"Good morning Ms. Sparkle" a bright voice chimed. Twilight groggily opened her eyes and let out a large yawn. She slowly rose from her thin mattress and took in the room. The same white walls looked back at her. The sterile smell of the air only seemed to increase from yesterday. Oh well, Twilight thought, it could be worse. She decided to distribute one of her own greetings.
"Hello Nurse Cassidy" Twilight said brightly smiling at the pretty blond unicorn. Her bright blue eyes were shining as she looked at Twilight but upon close inspection one would realize the pain behind the nurses eyes. The nurse let out a tentative smile that didn't seem to quite reach her eyes.
"Did you sleep well?" the mare asked "I know you have been having nightmares recently and i just wanted to check up on you." Twilight's smile dropped, how the buck did she know about those? those were supposed to be a secret. Twilight's mind was soon alight with scenarios of the nurses spying on her as she slept, taking notes and poking her. Twilight began breathing heavily. All of the memories of her recent nightmares flooded into her mind, the fear and the things she saw within them grasped her. She began shaking and lost sight of the plain white walls around her. A scream filled her lungs draining what little air she had left in them. Twilight let out the scream and began thrashing around wildly before a pair of hooves wrapped around her and prevented her struggling. Soft soothing words entered her ear as comforting hooves hugged her tightly. Twilight, unable to take the emotional overflow simply fell into darkness and accepted her panic attack.
Twilight abruptly woke up sweat drenching her coat and mane. She had just experienced another of her horrid nightmares. She gently opened up her eyes but before she could analyze anything, harsh white light filled her eyes and she squinted against it. Lifting her head she acknowledged her throbbing headache and opened her eyes to more accurately look around the room. It was the same lifeless grey and white as the rest of the hospital. She was simply in her room. Lifting her body up from the bed she noticed it was disheveled from her sleeping on it. Leaping up she began fixing it much to the nurse's protest from behind her.
"No please Ms. Sparkle lay down I'll fix it later." she said hoping to get the unicorn to relax. Twilight promptly ignored the nurse as she fixed the sheets on the cot and the pillows so they lined up perfectly. Turning around she noticed that the nurse had somehow gotten just behind her. Twilight was about to panic again pulling memories of her most recent nightmare to her mind but before she did she realized it was just Nurse Cassidy. Calming down a good bit Twilight asked a question
"Did i miss morning inspection?" She asked, hoping to have missed the dreadful inspection of the hospital patrons.
"No" Nurse Cassidy responded, "Remember you wake up 3 hours before everypony else." the nurse stated. Twilight regarded this statement with distaste realizing that it unfortunately was true. Due to Twilight's intense OCD she keeps a schedule and wakes up at exactly 4 A.M. every morning. Twilight pulled herself from her bed grumbling about joining the assorted ponies outside.
"Yes but, i think you should-" the nurse was quickly cut-off as Twilight zipped passed her and through the door. "should stay" the nurse finished in disbelief at the speed of the unicorn
Twilight's door was last to open on the corridor. Nurses walked down the hall giving small cups filled with medication and water to the waiting patients. Twilight scanned the faces of all the ponies in the hall and noticed that a few were missing. Good, Twilight thought every day more ponies leave the ward. She did another scan this time looking for new faces. Not finding any she relaxed back and waited for the nurse to give her her medication. Suddenly a loud yell filled the hall.
"YOU ARE NOT PUTTING THAT ON ME!" a voice roared from a room. Everyponies eyes shifted to the direction the yell and then another voice was heard this one however was calm and pleading
"Please Mr. Dawn please we can't allow you to-"
"THE HELL YOU WON'T ALLOW ME I. WILL. NOT. PERIOD. The voice roared again. A door burst open as large unicorn stpped out into the hall. Than Twilight noticed what he was talking about, on his teeth rested the ring put on every unicorn's horn to stop their use of magic. Twilight hoof ran up and felt hers and quickly understood why this stallion didn't want one.
"Please we don't want to restrain you, if you could just-" before the statement was finished another voice yelled their disapproval of the object at hand then another, then another and suddenly the entire hall was filled with yells as ponies began howling and screeching. Several large guard ponies emerged from the corridor entrance and attempted to grasp the stallion who stated the ruckus. However, he ducked away and sped up into run. Not paying attention to where he was going the pony collided into Twilight knocking them both back into her room. Nurse Cassidy saw an opportunity to restrain the massive pony and slammed the door shut. A click was heard soon after.
The two ponies stared at each other. Nopony knew what to do or what to say. The stallion at hand look extremely upset about being caught and that was made clear by his aggressive body language. Twilight looked at the stallion. His light brown coat seemed warm and her eyes wandered up to his mane and face. His mane was a stark white and finally, she looked at his eyes. She let out an audible gasp as she looked at them. They were different colors, one was a bright hazel while the other was a azure blue. She took in this stallion and felt a blush tinge her cheeks. He was quite attractive. All remained silent until Twilight finally broke it.
"So what's your name?" Twilight questioned generally curious about this unicorn. Looking down at her the large pony observed her for a moment then answered,
"Dawn Seeker" was his simple but, to the point response. Twilight took note of how is voice was extremely deep and soothing, the sound sent a pleasurable shiver down Twilight's spine.
"So um... what was um that thing out there about?" Twilight asked again eager to hear his voice again but having a difficulty wording her questions. Dawn Seeker simply look at her and then pointed to his horn. Twilight thought that was the answer in the first place but, it was never bad to make sure.
"That makes sense" Twilight chimed "I fought them tooth and nail over mine eventually they got it on me though." she finished. Observing his response she noticed how quickly his moods shifted from his rage two minutes ago to his conversational voice currently. An awkward silence filled the air as Twilight's tail began lashing back an forth. Her tic was setting in and she needed something anything to fill this silence. "Why are you here" Twilight bursted out. As soon as the words left her lips she was mentally hitting herself for asking such a stupid question but, the damage was done and she couldn't take it back now. The stallion just stared at her his different eye colors catching Twilight off guard again. Twilight felt herself begin to breathe faster as heat flooded to her cheeks. Her tail began lashing faster an faster until it was making whipping noises through the air.
The silence grew thicker and thicker and Twilight's mind ran wild. He was judging her she thought. He thinks I'm ugly and fat and stupid. Her breath picked up again and she looked down at her stomach. Her ribs were completely visible and it was clear that Twilight wasn't eating enough. However, all she saw was fat and not skinniness. Her breath began getting faster and more erratic. Looking up in the mirror Twilight observed her appearance. She looked awful she decided; despite the fact that the mirror reflected back the image of a pretty mare. She tried to think of something to say to get herself out of this but, she couldn't and she mentally berated herself for being stupid. She began to choke up and felt hot tears forming in her eyes. She waited for the storm of insults she always received and thought about the hidden razor blade in her room. The swarm of emotion over took Twilight and she began to cry. The light brown stallion didn't know how to react to the sudden tears. But it was clear the mare was having emotional problems. He thought of what his parents did when he was angry, they hugged him. He followed their example and he did the only thing he knew how to do in this type of situation, he pulled her into a hug. "Don't touch me!" Twilight screeched jumping back. "I'm disgusting don't touch me!" she yelled. Twilight curled into the fetal position on the floor and began rocking slowly her tail still lashing. The stallion stood very confused before it hit him, Twilight has severe anxiety. Walking over to the pony in question he sat next to her. He heard Twilight mutter dark words and insults at herself. Again the stallion wrapped her in his arms and despite her words and struggles held on.
Nurse Cassidy looked at the cleaned out hall and breathed a sigh of relief. The short but violent riot was over and relinquished in the fact that no pony was seriously hurt. Turning around she heard a sudden scream from a room. Rushing down the lifeless hall she realized where it was coming from, Twilight's room. The mare swiftly opened the door and flung in open and saw a sobbing Twilight laying back on the chest of the unicorn that caused the riot. Now, there are a lot of ways to make Twilight cry. The easiest way to do it was to cause an anxiety attack which seemed to be the case here.
"What happened here?" questioned the nurse. "What did you do?" her voice strained on the last word. The stallion looked up her rage burning in his eyes.
"Leave" was his simple command. Nurse Cassidy stepped back at the ferocity in his voice. Analyzing this pony she remembered him from his file. He was the paranoid, bi-polar, violent, isomaniac, and impulsive pony. Recognizing the danger in this situation the Nurse decided that discretion was the better part of valor and promptly backed up quite a few steps. Damn this bucking hospital she thought. The nurse was trying to piece together what happened but found it to be extremely difficult.
"Can somepony please explain what's happening?" Nopony answered her and she stood there watching Twilight basically snuggle with a unicorn who caused a riot. "Please refrain from physical contact it isn't allowed" The nurse tried hopefully separating the two so she then could get some answers from Twilight. In response to this the stallion looked down at the crying mare and kissed her. To say that the nurse was shocked would be inaccurate, she was in fact shell-shocked. Her mouth dropped open as she witnessed this stallion kiss Twilight, on the lips, in front of her. Dawn Seeker didn't care that the nurse was watching as he started to enjoy the kiss rather than just using it as a tool to spite the nurse. Twilight emotional ride hit it's peak when Dawn Seeker decided to do this. Not knowing how to react she simply layed there.
Nurse Cassidy simply didn't have an idea as to what to do. Never in her career has she ran into a problem quite like this. After roughly 5 minutes the kiss ended and all the ponies in the room simply stared at each other. Twilight at Dawn Seeker, Dawn Seeker at Nurse Cassidy and Nurse Cassidy at Twilight. The grey and white of the room faded as the three ponies gazes locked. Suddenly, the door to the room burst opened as several guards hurried in along with a nurse. Not taking stock of the situation they quickly grabbed the stallion and restrained him again attempting to put the magic supresser on his horn. It slipped gently on. The stallion stayed neutral though one could tell he was dissatisfied. He was put into a straight jacket and lugged out of the room his departure marked by the slam of a door.
Twilight shakily climbed to her feet still recovering from her anxiety attack though still reeling from the sudden kiss. Standing up she simply walked over and collapsed on her bed. The idea of her that stallion finding her attractive amazed Twilight how could anyone? For a first time in awhile Twilight was having normal, everyday, mare problems and she thanked Celestia for it. Nurse Cassidy was about to question what happened but, decided against it and instead simply sat on the plastic chair that rested in the square room. She decided the best course of action was a letter to Celestia and she began writing in earnest.
"What the hell were you thinking?" A nurse berated Dawn Seeker."Why did you do that?" The nurse questioned again. The lifeless grey room that was his room seemed alive as the nurse raged. The unicorn refused an answer prefering just to glare at the nurse. "Well?" the grey nurse continued condescendingly. The nurse's green eyes flash and her grey mane all flashed in anger. The nurse berated him over his and about this being his first day here. After awhile with no response she simply gave up and turned away and left the room. Dawn Seeker's satisfied that the straight jacket was removed after he was placed in his room. Dawn Seeker mind wandered back to the crying mare he met early today. Thinking about his actions a smile crossed his lips.
Author's Note
If there are any mistakes let me know and I'll fix it. I don't have a good eye for errors and I don't have a proofreader.
Twilight had finished her letter to Celesita and it was positively the most girly thing in existence. Twilight hated this kind of stuff but had heard that this is how normal mares acted and all she wanted was to be normal. The letter was short and to the point detailing her interaction with Dawn Seeker. When she thought of his name a shiver past through her. She wanted to see the unicorn again. Suddenly a voice from the intercom system made a loud call.
"All ponies lunch is now served make sure you get there before it gets cold!" one could tell that the voice was trying to be cheerful but the machine didn't translate its tone all to well . Standing up from her desk Twilight turned to look at the nurse but she was not there. She must have left awhile ago, Twilight thought. Not dwelling on this she opened her door and ran straight into a nurse. They bumped heads and a crack was heard as the connected. They both fell unto the floor and looked at each other. This was a new nurse as Twilight had never seen her before and she knew all the nurses who worked in this corridor. Being new she must have not been informed that Twilight had semi-free roam of the facility. She was going to explain this to the nurse but she doubted it work as the nurse probably assumed everyone in this facility was not functional.
The nurse stood first and stream of apologies raced past her lips. She spoke in a very sophisticated voice and Twilight thought that she must be from Canterlot.
"I apologize again darling, it was not my intention to run into you. Can you ever forgive me" she said. Twilight observed the mare and looked at her name tag. Rarity is what it said. She did a once of over of the unicorn and decided that she was very pretty. Her pale white coat contrasted well with her well styled purple mane and tail. Standing up Twilight reassured the unicorn that it was not a problem.
"So I have been assigned your caretaker from now on as Nurse Cassidy requested a transfer to a different hospital. She said it was something about a crazy stallion hypnotizing you. I think she was the crazy one what with that hair and..." Twilight had stopped paying attention and had begun walking down the hall. Rarity had closed her eyes half way through her speech when she opened then and let out a small moan of annoyance as she chased after Twilight.
Dawn Seeker was escorted down the hall by one nurse and two brutish looking guards. All was silent as they trotted down the hall. This was until he saw Twilight up ahead.
"I'm just curious if you could walk any damn slower" he growled glaring at the ponies around him. Taking the message and not wanting to start another fight with the stallion the picked up there base to an acceptable trot. He wondred if the ponies around him will stay while he ate or would disperse. He would find out soon enough. In the mean time he satisfied the walk down the hall by looking at Twilight and thinking about why he was even here. His bipolar disorder for one though they had difficulty ever finding out if it was type one or just mixed bipolar. Other than this issue he had frequent episodes of intense paranoia and violence along with his possessive and obsessive issues. He had been in several facilities ever since he was in his early teens and was consistently moved. As of now he was about seventeen.
Finally, they reached the cafeteria where much to his relief he was released from the guards. His eyes were stilled trained on Twilight and he quickly followed her and he joined in the line. Twilight sensing that pony had joined her looked up from the black and white tiled floor and gazed at Dawn Seeker.
"Hey" she said a hint of nervousness in her voice. She felt butterflies in her stomach and blamed it on her teenage hormones. Dawn Seeker was never one for many words so he just nodded his head in her direction and took his place in line behind her. Twilight cheeks burned and she looked over at her friends. Fluttershy, Applejack all were looking in her genreal dirction. Rainbow however, was laughing as she noticed her embarrassment from the close proximity of the stallion and she didn't know where Pinkie Pie was. Twilight ignored this and simply moved further along in line annoyed that Rainbow was laughing at her misfortune. The line moved swiftly forward and she got her food along with the brown stallion behind her. He then spoke his second set of words to her.
"Can I sit with you?" he asked with much hope in his voice. Twilight froze upon hearing his voice and she tripped on her own hooves. She closed her eyes and prepared for maximum embarrassment and pain when she felt a soft body below her. Opening her eyes she saw that Dawn Seeker had thrown himself below her to stop her fall. Her breath began coming out more rapidly but not because she was about to panic, it was because she liked the feel of his body against her own. Standing quickly she saw that her food was still grasped in her hooves. She muttered a quick apology and rushed over to her table where Dawn Seeker soon joined.
Rainbow and Applejack both start interrogating Dawn Seeker. Just basic questions, then they ask about what dragged his sorry ass here, he doesn't take very kindly to that and his paranoia sets in. Due to Dawn Seekers insomnia this was the fifth day in a row without sleep and they refuses to give him pills saying that he might overdose purely on prescription drugs. He thinks this is bullshit but doesn't quite have a say in that matter.
Applejack and Rainbow notice how much they're winding him up and stop, instead going on to what there problems are hoping to entice him to share. It had worked with Fluttershy so why not him? They had to describes each other issues as they have a difficult time admitting, with there headstrong nature, that they even have these issues in the first place. Applejack goes first and says that Rainbow has a problem admitting her sexuality and a swath of other complicated names that Dawn Seeker can barely understand. Rainbow was about to enact her revenge by explaing Applejack's problems when a brightly colored pink pony suddenly tackled Dawn Seeker to the ground.
Her words poured out of her mouth like a waterfall and he couldn't understand a thing. The pink pony stood up and began prancing around him and this time he could understand some of her words. She said something about 'friend', 'new', and 'party' then she vanished, running off to Celestia know where. Dawn Seeker knew he should have felt violated and angry and thought he probably would have attacked her but, he couldn't bring himself to. The air of happiness around her was too much to break.
"That's just Pinkie don't worry about her" Twilight said nervously, amending for her pink friends behavior. Before another word could be spoken a bell rang signaling the end of meal time and marked the start of recreation time or so he had been told. Standing up from his seat be tossed away his food and walked back to Twilight wondering what the rest of the day
Walking down the hall, Dawn Seeker felt a rising sense of paranoia sweep over him. In the cafeteria the cameras couldn't make him out and he took comfort in that but, walking down the hall he felt as if he could feel them focusing on him, scrutinizing his idea his very core. He wanted to rip every camera from the wall and throw them away. But, he settled by getting in the middle of Twilight's group of friends and ducking down. The nurses and guards escorting the patients through the hall took no notice in his behavior and simply continued the stride.
Dawn Seeker wanted to tell Twilight to hid, to tell her that they were watching but, he knew if he talked the cameras might hear him. So, he just continued to hide behind Twilight and continued to their destination, despite having no idea where or what it was.would be like. The group ran to a stop suddenly. Dawn Seeker didn't lift his head but, he was pretty sure that they had reached their destination.
"Hey, c'mon man lift your head up were in the rec room" a heavily sarcastic voice spoke. His shield of ponies broke and he was forced to take in the room, which thankfully, didn't have cameras. Settling down he looked at the room and saw its attractions. Bright blue walls looked out at him and the white carpeted floor had a nice texture to it. The couches and bean bag chairs looked rather comfortable and a few televisions and game tables were scattered among the room as well. That's when the bright pink pony bounced over.