Wool of Magic

by Zeprto678

The Test of Honesty

The psychiatrist pony was confused. “What’s going on? Where am I, and where is everypony?” she wondered aloud.

Gentle Hope looked around to see that she had found herself in some lit-up hallway corridor. The walls were white, the floors were laminated and had a checkerboard pattern, and there were doors as far as the eye can see. They all looked the same and didn’t have any numbers on them.

The psychiatrist pony felt unnerved. “Hello?!” she called out. Her voice echoed through the hallway.

The psychiatrist pony looked behind herself to see that there was only a wall. Not only that, but there was a message painted on the wall in big, black letters that said, ‘Honesty is the best policy’. That’s the phrase that the Gentle Hope would tell her patients sometimes only when necessary.

The psychiatrist pony felt even more unnerved. She decided to call out for the others. “Banana Pie! Melon!” Gentle Hope called out. “Solight! Cinna! Jasper!”

There was no response at all, just the psychiatrist pony’s own echoes.

She became worried. “I hope everypony’s okay,” said Gentle Hope. The psychiatrist pony looked at the doors. “Maybe I should try a door? One of these will eventually lead me out of here and back to the others.”

She trotted over to the nearest doors to see if it would open. Gentle Hope twisted the knob, but it wouldn’t turn.

“Locked. I guess I better try another one,” said the psychiatrist pony.

Gentle Hope went over to another door, but it was the same as the other door.

“This one’s locked too. I have the feeling that some of these are locked, and some of the others are unlocked,” she observed. “I guess I should try out each of them until I find the right one.”

The psychiatrist pony then started trotting down the hallway, trying out each door, but each one was locked.

She sighed. “Maybe this one will open?” said Gentle Hope, hopeful.

The psychiatrist pony started turning the knob, which kept on turning in Gentle Hope’s hoof.

She smiled as she had found an unlocked door, but then as soon as Gentle Hope started pulling the door, the psychiatrist pony’s smile dropped into a frown as the door wasn’t budging.

She decided to knock at the door, seeing if anyone was behind it. “Hello? Is anypony there?” the psychiatrist pony called out. There was no response. “If anypony’s there, can you please help me open the door? I have friends that I need to get to urgently.”

There was still no response, letting Gentle Hope know that no one was there.

“I guess I better add ‘unlocked doors that won’t budge’ to the list,” observed the psychiatrist pony. She looked ahead at the hallway full of countless doors. Gentle Hope then had a face of determination and hopefulness. “I won’t give up. My friends are counting on me. I need to meet up with them and get out of here.”

---

A Few Minutes Later

Gentle Hope had checked each of the doors but couldn’t find the right door. She even called out to see if there was anyone behind any of the unlocked doors, but just like the first unlocked door, there was no response. Eventually, the psychiatrist pony had decided to stop checking them and just continue down the hallway, knowing that all the doors she was passing by weren’t the right ones.

“I hope I can find a way out of here and get to my friends,” said Gentle Hope, still hopeful.

The psychiatrist pony was starting to get tired from all the trotting she was doing.

“This hallway has to end soon eventually. It can’t go on forever,” thought Gentle Hope.

After walking for a little while longer, she sat down onto the floor, tired.

“Maybe a little break is necessary before I continue on,” said the psychiatrist pony. “I wonder how much progress I made after I started?” Gentle Hope turned around to look behind herself, and then became shocked.

Right behind the psychiatrist pony was the wall itself from the beginning, except the message was gone. Instead, there was a door that looked familiar to her and even had a plaque that said, ‘Dr. Hope’.

“Wait a minute. This is the door to my office,” Gentle Hope realized. “What’s it doing here, and has it been here the whole time, following without me noticing?”

The psychiatrist pony decided to try and open it. Unfortunately, much like nearly every other door in this place, it wasn’t budging.

“It’s locked,” said Gentle Hope.

“Well, you need to knock first,” said a familiar voice.

That surprised the psychiatrist pony, who looked around trying to find out where the voice came from. After searching around, and saw that there was no one around, she returned back to the door.

“Guess I was hearing things,” said Gentle Hope.

“No, you weren’t,” said the voice with a feminine tone.

She was surprised again, and the psychiatrist pony was able to figure out that the voice was coming from behind the door.

“Hello? Is anypony in there?” asked Gentle Hope.

“Yeah. It’s just me though, which is kind of boring as I haven’t talked to anyone in quite a while,” they answered in a bored tone. “By the way, you need to knock first if you want to get in. It’s just proper manners when visiting someone’s place of business or office.”

That made the psychiatrist pony raise an eyebrow. “But this is my office,” said Gentle Hope, confused.

“Still, you should be polite and knock. Go ahead and give it a try,” remarked the voice.

She sighed. Gentle Hope decided to try out what the mysterious being behind the door suggested. “Okay. Here goes nothing,” thought the psychiatrist pony.

KNOCK!!! KNOCK!!! KNOCK!!!

The next thing Gentle Hope knew, she wasn’t in the hallway anymore, and instead was inside of her own office.

“It worked,” said the psychiatrist pony.

“Of course, it worked,” the same voice remarked.

Gentle Hope looked in the direction of the voice, and was shocked. Sitting in her chair was herself.

The look-alike smiled. “After all, I am you,” said Clone Gentle Hope.

Gentle Hope couldn’t respond as she was shocked to see herself.

The look-alike pointed at the seat. “Have a seat. It’s time you had an appointment with yourself,” the clone said louder.

That had snapped Gentle Hope out of her shock. “A-About what?” asked the psychiatrist pony, confused.

Clone Gentle Hope smiled. “Well, about yourself. It’s time you started being honest with me, which is technically being honest about yourself,” she answered. “Now, come on. We have a session to start.”

Hearing that, Gentle Hope looked at the couch, and then back at her look-alike, before looking back at the couch once again. After a few seconds, the psychiatrist pony trotted over to the couch and sat down.

“So, where should we start?” asked Gentle Hope, wondering.

“Well, we'll be talking about the one thing you’ve never talked about with other ponies,” answered Clone Gentle Hope.

The psychiatrist pony gasped, knowing what she was talking about. “You mean…?” asked Gentle Hope.

The look-alike nodded. “Yes. Your parents’ death,” she confirmed. “It’s time to rip the band-aid off, no matter how painful it’d be, and I know you agree with me.”

The psychiatrist pony knew that Clone Gentle Hope was right. It’s been weighing down on her mind for years. It was time Gentle Hope told somepony.

She breathed in, and then breathed out. “Okay. I’m ready,” said Gentle Hope. “As you know since you’re me, my father’s name is Golden Hope, and my mother’s name is Sweet Hope.”

The look-alike nodded.

The psychiatrist pony smiled while chuckling happily. “The two were loving parents who loved me with all of their hearts. For years, I grew up with a loving family in a lovely home, which was a pretty great place to live in I have to admit,” she said.

The happy smile on Gentle Hope’s face started to change into a frown as she then started to remember the day of the first incident.

“Calm yourself down, Gentle Hope. Breathe in and out,” advised Clone Gentle Hope, sympathetically.

The psychiatrist pony nodded. Gentle Hope started breathing in and out in order to calm herself down. After a while, Gentle Hope was calm.

“Better?” asked the look-alike, concerned.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m calm now. Thanks,” said the psychiatrist pony. “One day, when I was 15, my father, who was a Botanist, went out to the Everfree to study some of the plants there, promising me and my mother that he’d return. We said our goodbyes to him, and then he left. None of us knew that that would be the last time we ever saw him alive. A month passed by since he left, and that got us worried.” Gentle Hope shifted in place, gradually becoming more uncomfortable. “Even if he’s immersed in his work for long periods of time, he would never be gone this long, and even if he was, he’d send us a word. So, we decided to ask some ponies to go find and check up on him for us, and so they went searching for him, but…” Her voice started to crack, and her eyes began to swell. “After a while, they returned but he was dead from an injury related to a Timberwolf attack. It seemed that dad got away from the Timberwolf that attacked him and had hid somewhere safe and set himself up to take a nap, but he ended up dying in his sleep from the injury itself.” Her words were strained through her attempts to not cry and keep herself as comprehensible as possible. “We held a funeral for him soon after.” Tears started to appear in Gentle Hope’s eyes. “Sometimes, I still think that if maybe me and my mother had stopped him from going, maybe he would still be alive and here with us.”

Clone Gentle Hope levitated a box of tissues over to the psychiatrist pony, who used magic to take a sheet.

“Thanks,” said Gentle Hope.

After wiping away her eyes clear of tears, the psychiatrist pony levitated the tissue into the trash can.

Gentle Hope cleared her throat. “Now, as for my mother. I was 17, the day it happened,” continued the psychiatrist pony. “I was in my room, studying to become a therapist, when suddenly, I heard a thud. Worried about my mom, I left my room and galloped all the way over to the room to find her having a stroke. There was nothing I could do. Even if I had rushed her to the hospital, she would’ve died along the way. So, in my mother’s last moments, I stayed by her side, comforting her.”

A box of tissues was now floating in front of Gentle Hope’s face in the look-alike’s magic as more tears had started to come out from the psychiatrist pony’s eyes. She used some more tissues this time.

“After we held a funeral for her, I moved out of my parents’ house. My friend, Sunny Spirit let me live with them and their family,” continued Gentle Hope. “After I had earned enough bits from my job as a psychiatrist, I moved out of my friend's house and into the house I currently live in. I then decided to keep this whole thing bottled up inside me by not telling anypony about my parents’ deaths…”

The psychiatrist pony looked up at Clone Gentle Hope, realizing.

“But I guess I should’ve been more honest with myself and started talking with other ponies about it. Like with my friends, who’d be there for me with an open ear no matter what,” continued Gentle Hope. A smile started to appear on her face as the psychiatrist pony felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Clone Gentle Hope nodded, confirming. “Which is exactly what you’ll be doing after this whole fiasco with Nightmare Moon is over, and you can help your friends with the Element of Honesty,” said the look-alike, pointing with a hoof.

Suddenly, it felt like there was a small weight around Gentle Hope’s neck. She looked down to see what it was, and then the psychiatrist pony’s eyes widened.

Gentle Hope reached at it, touching the necklace lightly.

“You like it? It’s the Element of Honesty,” Clone Gentle Hope informed. “You obtained it after passing the ‘Test of Honesty’.”

The psychiatrist pony became surprised. “The Test of Honesty?” she repeated.

The look-alike nodded. “Like its name, it’s a test about honesty. By being honest with me about your parents’ deaths, you became honest with yourself at the same time, allowing you to pass, and feel much better than before,” she informed.

Gentle Hope smiled. “She’s right. I do feel so much better now,” thought the psychiatrist pony.

“Now, you can go help your friends with dealing with Nightmare Moon,” said Clone Gentle Hope

As soon as her look-alike mentioned Nightmare Moon, Gentle Hope became curious about something.

The psychiatrist pony frowned. “This has been bothering me ever since I first arrived here, but why did Jasper do this? I mean, first he says that he’s going to go fight Nightmare Moon himself, and then he teleports all of us away, separating everyone from each other,” she said.

Clone Gentle Hope smiled. “Well, while we’re waiting for your friends to come and get you, how about we talk about that and any other issues you’re dealing with? What do you say?” asked the look-alike.

Gentle Hope thought about it before nodding. It did sound quite good to her to get some issues out of the way. The two then started having a chat with each other.

Author's Note:

a-kissforchu thought up the Test of Honesty. They were also the ones who made the drawing of Gentle Hope with their Element of Honesty.

I thought "who better to be Gentle Hope's psychiatrist for the test than herself?", so I made a clone be her psychiatrist.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter.

Comments are welcome.

Comments

[sundrawnshadow]

Honesty hehe It's good writing no flaws I can pick out also love that the proofreader's username is literally Psychopath love seeing that at the end no problems intended but it the contrast from the chapter then seeing the name is like whoa . anyway keep up the good work both of you

[Zeprto678]

11567077
Aww. Thanks!

[sundrawnshadow]

to note is it even worth calling MC a hybrid anymore maybe it's just me but when a "species" establishes itself and its "niche" it has a claim to being something new. Given the MC seems to have helped multiple AU's maybe his species deserves a name most animals on earth that are at the top would fail to do that once humans are included let alone multiple times and he did it alone #GiveJasperARace