The Asylum Inside My Head
Five equine silhouettes loomed over the near-unconscious Pegasus mare that lay sprawled out on the ground.
In a state of panic, the figures who were able to speak coherently through their shock were only able to utter the first words that surfaced in their minds.
“Dashie, are you okay?!”
“Rainbow Dash! Oh, sweet Celestia... Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?!”
“Girls, she’s hurt pretty badly... I-I-I can’t stand to see her like this!”
Rainbow Dash’s faint but rhythmic breathing slowly began to die down as her eyes began to close. Her eyelids felt as cumbersome as stone, and the more she fought to keep them open, the heavier they felt. Ultimately, her willpower to remain conscious lost the battle, as her eyelids inevitably drooped until they were eventually completely shut.
Rainbow Dash's back felt sore, really sore. A painful sensation shot through her spine. She reached a hoof to her back, hoping to feel the nice touch of her blue feathered wings. She brought her hoof back to eye-level, only to find a small trace of blood on it.
Her eyes widened at the cruel realization; her wings were damaged... or worse. “Nooooo!” she shrieked as she backed up and fell off the bed, her face meeting the cold hard floor. She groaned, feeling great pain shoot through her cheek after the fall she had taken.
CREAK!
Dash’s ears perked up at the sound of somepony entering the room, her eyes glancing at the door. She really hoped it was somepony who worked here so she could ask what had happened to her wings and where she was. She frowned as she saw a unicorn she did not expect to see walk into the room.
The unicorn smiled as she looked down upon the cyan Pegasus. “Good morning, Miss. How are you feeling today?”
Dash stared at the unicorn with a look of mild confusion plastered on her face. “Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?”
The unicorn chuckled. “I am Star Stream. You’re home, and the ponies out there--” she pointed a hoof towards the door. “--are your family.”
“I-I don’t understand.” Rainbow Dash uttered.
Star Stream smiled. “You will in due time...” She trotted over to Rainbow Dash and gave her a small folded-up note. “But for now, you'll have to wait.”
Rainbow Dash stared at the unicorn with confusion clearly etched on her face as she held the small note in her hooves. ”What am I supposed to do with this? Eat it?”
Star Stream giggled and shook her head, “No, it might help you better understand why you’re here--.” she explained, “--or maybe it’ll just drive you deeper into the question where you don’t want to go.”
Dash unfolded the note and began reading it to herself. Her eyes skimmed back and forth, her frown growing deeper and deeper. “This is a cell number... and there’s a name here, too.”
“And whose cell number is it?” Star Stream asked with a smug grin. “Go on, Miss. Tell me whose cell number is on there.”
Rainbow Dash got up from the bed and trotted past the unicorn, not bothering to answer her question. She stopped at the door, before turning back to look at the unicorn in curiosity. “Well, aren’t you coming?”
Star Stream nodded and trotted next to Rainbow Dash. “Remember, what you might see won’t make any sense unless you remember who you are and what you did before you got here.”
Rainbow Dash was about to ask what that meant but the number on the note might answer her question for her, so she silently walked out of the room, not noticing the flash of light appearing behind her.
The two mares trotted alongside each other down the Asylum’s hallways. They were filled with paintings and statues that were created by some of the finest artists in Equestria. They also passed many of the ponies who stayed here, the residents’ names were engraved on every door.
Rainbow Dash glanced at every single door, trying to find the one written on the note. “So, what are the others in here for?”
Star Stream stopped trotting. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What the others are here for is none of your business," the unicorn said sternly.
“Woah, woah, woah!” Rainbow Dash threw her forelegs up defensively, “Just asking a simple, harmless question, alright? No need to get all ‘egghead on me.”
Star Stream sighed and placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Worry about yourself, okay? Don’t worry about them; they are irrelevant. This is all about--” she placed a hoof on Dash’s chest, “--you.” she said with a smile.
“All about... me?”
Star Stream nodded.
Rainbow Dash unfolded the note and held it up to eye-level. She read the words written on the note out loud, “Cell number 12657, Name: Sunny Daze." She scratched her head, “Who is this? And what does he or she have to do with me being in here?"
A reply never came. Rainbow Dash closed her mouth as she realized the unicorn who was behind her was no longer standing there. “Weird.” she muttered, before turning her attention back to the rusted door.
She clutched the handle of the door with her two hooves, making sure she had a good grip on it before turning it.
Creeeeeeeeaakkkk!
The door slowly opened as she turned the handle. She stopped turning it, trotting to the front of the door to see darkness fill the room.
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and muttered, “Here goes nothing.” With that, she trotted into the room as a bright light reappeared behind her once again.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and found herself at a funeral. Indeed, she was seated near a weeping family who had just lost somepony important to them. The wife sobbed into her hooves as the husband tried his best to comfort her. “What’s going on here?” Dash asked, she tried to place a hoof on the husband to get his attention, but her hoof went through his shoulder. “What the hay is going on?”
“Questions are being answered, Miss.” Star Stream stated calmly. “Questions I told you, you were going to face.”
Rainbow Dash's head snapped towards the right side of the chair where she was seated, only to see the unicorn from before sitting only a couple inches away from her. Her hooves were folded as she watched the scene before her. “Where am I? What’s going on here?”
The unicorn turned to Dash with a smile plastered on her face, “You're at a funeral Miss. A funeral you made happen.”
“What the hay are you talking about?”
The unicorn put a hoof on Rainbow's muzzle and said, “Shhh.” She pointed towards the balcony where a pony wearing a black cloak stood. “He’s about to tell you.”
The stallion’s hooves clutched the balcony rail as he stared down at the weeping family seated down before him. “We are gathered here today, as you are all aware, to pay our last tributes and respects to the memory of--" he pointed towards a painting of a unicorn filly before turning his attention back to the family. “--Sunny Daze, a unicorn who died from a flying accident.”
“Rainbow, watch out for that filly!” Twilight shouted as she ran towards the small unicorn, hoping to get there before Rainbow Dash did.
The unicorn stood there in shock as she stared at the cyan blur hurtling straight towards her like a meteor.
“Kid, move out of the way!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She couldn’t control her descent; her wings had been damaged to the point where she couldn’t even hover in the air. She just fell, and fell, and fell. “Kid, move out the bucking way!”
The unicorn stood there, still rooted to the ground in shock. The others could do little but watch as the Dash impacted the filly with a loud, resounding 'BOOM'.
Twilight galloped towards them, hoping to see some sign of life. When she got there, she found Dash barely conscious with a bone sticking out of her wing and blood leaking down from her face. “Rainbow Dash! Oh, sweet Celestia... Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?!” she shouted as she held her friend’s body in her forelegs. “Dash... DASH!”
Pinkie Pie and the others ran towards where Twilight sat.
“Where’s the unicorn?” Rarity asked. Theyall turned to see a small equine body lying a few inches away from them, lifeless.
“Dashie, are you okay?!” Pinkie asked in great concern.
Twilight looked up to the others with tears welled up in her eyes. “Girls, she’s hurt pretty badly... I-I-I can’t stand to see her like this!”
Fluttershy held a hoof to her mouth as she tried to hold back the tears, “Oh dear, I hope Dash is going to be okay.”
Applejack ran to the unicorn filly, picked her up and placed her onto her back. “Let’s get them both to the hospital right now!”
“Twilight, come on! Dashie doesn’t look too good!” Pinkie shouted, tears welled up in her eyes.
Twilight nodded, “It’s going to be alright Rainbow Dash, and it’s going to be all alright... Just stay with me.” she whispered into Dash ear as she rubbed her head. “Pinkie Pie, help me carry her to the hospital.”
Rainbow Dash shook her head as the shouting voice replayed in her brain. The horrid image of what had happened to her and the filly that day flashed in her mind as well.
“What’s wrong, Miss Dash? Did you see something?"
“Yeah... I think my name is Rainbow Dash, and I was falling towards this unicorn, similar to that one up there,” she said, pointing at the painting of the unicorn. “I told her to move out the way, but... but-”
“It was too late,” the unicorn interrupted, her voice cold. “Due to your own recklessness, you took the life of a young unicorn. Even though you tried to prevent it from happening, you still failed.”
Rainbow Dash covered her face with her hooves and began to sob. “I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to do it!”
“'Sorry' doesn’t cut it, Dash, and now you’re being punished for it.” Star Stream rose from her chair and started trotting to the door as she called out to Dash. “Come with me.”
Rainbow Dash - Cell Number: 86559
Rainbow Dash stared at the number engraved on the rusted door in front of her. It looked different from when she woke up in the room behind it, somehow. Maybe she didn’t look at the front of the door before she went out with Star Stream.
“What are we doing back here?”
“It’s time for you to pay for your actions,” Star Stream clutched the door handle with her two forehooves, making sure she had a good grip on it before turning it.
Creeeeeeeeaakkkk!
The door opened slowly as she turned the handle, revealing a small unicorn figure sitting in the shadows, pulled up to a metal table a few feet away from the door. A small light bulb shined light upon another chair where Dash was supposed to sit. “Well, Miss Dash?”
Rainbow Dash was about to open her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She just kept silent and started trotting into the room.
“Rainbow Dash, I bid you farewell. This is the last time you’ll see me.” Star Stream called out before slamming the door tightly shut.
“Wai--”
THUD!
Rainbow Dash whipped around quickly as the sound of the slamming door ring into her ears. She ran to the door and started pounding against it with her forehooves, hoping Star Stream would her plea. “You can’t do this to me! Let me out! I don’t deserve this, I don’t deserve this!”
“Sit down, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash turned her attention to the unicorn filly who sat within the shadows. She could see a little blood stained on the filly’s coat. “No, thanks.”
The unicorn chuckled, “No, please sit, it’ll be rude not to.”
Rainbow Dash remained where she stood. “Listen I had a pretty rough and weird day so I’ll just stand--”
The unicorn slammed her hooves against the table and leaned over the table, revealing her horrid face. “SIT DOWN!”
She stared at Dash, who remained silent and still. “Please.”
Rainbow Dash hesitated for a while, before she decided it was useless to argue with the unicorn so she trotted to the chair and took her seat. “I’m here. What do you want?”
The unicorn frown slowly turned into a smile. “Dash, I want to know… why me? Out of all the unicorn fillies out there, you chose to take me with you.”
“What do you--”
The unicorn slammed her hoof against the table, silencing Dash. “I was there...” she pointed a hoof at her chest as tears welled up her eyes, except it they weren’t tears. It was blood. “You trapped me here and now you can’t escape either!”
“Trapped inside where? What the hay are you talking about!?”
The unicorn laughed madly as she revealed her name written on a small white tag on her waist.
Sunny Daze
Dash’s eyes widened in realization.
“We’re trapped inside the mind of the killer.” Sunny said simply.
Twilight Sparkle and the others gathered around their friend who laid peacefully on the hospital bed. Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy stood on the right side whereas Twilight and Rarity stood on the left.
“I hope everypony is doing alright.” Dr Stable greeted as he trotted into the room with his clipboard. “I’m sorry for your friend, but the good news is that she’ll live.”
Sighs of relief filled the room. Twilight asked the one question they all was trying to avoid. “And the bad news, doctor?”
“Well, your friend is trapped deep inside the damaged part of her brain.” He sighed. “She could be experiencing some supernatural things such as memories she didn’t have or ponies she created from vague memory.”
Tears welled up in the mares’ eyes as they stared at Dash’s limp body. “A-and how long is she going to stay like this?” Pinkie Pie asked between sobs.
“Is Dash going to be alright?” Fluttershy gripped Dash’s hoof tighter and tighter as her heart pounded against her chest.
Dr. Stables put his hoof to his jaw in thought and grimaced. “Maybe forever. Only time will tell.” He trotted towards the door but stopped mid-step. “I’m sorry.” He muttered before leaving the room.
Silence returned. Nopony said anything. They all looked at Rainbow Dash with concern etched onto their faces. All of a sudden, the silence was broken by the cyan mare laying on the hospital bed as she muttered two words.
“Help me.”
