//------------------------------// // 129 - Searching for a Gate // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Sir! Sir, you can’t go in there! Sir!” Turbo ignored the nurse that was blocking his path, nimbly slipping past her and darting into the medical section of the shelter. Since the entire place was one large room, the only barriers between the general area that everypony was living in and the doctors’ place of work was a large white sheet hanging from several ceiling fixtures. Behind it was the makeshift field hospital, one corner containing the half-dozen cots where he and his friends had been examined – in small groups, due to the limited space – a few hours ago. Those cots were empty now. Instead, all of the activity was clustered around the opposite corner of the room. It had another large sheet cordoning it off from the wider medical area, but at the moment it was pinned back to allow the attending ponies to come and go. Standing up on his hind legs, Turbo could see that they were moving around the crystal stallion that Lex had brought in, and he caught snatches of medical jargon that didn’t mean much to him individually, but collectively painted a very grim picture. But he was less concerned about that than he was the other pony that had been brought in here a few moments ago. “Sir! You need to leave right now!” The nurse he’d dodged was back again, a rather pretty pegasus mare with a soft yellow coat and a mane and tail of chestnut brown. He vaguely noted that her cutie mark was a pair of crossed band-aids. But while he normally would have been interested in chatting her up, at the moment he barely heard her, instead looking around until he caught a hint of a vermillion hoof under another sheeted-off section nearby. There! The nurse put a hoof on his chest and tried to push him back, but Turbo swatted it aside as he moved around her. Squawking with indignation, she interposed herself in his path. Refusing to be denied, Turbo simply spread his wings and launched himself over her, causing a large breeze that ruffled the entire medical area as he rushed towards where Fencer was. He’d almost reached it when a light-blue unicorn stallion came out, investigating the sudden breeze. Although he’d exchanged his lab coat for a set of scrubs, Turbo recognized him as the stallion that Lex had turned Fencer over to. Now with even more confirmation, he made a beeline for the area the medical pony had emerged from. Seeing Turbo approaching him, the doctor stepped forward, holding a hoof out. “Whoa whoa! You need to stop!” Turbo grit his teeth as he landed, the continuous attempts to bar his wear beginning to grate on his nerves. He could already hear the annoying nurse coming up from behind him, but he ignored her as he fixed the other stallion with a fierce look. “Get out of my way.” His voice was steady, but with an undercurrent that made the unspoken threat clear: move or be moved. The unicorn shook his head. “Listen to me. Miss Fencer is being prepped for surgery. We’re already working under less-than-ideal conditions for this sort of procedure; if you go in there now we’ll need to decontaminate the area again, and the longer we have to wait the less likelihood of her horn reattachment being successful.” He punctuated his statement with a pointed look, not harsh but not yielding either. Turbo froze at that, and a second later the tension drained out of him. For a moment, he sagged in place, his wings and ears drooping as his head lowered. But then he rallied, letting out a sigh before looking the doctor in the eye. “Is there any way I can talk to her first?” This time it was the nurse that piped up. “Sir, I know you’re worried about your friend, but you’re going to need to wait outside. Doctor House Call is one of our best surgeons, so your friend will be in excellent hooves. I’m sure that as soon as he’s done-” “I can’t-” Turbo cut himself off, fighting to retain control of himself. Getting angry at the ponies that were trying to help Fencer wouldn’t accomplish anything. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down. “Please, I just want to talk to her for a minute. I-I want to let her know that it’s going to be okay, that we’ll protect her from that…” he trailed off, catching himself before he could start badmouthing Lex, not sure how much the doctors would appreciate it. “That we’re all here for her.” He paused to look at the nurse, who was clearly sympathetic but unmoved, and instead turned to focus on the doctor, who looked pensive. “Please. I just need a minute.” House Call hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Alright.” “Doctor!” uttered the nurse, clearly disagreeing with his decision. “Getting him washed up and into some scrubs. If we give him the whole set, mask and hairnet and everything, it should be alright.” Turbo let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” House Call nodded, giving him a small smile, before the nurse ushered him away to get him ready. A few minutes later, he was standing in the small enclosure that was the operating theater. Fencer was lying under a blanket on a table, and there was another pony behind her, their form completely hidden under their own set of scrubs, fiddling with some medical device that Turbo didn’t recognize. More upsetting was the scythe hovering just behind Fencer, remaining upright of its own accord, its blade jutting out over her as though poised to sweep down and reap her life at any second. For a moment, Turbo entertained the thought of grabbing the thing and flinging it away, but he couldn’t shake the idea that any such attempt would end with it simply cutting him to ribbons. Instead, he forced himself to ignore it and crept over to where Fencer was laying. Her eyes were closed, but she cracked them open as he approached her. “Turbo? That you?” Internally, he winced. The Fencer that he’d known had epitomized the phrase “cool beauty.” The only emotions he’d ever seen from her before now had either been stoic disinterest or dark glee. Her unflappable character had been a source of strength for all of them, since no matter what happened – whether it was another hideout being overrun or Piggy going on about his own greatness for the umpteenth time – she had never lost her composure. The way she’d looked when Lex had brought her back in chains, her spirit quite clearly broken, had been horrifying to witness. Even hearing her now, her voice filled with uncertainty, sent a pain through his heart. But he forced it down, making himself smile even though he was wearing a mask. “Yeah. What gave me away?” he asked lightly, trying to make it sound like they were just having a casual conversation. The corners of Fencer’s lips turned up slightly, and she closed her eyes as though doing so had caused her great strain. “Heard you ranting a couple minutes ago,” she murmured. “We’ve already prepped her for anesthesia,” came a female voice, causing Turbo to look up at the only other pony in the room. “She’s pretty groggy right now. She may not remember this later.” Turbo considered that for a moment, then looked back at Fencer. For a moment he wondered if he was making a mistake, that he shouldn’t tell her any of this when she might not even remember it later on, but then she opened her eyes and looked at him again, and he knew he had to try anyway. “Listen,” he started, then paused, concerned about who could hear him. He glanced at the other pony, then at the scythe still floating above them, before leaning closer to her and whispering. “We’re not going to let that monster stick you in a cage, do you understand? I’ve been talking to everypony else…Granola Bar, Slip ‘n’ Slide, Funshine, even Piggy agrees. As soon as the doctors patch you up, we’re getting you out of here, no matter what.” “No,” she moaned, and her voice sounded pained. “We all…we did those things, all those terrible things…” “We did what we had to do,” insisted Turbo softly. “You taught us that. We did what we needed to do to survive.” His voice was calm, but inside he could feel guilt twisting his stomach into knots. Just recently that crystal mare had come through, begging them for information about her husband. Turbo had recognized the description of the crystal stallion they’d roughed up, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to admit to it, having felt ashamed at the time. Now, however, the way he’d acted felt like he’d betrayed the strength Fencer had lent them. She taught us how to survive, to do what was necessary even when it was hard, and we repaid her by acting like it was our dirty little secret. “Don’t give up, okay? We’re not giving up on you, so you can’t give up either.” But Fencer didn’t seem to hear him, her eyes looking around vacantly. “Knew it was wrong but I just…so angry. I was so angry it was all…it was so bad that forgot how angry I was. You know? I wanted to punish someone for it all.” Her face crumpled at that, a sob escaping her lips as her eyes found Turbo’s again, filling with tears as she looked at him. “I forgot the gate,” she admitted, her voice utterly heartbroken. “I made the biggest fence I could that I didn’t realize I’d trapped myself inside so now it’s too late and I can’t get out! I f-forgot the gate!” She was weeping heavily now, and shifted as though trying to get up. The spectacle was enough that Turbo couldn’t help but stare, shocked into speechlessness. Fortunately, the medical pony – who had been pretending not to hear anything up until now – came back over and gently pressed Fencer down. “Easy, honey. You need to relax, okay?” Ignoring the whimper she received in reply, she looked over at Turbo. “We have to put her under now, sir. You need to leave.” “Y-yeah…” Stumbling, Turbo moved back, half of him wanting to run away even as the other half insisted he stay with Fencer in her hour of need. He barely noticed as the nurse from before suddenly appeared at his side and escorted him out, only dimly registering that the blue unicorn stallion was passing by him, heading in to the operating theater where Fencer was. It felt like a hundred years later when the nurse sat him down on one of the cots, giving him a worried look. “Are you alright?” Several seconds went by before he came back to himself, looking up at her dazedly. “…what?” “Are you alright? You’re shaking.” He nodded, taking several deep breaths. Slowly, he felt himself start to calm down. “I’m fine.” The nurse gave him a skeptical look, but didn’t push the issue. “Well, we’re going to need you to wait outside. Your friend’s procedure is going to take several hours, and I need to be ready if I’m called in to assist.” She put a hoof on his shoulder, giving him a comforting smile. “But hopefully that won’t be necessary. I heard the doctor say that the cut looked very clean, so there shouldn’t be a problem reattaching the veins and arteries.” Turbo nodded again, slowly climbing to his hooves. “Thanks. I, um…” He wasn’t sure what to say, but paused as he saw another pony dart from the cluster surrounding the crystal stallion. Rushing as fast as he could, the medical pony reached a large box that was lined up against the back wall and flung it open, rooting around through it to grab a bag filled with some fluid before rushing back towards the gaggle of ponies. “…is he going to be okay? That other pony Lex brought back?” For some reason the fact that he hadn’t even thought to ask that before now bothered him. The nurse’s face darkened. “It’s too early to tell right now. If the doctors can get him stabilized, I’ll be sure to let you know. Now, I really need you to step back outsi-” “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.” He turned and started walking back towards the large sheet that separated the medical area from the rest of the shelter, only to pause halfway. Turning to look at the nurse again, he called out to her. “What did you mean ‘if’?” “I’m sorry?” “You said ‘if’ the doctors can get him stabilized. He’s not stable now?” He knew it was a foolish question, with all of the activity surrounding the crystal stallion, but he felt compelled to ask it anyway. The nurse pursed her lips, looking back at where the doctors were frantically working. Turbo followed her gaze, and noticed something that he’d missed before: the crystal mare that had begged him for information was there too, standing off to the side and watching what was happening with an anguished look on her face. He was still looking at her when the nurse spoke again. “I’m afraid not. His condition is critical.”