It all began with a letter
It was early one morning, when Dr Violet Lockheart was awoken from her sleep by a knock on the door. She lazily got out of bed and walked to the door. She got a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and from what she could tell, she really needed a shower as her normally lilac coat was now turning slightly darker. She didn't hurry much, as it probably would just be more bills being delivered. Lockheart didn't have a mailbox or anywhere else to leave them so she had to collect them personally. She got to the door after about 30 seconds, and opened it to find the cross-eyed mailmare who normally delivered her post. The grey Pegasus smiled kindly and handed over a few letters, one being stamped with 'CANTERLOT MENTAL INSTITUTION FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE'. This made Lockheart confused, as she was in Ponyville, a fair distance away from Canterlot. Why would they be contacting her all of a sudden? Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "You ok, Dr?" asked Derpy, staring at Lockheart with a rather confused look.
"Huh? Oh! Oh yeah I'm fine, thanks for asking" Lockheart replied, smiling at her ditzy mailmare. She quickly scanned over the other letters and concluded they were all bills. She simply sighed. Who knows, maybe the letter from Canterlot could help bring in some money. Quite a few infamous killers were there, interviewing them could be her big break! It was probably something else, but the thought was nice.
"Oh ok! Enjoy your mail!" said Derpy with a smile, turning away and taking flight. She crashed into a nearby lamppost after not long, but was able to recover and continued on her way. Lockheart rolled her eyes, closing her front door with a chuckle.
She walked over to her couch, calmly sitting down before using her magic to get a cup of coffee brewing in the next room. Then she levitated the letter from Canterlot in front of her, and carefully tore it open. Retrieving the letter from inside, she slowly read it over.
"Dear Dr. Violet Lockheart,
I'm sure you are aware of the serial killer, Blue Topaz. She refuses to talk to any and all psychiatrists, except for recently. She has been requesting to speak with you numerous times over the past few weeks. Though she will spend the rest of her life imprisoned, we would like to get to the bottom of her problems, so that we may best understand why she committed the atrocities that she did. We are only hoping to improve her mental state. Since you are fairly new and inexperienced, having only started 7 months ago from my understanding, we would not be asking this of you in any other circumstance. However, we cannot pass up this opportunity. She has agreed not only to talk with you, but will allow you to publish your findings if you so choose. Accommodation will be provided for you, as it will most likely take several weeks. Reply ASAP.
Sincerely,
Dr. Coldhoof"
Violet was shocked. She honestly didn't know what to do. She just sat there for a bit, looking over the letter. Blue Topaz, one of the most infamous killers of the century, wanted to speak to her, and had asked for her personally! She quickly snapped out of her shock, jumped up and began searching about the house for some paper and a quill. She quickly found and one and wrote her reply simply saying 'YES'. Then she got her coffee, drank it so fast that she burnt her throat and mouth, and jumped in the shower as fast as she could. After she had more than sufficiently cleaned herself off, she ran upstairs and started packing. She knew she wouldn't be able to leave for at least 2 days, but that didn't slow her excitement at all. She caught sight of herself once again in the mirror, and quickly brushed her two-toned green mane into a curly bun that made her look professional, as it was supposed to.
She quickly hurried to the post office, posted her letter and went to Sugarcube Corner to tell The Cakes, some of her friends, the good news.
"Oh, hello dearie!" said the friendly voice of Mrs Cake, as Lockheart entered Sugarcube Corner. Mrs Cake handed some change to a white unicorn with a purple mane, then turned back to Lockheart."Wow you look like you're excited! What's the good news?" asked Mrs Cake with her usual kind smile. Lockheart had known the cakes all her life, even though she had grown up in Canterlot. When she wanted to become a psychiatrist, her parents said that it was impossible, and that their family were only good for making coffee. Her parents previously owned a coffee shop in Canterlot, before they retired and let Lockheart's sister take over. The cakes however, had supported her all the way, and were happy when she moved to Ponyville to work at the hospital.
"Well, I've been invited to go to the Canterlot Mental Institution For The Criminally Insane, and study one of their patients!" Lockheart said, smiling the widest smile Cupcake had ever seen on a pony who wasn't Pinkie Pie.
"Well that's great, dearie!" Cupcake said with a smile, "Who will you be studying? Smoky Quartz? Pink Amber? Oooh, maybe White Aquamarine?" All were infamous killers, who killed as a group. Sisters as a matter of fact, as well as a brother who is still on the loose.
"Close, but no" replied Lockheart, as Cupcake had mentioned all but one of the sisters. "Blue Topaz" said Lockheart, raising her head and puffing her chest out as almost everypony knew that Topaz refused to talk to anypony. Except for her.
Mrs Cake's eyes widened. "Oh, well, that's good dearie but are you sure she's safe to be around? She was the leader of their group after all". Mrs Cake shuddered at just the thought of what those ponies had done...to kill so many of your own kind...it was awful. She hoped nothing like that would ever happen to her children, Pound and Pumpkin.
Violet seemed a bit on edge from what Mrs Cake said but maintained her smile, though it seemed more fake now. "I'm sure it'll be safe, the prison guards wouldn't let anything happen to me" she said, more trying to convince herself than Mrs Cake.
"Well, if you're sure, then we'll support you, dear" Mrs Cake replied. "When do you leave for Canterlot?"
"Two days" Violet replied, "That reminds me, I need to go find Twilight and ask her to help with packing, after all, she's the most organized mare in Ponyville." Violet quickly hugged Mrs Cake before running out the door, heading to the library.
"Hey Twilight, I need your help with something" Violet called as she entered the giant tree. She saw Spike dusting some of the shelves and waved at him before heading upstairs to find the purple unicorn. "Twilight?"
"Oh hey Violet, I thought I heard you" Twilight was using her magic to organize the books on her personal shelf, humming as she did so. "What can I help you with?"
"Well I was hoping you could help me pack. I've been invited to study a patient at Canterlot Mental Institution and I need to leave in 2 days." Violet explained, looking at the bookshelf briefly, then beginning to organize books herself.
"Wow Violet, that's great! And I can help you start packing now if you want, I don't really have much to do other than organize the bookshelves, which I can do pretty quickly some other time." Twilight said, flashing Violet a smile before placing the unorganized books into an organized stack.
Violet smiled back. "Thanks Twilight, I really appreciate it. Lets go, I need to get other stuff organized too so the sooner the better!" And with that, they headed back to Violet's place.
Once there, Violet explained more about the patient she had been invited to study. "Blue Topaz?! Seriously?" asked Twilight in disbelief.
"Yea" replied Violet whilst sorting an assortment of ties into a box. "I know she's dangerous, but I cant pass this opportunity up, Twi."
Twilight had a worried expression on her face whilst packing a set of quills, but then let out a sigh and said "I wont try and stop you, but I'll still worry about you, you're my friend after all."
Violet smiled. "Thanks Twi" she said, and walked over to give the unicorn a hug. Twilight hugged her back, and then they continued to sort. With her friend's ace organizing skills, Violet was completely packed in just over an hour.
