Quote: “I spent some of the best years of my life dedicating myself to learning to be the very best surgeon I could be, and let me tell you this: nothing ever truly prepares you for dealing with the moment you get assigned to a life or death job, for all the stress and apprehension that comes with it... But, at the same time, nothing comes close to the feeling you get when you save somepony from an otherwise fatal injury or illness- it is the truest form of elation that you could feel.”

----------xxxXxxx----------

Gilded Laurel is a 37 year old earth pony mare originally hailing from San Pranciscolt, but now living in Dazzledell Hollow, a small rural town located a little north of Appleoosa. Here she is the head surgeon for the hospital that serves both towns. She may not be a household name, but she is directly responsible for personally persuading Princess Celestia to inaugurate the Equestrian Health Service- so that anypony may have free medical care.

What started as a simple disdain, became enraged and open fury towards the amount of “snake oil” sales ponies and corrupt, extortionate doctors that littered Equestria at the start of her career. This led to a dozens of letters being sent by Laurel to the Solar Diarch, and after much correspondence between the two, this led to an official Royal Investigation into the matter. The result was a massive, horrific shock to Princess Celestia, and she immediately came to meet with Gilded Laurel personally.

Soon, it was publicly announced that an official medical register for doctors and nurses had been created, but also that millions of bits were being invested by the Crown’s treasury to provide free health care to anypony that required it. Quietly, and unknown to the public at large, the vast majority of these corrupt doctors were quickly captured and incarcerated for their crimes by agents of the Crown, whereas others would be picked up as time flowed by.

Married to a retired Solar Guard Battlemage, a surprisingly jolly unicorn stallion by the name of Cleansing Flame, Gilded Laurel is known to be an absolute perfectionist when it comes to her job. Focused, determined, yet kind hearted and sweet natured at heart, Laurel, as her friends know her, tends to play it by the book when medical emergencies come up.

This leads to her having a very commanding presence, and she is very much in charge of any situation involving her and her department. Thus, her stress level is high, and she can come across as haughty, terse, and snappy at times. However, when an emergency is resolved, it is like a switch has been flipped, and she goes back to he normal self. It is a coping mechanism to deal with the stress, more than anything else.

Physically, Gilded Laurel is notably tall and slim for an earth pony mare, being 4 feet and 6 inches tall, or approximately 137cms, and around 70lbs, or just under 32kgs in weight. She is very dextrous with her hooves, and when writing with her mouth. She has no known medical conditions or chronic illnesses of any kind, and though she is somewhat sedentary, she still gets in some exercise to maintain her physique.

Despite her long, loving marriage with Cleansing Flame, they have not had foals yet, but this is due to her dedication to her job, and both her and him accept that by the time that Laurel retires, she will likely not be able to have foals. Both husband and wife have agreed that they will gladly adopt if it comes to it.

It is noted that while Gilded Laurel rarely speaks to her parents anymore for personal and private reasons that she will not divulge, she is very close with her sister, Mistral Rose, who is a pharmacist at the same hospital. They do tend to spend a fair amount of free time together, and care deeply for one another. Rosie, as Laurel’s sister, has an innate knack and understanding of how to get Laurel to take actual vacations, and this is greatly appreciated by the hospital’s managerial staff.