//------------------------------// // Welcome Home (Sanitarium) // Story: Sleepless // by Samey90 //------------------------------// Diamond Tiara looked around curiously. The bright pastel walls were probably supposed to make the visitors happy, but for her it didn’t work. Everypony she’d met since she’d arrived there in the morning was treating her with that distinctive kind of affability that is taught in the medical schools; the one which everyone can easily see as fake, but they believe in it anyway. The weather outside was sunny – it was one of the hottest summers in Equestria’s history and ponies in Trottingham were enjoying it, walking around the old town, chatting happily. Diamond Tiara, however, didn’t notice them; she’d walked the whole distance from the railway station to the hospital watching the pavement beneath her hooves, lost in her thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d done. When she’d realised that she hadn’t killed Silver Spoon she’d cheered up a bit, but when she’d been lying in her bed, struck by flu, she’d gotten the news that had almost killed her. Twist and Alula were missing. Worse, Alula had gone missing somewhere over the Everfree Forest. Their bodies weren’t found yet, but, after over a week of searching, almost everypony in town considered them dead. Diamond Tiara tried to remember Alula’s face, but she got nothing. She knew Twist well; it was hard to forget somepony so… original. But when she tried to recall how Alula looked like, she had nothing. The only thing she remembered was a Hearts and Hooves Day card, lying forgotten somewhere in her room. What was constantly bugging Diamond Tiara during the sleepless nights when she was recovering from the flu, was how pointless were the deaths of Alula and Twist. Alula was just a small pegasus lost in the forest; her only fault was that instead of somepony who’d help her, she’d encountered Diamond Tiara who, by some figment of a diseased imagination, mistook her as Scootaloo. Not to mention Twist. Twist, who, as Diamond Tiara knew, was always so kind for Silver Spoon. In fact, Twist was one of the kindest ponies in Ponyville and that was probably what killed her – she’d seen Diamond Tiara going somewhere during the storm and followed her, only to be killed and dumped in the swamp. Sometimes, when she had a fever, Diamond Tiara could see the glimpses of what had happened on that night in the Everfree Forest. Sometimes they were parts of the hallucination she’d had, sometimes they were blurry fragments of what had really happened. Diamond Tiara couldn’t tell what was worse. Now, when she recovered from the flu, she could finally go to Trottingham, to the Mental Clinic for Foals led by Dr. Midline Shift. It was located in a large, modern building on the town outskirts, surrounded by a park. As soon as Filthy Rich said goodbye to her and left the hospital, she lay down on her bed and started to think. She didn’t remember what she’d exactly done with the bodies, but she knew that sooner or later someone would find them. Would they connect her with her crimes? She remembered throwing the knife away, but there was always a chance that it’d be found too. She looked around the room. Two nightstands, two chairs, a table and two beds were all its furniture. There was a large window with a view to the park. Diamond Tiara knew that it was impossible to break the glass; the staff didn’t want to risk the patients hurting themselves. When she arrived to that room, the nurse told her that her roommate should come to her soon. Diamond Tiara looked at the opposite wall and saw a photo taped to it, just above the bed. It depicted an orange unicorn filly with a short, green mane, smiling impishly at the camera. She was about seven years old and had no cutie mark. Diamond Tiara thought that she looked a bit like a carrot. She looked at the photo once again and something about it struck her; not the filly herself, but rather the place the photo was taken: the filly was resting nonchalantly on a coffin, surrounded by scattered pieces of granite. I guess we’ll get on well with each other… Diamond Tiara thought. She got out of bed and walked outside of the room. The corridors and halls of the hospital were spacious and well-lit. She didn’t walk for long before she met another patient. The first thing she noticed about the filly in front of her were her big, dark green eyes. She had pale yellow coat and orange mane, braided in a fashion similar to Silver Spoon. She also had lots of freckles. Her cutie mark depicted two theatre masks. “Hello,” she said cheerfully. “My name’s Curtain Call. Are you new here?” “Yes,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I’m Diamond Tiara. I was just looking around…” “Yeah… Nice place, don’t you think?” Curtain Call looked at the nearby wall. “Some kids want to go home as soon as they feel better, but I really like it.” “Well, I’d rather be in Ponyville too…” Diamond Tiara muttered. She started to wonder why Curtain Call didn’t ask her why she was there. Maybe it was a taboo? “Oh, you’re from Ponyville?” Curtain Call smiled, showing her perfectly white teeth. “I’ve been there once with my mom. I really liked the forest...” “Yeah, we love it too…” Diamond Tiara deadpanned. Something about Curtain Call’s smile seemed unnatural. “You know, we’re preparing the pageant for Hearth’s Warming Eve,” Curtain Call said. “I’ll be Smart Cookie! We’re still looking for someone to play Chancellor Puddinghead… If you could…” “Sorry, but I don’t think I’d stay here till December,” Diamond Tiara replied. “Also, isn’t that a little too early? You know, it’s not even July…” Curtain Call’s expression didn’t change even a little bit. “Too bad…” she said. “I think it’s better to start the preparations early – I have more time to make everything perfect…” Diamond Tiara nodded. Just like Curtain Call, she appreciated perfection. “You know, I can always help you with the scenography,” she said. Before Curtain Call could reply, they heard trotting and one of the nurses, who’d earlier introduced herself to Diamond Tiara as Charming Heart, approached them. Diamond Tiara didn’t like the look on her face. “Curtain Call!” the nurse exclaimed. “What did I tell you about sneaking out of the secure unit?” Curtain Call stopped smiling. She shuddered visibly, her lip quivering. “But it’s always so boring there! Why can’t I go out and play with the other kids?” Charming Heart sighed. Diamond Tiara looked at her and, to her surprise, noticed that the nurse was also at the verge of tears. “I’ll talk with Dr. Shift about that,” she said dryly, “but now you must go with me.” “But I don’t want to!” Curtain Call shouted. “Curtain Call, please…” The nurse sat next to her and patted her mane gently. “I don’t want to do anything against your will, but if you keep refusing, I’ll have to call the doctors…” Curtain Call froze. “No!” she cried. “Not the doctors!” “Will you come with me?” Charming Heart asked. “Y-yes…” Charming Call muttered reluctantly. They both walked away, leaving Diamond Tiara alone on the corridor. “What the hay…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “Girl, she’s crazy…” somepony behind her said, prolonging the vowels in a peculiar manner. Diamond Tiara jumped, startled, and looked back. At first she wanted to run away – it seemed to her that Pipsqueak came back to life and came there to tease her. However, when she blinked, she saw that the colt in front of her wasn’t even remotely similar to him. “I see you’ve met Curtain Call,” he said in a slow, sad voice. His appearance matched it – grey coat, black mane and half-closed eyes were giving an impression that he was constantly tired. “What’s wrong with her?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Haven’t you heard?” The colt gave out a small chuckle. He shot nervous glances around before continuing, “It was a big news a year ago in Manehattan. Y’know, usually she’s perfectly normal, but sometimes she flips–” He waved his hoof. “–and then she ain’t nice anymore. During one of her attacks she murdered her parents and then, as if nothing happened, went to the rehearsal of her theatre group. Y’know, massacre, she came there covered in blood from head to hooves and began reciting Smart Cookie’s lines. Cool stuff. I bet her classmates shit themselves…” Diamond Tiara stopped listening to him. For her, there was nothing “cool” about Curtain Call’s story. She couldn’t help but think how much it resembled her own. Will I also end up like this? Sneaking out of the ward just to talk to somepony? “Listen…” She realised that she didn’t know the colt’s name. “How’s the secure unit?” “Don’t even speak that name!” Suddenly, the colt lowered his voice to a whisper. “They only wait to put someone They don’t like there…” Diamond Tiara was sure that it was “they” with capital “t”. “”You’d better watch out,” the colt continued. “If they give you any pills, don’t take them. I know how to hide them; I can teach you. I hide them under the loose tile under my bed...” He looked around and chuckled nervously. “Watch out for the sockets – there are cameras and microphones in them. And watch out for the food…” “What?” Diamond Tiara looked at the colt carefully. Maybe Curtain Call had killed her parents, but she seemed more normal than him. “Sometimes They take someone,” the colt whispered, “then they remove their brain and add it to the food.” Diamond Tiara rose her eyebrows. “How do you know?” “I once ate Sunshine Rainbows’ brain and I could hear her thoughts,” the colt explained. “Believe me, punk, if ya could hear my thoughts, ya’d jump outta the window and finally stop pissin’ me off,” another voice said. Diamond Tiara lifted her head and saw an orange filly – the same she’d seen in the photo in her room. She was slightly older than in the picture – probably a bit older than Diamond Tiara – but she still had no cutie mark. She approached them and glared at the colt angrily. “Also, last time I checked, my brain was in its place,” she said. “Stop scaring the new kids and get lost or…” “Or what?” the colt asked bluntly. “Or I’ll tell the shrinks that ya don’t take yer meds and ya’ll end up in the secure unit where ya belong…” “You won’t dare…” the colt’s voice faltered. “Wanna bet?” The colt shot her a nasty glare and walked away muttering something under his breath. “What a dweeb…” the orange filly muttered. “By the way, name’s Sunshine Rainbows.” “Diamond Tiara. I think we’ll be roommates…” “Cool.” Sunshine’s voice was devoid of any trace of emotion. “Why’re ya here?” “Nothing big… I just can’t sleep,” Diamond Tiara replied. “How about you?” “At least ya won’t snore…” Sunshine muttered. “About me… Well…” She lifted her foreleg and showed it to Diamond Tiara who shuddered: the inner side of her forearm was covered in scars. Some of them were old, some of them quite fresh. “Don’t look at me like that... If I wanted to kill myself, I’d do it along the way, not across the street.” Sunshine chuckled. “Why did you do that?” Diamond Tiara asked. They walked to their room and sat on their beds. “To make my parents stop thinkin’ only about their coffins and gravestones…” Sunshine replied, smiling at the photo on the wall. “Really, they pay more attention to those stiffs who are their clients than to me. Even when I bleed like a pig on a griffonian party they prefer to just drop me here for a couple of weeks…” “Sounds terrible…” Diamond Tiara said. “Meh, it’s not that bad. I actually like this place. Y’know, there are some little shits here, like this guy ya talked to, but the rest of the kids is cool. They like to tell stories and I like stories… The sadder the better. I guess that’s just how I roll...” Sunshine Rainbows looked at Diamond Tiara curiously. “What’s yer story, Diamond?” Diamond Tiara hesitated. She didn’t know if she could trust her. Sunshine Rainbows seemed okay, but she was a blank flank. Not to mention that she was cutting herself, which Diamond Tiara found gross. But, on the other hoof, killing other ponies was probably even worse. “Well, I’m from Ponyville…” she started. “Ohh…” Sunshine smirked. It looked even worse than her usual, deadpan expression. “I heard about those foals that went missing there… Somethin’ about the DJ eating them? Dunno. Is that why you can’t sleep?” “No, it started earlier…” Diamond Tiara replied reluctantly. “But it got worse since then…” “Nothing weird…” Sunshine Rainbows nodded. “So, yer parents decided to send ya to the old Midline Shift?” “My mom is dead…” Diamond Tiara said. “Listen, can we talk about something else?” “Oh, sorry…” Sunshine muttered. “I guess ya feel bad about those kids… Were they your friends?” “Kinda,” Diamond Tiara replied. She looked at Sunshine and noticed that her vision started to blur around the edges. She grabbed the frame of her bed, shivering slightly. “Diamond Tiara?” Sunshine looked at her unsurely. “Equestria to Diamond Tiara! Are ya okay?” Diamond Tiara’s vision sharpened. “Y-yes,” she replied. “I must’ve zoned out…” “Yeah, I see…” Sunshine chuckled. “For a moment I thought ya wanted to murder me like that actress from the secure unit…” Diamond Tiara froze. Does she know? she thought. “Curtain Call? I’ve met her earlier…” “Oh, she ran away again? Crap, I always miss the show… What did she do this time? Once they tried to let her out of the secure unit. She lasted a day, then this happened...” Sunshine Rainbows brushed away hair from her face, revealing a small scar. “Chair’s leg. Luckily I saw it coming. I wasn’t good at controlling my magic back then and I almost killed the poor girl…” She sighed. “Maybe it’d be better for her… Since then they don’t risk letting her out…” “This time she did nothing…” Diamond Tiara replied. “She just wanted me to play the part of Chancellor Puddinghead in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant…” “Oh, this…” Suddenly, Sunshine Rainbows frowned. “Y’know, Diamond, I’ve seen lots of creepy shit here, but she always makes me…” For a while, she looked for a right word, then she wiped her eyes. “Y’know, the doctors said that she’s, like, in a complete denial. She killed her parents and she still talks how they’ll come to see her playing in that stupid pageant… She’s still learning her part… But… but she doesn’t know that her parents are gone… And there’s no pageant… And when Hearth’s Warming Eve comes, she just brushes it off and waits another year… but there’s still no pageant...” Diamond Tiara lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Will I also wait for something that will never happen? Will I spend whole years preparing for it? Refusing to acknowledge the fact that there’s no pageant? Somepony knocked on the door. Sunshine Rainbows opened it. “Good afternoon, Ms. Charmin’ Heart,” she said. “Hello, Sunshine. Diamond Tiara, doctor Shift wants to see you. We’re going to monitor your brain waves during the night with the EEG.” Diamond Tiara got up. “So, I won’t be sleeping here tonight?” “No,” Charming Heart replied. “But tomorrow you can join your friend…” Friend? I wouldn’t call her that… Diamond Tiara thought, trotting dutifully behind the nurse. It’d been two weeks since Alula and Twist had disappeared. The summer was hot; even the ponies guarding the streets hid in the nooks, waiting for the sun to set. Vinyl took a sip of her beer and looked at the small pegasus filly flying just above the ground, buzzing her wings like a hummingbird. “What’s up, Zip?” she asked. “How’s your dad?” “Hello, auntie! He’s okay, thanks,” Zippoorwhill replied. “Have you seen Nano? I can’t find him anywhere…” “This little dog of yours? I’ve seen him somewhere there,” Vinyl replied, pointing at the nearby street. Suddenly, someone next to her cleared her throat. “What’s going on, Berry?” Vinyl asked coldly. She noticed how Berry was looking at her and Zippoorwhill, simultaneously trying not to look at the beer Vinyl was holding. “Zip, you’d better go and find Nano. And remember, don’t go too far away…” Zippoorwhill flew away. She could never understand what Berry Punch wanted from auntie Vinyl. She only knew that it had something to do with all those ponies who’d suddenly disappeared. “Nano!” she called. There was no answer. The street was leading her to the Ponyville outskirts. In fact, Vinyl wasn’t her aunt. However, she was an old friend of her father – they’d worked together on some album. Zippoorwhill’s father had never let her listen to it, but she’d done it anyway when he’d been in Canterlot. She didn’t exactly like it – her father’s guitar and Vinyl’s beats sounded good together, but the vocalist who performed with them used way too many bad words for her liking. Even though she was far away, she could still hear Vinyl and Berry arguing. Berry was talking about why Vinyl shouldn’t be allowed to even look at foals, while Vinyl kept telling her how dumb she was. Zippoorwhill didn’t understand them; Vinyl was always good for her, why shouldn’t they meet? She was flying above the meadow, calling her dog. It was slowly getting darker; Zippoorwhill looked at the sky and thought about what Vinyl had told her. She took a glance at the town behind her and decided to go home – Nano would surely come back. He was always coming back. Suddenly, she heard barking coming from the forest in front of her. “Nano?” she called unsurely. The only answer was more barking. She darted forward. Although it was a while since she’d learned to fly, she still had some problems with manoeuvring, so she slowed down to avoid hitting a tree. “Nano? Where are you?” she asked, searching frantically through the bushes. She looked around and shuddered; she was quite deep in the forest and she could barely see the outline of the town behind her. She found a small clearing and landed on it. She didn’t like that place – there was a swamp nearby and its smell was unbearable. The ground was moist; soon after landing Zippoorwhill fell knee-deep in mud, so she decided to take off again. She heard barking again, this time close to her. She also noticed some background noise; it sounded like buzzing of an insect, but it was louder. Zippoorwhill shuddered when she thought about a swarm of bees that could be there. “Nano?” She looked forward and saw the small terrier in front of her. “There you are!” The dog was dirty – nothing unusual since he’d walked all the way through the forest. He was barking and growling, attacking some object lying in the mud. “Nano! Leave it!” Zippoorwhill ordered. She approached the dog, taking a leash she had with her. She caught Nano and took the object he was munching out of his teeth. “Eww…” She winced and threw it on the ground. “Why’d you eat that rotting piece of meat…” Suddenly she froze and looked at her hoof. Some meat and feathers stuck to it. She wanted to wipe it, but she couldn’t take her gaze away from it. Although the feathers were ragged and dirty, she could still see their original colour. She’d recognise that shade of yellow everywhere. “No…” she whispered, her eyes wide in horror. “No, please…” Slowly, she turned her gaze away from her hoof and looked at the swamp in front of her. Or rather at the two swollen, grotesque shapes emerging from it, surrounded by swarms of flies. “Alula… Twist... No…” she muttered, her throat dry. The smell of the swamp was assaulting her nostrils; she could feel the taste of bile in her mouth. She backed away slowly, still looking at the swamp. When she felt that she reached the bushes, she turned back and flew away as fast as she could, not caring about the trees or loose branches. All she wanted was to get out of there, screaming and crying, and hide somewhere to forget what she’d seen. Finally, she left the forest and crashed into the ground, releasing Nano from her grasp. She barely noticed when Vinyl, alarmed by the dog running through the town, barking like crazy, approached her, helping her up. “What happened?” she asked, panting heavily. Zippoorwhill told her. She was clenching her eyelids shut, trying to get rid of the picture of the swamp from her head; to just forget it. Forgetting was always so easy… Never before forgetting was so hard for Zippoorwhill.