"How are you feeling today?" Cove asks.
"I'm doing fine... no ticking today." Tick Tock replies.
"Are you sure?" Cove pushed.
"Mhm!"
"Good," The green maned unicorn doctor left the room leaving Tick alone with himself again.
Tick's eyes darted around the room flinching at every shadow he saw. His mental state was hanging on by a thread. It was hard to fool Cove of all ponies. Cove is a brilliant doctor many times smarter than he is.... but Tick wouldn't let Cove see his pain... he couldn't... Cove has more important matters to attend to.
He ducked underneath the covers and whimpered, "I can't keep up this act for too much longer."
"You're worthless." a disembodied voice spoke out.
"H-huh?" Tick peaked out from under the covers.
"Useless... waste of air! Waste of resources! Nopony would miss you if you just disappeared." the voice was biting at Tick's weak points.
"YOU'RE WRONG!" Tick covered his mouth.... he never meant to shout. He waited for a few minutes.... nopony came.
"See... nopony cares!" the voice kept going.
"You're wrong." Tick repeated, "Cove....... dad cares about me!"
"He pities you. Why do you think he never says he loves you back? Do you really think that YOU of all ponies could truly find happiness? I bet you he's DYING to dump you on somepony else."
"Shut up..........."
"What was that? I can't hear youuuuuuuuuu."
"SHUT UUUUUUUUP!" he threw his bedside lamp at the wall full force and the voice disappeared from his mind.
Cove bursted through the door, "Tick... are you alright?" there was a look of concern on Cove's face, one that Tick had not seen before.
"S-sorry... I panicked..."
"Was it the voice again?" Cove's face relaxed.
Tick gave a light smile, "Yeah... but I made it go away."
"By breaking your lamp?" Cove raised a brow.
"Like I said... I panicked."
Cove put a hoof on Tick's head, "Next time... you tell ME, and I'll make the voice go away... understood?"
Tick looked up at the stallion he admired, "Understood."
"Good." Cove picked up the broken lamp pieces with his magic, "I'll need to get this fixed at Rusty's so bear with the dark for now."
"No problem."
Cove left and Tick found his headphones and music player turning it on so that he could relax. Yeah... Cove really DOES care.
