Author's Notes:

How long has it been?
...
Don't answer that. Just enjoy. Or complain. You have the right to do both.

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."