How Friends May Fall

How Friends May Fall – Part 3

Twilight turned the burner off, and anchored the basket to the ground. She had found a nice, open spot to land the hot air balloon, easy to find back yet still largely hidden from sight. She knew that the ponies of Canterlot wouldn’t just steal it, but part of her urged her to mask her presence as much as possible. She didn’t know why, but ever since reaching Canterlot, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

She head out into the streets and looked around. The ponies were just doing their everyday business, completely unaffected by the recent events down in Ponyville. As if it had never happened to begin with. Perhaps they didn’t even know about the incident? She would have to compare to the behavior of Cloudsdale and compare the two to know the answer, but Cloudsdale was miles away.

She shook her head, and focused her mind. She shouldn’t let her mind wander while she was here. There was something more important to do then lament on the behavior of Canterlot and Cloudsdale.

She checked the nearby signs for directions. She knew that Rainbow Dash had been taken to an asylum in Canterlot, but she had no idea where it was. Even back when she lived in Canterlot herself had she never even heard of an asylum being located here. Nor had she even found one. And as she continued to check the signs, she discovered the reason why she had never heard of it before. Not a single one of them even mentioned anything about an asylum.

With the signs being unable to help her, she turned to the locals for directions. But…

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea.”

“There’s an asylum in Canterlot?”

“Please, as if they could let a bunch of lunatics stay in our city!”

“What’s an asylum?”

With a sigh, Twilight turned her head to the ground. She had asked over 20 people for directions, and all of them either didn’t know where it was, didn’t know it existed, or mocked her for believing there was one in Canterlot. She remembered those final elitist ponies well. She always disliked them.

“Ahem.”

Twilight heard a voice behind her. She turned around, and faced a burly, brown Pegasus clad in iron armor. It looked like the Royal Guard’s uniform, only without a mohawk on the helmet and with his mouth and nose covered up. She recognized it as the uniform of the regular guards, who were tasked with protecting the city rather than the royals.

“What seems to be the problem, sir?” asked Twilight, this time without the nervous tone in her voice. She had gotten used to talking to the officers these days.

“People have been complaining about you bothering others.” said the guard. “Something about an ‘asylum’, I hear?”

“Well, yes, but you see--”

“I’m sorry, Miss.” said the guard, interrupting Twilight’s sentence. “But I’m here to escort you out of this district.”

“But--”

“No buts. Follow me, please.”

With a moan, Twilight reluctantly followed the guard through the streets, towards the exit of the district. Along the way, she noticed that several ponies were staring at her and whispering things to eachother. She even recognized some of them from back when she lived here. It felt like Ponyville all over again.

As they exited the district, the guard turned towards Twilight once more.

“I’m sorry for the charade, Miss Sparkle.”

With a look of surprise, she faced the guard.

“How did you--”

“Know your name?” said the guard with a smile. “Everypony on the force knows about what’s happened, and what you discovered. I’m terribly sorry for your loss, by the way.”

He turned away, and pointed towards a nearby hill.

“The asylum you’re looking for is just over that hill, blocked from sight for the rest of Canterlot.”

“T-Thank you.” said Twilight. “But why don’t the locals know about it?”

“Canterlot is home to a number of elitist people.” replied the guard, turning back to face Twilight. “Influential ones. If they found out that there was a ‘crazy home’ right near their city, they would demand it to be removed and placed somewhere else. But there aren’t many other suitable locations where we could place it without bothering anypony.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, and sighed. She wasn’t surprised by that answer at all. Some of the ponies she had questioned earlier seemed just the type to do such a thing.

“Thank you for your help, sir.” said Twilight, bowing her head for the guard.

“No need to be so humble, ma’am.” said the guard with a smile. “It’s all in a day’s work.”

With a grateful nod, Twilight around the hill, turning back one last time to wave goodbye to the guard.

As she reached the other side of the hill, she caught a glimpse of a structure hidden in the middle of a closely packed patch of trees. It was cleverly concealed; if she hadn’t known that the building was right there, she would’ve never found it. She saw a small passage in-between the trees, just wide enough for a single pony to cross.

Strangely, the passage looked like it hadn’t been used for a while. The ground was covered in dead leaves and mud, spider webs hung in-between the trees, and the occasional root was sticking out of the ground. Narrowing her eyes, she carefully crossed the path, gently pushing aside the spider webs with her magic. However, it didn’t stop a few spiders from dropping down into her mane. Startled, she burst into a gallop and shook her head to get the spiders out, only to slip in the mud and fall on her face.

“Ugh…” grunted Twilight, picking the spiders out of her mane, and rubbing the mud off of her face. She hadn’t even reached the asylum yet, and already she looked like a mess.

Several minutes later, she reached the end of the passage. More spiders had found their way into her mane, the mud on her body had crusted, and she had stepped in all sorts of things of which she’d rather not know what it was. The area was dark due to the trees, but she was able to clearly see the building due to the lights outside. It looked much different then she expected. It looked more like an apartment block then a hospital.

As she stepped into the entrance, she could see a nurse at the desk. The nurse widened her eyes, and turned her head towards the nearby break room.

“Hey, White Moon!” she yelled. “We’ve got another escapee!”

“No, no!” said Twilight quickly, crossing her hooves and shaking her head. “I’m just a visitor! One of my… Somebody I know has been taken in here.”

As much as she wanted to say ‘One of my friends’, she couldn’t. She didn’t know what to think about Rainbow Dash anymore. While she still doubted about Pinkie for obvious reasons, the fact that Rainbow Dash did commit murder was already known and proven. Could a murderer still be her friend? Did she want to be friends with a murderer herself?

With a sigh, the nurse as the desk placed her hoof in her face.

“You took the passage, didn’t you?” she said, still with her hoof in her face.

“Well, yes.” replied Twilight, somewhat offended by the nurse’s behavior. “It was the only route in here!”

“You could’ve just, like, teleported here.”

Twilight inhaled to say something, but just sighed and lowered her head, blushing slightly. She felt embarrassed about not thinking about it herself; teleporting herself to the entrance would’ve been child’s play.

“Jackie!” said another nurse with an angry tone in her voice, as she walked out of the break room. “What did I tell you about treating our guests and patients?”

“Whatever.” said the nurse at the desk, walking into the break room herself.

The other nurse took her place at the desk, and looked at Twilight.

“I’m sorry about her behavior, miss.” she said, taking a few files from under the desk and stacking them in front of her. “She’s new.”

“It’s okay. Thank you.” replied Twilight with a smile, glad to see that this nurse was much friendlier. “Could I just freshen up for a bit? I’m not too keen on seeing my f- I mean, that person I know like this.”

“Sure, we’ve got a shower right over there.” said the nurse, nodding towards a door just left of the desk. “You’re not the first one to have trouble with going through the passage. Probably not the last, either.”

“Thank you.” said Twilight gratefully, opening the door and entering the room.

The room looked surprisingly clean and neat, as if it was the bathroom of an actual house. There laid clean washcloths and towels for people to use, as well as soap, deodorant, shampoo and even perfume and cologne. She took a washcloth and a towel, and turned on the shower…

Fifteen minutes later she walked out of the room, clean once more. She noticed another dirt-stained colt waiting for her to finish, and walked into the bathroom himself when she cleared the way. She chuckled. It looked like she wasn’t the only one, indeed.

“There we go, all cleaned up are we?” said the nurse from behind the desk.

“Completely! Thank you once again for your help.” replied Twilight with a grateful smile.

She walked towards the desk, and faced the nurse.

“My name is nurse White Moon, by the way.” said the nurse. “What can I help you with?”

“I’m looking for Rainbow Dash.” said Twilight. “She was brought in recently.”

The nurse’s expression changed as soon as she heard that name. She stared at Twilight for a moment with wide eyes, as if she didn’t believe her.

Rasping her throat, she regained her composure and took a look at her papers.

“Sorry for that, Miss.” she said. “I just didn’t expect… her to have visitors.”

“I’ve got to ask her some questions.” said Twilight. “Is that possible?”

“Well, um, I don’t know…” said the nurse, narrowing her eyes while going through Rainbow Dash’s info. “I don’t know if it’s safe to do so under these conditions, especially considering her state of mind.”

“It’s important. Please let me talk to her.”

With a sigh, nurse White Moon took off her glasses and wiped her brow.

“W-Well… I guess I could let you talk to her, if you keep it brief… But I’ll have to send somebody with you in case it goes wrong. Please wait for a moment.”

The nurse left her papers on the desk, and walked into the break room. Curiously, Twilight took a quick glance at the files. Though she never saw most of the ponies, she recognized Rainbow Dash’s file. She didn’t have enough time to read through the details, but she could clearly make out a few words.

“…Hazard for society…”

“…Treat with caution…”

“…Solitary confinement…”

Before she could read anything else, the nurse walked out of the break room, a bulky colt following right behind her.

“This is doctor Dart.” said the nurse. “He will keep an eye on your conversation with Rainbow Dash. If something goes wrong, he’ll step in.”

“O-Okay.” said Twilight, hoping that his services wouldn’t be needed. He looked like the type that could easily restrain even a tough pony like Rainbow Dash.

“Follow me, please.” Said the doctor. “I’ll take you to Rainbow Dash’s room.”

Twilight followed the doctor, her mind slowly filling with doubt. All this security made her realize the state in which state Rainbow Dash could be in. What if Rainbow Dash was too far gone to remember anything? What if Rainbow Dash attacked her? What would Dart do if he ‘stepped in’? It could go wrong in directions she hadn’t even thought of yet.

“We’re here.”

Twilight’s mind quickly returned to reality. She and the doctor stood in front of a tightly sealed, reinforced door, almost enough to look like the door of a bank vault. The doctor typed in a code at a terminal next to it, causing the door to unlock and slowly open itself.

Behind the door were two rooms, separated by a strong wall, reinforced glass and a locked door. Through the reinforced glass, Twilight could that entire room was covered in soft, bouncy material. The kind used to prevent the people inside from hurting themselves.

She then saw Rainbow Dash, curled up in a corner of the room. She was completely locked in a stray jacket, with even her wings restrained to her back. The sole thing she could move was her head, tail and hind legs. Yet, she laid completely still, not even moving with the slightest twitch.

“Are you ready?” asked the doctor, taking a key ring out of his pocket.

Nervously, she nodded her head. Deep down, she knew she wasn’t ready. But she also knew that it was either now, or never. She wouldn’t even be more ready than this.

The doctor unlocked and opened the door. Rainbow Dash didn’t give a single reaction, until the doctor spoke to her.

“You have a visitor.”

Rainbow Dash slowly turned her head towards the doctor. Dried tears were still visible amongst the side of her head and cheeks, and she had big bags under her narrowed eyes.

As she noticed Twilight staring at her from behind the doctor, her eyes turned wider then Twilight had ever seen before, and a single whisper escaped her dehydrated mouth.

“Twilight…”