The Eye
It hadn't taken the five long to track down the elusive Neighser Crane. His first mistake was setting up shop in a town with only a couple of psychiatrists to begin with. Once they separated their names from the regular medical doctors, it was just a matter of locating the one who wasn't assigned to Ponyville Hospital. His second was setting up his office in a moderately busy part of town. If it had been exceptionally active, then he would have been found out almost instantly, but a moderate level of business would allow him to earn a steady income while giving him enough privacy to continue his illicit experiments in secret.
And third, the address was clearly printed on the interest slip.
Admittedly, that was the biggest lead.
To everypony's surprise, the building was just a building. There was nothing outwardly sinister, and the small portions they could make out through the light in the windows allowed them to see that it was still normal inside. They could hear a light rustling within, but could see nopony to connect the sounds to. If it weren't for Raindrops' behavior, there would be nothing making this structure any more special than the two it was sandwiched between.
Trixie cleared her throat and stepped to the door. “Come on, girls. Let's get this over with.” She stopped and spun around. “Remember, our first priority is to find out what he did to Raindrops. He might be evasive, or we might have to piece the answer together in between his cackling. Doctors like this are like politicians; they want nothing more than to burst out in evil laughter, but have to contain that impulse to be presentable.”
Carrot Top raised an eye. “And how do you know this?”
Trixie scoffed and adjusted her pointy hat. “Plenty of crazy ponies have had audiences with Princess Luna. Why, just a couple weeks before I came to Ponyville, there was this one nut who had this plan for a machine that would let you talk to anypony else with one. What, aren't letters and magic good enough for this guy?” She spun around. “But enough talk! We've waited long enough. Time to get some answers.”
Her hoof pounded against the door, creating an echoing knocking noise that pervaded throughout the night air. After the third knock, however, the latch suddenly gave way, sending the whole thing swinging open in a cacophony of squeaking hinges and creaking wood. The ponies looked about themselves for a moment, but finally just shrugged and went into the lion's den.
Neighser Crane's front lobby was not that different from any normal doctor's waiting room, at least when it came to the small country town ones. There were two couches sitting in perpendicular directions against a wall and joined by a small corner table, all of which looked like they had fallen out of the back of a garbage cart. A couple of magazines and books, many of them for foals, were strewn across the floor and seats, their edges worn and tattered. There was no receptionist, nor any guard; the only occupants were the five brave ponies.
And whoever was on the other side of the door at the end.
There was clearly light coming form underneath the crack, and the rustling of papers could be clearly made out. “So if we have the right place...that must be Doctor Crane's office,” said Lyra.
The others nodded. “Then we just need to get him out here, make him spill the beans, and we'll have Raindrops back in time for dinner,” Trixie mumbled. “So, who wants to take point?”
Carrot Top raised an eyebrow. “Take point? Trixie, this is a psychiatrist, not a sun deity. It's not like he has an army of evil minions on the other side just waiting to pounce on anypony who breaks in.”
Trixie groaned. “But they can burrow into your brain if you aren't careful! Just one wrong word and we'll all be talking about how our daddies never played with us and why we think sauerkraut goes great with pancakes!” She waited the customary five seconds for this to sink into everypony else's brains, and another three for them to process the appropriate facial reaction, before continuing. “It's delicious and you don't know what you're missing.”
Cheerilee giggled and put a hoof over Trixie's shoulders, pulling her in just slightly for a small hug. “I think you might be overselling the problem. Sure, they can make you talk about things you want to hide, but that's because they want to help. This guy might be a nut, but I'm sure with a little proper discourse, he'll be perfectly willing to put our friend back the way she was.”
She trotted up to the door and knocked. “Hello? Dr. Crane? It's Miss Cheerilee, the teacher at Ponyville Elementary!”
There was a momentary pause, followed by another voice, this one sounding far more snobbish than a mid-level Canterlot noble. “How can I help you?”
Cheerilee turned back to the others and winked. “I'm friends with Raindrops. She got so much better after she came here that I was hoping you could help me, too.”
Another pause, then more speech. “And you have problems with anger management as well?”
“Oh, yes,” said Cheerilee. “It's exhausting dealing with a school full of sugar-filled little foals every day. Not too long ago, one of my students almost killed me, and I was so angry that I put the fear of Luna in her father. Imagine if I had done that to the poor little darling?!”
She broke into tears that would make a crocodile shake its head in disbelief. “I'm a monster! I can't trust myself with my students' welfare if I can act out like that! How can I face the PTA knowing I might snap and condemn them all at a moment's notice? Please, Dr. Crane, I beg of you, free me from this-”
“Madam, do not insult my intelligence.”
Cheerilee reared up and stepped away, looking at her friends with a sheepish, sorry grin. The others, for their part, shook their heads in disbelief at just how much of the schoolteacher's body was apparently made of ham. “Um...guess I kind of oversold it?”
“State your real business or leave,” said the voice. “I am in the middle of a very important report and have no time to entertain some corn-schucking excuse for a teacher...”
Contrary to popular belief, it isn't really possible for a pony to react instantaneously to somepony's words. That was because the pony brain wasn't able to process information until it had sufficiently processed what was happening and accessed the correct response. Sometimes, however, the data received managed to trip over some corruption in the pony's central processing system, and instead of computing an appropriately civil response, would instead cause the pony to act out. This was one such moment, as no sooner had Cheerilee's mind finished processing Dr. Crane's insult than she had spun around on her hooves and bucked the door right off its hinges.
Everypony stared at the destruction unleashed by Ponyville's best teacher, including Cheerilee herself. It took them even longer to realize they were now staring at the innermost lair of Dr. Crane himself.
The room was the size of a typical office, with not much in the way of furniture to take up space. A long, brown fainting couch sat against the left wall, while a similarly-colored armchair sat facing it from the other wall. Next to the chair was a long table covered in notepads, a couple stuffed toys in case of children needing therapy, and a half-finished tossed salad with scrambled eggs. The walls were bare save for framed diplomas from universities across Equestria, many of them no doubt honorary. And sitting in the chair was a middle-aged, balding, whitish-gray unicorn stallion, looking at the intruders with an expression of mild disinterest. “Ah, the Elements of Harmony. I should have figured.”
“Should have figured?” Trixie entered the room first, looking more than a little bit cross at the stallion. “Just about everypony in Ponyville knows who we are. Wasn't Cheerilee's name a giveaway?”
The stallion climbed out of his chair. “As much as it may bruise your egos, I really don't care who you are. The only interest I took in the Tyrant Sun's return was academic; a crocked-up tale about some valiant heroes letting the villain escape does not sound nearly as interesting. I wouldn't even know about the term were it not for the Night Court constantly badgering me to use my understanding of the pony mind to bring you under their thrall. Not that I would ever work for them, not after dealing with that pompous vicereine's family.”
Trixie blushed and hid her eyes under her hat a little, just in case Ditzy decided to rub how wrong she was in her face. Fortunately, Lyra – who was probably sleeping on the couch tonight and already had nothing to lose – had significantly less shame. “Okay, whatever, we don't care, either. We want to know what you did to our friend!”
Crane very loudly cleared his throat. The hacking noise came out at just the right frequency to seriously irritate all five ponies. “You're adults. I assume that you have heard of doctor-patient confidentiality...”
“I am a Representative of the Night Court.” Trixie stepped forward, doing her best to look impressive. “As far as I am concerned, this is an official investigation. And once I submit my report to Princess Luna, I am certain she'll agree with me as well. So, you can talk to us, or you can wait for the Guard to come visit.”
Trixie needn't have bothered with the last part. The minute Crane heard the words “report” and “Princess Luna” in the same sentence, his eyes lit up like a foal about to open the biggest present on Hearth's Warming Eve. Even the snooty scoff and upturned nose that followed did little to cover how much his inner child was cheering. “Now that you put it that way, I would be happy to tell you everything. When Raindrops came to me last night, we began with a short session. Nothing serious, of course; we just needed to get to know each other a little better before I could begin opening her up...”
----------
“And that's really all there is, Doc.” Raindrops sighed and closed her eyes, letting the couch's upholstery rub gently against her back as she took in a deep breath. “I've tried everything from medication to counseling to anger management, and nothing works. When I get mad, I just...”
“Lose control?”
“Exactly.”
Crane's pen scratched across the notepad in that strange language only doctors, pharmacists, and certain pink pastry chefs could read. He leaned his head against one of his forehooves and shifted his posterior in his chair. “I must say, this is quite the case you have here. Anger alone is a problem for anypony, but for somepony with your incredible strength, it can be a public danger.”
Raindrops rolled her eyes and frowned discontentedly. “Tell me something I don't know, doc. And now I'm going to lose my job, my family vacation, everything.” She turned on her left side, and while her expression was as emotionless as ever, a small twinkle flashed in and out behind her irises. “The flier said that you had some new treatment that can cure me.”
Crane nodded. “I have been working on something, yes”
“How many do I take and how often?”
The doctor shook his head. “No, no pills or potions or whatever ponies are poisoning themselves with these days. Those take weeks to work, if they even do anything, and will be quite costly for a pony with no paycheck. What I am proposing is more of a mystical nature.”
Raindrops jerked her head to her right just a bit. “Huh?”
----------
Trixie scowled. “You're talking about magic, aren't you?”
Crane nodded. “Exactly. For too long, we have been circling the cause of a pony's anger management issues. We can shore up their resolve or willpower with medicines and therapy, but those are just surface treatments. To truly cure a case like Raindrops, we needed to go deeper, into the very recesses of her mind itself, and scrub it clean.”
The ponies look among themselves in confusion, then realization, followed by revulsion, and finally topped with a heaping dose of unbridled rage. “You mean you brainwashed our friend?!” shouted Lyra.
Crane leaned back on his haunches, looking slightly offended. “My dear, I did nothing of the sort! What do you take me for, a common charlatan?” The others looked to each other with uncertain eyes, which only served to intensify the “good” “doctor's” wounded pride. “The reason Raindrops was so angry was because her foalhood trauma caused a heightened sense of self-consciousness and anxiety. She was so worried about the mere possibility of lashing out that she set unreasonable standards for herself, eventually turning any expression of anger into a personal failure. All this did was raise her stress even farther, until even the most minor of incidents would cause her to boil over. And instead of coming to an understanding with herself over this, she walled herself off for fear of hurting others with her self-defined deficiencies.”
Trixie nodded. She had seen Raindrops run off before, after the mess with Gilda. She had said it would be only for a few hours, but the mare couldn't help but wonder sometimes...
“So with all of that taken into account, would simply giving Raindrops some therapy and stress balls solved her problem?” Crane continued. “No, there was only one way she would ever be healed, and I offered it to her. A revolutionary new treatment, one I have been perfecting for years...”
----------
The tip of Crane's horn glowed. “Now Raindrops, I will need you to remain perfectly still. You will feel some discomfort through your body, but it will pass after a few minutes.”
Raindrops nodded, her face grim and resolute. “Let's get it over with.”
Crane lowered his head until his horn touched right between Raindrops' eyes. There was a bright flash, and the pegasus suddenly felt every muscle in her body simultaneously tighten and loosen as if she was doing push-ups in an earthquake and hurricane. Her eyes twitched and contorted, going from a death glare to the squee one makes when seeing a newborn puppy in the blink of an eye, and then right back to wishing doom on that puppy. Her mouth flapped uncontrollably, while her vocal chords intoned noises that would not have been too different from baby talk. Her wings went limp, then sprang back up, and finally sort of slid back and forth between the two moods in an uneven pattern.
None of that could match the agony she felt inside. Her mind burned and screamed, her nerves burned with hot agony, and her tongue shriveled from thirst. For all ten seconds, it felt like she had been banished to the sun itself to be tortured for all eternity. That might have actually been a mercy, all things considered.
And then Crane's horn went dark. The doctor pulled his head back as Raindrops collapsed to her knees, panting and holding back tears. “How do you feel?”
“I feel...I feel...”
As horrible as the pain was, Raindrops could not help but smile. “I feel...fine!”
----------
Trixie's eyes narrowed. “She felt fine?”
“As she should,” said Crane. “Like I said, she was not brainwashed. She is still the same Raindrops, with the same memories and life experiences. What my spell does is redirect her brain's impulses and signals. When her mind tells her that she's angry, hurt or upset, the spell blocks those signals and instead activates the parts of her mind that produce endorphins. As such, any anger will instead manifest itself as a smile and friendly laugh.”
“In other words,” said Cheerilee, “the spell keeps her from being angry by making her perpetually happy?”
Crane clapped his hooves. “Exactly! Now Raindrops' problems are cured, and she can be the happy, friendly pony she always wanted to be. Just imagine the good this will do for the rest of Equestria! Nopony will ever feel sad or angry again, no matter what happens. The Night Court will change from a court of feuding nobles to a cadre of compatriots for the common good. Why, we can even cure the insanity of the Tyrant Sun herself! Imagine finally bringing that mad mare back to the realm of the sane.”
The other ponies could imagine that...and it rather terrified them what a calm, in-control Corona might be able to do.
“And it's all thanks to Raindrops. Were it not for her bravery in proving my theories, we might never have...”
“Oh, shut up!”
Everypony's eyes turned to the one pony no one expected capable of such an outburst: Carrot Top. The mare had been completely silent since they had entered the room, but now that the ponies took a good look at her, they realized something: she was angrier than the lot of them put together. Crane shook his head, adjusted his glasses, and did his best to resume the role of the biggest jerk in the ten-mile radius. “That was quite rude, miss. If you had a question, you need only raise your hoof and ask.”
Carrot Top's hoof went up in a flash, brushing uncomfortably against Lyra's belly as it did so. Carrot Top turned to her, apologized, then returned to shooting heat beams at this disgrace to the medical profession. “Have you done this to anypony else?”
Dr. Crane's mouth opened, but closed just as quickly as terror crept across his features. It was several awkward seconds before he spoke again. “Why, yes. I have used the same technique in Canterlot, Baltimare, and when I was the psychologist at that boarding school in Manehatten. I admit that, at first, it was difficult to balance the magical energies and the patient's brain activity to get the desired result. If things were not perfectly synced, there was a chance that the increase in activity in the brain's pleasure center would not be enough to offset the emotional responses. This manifested itself in the form of passive-aggressiveness, sarcasm, a complete removal of social inhibitions, and the inability to differentiate mentally between happiness and depression. But with Raindrops, none of those should have...”
“I'll have you know that she's shown every one of those.” Carrot Top's voice lowered as she stepped forward. “She crushed my back giving me a hug. She threw her bits away on candy that she gave to the boss that got her suspended in the first place. She called her brother retarded, and when we tried to help her, she acted like we were the ones that needed help.”
“W-What?” Crane's jaw drooped just slightly. “B-But it was perfect this time. I did all the research...studied all the incantations...it was perfect...”
“Did you tell her any of this before you zapped her?”
“W-Well, no. She was quite insistent that we administer treatment immediately, and...”
By now, Carrot Top was almost snout-to-snout with Neighser. That did nothing to stop her perpetual motion forward, and the doctor found himself backpedaling as quickly as he could. “I may just be a carrot farmer. I don't have any Masters degrees in psychology or neurology or went to whatever diploma mill you graduated from. Heck, I'm not even a very good businesspony; if it weren't for my friends, I may have gone bankrupt long ago. But if there is one thing I do know, it's that a doctor is not supposed to do any harm. And you have come very close to ruining Raindrops' entire life. Now, do your job and tell us how to get rid of this.”
By now, Crane was firmly pressed against the far wall, his gut practically concave from sucking it in so far. The others quickly ran to Carrot Top's side, Lyra and Cheerilee grabbing her forelegs just in case. Their eyes, however, never left Crane's, and the combined might of five angry faces was more than the doctor could stomach. “Th-There's no cure. It was never designed to be reversible. B-But it can be overwhelmed.”
“How?!” snapped Trixie.
“The only solution is to breach the defenses.” The doctor fought back a sniffle of fear. When anger overwhelms the spell's ability to filter and manipulate her emotions, a part of it is broken down. What happens next is that the spell attempts to mend itself by making the pony even happier, until it beats back the rage and frustration. B-But in a couple patients, if they were made significantly angry, the entire spell would be overran and destroyed.”
Everypony looked among themselves nervously, save for the still-angry Carrot Top. “Y-You mean the solution is to make Raindrops mad?”
“Y-Yes, but not just mad,” said Crane. “It has to be an incredible burst of rage, and it has to be in one sitting. The spell cannot be allowed any time to regenerate or take control again. And since I last tested the spell, I have made it significantly stronger. In Raindrops' case, she may have to reach homicidal levels before it could be broken.”
Carrot Top turned to the others. “We have what we came for. Let's get out of here. And Trixie, make sure you write the report this time. I want Luna to know everything that happened here.”
----------
Carrot Top was still fuming by the time they left Neighser Crane's office. The others gave her a little extra room, just in case she needed to take a couple deep breaths. Not that anypony blamed her; it took all of them every last ounce of self-control not to deck that quack across the snout and toss him into the nearest waste bin. No, reporting him to Princess Luna and having the Royal Guard toss him into a dungeon was the more civilized – and legal – way to go about this.
“I can't believe there's anypony like that in this town,” Lyra grumbled. “This is supposed to be a nicer place than Canterlot.”
“Normally it is,” said Cheerilee. “But he'll be gone soon. The real problem is, what are we going to do with Raindrops? I mean, you heard what he said. The only way to break the spell is to make her angry.”
Everypony froze in place as a single realization torpedoed its way through their minds. For all of their bluster about hunting down Dr. Crane and extracting the truth from his lips, not a single one of them were fans of the proposed solution – both for the sake of their friendships and their bones. Ditzy kicked at the ground nervously, Lyra shook her head in defeat, Cheerilee mentally slapped herself for bringing the topic up, and Trixie just looked up at the moon as if asking Luna for guidance.
“We don't have a choice.”
Everypony turned to Carrot Top. In the time they had stopped moving, the mare had calmed down significantly; at the very least, she no longer seemed ready to introduce Crane's hind regions to the business end of a hoe. That did not mean her gaze lost any of its determination. “We can't allow Raindrops to keep going like this. She's not just hurting herself, but everypony else as well.” She paused. “But I don't think making her 'homicidal' is the answer, either.”
“Then what do we do?” muttered Lyra. “Do you just walk up to her and say, 'Hi, Raindrops! Could you stop being a jerk, please?'”
Carrot Top shook her head. “Of course not. But we can stage an intervention.”
Trixie cocked her head. “Intervention? She's perpetually happy and passive-aggressive, not drunk off her flank.”
“You can have interventions for things besides alcoholism,” said Cheerilee. Her eyes drooped into a reflection of sorrow. “It's not going to be easy. We'll have to find a place where we can surprise Raindrops, and where she can't escape from.”
“We'll have to include her family,” added Ditzy. “Fortunately, I know how to get around the exterior of their house without raising a fuss. I can slip them a note telling them where to go.”
“Let's also do it in the morning, right after breakfast,” said Lyra. “If we give Raindrops time to run off, we might end up chasing her all over like we did today. We just need to point her in the right direction, and once she's there, keep her in place until we've had enough time to get through.”
“We can't do it in her home,” said Carrot Top. “It's...cozy, but too small to fit everypony. The more room we have, the better.”
Trixie nodded along. “Sounds like we have a plan, but before we commit to this, there's one more thing we need to remember...and this is from experience...After we do this, and make Raindrops miserable, there's a chance – a pretty good chance – she won't want to be our friend anymore.”
Everypony went silent. None of them, save Trixie, had even considered what this would do to their relationship with Raindrops. They may have had a set of necklaces and access to the powers of harmony itself, but they were still ponies, and things like this had destroyed plenty of friendships in the past. Was the lie really so bad that it was worth throwing away something so precious?
Cheerilee stepped forward, her eyes burning with tears. “As somepony who's had her fair share of vices...we need to do this. It doesn't matter if Raindrops never talks to us again. What's important is that she faces the truth and gets proper help, not quick fixes and escapes from reality. If we let her stay like this, we'll be just as guilty as Crane.”
Everypony nodded in agreement.
“Now come on. We have an intervention to get ready.”
----------
Raindrops struggled in vain against the first embers of daylight, but alas, that fiery ball was not going to take defiance of a pony's natural habits lightly. The rays intensified in their glare and assaulted her eyes until she finally gave up and rolled out of bed. As just like yesterday, there was a big grin on her face when set her hooves down. Today's another amazing day!
It wasn't until she reached the tiny dining area that she realized there was nopony else in the house. There was no sound from her brother's room; normally Snails would be using at least some of his before-school time to make sure his collection was still in order. Her parents were also gone, with not even a single cereal bowl out of place. The only clue she could find was a single sheet of paper, folded into a triangle on the kitchen table:
Come to the market. We need to have a talk about yesterday.
Raindrops looked at the note for a good number of seconds, analyzing every inch of the writing as if to discern who it was from. Of course, the answer was obvious. “Oh, those guys!” she said to nopony in particular. “They still don't see that this is what I want!” She paused, her smile growing. “What I deserve.” The smile shrank a little, now resembling a normal grin. “Well, guess I'd better go humor them. Maybe this time I can make them understand how wonderful everything is!”
And with that, she took off, pausing only to toss the note into the bushes outside her house.
----------
Ponyville's market was quiet, which made sense as it was still closed. The farmers didn't usually start coming for another hour, and only a couple cafes were open. A pony or two were sitting at one of the wooden tables, munching on bagels and slurping down the blackest coffee (the way Luna liked it), but they paid Raindrops no mind. Of her friends, there was no sign.
That did nothing to damper Raindrops' good mood. The mare whistled a jaunty little tune as she seated herself on one of the public benches. She snorted in a big breath of cool morning air, stretched her limbs across the surface of the seat, and cracked her wings in a way her mother had once said would cause them to fall off when she was as old as Granny Smith. And so she waited, bobbing her head back and forth to the tune of her own heart – not unlike a young romantic in the books she kept tucked under her bed.
“Raindrops!”
Her ears perked up at the voice, and her smile instinctively grew. She didn't need to wait for the pony to come down and land a mere ten feet away. She knew that voice...
----------
Trixie's hoof pounded on Raindrops' front door. “Hello? Raindrops?”
To Trixie's side stood Carrot Top. Neither mare had taken the time to style their manes or properly brush their coats, leaving them looking quite scruffy and fluffy, but that didn't matter. What did matter is that the pony they were trying to help wasn't answering the door. “Maybe we're too late. She may have left already.”
If the Night Court Representative had been listening, she did a poor job of showing it. “Raindrops, it's Trixie. I wanted to invite you to beakfast at my place. We're making gashouse eggs and everything! I promise they're good! I won't even use any horseradish this time!”
As Trixie kept pounding away at the stubborn slab of wood, Carrot Top tilted her head down in defeat...and caught sight of the abandoned note. In a moment, she had snatched the paper and pulled it out so that both mares could give it a good read. “'Come to the market?' But we're at your house, remember?”
“That doesn't make sense,” Trixie mumbled. “We never even talked about going there. And it's...”
Her eyes narrowed. Carrot Top tilted her head. “What is it?”
“The writing...I recognize it.” Trixie scratched at the side of her head, her hoof tucking underneath the brim of her hat. “It's definitely mouthwriting, but the style is so...sloppy and unfocused. I've only seen it with one other pony in Ponyville, and they are not the type who would leave notes and OH SWEET LUNA WE NEED TO GET TO THE MARKET NOW!”
----------
Back at the market, the remaining breakfast eaters swallowed their meals and darted off as fast as their caffeine-powered legs could carry them. The shop owners locked their doors and closed the blinds on their windows, and the few patrons that remained within pressed their faces against the glass for a good look at the chaos that was about to unfold. Raindrops stepped off of the bench, her eyes never once leaving the newcomer and her lips remaining as happy as ever. The other pony just stared at her with a look of pure hatred, her body hunched over and ready to pounce.
“Raindrops, we've got a score to settle,” said Rainbow Dash.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Froborr · 22k words · 146 5 · 3.4k views
- RK_Striker_JK_5 · 18k words · 161 14 · 3.6k views
- DagaYemar · 28k words · 196 8 · 5.1k views
- Fizzy Orange · 31k words · 193 8 · 4.8k views
- Zap Apple Smash · 17k words · 124 4 · 3.3k views
- InsertAuthorHere · 6k words · 187 9 · 3.7k views
- InsertAuthorHere · 11k words · 222 4 · 4k views
- Whiteeyes · 11k words · 82 5 · 3.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.174 seconds
Total duration
1,003 users online
1,211,894 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Rainbow Dash!? Oh geez, now that was unexpected.
Anyway, expectation is always one of those tricky things. It can make the wait for something all the harder to put up with and then even when the time finally arrives all the built up anticipation can make the actual reality underwhelming. Fortunately that was in no way a problem here. This chapter was pretty much EVERYTHING I could have wanted and more.
One thing though...
As that word actual specifically means to kill a HUMAN, you should probably use something like "equicidal" instead, or just something more generic like "murderous".
Uh-oh....
This is bad, very very bad.
Luckily the worlds most annoying pony is on hoof
so there shouldn't be any problem fixing Raindrops, they just have to make sure Das makes it out alive.
This is awesome.
Well, since we know that The Most Annoying Pony in the Lunaverse rescues Fluttershy in Season Two, I think that the question is less does RD get dead and more if she develops a love of reading when she's in hospital.
First, I'm disappointed that Neighser Crane didn't turn out to be an actual crane.
For what, treating a patient with a procedure that she consented to?
4482135 She could not consent as she was not fully informed of what the procedure was. He didn't tell her the risks involved, the side effects and more importantly the unchangeable aspect of it.
She was not fully informed and thus could not consent. This is a *huge* thing in medical practice and a doctor convicted of this would likely lose their license and could face jailtime. Not to mention he's using an unproven treatment option. Just because it worked on a handful of folks doesn't mean it's safe for everyone.
Since it was a pet project it seems that his enthusiasm overwhelmed his common sense.
/end nerdrant
Ahem sorry. This is an awesome chapter and I'm really eagerly awaiting the next update.
4482135 no she was not told of any of the draw backs or had a cheek up plan to see how she was doing
Eye of the Hurricane AND Contest of Champions, updating in the same day?
THIS PLEASES RAINBOWDOUBLEDASH!
Not surprised that they have to make Raindrops break her anger barrier to fix her - wouldn't be quite the same if they just had to cast a dispel magic or something to make things go away. Need to work on the whole "friendship" thing in my own stories...
I liked Crane, too. Though I suspect it's no coincidence that he's had to move from a big city to a small town where no one's heard of him, if this is his usual for medical practices. Carrot Top hitting her limit first was surprising, too, but in a good way. Too bad she doesn't have heat vision, she needs to acquire that at some point, somehow.
well at least it will get Raindrops back to normal
So Rainbow may make Raindrops mad enough to murder her?
I approve
Oh...
Well, with the amount of potential rage from this setup, Raindrops might just cause the third impact.
What a whackjob!
And that ending. Epic pegafight coming up! We've got a couple of real brawlers here in a personal grudge match! Bring the kiddies!
Well...this is going to end well.
Oh-ho-hoo, I thought it was going to be Snails.
So CT isn't aware of RD's allergic reaction?
YES! YES! I'M GONNA BLOW I'M SO EXCITED!
Yikes, now that is one doctor that needs to lose his medical license.
Regarding Raindrops vs. Rainbow, at least Dash is fast and 'Drops is slow, so any actual murdering may be stopped by lack of opportunity.
Emeral Bookwise beat me too it about the equicide; so, I shall focus on another problem from the previous chapter:
Iron Will is a chiropractor. Chiropractic is snakeoil:
Chiropractic is the belief that one can cure disease by cracking backs. The reason chiropractic is so big is because physical therapists are too greedy:
Let us suppose that one dislocates a back. It needs relocating, which involves loud cracks and exquisite relief. A physical therapist charges 100.00 U$D, while the chiropractor charges only 49.99 U$D. One is not made of money, so one sees the chiropractor. A few beautiful cracks later, one is as good as new, but the chiropractor spots skincancer. The chiropractor offers to cure the skin-cancer by backcracking. A few months later, one is dead and the chiropractor quotes Ditzy Doo:
If the patient would have went to the physical therapist, after the wonderful cracks relocate the back, the physical therapist would refer the patient to an oncologist.
Chiropractic is not as stupid as homeopathy. It is a great treatment for dislocated backs, but it cannot treat ingrown toenails, Aids, heartdisease, earinfections, et cetera. Some chiropractors believe that they can cure anything:
Not all chiropractors believe that they can magically cure everything. Some ponies start studying chiropractic because they believe that they study physical therapy. They discover that most of chiropractic the horseapples and reject everything except the physical therapy. They become chiropractors, but stick to physical therapy. Such a chiropractor would relocate one’s back and then refer one to an oncologist for for treating the skincancer.
4488586
It's a fantasy story about magical talking horses. I'm allowed to bend some things.
And besides, Carrot Top does not have skin cancer. None of the ponies do. She just had a dislocated back.
Yes, any chiropractor - heck, any person period - who tries to cure a serious, life-threatening illness with back cracking is awful. But Carrot Top was in a position where it would actually help. She has no fatal illness; she just had her back twisted out of shape by her super-strong friend.
Sorry. Just don't get the issue in this particular story.
4488682
I agree that Iron Will does a great job relocating the back of CarrotTop, but I had to pick some nit:
Originally, I wanted to pick equicide, but Emeral Bookwise beat me to it. I had to find another nit.
About Iron Will in the LunaVerse, I wonder whether he is a true believer, or realizes that most of chiropractic is horseapples and just sticks with physical therapy. If only I could ask the author. ¡oh wait! ¡I can!:
¿Is Iron Will a true believer? or ¿does he realize that most of chiropractic is horseapples and just sticks with physical therapy?
4488881
Would Iron Will tell somepony that chiropractic will cure any ailment? No.
The ultimate vision I had for Iron Will in the Lunaverse was that he's out to make a bit any way he can. He'll take any opportunity that presents itself, which is why he's teaching both a seminar on how to be assertive and an anger management class. That being said, he won't actually do anything that will endanger anypony, nor will he support practices that will cause actual harm. It's why he turned Dr. Crane away when he tried to sell his miracle treatment to the anger management group.
4489016
Okay.
...a cliffhanger like that should be illegal.
I love this chapter, and I hope Dash gets her jaw broken.
*Looks at others* After how many episodes I've seen of season one in the past few weeks Maneverse Dash deserves to lose some teeth.
4488586
I have literally never heard any of this. More importantly, Carrot Top's problem was that her back was screwed up. Iron Will did exactly what he should have to fix it.
4535015
Chiropractic started off as a form of energy-medicine like reiki and therapeutic touch and is horseapples like they are. The idea of chiropractic is that one can cure disease by manipulating innate animal energy, which enters the body from heaven at the top of the head and travels down the spine by manipulating the spine.
Patients with backproblems soon learned that chiropractors are very good at cracking backs and charge less than physical therapists. If one has a dislocated back, chiropractors can relocate it. Doing nothing all day but cracking backs, chiropractors become good at cracking backs. They still cannot treat conjunctivitis though.
If one has a backproblem, chiropractors are good at fixing those and charge less than physical therapists, but some chiropractors* continue to do crazy stuff like try to cure cancer.
I stipulate that CarrotTop dislocated her back and that IronWill relocated it. We agree on this point.
* Some ponies start out studying chiropractic believing that it is physical therapy, learn about the horseapples about energy-medicine, ignore the horseapples and stick with the physical-therapy-part. Unlike, let us say for example homeopaths, some chiropractors do good as opposed to just doing well for their bankaccounts. They still cannot cure diarrhea though.
So I take it Raindrops did something to Fluttershy?
"B-But it was perfect this time."
Um. I think the L6 have more to worry about than Raindrops. Somepony needs to cough up their patient list, stat!
/popcorn
Oh this is gonna be good. If anyone is gonna overcome an advanced spells defense array, it'll be Rainbow Dash.
Needs " tags after the period.
______________
This is gonna be good. Can't wait for Dashie and Raindrops to have their little "talk". Although I wonder what Dashie's going to do when she learns that Dropsy is mentally unhinged.
4489016
Update pretty please ?
1. This story is awesome
Can we please have an update soon? 
and
2. I know it can take a while to write new chapters, but
Ah, Cliff Hanger, my arch-nemesis.
We meet again.
Prepare yourself for battle, for my patience is grand!
Well, this story is great and I'm very much looking forward to seeing Rainbow's response to what I'm 99% sure was Raindrops (unintentional) attempt to kill her. The fireworks should be absolutely spectacular, although I doubt Raindrops will be getting her job back. Oh well, it's a shame I'll never get to see it since this fic looks thoroughly dead at this point.
7411057
It's been on the backburner for a while, but I am still working on it.
7411300 The last update was more than two years ago.
Wow... I hope this is higher up on your to-do list, because I Really want to see how this ends!
needs beginning " marks
________________
8352491
Yes! This is an awesome fic and we really need to see the last few chapters soon.
Is that a reference to Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons (seeing as Sideshow Bob is voiced by Frasier, and one episode ended with him in the middle of a bunch of hoes that kept smacking him in the face (and that sounds so wrong out of context)).
I do hope this story gets continued,