Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity casually strolled into the Ponyville Hospital, each carrying a duffle bag. “Alright girls, this is our last shot. Do this smoothly and quickly, before anypony knows what’s going on. This has to be big,” Twilight said. The ponies nodded and headed off in separate directions.

Rainbow Dash stopped by the water dispenser and poured herself a cup of water, taking an extra long time to drink it while she leaned by the wall, giving Twilight a slight nod. Rarity stood in line at the counter, and Applejack hit the button for the elevator.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Nurse Redheart asked, approaching Twilight.

“Actually, yes. Could you please take this letter to the patient in the last room on the eighth floor? It’s kind of important,” Twilight said, withdrawing an envelope from her bag.

Redheart sighed tiredly, but smiled. “Sure, dearie.” The last room on the highest floor would take a while to reach. She walked over to the already-open elevator and got inside with an orange pony with a Stetson hat. It wasn’t until the doors closed that she realized that all of the buttons had been pressed. She glared as the orange pony smiled back sheepishly.

“The chicken has flown the coop,” Twilight said to herself, motioning to Pinkie Pie to unzip her duffle bag, revealing a party cannon.

“Alright, everypony! Put your hooves in the air!” Pinkie Pie shouted. The patients murmured in confusion and fear, backing against the wall and raising their hooves.

“What is the meaning of this? This is a hospital, we don’t have any money!” the receptionist asked angrily.

“Now… wave them like you just don’t care!” Pinkie Pie shouted, firing a stream of confetti, streamers, and balloons into the air. “I SAID WAVE THEM!” She fired again and music started playing.

Five minutes later, Nurse Redheart was riding the elevator back down. The patient had not been expecting any mail, and had looked at her oddly when he read it. “Huh, the elevator music really is upbeat today,” she said to herself. Then the doors opened and the music didn’t stop.

She brushed her way past the balloons to find everypony in the waiting room dancing, socializing, and drinking punch. The pony that had asked her to deliver the letter was nowhere to be found. “I really need some rest,” she mumbled to herself.

A white mare in a nurse’s outfit she had never seen before tapped her on the shoulder with a hoof. “Excuse me, nurse, you’re needed in room twenty-three on the second floor.”  

“Right away,” Nurse Redheart said, heading towards the elevator as Rainbow Dash and Applejack came down the stairs with a group of babies, completely unnoticed by the patients and reception desk absorbed in Pinkie’s party.

“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t we?” Rainbow Dash asked Rarity.

“You try changing into a nurse’s outfit and getting her to leave all in a span of thirty seconds,” Rarity said, tossing her mane.

“You called for me?” Nurse Redheart asked, knocking on the door. There was no response. “Sir?” She knocked again, then went in.

The baby on the hospital bed gurgled happily at her. “What a mixup,” she chuckled. “What’s your name, little one? I’ll get you back to the nursery where you belong.”

“Why don’t you try reading the clipboard?” it asked in a stallion’s voice. Redheart blinked and rubbed her eyes.

“Umm… did you just talk?” she asked the baby.

“Did I just talk? Hmm let me guess. Yeah, I think I just did. You wanna read that clipboard?” the baby replied.

“Smart Aleck, age twenty five, in here for a fractured wing,” she read, then turned to the baby. “You don’t expect me to believe that you’re twenty-five years old…”

“I’ve been told I have a youthful appearance. Now hurry up toots, this diaper won’t change itself,” the baby laughed.

Nurse Redheart joined the baby with her own nervous laughter, slowly inching out the door and running down the hall. Twilight Sparkle and Smart Aleck came out from behind the door.

“Nice work,” Twilight said, smiling as she retrieved the baby from the hospital bed. It didn’t appear to mind her previous magical ventriloquism and hugged her happily.

“You just remember our deal,” Smart Aleck replied, getting into bed.

“An extra serving of pudding and pancakes for breakfast,” Twilight winked as she left.

Nurse Redheart opened the door to the reception room and found the seats completely full of babies. She stood there for a good three seconds as the babies laughed and pointed at her. Then she shut the door and ran back upstairs.

“Wait, if the babies are all here, then… what’s in the nursery?” she thought to herself, turning down the hall. She reached the nursery door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She pressed her face into the window, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw the sleeping bodies of every baby still in its crib. Then she felt a tug on her back leg, looking down to see a baby in a nurse’s uniform.

“Do you mind? The babies need their sleep,” it said crossly before crawling away in a huff.

Nurse Redheart had to scream. She just had to. But there was a room full of babies directly beside her, and it appeared a hospital full of babies that surrounded that room. She galloped down the stairs, crashing headfirst into a blue pegasus nurse heading up with a duffle bag. Luckily, the corner of the stairs was nearby broke their fall before either of them sustained much injury.

“Whoah there, no running in the hospital…” Rainbow Dash said, picking up her duffle bag.

“Who are you? I don’t remember seeing you here,” Nurse Redheart said, recovering from her fall.

“I’m one of the new nurses, Rainbow… Remedy. They hired me based on my previous working experience in a children’s hospital,” Rainbow Dash said. “In fact, I’ve heard news of a possible infection of juvenitis spreading around, and that’s why I applied in the first place.”

“Juvenitis?” Nurse Redheart asked.

“Yeah! It’s a terrible disease where a pony starts aging in reverse. If everything is left unchecked, eventually everypony turns into a baby, and then disappears into nothing!” Rainbow said. “Pretty scary, huh? Anyway, it’s probably nothing to worry about. It’s highly infectious but very rare.”

“Highly infectious?” Nurse Redheart mumbled.

“Yeah, if you were within a mile of the illness you probably caught it already, but like I said, it’s so rare that most ponies have never heard of it and it’s probably not the issue,” Rainbow replied.

“If… a pony were to be infected by it, what would the cure be?” Redheart asked.

“Oh, that’s easy. There’s only one known cure, and since I’m a specialist I always carry some with me in my bag,” Rainbow replied. “It’s a funny thing, juvenitis… it doesn’t kick in until two hours after exposure, and if you don’t have the cure by then, it’s irreversible. So you gotta cure it before it actually happens. Whoa, wait!” Redheart grabbed Rainbow Dash’s bag and galloped downstairs.

“Sorry!” she shouted back. “I’ll return this later!”

“What a sucker,” Rainbow Dash giggled as she removed her nurse’s outfit and headed downstairs to watch.

The reception room had returned to normal and a janitor was sweeping up the confetti. “Patient number thirty, patient number thirty… the doctor will see you now,” Nurse Coldheart called. An eldery pony stood up and headed towards the door when…

The door flew open and Nurse Redheart dashed into the reception area, extracted a bottle of baby formula from her duffle bag, and began drinking furiously. She finished the bottle, withdrew another, and drank that one too. All eyes on the room were on her.

“Run! You’re all turning into babies!” she screamed.

“What are you talking about?”  Nurse Coldheart demanded.

“I was… the babies… the nurses… Smart Aleck…” she blubbered, then belched loudly as the milk bubbles found their way up her throat.

“I think you should take the rest of the day off, Redheart,” Coldheart said, nudging her towards the door.

“Yeah… some time off would be good,” Nurse Redheart said, heading out the door.

“Best reaction yet?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight as they headed down from the stairs.

“I hope it’ll be enough,” Twilight said.

“It better be. It took all day for me to practice that illusion spell you taught me. I had to hide in the broom closet by the nursery. The BROOM CLOSET,” Rarity said.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure we won that one!” Pinkie Pie said. “Wait, where’s Applejack?”

Applejack waved as she delivered the food to Smart Aleck’s bed. “Yall enjoy that extra helping of pudding now, you’ve earned it!” she said, heading out the door.

“Serves that nurse right for trying to set my bedtime,” Smart Aleck smirked, digging into his food.  

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