“Answer me, Puck,” the Administrator growled, his voice filled with hate and rage, “what are you doing on my ship?”

Twilight’s mouth opened and from it came the Goodfellow’s laughter. “Oh a bit of this, and some of that here and there. Exactly what, I am not wont to tell. My goals are my own.”

A low growl seemed to emanate from everywhere at once. Beakers began rattling on their shelves, and the walls seemed to groan. “Do not try my patience, Puck!”

The Goodfellow laughed and forced Twilight to leap into the air. Twilight’s wings unfurled themselves and soon she was spinning in mid-air, as though gravity were nothing but a suggestion. “Don’t try to intimidate me, Swahl, I will tell you my plans when I’m good and ready. For now though…” The sound of a spinning coin filled the room. The air shifted around Twilight, throbbing with pressure. Everything turned green, there was a loud pop, and then she fell back to the table.

“Twilight!” Some pony cried. A pair of hooves raced across the lab, stopping at Twilight’s side. “Twilight, what’s happening?”

Twilight’s eyes opened, and her head rolled to look at Pinkamena.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not quite done with your friend yet.” The Goodfellow twisted Twilight’s mouth into a grin. “You see, it’s been so long since I’ve been able to talk normally and I’m not quite ready to go back yet.”

Pinkamena snarled and grabbed Twilight’s neck. “Who are you?” She hissed, “Give me back my friend or I’ll- I’ll kill you!”

The Goodfellow laughed. “Go right ahead.”

Pinkamena’s snarl deepened and her eyes flashed red. She tightened her grip and seemed just about ready to go through with her threat when Dread said, “Enough!”

Pinkamena looked at Dread, then, after half a moment, turned back to glare into Twilight’s eyes. She growled, but laid Twilight’s body back onto the table.

“There’s a good girl,” The Goodfellow said softly. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to our little princess, now would we?”

“Where is she?” Pinkamena growled.

“In here, somewhere.” The Goodfellow smacked Twilight’s head with her hoof. “At any rate, you really shouldn’t be so eager to get her back. Too much venom in her veins, I should think. Yes, far too much venom. In fact, if I had to guess, I would say that she has, oh, five, ten minutes to live? Yes, that sounds about right. Anyway, that’s not really important right now. We have so many urgent things to talk about. First off-”

Pinkamena slammed her hooves into the table. “First off, you can tell me who the fuck you are!”

The Goodfellow twisted Twilight’s face into a scowl. “Swearing, really? And here I thought this was a family show. Oh well, I suppose you’ll want some answers so…” There was another pop, and once more the air shifted. “I may as well get comfortable.”

The table Twilight’s body had been lying on changed into a large, ornate chair with emerald colored upholstery. In front of it was a small, round table, on which stood a tall bottle and three small glasses.

“Chartreuse?” The Goodfellow offered, waving Twilight’s hoof at the bottle.

“No thank you,” Dread said.

Pinkamena looked at the bottle for a moment, scowled, and then growled in the Goodfellow’s direction.

Twilight’s body shrugged. “More for me then.” It reached out with Twilight’s hoof toward the bottle and tapped it. The Goodfellow pushed Twilight’s lips into a frown, tapped it a few times, then slammed her hoof into it so that it flew across the room and shattered against a wall.

“Nevermind.”

Pinkamena gritted her teeth. “Alright, you’re comfortable, now tell us who the fuck you are!”

“Calm down, Miss Pie,” Dread said.

Pinkamena turned on the android and spat, “Why should I?”

“Because right now, I’m your bestest friend in the whole universe,” The Goodfellow answered, laughing.

Pinkamena raised a hoof to strike Twilight, but Dread grabbed her arm before she could swing it. Pinkamena snarled and tried to pull free of the android’s grip.

“Let go of me!”

“Only if you promise me that you will control your anger,” Dread said, “Please, Miss Pie, I understand your frustration, but right now we need to understand our situation.”

“For once the cyborg is right about something,” The Goodfellow said mockingly.

Pinkamena looked away from both Dread and Twilight and said in a low voice, “Fine.”

Dread released Pinkamena and she stomped her way to the back of the lab, glaring over her shoulder at the Goodfellow as she went.

“Who are you?” Dread asked.

“Are you familiar with the spirit known as Discord?” The Goodfellow asked in turn.

The android nodded his head.

“Good. Then you should know that I have absolutely nothing to do with that simpleton,” The Goodfellow said, “My name is Puck, and right now I am the only thing keeping your little friend alive.”

“Explain,” Dread said.

The Goodfellow tapped Twilight’s hoof to her chin. “Oh, I’m not sure that I should. After all, what would be the point in my telling you? It’s not like you’ll benefit from it. And besides, if you really cared, wouldn’t it be much more fun to figure things out on your own?”

Pinkamena shouted from across the room, “Will you just shut up and tell us who you are?”

The Goodfellow forced Twilight’s face to scowl in Pinkamena’s direction and spat. “Fine, I’m almost done anyway, might as well. Right now I’m suppressing both the venom and my brother’s ability to spy on you. Twilight is very important to my plans, and I need her later on. As for my brother, well I just wanted to piss him off.”

“And your brother would be the Administrator, I presume?” Dread asked.

The Goodfellow laughed. “In a sense, yes. And before you ask, no I don’t know what he’s up to. I have suspicions, but nothing more. Anything else you’d like to know?”

“Yes,” Pinkamena said, walking up to where Twilight’s body sat. Her expression had gone from angry to sad. “Will Twilight be okay?”

“You’ve certainly calmed down quickly,” The Goodfellow said, raising one of Twilight’s eyebrows, “I’m not sure pseudo-psychopathy is your only problem. You may want to see a doctor about these mood swings of yours.”

Pinkamena’s eyes flashed red and she pulled her arm back as if to strike Twilight, but changed her mind in the last moment. After taking several deep breaths, she said through gritted teeth, “I don’t care. Just answer the question.”

“Is that all?” The Goodfellow raised one of Twilight’s eyebrows. “There’s nothing else you’d like to know? Nothing at all?”

“No,” Pinkamena said, taking another deep breath, “right now I don’t care about anything. I just want my friend to be okay.”

The Goodfellow raised Twilight’s shoulders into a shrug. “Fine by me.”

“Wait a minute, I still have questions,” Dread said. “First off-”

“Too late!” The Goodfellow laughed, forcing Twilight to give Dread a mocking look. “I’ve already made up my mind. And here’s your answer.”

The sound of a spinning coin once more filled the air, and Twilight’s body spasmed violently. The Goodfellow’s cackling echoed of the walls, filling the room with the mad sound. Slowly though, the sound ebbed. Quieter and quieter until it could just barely be heard. And when it finally went away, Twilight’s body lay limp on the chair.

“Twilight?” A voice called from the empty void that surrounded Twilight. “Twilight, are you okay?”

Twilight opened her eyes to see a pink blur looming over her. Her head throbbed as if she had been recently hit with a sledgehammer. Her throat was like hot sand, and all Twilight could think about was quenching it.

“Water,” Twilight murmured.

“Miss Pie, get her a water packet. They are over on that table there.”

“Right.”

The pink blur moved out of Twilight’s line of sight then returned a second later. Something was pressed to Twilight’s mouth and a cool liquid began pouring into it.

“What happened?” Twilight asked once she had drunk enough to wash away to dry feeling at the back of her throat.

“Well, uh…” Pinkamena explained to the best of her ability about what happened with the Administrator and the Goodfellow, to which Twilight could only sit quietly and listen.

When she was finished, Twilight asked, “So, he was really inside my body?”

“I am afraid so, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said.

Every inch of skin on Twilight’s body seemed to crawl. Her stomach churned at the thought of that thing wearing her like a dress to prance around in. She felt dirty, used. Twilight wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry, or laugh.

“Are you alright, Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded her head. “I’m fine, just a little shocked is all.” It was a lie, but Twilight didn’t want to burden her friends with her feelings. “I think I’ve talked to him before, in a dream. But I thought he was just that, a dream. Do you think that maybe I have dissociative identity disorder? I mean, it would explain-”

“No, Miss Sparkle, I do not believe that this Puck is something you have constructed,” Dread said, “I would’ve noticed if you exhibited any symptoms. Believe me; I have worked with a pony with multiple personalities for many months.”

“Really? Who?” Pinkamena asked, giving Dread a curious look.

The android clicked a couple of times, then said, “Not now, Miss Pie, I would rather we wait until later to go into it.”

“Oh, okay,” Pinkamena said, her ears flattening against her head.

Wanting to change the subject, Twilight asked, “So, did we get any food?”

“I am afraid not, Miss Sparkle,” Dread answered. “We were interrupted, and have not gone back.”

“Right, I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said quietly. Then, forcing a grin, she added, “Alright then, let’s get moving! That food isn’t gonna get itself, so we’ve gotta-” Twilight leapt from the chair, intending to finish the sentence upon landing. On striking the floor however, pain shot through her hind leg, causing her to cry out in pain. Her leg gave out, and Twilight was lying on the floor, trying not to cry.

“You are not going anywhere in that condition, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said, extending a claw to help Twilight up.

Twilight took the claw and used it to pull herself up, trying to put as little pressure as possible on her wounded leg. She looked at her hind leg and saw that it was bandaged with some kind of fabric.

“Alright,” Twilight sighed, “take me back to the vault.” As soon as she said it, both Pinkamena and Dread exchanged glances.

“Unfortunately, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said, “there is a problem with our route back to the vault, as you called it. You see, due to circumstances beyond my control, our route has been-”

“The door’s gone and we don’t know what happened to it!” Pinkamena said. She turned to look at Dread and added, “Sorry, Dread, but you were taking too long.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight nearly stomped a hoof in frustration, only for her bad leg to remind her why that was a bad idea. As the fresh pain ebbed away, Twilight said through gritted teeth, “What the hay do you mean ‘the door’s gone’? How can a door disappear?”

“Now do you understand why I was taking my time?” Dread said to Pinkamena. Then, turning to face Twilight, added “Something has caused the door to be replaced with a wall. I am not sure what. The Administrator said something about ‘Creation’s edge’ but beyond that, I have no clue as to what’s happening.”

Twilight rubbed her temples. It had been so long since she had dealt with something as obviously magical as a shape shifting wall that she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. “Okay, is there another way back? I mean, we could go back through the cell hall and find a path that way.”

Dread shook his head, “No, Miss Sparkle, that is not an option. There are no paths leading from the cell hall to the hospital. And even if there were, we don’t know what kind of danger lurks in unfamiliar territory. But never mind that, you go rest. We bandaged your leg as best we could, but you should not be moving around just yet.”

Twilight wanted to say something to that, but nothing came to mind. She looked around the room for somewhere to lie down, and chose a spot near one of the broken computers. She limped over and carefully lowered herself to a lying position. She closed her eyes and drifted into the welcoming realm of sleep. It had been a rough day.

The sound of clanking glass woke Twilight up from what was, unfortunately, a very light sleep. After wondering for a second where she was, Twilight looked over to see Dread mixing multicolored liquids and powders into a round bottom flask. She watched for about a minute, then dismissed it as Dread mixing some kind of punch, and almost went right back to sleep. It was as she was closing her eyes that she realized that Dread had taken several of the ingredients from a nearby shelf, and most ponies don’t keep punch in laboratories.

Images of toxic vapor and caustic goo filled Twilight’s mind as sleepiness was forgotten in favor of alarm and panic. Twilight leaped to her feet, and was immediately reminded of the wound she had on her leg. She fought through the pain though, and shouted “Dread, what the hell are you doing?”

Without looking away from the flask, Dread answered, “Miss Sparkle, I am solving our predicament.”

“But-But- Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Twilight stammered, “I mean, what if it spews out toxic fumes or explode or something? Maybe I should mix it, just to make sure everything is fine?

Dread selected a test tube from a nearby shelf and poured some of its contents into the mixture. “I assure you, Miss Sparkle, this mixture will produce no toxic fumes.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t really mean anything if-”

“It will, however, explode,” Dread said, interrupting Twilight.

“What?” Twilight shouted. The image of flying glass shards shredding both her and Pinkamena to pieces worked its way into Twilight’s mind.

“Please do not shout, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said, examining a jar of dark red powder, “I need to be completely focused when I add the phosphorus.”

Twilight wanted to protest, but kept her mouth shut in case Dread’s mixture was more volatile than what she was picturing.

When Dread finished pouring the two table spoons of red phosphorus into his mixture, the entire solution began bubbling as if the android had set it to boil. Dread quickly inserted a cork into the flask’s opening and shook it.

“You two need to get as far away from the wall as you can,” Dread instructed. “When I ignite this compound it should create a strong enough explosion to punch through the wall to the other side. Presumably the hospital is still on the other side, but there is a chance that we may breech the hull of the ship and get sucked out into space. Please be ready to run at the first sign of danger.”

“What? Wait, I, uh- Did you just say space?” Twilight sputtered as she tried to process everything the android had just told her. She didn’t have much time to reflect on it though, as a moment later a pink blur slammed into her and carried her over to where the door leading to cell hall stood, pinning her to the ground.

“Pinkie, where did you- Get off-” Twilight struggled to escape the weight of her friend so that she could stop Dread from killing them all, but Pinkamena both eyes clenched and her ears covered by her hooves.

Twilight managed to get herself free enough to catch a glimpse of Dread igniting a match and throwing into the now opened flask. There was a bright flash of light and a deafening sound, and then the entire room smelled of soot.

Twilight blinked. An entire half of the room was covered in burn marks, and much of the furniture had been destroyed.

“Alright, I am done. You two can come over now.” Dread said from across the lab. He was covered in soot, but otherwise looked okay.

Twilight wriggled her way out from underneath Pinkamena and tried to gauge the full effect of Dread’s makeshift bomb. It had made a hole in the wall just large enough for a pony to squeeze through, if she didn’t mind getting a couple of splinters.

Making her way to get a better look at the hole, Twilight wondered at how many inmates or monsters would be attracted by the sound of the explosion. Her heart began to race as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to flee from any danger.

“Everything okay, Twilight?” Pinkamena asked as she came up from behind.

Twilight looked at her smiling face. It was strange, but even though Pinkamena had sharp, pointed teeth and dark, sunken eyes, her smile still seemed to warm Twilight’s heart.

“I’m fine,” Twilight smiled, “just a little woozy.”

When they got to the hole Dread had made, Twilight pushed the fear of monsters and psychopaths out of her mind. It wasn’t like panicking had helped her before.

“Are you two ready?” Dread asked.

“Yeah, let’s get back. I want to make sure Fluttershy is okay,” Pinkamena said.

Twilight nodded, not sure if was time yet to say anything.

Dread nodded and bowed. “Mares first.”

Twilight smiled at the robot and crawled through the hole, and directly into the hall leading to the vault.

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter is so late. I've been going through some stuff.