Not a Usual Call

If there was one thing Asuka disliked about working EMS in Ponyville, it was how spread out some of the houses outside of the town's center were. One example being the farmhouse out in the middle of bum nowhere Ponyville Asuka's partner was currently driving their ambulance to. The dinky dirt road that lead to the farmhouse made for a pretty bumpy ride, but Asuka didn't mind much. Her new partner was a recent hire, fresh from technical school with only a few shifts under her belt. She was born, and raised on a farm out in the Ponyville countryside. Traditionally, she would have stayed to work on her family farm all her life, but she had surprisingly accepting parents for being such a traditional farm family. She got to chase her dream of helping others as a paramedic, and her parents supported her every step of the way. It probably helped that she has 3 brothers to fill in for her in the farm. As the ambulance pulls into the clearing where the farmhouse sits, Asuka can see the rolling acres of farmland behind it, and two people stood on the front porch. They appear to be having a very animated conversation. Considering the call is about a young boy who has suffered some sort of head injury, Asuka guesses these are the parents, likely freaking out. Asuka's partner puts the ambulance in park, and begins to exit. As Asuka opens the passenger door, she radios in to dispatch. "Responder 112, 10-23." Asuka hears her partner call out to the couple as she rounds the front of the ambulance. The male of the couple, an older, farmer type gestures to her by thrusting his hand in her direction. "By Sol! Ah told yah not tah call the damn police! Look at them government agents! Now they're gonna take Jody away from us!" The second figure, an older woman, seemingly the housewife, shakes her head vehemently. "For Artemis' sake Edwin! They aren't government agents! They're paramedics! They're here to help Jody!" Asuka opens her mouth to call out, but pauses when she sees the husband lean over towards one of the wooden pillars of the porches railing. Her eyes widen. Instead of a greeting, Asuka screams "Gun!" In one swift motion, Asuka grabs her partner, and whips her back around the front of the ambulance, careening after her. Not a second later, a deafening blast fills the air, and the sound of multiple impacts against the ambulance's side ring out. Asuka's partner lets out a shrill scream of shock, and terror as Asuka drags her behind the engine block of the ambulance. Asuka quickly grabs her radio, and flips the protective cover off of the bright orange PANIC button on the bottom. She depresses the button, then quickly, and calmly states "10-33! Shots fired!" Almost immediately, she hears multiple other voices on the radio informing her that they're on their way. The housewife begins to shriek at her husband. "Edwin! Stop! No! They're paramedics!" Asuka hears a thud, then the husband fires off another shot. Shotgun pellets rip into the ambulance's cabin above where Asuka and her partner are taking cover. "Ya'll can't have mah son!" The husband roars, before another blast of the shotgun causes one of the ambulance's windows to shatter. Asuka's heart races, filling her with adrenaline, but she remains calm. Her training, and experience tempering her base instincts to get away as fast as possible. Firm hands grip Asuka's partner's shoulders. "Medley! You're okay! Breathe!" Asuka shouts to be heard over the growing ringing in her ears. The younger woman's breath is quick, and shallow. She doesn't appear to hear Asuka due to her panic. A firm shake causes Medley to look over to Asuka, slowly seeming to register that she's still alive. Another blast blows the driver side mirror to pieces. Medley cries out again, only for Asuka's firm grip to force her to pay attention. "We need to move! The engine block is the only part of the ambulance sturdy enough to stop shotgun shells, but it's not foolproof!" Asuka's eyes scan the surrounding area, locking onto a fairly large rock formation not too far from where they are. Asuka hears the wife screaming again. The husband screams back. The shotgun goes off again, but this time, Asuka doesn't hear anything impact the ambulance. The wife goes silent. Shit. Holy shit! Did he just shoot his own wife?! He HAS to be on some sort of substance. He's clearly not thinking straight! Focus Asuka! You need to get yourself, and your partner to a safer location! Get to the rock! Pointing over towards the rock formation, Asuka shouts to her partner. "See that rock over there? On my signal, we're going to run to get behind it! It's much safer than staying behind the ambulance!" Medley nods, flinching as another blast goes off. Asuka holds firm, turning Medly towards the rock, and helping her up into a crouch. One more blast, then Asuka practically shoves Medley forward as the two break out into a sprint. If Asuka is correct, the farmer should be out of shells in the shotgun, and need to reload. Another blast tells Asuka she's incorrect. She stumbles forwards for a moment, then regains her sprint managing to get behind the rock with Medley. As Asuka leans up against the rock, she hears Medley gasp. "Asuka! Your leg!" Asuka looks down to see a hole in her leg, just above her ankle. It looks like she took a pellet during their sprint, but it didn't go all the way through. Without much thought, Asuka opens up her medical bag, and removes a few supplies from within. She stuffs a wad of gauze into her mouth to bite down on, then slips a tourniquet onto her leg. She can hear Medley trying to ask her a question, but doesn't think to respond. With a deep inhale through her nose, Asuka tightens the tourniquet as tight as she can. She screams into the gauze. The pain making it feel like she's going to end up squeezing her whole leg off. Sweat pools on her forehead, tears stream down her cheeks,  and she breathes rapid, deep breaths to avoid passing out. Medley stares in shock for a moment before she snaps out of her daze. She opens up her own medical bag, and quickly sets to work on treating Asuka's wound. Sirens approach from the dirt road, but neither of the two paramedics notice. Medley is focused on treating Asuka's wound, and Asuka is fighting through the excruciating pain to listen out for the farmer. If he comes around the rock with his shotgun loaded, they're done for. Thankfully for both of them, the next 3 minutes pass with no more shotgun blasts, and no angry farmer coming around the rock. Just the farmer screaming angry nonsense at the two of them. "Police!" A male voice shouts from close by. Asuka looks over to see a lone officer of the Ponyville Police Department posted up behind the engine block of his cruiser. He aims his pistol towards the farm house, but Asuka can't see past the rock. "Let me see your hands!" The officer shouts. The response is a shotgun blast that causes him to withdraw fully behind his cruiser. Now she notices the sound of more sirens approaching from the dirt road. The officer pops out from behind his cover to fire off a few shots with his handgun. Judging by the shotgun blast that retorts, Asuka guesses the farmer is still standing. This standoff continues for around a minute or so before the next cruiser pulls into the clearing. A gruff looking sheriff steps out of his patrol cruiser. As he takes up a position behind it, his horn begins to glow. "Edwin!" The sheriff's voice booms throughout the clearing, as if over a set of loudspeakers. "Put the gun down! Ain't nobody else need to get hurt!" Asuka hears the farmer scream something back at the sheriff, then fire off another shot. "Edwin! Stop! This ain't you!" The sheriff shouts again. "Yer a loving husband, a proud father, and an honest worker! Not a murderer!" The sheriff shouts again. The first officer pops out from his cover. Two more shots are fired, then, silence.