//------------------------------//
// Brain Drain 
// Story: Dream Requiem 
// by FieryRecovery2 
//------------------------------//

She could hear the crunch of ice cracking beneath her boots as she walked on the sidewalk. The streetlights shone down on her with a faint orange glow. There was a faint smell of peppermint in the air as the road bustled with honking cars, buzzing streetlamps, and loud laughter from other people. Despite the liveliness that surrounded her, she was heartbroken and the bitter cold that nipped at her did not help matters at all. 

"You're not our friend!" 

It all started with a sleepover at Applejack's house. She was so excited because she'd never been to a sleepover before. And the Rainbooms were so surprised about that revelation. So, they invited her to a sleepover and Applejack even gave her the title of honorary Apple family member. Her heart warmed at that proposal and heartily agreed. For the next two days, there was nothing to break apart her bubble of happiness. 

"You're a no-good secret stealer!" 

Then, the gossip blog known as Anon-a-Miss appeared on Mystable. It had only one blog post and that too about Applejack and her childhood nickname. It garnered many a mocking giggle at Applejack's expense, but nobody thought to even give a reason to suspect her for creating the blog. But then, the Spring Fling debacle was posted on Anon-a-Miss shortly after. The Rainbooms asked her if she lost her phone. When she answered no, all Tartarus broke loose right there and then. 

"We offered you friendship and you stabbed us in the back!" 

They were dead-set on making her the villainess in this scenario. No matter how much she begged and pleaded for them to believe her, they were stubbornly making it clear that she was the mastermind behind Anon-a-Miss, no questions asked. All she could do was watch in tears as they walked away from her in disgust. That would be bad enough, but a large crowd just amassed to see what the hullabaloo was all about. 

"Yer nothin' but a rotten, good-fer-nothin' snake!" 

Immediately, everyone jumped at the opportunity to rake her on the coals. For the next few days, it was nothing but taunts, jeers, and the occasional shove into the locker. It wasn't unbearable at first, but then the attacks escalated. It got so horrible that she opted to stay in the Principal's office for most of her school day. Thank the Heavens that Principal Celestia was nice enough to lend the office. But that didn't stop the heartbreak of being a pariah once more. 

"It'd be better if you got out of our lives once and for all!" 

She talked to Twilight in bits and pieces about this whole situation and the princess responded that she believed in her. The reply alone was enough to renew a bit of hope in her. She met the Rainbooms at the Sweet Shoppe, spoke with them so the girls knew that she was innocent, that she was being framed. Admittedly, she didn't know who framed her, but Twilight believed in her. That was good enough, right? Right? She winced as the cold pierced the sting of her wounded cheek. 

"Stay strong and find your family." 

She clenched her fists as she remembered the last words that Twilight left her before exhaling a heavy sigh. Family. A word. To Sunset, finding family didn't matter as much anymore. She was cast out like a leper, a pariah. She had no place anymore. Sure, there was her apartment. But she didn't belong in Canterlot High School nor did she belong in Equestria. 

'So where do I belong in this world?' 

She looked up only to find that she was in a different place than her intended destination. She was in one of the local parks, where it was heavily deserted. The trees were barren, the grass dried and crunchy under her feet, and the streetlights were flickering in the distance. Oops. She was too preoccupied in her emotional thoughts. That never happened before. Now the air was thickly condensing to fog. A sickening chill ran down her spine. She wasn't safe here. 

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" 

A sickeningly sweet voice wafted in-and-out of her ears. She turned around to see a tall figure looming over her cloaked in a dirty mixture of white and gray. Two hollow sockets leered at her while a wide grin containing sharp teeth split its face. Then it reached out a large, bony hand at her complete with sharp nails. Sunset shakily stepped back in shock and fear as she just gaped at this ominous presence. 

"Ah. A unicorn in a human body. My, my, my, what a delectable surprise."

"A-Ah," Sunset gasped from a combination of cold and fear. "A Windigo!" 

"Now, now, now," The Windigo purred mockingly. "I do have a name, dearie. But, I suppose it doesn't matter. You will become a delightful meal all the same." 

Breaking free of the shock that paralyzed her, Sunset wasted no time in turning on her heel and booking it to her apartment building. She could hear her heart thumping in her ears as she sprinted towards safety. She grit her teeth as she felt the hot putrid breath of the Windigo wafting near her neck. Tears spilled from her eyes as she felt the sharp point of its nail graze at the back of her neck. Her apartment building neared now and she used all of her adrenaline to pick up speed. 

"Come on, come on," She panted. "I'm almost there." 

Her fingers fumbled when she tried fishing out her keys out of her bag, knowing that she was near death's door. She began to push the key into the lock when she felt a piercing pain on her right shoulder. Turning around, her eyes widened and her breath hitched as the Windigo loomed over her like an angel of death. Luckily, the door opened and she raced inside, into a warm lobby that smelt of slightly stale coffee. She fell onto the carpeted floor and turned to see the Windigo hissing in pain. 

"I will come back for you! Just you wait! I will come back for you!" 

She could only watch as the Windigo vanished before her eyes, trying to catch her breath. Her shoulder throbbed with pain and she felt dizzy. Her legs were aching and she felt exhaustion creep up slowly, like a slow-growing vine. But she was alive. That was enough for now. She slowly gathered herself, double-checking the contents of her bag, putting her keys back, and slowly heading for her apartment. Sunset grimaced as her legs wobbled unsteadily to the elevator and the pain increased. 

"Ugh," She whimpered. "It hurts. It hurts so bad." 

She managed to reach her apartment somehow and nearly collapsed in bed. Glancing down at her wound, she hissed. That wound was bleeding a grotesque mixture of dark-blue and purplish-red. She felt the chill of the ice slither down her back as slow as it could. She winced as she hobbled her way into the bathroom, looking for the first-aid kit. Her mind traveled down the list of things that she needed to write to Twilight. Then, a single thought stopped her in her tracks. 

'Am I allowed to speak my mind about this,' The thought whispered in her ears. 'After all, this is my word against her friends.' 

Wincing as she applied the antiseptic on the wound, she found herself sighing in defeat. There was no use in trying. Twilight was busy with her duties as a princess. This was probably small-time drama to her. Besides, she would panic at the mention of a Windigo on the loose. Sunset frowned. No, Twilight needed to know about the Windigo. It was a magical emergency in a place that didn't deal with the supernatural all that often. 

After brushing her teeth and changing into her pajamas, she rubbed at her wound before writing down to Twilight in sparse sentences as to not put pressure on her wounded shoulder. Afterwards, she settled down to an uneasy sleep, unaware that the moon shone a little too brightly. 





She felt groggy when she awoke. Her head throbbed intensely and her mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. Her body was filled with dull aches and exhaustion held her like a heavy weight. For a moment, she wondered if she died and went to hell. Then, she remembered that she would be going to Tartarus considering her soul was that of a unicorn. Also, thinking about such heavy thoughts made her headache worse. Was this the side effect of the Windigo wound? 

'Ow. Right. Thinking makes the headache worse.' 

She resolved to slowly open her eyes and see where she was because, as her senses returned to her, the room that she was in wasn't the room that she slept in last night. The smell wasn't that of old paper and weak coffee; instead, the sterile stench of antiseptic and cleaning fluid permeated the air, which greatly worried her. Why was she in a hospital room? The light that hung overhead pierced her retinas and made her wince. Luckily, that pain didn't last long and she was greeted with a sterile white ceiling with a weak iridescent light. 

She slowly sat up and looked around the room, confused. The room that she was greeted with was nothing but white, white and white. White tiles, white walls, a white door with a window, and a large window complete with translucent blinds. As her brain took in her surroundings, she held in her panic. After all, she could have been lucid dreaming and this was a tad more pleasant than what she usually dreamed about. 

'I wonder.' 

She looked down and found that she was wearing faded blue pajamas underneath a thin cotton blanket. As she studied her appearance, she noticed that her arm had skin color akin to that of Applejack. A strand of hair revealed it to be a cherry red with golden streaks. Her nails were nicely painted in colors of blue and gold, but the nail beds were left to be desired. There were little scars that dotted the arms, which worried her. What kind of lucid dream was this that she would have scars? This was not normal, that's for sure. 

"Ah, you're awake," A voice floated in her ears. "That's good." 

Sunset turned to the door where a young woman dressed in nurse scrubs beamed at her. She looked to be in her twenties. Her brown hair was tied in a bun and her kind brown eyes contrasted perfectly with her pale skin. Sunset let out a sigh. The woman reminded her of Twilight in a weird way. Her breath hitched and tears sprung to her eyes at the thought of Twilight. She clutched the blanket and tried to hide her tears. It wouldn't do to cry even in a lucid dream. She had to remain strong. A deep breath and a gulp was all that she needed to regain her strength. She looked up and saw that the nurse wince in some mixture of sympathy and compassion. 

"Hey, it's okay," The nurse smiled as she moved closer to Sunset. "Did you have a bad dream? Do you want some water?" 

Sunset winced as she held her throat. For some inexplicable reason, her throat felt dry and sore. The nurse seemed to take the hint and quickly poured a glass of water without a single spill. Sunset accepted the glass and felt the cool rush of water. She guzzled the glass down and panted, shivering as now she was aware of the cold seeping in the room. The nurse picked up on this and moved towards another end of the room, turning up a thermostat just a bit. 

"T...Thank you," Sunset stuttered. "W...Where...Who...?" Her voice wasn't working as well as she wanted to. 

"I'm Nurse Halliwell and you're in the medical room at St. Amestris psychiatric hospital," The nurse recited. Sunset frowned. "We brought you in here after you had a nasty fainting spell following an episode." 

Sunset swallowed as she absorbed the information presented to her. Ah, so she was lucid dreaming that she was someone else who was committed to a psychiatric hospital. It certainly was different from what she was used to dreaming. Of course, that didn't mean that this dream was all that pleasant. Sure, Nurse Halliwell was kind enough, but being inside a psychiatric facility wasn't exactly a pleasant place to dream of all things considering. 

"Ugh," Sunset swallowed. "I feel tired." 

"I'll get the doctor right away." 

It was the last thing that Sunset heard before the darkness covered her like a blanket. It was a pity, she thought, for she had not gotten her other self's name.