Shut it down
"So Spike, how have things been since last week?"
Earrings necklace horseshoes glasses gems "...better."
"I assume then it's still there?"
Vase bits rubyrubyruby. "Some..."
"Well let's get a deeper look again." Dr. Bright Future closed her eyes for a moment, her horn glowing as he readied that same spell she's used the last three sessions. "Now steady your breath, and open your mind."
Glow...glow glow diamond "right..."
One moment we're sitting in her office, the next we're in a blank expanse. Behind me stands me. And me again. My pupils are shrunken, my ears covered in mufflers. I'm babbling words constantly. As I have since my birthday.
"It seems quieter than last time. Seems we were right, they are trying to drown each other out..."
"Dr. Bright, please. You can make them stop. You said so last time." Markers scrolls quills Twilight RarityRarityRarity!
"I said I can, yes. But this is your mind. What I can do only covers the problem."
I turn from myself to her, I turn with me, I speak. "But if it stops I can rest! If I rest I'll be able to tackle this!" The mufflers fall across my eyes, all three sets.
"I've said it once I'll say it again. If I cover it, it will grow. It will fester. I won't do that to you. Not when you've got friends and family who care for you."
"I'm not so sure."
She stomps her hoof. The world glows. The mufflers leave my eyes, but not my ears. "I can keep them quiet as is without blocking you. But one day those mufflers will come off."
Dangerpainsorrowhate "You can't take them away! It'll happen again!" I fall to my knees, in front of me, behind me. "I can't take that again..."
"I never said I will. You will."
I look up at her. I look away. For a moment there is silence. One precious moment my mind is at ease. Then I babble again. Quiet, but there. "But why?"
"Because only you have true rule here." She looks between me and me. Those words, comforting, reassuring.....FALSE... The world glows again, and we're back in her office. "I believe that was enlightening."
False false false. "Sure Doc..."
"No, it was. That one moment in there. You felt it too. I want you to think on that moment. Consider what I have given you, what they've been saying to you. What I said you would do."
Falsefalsefalse "I, I don't understand..."
"It all ties back to your birthday. You've overcome them at their strongest already. You need only finish it."
Lieslieslies taketaketake "....my greed...". They were my greed...no...I was my greed. I was part of my greed, so I overcome myself.
"Exactly Spike. That's why I can't do it for you. All I can do is show you where to start, and how. And the first step is breaking those mufflers."
"But all that effort, you showing me how to make them." LOUDER LOUDER.
"I know. But they can't stay forever. Your greed is a part of you. Muffling it has kept it quiet. But only your will can silence it. And it can't hear you with them on. All those mufflers do now is let you choose when you're ready to confront it head on."
"I, I'll try doc." Mine mine mine.
"I know you will. I'll see you next week."
"Right...bye doc"
"Oh and, before you go, do please put my ash tray back."
I look down, see myself holding that tray in my hands. When did I- I slam it back on the table and head out.
The glare of the setting sun blinded me for a moment. Shinyshinysun.
So the mufflers have to go? I can't tackle a muted problem....I smile. I'm blinded a moment. They fell again.
There I am again, in the puddle. I stand back up and walk away from it. I can't handle this without silence. But she said the mufflers go. I can add gags.
A door shuts behind me. A calm quiet library. A soft call from above asking if it's me. I call back, thrice. No time to waste.
I'm before the mirror. I see me. And me and me. My claw presses on the surface. It presses twice on my back. I grab my arm and pull. I grab a cloth and wrap my mouth up.
I take the mufflers off.
---
Spike
Five more minutes
"Spike!"
"WHAT!?" My voices boom.
"What have you done..." she asks, hovering in front of me. I blink.
There's the mirror. A shard anyway. The voices call. All around me. I grab it.
Luna hovers in front of me, What's left of Ponyville behind her.
"What has happened..."
Twilight stands behind me. "Be more careful Spike. You're lucky your scales are tough"
The voices get louder.
Ponyville is gone. I am gone. The everfree is now my home.
It gets louder.
Twilight levitates over a dustpan and broom. "Clean it up please. I'll make dinner while you do."
The sounds of the cracking glass in the pan is deafening.
I'm deaf to the sounds of the survivors mourning their losses.
Twilight's blood pulsing around the mirror shard bursts my eardrums
The crackle of angry torches is like nails on a chalkboard.
What did she say what did she say?
I close my eyes.
I'm there. I'm gagged, but only once. I stand before me again and again and again. I rip the gag off me. I yell back. I match my noise. All I scream for is silence. I grow louder. I try to match.
I'm holding the dustpan. I'm holding the shard. My claw is covered in my blood. It's silent.
"Spike!" Twilight rushes over, first aid kit in her magic. "Hold still. I need to take the shard out." She plucks a piece of mirror and pulls it from my hand. She's bandaging it. With my cloth gag. I look at the shard.
I speak. In five voices I speak.
MINE.