Forced Visits

Abruptly, Clear stood and took off her physician's coat, strapping on a saddle bag and beckoning to the door.

"Well, then we should go get some now! I'd be happy to buy you lunch, as I don't think cookies are really the best to be eating as one of your three essential meals, right?"

She didn't mind. Clear's ambition in life was to help other ponies, and she would do anything she could to make her clients happy. Well... almost anything. If cake was what it took, then cake it was. She could afford a confection. She was living comfortably, after all, for once in her life, and eating cake certainly wasn't going to make her poor again.

Lightning hopped up from her beanbag, zipping to the door. She fluttered excitedly around it, leaving a black-lighting-streaked trail as she sped around. She didn't run into a single thing, but just excitedly buzzed around the door like a hummingbird.

"Caaaake! Cake and lunch! Lunch and cake! Can we get something with lots of icing? Maybe red because that's my favorite color-I mean it's right here on my cutie mark so you can tell it's my favorite-But red icing'd cake is like the best thing in the world!"

The trainer followed after them in silence. After all, it wasn't that he didn't trust Dr. Mind. He just also wanted to keep tabs on Lightning.

The unicorn opened the door and led the two ponies across the street to the posh Prench bakery on the other side. As what was expected, the Prance-originating food exquisitely delicious-smelling and very, very pretty. She looked closely at the cakes in the rack before trotting up to the counter and ordering a cake.

"One of those creamy cakes with the caramelized tops, s'il vou plait," she requested. "Special request for color: red is preferred!"

The baker beamed and took her order, ringing up the cake. Clear gestured to the cafe style tables deeper into the shop.

"Go ahead and take a seat. I'm going to get some coffee, too!"

Lightning flew into the seat, making it rock dangerously back and forth. Her trainer sat beside her, gripping her shoulder to keep her still, but that only made her hooves tap more. She smiled excitedly, as the trainer spread napkins in her lap and across the table.

Lightning watched Dr. Mind though, over the back of her chair. Her eyes twinkled slightly with the promise of her favorite foods. Nopony was ever as nice to her as this pony was...

The trainer glanced back at her as well. "Could you get me a coffee as well? I might need one." He rubbed his temple with a hoof. Having to be the one who always dealt with this form of Lightning could be really draining sometimes.

Clear brought over two steaming mugs of coffee, one plain black and the other swirling with steamed milk, cream, and sugar.

"I didn't know what you wanted in your drink, but the sugar and creamer are over there," she said to the tired-looking trainer, tilting her head in the right direction. "If you don't mind, I'll do a little analysis now of the situation, and see what I can do after I get some x-rays back in the office."

She expected the trainer to be surprised. After all, not many ponies knew that psychiatry was a branch of medicine, like optometry or oncology, using it as an interchangeable phrase with psychology and therapy. The latter two were Ph.D careers, while Clear had an M.D. instead.

The trainer blinked, taking his coffee and sipping it. Ironically, he did like it black. But something the Doctor had said had caught his attention. "X-Rays? So there might be something.... Inside that's messed up?" He asked, swirling the coffee before taking another sip.

Lightning glanced between them. X-rays. Like when she'd gone to get her wing checked out last week. She didn't like them, because it meant sitting very, very still. "X-rays are boring...." She said quietly, poking a hoof at one of the napkins on the table.

Clear nodded, her expression grave.

"If we're lucky, there won't be anything wrong, but MPD can be linked to schizophrenia, and we want to make sure that she's not schizophrenic. After all, that's extremely serious, and I wouldn't want to take any chances. There are a few minor signs of dissociative identity disorder, or the medical term for MPD, that are physical, but they aren't harmful and are really just for record's sake."

She cheered up a bit when the cake arrived. "Ah, this was what I was waiting for. May I present: the best cake you will ever eat!"

She used her magic to cut a thin slice for Lightning and offered the pie cutter to the trainer before taking a small slice for herself.

"See if I'm right," she encouraged the filly personality. "Try it out first."

Lightning had zoned out a bit during the medical parts. Adult stuff really did bore her to death. But her eyes lit up as the cake arrived. She took her first bite, her eyes widening to impossible sizes. "This is the best cake ever!" She squealed, digging in.

Her trainer nodded slowly, in response to Dr. Mind's orginal conversation. He hoped there was nothing.... Internally wrong with Lightning. He cut himself off a piece, smiling at his trainee as she dug in, and cut himself off a piece.

He ate a bit, and smiled. "Mm. That is good."

Clear beamed with delight, digging into the sliver she had taken and packing up the rest of the cake in a sheet of clear plastic.

"Perfect. I'm very glad you like it! I wish we could stay longer, but I have an appointment scheduled later this afternoon, and I'd hate to make them wait. Lightning, will you come back to my office so I can run a few tests? Don't worry, dear; you're perfectly fine. Just doctor stuff."

She stood up and drained the last of her coffee, setting the cup back down and flipping her mane out of her face.

Lightning smiled as she finished her cake, sitting up. "Course Ms. Clear!" She said happily. She fluffed her wings, smiling softly. Ms. Clear... Made her want to be good. Which was a hard thing to do. Most of the time, adults bored her. But somehow the doctor could capture her attention.

The trainer glanced between them. It was kind of fantastic. He'd been right to bring Lightning here, then, rather than to another psychiatrist. Of course, that was until Lightning realized she was going to have to sit still for the procedures. Maybe her normal ponysona would come back.

Lightning got out of the chair, fluttering beside the table, waiting for the cue to zip off. She was excited, and full of sugar now.

The green unicorn led her clients back to the office, taking them to the right door instead of the left. Inside, it looked a bit like a dentist's office, though there was an x-ray machine in the middle instead of a chair. Clear reached into a closet and pulled out a heavy, bib-like piece of clothing, sticking it on the mare to protect her organs from the radioactive rays.

"Sit down right here," the mare instructed, plopping Lighting into the seat. "I'm going to lower this around your head, and you're just going to have to stand the discomfort. Can you do that for me?"

Lightning glanced at the headpiece, and how tiny it was. It wouldn't allow her much space to move. And with the Xrays, she'd have to be alone... She reached for the wall, placing a hoof against it. "Okay... Ms. Clear..." She said quietly, running a hoof through her hair. She shook lightly. She didn't like sitting still. Or sitting in tight places. They freaked her out.

Her trainer placed a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be okay Lightning. We'll be in just the next room, okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." She said quietly. Her head was still wheeling. Finally, she began to twitch, leaning against the wall. She almost collapsed, before her eyes popped open again. "I...I...?" She glanced around, frowning.

Clear was still in the room, turning on machines and getting ready to go.

"Welcome back, Lightning," she said cheerfully. "Your other personality and I had a nice slice of cake while you were gone. I'm getting ready setting you up for an x-ray, just to make sure all's well inside. I have some more cake if you'd like to taste some for yourself afterwards. No worries: I wouldn't eat anything with more than three grams of fat per serving and a hundred and fifty calories. It's perfectly fine. Just say still for a second, okay?"

She shut the door and moved into the next room, turning on the computer and entering Lightning's information, peering through the glass to ensure that she was still okay.

Lightning breathed deeply. In. Out. In. Out. In-In. Out-In. Out. Then repeat. It was a breathing technique that the trainers taught all the Pegasi that went through their program. It was supposed to help them keep calm in a storm, and focus their attention.

But storms didn't scare Lightning. They never had. Storms had graced her with a name, when only weeks after being picked up in the training field she'd rushed right into the heart of one to guide out an adult Pegasi who'd gotten spun out of control. She'd navigated the storm as if she was psychic, he wings never coming within five feet of a strike. And so, Lightning Wing, the trainers had named her.

But she needed the breathing exercises now. For though she was not afraid of lightning..... She was terrified of tight spaces. She was a Pegasus, after all. They belonged in the sky. She glanced at Calla, remarkably keeping herself calm.

Clear nodded back at the mare, turning and flipping the switch.

The machine circled Lightning's head, whirring slightly and doing its job. After a moment, the images appeared on Clear's computer, and the headpiece lifted off of Lightning's head.

"Perfect," she said, opening the door and peering into the room. "You can come out now, okay? I'll have these ready by our next meeting. There isn't much else we need to do, so unless you'd like some cake, you're free to return to the academy!"

She signed off on a new form and hoofed it to the instructor.

"Here's the bill. I only charge for the first three sessions, so if she wants to come back after that, tell her she's free to do so." She shrugged. "I'm only charging you for what I need to live on and keep my sister in school. I can change the amount to whatever you guys think is a good price. Average sessions tend to be around 884 bits for the first visit, and an extra 270 for the x-rays. Does that sound okay? The next sessions will be about 487 bits for the three, and then nothing afterwards."

As Lightning Wing shakily got out of the chair, the trainer nodded. "Nah, that's just about fine." He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a coin sack, beginning to count out the bits. "We expected it'd be a lot, that's why we waited so long to take her. I'm personally just glad you were able to help her."

He pushed the amount towards her, along the counter, and then replaced his bag. "We'll be back as soon as you're ready for the next visit, and I assume Lightning will want to come back as well."

Lightning Wing walked into the room and placed her apron on the counter, glancing at Dr. Mind. "T-Thank you..." She said quietly, rubbing her foreleg with the opposite hoof. "For all this." She said, looking down.

"You are very welcome," the doctor said, smiling. She decided to wait until they were gone to pile up the bits. It was about time to make a trip to the bank, anyways. Straight Mind's college education doesn't pay for itself. 

"Sure you don't want any more cake?" she asked, lifting it over. "If not, I'm going to put it in the fridge. Can't let cake like this go to waste!"

She hugged Lightning and shook hooves with the trainer.

"Have fun, Lightning!" she said cheerfully.

Lightning glanced at the cake and shook her head. The normal her wasn't all that fond of sugary things. As a Pegasus, she had a figure to keep. "No thank you." She said politely, moving towards the door.

Her trainer smiled at Dr. Mind. "Thank you very much." He added, before both ponies slipped out of the office.

((We can continue, or stop, it's your choice. I imagine Lightning will still be visiting Dr. Mind, but more to have someone just to talk with for a bit.))

Just start a new thread when you're ready. That's usually the best way to do it :)