Twilight Sparkle set down the page and quill, looking up for the umpteenth time at the room around her. The walls had a plain red and white striped pattern, faded in some spots and peeling in others to reveal plain yellow concrete beneath. At waist height was a plain white wooden molding. The floor was short shag carpet, it felt soft underhoof. A few miscellaneous objects were strewn about the floor; a bed in the corner, the chair she was sitting in, the empty book and quill in her hooves, a left sock on the floor, a ball, and a toy plane. The room had no windows or doors, or openings of any kind at all. The wall was a plain popcorn plaster pattern, and even though there was no apparent source of life, she could see very clearly. She sighed, breaking the pristine silence. She shuddered at the noise; the silence had been so comfortable, so accepting, why had she broken it? Chills went up her spine at the loud noise. So loud, echoing and reverberating through the room.
Wait, no it wasn't. It was just her ears ringing in the silence. She took a few breaths to calm herself. Stay calm, Twilight, she told herself, Keep your wits about you.
She wanted to sigh, but she didn't. Instead, she picked up her book and quill and wrote as quietly as possible, I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired. Somepony will come to save me. My name is Twilight Sparkle.
Yes, yes that was good. Remember things, don't lose your mind here. She thought back, picking faces, placing names, remembering events. Her friends, her home, in Ponyville. She wondered what they were doing now. Rarity was running her boutique, Applejack would be harvesting her apples by now, Fluttershy was training her animals, Rainbow Dash was training for some competition, Pinkie Pie would be doing...Pinkie things. You could never tell with that pony. Twilight chuckled.
Her shoulders hunched up in fear; she had broken the silence again. Would it return like it had last time? Oh, sweet silence. Nothing was wrong when it was silent.
Wait a minute, what was she saying? Of course silence would return, silence was not a conscious entity. The ringing in her ears stopped. There was a ringing in her ears?
Twilight's heart started racing. This was it, she was going crazy, she knew it. No, no I'm not. I'm not crazy, just a little unwell. Stop thinking that way, Twilight. She calmed down a bit. This chair was uncomfortable. She tried adjusting her seating, but with every movement the chair squeaked loudly, ringing in her ears and breaking the silence. Please, please return, silence.
Twilight's eyes drifted down to her page. She had written Come back Silence, and I'm not crazy, over and over. She hadn't realized she had done that. Had she written that? She hadn't written that. It was the room, the room was playing tricks on her.
That bed looked comfortable. She wished she was sitting over there, and not here. Here was bad, here was uncomfortable. The bed was good, she wanted the bed. But she couldn't move. If she moved, she would break the silence. The room would be angry.
She shook her head vigorously, what was she thinking? The room was just a room. It couldn't do anything to her. The ringing in her ears faded. There was a ringing? She looked at her page. My name is Twilight Sparkle, had been written down several times. She was scared. What was happening to her? She threw the page away, it was bad, like the chair. the page and quill fluttered to the ground, landing next to the toy plane. She stiffened, eyes glancing to every corner of the room. Had she broken the silence?
Keep it together, Twilight, the voice said. Her voice. Who's else could it have been? She wouldn't let the room get to her. She got up, the horrible grating sound of her leg on the chair jarring her substantially. But she ignored it. She pushed it down, it was nothing but noise. She walked over to the bed, settling down slowly and quietly. This isn't good, Twilight, she thought, you're letting the room get to you. Keep yourself occupied. She thought back, what was her latest memory? Nothing came to mind. She couldn't remember any specific event, just snippets of faces and names. Fluttershy, Rarity...Apple Pie-no, no, Applejack. That was it.
This wasn't good. She was losing it. I feel like I'm going towards a breakdown, and I don't know why. But I'm not crazy, just a little unwell. She looked up at the wallpaper. It was fascinating. Each and every stripe was unique in its own way. She counted them. One, two, three...
She noticed a shadow in the corner. The room wasn't lit entirely. Had that shadow been there before?
Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four...
Where was the sock? There had been a sock on the ground. Right? No, no there hadn't. Twilight shook her head. The room was playing tricks on her. Her mind, not the room. The room was just a room.
Four hundred and four, four hundred and five, four hundred and six...
Twilight was tired. How long had she been there, in the room? There were no clocks. The shadow had gotten bigger. No, no it hadn't, it had always been that way. The room was playing tricks on her.
Twilight,
Her head spun to the right. Nopony was there. She had spooked herself. The room was messing with her. She was tired. She was on a bed, she should sleep. Tomorrow could be good for something. How many tomorrows had it been?
She moved to lay down. The silence was broken. The room was angry. The room can't be angry, it's... The ringing in her ears was unbearable. She clamped a hoof over each ear, but that only made it worse. Make it stop, please. The room was angry, she had broken the silence. Please, please return, sweet, sweet silence.
The ringing faded. Her heart was racing. She had learned her lesson. She wouldn't make the room angry. She wouldn't break the beautiful silence.
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired. My name is...
Twilight. That was her name, it was. The voice didn't know. The shadow had always been that big. The whispers had always been there. There was never any toy plane.
Keep it together, Twilight, the voice said. You're not crazy, just a little unwell.
The voice didn't know. The voice couldn't see what she saw. She had a life once. It was like a dream. She had had friends. They were nice. She wanted to move. The bed was bad. She couldn't move. It would break the perfect silence. There had never been any chair there, it was just the room. It was angry with her. She hadn't done what she was supposed to do. She was tired.You should get some sleep. Tomorrow might be good for something. The voice didn't know. The voice didn't care. I do care.
Twilight ignored it. It lied to her. Every time she had listened to the voice, the room had gotten angry. It was the room, it was her everything. The silence was it's perfect creation. She was a blight on the face on the room's perfection. She had to listen to the room.
Wake up.
She woke up. She had fallen asleep? No, no she hadn't. She mustn't.
She had.
The room was angry.
"...Will she ever wake up, Princess?" Asked a distraught Spike, laying at the bedside of a comatose Twilight.
Princess Celestia looked down out of shame. She had brought this upon her student, she had worked her too hard, and she had finally just quit. And now she lay unconscious, completely disconnected from reality. She only hoped, wherever she was in her mind, it was someplace happy, "I don't know, Spike," she answered finally. "I don't know."
Spike hadn't expected any different answer. He climbed up onto the bed, curling up next to his greatest friend, his only family. "Wake up," he wished, and went to sleep.
The Princess nodded and walked out of the room, heartbroken, and head hung in shame.
