Withering on the bridge, crying to the point where Rachel felt physically sick. She quickly dug into her pockets as she forced herself to sit up.

With a trembling finger, Rachel pressed number 1 and the call button before pressing the phone up to her ear.

“Hello?” Brimstone’s voice was heard on the other side.

“P-professor,” Rachel’s voice trembled as she tried to get herself under control but she was still hysterical. “I-I’m having them again.” She cried.

She heard some papers rustling on the other side before he spoke. “Deep breaths, girl, like you’ve been taught.” Brimstone said in a soothing tone. “In and out. Come on, follow me.”

He then emphasized by doing the breathing techniques himself. Rachel started taking shuddered breaths in and out, coughing haphazardly a few times before she was able to reduce her crying to small whimpers. Her body was still trembling but it wasn’t as bad before.

“Better?” He asked her when he heard her crying had stopped.

“No, not really.” Rachel said softly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Now, tell me what happened? You haven’t had an anxiety attack in years, I thought you had it under control?” Brimstone asked.

“Well, apparently it went straight into the crapper.” she coughed, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. “Short story, I was playing Ogres and Oubliettes-”

“Haven’t played that in years, didn’t know it was still a thing.”

Rachel’s eyes squinted at that, trying to picture the red stallion playing that. “That would mean you would be a foal back then.”

“I can hear your sass remarks coming, get to the point.” Brimstone knew she was going to make some remark to make herself feel better.

Rachel waited a few seconds before continuing. “Anyway, I was playing with Spike and his friends, I got shot in the back.”

“What kind of game were you playing??”

“Discord’s version of the game. It doesn’t really fucking matter, either way, I got shot in the back. I-I was back there… it hurts….it hurts.” she shuddered, her free hand reaching around and rubbed the small of her back. Feeling the deep ugly scars on her fingertips.

“Rachel, breathe, don’t forget to breathe.” Brimstone said as coached Rachel to calm down. “Your father cannot harm you anymore. I thought we got past this the last time you crossed over to the human world?”

“It seems I still got a few things to hurl over.” Rachel said, putting her forehead on the railing on the bridge. “I could go the rest of my life and not have to see all of it again…fucking Heart…”

“Heart? What heart?” Brimstone asked her curiously. He then waited a moment before piecing it together and let out a loud groan. “The Crystal Heart?”

Rachel bit her lower lip trying to not sob. “When I touched it, it took me physically back to those moments. I relived all of it.”

She managed to find the strength to stand up on her feet, leaning against the railing to support her.

“You should’ve told some pony what you saw when they first examined you.” Brimstone sighed heavily as Rachel began moving from the bridge.

Unknowingly, the two henchponies of Blueblood followed her.

"You touching the Crystal Heart set off an unstable amount of magic energy that could wipe the whole Empire off the map, you failed to mention that you relive your past trauma. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health, if not more."

"Well….I did tell someone...just not the whole thing." Rachel muttered, turning her head towards the crystal tree castle.

"I see." The stallion grunted. "And is this the same someone that hit you during the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"God fucking damnit…" Rachel cursed under her breath, shaking her head. She knew that was going to be brought up. The twins were one thing, Brimstone's a whole new thing. "What happened with Spike was a complete accident. You try and jump on the back of an enraged dragon who was trying to make an absolute creep, who kept harassing me, into a chew toy and see if you don't get hit in the process."

Brimstone muttered something that the human couldn’t pick up before he said. “Anyway, since I have you on the phone, and discussing events of the Crystal Empire, I’m coming to Ponyville.”

“For what?” Rachel asked with a nervous laugh.

“It’s better I come and explain. Short of it, it’s the test results from when you touched the heart. I think you would like me to come instead of other doctors.” He said. “And have a little chat with your dragon.”

“You are just as bad as the twins.” Rachel declared.

Brimstone let out what sounded like a chuckle but she couldn’t really tell. “How much does he know?”

Rachel didn’t say a word at that.

“Rachel.” Brimstone calls her.

“Bits and pieces...not the whole story.” Rachel said softly. She looked up and glanced at the castle in the distance. She could now barely see the top of it from the regular trees at night.

“It might help if you tell him the whole story.” Brimstone said. “Talk to him about it.”

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” She asked as she began to bite her nails.

“Child, he has to. If you’re telling me that you’ve been having visions, which means your night terrors have returned.” When Rachel didn’t respond to that, Brimstone got his answer. Since she’s sleeping with a dragon, he’s been exposed to her night terrors.

“I-I can’t tell him.” Rachel said.

“If you are worried that he’ll judge you, I can assure you, my dear girl, Spike has no room to be judging anypony.”

“Hey there!”

Rachel let out a startled gasp when she heard a new voice calling out to her, causing her to stand from the bench and turned around. Standing behind her was a male pegasus with a light two tone blue long mane, his coat was a pale yellow, wearing a hoodie and pants. His green eyes looking at the human girl.

“Rachel? Rachel, what’s going on?” Brimstone called her loudly.

“Hey, it’s okay, I just wanna talk to ya.” the stallion said, taking a step towards her.

Rachel took a few steps back from him. “What do you want?” Rachel asked him, still having the Professor on the line.

“Well, Rachel~” Big red flag there. “~an associate of ours would like to speak to you in more of a…. Private setting.” The pegasus said.

Rachel heard hoofsounds crunching on the dirt, she looked over her shoulder and noticed a much slender mare was right behind her. She wore a ball cap over what looked to be a magenta short hair, but the cap didn’t hide the long horn protruding from her forehead. She wore the same get up as the pegasus but more exposed her firm, white midriff.

What caught Rachel’s eye was that there was a tattoo on the female unicorn’s stomach. It was the symbol of the white mantel. More big red flags popping up.

“I see.” Rachel grunted.

Brimstone was trying to get a hold of Rachel, trying to get her to tell him what was going on, but he could tell that it was not good.

“You know, it’ll be easier if you come with us, quietly.” the female unicorn said.

“And if I say no?” Rachel asked.

“Well, we can’t do anything with your boyfriend or the princess,” the stallion said. “But we can, with your father, Damien, right?”

That Brimstone did hear. He scraped his chair and stood up. “Rachel, get out of there, get out of there now!”

He knew that just even mentioning her father’s name would set her off! “Rachel, get out of~” However, it fell on deaf ears when he heard a distinctive sound of the phone being crushed and the call was cut off.

Author's Note

Oooh shit is really bout to go down.

Ya'll ready??