6 - Can't Sleep, Horses Will Eat Me
Lyra decided to try a new tactic. While her patients were slowly revealing more information, it was always through the filter that they knew she was judging and analyzing what they said. She wanted the truth, so she made a quick trip up to Canterlot and spent some of her bits on fancy monitoring devices. Sure they were expensive, though maybe Twilight Sparkle would see fit to reimburse some of it. It would be worth it to watch and listen to her vexing patients in their 'natural' environment.
She trotted through the roads of Ponyville with a smile. Putting them all in the same house was about to pay off big time with the information she'd get. A small part of her asked the larger portion if it was OK to trample their privacy, but the other part scoffed. "They don't have to know, and it's for their good." She stomped a hoof before proceeding. "They're all so miserable in their own way, and I'm the only one helping them."
With the house rigged under guise of a house inspection, she trotted away with a smug grin. With her magic she adjusted her tophat, which had the receiving element inside. With a twist she activated it, and began to listen and see.
The first thing she saw was Sam's huge eyeball hovering just in front of one of the arcane sensors. She squeaked and swapped to another view, instead looking at the pony's profile from a small distance away. He was talking. "I'm telling you, I saw her putting something around here."
A pegasus strode into view, Steven. "I don't see anything, man. Relax. Even if she did, we don't have anything to hide."
Sam wheeled on Steven. "I'm no prisoner! I have rights!"
Lucy's voice joined the conversation from another room. "Quick, tell us the bill of rights for pony land."
Sam grunted in frustration and sank to his haunches. "I don't like the idea of it..."
Steven put a hoof on Sam's shoulder, patting before he leaned in and hugged him rather affectionately. Were they a thing, or were they just good friends? Lyra hadn't suspected either of being a colt cuddler, though that wasn't illegal. She made diligent notes on a floating pad as she strode into her office and settled to watch and listen.
Sam seemed to relax into the embrace and the room went quiet until Lucy came out of her room and spotted them. She stuck out her tongue. "Get a room."
Sam huffed in annoyance. "It's not like you're actually young or anything."
Lucy shrugged. "True enough, but good luck convincing the ponies around here of that. I swear! I went into some advanced math with one and she just got this big grin and said I'd definitely get a 'cutie mark' in numbers for sure."
Sam pointed at Steven's flank. "You already have one of those." They separated as all three looked at the fairly clear picture of a photograph of a butterfly. "Looks like you're still a photographer?"
Steven shrugged a little. "I don't know where to get a camera though." He sagged sadly.
Lyra pumped a hoof with triumph. Yes! She'd get Steven a camera, and he could integrate back into pony society. He was already such a nice soul. Perhaps being united with his purpose would nudge him along the right path.
Lucy tilted her little head. "How do you even take pictures without fingers?"
Sam had an answer for that. "I saw this little horse with a camera around his neck. He was taking pictures without any problems at all, but forget that a moment. Why get a camera? What we need is to get out of this crazy place."
Lucy rolled a hoof with an exasperated expression. "And how do you propose that?"
"Well, dying got me here?"
The room went quiet. Lyra realized she stopped breathing and put a hoof over her heart, trying to calm herself.
Steven shoved Sam lightly. "Don't even joke about that! Equestria's not so bad we should throw ourselves off a cliff. Promise me you won't do that." He was staring at Sam with the most charmingly distressed face. Aw. They really do like each other. Lyra felt her mood brightening at the love she saw.
Lucy shook her head. "Even if you were caught in some kind of reincarnation... thing... the next place you ended up could be significantly inferior to our current situation. It also doesn't explain us, unless you think Steven and I just died in our sleep. I was quite healthy, I'll have you know, and Steven didn't sound like he was leading a sedate life either."
Sam reached out for Lucy, but she nimbly dodged away, only to flop over onto her side. He grabbed her on the second try while she was down. Lyra frowned a little, wondering if Sam was a negative influence on their group. "Now look here. I don't know how it worked with you, but I was definitely going off the side of a cliff. This place is like purgatory or hell or something."
Steven asked with a smile. "Why can't it be heaven?" Lyra didn't understand some of the terms being thrown around, but was building in curiosity.
Lucy wriggled in Sam's hooked arm. "I would hope heaven doesn't have ruffians in it. Release me this instant!"
Steven gestured at Lucy. "Stop picking on her. She's not even half your size."
Sam released Lucy to fall to the ground. "Fine, whatever. I'm going to bed."
Lucy got back to her hooves with an angry snort and walked off towards the kitchen. Steven was soon left alone. "It's not even evening yet..." He sighed and wandered out of view of the sensor.
Lyra turned off her top hat with a twist and frowned with thought. What could she take away from all that?
A: Sam is dangerously unstable and should be monitored as a risk to himself and others around him, possibly suicidal, extremely confused.
B: Steven is, relatively, well adjusted. Secure camera as soon as possible and try to get him involved in photography circles. High chance of recovery.
C: Lucy is the kind of foal that likes to show off her maturity. Perhaps her delusions aren't as fanciful as first diagnosed. She just wants to be seen as a bright little gem pony she is. The human part is a foalish fancy. See about getting her into more challenging classes that will stimulate her.
Lyra tapped her quill against her writing pad a moment, then nodded to herself. There was so much to do.
Is wiretapping your patients legal in Equestria? Probably not. Naughty Lyra. She means well at least.
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Careful, Lyra. "It's for their own good" is grease on the slippery slope.
Also, ignoring the unfamiliar terms all three throw around with apparent familiarity? ... Eh, I can't stay mad at her. She's trying to help and she's focusing on the parts she does understand through the lens of her training.
Also also, Lyra's taste in dapper ensembles continues to amuse me.
A typo came into view of one of the cameras:
Could.
hum so things are progressing but in what direction?
the story just keeps getting better.
Harts Fire
Is wiretapping your patients illegal in Equestria? Probably not. Naughty Lyra. She means well at least.
I think you mean legal.
6009246 He probably meant that Lyra was following the law.
6009251
Yes, but they had an outside source guiding the delusion in those cases. As far as we've seen, Lyra brought this group together and they didn't know each other beforehan- err hoof.
I'm wondering if the author has a twist coming, either they convince her she was a human or she knows she was one and doesn't want to leave Equestria.
6009241
She's gonna have to start taking it into account at some point, though, otherwise she's just going to become infuriating. And right now, I do fully expect that to happen. I mean, for all we know what if this is some kind of origin story of Lyra's fanon-obsession with humans? Like she has a close-encounter with them, and only realizes it at the very end of the experience, and then is obsessed with learning as much about humans as possible for the rest of her life? It doesn't obviously have to take that direction, but it very well could, but it can go wherever so long as she stops being so stubborn at some point. Simply assuming all of your current patients are either deluded or lying to you, even when they all understand each other's alien experiences, does not make for good therapy-practice.
Still enjoying this fic given how it's treating the human-subjects and their experiences in Equestria, but yeah, at some point somepony's going to have to believe them that they're telling the truth, and right now the most likely candidate given how much she's interacted with them is Lyra, but so far she hasn't budged.
I agree, 'tis most comical.
6009241 Typo fixed for better medical clarity.
6009284
Well, since Twilight knows of real humans and still thinks they are delusional... fat chance.
Whether someone is delusional, lucid, lying, or honest, a psychiatrist can only help someone if they WANT to be helped by them.
Ignoring the whole humans thing, is it just me or is Lyra really patronizing? Especially towards Lucy with how she speaks to her.
Well, this is surprisingly entertaining. I look forward to the next installment.
6009383 I think patronizing is something therapists can easily come across as.
6009428 Yeah I know that, one of the things good therapists have to learn is to speak on their level not speaking down at them as it can cause problems on its own where the attitude of the psychologist is making a situation worse.
She's failing that pretty miserably so far.
This is one of my favorite story-types. It's most interesting because, unlike most Human in Equestria type stories, the former human isn't powerful in any sense. Either physical/magic, or social. As a result, it is very hard to make it a Mary-sue type story.
This one, however, is done from a Pony Perspective. Which has happened in at least two other stories.
Silver Eyes and Rainy Skies.
Utterly Improbable.
This is the first one from that perspective with multiple humans however.
6009251 Such cases are not internally consistent. Each one of these patients has a different story for how they came to Equestria, that fits the profile. They also have a clear understanding of concepts not native to Equestria, not found in any research Lyra is familiar with. That does not fit the profile. That, in fact, is a very strong indicator of a common influence among them. She's completely ignoring that avenue of research.
6009596 It usually is.
6009559 She's ignoring anything that doesn't agree with her preconceptions which is exactly the thing any good therapist would never do. She's showing all the signs of a pompous self righteous twit and if she was practicing on earth she'd be setting herself up for a major lawsuit and having her license revoked if she wasn't going to be under criminal charges.
She has no trust and wonders why they won't share the truth on anything with her? She's cajoling and treating even the adults like infantile foals that can't possibly know their own minds and just . . .bad psychologists really bug me. . .
6009760
Yeah, that's all true, but if someone showed up in a psychiatric office in the real world, claiming to be a pony, he wouldn't be taken seriously either.
That doesn't excuse the wiretapping, of course, but that's a separate issue.
6009760 She's a magical talking pony who's special talent is playing an instrument. Don't be too angry at Lyra. She's trying!
6009778 Bluntly, that was her first mistake. All other concerns aside, if she thinks she's dealing with somepony who is a danger to himself and others, it's over her paygrade.
6009777 Wiretapping is when you intercept electronic transmissions. This is just planting a bug. Much less illegal. Ethics, that's another story. Although from my perspective, it's an appropriate measure. There's no way to justify leaving those ponies together unsupervised, whatever is going on. Of course, there's also no way to justify leaving them together period, but at least this is better than not having any safety net at all.
6009760
6009559
I think part of the appeal of this story will be the rabbit hole that Lyra will go down (as well as the rabbit hole the others go down as they do end up acclimating to being ponies). She is learning more all the time, and the more questions it raises, the more she has a chance to grow as a psychiatrist.
It'd be boring (and a short story I think) if she believed it off the bat, but credit to Lyra, I don't think she'll be able to dismiss things entirely. Especially since each group session she is forced to take the position that she believes everything they say. She'll start to speak their lingo soon, it's only a matter of time, and then afterwards she may start to wonder about it.
That said, her job isn't without a point, even if she DID believe them, that may not change the fact that they aren't human now, and are living in Pony Land, so they have to get with the program. And being unhappy and in complete denial about it helps no one.
*edit* Sam himself has issues that'd need to be worked out regardless, for instance.
6009841 Agreed. So far I'm enjoying her bumbling. I do hope she actually follows the rabbit hole rather than turning her back on it.
6009963 Weary or wary?
6009982 Alright. I'm not trying to come across, as an author, as offensive to the transgender community. Lyra's pretty sympathetic towards that as a problem, even to the point of admitting that might be a problem she just can't fix. I'm not sure when Gender Dysphoria(which literally just means discomfort with your gender)... ceased to be a word. The only article I found says a lot of people do NOT want GID to cease being listed as a medical disorder due to most countries that are not America giving GiD people treatment options based on it being a disorder, which means help affording drugs and surgeries that they would otherwise be entirely unable to afford.
6009963
True, it's the subtle creepiness behind the story, except for the fact that, you know, they are actually changed and in a different environment. It's unhealthy to be in denial about that, and they do need help fitting in.
The only true creepy thing about it is Lyra's attempt to get them to acknowledge their lives before now were delusions, but then again that's mostly her private thoughts. She doesn't really force that point of view on them beyond making a few comments about their referencing things with no analog in Equestria. Sure, she can be more believing in the personal interviews, but the group sessions have the right idea.
Well, I think Lyra is behaving rather stupidly right now. Six patients turning up at exactly the same time with the same unlikely self delusion issue is almost impossible by coincidence, especially if the origin of said story does actually exist.
I'm not saying that she should believe them just like that, because she has no evidence for that. But all of her theories and explanations for their "delusions" work on individual basis, which is extremely unscientific, since she is obviously confronted with a group phenomenon.
She should instead try figure out what connects the cases.
6010028
6009963
The term "gender dysphoria" has not been thrown out of the medical system in the last two years. It is definitely still present in the current versions of DSM-5 and the WPATH Standards of Care Ver. 7, so yes, it is most definitely still a relevant term. They changed the name from "Gender Identity Disorder" to "Gender Dysphoria" for a few reasons:
—It doesn't imply one's identity is the issue
—Helps convey that the problem is the distress caused by gender incongruence
—It removes the connotation that the patient is disordered
—It is more appropriate and consistent with familiar clinical sexology terminology.
That's kind of messed up, Lyra. But it gives us a chance to watch too, so it's worth it!
Whoa, why in Equestria would that be illegal? Anyway, I approve. Steven can help Sam to be less crazy.
Oh fak. Lyra's jumping on the Slippery Slope of 'For The Greater Good'. That is... troubling. And bad. Very bad, especially if it progresses more and more and, well...
How many things 'For The Greater Good' end up good in the end?
That's the thing about secrets, Lyra, they always find a way out into the open. Sam's already on to you. Sam already believes he's dead. So what reason will Sam have to care for consequences after your little "what they don't know won't hurt them" becomes known and hurts them?
That's a really slippery slope, and It's hard to get a grip with hooves...
6011843
BECAUSE SEXISM AND Mares are total dicks to stallions !!
Pick any other story and Lyra is crazy obsessed with humans being real. Here it's the opposite. What the heck happened to Lyra?!
I do wish it was, though.