Sanctuary: An Interview of a Changeling

by CrackedInkWell

Video Tape Evidence: (Part 3)

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(Footage of Book Binder’s Video Camera, October 18th, 10:38 PM.)

At first, there was static until a clear picture came through. Against a dark background and illuminated in green, a curly-maned, unicorn mare with glasses looked down towards the lens.

“There it goes! Guys, it’s on now.”

“About time,” a voice said. The camera weaved around until it focused on two stallions, one a pegasus and the other an earth pony. The pegasus turned towards the camera. “How much longer until we go in, anyway?”

“Hey, I just turned the camera on, so now we can start filming.”

The earth pony looked at the chain-link fence with uncertainty. “Are you sure we should really be doing this? What if somepony sees us?”

“Oh c’mon Carrot,” the pegasus shoved playfully. “Look around. Who’s gonna come by this place? I bet even the police don’t do their rounds here.”

“Besides,” the mare added, “I’ve got a map from Dr. Lovejoy. He used to work here once. Who knows, maybe this could be fun. We might even find a ghost in there.”

“I don’t know…” Carrot looked at the fence again. “There’s something not right about this place. It looks like it could all fall apart at any moment.”

“Oh, quit being a wimp,” Cloud told him. “We’ve got plenty of batteries and flashlights.”

“Okay, okay,” Binder interrupted, “how about we get straight to the documentary thing?”

“Yeah, right,” the pegasus nodded. “I already know my lines.”

“But first things first, we need to get over the wall,” Carrot pointed out.

“Give me a sec,” Cloud Buster said as he opened his wings and picked Carrot up and over the fence. “Alright, now you.” The camera was lifted off the ground and gently went over the fence. Once that was done, the camera swerved around until it was showing the decaying building. “So, where should we start?”

The mare hummed as the camera looked around, “How about at those bars, at that window over there.”

“Got it,” Cloud moved over to position, sitting on his hunches right next to one of the broken windows.

“You ready?” she asked and he nodded. “Okay, action.”

The pegasus cleared his throat and spoke. “What makes a place scary? Is it the history? Could it be the evil ponies that once tortured hundreds of thousands of souls? Or is it something much darker than that – something unexplainable?

“Before its closing thirty-four years ago, Sanctuary’s Mental Hospital was once considered Fillidelphia’s most respected institutions for the care of the insane and disabled, physical or mental. It also doubled as an orphanage, where foals and madponies lived side by side.

“According to legend, behind these walls was a corrupt staff of doctors and nurses that followed their own rules. Nopony, except for them, were safe. It has been said that during its heyday, Sanctuary’s was a place where doctors and students could run whatever kind of medical and psychological experimentation away from government eyes. Because this place was a privately run hospital with its own set of rules, anypony committed here was likely subjected to electroshock therapy, solitary confinement, lobotomy, and whatever else the doctors deemed necessary to ‘cure’ their patients. Even the foals were subjected to this.

“It is said that there’s one particular ghost that has been seen by witnesses more than any other. Before its closing, this hospital was under investigation for the disappearance of a little filly named Pumpkin Spice, one of the orphans at this hospital. Nopony knows for sure what happened to her. Some say she contracted a disease and passed away. Others wondered if one of the madponies had killed her, or, most likely, she was experimented on and died on the operating table.

“But regardless, it is said that she is the most active ghost at Sanctuary’s. Some ponies will see her shadow. Others hear her tricycle squeaking down the hallways. And some even reported that she would leave behind drawings for the new visitors.

“Here tonight, we are about to venture into this abandoned asylum to see for ourselves, what is said to be one of the scariest places in Equestria.”

“And cut,” Book Binder said. “Not bad, how about we do that a few mor-”

She was cut off by the sound of a window being smashed, all three immediately looking around for the source.

“What was that?!” Carrot exclaimed.

“I think it came from over here,” Binder said as she and the camera galloped over to the source of the sound towards the front of the building. When they rounded the corner, they found that one of the windows was smashed in.

“Guys,” Carrot said, “I really think we should go.”

“Hold on a sec,” Book said. “Let’s see who it is.”

“Are you crazy? What if it’s somepony dangerous?”

“But don’t you want to see who it is?” the pegasus asked. “Maybe somepony else is looking for ghosts too…” Cloud trailed off and grinned wickedly. “Let’s prank them.”

“What?” the mare questioned.

“Why not? Let’s just go in and yell ‘boo’ at them. If we’re going in there, why not have a bit of fun, too?”

“But we’re here to film a-”

“I know Book, we can still do that. Let’s just see who it is first.”

She grunted. “Okay, fine. But let’s watch out for the glass.”

The three of them climbed in with Binder’s camera. Once they were inside, the camera looked around at the decay of the room from the crystal-less chandelier to the large, rotting wooden desk at the center. Black and white tiles below them were cracked, covered in dust and parts of the ceiling. The painted walls were now piling into curls from the years of neglect. Behind the desk was a double staircase that led to the second floor, and below was a hallway that led further into the asylum.

“Now where?” Carrot asked.

The camera looked down once more at the dust on the floor. “Hey guys, I think I see two different set of hoofprints.”

“Huh?” Both stallions looked at the floor. Cloud was the first to suggest following the trail, and so, the camera followed the teenagers into the depths of the asylum. Every so often, Binder would have to step over some of the rubble, broken light bulbs, and around the wheelchairs and tables that laid about.

The trail finally led to an office. The camera peeked up to a sign above the door, reading “Room 124: Dr. Red Cross.”

Among the scattered papers on the floor was a desk that had a candle, an open notebook, and a pencil beside it. Carrot looked into it. “Guys, this thing has today’s date.”

“Whatcha mean?” the pegasus asked.

“It has this year’s date.” He pointed a hoof at the current page, then picked it up and started to flip back to the front. “Dr. Lovejoy? Wait, Binder, isn’t that your doctor?”

“Yeah? What’s his journal doing here?”

The earth pony flipped back to the latest entry. “‘October 18th, 1002. The liquid fungus is doing wonders for the changeling!’ Wait, what changeling? I thought they all left after what happened in Canterlot.”

“Hold on,” Cloud took the book into his hooves, “let me see that. ‘...is doing wonders for the changeling! This is the first time that I’ve ever seen a creature susceptible to a controlled hallucination that I can easily manipulate. When I showed him the lobotomy film in the basement, he acted as if he was witnessing an actual, live procedure in front of him. When I tied him down to the operating table, having denied him his sight with a blindfold, I gave him a slight scare with a scalpel. His mind immediately jumped to thinking I was going to perform surgery on him without an anesthetic. After two minutes and a very shallow cut, he completely passed out. He’s even begun having sympathetic conversations with one of the mannequins, believing it to be a real nurse. I’m now interested in how far I can take this experiment. Tonight, I’ll be ‘inviting’ one of my patients and her friends over for the ultimate experiment.’”. He turned the blank pages over. “...it just ends there.”

“Guys,” Carrot said, “I really don’t like this. Maybe we should leave while we still-”

All three of the teenagers were suddenly paralyzed in a bright aura. “Ah good, everypony’s here,” said a new voice. “Oh, what’s this?” The camera moved, showing a stallion in a white doctor’s coat, with a changeling directly behind him. The doctor looked at the lens in thought. “I think this will make things all the more interesting,” he said before the camera went to static.

A moment later, the static became clear again. This time, instead of being in night vision, now it was in full color. The camera itself looked to be sitting on a table, looking over five figures covered in lantern light. Three of them were tied down by leather straps. On the left, Carrot Bit was struggling against being tied down to a wheelchair. Book Binder was in the center, laying down on a rusty table, like Cloud Buster. All three of them were gagged, and the mare was crying her eyes out.

Behind them were an elderly stallion with yellow eyes, orange fur hidden beneath a white coat, and a blue turquoise mane. He moved for a moment, the camera capturing his cutie mark, a blood red cross with two serpents circling around it. Next to him stood the changeling Resto, his mouth mindlessly agape and staring at the scene with unblinking, sickly green eyes.

“Smile,” said the doctor as a flash of light from behind the camera briefly illuminated the room. Satisfied, he turned to the changeling before pointing at Carrot Bit. “I need you to do something for me, Resto. Would you please give this one a bath? It’s important to make sure you have his whole head submerged until he’s nice and clean. Can you do that for me?”

The changeling mindlessly nodded as he took hold of the chair. The doctor grabbed the recording camera in his yellow aura, following the changeling as he pushed the squirming earth pony down the hall. It didn’t take long for them to reach the shower rooms, where a bathtub sat at the back.

“Please turn on the water,” he told the changeling, “and be sure to set it on cold.”

The camera continued to follow Resto as he walked over and turned the tap, brown water sloshing out into the tub below. Another camera with a tripod came into view, the doctor briefly making a few adjustments before putting the video camera in his aura onto the ground at a low angle. A few minutes later, the changeling turned off the tap and walked out of view with the doctor. The squeaking of wheels was heard before Carrot’s straps were undone. “Let me know when he stops struggling,” said the doctor as his hoofsteps left the room.

“No, stop! Let go of me!” Suddenly, the earth pony came into view as the changeling took hold of his forelegs, holding them behind his back as he led him towards the tub. “Celestia, don’t! Please don--”

Carrot’s head was pushed towards the tub, some of the water splashing onto the floor as the pony’s body squirmed underneath the changeling’s hooves, one held on his head while the other kept his forelegs held behind him. Carrot kicked his hind legs as much as he could, trying to lift himself out of the tub.

For two minutes, the stallion fought for air, becoming more desperate as time went on. But suddenly, he finally stopped struggling and went limp. The changeling finally let him go, leaving half of his body under the water. “He is… clean,” Resto said in a monotone voice.

Hoofsteps were heard as the doctor entered the frame. “Good, very good. Give me a moment to photograph this before we move on.” A flash from the other camera went off before the doctor’s aura grabbed the video camera, turning back towards the hall as the doctor and changeling returned to the two remaining teenagers.

The doctor pointed to Cloud Buster. “He’s been very naughty in this ward. Could you please wheel him to solitary confinement?”

Resto nodded and pushed the table away down another hallway. The pegasus fought as much as he could, dreadfully fearing what they were going to do with him. They stopped at one of the padded cells. The doctor floated the tripod and camera over to one of the corners, telling the changeling to wheel Cloud in. He left the frame again but quickly returned with a straitjacket.

“Please put this on him as tightly as you can,” he said, hooving the jacket over to Resto who just mindlessly nodded. The doctor left the room again as the changeling unstrapped Cloud, forcing the jacket onto him.

Though Cloud struggled as much as he could, the jacket was eventually placed on him and over his wings. The gag was still in place as Resto went around behind him, pulling the straps and buckles into place. He then placed one of his sleeved forelegs behind his back before tightening the strap as hard as he could.

Cloud’s hindlegs bucked and his neck moved wildly as he felt his forelegs constricting. As Resto tightened it, there was the sound of popping and a muffled scream. Only a few more pops were heard before Cloud finally fell limp.

With everything quieted down and Resto tying the final knots, the doctor made his way back into the room. “There, he should be all nice and quiet now.” He took another picture of the body before the two returned to the final, crying teenager.

“How about we do something fun?” The doctor grinned with glee, turning to the changeling once more. “Let’s take her to the basement. She is in desperate need of some shock therapy. Would you please roll her down there for treatment?”

Resto obeyed, pushing the crying mare down the hallway. Book Binder looked at the doctor and he took off her gag. “W-Why?” She pleaded. “W-W-Why?!”

“Now now,” the doctor’s hoof caressed the mare’s curly mane. “You have lived happily. So don’t consider this cruel, my dear. This is a kindness, after all.” He placed the gag back on her before she had a chance to reply.

Several minutes later, following the light of the lanterns, they reached the basement level, where they wheeled her into the electro-shock therapy room. “Please strap her in and prepare her for treatment. I shall go and get the machines started up. Also, when I give this thing its power back, you may begin carrying out the procedure. Just make sure she’s cooked to a crisp.”

Resto nodded, struggling to get the mare onto the padded table. The doctor lit up his horn to resurrect the old machine. Lights slowly flickered to life before illuminating the table. After setting up the tripod, he loomed over the mare. “Place those electrodes over her head,” the doctor instructed, passing him a copper ring, “and throw that switch. Leave it on until you see smoke.”

This time, the doctor took the video camera with him. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to clean up for a bit before we start our session.” As he left, a flicker of blue light illuminated the hallway.

He walked back to the first floor, picking up a familiar looking mannequin in an old nurse’s outfit, as well as his notebook, some candles, and a few lanterns. “Well,” he sighed, “this fungus will certainly come in handy. So let’s see… hide the evidence in the furthest corners of the hospital… manipulate the changeling into thinking what really happened, and then call the police to shift the blame onto him. By the time they put together what really happened, I’ll be long gone.” He giggled. “Oh, I can’t wait for retirement!”

The rest of the footage showed him taking the camera into a dusty library. He placed it and the mannequin on the floor before turning the table over them. Several minutes went by before several crashing noises were heard, and then it went silent.

An hour later, there was a faint sound of a tricycle moving around the room before the footage finally ran out.

Comments

[Skye Mist]

Oh no...
This is worse than I thought.
Poor Andrew. Poor Book Binder. Poor Carrot Bit. Poor Cloud Buster.

[Episke Afire]

Fuck my life, I actually want to see a movie adaptation of this story.

[CrackedInkWell]

7027344 Hmm... Difficult, but not impossible...