Whirlwind Love

Whirlwind trotted through the garden on her way to the front door of the house. She had made sure to wear softer shoes than normal today determined to not make as much noise. Tough Love and her last session had been on her mind the whole week. Her words to her about making her better, the things she brought up, and her in general. Whirlwind blushed slightly as she moved forward thinking about her. The training had always kept her so busy she never had time to look at other ponies and she thought Tough Love was very beautiful. Whirlwind was a bit envious wondering if anyone ever thought of her in such way. Like the previous week the front door was open with the note to come in. As she stepped on the hardwood floor there was a much softer clack. She reached the carpet and sat down waiting for her session and looked through the array of magazines for something to read. Fashion magazines all covered with Rarity, of course, Social and Society magazines with articles like ‘how to please your stud’. She just decided to wait quietly as none of those things interested her in the least. Suddenly one caught her eye as she set the others down. It had a pony on the cover in leather and a male pony on his knees. It seemed like an odd magazine for a Therapists Office but it was better than the others. Whirlwind blushed as she flipped through seeing various images of ponies tied up, being whipped, and other forms of submission. She stopped to glance over an article titled ‘Putting Kink into Kinky, knot work and binding tips’. She blushed brightly at the content of this magazine and skipped through the pages.

“Someone had to have left this here by mistake.” She whispered to herself as she continued perusing it. She had never seen anything like this before and was a bit stunned and dismayed. She just didn’t know what to think of the things she was seeing. While it was disconcerting there was a bit of excitement going along with it. It was a feeling similar to the time she got her fathers sword to play with. The trouble she would have been in if she had been caught. Was she doing something wrong by reading this magazine? It was just a magazine after all. Tough Love poked her head out of her office and grinned for a moment seeing what magazine she was reading.

“Whirlwind, you can come on in. I am ready to see you.”

Whirlwind jerked in surprise and fumbled to put the magazine away. She awkwardly got to her feet and strolled over to the office door and followed tough love inside and walked to the couch where she had sat the last time.

“Would you like something to drink?” Tough Love asked as she walked over to the table and poured some water into a glass with a slight grin.

“Water please?” She replied without looking up.

Tough Love glided over the floor with grace and handed her the glass before sitting across. She pulled out her tablet and pencil, she glanced along her notes.

“How are you feeling today?”

“F-Fine.”

“Did you have a good week since our last session? Any important events I should know about?”

“Not really. I sat in my room most the week when I wasn’t in training.”

“You were in training? I thought you weren’t on duty?”

“I’m not allowed to work with my squad and do drills but I still practice my skills with my spear and exercise.”

Tough Love nodded and took down a few notes. “Did you think about our last session at all?” She asked looking back up from her notes.

“A bit.” She said as the blush returned to her cheeks.

“Good, I want you to think about our sessions and reflect on them. It will give you a chance to work through some of the things we will talk about.” Tough Love took a sip of her own water and continued. “Today I want to talk about you interacting with other ponies. I think you need to find a way to get to know others outside of just duty. You need to make friends and get out of your room. How do you feel about that?”

“I can’t do that. They aren’t interested in getting to know me and in the end they will probably just end up making fun of me.”

“Has anyone made fun of you recently?”

“Not to my face, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t.”

“I noticed the magazine you were looking at”

“What!?” Whirlwind said in shock. Had she seen what she was looking at? Why would she be bringing it up?

“I said that I noticed you mentioned training. Do they make fun of you in training?”

“No, but there isn’t really time for anything like that, we all do our jobs. Recently I am alone during it anyway.”

“Perhaps others won’t outside because you will be out with them doing things.”

“Maybe” she said as she glanced up shyly

“Did you like what you saw in the magazine?”

“Wait, No I wasn’t …”

“Weren’t what? Are you okay? You seem a bit distracted today. I asked if training went well.” Tough Love studied her a bit and scratched notes on her tablet.

“Oh! I think I am just tired. I have been having nightmares so I haven’t been sleeping to well.” Whirlwind was relived she didn’t actually ask about the magazine. It had to have been her imagination.

“How often are you having these nightmares? Are they events that happened or things your mind created?”

“They are memories of how I was injured. I don’t have them often, once or twice a week is all.”

“That’s good. Dreams are a good way for us to process through emotions without them interfering with our daily lives. I think you getting out some will help that even more though. So let’s talk about how we can get you out more. What kind of things do you like to do?”

“I really don’t have any hobbies, Reading I guess?” She shrugged.

“What kind of things do you like to read about?” Tough Love grinned slightly as Whirlwind began to blush again.

“Fantasy … I read a lot of fantasy books.”

“That’s good. There are a couple book groups at the library, you should see if you can attend one of their meetings.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She sipped from the glass Tough Love had given her. “I don’t know if I would be very comfortable there, I won’t know anyone.”

“So you would feel more comfortable going to an event with someone you know? Would you actually go to an event if there was someone you did know?”

“Maybe? I don’t know for sure.”

“Well let’s come back to that in a bit then. Have you thought anymore about talking about your injury?”

“Not really. Think about it I mean.” Whirlwind turned to look out the window toward the castle.

“You don’t have to tell me now, but it would possibly give me a better idea of how to help you. Is it related to the castle?” Tough Love asked. “Each time I ask about your injury you look that direction.”

Whirlwind let out a heavy sigh and turned to Tough Love. “I was injured in the castle. During the changeling attack. My squad and I were assigned to the throne room and protecting the princesses. When the changelings broke through we tried to get the them clear but some of my own men had been replaced by changelings and turned on us. I ordered the remaining ponies to get the princess’ out while I stayed behind to by time. I was injured holding the position and the changelings were going to finish me off but a wall collapsed over us and I got buried in the rubble. The changelings nearest to me took the bulk of the hit and it wasn’t until after the battle was over that another guard happened to hear me and got em dug out. I don’t remember much after I was pulled out other than waking bandaged in the hospital a couple weeks after the event. After my bones healed and I was able to get back on my feet the put me back on duty only to take me off again and sent me here.”

“I heard of the battle, Both of the princesses were okay so you were successful in what you did. It was very brave to take them on yourself. You should be proud of what you did.”

“I was doing what I was trained to do. My job is to protect them at all costs.”

“Well I think what you did was amazing and you should too. Is that where your scar came from?” Tough Love pointed with the back of her pencil to the scar on Whirlwinds nose.”

“Yes, one of the only external wounds I had from the battle.”

“So do you think you hesitate as you mentioned last time?”

“I don’t want anyone to go through what I did. I laid there under those rocks feeling the life drain from my body and staring at the face of a changeling who was buried with me but died on the spot. The amount of time laying there waiting to die in pain, being completely helpless.”

“You weren’t helpless, you were able to make noise and be found. There are times where you may feel helpless and unable to do anything but in fact you still have a great deal of ability.”

Tough Love placed her tablet and pencil on a small table next to the chair and moved to the couch beside Whirlwind. She placed her hoof on whirlwinds and looked her in the eyes with a targeted gaze. “Whirlwind, you need to get to know other ponies and if they have interests similar to yours it will make things much easier. I have an event coming up in a few days. Think of it as a get together and I would like you to come. There will be lots of ponies from other places. While it is centered on a theme, those there have a wide variety of interests. It would be really good for you to come and I think it might help you a bit.”

“I’ll think about it.” Tough Loves hoof was warm on hers and felt nice.

“The event will be Friday evening, it starts at 8PM but why don’t you come over at 6PM. That way you and I can talk a bit before everyone arrives and I can make sure you are comfortable.”

“O-Okay.”

“I hope to see you Friday then. If not then I will see you the same time next week if that is still okay?”

“Of course.” Whirlwind spoke as she watched Tough Love walk back to her seat and pull her tablet back to her lap.

“Good. Let’s stop there for today. I want you to think about this appointment and the event. Getting to know others will help you get out of your shell and gain some confidence. Your hesitation in leadership and unwillingness to get to know other ponies personally is linked to the rejection from when you were younger and getting injured in general. They hurt you with words and the changelings hurt you physically. So we will work on that Friday I hope. Does that sound good?

“I guess. I will have to think about it but I will try to come to the event. How should I dress for it? What kind of event is it?”

“Just come as you are now. If you wish to dress up some you can, but it’s not required for your first time by any means.” Tough Love stood with Whirlwind Spear and took the glass from her. “See you then.”

Whirlwind stood with Tough Love and walked out of the office with a nod and thought about whether she could bring herself to attend the event. The idea of seeing Tough Love outside of therapy was a nice thought, but other ponies. That thought scared her as she recalled other events with lots of others. They had never ended well and she didn’t know if she wanted to relive that again. She only had a few days to decide.