//------------------------------//
// Mirror Darkly: Doctor's Orders 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

Dr. Vice Grip had not left the intensive care wing since he arrived at Canterlot's Celestia is Awesome General Hospital. Even if he had the opportunity to leave, he wouldn't want to. This was where he belonged, so long as there were patients and he had the ability to help them.

"Anti-septic… more…," Vice instructed. The nurse applied more to the wound while Vice continued removing debris. 

"Euurrrgh… errrhh…," the patient groaned. He was human, early twenties with pale skin and sandy-colored hair, almost like Vice's mane. The young man had suffered burns to a good portion of his left leg and the lower-left side of his torso running all the way to the middle of his thigh.

"Serum… more…," Vice ordered. Again, the nurse complied without even a word of acknowledgment. "Just a little bit more."

"Eehhgg…"

"Ahh," Vice sighed, removing the last piece of shrapnel from the man's side. "That's all of it."

"You're sure?" the man asked without opening his eyes. "I think I still have a few ribs you missed."

Vice smirked at him. "We could check again if you wanted."

The man groaned. "I'll pass, doc."

"Get some rest and take an anti-biotic at least once a day," Vice said, writing down the same words on the man's medical chart.

The man looked back up at him with a half-smirk. "Sounds a lot like orders, doc." 

"Consider them doctor's orders." Vice got up, letting the nurse finish patching the rest of him. The critical patients were all in stable condition now so the doctor had been treating the ones with less severe injuries. Many of them still had to be monitored closely but it looked like the worst was finally over. Now, it was just a matter of letting them recover while also keeping a close eye on traffic to the hospital. And also make sure certain patients, like the human recovering from the burns, were kept separately.

There were very few "free" humans in Equestria. Those that were were special cases that had been deemed useful to the Empire or that had performed special services to the Empresses. Even if their injuries were more severe, they were not to be treated before members of the Imperial guard under any circumstances. If it became known that Dr. Vice Grip and his staff had treated humans, especially those from the Resistance, the consequences for all of them could be dire. And Vice knew this.

Vice had known today would be a busy day for quite a while. The Resistance had planned this attack a couple weeks ago, a spur of the moment thing and while Vice himself wasn't an official member of the Resistance, he had been notified about it. That's why he'd made sure the hospital was fully-stocked and staffed for today and why he didn't plan on leaving. Just under two-hundred patients had been admitted to Celestia Is Awesome General and over two-thirds of them were rebels, human and pony alike. Some of them even had to share beds next to the guards they'd been fighting last night. But in Dr. Vice Grip's hospital, there would be no violence if they wanted treatment.

The stallion changed the gloves, washed his surgical prosthetic hands and gloved up again. Without missing a stride, he moved on to the next patient in the next bed. "Chart?"

"Dr. Vice Grip," another nurse trotted up to him in a hurry. "Doctor, I'm sorry but there's… somepony here to see you."

"Is it an emergency?"

"No, doctor."

"Then tell them to wait until I'm off-duty," Vice said, opening the next patient's medical chart.

"Sir…," the nurse looked at him, waited until he looked up at her. "I believe it's a special visitor."

He held her stare for a moment, understanding what she meant. Looking over his shoulder, he counted the occupied beds for the umpteenth time since he'd arrived. There were still many but at least they were stable.

"Have Ivo take over for me. I shouldn't be long," Vice said.

"Of course, doctor," the nurse said, moving over to the intercom. "Dr. Kintobor, to the intensive care wing, please. Dr. Kintobor, to intensive care, please."

Vice exited the double doors of the intensive care wing, giving himself a chance to relax. Being a doctor, he had learned a long time ago to switch his focus from the priority of others to his own at certain times, something all in the medical profession had to do. He removed the gloves from the surgical prosthetic hands he wore over his hooves and walked to the elevators. He pulled out his cell phone to check the messages. For some reason, the phone didn't seem to be getting a signal but he didn't understand why. Then again, Dr. Vice Grip had never been that tech-savy. 

Like his primary universe counterpart, Dr. Vice Grip was a scientist. But unlike the evil villain Vice Grip, the good doctor was an expert in the medical profession rather than the machine one. The brown earth pony stallion wore a pair of smoothed yellow rubber gauntlets over his hooves that aided in surgery and walked on a  pair of cushioned galoshes that squeaked on the tile floor. Instead of a white lab coat, Dr. Vice usually wore scrubs or and a white doctor's coat with his stethoscope around his neck. Today, he'd been in surgery so he just wore the lime green scrubs, minus pants and no stethoscope. Finally, he had a sandy-blonde goatee that matched his mane, which he scratched after removing his face mask.

The elevators led directly from the ground floor lobby to the second floor lobby. They were at the center of the square building for easy access from the entrance to the various medical wings. The nightshift manager for the hospital, who also happened to be a resistance sympathizer if not full-fledged member, had enacted emergency triage protocols to prevent the Empire from finding out they were treating rebels injured in the attack. Visitors were only allowed access to the main waiting room off to the side of the emergency room wings so they would be unable to identify any pony treated. Whoever had come for him would be waiting there.

Vice hit the elevator button and immediately walked away. The doors never opened automatically, especially not when they were this busy. He went over to the vending machine on the opposite wall, deposited a couple minor requisition tokens and pressed the button for a Pipsi. Pipsi, the only soda endorsed by Littlepip(in this universe.)

The machine rumbled and Vice's soda hit the bottom of the machine with a loud crong! Naturally, the carbonated beverage had been shaken up on its way down. He held the can away from himself as he opened it so it wouldn't explode all over him. It opened with a slight chuff followed by distinctive gurgling because he popped the top slowly, causing the soda to foam. It leaked over the side and dribbled down to the floor.

"Nice," Vice said, stepping back to avoid the spilled beverage. With his free hand, he dabbed up the mess with a handkerchief and then wiped the soda can down. The elevator doors opened in front of him. Still partially preoccupied, he entered.

"We have a problem."

"JHEEEZUS!" Vice jumped, tossing most of the soda onto the ceiling.

"Oh, um… sorry about that. There's an urgent matter we need to discuss."

"I told you not to do that again!" Vice chastised the other pony, already knowing who it was.

"Again, I apologize," Lightning said, "but you have bigger problems right now. We all do."

"When don't we?" Vice asked, cleaning himself up. Since he'd met Lightning Claw, Vice had noticed the alicorn had always been a bit off. It hadn't taken him long to realize Lightning was a member of the Resistance. Vice got to know Lightning and worked with him a lot as a doctor seeing as how the rebels didn't have many capable medics but he'd made sure he never touched a weapon.

"This is different. And I'm afraid we don't have much time."

The elevator doors had closed but Vice noticed it wasn't moving. Lightning Claw's horn glowed in the soft light and he knew the alicorn was using a spell to hold it in place. Some sort of experiment had caused Lightning to become an alicorn, if Vice was to believe the rumors. Before, Lightning Claw had been just a unicorn and the manager of the local Canterlot power plant. When he became part of the Resistance, Vice did not know. Only that he had tried to recruit the doctor on multiple occasions, this seeming to be the latest.

"I don't know how many times I've told you," Vice spoke frankly, "I'm not joining the Resistance."

"I'm not asking you to," Lightning said. He spoke in a calm voice that had a subtle coolness to it. "And I'm not the one the nurse notified you about."

Vice paused at his words and then finished cleaning himself. "You have my attention."

"The Inquisitor's right-hoof man is waiting in the lobby for you. He's here to arrest you… and probably do something else, something much worse," Lightning said.

"Which inquisitor?" Vice asked.

"The Ponyville one, Twilight Sparkle."

"What does she want with me?"

"It's not what she wants. It's what he wants. And he knows you have ties to the Resistance."

Vice's heart sank. So, it had finally happened. The Solar Empire finally knew about him helping the rebels. He'd probably be executed for this, made an example of. Maybe his entire staff and probably everyone whoever came through the hospital, patients and doctors alike. He was silent for almost a minute.

"Are you… all right, doctor?"

He nodded rigidly. "Fine… I'm fine. I… knew this was going to happen, one day or another. I don't think I would've done anything differently, though."

"It's a bit more complicated than that, don't lose hope," Lightning reassured him. "For whatever reason, he hasn't notified the rest of the guards yet."

Vice looked up. "Why? He wants to hog all the glory for himself?"

"We don't know," Lightning said. "What we do know is that he's going to ask you to come with him and if you don't comply, he's going to torch the hospital."

Vice's mouth gaped. "He… he'd do that? That's… that's insane."

Lightning gave a solemn nod. "Which is why you're going to go with him and you're going to give him some special information I'm about to give you."

"Why… why are you doing this?" Vice demanded. "I didn't want to be a part of your rebellion. I'm not a revolutionary. I treat ponies and people and yes, many of them are your own troops but that does NOT make me a part of your resistance," he pointed at the doors. "Every sentient that comes through here, that enters MY hospital has gotten treatment, regardless of whether they're rebels or imperials. I am a doctor, Lightning. And medicine does not take sides in this war. Both sides take the same medicine."

Lightning just looked back at him, eyebrows barely raised. "Until Celestia says otherwise. I'm sorry doctor but this isn't your hospital; it's the Empire's. When they find out who you've been treating, they'll take it from you and imprison you and your entire staff, if not worse," the indigo stallion walked over and put a hoof on his shoulder. "You're a doctor, right? Well, this is your chance to cure Earth and Equestria of a terrible illness that's been plaguing it for far too long. This is your chance to heal us all."

Vice scowled. "How long has the Resistance been practicing this speech?"

"Long enough," Lightning answered. "But like I said, I'm not here to recruit you. I am here to help you deal with the problem in your lobby, though."

"And help yourself in the process, I assume?"

"And everypony in this hospital," Lightning said, voice still very serious. "There's a human named Dan who's come to arrest you on behalf of the Solar Empire. I believe you may have prior interactions with him."

"I may have…" Vice admitted, remembering his first encounter with Dan. He'd met the young man in Cloudsdale after being chased by Derpy Hooves for attempted mail sabotage. Dan had ruined a blood drive he'd been a part of with the Enclave.

"He's going to ask you about the attack last night. He believes you were involved."

"But I wasn't involved!" Vice protested. "I knew about it, yes, and I treated the rebels but I treated the Imperial soldiers, too! We all did! And we would have either way! Why does he think I was involved?!"

"Because of your Enclave ties, no doubt," Lightning explained.

"Perfect. Friggin' perfect!" Vice crushed the soda can in his hand. He hit his forehead against the wall and just stood there, sulking. "I sign up for doctors without borders and I wind up crossing them anyway. Just perfect."

"It's all right, though," Lightning said. "We're going to take care of Dan."

Vice turned his head, still pressing against the wall. "How?"

"He wants information on the attack, that's what you're going to give him," Lightning said. "The attack last night was important. It's all part of a larger plan."

"Figures." 

"You may have noticed the Solar Empire is overextending itself at this point," Lightning said.

"I think anypony or human with half a brain can see that," Vice responded.

"You'd be surprised," Lightning said. "And it's actually bad for the Resistance. Sure, it makes hitting their convoys easier but we don't want this war to continue. Celestia and Luna have made their new capital on Earth, a battlefield of their choosing. We can keep liberating their cities but they'll just keep getting them back. In order to win this war, we have to get Celestia and Luna."

Vice picked his head off the wall. "And you've found a way to do this?"

Lightning finally smiled. "We have."

Even Vice Grip was interested now. He may not have directly opposed the Empire but he wasn't a fan. Especially not of their universal healthcare. The tyrants' version of universal healthcare just meant it was universally awful, disregarded health and they didn't care.

Lightning pulled a small holographic projector out of his pocket and switched it on. The blue image of an alicorn filly rotated in the display.

Vice looked at the display, watched it rotate for a minute. Something about it seemed almost familiar. "What is it? A filly?"

"A forty-foot tall filly," Lightning said. "Composed of an alloy that resists all known forms of magic, even alicorns. With a single spell, this weapon can destroy an entire city. It's called a Magic Gear."

"Magic… Gear…?" Vice repeated, staring almost mesmerized at the image. "How did you build it?"

"We didn't," Lightning explained, quickly switching off and pocketing the projector. "It was built by… shall we say, a third party. The Conductor summoned it from an alternate dimension, a parallel universe."

"Para-what? Wait… did you say another dimension? You mean Earth?"

The indigo stallion shook his head. "No, a different alternate dimension."

Vice deadpanned. "There's more than one?"

"It's a bit complicated. Suffice to say, the Conductor is a very, very resourceful… being."

"That's the guy in the white cloak, right?" Vice asked, remembering back.

"That's not important," Lightning dismissed the question. "What is important is that either Celestia or Luna is coming here to execute General Gash for failing to protect the city. They'll be here tomorrow and when they arrive, we hit them with the Magic Gear. Either we capture them and force them to sign a treaty recognizing the liberty and independence of all Equestrians and Terrans on Earth or Equestria or we take them out and negotiate with whoever's left."

"Assuming there will be anyone left," Vice said sternly. "You're sure you can control this thing? What's going to happen when you lock horns with alicorns? Innocent people and ponies are going to get hurt."

"Innocent people and ponies are being hurt every day, doctor," Lightning replied in a serious tone. "They're being worked to death in the labor camps and tortured and executed for speaking their minds. The last time we tried to negotiate with the Empire, our best diplomat was drawn and quartered. The last time we staged a protest, the protestors, civilians, were teleported into the vacuum of space. Any further losses at all are deeply, deeply regrettable," he actually said with remorse in his voice. "But we are past the point of peace."

Vice shook his head. "I don't believe that. I know sometimes sentients get caught in the crossfire and maybe sometimes you do have to oppose an enemy on even ground. Maybe in another time, another place, we didn't have that option but we do now. If the Conductor can summon anything he wants, why didn't he summon something that could trap the Empresses rather than blow up the whole city?"

Lightning sighed. "He tried. We didn't want to involve you, doctor. But this has been thought of from every possible angle."

"I somehow doubt that."

"Dan is still going to arrest you. If you try to tell him you aren't with the Resistance, you'll be tortured and your staff will be executed. They'll torch this entire hospital within the hour. You know how fast they work."

Vice held his temple. Nothing was ever easy. "All… all right. What's the plan?"

Lightning nodded to the ceiling. "I have teams in position already. The city's still on high alert but Dan's the only one at this point that suspects the Enclave. There are Flutterbirds standing by to evacuate your staff and your patients, even the critical ones via the roof. All you have to do is distract Dan with the Magic Gear," he hoofed him the projector device.

Vice held the small drink coaster-sized imager. It felt like the weight of the world, the weight of different worlds and all the lives on them in the palm of his artificial hand. He was tempted to break it but didn't. "What do I do once he's distracted?"

"Well, there's a catch," Lightning said. "We don't actually have the Magic Gear yet. The summoning didn't work exactly as we hoped and it wound up in the Everfree Forest. We tried to recover it but the zebras beat us to it."

"The zebras have it now?" Vice asked. "I thought they were pacifists. What are they going to do with some kind of super weapon?"

"We're not sure but we know they won't be able to use it. It's being held at the zebra's ship breaking yards in the Zoverign region, the northern part of their kingdom on the coast. You're going to tell Dan we're planning on stealing this weapon, at which point, he's going to demand you take him to this weapon first. The holoprojector contains the coordinates of the Magic Gear. Give it to him and the two of you will fly to Zoverign and the ship breaking yards. Once there, I'll have a team in position to secure the Gear and take Dan down," Lightning said.

"You'll be there?" Vice asked, surprised. "Yourself and one of your-one of your squads or something?"

"I'll have a team in position."

"Meaning Springer?"

"Captain Springer is very qualified for tactical close quarters and small unit operations," Lightning admitted.

"Figures," Vice said, rolling his eyes. "She couldn't take him down at the blood drive in Cloudsdale, though."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Why were you having a blood drive in Cloudsdale? Wouldn't the high altitude make obtaining blood more difficult?"

Vice shrugged. "How else am I supposed to get pegasi blood? The flyboys and girls are always getting banged up and we need the blood."

"Ah," Lightning nodded, clearly pretending to understand. "I'm sure they appreciated your efforts."

"The Enclave did. But Dan didn't. He wrecked the whole procedure and we lost half the blood we collected. The blood bank trailer fell through the Clouds and landed on Carousel Boutique. Ruined most of Rarity's work uniforms but it was close to Frightmare Night anyway."

"That's… interesting," Lightning remarked. "At any rate, you won't be having any problems with Dan soon. Just remember to tell him what I told you, get him to the ship breaking yards and we'll do the rest."

"Those your orders, now?"

Lightning smiled. "Consider them doctor's orders."

Before Vice could say anything, Lightning exploded in a flash of purple electricity. When Vice looked again, he was gone. The elevator doors opened again and he was on the ground floor.