Through the Doors

Chapter 3: Opening the Doors

Over the week and a half I spent in Ponyville, I made quite a bit of friends. Out of all of them, Pinkie would have to be the best; it’s not just only because she was the only one who knew why I was really in Ponyville either. After I told her and she broke down, we started talking and talking and talking and... well… talking. I don’t even remember getting any sleep that night. She cheered me up in some of the times I felt my worst. Even after that night, her and me would talk quite a bit.

I wish I had her here with me now. She’d cheer me up. Heck, I’m pretty sure she’d say something like, “Come on, Vortac! You’ll get through this!” I’m just a mess right now, and what would she do if I… died during this surgery? Especially if she said that before I went in. Maybe it’s best that I’m the only one here in the first place.

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“Hey,” a voice said. I felt a hoof on my shoulder that was lightly shaking me. “You need to get off this cloud; we’re having clear skies today, so that means all clouds go.”

I opened my eyes and dully stared at the pony in front of me. Her white coat gleamed in the sun, which made my eyes hurt a bit. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my hooves. “What was that?”

“I said that you need to get off the cloud. We need to bust it.” She mumbled something under her breath that I didn’t hear.

“Oh, all right.” I guess I had to find another place to nap. I opened my wings and I jumped off the cloud, which caused it to bust. “Sorry about that,” I groggily said.

“It’s all right. I’m just glad Cloud Kicker didn’t find you first… there’s no telling what she’d do to a sleeping pony.”

Umm… what? “What do you mean‒” A fury of coughs interrupted me. They came as cough after cough, barely letting up and when they did it was only for a few seconds. Eventually, they began to slow down until I stopped for about a minute. My breaths became heavy and strained.

“Ar-are you okay?” She held a hoof over her mouth.

“Y-yeah… I think… I’ll be fine…” I let out a few more loud coughs.

“I’m getting you to a hospital, you need help. Cloud Kicker! Get over here!”

“What is it Blossomforth? Found a good place where we can bang?”

Blossomforth’s face turned scarlet red. “W-what? No!”

Cloud Kicker looked to me and grinned. “Oh, is it gonna be a threesome? ‘Cause that’d be really hot.”

Even though I could barely breathe, I felt my face become rather hot.

“No, Cloud Kicker! This pony needs help!”

“What are you talking about, Blossom? He looks fine to me… really‒”

More coughs forced their way out. Causing my wings to lock up, which led to me falling through the air as coughs barged their way out. I soon felt two pairs of hooves grab hold of me. My breathing started to get more ragged.

“Come on, Cloud Kicker. We need to get him to a doctor,” Blossomforth said in desperation.

Cloud Kicker blinked. “All right, I’ll get him a cloud so we’ll be able to carry him.” She flew off, and soon came back with a cloud.

“Come on, get on the cloud,” Blossomforth urged as she pushed me onto it. Cloud Kicker positioned herself behind it with Blossomforth and they put their hooves on it. The cloud soon was flying through the air at a fast pace.

It took them about thirty seconds to get me to the hospital. It also took me twenty seconds to have another fit of coughs.

They rushed me, and the cloud, through the doors of the hospital and to the front desk.

“He needs help!” Blossomforth exclaimed.

The mare behind the front desk took one glance at me and let out a small gasp. She proceeded to gallop away, probably in search of a medical pony. My guess was correct since she came back with Nurse Redheart.

Upon arriving, Nurse Redheart let out a small gasp as well. “You two!” She pointed a hoof at Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth. “Follow me and bring him with you!” Nurse Redheart galloped toward the back of the hospital.

They nodded and followed behind her with me and the cloud. We entered the room that I went into for my first appointment. I felt some hooves lift me up and put me onto a metal table.

“You two, please exit the room while I work here.”

Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth exited the room, leaving me alone with Nurse Redheart.

“Relax and close your eyes.”

The table I was on moved and the world got darker. I opened my eyes and was met with a familiar white tube-like structure. I was taking another MRI.

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The table moved out from the tube. I let out a few coughs. At that point, I was able to breathe normally, but whenever I coughed or swallowed my saliva I had to catch my breath.

Nurse Redheart glanced at me and sighed. “Come over here, Vortac.”

I slowly got up from the table and walked over to her. “W-what’s wrong?”

“Your vagus nerve‒commonly known as the tenth cranial nerve‒has been crushed.”

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you will have a loss of function of several organs and some of your skeletal system. You will also not be able to sallow anything without choking."

“Wait… are you saying that I’m already… d-dying?”

She closed her eyes and looked down at the floor. “Yes. And now, your nerve will be crushed forever. There’s no way to return it to how it used to be.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

“We’re going to have to hospitalize you until your surgery; only because we don’t want you to kill yourself by accident.”

“No,” I stated. “You can’t hospitalize me… I-I still can do so much. A-and now you’re saying that I’m dying. There’s nothing… nothing that I can do to change this! What’s the point? I only have a few days to live anyway! It’s a ten percent chance! That’s hardly anything!”

She sighed. “Listen, the fact that there is a chance means that there’s a possibility that you won’t‒”

“A very slim possibility! And it’s one that’s basically saying that I have no chance of making it through! You think that you can tell me that I can make it through and make me believe you like that? You have to stand up and face reality! There’s basically no chance that I’ll make it through! None what-so-feathering-ever!”

“Now, Vortac, without the surgery you’ll have no chance to live.”

“So! I basically have no chance to live otherwise either! So what’s the bucking point‒?”

“Listen Vortac!”

I paused.

“If you don’t take the surgery, you won’t have a chance in the first place. The surgery will give you a chance. With it you can have a normal lifespan. You don’t have to die!”

“But there’s a good chance that I will die! There’s no changing that fact! What’s the point? Just for a chance, which happens to be so small that it’s barely there?”

“Vortac, what would your friends say if they found out you don’t even want to try to live? What would your family say?”

I… I had never really thought of that. What effect would I have on my friends and family if I were to simply not try and let death take me easily? If they were to find out that I had a chance to live… would they hate me for not taking it?

I said nothing. I just stood there, thinking over what they would do if I didn’t try. With my mouth opening and closing, trying to form words.

“They want you to at least to try, Vortac,” she soothed. “They don’t want you to just give up. They want you to push forward and try to conquer this tumor that appeared on your brain, and they believe you can make it through.” She smiled. “I believe you can make it through.

“But it’s only a ten percent chance…”

“It’s better than a zero percent chance of living.” She moved a hoof around my back to comfort me. “We need you to be strong and get through this. There’s no way you can make it through if you don’t think you can yourself.”

If I were to look at the logical side of the things I would see that I probably wouldn’t be able to make it through, but the positive side, on the other hoof, was so tempting to believe. What pony doesn’t want to live?

“I can do this. I can make it through.” I smiled.

“That’s the way to think!” She gave me a small nuzzle. “I know you can make it through. Now, let’s go get your bed and I’ll notify your friends here that they can come see you.”

“Th-thanks. For everything.”

“It’s what I do.”

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“So, uh, are you okay?” asked Cloud Kicker. Nurse Redheart had informed them two as well that I was in the hospital and resting since they basically saved my life and all.

“Not really, but I’ll probably live.” It was a lie, but not much of one.

“What exactly is wrong with you?” Blossomforth asked.

“I have a brain tumor.”

Blossomforth let out a small gasp and Cloud Kicker’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh Luna… are you okay?” Blossomforth asked in a concerned tone.

“Okay as anypony else with a brain tumor that’s killing them,” I said with a straight face.

Blossomforth flinched a little.

“Sorry for snapping at you like that. I’ve just been under a lot of stress.”

“Oh, it’s‒”

A flash of pink filled the doorway and cut off Blossomforth as it pushed past her and Cloud Kicker. “Ohmygosh!” a high-pitched voice shouted. “Are you okay, Vortac? I came as soon as I could!”

I looked up at Pinkie and smile. “Yeah, I’m‒” I cough and am forced to catch my breath “‒fine.”

“You don’t look it! Or sound it for that matter!”

That’s when I noticed how disoriented she looked. Her mane was messier than how it usually was for one thing. She even seemed to be trying to catch her breath from running all the way here.

“Pinkie, I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Do you Pinkie Promise?”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

She leaned in close and glared at me. “You better not break it… or else,” she whispered.

I gulped. “O-okay.” Pinkie can be scary when she needs to be…