//------------------------------// // Nº 2: TWINE GIVETH ROPE // Story: Life In Boxes // by CoffeeBean //------------------------------// Dismounting her chariot, Luna took a moment to look about the somewhat empty street upon which she had been landed. The clock had struck 8 in the morning a fair fifteen minutes ago, making her curious of the fact such a street so deep within Canterlot held so few ponies. The street in question was one not far from the impressive Canterlot Regional Medical Center, a large, multistory hospital built a fair 200 years in the past, and since then had been remodeled and redone so many times nothing of its beginning façade remained. In its current state, it stood out quite profusely against the two and three story, ‘middle Equestrian' style buildings with their cobble, brick, and wood façades and highly sloped shingle roofs. It was built with modern techniques and styles, incorporating concrete, steel, and glass to form a rather citadel-like structure, as all its surroundings stood many stories shorter. That said, she rather enjoyed the structure. It offered an atmosphere of authority and superiority, not over those who must enter, but those who stand against her nation. From what she had read of the place, no other hospital in the world offered such good care or accommodated so many ill ponies. She was proud to stand before the structure knowing any rival nation held envy over the place. Unfortunately, the hospital itself was not of her concern, rather, a connected sub-structure hidden in its shadow was, and too, was the place her chariot had delivered her to. Unlike its mothering structure, this smaller, shorter facility held no fine architectural features, nor did it shine proudly with color and volume as the main hospital did with its large, declaring signage, welcoming red crosses, and highlights of gold and red which gave life to an otherwise lifeless structure. This smaller facility was totally unmarked, colorless save for the white, square columns which divided each vertical row of tiny windows, spaced as evenly and perfectly as the bars of a cell. Looking to her Night Guard, Luna clicked her tongue to gather their attention. “Find a proper location for the chariot, and come to us in the main entrance. We shall wait until your arrival.” They nodded to her command, spreading their wings in unison to bring the craft back into the sky. Turning back to the task before her, Luna began making her way for the bland, utilitarian, almost militaristic entrance of the place. It had only a single door with no welcoming porch unlike the glass double doors of its mother hospital. She too noticed the lack of beautiful fauna, shrubs, and such that decorated the front of the hospital, that lack adding another layer of unwelcome feelings. On top of that was the near total lack of signage; unlike the many grand, illuminated signs both on and around the main hospital, this sub-wing only wore a single little sign above the door in black text reading ‘Psychiatric Welfare’ . She had done much digging in documentation of the hospital to so much as learn the location of this place, and that research hadn't even touched upon what practices may go on within. It was a level of vague which Luna understood well; secrecy. Many grand things had been written of the trauma center, surgery wing, foal-care center, and the most recently constructed blood donation center. This particular sub-structure seemed to avert interest rather than draw it. There had been nothing of it in the papers for the last two years, and even then, that tiny smattering of a story had only been a note of how the mental health ward was receiving a slight budget decrease. With a spell, she cast the front door out of the way, taking only a single step into the unexpectedly small security lock, the harsh florescent lights in the ceiling causing her eyes to narrow and pupils to dilate into nothing more than slits. Instantly, her eyes locked with the mare security officer stationed behind her impact resistant glass, the mare returning her gaze with utmost shock. “Greetings. How shall we gain entry to further facilities?” Luna inquired rather sharply, putting herself mere inches from the armored glass and wall of this odd little security booth. Despite the barrier between the two, the light blue mare in her gray jacket cowered back a bit from her post. “I-I… Princess Luna?” “Aye, t’is mine name.” She blinked rapidly a moment before bowing down. “Y-Your Highness! I wasn’t at all told you’d be making a visit here!” The door which Luna had come in through opened, her Night Guard stepping in and going to her flanks, their eyes now too locked with the mare behind the armored glass. “Unplanned is our visit. Pray tell, how shalt we gain further entry?” “Y-You’d like to go inside, your Highness?” “Aye.” “A-Alright, I’ll buzz you right in, your Highness!” Blurted the mare as she hit a little red button on the wall within her station, the automated locks in the door leading further inside letting off a mechanical clunk. Allowing Illa, her leftmost guard, to enter first, she followed him into the entirely artificially lit reception and waiting area. Once through the security door, Illa returned to her left flank, and following suit, Meek came to her right. The trio stood motionless for a moment as they studied the area before them; white tile floors, cream walls, sound-reducing tiles and florescent light fixtures making up the ceiling, unassuming and utilitarian chairs laid about in rows, a wood veneer receptionist desk in the center of the furthest wall to their front, and a pair of windowless, almost armored in appearance doors just to the right of said desk. Behind that desk sat a white-furred, blonde-maned stallion in a light blue jacket, his shocked eyes darting across the trio. “Y-Your Highness!?” his pale blue aura of magic came to life as he summoned a black notebook, frantically flipping through and scanning the pages with vigor, “t-there isn’t anything in the daily notes saying you’d be making a visit!” “Thy gatekeeper was quick to inform us. This visit is one of spontaneity.” Looking rather relieved, the stallion took a breath and set the book down behind his desk, adding it to the many other papers about his space. “Well, your Highness… what… uh, is the purpose of your visit?” Her wings ruffled a bit. “Investigation.” This too seemed to trouble the stallion. “Investigation, your Highness? I… also wasn’t aware there was an investigation of any kind underway…” “T’is an investigation of mine own. We seeketh further strings of knowledge. What hath we art but short threats, nothing worthy of being wound into rope.” “Y-You’d… like to know more about the hospital, your Highness?” Luna’s eyes narrowed a tiny bit as she began her approach towards the desk, her Night Guard following each slow step. “Thy hospital is of nay interest. Our school of thought studies the place at which our hooves step; a psychiatric welfare center. Such place existed not in our time.” Shrinking in his chair a bit, as the trio now stood right at the brink of his desk, he stumbled on his words a bit. “W-Well, I… don’t quite have any information packets or pamphlets around here, your Highness,” he explained, searching his desk for just the things he had spoken of. “If our castle’s own libraries yield when posed question of this place, so shalt thy papers. Pray tell, thou art beneath another in rank; who shalt be the one above thee?” “My boss? I… I suppose that would be Doctor Autumn… she’s the head doctor, your Highness.” Luna’s ear twitched. “Doctor Autumn,” she enunciated slowly, “fetch her, sir.” He did a quick look from the doors to the left to a cream colored phone upon his desk. “S-Should I go find her, or should I call for her on the intercom, your Highness?” “Which path shall find us expedience?” “Most likely the intercom, your Highness.” “So be it.” Looking at her a moment, he swallowed and gave life to his horn, his blue magic lifting the transceiver to his ear and mouth as he dialed in a set of numbers upon the black keypad, a single second later the intercom system within both the lobby and the entirety of the center beyond sounded off with a loud, notifying tone. “Doctor Autumn, you’ve been requested to come to the front desk,” said the stallion, the projection of his voice through the intercom nearly overpowering his voice in person. With a click, the phone was hung up. “Many thanks, sir,” Luna declared as she turned away from the desk, her Night Guard following as she went and found a seat which put her right before the two armored doors. And there, in her plain seat, flanked by her Night Guard, she awaited the arrival of Doctor Autumn. As the minutes went by, she further studied her surroundings, at least, what there was to study. Nothing in the place was of real interest; the walls were bare of any art or decoration, and there seemed to be a purposeful reduction of clutter and loose objects. It seemed to favor an inverse style of both its mother hospital, a place which Luna had never entered, and the Ponyville Municipal Healthcare Center, a place which she had entered. It had been a small visit, spontaneous in its execution, much like this visit, but her appearance at the little clinic had brought warm feelings. The receptionist and few staff she came into contact with had been far more jovial than those within these walls had been thus far, and their facility was far more welcoming. Their walls had various paintings donated by local artists, and the architecture offered a far more rural atmosphere than the near prison-like aura given off by the psychiatric center. Luna blinked, eyes returning to the two doors as a mechanical clank of the locks operating echoed in the quiet lobby, their opening revealing a magenta-furred, orange-maned unicorn mare, her finely pressed white doctor's coat just as pristine as her figure. Not a single hair of her curly mane lay out of place, and her fur coat was kept in impeccable condition. It took but a half second for her ocean blue eyes to meet Luna's, and when they did, she froze in the doorway. “Princess Luna?” Luna stood, approaching in a similar fashion in which she had approached the desk, “Doctor Autumn.” Still stunned, the doctor blinked rapidly as if to adjust her eyes, “I-I wasn't… I wasn’t aware you'd be making a visit today, your Highness.” “Thy receptionist was quick to remind us. Our visit is spontaneous; quite unplanned, for mere hours ago existence of thy institution escaped our knowledge.” Still not quite knowing how to reply, the doctor stepped forward through the security doors, Luna taking a split second to look at the security officer on the other side of the doors before focusing back on the doctor. Remembering her manners, the doctor bowed before her princess, “I'm pleased to have you here, your Highness, and I'd be happy to tell you more about our facility.” “Much like a photograph, we wish thou shalt show, and not tell.” Rising, the doctor gave a look of confusion. “Are… you asking for a tour, your Highness?” “If t'is the name thou shalt give it, aye.” The doctor glanced between the princess and her flanking guards, feeling the weight of their gaze. “We don't typically do tours, your Highness…” Luna craned her head to meet Doctor Autumn eye-to-eye. “Thy princess does not typically come into thy presence, either.” A bit shaken by the gesture, and simply by how close Luna’s face had come to hers, the doctor reluctantly bowed once more, “if that’s what you wish, your Highness.” Returning upright, the doctor gave the trio one last little look-over before turning around and going to the two sealed security doors. Luna watched intently as the doctor went to a keypad on the wall to the right of these doors, using her magic to punch in the numbers 1, 1, 0, 0, 5, 3, 4, 5, 9. Luna took careful note. The doors offered a similar sound as the first security lock had, the doctor quickly opening the rightmost door and holding it open to allow Luna and her Night Guard through. As they had with the first lock, Illa went first, placing Luna between himself and Meek. Upon entering fully, the three stood off to the side to allow the door to shut and allow the doctor to return to the front of the formation. “Shall I lead the way, your Highness?” “If thou art head of the doctorial administration within this institution, then thou shalt be head of this.” A bit jarred by the longest ‘yes’ she had ever received, the doctor bowed her head and began leading the trio down the hall. Her eyes met with those of another security guard as she and her Night Guard were led towards another set of thick, steel, mechanically sealed doors, above these metal gates sat a sign printed, ‘patient ward’. She stopped as Doctor Autumn paused to address this security guard, instructing the clay-brown mare clad in her sky-blue jacket to open the doors and allow the group through, and with an affirmative nod, the security pony punched that same code into the same number pad every door came equipped with, and with the same mechanical clanking as the rest, the locks within were undone by their electronic actuators, allowing them to be freely swung open by the doctor. “Through these doors, as the sign suggests, is where our patients are housed. Our somewhat low budget doesn’t leave much breathing room for aesthetics, but such is the nature of things, I suppose,” the doctor went on as they four went down this new hall of the institution’s fourth floor, “we do often receive donations, however, which are typically put into this aspect of the facility. In fact, our most recent donation was two crates of hoof-knitted quilts for the patients’ beds! Certainly an upgrade over the white sheets we had before.” Luna let her eyes wander the hall, the wall to her left lined with equidistantly spaced solid metal cell doors, each with its own number plate, while the right wall remained completely barren of anything besides white paint. The harsh florescent lights lining the corridor seemed to sting her eyes a fair bit more than the lower three floors had, and the linoleum tiles of the floor and plain sound-reducing panels of the ceiling made themselves out to be a fair bit blander than everything else. The first three floors of the institution were halls paved in gold compared to these. There were occasional works of art or potted plants upon tables flanked by a few chairs, the doors of the rooms were the typical wood one would expect, and the tile floors had some designs and thought of aesthetics put into them rather than being left entirely white. Those lower floors were primarily administration; every door leading into some form or another of an office space, save for the large dining area on the second floor and the guest lobby on the third. She had noticed each room held a name plaque as opposed to a number, suggesting living beings occupied the spaces rather than creatures of nay importance. She now saw where the priorities of the ‘hospital’ lay. “And, just around this corner up here…” Luna looked away from the steel doors to see the aforementioned bend approaching in the hall. “…we’ll come up on the commons area for this floor. A place for patients to have some space, read a book, or do whatever they may please.” The 90 degree bend was reached, placing them in a hall which looked identical to the last, save for the single, opened doorway a bit down the way in the right wall. Reaching this door, the doctor paused after it, allowing Luna to look into the bland, carpeted space. The lighting was somewhat less harsh, and spread about were some chairs, a single sofa, a few tables against the walls, and a tall case holding many novels. Almost seeming to be furniture themselves stood three security ponies spaced about the room, unmoving at watching over the six ‘patients’ who currently occupied the place. One sat motionless in a chair, gazing up at the ceiling. The next lay on her side, holding a book with her hoof. Two others were sitting upon the rather rough looking carpet, sitting side by side and quietly talking amongst themselves. Another was stood before one of the tables, his eyes occupied with some piece of paper. The last, a fairly young unicorn mare, sat in the near center of the space with her eyes locked with Luna’s, though, Luna’s eyes weren’t with her, rather, with the aluminum ring affixed around the base of her horn, cutting her magic away. Luna’s eyes now came down to meet the mare’s gaze. The unicorn’s mouth hung open, ears flat with her head and eyes seeming to cry for help. Luna could nearly hear the words trapped in her throat. A needle of pain gouged at Luna’s heart as she turned away from the doorway, shutting her eyes hard as she passed the doctor, who hadn’t been expecting her to move. “Hospital…” Luna said under her breath. “I-I’m sorry, your Highness?” Luna stopped abruptly, spinning around and craning her head to be right at eye-level with the doctor, who was mere inches away. “A hospital. This place, t’is a hospital?” The doctor recoiled a bit at her venomous words. “Y-Yes, Princess, this place is a hospital.” "Cowers in the shadow of, but t'is not." Completely confused by both what she had just heard and the fact these were the first words the Princess had spoken in an entire hour, Doctor Autumn took another step back to distance herself from the Alicorn. “I-I… I don’t really understand what you mean, your Highness!” Luna brought her head up, looking down at the doctor for a moment before turning her back to her and beginning off back down the hall, her Night Guard passing around the doctor, leaving her behind for a moment before she finally gave chase and linked back up with the group. Luna stopped before one of the cell doors in the hall, not looking to the silent doctor, but rather, focusing on the handle of the lock which sealed the door closed. “Look about thyself.” Doctor Autumn blinked a few times. “I-I’m sorry, your Highness?” Luna finally re-met her gaze. “Look about thyself. Thy surroundings, look through eyes not of thy own to see them. Peer through eyes belonging to a pony who must occupy these rooms. What dost thou see?” The doctor complied, looking around the hall more because she had been ordered to rather than to truly attempt doing as her Princess had stated. “I understand what you mean, Princess, but what you must understand is that we haven’t been given the funding to… make things look nicer!” Luna pierced a look at the doctor, her face a deep scowl and eyes like daggers. “There are things we do not understand, Doctor Autumn, but we assure thee, thou shalt not be the one to teach us of them.” With that, she turned back to the door, her magic encompassing the handle of the deadbolt lock, and with a twist and mechanical clank, unsealing the door. “Your Highness, I would really advise against that!” Again, Luna darted her gaze to the doctor. “Why?” “Some of the patients here can be violent!” “Some?” “Wha- yes, your Highness, some!” Luna looked up to the number plate of the door. “What of the patient within room 22?” “I-I don’t know, your Highness.” Luna looked back. “Thou art head doctor, aye? Shouldn’t thou knoweth at least a thread of knowledge of every pony within the halls of thy so-called hospital?” Doctor Autumn gulped. “We… we have many patients here, your Highness.” Luna pushed the door open with her hoof. “We take thy reply as a ‘nay’.” Stepping inside, Luna didn’t give the doctor any time to make a rebuttal before shutting the door behind herself, her magic remembering the position of the re-enforced lock and re-sealing the door, shrouding the cell in darkness. The only light provided was from a slit of a window upon the wall across from the door. Standing in the center of the place, she began noting the details; the bed was the only piece of furniture, not even a sink or toilet accommodated the room, though, built into the right wall was a series of three cubbies for storage, the only items within being a stack of bed linens. Besides the window, bed, linens, and the unignited bulb in the ceiling, the cell contained nothing more. Now, she looked back to the sleeping pony. She stepped forth, coming to the bedside to find the pony tucked in beneath their somewhat colorful, patterned quilt was a turquoise-furred, cream-maned mare, only the corner of her face visibly past the blankets. Luna raised a hoof, placing it upon the mare’s side through the blanket and closing her eyes, trying her hardest to clear her mind and focus upon the each single second as it passed by. Her horn came to life, surrounded not by her typical waving, blue aura of magic, but by the same black void which had been when she had peeked into Wispy’s thoughts. The sterile sting of the air became a far more pleasant scent of ozone, the air seeming to fall in temperature as she began to cut down the barrier between the waking and dream realm. She gasped. Her body froze as her vision was entirely taken over by a writhing, clawing field of crimson and black, her ears filling with a noise which held no rhythm, rhyme, or reason, but held volume greater than any crack of thunder or blast of cannon she had ever witnessed. As quickly as possibly, she broke the bond she had formed, her mind crashing back to reality as she stumbled backwards, her vision churning and tumbling, still filled with the hues of mixing blood and ink, and her ears still rang with that grand cacophonous noise. Her back hit the wall, her breathing heavy and quick as she tried to regain her senses, blinking rapidly to try and clear her eyes of the wretched shadows of colors that seemed to be burned into her vision. The roar of noise had quieted to a substantial hum, leaving behind a piercing ring as if a cannon had fired mere hoof lengths from her head. Her vision began to return, a detail-less cell of concrete and darkness slowly seeping through the blood and pitch that had been burned into her sight. She suddenly felt helpless; afraid, nay, terrified of the mare slumbering beneath the colorful quilt. Her eyes darted about the room, head swimming from the minute movement as she locked her sight with the door. In an almost panicked scramble, she came to the steel thing, her horn sparking to life as she began fumbling with the lock from the inside out. With haste, the lock was undone, and she threw the door open, instantly blinded by the white light of the hall as it stabbed into her pupils. She shut her eyes, drawing in a deep breath as she still attempted to regain control over her own senses. Upon looking back up and adjusting her eyes to the harsh light, she found Doctor Autumn to be standing behind Illa off to the left side of the door. She looked rather cross. “Your Highness, with all due respect, you're not allowed to simply… waltz into the rooms around here!” Luna met the doctor’s gaze, and contrary to the doctor’s expectations, the look she got from the Princess was not one of anger, rather, one of pain and fear. The hall fell silent aside from Luna’s quick breaths, her eyes remaining locked with the doctors for an uncomfortable amount of time. “We hath s-seen all we need to see, Doctor Autumn…” Luna finally replied after a time, her voice low and quivering. Autumn’s look of annoyance slowly melted into a concerned frown. “Is… everything alright, your Highness?” That horror-filled look remained on Luna’s expression, her glare still not departing the doctor. “We… hath seen all we need to see, doctor.” Finally, Luna's piercing gaze was drawn away. She nodded to her Night Guard, motioning them forth as she began off down the hall towards the stairs. “That's it? You're… leaving?” Luna stopped dead in her tracks. She spun on her hooves, marching her way back to the doctor and stopping mere hoof lengths away, craning her head to be eye-level with her. “Worry not, Doctor Autumn, for this shalt not be our final visit. Far from a final visit, this hour has been." Luna huffed a breath at Doctor Autumn, her ears still flat with her head as she glared at the doctor for another long period before turning back to regroup with her Night Guard. "T'is only the beginning, Doctor Autumn, of a long, winding trail." Doctor Autumn could only stand in utter shock and silently watch the Princess and her Night Guard make their way for the staircase doors. A while's time of silence from the Princess had passed, but as she and her Night Guard finally made it to the bottom of the echo-y, concrete staircase and into the halls of the first floor, she finally turned her head over her shoulder to address her trailing guards. "Twine ties to give rope, does it not?" Luna inquired to them in their native tongue. “It does, yes.” Illa returned. “What can one do with rope?” They both remained ignorantly silent. “Tie a noose, and from that noose, this place shall hang.” The black, unsweetened coffee in her mug was oddly comforting, as was the 9 o'clock sun that poured in through the tall, arched windows standing to her far left. She sat in the silence of the nearly unoccupied private dining hall in Canterlot Castle's administrative wing, the place where her sister could always, without failure, be found in the early mornings eating her breakfast and having her ceremonious first cup of herbal tea. This, however, was not the early hours of the morning. By her sister’s standards, it was quite late. By Luna’s standards, it was horribly late. Her eye-lids were heavy, and her body seemed to call out for the embrace of her blankets and pillows, but she didn't comply with her desires. It wasn’t a disobedience out of stubbornness or some silly wish to stay up researching her various discoveries, it was because she simply couldn’t. Her mind still ran wild with thought, trying to find reason behind the past hours. She failed, entirely, to comprehend what she had experienced when peering into the mind of that sleeping mare. Had that been a dream, or was that truly the state in which her mind existed? Was this the fate Wispy was destined for if she could not find a way to rid her mind of whatever parasite clutched itself to her? She shivered a bit, taking another sip of coffee. The sound of the doors to the hall opening hardly made her flinch, her eyes remaining down as heavy, familiar hoofsteps made their way towards her. “Good morning, Luna! Heading to bed soon?” chimed her sister’s always cheery voice. “Nay.” “No? Why not? It’s quite late…” “Meditation… we doth need it.” “I do need it,” corrected her sister. Luna held her silence, sighing internally. For three months now she had been trying to correct her way of speaking. “Aye… yes, I need meditation.” “Busy night?” “Indeed.” Her sister chuckled to herself. “It’s been a very busy morning for me! It’s only 9 and I’ve sat through two meetings already! Plenty more along the way of the day, as well.” Luna's reply was to take a drink of her coffee. Her sister quietly tapped her hoof at the polished marble for a moment, the sound echoing in the silence of the hall. “Well, glad you had a good night! Sleep tight!” With that, her sister began her departure. Only now did Luna look up from the table before her, watching as her sister left without looking back or waving goodbye. Luna took one last drink of her bitter coffee, holding the empty mug out and staring at it for a good while. The pressure of her magic began to increase, her brow furrowing and the corner of her lips turning up in anger as creaks and cracks emanated from the mug. A great shattering cut the silence in the room as the mug finally collapsed inward, the porcelain shards quickly snapping and crumbling into nothing more than fine glass powder within her aura. Ceasing her spell, she watched the fine, glittering dust fall to the tablecloth. Her angered expression faded as she drew in a breath, her eyes wandering the room a moment before she met the gaze of Illa, who stood far to her right beneath one of the many grand windows lining the walls of the hall. For as long as she met his gaze, he met hers. Finally looking away, Luna slid from her seat and began off for the door. “We shall retire. Do the same,” Luna informed flatly in their tongue. There was an echoing clap of hoofguard on tile as both Illa and Meek, who had been under a parallel window to her left, saluted to her as she departed. “Rest well, our Highness,” came their simultaneous reply. “We wish the same, friends.” “Breakfast, Princess.” Luna bothered not with looking up from the imprint she worked upon, as she knew the voice well. Frolicsome Meadowlark, her secretary, made his way down the length of Luna's office, a tray of fine vittles in his pale white aura. Knowing she was at work, he set the tray off where it would be near, but wouldn’t be a bother to her. “Many thanks, dear Frolicsome Meadowlark.” He bowed his head to her, “of course, Princess.” Still not observing him, she raised a hoof to stop him from leaving, her eyes remaining trained with her work and her magic still manipulating her finely crafted, gold-plated mechanical pencil. “Have a seat, Frolicsome Meadowlark.” He looked about the dark office, finding a seat a few places down from her head of the long table she used as a desk. Her study had, months prior, been one of several large meeting rooms within the castle’s Administrative wing, but upon her return, she had insisted on commandeering the place rather than putting up with the wait of having her own study built. Only cosmetic changes had been made to the long room; the tile had been replaced with a fine, shining dark wood, the walls had been darkened with brilliant hues of navy and robin’s egg blue, and the ceiling held a mural of the night’s sky, much like her personal quarters. The huge, mahogany table with its thirty seats had remained, as had every chair. She only made use of the seat furthest from the room’s entry. “What drives a pony to madness?” In thought, he looked out to the late evening landscape that lay beyond the only non-curtained window within the long study. “Imbalance in the mind, I believe.” Luna hummed. “Imbalance brought on by what?” “Hormones… I believe. If I were honest, Princess, I’m not the most knowledgeable in this field.” “Neither are those who claim to be. Hormones, aye. Tis what we have read. Chemicals which dictate our every mood, feeling, and thought. What we thinketh hath not been asked is who brings upon imbalance?” Frolicsome held his reply, awaiting further elaboration, as he knew it was certainly approaching. Finally setting down her pencil, Luna kept her gaze with her finished imprint for a moment before looking up to her Secretary. “We thinketh we dost hold the answer.” He returned her gaze, his orange eyes hardly luminescent in the darkness as compared to hers. “I’m not sure I follow.” “Asylums for the insane,” her horn came to life as she levitated a book from beneath her desk, the book floating before him and flipping to a certain page, “when did these institutions come to exist?” He read a moment, “the first one was created 809 years after the defeat of Discord, Princess.” Her eyes narrowed. “When were we cast away?” “733DD, Princess.” “Find this to be a coincidence, doth thee?” He smiled. “I would say yes, but I see you’re leading up to something.” She nodded. “These institutions were of null utility during our early years, for we hold keys to the locks of the mind. As Night’s Sovereign, and Night’s Guardian, we shielded our ponies from evils in waking and in slumber. What ponies began the descent into clutches of insanity, we pulled them free. Only several ponies, do we recall, held true insanity; imbalance in the mind we held nay leverage over, as something truly amiss writhed within their thoughts. Enough ponies for whole institutions to be built around? Nay.” “You’re… saying you can help the ponies within the mental asylums?” “More than help, dear Frolicsome. Free. The boxes they live within art veiled prison cells, and we shalt tear down those walls. We know not yet what spawn of Tartarus hath stolen the minds of these ponies, but within due time, we shalt know.” “This is quite the undertaking, Princess.” “Aye, quite. Thou shalt be needed more than ever in these coming times, dear Frolicsome. We wish for thee to take up what paperwork hath been pushed our way. We hope thou art willing to accept such a task from us.” Frolicsome smiled brightly. “I’d be delighted to take up the task.” She gave an affirmative nod. “Tis good to hear. In companion with this, we hath a second task for thee.” He raised a brow in anticipation. “The psychiatric welfare facility of Canterlot Regional Medical Center, research this place. Financial reports, staff reports, patient records. What thou deemst pertinent, we wish to see it.” That brow stayed raised. “You’re asking me to launch an investigation into them?” “In a fashion, we suppose so.” Frolicsome rubbed the back of his neck, “I’d be more than happy to, Princess, but I’m not really qualified for such work, nor do I believe I have the credentials to go so deep into archives and records in the Royal Library. I… think this task would be better given to the Royal Equestrian Investigative Bureau.” Luna gave pause for thought, her gaze falling to no particular place on the desk before her. Her ear gave a little flick before she looked back up. “So be it. We should still wish for thee to keep thy ears in this investigation, however. Be the one to report findings to us.” He nodded. “Understood, Princess. Though, I do have one last question; why are you launching such an investigation in the first place? Do you suspect the hospitals of being corrupt?” She hummed, gently shaking her head. “Corrupt? Nay. Questionable practices? Neglect? Possibly. We hath toured this facility in the early hours of the day. T'was hardly a hospital. Hospitals, to our knowledge, let patients rest within rooms not constructed to contain timberwolves and ursa minors. Too, hath we, the testimony of a mare who hath made claims of this place which align with our own findings.” “I see. I simply ask for cause of this all seeming quite… sudden.” “Aye, sudden, indeed, Frolicsome Meadowlark. We hath not suspected the prior night would lead us to discover this institution, nor did we expect to find said institution to be built around housing and caring for, or at least t’is what they claim to do, those afflicted by sickness of the mind… sickness brought on by something we hath never laid eyes upon before.” He paused a moment. “You didn’t know insane asylums existed, Princess?” She shook her head. “Nay. None word hath been spoken of them until prior night, nor hath any word been read of them until prior night. We had all but no clue of their existence.” “I see why you hold such skepticism of them.” Luna cracked a tiny smile. “Thou do know us well.” Nodding and making some mental notes, Frolicsome returned her smile. “So, undersee the investigation into possible corrupt practices within the psychiatric welfare wing of the Canterlot regional hospital and handle a bit more of our wonderful bureaucracy along the way. I believe I can manage that.” “Very good. One last note before thy departure, Dear Frolicsome; we shalt be elsewhere in the coming hours.” “Oh! Alright. As far as I know, there wasn’t anything critically important planned for today. Though, might I ask where you’ll be?” Levitating a little info pamphlet from near her writing mat, Luna read the gold-on-brown text a moment; ‘11th Hour Café, closes at 11PM’. “Checking upon somepony.”