This is stockholm syndrome pure and simple. The fact they 'cleared' her of mental issues is due to three simple facts. Trixie is a talented actress is the first one. She clearly had the ability to fake being normal well enough to pass. Her special talent is showmanship, and love her or hate her she is dam good at it. Even Snails is questioning if Trixie is all better for a while there, until she slips and reveals she is still quite brainwashed.
The second being that Trixie is, even prior to her kidnapping, VERY lonely. It's quite plausible that she really doesn't have a single person she feels actually gave a fuck about her in any meaningful way. Snails is disastrously simple minded, to the point he is certainly mentally and emotionally handicapped, but I do get the feeling that in his own twisted way he really does everything because he loves her and he thinks it's best for her. That honestly makes it all the more terrifying. Snails is too simple to realize that he is deluded. Due to Trixie's brainwashing, which Snails really only thought was just showing her that he truly loved her, she comes to accept that Snails does care for her. However the irony is that it was Snips that is the most responsible for breaking Trixie/completing her brainwashing. Snips' assault on her is what terrifies her the most, and it was Snails in his own deluded way that protected her from the worst case scenario. Snips' second appearance, which comes while Trixie is still resisting, if only partly, Snails' "love treatment", puts the final nail in and completes the process. For here is Snails once more defending Trixie from what she sees as an even worse monster. While unintentional on both Snips' and Snails' part, it cinches Snails' role as Trixie's kind and caring Knight in Shining Armor/Master. Incidentally this is an actual methodology used in brainwashing, the Loving Master and the Abusive Tormentor. Master protects the slave from their Tormentor, and in return the slave finds themselves more and more willing to obey/give themselves over to Master.
The third fact relates back to the 2nd one. Nobody actually cared about Trixie, except Snails. This fact is the most saddening. From the beginning the police simply approach Snails hoping that HE will tell them to not bother looking for her, that he would say she isn't worth the time. Ironically if Snails were actually a true villainous bastard, he would simply say she up and left/was not worth the effort, and NOBODY would care. He would never have been caught and could have broken Trixie like the sick fuck Snips actually is. Snails however was the one to tell the cop "No you HAVE to keep looking for her. She IS important." When the cop notices the basement door, he simply decides that it's too much effort/Trixie isn't worth it. Thus, IMO, it didn't matter if Trixie could act normal or not. Nobody in Ponyville seemed to care about her, merely about how much trouble Snails was in. Even the cop, who damn well should know better, is partly relieved that Snails is released. "She isn't pressing charges and has been 'cleared' medically? Fuck it let the kid go. We don't need to waste anymore time/punish poor boy because of that useless bitch he is sadly obsessed over." The entire bit comes off leaving a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. It's honestly like the only reason they would have punished Snails if she had died was because they had to, not because of Trixie's life having been taken. That being said, I've lived in small towns before. There really are places where all the locals will treat an 'outsider' like that. Thus while I find that part distasteful, it doesn't strain my SoD in the slightest.
I cried
This is stockholm syndrome pure and simple. The fact they 'cleared' her of mental issues is due to three simple facts. Trixie is a talented actress is the first one. She clearly had the ability to fake being normal well enough to pass. Her special talent is showmanship, and love her or hate her she is dam good at it. Even Snails is questioning if Trixie is all better for a while there, until she slips and reveals she is still quite brainwashed.
The second being that Trixie is, even prior to her kidnapping, VERY lonely. It's quite plausible that she really doesn't have a single person she feels actually gave a fuck about her in any meaningful way. Snails is disastrously simple minded, to the point he is certainly mentally and emotionally handicapped, but I do get the feeling that in his own twisted way he really does everything because he loves her and he thinks it's best for her. That honestly makes it all the more terrifying. Snails is too simple to realize that he is deluded. Due to Trixie's brainwashing, which Snails really only thought was just showing her that he truly loved her, she comes to accept that Snails does care for her. However the irony is that it was Snips that is the most responsible for breaking Trixie/completing her brainwashing. Snips' assault on her is what terrifies her the most, and it was Snails in his own deluded way that protected her from the worst case scenario. Snips' second appearance, which comes while Trixie is still resisting, if only partly, Snails' "love treatment", puts the final nail in and completes the process. For here is Snails once more defending Trixie from what she sees as an even worse monster. While unintentional on both Snips' and Snails' part, it cinches Snails' role as Trixie's kind and caring Knight in Shining Armor/Master. Incidentally this is an actual methodology used in brainwashing, the Loving Master and the Abusive Tormentor. Master protects the slave from their Tormentor, and in return the slave finds themselves more and more willing to obey/give themselves over to Master.
The third fact relates back to the 2nd one. Nobody actually cared about Trixie, except Snails. This fact is the most saddening. From the beginning the police simply approach Snails hoping that HE will tell them to not bother looking for her, that he would say she isn't worth the time. Ironically if Snails were actually a true villainous bastard, he would simply say she up and left/was not worth the effort, and NOBODY would care. He would never have been caught and could have broken Trixie like the sick fuck Snips actually is. Snails however was the one to tell the cop "No you HAVE to keep looking for her. She IS important." When the cop notices the basement door, he simply decides that it's too much effort/Trixie isn't worth it. Thus, IMO, it didn't matter if Trixie could act normal or not. Nobody in Ponyville seemed to care about her, merely about how much trouble Snails was in. Even the cop, who damn well should know better, is partly relieved that Snails is released. "She isn't pressing charges and has been 'cleared' medically? Fuck it let the kid go. We don't need to waste anymore time/punish poor boy because of that useless bitch he is sadly obsessed over." The entire bit comes off leaving a REALLY bad taste in my mouth. It's honestly like the only reason they would have punished Snails if she had died was because they had to, not because of Trixie's life having been taken. That being said, I've lived in small towns before. There really are places where all the locals will treat an 'outsider' like that. Thus while I find that part distasteful, it doesn't strain my SoD in the slightest.