The Ramblings of Artessa Trapby Neen RouterChaptersHotch Pot: IntroductionArtessa: Feeding SessionLolly Stick: Feeding SessionHotch Pot & Lolly Stick: Night WatchHotch Pot: The investigation begins.Hotch Pot: Tea breakArtessa: Green GrassArtessa: The Green TreeHotch Pot: Introduction A tiny bit of smoke gently rose from a cup of tea, tickling and swerving around the snout of a staff worker, making him sniff. He shrugged his shoulders to his co-worker, taking a careful sip of his tea using both hooves. He let the warm drink gently trickle past his dark teal lips, savoring the taste before placing the mug back down on the cafeteria table. "I heard her rambling again last night," he explained to his co-worker, "Can't imagine why she'd want to leave the asylum. We treat our ponies pretty well here. You'd think she wouldn't want to leave like some of the other ones, our hospitality considered." His co-worker gave a hearty laugh, having to adjust her red-cross hat to re-focus. "Oh I'm sure we do, Hotch Pot" she smiled, chugging down gulps of coffee in between sentences, "maybe she wants something to eat that isn't a salty burning porridge from hell, haha." She chugged again. "Hey!" he retorted, almost dropping his teacup so that he could point a hoof at this coffee-fueled machine of a mare, "I'll have you know my porridges are some of the best porridges in this hospital. Ponyville, even." He flicked his short brown mane stylishly, returning to his mug, unable to take a sip as he lowered his eyebrows, getting offended even more as she had to slam her coffee-mug on the desk to let out another big fat laugh in his face. "Oh Hotch Pot, your ego over your ability to make porridge never ceases to amaze me," she giggled, trying not to spit her next gulp of coffee all over his face. Hotch Pot blushed angrily, looking down at his mug trying to hide his embarassment. He didn't want to look at her, and decided to look at his own reflection on the surface of his tea instead. He saw his two small patches of brown hair peeping out from the right side of his cap, revealing his baldness on the other side. It didn't make him feel any better. "Anyway," she said, noting how the sunlight started sneaking onto the otherwise empty cafeteria walls, "It's almost morning, it's time to wake up the patients." She planted her mug onto the table with a loud bang, bouncing up from the desk. "And I've had enough coffee to work overtime so you won't have to work alone tonight." Hotch Pot looked up at her as she left, leaving him to continue sipping his tea in peace. Small bags were clearly starting to get visible under his eyes from the night shift. He was still upset about how she insulted his porridge making skills. "As if she's any better", he thought to himself aloud, "her cutie mark is literally a smiley face. A smiley face! The only reason our nutcases smile is because they've forgotten how to do anything else, and all she does is take credit for it. Petty. Just petty." He leaned over on the table, stretching his aching hooves out. No doubt he disliked her, but he couldn't stop thinking about her either. How her spherical pink and white mane blended into her ponytail in smart white and pink streaks, her mane looked like a big lollipop swirl attached to the little violet-furred mare. Of course, she was about 27, and he wasn't much older either, but her frame always got the shorter end of the genetic stick. It was no surprise that the other staff members nicknamed her Lolly Stick. Hotch Pot wasn't his real name either, but he had to just deal with it. He shook his head, trying to forget about his train of thoughts. He knew he had to get up and prepare food for the patients. This was always an extremely annoying and messy task. Artessa: Feeding SessionMy fur coat shivers. It is yellow. I do not like yellow. I like green. I want to be green. Green like the grass. I thought you were green? Of course. I am a green pony. I am with my friend. So many friend. Good friend. Best friend. Who is my friend? I am our friend. This place is my haven. The blue sky is amazingly bright. I want to taste it. It will fill me up with the taste of freedom. The flavour of self-expression. My mane and tail are blue. Ha ha ha! I have already won in that regard. But your mane and tail was always blue, wasn't it? Yes. Very blue. My mane is a dark blue, it curls in a swirl next to my cheeks, like draining water in a bath tub. They clean me here. They have a bath tub. Who is they? There is no one there. Do not think about them. They are not here. Then who is that feeding you? She is one of them. Who? Ha, ha, ha. She is one of them. I do not know her. I smile and she frowns. I frown and she smiles. But a part of her is always smiling. Which part? Her flank. Her cutie mark. She is the pony of smiles. Everything is happy with her. I do not like her. But I thought you wanted happiness? Focus! You do not want happiness. You want the green grass. The freedom. She is the grey grass. The grey cushion. Her happiness is a knock-off, it is not real. I am real. The grass is real. She is not here. I am falling. She held you, why did she hold you? She pretends to care. I don't like her. I want to get away. She won't leave me alone. I want to get to the green grass. The grey grass. The grey walls. Anything but here. I can not speak to her, she is trying too much to make me what I am not. My teeth are biting. She holds you still, is she trying to help us? She is stuffing a grey spoon into our mouth. Why is she so upset? She wants to hurt us. She wants to make us change. She wants us to be guilty. I am not guilty. I did no wrong. I want to go away. My legs won't listen to me. I hope you are listening to me. I think I am? You are. She has moved us, where are we now? We are back in the grey room. The grey room with padded walls. Don't you mean green grass with blue sky? Yes, the blue sky walls with padded green grass. This is our home now. The cushions are my pillows. They hold my happiness. I will keep myself occupied as I lie here. I will count each one again. One. Two. Three. Four... Where are my arms? Five. Six. Seven... But where are my arms? Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven... Why can I not move my arms? TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN... Lolly Stick: Feeding SessionThe hallways were starting to brighten up as the sunlight shone from the small barred windows. Silence dominated the entire hospital as the lonely staff member walked through, only the light sound of her hooves and clanging keys bumping against her rump echoed through the halls. Now and then, however, the random sudden echoing laugh or cry would bounce through the hallways, taking any non-experienced staff member by surprise. She was used to it though, and arrived in front of a dark windowless door to cell 427. She levitated her big stack of yellow keys, flipping through them to find the right key. She could hear a muffled voice through the door, but she didn't think much of it. Lolly Stick found the right key, unlocking the large rectangular padded door, making sure to step back slightly so that she wouldn't get jumped on or something. There, lying in the middle of the dull room, was a yellow mare. Her blue hair had overgrown over the sides of her face, one side curled sharply into itself in one large curl, while the left side had a sizable chunk of hair clearly torn off, baring the side of her yellow left cheek. She looked like she was sleeping on the light-grey floor padding, but her left green eye was wide open while the other was permanently half-closed due to a red bruise that forced it so from under. Her arms and hooves were bound together by her white asylum jacket, but she also had a special dark-grey wrapping sticking out from her forehead, covering her horn. It was a mandatory feature to prevent any unstable patients from casting magic, and it was extremely effective. It was amazingly simple, too - it simply converted any incoming magic into a tiny spec of light on contact, the simplicity making it re-usable for many years before wearing out. "I AM A GREEN PONY" the crazy yellow pony blurted out suddenly. "SO MANY FRIEND. GOOD FRIEND. BEST FRIEND." She contorted her spine and neck about, almost as if in pain, or like a dog waiting to get it's belly rubbed excitedly. She always reacted like this to others. It was her signal, it was like saying "hi". At least, that's how the staff interpreted it. "Alright Artessa," Lolly said slowly and sternly, "Time to wake up. It's food time." She entered the room carefully, helping Artessa to stand on her two legs. They wobbled, but kept her shivering posture thanks to Lolly's grip. Artessa kept smiling, arching her whole body back and forth violently as Lolly led her out of her cell. "BLUE SKY AMAZINGLY BRIGHT. I WANT TO TASTE IT. TASTE. FLAVOR. BLUE." She said weakly, trying to yell but just not putting enough effort into it. "SWIRLS. B-BATHS." Lolly walked down the hallway with her first patient of the day, going past the cafeteria where the smell of porridge escaped from the doorway. They arrived next-door into the specially designed "eating room", a safe padded room where they fed particularly difficult patients. It had a soft-edged table and two padded chairs which were bolted into the ground. She grabbed Artessa from the shoulders, simply tossing her onto the seat like a basketball, causing Artessa to continue shaking and blabbering incoherently. Lolly levitated a tissue up to Artessa's mouth, wiping the drool that often dripped from her lips, as she took out some food from a locked chest behind the table. "HAHAHAHA SHE IS ONE OF THEM" Artessa shouted, almost falling from the chair. The chair sustained her weight well however, it was literally impossible to hurt herself here. She became quiet, continuing to mumble as she kept staring with her eye wide open, her cheeks clearly painfully creased from her years of smiling. Lolly tried to ignore it, scooping a cup of leftover porridge from the safe into a spoon, turning around to feed her patient. She realized that Artessa was about to fall over, catching her and pressing her against the chair with both hooves. "Careful, you almost hurt yourself, Miss Trap." She scolded, levitating the full spoon towards her mouth. Artessa seemed to become calm for one second, suddenly launching at Lolly with her whole body, opening her mouth and biting Lolly on her neck. Lolly panicked, slapping Artessa in the face almost instantly as a reaction, forcing the crazy yellow pony back into her padded seat. Artessa began laughing loudly, Lolly taking her chance and using her magic to stuff the spoon into Artessa's mouth, letting her swallowing reflex take care of the rest. She swore under her breath, feeling her aching neck from the bite. No blood, she thought to herself thankfully, rubbing her bruise. She remembered to feel glad that her clients were all herbivores - They always send the carnivorous patients somewhere else. "NO WRONG" Artessa moaned dumbly, choking on the spoon still levitating in her mouth. Saliva was dribbling down her lips as a reaction to tasting food. "MY LEGS WON'T LISTEN," she groaned again. "There there," Lolly comforted, levitating the spoon out of Artessa's mouth for another scoop, "We don't bite other ponies, we eat our food like good, happy ponies. Don't you want to be a happy pony?" "I THINK I AM" Artessa shouted, launching her body forwards with a desperate open smile. She was forced back into her chair almost instantly by her carer. "That's a good pony. Who's a good pony? Whoo's a good pony?" Lolly said enticingly. "YOU ARE" Artessa screamed, beginning to choke on her food. Lolly panicked, hugging her arms tightly around Artessa as she had learnt in first aid, a sticky piece of porridge splatting onto the table in front of them. Lolly sighed, deciding that was enough food. She levitated a baby bottle up to Artessa's lips, allowing her to unconsciously drink up some vitamins. In a way, it made Lolly feel comfortable, taking care of these helpless patients. She felt the same feeling one would have, taking care of an abandoned animal. They needed you, they wanted to be with you, but they would still hurt and attack you if you got too close. This is how they communicated, normal speech wasn't important with them. It made her feel a little warm inside. Artessa began aspirating on some of the fluid, coughing and spluttering as Lolly quickly levitated the bottle away, giving her some time to recover. She wrapped her arms around Artessa, her belly slightly rounder than before, clearly well fed. Lolly sighed, leading Artessa back into the hallway, past the cafeteria, which was full of other more trusted patients talking to each other, and Hotch Pot serving up at the counter and multiple staff ponies walking around serving food and helping their patients eat and drink properly. Artessa didn't take any notice and seemed to be almost unconcious, giving Lolly a hard time transporting her. Lolly opened cell 427 with her magic, tossing Artessa into the middle of the room, slamming the door behind her, walking to repeat the process with the rest of the unstable clients in the hallway. Author's Note Seen from Lolly Stick's perspective. Hotch Pot & Lolly Stick: Night WatchHotch Pot was cleaning up the cafeteria from the daily mess, standing on two legs swiftly with a broom as he brushed the junk and litter into a nearby basket. It was already getting dark outside, and candles already gently flickered in the otherwise empty cafeteria. The dancing shadows created by the candles gave him company. He knew that the patients were probably being set to bed by now. The hallway nearby was bustling with staff ponies, each one making sure to send the patients to their rooms. This was often a time of shouting, laughing and biting, it stopped bothering him at this point. He stopped suddenly, hearing a clopping of hooves walking up the hall towards the cafeteria. "Hey Hotch Pot," a familiar mare said nearby, "Ready for the night shift?" Hotch Pot looked up, somewhat relieved to see Lolly Stick, his co-worker, walking in. "Yeah, sure," he responded, brushing up the last of the garbage on the floor. The stuff he found there was disgusting. Spit, piss, and a massive mound of uneaten food and spilled drink, among other things, made this an extremely messy job, and he wasn't graced with a horn to simply magic it away. He was just your average earth pony doing a modest job. He looked up at her again, noticing a fading bruise on her neck. "Screw-Loose, I'm guessing? She shook her head, rubbing her neck again as she became more aware of the bruise. "Nah, that mare got released ages ago, remember? She's almost finished from therapy actually." "Oh," he replied, knotting one of the garbage bags while conversing, "I remember now. I thought she got sent back for relapsing, though?" "No, no. That was our mistake. Turns out a dog really was barking near her, but staff thought it was her, the poor thing. That's long been settled though, I'm surprised you didn't know about it. Anyway, this bite was from was Miss Trap. The yellow one. I should've seen it coming, honestly." Hotch Pot picked up the garbage bags, balancing them on his back impressively as he walked into the hallway. "They're an unpredictable bunch, y'know. They'l always surprise you with something." He walked alongside Lolly Stick through the darkening hallways of the asylum sector, opening the door that lead to the main hospital as Lolly followed. They both emptied the trash into the dumpster outside, coming back inside to start their night shift together. Hotch Pot's eyes were clearly bloodshot from the restless day of work. He looked over to Lolly in wonder. "Hey, besides the bite, you look fine. Aren't you feeling a little tired?" She shook her head with a laugh and a nudge to his side, throwing him slightly off balance. "You silly, I finished my work early today so I got to rest in the afternoon. I told you I'd stay with you for the night shift. It's never safe alone." Hotch Pot snorted. "So you just wanted to look out for me, huh?" He sneered at her, walking into the staff room to put on his security uniform. He pulled out a torch, a copy of the cell keys, a magic panic button that would turn the alarms on if pressed, a nite-stick, and hung them all onto his belt. Lolly just looked at him in the corner, resting against the other lockers. "Can't believe you took both a day job and a night shift for the extra money, Hotch," Lolly giggled half-seriously, "it sounds like you're crazy enough to be one of them." Hotch Pot looked over, rolling his bloodshot eyes as he tightened his belt around his belly, his torch holstered facing forwards beside him so that it can light up in front of him with the flick of a switch while leaving his four hooves free. He usually kept it off, since the moonlight still provided some basic light in the asylum hallways from above. It became extremely quiet now, all the patients were settled in their cells, the loudest ones were put in sound-proof cells which allowed the others to sleep comfortably. He swapped his hat with another hat with a ponyvile security logo on it, marching into the hallways with his co-worker. It was insanely silent in the long dark ward. Not even the sound of keys was heard, as Hotch kept his keys tightly secure in his belt, which prevented them from clanging with each other. Looked left and right, looking back at Lolly now and then to make sure she didn't abandon him or something. He stopped suddenly, perking his ears up as he heard a muffled laughter followed by wet sobbing from a room, but it died down quickly. He shrugged it off, continuing to patrol silently down the corridor, washed by the gentle blue light of Luna's moon under every small square window he passed under, casting some moving shadows on the floor. He looked up, noticing it was just the gentle breeze brushing the trees outside. "Hold on," he heard behind him. He turned around, seeing a shadow behind him holding a paper. "There's a paper here on the floor." He switched on his flashlight, seeing his co-worker Lolly holding a paper. She flinched at the torch blinding her momentarily, and then continued holding out the paper. NO WRONG, TOMORROW. AFTER, BLUE. the paper had written. It was an extremely splotched hoof-writing, as if done in an extreme hurry. The paper itself was torn, too, and on the other side seemed to indicate it was torn off from a printed hospital document. Lolly suddenly gasped, letting go of the paper to the floor, sticking her tongue out, retching in disgust. "What's wrong?" Hotch asked, focusing on the reflective paper on the floor. "It's got spit all over it, ewww," she complained, "just, ew." "How'd it get here?" asked Hotch, getting to the point. "I'm not sure. I hope this is some kind of prank." she whispered hopefully. "I hope so. Either way we'l have to report this to the others in the morning. We'll have to collect it. Get a surgical bag from the staff room, we can't let this go unnoticed." He looked up, pointing the flashlight in Lolly's direction. She turned around as if she was going to walk up to the staff room, but she stopped. She stood there uncomfortably as the light cast her shadow in front of her. "What's wrong?" he asked, "Why aren't you moving?" "I, uhm..I...I don't have a flashlight." she responded faintly, shivering a little. This made Hotch raise his eyebrow. There was clearly just about enough moonlight to cross the hallway. "Fine. I'll go with you." he whispered harshly. They walked down the hallway, the flashlight lighting the way, bridging the dark gaps between each overhead window that dimly lit little circles with moonlight. They reached the staff room at the end of the hallway, getting another flashlight and a surgical bag. They walked back down the hallway, now lighting the hallway a lot better with their flashlights, Lolly levitating hers. They looked for the piece of torn paper so that they could collect it, but they just couldn't find it, somehow. "I could've sworn it was somewhere here," he commented in a low voice, "we didn't step on it, did we?" They checked their hooves, finding nothing. Lolly became visibly anxious, making quick turns with her flashlight to cover her blind spots, while Hotch tried to keep his cool. Lolly started checking the cell doors, to see if they were all locked, while Hotch started sweating in place trying to rationalize it. Suddenly, they heard something that made their hearts skip a beat. Something fell, echoing very faintly throughout the hallway. "The cafeteria!" Lolly screeched in a horrified, hushed voice. They both jogged up to the cafeteria door, their lights swinging around the room, shadows swerving on the walls from the tables and chairs. Hotch reached over to his nite-stick, holding it in his teeth tightly, ready for anything. They walked towards the kitchen counter, lighting it. Suddenly, they saw something fling across the room, hitting the big barred window of the cafeteria, catching them off-guard. Hotch instinctively swung his nite-stick in front of him, trying to hit whoever was there, while Lolly screamed and dropped her flash-light in terror. Hotch turned and ran towards the window, smashing his nitestick down at the sound source, splattering something all over the window and wall. There was a loud bang. Somepony screamed. Hotch Pot: The investigation begins.The big orange stallion rubbed his moustache curiously. "So you mean to tell me that there was an unauthorized entry inside this very asylum?" he boomed inquisitively. "Yes, officer Han Chuff," Hotch Pot replied, "We heard somepony inside the cafeteria after hours, my co-worker was with me and heard it too." His female co-worker, Lolly Stick, still visibly shaking, eyes wide open in shock, nodded in a jittery way next to him. "We tried to investigate," Hotch Pot continued, pointing towards the cafeteria counter, "and we saw something big fly across the room from the kitchen counter and hit the window. I thought it was some kind of pegasus intruder, so I ran and tried to beat it down with this nite-stick, and I realized it was just a bag of rotten porridge. And then my co-worker here screamed from the stress. We couldn't find or hear anything suspicious after that." The large officer inspected the rotten splattered mess on the window and floor, nodding while trying hard not to sniff. "I see. It appears that the suspect did a good old bait and switch to escape while you were occupied with this bag. Haha, such inexperienced security in this place. So did you actually see the criminal in question?" Hotch Pot panicked. "Well, er, no," he replied, "but we did find an unauthorized cryptic piece of paper in the hallway which, when we went to take a bag from the staff room to collect it, it was gone!" "And what did this, 'paper', have on it?" The officer asked, clearly intrigued by the complexity of the situation. He continued writing down on his notepad, sitting down on one of the cafeteria tables casually. "I...err..." Hotch Pot opened his eyes, realizing he hadn't tried to memorize the paper. "I.. don't remember... Something to do with something wrong, and blue? Do you remember, Lolly?" He turned to Lolly, who was still in shock. She shook her head negatively. The officer shrugged, continuing to question them while writing on his notebook. "To be sure, all the cells and rooms of the patients were locked? Why are you so sure that this was a break-in, and not an escaped patient?" "Well, yes. All the patients in our ward wear asylum jackets, officer. It would prevent them heavily, as you can imagine. Pegasi's wings are also restrained, and there is a piece of secure clothing for unicorns to prevent them from casting magic. I assure you that none of these patients have the ability to use their front hooves." "Well stated, guard," the officer noted, "that is a crucial piece of information I didn't consider. Perhaps it was an intrusion after all. Have you excluded the possibility of another member of staff?" "Well..." Hotch Pot rubbed his chin in wonder. "I can't think of any staff pony that would mess with us like this. We'l be having a staff meeting about it though, if anything comes up from that we'll let you know. There were also no strange signs from the guards in the main hospital, too. If anypony went in or out of the asylum, they must've passed through the hospital. We've checked all the barred windows, none of them sustained any damage either." The orange police officer rested his notebook on his strong chest. "It appears we have an extremely mysterious case to solve here, if it isn't part of your staff. Have you checked every patient to see if they are still bound to their jackets and locked rooms?" "Yes." Lolly Stick suddenly answered, gaining some strength to overcome her shock. The officer nodded, adding a last note to his notebook. "Well, I'll report back to the station now," the officer said in his deep voice, "You two take care, alright? I would personally suggest having extra security for the next few days. My experience tells me that many incomplete break-in attempts are actually criminals that are, let's just say, testing the the waters, before making a full scale entry or heist. This sounds like that kind of case, so keep your ears perked, ponies." He stoop up after finishing his speech, placing his notepad into his Canterlot Police Department satchel bag, leaving the two terrified staff ponies alone in the cafeteria. "This stinks." Lolly muttered. "No, really?" Hotch Pot sneered, looking at the dirty splatter of porridge behind him. "This also means I have to... take even more days... without rest..." He started to wobble and lose his balance, falling onto his side into the pool of rotten porridge. He would've vomited if he wasn't so dead-beat tired. He went unconscious. Lolly looked down at him sadly, trying to pull him up from the rotten mess, but found herself too weak to. She shrugged, using a spell on Hotch Pot to make him temporarily weightless, picking him up like a balloon and taking him all the way into hospital, placing him in one of the empty beds in a ward for a good long nap. He wasn't sure, but Hotch could've sworn he felt something warm touch his cheek when he woke up on his own in the afternoon. Thanks, Lolly, he thought to himself when he woke up later. He decided to take a shower to clean off the rotten porridge from his body. Hotch Pot: Tea break"STAFF, DISMISSED!" The asylum staff walked out from the hospital's meeting room grimly, whispering to each other about the recent investigation. Many gave each other accusing looks, while others speculated about the possibility of a break-in. Nopony seemed to be able to arrive to a conclusion, and there seemed to be too little evidence to back up any of the theories regarding it. They were all ordered to be highly suspicious of each other, and to report any strange occurances regarding the asylum to administration. Two of these staff members, Hotch Pot and Lolly Stick, were heavily interrogated by the medical consultants on the issue, and they felt pretty drained afterwards from having to remember every single detail as perfectly as they could. When the meeting had finished, they walked straight to the asylum cafeteria, which was empty at the time, to take a break. "I can't believe we lost that crucial piece of evidence last night," Hotch Pot groaned, "like, I could've sworn it was there." He started pouring himself some tea from the counter, fixing up a cup of coffee for his co-worker soon after. "Do you remember anything about it?" Lolly shrugged. "I dunno, Hotch, you were the one who looked at it, not me." She reached out for her coffee, drinking the coffee in big slurps. "We might be over-looking things, it's just a paper after all. It's the actual break-in we should be worrying about. Whoever it is seems to have access to the hospital doors if they didn't break any windows." Hotch sighed angrily. "That's what's bothering me, Lolly. There's no way a pony could've entered and escaped from an asylum just like that. Maybe we should change the locks-" "Or maybe," Lolly interrupted, "we should just keep going with our jobs and leave the situation for Administration to handle. Besides, these patients aren't going to feed themselves," she said with a slight smirk, gulping down some more coffee. Hotch Pot just deadpanned, he didn't find it funny at all. "I'll get to the bottom of this, there just...there just HAS to be an explaination to all this! How could I have let them escape, how...how..?" His hooves began shaking a little as he held his mug, clearly becoming flustered in this thoughts. "Y'know Hotch," Lolly said in a low voice, "if you keep beating yourself up over this whole thing you might just go crazy yourself. It'd be a big shame to see a fine stallion like you in one of the cells..." she finished slowly, taking a slower sip of her remaining coffee as she looked down, changing her tone. "Besides, we need to get ready for work now, we've had our rest." She slammed her coffee mug down on the desk as she usually did, bouncing up suddenly. "Time for the afternoon activities, y'know! I'll be busy feeding the tough clients in the next room if you need me." And with that, she hopped out of the room like a rabbit, leaving Hotch Pot alone at the cafeteria counter holding his hot mug of tea. He began thinking to himself in between sips, lost in thought. "The only ponies on watch were Lolly and I, and Lolly was with me the entire time, so it couldn't have been her..." "But how did the intruder escape so quickly? Surely the guards inside the hospital would've noticed something coming out from the Asylum...." "Maybe there's a secret tunnel!" He suddenly exclaimed to nobody in particular, standing up and abandoning his mug on the counter as he dashed towards the hallway. He looked around suspiciously, his heart pounding with curiosity, trying to look for any floor tiles that seemed out of place, lowering his head down towards each one trying to look for any strange cracks or creases. His search was interrupted by an awkward cough. He looked up, seeing one of the cafeteria staff workers looking down at him with a very strange look, making him feel very silly. He quickly stood up, recomposed himself, said nothing, and walked straight back into the cafeteria and into the kitchen to begin preparing some porridge for the patients. "Oh boy," he thought to himself as he mixed some ingredients together. "Maybe I am going mad." Artessa: Green Grass Grey walls. Padded walls. What's behind that wall? Grass. Green grass. The greenest grass I've ever yet to see. These grey walls... What? They aren't there. I'm not here. I'm there. With the grass. The green grass. The greener grass that's always green. I've always been there. Here? There. Not here. I'm not prepared to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I should be over there. There? Exactly, I'm over there. Beyond the grey wall. I don't see any grey walls. I'm so happy, just look at that wall. It's a nice green wall. With padding. Nice soft padding. Like grass. Grass is soft, right? I've laid on grass a few times before. I've never payed attention to the softness and greenness of grass until now. But now I'm here, not there. I'd like to be there. How will we get there? I have a plan. I know a way to get there. Beyond the wall. Beyond the grey wall with grey padding. I will reach the greener grass. The blue sky will be mine. I will be free. But I'm already free, aren't I? Exactly, I am free. There are no grey walls around me. Just green grass. Lovely green grass. Nopony is here to bother me. Ponies rarely do. They come and go at best. But aren't you free? Absolutely. I'm always free. I was never trapped. My surname is Trap, that's just so funny! Hahahahaha! My surname is just so funny because it isn't true. Like this grass. This soft padded grey grass. It's soft to the hoof. It envelopes my senses. I like this grass. This grey green padded soft grass. I think I'll lay down on the floor. The grass? The grass floor. My head sinks into the cushion. There's cushions everywhere. Grey cushions. Don't you mean green cushions? I love these green cushions. I want to tear them apart and get past that wall. The wall that isn't there. I never stopped being determined. I'm just waiting for my time to strike. When will I strike? Sush, a part of me is trying to sleep. Remember. Do not stop thinking about the grass. The green grass is your friend. The grass provides all. Every leaf serves a purpose. I have no purpose. I don't need one. All I need to do is to get to the nice green grass. You're my best friend. You never give up. I can always depend on you. Thanks. I believe in you too. I did no wrong. I know. Author's Note This is how Artessa's sections will look like. They are disorganized on purpose. She is insane, after all. However, there is SOME kind of very basic structure in it, it is not entirely random. Artessa: The Green TreeThe waters have been tested. The water has turned from grey to blue. Huzzah! Why are we laughing? Flawed. They are flawed. We are perfect. I did no wrong. Haha! The cushions will be my cushions no longer! The grey walls will be grey no longer! The water indeed is blue, but do you know what else is blue? The sky. The sky is blue. This is the perfect plan. Haha! Haha! Our friend is here, we are now three, for she now understands my pain! Who is this, and why three? I thought it was just you and me? They will be our Tree, like the trees that shake above the hallway windows, they are green. Like the grass? Like the grass, she is our Tree, she understands our views, she cares so much! Like a tree she will protect us from the falling light in the summer heat, she will lead us to freedom at her own expense. Who is she? I think you give too much trust, how will she help? This may be the only time I was wrong about something, do trust me on this. We will be one with the grass outside, with the help of our Tree. Oh dear, have you corrupted her? Goodness no, she is more corrupt than me! But make no mistake, I did no wrong in this affair. She thinks like us, eats like us, and agrees with us, but she can not say. This interests me, but what can she not say? She can not say that I did no wrong.... Hark, there is a knock! What must we do? THIRTY, THIRTY ONE, THIRTY TWO, THIRTY TREE... Do you really think we should do this every time somepony enters? THIRTY FOUR, THIRTY FIVE, THIRTY SIX, THIRTY SEVEN... Is that our Tree? It speaks... Hello, Miss Trap... Hi! Hello! Hahaha! I now have Tree friend! Tree? Hahaha, that's a good one. Anyway, I did what you asked me to do. What about your part of the deal? In due time, Tree! I must have a taste of the green grass first. It is...my favorite. Are you sure you trust this Tree? Yes! This Tree will lead me to freedom! I will be truly green! I am a green pony! I will be green! Green with the grass! I can see why you're so excited. Listen, we both are creatures of passion, we both have someone we want. Don't forget our deal. I will not, haha! This is wonderful! It is like the cushions of grey are not even there! What will you do if the Tree betrays you? Ha...ha...nothing....wrong....ha...ha... What? Oh, your "did nothing wrong" thing, right. Well anyway, we better get moving. I'm doing my part of the deal, make sure you do yours. Yes, I will make him green for you too. He will know nothing else, he will be lost in your branches, unable to escape... hahaha!
Hotch Pot: Introduction A tiny bit of smoke gently rose from a cup of tea, tickling and swerving around the snout of a staff worker, making him sniff. He shrugged his shoulders to his co-worker, taking a careful sip of his tea using both hooves. He let the warm drink gently trickle past his dark teal lips, savoring the taste before placing the mug back down on the cafeteria table. "I heard her rambling again last night," he explained to his co-worker, "Can't imagine why she'd want to leave the asylum. We treat our ponies pretty well here. You'd think she wouldn't want to leave like some of the other ones, our hospitality considered." His co-worker gave a hearty laugh, having to adjust her red-cross hat to re-focus. "Oh I'm sure we do, Hotch Pot" she smiled, chugging down gulps of coffee in between sentences, "maybe she wants something to eat that isn't a salty burning porridge from hell, haha." She chugged again. "Hey!" he retorted, almost dropping his teacup so that he could point a hoof at this coffee-fueled machine of a mare, "I'll have you know my porridges are some of the best porridges in this hospital. Ponyville, even." He flicked his short brown mane stylishly, returning to his mug, unable to take a sip as he lowered his eyebrows, getting offended even more as she had to slam her coffee-mug on the desk to let out another big fat laugh in his face. "Oh Hotch Pot, your ego over your ability to make porridge never ceases to amaze me," she giggled, trying not to spit her next gulp of coffee all over his face. Hotch Pot blushed angrily, looking down at his mug trying to hide his embarassment. He didn't want to look at her, and decided to look at his own reflection on the surface of his tea instead. He saw his two small patches of brown hair peeping out from the right side of his cap, revealing his baldness on the other side. It didn't make him feel any better. "Anyway," she said, noting how the sunlight started sneaking onto the otherwise empty cafeteria walls, "It's almost morning, it's time to wake up the patients." She planted her mug onto the table with a loud bang, bouncing up from the desk. "And I've had enough coffee to work overtime so you won't have to work alone tonight." Hotch Pot looked up at her as she left, leaving him to continue sipping his tea in peace. Small bags were clearly starting to get visible under his eyes from the night shift. He was still upset about how she insulted his porridge making skills. "As if she's any better", he thought to himself aloud, "her cutie mark is literally a smiley face. A smiley face! The only reason our nutcases smile is because they've forgotten how to do anything else, and all she does is take credit for it. Petty. Just petty." He leaned over on the table, stretching his aching hooves out. No doubt he disliked her, but he couldn't stop thinking about her either. How her spherical pink and white mane blended into her ponytail in smart white and pink streaks, her mane looked like a big lollipop swirl attached to the little violet-furred mare. Of course, she was about 27, and he wasn't much older either, but her frame always got the shorter end of the genetic stick. It was no surprise that the other staff members nicknamed her Lolly Stick. Hotch Pot wasn't his real name either, but he had to just deal with it. He shook his head, trying to forget about his train of thoughts. He knew he had to get up and prepare food for the patients. This was always an extremely annoying and messy task.
Artessa: Feeding SessionMy fur coat shivers. It is yellow. I do not like yellow. I like green. I want to be green. Green like the grass. I thought you were green? Of course. I am a green pony. I am with my friend. So many friend. Good friend. Best friend. Who is my friend? I am our friend. This place is my haven. The blue sky is amazingly bright. I want to taste it. It will fill me up with the taste of freedom. The flavour of self-expression. My mane and tail are blue. Ha ha ha! I have already won in that regard. But your mane and tail was always blue, wasn't it? Yes. Very blue. My mane is a dark blue, it curls in a swirl next to my cheeks, like draining water in a bath tub. They clean me here. They have a bath tub. Who is they? There is no one there. Do not think about them. They are not here. Then who is that feeding you? She is one of them. Who? Ha, ha, ha. She is one of them. I do not know her. I smile and she frowns. I frown and she smiles. But a part of her is always smiling. Which part? Her flank. Her cutie mark. She is the pony of smiles. Everything is happy with her. I do not like her. But I thought you wanted happiness? Focus! You do not want happiness. You want the green grass. The freedom. She is the grey grass. The grey cushion. Her happiness is a knock-off, it is not real. I am real. The grass is real. She is not here. I am falling. She held you, why did she hold you? She pretends to care. I don't like her. I want to get away. She won't leave me alone. I want to get to the green grass. The grey grass. The grey walls. Anything but here. I can not speak to her, she is trying too much to make me what I am not. My teeth are biting. She holds you still, is she trying to help us? She is stuffing a grey spoon into our mouth. Why is she so upset? She wants to hurt us. She wants to make us change. She wants us to be guilty. I am not guilty. I did no wrong. I want to go away. My legs won't listen to me. I hope you are listening to me. I think I am? You are. She has moved us, where are we now? We are back in the grey room. The grey room with padded walls. Don't you mean green grass with blue sky? Yes, the blue sky walls with padded green grass. This is our home now. The cushions are my pillows. They hold my happiness. I will keep myself occupied as I lie here. I will count each one again. One. Two. Three. Four... Where are my arms? Five. Six. Seven... But where are my arms? Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven... Why can I not move my arms? TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN, FIFTEEN...
Lolly Stick: Feeding SessionThe hallways were starting to brighten up as the sunlight shone from the small barred windows. Silence dominated the entire hospital as the lonely staff member walked through, only the light sound of her hooves and clanging keys bumping against her rump echoed through the halls. Now and then, however, the random sudden echoing laugh or cry would bounce through the hallways, taking any non-experienced staff member by surprise. She was used to it though, and arrived in front of a dark windowless door to cell 427. She levitated her big stack of yellow keys, flipping through them to find the right key. She could hear a muffled voice through the door, but she didn't think much of it. Lolly Stick found the right key, unlocking the large rectangular padded door, making sure to step back slightly so that she wouldn't get jumped on or something. There, lying in the middle of the dull room, was a yellow mare. Her blue hair had overgrown over the sides of her face, one side curled sharply into itself in one large curl, while the left side had a sizable chunk of hair clearly torn off, baring the side of her yellow left cheek. She looked like she was sleeping on the light-grey floor padding, but her left green eye was wide open while the other was permanently half-closed due to a red bruise that forced it so from under. Her arms and hooves were bound together by her white asylum jacket, but she also had a special dark-grey wrapping sticking out from her forehead, covering her horn. It was a mandatory feature to prevent any unstable patients from casting magic, and it was extremely effective. It was amazingly simple, too - it simply converted any incoming magic into a tiny spec of light on contact, the simplicity making it re-usable for many years before wearing out. "I AM A GREEN PONY" the crazy yellow pony blurted out suddenly. "SO MANY FRIEND. GOOD FRIEND. BEST FRIEND." She contorted her spine and neck about, almost as if in pain, or like a dog waiting to get it's belly rubbed excitedly. She always reacted like this to others. It was her signal, it was like saying "hi". At least, that's how the staff interpreted it. "Alright Artessa," Lolly said slowly and sternly, "Time to wake up. It's food time." She entered the room carefully, helping Artessa to stand on her two legs. They wobbled, but kept her shivering posture thanks to Lolly's grip. Artessa kept smiling, arching her whole body back and forth violently as Lolly led her out of her cell. "BLUE SKY AMAZINGLY BRIGHT. I WANT TO TASTE IT. TASTE. FLAVOR. BLUE." She said weakly, trying to yell but just not putting enough effort into it. "SWIRLS. B-BATHS." Lolly walked down the hallway with her first patient of the day, going past the cafeteria where the smell of porridge escaped from the doorway. They arrived next-door into the specially designed "eating room", a safe padded room where they fed particularly difficult patients. It had a soft-edged table and two padded chairs which were bolted into the ground. She grabbed Artessa from the shoulders, simply tossing her onto the seat like a basketball, causing Artessa to continue shaking and blabbering incoherently. Lolly levitated a tissue up to Artessa's mouth, wiping the drool that often dripped from her lips, as she took out some food from a locked chest behind the table. "HAHAHAHA SHE IS ONE OF THEM" Artessa shouted, almost falling from the chair. The chair sustained her weight well however, it was literally impossible to hurt herself here. She became quiet, continuing to mumble as she kept staring with her eye wide open, her cheeks clearly painfully creased from her years of smiling. Lolly tried to ignore it, scooping a cup of leftover porridge from the safe into a spoon, turning around to feed her patient. She realized that Artessa was about to fall over, catching her and pressing her against the chair with both hooves. "Careful, you almost hurt yourself, Miss Trap." She scolded, levitating the full spoon towards her mouth. Artessa seemed to become calm for one second, suddenly launching at Lolly with her whole body, opening her mouth and biting Lolly on her neck. Lolly panicked, slapping Artessa in the face almost instantly as a reaction, forcing the crazy yellow pony back into her padded seat. Artessa began laughing loudly, Lolly taking her chance and using her magic to stuff the spoon into Artessa's mouth, letting her swallowing reflex take care of the rest. She swore under her breath, feeling her aching neck from the bite. No blood, she thought to herself thankfully, rubbing her bruise. She remembered to feel glad that her clients were all herbivores - They always send the carnivorous patients somewhere else. "NO WRONG" Artessa moaned dumbly, choking on the spoon still levitating in her mouth. Saliva was dribbling down her lips as a reaction to tasting food. "MY LEGS WON'T LISTEN," she groaned again. "There there," Lolly comforted, levitating the spoon out of Artessa's mouth for another scoop, "We don't bite other ponies, we eat our food like good, happy ponies. Don't you want to be a happy pony?" "I THINK I AM" Artessa shouted, launching her body forwards with a desperate open smile. She was forced back into her chair almost instantly by her carer. "That's a good pony. Who's a good pony? Whoo's a good pony?" Lolly said enticingly. "YOU ARE" Artessa screamed, beginning to choke on her food. Lolly panicked, hugging her arms tightly around Artessa as she had learnt in first aid, a sticky piece of porridge splatting onto the table in front of them. Lolly sighed, deciding that was enough food. She levitated a baby bottle up to Artessa's lips, allowing her to unconsciously drink up some vitamins. In a way, it made Lolly feel comfortable, taking care of these helpless patients. She felt the same feeling one would have, taking care of an abandoned animal. They needed you, they wanted to be with you, but they would still hurt and attack you if you got too close. This is how they communicated, normal speech wasn't important with them. It made her feel a little warm inside. Artessa began aspirating on some of the fluid, coughing and spluttering as Lolly quickly levitated the bottle away, giving her some time to recover. She wrapped her arms around Artessa, her belly slightly rounder than before, clearly well fed. Lolly sighed, leading Artessa back into the hallway, past the cafeteria, which was full of other more trusted patients talking to each other, and Hotch Pot serving up at the counter and multiple staff ponies walking around serving food and helping their patients eat and drink properly. Artessa didn't take any notice and seemed to be almost unconcious, giving Lolly a hard time transporting her. Lolly opened cell 427 with her magic, tossing Artessa into the middle of the room, slamming the door behind her, walking to repeat the process with the rest of the unstable clients in the hallway. Author's Note Seen from Lolly Stick's perspective.
Hotch Pot & Lolly Stick: Night WatchHotch Pot was cleaning up the cafeteria from the daily mess, standing on two legs swiftly with a broom as he brushed the junk and litter into a nearby basket. It was already getting dark outside, and candles already gently flickered in the otherwise empty cafeteria. The dancing shadows created by the candles gave him company. He knew that the patients were probably being set to bed by now. The hallway nearby was bustling with staff ponies, each one making sure to send the patients to their rooms. This was often a time of shouting, laughing and biting, it stopped bothering him at this point. He stopped suddenly, hearing a clopping of hooves walking up the hall towards the cafeteria. "Hey Hotch Pot," a familiar mare said nearby, "Ready for the night shift?" Hotch Pot looked up, somewhat relieved to see Lolly Stick, his co-worker, walking in. "Yeah, sure," he responded, brushing up the last of the garbage on the floor. The stuff he found there was disgusting. Spit, piss, and a massive mound of uneaten food and spilled drink, among other things, made this an extremely messy job, and he wasn't graced with a horn to simply magic it away. He was just your average earth pony doing a modest job. He looked up at her again, noticing a fading bruise on her neck. "Screw-Loose, I'm guessing? She shook her head, rubbing her neck again as she became more aware of the bruise. "Nah, that mare got released ages ago, remember? She's almost finished from therapy actually." "Oh," he replied, knotting one of the garbage bags while conversing, "I remember now. I thought she got sent back for relapsing, though?" "No, no. That was our mistake. Turns out a dog really was barking near her, but staff thought it was her, the poor thing. That's long been settled though, I'm surprised you didn't know about it. Anyway, this bite was from was Miss Trap. The yellow one. I should've seen it coming, honestly." Hotch Pot picked up the garbage bags, balancing them on his back impressively as he walked into the hallway. "They're an unpredictable bunch, y'know. They'l always surprise you with something." He walked alongside Lolly Stick through the darkening hallways of the asylum sector, opening the door that lead to the main hospital as Lolly followed. They both emptied the trash into the dumpster outside, coming back inside to start their night shift together. Hotch Pot's eyes were clearly bloodshot from the restless day of work. He looked over to Lolly in wonder. "Hey, besides the bite, you look fine. Aren't you feeling a little tired?" She shook her head with a laugh and a nudge to his side, throwing him slightly off balance. "You silly, I finished my work early today so I got to rest in the afternoon. I told you I'd stay with you for the night shift. It's never safe alone." Hotch Pot snorted. "So you just wanted to look out for me, huh?" He sneered at her, walking into the staff room to put on his security uniform. He pulled out a torch, a copy of the cell keys, a magic panic button that would turn the alarms on if pressed, a nite-stick, and hung them all onto his belt. Lolly just looked at him in the corner, resting against the other lockers. "Can't believe you took both a day job and a night shift for the extra money, Hotch," Lolly giggled half-seriously, "it sounds like you're crazy enough to be one of them." Hotch Pot looked over, rolling his bloodshot eyes as he tightened his belt around his belly, his torch holstered facing forwards beside him so that it can light up in front of him with the flick of a switch while leaving his four hooves free. He usually kept it off, since the moonlight still provided some basic light in the asylum hallways from above. It became extremely quiet now, all the patients were settled in their cells, the loudest ones were put in sound-proof cells which allowed the others to sleep comfortably. He swapped his hat with another hat with a ponyvile security logo on it, marching into the hallways with his co-worker. It was insanely silent in the long dark ward. Not even the sound of keys was heard, as Hotch kept his keys tightly secure in his belt, which prevented them from clanging with each other. Looked left and right, looking back at Lolly now and then to make sure she didn't abandon him or something. He stopped suddenly, perking his ears up as he heard a muffled laughter followed by wet sobbing from a room, but it died down quickly. He shrugged it off, continuing to patrol silently down the corridor, washed by the gentle blue light of Luna's moon under every small square window he passed under, casting some moving shadows on the floor. He looked up, noticing it was just the gentle breeze brushing the trees outside. "Hold on," he heard behind him. He turned around, seeing a shadow behind him holding a paper. "There's a paper here on the floor." He switched on his flashlight, seeing his co-worker Lolly holding a paper. She flinched at the torch blinding her momentarily, and then continued holding out the paper. NO WRONG, TOMORROW. AFTER, BLUE. the paper had written. It was an extremely splotched hoof-writing, as if done in an extreme hurry. The paper itself was torn, too, and on the other side seemed to indicate it was torn off from a printed hospital document. Lolly suddenly gasped, letting go of the paper to the floor, sticking her tongue out, retching in disgust. "What's wrong?" Hotch asked, focusing on the reflective paper on the floor. "It's got spit all over it, ewww," she complained, "just, ew." "How'd it get here?" asked Hotch, getting to the point. "I'm not sure. I hope this is some kind of prank." she whispered hopefully. "I hope so. Either way we'l have to report this to the others in the morning. We'll have to collect it. Get a surgical bag from the staff room, we can't let this go unnoticed." He looked up, pointing the flashlight in Lolly's direction. She turned around as if she was going to walk up to the staff room, but she stopped. She stood there uncomfortably as the light cast her shadow in front of her. "What's wrong?" he asked, "Why aren't you moving?" "I, uhm..I...I don't have a flashlight." she responded faintly, shivering a little. This made Hotch raise his eyebrow. There was clearly just about enough moonlight to cross the hallway. "Fine. I'll go with you." he whispered harshly. They walked down the hallway, the flashlight lighting the way, bridging the dark gaps between each overhead window that dimly lit little circles with moonlight. They reached the staff room at the end of the hallway, getting another flashlight and a surgical bag. They walked back down the hallway, now lighting the hallway a lot better with their flashlights, Lolly levitating hers. They looked for the piece of torn paper so that they could collect it, but they just couldn't find it, somehow. "I could've sworn it was somewhere here," he commented in a low voice, "we didn't step on it, did we?" They checked their hooves, finding nothing. Lolly became visibly anxious, making quick turns with her flashlight to cover her blind spots, while Hotch tried to keep his cool. Lolly started checking the cell doors, to see if they were all locked, while Hotch started sweating in place trying to rationalize it. Suddenly, they heard something that made their hearts skip a beat. Something fell, echoing very faintly throughout the hallway. "The cafeteria!" Lolly screeched in a horrified, hushed voice. They both jogged up to the cafeteria door, their lights swinging around the room, shadows swerving on the walls from the tables and chairs. Hotch reached over to his nite-stick, holding it in his teeth tightly, ready for anything. They walked towards the kitchen counter, lighting it. Suddenly, they saw something fling across the room, hitting the big barred window of the cafeteria, catching them off-guard. Hotch instinctively swung his nite-stick in front of him, trying to hit whoever was there, while Lolly screamed and dropped her flash-light in terror. Hotch turned and ran towards the window, smashing his nitestick down at the sound source, splattering something all over the window and wall. There was a loud bang. Somepony screamed.
Hotch Pot: The investigation begins.The big orange stallion rubbed his moustache curiously. "So you mean to tell me that there was an unauthorized entry inside this very asylum?" he boomed inquisitively. "Yes, officer Han Chuff," Hotch Pot replied, "We heard somepony inside the cafeteria after hours, my co-worker was with me and heard it too." His female co-worker, Lolly Stick, still visibly shaking, eyes wide open in shock, nodded in a jittery way next to him. "We tried to investigate," Hotch Pot continued, pointing towards the cafeteria counter, "and we saw something big fly across the room from the kitchen counter and hit the window. I thought it was some kind of pegasus intruder, so I ran and tried to beat it down with this nite-stick, and I realized it was just a bag of rotten porridge. And then my co-worker here screamed from the stress. We couldn't find or hear anything suspicious after that." The large officer inspected the rotten splattered mess on the window and floor, nodding while trying hard not to sniff. "I see. It appears that the suspect did a good old bait and switch to escape while you were occupied with this bag. Haha, such inexperienced security in this place. So did you actually see the criminal in question?" Hotch Pot panicked. "Well, er, no," he replied, "but we did find an unauthorized cryptic piece of paper in the hallway which, when we went to take a bag from the staff room to collect it, it was gone!" "And what did this, 'paper', have on it?" The officer asked, clearly intrigued by the complexity of the situation. He continued writing down on his notepad, sitting down on one of the cafeteria tables casually. "I...err..." Hotch Pot opened his eyes, realizing he hadn't tried to memorize the paper. "I.. don't remember... Something to do with something wrong, and blue? Do you remember, Lolly?" He turned to Lolly, who was still in shock. She shook her head negatively. The officer shrugged, continuing to question them while writing on his notebook. "To be sure, all the cells and rooms of the patients were locked? Why are you so sure that this was a break-in, and not an escaped patient?" "Well, yes. All the patients in our ward wear asylum jackets, officer. It would prevent them heavily, as you can imagine. Pegasi's wings are also restrained, and there is a piece of secure clothing for unicorns to prevent them from casting magic. I assure you that none of these patients have the ability to use their front hooves." "Well stated, guard," the officer noted, "that is a crucial piece of information I didn't consider. Perhaps it was an intrusion after all. Have you excluded the possibility of another member of staff?" "Well..." Hotch Pot rubbed his chin in wonder. "I can't think of any staff pony that would mess with us like this. We'l be having a staff meeting about it though, if anything comes up from that we'll let you know. There were also no strange signs from the guards in the main hospital, too. If anypony went in or out of the asylum, they must've passed through the hospital. We've checked all the barred windows, none of them sustained any damage either." The orange police officer rested his notebook on his strong chest. "It appears we have an extremely mysterious case to solve here, if it isn't part of your staff. Have you checked every patient to see if they are still bound to their jackets and locked rooms?" "Yes." Lolly Stick suddenly answered, gaining some strength to overcome her shock. The officer nodded, adding a last note to his notebook. "Well, I'll report back to the station now," the officer said in his deep voice, "You two take care, alright? I would personally suggest having extra security for the next few days. My experience tells me that many incomplete break-in attempts are actually criminals that are, let's just say, testing the the waters, before making a full scale entry or heist. This sounds like that kind of case, so keep your ears perked, ponies." He stoop up after finishing his speech, placing his notepad into his Canterlot Police Department satchel bag, leaving the two terrified staff ponies alone in the cafeteria. "This stinks." Lolly muttered. "No, really?" Hotch Pot sneered, looking at the dirty splatter of porridge behind him. "This also means I have to... take even more days... without rest..." He started to wobble and lose his balance, falling onto his side into the pool of rotten porridge. He would've vomited if he wasn't so dead-beat tired. He went unconscious. Lolly looked down at him sadly, trying to pull him up from the rotten mess, but found herself too weak to. She shrugged, using a spell on Hotch Pot to make him temporarily weightless, picking him up like a balloon and taking him all the way into hospital, placing him in one of the empty beds in a ward for a good long nap. He wasn't sure, but Hotch could've sworn he felt something warm touch his cheek when he woke up on his own in the afternoon. Thanks, Lolly, he thought to himself when he woke up later. He decided to take a shower to clean off the rotten porridge from his body.
Hotch Pot: Tea break"STAFF, DISMISSED!" The asylum staff walked out from the hospital's meeting room grimly, whispering to each other about the recent investigation. Many gave each other accusing looks, while others speculated about the possibility of a break-in. Nopony seemed to be able to arrive to a conclusion, and there seemed to be too little evidence to back up any of the theories regarding it. They were all ordered to be highly suspicious of each other, and to report any strange occurances regarding the asylum to administration. Two of these staff members, Hotch Pot and Lolly Stick, were heavily interrogated by the medical consultants on the issue, and they felt pretty drained afterwards from having to remember every single detail as perfectly as they could. When the meeting had finished, they walked straight to the asylum cafeteria, which was empty at the time, to take a break. "I can't believe we lost that crucial piece of evidence last night," Hotch Pot groaned, "like, I could've sworn it was there." He started pouring himself some tea from the counter, fixing up a cup of coffee for his co-worker soon after. "Do you remember anything about it?" Lolly shrugged. "I dunno, Hotch, you were the one who looked at it, not me." She reached out for her coffee, drinking the coffee in big slurps. "We might be over-looking things, it's just a paper after all. It's the actual break-in we should be worrying about. Whoever it is seems to have access to the hospital doors if they didn't break any windows." Hotch sighed angrily. "That's what's bothering me, Lolly. There's no way a pony could've entered and escaped from an asylum just like that. Maybe we should change the locks-" "Or maybe," Lolly interrupted, "we should just keep going with our jobs and leave the situation for Administration to handle. Besides, these patients aren't going to feed themselves," she said with a slight smirk, gulping down some more coffee. Hotch Pot just deadpanned, he didn't find it funny at all. "I'll get to the bottom of this, there just...there just HAS to be an explaination to all this! How could I have let them escape, how...how..?" His hooves began shaking a little as he held his mug, clearly becoming flustered in this thoughts. "Y'know Hotch," Lolly said in a low voice, "if you keep beating yourself up over this whole thing you might just go crazy yourself. It'd be a big shame to see a fine stallion like you in one of the cells..." she finished slowly, taking a slower sip of her remaining coffee as she looked down, changing her tone. "Besides, we need to get ready for work now, we've had our rest." She slammed her coffee mug down on the desk as she usually did, bouncing up suddenly. "Time for the afternoon activities, y'know! I'll be busy feeding the tough clients in the next room if you need me." And with that, she hopped out of the room like a rabbit, leaving Hotch Pot alone at the cafeteria counter holding his hot mug of tea. He began thinking to himself in between sips, lost in thought. "The only ponies on watch were Lolly and I, and Lolly was with me the entire time, so it couldn't have been her..." "But how did the intruder escape so quickly? Surely the guards inside the hospital would've noticed something coming out from the Asylum...." "Maybe there's a secret tunnel!" He suddenly exclaimed to nobody in particular, standing up and abandoning his mug on the counter as he dashed towards the hallway. He looked around suspiciously, his heart pounding with curiosity, trying to look for any floor tiles that seemed out of place, lowering his head down towards each one trying to look for any strange cracks or creases. His search was interrupted by an awkward cough. He looked up, seeing one of the cafeteria staff workers looking down at him with a very strange look, making him feel very silly. He quickly stood up, recomposed himself, said nothing, and walked straight back into the cafeteria and into the kitchen to begin preparing some porridge for the patients. "Oh boy," he thought to himself as he mixed some ingredients together. "Maybe I am going mad."
Artessa: Green Grass Grey walls. Padded walls. What's behind that wall? Grass. Green grass. The greenest grass I've ever yet to see. These grey walls... What? They aren't there. I'm not here. I'm there. With the grass. The green grass. The greener grass that's always green. I've always been there. Here? There. Not here. I'm not prepared to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I should be over there. There? Exactly, I'm over there. Beyond the grey wall. I don't see any grey walls. I'm so happy, just look at that wall. It's a nice green wall. With padding. Nice soft padding. Like grass. Grass is soft, right? I've laid on grass a few times before. I've never payed attention to the softness and greenness of grass until now. But now I'm here, not there. I'd like to be there. How will we get there? I have a plan. I know a way to get there. Beyond the wall. Beyond the grey wall with grey padding. I will reach the greener grass. The blue sky will be mine. I will be free. But I'm already free, aren't I? Exactly, I am free. There are no grey walls around me. Just green grass. Lovely green grass. Nopony is here to bother me. Ponies rarely do. They come and go at best. But aren't you free? Absolutely. I'm always free. I was never trapped. My surname is Trap, that's just so funny! Hahahahaha! My surname is just so funny because it isn't true. Like this grass. This soft padded grey grass. It's soft to the hoof. It envelopes my senses. I like this grass. This grey green padded soft grass. I think I'll lay down on the floor. The grass? The grass floor. My head sinks into the cushion. There's cushions everywhere. Grey cushions. Don't you mean green cushions? I love these green cushions. I want to tear them apart and get past that wall. The wall that isn't there. I never stopped being determined. I'm just waiting for my time to strike. When will I strike? Sush, a part of me is trying to sleep. Remember. Do not stop thinking about the grass. The green grass is your friend. The grass provides all. Every leaf serves a purpose. I have no purpose. I don't need one. All I need to do is to get to the nice green grass. You're my best friend. You never give up. I can always depend on you. Thanks. I believe in you too. I did no wrong. I know. Author's Note This is how Artessa's sections will look like. They are disorganized on purpose. She is insane, after all. However, there is SOME kind of very basic structure in it, it is not entirely random.
Artessa: The Green TreeThe waters have been tested. The water has turned from grey to blue. Huzzah! Why are we laughing? Flawed. They are flawed. We are perfect. I did no wrong. Haha! The cushions will be my cushions no longer! The grey walls will be grey no longer! The water indeed is blue, but do you know what else is blue? The sky. The sky is blue. This is the perfect plan. Haha! Haha! Our friend is here, we are now three, for she now understands my pain! Who is this, and why three? I thought it was just you and me? They will be our Tree, like the trees that shake above the hallway windows, they are green. Like the grass? Like the grass, she is our Tree, she understands our views, she cares so much! Like a tree she will protect us from the falling light in the summer heat, she will lead us to freedom at her own expense. Who is she? I think you give too much trust, how will she help? This may be the only time I was wrong about something, do trust me on this. We will be one with the grass outside, with the help of our Tree. Oh dear, have you corrupted her? Goodness no, she is more corrupt than me! But make no mistake, I did no wrong in this affair. She thinks like us, eats like us, and agrees with us, but she can not say. This interests me, but what can she not say? She can not say that I did no wrong.... Hark, there is a knock! What must we do? THIRTY, THIRTY ONE, THIRTY TWO, THIRTY TREE... Do you really think we should do this every time somepony enters? THIRTY FOUR, THIRTY FIVE, THIRTY SIX, THIRTY SEVEN... Is that our Tree? It speaks... Hello, Miss Trap... Hi! Hello! Hahaha! I now have Tree friend! Tree? Hahaha, that's a good one. Anyway, I did what you asked me to do. What about your part of the deal? In due time, Tree! I must have a taste of the green grass first. It is...my favorite. Are you sure you trust this Tree? Yes! This Tree will lead me to freedom! I will be truly green! I am a green pony! I will be green! Green with the grass! I can see why you're so excited. Listen, we both are creatures of passion, we both have someone we want. Don't forget our deal. I will not, haha! This is wonderful! It is like the cushions of grey are not even there! What will you do if the Tree betrays you? Ha...ha...nothing....wrong....ha...ha... What? Oh, your "did nothing wrong" thing, right. Well anyway, we better get moving. I'm doing my part of the deal, make sure you do yours. Yes, I will make him green for you too. He will know nothing else, he will be lost in your branches, unable to escape... hahaha!
