Vinyl Scratch, Mentoring is AWESOME!

by SciWriter

Help!

Thank goodness Rainbow Dash was around. She shot away to get help immediately. In minutes, which at the time felt like hours, the doctors had arrived and were carrying Dusk away to the hospital. Lightning kept crying as all this was happening and eventually I held her in my forelegs.

She kept screaming his name, her heart racing. Soon Rainbow took Lightning’s little friends too. I wanted to protest, didn’t she see Lightning needed her friends now?

I started to write my objections, but she took off before I could finish. I sat there, holding my student, not having even finished the first word. Lightning finally started just sobbing.

I wasn’t sure what I could do. Yes, I could take her to her therapist, but Lightning never really saw Killy as family or a best friend, I wasn’t sure he would be able to do much of anything. Maybe he could give ME advice, but I seriously doubted LIGHTNING would be listening to him. I used my magic to put the crying foal on my back and took her inside, placing her in her room, in her bed. She just laid there sobbing.

I clenched my teeth. I was scared to leave her. I had no idea what she would do in this state- would she hurt herself? Would she even need to do that intentionally? Still, I needed to get word to her father.

I bit my lip, looked left, looked right, and then looked back down at my student. She had curled up into a fetal position, eyes tightly shut. I finally surrounded her blanket with magic and wrapped her in it. I rushed out of my home and held my horn high as I could, setting off fireworks, shooting them into the sky, making them as big and loud as I possibly could.

Ponies angrily yelled at me to keep it down, but no one came towards me. I have so seldom wished harder than that to be able to yell for “help”. Everyone thought I was just trying to get attention and I was told to keep it down several times. Finally Fluttershy passed by, apparently on her way home from the market. “Knock it off Vinyl you’re- Vinyl?” she must have seen my face- I have no idea how I looked but I’m guessing it was terrible. She ran over. “Vinyl?- Vinyl stop, I’m right here, stop setting off the fireworks-“ I blinked. I was so scared I was barely paying attention to the world around me, but her words were waking me back up. I finally forced my horn to stop. “You haven’t looked like that in a long time, what’s wrong?”

I grabbed her mane with my magic and nearly dragged her into the home, not willing to waste any more time. “You know you can just write!” she said, still letting me drag her. Finally I pulled her into Lightning’s room. Fluttershy looked at the filly. She rushed over to Lightning’s side. “Lightning?” She nudged the foal, but Lightning just kept sobbing, her throat obviously sore. “What happened?”

I shook my head. ‘Dusk is in the hospital, he just passed out, I don’t know what’s wrong but she’s taking it horribly.’ Fluttershy gently petted Lightning’s mane. ‘I have to get word to Torkuda. I’m going to Twilight’s place. Please watch her for me okay?’ Fluttershy nodded. ‘I don’t know how I can ever thank you.’

Fluttershy shook her head. “You don’t need to.”

‘But-'

“Go!” she shouted at me. I backed up. She was right of course, we couldn’t waste time. I turned and ran.

I tore out of my home, racing down the street, the palace of friendship in the distance.

I nearly ran into the door and started pounding on it hard as I could. “Alright alright, I’m coming, I’m coming. Sheesh you’re not even gonna talk or anything, just pound and pound,” Twilight opened the door. “I- oh- um… shoot… um- I’m so sorry I-“

‘I don’t care, why would anyone honestly ever care about stupid misunderstandings, you’re all always so worried about bullsh** like that…’ I swallowed.

“Calm down, what’s wrong?”

‘Lightning and Dusk, they’re both in trouble, big trouble. Dusk was dancing and he just passed out, we don’t know why, he just went out like a light. Lightning is panicking and I don’t know what to do, you know how chronic she is. She’s cares a lot about her brother, that poor girl needs him.’ I clenched my teeth and looked at the ground. ‘What am I gonna do Twi? I lose one I lose them both. They’re both wonderful kids, but they’ve been through so much- we have to get through to Torkuda.’

“What do you think their dad can do? He’s a dragon, he can’t help Dusk that’s for sure.”

‘I don’t know what he can do, but he certainly has a right to know what’s happening with his children.’

She nodded. “Of course. C’mon,”

Spike sent a message to Torkuda in short order. As the dust from the burnt message faded, Twilight turned to me. “Someone is with Lightning right?” I nodded. She put her wing around me. “How are you holding up?” I looked down and squeezed my eyes shut. “That well huh?” she said with a small joking tone, still sympathetic.

‘What do I do? I know she has a problem…’

“What about Dusk?”

‘What do you mean what about him?’

“Well, Lightning’s problems are psychological, Dusk… I’m not trying to accuse it’s just… If he went unconscious, we need to start making plans to be there when he wakes up.” She nodded to herself. “Yes, you worry about Lightning, I’m sure you have SOME ideas right?” she turned to some papers on her desk and started making a list. “I’m gonna contact my friends and work on making sure someone is there when he’s awake. Sounds like Rainbow was already there and I’m guessing AJ will know soon enough, but Fluttershy and Pinkie usually have a roll they can play in these kinds of things. Pinkie is great at making the sick at least FEEL better and Fluttershy understands way more about medicine than even I could hope too, she can talk to the doctors. Rarity won’t have much to offer, but Sweetie is still Dusk’s friend so her support will be important to him too.” She turned to me. “And Lightning… Vinyl... something else bothering you?”

‘I wasn’t even thinking about what to do for Dusk.’ I smacked myself once and went to do it again, but Twilight quickly stopped me with her magic. ‘What, because he’s a boy? Do I not care because he’s a different gender, is it that-'

“Vinyl!” she shouted at me. “You’re not a misandrist okay? I’ve never heard you say anything bad about stallions okay? You saw her last, I’m sure you’re worried about them both, now stay on task.”

‘Still, I’ve let it slip several times that maybe Lightning is my daughter, shouldn’t I see Dusk like a son? They’ve had all the same experiences, just from different perspectives. Lightning worships the ground I walk on but Dusk kinda treats everyone equally... I mean I really shouldn’t ignore him for that, I should admire it. Especially since he’s so young.’

“You care for them both Vinyl.” She held up my head to look into her eyes. “Vinyl… just like no one is ever going to be the same as anyone else, you’re never going to have the same feelings about any two ponies and try as you may, you will always value some more than others. No one is perfect. I can only ask if you cared about him and did what you thought was best for him.”

‘I’m pretty sure I did…’

“Then it’s okay. Now you know more about what Lightning is going through than I do. What do we need to do for her?”

I shook my head. ‘She’s gonna need her therapist, but that’s not exactly an emergency service so we’ll wait and make sure she’s safe for now... She’s with Fluttershy so I’m pretty sure she’s okay-‘

“So Fluttershy is up to date… good.” We started to hear the flapping of massive wings but we both decided not to pay it mind just yet.

I nodded. ‘yes, like I was saying, we’ll need to keep her away from anything sharp or dangerous, in case she tries to hurt herself, she’s never done anything like that before, but I’ve been warned before that she might if things get too bad. We need to get her to a place where she feels safe… I think she needs to go home to her dad. She’ll need someone to stay with her besides her dad though, she’ll need physical contact. She’s a very tactile person and as loving of a father as he is, Torkuda has trouble with that.’

Twilight thought. “So how about Fluttershy stays with her along with one of her friends?” I nodded. “Alright, I’ll round the ponies up. You-“ Outside ponies started to scream. Twilight face hoofed, “He’s visited Ponyville how many times now?”

‘They liked him when he was defending them,’ I wrote, looking out the window at the ponies scattering from Torkuda as he landed.

“I should scold him for coming without warning- no, he should have the right to come to his daughter’s aid… let’s play this by ear a little okay? You get Apple Bloom, Fluttershy and Lightning, I’ll calm everyone down.”

(***)

It took a little doing, but finally I rode with Lightning, Fluttershy and Apple Bloom back to Torkuda’s home. Fluttershy gently took Lightning to her’s and Dusk’s room, placing the now rather despondent filly on her bed.

I looked around the room.

The room was composed of two parts, one blue, one yellow. The blue side was Dusk’s. On his side was his bed with faded green blankets. All around were his toys, mostly large duplo legos but there was also a set of much smaller legos in a box, along with a rolled up dance matt. On his side the walls were decorated with black and white posters of old tap dancers, as well as a big color poster of a river dance group. I didn’t know most of the tap dancers, but the river dancers were in a set up I recognized. They must have been the current Hooves of Flames group, a river dancing group I had heard recordings of a few times. There were a few signatures on the poster along with a message that said “Looking forward to seeing when you get your dancing cutie mark. It’ll happen, we have no doubt!”

I said a prayer, to by myself. Dusk had his whole life ahead of him. ‘if anyone can hear me, let him recover!’ I thought.

The yellow side, which Lightning was laying on, told the story of a very different pony. I must have counted ten different balls, from soccer balls to a few ping pong balls, all pushed under the bed and spread out over the room, but no other equipment. I almost chuckled, remembering Lightning’s tendency to make up sports on the fly. None of us ever did know what she wanted to do half the time, and I don’t think she did either. Then again, it was always fun to just try to keep up or just watch if I was too confused.

I then had to look at how she was now. Apple Bloom laid next to her, reading a book, but the sentiment of her caring was there. I also had to be stupid enough to look at the middle of the room.

On the dividing line between the two sides of the room were several board games. Dusk adored board games, but Lightning not so much. Anything for Dusk though. Still her ridiculous ADD kept them playing multiple games that she helped Dusk write up notes for so they never lost their places.

I closed my eyes. So much more than even me, Lightning’s entire life revolved around Dusk. I prayed he was okay again.

Fluttershy nodded that I could leave. I shook my head. ‘Consider my schedule just freed up.’ I wrote. I laid down on the floor to go to sleep. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

(***)

The next day we got to the hospital. The way Lightning was looking around when she walked, it was eerily similar to how she looked in the alternate universe.

I talked to a doctor in a private room, while Fluttershy watched her and Apple Bloom.

“We have a diagnosis, but I need you to remain calm,” I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Malnourishment.”

‘Excuse me? I feed that kid, and so does Torkuda. You’re way off if you think-‘

“I don’t think I know. Now am I accusing you? No I’m not. He’s a little kid. We have Lightning and Dusk’s histories on record and we’ve been watching for signs of depression in both of them for a myriad of reasons. You know that right?”

‘I feed him…’

“It’s not that simple. One of the primary symptoms of depressions is loss of appetite and yes, we think that’s what this is. It’s hard to recognize that in someone so young and new in your life. He’s probably been eating progressively less and less, and you may have accepted it as “six year olds can only eat so much”. Not being a doctor, it’s hard to always recognize things like this.”

I looked down. ‘Don’t take him from us.’

The doctor shook his head. “We’re not looking to do that.” I sighed in relief. “But you do need to take this seriously. If he had starved himself too seriously too quickly or intentionally, he would have been emaciated and you would have noticed, but this was progressive. You need to start insisting he eat more and reporting to us on how he’s doing and exactly what he eats. Of course keep regular appointments with your therapist and follow his directions. Are you willing to do that?”

‘Anything.’

He nodded. A hoof was placed on my shoulder. “Vinyl, when you took in these kids, you took on an incredible challenge. You have to remember two things. First, you can’t always blame yourself when things go wrong. Second… hang on to the good things, there are gonna be enough bad things… for instance on good things, I seriously doubt he’s gonna stay asleep for very long.”

‘You’re not just lying to me?’

“I wouldn’t say I was if I were… I’m not… just have a seat in the waiting room. The doctors will call you and Lightning in to see him in a bit.”