The room was nice, compared to what he’d expected. The same size as his apartment, nearly. There was a bed against the far wall with a white patient gown on it and a window against the right wall. There was an open bathroom to the left with a sink and standard squat toilet.
With a slight shove from behind he entered the room and trotted to the bed. “Is this the right size?”
“Just put it on,” he was told. He rolled his eyes and quickly removed his dress coat with a hint of glee.
“Ya know, I’ve always prefered to be as Celestia intended us to be,” Star said with a refreshing sigh as he shivered from the colder air against his chest and upper back. He donned the loose fitting gown and sighed. It was almost too big.
The orderlies took his clothes and backed out of the room, watching him closely, even as they closed the door. The light dimmed slightly and there was a loud clunk sound, followed by several gems above the door that began to glow in a random pulsation of lights that cast a light rainbow across the room.
Star turned to his bed and climbed upon it before looking around the spartan room. “This’ actually better than my apartment, I get a free rainbow and I’ll be getting three meals until I’m out of here. Granted, I got three a day anyway, but this’ll be like a nice vacation from everything.
“Yeah, just a couple nights and I’ll be back to the regular routines of my life.”
He looked around the room again before hopping to the window and looking out. A series of hills covered with green grass, wild flowers were speckled all over and the sky was blue with a few well placed clouds.
He smiled as he looked out through the glass and narrowed his eyes, watching the birds as they flew around the grass. He noticed a bird appear from the ground three times before he smiled.
“A magic illusion well enough to trick even the best unicorns; with their magic dampers on they’d never know that there was a spell around the interview rooms, much less a millimeter outside the window.”
His joyful feeling faded as he took in his surroundings again. The spartan room designed for safety, the certainty there was a scry spell watching him at the moment, the waiting… It was going to be the worst part.
I know what to do to pass the time. An age old practice from the ancients that was used, quite effectively, to pass time. Only the best and most talented can master it, thankfully, I am one of those.
He laid his head on the mattress that was thinner than he realized and let his eyes close, quickly drifting into sleep.
A loud buzzer woke him violently from his restful sleep. He looked around his cell room. The lights had faded, letting the artificial rainbow take dominance of the ceiling and a single pillar of white light shone into the room, broken by the silhouette of a pony’s head.
“Epic Start, please nod your head to acknowledge you’re awake,” with a frown at his name he nodded, “do you see the pony at the window?” he nodded, “please stand on all four hooves and walk one length forward.”
Star complied and moved ahead. “Stop. Turn to the left and stay still after you’ve turned. The door is going to open, a unicorn will be casting a binding spell on you for a moment so we can enter the room for your safety as well as ours, do you understand?”
Star nodded and turned. Stood still and waited as he was bound to the floor. The door opened and four ponies entered the room while the unicorn casting the spell stayed outside the door, watching closely to any movement Star made.
“Epic Start,” a male from behind his field of vision said sternly, “I am going to place braces on your legs to prevent running, which is frowned upon by the other patients and staff. Do you understand? I will be placing them on your rear legs in five seconds, if you buck me, we will use force to restrain you.”
Several minutes of detailed instruction passed before they slipped a muzzle guard on him and led him from the room. He was aggravated that they had continued to call him by his old name, however he knew if he were to protest or resist it would elongate the process.
He was led to a set of heavy white doors that were tall enough for a minotaur to easily walk through which made him more curious of what lay beyond.
The right door was opened by an orderly on the other side and he was led into a common room.
Oh horseapples. Oh no. Don’t they know who I am?
“Wait,” he protested, “I’m a doctor, I can’t be with these patients, what if one of them recognizes me? It could be detrimental to their treatment.”
Without a change in any of their features they pressed tighter to Star’s sides and walked him to the door. The door opened silently but the several ponies in the room still looked at him as he was led in.
Each pony was restrained to some level; the pegasi had their wings wrapped to their bodies, unicorns had padded dampers on their horns, and the other earth ponies had muzzle guards. Each had their legs magically restrained so rearing and bucking couldn’t happen.
The idea defense for any patient or staff member, he thought as his sides were relieved of the pressure from both sides.
With a few shared words in a whisper the orderlies backed out of the room and left Star with the other patients.
He found a spot against a wall that seemed to be out of the way and made his way to it before a yellow mare with a mane that looked to be green, but it was cut too short to tell at such a quick glance. in full restraints blocked his path.
“Hey, you’re new here? I’m Snow Drop, Hot Water, and Leaf Crunch. We’re happy to meet you.”
“And the pleasure is mine as well. I am Do- Star. I’m not in the mood to talk right now, but it was very nice to meet you all.”
“Wait, Hot Water thinks you’re, um, kind of cute. Wanna talk to her?”
“No thank you, but I would like that next time we meet since I’m new here.”
“OH! I’m Leaf, by the way. I’ll introduce you!” she shouted happily. “That’s Shot by the window, he has trainsietply… Oh, Snow says it’s called pangzi-etty, whatever. Over there is Song, she’s a omni-whore but is mad cuz she can’t eat meat here. Over there is Chuck. Yeah, what a weird name.
“He’s a hyu-mihn, like in that one book of breezy tales, the human that touched the moon; he’s a little weird. The mirror over there is really a portal to the next dimension where we’re all made from something else. I’m not stuck in here,” she moved her head from side to side.
“We’re all free to be our own pony, but we can’t go in there. Oh, over there is Toffee. She’s sad, that’s all we know about her. Not even Snow knows anything about her, and snow knows everything!”
He looked around the room and shuddered at the list of psychosis he was surrounded by.
Yet, I’m the only one with a bite guard. he thought to himself.
His gaze locked onto Toffee who was looking at him with wide eyes before he turned away and shuffled as fast as he could to the spot against the wall, whispering prayers that she didn’t recognize him with the muzzle guard on.
He wasn’t that lucky.