Chapter 9 - Meeting the Alters
Dissociative
By Strawberry Jelly
Chapter 9 - Meeting the Alters
"Well, what now?" Twilight grimaced and looked over at Pinkie Pie with the upbeat music blaring out from the instruments in the background.
It always ended like this for the two mares when they went out to a club with the group; Rarity would always find some stallion to dance with, Rainbow Dash and Applejack would spend their time at the bar, and Fluttershy always cowered in the corner with half a dozen stallions asking her for a dance. Despite being a princess now, Twilight still was about as popular with the stallions as she was back in Canterlot. Pinkie, on the other hand, was really just seen as too much to handle, as most stallions were intimidated by her boundless energy.
“Well, we can dance, silly filly!” Pinkie grinned and grabbed onto Twilight's hoof, pulling her towards the dance floor with a wide grin that showed off her surprisingly white teeth.
“But I can't-” Her reply was cut off by the quick tug that had pulled her out onto the dance floor.
“Of course you can! I mean, it's swing, silly!” Pinkie giggled and pulled the princess into a rather erratic dance; even by the standards of Swing.
Twilight could feel her cheeks flush a little at the other ponies in the crowd watched a Princess and an Earth Pony dance with several whispers being heard under the music. The bliss in her friend's eyes had pulled her away from the judgment of the crowd around her, though. Pinkie really was having fun, so why shouldn't she?
“Let's give them something to talk about,” Twilight grumbled and closed her eyes before pouring her heart and soul into the dance; only to look completely ridiculous mind you, but Pinkie only giggled and joined in.
“See, it's more fun if you just let go,” Pinkie commented as both mares bucked their hind legs outwards, eliciting a few laughs from the onlookers.
“You're right,” Twilight opened her eyes cautiously and let herself indulge in her body's movements. It was admittedly more fun than what she usually had done at the club.
A loud thud echoed over the music, causing it to stop dead in its tracks as a stallion shouted out, “Go back to the asylum, freakshow!”
Laying on the ground was a pink mare that held her head with crimson starting to pour from the wound caused by a beer bottle hitting her. Another mare called from the crowd in an angered hiss, “We don't want your kind here!”
Twilight ran over to her friend's side and held her close, looking over at the crowd with a glare, “What is wrong with you all?!”
“What's wrong with us? What's wrong with you?! Actually wanting to be friends with that abomination!”
Twilight bit her lip and turned to see her other friends just standing there behind her, “Oh thank Celestia, girls, come help her!”
“I'm sorry Twilight,” Rarity lifted her chin and turned her head, “But I don't think I can just accept something like... This.”
“Ah hate to agree, Sugarcube, but you and Pinkie being together is one thing, but she's just not right in the head.” Applejack looked down nervously.
“Seriously, Egghead, she might even be dangerous with Celestia knows who is up in that head of hers.” Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs over her chest while hovering above the ground.
“But I... Even you, Fluttershy?” Twilight fought to blink back the tears that were welling up in her eyes, only to see a shy nod from the yellow pegasus.
“Sorry, but if y'all are gonna be friends with her, then Ah guess we can't be friends with you neither,” Applejack nodded sternly before turning and walking towards the door, having the three other mares follow her example with rather hateful expressions on their face.
“But... Girls...” Twilight only looked down at the bleeding mare in her arms that was in complete tears now.
“Get her out of our club!” A stallion hissed and threw another bottle out towards the two mares, following up with several other things being tossed from the crowd.
“No, she's not bad!” Twilight hissed and folded her wings around the pink mare, trying to shield her from the shattering bottles and various food that pelted them. “There's nothing wrong with her...”
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain shoot through her wing, having blood run through the feathers and drip onto the ground. Before she could cry out in pain, another voice boomed over the crowd, “Enough!”
Twilight slowly opened her eyes to find her forelegs empty of her friend and the crowd having disappeared to make way for a midnight blue alicorn that towered over the younger alicorn. She took a deep gasp before speaking, “P-Princess Luna?”
“Please, it's just Luna to you, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna corrected before continuing, “I see you know the secret of your friend. That, or you have rather accurate visions in your dreams.”
“I... You know?” Twilight asked and slowly uncurled from her position, wincing at the pain that shot through her wing.
“Twilight Sparkle, I am the patroness on dreams; of course I know of your friend's condition. In fact, I have conversed with many of her different faces within the confines of her head,” Luna folded her wings by her side and offered a hoof to help Twilight stand. “Come, walk with me.”
Twilight nodded quietly and followed Luna through the empty club, “I'm afraid for her... Pinkie can't handle losing her friends.”
“Oh? What makes you so sure that she'll lose them?” Luna raised a brow as the two started up the stairs.
“It's just that Pinkie needs social interaction; I mean, there was this one time that she thought we all hated her because we were planning a surprise birthday party for her. I don't ever want to see Pinkie that upset again,” Twilight was cut off by Luna's smirk. “What's so funny?”
“Twilight Sparkle, Pinkamena, one of Pinkie Pie's alters, has confided in me by telling me those events,” Luna sighed and opened the door, offering it to Twilight. "Pinkie was upset and scared, so Pinkamena had taken control and shielded her from the world. She's brash, emotional, and always jumping to conclusions I have noticed. That being said, do you think your friends would just walk away from Pinkie because there's more to her than meets the eye?"
“I... I mean, we've always known that Pinkie was a little different I suppose,” Twilight took a step outside onto a cloud, looking around to realize how much the dreamscape had changed. With the door and club missing entirely, she looked over to Luna to add on a question, “I'm just worried they wouldn't understand. I know that I won't leave Pinkie Pie, but what if...? What if?!”
“Ah, 'What if', a question as old as time itself,” Luna only smirked and sat down, patting the spot next to her. “Pinkie Pie and the other faces do share this fear as well, but what do you think would change if they knew? I'd imagine it'd be little more than knowing you have more friends than you realized. That being said though, I am particularly surprised that she had decided on telling you.”
“Inkie didn't really seem to shy about it,” Twilight looked down over the landscape, realizing that they were above Ponyville.
“Ah, the gray one,” Luna giggled, “She's quite a conversationalist. I admit that I have abandoned more than one duty in a night by talking with her.”
“Wait, so the alters have their own dreams?” Twilight looked over at the princess next to her.
“Of course they do; they are just like any other pony. Granted, it's rather nice to sometimes see more than one of them in the dreamscape from time to time,” Luna waved her hoof and the two mares found themselves sitting on a bench beside Sugarcube Corner, “Which is the main reason I actually came into your dream. The fact that you were having a nightmare is just a coincidence.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Twilight blinked and followed Luna as they both stood up.
“Well, Inkie expressed to me that she believes you may doubt they their condition truly exists. While it may be seen as a bit of a misuse of power on my part...” Luna paused and opened the door to Sugarcube Corner, where inside stood the interior of a circus tent with five ponies on the inside. “Welcome to the inside of Pinkie's dream.”
“Wait, what?” Twilight stared at the events that unfolded before her. There was Pinkie going across a tightrope on a unicycle with a white pegasus sitting on top of her head with her wings outspread. On the other side of the safety net was a black coated mare with a rather bland looking midnight blue mane. She was watching the two mares on the rope with a wry frown on her lips.
“I managed to get everyone except D,” A gray mare said with a cocky smile, pushing her thinly framed glasses up onto her muzzle with her hoof. “Thank you, Princess.”
“I was worried that you'd have trouble finding them, Inkie,” Luna commented, walking into the tent.
“Well, it's always easier in a dream,” Inkie shrugged and smiled at Twilight with a blush showing through her gray cheeks, “Uhm... surprise?”
“What?” The pegasus called form the tightrope before letting out a long, excited gasp, “Ohmygosh, she's here?!”
“Oh hi, Twilight!” Pinkie giggled and jumped from the unicycle, landing perfectly unscathed in front of the princess after showing off with four somersaults.
“Wait, she's finally here?” The black mare hissed, walking over slowly, eying the lavender alicorn up and down cautiously, “I don't really... think this is a good idea.”
“Oh come on, don't be so grumpy, Pinkamena!” The white pegasus giggled and wrapped a leg around the black unicorn's withers, “Besides, it's not really a secret to her anymore.”
“Yeah, because Inkie let that cat out of the bag,” Pinkamena sighed and flopped down onto her flank, “So, why'd you even want us all here to see your marefriend?”
Inkie's face lit up, “I.. She's not... Uh...”
“Wait, ohmygosh, you told her, didn't you?!” Surprise jumped into the air and clapped her forehooves together, “What did she say? Twilight, what'd you say?!”
Twilight simply stood there, slack-jawed and overwhelmed by the assault of mares she hadn't even known about until merely hours before. Luna put a reassuring hoof on the younger princess' withers and nodded, “Take a deep breath; I know it's a bit overwhelming at first.”
“This has answered a lot of questions, but only opened a few more,” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. “First thing I have to ask is how long do we have to talk, Princess?”
“Well, time moves a little differently in dreams. Honestly, even I am unsure,” Luna replied, “Either way, when one of you wakes up, you'll be sent back into your own dream... Or just wake up too.”
“That didn't sound very sure, Princess,” Inkie raised her brow.
“Well, it's not something I've had to do very often,” Luna shook her head, “Dream confidentiality and all that. Either way, I have duties to attend to, so I must leave you five to talk.”
“Of course, sorry for detaining you this long,” Inkie nodded understandingly.
“Bye bye, Princess!” Pinkie giggled and waved enthusiastically.
“Have fun!” Surprise giggled and looked over at the black mare that just gave a single nod to the departing princess.
“Don't be so grumpy, Pinkamena!” Pinkie cried out and pushed her hooves against the corners of the angry mare's mouth, forcing a smile from her.
“Bah! Let me go!” Pinkamena hissed, only to fall back onto a pie that Surprise had rushed to place behind her.
“Girls, that's enough,” Inkie said and tried to stop Pinkie's and Surprise's shenanigans, only to have whipped cream tossed at her by an angry Pinkamena that missed Pinkie with her attack.
“You should've seen your face!” Surprise broke out into laughter, “See, why can't we do this kind of stuff normally?”
“Because I'd go crazy,” Pinkamena rolled her eyes and worked to wipe the cream off of her flank.
“We don't know how long we have, so stop it!” Inkie shouted over the three ponies, catching all of their attention, “We had a reason to call Twilight here, so let's actually use the opportunity!”
Twilight took a deep, shaky breath and tried her best to speak, “I agree, we need to-”
~~~
Limestone opened her eyes to the harsh morning sun, feeling a warmth by her side that only made her want to cuddle into the bed that much more. Despite being a rock farmer, she wasn't really what you'd call a morning mare. To her side was a blue unicorn with a disheveled mane that contradictorily made her look more peaceful. Limestone slowly wiped her eyes, feeling her stiff fur underneath her eyes that only made her frown.
“That's right...” She trailed off, remembering what had happened after the fight last night. She upset her older sisters; not only did she make marble cry, but Maud was absolutely furious with her. The way she looked at her with that unmoving expression said everything that she needed to know.
Trixie was there for her when she came back to the hotel though; sitting with open arms as the gray rock farmer broke down into long-awaited tears. Tears that she had been holding back for years now; tears that she hadn't shed since that hellish night back on the rock farm. She could still see the tear stains on the mare's chest.
“Thank you, Beatrix,” Limestone mumbled before sliding out of the bed and onto the floor, feeling her entire body ache in combination of a hangover and guilt. In hind sight, it probably wasn't a good idea for them to argue so shortly after they had all been drinking. Sure, they tried to sober up pretty quickly, but the rock farmer was still feeling the after effects of it.
Slowly she walked over into the kitchen of her room, opening the fridge, and looking over the scattered food before deciding on a cold slice of leftover pizza. She dodged the several tubs of rocky road ice cream that laid scattered across the floor as she made her way back to the bed, laying down again as she ate the pizza with a forlorn look appearing in her eyes.
“Sleep well?” The unicorn asked and shifted beside her, sitting up and running a hoof through her mane.
“Yeah... Sorry for invading your bed, though,” Limestone commented and looked over at the neatly made bed on the other side of the room.
“Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can not blame you for wanting to be so close to her,” She grinned and stretched out, raising a foreleg up over her head, sending a line of popping down her back.
“Well, it seemed a lot better than just crying into a pillow,” Limestone shrugged and looked down at her half-eaten pizza with a sullen look appearing on her face again.
“You know that you don't have to tell me, but what did happen to you? I know you told me what happened to your sisters, but what happened to you?” Trixie raised a curious brow at the mare next to her, who simply looked over and shook her head.
“It's a long story, and I have to go see Pinkie...”
Trixie pointed towards the clock, “Visiting hours probably aren't for another few hours, so we have time.”
“I don't-”
“Don't want to talk about it? That's fine, I wasn't going to make you, but I was just asking,” Trixie offered and climbed out of bed, having her legs pop loudly from the mangled position she had slept in the night before.
“It's not that... You're one of my best friends, but I just... I need time, I guess,” Limestone sighed and took the last bite of her pizza, “It's just... Am I right to blame Octavia?”
“The Great and Powerful Trix-” Trixie paused and dropped the habitual persona, “I honestly understand why you would, but maybe she really didn't mean to... More importantly though, is she truly sorry for what had happened?”
“I honestly...” Limestone paused to think about it. What had Octavia said about it? How had she acted? She... “Oh Celestia...”
“Hm?” Trixie blinked before seeing Limestone bolt towards the door.
“I have to go!” She called out, “Thank you, Beatrix!”
Trixie watched and blinked a few times before speaking, “The Great and Confused Trixie is most certainly confused.”
~~~
Limestone pounded on the door to the hotel, only to have it opened by a stallion with a grayish silver mane and a nice silk tie, “Can I help you?”
“Is Octavia in? I need to talk to her!” Limestone half-shouted, almost in a complete panic.
“I'm sorry, but the madame is currently out at the market square; alone as per her request,” The stallion seemed a little disheartened at that fact, but Limestone only nodded eagerly.
“Thank you so much!” With that, she broke out into a full gallop towards the market.
'How could I be so blind?! The way she was acting, what she said, how she said it... Why wasn't I listening at all? Why am I always like this?!' Limestone screamed at herself inside her head, having her hooves pound the street beneath her. 'It's now or never.'
She felt an uneasiness begin to build up in her chest that almost exploded the moment she saw Octavia talking to a shop vendor. Marble and Maud were already angry at her, so she had absolutely nothing to lose this time. With a heavy clacking of her hooves, she walked up to Octavia with steeled resolve before speaking, “T-Tavi... Can we talk?”
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I just felt a bit eh... on the electro shock therapy (which should be changed to electroconvulsive therapy, seeing that Twilight is the one talking about it). Although it does seem barbaric, it is a valid therapy with very high success rates and with barely any side-effects (much less than medication, that is for sure). The effects are much more lasting than therapy with drugs as well (6-18 months). There is a certain "mystic" quality about it, seeing that we know it works but now how it works (to an extensive degree). I agree that it was barbaric at some point in time, but nowadays it is done as humanely as possible. The patient is fully anesthetized and put to sleep. It doesn't even leave the patient "calm" as in "he-just-had-a-lobotomy-calm", but "calm" as in "tranquil"; with no decrease of cognitive functions. Well, except for the short period of time in which the drugs used for anesthesia are still circulating and haven't been metabolized or excreted. Heck, it's so safe that even pregnant women can undergo sessions and sessions of it.
To quote Efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy: is it in the BDNF gene?:
Electroconvulsive therapy without consent is also an interesting article for those interested to check out. Especially the part about patient autonomy and their ability to provide consent.
This made me derp a bit. Equine sounds better.
4304108
Weird thing is that I don't even remember writing electroshock therapy in there. Like, I don't even remember writing that bit altogether, I'll have to look it over and make adjustments ^^; sorry about that.
I know electroconvulsive therapy actually has been proven to be useful, and that DiD actually wasn't really treated as DiD most of the time.
Sorry about my slip up there ^^; wish I caught that bit before putting it up, but I'll have to revise that part.
4304269
It was meant to be a derpy pun I suppose, but equine does sound better.
4304371 Don't worry; no harm done.
DiD isn't treated with ECT, though (in the past, when psychiatry was still a barbaric pseudo-science, yeah). It is mostly used on psychotic episodes and major depressive disorders (even though it is better than pharmacological treatment, is is still only used in therapy-refractory cases).
Through some mystery of logic, you've managed to end this chapter on not one, not two, but THREE cliffhangers!
What *did* happened to all of the Pie sisters? You gave this story a dark tag, and I'd like it to be more than implied, even though I hope you'll tell us eventually. What are Pinkie, her alters and Twi planning? What did Lime figure out about Tavi besides what we already know?
4304406
All of this and more on the next episode of My Little Pony!
No, in all seriousness, I should have the next chapter done soon, and it should be a doozy!
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Also, the alters are more fleshed out as time goes on, which I am hoping to do more of later; maybe even more so in like side stories an such.
I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far
That being said, I'll have to look into your fic whenever you put it up
more more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more moremore more more more more more more more
4386363 please
I'm back, I'm late, I'm commenting on everything because reasons!
Well... fuck. That hurt good. Unexpected, but good.
As for more current affairs, I'm really looking forward to what happens between Twilight and the Pinkie Crowd, and between Limestone and Octavia.