Author's Note

This chapter is very raw and unedited. I have a lot of stuff going on right now with family health issues and work, but wanted to get something out this week. If you see any errors, be sure to let me know and I'll correct them.

Chapter 18

“I think this is the fourth-year dorm,” Hannah said as they came up to another door.

“That there is what ya said about the last two,” Bright replied.

Hannah grinned. “But we're out of other options it could be, so this has to be it.”

“She's got a point,” I said.

Summer dug at the grass nervously. “I hope I'm not going to be late.”

We all entered the building and immediately found an earth pony stallion standing on two legs, mopping the floor. He paused his mopping and looked at us. “Summer Blaze? That you?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. Is this the fourth-year dorm? I have an appointment with Professor Psychic Calm, and I was told he was in this building.”

The stallion nodded. “Yep! Top floor. Please, keep your voices down as you go upstairs. These fourth-year students study extremely hard, so they like to keep things quiet. It's still early in the semester, but they're already hard at it. You don't have to be completely silent, but keep your voices to a whisper. However, the last floor before you reach him you do need to keep absolutely quiet. Those are the top students, and they get pretty intense about no noise—which works out, since the professor sleeps all day, and he probably appreciates they don't end up waking him up. Also, keep it easy on the guy, he's not in great shape. Oh! And if he has anypony in there with him, don't freak out about her. She visits sometimes.”

The stallion went back to moping, and we all looked at one another.

“Why would we freak out? Who might be there?” I asked.

“Best not to say. It will spread rumors,” the stallion replied. “Just don't freak out if she is there. She comes and goes as she pleases, and is an old friend of the doctor."

We gave each other apprehensive looks, unsure what to say about this mystery pony that would supposedly freak us out, although I was sure we were all speculating about it.

We headed up the stairs, one flight st a time, until we reached the top floor. As we went down the hall, we passed a unicorn who was reading in the hallway. As a fourth year, he was much bigger than us, basically full grown, and looked more like a stallion than a colt. He gave us a curious look as we passed by him, his eyes lingering longer on me and Summer than the rest, but didn't say anything to us.

At the end of the hallway was another stairwell, much more narrow than the main. We had to climb it single file, because of how narrow it was, and there was no source of light on it aside from the light that filtered up from the hallway below.

Summer led the way, and it only took a few seconds of climbing before she bonked her head on something, causing her to yelp in pain. She lit a small flame on her upturned hoof to give us all some light, and we could see the stairs ended abruptly at wooden trap door. She lit her horn and gently lifted it, revealing a room only slightly better lit than the stairway we currently occupied, although we could she flickering light, perhaps from a fire other than Summer's.

“Summer Blaze, I presume, and by the sounds of hooves on my stairs, you brought your support system. Please, enter, and make yourself comfortable,” a male voice said from within the dimly lit room. It was slightly raspy, as if each word took effort, and lacked any emotion to it. He could just as well be telling us to take out the garbage or reading a book in monotone.

We all slowly filed up the stairs, with me bringing up the rear. When we reached the landing, we found ourselves in a room with no windows, save one small one in the corner that was mostly shuddered. There was a fireplace with a small fire that looked to be in danger of going out. Like all professors, Professor Psychic Calm had many bookshelves, these ones all filled with books, but it was too dark for me to make out any titles. There was a single couch and a single chair. The chair was occupied by an old stallion heavily wrinkled with his flesh sagging. He was darkly colored, looking almost like he was burnt, and there was a dialysis machine hooked up to him with a currently unused oxygen machine close by. His webbed wings looked slightly tattered and fragile, not because of any injury, but by sheer age.

I also noticed a dark figure standing in the corner of the room. While clearly a pony, whoever it was stood taller than most, although not as tall as Princess Celestia, they were cloaked, and the shadows of the room obscured any further detail about them. The figure neither moved nor said anything to acknowledge our presence. The groundskeeper below had said she, in reference to the professor's mysterious visitor, so I presumed this figure was a her. It suddenly occurred to me who this pony must be, even if she did not want to bring attention to herself.

“Excuse my medical equipment. My health is not what it once was. Age catches up to us all in its own time. It is a natural part of life,” Professor Psychic Calm said, still in monotone. “Summer Blaze, please take a seat on the couch. The rest of you may pick anywhere out of the way to sit. I ask that you not riffle through my possessions, and only speak if Miss Blaze or myself asks you to give your perspective. Miss Blaze, you are free to speak whenever you wish. This session is for you.”

Summer cautiously climbed up on the couch and eyed the cloaked figure in the corner. “Who is that? Why are they here?”

The figure lowered her hood, revealing herself as Princess Luna. Summer and Bright both gasped, while Hannah and I showed no reaction. I'd thought it was obvious. Why were the Equestrians the ones to fail to figure it out?

“Be not alarmed, my little pony. I was merely visiting my son. I visit him frequently to see to his health. I don't intend on interfering with your session,” Princess Luna calmly explained with a smile.

“Son?!” Summer gasped in disbelief. She turned her gaping look to Professor Psychic Calm “You're Princess Luna's son?!”

Princess Luna having a son was news to me. I figured it was news to everyone. He wasn't a young guy either, so how had she managed to keep it a secret for so long? It also didn't make much sense. With how old this guy appeared to be, Princess Luna would have had to have given birth to him while she was still imprisoned on the moon. Unless there was a secret colony of ponies on Equestria's moon, that seemed unlikely.

“Not biologically, but that title is not without merit,” the professor answered, still completely monotone. “This session is about you, Miss Blaze, not me. Is the princess going to be too much of a distraction? I can ask her to leave if needed. I'm confident she doesn't want to impede your care.”

Summer rapidly shook her head. “No! She can stay. I'll pretend she isn't even there.”

The professor pulled out a notepad and grabbed a quill with his wing, gripping it with his wing thumb. “Good. Let us begin. Do you know why you are here, Miss Blaze?”

She lowered her head. “Because I set part of the park on fire.”

He made some notes. “Do you truly believe that to be the reason?”

She looked up at him. “What other reason could there be?”

“You tell me,” he said in the same monotone as he made another note. in

She frowned and rubbed her forehooves. “I guess it is because I'm stressed that I'm going to get kicked out of school for catching things on fire, and no kirin will be allowed back into the school and it will all be my fault.”

He made a few more notes. “That seems a more reasonable explanation on why you were sent to me. Tell me, do you think the administration was not aware that kirin turn into fiery niriks when angry?”

“Well, yeah, I'm sure they did, if they know anything about kirin at all,” Summer answered.

He nodded. “So, why do you think they should be upset if you occasionally go nirik?”

“I'm supposed to keep my temper under control!” Summer protested.

He looked at her. “You are how old, Miss Blaze?”

“Twelve,” she answered.

“So, you are getting ready to be a teenager,” Psychic Calm observed in the same dry monotone.

“I guess so. Why do you ask?” Summer replied.

“Are teenagers well known for being even-tempered in kirin villages?” he asked.

She blinked. “No…not at all. They get watched like hawks and if they get too angry the village elder dumps them in the river to calm them down.”

He made some more notes. “I see, and do you think pony foals elsewhere are known for being even-tempered through their teenage years?”

Summer looked unsure. “Um, I'm not really sure. I've never been away from my village before coming to this school. Can I ask my friends?”

“If you wish,” Psychic Calm replied, gesturing with his free wing towards us.

“Teenagers are moody,” I immediately said.

“Not every teenager, but a lot of them,” Hannah clarified.

“It's a stereotype thing, but ain't not true. Ah sure know some of mah cousins made a fuss when they were teens, an' don't even get meh started on my sis,” Bright said.

“I recall your sister. She had more than one visit with me during her time here,” the professor said in a bored tone.

Bright blinked. “Mah sis? Ya sure?”

“Perhaps it was another Apple family unicorn,” the professor backpedaled.

I'd seen Bright's family pictures. He had a huge family, but they were almost all earth ponies. I only remember seeing three unicorns, a lone pegasus, and one of the Equestrian crystal ponies out of all the pictures. One of those unicorns was Bright, and I presumed another was his mother, and the last to be his sister. There just weren't any other Apple unicorns. Bright had said his sister attended this school previously, and graduated, so that was the only person who made sense.

Summer laid her head down in frustration. “Well…it doesn't matter if it’s normal or not. I can't afford to get angry. I don't know why you even bothered pointing out it’s normal.”

“I am merely pointing out that it seems unreasonable that the administration would expect a filly going through this stage of development to not behave like a filly going through this stage of development,” Psychic Calm explained. “You seem to think that is a reasonable expectation, so please, explain why you think that. I wish to understand the reasoning behind your perspective.”

Smoke started to float off Summer's mane. “Are you trying to make fun of me?”

Psychic Calm calmly shook his head. “No. I only wish to understand your reasoning, and help you understand your own reasoning. I was once one of six. The others, who some might consider my siblings, tried to make those they aid understand the world through concepts that many would find negative but are things that serve essential evolutionary purposes that we would not survive without—fear, anger, lust, silence, and even accepting our own mortality and embracing death. I step away from strong emotion and instead trust in calm logic. That is what I bring to therapy. The first step in understanding what ails you is to first calm yourself, and then consider your problem with a dispassionate logical assessment. This does not discredit that your emotions are real, and that there may be legitimate reason to feel the way you do, but it is important to see if your emotions are running wild and clouding your judgment. So please, take a deep breath and consider the question I posed as one outside looking in.”

Wait…one of six siblings…could claim Princess Luna as a mother…one of the siblings focused on fear…this was one of the Queen of Nightmare's mysterious siblings, the ponies that Princess Luna granted power to on Earth. He certainly didn't look very special. Luna was supposed to have given these six great power, and great magical power normally extended lifespans. That didn't seem to be the case, because I had my doubts this guy would live to see our graduation.

Summer scowled, and the she must have at least partially caught fire, because the next instant she was physically trying to stamp out a flame on the couch she had been laying on.

“Sorry! Sorry!” she bleated as she stomped at the flame.

Princess Luna lit her horn and the fire went out. “Don't fret over this, my little pony, I will see that the couch is mended. Continue with your session, and don't read any ill will in my son's words. He means only to aid you, and is far older and far more experienced than you.”

Summer looked at the burnt spot on the couch and inched away from it, then seemed to think better of it and inched forward so she was covering the spot from view.

Psychic Calm set his notepad aside and looked directly at Summer. “Do you know this school used to do entrance exams in the auditorium?”

Summer blinked. “No, I didn't. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Twilight Sparkle took one of these entrance exams. The test she took was an older test to measure the foals' power levels that existed before the most modern methods you may have encountered on campus,” the professor said. “She was asked to do an impossible task, one that foals would not be aware was an impossible task, but trying to force it to happen gave the testing administrators the opportunity to measure the foals' magic output. It was a surprisingly cruel test for the school to administer, given it left the student feeling like they were failing. When I came here I recommended that the administration cease these types of tests, fearing they were damaging to the foals' self-confidence at a delicate stage of development.”

“That's nice of you, but I still don't understand,” Summer said in confusion.

“Twilight Sparkle had a similar incident to you. A rainboom triggered a surge, and it happened right in the middle of this test. My understanding was she was well on her way to passing, but the surge happening while she was already pushing herself as hard as she could caused magical chaos. She made a dragon grow to full size from an egg, and she turned several ponies into plants,” Psychic Calm explained.

“Turned them into plants??!!” Summer gasped in horror.

He nodded. “I would consider that considerably more serious than setting things on fire, not to mention damage done to the school when a full grown dragon burst through its roof. For this, she was instantly granted admission and even granted the honor of becoming Princess Celestia's first personal student since Sunset Shimmer, an honor the princess had been reluctant to extend to anyone since her previous student's fall from grace. Now, having heard that, what new perspective do you have on your own incident?”

Summer shook her head in confusion. “I don't understand. Why would they be so quick to admit her after she did so much damage?”

“Two reasons,” Psychic Calm answered. ”First, they saw her potential to do great things. Second, they saw her potential to do great harm. As a student of this school, they could guide her to the first option and away from the second. While administrations have changed, they all could agree that powerful ponies with potentially dangerous magic are better off being trained and guided to use their power responsibly for the greater good rather than to be sent off into the unknown, potentially bitter, and become a threat to themselves or others. The princess expressed deep regret that they never found out about Starlight Glimmer when she was a foal, and stated that she nearly did irreparable harm to Equestria before Twilight Sparkle took her under her wing.”

“So…they aren't going to kick me out…because they think I'm dangerous?” Summer asked, ears drooping.

“Not dangerous, but have the potential to become dangerous,” Psychic Calm corrected. “Out of all the first-year students, including your friends, your position is probably the most secure. That is not an absolute. If you slack off in your studies or go out of your way to make yourself a problem, that could lead to the school choosing to part with you. However, the combination of factors surrounding you would lead them to making that decision as a last resort. They understand that you have potentially dangerous magic. They understand that your control isn't perfect and occasional incidents may happen. They also understand you are a pony entering puberty and all that entails, and don't expect such a pony to be perfect in controlling their emotions. They also wish to foster good relations with the kirin tribe and dismissing the first kirin to be admitted to this school could sour relations, especially if the reason was the kirin was only doing what is natural for a kirin to do and not a legitimate academic reason. As long as you are making legitimate efforts to control your temper, the occasional outburst, even if it causes damage, can be overlooked. Don't take this as you having a free ride through school. If you underperform you may still be dismissed, and if you clearly aren't attempting to control your temper that could also reflect poorly, but you need not worry that because you have a slipup here and there that you will be immediately dismissed. What happened with the rainboom surge was no fault of yours.”

Summer frowned. “This doesn't feel like therapy. It feels like you just telling me a bunch of information I didn't know.”

Psychic Calm finally cracked a smile. “How can logic prevail without the facts?” He then did a pained grunt and pulled his head close to his body. Luna hurried to his side.

She looked briefly back at us. “I think that is all the session he can manage for today. I hope that he has put you more at ease. But, for now, it would be best if you depart.”

Summer wordlessly got down from the couch, giving the burnt spot a forlorn look. She then looked back at Psychic Calm and Luna, but they didn't seem to be paying her any further attention, and Luna was engaged in changing out something in Psychic Calm's medical stuff—it looked like a bag on his side that hadn't been visible due to his wing covering it. The bag smelled so awful I could smell strong enough that it made me feel ill as soon as she had removed it from him. The stench was enough to get us all moving quickly back to the stairs. What even was that? It smelled like particularly putrid diarrhea. I didn't understand how either of them could stand being near it without vomiting.

Still, I hoped this resolved Summer's fears. It certainly added a new layer of interest in our faculty. We had a very unusual and star-studded one.