//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Stupid Crates, Bad Dreams, and Major Headaches // Story: A Royal Insanity: Act II - The Six Trials of Friendship Disaster // by Fluttersnake31 //------------------------------// Chapter 1 – Stupid Crates, Bad Dreams, and Major Headaches “Sweetie Belle, what are we gonna’ try to do today?” A yellow filly asked. “Well, I thought we could see if we can write and perform a play! We haven’t done that yet.” Sweetie Belle said. “Uhhh… Aren’t we going to be in a play next month? The one Cheerilee wanted the whole class to be in? And why don’t you come up with something today Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle makes all the ideas nowadays...” The orange Pegasus filly said. “Well, ever since we met that Solid Snake guy, we kinda deemed her the boss of our little group here.” Apple Bloom said. “Oh please, I don’t want that brought up again…” Sweetie Belle’s mood had now quickly sunk at the mention of Snake. Solid Snake had been the person to turn their little trio into a cool club with secret missions. Although Snake was the only one to actually do anything on the missions, the three fillies enjoyed helping him try to figure out what was going on with Princess Celestia and the Mane Six when they were having a secret meeting. When he first arrived in Ponyville, Sweetie Belle found him asleep in her closet while he was attempting to hide from the local guards. She claimed him as her ‘pet’ and soon after formed the CMC’s, their little club (which had already existed, but now served a different purpose). Snake agreed to do some spying to find out what a secret meeting between the Mane 6 and Celestia was about. After learning more serious things than he expected, he relayed the information back to the CMC’s. There was a distant planet being torn apart by Nightmare Moon, the tormented soul of Princess Luna. In an attempt to learn more information, Snake went deeper into Luna and Celestia’s castle to find a way to build a headquarters on this new planet for the CMC’s. In the process, he saw the last remaining Metal Gear from his world covered in ice. He returned to the machine after finding and relaying good coordinates on the other planet for the HQ. Princess Celestia had snuck up behind him and explained that the machine was stolen by Luna and was shrouding this new planet in everlasting winter. However, Celestia believed that Snake was an agent of Luna’s checking up on the machine, which only could be turned off by Luna herself. She killed Snake and sent his body to the new planet via a portal-making machine. A week went by and Sweetie Belle had began to worry and searched the castle herself (under Twilight Sparkle’s supervision) and found nothing. She deemed him either escaped or locked in the dungeons, where she wasn’t allowed to look. The reason she had become upset is that she had a small crush on him (or so she would admit, but she actually liked him a lot more than that, as she trapped him into doing explicit things the first time they met). “Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that Sweetie Belle, I forgot… By the way Scootaloo, how’s that portal you’re makin’ coming?” Apple Bloom asked. “I don’t know! You’re the one who should be working on it. You’re better at making things than me.” Apple Bloom replied, annoyed, “Well if ya’ didn’t worry so much about it bein’ painted like Rainbow Dash, we’d have the technical stuff done by now!” “Quit that hollerin’ in there Apple Bloom! And dinner’s done, so ya’ll better get on out here real soon or Granny Smith’ll be asleep!” Applejack yelled loudly while knocking at the door. It seemed like she was really tired today, but to Apple Bloom, she’s been like that ever since she came back from some task Celestia had the Mane 6 do. It seemed as if she has gotten grouchier since she returned. They’ve only been gone for about three months, but even Sweetie Belle noticed the changes. In Sweetie Belle’s own family life, the moment Rarity got home she had to leave again. Celestia made Rarity a magic sewing machine to increase her profits, but Rarity had to move to Fillydelphia to use it. Rarity, eager to become well known in the sewing world, left the Carousel Boutique all to Sweetie Belle. She usually has Scootaloo spend the night for company so that she doesn’t get too lonely. Not only has Rarity left, but Scootaloo’s flying mentor Rainbow Dash, who is almost an older sister to Scootaloo, has been put on duty to oversee the next month’s weather configurations go as planned. The only ponies part of the Mane 6 left in Ponyville are Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy (who technically lives outside of Ponyville). Apple Bloom and the other fillies left their tree house and made their way back to the house to eat a nice, big meal. They sat down at the table where Granny Smith and Big Macintosh were sitting. “Granny, where’d Applejack run off ta’?” Apple Bloom asked. The other fillies were also curious as to where the mare was. “Oh, she’s just a’ finishin’ ‘er work for the day; she’ll be done in a jiffy.” The ponies in the dining room helped set up the table and sat down to wait for Applejack. After a few moments of awkward silence, there was a loud crash outside. The sound was loud enough that even if the dining room was full of jabbering ponies, it still would’ve been clearly audible over the voices. Immediately Big Mac and Apple Bloom ran out to find out what happened followed by Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Granny Smith. When they got outside, they saw a bunch of broken crates in the barn and somewhere in the mess of random junk was Applejack, laying motionless under a ladder. Big Mac rushed in and moved all the shattered crates out of the way and lifted the ladder off of Applejack. She was unconscious and luckily there was very little blood, just little dribbles down her cheek and mane. Big Mac lifted her with ease over his shoulder and ran her to the wagon. He suggested that the fillies should stay here and help clean the mess and took off with the wagon. The fillies and Granny Smith were so shocked that they were frozen still during the whole affair staring after the wagon. “Granny? W..what h…happened?” Granny Smith replied, “Now don’t you fret Apple Bloom, your sister will be fine. It looks like she gone an’ fell off the ladder. Big Mac took her to the hospital just in case and they’ll be back soon. Now I gotta’ go get mah sleep, wake me when she comes around.” She went back inside as the fillies slowly started to clean up the mess of random trinkets and shattered crates. To Apple Bloom, it looked like she was storing the last of the random junk crates that they were going to take to an antique fair a few weeks ago but didn’t end up going as Applejack only just returned the day after it ended. After about an hour, the three fillies managed to finish cleaning up the mess of junk and broken bits of wood from the crates. Applejack still hasn’t returned from the hospital yet, so Apple Bloom decided that they would go and check on her. With Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom riding in a wagon pulled by Scootaloo’s scooter, they manage to make it to the hospital fairly quickly. When they get to the hospital they are greeted by a mare running the front desk and they were asked to wait in the waiting room. The mare explains that Applejack has been unconscious ever since she got there but is doing fine. While waiting, the fillies see a familiar pink pony come out of the psychological health wing of the hospital. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, isn’t that Pinkie Pie over there? What’s she doing here?” Scootaloo asks. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask her yourself Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle replies. Pinkie’s mane was flat and she bore a sad, but hopeful expression on her face. It looked almost as if she hadn’t slept in a week. Even though her mane was straight, it was still somewhat messy and her eyes looked like she just got done crying. “Oh, hey girls… I just needed to see if one of the therapists here could help me out with something that has been bothering me… Nothing fun today...” Pinkie said after Scootaloo asked why she was here. Sweetie Belle was somewhat upset not seeing Pinkie in her usual happy, bouncy moods. “What’s going on Pinkie? You look like you’ve been through a rough time.” “Well, Sweetie Belle, I’ve been having bad nightmares recently… I had them before and Twilight helped me with them, but she’s locked herself in her library for some reason and won’t talk to anypony. I haven’t seen Spike ever since we got back from a task Celestia had us do, so I can’t ask him anything… I’ve been staying awake for the last week so I don’t have any of the nightmares but that’s really affecting my performance at Sugarcube Corner. I talked to a therapist today and there really isn’t anything he can do, so I’m going to go visit my sister for a while. I think that will help me a lot.” “Wait just a’ sec, you got a sister?” Apple Bloom wasn’t paying attention too much as she was worried about Applejack, but the mention of Pinkie Pie’s sister was news to her and caught her attention. “Yes, but I don’t think I will tell you fillies about it… I’ll talk more about it when your older maybe. But spread the news around if you can. Oh, and Apple Bloom, do you think you could help out at Sugarcube Corner while I’m gone? Do you remember what I taught you about making cupcakes? And I know that your sister can help around too. I’d really appreciate it if you could help them.” Pinkie now was smiling slightly, thinking about still having help for Mr. and Mrs. Cake even though she’s going to be gone for a few weeks. “Um, sure, ‘ah guess… I’ll try to remember.” Apple Bloom replied, unsure of her memory with making cupcakes. She wasn’t very good at it if she remembers, but she does know the song Pinkie sang so she might be able to remember some basics of it. “Oh, thank you Apple Bloom, and don’t forget to smile while I’m gone. See ya’ in a few weeks or so.” And with that, Pinkie left the hospital. There was some more hope in her eyes as the fillies watched her leave, but as soon as Pinkie left the fillies’ sight, the sadness returned as she went to make her plans. “Ahem, you can visit your sister now…” The mare at the desk stated somewhat firmly. She said it once already, but nopony was really paying attention to her, as what usually tends to happen at her job. The fillies thanked her and hurried to the room, remembering the reason they were there to begin with. When they entered the little room, they saw Big Macintosh standing at Applejack’s side. He didn’t look worried, but Apple Bloom could see past the façade and knew that Big Mac was very worried about his sister. He tended to be good at hiding his feelings; he was somewhat shy but mainly just didn’t talk to very many ponies unless being talked to. The doctor told them that Applejack had suffered a powerful blow to her head, but that she will recover within the next month, but there was a small chance that she might have lost a large portion of her memories in the process. It would take at least a year without magical influence for her to naturally regain her memories and maybe a month with a talented unicorn’s help. She was currently asleep and would be allowed to go home in about half an hour, after some extra tests and paperwork were filled out. When it was time to leave, the fillies, Big Mac, and Applejack, who was still sleeping, got a ride back to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was laid down onto her bed to sleep until she woke up. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had to leave to get enough sleep for school in the morning and Apple Bloom went off to bed soon after their departure.