Twilight was chewing her lip as she walked into my office and took her seat.
“How are you today, Twilight?” I asked.
“Just fine, Doctor,” she said, shooting me a glance and then looking away just as quickly. She fidgeted in her seat before shooting me another glance.
I had seen this kind of behavior before. She often acted like this when she needed to tell about something that made her nervous, like a new symptom.
I waited, hoping that she would speak first, but she just continued to squirm in her seat. After a few minutes, I decided to break the silence.
“Twilight, what is on your mind?” I asked, as gently as possible.
Twilight gave me another glance, then took a deep breath and stopped fidgeting. “Well, I… I had a bad dream.”
I have to admit, I was a little surprised. We had discussed her dreams many times before, and she had never acted this nervous before. Still, I had a job to do. I pushed the confusion out of my mind and thought about what to say next.
“I see,” I said carefully. “You seem very upset about this dream. Is there any particular reason why?”
“It’s not so much about the content of the dream but… well… I had it over a week ago! I didn’t tell you last time! I’m really sorry! I know it was silly of me not to tell you about it last week, but I just couldn’t!” Twilight exclaimed, looking very upset.
Oh, now I understand. She wasn’t acting nervous because of a symptom, but because she felt like she had lied to me
“It is alright, Twilight,” I said. “Out of curiosity, why didn’t you tell me about it last week? Was it because Rainbow Dash was here?”
She nodded. “Yes. I know it was kind of stupid of me, especially considering that she already knew about the dream, but I just couldn’t bring it up in front of her. I don’t like to watch her worry about me.”
“That’s understandable. You care for her deeply, and don’t want to cause her pain,” I said.
“Yes,” Twilight said, as she nodded her head.
“Well then, I have some questions about the dream. First and foremost, what was it about?” I asked.
“Well, it was that old one about the asylum. You know, the one where I never became Celestia’s student, and I never moved to Ponyville or saved Equestria. And everypony just tells me that I was hallucinating everything,” Twilight explained.
“Oh, that one again. How did you react to it?”
Twilight looked away from me and blushed. “Not… not well. I woke up in a panic. I’m just glad that Rainbow was there that night.”
I raised an eyebrow. Their relationship had already progressed that far? To be honest, I had expected Twilight to take everything very slow when it came to sex. But if she felt ready…
“So what I did,” Twilight continued, oblivious to my worry, “was head to the room where Rainbow was staying…”
I nearly burst out laughing. Of course. I should have known. There was no way that Twilight would take such a big step without consulting everypony she could get her hooves on.
Still, I did not actually say anything. I did not want to interrupt Twilight, and laughing at her would have been very damaging to the trust that we had built between us.
“Doctor? Doctor Hooves? Are you okay?”
I snapped out of my thoughts to find Twilight looking at me worriedly. Had I actually just spaced out on one of my clients? I had never done such a thing before!
“Yes, Twilight, I am fine. I was just thinking about something. Please, continue,” I said, wanting to get the conversation back on track.
“All right,” Twilight said, looking at me a bit oddly. “Anyways, I went to my guest room, and I woke Rainbow up. She got so worried about my, and I can’t really blame her. I was crying, and I think I asked her if she was real. I don’t really remember…”
“I see. And what did Rainbow do?”
“This I remember! She gave me a great big hug,” Twilight said, smiling widely and blushing a little, “and she kept on telling me that she and all my friends were real. Eventually, I fell asleep in her forelegs.”
“What did you do when you woke up?” I asked.
“Well, I woke up before Rainbow did, and I wanted to show my appreciation for what she had done for me, so I got Spike and decided to make her breakfast in bed. She woke up before I could actually bring it up to her. Then we talked a little about what had happened, and she hugged me again, and told me to find her if I ever felt that way again.”
“I see,” I said, collecting my thoughts. “That makes me happy to hear that she would do that for you. Not that I thought that she would not try to help you, but I am glad that she was able to show you that pony to pony.”
“It made me happy too when I thought about it later,” Twilight said, beaming.
“Now, about the dream itself. Unless I am mistaken, you have not had that dream for quite some time. Or any nightmares of that caliber, now that I think about it.”
Twilight simply nodded in response.
“And you have not had it since?”
Twilight shook her head.
“Then I believe that it was just an anxiety dream. You did just enter a relationship, something that you have had no prior experience with, so it is only natural that you have some fears about it. Most likely, you had that particular dream because you are afraid of losing what you have with Rainbow Dash.”
“Okay, that does seem to make sense,” Twilight said, getting the faraway look in her eyes that she always got when thinking intensely about something. “Also, I think that I had that one because I told her about my A.C.M.S. and it was on my mind.”
“That is certainly possible,” I said, nodding. “Now, seeing as you have not mentioned any other nightmare, am I correct in assuming that this was an isolated incident?”
“Yeah. At least, I don’t think so,” Twilight amended. “I haven’t woken up like that since, but I don’t actually recall my dreams, so it’s possible that I had another nightmare and just didn’t realize it.”
“As so long as they do not affect you as strongly as that one, I think it will be fine. But if they do become a reoccurring thing, let me know so we can do something about them.”
“Sure thing, Doctor. I’m really sorry that I didn’t tell you about this last time,” Twilight said, looking embarrassed.
I smiled. “No need to apologize. We had other things on our minds last session.”
Twilight nodded to this, and then the room fell into silence.
My mind drifted back to my earlier thoughts. Was Twilight ready for that kind of intimacy, or had she even thought about it? After the meeting with Rainbow last week, I felt somewhat comfortable in saying that Rainbow did not want to push Twilight out of her comfort zone too fast, but still… sex is a part of any romantic relationship.
Scratch that, sex is a part of most romantic relationships. I had read about an asexual couple who loved each other dearly, but didn’t care for the sexual aspects of their relationship. I didn’t think that was the case here, though. Twilight had mentioned finding mares physically attractive, and Rainbow was obviously attracted to Twilight.
I should probably ask Twilight if she even thought about taking their relationship to the next level. I just needed to come up with a tactful way of—
“I’ve been thinking about telling the rest of my friends that I have A.C.M.S.” Twilight said suddenly, scattering my thoughts to the four winds.
“Oh, um… really?” Way to go, Hooves, maintain that air of professionalism.
“Yeah, I was talking to Rainbow about it the other day, and she sort of suggested that maybe I tell our friends about it,” Twilight said.
“Ah… Before we continue any further, I need to ask you one thing. Did she in anyway pressure you into this?” I asked, concerned.
“Oh, no! It wasn’t anything like that!” Twilight exclaimed, waving her hooves frantically. “I just mentioned that it felt nice to be completely open with somepony about that big part of my life, and Rainbow just pointed out that if I told my friends, then I would have more ponies to be open with! Even then, she was very adamant that it was only a suggestion, and she hasn’t brought it up since… not that I’ve seen her since…”
“Wait, you have not seen her since? Why?” I asked, hoping that their relationship hadn’t hit rocky patches already. Rainbow may be… impulsive sometimes, but Twilight had been so much happier since that had started dating.
“Oh, between weather duties and helping out at Bon Bon’s shop, she’s been too busy to do anything but sleep in her time off. I miss her, but she needed to do this.”
“Oh, okay…” I said, my worries banished for now. “Back to the subject at hand. How many ponies do you want to tell?”
“Just my other four friends. You know, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack. I don’t really want to tell anypony else,” Twilight said.
“I had assumed those were the ponies you wanted to talk to, but I just wanted to be sure. Now then, you said you were thinking about it, was there anything that you were nervous about?” I asked, pretty sure that I already knew the answer.
“Yeah, I’m worried that they might not take me seriously or even… even…” Twilight was struggling to hold back tears now.
“You are worried that they might reject you and stop being your friend because of this,” I said as gently as possible.
Twilight just nodded, sniffling a little.
I sighed. “This is going to sound a little callous, but if that happens, let them—“
“WHAT? But that’s, I can’t, how could you even—“ Twilight began, but I cut her off.
“I don’t actually think that would happen, but look at it this way. If they reject you because of this, then they were not really your friend in the first place, right?”
“But the Elements of Harmony—“
“Show us that this is very unlikely to happen,” I said, interrupting her once more.
Twilight fell silent.
After a few minutes, I felt the need to speak up. “Could you tell me what you are thinking, Twilight?”
Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. Silence fell over my room for at least another minute.
Finally, Twilight spoke. “I’m going to do it. I think that telling them would be a good step forwards in my life. It would also help Rainbow and Spike stop worrying about me all the time, right?”
“Twilight,” I said sternly, “I want you to do this for yourself, not because anypony else would benefit from it, or pressured you into it.”
“I know, Doctor. The fact that Rainbow and Spike would benefit from this would be a bonus. I’m just sick of hiding things from my friends. I didn’t even realize that until I told Rainbow.”
“As so long as you feel ready, Twilight. It is a big step,” I said.
“I know. I plan on having Rainbow with me for moral support.”
“That is probably wise.”
Twilight glanced at the clock. “Anyways, do you mind if I leave a little early? I’m supposed to have dinner with Rainbow tonight to celebrate her finishing her time at Bon Bon’s shop, and I want to help Spike make it.”
I glanced at the clock myself. “That is fine. Our time was almost up anyways. I assume you haven’t had any symptoms this week?”
“Nope, none at all. See you next week, Doctor!” Twilight said, and then walked out of my office as I turned to my eternal pile of paperwork.