//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Recent Procedure 
// Story: Dinky's Bucket List 
// by Br0nyb0y123 
//------------------------------//

Dinky was now awake, she had an empty feeling in her stomach, but she felt happy none the less. She got up from her bed and happily skipped down the stairs. And Derpy, who must not have heard her skip down stairs, called out for her just before Dinky walked into the kitchen,

"Oh, I didn't hear you come down stairs, Dinky" Derpy chuckled slightly.
"Oh yeah" Dinky laughed.
"You ready to go, hon?" Derpy asked.
"Yep" Dinky nodded.
Derpy got up from her kitchen seat and said, "OK, let's go"

Derpy and Dinky were both still a little sleepy, since it was the weekend, the both of them would be having sleeps until at least around or slightly after noon. While they were walking over to the hospital, Dinky was still sleepy, and whenever she blinked or closed her eyes she felt as if she was going to fall asleep while walking over to the building, but Dinky tried her best not to doze off. Once the mother and daughter duo made it to the hospital, they went to the receptionist table to see that Nurse Redheart was working there, odd for her to be working at the receptionist table, usually she'd be working at the ER, maybe she was taking a break from all the stress the ER can bring to you,

"Morning Red" Derpy greeted.
"Oh, hey Derpy" the nurse greeted back.
"I've got an appointment made for Dinky with Dr. Artemis" Derpy explained.
"OK, let me just check the files" She said as she looked through one of the drawers, and she found it, "Just take a seat in the waiting area Derpy and Dr. Artemis will be out in about 4 to 5 minutes"
"OK, thanks Red" Derpy said.
"No prob, Derpy" Redheart replied.

Dinky went ahead of Derpy to sit at the seat closest to the doctor's office, Derpy followed over to the seat beside her daughter, and the two of them waited for their doctor. Dinky was still tired, as was Derpy, and Dinky thought this was the perfect time to have a little snooze for about 4 minutes, so Dinky closed her eyes and opened them to see that Dr. Artemis was coming out of his office, she didn't know if he was quicker than Nurse Redheart said he would be, or if she slept for 4 or 5 minutes and it only felt like a second to her, but either way, she was going to find what the doc wanted to tell her. Artemis welcomed the two into his office and asked them both to take a seat,

"Morning Dinky. Morning Derpy" Artemis greeted.
"Morning" Derpy and Dinky both said.
"You 2 are probably wondering why I called you in here on your weekend?" The Doc asked.
"Yes" Derpy replied.
"Well, we recently discovered that there is no known magic cure...." The Doctor was saying.
".....we know that. What's your point?" Derpy interrupted and asked.
"....But there is a surgical procedure we can pull off that can cure her from her horn cancer" The Doctor explained.
"Really?" Derpy asked, "How does the procedure work?"
"The procedure works by us removing the horn from Dinky's skull, taking the cancer away with it" Dr. Artemis said, "However...."
"However?" Derpy questioned.
"The horn is connected to a nervous system in your daughter's brain, if the surgery becomes more complicated, then the chances could lead to certain death" Artemis explained.
"Oh, is that it?" Derpy asked.
"Yes, and the reason I called you was because I wanted to ask Dinky if she is OK with going through the procedure" Artemis said.
"Dinky, do you want to go through the procedure?" Derpy asked her daughter.

Dinky sat on her seat and thought, about possible the biggest decision in her life so far, if she went through the procedure, she would either make it out alive or dead, and since her chances of cancer were already 70/30, she had nothing to lose, except from her bucket list objectives. She sat there and thought more of if she didn't make it out alive, and she completed her bucket list, then she'd die happy at least. So Dinky has finally made her decision,

"I want the procedure please" Dinky said.
"You sure you don't want time to think?" Artemis asked.
"No thanks Dr. I've already made my decision" Dinky replied.
"Dinky, you don't need to go through this if you don't want to" Derpy mentioned.
"And I want to do this Mom, my chances are already 70/30, and if I complete everything on my list, I will die happy if the procedure fails" Dinky said to her mom.

A tear then fell from Derpy's eye, she was proud to see her daughter make this tough decision on her own, but she was also sad, she was sad because she thought about the procedure, and if it fails, then she'll never see her daughter again, but if it does succeed, then she'll have her daughter, so Derpy quickly calmed down and still felt proud of her daughter's tough choice,

"Mom, are you OK?" Dinky asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine just... fine" Derpy replied.
"OK, Mom" Dinky said.
"Now Dinky, are you perfectly sure you want to go through with this?" Dr. Artemis asked.
"Yes, but I don't want it done ASAP" Dinky replied and explained.
"Understandable, when do you want it to be done?" The Dr. asked again.
"Well, I've made myself a bucket list and I want to complete it so..." Dinky was explaining.
"...you want the procedure after you've completed your list" Artemis said.

Dinky nodded her head. She looked over at the clock to see it was 8:20am, she thought to herself when the appointment will be over, hopefully it will end sooner rather than later.

"So, is that it?" Derpy asked Dr. Artemis after a short silence, much to her daughter's suprise.
"I guess so, Mrs. Hooves, thanks for your time. Also, if Dinky is experiencing anything wrong; headache, sore horn, etc, come back to the hospital, OK?" Artemis explained.
"Sure thing Dr. Artemis" Derpy replied.
"OK then, I'll see you once you want to have the procedure Dinky" Artemis said.
"Okie dokie" replied Dinky.

Dr. Artemis said goodbye to Derpy and Dinky before they left, the mother and daughter both exited the hospital silently and once Derpy and Dinky made it halfway to their home, Derpy said,

"I'm not going to be home tomorrow" Derpy explained.
"Why not?" Dinky was puzzled why.
"Work, Dinky. I should've told you earlier, but you remember Donovan?" Derpy asked.
"Yes Mom, one of your co-workers, right?" Dinky replied.
Derpy nodded, "He's not going to be in tomorrow, and my boss told me to take his place, until he comes back from his vacation"
"Oh, so I have the house to myself for tomorrow?" Dinky asked.
"Yes, also, you can have a few friends over as well" Derpy mentioned.
Dinky smiled, as she thought that the fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders would come around, "Thanks Mom" Dinky chuckled.
"You're welcome sweetie, do you want to get a second breakfast? We only had a few fried eggs and nothing much else" Derpy said.
"Yeah Mom, that would be cool" Dinky replied.

Derpy was happy to see her daughter happy, after she heard her daughter say she wanted to have a surgical procedure that would determine whether she would live or die, she felt depressed, but since she was making her daughter happy, it made her feel happy, and more caring as a mother. But inside, Derpy still felt a depressing feeling, she didn't want to lose her only daughter, it made her feel empty.
Dinky on the other hand, felt like her day was going to go well, she felt optimistic about her day, she was going to get a second breakfast and then after that, she'll go cutie mark crusading. Dinky now feels like she can spend her final days in peace, but not without some obstacles to tackle first........