The Chance To Say

"Well, back to the old grind."

"Yeah, good to see you too."

Vinyl smiled as Hail Toss grinned at her own sarcastic remark. Vinyl sighed as she flopped down on her bed. The smile faded off of Hail Toss's face a little as she looked over at her friend.

"Something wrong? You seem a little down."

"Nah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

Deciding to tell the truth, Vinyl sighed as she adjusted herself into a sitting position.

"So, I got some news the other day, and I'm not quite sure how to deal with it."

"What the hell is it?"

"Well, my mare-friend, I'm pretty sure she wants to have a foal."

"What? I'm no biologist, but that's not possible for two mares."

"I know, just wait. I'll tell you the whole thing."

Octavia closed the door behind herself after Vinyl walked in. As she turned around, she saw that Vinyl had opened a bottle of alcohol and drained half the bottle.

"Listen miss recovering alcoholic. Put that down."

"Right, sorry."

Vinyl put the bottle back in the fridge and looked at Octavia.

"So what's this thing going on Tav? You said you'd tell me when we were home, so."

"Fine, sit down."

Vinyl did as she was told and sat down on the couch next to Octavia. As she closed her eyes, Octavia took a deep breath.

"Well, with all the scrapes with death you, me and and even ponies we know have had recently, I just don't think we can afford to take things slowly."

"Alright, where are you going with this?"

"Well, we need somepony to carry on the family."

"So, hold on, you want to-"

Octavia interrupted Vinyl's sentence with a kiss, and Vinyl's stopped protesting as she lost herself in the moment. As Octavia pulled away from the kiss, the two opened their eyes.

"Well, we should probably get you back to rehab."

"Oh, o-ok."

"Wow."

"Yeah. I can't believe she wants to go that fast with it."

"No, I meant wow as in its that easy to distract you."

Vinyl shot Hail Toss a look, and laid down again. Sighing again, she closed her eyes and got comfortable on the sheets that were growing familiar.

"You know, I really should thank you for that little thing Vinyl."

"What?"

"I mean, I was in that relationship with my ex for like three years and we hadn't even spent a night at each other's places. I think I might've been going too slow with it."

"Huh. Well you're welcome."

Hail Toss rolled her eyes at Vinyl's sarcasm, and pulled the covers up on her body. Vinyl snickered to herself and did the same.

"Well, you're on your last week."

"Yep."

"What're you gonna do when you get out? Any special plans?"

"Well, I'm probably gonna go home, sleep in my own bed."

"You mean the one you'll be sharing?"

As Hail Toss giggled to herself, Vinyl blushed slightly and levitated a pillow. The moment Hail Toss turned back to face Vinyl, she smacked her with her pillow.

"Alright, fine. I get the message."

Vinyl, feeling victorious, smiled to herself and got back into a comfortable position.

"You got therapy tommorow Hail?"

"No, you?"

"No, they're letting tommorow slide."

"Oh, cool. Wanna hang out at the buckball court? I heard a few ponies talking about a tournament."

"Hey, that sounds pretty cool. We should definately check that out. Well, goodnight Hail."

"Goodnight Vinyl."

With that, Vinyl and Hail Toss turned off their lamps and got into comfortable positions. After only a few minutes, both mares drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Octavia nervously paced back and forth in the living room. The phone sat still on its stand on the coffee table. Octavia had been pacing for almost an hour now, awaiting a phone call that to her was taking hours.

"Oh come on already."

Minutes passed before the phone started ringing. Only one cycle of rings could be heard before Octavia picked up the phone and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Octavia."

"Lyra? What's going on?"

"Uh, not much, you?"

"I, I'm sort of waiting for a call right now."

"Oh, sorry. But hey, there's a show going on in Ponyville in a little while. Bonnie and I would love it if you could come? Maybe bring your new mare-friend?"

As Lyra giggled to herself, Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt. When is this?"

"It's a week from tomorrow."

"Oh, that actually works perfectly for me."

"Great! Alright. You can probably just meet us at our house and we'll all walk there. You do still know the address right?"

"Of course."

"Alright, see ya then Tav. Bye."

"Bye Lyra."

As Octavia hung up the phone, she sighed and sat down. She put a hoof to her head and closed her eyes. After merely seconds, the phone started ringing again.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Octavia?"

"WaveMaker, hi. What's going on now?"

"Well, the doctor gave me some news, whether we label it good or bad I'm not sure."

"What is it?"

"Well, Skyline Breezer has a malignant tumor, and there are maybe three options to deal with it."

"My word, that's awful. What are the options?"

"Option one is let her live the three months she has left without any treatment whatsoever, which is probably my least favorite idea. Then option two, we fight as hard as we can with medication, chemotherapy, and maybe surgeries. Third option, we try a highly experimental procedure that may result in total amnesia."

"I'm so sorry. Have either of you decided on what you're going to do?"

"Well, we're both leaning towards option two. She already had a cousin die from a tumor, so she knows what has to happen. And I know her, if she needs to, she'll fight like hell."

"Well Vinyl and I are here if either of you need us."

"Thank you, I can't begin to thank you enough for your support."

"It's no problem."

"Alright, well, I gotta go. Thank you Octavia, and tell Vinyl we said hello."

"I will, take care. Both of you."

"We will, you too."

"Thanks, bye."

"Bye."

Both ponies hung up their phones, and Octavia looked at the clock.

"Damn, it's late. I should be getting to bed."

As she yawned, Octavia made her way to the new bedroom. Flopping down on the bed, she blew a puff of air out that flipped her hair into the way of her eyes. She slipped under the covers and settled into her surroundings. After only minutes, she was sound asleep.

"I'm on top of the world! Wooooo!"

WaveMaker stuck his head out of the top of the speeding train, then drained a bottle of alcohol and tossed it. Skyline Breezer pulled him back into the train and kissed him.

"Don't forget about me there sweetie."

"Oh, I didn't plan to."

The two chuckled and Skyline Breezer stood up. She walked over to the door of the single trailing car and stared at the sky. WaveMaker walked up beside her and hugged her.

"We have it all don't we?"

"We sure do."

Just as WaveMaker kissed Skyline Breezer on the cheek, the train shuddered and Skyline Breezer fell into the train car. WaveMaker tried to move to help her up, but the car door closed in front of him.

"Skyline. Skyline!"

Skyline Breezer stood up and ran over to the door when she heard her husbands yelling. She began pounding on the door with her hooves and screaming, though no noise could be heard. WaveMaker hit the glass with his hoof, and the car unhitched. The train started speeding away, leaving the car behind and separating the two.

"Skyline!"

As WaveMaker watched his wife get farther and father away, tears started falling. The car tipped on its side and started aflame. All WaveMaker could do was watch.

"Sir?"

WaveMaker snapped awake and looked around. He looked up with a questioning face at the dark green earth pony mare that had shaken him.

"Huh?"

"Sir, are you okay? You were thrashing around something terrible."

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, just a bad dream."

"Oh shoot, no need to apologize. I know where your coming from."

The mare flipped her red hair back and sat down beside WaveMaker.

"Where are my manners, BrickLayer, nice to meet you."

"WaveMaker, and likewise."

"So what're you here for? You seem to be fine."

"My wife has a tumor, I came out here to sit and think for a minute."

"Dang, sure hope she can recover."

"Me too. What're you here for?"

"Well, my cousin got a peice of rebar jammed through his one leg. Dumbass was jumpin' off the roof tryina land in the pool."

"Ow, that would hurt. I hope he heals up soon."

WaveMaker smiled sympathetically, but couldn't help but laugh a little on the inside at the ridiculous story.

"Ah, he should be out any minute now, we've been here a few hours by now. Simple, um, removing metal from leg surgery, I'm sure they done it before. Hope so at least, it's kinda embarrassin', figure they don't exactly have a discrete code for 'dumbass with metal pole stuck in leg' around here."

"That's true."

BrickLayer nodded and leaned back in her seat. After a little while, an orange earth pony stallion with a tan and blue mane hobbled out and over to BrickLayer. She got up and walked over to him and the doctor that had accompanied him.

"How is he doc?"

"Well, we were able remove the rebar from his leg without causing any damage, and the fragment didn't hit any nerves, bones, muscles, or blood vessels. I advise you to be more careful sir, and stay away from the rooftops. Wouldn't want you bleeding out on stage now would we?"

"Sure wouldn't doc, we'll keep him safe."

"Alright, have a nice day now you two."

"Thanks doc, you too. Well, let's get you home then. I'll see ya 'round WaveMaker, my best regards to your wife."

"Thank you. Quick question though, if I may?"

"Sure thing, shoot."

"On stage. What did he mean?"

"Oh, my cousin Critical Acclaim here's the guitarist in a rock band. They're actually playing the show in Ponyville coming up."

"Oh cool. Me and my wife were gonna be in that show too, but I'm not sure if we will considering her condition."

"Dang, that sure sucks. Maybe she can stay here and rest while you do the show?"

"Eh, I don't know. The song we were gonna do was a duet, and she played the guitar for it."

"Hmm, well. Perhaps you could find somepony else to do it with ya?"

"Maybe."

"Well, good luck on that. See ya 'round."

"Bye."

The two ponies walked out of the hospital, leaving WaveMaker alone. As he stood up, he sighed, and walked over to the snack machine. He inserted three bits and pressed two buttons in succession. After taking a view of the chocolate bar the machine dispensed, he looked at the clock. It read five forty-seven.

"Hmm, maybe just another half hour or so?"

WaveMaker finished the candy bar and threw the wrapper in a nearby garbage. He sighed heavily as he sat back down. After another minute, he looked down and closed his eyes for a bit longer than a standard blink.

"Fuck man, I just want this while thing to be over."

Octavia stretched and rubbed her eyes as the light gently cascaded through the window into her bedroom. Through only a moment of silence, Octavia could hear birds chirping and a gentle breeze blowing the trees. As she walked out into the kitchen, she yawned.

"Well, sure did get a good sleep. Glad I opted for that better bed."

She smiled as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. As she reached into the refrigerator for the milk, she turned and looked at the TV.

"Hm, couldn't hurt."

She poured the milk on the cereal and put the milk back in the fridge. As she walked over to the living room and set her bowl down, she picked up the remote and flipped on the TV.

Welcome back to Can You Do It? where contestant Corporate Office is challenged with drinking fourteen liters of carrot juice in two minutes. CAN HE DO IT?

"Can I change the channel? Yes."

Octavia chuckled to herself at her mocking and changed the channel.

Buy it now and you can earn free shipping and handling. But that's not all-

Baby, you got me all wrong, it ain't like this.

Then what do I do with the monkey?

And there were no survivors.

"Ah, here we are, the news."

Up next, crowds are hyped for the upcoming talent performance in Ponyville. Here's Scratch Ticket with the report.

Thanks Big Scoop. As you can see by the various posters and flyers scatteredabout, ponies are getting very excited about the talent show going on. With performances from the big and the small, the famous and the non, ponies are coming from all over Equestria to watch or perform. Miss, do you have time to answer a few questions for us?

"Hmm, ponies from all over Equestria? This could be a perfect time to fundraise for drug awareness! That would help with Vinyl's resume if I can get her out for it. Hmm, I'll go down to Helping Hooves and see if I can make that work!"

Octavia quickly ran into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. After brushing her mane down in the mirror, she ran out the door and locked it shut. In her excitement, she had forgotten to turn the television off.

Breaking news. During a prison riot at Big Gate Prison, nine convicts have escaped. The riot was apparently started by Open Mind, murderer of former star Octavia Melodys agent, Platinum Record. While it is unknown exactly who all has escaped, we assure you the police are working as hard as possible to find these escaped convicts.