“Twilight, where am I?” Fluttershy asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“We’re… somewhere.” Twilight answered, unable to think of anything better.

“Wh-Why aren’t I in the hospital room? Where’s the doctor who gave me the medicine?”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably. She hadn’t put much thought into explaining the situation to Fluttershy if she woke up. Now that she was awake and Twilight was on the spot, she was unable to come up with a convincing lie. How do you explain to a pony who looked and acted like one of your friends, that she had woken up in an abandoned research center. Also that the research center was teeming with psychopaths and whatever monsters escaped with the tree creature Twilight had encountered a few hours before. And also that one of those psychopath’s was her friend who had maimed her some months ago. Fluttershy was fragile and the knowledge that such things existed might be too much for her.

“I, uh, I…” Twilight’s mind raced to find a plausible story to satisfy Fluttershy for the time being, at least until she was ready to understand the truth. Instead Twilight ended up stammering out, “So, how are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess,” Fluttershy answered. “My side hurts a little, but I think it’ll get better.” She gestured to the spot were Twilight had kicked her earlier to get away from the tree creature. Two large bruises had formed there in the shape of Twilight’s hooves.

On seeing this, Twilight’s stomach did a somersault. “Oh, that; I have no idea what could’ve caused that… But on the plus side it looks like your stitches are no longer falling apart when you move, so that’s good.”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy said, her voice lowered slightly, “I just wish that I didn’t need them. What happened to me, Twilight?”

Twilight shifted, looking away from Fluttershy. Dancing around unpleasant details was never her strong suit. “I told you before, in the hospital, you had an accident and the doctors didn’t have the equipment to fully treat you. I’m sure there’s a way to, but for now you’re stuck like this.” Then, realizing how cold that sounded, Twilight added, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that to come out that way. I’m sure that there’s some way to fix you, but for now you’re going to have to bear it.”

Fluttershy sighed, “I guess that’s okay. I’m just worried about how my animals will react when they see me, like this.” While saying the last part she traced a stitch that ran from her empty eye socket down to her belly button. The stitch itself was poorly sewn into the two patches of skin, looking more like a young foal’s attempt a repairing a doll than something that was supposed to hold Fluttershy’s flesh together. It wasn’t hard to imagine Fluttershy scaring animals when she got home.

Remembering a day dream she had a few days prior, Twilight placed a hoof on Fluttershy and said, “Don’t be ridiculous, Fluttershy, I’m sure your animals will love you no matter what you look like. Don’t worry about that.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thanks, Twilight, that means a lot.”

“Anytime.” Twilight said.

Twilight didn’t say it out loud, but she was glad to be talking to a pony who wasn’t either a psychopath, a possibly mad scientist or a robot. Twilight enjoyed Dread and Pinkamena’s company, but there was a small, barely noticeable bubble of unease that came from interacting with personalities and mindsets that were so foreign to Twilight’s own. True, Fluttershy was a little hard to look at, but at least Twilight knew that she wasn’t secretly wondering what she tastes like or speaking in a near toneless voice that was barely capable of simulating emotions. All in all, it was a refreshing experience.

The two of them sat in awkward silence; Twilight didn’t want to accidently bring up something that would make Fluttershy uncomfortable, and Fluttershy probably wasn’t fully awake.

This silence was only broken when Fluttershy asked, “Umm, is there any way that I could get something to eat? I’m very hungry.”

“Of course, just follow me to…” Twilight trailed off when she realized the danger finding food presented. There were three ways they could get food from the room they were in; go back to the mess hall and get the food from there, go up the stairs and take some food from one of the hospital rooms, or wander around the building until they stumbled upon some food at random. Twilight dismissed this third option as too risky, leaving her to decide which was safer; Scylla, or Charybdis.

If Twilight took Fluttershy upstairs to the hospital, she ran the risk of encountering one or more of the escaped inmates. But if she went down to the mess hall, they might run into that monster or something else that crawled out those cages. Leaving Fluttershy behind was right out; if Pinkamena woke up and Twilight wasn’t there to protect Fluttershy if she had a relapse into her old ways, Twilight didn’t want to think of what could happen.

Twilight shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate. She quickly weighed the pros and cons of both scenarios, and decided to risk going upstairs. Even if Twilight could find the mess hall again, it would mean walking through the halls of Sleipnir for what could’ve been hours, and then she had to find her way back.

“Um, Twilight, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked.

Realizing that she had been silent for at least a minute, Twilight quickly said, “Sorry, Fluttershy. It’s been a long day for me and my brain is a little slow right now.”

“Oh, well if you’re feeling tired we don’t have to get food right now.”

“No, no.” Twilight said, “You haven’t had a bite of solid food for a long time. It was okay when you were under the influence of medicine, but now that you’re awake your body will be burning up many more calories. The sooner we get some food in you, the better.”

“Alright then.” Fluttershy said, “But if you start feeling sleepy, feel free to come back here and gets some sleep. I’m sure I can find my way back.”

“I’m sure we won’t take that long.” Twilight said, “Besides, I don’t want to leave you alone in a dark hospital.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I don’t mind hospitals, even at night.”

‘Let’s hope the next couple of hours don’t change that.’ Twilight thought to herself before saying, “Can you walk? I don’t know how many of your muscles were damaged when Pink… when you had your accident.”

“I think so, I can move my arms at least. Let me just…” With some effort, Fluttershy got herself onto her feet, but even in the dim light Twilight could see that she was struggling. She managed to take two steps before her legs gave in and the patchwork pegasus fell face first onto the hard floor.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, rushing to her side.

“N-no,” Fluttershy answered, holding back a cry, “th-that really hurt. T-Twilight, I-I don’t think I’ll be able to walk anymore!” A stream of tears began rolling down from Fluttershy’s remaining eye.

Realizing that she needed to both comfort her friend, and keep her from waking up Pinkamena, Twilight grabbed hold of Fluttershy and pulled her into a gentle embrace.

“It’s okay Fluttershy, calm down.” Twilight said in what she hoped was a soothing voice. She turned an eye to where Pinkamena was sleeping, and was relieved to see that her cannibalistic friend hadn’t so much as stirred. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“But, if I can’t walk, how I will feed my animals? How will take showers? What am I going to do?” Fluttershy began shaking in Twilight’s grasp.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy, you will be okay. Your legs will… are…” Twilight paused to think of a convincing explanation to calm Fluttershy down, “Your legs will be fine. You haven’t used them in a long time, so the muscles in them have degraded to where they can no longer support your weight. With a little therapy and some exercise, you should be good as new.”

“I hope so.” Fluttershy said.

Wanting to get off this topic, Twilight said, “Anyway, until we can get you to a therapist, you can just ride on my back for the time being.”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, “I don’t want to be a burden.”

“Oh I’m sure. Trust me, I’ve been carrying you on my back for about two days now.”

“Alright then.”

Twilight helped Fluttershy onto her back. It wasn’t much different than before. Fluttershy didn’t weigh much and her grip on Twilight was just strong enough for Twilight to barely notice it.

“Ready?” Twilight asked after waiting for Fluttershy to settle into a comfortable position.

“I guess so.”

Twilight began to slowly make her way toward the door to the staircase, walking in a pattern so that Fluttershy wouldn’t accidently see Pinkamena. Twilight wanted to put off the little reunion until had had time ease Fluttershy into the concept of her best friend being a cannibalistic psychopath. Twilight expected that this would be a long wait.

Twilight had gotten about halfway to the door when Fluttershy asked, “Twilight, are you sure I can’t just stay here? I mean, you’re walking on all fours.”

“What?” Twilight asked, wondering what was so special about walking on all fours when she remembered Fluttershy and Pinkamena’s mutation. “Oh, that… Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” Fluttershy and Pinkamena both came from a world where ponies walked on two legs, the idea that a pony would walk on four legs was probably as foreign a concept to Fluttershy as, well, a pony walking on only two legs.

Twilight got the door and walked out into the stairway. Thankfully, whatever had cleaned up the book room had also taken the liberty to clean out the blood that was on the stairs.

“Hold on tight.” Twilight told Fluttershy as she began ascending the staircase.

Twilight climbed in silence for several minutes when Fluttershy asked, “So, Twilight, what is this outfit that you are wearing? It feels nice, did Rarity make it?”

“What outfit?” Twilight asked, “Do you mean my wings?”

“Wings?” Fluttershy asked, “How did you get wings? Magic?”

Without thinking Twilight answered, “No. Well, yes, kinda. I got them when Princess Celestia decided to make me a princess and…” Twilight shut up when she realized that she might be giving too much information.

“You, a princess? Oh my, I guess I was out for longer than I thought. I didn’t even know regular ponies could be princesses. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t really miss much, just a bunch of zealots who were mad at Celestia for ‘tarnishing the uniqueness of princesses’ or something like that. You wouldn’t believe the riots that were started because of me.”

“Really? In that case, maybe I’m glad I missed it. I don’t like it when ponies can’t get along.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say to that, and instead climbed for a few moments in silence. This silence was interrupted when Fluttershy asked, “Is there anything else I’ve missed? How is everyone?”

Twilight gulped and tried to come up with good lie. “Well, Rarity’s still trying to break into the high end fashion industry, nothing new with her. Applejack is still working on her farm. I guess everything is the same as ever.”

“What about Pinkie Pie? Or Rainbow Dash? Did they ever find her?”

“Um… Pinkam… Pinkie’s fine. Same with Rainbow Dash. I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you up and about.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Twilight wished that she had just kept silent.

“Really? They’re okay?” Fluttershy asked excitedly.

“Yup,” was all Twilight could say. She wished that she had just left Fluttershy in the book room. She’d rather risk Pinkamena killing Fluttershy than build up a false sense of hope.

“Anyway, did you know that there are only two mammals that lay eggs?” Twilight asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

“Oh yes, Echidna and Platypoda . Adorable little things; I’ve only had the opportunity to take care of a few though. Let me tell you, they’re a lot more difficult than they look. Ponies always say that the platypus doesn’t do much, but they couldn’t be more wrong…”

Twilight listened to Fluttershy ramble on about the intricacies of raising egg laying mammals while she climbed the rest of the stairs. After what must’ve been ten minutes, Twilight arrived at what appeared to be a dead end.

“Hang on just a second; I need to find a switch.” Twilight said. Then, remembering the fake mutated heads, added, “Close your eye for a little bit. This next room is a little creepy.”

“Um, okay.”

Twilight fumbled along the floor with a hoof until she hit a small switch. The wall in front of Twilight split in two and was pulled apart by unseen machines, flooding the stair way with a dark red light. Twilight stepped through the door into a moderately sized room full of broken jars, overturned shelves, overdone nightmare night decorations, and a large organ shaped contraption.

A quick look around revealed that something had been through the room since Pinkamena and Twilight fled through it two days ago. Many of the shelves, including the one Twilight used to barricade the door, had been split in half and thrown haphazardly across the room. One of these shelves had hit the phony mutation device, knocking one of its tesla coils off. Whether or not this had been done by the same creature who had cleaned up the carnage in the book room, Twilight didn’t know.

Twilight carefully traversed the minefield of broken glass and metal until she had reached the door. She had just opened the door ajar when a panicked voiced voice echoed throughout the hospital.

“Did you hear something?” the voice asked somepony. Twilight froze. This wasn’t a voice she recognized, meaning one of three things; the owner of that voice would either rape them, kill them, or both.

“No, I didn’t hear nothin’” a second voice answered. This voice Twilight did recognize; it belonged to the pony who had threatened her and Pinkamena two nights ago when had barricaded themselves in the head room.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight instinctively shushed the pegasus, but when she realized that it wouldn’t do to leave Fluttershy’s imagination to run wild added, “Those are hospital security guards. Visiting hours ended several hours ago and if they catch us they’ll throw me out.”

“Oh, okay. I, um, guess I’ll be quiet then.”

Twilight went back to listening to the inmates talking.

“I’m telling you guys, she’s still around here.” The first inmate said in a frightened tone.

“Oh shuddup, Pipsqueak, will ya?” The second inmate growled, “We aint seen hide nor tail of her for a couple hours. She’s godda be long gone by now.”

“I guess you’re right, Teddy,” Pipsqueak said, calming down a little. “I guess I’m just a bit on edge after seeing what… what she did to Donut Joe. I mean, damn, I’ve seen some fucked up shit in that arena thing, but what she did…”

“I thought it was kinda funny,” said a third inmate with a deep voice. “I mean, in a way she turned Donut Joe into a jelly donut. Know what I’m sayin?”

Pipsqueak made a retching sound and said, “Damn it Glutton! Why’d ya have to put that fucking image back in my head?”

“They certainly swear a lot, don’t they?” Fluttershy said quietly.

Twilight didn’t respond, and instead slowly pulled the door open. She peeked out into the hallway to see if she could locate the inmates. There were only three of them; a mutated blue earth pony with an orange mowhawk, a fat pegasus, and small earth pony who didn’t look much older than a foal. Twilight was pleasantly surprised to find that they were a long way down the hall, sitting around what looked like a Bunsen burner that they had connected to a small tank of gas. With any luck, the light produced by the fire would have contracted their pupils to where they couldn’t see Twilight sneaking around. If not…

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to keep herself calm. She needed to focus on getting Fluttershy food. It wasn’t like Twilight would have to get near the inmates any, just to the nearest hospital room.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight said as calmly as she could, “I’m going to need you to keep your eye shut. Try not to talk to me until I say it’s safe. I don’t want to get us in trouble with the guards.”

“Got it, I’ll keep quiet.” Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight took a deep breath, and pulled the door all the way open. As it swung, the door’s hinges squeaked, nearly making Twilight jump. It wasn’t very loud, but to Twilight it sounded like an un-oiled buzz saw. She quickly checked to see if the inmates had heard the sound, and then slowly advanced into the hallway.

As soon as Twilight was in the hallway she made a sharp left, facing her away from the inmates but also minimizing the possibility that light of their fire would be reflected in her eyes. Twilight pressed herself as close to the wall as she could without bothering Fluttershy, and slowly crept towards the nearest hospital room.

Every step was agonizing. Twilight’s heart pounded inside her chest desperately as she tried to keep as calm as possible. Her ears strained themselves to keep track of what the three inmates were doing, as well as how loud her hoofsteps were. She wanted to run, take Fluttershy and get out of there. But at the same time, Fluttershy needed the food and…

Twilight stopped midway between the door to the head room and another room, exerting all of her self control not to scream at herself. Dread didn’t keep food in the hospital rooms, he got them from some place Twilight didn’t even know. And now, because of her own stupidity, Twilight had dragged a mortally wounded pony into a potentially life threatening situation, and she couldn’t even keep her word.

Twilight bit her tongue and tried to keep herself from having a freak-out. Right now she needed all of her wits to the best out of this horribly stupid situation she had gotten herself into.

Twilight took a deep breath, and continued towards the hospital room. When she got there, Twilight carefully opened the door and slid through it. Once inside the room, Twilight strained her ears to see if the inmates had noticed them. Twilight decided that she and Fluttershy were safe when she heard them arguing over something stupid.

Grinning, Twilight said to Fluttershy, “Okay, I don’t think we’re gonna be able to find you food right now. Would you be willing to settle for some water?”

“That sounds nice, sure.” Fluttershy answered.

Twilight went over to the room’s cabinet and carefully laid Fluttershy on the floor. Twilight then opened the cabinet, grabbed a shovel like object, and used it to pull out a single water packet. Using the shovel, Twilight carried the water packet to Fluttershy, where she placed the packet on the patch work mare’s nose.

“Chew on this and swallow.” Twilight told her.

After a moment’s hesitation, Twilight got out another water packet for herself. It wasn’t until she bit down on the object that Twilight realized just how thirsty she was. As Twilight drank the cool liquid, it was if it washed away some of the stress in her life.

When Twilight finished her water packet, she gave Fluttershy a second one and began looking for anything they could use. The first thing that came to mind was the bed.

Twilight grabbed the pillow from the hospital bed and placed it at the center neatly set blanket that covered the otherwise bare mattress. If Twilight couldn’t feed Fluttershy, then making her comfortable was the next best thing.

Twilight looked back into the cabinet to see if there was any way they could transport the water packets, when she spotted a small, green bottle. She grabbed the bottle and scanned its label, but in the hospital room’s dim lighting all she could make out was ‘vitamins’.

Twilight was about to put it back when a thought crossed her mind. If they couldn’t find any food, vitamins might make for a useful substitute. Deciding that it couldn’t hurt to try, Twilight threw the bottle next to the pillow and continued raiding the hospital room.

Sadly, the rest of the room was barren of anything useful. Either one of the inmates had a similar idea to Twilight, or there was never anything else in the room to begin with.

Rather than be dejected, Twilight took the rooms lack of any useful items as a sign that it was time to leave. Twilight wrapped the blanket around the pillow and folded it into a rough saddle.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Twilight placed the makeshift saddle on her back and said, “Okay, Fluttershy, it looks like we’re done here. Ready to go?”

Fluttershy, who had somehow drifted to sleep in the last four minutes shook herself awake and answered, “What? Oh, yes. I’m ready.”

Twilight helped Fluttershy onto the bundle on her back and carried her out the door. Back in the hall, Twilight turned to the door to the faux mutation room and headed that way. She moved as quickly and quietly as she could without causing Fluttershy to fall off, giving the three inmates a quick glance to make sure that they wouldn’t be a problem.

Twilight didn’t have to worry about her hooves making noise. Two of the inmates, the one with the orange Mohawk and the fat one, were shouting at the small one over something Twilight didn’t care about. At that moment, all that mattered to her was getting Fluttershy and herself to relative safety.

Twilight had just made it to the door when Fluttershy cried out. Twilight looked around at what she might’ve seen and found that the inmate’s argument had escalated.

“Oh yeah?” The blue pony said as he punched the small one in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

“I’m sorry Teddy!” Pipsqueak tried to say more but was interrupted when Teddy slammed his hoof into foal’s cheek.

“What was that you little fucktard?” Teddy asked as he pressed his hoof into Pipsqueak’s skull. “I all heard was the sound of a little bitch talking smack about my girl.”

Twilight watched in horror as blood began to flow from the foal’s mouth and nose. As Teddy continued his assault, Pipsqueak tried to scream or beg or cry. Twilight wasn’t sure which, but all that came out was sickening gurgle.

“Glutten, get me the light.” Teddy commanded the other inmate, who had been laughing quietly to himself this whole time.

Twilight felt a weak grip tighten around her neck and was suddenly reminded of Fluttershy’s presence. How much had she seen?

Twilight forced herself on the task at hand and rushed through the door as Teddy was just about to place the lit Bunsen burner at the base of Pipsqueak’s tail. As she fled down the stairs, Twilight forced to listen to the echoes of Pipsqueak’s screams as he was burned alive.

After a few minutes, Twilight’s heart beat had slowed down enough for her to think straight. The first thing that came to her mind was making sure Fluttershy was okay, and trying to explain what had happened.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight said tentatively, “how are you doing?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond. Twilight wanted to smack herself for her own stupidity. She didn’t need to take Fluttershy on what turned out to be a fool’s errand, and had paid the price.

After a few more minutes, Fluttershy’s grip tightened on Twilight. The patchwork mare began shaking as began dry heaving into Twilight’s mane.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, resisting the urge to retch herself.

Fluttershy dry heaved once more before saying, “What was that? Why did the do… Twilight I think I’m gonna be sick!” Fluttershy’s breathing became faster, and Twilight feared that she might hyperventilate.

“Calm down Fluttershy.” Twilight said, slowing down so as to keep Fluttershy from having a full blown panic attack, “We’re safe now, they can’t get us.”

“But why would they do that to another pony?” Fluttershy asked, “Wasn’t he their friend?”

Twilight silently cursed herself. This wasn’t how she wanted Fluttershy to find out about how fucked up Sleipnir was. She knew she couldn’t keep it a secret forever, but surely there might’ve been a better way?

“Fluttershy,” Twilight started to say but words faltered in her throat. Half of her wanted to come up with a lie to preserve her friend’s innocence, while the other, more logical, part wanted to tell Fluttershy everything and get it out of the way.

“Y-Yes?” Fluttershy asked, her voice quivering.

Twilight took a deep breath and mustered up as much of her courage as she could. “Fluttershy, while you’ve been asleep things have… things have gotten bad. We’re not in Ponyville anymore, in fact I’m not sure where we are exactly, but those ponies we saw, they make up the majority of ponies here.”

“But, you said we were in a hospital!” Fluttershy said, beginning to hyperventilate again. “You said those ponies were guards! That they were… that they were…” Fluttershy trailed off and began clutching Twilight even tighter than before.

“Well, I lied about them being guards,” Twilight admitted, “but we are in a hospital, kinda. I’m not sure how to explain it, but this place, Sleipnir, houses ponies like that.”

“Then why are we here? We’re good ponies, why are we here?”

Twilight was going to answer, but a sharp pain stabbed into her mind and for a brief second her vision blurred green. “I don’t know,” was all that she could say.

“What are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked, “We can’t stay here. There’s got to be a way out.”

“I’m working on it.” Twilight said, realizing that she had no plan for getting out, “But we’re gonna have to make through tonight at least. Can you handle that?”

Fluttershy’s grip relaxed, but Twilight could still feel her shaking through the makeshift saddle. “I- I think so. It’s just… I hope we don’t meet any more ponies like that.”

Twilight didn’t respond.

After some time, Twilight arrived back at the book room. She carefully laid Fluttershy down and set to work turning the blanket into a makeshift mattress. When she was done, Twilight rolled Fluttershy onto the blanket and placed her head under the pillow.

“Okay Fluttershy, you’re all settled.” Twilight said. “Do your best to get some sleep. I’ll be few feet away if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Fluttershy said. “But if you don’t mind, could lay with me for a little while? I don’t want to be alone.”

Twilight complied and laid down on the blanked a few inches from Fluttershy.

“I’m gonna get you out of this.” Twilight said as several hours without sleep started to catch up with her, “I promise.”

Author's Notes:

Does anyone even read these notes?