Icon: Remnants of the North

by Vixavior

Act 3- Chapter 6: In Dark Corners

In Dark Corners
Proofread by TehSporkBandit

Vanhoover's winds whistle through the empty streets and rake across the cobblestones, whisking up spirals of snow in a pale whirl. Other snaking trails sweep through the cast iron gateway, leaving the mournful dirge of winter. A rusty gate creaks open as the sound of clattering hooves from a taxi pass behind you. The single pony-drawn vehicle slips between the pools of light cast by the flickering light standards amidst the small white cloud of disturbed snow kicked up by wooden rims. Whatever miniscule hint of tolerable daytime warmth is snatched away on the wings of encroaching night.

No, that's not right.

The somber day’s lament gives way to the harrowing moan of the northern winds that drive the snow into your face, but there is a ruthless chill here that is altogether different from the Equestria you have grown accustomed too. Compared to Ponyville, or even Canterlot, Vanhoover is a vapid world of darkness and twilight. The anemic reign of day gives way to the iron-fisted grip of night; darkness descends upon the land, leaving only the tell-tale glimmers of lantern light meagerly winking from tall windows around you. Each spark-like glow marks the boundaries of the silent edifice that is northern Vanhoover's famed institution: Riverview mental hospital.

The stately building’s sprawling wings stretch out into the gathering gloom as a few pinpricks of light wink in and out of existence in a few isolated windows. Three lanterns illuminate the massive plaster facade of the hospital, two of them as waning glints against the towering columns on either side of the doorway framing the narrow steps leading to the entrance, and the last reflecting dimly from a single window on the third story of the main building.

Its corroded iron sign hangs across the stone entrance way while the iron bars of its front gate squeak restlessly in the whispering winds. On its posts hang a number of papers and posters shredded beyond recognition by the potent gusts of wind.

Puffs of breath billow out in an icy white cloud as you breath through a trio of scarves. Your hands had been wrapped tightly when you left the small countryside cabins earlier that afternoon, but pinpricks of cold still lance through your fingers and chill you to the bone. Your cold-weather provisions, while expertly chosen by Rarity, leave you looking only vaguely humanoid under the many layers of swaddled cloth.

At least I'm not going to freeze to death.

Even so, the raking winds whistle past your glasses. The ice encrusted lenses are encased in a narrow slit between a yellow and purple scarf, leaving you practically no field of vision. The solitary figure next to you doesn’t look all that different. She was bundled up in a pair of heavy cloaks, a swath of scarves, a pair of weather goggles, a saddle, and even multi-hued, striped, wool socks.

“Fur, feathers, and flank, can you hurry up? I don't want to be out here!" The raspy shout is muffled by a tangle of loose scarves. Rainbow Dash stamps on the spot as if not wanting to let more than one of her covered hooves touch the ground at a time.

Tracing the line of the ragged parchment poster tacked to the wall near the gate, it loudly decries:

Huh, that's more extreme than I've ever heard of for Equestria.

The picture is grainy but it's the same one that the newspaper printed a week ago. It’s like they just took it and pasted it on the flyer. In fact, they might have even done that. You reach over and rip the poster down before folding it up and sticking it in a band of material cinched around your waist.

“Oh, for feathers’ sake, c'mon!”

You reach for the gate and use your shoulder to force the shuddering wrought iron open, “I thought you were good with the cold weather, Da-”

The Pegasus throws her weight against the door, sending it rocking back on rusty hinges as she zips in between you and the gate. “Too cold to argue!" She gallops towards the front door and darts up those broad stairs, leaving you to trudge through the snow drifts on the uncleared path. Serpentine drifts decorate large swaths of the cobblestone pathway while the rest is windswept and slippery as ice. The empty sockets of the buildings around you only hastens your ascent up the steps towards the banded oak door.

The Pegasus is already pulling back on the door's rungs to allow her entrance. As the door creeps open, she slips inside, but keeps it ajar with a hind leg until you are close. Then she lets it close and you have to lurch forward to catch it before swinging yourself inside.

The change in temperature between the frigid outside world and the foyer of the hospital fogs up your glasses immediately, throwing you into total blindness behind an impenetrable white sheet. A few gasps and confused notes reach your ears, but aside from three or four blurry blobs that had to be lanterns, you can't see a thing. A smattering of rattled gasps meet your sudden appearance. Yet the clatter and clop of hooves around you doesn’t seem to deter your determined companion.

“D-dear sweet Celestia, it's here!" There is a sudden shocked rattle of breath and the sound of a weighty thump mixed with a few more mangled gasps. A strangled scream pierces the silence moments later.

“Woah! Hold it!" Rainbow's well-timed shout fills the chamber and temporarily halts any further outbursts, “Ah, pony feathers.”

“What?" That’s never a good expression coming from her. She mumbles a second later and you can hear a struggling sound as she grapples with her goggles. You judiciously do the same in an attempt to get a clear picture of things.

“It's going to chop us into bits!" A mare screams before you hear another staccato sound of hooves clambering across slick floors and up staircases. A door swiftly slams shut as you pull your glasses off and squint while looking around. It had been alarming but you can't do much as you swiftly rub the lenses clear. It had been shocking, and certainly uncomfortable, but no one attacked either of you; they simply fled.

You scrape the ice away from the lenses and call out, “I'm not going to be any trouble, we're just looking to talk with somepony. That's all." The mocking echo returns without any other response in the great room lobby. In less than ten seconds the room was deserted.

Admittedly, it is a grand entrance, with twisting spirals of carved oak running from marble and hardwood floor to red painted plaster ceilings. As rich as it is with mahogany accents, small tables, and red varnished canvas furniture studded with brass tacks, it’s incredibly gloomy. Oil lamps sit on a reception desk while two wall sconces lining the twisting redwood staircase behind it. A meager hearth in the far corner of the room casts more shadows than light.

There are doors to the left and the right, but a heavy 'click' echoes to the right. A wide-eyed mare staring at you through a circular window before backing off and disappearing. She must have locked it. There is another smaller access door above the staircase, but you are certain there was movement up there, so it was probably locked, too. By the hearth are three velvet cushions and a scattering of paperwork that look sizable but not in utter disarray. Not a single pony remains.

None that are awake anyway.

“Nice, Rightly, one glimpse of you and the whole thing goes into lockdown." Rainbow hops up on the desk, knocking aside an ink well and a golden receptionist plate before shrugging out of the confining cloths swaddling her up in an eclectic mixture of yellows, blues, taupe, and white.

“What exactly are you doing up there?”

She wiggles and scuffs at the material wrapped around her face in frustration before clawing off the goggles and tossing them aside. “What do you think:? I’m checking that the screamer didn’t crawl away. Hmmph, and getting this junk off. It's hot, it’s stuffy, it's ugly, and I look like… like…" she grunts and pulls one of the ends loose.

“Like last month's laundry?" You stride across the hall to check on the door the mare had disappeared behind. Pulling at it, the door rattles some, but stays firmly shut.

“Hey!" She shoots her head up in indignation, though by now only one wing is free and the scarf's end hangs from her muzzle.

You move over, “Relax and stop fidgeting. Rarity folded it so it would all come off in a single wrap. I thought Pegasi were supposed to be good with extreme weather." You rapidly help unpeel the cyan Pegasus like an onion.

“Why weren't you this mouthy before?" She waggles her left hind leg to kick part of the robe off. It is the same leg that you are trying to unwrap, and she isn't making it easy.

“You walk fast and my lungs would freeze.”

“Seriously?”

“No, Dash. You saw it, that mare just fainted when we stepped inside. How am I supposed to feel about that? So I'm starting to get the feeling things are worse here and maybe this isn't the best idea." The plan was sound in theory, but what happened if some pony reacted like this and blew your cover in much the same way as Spike could have? Now he’s back in Canterlot, and you are out here.

“Oh, come on! Seriously? You're getting cold hooves? You have got to be kidding me, didn't you just go confront the princesses, who could have banished you, and you're just starting to think that it's dangerous? I thought that's why you thought up the plan in the first place!" She doesn't scream, she doesn't scold, the Pegasus merely laughs. She shakes her head and leans over to glance behind the desk.

“Speaking of plans, do you have one for this? It looks like we're locked in." You swiftly motion to each of the three doors that can be seen.

“Well, you could question her and hope she doesn't faint again. Hmm…" Rainbow Dash is still trailing one very long lifesaver-looking scarf as she bounds over the desk and disappears from sight.

“Ra-”

“Or,” Rainbow pops her head back up, propping open a massive ledger, “we can just find what we need and skip the middle pony." She drops it in front of you with an audible bang. It looks like it weighs in at more than a thousand pages and is at least as thick as your fist. “Go ahead, my treat." She smirks, leaving you with skimming through the enormous tome. You flip open the first page and begin.

Skimming through the book is difficult but not impossible. The hoofwritten script incorporated scraps of parchment from the margins and tucks loose leaves of paper. All you hoped to find was a room number. They have those and many more notes regarding transfers replete with appended cross-references. List after annotated list fill the pages, each written in the same blue ink leaking down counter from the overturned inkwell.

Two, then three minutes pass as you skip through the pages looking for the name 'Outreach'. A low groggy moan echoes from behind the desk along with a muted 'humph' from Rainbow. The prismatic Pegasus experimentally flaps her wings as if to restore the circulation and pass off anything else she found uninteresting in the room. While her fanning feathers are a real distraction as you try to read, it sounds reasonable after the forty minute walk from the outskirts of town to the hospital; you can't blame Rainbow, so you bite your tongue and remain quiet.

The petite Unicorn mare that passed out behind the desk stirs back to consciousness. She isn't all that special or distinct as far as Unicorns went: the mousey mare has a pale grey mane and rose coat with a thick pair of black-rimmed glasses perched at the end of her upturned muzzle. As she grumbles and rolls onto her back, Rainbow flicks her tail like a bullwhip.

“Hey, hey!" There is a piercing whistle from the Pegasus and a gasp from the mare. Rainbow snarls and barks in the Unicorn’s face, “Snap out of it, we're here to see somepony, and you're going to take us there.”

“I-I'm… afraid we c-c-can't confirm or deny the identity of any p-patient unless it is by edict or fa-" her wheezing breath grinds to a halt after another squeak.

“Yeah, that's not what I asked. We're looking for a pony named Outreach. It's important, my friends are on the line, we're trying to hunt a real monster, so I wanna know. So are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" She stamps her forehooves and worms her way out of the stocking-like socks, snapping the end like surgical gloves.

“W-wha…" the mousey mare’s eyes roll into the back of her head as she swoons.

“Aaaah! Fine, here-" she snorts and nudges the mare in her stomach, “let me help." Rainbow's nudge lifts the Unicorn to her feet. The Pegasus waggles a hoof in your face but keeps her focus on the blurry-eyed Unicorn, “He's harmless. Seriously, total pushover. Watch." she covertly winks and reaches out to bop you in the forehead with a hoof. A cold wet U-like shape hits you in the head. It was less forcefuly than Applejack had done a few days earlier but it did leave a little wet imprint. Rainbow seemed to just grin at the display, “See? Wanna' try?" She offers as you purse your lips and shoot her a disdainful look that she completely ignores. Obliviously, she looks back and asks with chipper confidence, “Did you find it yet, Rightly?”

“Sorry, I just had a Pegasus hoof me in the face," you look back at the book, “and my legs are freezing." While the snow is gone, it has dampened your clothing and now you are really starting to feel the chill. It seems both leg wraps and pants hadn't been enough.

You glance up at the rose-coloured Unicorn who shudders and averts her eyes. Rainbow's growl is more insistent this time, “Snap out of it. You know who I am, right?" Rainbow taps her hooves next to the Unicorn, backing up just enough to establish that little social 'space' that ponies typically exhibit. A nervous shake of the Unicorn's head garners a blink of surprise and a low grunt of dissatisfaction from Rainbow Dash.

You couldn't help but smirk as the blustering Pegasus spreads her wings out as if about to relay some grand narrative. You come across the name ‘Outreach’ at long last. It was in a log written ten weeks ago with a penned in reference number to another page. “Room fourteen-twelve, admitted from Fairview Hospital." You quickly look around for a new sheet of unstained paper, a quill, and some ink. “Just quickly jot this do-”

“Great." Rainbow cranes her head forward and rips out the page with her teeth. Much to your dismay. “Cm'ern." She spits the paper out for you to carry, “That's nothing a little tape can't fix. Let's get going. Oh, and bring that quill!" Realizing that you might need another piece to write on, you tear out another page near the back as Rainbow gets the mare up on her hooves.

“Right, fourteen-twelve. Great, where is it? It's either that or we're going to go yelling down the halls, and don't think I won't." There is a base 'thump' from the upstairs doors, then the rattle of keys.

Rainbow quickly directs her attention upwards at the scarpering noises from up above, “That's got to be more guards!”

Probably just an orderly or two. That's one too many Daring Do book for you, Rainbow.

Nevertheless, you quickly slam the ledger shut and grab Rainbow by the scruff. Her indignant 'hey' lasts only a fraction of a second as she grabs the Unicorn mare, hauling her along with you. You lead, darting off to the left towards the first level doorway. It’s a set of double doors with the two circular windows just like the one across the hall.

You roll your shoulders into the cold horizontal crash bar and shove the door open. The feeble lock pops open, improperly set and not stopped by anything as formidable as a deadbolt. It swings wide, allowing you entrance, and freezing you to the bone. The dark wing isn't well heated as your breath streams out in an icy cloud.

“This feels more like a Victorian era asylum." You mutter, which doesn't really seem to go understood by any of the present company. There is precious little light aside from a single oil lamp on a hook near the first crux in the corridor. You turn to the door and kick the stopping blocks into place before locking it with the deadbolt which hadn't been used on you. It might buy you a few moments respite.

“Where are we? And how do we get where we want? So you might not be able to tell us who is and who isn't here, but you can sure help us find a room number." Rainbow's sharp, but upbeat, voice booms down the silent antiseptic white corridor.

“We're in the north wing which is wing ‘one’. We’ll need to go up to the third level, well, fourth if you include the, um, basement. Just, um, uh… take the stairs up at the end of this hallway when it turns left." She shivers and bites her lip hard enough to form a few scarlet drops.

“Great! You're coming with us." Rainbow's grip on the Unicorn mare tightens rather than loosens. The Unicorn protests with a few unhappy warbles, but within a few seconds you are jogging down the hallway with the ponies in tow. Snatching the lantern off the hook, you stoop to pick up one of Rainbow's scarves and fling the latter on her back.

“It's freezing in here, why's that?” You ask when reaching the darkened cross in the path, seeing doors off to your right; each entrance appears cold, silent, and empty.

The Unicorn mare wobbles as she walks as if driven forward in a trance. “It never gets this cold, so we shut down most of this wing's ground and second floors then redirected the heat to the third. The rest of the patients were moved to the South wing and the North central building is only heated in a few spots: kitchens and stuff. We just keep the hot water system running so the pipes don't freeze up." Her voice is distant and wary; it’s likely your presence is keeping her in line.

Really, she's better off worrying about Rainbow.

The three of you cut a peculiar party, rushing up the stairwell, past the grated windows looking over the darkness of the snowy night outside, and up to the third floor. A tiny winched lift in the middle of the stairwell is missing, but the cable still hangs from the ceiling in a great cage like it’s the home of some enormous bird.

“Rainbow?" You dart up the stairs, but the pair of mares are still faster and they overtake you on the broad steps. “You think it might be a bad idea to get on the wrong side of the constabulary?”

“This was your plan and if all I have to do is spent time in detention then I couldn't give a flying feather about it." Loyal, stubborn, headstrong, it’s enough to keep you smiling as you push open the door to the third story of the psychiatric hospital.

The door opens onto a similarly deserted floor. It’s slightly warmer than the first story hall or the darkened stairwell, but lamplight from the street barely lights the frames’ sills on the great bank of windows on your left. Rooms all along the right are sealed up, feeling just as empty as the last. Numbered rooms, 1401, 1403, 1405, each numeral is etched on round plaques below viewing slits on the doors.

A creeking voice whispers from one of the slats in a darkened room. A pony cackles and you can see the bloodshot red eyes twinkling in the light as you pass room 1406, “My neighbour tells me your bluebird will fly far-far away. Can, c-can you hear it? We've only just begun.”

“Uh, how many crazy ponies does this place hold?" Rainbow's voice wavers uncomfortably as the disquieting voice from 1406 disappears amid a quiet scrape and tapping sound like morse code.

“We have three hundred and seventy-five beds, though, we typically run at one-third capacity and double as a clinic; Riverview treats patients with everything from coping with loss, to disassociation fugues, traumatic stress, chronic and acute anxiety, and salt abuse." The Unicorn's impassive tone makes her sound like a tour guide.

“A hundred and twenty-five patients." You hurry along while the Unicorn lights up the hall with a pale blue flair from her horn. It poses the question which you voice to the world, “Why do you keep the lights so low?”

“It's nighttime. Many of our patients require strict scheduling. Admittedly, several are intensely afraid of the dark: whether from severe trauma, loss of a spouse, sibling, or offspring, many can't stand a particular time of day without extensive therapy. We provide, or extinguish, lights for them. Then we either put them in the inner core rooms or the outer window rooms overlooking the courtyard.”

You find yourself following rather than leading as the party takes a sharp right turn. You travel down the first hallway, past another bank of administrative offices behind glass and empty nursing stations where you could see the brass vacuum tubes used instead of intercoms. It is enough to give the impression that Riverview could be an abandoned asylum.

Moving down the hall, you turn right again, towards room 1408, down a parallel hallway from the first on the far side of the hospital. Rainbow slips, legs wide like a spider as she keeps her belly above the ground by only a few inches. “Stupid puddle." She mumbles as the chill once more rises up your spine.

“I thought you said there was heat on this level?" You snort and re-wrap your scarf.

“There is..." she starts then shivers, “Or there should be." The Unicorn mare's intones in surprise. “An orderly should be making the rounds.”

You ignore it as you are guided to room 1411 and then 1412. It’s a 'core' room on the inside of the building rather than against the outer wall. You look at the vision slit and whisper back, “We only need to speak with him for a few moments, just one piece of information then we'll go. You can stay, of course. In fact, I insist."

That way you won't go running down the hallway, screaming you saw a monster.

As the Unicorn gathers up the charts you can't help but bend an ear to the door. There is a voice wheezing in racking breaks and on the brink of panic, “I, I can't see it. Still in the dark, it's still in the dark an-and the lights aren't out! It waits until the lights go by in the dark! It waits until the lights go by, then the blood letters are written on the walls, and the floors, and the ceilings!" A male voice sobs, dropping to a low croak as it continues, “Put the lights out. By Luna, put the lights out…”

Alright, interview with a mad pony. I can do this, I've talked to Pinkie long enough that I should be fine with non sequiturs. Still, I probably shouldn't be the first one he sees in case he thinks I'm Ulf.

It’s no recovering 'patient' in a simple white hospital gown, but the ravings of a mad pony. You slowly twist the knob of the lantern to dim the flame; a single breeze could kill the sputtering flame and plunge the hallway into darkness. It gets quizzical looks from both Rainbow and the Unicorn. You hold up a hand and whisper, “Lights out.”

The Unicorn nods, but Rainbow merely draws in a breath, “But-”

You hold a finger to her lips and reiterate, “No lights.”

Taking a breath, you knock on the door three times. It echoes, the wooden portal firmly shut. Looking to the Unicorn to speak, she fumbles it some but asks with a faint shaking, “Y-you have guests, Mister Outreach.”

Silence. It lasts for a few seconds before the voice rasps out, “Did they… did they come back? Is it Maple?”

“No, it's two visitors from-" she looks over as Rainbow just whispers the answer, “Ponyville. They'd like just a few moments to ask you a question.”

“... I'm not here.”

“Oh, for feathers’ sake!" Rainbow grunts and flares her nostrils as the Unicorn shrugs and turns to you while Rainbow flexes her shoulders.

“I'm afraid Mister Outreach is-”

“Ready or not, three-two-one-Go!" Rainbow turns and bucks the door, tossing it wide open with a loud bang. “Oh look who's… home…"

In the glow of the faintest lantern light, the inside of the room is something out of a nightmare. The usually fluid Equestrian script is written in a spidery, uneven scrawl:

Every reachable surface, from the floor to the highest a pony could physically reach, is imprinted with the unsettling phrase. One reads one way, another the other in no semblance to the usual script.

In the middle of the otherwise spartan room, is a wheel chair. Sitting down rather uncomfortably, withered and atrophied legs pulled to the side, a scraggly blue-maned earth pony slumps forward. As he gazes upward his harlequin green eyes sparkle like balefire in the darkness. They were touched by the wild glint of madness as his face twitches and contorts into a mirthless grin.

“P-p-put out the light, you foal!" The withered stallion splutters then seethes through his teeth.
You had planned to linger just out of sight until things could be explained to Outreach, but now he could see you clear as daylight. He still didn't scream.

Maybe he never saw Ulf, or maybe he can tell the difference.

Ushering the other two inside you speak up, “We're coming inside, nothing is going to see." You shut the door behind you and lift the lantern to illuminate the dreary corners of the graffiti covered room. It has wooden panels and white plaster walls, all of which been scratched or otherwise defaced.

He waits in anxious silence as you close the door. Rainbow still glances around at all the countless lines scraped or written across every panel and object, “Love the, uh, wall art." She tries to smile but it falls flat somewhere between a grimace and a wince.

There is no response as you lick your lips, “We've got some questions about the night that they took Maple." Mentioning another pony might help rather than trying to get him to remember an obviously painful event.

“Did they find her? Has the blood letters told their tale?" He tries to sit up straight but his legs still don't respond as he writhes and worms in his seat.

“No," you continue and ask quite bluntly, “the reports said you saw another pony in the basement-" Constable Outreach's eyes open wide, “did you see their cutie mark?”

“They didn't listen, they don't see. They think I'm crazy." The Earth-pony's lips seal up tight as he glares at the Unicorn in the room.

“Know you're crazy…" Rainbow mutters under her breath.

“Well, we don't." You gently pat Rainbow on the withers though it doesn't quite satisfy the patient.

“Oh, for cryin'-out-loud. Scram!" Rainbow shoves her hoof at the Unicorn.

“E-excuse me?" The mousey Unicorn gasps, aghast at the sudden command.

In no mood for delays or arguments, Rainbow literally shoves the Unicorn towards the door, “You heard 'Screwball' over there, beat it, go do whatever it is you do. We'll show ourselves out, 'kay thanks!" The door is kicked closed with a resounding 'bang' right in the face of the flummoxed Unicorn.

Turning from the door, you take out the quill and its limited reservoir of ink, “What do you remember?" You make your way over and crouch, hoping Rainbow doesn't try anything too wild.

“We were dispatched, Maple... Inspector Maple and myself, to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Vanhoover after screams were heard-”

“Rightly, if we don't get this quick the guards are going to be on us like Pinkie on a candy apple." Rainbow whispers in your ear.

Nodding and writing, you mutter back, 'Then put your stuff back on and get ready to go." She blinks and looks at the stallion before lofting a brow and nodding her head towards him as if saying 'what, in front of him?'

With no time to debate changing habits with the Pegasus, you turn back to the Earth-pony and block your companion from view, “I'm sorry about that, constable. So, what about once you were downstairs? Who did you see?”

“I saw movement, a bound bag on a workshop table in the back. I went to help it as it squirmed and I thought somepony might be in trouble. I didn't really, no… she… no else knows." The Earth pony's eyes glaze over as he shakes and twitches in several quick spasms. He rolls his head to the side, twisting left and right to look at the far corners of the room in search of some ghostly phantom.

“Who else knows?" You ask as he peters off, “Who else knows, Outreach?”

“Nopony knows, nopony knows!" His voice crescendos to the verge of hysterics.

“Outreach, Outreach, look at me. Was it a key or was it a Fleur-de-lis?" If you could get it out of him you could be certain of your next step.

You set the lantern in front of you. The stallion’s eyes pop open wide as he cranes his head back. You look down and suddenly realize that you are casting a looming shadow over the obscured Pegasus sheltering behind you. He starts to hyperventilate with a low rising whine as his eyes stay glazed over. “It's you, you're there, you're there, you were there!" His chest starts to heave as his breathing speeds up notably.

“Did they have a key or a flower?!”

“Rightly? I don't think he's gonna…" Rainbow places a hoof on your back as you watch the stallion hyperventilate. The burning stink of copper reaches your nose; it isn't waste but metallic.

We're not going to get another chance.

He opens his mouth to scream, letting your anger rise as you reach out and drag him up out of his chair by his scruff. “Did they have a god-damn key or a flower?!" You bring the terrified stallion to within an inch of your face.

“Flower!”

Your chest tightens up as you set him back down in his chair and turn to Rainbow Dash. Her mouth was slightly open and her wings squeezed tightly to her sides as she remains uncharacteristically silent after the aggressive display. “Got it. Hurry up, Rainbow. Be careful, I think there's Gremlins around.”

“Yeah, got it." She quickly finishes putting on her goggles before opening the door. “Don't worry, I can handle half a dozen of them in my sleep." She presses the door open and lets it creak into the hallway before it rockets back against her. The door catches the Pegasus in the face and sends her reeling back a few steps. She clutches at her muzzle and sniffs as a few splotches of red bloom across her scarf.

The Unicorn is back, but not with orderlies. A lithe red imp digs his claws into the Unicorn’s windpipe as the sound of howling winds shriek down the hall. “I can't seem to get rid of you, can I, nithinger?" He smirks, showing a mangled one ganged grin. “One wrong move and the mare di-”

“Yeaaah!" A prismatic bolt shoots past like a meteor as Rainbow dives out the door full tilt, slamming into the Cloud Gremlin and catapulting him backwards. The impact flings the trio out into the hallway.

You rush out the door to survey the jumbled mess. Movement to your right captures a sidelong glance. Another Gremlin twists and stares back at you with a look of dumbstruck shock. “I-Iblisss?" You distinctly hear it call out in a masculine sibilance and turns to the single fanged Gremlin.

Iblis?

The limp Unicorn lay collapsed against the far doorway in a senseless heap. Rainbow stands poised over the squirming Cloud Gremlin, keeping him pinned with every limb while craning her neck back to avoid the his snapping maw. He straints against the Pegasi’s steely grip, "I'll tear your lungs out, pony!”

“Oh, shut your trap! Rightly, we can try to get something out of him!" She grins at her prize and grinds her hoof into the Gremlin's shoulder. The sound of clattering hooves meets your ears as it rebounds off the plaster walls.

“By Celestia, that's a good catch." The sentence dies in your throat as you feel your mouth go dry. Lights shine from the hallway, past the wide open door neat that puddle where Dash nearly slipped minutes before. The other Gremlin swiftly looks back over its shoulder.

A pale blue glow crackles between the Gremlin's fingertips as his eyes shut tightly. “He stopped fi-" Rainbow starts as one on his clawed hands reaches to her forehoof, causing her to twitch. The electrical charge swells with a sizzling whine as he tries to grasp her other hoof and complete the circuit.

“Iblisss! Ssshould I ssstop them?" The other Gremlin harshly whispers back with a trill of uncertainty.

“Fryyy, pony." Iblis snarls with a malicious smirk as you pounce. Swinging the metal lantern hard, it slams down on his fingers crushing the creature's fingers against the stone floor. That inhuman screech pounds your ears as the electric charge flairs to life. Jolts of pain surge through your palm, up your arm, and to your sockets. Your limbs throb with pain and your jaw tightens as you try to let go of the metal lantern.

The second Gremlin streaks in, crashing into Rainbow Dash, driving the air from her lungs in a loud blustering gasp. The impish creature rips her away from Iblis as you lash out with a kick. It throws the interdicting marauder forward. Rainbow sticks her legs out and uses its own momentum to fling the creature over her and through the air.

Iblis has righted himself, and as you roll your head over to look at him, you watch him dart towards the door to 1408, the one left ajar where the puddle had formed. The other screams through the air and up, smashing through the drywall paneling on the ceiling in a shower of white dust.

Where the hell is he off too?

Your thoughts are swiftly interrupted by the incessant sound of galloping hooves clattering down the hallway in your direction. A cyan hoof pulls you to your knees.

“Forget that one, it's like trying to catch a mouse in a thicket. Get in gear, gotta' catch that other one!" The Pegasus recovers quickly. Rainbow spread her wings and rushes forward with her pinions practically scraping the floor and ceiling as she banks left through the door in pursuit of Iblis. You slide on the puddle but have the presence of mind to reach out and grasp the door handle. Even as you fall, you swing around the corner and slam the door shut behind you.

Room 1408 is in disarray; the window is smashed and the howling winds blast scything sheets of snow inside, covering the lonely tuck bed and rickety looking wheelchair. The white blanket of snow collects in the freezing room and only melts where it settles against the door. Rushing to the window, you look past the shards of broken glass at the ground below. Three stories up, even with snow there is no guarantee that something hard doesn't lay beneath the snow on those unfamiliar grounds. There is a single snow covered roof about ten feet across overhanging the rear entrance of the hospital. It all overlooks a field; it could be a path just skirting the grounds which means maybe gravel or cement. “Rainbow?!”

A gruff snort and a loud crack tells of the splintering door behind you as an Earth-pony stallion in a chef hat bulls through the closed door, smashing it into kindling. “Stop right there!" You take your chance and jump into the empty blackness. A drowning whistle of freezing air skims past your ears as your stomach lurches. You hurtle towards the ground, flailing your arms wildly and hoping to hit and roll.

The screeching snap of wings broke the wind’s dirge. You awkwardly and painfully land on a cloth and fur covered back with a huff. Rainbow cries out “Gotcha!” an instant before you would have crashed into the ground.

A flap of wings and grunting sound say that it won't last long. The world screams past you and dissolves in a miasma of black and white flakes. With a last bracing wince, you feel the Pegasus slam into the ground with a huge plume of white, sending you catapulting face first into the snow.

You come to a tumbling stop, coat pulled back and forearms deep in the freezing snowbank. It takes a moment before a muzzle pushes your stomach up and lifts you to all fours. The snap of teeth on your back and a sharp jerk tosses you to your feet as you dumbly stagger back. An uncomfortable flail sees you back on your feet as the red-nosed Pegasus with snow caked goggles bolts off into the swirling curtain of snow at a gallop. Her voice barely reaches your ringing ears over the howl of the winds, “Come on, it's like you've never crashed before! Move it or lose it!”

You set off after the mare and away from the single shining light from the hospital. It rapidly disappears into the distance as you follow the Pegasus who had since melted away in the squall.