Special Opening Theme:
Erised the ink-moth's Comment
Brown Dog's Comment
This is bad. This is bad. This is really really bad, you think as all around you the inmates get more and more stirred up. Erised is mind-controlling all of them, and somewhere, Grey is arming not only them, but a force of Crimson Knight recruits as well. Now they're going to lure Celestia and her guards into a trap, and try to destroy them!
"What do we do?" you mutter. "What the BUCK DO WE DO?!" you scream, grabbing a random stallion and shaking him back and forth.
Bugze, be calm. Selena tells you, Our enemies have foolishly revealed their plans. There is still time to thwart them. Do not forget we have friends on the outside.
"Aqua and Nightshade!" you gasp. "I can tell them what's happening, and they can send a warning! Visiting hours should be happening soon, so I can talk to them then!"
The orderlies are less then helpful, however,
"What do you mean I can't go to visiting hours?! We've got bigger problems coming than a shirked schedule!"
"Lunch has to be finished first. Now finish your meal and sit calmly."
"Calmly?! Didn't you hear the dang intercom message?! All of Tartarus is going to break loose soon!"
The orderlies look at you confused.
"What intercom message?"
"Don't listen to him, he's crazy. We don't have an intercom system..." says the other orderly.
Your eyes shrink at that.
"WHAT?! Of course there is! Erised just spoke over it!"
"...Sit down and eat" they grab you and drag you back to your seat, even as the other patients wander around like zombies, the staff seem to be going about their job in a lax, trance like state.
They really don't know. They don't know what's coming, you think in worry.
It seems this Knight has not only infiltrated the minds of the insane, but of the staff as well, but in a different way.
Well there's got to be others in here that aren't just mind controlled. Grey Rebl for one, but there might be others.
Agreed. But for all these enthralled, we should proceed with caution, if they suspect us, they might swarm.
Or you could allow me to seize control. Sombra whispers, Give the Ink-moth's blood to me, and through my power, his army shall be mine to control."
You blink. "Well why didn't you say so sooner?! Can you actually do that?" If he can, you could end this here and now. With the asylum under your control, you'd be able to force the knights to surrender, and nopony would get hurt.
Indeed I can. Sombra chuckles evilly, Yeeeessss... Slaveeeessss.
"Alright..." you say with a frown, "and what would you do with the inmates after we've beaten the knights?"
I would lead them across Equestria to conquer- I mean... uh... We'd all get lemonade?
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't trust you enough to give you an army. I bet you'd double cross us the second you get the chance, so no thanks." you tell the king. "I can do this without your help. We'll stop them, and we're going to do it the right way, with a good old-fashioned flank spanking! In the meantime," you grab a cup of pills and down them, "Go back to la la land!"
You can practically feel Sombra scowling. Selena seems proud of you though.
Before you can think anymore on your situation though, you are suddenly grabbed from behind...
Grey Rebl's Comment
"Well, lunch time is over. Time to resume our therapy session!" Quack cheerfully says.
You do a double take. "Wait, what?! Are you crazy?!"
"Now, BST, don't lump me in with my patients. I'm the doctor here."
"Nonono! This is serious! Didn't you hear the guy on the intercom? You can't just leave this alone and treat this as another case of---"
"Oh, I'm sure it's a part of their way of doing therapy."
Yet again, for the nth time today, your eye twitches. That has to be the dumbest thing possible, yet, reasonable as well. All of this can be considered the usual crazy stuff that happens in an asylum. Well, except for the horrible conditions. Most of all, it's just like Quacksalver, to treat certain things as viable treatments.
"...Quacksalver, you really ARE a quack."
Now, he definitely hears that. However, it appears that he's heard of that line so many times, it seems to be the usual for him so he doesn't question your statement. All the while missing the meaning entirely. "Yes, yes. I know my name is Quack. Hmm, I may have to rediagnose you. It seems you're suffering from..."
You don't want to hear it. You grunt in frustration and decide to move on along. However, you are stopped by the sudden pull of your tail. Apparently Quacksalver can have a killer grip when buzzed by alcohol. As he starts to drag you away, you shout, "Hey! Let go! I have things to do! Important things!"
Quack turns to smile at you. "Don't worry. There's always time AFTER your sessions. Trust me, it's a pretty short and easy fix."
"I DON'T HAVE BUCKING TIME!"
He continues to ignore you from there on as you try to escape his grip. Even hitting him won't work! The alcohol imbued pain tolerance has already kicked in! As you continue to be dragged through the halls, you shout angrily, "QUACKSALVEEEEEER!" It echoes. In the end, it sounds like the insane cries of one of the Asylum's patients.
SOMETIME LATER
"Peace. Tranquility. Calmness. Feel your breathing. Listen to your heartbeat."
In a room, a circle of ponies are gathered, most of them in straight jackets. A pony in a doctor's coat in particular sits among the patients, eyes closed as he chants phrases about finding inner peace within madness. He doesn't even seem to notice the glazed and feral looks of the crazies, which occurred when Erised made his announcement.
Indeed, the room is in fact peaceful. Until, that is, the door slams open to reveal you and the quack.
"And this here should be it!" Quack shouts, breaking whatever peaceful silence there is.
The Pony Doctor in the room snaps his eyes open, revealing rage and fire and ice, to which to wince as you can sense the raw emotion from him. "...Quacksalver," he says in a cold voice, and, although sophisticated, he's obviously training his anger.
"Oh. Wrong room. Sorry there! Didn't mean to interrupt your session!" Quack says, unflinching to the look of unbidden rage in front of him.
You take the opportunity to sneak away, but yelp as Quack's grip didn't even lessen.
The Pony Doctor scowls. "Yes, and if you call yourself a PROFESSIONAL doctor, you should know better than to both knock and NOT be drunk on the job." He then spits, "And yet you have the gal to insult our Asylum's procedures."
Quacksalver just shrugs uncaring, taking another swig of the alcohol. "My only objection to the procedure of this asylum is their supposed diagnosis. But no worries, this doctor will fix their mistakes and save their reputation!"
You groan, feeling pity to this institution. Brainwashed or not, the Asylum is doomed. You say, "Okay, Quack? You're drunk. You should go home."
"Nope! Not until we finish your treatment, BST!" He then proceeds to leave the room as he drags you away and waves to the Pony Doctor. "Good day, Ratchet's boyfriend!" Before Ratchet's boyfriend can even reply, the door closes shut.
MORE RANDOM SEARCHING LATER
It's through another trek through another hallway when you say, "C'mon, Doc! You have to let me go! People are going to die if I don't do something!"
"Don't be silly, Bugze. Nopony is going to die anytime soon just because YOU think so."
"The buck?! Aren't you supposed to be a be a doctor?! You know, save people?" When you finish, he suddenly stops. You smile, hope forming in you. "Have I finally gotten through to---?"
"Ah, I made another wrong turn."
"It feels like we're walking in circles, where are we even going?!" you shout.
"My office of course. Your treatment is waiting...now if only I could remember where it was," he ponders as he drinks more booze.
You clamp your mouth shut, preventing yourself from killing him with a "Fos Roh Dah."
Quack puts a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm. By the way, I should warn you to not wander around these halls.'
"Huh?" you say, snapping you out of your murderous thoughts and then into confusion. "Why?"
Then, you hear it: The cries of pain and anguish. The cries scream of mercy and help, but obviously, no sane person may attempt it in fear of whatever atrocities reside around that very corner. Several shadowy figures rapidly swing in and out ominously, following the very movements of the people present. Along with it, though, is a voice of anger and glee.
"THERE WILL BE NO LITTERING IN THESE HALLS! NEVEEEER!"
"...the buck?" you squeal out.
"Yeah, the Asylum's janitor can be like that. He's actually one of my patients, and I figured mopping and cleaning the floors until they shine will do him good! That way, it'll reflect the shine into his cynical heart and he'll feel pretty bright about it." How Quack still continues on with a smile like that with whatever it is that's happening in front of him, you have no idea.
You think back to the general condition of the Asylum. "And what bang up job he's doing...this place is still a mess."
"Yeah! Isn't it great?" Quack buzzes. "For being the only janitor in the asylum, he's doing well even though a lot of the patients make it all messy again, making him start over. But not once was he deterred!"
You hear the meaty smacks of heads slamming to the floor. "THESE HALLS WILL STAY CLEAN! CLEAN, I SAY! PER. FECT. LY. CLEAN!" For each vowel, you hear a wince inducing hit.
You blink. "Well, no wonder he went crazy..."
Quacksalver just shakes his head. "No, he's actually getting better. He's getting less psychotic episodes now." He smiles cheekily at the statement, as if charmed for his success.
Judging by the psychotic laughter that sounds like a form of euphoric relief, you can understand why. You look at Quack Salver. "Can we PLEASE leave now?"
READ THE LAST BOLDED TEXT
At this point, you consider giving up on trying to convince this guy to not "help" you and instead opt to get over whatever messed up procedure he has procured and then be done with it. However, both you and Quacksalver are stopped by the appearance of an oddly sane pony. Well, sane in comparison to the rest at least.
Like the rest of the crazies, he's wearing a straitjacket. Unlike the rest of the crazies, he's being sneaky and inconspicuous, leaning against a wall along a corner. Ironically, the act of sneaking is what makes him so eye-catching in the first place.
"Ah. Idea! Let's ask of directions instead!"
"Do you even know your way around this place?!" Well, then again, neither do you. Though you feel you haven't really left this one corner section of the asylum. But that's besides the point. "And to ask a crazy no less! Are you out of your bucking mind---wait no, don't answer that."
Suddenly, the inconspicuous pony whips around and shout, "How many times do I have to say it: I'M NOT ONE OF YOU CRAZIES!" It's so loud that you can even hear it echo along the shallow halls, effectively destroying the illusion of stealth.
You sigh. "Let me guess: He's diagnosed for being too obnoxiously loud for no reason, so his therapy is to act as stealthily as possible in his free time?"
Quack looks surprised. "Actually, you got that correct. You nailed down the therapy, just not the diagnosis. You might become a good doctor after you are deemed sane enough."
Hello Kettle. I am Tea Pot, you think.
"Oh my bucking god don't---You know what? Let's ask him directions already," you finally say.
You both ask, and the loud pony blinks dumbly. He points to the wall right beside him, where a wall map is nailed into.
Yet again, you sigh.
YOU GET THE DRILL BY NOW
"Aaaand now we're here!"
"Are you kidding me?!" you shout, "This is 3 doors down from the lunch room!"
"Ah, so it is. Great observational skills," he warbles as he takes another drink.
"We wasted all that time walking in circles!" you chastise.
"Oh, you don't have to look out for time anymore. The treatment starts now!" Quacksalver trots gingerly into the therapy room with you trudging behind. You feel queasy by the droplets of some reddish-black substance on the floor, dried and spread out nearly everywhere. There's even some on the ceiling! Whatever the treatment is, it must involve blood. And that terrifies you.
Before you can think of an escape plan, Quack opens a nearby drawer and pulls out something. It's alive.
"BUCKING LEECHES?! You were actually serious that time?!"
"I'm always serious...except when I'm not. Now, come and let Barney and his friends nom on your sickly blood," he says as he brings the leeches closer to your face.
Kichi's Comment
Thinking quickly you slap the leeches out of Quack's hooves,
"Barney No!" he yells, but you grab him, finally having enough of his crap.
"Alright, enough of this! We don't have anymore time to waste trying to 'heal my insanity.' We've got to do something Quack!"
"My good friend, what is the problem? Everything is okay, you just need to relax" he says without worry as he drinks from a bottle again.
"The problem is that disaster is coming! The Crimson Knights have spiked the food here, and it's brainwashing all the nutjobs. They're going to lure guards and the princesses here, and lead them into an ambush! On top of that, none of the staff seem to notice. You are, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the only one that's acting...'normal.' Your brain hurts after saying that, but you continue. We've got to help. We've got to warn the guards, or the princesses, or call SuperMane. Whatever! We gotta do something!"
"Ummm, Paranoia... That is a new symptom my dear BST, care to talk with me about it?" he says woozily.
"Did you not hear me? There's gonna be an ambush if we don't do something!"
"So you really think the patients are going to revolt and hurt others?" he asks.
"Yes! Finally! Now you understand!" you shout in thankfulness.
"Well, then there's really only one thing to do," he says as he downs the rest of the booze, before pulling out a flask, and up ending that as well.
Your eye twitches at this as he continues to get drunk while pausing to chant,
"La La La, nothing bad happening..."
Rolling your eyes, you leave Quack as he continues drinking.
"Why did I think he could be helpful? Maybe I am going crazy..." you shake your head and walk back down the hallway back to the cafeteria, where the orderlies are herding the patients back to the Rec Room.
"Let's see...We don't want these guys being potential pawns...Maybe I can knock out everyone?" you think aloud.
That would not be wise. Not only are you alone, but there are too many and the Knights would be aware of us, says Selena.
"Okay... Let's try something else then." You then begin to think and walk around, worried as you hear the whispers of all the insane around you.
"To die is to live... To die is to live... "
"Yes! I want to kill!"
"Die, Die, Die, Die..."
Brains, Brains, brains..."
"Hastur, Hastur, Hastur, Hastur..." the voices mutter.
"OK, the insane are still nuts, but right now they're not organized. I've just got to get to visiting room before anything else ha-"
You are suddenly struck dumb as you see a strange sight.
"Dear Luna... Is that a Minotaur dancing in a Tutu?" you ask in confusion.
Indeed it is. The big burly minotaur twirls around while wearing a pink tutu, and humming some sort of tune.
The minotaur does a split jump, twirls in front of you...and then kicks you right in the nards.
"Damn you lady luck!" you moan in a high pitched voice as you cradle your stallionhood. The minotaur just continues to dance and hum down the hallway, proceeding to attack other patients the same way.
Getting up on shaky hooves and hoping you can still have children in the future you run through the other inmates towards the visiting room.
Vesperion Seraph's Comment
A few doors down from the visiting center door, a black and purple dragon in a security uniform comes bursting out of a room.
"What the buck, what the buck?! I gotta get out of here" he stammers looking scared.
Surprised to see someone else in this asylum emoting, you call out to him.
"Hey you! Dragon!"
He turns to you and scowls.
"Oh great, another bucking loony. Stay away from me!" he yells.
"I'm not crazy dummy! And I'm guessing neither are you. Did you hear the intercom?"
His eyes light up at that.
"Of course I heard the intercom! I started working here today and I wanna leave before the crazy guys attack or whatever. And if you're not insane that means you have to leave too!"
You nod your head at this,
"You're right you do have to leave, some bad stuff is about to happen and the Crimson Knights are in the middle of it. They're trying to turn the crazies into an army or something!"
"Wait What? Crimson Knights? Those terrorists?! I knew taking this job was a bad idea! My father always told me working for ponies was a bad idea, and now see what's happening! I'm smack dab in the middle of some crazy ponies suicide plan!" the dragon stammers.
You give a deadplanned glare at the dragon as you say,
"Uh...that's speciesist."
The dragon's eye twitches as he says,
"I could care less if it is or not! I just want to get out of here before we all get killed!"
"Alright, alright, calm down...ummmm,"
"Ender."
"Ender. I'm a bounty hunter, and I'm going to take these suckers down."
"Y-you are?" he asks.
"Yes, all I need to do is go get my cake equipment in the visitor's center, and I'll solve this," you explain calmly.
"Oh, OK, well I'm gonna get out of here then and..."
"Wait, you can help me help a lot of ponies first," you stop him.
"What? But it's just my first day? What can I do?"
"You're a guard right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well then you must now of some way to slow down the inmates in this place and buy us some more time right? Maybe some sort of lockdown button?""
The dragon puts on a thinking face before snapping his talons and saying,
"The security office has a manual override that locks down the whole Asylum in case of a break out. That should give you a few extra hours head start."
You nod your head at this before saying,
"Good. Now listen, Would You Kindly pull that switch for me?"
"But I-" he starts.
"Look, I gotta go link up with my crew and get my gear, the clock's ticking. Just go pull it and after that you can then leave or find someplace to lay low. Hopefully I'll have this Knight done with before anything else can happen."
"...Ok then," he submits.
"Right, thanks. Oh, and do you happen to know when the post mare shows up around these parts?"
"I think around 1:00?"
You look up at a clock and see you only have five minutes before that letter is sent out.
Buck!
You take off towards the visitor center door, as the dragon nervously walks towards the security office.
Erised the ink-moth's Comment
The Rutherford's Comment
When you get to the visitor's center, you find the place surprisingly empty. You guess the rest of the inmates don't actually use this place anymore, what with the whole mind control stuff. Still, there is a stallion in a security uniform watching over the booths. He turns to you as you enter.
Careful Bugze. We don't know the extent of Erised's power; he could be listening in through his minions.
Right as Selena warns you of this, the stallion approaches you. "What are you doing here?" he asks gruffly.
"I've uh... got some visitors waiting to talk with me," you tell him. Looking around you spot Nightshade and Aqua on the other side of one of the booths. "There they are! That's my daughter and my friend!"
The stallion rolls his eyes. "I thought we weren't supposed to be getting visitors anymore." he mumbles. "Well, you know the drill, go up there, keep up appearances and all that. And if you squeal about anything, well... this is an insane asylum and we will treat you like you're insane. And that includes therapy with out more hysterical patients."
You gulp and make your way to the conversation booth, noticing to your annoyance that the stallion is watching your every move.
The second the three of you sit down, Aqua not-so-subtly asks,
"So CV, find out anything about the knights and what their evil plans are?"
The stallion behind you raises an eyebrow which makes your spine tingle.
"Eeh heh heh, mmm. Nah ha ha. No," you stammer nervously while darting your eyes to the prison guard, and making a series of hoof gestures telling her to shush. "Man it is so great to see you two again. It's been a really long time huh?"
"CV, it's been two hours." Aqua deadpans.
"Right? Two hours without seeing my best friend and my little girl! How've you two been doing without me anyway?" you say in an exaggerated tone.
"Daddy I'm bored. All the vending machines in the lobby are out of candy. All they have left is trail mix! Bleh! Can we finish beating up the knights and go get ice cream?" she asks sweetly.
You chuckle as the stallion gives you another glance. "Sure we can, just as soon as these guys finish making me not crazy. But that might take some time though, this place is in bad shape, you could almost say that the ponies in charge are the real crazy ones." you say with a wink. "Everypony I've met here seems like they're not in control of their own minds. If Celestia saw this place the way it is, it'd be terrible, so that should never happen."
"Daddy, why are you talking all weird? And why do you keep winking at us?" Nightshade asks.
Facehoofing, you turn to the guard stallion watching you and shout, "Hey look, a distraction!" while pointing the other way.
Just like old times, he looks the other way.
You spin back to Aqua and Nightshade and quickly belt out, "Erised and Grey are in charge of the asylum. They've got the inmates and a lot of the staff under mind control. Erised is sending a letter off to Celestia in five minutes to have her and her guards come here and it's going to be a bloodbath if we don't stop it!"
"WHAT?!" Nightshade and Aqua shout. "Why didn't you just say so?"
You feel a vein in your head start to pulse in frustration.
"We've got to find the messenger and intercept them before they get to Celestia. Come on CV, we're busting you outta this joint, like-."
"No wait!" you stop Aqua mid one-liner. "You and Nightshade go. I'll stay and take these guys down. You still got that cake right?"
"Yup!" Nightshade says and brings out a giant cake riddled with bitemarks. "I might have eaten some of it."
"I can see that, now go and..."
"Oh wait! Here you go daddy!"
Nightshade gives you a strange device.
"What is this?"
Nightshade beams at you as she says,
"It is a grappling hook for your power glove, like Batmane uses. I figure it will help you get around the Asylum quicker, and get to areas you normally couldn't. It is also quiet, the inmates won't hear you. Perfect for stealth take downs."
You look at your daughter in surprise as you ask,
"How did you find this?"
Aqua steps up and says,
"Actually, Nightshade and Mangle made it for you. I guess between her love of comics, cartoons, and video games and Mangle's advanced intelligence, they made you something that you can use to increase your fighting and stealth abilities."
Your eyes get stars as you exclaim,
"Sweet!"
I will have to tell her how proud I am of her after this is over.
The little overlord has given us a gift of the sneaky gods. We must use it well while we bask in her greatness by spilling the blood of our enemies...and then by her My Little Human toys!
Your eye twitches at this, but you ignore it.
Shaking your head you look at your daughter and say,
"Thanks honey, now get out of here and stop that messenger! And good luck"
She nods her head and runs off with Aqua in tow.
You smile then pull your inventory out of the cake, and your gear out of the inventory.
Inventory and gear reclaimed. Yay!
"Good luck to you too CV." Aqua says with a mock salute.
"Bye Daddy! Kick them in the nards once for me!" Nightshade calls out.
"Oh I will." you say as you finish strapping on your power glove with it's new attachment and breather mask. You decide to keep the rest of your costume off for the moment, since there is still one thing that needs to be taken care of...
"I swear I'm still not seeing anything." the guard you distracted says as he keeps staring at the ceiling.
"Then how about you see some stars?" you quip with your voice modulator, "FALCON PUNCH!"
With one less guard to worry about and your sidekicks on their way to intercept the message, you don your Crimson Vengeance garb. You then make your way back into the madhouse. "Watch out Grey and Erised, I'm not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with me!"
After that awesome declaration however...
Kersey's Comment
Your inventory (which you hadn't quite put back on yet) is snatched right from your hooves by a lunatic pegasus who declares,
"I have found the arc of eternal youth!" as he flies by. Your boomstick falls out as he takes your daughter's room and flies into another window and out of sight.
"My stuff! He took my bucking stuff!" you declare.
No time to worry about that now! Time is of the essence
Bullspit! Time can wait. I'm missing most of my stuff besides my Boomstick and Power Glove, and while that psychotic soup voice is warbling in my head, I'd rather not use any of our powers you think as you begin to find some sort of way out of the main room of the Asylum, I'm gonna track that bucker down and get my stuff! Until then though, I guess it's back to basics... What are my basics again?*
You shake off that thought and decide to focus on it later. As you run back down the hallways, you are surrounded by several shambling inmates. You also notice that the Asylum has quite a few conveniently-placed Gargoyle statues near the ceilings. Getting an idea from one of your favorite video games, you use Nightshade's grappling hook to grapple onto the top of one of the Gargoyles.
"Time for some interrogation..."
You use the hook to dangle upside-down from the statue and when a crazy unicorn gets close enough, you quickly drop down, grab the lunatic, and pull him back up. As you dangle the lunatic by the throat you demand,
"Tell me what you know nutjob!"
"The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister!" he rants.
"Well that was useless." you snark as you let go of the crazy, causing him to land on his head on the hard Asylum floor below, knocking him out.
You repeat this on a few more lunatics that come to investigate the unconscious unicorn, but their info is no better;
"You will never make me tap-dance, giant mime fairy of the llama-people!"
"I am the walrus, Goo goo g' joob!"
"WE'RE ALL JUST REFERENCES IN A PIECE OF MEDIOCRE FAN FICTION COLLABORATED BY A BUNCH OF FREAKS CALLED BRONIES!"
This doesn't help me at all! Where's my bucking saddlebags?!"
Your process of forcefully interrogating brainwashed insane patients surprisingly doesn't yield any results. What does produce a result is you getting knocked off the Gargoyle by the Pegasus who has your inventory as he flies down the hallway.
"I shall offer this eternal youth to the zombie overlords!"
GET BACK HERE!" you yell in anger as you chase the maniac. Eventually, he flies through a doorway that leads into another part of the asylum, and the door locks behind him. You try opening the door, but it is solid steel, and the words "Authorized Personal Only" are engraved on it.
"Oh you mother-GRAGH!" you shriek as you catch your breath and think,
Okay, this may be harder then I thou-
BrownDog's Comment
"Hiya BST. Say, can you do me a solid? I need some more booze," Quacksalver interrupts your thoughts by putting a foreleg around your neck. He reeks of alcohol.
"Haven't you had enough? And if you hadn't noticed, this place is going to be turned into a powder keg pretty soon!"
"Well of course I noticed, but when faced with crazitus revoltus, all you need is some booze to make the world go away...."
You begin rolling your eyes at this, before he suddenly puts a key card in your hoof.
"Here, this will get you to the staff locker rooms. My locker is 555, bring the Johnny Trotter," he says before he wanders down the hallway muttering, "Hi Everypony."
You look to the door on your left which says, Employee Locker Rooms. Maybe there's a way around this door in there.
"...Never thought I'd say this, but thanks Quacksalver," you say as you use the keycard and sneak into the Employee Locker Rooms before the orderlies find you.
You quickly find his locker, and sure enough, there is quite a few bottles of booze inside. You take them, since you never know what's coming, as well as some...Ninja Stars?
There is a box with some ninja stars in them, and a note amidst them.
Hey Doc,
Thanks for the good time. Take these to remember me by. And don't you dare tell Red Heart, I still need this job!
Love,
Snow Heart.
You cringe at this note.
"Seriously? Quacksalver hooked up with Ninja Nurse? How the...Nope! Not going to think about this!" you shake your head in disgust.
"Though, I doubt he needs them right now," you say as you pocket the 20 Ninja Stars.
20 Ninja Stars Added to Pockets
5 Bottles of Booze Added to Pockets
"Alright, I got a grappling hook, and now ninja stars. I'm shaping up to be a regular ol Batmane aren't I?"
As long as you aren't kill crazy and fall apart at the sound of your mother's name, then I will happily be your Catmare in this scenario, Selena giggles.
You're kind of surprised about how geeky that was of her to say, but then you remember her new name did come about because of said comic characters. Just don't think about her in catmare's costume and...
*GONG*
Too Late!
Sorry, you chuckle nervously and blush.
As flattering as that image is, we should probably focus on the task at hand rather than what fictional characters we would look like,
Good idea
Can I be Peter? I like his red shirt
"No! We're talking about Batmane, not your humie trash!" you yell as you slam the locker and look around before he has a chance to start talking again.
Looking around, you find your key to getting out into the main asylum beyond that door.
"An over sized air duct...Why not?"
You grip the edges and try to pull with all your might...unfortunately it's not that easy to pull grating off with your bear hoofs. Luckily, you have a great equalizer.
"Boom Shacka Lacka!" you blast the grate open with your BoomStick and move through the vent before anyone can investigate.
Meanwhile With Aqua and Nightshade
After giving you your stuff and learning about the letter, they attempt to intercept the letter as the post mare flies into Tall Tale.
"Why are we worrying about the Princesses coming though? Aren't we still far from Canterlot?" Aqua asks.
"Yeah, but that's not where Princess Celestia is right now. She's one town over in Vanhoover still dealing with cleanup from 3 weeks ago," Aqua tells Nightshade as they tale the pegasus mare.
"Oh...so if the guards are alerted then..."
"She'll be here by Nightfall. And that's exactly what these Knights want! That's why we have to get that letter!"
"But wouldn't some guards be helpful with all those crazy ponies?"
"No, they'll be walking into a trap. Even if they get that note, we have to warn them!" Aqua pants.
"Alright, but if this all goes pits up, I'm Falcon Kicking Everyone in the Nards!" Nightshade declares.
Back With You
Out of all the things in Arkhay that seem ripped straight out of a video game, you learn that the air vents are definitely not following suit. Sure the opening was over sized, but the rest of it...not so much. You've been squeezing and wriggling your way through the cramped and very dusty air vent for what feels like hours now. It's probably only been a few minutes, but the point is you're sick of it! It probably hasn't even been that stealthy considering how much noise you make just by moving. It's a wonder your favorite heroes never get caught doing this.
"Whoa!" you yelp as you reach a sudden drop in the shaft.
*clunk*
"Ow!"
*crash!*
"Oww."
*clown horn noise*
"My leg..."
You shake yourself out of your daze once you've stopped falling down shafts, and try to get a look around. You're probably in some sort of sublevel with how many falls you took. Luckily there's quite a few grates to peek through, allowing you to get a good view of the... oh holy moly.
You let out a low whistle at what you see. For a group of angry misfits, these Knights sure got their hooves/paws/claws on some pretty sweet tech.
The light fixtures are cranked up to almost blinding levels, showcasing the workstations where dozens of cloaked ponies are hard at work screwing and soldering together weapons like you've never even seen before. Others are sketching and copying blueprints while listening to ponies in straitjackets ramble.
At the other end of the giant warehouse-like room is a firing range where several knight grunts in lab coats are lining up the finished weapons. Most of them look like pipes with glowsticks attached, but each of them fire off bursts or globs of fire, ice, mucus and Luna knows what else. There's even an assortment of viscous melee weapon hybrids, like a saw that transforms into a cleaver, and a rifle with a chainsaw bayonet.
Then from out of view you hear maniacal laughter, and you switch vent grates to get a look.
Below you can see a station where inmates are being funneled into rooms and forcefully strapped with weapons or injected with multicolored serums that mutate their bodies.
One mare in particular looks especially happy to be there. She has a long brown mane inexpertly dyed green, and is wearing a suit of purple spandex.
"Give it to me. Do it!" she says to the knight grunt with a twitch in her eye.
The grunt cautiously approaches and pours a bubbling green liquid onto her head. As soon as he finishes pouring it, the sludge absorbs into her mane, turning it the same shade of green and making it writhe like a mass of snakes.
"Finally... they laughed at me once... but now I'm the REAL Mane-iac!" the mare giggles gleefully before snatching the grunt with her hair whips and flinging him in a show of strength.
Your eyes widen at this scene.
"Sweet Celestia! This must be where the knights have been making all those awesome video game weapons, and where Kersey got that growing potion." you say to yourself. You shudder to think what an army of insane inmates and Crimson Knights could do with that kind of tech. "I've got to find a way to shut this place down," you decide before kicking the grate open and stealthily dropping to the floor below. "It's way too dangerous to fight in the open, gotta be sneaky about this," you theorize as you place your boomstick down the back of your coat. "And if I happen across anything neat along the way, well... they won't miss any of it."
And how are you going to carry such items? Our Inventory is still missing?
"What we need, is more fountains of truth. Saddlebags that are larger on the inside! We can hold all our thoughts within them!" comes the shout of the pegasus you were chasing.
You see him wearing your saddlebags, and sitting in the rambling group where Knights are taking notes.
You grapple to a gargoyle above this room of insane science and scowl.
OK, add one more thing to do in this room. Shut it down, pinch some items, and get my Luna Danged Bags Back!
WHAT DO YOU DO?
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