Two equines are locked in very seperate rooms of an old asylum. One, a female pegasus. Her name is Geanna, but to the orderly's she's known as "Giddy." The other, a male half-zebra. His name, Soujourner. Everyone refers to him as Soul. Neither of them are insane, but they can't prove it. Who would believe they were sane when they claimed to see things that weren't there? A massive commotion has gone on outside, causing the asylum to auto-release the doors and go into basically a shock-and-awe mode. Giddy takes her chance, and bolts out of her room, galloping down the hall.
The black. It was punctured. It was deflating. The balloon of darkness that always surrounded Sojourner was rapidly disappearing, a bright light in the form of a rectangle intruding upon his solitude. What... Is this? He wondered to himself. Are they coming to let me go? There were noises coming from outside, as if someone was angry. As if many someone'e were angry. Very angry. And breaking things. A cautious look through the doorway told Sojourner everything he needed to know. This isn't planned. Whether planned or not, he knew this would be his only chance to get out of this place, once and for all. To finally be free again, out under the stars and moon. Damn the visions and the whispers, it was worth it. Insuring no one was watching him, Sojourner made his way toward the large wooden double doors at the end of the hallway. Despite being wide enough for four or five ponies to walk side by side, it felt restraining, claustrophobic. As though the entire building was holding him in, away from what and where he wanted to be. I need to get out of this madhouse. The carpet below his hooves soften the sound of his footfalls as he moved through the corridors, doing his best to remain inconspicuous. He did his best to remember the layout of the building as he watched other's run by. Concerned with mayhem or controlling the chaos, it mattered not. These other's were in his way, and he had to escape, one way or another. He was surprised, then, when somepony careened into him, knocking him to the ground. "Gah! S-sorry..." He mumbled.
She mumbles something and grunts as she falls over, having bumped into another escaping pony. "I-I'm sorry. I just need to get out of here.." She stood up, shaking out her tangled mane, and offered a hoof up to the pony she knocked over. "I'm Geanna...you can call me Giddy...we should get out of here..."
Sojourner shook his head slightly, trying to clear the dizziness from his head. "I-I'm sorry. I just need to get out of here.." "Why are you saying sorry? I was the one in your way," Sojourner offered to her, looking up at the pony who had knocked him over. "Are you one of the 'Patient's' here too?" he asked, the word patient's coming out as a hiss of angry sarcasm as he took the offered hoof. "I'm Geanna...you can call me Giddy...we should get out of here..." "Geanna... My name is Sojourner." Sojourner looked around quizzically, regaining his bearing. "We're on the third floor of the building, I'm certain. The door's are down the double stairwell in the atrium. Unfortunately, if the guards are anything like I've seen of them, they've already done the obvious and sealed off the exits." A crash and a series of muffled voices could be heard from behind the pair, from the hallway Sojourner had just exited. Sojourner's brow furrowed, his eyes searching the air in front of him as he thought furiously. "I'm not sure what to do," He muttered.
"Are you one of the 'Patient's' here too?" "Yes, I-I am." Her eyes looked around, waiting for a guard to come around the corner. "Geanna... My name is Sojourner." "It's a pleasure. Do you know where we are?" She looked down the hall, then back. "We're on the third floor of the building, I'm certain. The door's are down the double stairwell in the atrium. Unfortunately, if the guards are anything like I've seen of them, they've already done the obvious and sealed off the exits." "That would make sense..." Gea turned towards the crash and voices, startled slightly. "I'm not sure what to do," "Right now...I think we should run in the other direction." Gea looked at Sojourner for a second, and started down the hall, opposite from the direction of the crash sound. (I apologize for my being gone so long. I've been sick.)
((No worries. You getting better is more important than a story. Besides, I take my time too. 'Tis a perfect speed for me. =3)) "Right now...I think we should run in the other direction." Sojourner, taken aback, looks behind himself to see three ponies in full gallop toward him. Their assortment of 'helpful devices' as they were known to Sojourner did not look at all inviting, or indeed helpful. "Right behind you!" Sojourner yelled, swiftly taking off after Geanna. The long, winding corridors of the asylum were confusing, and before long Sojourner could have sworn they were in the same place they had been not only minutes ago. Still, they were chased. Chased by these unknown ponies, holding them in this place for Celestia knew what reason. Sojourner tracked his vision back and forth across the hallway, his eyes with with fear and apprehension. Where to go, where to go...? Out. I need out. Away, and out. Escape. Where? Escape! WHERE? The hallway was long, and only two exits were visible. The one they had just come from, and the one that Sojourner knew with some strange clarity simply led back to his cell. Illusions and secrets, however, were his tricks of the trade. The walls behind the pair seemed to shift, the bricks slamming together in the middle of the hallway, cutting off their pursuer's. Flipping over a painting of the asylum owner on the wall, Sojourner found a small button. "Jackpot." A seam appeared in the wooden panel of wall, moving up from the floor molding to the middle of the wall. The seam then disappeared as the panel slid into a hidden alcove, opening a new passageway in the once two direction hallway. "Coming?" Sojourner asked Geanna, eyes still glazed over as he reacted instinctively to the situation. "There's no time to think!" ((Food for thought: The walls did not actually slam together. It's an illusion. The pursuer's will most likely figure this out in some short period of time, seeing as they will probably try to interact with it in some way.))
"Coming? There's no time to think!" Gea followed after Sojourner, a bit confused as to what had just happened. She saw the walls slam, but had they really? She put it out of her head and focused on running. "Where are we going? Where does this lead?" Gea asked this sounding bewildered. She looked around as they raced down the hall. It was grey in the passageway, and she could barely hear the ponies who had been chasing them. Even so, she knew they would come after them soon.
"Where are we going? Where does this lead?" "To be entirely honest, I have no clue where this goes... I just kind of... found it. It's something I'm good at," Sojourner admitted, his eyes downcast as he studied every bit of the ground he could. That crack on the left wall looks ominously familiar... "So," He began, awkwardly, "I suppose now is a better time for a proper introduction?" He slowed to a walk, not allowing his gaze to linger on Geanna for too long. His breathing was slowing down, finally: he had almost no time to keep himself fit. being locked in a cage for so many hours of the day had left him emaciated. "Call me Sojourner. I am a unicorn, as you can obviously see... I'm good with illusions, that's what you saw with the wall back there... completely fake. I'm a scholar, and fancy myself a Philosopher." He trailed his eyes over Geanna's hooves. "We should probably continue," Sojourner added hastily, before Geanna could speak. He picked up his pace. That crack again... I could swear its the same as the other...
