Rumors of conflict both near and faraway.

As the full extent of Applebloom's problem becomes apparent in my Equestria dreamscape  the more important it becomes to find a treatment for her. The next day Zecora returned with the little filly to Ponyville Hospital for a series of follow up examinations. While the doctor felt the physical injuries to her were healing well he had no solution for the more serious issue that was weighing on everyone's mind.

    Zecora called Twilight, the hospital staff, and the Apple Family together and presented her findings. It goes without saying that her findings caused much consternation for all gathered. Now question came to what were they dealing with and what could be done about it. There were three major theories proposed to explain what was occurring:

    1. Applebloom was possessed by some phantasmic being while she was in the Kingdom of Shadows and this entity escaped destruction by hitching a ride out when the Kingdom was destroyed. Twilight felt pretty certain that they were not dealing with the Lord of Shadows, but how powerful the being might be inhabiting Applebloom was subject to debate. Also had this been planned as part of her abduction from the beginning or was the little filly a victim of an unfortunate encounter?

    2. That this was not actually Applebloom and that they were dealing with a doppelganger of some sort that had taken on the little filly's form and most of her memories then succeeded in making through to Equestria. Whether as an act of self-preservation by the doppelganger, or once again as some larger scheme that the Lord of Shadows had made plans was up to debate. If this was the case then Applebloom did not make it back and she perished in the destruction of the Kingdom of Shadows.

    3. That the act of Applebloom being pulled into the Kingdom of Shadows had physically altered her into some being from that realm. In much the same way Paynes Grey had been turned into a being from their before being banished to limbo by the Lord of Shadows. This created a particularly sticky situation since it was unknown whether the process could be safely reversed. The only pony that had experienced that had not last long after returning. Although the fact that he was over a thousand years old then probably had a major impact on his survival. The argument against this was that only Applebloom seemed to be suffering this fate and none of other farmponies who had also been abducted at the time seemed to be affected.

    Of course none of these theories were very comforting to the Apple family who were already feeling the strain of this dilemma. The next question was what to do with the filly while solution was found. True their had been the violent episode while under the effects of the truth potion  , but she had not done anything yet to warrant permanent incarceration. Although she needed to be kept under observation as much as possible. Arguments were made for keeping her indefinitely at the hospital, but it was decided in the end that her home environment might be more therapeutic for the little filly. However it was decided that she would not continuing attending classes at the Cheerilee's school. Instead after discussing her condition with Cheerilee the decision was made that she would study from home and her teacher would drop by and give her assignments, pick up finished homework, and give her any tutoring she needed. Also her doctor advised against any heavy, strenuous exercise or labor for at least the next month. Then he wanted her to return to run some more tests.

    Through all this Twilight had been keeping the royal sister abreast of what was happening to the little filly. Although both of them desired to be more directly involved in solving Applebloom's problem, a series of political events, or as Luna sarcastically called in one letter as the crisis du jour was keeping the two sisters very busy in the north. The exact nature of the problem was not made clear in their letters but rumors in the newspaper hinted at the possibility of a sudden escalation of tensions between Equestria and the Council of Dragons over border issues in the northern lands. These rumors were reinforced by supposedly increased sightings of dragons up north and the movement and redeployment of pegasus squadrons from south to the north. Also one day a train passed through Ponyville heading north that was carrying both field artillery and heavy guns intended for fortification emplacements on flat cars. They were under heavy canvas tarps but their silhouettes were unmistakable. The train did not stop at the Ponyville station and all of the passenger cars were filled with earth ponies in uniforms apparently assigned to the artillery batteries. Also the train had several airborne pegasus who were effectively providing MiGCAP for the train. Additional pegasus were resting on a semi-open top car awaiting to rotate in and replace tired pegasus.

    Zecora asked if she could send several letters to zebra scholars/ historians/ shamans in her homeland to quiz them for ideas and solutions for Applebloom's plight. She was not certain but there were aspects of Applebloom's abduction that sounded like things that may have happened in zebra culture several hundred years before. Twilight not only agreed but she was able to get the letters sent, with help from the sisters, via a regular diplomatic pegasus courier which greatly sped up their arrival to the far south. Also Zecora agreed to make regular visits to Sweet Apple Acres to check on the little filly since for some reason Zecora was the only pony that Applebloom had recently shown any interest in talking to.

    So Applebloom went back home to Sweet Apple Acres. The uncertainty of Applebloom's continuing condition created a somewhat awkward environment, but the family appreciated not having to make a trip into town every day just to visit her. Also with the winter snows coming soon the roads would get harder to use as the year drew to a close. Cheerilee was not fully aware of Applebloom's problem, but she was more than willing to come out a couple times a week to help the little filly with her study. At first she was concerned that with Applebloom not attending daily classes that she would have trouble keeping up with the rest of her class. That worry was unfounded as the little filly easily finished her projects ahead of schedule. In fact her academic performance continues to improve much to the amazement of all. Applebloom has always been a good student, but hardly one of the consistent high scorers in her grade. On top of her school work she had not abated in her reading and was tearing her way through the Ponyville Library at rate that even Twilight found impressive. Almost as fast was her consumption of ink, pen points, pencils and paper. The walls of her room were soon festooned with odd cryptic diagrams, runes and symbols mingled amongst mathematical equations held up on the walls with a random selection of push pins, nails, tape and paste. Apparently with no concern to what it was doing to the paint or canvas on the walls.

    Applejack was more than a bit bothered by her little sister turning into some creepy egghead but on the few occasions she had asked Applebloom about what it all this writing meant she either got an evasive answer, or in a couple cases Applebloom had launched into a long lecture-like explanation that had left her more befuddled than before. Finally one day while little filly was out and in town with Big Mac, Applejack arranged for Twilight, Zecora and myself to come into her room and look at the work on the wall. Most of it was completely alien to us but we made sketches for later investigation. A few of the runes were close to ones Zecora had seen and she decided to send examples of them south with her next letter. Some of the mathematical equations were familiar to Twilight and seem to explain why Applebloom had borrowed several books related to calculus, physics and astronomy. Also it appeared that the little filly had been staying up late at night making surprisingly detailed maps of the night sky. The maps were covered in strange glyphs that were mysterious to us, but one map in particular caught my attention because of hastily note scribbled in one corner.

    It was a map that showed what Twilight recognized as a particularly fascinating nebula called The Griffin's Claw. Amongst some painfully dense math was written in hasty fashion. "Great vortex of heaven. Black throne of unstoppable night. Perfect darkness, defeater of the brightest light! Destroyer of kingdoms. Ender of worlds. Beautiful destruction. Madness that consumes all". I asked Twilight to jot down the math associated with this quote, also I asked her if we could later talk about the state of pony astronomy and what they did and did not know.

    Of course Applebloom's closest friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell soon heard of her return to Sweet Apple Acres and really wanted to speak with her and make certain she was okay. I think they have taken Applebloom's change in personality the hardest. They can not understand why someone who has been so close to them would suddenly decide to have nothing to do with them. Especially since they have helped each other through the trials and tribulations of youth so far. Now whenever they attempted to visit and cheer up their best friend they get the cold shoulder. Finally one afternoon it came to a head.

    Applebloom was out finishing some chores when the other members of the Cutie Marks Crusaders found her out by one of the woodsheds. Scootlaoo had decided earlier in the day that she was going to get an explanation out of Applebloom one way or another. After all both her and Sweetie Bell were Applebloom's best friends and they only wanted to help her with her problem. Unfortunately for Scootaloo Applebloom was not interested in talking today with them and was heading back to the barn/ farmhouse while ignoring their calls. That was it. Scootaloo couldn't stand this anymore! The orange pegasus filly galloped ahead and block her path.

    "You're going nowhere until you tell us what is wrong with you!" Yelled the pegasus filly.

    Something changed that moment in Applebloom and she launched herself at Scootaloo and knocking the pegasus filly on her back. With both of her hooves on her Scootaloo's throat she pinned her to the ground. "HOW DARE YOU TELL US ANYTHING!" Screamed Applebloom. Then for just an instant the white of her eyes went pitch black as she continued yelling at her friend. "LEAVE US ALONE! WE DON'T NEED YOU!"

    She was in the middle of her next sentence when suddenly the whites returned to her eyes. "WE DON'T!…ah, um." It was if she suddenly had no idea of what she was going to say or how she had ended up on top of her friend. Slowly she released her hooves from Scootaloo's neck and started wandering back to the house. "just leave us alone." was all she said in parting.

    For several seconds Scootaloo just laid there in the dirt. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She had never had someone get that angry with her before. Oh sure, her and Applebloom had had their share of scuffles and arguments in the past, but this felt different in ways that she could not explain but it had left her terrified like never before. Not scared in the way that carnival ride or a good ghost story will leave you, but something more primal and final in nature. And had she imagined that friends eyes had just changed color like that? She needed to tell someone but was afraid that telling Applejack would get Applebloom in trouble. After all you didn't snitch on a friend that way. With Rainbow Dash off in Cloudsdale she headed to the Ponyville library with Sweetie Bell in tow.

    Twilight was in the middle of a magic lesson with Petina when the two showed up. Twilight knew that the two fillies have had scuffles in the past, but Scootaloo's description of Applebloom's reaction and brief change in eye color bothered the unicorn librarian. The pegasus filly was shaking now from retelling of her experience. She asked Twilight what this feeling she was having when Petina spoke up.