A Two Pony Trick

by BubblesOnMyButt

Diagnosis

"Dawn, I would like you to tell me about yourself. Who are you, where did you come from?" The doctor's eyes shifted from left to right as he took in the detail of both sides of the pony sitting in front of him. Dawn rolled his eye and began, "You see when one mental process and another mental process love each other very much...". "Dawn, please. I need to know the truth.", said the doctor midway through Dawn's sarcasm. "Sorry doc, but you aren't going to get the truth out of him.", Dusk explained. Dawn turned their head sharply to Dusk's side, "I said I was going to protect you and that was what I was doing." Their head turned once again, "And I said that you wouldn't hurt anypony and you agreed." The doctor sighed once again, this was the fourth time they had broken out into an argument since their session began. He turned back in his seat and began to dig for information from Morning. "What was it that started the first shift?" Morning thought back, "It started when I asked him what he meant when he said everypony laughed at him. He wouldn't answer so I had to get stern, after that he changed." "Seems like you may have scared him. Let's try something new, you may not like it though..."

Dusk and Dawn were still fighting when Morning cut in. "Dusk Orion Star! You stop that fighting right now!" Morning had never yelled on purpose before and she didn't like it. "Now you listen to me young colt! Tell this nice stallion what is going on and you better do so in detail!" Her face contorted in anger yet in her mind she was whispering her apologies to Dusk. 'I am so sorry Dusk, please forgive me...'

Dawn perked up and took a defensive stance. Morning stood her ground but the quivered on the inside, she did not know how far Dawn would actually go if he got angry. For a moment Dusk found himself trapped. Beginning to remember what he tried hard to forget shook him up emotionally and Dawn felt his grip on the body loosen. Dawn made an offensive push, "Hey, back off! He is trying to forget it lady!" Pen ran across paper and the doctor took careful notice as the side housing Dusk began to shake in fear and begin to drift off. He was beginning to disconnect, he was weakening. "Thank you Morning, that will be all." Morning changed her face once again but this time it was to worry. "Oh, Dusk I am so sorry..." The doctor put the pen to the side of his head and began to tap rhythmically while he drifted deep in thought. 'What if it was more than just simply getting in trouble or being yelled at?'

A piece of paper was placed in front of both front hooves and each was given a pencil. Their straightjacket was undone on the promise that there would be no fighting for the next little while. Dawn could see that the paper was a sort of test, a very intense one at that. The print on it was incredibly small and packed in tightly, every so often there was a space for an answer but other than that it was filled top to bottom. He flipped the page and discovered it was front to back as well. Dawn blurted out with aggravation, "Wait, what the hay is this?" Dusk turned the head, "It's a test, stupid." Dusk stared at the sheet closely, "Oh, right." The doctor primed his timer, "You may begin now."

Dawn looked at the left hoof in front of him, "Crap, I'm right-hooved..." Dusk ignored it and began writing shakily. Sadly for him, he was left-hooved. One pencil began to move furiously while the other was at a more average pace. The doctor waited with great patience as he waited for one of them to come across the special questions he had placed into the test. The test was a modified IQ test where some questions from a psych evaluation test were added at evenly spaced intervals. If all turned out well he would see Dusk falter at those questions and begin to drift off as he had before.

Dusk was moving at a high speed, even with writing using the wrong hoof. Finally the doctor got the results he waited for; Dusk suddenly stopped on one question and filled it in roughly before moving on. Dusk was maintaining a high speed even after the sudden stop, but now he was slower than before. After numerous stops he was writing slower than Dawn was and Dawn was still getting used to writing with a left hoof. Dusk started to lose steam before finally seeming to disappear. Dawn looked back at the limp side of his body before it began to animate once again.

"Sweet! I have control again!" His smile beamed with these words before a hint of dark intent took place. Suddenly he fell backward into his seat and lurched forward again. "Hey Dawn, you dropped your guard."
'Dang it Dusk...'

"Don't worry. I have control again." The doctor gathered the tests and began to look them over. "Good, good. Why don't you go get some rest, I have some business to discuss with your mother." Dusk stood up and began to stumble but was able to maintain his stability as he began the balancing act to his bed. He was getting used to the "Shifting Sickness" as he liked to call it, but it didn't mean he necessarily liked it.

"So what did you find out?", said Morning with a curious worry. The doctor was quick to reply, "Dusk seems to be showing what looks like a personality disorder but it is not like one I have witnessed before, Dusk is fully aware of Dawn and visa versa. Most patients aren't even aware there is a second, so the fact that they go as far as to have conversations means that it is highly unlikely that multi-personality is his problem. As for the tests... Morning your son is an absolute genius. He cleared half of these without a single mistake in the time it takes me to complete the full test. He really is incredible, you should be proud of him." Morning blushed slightly, she was used to receiving on both her and her son's account but she was always modest about it. "As for Dawn, he is a complete idiot. But he does show extremely high levels in the questions dealing in emotion and persuasion so be careful around him. It is possible he could get you to believe in anything he wants if the opportunity arises." The cautionary advice was cold and rigid to make sure there would be no misinterpretation on the subject.

As the doctor walked out of the home he stopped to pass some last minute information that had slipped his mind somehow. "Morning, before I forget, Dusk doesn't just fade away with bad memories. Any form of built up stress or sudden shock will do the trick, try to ease him into situations gently." Morning took note of the words in hope that they would help everypony pass through the ordeal. "Wait, if this isn't multi-personality what is it? Are you sure this will work doctor?"

...

He started to turn back, "To be honest... I have no idea...", and with a grin he was off.

Comments

[Thedever]

Yea Yea...
lovin' this story moar everyday.

Kudos to you, sir..

[BubblesOnMyButt]

71805 Thank you kindly fellow brony, sorry if the quality hasn't been all that great, I'm trying to guide the story to the ending while still keeping it interesting and not having it follow a boring, grey, run of the mill road.

[Thedever]

71823
so i assume that there aren;'t gonna be many more chapters correct?

[lilinuyasha]

"was still getying used to..." <---?

Also, last chapter, make sure you know the difference between your and you're.

[lilinuyasha]

Oh, and I like the story so far. Definitely an interesting read!

[Primordial Deomontus]

this is good,very good.

[Meta Knight]

♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪

[BubblesOnMyButt]

71805 There will be more but I'm trying to guide things so that when the last chapter becomes the end-all everypony doesn't say "but in chapter blank you said this..."

[BubblesOnMyButt]

71931 thanks for heads up

[Sonicbrony66]

Trackin.