//------------------------------// // A Moment with Dr. Wolf // Story: AMWDW: Tails & Protecting Cosmo // by RockStarMLP //------------------------------// Frustration, disappointment, anger, confusion, depression, and failure. Individually, each emotion would serve as a mental and emotional blow to handle. But combined together, especially all at once, they result in an overbearing weight not all can handle so easily. For Miles Prower, he was feeling that to the biggest extremes he could control himself to suffer without completely breaking down. He walked through the streets of Ponyville during an early spring’s afternoon, the comprehensive burden of recent events left him in a state of self-harming through mental and emotional suffering. With the help of some of his oldest foes, Tirek had escaped from Tartarus, and began a thieving rampaging across multiple dimensions far beyond his home world of Equestria. It came to a point that the once-existing allegiance he had with the Brotherhood of Darkness was extinguished as he did so many others, including Miles and his best friends, could not accomplish. With his newfound stolen magic, he was able to overpower Galvatron and Dark Oak, the leaders of the Brotherhood, and stole any and all traces of their magic and revert them back to her original states. A weakened Dark Oak and Megatron approached Team JAG and the Master Four, informing them of the danger Tirek had become, and offered a new allegiance between Team and Brotherhood to stop him. Many were reluctant, but it was ultimately decided to agree on this new armada and face their common enemy. Miles was one of an only few that still refused to this truce, his past events with them reinforcing his stubbornness and absolute refusal to that day. It began to overtake his judgment, and for the first time, it took him too far as he directed too much focus on his beloved fiancé. His beloved has meant, does mean, and will always be the most important friend he was blessed to have as a best friend and a loved one. No one got closer to him than she had become, and he refused to let anything happen to her if it meant she could be lost forever. He had lost her before, and had nearly lost her multiple times afterwards, so it was only fair that the new alliance made his paranoia for her well-being reach levels beyond his norm. He needed to do whatever it took to keep her safe, but he never expected, for the first time in his life, he let himself go too far and leave his beloved in an upset state. It was the best option he had to work with. To keep her safe, and keep her as far away from the Brotherhood as their reach could not grab on, he made sure to lay down ground rules with the members of the Brotherhood of Darkness. Refusing them accessing to certain locations and certain worlds, not coming within a certain distance with her, not to even engage them in conversation without certain others in the same vicinity, and every other precaution he could try to reinforce, he did. Many could understand why he was doing it, but those closest to him knew he was going much farther than they thought he could ever go. His actions got so overwhelming that his beloved could not take anymore, and it resulted in something he never saw coming. The fox and his flower had their very first argument. It was not loud enough to echo across the corridors of Team JAG Headquarters, but it was enough to end up being held within the castle of Ponyville’s resident princess, Twilight Sparkle. Both sides started to yell, and both sides showed just how upset the whole ordeal was making them. He was expressing his anger, while she expressed her sadness. As he only got angrier about everything, it began to overcome his judgment further and force him to say the wrong things in the wrong way, and with no other way left to get through to him, his beloved ordered him to leave. She demanded to be alone as tears flowed down her cheeks like waterfalls. He realized the wrong he had done, but it was too late to immediately fix things as he wasn’t given much of a choice but to leave her presence for a while. Twilight, who she and her family unintentionally overhearing the fight, escorted him out and reassured things will be fine after letting a few hours pass. He did not share the same enthusiasm as the Sparkle family did. The way he acted, he thought he ruined a decade of friendship and love with his best friend forever. He didn’t know how he allowed himself to act like that. He had never acted that way to his beloved before, and now that he has, he felt as despicable as how he saw his worst enemies. He needed to clear his mind somehow, but he was too distracted to think of where exactly to go or what exactly to do, so he did the only thing he thought of doing. Stepping down the front stairs of Twilight’s castle and making his ways towards the town, he went for a walk. Taking a walk wasn’t something he did on his own so often, at least not to the extent of a mental overboard. Every step he could was like he was taking a kick to the core as his walking made the distance between him and where he left his beloved grow more and more. There wasn’t an idea of what he could do, or where he could go next. Any audible sound around him, even the voices of greeting townsponies, couldn’t help him escaped the mental asylum he left himself trapped inside. What felt like hours that had passed were only minutes going by as the position of Celestia’s sun had only moved ever so slightly as he walked. Then again, he barely picked his head up to see the sights around him unless he needed to check to see where he was going. His upper limbs just swayed as he walked along, the hands on the ends barely forming a closed fist, and his head remained bowed with his fox ears drooped down and his eyes maintaining a glare of brokenness. All that seemed to be the best idea was to keep walking on, and perhaps something would smack him in the face, even though he deserved a lot more for how he acted. But fortunately for him, that search only came so close as he nearly walked into a door that had flung open right in front of him. His senses managed to pick himself up enough to avoid being smacked right on the forehead by just a couple inches, and put him his alertness back on in full. The source of the door’s forceful opening came from a beaked creature that was much bigger than the size of the average pony. Tails only got a brief look at it before it noticed him first. “Hi there,” said the creature, who looked down at him as if nothing happeend. “You’re that Tails fellow I kept hearing about with the superpowers and rock band, right? Glad to hear you’ll be helping Princess Twilight with stopping Tirek again.” At a loss of words and communication skills at the moment, Tails could only respond with a simple hand wave and a very forced grin. “Uh, thanks. Glad to help,” he forced out of his mouth. “We’re glad to have it. Now please excuse me, for I have some chaotic critiquing to conjure,” replied the creature, and then he opened his wings and took flight. As Tails saw him fly towards the Everfree Forest, he got a better look at who that creature was. His voice sounded male, and judging by the eagle front half and more mammal back half of his overall body, it was a first judgment that it was a griffon, the half-eagle, half-feline hybrid. However, instead of a feline half, and judging by the hooves and silver feather cutie mark, the back half of the body was of pony origin instead. There was a name for such a creature, but unfortunately his mindset was not in the right place to dig into the vast knowledge many have given him a title for. Once the creature was out of sight, Tails redirected his sight to the door that nearly made contact with his head. The more he thought about it, even if with full force, the door would only still provide a fraction of the consequential pain he deserved to take physically. It was unnaturally masochist, but then again it had a greater feel of deserved defeatism in any way he saw as fitting. Taking a better look at where the door was set, it was placed on the door frame of a standard looking Ponyville home, but it was designed a little differently than most other homes. He then noticed a sign set about a third of the way down the door, set with golden letters on a dark brown hardwood: Ponyville Psychiatry & Psychology Offices He didn’t have the idea right off the bat, but he knew that it sounded familiar to him. It was no secret that there were clinical doctors in town other than those at Ponyville Hospital or the more traditional and shaman ways of Zecora. The issue was trying to find the exact reason that this office had some kind of familiarity to him that he just couldn’t put a gloved finger on, and yet, he had an idea. It wasn’t an idea he expected to have that day, if not at all for the matter, but given what he was having trouble handling, there wasn’t anything more he was willing to risk losing. He decided to walk around the door, and then shut it behind him as he entered the office. The door clicked shut behind him as he took a glance around the front lobby. It was quiet and vacant, even the secretary’s desk having no secretary pony behind it. He walked forward to see if there was actually a secretary there, perhaps crouched down to get something out of a lower desk drawer, but looking over the front, he found nopony in sight. Then his sight drew him up to the wall behind the desk that put the names of the office’s professionals on display, and showed whether or not they were available. There were red tags, which he indicated as unavailable or out of the office, and most of the names listed had that next to their names. All of them, saving one towards the bottom that had a green tag, indicating that there was someone available, and an arrow pointing to his right. There was a hallway where the arrow pointed, and after memorizing the name next to the green tag, he made his way down that direction. It was a brief trek, perhaps less than twenty seconds, when he came up to a beautifully designed solid wood door. It had a beautiful oak finish that shined brighter than the bark of some of the healthiest trees in Sweet Apple Acres. There wasn’t a scratch, even as much as the slightest sign of ware or tare, to be found on it, but there was something else on the door. It was the name of the room’s occupying professional in clinical psychology, read in a black scripted font on a golden plate in an upper center place on the door: Dr. Wolf He knew what he decided he was going to do, but at the same time, felt completely frozen in place. He wanted to raise his hand and knock on the door, but there was a mental force holding him back from doing anything more than to stand there. This wasn’t where he needed to be, from what his mind was trying to rationalize. The only place he needed to go was back to Twilight’s castle and repair the damage he had done, and could only hope that he could find forgiveness from his beloved. But deep down he knew that wasn’t the best option, at least not yet. Judging by how the sun shined through a nearby window, it was barely over an hour, perhaps close to two hours, after having left the castle. At one point, he thought the sign could be wrong and there was no one inside, or maybe he misread the name on the front sign. That is, until he heard a sound from the other side of the door. “Hmm hmmm, hm hmm hmm hm hmm hm hm hmm hmmm, hm hmm hmm hm hmm hmmm hm hmm hmmmm, hm hmm hmmm, hm hmm hmmm hmm hmmm, hmmm hmmmmm. Hm hmm, hm hmm hmm hm hmm hmm hm hm hmmm, hm hmm hmm hm hm hmm hm hm hmm hmmm, hm hm hm hm hm hmm hm hmmm, hmm hmmmmm…” Judging by the sound, it sounded as if the voice on the other side was singing something. Judging more carefully, Tails could recognize it from a song he and his friends from the Team JAG Band had performed in recent history. Regardless of what the sound was recognized as, he knew that who he decided to seek was on the other side of the door, and he was in that office for a reason. He sensed a way he could get help for himself and his beloved from this place somehow, and if it meant having her forgiveness and her love back, he would do whatever it would take to make it happen. So, with one deep inhale through his nose, the two-tailed fox raised a lightly clenched fist and knocked on the door. *knock*knock*knock* The musical sounds on the other side of the door were interrupted as the one supplying it heard the knocks on the door. With a welcoming tone, Tails heard the room’s occupant call out “Come in.” He reached down for the door handle and turned it open, pushing it in and allowing himself to see inside the office. Taking a step inside, his eyes wondered in the direction where he thought he heard the voice was directed from, and he found who he was looking for, but not what he expected. Standing on their back two limbs was a white canine creature, standing at a nearby desk that had an assortment of open books lying out across it. The creature wore an attire of a dark grey vest over a white dress shirt and dark purple tie, and a darker grey pair of formal trousers. A small pair of glasses sat atop of his snout, no arms needed to stretch up to his ears to be kept in place. Little did Miles Prower come to realize that the name was a more literally way of describing the room’s occupant that is Ponyville’s most well-known psychologist, Dr. Wolf. “Uhm,” Tails said, still mentally registering the wolf he saw in front of him. “Sorry for barging in like this, but you are Dr. Wolf, correct?” “I am,” the wolf replied. “Were you expecting someone else?” “No, you seem to fit your name well.” Tails uttered that out through a nervous chuckle, but realized how his words sounded in their phrase. “I-I didn’t mean to sound-“ The doctor shared a humorous chuckle himself as he said “It’s quite alright. If I got a bit for every time I hear that from those I meet…” When his chuckle settled, he took a brief glance at the newcomer to his office and tried to put pieces together. “If my assumption is correct, you would be Mr. Miles Prower, a friend of Princess Twilight’s?” “Yes, I am.” The two-tailed fox walked forward and reached his hand out to shake the doctor’s paw, to which he gladly did when given the offer. “I hope I’m not interrupting your time by showing up here unannounced.” “That’s quite alright. I must admit that it is an honor to meet such a recognized being and hero from a place beyond Equestria,” Dr. Wolf assured, their handshake coming to an end. He then found that his compliment forced out a wince from his new visitor. “Might I ask what brought you to my office?” “Oh, well… I, uh…” The words Tails was searching for couldn’t find their way into an answer to give. “The thing is… I guess… I guess I’m here because I remember one of my friends from here in Ponyville mentioning having seen you a couple times. I forget who told me exactly, but they said you were a very helpful listener.” Dr. Wolf smiled happily. “I always try to lend a helping paw in some way or form. I have met with several of your friends including Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, even Princess Twilight…” “Fluttershy…” Tails murmured to himself before realization struck with a fairly distant memory. “That’s it! That’s who I heard about you from.” He recalled back during his first time in Equestria. During his stay, when he was unsure of what happened with his friends back home or his beloved following a battle with Dark Oak, it started with him recovering at Twilight’s old library. Whenever somepony tried to help him, it included trying to talk things out several times, but his depression kept him from being so open to any of them. Fluttershy had mentioned about talking to a ‘Dr. Wolf’ at one point, and also mentioning how he was very supportive and tried to provide all the best help that was provided during each meeting. Since then, the name just became a lost memory in the fox’s subconscious. “Ah yes, Miss Fluttershy.” Hearing the wolf speak again snapped the fox from his realization. “I have had the pleasure of making her acquaintance some time ago, and she always stops in when she feels the need to ask a few questions. In fact, she was here for another session just a few weeks ago, and somewhere during our discussion she mentioned that you and your fiancé, Miss Cosmo, were coming by for multiple visits.” Another painful wince crossed the fox’s face as he was told that. His mental fragility began to show through his expression as he let out a deep sigh of sounding despair before facing him again. “Well, Doctor, that’s the main reason why I’m here. I’m currently having some very, very disturbing trouble with her and I was hoping I could ask for your help.” “But of course,” Dr. Wolf replied, showing little to no hesitation in acting upon the request. “My last appointment ended earlier than usual and my next one doesn’t start until much later, so I have some time to spare.” He gestured an open paw towards his couch sitting alongside the wall opposite of the door. It was a chaise lounge in design, very closely resembling a certain unicorn’s fainting couch, and had a royal purple color for the material. It fit well with the décor of the doctor’s office, especially with his olden style chair with a lavender shade of material bordered by a rich and polished wood border, arms and legs. It faced in the same direction as the open end of the chaise lounge, as what many others could claim to find in a psychologist’s office. “Please go and make yourself comfortable, Mr. Prower.” Tails nodded and replied “Thank you, but you may call me by my nickname Tails if you’d prefer. That’s what others tend to call me here anyway.” “Whatever makes you more comfortable,” Dr. Wolf replied. As the fox went to take his seat, the doctor walked back over to his desk and collected a clipboard with paper and a pen. Both then got into their respective seats, the fox sitting with his back straight up on the chaise lounge and the wolf making himself comfortable as he set the clipboard and pen to his side for the moment. Both now sitting comfortably, the doctor motioned to begin with his calm and collected demeanor. “So, Mr. Prower, tell me what’s on your mind.” “Alright,” Tails said, “I am having problems with recent events that have resulted in having a fight with Cosmo earlier today. It was the first fight we ever really had and it had escalated far beyond than what it could have been, but I didn’t control myself enough to allow that.” “I see,” said Dr. Wolf. “I’m sorry to hear about that. Might I ask what brought that up?” “Several things really. It’s over issues that I have spent the better part of the last decade trying to handle, but as I said, recent events have caused things to get out of hand. You see, as I’m sure you’ve already heard about, Lord Tirek escaped from Tartarus and has been causing trouble in worlds far beyond Equestria. He’s become far more powerful than any recorded history that was shared with my friends and me from both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. He ended up beating two of the oldest enemies of Team JAG, and they came to us offering a truce in order to stop Tirek as he’s out on a thieving rampage right now. Both sides ended up agreeing to the truce… but I didn’t support it.” The doctor took a second to recollect the not too distant past when Princess Twilight announced about Tirek’s actions to Ponyville. “Ah yes, I do recall that announcement being made a couple weeks ago. It is truly a pity that some just won’t learn the difference between right and wrong. What about these events caused you to get upset, and how does it connect to Miss Cosmo?” “Everything. Everything about it connects to Cosmo,” Tails said in a blunt and frustrated manner. “I’ve been fighting against Megatron and the Brotherhood of Darkness for over a decade now, and my friends and I faced Dark Oak and his army of Metarex ten years ago. All they did was try to hurt those that didn’t deserve their cruelty, and remake worlds into their own twisted image. I can’t say that I’d be able to count how many battles of the numerous wars and danger zones that I had been a part of, and yet my friends – my family – we kept charging in with all we had to give every time. “But the times that really hit home for me was during the Metarex War ten years back. Before then, I always felt on the sidelines, even when being called into action and fight besides some of the most powerful beings to ever exist and save worlds and dimensions time after time; beings that call family to this day. But when the Metarex were brought to our attention, it was Cosmo who did so, who warned us of the fate worlds across our galaxy were going to suffer if we couldn’t find a way to stop them. From the moment I first met her, she was always someone I got along with and enjoyed spending more and more time doing whatever you could think for us to do. She was, and has always been, a wonderful girl with a beautiful soul that she wears on her shoulder every day. I found myself lost without her, and at the same time, I had rediscovered myself and who I wanted to be. “Then, the war reached its end, and she died after trying to act as martyr to save our galaxy. I was broken, and depressed, but above all else I was alone and only wanted to continue suffering that I didn’t believe could be changed. That’s when my friends in Team JAG came up with a plan, the Team JAG Band Revival Concert, and not only did we bring Cosmo back to life but her entire clan as well. Ever since then, no matter what happened, we were together. We began to live together, we have done practically everything together, and above all else, we were always in love. I love all my friends and my family, old and new, but Cosmo does far more than I could ever imagine. My life became perfect. Life has its flaws, but it did feel perfect so long as I had her by my side.” Tails gritted his teeth for a second before continuing, an attempt to keep his anger in check. “So imagine how angry and uncomfortable I got, knowing I now have to work with the very monsters that have hurt her and broke me down completely. It’s not a pill I’m going to swallow.” “I see,” Dr. Wolf replied. “I can understand having found that special someone in our lives and wanting nothing but to make sure that such bliss can be taken away or halted in any, especially when even their smallest contributions make the biggest and greatest impact. Judging by your history, I can imagine that you have always kept Miss Cosmo’s best interests and safety at heart and have gone above and beyond to keep her safe. Was there ever an instance before recent events that made you feel you’ve gone too far or nearly putting yourself there?” “No. I’ve always kept Cosmo’s best interest at heart and she’s shown only her appreciation, because she knows why I do what I do. If there was one time we nearly had a disagreement was when I decided to start a business.” “And what happened?” “Well, nothing much really. I told her I was going to dedicate more time to my work and start a company for software and technology for crafts that worlds unlike Equestria have at greater extents. She only argued on that, with my other commitments, I’d be overextending myself and work into exhaustion, which at one point she was right. Now I found a rhythm to manage everything and not be overloaded, all the while keeping my same levels of commitment to her, if not even more.” “That is interesting,” the doctor replied, intrigued with the famed fox’s skills, but only for a moment. “It would seem that the both of you share the care and concern in the other’s best interest, and your history shows for that quite well. But to go back to matters of present, you are currently working with those who have hurt you the most to work together on fighting a common foe. Has this been a first for you to have to set so much of your pride aside in order to resolve a problem?” “No,” the fox answered, “no it isn’t. I’ve worked alongside several others who were once my enemies and are now some of my friends through Team JAG. There have been multiple occasions across many dimensions where members of both Team JAG and the Brotherhood put their differences aside and worked together. It’s just… this time, it is very, very different.” “I can see that, Mr. Prower, but there’s only so much that happens we can try to control. We can’t manage to make sure every single thing that could go wrong doesn’t end up that way, and we have to accept some realities that we must deal with. Now seeing how this is, as you put it, a very different situation, what kind of things have you done differently as compared to past experiences?” A long sigh and his eyes facing the ground put Tails in the calmest state he could allow himself to explain. “I said no. I refused the thought of working with the worst beings I could imagine, but I was outnumbered by everyone else. Twilight and the other Princesses agreed to allow Team JAG to control the matter as this fell under interdimensional affairs, and my friends from back home, as likeminded as we were about it, are going along with this too; even Cosmo agreed to this. I thought she’d be terrified by having Dark Oak and Megatron around, yet she showed no signs of any. I thought she kept all her fears inside for nobody to see. “I was wrong. I was right, but I was so wrong.” “How so?” “Well, I kept close to her a lot more than usual, and not always to just spend it enjoyably. With the Brotherhood, and her… her murderers, were lurking about, I needed to keep her safe from whatever may happen. I checked down every path we would travel on and monitor the farthest radius my abilities and technology were capable of, and I kept a log of who was traveling in and out of our world with times and dates. But above all else, I kept her the farthest distance between Dark Oak and Megatron from her that I could make possible, locking down every door and location where she was and they weren’t. It was the best plan I had, and it was holding up well for a while. Unfortunately, it was too well.” Dr. Wolf began to write a few quick notes on his clipboard of the conversation thus far. “Sometimes our best efforts can be taken too far, even if we have the best intentions behind those actions. It is understandable and recognized that you wanted to keep Miss Cosmo protected, but as with many things we try to accomplish, one can only do so much without creating some form of exhaustion, regardless of action or receiving said action.” He paused his writing, and set the clipboard back down on his lap to face the fox eye to eye. “Did it reach the point when Miss Cosmo had to tell you to calm down and cease your actions altogether?” “Yeah, she did. It was from our fight earlier, when I went farther than I should have,” Tails answered in shame, adjusting his figure with his head bowed and his elbows resting on his legs to support his upper body from lowering further. “And what entailed in this?” “Well…” Tails had to pause himself, seeing that his explanation involved some classified information between Team JAG and the Princesses. “Well, it was from a development in trying to stop Tirek. I won’t go into too much detail, with all due respect Doctor. I don’t want to say anything too disturbing for you to hear, considering it’s being kept a secret to most of Equestria for right now.” “Your wishes are respected, but I will tell you that whatever it is you choose to say here will remain in this office, Mr. Prower. If it’s something you’re open enough to say, I give you my word to not repeat to anypony.” “I… I guess… alright then. We tracked Tirek down in a dimension where there’s an inclined amount of magic; magic that can be stolen. Several members of the Team and the Brotherhood managed to corner him at one point, but we underestimated just how powerful he has truly become. Aku, a member of the Brotherhood of Darkness that had a good chance in defeating Tirek, ended up losing his magical powers as a result of our attempt. It forced us to retreat to the nearest civilizations in need of protection, and if necessary, relocation to make sure more innocent lives weren’t…” There was a momentary pause as he reflected on the casualties that were remembered. “Seeing a child fall to the ground, disappear under a cloud of debris and only finding a stuffed pony toy was the last straw.” The Doctor covered a paw over his muzzle, keeping himself from potentially displaying a dropped jaw as he frowned sadly. His eyes noticed the fox’s hands barely begin to shake, the fingers fighting themselves from becoming clenched fists. Just above them, his patient’s bowed head displayed built up anger finding its way out through furrowing eyebrows and angry shut eyes. “Tirek is one matter. He has shown to becoming the biggest threat in strength and mind Team JAG has faced outside the Brotherhood’s combined forces. But to me – and perhaps, only me – he is still nothing. He’s nothing compared to Cosmo’s murderers being so close to her, and I can’t change that. They’re closer to her than ever with a dangerous enemy nearby, and I can’t change that! She’s in danger and I can’t protect her, like I always promise I would! How can I keep Cosmo safe with death at every turn!?” It took a minute, but Dr. Wolf needed to find the right words to say. His patient sat there with a bowed head and now two clenched fists as his body began to shiver angrily. Perhaps it was best for this minute of silence, but it didn’t help the Doctor to not see the rage-powered eyes the fox was able to hide from view. “Mr. Prower,” Dr. Wolf said, “do you require a moment to calm down a little?” Tails raised his head to look at him, seeing the furrowed eyebrows over now red and teary eyes. “Calm down? How do I calm down?!” Tails began to let some of his rage spill out of him, like a faucet letting out burning hot water onto bare skin. “My best friend – my fiancé – is surrounded by death! How can I keep calm with that involved?! What if I can’t save her from dying again?! What if no one else can again?! What if I’m not strong enough for her?!” “I can’t lose her again… I’m not strong enough…” Tails bowed his head again, facing straight down at the floor and angrily forcing the tears out from his eyes. One tear after another fell onto the hardwood floor underneath his seat, and he didn’t care. His hands let go of the chaise lounge as one arm draped across his legs as the other reached his hand up to cover his eyes. The Doctor now saw the core problem his patient was having, and he sat there silently as he saw the two-tailed fox expunge his anger and sadness. He needed to grant this time to allow the negativity out, to free it from the body of a soul that, like anyone else, could only hold so much. It was a long, quiet minute of near silence, but it was a minute worth the investment as Tails showed to having a better time collecting himself. Upon that sight, the Doctor spoke again. “Tails…” Dr. Wolf said, using the nickname for the first time, “it is my own opinion that, without question, you care about your loved ones more than anything. From what you have told me, you have had to deal with more in your youth than what most ponies in Equestria would have to deal with in a lifetime. However, underneath your bravery and determination is a fear of loss that you allowed to fully surface after your lifelong effort to suppress it. I won’t say that your fear is unwarranted, nor is it unnatural, but I will say this- “The best way you can keep Miss Cosmo safe is to do something for yourself first. You need to find a way to overcome your feeling of weakness that you can’t always protect her, and trust in those closest to you because they have both of your best interests at heart, just as you do for her every day. I can see that calling a truce with direct sources of your past miseries and demises is more difficult to act on rather than consider, but from what you’ve told me, it seems to be the best efforts for you, your friends, and Team JAG to accomplish your current mission. You need to trust and rely on them just as much as you put forth that for Miss Cosmo.” The fox listened carefully to everything the Doctor was telling him, trying to ingest the advice into them entirely. There was his stubborn side that wanted to argue something that was pointing out to him, but he couldn’t think of any way to rebel the truth. Dr. Wolf was right. He wasn’t the biggest supporter of the position he and his friends were currently in, but the matters at hand were far greater than his overprotectiveness, albeit justified or not. The actions his friends chose were for the best of all worlds and dimensions, and they wouldn’t go to extremes if it meant deliberately hurting each other. But even with all that in mind, Tails still couldn’t find an answer to what he was asked for. “But Doctor…” He cleaned his eyes off with his hand that covered them, using his glove to absorb the tears out and help him focus clearly on the wolf. “I don’t know what can happen. I do have trust in my friends, and I do see what we have to do, but Cosmo… I… I can’t stand the mere thought of losing her again. What if my contributions or my roles aren’t strong enough? What if I can’t protect Cosmo from being lost again?” Dr. Wolf only smiled gently. “I believe you are capable of that,” he told him confidently. “I am aware of your feats, both from your past and since your beginning in Equestria. You’ve combatted dragons and many other fierce adversaries. You have already faced Tirek before, saving Nyx Sparkle from a similar fate you fear for Miss Cosmo. You are gifted with great strengths and skills most others could only imagine, and I know you can use them to work for a promising future.” He could see his support was breaking through to Tails as he began to blush modestly and stifle a chuckle. “After all, you and Cosmo have your wedding coming up soon, correct? Do you plan to make that dream come true for her, and for yourself?” Tails nodded and replied with more optimism in his tone. “You have no idea. Twilight has been a huge help organizing it with Amy, not to mention preparing her role in the wedding too. She even said she got a special guest to play music for both the wedding and the reception. We were supposed to meet them tomorrow if nothing comes up.” “Well I’m sure that your best efforts will be greatly rewarded,” replied the Doctor. “Take away from this session what we discussed and I have little doubt you will allow your fears to get in the way of your intentions again.” Both canines got back up on their legs to stand again, with the fox taking a deep breath when he was back up on his feet. After his exhale, he walked over and extended his hand out again. “Thank you, Dr. Wolf. It was nice to talk to someone new about this stuff with. It’s good to get an outside opinion every now and again…” He paused at a thought that crossed his mind after what he had just said. “…and right now some other outside opinions can help prevent Tirek from destroying Equestria.” Upon hearing what Tails said, Dr. Wolf grinned and extended his own hand out. “You are certainly welcome, Tails. I wish you all the wealth your actions can reward you.” Suddenly, Tails’s face turned back to shock at a business-esque realization. “Oh shoot! I don’t have any bits! I’m sorry, Doc, but I don’t have the means to pay you for the ses-” “Don’t worry about payment,” the wolf said, cutting off the panic with a raised palm. “Consider this session my way of repaying you for stopping Tirek last time. I’m not one who worry too much about financial compensation in the first place. Just remember that if you need a lending ear again, I always have openings to listen again.” “I’ll remember that,” replied the fox. “Thanks again. I think it’s time that I get going and get out of your fur. I’ve already taken up enough of your free time already, and I want to make sure I don’t interrupt any other-” He then found himself cut off again, not by a silent gesture but more by something shaking the building. The sensation caught both fox and wolf off their guard, and it was only brief and not likely an earthquake. Tails learned a lot about Ponyville’s geology from Twilight, so he knew the town was one of the last places in Equestria that could experience a natural earthquake. The reason behind the sudden quake came from the sounds of another being’s voice, one that sounded as if they were yelling with all the air in their lungs. “Well… that would be my next appointment,” Dr. Wolf stated, neither upset nor surprised by what he heard. The fox looked at the wolf curiously. “Who the heck could do that?” “Oh, he’s one of my usual patients. I’m not at liberty to say who, but he’s a pony I’ve met several times regarding his burning temper and satiric personality.” “So… it’s a fiery joker?” “To many of his fans, yes.” Tails didn’t want to question it any further. Instead, he decided it was best just to depart from the office and make his way out the building before running into this next patient. The Doctor led him over to the door and showed the kind gesture of opening it to allow the current patient out and the following one to enter. “I look forward to good news from you next time our paths may cross, Mr. Prower. Please extend a greeting to Princess Twilight and Nyx from me if their castle is your next destination.” The fox nodded and replied “Of course.” But before he could exit, there was something he noticed the Doctor say that provoked his curiosity. “Doctor, if I may ask one more question, you called every Princess we’ve mentioned by their royal title other than Nyx. She’s had a royal title since the Equestria Games, so why didn’t you call her by her title?” “That I can answer openly: she doesn’t like being treated like a Princess, so I don’t wish to offend her by doing so in her presence or not,” he answered. Tails took that information he was already aware of himself and admired it. “Thank you, Dr. Wolf. You’re a great being to be so helpful. I’ll see you again sometime.” “Take care, Mr. Prower,” Dr. Wolf said, and watched the two-tailed fox exit his office in confident strife. His focus then turned towards the source of the outbursting yells coming from the down the opposite end of the hallway. Fortunately, he did not see any signs of anything burning or the sounds of anything being smashed as he listened to the sounds of a certain brick red unicorn stomping down the hallway, openly voicing his frustrations over Equestria’s alicorn populace.