//------------------------------//
// The Voices in My Head 
// Story: In Silent Prison 
// by Inky Scrolls 
//------------------------------//

"Hoo-ee!" Applejack exclaimed as she gingerly leant back against one of the orchard's apple trees, relishing the pleasantness of the shade. Though still hot, it was without the strength-sapping heat of the direct Summer sunlight.

Autumn Blaze, sighing contentedly, plomped herself down next to her farmer friend. In the weeks since she had arrived at the Apple farm, she had grown used to life with the Apples. She helped Granny Smith move heavy bales of hay, assisted Applebloom with her homework - the whole school had been eager to learn more about this strange, new type of pony, the Kirin - and had learnt more about apples in the last couple of months from Applejack than she would ever have thought possible. And she'd even managed to encourage the diffident Big MacIntosh out of his quiet cocoon, with the two of them getting along like a house on fire.

In fact, the whole family had taken to Autumn Blaze so well, and had grown to become so fond of the batty, excitable Kirin, that Granny Smith had conferred on her the title of 'Honorary Apple', a position which Autumn cherished.

As she nestled up to the overarching apple tree above her, she closed her eyes in contentment. "Thank you so much, Applejack, for letting me stay this long. I've had such a wonderful time, with you and your family!"

The orange mare turned to glance at her friend, opening one eye sleepily. "Not at all, sugarcube. It's been our pleasure! You can stay as long as you want." Truth be told, although Applejack did genuinely enjoy Autumn's company, and was glad to have had her around over the past couple of months, there was another reason, too, why she hoped the Kirin would stay longer. Several times over the past eight or so weeks had Autumn Blaze referenced the 'voices in her head', and though they didn't seem to be bothering her - indeed, the farmmare had never known a pony quite so talkative and overexcitable, Pinkie Pie included - Applejack still wasn't convinced that Autumn was well enough to go back to her home village. From things Autumn had said, Applejack had been able to gather that, despite being the one who gave back speech to a race who had been in enforced silence for so many years, she still had no real friends from her own species. It evidently wasn't just the Apple family who considered her behaviour to be rather. . . odd.

And so Applejack was glad Autumn had wanted to stay for so long. If only there was some way to help her with her 'eccentricities'.

But it was what happened next that made stirred Applejack into making up her mind on a plan of action.

Beginning to slowly shake her head from side to side, her eyes closed and brow furrowed in a mixture of confusion and anxiety, Autumn suddenly cried out, "Will you just SHUT UP!"

Jumping from her half-doze into sudden wakefulness, Applejack turned to look at her friend in alarm, laying a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "Are you alright, Autumn? What's wrong?"

"Agh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean you, AJ. I don't - I just-" Autumn Blaze broke off, staring away into the middle distance, her eyes swimming with an uncharacteristic emotion: unhappiness.

Feeling really concerned now, and living up to the directness - some would say bluntness - of her role as the Element of Honesty, Applejack gently turned Autumn Blaze's head to look directly into her eyes, and softly asked: "They're getting worse, aren't they? The voices?"

Nodding bleakly, with all of her usual energy and enthusiasm somehow leached away, the troubled Kirin allowed Applejack to pull her into a hug, resting her forehead on the farmpony's shoulder. After a minute or so, she spoke, murmuring, "I thought I could ignore them, make them go away. But when I realised I couldn't, I tried to make the Voices my friends, so they wouldn't hurt me. But now they don't even want to be friends, and they say such mean things! I try to be nice to them, but they won't listen to me! I'm just so tired of having to hear them all the time."

Applejack pondered carefully before replying, gently stroking Autumn Blaze's mane with her hoof. "Autumn, Ah think it might be time you spoke to someone about this. Someone like a doctor, Ah mean, someone who can maybe help you get rid of the Voices."

At that, Autumn looked up in horror. "Oh no, no, I can't do that!"

Surprised, Applejack asked, "Why ever not, sugarcube?"

Looking all around before answering, as though afraid somepony else might be listening, Autumn whispered, "Because if I try to make them go away, the Voices will kill me, Applejack. And I don't want to die. . ." She broke off again, slowly rocking herself from side to side, tears welling in her the corners of her eyes.

Despite feeling way out of her depth, and still reeling with surprise at this apparently sudden change in Autumn's usually extremely buoyant mood, Applejack tried to reason with her. "Do you trust me, sugarcube? Do you trust me to always tell you the truth?"

Nodding briefly, her friend replied, "Of course I do, AJ, you're the Element of Honesty."

Continuing to soothe Autumn by stroking her gently in an attempt to help her calm down, Applejack said, "Then do you believe me when Ah tell you that the Voices cannot hurt you, no matter how much they threaten you? Because they can't, you know. It doesn't matter what they say, or how unkind they are. They cannot hurt you. You don't have to do what they say. Ah know it's hard, but you can do things they tell you not to. Do you trust me, Autumn?"

After what felt like a long time, and with only the sounds of the bees buzzing nearby and the wind in the leaves to break the silence, Autumn Blaze spoke. "I do believe you, Applejack. I do believe you."

Holding back a sigh of relief, the orange mare gently inquired, "Then will you go to the hospital? They'll be able to help you, Autumn, Ah know they will. Ah can come with you, if it would help."

Another long silence followed, in which the troubled Kirin screwed up her eyes and shook her head repeatedly, as though struggling in some internal battle with forces beyond her control. Eventually she seemed to overcome the Voices, and murmured, "Alright, Applejack. If you come with me, I'll go and see a doctor."

Holding her confused, distressed friend close, Applejack fought to keep tears of relief and empathetic sadness from falling from her eyes.