Disclaimer because I don't want to put the author's note at the top: This chapter contains some things that could be considered gore. You have been warned.
"Uhh, Stormy?" Walker called. He sat there staring at the large lump in Sweetie Belle's rib cage. He looked up to see Stormy Seas walk through the door. "It looks like her rib is going to pop out of her body," Walker said sounding concerned. While he didn't care about Sweetie Belle, he didn't want her to die.
"Let me look," Stormy Seas said with an exasperated sigh. He had taken a medical class for about a week back in the day so, he figured he could do something. He walked over and started to look at Sweetie Belle's chest. As he examined her further he started to realize that, for one he couldn't fix it and two even if he could they didn't have the tools to. "Well shit. We really did a number on her" Stormy Seas said sounding a bit shaken up. It was a pretty gruesome sight to see even if they had cleaned the blood off.
"You really did a number on her" Walker said accusingly. Stormy Seas rolled his eyes.
"I-I think we might have to take her to the doctor" Stormy Seas stammered. In all honesty, he was very scared of taking her to the doctor.
"What! Are you trying to get us caught!" Walker exclaimed.
Stormy Seas glared at Walker. "Not a public doctor you dolt!" Stormy Seas fired back. He had to take her to the boss's doctor and that came with the risk of the boss figuring out how she acquired the injury. While he could fool the doctor with his excuse (Or the doctor just didn't ask questions) the boss was a lot less easy to fool. And while the boss didn't care all that much about his victims, he did have to pay the doctor and he didn't like to pay unless it was out of their control.
"An underground doctor?" Walker questioned. Stormy Seas gave Walker a death glare.
"No, an above ground doctor. Yes, you fuckin' idiot!" Stormy Seas shouted. As helpful as he could be Walker was rather idiotic, and at the moment Stormy Seas was not in the mood for Walker's stupidity. He looked back a the still unconscious Sweetie Belle and sighed, he was beginning to think that she wasn't worth all this trouble. What was stopping him from dumping her in an alleyway and let her fend for herself. That is if she survives the broken rib.
Walker rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I'll go get the stuff ready," he said as he turned to leave the room. Stormy Seas leaned up against the wall. He didn't want to disturb the doctor but, he really had no choice because his only other option was to dump her in the street. But then he put in all of this effort for nothing.
After some racket from the other room, he heard Walker yell "Ready". He got up and gently picked up Sweetie Belle. He slowly made his way out of the small room and into the narrow hallway that led to the office. Once he made it into the office he made his way over to a very, annoyed-looking Walker. He gently laid Sweetie Belle in the carriage that was connected to a harness around Walker's torso.
They sat there in silence for a few moments before Walker spoke up. "Lead the way" Stormy Seas shook his head.
"Oh, Right," He said as he started to leave the office. They had to be careful with this. It was hard to make it look like Sweetie Belle was just cargo and not a live pony. They had to cover her with a blanket and put a few other things in the carriage that, was more like a wheel-barrow.
They continued to walk down the streets of Los Pegasus, Walker getting more and more impatient as they went along. "Do you know where we are going!" Walker practically shouted. Stormy Seas gave Walker a quick smack across the face.
"Be quiet you idiot!" Stormy Seas spit. "Yes, I know where we are going," He said angrily. Walker shook his head and continued to walk down the streets of Los Pegasus. But, a slightly troubling thought hit him. 'What if she wakes up' They didn't gag her or even tie her up.
"Stormy?" Walker said cautiously. Stormy Seas glared at Walker. "What if she wakes up?" He said. Stormy Seas' expression immediately changed. He hadn't thought about that. "Good thing I've come prepared," Walker said as he reached into a saddlebag that was on his back. He pulled out a gag and handed it to Stormy Seas.
"You had to bring the whole kit?" Stormy Seas said. Walker just rolled his eyes. They sat there staring at each other before Stormy Seas spoke up. "I can't gag her in the middle of the city," He said impatiently.
"Right," Walker said as he turned down an adjacent alleyway. When they were out of view from the main road Stormy Seas walked around the carriage and gently lifted the blanket. He put the gag in Sweetie Belles mouth and put the blanket back down.
"Let's get going," Stormy Seas said as he turned and continued to walk towards the 15th street hotel. While it wasn't the most glamorous or creative name it certainly did attract some big names. Some celebrities stayed away from the hotel because they knew the number of shady deals that went down within the walls. But, they couldn't say anything that would be a death wish.
The duo rounded the final corner and the massive structure came into view. "We aren't going where I think we are going?" Walker spoke up. Stormy Seas knew why Walker would be scared to go into the hotel and he shared that fear. Many big-time people came through the hotel and they didn't want to get on bad terms with any of them. But that wasn't the biggest fear of either of them. Their biggest fear was running into the boss. While Stormy Seas was the only one out of the two who had even seen the boss they still didn't want to have an unprepared encounter with him.
"I'm afraid we are," Stormy Seas said uneasily. Due to the nature of their issue, Sweetie Belle would need a skilled doctor to make sure that she would be able to do things properly again. And that meant that they couldn't go to any random doctor. They had to go to the boss's doctor.
"Stormy are you sure about this?" Walker said. In truth, Stormy Seas wasn't sure about this whole thing. His big fear was that the doctor might pass on some bad information to the boss which would halt in progress up the social ladder.
"As sure as I'll ever be," Stormy Said as he opened the door to the hotel. He walked up to the stallion who was at the front desk. "I'm looking for Doctor Red Sythe," He said rather nervously.
"I'm sorry I don't know who that is" The stallion responded. Stormy Seas expected this answer so he had his response ready.
He leaned in and whispered. "Stormy Seas" The stallion looked down at a little book before looking back up.
"Left hallway. Fourth room on the left" The stallion said. Stormy Seas nodded and turned to face the left hallway, he took a deep breath before starting to trot towards the room.
Once they had reached the room which turned out to be a ballroom. Stormy Seas looked at the door handle and took a deep breath before turning the nob and opening the door. He immediately saw Doctor Sythe sitting at the table, having a conversation with some of the guests at the table. Stormy Seas gave a small knock on the doorframe. This gained the attention of the doctor who raised his eyebrows when he saw who was standing at the door. Stormy mouthed 'Medical' to the doctor who nodded and tapped on the table twice and pointed to the left. Luckily, Stormy Seas knew that this meant to go to the room directly to the left and wait.
He slowly shut the door and entered the room at the end of the hallway. Stormy Seas slowly lifted Sweetie Belle out of the carriage and put her down on the table that sat in the middle of the room. Judging by the amount of rather unprofessional tools that were laid out on the tables surrounding the bed, this would be a rather unorthodox procedure. Stormy Seas couldn't fathom why the doctor would need a screwdriver but, it was there.
He was broken from his thoughts as the door swung open. "What seems to be the problem Agent Seas?" Stormy wasn't sure why the doctor called him an 'Agent' but at least it sounded cool. He just pointed at Sweetie Belle. "Oh, Wow. What he hell happened here?" Stormy Seas froze. He couldn't tell him that he blasted Sweetie Belle with his magic and he hadn't thought of a proper excuse.
"She had a little accident with some wood" He offered. This was a terrible excuse and Stormy Seas knew it but, it was the best he could come up with on the spot. The doctor looked at him and raised an eyebrow before looking down at the unconscious filly.
He picked up a knife. "You might want to cover her mouth. If she wakes up it could get loud" The doctor said. Stormy Seas nodded and put his hoof over Sweetie Belles's mouth. He watched as the doctor made an incision around where the lump was. He wasn't sure why he was doing that but, it was probably best not to question. He watched as the doctor finished his cut and put the knife down. As soon as he finished the cut the rib poked through the skin, and a small amount of blood started to seep out of the wound. The doctor grabbed the rib and started to move it around a little bit. unfortunately, this woke Sweetie Belle up, she immediately started screaming at the unbearable pain coming from her ribcage, this caused Stormy Seas to practically shove his hoof into her mouth. The doctor shot a glance up at Stormy who offered a sheepish grin. The doctor rolled his eyes and went back to work on the broken rib. At this point, Sweetie Belle was balling her eyes out which did make Stormy Seas feel a little bit bad (Not sad).
In her wild attempts at screaming, Sweetie Belle accidentally (Or possibly on purpose) bit down on Stormy Seas' hoof. He used his free hoof to give Sweetie Belle a quick smack across the face. This action gained him another glare from the doctor. He grabbed another knife and made another small cut to make it easier to work with, This caused Sweetie Belle to let out another scream of pain. The doctor once again grabbed the rib and seemingly attempted to break it back into place. The doctor's maneuver failed horribly and Sweetie Belle writhed in pain as her rib was almost broken completely off. Blood started to pour out of the open wound. The doctor scrambled to stop the flow of blood. When he finally stopped the blood from flowing he sighed and turned around and started rummaging through a drawer of medical or just random tools. He picked out a cylindrical piece of metal. He turned back around and placed it on the table with most of his tools.
Since her rib was barely hanging on to anything the doctor was able to hold it in place with his magic while he floated the metal object into place. It was at this point that Stormy Seas realized two things. One, That metal thing was supposed to be a brace of some sort And two, the blood loss seemed to be catching up to Sweetie Belle as it seemed that she could barely move although, She was still crying her eyes out. Using his magic, the doctor slipped the brace over the broken rib, this action seemed to cause Sweetie Belle immense pain as she let out another scream. "Almost done," The doctor said. he briefly let go of the brace to levitate a drill over to the makeshift operating table. Stormy Seas' eyes widened as he realized what the doctor was about to do. The doctor lined up a screw and started to drill into Sweetie Belles rib. She let out a deafening scream of pain. "Sorry kid. Probably should have mentioned this was the worst part" The doctor said as he lined up the second screw. His drilling was knocked off course as a sudden convulsion made Sweetie Belle curl up into a ball. "Hold her still" The doctor commanded. Stormy Seas nodded and held Sweetie Belle down as the doctor continued his drilling.
Once he had finished, he stitched up the cut on her chest and looked at Stormy Seas. "Bring her back in exactly six weeks. I will be in the same place" Stormy Seas nodded. He gathered up Sweetie Belle and laid her in the carriage. And he signaled for a very shaken up Walker to follow him out of the room.