A background and OC oriented story about a more modern Equestria and those whom serve the public.
If Equestria was brought up to modern times, how would things be? How does one attempt to establish a nation-wide infrastructure without being driven mad by the bureaucracy of modern government? Why do I have to pay $400 just to ride in an ambulance? If any of these questions have tickled your curiosity, then perhaps you should take a gander at this story series. While remaining true to modern emergency medical care standards this story brings forth the background characters and (hopefully) provides some much needed comic relief in these troubled times. While this description may appear serious, I, the author, assure you that the story is anything but serious.
Ponyville Volunteer Ambulance corps of the 3rd battalion is run by newly appointed Director of Operations, Starshine. Join this rather extravagant paramedic as she deals with the chaos of running an ambulance service, going on calls, avoiding Princess Celestia, and trying to have a social life!
To assist readers in understanding some of the terms in the story, a glossary is included.
NEW: Battalion and station listings has been included after the glossary.
This story is intended to give some insight into the life of an emergency medical technician (ambulance personnel) and emergency services in general. Although it is mostly accurate, there are some things within this story that are changed in the interest of keeping the story interesting and reader friendly.
Thank you very much for reading my work, I hope you enjoy it and as always, all constructive criticism, comments, and questions are welcome.
Protocols and the general setup of the story is based around New York State protocols and MLREM (Monroe-Livingston Region Emergency Medical Services) Protocols. The unit numbers of the ambulances in this story are unit numbers of real ambulances that are serving the community at this very moment.
Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and does not represent the views, opinions, protocols, and procedures of any of the real ambulance services hinted at in this work of fiction. Any similarities to real calls, patients, or responding personnel is purely coincidental.
Glossary: Advanced Life Support (ALS): the level of care provided by a paramedic or EMT-CC. This level of care includes advanced cardiac monitoring, a high number of medications and drugs, IVs, advanced airways, and a higher level of medical knowledge.
Automated external defibrillator (AED): an electronic device used to analyze and provide an electric shock to the heart via electrode pads placed on the chest with the intent of resetting the heart’s internal clock/rhythm.
Backboard: a rigid board (usually plastic) that may have some rigid foam padding, which is used to immobilize the spine and as a way to transport a patient.
Bag valve mask: an oxygen mask with a compression bag and reserve oxygen bag/buffer that is used to manually breathe for a patient.
Basic Life Support (BLS): the level of care provided by an Emergency Medical Technician – Basic. This level of care includes treatment of the majority of traumatic injuries, basic treatment of medical emergencies, basic airways, approximately 4-6 medications, and basic cardiac monitoring.
Buell horn: a brand of air horns that is a popular addition or upgrade on ambulances.
Certified First Responder (CFR): the most basic certification level of emergency medical response.
Chief complaint: the reason 911 or advanced care was called or sought out by the patient or any bystanders.
Emergency Department (ED): the section of a hospital devoted to taking in patients dropped off by family, friends, or ambulance. These patients may be unstable, and may have a medical problem, and or traumatic injury.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS): the system devoted to emergency medical care. In other words, ambulances and any other supporting units/agencies.
EMS Room: a combination break room, supply room, and workspace for ambulance personnel.
Emergency Medical Technician – Basic (EMT-B): the most common certification among EMS personnel. Ambulances may not operate without an EMT-B on board. EMT-B certification for 2 years is a prerequisite to begin EMT-CC or EMT-P training.
Emergency Medical Technician – Critical Care (EMT-CC): this level of certification is not common, but can provide almost the same level of care as a paramedic. However, CCs are required to contact medical control prior to pushing a lot of medications.
Emergency Medical Technician – Paramedic (EMT-P): the final level of certification in EMS. Paramedic certification is equivalent to a two year college degree.
Epinephrine: more commonly known as adrenaline, epinephrine is a chemical in the body that increases metabolism, allows for heavier use of muscles, blocks pain to some degree, and heightens alertness. In EMS, epinephrine is used to relieve swelling of the airway during an allergic reaction. It is also used when attempting to restart the heart.
Intravenous (IV): Both a route of medication administration and a term for the apparatus that fulfills this purpose, an IV (in regards to the apparatus) is a needle that punctures the skin and ends in a vein for the purpose of rapid medication administration. The most common sites for IV therapy is the inner elbow, and the top of the hand.
Oropharyngeal airway: a plastic object placed in the mouth of a patient. It is used to prevent the tongue from moving back and blocking air movement. Used on unresponsive patients only due to the possibility of a gag reflex if the patient is responsive.
Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA): the technical term for a car accident or collision.
MDT: A textual messaging device/computer program that can send and receive messages. It is often connected to a printer and will automatically print out incoming messages. When a call goes out, the MDT will receive the full dispatch message with a few extra bits of information. Supplemental information after the initial dispatch may only be sent to the MDT and not via radio or pager. The MDT also keeps a log of the times for various responding units.
Patient Care Report (PCR): A legal document written after every emergency medical call that contains patient information, call information, location, times, protocols executed, etc. In summary, it is a document that records everything that happened at a call and all the supplemental information regarding that call.
Quality Assurance (QA): A program or committee designated to review Patient Care Reports for improper care, common troubles, incorrect or contradictory information, etc. A QA program is a New York State mandate.
Refusal of Medical Aid Form (RMA): A document stating that to the best of the EMT's ability and knowledge, the patient is mentally aware and competent enough to refuse medical aid and/or transport and that said patient has been informed of an consequences of refusing care as well as how and when to seek further care for the chief complaint (and any secondaries) related to the call. It requires a signature from the EMT in charge, the patient, and a witness.
Shoreline: an electrical cord that provides power to an ambulance or vehicle from household current, and ensures that on-board batteries remain charged when the vehicle is not in use. It is often located on the driver side of the vehicle.
Battalions, fleets, stations, and the known world Battalion: District (district call sign number) 1st Battalion: Hoofington (4), Fillydelphia (3) 2nd Battalion: Manehatten (1) 3rd Battalion: Canterlot (0), Cloudsdale (9), Ponyville (7) 4th Battalion: Trottingham (8) 5th Battalion: Appleloosa (2) 6th Battalion: Equestria Medical Services (5)
Appleloosa (52) (Fictional) Appleloosa Volunteer Fire Rescue (AVFR or AFR): 1 engine, 1 tanker, 2 ambulances
Canterlot (30) Canterlot Volunteer Ambulance (CVA): partially career department, 5 ambulances and two fly cars, ALS units are 3089, Medic 32, and Medic 30 Canterlot Fire Department (CFD): 4 engines, 1 quint, squad and rescue
Cloudsdale (39) (fictional, may not appear in the PVA story) Equestria Air Operations (EAO): All pegasus based equipment, 2 non-transporting medical wagons, 2 transporting medical wagons, 2 air tankers, 2 air engines
Equestria Medical Services (65) (RM) Equestria Medical Services (E-MED): commercial district, 10 ambulances, all ALS, staffing may be BLS or ALS
Fillydelphia (13) (UH) Fillydelphia Fire Department: volunteer/paid, 2 ambulances, 3 engines, 1 heavy rescue
Trottingham (48) (Pitts) Trottingham Fire Department (TFD): 4 engines, 2 quints (no bucket), 1 heavy rescue, 2 squads E-MED is the primary EMS provider for this area
Unit numbers: Fire departments are 3 or 4 digits: (battalion)(district)(unit number and or type)(secondary unit number, if applicable) Ambulances are 4 digits always ending in 9: (battalion)(station)(unit)(9 for ambulance) Command units: (battalion)(C for fire department, M for EMS)(unit number)(second unit number-optional)(district) Fly cars: Medic ## (ALS) or Defib ## (BLS)(Numbers often correlate to battalion and district)
Alarm bells rang out across some parts of the station, electronic buzzers in the other areas, combining to create a rather ad-hoc melody that was so very common to the building.
“Ponyville Ambulance… priority 1 call outside Sweet Apple Acres, for the 28 year old male, possible cardiac arrest from electrical shock. Shock obtained from live power lines. Patient is one of two Mane Grid workers on scene. Fire department and additional utilities en-route. Once again, that’s Ponyville Ambulance for the priority 1 call, outside Sweet Apple Acres, cardiac arrest. Ponyville?”
An electronic chirp signaled the transmission of sound waves from this station back out into the world; “Ponyville Ambulance acknowledges the call, three seven five nine will be en-route shortly”
Out in the garage, a white pony with violet hair wearing a white work shirt, that blended in with her coat, patches on the sleeves and black pants to complete the outfit, took hold of the handle of the driver side door of the ambulance, pulled it open, and hopped in. She reached out to her left and pulled it closed, her wings emitting a purple glow as the seat belt glows and clicked into place.
Outside, Luna’s night cast soft light down upon the land, the full moon rising above the trees as ponies of all sorts walked around the town, shopping and chatting and all other sorts of things. Out on the outskirts of town is where the ambulance station lay, where the nights are quite serene… except when a call comes in.
The passenger side door to the ambulance swung open and a caramel colored unicorn hopped in.
Starshine, the white pegasus, gave a grin towards the other, a new member at their station. “Ready for some fun?”
Butterscotch rolled her eyes in response, having already been subjected to Starshine's locally infamous insanity, and muttered “Hit it already”
Outside the station, one of 4 garage doors opened and the ambulance inside roared into life. Red and white lights splashed out onto the ground, the trees, and everything around as the ambulance rolled out of the station and turned right onto the road. 25 meters ahead was a short stone bridge, and past that was a cluster of buildings and residences; the town of Ponyville.
The siren wailed as the ambulance crested the bridge, ponies cleared the street as the ambulance made its way through the town. Butterscotch sighed and leaned back in her seat. She was nervous, no doubt about that.
Unfortunately for Butterscotch, Starshine had a personality that well… could get on her nerves to put it nicely. “So… do you like coffee?”
“…What?”
“Do you like coffee? Y’know, the dark, earthy, hot beverage full of caffeine? Unless you're talkin' decaf, but that's just silly!“
Butterscotch didn’t even bother to repress a groan. Starshine could be so unprofessional sometimes and never seemed to take things seriously, at least to Butterscotch. How was she supposed to learn anything from someone like that!? “I’m about five minutes away from my first cardiac arrest call and you’re asking me about coffee?”
Starshine just smiled as she replied "Why not? Coffee soothes the soul... plus now you’re not thinking about impending doom or something silly like that.”
Starshine had a point... to some degree... Butterscotch was quite tense before the sudden question, but now her mind was occupied by other things such as scheduling her shifts with a different trainer.
With a roll of her eyes and another groan, Butterscotch was back at relaxing, then uttered “I hate you sometimes.” Though that wasn't quite true either. Through all her flaws, she had some admiration for the white pegasus. In even the toughest of days she never seemed to run out of energy or enthusiasm. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Starshine was supposed to be training her, she might have even enjoyed the pegasus's company...if only a slight amount.
Starshine replied with her biggest mocking grin, closing her eyes for just a second before returning her attention to the road. That was another thing that bugged Butterscotch... Starshine spent a little too much time messing around on the road for Butterscotch's level of comfort.
At that moment the radio chirped to life. “three seven five nine, fire department is on scene, medical 500 confirmed, requesting that the ambulance step it up”
Starshine grabbed the radio mic with her magic and replied with “three seven five nine copies, will step it up”.
The roar of the diesel engine intensified as Starshine pressed down further on the accelerator. Ahead of them, Sweet Apple Acres came into view and the accident nearby. Halogen lights on the sides of fire trucks bathed the scene in light. Red lights flash as passing by residents stopped and stared.
The ambulance slowed down as it reached the accident. Starshine switched off the siren and turned right before coming to a halt with the left side of the ambulance facing the scene. She flicked on all the halogen scene lamps and put the ambulance in park before grabbing the radio “Ponyville Ambulance, three seven five nine”
“Ponyville base on”
“Three seven five nine, on scene” With that, she hopped out and walked to the back of the rig where butterscotch had already opened up the rear doors and was pulling out the stretcher. Starshine reached out a hoof to catch the stretcher wheels as they descended. She then used her magic to release the latch. With the stretcher fully deployed, Butterscotch pulled it over towards the main cluster of emergency ponies. On the ground was the victim… a severe electrical burn on the right side of his chest… the smell of burned fur was in the air.
Starshine hopped into the rig and grabbed the automated external defibrillator (AED) from one of the interior cabinets and carried it out in her mouth and over to the patient, where some fire ponies were doing chest compressions.
Butterscotch’s horn glowed with fury as she pulled the jump bag off of the stretcher and grabbed the oxygen tank, oropharyngeal airway (OPA) kit, and a bag valve mask (BVM) from inside. She opened the regulator on the tank and connected the BVM. Before continuing she looked at the patient’s jaw and selected an appropriately sized OPA from the kit and quickly placed it inside the patient’s mouth. The BVM glowed as magic moved it to and pressed it against the patient’s mouth, the bag compressing and releasing twice between sets of chest compressions.
Meanwhile, Starshine had placed the AED on the ground and opened up the pack. The fire ponies stopped compressions on her command as she took the razor from inside the pack and shaved off fur in two spots on the patient’s chest. She tore open the pad package and placed them in the correct spots before plugging them in and turning on the AED.
“Alright, clear the patient!” yelled Starshine. Butterscotch removed the BVM and waited for the AED to analyze the patient’s heart rhythm.
“Clear the patient, analyzing heart rhythm” said the AED, through an internal speaker.
“Analyzing heart rhythm. Shock advised, clear the patient”
Starshine looked around to make sure no pony was touching the patient, waiting for the AED to finish charging.
The AED started to beep rapidly, indicating that the charge was ready for deployment.
Starshine took a final look around before yelling “Clear!” and pressing the shock button. The patient’s back suddenly arched then went limp as energy surged into the body from one pad, hitting all nerves and muscles in the chest like a bomb before it returned to the second pad and left the body. .
The two unicorns’ horns glow and spread towards the backboard, enveloping it in the same glow in a coordinated effort to lift the backboard. 10 seconds later the backboard flops down on the stretcher, the fire unicorn assisting Butterscotch with strapping in the patient; behind them, the fire ponies watch, and behind them, the police watch, and behind them, the public watches.
The driver side door of the ambulance opens up and Starshine hops in, immediately closing the door and buckling in. She twists around in her seat and watches the loading of the stretcher though the driver compartment door, her face moist with sweat, part of her mind watching what is happening in front of her, the other parts planning out the route to the hospital and running through scenarios in her head. The stretcher locks in with a loud click, Butterscotch and a fire stallion hopping in the back before the other fire fighters close the doors. Butterscotch hops into the command seat and hits the interior lights and oxygen pressure. With her magic she yanks the BVM oxygen tube off of the portable tank and sticks it on the on-board oxygen system, dialing open the regulator to 15 liters per minute and switching off the portable tank. As the fire stallion makes a move to continue chest compressions, the AED starts to speak again. “Analyzing heart rhythm, please clear the patient.”
Starshine, having been lost in thought, takes this as her cue to get on the radio. “Ponyville, three seven five nine.”
“Three seven five nine”
“Analyzing heart rhythm. No shock advised. Continue CPR”
“Three seven five nine, going red to Canterlot with one patient, BLS.” Starshine places the mic back in its holder and flicks off the scene lighting.
“Red to Canterlot, one patient, BLS, got it”
She takes a look in the back again “Lemme know when you’re ready”
Butterscotch has the BVM in her hooves, compressing it twice before the stallion starts chest compressions again. She looks back at Starshine, her eyes showing a hint of terror as she replies “Go!”
Starshine’s eyes widen a little, taken aback by the rookie’s condition but quickly regaining her composure and looking back towards the front. With a glow of her wings, the ambulance is put into drive and the siren flicks on with a wail. Outside, some of the onlookers jump at the sudden noise, the street ahead clearing and giving a wide path for the ambulance to follow as it surges forward.
“Alright, we’re on the road… half the battle is over…” Starshine thinks to herself, trying to relax and just drive. Red light splashes across the road and on the buildings as the ambulance speeds by. Though the ambulance district had been in operation for a month, ambulances were still a spectacle. Some residents chose to pause there evening and watch the ambulance pass; others just took once glance and went on… others seemed to ignore it completely…
Starshine slams her hoof down on the Buell horn and hits the brakes hard, almost hitting the pickup truck that had decided to pull out into the street without looking. Starshine swore under her breath as the ambulance passed the truck that had frantically pulled over to the side, colliding with an empty cart and a table or two. With another sigh, she picks up the radio mic and speaks into it.
“EMS, three seven five nine”
“Three seven five nine, go ahead.”
“EMS, three seven five nine reporting MVA across from the library, vehicle versus cart, unable to check on driver, critical patient on board”
“Okay, will tone out for another ambulance”
A few seconds go by before the Ponyville Ambulance tones play over the radio. “Ponyville Ambulance, priority 3 EMS call for the MVA, vehicle versus cart, across from the library. Once again that’s Ponyville Ambulance for the MVA, across from the library.”
“Ponyville acknowledges the call, three seven seven nine is responding.”
Starshine was honestly surprised to hear that Ponyville had another ambulance staffed and ready. With so few available personnel, she thought the other crews would be taking a break, but then again… hot calls tend to draw in crews.
The ambulance took a left at the next intersection, and then a right, crossing the Ponyville border and on its way to Canterlot. Starshine switches off the siren, an attempt to preserve the serenity of the night. Outside the ambulance, trees begin to show their autumn colors as the summer comes to a close. The flowers are all on their last legs, their stems soon to yellow and wilt. All things must come to an end; but maybe not tonight.
“How’s it going back there? Have you checked for a pulse yet?” Starshine yells towards the back.
“Uhh… hold on…” Butterscotch motions for the stallion to stop CPR while she checks for vital signs. She presses a hoof right below the jaw line of the patient, using her magic to amplify sensory input in that extremity. “No…nothing…” she thinks to herself, sadness starting to creep into her mind. She moves her hoof around a little in an effort to ensure she is actually pressing against the carotid artery. “N-no… still noth-… wait.. yes… there is something there” Sadness being pushed away by excitement and hope as she replies to Starshine with “Yes, I’ve got a pulse! It’s weak though…”
A glimmer of hope! “Continue track breathing with high flow oxygen, push epinephrine, start treating the burns, and keep a close watch on his vitals”
“Epinephrine…? Pretty sure that’s not part of the protocols.”
“ALS protocols, just do it, there should be an epi-pen in the jump bag.”
Butterscotch hesitates… Starshine may be a paramedic but it would illegal for Butterscotch to use it. She swallows nervously then reaches for the jump bag and pulls out an epi-pen. She pulls safety off the end and mutters “Well… here it goes!” with that she grabs the epi-pen in her mouth and rams it in against the patient’s flank, holding it in place for 10 seconds before pulling it out and dropping it on the ground. “Sure hope this works…”
Starshine picks up the mic and dials 340 on the mic’s keypad “Canterlot Med, this is Ponyville Ambulance”
“Go ahead, Ponyville” replies the stallion on the other end.
Starshine takes a deep breath before replying with “Canterlot Med, Ponyville Ambulance is 10 minutes out with one priority patient, BLS. Patient was in cardiac arrest but now has a pulse. Electrical burns are present on the chest area from electrical wires. Do you require anything further?”
“Negative, patient has been assigned trauma bed four, see you in 10”
Starshine sets the mic back in the holder with a click. Before her, the majestic city of Canterlot looms into sight. She hits the manual button on the siren a few times to alert the gate guards as the ambulance slows to a stop before it. Royal guards frantically rush to open the gates. Starshine presses down on the accelerator once the way is clear, switching on the siren to hyper and pressing the Buell horn a few times before turning left onto the main road.
About 10 minutes later and the siren is switched off. Starshine slaps it in reverse and backs the ambulance into the EMS Emergency Department entrance. She puts it in park then hops out and runs around to the back, opening up the twin doors of the ambulance. “All ready back there?”
The two ponies nod. Starshine grabs the stretcher with her magic, hits the release mechanism with her hoof and drags the stretcher out, the wheels hitting the ground with a bang. The three ponies and the stretcher make their way into the ED, the sliding glass doors softly closing behind them, isolating them from the sounds of the diesel engine.
Starshine’s hoof was on the door to the EMS room, anticipation building in her head, biting her lip as she thinks to herself “Oh I hope they haven’t run out… they better not have run out” She pushes down on the handle and the door slowly rotates forward… Starshine’s eyes widen with excitement as she sees what she’s been hoping for… a full pot of coffee!
“YES!” she practically screams as she sprints forward and grabs the pot, pouring herself a cup of the bitter but potent liquid and takes a big gulp of it before spitting it back out and placing the cup on the table, and slowly walking backwards in horror…
“No… no! It can’t be! It’s… it’s… decaf!” her pupils narrowing to a pinpoint as she grabs at her face with her hoof, curling up into a ball on the floor. “Of all the worst possible things that could happ-… wait…” she uncurls a little and sniffs the air “I sense a disturbance in the cupboard!” and in an instant she’s on her feet and opening up the cupboard. In the back, behind a few boxes of granola bars and crackers… an unopened bag of caffeinated coffee! “Success!” She grabs the bag with her magic and tears off the top and looks inside with a huge smile on her face, only to have that smile fade away… again. “It’s not pre-ground… and there isn’t a grinder in sight! … Oh screw it!” she dips her muzzle into the bag and grabs almost a mouthful of coffee beans and starts crunching away, flopping onto her back and closing her eyes in bliss at the taste of real coffee. “Oh thank Celestia… I thought I was gonna go crazy there for a moment”
“Although I appreciate the thanks, my loyal subject, it is in fact Princess Luna’s idea.”
Starshine’s eyelids pop open, pupils constricted in horror as she slowly looks upwards to find Celestia looking down at her, her ever present smile on her face, wings spread far to her sides. “P-princess Celestia!” she gulps down the remaining coffee beans in her mouth and rolls over into a deep bow. “I d-didn’t notice you come in!”
“You may relax, my faithful subject, I am merely here to see how my new ambulances are fairing.”
“Y-your ambulances!?” replies Starshine, still bowing and deep in shock from the unexpected visit.
“Why yes! It was my decision to have Ponyville set up as one of the test sites for our new infrastructure. It is my understanding that Ponyville has experienced quite a lot of… excitement ever since my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, moved to the town. But that is old news, I am more interested in what is happening now. How have things been at Ponyville Ambulance? Are you able to handle the call volume?”
Starshine slowly stood up, trying to take in all the things that the princess said. “Well Princess, err, ma’am, Ponyville Ambulance has several new medics, however they’re not yet ready to operate on their own just yet. Those of us with prior experience are starting to run out of energy. Furthermore, we do not have any real access to advanced life support. Just now we had a cardiac arrest patient and we had to drive all the way here to Canterlot with only a basic life support crew.”
“Hmm… your name is Starshine, is it not?”
“Yes ma’am”
“And you are a paramedic, correct?”
“Err, yes ma’am”
“Well… I think it’s about time that Ponyville receives an upgrade, wouldn’t you say?”
“Err, ma’am?”
“I would like you, Starshine, to make the necessary changes for Ponyville to be able to provide advanced care. Money is not an issue… after all, this is the safety of my subjects we are talking about. Will you accept this promotion?”
“P-promotion!?”
“Why yes! It is my understanding that only the director of operations could make the purchases and necessary changes to make Ponyville Ambulance an advanced life support agency. And since I, Princess Celestia, am your current director of operations, I do believe it is my right to choose a successor. So how about it? Will you take this assignment?”
Starshine lowers her head in thought for a few moments before raising her head with a smile on her face “It would be an honor, ma’am.”
“Excellent! I’m sure you’ll make a fine director. Unfortunately, I must get going, Royal duty calls! If you need to contact me, head to the library. My student should be able to help you. Best of luck!” And with that the Princess turned tail and walked out, head held high and hair flowing in the non-existent breeze, but before her tail cleared the doorway, she turned her head back, a hint of menace in her expression “And by the way, my name is Princess Celestia, not ma’am.” At the end of that statement, her horn glowed and with a flash of light, where there was once a princess was now just air. All composure that Starshine had managed to conjure up was shattered by that last comment and the Princess’s masked glare. “Well… that could have gone better” was the first thought to pop into her head as her mind recovered from its mild stupor. “But hey! I’m the director of freakin’ operations now! Woohoo!” and with that last thought, Starshine pranced out the door to return to her ambulance.
Butterscotch let out a sigh of relief, fatigue, and sadness as she left the ED’s trauma bay. Not only had that been her toughest call yet, but the ED doctor had drilled her for information for what seemed like hours. Part of her was annoyed at Starshine for not helping with answering questions. Heck, she wasn’t even in the room for most of the questions and it was the responsibility of the trainers to be there for the trainees! Sure, Starshine does a lot for the agency, but that doesn’t mean she could just abandon her inexperienced partner… does it?
Butterscotch shook her head as she made her way to ambulance parking. As the automatic doors slid open she was greeted with a blast of rumbling bass and music. “What in the world…?” She made her way around the side of the Ponyville ambulance, hers being the only white ambulance in the lot, the rest being Canterlot Ambulances with their ‘Royal Red’ liveries. She hopped and placed her front hooves against the passenger door, looking inside to find Starshine lounging in the driver’s seat with her eyes closed and back hooves up on the dashboard. Anger flared up in Butterscotch’s core… there was her partner, lounging away while she worked her flanks off inside. She hopped down then yanked the door open and hopped back up, glaring at Starshine. “What in the hay are you doing!? Starshine just grinned an ego-tastic grin and gently kicked the volume knob with her back right hoof, shutting off the audio system.
“What’s up, B-Scotch?”
“What in the hay are you doing, Starshine!? Where were you when I was answering all the doctor’s questions!?”
At this outburst, Starshine looked legitimately surprised. Realization slowly dawned on her face with a splash of guilt. “Oh, my bad… I went to go get coffee… I was going to be right back, honest! But Princess Celestia came out of nowhere and all of the sudden I’m the director of operations!”
Now it was Butterscotch’s turn to look surprised, the anger fading out of her system to be replaced with curiosity. “Princess Celestia!? Here!? And what about the director of operations!?”
“My reaction exactly! But yeah, she was here! And what’s more, she promoted me to director of operations at Ponyville Ambulance!”
“Dir…dir…director..? You!?”
“Yep! Apparently, I’m, destined for great things!” Starshine said with a suave but mildly arrogant grin, putting emphasis on the “I’m”
“And what about the paperwork?” replied Butterscotch, one eyebrow raised, doing her best to ignore the grin and any violent desires to remove said grin.
“The what now?” Starshine had gone back to lounging in her seat with her eyes closed.
“The paperwork. Director of ops is a desk job after all.” Butterscotch said flatly
Starshine’s right eyelid burst open, pupil constricted and her ears flat against her head.
“No… no! That can’t be true!” she exclaims, grabbing onto the steering wheel, both eyes wide open. A few seconds pause and then she has her head out the window and looks up to the sky, left hoof shaking in a threatening manner as she yells with all the power she can put in her voice “Curse you, Celestia!”
Princess Luna was looking quite bored, sitting next to a chalkboard with lots of tick marks on it. Her right ear suddenly twitched, eyes widening mildly.
“Aha!” Exclaimed Celestia, having heard the yell as well, a look of excitement on her face. “That’s another point for me!”
Luna just rolled her eyes and put another tick on the board. “Whatever you say, sis.”
“What am I up to now?” Said Celestia, leaning forward in her throne with a look of almost child-like amusement.
Luna, slowly counted up the tick marks, pointing to each group as she counted. “Uhmm… forty-five”
“Yes!” Celestia raised a hoof high in the air, look of accomplishment on her face. “New record!”
Luna just face-hoofed and shook her head, looking back up at her sister before replying “I still do not see the amusement in causing misfortune to others.”
Celestia looked down at her sister with an affectionate smile on her face “Oh, Luna. If you would just try it for once, maybe you would understand!”
Luna went back to examining her hoof in utter boredom. “If you say so.”
Celestia’s sun crested the horizon as Starshine trotted along Ponyville’s dirt roads. “Director of operations. First day.” She thought to herself, worry filling the very core of her being “You can do this… Celestia herself chose you for this position!”
Celestia.
Starshine couldn’t help but feel that there was more to this “promotion” than Celestia had originally stated, and not in a good way. She let out a sigh as she trotted along, black and white stripped scarf wrapped around her neck, white saddle bags packed with her basic gear and a few personal items for her new desk. The stone bridge came into sight, and the station behind it, as she turned a corner. The only lights coming from the building were the wall-mounted, industrial-looking halogens that illuminated the driveway and parking lot. Otherwise, the building looked devoid of life.
Starshine swiped her key fob against the proximity sensor, emitting a beep and green light for the black plastic box as the door unlocked. She pulled open the door and trotted inside, flicking on the lights as she trotted into the dispatch office. Her eyes glanced towards the MDT printer and its empty tray. “No calls last night… guess we lucked out this time. I’ll have to do something about the lack of overnight crews” she thought to herself, letting out a sigh as she added another item to the already quite large task list in her head. She moved over to the radio PC and wiggled the mouse. The LCD panel flicked on, displaying the status of various components around the base as well as the radio system. Starshine clicked off the safety and remotely opened bays one through three. To the right of her and through the garage window, the main bays opened up, letting the sun cast its warm glow on the stationary ambulances.
Moving on to the next item on her checklist, Starshine logged into the schedule/time clock on one of two auxiliary dispatch computers. One glance at today’s schedule and she had another thing to worry about; partial crew from 0800-1200, and no dispatcher from 0800-1800. “Today is going to be a wonderful day” she thought sarcastically as she wrote up a message. With one more click of the mouse and “Driver needed from 0800-1200. Dispatcher needed from 0800-1800” was sent out to all district pagers. A few seconds later and her saddlebags started to beep. As she already knew what the message was, she ignored the beeps of her pager until it timed out. There were more important things than beeping pagers that required her attention.
Back into the hallway, a right, and then a left into the living room/kitchen was where Starshine went next. Sunlight shone through the partially closed blinds, the soft light preferable to the harsh glow of fluorescent lights. She opened up one of the cabinets and selected the first coffee of the day “StarDragon’s Manehatten Roast”, the most potent blend available in Ponyville. She magiked open the lid of the machine, placing a filter inside and filling it with the dark grounds while she took the pot handle in her teeth and filled it at the sink. Soon the room was filled with the rich smells of brewing coffee, a scent she would love to rub into her mane every morning if it weren’t such a waste of coffee.
Starshine took a seat on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, slowly browsing through the newspaper. In one of the local sections it appeared there was a short article about her appointment. Apparently in the few days since that fateful night, word had spread about the new director of operations. Of course, it’s not really all that exciting news, but in a small town, almost anything can make its way in.
A few minutes later, and with coffee in hoof, Starshine was in the ambulance bays and opening up the rear doors to 3779. Setting her coffee down on the action area counter, she started one of the most tedious, but important tasks of day; checking the ambulance supplies. The whole process of checking the interior cabinets, oxygen tanks, and exterior cabinets took about half an hour. A few D-tanks needed replacing but other than that, everything seemed to be in order.
High-low tones then alarm bell. It was time for the first call of the day. “Canterlot Ambulance, mutual aid to Ponyville, priority three call for large area extremity burns. Multiple reports, primary caller appears to be a minor. Ponyville Library.”
Radio chirp, then “Canterlot acknowledges the call, three zero eight nine is en route.”
Starshine hopped out of the ambulance and ran around to the front, her partially drunk coffee still in the back of the ambulance. She hopped into the driver seat and started the engine, flicked on the battery switch, and hit the radio. “EMS, this is Ponyville, we have a partial crew available for crew sharing. Three seven seven nine is responding.”
“Okay Ponyville, three seven seven nine responding, partial crew, available for crew share.”
Starshine hit the garage door opener and used the time it took to open to plan out her route. Once the door was open, she flicked on the siren to hyper and quickly pulled out of the bay and turned onto the main road, switching the siren back down to wail.
Five minutes of uneventful driving later and the ambulance slowed to a halt in front of the Ponyville Library. She flicked off the siren and downgraded the emergency lights to secondary. “EMS, three seven seven nine on scene”
“Seven nine on scene.”
After putting it in park, Starshine climbed through the driver compartment door into the back compartment. She unbuckled the jump bag then slung it over her shoulder and hopped out the side door. No point in bothering with the stretcher just yet. A few knocks on the library’s front door and a few moments wait, and the door opened to reveal a small purple and green dragon with a facial expression showing a mix of concern and annoyance… Mostly annoyance. “Can I help you?”
“Ponyville Ambulance, someone here called for an ambulance?” Starshine was hesitant to go any further. Although the little dragon looked harmless enough, dragons were rare and with the chief complaint being burns… well it might not be accidental.
“Yeah, Twilight is in the kitchen.” Said the dragon as he turned around and motioned for Starshine to follow.
Cautiously, Starshine trotted along behind the baby dragon, keeping her eyes on the dragon in case he decided to attack. Upon entering the kitchen she let out a gasp as she saw what would later be described as “A very localized disaster area” in the patient care report. Caramelized sugar coated the stove and the pots and pans on top of it. The countertop next to the stove was littered with flower stems and bread crumbs. The coffee maker appeared to have exploded, one of the knobs on the sink’s faucet was missing and was spraying water into the air, the fridge was laying on its front and leaking various fluids, and the entire kitchen floor was submerged below several inches of water, and right in the center of it all was a purple unicorn frantically searching through a cookbook and muttering to herself “Kitchen emergencies, kitchen emergencies, under ‘e’ maybe?”
It took a few moments for Starshine to regain her composure and make her presence known. “Err… miss? Are you Twilight?”
The unicorn slammed the book down onto the floor, soaking the book in water and revealing burned fur on her right forearm. Her pupils were constricted, her mane was disheveled, and her right ear was twitching. She blinked a few times before exclaiming “There’s no disaster guide!”
Starshine winced a little at the volume of the reply. “There’s no what now?”
“Disaster guide! This cookbook doesn’t have anything in it about disasters!” the unicorn suddenly teleported forward and quickly reached forward and placed her front hooves on Starshine’s shoulders and pressed her face up against the medic’s face. “What do I do now!?”
Starshine tried to back away but found herself pinned against a wall. She reached up and gently removed one of the unicorn’s hooves, a nervous smile on her face, trying to mask her fear. “Why don’t we step outside and get some fresh air, alright?”
“Outside!?” the unicorn wouldn’t release her grip on Starshine. She needed to get the unicorn away from her and call for police assistance before this unicorn went completely psycho on her.
“Yes… outside… to get some fresh air and relax while I get someone over here to take care of everything, okay?” Starshine spoke slowly and calmly, trying to keep the situation from escalating. The unicorn seemed to be processing her suggestion until the dragon gently tugged on her mane, drawing her attention away from the pinned medic.
“Twilight? Do what the nice pegasus says and go outside. Everything will be fine.” Starshine felt a twinge of guilt upon hearing the words of the dragon and seeing his concerned expression. He truly seemed to care about this unicorn, and earlier Starshine had suspected him of being the cause of the injuries.
Those words seemed to bring Twilight out of her state of panic and realization of what she had been doing dawned on her face. She slowly released the pinned pegasus. Her pupils had returned to their normal size and her face was showing a mixture of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. “You’re right, I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused.” Said Twilight as she started to walk out the door.
Starshine let out a sigh of relief and followed Twilight out the door. Twilight paused once they both made it outside. Starshine led her to the side door of the ambulance and followed her inside.
“Could you sit on the stretcher for me, miss Twilight?”
Twilight sat down on the stretcher then shifted to lay on her side, letting her muzzle rest on her forelegs. Now that things were under control, Starshine decided it was time to contact dispatch with an update. She hopped over into the captain’s chair and grabbed the radio with magic. “EMS, three seven seven nine”
“Three seven seven nine, go ahead”
“EMS, three seven seven nine, notify the Canterlot rig that they can take it easy.” After finishing her message, Starshine place the mic back on its hook and turned her attention back towards the patient.
“Okay, EMS will advise incoming rig. Three zero eight nine, EMS.”
Starshine set her jumpbag down on the floor and pulled out the stethoscope, pulse-oximeter, and a blood pressure cuff. “Your name is Twilight, correct?”
Radio chirp then “Three zero eight nine, we heard the message, just hit the Ponyville town line and going green the rest of the way.”
Twilight shook her head and let out a sigh. “Twilight Sparkle”
Starshine set her gear down on the squad bench, grabbed a clipboard and data collection sheet, and sat down on the squad bench, taking a pen from her pocket and writing down Twilight’s name. “My apologies. And is this your permanent residence?”
“Yes.”
The only sound in the air was the sound of pen on paper as Starshine recorded her initial observations. “May I see that burn?”
The purple unicorn gave a small nod as Starshine hopped down and leaned over her patient to examine the burned area, gently palpating the area and trying to part burned fur to examine the skin below. “Does this hurt?” The unicorn denied it but Starshine could feel the muscles constrict below the skin. Starshine slid open the trauma cabinet and levitated a razor over to the unicorn, gently clearing a small spot near the center of the burn. “1st degree, nothing serious. So how did this happen?”
“Well… I had just woken up after a long night of studying and I was feeling pretty out of it, and since Spike was such a big help last night I decided I’d try and make breakfast for the both of us and let him sleep in. I guess I was a little impatient for the coffee to finish brewing so I tried using a spell to make it brew faster and well… it exploded…”
“What exploded?”
“The coffee… and that explosion just caused a chain reaction of chaos and then the eggs started to burn… and… and…!”
The purple unicorn pressed her hooves against her head, a panicked expression on her face as she remembered the horrors that had unfolded in her very kitchen. Starshine reached forward and placed a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her. “It’s okay, it’s all over now… how about you tell me who this Spike character is. Is he the dragon I met earlier?”
Twilight seemed to perk up a little at the change of topic, her body relaxing again. “Oh, yes! He’s my number one assistant! He’s been helping me ever since I became Princess Celestia’s student. He’s practically family at this point.”
Starshine gave a soft smile and nodded “Alrighty then, I assume you do not wish to go to the hospital today?”
The unicorn smiled sheepishly, a blush adorning her cheeks. “If I don’t have to, I’d rather not.”
“Okay then, just give me a minute, I need to cancel the other rig before they arrive.” Starshine opened the passenger side rear door and hopped out to see the second rig pulling up behind her own rig. Starshine gave a wave to the rig then trotted over to the passenger side of the driver’s compartment and hopped up onto the steps. The Canterlot medic rolled down the window as Starshine moved to the ambulance. “Morning, y’all. So our patient is a female unicorn in her twenties. She has a first degree burn on her right foreleg, but that’s it. She does not wish to go to the hospital, so it’s just going to be a sign off if that’s alright with y’all.”
The two stallions looked at each other briefly, the driver nodding once before the medic turned his attention back to Starshine. “We haven’t called on scene yet, so call EMS and cancel us.”
Starshine smiled and nodded “Thanks, sorry you had to come all the way here for nothing. Take care now y’all!” Starshine then hopped down and started walking back to her own rig.
“No problem, at least we don’t have to do any paperwork!” yelled the medic as their rig pulled out and passed the Ponyville ambulance.
Back in the rig and with the rear doors closed again, Starshine got on the radio. “EMS, three seven seven nine”
“Seven nine”
“EMS, three seven seven nine, patient is a sign off, please cancel the incoming rig” Starshine set down the mic and waited next to the radio to make sure there was nothing else EMS needed from her in order to cancel 3089.
“Seven nine, sign off. Three zero eight nine”
“Three zero eight nine on”
“Three zero eight nine, patient is going to be a sign off, you can go ahead and return to Canterlot”
“Canterlot three zero eight nine, back in service, returning to Canterlot”
With 3089 heading back to Canterlot, Starshine could get back to her patient and wrap things up. She sat back down on the squad bench and used her magic to wrap a BP cuff around Twilight’s left foreleg and press the head of her stethoscope against the leg. Her patient jumped a little in surprise, having been daydreaming while Starshine was dealing with the other ambulance. It was then that Twilight finally noticed the unusual attributes of her attending medic.
“Err, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but you’re a pegasus, right?”
Starshine just nodded and gave the short reply of “Mhmm.” Most of her attention was focused on getting an accurate blood pressure reading.
“If you’re a pegasus, but not an alicorn, then how can you do magic?”
A soft hiss filled the air as the BP cuff deflated fully and then slid off Twilight’s leg. Starshine stuffed her stethoscope back into one of her pockets and reclined on the squad bench “A fair question. It’s a rare genetic defect in which the pegasus wing bones, which should be hollow and flexible, take on a structure closer to that of a unicorn’s horn. As this is a defect, it comes in varying degrees of severity. In my case, it’s about a fifty-fifty mix. The result is that my wings are too heavy and inflexible to be useful for anything other than very short flights, and my magical abilities are quite limited due to the incomplete horn structuring in my wing bones. The best I can do is lift things, but even then I can’t lift anything too large without straining myself. I don’t fly because I am at high risk for fracturing or completely breaking a wing bone during flight.”
“I-I’ve never heard of that sort of defect. Have there been any studies done on it?”
Starshine closed her eyes. This was not one of her preferred topics. “There have been a few minor studies done on it purely to record that it exists.”
“I’d love to perform an in depth study on this defect. It might actually help explain how magic works in the first place! Who knows, it might even help you perform magic.”
Starshine’s eyes burst open as she rolled over onto her side. “Are you forizzle?”
“Well, I couldn’t guarantee anything, but I would say it’s a possibility.”
Starshine felt a little let down, but there was now a glimmer of hope where there was nothing before. She didn’t like the idea of being studied, especially by someone she barely knew, but then again it was a chance to improve her magic. Plus, she claimed to be a student of Celestia, but that could also mean she is just as devilish as her Royal Highness. “It would be non-invasive, right?”
“Mhmm.”
“…I need some time to think about this.”
“Oh. I understand.”
Starshine levitated a pen and consent form over to the studious unicorn. “Sign this form please. It’s a consent form saying that I did not examine you against your will.”
Twilight looked a little confused and nervous about the sudden topic change but signed the paper regardless. Starshine levitated over a Refusal of Medical Aid form and pointed to the patient signature line “Sign here.” Once the unicorn had finished she levitated both forms, the pen, and clipboard away from the unicorn. “I am legally bound to advise you that refusing medical aid may result in any injuries or illnesses worsening and that if any of your current symptoms worsen or do not improve after a few days you should seek medical attention. On a side note, you have nothing to worry about, this is all just a formality.”
As expected, the statements did frighten her patient a tad, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. “Alright, unless you have anything else to ask me, you are free to go.”
Starshine had already turned her attention away from Twilight and was working on packing up her gear. Suddenly she felt the pressure of a hoof on her shoulder.
“Please think about my request. I really would like to help you if I can, but there isn’t much I can do without knowing more about your problem.”
Starshine wouldn’t have this. She’s not disabled. She’s not some lab rat to be experimented on! Starshine grabbed the unicorn’s hoof, twisting around and pushing it away as she withdrew her left hoof and got ready to land a hoof-full of hurt on the offending unicorn. Her hoof was about to make contact with the Twilight’s face when she realized what she was doing. Her hoof slowly lowered as she calmed herself and let go of Twilight. Without looking at Twilight again she made her way to the back door. “I hope your burns heal well.” She said, her voice neutral as she opened the door and hopped out, holding the door open for Twilight, still avoiding eye contact. Once the unicorn was out, Starshine closed the door, walked around to the front, hopped in, and drove off without another word.
Starshine put the ambulance in reverse and backed it into bay one. Once it was in place she shut off the engine and closed the bay door. She went through a checklist in her head of things to do after a call “GPS off, bay closed, fuel level is okay, restock the rig.” She had accidently left a towel with Twilight, but no matter, towels were never in service for long. She hopped out then made her way out of the ambulance bays and to her new office. The novelty of having her own office was lost in guilt towards how she treated her last patient. She has dealt with incredibly rude and grating patients in the past but never before had she lost herself like she did earlier. It scared her.
Someone said hello to her as she passed the dispatch office but she didn’t even notice. When she entered her office she shut the door behind her, sat down in her chair, and let her body go limp. Her head landed on an unnoticed gift left on her desk. It was wrapped in colored tissue paper and had a small bow on it. To Starshine, it was just a headrest for now as she drifted off to sleep.
Starshine woke with a start as the station alarm went off all across the base. She groggily listened to the dispatch message and the reply from the station dispatcher. Thankfully, it seemed that Ponyville could staff the ambulance without her for now. With a yawn and a few stretches she got out of her chair and went to the kitchen. After pouring herself a cup of coffee she went back to her office and sat down again, this time leaving the door open. It was now that she noticed the gift on her desk. She eyed the small package curiously and started to open it up. A picture frame. And within that frame was a black and white picture of her laying on her side seductively, on the hood of 3089. There was also a thin, black rectangle across the bottom of the photo with a caption of “Starshine: Ponyville Volunteer Ambulance Director of Operations” in white letters. Of course color photos were readily available but Starshine guessed that the photo was grayscale on purpose. She turned over the frame and on the back was a cardstock note professionally glued onto the back of the frame with a message on it. “Starshine, although your home may be far away, and your friends out of reach, always remember that distance cannot break the bonds you have made. We wish you the best of luck in Ponyville. With much love, Canterlot Royal Ambulance Service overnight crew.” Below the message were the signatures of her friends and co-workers from the Canterlot night crew. A single tear rolled down the left side of her cheek then fell upon the tissue paper on her desk. She placed the frame on her desk and placed her head in her hooves, just staring at the picture, a smile on her face. With all the work and stress of moving and getting settled in Ponyville, she had forgotten about her roots. She had forgotten of the friendships she had made. She would forget them no longer.
After a little while she stopped staring at the picture and cleared her desk of wrapping paper and got out all the papers from the call earlier and a blank Patient Care Report (PCR). She took another quick look at the photograph then, with a small smile on her face, started working on the PCR for her call earlier today. As much as she would have liked to just pass the time reliving fond memories of her old crew, it was her first day in her new position. She had a lot of work to do today after all.
“Done!” Exclaimed Starshine as she punched the stapler down on her finished PCR. The first task of the day was complete. Since she was already on the subject of PCRs, she decided to take on the task of reviewing all the recent PCRs for Quality Assurance (QA). Opening the lockbox revealed quite a sizeable stack of PCRs… it was going to take a while.
“Okay! First one… 3769, crew of three, priority three response for intoxication/overdose, town square. Should be easy enough.” According to the PCR, the patient was one “Berry Punch”, an earth pony mare whom was a local resident. Police had spotted her and called for the ambulance. “Based on the police issued sobriety test performed prior to EMS arrival… patient had a blood alcohol concentration of point three seven…?” she read from the report with hesitation in her voice upon reading point three seven. “Patient was unable to keep herself upright and reported having started her day with a handle of vodka. Only 10% of the original contents remained in the bottle upon police arrival. Patient stated she may or may not have purchased more alcohol throughout the day…? For the love of Celestia, how do you even get that drunk before dinner!?” Starshine’s jaw slowly became more and more slack as she read on. Apparently the patient had tried to leave the ambulance while it was moving several times, and had also managed to procure more alcohol from an unknown location when the crew wasn’t looking. Furthermore there was a note stating that the second medic needed a new uniform because the patient attempted to rip it off of him. Thankfully that seemed to be the last of the mayhem reported in the PCR and it could be signed off as complete and ready for storage.
With some unease, Starshine pulled out the next in the pile of PCRs. “Okay, let’s hope this one has some sanity to it… three seven six nine, crew of two, priority one response for a hoof injury… what. Priority one for a hoof injury!?” Starshine place her hooves against her temples and slowly massaged the area, her eyes closed as she tried to stop the oncoming headache… it was going to be a long day.
An hour later and Starshine had only managed to finish four more PCR reviews. Of those four, Berry Punch re-appeared in two of them, both of which had the same date and pre-arrival instructions… intoxication/overdose. It was time to take a break.
Starshine made her way over to the kitchen, opened up the fridge and got out some milk, poured herself a glass and placed it on the counter. She grabbed a muffin then sat down on one of the stools and had her mid morning snack. The kitchen was always stocked with free food for the on duty crews and dispatcher. One had to keep oneself fueled and ready to go, ponies’ lives were on the line after all. Speaking of which…
Tones played throughout the station before the buzzers and alarm bells activated. “Ponyville for the priority three call for the traumatic injury outside Sugarcube Corner, pegasus into mailbox. Caller is a third party and states that the impact was at a high velocity and that the mailbox broke on impact. So once again that’s Ponyville for the priority three call, Sugarcube Corners traumatic injury of pegasus vs. mailbox. Ponyville?”
What was this? Citizens in trouble? Paperwork waiting in the office!? “WHOO! Extended break time!” Starshine yelled as she ran out of the kitchen, into the hallway, used the walls for banking, and almost clipped the door frame as she tumbled into the dispatch office. Sprawled out on her back and tongue sticking out the side of her mouth she looked up at the stunned dispatch mare. She was a soft green color with blue-ish and white hair. What was her name? Oh yes. “Lyra! Wanna go for a ride?”
The mare before her face hooved then swiveled around in the office chair and hit the radio, her voice sounded bored but there was definitely some amusement hidden within. “EMS, Ponyville acknowledges the call, three seven six nine is responding, base is going off the air.” With that she swiveled around and offered a hoof up. Starshine took it and slowly righted herself before galloping out the door in excitement.
In bay two stood three seven six nine, the oldest of the three rigs. To its left, an empty spot where three seven seven nine would be had it not been at the hospital at that moment. Starshine grabbed the shoreline plug with her teeth and yanked it out hard before spitting it off to the side and hopping into the rig. She hit the battery switch and the consoles flickered to life. The engine let out a roar as the mechanical beast awoke from its slumber. The passenger door opened and Lyra hopped in. Red and white lights flew across the walls. “Rotator lightbars…” Starshine thought to herself as Lyra got herself settled in. “They draw current like it’s no one’s business, and they may require more repairs… but they have a beauty not seen in LEDs…oh well, enough nostalgia, it’s drivin’ time!” Starshine rolled down the window, ensured the GPS was on the live map page, and slapped the siren onto hyper as the ambulance rolled out of the bay and onto the streets. Back to wail then over the bridge and on towards Sugarcube Corner.
With the morning in full swing, travel was slower than usual (for an ambulance that is). Some sort of collision involving two carts had occurred at one of the intersections, the owners of said carts arguing in the middle of the street. The argument was in fact so heated that regardless of how long Starshine had her hoof on the horn, the bickering stallions failed to notice the ambulance waiting. She even had to go so far as to hop out and move the carts herself before the ambulance could continue on.
Finally, after fifteen minutes of driving, the ambulance came to a halt in front of Sugarcube Corner. As Starshine expected, right in front of the store, with letters scattered all over the ground, laying right next to a broken mailbox, was Ditzy Doo… and a box of muffins. Starshine couldn’t help but smile a little as she put on the parking brake and hopped out of the ambulance. “Morning, Ditzy!”
The grey mare looked over with a sheepish grin, her eyes pointing opposite ways “Morning!”
Lyra hopped down out of the rig and gave a wave “Hey Ditzy, got over-excited about muffins again?”
Ditzy Doo started to nod profusely then grabbed the box of muffins in a tight and loving hug as Lyra walked over and started magically examining the mailmare. As expected, there were no injuries other than a few scratches and bruises. Lyra then pulled out an RMA form and pen, holding them out for Ditzy. “Alright Ditzy, you know the drill.” Ditzy grabbed the pen in her mouth and signed the form.
Ditzy drew out the box of muffins and opened the top, holding it out towards the ambulance crew “Muffin?”
Starshine took one and magicked it over into the driver seat. “Thanks Ditz! Lyra, make sure to get a full set of vitals before we leave.” She said as she trotted through the door into Sugarcube Corner. She hopped up and placed her hooves on the counter. “Morning Mrs. Cake!”
“Morning deary! Be with you in just a moment!” came a reply from back in the work area. A minute or two later and out came Mrs. Cake with a fresh tray of cupcakes. She slid them into the glass display then sat down to rest. “So what can I get you today?”
“A large coffee to start, no cream or sugar, two cranberries and four blueberry muffins, and a croissant.” Canterlot tones started playing from her radio as she finished the order.
“Shall I expect you to come back for your order later then?’
Starshine shook her head and smiled “Canterlot tones, not Ponyville.” Alert tones suddenly played, followed by the tones of Trottingham and Ponyville. Starshine’s eyes widened as the tones played. Alert tones and station tones at the same time were quite unusual.
“Canterlot for an MCI, Trottingham mutual aid to Ponyville for alert conditions, and Ponyville mutual aid to Canterlot for an MCI. Standby.”
“Strike that Mrs. Cake, I’ll be back later” Starshine turns around and galloped towards the door.
“Stay safe, deary” said Mrs. Cake before writing down the order.
Starshine jumped the steps to Sugarcube Corner and galloped around to the driver side before she realized she had another pony with her. “Lyra! Let’s go go go!” she yelled as she nearly ripped the door off in excitement, hopping right in and hitting the primary warning lights, hoof at the siren, ready to go. She was nearly bouncing in her seat as Lyra took her time getting into the passenger seat. Once Lyra was all buckled in, Starshine put it in drive, turned on the siren, and floored it. They barely made it to the first intersection before the rest of the dispatch came through.
“Calls canceled for Trottingham and Ponyville.”
“C-canceled…?” repeated Starshine, followed by some rather crude comments.
11:42
Starshine hopped out of the rig and used her magic to plug in the shoreline… perhaps a bit more forcefully than intended. Although they had returned to Sugarcube Corner to pick up the baked goods, her mood was still sour from the false alarm… though baked goods always helped.
“Starshine, everything okay?” After Starshine’s reaction to the canceled call, Lyra had kept quiet until now.
“Just peachy.” Starshine replied without turning her head, merely turning around and walking towards the door. Suddenly she found herself tumbling around on the floor then on her back with a unicorn pinning her.
“You need to eat something!” Lyra was pinning her and levitating a muffin above her.
“No!”
“Eat the damn, muffin!” Lyra pushed the muffin against her muzzle. Her wings glowed as she pushed back with her own magic, the muffin acting like it was in an invisible tug of war. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain between her legs and tried to yell only to find said muffin in her maw. Grudgingly she chewed on the muffin and finally swallowed it.
“You didn’t have to knee me in the crotch, you know…”
“You and I both know that was necessary. Your mood swings are terrible when you don’t eat enough!” Lyra was somewhere between anger, annoyance, and sadness.
Lyra had a point. Hunger did tend to amplify her bad moods… about tenfold… She let out a sigh and nodded her head a few times “You’re right… I shouldn’t have used so much magic earlier. I have to ask though… who told you to tackle me?”
That question seemed to lift the mood, if Lyra’s grin was genuine that is. “Roseluck may have tipped me off.”
“Well… I guess that’s okay then, since it was Roseluck.” a faint blush spread across her cheeks at the mention of that name… Roseluck was quite a beautiful mare after all… her wavy red hair… that curvaceous flank… Starshine tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, but the damage had already been done.
“Ooh, somepony has a crush!”
Starshine crossed her forelegs and looked away in defiance “I so do not!”
“You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”
“Fine, whatever, could you please let go of me? Pretty please?”
“Well… since you asked nicely!” And with that Lyra hopped off of the pinned pegasus and offered a hoof up, which Starshine gladly took. “The day is still young. Still plenty of time to make it a good day.”
“Paperwork or not… great day or horrid day… I think I owe a few ponies an apology or two.”
“Huh?”
“Well the trouble all started with the first call of the day…” Starshine and Lyra walked off towards the rest of the base. There were better places to recount stories than a concrete floor.
‘Twas the day of Nightmare Night, the night every little filly and colt loved. To wear colorful costumes, collect sugary delights… why, even I cannot help but get a little excited.
But yes, my little fillies and colts, it would be a memorable day for everyone! …But none so much as a mare by the name of Starshine… Yes, little did this mare know at the time, but tonight, she would make history and not remember a sliver of it! Well, perhaps not history… but at least a few good embarrassing stories! Bah, I have barely started and already I’ve scuttled the excitement. Oh well, Celestia be damned, I shall make this story into something yet!
So where was I… oh yes! Starshine’s day started later in the morning than usual. She was just about to leave her home and head to work when the festivities of today came to mind…
*Gasp* “It’s nightmare night! I completely forgot to schedule the crews and stage the rigs! Not good, not good!” Starshine looked down at the muffin in her hoof, hardly touched she had planned on eating breakfast during her walk to the ambulance station. “Screw breakfast!” she yelled as she tossed the muffin behind her, walked outside and quickly locked the door. She had lots to do and little time. What did this mean exactly? It was running time!
Starshine tightened the straps on her saddle bags before galloping off towards the base. She had about five hours until sundown but that was hardly enough when you took into consideration all that had to be done before Nightmare Night began. As she had procrastinated on all of the tasks related to Nightmare Night, she would need to get at least three partial crews together to staff the three ambulances which would all need to be assigned to stage in several parts of the town. And where would she stage the rigs? Heck, she didn’t even know if the fire department would be helping out at all either! Oy vey… today was going to be the worst kind of days! Paperwork and meetings…
Throughout her run, she ran through all the tasks in her head as well as scenarios of how things would be if things failed. To say the least, it wasn’t helping. Ahead of her the station loomed into sight. She sprinted to the finish, breathing hard as she closed the gap. Upon reaching the front door she slammed it open and yelled “Everypony panic!” as she stood up, holding the door open and panting, a crazed look in her eyes.
Before her, ponies whom were in the middle of everyday tasks just stared at the loud intruder. Straight ahead, Lyra seemed to have been in the middle of making copies, was the first to break the silence. “Everything okay, Star?”
With a few blinks of confusion, Starshine replied with “I thought that was covered under the “everypony panic”. But more to the point, no everything is not okay, we have a lot of stuff to get done before Nightmare Night!” Starshine let the door slowly swing shut behind her as she walked forward on two legs “We need all three ambulances staffed and out in the community tonight! But before that can happen, all three rigs need a check, we need to plan out the staging areas, fuel all the rigs, wash all the rigs, get crews together, and get more coffee!” She paused and strutted around like a general addressing her troops before continuing. “Lyra! Page out for crews! Roseluck and Butterscotch, you two go check five nine and six nine! Celestia, you’re on coffee duty!”
“Wait… did I just say Celestia!?” she thought to herself, paused in mid-step, eyes wide in shock. “Okay Starshine… you can do this… just turn your head slowly and let’s make sure we’re not hallucinating okay?” She slowly turned her head towards what she thought was the white devil. Unfortunately for her, it was.
“C-celestia!?” Starshine kneeled down into a deep bow. She heard noises of the others following suite. Of all the days the princess could have chosen to throw her off her game with a surprise visit… the princess chose today… the WORST possible day!
“M-my dearest apologies ma’am for addressing you by your name!” she stammered out, trying to decrease the amount of damage done.
“Good afternoon Miss Starshine, I hope you don’t mind but I took it upon myself to see how things are progressing here at the station.” The princess walked forward towards Starshine. “You haven’t been keeping in touch! Though I can understand how your new responsibilities might keep you too occupied to say… visit my student?”
Starshine looked up towards the princess. Only a few things crossed her mind upon seeing the expression on her Royal Highness: “Eep”, “Does she know about my encounter with Twilight!?” and “I wonder who is going to take care of the coffee now”
Celestia turned away from Starshine and moved to the center of the hallway. “I see you all have many things to do. Do not let me keep you from it, Miss Starshine and I shall speak in private. Lead the way, Miss Starshine.”
Oh she was in for it alright. Starshine walked in the direction of her office, muscles trembling beneath her faint pink coat. She unlocked the door then held it open as the Princess walked past her and sat down in her own chair. The Princess then proceeded to examine the room with an unreadable expression on her regal face.
“So how are you coming along with the tasks I have presented you with?”
“Well fine I guess. The budget is kind of confusing so it’s taking some time to get supplies ordered. I’ve got some of the re-designation forms ready to ship though! Hehe…” Starshine put on a large smile, sweat starting to form because of the intense nervousness and worry regarding the appearance of the White Devil.
“I understand how budgets can be intimidating but honestly I would expect you to be further along than you are. If it would help, I may be able to issue a federal grant for your station.”
“It would be greatly appreciated, Princess.” Disappointing the Princess hurt. But not as much as what was about to come.
“There was another reason for my visit… I heard you had an… encounter… with my student, Twilight Sparkle…”
Starshine tried to stand perfectly still, and keep that smile on her face from betraying the true chaos inside her caused by the words of the ruler.
Celestia grabbed Starshine with her magic and pinned her against the wall of her office, glaring with an intense hatred in her eyes not often seen. “Don’t. You. Ever. Hurt. Twilight. Again! Got that, buddy!?”
Her face was almost touching Starshine’s as her hatred burned into Starshine. It was like she had stabbed her with her horn. Repeatedly. All Starshine could do was nod and hope that was enough. Fortunately for Starshine, it was.
Celestia let go of Starshine and smiled “Good. Well I’ll let you get back to work, I know you have a lot to do today!” And with that Celestia opened the door and walked out, leaving Starshine dazed, mildly confused, and quite flustered. As Starshine looked out the door, Celestia was nowhere in sight. She had survived her encounter with the White Devil. She still didn’t have someone assigned to coffee duty though…
“Lyra!” Yelled Starshine as she stood in the doorway of the dispatch office. “I’m taking out seven nine to go deal with liaison-y stuff! Could you sign it on as an ALS fly car, please?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Thank you!” Starshine trotted on and into the garage. The other two girls were currently washing down the rigs, a much appreciated gesture. “Looking good, gals! I’ll be taking out seven nine for a while. Keep up the good work while I’m gone, eh?”
Of the two responses that followed, Starshine only heard one… from the most lovely of mares… Miss Roseluck… shaking her head back and forth as water droplets flew from her flawless mane… her perfect smile, touched with a slight blush as she spoke to Starshine… Ho damn.
Starshine had no idea how long she had been staring, but it seemed that Roseluck didn’t notice as she had gone back to buffing the rig with a rag after thanking Starshine for the compliment and acknowledging the order.
She gave herself one last look at Roseluck for the road then grabbed an ALS bag and Lifepack then walked back over to three seven seven nine, placed the gear in a side compartment, tugged out the shoreline, and hopped into the driver’s seat. The garage door climbed open before her as the engine growled into life. She flicked on the battery switch then checked the center console, turning off the box air and lights before setting the engine in gear and rolling out the driveway. Autumn always was the most poetic time of the year. Had it been different circumstances she might’ve took the time to gaze upon the world and appreciate the true magnificence that we merely pass over in our day to day lives… but there was work to be done… and she still hadn’t had her coffee.
The ambulance lurched to a stop in front of the town hall and Starshine hopped out of the cab, leaving the engine to idle while she spoke with her next target: Mayor Mare. She walked into the lobby and passed the protesting secretary without hesitation and burst through the door to the Mayor’s office. “Mayor Mare! I demand an audience with ye!” Why she said ‘ye’, she didn’t know, but that was neither here nor there.
“You know, it’s often considered impolite to barge in without knocking!” Mayor Mare was peeved, but no matter.
“No time, I need to know the schedule of today’s festivities and the approximate attendance!” Starshine walked forward and stood before the desk.
“My secretary has that information, you know.”
“And that would have been helpful to know ten seconds ago, so will you help me or not!?”
“Oh fine, the festivities start around 7 PM and end around midnight. Expected attendance is the entire town. Anything else…?”
“Mmmm…. Nope! Expect three ambulances staging around town. Bye!” Starshine left the office with a gallop before the mayor could lecture her more. Next stop, the coffee shop!
Starshine yanked open the door and hopped on into the ambulance. Unfortunately for her, tones dropped right as she buckled herself in.
“Ponyville Ambulance, ALS requested for Manehatten Fire Rescue of the 2nd battalion, zone one, priority two, diabetic emergency, patient is reported to be unresponsive, the Orange House, 145 Altai Avenue, cross streets are 11th and 13th street.”
Starshine hit her head against the steering wheel in frustration. “Of course…”
The radio chirped again. “Ponyville acknowledges the advanced life support request, three seven seven nine is responding.” Lyra said from the dispatch office back at the base.
Starshine hit the response lights button on the console and put it in gear, flipping on the siren to hyper and doing a U-turn to drive on towards the town border. She knew the route to Manehatten, but she’d need to use a map once she got into the city. Today was turning out to be just the worst!
20 minutes later, the ambulance was on an express road to Manehatten. Although it was called an express road it was merely a semi-well maintained double wide dirt road.
The radio chirped once more. “Three seven seven nine, from EMS”
Starshine grabbed the mic with her magic. “Three seven seven nine, on.”
“Three seven seven nine, two one four nine is requesting an ETA”
“EMS, three seven seven nine is five minutes out of Manehatten, unknown time from final destination.”
“Three seven seven nine, switch channel to EMS240 and contact 2nd battalion EMS for intercept orders”
“Three seven seven nine, signing off EMS 340 and switching to EMS 240” she replied as she magically turned the channel knob on the radio and flipping over to EMS 240. “EMS, A three seven seven nine signing onto EMS 240, three minutes out of Manehatten city line.”
“Three seven seven nine, stand by for intercept orders.”
Starshine drove on and waited for the intercept information. She waited, and waited, and passed the city line. The suburbs of Manehatten were dense but short. It didn’t take long to pass the entirety of the suburbs and hit the main body of the city of Manehatten. The streets were quite busy with ponies walking on the sidewalks, pulling carts along the sides of the streets, busses stopping and starting with less than optimal warning. She pulled over to the side and cut off the siren and set the traffic bar to the left. It had been eight minutes since the last message from EMS and she was getting pretty nervous.
“EMS, three seven seven nine.”
“Three seven seven nine, go ahead”
“EMS, three seven seven nine, requesting an update on the intercept orders.”
There was a short pause at this point. Something stupid was going on at Manehatten 911, Starshine hypothesized.
“Two one four nine, EMS”
“I’m calling shenanigans on this one!” Starshine thought to herself, quite annoyed with the situation.
Half a minute later and… “Okay, two one four nine arriving at Manehatten General. Three seven seven nine from EMS.”
…What… the… ****
Starshine stared out the front window as she pressed the mic button dejectedly. “Three seven seven nine on.”
“Three seven seven nine is cleared, basic crew transported to hospital.”
“Three seven seven nine copies, switching over to EMS 340.” Starshine switched the radio back over to 340 then proceeded to hit her head repeatedly against the steering wheel for a good 10 or 15 seconds before switching off the emergency lights and starting the long trip back to Ponyville.
Due to rush hour traffic and the distance, it was a good half an hour before Starshine could call back in service and back in the district, and another 10 minutes before rig 3779 backed into the garage. Starshine set it in park then hopped out and re-connected the shore line. The other two rigs looked all clean and shiny; she’d have to thank Roseluck and Butterscotch again for doing such a nice job on them. Bah, she’d have a lot of people to thank by the end of tonight.
Starshine walked opened the door between the garage and the rest of the base only to be greeted with a barrage of noise and chatter. Confused and curious, Starshine trotted around the base, peeking into the dispatch office, the living room, and the computer room. The base had at least half the membership present! Something actually went right today! They had crews! Starshine turned tail and ran back to the dispatch office to find Lyra sitting in her chair, drinking a soda and playing a lyre. “Lyra!”
Lyra looked up from her playing and smiled at Starshine. “Welcome back. I heard you got cancelled while you were in Manehatten.”
Starshine rolled her eyes and walked forward out of the doorway and into the room. “God yeah… I’m calling shenanigans on that one. Oh well… anyways, how in all of Equestria did you get so many people here!?”
“Oh I just paged out a few times and created an incentive for tonight, I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t approve it with you ahead of time, but you have enough on your shoulders as is.”
“You got me a full set of crews, I don’t think I have the right to complain regardless of the incentive. Speaking of which, I suppose I shouldn’t ask what it is?”
Lyra nodded her head and bit her lip “Yeah, probably best if you don’t know about it for now… hopefully it won’t become effective tonight since I set it to only take effect after a certain call volume.”
“Don’t wanna hear it!” And on that note, Starshine left the dispatch office before Lyra could reveal more of her plan. Since the rest of the base appeared to be full, she went to her office to write the PCR. To her surprise, a computer had been placed in her office, likely as a part of the program currently modernizing emergency services in Equestria. She hit the on button then pulled out a blank PCR form and pen. There was definitely going to be some complaints written into this PCR!
An hour later and a lot of complaining off her chest, Starshine decided it was briefing time. She grabbed the phone and pressed the intercom button. “Why hello, everypony! Since it’s getting close to festivities time, I think it’s best we have a briefing on tonight’s events. To the mandatorium! …or for those of you whom do not know it, the meeting room, which shall here forth be called the mandatorium! Huzzah!”
A few minutes later and everypony was taking their seats in the meeting room… err, mandatorium. Starshine stood at a small podium and took attendance, silently muttering the names of each pony as she made note of their appearance. “Lyra, Roseluck, Butterscotch, Amethyst Star, Colgate, Diamond Mint, Bon Bon, Candy Mane, Caramel, Juicy Fruit, Lightning Bolt…” and that was it, it seemed. More than enough to staff all the rigs at least.
“So! At… 6:26, damn time flies, anyways! As well all know, tonight is Nightmare Night and it’s likely there’ll be at least a few calls tonight at the festivities. All three rigs will be placed in service, with two out at the events and one remaining at the station along with a dispatcher or two. Five nine will be designated as the ALS rig for tonight and we will be using a dual response method where five nine will be an ALS fly car until a patient has been designated as worthy of ALS care, at which time five nine will transport. Otherwise, the basic rig will transport. I trust you all can divide yourselves up into teams on your own?” Starshine asked, receiving nods and verbal acknowledgements in return. “Okay then! I will be the ALS tech for five nine. Five nine crew should congregate at the podium, six nine on your left side of the room, seven nine on your right side near the windows, and dispatchers at the door. As a reminder, each rig should have three ponies at most and only two dispatchers overall. Any remaining members shall be placed as a backup team or something… We’ll deal with that once we have the teams… now go my minions! Create your teams!”
Starshine watched as crews began to form. Lyra went to the door for dispatching, Butterscotch joined up with Colgate and Candy Mane at the wall for six nine, Lightning Bolt, Diamond Mint and Juicy Fruit formed a crew for seven nine, and Amethyst Star and… Roseluck joined the five nine crew… Bon Bon was standing next to Lyra, and that left Caramel without an assignment.
“Caramel, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you did lift assists tonight. I can give you a radio and you’ll be free to partake in the festivities.”
“Can do.” Replied Caramel in a slightly disappointed tone. It was likely, Starshine thought, that he was hoping to be paired up with a mare for tonight’s work.
“Alright then! You all have your assignments for the night. All crews will remain signed on until midnight, at which time one or two rigs will be brought out of service for the night. I suggest that all the crews do a final check on their rigs and get everything in order. I’d also suggest stashing some food and drinks in the driver’s compartment. While there will be food and drink available at the festivities, if things turn for the worse, you’ll want something to eat on the way back from Canterlot Hospital. Dismissed!”
Starshine hopped down and began to walk out. She’d have Lyra sign on all the rigs, have her crew work on the rig, leaving her free to check the 3rd Battalion’s status pages.
“Starshine? Could I speak with you a moment?”
Starshine stopped. Who was it that needed her attention? She turned around and froze up. It was Roseluck.
“I was wondering if we could do some training tonight.”
Starshine blinked twice, still frozen in place. “Oh… alright… what sort of training?”
Roseluck raised an eyebrow at her tone but appeared to dismiss it. “Yeah, I’m going through the paramedic class and I’d like to work on some of the physical procedures like starting an IV. Is that all right?”
Starshine shook her head back and forth to shake her brain back into action. “Oh, sure! I have to ask though… have you even done it on a real pony…? Especially one in the back of a moving vehicle?”
“Plenty of times! I’m certified at the EMT-I level!” Replied Roseluck with her cute smile… her silky hair half covering one of her enchanting eyes…
“Oh, sure then… I’d be honored to help you train.” Starshine had subconsciously adorned a small smile and blush, speaking in a soft voice.
“Okay! I’ll go stock some food and drinks in the cab, do you want anything?”
“Oh, anything should be fine. Just put in what you like… check with Amethyst though!” Starshine’s voice returning to normal during the last segment. She watched as Roseluck walked out of the room and turned the corner.
“Somepony’s got a cruuuush!” Somepony half whispered behind her.
Starshine turned around with a scowl, thinking to herself “Oh who the hell is it this time!?” Lyra was standing a foot before her with a knowing grin upon her minty face.
“Going to tell her anytime soon? Hmm?” Said Lyra, tilting her head in towards Starshine and slowly closing the distance between them. “I mean, she is quite the looker.” Lyra stopped, whispering into her ear at this point. “And… single!” Lyra continued to walk away, swinging her tail back and forth “Oh, and I’ll sign on all the rigs for you so you can go do whatever it is you do.”
Though Lyra could be quite a mule about some things, she was still quite an important friend. But anyways, Starshine had more important things to work on at the moment, so she made her way back to her office and logged onto her computer, bringing up the status dispatch page. “So let’s see… EMS, 3rd Battalion… Canterlot has a few rigs on… E-Med… none in the area… and over to fire… what.” Ponyville Fire had no crews signed on for tonight, meaning no support. “Mules!” Starshine exclaimed to no one in particular. Oh well, more things to do.
Starshine picked up the phone and hit the intercom button. “All crews, 15 minute warning, all rigs are now staging.” She put the phone back down and opened up a map of Ponyville on the computer. A few knocks on the door and Lyra walked in.
“What’s the story? All three rigs are going now?” Lyra asked.
“No support from fire tonight… they have absolutely no one on at the moment… so we’re going to show up and show Ponyville we’re serious about public safety. Also, I thought it’d be nicer to the seven nine crew to let them join the festivities for a bit and then I’ll send ‘em back to base to keep you and Bon Bon company.”
“…You just want to lower the fire chief’s reputation.”
Silence ensued for a few moments before Starshine fessed up. “Yeah, that might be my goal. Anyways, I should probably join the crew.” Starshine stood up, grabbed her jacket and slung it on. She walked past Lyra, the minty green mare following behind her. Lyra broke off as Starshine passed the dispatch office. As Starshine entered the ambulance bays, Lyra’s voice was heard over the intercom. “All crews, final call, doors opening in one minute.”
Starshine walked on, doors on the rigs closing with a thunk, engines roaring to life. Five nine was the furthest rig in the bays. Starshine walked around the right side, opened up the side door for the driver’s compartment and hopped in, closing the door behind her. Amethyst Star was already buckled in, one hoof on the steering wheel.
Amethyst Star spoke without looking over “Looks like you pulled it all together.” She turned the key and started the engine with her magic.
Starshine buckled herself in. “We’re not out the door yet. All good back there, Roseluck?”
“Yeah!” Roseluck exclaimed from box. Before Starshine, the garage doors rose up into the ceiling.
Amethyst Star spoke two words as she put the ambulance in gear. “Game time.”
