Chapter 9: A Part of You
Parts that fall, parts that rise, parts that sing your name while you die...
The truck forwarded itself through a large, stone like, city. The many towers gleamed in the dim sunlight, of the foggy day, and loud noises of other vehicles could be heard throughout the city. Many other 'humans' were running around and talking to each other outside buildings labelled 'Bank of Metropolis' or 'City Centre Extraordinare', and so on.
"God dang dis traffic. Always ruinin' mai plans.", Clarence was annoyed by the fact that there was a long line of vehicles that he was stuck in.
"I don't understand. Why don't they just keep.. Moving?", Vinyl asked.
"Because, sum idiot up-head way is stuck at a light 'nd stickin' his thumb up his rear.", Clarence turned the truck off to the right and started to drive down a street that was clean of vehicles. Only smaller humans were playing on the stony streets with an assortment of things: Balls, toys, each other, et cetera.
"Oh... Uhm...", Vinyl was a little worried what he meant by that, but, didn't press further to ask.
"Wu're almost dere. His place is 'round here.", Clarence smiled softly, taking a left turn, down the empty road, to another empty road. This street was different as there was large Victorian-like buildings. Seemed a little high class for this part of the city.
"He live 'round here. Lemme call him up.", Clarence pulled over to the curb, leaving the truck still going, and pulled out a small, black, device.
There was an assortment of buttons on it, numbers 1 to 9 and 0 with letters underneath them. The screen was brightly lit of a picture of Clarence and the shape was a rectangular one.
Clarence pressed a series of numbers and then put the device to his ear. Vinyl could hear a 'bwooooo' noise from it. She couldn't tell if the device was filled with magic or if it was just a human invention. Either way, it was strange for her to see something like that.
"Hey.", Clarence said, talking into the device.
"Yeah, Ah'm guud. Listen, Ah need a favour.", Clarence continued.
Vinyl stared at him for the meantime, thinking that it was a little crazy to talk into something. But, she could faintly make out the voice of somepo--... Someone else.
"A favour? Like what?", The voice spoke.
"Well, Ah'm takin' care of a friend, but, she needs a new place to crash at.", Clarence said.
"Who is she? I know all your friends, Clarence.", The voice seemed agitated now.
"She's new. Just, please, let me drop her off at yu'r place?", Clarence tried to press forward to get the voice to give in.
"Uhg. Fine. I guess I owe you one for that hunting trip, anyways.", The voice groaned and appeased Clarence.
"Guud. Ah need you to try an' not hurt her, either. She's been through a lot. Ya'know?", Clarence stated softly.
"I understand. Drop her off at house 521.", The voice said goodbye, after that comment, and Clarence pressed a 'End Call' button on the device.
"All right, let's get crackin'.", Clarence stopped the vehicle and got out of the truck.
He went to the other side, opened the door, and undid Vinyl's seatbelt. Afterwards, he put Vinyl in his arms and started carrying her.
"I... Can walk you know...", Vinyl said, a bit worried.
"I'm just being kind, Vinyl.", Clarence closed the door with his foot and turned around, meeting the house labelled '521'.
"Huh... Dat wus all luck, den.", Clarence set Vinyl down and pointed to the house.
"Here 't is. Mai friend's place. C'mon.", Clarence walked up the stony steps and knocked on the door.
The Victorian house echoed with a knocking sound inside, and then footsteps were heard running to the door. It opened to be greeted by the face of a black comb over'd hair, white face, bright blue eyed and tall human.
"Hey, Clarence.", The human said softly.
"Hey Jack.", Clarence shook 'Jack's' hand and Jack smiled softly.
"So, where's your friend? You said you were bringing her here.", Jack let go of Clarence's hand, and looked around.
"She's right here.", Clarence pointed to the small, white, unicorn with a double-blue mane and red eyes.
Jack shook his head, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Now, Ah know wut ya'll are thinkin'. She's a unicorn 'nd wut not. Ah couldn't believe 't at first when Ah saw her, either.", Clarence started to explain everything to Jack. Jack was only at a loss for words when he heard what Vinyl had told Clarence.
"So... You really thought a human would rape you, Vinyl?", Jack said, looking down at the scared unicorn.
Vinyl only softly nodded, afraid of the two at this moment.
"Well, Clarence, I guess I'm taking care of her, for now.", Jack said.
"Thanks, Jack. Ya'll are th' best.", Clarence turned to Vinyl.
"Goodbye, Vinyl. Wus nice havin' ya'll 'round th' farm.", Clarence softly smiled and went down on eye level with her.
Vinyl wrapped her forelimbs around him, giving him a hug. Clarence returned it, stood up, and walked to his truck. A minute or two later, Clarence drove off, waving to the pair.
Vinyl looked at Jack, with a worried expression on her face.
"Well, c'mon in, Vinyl.", Jack turned and walked into the house. Vinyl followed and entered.
She was greeted by mahogany planked floors, Victorian bordered doorways, white walls with pictures of many humans on them, and a staircase to her left. Also, to her left, was one of the doorways, which looked like it lead into a living space, seeing that there were couches in it.
"Well, make yourself comfortable. I don't know what Clarence told you, bu--"
"I... I won't cause you any trouble... Just, please.. Don't hurt me...", Vinyl interrupted Jack quickly and softly, cringing her eyes as if she was ready to get hit.
Jack furrowed his brows and then sighed, going to her level. Vinyl gasp and backed up a bit as she closed the door on accident.
"Look, Vinyl, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not a crazy person. Even if you are an animal, you're still a 'person', in a sense. The fact that you talk is baffling me. But, Clarence is mind-set on you staying here for a while. I'm going to make sure you're safe, okay?", Jack smiled softly, his lips stretching to the left side of his face.
"O-okay...", Vinyl warmly sighed.
"What's wrong?", Jack asked gently.
"Nothing...", Vinyl turned away, her eyes closed and head aimed down.
"C'mon, tell me.", Jack gently nudged Vinyl, as a joke.
"I... It's nothing.. Really..", Vinyl said softly.
"Well, it's something. I know you don't trust me, but please, I can try and make you feel better. I promise.", Jack smiled softly. Although she couldn't see it, she knew he was smiling.
"It's just that... You... Remind me of my dad...", Vinyl sighed.
"Well, that doesn't seem like a bad thing. I mean, your dad must've been a great... Er... Stallion is the term?", Jack asked and tried to compliment her father.
"Yeah... That's the term... Bu--"
"I bet he did all sorts of cool things... Like uhm... Uhhh... Errm.. Okay, I got nothing.", Jack laughed softly.
Vinyl looked up at him, not wanting to tell him this. Clarence never mentioned it to him, yet.
"He raped me...", Vinyl said softly.
"He... What..?", Jack asked.
"He raped me...", Vinyl repeated.
"I... I-I-I'm so sorry! I didn't... I... Oh God, Jack, you're an idiot!", Jack smacked his forehead, blaming his brain.
"No... It's okay... I had to tell somepo-... Someone about it... I told Clarence, and now I'm telling you... Back where I live, nopony knows about it... Not even my best friends...", Vinyl laid herself onto the floor, and then rested her head between her forehooves.
"I'm... I'm really sorry. I thought he ... Oh, God...", Jack felt sick to his stomach. Although she was a pony, the thought of rape is the worst thing he could think of. He tries to avoid the word, and he knows his hatred for it is beyond anything.
"Jack...", Vinyl looked up at Jack, her red eyes glistening with tears.
"Are... You crying?", Jack looked down at the unicorn, a bit worried.
Tears started to roll down Vinyl's face and then Jack, feeling the need to, picked her up and wrapped his thick arms around Vinyl. Vinyl, although scared, felt a lot better that he did this. She needed this. After so long with nopony, or human, by her side to tell what her father did, she felt everything was now at peace... But she doesn't know what the future holds.
"It's okay, Vinyl. I promise...", Jack softly whispered in Vinyl's ear. Her mane was brushing against his neck, making Jack shiver.
That's tickling too much..., Jack thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, Jack... I don't want to be like this. But... I just don't know who I can trust in this place. I wanted to get away from the life I had for a bit. I'm here for a month. It's only been five, six, days now...", Vinyl sighed softly.
"Listen, Vinyl, whatever you need, just ask. Just because you're a pony... Unicorn... Errr... Doesn't mean I won't help you. Humans are nice people... Most of them, anyways. Hey, I have an idea...", Jack gently set Vinyl back on her hooves and stood up.
"Come with me. I know something we could do to get your mind off of things.", Jack turned and stamped up the stairs, in a bit of a rush. Vinyl followed, distantly, behind him.
As they proceeded up the fourteen steps, there were three rooms. One to the left was a small, white, bedroom. Only a bed and a large black box. The room in front of the top step was a bathroom. Shower, toilet, sink, mirror and a window. And one on the right was a small office.
Jack and Vinyl proceeded inside the office to see that it was a bit bigger on the inside. Vinyl looked around at the Victorian carved bookshelves and glared over the many books that scattered across them.
Reminds me of Twilight..., Vinyl thought.
"This is where I keep all my books. I think we can share things with each other of our... 'Species'. I know, it sounds lame, but, I'm really interested in this.", Jack pulled down a book labelled 'World War II: Rise and Fall of Hitler'.
"What's that?", Vinyl asked.
Jack sat down on the hardwood floor and opened it up.
"This is a book on one of the biggest events in human history.", Jack started, with excitement.
Vinyl sat on her rump, to listen to what he had to say.
"Hitler, this man right here...", Jack pointed to a picture in the book of a man with a small, square, moustache above his upper lip, combed over black hair and a bull-dog like complexion. He was pointing at a map with two men next to him. One bald, with some hair on the sides of his head, the other with blond hair, just leaning over the middle man's shoulder.
"This man started World War Two. A massive war between the Allies: Britain and France, at the start of the war, and the Axis: Germany, Italy and Japan. There were more of the Axis, but, those were the major ones.", Jack softly laughed to himself as he flipped over the page.
"What's a ... 'War'?", Vinyl asked softly.
Jack stared at her for a moment, figuring out how to answer that.
"Do you not have them where you come from?", Jack decided to answer with a question.
"No... Is it... Like a big argument...?", Vinyl questioned.
"Sort of. Just... A lot of people die in it. Many may be innocent. Others may just be merciless.", Jack explained.
"That's awful!", Vinyl's eyes went wide as she heard this.
"Yeah. We still have wars, but, not as big as this. We're on the verge of it, though. Anyways, Hitler...", Jack continued on the subject of World War II. He explained how Hitler deceived the Allies and forced himself into power. He caused the Holocaust and the killings of over five million Jewish people...
"Jewish...?", Vinyl asked, with a brow.
"It's a religion. They believe in a higher power. Gives some people hope. I don't know what their beliefs are, exactly, but, I respect it.", Jack tried to explain.
"Oh... Well.. Is there a reason you're telling me all this?", Vinyl finally pushed that question out of her. It was nagging her for the time he was talking.
"Well, I want you to understand the bad of humans. There were many Dictators and Fascists in our history. Fidel Castro, Hitler, Sudam Husane, et cetera. Many of them killed the opposing people, but, Hitler, I would say, was the worst.", Jack softly smiled. He seemed to enjoy history.
"But, I don't like hearing this... Your... 'Species' sounds awful!", Vinyl softly grunted.
"Well, I wanted to get to that. See, this is the bad part of our society. Let me show you the good part.", Jack stood up and placed the book on the bookshelf.
He shuffled around for a minute, looking through various titles of books and eventually found a large, black, book. It had a picture of a dark woman with brown hair and bright red lips. She was smiling and her face was complimented by a blue background behind her. The title was: 'Oprah's Grace'.
"Oprah?", Vinyl inquired.
"Yup. I know, it's a woman's book, but, it has a lot of history for the world. Mainly because she helped the African Famine along with Bob Galdof. A punk-rock artist, a genre of music, who started the Live Aid concert which raised One-hundred and fifty million euros. That's a lot, in our kind of money.", Jack smiled softly, opening the book.
He started to read it to Vinyl, explaining many events that Oprah had done for the African people. He explained that Africa was a very poor country with major political and medical problems. He also explained the many viruses and diseases that spread to the African people, but, with Oprah and many of her followers helping them, it's seemed to have gotten far better for them.
"Wow... That's... Amazing. She did all that within ten years?", Vinyl was stunned when she heard all Oprah did for the African people.
"Eeyup. She was, and still is, an amazing part of our history. She may be a billionaire, but, she donates a lot of her money to help the African people so that Dictators like Hitler won't destroy them all, and try and take down half the world.", Jack gently nudged Vinyl.
Vinyl smiled softly and looked up at him.
"Thanks for this, Jack.", Vinyl said softly.
"For what?", Jack asked.
"For making me feel better. It's really getting my mind off of things. Maybe I should tell you about where I come from, soon.", Vinyl smiled.
"Why not now?", Jack asked.
Vinyl laughed softly, and began her part of the story...
Author's Note: I know it seems like a History lesson, but, don't let this chapter dissatisfy you. I promise, the next will be juicy. Don't lose interest!