//------------------------------// // Chap 2 The string of the strings // Story: The staff and barrs of life . // by WarrAinjal //------------------------------// For hearts and hooves day Back Stage went all out. After a lovely lunch at The Smoked Oat and a matinee showing of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the love birds returned home for a candlelight dinner. As Melody finished her rose petal salad, she felt it was a bit of an anticlimactic end to a very romantic day. She softly asked, “What's for desert?“ Stage, feeling her mood, replied, “I see you wished to go back out for dinner. But what I have planned for desert is not on any menu.” Pulling the lid of the serving tray he revealed whipped cream, chocolate frosting, and strawberries. 45, noting the lack of any thing to place them onto, sprayed a dollop of whipped cream onto her hoof, then offered it to Harmony. With a soft tone and bedroom eyes she whispered, “Go on, have a taste.” Wondering what to do, Harmony looked toward Stage, only to find him frosting his one hoof with a loving look in his eye. She mentally prepared herself for what would come next. “Oh, you mean that sort of desert.” 11 months later, Back Stage paced in the waiting room. In two adjoining hospital beds laid Melody and Vinyl, both heavy with foals. With the aid of Nurse CaringHart, Vinyl 45's foal came first. A new unicorn whom she named Vinyl Scratch sat in her hooves. Soon thereafter came the cries from a newborn earth pony named Octavia. Back in the waiting room, Nurse CaringHart entered. "Is there a Mr. Stage here?" "How are they doing? Am I father yet? When can I see them?" replied a jittering Mr. Stage. At this point he was cut off by Nurse CaringHart. "Both mothers are doing well. And if you will follow me, you can see your two daughters right now." Upon reaching the glass his eyes shot to two pink blankets and his new daughters happily sleeping in them. Subconsciously he tried to tap on the glass with his hoof, only to have it stopped by a magic field. "I guess it is best to let them sleep after all." He spent most of the next hour happily gazing through the window at the pair. Several months had passed, and Octavia was a chatter box of foalish babblings, easily walking around the playroom. Young Vinyl, however , stumbled about tripping over the carpet. She bore the pain of skinned knees and bruises without a word. Sure, she cried when she was hungry, but things clearly weren’t right with her, so the family took her to the Doctor’s office. "Mr. Stage, I am afraid that your daughter Vinyl Scratch is deaf," Dr. Strange-hoof said. “Her balance problems may even be related. Possibly some sort of inner ear problem causing both. I will need to run a CT-scan a week from tuesday.” All three parents were in shock. Back and Melody soon resolved to help their daughter, but Vinyl 45 shook uncontrollably, blaming herself over it. She only became more agitated whenever she saw Scratch fall or bump in to the walls. She was unable to cope with her own despair. A week later in the family's kitchen, Harmony said in a soft tone. "I need your help, 45. Scratch needs her mom to care about her.” "Why? Haven't I made her life bad enough? She has you, miss perfect. Why would she need an ex blackout drunk party mare like me?" she said, slamming the kitchen door as she galloped down the hallway. "I wish you would remember the ex part. Vinyl, that's not how you are now. You gave all that up before the wedding day. Please remember that." replied Harmony, trying to go after her. Stepping in front of her, Back Stage said, "Stop. When she is this upset, nothing we say will get through to her. It’s only her blaming herself. When she sees that, we will be family again." Behind a locked door. The photos on the wall vibrated as her favorite song played. Crumpled up in a corner of the bedroom, Vinyl 45 thought on her past hard partying days. "It’s all my fault. Why did I have to drink so much? And would it have killed me to choke down the vitamin pills like Harmony wanted?" As Vinyl 45's self torture continued, in the next room little Vinyl Scratch was playing with her blocks. Try as she might to build a tower past the fourth block, it just fell over. Until the waves of sound shook her, and to her enjoyment she could see the music. It cleared her triple vision and made everything she looked at seem happier. Euphorically she pressed herself up against the wall. Still wishing to be closer to this new feeling, she teleported through it. "Scratch, where did you come from?” said Vinyl 45, quickly holding her aloft in her own forehooves. Scratch finally saw the beauty of her mother for the first time. Vinyl 45 focused her attention on Scratch, as her horn glowed to turn off the music. Scratch wondered why the feeling had suddenly stopped, letting out a loud wail at its absence. 45 gently rocked her daughter, trying to get her to stop. "Might as well turn it back on. Not like you can hear it." With a click the waves roared back. Scratch immediately stopped crying, looking into her mother’s eyes. She mouthed her approval and began to curl up in her arms. Looking down, Vinyl 45 was overjoyed at the thought of her daughter hearing. In this she had found she needed to be her daughter's champion. "Back, Harmony, get in here and look at this!" Back at Dr. Strange-hoof's, Vinyl 45 excitedly exclaimed, "Dr. she can hear, please run the tests over again!" 45 then turned on a portable radio with the volume turned all the way up. "Turn it off! My ears! Ow ow ow," cried Dr. Strange-hoof. But out of the corner of his eye he noticed Scratch swaying to the beat, her eyes as big as saucers. As Vinyl 45 clicked off the radio, Dr. Strange-hoof said, "All right, hopefully the Ct-scan I already ordered will tell me something I don't know." "Thank you, Doctor." replied Vinyl 45. As 45 held a sleepy Scratch in the waiting room, Dr. Strange-hoof stood staring at the results. He had never seen anything like this. Looking through his lab books he found the diagnosis of synesthesia, but he wished to run some further tests and confer with his colleague Dr. Quackingbrush before talking to Vinyl 45. He decided to hold off on telling her just yet. After walking back to the waiting room, Dr. Strange-hoof said, "There are some further tests I would like to run, but I need some time to set them up. Please come back tomorrow morning, and please bring in whatever toys she likes to play with." "Of course Dr., but why the toys?" asked Vinyl 45. "My dear, I need to study how she interacts with the world, and familiar things are less frightening to her." "Yes Dr. We will be here bright and early." The next day, in a play room at the Dr.’s office sat Vinyl Scratch, trying to stack her blocks. As Vinyl 45 and Dr. Strange-hoof sat behind her just watching. Scratch grabbed one of the blocks in her aura. It was sat atop a twisted stack, before it tilted and fell. Then a knock at the door came and Dr. Quackingbrush, a griffin of optometry, walked in and joined them. "I have looked over your prognosis of synesthesia,” he said to Dr. Strange-hoof, “And though there is no way to know just how much she hallucinates, this experiment will tell us if it’s a good thing." "Mrs. 45, we are ready to begin. Please turn on the radio." said Dr. Strange-hoof. As she turned to do so the doctors donned earmuffs. The blaring volume washed over Vinyl Scratch. Her eyes focused and the three images folded into a slightly shaking block. Quickly she began straightening the stack before placing the last block. For Vinyl Scratch the music blocked out all the background noise with a steady tone, allowing a constantly flickering view of the world to stabilize. "You can turn it off now!" said Quackingbrush. Clicking the radio off, Vinyl 45 asked, "I am sorry, what was that?" "Thank you for turning it off!" Vinyl 45, somewhat confused, asked, "Well doctors, where do we stand?" Scratch began crying once more. 45 bent over, picked her up, and began rocking her. "It seems that Scratch's optic and auditory nerves are crossed. Casing her vision and hearing to become one." said Strange-hoof, pointing out how they weaved together in the brain scan. "Thankfully however, the stimulus of the music seems to help her focus." "Yes but for Celestia's sake, buy a set of earphones for her." said Dr. Quackingbrush, his ears still ringing. “We will need to monitor her for a time to make sure we are not hurting her long term." "Thank you both for your help understanding my daughter and the rest of the family. I'm sure we will thank you for the head phones idea." said Vinyl 45 as she packed up the blocks and walked out the door. “I am not sure what I did to help her. I’m feeling a bit of remorse at being able to do more. But I am glad I did what I did." said Dr. Strange-hoof. "We gave her the reason things are,” replied Dr. Quackingbrush, “And a hope of how to better them. Is it not what we are here for, Dr.?" Cheering up, Strange-hoof said, "Yes, it is indeed. Come, let us go celebrate with a cup of coffee."