BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Quickly rolling over, Nurse Redheart swung her hand toward her clock to only hit the nightstand. A thumping noise was able to get through the screen of-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

-noise. The source of the beeping moved and, though the noise became muffled, it was still enough to keep the nurse from falling back to sleep.

“Stupid fu-” a yawn interrupted the curse as Redheart, eyes half-open, unceremoniously rolled off her bed and crawled beneath the blessed furniture. The-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

-beeping was louder down here. This let the nurse know, had this not been the thousandth time doing this, that the runaway alarm clock was under her bed.

“Cursed thing. Why did I buy you?” she asked herself as she grabbed the wheeled alarm clock and jabbed the 'off' button with her finger. With the cursed contraption finally silent, Redheart released a sigh before backing out from under her bed. Setting the clock back on her nightstand, Redheart took a moment to stretch and scratch her bare chest.

Moving to the bathroom, she stripped off her sleep pants before turning on the shower... with her head under the water. The shower spat out the freezing water but the nurse held her head in the stream for a couple seconds before standing straight up again, eyes wide open. Shaking her head, the loose hair whipping around, Redheart chuckled.

“Wakes me up everytime.”

-_-_-_-_-

Redheart stepped out of her home with a bag slung across her chest. After locking the door, she put the keys in the pouch on the strap before turning and walking down the street toward the hospital. She was dressed in her typical nurse uniform, the skirt going down to her knees and the blouse buttoned to the second button. Her mane was up in her usual bun while her tail hung down to her calves. Her nurse's hat was in her bag along with her lunch and a book for her breaks, if she got any.

I swear, she thought, This town has the most accident prone ponies in all of Equestria.

As it was early morning, the roads were crowded with other Ponyville citizens heading to work or market. Many greeted Redheart as she passed by and the nurse made sure to at least wave back. Even though the amount of injuries irritated her, she did try to be kind to her fellow ponies. Many would say that this is because she was a nurse but Redheart thought that, no matter her Cutie Mark, she would've been kind to everypony.

Turning down one of the streets, the hospital came into view. Picking up her pace slightly, Redheart pushed through the front doors to be greeted by the head nurse currently on duty.

“Morning Redheart.”

Redheart approached the desk and leaned against it, “Morning Bandage, anything new?”

“Yes, actually. I'm glad you asked. A unicorn filly was admitted to the psych ward last night. The Doc thinks she has some severe form of PTSD.”

Redheart was interested now... and worried. A filly with PTSD? “What happened to her?”

Bandage shrugged, “Don't know. She just showed up on our doorstep mumbling and shaking with glossed over eyes. When the Doc examined her, she stopped shaking but she still mumbled so quietly that, even with an ear against her muzzle, you can't understand what she's saying. To be honest, it doesn't even sound Equestrian. We took her to her room and sat her on the bed. She... she's been there ever since, staring at the wall with those glossed over eyes and mumbling.”

“Wow,” Redheart breathed, “Poor thing. I'm guessing you want me to look at you?”

“If you would. At least get her to eat something,” Bandage replied.

“Alright. I'll get on that.”

“She's in room 12. Good luck,” Bandage called out as Redheart hurried to the nurse's break room. Dumping her bag, she quickly donned her hat before hurrying over to the psych ward of the hospital. There were two entrances to the ward: the door to the rest of the hospital and the fire escape. Both were guarded by large stallions.

“Morning nurse.”

“Morning,” she quickly replied to the guard. She pushed through the doors and speed walked down the hall while looking at the plaques on the doors.

“10...11...12! Here it is.”

Standing in front of the door, Redheart straightened her uniform and mane. First impressions counted, afterall. Ready, she opened the door and stepped inside. The room was spartan by regulation. There was bed with a single sheet covering it's mattress and a couple of happy pictures painted on the padded walls. That was it. So to see a filly, dressed in a baby blue patient's gown, sitting cross-legged on the bed of one of these warms almost shattered the nurse's heart.

Like Bandage had stated, the filly, who looked to be about eight, stared at the opposite wall with a blank stare. Redheart could also see the filly's lips moving as she muttered to herself. With no reaction to her entrance, Redheart studied the filly. She had a brown coat with a dark red mane, looking almost like blood. The comparison wasn't helped with how her mane flowed down from her head, over her shoulders, and down to the small of her back. Her tail swept to the right with the tip hanging over the edge of the bed, making it look like a small river of blood.

Shaking off the imagery, Redheart stepped closer and looked at the filly's eyes. They were a sharp green in color or at least would've been if they didn't seem dulled. Though Redheart had gotten closer, the eyes remained fixed on the wall ahead of the filly. Her mouth never stopped moving. Stepping next to the bed, Redheart leaned in so that her ear was close to the filly's muzzle. The child's voice was dull drone as she repeated the same four words over and over.

“Nemo me audit nuntius. Nemo me audit nuntius. Nemo me audit nuntius. Nemo me audit nuntius.”

Definitely not Equestrian, Redheart deduced as she pulled her head away from the filly. Finally done observing, Redheart cleared her throat.

“Hey little one, I'm Nurse Redheart. Do you understand me?”

The filly gave no indication that she had heard or understood the nurse. Redheart tried snapping her fingers and waving a hand in front of the filly's face.

“Hello? Can you understand me?”

Again, no response, just the empty stare and endless muttering. Frowning, Redheart decided to climb onto the bed and crawl in front of the filly, breaking her line of sight to the wall. Now kneeling in front of the filly, Redheart leaned her head down to look the child in her eyes. Redheart smiled when she made eye contact with the filly.

That smile was quickly replaced with a grimace as two tiny hands clamped onto the sides of her head with more strength than a filly her age should possess. Redheart couldn't move her body, as if held by a freeze spell but the nurse couldn't remember seeing the filly's horn flash. All she saw were those green eyes. She tried to scream but all that came out was a quiet whimper. Her fear increased as she saw the filly's eyes change. While the iris remained it's bright green, the pupil's changed to become the hands of a clock. The veins in the whites of the eyes became prominent, forming the hour ticks of a clock face.

“Videbis,” the filly spoke loud enough for Redheart to hear her clearly, “Et scies.”

Then, the world went black. The last thing that Redheart saw was the filly's transformed eyes.

Redheart's eyes snapped open, her body shooting to a sitting position. Frantically, she scanned her surroundings. She was in the hospital still, the overall whiteness of the room giving it away. She was currently on a bed situated in the middle of the perfectly squared room. The bed was clean, the walls bare, and the air cool. Confused, she swung her legs off the bed and stood. By instinct she tried to smooth the wrinkles in her white blouse and skirt as she moved to the only door from the room. The door was a dull, uninviting gray with a single circular window.

She placed a hand against the door, hissing at the coldness that the metal door gave off. Still, she left her hand where it was as she looked out of the porthole. On the other side of the door was a long, white walled hallway. Gurneys lined the side as medical staff stood about, conversing. The only door that Redheart could see besides her own was at the other end of the hallway.

Confused, she looked down at the door handle and twisted it... only to discover that the door was locked. Her confusion mounting, she looked back at the glass, hoping to call for help from the medical staff outside.

The only sound that came was a shocked gasp as her dilating eyes looked out of the window. The hallway, once well-lit by the overhead florescents, was now almost completely shrouded in darkness. Some of the lit areas flashed between light and dark as the above light flickered. The lit areas revealed a scene that made Redheart's stomach convulse.

Blood caked the walls and floor. Body parts were strewn about as if thrown from a child's toy chest. A ripped arm here, a half a torso there. In one of the flickering sections, she saw brief glimpses of a mainly intact corpse leaned against the wall. For all the world it looked as if they were just relaxing on the blood soaked floors but the head sitting in it's lap destroyed that assumption whole-heartedly.

All this lost Redheart's attention as she spotted something in the darkness close to the other door. Blacker than the black around it, she was able to make out the shape of a pony that was standing up. Their tail gently swished behind them as they stepped forward. The movement was awkward, as if the owner didn't quite remember how to walk. They continued this shuffle towards Redheart, who watched with growing horror.

“Hello?” she called, hoping they could hear, “Can you let me out?”

The pony stepped and swayed in place. It was at this moment that the light above decided to flicker on. What was revealed made Redheart clasp both hands over her mouth and take a step away from the door. The pony, if it could be described as that, was coated in enough blood to make it impossible to ascertain their coat color. It's lips had somehow been removed, showing a blood-stained grin. Pink flesh dangled from between it's teeth as it's intestines were poking out of a large slash in it's gut.

When the darkness returned, the mutilated pony restarted it's shuffle. Then it began to jog. Then it began to sprint. Then it screamed.

The scream echoed down the hallway and assaulted Redheart's ears with the same effect as nails on a chalkboard. Her ears folded in reflex but it did little to muffle the screech. She threw her hands onto her ears and pushed them into her head, succeeding in making the screech that much more bearable. That was when she realized that she was screaming in pain and fear. Her eyes had slammed shut and she could feel tears sliding down her cheeks.

SLAM!

The door rattled as the pony rammed into it. Redheart's screaming increased as she blindly scooted away from the door. Her mind envisioned the door buckling inward, allowing entrance for the... thing in the hallway. She saw it grabbing onto her legs and dragging her from the newfound safety of the room. She saw the headless corpse slowly changing to be her sitting against the wall, her head held in her lap.

“Let me in!” the thing squealed, “It'll only hurt a little!”

Redheart forced her eyes open to see the creature staring at her through the porthole. It opened it's mouth and let it's tongue fall out. It seemed impossibly long for a pony, a part of Redheart observed. The creature smacked it's tongue against the window with a flick of it's head. The tongue seemed to have a mind of it's own as it worked it's way across the window. Redheart watched, entranced, as the whole act seemed to be disturbingly sexual in nature. She gagged, however, when she spotted the blood that was mingled with the saliva.

After a minute of the display, the tongue fell from the window, allowing the creature to press it's face against the window. It locked it's crazed, deranged eyes on the frightened nurse. The grin it had making it look as if it was enjoying the horror it was causing the white-coated mare. Rearing it's head back, it slammed it into the window. A crack appeared.

It's eyes moved to the crack before moving back to the nurse. It began to laugh as it reared it's head back, only to slam it into the glass again. It did this over and over, each time the crack growing bigger. Each time, Redheart would shut her eyes tighter, hoping the horror would go away. The tears were running freely now as she whimpered quietly. She didn't want to die; not like this. She didn't want to be eaten by this horror.

“Psst! Hey! Nurse lady!”

Redheart kept her eyes shut, thinking it was just the creature talking again.

“Over here!”

This time, the nurse did open her eyes. She looked over at where the voice had come and just about screamed again. There, leaning out of an air vent, was the filly from the psych ward. Differences could be seen, however, the first of which being that this filly was responding to outside stimuli. The second being that her blood red mane was pulled back into a ponytail.

“Come on! Before the Nasty gets ya!” the filly cried, beckoning Redheart to follow before turning around in the vent and disappearing. A very brief mental argument occurred in Redheart's head before she hurriedly crawled after the filly. The smashing of the window made her crawl faster.

“It'll only hurt a little!” the thing cried before going back into it's insane laughter. This spurred Redheart to nearly dive into the vent, finding out all too late that it was actually a chute. Screaming, Redheart slid down the chute, aware of passing multiple junctions with other chutes. Finally, she was deposited in a pile of what appeared to be bed sheets.

“Jeeze,” muttered the familiar voice of the filly, “wake up all the Nasties why don't ya.”

Redheart, no quiet, looked out from the landing area to see the filly sitting on a desk chair, rubbing an ear with one of her fingers. Around the filly was a wide assortment of things. Food, toys, books, clothes, medical gear; all laid scattered about the area with little to no organization whatsoever.

What really caught the nurse's attention was the birdcage sitting atop one of the many tables in the room. Inside the birdcage was none other than a severed head... a still alive severed head.

The filly followed the nurse's slack-jawed gazed before turning back with a smile, “That's my friend!”

“Name's Whisper, m'lady,” stated the severed head matter-of-factly.

Redheart, her brain overloaded and her emotions overstressed, simply passed out amongst the pile of bedsheets.

"Well that was rude," muttered the filly with a huff.