The Valley

She felt the cool breeze on her face as she stood on the porch. Looking up at the sky, she breathed in, taking in the cool evening air. The sun was setting, the few clouds surrounding it glowed pink and orange. She could see the beautiful gradient fading from the yellow of the sun to the purple of the night.

She walked up the the sidewalk and took a few breathes.

"Inhale and exhale. Three times, just like always." She started jogging, her townhouse slowly fading behind her. She jogged every night, even when it rained.

Normally she takes her usual route, from her house all the way to the café. Lately, she's needed to make some adjustments as one of the roads was under construction. No biggy though, as it only added an extra mile. Besides, she liked passing by Canterlot High at night. She's been trying to figure out why the lights were left on. Nobody is there that late, so why leave them on? It's only wasting energy.

She took a turn out of the neighborhood and saw the school in the distance. She quickened her pace to a light sprint, being careful as to not look suspicious.

As she neared the schoolyard, she got a strange feeling. Something wasn't right. She looked around, but nobody was there, so she started to leave when she saw the side of the statue. It was.... glowing.

"What is going on here?" She said, backing up.

Then it happened. A girl stepped out of the statue and stood before her, a grin on her face. She couldn't believe her eyes. Standing right in front of her was.... her.

"Who.... Who are you? What are you?" She asked.

"That's none of your concern." The clone said before throwing her into the statue.

Ahhh! Sunset Shimmer woke with a start.

That dream again. Why do I keep having it? Can't I just forget?

Putting aside the blanket, she got out of bed and trotted to the nightstand and looked at the mirror.

"Why did this have to happen? I don't even like horses." She said as she brushed her.... mane.

She slid open one of the drawers to put away the brush. She removed her cell phone and tried turning it on. It was dead. It had been for four years.

She trotted outside of her little cabin and looked around. In front of her was a small stream. She thought she could see salmon. She started her daily trot through the wilderness.

She still remembered everything exactly like it was. Her clone sent her through that portal. She managed to escape not only the castle, but the city on the mountain as well, all without being seen.

She found a place to settle away from everyone and built her cabin and made supplies and furniture. Normally she liked being alone, but in this case it was horrifying. She had no idea where she was nor if she could ever make it back home.

About three years ago she successfully made it back into the castle, but the mirror she fell out of was gone.

Stuck in a world she has no understanding of, she's nearly gone mad. She's thought of confronting the ponies, but always decided against it. Her clone seemed to have stirred up some trouble already. She didn't want to be framed for someone else's doing.

No, she couldn't confront them. She didn't need that kind of trouble.

That evening in her cabin she started a small fire so she could cook. She removed some veggies from the shelf and began chopping them. At least she managed to do some things with her hooves. Half-an-hour later she set her vegetable stew to cool.

After dinner she layed back down to go to sleep.

The next day she woke up and repeated the same process. It was depressing.

She remembered the things she did back home. Every Friday night she and her friends would go to the café for dinner before all going to her place to play video games. She can't do any of that now. She doesn't even have electricity.

"Could they still be looking for me?" She wondered.

The next day it stormed. Deciding it wasn't worth getting pneumonia, she stayed in her cabin all day.

She hated rainy days with a passion. The only thing that kept her from going insane was the outdoors.