Prologue
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Part 2
They went down the hallway, always on guard. The stone floor was as protection almost as good as a nightingale floor. Even the hooves of a foal caused far more noise with every single step than was good for anypony who had to rely on secrecy. And again, the fillies had to practically crawl down the corridor, and that costed time; more than they could actually afford for even this night wouldn’t last forever.
As they eventually stood in front of the staircase, they had to realize it was a challenge of its own. It was an old, heavy oaken staircase and stairs like these creaked, that was very nearly law of nature. But they could climb up step by step, carefully treading always on the edge of the stairs, never on the middle; Cloud ahead and the filly following. That way it actually went pretty well for a while.
Until suddenly, the filly stepped on a loose plank!
The board moaned, an ugly, malicious sound, seeming to echo through the silence of the nocturnal asylum like an ill-tuned signal horn.
The filly stopped dead in her tracks, her heart beating in her throat. But no bloodthirsty night guards came bolting from any rooms and also no care workers. Everything remained silent.
Cloud Dash turned around putting one hoof to his lips and portended her to stay silent. Still nothing. The colt waited for another few moments, then he nodded and continued to climb the stairs.
“I don’t get it”, the filly allowed to give vent to her bewilderment once they had reached the upper floor. “Why does nopony come to see what that noise was?”
“Guess ponies here have gotten used to creaking stairs at night, because this house is haunted”, Cloud told her. He wasn’t looking her into the eyes though.
The mere thought of ghosts, furthermore probably the spirits of the madponies who had died a horrid death within these walls, was very well enough to spook her out.
“Haunted?” she had by a whisker screamed. Her went eyes wide with horror.
“Why, of course.” Her friend shrugged his shoulders. “All madhouses are haunted, you know?”
The filly started to shiver; she felt like she was going to faint any minute. But as Cloud Dash turned to her and saw her terrified face he couldn’t stifle a grin.
“Oh dear, I am sorry” he chuckled. “I just wanted to scare you a little. Don’t be afraid, there are no ghosts in here. But you really should’ve seen your face…”
“You’re stupid”, she answered and hit him at the shoulder with her hoof, but not too hard. Then she squeezed past him.
The new hallway looked downright cosy with wood panels on the walls and well furbished lamps in artful holders. But unfortunately…
Speaking of nightingale floors: This one was covered with stalls on which hooves clattered almost as loud as on stone and which could creak as bad as old wooden stairs.
But still, nothing happened, as the two foals carefully moved over the moaning planks. The whole house stood silent. They passed a few empty patient’s rooms and some closets and wardrobes, then they saw the door of Calm Mind’s working room. Herbal Green had proven right, the name plate spelling ‘C. Mind, MD, AD, physician in charge’ in large, golden letters stuck out a mile!
“What a bighead…” The filly muttered in disbelief. Cloud Dash however seemed to be far more interested in the closet next to the door. Actually he had already put his head in and was rummaging around inside.
“What are you doing”, the filly hissed. “We don’t have time for that, we still need to look for the keys!”
“I’m checking up if I can find anything useful, whatcha think?” Cloud rejoined as cool as you please. The filly just shook her head and turned back to the door.
Colts, she thought. Then she pushed the door handle for testing purpose.
“Locked”, she said, resigning.
“Naturally”, replied Cloud Dash. “Had to be expected.” Nothing ever seemed to be able to becloud his mood. He proudly held up a small and metallically sparkling something.
“But if the lock’s not all too safe I’ll get it open with this needle in some way or another.”
With that, Cloud took the strong and slightly bent needle between his teeth and put it into the keyhole.
“You know how to pick locks?” the other foal asked, absolutely fascinated.
“Beats me!” Cloud answered her question. “Just kind of have a hunch for that, you know?”
Right now he once again sizeably rose in her esteem. Actually she had to admit she had already grown pretty fond of her newfound fellow in suffering.
“Now here we go” Cloud smirked triumphantly. He pressed the handle again and lo and behold, he could tear the door open. “The lot a needle can be good for, innit?”
They entered the Doctor’s study room. As ostentatious as the name plate had been, as massive was the writing desk dominating the room, heavy and black in the sombre chamber. The only light was cast by the moon shining through a large glass window in the back.
Quietly the closed the door behind them.
It was a striking working room and the filly felt very uneasy just being here. Carefully she looked around. Over there on the wall hung a large mirror. Now for the first time, the filly saw herself ghostly illuminated by the moon:
She was a unicorn, off white with dust, little and lean, maybe as old as Cloud. Her mane was dishevelled and as her coat of an unfathomable colour though it once might have been blonde. Her eyes still were reddened from all the crying. Cloud was right, she really looked terribly wiped out.
With a breath of horror the filly stumbled back, scared as if the strange, shabby and wild looking pony in the mirror would leap at her any moment.
“Hey, watch out!” Cloud just tried to warn her. But the same second she already tumbled aback against the desk. An empty water glass on the surface was rocked by the impact.
Entranced by horror the foals stared at the crystal glass which was first knocked over and then tantalising slowly rolled over the edge of the tabletop. An endless moment the glass semed to float above the edge, then gravity won. The glass fell to the floor and shattered clashing on the parquet.
“Oh no” the filly whispered aghastly. “No, no, no, no, no….”
In her shock she bowed down and put out one hoof to the shards of glass. She prayed to the heavens nopony had heard the glass crashing. The creaking stair had been much louder, hadn’t it? And nopony had paid even the slightest interest to it, right? Maybe, just maybe there was the chance that…
…Outside the room, the planks started to creak.
Oh, of course, now that the foals were trapped in a room with only one exit, somepony had heard the noise. And of course, whoever it was now came to check. Like a rabbit in front of a snake the filly waited for the inevitable, her head turned and her eyes glued to the door. The steps came closer and closer and the moaning of the paquet got louder and louder. Then they stopped. Through the gab under the door the foals could see that the stranger had to stand right in front of the room. They could even hear his heavy breath!
The filly squinted her eyes.
Please don’t, the begged in her thoughts. Please don’t! Nopony’s in here, just go on! Please!
And then a wonder occurred!
“Blasted mice”, a brittle voice railed. “Alwus makin' such a note at noight so auld Rover canny sleep. Jist wait 'til the-morra, den Rover’s gonna smoke yer al' oyt!”
The steps went off again.
Until Rover was completely out hearing range, the foals remained in their rigour. Then Cloud slumped down to the ground in relief.
“Thanks Celestia, that was close”, he sighed. He raised his head and his look fell on the unicorn filly.
“You’re bleeding”, he exclaimed.
The filly stared like thunderstruck at her right front hoof. From a deep cut at the pastern welled the blood.
“Let me see!” demanded Cloud. “Sweet Celestia, You’ve surely reached right into the shards!”
Indeed the twinkling shards now were stained with droplets of dark blood. Doubtlessly the filly had accidentally stepped into the broken glass when she had closed her eyes. She bit her lip and tried to ignore the pain. Bravely she shook her head. “It’s nothing”, she said, her voice trembling.
“It’s not nothing”, Cloud firmly. “We need to bind that!”
“Later, Cloud. First we need to get the key.”
The filly limped around the writing desk, irrespective of her blood trickling down her hoof and dripping on the floor. She was a unicorn, alright, but she wasn’t sure if or how exactly she could use magic. Therefore she pulled out the drawers with her teeth. In the third one she stroke it rich: Keys, big, old copper keys with numbers on the bows. The filly fetched out the key with the number one on it. The key to Herbal Green’s cell.
Just by incident, her gaze fell upon the writing desk, or rather on the inscribed papers that lay on the surface, conveniently illuminated by a ray of moonlight.
Patient A-16, she read, a little surprised by herself. She hadn’t know she was able to read. Then she remembered something else:
Patient A-16? That was how Ragstitch had named her towards this other pony. This was HER file. Answers finally seemed within reach!
Her hoof was trembling as she fetched the papers from the desk. What an unbounded cheek, somepony had gone over the header of the file with paint, blacking out her name and the name of her treating physician…
With a growing mixture of excitement and uneasiness, and despite Cloud scrambling, she started to probe her newfound reading ability with the first sheet:
How she had been brought to the House of Healing, because a carriage had bumped into her,
How the healers had started the treatment.
How nopony ever had come to visit her.
There it was again, the tearing pain in her head. She had to take a seat.
How the treating physician had excitedly scribbled something about an ‘experiment’.
How her condition was said to have aggravated more and more…
Her vision started to blur again, a high pitched buzzing noise filled her ears and her head felt like it was about to split again.
She didn’t want to, no she couldn’t read anymore! She couldn’t stand reading some disgusting physician describing in factual tone and neat writing how he or she had ruined a poor filly’s life.
Full of fury and despair she wiped the papers of the desk. Tears were burning in her eyes, without really thinking about it she started to paint, with her blood-stained hoof, a single sentence in red on a sheet:
WHO AM I
Her freshly renewed will to live now died out like a candle in the storm, extinguished by an abyssal dismay about such cold, calculating caprice as had happened to her. It wasn’t the rather childish fear of being hungry, cold and lonely she had felt before, no, this was the first time she experienced real and utter despair. How in Equestria was a little filly supposed to stand such a fate? Somepony had absolutely willingly destroyed her life until everything that represented her was torn apart. And that just for some ominous ‘scientific’ purpose, and she didn’t even know what that meant!
No, she did what probably anypony in her situation would have done. She couldn’t even cry anymore, she just sat down trembling like a leaf, willing to just stay here until somepony would come and bring her back to her cell, broken and defeated.
At this point indeed everything appeared lost to the filly, Cloud Dash however was not willing to give his friend up so easily. He kneeled down at her side.
“C’mon! Everything will come alright, huh? You can’t just give up no!” he tried to reason her. “We’re almost out, after all! And when we’re out, were gonna make them pay for what they did to you, right?”
But his persuation was to no avail, the filly just kept on trembling and emptily staring into the void. And so Cloud decided to adopt a rather drastic measure: He hugged her! The filly was boundlessly surprised; a little bit by the fact itself that she was able still to feel anything else besides despair. But clearly she could sense the warmth he gave her. And she could feel kind of embarrassed because he was hugging her, but she was far too confused to fight against his embrace.
And then all built up tension, all confusion and all despair dropped from her. She did the natural thing and started to cry, to weep silently until despair and pain were both gone. Then, when her tears had finally run dry, Cloud would loosen his embrace.
“There we are” Cloud smiled wryly. “Welcome back. When I was little somepony told me sometimes all you needed was a hug. Seems to be true.”
“You’re still stupid”, the filly sniveled. She hesitated for a moment. “Thank you”, she then added.
“Well. That’s what friends are for after all, isn’t it?”
He gave his friend a leg up. “Alright, now we first of all we’ll bind your hoof, then we’ll fetch the healer and get the hay out of here!”
Back in the corridor Cloud searched through the closet once more until he appeared with some muslin bandages. The filly barely wrapped the bandages around her hoof and tied them up with her teeth. It was a makeshift, but for the moment, it’d suffice. Then they made their way back to the dungeon where Herbal Green was already impatiently waiting.
***
He stretched himself and strained his back like he hadn’t just been imprisoned but also chained.
“Free eventually”, he faintly laughed and brushed his grizzled mane out of his unkempt, angular face. Jail clearly hadn’t benefitted him at all. Even his coat had lost all of its eponymous green, all his colour had faded to an empty grey. “You two ‘ave done very well!”
Then he seemed to recall something: “That is, one ‘urdle we still need to overcome. Well, a promise is a promise, let’s get the main key and quit this scene!”
His eye fell on the bandage around the filly’s hoof.
“ ’ave you ‘urt yourself? Once me magic comes back I’ll treat that, alwigh’? Come now, come now, no time to loose!”
The healer now took the lead. His magic was weakened by all the seal in his cell, but after a while he managed to conjure a lighting spell. It was a little unstable and flickered, but it allowed them to cross the asylum’s sombre hallways more swiftly. Herbal Green placed more value on speed than on secrecy, or as he had put it: Temerity wins. However he stroke a pretty fast pace for a pony with a limping hind leg.
“Sackcloth”, Cloud muttered in his friend’s ear with a side glance at Green’s patient gown. “Is this what ponies now wear? But it looks better on you than on him…”
“Shut up, Cloud.”
Suddenly the healer stopped dead in his tracks, so abruptly that the filly bumped into him.
“Shush, you two”, he hissed. “Go and ‘ide!”
The light at the tip of his horn died off and quickly threw himself into cover behind a wardrobe. Cloud and the filly followed his example and ducked behind into the shadow of a chest of drawers with a set of instruments on it.
Despite her fear the filly couldn’t help but peek over the edge of the tallcolt. A few steps ahead a door with the word anatomy written on it was opened and a white unicorn stallion in a medical gown stepped out. The lamplight was mirrored in his glasses and hid the pony’s eyes. He brushed his mane out of his face.
Suddenly the stallions ears strained and he turned his head to the very direction where the three breakaways were hiding.
“Was there something?” the stallion asked nopony in particular. The reflexion from his glasses ghosted through the hallway and over the furniture. The filly ducked in her hiding and held her breath.
“I cannot seem to get my head clear”, the physician muttered. “This does no good. I’m tired…”
And then he turned away and clip-clopping toddled down the hallway until he left through another door at the end of the corridor.
“Doctor Ragstitch”, hissed Herbal Green. He craned his neck and squinted after the other stallion. “This disturbed, bloody, rotten b…” A new coughing attack choked off his swearing. Then he concluded, a little out of breath: “I mean, ‘e belongs in a padded cell, too. But four-eyes has always been too dense to see the bigger picture. Anyway. we need to be careful if Ragstitch ‘as taken the same way out as we will.”
Green was far more tense than before, downright nervous and had to constantly muffle his coughing. And yet he doubled his haste and limped down the hallway as quickly as his stiff leg permitted.
“Alwigh’, I think ‘e’s gone”, he said after checking the door through which Ragstitch had disappeared. “You know, this once was a convent. The friars used to eat here.”
They entered a larger room with a high ceiling, indeed they still could see a brick-built fireplace in the entrance hall with iron hooks on both sides for the cauldron. Since this place had been turned to a place of healing somepony had placed benches and small trees in pots between the four mainstays.
Just as they had entered the hall, Herbal Green suffered the worst coughing bout so far. He frantically tried to stifle it, but to little avail.
Cloud grew impatient.
“So, master healer, where’s the key for the entrance door now?” he urged.
“Master Green, everything alright with you?” his friend instead wanted to know. She was worried because the cranking stallion didn’t look well at all. And so she went over to Herbal Green to see if she could do anything to help.
Oh, had any of the foals only paid closer attention! Then maybe they had noticed everything had went too smoothly until now. And maybe they would’ve grown suspicious…
And quite rightly so, because, yes, fate was already preparing for one last turn for the worse!
But as things stood, a completely unaware filly touched the healer at his shoulder. It was right at this moment, Green spun around on and noosed one foreleg around her leg like a vice. She wanted to scream but she couldn’t get enough air.
“Green, what’s that supposed to mean?” Cloud screamed instead for her.
The healer burst into a hoarse chuckle. “Did you never wonder why Calm Mind ‘ad me locked away in the first place?”
“Let her go, you nut!” the pegasus colt demanded with shrill voice.
“Else what?” the haywire Herbal Green asked with a sickening and fiendish grin on his face.
“’re you garn to stop me? ‘re you garn to shout the whole house down?” He chuckled again.
The unicorn-filly struggled in Green’s grip. “Cloud… Help”, she gasped panting for breath. Cloud acted promptly and snatched at a fire fork in the hearth.
He pulled and tugged until his head had turned from light blue to crimson red, but he just couldn’t lift the fork any single inch.
“Damn it, what’s with this blasted poker? Help us!” he yelled. “Help us! Murder!”
“Help us! Murder!” the healer parroted. “Don’t you get it? Nopony’s garn help you ‘cause nopony can ‘ear you screaming!” he hissed. “I recognized you right from the start. Cloud Dash from the ‘ouse Rainbow is dead. For two years now. You’re a ghost, no, not even that. You’re just a remembrance, a dream haunting the mind of mad ponies!” he spit against the colt.
Then he tilted his head and seemed to hearken for a moment. “Yes, naturally, yes. Kill her! Destroy the experiment! Kill her and destroy this delusion! You know, lassie, I fear ‘e wants you dead. Oh well, guess that’s it for you then…”
Cloud Dash just stood there like hit between the eyes. He was powerless, he could do nothing, he couldn’t even call for help! His desperate glance met the eyes of the filly and she saw the utter hopelessness in his eyes.
But this time it was her who wasn’t ready to give up. She had gone through hell twice this evening, and now it should end like that? She should just die, and that the worst way she could imagine?
Never, never, never!
With a final act of defiance, she forcefully cocked back her head, maybe to attack Green with her horn. That however went adrift, instead she gave the madpony a vigorous headbutt against his lower jar. Herbal Green at once let go of her.
Alas with that her resistance was already exhausted again. Her throat was burning and the lack of air made her see stars. The filly couldn’t stay on her hooves and dropped to the floor gasping for air.
The headbutt had perfectly wiped the grin off of his face, he was holding his aching chin, checking if the filly hadn’t perhaps broken his jaw. But his eyes sparkled with murderous intent all the more.
“You imbecile! Little! Brat!” he spat, a rill of blood trickling down one corner of his mouth. “I’m goin’ to enjoy this far more than I should! I’m goin’ to…”
He was interrupted by a sudden white flash lighting up the entrance hall as bright as the sun. A thunderclap rolled and Herbal Green tore open his eyes. “Ak”, he managed to bring forth.
Then he collapsed, thin curls of smoke rose from his back, at height of his shoulder blades.
“How unfortunate”, Doctor Ragstitch remarked and stepped out of the shadows. “Gladly I preside over more than just my knives”, he said with sparkling glasses. “Rather drastic but it should sideline him for an hour or two…”
The physician kneeled down next to the unconscious former healer and turned to the filly who was still avidly gasping for air.
“Did he hurt you?” he asked.
“Are you blind or something?” Cloud exclaimed. “Of course he’s hurt her!”
“You are not yet able to talk again, are you? Yes? Well, then let me see…” Ragstitch muttered. He completely ignored Cloud leading him to another outburst.
“Hey!” He tramped onto the physician and built himself up in front of him. “I’m talking to you!”
Doctor Ragstitch rose his head and for a moment he directly looked Cloud in the eyes. Then he blinked irritatedly and turned back to his patient.
“It can’t be…” Cloud whispered aghastly. “He doesn’t see me… He doesn’t hear me…”
Doctor Ragstitch got up again. “All right, my temporary diagnosis: Slight contusion on the voice box, but nothing serious. You will not carry away any lasting damages.” He took of his glasses and put them into the pockets of his gown. Then he turned to leave, still not noticing Cloud Dash…
“Oh yes, that is right…” Ragstitch turned back one more time. “Rover forgot to lock the gate. In about half an hour I will notice that on my inspection walkway and revise his mistake. Until then, my little filly, I believe you want to have made off.”
And with that, Ragstitch just left, leaving the door wide open…
Slowly the filly sat up; she still was a little out of breath and feeble.
“This… this… He wanted to… to kill me”, she stammered huskily. This was so surreal she didn’t even feel relief that it was over yet…
“I know…” Cloud replied, turning his back on her. “And this Ragstitch has saved you…”
He turned around to her fitfully and this time it was his turn to have tears in his eyes.
“I couldn’t do anything!” Clouds voice was barely understandable. “I couldn’t protect you…”
“But thanks to you…” she began.
“No”, Cloud interrupted her, shaking his head. “Ragstitch had been here all the time. He was hiding behind a pillar, just waiting for the right moment… I could do nothing, Herbal Green was right: I could do nothing because I’m dead. I’m not even really here…”
“But that’s not right! You lock-picked the door to Calm Mind’s room and you…”
But on that very moment, pictures came to her mind. She reviewed some of what had happened before; only now she realized the truth: She saw herself fishing out a needle from a drawer in that closet. Then how she had busted around with the needle in the lock of Calm Mind’s door. And finally how she had stained everything with her blood in search for bandages…
“It’s true”, Cloud sadly confirmed and took a seat next to her. “I’ve gotten some of your forgotten abilities from your, what’s it called? – Subconsciousness. I can do nothing you can’t because I’m not real…”
“So… What shall we do now?” the filly hesitantly asked. She tried to look everywhere but at the knocked out pony lying behind her.
“Way’s clear”, Cloud snuffled. “For half an hour, Stitch has said. You’re free, so go where you want, lay low and sing small!”
The filly looked at the dark rectangle of the doorframe for quite a time. Chilly night air was blowing into her face. Unsteadily she tried to get up.
“Freedom”, she eventually said. “Yes. Yes I am free now.”
And she put out her hoof for Cloud who was still sitting there like a drowned rat.
“We both are free now, Cloud.”
The pegasus colt slowly rose his head and looked at her.
“I don’t care whether you’re a ghost, or a memory, or whatever”, she firmly explained. “You’re my friend and we’ll stick together. I won’t just abandon you here!“
She took Cloud’s hoof and gave him a leg-up. Side by side they took the final step into freedom, out into the night. The unicorn filly who didn’t know who she was, and the pegasus colt who didn’t exist anymore…