Author's Note
A plot where Sour Sweet hears voices has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but couldn’t come up with an interesting angle for… until now! I wanted to attempt to further portray the darker aspects of Sour's condition without going full horror movie stereotype. Hope I did well.
As always, when Sour Sweet’s dialogue is presented in italics she’s sweet, in bold she’s sour, and in plain type she’s normal.
Sour Sweet Voices
All around you, Crystal Preppers were stroking lucky rabbit's feet, pulling out their hair with one hand as they flip through notes with the other, and sticking their noses so far in their textbooks that they were colliding into each other in the hallway. You breathe in deeply, let out a satisfying sigh, and declare sarcastically, "Finals Week. Gotta love it."
"Dude, I was up all night cramming," Lemon Zest says followed with a yawn.
"Sour said she was going to do the same thing," you chuckle. "She texted me last night saying she was getting really nervous about them."
"Cramming is the worst possible way to study," Sugarcoat states. "A full night's sleep is a necessity before a test."
"Hey, we can't all be as wise and all-knowing as you, Miss Soon-To-Be-Valedictorian," Indigo Zap laughs.
"Hey, where is Sour anyway?" Sunny Flare asks.
"That's what I've been wondering." You start looking around. "I hope she didn't end up oversleeping."
"Uh, hey."
You turn to see Gilda with a worried look upon her face.
"Oh, hey, Gilda. What's up?"
"Do you know what Sour is doing right now?"
"That's what we were just talking about. We haven't seen her yet this morning."
"You better come with me," Gilda says with all seriousness.
You look over to the girls. They shrug at you and you shrug at them. You all then follow Gilda.
It's a very good thing you did, too. She leads you down the hall and points. Indeed, there is Sour Sweet. She's leaning against the wall, looking over and speaking as if someone was right there next to her. However, no one was.
"... so then the Nazi agent stuck out his hand with the old, 'Let me shake the hand of my worthy enemy' bit, but remember this is the same arm where the custom-made gun up his sleeve which he planned to assassinate Winston Churchill with is! So Colonel Hogan, being the complete badass that he is, faked him out and quickly knocked the arm up so that the bullet shot Klink's hat off instead of him. Naturally, Klink got mad, yelled 'Hogan!', and without missing a beat, Hogan joked, 'Don't blame me. I didn't know his arm was loaded!'" Sour giggles for a second, then gets annoyed. "Well, of course, it's weird to have a cheesy sitcom about a POW camp! It was the sixties. Everything was weird on TV then! Haven't you ever seen the BATMAN show they had?"
"Sour?" you ask, a little spooked.
Sour looks over with a smile, but immediately losses it when she realizes that she has not only her boyfriend, her four best friends, Gilda, but also many other fellow students in the hallway all staring at her with wide eyes.
"Um... hey?" Sour says.
"Sour, who were you just speaking too?" Sunny hesitantly asks.
Sour blushes and tilts her head down with shame. "N-no one..."
Immediately, Indigo goes into action and begins shooing off all the other students. "Show's over, you guys! Get back to studying!"
"Thanks, Gilda," Lemon expresses, patting her on the shoulder. "We'll take it from here."
Gilda nods, gives Sour another sympathetic glance, and goes off.
You go over and put your arm around your girlfriend's shoulder. "What's going on, Sour?"
Sour sighs. "It started happening last night. I just began to hear voices while I was studying hard. I had hoped it just the stress of the moment making it happen, but I guess not. I didn't even realize that I was talking out loud with one of them just then."
"Do you think these voices are going cause problems for you during your exams?" you ask, very concerned.
Sour instantly puts up a snooty bravado, waving dismissively. "Of course not. I'll pass them all, piece of cake!" Her façade suddenly fell as did her head. "Then again... some of them are kind of hard to ignore..."
"Why’s that?"
Sour looks up into your eyes. "They sound like you..."
****************
At fourth period, both you and Sour Sweet have your English final to endure. The teacher passes out the test and scantrons. You're lucky to have a fine start where the first several questions are pretty easy, however good things must come to an end as they begin to get tougher. Your brain strains to search the archives of your memory for the answers. Some questions you just straight-up have to randomly pick a letter to mark.
You sigh quietly to yourself. You decide to sneak a glance up and over Trenderhoof's shoulder to see how Sour looks to be doing. You're startled to see her trembling. Is the test actually making her that nervous?
Shaking hands then come up to cover her ears. Wait, are her –
All of the sudden, it happens.
"SHUT THE HELL UP, ALL OF YOU!!!" Sour abruptly screams out loud. "STOP TELLING ME I'M GOING TO FAIL!!!!!"
All students jump in surprise. All pencils halt. All eyes direct to Sour.
The teacher stares in shock until his job responsibility kicks back in. "Miss Sweet, report to Principle Cinch's office immediately."
Without any resistance, Sour gets up. As she goes out the door, you clearly see the shade of red on her face. She's completely humiliated over what she just did.
****************
Lunch is already underway when Sour returns.
"Sour, what happened?" you ask as she sits down between you and Lemon Zest.
"I simply told the truth of what I was going through. Cinch was smug and judgmental. Cadance was kind and compassionate. Same old, same old. Oh, and guess what? They're going to make me take the rest of my finals all by myself so I can't cause a distraction for the rest of you. Isn't that just wonderful?" Her attitude switches to depression. "Locked in a room with no one but the voices to keep me company. Wonder if this is a preview of what's to come...?"
"Hey, don't think like that, Sour," you try to comfort her. "You'll get over this once the week is over and the pressures of finals are behind you. I'm sure of it."
Sour doesn't respond right away. Instead she suddenly begins to stare at the salt shaker on the table. She grows an annoyed look and reaches over. You and the girls watch with confusion as Sour grips the top and slides the shaker exactly three inches to the right. She retreats her hand, but still keeps staring at it. She rolls her eyes and then extends her hand back out. The salt shaker is slid back to its original position.
"Sour, what are you doing?" Indigo asks.
Sour just groans and mutters, "Make up your mind, already..."
The salt shaker is moved back over to the right three inches.
Lemon taps her on the shoulder. "Hey, Sour?"
"Hm?" Sour utters, still glaring at the shaker.
"I did some looking up online about voices and read that music can sometimes help drown them out," Lemon explains as she takes off her head phones. She then presents them to her friend. "Maybe these can help."
Sour looks away from the salt shaker and smiles gratefully at the gesture. The offer is accepted.
"Thanks, Lemon," Sour expresses as she puts them on.
Lemon winks. "No prob, dude."
All of a sudden, Sour gets a weird look on her face. She leans over, completely invading Lemon's personal space. She sniffs tentatively several times and leans back.
"She so does not," Sour utters to herself. "What are you talking about?"
Lemon blinks. She then lifts her arm up to sniff herself as if to check if Sour's voices actually had the ability to detect some rankness that she couldn't.
You frown. This is going to be a long week...
****************
Unfortunately, in Sour Sweet's case, the headphones couldn't help her. Whenever she would play the music, the voices would simply grow louder. As incredible as it is to believe, even the infamous rocking tunes of Lemon Zest are no match for them.
Thankfully, Sour was managing to keep it together during her Monday and Tuesday exams. This was despite moments where the voices would actually attempt to trick her. Whenever she came to question which she definitely knew the correct answer to, they would blurt out the incorrect ones and urge her to mark those. With much concentration, she managed to disobey them.
The voices weren't the only things which were causing frustration, of course. It was your classmates' reactions to them. Too many times of Sour acting oddly and snapping at nothing was beginning to generate much whispered gossip in the halls. Not only gossip, but fear.
By Wednesday morning, it’s a widespread panic. As soon as you and Sour enter CPA, the entire hallway suddenly parts like the Red Sea. Students brace themselves against their lockers, their nervous eyes fixated on Sour as she makes her way past them.
Later on in the day, you find yourself in conversation with Sunny Flare without Sour around. You're thankful to have someone else to vent about this with.
"It just makes me so mad! These were the exact same people who showed up to cheer Sour up after her suicide attempt not too long ago. And now they're shunning her?"
"Sympathizing with suicide is one thing, but being around someone hearing voices is a whole other matter," Sunny tries to explain. "I would be lying if I said that I didn't think the whole thing wasn't a little creepy myself."
"Come on, arguing out loud about retro TV shows and moving salt shakers around aren't any big deals."
"Not those things, of course, but the fear that’s been going around is that Sour’s voices are telling her to, you know, hurt people."
You shake your head with annoyance. "Sour has lost her cool and got into fights before. That’s nothing new."
"No, no, dearie. They're not talking about fights. They’re afraid she’ll hurt people as in…" She grimaces before finishing, "… murder."
"What?! What do they think she’s going to do?! Grab a random knife, attack you, and run off to kill Sunset Shimmer or something like that?! That’d be SO ridiculous!"
Just then, Sugarcoat walks up to you. "Who's Bitter Honey?"
Your eyes widen. You're the only one who is supposed to know about that particular incident. "Why do you ask?"
"Indigo and I just went into the restroom and found Sour crying on the floor. She said that the voices kept mocking her and saying things like, 'Bitter Honey will never exist' and 'You'd be a horrible mother'. She begged us to tell her that they were wrong."
Your fists clench. That's it. These voices are really starting to piss you off now.
"Where is she now?" Sunny asks.
"Indigo walked her outside to get some air and try to calm her down."
You nod. "Alright, I better – "
Just as you take the first step on your way to go find and comfort Sour, the intercom suddenly comes on.
"Attention, students," Cinch's voice fills the halls. "Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat, and..." She says your name. "... report to my office. Immediately."
You, Sunny, and Sugarcoat look at one another, the exact same thought crossing each of your minds. Sour Sweet's name wasn't called. Whatever Cinch wants them for, it has to be about her.
Soon, the five of you are facing the Principal which you thankfully have only two more full days of being ruled over.
"As Sour Sweet's..." Cinch pauses to roll her eyes. "... friends... reason would dictate that she would confide in you about this latest development in her illness. So I must now ask you, are these voices of hers telling her to do anything violent?"
"Absolutely not!" you blurt.
Cinch raises an eyebrow. "Then what, pray tell, are they saying to her?"
Indigo defiantly crosses her arms. "That is absolutely none of your business, Principal Cinch."
Cinch smirks. "That sounds like the attitude of some students who want to discover that their final grades mysteriously turned into Fs on their records. That is, unless I can be told what I want to know."
Anger shoots through you and the girls. Anger, but apprehension as well. Having several top students fail at once would surely ruin her Academy's precious reputation, but then again you haven't known Cinch to bluff yet. Cinch is a complete bitch, but she is a complete bitch of her word.
"It's just random and personal things," Sugarcoat caves in to explain. "'Move this over there', 'You'll never amount to anything', 'Lemon Zest smells funny'..."
"That's it?" Cinch asks, sounding unimpressed.
"That's it," you confirm.
Cinch leans back in her chair. "Fine. I do expect to be updated if anything changes, though. I want Crystal Prep Academy to be famous for its academic superiority, not infamous for its yandere killing sprees. You are dismissed."
You and the girls exit Cinch's office, still peeved over her interrogation. However, you all instantly halt as you see someone right outside the door waiting for you. Sour Sweet is leaning against the wall, her arms crossed firmly, with a very displeased expression upon her face. The way she's staring at you makes you uneasy. You try your best to shake it off.
"So, what was that little meeting about, hm?" Sour asks. "Are the cops on their way? Do the men in the white coats have my padded cell all nice and comfy for me?"
"Of course it's nothing like that, Sour," you assure her.
"Yeah, it was Cinch just being Cinch," Sunny states. "A lot of the other students must be informing her of your behavior."
Sour snarls. "If they REALLY want something to whine about, I'd tell them what my voices' opinion of each and every one of them is!"
"So, your voices have awful opinions of everyone in the whole school?" Indigo asks.
Sour shrugs. "Pretty much."
After some hesitance, Lemon then asks, "What are their opinions of your best friends?"
Sour grows an ashamed expression on her face and averts her eyes to the floor. "The opposite of my own. Let's just leave it at that..."
****************
The dismissal bell rings on Friday afternoon. You and Sour Sweet instantly dash out of class to find and hug each other. You had done it. Finals are over. Crystal Prep Academy is over. You have the rest of your lives to look forward to.
Sour had shown significant improvement in the previous two days. She was no longer caught off-guard by her experiences. She was beginning to learn how to ignore them and not succumb to their bizarre commands and insults. In fact, she was hearing them less and less.
You're so proud of her. Your girl can overcome anything.
As the two of you approach the front doors of the Academy, the campus security officer comes over and opens one up just for you.
"Have a nice weekend," he says.
Sour beams. "Such a gentlemen! Thank you, you do as well!" As you both exit and walk out of ear shot, Sour then growls, "That officer had been following me around since Wednesday."
You look back. "What? He was?"
Ordering someone to follow Sour around would be something Cinch would do. You suddenly frown. Then again, maybe she couldn't really be blamed. At least in this case, anyway. School security is extremely important, especially with so many students expressing their concerns as they were.
Sour nods. "My voices went ballistic when I realized it. They were telling me that he was everything from a spy from the CIA to a demon who wanted to steal my soul."
"Well, at least they weren't telling you to kill him in self-defense."
You chuckle at the idea. Sour doesn't, though. She doesn't say anything.
You gulp as you try to push paranoia from your mind. "Sour? They never told you to kill him... right?"
She continues to stare straight ahead.
You immediately jump in front to stop her. "Sour, answer me!"
She crosses her arms. "They've told me to do a lot of things. Some I've done, some I haven't. That's all there is to it."
She tries to move around you, but you proceed to block her again.
"Sour, I think this is serious enough that I deserve to know everything these voices have been telling you to do!"
"Do you tell everyone everything that's goes on inside YOUR head?!" she suddenly snaps.
"Huh?"
"Everyone's a little schizophrenic. That's what Doctor Chrysalis has always told me. Everyone has had their moments of irrational or dark thoughts crossing their mind that they'll never, ever repeat out loud. Why should I be singled out?! Don't I deserve the privacy of my own mind when I can actually help it?!" She pauses to wipe a tear. "I'm not the only human being in the world with the potential to be dangerous. Do I really deserve to be demeaned and scapegoated to make everyone else feel better about themselves?"
"Sour..." you say as you're about to embrace her.
She immediately shoves you back. "You're just like all the rest! Go away! Just leave me alone!"
You sigh as you remember the code you had given yourself long ago. What Sour Sweet wants, Sour Sweet gets. It has indeed been a long week. She deserves her space.
Reluctantly, you nod. "If that's what you want..."
You turn and begin to walk off.
"Wait."
You turn back around. "Huh?"
"There is something that I should probably tell you about, actually. Something that you do have a right to know…" Sour looks straight into your eyes with an expressionless gaze. "... because it’s about you."
A chill travels down your spine. "Me?"
Sour nods slowly and begins to take small steps toward you. "The voices want me to do something to you. Something… crazy. Very crazy."
Guilt suddenly hits you. Guilt for the paralyzing fear which is now flowing through your entire body. You've sworn to yourself that you would never be afraid of your own girlfriend. Not like this, anyway. However, that was a very difficult thing to keep with her eyes staring at you in the way which they are. It's as if she is possessed.
"Wh-what is it, S-Sour?" you manage to utter.
She stops just mere inches away from you. "It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now." Perfect striking distance. "I don’t even need the voices compelling me, to be honest."
Your brain frantically sends messages to your legs to run for it, but they won't budge. "Wh-what do you want to do to me?"
An unsettling, creepy grin abruptly emerges from her previously blank face.
Her arms wrap around you. Her cheek brushes against yours as her lips make their way next to your ear. Then, she whispers two little words…
"Marry you."
Your eyes widen in disbelief. "Marry... me? Your voices have told you to marry me?"
"The ones that sound like you have." Sour smirks. "I like to think they wanted to spite the ones saying Bitter would never be born." She tightens her embrace. "I didn't mean it when I said I want you to go away. You keep me together. I know it's been difficult for you to keep up with my condition. But you've always stuck around. You've never given up on me. Even when I gave up on myself. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."
"Wait, Sour. Didn't you say that Doctor Chrysalis has been advising you to slow down your relationship with me?"
Sour shrugs. "She's paid to give me advice. It's my choice of what to do with that advice, though. I choose not to take it. I choose you." She kisses you. "We don't have any rings and it'll be some years before we're ready to take the full plunge, but I would still like to at least make an engagement official. That is... if you feel the same..."
Words cannot describe how much joy you feel. "I do." You give her a huge smile. "Of course, I do, Sour Sweet!"
From that moment onward, you were no longer Sour Sweet's boyfriend. You were Sour Sweet's fiancé and damn proud of it.
THE END
