Alabaster
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The room smelled of aged sugar, like overripe berries. Vinyl wrinkled her nose in a futile attempt to block it out. She had long since abandoned any hope of finding the source, so she simply did her best to ignore it.
The stallion sitting across the table from her muttered something. Vinyl glanced at the mug he held between two unsteady hooves, and, noticing it was empty, seized it with her magic. “Let me get that for you,” she said as she rose from her plastic chair and walked over to the sink, mug in tow.
“Don’t you have some homework you need to do?” the stallion grumbled, his thin grey mane falling over one eye and making him look somewhat angry.
“No, dad. I graduated.” Vinyl filled the mug with water and returned to the table, placing it gently in front of her father.
“Graduated, nothing. I picked you up from school a few hours ago.” He picked up the mug again, but didn’t drink. His tongue flickered out to wet cracked lips, but he still didn’t drink.
Vinyl didn’t reply. She looked around the room, finding nothing new or out of place. A shelf held a few pictures in crappy frames. She didn’t remember buying them for him, so they were probably from the staff. They were cheap, generic, meant to hold the illusion of importance. She found them a little insulting, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about something so trivial.
“Hey Vi,” the old stallion muttered.
“Yeah, dad?”
He shakily raised the mug to his lips and took a tiny sip, less than a drop.
“Vi,” he repeated.
“Yeah?” Vinyl replied patiently.
“You got yourself a special somepony?”
Vinyl chuckled quietly, and images of treble clefs flooded her mind. “I sure do.”
“If he doesn’t treat you right, lemme know. I’ll sort him out.” He nodded resolutely, causing his mane to fall further over one eye.
The daughter just chuckled again. Even well after she had moved out, her father had paid keen attention to anypony she spent her time with, making sure they knew the consequences of trifling with his daughter. It was just one of life’s little jokes that he never realised he was hunting the wrong kind of pony.
But those days were far behind them both. She had made a life for herself, and found somepony who she wanted to spend the rest of that life with. Her male friends hadn’t received a threatening visit from an old alabaster stallion in many years.
As for the stallion himself…
“What about you, dad? Found any hot nurses you can run away with?” She winked, though it was doubtful he noticed.
“No, no… too much cold in the air to go running.” He kept mumbling, still rolling the mug between his hooves.
Vinyl kept her smile going. He told her once, in a moment of clarity, that he loved her smile, and during her angry teenage years he had missed it. So now she smiled as much as she could when visiting him to try and make up for it.
“Do you want me to turn the heater on?” she asked.
The father took a big gulp from his mug and set it smartly on the table before looking at her in surprise. “Vinyl? Shouldn’t you be in class? Big day today, you don’t wanna be late.”
“Don’t worry, dad,” she replied, smiling despite her unsteady voice. “I have today off.”
He frowned at her. “Well why in Equestria are you here? Go out and play with your friends!”
“They’re all busy. I thought maybe we could spend the day together, just us.” Vinyl swallowed back the lump in her throat, but didn’t stop smiling.
“We’ll have plenty of weekends for that, Vi! Go outside, make new friends, have some fun!” He waggled a hoof at her warningly. “But if I see you fooling around with any colts, you’ll be in big trouble!”
“I-I won’t, dad. I promise.”
She made no move to get up and leave. It was only midday, and she wanted to spend the entire day with him. For a while he just stared at her expectantly, yet, as always, his attention inevitably drifted and he looked away. Vinyl kept smiling.
“Do you want any lunch, dad? I think they’re serving a really nice salad today.”
The stallion snorted. “Don’t patronise me, Vi. I know what’s going on here.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “You forgot to get me a present this year, didn’t you?”
She didn’t know which occasion he thought it was, so she just nodded meekly and went along with it.
“Ah, don’t worry about it. You need that money to pay for classes, anyway.” He grinned and brushed the hair away from his eyes. “Maybe once you graduate, you’ll have enough money to move out, huh?”
Vinyl giggled. “You tryin’ to get rid of me, dad?”
“Never! I just think it’s good for you to get out and see the world on your own.” Smiling warmly, he reached across the table and touched her cheek. “You’re growing up so fast, Vi. One day I’ll blink, and you’ll be a grown mare, out taking on the world.”
The DJ closed her eyes so he wouldn’t see them water, smiling all the while. “One day. But right now, I’m still your little girl.”
“Don’t go all sappy on me now! What happened to the rough, tough, back-talking filly I used to know?” He withdrew his hoof and mimed a fighting stance.
She laughed, and he joined her. Her mirth quickly turned bitter at the realisation they probably weren’t even laughing at the same thing anymore.
As it had done so the day before, and the day before that, a sudden, sharp pain pierced her heart. She hated this. Not because of where she was, or knowing she would come back here again tomorrow and do it all again, but because of what her father had been reduced to.
They said it would be any day now. That was three months ago.
He was a strong-hearted pony in his prime. What kind of sick twist of fate was it that he was condemned to forgetting and remembering himself every few minutes? Who deserved this kind of punishment?
Sometimes she wished it would come and let him finally rest. She absolutely hated herself for thinking that way.
Every day now, for the past half-year, she put her entire life on hold to come in here and sit with him. Sometimes he accepted her offer of lunch. Sometimes he just ignored her for the entire time. She wasn’t allowed to get upset. If she got upset, he might get upset, and they wouldn’t let her see him anymore.
This was her life now. She had to be there with him. She had to make up for everything. Every time she stormed out of the house in a rage, every time she screamed I hate you because she didn’t get what she wanted. Those dumb arguments, those petty insults, she needed to make up for every last one while she still could. Every bad memory hurt her almost as much as seeing him like this.
But the thing that hurt most of all?
Having these exact same thoughts every day.
Sometimes she wondered which of them was really stuck in a loop.
She came here yesterday, thought these thoughts, said these things.
She would come here tomorrow, think these thoughts, say these things.
And the only possible ending was too painful to think about. She still had too much to make up for before then. So many mistakes.
“Hey dad,” she said.
He took a micro-sip from his mug.
“Dad, I love you, okay?” she continued.
“Will you turn the heater on already? It’s freezing in here,” he replied irritably.
“Dad, please tell me you love me.”
“It’s getting late, Vi. You should start on your homework before dinner.”
A thin trickle of liquid rolled down Vinyl’s left cheek. “I finished my homework, dad.”
“Good girl. You gotta study hard to get anywhere in this world.”
Vinyl slid off her chair and trotted over to the heater, keeping her back to the pony behind her so he couldn’t see her face. She took her time turning it on, trying to subtly wipe away tears as she did so. If she got upset again, they probably wouldn’t let her visit him for a week. The staff tried to be understanding, but they had a job to do and she wasn’t allowed to make it more difficult, no matter how hard it was to keep smiling.
The heater crackled to life and she took a deep breath before turning back to the table. “There you go. Nice and warm now.” She walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Dad? I turned the heater on.”
“I’ve never liked that old heater. It makes a rattling noise at night.” He frowned and touched her face with a shaking hoof. “You should find yourself a special somepony, Vi. Cold winters like this are what love is for.”
“I-I’ve got somepony, dad. I’m in love,” Vinyl said quietly.
His eyes widened, carrying the innocence of a child within their old borders. “You are? Come here.” He pulled her into a hug that she gladly accepted. “I know I give you a hard time about colts, but if he makes you happy, just ignore everything this old fool says, alright? I won’t have you throwing away something good just cause I don’t like his mane style or something.”
She buried her head in his shoulder. “You’re not an old fool, dad.”
His chest vibrated with a breathless laugh. “I’ve been an old fool my whole life, Vi. Next thing you know, you’ll be visiting me in a nursing home.” She couldn’t see his face, but she felt his head shake slowly. “I wasted so many years. When you were little, I treated every day as if you’d never grow up. I should’ve done more. I should’ve bought you more toys and taken you around the world. I should’ve taken more time just to play with you, not just sent you outside with the other kids.” Silently, he began to shudder, and Vinyl realised with a start that he was crying.
“I’m so sorry, Vi. I wasted our time together, and now look at you, a grown mare in love, and I’ve missed it all.”
Tears spilled down Vinyl’s cheeks and she squeezed her father even tighter. “No you didn’t, dad. I’m the one who messed up. I was such a brat and a monster and I called you things you didn’t deserve and I’m so so sorry dad!” She broke down entirely, choking on her sobs and hoping to hear the words she needed.
“Vinyl…” His voice was full of wonder. “You were never a monster.”
She pulled back to look into his red eyes. “D-do you forgive me daddy?”
He held her closer and stroked her mane with one hoof. “Of course I do. I love you, Vi. Nothing will ever change that.”
Vinyl relaxed into the embrace, a small, wobbling smile gracing her lips. “I love you too, dad.”
They remained together, father and daughter, having finally reached the catharsis they both sought.
But the cruelty of time meant only one could hold onto it.
“Vi? Why are you crying? Don’t tell me you’re getting all sappy on me now!” the stallion chuckled, unaware of his own tear-stained cheeks.
The daughter reluctantly released him from the embrace and returned to the chair on the opposite side of the table. She scrubbed at her cheeks and puffy eyes, but her smile had never been wider. “I’m okay, dad.”
“Did some colt do this to you? Because I’m still fit enough to tango with the best of them, don’t doubt that for a second!” He mimed a fighting stance.
Vinyl laughed loudly, freeing the genuine elation in her heart. She would still come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, but she wouldn’t spend each day waiting for it all to end. Because he loved her, he truly loved her, and he wouldn’t want her to live like that. Instead, she would make each day special to him. She’d bring more photos and memories and relive them all alongside him.
She couldn’t fix her mistakes, but maybe she didn’t need to.
Maybe this was fate’s final blessing to the good.
To forget.
