Chapter I

"So, Stirrup is it?" asks a well dressed man sitting across from this young buck.

"Yea, at least that's the name I was given." Stirrup replies with melancholy as he hangs his head over the edge of the couch and stares at the floor.

"Hmm... why don't you tell me about how this all started." the professional tries to begin.

"What? Like my life story?" the pony asks.

"Sure, let's hear everything and get it all out there. Why don't you start with how you ended up on a human's doorstep?"

"Why would it matter? Equestria and Earth have had knowledge of one another for quite some time now and our two species crossing over really isn't that uncommon." Stirrup tries to change the subject.

"That may be true, but a 2 month old foal being found on your doorstep isn't as common as one might think." he pries.

"Alright fine." Stirrup says irritated. "I never knew my parents and they obviously didn't want to know me so they dropped me off in some suburban neighborhood."

The therapist leans back in his chair and listens intently while jotting notes down on his clip board. He then waits calmly for Stirrup to continue.

Stirrup sighs. "I can't be totally mad. I mean if they hadn't of dropped me off on that doorstep I probably never would've had a family like mine... or met my brother." Stirrup pauses and slowly lets his head droop and stare at the floor.

"Go on." he urges. "Tell me about your brother."

"His name is Wallis and he's the reason I'm called 'Stirrup'." the pony continues. "His mom... well my mom told me that he wanted to think of a name that you knew belonged to a pony, but didn't sound like I was his house pet."

"And why did he choose Stirrup?" asks the shrink.

The pony chuckles to himself before saying this. "Because he and I liked to "stir-up" trouble together and cause all sorts of mischief."

"Clever kid." the shrink adds. "What's he like?"

"He is by far the most rowdy, self destructive, and caring person in the world." Stirrup faintly smiles.

"Please elaborate for me." asks the shrink.

"Well we've always been a little mischievous and rowdy together. He liked to blow things up and I like break things before he blew them up. We'd get into fights in the schoolyard and always have each other's back no matter what. As we got into high school and got older our habits grew with us. He showed me what punk rock was and introduced me to drugs and alcohol, but those were just synonymous together."

"And how did that go over Stirrup?" the shrink asks.

"Honestly? Nothing bad ever became of it, he wasn't one of those stupid high school junkies who gets fried and ends up mentally stuck for the rest of their lives. He was smart and could always pay attention in class, although he didn't want to, and get all of his work done in class and eliminate the need to take anything home. I mean so could I, but I could never be as lit up as he was on some days and still manage to crank out the kind of work that he did."

"Can you give me an example?"

"Well there was always the occasional pot brownie or the sports drink with vodka in it, but a couple months ago he kinda worried me. I mean he was totally fine afterwards, but he still just... I don't understand how his organs haven't failed. Guess he's just that damn ornery. Anyway I'm getting to the story.

In our English class we have assigned seating and he sat in the back of the class right next to this guy. He was half way between a total tool and the burned out high school junkie. Well on this specific day he brought some sleep aid pills to class because they give you a nice buzz if you take one and refrain from passing out, as one was the dosage for the average person/pony."

"So what happened?" he asks.

"The guy who sat next to my brother offered him one, and so he kinda squinted at the pill in his hand and said "Ah, what the hell, sure." and popped it. Didn't need water or anything and he just relaxed, but he has a decent resistance to pills because he used to get headaches pretty often and he'd gradually take more and more ibuprofen with each headache to the point of taking more than double prescription strength.

So as Wallis just leans back in his chair while reading the class novel, his junkie friend starts talking to him about how long it takes for the pills to kick in and as Wallis thought about it and took two more. About 15 minutes after taking his third pill his pupils dilated and he got really giggly as he read his book and occasionally glanced at the teacher."

"So he took triple dose sleep aids?" the shrink tries to clarify.

"Oh he didn't stop right there." Stirrup continues.

The shrink just makes a few notes on his clip board and looks at Stirrup intently.

"Anyway, I could easily tell that all three doses kicked in and I tried to keep an eye on him. Didn't really want him passing out from an O.D. in the middle of class, so I glanced at him every couple minutes just to check on him. Guess my timing was just off enough because towards the end of class I noticed that his eyes were almost black from how dilated they were and he basically had cold sweat starting to come down. He looked like he was on a coke binge. As we walked down the hall after class I talked with him and just talked about how hard it was to walk and try not to laugh every 5 seconds."

Stirrup looks out the window and spaces his mind before continuing.

"It turned out that he had taken three more pills during class."

"Wallis took a 6x dose of sleep aids?" the shrink asks baffled.

"Ya, and as we were walking towards the lunch line we were about to pass a trash can when he dropped his back pack and put both his hands on the rim of the plastic barrel. He then proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach in the form of this viscous yellow crap that smelled like burnt plastic and ear wax."

"That vomiting probably saved his life." the shrink says while examining Stirrup's tone and mood.

"Yea well as I said, he's self destructive and really pays no mind towards bodily harm or injury. After he wiped his face on the sleeve of the military jacket he liked to wear we ate our lunch. He told me he couldn't taste anything so he didn't have to worry about getting sick again. He chuckled about that too."   Stirrup says as a smile works it's way across his face.

"He slept for most of every class we had after that and even through the entire car ride home."

"Was this a regular occurrence?" asked the shrink.

"I wouldn't say regular, so much as occasional. And Mom didn't even question why he was tired, she just asked if he was and told him to go to bed early that night in her calm caring voice."

"Do you think she knew?" the man asks.

"I bet she had her suspicions, but she had no clue as to how reckless he was."

"Hmm." the shrink pauses. "Tell me about some of your experiences outside of school."

"Oh man." Stirrup starts with a faint smile. "I gotta tell you about the concert we went to."