“Alright,” Rainbow Dash eyed the two pegasi warily, in particular her cerise eyes focused on the burnt yellow pony seated in front of her on the other side of the coffee table. “What the hay are ya doing here, and how long’s it gonna be before ya try putting me through this table?”
Apple Honey shifted uncomfortably in her chair, she hadn’t looked her Aunt Rainbow in the eyes since being let into the castle minutes earlier, and with her eyes firmly glued to the steaming mug of black coffee in front of her she felt no immediate need to do so again. She knew she deserved all the ire the cyan pegasus could throw at her, knowing it didn’t help her cope with it though, and she was glad her sister was there with her.
“Rainbow Dash, drink your coffee and let her speak.” Although Twilight’s tone was light and conversational, there was no mistaking the presence in her voice.
“Come off it Twi,” Rainbow snorted in contempt, pointing a hoof at Apple Honey. “Y’know she’s trouble, or have ya forgot what she did last time?
Twilight took a gentle sip of her earl grey tea as she looked over at her marefriend. “I haven’t forgotten…”
“Good, ‘cause neither has my back!” Rainbow made to slam her hoof onto the coffee table, but stopped herself at the last second from spilling her coffee onto the carpeted floor of the castle’s lounge. “Remember the back this psycho almost broke?!”
Rainbow was about to continue her verbal assault on her old attacker when she was cut off by Cloud Blossom, who had till now remained silent. She simply laid her left foreleg on her sister’s right and flashed her a smile. “Breathe sis,” She muttered quietly.
Twilight merely took another sip of her tea, watching Dash’s confusion with a tiny trace of amusement.
“Wait, what was that about?”
“Aunt Rainbow,” Cloud began, her reassuring hoof still in place over her sister’s, “You call my sister a psycho.” She paused to take a drink of her hot chocolate. “You’re right,” She stated bluntly, feeling her sister’s foreleg tense under her own. “She is a psycho.”
Rainbow Dash sat back in her chair, for once at a loss for words. “what d’ya mean?...”
“What I mean, Aunt Rainbow,” Cloud carried on, building up steam. “Is that Apple Honey has a psychotic mental illness called Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED. It doesn’t excuse what she’s done, but it does explain why she did the things she did.”
Rainbow snorted in her chair, “Yeah right Cloud, and I’m the king of the seaponies!”
Twilight levitated her teacup to the coffee table. “Why don’t you tell us about it Apple Honey?” she asked, staring a pointed look at Rainbow as she did so.
“Twi, you aren’t buyin’ this load of manure are ya?”
Twilight gave her marefriend a stare Fluttershy would’ve been proud of. “Dashie, I want you to listen to what she has to say, please.”
“Hmph!” Rainbow crossed her forelegs and slumped in her chair, looking for all the world like a chastised school filly. “Fine. Talk.”
~
“Enter.”
The door to the Doctor’s office opened to reveal two armoured unicorn guards flanking a securely bound pegasus. Both had their horns lit, one had the mare’s hindlegs bound together, her wings held tightly to her barrel and her forelegs held against her chest with glowing bands of yellow power. The other guard levitated her along in his blue aura.
“Couch please Shieldwall.”
The unicorn in question silently floated the struggling mare to the aforementioned couch, depositing her roughly on her back.
“Thank you. You may leave.”
The unicorn with the yellow aura around his horn shook his violet maned head. “Governor’s orders Doc, this one,” He indicated the still struggling pegasus with a disdainful look, “Is not to be seen without supervision and restraint.”
Without looking up from her notes, or even acknowledging the pegasus’s presence on her couch at all the Doctor addressed the guard; “Thank you, I am well aware of the prisoner’s history, and the Governor’s orders. You can maintain these spells,” She waved a hoof towards the bound mare, “From the other side of the door, yes?”
The unicorn guards nodded in unison.
“Then I am in no immediate danger am I Bastion?”
“No Doc but…”
“If you would be so kind then, please wait outside my office.” The two guards merely grunted and with a shrug of their powerful shoulders left the office, though their outlines could be seen through the frosted glass of the door.
After what seemed an eternity the Doctor finally looked up from her sheaf of notes to look over her angular glasses at the pegasus lying bound on her couch. Brushing a strand of her bubblegum pink mane out of her eyes with a white foreleg the earth pony spoke. “Good afternoon, Miss…Apple Honey, correct?”
“Buck you.”
“Hmm, a simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed.” She adjusted her glasses before continuing, “My name is Doctor Sureheart. Do you know why you’re here?”
"Buck off."
“Hmm. I see. Miss Honey, I have all afternoon, and neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s make this pleasant shall we?”
“Buck…”
“Yes, yes…your favourite word I assume?” Doctor Sureheart interrupted her, a slight note of irritation edging her voice. “Now, I see from the notes I’ve been given you have already had some tests, medical and psychological, do you know why these tests were performed?”
Apple Honey stopped her fruitless struggle, instead turning her head away from the questioning mare beside her. “They sayin’ ah’m tapped in th’ head or somethin’.”
“Miss Honey, you are not ‘tapped in the head’, you have been diagnosed with a mental illness, namely Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which is why you have been referred to me, and why we have the pleasure of each other’s company.”
“So what, Same thing ain’t it?” Apple Honey asked sullenly, still looking away, currently the only defiant action available to her. “Y’all gonna ‘shrink’ me till ah’m cured an’ ah can go be a good little pony again?”
Doctor Sureheart shuffled her notes in her hooves, looking her patient over. “Your illness cannot be cured Miss Honey, however it can be managed. That is why we are here. To help you understand your aggressive violent behaviour, to recognise when you are about to have an episode and to teach you techniques through cognitive therapy to calm yourself down.” Once again Sureheart adjusted her glasses. “Could you at least do me the courtesy of looking at me?”
Apple Honey reluctantly turned her head to look at the serenely smiling earth pony Doctor, her shallow breathing barely keeping her temper in check. She couldn’t put a hoof on exactly when she’d started getting upset, but once her anger started it was like a wildfire, feeding itself until there was nothing left. Her body was giving her its signs, the tightening of her chest, the tingling in her hooves and worse the unending pressure at the front of her head, bearing like an unbearable weight on her skull.
“You would like to attack me right now, wouldn’t you Miss Honey?”
“Yeah, yeah ah would.”
“Why? Describe it for me if you please, every last detail.” Doctor Sureheart turned to a clean sheet of paper, pen in her mouth poised and ready.
“Ah, ah dunno why, jus’ y’all sat there judgin’ me, makin’ notes about me, that damn superior smile like y’all are better than me…” Apple Honey felt the pressure in her head become so intense it was painful. Breathing through it she continued; “Ah wanna take mah hoof and buck that smug grin ta th’ other side o’ ya face.”
“Hmm, I see.” Doctor Sureheart furiously scribbled her notes, already filling the clean page and starting another. “And the earth pony mare in the dining area, was she better than you too?” The psychiatrist asked, referencing the incident that had occurred at the end of Apple Honey’s first week in the Detention Centre.
“She…she cut in front o’ me in the dinner line,” The pain in her head and the tightness of her chest made it difficult to concentrate on the question in hoof. “Ngh!...the…the mare, she took the dessert ah wanted, took it knowin’ ah wanted it…”
“Miss Honey, are you in pain?”
“Uh huh…” Doctor Sureheart retrieved a bottle of painkillers from the drawer of her desk, emptying two onto her papers. Taking an empty glass she filled it with water from the nearby cooler and took it to her desk, dropping the two tablets in it.
Standing by the bound pegasus she held the glass in her right hoof. “Miss Honey. Bite at me in any way, I’ll have you sedated and this kindness will not be extended again, do you understand?”
Apple Honey nodded her head with a pitiful whimper, her eyes watering with the pain.
“Open up then.” The white mare poured the water and tablets down her throat, watching as her patient swallowed the painkillers. “Better?”
The burnt yellow pegasus nodded; “Y – yeah…t – thanks Doc…”
A look of concern passes across the Doctor’s face, “Miss Honey, does it always hurt that bad?”
“Only when ah can’ release it, it hurts more an’ more until ah let it go.”
"Hmm I see." Sureheart scrawled more notes across her paper, "Now, back to the earth pony mare. Your assault left her in the hospital for two weeks with a broken foreleg and several fractured ribs, it also got your sentence extended to two years. Do you feel any remorse for the attack?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She took what she knew ah wanted, ah gave her a warnin’, she ignored it. Her problem.”
“Hmm. Let’s move ahead to a month ago, to the pegasus stallion in the exercise yard. Tell me about that please.”
“Ah was doin’ weights, mindin’ mah business.” Apple Honey’s voice had taken a deadened, emotionless cadence which didn’t go unnoticed by the earth pony Doctor. “Stallion came over, made a few ‘unsavoury’ comments, about me, mah flanks and mah ass. Ah ignored him, best ah could, carried on wi’ mah weights.”
“Then what happened?” She asked quietly.
“Y’all know what happened…”
“I’d like you to tell me all the same.”
“Ah switched t’ a different set o’ weights, stallion came behind me, he…he…” Fresh tears welled in the corners of her eyes at the memory. “He mounted me. Ah screamed at him to get off, but he wouldn’, he jus’ laughed at me. Ah bucked him, ah defended mahself.”
“Miss Honey, self-defence is to be expected in such a situation, however,” Doctor Sureheart consulted her notes once more. “Your attack went beyond mere self-defence, didn’t it?”
Apple Honey rolled her head away again, utter disdain in her dead voice. “If y’all say so.”
“I do say so Miss Honey. Your first kick, your ‘bucking’ as you call it shattered his pelvis, making him unable to stand. What went beyond defence was you taking a fifty kilogram weight and shattering his right wing.”
“He deserved more.”
“And I’m sure he would’ve received more, had the pegasus guard not intervened. Tell me why you attacked the guard Miss Honey.”
“Ah dunno, ah was gone by that point. All ah felt was a wingtip on mah flank, ah just bucked out, ah wasn’ thinkin’.”
“You are aware you broke his jaw?”
“Shouldn’a got in mah way. A pegasus jus’ tried ta rape me, ah felt a wingtip on mah flank. Ah reacted.”
“Hmm. Your ‘reaction’ extended your sentence to five years Miss Honey.”
Apple Honey turned her cold expression back to the Doctor that sat beside her. “An’ ah’d do it again, in a heartbeat ah’d do it again.”
"Hmm I believe you Miss Honey.” Doctor Sureheart put aside her notes and pen. “From what you have told me today I can surmise your IED is triggered when you feel provoked, would you agree this is the case?”
“Y’all could say that Doc.”
“Now, as regards the treatment of your condition, I’m going to prescribe medication for you, a course of antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents and finally a mood stabilizer. These are fluoxetine, phenytoin and lithium respectively. These you’ll need to take twice daily for the rest of your life. I’m also recommending a course of psychotherapy, which will include cognitive restructuring and learning coping skills.”
“Um…D – doc S - sureheart?...”
For the first time in their session together Doctor Sureheart heard something other than a brash, abrasive, hot tempered young pegasus. She heard a frightened young mare. Brushing aside her pink mane and adjusting her glasses she briefly wondered how many ponies had seen this side to her patient. ‘Not many’ she safely concluded.
“Yes Miss Honey?”
"Will, will you be doin' the psychotherapy?”
“Would you like me to?”
“Yeah…yes please…”
“Why Miss Honey?”
“You’re nice, y’all gave me the painkillers. Ah, ah like you.”
Doctor Sureheart gave her the best smile she could; “Yes Miss Honey, if you are comfortable with it, I will be your therapist for these sessions.”
“Thank you.”
~
“Yeah right…” Rainbow Dash eyed Apple Honey, her forelegs still crossed in her chair. “Cute story and all, could’ve used a dragon and some world-ending peril though, throw in a last minute Princess rescue at the end.” The cyan pegasus added sarcastically.
Twilight drained her teacup, levitating the china to the coffee table. “Rainbow…” She began before her marefriend cut her off.
“I’m not buyin’ it Twi, and neither is my back. I’ve read better Daring Do fanfics than what I just heard.”
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight had finally had enough. While she only raised her voice a little, the authority in her tone was sufficient to quiet her partner. Apple Honey quelled at once in her chair, she’d heard that voice once before, and didn’t want to hear it again. “I know for a fact our niece is being truthful. Ever since I was forced to issue the arrest I have been in contact with the Governor of the Detention Centre, and with Doctor Sureheart, whom I have gotten to know quite well.” Twilight turned a furious eye to Rainbow, who shrank in her chair. “As it happens the good Doctor still sends me updates as and when she deems it necessary.”
“But…why…how come you never said anything then?” Rainbow spluttered.
“Confidentiality.” Twilight explained. “Doctor Sureheart only agreed to share her reports with me because I’m a Princess, a close friend of the family and the one who arrested my niece.” Her gaze still on the doubting pegasus she continued; “You owe somepony an apology Rainbow,” in a quieter voice she said, “We will discuss this later, when we’re alone.”
At some point during Apple Honey’s tale Cloud Blossom had scooted her chair next to her sister, pulling her into a life threatening hug that showed no immediate signs of being released. “Still going to call my sister a liar Aunt Rainbow?” She asked indignantly.
“Well, I’m not sayin’ I understand all of it, but I guess I do owe ya an apology.”
“No need Aunt Rainbow,” Apple Honey finally managed to pull herself from her sister’s neck crushing hug, welcoming the chance to breathe. “Ah really am sorry…”
Rainbow rubbed the part of her back between her shoulders and wings that had taken the brunt of the table. “For callin’ me a fillyfooling pervert, accusin’ me of banging your parents and for drivin’ me back first through my own kitchen table?”
“Yeah, ah’m sorry for all o’ that.”
Rainbow Dash cracked the faintest of smiles as she brushed aside a lock of her unruly multi coloured mane. “I suppose we can let it slide this time kid,” She pointed a hoof at the burnt yellow pegasus. “But I’m watching you, got it?”
“Ah got it, thanks Aunt Rainbow.”
~
Hours later the afternoon was early evening before Cloud Blossom and Apple Honey finally left the castle to head to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight Sparkle stretched out on her favourite reading couch, her copy of ‘Advanced Elemental Transfiguration’ held before her in her lavender aura while Rainbow busied herself tidying away the mugs and cups. The Princess pretended not to hear the jingle of the chains as she magically turned the page.
“I hope my little maid won’t forget to wipe the coffee table this time.” She said as casually as she could, stealing surreptitious glances at her marefriend’s flank as she swayed across the lounge.
“Twi, was the uniform really necessary?” Rainbow huffed as she carried over the cloth, hampered slightly by the hoofcuffs. The cuffs and the eighteen inch chain didn’t bother her too much, it was the spreader bar fastened to the leading edges of her wings keeping her from flying that worried her. The three clips on each wing didn’t hurt, they merely held her wings outstretched from her barrel, immobilising them.
Without looking Twilight reached over with her magic and swatted Rainbow’s cutie marks with whips of pure power, earning a surprised yelp from her ‘maid’. “I beg your pardon?”
“Mistress, was the uniform really necessary?” Rainbow took the cloth in her mouth and began to wipe down the coffee table.
Again, Twilight didn’t bother to look up from her book. “Of course, my staff should look the part, don’t you agree?”
“Mistress…did you have to bind my wings?”
“You were a very bad pony, doubting myself and Apple Honey like you did. I’d say the punishment fits the crime, wouldn’t you?”
“But…”
“I can always send you to the market, I’m sure there are supplies we need.”
“N – no Mistress…please don’t…I’ll behave.” The very thought of being sent out in her current bindings mortified the cyan pegasus beyond measure.
Twilight closed her book with a sultry smile, “Then get to cleaning. And the more thorough your cleaning is, the more thorough I’ll be when you’re finished.”
“Yes Mistress!” Rainbow was determined the coffee table would have a reflective surface by the time she was finished.
Twilight trotted over and playfully nipped the pegasus’s ear. “Thanks for listening earlier.”
Rainbow paused in her wiping; “Meh, she ain’t a bad kid, I’m just glad she’s getting the help she needs.”
Twilight gave Rainbow a little kiss. “Still big of you to let it go.” As she headed towards the stairs to the bedroom Twilight called over her shoulder, “Come up when you’re done, I’ll show my maid just how proud I am of her…”