Hooves pounded on my door. Not a polite knock, but incessant, urgent hammering.
Groaning, I lifted myself off of my favorite chair and made my way there. I leaned down to use the pony-level peephole.
A young earth pony mare stood outside, hopping from hoof to hoof, unable to stand still. Her red mane swooshed back and forth as she fidgeted. It was Bella Rave, of course.
Shaking my head, I pulled the door open. Bella rushed in without a word. I nudged the door shut and turned to her. “What's wrong? What happened? Why is your mane red now?”
She bit her lip, glancing all around the room as she stomped a hoof. Eventually, she just whipped her head back toward me and pointed at nothing, her mouth gaping open.
“That bad, huh?” I did my best to smile. “Well, come on, talk to me about it. Have a seat.”
We sat down together on my big faux-leather couch, and she took the cushion farthest from my own.
“Well?”
Her silence stretched on, despite the strain I could see in her face. Finally, she let out an explosive sigh. “It's not fair!”
I raised an eyebrow. “What's not?”
“Everything!” She threw her hooves up in the air and growled.
I shook my head. “Look, Bella, you've got to tell me what's wrong sometime.”
“Oh, what's wrong? What's wrong? Everything's wrong, that's what!” She pounded a hoof into the soft cushions, pushing it deep into them. “You know I hate my mom! And... and... ugh!”
“What's your mom have to do with this? Lemon Hearts was pretty nice.”
She shook her head, her short mane flopping. “No, not her. My real mom.”
“What about her?”
“I found her.” She slumped down.
I leaned in. “Really? What's she like?”
Her face twisted into a scowl, and her eyes narrowed. “She's Vinyl Scratch.”
For a moment, I was well and truly dumbfounded. “Vinyl? Really? ... Well, you love Vinyl, so that's good, right?”
“NO!” The violence of her shout sent me reeling. “I hate her! She left me! She left me with nothing.” She slammed her hoof into the sofa again. “She doesn't care about me at all, so I don't care about her!”
“But... you used to love her, right?”
Bella glared at me.
“Okay, so, not anymore. That sucks. So, what did you come here for? Why come to me?”
She crashed down into the cushions, mumbling into them as she covered her head with her hooves.
“What was that? I didn't quite catch it.”
Peeking up at me from her prone position in the cushions, a tiny little remnant of her voice squeaked out, “You know medical stuff from back in your world, right?”
“Medical stuff?” My eyebrow rose again. “What, are you sick?”
“No.”
“Um... your mom is?”
She growled again. “Ugh! No! It's not like that at all!” In a tiny whisper, she continued, “Do you... do you know how to get rid of a baby?”
“Get rid of a what?”
“I... I...” She glanced away. “I'm pregnant.”
“Oh.” I blinked. Twice. “Oh.”
“So... so you know how to get rid of it?”
I sighed. “Bella, that's... that's not something you want to do lightly. Who's the father?”
“It's just some colt. It's not important.” She shook her head. “Lickety something I think. Doesn't matter.”
I looked at her, staring down. “It does matter.” I looked up for a moment, hearing dogs bark in the distance, but it didn't seem to concern me. “And... I don't really know much about that, how to get rid of babies. I know people could do that pretty easily where I came from, but I don't know how. Why don't you just ask at the hospital?”
She rolled her eyes. “I really need to tell you? I don't want word getting out, okay?”
“You really think it's going to stay a secret?”
“She can't find out!”
“Who, Vinyl?” I cocked my head to the side. “Why not?”
“Ugh!” Her face fell to the cushions again, but sideways, so she could still speak. “I did this whole thing to get back at her. To show her what a lousy mom she is. I can't let her know it backfired!”
“Bella--” I put my hand on her shoulder “--you have to face up to it. You have to be brave. Can you do that for me?”
She looked up at me, then glanced away.
“Bella?”
“Okay.”