The cart pulled and let out a gray earth pony mare with thick glasses. She had a bright smile and a big heart, ready to fix the minds of their patients. She was given her box of stuff and led inside to the front desk. "I'm the new therapist!" she boasted to the secretary.
"Name?" The secretary barely looked up from his magazine.
"I am Doctor Allswell!" The mare placed down the box and saluted the many names above the desk. She hoped one day to be considered as honorable as those names.
"Files..." The stallion gave no care to her joy, knowing it would soon be shattered by this place.
"Of course." Allswell pulled out some papers. "I was recommended here by my father and his boss--" She was stopped as he ripped the papers out of her hands and looked them over. His face seemed just as unconvinced as before. She was going to prove him wrong.
The secretary's head rose from the papers. "All right. Take it back and head up to the third floor to the right. Eighth doors to your left, Room 316." He pointed the way to the elevator.
"Yes! Thank you!" Allswell bounced away happily. However, stopping halfway, she sheepishly asked. "And who is my first patient?"
The stallion huffed in annoyance and flipped over the books. He knew full well that there were only two patients available right now. But seeing her happiness break into shyness was rather cute so he moved the pages rather slow. Reaching the names, he read carefully aloud. "There is the soldier, Comet Tail on the second floor..."
"Well, I've worked with soldiers on the front line so--" She stopped as he raised his voice.
"He's in a coma."
"Okay, then who--" She was stopped again as he spoke louder.
"And, Private Patient PPCP."
"Who?" Allswell raised an eyebrow.
"That's the code name for her..." He waved her back over. Doctor Allswell leaned down to him. "She calls herself Cenior Puddinghead."
"Puddinghead... As in Chancellor Puddinghead?!" Doctor Allswell was left completely dumbfounded by the name. "There's no way she could be the actual pony in question as that would make her over five thousand years old."
"The mare is in a crazy ward." The secretary shrugged and leaned back. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "She's in the basement. Room B12." With that final word, he leaned back and went back to his work.
Sweat beaded down the therapist's head as she looked back at the elevator. She wondered why this patient was in the basement. Why wasn't she in a regular room like Comet Tail? Wasn't she in some type of danger? Shouldn't they have better security? Soon she found herself in the elevator, staring at the buttons. the second and basement stared back at me with intensity.
Doctor Allswell wanted to prove herself, and watching over a coma patient would get her nowhere. So with a big hesitation, she pressed the basement button. The elevator opened, revealing narrow corridors and stainless steel walls. A stark contrast to the softer wooden frames above.
The halls were empty of patients, which was an eerie sign. If there were any here, then it would have been a lot more chaotic and busy halls. Instead, it was a clear path to several compacted rooms. Slowly she stepped out of the elevator. "This is where I make my mark," she whispered to herself, trying to bolster her courage.
Soon enough she reached the room, B12. The door was made of far thicker iron than the walls were. It was built like a safe, with even a massive wheel, but no number lock. She could just open the massive cage and walk right inside. "Okay, Allswell, you've come this far. You can go through with this." She pep-talked herself into pushing open the door.
She didn't expect what she saw inside. There was a small hospital bed with white sheets. There was also a metal chair and table, but most surprisingly there was no pony. No one was there. That is until she looked upward.
Somehow it defied gravity itself, in a building where no magic was even possible. It was a single pink earth pony mare with a slightly darker pink mane in a straitjacket. The patient sat on the ceiling like it was the floor and was surrounded by a flock of balloons with cheese tied to the strings.
"Are you--" Doctor Allswell was stopped as the patient screamed violently without warning. Turned from sad to a smile upon seeing her, but never saying a word right away. The therapist straightened her uniform at the surprising noise and repeated herself. "Are you patient, PPCP?"
The patient didn't answer. Instead, they looked around the room at the balloons and stinky old cheese. She rubbed the balloons and whispered and wiggled the cheese in the air. "The cheese pierces the balloons and my heart. The needle stabs my eyes and his funny hair." She tilted left and right.
"Whose funny hair?"
She stopped moving and stared Allswell in the face. Her eyes were blank and cloudy. The mare let out a shrill scream only to return to the objects and repeat the same phrase. "The cheese pierces the balloons and my heart. The needle stabs my eyes and his funny hair." She turned her head like a puppet and stared at the therapist. "The cheese pierces the balloons and my heart..." She waited as if for a reply.
"The needle stabs my eyes--" Allswell was interrupted as she screamed again. "The needle stabs your eyes and his funny hair...?" The therapist waited for a smile from the patient. "Yes. And your name, patient CCPC?"
"No!!" the patient screamed louder before dropping to the floor right in front of her. The smile faded into a hateful glare as her bouncy mane fell to flat and deflated locks. "My name is Cenior Puddinghead!" She jumped right into the therapist's face. "And the crooked horn... The crooked horn..." She pulled back as her rage turned into fear. "The crooked horn took them... The crook horn took them!!"
******
Back on the first floor, the secretary continued to read his magazine. He gave a soft laugh at the thought of sending her down there. "Pitiful mare will be driven mad by nightfall." He was just about to flip the page until a knock was heard. "What?!"
The secretary turned around to see a purple batpony stallion with a gray mane and beard, standing before the desk. He had a black bowler hat on his head, in a tuxedo with a large silver badge on his chest. He was followed by two large stallions that seemed to be both pony and dragon in species. One hybrid was white, the other was red.
The secretary dropped the magazine. Jumping out of his chair, he straightened his back up and greeted him. "Sir... Doctor Norman Nox?!"
The old batpony. "That is correct. And I am here to see my patient, Jack Nox."
******