Firefly: The Long Job

by psychicscubadiver

Chapter Seven: Begin Operation

Editor: Silentcarto
Proofreader: Coandco
Story Image by: Silentcarto

Disclaimer: I don’t own Firefly or My Little Pony; that is Joss Whedon and Hasbro, respectively. This is a fanfiction that portrays MLP characters in a ‘Verse very clearly based on Firefly. Shake well and enjoy.

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“There’s two Dogs keepin’ guard in the next hallway,” Applejack reported. Once they got close to where the twins had told them the village was, the Captain had turned off the light and Applejack scouted ahead. “A big ol’ tarp or something is blocking the way to their village, but it ain’t secured too good so there’s light leaking all around the edges and you can see the Dogs next to it.”

The Captain processed all that and Applejack could practically see her mind whirring away. “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking. We put one of the twins at the opposite end of that hall with the lantern. She flicks it on. The guards get curious. Gilda pops out from around the corner and takes a couple shots at them. That keeps their attention for good while me and Applejack sneak up from behind and knock them out.”

“Or we could just rush’em,” Applejack said, keeping her face as straight as possible. There were times for the Captain’s plans – the mare had gotten Applejack out of more scrapes than she could count – but there was also time to just kick some teeth in. “They’re only armed with spears and they ain’t even holding ‘em right. It’s only thirty feet from the nearest corner and they ain’t paying much in the way of attention. These Dogs ain’t pros.”

The Captain made that face that meant she wanted to pout but wouldn’t give anypony the satisfaction of seeing it. Applejack just waited, calm and patient as ever.

“Yeah, I know which plan I like more,” Gilda said, as she lazily played with the end of the rope keeping the twin Dogs tied up.

“You would,” the Captain said sourly, but she straightened up. “You saw the scene firsthoof, Applejack, so you know it best. We’ll use your plan.”

They turned off the lantern then moved out, Applejack in the lead. It was blessing in disguise that Twilight had gotten herself kidnapped, because she wasn’t half as used to stealth as the three of them. One of the Dog twins rocked back and forth trying to yell something past her gag, but it only came out as an angry mumble. Applejack had to hoof it to Gilda; that griffin knew all manner of tying and gagging folks. Where she’d learned that kinda stuff, Applejack had no interest in finding out.

The light seeping around the curtain shone like a star in a dark sky. Applejack put up her hoof in a ‘stop’ signal. But between the light and the faint sound of Dogs talking to each other further up the other two surely knew they were there.

“Against the far wall,” Applejack whispered. Both of the others nodded and slowly flared their wings. After an unspoken count of three, they charged.

The Captain’s wings were close enough to silent that she was on the first Dog before he even knew what was happening. Hooves on stone weren’t anywhere close to silent, but the Captain was a fine distraction. Applejack was only ten feet away when the other Dog realized that he was in trouble too.

To give him credit, he did remember enough to tighten his grip on the spear and try poking her with it. Applejack slid sideways in a move he clearly wasn’t expecting. Somepony good with a spear could still have smacked her in the head with the shaft or reversed it and cracked her jaw with the butt-end. This Dog didn’t stand a chance.

Applejack bowled into the Dog, her charge slamming him against the rock wall of the tunnel and knocking the breath out of him. Her fore-hooves leapt up and pinned his paws to the wall while he was still stunned. He had already dropped the spear, but her move kept him from getting a grip on her. Unlike ponies, a Dog’s hind legs weren’t worth much in a fight and she wasn’t worried about those. The only weapon he had left was his bite. She was in a prime location to headbutt him if he went trying something that foolish. She might bleed a little, but her head was more than hard enough to break his teeth in the process.

Only he was taking in a breath in a way that said he wasn’t gonna bite her.

More like he was gonna yell.

A thick wad of rags went into his mouth and a tight piece of rope circled the Dog’s head before he could spit them out. Applejack eased off the Dog and before she could say ‘hog-tied’ Gilda had him all trussed up.

Applejack looked to the other Dog, but found him tied up the same way. The Captain was wiping her hoof on his vest. “Bleh, remind me not to shove my hoof in anyone’s mouth again. I’d rather have him call for backup.”

“Been taking some hoofcare pointers from Rarity, Captain?” Applejack asked. She made sure to wipe the smile off her face before she said it.

Instead the Captain struck a pose. “You know me, Applejack. I’m the belle of the battlefield.”

Gilda laughed outright at that, and Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Okay, so the Dog Village is just past this tarp, right?”

Applejack frowned. “As near as I can figure.”

The Captain grinned. “I have another plan.”

………

Twilight studied the results of her latest spell and frowned.

It was definitely Fishbone’s kidneys that were failing, but for the life of her she couldn’t pin down the exact problem. She had triple checked for crush damage to his internal organs and found nothing. Conversations with both Peridota and Cliff established that he had not taken any new drug, magic, or herbal products before setting out on his trip. She couldn’t find any evidence of other organ failure, hypotension, or allergic reaction.

Blood test spells didn’t show any of the usual culprits for kidney damage, although it could always be a new compound that her spells weren’t designed to catch.

Twilight took a deep breath and steadied herself.

Maybe she didn’t know the exact cause of the injury, but a new kidney would fix his problems regardless. She even had a matching, and willing, Dog by the name of Bingo.

Twilight renewed the spell monitoring his vitals. She felt the first stirring of strain on her magic from that spell and wondered how long she had been awake. The soft light of the mysterious ceiling growth outside never wavered, and she had not seen a clock in the village at all. How the Dogs managed a normal circadian rhythm, if they did at all, was a mystery to her. Strangely, she didn’t feel tired and briefly wondered what had been in the tea she kept drinking. Whatever, the answer was she had probably gone longer without sleep before and was still perfectly capable of the surgery. Everything was as ready here as it was going to get.

“I’ve done all the tests I can,” Twilight said to Peridota, who had unflinchingly – even suspiciously – watched her every move since returning. “And now I know for certain that I need the help of the other Dog to cure him.”

Peridota nodded. “Bingo be proud to help his Alpha. Fishbone owe him great debt.”

“That he will,” Twilight said with half notice as she laid anesthetic spells on Fishbone to prep him for surgery. “Now, let’s get your husband to the operating theater. Did they prep everything just like I told them?”

“Yes, Elder Lass make every Dog do it exact.”

“Okay, let’s do this.” Twilight picked up Fishbone with her telekinesis, careful to support his head and keep his body level. He didn’t react aside from a soft mumbling. Cliff waited ahead of them, holding the door open, and Peridota followed behind as Twilight carefully maneuvered Fishbone out of the house.

Bingo and her tools were already waiting at the impromptu operating theater. All she needed to do was get Fishbone there, remove his damaged kidneys, remove one of Bingo’s kidneys, and successfully transplant it without causing either Dog to hemorrhage or develop a fatal peritoneal infection.

No problem. It wouldn’t even be her first kidney transplant. Even though that had only been once, the patient had been a pony, and it had been in a fully stocked hospital with several experienced surgical nurses to assist and a senior surgeon to supervise.

So basically the same.

There was no reason to panic.

Twilight took another slow breath as they neared the right doorway. It opened from the inside and Elder Lass, wearing boiled cloth over her muzzle as Twilight had directed, beckoned them in. Bingo was on a large table that was covered in more boiled cloth. He fidgeted nervously, but still managed to smile as she entered. He was a brave Dog to volunteer like this, especially with how little he understood the magic involved in the procedure.

There were a few more Dogs inside, all wearing the cloth masks and positioned well away from the tables. Twilight was surprised to see that Duke was among them. He glared at her, watching suspiciously, but at least that was all he was doing for now.

Twilight gently set down Fishbone on the second table and accepted a mask and mane-cap from Elder Lass. Behind her Cliff and Peridota donned their own masks and caps and moved over to the wall with the other Dogs.

“Thank you,” she told Bingo as she came over to his table. He didn’t know any of her language, but she tried to use a smoothing tone. “Just relax and when you wake up we’ll be all done.” A simple anesthetic and sedation spell washed over him. His eyes gently closed and his breathing fell into a steady rhythm. She cast another spell to monitor his vitals.

Twilight turned to face her audience. “Thank you all for observing. I must, however, warn all of you that surgery can be messy and it will be unpleasant to watch. If at any point you feel the need to leave, feel free to do so.”

There was a murmured round of discussion at that, but Duke just grumbled and barked, ‘Get on with it, pony!” All of the other Dogs fell silent after that.

No pressure.

Twilight worked quickly and shaved the skin over where she was set to make the incision. She taped down the rest of the fur around it and covered the rest of each Dog with a sheet to prevent any hairs from finding their way into the incision. Then the real work began. The inner workings of the body were not pleasant looking even when healthy. Twilight had long since grown used to blood and viscera, but one Dog moved quickly out of the room as she removed the donor kidney from Bingo.

That had been the easy part. Now she needed to remove one of Fishbone’s kidneys and replace it with the functional one before his remaining kidney completely failed from the stress of doing all of the body’s filtering. In a proper hospital she could have run his blood through dialysis to purify it, but there was no way she could jury-rig something similar in this situation.

The discolorations of Fishbone’s left kidney were very intriguing on a professional level. Two more Dogs dashed from the room after seeing it. She carefully placed that aside, hoping for a chance to better examine it later. It might finally reveal just what had gone wrong with him.

No time to waste, she carefully lifted the donor kidney in her telekinesis just as the sound of pained yips and barks broke out from the outer hall. Quickly, she covered the incision sites of both patients and surrounded the donor kidney in its own protective bubble.

The door to the operating theater slammed open. Captain Dash and Applejack stormed in, each wearing a dull gray pistol brace and ready to shoot. At least three Dogs lay on the ground outside. One of them had his arms tied to his side and the other two were only semi-conscious.

“Now, that’s how you execute a plan!” Captain Dash exclaimed, grinning widely.

“I’d save the celebrating ‘til we’re safe back at the ship,” Applejack replied. An ugly growl started to bubble out of Duke’s throat, but she swung her pistol brace to aim at him. Duke settled back down.

“Here’s the deal,” Captain Dash said to the gathered Dogs. “We’ve got those two girls you sent to watch us and one of your guards with the third member of our crew. We’re here to collect our doctor and one of the gems you stole. Bring out everything you took, we’ll find the one that belongs to us, and we’ll be on our merry way, leaving your people behind. No fuss, no trouble, and nobody gets shot.”

“Did you hurt them?” Duke snapped. He looked angrier than Twilight had ever seen him, and that wasn’t an easy feat. Veins pulsed at his temple and muscles stood out along his body as he tensed himself. Despite the gun aimed at him Duke looked almost ready to pounce.

“Everyone,” Twilight said. Her voice was not loud but it was controlled, clear, and utterly confident. “There is a very delicate operation going on and I am going to have to ask you to take this outside.”

There was a brief silence that followed.

“Uh… you know when I said ‘our doctor’ I was referring to you, right?” Captain Dash said. “This is a smash and grab; we need get what we came for and leave.”

Twilight took a deep breath. “I understand, but I have a patient here whose life hangs in the balance. Once the operation is done I can go. If that means you need to leave me behind, I understand.” Her stomach rolled at the thought of that. Elder Lass and Cliff seemed to like her, but she was technically Duke’s prisoner and he would not be in a forgiving mood after this. Not to mention if this surgery went badly - which was always a possibility and all too likely with this kind of interruption – then she wouldn’t find much support at all from any of the Dogs. And she could forget trying to navigate those tunnels without help. It was all enough to make her legs feel weak.

But that didn’t change her decision. Her patient needed her.

“Listen,” Applejack said, her voice even but hard as bedrock. “We ain’t leavin’ without you even if we gotta knock you over the head and drag you out.”

“You could try,” Twilight agreed, then hurried to continue after seeing Applejack’s eyes begin to narrow, “and you’d probably succeed. But I would resist. I’m not the best fighter but my magic is powerful enough to make it a difficult task if you want to take me alive. It would be too risky with the entire crowd of Dogs there just waiting for either of you relax your guard.” The room was near silent. “So as I said your only choices are to wait or leave me behind. I will accept either.”

“Sunscorch it, you stupid-” Captain Dash bit off whenever she was going to say next, and sighed. “Fine. Applejack, grab a Dog here that speaks good Equish and have them gather up all the loot so you can look through it. I’ll cover this bunch until the operation is done.”

Applejack didn’t seem happy with that decision, but she nodded anyway.

“Elder Lass can probably help you there,” Twilight said gesturing to the old Dog.

Elder Lass bowed briefly. “I am willing to assist, but first I must ask the same question as our Alpha.” Her small eyes narrowed into dark slits and despite the old Dog’s small size Twilight couldn’t help but shiver. “Did you hurt the pups watching you?”

Captain Dash shrugged. “Not really. They might have a few bruises from when they tried to attack Applejack, but nothing’s broken.”

“Very well. I will assist as best I am able.” Another growl came from Duke and Elder Lass turned back to look at him. “These two have guns and the catbird has three of our village. All they ask is two things we stole from among many. I say we pay that price and consider it light.” That sparked discussion in Canine among the other Dogs, but none of them objected further as she left under Applejacks direction.

“Thank you,” Twilight breathed out. She hadn’t directed it at anyone specifically, but Captain Dash nodded in response. Twilight turned her attention back to her patients. Fishbone’s breathing was starting to speed up and Twilight was afraid he’d go into full blown metabolic acidosis if she didn’t get the new kidney into him soon. She lifted the cloth over Fishbone’s incision and went to work.

Captain Dash glanced over, then quickly looked away with an understanding grunt. “I’m not the kind of mare to kill somebody who isn’t trying to kill me.” She paused. “Besides, I’m pretty sure your sister would kill us all in our sleep if we left you here.”

Twilight suppressed a chuckle as she continued working. Fishbone’s breathing was getting faster, but the pH of his blood was still within acceptable limits. She just had to get everything sewn in correctly and then she could cast an anti-rejection spell. A new kidney would do him little good if his immune system thought it was foreign and immediately attacked it. She finished the last suture and then charged her horn, preparing the spell.

Layer upon layer of spellwork built in her mind. Symbols and formula swirled in her head as she gathered every piece necessary to convince his body that this organ belonged. To alter a fundamental piece of biology at the subcellular level across hundreds of millions of cells. It was a horribly complex spell, but Twilight had always been a diligent student. Her vision narrowed until nothing else existed but her patient. Just as everything begin to turn purple she released the spell and it rushed out of her.

Stars swam in Twilight’s vision in the aftermath of the spell. Her horn ached and felt hot enough to boil an autoclave. She wanted to just sit down and take a moment, but there was something else she had to do, right? Her patient… his breathing was still getting faster, his blood pH was dipping dangerously low. Twilight fought through the fuzzy fatigue that has enveloped her mind.

The clamp!

Fishbone’s renal artery was still clamped shut. Using her telekinesis hurt enough to make her shudder and bite her lip, but the purple field still lit up and removed the small clamp from within his abdomen. She watched as the sutures held, as his new kidney started to work and his breathing slowed.

His blood pH began to right itself. Her horn didn’t stop hurting, but it started to hurt at a more reasonable level. Slowly, she began to clean up and then to suture his incision shut.

“Hey, nice job!” Captain Dash said flicking her a small salute with one wing.

Twilight turned to thank her, and could only watch dumbly as a pair well-muscled forearms burst from the stone underhoof and dragged Captain Dash’s hindlegs down into the holes. Captain Dash was a military professional, but she had the same natural reaction as any another pony. Her forelimbs smashed into the stone below, instinctively trying to keep her from slipping further down as her wings flared to give her lift. A second pair of forearms burst from the stone near her fore hooves and those were dragged underground too. Twilight’s tired mind finally registered that something, somewhere had gone very, very wrong.

“Finally!” Duke barked. He tore off the face mask and stalked forward, the crowd of other Dogs partly quickly before him. “Those bunglers took far too long.” He barked a long string of Canine to the Dogs beneath Captain Dash. Her wings were flared, but she wasn’t getting anywhere. The Dogs had pulled her into the stone up to her barrel and her wings couldn’t flap down without hitting the floor. Captain Dash was well and truly caught.

From the look on her face; she wasn’t aware of the fact.

“Did I say you could come over here?” she asked Duke. “Applejack is still out there, still armed, and Gilda has three of your people. Now, tell those jerks below to let go before I’m forced to do something I regret.”

He was shocked for a second, but Duke recovered quickly. “You’re going nowhere, pony.” He sneered. Your friend can’t fight all of my Dogs at once and we’ll catch the catbird the same way we got you.”

Twilight felt like she should do something, but what? She was practically out of magic and no fighter to begin with. Her horn had barely lit when Duke whipped his head in her direction. Scared, her telekinesis winked back out. The suture needle and thread dropped back to the operating tray.

“I-I still need to close up Bingo. He could get a fatal infection if I don’t.”

Duke stepped towards her and she took an unconscious step backwards. He lifted his paw, and Twilight’s eyes squeezed shut, cringing away.

“No.”

The voice that spoke was deep, rough, and heavily accented. It was also one of the most wonderful things Twilight had ever heard.

Her eyes reopened and she saw the massive bulk of Cliff standing behind Duke, holding his upraised paw in a vise-like grip. Duke snarled out a phrase in Canine and attempted to jerk his paw away.

It didn’t move an inch.

“No,” Cliff repeated. “She is good pony. She helped us after we stole her. After we stole their gems and gold. She offered to stay here alone to help our Alpha. We be honorable Dogs, not this.” A growl rumbled from him. The murmurs in Canine from the rest of the Dogs in the room sounded like they agreed.

“I am your Alpha!” Duke practically screamed.

“Not while my brother lives,” Cliff said coldly. He barked something earsplittingly loud and glared at the floor. Small whines of submission came from the Dogs beneath the floor and Captain Dash was released. Cliff roughly threw Duke at the opposite wall, where he smashed into it with a weighty thump. Duke whirled upright, but stopped when he saw Captain Dash pointing her pistol brace at him with a toothy grin.

“Keep moving, buddy, and I’ll be happy to take the shot.”

“Cliff,” Twilight said, “I… thank you.”

The large Dog simply shook his head. “You deserve all the thanks.” He reached down to his side and Twilight abruptly realized that he was wearing a small pouch. Or rather a pouch that looked small, because he pulled one of the largest gems Twilight had ever seen out of it. The amethyst was a rich, scintillating purple and its countless facets caught the light in an almost hypnotic fashion. She had no doubt that it was the gemstone they had come to find.

“It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.

“Yes,” Cliff agreed. “But it is only a jewel. You did everything to bring back my brother and this is all I can offer as gift.” He held it out and Twilight reached forward. Her hoof touched the gem and everything changed.

Walls, floor and ceiling all disappeared into darkness. But beyond them were points of light. Glittering, gleaming little stars in all the colors of the rainbow. They were few and far between until Twilight glanced down. Beneath them - far, far beneath them – was a river of stars, twisting and spiraling into a beautiful ribbon of light that stretched on and on.

And suddenly everything was back to normal.

Twilight almost asked if anyone else had seen that, but from the looks on their faces she already had her answer. The Dogs were all shocked, but the slowly morphed into excitement, and then all out celebration.

“I don’t understand, Cliff. What happened?”

Cliff grinned and for a moment even his dour face looked handsome. “It is new jewel seam. The thing my brother always believed in. It is real. The village will be saved.”

She grinned with him until a sudden thought snapped her out of it. “Wait a minute! I still haven’t finished the operation. Cliff, get all of those Dogs out of here if they can’t be quiet. I still have work to do and cannot be disturbed.”

Comments

[WanderingPony]

And the patient has a pulse!

[tropenamer]

I have a cunning plan!

[Blaster M]

All that Tracking pays off. This story gets an update!

[Bugsydor]

So, was that the Element of Magic?

Also, hooray for a probably successful surgery!

[Beware The Carpenter]

Applejack had to hoof it to Gilda; that griffin knew all manner of tying and gagging folks. Where she’d learned that kinda stuff, Applejack had no interest in finding out.

Glad this is back.

[SilentCarto]

This chapter could have been titled, "Operation: Operation".

[helmet of salvation]

Love the atmosphere in this chapter.

[Okie Brony]

Why was this story abandoned, by both the author and the commenters??? I love the world-building! I love Angel as Badger. I love Fluttershy as Kaylee. I love Firefly!!!! I love that this is the alllmost-finished sequel to the only "complete" Firefly story on Fimfiction.