When Twilight woke up, the first thing she was aware of was a sharp pain in her head. The second thing she realized was that she was not in her bed, and what she had been sleeping on seemed to be made of kind of cool metal. her wings bound to her by some type of belt. The next thing Twilight realized was that she was in complete darkness. Instinctively Twilight attempted to use her magic to give her some light, only to have the pain in her head double.Twilight reached up to try and see what was wrong, and found that her horn had been covered by some kind of paint. Twilight attempted to use a telekinesis spell to remove the substance, only to once more cause a that seemed to want her skull to shatter.

Panicked, Twilight Sparkle leaped to her feet and tried to run, only to take one step and have her face collide with an unseen barrier. When she recovered,Twilight placed a hoof on the wall and began to feel the dimensions of wherever she was. Twilight’s heart sank when she found that she barely had enough room to lie down. Her panic renewed, Twilight began to shout, hoping that some pony would hear her and come to her aid.

“HELP! SOME PONY! ANY PONY! ” she shouted as she banged on the walls of the thing that trapped her, “I’M TRAPPED IN SOME KIND OF GARBAGE CAN!”

“Finally awake are you?” A familiar voice said coolly from Twilight’s left, “Did you really have to wake up during nap time? Some ponies are sleeping here.”

“Wha- Pinkie Pie? Is that you?” Twilight asked, momentarily distracted from her present predicament.

The voice laughed, “Now there’s a name that I haven’t heard in a long time. Not since my first time come to think of it. I used to be called Pinkie Pie, but now I go by my full name, Pinkamena Diane Pie. I’m gonna guess that you’re Twilight Sparkle from the sound of your voice. So what are you in for?”

Twilight blinked, “In for? What do you mean? I haven’t done anything. Where am I?”

Pinkamena laughed, “You’re in the Sleipnir Asylum, silly, where all the most bad ponies end up. You don’t get in here if you didn’t do anything.”

Twilight frowned, “Like I said I haven’t done anything.”

“Its okay, Twilight, every pony here has done something, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. So what’s your crime? Rape? Murder? Cannibalism? Torture? Which is it? Wait, don't tell me. It was jaywalking wasn't it?” Pinkamena laughed at her own joke.

Twilight stood there in shock. It was one thing for a pony talk about such abhorrent things, but to casually ask a pony if she did any them! Twilight couldn’t even process the thought.

“Oh come on,” Pinkamena said cheerfully, “whatever you did couldn’t have been too bad, judging by the fact that the Administrator doesn’t have you restrained. Then again, I’m a cannibal who butchered ponies alive and all they’ve got me in is an 'I love my self so much jacket'.”

Twilight was briefly enraged, “The Pinkie Pie I knew would NEVER hurt one of her friends!”

Pinkamena laughed maniacally, “YOUR Pinkie might not, but I’m not the Pinkie Pie you knew am I? Don’t you realize where we are? Didn’t Dread explain anything to you when he brought you here? Didn’t he tell you what this place was? I’m not the Pinkie Pie that you knew, just as you are not the Twilight Sparkle that I knew. This is the first time either of us has met each other.”

Twilight shouted, “You’re not making any sense! What do mean known our selves before meeting here at the Asylum? How can we have just met if we’ve known each other? And who in the hoof is Dread?”

Just as Twilight finished her rant, a light from outside her holding cell turned on, and Twilight could see how many more ponies where being held at this Asylum. Outside the glass window on her cell, Twilight could see rows of cylinder-like holding cells, each containing a different Pony. Upon closer inspection Twilight realized that many of the Ponies, in addition to the straightjackets, had muzzles placed on them, preventing them from speaking.

“Good morning dear children,” a sing song voice that sounded neither masculine nor feminine said over an intercom, “we at the Sleipnir House of the Mentally Unwell hope that you've all had a long night of pleasant dreams that last nap time. Breakfast will be served shortly, followed by the announcement of today’s therapy schedule. We hope that you have a pleasant day.”

“Oh great,” Pinkamena said miffed, “they didn’t announce what they’re going to be feeding us. That usually means that whatever it is, it'll be almost inedible.” Twilight was still trying to figure out why this asylum had multiple variations of the same pony and didn’t listen.

“Where am I?” Twilight asked stupidly.

“Ugh, you’ve been told twice now.” Pinkamena said, “Once by me, and once by the intercom. You’re in the Sleipnir Asylum. You know, the nut house?”

“Why are there so many ponies here?”

“Because there are that many crazy ponies out there in the world?” Pinkamena laughed, “Seriously, how the buck am I supposed to know? All I know is that any pony that commits an act that the Administrator defines as unnatural ends up here, no matter what universe they’re in.”

“What do you mean universe?” Twilight asked.

“Well it’s not something that the doctor’s confirmed, just something that I’ve come up with as a way of trying to rationalize why…” Pinkamena stopped mid sentence as the sound of a hatch opening came from somewhere far to Twilight’s right, “Buckin’ finally, food’s here!”

In the distance, Twilight could just make out the sound of doors being slid open and closed. As the noise came closer, she began hear a metallic thump approach rhythmically, pausing as whatever figure making the sound stopped to feed an inmate. As the figure came closer, Twilight could just barely make a silhouette pushing cart, and she couldn’t believe her eyes. The figure was walking on two legs and didn't look like it could be a dragon. The figure came closer and Twilight could make out a rounded head and two limbs hanging along either side of the creature’s body.

When the creature came close enough to Twilight’s cell, she saw that it couldn’t be a creature. It had metal instead of skin, two glowing red lights where its eyes should be, and three fingered claws at the end of its limbs. As it moved, Twilight could hear a faint buzzing noise coming from the entity’s joints.

When the machine made its way to the front of Twilight’s cell, she could make out the robot’s more detailed features. Its entire body appeared to be loosely designed after a pony’s skeleton. Where it’s eye’s would have been, there were two glowing red lights that were angled to look like the robot was glaring. This seemed to be entirely aesthetic as the robot’s vision seemed to come from a black lens located at the center of its face.

Looking at the robot’s face caused Twilight’s head to hurt again. As she tried her best to fight back tears, Twilight found herself standing before the Canterlot royal palace. Just as suddenly, the purple alicorn was standing before Princess Celestia, who looked both shocked and disgusted.

“How could you, Twilight Sparkle?” The Princess asked, just as she and everything around her began to fade.

The window on Twilight’s cell was slid open by a metal, three fingered claw. When the window was opened, the robot spoke. Its voice was electronic, but masculine, and it echoed as if the voice wasn’t coming from the robot, but rather something far away.

“Your meal, patient Twilight Sparkle. Enjoy.” The robot gave her a small disposable bowl with a plastic lid, “Have a pleasant day.”

The robot went on to feed the other ponies. Twilight inspected the contents of the bowl. Inside appeared to be a grainy, white chunk of bread that had been cooked and allowed to get moldy. Upon touching the substance, Twilight found that despite all appearances, the food was a liquid. When Twilight tasted the substance, she decided that whoever cooked it had just mixed old food together and bleached it.

“Do you know what that robot was Pinkamena?” Twilight asked, trying to take her mind off of the disgusting meal before her.

“Who, Dread?” Pinkamena asked, “I don’t know much about him, assuming he is a he. From what I can tell, he does all the grunt work for the Administrator. Feeding inmates, cleaning, restraining, stuff like that. He’s also the one who actually bring the inmates in; he’s the one dragged you in this time yesterday.”

“Thanks, I was just wondering why…”

“Why he has the weird claw things?” Pinkamena said, predicting Twilight’s question.

“Yeah, those things.”

“I think that he was designed to perform delicate tasks, things that only a unicorn could do with telekinesis. You’ll see him walking around like a normal pony most of the time.”

Twilight sat in silence, eating her breakfast which despite all appearances turned out to be a kind of pudding. She found herself unable to explain her vision. Did it have something to with why she was here?

What was she thinking? Of course it had something to do with it. Princess Celestia wouldn’t be mad at her for no reason; she would have asked Twilight to explain herself, and then lectured her. And besides, Celestia wouldn’t send her to a place like this, not if she didn’t deserve it at least.

'But what if I do deserve to be here?' Twilight thought with a shudder. 'No. There is no way that I would have done something that would warrant me being sent to mental hospital. This has to be a mistake; Princess Celestia will show up any time now to take me home. Everything will be just…'

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening from somewhere above her. A light from above suddenly illuminated her cell, and Twilight looked up to see a small screen mounted to the roof of her cell. The image on it was blurry, but Twilight could just make out the image on old stallion wearing what appeared to be an expensive suit.

“Good morning,” The Stallion said in that same gender neutral voice that the intercom spoke in before, “I do hope that you have all enjoyed your breakfast. Today I thought that we would do one of my favorite methods of treatment, a Release of Tension. I’m sure that many of you are already quite aware of this exercise and are eager to participate.”

“Now those of you who have only recently came to stay at the Sleipnir House of the Mentally Unwell, I feel that I should explain this exercise so that you know what it is that we will be doing. You see, here at Sleipnir, many of our patients have this…pressure that builds over time, like air in a balloon. The more this pressure builds, the more likely that the patient will, pop if you will, and become a threat to themselves and others. In order to treat this, I have developed a method reminiscent of the olden days of gladiatorial combat.”

“In this exercise I will be selecting to patients at random to come to an Arena located just outside this room. While in the Arena, the patients will have the freedom to do whatever they please. Whichever patient comes out alive shall receive full medical attention, as well as one request for their dinner. The Patients who will be in the exercise shall be announced at noon.”

The screen cut off a moment after the Stallion finished. Twilight began trying to figure out the reasoning behind the exercise that who she guessed was the Administrator had just described. Twilight wasn’t one to question a professional’s methods, but this 'Release of Tension' made absolutely no medical sense. Shouldn’t a doctor try to get patients to focus their urges into something productive, or else get them to stop acting on them at all?

“You’re probably wondering what exactly the Administrator was going on about.” Pinkamena said as if reading Twilight’s mind.

“I’m trying to make sense of it, if that’s what you mean. Why would a doctor use such methods? And what did he mean by Whichever patient comes out alive?”

Pinkamena laughed, “It means that one of the two ponies is going to die silly.”

“But why?” Twilight asked, “Why would a doctor have his patients kill each other? Doctors are supposed to help ponies, not have them kill each other!”

“Beats me,” Pinkamena said, “all I care about is that whoever wins gets to eat whatever they want.”

Twilight sat there in her cell pondering her current situation. She woke up to find herself being punished for something she didn’t even remember doing. In that prison there were ponies from other realities or universes that had committed terrible acts an,d from what Twilight could tell, where all insane. Among those ponies was an evil version of her friend Pinkie Pie, no not an evil version of Pinkie Pie, just an evil pony that sounded and claimed to be Pinkie Pie. The prison seemed to be maintained by a robot that had been designed to resemble a pony but walk on two legs, and was controlled by an Administrator that seemed to periodically force ponies to kill each other for seemingly no reason at all. What troubled Twilight the most was the way Pinkamena said “whatever they want”.

As she reflected, Twilight’s head began to hurt again, causing her to rub her hooves on the most sensitive part of her skull in a vain attempt to ease the headache. When the headache had passed, Twilight asked herself why she was having headaches; she had rarely ever had them back at Ponyville, why was she having so many of them now? Did it have something to do with whatever it was that got her locked up in Sleipnir? Did it have something to do with the asylum itself? Twilight stopped thinking about it when her head began to feel like it was ready to split itself in two.

Moments later the robot named Dread came back into the hallway, this time walking on all fours. As the robot walked by each cell, it shined a light into the window and flashed the lights on its eyes twice. Occasionally it would light the cell twice and write something in a notebook.

“What is it doing?” Twilight asked.

“What is what doing?” Pinkamena responded.

“The robot, its shining a light into the cells!”

“He has a name you know. Anyway, Dread is just scanning each Pony’s health to see which ones will give the Administrator the best show. At least that’s only conclusion that I’ve been able to come up with, he always does that before one of the Administrator’s exercises. Don’t pay any attention to it, it’s not gonna hurt you.”

When Dread had finished scanning every inmate, the robot went up to an observation area that overlooked the entire hall. There Dread announced over a speaker,

“The patients that will be competing in today’s release of tension will be announced within one hour of this message. It is advised that all ponies begin to mentally ready themselves for the exercise. If anypony would like to volunteer for releasing their tension, please do so at this time.” No pony volunteered.

Dread continued, “In the meantime, please enjoy this replay of the last patients who participated in the release of tension.” When the robot finished the screen in Twilight's cell turned on and displayed a logo with SLEIPNIR written on it.

After a moment the logo switched to a title card asking Twilight to please silence her cell phone, whatever that meant. Shortly after, the image on the screen turned black and classical music began to play over the intercom. A second later, the screen showed an image of two ponies, a mare and a stallion facing each other in the middle of a large, circular room, a metal fence separating them.

The two ponies stood there for about 30 seconds before the fence sank into the floor. Almost immediately the stallion charged at the mare. The mare just barely managed to dodge him. The stallion charged again, this time he managed to knock the mare off her hooves. The mare attempted to get up, but was stopped when the stallion leapt onto her. The stallion turned the mare over so that she was forced to look at his face.

At first Twilight was confused, the way the Administrator described it she had expected this exercise to be more…violent. She did not think that it would be this odd sort of wrestling. Maybe the exercise wasn’t as bad she thought.

Then Twilight noticed the expression on the mare’s face. It seemed like she was in more pain than she should have from just being pinned down. The Twilight saw how the two ponies were positioned, how the stallion was moving. Twilight felt her insides squirm.

“SWEET MOTHER OF LUNA!” Twilight said in disgust, “WHAT THE BUCK?”

Twilight was not used to idea of this kind of act, she had heard of it before, but she never thought that a pony would actually do something like that. Twilight watched for a moment longer, the stallion placed a hoof on the mare’s throat and began to press down. However doing so freed the mare’s right hoof, allowing her to try to ward off the stallion. The mare began to try a push the stallion off her, but it was to no avail, the stallion seemed completely unaffected by the mare’s vain attempt at freedom.

The mare began hitting the stallion in his head, but at this point she must have been running out of oxygen, and her blows weren’t strong enough to faze the stallion. Eventually the mare gave up on her attempt at freedom and allowed the stallion to do as he pleased, waiting for him to end it. In her last moments of life, the camera zoomed in on the mares face, showing her anguish in explicit detail. Twilight watched, her eyes hypnotically glued to the screen, as the nameless mare’s eyes lost focus. It wasn’t until the stallion got off the mare that Twilight forced herself to look away, and vomit.

In the next cell, Twilight heard Pinkmanina laughing at the grotesque scene, “Oh man, I remember that fight! It was bucking hilarious!”

“You-you found that funny?” Twilight asked, trying to sound like she didn’t just vomit.

“Yeah, mostly because that’s not how one would’ve expected the fight to go. That mare was guilty of 26 cases of first degree murder. I think she was called Berry the Chopper, or something like that. That stallion was a foal molester, but other than that her never hurt anypony. In fact, I think that that was the first time her ever assaulted anypony older than…” Pinkamena stopped mid sentence, “Do you smell puke?”

Twilight panicked, she didn’t want Pinkamena to know that she wasn’t used to watching ponies hurt each other, “NO! No, there’s no vomit here. Nope, no vomit at all. Honestly, I don’t know why you would think that…”

“Twilight,” Pinkamena interrupted, “I’m not going to think any less of you if you couldn’t keep your breakfast down. Hay, sometimes I have trouble digesting that crap they call food.”

“Oh, okay. Yes… I vomited”

“Look at the back of your cell, there should be a little nozzle that’ll clean the cell up for you. It’s also your water supply, and toilet.”

Twilight felt around the side of her cell opposite of the screen and window and found a round metallic object that had multiple indentions so that it could be easily turned with a hoof. Twilight turned the nozzle counter clockwise and was hit almost immediately by a torrent of intensely hot water. The water filled up the cell quickly. The cell would have completely filled up had Twilight not turned the nozzle back a second later.

Twilight sat there up to her neck in the uncomfortably hot water for a good seven minutes, having to endure various soaps that were squirted in automatically when she had turned off the water. Eventually though, small drain vents opened at the bottom of Twilight’s cell and the water level lowered, giving Twilight more room to breathe. Although she was soaking wet and smelled of a disgusting mix of Roses and Peanut butter, Twilight had at least gotten the vomit out of her cell.

“Well that was…intense;” Twilight said plainly.

“Yeah, try not to need water too much.” Pinkamena said, “Sometimes the water is just sewage that got backed up and re circulated through the pipes.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The intercom came on moments later saying, “The contestants for this exercise will be,” a drum roll played, “patient’s Corncob and Pinkamena Diane Pie.”

Twilight heard Pinkamena laugh in the cell next to her, “Well that’s great! Been a while since they let me out of this trash bin!”

“Yes, but aren’t you afraid that you’re going to die?” Twilight asked, oddly concerned for the sociopath.

“Buck no. If I die, then it means I won’t put up with this crap anymore, and if I win, well then at least to kill somepony, and I get a nice meal as an added bonus.”

Seconds later, Twilight heard the sound of metal hooves thumping in the distance. As the noise came closer, Twilight looked out her window to see Dread walking down the aisle, this time on all fours, his fingers nowhere in sight.

“Are you ready Miss Pie?” The robot asked when it got to Pinkamena’s cell.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Pinkamena said, “Just try not to rip this straight jacket when you take it off me, this one’s actually somewhat comfortable.”

“Very well, I will now be opening your containment cell.”

Twilight heard the sound of metal latches being opened one at a time, from what she heard; Twilight guessed that there had to be at least twelve of them. Twilight strained to get a glimpse of what Pinkamena looked like, if only to just have an accurate mental image of her. When Twilight finally saw her neighbor, she was shocked and amazed.

There were many things about Pinkamena’s appearance that disturbed Twilight. For starters Pinkamena stood on two hooves, her hind hooves being elongated to balance her. She had wild, piercing eyes that looked as though they belonged to a pony that had died a long time ago. Her teeth were crooked and occasionally pointed. Her mane was unwashed and greasy, laying flat on her back. What shocked Twilight most about Pinkamena’s appearance was how much she resembled one of Twilight’s best friends, Pinkie Pie. She had the same fur color, the same eye color, and most of all, the same cutie mark.

Dread began untying Pinkamena’s straight jacket, undoing a number of odd little knots that seemed unnecessary just to hold a simple mare. As Dread undid more and more knots, Pinkamena seemed to change. Her eyes became brighter and more lively, her expression changed from a smirk to a warm smile, and her mane began to slowly rise in a sort of curl. By the time Dread was finished, Pinkamena looked like an unwashed version of Pinkie Pie.

“Ooh, what’s going on Mr.Robot?” Pinkamena asked in a cheerful voice.

“The Administrator has set up a game for you Pinkie.” Dread answered, taking no notice of Pinkamena’s, now Pinkie’s, sudden change, “It is set up in the usual play room, you will find your playmate waiting for you when you arrive.”

“Thank you!” Pinkie said cheerfully as she began hopping in the direction of the arena.

As she hopped past, Pinkie caught a view of Twilight out of the corner of her eye. Pinkie gasped excitedly, “Hey Twilight! Long time no see!”

“What?” Twilight asked. Hadn’t they been talking to each other for the last couple of hours, or did Pinkie somehow forget that?

“ITS GREAT TO SEE YOU!” Pinkie said happily, her hopping becoming slightly faster,

“ITSBEENSOLONGSINCEI’VESEENANYOFMYFRIENDTHISISSOGREATICAN’TWAITTOTELLYOUALLABOUTHOWMYLIFE’SBEENANDWAITARETHOSEWINGSDOESTHATMEANTHATYOU’REAPRINCESSNOWTHATISSOCOOLICAN’TWAITTOTELLEVERYPONYABOUT…”

“Miss Pie,” Dread cut her off, “Have you forgotten that you are supposed to be attending a party?”

“Oh yeah, you know I totally forgot about that when I saw Twilight here, I guess that I just got excited and…”

“Yes, very well,” Dread said as he began pushing Pinkie towards that arena, “you will have plenty of time to catch up with one another after you are finished playing.”

Twilight heard the sound of a heavy door being open and closed, followed by the ringing silence of Pinkie’s ramblings no longer being audible. The silence was broken only be the sound of Dread’s metal hooves clip clopping on the metal floor. Every few steps Dread would stop moving, when Dread returned to Twilight’s limited range of vision she found out that he was checking the doors on all of the cells.

Shortly after, the monitor in Twilight’s cell lit up, this time it displayed a bag of popcorn and informed her that snacks could be purchased in the lobby, she was beginning to suspect that these messages were some pony’s idea of a joke. The screen changed to an image of Pinkamena/Pinkie standing in front of a blank background. Words began to scroll across the screen, but they were too small and moving too fast for Twilight keep up with them. This annoyed Twilight, who had always prided herself on being a speedy reader. Twilight did however manage to pick up the words butcher, cannibal, multiple, and sánguinum.

The image that was next displayed was that of a reddish brown Earth pony stallion. Again words began scrolling across the screen but this time Twilight didn’t bother trying to read them, she was more interested in what would being going on after the text finished. This must’ve been the pony named Corncob.

When the text stopped scrolling across the screen, a song began to play on the intercom. Twilight recognized the song as one that was often played a circuses, however she also remembered that the song was originally written a war song for soldiers to march to. The image changed to a view of the arena, Pinkamena/Pinkie was standing at one side facing the stallion named Corncob, a chain fence being the only thing separating them.

This was the first time Twilight had a good look at Corncob, and he was by far the strangest thing Twilight had seen during her imprisonment in Sleipnir, and that’s including Pinkamena and Dread. Like Pinkamena/Pinkie the stallion stood on two legs, but whatever mutation that caused such a strange adaptation clearly affected Corncob more than Pinkie. To begin with, instead of forehooves, Corncob had digits, similar to the claws that dragons and griffons had. His snout was short and appeared to have been squished into his face by brute force. But worst of all where his eyes; they were so small and beady that at first glance he appeared to not possess any. Twilight felt sick to her stomach after looking at such a strange and ugly pony.

Corncob and Pinkie stared at each other through the fence. Between the two of them Pinkie appeared to better fed, but Corncob was clearly the more physically fit. Corncob appeared to be getting impatient as he swore violently at the fence, demanding that it collapse.

“Hey,” Pinkie said in protest, “don’t be mean to the fence, it’ll come down when it wants to!”

“Shut up you little cry baby.” Corncob said coldly, “The faster that fence opens up, the faster I get to sample that tight little plot of yours.”

Pinkie ignored the obvious sexual harassment and said, “Stop being such a Meany!”

Corncob laughed, “I’m the Meany? I’m not the one who butchered two of her friends for the sole purpose of eating them!”

Twilight stopped paying attention to the screen. Pinkie/Pinkamena killed two of her friends? She said that she was a cannibal, but killing her friends? The idea was unthinkable to Twilight, that one could care so little for pony life that she would actually kill a friend! Twilight’s attention was brought back to the screen by the sound of something metal being dropped.

Corncob lunged at Pinkie, missing her by only the slightest margin, Pinkie laughed as she evaded him. Undaunted, Corncob kept trying to hit Pinkie, only to have her dodge at the last moment, and despite his best efforts, Corncob was unable to lay a hand on his opponent. Throughout all this, Pinkie continued to smile, but not in a taunting or insane way. Her smile was warm and cheerful, as if she were actually enjoying the fight. This angered Corncob, who began to express his frustration by screaming angrily.

Pinkie frowned and said holding her nose “Pee yoo, your breath smells bad, have you been forgetting to brush your teeth everyday?”

This actually caused Corncob’s rampage to come to a halt, “What?”

“I said your breath smells bad silly.” Pinkie said happily, “I have a friend who can get you some better toothpaste if that’s the problem.”

Corncob’s anger returned almost as quickly as it had vanished, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BREATH STINKS!”

Corncob’s eyes bulged, his nostrils flared, and fur began to stand straight. He charged at Pinkie, ready to grab her throat. His digits were inches away from their target, before Pinkie grabbed his arm. In one swift movement Pinkie twisted Corncob’s arm so that she was holding it behind his back. Laughing, Pinkie slammed Corncob into the floor of the arena, bending his arm into an unnatural position.

While Corncob was dazed by the force of Pinkie’s attack, Pinkie grabbed his head and slammed it onto the arena floor twelve consecutive times before the brown stallion became unconscious. Pinkie then took the arm that she had damaged when she slammed Corncob to ground, and began pulling on the shoulder. Pinkie pulled on Corncob’s arm until the bone popped out of its socket. The pain of having his arm dislocated snapped Corncob back to consciousness. The stallion swore loudly before Pinkie slammed his head into the floor once more.

“I know you want to be awake for this part,” Pinkie said playfully, “but it works better if you’re asleep. Don’t worry though; I’ll make sure you’re up when the real fun begins.”

Pinkie proceeded to repeat this pattern of dislocating on of Corncob’s limbs, and knocking him back unconscious when the pain woke him up. By the time Pinkie had dislocated three out of Corncob’s four limbs, Corncob could only muster up a faint whimper before having his head slammed back into the ground. Twilight averted her eyes away from the screen.

This isn’t real, Twilight thought to herself, any moment now I’m going to wake up and never think about this again.

Twilight covered her eyes and began to cry. She didn’t want to be in that cramped metal container, she didn’t want to watch ponies brutally murder each other for sport; she wanted to be back home in Ponyville, with all her friends. Twilight longed to be home, away from this mad house, where she belonged. Twilight was shaken from her emotional state by a knock on her cell door. Twilight looked out of her window to see the harsh, cold, metallic face of the android Dread.

“Wha-What do you want?” Twilight asked, her voice trembling.

“Miss Twilight Sparkle,” the android said its electronic voice, “I wish to see you in my office.”

The android began unlocking the door to Twilight’s cell. When it was finished, the robot opened the door and Twilight stepped out, her knees buckling, causing the purple alicorn to fall down. Twilight realized that this was probably the first time in a while that she had used her legs, she didn’t have much room to move around in her cell, and Celestia knows how long she had been asleep

Dread held out a metal claw and asked, “Do you need any help?”

“No,” Twilight said picking herself up, “I think I’ve got this.”

“Very well then,’ Dread said, retracting his claws into his front legs, “let’s be on our way then.”

The robot led Twilight down the cell lined hallway, opposite the direction of the arena. This was the first time Twilight had seen just how long the hallway went on. It was long, longer than Twilight had originally thought, with cells lining the walls on either side. As they walked by Twilight looked into various cells out of curiosity, she sometimes wished that she had just kept her eyes looking forward.

Most of the inmates were oddly shaped, similar to Pinkie’s/Pinkamena’s appearance, whereas others were grotesquely mutated to the point that they no longer even looked like ponies, like Corncob. Very few of the inmates were normal ponies, which Twilight found to be stranger than the mutated ponies. They were nearly at the end of the hall before Twilight saw a griffon.

Dread led Twilight through a door at the end of the hallway into what seemed to be some kind of laboratory. It was a large room with various machines and contraptions scattered throughout the area. On the walls were metal doors with biohazard symbols painted on to them. Twilight felt the urge to lose herself amongst these areas, to learn what nopony had ever learned before. If her cramped cell had been hell to her, this laboratory was heaven.

However something was off about the laboratory, it was too big for one pony alone to fully use, so that meant that there had to be other ponies working in the lab, and yet there weren’t any. Taking a second look at the machines, Twilight realized that only a couple of them were in working condition, and even fewer seemed to be in use at all.

“Dread,” Twilight said.

“What is it Miss Sparkle?”

“What is this place?”

Dread stood silently for a moment before responding, “The remains of a fallen dream.”

Twilight wanted to ask more, but she had a feeling that doing so would only result in a more cryptic response. The two walked on further until they reached a wooden door. Inside were various bookshelves, a few chairs, a grandfather clock, a few cabinets, and several small red flowers growing in a glass case. Looking at the flowers, Twilight was reminded of poison joke, but she felt that if she were to touch one of these flowers worse things would be done to her than a harmless prank.

“Please have a seat Miss Sparkle.” Dread said, gesturing towards one of the chairs.

“What is this place?” Twilight asked as she took her seat.

“This is my office, Miss Sparkle. It’s where I told you we would be going.”

“Oh, yes. That’s right, you did say that.” Twilight said. She had forgotten what she was doing while in the laboratory.

“Now I should probably tell you why I brought you here.” Dread said as he took out clipboard and a pencil, “I am going to ask you a few questions that will help me get to know you. The more I know about you, the better I can help you. Any questions?”

“Um, yes,” Twilight answered, “why are we doing this during the Administrator’s exercise? Don’t you have specific time to be doing this?”

“The blood sport that the Administrator calls an exercise is my time to be doing this. It’s the only time that it isn’t watching us,” Dread answered, “anything else?”

Twilight had many questions, but felt that Dread must’ve been stressed for time if he only had as long as the fight. Instead she shook her head and waited for Dread’s questions. She might have a chance to find out her answers later anyway.

“Good, let’s begin.” Dread said, “What did you do to warrant Princess Celestia having you sent here?”

Twilight stared at the robot blankly, “You don’t know? But Pinkie said that you were the one who brought me here.”

“Yes, that is correct. I was the one to bring you here,” Dread answered, “but when I went to collect you, you had been in a dungeon cell for what I imagine was a rather long time.”

Twilight’s mind began to race. How long had she been asleep? What could she have done to deserve this? And why did her head hurt whenever she thought about this?

Twilight collapsed to the floor, her head feeling like it was trying to outgrow her skull. The room began to spin around her, she felt like she was about to vomit. Then almost as quickly as it had come, the pain vanished.

“Miss Sparkle, are you alright?” Dread asked in what Twilight guessed was a voice of concern. The android had gotten up and moved to where Twilight was lying.

“Yeah,” Twilight answered, “I’m fine. It’s just that my head started hurting all of a sudden.”

“Have you experienced one of these headaches before?”

“Yes.” Twilight answered, “Once when I first woke up and again when I tried to remember what happened before I came here.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, I’ve never experienced a headache like that before today.”

“Well then I am guessing that your headaches are an after effect of some form of cranial trauma.” Dread said as he began writing something on a clipboard, “Let me know if you experience any more headaches.”

Dread looked at the grandfather clock and said, “We don’t have much time left before Miss Pie finishes dealing with that stallion.”

“Um, Mr. Dread?” Twilight said nervously.

“I prefer the term Doctor, Miss Sparkle,” the android said, “but please, what do you have on your mind?”

“That Pinkie, the one who’s fighting in the arena, she’s not really Pinkie right?”

“Well that would depend on how you define what the real Pinkie is.” Dread said

“I had a friend named Pinkie Pie back home, and she looks an awful lot like the Pinkie that’s in the cell next to me. They’re not the same, are they?”

Dread looked again at the grandfather clock before answering, “Yes and no. Yes the Pinkie Pie that is held in the cell next to yours is very similar to the Pinkie Pie that you are familiar with, both physically and genetically. But no, they are not the same Pinkie Pie.”

“But that can’t be right!” Twilight objected, “Two ponies can’t be genetically similar, unless you mean they’re related?”

Again Dread glanced at the grandfather clock, “No, they are not related. They are the same pony…”

“But you just said that they’re not the same pony!” Twilight interrupted, “That’s a direct contradiction to your previous statement!” Twilight was beginning to become irritated, she wasn’t used to not getting a straight answer.

“Please let me finish Miss Sparkle.” Dread said, “They are not the same pony in the sense that they are the same entity, but they are the same in that they are each other’s counterpart.”

Twilight looked at the robot blankly, “What, you mean like evil twins? Because if so, then I've somehow wandered into one of Rarity's soap operas.”

The robot looked at Twilight and said, “Yes, they idea of evil twins is ridiculous, but perhaps not as ridiculous as the actual answer.”

Dread paused for a moment before asking, “You familiar with the multiverse theory correct?”

“Well yes, but I don’t see how that…” Twilight started to say before it dawned on her.

“The Pinkie that you are familiar with and the Pinkie that lives in the cell next to yours are from different realities.” Dread said matter of factly.

Twilight stood still for a moment thinking, “No, no that isn’t right, I mean that can’t be right. That would mean that this mental hospital or asylum or whatever it is would have to have the ability to take ponies from different universes, and that’s ridiculous. I mean it’s impossible…”

“Miss Sparkle,” Dread interrupted, “Sleipnir is in no way an average mental hospital, nor was it even a mental hospital when it was first founded. I believe it was originally a facility that was designed to study the multiverse, and each individual universe as well as what makes them unique.”

Dread looked at the clock once more and said, “Oh dear, it would seem that we have talking for far too long. Come, we need to get you back into your cell before the administrator notices your absence.”

Dread began to get up walked hurriedly to the office door, “Come along Miss Sparkle, we haven’t much time.”

“But you still haven’t given me a good answer!” Twilight protested.

“I’ll tell you later Miss Sparkle, but right now we have more pressing concerns.”

“But…”

Dread turned and looked at Twilight, “Believe me when I say that if the administrator finds out that I’ve been letting ponies out of their cells, it could very well mean both of our lives.”

Twilight followed Dread through the laboratory, past the cell with the only griffon, and back to her cell. Once Twilight was inside Dread hastily began re-locking the door. As soon as Twilight was once again locked in the cramped cell, Dread hurried back in the direction of his office.

Twilight sat in her cell for what seemed like forever. Pinkie had reduced Corncob to a bloody blob that barely resembled a pony, even one with an anatomy as odd as Corncob’s. From what Twilight could tell, Pinkie had twisted off one of Corncob’s legs, how she managed to cut his body open was beyond her however.

Moments later Dread returned and waited silently outside Twilight’s cell. After waiting for a short amount of time, and a few futile attempts at conversation by Twilight’s part, a blood soaked Pinkie Pie came hopping happily down the hallway. Dread coerced Pinkie back into her straightjacket, almost immediately Pinkie’s mane straightened out and her eyes lost all emotion.

Pinkamena looked down at herself and scowled, “You could’ve at least washed the blood of my coat before sticking me back into this thing.”

“My apologies, Miss Pie,” Dread said, “I have been a little absent minded today. If it is any consolation, your cell’s power wash was designed to wash though the straight jacket.”

“No Dread, that doesn’t console me at all.” Pinkamena said sourly.

“I am sorry, Miss Pie. How would you like me to prepare your meal?” Dread asked, possibly trying to change the subject.

“Oh, just grill up whatever’s left of that idiot in the arena. Don’t spice it too much, you know I like the taste of meat.”

“As you wish;”

Dread locked Pinkamena back into her cell and then walked off in the direction of the Arena. Twilight heard the sound of running water coming from Pinkamena’s cell and wondered if Dread was actually going to cook the remains of Corncob just so Pinkamena could eat him. Perhaps Pinkamena meant it when she said that the victor could ask for anything to eat, even ponies. The idea of it made Twilight want to puke.

“So, what did you think of my little performance out there?” Pinkamena asked when the sound of running water had ceased.

“I um…” Twilight wasn't sure how to bring up her visit with Dread with out offending the cannibal she was talking to.

“What?” Pinkamena asked when Twilight failed to produce an answer.

“Dread asked me to come with him to his office while you were fighting. I’m sorry Pinkamena, I didn’t see much more after you dislocated that stallion’s legs." It was a strange feeling, apologizing for not watching a pony (a pony who looked almost exactly like a friend Twilight had back home) kill another pony.

“Oh, so Dread’s been talking to you too? I guess that makes sense,” Pinkamena said thoughtfully, “I thought for sure that I was the only one he brought back there. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

“Wait, what do you mean he brings you back there?”

“He takes me back into this room that he calls his office every so often, usually when the Administrator sets up one of those little exercises of his. He talks to me about things, how I’m feeling, is the temperature okay, is my straightjacket comfortable. Generally just stuff that you wouldn’t think he would care about. And then there these questions he asks that…” Pinkamena paused, “Never mind, forget I said anything. Anything else you wanna talk about?”

“So, how was your fight?” Twilight asked, wishing a second later that she hadn’t.

“It was so fun!” Pinkamena said excitedly, “You should’ve seen him trying to move with all his joints dislocated! I swear, I thought he was going to cry for his mommy the way he had his faced messed up, and the look on his face when I was twisting his leg off, priceless.”

Twilight congratulated herself on being correct about Corncob’s leg.

“But that doesn’t even compare to what I did next!” Pinkamena said gleefully, “When I twisted his leg off, I broke one of the bones into a makeshift knife. The way he screamed when he realized that I was cutting his liver out with his own bone was hilarious. He's never gonna liver that one down! Actually now that I think about it, maybe he was just crying because he was being cut open… Oh well, it’s still funny. I really wish that you had seen it, I think that you would’ve liked it.”

“Yeah… I’m sure I would have,” Twilight lied.

Pinkamena continued to describe how she killed Corncob in graphic detail, coming up with a macabre joke every couple of sentences, usually plays on the word 'bladder'. Twilight listened politely as Pinkamena told her story, but wished more than anything that they would change the subject. Eventually Pinkamena ran out of ways to describe how she pulled Corncob’s kidneys out with her teeth and the two mares sat in awkward silence until Dread returned with a cart carrying a number of paper bags.

“Miss Pie, your dinner.” The robot said as it pulled out a paper bag, “How much would you like?”

“Oh, I’m not that hungry.” Pinkamena said, “Maybe two for now, I’ll eat the rest later.”

“Very well then, Miss Pie.” Dread balanced himself on his hind legs, unfolded the claws on his front hooves, and placed two of the paper bags in Pinkamena’s cell.

Dread was beginning to walk away when Pinkamena suddenly called out, “Dread!”

The robot turned to face Pinkamena's cell, “Yes, Miss Pie?”

“You prepare the same amount of food every evening whether somepony gets their own meal or not right?”

“That is correct Miss Pie. Everypony receives a the same amount of food whether they have a special meal or not.”

“Then could you please give my serving to Twilight?”

“If that is what you wish. It is your food after all, you may choose whatever happens to it.”

“Thanks, Dread.”

Dread turned and walked back toward the laboratory.

When Twilight was sure that the android was out of earshot, she asked Pinkamena, “Why did you give me your food?”

“Because I wouldn’t have been able to eat it myself,” Pinkamena answered, “like I said to Dread, I’m not that hungry.”

“Oh, okay then.”

“And…” Pinkie paused, “As a way of saying thank you.”

Puzzled, Twilight asked “Thank me, for what?”

“You’re the first pony to talk to me like I’m not a monster in a long time, well besides Dread. Do you have any idea how it feels to be locked in a tin can with nothing but your next visit with a robot to look forward to? To be forced into a straight jacket just because some pony said that I had to. When I talk to you, I feel like I did before, back when I had friends. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Twilight didn’t know how to react. In truth she had only thought of Pinkamena as way to find out more about Sleipnir, as well as a way to distract her from her situation. While Twilight was still disgusted by Pinkmena’s blatant disregard for morality and how she talked about terrible things, Twilight did feel some pity for her.

“I’m glad I could help.” Twilight said.

The two ponies sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, the sound of insane laughter coming from one of the cells on the other side of the hall. The laughter was bone chilling, a laugh that was without mirth, a laugh without a soul. Twilight shuddered at whatever strange thoughts were going through the laughing pony’s mind.

It wasn’t long until Dread returned to feed the inmates, even so it still took him a long time before he got to Twilight’s cell. The robot gave Twilight two Styrofoam packages and a plastic packet that appeared to have water in it. Dread stopped to give Pinkamena a water packet and went on to supply the rest of the inmates.

The food within the packet was almost as appetizing as the breakfast was. Within each of the packages were what Twilight guessed had once been a kind of cheese, but had now molded into a multicolored substance that looked like it had grown its own fur. The objects were also leaking a brownish yellow liquid that reminded Twilight of pus that came out of the pimples she got when she was a teenager.

Twilight reluctantly dipped her head toward her dinner, and hesitantly took a bite out of it. Much to her surprise, it wasn’t that bad. In fact it wasn’t bad at all. The food tasted like daisies mixed with cherries and milk; three flavors that should’ve conflicted, but instead complimented each other.

Twilight quickly devoured the rest of her dinner and began to examine the packet of water. The packet had no marking of where one should open it and was so small that Twilight could’ve put the entire container in her mouth with little to no trouble. Twilight looked at the packet for a moment before she realized that putting in her mouth was exactly what she was supposed to do.

Twilight lowered her head to the packet and tentatively lifted it up with her lips, restraining from biting it in case her teeth punctured the packet. Once the packet was safely in her mouth, Twilight bit down and allowed the water to run down her throat. Twilight had not realized how thirsty she was, she didn’t receive any water at breakfast and Celestia knows how long she had been asleep; the water refreshed her very much. It was then that Twilight realized that the packet had dissolved in her mouth, convenient seeing as it meant that Twilight didn’t have to put up with a plastic bag all night.

Sometime after Twilight had finished drinking, the intercom came on and the voice said, “Five minutes until lights out.”

Twilight thought about how short the day seemed to be. It felt like only a few hours had passed since she woke up in this undersized cell. Even so, Twilight suddenly felt tired, as though she had spent an entire day studying and had only just then turned away from her books.

“Twilight?” Pinkamena called from her cell.

“Yes Pinkie?” Twilight asked half awake.

“Thank you for being my friend.”

Minutes later the lights in the hallway began to flicker out. Twilight made herself as comfortable as her cell would allow her. The entire asylum was peaceful, the distant laughter of an insane pony being the only thing that broke the silence. No longer able to keep herself awake, Twilight began to sleep.