"Y-you ponies c-call it m-m-madness but this isn't madness, it's awareness! Don't you see it? The c-cruel, not cruel--wonderful--" the never-ending unicorn’s ramblings cut off as he twisted around and stared at Celestia with dead emerald eyes. He wriggled frantically to get out of his bonds, but the straps that bound him to his bed held well. The unicorn suddenly froze.
"Is something wrong?" Celestia asked worriedly, moving towards the nurse mare. The bed-bound stallion’s body mimicked the stillness of a statue.
"I--I'm not sure, Princess, he rarely does this. Usually only when his parents visit." Nurse Soothe replied nervously. She was a nurse at the Canterlot Hospital of Mental Illness for seven years, and had been assigned to Patient Smiles until his recovery. Celestia furrowed her brows and examined the stallion more carefully. He was a long, lanky figure with a pale yellow coat and a brown, straight mane. Celestia looked at his cutie mark hoping for an explanation, but all was there was on his flank was an opened book, a pen in-between the pages. It provided no answers to any of her theories.
Nurse Soothe was an Earth pony with a blue coat and a long, rosy mane. She was known for her gentle manner and had earned her cutie mark (a stitched-together red heart) by saving a friend from a near-fatal depression. She knew that an apology and providing a shoulder to cry on was all that most ponies needed. However, Smiles was different. He was quiet and reserved when he first arrived, speaking only in his sleep where he was haunted by nightmares. Soothe knew it was only a matter of time before he would want to discuss his madness, so she waited. Over time, he’d become increasingly paranoid, and one day he’d broken his silence and begun an infinite monologue of horrors. It was so unexpected that nopony could figure out what could have caused such a personality change.
A friend had written Celestia a letter, asking for her help in curing Smiles. Although Celestia doubted she could cure an unidentifiable mental illness, perhaps she could at least identify why Smiles was acting this way. It was dawn when she first arrived at the hospital and she’d happened to meet Nurse Soothe at the entrance of the hospital. After Celestia explained why she wanted to help the pony, the mare immediately had taken her to room 66F.
"Are you sure that you've tried everything?" Celestia asked the nurse.
"And then some, we've exhausted every tool at our disposal. Well, save for the... primitive techniques." Soothe said, looking back at Smiles. "When I first came here, he was just arriving for the first time and was immediately deemed a high priority. His nonsensical monologue went on and on from day to night, and even then he still talks in his sleep. For seven straight years he raved about the joke. And only when his family arrives does he ever stop, but even then he just sits there, staring into space, never talking."
"Have you tried doing research on him, questioning his family?" Celestia asked, worried for the poor pony. Nurse Soothe nodded her head in silent misery. She was beginning to think that even the Princess herself couldn't stop this. Smiles was still staring into space, expressionless.
"Would you like to look at the files we have on our sessions with him?" Nurse Soothe offered.
"Yes… Perhaps there's a clue somewhere." Celestia mused. Soothe led her out of the room. Strangely, the hospital was in complete silence.
"The hospital is never this quiet… I wonder what's happening." the nurse looked nervous. The quiet was absolute; not even the sound of hoofsteps could be heard, nor did they ever see another pony along the way.
"Can you hear it?"
The voice was whispery and seemed to surround them. At once, it was gone as sudden as it had come. Immediately afterward the hospital erupted with the sounds of madness, laughter, crying, and monotone voices. Over it all, you could hear the quiet, yet constant, voices of nurses and doctors conversing thoughtfully.
"Are we almost there? I feel as if I've been walking for years." the Princess commented uneasily.
"Yes, it’s just a few more doors down. It’s odd how long it’s taken us; usually it only takes me a couple of minutes to get there, never ten." the nurse replied, seeming thrice as nervous as Celestia.
The two eventually entered an unlocked room labeled 6-F. A dozen cabinets towered above them and leaned unsteadily. Manila folders were stuffed in the numerous drawers. A mahogany desk was positioned in a corner, holding an opened file and a silver ashtray. A drawing easel was stuffed into the corner along with a small bookshelf. Soothe saw Celestia contemplating the mess and quickly explained.
"The nurses--and especially the doctors need a way to escape. After all, they deal with insanity every day and are expected to cure it and not let it affect them. So we usually allow a breaktime to help everypony through the day.
“Ponies always mock me for not reading, or smoking, or doing whatever else, but then again… I've just never had time.” Celestia noticed Soothe’s red eyes beginning to brim with tears. “I'm always trying to find a new way to help Smiles... for the past seven years I've been struggling, from day one and ever since. You are my last chance, Princess Celestia. Because if you can't save Smiles,” the nurse took a large, shuddering breath. “Nopony can.”
Nurse Soothe finally broke down into quaking, heartbreaking sobs. Celestia’s heart sank. Only a few times in her life had she truly felt helpless to do anything. She swallowed hard as she truly considered the fact that Smiles might never be fixed. She took a sharp breath inward as a mad thought suddenly flit through her head. What if it isn’t Smiles that needs to be fixed, but us? She quickly dismissed it. No. Just a raving of a mad pony, nothing more.
Just as Celestia had finished her train of thought, Nurse Soothe had pulled herself together and taken a file from a cabinet marked with an S.
"Take this, Princess. I don't know what you'd be able to gather from these that we have not, but if you think that this will help, than by all means." she gestured towards the file, and allowed two final tears to fall down onto the paper.
Celestia enveloped the rather thick file in her golden aura and skimmed it. There were series of long paragraphs similar to the rant Smiles had given earlier, as well as dozens of photos, even a few scraps of scribbled-on parchment taped in it. She closed it and sent it to her carriage in a magical flash.
"Thank you, Nurse Soothe. I'll make sure to tell the warden here that I have taken this, though I doubt he'll mind."
The two walked out of the room and down the hall, where they said their farewells and parted. However, they were distracted farewells, as both had other things on their minds. Both ponies knew this was certainly not the last time Celestia would see either Smiles or Nurse Soothe.
Celestia looked for a sign or map to figure out where she was, but found nothing, not even another pony to give her directions. Hall after hall, her trot grew quicker and quicker with her apprehension, finally breaking into a full-on gallop. She couldn't remember exactly where the wallpaper began to fade and grow moldy, or where the lights began to flicker, but it had. Celestia, trying to stop her panicked run, slowed and took deep breaths. She took deep breaths, and slowly, she calmed down. The Princess looked around at her surroundings. She was still walking down a hall with patient rooms on either side, but at the end of the hall was a newer, more maintained door and even a small welcoming map. Celestia smiled in relief, and, approaching the door, knocked cautiously.
"Come in," called a male voice. Celestia pushed open the door, exposing a beautiful and tastefully decorated office. Noticing the exotic Everfree plants, she just barely contained a snort upon seeing a large pot full of poison joke. Carefully slipping by it, she made her way to the end of the narrow room, where a stallion was hunched over his desk. The pony didn’t bother to look up, instead only briefly acknowledging her with a wave to the couch in front of his desk. The Warden (she could tell by the nameplate on his desk) was still looking at his papers. In fact, he pulled out more papers and levitated several more pens up to sign them. He was surrounded by floating papers and pens, but remained at ease.
"What is it now?" he grumbled, still refusing to look up. Celestia was miffed. She felt frustrated and angered to be talked to in such a way, but stifled her feelings, choosing instead to be more patient.
"I have taken an interes-"
"Who are you? I don't seem to recognize your voice." The Warden interrupted. He had stopped working for a moment to look at his peeved visitor, and gulped upon finding Princess Celestia herself in his office.
"Oh--Princess Celestia!” The Warden scrambled away from his desk and quickly bowed, then shot back up again. “I--I'm sorry I treated you in such a way but as you can tell I'm quite busy, and uh, well, I simply wasn't expecting anypony, let alone a Princess. Ah, I'm rambling on, so, Princess, why have you come here today? Nothing wrong, I hope?"
Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at the sudden change in demeanor. "There's nothing wrong, but a friend of mine has asked that I try and lend a hoof to a patient of yours, H. Smiles.” As soon as Celestia had mentioned the name, the Warden’s expression grew grim.
"Oh, no, Princess, it’s a lost cause. He hasn't changed a bit since we initially brought him here; he only stops his mumbling when his family arrives. So please, just drop it--it won’t cause anypony harm if it continues." The Warden seemed intent on having her stop working on Patient Smiles’ case, and that just made her more determined to solve this than ever.
"I am not so easily persuaded, Warden. I've never given up on helping somepony, and I'm not starting today. Now, I've taken the liberty to borrow his files. After I read them fully we'll see what solution I can come up with." Celestia’s argument was weakly formed and could've been broken down by the slightest of opposition, but, thankfully, not many ponies argued with the Princess.
"If you want to help Smiles, than I can't stop you, I suppose." the Warden resumed his work, more distracted than ever. Celestia left the office in silence. It was strange how both the nurse and the Warden had suddenly lost all hope to save Smiles. It was their job, after all. Celestia, not wanting to spend another minute in the hospital, followed the directions on the map on the Warden’s door and headed out.
She left the hospital tired and emotionally drained. Celestia wanted nothing but sleep, but she knew that she had to read the file on Smiles before she did anything. She sighed, exhausted, as she looked at the moonlit sky, wondering where the time had went. Idly, the Princess wondered if Luna had had half such an exhausting day.
The royal carriage took her to the statue garden, near the rear entrance to the castle. Two of the Lunar Guard had offered to take her luggage, but she had politely refused. She could handle herself, after all, but however she’d be grateful if they could alert Princess Luna of her return. Tip-hoofing into the silent castle, she lit her fireplace and sank into her covers, resolving to read at least a quarter of the file’s content. Day 1: Opening Session... It was going to be a long night.