"She is coping, or at least trying." I was looking at one of our therapists through a teleconference window. "But I can tell she's not taking it well. Every bit of news is a bit more stress, and she smiles as she loses it."

"Like a shatter proof window." He looked a bit oddly at me and my example. "She's cracking but not falling apart, but cracking all over." I made a wriggly motion with my fingers. "What can we do to help?"

"I'd normally say to send the patient home, but that's not really feasible. Failing that, friends and family, but that's also not feasible." He tapped a pen against his pad, slumped a bit in thought and concern, I supposed. "She is surrounded by her friends and confidants, but none of them are actually that. I can only imagine how horrifying that would be, to be in that situation."

I took a slow breath, trying to imagine that. They were a literal alien, and they knew what we...

"Can I talk to her?"

He perked up. "Why?"

Because I was the boss! I stamped down on that urge. That was a perfectly reasonable question. Don't be a bad boss! "I rejected a lot of what was being pushed on me. I may be something she can interact with that reminds of home, but isn't a stand in of a friend that's forgotten everything."

He looked thoughtful. "Hum... You have to be gentle. She could finish breaking, and if she does, she has every right to freak out, so please don't react back."

I was the overpowered reality controller. She was a scared pony. "Right. I promise not to be angry at her. She's in a terrible spot right now. I'm doing pretty good. I will take what she can sling at me."

"But don't be a statue," he hastily added. "She needs people who react, just... don't lash back at her."

I held up my mismatched hands. "Promise. I will be on my very best behavior. So you'll send her by?"

He sighed so dramatically. "Please be careful." And he hung up. Rude. I forgave him though. He was in an odd spot too. He wanted to help our new lemon pony, and would sending her to me help? Maybe... Maybe not.

"Excuse me?" There was our lemon pony, looking around curiously as she nosed into my office. "I was told to... come here?" She swallowed audibly. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"No! No no. You've done nothing wrong," I assured as I swooped in on her with a big smile.

"Discord!" She blurted, only to crash to her haunches. "Wait..." She inclined her head left and right quickly. "You... Discord... Say something."

"Hello?" I offered a hand towards her. "Do I remind you of someone?" Discord... Discord... Oh right! "Right! I talked to Discord."

Her eyes widened. "So you're not Discord. You don't look like him, now that I think about it." She shook her head slowly. "Um, hello... I'm Lemon Hearts." She tapped herself on the chest. "You're...?"

"Eri." I took her hoof and shook it gently. "Nice to meet you." I set my feet on the ground, allowing gravity to work, for the moment. "And I may be the boss, but I'm also a patient. We're both in an odd spot, and I want to help."

"If you're like Discord..." She tapped at the ground in a fidget. "You can just snap and have whatever you want, right?"

She did know me! Well, other me. That guy I met. "Basically, but, unlike him, I don't think the world is here to be my toy, and I don't like messing with things, especially if I can't predict what the consequences are."

"You sound nicer than him then." A smile, a real smile. "At least this world's Discord is responsible." She thrust a hoof at me as if to offer to shake, though I had just shaken it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Lemon Hearts. Now... if you have that kind of power, can you tear open a hole back to my home, please?"

Shit. I... technically could do that, I supposed. "The instant I do that, the two worlds are in contact." My mind whirred with possibilities. "Especially doing it here." As much as I watched and recorded others, I had no illusion that I was not being watched and recorded in return. "I don't want to risk your world getting involved."

Besides... "I have a theory, and it's a big one, and it may hurt your head."

She sagged. "I'd say I doubt it, but... fine." Flop, right onto her belly, eyes closed. "Fire."

Poor thing... I considered taking it back, but I had already said I was going to. If I just said 'nevermind' that would be almost as bad... "So, you. There's a very real possibility that you are a copy of Lemon Hearts. That there's a Lemon Hearts back home, in Equestria, living her life, unaware of any of this."

"Oh.... gosh." A line of tears escaped her clenched eyes. "And if you sent me back, then there'd be two lemons, and there's not room for that... Oh... Oh...." She brought up her hooves to rest on her temples. "Oh...." She was rubbing deeply and vigorously, as if trying to chase away a migraine, unsuccessfully. "Oh!" She flopped over onto her side, sniffling and almost writhing as she broke into quiet sobs.

I broke her... Crap... "I am so sorry. We made you, we're responsible for you. You are not being abandoned, I promise." I mean, technically Sunburst did that, but I was the boss. The buck stopped with me. A pity this was not working with her, lost in tears and little pitiful sniffles. Oh man, I really broke her. He asked me to be careful and I went right and broke her.

I set a hand on her quivering side as I sank down, sitting next to her. "I know it's really hard to imagine right now, but I've felt that kinda lost before. A lot of us here have... We don't look like it, all smiles these days... But we didn't start there... You can cry. Keep right on it. Get it all out, and I won't be mad."

A glance showed she was watching me with one big eye, the other facing away from me on the other side of her head. "What?" I asked with a little smile.

"That sure is not something Discord would ever say." She giggled weakly, transitioning to a sigh as she rolled upwards to her haunches. "I hear he's not a... bad creature, but he doesn't understand ponies. He isn't a pony." She inclined her head at me, looking me over. "But you're not him. I mean you're not even a him." She giggled at that, a little stronger. "Gosh, a girl Discord..."

"Eri," I reminded with my own little smile. "I know you didn't ask to come to this world, but, really, is a single one of us ever asked if we want to come to the world?"

Lemon blinked softly. "Gosh..." Oh no, did I break her again? "I never thought of it like that... You're not wrong... We don't get a choice there..." She quirked a smile. "And we're expected to thank the ones that did it."

I had to smirk at that. "Damn those jerks, making us celebrate the event."

"Seriously." She wiped her eyes with a sweep of her arm. "Speaking of... that... I really do want to meet your Sunburst. He's... kind of my dad. He made me, this me. Here me? I didn't ask him to, but who does?"

"Are you going to thank him, or punch him?"

She snorted softly, grabbing for a tissue I had on my desk to get on her nose and blow the snot out. "Is both off the table? I'm kidding... I don't want to hurt anypony. I'm sure he had his reasons... I'd like to hear them though. I want to meet him." She took a shaking breath. "He's my parent. He can take responsibility, right?"

"I'll reach out." I pantomimed reaching for something not there. "And let you know. Thanks for stopping by. By the way, are you up to talking about something I just wanna know? A selfish thing, really."

She raised a brow. "That's a very polite kinda selfish, if you ask first... Um, sure." An unsure smile appeared. "What's on your mind that you can't find out yourself?"

Technically, I supposed, nothing. If I was ready to break the rules, I could learn anything. I didn't like that... "The other me, the guy version." I traced a pattern in the air that became a floating image of Discord. "Tell me about this guy?"

"Gosh!" She raised a hoof to her chin. "He got up to all kinds of trouble, long ago, before I was born. He terrorized the world! At least Equestria, but maybe past that? I dunno... He made the world his playground and nopony could stop him, um, until they did at least."

He was a bad guy? Huh... "So you don't like him?"

"Well, that's not fair." She shook her head vigorously. "He came around. Twilight and her friends turned him around, showed him how to be a nice creature, and he's a lot better now, I hear. He still makes a mess, but he isn't trying to ruin the world. Foal steps?"

"Foal steps," I gently agreed, swooping up next to her for a sudden hug, which she returned. The room was quiet in our embrace. I could feel her shivering in my grip, but it was calming, just a little. A hug was exactly what she wanted, and what she got.

"Thank you." She stood up with a last little huff. "Thank you. This is... a lot, but hey, so is every birth, I guess. I'm just more together than a little foal would be, lucky me." She glanced away and back at me. "You won't tell me today, and maybe I'm not even ready... But I really do want to know my friends are alright. That my world's alright... Even if I never get back, I wanna know they're alright." She smiled thinly. "Even if you have to confirm there's another me, living the life I'd really like..."

"That's another topic for another day." I saw her out, still trembling a little. I had broken that glass properly, but, perhaps, that meant she could start to heal. I hoped...

"You did exactly what I told you not to do." Oops. That therapist did not look pleased.

And I kinda deserved it. "It had a happy ending," I lamely defended.

"It was a miserable start, more accurately." He fiddled with his glasses. "She's a mess. At least she's a more obvious mess now, instead of a simmering one waiting for the time to shatter. Permission to see her twice a week?"

"You can see her as often as she allows," I granted without resistance. "At least once a week until she's... recovered? Is recovered even the proper term for this?"

"It's the best word we have. Adapted? I will admit, this is the first time I've... I'm doing a first. I'm providing mental health services to what is in no way a human." He gestured a bit wildly at the camera. "She is not wired the same. She just isn't. She is not us. I don't mean that in a bad way. She seems very sweet and nice and completely alien."

"But she can hurt like us." I tapped two fingers together. "She can cry like us. She misses her friends, just like any of us would do. She can feel empathy for us, just like we do for her. She may be an alien, but that barrier is not complete."

"No.. No, of course not." He sat up straight. "Sorry if I implied that. She's a good person, that word that needs a new definition. I will try to do good by her."

No matter how bad any of us Ponid sorts got, we were human. She was, well, a mouse and an alien mashed together. We'd have to figure that out...

Author's Note

Oh gosh... This is a bit of a mess.

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