Chapter Six
Enter Insanity: Part 2, One Small Step
"You two must have some history," Alex commented to Hart after they closed the door. The pair made their way down the elongated hall, the doors they were headed for being at the opposite end.
"You could say that," Hart grumbled.
"I'm sensing a conflicting backstory here."
"I don't want to talk about it."
They came up to the first door on the right, nearly one hundred feet down the hall, but when the two of them turned around the door was only mere steps away.
"Now I see the insanity," Alex remarked.
Alex pushed open the door and stepped into a large, guest suite. The room itself was an off-white color, with a large, shaggy rug on the floor, a tall, four-poster bed against the side wall, two glass doors that led to a small balcony, and another door leading to an adjoining bathroom. The human and his pony companion stared open-mouthed.
"How the hell?!" they both exclaimed, though Hart substituted in "Tartarus."
"It really is bigger on the inside," Alex gave an impressed nod.
Hart shook his head, "Just... try to ignore it for now." The grey pony made his way over to a bureau and pulled open the topmost drawer. "You won't need to worry about a new shirt, Alex," Hart called over his shoulder.
Alex perked up, "What do you mean?" Hart stepped aside so that he could get a better view of the contents. The entire drawer was separated into three piles of assorted tee-shirts, polo shirts, and long-sleeved shirts. "How...?"
"Simple, really."
The pair spun around in surprise to find Witt leaning against the doorframe. "Celestia had that pitiful rag of a shirt that you were wearing copied and duplicated by Miss Rarity while you were unconscious. I told them to stay simple, but, knowing Rarity, I figured that my suggestion was to be ignored."
Alex turned back to the small stockpile and pulled out a green shirt at the top. He held it up in front of him and found that it read: "Celestia stole my cake"
Witt raised a hoof, "That was mine. I had to have some fun with it. May as well tease Cell, as well," he added quietly.
Alex shot him a sly grin, "How many of these ponies do you hate?"
"Oh, no. You misunderstand," he chuckled, "they hate me. Well... except for Twilight."
"Can't imagine why," Hart coughed.
Witt gave Hart a cool glare. "I'm going to refrain from commenting on that, pony-boy." Hart grumbled in response, but stalked off to the bathroom instead. The door closed behind him and Witt turned toward Alex, "Can I ask you something?"
Said human shrugged, "Shoot."
"Do you have any idea how you got here?"
"I fell down an elevator shaft," Alex answered frankly, "I already told Celestia."
"But did someone perhaps influence your journey?" Witt reiterated.
"Nope. Sorry," Alex said, shaking his head.
"Understandable," Witt gave a reassuring nod, "travel between two separate dimensions is almost impossible."
Alex gave a brief chuckle, "I'm loving the 'almost.'" He glanced back at Witt, who looked like he just heard something strange. "You okay?"
The unicorn shook his head, "No, I'm fine. You just reminded me of someone for a second there." Witt mumbled something incoherent to Alex, but smiled back at the human shortly after. "Do you have anything that you want to ask me? You only get one question, though, so use it wisely."
"Why do they classify you as 'insane?'" was the first thing that came out of Alex's mouth.
Now, it was Witt's turn to chuckle, "Its complicated. You see, Discord, who you haven't been properly introduced to, and I share a... common mindset. Both of us have a small desire to create disorder and chaos, though he is more prone to the temptation than I. The reason that I'm considered insane is because he and I behave quite similarly. Our minds are... linked... so to speak, mostly because of a failed experiment of mine." Witt took a breath, "Since then, the Princesses keep me here so I don't do anything, what they would call, 'stupid.'"
"That was the only question I had time for," Witt said with a small bubble of happiness. He turned to walk out the door, "I forgot to mention that the Princesses have invited you to dine with them this evening. I don't think it will be too stressful to find something to wear." And with that, he exited the room.
Alex sighed, losing track of how many times he had done so already, and stood up.
"Oh, by the way," Witt's head poked around the entryway, startling Alex, "we're about one thousand feet up, so don't go outside if you're afraid of heights." The pony then disappeared around the corner with a sly smile, leaving Alex to ponder his thoughts.
"One thousand feet, eh?" Alex mused. "That's pretty high." He made his way over to the balcony doors and opened them slowly. A light breeze hit him as he stepped out into the cool, afternoon air. He quickly approached the balcony's edge and peered over. "Damn."
Sure enough, the drop was indeed a thousand feet down, leading to a small green patch that Alex assumed was a garden. He checked behind him to make sure Hart was still in the bathroom before attempting to mount the ledge. The marble railing was just below his waist-height, so Alex had little trouble, even with his broken appendages.
The human stood at the edge of the ledge and looked down again. "That's a long fall," he breathed. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This was the moment he was waiting for. The moment they would let his guard down and he'd finally wake up from this strange dream. This was when-
"ALEX?!?!?!" Hart's shocked exclamation nearly made said human lose his footing, even though that was the objective. "WHAT IN TARTARUS DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!?!?!
Alex redirected his torso to face the grey pony who was now standing on the balcony. "I thought you were still in the bathroom," he said. "You don't need to see this."
"See that you're going to commit SUICIDE!!!" Hart's shouting had gone down slightly.
"I'm not committing suicide," Alex responded angrily "I'm just going to wake up from... this."
"But you said that you knew everything was real-"
"I said what both you and I wanted to hear," Alex corrected as he took a small step closer to the edge, "and you wanted to think that I accepted this world."
"You didn't believe this was real?" Hart asked, dumbfounded. "What about all the times you felt pain from your injuries?"
"Sometimes the mind can trick you into thinking that you're hurt," Alex countered in a matter-of-fact way. Alex took another step closer to the edge.
"Just come down," Hart held out a hoof to Alex, "We'll try to help you."
"It's too late for that, Hart. I've made up my mind." Alex took a final step...
... And he fell.
Witt trotted back into the main laboratory and made his way over to the waiting ponies and Discord. He was wearing a large smile on his face. A half smug one, though.
"Well?" Celestia asked impatiently.
"All is 'well,'" Witt replied calmly, "he'll be fine in a few minutes, but I'm going to have to exchange one of my favors in place of a different one."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to need the Royal Guard's training fields," Witt requested. This demand elicited another round of annoyed groans from the company, save Discord, who merely grinned.
"What are you willing to give up?" Celestia asked, visibly trying to resist the urge to send Witt to the moon.
"I'm willing to relinquish my appearance at the Summer Sun Celebration."
The entire group released a collective, relieved breath -even Twilight- that he wasn't going to the event, while Witt gave them a disapproving glare.
"Anyway," Witt spoke, again, "Alex is in the middle of trying to... come down... from his previous endeavor." He completed the thought with another smile.
Celestia glared at him suspiciously, "Do you know something, Witt?"
"Not at all," he said with a shrug.
Discord grinned and gave a throaty chuckle, "He knows something."
"Fine," Witt sighed. "If you'll just wait for another five... four... three..." Witt counted, "... two... one."
The doors leading to the bedchambers were immediately thrown open, and Hart stood in the doorway. He was wide eyed and breathing heavily, his look a bit unnerving. "Alex... just... jumped!" he shouted.
Everypony's jaws, except for Witt's, dropped in response.
Witt smiled smugly and turned back to the open mouthed group. "I told you he was coming down from something."
A high pitched whine pierced the air around Alex's ears as he stared into an infinite blue abyss. Or was it the sky? Maybe it was his mind, again. A dream within a dream. "Am... I awake...?" his voice came out quite hoarse.
"You really have to stop injuring yourself like this, Mister Harper." Alex heard Devilin's voice. He tried to turn, but found that he couldn't move his neck, or anything when he tried. Lucky for him, the smartly dressed executive stepped into his field of vision, wearing a light brown, pinstripe suit and red tie. He stood over Alex, looking down at him smugly. "That's one."
"One... what?" Alex asked, only now realizing that his breathing was laced with pain.
"This is the first time that you have died," Devilin elaborated.
"I... died," Alex went wide eyed with shock and received a nod from the businessman.
"Oh, yes. But I must admit that it was very dramatic," he mused. "I especially enjoyed the bit where you actually thought you were dreaming. A very convincing performance."
"Shut up."
Deviling gave him a stern look. "I'll shut up only if you agree to my terms."
"What terms?" Alex asked curiously.
"The terms of the experiment that I told you about, dumb-ass."
Alex was surprised that Devilin actually said that. "What are your terms?" he asked curiously.
"Rule one: you don't tell anyone about me, unless they already know, or, say, you inform them by accident. Rule two: no cheating."
"Cheating? At what?!"
"Shh!" Devilin shushed him. "Rule three: if my experiment succeeds, then you must work for me."
"Doesn't sound too bad," Alex admitted.
"For the rest of eternity."
"What?!"
"I'm not finished. Now, the fourth rule is beneficial to you," he explained. "Rule four: if the experiment fails, then you are allowed to choose where you spend the rest of your miserable existence. Considering that your life was rather pathetic back in your reality, I'd suggest this realm. Then again, this place looks like a fantasy that a junkie has whenever he's high. Still... it could be worse." Devilin crouched down and neared Alex's face, "Deal?"
Alex thought for a moment. "What's the experiment?"
"Ah!" Devilin clasped his hands together, "Finally! I've been waiting to tell you since our little meeting at the office." He leaned down and put his mouth next to Alex's ear. "I'm going to break you, Mister Harper," he said darkly, his voice becoming gravelly. He pulled away, "Doesn't that sound fun?"
Alex just lay there, confused. "Break me?" he asked, "How?"
"That's the best part of the experiment!" Devilin answered giddily. "I get to find out how I can break you. Evaluate your schedules, your hobbies, your home life! Wait, you don't have your own home yet. I suppose that could be remedied."
"What if I refuse?"
Devilin seemed to ponder Alex's query. "I'll destroy you on the spot."
Alex was silent for a moment. "I'm not really fond of that option."
Devilin chuckled, "I'll take that as a deal?" He held out a hand.
"Deal." Without thinking, Alex accepted the outstretched hand and was instantly bombarded with pain. "AAHHHHHGGGGG!!!" he cried out in agony. The pain continued for several moments before subsiding, leaving Alex half-conscious. "Wh-what... did you... d-do?"
"I just repaired you." He snapped his fingers suddenly and his expression brightened, "That's what I was forgetting! If you try to opt out of the experiment," he gave Alex a mischievous expression, "then you'll simply come back to life. So, no. Cheating." Devilin slowly stood back up and turned his back to Alex. "Enjoy your life, Mister Harper." He started to walk away, until he was out of Alex's view.
Alex stared back up at the sky for he didn't know how long. "What the fuck did I just agree to?"