Pascal's Scraps

"It's the stress," Lyra said. "It's just stress, is all. Bon Bon and I just adopted the baby, and you know how it is. Or do you? It's stressful, anyway. She just needed some space. Maybe you can just give me some pills, or something, and I can smooth it all over."

"I would prefer that you think of me as you would any other medical professional. The brain is an organ like any other, and sometimes it requires treatment. Having a mental or emotional problem is no more shameful than a cut or a broken bone. I am not here to give you some kind to test. I am your doctor, and I wish to help you, but for me to do that, I need to make an accurate diagnosis, so please be honest with me, and don't just tell me what you think I want to hear, or what you think will get you out of here the fastest. I would like to you to tell this 'invisible monster' you've been seeing."

but that damn shrink had this irritating polite smile that never wavered.

"It all started when I was on my way to the store to pick up some more disposable diapers," Lyra said. "I ran into Fluttershy by the fountain, crying her eyes out. She was a mess. She said that there were hurt animals turning up all over town. As she was talking, Sweetie Belle came down the street followed by this hunchbacked thing. It was tall. It stood on two legs, and it had two arms with long, boney hands."

"

"It wasn't a human. Well, maybe it was deformed one, I don't know. But it was all bent and twisted, like . . . like a piece of paper that's been wadded up and unfolded again. It was lumpy, and it's limbs were all different sizes."

"What did you do when you saw the monster?" Slip asked.

"Nothing at first. Nobody else paid any attention to it. Sweetie wasn't frightened of it, so I thought it was the other two in a costume with stilts, or something. They're always doing crazy stuff like that. Anyway, Sweetie was running up to the ice cream truck, and this thing was limping along behind her. She bought an ice cream cone from the guy, and was about to take a lick, when the thing leaned over and swatted it out of her hoof. She starts crying, and the guy, bless his heart, gives her another one, no charge. She was so happy! But then the thing just knocked it out of her hoof again! Then the guy got angry, 'cause he thought she was doing it on purpose, and drove off. At no point during that whole exchange did either of them so much as glance at the monster.

It followed Sweetie Belle around for a while after that. That's what it did. It followed people and messed with them. It would take people's things and hide them, like keys, or it would steal money out of people's pockets and throw it in the trash, or leave sharp things where people would step on them.

It got worse  as the day went on. Sweetie was walking by Daisy's shop, and the thing threw a rock through the window. Daisy comes out and starts yelling at Sweetie, and then Rarity comes over. They argue for a while, then Rarity paid for the window and scolded Sweetie for lying, then took her home. Once again, nobody acknowledged the monster standing right in front of them.

"I don't mean to pass judgment," The doctor said. "But since you seem to have been upset by this, why did you not try to stop it?"

"Well… I mean, I did, but not right away." Lyra said.  "It wasn't actually hurting anyone at this point, so I just watched it and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. This thing was bullying Sweetie Belle and committing crimes in broad daylight, right in front of everyone, and nobody noticed. It like it was, well…"

"Invisible?"

"Yeah.  After that, it went after animals, and that's when it started getting really cruel. It kicked dogs and stepped on cats. It would wait by bird feeders, and grab birds that came by, and twist their wings. Never when it thought anyone was looking, and it never killed any of them. It just hurt them, and placed them where Fluttershy would find them.

"It had a squirrel. One hand clamped around the poor thing's body like a vise, and the other was pulling on one of the legs, like it was trying to rip it off. It started twisting, and…"

"I threw a rock at the monster and yelled 'Hey!'. It skittered back and dropped the squirrel, and then we just stood there starting at each other for awhile. I grabbed another rock, and the thing ran for the forest.

"And suddenly, it freezes, and looks right at me. We just stared at each other for a few minutes.

"I took the squirrel t knew I could see it."

"Did you tell Fluttershy about the monster?" The doctor asked.

"I tried, but… How the hell do you explain to someone that there is an invisible monster that only you can see? I mean, look at how well this is going. You just think I'm making all this up."

The doctor was silent for a long moment, chewing his lip.

"Why don't you take a break from your story for a moment, and allow me to tell one of my own?" he finally said.

Lyra sighed heavily.

"Who's paying for this session?" she asked.

"The payment is covered by the state, Lyra. You needn't worry about me wasting your time," Slip replied with a little chuckle.

Lyra slumped back into the couch.

"Fine. Whatever. Tell your story, then."

"When my wife and I first moved into our house here in Ponyville, about three years ago, she became convinced that there was a ghost in the house.

"So whenever

"So what's that supposed to mean?" Lyra asked. "You think animals have been having their legs broken by gusts of wind?"

"The point I am trying to make is that I do not think that your story is a lie. I believe you experienced something. What exactly you "

"It wasn't like that!" Lyra said. "The monster did thing that couldn't just be explained away like that!"

"After I scared it off, I didn't see it again for about a week. Then one night, after Tootsie was in bed and we were watching T.V., it just showed up at our house. It stood right in front of the T.V. and stared at me.

"I said 'Bon Bon, can you see that?' and pointed. She said "Yeah, I can't believe Vinyl Scratch hasn't been voted off by now. Her music is the most awful thing ever created by a sentient being, including the guillotine."

"It was standing in the living room, waiting for me to come home, holding a knife. It pointed at Tootsie's room, and wiggled the knife around.

"I went to the closet, grabbed my baseball bat, and I beat that thing's ugly ass with it!"

"It didn't stab or slash at me. It grabbed my hoof and tried to draw the blade along my wrist.

"So, you don't have any injuries from the fight?"

"Don't you get it?! It was trying to make it look like I'd committed suicide! That was it's plan! If it had just stabbed me, there would be an investigation. Someone would find it eventually. It did all of this stuff, the breaking the cups and threatening Tootsie; all of that was to make everyone think I was crazy! After that, all it had to do was kill me and make it look like a suicide, and then it could go back to tormenting everyone!"

"Lyra, please calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Lyra shouted. "That monster could me murdering my family right now, but instead of hunting it down, I'm stuck wasting my time in here!

"Have you ever heard of Descartes' evil genius?"

"Yes. It's the idea that if there was a being of sufficient power that could alter your perceptions, a mad scientist with a machine that could make you hallucinate, for example, then you would be helpless. Without the use of your senses, you would have no way of telling reality from what he wanted you to see. You couldn't even tell if you were being fooled at all."2

The door to Dr. Slip's office opened.

Lyra whipped her head around and stared in horror.

"Doctor!"

"Ms. Heartstrings, please be calm."

"You saw the door! The door couldn't have just opened on its own! It's him, Doctor! He's right there!"

"Remember my haunted house story?"

"The door was latched! Even if there was a gust of wind, or whatever, it wouldn't just come open unless someone turned the handle!"

"The latch on that door has needed to be replaced for a while now. Sometimes it doesn't stick, even if you push it in all the way. You have to fiddle with it a bit to get it to latch. You were the last one to come in, and you didn't know about it. It's quite reasonable

"I can keep an eye on him."

"Doctor, he's right there at your desk. If you just reached behind you, you could touch him."

"Help! Security!"

"Take her away," The doctor said shakily, rising to his hooves. "There's nothing more I can do."

The guards pinned Lyra's forelegs behind her back and dragged her from the room.

"No!" Lyra yelled. "Touch him! He's right there! Touch him!"

***

Dr. Slip sat at his desk for a long time. He wondered if he could get the room cleaned up in time for the next client. Shattered glass and objects scattered haphazardly around the office didn't exactly create a soothing environment for the emotionally disturbed.

Equestria had a very progressive justice system. The emphasis was on treatment and rehabilitation, rather than punishment. It was believed all crime was due to some form of mental illness. Either from poor emotional control, imbalanced brain chemistry, or simply being set on the wrong path in life, lacking the necessary knowledge or skills to function in a civilized society. Making such people suffer as punishment for their crimes did society no good. The state did everything possible to rehabilitate criminals. After all, happy, productive citizens did a lot more for society than miserable prisoners sitting in cells and hemorrhaging tax dollars.

Unfortunately, there were always a few cases that simply couldn't be helped. Some ponies, for one reason or another, just didn't have what it took to participate in society. They needed to kept in secure facilities where they could be cared for without being a danger to themselves or others. Dr. Slip hoped that the professionals at Ponyville Asylum could help Ms. Heartstrings, but from what he'd seen in their short meeting, it didn't look good.

How could anyone function if they believed there was an invisible monster on he loose?

He rose slowly from he chair, and, standing on his hind legs, he began to feel around with his hooves. He moved in a slow circle around his office, groping blindly in the air. He felt around the couch, behind the plant, even under his desk, but there was nothing there. Nothing he could feel.