Shining Armor trotted dutifully through the grey corridor of the asylum. He had been to this place a few times before, but only to check up on possible reformed criminals and older family members who were suffering severe mental illness. The latter hadn't been the case for years; not since his grandparents had developed dementia. But today, the clean streak was broken, and another of his family was a resident of the large building with the multitude of cells, and it was not the family members he had ever expected to have to visit here.
Shining always thought that it would be his parents once they aged far enough that would draw him back to this place for familial reasons. He even half-expected that in his advanced years, he would most likely be placed here, seeing as how mental illness was common in the older ages of their bloodline. He'd always thought that the one he was visiting would be the one to put him in here...oh, how fate had turned the tables.
He turned one of the corners, and came to a halt beside a heavy-looking titanium cell door. The door had no windows, and was covered in several cogs and gears which controlled the locking mechanisms. He even sensed that some magical barriers had been placed upon it as well; most likely for the best. The patient behind this door was indeed strong in that department, and could've probably escaped with the flick of her horn, had she been in a more controlled state.
An aged dark yellow unicorn came up beside the prince of the Crystal Empire huffing a bit; he had been struggling to keep up with Shining Armor's brisk pace in the stallion's rush to see this particular patient.
"Hah...hah...Prince...Shining Armor...please..." He wheezed in between breaths. "You must...have patience..."
"I've been plenty patient the past few months, good doctor." Shining replied strongly, not even glancing at the old stallion. "I think I have put this off long enough with my other duties. Now that they are finished, I cannot waste any more time for this one."
"I understand your frustration, Prince Shining Armor, but rushing in there headlong won't do her any good. Now stand back so I can unlock the cell."
Shining took a few paces in reverse, allowing the aged pony to cast a spell, undoing the safety measures and security holds. The door clicked and whirred, and then made a loud clang as the gears and cogs finally finished their cycles. The heavy metal object creaked loudly as it swung slowly open towards the outside, and Shining Armor didn't even wait for it to finish opening before he cantered in, unable to hold his place any longer.
The cell was padded with hard matresses and had no way of viewing the outside. It was a bit cramped, and smelled strongly of perspiration. The only furnishings the room contained were a small metal framed bed, and a sink next to a toilet, also made of shiny metal. The rest of the abode could be described in one word; white.
All except for the one corner on the far end of the cell. The corner itself was not colored differently, but the mare who sat facing it was; her lavender coat and dark purple mane and tail with the streaks of red through them. Her palette was interrupted by the bright white straight jacket she wore which held her forelegs to her chest tightly so she could not move them even an inch.
Shining wondered if the jacket was truly necessary; surely his bright little sister wouldn't try to harm herself...would she?
"Twilly...?" He spoke softly, attempting to get her attention.
The alicorn in the corner didn't even twitch at the first call. Shining tried again, and still got no response.
He grunted a little an started to walk forward, and after about four hoofsteps, his little sister's ears perked up so fast one would think she'd been electrocuted.
She whipped around, and flashed a huge and slightly disturbing toothy smile at her older brother; her eyes mere pinpricks and her mane all manner of frazzled and strung out as if she had just exercised and forgot to clean up. The sight was a bit terrifying, and any other pony might have scrambled out of the place by then. But not Shining Armor; this was his little sister, and she needed him now more than she ever had.
"Hellll-ooooooo, big brother!" She sing-songed, turning her head near upside down as she over-enunciated the "o" in 'hello.'
"Hello, Twilly." He replied with a somber tone. "How are you feeling..?"
Twiight scooched herself around to face her sibling as she continued to smile that off-putting grin. "I guess I've been doing ok. At least as ok as I can be now that everypony I've ever known and loved has been mercilessly beaten, pummeled, ripped apart, and mutilated just like you were before my very eyes!"
The statement was all done in one long breath that started to run out as soon as she had reached the word 'pummeled.' She gasped in another big breath before speaking again, and still held that smile.
"I mean, watching you get your heart exploded by that scary biped guy with the muscles and the hair and the 'pew-pew' powers; great Celestia, I don't think I stopped seeing that replay over and over in my head for weeks! It was really hard to go to sleep with something like that playing in your mind, yknow?"
Shining nodded to her, full well knowing what that was like. He had had repeating night terrors of his death replay in his dreams each night, but Princess Cadence and Princess Luna had managed to help him return to normal after about a week or so.
"Has...Princess Luna seen you about these...nightmares?" He asked her, curious.
Twilight looked confused and thoughtful, and then returned the creepy smile to her lips as she tilted her head to the side like a ragdoll.
"Oh, no, silly!" She giggled in a manner that chilled Shining's spine. "These aren't just nightmares; I see it when I'm awake! It's like I'm at a theater and watching 'Shining Armor's Last Stand in Magical Definition!' I'm sure the reviews would have been amazingly great if only it were real...just like this visit would be oh so special if only you were real too!"
That final statement caught the white unicorn off guard. "If only I were real too? What does that mean?"
Twilight hopped around a bit on her belly in an attempt to entertain herself, and after two hard flops she looked back at him. "Exactly what I said, BBBFF! You're not real. How could you be real? I, like, saw you die, remember?"
The alicorn's big brother dropped his jaw as he watched her go back to doing a drunk-looking little dance around her cell as she hummed a tune he didn't recognize. Then he remembered; she had ben locked away already when he had been brought back by the Dragon Balls. She hadn't seen Ti-Lung perform the massive revival, and therefore, probably thought Equestria was now ruled by changelings.
His little sister didn't even believe he was real.
"Twilly," He said, catching her attention instantly.
"Yes, hallucination big brother?" She replied too sweetly.
"I'm not a hallucination.." He told her. "I'm as real as you are; as these walls are. I'm alive, Twilly."
She froze for a split second and then continued to dance. "Silly mirage BBBFF; ponies can't come back from the dead."
"But I did, Twilly." He said. "It's a long story, but a great person by the name of Piccolo created a set of orbs called Dragon Balls that revived everyone Sapphic killed over a year ago..."
Twilight fell on her rump, and her eye began to twitch as she harshly ground her teeth together.
"Stop making things up!" She growled. "I'm not crazy! You're not real, and ponies can't come back from the dead!"
"Then how do you explain this?"
He promptly moved to her, and wrapped one of his strong forelegs around her body. She froze and suddenly started sobbing uncontrollably. Shining pulled away from his little sister to look into her tear-filled eyes as she stared at him in disbelief. Bfore he could say anything, her eyes lit up and that smile returned.
"I did it then! I finally did it!" She screamed excitedly.
"Finally did what?" Shining asked, completely confused now as he watched his sister bounce around like a rubber ball on a caffeine trip.
She pressed her muzzle against his; their noses pressing against each other. "I finally joined you! I finally joined you in the afterlife!"
Shining's face only contorted into a further confused look.
"I had been hoping that all the smashing my head against the corner of the bed and trying to drown myself in the toilet would work after they strapped me into this contraption to stop me from ripping flesh off myself and bleeding out slowly; help me to finally reunite with all of you in the next life! I finally did it!"
Listening to this explanation was more than the poor stallion could bear as he started to tear up, realizing his lovely little sister had indeed been trying to harm herself. She had been trying to end her own life and trying to follow those Sapphic had killed into the Otherworld; he had to hold back a few sobs as he realized what her once smooth fur must look like under the straight jacket that kept her bound to herself so tightly.
"Twilly..." He choked out. "You've...been hurting yourself..?"
She vigorously nodded her head up and down in euphoria, thinking the answer was a good thing. "And it looks like I finally offed myself, and now we're together again! BUT WAIT--!"
She looked around as if she had realized something, and then suddenly started to push herself hard against her older sibling's chest.
"If this is the afterlife, why am I still here in this room? Why am I still in this evil jacket?!"
She gasped like Pinkie Pie would have and backed into another corner of the room, looking at Shining Armor with a look he'd never ever seen her give him before. It was a look of hatred; pure, unadulterated hatred and anger.
"This isn't the afterlife!" She growled lowly, her backside finally finding purchase in a corner. "You're not really Shining Armor...you're one of 'them'..."
"Them..?"
"You're one of them! On of those evil changelings!" She shouted, her neck cracking as she threw her head back to shout.
"Twilly, I'm not--"
"Shut up, faker!!" She howled, causing the stallion to stop dead in his tracks. "My big brother is dead! You're just trying to lull me into a false sense of security, and then, you'll take me outside here, and then you'll all jump on me, and rip me apart just like your king did to my big brother!!"
"Twilight..."
The lavender alicorn twitched abhorrently, and screamed at him; a sound so shrill it seemed to cut into his eardrums like knives.
"Get out! If you don't get out, I'll kill you!" She cried. "You hear me?!"
She got ready to charge and lowered her horn towards Shining in a threatening manner.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!" She shrieked, running straight for her older brother, ready to impale him on her horn.
Before Shining could react, three big and burly stallions wearing uniforms pushed the once Princess of Friendship down onto the ground. Shining Armor watched in horror as she thrashed around, biting and kicking at them as if she were a rabid animal. Each time she gnased her teeth down and missed, she would catch her tongue a little bit, and it would start to bleed all over; the thick, dark red liquid oozing slowly from her maw.
"That's it! Put her under, now!" One of the stallions commanded.
Another let go just long enough to withdraw a needle that had been pre-prepared for this, and stuck the alicorn with it in the base of her neck. Twilight thrashed a little more, nearly breaking the needle off inside her as she did, and after a few more seconds, she closed her eyes and went limp, breathing heavily as she was put under the effects of the anesthetic.
Shining couldn't look at her anymore; he moved swiftly to take his leave, trying hard not to tear up as he did so. His poor, poor little sister was beyond help now...her friends, Cadence, not even he himself could make her see the truth. He couldn't help but feel this was all his fault; if he hadn't died for her and made her watch it, she wouldn't e in this predicament now. He slapped himself hard for thinking that, tumbling into the wall and slumping to the floor, starting at fail at concealing his sobs.
Twilight was lost; he could see it. She truly believed she was nothing more than a changing prisoner in a wartorn country with no one left to love her. She was beyond any mortal help, and knowing this hurt him more than any physical blow or wound ever would.
His eyes snapped open at his own thoughts; no "mortal" help could save her...but maybe...
"The Dragon Balls...." Shining muttered. "The Dragon Balls can make Twilly well again...I just know it..."
He knew the magical orbs would be nothing but useless stones for another several months, but he knew if he started to collect them now, he could wish for his little sister to be healed as soon as the Dragon Balls were ready. He could make her healthy again, and they would all be a happy family once more. After that, everything would be normal again.
"I've got to find them...for Twilly."
