Chapter 5
As Vinyl ran out the schoolhouse she noticed that the sun was going down pretty fast.
“Aw man, I'll never make it before nightfall.” As Vinyl was hurrying on she saw a skateboard lying next to some trash and it looked usable. So she did what anypony would do in a pickle. She went out of her way, grabbed it and skated like never before, even though she had never skated in her life. It seemed to be pretty easy to use, so she started to go faster and faster. Until eventually she was going as fast as the skateboard could go.
“Whoa! You know I could use this to get to places faster than before.” Vinyl said to herself as she drew closer and closer to the hospital. Vinyl finally had the hang of her new four wheeled mode of transport.
“Sweet!” she exclaimed, “I can see the hospital. I'm going to make it, I'm going to make it!” With the hospital getting closer by every second she realized something very important.
“How do I stop this thing?” Vinyl screamed out. If she didn't find a way to stop soon, she would slam face first into the hospital doors. As the doors approached at an alarming rate, she knew that she wasn’t going to stop in time.
“Oh man, here it comes!” She yelled out and braced herself for impact.
Just before she hit the doors everything entered slow motion, adrenaline was pumping through her veins. Vinyl didn't realize it, but her skateboard had hit a small rock which made the board stop. As she flew through the, air by pure luck somepony had opened the doors to leave and they were still open. Vinyl could not see what was going on because she had closed her eyes in anticipation of the tragic end to her first venture on a skateboard. She flew right though the doors, landed, and somehow managed to slide into the elevator that was also open. With a bruising thud she hit the wall of the elevator.
“Ow.” Wincing, Vinyl opened her eyes to notice that she was upside down in the elevator.
“Ow indeed, Ms. Scratch” Dr. Hooves said while he hoisted himself up. Vinyl hadn't realized it but she had also collided with Dr. Hooves who had been in the elevator.
“I've heard of being late and running to catch an elevator, but this is simply ridiculous! How you managed to fly though an open door and slide with such great speed to get on this elevator is beyond me.” Dr. Hooves explained to Vinyl.
“Wait a minute, so you’re telling me that I flew though the front door, landed and slid into the elevator?” Vinyl asked with great confusion in her voice.
“That is correct, we simply must stop meeting like this in the elevator, maybe try Sugarcube Corner?” Dr. Hooves jested, poking fun at her for her little stunt.
“Oh very funny, Doc.” Vinyl said reacting to the doctor’s comment. Dr. Hooves laughed and pressed the button on the elevator.
“Oh Ms. Scratch, you’re just so entertaining to poke fun at, your struggle to come see Octavia is priceless even though I'm always a victim of it.” Dr. Hooves said, still laughing at what he had said.
“Well, sorry if I'm so concerned about my best friend.” Vinyl snapped, irritated. Dr. Hooves didn't realize that he had insulted the little filly. He felt guilty, so he looked her in the eyes and told her,
“What you do for Octavia is wonderful, I don't think that she could have asked for a better friend than you.” Vinyl looked up at the doctor and as the door opened she gave him a smile and went on her way.
“Ah, that Vinyl is really something, a true friend that Octavia is lucky to have. I hope that they stay friends till the end of time.” Dr. Hooves said under his breath as Vinyl took off as fast as her hooves could carry her. She was still hurrying to go see Octavia, nothing could deter her from that goal. Once again she was trying not to hit any of the doctors or patients. As she got closer Octavia could hear her hooves hitting the floor.
“Here she comes, right on time.” Octavia noted as she watched the door.
“Ah!” Vinyl ran right into a nurse as she slid in front of Octavia's doorway. Vinyl stood there and yelled out to the nurse,
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Vinyl apologized to the nurse. Octavia started to burst out laughing. As Vinyl looked over at her and started walking to the bed she gave her a death stare worthy to silence grown stallions.
“What are you laughing at?” asked Vinyl as she walked over and threw a pillow that was resting on one of the chairs at Octavia's face. Octavia pulled the pillow off her face and kept laughing.
“You, that’s what I'm laughing at,” Octavia poked fun at her for running into the nurse. As they both started to laugh, Vinyl took out Octavia's work that she missed Octavia looked surprised.
“I'm surprised, honestly, did you really manage to get Mr. Book Burn to give you all the worked I missed?” Octavia asked Vinyl with a big smile. Vinyl looked very confused at how she knew that.
“How did you know I had to convince him?” Vinyl asked Octavia looking at her weirdly.
“It was about a year ago and the bullies that put me in the hospital were the same ones that tried to get one of the fillies in trouble.” Octavia told Vinyl, remembering the day like it was yesterday.
“It seemed that the two little trouble makers wanted to make fun of the new student, they did so by giving him a face full of honey.” Octavia kept her story going, Vinyl looked at her oddly.
“It’s only a face full of honey, I've had worse than that.” Vinyl told Octavia while trying not to sound proud of it.
“Well that's not the worse part, where did you think they got the honey?” Octavia asked as she raised her eyebrow. Vinyl paused and got what she was saying.
“From a beehive?” Vinyl asked, hoping she would get it right.
“Yeah, it was lunch and I have no idea how but somehow they threw the beehive and it broke over him letting all the bees out and they stung him like there was no tomorrow.” Octavia said to Vinyl trying to keep from vomiting due to the memory of the state that his face and part of his body were in.
“He was badly hurt, poor guy.” Octavia continued on with what she was telling Vinyl. Vinyl could not help but to ask,
“What happened to him?” Vinyl asked Octavia hoping that she would know.
“To tell you the truth he had a very, very bad allergic reaction that could have killed him.” Octavia said to Vinyl who was now looking down in anger.
“They need to be taught a lesson, it's ponies like them that make our world worse!” Vinyl banged her hoof on the wall next to her.
“Vinyl, calm down, please. You don't want to hurt yourself over something that happened a long time ago, that's just crazy.” Octavia pleaded. As Vinyl pulled her hoof away from the wall that she hit, Vinyl looked back at Octavia, hugged her, and began to cry.
“Oh Octavia, I'm so glad that they didn't kill you or make you very ill!” Vinyl sobbed and just held her best friend tight.
“Vinyl...you’re...can't breathe...” Octavia choked out.
“Oh sorry don't know my own strength.” Vinyl apologized and blushed giving Octavia a big smile. As Octavia coughed and choked, Vinyl gave her a pat on the back.
As the sun went down Vinyl helped Octavia with all her homework and Octavia helped Vinyl with hers too. Vinyl stayed with Octavia until the next morning. But that morning she felt something was amiss. Vinyl didn't have school nor did she forget something but she just felt like something was missing. As Vinyl slowly opened her eyes she didn't find Octavia lying in her bed as usual.
Vinyl raised her head from Octavia's bedside table, the window blinds were closed and Octavia's room was dark. It sent shivers down her spine, like death had touched this room and this room alone. Vinyl knew that something wasn’t right, so she walked out of Octavia's room and looked about in order to find her.
Vinyl covered the whole hospital and her mind was racing. The only thing that was on her mind was her best friend and everything that they could have done. When she got back to Octavia's room Vinyl collapsed on the floor and began to weep. Vinyl knew that this was the end, she no longer had somepony to go to when she was feeling down. Nopony to share secrets with. Just as she lost all hope she heard somepony walk in.