That One Patient

Most of the staff here know that I may sleep in my office sometimes when I’m working on something that requires me to be present for a long while. In fact, there’s a little alcove behind a small door that I use as my secondary bedroom in that case. There were times that I had to do just that during my time figuring out the issue with Apollo Glint. It’s sort of a home-away-from-home deal from me but I ain’t complaining in the slightest. It’s a good living arrangement and allows me to be adjustable but I do occasionally get a few glances from my colleagues because of that.

I woke up in my office at around 1 AM when I heard a small commotion going throughout the halls. Peaking my head out from the office, I saw nothing so I went back in thinking it was another riot until my eyes caught something on a CCTV feed. Apollo’s room was empty and the magic suppression ring he wore had broken into two pieces. I knew right away what it meant and everypony in the facility was in danger, staff and patient alike. None of the security measures we’ve set up did a damned thing.

Arming myself with a syringe of high potency sedative, tranquilizer gun, a taser, and stun baton, I combed through the halls looking for any sign of Apollo’s presence. As I began seeing the dead and mutilated bodies of both staff and patients, I had a feeling of how bad it was but I undersold that when I saw the decapitated head of Parchment Scribble with his eyes gouged out. His face… I honestly hate to have to share that detail with his wife. His filly is going to have to grow up without him. I nearly puked at that sight but what I came across next certainly made me did.

When I got to the cafeteria, the smell of death and blood was already getting to me. Blood everywhere, patients and staff hanging from wires, it was grisly sight until I came across Ms. Aurora Dream’s body literally nailed to the wall. She had been disemboweled, entrails all around her, throat slit, and her private region apparently violated with what looked to be a stun baton. This… was pure evil and whoever Mr. Skull was had certainly embodied that idea. Then and there, I puked and felt slightly disoriented for a while and rushed out panting like I just ran a race. It was beyond evil, utterly unspeakable. Pure rage.

I found myself heading toward the intersecting hall between Blocks C and D as I’ve been following a noise coming from there. As I got partway through there, I saw him, Apollo Glint. His garments were stained with the crimson color of blood, holding a makeshift shiv with his teeth, and grinning maniacally. His eyes, as they locked onto me, glowed a deep red with a black mist-like aura surrounding him. I tried negotiating with him but to no avail. I tried reaching for my taser but he was right on top of me in almost an instant.

I struggled to keep him from stabbing me for several minutes while trying to escape from him but his magic kept me pinned down. He kept screaming in Tambelonese which I knew translated as “The Dark One demands blood!”. It was as if Mr. Skull had taken full control of him like a puppet. His shiv was getting closer and closer to my neck, making my heart beat faster as the end seemed inevitable. I thought it was it for me.
Just as I was ready to see the Elysium Fields, Celestia and Luna, flanked by a group of royal guards, stormed the halls and were able to subdue Apollo with their magic. He put a bit of a fight at first but Celestia was able to end his possession and bring him back to old usual self. He was frightened beyond belief through the experience. If I had to guess, he was fully aware of what he was doing but Mr. Skull’s influence made it impossible for him to resist. I had hoped that it would end there but I was proven wrong.

Apollo began screaming that Mr. Skull was clawing away at his mind once more. In a flash, he snatched a knife from one of the guards and tried lunging at Celestia, only to be cut down by the other guards, stabbing him with their spear. He laid in a pool of his own blood, gasping his last bit of air before he died in my hooves relieved that his nightmare was over. I was in too much shock to be able to move for several moments until Celestia was able to bring me out of my daze. I left the facility still shaken from the events.

After I met up with the other survivors, I was left mentally breathing sighs of relief that I was still alive but it was a bittersweet pill for me. The one pony I tried to help essentially committed suicide to escape a malevolent entity’s influence. It was a truly tragic end for him. Celestia pulled me aside for a bit to inform me that in light of what had happened, she was granting me immediate access to the royal archives. If she had gotten me access to the archives earlier, then maybe Apollo and so many others could’ve survived and the incident wouldn’t’ve happened.

Tough I got what I’ve been waiting for, I have to put that off until tomorrow because… I don’t know. I’m just in too much shock over what I had just seen earlier. Never once in my life did I see something so abhorrently evil before. Whoever in Tartarus’s name Mr. Skull is, I shudder to imagine what will happen when he accomplishes whatever his goals were. Did he intend to assassinate the princesses with Apollo as a puppet? I can’t dwell on that any further without any sleep. The case won’t be closed without my say so.