The Stallion in the Library

by leonidas701

First Appointment

“Okay, ma’am if you would just sign here, here, here, initial here, and stamp here,” the delivery mare said to Trixie. After Trixie had done so, the delivery mare stepped away, leaving only the long, wide, brown package at the door to the Card Psychiatric Offices.

I wonder what’s inside? Card didn’t mention a delivery today. Trixie thought as she dragged the package over to her desk. Then again, he also forgot to tell me about the paper shipment, my desk arriving, and the pizza delivery yesterday. Trixie rolled her eyes. I’ll just have to give it to him when he’s done. After putting the heavy box against the wall, Trixie went behind her desk and got back to doing the work she had been in the middle of before the delivery came.

Trixie had been working for Card as his secretary for a full two weeks now, and she had to admit that it was one of her better jobs. The workload, if a bit large, was fairly simple, made all the easier by her talent for focusing on multiple things at once. Certainly it gave her a lot of free time, and Card was nice enough to give her a lot of leeway to listen to music and read on the job so long as she finished all of her work by a certain time, and followed the three rules: Always be polite to the patients, always refer to him as Dr. Card in front of them, and always treat everypony who comes in for a meeting that you see on the street as though you have no idea they had ever been here.

Overall it wasn’t a bad job, and the apartment that she had been able to get thanks to Applejack’s haggling was very nice for what she was paying monthly. Speaking of Applejack, she really helped Trixie recover from that bad first impression, to the point that she was able to call Rarity and Rainbow Dash, if not friends, then at least not enemies. That, along with the friendship she was able to strike up with Twilight over their studies of magic, went a long way towards making the little village feel more like a home to her. Certainly more than the lonely wagon had been.

Okay, thats all of the papers for that patient filed, now then who’s the next one he’s seeing? Trixie went through the list of patients coming in today. Silver Spoon has already been here today, Roseluck has already visited, Colgate- she’s here right now, then up next is... Pinkie Pie? Trixie recognized the name of the bubbly pink mare who occasionally hung out with her and Applejack. She hasn’t been here before. Why would she be coming here? She seems pretty mentally sound, if a touch quirky. Weird, looks like her appointment was the first one ever scheduled. I wonder why it took her this long to come in? Trixie shook her head, deciding that it’s none of her business. Anyways, Card’s current session should be ending right around-

“Okay Ms. Colgate, I hope that you’ll be able to take my advice to heart,” Card said as he walked out of his meeting room with the light-blue unicorn he was meeting with.

Ah, speak of the devil.

“Yes, thank you for listening Mr. Card,” the mare said.

“Thank you for being willing to talk.” Card made a motion towards Trixie. “My secretary will help you set up your next appointment. Trixie,” he called.

“Yes Dr.-” the mare -Colgate- flinched at hearing the word, “Card, I’ll get to work on that right away.” Trixie turned her attention away from the files and towards Colgate. “Now then, when would you like your appointment to be?”

“In the afternoon would be nice...”

“Okay, the next opening is-”

While Trixie was setting up the appointment, Card fidgeted around the reception area, thinking about how he would tell her about the raise he was going to give her. While his eyes were wandering, he noticed the package that was leaning against the wall. After hearing Trixie wrap up the scheduling, and seeing Colgate leave he went over to her desk.

“Trixie,” he said, “We’ve certainly had a lot of business haven’t we?”

“Yes,” she agreed, “We can thank Applejack and her friends for making all those recommendations to the ponies they knew were going through rough patches.”

“Yeah, they were definitely a big help, and so have you.”

“Hmm?”

“You remember what I said about giving you a raise after two weeks?”

“Yes, yes I do.” Trixie was getting noticeably excited.

“Well I decided to bump up your salary from 20 bits an hour up to 27.” Card smiled.

“That’s so generous.” Trixie was beaming, “Thank you!”

“Yeah, I’m awesome.” Card got a smug little smirk. “Now, I can do this in two ways. Either I give you those seven extra bits each day, or I take your full salary and put it towards paying off the advance I gave you, so instead of paying it off in two more weeks with a little bit of extra spending money, you pay it off in about eight days and then get paid in full. Which will it be?” He asked.

“I guess...” Trixie thought for a little bit. “I guess I would rather pay it off quicker. I still have a good bit of that advance left, I can get by for another few days.”

“Ok, excellent!” Card turned his attention to the box. “Quick question: How many more patients do I have today?”

“Just the one,” Trixie said as she flipped through the files. I could really use a computer. she thought. Out loud she said, “Pinkie Pie actually, but I don’t remember ever arranging an appointment for her.”

“Ah,” Card said as he opened up the box, “Yeah, I actually set that one up on my own.” Card let out a whoop as he finished opening the package. “Yes! The pool table’s finally here!”

“The what?” Trixie asked, confused.

“The pool table. You know, billiards?” Card explained, then pantomimed the action of striking a cue ball. “Pew, Pew?”

“I know what a pool table is, I was asking what we need one here for.” Trixie took her turn to clarify.

“Well we need it because it’s honestly a lot easier to get a grasp on somebody if you have an opportunity to see them focused. Not to mention that ponies feel more comfortable playing around then just sitting and talking to someone who they barely know.”

“Yeah, and that’s all you got it for,” Trixie said skeptically.

“You know me too well,” Card sighed, but with a grin. “I also just really like to play pool, and I didn’t feel like bringing one over from my house. This way we have something to do when it’s all slow.” Card then started to drag the box inside his office. “Now come on, help me set it up, then you can knock off early.”

“Okay Card, whatever you say.” As she walked in, Trixie was already thinking about what she and Twilight would talk about today.

-----Hey I’m back from my Vaca dudes. Now then, let’s jet ahead to after they were done setting up the table.-----

“Okay, so: cues?” Card listed off

“Put together.” Trixie responded.

“Balls?”

“Set up and ready to break.”

“Chalk?”

“Placed.”

“And the table is in the perfect place to not hinder me if anyone just wants to talk. Perfect.” Card was satisfied. “Ok, Trixie you can leave now.”

“Are you sure?” Trixie asked as she was already heading towards the door.

“You know I am.”

“Yeah, that’s why I knew there was no harm in asking.”

Card gave a short laugh. “Bye Trixie, I’ll meet up with you and Twinkly at Thousand- Golden- Honey nut-... The library. I’ll see you at the library in about an hour.

“Okay, see you then.” Trixie waved goodbye and then was out the door towards her friends house.

After Trixie left, Card spent a few minutes going through his appointments for tomorrow, staving off his boredom, until there came a knock at the door.

“Finally.” he muttered under his breath as he opened it.

“Hello Mr. Card,” said a nervous Pinkie Pie.

“Please don’t call me Mr. Card,” Card said as turned around to show her to his office. “I can’t be that much older than you.”

“Really?” Pinkie said as she bounced into his office. “How old are you?”

“How old are you?” Card countered.

“I’m 21!” Pinkie said with all the enthusiasm of a four year old holding up her fingers.

“Huh, interesting.” Card stopped walking and got into his big comfy chair. “I’m 23. Now then, let’s get over to business. First question, why didn’t your parents come with you? I thought they didn’t trust me,” Card asked.

“My p- parents?” Pinkie had become nervous again.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Card clarified.

“They’re not my parents,” Pinkie said quietly as she looked everywhere but at Card. Card noticed this bizarre behavior and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s those eyes. They keep on showing up in my dreams ever since you yelled at me,” Pinkie meekly said.

“Well I won’t able to do much of anything if you’re too nervous to look at me Pie.” Card thought for a minute and then made a motion like he was trying to snap fingers he didn’t have. “Wait here,” he told Pinkie as he went over to his desk and started to rummage through the bottom drawers. “Aha!” he went as he emerged from behind the desk now wearing this,

And this.

...Needless to say, Pinkie was no longer nervous. In related news, Card was feeling somewhat self-conscious, probably due to the mare rolling around on his floor laughing at him.

“A-hem.” Card cleared his throat and made an attempt to salvage his dignity. “So I take it that you’re no longer nervous?”

“Yes. *tee-hee* I feel much better now.”

“Great. Now if you don’t mind Pie, could you please answer a few questions before we start?”

“Okie dokie lokie!” she said as she bounced around the rather spacious office.

“Okay, first question,” Card said as he looked at his clipboard. “What is your full name?”

“Pinkamena Diane Pie!”

“Nice name,” Card tossed out offhandedly. “Question number the next: Where do you currently live?”

“At SugarCube Corner!” *Boing, Boing, Boing*

“Okay... Question number the final: Do you know how to play pool?” Card asked as he looked up from his pad.

“I love to play in the pool! Especially when I have toys, and it’s hot, and I’ve been able to fill it up with whipped cream, except this one time I ran out of my supply so I had to take some of Mr. Cake’s whipped cream that he keeps in his and Mrs. Cake’s room that’s surprisingly full what with-”

“No, no, no.” Card cut her off, shaking his head. “I meant the game with balls and sticks that you play on the table over there.” Card rose a hoof to point out the brand new table in question, with the balls already prepped and the cues leaned up against it.

“OHHH!!!” Pinkie went as realization dawned in her eyes. “No I don’t. Is it fun?!”

“Well I think so.” Card went over to the table and threw a cue to Pinkie. “Do you want to play? I can explain the rules as we go along.” His answer came in the form of nearly being knocked over by a bouncing Pinkie Pie.

“I love to try new games!” she flounced. Flounced? Flounced.

Card let out a sigh and and muttered, “You are going to make some future boyfriend very happy.”

“What was that?!” Pinkie turned back to face him.

“Nothing!” Card got a stricken expression. Crap, that was supposed to be in italics!

After recomposing himself, Card explained the rules of pool to Pinkie and started to ask her questions while they played.

“So if the Cake’s aren’t your parents, then where are they?” Card said as he lined up his shot to take the 6-ball into the corner pocket.

“They’re still living on the rock farm!” Pinkie managed to still be exuberant despite her intense concentration.

“Oh? You grew up on a quarry?” Card asked, having decided to forgo his easy shot in favor of cutting her off.

“Yeppers!”

“So, why did you decide to leave?” As soon as the question left Card’s lips, he could almost feel the temperature drop a degree, Celsius not Fahrenheit, and saw the face-splitting grin drop off of his patients face.Picking up on Pinkie’s discomfort he sighed and went over to her side. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it yet, you don’t have to. I can understand if you feel uncomfortable telling someone who’s almost a complete stranger your life story.” He put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. Almost immediately the smile returned to her face and she took her shot, pushing her 12-ball closer to a pocket. Satisfied, Card went back around the table to sink; first the 3-ball, and then the 5-ball, meaning he now had two balls left to Pinkie’s five.

“Wow!” Pinkie said. “I didn’t even notice those were open!”

“Yeah, I figured,” Card said distractedly, as he missed his next shot, putting the cue ball right in the perfect position for Pinkie to get the 12-ball in. “Damn!”

“Yay!” Pinkie cheered. “My turn again!” Pinkie took and made the easy shot, but accidently sent the cue ball after it.

“And that’s what we call a scratch,” Card said. “It means that now I can take the cue ball and put it anywhere I want on the table. Good thing too, we’re almost out of time and I should wrap this up.” With that said, Card switched pushing the cue to his dominant hoof. “8-ball, side pocket.”

“Wait,” went a confused Pinkie, “I thought you said that you could only hit the black ball in after you took out all your other ones.”

“Yeah. I did.” Card put the cue ball down, and lined up his shot. He fired the cue ball off towards the 6, bouncing it into the corner pocket and ricocheting the cue ball into the 8 which went straight into the side pocket.

“And that’s game,” he said with a satisfied smile. “Now then, before you leave I would like to give you a little assignment.

“Okie dokie lokie!”

“I would like you to, before our next meeting, figure out one thing about each of your friends that you don’t like about them,” Card said.

“What? Why?” the confused Pinkie asked. “I like everything about my friends.”

“If you like everything about someone, then you don’t know them well enough,” Card explained. “Really knowing someone, being their friend, is about seeing all their bad parts and liking them in spite of it. Besides, you seem to have a problem with focusing so much on one aspect of something that you ignore all it’s other parts.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we were playing pool, you didn’t notice that I had two shots perfectly lined up. You could have easily pushed one, or even both, out of the way, but instead you focused on getting the 12-ball closer to a place you could knock it in from. Your ignorance cost you the game.”

“By doing this,” he went on, “You’re forced to pay attention to something you would usually ignore, along with getting a deeper understanding of your friends.”

Pinkie, still a bit confused, said, “O- okay. I guess. But-” Pinkie got a concerned look on her face.

“But what?”

“What if I don’t like what I learn,” Pinkie said in a very small voice, head tilled low. “What if I can’t keep on liking them. What then?” Pinkie almost seemed ready to cry. Card pushed her chin up and gave her a comforting smile.

“Look,” he said encouragingly, “I understand why you’re worried, but trust me. I’m sure that you’re a good enough judge of character to not have picked up any bad ponies as friends. Besides, if you like them as much as you seem to, then I’m sure that nothing you could learn would change that.”

Pinkie seemed to take a little comfort in his words, and agreed to the task. After scheduling an appointment for two weeks from now, Pinkie left.

After making sure that everything was in order: the files were in place, the pool balls were all racked up, etc. etc., he closed up the office and went over towards Twilight’s library, looking forward to unwinding with his closest friends in Ponyville.

Author's Note:

I am never letting Aoc go to California again.

Sorry for the wait, and I know that this chapter isn't nearly good enough to make it worthwhile, but I got hit pretty hard with the stomach flu.

Next chapter we cover the sleepover, and Boy! Have I been looking forward to this.

Comments

[-Brutus]

I like that advice he gave Pinkie.

[Ziper Ace]

Ok know I’m curious on how well he will deal with Discord