew exactly how to do this.

As soon as Spring Meadow had her tears at bay, she guided her back towards the hospital.

---

Blue touched back on the ground a little harder than she had intended, but she stayed on her hooves, nonetheless. She was breathing hard by now, no wonder after the workout she'd just been put through. Rainbow Dash might be the best flyer of this world, but she was also a slave driver. She was determined to push Blue to the breaking point, but Blue wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. And, she had to admit, somehow between all the drill sessions, she had learned a lot.

It was the strangest thing so far, stranger than having four legs or a castle that runs on magic, but she felt really good with her wings. She only had them for a day, but they felt so natural already, like she always had them. Especially when she was focused on some flight manoeuvre, they just moved the way she wanted it and she didn't even have to think about it. Instead, she just felt great, especially when Dash told her she'd pulled off some stunts Princess Twilight couldn't do for weeks after she got wings. It was just like Starlight Glimmer had said, apparently she was a natural at this.

Rainbow Dash had gone through a lot of different flying techniques with her, and Twilight had added in some advice as well, so Blue had quickly found her limits. She wasn't very fast, compared to Rainbow Dash, when it came to straight flying, but neither was the princess. She could do all the dives and turns Rainbow demonstrated and even when Dash had somehow produced a strong gust to through her off loop, she had recovered quickly, even quicker than Twilight. She also had more endurance than Twilight, who had dropped out after a few repetitions to catch her breath. Then again, Twilight was taller than her, so maybe she also had to lift more.

Blue's greatest strength so far was her agility. No matter how many spins and flips Rainbow made her do, she could deliver, and with each successful trick, she grew more confident in her wings. When Rainbow took her to some forest and had her fly through the thick wood, she weaved effortlessly between the trees and dived under the branches. In narrow space, she could even keep up with Rainbow's speed.

She was nowhere perfect yet. She knew that and Rainbow kept reminding her with her usual quips, like calling her a newbie all the time. But despite that, she knew she could do this, with a little more practice.

And even if she wasn't perfect, she had tons of fun. Flying was like the thing she didn't even know she was looking for, until she found it. In the air, she felt a kind of freedom she never had before. Even though this was supposed to be hard training, she barely felt it because with each new spin or trick, she felt that freedom. She imagined that this had to be something like people called a 'runner's high', just with wings. And the thought that she might even score a job out of this was like the icing on the cake.

Like the cake she could totally eat all by herself right now. It's been hours of training and even if she didn't want to stop, she was running low on fumes by now. Rainbow Dash noticed that as well, of course, but she didn't mock her for it. Instead, she landed next to her and Princess Twilight joined them as well.

“So, that was pretty good for your first day. Not every day I see a pony power through a full session with me. Of course I was going easy on you.”
Blue just rolled her eyes
“Sure you did, Dash. And you definitely didn't grace that last tree over there.”
Twilight started to giggle while Rainbow Dash chose to ignore Blue's biting sarcasm
“I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyway, how about we head back and see…”

“Rainbow Dash! Hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Blue frowned when she heard that familiar squeal of a voice. It sounded almost like... oh no. She turned around like the others and saw a small orange pony with a purple frizz for hair buzz towards them. Instead of flying, she was riding on a scooter and used her wings to go fast. The sight of a pony on a scooter should have surprised Blue way more than it actually did, but that was mostly because she was busy glaring at the intruder.
“Rainbow Dash, I saw you flying up there, you looked so cool!”

Of course, it was Scootaloo. Or, the pony version of Scootaloo probably, but with the same obsession on Rainbow Dash as the girl Blue had seen at CHS. She couldn't help but get angry when she remembered how far that obsession had driven the girl, to the point she would slander everyone at school as Anon-A-Miss, just so she could blame Sunset Shimmer. And all of it just because Scootaloo wanted more time with Rainbow Dash.

Blue felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned to Princess Twilight. She looked very concerned as she watched her and softly shook her head. Blue took a deep breath and tried to look less angry. She noticed that she had flared her wings aggressively as well and forced them down to her flanks before she looked back at the orange pony girl.

Scootaloo had missed her reaction entirely, of course. Blue would take any bet that she hadn't even noticed anyone beside Rainbow Dash.

Dash was grinning and enjoyed the attention, even if she looked a little bashful
“Yeah, you know, I was teaching a few basic manoeuvres to my new friend here.”
“Huh?”

Finally, Scootaloo turned her head and acknowledged the other two ponies next to Rainbow Dash. She looked over Twilight, but when she saw Blue, she only had a sore glance for her
“Don't you know that Rainbow Dash is the best flyer in all of Equestria? Why should she waste her time teaching you basics when she could do awesome new tricks instead?”

Blue's wings instantly snapped back open, and her glare was back full force. Before she could say anything she would regret later, Rainbow jumped in
“Hey now Squirt, nothing wrong with brushing up the basics every now and then. Everypony has to start with that at some point.”
Scootaloo nodded rapidly and her wings buzzed excited
“Of course Rainbow Dash! You're so right!”
After she gushed that out, she turned back to Blue with a mean smirk
“You're lucky Rainbow Dash agreed to train with you, new girl! You obviously need any help you can get. I mean, how old are you, new girl? Shouldn't you know the basics by now? You must be hopeless.”

Blue gritted her teeth and took a menacing step towards Scootaloo
“The fuck did you just say?”
The orange filly was still completely oblivious and only had that condescending smirk for her
“Don't worry, Rainbow Dash is the best and coolest pony, she can even teach a lost cause like you!”

Blue could almost hear the snap as her fuses burnt through. Somehow, she managed a low growl as she closed in on Scootaloo who finally caught up on the angry blue pony in front of her. Too bad for her that it was too late by now
“How 'bout I smash in your teeth with that bloody scooter and you try saying that again, you little piece of shit!”

Scootaloo tried to back away and stumbled, just as Blue got ready to jump at her and...
“Ocean Shore! Don’t do it!”

Blue froze up when Princess Twilight yelled at her from close up. She turned around and the look Princess Twilight shot at her cooled her down like a truckload of ice. She looked back at Scootaloo who stared at her from the ground with pure fear in her eyes, and Rainbow Dash stepped between Blue and filly. She had her wings spread just like Blue and Scootaloo cowered behind her protector.

Nopony said anything for a moment. Blue couldn't even move. She had been so close to ramming her hoof into a pony she just met. If Twilight and Rainbow Dash hadn't been here... Blue flinched when she heard a muffled sob from Scootaloo.

She did the only thing she could think of. She flapped her wings hard and shot into the sky. When she was above the treeline, she just flew into whatever direction she was facing, as fast as she could
“Blue, wait!”

She ignored the call from the ground and just flew away.

---

Spring Meadow thought she would die from embarrassment. That in itself wasn’t something unusual, she had had moments like that back in the human world before. However, here in the magic dimension of princesses and talking ponies, for the first time she wondered if it was actually possible.

Princess Cadance had taken her back to the hospital, but not to the patient rooms she’d seen before. Instead, Nurse Redheart led them up some stairs and to what had to be the office tract of the hospital, all while fawning over the princess. Redheart didn’t mention their sudden departure with any word, nor did she say anything about the fact that Spring Meadow’s eyes were still red from crying.

They followed Redheart to an unmarked door at the end of the hallway. Instead of knocking, Redheart just headed straight in, followed by Princess Cadance. They didn’t act like this was out of the ordinary, so Spring just slipped in behind them and took her place next to the princess again. She didn’t hide under the taller mare’s wing like before, but she still felt better sticking close to the princess. Cadance had already saved her some embarrassment once, hopefully she would do so again.

The office, as it turned out, belonged to Doctor Lucky Clover. He didn’t seem too bothered that ponies walked into his office unannounced, but he looked surprised to see her again
“Your Highness, Miss Spring Meadow. I was under the impression that you had already left.”

Spring Meadow gladly let Cadance take over who answered with a practiced smile
“We just stepped outside for a minute. But now, I would like to get back on that talk I mentioned earlier.”

Princess Cadance turned her head to smile at Nurse Redheart who still watched her in awe. She wasn’t really sending her away, but Redheart got the message anyway
“Oh! I just realized I left the reception vacant. I better go back there.”

The doctor waited silently for Nurse Redheart to leave before he addressed the princess again
“So, how can I help you, Your Highness?”
“Before I get to that, there is something I would like to ask.”

Cadance turned her head so she could look at the Doctor while watching Spring Meadow as well
“How was your first impression of Spring Meadow, today?”

Doctor Lucky Clover now focused his attention on Spring as well, and Spring’s head immediately dropped down. She didn’t really want to hear it, but she didn’t want to anger Princess Cadance either. If she was to stay with Blue, she needed consent from the princess, and that meant she had to face the music.

“Well, to be honest, Your Highness, I don’t believe a word you told me about Spring Meadow.”
Spring’s ears clamped down against her head from instinct, but she could still hear the doctor speaking
“A simple village healer wouldn’t have known anything about an X-ray-machine or how to read a blood count. They know about herbal remedies, maybe the odd potion here and there, and how to dress wounds, but rarely more.”

He stopped talking long enough for Spring Meadow to dare and look up at him again
“I’m very sure I’m talking to a trained professional. And going from your diagnosis earlier, a very competent one at that. Isn’t that right?”
Spring tried to just stay silent and wait, but a nudge from Cadance’ wing had her cede and answer instead
“Trained, maybe but… I’m no professional. I am… I was a nurse-in-training.”

Lucky Clover nodded, but he still carried a rather thoughtful expression
“That would explain some of it. But it also throws up more questions. As in, how would you not recognize a typical unicorn’s blood count when you saw it? Any hospital in Equestria would teach their nurses if…”
“There weren’t any unicorns where she comes from.”

At this point, Princess Cadance decided to intervene before Lucky Clover could dig any deeper, much to Spring Meadow’s relief
“Doctor, what I am about to tell you might sound unbelievable, but I need to ask you to hear me out. Even if it won’t make much sense at first.”

To their surprise, the doctor just had a wry smile for them
“Princess, with all respect, but since Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville, I’ve seen an attack by an ursa minor, I’ve seen the town almost devoured by parasprites, changed to absurdity by Discord, the ascension of a new princess and an entire castle sprouting out of the ground. I think in Ponyville terms, unbelievable is a far stretch for me.”

Spring Meadow was back at fearful staring, as she barely understood half the things the stallion sad, but Princess Cadance responded with a chuckle
“I see what you mean. Very well then. Just one more thing.”

She sat up a little straighter and taller as she fixed the doctor with a stern look. Any mirth she had shown just moments earlier was suddenly replaced by an aura of royal authority, not unlike what Spring Meadow had seen from the Princess Celestia on the night before. Lucky Clover also noticed the sudden change and focused on the princess with all of his attention
“What I’m going to tell you now is not for anypony else to know. You are hereby sworn into secrecy by royal decree. You are not to speak of anything of this with anypony, except the four ruling princesses and Spring Meadow herself. Do you understand and accept this, Lucky Clover?”
The doctor didn’t just nod, instead he got on his hooves and bowed down formally, with a tone of his voice to match
“Yes, Your Highness. I understand and accept these terms.”

Spring watched with equal parts of awe and anxiety how the informal conversation between the two ponies turned into a formal decree, only to change back in the blink of an eye
“You see Doctor, Spring Meadow is not of Equestrian origin. While she possesses a whole lot of medical knowledge, she’s not familiar with ponies at all. And by that, I mean ponies in general, not just unicorns.”

Despite what he said earlier, Lucky Clover couldn’t quite grasp what Princess Cadance tried to explain
“But that makes no sense. If she studied medicine, she would naturally learn about ponies in general. How else would she know enough about the structure of a bone to diagnose a fissure?”
“Unless, Doctor, she didn’t learn this from studying ponies, but a different species with enough similarities.”

Lucky Clover seemed to consider this for a moment, but quite went back to shaking his head
“Impossible. The closest to Equestrian ponies would be the inhabitants of Saddle Arabia, but their medical state of the art is not advanced enough to include X-ray-machines. Gryphons, as far as I know, don’t even have the concept of general medical support in their culture, they have local healers instead of hospitals with doctors and nurses. Unless…”

He threw a strange look at Spring Meadow that made her feel even more uneasy
“She wouldn’t happen to be a changeling by any chance?”

Spring Meadow, who had been out of the loop of conversation for a while now, didn’t like the way that Lucky Clover suddenly treated her more like a study subject than a person. This was probably why she sounded a lot angrier when she finally decided to join in
“She doesn’t even know what a changeling is. But maybe you could ask her about it. Just an idea.”
Lucky Clover nodded and knocked his hoof on his desk
“Very well. If you’re not a changeling, then who are you, Spring Meadow?”

Spring glanced to Princess Cadance who nodded her approval
“Ever heard of humans?”
The doctor stared at her for a moment, before he broke into laughter
“Humans! Priceless! For a moment, you got me Miss Spring Meadow.”

He kept laughing until he noticed that neither Spring nor Cadance had joined in, which left him utterly confused
“Don’t be silly, you can’t be a human. They are just myths. They are not real.”
By now, Spring just lost any patience
“You know if I told anyone at home that I had a medical discussion with a talking magic horse, they’d sent me to a mental asylum before I could spell ‘parallel universe’. For humans, talking ponies and magic are just myths, let alone magic ponies who live in houses and have hospitals with X-ray-machines… how do you even use the machine without hands?”

The doctor blinked rapidly as he tried to take everything in, but he only latched on the last word
“Hands? You mean the claws humans have on their forelegs?”
“They’re called arms. And it’s not claws, they are called fingers. They are opposable extremities that can be moved individually through a series of muscles. Each finger consists of four bones that are connected to the carpal bones that form the base of the palm, which is connected to the radius and ulna by a joint called ‘carpus’ or ‘wrist’. The names of the bones are…”

Spring Meadow kept rattling down information about hands and fingers for a while. Princess Cadance got lost right at the start, but she could tell that Lucky Clover wasn’t. He had lost all of his scepticism and now listened attentively to Spring’s explanation. He would probably have listened for hours if Spring hadn’t stopped at some point.

The doctor blinked as if he had woken up from a deep sleep and shook his head
“This is unbelievable. Everything you said, it makes perfect sense. Nopony would make up anatomical details like that for a mythical species, unless… humans are real?”
He looked back at Spring Meadow
“And you are one of them?”
Spring Meadow looked down herself and her strange body
“Well… it’s complicated I guess.”

Princess Cadance now took over again and explained something about magic portals and mirror worlds to the doctor. He didn’t seem like he understood much of it, but he knew better than to question a princess, especially when Cadance mentioned Twilight Sparkle as well
“This is uncanny. A whole other world we know nothing about. But, if you’re from that other world, why are you here now?”

Spring Meadow looked down at the floor since she didn’t have a good answer for that and Princess Cadance replied for her
“That is not important right now, Doctor. Spring Meadow is here now, and she is a pony, that’s all that matters.”
“Right. Of course, Your Highness.”
“And do you think a pony like her could be a welcome addition to your hospital, Doctor?”
“With how much she knows already? She would be a great addition! I’d hire her on the spot!”

Spring’s head just jerked up again and she stared at the stallion in open disbelieve
“Seriously?”
“Of course! We just have to find out how what you know about humans translates into pony and then we… oh, I see… that might be a little more complicated.”
“Which is why I told you all this, Doctor Lucky Clover.”

Princess Cadance addressed the stallion again
“When Spring Meadow stays here in our world, she needs assistance to adapt to our ways, especially when she wants to keep being a nurse. Since you are the only one who knows about her true origin, that task would fall to you.”

Spring realized what the princess was asking of him, and so did the doctor. He thought about it for a few minutes in which Spring Meadow didn’t even dare to talk.

When he replied, it was like their tense discussion never even happened and he was back at the carefree levity Spring had seen from him before
“Well, I do like a good challenge every now and then, Princess. If this is how it goes, I’m up for it.”

Princess Cadance shot a wink towards Spring Meadow before she turned back to Lucky Clover
“I’m glad to hear this, Doctor. Please know that this is all just a plan for now. Princess Twilight will get in contact with you about it soon. Until then, I expect you to keep everything we said to yourself.”
“Of course, Princess Cadance. And I guess I’ll see you around soon, Spring Meadow.”

Princess Cadance giggled gently as she led the still baffled former human out of the hospital again. Spring just followed mechanically, and even as they reached the castle again, she wasn’t sure if she really understood what just happened.

Author's Note:

New world, but some old problems.
Nobody said a big change like this would be easy.

Comments

[Boltstrike58]

Only question is why'd Scootaloo act like such a tool? I mean, Blue losing her temper was uncalled for, but Scoots ain't exactly innocent.

[BottleH2O]

Gee Scoots, if you're gonna berate, belittle, and insult someone who clearly needs help with something, don't be surprised if they snap at you for being an inconsiderate dick.

Guess Scootaloo's parent's should have taught her better manners.

...Oh wait, they're never there

[WatermelonRat]

I was expecting you to go the "Equestria isn't as perfect as it looks" route for generating conflict at this point in the story, but instead you did the opposite: the conflict in this chapter stems from Blue and her sister's real world cynicism clashing with the idealistic fantasy setting, resulting in them having trouble adapting. Very clever!

[TalkingToMyself]

10969750
Glad you enjoy it!
Changes are always difficult, even positive changes. Sometimes it's even harder to adapt to things changing for the better.

[HarryBuilder]

Whatever happened to bitter leaves?

[TalkingToMyself]

11260733
Nothing, as far as Blue is involved.