The Day After
Pinkie led me through the streets of Ponyville, thankfully nopony was out and about to see us. We walk in silence; no more words need to be says after the events that transpired in the library. Instead we simply lean into each other, showing our support for one another.
Soon enough we arrive at the hospital, Pinkie walks in with me right behind her. I follow as she walks up to the main desk, behind which I see nurse Red Heart. She looks up as Pinkie arrives at the counter.
"Oh, good evening Pinkie, we weren't expecting you until next week, are you feeling alright?" asks the nurse.
"I'm okay for now, but I'm more worried about Twilight,” Pinkie turned to me.
“I… I need help…” The nurse looks me over, and then glances to Pinkie. I don’t know what expression Pinkie was conveying, but the surprise in the nurse’s eyes is quite obvious and I can't help but shrink down a bit. I don't know much about her, the only other time I met her was when Applejack accidentally poisoned half of Ponyville.
"I see, I'm sorry to hear that Miss Sparkle, but we will do everything we can to make you comfortable. Right now what we're going to do is get you a guard escort to the mental ward in the back of the hospital, where you will be speaking to a board of doctors and psychologists to help decide the best course of action, okay?"
I can't help but panic slightly, a guard escort? Are they going to put me in a strait jacket and toss me in a padded cell? These thoughts and more flash through my mind, but before I can ask a single question, my escort arrives.
"Evening, Miss Sparkle. Please, walk this way." The guard says. I was expecting at least two. I look back at Pinkie and she nods her head encouragingly. I'm reluctant, but I manage to turn and flow the guard.
The Ponyville hospital is quite small, but the tunnel we enter implies that it's a much larger building. "Just how big is the hospital?" I ask the guard nervously.
"Not very big as far as hospitals go. It's mostly a few different buildings connected by these tunnels." I raise an eyebrow, I wasn't actually expecting a response. Might as well see if he would answer my other questions.
"I thought I was going to be drug off in a strait jacket." I say with a nervous laugh. The guard shakes his head.
"No, we only do that if the pony is a danger to themselves or others."
"What about a padded room?" I ask, feeling more and more comfortable with the situation.
"Maybe if you ask nicely," the guard says with a chuckle, "but I think that's up to the board members to decide. I don't know, I just make sure everyone behaves." I nod in understanding, and then we walk through a large set of double doors that leads into another hospital building.
I follow my guard as he leads me around a number of twisting corridors. Eventually we arrive at another desk; behind it is a short brown stallion with a brain behind a magnifying lens as a cutie mark. He looks up at me as I come near.
"Ah, Miss Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you." He says. "I am Doctor Mind Bend."
"E-evening, doctor." Oh Celestia, I have never been so nervous.
"No need to be nervous, tonight we just need to get a basic survey and your vitals checked out. Tomorrow the board will get together and we'll have a little chat. Come with me, please."
He leads me away from the desk and down the hall to the right. We enter a small examination room. Inside is various medical equipment, while the walls are lined with various medical pictures.
"Please wait here a moment while I grab some scrubs for you, please remove all personal items and place them in the bin here." He says as he leaves me alone in the room.
I have nothing on me to remove, so I spend the time looking at the various pictures on the wall. One was of an unborn foal still in the uterus, I find myself fascinated and entranced, the image both disturbing and intriguing; I jump in fright as I hear the door opening. I spin around to see Doctor Mind Bend return with some bright green cloths.
"Nothing to remove I see," he notes as he sees the empty tray, "anyway, if you could just put these on for me." He hands me the bundle and I take it in my telekinesis. I unfolded the cloth and discovered it was a pair of sweat pants and a shirt. A moment later I'm sitting on the examination table wearing my new wardrobe.
"Now, I just need you to answer some questions for me." He says as he holds up a clipboard in his fore hooves. Attached to the clipboard is a lot of paperwork. "Now, are you on any narcotics?"
"No."
"Are you taking any prescription medications?"
"No."
I sit there and answer the numerous questions to the best of my ability for three hours before he places the pen and pile of paperwork on the desk with a yawn.
I can't help but yawn as well. "Well Miss Sparkle, it seems we both need to catch some Z's. One of the nurses should have a room prepared. Oh before I forget, normally we only notify immediate family members, but we can make an exception and let the Princess know where you are, we might even allow her to visit you if you want."
That gave me a lot to think about, should I tell the princess? How could I tell her that it was her fault I feel this way? Is it even her fault in the first place, or is it something I don't know about yet? Regardless, I don't want her up all night worried about me nor do I want to see her just yet. "I think I'll wait until I feel like I can talk to her myself."
"That's okay, patient privacy states we can't tell anyone anything without your consent, unless of course the situation requires it." He says. There's a knock on the door and a nurse comes in.
"Sir, we have room four prepared for miss Sparkle."
"Ah good, you're just in time. Miss Sparkle, if you would follow nurse Cure to your room and then get as much rest as you can, tomorrow is going to be a busy day." Doctor Bend says to me.
I nod and follow the nurse to my room. It's more spacious than I thought it would be; it had a single bed with its own bathroom and separate sink. I pull back the sheet and the thin blanket and lay down.
"This is our suicide watch room, as of now we will monitor you at all times through this viewing crystal," she says as she pointed out a large gem fastened to the corner of the ceiling. "We will have to leave the door open at all times, if you need to use the bathroom one is down the hall a few meters, this one is to remain locked. If you need anything press this button here," she pointed out a red button on the wall, easily within reaching distance. "Good night, Miss Sparkle. We will have breakfast ready for you in the morning."
And with that I'm left to my own thoughts. I lay there staring up at the ceiling, everything that happened that last day was playing through my head again and again. I don't know when I fell asleep but I find myself suddenly blinded as the magical lights flashed on.
"Good morning, Miss Sparkle, I trust you slept well?" asks a nurse I didn't recognize. I can only groan in response. "Well it's time for breakfast, it's 7:45 in the morning and the board is supposed to meet at 9:00."
I grunt as I pull myself out of the bed. The nurse leaves me alone for the moment as I head out in search of the bathroom, on the way the same nurse stops me and hands me a tiny mane comb, tooth brush, toothpaste, and a tiny coat brush. I take the items in my magic and go about my morning routine as best I could with the provided supplies.
Once I finished, I met the nurse out in the hall where I am led to a room with a few tables and chairs set up. I notice that I’m not the only patient to grace the halls. Dining with me is an elderly stallion and another mare about my age. The stallion lost all the color in his fur and seemed content to simply stare at the table, while the mare was a yellow Pegasus with a red-orange mane. I want to introduce myself and see if I can at least make a friend or two, but I remember that these are troubled ponies too. I don’t want to say anything that might upset them, so I choose to remain silent and let them make the first move.
We sat in silence for a few moments as the nurse handed out trays with a bit of food on them. Now, when I say a bit, I don’t mean less than I usually eat, I mean barely enough to feed a rabbit. I look down at my single egg and half a slice of toast. I raise an eyebrow and decide to break the tension I could feel between us.
“Well, at least I didn’t come here for the food.” I smile as I get a chuckle out of one of my fellow… hmm. I don’t know what we are, fellow patients? That seems appropriate.
After the stellar meal, my… fellows… and I are lead to what looks like a waiting room. There are a number of cushions, a couch, and a table. Next to the door I see a number of magazines, but I divert my gaze. Reading anything is the last thing I want to do. Instead I settle for lying down and resting my eyes until that board meeting. Or at least I try to.
“That breakfast was bullshit!” the mare I was with suddenly yells, making me bolt upright in fear. “Sorry, I have anger issues, and that breakfast shit is really pissing me off.” Well, at least she apologized.
“It’s okay, but yeah, I know what you mean. If anything that just made me even hungrier.” I say, voicing my thoughts.
“You’re telling me. So, what are you in for? You don’t seem like the overly angry type.” Great, she’s very tactful in assessing other ponies’ feelings.
“I, um, almost did something bad; I don’t want to talk about it.” Not with you anyway.
“Oh, I see. Hopefully this place will do more for you than what they could do for that guy.” She says, pointing a hoof at the elderly stallion. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice, “I overheard from the nurses, he’s the only survivor of a dragon attack on his village and he’s messed up pretty bad. Most of the time he just sits there silently, but when he does talk he thinks he’s talking to someone from his village. I hear he’s been floating around from hospital to hospital ever since the attack about twenty years ago.”
“Oh, Celestia…” is all I can say. His problems outweigh mine by a huge amount, yet here I am feeling sorry for myself when this one stallion has suffered so much. But wait, I wouldn’t be here in the first place if I didn’t have a problem, so in the end I guess it doesn’t matter how big or small our problems are compared to others, what does matter is how our problems affect us.
“Yeah, you said it.” She says. She turned and left me in the waiting room with the stallion. I found it odd that she never gave me her name, but then again I never asked nor offered my own name. I shrug and try to lie back down again. The key word here being ‘try.’
The creepy stallion suddenly turns his head and locks eyes with me. He seems to stare into my very soul for what feels like hours before he breaks into a wide grin. “Good evening! What brings a fine lass such as yourself this far east?”
“I, um…” Seriously, what am I supposed to do in a situation like this? Medical books were never a part of my studies!
“Trade huh? Well, be careful out there after nightfall, wolves and monsters are out there.” He says, and then he simply turns back around and resumes staring at the wall.
I have no idea what to do, is he still talking to me? Would he find me being rude? I need to make sure he doesn’t think we’re still talking before I lie down. “So, what’s this about monsters?” I figure starting on something he left off with would be the best decision. Instead I’m met with silence. I am totally freaked out.
I move to the far end of the waiting room to put some distance between us. I look around and find a plush cushion that looks perfect. As I prepare to rest, the nurse from before pokes her head inside the room.
“Miss Sparkle? The board is ready to see you know.” I silently curse to myself as I turn and follow her back to the room where I ate ‘breakfast.’ There I see a number of doctors and a few younger ponies that were clearly students, as well as Princess Luna.
“Luna? What are you doing here?” I ask, completely bewildered.
“Our sister was told of your incident through your brother, Captain Armor. She wanted to come to you immediately but it was explained to her that you had no wish for her to visit. To say she was heartbroken would be an understatement.” She says, leveling a stern gaze at me. “So, I came to find out just what is going through your mind to make you turn away from my sister in such a way, and chose to sit in on this board with you. That is, if you feel comfortable with me being here.”
“Actually, I could use a friend to talk to right about now.” I say as I take a seat across from Luna.
“Alright then, tell us a bit about what happened last night.” One of the doctors says as he levitates up a pen and some paper to write notes on. I take a deep breath and begin to speak about everything. I tell Luna and the doctors everything I felt and why I came to such a decision.
As I finished, I noticed that Luna was slightly paler than when I started. “I see,” she says, “Twilight, I’m sorry, really I am, but this is something you need to tell my sister as soon as you can. I’ll try to tell her that there was indeed a very good reason you didn’t wish to see her.” Luna says before she got up to leave. “Also, Pinkie and the rest of your friends are waiting for you outside of the hospital, Pinkie told them where you were at, but didn’t mention any details.”
I stand too and give Luna a hug, “Thanks Luna, that was a lot to get off of my chest.” I say as she returns the hug.
“I must go now Twilight, please be patient and listen to the doctors.” She says as she leaves through the double doors. I turn back around to face the board members.
“Well Miss Sparkle, we have decided that you are to attend therapy at least once a week with Doctor Blue Box. We understand that Miss Pie described her current situation to you and so we decided to schedule your meetings around the same time. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get you cleared to go home.” The Doctor says, everypony at the table began filing away their things as the nurse led me back to the waiting room once more.
I see the creepy stallion is exactly where I left him, and the mare appears to be back. Oh wait, the nurse is talking to her, and there they go, off to parts unknown. Once again I find myself bored, and this time I was actually able to lie down.
I must have fallen asleep, because I’m being lightly shaken by the nurse. “Miss Twilight,” she says when I’m aware of my surroundings, “Your release papers have been finalized and you are free to go whenever you’re ready.”
Oh joy, I get to go out and face my friends. Just the mere thought suddenly brings back that feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. But this time it’s different, I acknowledge the pain, and I choose to push through it. I will confront my friends and I will face their reactions head on to the best of my ability.
I walk down the hall to the right, past the cafeteria/meeting hall, through three sets of double doors and out into the sun. Off to the right of the road leading back into Ponyville sit my friends on a blanket having a picnic. Pinkie is the first to notice me. She gets up, slowly walks over to me, and gives me a hug.
“It’s okay, Twilight, we’re all here for you.” She says.
I hug her back as hard as I can, my eyes beginning to water. “Thanks, Pinkie. For everything.”
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but everything will get better, I Pinkie Promise.” She says, and then steps back to go through the motions of the promise. “Now come on, we saved you a spot.” She leads me to the picnic and I sit between her and Fluttershy.
“Are… are you alright Twilight?” Fluttershy asks tentatively, “Pinkie told us you were in the hospital but wouldn’t tell us anything, we were so worried.”
“I-I’m sorry everypony, I’ve just been under so much stress my entire life… I just… I…” I break off into soft sobs as Fluttershy takes me into a soft embrace.
“Thanks,” I say after a few moments, wiping my eyes, “Thanks everypony.”
“So what’s the big deal that landed you in the hospital of all places? You were fine yesterday and you look fine now.” Rainbow blurts out, ruining the moment. “What?” She asks looking around in confusion.
Pinkie turns to me, “It’s okay, Twilight. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but talking about it really does help.”
“I know,” I look at the ponies gathered around me, “You all have a right to know, and it not your fault…” I told them everything I could, my thoughts, feelings, the pressure to succeed, and how I wanted it to end. They looked at me, shocked, appalled, and furious as I finished my tale.
“What the hay, Twilight! You just can’t go and leave us like that! Besides, it’s just studying, it’s not like preparing for a competition or anything! All you do is read books all day, how hard could that be?” Rainbow Dash yells. To say I was upset at her reaction would be putting it mildly. Fortunatly for me, Pinkie jumped to me defense.
“Rainbow Dash!” She yells, stomping up to Rainbow, “Don’t you DARE say ANYTHING like that!” Rainbow shrank down before the terrifying glare Pinkie was giving her, “How could you be so cruel? Just because the circumstances are different from yours doesn’t mean they aren’t-!” Pinkie gasps and holds a hoof to her mouth, and Dash recoils as though physically struck.
“Dashie, I’m sor-” But Dash shook her head, taking off into the sky towards her cloud house. As she does, I swear I felt a rain drop, but there were no clouds overhead. Perhaps, Pinkie and I aren’t the only ones with a story to tell.
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Certainly didn't expect more chapters
Small thing though, dragged is the past tense of drag, rather than drug
Anyways, Onwards and upwards~
I really enjoyed this story, it's fairly well written and does its job to evoke an emotional response. The ending with Dash not understanding despite going through something similar was a very nice touch, given the way Twilight went through something similar toward herself with the old pony in the hospital.
My only gripe is, and maybe this is a case of Real life is unrealistic but, the whole thing feels very fast in the second chapter. The first did a really good job of showing how the stress had been building over time and reaching a breaking point, but the turnaround over the course of one day feels a little too sudden.
All though the second ending was very powerful because of Applejacks response, I'm not sure why the multiple endings were necessary.
Beat part is they never put a magic blocker on twilight, so at literally any point she could just teleport out of the hospital and there would be fuck all anyone could do about it