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The Meeting With Marine

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TW: Mental health issues, institutionalization, implied cannibalism.

Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for! Sorry this took so long, but this was a big project!
Welcome to the Miracleverse! AKA, the Disliked Ships AU, but I don't use this as a platform for hate. While the universe is slightly... twisted, they are all options that could have happened in the main TFIMverse. They're a chance to do things with the... standard ships that people have, and using them in new ways, as well as a platform for interesting characters. And let me say, it's time for the stuff to begin! Sort of! First of the many times we'll be doing STORIES in this universe, these are pictures in scenarios that either advance the story, or in this case, provide backstory! They might feature only canon characters, or only OCs, this one only features canon ponies; the doctor is Blue Ribbon (No relation to my own character), and Thestra, a pony from the MLP comics.. This tells the story of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich meeting with Cheese's sister, Marine Sandwich, due to Claystone's recent breakdown, leaving her with Pinkie's parents and family; they scheduled a visit.... This is what happened. If you need to know what everything is implying in this, what Marine has, you should know about a disease known as Kuru. If Blue Ribbon's eyes look odd that's because she has a strange eye gradient compared to the show's standard. Let's begin.

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They had to do this for their daughter, this was more important than their fight, even if it was the only one they had ever had, this was for her... That's what the two ponies standing at the front door of Manehattan's Maximum Security Psychiatric Hospital said to one another, a silent agreement that what they were doing was more important than the secrets they had kept from one another. The two were bedraggled and tired, the bubblegum pink mare's coat marred by fresh scars across her throat, the reason they had to come, her neatly tied up hair coming undone as she became more and more frazzled. Her husband stood by her, his taller frame looking unkempt and haggard, his chin lined with unshaved stubble that he couldn't be bothered to shave away, his eyes darting back and forth in fear.

"Come on, Cheesie." Pinkie Pie placed a reassuring hoof on her husband's chest, reaching up to look in his eyes. "It's for Claystone, right?" She smiled, speaking softly, partly to sound soothing and partially due to her scars, though they wouldn't damage her vocal cords, she had to keep from raising her voice to make sure that stayed true. "I'm not mad at you anymore, I know you were just scared of your meanie sister, you never Pinkie Promised to tell me about your family." She added, worried Cheese Sandwich was still scared to talk for fear of making Pinkie mad again... well, mad wasn't the right word, Pinkie was just... she wasn't good with ponies lying to her. But he hadn't, she reminded herself.

"I know, Pinkie, it's just... Marine was..." Cheese trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"A crazy pony who reacts to a silly case of mistaken identity by deciding to turn everypony at the baking contest into a dessert?" Pinkie said, completely frankly, remembering the incident where she had met Cheese's sister before she had even met him, at a highly publicized event where her friend had been mistaken for the real Marine Sandwich, and right near the end, the mare had come in, wielding a massive frosting cannon and coating everypony she could in a frosty cold frosting trap. It was her fault Marine was even in this insane asylum... though she supposed she probably belonged in one already, Pinkie was just the reason that she was finally incarcerated.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Cheese gulped. Normally, he and Pinkie would giggle over the fact that they were thinking the same thing, whether Cheese had fibbed about thinking the same thing or not, they always agreed they knew what the other was thinking. "And I haven't seen her in... it's been a long while, you know?" He added weakly. "I kind of just wanted to... forget she ever existed?"

"I know. But if our little Claystone is hurting inside, we have to figure out where she might have got it, and.. well..." Pinkie faltered as well.

"She kinda acts like my sister?" Cheese added, frowning. He didn't know how Marine had acted around Pinkie and her friends, but he did know his daughter reminded him of Marine... Snapping at things she thought somepony said to her, even though he hadn't said anything, it was just like her, but he had put off telling anypony in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't actually like Marine... that maybe she was having fights with her imaginary friends? That was normal, right?... right?

"Yeah, that. I mean, I've had my little... well, not so happy, kinda strange moments too, so maybe...?" She tried to reassure him that there was a possibility that it was her genes, but.. Pinkie both had an inkling that it wasn't true, but also wasn't sure that saying perhaps he married someone crazy was something that would help her husband feel better.

"Y-yes..." Cheese nodded, trying to keep calm. "So... we just.. go in?" He grinned nervously, hoping she would suddenly change her mind and realize, no, it couldn't be, let's leave before anything happens... It wasn't happening. It's what he got for marrying a brave pony who saved Equestria over and over.

"Well, I mean, we did ask them to schedule an appointment, silly. And letting somepony down like that is never the way to deal with things!" Pinkie said, smiling, not putting everything into it, but still trying to make Cheese feel less scared. "And don't worry; this is a maximum security place, they don't call them that because it's easy to get out of them, right?" Cheese gulped and nodded, which seemed to be about all Pinkie was going to get from him.

So they walked up to the cleanly white doors to the asylum, the imposing nature of them not hidden by the blank nature of the walls. They were greeted by the waiting room, but the room was so empty that it barely took a second for the bored stallion at the reception to recognize them. "What business do you have here?" He asked curtly, wings hanging limply at his side, occasionally twitching them to keep them from falling asleep.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie-Sandwich and Cheese Panini Sandwich-Pie here to see Ms. Submarine Sandwich, sir." Pinkie said, having practiced this speech for a long time. She paused to look at the nameplate on the stallion's desk. "Spearhead?... Weren't you an artist?" Pinkie tilted her head. "You came to Ponyville and..."

"It turns out the world just isn't ready for my kind of art." Spearhead sighed. "Apparently my art was in poor taste... Somepony complained about one of the exhibits... I don't get it, but it's easier to just go back to doing what I know, right? Guarding." He shrugged, smiling at Pinkie slightly.

"But aren't you, um, a secretary?" Cheese interrupted, Pinkie hoofing him in the gut for being rude, and he grinned nervously. "Guarding.. uh.... paperwork?" He said awkwardly, flicking his eyes back to his wife, who nodded happily.

"Anyway, let's get you prepared for your visit." Spearhead sighed and got up, ignoring Cheese's comment entirely, trotting over to one of the doors, revealing a slightly less toned figure than when he was part of the Royal Guard, the muscle covered by a thick layer of fat, but he didn't seem any les imposing to either of the two. "We're going to have to take you by Miss Thestra first; I hope you don't find her magic frightening. She's young, but Princess Luna herself recommended her services."

"Wowser, that's pretty special! I didn't know this place was that important." Pinkie said, impressed.

"It is." Spearhead puffed his chest out. "There's a lot of ne'er-do-wells in here, Equestria's scariest ponies held here." He said, ignorant of Cheese Sandwich's sudden frightened stare. "We keep ponies who aren't necessarily mentally ill if the security isn't tight enough; ponies think that the Canterlot Dungeons are the only places big name criminals go." He continued, talking to fill the silence as the three trotted down a long hallway. "Zappityhoof, Decepticolt, Goldcap, the Alicorn Trio, they're held here too..." Spearhead ruffled his wings nervously. "Princess Sparkle helped put them away, they were Tartarus-bent on becoming Alicorns by boiling a pegasus's wings into a potion to drink it."

"Wow, I didn't realize we were such effective crime-fighters." Pinkie tilted her head, frankly surprised. "I thought we were more of 'fighting big meanies who want to rule the whole world' kinds of ponies, but I guess we did a lot more of fighting regular meanies too." She shrugged.

"Yep. You're pretty good at fighting evil. Makes us Royal Guards feel kinda useless, you know?" Spearhead laughed. "Just joking, though, really, Mr. Sandwich, you're a lucky stallion to have a gal like her."

"I know, right?" Cheese grinned, glad that the conversation was moving away from the incarcerated in the asylum. "She's like, the twin I never had!" He laughed. "Except, you know, not in a... yeah, never mind, that sounded weird." He faltered when he recognized the slight strangeness in declaring his wife to be like a sibling to him.

"It's ok, Cheesie!" Pinkie laughed at his awkward look. "I know you just meant we're closer than two peas in a pod!" She snuggled up to her husband happily. The three reached another gate, where a red unicorn mare with a skull and bones cutie mark stood, black hair matching her eyes as she lit up her horn a bright blue. "Are you Thestra?" Pinkie asked, slightly intimidated by the skull on the mare's flank.

"Yes, I am." Thestra nodded. "You see, we've been having some problems in Equestria recently, and I'm going to give you a quick x-ray to see if you check out." She pointed her hoof up to her horn, lit up.

"What kind of problems require an x-ray?" Cheese suddenly blurted out, nervous.

"You haven't heard?" Spearhead interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Changelings have been popping up all around Equestria all over again, like before the wedding in Canterlot." He said, frankly.

"How would you know? Isn't the point of changelings, well, kinda.. about being hidden as, like ponies?" Pinkie asked.

"They've gotten bolder; we've had to stop mass panics all over, they've started de-cloaking in the midst of crowds for no reason.. We believe it's a show of force." Thestra continued Spearhead's conversation. "So, if you don't mind..." Thestra touched her horn to both Cheese and Pinkie's heads, and a cold feeling washed over both of them, their entire body transparent besides their skeletons. "Sorry for the slightly frightening visage, it's part of the magic. Changeling exoskeletons don't look the same as bones, even contorted to form the structure of them. If we used a regular x-ray, it wouldn't show the colors." She explained, their flesh returning, just as she opened the gate. "Dr. Blue Ribbon will show you to the visiting cell." She nodded for them to move forward, Spearhead escorting them forward once more.

"So, why exactly are you visiting this facility, if that's not too personal?..." Spearhead once again filled the awkward silence, Pinkie glancing at Cheese, who nodded his approval to her answering the question.

"Well, Marine Sandwich is actually Cheese's big sister." Pinkie explained, Cheese flinching slightly. "And we have.. um, kinda personal reasons to.. well, see her." She stopped herself from explaining further, not feeling like laying their daughter's secrets bare to the Guard. "So we're visiting."

"Ah. Relatives." Spearhead nodded, silent for the rest of the trot over, when they were greeted by a light green mare with a red mane clad in a doctor's outfit, a flower with a cross for a cutie mark. "This is Dr. Blue Ribbon; she'll be escorting you to the visitation cell." He waved his hoof, Blue Ribbon nodding him away.

"Hello." Blue Ribbon said curtly, looking at both of them. "I want to remind you of the rules; Thestra's scan cleared you of any foreign objects, but if you somehow smuggled anything into this room, you will be immediately detained if they are used." She said sternly, Pinkie gulping. No hammerspace, then. "If you attempt to engage in unapproved contact with the patient, you will be detained. The use of any magic, Unicorn, Pegasus or Earth Pony, is prohibited, not exclusively spells. Any use of magical objects will result in detainment and punishment within the fullest extent of the law." She continued rattling off rules, Cheese and Pinkie nodding silently along with her. "I will be supervising any and all conversations. Any questions that the patient cannot answer may be directed at me, unless they are considered inappropriate." She pointed at herself. "As Mr. Sandwich here is the direct next of kin and closest living relative, and Marine Sandwich is considered unfit to be in charge of her own affairs, questions normally considered a violation of patient confidentiality may, on a case by case basis, be answered for the sake of patient safety or other concerns." She looked up and saw both of the party ponies exchange looks. "Do you have any questions?"

"Would, um..." Pinkie stumbled nervously. "Would Cheese be able to ask questions about... uh..." She folded her ears back, nervous under the gaze of the doctor. "Would he be able to ask about what's wrong with Marine?.. I mean, head-wise? Would that be allowed?" She paused to catch her breath after spitting all of that out at once. "Because, um, we have a daughter who might possibly be showing signs of maybe possibly having issues that might sorta sound like they could have come from Cheese's sister and knowing what's wrong with her might help knowing what's wrong with our daughter?" She continued, getting caught up in explaining again.

"Ah." Blue Ribbon raised an eyebrow, sighing. "Yes, the medical concerns of relatives or children would be permissible." She said, nodding for them to follow her.  "Please follow me to the visitation cell."

The two trotted along nervously behind the doctor, hooves clacking against the bright white floor, the silence only marred by those single noises, before Pinkie broke the silence again, seemingly the only one willing to. "Cheese, sweetie, are you going to be quiet the whole time? This isn't just about Claystone, you know." She put her hoof on his shoulder. "You can't just ignore your sister... At least meet her once again before you write her off forever." She softened her eyes. "I know this is a whole lot scarier than just laughing at the scary stuff kind of scary, but you still can't just pretend your problems don't exist." She let her eyes drift, trying to not think of a certain purple alicorn she herself knew.

"I know, I know..." Cheese whispered back, trying not to panic himself. "It's just, I mean... she tried to kill you!" He started to hyperventilate. "I mean, that's ridiculously scary, right? I'm not just imagining that, that's scarier than having your birthday on Hearths Warming Eve and having it on Nightmare Night combined!" He tried to minimize the fright by making a silly comparison, but it wasn't working.

"Yeah, it is, but she's in here now, remember? You're totally safe." Pinkie rested her head on his shoulder and nuzzled him for extra confidence as Blue Ribbon stopped in front of a pair of doors, turning to them.

"Please stand back while I cast the barrier spell; her visitation cell is covered in glass, but for other reasons, we've decided manifesting a secondary magic barrier is necessary." Blue Ribbon's horn lit up bright pink as she talked.

"Um, are you afraid that she'll break the glass?" Cheese asked, trotting in place from nerves. "Wouldn't it be easier to just make the glass stronger, then?" He added.

"Oh, no, the glass is sturdy." Blue Ribbon assured them. "The extra barrier is for the patient's sake. As of late, she has displayed an inability to recognize the glass exists without the magic. In fact, the magical barrier is more a formality to remind her that there's a barrier, to prevent her from hurting herself attempting to walk through the glass." She explained, Cheese and Pinkie exchanging pitying glances. "She should be ready by now." She opened the door with her hoof, her horn being busy holding up the magical barrier.

When the three stepped into the room, they were greeted with an unnerving sight; Marine Sandwich, hunched over on the floor of her padded cell, a single poorly working light illuminating the slightly dank and dirty room, dark, unidentified stains covering the floor under Marine's hooves, the room looked cramped and small, though it was clear it was not meant for long term use, being a visitation cell. The glass was nearly invisible, the bars of magic being the reminder of the fact that a cage stood between them and her. But more disturbing than the room and the cold atmosphere was Marine herself; her tail and mane hung limply over her frame, framing her face and falling upon the floor, her tail covering her front leg, but not obscuring the interrobang that was her Cutie Mark. The state of her hair distracted them from staring at her face, her bright blue eyes staring straight at her brother and the mare who had imprisoned her, eyebrows unkempt but furrowed, and her ghastly visage being completed by the muzzle that was strapped to her face, covering her mouth. She was shaking slightly, tremors running through her body at random intervals. ".... Ch-Cheesse..." She stated flatly, her speech shaky and slurred. "Yyy-you... yyou loook sssscared." She muttered, the smile unseen, but heard even through the muzzle and strange speech. "Tthought you ddidn't have a ssssisster." She said, her expression only conveyed through her voice.

"... Are you alright?" Cheese found himself struck with a mixture of pity and fear for his sister, unnerved by the strange way she was speaking. It was a silly question to ask, he knew; she was in an insane asylum if she was alright, she wouldn't be here, but it was the first thing to come into his mind to say, but he jumped back in fear as another shudder went through Marine's body as she cackled uncontrollably for a solid five seconds, body heaving. "... I know the question was funny, but-"

"I wwwassn't llaughing." Marine said, genuine. "Nnnothing ffunny-" She locked eyes with Pinkie Pie, recognition flashing in her eyes. "Nnothing FFUNNY ABOUT HER!" She raised her voice, and tried to stamp her hoof, stumbling slightly, her limbs shaking too hard for her to properly stamp, the soft floor absorbing her hoof with a slightly damp noise. "Yyyou, yyyou're tthe one who ggot me here!" She hissed, getting up to stumble towards Pinkie, but the magical bars glowed, keeping her from ramming into the glass. "Yyyou and tthat impossster!" She continued, the shaking more obvious in her limbs, tremors running through her body clearly. It was obvious she wasn't standing firm, and she quickly sat down once again.

"Applejack tried to tell everypony she wasn't you, it's not her fault nopony listened..." Pinkie protested, but she felt too much pity towards the shaking mare in the cell to yell at her. She was too clearly in a bad way for Pinkie to feel ok raising her voice to her sister-in-law. There was a slight scent of something unpleasant in the room suddenly, but Pinkie said nothing, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she noted the wet stains on the floor of the cell, the smell of ammonia in the room that she had assumed was an attempt at cleaning, Marine's eyes starting to focus on a point that was clearly not something real, occasionally letting out a uncontrolled, strange cackling sort of laugh. "Um... Miss Blue Ribbon, this isn't.. this isn't how I remember her being like, she was... louder... and... less... um..." Pinkie turned to the doctor, uncomfortable with looking at Marine, Cheese seeming to agree, and Pinkie didn't begrudge him. Marine seemed barely capable of holding a conversation, which struck Pinkie as wrong. This definitely wasn't the mare she had helped put here.

"We're quite aware of the drastic change in her demeanor since she arrived here, yes." Blue Ribbon said, keeping a neutral face, though pity seemed to seep in even on her face. "It's made legal decisions on her crimes harder; while we can prove she had murderous intent, her carefully constructed past makes it hard for us to track her activities, and her utter anonymity prevents us from finding out if her murderous intent was ever followed through before in the past." She said, though she quickly realized this was not relevant to the two standing before her, and she coughed. "The point being that at some point during our care of Ms. Sandwich, she began developing strange symptoms, all of which make it hard to converse with her."

"Yes, I can see that..." Pinkie said, her mane going slightly limp.

"Ch-Cheeesse, wwhy dd-do you knowww hher?" Marine suddenly snapped out of her stupor, though she still looked out of it, she furrowed her brows, nodding her head towards Pinkie as if she wasn't right there. "Ssshe's the reason... the... the one who ggot... she's tthe rreason I'm here." She growled out, though the slurring made the effect less threatening and more pathetic, Cheese put on the spot.

"She's... I married her. I know her because I married her, sis." Cheese whimpered, unsure of how to react, deciding that he didn't feel comfortable lying to her sister in such a state, regardless of the fact that she was a criminal lunatic, she appeared so infirm that Cheese would feel like scum lying to her.

"Ssshe's... yyou..." Marine looked almost stunned, stuck between anger and confusion and a dim sense that she wasn't capable of processing this information. "Yyou... that's hhow she caught mme, rrright? I... I kknew that it was.. It was a sset up!" She started shaking, tears leaking from her eyes, though she didn't seem to notice. "Ssshe and her friendd, tthe imposterr, shhe knnew what she was ddoing!" She screeched as best she could. "Yyyou wwanted this! Yyyou were pplanning this!"

"I didn't even know her then!" Cheese stepped back, eyes wide with fear, too reminded of his childhood, and unfortunately, finally this Marine lined up with the symptoms his daughter had, the paranoid assumptions, the yelling, they were all similar to Claystone... which begged the terrifying question; was this their daughter's ultimate fate?

"Lliar!" Marine said, her muzzle preventing her voice from coming out properly besides a muffled noise, spittle flying out of the breathing holes. She tried to reach through the wall separating the two siblings, hooves planted firmly against the glass wall, her breath fogging up the glass.

"Um, Ms. Blue Ribbon, I think that... we should maybe talk outside?" Pinkie stepped in, noticing Cheese's startled noise and how he was locking up in fright. "I think that the visiting part of this is... well, um, done?" She added nervously, Blue Ribbon nodding, pressing a button on the wall beside the door, motioning for Cheese and Pinkie to step to the side as two unicorns entered the room, wearing security gear, lighting up their horns and overtaking the magical barrier with their own magic, allowing Blue Ribbon to rest, motioning for Pinkie and Cheese to follow her as she shut the door behind her. "... Um..." Pinkie found herself at a loss for words. "So what... what do you think is... um, wrong with her?" Pinkie asked, shifting on her hooves.

"Well, before her sudden deterioration, we suspected some form of intermittent explosive disorder, or some other mental disorder related to her tendencies towards paranoid outbursts, but in the last few years, she suddenly began developing these strange symptoms." Blue Ribbon explained.

"Do you think that they're the same thing?" Cheese spoke up, softly. "I mean, the paranoia stuff and the... new... symptoms?" He was clearly still shaken from his encounter with his sister.

"While that is a possibility, we're not sure. It's not common for physical symptoms to suddenly develop like this from what had previously been a purely psychological problem." Blue Ribbon explained. "We weren't able to diagnose her before the strange symptoms showed up, so unfortunately for your reasons for coming, we can be of little help." She looked saddened to be of little help to them. "The best I can give you is that we're fairly certain that whatever she currently has is a disease, rather than a psychological disorder, making the likelihood that your daughter inherited this condition low." She noticed the visible sigh of relief from both of the concerned parents.

"Well, do you know what she has?" Cheese spoke up again, clearly concerned for his sister, regardless of her abusive behavior, he felt a certain amount of pity towards her situation. He didn't wish ill on anypony, even his sister.

"Unfortunately, we have no idea." Blue Ribbon admitted. "This isn't something we've ever seen before in a pony, the symptoms all point to a neurological disease, but how she contracted it or even what it is, is completely unclear. She has difficulty walking, tremors and twitching, and she's recently had problems speaking and swallowing, and her hooves have lost the ability to grip onto objects easily, all of which suggests deterioration in motor skills, but more unnerving is that she's prone to bouts of sudden crying and prolonged laughter without provocation, and she's losing her cognitive functions slowly, as well as incontinence." She continued explaining, listing off symptoms as the two grew more and more unnerved. "If her deterioration continues, she'll require help eating without choking on her food, and may lose her ability to move under her own power, but we don't know. We've started looking for diseases that affect other species, if she's contracted something from say, a griffon or dragon, but we're unlikely to find an answer. Ponies generally don't contract the same diseases as carnivorous species, and even then, those diseases aren't cross contagious, so we're at a complete loss." She said, with complete finality, Pinkie's hair going flat suddenly and Cheese's own mane deflating almost as much, Pinkie's entire body darkening, almost as if the news had caused her world to turn dark.

"So... you can't help us?" Cheese asked.

"Well, I can give you a list of our original prognosis attempts, but nothing was ever confirmed, so it would be unwise to prescribe medication or diagnose without further examination from a psychologist who has met your daughter." Blue Ribbon's horn lit up as she trotted away from them, returning with a set of papers. "These are the papers, I'll have the secretary print out a revised version without any reference to your sister, so the breach of confidentiality won't extend past direct family. Please handle all medical decisions with caution." She added, walking off, leaving the two to trot back to the waiting room, where Spearhead was once again sitting, bored.

"Hey, you two are back." Spearhead smiled slightly at the sight of Pinkie, but soured when he saw their scared and unnerved faces. "I assume, um... things didn't go well?" He looked at them with sad eyes, and when Pinkie silently nodded, he gave a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry to hear that, you guys." He said.

"It's not your fault." Pinkie said softly, Cheese holding her close, both shaken up badly. As they waited for the papers to come back, they thought worriedly about their daughter, and Cheese's sister, the similarities.. and how they hoped that their daughter would never end up like her aunt. They couldn't imagine Claystone in the same position as Marine, muzzled and confined to a cell, and they both cried.

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AppleRockfan1996's avatar

Oh man,This is really cool. Hope There's an halloween/Nightmare Night story about Marine.