“Grey, that's all I get from her. As if life has no direction for our little filly.” Said father to the shrink he paid for. “Its like… she doesn’t feel anything. Can you help her doc? I have never heard my little mare cry, laugh, or even express love for anything.” He looked forlornly into the doctor’s eyes. Divine was just watching, it certainly wasn’t the first time her father had spoken as if she wasn’t there.

“I’ll see what I can do for you Mr. Star.” To Doctor Whistle’s credit, he was a brilliant doctor. Divine had read medical journals by Dr. Whistle, groundbreaking research into the element of harmony that exist in everypony, which has lead to intensive evaluations of pony’s minds. Stuff he wrote has been around her house a while now. He was definitely the top of the field, just like father paid for, she thought cynically.

Divine Star just sighed; it probably was the only emotion she ever expressed openly to anypony. Melancholy was what the entire world thought she exclusively felt. They would never understand…

Her father continued talking with Dr. Whistle, she was disinterested then the words she was hoping for finally came. “I guess that concludes our business Dr. Whistle.” She was ready to go home already, but then he had more to say… “I’ll just leave little Divine with you.”

Divine Star looked at her father. “You’re leaving me here?”

Father then turned to her.  “Why yes, you need sometime out of the house with other ponies.”

Little Star didn’t do well with other ponies, especially ones her age. “Whatever.”

Father walked out of Dr. Whistle’s office, leaving Divine with the elder pony. “So, dear… I will show you to your room. You will be staying here at the clinic with us, but you will be attending a local public school and are free to roam the town after your studies.” The doctor gave Ms. Star a warm smile. He wanted it to be clear with her that she wasn’t a prisoner here.

“Whatever…” She responded flatly. It was the best the doctor hoped for. He personally showed her to a small, but comfortably sized room. It had a box of her belongings that the house staff knew the little filly would like to have with her. Inside was a picture of mom, Bright Star, her name was Bright Smile before she met Divine’s father. She placed mom on a shelf next to the bed. The next time was a small stuffed pony it was hers since before she could remember. That got placed on the bed. The last item of real importance to Divine was a small locked journal at the bottom. She took that out and placed it in a drawer in the nightstand next to the bed.

Dr. Whistle watched all of this to get a feel for the little mare he would be trying to help. Divine had placed the box and the rest of its contents into the closet. She felt no pressing need to deal with any of the rest of the knickknacks the staff had seen fit to include.

She then sat on the bed and looked over at Dr. Whistle. “Is that all?” It was more of a question to see if she had been done with the doctor or if she was expected to do more.

“No, I suppose that’s all quiet fine my dear. Dinner is in about an hour. It’s the double doors at the end of the hall. I hope I can help you enjoy life, so that you can enjoy your time here.” He gave her a small and worried smile.  Whistle walked out of the room. He had not accepted the job for the money. He wanted to help the poor girl open up and… smile. He went back to his office; the next pony would be arriving shortly. Otherwise, he would have probably stayed and talked with his newest charge.

Once alone in her room Divine Star opened the drawer with her journal and flipped to the latest page.

Divine Star walked into the mess an hour later. Emotion barren or not, she was hungry. It’s filled with ponies, but most of them had worse problems than her and are in the clinic primarily because; they couldn’t fit in with society.  Luckily it wasn’t packed, but there had been more there than she was used to dealing with.

Divine grabbed a plate for the prepared line and sat down at an open table that was meant for four.  She didn’t want to bother nopony with her presence. It was best they stay away rather than have them get frustrated from her cold responses she thought. It was how she dealt with people at home anyways. It should work here too.

Today’s dinner was steamed carrots and some mashed potatoes. It wasn’t like the meals at home which came with an extravagant cost. This was rather humble in comparison. She didn’t mind and chewed away at it. It was dull and tasteless.

Against her wishes some younger pony walked up and set his meal on top of the table she was sitting at. “Gee lady, you sure are pretty, aren’t ya?” Divine looked at the young yellow earth pony.

He did have a point. Divine Star was a muted lavender color with dark violet curls for a mane. Her horn was a pleasing spiral with no imperfections. Although, since she was not passionate about anything she had yet to gain any cutie mark. Her eyes were permanently in a droop and didn’t seem to bother to open fully for anypony.

“Is there… Something I can do for you?” She asked bluntly hoping to be away with him.

“No, just wanted to sit with you. My name is Blaze Charm.” Divine looked at him.

“My name is Divine Star.” She figured to introduce herself. It was only polite, but the flat way she put it wasn’t probably the best way.

“You seem nice.” Blaze went on.  Since Divine hadn’t interjected he continued.  “A lot of the younger ponies here ignore me because, they say I get annoying.”

He looked into Divine’s eyes for approval. Admittedly there was none present, but she had said, “I’m not like other ponies.” It was the truest statement she could offer. Anything more would have been a lie just to comfort him.

“So, why you here lady? Everypony here has some kinda head problem. What’s yours lady?” He said lady probably was cause “Divine” was hard to pronounce at his age. Well, at least that’s what she thought.

“Well, Blaze, I guess it’s because I just don’t ‘feel’ things, as my dad puts it.” The truth was the best thing to tell him right? She figured everypony wanted the truth.

“Sounds kinda mild lady.”  He scuffed at the table. He wasn’t eating his food.

“Why aren’t you eating Blaze?” Divine asked.

“I dun wanna.”

“But, you have to. It’s either eat or starve. Isn’t it?” She said frankly. Her reasoning for eating was that it was easier to do it than to refuse to.

“But, I dun like it! I wanna eat cupcakes…”  Divine stared at him. Deciding what to do, she got up without a word and walked over to the staff. After a short discussion she came back to a now confused Blaze.

“They said you can have some sweets after you finished your dinner.” She didn’t see how hard that was for him to do himself. It wasn’t so hard asking a question was it?

“Thanks, Dee.” He said then greedily devoured his meal so he could get to his sweets. Much to Divine’s expectations the rest of the feeding session wasn’t filled with awkward conversation. Small talk as she humored the little stallion to be.

She didn’t stick around for cupcakes with Blaze but rather went back to her room. She wasn’t done with that journal yet.