Twilight wasn’t sure when exactly she had finally drifted to sleep, though it couldn’t have been long after she had to suffer the torment of reliving the four images that had haunted her two nights before. When Twilight woke up, the Administrator had just begun to greet the inmates of Sleipnir with his strangely gender neutral voice. Twilight didn’t really care to listen to what the Administrator had to say, he just telling the inmates that they would be eating some unknown breakfast and then two of them would be forced to kill each other to relieve some tension. Nothing Twilight hadn’t heard before.

“Good morning.” Twilight called out when the Administrator was done talking.

“Morning Twi,” Pinkamena called back from the cell next to Twilight’s, “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine I guess. What about you?”

“Just peachy.”

After several minutes of incredibly boring small talk Twilight finally heard the sound of Dread’s hoof steps down the hallway, stopping every couple of steps whenever the android gave one of the inmates his or her breakfast. Twilight was eager to find out what Dread’s plan for the day was, even though it was probably no different any other day. Twilight enjoyed talking with Dread, the android kept her sane in the metal hell that was Sleipnir.

“Good morning Miss Sparkle.” Dread greeted when he arrived at Twilight’s cell.

“Any knowledge as to what’s in our meal today?” Twilight asked

“Unfortunately no,” Dread replied, “The Administrator cooked today’s breakfast himself, there’s no telling what might be in it.”

“The Administrator cooked?” Twilight asked, shocked to find out that the Administrator did anything else besides coming up with games to torture ponies.

“Yes, the Administrator was up all last night preparing the meal. He seemed to be planning something with the food, though I cannot say what.”

Twilight gulped, “You mean he could’ve poisoned the food?”

Dread emitted a white noise before speaking, “No, Miss Sparkle, I do not believe that is anything quite that crude. We’ve discussed this before; the Administrator enjoys watching ponies die slowly and gruesomely, a poison is too kind for his taste.

Twilight sighed, “Well if it’s not poison, then what?”

The red lights on Dread’s face grew dim, “I have no idea, though if I were to guess I would say that the Administrator has figured out a way to increase aggression in ponies infected with sanguinam ungolum so that battles will be bloodier, but that seems too farfetched.”

“So should I eat the breakfast then? I mean if there’s the possibility that it’s going to affect my mind…”

Dread interrupted “The risk of you being hurt by the food is minimal, Miss Sparkle, as I said before it is unlikely that the Administrator has been able to alter the effects of a virus. Even if the Administrator did create a mind altering drug you need to eat, if only to survive. There are many cruel ways to die Miss Sparkle, but most of them are dwarfed by starvation.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how to respond. On one side of the coin Twilight didn’t like the idea that something could affect her mind, but on the other side Twilight had seen pictures of ponies who had nearly starved to death; she saw their pained faces, how their bodies had shriveled and wasted away; Twilight had even less desire to suffer the same fate. But still, was avoiding starvation worth risking her mind? Would it matter if Twilight lived if she forgot herself, became like Sam, and abomination that only sought to cause pain?

Dread seemed to notice Twilight’s indecisiveness because the next thing he said was, “Perhaps I should not have put that idea into your head Miss Sparkle, because I can see that it is troubling you.”

“I don’t like the idea of something messing with my head.” Twilight said, “My head is already acting weird, I don’t need some pony bucking it up even further.”

“I assume that you are referring to the headaches that you have been experiencing?”

“Yes, but it’s not just that…”

Dread’s eyes glowed brighter, “What is it Miss Sparkle? Is there something that you haven’t told me?”

“It wasn’t something that I realized was an issue until just now. The other night I had this dream, a nightmare.”

“Well that is to be expected, given your situation, I’d be worried if you didn’t have a nightmare at some point. Could it be that your fight with the S.A.M. influenced this dream?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I don’t think that Sam had anything to do with it. The dream seemed to be about my life before I came to Sleipnir.”

“Could you please describe your dream?” Dread asked.

Twilight answered, telling Dread everything she could about her dream as best as she could. Twilight described each of the four visions and how they all seemed to want to hurt her.

When Twilight finished Dread said, “Yes, that is quite a disturbing dream that you’ve had, but that does not mean that it is anything more. Dreams do not always mean something Miss Sparkle, and I highly doubt that your dream was one of the few that do. Anyway I need to feed the rest of the inmates; we’ve been talking for far too long. ” Dread turned to leave.

“Wait, there’s something that I forgot to tell you.” Twilight said

“Yes Miss Sparkle?”

“Last night, when I was trying to go to sleep, the visions from the dream started playing through my head, causing me to get one of my headaches. I tried to make it go away by thinking about other things but it wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t control it at all.”

“That is odd.” Dread said, “Perhaps there is something to this nightmare, let me know if you have any similar dreams.” Dread walked to the next cell to feed Pinkamena.

“You haven’t hurt yourself today.” Twilight heard Pinkamena say to Dread.

“Of course not Miss Pie, why would I do something like that?” Dread replied.

Twilight didn’t like the idea of eavesdropping so she turned her attention to her breakfast, to find that Dread had forgotten to give it to her.

“Dread, you forgot to give me my food!” Twilight called.

Dread sprang back to Twilight’s cell, “Oh dear this is embarrassing. I am so sorry Miss Sparkle, here let me give you your food.”

Dread gave Twilight a brown paper bag. Inside was a pill shaped loaf of bread that had been dyed a greenish yellow and sprinkled with some kind of spice. Twilight sniffed the loaf, carefully checking if she could detect any kind of poison. When she couldn’t, Twilight took a small bite out of the food, only to find that she couldn’t detect any poison by taste either. If the Administrator had poisoned this meal then he had used a poison that was both tasteless and odorless. Twilight took a small bite of the loaf.

Twilight waited for a moment to see if she could feel any effects that would prove that her food had been poisoned. Twilight knew full well that this was not an effective strategy to detect poison, for one thing she probably had to eat the entire loaf to notice any effects, but still Twilight did not want to risk her precious mind.

“Did you enjoy your breakfast?” Pinkamena asked cheerfully.

“I haven’t eaten it yet.” Twilight answered, keeping most of her attention on any possible changes in her body.

“Why not, does it taste bad?”

“No, I just haven’t gotten around to eating it.”

“Why?”

Twilight grumbled to herself before answering, “Because I want to make sure that it’s not poisoned.”

Pinkamena laughed, “That’s silly. Why would you think that your food is poisoned? I mean I know that you can be paranoid at times, but come on why would some pony poison your food?”

“Didn’t you hear anything Dread and I talked about a few minutes ago?”

“No. I told you, it’s rude to eavesdrop on ponies.”

Twilight gave Pinkamena a brief explanation of what Dread said about what the Administrator might’ve done.

“Uh Twilight, I know this is going to sound strange coming from me, but don’t you think that’s a little farfetched?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters, doesn’t poison have to be injected directly into the bloodstream in order to work?”

Twilight sighed, “No, Pinkie…”

“Pinkamena.” Pinkamena corrected.

“No, Pinkamena, poison does not have to be injected into the bloodstream in order to work, you’re thinking of venom.”

“Oh, well anyway I don’t think that the Administrator poisoned the food. I mean I already ate my breakfast and I don’t feel any different.”

“That doesn’t really prove anything; some poisons take hours for the effects to start showing. Besides, from what Dread told me the poison only affects a pony’s mind so it’s unlikely that you would notice the effects in the first place.”

“Wait, you think that the poison is only going to affect your mind?” Pinkamena asked.

“Yes.”

“Then why are you so worried? It’s not going to kill you, just eat it.”

“But I don’t want to risk my mind!” Twilight said, exasperated.

“For Luna’s sake, Twilight, we don’t even know if the food is poisoned! You’re worried about something that might not even be real. Just eat the food.”

Twilight wanted to argue. In her mind Pinkamena was telling her to risk her very being on because there was a chance that the food was not poison. At the same time however, Twilight was aware of how irrational she was being, the only reason she suspected the food to be poisoned in the first was because Dread that it might be, and he even said that it probably wasn’t. Even if it was poisoned, Dread had said that it would likely have only affected ponies afflicted with sanguinam ungollum, a disease that Twilight wasn’t even sure she had. Still, Twilight could not escape the fear of losing herself to something as meaningless and a loaf of bread.

“Look at this way,” Pinkamena said, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts, “if you don’t eat and the Administrator decides that you’re going to fight today, then you’ll have to fight on an empty stomach. I mean I suppose you can still win a fight like that, but you’ll have a much harder time. Whatever, it’s your food so you get to decide whether you eat it or not.”

Pinkamena was right; if she was selected to fight then she would need both her wits and her strength to survive. Twilight had killed Sam two days ago, but only because she was fortunate enough to have been allowed her magic, the next time she fought she would likely not have such a blessing.

“Alright fine, I’ll eat the bread.” Twilight said; her mind made up.

It didn’t take Twilight long to eat loaf, though it was unusually salty toward its center.

“If I was right about it being poisoned it’s your fault, got that?” Twilight said when she had finished.

“Jeez Twilight, you really need to lighten up.”

Twilight and Pinkamena sat in silence for several minutes before Twilight spoke again, “What dream about last night?”

“Um Twilight, are you sure you want to know that?” Pinkamena asked, “I mean my dreams aren’t exactly what you would call tasteful.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I mean it can’t be any worse than what I’ve already seen here at Sleipnir.”

“Alright, last night I dreamed that I was eating a baby, it was one of the Cake’s foals I think.”

Twilight blinked, slightly taken aback, “A baby? You dreamed that you were eating a baby?”

“I told you that it wasn’t tasteful.” Pinkamena said plainly.

“Any idea why you dreamed that?” Twilight asked “I mean you’re explanation for why you ate Rainbow Dash, while insane, at least made some kind of sense, but why a baby?”

“First of that wasn’t an explanation it was a justification, I still have no idea why exactly I did it other than I wanted to. About eating the baby… I dunno, maybe I have fetish.”

Twilight felt her breakfast try to claw its way up her throat when she heard that.

“I’m kidding, Twilight,” Pinkamena said after a second, “I don’t have a fetish for eating babies, I’m not that sick. Really I don’t know why I dreamed about eating a baby but I don’t think that it actually means anything.”

“Alright,” Twilight said while keeping her breakfast down, “just please don’t make a joke like that ever again.”

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkamena replied.

The two mares sat in silence for several minutes, after which a high pitched beeping noise came from Pinkamena’s cell.

“What’s that noise?” Twilight asked when she noticed.

“I don’t know, I can’t tell where it’s coming from.” Pinkamena replied.

A moment later the intercom came on and the two mares got their answer.

“We at Sleipnir hope that you have enjoyed your breakfast this morning.” the Administrator said, “By now you will have noticed that some of your meals have been altered.”

Twilight’s heart began to race. So he did poison the food!

“You ought not to be worried though, if your food had been altered then you would be hearing a special sort of sound right now,” said the Administrator.

“Twilight,” Pinkamena said through heavy breaths, “I-I don’t feel so good.”

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked urgently.

“I-I don’t kn-know, my body just started, just started to.”

The Administrator continued, “If you hear a beeping noise coming from one of your neighbor’s rooms that means that eaten one of my very special cakes that will greatly relieve some of the tension around here.

“Twilight, he-help.” Pinkamena said faintly, the beeping noise become more rapid as she did so.

“Some pony help!” Twilight called, only to be answered by the laughing mare.

Twilight tried to talk to Pinkamena, to keep her calm. Pinkamena tried to answer but the only sound that she could muster up was little more than a whimper. Every time Pinkamena tried to speak, the whimper became fainter and fainter. Twilight realized that she was about to lose one of her only friends at Sleipnir.

As Twilight consoled herself to the grim reality of Pinkamena’s coming death, she heard the sound of metallic hoofsteps making their way down the hall.

“You’re going to be okay Pinkie,” Twilight said, “I can hear Dread coming; he’ll know what to do.” Pinkamena gave no answer.

It wasn’t long before Dread became visible through Twilight’s window.

“Dread, Dread!” Twilight called, “I need your help, Pinkie’s been…”

“Poisoned?” Dread interrupted, “Yes, I was afraid of that. Give me a moment.”

Twilight heard Dread unlock Pinkamena’s cell. When she looked out of her window Twilight saw that the android was dragging Pinkamena onto a cart that was full of what appeared to be the bodies of several dead ponies.

“Dread what are you…” Twilight started to ask.

“Not now Miss Sparkle, I’ll explain later.” The android interrupted, “Right now I need you to pretend to be unconscious.”

“But…”

“Do it!”

Twilight did as instructed, lying down on her cell floor with her eyes closed. Twilight heard Dread unlock her cell door. When he had opened it Dread grabbed Twilight with his three fingered claws and drag her onto the cart with the dead ponies.

“Stay still and breathe as little as possible. I’ll tell you when it is safe for you to move again.” Dread said to Twilight as quietly as his speakers would allow.

It was a disgusting experience for Twilight, lying amongst the dead. Many of the corpses still had the warmth that came with life while others were already cold. It took much of Twilight’s courage not scream in disgust, and an even greater amount of willpower to remain calm.

Dread began to push the cart, stopping every now and then to pick up another body. Somewhere to Twilight’s left she could hear the faint sound of Pinkamena’s breathing, the pink mare still somehow clinging to life. Twilight could only hope that Pinkamena could hold on until Dread could help her.

Twilight laid among the dead for what seemed like hours, eventually though Dread came to what must’ve been the final stop.

“You may open your eyes now; there is very little chance of the Administrator watching us here in the laboratory.” The android said.

Twilight opened her eyes to see the face of an orange unicorn mare staring blankly at her, her eyes dry and unfocused. Twilight jumped; her head hurting as she looked into the corpse’s eyes.

“Are you alright Miss Sparkle?” Dread asked when he noticed Twilight’s reaction.

“I’m fine; I just wasn’t expecting to be looking at a corpse when I opened my eyes.” Twilight said, her heart still racing.

“Alright then, help me carry Miss Pie. We need to act quickly.”

Dread grabbed Pinkamena from the pile and Twilight positioned herself so that the pink mare was level. Together the two of them carried Pinkamena to the far side of the laboratory where a single metal door marked with the word medical stood.

“Layne open the door!” Dread said loudly, “It’s urgent!”

Moments later the metal door slid open and an angry grey pegasus came out.

“Dread, I am trying to sleep!” Dr. Layne said angrily.

“Not now Layne, I have a patient that it in need of immediate attention.”

Dr. Layne glared at Pinkamena’s shivering body, “Ah so the Administrator has finally decided to kill the little monsters himself has he?”

“Not now Layne.” Dread said; his slowing down slightly so that it appeared that his voice was getting deeper.

Dr. Layne grumbled but directed Dread and Twilight to a room with a medical bed in it. The two laid Pinkamena down so that they could begin to treat her.

“How much time do we have?” Twilight asked.

“I do not know Miss Sparkle,” the android answered, “it is remarkable that Miss Pie has survived for as long as she has. All the other victims died not too long ago.”

“Well do you have an antidote?”

“Unfortunately no, I have no idea what the Administrator put into your meals. Even if I did I’m no chemist, I would be unable to produce an antidote.”

“So what do we do? We can’t just let her die, she’s my friend!”

“The only thing that we can do, the best we can.” Dread answered.

“That’s not helpful Dread.”

Dread was silent for a moment then said, “Wait here Miss Sparkle, I have an idea.”

Dread left the small room, leaving Twilight alone with the barely alive Pinkamena. Twilight turned to examine the pink mare to see if she could identify the poison. Twilight had never spent much time studying toxic material, but if she could figure out how the poison was killing Pinkamena then she might be able to treat the symptoms.

Twilight placed a hoof on Pinkamena’s forehead; she was running a fever but wasn’t sweating. Twilight remembered the eyes of the corpse that she had been forced to lie next to and lifted on of Pinkamena’s. Sure enough the eye was dry, but not by exposure to the air…

“Dread, come in here!” Twilight called.

A moment later the android appeared, carrying what looked like some sort of peach.

“What is it Miss Sparkle?” the android asked.

“I think I know how to save her.” Twilight said, “We need water, and a lot of it.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, but I would like to understand why.”

“Whatever the Administrator put into those loafs is rapidly dehydrating her. I don’t know how but that’s all that I can tell.”

Dread went to Pinkamena and placed a claw inside her mouth, when he pulled it out the claw was completely dry.

“It would seem that you’re hypothesis is at least partially correct Miss Sparkle,” Dread said after examining his claw, “but I would like to compare Miss Pie’s symptoms with those of cadavers of the unfortunate ponies. In the mean time there is a small supply of water packets in one of the cabinets, feed one to Miss Pie every few minutes. I’ll be back when I’m done examining the bodies.”

Dread left Twilight alone with Pinkamena once more. Twilight found the cabinet that Dread said would contain the water packets. Twilight opened the cabinet and then grabbed one of the packets in her mouth.

The water packet burst open as Twilight bit down on it, spraying the alicorn and the interior of the cabinet. Disgruntled, Twilight attempted to grab another packet, this time by holding it between her front hooves. Carefully Twilight balanced herself on her hind legs and slowly made her way towards the dying Pinkamena.

It wasn’t easy; Twilight wasn’t used to holding items with her hooves and even less used to the act of walking on her hind legs. Every step took much of Twilight’s concentration so that she didn’t trip, and the rest to keep her from accidentally breaking the water packet. It didn’t help that Twilight was so unbalanced that every step she took was threatened to cause her to fall. By the time Twilight had made it to where she could give Pinkamena the water, her hind legs were sore from the unusual activity.

Twilight placed the water packet inside Pinkamena’s mouth and pressed her jaw down so that it was punctured. The life preserving water trickled down the pink mare’s throat and into her stomach. Once the first packet was used up, Twilight sat by Pinkamena’s side, watching a nearby clock for when she would have to get her friend more water.

Outside of the hospital room, Twilight heard the sound of an argument. Curious, Twilight decided to eavesdrop.

“It was one thing to sneak one of those little monsters and tell me to take care of it,” a disgruntled Dr. Layne said angrily, “but this, this is too much. You have brought three of those things into this place. How many do you plan to hide here Dread? Four? Five? I won’t have it!”

“I understand your frustration, Dr. Layne, and would have preferred to keep them in their cell with the rest of the infected, but that is no longer an option.” Dread replied.

“And why not?” Dr. Layne asked.

“Because the Administrator has made a deliberate attempt on their lives.”

“So what? It’s not like the Administrator wasn’t going to watch them die anyway.” Dr. Layne said, “I’ve seen those little games that it sets up Dread, I’ve seen what it’s done to my colleagues. Furthermore that little poisoning spree was random and as such was not deliberately targeting those two. The alicorn wasn’t even poisoned.”

“You are correct in saying that my choice of words was poor, but that still does not mean that I should just let her die, not when there is a possibility that she may be saved.” Dread responded.

“I don’t understand why you care so much about that one mare, Dread.” Dr. Layne said, “That’s actually something that I’ve been meaning to ask. Why is it that you care so much about that one mare?”

“You know the answer to that Dr. Layne.” Dread said calmly.

Dr. Layne’s voice shifted tone from anger to a cold calm, “I thought that we’ve been over this Dread. The mare in that room is not the one that you knew. She’s a monster, a killer.”

“She was and she is, but that does not mean that she is without the possibility of redemption. If I can find a way to help her…”

Dr. Layne interrupted, “You cannot turn vermin into treasure, and you cannot bring a dead mare back to life. You need to let go, Silver Platter, you can’t keep dwelling on that what cannot be changed.”

“I assure you, Dr. Layne,” Dread said, “I am well aware that my past is gone, and that it does not affect my current goals. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a patient to attend to.”

A moment later Dread entered the room.

“How is she, Miss Twilight?” the android asked when he came in.

“I gave her a water packet a little while ago, I was about to give her another when you came in.” Twilight said.

“Good, good.” Dread said, “I’ll get the next packet for you Miss Sparkle.”

Dread opened the cabinet that contained the stash of water packets and pulled out something that looked similar to a shovel. Using the tool, Dread picked up a bundle of water packets and easily carried them over to Pinkamena’s side.

“Wait a minute, THERE WAS A SHOVEL?” Twilight asked, the sore parts of her hind legs aching slightly as she did so.

“Of course,” Dread answered, “the majority of the Sleipnir medical staff were unicorns, but there were earth ponies working here as well. The scoop, or shovel as you called it, allowed pureblooded earth ponies to move multiple water packets at once without the risk of making a mess. Why, did you not see it?”

Twilight gritted her teeth and said nothing.

“Anyway,” Dread went on, “I’ve examined some of the bodies and I think I have an idea of Pinkamena’s chances for survival.”

Twilight looked at the android, “How could you possibly have come up with a hypothesis so quickly? I mean you only started to examine the bodies a few minutes ago! I mean I realize that you’re a robot, but come on!”

Twilight was angry. There was no way that a single pony; or android in this case, could so quickly examine so many bodies. It wasn’t possible, it wasn’t fair. How could Dread have studied them so quickly?

“I understand your confusion, Miss Sparkle.” Dread said, “You are correct in assuming that it would take and individual a significant amount of time to examine so many bodies with the limited resources that we have access to in the lab. But you, I did not have to examine that many bodies, in fact I didn’t have to examine the bodies at all.”

Twilight looked at the robot, “What do you mean?”

“The bodies continued to dehydrate long after the ponies had died.” Dread answered, “When I returned to examine them, the bodies had effectively mummified.”

Twilight blinked, “How is that possible? How can a body continue to be affected by a poison after the heart stops beating? It doesn’t make sense!”

“Believe me when I say that I am as much at a loss as you are, Miss Sparkle.” Dread said, “Even the nature of the poison makes little sense. How did the Administrator create such a concoction?”

Twilight didn’t have an answer. None of the corpses showed any visible signs of water leaving them. Pinkamena had absolutely no sweat on her so the water didn’t leave her that way. Even if the Administrator had used magic there should have been a sign of evaporation or something, unless the Administrator knew some kind of magic that Twilight was unfamiliar with, perhaps he even knew of science that Twilight had yet to study.

Twilight didn’t like that idea. Magic and science were HER forte; no one should’ve known more about it than she did. Twilight had spent YEARS studying both subjects! Twilight knew EVERYTHING about magic and science! Twilight was one of the greatest scientific minds in all of Equestria! Twilight had become the PRINCESS of magic! Who did this Administrator think he was, using some kind of magic that Twilight was unfamiliar with, creating chemicals that Twilight had not heard of? Twilight Sparkle, who… who…

Twilight’s head erupted in a flood of pain, knocking out of her thoughts. Twilight collapsed to the floor clutching her head, screaming as an invisible knife slowly cut through her brain. The sensation was all consuming, everything around Twilight ceased to matter; all that existed was the pain. Twilight felt herself being torn apart from the inside. It seemed as though Twilight had reached the end the end of her life when suddenly all went calm.

Twilight felt no pain now, only a cold darkness that swallowed her. Twilight felt as though she was falling, but at the same time she felt like she was lying completely still. Twilight wondered if this was purgatory, that the headache had caused her so much pain that it had killed her. It wasn’t so bad really, better than her cell. Twilight could certainly spend an eternity in this eternal calmness. Who knows? Twilight might be reunited with her friends again soon, and together they would spend eternity in the void, that wouldn’t be so bad…

“Miss Sparkle!” Dread’s voiced echoed from far away, “Miss Sparkle please wake up!”

Twilight opened her eye, noticing for the first time that they had been closed.

“Wha-What happed?” Twilight asked, her head feeling like some pony had filled it with helium.

“You collapsed, Miss Sparkle,” Dread said, his voice box doing its best to emulate concern, “you’ve been unconscious for about a half hour.”

Twilight picked herself up, finding that Dread had moved her to a medical bed in another room.

“Did anything happen with Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“I doubt that Miss Pie is going to suffer the exact same fate as the other unfortunate ponies, but I’m still not sure that she is going remain alive for long.”

“Did the water packets help?”

“Yes, I think so, but they do not guarantee survival.”

Twilight got out of the bed.

“Miss Sparkle, I think that you should lie down.” Dread ordered.

“I’m fine, Dread, I just got a headache.”

“Headaches do not normally cause ponies to faint for half an hour, Miss Sparkle.” Dread said, “You may not have been poisoned, but that does not mean that you are perfectly healthy. I want you to take it easy.”

“I’m fine Dread.” Twilight insisted, “I just want to walk around.”

Dread at the ground for a moment, as if calculating every possible outcome of allowing Twilight to walk around.

“Please, Dread,” Twilight said softly, “I haven’t been able to walk around comfortable for days.”

The android looked up at Twilight, “Very well, Miss Sparkle, I will allow you to walk around the hospital wing on three conditions.”

“Okay, what are the conditions?”

“You will not run, you will not stray too far from where I am, and if you feel like you are about to have another headache you will notify me immediately. Does that sound fair?”

Twilight agreed to the arrangement. Twilight climbed down from the hospital bed and walked with Dread to the door.

“I’d like to see Pinkamena, if that’s okay.” Twilight said as they walked.

“Of course;” The android answered.

Twilight smiled to herself.

Dread lead Twilight a few doors down from where he had put her and opened the door. Pinkamena was unconscious but breathing, a tube had been placed into her mouth and several wires were attached to her hooves.

“What’s with all this wiring?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure…” Dread said, “I had asked Dr. Layne to look after Miss Pie while I tended to you. Why would he…”

“Because I couldn’t be bothered with constantly shoving water packets into the little monster’s mouth.” Dr. Layne interrupted from behind them, “Honestly, Dread, I hope that you don’t intend to have me babysit Princess Starbutt here, expecting me to look after the first one was more than enough.”

“I am glad to see that your attitude hasn’t improved any, Dr. Layne.” Dread said to the crippled pegasus, “But I did not mean for you to look after Miss Pie indefinitely, I only asked that you watch over her while I…”

“While you tend to Sleeping Beauty, yadda yadda.” Dr. Layne said sarcastically, “I did what you asked didn’t I? I even set up a little rig so that you wouldn’t have to constantly be feeding water packets to little miss lollipop. It’s designed to measure a body’s hydration level and keep it at a desired amount. You have to refill it every couple of hours but otherwise it’s low maintenance.”

“Thank you Dr. Layne,” Dread said, “I appreciate the help.”

“Don’t thank me Dread,” Dr. Layne said, “it’s a device that we used to use all the time back when Sleipnir was actually functioning, I just used it because I was lazy.”

“Very well then, I won’t thank you.”

“Good, now if you excuse me, I am going to return to my nap.” Dr. Layne said as he left the room.

Twilight and Dread stood silently, watching Pinkamena. Twilight had always known that Pinkamena was a very unattractive mare, but she had never realized before just how ugly the pink mare was. Twilight was just now realizing how crooked Pinkamena’s face was, how it looked like some pony had taken a hammer and violently used it to hit her in the face.

Twilight tried to force herself to stop thinking about her friend’s appearance. It wasn’t appropriate to think about the way her friend looked while she laid their unconscious. Hay, it wasn’t appropriate at all. And yet Twilight couldn’t get herself to think about something else other than how ugly Pinkamena was. Twilight had almost given up on resisting when she remembered something from the conversation that Dread and Dr. Layne had earlier.

“Dread, is it alright if I ask you something?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, Miss Sparkle; what do you have on your mind?”

“Who is the other pony that you are taking care of in this hospital?”

Dread was quite for a moment before he said, “I’m sorry, Miss Sparkle, but I’m afraid that I do not know what you mean.”

“Earlier you and Dr. Layne were having an argument,” Twilight said, trying to think of a way to phrase her next sentence without offending Dread, “and well you were kind of loud. I couldn’t help but overhear some of the things you said… Dr. Layne said that there was another patient somewhere. I’d like to know who they are.”

Dread was quiet once more. Twilight was afraid that she had asked for too much.

“Come with me, Miss Sparkle.” Dread said after what felt like an hour, “It would be best if we did not discuss such things while there is a patient in the room.”

Twilight didn’t understand what Dread meant by that last part but did as she was instructed. Dread lead out of the hospital room and several feet to the right. Only after they had passed several doors did they stop.

Dread turned to face Twilight, “Before I show you the third patient, you have to promise me that you will not tell Miss Pie about her.”

“Why?” Twilight asked, not liking the idea of keeping secrets from a friend.

“Because it is very important that Miss Pie remains ignorant of this patient.” Dread said, his voice box becoming slightly louder.

“Alright then, I won’t tell Pinkamena.”

“Forgive me, Miss Sparkle, but I’m going to need you to specifically promise not to tell Miss Pie about the third patient.” Dread said.

Twilight sighed, “I promise not to tell Pinkamena about the third patient.”

Dread make a clicking noise and then said, “Good, I am going to hold you to that promise, Miss Sparkle.”

Dread turned to open the door, but before he did so the android asked, “Miss Sparkle, do you remember yesterday when you asked me about Project 6-19?”

“Yes, you lied to me about it.” Twilight answered, not seeing why Dread was deciding to talk about this now.

“I am very sorry that I had to lie to you, Miss Sparkle, but I simply could not risk Miss Pie finding out about the project, or

worse, the Administrator finding the information.”

“I don’t see what this has to do with anything.” Twilight was getting irritated, “What is Project 6-19, and have you decided to talk about it right now?”

“Why Miss Sparkle, if I am to show you something, shouldn’t I tell you what it is?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.” Twilight said, “Please, I just want to see this third patient right now.”

“Then by all means, see her.” Dread as he opened the door.

Twilight walked into the room. There was very little light, so it was difficult to make out the layout of the room. Twilight

waited for a moment for her eyes.

“Give me a moment; I’ll turn on the light.” Dread said.

Seconds later, the room became filled with artificial light and Twilight could see the room’s resident. Twilight could tell that it was a pegasus mare, but otherwise it looked like chewed up book leather. The mare’s coat and mane was mostly shaved off, with the remaining patches so caked it dried blood that Twilight couldn’t identify what the poor thing’s color was, though it appeared to be a shade of orange. The mare’s body looked almost skeletal, with the majority of its body fat seemingly nonexistent, and one of its eyes seemed to have been removed completely. The mare’s ugly appearance was not helped by a series of gashes in its torso and other body parts that had been crudely stitched up, giving the mare a ragdoll-like appearance. Twilight had almost turned to look away from the pitiful thing when she noticed its cutie mark.

Twilight could not believe who the mare was, and in fact she found herself denying the reality for a moment. But there was

no getting around the truth. She knew who this mare was.

“Miss Sparkle, I would like to introduce you to Project 6-19.” Dread said.

All Twilight could think in response was a single word. The name of the mare that laid unconscious before her. Twilight said the name twice, first quietly to herself, and then once more as if to cement its reality.

“Fluttershy!”