My voice was low, heavy, and with strange emphasis on the words. "I can't fucking do it anymore! Look at me, I sound like a crazy person!" I slammed spitfire's desk. "Seriously, it needs to stop!"

Spitfire slowly took off her glasses. "So...another raise?"

I clenched my fists and leaned over towards her. "It's been a year! I can't control the tone of my voice, or the pacing, or--any of it really. It's slowly killing me inside, and I need to leave."

Spitfire lowered her head. "Look--"

I slammed her desk with my fist, the crap on her tabletop jumping as I did. "Listen to me you mini horse shithead, I can't, I won't, and I will not take this anymore! I'm not even American, I shouldn't ever sound like this!"

Spitfire nodded. "Ponies love it--"

"I don't care! Fix my voice before I lose my damn mind!"

Spitfire turned to her window, the snowy Canterlot sky dripping snow from far beyond the clouds. "We can't."

"What?" My skin chilled as she spoke.

Spitfire turned back to me, an even frown on her face. "We can't. I don't know how to fix it. But, I can give you a raise if money is the issue." Spitfire reached back into her desk.

"Oh--my god, you're missing the point!" I dug my nails into her desk. "I haven't been able to hold down another job, or a romantic relationship, and I'm slowing driving myself mad talking like this! It's not about the money!"

Spitfire stopped rummaging around her desk and looked up at me. She leaned back in her chair and bopped her hooves together. "Well, then there's not much I can do."

I bit my lip and looked around her office, the dull wood panels offensive to the trained eye. "You can't fix this? You did this to me!"

Spitfire rolled her hoof. "We do this to every announcer. We go through them about each year, so it's not like I wasn't expecting this."

I leaned into her desk. "So you can't fix this, and you did it to me anyways?"

Spitfire shrugged, face like nothing was wrong. "It works out of us, and I never hear any complaints from the ponies who quit--"

"Are they dead!? Because if you can't stop this, if I can't speak normally, I'm going to fucking kill myself!" I grabbed my head, the sound of my own voice driving me up a wall. "Oh god, please, make it stop!"

Spitfire just chuckled. "You sure you wanna quit? You really have it down."

I pulled my hands to my chest. "I'm going to die! Oh please god no, I'm going to die!" I swung myself towards the door, hitting it open with my shoulder and most likely busting the lock on my way out. I tried not to make noise, each whimper and sputter reminded me of my lost voice. I sounded generic, uncontrolled, like I was constantly putting on an unintentional show.

The hall outside was plain, beige with blue and yellow accents. I once loved these colors, the colors of the Wonderbolts. The bright pastels dug into my eyes. I turned away, towards the far off white doors that lead out onto the street. I rubbed my face, trying to collect myself before leaving to plot my cure or eventual suicide when that inevitably failed.

The door flung open, blinding white light stinging my eyes as a rainbow maned pony stepped in. "Whoops--" she stepped to the side, awkwardly shuffling in the ponies' four legged way.

I stared at the rainbow catastrophe. "You...why do I know you?"

The rainbow headed mare shot upright. "Wait a minute...." She leaned in towards me and cocked her head. "I know your voice!"

I grimaced roughly. "I think a lot of people do. That doesn't make it--"

The rainbow girl grew a wide smile, eyes gleaming. "You're the announcer for the Wonderbolts!"

"Terrible job that it is," I interjected, not even remotely heeded.

The girl let out a shrill squeal. "Oh my gosh, hi!"

I stared at the girl, bemused. "Hello."

The rainbow girl giggled loudly. "That's so cool--"

"It's really not! I can't talk like a normal person anymore, I always sound like this, and it's driving me insane!" I crossed my arms. "Not that you're even listening to the words, just the sound of this damn bastard voice!"

Rainbow girl nodded. "Awesome."

I rolled my eyes. "Wait...wait, oh I know how I know you. You're the element of something.... Bismuth."

Rainbow Dash, that was her name. She leaned away from me, an ugly, annoyed look across her face. "What the hay is a Bismuth?"

I shrugged. "An element."

Rainbow Dash stared at me. "I think that's different...."

I shrugged again. "Probably." I felt something turn on in my brain, like a flash of lightning to my brain-stem. "Wait! You're supposed to help people, like a national hero, right?" I ducked down to meet her eye to eye. "It's your job, right?"

Rainbow Dash brushed herself off with a hoof. "Well, really more of a side gig, saving the world and stuff, no big deal."

I felt my eyes cross. I shook my head and ignored the outright bluster. "Sure. But you do it! Now...please, and I'm asking you this with as much levity as I can muster, I need your help! And this is...a matter of life and death!"

Rainbow Dash smiled smugly. "Oh course you need my help, I'm pretty--"

"I need my voice fixed before I take a gun and blow my head off!"

Rainbow Dash tried to fall back onto four legs, her right foreleg stumbled and she ended up bonking herself against the wall. "Ow! Okay, whoa, what!?"

I pointed to my throat. "This isn't a game. I really can't stop talking like this! You need to help me, I need you to help me! I'll give you whatever you want, I'll do whatever you ask, but I need to be able to speak normally!" I held my throat. "Please, look me in the eyes! I cannot live like this! They cursed my voice to sound like this all the time, and now they can't fix it!"

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "Who did?"

"The god damn Wonderbolts!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head softly. "No...they wouldn't--"

"I'm not joking! They played with fire, and now I'm getting burned here! I'm begging you-" I dropped down to my knees, "-either kill me or save me! Because this can't go on! I haven't had a romantic relationship since this happened! My friends have left me so they don't have to hear me speak like this anymore! Please, I'm on my knees, you have to help me!"

Rainbow Dash leaned her head back. "Uh, wow. Totally...." She looked behind her. "Is it okay if I don't know how yet?"

I shrugged. "You've probably got a better place to start than me!"

Rainbow Dash nodded once, rather curtly. "Yeah! But...can you--"

"If you're going to ask me to announce something you can go and fuck yourself!" I glared at her, my eyes starting to burn from all the staring. "Seriously...not an okay thing to ask right now."

Rainbow Dash smiled innocently. "Just once? Just my name?"

I felt my facial features go slack. "You're a terrible national hero...." I cleared my throat. "And here we have the amazing, Raaaaaainbow Daaaash! Stunning colors, bright eyed, and ready to save the day!"

Rainbow Dash squealed like a little girl. "Oh--my--gosh! That was awesome!"

"Good for you! Now seriously...help...."

Rainbow Dash reached out and put a hoof on my shoulder. "Dude...I got this." She turned to the door. "That was so cool by the way. Uh, this way." She nudged the door open, holding it for me to follow.

I sighed loudly, my voice modestly normal when not forming words. "I sincerely wish I was dead.... This must be why the clown cries." I stood up and followed her, out into the cold winter streets of Canterlot. She trotted with her hooves high, obviously in an amazingly chipper mood. "So can I ask what the plan is?"

Rainbow Dash spun around to watch me. "Uh, I think I know somepony who can help. If not, well, I'm sure I can figure something out." She smiled up at me. "Can you--"

"No."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Fine.... But, you might have to come down to Ponyville, maybe out into Whitetail woods if she can't help you."

I sighed loudly. "Then let me make a stop at my apartment, I'll need to get some things."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "I uh...do you have any like...trophies, Wonderbolts--"

"You can come and take whatever you want! Honestly after all this I was planning to burn my Wonderbolts stuff, so you can take it all!" I swept my arm out. "Less smoke that way!" I grabbed my throat. "Is it alright if I try not to talk...I feel terrible enough as is...."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "If you want, I still think it's cool."

"It's cool until it's not. Then it just gets worse and worse the more you have to hear it until you just leave me on my own...." I placed my hands against my face and took a deep breath. "Please...please fix this, I will be your best friend for life if you do."

Rainbow Dash smiled, fiery eyes fixed on me. "You do Wonderbolt stuff, I bet you could--"

"Connections, posters, merchandise, whatever you want!"

Rainbow Dash stopped herself from squealing and turned around. "So...awesome. The girls are gonna flip out when I tell them who I brought!"

"I'm not famous!"

"Shut up, yes you are!" She spun around and jabbed my stomach with a hoof. "Stop it...you're cool, now stop making this not cool." I held my arms out and waved them around. I pulled them back and flipped her off. Her tail flicked angrily, her eyes narrowing towards me. "...So are you gonna show me where you live or should I just leave?"

I threw my hands up and let them flop down against my side. I hurried on down the street, the rainbow girl chugging along behind me. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and trotted up next to me. "So...what's your name?"

I frowned hard. "Teodor!"

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "Theodor?"

"Teodor!" I kept walking, knowing it was a dead argument from the start. "Not from here, or Canada, it's not a normal spelling!"

Rainbow Dash hurried after me. "Kay. Where do you live exactly? Cause, I could probably meet you there."

"Look, just follow me, or go find a bag! One way or another, that Wonderbolts' crap is leaving my apartment!"

"It's not crap!" Rainbow Dash walked in front of me and stamped my shoe, missing my toes by an inch. "Stop calling it crap!" She spun around and leveled a bitter glare at me. "It's not cool!"

"Neither is this, and they did this to me...so, by associative properties, they're not coo--"

"They are!" Rainbow Dash stamped her hooves again, letting me walk past without protest. "Stop saying they're not!"

"Have you talked to them? Soarin' is fine, the others, not so much!"

Rainbow Dash flew before me. "I--" She hung a hoof in the air, eyes shooting off to the side as she hovered before me. "I uh.... Uh, so...where's the apartment?"

I stood in the elevator of my flat building. "So...a fan?"

Rainbow Dash looked up at me as another floor passed by. "Uh, duh. Who isn't?" She shook her head, flipping her mane back slightly.

I licked the inside of my lips. "Well, I can't say I'm particularly fond of them right now. Never have I sworn so much in my life than in the last hours." I crossed my arms. "The word, rage, is an absolute understatement."

Rainbow Dash stared ahead and nodded. "Kay...."

"No, not kay. Very not kay!" I rubbed my eyes as another light blinked past. "They gave me everything I wanted, just at the cost of my voice I suppose...." The elevator dinged open to a pure white hall with wood floors and a long rug stretching out to the end of the hall. "All in all, not worth it!"

Rainbow Dash just kept nodding. "That sucks, I guess. It's like when I went to the academy--"

"Fuck the academy." I swept my arm low. "Fuck the Wonderbolts." I put my hand on Rainbow Dash's head. "Animals, all of them."

Rainbow Dash stepped away, that awkward four-legged sidestep. "Hey, they're still--"

"They steal voices, just to have an announcer for their races. You will not dissuade my wrath." I walked down the hall, over towards my door, key in my hand.

Rainbow Dash lingered in the elevator, hoof outstretched. "Wait...what?"

"I'm mad." I opened up my door and held it open. "Very, very, extremely mad." I took a deep breath, my body still tense. "I have to imagine if I wasn't speaking a second language I would be far less angry."

Rainbow Dash's tail brushed my leg as she walked in. "Whaddya' mean?"

I chewed on my lip and walked in after her. "I didn't speak English before they did this to me."

"Equestrian--"

"Same thing." I walked her through my home, wood floors loud when besieged by hooves and hard soled shoes. I ran my hand over the cold painted wall, the creamy white slowly easing my nerves. "Point being, they stole my voice, my speech, all without telling me they couldn't fix it!" I shoved the door to my office open. "A little fucked, in my opinion."

Rainbow Dash looked up at me for a moment before turning to the office. "Yeah but-- Oh my gosh!" She bolted in, leaving me standing alone in the hall. "Oh--my--gosh!" She popped back into the hall with a Wonderbolts' suit on her back. "Are these real!?"

I nodded. "Not sure but I think so. They used my apartment to store their junk. Spitfire lives across...the...hall." I looked over to my front door. "I'm going to--"

"Don't!" Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. "Don't...." Her gaze was low, eyes narrow.

I turned back to her and held my hands out low, clutching the air. "But I really want to! And she has it coming!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head slowly. "Don't do it.... Whatever your--"

"Teodor."

"That. And don't." Rainbow Dash ducked back into the study room. "Now, how much of this can I take?!"

I peeked in, she was already pulling boxes over and stuffing them with suits and paraphernalia. "Like I said, take it all, the rest is going down my toilet or into a burning trashcan in Manehattan."

"Or you could give it away." Rainbow Dash slowly tucked goggles and a flag into the box. "Just--"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I put my hands on my hips. "Is it on fire? No, so calm down."

Rainbow Dash packed a box tight and hopped up and sat on it. "Hey, you don't have to be an ass."

"I'm not trying to be! I have not had a good month, let alone a good year!" I rubbed my face. "You know, I know it doesn't come across like I'm serious about ending it, but I cannot live like this." I walked up to her and dropped down to my knees. "Please...promise me you can fix this."

Rainbow Dash's wings flung out as I grabbed her hoof. "Uh...sure, I mean, probably, yeah." She looked away and pulled her hoof from my hands. "I mean, if it means that much to you I'll do it." She scratched at the box. "I mean like--"

I leaned back on my shins and cocked my head. "Why are you stuttering?"

"Why are you stuttering!?" Rainbow Dash jabbed me with a hoof.

I felt a heavy frown crawl across my face. "I can't stutter...." I leaned my head forward. "If I stuttered, I would be so happy." I grabbed my head and let out a strange whine. "Please, please, please! Fix me!"

I felt something strange on the back of my head. "It's gonna be okay, I'm Rainbow Dash, remember! You knew who I was, when have I ever let anypony down!?"

I looked up, Rainbow Dash was slowly patting my head with a hoof, blue underbelly tight. "I'm sure I could find out if I asked the right person."

Rainbow Dash slowly dragged her hoof off my head. "Why? Why would you say that?" She looked outright pissed. "That's not cool dude--"

I carefully pushed off the floor and hopped in place. "I'm mad! Help me be un-mad and I will apologize profusely!" I looked around the room, my office reduced to a desk and a few bookshelves as Rainbow Dash tore posters, flags, outfits, bobbles, and anything else she could find into the box. "Holy crap...you can really cram stuff in boxes." I scratched my head. "So, good to go?"

Rainbow Dash coughed into her hoof. "Can you apologize for the--"

I sighed loudly and dropped to one knee. "I'm sooooooorry!" I rubbed my chest as she started squealing and laughing in that girly way she had. "My lungs hurt."

Rainbow Dash snorted loudly. "Wha--" She shook her head hard, her laugh stopping immediately. "Uh...so, yeah." She grew a bit pink and flapped her wings a few times.

"That was cute." I stated it flat, without a smile or frown.

Rainbow Dash reddened ever so slightly more. "No it--"

"Yes it was. But, more important things to worry about." I brushed my legs off and pointed to the box. "What's the plan now?"

Rainbow Dash looked down between her legs. "Train? Like I said, my friend lives in Ponyville, we just came out to visit somepony." She stepped down from the box and trotted around it. "I guess we could try and--"

I put my hands up. "I trust you to take care of this in an expedient manner. And if not, I can always rip my ears off."

Rainbow Dash's tail whipped against the box. "Do you like-- Grab the box, I have someone you should talk to." She smiled up at me. "You'll like her."

I sighed softly. "If you insist." I walked over and grabbed the box. "Lead the way."