Chapter 1
Enter The Asylum
* * *
It was eerily quiet this afternoon in the Intensive Care ward. The LoCare ward had been busy all day with its usual retinue, in addition to some new arrivals being checked in by their worried, supportive families; including the occasional departures from the institution, from Medium-Rehab as well, which was always a welcome sight to see. But extremely unsettling, would be the words to describe Intensive Care when it was almost as silent as the grave; no alarms, no staff complaining about the patients... just some screams and shouts from the occasional loud patients though... It was almost as if they'd anticipated the new staff coming on board and were deciding to behave, if only for today.
Redheart knew better. She was planning something for today, she didn't know what that was, but Screwloose always played games when Redheart had plans involving her. Somehow, someway, the mare always managed to find out about the most tight-lipped secrets. Other ponies working here might call the Chief of Staff paranoid, and she wouldn't blame them; this place probably does warp your mind after working here so long. She tried to take her thoughts off of it, filing some paperwork to deal with an outgoing patient, truly wishing them the best. Today would be fine, she told herself, as her pen flew across delivered papers from a MedCare patient, requesting guitar strings. The box marked 'No' was checked, as it usually was.
"Sorry, Sweet Note." Redheart murmured with a sigh; the same request every few weeks without fail. Sweet Note had been with them for two years now, in that time she'd bounced around between the High and Medium Care wards like a frog does with lily-pads; this was her fourth time going into Medium. She'd started out in the HiCare, having set amounts of interaction one on one, over time her medication was lowered, and seemingly she was getting better, having many less episodes of anger; hence her move down to Medium. Without what Redheart believed to be the organised structure of HiCare though, she always did something to get landed back in. The schedule of MedCare was almost erratic compared to High, as it was much less restrictive. The freedom MedCare patients experienced was far more open for one; no patient was locked in their room, and could interact with other patients as they please.
That alone was seemingly Sweet Note's bane. Being alone with other patients tended to make her antsy, and problems always arose whenever she was unattended for too long, be it a dispute over television or something else just as trivial, she would end up fighting with others. This wasn't enough to warrant a return to HiCare by itself, however finding makeshift weaponry was. She had taken a simple plastic spoon from the kitchen (likely the result of a miscount on supplies), and sharpened the end of it into a point. Thankfully she hadn't the chance to use it, as a member of staff found it while inspecting her room.
So until a noticeable improvement was made; Sweet Note would not be receiving guitar strings. Redheart smiled sadly. The touched mare had brought a guitar with her when she arrived into the asylum, and much to her displeasure, it had to be taken away. Redheart would need to speak with her at some point, see if she could strike a deal. Maybe if Sweet Note went eight weeks in MedCare without an incident, she would be allowed the guitar strings. She might even move into rehabilitation.
Redheart looked up as there was a knock on her door.
"Come in." She called, neatly organising her desk and setting the papers aside. The stallion that entered into her office was a LoCare staff member, Cookie Dough. She made a point of knowing all of her staff. She smiled as he closed the door behind him with his magic. "Cookie, nice to see you, how's the leg?"
"Doing fine now, Ma'am." He grinned, kicking it a few times to show it was indeed fine. Cookie had been unfortunate to meet in passing with one of the newer IntCare patients who was being escorted to their section, when they decided to bite him, taking a small chunk with them. "Just came to let you know the new volunteers are here."
"Oh, lovely to know. I'll go see them now, thank-you." She got up from her seat, following Cookie out the office, making sure to lock the door as they left. Security was always a serious issue, locked doors were always an annoyance, but a necessary one. Her hooves clacked on the polished stone flooring as she went down a hallway leading to the centre foyer of LoCare. As it was patients without violent tendencies that were placed into Low, her office was directly linked as a safe passageway in case of a riot (Which had only ever happened once within her time here, in the HiCare ward). She cantered by many pictures of former Chiefs, from young to old, mare and stallion; all had done their part to help the mentally ill in their times of need.
She opened the door to LoCare, after unlocking and relocking it behind herself, entering into an expansive area housing many ponies talking with the staff. She went around for a while, chatting, getting to know some of the patients who could be joining the institution, and after a short while she moved towards the reception desk where four ponies milled about and observed their surroundings.
"Good morning, all. I'll assume you're the newbies!" Redheart greeted in an upbeat fashion, it always nice to give a smile, even if one wasn't feeling too great themselves. She got a few in return from two of the bunch, the other two just kind of fidgeted awkwardly. They'd get used to this place eventually if they stayed on. "If you'll just follow me, I'll get you into your wards and assign an experienced member of staff to get you fitted in, it's always lovely to have volunteers wanting to help out the less fortunate."
She couldn't recall all of their names. She knew two of them from the request papers... and that stallion was a well known actor, if she recalled correctly. Which would be invaluable.
"Sun Dew, was it?" She asked one of the two that smiled. The Pegasus mare perked up upon hearing her name and nodded. Her coat was a light teal. "We'll be putting you here in LoCare, you'll be assisting those that are either new to the asylum or only temporarily staying to receive medical help. In fact..." She looked over to where Cookie Dough was helping escort a patient to a specialist. "Cookie! Once you're done there, please see this young mare!" She shouted over, he gave a nod and returned to his job. "Cookie will help you get settled, alright? He'll be a minute or two, just stay at reception for the time being?"
She nodded and smiled. "Of course, Miss. Looking forward to this."
"Alright, splendid. If the rest of you accompany me!" Redheart mused. She really couldn't keep up this act much longer; her thoughts were still in the process of thinking something bad had to happen. Their path led them through the occasional locked door that only she and the staff members had keys to, passing three doors in all through various rooms or halls, until they came to Medium-Care. This was the main centre for this ward, where the large room was currently a mix of patients and staff. Some of the patients looked up upon hearing the door unlock, immediately leaving to hide within the privacy of their rooms, or simply return to what they were doing. It was... calm.
"Here we are, the Medium-Care Ward. Here you'll see the in-patients mingling and living in relative comfort while the staff supervise. Every patient within MedCare also has their own Primary Nurse assigned to them, to keep track of them, help them, basically to be a helping hand at all times. Here things are almost completely organised; there are strict rules, such as cooking utensils from the kitchen are to be counted before and after use to make sure no patient has any, patients have set amounts of time to be allowed out which must be adhered to, things like that." She addressed the three, as some staff looked on at the newbies, she trotted over to one of the closed rooms, which had a shuttered window and a fairly small circle-hatch within its door. "This is where Berry Blossom stays. He's a little more 'high-end' of our MedCare patients. When everyone here has had their time, he will be allowed out on his own, as he doesn't deal well with groups. As you can see, the doors hatch is closed; when it's open, Blossom seems to like heckling the other patients. It can make them violent sometimes. The hatch is so we can deposit food and such."
They took it in, as well as glancing around.
"I'll break down things so far. There's the LoCare Ward, which is where the foyer and reception is. That's for ponies that are suffering auditory hallucinations from magical overuse, ponies suffering from clinical depression that are suicidal; that level of needed help. The MedCare Ward is for those that have either gone through with suicide attempts, or have mild violent tendencies to hurt others or themselves constantly, along those lines of help. There's a smaller section attached to MedCare called Medium-Rehab; it's for these ponies here that are deemed to be on the mend, but that'll be covered soon if you're here." She looked at a light butter mare with a cherry red mane. "And you will be here, Maple Pie. Don't worry too much though, alright? That mare over there is Rock Shore, she's been with us five years now, not a pony better to train you on the job. As for the patients, again, don't fret too much; they're always to have their medication twice daily, and they've had their first today just a few hours ago, alright? Go on now, go see Rock."
She nodded with a friendly, almost motherly smile at the timid-looking Unicorn who probably felt a second opinion to working here now. Thank Celestia she wasn't where these next two were going. Redheart sighed as the young mare went off, jumping as a patient said hello to her. She'd probably resign by the end of the day, which was a shame.
"So, just you two now. What you're both going to see is much more different to these areas. Just... try to keep an open mind, alright?" She implored to the remaining duo, as her hooves led around a corner to a few hallways. After being led through a few more doors, they came to an area manned by a guard, with a heavy door that had two locks on it. "This is a quick way to HiCare. Usually families wishing to see their loved ones have to go around from the main entrance to get to this ward and the Intensive Care Ward, but this is a staff-only throughway." She smiled to the guard at the door. "Good morning, Steel."
"Ma'am. Quiet today, hm?" He grunted. The burly looking Earth pony shifted about. "Don't like it, something feels up."
"Agreed, keep an extra eye out." She nodded to him, unlocking the door partially with her key, and Steel did the same. After a red light above the door turned green and a buzz sounded, the door swung inwards. The two following her looked interested at the system, to say the least. "Things from here on are as heavy as this, security wise, and more. For our safety and the patients."
They walked the clean stretch which really was just a simple hall, but with wide plate windows. From where they walked, the windows looked out upon a courtyard filled with benches, picnic tables, and even a tennis court. Although currently it was empty. They could see that adjacent to them built into the wall above the courtyard was a small building where a guard sat within at a security console with wide windows, giving a small wave towards the group as they passed.
"That security station monitors MedCare, and this through-way as well. If ever an IntCare or HiCare patient gets out of their assigned ward, this hall is one place they might try to go. In that event the doors are locked down." The door they reached was like the other one, except Redheart didn't use her key, she just knocked three times. "My key works on this door, but Saddles, one of the guards you'll meet shortly, prefers I knock. I accommodate his request, if a tad silly."
With a buzz and green light, the door opened towards them. They entered an elongated room where another guard, presumably Saddles, sat at a console within an office, attached to two re-enforced chain-mesh gates which separated and surrounded the room to their sides. Through each side of the gates were a heavy set of secure double doors.
"There's the entrance to the HiCare Ward." She pointed to the left. "This whole part of the asylum is separated save for the hallway we went through, need to go to the other entrance this area. As I said, it's much heavier on security. These gates are to stop any runners, mainly from IntCare and in the event of a riot --which doesn't happen if ever, I promise-- secondary gates lock down that come in from the ceiling." She nodded to the guard, who pressed the unlock to the gate for them. Redheart opened it, letting the newbies through, following after to make sure the door was properly secure. She took the lead again, looking to the ceiling and motioning with her head towards some circular bumps protruding from the corners.
"You'll see these discrete cameras about the place that monitor from the consoles. We don't tend to have many cameras around LoCare, as it really is an entirely different world compared to High. Staff here are much more vigilant, and for good reason too; the patients within this section are a mix of mentally ill ponies, and some are criminals. But like I said, please do try to keep an open mind, alright? Trust me when I say that they wouldn't be here if they didn't suffer from any mental illnesses." Redheart explained. They approached another set of heavy doors, walking into a highly lit section that was almost entirely empty save for the staff going about their duties. There were a few seats where a few staff members sat, minding their own business, and on one side of the spacious interior was a small half-window leading into a medical room, the door to it had a guard posted. "That room there is where we stock the medication for HiCare, IntCare also has its own, and the other half of the asylum has a general one near Reception; putting all your eggs in one basket is never a wise move."
"Security really is tight here." The single stallion of the two remaining, commented. He was quite small, almost Redheart's size, lithe would probably be the correct term. "It's impressive. How many major incidents has this place had, if at all?"
"Just one riot, a few years back when I first joined." Redheart told him, "I was in my office when it happened. It was rather hectic; a patient in IntCare got their hands on a staff members keys, got to a security console where a fire alarm was and set it off, which unlocked the doors within that section. A lot of the patients attacked staff, but before they could blink we managed to lock down the sector and our riot response team was already on their way. The whole thing was over within a few hours, but it did feel very long and worrying at the time. Since then, we've changed how the fire alarm system works, and IntCare has much heavier security protocols."
"Never needed that for here, then?" He asked, likely meaning HiCare.
"Not exactly, no. The High-Care Ward is mainly for the very unstable; those suffering from heavy mental illnesses or hallucinations, that also cannot interact with other ponies without becoming violent. It's likely a misconception most ponies on the outside have, but the patients housed within HiCare don't usually want to escape, or even hurt ponies. The same goes for the lower wards. When they're on medication for their problems, most realise they've done wrong and want to change that. It's a slippery road for them, as sometimes even with the right drug they can still give into their instabilities. It's why I say to keep an open mind; it's easy to see a patient as either a criminal or a victim, but it's harder to see one as both." Redheart sighed as she looked into a patients room. The pony within was sleeping soundly on their bed. "You will find a lot of these patients to be quite friendly when medicated, if a tad odd perhaps, if you just speak to them, get to know them."
"Alright, well, that's new to me." The mare of the duo spoke up. "I figured most here were crazy criminals that sort of liked being nuts."
"What was your name?" Redheart asked, annoyed with her evaluation, but expecting it nonetheless.
"Frost Fall, Royal Guard for just over a week now." She told the Chief. The dark-indigo coated Unicorn wore a sullen expression, if not bored. Her light pink mane was short, but styled in such a way that it covered her face, bright-navy irises looking out under the cropped mess of hair. Her cutie mark was a shield and helmet. Likely a family member to follow in the tradition of joining the Royal Guard. "They signed me up here as some extra training, so this is all kinda new."
"Alright then, Frost Fall." Redheart sighed at the mares non-changing expression. "Again, I implore you to keep an open mind."
"Sure thing." Came the clipped response.
"Your name?" Redheart asked the small stallion, turning to face him. She knew it, but it was polite to ask.
"Silver Mist, Ma'am." He said, facing her and standing tall. Well, as tall as he could, anyway. Most stallions were bigger than mares, if not the same size; yet this one was very... lithe, to use that word again. She would say feminine, actually; his muzzle wasn't chisled like most, but soft and pointed like a mares. His coat was a silvery-white, his mane was a shocking tangerine. It was always somewhat amusing to Redheart that ponies with light coats always had such stark manes in contrast. She glanced at his cutie mark, which portrayed a spotlight shining onto a stage, then up to his azure eyes, marked with eyeliner and long lashes.
This was definitely an actor, yes. He might do well for what was coming.
"I see. Well, nice to meet you both." Redheart smiled, turning her attention back to the Guard recruit. "You'll be here in HiCare, Frost Fall. Things might seem boring, but it does... liven up, on occasion. And--" She pivoted to a staff member sitting, currently reading. "--Dandelion Drop here will help you get settled." To that, the stallion reading perked up with a small, albeit forced, smile.
"Sure thing. If you'll tag along, I guess I can show you what's what." He nodded to the bored looking mare.
"Right. That just leaves you, Mr. Mist." Redheart grinned. "Shall we?"
Frost Fall went off which the stallion, and Redheart led the actor further into HiCare, going past numerous patient doors, all locked securely, and through a few locked doors. A few noises sounded from the rooms on occasion, but nothing that seemingly took the stallion by surprise, which was good. The hall they were going down eventually came to a T-section, the left was another wing for HiCare. The right held another corridor with a security console and a much heavier looking set of plate-metal doors.
"Now... this is another side entrance to the Intensive Care Ward." She spoke as she nodded to the guard, who absent-mindedly returned it, even though his eyes were all but glued on the screens of his camera feed. He fished a key from his pocket, placing it into the console, then activating a needed button. The buzzer above the gate went as the light turned green, but this time, the door didn't immediately open. She looked to the stallion following her. "When this entrance to IntCare is requested to open, it alerts all other consoles, which need to return an 'O.K' signal, so if another ward is having a serious issue, a console in that section will most likely buzz a negative. Same system for IntCare's main entrance. Ah! There we go."
Each console having given the green light, there was a buzzing from an alarm as the thick doors shuddered, and slowly opened inward.
"The door will close after us and the system will lock it up tight as a drum." Redheart forewarned to the stallion, who was still seeming to keep his cool, indeed when they went through, the door closed securely, the alarm stopping. "This corridor has a few rooms for storage purposes, but that's it. No patients near the door of course. IntCare is not the place for lax rules either, so be very careful in here, alright? Now, I'll be honest; an open mind is good, but these ponies within IntCare, they're nearly all criminals. No, they can't help what they do for the most part, but they know what they're doing, most take joy in it. Frost Fall's blunt assessment, while crude, was unfortunately accurate for this section.
"It does sound quite like what people expect of a crazy pony." Silver Mist commented, as they carried past a guard doing his rounds. "To be entirely honest myself, Ma'am, I had the same thought as Frost Fall coming in here; that basically all here, with the exception of the LoCare Ward, were all just locked away for being madponies with broken minds. Seeing those in the MedCare Ward was... eye opening."
"Thank-you for your sincerity." Redheart smiled. "I really do hope ponies like Frost Fall learn to see them as victims as well, but I will say that you should keep your guard up because you're here in IntCare. I'll be the one to walk you through things as well. Usually I'd have one of the long-term staff to help you, but where you're going... I'm going to be the one to show you how things need to be done."
"Why's that?" He wondered, a quizzical look adorning his soft features.
"Well... to speak truthfully again." Redheart looked at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "The reason I saved you until last is because with the Intensive Care Ward, there's one patient who is sectioned off from everything in her own area, but is still considered to be a part of it. She's... incredibly problematic, you see, and I've been needing a replacement for her Primary Nurse."
"And I'm the replacement." Silver Mist nodded, understanding. He shifted around in thought, and she hoped he wasn't getting cold hooves at the prospect. "Why me? A Royal Guard, like Frost Fall, or one of the security guards here, like that Steel, would be better suited for a patient within their own area, no?"
"Not exactly, no." Redheart mused, smiling a little sad smile, "This patient... she's, well... she's considered to be acutely mentally insane, her mental illness is to an extreme, but in such a manner that... well, she seems normal at times. She is a criminal, there's no two-ways about it, but the way her mind works, tells her that it is normal for her to be the way she is, much like others within IntCare, except she is simply the most dangerous pony in this institution because... well, she's psychopathic. She's intelligent, manipulative, has no sense of morals... I-it's, it's a lot. She's been here for the past fourteen years, and she came to this place when she was just twelve... Can you believe that? I truly do not believe she can ever be cured, and I don't ever give up on ponies."
Redheart sighed as she trailed off, looking and feeling so very tired, all of a sudden.
"I'm going to let you read over her case-file, so you can learn all of this in your own time, but I'll just give you the basics of why I wanted you here specifically for this job, and then you can let me know if you don't want the position." She told him, rubbing her face with a hoof in exhaustion. "She doesn't do well with ponies that are authoritative or hold positions of power, as that has a deep seated tie to her childhood trauma, so to that end; she severely dislikes and has an aversion to me and any kind of Royal Guard. When I first came here, I tried to be her Primary Nurse as I was the most qualified, only for her to try and kill me for my efforts, I only escaped because she was a filly and I was able to sedate her, and I've been very lucky in all encounters afterwards. Silver Mist, I truly want to help everypony in any way that I can no matter who they are, it's why I became a doctor because I love helping ponies, and I hold to my hippcratic oath as best as I can, but unfortunately I cannot personally help her."
"It hurts, you know, to feel like you can't do anything to help somepony in need. Helping others is my life, my special talent. And she's a constant reminder that I failed to entirely live up to my talent. I finally realised after a while, that maybe somepony else can help her though." Redheart looked into his eyes with a small amount of hope. "You're an actor, you sent in your details because you wanted to help ponies too; I believe with your special talent, you can... you'd be able to get inside her mind with time, empathise and see the world through her eyes like method acting, understand how she really works, you know? Then, we might be able to help her better, even if it's just knowing the right medication to give her. Even though she is a criminal, even though she's hurt and... killed, she never asked for the illnesses that ail her or the life that was forced on her. She too is a victim."
Upon hearing all of this, his almond eyes widened a small degree. Coughing, his ears folded back, his eyes abashedly looked down, and his entire body language shifting awkwardly to that of someone who had been found stealing a cookie from the jar hidden atop the fridge.
"B-but ma'am, I... I'm not an actor." He laughed awkwardly, looking anywhere but to her.
"Pardon?" Redheart asked, head cocking back slightly like someone had just slapped her. "But the details I received from the recruiters..."
"I-I'm sorry to disappoint." He sighed, looking to his flank. "I told the guy that took my details I was a model, not an actor. See my cutie mark? Spotlight on a catwalk."
She focused onto it. Sure enough... yes, now she got a proper eye on it; it was indeed a catwalk, not a light on a stage.
She had been working a lot of overtime these past few weeks. But she hadn't realised she was so strung out that she mistook a catwalk for a stage. Then again, cutie marks were always so vague. Oh, this wasn't very good, not what she needed at all... But she couldn't turn away a possible replacement for the Primary Nurse though... But no, she couldn't, he'd... no, would he be fine? He wasn't in any guard like job, maybe he would do fine with her?
Redheart didn't notice she'd zoned out in her thoughts until Silver Mist shook her gently by the shoulder.
"Ma'am, are you O.K?" He said, looking up into her eyes with a concerned look on his pretty face. She snapped back to reality, returning that worried gaze, almost instantly feeling... assured. He was trying, that was the important part. "Would you like to sit down?"
"No... no. I'm fine." Redheart smiled, closing her eyes with a brief exhale. "Do you still want the position, Silver Mist?"
"W-well, yes, I suppose so." He nodded, fidgeting on the spot. "I mean, to be honest I'd really hoped I was gonna be somewhere much less... well, intensive, pardon the pun, but in the end, I'll still be helping out, you know? And you did say you needed a pony not in a high position to help out with this patient, sooo..."
Yes, he would do just fine.
"Then the job is yours. I'll show you around this ward, then we'll get you... acquainted." Redheart laughed gently, worriedly. "If you'll please follow me."
As they went deeper, the hallways and rooms came to a section where it branched into three points. A sort of hub, if anything. Ahead of them was another set of heavy platemetal doors blocked by a chain-mesh gate, which was marked as the entrance to the Intensive Care Ward from the usual side of the hospital, and to their immediate south-west and south-east, were different looking doors to locations. The door right was... ominous. It was like a smaller version of IntCare's entrance doors, but painted in a vibrant yellow, with a large magical lock as well, a large sign that read 'Authorised Personnel Only', and a strange box built into the wall next to it. Silver Mist had a feeling that was where 'the patient' was held. Redheart quickly led him down the way that doubled back on itself which was marked as 'Intensive Care Central'.
The wide corridor came to another re-enforced mesh gate. Silver Mist could see the dip in the ceiling where a second gate was able to drop down. Again, there was a console with a watchful guard. They entered into an open zone where the layout seemed more akin to a prison than an asylum. Every patients room hosted an iron monster of a door with magical locks instead of the normal ones seen in MedCare. There was also a clearly marked doorway labeled 'Security Office' at the end of this massive expanse.
Another thing Silver Mist noticed was that there were... unsettling noises, and they only grew. Some doors, as powerful as they appeared, shook as loud bangs resounded against them, with every step they took into this place. It was like walking into a hornets nest and waking the denizens of the hive. Redheart patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"We have this area, as well as an additional four wings that house patients." She spoke, turning to face a source of noise from the door closest to her, she trotted over, lifting the metal hatch, the patient within pressed his face up against the opening covered with glass. "We have several guards check each wing, and each patient. They have cameras installed within their rooms linked to the console through in the security office, which is manned almost twenty-four seven. In the event a patients room needs to be opened, we have a minimum of three guards to open the room. The patients are medicated, but it doesn't stop them from being violent for too long, and we can only medicate them so much. Unicorns are medicated and have magic-suppressors on their horns, Pegasi have their wings lightly clipped and tend to be medicated, and Earth ponies usually receive double the medication to keep their innate strength down, as well as being constrained in most cases."
"That's... heavy." Silver Mist commented, looking around her at the patient who was now blowing raspberry's against the glass. "If this stallion is anything to go by, they seem to all be... well... harmless. I know it's not the case obviously, but it makes things seem harsh, almost excessive."
"I understand fully." Redheart nodded sadly, closing the hatch. "Nearly all the ponies here are either broken to the point where they wont ever be able to become... well, 'normal', I would say, even if it seems like a bad word to use, or they're considered criminally insane and can't be placed in a standard prison, or reintergrate back into society. It's our duty to make them as comfortable as we can without them being a danger to us or themselves. The use of things like magic-suppressors are a critical necessity."
The security office she took them into was manned by seven ponies of both genders, all... very tough looking. They all in turn seemed to share the same expression upon seeing Silver Mist, likely wondering why such a small non-tough stallion was in IntCare.
"This is IntCare's main place of activity. These ponies are some of the most vigilant I've ever met, and all of them have served with the Royal Guard for at least three years. The same goes for every pony working here in IntCare." Redheart explained, taking in Mist's nodding reaction to that information as likely he expected as much. "We used to hire ponies that worked as private security guards and bouncers, that sort of thing, but they tended to be too rough with the patients, not understanding, so we changed things. Of course, whereas you and those other newbies volunteered to help out, all staff not volunteering or working in Med, Hi, or IntCare are appropriately paid for the work they do. I should have mentioned it earlier, but I didn't want to possibly upset or alienate the other volunteers, I apologise; but you will be getting paid double the standard rate for working in IntCare for how dangerous it will be. The rate per hour goes up depending on the ward one works in, usually."
Silver Mist nodded to that, his long tail flicking about. "I see... well, that wouldn't be amiss. There are a lot of guards here, isn't that a lot of bits to pay out? Especially with the upkeep of this place."
Redheart smiled knowingly again, looking around. "This facility is under the care of the Equestrian Government; the Princesses, essentially. Taxpayers bits go into this place, as well as funding from the Royal Equestrian Treasury itself when need be. The Princesses truly do care for everypony within Equestria... Royal Canterlot Asylum & Medical has been standing long before I was born..." Her smile faded a bit, suddenly snapping her attention to him again. "Other than all of that, I think I've covered everything important. I'll take you back through the institution to my office, let you read her case-file, bring you up to speed on her behaviour patterns, her illnesses in detail, and just what you'll be doing; then I'll bring you to her so you can properly meet, when you're ready, of course."
He nodded sagely, a somewhat strained smile adorning his features, glancing over the camera feeds at all the IntCare patients "Alright then. Lets get started, I guess."
* * *
Silver Mist sat inside Redheart's office while she was off helping with some LoCare paitents, going over the frankly absurdly large case-file she had given to him from her filing cabinet. The tour of the asylum in its entirety had been interesting, to say the least. But this patient that he was to be... assigned to, as her Primary Nurse... she was certainly going to be an experience, which might be an understatement.
Her name was Screwloose. Ironic.
As Redheart had said, she'd been committed to the asylum when she was twelve, following an incident in Manehatten where she'd stabbed and killed her fifth adoptive foster parents with a butter knife, of all things. According to the investigation that had been run on the mare, she was relocated continuously from different foster homes all around Equestria since being found on the streets at the age of nine, her previous history and trauma unknown, only speculated upon. Her violent outbursts and anti-social nature had alienated her a great deal from other young ponies, causing endless problems for previous foster parents as well. The spark that triggered her murder of the fifth foster couple, in the mares own words, had been 'I needed to see if they truly loved me. They didn't'.
Since she'd joined the institution, she'd started out in HiCare, but due to the murder of her first Primary Nurse, (which Silver Mist saw had been a private security guard, which possibly meant they'd been violent, he also marvelled that this was still when she was a filly), she'd been placed within IntCare not a day later. Her medication had been changed a lot over the years to combat her mind as she grew up within IntCare as well, as it always seemed to have less of an effect as time went on. Despite the attempts of Redheart to play a role as a mother figure and do things young foals would like, Screwloose had taken a very studious approach to life for some unknown reason, constantly requesting books on a great deal of subjects, mainly in the field of science. It was one of the few things that made her complacent and happy, according to the notes.
When a camera was ever installed in her room, despite being in a straight-jacket due to the first murder; she'd still managed to destroy them on every single occasion. Due to this, at the time, the previous Chief of Staff had given the order to not have one installed again. So Screwloose had continued for a while to go on with life and read her plethora of books without being watched, this in turn had spurred things for the worse.
Her next murder came when she just turned fifteen. The scene the previous Chief had seen had been so shocking to them that they had resigned immediately. Silver Mist was highly disturbed, and yet fascinated, at the included photographs of Screwloose's meticulous 'autopsy' of the next Primary Nurse that had been meeting with her, having gone as far as to label each organ, bone, and muscle on the stallions corpse that had been splayed out like a Vitruvian Pony, almost like a twisted science project for school. She'd happily informed the staff after all was said and done, that she'd been reading up on pony anatomy and martial arts in earnest since the cameras had been removed. Without the vision on her, she'd practiced many martial forms of fighting, having to adapt them a great deal due to her constraints of a straight-jacket. She broke the Nurse's neck with her thighs, and commenting having 'loved the challenge' they had given in fighting her off. What shocked Silver Mist even more was that she'd used the Nurse's own keys to dissect him, all while still constrained.
Afterwards, there were several incidents of other patients trying to escape due to speaking with her, either while in brief transfer encounters or during the free-time she'd still been allowed. She herself had manipulated their minds, through reading books on mental health and psychology, to believe they were entirely innocent or somehow needed to be free, causing them to attack staff and generally be even more violent than usual. This is what had led to the riot Redheart had described after she'd joined. Screwloose had simply stayed in her room as the riot had ensued, but she'd killed the guards who'd come to secure her. Following this --and apparently it was something Redheart had recommended the instant she'd joined as Chief of Staff-- she had been transferred to a padded cell and kept on constant watch while construction began on her own section, as Redheart had declared she was much too dangerous to even be near other patients in the same wing. During this incarceration, despite that she'd been gagged, as well as her hind-hooves bound in addition to her straight-jacket, her next murder was shortly after.
Due to the fact she was an Earth pony, her medication at the time hadn't been enough to suppress her strength, and as she'd described it, when she'd been told by the member of staff that was feeding her, that she would not be allowed to read anymore amd all reading materials were off-limits, Screwloose had broken free of her straight-jacket and strangled her in a blind rage at what she said was 'An unforgiveable act of ignorance'.
The next report Silver Mist read was also so very fascinating, and was on her reaction to being in her own sector. She'd been not gagged at the time, and no cameras had been installed until later, so while within her new room, she'd decidedly opened her leg with her teeth and made bloody murals on the walls. However unsettling it was, the photographs included of the leg wound, as well as the images she'd drawn, were very precise and neat. Redheart had spoken to her one on one through her door after she'd been seen to, to ask why she'd done it.
Screwloose's reason was straight forward, and it simply amazed him. 'It was an experiment', she'd said, 'I wanted to see the response time to my actions, as I'm now all by my lonesome. You're probably having to assign staff to this area and work around me, so I was interested in that, quite simply.' Her blatant explantions and pure honety was probably what surprised him the most, he'd have thought that with her secretive nature of how she'd done everything else, that she'd have tried to be misleading, even though with her grisly murder of the staff member she'd splayed; she'd come clean about the entire thing, but that was only afterwards. The fact she'd been entirely honest without having done anything else was odd. Openly admitting to the fact she wanted to learn the timings of staff reaction, and likely other information that could be learned from this by extent, would open up the idea that she felt a need to escape.
Yet in all this time, even up until now, she hadn't tried to escape. Not once.
This mare was an enigma. That or just plain insane.
The very last few reports detailed several Nurse changes, from those that had quit or been hospitalised, or murdered. The final report was... The previous Primary Nurse's death. His name was Candy Floss, and he'd only been with her for a few months before she'd killed him. He'd not been a guard, and he'd been quite happy to work with Screwloose as well; according to attached notes from the deceased stallion, they actually had gotten on a great deal. If that was the case, then why had she murdered him? The report specified a broken neck was how he'd died, as to the circumstances it was unclear as Screwloose refused to comment that time, but it was highly likely she did so in the same manner as the guard she'd opened up. She'd been withdrawn after that incident for a while, not even trying to rile up staff when they came to feed her or take her to get washed. Eventually Screwloose had bounced back, like a switch had been flicked, and she was as peppy and violent as usual.
If he was to ever broach any subjects, maybe that would be something to avoid until they were better aquainted, it seemed it wasn't something she wanted to share. Silver Mist sighed, looking at the file's last pages on her various offical mental issues and how best to act around her, as well as general rules and proceedures to adhere to at all times, certain quirks to be on the lookout for. This is what he had to deal with... When Redheart came back, she was going to be taking him to see this infamously psychotic mare. From there he could make a better assessment, but with her being so strange, he wasn't sure how he could help, at all.
"What a day..." He exhaled, pondering things. "What a lovely day."
Author's Note
I based nearly all of this off of Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, in England. Changed a few things for ponies, of course.
I watched a documentary on Broadmoor and it was utterly fascinating, plus Broadmoor itself had so many rumours that gave it a reputation. Interesting to me. I combined it with ponies, and here we are.
Screwloose was an idea that came from Screwy, the barking mare in 'Read it and Weep' from Season 2, for those curious.
As always, feedback and criticism is always welcome.
