Chapter 1: Just Hope You Don't Get Her
'Why did I have to come here?' thought Rainbow Dash as she fidgeted in her seat. Dash was really starting to regret even comming to this lame place. She felt like she had been here for hours but she knew it had only been twenty minutes. When she told Applejack that she made an appointment to see a therapist AJ told her, 'Ah didn't think you had it in you. You don't strike me as the kind of pony that would even listen to what someone else had to say about that featherbrain of yours but you feel like you need help and you didn't let your pride get in the way. I'm proud of you sugarcube,'.
When it come to needing help the only pony who was a bad as AJ was Dash. Dash hardly ever asked for help, unless it was to set up something for a new trick, but that was different.
"Tick"
"Tock"
Rainbow eyed the obnoxious clock. It was simple. Just a round object that had numbers inside and three legs. Each leg moved at a different speed and in the case of the hour hand, didn't move much at all. The second hand ticked away at furous pace. If ponies could be compaired to the legs of a clock Dash was the second hand.
Besides the more personal questions she needed answered there was another more pressing one that had her really nervous. And it was something her best friend AJ had said, 'Ponyville has only got two therapist. One of them is a kind old stallion who will sort of act like he's your big brother, the other one...well just hope you don't get her,'. What had AJ meant when she said 'just hope you don't get her,'.
"Rainbow Dash?" said mare from a cross the room.
"Wha...?" was all Dash could say as she looked for the source of the voice. Her eyes fell on a yellow coated unicorn who had a clipboard levitating in front of her.
"Rainbow Dash?" asked the mare again.
"Oh, yea that's me," said Dash nervously as she walked over to the mare.
"If you would follow me," said the mare as she turned around and walked down the hall. They passed several doors as they walked down the hall. The pair stopped at the last door on the right just as Cloudchaser closed the door behind her. Dash looked Cloundchaser in the face and nodded in greeting. It was returned by shy grin. The look in Chase's eyes told Dash this was a, lets not tell anypony that we need this help kind of deal. The two worked together on a regular basis and they were very much like, they were both concited. Chase walked passed Dash and headed on her way. Dash gulped. It was her turn in the hot seat.
Dash started to feel rather anxious and without really paying attention she started to paw at the ground.
"Don't worry Miss Dash it's going to be ok," said the mare as she opened the door.
Dash hadn't even made it through the door way when she was greeted by an ecstatically happy voice.
"Hiya! Rainbow Dash!"
"Just hope you don't get her" echoed in Dash's head as she looked the speaker up and down. Her heart sank.
"Hi...uh...you too...Lyra," spoke Dash softly as she lowered her head.
Walking over to Dash Lyra looked the cyan mare up and down. Dash didn't look very comfortable, she kept shifting her weight from side to side, mimicking a buoy on the open seas. Lyra could only think of one think of one thing to do. She threw her forelegs around the nervous pegasus and pulled her into a hug. Dash gave several exaggerated blinks before melting into the hug. Her cheeks started to become uncomfortably warm and before she knew it she popped a wing boner. 'She so soft...and warm. I can't be doing this.' thought Dash. She broke the hug and backed away.
"Enough Mushy Stuff," said Dash as she raised her hoof and ruffled her bangs trying get her mane to hide her blush.
Lyra sat down and put her hoof to her chin, giving Dash a mischievous grin as she did so. Dash returned her grin with a chagrined look.
"Aw...don't look like that Rainbow Dash, Li Li is hear to help you out," answered the happy unicorn.
"Oh, and lower your wings, you don't want everypony to think you like me," Lyra mused.
'Seriously did you just call yourself Li Li,' thought Dash as she gave Lyra a hard look trying to forget what Lyra had just said. She had to admit Lyra was a pretty mare with a mint coat. She also had an emaculate cyan and white mane with a tail to match. Dash mentally scoffed, 'She obviously spends as much time on her mane as Rarity,'.
Lyra bounced over to the tweed couch in the middle of the room and sat down. After an agonizing couple of minutes Lyra padded the cushion beside her. Dash slowly walked over and sat down, letting out a sigh as she did so. Lyra opened her mouth to speak but desided to let the speedster accumlate to her unfamiliur suroundings.
The room wasn't very big. It was just a smidge bigger than Dash's bedroom. From where she sat she could see a large davenport desk made from what she guessed was walnut. On it sat a silver name plate that read, "Lyra Heartstrings Psy. D,". She had no idea that Lyra; qurky playing her lyra in the middle of the night in the park, eating way to many sweets and the puking on the mayor, sitting on anything in an uncomfortable possition, foam finger Lyra, was a therapist." The wall to her left was nothing but a wall to wall bookshelf and the wall to her right was bare save a single window with cyan drapes. The wall behind Lyra's desk had pictures of Lyra and her friends as well as a couple framed diplomas. One of them was for graduating Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and the biggest one was a diploma from the Equestrian Royal University that read Doctor of Psychology and Summa Cum Laude, what ever the hay that meant. Her eyes fell back to the name plate. What she knew about Lyra and what she was seeing just didn't mesh. How could a pony with so many accomplishments, be like Lyra. Lyra was a nice pony and all but she serously had more issues than Dash did and wasn't in any position to help her. All she wanted to do is get up, walk out of the door, and forget the whole thing.
Lyra watched as Dash tensed up and started looking at the door. She had seen it happen more times than not. A patient of hers leaving not long after walking in becuase they had a problem with her reputation. 'I mean I do have my share of problmes and I don't have a sagely, I can help you fix your problems aura,' she thought. Having an over the top charismatic personality prone to fits of craziness didn't help her case any. Lyra was losing Dash and she had to say something.
"Strange huh..." said Lyra as she placed her hoof on Dash's shoulder.
Pulling away from Lyra's touch Dash glared at her. Lyra sunk under that glare it was something she had seen many times before. Her father used to look at her like that, it was the look that meant, your not good enough.
Dash could see the hurt in Lyra's eyes and realising what she had done she let her gaze soften and then she turned away.
"Look Lyra, I'm sure you are a good therapist and all but..."
"I'm not a therapist!' interjected Lyra.
Dash shook her head in confusion, "Your not a therapist?"
"Nope. I do offer therapy though," answered Lyra. 'How can a pony offer therapy and not be a therapist' thought Dash.
"Do you want to start with the sock puppets or do you want to skip to drawing a picture of how you feel?" giggled Lyra.
Dash facehoofed, she then got up and made for the door, "Your Bucking Kidding me. I need to talk to somepony and I get the clown!"
It was meant as a joke, Lyra was just trying to get Dash to loosen up a little but, the pegasus didn't take her it as a joke. She had no idea that her harmless jab was going to illicit such a reaction. She needed to take back the control of the situation.
"RAINBOW DASH!" Barked Lyra sounding more forceful than she had intended.
Dash stiffened up for just a moment but then decided to not pay her no never mind as she threw open the door and started to canter down the hall. She didn't make it far before she was blinded by a light that erupted just a little ahead of her. It was when she saw a vague pony shape emerge from the light that she threw own her breaks but that didn't stop her from crashing into Lyra.
The two of the rolled down the hall and came crashing into the waiting room. They knocked over the coffee table and sent magazines flying everywhere. The two other two occupants of the room, a earth pony stallion and a unicorn mare looked down at the two ponies who were now all tangled up and in a heap in the middle of the floor in shock.
The world was spinning and Dash couldn't get her bearings. Nothing felt right about the sitution. She knew that she was in the waiting room again because she could hear the ticking of that obnoxious clock. What was very different was the soft warm carpet that lay under her. She looked down to check out what she thought was the best carpet in the world to find the carpet had eyes.
"Ahh!" yelled Dash in shock as she realized she was lying on top of Lyra. They were belly to belly. Dash could feel Lyra breathe, she could feel her warmth. More than that she could feel her own cheeks warm as a embarrassed glow lit up her face.
"Get off me," shouted Lyra as she pushed Dash away.
Dash floped over on her side never letting her eyes leave Lyra's body. Lyra picked herself up and started to dust herself off. Her well groomed mane and tail were now discheveld. And she could feel that she had began to prespire whilst underneath the heat of Dash's body.
Sitting up Dash still maintained her gaze. Lyra's hair was a mess and... and...
"You are really kinda cute!" stammared Dash her face now a bright tomato red.
Lyra raised an eye brow and looked over at Dash.
"Excuse me?" was all she could get out before Dash Knocked her over and hurried out the door squealing, "OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh Ohmygosh!"
Chapter 2: Patient Confidentiality or Lack Thereof
Lyra picked up the last of the magazines placing it on the coffee table. 'Well at least we didn't break anything,' she thought. She was happy that Mr. Waddle had took her remaining patients for the day. There were a few ponies that would only see her but they were kind enough to allow her a little break for once. Not having anything better to do she had spent the rest of the day napping on the couch in her office. She had only just started her evening chores thinking about her co-workers as she done so.
Mr. Waddle was the only other licensed therapist in Ponyville, there was another however who was in their line of work and that was Shallow Wake. But Wake refused to be called anything but what he was, a psychiatrist. Wake and Lyra often butted heads because Lyra didn't agree with Wake's pill pushing attitude. Sure there were ponies that needed a chemical to help fix their problems but Lyra always felt that it need to be a last resort.
It was no secret that Lyra wasn't Ponyville's favoirte shrink, that title belonged to Mr. Waddle. Sure she had a much higher degree than him and it didn't matter that she graduated top in her class. In the real world expericence was worth its weight in gold and she was just two years out of school. It weight heavily on her mind that he took care of three-quarters of the patient load. She tried to dismiss that as 'He has been doing it a lot longer than me.' But deep down she felt that it was because she wasn't good enough.
"Uh, Miss Lyra?" said Amathest Star trying to get the older mare's attention.
"Sparkler you and I have been friends for years. Just because I'm technically your boss doesn't mean you have to give me the "miss" routine, ok. What do you want to know?" answered Lyra as she turned to face the pink coated young mare who was standing beside a yellow bucket leaning on her mop.
"I'm sorry I just want to be proper and all," replied Sparkler.
"You don't have to be proper. It's me you're talking too. And if you are doing this to show me how thankful you are for me helping you get this job, please don't. The only hoof I had in that was bringing your résumé to Waddle's and Wakes' attention. It was impressive enough that they wanted to interview you and sister did you ace that." said Lyra with a big grin.
The mare had just finished moping the hallway. The young mare had been working as a janitor for Waddle, Wake, and Heart Mental Health Clinic for around eight months now and she was still so formal.
"What I wanted to know was what happened between you and Rainbow Dash. I was on lunch break when it happed. I didn't see what happened between you and her but some of the other staff said that..." muttered Sparkler not wanting to finish her statement.
Shaking Sparkler couldn't look her friend in the eyes. She wanted to say what she heard but she didn't want to hurt her friends feelings so she bit her lip. Lyra moved closer to Sparkler and sat down,"What did they say that has you so upset."
"Dr. Wake said that if it was up to him you wouldn't be a practicing psychologist and that he was going to bring your antic's to the Mental Health Care Board. And that you were very unprofessional," sobbed Sparkler. Lyra wraped her a forleg around Sparkler and rested her chin on the mare's head.
"Shh...you don't have to get so worked up about what that block head has to say. And I am unprofesional." said Lyra who was half smiling at that last bit.
Calming down Sparkler pulled away and wiped her eyes with her hoof. She sniffed and the she said, "What does Wake have against you and why does he say such mean things behind your back?"
"Wake just doesn't like me. He's stuffy and does everything by the book. And I don't. I tried that for a while but it made me very unhappy and more than that it made my patients unhappy so I burned that book and I haven't looked back ever since. Our styles just clash is all." answered Lyra.
"I know I shouldn't let him get upset it just that out of all the jobs I have had since getting out of school this is the only one that I actully liked. I know being a janitor isn't the greatest job in the world but it isn't the work that makes me happy. It's spending time with you when you can spare it. Me and you are always the first ponies here and the last to leave and I like that. It reminds me of the times that you would come and hang out with Ditzy and me. And I am so afraid that Wake will find someway to take that away from me. I am so selfish." said Sparkler choking back a second round of tears.
Lyra streached out her hoof and ruffled Sparkler's mane. "Listen, an't nothing that old stuffy stallion can do to me that will keep me from being here for you Sparks. And you are not selfish."
Rushing foward Sparkler wraped her forlegs around the older mare and then nuzzled Lyra's neck with her nose, taking in the minty smell of her sister-friend. Lyra smiled and then wrapped her own forlegs around the little mare and gave her a squeze. Slowly Sparkler's tension melted away.
" I know that you and Rainbow Dash have that patient confidentionality thing but, if you don't mind me asking, what did she come and see you for?" Sparkler asked innocently.
"I don't know for sure yet Sparks," replied Lyra. Lyra went back to straightening the magazines. Sparkler stood there for a moment and the she grabed up the mop and started working her way into the waiting room. The two of them finished their daily chore of dusting, organizing, and moping the small clinic and then they left for home.
It was a cool october evening and the sun was lazly drooping over the horizon. Its last rays tickled the blue sky, pink in places and was slowly giving way to the dark purple night sky. The two mare walked side by side enjoying the ambience of Ponyville in the fall. There were a few ponies left in the town square. Most of them were farmer's who had stayed trying to sell the last of their produce to any stragglers who walked by. It was getting late in the year and many of the farmers would stop selling their harvest. Oh there were a few, like the flower trio who had greenhouses to grow their beautiful flowers, that would hawk their wares year around. But, for the most part the fresh produce season was over. That isn't to say that the crafts ponies wouldn't keep their stalls. Those who had the luxery of having a craft that withstood the changing seasons, like a rock of ages, could always be found in the spuare.
Lyra was looking foward to seeing her Bonny and Sparkler could tell it too. Her pace had quickend and she had began to wear that goofy smile that Lyra denied even existing. 'It was a heartwarming sight to watch the fire of Lyra's love for Sweetie Drops begin to cause the minty coated mare's coat to glow.' thought Sparkler. They soon found themselves with in sight of Lyra and Sweetie's house.
Sweetie must have saw them coming because she met them at the door. Lyra lept into Sweeties forlegs and gave her a quick peck on the lips. The both of them were now blushing deeply. Sparkler rolled her eyes and then started to leave.
"Hey Sparks,!" yelled Lyra.
Looking over her shoulder at the two she responded, "Yeah?"
"You asked me why I thought Rainbow Dash came to see me today and I told you I didn't know." said Lyra who was fighting, and losing to Sweety's attempts to pull her inside.
Spinning around Sparkler gave Lyra a big smile, "Yeah!"
"Well I wan't telling you the truth. The truth is I think Dash is having some sort of an identiy crisis. And I think that she might be like me and Bon Bon."
"Awsome, cool, nice, sweet," spouted Sparkler clearly missing the obvious. Before Lyra could correct her she was compleatly enveloped by Sweetie Drops. The door slamed with a loud and distinctive thud. Sparkler hung her head. Now she would be awake all night trying to figure it out. But before she could take more than a couple steps the door reopened and a giggling Lyra stuck her head out and then yelled,
"I think she is a fillyfooler!". Lyra looked around feeling slightly embarresed at how loud it came out. She didn't have time to think about it because she was enraptured again by Sweetie's loving forlegs and was pulled back inside.
'Dash a fillyfooler?' the idea just didn't sit well with Sparkler. Not that it mattered because many of her closest friends were but, it just didn't make much since. A humorous thought did come to mind. 'If it's true, then Flitter is going to flip out because Dash is her type,'.
Sparkler's house was just a block or so away from Lyra's and Sweetie's and she could tell it was going to be great to be home because she could smell the aroma of her favorite type of muffins, bananna-nut oat bran. 'Ditzy was the best big sister ever.'
Rarity had overheard the whole thing while she was out for a leisurely stroll trying to clear her head. Although she tried to keep up her ladylike image there was nothing she liked more than goading Rainbow Dash. And Lyra and Amathest Star had given her plenty of ammunition.
