Doctor Hooves 1
As always, Twilight Sparkle was on time.
She was most definitely my most punctual patient. In the three years that I had been seeing her, she had only missed an appointment twice, and on one of those occasions I found out that she had nearly ended up as a hydra’s snack.
She had managed to avoid such a fate, and the next time I saw her, she told me that she had learned a lesson about not denying phenomena just because it didn’t fit into her worldview.
I told her that that was how we in Ponyville managed to stay sane with a pony like Pinkie Pie and her pinkie sense around.
The other time she missed an appointment was not her fault in any way, shape, or form.
Hopefully, one day I can convince her of that.
In any case, I saw her practically hop through the door to my work area and almost bounce onto the couch.
“How are you today, Doctor?” she said with infectious cheer.
As a side note, I could never get her to refer to me as anything other than my title. Even when she called me by my given name, it was always ‘Doctor Hooves’, never just ‘Hooves.’ Oh well. At least she wasn’t as bad as my parents, who always insisted on calling me ‘the doctor in the family,’ or, on occasion, just ‘the Doctor.’
That last one made the more science fiction literate of my patients giggle, for some reason.
In any case, it would be rude and quite contrary to the purpose of my profession to just ignore Twilight.
“Quite well, thank you. And how are you today, Twilight?” I asked.
“I’ve been doing very well myself, thank you,” she said. “And before you ask, no symptoms again this week.”
I hated that I had to do that with her. Every week, I had to ask the same Celestia forsaken question. In my opinion, it was focusing too much on the problem, bringing her condition to the forefront and reminding her of it.
To make matters worse, I was unfamiliar with the question. It felt foreign on my lips. With Ponyville being such a small community, Twilight was the only one who needed to be asked that question. The rest of my patients just need somewhere safe to vent. With Twilight, I needed to keep on top of the symptoms from her condition, and the side effects of any medications that I was prescribing. It was slightly overwhelming when she first moved here, but over the last three years I had become accustomed to it.
Didn’t mean that I liked it.
“I’m not bothering you by asking that every week, am I?”
Twilight waved a hoof dismissively. “No, no, it is your job after all. It has just gotten routine, that’s all.”
“Oh, I see. I suppose that I have gotten a tad predicable,” I said.
Twilight laughed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Well, they do say that variety is the spice of life.”
“Well, too much spice can ruin a dish,” Twilight said triumphantly, as if our conversation was a debate. “Trust me, I know. That was the last time Spike ever let me cook.”
I felt my ear twitch. I had been meaning to talk to Twilight about Spike for a while. I just had never found the right way to bring it up. And I didn’t want to say anything to ruin her good mood today.
“So, you seem to be in a happy mood today. Is there anything in particular that is responsible for your good cheer?” I asked, changing the subject.
To my surprise, Twilight nearly burst out laughing. “Good cheer? Doctor, I don’t think that anypony but Luna says that anymore!”
I sighed. I have been told repeatedly that I have a somewhat formal and outdated way of talking, and to be honest, it sometimes got on my nerves. Not as much today, though. I think that Twilight’s good mood was infectious.
I decided to play along. “I am glad that my antiquated linguistics have caused you much pleasure,” I said, in the stuffiest voice that I could muster.
This time, Twilight did burst out laughing, and her laughter definitely was infectious. I found myself chuckling along with her.
After we stopped laughing, the room was silent. I found that most of my patients found talking about themselves or things that happened to them was slightly tiring, so I made a point of it to let them go along at their own pace, only breaking the silence if it went on too long, or they looked as if they had just thought of something.
After a few minutes, however, I decided to speak up.
“So, what are you so happy about?” I asked.
“Oh,” she said, looking slightly startled, “I was just having lunch with the girls on Tuesday, all six of us, and Fluttershy had the best news! She finally worked up the nerve to talk to Big Mac! She asked him out on a date and he said yes!”
“Oh, good for her!” I said, genuinely pleased. Almost the entire town knew that those two had had their eyes on each other for some time, but both were too shy to actually do anything about it.
“Yep! I am so happy for them!” Twilight said, almost literally beaming.
“Actually, this reminds me of a question that I have had for a long time,” I said, thankful for a way to bring up my question naturally. “Have you ever thought about romance yourself?”
Almost immediately, Twilights smile lost all of its cheer. It turned… regretful? Melancholy? I couldn’t find the right word to describe it. In any case, I was somewhat worried that I might have said the wrong thing.
“Well, I have, of course. I don’t think that there is a pony alive over fifteen who hasn’t,” she said, still smiling that odd smile. “I just don’t think it’s in the cards for me.”
“And why not?” I asked.
“Well, who would want me? I am damaged goods after all.”
My heart almost broke, hearing that. Apparently I had said the wrong thing after all.
“Twilight, don’t talk like that, you haven’t shown any symptoms since the—“
“The smartypants incident, I know,” she said, cutting me off. “And I know that you are going to say that it has been a year and a half since then.”
“You see? As so long as you continue to take your medication—“
“Except my medication didn’t help back then!”
I hesitated. “Well, high amounts of stress can trigger relapses, regardless of medication. But that was immediately following your confrontation with Discord, back when he was evil. You must admit that something like that doesn’t happen often.”
“And entering into a relationship isn’t stressful? Being the element of magic isn’t stressful? Being one of Equestria’s heroes that could be called in to confront a villain at any time isn’t stressful? Oh, thank Celestia for that, or the pony that I enter into a relationship with might find out that I would be a burden.”
This was going nowhere. I needed to try a different tactic.
“Twilight, taking care of each other is part of any relationship. That alone does not make one a ‘burden.’ And,” I continued before she could cut me off, “a relationship won’t last long if one partner thinks of the other, or even themselves as a burden. Think of it as having an expanded safety net, if that makes you feel better.”
“I don’t need a bigger safety net! I have Spike for that!” Twilight protested.
“Spike won’t be around forever.”
“He will outlive me!”
“But do you really want him to spend his whole childhood being the only one you can count on? You say that you don’t want to be a burden to anypony, but what about him? Do you really think that it is fair to him to be your only backup plan?”
This was the point that I had felt that I needed to bring up regarding the little dragon. He was a good guy, and very dependable, but he was still a child. He needed to be able to play, without having to worry about Twilight. And with the way that Twilight let her condition color the way she thought about herself, I wouldn’t be surprised if Spike felt that he had to worry all the time.
Twilight apparently had nothing to say to this, and silence reigned over the room once again. This time, I was going to let our session expire before breaking it. I had just given her a lot to think about, and I wanted to give her time to process it.
I was just about to mention that our time was up for the week, when she spoke again.
“It’s because I’m asexual,” she said.
“What?” I asked. I felt as if my train of thought had just derailed. I had no clue what she was talking about.
“Why I have never shown romantic interest in any other pony. It’s because I’m asexual. You like that answer better, right?”
That was such a transparent lie that I was tempted to call her on it. I could say that I flatly didn’t believe her. I could say that I was wondering why she didn’t bring this up first. I could say that… but I wasn’t going to. Twilight would only act like this if she really wanted to avoid any more discussion of the subject. She had only acted like this a couple of times before, and every time she had needed more time before she could talk comfortably about the subject.
And our session had run out of time.
“All right, Twilight, I’ll take your word for it. See you next week?” I asked.
She nodded. “See you next week, doctor.”
Without a further word, she turned and trotted out the door. I sighed, and began to prepare for my next patient.
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Its very rare for me to read a romance without spike being the center. But alas your story has convinced me to make an exception I eagerly await what happens next.
I really want to know what's wrong with my pretty purple pony.
what the fuck? when did twily become Asexual?
Wow. You've caught my attention already. This is definitely going to be good!
Ehhh... I'm not sure what to think about this right now so... I'll come back to this when I feel I'll be able to get a better grasp of it.
Actually, the proper term for that sentence would've been "aromantic", as "asexual" refers to sexual interest rather than romantic interest.
5465747
Since sexual attraction it is so closely linked with romantic interest it is still a fitting term, though you are strictly correct.
5465747
No. While certainly there are people who are interested in romance but not sex to say "I'm not interested in romance because I'm aromantic" would be to say "I'm not interested in romance because I'm not interested in romance". Which is not an answer at all. And there could be ponies who are not interested in romance because they don't want to deal with the...expectations that the other party might have.
Not for long! Once you become Twilycorn, you'll outlive him!
6251552 a mentally unstable individual with phenomenal cosmic power?.... yes, do let's
I'm kind of surprised she chose asexual over aromantic, then again as the author I don't know if you were aware of aromantacism, which is the absence of romantic desire. Asexual is just sexual desire, but then again I guess it wouldn't have made the lie so easy to see through :P.
Anyways, love the story, I'm reading partially because I'd seen this before and had been interested and partially because I saw the sequel and had renewed interest XD
6255752 yeah, not many can tell the difference, and I know it, because I'm asexual.
Yet I write and ponder romance (most everyone believes it hypocritical.)
And so far, so great
Very good work so far, well done.
6255752
Attraction, not desire. Not the same things.
Wow, I didn’t expect there to be any asexual representation in here! Definitely an emotional surprise, and as an asexual person myself, I’m looking forward to it being explored.