Sunset found herself walking through swirling and pulsing multicolored haze, she didn't know how she got there or even where here was. She called out into the confusing haze, "Hello? Is any body or anypony there? Princess Celestia? Princpial Celestia? Applejack? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy? Rarity? Twilight? Princess Twilight?" She stared down at her forelimbs, watching them flicker between hooves and hands. She trembled unable to move any further, she felt like her body had turned to stone. "Please, I'm scared. Somebody, anypony, HELP ME!"

While shivering in fear as her body felt as if it were made of concrete, she heard a familiar sound, distant and nearly unrecognizable at first. Sunset strained her ears in an attempt to better make them out. At first they were just jumble of voices, but slowly she could make them out, it was the voices of her friends. "I can hear you! I'm over here! Help me, I'm lost and scared!"

As Sunset squinted, trying in vain to pierce the discombobulating miasma, she listened to her friends voices, hoping to pinpoint where they were. The voices sounded both near and far, seeming to come from every direction at once, both talking to her and at her.

Practice went amazing today. Coach said that if I keep it up, come start of the season I'm gonna make team captain.
It's my fault you're laying here hurt. You were just trying to defend me. I should have let Long Pass do whatever he wanted to me.
Sunset, when you wake up, I'm going to bring you so many cute, fluffy bunnies and kitties and puppies for you to snuggle. Tree Hugger said that animals instinctively know how to heal us.
Don't blame yerself sugarcube, if'n y'all had let 'em do whatever, then y'all'd be th' one laid up in here all hurt instead. Sunset did what she did tuh protect one o' her friends and instead that glorified sack o' cow patties along with his fellow sacks o'...o'...fuck it! It's easier to call them what they are an' drop all this being polite! Those pieces o' shit decided they'd rather hurt somebody than try an' help people. If'n y'all ask me, Pricinpal Celestia went too easy on 'em.
Darling! I had an argument with the nurse. I said that this icky shade of green for your gown clashed with your natural skin tones, but they insisted that this was the only color they had and it was more than sufficient to serve its purpose.
So when you get out of this bed, I'm gonna throw you a 'Yay, she's awake party!' The nurses took my party cannon, saying that 'this is the ICU and that the patients need quiet to heal!' and I was about to object, but Fluttershy told me I can shoot it off once you get out of here.
Please wake up!
Please wake up!
Please wake up!
Please wake up!
Please wake up!
Please wake up!

It started as a bright pinpoint of light, though it hurt her eyes, it gave Sunset a point to move towards. She willed herself forward, though her legs felt like they were made of lead. As she moved closer, the light began to grow in size and brightness. Had Princes Celestia found her in this disorienting fog? With each step, sensations filled her body, she could feel her lungs expand with each breath, her heart beat in her chest, she could hear her pulse in her ears, feel it in her fingertips.

With each step Sunset took the point of light slowly grew. First it became a fuzzy circle, then two, three, four. Some of the circles became weird squished fuzzy ovals, then slowly fuzzy, ill-defined rectangles. She tried to call out to the lights, but found she couldn't move her jaw, it was locked in place. Slowly she raised her right arm, even though it felt as if it was made of lead and concrete. As she moved her hand slowly towards the lights, new sensations filled her body...pain. Her face hurt, her head hurt, her stomach hurt, it hurt between her legs. A voice that she could't place made a soft pained moan. Despite the pain and leaden feeling, she continued to stretch her hand towards the lights. Another pained moan came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Her hand reached the plane where the fog ended and the lights began, slowly she extended into the plane of light, first her fingertips passed the intangible barrier of light, then her fingers, then her palm, finally her whole hand reached through the plane of light. A split second later something gently gripped her hand.

"Miss Shimmer, if you can understand what I'm saying, can you squeeze my hand?"
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For nearly week the doctor kept Sunset in a medically induced coma in the ICU. Her friends spent every available second sitting in the room talking to her. On the fifth day of her coma, Rainbow Dash was sitting on a chair talking quietly to Sunset, "Please come back Sunset. For years you've proven that your tougher than everything. We need you. I need...my friend." Tears began to roll down her cheeks and dripped onto the sheets on the sheets.

At first it was a small movement that could be missed by anybody, a slight twitch of the finger. Rainbow sat up and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Lowering her arm, she blinked her eyes in confusion, Sunset's hand lowered from a slight raised position. "Did I really see that?"

"Mmmmmm!" Sunset raised her hand slightly and flexed her fingers.

Rainbow hopped up to her feet. "WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!"

"Uuuhhhhhh!" Sunset raised her hand slightly again and began trying to grab the air, her legs twitched slightly.

Rainbow stared wide-eyed, her mind running a million miles a second as she tried to think on what to do. "Right! Get the nurse!" She bolted towards the door as fast as her athletic frame could carry her and nearly tore to off the frame as she fumbled with the handle. Finally mastering the handle, she ran out into the hallway, shouting for a nurse.

A few moments later a nurse hurried through the door. She heard Sunset groan and saw her hand raise and lower. She saw the girl's legs twitch like she was trying to walk. The nurse quickly hurried over to the bed and checked the instruments. Taking Sunset's hand gently, she said, "Miss Shimmer, can you hear me? If you can, can you say something?" She frowned when Sunset started to go limp. "Miss Shimmer, if you can hear me, can you open your eyes?" Again Sunset didn't respond. The nurse sighed before asking the next question. "Miss Shimmer, if you can understand what I'm saying, can you squeeze my hand?" Sunset did nothing. The nurse frowned and prepared to ask the next question. She gasped as Sunset's hand slowly tightened around hers. "Miss Shimmer, squeeze my hand again please." Sunset squeezed her hand tighter.

The nurse slid her hand from Sunset's grasp and pulled a penlight from the pocket of her scrubs. Holding one of the girl's eyes open, she shined the light in her eyes to check her pupil constriction. Sunset lifted her left hand to bat away the light shining in her eye. Leaning back from her face, the nurse asked, "Miss Shimmer, can you open your eyes?"

Sunset heard the nurse clearly. Was she the one that had moved that annoying spot of light in front of her eyes? She tried to open her eyelids, but they felt like they were made of lead and had weights placed on them. With what felt like a titanic effort, she finally managed to flutter her eyes open. The room was blurry and unfocused. Were those two weird fuzzy oval lumps people? She tried to open her mouth to speak, but found her jaw wouldn't move, like it was stuck shut with glue.

"Take it easy Miss Shimmer.", the nurse said calmly, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Sunset nodded her head as she looked at the weird fuzzy lump, slowly it began to form more sharp definition. Behind and to the left of the now humanoid-shaped lump stood a cyan humanoid lump that emitted an excited and scared squeal in a familiar sandy voice. "Wainbow Dath?"

Rainbow moved towards Sunset. "Yes Sunset, it's me."

The nurse raised a hand to sop Rainbow. "Let's take this slow and easy. Let's not overwhelm her, her mind and body are still waking up. Miss Shimmer, do you know where you are?"

Sunset glanced around the room, it was blurry and out of focus. "No."

"You're in the hospital miss Shimmer. You've been asleep for five days. Can you tell me how you feel?"

Sunset trembled slightly. Images of hands grasping at her, weight pressing down on her, something forcing its way into her painfully. "Thcawed. Huths." She placed a hand to her face as tears stung her eyes. Under her fingertips she felt something small, cylindrical, flexible, she traced it with her fingers, feeling it run up her nose. "Whath this?" She wrapped her fingers around it instinctively, wanting to pull it out.

The nurse placed her hand on Sunset's gently to keep her from pulling the tube out. "It's a tube we put in you so you could eat while your were sleeping. If you give me a moment, I'll help you get it out. Don't pull it out until I get back." She left the room and returned a moment later with a small gray plastic bin and placed it in Sunset's hands. "You might gag and throw up when I get this out of you. I need you to take in a breath and hold it the best you can. Don't be ashamed if you get sick.", slowly peeling the tape from Sunset's nose, she grasped the tube then continued, "This might hurt. Ready?"

Sunset took in a breath, braced herself and nodded. The nurse pulled the feeding tube with steady, even pressure. At first Sunset felt weird as she felt the length of the tube sliding through her esophagus, throat and nose. Her throat spasmed instinctively, trying to expel the tube and she fought back several gags. A distant image of something vile forcing its way into her mouth, past her teeth and into her throat slammed into her mind. "Almost there.", the nurse said in a calm and smooth tone. As the last length of tube was pulled out, Sunset couldn't get the image of a vile snake-like thing out of her head, it was forcing its way into her mouth and down her throat, violating her. Perverse laughter and cheers echoed inside her head as she could smell the vile snake-like thing, she could still taste it on her tongue, as if it had left some lingering film or slime, polluting her.

Sunset couldn't breath as it felt like her lungs were imploding on themselves. Her pulse roared in her ears as her heart hammered against her rib cage, trying to escape. The world began to spin and rock, as if she was trapped on an out of control tilt-a-whirl. Something dangerous was waiting just out of sight to pounce on her, to coat her with its vile slime, to tear her up on the inside, to mangle and rip her apart. She tried to breath but only managed some panicked wheezes, her heart hammered like a drum, the pulse roared in her ears. Some evil beast was waiting to pounce on her, to mangle her, to shove its organs into her, to pollute her body. The world spun around faster, out of control, nothing made sense, there was no up or down, no left or right, just the world spinning out of control and that monster, whatever it was. Darkness overtook her senses, no dreams, no thoughts, no fears, just merciful, empty blackness.

The world slowly faded back in. Sunset groaned as she raised her head from the pillow, it felt like it weighed a million pounds. Her chest felt like someone had kicked her dead in the center and never removed their foot. She looked around seeing the concerned face of the nurse checking her out, across the room Rainbow with a concerned and scared expression on her face.

"Miss Shimmer, are you okay?"

Sunset's eyes began to dart around the room in a panic. Fresh images exploded into her brain, she was trapped in an alley naked, hands were holding her in place so she couldn't move or run, a fist repeatedly slammed into her stomach and face, causing white-hot flashes of pain from each impact. The hands forced her down on her knees and a knee slammed into her chin, sending a line of pain spreading along her jaw, like a white-hot wire. Voices laughed as they called her vile names, a cock forced its way down her throat, cutting off her air supply, repeatedly thrusting, violating and polluting her. More cocks forced their ways into whatever holes they could find, further polluting her.

"THEY'RE OUT THERE WAITING TO HURT ME AGAIN!", Sunset screamed in terror as the unwanted memories flooded back continuously, "They're out there! They want to hurt me! Please don't leave me! I can't stop them!" Her pupils became pinpoints. "Idon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdon'twannadie!"

Rainbow put her hand over her mouth and back up to the wall. Tears stung her eyes as a pit of fear made her stomach feel like it was doing the lambada. She knew how to fight girls who turned themselves into demons, she knew how to fight extra-dimensional monsters that fed on negative feelings. She didn't know how to fight this. The look of abject terror in Sunset's eyes filled her with fear. How did she fight the specters of something that existed in someone's mind?

The nurse quickly pressed the alert button on the wall before pulling the panicking and terrified Sunset into a hug. "Shh! Shh! It's okay. You're safe here. Nobody's going to hurt you." Three nurses burst into the room. "She's having a full-on breakdown. Get something to calm her down and get a psychologist here."

Rainbow leaned up against the wall trembling. Slowly her thoughts organized themselves, she remembered the business card in her backpack that Cadance had given her. Rushing over to her backpack, she clumsily fumbled around inside it until she pulled out the card. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she hurried out into the hallway and dialed the number on the card. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Pick up!"

After three rings Cadance picked up. "Hello?"

"Miss Cadance, Sunset's awake and she's having a full-on breakdown!"

Cadance paused, a silence thick enough to cut with a knife hung over both people. "Stay close to her, I'll be there as soon as I can!" The call ended with a soft beep.

Rainbow slid the phone back in her pocket as she rushed back in the room. Sunset was still screaming and bawling into the nurse's shoulder. "Sunset, I'm here!", she shouted as she rushed to the side of the bed.

Sunset looked over to Rainbow, let the nurse go and pulled her friend into a crushing hug. "Don't let them hurt me Rainbow! They're out there, waiting for me! I can smell them! I can taste them!"

Rainbow felt the air squeezed out of her by her terrified friend. Gently she wrapped her arms around Sunset. Once she was able to suck in some air, she began reassuring her friend, "It's okay, I gotcha. If anybody tries to hurt you, I'll show them what happens when they try to hurt one of my friends."

"Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"

"It's okay Sunset. I gotcha. Nobody's gonna get past me. I'm too fast and too tough for 'em." Rainbow gently stroked Sunset's hair. "Miss Cadance is on her way, our friends are on their way too." Sunset began giving heaving sobs into Rainbow's shoulder. "Just let it out. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
********************************************************************************************************

With an soft chime, the door to the elevator opened with a nearly-soundless glide. Cadance stepped off the elevator, the heels on her shoes clicking on the linoleum tiles, Sci-Twi hurrying behind her. She hurried her pace seeing Rainbow leaning outside the wall outside Sunset's room. "Rainbow Dash! Is Sunset okay?"

Startled, Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin. "I-I don't know. Since she woke up, she's been freaking out, scared that someone is wanting to hurt her. They've got a shrink in there right now talking to her."

Cadance looked into the face of the cyan-skinned girl with the messy mop of multicolored hair, her eyelids were ringed in red where he had been fighting back rears. "Twilight, stay here with Rainbow." She adjusted her purse before reaching for the door handle.

A nurse walked over and called out, "Ma'am, you can't go in there right now. She's talking with a psychologist."

Cadance reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. "That's doctor not ma'am. I'm a licensed therapist and psychiatrist specializing in PTSD and emotional trauma. You may call my partner Dr. Carlotta Yung if you need to confirm my credentials. Her number is on the card along with mine." She gave a neutral smile as the nurse took the card and walked to the nurses station. Reaching out her hand, she grabbed the door handle and walked in.

"Miss Shimmer, I need you to calm down please and tell me who you think is trying to hurt you.", the psychologist said as he scratched some notes. Sunset held her hands in front of her face trembling, her eyes wide with panic, darting around the room looking for an invisible attacker, her breath came in panicked hiccoughs, her voice was little more than a wavering whimper.

"Doctor! I must protest!", Cadance spoke up quickly, "Can't you see that Miss Shimmer is in the middle of panic attack?"

The psychologist looked over the top of his reading glasses and down his nose at Cadance. "And you are miss?"

"Doctor Cadenza mi Amore."

"Really?! I thought you would have been..."

"Older?", Cadance said in an annoyed tone, "I get that all the time. Now back to the matter at hand. If you had bothered to give even a cursory glance at Sunset Shimmer's file, you would have seen that she's the victim of a violent sexual assault. If you're worth your diploma, then you'd know that someone in the middle of a panic attack won't just calm down because you ask them to."

Cadance hurried over and gently laid her hand on Sunset's hand. Her breath caught in her throat for a quick second when Sunset looked up at her, eyes full of terror. "Sunset, you're going to be okay. You're safe."

Sunset began hyperventilating. "They're out there! They're waiting for me! They're out there! They're waiting for me! I can taste them! I can smell them!"

Cadance pulled Sunset close to her chest. "Just breathe, Sunset. I'll help you. Just listen to my breathing and try to match it." She began breathing slow, deep and even. "Just listen to my breathing and try to match it." She listened to the panicked breathing of the girl pressed into her chest, her breathing slowly became more even, though her breaths would sometimes become raged, panicked gasps.

"They'reoutherewaitingformethey'reouttherewaitingforme!"

"Just focus on my breathing, Sunset. We'll get through this together. Your friends are on the way and they'll help you get through this too."

After a while Sunset's eyes became heavy from a combination of the breathing Cadance was helping her with and exhaustion from multiple panic attacks. Her body became limp as her eyes slowly closed. Soon the teenage girl slipped into a fitful sleep.

The psychologist who had been watching Cadance through gentle words and breathing, manged to bring Sunset into a calmer state. "Fascinating, I've never seen someone manage to calm someone down from a full blown panic attack without using sedatives."

"Well doctor, I specialize in trauma cases. She's not the first patient I've had to talk down. All it takes is a little patience, compassion and a willingness to listen to what their emotions and actions are telling you. Still I think it would be good to prescribe her some anti-anxiety medication, just in case. Maybe start with a low dose and increase it as needed."

"I concur doctor." The psychologist scribbled down on a prescription pad some low dose klonopin solution. "How did you know talking to her and breathing exercises would help?"

"I didn't, I just knew that letting her hyperventilate and potentially pass out wouldn't be good for her. Sometimes when someone's panicking, they can forget how to breath properly and with a little patience you can help them remember how to control their breathing. There isn't a one size fits all treatment program, everybody responds to trauma differently."

"How will you know what will work for her."

"I'll take time to listen to her, not only what she says, but also what she doesn't say. We may be the ones to open the gate to mental healing, but they're the ones who have to walk the path to stability and they won't get there on their own, their support network of friends and family will be there with them every step of the way. Right now Sunset's in the hardest part of the process, she need to find her feet metaphorically and she will relapse several times."
********************************************************************************************************

It had been three days since Sunset had awakened from the coma. The doctor had moved her to a private room. Sitting on a try by her bed was a can of protein shake with a straw in it. Though it smelled like strawberry milk made with cheap powder, each rime she sipped on it, it tasted wrong, as if the slime that still clung to the inside of her mouth had somehow tainted it. Her skin felt dirty, like sticky slime clung to it no matter how much she washed herself. No matter how many times she swished mouthwash or water, she couldn't get the taste of polluting slime out.

The face of Long Pass and his cronies began leering at her from within her mind. Sunset felt her lungs constrict as in her mind, bodies forced themselves on her. A buzzing sound, like television static filled her ears, drowning out all sound. The room started becoming narrow and dark, like the walls were moving in while the lights were burning out. She tasted slime in her mouth. She felt a creeping, crawling pollution, corrupting everything that was pure inside. She could feel cocks violating her, polluting her, turning her into damage goods. She didn't know where she was, she tried to call for help but the words died in her throat, she couldn't breath, she was trapped with...them. The world didn't make sense as it became narrower and darker, all oxygen fled away from her.

A voice called out from the narrowing and darkening world, "Sunset?" A hand grasped her shoulder.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sunset threw her hands over her face trying to defend herself. The hand gently grasping her shoulder gave her an anchor to drag herself back to the world. The walls retreated, the lights came back up and oxygen filled the room again. Luna was looking at her with concern on her face.

Luna had decided to take her lunch break and come check on how Sunset was doing. She figured it would do her some good to see a friendly face, besides, she wanted to see firsthand how the girl was doing. Opening the door, she was about to greet Sunset when the sound of panicked whimpering greeted her instead. She initially froze when she saw Sunset sitting stiff as a board on the bed, trembling like a leaf, her face was a mask of terror, pupils were pinpricks. There was another time when Luna had seen similar looks of abject horror, it was on the faces of the people she had helped liberate from the camps during the ethnic cleansing in Serbia.

Luna's feet began moving forward on their accord, medic training kicked in driving her forward, giving her the tools she needed. She reached out with a hand and gently grasped the traumatized girl's shoulder. "Sunset?" Luna recoiled slightly when sunset screamed bloody murder, but kept her hand on the girl's shoulder. Slowly the scared girl with the red and yellow hair came back to reality.

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Sunset locked eyes with Luna, who's eyes were filled with concern, compassion and understanding.

"It's okay Sunset."

"No.", Sunset whimpered through teeth wired together, "I'm not okay. I can still smell them! I can still taste them! I can still feel them! They won't leave! They're hurting me!"

Luna let tears run down her cheeks as she pulled Sunset in for a hug. "It'll be alright. You're not alone in this."

Author's Note

I chose to color code Sunset's friends talking to her while she was in the coma.

This chapter went down a dark path, but not as dark as I was originally thinking of doing it.

Strap in my fellow bronies and pegasisters, things will get darker before they get lighter.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

Feel free to comment, criticize, throw shade or pure bane.