//------------------------------//
// The Words You Hear 
// Story: Mind Over Matter 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

Leo got more comfortable as the week went on. By Friday, just a few days later, he found himself waking up, enjoying knowing he would be going to school that day, a feeling he didn’t ever have in his old life. He especially enjoyed history, and had many questions to ask during that portion of Cheery Leap’s class. And, while he was still a bit isolated and wanted to keep to himself, he was more willing to join in on whatever the rest of the class was doing during their breaks.
During the afternoon, after Cheery Leap brought him home, he’d be greeted by Thundertail, and when she came home, Herbal Essence, and spend most of his time either reading his magic book or working with his blocks. Whenever he got bored or fed up with it, he’d spend time in his foster parents' company, asking them questions about themselves or telling jokes. After the three ate dinner, he was quietly helped into bed and was drifting off to sleep in no time.
Although it was a simple routine that was developing that many would say was uninteresting, Leo did begin to enjoy it, seeing as most of his days before were nearly completely empty. And while he did still think it was weird to be treated like a child again, it was much less frustrating than it was when he was first in the hospital. In fact, he could almost say he liked the feeling, and could feel himself becoming less resistive to what other ponies wanted each day.



On Saturday, the colt was woken up early by Thundertail, although it was a bit later than he was during the week. He rubbed his eyes and sleepily asked, “Where are we going?”
Thundertail answered with a frown. “Oh, somewhere a certain somepony says I have to go. I don’t know how long we’ll be, but I don’t think it’ll take that long.” Leo wanted to press, but decided to just accept his answer as he was helped out of bed and quickly shuffled out the door behind his guardian.
 Like the rest of the week, it was another nice day outside, the sun warming their coats as they made their way off to somewhere. Leo didn't know exactly where they were going, but he had an idea. He had a feeling it had something to do with his guardian's disorderly conduct charge, and that he had to go to some kind of probation as a result. "Or maybe Doctor Spark told him to go to counseling," he thought as they quickly pulled up to a building whose sign read "Baltimare Mental Health Services". Leo almost thought it was for himself, but remembered that Thundertail said he was told to go here.
They stepped inside, and Leo immediately tensed up at a sign announcing a meeting they said would be held in a few minutes. Substance abuse counseling. He was certain they were here for this, and looked up at Thundertail, who looked annoyed upon reading the sign. He was surprised that he had to be here, and became even more suspicious, wondering if Ivory Spark told Thundertail to bring him here, even despite how ridiculous a thought that was. He was sure if she did, she would have told Herbal Essence as well. Besides, he didn't think she thought he was a drug addict.
“Here for this morning’s meeting?” a stallion sitting behind a desk, the receptionist, asked politely, a smile on his face.
“Unfortunately,” Thundertail told him, rolling his eyes, sounding irritated.
“It’s just going to be down the hall and to the left, sir,” he said, pointing a hoof in the direction we were supposed to go. "Can I just get your name, please?"
"Thundertail," he answered.
They watched as the pony hummed quietly to himself for a second, looking at a sheet of paper, before announcing, "You were actually changed out of this morning's meeting into individual counseling a few days ago. It says here that the change was put in by Doctor Ivory Spark."
Thundertail huffed at that. "That's annoying. I was looking forward to eating food and not saying anything."
"I'm sure she was expecting that," Leo thought. "That's something I would do."
"You'll be with Helping Hoof this morning. His office is going to be down past our conference center, in room twelve."
"This is just going to be so much fun," Thundertail said sarcastically.
"You know it," Leo thought silently.
The two silently made their way to Helping Hoof's office, Leo being more relaxed now that he knew he wouldn't have to listen to a bunch of ponies talk about the past lives they lived, ones that he knew would be very similar to his own. He thought he was doing a good job of just ignoring his problems recently, and really wasn't in the mood to start thinking about how much he now hated how he used to be. And while the stallion was going to be seeing a counselor, he didn't think Thundertail and the therapist he would see would get that far into drug abuse. From what he'd seen from Ivory Spark, Leo didn't think she'd ever consider placing him into Thundertail's care if he was a former drug addict or alcoholic. His best guess was that, a while ago, Thundertail had some kind of intoxication charge and she was making him go because she had to.
It wasn't very long before they were walking through the open door that was Helping Hoof's office. "Good morning," an older brown, earth pony stallion with glasses greeted them, walking from behind his desk. "You must be Thundertail, right? I'm Helping Hoof." He then looked down at Leo, asking, "And who are you, little one?"
"Uh, Leo," the colt got out, slightly surprised by the stallions friendliness towards him.
"I must say, you look just like your father here," Helping Hoof commented with a smile. "Or is he your brother?"
"How about 'legal guardian'?" Thundertail interjected.
"You're not related?" Both the colt and the guardian shook their heads. "Well, the resemblance is striking," he told them, simply assuming that Thundertail was his stepfather as he went back behind the desk.
Leo, however, stopped to think about the comparison that was made. He did know that he looked a bit like him, but focused more on their similar personalities. Actually, it seemed to him like they had almost the exact same personality. They both had the same general carefree attitude, although Leo's was much stronger just a couple of weeks ago, and had developed into complete carelessness. The colt was also betting that they were also the same in impulse control, just from hearing what Ivory Spark told him, with Thundertail seeming like he had a bit more of an attitude about him. And, evidently, they both needed counseling, although likely for different reasons.
“You can take a seat if you’d like,” he told Thundertail, then turned to Leo. “Would you like something to draw on or anything?” He shook his head, opting to lay down next to his guardian's chair. “I know we only have thirty minutes today, but why don’t you go ahead and tell me about yourself?" he asked, turning his attention back to Thundertail. "Your name and why you think you’re here?”
“I’m Leo, and I’m here cause I was a big, fat idiot,” the colt thought.
“I’m Thundertail, and I’m literally only here cause I was forced into being here,” the stallion grumbled.
“You were forced to be here?” he asked, a curious tone in his voice. “What would happen if you weren’t here?”
Thundertail rolled his eyes. “What do you think?” he asked back, an aggravated tone in his voice.
“I have no idea,” Helping Hoof told him, keeping his tone even, pretending that he didn’t know. “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. What would you like to talk about?”
“Ideally, nothing,” the colt thought at the same time as Thundertail spoke those words, the latter adding, “but that’s not an option, is it?”
“Well, how about we start with you being ‘forced’ to be here? What makes you think you were?”
“Because I had absolutely no self-control and didn’t care about what happened to me.”
“Because a certain somepony wants to embarrass me over one tiny incident.”
Helping Hoof raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”
“I started killing myself because I thought I couldn’t possibly become addicted.”
“I got one little disorderly conduct charge two years ago,” he told him, leaving out the fact that he embarrassed Ivory Spark shortly after he met her.
“Can you elaborate for me?”
The colt closed his eyes at that question. “Most of my life,” he thought, “I was an above average student in school, on pace to have a high paying job and a bright future, with great friends and parents that cared about me. Then I decided that I didn’t care about all of that, and that working to build a successful life was boring, and that it’d be more fun to completely ruin it through drug abuse.”
Thundertail huffed. “I may have gotten a bit drunk one night after my team lost a game and made a tiny scene in public.”
“Do you drink often?” Helping Hoof asked.
“No. It was harder to get my hands on alcohol than it was other things.”
“Not often enough to be considered an alcoholic like you obviously think.”
“And I didn’t say you were,” he said kindly, "and I definitely don't think that. But if you were, it would be nothing to be ashamed about. Addiction is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Yes it would, and is," Leo thought.
"Yes it would be," Thundertail told the stallion. "You should be ashamed if you're dumb enough to become addicted to drugs or alcohol."
Leo winced slightly at that. It wasn't what was said, but who said it that made the words hurt. Even if he agreed with Thundertail, he didn't like to hear it. 
"Do you believe that everypony struggling with addiction sought it out?"
"It seems kind of hard to become addicted if you don't."
"Well," Helping Hoof told him, "I can say that the vast majority of drug addictions, at least here in Baltimare, are because of emotional trauma and peer pressure."
That hurt Leo more to hear. From what the stallion left out of what his statements, he was saying that Leo was stupid for becoming addicted for no reason, and that he should be ashamed of himself for it. Not that he didn't feel that way, but it still felt awful to hear somepony else echo his thoughts.
"You could just have more willpower," Thundertail responded.
"Well let's talk about that. You said you became drunk one night after your team lost a match. Would you consider that a lack of willpower?"
"That's not the same. Mine happened one time two years ago  during a momentary lapse of judgement, whereas a drug addict or alcoholic is actively choosing to ruin their life."
"Addiction isn't something anypony can help," the stallion told Thundertail kindly, thinking he just needed encouragement to open up about himself. The colt, however, was hating having to listen to this conversation. He knew what Helping Hoof was trying to say, and what he meant when he talked to Thundertail, but couldn't help but take all the wrong implications from his words. In this, despite how ridiculous he knew it would be for the stallion to imply, he heard that, despite his recent ability to take his mind off of what was wrong for him, the thought was going to come back and he'd hurt himself.
"But moving on, did you not think you'd have any consequences?"
"I didn't at one point," Leo thought, getting teary eyed, "but then I decided I didn't care."
"I wasn't thinking clearly at the time," Thundertail admitted, "but I'm not an alcoholic because I only have alcohol during sporting events."
"Can I ask how often that is?"
"I don't know, maybe a couple of times a… Leo? What's wrong?"
The stallion turned to see his foster colt crying silently, slightly shivering. Leo sighed, quickly gathering himself and wiping away his tears. "It's nothing," he told him. "I'm fine. I'm sorry."
"Do you- do you want to sit up here with me?" Thundertail asked.
Leo considered for a second saying no, thinking it would be weird to sit in his lap, especially with how close in age they were. A second later though, he decided he didn't care and climbed up, laying down and closing his eyes once again to listen to the conversation, Thundertail wrapping his hooves around him.
"Is everything okay?" Thundertail asked with concern.
"I'm fine," Leo told him again.
The room was still and silent for a moment. "But um," Thundertail started again, speaking to Helping Hoof, his attitude seeming to have dissipated some, "it's only every couple of weeks, maybe once a week at most."
"That's how I started out," Leo thought.
"Do you ever feel differently when you don't drink?" Helping Hoof asked.
"Um, no? Because I'm not an alcoholic?"
"It’s okay to admit addiction," he asserted. “That’s the first step to getting better. It’s not something that just goes away by ignoring it.”
Leo opened his eyes again at that, the words ringing in his ears. It’s not going to go away by ignoring it. He didn’t want to go back to the way he felt during his first several days in Equestria, and especially didn't want to suffer through his itching again. The thought that his problem wouldn’t go away frightened him, to the point where he almost thought he could feel his itching creeping back.