Chapter 4
It's a rather temperate day in Ponyville with a rather unnatural happening taking place at this very moment. It isn't often this little town makes requests for certain materials, given how old fashioned they are here. However, construction on some modern structures and appliances that had been confirmed by the mayor has led to the demand of various metals. As such, a regularly known steel driving train pulls into the Ponyville station for the first time. Several ponies had been waiting on standby, ready for the unloading process. The group is quick to get to work, opening up the appropriately labeled carts to gather their materials. One particular cart, with no label upon it, opens from the inside. Very few ponies take notice of this and those that do pay the small group exiting the cart no mind.
Taking in the new surroundings, the much smaller group leaving the train make their way to the pony in charge of the station, who does not even look up at them before speaking. "This is just a material train." The bored looking, green mare donning a blue uniform exposits plainly. "The train going to Manehattan will still be out for another two hours. If you can just-"
"Actually, I was hoping for directions to Carousel Boutique." The older looking stallion interrupts, earning the attention of the mare behind the glass.
The mare eyes the dirty stallion, the mare standing next to him and the young boy in her arms. Her face takes on an unsure expression, finding it hard to get a read on the group. They were very clearly poverty-stricken, but they were smiling as if they owned the world. "Uh...sure?" She leans forward a bit, reaching her arm out of the small opening in the window to point into town. "Just head down that road there until you reach Town Hall. Once you're there, you should be able to see it. It's pretty hard to miss."
"Much obliged, young lady." The stallion remarks, reaching up to tip his hat in her direction before setting off in the direction that she had pointed them.
"This is such a cozy looking town." The salmon pink mare says as they walk, her head swiveling around to take it all in. "I can see why Rusty would want to come back here."
"I can't wait to see him again!" The colt in her arms exclaims. "It feels like it’s been forever!"
"It's all just so exciting, isn't it?" Their stallion leader adds, walking with a fair amount of pep in his step. "I can't help but wonder what sort of adventure he's been on since coming here."
"I guess we'll see when we get there." With a grunt, the mare lowers her child to the ground and takes hold of his brown coated hand. "You're growing up so fast, Rod. I can't keep carrying you like that."
Rod giggles and happily walks beside his mother, hand-in-hand. "I'm gonna be as big as daddy one day."
"If you plan on being that tall, you're the one who's gonna have to start carrying me."
The stallion leading their charge comes to a stop as he chuckles at his wife's words. "Oh, don't be so modest; my dear, Scarlett. I'm sure you could carry me if you really tried."
Scarlett rolls her eyes at her husband, grinning all the while. "Whatever you say, Steel. Now, let's gets a move on. We are on a time limit after all."
"Onward!" Steel calls out to the heavens as he continues down the path. It doesn't take long to spot the Town Hall just down road. After closing the distance a fair bit, the boutique came clear into their view. As the mare at the station said, it was truly hard to miss. The fact that it actually did resemble a carousel in many aspects was fairly amusing to the group and provided a good laugh during their journey. Approaching the entrance, Steel steps forward and gives the door a few firm knocks.
"Just a moment~!" A sing-songy voice calls out from deeper within. After nearly a full minute, the door swings open, revealing a refined looking white unicorn. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where everything is shhhh-" Her eyes go wide at the sight of the dirty and disheveled family standing at her doorstep. Her eyes dart between the three of them, her brain kicking into full gear before magic envelops their hands and begins pulling them into her shop. "Oh, this simply will not do."
"You know, normal ponies might need to see two or three therapists until they find one they can relate to." Twilight begins, looking over a stack of papers on a crystal desk in one of the many rooms filling up the giant, purple eyesore. Glancing up from the papers, she looks out to the pair sitting on the other side of the desk, each in their own separate chair. "Then there's you two, who have gone through seven in the last three months."
The two creatures in question glance at each other with a shared expression before looking back to Twilight and shrugging in response.
"Shit happens." Ryan says plainly.
"It's hardly our fault that they all sucked." Rainbow chimes in, clearly on Ryan's side.
"Really?" Twilight asks with a deadpan expression. "All of them?"
"Every single one." Ryan confirms.
"The first one didn't even want to be a therapist." Rainbow adds matter-of-factly.
"I actually heard that he got a job on broadway." Ryan points out, turning his attention to Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash looks back at him with mild surprise. "No kidding?"
"Yeah, he's actually doing very well for himself." Ryan went on to explain, taking a more relaxed posture as he spoke. "I saw a few sections about him in the papers. He's surprised a HUGE number of critics. Guy's got three shows this month alone. He actually seems really happy now. Even sent a 'Thank you' message to me in one of his interviews. Said that he never could have done it if I hadn't given him the courage."
"Maybe you should be a therapist." Rainbow responds with a short laugh.
Eww. Fuck no.
Ryan goes silent for a moment, actually considering the idea for a moment. "That actually doesn't sound too bad. Hell, if I don't feel like having the commitment, I could just do motivational speaking. Lord know I have a huge list of fuck-ups to draw from."
Twilight clears her throat loudly to get their attention. "While that's all well and good, I would like to get back to the matter at hand."
"Right; the therapist thing." Ryan readjusts himself in his seat as he attempts to steer the conversation back on track. "Like Dash said, that guy just didn't even want to be there himself."
"The mare after him was just a bitch." Rainbow adds to the conversation.
"Total bitch." Ryan concurs, "I hope the power goes out in her house and she stubs her toe on every little surface trying to navigate through the blinding darkness."
"The mare after her wasn't too bad." Rainbow says, pushing the conversation onward.
"Yeah, but she was too happy."
"Like, disturbingly happy."
"For no reason!"
"There's something wrong with that mare."
"She has a collection of severed arms in a trunk somewhere in her house, I know it."
"Bucking psycho."
"Enough!" Twilight interrupts, holding her head in her palms while her fingers begin to rub circles around her temples. As much as she would like this to end, she presses on and asks them in a desperate tone, "Have you two made ANY progress with the new one?"
Rainbow and Ryan fall silent for a moment, mulling over their time with Dr. Shine.
"It's kinda...What's the word I'm looking for here?" Ryan leans forward a bit and tugs at the hairs on his chin. "Rainbow, help me out here."
While Rainbow would like to back him up, she's finding it difficult to describe as well. At least, in a way that won't upset the alicorn further. "It's not like it's going bad. She's cool and all, but it's just...Buck, this is a hard one."
Swallowing down any care he had for the situation, Ryan sits up straight and simply says what's on his mind. "It's hit or miss, honestly. Either things are going good at best or they're dragging on at the worst."
"It's not like we have a problem with her, it's just hard to discuss all this personal stuff with a total stranger." Rainbow explains, earning Ryan's support instantly.
""Exactly!" Ryan exclaims, leveling a finger in her direction as he says this. "I think it's fair to say that we are kinda dragging our feet in the sessions, but we're doing so much better outside of them by comparison."
That last part catches Twilight's attention. Upon hearing this, her ears perk up and she lifts her head to look at them proper. Her arms slowly lower down to the desk, resting in front of her as she eyes them curiously. "Would you mind elaborating?"
Rainbow and Ryan glance at each other before the pegasus speaks up. "After our first session went to...well, hell, for lack of a better term; Ryan and I opened up to each other. I think we actually had a pretty decent breakthrough."
"Really, for every therapist we've lost, we both kinda came to realize how fucked we were." Ryan backs her up, trying to help Twilight understand their situation. "After the pony would dip out we started taking time to ourselves to talk things out one on one. We haven't gone digging into more recent issues yet, but we've been sharing bits of our past and I think it's made understanding each other a lot easier."
"It's more than just understanding though." Rainbow chimes in, her attention glued to Ryan as she leans toward him from her seat. "After hearing about all the stuff with you parents, why you started drinking and how you were repressing all those feelings out of fear of them changing you; I feel like, for the first time ever, I actually know you."
I think she's starting to lose it.
The pegasus explains all of this rather emphatically, catching both Twilight and Ryan off of their guard. "Seriously! After we started ACTUALLY talking about your past, it made me feel like I've been looking at a picture of you this entire time and, for the first time ever, the picture has been tossed aside and now I'm looking at you. And it helped me realize that...Before all of that crazy stuff happened, I really didn't know you."
Ryan bites his tongue at this, lowering his head a bit as he processes her words. "None of you did." He began in a hushed tone, just loud enough for the mares to hear. "Never could show the real me, couldn't find the strength to. You never really loved me, you loved the idea of me; The me that I presented in an attempt to keep hiding away how sad, miserable and angry I was all the time."
Twilight stares at Ryan in shock, surprised by what she heard. Not even just what she heard, but how she heard it. There was feeling in his voice, true hurt and disappointment. She blinks a few times, trying to register the sudden change in character. Just as quickly as he had sunk though, he perked back up. "If I could just pull my head out of my ass, this whole process would probably be a lot easier." He continues, leaning back in his seat and acting like his usual self. "Alas, my stupid continues to hold me by the balls and drag me along for the ride."
Rainbow Dash stretches out an arm, reaching her hand out and placing it upon his. The man looks over at her, seeing her small smile. "You'll get there, don't worry." She says in a soft tone, something that's oddly out of character for her as well, Twilight notes. "You're getting better, I know it. I see it more and more every day. We just need to be patient, keep doing what we're doing and we can work on it from there."
Twilight struggles to form words at first, but manages to get her mouth working after a few seconds of nothing coming out of it. "This has been...enlightening." She couldn't even find it in her to be mad at them anymore. Clearly, they're opening up to each other, just not in the way she was expecting. However, progress is progress and if the system is working then there's really no point in changing it. "I'm actually really proud of both of you."
The couple turn their attention to the alicorn, looks of confusion etched clearly on their faces. Before they could say anything, the door to the crystal room opens, revealing little Spike, who waddles in with a small stack of scrolls in his arms.
"I got the scrolls from the library that you wanted." Spike says as he makes his way to the desk before setting down the acquired materials.
"Thanks a bunch, number one assistant." Twilight says with a smile.
"No problem, Twi." Looking over, the dragon's gaze settles on the human. "Rarity teleported a letter on our doorstep asking about you, Ryan. Said she wants you to come to the shop as soon as possible."
Ryan raises a brow at the small drake. "Did she say what for?"
"She didn't specify much." Spike answered with a shrug. "Just said that there are ponies there who wanted to see you and that they are only here for maybe another hour or so."
Shrugging himself, Ryan gets to his feet with a grunt. "I guess that's my que to leave."
"I'll grab Azure and we can head out." Rainbow says as she follows his example.
"I guess we can call it quits for today." Twilight pipes up, checking the clock on the wall. "I have a few things I need to go over anyhow. At least getting started now means that I can get to bed at a decent time."
"Fair enough." Ryan says, mostly to himself. "Let's get moving."
"He did not!" Rarity exclaims with a gasp from her position at the table, covering her mouth with one hand while the other firmly grips the handle of a nearly-full cup of tea.
"Oh, but he did." Steel counters from his seat across from the unicorn, donning his very recently cleaned and repaired, tan suit and tie. His wife, also in her recently cleaned and repaired floral dress, nodding approval. "It was an unpleasant experience, I'm sure."
Scarlett nods at this as well before speaking her part. "Oh, it was dreadful." She says with a grimace. The look quickly fades as she turns to the side to see her son playing in the distance, donning brand new denim overalls. A smile quickly works its way back onto her face as she turns to face the unicorn once more. "I'd do it a thousand times over though. If not for his actions, our son might not be here."
Steel reaches over and grabs her hand. The couple lock their fingers together and face each other, staring deeply into the other's eyes. "You were so strong, my love." His free hand moves up to stroke her cheek, which she lovingly nuzzles into. "How on Equis did I get so lucky as to have you in my life?"
"Well, it hasn't been an easy train ride." She says with a giggle, earning a chuckle from her husband in response. "But, I wouldn't have it any other way. As long as we're together, I'll be happy."
"The drama!" Rarity blurts out, causing the married couple to look at her with some amount of concern as she begins ranting to herself. "The passion! The strain of poverty weighing down on such a couple so powerfully in love!" For a moment, one could mistake the fine and refined mare known as Rarity for a crazed mare, but she could care less at the moment, the display in front of her playing out like a soap opera in her mind. "Bound to wander the world with no home, tested at every corner of life - and yet - so powerful is the pull of their hearts, even the harshest of lifestyles cannot break their bond!"
Giggling like a loon, Rarity swoons at the romantic display she had witnessed and nearly falls from her seat. "Oh, how captivating! How inspiring!" Settling herself, the mare leans with an arm on her table, letting her chin rest in the palm of her hand as she watches the two almost dreamily. "If only I could find a love as pure as what you two so genuinely possess for each other."
Steel and Scarlett can only smile at her words, finding no words for such a complimentary exposition of their life. The only thing that could really seal this day is-
"Knock knock! Is tax collector!"
Rod is the first to pipe up at this. Even with the horribly fake prussian accent, he instantly recognizes that voice and rushes for the door. He runs over to the door and yanks it open without any hesitation. "Rusty!" The colt calls out before wrapping his arms around the human's waist. "I missed you so much!"
Not this fuckin' thing again.
Ryan looks down at the colt in shock and awe, his arms shooting out and pressing against the small pony's back. "Rod..." He mutters to himself as Rainbow and Azure watch this display in confusion at either side of him. The shock on his face quickly blossoms to a full blown smile as he bends down and hoists the colt up in his arms. "Come here, you little monster!"
Do...do we have a brother?
Ryan practically spins into the house with the colt laughing in his arms all the while. "I missed you too, you little spaz!"
"WEEEEE!"
Rainbow Dash and Azure follow Ryan into the house, still locked in their confused state as they begin looking around the shop. It doesn't take long for them all, Ryan included, to spot the older couple sitting at the table with Rarity. Setting down the colt, Ryan practically charges at them, with Steel getting out of his seat just in time to catch the man in an embrace.
The stallion holds him tight, patting the human's back as they lock onto each other. "It's so good to see you again, my boy."
"It's even better to see you, old man." Ryan says with happy tears forming in his eyes. He sees Scarlett rise beside the stallion and pries himself off of Steel to share the affection with her as well. "Don't think I forgot about you, mama!"
Meanwhile, Rod walks over to the filly in the room, looking her up and down before asking, "Are you Azure?"
Azure looks over to the colt, giving him a once over while still trying to wrap her head around whatever is happening here. "Uh...yes?"
The colt nods, "I'm Rod Iron. Everypony calls me Rod." The colt joyfully explains. "I'm your Uncle!"
Come again?
"What???" There are a number of confusing thoughts going through her head, most of them pertaining to one simple question.
What the hell is going on here!?
"Ryan..." The man removes himself from the salmon colored mare, looking back at Rainbow with a smile. "I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but who are these ponies?"
Glancing around the room, he looks over everyone in the vicinity with his gaze soon resting on Azure. He has mixed feelings about what to do here, but he can't find it in him not to provide a proper explanation. It means revisiting a dark time in his life, but he takes a moment to consider how that might actually be a good thing. Steeling his nerves, he motions for everyone to sit at the table. "Allow me to share a...pretty shitty story with all of you."
The talk went as expected, but Ryan was quick to bring the mood back up after having to share details on his last suicide attempt. All it really took from him was sharing some of the details on how he, Steel and his wife began their journey together. The mood improved significantly as the stories continued on with Ryan and Steel steering most of the conversations. Azure steadily became open to the idea of having another child in the family, but simply refused to acknowledge Rod as her Uncle. That aside, she was happy to listen to her father and his illegitimate father share. The group shared laughs and overall were having a good time as Ryan went on to regale them with yet another tale of their adventures.
"You remember how that traffic guard was staring us down in Mustangia?" Ryan asks as he looks down at the seated stallion beside him.
I could have killed that prick.
Steel reels back in his seat, laughing a bit to himself. "Forget the thought! Remember how he accused you of trying to hijack one of the carts?"
"How the hell was I even supposed to do that!?" Everypony begins cackling at him as he snaps at no pony in particular. "The damn thing was like three times my size! I'm sorry you're built like a twig, but even I am not dumb enough to try and pull off something like that."
I'd have no problem putting his face under the tire though.
Ryan shakes his head a bit, doing his best to hide his annoyance as Scarlett decides to join the conversation. "I just can't believe he actually tried to arrest you. Thank Celestia that mare started screaming at him for blocking the road."
"No kidding." Ryan responds, "Otherwise, I probably would have had to crawl through the sewers to get him off of my case." More laughing follows at the end of his short story.
Or hit him with a brick.
"Would you shut the hell up!" These words leave Ryan's mouth before he can even register it had opened to begin with. The room falls silent, all eyes having found their way onto the human. He looks around awkwardly, trying to recede into himself as he makes an attempt at recovering the situation. Their stares feel like beams of light burning his skin the longer they watch him. "I-I'm sorry. That wasn't toward you guys. I was just..." Pausing, he looks for the best way to curb the topic as to not make things even weirder than they already are.
"Rusty - I mean - ...Ryan." Steel begins, earning the human's attention. The stallion's gaze causes him to shrink a bit. It's not a look he enjoys seeing, especially from Steel Hoof. The old stallion's eyes are filled with worry and even a bit of understanding as he reaches out and grabs onto the man's bicep. "Is it him again? Has he come back?"
Ryan's heart is racing his chest as everypony continues to eye him. With the exception of Rod and Azure, everypony in here is vaguely aware of his tendency to talk to 'himself', but he only ever divulge any amount of detail to Steel and Scarlett. Feeling ashamed and a bit defeated, he sees no reason to hide it any longer. If there's one thing he's learned over the last two months, it's that keeping all of these secrets is only going to come back to haunt him down the line. His frequent talks with Dash have proven to be far more beneficial than he ever could have expected. Even so, he's continued to stay quiet about this particular topic.
Letting out a sigh, Ryan lowers his head and runs a hand through his hair. "He never left." He says in a defeated tone, taking audible breaths as he does his best to regulate his breathing and keep from having a full-blown freakout. "I've just gotten worse at ignoring him."
Him? He? What?
Before anypony else could chime in to try and help him, an unexpected party voices in on the issue.
"You have one too?" Azure asks with a slight tilt of her head.
Say what-now?
Ryan's previous concerns vanish in the blink of an eye as he cranes his neck to the side. He looks down at Azure, who stands to his right side. His eyes are wide and filled with a certain amount of dread as he stares down at the filly. Words seem to escape him as the implications of what she had just said continue to fester in the forefront of his brain. As much as he wants to pry answers from the filly, his attention is drawn elsewhere as it dawns on him that this is only just now coming up.
Angling his neck to the opposite direction, Ryan's gaze rests on a rather uncomfortable looking Rainbow Dash fidgeting in her seat. "Did you know about this?"
Shifting awkwardly in her chair, Rainbow runs through every possible way that she can answer this. "It's just...it's a quirk, right? Just something she does, talking to herself. You used to do it all the time. I didn't think it was that big of a deal."
I am...confused.
That...is...hilarious!
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Twisted Brew · 58k words · 335 11 · 4.6k views
- LucidDreamer · 2.8k words · 42 3 · 1.3k views
- The Ancestor · 1.5k words · 177 9 · 2.2k views
- TheWingman · 2.4k words · 68 3 · 3.4k views
- ImNew2023 · 4.1k words · 35 3 · 738 views
- TwilightLuna · 30k words · 33 3 · 1.4k views
- Guardian Amy · 6.8k words · 61 64 · 7k views
- Phase Nexus · 31k words · 49 5 · 1.5k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.135 seconds
Total duration
664 users online
702,564 hits today, 2,167,270 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice to see that they are making progress.
Also I love that ending
Finally!
Nice
Honestly, completely forgot I was following this. Been so long I forgot what the story is even about. WELP, time to add it to the re read list lol regardless, glad to see you're back!
Finally they're going to address the fact that they literally have schizophrenia with a possible instance of disassociative identity disorder as well! Finally! As someone who suffers from a similar affliction schizophrenia mixed with bipolar I've been waiting for this to be addressed for the longest time seriously seeing this come to fruition is something that I've been waiting on.
Never thought I'd see the day that this story would come back into my "updated" list and what a sight it is! Hope all is well and stays well for ya, would love to have this continue under a timeframe that doesn't consist of 365 days 😂
11632147
Same here, bud