Insanity

[This chapter does get a bit... disturbing]

March 24, abandoned Equestrian Spec Ops facility

Temperature: -39 degrees fahrenheit

Time: 12:09 A.M.

Shadow and Dusk slowed to a halt as the entered the target range. The targets down the range were ravaged, torn apart and scattered across the floor. The ceiling, walls, and floor were stained with blood. Dusk and Night’s lanterns lit up the room, no signs of spirits any where.

“Clarity doesn’t seem to be in here either...” Shadow said, looking down the range. There was a half loaded pistol in the booth along with its holster. Shadow picked the pistol and its holster and put it around his hind leg.

“Come on, lets search somewhere else.” Dusk said. Dusk started to walk to the door, but both of the doors slammed shut. The speakers cracked on, a low buzzing sound occupying the speakers.

“What the hell is going on?” Shadow asked, looking quickly around the room.

“And where did you think you were going?” A voice said over the speakers.

“What are you doing? Who are you?” Shadow asked.

“That is nothing of concern. You should be more worried about your friend Clarity.” The voice spoke. Muffled screams came from in the background of the speakers.
 “What did you do to her!?” Shadow yelled.

“Now, now, you wouldn’t want them to find you, so I suggest you keep your mouth shut if you want to live.” The voice said.

“Let us out of here!” Shadow yelled again.

“If that’s the way you want to play, then so be it.” The voice said. The vents in the shooting range slid open and the sound of rushing air came from deep within them. Shadow and Dusk ran over to one of the doors and pulled at it. The door stayed shut, not budging the slightest bit. They both started to feel dazed, an overwhelming sensation taking over them. They both fell to the floor, Dusk unconscious. Shadow crawled around on the floor and reached up to the door. The door opened slowly, revealing an earth pony standing on the other side with a lantern around his neck. The earth pony walked up to Shadow and brought a hoof down on him, knocking Shadow unconscious.

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Shadow opened his eyes, his vision blurry. The lantern next to him flickered in the slowly moving air. Shadow got up and looked around. He was at the end of a hallway, the wall behind him looking as if it had been made from scratch. Shadow’s headset came on, a message coming through. He lowered the mic down to his mouth and accepted the message.

“Don’t bother knocking the wall down, its reinforced from the other side.” A voice said in Shadow’s headset.

“What did you do with Dusk!?” Shadow yelled. The sound of hoof steps came from the other side of the wall and slowly faded.

“You really don’t learn do you? Anyways, if you want to live, I suggest you move forward, they’ll find you if you just sit there.” The voice said. Shadow’s headset gave back static, nothing coming through. Shadow flipped his headset off and raised the mic from his mouth. He looked down the hallway. The hall was pitch black beyond the light, nothing visible in the black abyss. Shadow hesitantly started walking, his hoof steps echoing down the hall. The paint on the walls started to show signs of pealing as Shadow walked down the hall. The sound of rushing air came from the vents on the walls. Shadow kept walking. Quiet whispers started to come into earshot as Shadow continued on. He started to feel paranoid, as if something was watching him. Shadow ignored the feeling and he pressed forward. The edge of the light from his lantern began to show a door at the end of the hallway. The door was rusty, claw marks scratched across it. Shadow walked up to the door and stared at it. The door seemed to move back and forth. The whispers had grown in volume, strange phrases muttered through the commotion. Shadow pushed the door lightly, the door creaking as it slowly opened. A cold rush of air came from the room. Shadow walked into the room and looked around.

“What the...” Shadow said. There were bodies of ponies strung from their hind legs hanging from the ceiling. Their skin was cut or peeled off, the muscle underneath frozen. The freezer room was completely dark, the only thing visible in the room were the ponies in the range of Shadow’s lantern. Something rushed past behind Shadow and he quickly turned around. A few of the ponies that were strung from the ceiling were swaying back and forth. Shadow walked up to one of them and looked at a sliver necklace around one of their necks. He lifted the tags at the end of the necklace up and looked at them.

“These are Equestrian Spec Ops dog tags... are these the operatives that were trapped?” Shadow thought to himself.

“I suggest you keep that lantern a bit dim and be quiet, you wouldn’t want her to find you.” A voice said from over Shadow’s headset. Shadow didn’t bother saying anything, he only looked around the room nervously. Hoof steps in the distance came and faded again and again. Shadow breathed heavily, his breath visible with each exhale in the cold air. He hesitantly started walking, trying to make his hoof steps as quiet as possible. Shadow frantically looked around as he walked on, his heart pounding. Shadow brushed against the ponies hanging from the ceiling as he continued on, the chains holding them up rattling. The light from Shadow’s lantern started to outline something and he stopped walking. The mare in front of him stared in the opposite direction, not knowing that Shadow as there. Shadow was about to say something, but stopped as the pony turned around. The mare’s eyelids were stitched shut, cuts along her body and face. She had a harness around her neck, spikes sticking out from it. The spikes had blood on them, the blood frozen. Shadow noticed that the ponies strung from the ceiling had small punctures in them. Shadow stayed silent, staring at the mare. The mare stayed silent, staring blindly in Shadow’s direction. Her lips quivered, as if she were trying to say something.

“I... I haven’t eaten in days... the meat on these ponies... I... can’t eat anymore...” The mare spoke, slowly starting to walk towards Shadow. Shadow turned around and started to run. The sound of hoof steps started after him. Shadow kept running, the bodies of the ponies hanging from the ceiling moving out of the way as Shadow ran into them. Shadow came to a halt at a door, different than the one he entered in. Shadow grabbed the handle and pulled. The hoof steps behind him grew closer. Shadow pushed against the wall next to the door and the door flung open. He ran through the doorway and slammed the door. He turned around and backed away from the door slowly. The mare on the other side of the door scratched at it, muffled yells coming from the other side. Shadow let out a sigh of relief and turned around. Another hallway.

“Good job, you managed to make it out of the test alive, more than that you managed to make it out un-scathed.” A voice said over Shadow’s headset. Shadow lowered the mic to his mouth.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!? You stitch a helpless mares’ eyes shut and put her in a fucking freezer!? And for what, for a fucking test!?” Shadow yelled. The headset gave off static. Shadow swore again and lifted the mic from his mouth. He looked down the hallway, a black abyss beyond the edge of his lantern. Something started to emerge from the darkness beyond the lantern’s light. A shrill scream grew to almost deafening volume as the mare ran towards Shadow from the darkness. Shadow quickly took out the gun he had picked up earlier and looked back up, aiming down the hallway. The mare was gone, no sign of her ever being there.

“What the hell was that...?” Shadow said quietly, still staring down the hall. Shadow shook his head in confusion and put the gun back in its holster.  He started to walk down the hallway, moving on to the next test.

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Shadow stopped in front of a large door, leading to the Spec Ops meeting hall. The vents on the walls still had the sound of rushing air coming through them. A trail of blood led under the door into the meeting hall, hoof prints along side the blood trail. Shadow pushed the door open and looked inside. There was lit lantern on the other side of the room, lighting up the area around it. There was a pegasus laying on the floor, her hooves tied together, along with her wings tied to her body. It was Dusk, she was unconscious. The area between Shadow’s lantern and the lantern across the room was pitch black.

“Be careful stepping across, you never know when one of those beams will break.” A voice said through Shadow’s headset. Shadow walked a little bit into the room and looked at the floor. The floor had been destroyed, wooden beams making pathways along the holes in the floor. There were multiple pathways, three wooden planks stretching across each hole. Shadow looked down into the holes in the floor. There were spirits wandering aimlessly below, their glow an icy blue as they walked past each other, bumping into the pillars holding up the remaining parts of the meeting hall floor. Shadow started to walk across the first hole, taking the wooden beam in the middle. The beam creaked as Shadow walked across, making his way to the other section of the remaining floor. Shadow jumped from the wooden beam and landed on the chuck of the floor, the wooden beams rocking back and forth.

Shadow examined the next three wooden beams. The one on the right had a crack in the middle of it, the one in the middle was barely on the chunk of floor, and the one on the left was covered in a liquid that was dripping from the ceiling of the meeting hall. Shadow hesitantly stepped on the middle one, but took his hoof off of it as the beam fell to the area below, landing next to a spirit. Shadow walked over to the wooden beam on the right and started to walk across. The beam creaked and cracked as he slowly made his way across. Shadow jumped from the end of the beam and it broke, the beam breaking in half and falling into the room below.

Shadow let out a sigh of relief and looked up. He had made it to the other side of the meeting hall, Dusk laying on the floor to the right of him.

“Dusk, Dusk! Wake up!” Shadow said quietly. Dusk’s eyes opened slowly and she looked around. She started to say something, but Shadow covered her mouth, pointing to the room below the meeting hall. She looked down and realized why. Shadow untied the ropes around her hooves and Dusk stood up, putting the lantern around her neck. Shadow and Dusk quietly walked over to the door and pushed it open. They walked through and closed the door as quietly as possible. It led to another hallway, the hall pitch black beyond both of their lanterns.

“What is going on? What the hell was that?” Dusk asked, pointing at the door.

“I’m going to fucking murder some pony, that is what is going on. Come on, we still have to find Clarity.” Shadow said as he started to walk down the hallway. Dusk followed Shadow, continuing through the facility.

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Dusk and Shadow arrived at the Equestrian Spec Ops surveillance room. Shadow took out his pistol and looked at Dusk. She nodded and Shadow kicked the door open, the door flying off its hinges and falling onto the floor. Dusk dashed into the room and looked around. The surveillance cameras showed on the screens, nothing in the halls they watched. Dusk turned around to say something to Shadow, but was halted by something grabbing her. An earth pony’s front leg was around Dusk’s neck, both Dusk and the earth pony standing on their hind legs. Shadow lifted the pistol into the air and aimed slightly past Dusk.

“Woah, there, you wouldn’t want your friend here to die, now, would you?” The earth pony said, raising a knife to Dusk’s throat. Shadow stood still, aiming the gun at the earth pony.

“Where is Clarity?” Shadow asked. Clarity was sitting in the corner, watching the display in front of her, her hooves tied together and her wings strapped to her body.

“Your other friend? She’s right over there.” The earth pony said, pointing to the corner with his knife. Shadow aimed at the knife and fired, the knife flying out of the earth pony’s hoof. Shadow aim at the earth pony and fired again, the bullet going into the earth pony’s hind leg. The earth pony let go of Dusk and Dusk ran away over to Clarity. Shadow walked up to the injured stallion, who looked up at him. He chuckled to himself quietly, holding onto his hind leg. Shadow raised the gun up and aimed at the stallion, the gun pointing straight between the stallion’s eyes.

“How can you live like this? You killed all of those operatives, skinned them, and put a mare in there with them, helpless with no escape because she can’t see. What the hell made you do this?” Shadow asked. The stallion chuckled quietly again.

“Insanity can make you do mess up things... I sat there in the first few days, hoping that somepony would come and find us, bring us back to the surface. But it slowly dawned on all of us that no pony was going to come for us, and that drove some of the remaining operatives insane. Some of them actually started to believe that this was meant to happen, that we were part of some... fucked up experiment that the Spec Ops was planning. As you can see by my journal entries, insanity took me over only a month into our entrapment, realizing that I was going to die here. I figured... you know, why not make my last moments fun? Let’s put the remaining operatives into a obstacle course... have some fun with them before they go. I set up those canisters over there to the vents and let the hallucinogen flow through the vents to make the course a little more... entertaining. The Spec Ops was working on the final product to be used as a bio-chemical weapon, and those were just the prototype samples. Who knew that it would carry on this far? That I would finally find the stallion that caused all of this, caused all of the torture, all of the bloodshed, all of the fucked up things that happened after you, Dead Eye, decided to destroy and disband the Spec Ops. Who knew that I would be able to put the stallion that put us in this prison in the same situations that we faced every day we were down here? We all hated you as we sat in there... waiting on false hopes.” The stallion said.

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Three months we were stuck in this hellish place, waiting for some pony, any pony to come and help us. Little did we know, nothing was coming. We would be stuck down here, helpless, only delaying our inevitable death in this facility. But some started to lose it. They started to go insane, not wanting to accept the fact that we were trapped. They broke off from the groups we had formed in the facility and became animals, hunting and feeding on the operatives that still had their sanity. The other nine operatives I was with started to lose it as well, letting go of what was real and what was created in this hell-ish place. But there would be something else that would even further increase the hostility and insanity. The spirits.

The operatives that had lost their lives... came back, their spirits not able to escape from the facility, so they stayed here, and further tormented us. We had already lost three of us by the time the first spirits showed, starved or died of dehydration because of the low amount of rations. Soon the only source of water was the blood that coursed through the remaining operatives veins. More and more of the operatives that were alive turned to cannibalism, hunting down their fellow operatives and killing them in cold blood so they could eat. There were three of us left by that time, scared for our lives of the sounds that came from the halls. They didn’t last long, both of the operatives that I was with either lost or taken by the insane operatives. I didn’t bother finding another surviving group, I knew they would just die along with the rest of us. Insanity started to take over me as the sounds from the halls came to a halt, the eerie quietness of the facility wearing away at my sanity. I thought to myself in the last moments of sanity, ‘Why not have some fun?’.

I set up the course you had to go through only a month ago, finding the remaining operatives and putting them to the test. It was joyful to watch them suffer, laying in the room below the meeting room with broken limbs, having their life sucked out by the spirits, to watch them eaten alive by the mare in the freezer room, to watch them die at my will. When the Saint operatives came, they didn’t stand a chance against the spirits, all of them being taken by them and trapped in here for an eternity. The only thing they wanted was to kill you, Dead Eye, for what you had done to us, for trapping us in this facility, leaving us to turn on each other and die off, trapped in here forever. Light just became a blind spot for them when it appeared. The operatives that were alive were mistaken as you, and they were robbed of their life because of you.

You, Dead Eye, caused all of this, and there is no undoing it.

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“But look where we are now, the same stallion that caused this ordeal is here to end it. So come on, go ahead and-” The stallion said. Shadow pulled the trigger, the bullet flying from the pistol and into the stallion. The stallion’s head jerked back and he fell to the floor.

“You don’t need to tell me to put a bullet between your eyes, that was coming either way.” Shadow said. He dropped the gun and looked over at Clarity and Dusk. They were both watching Shadow, slightly afraid. Shadow sighed and looked back at the surveillance cameras.

“I think it’s time we got out of this place.” Shadow said. Dusk and Clarity nodded and Dusk untied the ropes around Clarity’s hooves. They got up and walked over to Shadow.

“Don’t you think it was a little harsh shooting him?” Dusk said, looking down at the stallion.

“For what he had been through and what he had done, something told me that he wanted to die.” Shadow said as he started to walk out the door, Clarity and Dusk following him. But it wasn’t over yet. There was still the matter of getting out... alive. Next Chapter: Regret Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes