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// Bolero of Therapy. - Marching in La major 
// Story: Andante - The path of the dreams 
// by CaioCoia 
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As the room was with fragrances of perfumes over the room, Spike looked around and saw the curtains were opened wide, making the environment of the room he was cozier than before. As a mare of Ponytail and glasses awaited on her armchair, looking at the drake and his pony father walk beside her. Spike would be more comfortable if wasn't for the fact it was his own mother who was wearing glasses and ponytail and she was in the room 5 minutes ago.

"Oh Spike, it's been months since the last session. I'm glad you take a whole trip from Ponyvile to visit one more session on this humble room." Twilight Velvet said as she used her magic to levitate the notepad on her hooves. "Please take a seat."

"Hello, Doctor Velvet. Sorry for interrupting you today." Spike said as he walked to the sofa and decided to sit comfortably on there. 

"Oh please, don't mind it." Twilight Velvet scoffed as she gave good look to the little drake over the room. "Oh, it seems you have cut your scales, you looked more charmer than the last session."

Spike after hearing his mother compliment his scales, blushed as he smiled sheepishly.

"Thank you, I just got these scales cut before coming to this session." Spike scratched the behind of his head, as he heard both his father and mother giggling from his reaction.

"Anyway. Now that you came here, it seems it's time for us to start our new session." Twilight Velvet said as she took a feather and ink beside her. "It's been a long time since I want to talk to you again."

"Well, it feels a while," Spike said as he reclined himself on the sofa and at the right moment he felt really comfortable. "Wow this couch is amazing, really cushy and comfy, did you buy it recently?"

The doctor smiled with her eyes closed as she nodded to him. 

"Yeah, I bought it 4 months ago. It's something I wanted to make my family enjoy into dinner talks or talk beside the fireplace. But I think it works better in my sessions with other ponies." Twilight Velvet said as Spike felt the comfy cushions beside him. It was a simple white couch but the cushions made it looks really comfortable as he reclined himself to enjoy his session.

"I have to say Doctor Velvet, your family doesn't know what is losing," Spike said as he exactly forgot he was the son of Twilight Velvet and once again his mind made him like it was talking with his most trusted therapist. 

"Why thank you, Spike, my furry friend actually gave me this idea as I went to meet him at the grocery store." Twilight Velvet said as she examined closely as the little dragon was with his eyes closed and ready for the session.

"Oh, and how is doctor Wolf? It's been a while since I went on his session as well." Spike said as he opened his eyes and looked curious at the mare on the armchair. 

"Oh he is fine, he is on vacation with his wife. He is taking a trip to Manehattan and enjoying the time of his life with his loved one." As doctor Velvet explains the wherebonds of the furry therapist, Spike's face fell when he heard some keywords which would make him sad, making his mother look at him in concern. "Spike... are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah." Spike snapped from his thoughts making the mare not convinced. "It's just, many things changed since our last session doctor Velvet."

Knowing well how difficult the little dragon must have felt from the turmoil of feelings passing through his mind, Twilight Velvet, even she was his own mother... she didn't exactly know full well what it was passing through his mind. There are times that even the mothers couldn't know the inside of the mind of their own children, and that's why the therapists are for, to help them to vent and help them to pass through all the challenges.

"Please Spike, remember that we are in an area of secrecy and I do my best to make an atmosphere of understanding for you to express what is inside of your mind. Me as your therapist, I want you to take your time and explain from the beginning what is bugging you. If it is something you care to talk about..." The mare used her magic to take off her glasses and with delicacy, she cleaned it up before replacing again on her face. 

Spike took a few moments to breathe in and breath out and calm himself before talking.

"Okay... well, I do strive to be my very best every morning since I was a little drake... every single day I tried to make sure I would wake up to help Twilight on her needs because I feared she would make herself hurt... And don't get me wrong, since I went with her on Ponyvile I did many good and cool things, like helping the girls on their missions and even be a hero I wanted to be in some places." Spike said as he looked over the ceiling noticing from his deep mind the process over all the good moments he had on Ponyvile. "I will always be grateful for the times I actually made the difference to help everypony on Ponyville... But it seems that most part I passed there, I did my best to make everypony happy... But just yesterday I noticed that the only pony or dragon who wasn't happy on Ponyvile... was me..."

"That sounds a quite difficult Spike." The doctor contained her feelings as she started making notes from her notepad and made remarks as she looked in concern at the drake. "Can you explain to me why do you feel that?"

"Well, since from my times as a little drake I had a really busy life... as Twilight was on the school. I enjoyed my own time being a babysitter and even taking my own studies as learning music from the royal musicians. It was a routine I liked since I was young. But since I became Twilight's number one assistant... I think I made myself become tied to a compromise that nopony expected me to be that far..." Spike looked at the mare on his side and raised his claw to her. "Firstly it was just to shelve and clean books, but later becomes to help to take the apples off the farm, cook in the mornings, make coffee every hour, help to make cakes, take care of some animals, be an inspiration for new kinds of clothing... Everything happened in such haste that actually forgot which kind of hobby I enjoyed I was a kid... The only thing I used into my breaks was to read comic books or make a snack for me to eat."

As the mare hummed carefully she decided to give some writing on her notes, as Spike felt a bit uncomfortable explaining that thoughts.

"I mean... when I looked at the time behind... I can see that maybe I didn't enjoy much time on Ponyvile. Well, it had its moments, but maybe I felt more need to work than actually enjoying living in that city. I think most parts of the friends I did on Ponyville were actually Twilight's friends mostly." Spike shrugged as he pressed his tombs and looked at the mirror on the wall attached not a while ago. "I think at some times I feel like I was into prison as many ponies were walking over the city and enjoying their times together... When it comes to trips, Twilight and the girls were the ones who would actually be there, leaving me to take care of the library of the castle after the last incident. I know the girls wanted the best for me, but I mean... Maybe I'm acting like a victim too much... Did I do something wrong for them to make such bad things escalate this way? Maybe I should have done something different..."

At the moment Spike said that he heard a stomp from the floor and made a look at Twilight Velvet who seemed to call his attention. As her eyes were twitching. But proceed to make a deep breath and release as Spike looked in concern at what he said.

"Spike... ever heard about the seven sins and the four cardial virtues?" Twilight Velvet asked receiving a look from her son who seemed to snap from his thoughts.

"Uhhhh..." Spike would have answered but he was interrupted as the psychologist got up from her seat and walked beside him.

"Well Spike, mostly ponies or even other creatures over the Equestria, believes in any of us have strong inclinations towards 7 specific sins and vices, the virtues could be represented by 7 or 13 if you make a combination of them... From what I heard from the last session, I know that you received an encounter with the sin of Greed but it wasn't by your own choice or inclination..." Twilight Velvet said as Spike winced from remembering the partial destruction of Ponyvile by a dragon who couldn't take his mind of wanting things on his birthday... "However...if you want to hear my professional opinion. I have to say you now have an inclination of the sin of Envy..."

"What?" Spike got up from his seat and looked at his mother staring at him. "What do you mean?"

"I think you will understand why the sin is envy after I tell you which is your vice or better said... vices." Twilight Velvet took an anagram and pointed to a draw of a star representing the name of all the sins and the virtues around it. And from the draw, she made some arrows pointing into 2 names... Prudence and Fortitude. "Spike what I'm about to say will be harsh and difficult to swallow but deep inside of your own mind, you know what I will say it's true... I will start with Fortitude... Fortitude is the virtue of the remaining firm in the difficulties and constant in the pursuit of good... did that sound familiar?"

Spike shook his head as he tried to figure out from his point of view.

"Well Spike, let's start from everything you passed in Ponyville... You were: Target of pranks which could kill you, the test subject to spells and science experiments, an employee who works more hours than an entire staff of a company, a loyal puppy who try to seek the love of your life by doing everything she wants, a friend who is abandoned on the trips working yourself as the said friends go to everywhere enjoying themselves, suffered injuries from any kinds of ways, both psychological and physical... And yet... you still smile, try to do everything to make the others happy... You passed through a lot of mistreatment from your said friends, and you still help them and do that to make them happy..." After any example from Twilight Velvet, Spike little by little felt his eyes getting wide open and then he looked at his own claws, shaking from frightened. The truth hurt... "You must have questioned yourself about why, why are you insisting to do good as the others makes your life like Tartarus... you try to remember the good times and that may help you to keep hope in the tomorrow you would have a nice day... That's one of the virtues who actually made you still have a good heart..."

Spike clenched his teeth as he closed his claws hard, he closed his eyes and moved his head away, trying to avoid contact with his own mother.

"And from all the possibilities you could have made after knowing about Twilight and Rarity, you didn't destroy the castle, you didn't get into a fight with Twilight, you didn't go to each of your 'friends' to shout to them, you didn't try to burn the books Twilight loves, and maybe the reason of why you are trying to avoid getting angry... because of another virtue you have: Prudence..." Twilight Velvet decided to sit beside Spike as she moved her forearm to his neck and approach him to show the notepad. "Prudence is the virtue of the ponies who discern the good in all the circumstances and the ways to attain it. You could have done many terrible things after knowing everypony was keeping a secret from you, and you decided to just take your stuff and leave from Ponyville without thinking twice.  You avoided talking with Twilight because you knew that anything she would say would make things much worse for you. And maybe from all the Fortitude you practiced, this virtue must have helped you to make you more mature and wiser. Which leads to feeling down on yourself."

Spike sighed in disappointment as he felt a few tears passing through his eyes, and leaving him unable to answer back to the reason the mare was leading him to.

"While still feeling disappointed and betrayed at those who have been hiding this secret from you during all this time. And it is a special hard thing to put aside that need to resolve the issues of others. But that's what I want to focus on here. The fact it's their issue and their problems to their focus on themselves and not yours. You have been working for others during all this much time that you forgot the way for you to work not for others but for yourself." Twilight Velvet used her telekinesis to grab a jar of water and put it inside of a glass and offered to Spike to drink. "And even if they still would continue hiding this secret from you, hurting your trust from all the time you worked helping them... I have this conclusion... NOPONY Can make you feel a certain way, that is a choice you make yourself. You cannot control how the other ponies think, feel, or even act... In the end, they will decide on how will they feel... Just you as decide how do you feel. Is that make sense to you Spike?"

Spike nodded as he drank the water inside from the glass. Making Spike listen carefully but after letting it out a gasp he shook his head disappointed.

"Sorry mom, it doesn't... It should make sense but it doesn't, why? Because I have been hearing this freaking same monologue inside of my mind my entire life... the part of the virtues may be a good point, but the fact of deciding how I should feel and accept how the other ponies act the way they want, makes me even worse because I have been telling this same excuse over and over and over again... Trying to accept all the work I have done, accepting the loneliness and responsibility of being alone, the worry about Twilight not coming back from a fight... Now I just realize I always had this problem." Spike said as his tears crossed his face and his hands started shaking almost shattering the glass in front of Twilight Velvet. "And no matter what I do, no matter what I try, I keep falling at the same traps: Ponies I trust needs help, I always help, and then they ask a lot of favors, and then I do all of them, and then they launch all their responsibilities to me, and I cannot say no, and the mares I love, they always will be mare lovers and will ALWAYS FREEKING LOVE TWILIGHT. Then I see how stupid I'm and I get disappointed and sad with myself for allowing it. "

Spike claws destroyed the glass, leaving many glasses pieces over the floor, and making both Twilight Velvet and Night Light remain in silence. 

"The memories of similar events appear into my mind and I get even more disappointed with myself for not learning from the last time. It's a vicious cycle I want to stop but the lesson never seemed to stick. I don't want to feel this way ever again, but I still do. I keep getting told the same things, over and over and over OH CELESTIA BUCKING DAMMIT. WHEN AM I GOING TO LEARN?" Spike started to punch the coach repeatedly while he tried to let out all his rage. Taking out the cushions and punching until his arms get tired and then using one cushion to press on his face to muffle the angry shout inside of him. "HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM"

After a few seconds of both parents approaching slowly at the dragon who seemed so angry but tired, they took off the cushion as the crying dragon remained laid on the couch.

"When am I going to learn..." Spike whispered crying as he couldn't help but feel defenseless and helpless...  

As a mother, Twilight Velvet had the desire to destroy a city brick by brick after listening to how much her little boy had suffered, as for her own daughter she wanted to make sure that she would have grounded into a way for her never forgets on how terrible she had been to her own brother, she wanted so much to cause rucks and even go against to the princesses herself and say something of her mind...

But as a professional therapist and which she is so focused most time of her life writing books on children psychology and helping her friend to make all the ponies win against their struggles... Twilight Velvet knew that Spike didn't need her as a mother to avenge him... He needed her as a therapist to help him to make him grow better from the problems inside of his mind.

"Spike, I said that you help the other ponies because of the virtues you have inside of you... But that doesn't mean you have to deny any request for help from the ponies who really need it at the moment. I raised you better than that..." Twilight Velvet said as she used her hooves to carry the dragon near to her and then placed it over her. "What you learned it's from the way you won against the difficulties and the struggles you have... The experience and the stories you may have passed can inspire many ponies who suffer the same problem as you... But you need to keep in mind that as you can help the others, but first you need the support of the only pony or dragon who matters most for you... Yourself..."

Spike opened his eyes as he felt the hoof of Twilight Velvet pressing over his chest. 

"As many ponies may have requested your help to achieve their dreams and wants... You need to understand the only dragon you should to listen more... Yourself... You may have helped the other ponies but is there something you helped yourself with? Don't you have wants and dreams prior to all these problems happening?" Spike's eyes went wide open and at the moment he was going to reply he was shushed by his mother. "And I'm telling about the wants of self-achievement and not material to make your greed desire to appear once again..."

Spike sheepishly smiled as he giggled nervously...

"Well... I've always wanted to be part of the orchestra. Not the greatest violinist of Equestria or the maestro of the whole orchestra... I just want to be part of something good and be with my friends and a lovely mare..." Spike said as he sighed once again, but he felt the glance of both Twilight Velvet and Night Light nodding to him. 

"Well, now you are free Spike..." Night Light said as he looked at his wife who seemed satisfied with the results. "You already sent a letter quitting your job from being an assistant, and from the school, you had in the past... It's time for you to focus on yourself. So why not focus on your dreams now? We already have a princess and a prince in our family... But mostly what we want Spike... It's our children to be happy with their dreams and their lives... And even if you want to just be part of Canterlot Orchestra, we don't care if you will be the last-line violinist. We want you to be happy." Night Light said as he took from behind the shelf a little violin. "We can talk to the princess about the possibility for you to relearn a few classes before trying to the orchestra the next year. But we want you to enjoy your time as a new Spike. Find your muse and go. We are already proud of the resolution you had. But one thing we want you to learn... "

Spike looked at his father as he cleaned his face with his arm, as he felt a kiss on his cheek from his mother who seemed to take off the elastic of his ponytail mane and took off the glasses as she nodded to him.

"You cannot win this alone, so let us help you...You have 2 loving parents who would give their lives to protect you and help you. So please, whenever you need to talk or vent... You can trust us... Now go and take a bath. Later we want you in a suit because we will be at the beginning of the festival." Twilight Velvet smiled at the dragon's shock after hearing those words.

"Seriously? You want to go?" Spike pointed for both husband and wife who nodded their heads.

"Oh trust me, Spike, I know I can find it kinda boring and tiring when it comes to concerts. But when it comes to my son. I will be in the front row just to see you play." Nigh Light smiled as he felt the sudden hug from the little dragon who seemed happy once again. "Now go to bath."

"Thanks, mom, thanks, dad."  Spike hugged Twilight Velvet and ran upstairs at maximum speed, happy with himself.

After watching her boy get out, Twilight Velvet took a few deep breaths and finally let out one of the phrases her friend always taught her when it comes to a great session of the day...

"Ahhh... it's good to be helping."