Friendship is Failure #24- Twilight in Therapy

by DakariKingMykan

Act 3: Overworked

ACT THREE

The next day, Twilight had shown up for her first session. She had been asked to remain in Canterlot for a week at Cy’s request.

“Like I said, things like these cannot be solved in one simple session. It might take quite a few sittings for me to really get to the bottom of the matter.”

This in respect, all the other ponies were transported back home by Celestia, and she offered to put Twilight up in the palace during her stay.

Twilight was still frustrated and insistent that she didn’t need any of this, but she made no effort to argue, not having come this far.

She was now sitting on the sofa in Cy’s office, which was very quiet, and not too much sunlight shone through the windows. There were even quiet nature sounds playing on a record.

Cy explained, “I like all my patients to be as comfortable as I can. It helps to keep their minds clear, and we can communicate better.”

“How wonderful.” Twilight snidely remarked.

Cy adjusted his glasses. “Now, now, Twilight. Let’s start by taking a nice, deep break in… come on, now.”

Twilight shrugged but did as she was told.

“Slowly in through the nostrils…” instructed Cy “…And slowly out through the mouth. Ahhh…”

Twilight did feel a bit lighter and calmer.

“Good….” Said cy. “I want you to remember; I’m not here to chastise you in any way, but I’m here to understand you, to get to the root of your problems.”

Twilight was about to protest again, but she was cut off when Cy held up his hoof, “Now, now… it’ll be alright.

We’re perfectly alone here. I’ve even cast a spell of silence on the walls.”

The walls in the office gave small shimmers showing that magic was in effect.

“No one, absolutely no one can hear us. Whatever transpires in this room stays in this room, between us.”

Twilight was still uncertain.

Cy levitated his pad and quill, “Now, let’s begin, and I’ll start by asking you the big question.

…Twilight, what would you say your problem is? Why do you feel that you are here today?”

Twilight shut her eyes tight trying to find her words.

“Don’t struggle…” said Cy “Just take your time; nice and easy-- whatever you think is on your mind.”

“Well…” Twilight said, “I’d have to say my problem is how others look at me and misjudge me.

I’m such a kind and caring creature. I’m always trying to think about others and how they would feel.”

Cy wrote down everything on his pad, never missing a word of it. Then he asked, “Can you give me some examples of how caring you are?”

Twilight looked deep in her mind, “Well, I’m always willing to lend a helping hoof, like the time I organized a picnic and went to pick up the cupcakes.”

In a Flashback to the day of “Lesson Zero”

Twilight noticed the cupcakes all had inequal amounts of icing on their tops.

“I don't want anypony to feel like somepony else is getting more icing.”

Resulting in her overly smoothening out the icing until only a tiny drop was left on each cupcake.

“There, much better.”

“And then there was the “Winter Wrap up,”

She tried to help her friends with the annual clean up to prepare for spring, only to wind up make numerous mistakes in her attempts…

-Making messy birds’ nests in contrast to Rarity’s beautifully crafted ones.

-Trying to help Pinkie Pie score ice, only to be a lousy skater…

-Then there was helping Applejack with snow clearing, which ended in disaster as she had forgotten the Ponvyille tradition to not use magic.

“I… I just wanted to help.” Twilight said, trying not to tear up, “In the end, I did manage to get all the groups together in harmony and work together to help the wrap up.”

“Mm-hmm.” said Cy. “Well, at least it shows your heart was in the right place.”

“Of course, it does,” replied Twilight. “That’s all I ever do, is give, and give, and I try, and I try.”

“Tell me more...”

Twilight was about to think of something else, when she snapped upright and asked, “Wait, what does all this have to do with anything? I thought we were here to discover my problems?”

Cy raised his hoof, “Uh, uh, uh, Twilight… try to keep hold of yourself. There’s no need for outrage. I’m just asking questions, and I need to understand everything.

It’s like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. If I don’t have all the pieces, I will never have the complete picture. Even the slightest missing details can be important.

Now, let’s take another deep breath, come on.”

Twilight did as she was told, and she relaxed back on the sofa.

“There we are… now, tell me more about how giving you are? What do you feel is the greatest gift you have to offer?”

Twilight smiled, “That’s easy… the greatest gift I have is friendship.

I try my best to get along with every pony and every other creature out there. I wouldn’t even be Princess of Friendship today if not for all the love and warmth I give.”

She couldn’t stop thinking of all the joyful times she had with her friends…

All the social events, all their projects, mission, working together to save Equestria from all the evil forces, and even working to start the School of Friendship to continue to spread all the love and joy they felt.

She even remembered one of her favorite songs. “Best Friends until the end of Time.”

Cy couldn’t help but smile and remark, “That’s very beautiful.”

Twilight couldn’t help but detect a note of slight cynicism in his voice. “…Is there something wrong with that?”

“Oh, no… there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Good, and healthy friendships are wonderful… but tell me…” he paused “All this time with your friends, and all the work you do on top of it--all the organizing, planning, adventures-- does any of this make you feel overworked?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is… you seem to have quite a workload-- a lot of schedules, chores, plans, and yet you somehow also make time to do other things as well such as extra circular activity or lending a helping hoof.

Don’t you think that’s rather excessive for one pony?”

Twilight began to feel as if he insulted her. “I’m a busy pony. I have a lot to do, I have many responsibilities, just like Celestia does. She works all day, and she manages to do everything she can.

If she can do it, so can I.”

“Hmmmmm…” Cy said as he looked over his notes.

“Hmmmmm… what?” asked Twilight.

“Just thinking… but… do you feel you have something to prove with all this work? Does it bring you joy, or comfort?”

Now Twilight was confused and hesitated as she tried to find answers. “Of course, I do… feel joy I mean. I feel proud that I can do all this. I’m just a multiple-trick pony with a Can-Do attitude.

I mean, I do get tired sometimes, and I end up making a few mistakes, but my heart is still in the right place.”

Cy agreed, “That’s right, it is, and that’s good… but…”

“But what…?”

“…Do you ever notice how sometimes, some of your escapades don’t work out so well?”

Twilight cringed, fearing this was coming.

“You did tell me that you made many mistakes during Winter Wrap Up, and that is a great expectation when someone has a load on their mind.

They try to do too much at once, or keep everything so balanced and scheduled, that it can lead to mistakes or misfortune in certain areas.”

Now, Twilight felt her insides growing cold with fear and anxiety, which Cy did notice by her sweating and biting her lower lip.

Twilight could not deny she had made a great deal of mistakes in her past…

-Fearing tardiness of not sending Celestia a Friendship Letter, resulting in her trying to create a friendship problem to solve, which nearly ended in extreme disaster…

-Trying to make perfection for the Canterlot Games commissioner, and accidently entertaining the wrong pony…

-Freeing the six pony pillars, and accidently unleashing the Pony of Shadows

-Wanting a vacation with her family “Once upon a Zeplin” to be perfect, but got side-tracked helping all the passengers with problems, causing her to miss out on things…

-Struggling to maintain her School of Friendship so Counciler Neighsayer wouldn’t shut it down…

…Just to name a few.

Twilight was shivering on the sofa. “I guess… maybe… I am a bit overworked.”

Cy agreed. “Glad to see you admit that. It’s a good start…”

Twilight sat upright again, “I can’t help it! There’s just so much that needs doing! There’s a lot out there that needs to be addressed! I can’t just sit by and not do anything. If I don’t do it, who will?”

Cy held up his hoof and told her, “Deep Breath…!”

Twilight hesitated, as if she had forgotten how to do so, but she managed, and she relaxed, but remained upright.

“It’s just that… so many depend on me. They expect me to do lots of things. Even I expect good results every now and then.

I can’t just change who I am like that.”

Cy spoke calmly to her, like a wise master. “No one is asking you to change who you are. What I’m asking of you is to take a moment and think clearly, and this is something I’ll be asking you a lot through our sessions.”

He got up and walked over to the window shade. The way the light and shade bathed his body in different areas, and the way he was going off with his words, you would think he was some sort of deep and profound storyteller.

“Life is a series of obstacles. It is never a question of “Can” they managed, but rather “How” and “When.” You do you very best to pace yourself and keep your schedules exactly to the point so that nothing will fly apart.”

Twilight nodded. “Some of us just have more to manage than others.”

Cy agreed, “Yes… sometimes they can come all at once, but you can’t conquer them all at once. Trying to do so, only leads to error and misjudgment, as well as stress and anxiety.”

Twilight hung her head low in thought.

Cy walked back to her, and he picked up his pad full of notes. “From what I’ve established so far, you have many good intentions, but you also have very much on your mind to go with it, and your struggles and anxieties to keep things perfect shows the possibilities of a scatterbrain.”

“Scatterbrain? Me?!” Twilight spat in disbelief.

Cy nodded, “Like I said before, you have good intentions, and that’s wonderful. It shows that you’re willing to help when and where you can, and you just want to be a good friend….

But…

…Consider the mistakes you made, and other mistakes that can be made. Good intentions may be all wonderful, but if nothing good comes from them, do those intentions really hold any merit?”

This was something Twilight had never thought of before, or rather she had forgotten and was realizing it all over again.

Suddenly, there was a soft sound of a bird whistling in one long note over the record, and then the nature sounds had ceased as the magic record had reached its end after one hour.

“I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for this session today.” said Cy. “But at least we’ve made a small breakthrough.”

Twilight got up from the sofa, but she was still in a bit of a daze, having come to grips with her flaw of being overworked.

“I’m not cured yet… am I?” she had to ask.

“Of course, not.” replied Cy. “We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of your problems.

As much as I’d like to continue working with you, I have other patients to see, and I can’t give special treatment, not even to you, but our schedule is already dealt with, and your appointments are given to you.

We will have more to talk about at your session tomorrow.

In the meantime, try to take a few moments to relax occasionally, and put all your workloads to the side.”

With that, Twilight left the clinic peacefully, and on her way out, she felt very different than she had at the start of the day.

She came in feeling all frustrated and in denial, but after the things Cy said, and the way he said them, she said to herself, “He’s good… No wonder Celestia recommended him.”

As for Cy, though he was pleased Twilight had made her start, he was very concerned as he went over his notes again.

He thought to himself, “Being overworked is hard enough, but I think I know what really troubles her. Unless she realizes and admits it, she’ll never be able to get better.

I just hope she has the emotional strength to accept it.”