//------------------------------//
// What Doesn't Go On 
// Story: Mind Over Matter 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

"Just watch over him, okay?" Ivory Spark told nurses Blaze and Rose Petal, the former of which coming in early and the latter offering to stay late that night. "When he wakes up, offer him something to eat and make sure he uses his magic to do that. Afterward, ask him if he needs to use the bathroom and if there was anything else he needed or wanted to do, like play a game or read a book. Don't let him scratch his cheek too much, and check on his bites. If he starts to try and hurt himself, get me or Doctor Night."
"Are you going to be back tonight at all?" Blaze asked her.
"Probably not," she sighed. "I've got a few interviews to do and some notes to write up. I'll see if I can get back early tomorrow morning."
With that, she went out, heading into the lobby to see the mare and stallion who claimed to be Leo's parents still sitting there. She was a bit tense seeing them. For her, this was always the worst part of the job. She'd dealt with quite a few angry parents in her short career thus far, most of them innocent, a few of them not. They always started off assuming she was just a normal doctor, but quickly realized why they were being questioned. They were almost always upset, a few humiliated that they could even be thought of doing something so awful to their colts or fillies. Of course, right now, it didn't help that Thundertail already revealed what she was thinking. It would just make it that much more difficult to get information from Lucky Day and Blue Mist, make it that much more likely for them to deny any accusations of mistreatment. But still, she knew she would have to interview them. 
She decided to start with who she thought would be more likely to lie to her. "Blue Mist!" she called in a friendly tone. "Is it okay if I met with you privately for a little while?"
Lucky Day rolled his eyes as his wife got up. "Here we go," he mumbled.
The two mares walked into the hallway opposite of the one Leo's room was in, and Doctor Spark began to ask Blue Mist general questions about her son. Where they lived, how old he was, if he went to school, if he had any friends. All of her answers were predictable enough: They lived on the outskirts of Baltimare, her son went to school there, he didn't have many friends, and he would be six in a few months. She said she would describe her son as "a bit alone, but happy".
She knew it would be a waste of time, but Doctor Spark went through and asked the mother more specific questions, like if she thought Leo would ever have a reason to be afraid of anypony, if he ever acted unusually, if he ever had nightmares or got scared easily. All of her questions were met with the same response: no. It was typical, though. Most parents she interviewed gave the same answers. Finally, she got to the big questions. Why do you think Leo was afraid earlier? Do you think anypony in his life could be hurting him? Has he ever shown signs of self harm? To these, she got more of the same, a mix of between “no” and “I don’t know”.
Doctor Spark listened, took notes, watched Blue Mist’s reaction carefully, and came up with… nothing. Through it all, the mare she interviewed was calm, cool and collected, which was a small relief for her. It was much better than dealing with somepony who was upset. She seemed genuinely concerned for her son and asked questions at all the right times. It was the outcome Doctor Spark expected, and she silently thought that the mare was a very good actor. Still, even though the outcome was expected, she was still silently frustrated with Thundertail for what he said earlier. He might have screwed up this whole process with his words. She might not have been able to learn anything either way, but she would never know that. She might have been able to get something out of Blue Mist had he not interfered. And now she was fairly confident that Lucky Day wouldn’t be helping her out much after what Thundertail did. It would just be another half hour wasted.
Still, she had a job to do, and wanted to do it thoroughly. If a wasted half hour meant she might have the chance to get more information about Leo, she would accept it. She called out to the orange stallion to come to her, sending Blue Mist on her way. He quickly and grumpily took a seat in one of the chairs in the hallway and turned to face her.
“You might already know what this is about,” Ivory Spark said politely, telling him what she told his wife, “and you might feel like I’m trying to accuse you of something, but I need you to answer my questions honestly. This isn’t an interrogation or anything like that.”
“Just get on with it,” Lucky Day grumbled, annoyed.
“Okay,” she started. “We'll start with simple questions. How old is Leo, and where does he live?”
“Six in August, and with us near Baltimare,” he said grumpily.
“Does he have any siblings?”
“No.”
“What about friends or acquaintances?”
He sighed. “None that I can think of. He spends most of his time at home with his mother.”
“Where does he go to school?”
“He’s homeschooled,” he told her.
“That’s interesting,” she commented, quickly writing what he said down.
Lucky Day looked at her suspiciously. “Why is that interesting?” he asked.
“Oh, no reason,” Doctor Spark told him. “I was homeschooled myself is all,” she lied. “What do you do?”
“Construction,” he said as a matter of fact.
“Is that a typical nine-to-five sort of job?”
“It’s an “all hours of the day” job. Whatever they schedule me, I work.”
“So Leo stays at home with his mother most of the day?”
He shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Do you ever spend alone time with Leo?”
“Not really,” he said, “and even if I did, I wouldn’t do what I know you’re thinking I do to him.”
“I’m not thinking anything, sir,” she said honestly. “But I do want to move on to more focused questions. Um…” Doctor Spark looked at her notes, then asked, “What would you say Leo’s personality is?”
“Normal,” Lucky Day answered, then added, “Maybe anxious?”
“Would he have any reason to be anxious?”
“None that I can think of. As far as I can tell, it’s just the way he is.”
"Would you say he gets scared easily?"
"I guess," he said. "Well, not scared. It's more like…"
"Startled?"
"Yeah."
"By anything in particular?".
He paused for a second, seeing what road she was going down. "No," he answered, watching Doctor Spark right something down. "And this narrative you're trying to build around us isn't going to work," he continued.
She looked up at him, and said honestly, "I promise, I'm not trying to build any narrative around anypony. I can understand how you'd feel that way, but I'm just writing down the responses you give me. Uh…" She looked quickly to her notes again, then asked, "Does Leo ever have nightmares?"
He sighed. "Yes. A lot, actually."
"Can you say how often?"
He sighed again. "A couple of times a week at least," he admitted. "They're really bad."
"That's terrible. Do you know what they're about?"
"I can't say. He doesn't tell me, and I haven't really thought to ask."
"How do you get him to calm down?"
"His mother calms him down," Lucky Day told her honestly, albeit with a slight tone, wanting to avoid any implications she might have about him. "She usually hears him first anyway."
Doctor Spark was hating this. She appreciated his honesty, but hated everything he was saying. This was really bad. She probably had enough information to be finished talking to him, but continued on anyway.
"Does he ever act unusually in certain situations?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, does he get nervous when you leave for work, or when certain ponies are over, or anything like that?"
"I guess he gets nervous when I leave. But construction's a dangerous job, and I've explained that to him."
"Do you think there could be any other reason?"
"I don't know. Maybe he doesn't-" Lucky Day paused, his mouth still open, finally realizing just exactly how all of his words were being taken, and what conclusion Doctor Spark was coming to.
"Maybe he doesn't what?" she asked politely.
"No," he started, getting defensive. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what's going on. Blue Mist wouldn't do that." But even as he said it, he was realizing how perfectly all the pieces were fitting.
"Do you think Leo would ever have a reason to be afraid of anypony?"
"No, and least of all his mother. That's her son. She wouldn't ever do anything to hurt him."
"And I'm not saying she would. I'm just trying to get a complete story."
"Well, part of your story should be that she doesn't hurt Leo."
Doctor Spark sighed. She didn't like where this was going, but continued on. "So while you're working, what do Leo and Blue Mist do all day?"
"I… I don't know," he admitted to her, his tone changed to one of worry.
"How often does he leave the house?"
“He- not often. He, um, he mostly stays home with his mother.”
“Was it her idea for him to be homeschooled?”
Lucky Day winced. “Um, yes.”
“Does she ever help him out with using magic?”
“She tries, but she says that he has a poor magic field.”
“That is the case,” Doctor Spark explained, “but it’s looking like that’s a result of lack of use.” She waited a few seconds, letting him process what she told him, then asked, “Do you think your wife would intentionally keep him from using magic?”
“What? No! She’s practically fed up with how much she has to do for him.”
“What kinds of things does your wife help Leo with?”
“She- she helps him with things he can't do himself, like eating and using the toilet." He stopped for a second, watching her write what he said down, then started again. “I know how this all might look, but it’s not the way it seems. It’s not what’s going on. She wouldn’t abuse Leo!”
"Why do you think he ran away?"
"I... I don't know..."
She didn’t want to go on, but continued on to one more question anyway. “Why do you think Leo reacted so strongly when you two came into the room?”
“Oh, no,” Lucky Day whispered, and covered his eyes with his hoof. “Please tell me this isn’t happening. This can't be happening!”
"Have you ever, um," Doctor Spark started, then stopped. And now came the worst part of the interview. "Have you ever seen Blue Mist touch him in a sexual way?" she asked quietly. "Or anywhere on his genitals? Even if it seemed like an accident?"
"She bathes him every single day!" he told her, clearly upset. "Oh, Celestia, oh, damn it all! How could I let this all slip past me? I could have stopped this! I'm such an idiot!"
"You're not an idiot," she said softly. "It's not always easy to see the signs. I've seen a lot of cases like this." She paused a second, before giving him the news, "But, um, you should be prepared for Leo to live with somepony else."