//------------------------------// // chapter three : what's up doc? // Story: The Life of Vinyl Scratch // by DJ nightmare night //------------------------------// chapter three : what's up dock? The reception at the Ponyville hospital had that dreaded smell of anesthetic that every pony fears. Vinyl perched on an excessively padded chair that was aged beyond recognition; bouncing up and down with great gusto on the squeaky springs that were hidden deep within. Cheerilee however sat rigid as a plank. Looking at the faces of the other ponies waiting did not re-assure Cheerilee much either, it had the opposite effect in fact; It only made her thoughts dwell on the worst case scenario. even that was growing worse by the second, plummeting deeper and deeper into a well of negativity till she finally hit the bottom of the chasm of hopelessness where thoughts where just downright macabre. A crisp voice with a re-assuring smile snapped her out of it, providing a rope for her thoughts to climb back out of the well and once again frolic in the bright fields of luscious green grass on the surface and bask in the warm tender glow of Celestia’s sun. “The doctor is ready to see your Vinyl now Miss Cheerilee” Cheerilee rose from her seat and prompted Vinyl to follow suit, she leaped off the tattered armchair to land neatly on all fours. As they walked Cheerilee instructed “now Vinyl remember to be on your best behavior for the doctor now, i don't want any mischief. He is here to help you”. Vinyl turned his head to face Cheerilee and simply said “yes momma” and resumed trotting along close to his mother’s hind legs. So close in fact that she nearly tripped over him more than once. Looking around as she trotted Vinyl decided she did not like it in the hospital. Sure they had awesome chairs which are great for bouncing on but nopony ever smiles and more importantly it was soooooooo quiet. - - - - - “Hhmmmm. Hmmm. yes it’s as I thought, now miss Cheerilee as we managed to establish with our appointment last week the damage to young Vinyl’s eyes seem to be from some sort of tear in the tissue of the eye which has resulted in the warped appearance you can see in the scar tissue. From what I have observed I can give you some good news though.” Cheerilee’s heart leapt up almost as fast as her spirits at this little nugget of hope. “This kind of damage will not make her completely blind; she will be able to see light and dark patches. Rather like if you were to close your eyes and look towards the sun, you would still notice if you put your hoof in the way of the sun” “Oh that’s, that’s just, I’m just. Thank you, doctor. Thank you so much, I was panicking so much that you would say it was infected, or septic, or or or something just as bad” Turning now to they light of her life, tears etching rivers down contours of her cheeks “oh my brave little soldier, Vinyl you hear that you’re going to be ok” “Ahem, Miss Cheerilee, that said I am afraid we cannot do anything to recover poor Vinyl’s sight to normal. It just isn’t possible, the warped scar tissue, it’s just too extensive. I'm sorry ” Silence borne of pure manifested pain engulfed the room. The hollow silence originated from the young purple mare; swallowing all emotions, leaving her hollow as the muteness that had become her. Once the silence had taken over Cheerilee it began seeping through the room, flooding all thoughts of joy and hope far off beyond the horizon. Her face a blank mask, hiding only a yet more blank mind. Her brain was bleached by the sudden, terrible news. She was powerless, she could do nothing to stop this, to save her filly. The doctor’s eyes looked truly sorrowful as if he was the one who had caused this terrible affliction to happen. His job had required him to deliver bad news such as this to so many ponies before this, and over such a long time. With each one of them a piece of his heart had withered and died. Each one was etched into his mind so deep that every night they would come to haunt his dreams. ‘I’m the doctor for this town, it is my job to make sure nopony gets hurt, yet ponies like this one here have such terrible injuries and even I cannot do anything to help them. Sometimes I wonder if I even make a difference.’ He so badly wanted to say this out loud, but he knew it would be both indelicate and unprofessional of him to confide in a patient in such a manner at a time like this. The silence had propagated and was now flourishing exponentially, with nopony willing to brake it the tension in the air so strong that it could have snapped at any point. Just the three ponies, standing, waiting. With every passing second the wall of muteness between each of the three ponies grew taller, thicker, and increasingly difficult to brake through. Wow what’s all the quiet for? Come on everypony it’s worse than that waiting room in here. Ahhh seriously what’s going on, I don’t think I can take this much longer. WHAT IS WRONG? WHERE’S THE PROBLEM? “Momma why is he talking like I’m broken, like I need fixing. What’s wrong, what have I done, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine” “Vinyl darling” Cheerilee had to take several deep breaths to collect herself before continuing. “Vinyl darling, there is something I need to talk to you about. You know how you see things, when you open your eyes?” “well, yea. Of course I do” “the thing is most ponies don’t see like that at all, most ponies have really good eyesight and we can see all kinds of details, it helps a lot with day-to-day life because we can see exactly what we are doing” “I have been so worried that if we can’t fix your eyesight that you won’t ever be able to see like most ponies, I worry that this will make your life incredibly difficult, especially when you grow up and have to get a job. Your eyes are damaged, that’s why we are here at the doctors” “now you’re doin’ it too! Stop talking about me as if I need fixing. I’m not broken. I’m perfectly happy just the way I am.” Cheerilee let out a sigh of resignation, she knew taking this further would achieve nothing and she knew that Vinyl must be feeling like a freak right now. She was desperate for some comfort, even though this was well concealed beneath the righteous defensive rage she was showing. “come here my Vinyl, I love you; you know that right? I just want to give you everything I can. To give you the best chance in life that I can” “I just want to be the best mother I can be, for you” “Momma. You are” - - - - - “Oh my gosh look at this one, oh no check this one out” “Ah wait this one is way to epic even for words” “Oh momma seriously check this one out; dark blue leather AND cyan trim I’m tellin’ you this thing was made for me. Look how much room it has, and wait for it; seven side pockets. seven! not two, not five, seven!!! Think of all the awesome stuff I can put in them” Vinyl bounced up and down on the spot in the middle of the shop, holding between her beaming grin a pair of blue saddlebags held together by two thick leather back-straps. Cheerilee had taken her out to buy her first school saddlebags ready for starting school in the next week, she had promised Vinyl she could have any pair she wanted. “woe there little one, calm down now. Don’t you think you should try them on first; make sure they are comfortable first. You’re going to be using them a for a very long time so we should make sure there the right ones” “Sweeeeeeeeeet! where’s the changing rooms” “Just follow me Vinyl, there over here behind the fancy frou frou dresses” Vinyl bolted to the back of the shop, ignoring complaints from browsing shoppers. Within seconds she was behind the grey silken curtains of a changing booth. She tossed the saddlebags over her shoulders where they crumpled in a heap on her back. “hmmm this getting dressed lark is harder than it looks” Picking up the saddlebags buy one of the individual satchels she slid the whole garment over and round her waist till the back-straps where central, she could figure out the proper way to do it later, right now was a time to show off her epic new saddlebags. She swished the curtains open for dramatic affect then slowly and deliberately strutted down the hallway of changing booths, admiring her own reflection in the wall of mirrors to her right. Lookin’ good Vinyl, lookin’ good Before she reached the end of the hallway and had the chance to show off the saddlebags to her momma a pair of curtains to a booth ahead of her where delicately pulled open and a grey filly regally stepped out, an air of majesty surrounding her. Vinyl smiled at the grey filly and complimented how the socks she was trying on looked good on her as she approached closer. Vinyl liked talking with new ponies, she was nice like that. The grey filly smiled back and thanked her. She took a deliberate look at the saddlebags Vinyl was wearing and said “I must say I do admire how wonderfully those saddlebags suit you, they appear as though they were simply made for you. Oh but they seem to not have a girth to them, one simply cannot fathom how such a garment could possibly stay in position without a girth.” “oh that belly strap thing? I couldn’t figure out how to buckle the thing up so I just left it in the changing booth” Stifling a chuckle at the white filly’s rugged humor with a delicate hoof raised practicedly to her muzzle. The grey filly beckoned her new friend back further down the hall where Vinyl had just come from. “Come come, I shall show you how one attaches a girth strap. Trust me it is quite simple once somepony shows you how it is done. Now which booth where you using?” “Uh thanks, it’s the second from the end” Vinyl answered as she followed happily after the grey filly she had just met. “The name’s Vinyl by the way, what’s yours?” “My name is Octavia, and I must say it has been a pleasure bumping into you. You see we have just moved house here to this quaint little town from Canterlot” Octavia explained as she turned round into the second to last booth and picked the girth belt up from where it had been cast to the floor in heated impatience. With her head bowed close to the floor, the girth dangling limply in her mouth, her eyes briefly flicked upwards and accidentally made contact with Vinyl’s vibrant red irises. Blushing with what she thought was embarrassment; she was not sure. Octavia dropped her field of vision and brushed a front hoof back on the marble floor, holding it raised a little. “So how d’ya get this thing on? I tried but that buckle thingy is harder that it looks” “Ahem, if you would allow me. One simply takes the strap here” Octavia indicated to the thick blue leather straps dangling from underneath the two satchels. “And threads them through the pair of brass D-ring loops here, at each end of the girth” “He he he hee ahhh stop it, your tickling me. Aaahahaha” resisting the urge to drop and roll after some time Vinyl managed to recover from her fit of giggles with wheezing breaths. She paused to let the laughter pains in her intercostal muscles fade, not to mention the sensation that her diaphragm had been stretched across half of Ponyville. Eventually she managed to find words. “hooooo those socks of yours sure are fluffy, awwww man I haven’t laughed so hard in weeks!” Stifling delicate chuckles of her own Octavia managed to gather herself “ahem, yes my old fluffy socks have become somewhat worn out, and it is to celebrate a special occasion after all”. “nice, what’s the occasion” “I have been enrolled into Ponyville private academy, so I thought it permitable to treat myself with a guilty pleasure”. “sweet, you must be super intelegent to get into that place” Blood running to her cheeks, dying them a deeper shade of crimson Octavia accepted Vinyl’s praise in the most graceful fashion she could muster at such short notice. Usually she know if she had done something worthy of praise and could therefor rehearse a suitably polite way to accept compliments, somehow now it was different. “well I study very hard every day” “wow that strap thingy’s awesome, I can’t wait to show momma” “hey, you should come say hi too, she’s just round the corner” “I would love to Vinyl however I doubt my current attire is appropriate for a first introduction with your parents” “perhaps another time, under more permitable circumstances?” “wow, you really are posh. Well whatever you say Octavia.” “I’m sure I’ll see ya around what with you living here in town” “yes, quite, I look forward to it”