//------------------------------// // Sacrifice? // Story: Grazioso // by MadMan //------------------------------// Vinyl enjoyed watching as Octavia inspected her cello. She examined the bow and the strings for any signs of fraying or wear, of which there were none. She carefully tuned the instrument, years of practicing enabling her to know when it was just right by ear alone. After tuning it, she layed the instrument down on a clean blanket and began to polish it with expensive natural oils gathered from far off forests. The dark wood seemed to soak up the precious chemicals, and to Vinyl seemed as if it began to glow in a dark, rich sheen that only the finest of woods are capable of. After this was done, Octavia placed the cello in the custom made case by the door. Vinyl had watched her throughout the whole process, and noted the love in her eyes when she tended to her cello, but when Octavia turned to find the DJ's bright red eyes watching her, the spark of love in her eyes intensified. Vinyl had precious posessions of her own, and while her turntables were handmade of only the best materials and craftsponyship, she knew she would give up everything she owned if she had to for her lover. There was nothing in the world Vinyl loved more than to wake up in the morning (or afternoon as was more often the case) to see Octavia's rich violet eyes and hear her soft and caring voice. Vinyl sighed from the loveseat she was curled up on as Octavia sat down next to her, laying her grey head across the white unicorn's neck, letting her black mane intertwine and contrast with the DJ's lightning blue in a cataclysm of contrasts, yet nothing ever felt more natural to either mare. Life is good. "What time do you have to go to your gig, Octy?" "I shall have to leave here by seven, so I can be there and ready for soundcheck at eight." Vinyl checked the time. Four o'clock. Plenty of time for a nice cuddle in front of the newly installed fireplace in the living room, where they were currently situated. It had been too warm to fully enjoy it when it was installed, but it was approaching the middle of fall, and the nights had just enough of a chill to warrant a fire. Octavia had payed for the fireplace as her present to Vinyl for their one year anniversary a few months ago. In return, Vinyl had bought the custom cello case now sitting next to the door. Octavia's old one had been showing signs of wear, and she feared it didn't have the protection her precious instrument deserved. The new case was wrapped in thick, black, high quality leather, and had gold plated hinges and clasps. The interior was padded with thick, purple carpeting, and had a treble clef matching Octavia's cutie mark enbroidered on the underside of the lid. The mark was also stitched on the outside of the case on either side. The structure of the whole case was made of aluminum, making it very tough and light, given its size. Even with the leather wrapping and the plush insides, it barely weighed any more than the old wood and plastic case, yet was many times more secure. Vinyl had also commisioned for a lock to be fitted to the clasps for the times Octavia was called away to the big cities for a show. When she did go somewhere and wanted to lock the case, Octavia kept the key on a simple silver necklace she always wore, the miniscule key dangling next to a small silver cello charm bought for her by Vinyl. She wore this necklace almost always, except when she was in the shower or sleeping. Any time Vinyl saw the necklace, her mind immediately sprang to the night of the one year anniversary. It had been a wonderful night. Five o'clock came and went, with the mares still cuddling on the couch, listening only to the fire crackling and the other's breathing. Six o'clock came and went in the same manner. At a quarter to seven, Octavia reluctantly raised her head. "Vinyl, dear, I have to go." "Aww, Octy. I was warm." "You can be warm again when I get home. It won't be too long." Octavia stood and went to the bathroom to make sure she was suitable to go out in public. There would be a make-up pony there to make her ready for the stage, but she still had to go out in public to get there. Octavia came out of the bathroom looking much the same as she had entered, and found Vinyl still laying on the couch. "Do you have to work tonight, Vina?" "Naw. The boss said I can take a night off 'cause I stayed late for that birthday party last night." "Oh, good. I'll see you when I get home. Should be around eleven." "Aight. Knock 'em dead, Octy. Be safe." Octavia came over and kissed Vinyl before hefting her cello onto her back. She called back over her shoulder as she was leaving. "Bye, Vinyl! Don't burn the house down!" "For Luna's sake, it was only one chair!" Vinyl thought she heard a laugh, but couldn't be sure, as the door had already closed behind the grey musician. Vinyl used her magic and put another log on the fire from the stack beside the fireplace. She curled back up on the loveseat and started to nap, impatiently waiting for Octavia to return. Vinyl woke sometime later to see the fire had almost burned down to embers. She levitated another piece of wood on and layed her head back down. Wait a sec. That was a hefty piece I put on earlier. Should have lasted most of the night. Where's Octy? She looked at the clock on the wall. It was just past two in the morning. What? She should have been home hours ago. I guess some snobs delayed her for no reason like they like to do. A lot. Vinyl did her best to put the worry out of her mind. She's fine. She'll be home soon with some wild story about some silly reason why they wouldn't let her leave. It's happened before. Just not three hours late.... Vinyl layed her head back on the couch and tried to fall back asleep. Suddenly there was a knock, like a hoof on wood. Vinyl sat bolt upright as she tried to determine the source. The knocking came a few more times. Vinyl decided it was coming from the door. Visitors? At this hour? No way. Even though they were both very social ponies, the two mares almost never had visitors at the house. Much less at two in the morning. Vinyl stood and slowly approached the door. When she was only a few feet away, the knocking came again. She opened the door with apprehension, ready to shut and lock it with speed if need be. But instead of a thief or miscreant, there stood two very nervous looking policeponies. The pony that had been knocking had a coat was a dark brown with a slightly lighter mane. The other was standing slightly behind, and was light grey with a white mane. He looked almost too young to be a policepony. "Are you Vinyl Scratch? Roommate to Octavia Philharmonica?" The brown pony spoke. Vinyl only nodded, words not coming to the usually talkative unicorn. This is bad. The brown pony seemed to be having difficulty decided what to say next. "Miss Scratch.... My name is Iron Badge, and this is Rook.......There was an accident.... Octavia has been injured. I do not know details, but it's quite serious." Vinyl's blood seemed to leave her head in an instant, leaving her incapable of thought or speech. After a second of gasping in silence, it all flooded back and she had an overload of thoughts. She managed to calm her unruly mind enough to croak out a responce to the police pony. "Where is sh..... What hap...... Is she alri.... Where is she!?" "She has been taken to Ponyville Hospital. We th- OOF!" The policepony was almost knocked off his hooves as something resembling a white and blue bolt of lightning shot past him and into the darkness in the general direction of the hospital. Vinyl's went from shocked and sluggish to working at super speed. She did a fast mental calculation. It would take her almost fifteen minutes to reach the hospital at the pace she was going, an eon to the beleaguered pony. Without pausing to this if what she was about to do was possible or not, she concentrated and brought as much magic as she could gather to her horn. She then extended the magic out and wrapped it around her body, and instead of casting a complicated spell, she simply pushed. Immediately her speed almost doubled. Her legs were moving faster than anypony but the one casting the spell could believe. There weren't many ponies out at this hour, but the rare pony that did see Vinyl pass saw nothing more than a white and blue figure, shrouded in grey and moving faster than a speeding pegasus. Within minutes Vinyl was at the door of the hospital. She let her magic go and slowed back to galloping pace as she entered the reception room. There was a small white mare tending the front desk, and she seemed shocked to see Vinyl rushing in like she was. Vinyl was in no mood to waste time. "Octavia! Where is she? What room!?" "R.. Room two-oh-three. Miss...!" Vinyl took off at down the empty hallway next to the desk, hooves skittering on the tile floors as she fought for traction. At the end of the hallway, she ran up the stairs to her right, almost knocking over somepony coming down the stairs. She emerged onto the second floor, the room she seeked only one door down from the stairwell entrance. Vinyl rushed to the door, noting the light coming from this door was the only one lit along the desolate hall. She opened the door and looked inside, for she couldn't actually enter. The entire room was filled with doctors and equipment, explaining why there were none elsewhere in the building. Through a momentary gap in the bustle of the room, Vinyl caught a glimpse of a grey coat and black mane. "Octavia!" Immediately, every face turned to her, if only momentarily. There was still a lot of work for the doctors to do, and they couldn't be distracted. However, one doctor closest to the door put down the papers he had been reading and came to Vinyl at the door. He came out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. He then turned to the panicked unicorn. "Vinyl Scratch?" "Yea. What happened? Is she alright? What's going on?" The doctor, a dark red earth pony, put one hoof on Vinyl's shoulder. "We don't know exactly what happened. All we know, is at about nine o'clock, there was some sort of accident at Octavia's performance. There were several ponies brought to us, but Octavia is the only one seriously injured." "How is she!?" Vinyl fought to resist the urge to run into the room, but the small part of her mind that was still rational held her back, telling her the doctors needed room to work. "She is unconscious, which is probably a good thing. There are several large lacerations along her left side, and some broken bones, mostly around her left hip. There were also some large splinters in her side. There are most likely many more internal injuries we don't know about yet, but we are doing everything we can. It looks to me as though something large and wooden fell on her from the left side." The doctor shifted uncomfortably. Vinyl had stood without moving while listening to the doctor, eyes trained on him without wavering. He lowered his eyes to the floor. "To be honest, it's pretty bad. I'm not a talented and seasoned unicorn like a lot of the doctors in there, so they don't tell me much, but I can see they are worried. Octava is injured very badly, and her condition is critical. But don't worry Miss Scratch, we will do anything and everything to make sure Octavia pulls through this just fine. I wish I could tell you more. But for now, why don't you go to the waiting area? Nap on the couch, read magazines? I promise that I will personally bring you news updates as often as I can." Vinyl attemped to swallow the knot in her throat and nodded. She turned around and slowly walked back down the stairs and the hallway to the reception room. The mare who was at the counter when Vinyl first arrived was still there, and watched until Vinyl sat down, then came over. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I heard about what happened. Feel free to stay here all night, there's always somepony on duty. And if you need anything at all, please just let me know." It seemed to Vinyl as if the world was falling apart. There's only so much a pony can take. Even I have limits.... Vinyl knew she was on the verge of a breakdown. She didn't want to have it here in a public area, but at the same time she didn't want to sob alone. She settled for staring blankly at the floor as the kind nurse softy rubbed the back of her neck and shoulders, both mares doing nothing more than waiting for the red doctor to come bearing news. Almost five hours later, at ten minutes until eight, he came. Vinyl almost didn't even notice, so deep was she in silent rumination. She suddenly realized she was hearing hoofsteps coming down the hallway, and looked up to see the doctor who had spoken to her earlier. Jumping from her place on the couch, she ran down the hallway to meet him. "What news? She's ok? She'll be fine?" The doctor hesitated before nodding. "She seemes to be doing marginally better.We have stitched up the lacerations on her side, and removed all the splinters. We have set what broken bones we could, and have to surgically alter one. However, we also discovered she took a heavy blow to the left side of her head, resulting in a concussion. We scanned her thoroughly and she does not seem to have any damage to the brain. We have done almost everything we can. Her condition seems to be as stable as it's going to get. Now it is just up to her." Vinyl dropped her gaze to the floor, as she had for several hours. "Octy is strong. She'll pull through." She has to. The doctor bowed his head for a few seconds, then looked back at Vinyl. "I will personally be monitering Octavia's condition for the rest of my shift. In four hours, if there is no worsening of her condition, and she seems to be stable, I will see if I can convince them to let you see her. It is unorthodox, but I can see you care about her very much. Until then, I have prepared one of the staff break rooms for you to stay in. It's more comfortable than the waiting room, and quieter. The staff have agreed to use one of the other break rooms." Vinyl felt herself blush at all the trouble this unnamed doctor was going through just for her. Under other circumstances, she would have probably rejected the offer, but at the moment she was just grateful to be this close to Octavia. She thanked the doctor, who then gave her directions to the room. She found it, and barely registered anything in the room other than the soft couch she passed out on. She awoke an indeterminable time later. The lights were bright, and hurt her eyes. She realized her trademark shades were at home still. The couch was not as soft as it seemed when she first layed down, and was coarse and smelled stale. The whole room had a feeling of being used often and appreciated little. Vinyl sat up and placed her hoofs to her face, letting tears escape through her tightly closed eyes for several long minutes before grtting her teeth and cutting off the flow. Not yet. It is not the time or place for this. She sat up and surveyed the room. It was only then she noticed a small note on the table beside her. "Vinyl: Octavia's condition has gotten slightly more stable. You seemed like you needed your rest, so I did not wake you. However, when you wake up, show this note to the nurse on duty in Octavia's room and they will allow you visits, but no more than an hour a day. Take care." Below that was a signature, but it was illegible. Looking at the clock, Vinyl realized with shock she had slept for almost eight hours, and it was now nearing four in the afternoon. She clutched the note tightly and set off for Octavia's room. She arrived and opened the door to find the small nurse from the night before changing some bandages on Octavia's side. "Oh! You're awake. You may come in. Have a seat, there on her uninjured side. I will be done shortly here. I can't leave the room, but you won't even notice I'm here." Vinyl did as the nurse said, taking a seat beside her love. She stared at the eyes, closed and unseeing, the ears, laying limply instead of catching every sound around, the mouth, barely open and still, instead of saying words of comfort. Vinyl reached up and very softly held Octavia's hoof. The nurse was finished cleaning and replacing bandages quickly, and retreaded to the far side of the room wordlessly, and sat reading some charts and taking notes. Vinyl lost track of time, although she was sure it had been more than an hour. The scratching of the pencil and the regular beeping of the heart moniter were the only sounds. Beep... Beep... Beep... The nurse left, and a different one came in, one Vinyl didn't recognize. This nurse came over and took notes on a clipboard from all the machines beside the bed, as well as checking the bandages. Vinyl expected to be ordered out at any moment, but it never came. Once the nurse was done writing everything she needed down from the machines, she left the room. A minute later she came in and took the seat vacated by the previous nurse. She sat reading a magazine, every so often coming and taking more notes off the machines. Vinyl sat without moving the entire time, still holding Octavia's right hoof. All of a sudden, her stomach growled. The sound was loud in the silence of the room, making both Vinyl and the nurse jump in thier seats. The nurse smiled at Vinyl once she realized the sourse of the noise. "There's a cafateria at the end of the hallway. Go get something to eat. You may return after." Vinyl did so, realizing she hadn't eaten anything since the night previous. After eating a good sized meal, which she had to force down with a combination of juice and willpower, she returned to her silent watch at Octavia's bedside. Because she had eaten, she found her mind was now starting to function somewhat, although it was still sluggish from lack of sleep. She continued to sit without moving, but her mind was now a blur of activity compared to before. She silently pleaded with Octavia to awaken from her coma. Then a beeping shattered the silence like a hammer to glass, causing Vinyl and the nurse to leap to their feet. One of the machines had started blinking red and beeping urgently. Simultaneously, Octavia's breathing changed. It seemed to be struggling to escape and return, leaving the grey mare gasping in a sickening manner. The nurse ran into the hall screaming for a doctor, while Vinyl could only stare as Octavia gasped. She had no idea what was happening, only that it was bad. Finally, two doctors, including the generous red stallion, came running into the room. Vinyl took several steps back to allow them to work. They did many things very quickly which Vinyl had no knowledge of, but none seemed to have any effect. More doctors poured in throughout the process. After long, agonizing minutes of frenzied work, almost all the machines suddenly turned red, and the beeping from the heart moniter, which had become frenzied and unrythmic beeping, changed to a single, unbroken, and forlorn tone. The doctors seemed stunned at this. For all their failed attemps, and all their knowledge, all their medicine and machines and magic, they had lost this battle. Everything had failed. No pony knew what to do. But Vinyl did. Somehow, she knew how to do what almost a dozen trained doctors could not. Seeing the team of professionals standing helplessly around the mare she loved so deeply set something off deep within her, something primal and incomprehensible. Vinyl decided to trust this primordial instict. She didn't have anything left to lose. She pushed through the crowd and looked at Octavia's face, which had turned slightly red. She lowered her horn to several inches above Octavia's chest, just above the silver cello necklace. She gathered her magic, every bit she could find within her body, and then some more. It seemed as if she was mustering the magic out of empty space, yet came it did. She didn't stop to think about the consequences to herself, only that she was not going to allow Octavia to die. All her love, her life, her very soul was poured into her horn, and when it felt as if she was about to explode, she began pouring it into the lifeless grey body in front of her. She did not concentrate on the injuries, or any specific part of the body. Instead, she sent her magic searching for Octavia's very life esscence, the spark needed to turn the shell of flesh back into a living being. She poured every possible bit of magic she could into Octavia, but it seemed the more she ejected, the more power she conjured, and faster. The flow of magic out of the horn swelled and grew, like a river steadily destroying a dam that had held it back. The grey cloud surrounding Octavia had grown and thickened around Vinyl as well, to the point no pony in the room could see either mare, only a single bright point that marked where Vinyl's horn was visible through the grey cloud surrounding them. A sound was becoming audible to every pony, a turbulent and deep roar, like thunder echoing across an open prairie, but continuous and infinitely more malevolent. The sound grew louder, and the cloud darker, until all that was visible was a point of pure white among a black cloud. Then there was a bright flash, and every pony in the room was knocked away. In the aftermath of the magical explosion, Vinyl lay on the cold floor, fighting to retain consciousness. As her vision began to fade and all became dark, she was aware of only a single sound. Beep... Beep... Beep...