Doctor Vitro took a step back. “So far so good,” she said, more to herself than me. “Pulse is faster and a lot stronger than last time. Almost normal for a filly her age.” After a content nod, she recorded it on the parchment and slate floating in her telekinesis.
She pointed towards one of the only parts of the white marble wall free of furniture. “Please stand over there, I wanna see if you’ve grown.” Vitro pulled a pencil out from her saddlebags. Once I was in place, she marked my height with her pencil. A few moments later, she measured it and scribbled the result. Again, she nodded. “Grown about two centimetres,” she mumbled, more to herself than me.
Leaving me no time to ponder, she gestured to the sofa. “Lie down, please. On your back.”
The first time I’d seen her, she had complained that my family did not have a proper physician’s room in our residence, and that she had to use a mundane guest room for when she treated me. Since then, Papa had provided her with additional equipment, stored in the various cabinets and drawers. Though likely far from good enough, it did halt her complaints.
I did as told, and mentally braced myself for the invasion of privacy that was about to befall unto me. She was a doctor, and was thus expected to perform examinations such as this one. Nothing in her demeanour indicated any indecent intent.
Still, I held no fondness for the procedure, especially considering her vexatious habit of mumbling her findings to herself, no matter how curt or unpleasant they might be. To my colossal relief, she merely glanced over my more private areas, commented about everything being in order, then moved on to my barrel.
“Incisions have scarred up nicely.” She wrote on the parchment. “Much faster than expected, actually, given the patient’s previous condition.”
Though four months had passed already since my last checkup, I understood her surprise. In my previous state, wounds like these would have needed years to merely close, yet alone fully heal.
Content, Vitro moved up my body again, checking my chest’s fur for irregularities. Finally, she turned her attention to my head. Levitating out a glowing crystal from her pouch, she inspected each of my ears, then my eyes.
“Well then, Lady Fell. It seems the procedure has not only been a success, but the recovery equally so.” Her gleeful tone came more from the positive results of her experiment, and less from my recovery. This mare hardly ever cared about anything other than her personal research.
“So…” My voice was weak, full of hesitation. I had already known I was doing better. I could feel it throughout my body. Movement was easier, fatigue only came towards the end of a day, and my appetite had reached new heights. Yet, I was so deathly afraid of her answer to my next question. “Does that mean I will one day be well enough to travel?”
Vitro grimaced and shook her head, then furrowed her brow as she looked at the ceiling. She let her gaze wander for a moment before letting out a “huh” as she stared past me. She bit her lip, then made a popping sound with her mouth.
Finally, after drawing out her reflection for much longer than necessary, she shrugged. “I doubt it, but I could be wrong. As far as I know, there’s a fifty-fifty chance of you dying in the first month. But after that? Who knows how well your body would adapt. The treatment for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva already weakened you quite a tad, and I have no idea how you’d react to the outside’s… what’s the word—” she gestured at the air in the room, “—thing. You know what I mean. Anyway, your body doesn’t know how to deal with it, so it’s all unknown.”
Even after it was cured, this disease still held a grip of iron on my life. I was no longer turning to bone, but I still would never be able to leave the family estate. What good was there in that?
Oh, I had stopped listening to Vitro. I forced my attention back towards chaotic speech. “...But maybe you’ll only need a few days to adapt.” She narrowed her eyes and hesitated for a moment before adding, “Of course, should you insist on trying anyway, and should your family allow it, I will be there all the way with you.”
Taking notes, no doubt.
I did not vocalise that comment. “I see,” I replied as evenly as I could. Again, the answer did not really surprise me, and it ought not to. I would have been a foal to believe my life held any chance at freedom. Any chance of getting out of this miserable residence and seeing even a fraction of the world. Of living even half the life of a normal pony. Of finding love, of sleeping under the stars.
Really, there was no reason for me to be on the edge of tears. The life I had read about in so many books would remain outside my grasp, forever inaccessible.
But I knew that already; I had no reason to feel upset. I thanked the doctor for her work and left the guest room. It took everything I had not to tear up on the way to my room, even though nopony would have seen me.