//------------------------------// // Doctor, Barber, Mind // Story: Luna's Student // by MyWorld93 //------------------------------// Disclaimer: We are here to scare you and spook you, because we don't own you. The MLP is theirs not ours. Please understand... I couldn't think of anything better Seeing the worst moments of your life flash before your eyes, the emotions hitting you a thousand fold… I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. The scenes play over and over right in front of my eye, never ending, forever repeating. I want to stop them, but I can’t even move. I can just watch as they flow past my eyes. I keep seeing the faces of those who came to visit me, they always looked so happy, but then it would get to that point. Their family members would come dressed in their black suits, somber, and look at me with eyes wet with tears, each time leaving that same flower, a black lily. They never talked to me, never really saw me, and never tried to help me. I’d watch them, their eyes teary… I can’t even think of a word to describe how terrible it was. I watched the deaths of those who I’d met, those who had never known me, I couldn’t deal with this. I had so wanted friends, but I knew that even if I had been able to make them, they would always die. I just can’t deal with seeing all this again. I wish it would all just stop. I don’t need to see all these losses again. They’re just too much for anypony to watch. The scenes jump to a new… No, not this one again; this one was the absolute worst, I was directly responsible for what happened… I hadn’t been able to help her. I’d been sitting on this pedestal for such a long time. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. There were even a few times that I wish somepony would knock me over and put me out of my misery, but I knew that if I waited long enough I would eventually get out, eventually someone would talk to me. Of course the fact that I was cognizant enough to actually complain about my existence means that somepony is nearby, but the garden is empty. I suppose it must just be some gardeners nearby cutting up some bushes. Ah well, they would be gone soon enough and I could stop contemplating my lonely stone existence and go back to my own empty world where I can more easily wait out the days of my imprisonment. “Hi my name’s Phoenix, I’m only six years old. Who are you?” What? Where had this orange and red maned filly come from? Is she talking to me? Probably not, she’s probably just at that age where talking to inanimate objects is considered fun, pretend play basically or maybe she didn’t know the difference between a statue and a pony. “Course I know the difference between statues and ponies, I’m talkin’ to ya ain’t I. I mean who else is around?” Okay… So either this filly could really understand what I was saying or she was one of the best pretenders I had ever seen. Well only one way to find out. Phoenix if you can hear me could you please say two-thousand-sixty-seven? “Well ain’t that a strange thing to ask, a course I can. Two-thousand-sixty-seven.” You’re kidding me; this little filly could actually hear me. I don’t know how it works, but I don’t care, I finally have someone to talk to. Do you know how rare that is when you’ve been trapped in stone for? If you can even get a single conversation out of it, you take it. No matter how silly the subject matter may be. Phoenix would you mind telling me about yourself? I don’t get much conversation around here. “Now why in world would ya want to know about me? Are you one of them there pedophiles?” Please tell me she’s joking. Pretty please with sugar on top; I mean I’m a statue, what in the world could I possibly do. “Hmm that sure is a good point… Well alright I can tell you a bit about myself.” At least she didn’t think I was a pedophile anymore. “My full name is Phoenix Apple, my family comes from a long ways away, but we’re here for the Apple conv-ve-ve. Gosh darnit.” Apple Convention? All of the gardeners were talking about it; it seems to be their favorite subject. “Yeah that’s it; we’re here for the Apple Convention. We gets to stay in the loveliest place that Ah’ve ever seen. It’s absolutely huge; there are so many other ponies there! Even better, our entire family has come down for the convention. I get to see all my cousins. It’s the most fun Ah’ve had all year.” Her eyes were wide with excitement. I was glad that she was enjoying herself. I hadn’t had a single pony talk to me in so long that listening to anyone talk directly to me would have been great, but listening to someone excited about what the subject was even better. It was just so interesting. “Phoenix, it’s time to go!” Some voice called out. I saw Phoenix turn towards the voice, I suppose it must be someone she knows. “Ah shoot, it was nice talking to you mister statue, but Ah’ve got to go.” I understood of course, but I couldn’t help hoping that she would come back and visit me again at some later time, hopefully for a little longer next time. Well couldn’t hurt to ask I suppose. Would you mind coming talk to me again? I get very few real visitors here. “Of course, you’re fun mister statue!” Yes! Even if it’s only for a little while I’ll have someone to talk to, this is great! Oh yeah, I should probably tell her my name. Just so you know my name is Dawn Pie. “Good to meet’cha Dawn. See ya later.” Phoenix visited me each day throughout that week. She was the first friend that I’d been able to make since being stuck in stone and her visits were the highlight of my day, much as Diamonds had beet. However, her final visit… “Hey Dawn Ah’m plum sorry, but this is the last time that ah’ll get to visit ya.” I’d known it was coming, but I hadn’t really wanted to think about it. For the first time I had been given someone to talk to and so of course it had to end quickly. The only solace I could take was that perhaps there were others who would be able to talk to me, but I still wish I could give her something, anything for visiting me. That was when I felt something odd; which was any feeling at all really. It felt like I was being slid across my pedestal. What was going on? Why was I moving closer to Phoenix? Why was Phoenix just watching me without moving; she must be able to tell that I’m getting closer to her. If she didn’t move I’d end up right on top of her… PHOENIX MOVE, YOU NEED TO MOVE. Why isn’t she moving? Can’t she hear me? PHOENIX MOVE OUT THE WAY, PLEASE MOVE! She still didn’t move. Did whatever she had before that let her talk to me wear off? Is this the worlds way of telling me that having a friend was impossibility for me? I tried to resist being moved, but I was stone. Stone can’t do anything. The closer I got to her, the more worried I felt and the harder I tried to get myself to stay on the pedestal to absolutely no effect. I kept yelling at Phoenix, but she just stood there oblivious to what was going on and talking about her day at the Apple Convention. I was teetering on the edge, I was going to fall and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I shouted one last warning before I fell; right on top of Phoenix. I’d lost all sensation in my stone body, but the lack of tactile sensations just made it feel all the worse. I need to get off her, get off her, come on; I don’t care if I am stone, I’m going to get off her. She’s going to be okay, she’s not going to die; especially not like this. My mind strains against the stone bonds, but intellectually I know it’s useless… stone can’t move. Still I tried while staring straight into Phoenix’s eyes as her breathing became slowed and labored. I watched as that glimmer of who she is faded away, until it was completely gone. The small spark of Phoenix was snuffed out by me. I have never wanted to cry as much as I do right now; this was worse than when Diamond had died, a least she had just died of old age. I could only watch as a few of the Royal Guards came and placed me back upon the pedestal. I ignored it, too lost in my own thoughts to really recognize what was going on. Later that day I heard that the Apple family had pressed charges for my destruction, but Celestia had forbid it. I wish she had allowed them to do it. I’d killed that sweet little filly. It’s all my fault, I killed the only friend I’ve had in such a long time. I only realize now how lucky I was to have that lock on my memories because I’m now realizing how I really felt. I don’t think I could handle making another friend just to have it end in the same way as all those I watched... or worse the only one I spoke to. I just couldn’t deal with losing everything again. It was better that I remain here then deal with all of those other ponies again, no matter how painful it is. So I remained, watching my horrible memories flow past me, not even trying to escape, just watching. I sit and wait for oblivion that comes to all ponies, hoping that it arrives quickly so I don’t have to deal with the real world again. Holding all my pain to myself and reliving it, hoping that no one else will have to deal with my pain. I don’t want to bother others. “Whoa! Never seen anything like this before.” Not another pony, please let it just be my imagination; I don’t want to deal with others, I don’t want to be hurt when they go away. Please don’t give me another friend. I don’t think I could deal with losing another one. I just stare straight into Phoenix’s eyes, trying to block out the sound of any tricks my mind decided to play on me. I needed to stay here, I didn’t want to leave. “How did this happen?” This one sounded different from my mind’s first trick; good job trying to distract me from these scenes brain, but I don’t want to meet ponies I could lose again, I want to remain here where it’s perfectly safe from that loss. If you really want to be helpful than lock me in here tighter, until I just fade away. I just want to resign myself to this existence, where the only thing I’ll lose is myself and then I won’t have to worry about anything. “What’s wrong with him?” The first voice was back, I guess my brain must think that it was better for me to leave. It was wrong though, it was better that I stay here. “I don’t know, but I know we need to help him. He’s locked himself in there and I can’t get him out.” The voice sounded distressed and it was my fault. If I was dead than it couldn’t be distressed about me. “Go away. You shouldn’t be worry about me. It’ll just hurt me too much when you end up leaving me.” Hopefully that would get rid of them. I really don’t want to meet any more new ponies; they would die like the others. “No way are we going to leave you here to wallow in your misery. It’s pointless.” I can feel my anger rising slightly, why couldn’t they just leave me alone. This was the perfect world for me. There wasn’t anypony else I could lose here, it was just me and even that would eventually fade away. “Go away.” “No. There is no way I’d ever leave a friend in a place like this.” No… Please not that word again, I really don’t want friends, I couldn’t stand to lose them again. “I wouldn’t do that either!” Two…friends… No, no, not again. I don’t want to deal with the loss again. I just can’t. “NO GO AWAY!” I couldn’t help shouting, my fear of what would happen was simply leaking out. I couldn’t deal with them… Please don’t make me go out there and lose a new set… I could feel the tears streaming down my face, I just couldn’t stop them. “Please don’t make me come out. I can’t deal with the real world.” “Sorry, but I can’t just leave a friend behind. We’re getting you out of here. Now are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?” “I’m not coming out, so do whatever you want.” They couldn’t do anything, they were just figments my mind created to trick me into leaving. So let them do what they wanted, I was just going to sit here and wait for my death. “The hard way it is then.” I just continued to look into the dark depth of my memories, watching as the flowed past when everything went black. What was happening? Bring my memories back! I needed to stay here where there wasn’t anyone who could leave me, being all alone was the only way I could stay sane. I heard a cracking sound. Right in front of me a small crack had formed in the darkness. I don’t understand why they were doing this, I wanted to remain here where nopony could hurt me and I couldn’t hurt them. I galloped to the crack; I was going to close this and go back to where I belonged, alone, but nothing I did made any difference, the crack just grew wider. Soon everything around me began to fall to pieces revealing a world of pink and right in front of my eyes sat a smugly smiling Rainbow Dash. I felt an urge to punch in the muzzle, but it soon faded away and I was left without much feeling at all. “No it was perfect, a place where nothing could leave me. Why, why couldn’t you leave me in there? I don’t want any friends.” I wanted to go back there, but it was gone and I didn’t know how to bring it back. I didn’t want to deal with this, ponies would only leave me. “No that’s just you sulking in a thousand years of pain and you know it. I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I just left you in there.” “Why do you insist on calling me friend?” My voice was listless, I didn’t want her to be my friend, she’d just go away like all the others did, “Why couldn’t you have just left me in there, I wouldn’t have hurt anypony in there and nopony would have hurt me.” “Why wouldn’t I help you? You helped us out earlier, do you know how much easier my job is now?” Really, she couldn’t think of a better reason “I was also the one who got you into the problems. I was trying to get to you girls there to help complete a prank on Celestia.” She just stared at me, hopefully that would get her to leave me alone. “Wait so you knew that Princess Luna had been turned into that thing?” “Well no, but…” “And you knew that the Elements would end up chasing after Celestia?” Where was she going with all this? “No…” “Then why should I believe that it was your entire fault. I’m not saying that you aren’t responsible for at least part of what happened, but that doesn’t mean that you hurt others. It just means that you need to make up for it.” I have no idea what she’s on about now. “Besides, do you really think that you staying in here isn’t hurting ponies?” Ah now we were back on track, this made so much more sense to me. “Yes I do. All the ponies I knew are dead. My family is dead. Anypony who would be affected by my absence is dead.” Maybe now she’d let me go back to my misery. “What about Luna!” A new voice spoke up. I blinked once, I hadn’t thought about that before. Luna was still around, there was still at least one pony who hadn’t left me; well mostly. I heard a cracking sound like something was breaking apart. Before I could respond the new speaker continued, “And there’s also… well… me.” I turned slightly to see who this speaker was. In front of me sat a small smiling pink and blue dragon. Why would she worry about me, I don’t think I’ve seen her before in my life. “Who are you?” She looked towards the ground, depression just seeming to swallow her previous expression. I could feel my heart cracking a little. I didn’t want friends because they could leave me, but both my mind and my heart disagreed with me. They both wanted to help this little creature right in front of me, but I needed to keep myself separate from her. I couldn’t let myself be drawn in again just to be hurt, but it seemed I would be hurting her whether or not I kept myself separate from her. Besides it felt there was just something about her, it just felt like she would never leave me, like I had some connection to her. I took a deeper look at her, there was something that was tickling the edge of my memory and it felt important… Wait a second, what was that symbol on her tail? A sun rising from an ocean, that was my…. This was my familiar wasn’t it? I’d been waiting so long to meet her. I looked at her again. She was just looking at me with her wide eyes, almost on the verge of tears. No matter how much I fear this connection, I couldn’t live with myself if I let this continue, I just couldn’t. I walked up slowly up to her and hugged her. I felt warmer, I know that what I’m doing could potentially come and bite me in the behind, but I knew that I needed to do this… I needed to leave so I could still be Luna’s student and this one could be my familiar. I could only hope that this would work out better than before, at least this time I could actually talk to the ponies. The small dragon just smiled back at me. Somehow, I just know that at the very least I won’t have to worry about her leaving me. There was just one question that was plaguing my mind. “So what is your name?” Hey I might have realized who she was, but that didn’t mean that I would know her name; just because I have a direct emotional connection with her does not mean that I can read her thoughts. “Um…” She started to poke two her claws together in front of her, “well… I don’t have one.” Wait What? She doesn’t have one? That just makes me want to cry, “You’re supposed to give me one.” I was supposed to do what? Oh right, part of the familiar ritual, it was kind of a binding I suppose, connects the two individuals on a deeper level. “Oh right, sorry about that.” Okay I’d need to give this some thought, it wouldn’t do to just give her any name out of the blue, but I couldn’t just leave her without one. What would be a good name for her, I mean she would have to live with it for her entire life; I didn’t want ponies to laugh at her. Now she was pink in coloration with dark blue scale, kind of the reverse of my own coloration really, what would fit with that? Pinkie? Nah that one’s taken. Topaz? Wrong color. Ah I think I know. “Sakura. Named after those trees that bloom pink flowers once a year.” I thought it fit and apparently so did Sakura because she jumped towards me and gave me another hug. I guess she liked hugging as much as I do; which is good because I have a lot of them that no one ever let me give out. While we were hugging I felt something strengthen between us, like the bond had grown tighter. I couldn’t actually see it, even out of the corner of my eye, but I could feel it grow. Tears began to fall from my eyes anew. Well with that little diversion, okay big diversion, over with, there were still other matters to attend to. Specifically I wanted to know how they got here, it may be my idle curiosity and need for knowledge, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to know. If I didn’t find out now it would bug me until I did. The only pony I’d ever known who could jump into ponies minds or dreams was Luna and obviously she wasn’t the one here. Even more intriguing was how they had changed that egg of memories I had been in. I’d never heard of anything that was able to change a pony’s dreams. “So how did you get in anyway?” I really wanted to know about this. It could be so interesting. “Because I’m Rainbow Dash and I’m just awesome like that.” She was grinning like a maniac. I stared at her. I guess she couldn’t take much of one pony staring at her because she soon looked away. “What?” “Do you really expect me to believe that?” The incredulousness I felt flowed out in my tone. “Oh fine,” She pouted at me, “it’s because I’m a Night Pegasus. We’re the ones in charge of making the night run smoothly and dreams fall under that purview. Happy now?” She pouted at me, I suppose she hadn’t liked that I’d made her give a real answer. Either way her answer made more sense, without Luna around to make the night run smoothly somepony would need to take over position. I suppose it had just fallen into the hands of the Night Guards descendants. In any case it was amazing that something like that had developed from the original genetic concepts. “Yes.” That just left one question I needed answered and this one was probably the most important of the bunch. “Do you know how to get out of here? Because I don’t.” That’s right, we needed a way to get out of here, I mean I don’t feel like staying in my own mind for too long, well without being able to move in the real world anyway, and I don’t think either of the other two want that either. I would think that it just involved me waking up in some manner, but since that hasn’t happened yet I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. “Well the obvious answer is you wanting to leave here.” Well it couldn’t hurt anyway. “I want all three of us to get out of here.” Nothing happened, probably should have guessed that, “Any other ideas?” “Of course! There’s always the way us Night Pegasi do it. You just need to grab on.” Well I had no idea what was about to happen, but it couldn’t hurt to try. I reached out two hoofs and grabbed her tail, while Sakura grabbed my own with her teeth. “Hold on tight, we’re getting out of here.” I suddenly didn’t think this was that great of an idea, part of me still thought I should stay here, safe and away from anypony that could leave me, but a larger part of me felt that I should try again, that I should at least try. In some ways I still felt like I should just be staying here, but more of me wanted to try and make new memories; enough to get rid of all the bad ones I had gotten when I was stuck in stone. However, I didn’t get a chance to voice my concerns before Rainbow Dash had taken to the air, dragging the both of us along with her. The air rushed past us at increadible speeds, I’m pretty sure that we were moving at the speed of sound, if the rainbow trail behind us was anything to go by. Honestly I was rather enjoying myself. I’m not sure I could say the same about my familiar though. I could hear her screaming through my tail. I kind of wish that I had been doing this under my own power though, it think it would be more enjoyable. Maybe when I get out of here I’ll practice that transformation spell and actually learn how to fly. It would definitely be an interesting experience. *BOOM* I blinked once, what had just happened? Why did the breeze seem to be flowing upward now instead of sideways? I looked down, oh that makes sense. The ground was coming closer to us every second and Dash seems to be rather out of it, probably because she took the brunt of whatever we had run into. The ground was growing closer and closer, we had maybe a second before we hit. I began to flap my arms, I know that it wouldn’t work, but I had to try something. The ground was less than a foot away now. This is probably going to hurt… *bounce* Huh? What just happened? I know we hit the ground, but why are flying up and down again? I mean that doesn’t make much sense. Suddenly, I remembered that we were in my mind. Of course it wasn’t going to hurt, this wasn’t real ground. Well that was a good thing at least. We bounced a few more times before we settled down again on the ground. “Well that didn’t work.” I stood up, “Are you two alright?” “Yeah I’m fine.” Sakura sounded alright, but strangely I didn’t hear a thing from Rainbow. Turning towards her, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing; Dash was stuck in the ‘ground’ head first. Honestly she looked like nothing short of an ostrich. It didn’t take her long to pull it out, but I’m adding that one to my good memory pile. She glared in my direction. “Yeah laugh it up. I’ve seen what usually happens to you.” I kept laughing anyway, it happened to me far too often to care, but I rarely got to see it happen to others. Sakura joined soon after, Rainbow joined in after a little while. Dash was the first to stop laughing, followed soon by Sakura and me. “Well that was kind of fun, but what the buck was that?” Dash glared at whatever it was we had run into, “I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve been in a lot of minds.” I wish I could tell her, but I honestly had no idea. Generally from what I understood the actual entering and exiting of a pony’s mind is a rather simple affair, but altering it was the hard bit; which makes what Dash did earlier rather amazing. I mean it’s likely that she could only do it because of the fact that she had my familiar with and was able to use that connection, but still amazing. I wasn’t going to tell her that though, she already had enough of an ego. Still though, this barrier was something I’d never read about or seen anywhere. “It’s a Psyche Locke,” I looked towards Sakura in surprise; how would she possibly know something like that, “Hey don’t give me that look; I know what you learned, you just forgot about it.” I’d heard about familiars that had that kind of ability, but they were incredibly rare and I’d never heard of one that could actually pull on memories the partner didn’t know about. That was rather interesting, but something I’d leave testing about later. “So do you actually know what that means?” I still don’t think that I’d ever actually heard of that information before, but anything was possible. “Yuppers!” She jumped in the air pointing towards the sky, she just looked so cute. “They’re a protection for the mind, generally created when a creature has felt some form of trauma.” That didn’t make me feel very good about my mental state right now, but there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. “So do you know how we break it?” “Not a clue!” I had to sigh at that, but at least we knew more now, “But if I had to guess, you don’t want us to leave you alone in here.” “Huh?” “Hey that would actually make sense. I know that a couple of the more traumatized minds that I’ve worked with have sometimes caused me some problems, but nothing this strong. This is on a whole other level.” I guess that I still haven’t completely let go of those feelings, but I’d need to at least let some of them out, if only to get us all out of here. It’s a necessity and I’d do it. I think I knew how to do this, but it was going to be rather strange. “I need a hug.” Rainbow Dash blinked at me once. “You need a what?” “I need a hug.” I swept my gaze from Rainbow to Sakura, “From both of you.” Apparently Sakura didn’t need much encouragement, because she ran up and gave me one, but Dash looked like she would need some more reasons. “Um why?” “I honestly think that it will help us get out of here.” “Well… alright I suppose, doesn’t make much sense to me, but I guess it’s worth a shot. You better not tell anyone though.” She flew at me quickly and gave me a hug, I could hear the sound of glass shattering and the world went white. Heh, guess the power of Hugs beats out the power of Trauma any day. It was dark again, but the reason why was obvious, my eyelids were still closed. I could feel something soft beneath me, but it still felt like one of the least comfortable things I have ever laid on and that includes the time I slept on rocks, but it was likely that I was lying on top of a bed. I opened my eyes to confirm my suspicions and low and behold I was right. That had been fairly obvious really, but the thing that surprised me was that when I looked up I could see only white. Honestly, that was rather comforting if only because of how much of a contrast it made to the darkness I had been feeling earlier. White represented purity and cleanliness, which I could really do with right now. “Oh good, you’re awake.” My attention was drawn to a white Unicorn standing nearby; her flank marking was hidden from my sight by the angle I was laying at, so I could only guess at her profession. That was rather unfortunate, if I could have seen perhaps I could have figured out where I was at the moment. However, her demeanor honestly reminded me of those barber’s that I used to have to see once a year, it had something to do with the look in her eye like she was trying to find out where to draw the blood from. I still remember how every year I’d have to go in for an exam and a haircut, two bits. I need to work on my puns. “My name is Doctor Nautilia.” I suppose that I could have been wrong or maybe the term doctor is what they use instead of barber now, “and you’re in the personal hospital of the princesses.” What was I doing here? I mean I realize I’d been knocked out for a while, but I didn’t think it would have been long enough for me to end up in a medical facility. Yes I don’t know what the word hospital means. I’m just going with the idea that it’s somewhat similar to the barber’s. “According to your medical report it seems that you have been through a rather nasty incident; you’ve been completely unresponsive for nearly a full week.” Well I guess that would explain how they got me here. If I had been unconscious for a whole week it that was likely enough time for me to be moved pretty far. I guess I really owed Dash and Sakura one for getting me out of there. I could have been stuck in there for the rest of my life. Of course for part of it at least that was what I had wanted, but that was done with for now. I could deal with the losses because at the very least I had Luna, Sakura, and Dash. I hope. Now though, I’d like to get out of here, there wasn’t any real reason for me to stay, I mean I’d already been sitting in this bed for long enough. I opened my mouth to ask about it. “…” I realized that my mouth was utterly devoid of liquid, I suppose being unconscious for that long is not conductive to getting basic necessities. The doctor seemed to have noticed my distress because she filled a cup of water for me and handed it to me with her magic. I tried reaching out with my own magic, but I simply couldn’t seem to pull anything into my horn. My reserves felt like they were completely drained and considering what had happened to me, it was certainly a possibility. The real problem was that I had been resting in this bed for nearly a week now, even if I hadn’t realized it at the time. That much rest should have easily let me recover my magical energy; the fact that it didn’t is rather disconcerting. Perhaps the fact that my mind had actually been actively trying to pull me out of my depression hadn’t given it enough time to completely rejuvenate my ability to use magic. I could only hope that was the case and that I hadn’t somehow lost access to my magic for the rest of my life. I did not want to find myself without my magic for the rest of my life. At the moment not being able to use my magic didn’t matter much, but it would likely become an issue in the near future. I had learned how to operate without magic, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to have it when I needed it. In any case I still need to get a drink of that water, my mouth was starting to feel like it was covered in sand. How had not noticed this when I first woke up anyway? I grabbed the cup from the doctor with my hooves and drank it slowly; I know that if you drink water too quickly when you haven’t had any for a while it can cause water intoxication. I have no idea what water intoxication is, but I don’t want to find out. Not unless I read it in a book anyway. The doctor quirked an eyebrow at me; I guess she found it odd that I was using my hooves instead of my magic to hold the cup. To be fair if our roles had been reversed I likely would be just as surprised. There weren’t very many Unicorns out there that would use their hooves when magic was available, if only because it was more convenient. I saw her glance down at her paper and watched as she made a few marks on it. I wonder what’s on that paper anyway. Well now that my throat had been lubricated I could actually ask about it. “Eh, so what’s with the paper doc?” I began to chew on the carrot in my mouth. I have no idea where it came from, but I’m going to enjoy it anyway. Asking questions about why some things happen to me has never been conductive to good mental health anyway, especially when it concerned some of the thing my family and I could do. Besides I’m hungry. “Hmm?” She glanced up from her papers to look at me, her eyes widening slightly at the carrot before returning back to normal. I suppose she was just going to ignore the sight of a magical carrot. Considering what some I’ve seen some Unicorns do when they are hurt, I’m not really sure I would be surprised either. “It’s your medical report; it’s missing a lot of information.” That’s odd I remember going to the barber’s just a week before I became stone, oh. Well that was probably why it was missing so much information, it was over a thousand years out of date. It was rather surprising that they still had the thing. It had been over a thousand year paper filing must have gotten a lot better, “When was the last time you saw a doctor?” “It wasn’t that long ago really,” which wasn’t really a lie, relatively speaking. I don’t think she really needed to know the details right now, “I suppose I just had a really poor doctor.” Which was absolutely true, even from what little I could see from my bed medical technology had had advanced so much that what those barber’s knew must have become completely obsolete. Nautilia frowned, “Well that’s not good. Without a baseline we can’t check to make sure that you’re fit for release.” That was not what I wanted to hear, I did not want to be here any longer than I had to be. “Is there any way that I could be released earlier?” I was a little desperate to get out and thank some ponies. Besides I’ve never really liked to sit in one place for too long. “Well if we give you a basic physical before you leave, we could probably use that for the time being. However, in the future we will need you to go to have a full physical.” Well that would work for me. Probably wasn’t the worst idea to have an exam done anyway, I don’t know if any new viruses or something like them had been developed while I was locked in stone. Even better, it might give me some information about why my magic wasn’t refilling. “Sounds good to me.” It couldn’t be as bad as when I used to have to go to the ba-doctors. “Okay so the first thing I need you to do is stand up. Can you do that for me?” I could feel a slight weakness in my body, but that wasn’t near enough to keep me standing on four legs. Nautilia made a mark on her clipboard, I get the feeling she is either the best prepared pony I have ever met or she had already planned to do this ahead of time. “Good, now I’d like you to walk from your bed to the wall and back please.” This seemed a little silly to me, but I quickly did as she asked, walking from one end of the room and back. I didn’t think that it was worth to ask about what these things were for at the moment. I’d never get out of anywhere if I always asked every question that was on my mind. “Ok, good.” She had me go through a few more exercises. She said it was to test my range of motion and basic physical conditioning. Honestly, this seems a bit much for something that only lasts a week, but what do I know I’m not a doctor. Some of the things even seemed pretty silly, why in the world would standing on your head be part of the exam? “Okay now I’d like you to sit down on the bed please and wait a few minutes. I need to go retrieve something.” She trotted out of the room while I wandered over to the edge of the bed and sat down. I wonder what she needed to get. Ah well I’d find out soon enough. When she came back she was carrying something that sent a chilling sensation straight through my entire body and set my tail into a jumpy mood. It looked just like a magic inhibitor… When I was a foal I was told not to go playing in Dad’s closet because there were dangerous things in there. So of course I had the strongest desire to go and look into that closet. When would my parents learn that whenever they didn’t want me to do something they shouldn’t make it seem interesting. I mean they knew that I would always go and search anything that seemed even a little interesting. Every time I tried though my parents would catch me before I was actually able to reach the closet. That didn’t discourage me though. It actually made me more interested in trying to see what was in there. I just needed to wait for my chance. That chance came pretty soon after my last attempt. Both my parents needed to go out to a Royal Dinner, leaving me alone with the servants. I had long ago learned about how to avoid the servants in the house, not that they were likely to be looking for me anyway. Still it paid to be careful. I snuck out of my room into the hallway, watching for any of servants walking along. Strangely the entire place seemed to be empty. It was rather strange really, but I wasn’t going to complain. My parents room was really nearby so it was only the work of a minute to reach the door. I tried the door, it opened easily. You think my parents would have at least made this a little more difficult. I took a quick look inside in order to make sure that the room was actually empty, which it was. I quickly trotted over to their closet. Honestly this was too easy, I was starting to think that my parents wanted me to get in here or maybe they were just really forgetful. They had been in a pretty big rush. I reached for the closet door with my magic and began to pull it open, I knew I shouldn’t do this, but I did it anyway. Sitting on the lowest shelf, the only one I could actually reach, was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen, it just looked so very magical. Silver in color and covered in gemstone, it was more spectacular than anything I had seen even in my mother or sister’s jewelry boxes. I know that it’s not considered manly to try on Jewelry, but I felt a need to it. I tried to pick it up with my magic, but it wouldn’t budge. No matter how much energy I used it would just remain sitting on that shelf. Eventually, I decided to pick it up with my hooves instead. I slowly slid it onto my horn and that’s when everything began to feel wrong. My magic was completely missing there wasn’t even a single feeling of it. It was almost like someone had just drained me of my very essence. I tried to pull off the object, but I couldn’t it was stuck on tight. I kept trying until I eventually exhausted myself and fell into a slumber. When I opened my eyes again my parents were looking at me. I could feel that the jewelry on my head was gone and I could feel my magic was back. “Son, you know that we told you not to go into my closet and now you know why.” My father said to me. I nodded my head, “This is called a magic inhibitor and it’s very dangerous. So please don’t wear it again ok?” I nodded my head again. Then they grounded me for a month. And that’s why I’m worried about wearing anything that looks like a magic inhibitor, or Jewelry for that matter. It probably would at least settle my tail down a little if I could find out what it is. “Um, would you mind telling me what that thing is?” She gave me a puzzled look; I guess she either hadn’t been informed about my previous ‘condition’ or hadn’t believed it. I guess that was probably for the best, considering how Twilight and her friends had reacted to my revelation and the fact that I didn’t have any idea how I had woken them up, it was probably for the best. Nautilia wrote something else on my chart before answering me. I don’t know what, but considering what that board was I could only hope it was something good. “This?” She tilted her head toward the object floating in her magical aura, “That doctor of yours must have been medical school dropout if she,” actually the barber had been male, “didn’t have one of these around. It’s a basic part of a medical exam, a magic scanner. It checks magical levels.” “Oh.” I suppose that made sense; testing magical levels of any type of Pony had been thought to be important back then as well, but it had been fairly difficult and thus was rarely performed. It had been deemed to be too invasive. If they had refined it enough to make it simple enough to do such a complicated procedure than including it in a basic medical exam seemed like a good idea. “Oh, well than go ahead doc.” I really need to figure out where all these carrots are coming from. They were some of the tastiest carrots I’d ever had. “Okay just hold still for a moment and do not cast any spells while this device is on your horn. Do you understand?” She gave me a look to let me know she was serious, not that I would have done it anyway. There was a reason that most Unicorns didn’t put anything on their horn, it simply made it difficult to cast spells and could often cause injury due to that lack of control. There are many Unicorns who have put a decorative piece on their horn without thinking; generally I met them in the emergency room. They weren’t usually a very pretty sight, I shook slightly at the memory. “I understand perfectly.” Nautilia nodded at me and raised the magic scanner up to my horn and slowly slid it onto my horn, seemingly being careful to avoid causing any damage. I will admit that while she put it on my heart rate jumped a little bit. Not much, but it would have been noticeable if someone had been listening. As soon as she’d slid it on I felt it tightening on my horn, similar to how it felt to have the magical inhibitor on my horn, but lacking in any of the loss of magic that came with it. My heart rate dropped down to normal, I hadn’t even known that it had gone up. I guess some part of me had still worried that it had been an inhibitor. “Now the magic scanner will take a little while to finish its task, which is really why I chose to do it this early in the exam. According to what those who brought you here had said your condition was brought on by a magical mental issue. Is this true?” I nodded my head. That was one way it could be put anyway. The other of course being that it was a caused by a mental monster rampaging through my mind and releasing a large number of covered up memories that I never wanted to see again. I don’t think I’ll be telling her that unless she asks directly though. “Because of this I’d like to give you something that is known as a Mini Mental Status Exam, would that be alright?” An exam? At the doctor’s office? Well this is certainly different; most times when I visited the barbers they would just take my heart rate, blood pressure, and a whole host of other vitals, but I’d never heard of them giving anything, let alone an exam. I’m sure I could pass any kind of test she gave me though. “Sure, I think I can ace it.” I was confident; I had read enough books to know quite a bit about a variety of subjects. She quirked an eye at me and gave a slight smile. “This isn’t that kind of exam; it’s meant to give a small snapshot of your mental state.” I guess the look in my eyes had shown my bewilderment, “Think of it as drawing a picture of what your mind is like right now. Considering what happened to you I think it might be a good idea. Although you appear fairly cognizant and you motor skills are working effectively, I believe it would be a good idea to make sure.” I guess that made more sense than it being an actual exam anyway; why would someone come for a medical exam just to take a test in the middle. “Go ahead doc.” Hey where’s my carrot? I guess I played that gag into the ground. “Alright, let’s begin. What is today’s date?” Well if that wasn’t one of the hardest questions for me to answer I don’t know what is. How was I supposed to know today’s date, I haven’t seen a calendar in a week, let alone the last thousand years before that. I didn’t even know what year it was. “I don’t know.” I really dislike it when I don’t know the answer, but in this case I guess I didn’t really have a choice. “The year?” I shook my head, “The month?” Again I shook my head, although I think I can conclusively proves that she did not know about my former state of a garden mascot, “The season?” Oh finally one I could answer, I’d seen the trees during that whole trip leading up to me being here. Geeze, being stuck in stone and only waking up at certain times makes it hard to know what the date is. “It’s Fall.” She made a notation on her clipboard before asking another set of questions about my location. I was able to give most of the answer as she had just told me where we were located, although I couldn’t tell her exactly where what floor we were on. I mean I was unconscious when they brought me here. “Now I’m going to name three objects and would like you to repeat them back to me. Do you understand?” I nodded. “Cup, Cantelope, and lilies.” I felt my muscles stiffen at that last word, I couldn’t explain why though. “Are you all right?” Nautilia was looking at me with worry, I guess she wasn’t as detached as the barbers I used to know, but the stiffness I had felt had already faded. I guess it hadn’t been anything too dangerous, probably was just a leftover of lying in bed for so long. “Just a little stiff from lying here for so long.” “If you’re sure,” She gave me a look; I don’t think she really believed me, than again I wasn’t sure I really believed it myself either, “Please repeat the names of the objects.” “Cup, Cantelope, and …” Lillies. I can’t force the word out of my mouth; it feels like it’s just stuck in my throat and those muscles don’t want to move. I continue to try before giving up. Nautilia quirked an eyebrow at me, she was doing that so often that I was starting to wonder if it was her special talent. “I just can’t say the last one, it’s stuck in my throat.” “Hmm, that’s interesting; not within my area of expertise, but interesting.” She makes another notation on my medical report; I really would like to see what’s on there, hopefully she would tell me after we finished. “Try this list of words instead: Cord, Water, Begonias.” “Cord, Water, Begonias.” I repeat back easily, no problem at all. I couldn’t think of a single reason why I had such problem with that one word. Nautilia makes a mark on her board than looks back towards me, “Let’s continue. I need you to count backwards from one hundred by seven.” This was starting to get a little silly; I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to what this was supposed to test, but at the moment I figured it would be easier to just go along with it, the sooner I finished this the sooner I could find out more about what happened. “One Hundred, Ninety-Three, Eighty-Six…” I counted all the way to two, the last number in the sequence. It all went fairly smoothly after that point, Nautlilia asked me several more questions from that sheet of hers and made a few more notations, but nothing special. It was only a few minutes later that we finished. Coincidently, the magic scanner stopped beeping at the same moment, which I suppose meant that it was finished considering the ways that the doctor’s eyes moved up to it. I suppose that could be my luck working again. Nautilia removed the ring from my horn with her magic before taking some sort of cord from it and putting it into a slot on another machine. Since I don’t know anything about what was going on, I just ignored it for the moment; I didn’t really feel like appearing ignorant at the moment. “So what’s my prognosis?” “Well from what I can tell you’re magic has been drained something serious; you won’t be able to use it for at least a week and even then it will likely be a little weak. I suggest that you don’t do any magic for at least the next week and then only minimally for a month.” Well that was good news; granted I likely wouldn’t be able to use my magic as I usually did for a while, but I guess those lessons from when I had been without magic will be useful for once. It was still better than not having my magic for the rest of my life. “Now I just need to take your vitals.” I wonder why she hadn’t done that first, it seems like that would have made more sense. “Why didn’t you do that in the exam first?” “I didn’t take them before because you appeared anxious. If I had taken your vitals then it might have given me back elevated values. In other words, it would have given me false information.” Well that made some sense at least; if you were going to get a baseline measurement you needed everything to be at that base level. Even if it hadn’t made sense, I wouldn’t have known if it had been something that had changed from when I had been placed in stone or if it had been something new. The rest of the checkup was completed without incident. Well except for the part where I had to turn my head and cough, that’s fairly embarrassing when the one asking you to do it is a mare. I mean we may be naked almost all of the time, but that is still a pretty big step over the line of decency. “From what I can see you are a fairly healthy stallion.” I smiled, that was good; at least my time in stone hadn’t caused me too much damage, “There are a few things that bother me, but those are out of my expertise.” “What do you mean?” “Your reaction earlier to a certain word, that I will not be saying, is possibly indicative of a mental disorder, but that is outside my expertise. I suggest that you see a psychologist about it. However, because that is outside my knowledge, I can’t actually do anything more than provide you with a recommendation. In any case I believe that you are well enough to see your friends.” That was a lot of information to take in at once. Psychologist? I had never heard that term before, but perhaps they were the ponies that went into your head or something. “Would you mind leading me to them?” “Actually you’ll need to remain in your room until I have a chance to complete the paperwork, but I’ll be happy to get them for you. While you’re talking to them I’ll go get the release paperwork ready.” Nautilia trotted out of the room while I remained waiting in the room. I just sat there waiting for her return, there weren’t many things that I could really do besides that. I wonder if that reaction to the lilies was some leftover from my time as stone, I mean perhaps it had something to do with the fact that those ponies would always bring those flowers. The sound of the door opening interrupted my thoughts. The small dragon hugging my leg was even more distracting. Honestly I was rather happy about that, I didn’t really want to go into those thoughts right now. “Welcome to the World.” Dash, batwings and all, was standing in the doorway smirking at me. I don’t know why, but that line made me feel like something might go very wrong today if I go and bake anything. “It’s good to be back.” I realize that is conversation was rather silly, but what do I know. I suppose there were a couple of question I should ask. “So where is Luna anyway?” “Princess Luna is still sleeping, it is daytime after all.” Huh, that wasn't what I expected, if Luna's asleep shouldn't I be there too? Perhaps that part of the spell had broken with the stone portion. Something to think about anyway. I pulled myself out of my thoughts in time to see Dash looking out the window, “Honestly if I didn't need to be asleep to help you out thats where I would be too.” Well I’d take that as meaning that Night Pegasus are nocturnal, probably because of their jobs. “Well it’s good to hear that she’s ok at least.” Considering how she had been when I had last seen her, this was actually very helpful to me. “So you want to go see what’s going on in town?” “But I can’t leave until the Nurse comes back with the paperwork.” Rainbow Dash gave me an incredulous look.” “You’re kidding right? Come on. Let’s just fly on out of here.” “Sorry Dash, I’ve got to wait to fill out that paperwork, it’s the rules.” And sadly I am very rule bound. I have a much easier time with laws though, I’ve seen and broken the laws of physics enough times for it to hate me at this point. “That shouldn’t be a problem.” Behind Dash the Nurse had come back, “all I need you to do is sign this paperwork here, here, and here.” I pick up the pen in my mouth and start to sign where indicated. “So is that everything?” “No, that was just the first page.” She pulls out a stack of paperwork from behind her back. I can only gape at it, “You still have to fill out the rest of these.” This was going to take a while, but there was only one thing I could ask. “Can I get another pen? I don’t think this one will be enough.” Author's Notes: Okay first off I want to tell you all that I can't thank you enough for reading this story. It really makes me feel good that your enjoying it. Second I want to tell you all that if you have any feedback on this chapter at all I would really appreciate it, it took me forever just to get it like this and I can't help feeling that it's missing something that I won't be able to see, but you will. Finally I have a little shout out that I promised to make for a fic I liked Thunderstruck: The Curious Odyssey of Shaun Davis. It's an HiE fic that doesn't make me want to go poke out my eyes, which is pretty good honestly. I like them right where they are.