My Little Amnesiaby donceluzzaChaptersPrologue Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Prologue Prologue I own nothing in relation to My Little Pony; this fan fiction came from the My Little Amnesia FanFic, just my take on the subject. It was like something out of one of those horror books Twilight had scattered around her desk. One after the other, anguished screams flooded the speakers and then were silenced, like they hadn’t happened. I looked around the monitors frantically, desperately, trying to find someway to bring order back. Twilight just grinned and opened up a large notebook and started to write within it, either unsure or uncaring of the terrible event to which she was bearing witness. The inmates were running the asylum, and as clichéd as that is, it’s funny how these things stop being funny when they start happening to you. Journal of Spike, assistant to the warden of Ponyville Asylum; August 25 Chapter 0: Awaken I awoke to the sound of silence, the sound of nothing as I lay on the ground. I twitch my legs, my hooves, and the rest of my body. I wasn’t paralyzed but still had trouble moving, probably from lying on the hard rocky ground for so long. How long had I been lying there? A week? A month? Only a day? Where is here? I looked around but found my vision obstructed by the darkness surrounding me, seeming to stretch onwards to eternity. I breathed once, twice, trying to make sure everything was working properly. I used my magic to cause light to emanate from my horn so I could finally see the room I was in. The room was decorated rather sparsely, a few simple reddish curtains hung above the broken and boarded windows, a simple frayed red carpet was laid out across the ground leading to a small staircase above which held a large TV monitor, but aside from that the rest of the floor was cobblestone, broken and splintered in many places. I attempted to stand only to trip over my own hooves. I tried to stand up again this time succeeding. My head pounded and my body ached, serves me right for falling unconscious on rocks I guess. I look around some more while walking back and forth to get the kinks out of my hooves. Some furniture litters the room, most of it in disrepair much like the floor and the carpet. Except for a red chair sitting in front of the large TV monitor. Exit, exit, I need to find an exit of some kind; I see a door located underneath the TV. I start walking towards the door… “Hello, there!” A voice pierces the silence startling me, my breath caught in my throat I listen, I look up and see that the TV turned on, and that there is somepony on the TV. The pony on the TV is a unicorn like me, her mane is comprised of various shades of purple and her skin is the same color. She is sitting in a large red chair with a large book spread across her lap. “You’re probably wondering many things like ‘why am I here?’, ‘I’m not crazy!’, ‘The system must be flawed’…” “…but you’re wrong. The system, my system, I might add, is far from flawed.” “All those sentenced to time in the Ponyville Asylum for the Deranged, Delusional, and Criminally Insane go through the extensive testing which you’ve experienced and when found to be not all right in the head, you’re sent to me.” I don’t remember any testing, or anything regarding this asylum. Come to think of it, I don’t remember anything at all. “This asylum was built almost like a small town, there’s a garden, simulated farming area, spa, among many other places. The reason for this is to constantly immerse you in real pony contact so that you’ll be able to rejoin the world sane right from the get go…” The TV shut off unexpectedly static burst through the speakers; I winced as the sound scraped my ears. Suddenly the TV was working again but this time there was only a picture of the purple-haired pony. “Welcome. I’m terribly sorry that I haven’t been able to clean up around here.” She sounds quite cheerful…perhaps she can help. “You probably want to get out of this place, don’t you?” I sheepishly nod to no pony in particular. “Well, first you must join me for something of an experiment, I’m the warden of this beautiful establishment, Twilight Sparkle. I established this place in order to help sick ponies be cured of the ailments of the mind which haunted so many. I made this place to resemble a town of sorts, a small community where the ponies could live and play and work almost like they weren’t in this place, almost like they were outside.” This sounded impressive but this “experiment” she wanted me to participate in didn’t sound good. “However being the warden of an Asylum is quite a lot of work and requires my full attention, so I haven’t been able to collect any real data on how the ponies are faring, not to mention that the electronics here barely work! Setting back my experiments completion by Celestia knows how long since I can’t gather additional data through the most of the monitors. And my little assistant Spike, a small purple dragon, left a few days ago.” Wow. Even her assistant is purple. I’m surprised that there is so much red in the decorum. “So I’ll lead you through the asylum, helping you just enough so you know what you’re doing but beyond that you are on your own, I can always collect data through other helpers.” What does she want me to do? Just walk through the asylum? Really? “I’ll open the door so you can advance to the gardens. There, you’ll meet a pony named Fluttershy. She is one of the ponies deterred in this lovely asylum, and also a good friend of mine!” The door beneath the TV opens; as I walk through I can’t help thinking about what she said, about this pony being her friend. It must have been hard to lock up a friend of yours. As I walk along I notice a small piece of paper with a message written on it. Using my magic I lift it to my face, some of the words are blotted out but what I can read says… “… Out not safe Ponyville … compromised … gone, Twilight …”. The bottom of the page says that it was written by Spike, the dragon assistant that Twilight had talked about. He must’ve come through here; did he bring me here? Did Twilight? Was I here before them? I shake the questions out of my head, no point in questioning why what matters is I’m here and the only way out, presumably, lies with Twilight. I take a deep breath and advance down the long dimly lit corridor. Tired, I extinguish my magical light as I enter into the garden; once I enter I see the garden is almost like a hedge maze with a large monument to Celestia and Luna in the dead middle. My hoof hits something and I almost trip, after steadying myself I look down and back away in horror. The head of a nurse pony lay at my hooves, the face, or what’s left of it, frozen in a look of terror and pain; part of the face decayed to the point that the facial muscle is visible. The stench was overwhelming. I backed off back behind the frame of the door and tried to collect myself. I heard shuffling around a nearby hedge. I pushed the door further closed so as to hide myself but open enough where I could see the assailant, and possibly get the drop on them. A small white rabbit jumps out from the hedge. My breathing finally starts to be steady. “ANGEL! STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD!...” The voice of another pony splits the dark silence. My breath catches again. “…AND BRING THAT BACK HERE! ALL OF IT! I KNOW YOU’VE BEEN SNEAKING EXTRA BITES!” Is she talking about that head? “Now, now Angel, there’s enough for everyone.” Chapter 1Twilight had built the garden to be a replica of the Canterlot gardens, albeit a smidge larger and a tad more twisty and maze-like. I had always wondered why she did this; she claimed it would be soothing to the patients to have something to explore. She seemed to think of them more than the staff of the asylum… Journal of Spike, assistant to the warden, August 24 pt.1 I stayed back, breathing slight and soft. I knew if the rabbit spotted me I would be a snack for this crazy pony. “ANGEL!”, the pony screamed as she walked in from the bushes. I tilted my head slightly to get a better look at the pony. She’s a Pegasus. She has a yellow coat with a light pink and purple mane. The pony’s attitude suddenly shifted. “Oh, Angel. You can’t pick it up, huh?” The rabbit nodded. He understood her? She can speak to animals? “Here you go.” The yellow pony grabbed the head’s mane in her mouth and started dragging it off with the rabbit following her. I wait. And wait. It felt like an eternity. But I stay perfectly still. If that girl pony catches me somehow, I doubt I’ll be sticking around for dessert. I tilt my head out the door frame flicking my eyes from one side to the other. I see no signs of the pony or her rabbit friend. I step out, slowly, carefully, attempting not to upset even the smallest patch of earth in the process. Eventually I manage to slowly slink past the area where I had heard the yellow Pegasus talking. I feel something land on the nape of my neck and run for it. I move as fast as my hooves will allow trying to outrun what just found its way onto me. My breath is hard and fast. However long I had been on the ground, it hasn’t done my chest any favours. I finally slow down; my hooves refuse to move another step as I collapse trying to catch my breath. A small butterfly flies away from me and off deeper into the gardens. Sweet relief passes from my lips. A butterfly. I was scared of a damn butterfly. At any other time, I would laugh at how crazy that seemed, but I think I’m justified, given the situation. I look up and try to see where I’ve gotten to. The gardens twist and turn all over the place, and I wasn’t really looking where I was going just now. The hedges are so tall, and I can’t see how far in I went. I turn around to my left and notice the statues, the Celestia and Luna statues. That’s it! I’ll use that to see how far in I’ve gone, it seems like I’ve passed them by so I must have gone more than halfway in and moved a bit to the right since the statues are on my left. Moving forward I find a dead end, a large pile of garbage was stacked against what looked like a doorframe. Well that’s what magic is for, I used my magic to start lifting the garbage and setting it aside, “squawk” a bird started to screech behind me. I keep moving the garbage… “What is it my little friends?” I ran as fast as I could, I realized that if that pony catches me, I would be in a heap of trouble. The Pegasus screamed after me “Come back here! I just want to introduce you to my friends!”. As I run a small bird runs in front of me, panicking I grabbed a rock with my hoof and attacked the bird. My hoof moves without thought moving up and down, cracking noises followed again and again. By the time I stopped moving the bird had stopped moving as well, its blood stained the green ground red its feathers spread across the dirt. I dropped the rock and ran; I finally found a small hiding spot amidst the bushes and hedges. The yellow Pegasus trotted over to the dead bird on the ground. A screech passed her lips and filled the room causing the birds to scatter and the other animals, like the rabbits, to hide in the bushes. The small rabbit from earlier, Angel, hopped over to the yellow pony and placed a paw on her hoof, trying to calm her down it seemed. “YOU BITCH!” she screamed, “YOU’LL BE FOOD FOR MY FRIENDS! I’LL CUT YOU UP AND YOU’LL BE FOOD! YOU HEAR ME?!” She continued like that for a while, simply screaming out at me. I needed to find a way out of here fast. This crazy pony was going to be the death of me. So I waited, breath soft and mechanical. Inhale, one, two. Exhale, one, two. The pony eventually left the spot outside where I was hiding and trotted away. That didn’t mean her animal friends weren’t still hanging around though, and they were the real worry here. If she could understand the animals and they her, then those birds back at the garbage pile and told her where I was. A movable defense matrix. If the pony wasn’t clearly a few ingredients short of a muffin I’d almost say it’s brilliant. Half an hour must have gone by before I even thought of leaving my hiding place. It was clear that the door behind the piled up garbage wasn’t the smartest exit route. Then again, if this is supposed to be an asylum then there should be other doors out of this room. The garbage door was around the top-right so I should head away from there. Eventually I get the nerve back to leave my hiding place. I stick my neck out of the bushes, no sign of the pony or her animal friends. I start walking out and head down the left path, occasionally looking up at the twin princess statues in the middle to make sure I’m not backtracking. I manage to make it back to the entrance and decide to go to the far left this time. As I walk I come across a bird in a tree. I lift myself up to two legs and attempt to skirt around the tree’s backside where the bird can’t see. I slowly sidestep around holding my breath the whole way to try and prevent the slightest noise, as I move a sharp pain goes through my back. Wincing, I look back and find that a thorny branch is digging its way into my back. I grit my teeth as I continue to sidestep. The thorn branch resists, trying to hold me in place, but I keep pulling until eventually the branch tears my skin and lets me go. The pain goes from a sharp sting to a dull throb as I move forward on trying to reach the exit. I look up to see that the princess statues are now close on my right. I move toward them hoping for some map or directions to find my way out. When I reach the statues I see a small piece of paper at the statues base, I pick it up and begin to read it. Patient #30: Fluttershy, friendly with animals, violent tendencies, paranoia. Fluttershy was brought in after an attack was committed against her house by a large bear. The bear killed several of the animals living at Fluttershy’s home and she began to show signs of paranoid fear and protectiveness. She began to viciously assault anyone who seemed to that like they were threatening the animals. Eventually this led to her attacking a local pony who was berating their pet, the pony in question was put in the hospital and Fluttershy Ponyville Asylum. Once arriving at the Asylum Fluttershy became immediate friends with the animals who were living in the Garden section, to the point she spent almost all of her time in this section of the Asylum and eventually even started to sleep there. Warden Twilight noticed this change in behavior and believing it to be a good sign allowed her to sleep in the Garden areas, although most of the staff believed it was Twilight giving preferable treatment to one of her friends. As time went on Fluttershy became more hostile towards the staff of the Asylum who continued to attempt to get Fluttershy to engage in social activities with the other ponies as per the regimen prescribed by Twilight. However, as time went on Fluttershy began to slip back into paranoia, attacking orderlies for quote “Giving the animals bad food.” Twilight personally attempted to assuage her fears but found that Fluttershy had metaphorically shrunk in on herself, only communicating to the animals of the gardens. June: Two orderlies have gone missing. Most of the staff believes it to be Fluttershy as the last place they were seen was the gardens. However with no proof to go on I have no choice but to investigate myself. Twilight refuses to accept Fluttershy as a killer, believing that she can still be salvaged. Further investigation has been made on my behalf and the hollowed out carcass of one of the female orderlies was found half dug into the ground in the gardens. Most of the major arteries were missing, including heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver, all seemingly ripped from the body. The body was cut open down the middle but the cut seems to rough and misshapen to be from a knife of any kind and the coroner assumes it was either ripped or eaten open. Based on the evidence at hand I attempted to contact the Princess for permission to have Fluttershy executed. However my attempts were futile as Twilight had convinced the Princess to only take messages from her effectively cutting off my one chance to keep the staff safe. I’ve attempted to send a representative of mine to Canterlot with as much evidence as I could gather, I hope for a speedy reply. Until then I’m ordering all staff to avoid the gardens as much as possible and to study Fluttershy’s psyche evaluations as much as possible. If you must travel through here, take a map, move quickly and quietly and always in groups. Most important of all know what you’re up against. You are all dealing with a murderer, and you should treat the patient as such. If she attacks you, fight back, Twilight’s orders be damned. Sincerely Spike, Assistant to the Warden Twilight Sparkle Clearly I was even more screwed than I realized. Fluttershy, the yellow Pegasus I presume, wasn’t just a killer; she’s a paranoid mother figure! I search the area for any signs of a map; something that could help me evade Fluttershy and make it out of this crazy place. I notice out of the corner of my eye; another dead body, a male Pegasus in a white overcoat. One of the orderlies I presume. I walk over and the smell of the dead body overwhelms my senses. The smell of blood, decay, and excrement hounded my nostrils. I grabbed at the saddlebag on his side and found inside a small map. Well he won’t need this, at least I think not. I grab the saddlebag and put it on myself. It still smells of the carcass from which I scavenged it. I take out the map and look it over. Finding the gardens on the map I notice three doorways excluding the one I entered in, one in the top right that is the one with all the garbage in front of it, one to the far east of the room, and one to the northwest. I decide it’s probably best to head for the top-left one which is closer. “Oh dear. so we meet again.” I turn around slowly to find Fluttershy staring back at me. Lying next to her is a large nightstick. She must have stolen that off of the orderlies. “Now why don’t you come with me, nice and quiet? My friends are waiting for their dinner, and I’m not going to serve you raw.” Chapter 2 I went down to the gardens to visit Fluttershy today, she’s become more of a recluse, hiding in the bushels and having the animals patrolling for her. Perhaps I can do something about this, then again it may be more interesting to simply allow her to continue, goodness knows how much data on her psychosis would come up if she were allowed to run wild! Report from the diary of Warden Twilight Sparkle I stared blankly at the yellow Pegasus, stepping back as she approached a knife wedged in her mouth. “COME HERE!” she screeched, lunging. I managed to sidestep her and without thinking chopped at her neck with my right forehoof. How did I know how to do that? I can’t remember taking any self-defense lessons but clearly I know what I’m doing to a certain degree. No time to think. Fluttershy lunged at me again, this time the knife connected with my flesh scratching at my back. I winced at the pain but to turn around and use my back hooves to knock her in the face. The knife flew from her mouth and landed in a bushel off to the right. A large black bruise appeared on her cheek blood and spittle dribbled from her mouth. She growled at me. Three small animals lurched out from the bushels to help their mistress. Taking my cue, I started to run in the opposite direction, wincing as low hanging branches scratched at my flank and my wound. I ran as far to the other side of the gardens as was possible, my breath coming out in heaves as I slumped to the ground, tired. I realized that I had run without paying too much attention to where I was heading, thus negating the usefulness of the map I had acquired. One step forward at a time, I guess. I walked further out, but tensed as soon as I saw the birds hovering in the skies above. Most likely they were looking for me on Fluttershy’s orders, and to find the one who had killed their friend. Come to think of it, I had basically forgotten that even happened. I killed a living creature, but the thought never really occurred until now. Well. I suppose running for my life from a crazy lunatic cannibal and her host of animal subordinates kind of trumps the experience of murdering a small woodland creature. I scooted off to the side so as to avoid any further contact with the birds and, Celestia willing, Fluttershy. As I kept moving forward I took the map from the saddlebag and tried to figure out where I was, and where the nearest exit would be located. I scanned the map occasionally looking up for any signs of local statues or hedges that she could use to pinpoint her position. I quickly realized there was really only one major landmark I could reliably pinpoint, the statues in the middle of the Garden, where Fluttershy had attacked me. I can’t believe how stupid I’m acting; I’m actually heading backwards towards the crazy cannibal lady. But it is the only way I’ll get a fix on where I really am, and the only way I can find an exit to this place. Hopefully the other areas of the asylum don’t contain nearly as many loons, or at least the loons are kept under better lock and key. I finally made my way back. I poke my head around a bushel to look into the plaza where the statues are. The small white bunny from before (Angel, was it?) is patrolling the area. Alright. I can probably take a tiny bunny in a fight. I look over the map and try and find my exit route. Northeast, west at next turn, north for two junctions, right, and then left and I should be at one of the exits. I go over the list of directions in my head repeatedly, memorizing the directional list so I know exactly how to get to this exit. Somehow I doubt that Fluttershy will let me take out my map so I can figure out which left I’m supposed to take. I breathe in and slowly exhale, I charge into the plaza. The bunny notices me almost immediately. It tries to squeal to friends, presumably hiding in the bushes as I jump him. I pound away at the creature my hooves lifting up and smashing down onto the bunny. After a few seconds I lift my bloodied hooves away the creature known as Angel lay there, smashed and battered. Her favorite pet smashed to pieces, I start running towards the pathway out, only to find a few logs blocking my path. Damn, if I had tried stealth I probably would have noticed that and could have gone for a different direction. I use my magic to lift the logs as best I can, the fact I haven’t been using my magic a lot hindering my progress slightly. “ANGEL!” A screech behind signals that Fluttershy has indeed arrived and my time is running shorter and shorter. “ANGELLLLL!” Another scream. I finish moving the logs and run as fast as hooves will allow. “YOOOOOU!” she screams, as she chases me down. I pull westerly and keep moving. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Being an idiot, I look back. Fluttershy looks even more bloodthirsty than before. She’s carrying the bloodied corpse of the rabbit on her back; its blood and brain matter staining her coat. Her eyes don’t blink, simply staring forward with a dangerous glint. She was going to kill me. She was going to enjoy every scream and every second of the kill. Another junction comes up but I stay north, several small creatures are now trailing behind her and some split off to the west and east directions, hoping to get ahead and slow me down no doubt. Another junction, stay north. Again I look back at my possible future assailant the bloodlust in her eyes continues to swell, her wings are locked upwards almost holding the corpse of her dead friend onto her back. At the next junction I book right, I slide a little quickly attempting to regain balance and move forward. Unfortunately Fluttershy also round the corner but much more gracefully, the body of Angel tumbles off of her back as she uses her wings to keep balance as she rounds the next corner. Damn, damn, damn. I almost forgot she could fly. The next and final junction is slowly approaching if I have to round that in my current condition she’ll probably catch up to me, I scan for anything I can use, two small rocks are lying on the ground near the junction, my horn lights up and flows with magic as I pick up the first of the two rocks, I turn and stop sliding to face Fluttershy as I launch the small rock towards her, she doesn’t react in time and the rock collides with face, her muzzle bends and begins to bleed heavily. “ARGH!” She screams in pain. My cue to bolt. I run through the corner and finally make it to the exit door; I push through the doors and look around. I see a small plank which I levitate using my magic and wedge between the two handles of the doors locking it in place as I slump down. “YOU BITCH!” I hear from behind the door. “I”LL KILL YOU!” She continues to scream, not that it matters much. I lay there, a collapsed heap near the door, barely moving, barely alive. My breathing is heavy. I try to use my magic to lift something nearby but to no avail. I’m too exhausted to use my magic. Well now, I really hope there isn’t someone crazy waiting for me in this place or I am screwed. I lift my head up to see where I am and it appears to just be a normal corridor I start walking forward having now at least caught my breath. I keep moving until I see a small TV on the wall and a button on the side. I push the button and the TV turns on revealing a familiar purple unicorn. “Hello, my friend” Twilight spoke through the TV. “The place you are in now is called Cloud Corridor, a favorite of my Pegasus inmates. Well. Most of them anyway.” I gritted my teeth. Yeah. Sure. Laugh up the people who have died at that crazed Pegasus’s hands. “Here we would keep the Pegasus’s wings locked through a small harness but if the orderlies were there they would be allowed a specific amount of flying time to simulate the outside world. However there is one that…” The TV turned off suddenly and the hallway went dark. I stepped back and used my magic to light the room. I saw a blue Pegasus staring back at me. I jumped back quietly, my breath caught in my throat as she just stared this way not saying anything. “Where are you?” the Pegasus asks. Can’t she see me? “WHERE ARE YOU?!”, she yells, moving forward. As she moves forward I can see that where her eyes should be are a burned husk. She doesn’t have any eyes; her wings are also locked in the harness that Twilight talked about. “Let me see you…” she whispered, “LET ME SEE YOU!” Out of the frying pan, and into another frying pan. Chapter 3I have a proof-reader guys. YAY! Also sorry for the lateness, my sister is graduating high school so things are a little hectic around these parts. One might assume that seeing one of your old friends after a long time would be a great experience, but in my case seeing that the friend in question has had a serious accident which burned her eyes off, things become rather awkward quick. Journal of Warden's Assistant Spike I stood stunned by the sight before me, the blue Pegasus with charred eyes walked closer and closer to me. "I know somepony's there. I can smell you. I can smell something." she repeated, over and over. I sidled to the left hoping I can sneak by her and run in the opposite direction. I slowly sidled my hooves one by one to the left slowly, occasionally glancing down to make sure that I won't knock a rock to the side or something similar which could alert her to where I was. "I can smell you." She jumped forward at where I was mere moments ago now lying only a foot or so away from me. She sniffed at the ground; her snout contorting as she drove her face into the stone ground upon which she lay. "I can smell your blood." I freeze up. "Yeah, your blood. As clear as day." No, she can't mean… I look to the ground and there, clear as day, is a slowly growing puddle of my blood. The wounds I got on my back from the Garden hadn't healed yet. Well duh, I berate myself; it's been maybe a few minutes at best. What exactly did I expect? I scan quickly around and see a large rock, my weapon of choice it appears. I use my magic to levitate the rock, "I hear you." The blue Pegasus dives for me; her right fore-hoof connects with my snout, causing more blood to spill forth. I send the rock flying for her face; not so fast as to seriously harm her, but fast enough where it will slow her down a considerable amount. The rock connects with her face and knocks the blue Pegasus down. I take the chance and run as fast as I can. I run and run, glancing side to side to see if there is… Yes! An open door! I dive in, careful not to disturb the door too much, and run into a closet. My breath is out of control. Need to slow it down. The blue Pegasus couldn't possibly… "That hurt, you bitch." How did she? I was running for at least a solid minute as fast as I could and she caught up without being even slightly out of breath? I peek out from the closet and see that indeed the brace is still on her wings so she had to run not fly. She was standing at the entrance to the room, although she hadn't gone in quite yet. "I'll get you for that." she whispered, rubbing her snout. She sneezed, letting loose a torrent of blood. "I'll really get you for this." she muttered as she walked by, clearly uninterested in searching out her recent quarry. What could have happened to that Pegasus to inflict that injury? The wounds on her eyes were clearly burn wounds, and ponies don't simply burn their eyes off as a normal occurrence. I need to find a way out of here, fast. I realize that continuing to hold on to the saddlebag is probably worthless since I no longer have a map for the area I'm in. Well, I'll keep it with me anyway I suppose, at least for now. When I can no longer hear anypony outside of the room I exit the closet. My back stings with pain from the cut, I guess I had almost forgotten it was there. Could she really smell my blood? I turned and found a small vial of medicine laying on a table, that'll help with the pain but won't close the wound itself, a kind of smelling salts in liquid form. Wait…how do I know this? Looking at the bottles' contents I can distinctly recognize what is inside but I don't know how I can. I rub my head. Why can't I remember anything before waking up in the asylum? I drink down half of the small bottle and look outside the small doorway. The blue Pegasus seems to have wandered off somewhere. How is it that I've managed to piss the hell off of everypony I've come across? You'd think some of them would just want conversation, or a spot of tea. Maybe a muffin of some kind. The distant clopping of hooves snaps me out of my reverie and forces me back into reality. I slip quietly into the next room across from where I was and notice more smelling salts and some gauze wrapping. I light my horn up and wrap the gauze tightly around the wound; I need to get out of here. I look outwards and notice that the blue Pegasus is rubbing up against the walls, trying to rip off the wrapping around her wings no doubt. I quietly shuffle out the door, sliding my hooves one by one against the ground trying not to alert the blind Pegasus. "When I find her…" she muttered, "That orderly bitch…tossing a rock at me…as if Grounding me wasn't enough…" She emphasized the words in hateful, cursing tone. She thinks I'm an orderly and that I put her in that harness and stopped her from flying. Wait…am I an orderly? Is Twilight my boss and I just forgot? Clink. The sound of a rock brushing up against the wall pulled the blue Pegasus out of her trance and looking directly at me. I dash as fast as possible, running as my life did indeed depend on it. "You'll see that you shouldn't have messed with Rainbow Dash!" So that's her name. Got it. Miss Dash tackles me to the ground; clearly she's faster than the considerable bar I believed she had set earlier. She starts punching at me. I move my head side to side to dodge her blows, easy enough when your opponent is blind. I position my hooves under her and push knocking her backwards, making a mental note that if I ever make it out of here I'm spending a summer studying some form of attack magic. I punch at Rainbows' face seemingly annoying her as no matter how much blood spews forth from her mouth and snout she still punches at me trying to knock me back. She succeeds pushing me up against the wall and butting her head against mine; I clench and soften my teeth so as to stop her form knocking my teeth out. How do I know how to do this? This is clearly some kind of advanced combat stuff and I just somehow know it. I just push her over and run; I finally reach a door and push my way through it slamming the door shut and using the lock on the side to stop Miss Dash from following through. That's two crazy people I've had to evade in one day. I need a nap. I lie down on the ground and close my eyes, content that no more cosmic anvils or Swords of Damocles will descend and attempt to take my life. I must have slept only for a few hours as when I wake up it feels very different than when I slept. It feels warmer somehow. "Oh goodie, your awake" My eyes snap open and I see a pink earth pony standing in front of me. Her mane is long and straight but well kept. Her coat was also as pink as her mane and on her flank were three pictures of balloons. I try to open my mouth to speak but find that it's covered by something, probably duct tape. "Nu-uh. No. We have to earn our speaking privileges just like every pony else." I looked over and see a clearly deceased nurse with her eyes bulged and her cheeks purple and puffed tears had once rolled down those cheeks but were now dried into long salty lines. Asphyxiation. What an awful way to go. The pink pony trotted over to her. "Isn't that right, Nurse Redheart?" Redheart. If I ever get out of here I'll make sure to remember that name. "Now then, Miss Unicorn" the pink pony said with glee, "It's time for your 'Welcome to Pinkie Pie's Party Town' party." This isn't good. Chapter 4If anyone has or would like to make a banner or fanart for the story that would be awesome and you will of course receive all credit for it. The reason for this is i want to try and get this posted to EquestriaDaily and would like to have some art to drape over it. So if you have a piece of fanart or a banner or would like to please either PM me or shoot me an email at chriswithers128@gmail.com with the header ART Thanks /) “She was the last one. The last friend I had. My one connection, severed. Now I have no more friends. Only Patients.” From the diary of Twilight Sparkle The pink pony pranced around the table to the deceased nurse Redheart and started to mash cake against her snout. The table I’m seated at is covered in streamers and cloths scattered haphazardly around. In the middle of the table there is a large bowl of a purplish liquid. I’m guessing grape punch? At the various places set, even the ones with no pony in front of them, there is a piece of mostly melted cake oozing off of the plate and onto the cloths and streamers. This pony is dangerous. Not forwardly so. But dangerous all the same. Finding a way out of this isn’t going to be easy since she taped my damn mouth shut! I wriggle around trying to loosen the ropes tied around my torso and move my cheek muscles around trying to remove the tape. The pink pony seems to take notice of this, “What’s the matter?” You tied me up. what do you think? I wriggle in desperation trying to break free. She doesn’t look too tough, and I could probably take her on in straight fight. The pink pony, I think she called herself Pinkie Pie, stares at me. I start sweating and trying to get free. “You aren’t having fun are you” she pouts, I shake my head, her previously bountiful expression drops and tears start to well in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t having any fun. You see my friends haven’t been around in a long, long time and I’ve had no pony else to talk to so when I saw miss Redheart and now you I might’ve gone a little out of hoof.” A Little. Really? Tying me to a chair and asphyxiating some poor pony is a little out of hoof. Clearly she was as crazy and violent as the other two, albeit less outwardly so. Still she was a dangerous pony to be around. I should go along with her crazed fantasies until an opportunity presents itself. While I’m tied to this chair there isn’t going to be an exit strategy materializing out of thin air. The pink pony grabs a bag of flour and dumps it over her head covering her in white.“Having fun now?” I force a laugh and nod slightly so as to appease my new pink overlord. Somehow the pony’s pink mane burst and became bubblier. “Awesome, I’m glad you’re having a wonderful time!” Pinkie Pie put a slice of cake in front of me, so as to insinuate that I should eat it. I shook my head. “Come on now, you must be hungry…” She rips off the duct tape, pushing the cake closer to me. “Eat” she stated, I just shook my head. “Eat it.”. I shake my head again. That cake is probably poisoned or something. Also, call it a hunch, but I’m willing to bet that Miss Redheart’s untimely death was probably caused by someone shoving food down her throat. She took the cake in one hoof, “EAT THE CAKE!” She shoves it into my face and rubs it there, smothering me. My nose and mouth are blocked by bunches of frosting and dough and a large pink hoof. I struggle in vain, my lungs hot and dry. I could feel a lack of consciousness beginning to take its place. I kicked violently until my hoof connected with something. I was released from Pinkie’s iron grip as she looked back to the source of the noise. I had managed to stretch far enough to kick Redheart’s chair. “Oh, nurse Redheart, of course you can have some cake as well” She pulled her hoof away, as I spat out the cake and ejected it from my nostrils, I pulled in large gulps of air. I looked over and saw her open Redheart’s mouth revealing a large quantity of cake built up in her esophagus. She shoveled more in there and dumped some liquid down on top of the cake and closed her mouth. She looked over to see that there wasn’t any cake left. “Oh, shucks I really thought that the cake would last longer. Oh well, I’ll just get some more then. With that Pinkie Pie bounced off deeper into the plaza. A chance had presented itself. I wriggled and struggled against the bonds, occasionally looking over to the dead body of Miss Redheart to confirm what would happen if I stayed any longer in this mad house. With or without this Twilight Sparkle’s help I needed out of this place, and faster than lightning wasn’t fast enough. I kept struggling managing to knock myself backwards and loosen the restraints enough to slip out of it unnoticed. I galloped as far as I could in the opposite direction of Pinkie Pie. I didn’t want to know what would happen if I stayed nor do I wish to know what will happen when she finds one of her “guests” missing. I moved as fast as possible only to find myself where I began, more specifically at the door that I had fallen asleep at before I awoke in Pinkie’s grasp. I looked left and right, panting and panicking, and finally decided to move left. I galloped and galloped, and just plain moved as fast as was possible for a pony in my condition. I looked around for a building of some kind that I could hide in so I could catch my breath I looked and saw a disused photo booth, as good a hiding spot as any I’ll wager. I wandered inside only to feel a chill go down my back and hear small distant rustling I turn but I see nothing. Oh well probably rats or the wind or… THWACK When I awake, again, I find myself in a weird corset and dress with my hair styled back. I look in front of me and there is a knife staring back. Behind it a mare in eccentric clothing and red goggles. “You vill be a vantastic subject for the vone, ze only, Photo Finish!” Another crazy pony. Fantastic. Where is Pinkie Pie when you need her? I see I’m standing on a runway of sorts with my hooves in a kind of blunt bear-trap to keep me in one place. I try to move my hooves only to be met with a knife being pressed against my cheek. “Now, Now, there iz no need for any of zat” She pulled the knife away and began taking photos with a camera. I try to use my horn to undo the restraints, but can’t. I feel sick whenever I try to use my magic. What’s going on? Magic Repressors. Pinkie probably slipped some into that cake. That would explain why she was so adamant that I eat it. Wait. How do I know about something like that? why would I know that? Why would I think she slipped something in my cake? Flashes of light interrupt my train of thought as Photo Finish continues to take photos of me in the strange dress. “Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, vhy aren’t any ov these usable. If she vas still, these vould be perfect” She takes out the roll of film from the camera and throws it against the wall stomping on it a few times afterwards so as to really finish it off. Now’s my only chance. I tug and tug on my hooves trying to dislodge them from the trap, I manage to pull my front right hoof out and hear a tear, a decent chunk of my coat was torn off leaving a large bloody cut along my hoof. I ignore the pain and use the newly dislodged hoof to undo the other legs of the trap only to have Photo Finish to notice as the last trap was opened. I was freed from the trap, but was now faced with a knife-wielding pony blocking my way to the exit. “You are not going anyvere, until I finish my album. It shall be the glorious comeback of Photo Finish.” I blacked out. I find I’m somewhere else. It seems like a concert of some kind. I see myself wandering around the concert hall. The other me takes her place at a small bar and orders something, she then looks out into the crowd, scanning the place. Looking for something. I look out but can’t seem to see what she’s looking for, or what I’m looking for. She gets up, having finished her drink and begins moving towards the center of the crowd. She finds a stallion there, someone I don’t recognize. I can’t hear them speak, no matter how close I am. She begins to lead him out of the concert, and throws a large hood over her head, hiding her face from onlookers. When she and the stallion arrive outside, he begins talking. I still can’t hear what he’s saying, she, me I guess just starts smiling and the stallion whips out a knife, screaming at her. She just laughs and the stallion lunges at her, she sidesteps the blow and plants a kick of her forehoofs into his abdomen. The stallion looks winded from the blow but by no means out of the fight. He adjusts the knife in his hoof and lunges out to strike again only to switch the knife’s position mid-lunge, tucking it inward and swinging to the side trying to catch her, me, from the initial dodge, but she, I, just lifts up the hoof out of reach of the knife and brings it down on the man’s hoof pinning him. She head butts him and kicks repeatedly at his stomach with her free fore hoof. Using his back legs he’s able to sweep her, my, fore hoofs away and regain his composure readying the knife once again. He speaks again, which I respond to, his eyes suddenly go white and sweat begins dribbling down his neck. He readies the knife but his hoof is shaking, he’s scared. But why? He makes his lunge but the other me catches his knife hoof in between her own hooves and takes the knife from his, switching it upwards and jamming it under his chin. Blood rushes out of his wound, and she plants the knife into his neck once again. She takes out a handkerchief and rubs the blood off of her own hooves before running in the other direction a smug grin worn on her face like a trophy. Tonight was good, that’s what I was thinking that night. I wake up from my dream and see blood on my hooves. The wound must have gotten worse while I slept. I looked over to it and found that the wound was actually bandaged and felt closed enough to move on it. Had Photo Finish done this? She didn’t seem to have medical expertise. I tried to push magic through my horn and found a slight nausea resulted from it. Clearly the repressor was wearing off somewhat. I use as little magic as possible to light up the dark room and nearly vomit for real after what I saw. Photo Finish, lying on the floor in a heap, blood rushing out of at least seven different wounds placed around her abdomen, knife wounds. I try to stand up only to hear and feel a metal clanging against the ground, next to my hoof was Photo Finish’s knife and it was stained with blood. Her blood Oh Celestia, I killed her, I killed another pony, I killed her. Chapter 5I killed her. The words still rung through my head. I couldn’t comprehend it. I didn’t want to. That dream I had must have been true as well… no, not “dream”…“memory”, I correct myself. It was a memory. My memories were coming back, and now I was starting to regret it. I wanted to remain in the dark if the light was what I saw. I prop myself up, my knees feeling like jelly. Hell, my entire body feels like jelly. Even if she was insane (which she was), I had killed her. I’m on her level: insane. It’s almost like I belong here… I smack myself across the face. No, I need to get out of here, and this place is starting to make me just as insane as these crazy mares. I stand up I run my hoof through my mane, my hoof is shaking, I can barely breathe properly. If I am a killer I’m not very good at it. I step outside the photography shop and into the central plaza, pausing for a moment; Pinkie Pie must still be out here, I realize. I need to blend in. I call upon the memory of me killing that stallion in that club; blending in, during my memory of the bar, was surprisingly simple, as I remember it. I just sat down and had a drink while I scoped out my target. However, the bar was quite full, and where I am now there is no crowd. I’m alone, and I’m the target. I look around and realize that the buildings are probably the best cover I’m going to end up having: I can duck in and out of the buildings to hide from Pinkie and gather supplies. I see that the door directly adjacent to my current location is a convenience store. I take one last look and bolt for that door, the few feet between it and me feel like miles as I finally reach the door and duck inside. I pin myself up against the door as it closes and look to either side of me. No pony is going to get the drop on me this time; I’ve had it up to here with getting knocked unconscious. I look around for a light switch and see nothing. Of course I see nothing. It’s darker than Luna’s eternal night. I try my magic which starts to work, albeit requiring a lot more energy than normal. That stuff Pinkie gave me sure did last long. I find a small lantern and make a small light orb to put in it. I look around the now nicely lit room and I see all kinds of things. Pens and quills lay on a nearby desk, curtains and drapes decorated the walls, while candies and confectionaries of all kinds where scattered around the room. The people of this place must have had to work for money that they could then use in places like this. Just like normal society, Twilight had said before. I looked around and found a box filled with papers. What made this box stick out is the name on one of the pages: Rainbow Dash. The crazy pony (hell, everypony here was crazy) that had chased me before. I walked over to the box and checked it out for any kind of info on the other ponies I had encountered. I found a page on this Photo Finish, and another on Pinkie Pie. A few other scattered names caught my eye but I started with the one on Photo Finish. My victim. Patient Report: Photo Finish Symptoms: Obsessive behavior, tendencies towards violence, disregard for life. Photo Finish appears to be suffering from a violent obsession, possibly stemming from the Fluttershy incident a few years back. She continues to remark in her sleep about capturing ‘the magic’, possibly referring to her photography career, however, it could also be something completely different. I started allowing her to work in the Photography house we set up in the central plaza. There, she would take pictures of various ponies and they could use these pictures as postcards to send to their loved ones or simply as prints to send out to show they are still healthy. Perhaps there would be a lucrative market in using the inmates as fashion models of a sort? Well I suppose it’s relatively unimportant as her first day on the job she managed to scare the wits out of somepony who she considered ‘the opposite of graceful’ to paraphrase, kind of hard to do when the person in question is pretty crazy himself. Anyway, after we thought she had calmed down we let her back to it. I didn’t foresee any issues and for a while there weren’t any. She then started offering bits or food to the other inmates as a bribe to get them to model for her. Again, not a real problem. Spike said that it was unethical since we hadn’t authorized it, and wouldn’t authorize it, but it seemed like she genuinely wanted to get better, and go back to working on the runway. Then one of the other inmates, a stallion by the name of Mr. Wiggins, turned up dead in a dumpster and of course the first course of action was arresting Photo Finish as he had been hired by her. She admitted to killing him immediately requiring no coaxing from us. She’ll be kept under heavy secure lockdown for now, although she keeps saying that someday she’ll go back. I’m doubtful if her attitude towards getting better includes murder. Although the plan to make models out of the inmates could still work… if only more model photographers went crazy. Notes of attending Psychologist and Warden Twilight Sparkle I’m starting to get the feeling that trusting Twilight Sparkle was a bad idea. She seemed so distant in this report, thinking less about the murder but that something went wrong with her system. Celestia knows if I’m over thinking this. She’s probably as crazy as her damn ‘patients’; hell most of them seem to have been her friends. This is like a child’s game of doctor gone horribly wrong. I set the paper to the side, since Photo Finish was killed, by me, I don’t really need to study up on her, I turned my focus to the next piece of paper which contained a name I was all too familiar with: Rainbow Dash. I hadn’t forgotten her trying to kill me. I need to figure out what I can do to help, or at least avoid, that crazed mare. Patient Report: Rainbow Dash Tendency to lash out at authority figures, physical deformity: burned eyes Poor Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem to like it here. It’s sad really; she should know I’m just here to help her get better. Today I went to visit her personally. Does she think that I give personal visits often? NO. I made a special exception because it was one of my dearest friends. How does she repay me? Kicks me in the face and bites me. Bites me. Celestia, all I wanted to do was help, but she just screamed something about wanting to fly. Sorry Dashie, but you’re blind, I explain to her. I can’t let a blind Pegasus out of their harness. If I did that, I would be completely insane now wouldn’t I… The rest of the document is unreadable. Looks like ink was spilled on it. Well, that explains why she attacked me. If she would hurt one of her friends like that, what’s to stop her from attacking me? But she couldn’t have always been like that, right? Those were burn marks. She lost her sight. So what could have caused that? I look through the box with renewed vigor, if I could figure out what happened then I can try to help her. I find a few documents scattered here and there that don’t have much relevance to what I searching for… let’s see… Applejack…Derpy Hooves…no…Rarity…Lyra Heartstrings…ah, here it is it… Patient medical report: Rainbow Dash Pyrotechnics accident resulting in burnt eyes and loss of vision Patient Rainbow Dash suffered horrible burns across her eyes as the result of a pyrotechnics accident at the Wonderbolts most recent show in Canterlot. The victim claims to have been trying to impress the Wonderbolts but accidently flew by as a firework was being shot off blinding her, causing her to fall into the pit where the fireworks were being shot off from. The victims life post-hospitalization was relatively normal until she attempted to beat a pony to death for insulting her flying skills now that she couldn’t see. It was insisted upon that she retire as head of the weather patrol in Ponyville but she refused eventually culminating in her being committed to Ponyville Asylum. Miss Dash has been showing signs of increased paranoia that the orderlies have some kind of agenda against her, most likely comparing us to the ponies who tried to get her to retire. Due to her lack of sight Warden Sparkle has issued a vest to be put on her at all times when the orderlies aren’t around so she can’t hurt anypony. This proved unwise as she continued to assault the orderlies and even Warden Sparkle herself claiming it to be a conspiracy against her. I suddenly felt kind of bad for the poor cyan Pegasus. All she just wanted to continue life as normal despite her accident. But she did try to kill somepony and me. I decided to take one last look through the pile and see if I could find anything on Pinkie Pie. After a laborious amount of searching I finally come across a bunch of papers stapled together that have Pinkie’s name on them. I hover them in the air with my magic (nice to know that its working again) and try to read the first page. Ok…obsessed with parties, paranoid about losing her friends, possibly insane…all of this is stuff I already figured out and don’t need to have repeated. What I need is useful info. What are her talents? What are the things I have to watch out for when confronting her? Any weaknesses? Strengths? Loose ends that need tying? Popular hang-outs? Any place where she can be found alone? What am I thinking! I’m trying to run away! Not kill her…but that would make things easier…if I kill her she can’t hurt me or anyone else, Nurse Redheart is only one victim who knows if she has others… Stop thinking like that! Being in this place is starting to screw up my way of thinking. I look to the other pages and see that they’ve all been colored in with pink crayon, she destroyed her own med reports…so: insane, but smart. Not a good combo… A noise sounds outside the store and a pink pony trots in carrying a cupcake in one hoof. “Found you!” she says in a sing song voice. Without hesitating I run barreling through the door. I wasn’t about to become somepony’s eternal playmate today. I dash between the stores and try to maneuver around to slow down the pink earth pony. Pinkie appears in front of me as if from nothing. “Howdy!!” I skid and bolt in the opposite direction. I have to get out of here, I think frantically. I see a small place that looks like a dentist’s office. I decide to run and hide in there. The room is dark. The lights must have stopped working a while ago with nopony to maintain the place. I run past a few doors and find myself at what must be the central office. I collapse on the floor completely out of breath. I have to find a way out of this place. My attention is drawn to a cellar door peeking its way out of the edge of the carpeting. I scoot the carpet to the side and let out a sigh. What new horrors await me below Door Number One. Hearing a bouncing off in the distance, I decide Door Number One it is. I open the trapdoor and try to close it as gently as possible while also trying to make the carpet cover it again. When I’m certain that I can’t be followed I close the trapdoor, a humming noise above distracts me from going down. “Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes… Cupcakes” The singing freezes me in place. If she decides to look under the carpet, I’m done for. I look down to see if I could jump and get a running start. No such luck. It’s way too dark to see the ground from where I am, and the last thing I need is a sprained fetlock. Dammit. I’m about to be killed by a pink pony who seems to want to make other ponies smile. The irony. But then the humming stops. The sing-song voice dissipates and slowly dies down. I breathe a sigh of relief. Fate must have heard this sigh of relief, because moments later, the ladder gives way sending me tumbling downwards. Mid-flight (or is that free-fall?) I try to slow or stop my descent by grabbing onto steps of the ladder, which also breaks off. Finally I hit the ground and fall unconscious. I awaken to the worst throbbing headache I’ve ever suffered. I can feel a pool of semi-dried blood around my head. I pat it down with my hoof, the wound appears to have sealed leading me to believe that it has been quite some time since I landed. I stand up only to bump my recent wound straight into a lantern. Normally I’d curse, but the fantastic luck of finding a lantern drowned that out somewhat. I use my magic to create a small sphere of light and place it in the lantern and look around, the first thing that catches my eye are the bodies of two ponies that are laying maybe five feet away from me. One of the ponies, a bright yellow mare with a similar mane, seemed to have been beaten to death Bruising all around her face and upper torso seem to support my theory. The other, a blue unicorn mare with a dentists outfit on which says his name is Colgate…well, I don’t need to theorize about. A large slicing wound across his jugular tells me all I need to know, his throat was slit. I put out the lantern and collapse from exhaustion. I decide this is as good a place as any to get some sleep. Maybe whoever killed them won’t come back. Maybe. Chapter 6Rarity has been coming by to help out around the Asylum quite a bit lately, helping me get supplies and even occasionally using her magic to help me with diagnosing or treating the patients. Something seems different about her though, a kind of shine to her… From the diary of Warden Twilight Sparkle I awoke with a throbbing pain in my right shoulder probably, no definitely from sleeping on the hard ground. I stand up tentatively and try flooding magic through my horn; the Light spell works like a charm, so I guess my magic is back in order at last. I look and see that there is a large doorway in front of me, so I step inside. Celestia of the sun, it smells down here, I quickly realize the reason for this is probably the fact that I’m wandering around a sewer. For some reason I feel oddly calm down here though, strangely enough I actually think I kind of like it down here. Celestia I need to get out of here and fast I’m going completely nuts and now think I like hanging out in sewers. “Hello, is somepony there?” The faintness of the voice catches my ear, I toss a rock at the metal barring the clanging noise signifying my response. “Oh thank heavens, Darling could you help me momentarily please.” I trot down the hall to see a white unicorn with a lavender mane carrying a bunch of materials with her in cart including bleach, rags, and soapy water, dedicated janitor maybe? She motions for me to help her pull the cart, “I really do need help dear, you look like you’re lost, Oh I know you must need to speak with Twilight yes!” I guess when you’re in an asylum the best favors do involve the warden, I nod my head and join her in pulling the cart, I would kill for a chance to see her, I need to meet with Twilight, though I can’t remember why? I help the unicorn who calls herself Rarity pull the cart of hers to a small room. “Oh thanks dear you have no idea how much this means to me” Rarity leaned in and kissed my cheek, causing me to stumble a bit. “Oh no need to get flustered dear, although if you want some ‘fun’ before going to meet with Twilight…” The rest of her words were drowned out when I saw the room inside, it also smelled but differently. Less sewer and more incredibly popular courtesan. On one end of the room there was a large bed with lavender sheets and a lavender curtain surrounding it all unceremoniously crumpled and looking as though they need a good wash, but what draws my eye is the blood in the corner. The bottom left corner of the room featured a large splattering of blood across walls and floor with a brutally beaten looking stallion lying in the middle of it. Rarity seemed to take no heed to this grotesque display and simply wrapped a rope along his leg and started to drag him. “Now you see why I needed the cleaning supplies so urgently dear.” “This bastard left a bit of a mess, you’ll excuse me for tidying up a bit before I take you to see Twilight” Part of me wanted to run just as I had been doing so often yesterday, but instead my feet stayed firm mollified by another voice in my head saying that we needed to see Twilight Sparkle and no matter what that we have to get there and soon. I sidle out of the way deeper into the room as Rarity dragged the dead stallion out, I seem to have a few minutes as it appears I have a few minutes as I can clearly hear her pulling him down the hallway we just came from. I start snooping around the desk to find out anything about this Rarity. The desk large and colored a dark mahogany, it also has a large mirror placed on top of it, not connected to it but placed on top. I take the time to look at myself in the mirror, my normally decent looking grey coat is stained with blood, mud, and other substances making me wonder why this Rarity would even pretend to be ‘interested’ in me. My dark blue mane was horribly unkempt and visibly knotted in several places. I still had cuts along my back and on my forelegs, and I still couldn’t remember anything about myself. I look around the desk for anything that would be of use both in learning anything about Rarity and fending her off when she comes back. On the desk’s left side there are several grooming products like hairspray, eye shadow, various other make up products that I don’t recognize. On the right is a small journal, seems a good place to start. I open it up to the first page and begin reading. August 1, Rough Tumble “It’s been so long since I’ve seen a good looking stallion in this Celestia-forsaken Asylum! Oh and he was so good too… too good for words really. I felt like a teen again! Like I was experiencing lovemaking for the first time! Sadly our dalliances had to end today however perhaps if I could find somewhere more discreet. August 3, Rough Tumble “It seems that the underground of the Asylum isn’t a place frequented by the orderlies, we’ve stayed down here for several hours and nopony has come by. Oh well! More time for my prince and me! August 9, Rough Tumble “The stupid bastard! The cad! The nerve of that horrid stallion, I’ll show him! I’m the most beautiful mare IN EXISTENCE! He WILL regret this and he will regret it SOON! August 10, Shout Twist “It didn’t take long for me to get over Rough, in very much the same way that one elevates oneself from cheap beer to expensive champagne I have found somepony new! Oh listen to me, I’m giggling like a schoolpony! Tee Hee! His name is Shout Twist, he isn’t a bulky construction pony like Rough, no he’s a musician, an Artist, if you will. He’s a stallion that listens and cares and caresses and he’s all mine! August 12 “Unfortunately things with Shout Twist didn’t work out either. Is no pony in this asylum a gentlecolt?” August 13, (name illegible) “So now I’ve hooked up with one of the orderlies. Twilight personally signed off on this little romance because she believes that I need to ‘learn to trust stallions again.’ Well as much as I would disagree, I believe that I will go along with Twilight’s attempts to psychoanalyze me for the time being. As long as my little Doctor stays with me.” August 15, (name illegible) “He, thinks that I’m nuts! He thinks that I need ‘serious help’! He is lucky to be able to bask in my presence! He is one who’s nuts! He’s the one who needs ‘serious help.’ And I’m just the one to do it! I hear hoofsteps coming down the way and quickly close the book and move to the center of the room to avoid suspicion. Rarity walks, well saunters, into the room with a mischievous grin on her face. “Hello darling.” She bobs her head to side slightly, allowing her mane to bob; her mane is rather pretty, especially for a crazy mare in an Asylum! “You like my mane dear.” She touches it with her hoof in a gesture that says ‘oh this old thing’ clearly she is rather enamored with herself. She trots over to me moving her face very close. “You know I think I know just what we need to Fix. You. Up.” She puts emphasis on each word by prodding me in the chest playfully with her hoof. She pushes me down on the bed and grabs a comb in her magic and starts brushing at my hair causing me to wince as she forcefully removes the grime and knotting. As she brushes all I can think about is the crazy stuff written in her dairy. She’s clearly a psychopath so why am I letting her do my hair. Because we need her. A voice in my head reminds me, we need her, it claims. That’s right Twilight Sparkle will know what’s going on here. If I can find her I can escape, or is there something else I need to do. What am I here for? What did I do? Celestia damn who am I? “Hmm, there’s something on your flank darling, something that’s covering up your cutie mark.” Rarity scrubs at my flank with soap, feels like she’s taking sandpaper to my backside. I try and voice my discomfort but its met with a “Be done soon darling!” from Rarity. As she scrubs and scrubs I feel more and more pain but also anxiousness. Why am I anxious about her scrubbing the grime off my flank? Aside from the obvious reasons, that it was creepy. “What an odd cutie mark, darling you should look at this.” She brought a mirror to me specifically aimed at my cutie mark. My cutie mark, my first real clue to my identity! A dagger shrouded in a black clothe. That’s my cutie mark. My destiny? Dagger Cloak. The name rings through my head, like a twisted song. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak The words are singing, my name, my destiny, my talent, Death, Killing; I’m a killer, and a damn good one. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Instinct kicks in I attack Rarity. My hooves beat at her face, smashing, beating, and killing. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak That’s right I’m an assassin, I was sent here for a reason. I grab a necklace from the table nearby and begin to strangle Rarity. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak I was sent to kill Twilight Sparkle.
Prologue Prologue I own nothing in relation to My Little Pony; this fan fiction came from the My Little Amnesia FanFic, just my take on the subject. It was like something out of one of those horror books Twilight had scattered around her desk. One after the other, anguished screams flooded the speakers and then were silenced, like they hadn’t happened. I looked around the monitors frantically, desperately, trying to find someway to bring order back. Twilight just grinned and opened up a large notebook and started to write within it, either unsure or uncaring of the terrible event to which she was bearing witness. The inmates were running the asylum, and as clichéd as that is, it’s funny how these things stop being funny when they start happening to you. Journal of Spike, assistant to the warden of Ponyville Asylum; August 25 Chapter 0: Awaken I awoke to the sound of silence, the sound of nothing as I lay on the ground. I twitch my legs, my hooves, and the rest of my body. I wasn’t paralyzed but still had trouble moving, probably from lying on the hard rocky ground for so long. How long had I been lying there? A week? A month? Only a day? Where is here? I looked around but found my vision obstructed by the darkness surrounding me, seeming to stretch onwards to eternity. I breathed once, twice, trying to make sure everything was working properly. I used my magic to cause light to emanate from my horn so I could finally see the room I was in. The room was decorated rather sparsely, a few simple reddish curtains hung above the broken and boarded windows, a simple frayed red carpet was laid out across the ground leading to a small staircase above which held a large TV monitor, but aside from that the rest of the floor was cobblestone, broken and splintered in many places. I attempted to stand only to trip over my own hooves. I tried to stand up again this time succeeding. My head pounded and my body ached, serves me right for falling unconscious on rocks I guess. I look around some more while walking back and forth to get the kinks out of my hooves. Some furniture litters the room, most of it in disrepair much like the floor and the carpet. Except for a red chair sitting in front of the large TV monitor. Exit, exit, I need to find an exit of some kind; I see a door located underneath the TV. I start walking towards the door… “Hello, there!” A voice pierces the silence startling me, my breath caught in my throat I listen, I look up and see that the TV turned on, and that there is somepony on the TV. The pony on the TV is a unicorn like me, her mane is comprised of various shades of purple and her skin is the same color. She is sitting in a large red chair with a large book spread across her lap. “You’re probably wondering many things like ‘why am I here?’, ‘I’m not crazy!’, ‘The system must be flawed’…” “…but you’re wrong. The system, my system, I might add, is far from flawed.” “All those sentenced to time in the Ponyville Asylum for the Deranged, Delusional, and Criminally Insane go through the extensive testing which you’ve experienced and when found to be not all right in the head, you’re sent to me.” I don’t remember any testing, or anything regarding this asylum. Come to think of it, I don’t remember anything at all. “This asylum was built almost like a small town, there’s a garden, simulated farming area, spa, among many other places. The reason for this is to constantly immerse you in real pony contact so that you’ll be able to rejoin the world sane right from the get go…” The TV shut off unexpectedly static burst through the speakers; I winced as the sound scraped my ears. Suddenly the TV was working again but this time there was only a picture of the purple-haired pony. “Welcome. I’m terribly sorry that I haven’t been able to clean up around here.” She sounds quite cheerful…perhaps she can help. “You probably want to get out of this place, don’t you?” I sheepishly nod to no pony in particular. “Well, first you must join me for something of an experiment, I’m the warden of this beautiful establishment, Twilight Sparkle. I established this place in order to help sick ponies be cured of the ailments of the mind which haunted so many. I made this place to resemble a town of sorts, a small community where the ponies could live and play and work almost like they weren’t in this place, almost like they were outside.” This sounded impressive but this “experiment” she wanted me to participate in didn’t sound good. “However being the warden of an Asylum is quite a lot of work and requires my full attention, so I haven’t been able to collect any real data on how the ponies are faring, not to mention that the electronics here barely work! Setting back my experiments completion by Celestia knows how long since I can’t gather additional data through the most of the monitors. And my little assistant Spike, a small purple dragon, left a few days ago.” Wow. Even her assistant is purple. I’m surprised that there is so much red in the decorum. “So I’ll lead you through the asylum, helping you just enough so you know what you’re doing but beyond that you are on your own, I can always collect data through other helpers.” What does she want me to do? Just walk through the asylum? Really? “I’ll open the door so you can advance to the gardens. There, you’ll meet a pony named Fluttershy. She is one of the ponies deterred in this lovely asylum, and also a good friend of mine!” The door beneath the TV opens; as I walk through I can’t help thinking about what she said, about this pony being her friend. It must have been hard to lock up a friend of yours. As I walk along I notice a small piece of paper with a message written on it. Using my magic I lift it to my face, some of the words are blotted out but what I can read says… “… Out not safe Ponyville … compromised … gone, Twilight …”. The bottom of the page says that it was written by Spike, the dragon assistant that Twilight had talked about. He must’ve come through here; did he bring me here? Did Twilight? Was I here before them? I shake the questions out of my head, no point in questioning why what matters is I’m here and the only way out, presumably, lies with Twilight. I take a deep breath and advance down the long dimly lit corridor. Tired, I extinguish my magical light as I enter into the garden; once I enter I see the garden is almost like a hedge maze with a large monument to Celestia and Luna in the dead middle. My hoof hits something and I almost trip, after steadying myself I look down and back away in horror. The head of a nurse pony lay at my hooves, the face, or what’s left of it, frozen in a look of terror and pain; part of the face decayed to the point that the facial muscle is visible. The stench was overwhelming. I backed off back behind the frame of the door and tried to collect myself. I heard shuffling around a nearby hedge. I pushed the door further closed so as to hide myself but open enough where I could see the assailant, and possibly get the drop on them. A small white rabbit jumps out from the hedge. My breathing finally starts to be steady. “ANGEL! STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD!...” The voice of another pony splits the dark silence. My breath catches again. “…AND BRING THAT BACK HERE! ALL OF IT! I KNOW YOU’VE BEEN SNEAKING EXTRA BITES!” Is she talking about that head? “Now, now Angel, there’s enough for everyone.”
Chapter 1Twilight had built the garden to be a replica of the Canterlot gardens, albeit a smidge larger and a tad more twisty and maze-like. I had always wondered why she did this; she claimed it would be soothing to the patients to have something to explore. She seemed to think of them more than the staff of the asylum… Journal of Spike, assistant to the warden, August 24 pt.1 I stayed back, breathing slight and soft. I knew if the rabbit spotted me I would be a snack for this crazy pony. “ANGEL!”, the pony screamed as she walked in from the bushes. I tilted my head slightly to get a better look at the pony. She’s a Pegasus. She has a yellow coat with a light pink and purple mane. The pony’s attitude suddenly shifted. “Oh, Angel. You can’t pick it up, huh?” The rabbit nodded. He understood her? She can speak to animals? “Here you go.” The yellow pony grabbed the head’s mane in her mouth and started dragging it off with the rabbit following her. I wait. And wait. It felt like an eternity. But I stay perfectly still. If that girl pony catches me somehow, I doubt I’ll be sticking around for dessert. I tilt my head out the door frame flicking my eyes from one side to the other. I see no signs of the pony or her rabbit friend. I step out, slowly, carefully, attempting not to upset even the smallest patch of earth in the process. Eventually I manage to slowly slink past the area where I had heard the yellow Pegasus talking. I feel something land on the nape of my neck and run for it. I move as fast as my hooves will allow trying to outrun what just found its way onto me. My breath is hard and fast. However long I had been on the ground, it hasn’t done my chest any favours. I finally slow down; my hooves refuse to move another step as I collapse trying to catch my breath. A small butterfly flies away from me and off deeper into the gardens. Sweet relief passes from my lips. A butterfly. I was scared of a damn butterfly. At any other time, I would laugh at how crazy that seemed, but I think I’m justified, given the situation. I look up and try to see where I’ve gotten to. The gardens twist and turn all over the place, and I wasn’t really looking where I was going just now. The hedges are so tall, and I can’t see how far in I went. I turn around to my left and notice the statues, the Celestia and Luna statues. That’s it! I’ll use that to see how far in I’ve gone, it seems like I’ve passed them by so I must have gone more than halfway in and moved a bit to the right since the statues are on my left. Moving forward I find a dead end, a large pile of garbage was stacked against what looked like a doorframe. Well that’s what magic is for, I used my magic to start lifting the garbage and setting it aside, “squawk” a bird started to screech behind me. I keep moving the garbage… “What is it my little friends?” I ran as fast as I could, I realized that if that pony catches me, I would be in a heap of trouble. The Pegasus screamed after me “Come back here! I just want to introduce you to my friends!”. As I run a small bird runs in front of me, panicking I grabbed a rock with my hoof and attacked the bird. My hoof moves without thought moving up and down, cracking noises followed again and again. By the time I stopped moving the bird had stopped moving as well, its blood stained the green ground red its feathers spread across the dirt. I dropped the rock and ran; I finally found a small hiding spot amidst the bushes and hedges. The yellow Pegasus trotted over to the dead bird on the ground. A screech passed her lips and filled the room causing the birds to scatter and the other animals, like the rabbits, to hide in the bushes. The small rabbit from earlier, Angel, hopped over to the yellow pony and placed a paw on her hoof, trying to calm her down it seemed. “YOU BITCH!” she screamed, “YOU’LL BE FOOD FOR MY FRIENDS! I’LL CUT YOU UP AND YOU’LL BE FOOD! YOU HEAR ME?!” She continued like that for a while, simply screaming out at me. I needed to find a way out of here fast. This crazy pony was going to be the death of me. So I waited, breath soft and mechanical. Inhale, one, two. Exhale, one, two. The pony eventually left the spot outside where I was hiding and trotted away. That didn’t mean her animal friends weren’t still hanging around though, and they were the real worry here. If she could understand the animals and they her, then those birds back at the garbage pile and told her where I was. A movable defense matrix. If the pony wasn’t clearly a few ingredients short of a muffin I’d almost say it’s brilliant. Half an hour must have gone by before I even thought of leaving my hiding place. It was clear that the door behind the piled up garbage wasn’t the smartest exit route. Then again, if this is supposed to be an asylum then there should be other doors out of this room. The garbage door was around the top-right so I should head away from there. Eventually I get the nerve back to leave my hiding place. I stick my neck out of the bushes, no sign of the pony or her animal friends. I start walking out and head down the left path, occasionally looking up at the twin princess statues in the middle to make sure I’m not backtracking. I manage to make it back to the entrance and decide to go to the far left this time. As I walk I come across a bird in a tree. I lift myself up to two legs and attempt to skirt around the tree’s backside where the bird can’t see. I slowly sidestep around holding my breath the whole way to try and prevent the slightest noise, as I move a sharp pain goes through my back. Wincing, I look back and find that a thorny branch is digging its way into my back. I grit my teeth as I continue to sidestep. The thorn branch resists, trying to hold me in place, but I keep pulling until eventually the branch tears my skin and lets me go. The pain goes from a sharp sting to a dull throb as I move forward on trying to reach the exit. I look up to see that the princess statues are now close on my right. I move toward them hoping for some map or directions to find my way out. When I reach the statues I see a small piece of paper at the statues base, I pick it up and begin to read it. Patient #30: Fluttershy, friendly with animals, violent tendencies, paranoia. Fluttershy was brought in after an attack was committed against her house by a large bear. The bear killed several of the animals living at Fluttershy’s home and she began to show signs of paranoid fear and protectiveness. She began to viciously assault anyone who seemed to that like they were threatening the animals. Eventually this led to her attacking a local pony who was berating their pet, the pony in question was put in the hospital and Fluttershy Ponyville Asylum. Once arriving at the Asylum Fluttershy became immediate friends with the animals who were living in the Garden section, to the point she spent almost all of her time in this section of the Asylum and eventually even started to sleep there. Warden Twilight noticed this change in behavior and believing it to be a good sign allowed her to sleep in the Garden areas, although most of the staff believed it was Twilight giving preferable treatment to one of her friends. As time went on Fluttershy became more hostile towards the staff of the Asylum who continued to attempt to get Fluttershy to engage in social activities with the other ponies as per the regimen prescribed by Twilight. However, as time went on Fluttershy began to slip back into paranoia, attacking orderlies for quote “Giving the animals bad food.” Twilight personally attempted to assuage her fears but found that Fluttershy had metaphorically shrunk in on herself, only communicating to the animals of the gardens. June: Two orderlies have gone missing. Most of the staff believes it to be Fluttershy as the last place they were seen was the gardens. However with no proof to go on I have no choice but to investigate myself. Twilight refuses to accept Fluttershy as a killer, believing that she can still be salvaged. Further investigation has been made on my behalf and the hollowed out carcass of one of the female orderlies was found half dug into the ground in the gardens. Most of the major arteries were missing, including heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver, all seemingly ripped from the body. The body was cut open down the middle but the cut seems to rough and misshapen to be from a knife of any kind and the coroner assumes it was either ripped or eaten open. Based on the evidence at hand I attempted to contact the Princess for permission to have Fluttershy executed. However my attempts were futile as Twilight had convinced the Princess to only take messages from her effectively cutting off my one chance to keep the staff safe. I’ve attempted to send a representative of mine to Canterlot with as much evidence as I could gather, I hope for a speedy reply. Until then I’m ordering all staff to avoid the gardens as much as possible and to study Fluttershy’s psyche evaluations as much as possible. If you must travel through here, take a map, move quickly and quietly and always in groups. Most important of all know what you’re up against. You are all dealing with a murderer, and you should treat the patient as such. If she attacks you, fight back, Twilight’s orders be damned. Sincerely Spike, Assistant to the Warden Twilight Sparkle Clearly I was even more screwed than I realized. Fluttershy, the yellow Pegasus I presume, wasn’t just a killer; she’s a paranoid mother figure! I search the area for any signs of a map; something that could help me evade Fluttershy and make it out of this crazy place. I notice out of the corner of my eye; another dead body, a male Pegasus in a white overcoat. One of the orderlies I presume. I walk over and the smell of the dead body overwhelms my senses. The smell of blood, decay, and excrement hounded my nostrils. I grabbed at the saddlebag on his side and found inside a small map. Well he won’t need this, at least I think not. I grab the saddlebag and put it on myself. It still smells of the carcass from which I scavenged it. I take out the map and look it over. Finding the gardens on the map I notice three doorways excluding the one I entered in, one in the top right that is the one with all the garbage in front of it, one to the far east of the room, and one to the northwest. I decide it’s probably best to head for the top-left one which is closer. “Oh dear. so we meet again.” I turn around slowly to find Fluttershy staring back at me. Lying next to her is a large nightstick. She must have stolen that off of the orderlies. “Now why don’t you come with me, nice and quiet? My friends are waiting for their dinner, and I’m not going to serve you raw.”
Chapter 2 I went down to the gardens to visit Fluttershy today, she’s become more of a recluse, hiding in the bushels and having the animals patrolling for her. Perhaps I can do something about this, then again it may be more interesting to simply allow her to continue, goodness knows how much data on her psychosis would come up if she were allowed to run wild! Report from the diary of Warden Twilight Sparkle I stared blankly at the yellow Pegasus, stepping back as she approached a knife wedged in her mouth. “COME HERE!” she screeched, lunging. I managed to sidestep her and without thinking chopped at her neck with my right forehoof. How did I know how to do that? I can’t remember taking any self-defense lessons but clearly I know what I’m doing to a certain degree. No time to think. Fluttershy lunged at me again, this time the knife connected with my flesh scratching at my back. I winced at the pain but to turn around and use my back hooves to knock her in the face. The knife flew from her mouth and landed in a bushel off to the right. A large black bruise appeared on her cheek blood and spittle dribbled from her mouth. She growled at me. Three small animals lurched out from the bushels to help their mistress. Taking my cue, I started to run in the opposite direction, wincing as low hanging branches scratched at my flank and my wound. I ran as far to the other side of the gardens as was possible, my breath coming out in heaves as I slumped to the ground, tired. I realized that I had run without paying too much attention to where I was heading, thus negating the usefulness of the map I had acquired. One step forward at a time, I guess. I walked further out, but tensed as soon as I saw the birds hovering in the skies above. Most likely they were looking for me on Fluttershy’s orders, and to find the one who had killed their friend. Come to think of it, I had basically forgotten that even happened. I killed a living creature, but the thought never really occurred until now. Well. I suppose running for my life from a crazy lunatic cannibal and her host of animal subordinates kind of trumps the experience of murdering a small woodland creature. I scooted off to the side so as to avoid any further contact with the birds and, Celestia willing, Fluttershy. As I kept moving forward I took the map from the saddlebag and tried to figure out where I was, and where the nearest exit would be located. I scanned the map occasionally looking up for any signs of local statues or hedges that she could use to pinpoint her position. I quickly realized there was really only one major landmark I could reliably pinpoint, the statues in the middle of the Garden, where Fluttershy had attacked me. I can’t believe how stupid I’m acting; I’m actually heading backwards towards the crazy cannibal lady. But it is the only way I’ll get a fix on where I really am, and the only way I can find an exit to this place. Hopefully the other areas of the asylum don’t contain nearly as many loons, or at least the loons are kept under better lock and key. I finally made my way back. I poke my head around a bushel to look into the plaza where the statues are. The small white bunny from before (Angel, was it?) is patrolling the area. Alright. I can probably take a tiny bunny in a fight. I look over the map and try and find my exit route. Northeast, west at next turn, north for two junctions, right, and then left and I should be at one of the exits. I go over the list of directions in my head repeatedly, memorizing the directional list so I know exactly how to get to this exit. Somehow I doubt that Fluttershy will let me take out my map so I can figure out which left I’m supposed to take. I breathe in and slowly exhale, I charge into the plaza. The bunny notices me almost immediately. It tries to squeal to friends, presumably hiding in the bushes as I jump him. I pound away at the creature my hooves lifting up and smashing down onto the bunny. After a few seconds I lift my bloodied hooves away the creature known as Angel lay there, smashed and battered. Her favorite pet smashed to pieces, I start running towards the pathway out, only to find a few logs blocking my path. Damn, if I had tried stealth I probably would have noticed that and could have gone for a different direction. I use my magic to lift the logs as best I can, the fact I haven’t been using my magic a lot hindering my progress slightly. “ANGEL!” A screech behind signals that Fluttershy has indeed arrived and my time is running shorter and shorter. “ANGELLLLL!” Another scream. I finish moving the logs and run as fast as hooves will allow. “YOOOOOU!” she screams, as she chases me down. I pull westerly and keep moving. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Being an idiot, I look back. Fluttershy looks even more bloodthirsty than before. She’s carrying the bloodied corpse of the rabbit on her back; its blood and brain matter staining her coat. Her eyes don’t blink, simply staring forward with a dangerous glint. She was going to kill me. She was going to enjoy every scream and every second of the kill. Another junction comes up but I stay north, several small creatures are now trailing behind her and some split off to the west and east directions, hoping to get ahead and slow me down no doubt. Another junction, stay north. Again I look back at my possible future assailant the bloodlust in her eyes continues to swell, her wings are locked upwards almost holding the corpse of her dead friend onto her back. At the next junction I book right, I slide a little quickly attempting to regain balance and move forward. Unfortunately Fluttershy also round the corner but much more gracefully, the body of Angel tumbles off of her back as she uses her wings to keep balance as she rounds the next corner. Damn, damn, damn. I almost forgot she could fly. The next and final junction is slowly approaching if I have to round that in my current condition she’ll probably catch up to me, I scan for anything I can use, two small rocks are lying on the ground near the junction, my horn lights up and flows with magic as I pick up the first of the two rocks, I turn and stop sliding to face Fluttershy as I launch the small rock towards her, she doesn’t react in time and the rock collides with face, her muzzle bends and begins to bleed heavily. “ARGH!” She screams in pain. My cue to bolt. I run through the corner and finally make it to the exit door; I push through the doors and look around. I see a small plank which I levitate using my magic and wedge between the two handles of the doors locking it in place as I slump down. “YOU BITCH!” I hear from behind the door. “I”LL KILL YOU!” She continues to scream, not that it matters much. I lay there, a collapsed heap near the door, barely moving, barely alive. My breathing is heavy. I try to use my magic to lift something nearby but to no avail. I’m too exhausted to use my magic. Well now, I really hope there isn’t someone crazy waiting for me in this place or I am screwed. I lift my head up to see where I am and it appears to just be a normal corridor I start walking forward having now at least caught my breath. I keep moving until I see a small TV on the wall and a button on the side. I push the button and the TV turns on revealing a familiar purple unicorn. “Hello, my friend” Twilight spoke through the TV. “The place you are in now is called Cloud Corridor, a favorite of my Pegasus inmates. Well. Most of them anyway.” I gritted my teeth. Yeah. Sure. Laugh up the people who have died at that crazed Pegasus’s hands. “Here we would keep the Pegasus’s wings locked through a small harness but if the orderlies were there they would be allowed a specific amount of flying time to simulate the outside world. However there is one that…” The TV turned off suddenly and the hallway went dark. I stepped back and used my magic to light the room. I saw a blue Pegasus staring back at me. I jumped back quietly, my breath caught in my throat as she just stared this way not saying anything. “Where are you?” the Pegasus asks. Can’t she see me? “WHERE ARE YOU?!”, she yells, moving forward. As she moves forward I can see that where her eyes should be are a burned husk. She doesn’t have any eyes; her wings are also locked in the harness that Twilight talked about. “Let me see you…” she whispered, “LET ME SEE YOU!” Out of the frying pan, and into another frying pan.
Chapter 3I have a proof-reader guys. YAY! Also sorry for the lateness, my sister is graduating high school so things are a little hectic around these parts. One might assume that seeing one of your old friends after a long time would be a great experience, but in my case seeing that the friend in question has had a serious accident which burned her eyes off, things become rather awkward quick. Journal of Warden's Assistant Spike I stood stunned by the sight before me, the blue Pegasus with charred eyes walked closer and closer to me. "I know somepony's there. I can smell you. I can smell something." she repeated, over and over. I sidled to the left hoping I can sneak by her and run in the opposite direction. I slowly sidled my hooves one by one to the left slowly, occasionally glancing down to make sure that I won't knock a rock to the side or something similar which could alert her to where I was. "I can smell you." She jumped forward at where I was mere moments ago now lying only a foot or so away from me. She sniffed at the ground; her snout contorting as she drove her face into the stone ground upon which she lay. "I can smell your blood." I freeze up. "Yeah, your blood. As clear as day." No, she can't mean… I look to the ground and there, clear as day, is a slowly growing puddle of my blood. The wounds I got on my back from the Garden hadn't healed yet. Well duh, I berate myself; it's been maybe a few minutes at best. What exactly did I expect? I scan quickly around and see a large rock, my weapon of choice it appears. I use my magic to levitate the rock, "I hear you." The blue Pegasus dives for me; her right fore-hoof connects with my snout, causing more blood to spill forth. I send the rock flying for her face; not so fast as to seriously harm her, but fast enough where it will slow her down a considerable amount. The rock connects with her face and knocks the blue Pegasus down. I take the chance and run as fast as I can. I run and run, glancing side to side to see if there is… Yes! An open door! I dive in, careful not to disturb the door too much, and run into a closet. My breath is out of control. Need to slow it down. The blue Pegasus couldn't possibly… "That hurt, you bitch." How did she? I was running for at least a solid minute as fast as I could and she caught up without being even slightly out of breath? I peek out from the closet and see that indeed the brace is still on her wings so she had to run not fly. She was standing at the entrance to the room, although she hadn't gone in quite yet. "I'll get you for that." she whispered, rubbing her snout. She sneezed, letting loose a torrent of blood. "I'll really get you for this." she muttered as she walked by, clearly uninterested in searching out her recent quarry. What could have happened to that Pegasus to inflict that injury? The wounds on her eyes were clearly burn wounds, and ponies don't simply burn their eyes off as a normal occurrence. I need to find a way out of here, fast. I realize that continuing to hold on to the saddlebag is probably worthless since I no longer have a map for the area I'm in. Well, I'll keep it with me anyway I suppose, at least for now. When I can no longer hear anypony outside of the room I exit the closet. My back stings with pain from the cut, I guess I had almost forgotten it was there. Could she really smell my blood? I turned and found a small vial of medicine laying on a table, that'll help with the pain but won't close the wound itself, a kind of smelling salts in liquid form. Wait…how do I know this? Looking at the bottles' contents I can distinctly recognize what is inside but I don't know how I can. I rub my head. Why can't I remember anything before waking up in the asylum? I drink down half of the small bottle and look outside the small doorway. The blue Pegasus seems to have wandered off somewhere. How is it that I've managed to piss the hell off of everypony I've come across? You'd think some of them would just want conversation, or a spot of tea. Maybe a muffin of some kind. The distant clopping of hooves snaps me out of my reverie and forces me back into reality. I slip quietly into the next room across from where I was and notice more smelling salts and some gauze wrapping. I light my horn up and wrap the gauze tightly around the wound; I need to get out of here. I look outwards and notice that the blue Pegasus is rubbing up against the walls, trying to rip off the wrapping around her wings no doubt. I quietly shuffle out the door, sliding my hooves one by one against the ground trying not to alert the blind Pegasus. "When I find her…" she muttered, "That orderly bitch…tossing a rock at me…as if Grounding me wasn't enough…" She emphasized the words in hateful, cursing tone. She thinks I'm an orderly and that I put her in that harness and stopped her from flying. Wait…am I an orderly? Is Twilight my boss and I just forgot? Clink. The sound of a rock brushing up against the wall pulled the blue Pegasus out of her trance and looking directly at me. I dash as fast as possible, running as my life did indeed depend on it. "You'll see that you shouldn't have messed with Rainbow Dash!" So that's her name. Got it. Miss Dash tackles me to the ground; clearly she's faster than the considerable bar I believed she had set earlier. She starts punching at me. I move my head side to side to dodge her blows, easy enough when your opponent is blind. I position my hooves under her and push knocking her backwards, making a mental note that if I ever make it out of here I'm spending a summer studying some form of attack magic. I punch at Rainbows' face seemingly annoying her as no matter how much blood spews forth from her mouth and snout she still punches at me trying to knock me back. She succeeds pushing me up against the wall and butting her head against mine; I clench and soften my teeth so as to stop her form knocking my teeth out. How do I know how to do this? This is clearly some kind of advanced combat stuff and I just somehow know it. I just push her over and run; I finally reach a door and push my way through it slamming the door shut and using the lock on the side to stop Miss Dash from following through. That's two crazy people I've had to evade in one day. I need a nap. I lie down on the ground and close my eyes, content that no more cosmic anvils or Swords of Damocles will descend and attempt to take my life. I must have slept only for a few hours as when I wake up it feels very different than when I slept. It feels warmer somehow. "Oh goodie, your awake" My eyes snap open and I see a pink earth pony standing in front of me. Her mane is long and straight but well kept. Her coat was also as pink as her mane and on her flank were three pictures of balloons. I try to open my mouth to speak but find that it's covered by something, probably duct tape. "Nu-uh. No. We have to earn our speaking privileges just like every pony else." I looked over and see a clearly deceased nurse with her eyes bulged and her cheeks purple and puffed tears had once rolled down those cheeks but were now dried into long salty lines. Asphyxiation. What an awful way to go. The pink pony trotted over to her. "Isn't that right, Nurse Redheart?" Redheart. If I ever get out of here I'll make sure to remember that name. "Now then, Miss Unicorn" the pink pony said with glee, "It's time for your 'Welcome to Pinkie Pie's Party Town' party." This isn't good.
Chapter 4If anyone has or would like to make a banner or fanart for the story that would be awesome and you will of course receive all credit for it. The reason for this is i want to try and get this posted to EquestriaDaily and would like to have some art to drape over it. So if you have a piece of fanart or a banner or would like to please either PM me or shoot me an email at chriswithers128@gmail.com with the header ART Thanks /) “She was the last one. The last friend I had. My one connection, severed. Now I have no more friends. Only Patients.” From the diary of Twilight Sparkle The pink pony pranced around the table to the deceased nurse Redheart and started to mash cake against her snout. The table I’m seated at is covered in streamers and cloths scattered haphazardly around. In the middle of the table there is a large bowl of a purplish liquid. I’m guessing grape punch? At the various places set, even the ones with no pony in front of them, there is a piece of mostly melted cake oozing off of the plate and onto the cloths and streamers. This pony is dangerous. Not forwardly so. But dangerous all the same. Finding a way out of this isn’t going to be easy since she taped my damn mouth shut! I wriggle around trying to loosen the ropes tied around my torso and move my cheek muscles around trying to remove the tape. The pink pony seems to take notice of this, “What’s the matter?” You tied me up. what do you think? I wriggle in desperation trying to break free. She doesn’t look too tough, and I could probably take her on in straight fight. The pink pony, I think she called herself Pinkie Pie, stares at me. I start sweating and trying to get free. “You aren’t having fun are you” she pouts, I shake my head, her previously bountiful expression drops and tears start to well in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t having any fun. You see my friends haven’t been around in a long, long time and I’ve had no pony else to talk to so when I saw miss Redheart and now you I might’ve gone a little out of hoof.” A Little. Really? Tying me to a chair and asphyxiating some poor pony is a little out of hoof. Clearly she was as crazy and violent as the other two, albeit less outwardly so. Still she was a dangerous pony to be around. I should go along with her crazed fantasies until an opportunity presents itself. While I’m tied to this chair there isn’t going to be an exit strategy materializing out of thin air. The pink pony grabs a bag of flour and dumps it over her head covering her in white.“Having fun now?” I force a laugh and nod slightly so as to appease my new pink overlord. Somehow the pony’s pink mane burst and became bubblier. “Awesome, I’m glad you’re having a wonderful time!” Pinkie Pie put a slice of cake in front of me, so as to insinuate that I should eat it. I shook my head. “Come on now, you must be hungry…” She rips off the duct tape, pushing the cake closer to me. “Eat” she stated, I just shook my head. “Eat it.”. I shake my head again. That cake is probably poisoned or something. Also, call it a hunch, but I’m willing to bet that Miss Redheart’s untimely death was probably caused by someone shoving food down her throat. She took the cake in one hoof, “EAT THE CAKE!” She shoves it into my face and rubs it there, smothering me. My nose and mouth are blocked by bunches of frosting and dough and a large pink hoof. I struggle in vain, my lungs hot and dry. I could feel a lack of consciousness beginning to take its place. I kicked violently until my hoof connected with something. I was released from Pinkie’s iron grip as she looked back to the source of the noise. I had managed to stretch far enough to kick Redheart’s chair. “Oh, nurse Redheart, of course you can have some cake as well” She pulled her hoof away, as I spat out the cake and ejected it from my nostrils, I pulled in large gulps of air. I looked over and saw her open Redheart’s mouth revealing a large quantity of cake built up in her esophagus. She shoveled more in there and dumped some liquid down on top of the cake and closed her mouth. She looked over to see that there wasn’t any cake left. “Oh, shucks I really thought that the cake would last longer. Oh well, I’ll just get some more then. With that Pinkie Pie bounced off deeper into the plaza. A chance had presented itself. I wriggled and struggled against the bonds, occasionally looking over to the dead body of Miss Redheart to confirm what would happen if I stayed any longer in this mad house. With or without this Twilight Sparkle’s help I needed out of this place, and faster than lightning wasn’t fast enough. I kept struggling managing to knock myself backwards and loosen the restraints enough to slip out of it unnoticed. I galloped as far as I could in the opposite direction of Pinkie Pie. I didn’t want to know what would happen if I stayed nor do I wish to know what will happen when she finds one of her “guests” missing. I moved as fast as possible only to find myself where I began, more specifically at the door that I had fallen asleep at before I awoke in Pinkie’s grasp. I looked left and right, panting and panicking, and finally decided to move left. I galloped and galloped, and just plain moved as fast as was possible for a pony in my condition. I looked around for a building of some kind that I could hide in so I could catch my breath I looked and saw a disused photo booth, as good a hiding spot as any I’ll wager. I wandered inside only to feel a chill go down my back and hear small distant rustling I turn but I see nothing. Oh well probably rats or the wind or… THWACK When I awake, again, I find myself in a weird corset and dress with my hair styled back. I look in front of me and there is a knife staring back. Behind it a mare in eccentric clothing and red goggles. “You vill be a vantastic subject for the vone, ze only, Photo Finish!” Another crazy pony. Fantastic. Where is Pinkie Pie when you need her? I see I’m standing on a runway of sorts with my hooves in a kind of blunt bear-trap to keep me in one place. I try to move my hooves only to be met with a knife being pressed against my cheek. “Now, Now, there iz no need for any of zat” She pulled the knife away and began taking photos with a camera. I try to use my horn to undo the restraints, but can’t. I feel sick whenever I try to use my magic. What’s going on? Magic Repressors. Pinkie probably slipped some into that cake. That would explain why she was so adamant that I eat it. Wait. How do I know about something like that? why would I know that? Why would I think she slipped something in my cake? Flashes of light interrupt my train of thought as Photo Finish continues to take photos of me in the strange dress. “Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, Nein, vhy aren’t any ov these usable. If she vas still, these vould be perfect” She takes out the roll of film from the camera and throws it against the wall stomping on it a few times afterwards so as to really finish it off. Now’s my only chance. I tug and tug on my hooves trying to dislodge them from the trap, I manage to pull my front right hoof out and hear a tear, a decent chunk of my coat was torn off leaving a large bloody cut along my hoof. I ignore the pain and use the newly dislodged hoof to undo the other legs of the trap only to have Photo Finish to notice as the last trap was opened. I was freed from the trap, but was now faced with a knife-wielding pony blocking my way to the exit. “You are not going anyvere, until I finish my album. It shall be the glorious comeback of Photo Finish.” I blacked out. I find I’m somewhere else. It seems like a concert of some kind. I see myself wandering around the concert hall. The other me takes her place at a small bar and orders something, she then looks out into the crowd, scanning the place. Looking for something. I look out but can’t seem to see what she’s looking for, or what I’m looking for. She gets up, having finished her drink and begins moving towards the center of the crowd. She finds a stallion there, someone I don’t recognize. I can’t hear them speak, no matter how close I am. She begins to lead him out of the concert, and throws a large hood over her head, hiding her face from onlookers. When she and the stallion arrive outside, he begins talking. I still can’t hear what he’s saying, she, me I guess just starts smiling and the stallion whips out a knife, screaming at her. She just laughs and the stallion lunges at her, she sidesteps the blow and plants a kick of her forehoofs into his abdomen. The stallion looks winded from the blow but by no means out of the fight. He adjusts the knife in his hoof and lunges out to strike again only to switch the knife’s position mid-lunge, tucking it inward and swinging to the side trying to catch her, me, from the initial dodge, but she, I, just lifts up the hoof out of reach of the knife and brings it down on the man’s hoof pinning him. She head butts him and kicks repeatedly at his stomach with her free fore hoof. Using his back legs he’s able to sweep her, my, fore hoofs away and regain his composure readying the knife once again. He speaks again, which I respond to, his eyes suddenly go white and sweat begins dribbling down his neck. He readies the knife but his hoof is shaking, he’s scared. But why? He makes his lunge but the other me catches his knife hoof in between her own hooves and takes the knife from his, switching it upwards and jamming it under his chin. Blood rushes out of his wound, and she plants the knife into his neck once again. She takes out a handkerchief and rubs the blood off of her own hooves before running in the other direction a smug grin worn on her face like a trophy. Tonight was good, that’s what I was thinking that night. I wake up from my dream and see blood on my hooves. The wound must have gotten worse while I slept. I looked over to it and found that the wound was actually bandaged and felt closed enough to move on it. Had Photo Finish done this? She didn’t seem to have medical expertise. I tried to push magic through my horn and found a slight nausea resulted from it. Clearly the repressor was wearing off somewhat. I use as little magic as possible to light up the dark room and nearly vomit for real after what I saw. Photo Finish, lying on the floor in a heap, blood rushing out of at least seven different wounds placed around her abdomen, knife wounds. I try to stand up only to hear and feel a metal clanging against the ground, next to my hoof was Photo Finish’s knife and it was stained with blood. Her blood Oh Celestia, I killed her, I killed another pony, I killed her.
Chapter 5I killed her. The words still rung through my head. I couldn’t comprehend it. I didn’t want to. That dream I had must have been true as well… no, not “dream”…“memory”, I correct myself. It was a memory. My memories were coming back, and now I was starting to regret it. I wanted to remain in the dark if the light was what I saw. I prop myself up, my knees feeling like jelly. Hell, my entire body feels like jelly. Even if she was insane (which she was), I had killed her. I’m on her level: insane. It’s almost like I belong here… I smack myself across the face. No, I need to get out of here, and this place is starting to make me just as insane as these crazy mares. I stand up I run my hoof through my mane, my hoof is shaking, I can barely breathe properly. If I am a killer I’m not very good at it. I step outside the photography shop and into the central plaza, pausing for a moment; Pinkie Pie must still be out here, I realize. I need to blend in. I call upon the memory of me killing that stallion in that club; blending in, during my memory of the bar, was surprisingly simple, as I remember it. I just sat down and had a drink while I scoped out my target. However, the bar was quite full, and where I am now there is no crowd. I’m alone, and I’m the target. I look around and realize that the buildings are probably the best cover I’m going to end up having: I can duck in and out of the buildings to hide from Pinkie and gather supplies. I see that the door directly adjacent to my current location is a convenience store. I take one last look and bolt for that door, the few feet between it and me feel like miles as I finally reach the door and duck inside. I pin myself up against the door as it closes and look to either side of me. No pony is going to get the drop on me this time; I’ve had it up to here with getting knocked unconscious. I look around for a light switch and see nothing. Of course I see nothing. It’s darker than Luna’s eternal night. I try my magic which starts to work, albeit requiring a lot more energy than normal. That stuff Pinkie gave me sure did last long. I find a small lantern and make a small light orb to put in it. I look around the now nicely lit room and I see all kinds of things. Pens and quills lay on a nearby desk, curtains and drapes decorated the walls, while candies and confectionaries of all kinds where scattered around the room. The people of this place must have had to work for money that they could then use in places like this. Just like normal society, Twilight had said before. I looked around and found a box filled with papers. What made this box stick out is the name on one of the pages: Rainbow Dash. The crazy pony (hell, everypony here was crazy) that had chased me before. I walked over to the box and checked it out for any kind of info on the other ponies I had encountered. I found a page on this Photo Finish, and another on Pinkie Pie. A few other scattered names caught my eye but I started with the one on Photo Finish. My victim. Patient Report: Photo Finish Symptoms: Obsessive behavior, tendencies towards violence, disregard for life. Photo Finish appears to be suffering from a violent obsession, possibly stemming from the Fluttershy incident a few years back. She continues to remark in her sleep about capturing ‘the magic’, possibly referring to her photography career, however, it could also be something completely different. I started allowing her to work in the Photography house we set up in the central plaza. There, she would take pictures of various ponies and they could use these pictures as postcards to send to their loved ones or simply as prints to send out to show they are still healthy. Perhaps there would be a lucrative market in using the inmates as fashion models of a sort? Well I suppose it’s relatively unimportant as her first day on the job she managed to scare the wits out of somepony who she considered ‘the opposite of graceful’ to paraphrase, kind of hard to do when the person in question is pretty crazy himself. Anyway, after we thought she had calmed down we let her back to it. I didn’t foresee any issues and for a while there weren’t any. She then started offering bits or food to the other inmates as a bribe to get them to model for her. Again, not a real problem. Spike said that it was unethical since we hadn’t authorized it, and wouldn’t authorize it, but it seemed like she genuinely wanted to get better, and go back to working on the runway. Then one of the other inmates, a stallion by the name of Mr. Wiggins, turned up dead in a dumpster and of course the first course of action was arresting Photo Finish as he had been hired by her. She admitted to killing him immediately requiring no coaxing from us. She’ll be kept under heavy secure lockdown for now, although she keeps saying that someday she’ll go back. I’m doubtful if her attitude towards getting better includes murder. Although the plan to make models out of the inmates could still work… if only more model photographers went crazy. Notes of attending Psychologist and Warden Twilight Sparkle I’m starting to get the feeling that trusting Twilight Sparkle was a bad idea. She seemed so distant in this report, thinking less about the murder but that something went wrong with her system. Celestia knows if I’m over thinking this. She’s probably as crazy as her damn ‘patients’; hell most of them seem to have been her friends. This is like a child’s game of doctor gone horribly wrong. I set the paper to the side, since Photo Finish was killed, by me, I don’t really need to study up on her, I turned my focus to the next piece of paper which contained a name I was all too familiar with: Rainbow Dash. I hadn’t forgotten her trying to kill me. I need to figure out what I can do to help, or at least avoid, that crazed mare. Patient Report: Rainbow Dash Tendency to lash out at authority figures, physical deformity: burned eyes Poor Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem to like it here. It’s sad really; she should know I’m just here to help her get better. Today I went to visit her personally. Does she think that I give personal visits often? NO. I made a special exception because it was one of my dearest friends. How does she repay me? Kicks me in the face and bites me. Bites me. Celestia, all I wanted to do was help, but she just screamed something about wanting to fly. Sorry Dashie, but you’re blind, I explain to her. I can’t let a blind Pegasus out of their harness. If I did that, I would be completely insane now wouldn’t I… The rest of the document is unreadable. Looks like ink was spilled on it. Well, that explains why she attacked me. If she would hurt one of her friends like that, what’s to stop her from attacking me? But she couldn’t have always been like that, right? Those were burn marks. She lost her sight. So what could have caused that? I look through the box with renewed vigor, if I could figure out what happened then I can try to help her. I find a few documents scattered here and there that don’t have much relevance to what I searching for… let’s see… Applejack…Derpy Hooves…no…Rarity…Lyra Heartstrings…ah, here it is it… Patient medical report: Rainbow Dash Pyrotechnics accident resulting in burnt eyes and loss of vision Patient Rainbow Dash suffered horrible burns across her eyes as the result of a pyrotechnics accident at the Wonderbolts most recent show in Canterlot. The victim claims to have been trying to impress the Wonderbolts but accidently flew by as a firework was being shot off blinding her, causing her to fall into the pit where the fireworks were being shot off from. The victims life post-hospitalization was relatively normal until she attempted to beat a pony to death for insulting her flying skills now that she couldn’t see. It was insisted upon that she retire as head of the weather patrol in Ponyville but she refused eventually culminating in her being committed to Ponyville Asylum. Miss Dash has been showing signs of increased paranoia that the orderlies have some kind of agenda against her, most likely comparing us to the ponies who tried to get her to retire. Due to her lack of sight Warden Sparkle has issued a vest to be put on her at all times when the orderlies aren’t around so she can’t hurt anypony. This proved unwise as she continued to assault the orderlies and even Warden Sparkle herself claiming it to be a conspiracy against her. I suddenly felt kind of bad for the poor cyan Pegasus. All she just wanted to continue life as normal despite her accident. But she did try to kill somepony and me. I decided to take one last look through the pile and see if I could find anything on Pinkie Pie. After a laborious amount of searching I finally come across a bunch of papers stapled together that have Pinkie’s name on them. I hover them in the air with my magic (nice to know that its working again) and try to read the first page. Ok…obsessed with parties, paranoid about losing her friends, possibly insane…all of this is stuff I already figured out and don’t need to have repeated. What I need is useful info. What are her talents? What are the things I have to watch out for when confronting her? Any weaknesses? Strengths? Loose ends that need tying? Popular hang-outs? Any place where she can be found alone? What am I thinking! I’m trying to run away! Not kill her…but that would make things easier…if I kill her she can’t hurt me or anyone else, Nurse Redheart is only one victim who knows if she has others… Stop thinking like that! Being in this place is starting to screw up my way of thinking. I look to the other pages and see that they’ve all been colored in with pink crayon, she destroyed her own med reports…so: insane, but smart. Not a good combo… A noise sounds outside the store and a pink pony trots in carrying a cupcake in one hoof. “Found you!” she says in a sing song voice. Without hesitating I run barreling through the door. I wasn’t about to become somepony’s eternal playmate today. I dash between the stores and try to maneuver around to slow down the pink earth pony. Pinkie appears in front of me as if from nothing. “Howdy!!” I skid and bolt in the opposite direction. I have to get out of here, I think frantically. I see a small place that looks like a dentist’s office. I decide to run and hide in there. The room is dark. The lights must have stopped working a while ago with nopony to maintain the place. I run past a few doors and find myself at what must be the central office. I collapse on the floor completely out of breath. I have to find a way out of this place. My attention is drawn to a cellar door peeking its way out of the edge of the carpeting. I scoot the carpet to the side and let out a sigh. What new horrors await me below Door Number One. Hearing a bouncing off in the distance, I decide Door Number One it is. I open the trapdoor and try to close it as gently as possible while also trying to make the carpet cover it again. When I’m certain that I can’t be followed I close the trapdoor, a humming noise above distracts me from going down. “Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes… Cupcakes” The singing freezes me in place. If she decides to look under the carpet, I’m done for. I look down to see if I could jump and get a running start. No such luck. It’s way too dark to see the ground from where I am, and the last thing I need is a sprained fetlock. Dammit. I’m about to be killed by a pink pony who seems to want to make other ponies smile. The irony. But then the humming stops. The sing-song voice dissipates and slowly dies down. I breathe a sigh of relief. Fate must have heard this sigh of relief, because moments later, the ladder gives way sending me tumbling downwards. Mid-flight (or is that free-fall?) I try to slow or stop my descent by grabbing onto steps of the ladder, which also breaks off. Finally I hit the ground and fall unconscious. I awaken to the worst throbbing headache I’ve ever suffered. I can feel a pool of semi-dried blood around my head. I pat it down with my hoof, the wound appears to have sealed leading me to believe that it has been quite some time since I landed. I stand up only to bump my recent wound straight into a lantern. Normally I’d curse, but the fantastic luck of finding a lantern drowned that out somewhat. I use my magic to create a small sphere of light and place it in the lantern and look around, the first thing that catches my eye are the bodies of two ponies that are laying maybe five feet away from me. One of the ponies, a bright yellow mare with a similar mane, seemed to have been beaten to death Bruising all around her face and upper torso seem to support my theory. The other, a blue unicorn mare with a dentists outfit on which says his name is Colgate…well, I don’t need to theorize about. A large slicing wound across his jugular tells me all I need to know, his throat was slit. I put out the lantern and collapse from exhaustion. I decide this is as good a place as any to get some sleep. Maybe whoever killed them won’t come back. Maybe.
Chapter 6Rarity has been coming by to help out around the Asylum quite a bit lately, helping me get supplies and even occasionally using her magic to help me with diagnosing or treating the patients. Something seems different about her though, a kind of shine to her… From the diary of Warden Twilight Sparkle I awoke with a throbbing pain in my right shoulder probably, no definitely from sleeping on the hard ground. I stand up tentatively and try flooding magic through my horn; the Light spell works like a charm, so I guess my magic is back in order at last. I look and see that there is a large doorway in front of me, so I step inside. Celestia of the sun, it smells down here, I quickly realize the reason for this is probably the fact that I’m wandering around a sewer. For some reason I feel oddly calm down here though, strangely enough I actually think I kind of like it down here. Celestia I need to get out of here and fast I’m going completely nuts and now think I like hanging out in sewers. “Hello, is somepony there?” The faintness of the voice catches my ear, I toss a rock at the metal barring the clanging noise signifying my response. “Oh thank heavens, Darling could you help me momentarily please.” I trot down the hall to see a white unicorn with a lavender mane carrying a bunch of materials with her in cart including bleach, rags, and soapy water, dedicated janitor maybe? She motions for me to help her pull the cart, “I really do need help dear, you look like you’re lost, Oh I know you must need to speak with Twilight yes!” I guess when you’re in an asylum the best favors do involve the warden, I nod my head and join her in pulling the cart, I would kill for a chance to see her, I need to meet with Twilight, though I can’t remember why? I help the unicorn who calls herself Rarity pull the cart of hers to a small room. “Oh thanks dear you have no idea how much this means to me” Rarity leaned in and kissed my cheek, causing me to stumble a bit. “Oh no need to get flustered dear, although if you want some ‘fun’ before going to meet with Twilight…” The rest of her words were drowned out when I saw the room inside, it also smelled but differently. Less sewer and more incredibly popular courtesan. On one end of the room there was a large bed with lavender sheets and a lavender curtain surrounding it all unceremoniously crumpled and looking as though they need a good wash, but what draws my eye is the blood in the corner. The bottom left corner of the room featured a large splattering of blood across walls and floor with a brutally beaten looking stallion lying in the middle of it. Rarity seemed to take no heed to this grotesque display and simply wrapped a rope along his leg and started to drag him. “Now you see why I needed the cleaning supplies so urgently dear.” “This bastard left a bit of a mess, you’ll excuse me for tidying up a bit before I take you to see Twilight” Part of me wanted to run just as I had been doing so often yesterday, but instead my feet stayed firm mollified by another voice in my head saying that we needed to see Twilight Sparkle and no matter what that we have to get there and soon. I sidle out of the way deeper into the room as Rarity dragged the dead stallion out, I seem to have a few minutes as it appears I have a few minutes as I can clearly hear her pulling him down the hallway we just came from. I start snooping around the desk to find out anything about this Rarity. The desk large and colored a dark mahogany, it also has a large mirror placed on top of it, not connected to it but placed on top. I take the time to look at myself in the mirror, my normally decent looking grey coat is stained with blood, mud, and other substances making me wonder why this Rarity would even pretend to be ‘interested’ in me. My dark blue mane was horribly unkempt and visibly knotted in several places. I still had cuts along my back and on my forelegs, and I still couldn’t remember anything about myself. I look around the desk for anything that would be of use both in learning anything about Rarity and fending her off when she comes back. On the desk’s left side there are several grooming products like hairspray, eye shadow, various other make up products that I don’t recognize. On the right is a small journal, seems a good place to start. I open it up to the first page and begin reading. August 1, Rough Tumble “It’s been so long since I’ve seen a good looking stallion in this Celestia-forsaken Asylum! Oh and he was so good too… too good for words really. I felt like a teen again! Like I was experiencing lovemaking for the first time! Sadly our dalliances had to end today however perhaps if I could find somewhere more discreet. August 3, Rough Tumble “It seems that the underground of the Asylum isn’t a place frequented by the orderlies, we’ve stayed down here for several hours and nopony has come by. Oh well! More time for my prince and me! August 9, Rough Tumble “The stupid bastard! The cad! The nerve of that horrid stallion, I’ll show him! I’m the most beautiful mare IN EXISTENCE! He WILL regret this and he will regret it SOON! August 10, Shout Twist “It didn’t take long for me to get over Rough, in very much the same way that one elevates oneself from cheap beer to expensive champagne I have found somepony new! Oh listen to me, I’m giggling like a schoolpony! Tee Hee! His name is Shout Twist, he isn’t a bulky construction pony like Rough, no he’s a musician, an Artist, if you will. He’s a stallion that listens and cares and caresses and he’s all mine! August 12 “Unfortunately things with Shout Twist didn’t work out either. Is no pony in this asylum a gentlecolt?” August 13, (name illegible) “So now I’ve hooked up with one of the orderlies. Twilight personally signed off on this little romance because she believes that I need to ‘learn to trust stallions again.’ Well as much as I would disagree, I believe that I will go along with Twilight’s attempts to psychoanalyze me for the time being. As long as my little Doctor stays with me.” August 15, (name illegible) “He, thinks that I’m nuts! He thinks that I need ‘serious help’! He is lucky to be able to bask in my presence! He is one who’s nuts! He’s the one who needs ‘serious help.’ And I’m just the one to do it! I hear hoofsteps coming down the way and quickly close the book and move to the center of the room to avoid suspicion. Rarity walks, well saunters, into the room with a mischievous grin on her face. “Hello darling.” She bobs her head to side slightly, allowing her mane to bob; her mane is rather pretty, especially for a crazy mare in an Asylum! “You like my mane dear.” She touches it with her hoof in a gesture that says ‘oh this old thing’ clearly she is rather enamored with herself. She trots over to me moving her face very close. “You know I think I know just what we need to Fix. You. Up.” She puts emphasis on each word by prodding me in the chest playfully with her hoof. She pushes me down on the bed and grabs a comb in her magic and starts brushing at my hair causing me to wince as she forcefully removes the grime and knotting. As she brushes all I can think about is the crazy stuff written in her dairy. She’s clearly a psychopath so why am I letting her do my hair. Because we need her. A voice in my head reminds me, we need her, it claims. That’s right Twilight Sparkle will know what’s going on here. If I can find her I can escape, or is there something else I need to do. What am I here for? What did I do? Celestia damn who am I? “Hmm, there’s something on your flank darling, something that’s covering up your cutie mark.” Rarity scrubs at my flank with soap, feels like she’s taking sandpaper to my backside. I try and voice my discomfort but its met with a “Be done soon darling!” from Rarity. As she scrubs and scrubs I feel more and more pain but also anxiousness. Why am I anxious about her scrubbing the grime off my flank? Aside from the obvious reasons, that it was creepy. “What an odd cutie mark, darling you should look at this.” She brought a mirror to me specifically aimed at my cutie mark. My cutie mark, my first real clue to my identity! A dagger shrouded in a black clothe. That’s my cutie mark. My destiny? Dagger Cloak. The name rings through my head, like a twisted song. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak The words are singing, my name, my destiny, my talent, Death, Killing; I’m a killer, and a damn good one. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Instinct kicks in I attack Rarity. My hooves beat at her face, smashing, beating, and killing. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak That’s right I’m an assassin, I was sent here for a reason. I grab a necklace from the table nearby and begin to strangle Rarity. Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak Dagger Cloak I was sent to kill Twilight Sparkle.
