The Scratch Ends Here

by TigerSwirl448

Chapter 5: Detoxing The Bad

Chapter 5

Detoxing The Bad

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When Octavia woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see two pairs of eyes staring at her. One set was sky blue, the other was tree-bark brown. She sat up, groaning from her aching back again. She had to find something to help ease the pain of her back soon. She looked down at the pink pegasus and the blue colt.

"Good morning." Octavia said rubbing her eyes.

The two little foals didn't say anything, only stared. Rain turned to the side to see Octavia's cutie mark. She tilted her head to the side thinking. Racer only stared at Vinyl as she slept.

"Is there something you two need?" Octavia asked.

Both of their heads shook left and right for a no.

"Racer! Rain!" The two turned to see Star with a look of worry. "I'm so sorry, Miss. Octavia." She turned to her siblings. "How many times do I have to tell you two not to come down here!" She scolded silently

The colt pointed at the computer. The filly keep staring at Octavia’s cutie mark. Star exasperated, face hoofing. "No Racer, go back upstairs." Racer glared then ran back upstairs. Star turned to Rain and blinked seeing her staring. Star and Octavia both turned to the cutie mark. Star sighed patting Rain on her head.

"It is rude to stare at a ponies flank, Rain." Rain pointed up at the ceiling.

"But Mom and Momma do it all the time." This made Star blush. Octavia couldn't help but giggle behind her hoof as Star tried to find a reason to not stare at pony’s flanks.

"That's because um..."

"Star is right," Octavia said helping the young mare. "It's considered rude to stare at another's flank." Rain pointed at Octavia’s cutie mark. "Oh this?" Octavia asked showing her the cutie mark of a Treble Cleft.

"What is that?" Rain asked looking at Octavia then at her cutie mark.

"This is called a Treble clef."

"What's that?"

"A treble clef tells the musician reading the music what type of notes to play. In this case, in the treble clef.”

Rain was intrigued as she continued to stare at the purple mark. She grinned then turned and ran up the stairs. Star let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks." Octavia grinned.

"It's not a problem." Octavia sat up rubbing the back of her head. "What time is it?"

"It's about lunch time."

"Lunch time?"

Star chuckled at Octavia's face. "Don’t worry, it's darker down here so you barely know if it's light out yet. That's why we often times sleep down here more than upstairs, because it's so dark and peaceful and stuff. But you looked like you needed the sleep." Octavia nodded.

"Yes, I didn’t sleep very well the other night and I was up bright and early..." She stopped to look down at Vinyl. She gulped hoping that she was still alive. She watched her side to see the telltale up and down motion of her body breathing. Octavia sighed placing her hoof over her chest to feel her heart still beating a mile a minute from the fear. Vinyl’s still alive... Still. She stroked Vinyl's mane causing her to stir and open her eyes lazily. She woke up, but not fully by the way her eyes have lost their shine. The whites of her eyes were still yellow. Star gulped then watched how Octavia lie back down and nuzzle Vinyl's cheek. Star turned to the stairs then back at the couple.

"You really do care about her don’t you?" She said with sadness.

Octavia nodded. "Just as much as your parents love each other." Star smiled and nodded at the wisdom of that.

"Yeah, I get what you mean." She stood up. "Do you need anything? Mo-, er, Lyra, is upstairs. She's making a new batch of tea." Octavia nodded.

"Thank you, tea would be nice for me and would you get Vinyl some water as well?"

Star nodded and started up the stairs. Octavia sighed and stood up deciding to get herself cleaned up. She was able to get out after a quick shower when she noticed how green and ill Vinyl looked. Experience made her run to the bucket.

After Vinyl’s was done, Octavia remembered what the doctor asked and searched for something to store some of the vomit in to deliver to the doctor. Lyra ran down the stairs with chipper smile.

"Hey... Whoa." She mumbled seeing Vinyl looking horrible. She noticed the bucket then saw Octavia looking into the drawers and cabinets in the bathroom. "Uh what are you doing?" Lyra asked.

Octavia turned to Lyra. "Oh good afternoon, Lyra. I'm looking for something to use to send Doctor Hoofstein a sample of... well you know." Lyra gulped back a bit of nausea.

"Let me get a small container for you to use, be right back." She ran up the stairs then returned with a small container.

Once the storage was done, Octavia dumped out the rest in the toilet and proceeded to clean the bucket out by using the shower. Just looking at the shower made her think. She turned to see Vinyl staring into space. Octavia, with help from Star, had to carry/drag Vinyl into the bathroom then into the tub. Star was exhausted by using more magic than what she usually used. As Star rest outside the room Octavia proceeded to clean Vinyl with a wash rag and warm water. After that Octavia went ahead and brushed Vinyl's teeth. Octavia had never done anything like this to any adult pony in her life. But from foal sitting as a teenager the chore came naturally.

Once she was done with cleaning, she and Star took Vinyl back to the bed. Octavia and Star both let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the floor to rest.

"Man, I'm suspecting when Mom’s not around I'll have to help you do this?" Star asked absently. Octavia didn’t care at the comment only nodded.

"Yes, might as well make this a chore until Vinyl gets better." She turned to see that Vinyl was cleaner than she was yesterday. Even with brushing her teeth seemed to lessen the horrible odor. She just needed a bath and had to have her teeth brushed.

The next two days, Vinyl was hanging on and to Octavia it was a nerving task to sleep hearing Vinyl's breathing then waking up to hear her breathing becoming lighter or harder to let in. Octavia was now starting to truly worry. Vinyl was still vomiting, but the vomit wasn’t discolored anymore. It's normal in a sense of what she just ate the night before or that morning. But there were still traces of blood, which was still alarming. Vinyl was sleeping more and more and this worried Octavia to no end. She feared that if Vinyl slept too much she wouldn't wake up again. But her chest moving up and down was a sign of life.

Most of the time Star would go down to the basement to talk to Octavia and give her company and learn more about Octavia and Vinyl's relationship. Rain would be down there too sometimes and ask about treble clefs or what music was. Then a few minutes later, Racer would go down, only to pout since he wasn’t allowed on the computer. Of course it freaked them out when Vinyl got sick, but afterwards everything went back to normal with stories or help with homework or just a place to talk.

Finally on the sixth day, Octavia woke up and got ready for the day. When she got out of the bathroom, expecting Star to be waiting for her to help her get Vinyl in the bathroom, she saw Lyra with the doctor. They were talking when she exited the bathroom.

"Oh Doctor, I wasn't expecting you this soon."

Hoofstein nodded, he looked grave. "Well the results came in from all samples. Blood and the vomit you sent me."

"And?" Octavia asked. Lyra turned away and ushered the children upstairs. She didn’t want the children to hear the news. Octavia sat down before him looking at Vinyl.

"You were right, we had found some chemicals and traces of poisons mixed together." He turned to her shaking his head. "It's a miracle that she was living a few hours before you brought her here. Let alone how long she’s been alive." He pressed his hoof over Vinyl’s warm forehead. "Hmm, well her body temperature is high so that means her body is fighting." He looked impressed, smiling. "She must have been very healthy."

Octavia looked back to everything she and Vinyl did and wondered if drinking all night counted as healthy. "But," Hoofstein said interrupting her thoughts. "From her blood cell count, she has more dead blood cells than living and that's a concern." Octavia gulped at that, that's not good at all. "Not to mention according to the tests, her liver and kidneys are on the verge of failing. Other counts show that she is losing muscle tissue and with how inactive she is, she's probably losing nerve cells as well.”

"Probably?"

"That’s from a glance miss, but if we had her at the hospital..." He paused to see Octavia shaking her head. He nodded. "Then I can't tell for sure. But how is she doing with liquids and vitamins?"

Octavia told the doctor of what all was done in the last six days and what she was fed with. She even told him about how the vomit wasn’t very dark anymore but still bloody.

"Hmm, well it seems that the poison is attacking her from the inside out, by attacking the liver and, in turn, her kidneys. Causing internal bleeding in the stomach as well... Oh what about her urine or stool?" Octavia gulped.

"She hasn't done anything besides vomiting."

"Ooh, that is a concern... uh let's see." Octavia could tell by his worried voice. He blinked then turned to her. "I think I have a solution." She can see a glimmer of a smile which made her smile. A glimmer of hope? He cleared his throat ready for a lecture. She could care less as long as this was the answer to Vinyl's problem.

"You see there is this new program out the past few years and so far it's gaining popularity. Many celebrities use this to get over addictions. Have you ever heard of a Hoof Detox?"

Octavia blinked thinking, the word Detox was familiar. "I think I might have heard something about it."

"Well a Hoof Detox is this new program out and what it is, is a sort of electrical current that goes through your body and all the junk and gunk in your body flows out of the pores of your hooves and releases it all into the water you stand in."

Octavia had the idea of electricity and water equaled death. But from his explanation it seemed to be a piece of work. "So this Hoof Detox... will this help Vinyl?" She asked turning to Vinyl to hear her let out a moan closing her eyes. He nodded.

"Well it will help get that poison out of her body faster. It'll take a long while but if you do it every other day then possibly this will be the answer you'll need. Of course, you'll need medicine to make her feel better but this Hoof Detox will definitely heal her faster."

Octavia grinned looking at Vinyl to see her asleep again. "So how can we get to this Detox thing?"

Hoofstein grinned. "Not to worry, Sandals has a machine with her now. She works at the Spa in town. She is Aloe's and Vera's niece. I'll send her a line to tell her she has a private appointment with you and she'll be here quick. Let me give her a call." Hoofstein went upstairs to borrow the phone.

Octavia grinned and turned to Vinyl. She stroked her face, making Vinyl open her eyes. "You hear that Vinyl? You're going to get better. You'll be back to yourself in no time." Vinyl didn't even smile, only closed her eyes and sighed. Octavia sighed as well, hoping the doctor was right. The doctor trotted back downstairs with Bonbon behind him balancing a tray on her back with a mug of soup.

"Good news, she's free and she's coming here with the Detox Machine." Octavia grinned. Bonbon placed the tray on the table.

"Here you go, lunch for Vinyl."

"No need Bonbon." Hoofstien said to her surprise. "Miss. Sandals will be here with the Detox Machine. Vinyl will probably eat later." Bonbon looked shocked.

"Wait a minute, you mean that new machine that's causing a buzz in Ponyville?"

"That very same."

Bonbon smiles. "Oh yes I tried it, and boy, in an hour I found the most fascinating of things in the water." She giggled. "I learned that the more that gets out the healthier you can be." Octavia felt another weight off her shoulders. If Bonbon tried it then it must be safe and good.

About half an hour later, Lyra trots down the stairs with a yellow mare behind her. This pony was an earth pony with an electric green pixie hair style. Her eyes were a popping blue and her cutie mark was a pair of beach sandals. She was carrying on her back a small black box suitcase. She's dressed in a green vest that matched her hair perfectly. "So, who is the patient you told me about?" She asked in a Manehattan accent. Octavia patted Vinyl on the back making her open her eyes. The pony blinked.

"Oh dear me! She's the one you told me about? She looks like DJ-"

"Yes, she is, but you promised me that you would keep this a secret Sandals." The mare looked shocked.

"Well yeah, but you didn't tell me this was the DJ-PON-3! I mean... my daughter is her biggest fan." She paused, noticing the looks on everyponies faces in the room. She blushed, chuckling. "Well I did promise. And I always keep my promises. I won't tell anypony... not even my daughter." She said flatly glaring at Hoofstein.

"Anyway, we must hurry. The sooner we do this the quicker she'll heal."

Sandals nodded at the urgency of his voice. "Alright just point out for me an electrical outlet then I'll get this old boy set up." Lyra unplugged a nightlight from the wall and Sandals started getting to work explaining to Lyra and Octavia what she was doing.

She unlatched the suitcase to reveal a black box with two blue screens. Sandals pulled out the box and set it on the floor and pulled out several other things. Straps, a strange cylinder object with a cord, and a little bracelet with a cord. Once she pulled them out she started pulling in the cords to the box. She lifted the box and placed it on top of the suitcase.

"So what does this thing do?" Lyra asked unsure. Sandals chuckled.

"Oh, this sends pulses of electricity through this little bracelet that will be around her arm." She said blushing at Octavia pointing at Vinyl.

"Just call her Vinyl." Octavia said noticing her blush.

"Oh alright, I wasn't sure what to call her since you know..." She noticed the flat look then chuckled again. "Right, once that current goes through her body to stimulate her body to make all the yucky stuff get out."

"And how does that work?" Octavia asked. "He said that the poison will get out through her hooves?"

Sandals grinned. "Yes and here’s the next part." She looked at the bathtub. "Vinyl must stand in very hot water for this to work. Because the hot water will open her pores in her hooves so all the gunk will escape out of her hooves." Octavia and Lyra looked at one another in surprise.

"And so this electrical current won't fry her up?"

Sandals laughed at the comment. "Oh no dear, these are very small pulses that passes through her body. And with this little cylinder here," She pointed at the black cylinder. "This here is the array that will be getting some of the electric pulses that travel down her body. This will use the electricity to change the water into colors that the chemicals and enzymes from her body that will interact with the pulses." Octavia sat there completely confused. So was Lyra. Sandals chuckled nervously.

"It's hard to explain so I'll show you. But first we need to get the tub ready. Back at the Spa she would be standing in a large plastic tub of water where you could see the results better. But since we are here with no such things, the bath tub will have to work for now." The two mares nodded.

"Now let me finish setting things up then um... Is there something on your mind?" She asked noticing Octavia's worry.

"So can't she lay in the water?" Sandals shook her head.

"No, why? Can’t she stand?" Octavia pointed at Vinyl. Sandals looked at Vinyl to see her drooling with her eyes closed. Sandals looked back at Octavia to see her worried frown. "Oh, she can’t, can't she?"

Lyra, Octavia, and the doctor all shook their heads. Sandals nodded. "Alright well, we have two unicorns so we'll have to keep her standing with magic."

Lyra let out a groan and rubbed her horn. Octavia trotted to Vinyl and shook her lightly to make her open her eyes. "Vinyl, sweetie, you have to wake up for this." Vinyl turned her head away squeezing her eyes shut. "Don’t worry, this will make you feel better. I promise." Vinyl opened her eyes again turning to her. "It's now or never." She said turning to Lyra and Hoofstein.

"I'm ready, bring her over. The water is at the perfect temperature." Sandals called from the bathroom. Lyra and the doctor both made a plan and they both used their magic combined to lift Vinyl off the bed then float her in front of then to the tub. Hoofstein nodded to Lyra. Lyra nodded back and canceled her grip so Hoofstein could walk into the bathroom, he then got into a comfortable position so that he could concentrate. Octavia walked, in watching her step between the two cables that connected to the array and the bracelet as Sandals slapped it high up on Vinyl's arm.

"There we go, now to tighten it," She tightened the strap then grinned, "There we go, now, lower her down to the water. Slowly." When Vinyl's hooves touched the water her eyes went wide and she started yelping. Octavia reached Vinyl making her turn toward her.

"It will be hot. It has to be, so this can work." Vinyl's eyes were glassy with tears from the hot pain but nodded gulping. Octavia smiled and turned to Hoofstein. "Slowly." She said. He nodded lowering Vinyl back in the ankle deep hot water. She squeezed her eyes shut from the scalding pain but didn't yell or anything. Octavia smiled stroking her back telling her everything is fine.

"She’s ready." Octavia said. Sandals nodded as she set the cylinder array into the water between Vinyl’s front hooves. After that she sprinkled salt from a salt shaker into the water and used her hoof to swirl the water. She dried her hoof to press a button on the black box causing it to beep loudly. She pressed more buttons then grinned.

"Alright, we'll put her in this for an hour. We'll go for the first thirty minutes. Then we'll start again later." Sandals noticed the doctor closing his eyes breathing deeply concentrating hard. "Now Doc, when you are getting tired say the word then Lyra will take over." He nodded shushing her.

"Please don’t talk to me." Sandals nodded.

"Alright." she turned to Octavia. "It'll be better breathing room if you sit outside." Octavia nodded with a sheepish grin as she backed away to sit with Lyra. She was surprised to see Star, Rain, and Racer peeking into the bathroom. Bonbon came down a few minutes later to see her family and friend watching the bathroom.

"How is she?" Bonbon asked nuzzling Lyra from behind causing her to jump. Lyra grinned kissing her on the nose.

"She's sleeping." Lyra bluntly answered.

Octavia laid down to watch, getting sleepy. Rain laid down next to her watching. Racer laid down on Octavia's left side, laying there with his chin on his arms. Octavia poked in to see Sandals checking the water again. She turned to Hoofstein and groaned.

"Doc, it's time to take a break, you were at it for twenty-five minutes." She turned and waved. "Bring in Lyra to take his place for a while." Lyra heard and trotted in enveloping Vinyl with her magic to take control.

"You got her?" The doctor strained. Lyra nodded.

"Yeah, let go." He canceled his magic breathing hard. He shakily stood up then let Lyra take his spot. She laid down on his spot on the floor and closed her eyes and breathed slowly, keeping Vinyl standing as she slept.

Suddenly the box beeped. Sandals reached over and pressed a button then it beeped again. She left it alone with a sigh. "Alright, the first thirty minutes is done. Just another thirty minutes." She said to everypony watching. Octavia stood up to walk in. She peaked into the water and balked at the color. Sandals grinned.

"See, I told you."

"Why is her water so black?"

"Oh well since she is a DJ she might have been the DJ in many bars possibly where smoking is quite common. And can you see how the water is brown but the parts of the bottom were caked with black flecks?" Octavia nodded.

"The brown is the color of well the gunk in her liver since she's a drinker, right?" Octavia nodded. Sandals nodded she pointed at the water again. "The black flecks covering the bottom is of course tobacco coming out of her body." Octavia gulps sniffing the water. There was that odor again.

"Does the water smell?"

"Most of the time. I've had customers say that the water smelled of beer. So yes, it's common."

"But that smell?" Octavia asked hoping that it's not that same smell she smelled on Vinyl before.

Sandals made a face shaking her head. "Nope, not this smell. What is that really?" She asked. Octavia explained to Sandals what had happened a few days ago and the odor that was from Vinyl. Sandals nodded.

"Hmm, so whatever she drank with her drink has a bad odor. Let's see,"

Octavia watched as the mare thought for a moment. Then she had a thought. "Uh, does the water look like this every time?" Sandals shook her head.

"Not normally but since Vinyl's body is pushing out that poison she might have the same color water next time you do this. But I've seen my customers have all orange water, yellow, all black one time. But the first thirty minutes is one portion then the last thirty will be another portion of the body that gets cleaned out."

Octavia nodded seeing Vinyl swaying slightly with Lyra's magic holding her in place. "So if Vinyl has to do this again, when is the best time?" Sandals shrugged.

"Well the best is forty-eight hours at least. Because her body will still try to remove all that gunk, even after this. So make sure she drinks plenty of water and I wouldn't be surprised if she has diarrhea from this. Since Doc told me that you said that she hasn't been actually releasing waste much.” Octavia nodded. "So yeah make sure she's near the toilet then for a day. The water will replenish the lost water from the detox. Oh, and make sure she takes her essential vitamins too. Because the side effects from this include hormones that might act up in the brain. A chemical that was being released during the detox."

"Meaning?"

"Well like me for instance after I do this some days I would be so irritated and angry and in a bad mood all day because of it. That's because my body was releasing that chemical in my brain and all that stuff. But knowing Vinyl she'll probably be sleeping or wide awake, one or the other." Octavia sighed and nodded.

"I better go back outside." Sandals nodded and continues surveying the water.

After ten minutes Lyra had to be switched out with the doctor for the rest of the time. Finally the box beeped the end of the thirty minutes. Sandals said that she was done for the day and pulled the string to the plug of the bathtub so all the gunky colored water went down the drain. She used a large cup to swish the water around in the tub to clean it. She asked from Bonbon to have some vinegar to clean out the tub later. Once she got a bottle of vinegar she used the cup to fill it with cold water and washed off Vinyl's hooves, waking her up and causing her to curl her legs to her body shivering. Octavia had to explain to Vinyl that Sandals was cleaning her hooves.

Vinyl reluctantly uncurled her legs, shivering as Sandals cleaned her four hooves with the cold water explaining that the cold water will close her pores keeping the gunk from coming out of her hooves. After that, Lyra helped the doctor float Vinyl back into the bed so she could rest in peace again. Octavia helped Sandals clean up the mess by cleaning the tub while Sandals put away the equipment.

"So," Octavia started. "How will this affect Vinyl?"

The pony shrugged. "Well my wakeful and not so sick customers claimed to be well. They said they feel younger, cleaner, and healthier. So though Vinyl is the way she is right now it'll probably take a couple more visits before she'll feel any better. I mean an hour can be a lot for the body but... It'll take a while for it to affect her in this state." Octavia nodded.

"But she'll be better tomorrow?"

"Maybe. Not sure. But I will be back in two days so we can do this again." Octavia nodded smiling.

"Yes I learned a lot today. I hope to watch more of this, I might put it together and uh,"

Sandals laughed sticking the black box into the suitcase closing it. "Well, how about I order another one of these so that I won’t have to carry this thing around every time." Octavia blinked in surprise.

"You could do that?"

Sandals blew a raspberry. "Of course, I have two others. I'm required to have two and I have an extra. I'll give you the extra for yourself. You can pay me later for it."

Octavia grinned. "Thank you. That will mean a lot since it worked so well."

Sandals nodded. "Yep, maybe if things weren't so dramatic I could strap you in with her and you both can have a detox. It's simple."

Octavia sat down nodding. "Hmm, sounds like a plan. See you in two days?" Sandals nodded and turned to the doctor.

"Doc you going to be here? I don’t think Lyra has the juice as you do." The doctor nodded.

"Well of course. I have to check on my patient." He turned to Octavia and sighed. "I decided that since Sandals will be doing this for you every other day, I'll be here to help with Vinyl until she can stand by herself. But while I'm here before we do the Detox, I'll have to check on her and take some blood samples. I just want to make sure that the poison is truly getting out of her system." Octavia nodded and gave Sandals a hug and shook the doctor's hoof and thanked them for their help. Lyra stood up from her position, yawning.

"I don’t know about you Octavia, but I'm tired. That magic was tough."

Octavia grinned, feeling a yawn herself. "Yes, that was an experience." She looked down and grinned seeing Rain and Racer sleeping together on the floor. "Aw, they must have fallen asleep." Lyra grinned and scrunched her face in concentration, carrying the two young ones with her magic.

"I better get them to their room before I'm out of juice. Night, Octavia." Lyra traveled up the stairs then shut the door above. Octavia yawned covering her mouth. She didn't care if it was six in the evening, she was sleepy. She stuck her head into the blanket to crawl through and lay next to Vinyl. She smiled and kissed her on the cheek before falling asleep.

Vinyl opened one yellowed eye, and ever so slowly, she made a small smile.

Author's Note:

Here you are, Chapter 5. Edited by Xhoral1865.

So what did you guys think? Interesting how things are starting to get lighter huh? As for the hoof detox, there is an actual devise, you might have seen it when you go to city fairs or stuff like that. But there is a foot detox thing out there that does exactly what I described. I even done it a few times and yeah, it's crazy what you find in the water. My water was always orange anyway, from detoxing my joints.

Ahem, anyway other that that, Chapter 6 will be up soon and we will reach the half way point of the story.

Comments

[VinylDashxD]

Fantastic fic so far!
I'll have to get around to reading the other chapter, its gonna bug me :P kinda cruched on time with classes and all..

A like from me, and I will be following this.

cheers!
-VD

[TigerSwirl448]

4006155
Thank you!

[forrest yuchnitz]

i want more of this and the pony who did this to her will rue the day he thought of it RUE IT I SAY

[nobodywaseverhere]

im glad she seems to be getting better
p.s. i might try that foot detox... might

[The Batmane of equestria]

The story was good and I look forward to upcoming chapters

[TigerSwirl448]

4025932 glad you like it. more updates coming soon.

[CaveYoshi]

In this chapter, who is Mom and who is Momma (Lyra/BonBon)

[TigerSwirl448]

6127037 Uhhh .... Never thought about that. Should've done that before. (This story was written long ago.^^') I just let the readers imagine it for themselves.

Now that I think about it, I'll say Bonbon is Momma and Lyra is Mom.