I see her mouth twist into the same fake smile she's worn a million times. The next poor target she's picked is Simmons, a unicorn who just got here a couple years ago. I hear the doctors and nurses talking about him every once and awhile, and from what I heard he's got somethin' called 'multiple personality disorder'. It was kinda hard telling just which Simmons you were talking to, but every now and again he would breakdown and one of his personalities would really show.

"Mr. Simmons, it seems your other personality has written some things in the ledger." The Big Nurse states as she continues to stare at him.

"Yes, Randal does that sometimes…" Simmons mumbles as he gently strokes his fore-leg.

"Well, Randal says that you experienced some trauma in your youth. We've touched on this before, as you must remember. However we never went into any details. Would you like to perhaps explain this trauma further?"

Simmons looks around, sees all the staring faces of ponies just like him. I see him stop stroking himself, looks up to meet the Big Nurse's gaze. "Well I…"

A few moments pass, and Simmons says nothing. The Big Nurse just looks at her ledger before speaking again. "Randal states that you suffered abuse from your father when you were much younger."

I almost think that she's gonna try and make Simmons snap, just like she did with Cheswick. But I'm surprised when I hear Simmons speak up again. "Ye… yes… My parents always used to get into big fights; they would just yell and swear at each other… And… and my father couldn't hit my mother so he… he…"

"So he took it out on you, I understand." The Big Nurse says with her apathetic smile, all the while writing away in a separate book with her magic. "Was this around the time when Randal first started appearing?"

Simmons just nods then goes to staring at the floor. The Big Nurse goes back to writing in her book. As I stare at the speechless circle I see a thin layer of fog enter the room. They got the machines running again, and at full power by the looks of it. Within not even half a minute the mist has filled the room, it's so thick I can barely see the circle.

"You must understand Mr. Simmons, what you experienced was not your fault."

Voices and noises start to get distant; I can feel myself slippin' away. She didn't usually turn the fog on for the meetings, but obviously she realized how reluctant Cheswick was being and was employing another strategy. You would lose yourself in the fog, sometimes for what felt like days. This was just another tool used by the Combine to break us down.

I don't know where it came from, probably the dark depths of the building that even I ain't never seen. All I knew is that when they started it up it meant the Big Nurse was planning something big. She was probably hoping for some big breakthrough, though in these meetings I seen a lot more breakdowns than breakthroughs. They're still talking, but I have no clue where their voices are coming from.

"Last meeting we were discussing the problems Mr. Harding has had with his wife. Constantly, as somepony has kindly written here, Mr. Harding has accused his wife of cheating on him. On one such occasion, she merely laughed in his face and said he was full of shit. Does anypony have anything to comment on?"

Harding's probably feeling like an idiot, saying such things around his so called 'friends'. The truth was the Combine had already gotten to all of us, and most would sell out everypony around them just to get some praise.

Sometimes, when the fog got really thick, I'd start wandering around and suddenly find myself on the other side of the building. So now I learned to just sit still, it was no use trying to find anypony cause you would just lose yourself. I can't see anypony now cause the fog's gotten so thick.

"No? No one has any anything to say about Mr. Harding?"

I'm lost now, so deep in the fog I couldn't even see my own hooves. Suddenly though, I can see somepony. He's sketchy and unfocused, kinda like I was looking at him through a sheet of warped glass. Eventually though, he gets closer and I can tell who it is.

It's Sefelt, and like Ellis he's one of the pony's that's gonna be locked up in here for the rest of their life. I can see his dreary expression; can tell he's staring right at me, begging me to do something.

"I can't help you Sefelt… Nopony can… We're all messed up and can't be fixed…" I tell him that and immediately see how hurt he is. But it was the truth. I couldn't do anything for him, no matter how much he needed it. At least I told the truth, sure I was blunt, but it was better than all of the Combine's and Big Nurse's lies. They couldn't fix us; all they wanted to do was control us.

"I would have hoped that all of you would contribute more, seeing as how much some of you have written here."

Sefelt disappears back into the fog and I'm left along again. Soon though, I see another pony appear. It's a dark coated stallion, his hardly trimmed mane of brown covering most of his ragged face. His name was Scanlon, and he was brought here only a couple years ago.

A thick, dark red line runs all around his neck to form a perfect circle. Almost like somepony drew it red paint, it's so precise and accurate. If anypony asked him about it he'd just claim that it was a birthmark and would drop the conversation. But I knew it wasn't a birthmark, and I think a lot of the other patients did too.

The Big Nurse mentioned it once; she was talking about his 'situation' with one of the doctors. Apparently shortly before he was admitted, Scanlon was so fed up with his miserable life that he tried to hang himself. But either the rope must not of been thick enough, or he just didn't tie it right cause the rope snapped. Leaving him with his life and a scar for the whole world to see.

Scanlon doesn't say anything to me, just stares at me with those blank eyes. I couldn't even bear to meet his gaze so I try my best to avoid his eyes. I just take in his tattered body, worn and beaten from years of self-abuse.

"I… I'm sorry Scanlon…" I croak after a few minutes of just staring at him. I felt obliged to talk, like I needed to try and at least comfort him. "But I can't help you neither… We're… we're all so messed up… I wish I could do somethin'… I wish I could make yours and everypony else's lives all better but… I can't…"

I shake my head at him after I'm done talking. He looks sad, almost hurt like Sefelt did. But he still doesn't say anything. Soon, he disappears back into the fog and it's just me.

"Well… I suppose if no one is willing to say anything, then we may as well conclude this meeting." I hear the Big Nurse's voice through the intense fog, and just as she's done talking it all starts to dissipate. Only a minute has passed and already I see that they're all still in their neat little circle. The rest of the room is just like before, with the psychotic patients wandering around and the staff still watching over them.

The Big Nurse gives them all one last big smile before leaving the room, just an eerie silence left as I started to regain all my senses. I watch the group sit there for awhile, before finally Harding got up and walked back over to their table. Most of 'em followed, but a few, like Cheswick, were still trying to get over the meeting. I turn away and start pacing around the room, taking a few glances at the ponies I past.

One of 'em was slumped against the wall with a blank look on his face. I tried to remember his name, but as I stared at him my mind drew a blank. He was one of the ponies that sat in the corner, never saying a word. Sure, I never talked to anypony, but I at least still had the ability to speak. But just one look at this pony and I could tell what they had done to him.

Lobotomy. The Combine's final weapon in their arsenal. If somepony acted up too much, and if all of their other tools failed, then they'd resort to this to break them down. They'd take them into the operating room, and after they would leave nothing like how they went in. They were left practically dead, almost always non-responsive.

A step down from that was MST. Magic Shock Therapy. They used unicorn magic to induce violent seizures in a patient, and after they'd be left calm and docile. I had never gotten it, and I shuddered to imagine it happening to me. Other than leaving the main ward occasionally, I did everything they told me to do, so I was at least relatively safe.

I reached the edge of the room where the only two windows sat. They were surrounded by thick iron bars, and lookin' through the smudged glass all I could see was grey. The grass, the trees, the sky; all of it was just a depressive grey. I briefly wondered how they changed it all; how the world that I used to remember as so colorful and full of life had been changed to this. I could still remember the huge fields around harvest time; you'd look down 'em and I swear it was like they went on for miles. Looking at all that grey, I knew it wasn't the same.

I just sighed and continued to stare out the window, at the world that had somehow changed so much.


Little did I know how much things would really change. A couple days later I was mopping a hallway by the main entrance of the building. The Big Nurse was standing by the secretary, reading her ledger with an intent look. As I started to near the doors, a pony came through that drew all the eyes in the room. She looked so different than the ponies I had come to see for so long. Her coat was a gorgeous lavender, and her mane was long and multicolored. Her eyes were a deep magenta, and finally I noticed that she was a unicorn.

The Big Nurse put down her ledger and hurried over to her. "Ah, you must be Princess Celestia's student!" She immediately greeted her with a smile.

"Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle. And who might you be?"

"Nurse Ratched, I'm the head nurse on this ward."

Twilight returned her smile as the two of them paced over to the desk. I followed them with my eyes, trying my best to hear what they were saying. I was curious to why she was here, we almost never got visitors, and whenever we did they were just relatives of patients.

The name Princess Celestia barely registered in my head as I continued to eavesdrop on them, all the while dragging a mop across the slick floor. I remembered hearing that name a long time ago, before I was in here.

"Well, as I'm sure the Princess told you in her letter, I'm here to examine this hospital." Twilight stated as she turned back to the Big Nurse.

"Yes she did notify us of this, but I do wonder, why is she sending you? I would imagine she would have a government professional for tasks such as this."

"Normally yes, but since the amount of magic you use in your treatments the Princess thinks this would be a good learning experience for me. Though… I can't say I'm going to enjoy this…" Twilight mumbled with a slight frown.

"Yes well it can be very difficult for some… It's not easy seeing ponies such as these. Generally they're not dangerous, but there are all very unhealthy. I truly hope that one day I can fix each and everypony that comes in here…"

I could hear the synthetic tone in her voice, and the word 'fix' really struck out to me. I just went back to moping as I listened to their conversation.

Twilight looked around the room, her eyes resting on me for only a moment. I met her stare, and her face was so much different compared to all the other mare's I had seen for all these years. Her expression was one of compassion rather than the Big Nurse's apathetic look.

Her eyes darted away from me and back to the Big Nurse. "So, why don't you give me a tour of the building? I'll be staying here for the next week, and I'll be taking several interviews with some of the patients and staff. You know, to see how effective all this is."

"Oh course! Follow me this way, and afterwards you could interview me if you'd like. I am the administrator of this hospital after all…"

They went down a hallway and left my sight. I was just staring at the empty room for awhile, before finally I snapped back to my senses and returned to my work. Things were going to be different over the next week. That was for sure…