//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Edge of Insanity // Story: Equestria Missing // by MayaTheBee //------------------------------// Diary Entry #1 26th June 2012 The patient has been acting really strange over the past few days, only just yesterday he said: "W-wait! Dash, Where are you going?" and he has also tried to escape the asylum multiple times. Some of us are worried Flare has gotten a bug of some sort, he did throw up blood on one occasion, we've tried to feed him some food but he just turned away and never said anything. He even said with joy: "YES! I'M NOT ALONE! WOO!" We put him in an examination room twice. But the first time he almost gouged his eyes out with a pencil someone left in there, the second time we left him in there, he covered his eyes as if he was being blinded by something. We really need to look into this pony more and see if he has some sort of virus or not. DAY 4 10:28 AM FLUTTERSHY'S COTTAGE I Sighed and sat in front of her door, wishing she would answer my knocks. Of course she wouldn't she's not here. No one is here, all there is now, is a pair of hooves just grabbing onto my back every now and then. I keep turning around no one is there, I feel the hooves on my back again, I jump and run, but something stops me in my path, "Why me?" I ask myself. I wouldn't know, there was no one to ask. I keep feeling like I'm a lab rat or something, in some sort of cage, being tested with some hallucinogenic drug. I do remember that poke I got in Araagonn's apothecary, maybe I was never alone, maybe I just needed a second to find everyone, but hell, I was never good at finding anything, I remember when I was younger, Rainbow Dash asked me to help her find her teddy she took to bed to keep her company at night, she was adorable back then. "I wish I could see her right now..." Dairy Entry #2 27th June 2012 The patient has been behaving normally for the day. he has been having odd mood swings such as him being angry and all of a sudden being sad again. A short laugh before going back to angry, we've definitely been worried, so has his friends and family. We had Fluttershy burst into tears at the way he has been acting. we tried to console her but there hasn't been any luck, she's definitely worried for her friend, I think they may be in love with each other, another examination may be on schedule. DAY 4 12:10 PM ARAAGONN STRYDER'S APOTHECARY Opening the door to the apothecary, I cautiously stepped in making sure I didn't get poked by whatever poked me last time and looked around his workshop. I checked under tables, in corners, on the roof and shelves but no trip wire of some sort came to show. I keep hearing voices in my head, and from what I've gathered, they are doctors, after some examination of the room I turned around to see the light again, this time I starred into it. I didn't cover my eyes. if anything ended my life it would have to be this light. I just stood there, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and ran at it. Just as I was about to hit it, it went away and I rammed into the wall. "Gargh, darn it". Disappointed, I sat up and stayed there for about a minute, then I screamed at the top of my lungs "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" And laid down and sobbed for a few minutes. Diary Entry #3 28th June 2012 Examination somewhat of a success. this time Flare didn't cover his eyes or anything, he just starred into the light bulb in the middle of the room for a few minutes before running at it and slamming into the wall. We checked for injuries but he just yelled at us. We really want to help, we just need an opportunity to prove ourselves. DAY 4 3:00 PM TWILIGHTS LIBRARY Her empty house made me want to say 'Twilight, you got any books on empty worlds'. but of course no one would answer, because I was in an empty world. I looked around the library at some books, I didn't see anything on empty worlds but there was some on paranoia and insanity, it could be useful, I thought to myself, so I grabbed them and took them back to my house. Diary Entry #4 28th June 2012 Last time Twilight visited, she said she would bring over some books about paranoia and insanity. but when she came over today, she asked if she could see Rainbow Flare. Knowing he was much calmer than he was a few days ago we let him out of his room. What we found odd was that he just went up to Twilight, picked up the books like he was in her library, and went back into his room. We were confused, as was Twilight, but she went into the room to talk to him. She said to him: "If you can hear me, I want to let you know that we all miss you, and we wish we could have you back". She then proceeded to leave the asylum, Flare is now reading the books he took from Twilight, and he's reading them quite thoroughly. Further investigation will be needed on this pony. DAY 4 5:30 PM FLARE'S HOUSE I've been reading through these books, and they are interesting... "I'm an Egghead" I joked to myself, but I kept reading. There was something's in the insanity book about 'Empty World Insanity', where the victim is in a world familiar to his own but no inhabitants other than him/herself. the paranoia book said something about 'Emptiness' where the emptiness is just a creation of his own mind and the world around him still exists. The paranoia one is closer to what I've been experiencing, could this just be a figment of my imagination? How would I know? Maybe the hooves that grab onto my back every now and then are just me imagining things, but then again they do feel like they're there. I just, need a sleep... getting dizzy, I can't feel my legs, I need to... Sleep. Diary Entry #5 29th June 2012 I think we have succeeded! He is much more calm and collective then he was three days ago, I don't know who but somepony came into the asylum with a syringe full of only Celestia knows what and gave it to us, but we are afraid it's some kind of cyanide. He hasn't been awake for a while, almost 2 hours now. Luckily we were able to get some examination done. Thankfully nothing is wrong with him, well other than him being insane, but from what the pony with the syringe said, it will hopefully cure him. DAY 5 12:20 AM PONYVILLE ASYLUM Walls. White walls. White padded walls. Day in. Day out. White padded walls. I woke up with a blur in my eyes, I saw someone else, I didn't care who it was I just wanted someone to speak to, but for some reason my fore-legs were strapped to my chest. I was in a straight jacket, I saw the mare walk up to me, she took the straight jacket off and put a torch in my eyes, I'd assume she was checking to see if my eyesight was okay. "Welcome back! Looks good, do you know your name?". I nodded and she asked "can you say it for me?" I knew this was most likely for purposes I never knew existed so I just responded with "Rainbow Flare". "Good, do you have any symptoms? Pain? Fever? Headache?" I shook my head softly and asked. "Where am I?" She paused for a few seconds and said. "You're in an insane asylum... Ponyville to be exact". I sat there in silence, trying to process all of this. Was this part of my insanity? Have I driven myself to such a edge that I'm now seeing things? I stood up and touched her face. "Um. Excuse me, is there something wrong?" I responded with: "No, I'm perfectly fine... I'm just checking to see if I'm still insane or not". The mare smiled "Well, you can thank a hooded pony for that". Confused, I asked who that was. "We don't know, sorry". I nodded and asked if I could see Fluttershy. "Certainly! I'll call her in for you". I waited for a bit and she came in we just stood there. after a while I started crying and hugged her. "Please tell me you're real" I said with tears in my eyes and she responded. "I am, please don't cry were both here, we are both sane and everypony wants to see you, including Rainbow Dash." I walked out of the room into the infirmary where I was greeted with my friends. Holding back tears of joy, I said hi to everyone, I only had one problem... Dashie wasn't there. My happy face soon turned sad, my own sister wasn't here to see me "Sorry I'm late... did I miss anything?" I immediately ran and hugged my sister. but then I realised, something was not right. I looked into a wall mirror that was hanging just at the corner, I looked into it and saw that no colour changes were done and my eyes were still black voids. I turned around quickly, I saw Pinkie Pie was holding a knife, Rainbow dash was hanging on a rope from the ceiling by her neck, Fluttershy was cut open lying on the ground, Rarity and Twilight had their horns torn off and some of their limbs ripped apart as well. Applejack was nowhere to be seen, I assumed she ran off. In a demonic voice I heard Pinkie say "TIME TO WAKE UP!" just before charging at me and gutting me. I looked down, my entrails were on the ground in a bloody heap, off in the distance I heard the doctor that was taking care of me yell "HE'LL KILL HIMSELF!, GRAB THAT SURGERY KNIFE OFF OF HIM!" I wondered for a moment and I said to myself "Surgery Knife?" I looked at my hoof, he was right. I was holding a surgery knife. I fell down. Only to see the doctors rush over to me, trying to save my life. I didn't know it would end like this. Diary Entry #6 29th June 2012" The Patient has had a Sudden burst of insanity. after he asked for Fluttershy he ran out of his room and at everyone else he grabbed a surgery knife from a table and stabbed himself. Thankfully we did save him in time, we put him back in the straight jacket and back in his room. I think listening to that hooded pony was a bad idea. We really want to apologise to his friends and family for pretty much almost getting them killed, but we might need at least one more examination.