Act 3: Private Counseling
ACT THREE
Cadance wrote a letter to Shining Armor saying her trip home would be delayed due to being needed for a mission. Her husband wrote showing his support and understanding.
“Just don’t stay away too long… I’ll miss you more than I want to.” the writing teased.
Cadance and Twilight laughed at the response.
The very first thing they decided to do was mix up a potion.
They mixed all the different ingredients together in the castle lab, while every pony else had gone to sleep, and Sun had gone home.
Spike stayed up to help, but he was starting to grow weary. “I thought you said a Love Potion was out of the question?” he asked.
Twilight corrected him, “This isn’t a Love Potion, it’s a Soothing Fragrance.”
Cadance then added, “I use this on my subjects all the time when they come to me with love problems.
Talking about love, or heartbreak can be very stressful on the subject. It can lead to emotion outbursts, arguing, or maybe even worse things depending on the severity of their sanity.”
Spike let out a yawn, having only half understood them. “Could you run that by me again.”
Twilight sighed and was blunt. “This potion will help keep Strings cool, calm, and collected when we talk to him about this; he won’t fly off into any emotional outbursts, or shout, or things like that.”
“The problem with this potion is it needs eight to ten hours to set so all the ingredients mix properly.” said Cadance. “That’s we’re going to let it set overnight.”
The potion was nearly ready, and it already had a sweet fragrance to it.
“Just one last ingredient, a pinch of Deodorizer Liquid, to help reduce the strength of the scent. We don’t want it to smell too strongly now.”
She went over to the shelf of mixtures but found no red rose fragrance in stock.
“Spike, didn’t you restock the shelves?”
Spike let out a yawn, “Well excuse me for getting sidetracked with helping you organize the concert and this friendship problem at the same time.”
Twilight didn’t bother to argue. She knew there was more in the big stock closet, at the back of the room where all the extra supplies were kept.
As soon as she opened the door and looked at the shelf on her right, she immediately found a large jar of colorless, odorless liquid she needed and clearly labeled with a No-Nose marking on it.
Twilight levitated the Deodorizer up and turned to exit, only to accidentally step on a stick from a toppled over broom, causing her to slip and crash into the shelf.
Many jars fell from the higher shelves and hit her in the head, causing her to drop the jar of deodorizer, and its stopper popped out.
As Twilight scrambled to get a hold of herself, she didn’t notice that from the top shelf, a tiny vial of dark liquid had broken loose from the crash. It toppled to the edge, its stopper had popped out, causing black liquid to pour from it-- of all the places-- right through the jar of Deodorizer where it and its odor dissolved into it.
“Twilight! Are you alright?” asked Cadance.
“I’m fine! I’m okay.” Twilight groaned as she rubbed her aching head.
Thankfully, none of the jars had broken, much to Spike’s relief. “Good thing I told you to change to plastic.” he chuckled, but Twilight was not amused.
She levitated all the other jars back to their places on the shelf, took the jar of Deodorizer-- unaware of what just happened-- and with just a simple spoonful of the formula, Cadance declared, “That should do it.”
Twilight agreed, “We just have to let it set.”
“Great,” yawned Spike as he headed for the door, “We can go to bed now.”
The princesses chuckled and headed off themselves.
The next morning, Strings woke up in his hotel suite at the Ponvyville Arms.
He felt calm and well-rested despite his depression last night. It was amazing what a good night’s sleep could do.
He got out of bed and made his way to the window. He pulled the curtains open letting the warm rays of the sunlight shine on his face, like the music of a beautiful sonata ringing in his head.
Suddenly, his mood was soured as he looked down into the streets. He could see many ponies walking off to work; some of which were happy and romantic couples. The females walked with their heads resting against the male flattering the guy.
Strings saw another stallion giving flowers to his lady love…
He even saw another stallion proposing marriage, to which the mare jumped for joy.
Seeing all this made him think of his dream pony even more and nearly gave him a migraine.
He sat down on his bed, clutching his head and took several slow and deep breaths, calming himself.
“I’ve got to live with this.” he said sadly to himself.
He ordered room service to bring him breakfast-- sending a letter through a mail tube in his room, so he wouldn’t have to run the risk of going out in public and getting rushed by crowds when he needed some alone time.
With time to spare, he closed the curtains, darkening the room, placed pillows from his bed on the floor, sat on them and quietly began to meditate, which helped him to relax his mind.
He felt his misery seeping away again.
Soon, there was a knock at his door. “Room Service.” called a female voice.
Strings politely opened the door and let the housekeeper pony wheel the cart in.
“Thank you,” Strings said offer the pony a few bits.
The pony bowed graciously and left.
Strings sat down on the bed and prepared to lift the tray to his food. His breakfast sure looked tasty, but as he prepared to take a bite.
“Hello, Strings.” called a voice frightening him, and making him knock the tray cover to the floor.
“Ow!”
“Ouch!” two voices bellowed.
Strings then recognized the voices, and he looked down inside the lid. There were two unusual carvings on the side of the inside of the steel representing Twilight and Cadance.
“Have I gone crazy?” he wondered, and then to his horror, the carvings came to life as the moved around, and in a bright glow, the two princesses appeared before him.
“Oh, no!” he groaned, especially at the sight of Cadance.
“Hello, Strings.” Cadance said, but with a stricter tone than a friendly one.
Strings kept his voice down, and demanded to know, “What are you two doing here? I gave orders at this hotel that I was not to have visitors!”
“We know.” replied Twilight. “When the front desk wouldn’t let us see you, I just used my spell to sneak us both in here.”
Royalty or not, Strings would not tolerate this harassment, and reached for an emergency red button that would sound an alarm to security, but Twilight used her magic to jam it, much to his outrage.
“We need to talk.” Twilight said to him, and she then cast a barrier on the door and the windows of the room.
Strings saw he was totally trapped, and he was about ready to really give the ladies a piece of his mind, but he struggled and cringed-- suppressing the rage down deep in him.
“Calm! Calm! Calm…!” he kept muttering to himself, and then he let out a deep sigh.
Cadance then levitated the Calming Potion up, with a sprayer attached to it. “Here… I want you to inhale this first.”
Recognizing a harmless calming potion, and wanting not to blow his top, Strings agreed, and he let Cadance spray him and he inhaled the fumes.
The potion took almost no time at all to take effect in him. “Wow. I’ve never felt so calm and quiet before.”
He barely spoke in more than a neutral tone, and he looked and felt as calm as a lamb, as if nothing around him mattered.
“Strings…” Twilight said. “Sun Rae came to me last night, and she told us of your love problems.”
Were it not for the potion, Strings would have leapt up in a fit. “She told you?! She promised she wouldn’t tell any pony!”
Cadance quickly told him, “She didn’t tell us who.”
Inside, Strings felt such relief, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable with his present-- talking to the princesses about his problems. The potion kept him easy.
Twilight also pulled up a long list of Strings’ gigs which she had gotten from town hall. “It says here your next gig isn’t for another two weeks.”
Strings looked down, and Cadance was disappointed in him. “Why did you lie to us?” not that she nor Twilight didn’t figure already.
Strings came clean. “I just wanted to be alone-- really alone. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You could have told us you were having troubles.” suggested Twilight. “We would have been happy to try and help you.”
Cadance nodded, but Strings shook his head. “I’m afraid no one can help, especially not the two of you.”
He felt like bursting out in anger and sadness, but the potion held him down, and even if it didn’t, he wasn’t sure if he would. “Sun Rae had no right to go to you two about this.”
“Oh, yes she did.” protested Cadance. “She’s very worried about you, and so am I.”
Hearing her say that almost made his insides feel like glowing, but the potion…!
They all talked about Sun, and it hurt Strings, inside, to speak his words. “I know Sun has feelings for me, I always have known.”
The ladies were surprised.
“…But it’s no use. I don’t share her feelings. She was a wonderful friend to me, but I cannot return her feelings for I don’t feel the same way, not even deep down.”
He looked up at Cadance, “You taught us yourself; “Love is not something that you can just try and make happen. If the feelings do not exist, that’s it. You can’t just force them.”
Cadance nodded almost shamefully, but she could not deny a truth she had known for years.
There was no way to make Strings fall in love with someone he had no feelings for.
Twilight then cleared her throat, “We understand all that, but we’re still concerned about you, Strings. From what we’ve heard, you don’t seem very happy, and you’ve been drowning yourself over some pony whom you can’t be with.”
It was a good thing the potion was still holding, or Strings would have seriously collapsed in a fit of grief, but he stayed calm and quiet.
Cadance then asked him, “Can you tell us who she is?”
Strings refused, stating, “I wish for no one to know who she is. She, herself, must never know. It will cause too much scrutiny, embarrassment, and discomfort.
I don’t want that for her. She is happily married, and leads a good life, I wish her no harm or any sense of displeasure.”
The ladies thought that was very noble of him, wanting to protect whoever she was, but they could not approve of how Strings was handling things.
“And don’t tell me to let go…” Strings said to them. “I’ve tried, but I can’t.
I even sought therapy-- I saw three different psychologists. Each of them only came to the same conclusion.”
“I cannot help you if you’re not willing to help yourself. I’m afraid you have no other choice but to live with your struggles-- roll with them as they come and go.
I can only suggest that you try and distract yourself with activities and other safe methods to maintain yourself.”
He further explained how sometimes he hung out at bars and drank cider, but not to the point of intoxication, and he would meditate or spend time thinking up new songs.
“I am not suicidal, I assure you that, but this is my problem. It is a decision that only I can make, and no one else will make for me.”
The ladies couldn’t argue with this. Their concerns were now running deeper than ever, but at this stage, and given what they were told, they no longer could push themselves on him like this.
Twilight uncast the spells in the room, and she and Cadance showed themselves out, via magically teleporting out of the room and onto the roof to avoid being seen by the hotel staff.
“We’re going to have to keep a close eye on him.” suggested Cadance.
Twilight agreed, “He claims that he can control his emotions his own way, but it’s not always wise to self-medicate.
It’s just a way of avoiding facing reality, and it can still lead to trouble.”
Cadance felt her stomach give a small turn. She still considered Strings a friend, despite his recent attitude and revelations, and she wished nothing bad to ever happen to him.
Down below in Strings room, he finally managed to sit down for his breakfast.
…But he was starting to feel a little strange.
He felt rather weary and tired. At first, he figured maybe it was due to his waiting so long to eat. Then again, the calming effects of the potion had worn off on him, and he was beginning to feel all his sadness and misery returning to him from just seeing Twilight and Cadance, as well as facing his woes.
“What’s happening?!” he groaned. He could suddenly feel the room spinning, and his vision was fading.
Inside of him, his heart was beating rapidly as it was shrouded in a black essence-- due to the unseen extra ingredient that was added to the Calming Potion!
Finally, Strings collapsed flat on the floor, and he blacked out.
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Man they aren't the best people in this fic huh.
11799626
Well, you know Twilight. When she sets her mind on a Friendship Mission, she never will rest until she gets some closure (And this is the most merciful I've ever portrayed her)