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// Chapter Fifteen 
// Story: The Little Filly Who Could 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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Ivory Spark got to talking with the filly’s parents alone for lunch while Emily herself ate lunch with the caretaker. The mare needed time to question them and see exactly what was true and what might be incorrect. So far, their names were right as well as the description that Emily gave of them. It was a start.
“She told me, or rather, the stallion with foal services, Bright Side, told me about some of the ways you parent her. Do you mind just going through it with me once before we get into it?”
“Sure, but I’m not really sure what to tell you,” Willy Whisps said, semi casual, but a little bit confused by the question. “I don’t think we parent her any differently than anypony else in Equestria. Did she say we did?”
“Well, let’s start with your relationship status, if we can,” Ivory Spark said, getting out a clipboard. “Can I ask what that is?”
“Right now, we’re divorced, but we’re still living together for Emily’s sake,” Cloud Mender said. “We talked to her about it and what it meant a few years ago. We don’t want to have her switch between homes like lots of other foals have to.”
“I understand, and that’s good that you’re being up front with her about it, and even better that you’re still living together.” And the best thing was that it lined up with what the filly said, and was just that much more useful in helping Ivory Spark help Emily.
“What about punishments?” she asked. “How do you normally discipline her when she gets in trouble?”
“Well, we used to spank her when she was younger,” Cloud Mender said, “but we don’t really do that anymore. These days, if she’s misbehaving, we’ll ground her to her room, although she doesn’t misbehave very often– except when she’s running across the country to Ponyville, it seems.”
Ivory Spark nodded, taking it in as she said, “Well, corporal punishment is something you’re going to want to steer away from. It’s not good for healthy mental development, and in fact is classified as foal abuse in some places, including Baltimare.”
That got both the mare and the stallion’s eyes to go wide. “Um, that’s- that’s not what we were intending,” Willy Whisps stuttered out nervously. “We wouldn’t ever actively try to hurt her, and haven’t spanked her for a few years now.”
“I understand. I just want to make sure you understand that you can’t do that kind of thing. Let’s see here though… she said you poured water on her head to wake her up? And that you kicked her out of the house because you thought she was stealing?”
“Um, well, the first one, I did that a couple of times to wake her up for school,” the stallion said nervously, “but, um, her psychiatrist in Baltimare, Peace Keeper, said that we shouldn’t be doing that, and so we don’t. Umm… I don’t know what you mean by the second one though. She lives with us. That’s the reason Mendy and I are still living together even though we’re divorced.”
“She said that you kicked her out because you thought she was stealing,” Ivory Spark repeated, looking at her notes, “and that she lives alone and with her friends now?”
“No? Oh! Actually, we did send her to her friends house for a couple of weeks in the summer, but not because she was stealing, but because she was taking things without asking for them first.”
“Is that not the same?”
“Well, it was things like bits and food and supplies and stuff. Normally we wouldn’t have an issue, but we need to know that she’s going to be taking things so we can keep track. Like Mendy’s weather book that she wanted to read and lost. The weather in Baltimare was unplanned for a good three weeks because of that, and, well, we got a little bit frustrated. But no, she still lives with us.”
The way they described it wasn’t as bad as the way Emily described her living situation, although it still wasn’t great. They would definitely have to take classes on proper parenting in Ivory Spark’s recommendation, and be lectured on how to treat foals, but it didn’t seem the kind of thing they should be necessarily prosecuted for. Although she wasn’t going to be having Emily back to living with them until they completed the classes.
“I think classes on parenting are going to be worth it,” the mare started, “as well as group and individual therapy for Emily, along with psychiatry, obviously. Peace Keeper is giving me authorization to take over for him on her case, but before we get into that, there are a few things I need to speak to you both about.”
The two took a breath and stared at the mare, waiting for her to continue. They looked nervous, and Willy Whisps glanced between the floor and her eyes multiple times, like she was about to say something about how he was in trouble and she was taking Emily away from them. That conversation wasn’t coming– not yet, anyway– but that didn’t make what was coming better. She almost didn’t know where to start, but decided to go with the heavier topic.
“I haven’t gone very deep into this with her yet,” she started, “and was planning on speaking with her about this either later today or tomorrow, but I think it’s important that you know this now.” She let out a breath of her own as she continued, “There’s not really any good way to say this, but Emily has admitted to me to being sexually abused.”
Neither pony gasped, but their eyes and hung open mouths said that they were both very surprised. Before either could speak though, Ivory Spark pressed on.
“She didn’t say who it was, but did assert that it was neither you nor any of the friends she says she sees. As I said, I’m going to speak with her more about this later, but it’s important to know, partly because it leads into my next point. This hasn’t been confirmed, and I need to get out the paper work to do a proper exam once we get to Ponyville, but I’m fairly certain she has a dissociative condition. As to what, I’m not sure yet, but likely OSDD– that’s just a term to say ‘not DID or DPDR, but we’re not sure yet’. Or rather, more accurately, she fits some of the symptoms of DID, but not all of them. But it’s a condition that normally stems specifically from traumatic experiences in foalhood. Specifically continuous or patterned experiences of trauma.”
“Wait, what?” the filly’s mother got out. “When– what? When was she abused? She never said anything to us about that!”
“Or her psychiatrist,” the father added. “We’ve never seen any sign of that, and don’t know anypony who would abuse her.”
“I’m going to get to work on figuring that out, but it’s important that you know what’s going on. She’s obviously going to need to continue psychiatry, and probably receive psychotherapy, which I’ll be providing since I’m taking over her case. But as I said, education in parenting is going to be something you both have to do before she’s able to be returned to you. What you’re describing isn’t healthy parenting at all.”
“She’s not gonna be able to live with us?” Cloud Mender asked. “For how long? How long will parenting classes take?”
“It should only be a month, and it’s on weekends so it can fit with any schedule you have. There’s four classes, each three hours long, once a week, and at the end, you take a test to prove that you understand what they presented to you. Easy peasy.”
“Wait, then where will she stay until then?” Willy Whisps asked. “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes, it is necessary. Good parenting is important to preventing further mental harm and traumatic experiences. If I had the time, I would offer to visit a few times a week while you complete those classes, but I do have other foals to give care to, even if Emily is my only ‘case’ at the moment. There’s not going to be any way around this for you.”
They both looked ready to argue, opening their mouths to speak, but a second later, they closed them in defeat and lowered their ears. “I guess a month isn’t that long… when can we start the first class? Is it right when we get back to Baltimare?” Willy Whisps asked.
“Not that I think we need it,” the mare added, “but I guess since we have to, we’ll go.”
“I think you do, and it will be beneficial to you, trust me. But yes, you can start the first class Saturday next week. I think you’re going to find that it is worth it. In the meantime, Emily’s going to be staying in one of the group homes in Baltimare for the time being, unless she has a relative that can have custody of her for the month.”
“Not really. The best she has a grandfather that she’s spent time with, and a brother who’s about ten years older than she is, too. Would either of them work as temporary guardians?”
“Sure, as long as I could meet them first. I don’t see an issue with that. Although there’s a couple of other things I want to ask you about while I have you. How is she on a day-to-day basis? Do you ever notice any evidence of dissociation? What meds does she take?”
“Right now? She takes stimulants for ADHD and sometimes acid reflux meds. She used to take risperidone though, if that helps.”
That got Doctor Spark to raise an eyebrow. “Her psychiatrist prescribed her schizophrenia meds?”
“Oh, no, that was for autism, but we didn’t want to keep her on that. Her psychiatrist prescribed it for her mood.”
“Has she ever had mood swings before? Irritability? Anger? Self harming behavior?”
“No, not that we’ve seen, but that’s why we didn’t want to keep her on it. She doesn’t have those things– well, no more than any other foal, anyway.”
“And her psychiatrist never said anything about Borderline Personality Disorder to you, did he?” she asked. “If she just has autism and ADHD and isn’t irritable, there’s not really any good reason to prescribe her what’s effectively an antipsychotic.”
“No, he never said anything about that,” Willy Whisps told her. “That borderline thing– that’s the one that makes ponies narcissistic, right? She doesn’t have that, no way.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that from her either,” Cloud Mender added. “She’s just not like that.”
“I understand, and it’s likely you’d know if she had BPD,” Ivory Spark said. “It’s a very common diagnosis, and a bit more easily spotted than dissociative conditions. I don’t think she has that, although it is very common to diagnose things like DID as BPD because a lot of things about the two are similar. As well, it’s more accurate to describe BPD as having a distorted self image rather than just being narcissistic.”
“But you said you do think she has OS- something something,” the stallion started. “What’s that? How does it work?”
“Well, that’s just what I think, but I was going to ask you some more about her behavior to try and help get an actual diagnosis put down later before we go through specifics. So now, first off– do you ever notice her talking to herself, or referring to herself as a collective? Using pronouns like ‘we’ and ‘us’ when she’s just referring to herself?”
“Ummm, yeah, she does talk to herself a lot,” Mendy answered, “but if she ever does that with pronouns, we certainly don’t notice it.”
“Maybe we heard it once or twice?” Wispy agreed. “I’m not sure, no.”
“I understand,” the unicorn nodded, then continued on. “Do you ever notice her daydreaming or staring off into space, thinking about nothing? Does she ever seem like she acts completely different in two different situations, almost like she’s two different ponies?”
"She definitely does stare off into space a lot, mostly silent and just staring ahead at nothing, but we assumed that was an ADHD thing. I don't know if she acts like two different ponies depending on the situation though. She does act like she's still a little kid a good chunk of the time though even though she’s gonna be an adult next year, I think, but we don't know why."
"I assume you don't mean her being transgender as part of the 'acting like two different ponies’ thing, right?" Cloud Mender asked.
"No, I wouldn't count that, but I didn't know she was transgender. Has she already started magical gender therapy?"
"Yes, she goes in about once a month, and has been for almost a year. I think it’ll be a year next month."
That made sense why she tucked her tail, although Bright Side didn't mention anything about that, nor did he in the report he wrote containing her visit to Nurse Redheart. Either way though, it was the most minor of things since magical therapy could turn her back into a colt very easily if need be or if Emily wasn’t satisfied. Not to mention, that wasn't really what she meant by the question.
"Well, that's some good information. Just a few more questions though. Do you ever catch her in a lie, but hear her still insist that she’s not lying, to the point where it seems like she’s being sincere?”
“Yes. Absolutely yes,” Cloud Mender got out, the stallion nodding her head along with her. “She lies a lot, but always seems like she fully believes she’s not lying, even when we show her that she obviously is. I think her psychiatrist mentioned it before, and said something like she might be trying to force herself into believing a lie by saying it enough. Is that a sign of the thing you think she has?”
“That would be a sign, yes. If she’s dissociating and doesn’t remember doing or saying something, then it’s reasonable that there’s going to be many times when she says something contradictory to what actually happened, and truly feel like she’s not lying, even if she’s incorrect about something. But to continue, does she ever fail to recognize ponies she should? Like friends, neighbors, other family members? That sort of thing?”
“Yeah, that does happen,” the stallion said. “Although it’s less with family and more with friends and ponies she meets. Like, ponies she’s known for years, she’ll sometimes end up confused as to how they know her or where she would’ve met them even though she’s talked to them before.”
Ivory Spark nodded, and continued, “One more question. Do you know of any particularly traumatic events that have happened to her? Like natural disasters or bullies in school or anything? Particularly traumatic events that happened repeatedly?”
“No, not that we can think of, except for what you said about her saying she was sexually abused… are you sure she’s not mistaken about that, if she has that dissociation thing? She could be misremembering, right? It sounds absolutely awful, and we don’t know anypony who would do that to her.”
“Technically, it’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely since she directly told me that she was. That’s the issue with having a dissociative disorder though. A lot of times, traumatic experiences that are ingrained in a foal’s memory might be forgotten because she was dissociating at the time as a coping mechanism to the trauma. But as I said, I’m going to interview her more and find out what’s going on if I can. As well, it’s important to remember that OSDD is just a placeholder for what we think she has right now. She’s not going to be officially diagnosed until we run through the interview back at my office. As well, there’s always a chance she doesn’t have a dissociative condition at all.”
“We understand… are you sure she can’t stay with us while we take those classes you want us to take?”
“Yes, I’m very sure she can’t,” Ivory Spark replied with finality. “It’s only gonna be a month, and once you finish, it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.”
“Fine,” they both said, defeated. Then, the mare looked up and said, “We need to catch a train back to Baltimare soon. You said you were coming with us? It’s gonna leave in a few hours.”
“Yes, I’ll be coming with you. A couple of more days to talk to both of you and Emily would be good.”