It just so happened that my next therapy session had been scheduled not long after the Gala. Now, it's not like I hated therapy, or my assigned therapist, Sound Mind, I just found the whole thing... uncomfortable. The stallion was nice enough, but I didn't like the questions he asked—I didn't like how vulnerable they made me feel, and the piercing gaze he would give me occasionally didn't help.

It felt like he was seeing right through me—like he was reading my mind.

I'd only had a total of two therapy sessions so far since the exam—one a few days after I'd gotten out of the hospital, and another not long after I'd moved into the castle. The first time had been more for an introduction than any actual session, and the second time had been Sound Mind more or less getting to know me. I'd only met the stallion twice, but both times he'd given off this mysterious air that kept me at a distance.

Up until the third session, I hadn't really said much about myself or what I was thinking, but that was before the Gala. Back then, I didn't have any kind of emotional baggage weighing me down, at least, not that I knew about. Then that night happened, and it left me a confused mess.

It left me vulnerable.

It was only a day or two after I'd had my talk with the Princess that Sound Mind came to visit me at the castle. In lieu of an actual office, we used the private sitting room near Celestia's chamber this time around. It made me all the more nervous about speaking my mind, but both the Princess and Sound Mind assured me nopony other than the therapist would hear what I had to say.

Sound Mind mentioned something about a patient confidentiality clause that even Princess Celestia herself had to follow. It did little to quell the unease, but I nodded along nevertheless and we proceeded to talk for the third time. What follows is an account of that third session, and in telling you this, perhaps you might understand why I found Sound Mind so unsettling.

The setting may have been different than the last two times I'd seen the psychotherapist, but the meeting played out more or less the same. I sat in one of the rather cushy white armchairs, and Sound Mind took the seat opposite me. There was a clipboard along with a pencil, both of which he'd set off to the side.

In both the meetings we'd had before, I had never once seen the stallion write anything down on, or even look at the clipboard he kept with him. It's like he brought them as a formality as opposed to actually having a need for them. At the time I thought it might've just been because he thought it might look awkward mouth writing after everything I said.

Hoof writing was a skill most ponies tended to pass on due to the difficulty involved in mastering tactile magic. It was easier for earth ponies, but even then, many thought it simply wasn't worth the trouble. It was a skill mostly used by earth ponies whose jobs revolved around dealing with lots of paperwork. I just assumed Sound Mind neglected to learn how to write with his hooves and didn't want to bother with his notes.

Between the two of us was a low coffee table with two mugs sitting atop it. At the Princess's insistence, a maid had brought both of us something to drink. Sound Mind had asked for some actual coffee, and I'd gotten some hot cocoa. It wasn't all that cold in the room, but it was getting closer to winter and the weather was getting colder. I figured if I had to drink something it was as good a time as any for the warm beverage; that, and it was one of my favorite drinks growing up.

There was a moment of silence between us as Sound Mind took some time to sip his coffee. I watched him somewhat warily, shifting uncomfortably in my seat from nervous anticipation. I couldn't help but wring my hooves at the thought of what kind of probing questions he would ask.

The stallion didn't look intimidating in the slightest; he was a tall, thin earth pony with a tan coat and a short, neatly cut black mane and tail. Beneath his horn-rimmed spectacles were calm, intelligent, piercing amber eyes that almost seemed to glow in the rather dim light of the sitting room.

That last part may have just been my imagination, but that didn't ease the nervous lump in my throat. Honestly, aside from his eyes, he didn't exactly cut a very imposing figure overall, but then again, it wasn't his overall appearance that made me shy away.

"It's good to see you again, Twilight," he began, setting his mug back down on the table before speaking again, "how's life been treating you since we last met?"

The stallion had a pleasant voice; deep, but not overly so. The way he spoke reminded me a bit of my dad, but rather than comfort me, it only made things that much more eerie. I winced slightly at the question and took a moment to answer, my gaze locked squarely on the table in front of me.

"I got attacked during the Gala," I muttered, slightly annoyed at the particular question. I flashed a quick frown in his direction before lowering my eyes once more, "didn't the Princess tell you about what happened?"

"That she did," Sound Mind replied with a sad shake of his head, "a terrible business, that. I'm glad you managed to make it through such a nasty experience," he leaned forward and gave me that look; that intense, searching gaze he used sometimes, "yes, Twilight, I'm aware of how you might be feeling, but I'd like to hear it from you. Do you think you'll be okay? Mentally, I mean."

I looked away and shrugged half-heartedly.

"I'll probably be fine after awhile," I replied quietly, "I'm a little angry about what happened, but—"

"Angry?" he interjected with a raised brow, "not scared? Aren't you horrified that you may have very well died down there in that dungeon? Most foals your age would be terrified to leave their room after what I'd heard you experienced."

"I don't know," I murmur, shrinking in on myself, "I... I mean yeah it was scary, but the Princess came and everything worked out, right? B-Besides, it's not like Crimson Storm was trying to hurt me," I couldn't help a small scowl cross my lips, "it was Blueblood who did that. And that stupid Winter Chime pushed me down the stairs, a-and then Blueblood, he wanted me to..."

I snapped my mouth shut and froze, the memory of what Blueblood had told me about his father running through my mind. That inevitably caused me to think about my own thoughts as I listened to him, and that made me remember what I wanted to do to Blueblood.

What I almost did.

"...Twilight?"

I blinked and looked up to see Sound Mind frowning at me in concern. He no longer had that strange searching look, but his eyes were still fixed on me. I grimaced and looked away again, upset that I'd already said so much and almost revealed something that should've never come to light.

"I'm fine," I huffed, "yeah, I was scared before, but the Princess saved me and she told me Blueblood got punished, so there's no reason to be scared anymore."

"And what of the mare? Crimson Storm I believe her name was?" Sound Mind asked leaning back in his seat, "she may not have intended to harm you as you say, but that doesn't change the fact that she very nearly killed a foal right in front of you. Surely that must've left you shaken?"

My mouth twitched at the word 'kill', but I held my silence for another moment and thought about my answer. I should've expected the stallion to be that direct; he'd been that way from the beginning, always cutting to the heart of the matter and asking the hard questions.

"I... well... i-it did, but..." I struggled with my words, but Sound Mind merely continued to watch me patiently. Seeing his calm, expectant expression, something clicked in my mind and I frowned—my tone growing suddenly cold, "...I'm trying not to think about it."

Sound Mind eyed me with an inscrutable expression for a long second before giving a small chuckle and reaching for his coffee mug.

"I see," the stallion replied after taking another sip of coffee, "I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable with my questions, Twilight, but I'm worried for you, and I'd be rather remiss in my role as a therapist if I didn't try to pry a little. I'd like you to open up a bit more sure, but like I said in our last meeting, you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready for me to hear."

I didn't have a response to that, so I remained silent and waited for him to speak again. He held his mug in one hoof and idly tapped the arm of the chair with the other, seemingly lost in thought as he watched me. It went on long enough that I was about to say something about it, but then he finally spoke again.

"This anger of yours," he began, "where does it come from? From what the Princess tells me, you seemed to have formed quite the bond with Crimson Storm despite the fact that you two hadn't known each other all that long. Are you upset because the Captain wasn't punished for his supposed crimes against Crimson Storm?"

"Well... yeah!" I snapped, rising up in my seat, "it's not fair! That evil pony hurt Crimson Storm so much for so long, and he's not gonna get any kind of punishment for it! Nopony's saying anything about what happened, not even Crimson Storm herself! The Princess can't do anything because there's no evidence anypony can use against Blueblood's dad, and... a-and... um..."

My angry tirade ground to a halt as I stared at Sound Mind. He looked as calm as ever, but that eerie look had returned, and as I trailed off, he took the opportunity to speak in my place.

"You're mad that justice hasn't been served then?" he inquired softly, "you're angry that Captain Blueblood is going to get away with the abuse of a poor mare who only lashed out at his son because she felt she had no other choice."

An odd smile crossed his face, and something about it made me shiver slightly.

"She wanted revenge, and she felt killing the Captain's son was the only way she was going to get it," he continued, taking another sip of coffee and leaning forward to place the mug back on the table, "and you sympathize, don't you?"

My mouth opened, but no words came out. I slowly sunk back into my chair and tried to think of a response, but all I could manage were a few stuttering, half formed words. Sound Mind ignored them and pushed on.

"No... it's more than that, isn't it?" he pressed, his strangely bright amber eyes staring deep into my own wide amethyst eyes, "there's something that's not being said here—something very integral... a much deeper issue that hides just beneath the surface..."

It felt like the air was growing colder by the second, and I found it hard to look away from the stallion's burning gaze. This had been by far the most unnerving therapy session I'd had with Sound Mind, and I had to resist the urge to flee from the room—from the stallion's piercing amber eyes.

Then, the therapist leaned back in his chair and sighed, and just like that, all the tension in the air vanished. His strange smile vanished along with it and was replaced with a more kindly sort of grin.

"...but I can see I've made you uncomfortable yet again," he continued in a more measured, friendly tone, "I apologize, Twilight. I'm good at what I do—very good, but I tend to get a bit carried away when I feel I've gotten close to a breakthrough. It's the reason I don't get as many clients as I'd like," he shrugged, "I'm trying to work on that, but old habits die hard, y'know?"

At my lack of a reply, Sound Mind sighed again and picked up his clipboard from where he'd set it. To my surprise, he began writing down something on the parchment attached to the clipboard with a steady looking hoof. Despite being shaken by Sound Mind's earlier words, I couldn't help but wonder why he'd forgone the use of his notes if his hoof writing was so fluent.

The next few moments passed in relative silence as Sound Mind continued to write something down on his clipboard. It gave me a chance to calm down and think about my situation and the therapist's words. I wasn't sure how much he'd guessed, and wondered just how he'd even guessed how I truly felt at all.

I couldn't wrap my head around it, and if I was being honest, it kind of scared me. This was why I didn't like talking to Sound Mind; every time I did, I couldn't stop myself from giving something away, and when I did, he always managed to drag out much more information than he should've been able to. I was afraid if I'd said anything else, he'd find out exactly what I'd been desperately trying to hide.

"Alright, Miss Sparkle," he finally said after placing the clipboard down in front of him, "I did have a few more general questions and some other matters to discuss, but I think after everything that's happened to you recently, it would be prudent to end our session here for today. You're clearly still stressed about the situation and in my opinion it might be better to give you some time to clear your head."

I gave an audible sigh of relief at that, letting out a breath I hadn't noticed I was holding. The therapist chuckled at my reaction to the news, but then frowned at me as I went to hop off my chair.

"Before we end things here though," he began, causing me to stop, grimace slightly, and slowly ease back into my chair, "there is one more thing I'd like to ask you. I know I've said you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to tell me, but if you could give me an honest answer, I'd greatly appreciate it."

"Um... okay?" I replied hesitantly. I wasn't sure I liked where this was going, and the fact that his intense expression had returned with a vengeance only made me worry more, "I guess that's fine... i-if it's just one more question..."

My regret in saying that was immediate, but it had already been said, and besides that, there was something different about the way he looked at me. He looked... needy, like he was desperate for an answer to the question he wanted to ask. It was weird to be sure, but I found myself not wanting to turn him down outright.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Twilight," he replied gratefully, a small smile breaking out on his face. He relaxed a bit and cleared his throat before speaking again, "now then, my question for you is this..." he paused, seemingly for effect, then looking me dead in the eye, he asked, "...given the opportunity—if it was up to you, and if there were no consequences for your actions—how would you punish the Captain, Twilight Sparkle? What would you do?"

The question floored me.

Once again, the stallion had cut straight to the heart of the matter, and that question alone had revealed he knew something about the true nature of my thoughts. Perhaps I was looking too deeply into it, but as I said before, my imagination tended to run away with me when I was a filly, and all I could think of at the time was 'he knows!'

My eyes were wide and panicky, my heart was racing, and my breathing grew shallow as my imagination ran wild with horrible possibilities. What is he going to do? What if he tells the Princess? What would she do? Would she drop me as a student? Would she do to me whatever she did with Crimson Storm?

Those thoughts and more swirled around and around in my head and my fear grew more and more; that was, until Sound Mind spoke again, his calm and pleasant voice breaking through the mire of distress that was building inside me.

"There's no need to panic, Twilight," he assured with a kind smile and placating raise of his hoof, "as I said, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he took up his mug and finished off the rest of his coffee before giving a soft, satisfied sigh, "if you'll allow me to be completely candid for a moment, this is more for my own curiosity than anything else."

"Your... curiosity?" I asked, nonplussed at the nonchalant admittance.

"That's right," he nodded and put the mug back down, "as I've said before, I don't get to work with very many clients, and even less in your... unique position. This may be a bit unprofessional of me to say, but as a client, you fascinate me, Twilight Sparkle."

"I do?" I asked, taken aback, "why? How?"

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure myself—not yet anyway," he replied with a thoughtful hum, "but I'd like to find out. Thus, the question," he gave me an apologetic smile, "again, I'm sorry for causing so much undue stress, but always remember that, barring a few extreme circumstances, everything said between the two of us is absolutely confidential."

"Yeah, but..." I bit my lip and stared down at my hooves, "I don't really know if..."

With my head down, I couldn't see Sound Mind's expression, but I could hear the concern in his next words.

"Twilight, I know there's something you're afraid to tell me—afraid to tell anypony," he said after a second or two. I stiffened and snapped a fearful look in his direction, but the stallion only smiled back, his eyes full of warmth and understanding, "but I want you to know that I'm here to help. I know that there are some things that can't, and shouldn't be bottled up."

"I know that," I replied without much confidence, "I know what you mean. The Princess already told me that, but..."

"...but?" Sound Mind urged.

I squirmed for a bit, both mentally and physically, unsure of what to do. I had initially planned not to tell the therapist anything, but somehow he'd already almost guessed at my true feelings, and he was right in a way. At this point I wasn't sure how long I could keep up hiding such a dark secret, especially from somepony as perceptive as Sound Mind.

Maybe I would feel a bit better if I told Sound Mind something about what was really going on. Not everything, but maybe if I told him about that dream, he might be able to shed some light on what was happening to me. That was what he was there for after all, and he did say he was legally required not to tell anypony what we talked about.

"I've... had strange dreams," I began reluctantly, "ever since I got out of the hospital after... what happened back then."

"The exam," Sound Mind muttered, to which I nodded silently. He gave another thoughtful hum, "does the Princess know about these dreams?"

"Nopony does," I replied with a shake of my head, "up until the night of the Gala, I didn't even remember the dreams I had. I just know they were... weird. They made me feel... weird."

"I see," Sound Mind replied, "can you describe that feeling in more detail?"

"Not really," I answered, frowning as I tried to remember the sensation, "I just remember feeling scared and... something else."

"And you said you hadn't remembered any of these dreams until after what happened during the Gala," the stallion surmised, "I take that to mean this was the first time you've actually kept the memory of what happened in those dreams?"

I gave an affirmative nod, but didn't say anything, prompting Sound Mind to continue.

"There is something I find rather strange," he said, tapping his chin, "you call them 'dreams', but your behavior and unwillingness to talk about them would indicate them to be 'nightmares'. You even said yourself that you felt scared when you woke up even though you didn't remember anything."

"I don't know," I replied, my eyes still firmly locked on my hooves, "they might be nightmares, but they don't really feel that way to me. It's just that... the things that happen in the dreams... they're bad things. Really bad things."

Sound Mind was quiet for another long moment—long enough for me to look back up at him out of nervous curiosity. He wasn't looking at me, but rather seemed to be lost in thought about something. His eyes had wandered off towards some point in the distance and his mouth was turned down in an odd frown.

"Um... Mister Sound Mind?" I asked worriedly, "a-are you okay? Did I... say something wrong?"

"Hm?" he muttered, blinking and turning to look back at me. He cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly, "ah, sorry about that. No, you haven't said anything wrong, Twilight. Please continue," he motioned for me to speak, "can you tell me a bit about the dream you remembered?"

"Well, it was about Blueblood—the Captain's son I mean," I began, swallowing nervously. I wanted to stop there before I said anything else, but I'd already started and figured it was now or never, "in the dream I did something horrible to him. A lot of horrible things actually."

"Such as?" Sound Mind asked.

I watched him silently for a moment, looking for something in his expression. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but whatever it was, I didn't find it, so I continued.

"I... we were back in the dungeons, but this time I was the one standing over Blueblood..."

As I told Sound Mind what had transpired, my mind went back to the dream, its contents still horribly vivid in my mind. Even now, all these years later, I can still remember how our roles had been reversed...

I was the one standing over Blueblood in that dark, damp dungeon. My leg had only been sprained, but I'd made sure Blueblood's was completely broken as I slammed into it with a thick iron bar I'd picked up from somewhere. It took a few hits, but eventually there was a loud, satisfying snap, and unfortunately for him, I didn't know any healing magic.

Crimson Storm was nowhere to be seen, nor was Celestia, Greedy Gut, or Winter Chime. It was just the two of us, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I remember just standing there for the longest time, simply enjoying Blueblood's wordless cries of pain. At one point he threatened to tell his father what I'd done, but that only made me laugh.

Then I shut him up with a telekinetic swing of the bar. It connected to his jaw with an audible crunch, and I was happy to hear something break. It may have been a dream, but I swear I could feel the impact of the blow, and it sent shivers down my spine. A foalish giggle escaped my lips as I lowered myself down to his level so that we were face to face.

"You're not gonna tell daddy about me because I won't let you," I whispered, softly tapping the iron bar against the mangled side of his face. He whimpered again and my grin widened, "and even if he did come through that door right now, it wouldn't matter, because I'd just do the same thing to him that I'm gonna do to you."

Those were the first and final words I spoke to the colt before madness and bloodlust took over. What followed next couldn't be described as anything other than me beating Blueblood into a pulpy mass of fur and bone and flesh. I stabbed at him with the sharp end of the bar, piercing the skin anywhere I thought wouldn't be fatal. I smashed at his ribs and spine until I heard them break, then hit him a few more times for good measure.

Then a few times more because it just felt that good.

On and on and on it went for I don't know how long. His screams never let up, no matter how much I brutalized his poor twisted frame, and my laughter never stopped. Both the floor around us and my face, chest and front legs were speckled and spattered with red so dark it was almost black in the dim light.

I wasn't too familiar with how dreams affected the senses, but I know they shouldn't have been as strong as they were then. The smell of copper was thick in my nose, and its taste was overpowering, but all of that only enticed me to hit Blueblood that much harder.

Each heavy thud of the bar against Blueblood's increasingly motionless body grew a little wetter until it became a horrible, beautiful squelch. It was a bittersweet sound, because it meant that my fun was just about over. I pouted for a moment as the colt screams died down to gurgles and his eyes began to flicker closed.

Then I got an idea.

With a smile as wide as the ocean, I let the magenta aura around the bloody iron bar fade and it fell to the floor with a loud clang. That done, I lit up my horn again and grabbed hold of Blueblood's head, causing the colt to perk back up despite his broken, near unconscious state.

I couldn't help but laugh again at his horrified expression. It was comical in its intensity, and was made all the more so as I started to mentally squeeze his head in. I wasn't sure whether or not I was strong enough to cave in somepony's skull with just my magic alone, but it seemed I'd softened up his head enough to make it work.

I was even able to wring one last gurgling scream out of him before the pressure grew too great. I was giddy with anticipation, my heart racing as I watched his face twist and contort into all kinds of funny shapes. I just continued squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until—

"I believe I've heard quite enough for now, Miss Sparkle."

The calm tone of Sound Mind's voice snapped me out of a reverie I hadn't even known I was in. I blinked a few times and looked around the room, feeling disoriented, groggy, and slightly giddy.

"Huh? What..." my confused gaze eventually rested on the therapist's passive face, "Mister... Sound Mind? What happened?"

"A very good question, that," he replied easily, before leaning forward, "why don't you tell me, Twilight Sparkle? What do you think happened?"

"Well," I began, scrunching my face up in thought, "we were talking about my dream and..." I froze, my face gradually growing paler as realization washed over me, "a-and I... oh..."

I started to shake violently, tears filling my wide, horrified eyes as I tried to remember exactly what I'd told Sound Mind. The words I used escaped me, but I knew without a doubt I'd told him everything about that dream—far more than I meant to, and probably in gruesome detail.

"Oh no..." I muttered weakly, "nononono... no—I didn't mean... I..."

"Twilight relax," Sound Mind said in as soothing a voice as he could muster, "I'm not here to judge you—"

"I'm a monster," I continued as I started to hyperventilate, "I'm just like the Captain—worse than him! Those noble ponies were right, I shouldn't be here! I don't deserve to be the Princess's student! I should be locked up or sent to Tartarus o-or... or—"

"Twilight!"

I started at the stallion's stern tone and looked up at him, shivering and sniffling all while. Once he had my attention, he eased back in his chair and gave me another warm, understanding smile. It wasn't as potent as one of Celestia's smiles, but it was still surprisingly effective.

"There's no need to panic," he said softly, "everything is going to be okay, do you hear me?"

"But it's not!" I whined, "ponies don't have those kinds of dreams! They don't do the things I did! I'm not normal, and when the Princess finds out she—"

"She's not going to find out."

That stopped me cold and all I could do for the next few seconds was stare at the stallion in disbelief.

"W-What?" I nearly whispered.

"She's not going to find out," Sound Mind repeated seriously, "Twilight, since you opened yourself up to me, I'm going to be honest with you," he looked at me from over his horn rimmed glasses, his strangely intense gaze unfiltered by the spectacles he wore, "if I were any other therapist, I'd most likely have reported what you've told me to the Princess and let her sort out the issue."

My heart leapt into my throat at Sound Mind's words, but before I could say anything, he raised a hoof.

"Let me finish please," he continued quickly. He waited until I'd closed my mouth before speaking again, "thank you. Now as I was saying, if you'd told me about this dream with any sort of horror or regret or guilt, we wouldn't have had a problem, but that wasn't the case here."

"What do you mean?" I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer, "what happened? What did I do?"

"That right there is one of the problems," he replied, pointing at me, "the fact that you don't even remember what you said to me might suggest something serious," he lowered his hoof and shook his head slowly, "for your sake I won't repeat back what you said to me or how you said it, but I do want you to know that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell anypony else about your dreams."

"W-Wait," I replied, my fear and panic slowly giving way to hope, "so... you're telling me to keep it a secret? You want me to keep it a secret?"

"I do," he nodded, "and though any good therapist worth their salt would do otherwise, I'm also going to keep our conversation a secret."

"But w-why?" I hiccuped. I didn't want to push my luck, but I had to know, it didn't make any sense to me then, "I'm a bad pony! I... I wanted to... t-to..."

"It's because I don't think you're a bad pony," Sound Mind replied kindly, "I just think you may be confused and scared by both recent events and what happened during the exam. There may some residual trauma left over from the exam, and your mind may be trying to cope with it in strange and unexpected ways, but I truly believe you can overcome something like this on your own."

He stood from his chair, trotted around the table to where I sat and put a hoof on my shoulder. He removed his glasses and looked down at me with such sternness and confidence that I couldn't help but believe every word he said to me.

"I'll say it again. You, Twilight Sparkle, are not a bad pony," he exclaimed with absolute conviction in his voice, "you may have bad thoughts every once in awhile; you may hear voices in your head that tell you to do bad things, but all you have to do is ignore them and you'll be fine, do you understand?"

"I just have to ignore them?" I repeated timidly, to which he nodded emphatically. I blinked and looked at my own hooves, feeling a strange but welcome sense of relief flood through me, "I just have to ignore them. I... I can do that."

"Good girl," Sound Mind chuckled, patting my shoulder before stepping away and back towards his own chair, "just remember what I told you and everything will work out," he gathered up his pencil and clipboard as he sat back down, then looked at the old grandfather clock sitting at one end of the room, "ah, it looks like we finished just in time for the Princess's first recess," he turned back to me, "I still have something I need to take care of, so why don't you go on ahead and let her know we're done here?"

"Oh... o-okay then," I replied, leaving my untouched cup of hot cocoa on the table and hopped down from my seat and quickly headed towards the sitting room entrance. I was more than happy to leave the stallion to his own devices, but as I neared the large, oaken door I stopped and turned to give the therapist one last grateful smile, "goodbye Mister Sound Mind, and thanks for... y'know. I promise I won't tell anypony else."

"Think nothing of it, Twilight," he replied with a small smile and a wave of dismissal, "you have a good day now, and I'll see you again next month. Oh, and let's not speak anymore about what transpired here from now on, eh?"

"Um... r-right, okay," I replied, suddenly wary of the stallion for some reason, "I'll be going now."

He didn't reply this time, already staring back down at his notes. I watched him for another moment longer, wondering what felt so wrong. He seemed to be off in his own little world, scratching away at the parchment attached to his clipboard. Then he chuckled to himself suddenly and a wide grin split his face.

My heart skipped a beat and I felt a cold chill run down my spine at the sight. Deciding it was time to leave, I quickly turned the handle, pulled the door open, and let myself out of the room, wanting to put as much distance as I could between myself and Sound Mind.

To this day, I wasn't quite sure what that was all about, and I never had the nerve to ask, but our meetings from that point onward were normal—well, as normal as one could get with Sound Mind's... eccentricities. The stallion kept his word and didn't tell the Princess or anypony else about that session, as far as I knew anyway. Just as he suggested, we never spoke about my 'condition' again, and I never told another soul about the dreams.

At least, not until the last time I met Octavia Melody.