Wounds Not Quite Healed

It was another day at Canterlot High. Another glum day. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack were walking down one of the school hallways. They all looked very miserable because they were unable to convince Sunset Shimmer to breakup with Zak the other day. Despite Sunset’s denials, it was painfully obvious he was abusing her. Also, they hadn’t seen Sunset anywhere today, and they were growing more concerned by the hour. Just then, they saw Vice Principal Luna enter the hallway and signal for them with her hand.

“Girls, I’m glad I found you,” Luna said. “Principal Celestia would like for you all to come to her office.”

“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy nervously asked.

“We’re not sure yet. There’s someone who would like to speak with all of you.”

Luna led the five girls to her sister’s office. When they entered, Celestia was sitting at her desk and a slender man with a groomed moustache and beard, wear a suit and glasses was sitting in a chair facing the principal’s desk.

“Girls, this is Dr. Shrink,” Celestia introduced the man. “He would like to talk with you all.”

“Thank you, Celestia,” Dr. Shrink said before turning to the five girls. “You are all friends of Sunset Shimmer, am I right?”

“We are,” Fluttershy answered.

“How do you know Sunset?” Applejack curiously asked.

“I’m her therapist,” Dr. Shrink answered. The five girls dropped their jaws in surprise.

“Since when has Sunset been going to therapy?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

“Since the beginning of the New Year,” Dr. Shrink calmly answered.

“Why would she need to start the New Year with therapy sessions?” Pinkie asked bewildered.

“I’m sorry, it’s against my policy to discuss what my patient and I talk about during our sessions with others. Anyway, I’m here to ask you all a couple questions.”

“Do they have to do with Sunset?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“Yes, they do,” the doctor answered. “At our last session, she seemed really bothered by something but couldn’t find it in her heart to give me all the details. Do any of you know what might’ve happened to her that day?”

“Well, we tried to ask her if she could breakup with her new… boyfriend, Zak,” Rarity uneasily answered.

“You know about him too, don’t you?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes… Unfortunately, I do,” Shrink replied in a bitter-sounding tone.

“Well, needless ta say, we weren’t able ta convince her,” AJ said.

“Do you know how badly he’s been treating her?” Pinkie asked the therapist.

“Yes, I do,” Shrink replied with a sad look on his face. “And I’ve tried talking her into leaving him, but she strongly feels she needs to stay with him.”

“That’s loco in the coco!” Pinkie said.

“Why on Earth would Sunset want to stay with a jerk like that?” Rainbow asked frustrated.

“She’s probably afraid of what he might do if she tries to leave. Am I right?” Rarity asked Shrink.

The therapist stared at the girls for a moment before lowering his head and answering. “I’m sorry, I can’t discuss my patient’s therapy sessions with anyone.”

“It is him, isn’t it?” Rainbow angrily asked, but the doctor did not answer nor looked any of them in the eye.

“Is there anything else you need, doctor?” Celestia asked noticing how uneasy the man looked.

“No, that’s all I needed to know,” he assured her. “I’ll be leaving now.” He got up from the chair and started walking over to the door. Before exiting the room, he turned to the five girls. He had one last thing to say. “Girls, I can’t tell you everything I know. But I must warn you, sometimes what you think is the problem is not entirely true.” With that, he walked out the door and was gone leaving the five girls confused.

“What do you think he meant by that?” Fluttershy asked.

“Ah’m not sure,” AJ replied.

“Well, we can think about it later,” Rainbow said changing the subject. “Principal Celestia, we haven’t seen Sunset anywhere today. Do you know where she might be?”

“As a matter of fact, I think I do,” Celestia answered in a bitter tone. “Earlier this morning, Zak, Sunset Shimmer’s boyfriend, came by my office today to tell me that Sunset wouldn’t be attending school today.”

Earlier that morning, Zak was standing in Celestia’s office while she was sitting at her desk and Luna was standing by her side. Needless to say, they weren’t having a very pleasant conversation.

“So you see, Sunset’s got some important things to do for me today, so she won’t be attending school today,” Zak said. “I hope you understand.”

“But Sunset has an important test in one of her classes today,” Luna argued.

“What’s one little test?” Zak replied uncaringly. Luna glared at the young man.

“Well, can you at least take some of her class assignments home with you so she can work on them?” Celestia asked him. She had an annoyed look on her face and she was holding a pen in her right hand. Then she handed a couple papers with her left hand. “Here are all the classes she’s taking this semester.”

Zak took the papers, looked over them for a moment, then dropped them in a nearby wastebasket. “I can’t be expected to waste my time with this crap, and neither should Sunset.”

Celestia and Luna were growing angrier by the second. Never in their careers had they encountered someone so callous and so disrespectful.

“Sunset needs this or she’ll fall behind in her classes!” Luna said raising her voice a little.

“Not my problem,” Zak uncaringly responded.

“She’s your girlfriend! Don’t you care about her future?” Celestia angrily asked squeezing the pen in her hand.

“Oh, I know what Sunset’s future will be,” Zak smugly replied. “Trust me, she doesn’t need an education for that.” Then he walked out of the office giving the two women one last triumphant and remorseless grin.

SNAP!

Luna looked and saw that her sister had gotten so angry and squeezed the pen so hard it broke in her hand. Celestia sat in her chair furiously glaring at her office door with black ink dripping from her right hand and onto her desk.

“As you might already know, we’re not too fond of this predicament either,” Luna said bitterly.

“Son of a bitch!” Rainbow angrily blurted out shocking the rest of her friends.

“Normally we don’t tolerate that kind of language, Miss Dash,” Celestia told the rainbow-haired teenager. “Although in this situation, I think it fits.”

“That guy is just awful,” Fluttershy said. “We can’t let Sunset keep hanging out with him.”

“We understand your concern, Miss Shy,” Celestia said.

“We’ve heard about these kinds of relationships,” Luna added. “And I’m afraid they only get worse.”

“Well, then we have do somethin’!” AJ stated.

“I’m hope you’re not planning on doing anything rash,” Celestia said with concern.

“Of course not,” Rarity assured her. “We’re just going to go over to that dreadful looking house of his and try once again to talk Sunset out of this relationship. There are other alternatives to handling problems besides hostility, darlings.”

“I wish we’d realized that earlier during the Anon-a-Miss affair,” Fluttershy glumly said. At hearing this, everyone in the room started feeling very down with remorseful looks on their faces.

“Yeah, we made some mistakes that time,” Rainbow admitted. “But we resolved it, and it’s all over now.”

“I guess you’re right,” Fluttershy unsurely agreed.

“Come on, y’all!” AJ said. “Let’s go talk to Sunset again.”

“Good luck, girls,” Celestia said bidding her students farewell as they left her office.

“I hope they’re successful in talking Sunset Shimmer out of this unhealthy relationship,” Luna said to her sister.

“Me too, Luna,” Celestia replied.

“I used to think Sunset was a problematic child, but she was an angel next to this guy,” Luna remarked.

“We’ve experienced some bizarre recent things, sister. But somehow, I find this situation very hard to bare,” Celestia said with great concern. “We know happens to people who become trapped in situations like this.”

“Yes, we’ve seen cases like these, and don’t end well.” Luna agreed. “Let’s just hope Sunset will be one of the lucky ones.”

The five girls arrived at Zak’s house. Rarity was having a hard time trying to stand the outer appearance of the place. The sounds of male laughter and loud rock music could be heard from inside. Fluttershy took a deep breath, nervously walked up to the front door, and gave a few knocks on it.

“Hey boss,” one male voice was heard. “I think there’s someone at the door.”

“Well crap,” another voice, which they recognized as Zak’s, said. “Sunset, go see what that is.”

“Do I have to like this?” a nervous female voice, which they recognized as Sunset Shimmer’s, asked.

“Yes! Now go answer it!” Zak yelled angrily. “And be quick about it! Some of the guys still haven’t gotten their beers yet.”

“Yeah, better not take too long,” another male voice said in a perverted tone.

“Hurry up!” a third male voice demanded.

“Okay, I’m going,” Sunset anxiously assured them.

The sound of a perverted whistle was also heard.

The front door opened slightly to reveal Sunset poking her head out from behind the door. “Girls! What are you doing here?” she asked nervously.

“Sunset, we really need to have a talk,” AJ said.

“Now’s not the best time,” Sunset nervously replied.

“Sunset, we’re worried about you,” Fluttershy said with great concern in her voice. “We heard Zak made you skip school today.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re obviously not, darling,” Rarity disagreed. “Your therapist, Dr. Shrink, came by Principal Celestia’s office today.”

Sunset stared in surprise for a moment. “So you know about that now?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie responded. “Not many people who go to therapy don’t have problems.”

“And we think it has something to do with tall, dark, and bossy in there,” Rainbow said angrily.

“I assure you I’m fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do,” Sunset said starting to close the door.

“No, you’re not fine,” Rainbow said pushing the door wide open before Sunset could close it.

The five girls’ jaws dropped in shock and horror at what they saw in front of them now. Sunset was no longer hiding behind the door and they all saw that she was wearing a long white kitchen apron over her front and by the looks of it, nothing else. Sunset blushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry girls,” she nervously apologized. “Now’s really not a good time.” With that, she closed the door on the five speechless teens.

The sounds of bare footsteps were heard.

“Who was it?” Zak’s asked in a demanding tone.

“No one,” Sunset nervously answered. “I’ll go get those beers.”

“And when you’re done, get back in here and assume the position,” Zak told her. “I’m gonna be needing my footstool soon.” He was followed by the sounds of sadistic and perverted cackling from the other guys in the room.

The five girls could only listen with dread as they all realized that this problem was far more serious than they ever expected, and would be a whole lot harder to solve.