Forced Visits

[[I hope it's okay to start my own thread here? If not, then just PM me, and I'll delete it.]]

Lightning Wing's eyes widened as she stepped into the waiting room, one of the Canterlot trainers behind her. It was beautiful in here! just her style! She jumped onto one of the beanbags, stamping upon it. It was so soft! So close to a cloud! She snuggled in, her wings flapping lightly.

The trainer waited near the door. They'd finally decided to bring the filly here because, well, she wasn't a filly anymore. She was an adult, 20 years old. But she still had the playful, unattainable attention of a child, no matter what they did. The ponies in Cloudsdale still had to treat her as if she was a filly in training. Scheduled bedtimes, food times, and trips. She couldn't fend for herself, because every time they tried to teach her, she fell into her child-like ponysona.

So they had decided, together, to bring her here. They'd pay her fees, and needed to make sure that Dr. Clear Mind knew that Lightning was not to know that she was being treated. If she did, they were afraid she'd fall into the same realm that she entered with them, and gain nothing.

Clear hummed to herself, stapling a few papers together and throwing them into her file cabinet, closing it with a click after making sure she had filed Percy Diamond's report in the correct folder. After all, he was her top priority at the moment... but, then again, everypony was top priority according to the therapist.

She stuck her head out of her office door, to make sure nopony was waiting, but there they were, a rather large group for her standards. Surprised, she fell over, only to right herself immediately and brush off her shining coat.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized, trotting out to greet her guests. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, and I sincerely hope you weren't sitting here for long."

She grinned at the mare lying in her cushions, chuckling a little.

"That was my reaction when I saw them at the sofa store."

She stuck out her hoof to the closest mare, smiling warmly and blowing her mane out of her face.

"My name is Dr. Mind, and it's very nice to meet you. Who am I seeing today?"

The trainer glanced at her, and glanced at Lightning. "Can I speak to you for a second?" He asked, voice hushed. He scooted a bit to the side, watching Lightning snuggle into the beanbag.

"Lightning is... Special. One of the fastest ponies I've seen through the Cloudsdale flight training. But she's.... Been through it.... Five times now. Every time she's just arriving at the state where we're ready to send her into the adult classes, she seems to.... Revert, or something. She won't listen to a word we say, and goes from her meticulous perfect student normal state to... This." He gestured to the filly, who had begun pushing the beanbags together to make a giant bed.

"We're at the end of our rope. We can't send her away, because she sees herself as a child again. It'd be like kicking any of our other first years out."

He frowned. "Recently, it doesn't even correlate to her graduation. The past few years, she's been having more and more of these episodes. Triggered by something she doesn't want to listen to, excitability over a new person or place..."

He looked back at the doctor. "And that's what I wanted to tell you. You can't.... Let her know she's being treated. We're afraid she'll switch back and forth too much if she knows..."

As the conversation had continued, Lightning had begun organizing the beanbags she'd brought together by color. Then grouped the colors in order by their place in the rainbow. Then she'd frowned, beginning to re-situate all the beanbags so they were perfectly space, in groups of even numbers. But then the colors were messed up. "I give up!" She exclaimed. "Who ever would have so many colors, and uneven amounts of them?!"

"I would!" Clear answered, raising her hoof. "I very much like bright colors, as you could probably tell, and I just had to get one of each."

She waved Lightning towards her office and shut the door behind them, plopping down on the couch opposite her desk, where she usually sat. A clipboard floated over to the thin green unicorn, and she took a quill from behind her ear and scribbled a few notes on the chart in front of her. She put the clipboard down and held out a plate of cookies.

"Want a sugar cookie? I like to eat cookies with other ponies, see, and I won't touch them otherwise. You can call me Clear, if you want, but most ponies call me Dr. Mind. How are you, Lightning?"

Lightning sat on the couch, brushing her hair so the yellow tips were even. She glanced at the cookies. She rarely ever was given sweets at the Academy. They always told her it was bad for Pegasi. But everyone else got them. "I'll have a few, yes." She said, and took two, munching on the first one.

She glanced at the Doctor. Doctor. Why had the trainers brought her to the doctor? Was it that unexplained wing injury that she'd gotten a few weeks ago? But this didn't look like the office of that sort of doctor. She shrugged. "I'm alright, I guess." She said quietly. Then her ears drooped. "A little lonely. I deliver packages all over Equestria, you see, but that's really been the only interactions with other ponies that I get besides the ponies at the Academy..."

Clear reached over and gave the sad pegasus a hug. She found that hugs were some of the best form of therapy, and she rather enjoyed them herself. Afterwards, she took a bite of her cookie and set it down.

"I'm very sorry about that," Clear said, lost in a memory. "After all, I know how you feel. My only friends for a very long time were my sisters. But, things changed. Why do you think it is that you don't hang out with other ponies? You certainly have the right."

She straightened a stack of papers on her desk and tossed the rest of her cookie into the wastebin in the corner, not hungry anymore. That came in small waves, a little remnant of her prior life.

Lightning watched her throw the cookie away, but didn't really think anything of it. She had no place to judge someone's caloric-intake watching. She was supposed to do it herself, being a Pegasi, and a fast one.

She took another bite of hers, watching the floor as she thought. "Well,,, The trainers just recently started letting me get of Cloudsdale to meet Unicorns and Earth Ponies. Before... I'd only heard rumors. But even before now.... The ponies at the Academy all seem to pretend like I don't exist. The younger ponies are creeped out because I'm this old and still in the beginner's class, even though I'm obviously an excellent flyer." She beat her wings a few times, stretching them out.

"And the older ponies just make fun of me. For the same reason." She sighed. "It's been really hard to make friends with anyone from my race..."

Clear put her head in a hoof, thinking.

"Why do you think it is that you're in novice class?" she asked, trying to see if the Pegasus understood what was going on. "In regards to friends, I think you're just looking at the right ponies. Who wants to be friends with snobs? I certainly don't, and I'm a unicorn. I don't fit the stereotypes, and you don't either. I happen to know a Pegasus of the Canterlot Elite, and she's the nicest pony I think I've ever encountered. Keep looking, dear. There's always somepony out there."

Clear stood up and went to her desk, flipping through papers before finding what she wanted. She levitated a sheet of paper and a quill to Lightning. It was a simple sheet she gave to all of her patients, asking what types of snacks they preferred and what about her little office they liked best.

Lightning took the paper and quill, speaking before she began writing. But she still paused, taking a breath. This... Was going to be tough. "Well... I don't really know. I mean, like I said before, I am an excellent flyer. One of the best there, even against the advanced class ponies. But... Every time I get to where I should be moving on.... I forget. There's... Almost nothing there. A few snipets, but... nothing. And then, after a few weeks or so, I'm back to being me..."

She frowned down at the paper. She'd never told anypony that. The fact that there were large portions of her life that were missing. She began to write, using her mouth on the quill. 'I like health foods. Things like carrots, lettuce, and turnips. And.... I like that you're so nice. Nopony normally takes the time to get to know me.

Clear bit her lip. The last three patients she had in her office had the same problem she suspected Lightning was displaying.

"Want me to tell you what I think?" she asked, scribbling some notes down in her messy, doctor's scrawl. They were the same as the patients before Lightning, and Clear was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a recurring pattern. It said, "MPD possibility, further diagnosis needed." 

She thought of the patients in the past. Rosella Petals, a different mare who refused to give her name, and Percy Diamond. Rosella had accepted it, as well as Percy, but this was different. There was no catalyst in Percy's case, who had three other personalities, and Rosella's catalyst was a pony, his wife, and their children. Lightning, however, seemed to revert increasingly more often as time went on. 

She'd certainly have to investigate on the matter and speak more deeply with the academy staff.

Lightning glanced at her, laying the piece of parchment and quill down, and nodded. "Please." After all... She'd never talked this much with anypony, besides the instructors, before. And Dr. Mind had her opening up about her past in mere minutes.

"If there's.... Any explanation to these blackouts I keep having..." She held one hand to the side of her head. If she tried to concentrate on the memories, they gave her a headache. Because they were jumbled, and rare, and hazy, almost as if she was seeing them through someone else's eyes. She shook her head, frowning. "It'd be appreciated...."

"I'm not positive..." Clear started. "After all, I'd need a little more time and to run some tests. For now, though, I'll tell you my suspicions."

She sighed. "Lightning, I believe you have a case of Multiple Personality Disorder." The unicorn put her hoof up to silence the mare. "I know, it's a rather shocking prospect, and I may be entirely wrong, but by what you've described, it sounds like a textbook case."

She levitated her notepad over and took out the quill again.

"Are your teachers still here?" she asked kindly. "I'd like to have a few words with them when we're finished, but don't be afraid to hide your feelings. I sincerely hate it when ponies try to keep from crying, screaming, or laughing, because they think it's improper." She shuddered. "Blech. Why would Faust give us emotions if we were not supposed to use them?"

She frowned at the suddenly messy surface of her desk. She had thrown things on it in her haste, and quickly reverted them to their organized state.

"I'll tell you off the bat that you're not alone. Many ponies who come through here worry that it's true, but it's not."

Tears nearly instantly came to Lightning's eyes. "I... Have what?" She rubbed at them furiously. Why was she crying?! She didn't cry! She shook her head. "M-Multiple personality disorder...? Like.... There's... Another... Pony in here?" She gestured to her head, crying now. She was a hideous crier, she knew. Which is why she tried not to. She hiccuped, and sobbed waterfalls. "Is that why n-nopony wants to be friends with me?" She asked through her tears. "Because I'm mental?"

And then she broke down, curling her wings tightly around her, and hiding her face behind her hooves.

"You.... You wanted... T-To know if my trainers w-were still here?" She hiccuped after crying for a while.

"You're not mental," Clear said sharply. "Don't think that at all. I'm telling you you're not alone because not everypony is perfect, see? I have disorders, too. I'm mildly OCD and I'm anorexic, but look at me. I graduated school. I'm a successful pony."

She took Lightning's hoof and pulled her up.

"I didn't let it stop me," she said firmly, and neither should you. And, yes, I would like to speak to your teachers. Remember that I could be completely wrong, but, if I'm right, then we could get you out of flight school as soon as they understand the circumstances."

Lightning wiped at his eyes, sniffling, as she stood. She'd forgotten entirely about her cookies, which now lay abandoned on the floor. "Get me... OUt of school..." She said quietly to herself. That would be wonderful.... She glanced up at Doctor Mind once, before going to the door, and calling for her trainer. Then she took a seat in one of the far corners of the room, wrapping her tail around herself and crying lightly.

The trainer whom had come with her entered the room, glancing at the crying Pegasus in the room before walking up to Doctor Mind. "I'm assuming she called me in to talk to you?"

Clear nodded her head.

"I haven't completed a full diagnosis, but from what I've gathered, Lightning here has a pretty textbook case of Multiple Personality Disorder. I'd like to ask you a few questions about this "child" that you speak of, and see if we can debate on a way to get her graduated without the exam, as I think that might be her catalyst in the matter."

She gestured to the mare. "After all, she's clearly frustrated that she can't get out of school, and who wouldn't be? Don't let it drag her down. She shows a lot of potential. What do you think?"

The trainer scratched the bottom of his muzzle, glancing at her. He knew she was frustrated. She was always frustrated. He took a seat, taking a cookie and munching lightly. "Lightning is one of our best students, besides the fact that she's never been able to finish her training. I'd love to pass her on."

He watched Lightning cry in the corner, and frowned. grabbing another cookie to eat. "You want to talk about her child part? Or do you want to see her?"

Clear cocked an eyebrow.

"You're suggesting that we force a catalyst," she said sternly. "That's never promoted in my office, as it stresses the host. I'd prefer if it happened naturally, on accident. No, let's just talk a bit about the other personality. Does she go by Lightning as well, or is she nameless?"

The mare abruptly cleaned up the cookies from her floor, the mess nagging at her. Her OCD wasn't that bad... she just didn't like things that were not in a good place. There was no proper place... as long as everything was neat.

She handed the registration form to the trainer.

"If you'd like me to see her again after this, go ahead and take this. It's just a medical form to ensure that you agree to the treatment. I'd have her fill it out, but you seem to understand the situation the best. Does she have parents or former legal guardians who can fill it out? If not, her normal physician would be best."

The trainer took the paper, glancing at Dr. Mind. He stretched his wings, sighing. Lightning's child ponysona.... "She's nameless, just like she was when we first found her. She was abandoned at the training yard. No parents, no note, or anything. We found her the next morning when we went in to set up the track, hiding underneath a piece of cloud." He paused, glancing at her. "Poor pony's lived in Cloudsdale her whole life, at the Academy. She honestly has no where else to go."

He placed the paper aside. He'd get that to her doctor tonight. He watched Lightning out of the corner of his eyes. She was still rubbing her nose and eyes lightly. He would have preferred not to subject her to this. But he hoped this meeting, and any future ones, would really help her.

Lightning glanced at them, her hooves beginning to shake. 'It was the crying.' She thought. She could feel another blackout coming on...

Clear Mind followed the trainer's eyes to the mare, noting with distaste that she was showing the sure signs of a personality switch.

"It's a very good thing you told me that," she murmured to the stallion. "Nameless personalities or those who go by their host's name are easier to repress. Medication could quickly squash the problem into a tiny window of allowance. Of course, that's with a few more visits... after all, it would be terrible to prescribe the wrong medicine, or the wrong dosage. Let me see what's going on, first."


She pulled out her notepad and started writing again.

The trainer nodded, looking briefly back at the doctor. He hoofed the medical paper beside him. "Of course. I assumed she wouldn't just be here once." He watched Lightning shake harder and harder, her blue eyes slightly wide.

Then she collapsed for a moment, before popping back up with a smile. "Hi!" She said excitedly, bouncing over to them. She grabbed two or three cookies, and bit a bit off of each one. "These are sugar right? Sugar is good!" She bounced onto the couch beside her trainer, smiling as she wrapped her tail around her. "These cookies are good Ms. Lady. Did ya make em?"

Clear nodded, shifting her mood to the happiness she always portrayed to children.

"I did, as a matter of fact," she said, smiling gently. "Do you like them? I'm not sure if I got the right amount of sugar on it..."

She held out her hoof in greeting. "I'm Dr. Mind, but you can just call me Ms. Clear, okay? I'd like to get to know you a little. Your trainer asked me to be your friend. What do you say?"

She pointed to the fluffy beanbag in the corner. "That's my favorite, and you can sit on it if you want."

Lightning smiled, and shook her hoof. "I'm...." She trailed off lightly, and instead flew to the bean bag as indicated. "So... Ms. Mind... You're gonna be my friend?" She asked, curling her feet underneath her as she stilled.

She smiled lightly. "I've always wanted a friend! I mean, sometimes the younger ponies will pretend I'm an adult, and pretend to walk away from me, but I don't really think they're my friends." She smiled, and flapped her wings. "And I like your cookies! I think they're awesome!"

Clear beamed at the compliment on her cookies, exchanging a quick look with the trainer before standing and trotting back to her desk. She pulled out a different quill, this one writing in purple ink, and took notes below her former ones.

"Well, maybe it's because you're so tall," the unicorn suggested. "All those fillies and colts are a lot shorter than you." She smiled again and grabbed a new cookie. "When's your birthday, dear? Mine's on February 15th, but that's a very long time away. I'd like to send a cake your way; you seem nice, and I'm sure you've never tasted Sucré's sugar cake."

Lightning smiled at the Doctor. She was very nice. Much nicer than any other doctor she'd ever met. She fluffed her wings a little bit, and smiled. "Now my birthday I know! It's March 14th!" Her smiled only widened, as if she was proud of herself for remembering the fact. "And did you say cake?! I love cake! I only get to have it on my birthday, but it's my favorite treat in the whole wide world!!"

The trainer frowned. March 14th was the date they'd found her. Lightning's birthdate was six days later, on the 20th. Or so the 'real' mare said.