Madness

by Mochas Dungeon

Assignments

A rapping on the door to his apartment woke him from his fitful sleep. His career had taken a toll on him, damage to his mind that he could never get rid of or escape. The life of a psychiatrist in what seemed like a utopia was not what it seemed.

“I’m coming,” he shouted from his bed in his room that was not far enough from the front door.

He rolled out of bed, still dressed in his shirt and tie from two days prior, the blanket stuck to his legs as he stumbled from his bed, and walked to the door as the rapping happened again, shaking the parchment thin walls slightly.

He bit the handle and pulled, then grumbled to himself. He unlocked the door and opened it, looking blankly at the soldier that stood before him.

“Doctor Epic Start?”

“Doctor Star, now. They won’t fix my paperwork, what?”

“Whatever, here,” the soldier said tossing a small box into the apartment before huffing and walking away to the right. Doctor Star peeked out to watch the soldier walk down the hallway. The hallway was barely wide enough for him to fit with his armor on and Doctor Star felt a spark of rage in his chest as he lamented his living conditions, which he quelled, again, before returning his head to his apartment.

However, it worked for his job as a psychiatrist for the ministry, a job that had him travel across the land, sometimes beyond for weeks at a time. He returned to his small and quiet apartment and closed the door, locking it, before turning to the box. Simple, brown, and wrapped in brown paper made from enchanted Moldiwood trees. A higher quality product the government could afford. He sighed and nosed it beside the large spool he used as a table.

He bit the paper open and looked at the box.

“Classified; Property of The Equestria Ministry of Families, Foals, and Mental Health. Opening this box is a breach of Royal Confidentiality Decree 3, sub sections 2, 5, and 11. Punishable by up to a 5,000 bit fine and two weeks hard labor in the quarries and/or mines.”

“Such a kind world,” he said dryly as he finished reading the warning before pulling a string hidden under the work “Confidentiality” and opening the box’s top.

Five files were lined vertically, all with a red strip on the bottom indicating severe crimes.

“Fantastic, just what I love, psychotics, rapists, murders, and innocents that are lost in the system by the wealthy to keep them out of the way. Political fodder at its finest. Maybe two this time? Let’s see.”

He moved the files to the spool and read the names and crimes listed.

“Lilli: Sexual Assault, Theft, and Murder.”

“Toffee Brulé: Suicidal Tendencies.”

“Light Blood: Attempted Parenticide.”

“Crystal Shine: Torture and Dismemberment.”

“Night Wing: Murder by Gravity.”

“Well, here we go,” he said as he sat and began to read the files in detail.

Finishing an hour later he closed the last file and placed it in the stack he’d made, got up, and went back to his bed, grabbed his blanket in his teeth, climbed in, and went back to sleep for the rest of the day.

---

Doctor Star disembarked the train at Manehattan terminal wearing a fresh suit and saddle bags, a small suitcase in his teeth that was locked contained his paperwork as he took in the bustle of the city around him. With practiced indifference he joined the herd, as he called it, and trotted in pace with the others to the main streets.

He waited in line for a taxi and cursed to himself at the facts before him.

We’re all still a herd, just bigger now. We still openly use slave labor, but call it a job. We hide the insane or those that hold a political risk in mental asylums for years, and none of these ponies has any idea.

He got in the taxi, a pony pulled carriage. “Broadhoof Mental Asylum, please.”

“Eh, ya sure buddy? Ya don’t look crazy,” the puller asked mirthfully.

“I’m a doctor.”

“Oh, well. good on ya for that,” the puller said as he entered a quick trot into the street, “I could stand ta be around those crazies; screamin’ about whatever all day and night.”

You do, you just don’t realize it. Maybe you’re one of them.

“I had a cousin who knew a guy…” the puller continued as Doctor zoned out.

---

Comments

[IMNOTHERE889]

Interesting... I want to read moar.

[TwilightAppleDash]

This is a good introduction to the story. Your portrayal of your character as a cynical and weary Doctor is detailed and apt. All in all, great start to this story. I look forward to the next chapter.