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// 03: Princess Twilight Sparkle, Session 1, Living Up to Expectations 
// Story: The Personal Files of Dr. Mindwell 
// by rillegas08 
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It was Tuesday morning, and I had just finished eating my breakfast when there was a knock on my door. I set the dishes into the sink and opened the door. There was Miss Twilight, standing outside with a nervous smile as she wiped her hooves on the doormat.

"Welcome back, Miss Sparkle."

She thanked me and stepped inside, taking a moment to look around as I closed the door behind her. It had changed nicely since the last time she was here: the back part of the room was hidden by a screened partition, and most of the space had been decorated to suit a typical therapy office; there was a sofa and an easy chair in the center of the usable space, the easy chair set behind a desk to face the doorway, and there was a fireplace to the sofa's right, past an endtable; in terms of lighting, there was a desk lamp on the desk and a floor lamp on the sofa's left.

"I like what you've done with the place. It's an improvement over what it was before. Well, almost anything is an improvement over an empty house, that is."

"Thank you, Miss Sparkle."

"I don't see a bookshelf. Don't you have a lot of books you can use?"

"I do, and they're being delivered later. As for the bookshelf, I haven't found a design I like that's also practical."

"Hm. I've never really considered aesthetic in my bookshelves. I've always just used something if it works."

I made a mental note that it didn't seem to matter to the young princess what something looked like as long as it functioned well. I moved to sit behind my desk, turned on the lamp, and readied my pencil. "We can begin whenever you're ready, Miss Sparkle." She apologized and walked quickly to the sofa, where she sat down.

"Let's begin by recapping what's happened the last few days. Have you felt any pressure from your new position lately?"

"Only from the repercussions of what happened at this year's Summer Sun Celebration. More ponies have started bowing to me, and my schedule is slowly filling up with important political events."

"I did notice that you'd left a couple days each week open in the agenda you sent over with Spike."

"That's right. Usually I like to have every minute of every day filled with something, whether it's daily chores, reorganizing the books, spending time with my friends, or running errands around town. The past few days, however, I think I'm starting to realize that I need some time scheduled for nothing to make up for emergencies like missing princesses or for political stuff like summits. It's really hard to not schedule something after so long of being occupied all the time."

"I know what you mean," I replied. "In Manehattan I used my skills under somepony else's practice while I was working towards my doctorate. It's strange not having my own schedule filled as a result of moving here."

"All that down time has made me think of a few things. Well, most of my new free time is spent getting used to my wings."

"How's that going?"

"Great! I'm as agile as Rainbow Dash now. I've gotten better at landing, too, though it still needs work."

She'd mentioned Rainbow Dash during my tour of Ponyville, and I'd seen the light blue pegasus around town a couple times since I moved here. Rainbow Dash has the reputation of being the best flyer in Ponyville, and even all of Equestria, though that fact has yet to be confirmed.

"How's your speed?"

"Average, probably. Definitely not as fast as Rainbow Dash can go. Not even close."

"You mentioned that the down time made you think of a few things. We've already talked about your flying. What else has been on your mind in your new-found free time?"

"Castles."

"What about them?"

"When I got my wings, Applejack told me I looked like a princess. Then Princess Celestia said it was because I was one. Celestia and Luna have the castle in Canterlot, Cadance has the Crystal Empire, but I live in a tree."

"Does this bother you?"

"It did when I first thought of the issue, but I'm not as bothered by it anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because there's an abandoned castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest!" She said this with a big smile on her face. "A couple days ago my friends and I were all at the castle where Celestia and Luna ruled a thousand years ago. None of us knew the rest of us were going to be there, though. It's actually kind of a funny story. Do you want to hear it? I wouldn't want to waste your time."

"You can if you'd like to," I said with a smile. Sometimes I like hearing a client tell a lighthearted story just as much as hearing them talk about their problems. Well, I don't "enjoy" listening to their problems, per se. It's my job to, and I feel more fulfilled at solving their problems than joy in listening to them.

She proceeded in telling me what happened a couple days ago. She and Spike had gone to the old castle to see if there were any books that mentioned a certain Tree of Harmony or a chest. I was about to ask for clarification on these terms, which I'd never heard before, when she explained their significance right away. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were competing to see which mare was braver by spending longer in the old castle than the other. Meanwhile, Rarity and Fluttershy were at the castle to restore the old and torn tapestries. None of them knew the others were there, but Pinkie Pie did, and the pink mare had decided to play pranks on the others the whole time, using traps that had apparently been installed into the castle when it was built over a thousand years ago.

"Anyway, I realized that if the Castle of the Two Sisters were to be restored, it could be my castle. I've got the trip planned out, and I've talked to my friends about it. They all like the idea, and we'll all be going to fix it up a bit as soon as all of us can clear the same day in our schedules. It's a good thing I kept my availability open a lot this week and next week."

I recalled what I could about Miss Sparkle's schedule. Tuesdays and Thursdays were left open, but days like Saturdays were filled with mostly errands, and Saturday's schedule could be easily moved to Thursday or next Tuesday. Perhaps Miss Sparkle will want to check in with me when it's done.

"It sounds like you've thought of every last detail," I said.

"I'm pretty sure I have. I haven't thought of anything that could go wrong with the idea since yesterday."

"Hmm. This whole idea of cleaning up the castle to use as your own; would you describe it as a desire to be productive, an obligation due to your new position as a princess, or something else entirely?"

She put her hoof to her chin. "I hadn't thought about that," she responded, then giggled. "I spent so much time thinking about getting it done I never realized I never considered why! And it's probably a bit of both. The last couple weeks have been a combination of busy and not busy, what with the wings, the missing princesses, the portal to another dimension, and all the emptiness in my recent schedules. Like I said, I'm used to being busy, so naturally my mind goes into overdrive when I'm doing nothing. On the other hoof, it's also very much so an obligation because I'm now a princess. Then there's also the historical value of restoring such an important piece of Equestrian history! Did you know they didn't have their cutie marks at the time of their coronation?"

I did now, but now I was curious how young they were when they were crowned.

"They had to have been at least my age at the coronation. Maybe natural-born alicorns just naturally take longer to get them than other ponies, especially with gifts as powerful and rare as moving the sun and moon."

I nodded, then changed the subject. "The other day we talked about the stress you'd been under the last year. I'd like to delve more into that, if that's all right."

The purple princess sighed. "I suppose we'd have to get to that sooner or later, wouldn't we?

"I've always felt the pressure of being mentored by Princess Celestia herself. I only got into her school for unicorns because of a fluke, and as a result I felt I had to keep pushing myself to be better than I was."

I asked what the fluke was, and she told me about the trouble she'd had using magic until there was a loud boom. Her magic went haywire in a brilliant display of raw magical potential, hatching Spike, growing him, and accidentally turning her parents into potted plants. I covered my mouth with my hooves, trying to hide a smile as the image formed in my mind by looking like I was in deep concentration.

"Fortunately one of the first spells Celestia taught me was how to change somepony back from being a plant. For several years, pretty much the only stress I knew came from my education. Then for last year's Summer Sun Celebration I discovered that the Mare in the Moon was fact, not myth, and was going to return according to a prophecy. I felt stressed when Celestia sent me here, thinking she wasn't taking the prediction seriously enough; I felt stressed as I met each pony who would later become my friends. Is there a name for the kind of stress you feel when something terrible happens that you knew was going to happen but were powerless to stop it?" I didn't know. I thought I might have learned a term for that somewhere, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what it could be. "That's what I felt when Nightmare Moon returned. One time I even became stressed because I was going to miss the deadline for writing to Celestia about what I'd learned about friendship that week, so I kinda caused a problem to solve. A big one that got way out of hoof before I realized I couldn't do anything to stop what I'd done."

I made a note to ask about the incident later.

"One time I became stressed because I got a visit from me in the future, then I tried to stop the horrible thing that I thought was going to happen, but then I went back in time to tell myself not to worry, but past me was too preoccupied with learning about the future that I didn't have time to tell myself not to worry before the spell wore off."

Such time travel sounded complicated. I set down my pencil, taking a moment to think. Of all the incidents she'd mentioned that had caused her stress, the last two in particular stuck out to him. These were incidents that she had inadvertently caused herself.

"I noticed several of the incidents you mentioned have something in common. What do you think I might be referring to?"

She put her hoof to her chin and looked up at the ceiling in thought. The room was silent for a few minutes as she worked through what I meant. "I guess most of them do have a common theme. The huge pressure I felt came from the expectations I had placed on myself. I could have taken my education easy, but I was afraid I would disappoint Princess Celestia if I didn't prove my magical abilities were as good as when I was accepted into the school. Then after I moved to Ponyville, I guess I placed the weekly deadline for my letters to the princess myself. I don't actually recall if Princess Celestia ever actually gave me that deadline. And the time travel incident... there is no way that wasn't caused by myself!"

Her ears lowered, and she had a saddened look on her face.

"On the other hoof, placing such high expectations on yourself hasn't been unproductive, has it?"

"I guess. I became tutored by Celestia herself, became her star student, and eventually became a princess as a result. When I first came to Ponyville, I thought she'd told me that Nightmare Moon was just an old pony's tale, but what she'd actually told me was that I needed to stop reading books long enough to make a few friends, and I'd just misinterpreted it. I already said that the big problem I created was because of a deadline I'd placed on myself. Same with the time travel incident."

"How have you used the lessons you've learned from these incidents since learning them?"

"If Celestia and Luna had disappeared last year instead of this year, I totally wouldn't have been prepared to deal with the situation! I've learned to take things as they come and not to become too preoccupied with something that hasn't happened yet. These, other lessons I've learned the past year, and Spike helped me keep more or less calm and collected until I could find a way to solve the problem." As she had talked, her face lightened, and she'd gained a smile again, and started to sing a beautiful song.

You've come such a long, long way,
And I've watched you from that very first day:
To see how you might grow,
To see what you might do,
To see what you've been through,
And all the ways you've made me proud of you.

It's time now for a new change to come.
You've grown up and your new life has begun:
To go where you will go,
To see what you will see,
To find what you will be,
For it's time for you to fulfill your destiny.

She wiped a tear from her eye. "That's a song Princess Celestia sang as I was about to get my wings. It's hard to believe it's only been a year."

I smiled, leaning back in my chair as I listened to the song and what Miss Sparkle had said. Glancing at the clock above the fireplace, I saw that it was almost ten o'clock.

"An hour has almost passed," I said, reluctantly breaking off the moment, "and I like that we ended it with such a beautiful song."

"My voice can't really do it justice. It's better to hear it from Princess Celestia herself." She got off the couch. "Thanks for having me over, Dr. Mindwell. I wasn't sure I would need help at first, but I'm glad I did. If you could help the rest of Ponyville as much as you've helped me so far, then Princess Celestia made a great decision. Do you mind if I send over my friends sometime?"

"That would be great. I'd love to meet them."

"Great! I'll see you around town, then. And thanks again." She opened the door and left, humming the song again as she closed the door behind her. I, on the other hoof, watched the closed door for a few minutes, recollecting the session. Eventually I turned my attention back to my desk, taking an envelope and a stamp out of a drawer, and began to write a letter to Princess Celestia.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I probably won't write to you as often as every few days, but I feel this is something you'd enjoy knowing. Today Princess Twilight Sparkle had her first session with me...