> Life is a Gambit > by CrossRedstone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie happily trotted through her hometown Ponyville, while humming a happy tune to herself. All around her ponies were going after their daily activities with smiles on their faces. The flower trio was busy tending their flowers, Applejack was talking to Filthy Rich at her apple stand, the CMC were playing tag and Twilight was reading a book, while lying on a picnic blanket. Spike was there too, leaning against her side with a comic in his claws. Pinkie waved cheerfully to each pony and they greeted her back likewise before each party went on with their activities. The party planner herself decided to enjoy the weather a little bit more and simply continued her walk in a random direction. Rainbow Dash had done a terrific job in the skies today, allowing the sun to gently warm Pinkie’s fur. She had half a mind to curl up like a cat and enjoy the warmth of Celestia’s sun while taking a nap. But the pink earth pony had way too much energy left to do that as of now and so instead she continued her walk through her hometown, the smile never leaving her face. As she was making her way across a bridge, Pinkie heard a weird sound, which caused her to stop in her tracks for a second. Looking around, she couldn’t see anypony else. thinking it might have been just her imagination, Pinkie wanted to move on, when suddenly she heard the sound again, this time much clearer. “Huh?” Pinkie pressed her ear against the wood underneath her, trying to find out if there was something inside the wood making that sound. And indeed, once again the same sound could be heard from beyond the planks of the bridge. Interested and a little bit surprised, Pinkie grabbed a drill from the other side of the river and quickly made a hole in the plank. Through there she could see what was underneath the bridge. With one eye poking through the wood, Pinkie spotted the forefront of a foal sticking out of a cardboard box. The party planner gasped in surprise, jumping into the air for a short period, before taking another look. She could see that this foal had an orange coat, though it had a lot of brown spots. Those brown spots turned out to be dried up mud. The mane of the foal was two-colored in red and yellow and pretty short, but still messy. Suddenly Pinkie gasped again. She suddenly realized that she didn’t recognize this particular foal, which in return meant it must be a new pony! She needed to greet this pony with her welcome wagon! Jumping over the railing, Pinkie landed on the soft grassy ground and turned around to see the foal still lying under the bridge. She quickly zoomed in front of him and greeted him with a cheerful: “Hey there! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Now Pinkie was used to a lot of reactions from other ponies when she first introduces herself to them. Most of them are either startled or confused or even both. This time the reaction was completely different from what she had experienced so far. Instead of saying something in return or even screaming, the little guy just rolled to the side and let out another one of those noises, which turn out to be a groan. It wasn’t the usual one Pinkie received from her friends from time to time when she said something silly. This one reminded her more of the time when her sister Marble was bedridden because she caught the flu. With her smile somewhat disappearing, Pinkie put her right leg against the colt’s forehead. Her eyes widened in shock when she felt the heat radiating off the forehead. The smile completely vanished from the earth pony and was replaced with a worried frown. “Oh my gosh! You’re burning! Hey, can you hear me? Are you feeling alright? How many hooves do you see?” she asked, holding up five hooves. But as before, the only thing the foal did was to groan once again and roll on the other side. He didn’t even let up a confused gasp when Pinkie showed him five of her hooves. Granted, he had yet to open his eyes, but still, it was worrying. She knew from personal experience that sickness wasn’t something to be taken lightly. After all, it pretty much prevented you from almost having any fun whatsoever. Luckily, Pinkie knew just the pony for sick little foals: Nurse Redheart! So without further ado, the pink earth pony put the dirty foal on her back, intending to bring him to the hospital. While adjusting him slightly, Pinkie noticed that the little guy was a pegasus, though his wings were just as small as Scootaloo’s. Another thing was that he already had his cutie mark. It was a Silver Coin, surrounded by multiple other silver coins, only smaller. “Don’t worry, new pony. Auntie Pinkie will bring you to Nurse Redheart. She’ll make sure you’ll be all better and I’ll throw you a get well soon party as well.” With the declaration made, Pinkie Pie sped through Ponyville, startling some of the residences, as she barely missed them in her sprint. She just so might be responsible for the one or other pony dropping something easily breakable. She made a mental note to apologize to them later after she had made sure the foal would be okay. A good thing was that she was well aware of all the shortcuts around town, which in return allowed her to reach the hospital in no time. Ponyville General was hard to miss, to begin with. It was one of the tallest buildings in town and pretty much stood out due to it’s more modern design than the traditional design of the other buildings. The earth pony practically slammed the doors open, almost unhinging them in fact. Every single pony in the lobby, be it patient, visitor or doctor turned their heads towards the heavily breathing pink pony. By pure coincidence, Nurse Redheart happened to be in the lobby, talking to one of her colleagues. Confused and a tad worried, because Pinkie wasn’t scheduled to cheer up anypony today, the nurse approached Ponyville’s very own party planner, her hooves’ clopping echoing through the normally not so silent lobby. “Pinkie Pie dear, is something the matter?” Pinkie for her part was still out of breath. Instead of answering with words, she gestured widely on her back with one of her legs. Confused, Nurse Redheart walked around and gasped in shock, when she saw the ragged foal on her back. He looked like a complete mess: the coat was dirty, the feathers on his wings in disarray and you could barely make out the red and yellow lines in his short mane, he was that dirty. “Oh my gosh. What happened to the poor dear?” Redheart asked Pinkie, as she did a quick inspection of the colt. “Don’t know…” Pinkie said between breaths. “Found him….like this….high fever….party…” But Redheart stopped listening as soon as she heard the word fever. She did the same check up on the temperature earlier as Pinkie did and came to the same conclusion. His fever was seriously high. “Quick.” The nurse took the liberty to put the colt on her own back, relieving Pinkie from her burden. The pink mare took in a deep breath, while Redheart was already on her way to the hallways. “We need to treat this colt immediately.” And without further ado, Redheart disappeared behind a pair of double doors, leaving Pinkie Pie alone in the lobby. Twenty minutes later Pinkie found herself waiting in the lobby with some of the local townsfolk. Naturally, they had been more than a little curious about the behavior of the pink pony, not to mention the orange colt she had been carrying on her back. So she told them where she found the small pony and why she brought him to the hospital. “My goodness.” Berry Frost put a hoof in front of her muzzle in shock. “I hope the poor dear will be alright.” “You said you never saw him before, right?” Bottlecap asked, to which Pinkie nodded. “Uh huh.” “So, what about his parents?” the blue earth pony asked. “I mean if he’s here and you have never seen him before, then that means his parents must be new here too. Where are they though? Are they looking for him right now?” The information got everypony around to pause for a couple of seconds. Afterward, everypony started murmuring nervously with each other. “Where are his parents?” “Maybe they’re in the town hall, asking for help?” “What irresponsible parents would leave their child alone?” “Did he get lost somehow?” While the surrounding ponies talked among each other, Pinkie went over her mental list of ponies she knew, trying to see if she wasn’t mistaken and did know the colt’s parents. She was only halfway through when she was approached by Nurse Redheart again. “Pinkie Pie?” “Oh! Nurse! Is he alright? Can I throw him a party? What’s his favorite color?” Pinkie zoomed into the nurse’s face with each question. Redheart for her part took a few tentative steps back, getting some distance between her face and Pinkie’s. “Please calm down, Pinkie Pie. Can you please come with me for a little? I need to ask you some questions.” “Okie, dokey, lokey!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed and hopped after the white mare. The nurse led the party planner to a separate office. Inside the white mare gestured for her fellow earth pony to take a seat on one of the two chairs in front of the big desk. Pinkie did just that, jumping into the air, doing a front flip and landing comfortably in the chair. The nurse just rolled her eyes in slight amusement and trotted over to the other side of the desk, where she took a seat. “Okay Pinkie, because I know you want to throw this colt a get well soon party, but not as of now.” “Aww.” Pinkie let her head hang low for a second before it came back up with her usual smile plastered on her face. “Oh well, I’ll just schedule it for another time.” “Yes, that would be for the best.” Redheart nodded, glad this issue was out of the way. “Now then” the white mare opened a drawer and took a clipboard out with her mouth and closed the drawer with a free hoof. Placing the clipboard on the desk, there was already a paper stuck on it, the nurse picked up a pencil and got ready to write. “So before we go to the boring paperwork, the colt is currently asleep. We gave him some strong medicine due to the high fever.” “So...he’s going to be alright?” Pinkie Pie asked, just a tad worried. “Yes, he will be fine.” “Phew.” Redheart continued explaining. “The colt simply came down with a bad case of the flu. He’ll be bedridden for a couple of days and probably won’t feel too well for the next couple of days. But I’m positive he’ll recover in time.” “That’s good! I knew you were the right pony for the job.” Pinkie grinned. “Why, thank you Pinkie.” Redheart nodded in appreciation. “Now then, do you mind if I ask you some questions?” “Not at all.” Pinkie shook her head. “Okay then, do you know the colt’s name?” Redheart asked. “Nope.” “What?” “Nope,” Pinkie repeated. “Well, why not?” the nurse asked. “Because he’s a new pony.” Pinkie explained as if it was obvious. “A new pony? Well, this certainly complicates things. Wait a minute, if he’s new here, then what about his parents? Aren’t they somewhere around?” “I don’t know.” Pinkie Pie replied a little dejected. “He’s the only new pony I saw today. My Pinkie Sense doesn’t tell me if there’s a new pony around, sadly.” Redheart sighed. “Yes, it’s really an inconvenience. Anyways, I’m sure his parents must be worried sick about him.” Redheart put the pencil down and jumped off her chair. She walked around the table until she was right next to Pinkie Pie. “This is serious my dear. I’ll need to head to the town hall immediately and inform the mayor about this, so she can organize a few posters to be hung up. Pinkie” the pink mare jumped down “could you in the meantime search for his parents? You know everypony in town, so you’ll be able to spot them immediately. Maybe ask some of your friends for help.” “Don’t worry, Nurse Redheart. I’ll find them in a jiffy!” Pinkie saluted, ran past Redheart, opened a window and jumped right out of it. “Well, at least she didn’t break the window this time.” The nurse spoke to herself, before heading out as well, only she used the regular way. As quickly as she could, Pinkie Pie gathered all of her friends (no, not the entire town, just the Elements of Harmony) in front of Sugarcube Corner and explained the situation to them. “Wait, wait, hold up!” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves frantically while hovering in the air. “Are you telling me, this pony lived inside a cardboard box and nopony else noticed?!” “Well, I wouldn’t say lived.” Pinkie replied with a thoughtful expression. “I just found him sleeping there. Maybe he tried to build some kind of secret fort!” she exclaimed in an exciting manner. “I highly doubt this is the case,” Twilight spoke up. “No, from what Pinkie Pie told us, I think Rainbow Dash has the right idea.” “Oh, the poor, poor dear.” A tear trickled down Fluttershy’s cheek. “I can’t imagine how awful that must have been. All alone in the cold night with nowhere to go…” Rarity put a sympathetic hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I know my dear. Just thinking about all of the dirt and the rain and a filthy cardboard box,” the fashionista shuddered “of all the possible things, why a cardboard box?!” “Ah guess the fella just looked fer someplace ta sleep.” Applejack commented. “Still, why didn’t he just ask anypony for help to find his parents? Or shelter?” Rainbow asked. “Maybe he’s shy?” Twilight offered uneasily. “Oh, I know how that feels,” Fluttershy commented in a dejected matter. “In any event, talkin’ ain’t gettin’ us anywhere.” the farmer of the group spoke up. “We should look fer tha fellas parents and not wonder ‘bout stuff we don’t have an answer.” “I agree with AJ here,” Rainbow told the rest. “I’ll check for anypony new from the skies. See ya around.” And with that, Rainbow Dash took off, leaving her signature rainbow trail behind. The others looked after her for a couple of seconds, until she was out of their view. “We should go as well,” Twilight told the others. “We’ll split up and meet back at Sugarcube Corner in three hours. All right?” The rest of Twilight’s friends mutually agreed to this decision. “I just got an idea!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, causing the others to stop from going away. “Why don’t we ask the colt how his parents look? He may even know where they are!” She jumped in excitement. “Uh...Pinkie Pie, dear. Didn’t you tell us that he’s currently sleeping?” Rarity asked. “Well, maybe he woke up!” The others gave each other a look and shrugged. “All right, as long as you make sure to tone it down a bit. I’ll imagine he’ll be pretty exhausted.” “Don’t worry.” Pinkie smiled. “I know how to take care of sick foals. I do it all the time with my get well soon parties!” “But this isn’t-!” But Pinkie Pie was already gone. “-a party.” Twilight finished lamely. She sighed and turned back to the other three ponies. “Dun’ worry nothin’ hun.” Applejack waved dismissively with her hoof. “She may not look like it, but Pinkie Pie knows when to hold back with her excitement. The foals really love her ah’m sure this’ll be no different.” “Right.” Twilight nodded, though she didn’t sound convinced. “Anyway, we should get going. There’s a good chance the parents of the colt are already looking for him.” “And when ah find them, ah’ll give them one stern talking,” Applejack promised. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the Elements were busy searching through Ponyville for the orange colt Nurse Redheart was busy looking after said colt. The mayor of Ponyville had been informed about the colt and she personally was currently going through the lengths of the Equestrian bureaucracy, so that the parents or possibly other relatives of the colt could be found as quickly as possible. One could argue that this was unnecessary since all the ponies had to do was to wait for the colt to wake up and ask him directly about his parents or potential other guardians. However, this was or at least heavily looked like Ponyville's first case of foal abusage. Nopony had said it out loud so far, but given the conditions he had been found in, there were plenty of reasons to believe that he either ran away from home for some reason, got lost from his parents for some reason (which Nurse Redheart hoped was the case) or worst case scenario his parents had abandoned him. Shaking these thoughts out of her head, Nurse Redheart took the thermometer out of the orange pegasus' mouth and looked at the results. They could be worse, but it was still not encouraging. The temperature had barely gotten down and the colt was still shivering in his sleep. Redheart put a comforting hoof on the colt's forehead and rubbed it gently. Subconsciously the little colt leaned further into the touch, a small smile appearing on his lips. Seeing this, the nurse had to smile herself. She stroked through the boy's mane a couple of times before she had to return to her duties. She did her best to ignore the frown that was forming on his face. The white earth pony walked around the bed until she was in front of it. Like in any hospital, a clipboard hung in front of the bed, allowing doctors and nurses to note important data about the patient using said bed. Nurse Redheart took a pen out of her jacket and wrote down the updated body temperature of the patient. Having done that, she went over the other data written down by other members of the hospital staff. It appears he was given the medicine as ordered by the doctor. He had also been cleaned by some of Redheart's co-workers and she was glad she was busy with paperwork at the time. Cleaning a patient was never a pleasant task, but a necessary one, mostly to check for any external injuries that might be covered up by the dirt, along with a couple of other reasons. Hanging the clipboard back on the bed, the nurse looked one final time over to the colt, fully intending on leaving him alone for the time being, to check up on him later. However, when she saw the little guy opened his eyes, revealing his eye color is green. The small pegasus blinked a couple of times, his eyes clearly trying to readjust to the light inside the hospital room. Redheart quickly trotted back, so that she came face to face with the colt. Said cold still needed a moment until his eyes fully adjusted and he could make out the mare in front of him. When he did, his eyes widened immediately and he shot up from the bed, throwing the covers off his body. "W-w-what the hell?!?!" he exclaimed, despite his voice sounding hoarse. Redheart couldn't help but frown at the colt cursing. The little pegasus looked like he wanted to say more, but was interrupted by a heavy coughing fit. "Oh dear. That doesn't sound good." Redheart commented. She went on to gently push the colt back down to lying position, while at the same time pulling the covers back over him using her teeth. The colt coughed a couple of more times, not as heavy, but still plenty. After he was finally done, he curled up, pulling all of his legs closer to his own body. A small groan escaped the pegasus' body and he started shivering uncontrollably. Concerned, Redheart began stroking the colt's back and made shushing noises, trying to comfort the colt in some way. "Shh, shh, there, there," Redheart spoke soothingly. "Everything is going to be all right." The colt didn't appear to be capable of giving a straight answer, given the state he was in. Nothing more than whimpering noises escaped him. Redheart wasn't sure whether the colt tried to give a reply or if he was simply uncomfortable. Nevertheless, now that the patient was awake, it was Redheart's duty to take care of him to the best of her abilities. Since he was already given medicine, while he was asleep, Redheart didn't have to try and convince the colt to take the "yucky" medicine. She could focus on the more pleasant things. "Do you want some water, maybe?" Nurse Redheart asked, while continuously stroking the orange colt's back. The colt looked up, his head moving slowly. Redheart could even see and hear his teeth chattering. A few whimpers escaped him, while he made a nodding motion, before pulling his head back down, almost resembling a ball at this point. "All right. Just give me a second, sweetie." Redheart turned her attention to the nearby nightstand, where along with a lamp, an empty cup had been placed. Redheart picked up the cup with her mouth and quickly trotted to the nearby attached bathroom, where she filled the cup with water from the sink. Having it filled, the Earth Pony mare returned to the colt, only to find him having retreated under the covers. A small bump just showed where he was hiding. Redheart noted that he was still shivering, but not as strongly as he had before. After placing the cup on the night stand, she carefully moved the covers out of the way, until she could see the colt's head. He let out a little whine when his head was exposed to the air once again. Looking up, he could see that the nurse had returned and was smiling down on him. "I have your water," Redheart informed him. "Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-thank you! Goddammit!" Once again, Redheart frowned at the curse, but let it slide for now. The colt wasn't in any condition to be scolded at, that needed to wait. Carefully Redheart grabbed the cup of water and helped the orange colt lean upwards. Carefully she pressed the cup against his lips and allowed him to take tiny sips. The colt drank until the cup was empty, upon which the nurse helped him gently back down on the pillow. She adjusted the covers just a little bit but didn't bury the pegasus under them, like he himself did just a minute ago. "Do you need anything else?" Redheart asked gently, slowly stroking through his short mane. "N-n-n-n-not really. C-c-c-can't e-e-even t-t-t-t-talk properly." The colt muttered under his breath or at least tried to, but Redheart was still able to hear him. "V-v-voice sounds weird too." "Okay, sweetheart." She gave him two soft pats on the head. "I'll go and get the doctor. If you need anything, just press the button over there." Redheart pointed at a button that was attached to the nightstand and easy to reach from the bed. The orange pony nodded and slid down behind the covers until his snout was barely above them. Nurse Redheart watched as he leaned his head to the side and closed his eyes once again. His body let out the occasional shiver, but overall it appeared to have calmed down somewhat. Seeing this, the earth pony silently opened the door and sneaked out of the room, after which she closed the door just as silently. After having done this, the nurse quickly made her way down the hallway, heading straight to the office of the doctor in charge of the colt. She arrived on the second floor only three minutes later and knocked at the door of Doctor Needle's office. "Yes, come in?" Came it from the other end of the door. Nurse Redheart entered immediately afterward and found a brown stallion with a syringe cutie mark sitting at his work desk. He appeared to have been busy filling out some kind of form and looked up from the paperwork. "Ah, Nurse Redheart. How are the patients?" "They're fine, well as fine as one can be being stuck in a hospital." The white earth pony replied to her fellow brown earth pony. "Speaking of here, I am here to inform you that our newest one has woken up." "Ah, splendid." The doctor said with a smile. "He stood up from his chair and walked around his desk. "How is our newest guest feeling?" "Not well, I'm afraid," Redheart replied. "He's constantly shivering and even with the medicine, the fever has barely gone down. I haven't really talked with him too much. I tried to comfort him a little and gave him some water. Afterwards, I came straight here, thinking you might want to check with the colt yourself." "Yes, I would like that." The doctor nodded. "By the way, did you manage to ask the colt for his name?" "Ah." Redheart face-hoofed. "I completely forgot about this. I'm so used to having the names of our patients already written down shortly after they arrive. I'm sorry about this blunder." "Ah, don't worry." Dr. Needles waved off. "As long as you don't repeat it, it's no big deal. Very well, let's go and see the little guy. He has been given his medicine, correct?" The two earth ponies trotted out of the office and started making their way back to the room where the patient was stationed in. "Yes," Redheart confirmed. "Nurse Shine has taken care of it, at least according to the clipboard. Though, I am honestly concerned that the medicine has yet to take a real effect. It was a strong one after all, plus it has been hours." "Hmm..." Doctor Needles frowned a little, thinking. "Well, there are always cases where the medicine takes a little longer or its effects set in earlier than it should. Let's give the medicine a little more time to work its magic before we jump to conclusions." "If you say so, doctor." "By the way, what do you think his cutie mark represents?" the brown stallion asked out of nowhere. "Why don't you simply asked him?" Nurse Redheart appeared to be a little confused. "Oh, I just love to speculate about a patient's cutie mark. It breaks the mold, so to speak and allows the mind to relax a little. Given how stressful our work can be, I found it to be a vital part of my daily routine." "Is that so?" Nurse Redheart asked surprised. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it had to do something with mathematics or economics. Maybe he's good with counting money or handling money in general." "Hmm, possible." the doctor admitted. "Personally, I thought he was good at flipping coins." "Really, doctor?" The white earth pony gave her brown counterpart a look. The doctor just smiled sheepishly, causing the nurse to roll her eyes. At that moment the two arrived at their destination. Slowly the doctor pulled the handle and pushed the door open. He and the nurse entered the room and found the colt still lying in the same position, as Nurse Redheart left him. Upon hearing the door opening, the colt turned his head slowly, until his gaze fell upon the two ponies. "Hello, champ. I am Doctor Needles," The doctor introduced himself. "I am just here for-" The doctor found himself interrupted by his patient having another coughing fit. "Oh dear. Nurse Redheart, could you please go and fetch some cough drops?" "Of course, doctor," Redheart confirmed and once again made her way out of the room. Doctor Needles in the meantime approached the bed and put his foreleg on the pegasus' forehead. Said pegasus couldn't help but flinch a little upon the sudden breach of personal space. "Hmm, still burning." The doctor mumbled. "Just like Redheart said. Oh well, the medicine should do its magic soon enough and afterward, all you need is a good night's rest." The doctor gave the colt in bed his biggest and brightest smile. The colt in return looked at the doctor with ever so slightly widened eyes. He looked to the left. He looked to the right. Slowly but surely he crawled backward, until he was as far away from the doctor as possible. Doctor Needles in return frowned, wondering if he had done something wrong to cause such a reaction from his patient. Shaking it off, he continued. "So, how do you feel? Does anything hurt?" "H-hurt?" The patient echoed, which was followed by another coughing fit. Afterwards, he needed to catch his breath for a couple of seconds, before he could speak any further. Doctor Needles watched the colt with worry. "Yeah." It came eventually out of the young pegasus. "38 fever..." The pony breathed out, confusing the brown stallion just a tad bit. "38 fever?" The stallion repeated. "38... Celsius." The colt clarified, seemingly having trouble to talk. He looked up to the ceiling and took in some deep breaths between words. "Worst fever. Even 39 is more bearable than this." "39 Fahrenheit, I mean Celsius is more bearable?" The doctor made a mental note that the colt might be from out of the country, where they use the Celsius measurement for temperatures, instead of Fahrenheit. "Mhm. 39...is just hot." The colt explained. "37... I sneeze a lot. Usually." As if the word itself had triggered it, there was another round of coughs escaping the young pegasus' throat. "And 38...everything hurts... and I feel miserable." The colt leaned his head to the side, looking away from the doctor and closing his eyes. Two small coughs escaped the colt's throat, causing the blanket to slide off his body. This caused the colt to open his eyes once again and he tried to grab the blanket with his hooves and pull it up. However he pretty much failed to do so, not one, not two, but three times. After the third time, the doctor observed as to how the colt looked down at his hooves as if they were completely alien to him. "Right... forgot... hooves..." the colt muttered before he started to shiver again. At this point, Dr. Needles figured that his patient needs a lot more rest before he can start answering some questions let alone undergo a basic check-up. Yet another coughing fit caused the blanket to completely expose the foal's body. Needles quickly pulled it back up and tucked the little patient in. It was at this point that Nurse Redheart returned, carrying a small pouch with cough drops inside with her. She dropped the pouch at the nightstand, causing some of the contents to spill on said table. The white earth pony quickly unraveled one of the drops and brought the treat over to the patient and held it in front of his mouth. The colt looked at the treat for a moment, before slurping it up. "Sorry 'bout wetting your hand." The colt stated, before falling asleep for good. "Let's let him rest for the time being." The doctor told the nurse. "Yes, I agree." Nurse Redheart nodded. "Also, did he say hand?" "I guess he is tired and confused." The doctor mused. "Let's go. We can check up on him later."