The Nurse and The Medic

by ponylover

Chapter 3

As soon as celestia left redheart came into the room.

"Hello Jerry, are you ready to leave?" She asked with a soft smile.

"Yeah...agh." I said trying to get up. I guess I went a little too fast since my chest and arm was in a good bit of pain right then. "Um...a little help here?" I asked wincing a little in pain.

"You need to be more careful." She scolded, motioning for me to sit down for a minute, before giving me some pills. "Now these are very special painkillers. They were infused with healing magic to speed up recovery, so not only will you not feel the pain in your chest and arm, they'll actually heal faster, so you should be fully healed in about 2 weeks." She smiled again. God, she smiles like an angel.

"Thanks." I said taking the pills and swallowing them dry. Didn't bother me a bit...and the pills worked fast. Suddenly I didn't feel pain in my arm or chest.

I slowly got up from the bed as redheart helped. I nodded at her as if saying thank you once she moved in front of me to lead the way. I just followed and then I realized I was wearing the same clothes as before only they were clean.

We went to the checkout desk and she filled it out. I had to sign my signature on it but other than that I didn't have to do anything. We made our way out of the hospital and that's when I saw Ponyville for what it really was.

Everywhere I looked, there were ponies. They were in so many colours you'd think someone was on an acid trip if they started describing what I was seeing now. I mean, there were ponies on the ground, in the air, at market stalls, pretty much everywhere. That's also when I noticed they all had markings on their rears, and no two marks were the same. I decided to ask Redheart about it, and she chuckled.

"Those are cutie marks. You see, when a pony finds the one thing they were meant to do, the thing that makes them happier than anything else, their cutie mark appears depicting what makes them special." She explained, smiling the entire time.

I smiled. "Well that explains what I wanted to know. Anyways not trying to sound mean but where is your house anyways?" I asked.

"Oh, it's actually right here." She said, pointing to a house right next to the hospital. Go figure.

"Huh...I guess you like to stay near work?" I asked.

"Not quite. It's more that this was the only house available when I moved here. It just happened to be convenient." She admitted, blushing a little. "Anyway, shall we go inside, or are we going to stay here until Nightmare Night comes around?"

"Yeah let's go on in." I said smiling. I walked forward and quickly opened the door for her trying to be a gentleman.

"Why thank you Jerry. That's very kind." She said, rising up and giving me a quick peck on the cheek, and laughing as I started blushing, before giving me the tour. It was a nice place. Moderately sized and well-furnished dining room, a small study, and two bathrooms downstairs. Upstairs, there were three bedrooms, and each had their own bathroom with fully-functional showers, much to my relief. I didn't want to have to disturb her at any point just so I could wash myself.

"Wow this is way better than my apartment back on earth." I quickly changed the subject. "Anyways what do you like to do when you're free?" I asked. "Like have free time."

"Um, usually, I read in my study. Sometimes I go out, though I don't actually spend much time with others. To be honest, outside of the hospital, I'm actually very shy around other ponies." She said, facing away from me, slightly embarrassed.

I just crouched down to her size. Turns out she was a little bit above my waist when i'm standing up. "Well you're not the only one Redheart. I mean I was shy around other people back in my world...mostly girls." I said.

"Really? You were shy around girls? So you never had a..." She trailed off, and turned away again, afraid she'd crossed a line before she even saw my face.

"No I didn't. But I did have a girlfriend or two, but they broke up with me. The latest one did because I joined up. But yeah I never found that special..someone in my life back home."

"I see. Do you think you'll ever find your special somepony?" She asked.

"Well..... I want to....I mean I always wanted to start a family so I guess I could start one here." I said with a shrug.

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure you'll find someone who loves your ugly mug." She said with a playful wink.

"Yeah yeah whatever." I said with a chuckle. "But what bow? I mean I just wonder if the ponies here would even accept me." I said with a hint of worry.

She just smiled. "Jerry, the ponies here learned a lot about accepting others despite their differences after an incident with a zebra named Zecora. They originally feared her, thinking she was a witch and that she would curse them if she saw them, but a young filly named Applebloom proved she was just a herbalist who specialised in healing potions. She was actually the one who made your painkillers, and she had Twilight be the one who infused them with magic. So don't worry, I'm sure you'll be accepted. Anyway, we still have a few hours until Princess Celestia lowers the sun and Princess Luna raises the moon. Is there anything you'd like to do, or anywhere you'd like to see?" She asked.

"Well......do you have any ideas?" I asked. "I mean if you wanna go somewhere then we could go there if you want." I said scratching at the back of my neck.

"Well, there's Sugarcube corner. Pinkie Pie will probably be there though, and I'm not sure meeting her is a good idea at the moment." She said hesitantly.

"Well why not?" I asked.

"Because Pinkie is, well, very, random. And she always has to throw a massive party for anypony who comes into town. I'm just worried that something could happen and that you may get hurt again." She explained.

"Well if you don't want to go there where else could we go?" I asked her.

"Well, there's always this small cafe near Carousel Boutique." She suggested. I had no idea what Carousel Boutique was, but I didn't ask, deeming it unimportant at that particular moment.

I shrugged. "Well it's up to you redheart. Wherever you want to go we can go." I said smiling.

"Ok then, the cafe it is." She said, returning my smile with her own. And with that, she dragged me out of the cafe and through the town. I ignored the looks I was being given, mostly curious glances, though there was some fear, mistrust, and suspicion mixed in. Eventually, we found ourselves at a small cafe right across the street from what I assumed was Carousel Boutique. I mean, it's hard to miss, it actually looks like a carousel.

We went in and sat down in a booth as I saw the menu. Daisy Sandwiches, Hay fries, etc. Great, a nice cafe and I can't even digest half of what's on it. I thought to myself as I tried to find something, anything, on the menu that I could eat. Redheart saw my growing frustration and gave me a concerned look.

"Jerry, are you ok?" She asked.

"Well...I mean half of this stuff on her I can't even digest or eat.....well at least they can make spaghetti." I said with a shrug.

"Oh. I'm sorry. We actually had no idea your digestive process didn't allow you to consume most of what we eat. May I ask, what can humans actually eat?"

That's when I got a little nervous. Looking at the menu I knew they never had meat. "Well....um we eat...uh......fish, vegetables,........and meat...." I said the last just quiet enough so only she would hear.

"I....see. So you're an omnivore?" She asked calmly, still smiling. "Don't worry about it Jerry. I've had plenty of patients who eat meat. Sure, almost the entire population of Ponyville is ponies, but we have lots of travellers pass through. Griffons, Minotaurs, even Dragons, though not often. And quite a few of them end up hurting themselves during the crazy things that seem to have become a regular for Ponyville." She started chuckling.

I was, dumbstruck, to say the least, more by the fact that she wasn't horrified that I eat meat, than by the fact that creatures that are myths back home actually exist here. I just nodded. "Ok.....well I guess I will have.....spaghetti." I said with a shrug, a hint of surprise in my voice from what she told me.

"Alright then." She said, calling a waiter over and placing our orders. Spaghetti for me, and a daisy sandwich with a side of hay-fries for her. The entire time, the waiter was staring at me a little nervously, as if he was afraid I would try to kill him or something. Eventually, he trotted inside to have our orders prepared, giving me a chance to talk to Redheart in semi-privacy.

I leaned against the table a little bit my hands together on the bed. "Ok so can you answer this question? I mean everywhere I go I see that ponies are looking at me like I would kill them. Did this happen a lot with the other creatures?" I asked curious.

"Like I said before, there was an incident with Zecora. I thought that the locals would have learned after that to NOT JUDGE OTHERS BY THEIR APPEARANCES!" She yelled the last part, causing several nearby ponies to jump and run in the opposite direction, "But I guess I was mistaken." She said with a small scowl.

I looked around. "Yeah I can see that.....well I guess you want to learn a little more about me?" I asked.

"Well, you asked me what I liked to do with my free time, what about you? What do you like to do when you're not busy?" She asked, her smile returning.

I smiled back as I leaned back againt the seat thinking what I did. "Well.....I used to love to exercise. Like everyday for about two hours I would work out running or lifting weights. I also liked to watch T.V. and just be helpful if possible. But when I was shipped out to war I didn't always have to fight and help people. Sometimes I would just talk or just sleep the whole day. Lastly i just like to take walks in the park during the night. I just like doing anything like that really." I said with a shrug. "Oh and read." I added quickly.

She shook her head with a grin on her face. "Interesting. Too bad you won't be able to exercise until you're fully recovered, but at least there's plenty of books in my house. So, how common are TVs in your world? Here, they're extremely expensive and difficult to make, so only the very wealthy can afford them." She said.

I shrugged. "Well.... pretty common really. I mean I even had on and it was just small. So in my world basicly every house had one TV." I said.

Her jaw, dropped. "Every-every home?" She asked incredulously.

She quickly picked her jaw back up and shook her head to clear some of the shock away. "I see. That's, actually very interesting." She was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by our food arriving. The waiter left pretty quickly, not wanting to spend any longer near me than he absolutely had to. We ignored him and started to dig in.

I was surprised by how good this was to me. After a few minutes I saw that I was already done with the food and drink. As was nurse Redheart to my surprise.

"Surprised? It's as an old friend used to say, good food is always gone too quickly." She said, chuckling as she pointed a hoof at my face, where a single string of spaghetti still hung.

I chuckled as I sipped it up into my mouth. "Well I always wanted to ask. How do you pay for things here?" I asked.

"Oh, our currency is called bits. Griffons named theirs Talons, of all things." She replied.
I chuckled. "Huh way different from what we use. Ours is basically called dollars paper money really." I said as she took out the necessary bits to pay for the food and tip the waiter. She only gave him one bit.

"Oh.....how come you don't live there?" I asked. "I mean you seem to deserve it because all the lives you save. Hell you saved mine and that's enough for me." I said.

"Honestly, too many of the ponies that live there are snobs. They're always trying to one-up each other and get more wealth than their neighbours. Not all of them are like that, but so many are that the ones who aren't are sometimes treated as outcasts." She said sadly.

"Wait...you know anypony who live there or has?" I asked.

"Well, Twilight used to live there, and her brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard, who are responsible for maintaining law and order in Equestria. He's married to Princess Cadance, the niece of Princesses Celestia and Luna. She told me that there were many who looked down on others in Canterlot if they weren't from around there or if they were of a lower social status."

"Wow.....well I guess our worlds aren't different class wise." I said letting out a sigh.

"So you have similar problems back home? I guess coming here really was a blessing in disguise. In a way, it was for me." I looked at her, blushing a little. "After all, if you hadn't arrived, I wouldn't have made a friend, would I?" She said, smiling again.

I smiled back still blushing a bit. "Well...I guess the same is said for me. Wow look at that." I said looking back at the sun as it started to go down. My jaw fell a little bit.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Wait until you see Princess Luna raise the moon. Now that's a beautiful sight."

As soon as she said that the moon began to take the place of the sun. I just looked in awe the whole time. I didn't know it but redheart ended up scooting over to be beside me and laid her head on my shoulder.

"So, what do you like best about Equestria, Jerry?" She asked, nuzzling me.
I smiled as I wrapped my arm around her. "Well....everything really...especially my first friend..." I said.

I just tighten my grip around her a little bit as she then laid her head on my shoulder. I let out a sigh inside myself realizing that she wasn't going for a kiss.

"Jerry?" She asked. "Do you think you'll ever fall in love with anypony here? I don't mean to pry, I just want to know you believe you can find love."

This caught me off-guard a little bit but I answered anyways. "Well..... yes I do redheart....it'll just take a little bit of time is all since i'm so used to the girls in my world and not here." I said.

"I see." She said quietly, before smiling. "Well, I hope when you find somepony, that she makes you happy, and you, her."

That's when I remembered what celestia told me earlier. "I wonder if she meant Redheart?" I thought to myself as the words were similar as the ones Celestia had said this to me.

Before I could come up with an answer, the ground around us exploded as several large bipedal DOGS, of all things, burst through what I assumed were tunnels. They looked to me, then to Redheart. "Pony come with us. Pony mine gems for us!" It said, pointing a claw at Redheart, who had started shaking.

I got up and went into a defence like position. I then realized I still somehow had a knife with me so I took it out and held it in my right hand. I was ready for a fight...but the wounds disagreed.

The dogs smirked as they saw me clutch my arm. "Creature stay out of Diamond Dog business, or creature suffer much worse pain than creature already has." The leader growled, pushing me to the ground and grabbing Redheart before disappearing down one of the tunnels it had created, collapsing it as it escaped.

While this all happened there was one other pony who was watching from a cloud. I began to crawl to the collapsed hole hopping that I could somehow get into it. That's when she landed in front of me.

"Redheart..Dogs...Gotta...Save." I couldn't say anymore as what little remained of my strength left me and I collapsed. The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was "Hang on, I'll get help!"