//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Stages // by Bunnybooze79 //------------------------------// Octavia didn’t waste a single second and rushed up to the prone pony. She slipped on the wet tiles briefly, but managed to keep herself from falling flat on her face. Feverishly she shook the form of Vinyl Scratch with a hoof. “Vinyl? Can you hear me? VINYL?!” The unicorn didn’t respond to Octavia’s pleas. The cellist was fearing the worst by this point and pressed her head against the wet mare’s chest. She heard a faint heartbeat through the blood rushing in her own ears and felt the chest move as air rushed in. Breathing. Heartbeat. Alive. Get help. Octavia noticed that Vinyl was shivering all over. It wasn’t cold in here, far from it in fact. She always made sure that her home was nice and cozy warm when the weather got colder. The bathroom was even warmer thanks to Vinyl’s use of vast amounts of hot water and felt almost like a sauna. Was that it maybe? The sudden change in temperature had caused her to faint? Or maybe she had slipped on the wet tiles. GET HELP! The thought snapped Octavia out of her musings. The reason why Vinyl had collapsed wasn’t important. The only thing that mattered was to find somepony to help her. With surprising speed Octavia bolted out the bathroom and made her way to the front door. She didn’t bother going around the large couch and instead just jumped on top of it, using the springs inside as a springboard. The sudden impact caused the miniature mountain of magazines to collapse. Octavia didn’t care about the tiny paper avalanche cascading onto her floor, the only thing on her mind was reaching the device next to her front door. She was going too fast at this point and couldn’t stop in time without crashing. She turned as best she could as to not hit the sturdy front door head on. Her earthpony genes made her sturdier than her small frame would lead on, but the impact against the door with her side still hurt. Octavia didn’t even bother to wince and jabbed a hoof at the big red button on the intercom next to her door. Living in Canterlot’s higher end areas had its perks, even though it cost a small fortune. Intercoms running on magic were nice, having a twenty-four hour porter on hoof was better, a direct line from the porter to the nearest hospital was priceless. A small crackling sound could be heard from the speaker and a second later the night porters voice could be heard. “Yes? How can I be of assistance?” “This is Octavia Philharmonica in room 501. There is a medical emergency here and I need a doctor as fast as possible!” Octavia spoke fast and hoped the porter had heard everything she had said. “Understood!” The reply went unheard by the mare as she raced back to the bathroom. She tore open the cupboard and grabbed as many dry towels she could. Carefully she soaked the puddle up around Vinyl’s shivering form and dried her off without disturbing her too much. She remembered not moving another hurt pony unless sure of the injuries or if immediate danger was present. The wet towels were discarded into the empty bathtub. Once she had dried off the areas she could reach, Octavia piled dry towels onto the mare in hopes of keeping her warm. She very carefully slid another towel under Vinyl’s head. Her mind went blank at what to do next, when a knock on her front door resolved her of her problem. “Help is coming.” She said to Vinyl and again tore at high speed to the front door, this time slowing down in advance as to not crash into it again. Opening the door revealed two ponies dressed in bright orange and white outfits identifying them as part of Canterlot’s Emergency Medical Technicians. One was a light green unicorn mare with a black mane and tail, the other was an aquamarine pegasus stallion with dark green mane and tail. Their fast arrival was most likely due to the unicorn teleporting them here. “You have a medical emergency, ma’am?” the unicorn asked. “In the bathroom! This way!” Octavia led the way, closely followed by the EMT’s. On arrival they wasted no time to tend to the unconscious mare on the floor. The Pegasus carefully lifted the towels back off Vinyl, while the unicorn took off her saddlebags and began unpacking her first aid kit. “Can you tell me what happened, ma’am?” the unicorn asked while very carefully casting a spell on Vinyl. “I was in the kitchen when I heard a noise from in here. I tried to talk to her, but didn’t receive any answer. Then I kicked the door open and found her lying there.” Octavia reported what had happened with a shaky voice. The events were beginning to settle in and she visibly blanched as she watched the EMT’s working on Vinyl. “She….she may have been out in the cold all day. I am not sure.” “She needs to get off these tiles. Do you have a bed where we can put her?” The unicorns voice was calm and in control. Neither one of them seemed to be worried or scared. The exact opposite of what Octavia was feeling right now. No doubt they had responded to enough emergencies in their time and this was just another day at work for them. “Down the hallway to the left.” Octavia made way for the stallion as he followed her instructions and entered the guest room. The mare followed him carefully with Vinyl in her magical grasp. The sight of the limp form hanging in mid-air sent chills down Octavia’s spine. She watched as she floated through the hallway and finally being set down on the large bed. The stallion had used the time to fetch his colleague’s saddlebags and rejoined her in the room. “Please wait outside, ma’am. If we need you we will call for you.” With those words the stallion closed the door in Octavia’s face. Still under a certain amount of shock, Octavia fell onto her haunches and just stared at the closed door. __________________________________________________________________ Fifteen minutes passed until the door finally opened again. Octavia had gone through numerous scenarios in her mind of what was going on. They ranged from relatively harmless situations with Vinyl simply being drunk again, all the way up to horrific thoughts that she was in her death-throes. The pegasus stallion left the room first and simply nodded to Octavia as he passed her. She used the moment to look past him into the room. Vinyl was lying in the bed and was seemingly fast asleep. The other EMT walked out the door and closed it behind her, once again obscuring Octavia’s view. “How is she?” Octavia asked, her voice only a whisper. The unicorn EMT led her into the living room area before answering her. “She has a minor case of hypothermia. Keeping her warm will be enough to counter its effects. The major issue is her severe malnutrition. Especially for unicorns that can soon escalate into more serious problems. My guess is she used magic.” The EMT noted Octavia’s confused expression and lack of a horn. For her benefit she expanded her report. “Unicorns need a certain amount of energy that their bodies provide to summon their actual magical abilities. If their body doesn’t have enough energy reserves, using magic can have very adverse effects on them. She was lucky that she just fainted. I have scanned her as best to my abilities and could not find any damage done, apart from the malnutrition of course.” The EMT turned even more serious as she continued her report. “I am guessing she has not been eating properly for a few months. Now I am aware that some young mares find it necessary to hunger themselves down to ridiculous sizes, as to look more like a model in one of those fashion magazines.” She told Octavia this with the hope that the cellist wouldn’t follow a similar path. The grey earthpony didn’t look like she was on some inane quest to become super thin, but the EMT didn’t want to take chances. “It’s bad, it’s unhealthy. For unicorns it can become life threatening very fast. For your friend’s sake try and get some fat back on her bones. Otherwise it will end badly.” Octavia simply nodded and mentally digested the information. She was about to protest out of reflex that Vinyl wasn’t her friend, she didn’t even know anything about her, but held her tongue as not to cause any suspicions. “I have left some medicine on the bedside table. It will help her regain some of her energy. It is not a substitute for a decent meal, remember that. It’s side-effect is that it will make her sleep for some time, so do not give her more than one dose per day. Make sure she takes one tomorrow morning again and then in the evening. After that she should take a dose before going to bed.” Octavia went through the instruction once more in her mind, while the two EMTs filled out what seemed like a report. They asked for the patient’s name which Octavia provided. “Is this her residence?” the mare asked. “No, I don’t know her address.” Octavia blurted out without thinking. She quickly added some more information to explain. “We only just met today again after being out of touch for a few months. She never got around to tell me where she was now living.” “Well….do you want us to arrange a transport into the hospital for her?” “She isn’t in any critical condition is she?” Octavia answered the EMT’s question with her own. “No, as long as she rests up and eats properly without using her magic for a while, she’ll be fine.” The EMT explained and shifted about seemingly uncomfortable. She never liked this part of what she was about to ask. “It’s just that we need an address for the medical bill.” “Send it here. I can forward it to her later.” Octavia offered and the EMT noted it down. They then left without another word and left Octavia alone in her suddenly eerily quiet home. ___________________________________________________________________ Octavia walked back to the guest room, ignoring the mess she passed. It wasn’t important and she quite frankly did not have the energy anymore to do something about it. The events had taken more out of her than she had thought. She opened the door to the guest room and peeked inside. Vinyl Scratch was fast asleep on one side of the large bed. Her white coat and blue mane a stark contrast to the dark grey bed sheets. She seemed peaceful, which Octavia envied her for. Peaceful was the last word she would have used to describe her feelings right now. She was worried, she was angry and she was frightened. Worried, because her guest was not in the best of health. Angry, because Vinyl had brought this on by her own choice if the EMT was correct. And she was frightened, because of what might happen if Vinyl continued doing what she had done before. Vinyl seemed like a nice pony. The talk they had in the café was pleasant and she had paid for Octavia’s cello. She didn’t seem like a pony obsessed with fashion and appearances, at least judging by the state she had been in when they met. Then again Octavia hardly knew her. With surprise Octavia noticed that Vinyl wasn’t wearing her sunglasses. She had definitely had them on while lying on the bathroom floor. She guessed that the EMTs had removed them. One quick glance about the room confirmed her thoughts, as she saw them resting on the bedside table. Strange that she would wear them while showering, but maybe they were prescription glasses. Octavia shrugged and walked a bit closer to the bed to see her guest’s face for the first time. She had to admit that Vinyl would profit from some more meat on her bones. Her jawbones were very prominently visible. But even in her current state she was an attractive mare. She wondered what Vinyl’s eye color was. It was a shame she hid her features behind those ugly sunglasses. Octavia yawned widely. The last of her adrenalin rush had trickled away and she felt too tired to muse about her guest any further. She left the room and flicked off the light switch. Then she remembered the lasagna she had prepared and trotted into the kitchen to put them in the refrigerator. Food could wait until morning, now she just wanted sleep. As a precautionary measure she left both the guest room and her bedroom’s door open in case Vinyl needed some assistance. Octavia flopped into her bed and soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep. ___________________________________________________________________ A groan woke Octavia up with a start. Years of living by herself made her jump at the slightest foreign sound. She rapidly blinked the sleep from her eyes and glanced over to the clock on her bedside table. It was 7:30 in the morning. It took a while for yesterday’s events to come flooding back into her mind. A pale blue light briefly flickered from beyond her open door. Octavia scrambled out of bed as fast as she could as she remembered what the EMT had told her. “Vinyl! Don’t use magic!” she yelled and ran towards the guest room. Vinyl was sitting in bed clutching her head in pain and groaning again. “What’s wrong?” Octavia asked and trotted up to the bed. “Glasses…” Vinyl mumbled and winced at the throbbing in her head. Octavia circled around the bed to Vinyl’s side and saw the sunglasses on the floor. She carefully picked them up and hoofed them to the unicorn. Vinyl kept her eyes shut and fumbled around with the glasses for a moment, before finally slipping them back on her face. “Th…thanks. What happened?” “You fell unconscious in my bathroom due to a slight case of hypothermia and malnutrition.” Octavia recited the diagnosis. “Did you study medicine or something?” Vinyl asked surprised at the rather detailed description of her predicament. “I called the EMTs when I found you on the floor. Even had to kick the door in to get to you.” Octavia spoke softly as to not aggravate the unicorn’s apparent headache. “What? Oh crap, sorry.” Vinyl scooted to the edge of the bed and attempted to get out. “I’m really really sorry for all the trouble. I’ll just get out of your mane.” “What? No, you can’t leave. You’re not well!” Octavia protested at Vinyl’s attempt to leave. Despite her protests Vinyl got out of bed and stood on wobbly legs. “Nah, I’m fine. I’ll take it slow and be back…in…” Vinyl’s front legs gave way as the room started spinning. Octavia caught her with a front leg. She was alarmed at how little the unicorn weighed. It was considerably less than her cello, maybe even somewhere around what a filly would weigh. Octavia held her for a moment and spoke her next words very clearly. “You. Are. Not. Well. It’s no trouble if you stay here for a while and recover.” Octavia shot a glance out the window and saw that during the night a lot of snow had fallen over the city. “I won’t let you go outside in your condition and that is final.” Vinyl also glanced over to the window. The prospect of trying to find warmth out there wasn’t very appealing. The way she felt at the moment, she highly doubted to even survive one day. “Yeah, ok. I’ll stay for a bit.” She finally said and tried to stand on her own legs again. They buckled the instant she put her laughable small weight on them. Octavia caught her again with ease and carefully helped her back into bed. “I’ll get you something to drink for your medicine.” Octavia left Vinyl alone for the moment. Vinyl felt bad and not only due to her physical condition. Now she was becoming a burden for the other mare, something she didn’t want to be. She was smart enough to realize that she needed help, badly. Octavia seemed to offer it freely, but Vinyl vowed to try and repay her somehow. For now all she could do was rest. The cellist soon returned with a glass of water that she set down on the bedside table. She carefully picked up a small bag of medicine that the EMTs had left and opened it. The powder dissolved rapidly as she emptied it into the glass. Since Vinyl had not enough strength left to even lift a glass, Octavia helped her with that as well. The unicorn scrunched up her nose at the bitter taste of the liquid and thanked the cellist turned nurse. “You’re welcome. Now just rest for the moment.” Octavia gave her a friendly smile. “It will help you sleep the doctor said. Listen I have to go out and take care of some things soon. If you wake up and I am not there, please do not try and use magic. I won’t be gone for long.” Vinyl simply nodded in understanding. Octavia nodded as well and trotted out the room, leaving Vinyl to her thoughts. She didn’t have a lot of time to contemplate her current predicament as the medicine took hold on her very fast. Soon she was fast asleep once more. Octavia prepared herself some tea in the kitchen. She thought about what she would have to do. The first item on her list was to buy groceries. She was running low anyway and for the time being she would also have to cater for Vinyl. Silently she vowed to get Vinyl to eat some decent meals for the time she was here, force-feed her if necessary. It occurred to her that Vinyl might not be the only one to require food. What if she had a pet that needed her? Octavia trotted back into the guest room to ask Vinyl where she lived and if there was anything she needed taken care of. Unfortunately the unicorn was already asleep. The sensible option would be to wait until Vinyl woke up and could answer her. On the other hoof that might mean that something could happen to a potential pet of hers. What if she forgot to turn on the heating in her place? Octavia guessed that one of the buildings next to the alleyway where she had found Vinyl was her home. So she would simply have to go there and ask if somepony could tell her what she needed to know. With a plan set, Octavia drank her tea and prepared to face the snow outside. _________________________________________________________________ Dressed up in her pink scarf, earmuffs, boots and saddlebags she exited her apartment block. The snow had been cleared from the path, as was to be expected if one lived in the more luxurious areas of Canterlot. The missing weight of her cello was noticeable. She barely left her home except for auditions or buying food. Usually she combined one with the other. She didn’t have any more auditions scheduled this year, but that wasn’t the main issue at hoof right now anyway. It took a moment of waiting until a taxi carriage showed up. Octavia thanked her luck as it just so happened to be the same stallion from yesterday pulling it. That at least meant she would not have to search the entire downtown area in hopes of identifying a dark alleyway. “Good Morning, Miss. Where can I take you?” “Do you remember where you waited for me downtown? I need to go back there again.” The stallion gave her a curious look, but didn’t say anything. Once she was onboard he set the carriage in motion. Octavia watched the snow covered city pass by once again. At this early hour not too many ponies were out and about. She saw a couple of foals play in the snow building a snowpony. As hard as she tried she couldn’t remember the last time she had done that. After a lengthy journey they arrived at the location from the night before. She recognized the alleyway immediately, in the light of day it was far less scary. Snow piled high in it and she shuddered at the thought that Vinyl could have been buried under all of it. “Should I wait for you again, Miss?” the driver asked. “No, that will not be necessary. Thank you.” Octavia paid her fare and exited the carriage. The buildings next to the alleyway had nothing worth noticing. They weren’t run down or dirty, just very plain. She decided to investigate the multistory building to the right first. A quick inspection of the names of the mailboxes left her none the wiser. Most names were scribbled unintelligibly and Octavia gave up trying to decipher the writing. Instead she ventured inside in hopes of finding somepony to talk to. The interior of the building was just as plain as the outside. She had heard stories of hoodlums running amok in the downtown areas of cities, vandalizing hordes destroying property out of spite and boredom. Being here she didn’t see anything of that nature. If anything it was just boring. The door leading to the manager’s office was open and Octavia made her way there. She politely knocked on the doorframe to gain the attention of the manager inside sitting at a desk. He glanced up from the newspaper he was reading and eyed her curiously. “Can I help you?” he was genuinely puzzled by her being there. It was very obvious that she wasn’t from here. “I was hoping you might be able to help me. You see I am looking for the home of somepony that I believe lives around these parts.” She smiled and trotted a bit further into his office. “Who are you looking for?” he asked and leaned back in his chair. “Her name is Vinyl Scratch and I…” Octavia’s request was cut off as the stallion began laughing. “Well that’s a name I didn’t reckon to hear anytime soon again.” “So you know her?” Octavia smiled at her good fortune. The very first pony she had talked to knew Vinyl. “Do you also know where she lives?” “Yeah, I know her. Where she lives? No idea. I kicked her out a couple of months ago.” He explained and shrugged his shoulders. Octavia was slightly taken aback by his casual attitude about evicting a pony from her home. “Why would you evict her?” her smile had vanished. “She couldn’t pay her rent. It’s a simple as that. I don’t have anything against her, far from it. She was one of the more pleasant tenants that I had living here. Never made a mess, didn’t have wild parties or loud music running. It’s just business.” Octavia tried to wrap her head around the things she had just learned about her guest at home. The stallion took her silence as a cue to ask a question of his own. “You here to pick up her stuff?” “Her..stuff?” “Yeah, you know. Personal belongings and whatnot. Or at least what’s left of them after I sold some of it to compensate for the rent she owed me.” “You sold her personal belongings?” Octavia felt outrage building up inside her. “Don’t get your tail in a twist. Just things like picture frames, headphones and stuff. All her pictures and documents I kept. If you hadn’t come along I most likely would have thrown them out in a couple of weeks.” He ignored the angry glare from the mare. “So do you want them? Guess she won’t come back to pick them up. Might as well give them to you.” “Very well. I shall take them to her.” Octavia swallowed some of her rage. It wouldn’t serve any purpose to chastise the stallion for basically just looking out of his business. “That’ll be one hundred bits.” He replied and smiled a greasy smile. “One hundred bits for her PERSONAL belongings? Are you mad?” the anger was back tenfold. “Now I am not charging you for her stuff. I am charging you for the safekeeping of them.” His smile never wavered. Octavia bit back a few choice words of her own. Antagonizing the stallion might mean she would not be able to acquire Vinyl’s things and possibly never have the chance to do so again. Vinyl was in no shape to collect them herself, so Octavia tried her best to relax and be calm. “Fine.” She growled as calmly as possible. She counted off the money he demanded and hoofed it over to him. He thanked her and opened a door behind him to disappear and leaving the mare alone with her anger. After a moment he returned with a medium sized box and dropped it on the table. Wordlessly Octavia heaved it onto her back all the while glaring at the stallion. “Tell Vinyl I said Hi.” He laughed as she walked out the door. Octavia didn’t bother to respond verbally, but decided to close his office door in earthpony style. One swift kick slammed the door shut with enough force for a crack to appear in the wood. She heard him rage inside and Octavia hightailed out of the building. The prospect of running away through the snow wasn’t to appealing to her. It seemed as if she wasn’t the only one to think so. The carriage she had taken was still standing there and the driver gave her a smirk. “Thought you might need a quick ride away.” Octavia thanked him as she climbed aboard. She caught glimpse of the furious manager storm out of the building looking for her. He didn’t see her and stomped back inside. She breathed a sigh of relief as the driver pulled her back to her apartment. Shopping for groceries would have to wait. There were more important things to think about now. __________________________________________________________________ Octavia trotted inside her home and carefully put the box down. She had stopped by the porter downstairs and asked him to arrange a delivery for the groceries she needed. Normally she preferred to do the shopping herself, but in light of the newest developments she rather wanted to stay at home. After kicking off her boots and removing her saddlebags, scarf and earmuffs, she quickly trotted to the guest room to check on Vinyl. The unicorn was still sleeping soundly. Octavia wasn’t much for snooping through other pony’s property. But she didn’t have much of a choice in this case. Vinyl had lied to her and she wasn’t too keen on harboring a possible criminal. It seemed unlikely, but she was rather safe than sorry. She emptied the contents of the box onto the coffee table, after unceremoniously sweeping the empty juice boxes off with a hoof. Then she began sorting through the items in hopes of learning more about the mare called Vinyl Scratch. A couple of records of artists she had never heard of, a few unmarked tapes, a number of pictures and a small stack of documents was all she found. Octavia put the records and tapes to the side and studied the pictures. Most of them showed Vinyl and a stallion, judging by his white coat and light blue mane, Octavia assumed they were related. Most likely it was her father. She didn’t find any picture with a possible mother and guessed she was the one taking the pictures. She sighed at the sight of Vinyl in better days. The unicorn was always smiling in every picture, she had a good figure and seemed full of energy. A far cry from the skin and bones she was now. In every picture she was wearing her sunglasses save for one. It was a black and white picture of Vinyl as a young filly. She was smiling into the camera while holding a huge stick full of cotton candy in her hooves. Octavia couldn’t help but smile at the picture. She paid close attention to the backgrounds in the pictures, but couldn’t place them anywhere she knew. It had been obvious from the start that Vinyl was from out of town and these pictures solidified her initial thoughts. Octavia put the pictures aside and flipped through the documents. The very first thing she found was the award certificate for first place. Other things she found were Vinyl’s documents from her time in university. Octavia raised her eyebrows in surprise as she saw what Vinyl had been studying. Alternative Music and Culinary Arts, both with very good grades. Octavia had a hard time imagining Vinyl Scratch as a cook or chef. The mare just got more and more mysterious with each new fact she learned about her. A few documents about opening a bank account in Canterlot, her contract for her apartment, a couple of receipts and a small notebook filled with few names and addresses was all that was left. It really wasn’t very much to Octavia’s dismay. She flipped through the notebook to see if she knew any of the names. The dozen names didn’t ring any bells and the addresses were from all over Equestria. Octavia was none the wiser about finding out where Vinyl was from. As a last resort she looked through the receipts she had found. One was for a sound system, one for a pair of head phones, a few more from a pizza delivery service and one that caught Octavia’s attention from Stallivari’s. She nearly choked as she saw what they had charged for the repair of her cello. Had she paid for it she wouldn’t have batted an eyelash at the exorbitant sum. But Vinyl had paid for it and from what she had seen thus far, the unicorn had not been in a position to pay that amount. It dawned on Octavia that she must have used her prize money to pay for the repair. It was a noble gesture, but Octavia would have refused to accept it if she had known where Vinyl would eventually end up. In the guest room. Octavia snorted with dry humor at her thought. It suddenly seemed like a long time ago that she had been drinking hot chocolate with Vinyl, yet it had been less than twenty-four hours ago. She sighed and silently thanked Celestia that she had left her audition early. If not she would have never seen Vinyl and for all she knew the mare might have frozen to death in a dark alleyway buried under the snow. A wave of sadness washed over her as she glanced back to the pictures and saw the little filly Vinyl smile back at her. Octavia felt her eyes water at the thought that the mare might have passed away without anypony ever knowing about it until the snow melted. Now she was in a position to do something about Vinyl’s problem. It seemed as if she would have a house guest a while longer than planned. She only hoped that Vinyl would accept her offer.