5. A Matter of Perspective
Another day shined through Ponyville General, and it was a noticeably quieter day than the one that came prior. The nurses were tending to the patients who woke up, while others were being bothered somewhat. This was noticeably the case for Nurse Sweetheart who got a little visit from a familiar stallion, Big Macintosh. The mare already helped him out with back pain a week ago, so seeing him here again was quite annoying.
“What is it this time, Big Mac?” The nurse asked, annoyed.
“Uh. Ma back’s hurtin’ again.” he said in the good old Apple twang. “Ah think it’s a lil’ worse than last time.”
The mare face hoofed and groaned. “Haven’t you already come to Ponyville General fifteen times already for back pain?”
Big Macintosh sighed. “Ah’m not tryin’ to hurt myself, Ah swear!”
The mare waved a hoof around dismissively. “You always say that, but you always end up working too hard and that causes back pain. You, Big Mac, need to learn to respect your body’s limit, or else you might end up with permanent back aches.”
A little filly coughed. She stumbled her way towards the two ponies, getting close enough for them to notice her. Big Macintosh cocked his head back to look at her with his green eyes.
“Olive? Ah heard from the other nurses that Doctor Hoof wants to see ya. It sounds really important ta me.”
Olive nodded solemnly. “Is... Is he angry?” she said.
Nurse Sweetheart giggled, then spoke in a reassuring voice. “Oh no no no! He’s not angry in the slightest, just... concerned for your well-being. You should probably go back to your room if your leg hurts too much; he’ll come to you in a few minut-”
Looking somewhat relieved, Olive continued her slow limp through the hospital much to the surprise of the two ponies. She just walked away like that without even responding to Sweetheart’s advice.
“Can Ah get ma painkillers?” Big Mac asked once the surprise was gone.
“Yes, but please stop bothering us.”
The screams of a mare caught the filly’s attention. On the corridor on her left, a mare was being dragged away by two stallions. A group of ponies, mainly composed of stallions were watching her with concerned looks in their eyes.
“W-What's up with her?” said one of the stallions in a French accent.
“It's just another case of delirium.” responded a stallion in a deep, whispery voice. He was the only one who didn’t look worried.
A mare looked at the pony being dragged away, seemingly lost in her though before she sprung back to life. “Hey! This actually feels familiar. I believe I’ve already seen another case of delirium in a hospital.” she exclaimed, now looking at the group.
“Was it one of your relative perhaps?” asked the deep voiced stallion.
The mare held a hoof to her chin. “Yeah, it was my sister who was in Ponyville General because of a broken leg. She told me I had to twist her bone back in place.”
“And you did?” the French stallion asked, his head slowly leaning forward.
“What? No! Why would I even do that!?” The mare answered, looking disgusted at the French stallion who was quietly laughing to himself.
The deep voiced stallion’s brows furrowed. “I've seen my fare case of delirious patients attacking doctors and nurses in hospitals. It’s rather common, honestly.” His frown turned into a gleeful smile. "Luckily, noponies truly got hurt in these cases. The hospital’s staff is well trained to deal with such eventualities. I heard that there’s going to be some changes with the painkillers utilised, you know, replacing the ones currently used with new pills that induces less side effects.”
The mare smiled. “That's good! I actually posted a complaint after my sister was hospitalised regarding her delirious activities. She was like, about to hurt herself or something. I’m glad to know that they’re considering making some important changes here.”
They eventually noticed Olive solemnly staring right at them. The deep voiced stallion leaned over and patted her on the head with a joyful smile. “You’re looking for the good doctor? He should be down this corridor right here.” He said, pointing a helpful hoof behind her.
As she followed the pony’s instruction, the filly suddenly felt terribly nervous. Subtly looking over her shoulder, she panicked. Covering her flank with her tail, Olive picked up the pace for she now wanted only to get out of sight as quickly as possible. The three ponies watched on in confusion as the foal ran out of sight.
“D-Did I say something wrong?”
“What’s up with this old painting? Why are they still keeping it? It just seems a little... dated.”
Two ponies were sitting on chairs next to a painting depicting a griffon who looked rather bored. The painting was resting above the stallion and the mare who were observing it.
“I know for a fact there used to be a griffon who came to Ponyville alongside Rainbow Dash. I suppose that’s why they’re keeping it.” The mare answered.
“Um, don’t you know what happened between these two?” the stallion asked, glaring at the griffon above. “That griffon was a horrible friend to Dash, and she ditched him.”
The painting slightly tiled to the side, looking like it was going to fall.
“Oh yeah... I think I was there when it happened.” the mare muttered. “Strange how that griffon was the only one to ever come to Ponyville. Apart from her, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a griffon with my own two eyes. Good riddance though, nothing good comes from griffons.”
A group of ponies trotted by them, making the stallion feel somewhat nervous. “U-Uh, did they just side eyed us? Did I say something wrong?”
They heard a filly croaking. Turning around, they saw Olive who looked like she was about to walk away. The mare cracked a smile, unable to resist the adorable levels emanating from the filly. “Oh, look who we have here. The brave little filly Applejack found yesterday.” She hopped right in front of her, blocking her path. She looked a bit nervous herself. “I hope you don't mind me asking, b-but I hope you’re not going to tell the others what we said about griffons, right?”
“I heard nuthin’.” Olive answered, looking down at the ground. She was swaying from left to right, visibly uncomfortable.
“O-Oh! That’s fantastic then.”
Now that she was out of the way, Olive continued limping towards the location of the good doctor. Despite the nature of his call being seemingly urgent, she couldn’t help herself to eavesdrop on another conversation between yet another group of ponies.
“Hey, you read the newspaper?” A pegasus stallion said, slamming down the newspaper on the table. ”It says the evil Crimson Mask has been defeated by Looking Glass. We’re safe then, right?”
A much bigger pegasus shook his head. “No, I’m adamant the Crimson Mask still roams around Equestria.” He leaned forward, his face obscured by shadows. “He must have faked his death at the hands of the detective or something. This is all a conspiracy.”
An earth pony mare flipped a drumstick in the air with great expertise. She spat it out to give her two cents. “Aw, nonsense! Looking Glass is a national hero, there’s no way he’s in some sort of conspiracy to fake Crimson’s Mask death.”
The smaller pegasus frowned. “Still, boy am I glad that he’s no longer terrorising Equestria. I heard a lot about the bad things he did. Apparently, he painted his own mask with the blood of his tortured victim, real nasty stuff.”
The mare face hoofed. “These are just rumours, and plus, if he DID paint his mask with blood, it’ll would have turned brown.”
“Uh, brown?” The bigger pegasus questioned.
“Yeah, brown.” The mare responded, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you two have never seen dry blood? Blood turns brown when it dries.”
The two stallions blinked. “I didn’t know that...”
“Of course you didn’t.”
Olive was always intrigued to hear about this Crimson Mask, for the ponies here often talked about him in fear or disgust. With all of the things she’s heard about this unicorn, she grew to be terrified of a pony that she has never seen before. He became a sort of a boogey pony to the young filly. A monster living under her bed.
Shaking the thoughts away, Olive resumed her objective; to find the good doctor that wanted to check up on her. She didn’t want to but atlas, she’s not the one who makes the rules in here. She eventually found him in the entrance, talking to the secretary of the hospital. A huge feeling of dread engulfed her being as she feared for the worst.
Slowly but surely, she limped towards the mighty figure towering over her.
Upon hearing her hoofsteps, he quickly turned his head around. “Hi there my little pony!” he greeted before looking a little concerned. “W-Weren’t you supposed to stay in bed? I don’t believe your leg has healed enough for you to walk around the hospital.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Don’t worry about this!” The doctor swung a hoof in a rather goofy manner in hopes that it would make him seem less intimidating to her. He now knew that the filly was more scared of stallions than she was of mares. “However, I’d like for you to stay mostly in bed until we’re certain your leg is in good condition. Right now, let’s just say it is rather fragile, and we’re all worried about it...” He said it with a bizarre mix of professionalism and comfort that it only served to make the filly seem even more nervous.
“It’s... It’s bad, isn’t it?” Olive asked, her head still kept down so that her eyes wouldn’t meet those of the doctor.
“Bad? I’m afraid so. Your leg needs to rest as much as possible. You see, we just don’t want the damage to be... permanent.”
Doctor Hoof said it in a solemn tone, holding a hoof to his mouth to hide his own uncertainty. “N-Not to say that your leg won’t ever be able to walk again, no. It’s going to heal just fine. You just need to stay in bed and listen to what we have to say and I promise that everything will be alright! We’re all here for you!”
Doctor Hoof took out a lollipop from his pocket and offered it to the distraught filly. “You look scared. Here, have a lollipop!”
His voice still had that same cheery and professional energy behind it, a vibe he tried very hard to maintain no matter what would happen. “Now, you should go back to your room. I’m going to check up on you later, I still have some work to do in the reception area. I promise it won’t be scary, no syringes, no bad syrups to drink, it’s just going to be some talking!”
Olive couldn’t take her eyes away from the stallion. Everything he said, he said it with such professionalism that it made her feel, safe. “Okay...” she finally croaked. Her terrified voice really got to Doctor Hoof who felt like he had made a terrible mistake despite only doing his job. Did he say something wrong? Was his professional tone just too cold and distant for her?
Then, Nurse Redheart appeared, casting away all anxieties from the little filly. “Hi sweetie! Are you hungry?”
The filly quickly rushed to her, hugging her leg.
“You shouldn’t go out of your room. Your poor leg is still hurt, you’ll need to let it rest for a while, okay?” Redheart said, crouching so that her eyes could meet those of the filly. Her words seemed to have actually gone through her as she closed her eyes and nodded understandably.
“Great!” She picked up the filly and placed her on her back. “I’ll get you back to your room and then I'll bring you your breakfast! How’s that sound?” Her cheerful voice succeeded in calming down the filly’s heart.
As she was moving away from the entrance, Olive looked back one more time at the stallion. Doctor Hoof looked at her with guilt in his eyes, his head lowered. He looked so disappointed in himself that it hurt the filly’s heart.
“I hurt him...” Olive whimpered, tears welling in her eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m sure you didn’t mean to.” Redheart consoled. “He’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll understand. Plus, you have all the time in the world to apologise to him. It’ll just have to wait for now.”
When Olive woke up, it was like she was in limbo. Her vision was blurry and her mind, confused. Sure enough, she was still in the hospital, but it looked... darker and more decrepit compared to how it looked yesterday. Scared and lost, the filly struggled to descend from her bed. It was hard considering she still had a broken leg and many bruises over her small body. Every time she let her broken leg touch the floor, a small jolt of pain coursed through her body.
As such, she simply elected to lift it slightly to the side to walk on the healthy legs. Limping out of her room, she was shocked to see some familiar faces. Not the ones of Applejack and Redheart, but of the ponies that have raised her.
Just on her right, a large and burly white stallion was talking to a chubby mare. His black mustached accompanied by his discolored plumber’s cap gave him an eerie vibe. He had his head lowered, probably to look into the eyes of the mare as he was apparently boasting from what Olive could hear.
“What is it this time, Strong Hoof?” the chubby mare asked, annoyed.
“Ho! Today was a great day, my dear. How about I tell you the story of how I broke a pony’s back?” Strong Hoof responded, sounding prideful. His deep, raspy and booming voice shook Olive to her very core.
The mare face hoofed and groaned. “Haven’t you already told me this kind of story fifteen times already? Nopony wants to hear them.”
Strong Hoof sighed. “But this one is much better than the last... and bloodier.”
The mare waved a hoof around dismissively. “You always say that, but they never get any better. You had your chance before, but now we just want you to stop pestering us with your stupid stories. I’ve got an important job to do.”
Olive coughed, feeling a migraine slowly creeping in. She stumbled her way towards the two ponies, getting close enough for them to notice her. Strong Hoof cocked his head back to look at her with his scarlet eyes.
“Little bruja? Talk about good timing, the boss wants to see you. Don’t keep him waiting. He may be patient, but that doesn’t mean you should waste his precious time.”
Olive nodded solemnly. “Is... Is he angry?” she said.
The mare next to Strong Hoof giggled in a condescending manner. “Aren’t you just precious, little baby filly? No, he’s not, otherwise he’d have sent us to retrieve you. Now go on already, you’re wasting time.”
"You know you can't hide forever, bruja. Like a land mammal hiding under water... soon you will have to surface for air."
Feeling somewhat relieved, Olive continued her slow limp through the hospital while ignoring the threat of the big stallion. She didn't want to be near him for more than a minute. Strange, she doesn’t really remember how they even got here or took over an hospital. Usually, they prefer dark and dank spaces as opposed to this.
The screams of a mare caught her attention. On the corridor on her left, a mare was being dragged away by two stallions. A group of ponies, mainly composed of stallions were watching her with perverted gleam in their eyes. Said eyes were in fact, locked onto her flank with a sly smile plastered on their faces.
“The boss is going to destroy that.” said one of the stallions in a French accent.
“Oh yes indeed.” responded a stallion in a deep, whispery voice.
A mare looked at the pony being dragged away, seemingly lost in her though before she sprung back to life. “Hey! This reminds me of a bizarre thing the boss told me.” she exclaimed, now looking at the group.
“What did he tell you?” asked the deep voiced stallion.
The mare held a hoof to her chin. “He said that in order to prove my loyalty; I had to kill my sister.”
“And you did?” the French stallion asked, his head slowly leaning forward.
“Aw yeah! I hated her guts anyway, so it was quite easy!” The mare answered, cackling to herself.
The deep voiced stallion’s brows furrowed. “The boss also wanted me to kill my own sister. Problem was that I don’t have a sister.” His frown turned into a gleeful smile. “I told him I don’t have a sister and he still insisted that I had to kill my sister. So, the first thing I did was to steal a carriage and run over the first mare I saw on the streets. The boss looked happy.”
The mare laughed. “I love the boss! Nopony’s as crazy and smart as he is. He said he'll figure out a way to bypass the limitations of our mortal bodies. I can’t wait to see where that goes.”
They eventually noticed Olive solemnly staring right at them. The deep voiced stallion leaned over and patted her on the head. “You’re looking for the boss? He should be down this corridor right here.” He said, pointing a hoof behind her.
As she followed the pony’s instruction, she suddenly felt terribly nervous. More specifically, her flank felt nervous. Subtly looking over her shoulder, she saw that the ponies were staring at her with sly smiles on their faces. They were ogling her!
Covering her flank with her tail, Olive picked up the pace for she now wanted only to get out of sight as quickly as possible.
“What’s up with this new diet? Why’d the boss want us to eat meat? I just don’t get it.”
Two ponies were sitting on chairs next to a griffon who looked rather bored. The griffon was on a strangely elevated position, sitting above the stallion and the mare.
“I heard it was to separate us from our pony roots. I don’t know what he’s planning, but he says it’s gonna be real good.” The mare answered.
“S’that why he’s hiring griffons and diamond dogs too?” the stallion asked, glaring at the griffon above. “I don’t trust ‘em at all.”
The griffon stared back but remained silent.
“I’m with you on the griffons.” the mare agreed. “The diamond dogs are useful with their tunnel digging skills, but I don’t see why we need griffons when pegasi can fly too.”
A group of ponies trotted by them, making the stallion feel somewhat nervous. “U-Uh, let’s not question the boss further. They might hear us.”
Olive croaked and wanted to get away, but she was spotted by the mare. “Oh, look who we have here. The boss’s little pet.”
She hopped right in front of her, blocking her path. “Are you gonna report us to him, or will you be a good little filly and look the other way?”
“I heard nuthin’.” Olive answered, looking down at the ground. She was swaying from left to right, visibly uncomfortable.
“Good.”
Now that she was out of her way, Olive continued limping towards the location of the boss. Despite the nature of his call being urgent, she couldn’t help herself to eavesdrop on another conversation between yet another group of ponies she doesn’t know, all apparently working for him.
“Hey, you read the newspaper?” A pegasus stallion said, slamming down the newspaper on the table. ”‘t says the Crimson Mask is finally dead. That means we win, right?”
A much bigger pegasus shook his head. “No, the boss is adamant the Crimson Mask still roams around Equestria.” He leaned forward, his face obscured by shadows. “He believes the mask faked his death so that the royal guards would finally leave him alone.”
An earth pony mare flipped her knife in the air with great expertise. She spat it out to give her two cents. “Only the boss will get to kill the Crimson Mask. He came close, and he sure as hay won’t let anypony get all the glory.”
The smaller pegasus frowned. “I always thought the boss was quite the freakshow, but then I learned more about the Crimson Mask. Apparently he painted his own mask with the blood of his tortured victim, real nasty stuff.”
The mare face hoofed. “These are just rumours, and plus, if he DID paint his mask with blood, it’ll would have turned brown.”
“Brown?” The bigger pegasus questioned.
“Yeah, brown.” The mare responded, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you two have never seen dry blood? Blood turns brown when it dries.”
The two stallions blinked. “I didn’t know that...”
“ ‘Course you didn’t.”
Olive was always intrigued to hear about this Crimson Mask, for the ponies here often talked about him in fear or disgust. With all of the things she’s heard about this unicorn, she grew to be terrified of a pony that she's only seen once before, gazing from afar. It was a dark mask that burnt into her mind. He became a sort of a boogey pony to the young filly. A monster living under her bed.
Shaking the thoughts away, Olive resumed her objective; to find the boss. She didn’t want to but atlas, she’s not the one who makes the rules in here. She eventually found him in the entrance, talking to the secretary of the hospital. A huge feeling of dread engulfed her being as she feared for the worst.
Daddy was angry with her, and now he wanted to see her. No good can come from that.
Slowly but surely, she limped towards the mighty figure towering over her. For a unicorn, he was quite tall, almost the size of Strong Hoof. The faded purple coloring of his fur gave him a ethereal vibe. The tall spiky dark green hair matched well with his light green eyes that pierced the soul of any pony who dared to look him in said eyes. His smile streched so far that it covered a part of his eye. His cutie mark was composed of two eyes and a large grin, seemingly staring right at her.
"Let's make some noise..."
Upon hearing her hoofsteps, he quickly turned his head around. “Darling! So happy you could make it! You did take your time, however, and that’s not a thing that nice little fillies do.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“Bah!” Her father swung a hoof in a rather goofy manner. “We have all the time in the world anyway. Well, daddy wants to have a word with you. It’s about those evil spies sent by Crimson Mask. They are everywhere, and they want us dead.” He said it with such a toothy grin on his face that he made it sound like it wasn’t even a big deal.
“It’s... It’s bad, isn’t it?” Olive asked, her head still kept down so that her eyes wouldn’t meet those of her father.
“Bad? Oh, absolutely terrific! They’re going to kill us all! All of us quirky anarchists!” The tall stallion said it in a very exaggerated tone, holding a hoof to his mouth for dramatic effect. “But they won’t be able to hurt you if you can keep a secret. You see, this hospital is riddled with said spies. You must not let any of them know about my identity, nor about the operation we are runnin’ here! You must keep it all in the dark, he he!”
Her father took out a lollipop and offered it to his distraught daughter. “You look scared. Here, have a comfort lollipop!” His voice still had that same cheery energy behind it, a vibe he always carried no matter what would happen. “Remember, only daddy can protect you from the horrors of this world. You’ll need to trust him if you want to be happy. Now smile, dearie. Smile.”
Olive couldn’t take her eyes away from her father now. His gaze was hypnotising, enthralling, oddly charismatic. Everything he said, he said it with such unbridled confidence that it made her feel, safe. “Okay...” she finally gave in.
Then, like an angel coming down to rescue her from the depths of Tartarus, Nurse Redheart appeared, casting away all anxieties from Olive. “Hi sweetie! Are you hungry?”
The filly quickly rushed to her, hugging her leg. The decrepit hospital slowly regained its colors. The dirty floors seemingly cleaning themselves and then, she was back to Ponyville General.
“You shouldn’t go out of your room. Your poor leg is still hurt, you’ll need to let it rest for a while, okay?” Redheart said, crouching so that her eyes could meet those of the filly.
Olive closed her eyes and nodded.
“Great!” She picked up the filly and placed her on her back. “I’ll get you back to your room and then I'll bring you your breakfast! How’s that sound?” Her cheerful voice succeeded in calming down the filly’s heart.
As she was moving away from the entrance, Olive looked back one more time at the stallion. Gone was her father, replaced instead by Doctor Hoof who looked at her with guilt in his eyes, his head lowered. He looked so disappointed in himself that it hurt the filly’s heart.
“I hurt him...” Olive whimpered, tears welling in her eyes.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m sure you didn’t mean to.” Redheart consoled. “He’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll understand. Plus, you have all the time in the world to apologise to him. It’ll just have to wait for now.”
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More good
Dear God she's the daughter of the crimson mask!!!
What a twist!!
Edit: I'm going to be completely wrong, aren't I.
Yeesh... That is one creepy... I hesitate to even call that creature a pony. I'm willing to bet that he's "the insane Anarchy" that was briefly referenced. Friggin' creep...
That poor little filly was having one Tartarus of a PTSD flashback!
This "father" is basically asking for a Rainbow Laser in the everything!
11638108
I will allow it!
Still READ IT
11641576
I think he does!
Someone GET MY/FAUST'S ELEMENT!
11641555
Good guess! And yes, something about him isn't quite right...
That name!
Strong Hoof
*is it related to strong hooves?*
Oh boy, it's that Anarchy criminal isn't it?
11641576
Agents of chaos are always asking for trouble now aren't they?
Man, her father is so funny he's such a joker
So she's having both visual and audible hallucinations. I'm assuming it's delirium, but maybe a mental disorder.
I'm reading with Daddy having a voice similar to HIM's voice from the PPG but deeper, and it's a really cool vibe. Also the whole situation with Olive is making me think of Fran Bow alot so that's a neat aesthetic for this story.
11641576
Honestly I think standard lasers would be justified here, vapourise the bastard
I assume that was some sort of hallucination, and not a dream, correct?
Is it just me or do those evil bastards look like MX
and Lord X
11733352
Strong Hoof was definitely intended to look like MX, but the father wasn't based on Lord X or any creepypasta really.
This Story gave me Silent Hill Vibes