Special Opening Theme:
Erised the ink-moth's Comment
Brown Dog's Comment
This is bad. This is bad. This is really really bad, you think as all around you the inmates get more and more stirred up. Erised is mind-controlling all of them, and somewhere, Grey is arming not only them, but a force of Crimson Knight recruits as well. Now they're going to lure Celestia and her guards into a trap, and try to destroy them!
"What do we do?" you mutter. "What the BUCK DO WE DO?!" you scream, grabbing a random stallion and shaking him back and forth.
Bugze, be calm. Selena tells you, Our enemies have foolishly revealed their plans. There is still time to thwart them. Do not forget we have friends on the outside.
"Aqua and Nightshade!" you gasp. "I can tell them what's happening, and they can send a warning! Visiting hours should be happening soon, so I can talk to them then!"
The orderlies are less then helpful, however,
"What do you mean I can't go to visiting hours?! We've got bigger problems coming than a shirked schedule!"
"Lunch has to be finished first. Now finish your meal and sit calmly."
"Calmly?! Didn't you hear the dang intercom message?! All of Tartarus is going to break loose soon!"
The orderlies look at you confused.
"What intercom message?"
"Don't listen to him, he's crazy. We don't have an intercom system..." says the other orderly.
Your eyes shrink at that.
"WHAT?! Of course there is! Erised just spoke over it!"
"...Sit down and eat" they grab you and drag you back to your seat, even as the other patients wander around like zombies, the staff seem to be going about their job in a lax, trance like state.
They really don't know. They don't know what's coming, you think in worry.
It seems this Knight has not only infiltrated the minds of the insane, but of the staff as well, but in a different way.
Well there's got to be others in here that aren't just mind controlled. Grey Rebl for one, but there might be others.
Agreed. But for all these enthralled, we should proceed with caution, if they suspect us, they might swarm.
Or you could allow me to seize control. Sombra whispers, Give the Ink-moth's blood to me, and through my power, his army shall be mine to control."
You blink. "Well why didn't you say so sooner?! Can you actually do that?" If he can, you could end this here and now. With the asylum under your control, you'd be able to force the knights to surrender, and nopony would get hurt.
Indeed I can. Sombra chuckles evilly, Yeeeessss... Slaveeeessss.
"Alright..." you say with a frown, "and what would you do with the inmates after we've beaten the knights?"
I would lead them across Equestria to conquer- I mean... uh... We'd all get lemonade?
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't trust you enough to give you an army. I bet you'd double cross us the second you get the chance, so no thanks." you tell the king. "I can do this without your help. We'll stop them, and we're going to do it the right way, with a good old-fashioned flank spanking! In the meantime," you grab a cup of pills and down them, "Go back to la la land!"
You can practically feel Sombra scowling. Selena seems proud of you though.
Before you can think anymore on your situation though, you are suddenly grabbed from behind...
Grey Rebl's Comment
"Well, lunch time is over. Time to resume our therapy session!" Quack cheerfully says.
You do a double take. "Wait, what?! Are you crazy?!"
"Now, BST, don't lump me in with my patients. I'm the doctor here."
"Nonono! This is serious! Didn't you hear the guy on the intercom? You can't just leave this alone and treat this as another case of---"
"Oh, I'm sure it's a part of their way of doing therapy."
Yet again, for the nth time today, your eye twitches. That has to be the dumbest thing possible, yet, reasonable as well. All of this can be considered the usual crazy stuff that happens in an asylum. Well, except for the horrible conditions. Most of all, it's just like Quacksalver, to treat certain things as viable treatments.
"...Quacksalver, you really ARE a quack."
Now, he definitely hears that. However, it appears that he's heard of that line so many times, it seems to be the usual for him so he doesn't question your statement. All the while missing the meaning entirely. "Yes, yes. I know my name is Quack. Hmm, I may have to rediagnose you. It seems you're suffering from..."
You don't want to hear it. You grunt in frustration and decide to move on along. However, you are stopped by the sudden pull of your tail. Apparently Quacksalver can have a killer grip when buzzed by alcohol. As he starts to drag you away, you shout, "Hey! Let go! I have things to do! Important things!"
Quack turns to smile at you. "Don't worry. There's always time AFTER your sessions. Trust me, it's a pretty short and easy fix."
"I DON'T HAVE BUCKING TIME!"
He continues to ignore you from there on as you try to escape his grip. Even hitting him won't work! The alcohol imbued pain tolerance has already kicked in! As you continue to be dragged through the halls, you shout angrily, "QUACKSALVEEEEEER!" It echoes. In the end, it sounds like the insane cries of one of the Asylum's patients.
SOMETIME LATER
"Peace. Tranquility. Calmness. Feel your breathing. Listen to your heartbeat."
In a room, a circle of ponies are gathered, most of them in straight jackets. A pony in a doctor's coat in particular sits among the patients, eyes closed as he chants phrases about finding inner peace within madness. He doesn't even seem to notice the glazed and feral looks of the crazies, which occurred when Erised made his announcement.
Indeed, the room is in fact peaceful. Until, that is, the door slams open to reveal you and the quack.
"And this here should be it!" Quack shouts, breaking whatever peaceful silence there is.
The Pony Doctor in the room snaps his eyes open, revealing rage and fire and ice, to which to wince as you can sense the raw emotion from him. "...Quacksalver," he says in a cold voice, and, although sophisticated, he's obviously training his anger.
"Oh. Wrong room. Sorry there! Didn't mean to interrupt your session!" Quack says, unflinching to the look of unbidden rage in front of him.
You take the opportunity to sneak away, but yelp as Quack's grip didn't even lessen.
The Pony Doctor scowls. "Yes, and if you call yourself a PROFESSIONAL doctor, you should know better than to both knock and NOT be drunk on the job." He then spits, "And yet you have the gal to insult our Asylum's procedures."
Quacksalver just shrugs uncaring, taking another swig of the alcohol. "My only objection to the procedure of this asylum is their supposed diagnosis. But no worries, this doctor will fix their mistakes and save their reputation!"
You groan, feeling pity to this institution. Brainwashed or not, the Asylum is doomed. You say, "Okay, Quack? You're drunk. You should go home."
"Nope! Not until we finish your treatment, BST!" He then proceeds to leave the room as he drags you away and waves to the Pony Doctor. "Good day, Ratchet's boyfriend!" Before Ratchet's boyfriend can even reply, the door closes shut.
MORE RANDOM SEARCHING LATER
It's through another trek through another hallway when you say, "C'mon, Doc! You have to let me go! People are going to die if I don't do something!"
"Don't be silly, Bugze. Nopony is going to die anytime soon just because YOU think so."
"The buck?! Aren't you supposed to be a be a doctor?! You know, save people?" When you finish, he suddenly stops. You smile, hope forming in you. "Have I finally gotten through to---?"
"Ah, I made another wrong turn."
"It feels like we're walking in circles, where are we even going?!" you shout.
"My office of course. Your treatment is waiting...now if only I could remember where it was," he ponders as he drinks more booze.
You clamp your mouth shut, preventing yourself from killing him with a "Fos Roh Dah."
Quack puts a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm. By the way, I should warn you to not wander around these halls.'
"Huh?" you say, snapping you out of your murderous thoughts and then into confusion. "Why?"
Then, you hear it: The cries of pain and anguish. The cries scream of mercy and help, but obviously, no sane person may attempt it in fear of whatever atrocities reside around that very corner. Several shadowy figures rapidly swing in and out ominously, following the very movements of the people present. Along with it, though, is a voice of anger and glee.
"THERE WILL BE NO LITTERING IN THESE HALLS! NEVEEEER!"
"...the buck?" you squeal out.
"Yeah, the Asylum's janitor can be like that. He's actually one of my patients, and I figured mopping and cleaning the floors until they shine will do him good! That way, it'll reflect the shine into his cynical heart and he'll feel pretty bright about it." How Quack still continues on with a smile like that with whatever it is that's happening in front of him, you have no idea.
You think back to the general condition of the Asylum. "And what bang up job he's doing...this place is still a mess."
"Yeah! Isn't it great?" Quack buzzes. "For being the only janitor in the asylum, he's doing well even though a lot of the patients make it all messy again, making him start over. But not once was he deterred!"
You hear the meaty smacks of heads slamming to the floor. "THESE HALLS WILL STAY CLEAN! CLEAN, I SAY! PER. FECT. LY. CLEAN!" For each vowel, you hear a wince inducing hit.
You blink. "Well, no wonder he went crazy..."
Quacksalver just shakes his head. "No, he's actually getting better. He's getting less psychotic episodes now." He smiles cheekily at the statement, as if charmed for his success.
Judging by the psychotic laughter that sounds like a form of euphoric relief, you can understand why. You look at Quack Salver. "Can we PLEASE leave now?"
READ THE LAST BOLDED TEXT
At this point, you consider giving up on trying to convince this guy to not "help" you and instead opt to get over whatever messed up procedure he has procured and then be done with it. However, both you and Quacksalver are stopped by the appearance of an oddly sane pony. Well, sane in comparison to the rest at least.
Like the rest of the crazies, he's wearing a straitjacket. Unlike the rest of the crazies, he's being sneaky and inconspicuous, leaning against a wall along a corner. Ironically, the act of sneaking is what makes him so eye-catching in the first place.
"Ah. Idea! Let's ask of directions instead!"
"Do you even know your way around this place?!" Well, then again, neither do you. Though you feel you haven't really left this one corner section of the asylum. But that's besides the point. "And to ask a crazy no less! Are you out of your bucking mind---wait no, don't answer that."
Suddenly, the inconspicuous pony whips around and shout, "How many times do I have to say it: I'M NOT ONE OF YOU CRAZIES!" It's so loud that you can even hear it echo along the shallow halls, effectively destroying the illusion of stealth.
You sigh. "Let me guess: He's diagnosed for being too obnoxiously loud for no reason, so his therapy is to act as stealthily as possible in his free time?"
Quack looks surprised. "Actually, you got that correct. You nailed down the therapy, just not the diagnosis. You might become a good doctor after you are deemed sane enough."
Hello Kettle. I am Tea Pot, you think.
"Oh my bucking god don't---You know what? Let's ask him directions already," you finally say.
You both ask, and the loud pony blinks dumbly. He points to the wall right beside him, where a wall map is nailed into.
Yet again, you sigh.
YOU GET THE DRILL BY NOW
"Aaaand now we're here!"
"Are you kidding me?!" you shout, "This is 3 doors down from the lunch room!"
"Ah, so it is. Great observational skills," he warbles as he takes another drink.
"We wasted all that time walking in circles!" you chastise.
"Oh, you don't have to look out for time anymore. The treatment starts now!" Quacksalver trots gingerly into the therapy room with you trudging behind. You feel queasy by the droplets of some reddish-black substance on the floor, dried and spread out nearly everywhere. There's even some on the ceiling! Whatever the treatment is, it must involve blood. And that terrifies you.
Before you can think of an escape plan, Quack opens a nearby drawer and pulls out something. It's alive.
"BUCKING LEECHES?! You were actually serious that time?!"
"I'm always serious...except when I'm not. Now, come and let Barney and his friends nom on your sickly blood," he says as he brings the leeches closer to your face.
Kichi's Comment
Thinking quickly you slap the leeches out of Quack's hooves,
"Barney No!" he yells, but you grab him, finally having enough of his crap.
"Alright, enough of this! We don't have anymore time to waste trying to 'heal my insanity.' We've got to do something Quack!"
"My good friend, what is the problem? Everything is okay, you just need to relax" he says without worry as he drinks from a bottle again.
"The problem is that disaster is coming! The Crimson Knights have spiked the food here, and it's brainwashing all the nutjobs. They're going to lure guards and the princesses here, and lead them into an ambush! On top of that, none of the staff seem to notice. You are, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the only one that's acting...'normal.' Your brain hurts after saying that, but you continue. We've got to help. We've got to warn the guards, or the princesses, or call SuperMane. Whatever! We gotta do something!"
"Ummm, Paranoia... That is a new symptom my dear BST, care to talk with me about it?" he says woozily.
"Did you not hear me? There's gonna be an ambush if we don't do something!"
"So you really think the patients are going to revolt and hurt others?" he asks.
"Yes! Finally! Now you understand!" you shout in thankfulness.
"Well, then there's really only one thing to do," he says as he downs the rest of the booze, before pulling out a flask, and up ending that as well.
Your eye twitches at this as he continues to get drunk while pausing to chant,
"La La La, nothing bad happening..."
Rolling your eyes, you leave Quack as he continues drinking.
"Why did I think he could be helpful? Maybe I am going crazy..." you shake your head and walk back down the hallway back to the cafeteria, where the orderlies are herding the patients back to the Rec Room.
"Let's see...We don't want these guys being potential pawns...Maybe I can knock out everyone?" you think aloud.
That would not be wise. Not only are you alone, but there are too many and the Knights would be aware of us, says Selena.
"Okay... Let's try something else then." You then begin to think and walk around, worried as you hear the whispers of all the insane around you.
"To die is to live... To die is to live... "
"Yes! I want to kill!"
"Die, Die, Die, Die..."
Brains, Brains, brains..."
"Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur..." the voices mutter.
"OK, the insane are still nuts, but right now they're not organized. I've just got to get to visiting room before anything else ha-"
You are suddenly struck dumb as you see a strange sight.
"Dear Luna... Is that a Minotaur dancing in a Tutu?" you ask in confusion.
Indeed it is. The big burly minotaur twirls around while wearing a pink tutu, and humming some sort of tune.
The minotaur does a split jump, twirls in front of you...and then kicks you right in the nards.
"Damn you lady luck!" you moan in a high pitched voice as you cradle your stallionhood. The minotaur just continues to dance and hum down the hallway, proceeding to attack other patients the same way.
Getting up on shaky hooves and hoping you can still have children in the future you run through the other inmates towards the visiting room.
Vesperion Seraph's Comment
A few doors down from the visiting center door, a black and purple dragon in a security uniform comes bursting out of a room.
"What the buck, what the buck?! I gotta get out of here" he stammers looking scared.
Surprised to see someone else in this asylum emoting, you call out to him.
"Hey you! Dragon!"
He turns to you and scowls.
"Oh great, another bucking loony. Stay away from me!" he yells.
"I'm not crazy dummy! And I'm guessing neither are you. Did you hear the intercom?"
His eyes light up at that.
"Of course I heard the intercom! I started working here today and I wanna leave before the crazy guys attack or whatever. And if you're not insane that means you have to leave too!"
You nod your head at this,
"You're right you do have to leave, some bad stuff is about to happen and the Crimson Knights are in the middle of it. They're trying to turn the crazies into an army or something!"
"Wait What? Crimson Knights? Those terrorists?! I knew taking this job was a bad idea! My father always told me working for ponies was a bad idea, and now see what's happening! I'm smack dab in the middle of some crazy ponies suicide plan!" the dragon stammers.
You give a deadplanned glare at the dragon as you say,
"Uh...that's speciesist."
The dragon's eye twitches as he says,
"I could care less if it is or not! I just want to get out of here before we all get killed!"
"Alright, alright, calm down...ummmm,"
"Ender."
"Ender. I'm a bounty hunter, and I'm going to take these suckers down."
"Y-you are?" he asks.
"Yes, all I need to do is go get my cake equipment in the visitor's center, and I'll solve this," you explain calmly.
"Oh, OK, well I'm gonna get out of here then and..."
"Wait, you can help me help a lot of ponies first," you stop him.
"What? But it's just my first day? What can I do?"
"You're a guard right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well then you must now of some way to slow down the inmates in this place and buy us some more time right? Maybe some sort of lockdown button?""
The dragon puts on a thinking face before snapping his talons and saying,
"The security office has a manual override that locks down the whole Asylum in case of a break out. That should give you a few extra hours head start."
You nod your head at this before saying,
"Good. Now listen, Would You Kindly pull that switch for me?"
"But I-" he starts.
"Look, I gotta go link up with my crew and get my gear, the clock's ticking. Just go pull it and after that you can then leave or find someplace to lay low. Hopefully I'll have this Knight done with before anything else can happen."
"...Ok then," he submits.
"Right, thanks. Oh, and do you happen to know when the post mare shows up around these parts?"
"I think around 1:00?"
You look up at a clock and see you only have five minutes before that letter is sent out.
Buck!
You take off towards the visitor center door, as the dragon nervously walks towards the security office.
Erised the ink-moth's Comment
The Rutherford's Comment
When you get to the visitor's center, you find the place surprisingly empty. You guess the rest of the inmates don't actually use this place anymore, what with the whole mind control stuff. Still, there is a stallion in a security uniform watching over the booths. He turns to you as you enter.
Careful Bugze. We don't know the extent of Erised's power; he could be listening in through his minions.
Right as Selena warns you of this, the stallion approaches you. "What are you doing here?" he asks gruffly.
"I've uh... got some visitors waiting to talk with me," you tell him. Looking around you spot Nightshade and Aqua on the other side of one of the booths. "There they are! That's my daughter and my friend!"
The stallion rolls his eyes. "I thought we weren't supposed to be getting visitors anymore." he mumbles. "Well, you know the drill, go up there, keep up appearances and all that. And if you squeal about anything, well... this is an insane asylum and we will treat you like you're insane. And that includes therapy with out more hysterical patients."
You gulp and make your way to the conversation booth, noticing to your annoyance that the stallion is watching your every move.
The second the three of you sit down, Aqua not-so-subtly asks,
"So CV, find out anything about the knights and what their evil plans are?"
The stallion behind you raises an eyebrow which makes your spine tingle.
"Eeh heh heh, mmm. Nah ha ha. No," you stammer nervously while darting your eyes to the prison guard, and making a series of hoof gestures telling her to shush. "Man it is so great to see you two again. It's been a really long time huh?"
"CV, it's been two hours." Aqua deadpans.
"Right? Two hours without seeing my best friend and my little girl! How've you two been doing without me anyway?" you say in an exaggerated tone.
"Daddy I'm bored. All the vending machines in the lobby are out of candy. All they have left is trail mix! Bleh! Can we finish beating up the knights and go get ice cream?" she asks sweetly.
You chuckle as the stallion gives you another glance. "Sure we can, just as soon as these guys finish making me not crazy. But that might take some time though, this place is in bad shape, you could almost say that the ponies in charge are the real crazy ones." you say with a wink. "Everypony I've met here seems like they're not in control of their own minds. If Celestia saw this place the way it is, it'd be terrible, so that should never happen."
"Daddy, why are you talking all weird? And why do you keep winking at us?" Nightshade asks.
Facehoofing, you turn to the guard stallion watching you and shout, "Hey look, a distraction!" while pointing the other way.
Just like old times, he looks the other way.
You spin back to Aqua and Nightshade and quickly belt out, "Erised and Grey are in charge of the asylum. They've got the inmates and a lot of the staff under mind control. Erised is sending a letter off to Celestia in five minutes to have her and her guards come here and it's going to be a bloodbath if we don't stop it!"
"WHAT?!" Nightshade and Aqua shout. "Why didn't you just say so?"
You feel a vein in your head start to pulse in frustration.
"We've got to find the messenger and intercept them before they get to Celestia. Come on CV, we're busting you outta this joint, like-."
"No wait!" you stop Aqua mid one-liner. "You and Nightshade go. I'll stay and take these guys down. You still got that cake right?"
"Yup!" Nightshade says and brings out a giant cake riddled with bitemarks. "I might have eaten some of it."
"I can see that, now go and..."
"Oh wait! Here you go daddy!"
Nightshade gives you a strange device.
"What is this?"
Nightshade beams at you as she says,
"It is a grappling hook for your power glove, like Batmane uses. I figure it will help you get around the Asylum quicker, and get to areas you normally couldn't. It is also quiet, the inmates won't hear you. Perfect for stealth take downs."
You look at your daughter in surprise as you ask,
"How did you find this?"
Aqua steps up and says,
"Actually, Nightshade and Mangle made it for you. I guess between her love of comics, cartoons, and video games and Mangle's advanced intelligence, they made you something that you can use to increase your fighting and stealth abilities."
Your eyes get stars as you exclaim,
"Sweet!"
I will have to tell her how proud I am of her after this is over.
The little overlord has given us a gift of the sneaky gods. We must use it well while we bask in her greatness by spilling the blood of our enemies...and then by her My Little Human toys!
Your eye twitches at this, but you ignore it.
Shaking your head you look at your daughter and say,
"Thanks honey, now get out of here and stop that messenger! And good luck"
She nods her head and runs off with Aqua in tow.
You smile then pull your inventory out of the cake, and your gear out of the inventory.
Inventory and gear reclaimed. Yay!
"Good luck to you too CV." Aqua says with a mock salute.
"Bye Daddy! Kick them in the nards once for me!" Nightshade calls out.
"Oh I will." you say as you finish strapping on your power glove with it's new attachment and breather mask. You decide to keep the rest of your costume off for the moment, since there is still one thing that needs to be taken care of...
"I swear I'm still not seeing anything." the guard you distracted says as he keeps staring at the ceiling.
"Then how about you see some stars?" you quip with your voice modulator, "FALCON PUNCH!"
With one less guard to worry about and your sidekicks on their way to intercept the message, you don your Crimson Vengeance garb. You then make your way back into the madhouse. "Watch out Grey and Erised, I'm not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with me!"
After that awesome declaration however...
Kersey's Comment
Your inventory (which you hadn't quite put back on yet) is snatched right from your hooves by a lunatic pegasus who declares,
"I have found the arc of eternal youth!" as he flies by. Your boomstick falls out as he takes your daughter's room and flies into another window and out of sight.
"My stuff! He took my bucking stuff!" you declare.
No time to worry about that now! Time is of the essence
Bullspit! Time can wait. I'm missing most of my stuff besides my Boomstick and Power Glove, and while that psychotic soup voice is warbling in my head, I'd rather not use any of our powers you think as you begin to find some sort of way out of the main room of the Asylum, I'm gonna track that bucker down and get my stuff! Until then though, I guess it's back to basics... What are my basics again?*
You shake off that thought and decide to focus on it later. As you run back down the hallways, you are surrounded by several shambling inmates. You also notice that the Asylum has quite a few conveniently-placed Gargoyle statues near the ceilings. Getting an idea from one of your favorite video games, you use Nightshade's grappling hook to grapple onto the top of one of the Gargoyles.
"Time for some interrogation..."
You use the hook to dangle upside-down from the statue and when a crazy unicorn gets close enough, you quickly drop down, grab the lunatic, and pull him back up. As you dangle the lunatic by the throat you demand,
"Tell me what you know nutjob!"
"The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!" he rants.
"Well that was useless." you snark as you let go of the crazy, causing him to land on his head on the hard Asylum floor below, knocking him out.
You repeat this on a few more lunatics that come to investigate the unconscious unicorn, but their info is no better;
"You will never make me tap-dance, giant mime fairy of the llama-people!"
"I am the walrus, Goo goo g' joob!"
"WE'RE ALL JUST REFERENCES IN A PIECE OF MEDIOCRE FAN FICTION COLLABORATED BY A BUNCH OF FREAKS CALLED BRONIES!"
This doesn't help me at all! Where's my bucking saddlebags?!"
Your process of forcefully interrogating brainwashed insane patients surprisingly doesn't yield any results. What does produce a result is you getting knocked off the Gargoyle by the Pegasus who has your inventory as he flies down the hallway.
"I shall offer this eternal youth to the zombie overlords!"
GET BACK HERE!" you yell in anger as you chase the maniac. Eventually, he flies through a doorway that leads into another part of the asylum, and the door locks behind him. You try opening the door, but it is solid steel, and the words "Authorized Personal Only" are engraved on it.
"Oh you mother-GRAGH!" you shriek as you catch your breath and think,
Okay, this may be harder then I thou-
BrownDog's Comment
"Hiya BST. Say, can you do me a solid? I need some more booze," Quacksalver interrupts your thoughts by putting a foreleg around your neck. He reeks of alcohol.
"Haven't you had enough? And if you hadn't noticed, this place is going to be turned into a powder keg pretty soon!"
"Well of course I noticed, but when faced with crazitus revoltus, all you need is some booze to make the world go away...."
You begin rolling your eyes at this, before he suddenly puts a key card in your hoof.
"Here, this will get you to the staff locker rooms. My locker is 555, bring the Johnny Trotter," he says before he wanders down the hallway muttering, "Hi Everypony."
You look to the door on your left which says, Employee Locker Rooms. Maybe there's a way around this door in there.
"...Never thought I'd say this, but thanks Quacksalver," you say as you use the keycard and sneak into the Employee Locker Rooms before the orderlies find you.
You quickly find his locker, and sure enough, there is quite a few bottles of booze inside. You take them, since you never know what's coming, as well as some...Ninja Stars?
There is a box with some ninja stars in them, and a note amidst them.
Hey Doc,
Thanks for the good time. Take these to remember me by. And don't you dare tell Red Heart, I still need this job!
Love,
Snow Heart.
You cringe at this note.
"Seriously? Quacksalver hooked up with Ninja Nurse? How the...Nope! Not going to think about this!" you shake your head in disgust.
"Though, I doubt he needs them right now," you say as you pocket the 20 Ninja Stars.
20 Ninja Stars Added to Pockets
5 Bottles of Booze Added to Pockets
"Alright, I got a grappling hook, and now ninja stars. I'm shaping up to be a regular ol Batmane aren't I?"
As long as you aren't kill crazy and fall apart at the sound of your mother's name, then I will happily be your Catmare in this scenario, Selena giggles.
You're kind of surprised about how geeky that was of her to say, but then you remember her new name did come about because of said comic characters. Just don't think about her in catmare's costume and...
*GONG*
Too Late!
Sorry, you chuckle nervously and blush.
As flattering as that image is, we should probably focus on the task at hand rather than what fictional characters we would look like,
Good idea
Can I be Peter? I like his red shirt
"No! We're talking about Batmane, not your humie trash!" you yell as you slam the locker and look around before he has a chance to start talking again.
Looking around, you find your key to getting out into the main asylum beyond that door.
"An over sized air duct...Why not?"
You grip the edges and try to pull with all your might...unfortunately it's not that easy to pull grating off with your bear hoofs. Luckily, you have a great equalizer.
"Boom Shacka Lacka!" you blast the grate open with your BoomStick and move through the vent before anyone can investigate.
Meanwhile With Aqua and Nightshade
After giving you your stuff and learning about the letter, they attempt to intercept the letter as the post mare flies into Tall Tale.
"Why are we worrying about the Princesses coming though? Aren't we still far from Canterlot?" Aqua asks.
"Yeah, but that's not where Princess Celestia is right now. She's one town over in Vanhoover still dealing with cleanup from 3 weeks ago," Aqua tells Nightshade as they tale the pegasus mare.
"Oh...so if the guards are alerted then..."
"She'll be here by Nightfall. And that's exactly what these Knights want! That's why we have to get that letter!"
"But wouldn't some guards be helpful with all those crazy ponies?"
"No, they'll be walking into a trap. Even if they get that note, we have to warn them!" Aqua pants.
"Alright, but if this all goes pits up, I'm Falcon Kicking Everyone in the Nards!" Nightshade declares.
Back With You
Out of all the things in Arkhay that seem ripped straight out of a video game, you learn that the air vents are definitely not following suit. Sure the opening was over sized, but the rest of it...not so much. You've been squeezing and wriggling your way through the cramped and very dusty air vent for what feels like hours now. It's probably only been a few minutes, but the point is you're sick of it! It probably hasn't even been that stealthy considering how much noise you make just by moving. It's a wonder your favorite heroes never get caught doing this.
"Whoa!" you yelp as you reach a sudden drop in the shaft.
*clunk*
"Ow!"
*crash!*
"Oww."
*clown horn noise*
"My leg..."
You shake yourself out of your daze once you've stopped falling down shafts, and try to get a look around. You're probably in some sort of sublevel with how many falls you took. Luckily there's quite a few grates to peek through, allowing you to get a good view of the... oh holy moly.
You let out a low whistle at what you see. For a group of angry misfits, these Knights sure got their hooves/paws/claws on some pretty sweet tech.
The light fixtures are cranked up to almost blinding levels, showcasing the workstations where dozens of cloaked ponies are hard at work screwing and soldering together weapons like you've never even seen before. Others are sketching and copying blueprints while listening to ponies in straitjackets ramble.
At the other end of the giant warehouse-like room is a firing range where several knight grunts in lab coats are lining up the finished weapons. Most of them look like pipes with glowsticks attached, but each of them fire off bursts or globs of fire, ice, mucus and Luna knows what else. There's even an assortment of viscous melee weapon hybrids, like a saw that transforms into a cleaver, and a rifle with a chainsaw bayonet.
Then from out of view you hear maniacal laughter, and you switch vent grates to get a look.
Below you can see a station where inmates are being funneled into rooms and forcefully strapped with weapons or injected with multicolored serums that mutate their bodies.
One mare in particular looks especially happy to be there. She has a long brown mane inexpertly dyed green, and is wearing a suit of purple spandex.
"Give it to me. Do it!" she says to the knight grunt with a twitch in her eye.
The grunt cautiously approaches and pours a bubbling green liquid onto her head. As soon as he finishes pouring it, the sludge absorbs into her mane, turning it the same shade of green and making it writhe like a mass of snakes.
"Finally... they laughed at me once... but now I'm the REAL Mane-iac!" the mare giggles gleefully before snatching the grunt with her hair whips and flinging him in a show of strength.
Your eyes widen at this scene.
"Sweet Celestia! This must be where the knights have been making all those awesome video game weapons, and where Kersey got that growing potion." you say to yourself. You shudder to think what an army of insane inmates and Crimson Knights could do with that kind of tech. "I've got to find a way to shut this place down," you decide before kicking the grate open and stealthily dropping to the floor below. "It's way too dangerous to fight in the open, gotta be sneaky about this," you theorize as you place your boomstick down the back of your coat. "And if I happen across anything neat along the way, well... they won't miss any of it."
And how are you going to carry such items? Our Inventory is still missing?
"What we need, is more fountains of truth. Saddlebags that are larger on the inside! We can hold all our thoughts within them!" comes the shout of the pegasus you were chasing.
You see him wearing your saddlebags, and sitting in the rambling group where Knights are taking notes.
You grapple to a gargoyle above this room of insane science and scowl.
OK, add one more thing to do in this room. Shut it down, pinch some items, and get my Luna Danged Bags Back!
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Special Ending Theme:
Well, Prison Architect can feature some really nasty prisons which could probably count as madhouses or asylums... and I know, because I've built some of them.
Use the RCV to scatter and disorganize the mob before it can attack you and before the Pegasus can get away.
The best asylum? I would think Arkham Asylum, The Evil Within, or Outlast. Granted these are the only games I have played with an Insane Asylum in them.
Just as you are about to pounce upon the pegasus to get your bags back, you see one of the crazies blast another with one of the magic sticks, reducing the poor soul into a pile of ashes.
Bugze: I need to think of a way to avoid their fire. Who knows how many hits I could take before it kills me, and I do not want to find out. If I get seen, I need a way to escape and limit their vision. Too bad I do not have any smoke bombs.
Sombra: "Oh but my lovely bug, you do."
Bugze: Sombra!? I thought you were still drugged. And what do you mean I have a way?
Sombra: "To answer your first question, I am still a bit loopy from those drugs, but your body (and because of that me and Moony) is building an immunity to them. Secondly, did you forget that I am called the Shadow King? With a bit of my magic, you can easily make a smokescreen thick enough to not only stop them from seeing you, but even stop thermal vision (powered by magic or otherwise). However to learn it, we need to teach you inside your head. Kind of like that Legend of Whatever his name was in that Twilight Alicorn game with the wolf warrior. While it may feel like a while, in reality it may only take a few seconds, minutes at most.
One Training Montage Later
Bugze: OK. I'm back. Selena, how long was I training for?
Selena: About 20 seconds. I'm quite impressed.
BugzeWell, let's begin hunting. Shall we?
I do not know if you want to make an extra chapter like you did for "Bonus Episode 10.5 Silent Sunny Town Alternate Endings", but maybe you could make a game over death screen like at the end of the Batman Arkham games with a little quip from one enemy or ally either mocking the fallen Bugze or trying to get him to wake up.
Outlast
Neverending Nightmares had a great asylum, that whole game, especially the asylum was one big cactus gangbang of mind-warpery.
"I will have to use stealth instead..." you say before blasting open the grate with a FUS RO DAH and then jump down and slam the Boomstick into the ground, knocking back the ponies in front of you.
Bugze! What are you doing?!
Not even noticing her, you proceed to jump onto a nearby wagon, get ahold of a device that looks like a box with a long tube attached to it, and proceed to start firing on everypony in the room while roaring "SSTTTTTEEAAAAALLLLLLTTTTTTHHHHH!!!!"
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?! Selena yells, horrified at the carnage.
"They can't see you if they're dead right? STEALTH MOTHERBUCKERS!!!" you yell as you continue turning all these lunatics into chunky salsa...
BACK TO REALITY
We find you still in the grate shaking your head.
"WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT!" You and Selena both exclaim.
Don't look at me. Sombra says druggedly, I'm busy watching the Paris wedding Season 2 finale.
Kill! KILL! MORE BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GODS!!!
========================
Blend in with the lunatics by spouting crazy lines;
"Donald Trumpkin would make an honest Mayor! Trickle-down economics work! THE PREQUELS ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY!"
==============
Run into trouble in the form of a large minotaur patient that throws you through a wall. The minotaur comes back after you when you hear,
"Hey, you found my booze yet?"
"WHO DARES INTERRUPT ME?!"
The minotaur roars as he whirls around and throws a punch... only for it to get intercepted by Quacksalver's hoof who doesn't even flinch.
"Whoa! This looks like a serious case of grumpus-violentus. Better sedate the patient before it spreads."
With his hoof still effortlessly holding the Minotaur's struggling fist, Quacksalver takes out his "Burknomic Scapel" (i.e. a hammer) from his lab coat pocket with his other hoof, jumps up, and hits the Minotaur in the head with the "scapel" with enough force to smash his face into the ground with tile-shattering force, knocking the minotaur unconscious.
Daaaaaang! Who knew Quacksalver could kick flank! you think with your jaw dropped.
To be fair, he did manage to render you unconscious with one blow.
=====================
When you get your Inventory back from the pegasus you think,
Know what am I going to do with this lunatic?
Castrate him and shove his testicles into his eye socke-
Yeah, not listening to you.
Perhaps some blows to the nether region due to the fact that his head is clearly already broken.
You then proceed to dangle him with one hoof while Falcon Punching him multiple times in the nards with the other.
"My *pow* walnuts *pow* are *pow* being *pow* sacrificed *pow* to *pow* the *pow* Freudian *pow* gods!" he insanely babbles, his voice pitch getting higher with every punch.
You need a distraction to get the lab coat guys away from the guy with the saddlebags, luckily Ender activated the lockdown switch which causes alarms to blare and everyone to panic
Bugze: awesome timing ender, this will definitely be a good distraction
*later in the story* as bugze is running/escaping or whatever through the halls a figure jumps in front of him, which he just falcon punches into unconsciousness.
Selena: bugze.. You just knocked out ender
Bugze: yea- wait what
*behild unconsious ender*
B: aw buck, well I can't just leave him here *if saddlebags are retrieved* > I'll just put him in my saddlebags and hopefully escape this place
*if saddle bags not retrieved* > I'm gonna have to carry him, like a terrible quest in a video game where you have to protect a character
One of the grunts tries to blast you with fire, but you expertly dodge.... and crash right into a table full of weapons. As you get back up you see another grunt holding a strange looking sword charging right at you! You're shocked when you see his weapon transform into a giant scythe right as he's about to attack, fortunately you manage to expertly dodge this attack too.... and end up jumping face first into the wall.
Here, have an image :^)
At some point after you take down the crazies and the scientist, you get a small box with a big red button on it. There is a label tag on it that says "To stop a large group of enemies". You later sneak into a large room full of crazies. Using your shadow whip, you lower the box into the middle of the room. One inmate pushes the button (for who can resist pressing a red button) for music to start and all the inmates start singing and dancing the Time Warp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkplPbd2f60). You move onto the next area. You eventually have to go back through the room only to see them doing the Time Warp (Again!)
Not sure... I was thinking in put in my post to give Bugzee the Pandora of DMC4 thanks to the machine and so put the 666 powers except the ones that showed in the videogame, but not sure if it's a good idea. If not I could just put something else.
Man, this guy is even more of a pain than that one shield-regen stealing robot from Descent 2
First thing you thought: The ceiling is HIGH. Whoever made this place, they must have put a dent in Kersey’s absurd bank account. Heck, how far did you fall?! You sure haven't noticed. Even so, the fact that something like this is under the madhouse that is the Asylum? It’s unsurprising. And cliche. Besides, Outlast already did similar.
Secondly, there’s so many odd machines and large box-like rooms, and they’re pretty much littering the wide open space that is this facility. And some of them glow. Whatever they do, making video game items or whatever, they are definitely volatile...aside from the other dangerous weapons that the Crimson Knights are holding. And the equipment, too. When you peer through one of the windows with Zoom!, you can see some ponies on lab coats testing what looks like a freaking cryo gun!
Thirdly: Where are all the good stuff?
Bugze, don’t get too excited, Selena chastises.
“What? I lost my inventory, and I’m practically down most of my arsenal. I need my variety,” you whisper. You then smile. “Besides, it’s not like these guys will need them when I shut this place down.”
Selena just sighs as she senses all your hype. You don’t care.
-=-=-=-
After sneaking your way through what appears to be a few training rooms, shooting ranges, and isolated testing rooms, you lean back against the inside of a crate. You forego the usual box stratagem and instead use an empty crate. Selena argues that you’re just using the same method, but a different kind of container. Normally, she would try to convince you with all her might when you don’t listen (yet again), but this time...this time it’s working.
“Who would think that this place is so unorganized?” you mutter. Boxes litter everywhere near every room, making it the perfect camouflage for your boxtrot method. Be they clean or unclean, a few Crimson Knights would be too eager to care, giddly trying out the next weapon as bring them out of their respective boxes and then get back to the shooting range. Why they leave these crate full of weaponry out in the open everywhere in a hazardous place and not clean after themselves, you don’t know.
You can't help but feel a bit jealous for that kind of carelessness. And then you feel guilty about.
Suddenly, you hear a pair of hoof steps and you freeze.
“Maaan! This is the best!” says a one voice. His buddy, from the other pair, concurs.
“I told you he’s the best leader to be assigned to. Grey Rebl had been assigned by Management to this place to keep it on watch, and it just so happened that they needed a few hooves to keep the place running. And try out the merchandise!”
To your bitterness, the two lean against the very same crate you’re hiding in. You repress a sigh, recognizing this familiar scenario from your infiltration attempt into the Extra Lives Gang. This time, you learn your lesson, but your patience is still not all that good. On the plus side, you hear some interesting tidbits.
“And I almost joined Kichi for his video game weapons, too! Wow! So this is where he got the actual stuff?”
“Yeeeaaah. The only problem for Kichi is that it takes money. Do a few odd jobs for Management, get paid from Kersey, and you spend that on the Video Game Mafia, our distributors. Otherwise, you have to work with whatever crap he gives you, which is mostly an animatronics suit.”
“What the---why do we need to spend our money on what us Crimson Knights made?”
“Because it takes money to make all this stuff. And its Management’s way of putting us to work and be productive. Which is stupid, I know.” You pretty much hear the guy smile. “Buuut in here, you get to use them for free! All you have to do is enlist yourself into “training” and start shooting. If you feel like a good enough daredevil, you can sign up on testing out the prototypes. 1 of 5 tries, you’d probably explode upon pulling the trigger.”
Huh. That does sound like a sweet deal. However, for some reason, there’s anger coursing through you. Wait, no, that’s Selena. You feel concern for a bit, but the pair of Crimson Knights continue on.
“Errr, just like that Maneiac gal?”
“Yep. Some of us cosplay, but it’s so worth it! Although that one mare is actually one of the crazies from the Asylum above us. We're arming them for some reason. Anyways, the only problem is that there’s so many of us here for that reason. You can pretty much say that about a fifth of active Crimson Knights are here.”
You can’t repress the gleeful grin. Jackpot! Not just another two Knight Leaders, but much of the Crimson Knights? This is a grand opportunity! Oh, this bounty is going to leave you a lot of wealth!
“Woohoo! Grey Rebl must be having it good with so many of us!”
“Nah.” Suddenly, mood changes. “Buck that guy. He’s always ruining our fun and putting up that rule on item capacity. He even beat up a guy who was trying get all the colors of the rainbow with those lightsabers. He’s so crazy, he gets THERAPY. Like, he’s a Crimson Knight Leader for crying out loud!” The speaker tries but fails to stifle sudden burst of laughter. “So whenever he leaves for therapy up in the surface, we go nuts.”
“Duuude!” The other cries.out scandalously.
You’re not sure to feel sorry or fortunate. Whoever Grey is, he’s either a horrendous leader or an overworked babysitter with undisciplined foals. You mean, even the rest of Crimson Knights can keep their minions in line or in some organized fashion. Then again, it must be hard dealing with so many members.
The rest of the conversation from there consists of complaints of their supposed Leader and their escapades involving all the stuff that they use, each one setting the anger in Selena to astute levels. You’re not sure if you yourself can prevent from punching the two unconscious if it were not for the incentive for stealth.
Fortunately, they leave before the breaking point even came. However, you need to know what’s up.
“Okay, what’s the deal, Selena? You’re putting heat in there.”
It’s these foals! Selena hisses. I should have realized it sooner! From the first changeling Knight Leader and to the Brown Mutt, they were never serious in their endeavors. Instead, they treat it like it’s some joke or party! And Equestria fear that these Crimson Knights would ruin their peace? They would sooner trip on a landmine.
“Technically they already did ruin the peace." When another surge of anger came from her, you quickly try to divert her attention. "Er, is it really that much of a problem for you?”
I just---There’s so much firepower right in front of us! And they just treat them as though they’re like toys and act so irresponsible! All this power, and they squander it with merely this?!
“You know, I’m a bit like that, too.”
You don’t count. I can just simply GONG you for what it’s worth, GONG until you can’t even think about doing so!
“Shutting up,” you rapidly say out of fear of the GONG. Oh Luna, not the GONG!
-=-=-=-
You decide to leave behind the crate to enter one of the rooms in what appears to be a storage area since you can’t bring it along. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be any crates inside these rooms anyways. The room you are entering in particular seems to be a different from the rest. You’re gaming instincts can only assume a lot of things, but it drives your curiosity to action.
When you enter, your jaw drops. Plasmids, Plasmids everywhere. On the pristine white shelves of the room, potion after potion are labeled neatly where they are.
“Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, and even the Infinity series! And a whole bunch more that I didn’t know even existed!” You then cry a little, sorrow taking over as you lean back against the entrance door. “And I can’t even use all of them!”
You’ve already have a whole slew of plasmids on you. In fact, you’ve already filled enough to unlock your Mix Up Smash. So many to choose from, and you can’t even have the time to choose! If only you have your Inventory, then you can carry it and make your pick once this is all over.
Downtrodden, you try to leave. Only to realize that door is locked.
“Are you bucking kidding me?! Who makes these doors one way?!” You slam your hooves repeatedly on the door to see if it’s just a trick on the sense. When it is not, you curse as you rear back a hoof. “Oooh, I hope nobody hears this. Falcon---!”
Suddenly, the door opens. Surprised, you fall forwards with a yelp and land roughly on your muzzle. When you look up, you meet face to face with a...janitor?
Quack's warning and the violent undertakings that occurred in that one hallway about a certain janitor rang into your mind.
“Lost or something?” he says gruffly. The moment he opens his mouth, you see his braces and hear his lisp.
From some reason, that actually takes out the battle readiness from you.
Still, it doesn't make you panic any less.
You can’t see his mane under his janitor’s hat, but he’s most definitely a boring brown unicorn, the dull blue jumpsuit only making him look even simpler. The janitor frowns as he looks down on your fallen form.
You quickly scramble to your hooves and stutter an excuse. “H-hey! You the janitor guy, right? Wow! Nice to meet ya. Good day outside, right?” Que internal facehooving
The janitor just stares at you. “The outside is closed from the facility along with the asylum,” he states.
“Ahahaha! Yeah! That’s right. Just checking, y’know?” Slowly, you inch backwards, letting the janitor step in. You would run or try to knock him out, but doing anything to set off the crazy janitor and the possibly volatile plasmids around you would pretty bad.
Bugze, you are an idiot. Selena is probably dragging her hoof down her face right now, but you don’t have the time to nurse you miniscule amount of pride. Right now, you’re just trying to not accidently set off a metaphorical bomb and make a scene, thus destroying your relatively successful sneak mission.
“So! Uh, what are you doing here?” you say.
“I’m here to clean.” Well, duh. The Knight Leaders are rounding up all the crazies to be armed, so of course the one guy that made that one megalomanical scene is here, too!
“And I just so happened to be around when I heard some banging on the door,” the Janitor finishes.
“Right. Right,” you end lamely. The janitor just looks bored. Probably at your lackluster performance. Running out of ideas, you flash out your best disarming smile. It’s probably not working, judging from the way he looks at you blankly.
The janitor just glances around, inspecting the shelves, when there appears to be nothing amiss, he sighs. “Okay, are you new here? Too many newbies get themselves locked around here.”
This surprises you. Wait, this guy is a part of the Knights and he won't burst into a violent fit? Is it that easy? Well, then again, you never knew the Crimson Knights can be pretty relaxed down here.
You stutter, “Y-yeah. Yeah! I’m new. Just, um, looking to do what I can find!”
The janitor raises a questioning brow, but he then asks boredly, “So, which are you? Are you from the Sanctuary Hive group or just a stray?”
This catches your attention. “Sanctuary Hive?”
The janitor sighs again. “So, a stray changeling it is then. Figures.”
Your eyes widen in alarm. “Wha---How did you---? Wait! Is my disguise off?!” You look at yourself. However, the effects of your transformation potion is still active.
The janitor just points at one of the shelves. When you follow his hoof, you notice a few plasmids glowing green. Oddly enough, they feel familiar for some reason.
“The Changeling Series glow whenever a changeling is in the room, so that is obvious. Fitting, considering the ones who donated their genes to make the gorramn thing.” With a shrug, he says, “I guess some ponies like changeling abilities.” He then turns to you. “Anyways, it seems you haven’t made a mess, so you can leave.”
You blink as the janitor steps out of the room with door open. Huh. Barely have to do anything. Are changeling so normal within the Crimson Knights that they’re universally accepted to be a member?
When you step out, you see a cart of cleaning supplies, typical of a janitor's arsenel.
The janitor suddenly calls out to you. “Oh, by the way…” When you turn to face him---the end of a mop is thrust towards your face! It suddenly stops right before meeting the bridge of your muzzle. You didn’t flinch, but your eyes widens, staring at the mop in shock. You can practically sense the Killing Intent brimming from the broom. When you find the will to look away to look at the janitor, you see the feral look that crosses the janitor's face. It puts your spine cold.
It reminds you of Nightmare Bugze.
“Make a mess on this floor, then I’ll make a mess out of YOU.” He then shoots a maniacal grin, showing his braces. “We clear?”
Aaand the braces killed it yet again. You barely repress an indecisive gulp and nod, trying your best to look intimidated. “Crystal.”
He continues to stare for a few more moments, but he eventually lets down his killer mop, allowing you to breathe in relief. He seems to buy it. “At least you seem to have some sense, unlike everyone else,” the janitor mutters.
I must disagree, unfortunately.
Leave me aloooone! You weep out internally.
Suddenly, an explosion sounds all across the facility. A red siren rang and a few outcries, quickly accompanied by a group of laughter, echoed from wherever the ensuing smoke came from, which you can even see polluting the high ceiling and covering a few lights. The janitor snorts angrily as he stares up at the smoke. "It seems more cleaning must be done." A dark chuckle sounds from him as he then trots towards the explosion before saying over his shoulder, “Stay out of littering and have a good day,” and leaves out of sight, dragging his cart along.
You exhale, slumping by a crate. "Jeez, what the buck? Is the crazy janitor thing an act or not?"
It makes sense, though. Somebody from the Crimson Knights has to act as a physical relay between the Asylum and the Video Game Weapons Facility. Chances are, there are more of them, and you've probably met them. Who would listen to the intercoms when a crazy like Erised is speaking through them?
"...Although Grey Rebl is definitely arming the crazies, I don't wanna know what arming that guy would do. This world doesn't need anything similar to the Nightmare. Not this time."
Bugze...
"Well!" You quickly stand back up. "Better keep moving."
----------
As for my choice for a Video Game Asylum, I'll choose a classic: Nightmare House 2. It was hella influental in introducing to me of the idea of horror games in the first place, back when I was young and stupid. It was how I got into the likes of Pewdiepie, since he played it back in the old days.
Okay... this is gonna get seriously edgy. But worry not! It turns out fine in the end. Promise.
===
With your boxy camouflage hiding you from the swarms of Knight grunts, you're able to move about the area pretty freely, assuming you don't bump into anyone or knock things over. Actually... you do end up knocking things over on accident, but there's so much going on, and so much noise from the machines that no one bothers to take notice.
Trying to trail that mad pegasus that stole your stuff has proven to be harder than you thought. That flying rat can really disappear when he wants.
Peeking out of your crate, you find your near one of the shooting ranges, and a group of grunts are heading this way to test out a fresh batch of weapons.
"A'ight bros, lesse which one o' us has is the best crack shot." one of them, a unicorn says in a thick cockney accent.
"Whatever. Let's get this over with." another rolls his eyes as they lock, load, and line up.
The first brings his weapon to bear; it's the Binary Rife from Halo 4. He kicks a button on the floor and a pair of cardboard targets spring up. You note with a bit of horror that the targets are painted to look like royal guards.
Two shots hit dead on before the unicorn pauses to reload. More cardboard guards pop up as their predecessors drift away as ashes. Five more shots get fired off with deadly accuracy before the sixth one finally misses, causing the grunt to curse as his buddies jeer at him for it.
"Move over... lemme show ya how it's done." you hear the distinct chittering voice of a changeling say. He sets himself up and hits the start button, but waits longer and longer until all the targets pop up. When he finally draws his weapon you see why; it's the Wunderwaffe DG-2 from Call of Duty Zombies!
One shot of lightning hits the first target before chaining to each target behind it, effectively frying every one of them at once. The changeling tilts back the gun and blows the smoke off it's muzzle.
"Oi! That's bloody cheating and you know it!"
"Someone's a sore loser." the changeling quips before being shoved out of the way by... a crystal pony? There are crystal ponies in the Knights?!
"Alright you casuals, it's time to show you what someone with some actual skill can do." he says before pulling out the Golden Gun from Goldeneye and the De-bug Megapistol from Fallout.
"Oh yeah, sure Mr. Retro. We're the casuals. Says the guy using those instakill abominations." the cockney unicorn snarks.
The crystal pony just mutters under his breath while the targets pop up. He hits nearly everything that pops up, but just like the unicorn sniper, he misses the very last one, causing the changeling to jump for joy knowing he's won their little contest, having hit the most targets.
Meainwhile you watch with a mixture of fangasming over seeing the weapons you've come to know and love get used in real life, and horror at how easily they were able to slaughter those cardboard guards. You were hoping to nick something new for your arsenal, but everything here seems like it was made specifically to kill. All the more imperative that you shut this place down before any of this stuff can be put to use.
Just then you realize the ponies and changeling are coming back... and they're not alone. With them is another changeling, so different from the first; he's pale, gaunt and scarred, and there's a grim blackness in his eyes that gives you shivers; even the grunts seem afraid of him.
There's a stallion in a lab coat tied to a chair, struggling and screaming through his mouth gag. "Oh shut up." The pale changeling punts him in the stomach before setting him up in the middle of the firing range. "You've been resisting me from the very beginning Doctor Nettle, don't think I've been blind to your actions. You're trying to find a cure for the others, a way to free them from my control. Feeling guilty that you betrayed them in the first place perhaps? It doesn't matter. You're beyond useless to me now; you're a liability."
Erised motions to the other grunts and they slide over a weapon's crate, from which he pulls out some kind of shotgun
"Oh sweet Celestia, tell me they're not about to..." you think to yourself, already thinking of how best to spring into action.
"H-hey boss..." the crystal pony stammers, "Erised right? We're not really going to-"
"Shut." Erised points the gun in the crystal pony's face. "Up." he finishes and slowly drifts the end of the barrel to the Doctor instead.
The Doctor spits out his gag and starts pleading with them. "You're insane!" he screams before turning his gaze to the other three. "H-hey! You three! Erised doesn't give a buck about any of us, we're all scum to him! He's gonna have everypony fight it out with Celestia and her guards, and then he'll just kill whoever's left over! I've seen how many clones he's made of himself, he's going to kill all of us! You've gotta believe me!"
"Clones? Erised can clone himself?" you think, already sliding into position to pounce. "Okay, I gotta save this guy now."
"Bugzy, you'll blow your cover! Erised is still trying to break through in your head!" Selena warns, but you don't care in the slightest.
"He said he was trying to cure Erised's mind control. There's no telling how much he knows, not to mention these psychos are going to flipping murder him! I'm gonna beat the crazy out of Erised right here right now!
Bursting out of your cover and leaping towards the Knight leader in the blink of an eye, you rear back and strike him right in the head. "FALCON PUNCH!"
Skull caving under the hit for a fraction of a second, Erised then explodes into a shower of pitch black blood, splattering everywhere, on your clothes, in your eyes, and all over the grunts surrounding you.
It takes a second for what just happened to register. But when it does-
"Oh buck!" you scream. "Oh buck. Oh buck. Oh BUCK NO! I didn't mean to kill him, I just wanted to clock him real good! What have I done!?"
"Heh heh ha ha ha... Do you like my ink clones." comes a familiar sinister voice in your head. "Hello... Bugzy."
"Wh-what?" you sputter at hearing him call you by your real name.
"It's really IS you isn't it? The Hooded Offender, here at last. You're here to witness us as justice gets served, finally. Perhaps you'd even like to partake? Here, this one's all yours."
Suddenly you feel your body stiffen, and your hoof start to grasp for the strange shotgun-like weapon. "H-hey! No! What's going on? Selena help!" You listen into your mind, but all you hear are the sounds of... drowning? "Selena?" you ask fearfully.
Suddenly your hoof extends outward, pressing the weapon to the stallion's head like Erised before you. The grunts surrounding you mimic the movements perfectly, powerless to Erised's will.
You jerk and twist and fight with everything you have, but your body barely budges and inch, the weapon barely shudders. The stallion is in no position to move, and you scream in frustration as Erised... that sick bastard is about to make you take a life!
"No dammit, NO!"
"Why do you resist? More than a thorn in my side, this stallion betrayed his colleges so that he would be safe. He helped me by injecting them with syringes full of my blood, so that I would spare him. Is he the kind of pony that deserves to live? Are any of them?" Erised asks, and your hoof involuntarily twitches on the trigger, "The hero I know wouldn't let someone so dangerous live."
You grit your teeth and start tearing yourself away from the stallion through sheer force of will. "Then I'm... not... the hero... you-"
"Or perhaps you just deny it" Erised interrupts you. "Let me remind you."
Suddenly and to your horror, your body snaps back to the Doctor and before you can react, pulls the trigger. You can only stare in shock as a concussive blast carries the stallion through the air and slams him into the wall at the end of the range.
You hear a gasp for air in your head, and Selena emerges, forcing Erised out and returning control of your body to you. At the same time you drop the gun, the grunts fall to the floor unconscious, leaving you as the only one standing.
"Bugze! Bugzy are your alright?! She asks frantically, "So much at once... I felt like I was drowning under all that ink. What happened? Why are you-"
"I... I didn't mean to." you whimper. "He made me do it. That SICK FREAK ERISED MADE ME K-... kill an innocent doctor." You sink to your knees as the words leave your mouth. "He made me kill a guy. I... I can't believe it."
"Bugzy, it was not your fault." Selena comforts you. "We will find Erised, and make him pay."
You hear her, but you still feel bad. You weren't strong enough to resist, and somepony else payed the price. You can't stop staring at that doctor as he lays crumpled against the wall.
But then... he moves. Just a little, but you feel your heart skip a beat when he does.
Jumping up to your hooves you gallop over to him as fast as you can. You shake him a bit and he moans, looking up at you with a pained expression, but an alive one.
"Y-you're alive? You're alive!" you shout for joy.
He manages a small grin of his own and asks for your help getting up.
It turns out that he was one of the staff in the asylum, and admits that what Erised says was true. He was afraid for his life, and because of that he submitted to Erised's demands, allowing him to brainwash essentially everyone in Arkhay, inmate and staff alike. But he also says that he's been working on a cure, a way to nullify Erised's blood magic without having to wait weeks for it to where off. You ask him if it's finished, but he says he needs more time.
You tell him you're going to try and take Grey and Erised down, and ask what he knows about them, anything that might give you an edge. He says he doesn't know anything about Grey, but that Erised has created clones of himself that he sends on errands so he's not at risk himself. Also he says that if you need to resist his control again, "Try to think happy, peaceful thoughts. He might be a changeling, but it's like he's fueled on hatred and fear, not love."
Afterwards he wishes you luck in your mission, but says he can't stick around. He plans to grab the notes from his lab and escape through the sewers under the asylum.
With that in mind you ask one last thing, and that's how to shut the place down.
Dr. Nettle nods, and directs you to a control panel labeled 'floodgates', saying, "The generators are located below, and power everything in this room. Flip these levers and keep the other end closed, and the water should reach the generator room within a few hours, just expect the rest of the prison to go dark once you do."
You nod and thank him, flipping the switch immediately after he tells you.
The two of you part ways, and you look over the shotgun thing you thought you had killed him with. It turns out it only emits a nonleathal blast, similar to your Fus Ro Dah. You considered it pretty redundant at first, but came to realize a sort of kinship with it. Both of you are powerful, and neither of you want to kill.
====
Aaaannndd the best videogame asylum I've ever played, (or at least the creepiest) was the one from the Thief remake. Freaked the $hit out of me.
After Bugzee manage to kick a couple of enemies, he approach the machine that create video game things and he begin to prepare the glove to destroy it, but before he could do it, a candle light in his bright, a very bright candle
"Gah, too much light, just shut it down" Shout Sombra inside the head of Bugzee
"If I'm going to destroy this... Why not use it to help me? I can bet that they are going to have a full army with weapons and things from games, so I might need some help in my side" Grin Bugzee as he begin to operate the machine and prepare a certain weapon for him if he knew something of games, he was sure that he could need something very powerfull, that could go around and that have many uses and was cool. And he knew the perfect weapon.
After a couple of moments, Bugzee could see the machine working, as it begin to work and before the others could think of use it to do something he smash the main part and keyboard, as he was running he was stopped by a stallion that put himself in front of him, with the same suit of the hooded offender.
"I'm the Dark Offender, I'm scary, I'm..." He was interrupted as Bugzee hit him with a no-shadow kick and shut him.
"Umm... Should I worry that it was too easy? Maybe it was a trap?" Ask Bugzee to Selena
"Don't worry, he is knocked out, I think it was only a crazy pony not a crazy pony with powers coming from super items and a great alicorn inside his head like you" Commented Selena
Bugzee then jumped and managed to take a briefcase that appeared suddenly from inside the machine, as he smiled he looked to the other crazy ponies.
"It's show time"
Stick to the shadows, and cause some mayhem that doesn’t reflect on you. And you find a bit of equipment that might just help you in darkness.
They look like normal sunglasses, but they have Night vision abilities.
Oh Sweet! Now I look even more awesome!
Among the heavy weaponry, you find the one videogame gun you don’t want being used by crazy people.
It’s a BFG…By Luna, the legends were true… you gaze in awe as tears stream down your face.
BFG? Let’s see…OH! Selena gasps in surprise as she accesses your memories. What a marvelous demon slayer. Albeit a bit too gorey for our tastes no?
Yeah. It’s glorious…but we shouldn’t use it. Neither should they.
None of these guns should. What do you plan?
Well, one of these prototypes is going to have a failure.
You sneak some smoke bombs into your coat. Then you turn the safety switch onto the BFG, and jam a ninja star into the trigger. It begins to build up energy, and you set it in the middle of all the produced weapons.
That should make a distraction, but it’s only one area. Hmmm…
That Mane-Iac lady? She is restrained as she laughs. Drop down behind her, and using one of your ninja stars, cut her restraints.
“Huh?” she exposits as she realizes her hair is free. She turns around, but you aren’t there since you’ve Grappled away.
You then perch above the area where that jerk with your bags is.
Now all I have to do is wait and
BOOM!!!
The overloaded BFG explodes with a much bigger detonation than you expected, causing all the other weapons on the table to begin to start exploding.
“AAAAHHHH!!!”
“The experiments are exploding!”
“Get a fire extinguisher!”
“Heck with that, get a shield!”
This distraction causes all the Knights and scientists to run around, and a few of the crazies to freak out. Additionally, your other Distraction makes her move.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” the Mane-iac mare laughs as she burst forth and begins wrapping up all nearby scientists and knights and throwing them.
“Asset is loose! Repeat, asset is loose!”
With the weapons exploding, and the supervillain made flesh rampaging, you swoop down in the confusion, grab the pegasus and bring him up to the rafters with you.
“The arc has been openend! Shield your eyes!” he screams.
You place a hoof over his mouth and glare at him.
“Listen, I know you’re probably too cuckoo to know any better, but NOLING Takes my Inventory!” you growl as you head butt him with your mask, knocking him out.
You then retrieve your inventory.
And drop the knocked out pegasus away from the panic.
Seeing as how everything in this room is going to tartarus, you then burn some blueprints they had drawn up. And finding the fuse box, you break it, causing the lighting in this warehouse to become even darker.
This out to draw Grey our Erised out, you chuckle.
Escaping from the horde of crazies, you duck into a room only to see more in the new room. Fortunately, they aren't focused on you. Instead, all eyes are focused on a collection of clocks and watches the are creating a rather soothing tone with their workings. You almost zone out, but manage to fight it with Selena's help. Looking around, you see the words "Tick tock tick tock, you forgot to check my locks" written in red paint (hopefully) around the timepieces, as well as the walls being covered in things like "buck your soup" and "carnivores rule!" More frightening, however, were words "He took EVERYTHING from me!" written on an easel. This doesn't scare because of the words themselves, but instead the fact that it draws your attention to the fact that yo are in the art room. And all of the Offender paintings are gone.