The Asylum

by MrMoonBird


Chapter Four

“But, what did she mean when she said ‘the reality you know’?”

I glanced up at the last pony I had seen before the events of last night, sighed, and said, “the only way to figure it out would have to be through those dreams. I have to keep finding Lyra, and each time I do, I have to question her more and more.”

The mare raised an eyebrow in confusion and shook her head.

“You worry me sometimes Mr. Chaser,” she whispered. As she finished her statement, she looked back at me, smiled, and pleasantly said, “do you want to go grab something to eat? I heard about a new restaurant in town that I am absolutely dying to try!”

“Sure,” I spat. I hadn’t meant to say it in a menacing way, but with everything that had been going on lately, I couldn’t help but have an attitude.

The nurse looked at me with a hurt expression. I simply shrugged and said, “sorry, I’m just tired and stressed out. Let’s go grab some food.”


We had been walking in silence for a good ten minutes. She tried to make small talk, but I was hardly paying attention; my mind was busy trying to wrap itself around the meaning of Lyra’s last words to me. Meanwhile, I was looking at my surroundings, trying to see if something was out of place; however, I couldn’t find anything that stood out to me except for the nurse that was walking beside me.

I never really took the time to study what she looked like until that very moment. Her coat was fuchsia, and her mane was of a magenta color.

I slowed my pace until I came to a stop. She seemed to take note of this and stopped as well.

“Is something wrong?” She asked as she turned to face me. As soon as her eyes met with mine, my mind was swarmed with images of the rabid pony that had been chasing me down the halls throughout a large portion of the nightmare.

“N-no,” I stammered, shaking my head as I tried to rid my mind of the horrific images.

“Okay then,” she slowly questioned, continuing to look at me with concern.

“I swear,” I stammered. “It’s nothing! I just… feel nervous when I’m around you, that’s all.”

Upon noticing what I had just said, I covered my face with a wing and turned away from her, mumbling in the process. I stood there for a few moments before feeling something pull me close to it. At first, I was unsure of what it was, but when I uncovered my face, I found that she had pulled me into an embrace.

I pushed her away quickly and shivered.

“I-I’m sorry, but I just…I can’t do this right now, especially after what happened last night.” I said this looking down, for I didn’t want to make eye contact with her. However, when I looked back up, she wasn’t the same pony that she was a few seconds before.

Her face was slowly melting away. A clump of burnt fur and scalded skin fell onto the cobblestone road, sizzling as it made contact. A large portion of fur blew off her body and was scattered into the air. As this occurred, her mouth opened widely as she let loose an ear-splitting scream.

I jumped back in both astonishment and fear, and began running; however, to my surprise, I wasn’t moving at all. I stopped running and fell forward onto my face a good 100 meters from where I was standing with her.

I forcefully pushed myself onto my hooves and found that I was standing back in the hallway of the asylum with the disfigured nurse running straight at me.


I had been running for some time before I once again lost the nurse to a large pile of bricks. I chose to run down a few different hallways, but I ended up right where I had left her the last time. Without hesitation, I swiftly kicked out the bottom brick and watched as the entire stack fell onto her skull, crushing it immediately.

“So that’s how you died,” I grumbled. Spinning around, I found that I was standing before Lyra once again, except, she looked different.

“Ah, Mr. Chaser, you’re back. I see that you’re in a state of shock. Might I ask why?”

I gulped and let out a whisper.

“You h-have legs,” I croaked. Sure enough, she did, and she seemed to be walking perfectly fine as well. Not only did she have legs, but I also observed that the appendages she had were gone.

“That I do Mr. Chaser. Now, I’m rather curious on how exactly you got back here before your shift even began. Would you care to explain?”

I shook my head slowly and croaked, “I’m not even sure how I got here in the first place.”

Lyra only chuckled and walked over to the faded window before leaning her back against it and looking at me.

“The answer is quite simple Mr. Chaser. You see, when the beginning of your last shift began, you fell asleep shortly afterwards, no?”

I nodded quickly before she continued speaking.

“Good, and you woke up only moments later, but something was wrong, correct? I know you did, so there’s no need to answer that question. However, there is a question that I do have for you. Which reality do you believe is the true one?”

“I’m not sure, I mean, I haven’t put much thought into it yet.”

She only sighed and shook her head in response.

“Well Mr. Chaser, I hope that you come to realize which world is the real one and which one is only a dream. Anyways, I must let you go for now, as I’m sure that you have a date who is wondering why you fell asleep halfway into your meal. Good luck explaining that one to her Mr. Chaser, and may you think about the truth before you return tonight. As I said last time, it is time for you to wake up to the reality that you know.”

The world around me slowly dissolved into nothingness before I was shot back into my own reality once again.


I looked up quickly as a small sliver of saliva slapped my cheek. I was sitting at a small café in Ponyville, the nurse across from me, a fairly irritated look residing on her face.

“So what? You didn’t get enough sleep last night and decided that you would catch up on it on our little date?”

I laid my ears back and swallowed loudly.

There’s no smooth-talking your way out of this one Chaser…