Chapter 56
Princess Celestia had that same nurse with her in the throne room, a slight tone of disappointment in her voice as she learned that she'd let Speckles and his mother leave.
"With all due respect princess, asking for his medical records is already a breach of my oath.. keeping the two here with no real reason is not a level I'm willing to stoop to."
"I understand your position, Nurse Hearthstone," Princess Celestia said, her tone softening. "But please understand that Speckles is not an ordinary patient. He possesses a powerful magic that could potentially cause harm if not properly understood and controlled."
The nurse shook her head, "regardless of that princess, he is a foal, a foal that was just rescued from a changeling hive," she said with disbelief as she tilted her head. "I don't feel it right to bring any more needed stress by forcing them to stay in the castle, and the hospital wing is still a part of the castle."
Princess Celestia nodded understandingly, "I see your point, Nurse Hearthstone. You are right, Speckles and his mother have been through a lot and I don't want to cause them any more distress. However, I still need to make sure that Speckles and his magic are under control and safe for him and those around him."
"I appreciate your concern, Your Highness. But as a nurse, I cannot simply hand over private medical files without a valid reason." Hearthstone would as she held the folder aloft in her magical aura. Her body language was an obvious show of hesitation as she stood before the grand form of Princess Celestia.
Celestia gave her a soft smile, a trait that she often used with these kinds of situations, "I understand your concerns about privacy, but rest assured, the patient's best interests are at heart."
"Of course, Your Highness. But that doesn't give me the right to violate their privacy." Hearthstone stood her ground, floating the folder firmly against her side as she disagreed with the princess. "..Neither does it give you the right to use me as a proxy to violate their privacy," she said with a shaky tone. Already disagreeing with the Princess was something that she'd never seen herself doing, it made her hooves tremble as she vehemently shook her head.
Celestia considered her words for a moment, though to an outside perspective it looked as if she'd responded in an instant, "Of course, Nurse Hearthstone. But let me ask you this, if someone you deeply cared about was in danger, wouldn't you do everything in your power to help them?" she tried to convince her to see things her way. "My little pony, you know I would never do anything to harm them, right?"
Hearthstone furiously shook her head in disagreement, "O-of course not, Your Highness. But that.." she couldn't find any more words, "it just doesn't give me the right to violate their privacy.. as a medical professional.."
Celestia smiled again before getting up from her seated position, her form being illuminated by a physical gold aura as she stepped down from her throne and approached the nurse, "I understand your point of view, Nurse Hearthstone. But as the ruler of Equestria, I have a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of my subjects. And sometimes, that requires taking necessary steps, even if they may seem extreme." She placed her hoof to her chin to make her look up at her, "trust my judgment my little pony, I haven't lead you astray thus far, have I?"
Hearthstone glanced to the side as Celestia set her hoof back down and out stretched her hoof expectantly, her resolve was breaking, "Can you at least give me a reason for needing these files?"
Celestia shook her head, "I'm afraid I cannot reveal the details at this time, Nurse Hearthstone. But trust me, it is a matter of great importance, and I wouldn't ask this of you unless it was absolutely necessary." She reinforced her position, something in her tone carried across the room as she spoke.
Hearthstone was silent for a few moments, her eyes darting from the floor than back up to Celestia's patient form, that same smile still on her face. She let a barely noticeable grimace form on her face, feeling the guilt build up before nodding, "I-I understand, Your Highness. I'll trust your judgment on this one." what other choice did she have? It felt like the Princess was hinting at something. She just couldn't put her hoof on it, and she did not want to jeopardize her position. So she relented and floated the folder over and into Celestia's hoof, the Princess's smile seemingly getting brighter as she took it and used her own magic to lift it up.
"Thank you, Nurse Hearthstone. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. And rest assured, once everything is settled, I'll make sure to reward your loyalty and dedication to your profession." The princess said as she glanced down at Hearthstone.
Nurse Hearthstone bows respectfully and leaves the room, her hesitation evident in her posture. Princess Celestia takes a deep breath and looks down at the medical files in her magic. She opens and flips through them, scanning for any noteworthy pieces of information.
"Interesting," she mutters to herself as she reads that the pony of interest, Speckles, had only visited the hospital twice in his life. She turns to the magical scan report and her interest deepens as she reads the results. The colt's magic count is very high, much higher than her own, and she was an alicorn. They were just a mere pegasus. This was..
"This is peculiar," Celestia whispers, her brow furrowed in thought. "What could this mean?"
She ponders over the information, her mind racing with possibilities. After a few moments, she tucks the files back into the folder and makes to leave the room, her mind consumed with thoughts of the mystery behind Speckles and his unusual magical abilities.
Though another thought came to her head as she walked along the halls. Where was Luna? She'd succeeded in what she said she was going to do, but she hadn't called for a group of guards to come and properly arrest the changelings and their Queen. It only made her more concerned when she remembered how Luna's demeanor shifted when the two of them disagreed on how they should deal with Speckle's situation. And she had to agree, seeing Speckles safely returned in the moment Luna teleported him and his mother and Captain Spitfire into Canterlot's medical wing, was a lot better than how she had decided to deal with it.
But there were still a lot of things that she had to deal with, lots of paperwork, lots of headaches with the nobles, and for sure another headache of an argument with sister dearest. Then there was the matter of figuring out how she would deal with another powerful magic caster in this point of time.. it was like there were magical prodigies springing up everywhere, far too many for her to keep her eyes on at once.
Ugh. She needed a cake.
Hearthstone walked with uncertainty, her mind running with different thoughts and her chest panging with the building amount of guilt and shame for breaching the trust and privacy of a patient. Even worse, breaching her oath. Even if it was the Princess asking, she shouldn't have been obligated to give her anything. It was protected under the thirteenth allocation to the Hippocratic document.
She let out a sigh as she trudged back to the medical side of the castle, breathing out her memorization of the oath she was to abide by:
"As a medical practitioner, I solemnly swear to uphold the principles of the Hippocratic Oath."
"I will dedicate my life to the well-being of all ponies, regardless of their race or social status. I will use my knowledge and skills to alleviate their suffering and promote their health to the best of my ability."
"I.. I will always act in the best interests of my patients, placing their needs above my own personal gain. I will never exploit their vulnerabilities or take advantage of their trust." she winced at that one.
"I will maintain the utmost respect for pony life, never intentionally causing harm or performing procedures without informed consent."
"I will maintain the confidentiality of my patients' personal information, and will never use it for personal gain or disclose it without their permission." Another wince.
"I will continuously strive to improve my knowledge and skills, keeping up with advances in medical science and technology, and will use this knowledge to benefit my patients."
"In taking this oath, I commit myself to a life of service and compassion, and to the highest ethical and professional standards in the practice of medicine in the wonderful land of Equestria under the watchful eyes of the Diarchy."
Meanwhile, Speckles had finished up at the ice cream parlor and he and his mother plus Spitfire were flying back to Ponyville, he was riding on Spitfires back because she'd promised to show him how much control she had in the air.
As we flew back to Ponyville, I couldn't help but feel exhilarated as I rode on Spitfire's back. I'd only briefly experienced her flying aptitude when I first met her, but experiencing it this way, with the wind whipping through my mane and tail made me feel alive.
"Whoa, this is amazing!" I shouted in excitement, my hooves gripping tightly onto Spitfire's coat.
Spitfire laughed, "Told ya kid, flying is the best thing ever!"
I really couldn't help but agree as I looked down at the world below. I saw the colorful buildings and ponies going about their day, all seemed so small from our high vantage point.
After a while, we landed back in Ponyville, and I hopped off Spitfire's back, feeling a little wobbly on my hooves after the exhilarating flight.
"Thanks for the ride, Spitfire!" I said, grinning from ear to ear.
"No problem, kiddo," Spitfire replied, ruffling my mane with a hoof. "You're a natural up there. Who knows, maybe you'll be flying with the Wonderbolts someday!"
Now that was an interesting prospect. I already had the goggles and the flight suit.. hm. Though I looked up when I saw Mother gently land beside us not even a few moments later, a small smile on her face as she looked down at me.
As we walked through the bustling streets of Ponyville, mother asked, "So, what do you want to do next, Speckles?"
I thought for a second before nodding, "Sleep." Because to be honest, I could never get enough sleep.
Spitfire looked surprised. "Oh, alright. " She glanced up at mom, "though I shouldn't be surprised." She chuckled.
Mother nodded in agreement. "Yes, he's had quite the adventure today. A nap sounds like a good idea." As she picked me up in her hooves, twisting herself around so that I had easy access to her back.
"You coming Spitfire?" I said as I hopped up onto Mother's back. Glancing around her shoulder as I smiled.
"Well, I wouldn't want to intrude," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "And-"
"As much as you already do?" Mother said with a playful roll of her eyes.
Spitfire laughed and shook her head before agreeing. "Alright, I'll come with you guys, my house is still being debugged anyways," she said as she walked next to Mother and picked me up off her back. "Come on, I can get us there lickity split!"
Pfft.
"You did not just say lickity split," I said as she held me under my armpits. A laugh built up in my throat before she let out a sound of playful offense. "Whatever! let's get going," she said before she held me close to her chest and shot up into the sky with a flap of her wings. Mother watched with a shake of her head as she chuckled to herself.
"I like walking," she would say as she twirled around the key to the locked house in her hoof and watched them disappear into the distance.
When she did arrive she saw that Speckles was laughing his absolute ass off as Spitfire was trying to pry one of the windows open, he had fallen onto his back and Spitfire only ended up bumping her muzzle into the window and recoiling back with a curse.
"Swear jar!" Speckles laughed. Spitfire let out a sigh and plopped down next to him as his mother approached.
"I've got the key to my obviously locked house, dumbass," she teased her friend. With Spitfire let a small smirk reach her face.
"What, you're not gonna swear jar her but you'll swear jar me?" she said as she looked at Speckles.
Speckles giggled, "Sorry Spitfire, you know the rules. Besides, my mom gets a pass." He then turned to his mother, "Can we go inside now? I'm getting hungry."
"Sure thing, Speckles," his mother said with a smile as she unlocked the door and led the way inside.
"I thought you were tired?" Spitfire gave him a playful scrutinizing gaze. He simply laughed as she picked him up and tickled him as they entered the house.
"Hungry and tired, it happens," his mother would simply say as she set her key down before closing the door shut and double locking it.
As they settled in, Hazel pulled out some ingredients from the pantry and began to cook up a storm. Meanwhile, Speckles and Spitfire sat on the couch, chatting and playing some games.
After a while, Hazel called out that dinner was ready, and they all gathered around the table to dig in. The food was delicious, and they all enjoyed each other's company as they ate.
"now it's time for a nap," his mother said as she finished cleaning up the remains of dinner and stepped back into the living room to see Spitfire and Speckles on the couch.
"Sweet," Speckles said as he hopped off the couch and walked towards his mom. Though he paused and turned to look as Spitfire settled herself onto her back on the couch.
"You're gonna sleep on the couch?" he said as he looked at her with a tilted head.
"Yeah, where else?" she said in response.
"Well, with us," Speckles said like it was obvious.
Spitfire looked surprised, "Uh, I don't think your mom would be alright wit-"
"I mean, it wouldn't be the first time," his mom interrupted, shrugging her shoulders. "We shared a bed a lot of the time in college when they accidentally gave us one bed."
"See?" Speckles said as he walked up and grabbed her larger hoof with his own and pulled her onto her feet. "You're family now anyways, so it's not weird."
Spitfire paused before smiling. "Thanks, kid," as she let herself be pulled along by the small foal.
His mother would smile at the sight before turning and moving to turn off the lights in the rooms, taking a glance at the image she had on one of her tables before turning off the living room light and heading into her room. She saw Speckles sitting on the bed and Spitfire already laying on the left side grinning as the two chatted.
"Alrighty, I'll excuse the lack of a bath for today but in the morning the first thing I'll do is give you a shower," she said as she turned off the lights and crawled into the right side of the bed. Speckles let out a "boo" as Spitfire snickered to herself.
"Why are you laughing? You're also taking a shower Miss Wonderbolt," she said as she lifted the blanket and let me crawl underneath them and twist my body around before I popped my head back out, enjoying the feeling of the soft blankets.
"Pfft. yeah, alright," Spitfire chuckled softly.
"Good night sweetie," Mother said as she kissed me on the forehead. One of her hooves draped around me as I glanced at Spitfire, "Good night Spitfire."
"Night kid," she replied. "Good night Hazel."
"Good night Spitfire," Mother replied.
A good ten minutes then went by, I was busy staring up at the ceiling as I lay in between them. My thoughts were reflective for a moment before I was surprised to hear Mother speak to Spitfire. Her tone was just barely audible.
"Are you awake?" she softly said. To which she received an immediate reply, "Yeah?" spitfire said just as softly.
"Won't Speckles wake up?" Spitfire asked.
"He's a pretty heavy sleeper," his mother said softly. "We're good if we keep this tone." Kind of a lie, but eh.
"What's on your mind then, Hazel?" Spitfire said asking for the reason that she started the conversation.
"I wanted to talk about us," she said with a small sigh.
"What do you mean?" Spitfire said as the blankets slightly shifted.
"Well.."
Oh, alright. That's when I decided that I was going to actually fall asleep, I didn't want to listen in on this private conversation. So I closed my eyes and.. bam. I woke up in that same empty void. I stood up and shook my head before turning to look around and landing on that maze I'd built the first time I was in here. Then I grinned as an idea formed in my head.
Some DS bosses would make this place a lot more... Lively.
Would the Princess be able to defend herself against a dozen Abyss Watchers? Hm.
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I never trusted Celestia and her school seems really, really fishy. She goes around looking for the most powerful unicorns in the country and then she pulls them into her school.
Why?
To teach the little tykes, or to hamstring them? Personally I think along with indoctrinating them and brainwashing them, I think she installs limiters on all the students. You are allowed this much magic power and no more. Cast right and with a few other spells, no one would ever know it were there.
And poof, never another Sombra. Never another Pony of Shadows.
Oh and as for indoctrination. Really think about Twilight Sparkle, tell me with a straight face her behavior to Celestia isn't religious cult member behavior. Im just glad Celestia doesn't have Coolaid.
Monk
"Cooties! Of course, colts like him had cooties! Then again, she probably already caught them by now. Oh well, can't get more cooties if you already have them, right? Grabbing the colt’s hoof, she pulled herself up." -IsakeiAnon
Pattern slightly higher than Alicorn, eh? Very curious, but ultimately meaningless if it can't be fully accessed. The only real question is, will Speckles be trained in the ways of the pawn, knight, queen, or.... something else?
Well, when you put it THAT way...
Moar fluff, please! Library visit? Probably almost time for the presentation at school with Button. CMC time!!
You jinxed it. You jinxed it, Celestia, and it’s all your fault. Shenanigans will ensue. The report from the nurse puts Twilight on the case.
I wonder if Lt. Richard “Spear” Head
will receive any accolades for his heroism. Luna’s currently doing her own thing…
Two queens and Aurora are still at play. One is currently incarcerated that we know of. And if I’m correct on the timeline -if this story follows that- then there could be some Discord in the future? So much fun in store!!
I had to stop reading halfway to comment, otherwise my mind will be plagued by this very odd interaction between Hearthstone and Celestia.
Celestia, from what I believe is show canon, is capable of being a manipulator because of her role and experience. The moment she tried to rebuke and admonish Hearthstone, I believe it is the right term, this instantly drove focus away from my immersion.
With all this attention to her odd behaviour, I was expecting a strong reasoning for scolding a nurse who was risking her job for the princess. It was bad.
The order isn't even absolute, so Celestia isn't really in the right to speak to someone who helps of their own free will in that way. On top of this, Celestia fought back that with that "Celestia is always right" attitude that doesn't really justify her underhandedness. In other words, this Celestia believes the end justify the means.
The princess could have kept a tight lip and dismiss the nurse since she isn't as crucial at that point. Heck, she revealed her entire scheme just to a single nurse, who is a potential security risk to leak something damaging the crown's image. Unless, she fully intend to get that nurse into her scheme rather than indirectly nudging her.
And that comment: "... glad to have advisors like Hearthstone to guide her decisions." That whole interaction wasn't even close to what the nurse did. The nurse just brainstormed ideas; she didn't even have any insight on the consequence of the idea.
This feels less like a millennia old ruler and more of a very young ruler just getting into her role. Sorry about digging into this harshly, but I really find that interaction very jarring that it never stops replaying in my mind until I comment about it.
I hope you take this as criticism; I will still read the whole fic
Tl;dr
Celestia's interaction with the nurse is really bizzare and out of character that I lost the immersion.
yeah putting worrywart and freakout central on the case wont bite her in the rump
also that "i must know and control everything " attitude stinks, i am always suspicous of those kinds of celestias or always
Oh dear after the rewrite I just feel bad for Hearthstone. Basically coerced into giving away private data to the princess and now feeling intense guilt about betraying her oath.
I mean, the best thing Hearthstone can do in this situation is tell Hazel about it.
Celestia you B*CKUNG B*TCH!!!
Luna please SLAP! Some Sense into your Damb Sister!!!
Man, it always breaks my heart when someone is portrayed as having to break their Hippocratic oath. Medical personnel is the one group of people that has to receive absolute trust from their patients; if they can't be trusted, who can?
11722947
hippocrit oath means nothing to the government you are connected to. If you are seen as a potential threat or suspected of hiding your your true identity the acting government can and will seize any and all information on you medical induced and no Oath will stop that ANYWHERE on this planet. All it will do is get you fired and in some cases thrown in prison for endangerment of other should there claim hold weight.
That is not to say the hippocratic oath has no wait or perhaps. It's a shield to protect you from others that might what to use this information against you. It is a shame that you can never absolutely trust others with this information.
Celestia didn't need to ask for Speckles information. She could take it without saying anything. Yes it would damage her image and trust people have in her but the information was valid and Speckle could vary much pose a threat to equestria. He has a magic count higher the Celestia and hes a bloody 4 year old. The last time Celestia likely say a record like this is likely Twilight Sparkle and we know how that turns out.