The night was uneventful with Jewel, I mean Mind Mend. I have to stay professional to end this, infatuation.
Doctor Star chided his emotional lapses as he was led to the first interview room, doing his best to avert his gaze from following the tail of the mare ahead of him. Why she insisted on guiding him personally everywhere, was beyond his understanding, and he didn’t care. As long as he’d be able to focus on the job at hoof.
“Here you go, dear. Now, stay calm when you’re in there and no matter what, remember me and the reason you’re here.”
What an odd way to talk to me, Doctor Star thought as he looked at the sealed door ahead of him. It looked like the door that would lead into a freezer at an industrial restaurant; a sight he’d come to adore over his career, yet abhor at the same time.
Whatever creature lied beyond the threshold was almost always deserving of the reason they were in that room, and he was going to be thrust into the maw of the chimera. Only question was which head would he have to fight first.
“Doctor Star?” Mind Melds voice rang in his ears, returning him to the moment he didn’t know he’d left, “I understand you hold some concerns, and if you don’t feel-”
“I’ll be fine, Doctor. Just,” he sighed and looked at his hoof as it poked the tiled floor, right at the edge of a white and black tile, “keep an eye out. I’ve told you how this might go, but…”
“We know, it could go any way. I’ll be in observation and there are three guards ready. She’s a pegasi, so the walls are clouded wide enough for you to-”
“Thanks,” Doctor Star interrupted looking to the door and taking a professional stance, “I’ll enter shortly. Go get ready.”
With a hum in agreement Doctor Mind Meld turned and, with little noise, left the stallion alone in the hallway.
Padded horseshoes? Interesting.
He placed his hoof to the right of the door and gently dragged it down, below the hinge. A second later a purple stallions eye peeked from behind the glass window, set in the door and looked at him.
The door opened outward cautiously and the purple stallion, an earth pony, leaned out, inspecting the doctor’s badges and scrutinizing the pictures of his face and cutie mark, to be certain he was one and the same.
In a hushed voice the stallion spoke. “Come in, quickly.”
The doctor trotted into the doorway, turned sideways and remained still as the door shut.
To his left was the door that quietly closed without even a sound. To his right, he could feel the light wafts of the clouds that had lined the walls. He looked ahead blankly at a unicorn female who was eyeing him like a cat watches a mouse. Without a word or a blink in the twelve seconds they stood staring at one another she nodded to her left, indicating it was time for him to enter the room.
He cantered and passed through the cloud wall and looked around.
Except for the walls and floors every one of these rooms will be the same. This’ the top floor, maximum care, the rooms will be the same. The cushions on the floor are there for comfort and, if I need them, I can use them to defend against blows. Maintain a professional boundary, but remember, it’s your show.
He entered the room and sat on a blue cushion off center and looked to the ceiling.
Must be larger than my entire apartment, he snorted, no matter; my home is a façade, a place to sleep between jobs.
Several minutes passes as he looked around the room patiently waiting until a door, opposite where he entered, opened loudly.
A pony trotted into the room he knew to be his first patient.
"Hello, Miss Light," he greeted her as she walked into the room, the cloud parting as she entered and then closed tightly by a pink pegasus orderly with a stern look in her face.
"My name is Light Blood," she said flatly as she walked to the center of the room then sat on one of the provided cushions, almost robotically.
"Very well, Light Blood. I'm Doctor Star and I'm here to talk with you. Is that okay with you?"
"Whatever," she said, motioning like she was tossing her mane, even though it was cut too short to make an impression.
"I'll take that as 'go to hell' then?"
She looked at him and he saw the expression of surprise on her face. "Y-you're a doctor. A shrink!? You're not supposed to talk," she whispered hoarsely while looking around, "like that."
Possible schizophrenia?
"Well, I'm an adult, like you, Light Blood. I can say what I want, just like you. I felt like saying a bad word. Does that bother you?” he asked curiously. When she pursed her lips and shook her head he turned his head and looked at his raised hoof with interest. “What would you like to say, Light Blood? I imagine all this shit has you as annoyed as any other pony here."
She leaned back and whispered. Almost afraid of what'd happen if she said it out loud.
"C'mon, Light Blood. I can't hear you. No pony is listening, it's just us in here."
“I-I don’t know, is this a trick?”
“What the Hel? What kind of trick would I use that could put me in jail for whatever reason these nuts can make up? It’s only us in here, so, is there something you’d like to say?”
"Mhnnhmm."
"Say it louder," I encouraged.
"I hate my parents."
"Oh, Celestia, come on!" he shouted taking to his hooves, "You're not a filly, tell me what you want to say like the mare you are!"
"I hate my fucking parents!”
“Great!” he shouted, “why!”
“They never supported me! They only showed me off!”
“How’d that make you feel? Don’t let them hold you back, tell me.”
She growled and stood on all fours, spitting onto a pillow beside her. “If they drowned in their own blood I'd pay whoever is in charge to take them to tartarus and burn for a thousand years!”
“Yes! Then what?”
“I'd take every time they said 'you can do better'," she said in a mocking tone, "and buck their heads against the ground. Every time they called me a feather brain for not being the best on a test… I'd," she started to tear up and sob; a good start, "I'd dream of them falling to the ground from the clouds after I plucked their magical 'wings'."
She glared at him when she was done. Heh, it’s my turn; Can't disappoint.
"I hate my teachers! The boring jerks never gave me a break, always called on me first, and put me at the front right of the class! Do you know what that means!?" he asked incredulously rearing and motioning with his hooves to his left.
"You got picked first for every line up," she grunted, looking at the floor angrily.
"That's right! I wanted them to pick anypony else. Why not Star Shine? She was twice as smart as I was and she wanted to be there. At that stupid school. Instead I had to get my cutie mark, the first in my class!"
"Damn them and the schools," she shouted at me.
"Damn parents and cutie marks," I shouted to the ceiling.
They glared at each other for a few seconds before she broke the tension in the room with a giggle. He followed, with a well rehearsed guffaw, not taking his attention off her.
A moment later they were beginning to talk about various things about their personal lives they disliked. Her personal distaste for white flowers and their unique tartness. Him and his dislike of the word ‘literal’ and its overuse.
“Doctor Star, you’re fun. You’re the most fun shrink I’ve ever met.”
“Ah, I’m not a shrink. That’s why.”
She smiled and looked at him. “Then you’re a doctor doctor?”
“Nope, I’m just some guy they picked up off the street. I literally sold white flowers to get here.”
She laughed. He laughed. It was a warm moment for them. “No, in honestly, I am a shrink, but not a normal one. See, I don’t follow all the rules; just like you. That’s why they want me to talk to you, to listen to you.”
She scoffed at him. “So, you’re just like the others? Here to make me better?”
“Do you want the honest answer?” he asked. She nodded. “I don’t give a feathering fuck if you’re out of here or not,” she gasped and recoiled at the harsh words, “I get paid either way. And that I mean, literally.”
She blinked and looked him over before relaxing and laying on the cushion she was on. “Fine, you’re a crazy shrink. What do you expect me to do? Tell you my life story so you can turn it around on me? Treat me like a mare when you really look at me like a foal? Do like the others and make sure I stay here without listening to me, get your bits, and leave?”
He sighed. “If only it were that simple. You see; I don’t know you. I don’t know your family, or anything, really, about your life. But I care,” he said looking at her, “you can kill, and you’ll be killed. You can hurt yourself, others, and spend years here. And the whole time, I’ll care about you because now, I do know one thing.”
She drew a shaky, guarded, breath. “What’s that?”
“That you’re my friend, and I’d have failed you.”
He watched as her eyes watered and, within ten seconds, she’d crossed the two lengths to fall before him, allowing him to hug her as she sobbed. She tried to reach and hug him, but her restraints held her back.
“It’s okay. Even if you hate me for the rest of my life, Light Blood, I’ll always remember you.”
Several minutes passed as she bawled until she was nearly asleep in his forelegs.
“Light Blood, I have to go, but please, stay strong until our next meeting. Okay?”
She agreed in a whisper.
“And next time, don’t be late, okay?”
She snickered. “I had to pee, I’m sorry.”
“No,” he hushed her, “don’t be sorry for anything you can’t control. I’ll see you before you know it.” With that he stood and backed away slowly, watching her until he was almost to the cloud walls. Exiting he heard her call his name and he poked his head through the cloud.
“Doctor Star, please call me Light Clouds, that’s my name; my real name. Not the one I have to have here,” she said giving him the most genuine smile he’d seen from her.
“Wow,” Doctor Mind Mend said as she met him outside the now silently sealed door to the room, “that was… incredible! She’s been here for nearly two years and you’re the first one she’s not only had a positive emotional outburst at, you also got her to cry,” she nearly squealed in excitement.
“Yes, But, I still had to be careful; she, like the others, are here for a reason. She’s just a classic case of parenticide. I’ll schedule two more sessions then give her a pass to level three.”
“What?” Doctor Mind Meld asked loudly, “but that’s not-”
“What exactly are her crimes?” he challenged the mare before him.
“Sh-she wants to kill her parents and had the severed… a body part in her possession.”
He groaned as he turned and began trotting away, her right behind him. “We’re going to your office, as it’s closer.”
She trotted ahead of him and led him turn by turn to her top floor office, waving an orderly behind them to stay outside before she closed and locked the door behind her.
“The reason she is in level five care is because she hates her parents? What a load of horse apples?!” he shouted.
“And the leg of lamb she was cuddling?!”
“Did you even read the files? Or, are you just here to push paperwork?”
“I am not here to be a paper pusher, buddy,” she said stomping her hoof.
“What are her parents names?”
“Winter Medley and Light Mist.”
“Pegasi?!”
“YES!” she shouted in reply.
“Unicorns! Look them up, took me an hour to find it,” he said stepping forward and touching his snout to hers, with a huff.
She leaned back and wiped her nose, then looked at him. “What?”
“Political setup. They’re unicorns who had a pegasi child, they falsified the forms and bribed the reporters to make this concoction to keep their child out of the public sight.”
“Doctor Star, that’s a fine hypothesis, however, even if that were true, what about the leg?”
Doctor Star facehoofed. “Really? I mean, you’re not new to this, so how can you not…” he looked at her growing fury as he spoke to her condescendingly. “Fine, when any sentient creature goes missing they report it to the guard and within the hour search teams are formed. It’s how Equestria works now, no matter what, who, race, tribe, or dispute; the search is on.
"Let’s say this lamb just vanished and was butchered by her. Why, then, was there no blood anywhere else in the entire apartment or on any of her belongings? For that matter,” he said quickly before Doctor Mind Meld could retort, he grabbed a cushion in his teeth and tossed it to the mare.
She caught it, barely balancing it on her back as she looked at him with curious anger.
“That’s how much a lamb weighs. Do me a favor and carry that to the lobby with no pony noticing.”
“What doe-”
“The reason is because there’s no way she found a creature that large, put it into a sack, at the least, moved it to some place so rural that no pony could find it, after she butchered it, expertly, with a vegetarian diet and herbivore lifestyle, none the less: and then went to sleep; in her own bathtub between the times that a maintenance worker would have been scheduled to work on her apartment?!
Even for the insane that’s ludacris!” he shouted raising his left foreleg into the air, “The mare that I met in that room was sane and stable enough to at least have had the knowledge to plan to butcher another living creature and fall asleep with it in her bathtub an hour after that maintenance pony had left.
"Standard political fodder; she’ll be out within the next year.”
“Then she’ll kill her parents!”
He sighed and trotted to the door, past the irate mare. “Read her file, I don’t want to talk about this again. Prepare the paperwork to transfer her to level three care. And, I hope to see you for dinner again,” he said sullenly as he closed the door and heard her muffled shouts through the sealed door.
The orderly was a gruff white earth pony in white scrubs that peered at him like he was nothing, but he didn’t care. He was here to do a job.
He smirked as he realized something.
And that is how we lose an infatuation.