//------------------------------// // Labyrinth // Story: Dream Requiem // by FieryRecovery2 //------------------------------// Sunset Shimmer sighed as she checked her watch anxiously, tugging at her coat lapels to fend off the wind chills. According to her watch, she would arrive at Canterlot High fifteen minutes before Twilight did. She wasn't sure whether it was good or bad of telling Twilight the news of Windigos appearing in the city, but she figured at the time that it was better to be safe. At the intersection, she rubbed her arms to keep her warm when she saw two familiar faces walking down the sidewalk. As if a light switch flipped on, her heart ached with longing and her eyes immediately watered. It was amazing to see just how both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy could keep themselves happy what with everything going on. Then it dawned upon her. They were acting as if she never entered their lives. Immediately, Fluttershy looked up and made eye contact with Sunset. Then, any instance of friendliness or warmth that was in her face evaporated in an instant, leaving nothing behind but hatred and coldness. Sunset turned away and walked in the opposite direction, not even wanting to see Pinkie Pie's face. Actually, she ran, trying to quell the swelling heartache growing in her heart. She couldn't handle how the kindest of the Rainbooms looked at her in such disgust and hatred, as if she was a parasite in their lives. As the distance between her and Canterlot High grew closer, so did the roaring thoughts in her head. They screamed at her, yelled at her, throttle her without any mercy. The world around her was nothing more than white noise at this point and the cacophony of cars honking, music blaring, and people chattering soon became secondary to the toxicity of her thoughts. It's probably a scene to see, a girl running like she was crazy. But the emotions blaring in her head numbed her to judgment. After all, she was already being judged for a crime that she didn't commit. She slipped and fell on the sidewalk, pain erupting in her knee and shoulder. She stifled a scream with her good hand while she pulled herself up. Hobbling to the statue, she sank down to the ground and pulled her knees to her chest, trying to stop the sudden onslaught of tears trying to reach her face. Covering her ears to any possible noise, her breathing came out in a ragged pattern. Why was it so hard to stop her emotions from going out of control? She wasn't any stranger to hostility. No, she was desensitized. She was- "Hold her down! I said, hold her down!" -and nothing could affect her. She wasn't a regular human, she was a unicorn who was transformed into a human. And that also meant knowing the ins and outs of another world that was filled with creatures far beyond the human imagination. It's completely absurd to be worn down by the trifles of- "Oh my god! She's going into shock! Quick! Get the-!" -and it was absurd to think that- "Shh, Soleil. It's alright, honey, it was only a bad dream. I promise everything will be-" -Why were her thoughts cutting in and out? Why couldn't she concentrate? Everything felt so itchy, uncomfortable, and just, nothing but odd, odd, odd. She grimaced as she wriggled out of her position and clumsily climbed up the school's steps. It's a miracle that she even reached the door at all without falling and yet everything felt so uncomfortable, she wanted inside- "Easy, easy, she's still too sensitive. You did double-check the dosage, did you?" Pain. Pain Pain Pain PainPainPainPainHelpHelpHelpHelpNononononostopstopstopSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP "mm...s...st..." "Shh, easy, dear. You just had a nasty accident-" "Sunset? Sunset?" A hand to her bad shoulder made her yelp in pain and scramble back in foggy confusion. The blurry figure retracted in fear, looking at her warily. Her vision cleared, revealing the figure to be Flash Sentry. Usually, she didn't mind Flash's company at all, considering that he was one of the few people who actually believed in her. But her perceptions were blinded and world muddy, she shook like a Chihuahua, trying to compose herself. She could hear a couple of students snickering, but then the world was silent once more. "Sunset, it's okay," Flash knelt down, backing away so she could have some space. "It's just me, now. Are you, ah, waiting for someone?" "Twilight," She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm waiting for Twilight. Nobody else, sorry." "It's fine, it's fine," Flash smiled in response, offering a hand. "My hand's here in case if you need it. Can you stand?" "Y-Yeah," Sunset gave a shaky smile. "Thanks, Flash. I...I don't know what came over me, but I'll be fine in a moment." "Yeah, you'll be fine." Sunset froze at that icy tone and turned to see Twilight there, hands on hips and tapping her foot. Heart sinking, Sunset was smiling away sheepishly, looking between Flash and Twilight nervously. Her hands shook with cold and nervousness while a myriad of thoughts filtered into her brain again. She grimaced as Flash and Twilight began to talk. At least, that's what she'd thought they were doing. Once more, the world was going into static and she was sinking deeper, deeper, d e e p e r . . . "Soleil." "Soleil." "Soleil." Ah, she was back here again. So, this was more than just a lucid dream, it seems. Now that she was here, her head cleared a little. Her emotions were kept at bay while the world became more than just static. As she opened her eyes to the dark blue ceiling of Soleil's room, she closed them while taking in the world around her. The faint chirp of the birds outside, the warm feeling of the sun rays on her face and a soft humming buzzing in her ears. "Ugh," Sunset reopened her eyes again. "Miss Halliwell?" "Oh, Soleil," Nurse Halliwell's voice wavered. "Thank goodness you're awake." "What happened?" "Well," Nurse Halliwell wringed her hands in worry. "You were feeling fine and then, you had a severe episode that might've been the reaction to some medicine spiked in your drink." Her face twisted in disgust as she recalled the incident. "I cannot believe that someone would do this to a girl like you. For someone to do this to a sweet girl like you, why if I'd been there..." The sentence devolved into grumblings and Sunset felt a swell of gratitude towards Nurse Halliwell. It was a long time since an adult actually cared about her well-being like this. It made her nostalgic for a time where Princess Celestia gave her a lot of comfort whenever she was upset. She smiled as she looked outside where butterflies were flittering about and the birds were chirping, working on their nest. The grass shone a beautiful bright green while the sky was a pale blue with the sparse smattering of fluffy white clouds. She opened her window just a little and caught the scent of fresh dew in the air. "Ah, Soleil," Nurse Halliwell appeared at her side suddenly. "Be careful when you're opening the window! Luckily, it's opened just so nobody tumbles down from the windows from one of the upper floors." She gently pressed against the window. "Ah, that's good. It looks secure and stable enough, so there would be no accidents." When she turned to see Sunset's confusion written on the face, she blinked before seemingly remembering the person standing before her. "I apologize, Soleil. I wanna make sure you're safe in this place. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I just want to make sure you're alright." "It's...fine," Sunset replied, not used to such worry from an adult. "It's from a good place. You don't have to apologize." "Alright," Nurse Halliwell huffed out a smile. "But please tell me in advance whenever you want to open a window, alright?" "Alright, alright." Nurse Halliwell nodded and turned around, bending to write down something on her notepad. It was most likely medication notes or daily schedule notes. Temptation poked her to peek at the notes but she decided against it, looking at the drawings on the wall. Instead of Twilight and the Rainbooms, these were landscapes. One was of the Everfree Forest, another was the grounds of Canterlot Castle, and the last one was of Canterlot High School. Her fingers involuntarily brushed against the top layer of the paper. The faint scent of papery shavings reached her nose and she sneezed. "Bless you." Nurse Halliwell's voice echoed in the background. She giggled, said her thanks, and continued her observations. It was so intricate, right down to the faded bricks and the chip in the statue. Soleil either had a powerful imagination, building from the references of her surroundings, or the magic inside of Sunset was reacting to something inside of Soleil's body. The Windigo inflicting the wound on her was an obvious bridge. 'The question is why,' Sunset rubbed her chin thoughtfully. 'It's obvious that the Windigo would target me, being that I'm magical and everything, but why would it also target this random girl? Is it because she looks similar to me? Or maybe... there might be something else at play. Something dangerous.' "Soleil," Nurse Halliwell called. "Here. It's time to take your medicine." Sunset startled at that. Aside from a few pain relievers from when she was sick, she didn't need to take medicine at all. Then she remembered that she was technically not Sunset in this world, she was someone else. And the owner of this body was a person who needed to take the medicine provided. Reluctantly, she walked over to the nurse and observed the pills given. A feeling of distaste rose within her gut as she observed the tiny yellow and red pills in her hand. "Well," Sunset sighed. "Here goes nothing." She gulped the pills down and felt woozy. Was the magic being countered by the pills? Was it the effects of the Windigo? The answers were still unclear. She felt her knees buckle a little and decided to get some rest. Nurse Halliwell must have sensed, or even had an inkling, of what was happening because she helped Sunset get into bed. Sunset felt the coolness of both the blanket and pillow and smiled involuntarily. "Rest up, Soleil," Nurse Halliwell whispered. "You'll need it for tomorrow. You'll have visitors." "So, then..." "Yeah, that's right..." "What do we do?" Sunset awoke to the same cool pillow and bedsheets, but there was the faintest hint of antiseptic in the air. So, this must've been the nurse's office, which meant she was inside the school with Twilight and Flash. Opening her eyes, she was relieved, and a little groggy, to find the nurse's office dim with only the light outside serving as company. Humming a little, she slowly sat up to find Flash and Twilight talking in hushed whispers. There was only one guess as to what they were talking about. A clearing of her throat alerted them to her awakening. "Sunset," Twilight gasped, rushing towards her. "Sunset, are you alright?" "Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Sunset smiled. "Seems like you're not as mad as you were before." "Well, I should be," Twilight grumbled. "Considering the condition that you're in despite you claiming that you're alright. You should be thanking Flash for his involvement, otherwise I wouldn't be letting you off the hook for lying to me." Her face was filled with slight bags and faint worry lines. "But I suppose that my wrath should be saved for other deserving persons." Her face screwed with disgust. "Like those Rainbooms! I never thought that they'd stoop so low to make you helpless against..." "Easy, Twilight," Sunset soothed. "You shouldn't let your anger get the best of you." Now that she was up again and without the troubling thoughts in her head, her rationale was strengthened. "Look, I understand that they've made a major mistake in taking the easy route, but letting your anger overcome your logic would lend way to the mistakes that they've made." "Sunset's right, Twilight," Flash nodded. "First things first is to find the real culprits of Anon-a-Miss. The whole school's been torn apart because of Anon-a-Miss to the point where the only thing that they'll unite about is hurting Sunset." He threw an encouraging glance at Sunset, who smiled back gratefully. "Then, maybe we can work on a solution to stop these Windigos. Do we have any lead on Anon-a-Miss so far?" "Well," Sunset tapped the bed thoughtfully. "Apart from me, the only ones that were at the sleepovers were the Rainbooms. But the question is: Would they really do something like this just to get back at me?" "If they were willing to leave you to the rest of Canterlot High School, then they would be capable of anything," Twilight said with a fierce tenacity. "In fact, it would be more plausible that they would do something like this because they are protected by the Elements of Harmony." She stood up and paced around. "But who among the Rainbooms would create Anon-a-Miss, just to get back at you, I wonder?" "Remember what I said, Twilight," Sunset chided gently. "As to who among them, it seems that your best bet would be three suspects: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy." "Fluttershy," Flash Sentry choked out. "Why her out of all people? She's the kindest person that I know!" "Because out of all of them, she and Rarity have the most reason to have grudges against me," Sunset frowned, recalling. "A reminder to all of us, however, that we don't have evidence to condemn them of being Anon-a-Miss yet." "Alright," Twilight nodded. "Now, onto a bigger topic that's been troubling me: your wound." She frowned. "How did you get that wound, Sunset?" She pointed to Sunset's shoulder. "From what I can infer, you either got it from the Windigo or from a person here in this school." Her eyes flashed to Flash Sentry, who flinched. "So, tell me, Sunset. How. Did. You. Get. This." "From the Windigo," Sunset replied blandly. "When I was walking back to my apartment, a lone Windigo got me." She began to rub her shoulder when Twilight stopped her. "It's odd. Don't Windigos usually travel in packs?" "They do, but there might be a couple of stragglers that travel by their lonesome," Twilight frowned. "Well, it's not much, but these types of wounds usually go away on their own in a couple of weeks. But there might be some lingering side-effects." A flash that Sunset couldn't decipher shone in her eyes. "Do you feel any side effects, Sunset?" "No. No, I don't." Was it foolish to keep quiet about the other world to Twilight and Flash? Yes. Yes, it was to some extent. However, if she was to tell them, it would only complicate matters further. They had more than enough to deal with concerning Anon-a-Miss and the appearance of the Windigos. Besides, she had a feeling that the world that Soleil resided in had more mysteries, secrets, and a sinister air that she needed further investigation on. As the trio were talking amongst each other in hushed whispers, Sunset felt a small soul trembling in her, begging for help.