//------------------------------// // 16 Hours Later // Story: Scattered Thoughts // by Coyote Mustang //------------------------------// Twilight awoke to another white ceiling, her thoughts circling her mind as to why she saw this color again. She sat up on the bed and was shortly greeted by the doctor that stood outside. “Good morning Miss Sparkle, how are you feeling today?” The doctor asked as he made his way around her. “What happened to me, all I remember was going to the spa and now I’m here.” Twilight answered as she followed him with her eyes. “Apparently you had some sort of breakdown in the spa and your friends rushed you here as quick as they could. And if my math is correct, you have been close to catatonic for the last 16 hours.” he answered back, placing his hoof on her neck to balance the stethoscope on her back. “Give me a deep breath in and out.” he asked as he listens to her breath. Twilight’s mind raced to find information on her situation. But again her mind was blank; no information came forth to answer her predicament. Twilight's mind raced faster and faster, and so did her heartbeat, the monitor to her side told the doctor as he was finishing up his exam. “Miss Sparkle, is everything ok?” The doctor asked, worry in his voice. Twilight began to shake her head in frustration, her thoughts couldn’t focus properly on the situation she was in, and the hospital seemed like a place found in the distance of her visions. All she could think about was getting home and having some time to think, to figure out an answer for her on how to remember anything she had done before. She scrambled out of her bed, causing her I.V. to pop out of her arm, letting loose a pink mixture of blood and the saline solution. Twilight made her way to the door before the voice of the Doctor registered in her head. “Miss Twilight, I know this is a bit disorienting for you, but if you would calm down we still have tests we need to do.” He spoke his voice trying to sound calm and collected, as he made his way over to her. “I’m sorry sir, but I have to go. I’ve already been in one hospital in the last few weeks, I don't need another. I need my home, my living room, my books. Those are the comfort I need at this time, not some silly tests.” Twilight answered in a hurried voice, as this conversation was forestalling her departure. Her eyes glanced around the room, the walls of white showing the stains of the past patients here, the remnants of sickness she knew she wasn’t supposed to be a part of. “I’m not supposed to be here, I'm not supposed to be here,” Twilight spoke to herself as she scanned the room some more. Her eyes darted around to see all the cracks in the ceiling as well as the walls. She continued to talk out loud, telling of her anxiety for being in the hospital. “Miss Sparkle, I need you to say here so I can attempt to figure out what's wrong with you,” the doctor spoke as he made his way towards her. “That’s just it Doctor, I DON’T know what’s wrong with me. And if I don’t know what’s wrong, I’m pretty sure you won’t as well. I keep waking up with no memory of what I did the time before and all of this is starting to worry me. Can you name me a condition that causes that in a normal pony?” she replied to the doctor, her words speeding up aggressively as she went along. Without giving him time to answer properly she continued, “That’s what I thought. So now all I want to do is get to my home, sit, have a cup of tea and try to figure this out; because that’s what I do when I’m stressed about something. But now I’m here with you trying to tell me something I already know and all I want to do is leave.” she finished, her eyes growing larger and larger as her speech continued to speed its way through her thoughts. “Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going.” she said as she turned back to the door in her haste. “Miss Sparkle, I can’t allow you to leave before all the tests arrive back. Now I know you are worried about this thing, but if we are to do anything to fix it, we need your cooperation in it. Miss Sparkle, I need you to bear with me for the next few hours, at least until the tests come back. If they all come back negative and we see no reason to keep you we will release you to your home. Will you just give us the time to do this?” Twilight gave the doctor a look of pure chagrin, but relented at least for his sake. She sat back down on the bed, her legs softly swaying at the beginning, but as the hours past that small sway turned into a violent fidget. She sat in the bed, her eyes glued to the ceiling, waiting for the doctor to come back with the results. Finally, three hours later, he returned with two other ponies in tow. Applejack strolled into the room and made her way to Twilight's side, her smile giving Twilight a warm feeling of having some-pony she knew around. The Doctor looked over the chart in front of him and soon closed the lid and gave Twilight a look of puzzlement. “Miss Sparkle, we have tested everything we can that could account for the memory loss as well as the loss of consciousness, and everything came back as normal. There doesn’t appear to be a thing wrong with you.” the doctor told her, his look of bewilderment still visible to every pony in the room. Twilight let out a loud sigh, her frustrations realized. She knew that they would find nothing wrong with her in the end, but she let them do it anyways. Twilight tried to stand up, but Applejack gave her a gentle push back down, telling her she had to listen to something more. The Doctor that stood near the door slowly made his towards Twilight. He gave her a soft smile, his small white beard flexing with the facial movement. Twilight didn’t like the looks of this; she knew this wouldn’t allow her to leave any faster. Her legs continued to fidget as the second doctor made his way to his colleague’s side. “Miss Sparkle, I’d like to introduce you to one of my colleagues, this is Doctor Slip.” he said as he pointed his hoof to his left, giving the older pony a name and a designation. “How do you do, Doctor Slip?” Twilight answered, a little unsure as to why another doctor was called. The test results were negative for anything right? “I’m having a good day so far, Miss Sparkle, though I’m sure the same cannot be said for you,” he answered back with a small chuckle. Twilight looked to Applejack for any answer as to why he was here, But Applejack still gave her the smile she had when she walked in, but this time Twilight found something underneath it. Applejack eyes showed her kindness and caring, but they also showed her fear. Twilight looked back at the other doctor and gave a slow nod. “Now, I need to take care of a few things, so I’ll leave you alone to talk with Doctor Slip. He has seen your records as well as the test results so he knows everything about your case.” the younger doctor said as he took his leave from the room. Doctor Slip looked at Applejack with a surprised look; he had expected her to leave with him. “Miss Apple, you don’t need to be here for this, Twilight and I are just going to have a small chat.” Doctor Slip’s eyes swayed between the two of them. “Ah’ was the only one that didn’t want your help on this, So ah wanna hear what you have to say,” Applejack’s eyes narrowed at the older stallion. “Very well, Miss Apple, I understand your concern,” Doctor Slip’s attention shifted back to Twilight, and his voice took a happier tone. “Now Miss Twilight as you know my name is Doctor Slip and I have been lead to understand that you’ve been having trouble remembering things for the past few days, is that correct?” Twilight gave a small nod. “I am also lead to understand from your friends that you have been having mood swings, is this also correct?” His eyes continued to watch Twilight, waiting for her answer and silently looking for signs of the disorder he suspected it to be. “Yes, Doctor Slip, but I can’t remember any of the swings. It’s like it wasn’t me controlling my body.” she answered back, her eyes moving to Applejack’s. Applejack gave her that same smile again, it was like she knew what she was thinking, but the sympathy was just for her to sit and bare the onslaught of questions. “Twilight, have you experienced a loss recently?” he asked her, his eyes drifted this time from her eyes to Applejack's. “No I haven’t, at least not to my knowledge.” Twilight answered back quickly, alarmed at his question. “Why are you asking these questions, they don’t have anything to do with my physical health?” Twilight verbalized, her eyes swinging back to Doctor Slip. Doctor Slip gave a small stroke to his beard, as if in contemplation. He placed his hoof back down and asked another question, seemingly forgetting Twilight’s in the process. “Miss Twilight, have you ever heard voices in your head that aren't yours?” he asked, his tone as calm as it was when he began. Twilight nodded her head, her mind telling her that if he had read her files, he would know about the accident and the spell as well. Twilight looked back at the older stallion with a look of understanding and received one in return. He eyes tracked back to Applejack, expecting her comforting smile to be there. Applejack didn’t want to believe it, but her friends were right about Twilight. Applejack’s mind began racing, going through all of her interactions with Twilight and wondering how she had missed it. Applejack’s thoughts barraged her with warning signs, with symptoms and with everything she had ever done with her. But something else came with it as well, her memories of the gala, winter wrap up and all the fun she had ever had. She felt the warmth she had when she shared those experiences with her friends and her decision was made then and there. Applejack was so caught up that she soon noticed Twilight's eyes looking into hers and slowly she put on another smile, one of sympathy and of love. She knew she had to support her through this, at least for Twilight's sake. With Applejack’s smile, Twilight felt that her time was almost up with this doctor and he was getting to a diagnosis. She knew it had something to do with the spell. Her confidence bolstered, Twilight looked back at Doctor slip and awaited his judgment. Doctor Slip had only one question left and he knew this was the last one he would have to ask. “Miss Twilight, have you ever been institutionalized?” Twilight’s smile disappeared in an instant, her mind choosing to focus on the question rather than on anything else she could do. She sat in a state of emptiness to the outside world, as if she only knew to breathe. Twilight's mind tackled the question, wondering how he had reached his conclusion in that conversation. she remembered the definitions of the words spoken, but somehow it wasn’t making any sense to the situation. he’s a doctor, someone that looks at the physical and makes diagnoses, why were his questions mental rather than physical? Twilight felt the headache began; her mind’s rushing around causing it to appear. She gripped her temples with her hooves, swirling them to suppress the pain and trying to get her thoughts back in order. She thought and thought her way around the question, trying to think of why he would ask this when the pain in her head gave a large pulse of pain, brought Twilight to her answer, and what came next was a shock to all. An explosion of magical energy engulfed the hospital room, blinding the ponies that stood near the door in a blast of white light. as Doctor Slip regained his sight, his focus shifted quickly to the space where Twilight and Applejack had been, and only found the charred remains of Applejack's hat. The younger doctor from before came sprinting into the room, the light had startled him on his lunch break as Doctor Slip noticed the sundae he was having was now being worn on his scrubs. “What in Tartarus happened in here?” he asked as he took in the situation. “I think she did what we unicorns called a teleport spell, though I’ve never seen such power used before,” Doctor Slip answered with a long sigh. Doctor Slip made his way past his colleague and to his office. the sounds of the lock rang in his mind as he sat at his desk and looked at the piece of paper he had on his desk. The letterhead on the paper as well as its contents were something to behold for everypony, everypony except Twilight. Dr. Freudian Slip Psy.D Ponyville General Ponyville, Equestria 46773 Princess Celestia, My name is Doctor Freudian Slip, And I am the head of the department of Psychiatry at Ponyville General Hospital. I would like to discuss the details of an incident at your school involving one Twilight Sparkle. We believe that during said incident something may have harmed not only Twilight’s body, but her mental status as well. It is my professional belief that the incident at your school may have fractured Twilight’s mind into two distinct personalities leading to psychotic breaks from reality and memory loss as they transition back. Enclosed you will find a dictation between me and Miss Sparkle and the conversation we had after she arrived at Ponyville General in a state categorized as Glasgow coma stage of 6. Although she appeared to be alert, she didn’t respond to either pain or voice stimuli. However two hour after she was admitted, she began to talk to us, but what she said gave us cause for concern. She began to speak to her friends Applejack and Rarity, and asked them for help on a research project involving ten cans of beans and a bottle of water. While the research project was slightly worrying, the fact that we hadn’t let her friends come and see her yet raised the most alarm. She continued for several hours in conversation with her friends, and soon fell asleep. They all stood in the observation room next door and peered into the room to see her condition. We all came to an agreement that if Twilight displayed the correct symptoms when she awoke next, we would ask her to voluntarily commit herself to the asylum for a 72 hour hold. She awoke about an hour ago, and we proceed with a physiological exam. I just finished this psychological evaluation as well or I would have finished if she hadn’t of warped out of the office in a brilliant flash of magic. As this letter entails, We are concerned that her mental status has begun to decrease and fear that she may become a hazard to herself or others. If she has another incident like this we may have to institutionalize her for her safety. Please review her case carefully and let us know of your actions in the matter. Thank you for your time and I hope for the best in Twilight’s case. Dr. Freudian Slip Doctor Slip sealed the letter with a quick stamp and, using his magic, sent it to the royal hospital’s mailroom for the staff to have her read. As the magic faded, Doctor Slip sat in his chair and placing his hooves between his eyes, rubbed them in frustration at the letter he had just sent. He knew of her reputation and being wrong about this could cost him his career. But it was a risk he was willing to take, If it meant he could save the mind of such a brilliant pony.