Prologue: International Shipping
Sweetie Belle couldn't stop crying.
She knew from the beginning that she'd regret this decision.
Yet she didn't want to be the outcast.
She knew that just stepping into that building on the corner of Flanders and Dinkleberg would have serious repercussions.
But she couldn't be left behind by Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. She just couldn't.
Even if it meant facing her fourth greatest fear-- Pain.
"..."
Sweetie Belle touched her front-left frog to the small metal object embedded in her left ear. Just moving the hoof pad's triangular edge over the little insert was enough to make her feel like she was dying.
Why does it have to hurt so much?
She knew she shouldn't have stepped into Pokey Pierce's Piercing Parlor, and should have just run home instead.
But then she'd still be the outcast.
Was she really mature enough? Since she got her cutie mark helping to rebuild the school playground, her parents had thought so, even going out of their way to give her the passport she'd long been pining for. This was in spite of the fact that they only arrived back just yesterday.
Maturity or not, however, this still hurt like crazy.
Why, oh why, did she get her ears pierced?
"Ah!"
Sweetie recoiled at the pain sensation. Looking around to try to distract herself, she noticed her prized plush Mareisa Kirinsame had fallen over. Probably when I screamed really loud just before...
Leaning off her bet to levitate it back up, she noticed the spy camera doll under her bed had rolled out. Why was she even keeping it, anyway? To spite those alien freaks?
Picking up the plush pony in her hoof, she pointed it at her three month old cutie mark.
Sweetie shouted at the camera, "Tewihauwi kaku nitä sanaen flu shima merpa!"
These were all words she'd heard back on that ship and still vaguely remembered somehow. But it didn't matter. She simply tossed the doll out the window.
Aliens mining something in the Everfree Forest. Yeah, right.
"Sweetie Belle? What was that about right now?"
Sweetie Belle turned around and saw her friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, why'd ya just throw a doll away like that?"
Sweetie turned to her friends, "Remember when I told you about hidden cameras?"
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, "Yeah, all the freakin' time... It's been five months, Sweetie Belle! Get over it!"
Scootaloo raised a forehoof to Sweetie Belle, "Whoa-ho-ho, you actually did it today! Does it hurt?" Scootaloo touched her same forehoof to her new nose piercing. Just why she'd get her nose, lip, eyebrows and navel pierced was baffling to Sweetie Belle. Not as baffling as getting her wings pierced though. That was insane. "I mean, it must hurt, right?" Sweetie noticed something on Scootaloo's tongue. Did she get her tongue pierced? That couldn't be comfortable...
"Scootaloo... Did you..."
"The tongue? Yeah, that."
Sweetie Belle couldn't believe it. Scootaloo had done it again. About the only parts she hadn't got pierced were... Well, she'd have to wait another eighty months for those parts apparently...
"Ah got another one, too. Yeah, see?" Apple Bloom stood up on her hind legs, revealing a tiny stud in her belly button. Sweetie Belle realized she'd been left in the dust already. The physical and mental pain increased significantly.
Apple Bloom dropped back on all fours, "But that ain't why we're here. Cheerilee won the lottery an' wants ta move the school camp to the Colt Coast in Horstralia!"
Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up. Going to Horstralia was a big dream of hers! On such short notice, too! She couldn't miss this chance!
But would her parents and sister approve? Her parents, probably. Rarity, on the other hoof... She'd be jealous at best...
Oh, if Rarity knew what had just happened today, she'd flip...
"An' that's not all! Babs and her school are comin' over, too!"
"Wait, really?" Sweetie Belle couldn't believe it. Was Babs really going with them? It was almost a dream come true.
"Yeah, her school got some money somewhere an' they're usin' what's left over for an overseas field trip.
Scootaloo stared at Sweetie Belle, "You okay? I know, piercings are painful, but cheer up! You get to see another country! It's a dream come true!"
Sweetie Belle sighed, "Yeah, but if Rarity finds out about this..."
"Sweetie Belle Thrackerzod Topaz!"
Rarity barged into the room levitating a piece of paper in front of her, which she thrust into Sweetie's face.
"Explain this!"
"Explain what?" Sweetie Belle stared at the paper. It was the permission slip for her piercing session.
"This tacky waste of money, that's what! I can't believe you'd go out of your way to do yourself harm!"
"So?" Apple Bloom interrupted, "Don't ya have like eleven piercings or somethin' like that?"
Rarity turned to Apple Bloom, "Apple Bloom, remember what I said about your mother?"
Apple Bloom snorted, "Yeah, like Ah was too big to fit through her va-"
"Exactly!" Rarity loudly interrupted. She then turned to Scootaloo, "And as for you, I don't want to see you near Sweetie Belle ever again, do you understand?"
"What? Why?" Scootaloo demanded.
"You're being a bad influence on her, that's why!"
"Rarity," Apple Bloom interrupted, "Look at this." She shoved the paper in Rarity's face.
Levitating the paper in front of her, Rarity started reading, "To whom it may concern..."
Rarity mused over the paper with a hoof to her chin.
"Okay, Sweetie Belle, I forgive you, for now, but I want a word with you! Some words you might not like the... Taste of..." She glared at the other two crusaders, "You two should leave for today, I'll handle this from here."
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked down Pelt Lane, thinking. About what, who would even care. They hadn't said a word since Rarity forcibly ejected them, though eventually the silence would have to be broken.
"So, Scoots," Apple Bloom began, "Have ya been hearin' those voices lately?"
"What voices, Apple Bloom? Are you hearing things?"
"Yeah, usually nothin' weird, just like somepony's talkin' about somethin' or other..."
"Lu forktn ðŵä siþ kakumen rake, Riŋgo."
"Yai, Lu ģäÿa, Mcüezŕôx. Siþķ hŵiihmmķ ŵxb́şa etsk ko ƥƥäðŕa fun xsc śämutiķ. So hell..."
"Didja hear that, Scoots?"
"Yeah. Lousy tourists, speak the native language already! And if you don't know it, then learn it!" Scootaloo scraped the ground a little.
"The first one kinda sounded like Sweetie Belle..."
"Heh, Mare Corlett all the way!"
The two fillies giggled a bit, Scootaloo ending hers with a snort.
A few yards down the road, Apple Bloom heard another mysterious voice, this time a harsh male voice.
"Only one thousand vinyls produced? You sicken me! Cutie mark or not, you're a disgusting failure!"
"Hey, take that back!" Apple Bloom screamed, turning around.
"Uh, Apple Bloom, I didn't say anything..."
"It wasn't you, Scoots, that was a stallion who shouted that in mah ear!"
"Shouted what?"
"That Ah'm a disgustin' failure! Ya heard 'em, right, Scootaloo?"
"I... I didn't hear anything!"
"What???"
"Apple Bloom, you imagined it. I heard somepony speaking before, but most of this stuff you're hearing, I... Can't. I don't know why..."
Apple Bloom's green and slightly gold right eye started twitching, "Y-- Yer just sayin' that so Ah fell better! Applejack says that all the time! She even took me to the doctor the other day! Ah don't care about that! Just get those hecklers ta stop!"
"What hecklers?"
Apple Bloom ran away screaming.
Apple Bloom's run slowed to a brisk walk as she approached the white gate on the road before her. Jogging straight through it, she headed through the maze of apple trees out to the back of the farm. There, sitting in an old crispin tree, was a small treehouse. The Crusader Clubhouse.
Apple Bloom walked up the ramp to the clubhouse. As she did, a deep female voice came seemingly out of nowhere.
"You fail so hard you underflow into success and fail again!"
It sounded like Babs attempting a really grating and awkward Countess Coloratura impression. Apple Bloom couldn't pinpoint the voice's origin. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
As soon as Apple Bloom entered the clubhouse, she threw her saddlebags into the corner and buried herself in her fetlocks.
Why was this happening to her? What did she do to deserve these insults all of a sudden?
What's going on? Who's saying all these bad things to me? Why are they saying these things? Why am I the only one who hears them?
"It's because you're the one."
This new voice was Apple Bloom's. Not the one she heard herself, her external voice. The one others heard. The one she only heard for the first time when experimenting with recording voices for a cartoon when the crusaders tried animation. Which obviously failed. Still, to this day, Apple Bloom couldn't believe how much she sounded like a high-pitched, whiny, heavy-breathing version of Applejack.
Apple Bloom raised her head, "The one? What? Who, what an' where are ya?"
The voice responded, "Ah am you, you are me, but we are not the same."
Apple Bloom looked confused, "Ah don't get it. Are you me from the future?"
"On a different axis, perhaps. To avoid confusion, you may call me... 'Maple Bloop'. Ah know it sounds silly..."
"Eh, it sounds fine."
"Apple Bloom, be wary, those voices are bad news. The things they say are bad enough, but it's what's behind them ya have to watch out for."
"Who's tellin' me this stuff?" Apple Bloom demanded
"Ah can't say right now, Apple Bloom. You'll learn when the time is right."
"When time is right... Yeah... Like that'll help!"
"Hey, sugarcube, talkin' to your imaginary friend, huh?" Applejack's voice came from close behind. Apple Bloom turned around to see her big sister standing in the doorway."
"Oh yeah," Apple Bloom said sheepishly, "Maple Bloop's helpin' me deal with these voices."
Applejack frowned, "That ain't right, sugarcube. Ya need to stop overreactin'. Ya have an overreactive imagination, Apple Bloom. Ya need to tame it." Applejack rubbed a hoof in Apple Bloom's mane, "Anyway, yer goin' overseas tomorrow. That'll be fun, right?"
"Right, AJ!"
"Anyway, dinner's ready. You and this 'Mappy Bloke' or whoever had better come on down."
"Her name's Maple Bloop, Applejack."
"Well, Ah'm sorry!"
Apple Bloom picked up her saddlebags and closed the door behind her. The two sisters laughed as they walked down to the farmhouse.
Applejack slowly walked home from the train station. It was going to be a long fortnight without Apple Bloom, that much was sure.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Derpy flying around. Suddenly, Derpy noticed Applejack and flew down to meet her, entering a dive and crashing into the ground, sliding to just in front of the farm pony.
"Hey, Applejack, the doctor wanted me to give you this! Can you take it? I really have to get home. I'm worried Chirpy might jump off the sofa again." Derpy held out a letter in her left hoof. Without any further hoof movement whatsoever, she launched it at Applejack's face, hitting her in the forehead.
"Well, that was fast. It must be urgent then."
"He said it was." Derpy got up onto her hooves and stretched her wings.
Applejack jammed the letter onto her hoof. "See ya later, Derpy!"
Derpy took off, bumping a forehoof on a nearby fence post in doing so.
Applejack looked at the letter. She had to get home and read this.
Applejack sat at the dining table at Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. After tearing the letter open and flattening it against the table, she read its contents.
To Applejack A. Appletower, Macintosh B. J. Appletower and Juneau K. Smith:
Your family member Apple Bloom A. Appletower was yesterday studied extensively and thoroughly during a routine checkup. During the process she was given an experimental magical scan as part of the first public program. Unfortunately, we made a shocking discovery during this process.
Applejack started sweating. Something was wrong with Apple Bloom? What could it be?
Hoping the doctors were merely grasping at straws, she continued reading the letter.
Due to the experimental nature of the scan, no information given here is concrete, so it should be taken with a grain of salt,
Applejack felt slightly relieved. Slightly...
however, it would be wise to prepare for the worst case scenario.
We regret to inform you that this possibility is Magi-Psychic Schizophrenia. Signs of Dissociative Identity Disorder are present as well, however, we have been unable to confirm this for the time being. In the meantime, it is advised you do not allow Apple Bloom to do anything that would increase her stress level, such as manual labor or long-distance travel. I would also advise against any exposure to magic, particularly spells that affect the brain, until we have more information.
Sincerely,
Dr. Barney Stable, PhD.
Applejack couldn't believe what she was reading. Apple Bloom might potentially have a magical variant of Schizophrenia? She'd heard of that. Wasn't it the one where their hallucinations drive them to a violent madness?
So Apple Bloom wasn't joking about those mysterious and hurtful voices yesterday. And Ah sent her off not knowin'... Who knows what'll happen now?
With that, Applejack leaned too far back. Falling backwards, she hit her head on the counter. And her worries were no more.