"I-I-I can't get clean! The filth won't come off!", Sunset croaked as she stared Cadance in the eyes, tears stinging her own. "Ngh!" Her hands went up to her temples as the migraine sent stabbing pain behind her eyes. "Ngh! Ngh!" She grit her teeth as the migraine made it feel as if white hot shards of metal were ricocheting around inside her skull. Static began dancing at the edge of her vision and her legs shook. The world began tipping side-to-side as the intense pain in her head began taking away any sense of what was up or down, knees buckled as she slumped to the floor of the shower. "Ngh! Ngh! Gah!" Her breaths came in ragged, pained gasps as the migraine graduated from stabbing her behind the eyes with a white hot ice pick to full on spears, hot as the surface of the sun.

Sunset grasped her skull with both hands as the pain intensified, making her feel sick. "Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop!", she whimpered in desperation. As the static began spreading across her vision even more, her stomach heaved violently until she thought her ribs were going to break. Loud retching sounds came from her mouth as her stomach attempted to empty contents that weren't there.

Cadance knelt down and began gently rubbing Sunset's back, the girl's body shook every time her stomach heaved, followed by the loud retching. Under any other set of circumstances Cadance would have asked if Sunset had taken something to make her sick or shoved a finger down her throat, but she had seen this panic-induced migraine intensify in real time. "It's okay Sunset, just let it all come up." She out with her other hand and moved the girl's hair away from her face.

Sunset begged to anyone or anypony who could hear her thoughts to just let this all stop. She could barely breath as her heaving stomach made it feel like her lungs were being crushed. Long strings of saliva slid from her mouth, making almost unbroken silvery-clear lines attached to the floor of the shower. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt, her throat hurt, her chest hurt, she felt like she was going to die and the only thing that anchored her in this thrashing sea of panic and pain was Cadance gently rubbing her back. Her stomach heaved again and the loud retching became a loud gurgling, a split second later yellow-green bile splashed into the bottom of the shower. Energy spent, she slumped onto her side in the shower, as her breathing slowed to a more even pace, her mind became more aware of things around her, not only was she more aware of Cadance still gently rubbing her back, but also how painfully raw her skin was. "What's wrong with me?", she whimpered.

"You're scared and hurting.", Cadance replied softly. She continued to rub Sunset's back as the girl started blubbering. For nearly twenty minutes the sacred girl blubbered and muttered incoherently in the bottom of the shower as Cadance continued to gently rub her back and softly shush her. Cadance tipped her head as she heard the front door open and close several times. A small smile graced her lips, those girls would move heaven and earth to help someone and if it was one of their own, nothing would stop them from coming to their aid, not even the lords of death or the underworld could stop them, these seven girls shared a bond that went deeper than friendship or a common goal or even blood, they were sisters in every definition of the word and that would be the foundation that would help Sunset to stand her own feet again.

A soft tap on the bathroom door drew Cadance's attention and the door slowly opened revealing Mrs. Shy. "Oh my!", the pink-haired woman exclaimed in a demure tone. "Do you have a first aid kit?", Cadance asked. The mother of Fluttershy nodded and hurried down the hallway, her feet making loud thumps on the carpet and floorboards. Several minutes later the woman returned with a white box with a red cross on the top. Cadace took the first aid kit and placed it on the floor. "Sunset? do you feel strong enough to sit up?" The girl nodded and began to push herself up from the floor of the shower, Cadance reached out a hand to help brace her.

With a pair of loud clicks, Cadance opened the first aid kit and took out small bottle of clear green aloe gel. "This might be a little cold.", Cadance said squirting a small amount of gel into her hand, "Let me know if it hurts or if you're experiencing any discomfort." Sunset winced slightly as Cadance applied the gel in a thin layer first to the raw skin on her arm, after a second the aloe in the gel began soothing the pain in her raw skin. Once Cadance had finished applying the gel to everywhere she could on Sunset's body, she asked, "Can you stand?" When Sunset began to slowly began to push herself to her feet, Cadance quickly gestured over to Mrs. Shy and the two women helped the girl to her feet, then flipped the lid down on the toilet and helped her sit down. Cadance applied gel to the few patches of raw skin on Sunset she couldn't get to while the girl was sitting in the tub. "Do you have any clean underwear?" Sunset shook her head, "Not here, the rest of my clothes are back at my apartment." Cadance frowned slightly then turned Mrs. Shy, "Bring me my purse, I always keep a spare pair of panties in case of an emergency."

Mrs. Shy nodded and as she turned to leave the bathroom, Cadance spoke up again, "Also bring a bathrobe if you have it." Mrs. Shy's footsteps could be heard retreating down the hallway as Sunset spoke up, "I-I'm s-s-sorry that I've ruined everyone's morning." She held her face in her hands and began to softly cry.

Cadance moved Sunset's hands away from her face. "You haven't ruined anything, Sunset. You're hurting and your mind is trying to make sense of everything. I'd be more worried if you didn't have a breakdown or two. Your friends and I are here to help you to help you. In fact I'd bet dollars to doughnuts they're downstairs right now to check up on you." A few moments later Mrs. Shy returned with Cadance's purse and terrycloth robe. Sunset put on the robe as Cadance dug around in her purse and pulled out a pair of folded up white cotton panties. "They might not fit you perfectly, but they'll do until we can get you more of your clothes from your apartment."

After Sunset finished puling up the panties and cinching the robe around her, Cadance said, "Let's go downstairs, I bet your friends are really concerned about you."
********************************************************************************************************

Blueblood sat in his office going over the files he had on Celestia, Luna and Sunset. Everything was in order in Celestia's file, though he was a bit surprised about her martial arts background until he came across where the events for the last year was redacted, he thought back to the events about the weird goings-on and the subsequent investigations involving several agents of the intelligence community. Oddly enough president Theisman had used an executive order to have the findings sealed and locked away. Rumors abounded that a strange woman had met with the president in secret that had prompted him to seal the findings away.

Blueblood scowled at the thought of some top secret cabal having influence over the president and preventing the government from using whatever this odd energy as a weapon against its enemies in the world. He quickly put that thought out of his head as investigations by various members of congress, including him revealed no signs of any group or even any mysterious people. He opened Luna's file and began going over it. Everything came back as normal, she had graduated top of her class in high school and graduated from Stanford summa cum laude. As he flipped through her file even more, he found where she had joined the army, entered into the medical corps, and had received an honorable discharge after eight years with the rank of colonel. Her file contained no inclinations of a single court marshal or disciplinary action. He continued flipping through her military record until he came to a section that had the dates and descriptions heavily redacted.

Blueblood flipped back and forth through Luna's military records trying to piece together when these dates happened. He slumped back in his chair once he was able to deduce that the redacted portions took place during that unpleasantness during the late nineties in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro. All that wasn't redacted was that during that time period she had received the silver star and two bronze stars. "Shit! She's a fucking war hero!" He slammed the file shut knowing it was worse than career suicide during this political climate to go after anyone who was a veteran that hadn't committed a serious crime.

Blueblood opened up Sunset's file and scowled, it was heavily censored, nearly all the pictures and descriptions were heavily redacted, other than an autopsy photograph of a seven year old girl with similarly colored hair, who had died when a car struck her fifteen years ago. He flipped through the file, finding that only two other photos weren't redacted, a recent one of her from the school's year book and a surveillance photograph of her with her friends. "How can this be?!", he grumbled to himself, flipping back through the file, "The dead don't come back to life!" He stopped on a piece of information that he had overlooked that said she held a dual citizenship, but the second country, along with the date of when she would have received the dual citizen status were redacted. He rubbed his chin and opened the drawer that contained a parcel he received this morning by courier from the private investigator he had hired to dig up dirt on Sunset and her friends.

Blueblood opened the manila envelope and pulled out the file with a wax seal on it. Breaking the wax, he pulled out the contents of the file. Spreading out the contents on his desk, he started going through them one-by-one. he found nothing of real use, mostly photographs of the seven girls and several photographs from the inside of Sunset's apartment. He dug through the the information the investigator had gathered on the seven girls. The first six contained information he already knew, but he curled his mouth downwards when the investigator had turned up nothing on Sunset's past. "It's almost like she just materialized out of the ether three years ago.", he grumbled. He continued to dig through the materials gathered by the investigator and paused on a photograph that looked like it was taken from one of the many school surveillance cameras, the seven familiar looking girls were there, but there was an eighth. She appeared to be the identical clone of the girl who transferred from Crystal prep, other lacking the thick glasses and dressed differently. What does this girl have to do with Sunset Shimmer and her friends? He flipped through several photos finding this clone or identical twin or doppelganger of Twilight Sparkle staggering around on two legs like she was having trouble walking.

Blueblood gave a wicked smile spread across his face, he just staggered face first into a big whopper that he could use to discredit Celestia. "Bingo!", he exclaimed, slapping the desk.

"Aw! I was just one letter away!", a tall, thin man exclaimed as he walked in through the door to Blueblood's office tossing away a thin paper card covered in five columns of letters and numbers.

Blueblood looked this man and his odd state of dress over. He was wearing a banana-yellow zoot suit, an overly long pheasant feather sticking out of his cap, a shiny black walking cane with a round multicolored gem and a circle with eight arrows pointing outward as a decorative head held in the crook of his arm and dark purple tea shades covering his eyes. "Who are you and why are you in my office?"

The man lowered his tea shades and looked at Blueblood over the tops of them with bright yellow eyes with mismatched red pupils, the gaze made Blueblood shiver. "Your people have referred by many names in this world over the centuries as I have randomly visited, Kalima, Eris, Set, Loki, Shaitan, Mr. Scratch, the one I'm most fond of is Spring Heeled Jack. As for why I'm here? One: To stir up a little chaos." He snapped his fingers and the pictures and files on Blueblood's desk burst into multicolored flames, leaving behind wierdly-colored ashes. Two: I'm here to deliver a message from the princesses."

Blueblood grit his teeth and snatched one of the bottom drawers on his desk open. "Ah-ah-ah!", the the tall, thin man in the banana-yellow zoot suit scolded waving a long finger, "You might want to think about what you're doing before reaching for that Beretta!" Blueblood gasped in shock and fright when he saw his own pistol held in the man's hand.

"H-h-how did you?"

"Pity.", the thin man in the outrageous suit said wistfully, "For a species that has split the atom and walked on the surface of the moon, all without the aid of magic or other supernatural abilities, I would have thought that one of their leaders would be smarter than what you appear to be. But then of course what should I expect from a bunch of ape-descendants?" The odd man pulled magazine out of the pistol and began eating the bullets, one by one like they were candy.

Blueblood slumped back in chair and stared at this strange fellow. He brushed the ashes off his desk and asked, "So, what this message you're supposed to deliver?"

"Mmmm...so good! I never knew that lead, brass, nitrocellulose and mercury fulminate would be this good together! Ah, yes! The message from the princesses. They have said to leave their subject alone or they would be forced to intervene.", the strange man said as he took the last of the bullets into his hand and tossed the pistol along with the now empty magazine onto the desk. He walked over to the wall and looked at his wrist, tapping his foot impatiently. "You might want to answer that mon capitaine, it's probably important." With the ding of a bell, an elevator door opened that wasn't there before and he stepped in, with the soft clicks of the door closing, the oddly dressed man was gone.

Blueblood stared in stunned silence until the phone ringing nearly made him jump lightly."Hello? President Theisman! How can I help you?"
********************************************************************************************************

Sunset was walking through her apartment along with her six friends, Shining Armor and Cadance. She pushed open the door to her room, Rarity close by her side when she heard Applejack speak up from the front door.

"It look like someone broke in here at least twice.", the farm girl drawled, "Ah'd eat my hat if'n Ah'm wrong. Lookie here, it looks like someone jimmied th' lock an' jammed th' deadbolt open. They even tried to wedge ev'rything back tuh make it look like no one had broken in here an' then some time later some put their boot through th' door, breaking th' latch away from th' door frame."

"Hmm...whoever did this was kinda sloppy.", Sunset heard Shining Armor reply, "They either weren't very good at what they were doing or they were betting on this being a rough neighborhood to cover their tracks."

"It looks like someone turned the kitchen upside down.", Rainbow called out, "Whoever did this was looking for something specific. They didn't take the fridge, microwave or toaster oven. Whoever booted the door in was probably just doing a smash and grab. I think if we went to the local pawnshop, we'll find Sunset's missing couch, laptop and TV, they can even probably lead us back to whoever broke in here. Wadda ya guys think?"

"Ah'm thinkin' that ya watch too many cop dramas. Unless Sunset kept the serial numbers for her TV and laptop, we're gonna have a dickens o' a time tryin' tuh get them back."

"Someone trashed the bathroom!", Pinkie shouted, "All they did was throw everything from the medicine cabinet in the sink and ripped down the shower curtain!"

Fluttershy muttered something softly causing a chorus of the girls asking what she said. "I...um...I said someone tore the backs off of Sunset's picture frames."

Sunset flipped on the light in her room and she and Rarity gasped. The mattress had been stripped and flipped, the drawers on the dresser had been pulled out, the contents dumped and the drawers themselves were strewn about the room, the clothes from her closet had been ripped off their hangars and tossed in pile on the floor, the wallpaper in spots had been slashed and pulled back.

"Somebody wrecked her bedroom!", Rarity called out as she helped Sunset pick up clothes and started folding them. "Those brutes have no respect for someone's wardrobe!"

"I don't think they were concerned with Sunset's clothes, Rarity.", Cadance called out as she walked through the apartment, "Whoever did this was looking for something specific."

Sunset picked through the remains of her room, if she could, she'd have ground her teeth. Picking up the pile of clothes from the floor of her closet, her heart sank seeing the condition of her most prized possession, her scrapbook. Tears trickled from her eyes as she picked up the torn cover and ripped out pages from the book containing photographs and clippings from both the school and local newspapers. Holding the ruined album in her trembling hands, she slumped to the floor. Her breath started coming in ragged, panicked gasps, the foul stink of the five's sweat filled the room pushing out all the oxygen, the taste of polluting slime coated her tongue.

As the world started to spin out of control, a slender ivory hand came to rest on Sunset's shoulder, nearly causing her to leap out of her skin. Looking up, the concerned face of Rarity stared back at her. Looking down at the ruined scrapbook and then back up to her friends face several times, tears began to freely flow from her eyes. "Why?", she whimpered after several minutes, still gently holding the ruined scrapbook in her hands like it was something fragile and dying.

Rarity pulled Sunset into a hug and her friend whimpered into her shoulder. After a few minutes Sunset shrugged off the hug, something insidious pushed its way further into her mind, it wasn't fear or anger or even disgust, it was something much worse, something gray, something empty, something that began gnawing at the edges of her heart.
"I just want to leave.", Sunset said entering the front room, letting her ruined scrapbook fall from her hands and to the floor. She saw several of her friend's lips move, obviously asking her questions, but she couldn't hear anything but a low static buzz in her ears. Turning to the door, she walked out, her heels dragging on the floor.

Pinkie's messy curls lost much of their bounce as she walked over and started picking up the ruined scrapbook one piece at a time. Applejack knelt down next to Pinkie and helped her pick up the pieces of the ruined scrapbook. "I don't know why...", Rainbow started to say until a glare from Fluttershy that could have turned a cockatrice to stone made her stop, "...right, not helping." Soon the farm girl and the party planner had gathered up the ruined scrapbook with all the reverence that one gathers a sacred idol and Pinkie put them in her backpack.

"Uh, Pinkie?", Applejack asked, "Didn't ya leave yer backpack in th'...ya know what, ferget Ah even asked."

Outside Sunset climbed into the passenger side door of Applejack's truck and closed the door. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she caught her reflection in side mirror of the old beater of a truck, her eyes instead of being filled with the usual fear and disgust, they were filled with a deepening sadness and disgust, inside she could feel the empty, gnawing gray still slowly chewing at the edges of her heart.

Cadance and Shining Armor came out Sunset's apartment, followed by her friends. Rarity had several of Sunset's clothes folded up and draped across her arm as she walked to the old beater of a truck, opened the door and laid them on Sunset's lap. "Don't worry darling, we'll get you through this.", the pale skinned girl with the royal purple, expertly coiffed hair said.

As everyone loaded up in their vehicles, Applejack flopped in the driver's seat of the truck and turned to face Sunset, "Anywhere in particular ya'd like tuh go?" Sunset just simply shrugged and mumbled, "No."

"Alright then, Ah guess we're goin' tuh Pinkie's house, unless there is somewheres y'all'd prefer tuh go."

Sunset shook her head no and Applejack turned the key in the ignition, causing the truck's engine to turn over. Hank Williams played through the tape deck. "Ah hope ya dun mind ol' Hank none as th' radio dun work an' the tape's been stuck in th' player fer longer than Ah c'n 'member."

Sunset smirked at Applejack singing along to the old country singer as the farm girl grabbed the knob on the shifter and jammed the truck into first gear. After a few blocks, the two girls began singing along to the only song on the old cassingle, "Jamba-lie and crawfish pie and fee-lay gumbo! For tonight, I'm gonna see my ma cher a mio! Pick a gee-tar, fill a fruit jar and be gay-ooohhh! Sunuva gun, we'll have big fun out on the bai-ooohhh!"

Though deep inside Sunset still felt horrible and felt the gray still gnawing at her insides, singing the old country song in the zydeco style along with AJ made her feel a little better. Pulling up to a red light, a black camaro with a burgundy passenger-side door pulled up. Inside two guys with mullets, wearing wife beaters sneered up at the farm girl, the driver revved his engine twice in a challenge to race. "Aw hell naw he jus' dinit!", Applejack exclaimed before turning to Sunset, "Wadda ya say, sugar cube? I betcha twenty bucks this ol' beater c'n beat that hunk o' junk not only off th' line, but also tuh th' next light!"

Sunset felt a grin spread across her face and the farm girl revved her truck's engine twice to return the challenge. The light turned green and Applejack jammed on the gas and clutch, throwing the truck into first gear. The truck lurched forward in a burst of speed, the Camaro's wheels smoked as they spun and twenty seconds later it leapt forward, by that time AJ had already cycled into second gear and was getting ready to slam it into third. Halfway to the next light, the Camaro hadn't even had a chance to catch up as AJ slammed it into fourth gear. Popping the truck out of gear, the two girls coasted the last few dozen feet to a stop at the next red light and a few seconds later the Camaro pulled up next to the truck. As the two guys signaled for Applejack to roll the window, she shook her head 'no' laughing and held her fingers up a fraction of an inch apart, the gesture meant to emasculate the two guys. AJ threw her head laughing as the guys flipped her off.

As the light turned green, the driver of the Camaro jammed his foot on the gas, making the tires spin for several second as Applejack turned down the side road. "Ah told ya that this ol' beater could that 'maro easy.", Applejack said, "By th' way, ya owe me twenty bucks." "I never agreed to that bet.", Sunset said, still dazed from the impromptu drag race. "Alright, Ah'll letcha slide jus' this once."

Shining Armor pulled up next to Applejack and Cadance signaled for her to roll down the window. "What were you thinking?! Drag racing in town?!" "T'weren't no cops an' b'sides, ya think Ah was gonna let some hunka junk 'maro with a mismatched door beat me?" Cadance scowled as she looked at the old pickup truck. "What?", Applejack asked trying to sound innocent, "Ol' Betsy might not much tuh look at, but at least her doors match th' body...e'en if'n they's all covered in rust an' mud." Cadance snickered as she rolled the window up. The rest of the trip to the Pie household went uneventful, even though Applejack teased Shining Armor once when she pulled up next to him and revved her engine twice.

As everyone pulled up to to Pinkie's house, Shining walked up to Applejack who was climbing out of the truck and slapped her on the shoulder, "I'll have to take you on that race...when I don't have Cadance with me." Applejack flicked her wrist and made a whip sound, teasing Shining as he walked away. "And don't you forget it!", he retorted.

Igneous, Cloudy Quartz, Maud, Limestone and Marble gathered up on the front step of the house on the rock farm as Pinkie introduced her friends, Cadance and Shining Armor to her family.

"Verily we greet thee with joyous tidings to our humble abode.", Igneous Pie greeted in his usual stoic manner.

Cloudy Quartz gave a small smile as she looked over the top of her pince-nez bifocals. Reaching out to take the clothes from Sunset, she said, "We hope that thy mind knows peace during thou convalescence, Sunset Shimmer. Thou shalt be sharing a bed with our eldest, Maudileena while she is home from university." Turning her head to Maud, she said, "Wouldst thou please show our guest to where she'll be sleeping?"

As Sunset and Maud walked through the house on the rock farm, she couldn't help but notice the several family photos of the Pie family, especially how Pinkie with her massive smile, pink complexion and extra poofy bright pink hair seemed to stand out from the rest of her family, who always seemed to have stoic, almost dour expressions on their faces. "If you don't mind me asking, is Pinkie adopted or something?"

Maude looked over at the photos hanging on the wall that Sunset was studying. "No. Pinkie and Marble are twins. Pinkie take after Grandmother Pinkie, both physically and personality-wise." Sunset let her gaze travel over to a picture of an old woman sitting on a small table in the hallway, she had the same bubbly, infectious smile, though it was apparent that most of her teeth had fallen out from age, the same pudgy build, the same bright blue eyes. Though the old woman's hair had long gone white, it was a messy, curly mop and other than the woman's age, she could have been an identical twin of her bubbly, bouncy, pudgy friend.

"Do you have any photos of your family?", Maude asked in her same monotone voice, that would have made anyone listening think there was a slight tone of curiosity and concern.

Sunset cast her eyes downward as she thought back to her foalhood. How she rarely saw her parents most days as they spent most of their time attending parties or opening of some gallery somewhere, in a perpetual bid to climb the social ladder, how after she showed herself to be unusually skilled for her age and got accepted as Princess Celestia's personal protege, she never saw them again, not even on the holidays. She remembered feeling anger well up inside of her, when at a young age, she had realized her parents had all but abandoned her, in their quest to further their own ambitions. "No.", she replied after a few moments, "My parents never cared dick-all about me. I haven't seen them since I was a filly...er...well you know what I mean."

Sunset felt tears of anger and sadness well up in the corners of her eyes as she recalled those memories from her foalhood, they hurt just as bad as the memories from a few weeks ago. She and Maud continued walking in silence down the hallway towards Maud's room.

Maud reached out with a gray hand and opened the door to her room open. Sunset looked around, noting the usual pictures and books about rocks, including a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in geology. What caught Sunset off guard was a couple of pictures on the end table of Maud standing on a stage in front of a mic, with a crowd, their faces twisted up in laughter.

"This is where you'll be staying. I hope you don't mind sharing bed with me for a few nights while I'm home from Granite College. Go fighting Marmosets."

A few hours later the Pie family were sitting around the dining room table, quietly eating. Sunset swirled the vegetable broth with her spoon as an opened can of protein shake sat by her hand. Though the vile taste of polluting slime still clung to her tongue, making her not want to eat, hunger soon won over. Lifting a spoonful of broth to her lips, Sunset tipped her head back slightly to let the warm broth trickle into her mouth. Placing the straw that was sticking out of the can up to her lips, she sucked some of the shake into her mouth. Sunset wished that there was something that could get the taste of polluting slime out of her mouth so she could enjoy actually enjoy the food.

After diner was finished, Sunset sat down on the couch in the front room. Her head started feeling heavy. Her eyes closed for a second and she forced herself to snap them open. 'Not gonna fall asleep!'

Sunset found herself standing naked in the alleyway. The vile stink of sweat laced with lust and malice forced the oxygen away. Hands reached out from the shadows to grab her, holding her in place. Five looming forms leered down at her, laughing and calling her a whore. Tears poured down her face as she begged to be let go.

"Why should we let you go, whore?", a familiar voice asked, full of malice and spite, "You know you loved it."

"If you were a better daughter, maybe we would have loved you more. Now you're just a worthless whore.", two familiar voices said. Sunset swore she saw a pair of familiar pony silhouettes.

As the grasping hands held her in place, Sunset tried to twist away from the fists raining down on her face and body. "Please, no more.", she weakly begged through pained gasps. A snake with venom dripping from its fangs forced its way into her mouth and down her throat, as a voice taunted her, "Look at this filthy whore! She's loving it!" Shame filled her as other snakes forced their way into her. She tried to scream, but found that her voice wouldn't come. Venom from the snakes' fangs began pumping into her body, polluting her blood with their corrupting poison.

Bodies that were covered with slime pressed themselves against her. Vile stink filled Sunset's nostrils and she tried to scream. The snakes continued to pump their venom into her bloodstream. She begged for for the humiliation to stop, she begged for the pain to stop, she begged for the venom to stop, she begged for death.

"I think this whore is loving this!", a voice mocked in a vulgar and hateful tone. Sunset felt shame fill herself again as her body betrayed her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! NONONONONONONO! SSSSTTTTTOOOOPPPPP!"

Sunset thrashed about on the couch trying to fight off invisible attackers. The world didn't make sense, there was only blinding panic and the threat of the phantom attackers. She couldn't breathe, the only thing she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears, all she could see was dancing static. A firm yet gentle hand grasped her shoulder giving her something to focus on besides the phantom attackers and a familiar voice called out through the storm of panic, "Sunset! You're safe!"

As Sunset's vision came back, she looked over and saw the familiar face of Pinkie Pie, her normally messy, curly pink hair that stood in crazy bouffant, hung in loose, droopy, slowly straightening curls, her normally happy, bubbly smile was replaced with an expression of concern and fear. Once the overwhelming hurricane of panic and terror passed, the tears started coming and she buried her face in her hands, blubbering.

"Are you okay?", Pinkie asked, voice full of concern.

"No!", Sunset squeaked out between blubbering sobs. She snatched her shoulder away from Pinkie's grasp. "I'm broken! I'm poisoned!"

Each time Pinkie reached out to place her hand on her friend's shoulder, Sunset would snatch away, making her already drooping curls straighten out more and more. Maud walked over and gestured for her sister to slide over, to which she silently agreed.

Maud sat down next to the weeping Sunset. She said nothing, just sat there until her sister's friend cried herself out. Once the girl with the red hair with blonde stripes had finally finished crying, she peered from behind her hands with puffy and bloodshot light cyan eyes. The gray-skinned girl with the dark grayish-purple hair and the deep purple eyes sighed before talking in her usual monotone voice, "I don't think you're broken or poisoned."

Sunset sniffled a few times, then asked in a wavering voice, "What's wrong with me?"

Maud's expression stayed the same normal stoic, though her eyes seemed to flicker with sadness and concern. "Nothing's wrong with you."

Loathing, disgust and shame welled up with Sunset. "Yeah right!", she hissed, "If there's nothing wrong with me, then why was it when they hurt me, my body acted like it loved it?", her words hitched for a second in her throat and her eyes watered again, " Am I just a whore who gets off when guys hurt her?"

"No.", Maud replied as her voice cracked and her eyes watered slightly, she cleared her throat and blinked her eyes a few times to center herself. She gently reached out a hand and slowly laid it on Sunset's shoulder. "You're not whore. You're not broken or poisoned."

Sunset whimpers were suddenly replaced by a surprised gasp when something tightly squeezed around her body. Turning her eyes downward, she saw Pinkie hugging her tightly, her limply-hanging hair slowly regaining some of its bouncy curls.

Still tightly hugging her friend, Pinkie turned her bright blue eyes and locked them onto the pair of light cyan eyes. "I know you're scared and everything seems dark and confusing.", she said staring into her friend's eyes as tears glistened in hers, "Something Grammy Pinkie always said was when the night is at its darkest, that means that the sunrise isn't far away. I know you're scared. I'm scared too. I can't promise you that things will be better right now, but I will promise you that things will get better."

Sunset looked down at her friend's bright blue eyes with tears glistening in them. "Pinkie...", she whispered, "...I don't think I'm..." A pink finger pressed against her lips, cutting her words off.

"You'll get better. We all will be there with you every step of the way and when you trip, we'll be there to help pick you up. That's a Pinkie promise.", Pinkie whispered, her tears drying and her expression becoming one of determination and concern.

Sunset tried to speak again, but her words died in her throat staring into those determined blue eyes. Fresh tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision and a lump, feeling like the greatest of all boulders, lodged in her throat. Again she tried to speak, only for her words to pour out in croaking sobs. As her tears came again unbidden, she felt a hand grip her shoulder firmly and gently at the same time. Looking up through her tear-blurred vision, she saw the form of Cloudy Quartz looking down at her with a soft smile on her lips. "Greater strength and love none hath than when their friends lend them their shoulders in a time of weakness.", the matriarch of the Pie family said.

Later that night after Sunset had finally cried herself out, she laid in the the bed in the dark room next to Maud, who was softly buzzing in her sleep. Her ribs still hurt where Pinkie had squeezed her tightly. Thought physically tired and mentally exhausted, she still couldn't bring herself to sleep, terrified of the nightmare that waited for her. She trembled slightly in the darkness of the room, she used to love sleeping in the dark, but now it filled her with dread. Every instinct told her that those five were hiding somewhere just out of sight, waiting to grab her, waiting to hurt her, waiting to violate her.

Unable to sleep, Sunset sat up on the bed and reached over, switching on the lamp on the nightstand. Instantly the shadows evaporated and retreated away to the corners. Though the light made her feel better, she could still feel those five lurking nearby, waiting for the shadows to lengthen, waiting for her to go to sleep so they could hurt her again.

Maud groaned, rolled over and sat up slightly. "Can't sleep?" Sunset shook her head no. Rising to her feet, she reached over and switched the lamp off again, immediately the shadows rushed forward. Sunset trembled slightly in fear, she cleared her throat to try and center herself. "I-I'm sorry to wake you. I'm going get something to drink."

Maud watched as Sunset walked out of the room, avoiding the shadows as best she could, like they were dangerous monsters or filled with broken glass.

Sunset hurried through the house as quickly as she could without waking anyone else up. Panic threatened to take her in the darkness, but she fought it as best as she could. Her heart raced, making her pulse pound in her ears like a bass drum, her breath came in shallow panicky breaths. Reaching the kitchen, she rushed to the wall and flipped the light switch. Light flooded the room, shoving the shadows away along with the monsters that hid in them. Blinking away the spots before her eyes from the sudden illumination, she made her way to the cabinet and pulled out a glass. After filling the glass from the sink, she fished a straw out of the drawer and walked over to the table to sit down.

Leaning against the stiff back of the wooden chair, Sunset wrapped her lips around the end of the straw and took a few sips of water. She trembled as the images, sounds and sensation of that terrible day ran through her head, the fist slamming in her face and stomach, pain blossoming from each blow, the white-hot pain in her jaw and the crunch of some of her teeth breaking as the knee slammed into her chin, the air being cut off from her until she thought was going to suffocate as members were forcibly shoved down her throat, the painful burning of being forcibly penetrated. All through the memories, one sensation swept through them all, her very body betraying her, sealing and compounding her shame. "Please stop!", she whimpered as she tapped on her head with a partially balled-up fist. Tears fell from her cheeks and pooled on the table.

Sunset nearly leapt out of her skin and screamed as the chair beside her pulled out, grating on the floor and Maud sat down, she didn't hear the eldest Pie sister walk up until she pulled out the chair. She could have sworn that the gray-skinned girl had an almost haunted look in her eyes. Maud laid an old, dust-caked picture album she had tucked under her arm on the table.

Maud sighed and swallowed hard before speaking, "I know what you're struggling with." She flipped open the first page on the picture album revealing a young Pie family, Pinkie and Marble were babies being held in the arms of Igneous and Cloudy Quartz, small smiles on their tired faces, even as a little girl Maud had the same stoic, nearly blank expression, the only one that stood out was Limestone, who had a massive smile that would have given Pinkie a run for her money.

Sunset stared at the picture, she couldn't imagine Limestone, the girl with the eternally gruff expression ever smiling. Maud flipped a couple of pages forward, Pinkie and Maud were toddlers, Sunset gaped at the dour expression on the face of Pinkie, she never knew her friend to have such an expression, even when she was sad, what surprised her was how much her hair looked just like Marble's, other than being a faded pink and hiding the left side of her face, where Marble's hair covered the right side of her face. Maud's expression looked the same and she would have thought the picture was taken on the same day if not for all the girls being taller. The expression on Limestone's face seemed to to change, her smile was much smaller and her eyes carried an angry expression.

Maud took a moment before speaking again, "My family and I didn't always live here in One Horse. We moved here when I was about twelve."

Sunset took in the picture and Maud's words. "Why did your family move here?"

Though Maud's expression didn't change, her breath trembled and she closed her eyes, a single tear rolled down her cheek. "W-when I was six, Gravel Pit, father's older brother, s-s-started touching m-me.", she stuttered, clearly the memories were hurting her, "H-he used to tell m-me that if I ever told anybody, that bad men would come and take our p-parents away." She put her hand to her face to wipe the tear away. "When I was-was about eight, Limestone walked in on him with a finger inside me and he got very angry shouting that if she told anyone, bad men would come and take us away from our family. I know I've never been the most outwardly expressive, but believe me when I say that I never felt more terrified and ashamed on that day than ever before."

Sunset felt guilty at her own breakdowns. "I'm sorry Maud.", she whispered, "Here I'm having breakdowns and you've carried on with this burden without so much as a peep. I'm such a..."

Maud raised a hand to cut off Sunset. "I never said I carried it well." She flipped the page revealing all four girls a year older, the young Maud in the picture, though her expression was still stoic, had dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept for some time and Sunset saw the similar expression in the gray-skinned little girl's eyes she had seen in the mirror.

"I stopped sleeping for days, sometimes weeks at a time. The nightmares of the monster touching me and bad men coming to hurt my family were nearly as bad as what Gravel Pit did." Maud flipped the page, revealing that she had the same scared expression in her eyes. Maud clenched her jaw, causing the muscles along it to ripple and balled up her fist. "Everything changed for me when I overheard him talking to himself about touching Lime. It was easy enough for me to keep quiet when it was just me, but when he started talking about hurting my sister, I had to tell someone, bad men be damned." She closed her eyes, took a breath to calm herself and swallowed hard. "At first mother and father didn't believe me, of course Gravel vehemently denied it. I swore to expose his actions. One day I left the front door open when he brought me over to do his usual with me. Father walked in to see why the door to his brother's house was open and caught him in the act."

Maud's breath quavered and her hand trembled slightly. "Father went crazy and I thought he was going to beat Gravel to death with his bare hands. I've never seen father so angry before and it terrified me more than everything else. He took mother, my sisters and I, loaded us up in the truck and took us to one of mother's friend's house. When the police searched Gravel's house, they found dozens of photographs of myself and four other children he had touched." She locked eyes Sunset. "Every day I've had to carry the pain and humiliation of what he did to me and I know that the other children he did that to also have to carry it as well. After Gravel's trial, we moved from Rockton to here. It took a long time and seeing many therapists before I was able to learn that I wasn't someone who was filthy and that I was something much stronger and no one would ever be able to take away from me."

Sunset stared into Maud's eyes. "What is that?"

"Survivors.", Maud said softly.

Sunset hung her head, she couldn't help but feel guilty and ashamed. "Why was it when they did all that to me, I had..."

"Orgasms?", Maud asked interrupting. Sunset had a surprised look on her face as the eldest Pie sister continued, "It took me a long time to learn this. The body will often react to stimulation, even if it's unwanted. The the body's nervous system only knows that something is touching it, even if your mind knows it's unwanted and wrong and that can cause hurt far worse than anything physical."

Sunset looked at the away from her friend's older sister. "Sorry."

Maud reached out and put a finger under Sunset's chin, raising her head to lock eyes with her. Sunset was surprised to see that Maud's normal stoic expression was replaced by a small smile. "It's not your fault. I have had longer to deal with this."

Igneous Pie woke up to the sound of his wife sniffling, sitting up he noted her already sitting in bed. "Cloudy? Art thou alright?"

Cloudy Quartz turned to face her husband and gave him a sad smile. "Verily, husband of mine. I was just listening to our eldest daughters and Sunset talking. Though I weep for their pains, I am joyous to hear that she can use her tragedy to help someone who is struggling."

Igneous wrapped his arms around Cloudy's shoulders. "Verily we hath raised four strong and morally upright daughters."
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The next two weeks at the Pie household went by agonizingly slow for Sunset. Between helping sifting rocks to pull out the precious and semi-precious stones to be sold to gem wholesalers or at the local flea market and Sci-Twi bringing by her schoolwork so she wouldn't fall too far behind once she went back, the days seemed to drag on forever, further compounded by her not being able to sleep, as the nightmares would make her wake up screaming.

For the first few days Sunset would have quiet talks with Maud when the panic started to overwhelm her. After Maud went back to college, she tried having talks with Limestone, but her gruff demeanor made it difficult for the girl with the red hair and blonde streaks to make a connection, so she just stopped talking about her feelings. Without an outlet, the bile and poison slowly built up in her mind. The migraines started coming back with a vengeance, making it hard to think.

After another week, Sunset decided to live with the Apples for a while, who happily and graciously took her in.

Big Mac rolled up to the Pie house in the old rusty beater of a truck that AJ had called Betsy, the cassingle of Hank Williams still playing the same song on repeat and the hulking man with red skin and orange hair sang along in his deep basso voice.

The Pie family stood on the front steps along with Sunset. Cloudy Quartz placed the recently-knitted blanket she was holding in Sunset's arms and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "Thou art welcome back to stay here anytime thou fell the need. Our door is always open to thee.", the Pie family matriarch said, smiling as she looked over the top of her pince-nez bifocals.

Big Mac stepped out of the truck and walked over to the passenger side door, holding it open for Sunset. When he went to help Sunset with her things, she flinched away. Sunset sat in the passenger seat of the old truck, when Big Mac climbed in behind the wheel, she pressed herself against the door, gripping the seat belt so tightly that her knuckles turned stark white and anyone who would have happened to pass by at that moment would have sworn they could see the bones clearly beneath the skin.

As the truck pulled slowly from the curb, Big Mac sang along with the Hank Williams song. Sunset pressed her body hard against the door and clenched her eyes shut tightly, though she knew intellectually that AJ's big brother would never do anything to hurt her, it still didn't make the part of her mind that was screaming for her to jump out of the truck and run down the road screaming be silent.

As tears slowly trickled down Sunset's cheeks, she tried to justify in the rational part of her mind why she was so scared, Big Mac had never even tried to flick a finger in her direction with any ill intent. The scared part of her mind screamed for her to run away. She sat in the passenger side of the truck, petrified as the two halves of her brain warred with itself.

Big Mac pulled into a gas station. "Ah'm gon' fill her up. Why doncha go inside an' get yerself something tuh drink?"

Sunset looked over at Big Mac and nodded, her eyes quavering in her skull. She opened the door and scrambled out of the truck. Making her way in the store, it was abandoned, except for the cashier and a couple of old ladies. Making her way to the drink fountain, her eyes landed on the slush aid machine, especially the cherry-flavored slushy ice swirling in the vat. Though she wanted to get the bright red, cherry-flavored slushy drink, her stomach turned sour as unwanted memories came washing back. "Whores don't get to drink slush aid!", she grumbled to herself. Grabbing a styrofoam cup, she filled it with ice and lemon-lime soda. Walking up to the counter, she stood behind one of the old ladies counting out pennies to pay.

Big Mac, who had finished gassing up the truck, walked in the store and stood beside Sunset. Trembling, she shuffled away from him and cast her eyes down. The two of them walked up to the counter and the cashier rang up the drink and gas. Big Mac pulled out his wallet and gave the cashier the money. Sunset quickly rushed out the store and leaned against a nearby pole. She clenched her eyes shut as she tried to will her body to stop trembling. Behind her the electronic chime on the door rang out in its odd two-tone, slightly garbled sound and she looked over her shoulder seeing Big Mac walk out of the store.

After the two of them climbed into the truck, Big Mac turned the key in the ignition and popped it into first gear. Sunset begged for her mind to stop screaming, the big, often monosyllabic eldest Apple sibling would never hurt her. As Big Mac sang along with the Hank Williams song, Sunset tried to join in, hoping that it would help her nerves, but all that came out was a strangled squeak.

As the truck pulled up to the big farmhouse, Big Mac drove it under an old tin awning. As soon as the truck came to a stop, Sunset leapt out of the door and sprinted up to the porch.

"Sunset scared th' whole way?", Applejack asked walking up as her brother twirled the key by its ring on a finger. "Eeyup!", Big Mac said with a sad sigh. "Maybe Ah shoulda been th' one tuh pick her up." "Eenope!" "What makes ya say that?" Big Mac reached into his pocket, pulled out a packet of cinnamon-flavored gum and shoved a stick of it in his mouth. "Jackie, said ain't gonna get none if'n all ya do is let her be around girls all th' time. Ah think she might be gettin' a lil' better as she requested tuh stay here, knowin' Ah was livin' here too. Inna a coupla weeks she's gon' be gettin' back tuh school wherein she'll be around lots more boys. Maybe bein' 'round me will help her uh not be so scared when she she gets 'round more boys." Applejack took the packet of cinnamon gum from her brother and shoved a stick of in in her mouth. "Eeyup!", the farm girl replied.

That night Sunset sat in the bed in the spare bedroom, the blanket pulled up to her shoulders as she trembled. Dinner had gone by mostly uneventful, though she had sat as far away from Big Mac as physically possible while still at the table. Lights went out across the house as the various members of the Apple clan called out good night to each other. The lamp on the end table stayed on, filling the room with light in a soft yellow glow from the shade, kept the shadows at bay, but that didn't tell her mind that the specters of those five were hiding in the darkness outside the window.

Sunset gently tapped her fist against the side of her head, trying to get the images to stop. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she tried to keep her lips clamped shut in a futile attempt to keep her terrified whimpers and sobs stifled, but in the end the sobs won out and her chest heaved as strangled sobs poured out. Every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she would see hands reaching out to grab her or fists flying t her face. "Pleasestoppleasestoppleasestop!", she whispered over and over again between sobs.

Applejack laid in her bed hearing her friend down the hall sobbing and whimpering in the spare bedroom, she knew that if she could hear her, then everyone else in the house could. Sitting up in bed, the farm girl slipped her feet into her slippers and walked out into the hallway. She saw Big Mac sitting on his bed with a concerned look on his face and Apple Bloom stood in the door of her bedroom looking down at the room where Sunset was in in. The door to Granny's room and the eldest member of the Apple family walked out, waving her grandchildren back to their rooms.

A soft knock at the bedroom door snapped Sunset out of her sob-laden fugue. Her body trembled violently and she pulled the blanket up to her neck as the knob slowly turned. The door opened with a soft creaking of the hinges, revealing the form of Granny Smith. "Darlin'? Why dontcha come on down tuh th' kitchen with me?" Sunset tried to repond, but she found suddenly that her mind had forgotten how to form words, instead what came out was some unintelligible squeaks and whimpers between the sobs.

Granny Smith walked forward, the floorboards creaking underfoot and extended a hand to the scared and sobbing girl. "Ya dun hafta say nuthin'. Ah caint guarantee that anything Ah c'n offer c'n make ya feel any better, but Ah c'n guarantee it won't make ya feel any worse." When Sunset didn't move or respond, Granny gestured her hand in a small circle for the girl to take it. "C'mon, jus' humor this ole biddy." Sunset reached out with a trembling hand and placed it in the wrinkled hand of Granny Smith. As the hand gently closed around hers, Sunset noted that though she was old, Granny Smith was still physically strong. Granny gave a gently smile while she gently held Sunset's hand as the girl slowly rose from the bed. "There ya go darlin'." The two walked side-by-side down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Sunset watched from the kitchen table as Granny Smith pulled two small juice glasses from the cabinet and a bottle of hard cider from the fridge. Setting the juice glasses on the table, Granny poured hard cider into both, almost instantly outside of the glass was covered in a layer of condensation. After the old woman placed one of the glasses in front of her, Sunset looked up and asked, "Are you sure I'm supposed to have this?" "Ah won't tell if'n ya won't.", Granny Smith said with a wink and a click of her tongue. Picking up the glass, Sunset placed it to her lips and took a breath to steady herself, the vapors from the hard cider filled her nostrils and sinuses. Taking a sip, she coughed as the surprisingly strong cider burned her throat and the vapors rose up the back of her throat, filling the rest of her sinuses, causing her eyes to water.

"Bottom's up darlin'!", Granny said as she drank the glass down, shivering from the aftertaste. Sunset shuddered before downing the cider in one terrible gulp. "Gah!", she exclaimed before going into a coughing fit, as soon as the hard cider hit her stomach, it filled the middle of her body with a warm feeling.

Granny Smith gave a nearly-toothless grin. "Feel better?" Sunset shook her head no. "Feel worse?" Sunset again shook her head no. "Ah said Ah couldn't promise ya that ya'd feel better, but Ah did guarantee that ya wouldn't feel worse. So...", Granny Smith refilled their glasses, "...we can c'n laugh it up or we c'n cry it out. Either way, let's drink it out."

After a few drinks, Sunset's head felt like it was swimming. She didn't feel like laughing, but she didn't feel like crying either. Suddenly out of nowhere a combination of a hiccough and a burp came out of her body, for some reason she found it amusing and snorting giggles began making her belly jiggle, making the hard cider inside it. She leaned over the table to ask for another drink when the chair tipped over, dumping her unceremoniously onto her backside. She gave a stunned stare up at the old woman, she suddenly found that very funny and her body responded with sputtering guffaws.

Granny Smith gathered up the empty glasses and dropped them into the sink, then put the bottle of hard cider up in the fridge. With a grunt, she helped Sunset up off the floor. "Alright yung'un, Ah think we done had enough fer tuhnight." Slinging Sunset's arm across her shoulders, she helped the girl into the living room and laid her on the couch, then switched on the lamp. "Ah'll see ya in th' mornin'"

After Granny Smith made her way up the stairs slowly, Sunset stared up at the ceiling, counting the strange patterns on it while the soft glow of the lamp shown down on her. Her mind still swimming in the effects of the alcohol, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Between the smells of breakfast cooking and the crowing of a rooster outside of the window, Sunset woke up. Though her head hurt, she felt more rested than she had ever in weeks, no waking up screaming or panicking, just a headache. Covering her eyes as she sat up, she smacked her lips, her mouth tasted like she had licked the north end of a south-bound mule.

"Mornin'!", Granny Smith said in a happy tone as she laid a glass of water with a straw in it and little plastic cup of liquid acetaminophen on the end table, "Sleep well?"

Sunset didn't remember going to sleep, she also didn't remember any nightmares. "I guess so." She tipped her head back as she drank the liquid acetaminophen, then sipped the water through the straw. "Maybe I should drink hard cider every night before going to bed."

"That's not such a good idea.", Granny said. Sunset stared at her blinking for a few minutes. "Sure ya could do that, but after a while the nightmares would come back an' then ya'd be in a real bad spot, dealin' with yer problems an' havin' a drinkin' habit. How's 'bout Ah make ya a deal? If'n in a couple o' weeks if'n yer still havin' trouble sleepin' an' nightmares an' whatnot, we can have a few drinks again?" Sunset nodded. "Good! 'Cause Ah dun think my reserves would hol' out with ya a-guzzlin' it down like a fish. Now what flavor o' shake ya want fer breakfast, vanilee, chocolate or strawberry?" "Strawberry would be fine." Granny cracked open the can of strawberry-flavored shake, shoved a straw in it and gave it to Sunset. "Ah gotta write that shake company an' see if'n they'll make apple-flavored shakes."
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Rosewater Blush walked out of the hospital with Wallflower beside her, the girl had bandages on her left arm. The two sat in the front seat of the car quietly for a few minutes and Wallflower wrapped her hands around her midsection. "I'm sorry I messed up again.", Wallflower said hanging her head as her dark green locks hung over her face, covering her freckles and hiding her brown eyes as they shimmered with tears, "I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment."

Rosewater sighed sadly as she laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm not mad or disappointed with you, I'm scared. I know you're hurting, I'm just glad you didn't cut yourself too deep, though it was bad this time." Tears rolled down her cheeks and she sniffled a few times. "Please start talking to Dr. Cadance again, if you're not comfortable with talking to her, I'll get you an appointment with someone who you're more comfortable talking with."

"I don't want to talk about it to anybody, it just drags up too many things I want to forget about.", Wallflower muttered.

"Do it for me, if you won't do it for yourself, please?", Rosewater begged her daughter, "If you keep hurting yourself, I'm going to have to put you in a hospital where they'll force you to get help." Choked sobs poured out her throat as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. After a few minutes she regained her composure and looked Wallflower in her eyes. "I know it's been hard on you and you've had problems making friends. There's this girl at your school, Sunset Shimmer, she's going through what you're going through too. I know she's given you problems before in the past, just talk to her and let her know she's not alone in this. Who knows, maybe you'll make a friend."

Wallflower leaned her head against the passenger side window as the car cranked up as unwanted memories danced in her head. 'Why would anyone want to be friends with an ugly whore like me?'

As Rosewater put the car in drive, her cellphone started ringing. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw it was from the station, pressing the green icon on the scree, she held it up to her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is Sgt. Blush. Wait, what?! I thought that was supposed to be the most secure place in the building, how did someone get into evidence without checking in with the cage and submitting I.D.? Oh, I see. Yes, give me about an hour." She pressed the red icon to end the call and turned to Wallflower, "That was work. I might be home late tonight, if I am, I'll call Mr. Magnet and tell him to peek in on you." Wallflower nodded. "Now remember Wallflower, if you start thinking about hurting yourself again, call me or Dr. Cadance or somebody."

An hour later Rosewater Blush walked into the front of the station in her full uniform. A detective leaned against the door that lead to holding cells waiting for her, his name tag read 'Detective Boson Higgs'. "What happened Randy? How did someone get past Squints?", Rosewater asked. Higgs sighed and shook his head, "The guy dressed up as one of us, claiming to be a recent transfer from another precinct. You know how Squints can barely see past his nose, but can snoop out a faker like a hog on a truffle. He let the guy back, but he also set off the silent alarm and followed him back. When the guy started ripping open one of the boxes holding evidence from the Celestia shooting, Squints tried to stop him and got roughed up pretty good. The guy tried to bolt, but three off the boys dog piled him."

Rosewater covered her mouth as she gasped. "I hope squints is okay."

"You know Squints.", Higgs replied, "He's practically made of hard rubber and built like a tank. If it weren't for his terrible eyesight, he'd be on a beat."

Rosewater and Higgs walked through the hallway and stopped at a guy who was shorter than her, holding and ice pack up to his jaw and a pair of glasses with lenses thicker that the bottoms of soda bottles perched on his face, hi name tag read 'Biscuit Hooves'. "How ya holding up there Biscuit?", Rosewater asked.

The man nicknamed Squints looked up at Rosewater, his golden eyes looking in two different directions, like they were trying to stare at the walls, magnified to almost preposterous proportions by his thick glasses. "Not too bad Rosie. I woulda had that guy if he hadn't sucker punched me. Muffins is gonna fuss over me when I get home and she sees these bruises."

Rosewater smiled at him. "Well you can't fault your daughter for worrying over you."

Higgs slapped him on one of his massive shoulders. "Aw c'mon Hooves! We all know you're just milking it. Before you know it people will be shouting 'Dammit Squints, you got me the wrong evidence box again!'"

Squints slapped Higgs on the shoulder, making him stagger. "I only do that to you, Barrel-ass."

Rosewater and Higgs walked down the hallway. Once they turned the corner, Higgs worked his shoulder while mouthing "Ow!" Rosewater giggled before letting her face get serious. "So what did that guy try to steal from the evidence lockup?" "Just some SD cards from a few cellphones.", Higgs replied. Rosewater tapped her thumb on her chin. "I wanna see what's so important on those SD cards that someone would risk getting locked up on some serious charges."

Several minutes later Rosewater and several other officers gathered up around a laptop. She popped the SD card in a slot and opened a file on it. Video started playing showing Long Pass and his cronies standing outside of the door to the girl's locker room at Canterlot High. Rosewater's eyes went wide when she watched the through the door, catching a surprised Wallflower Blush with a towel wrapped around her body walking out of the showers. As the video showed Wallflower scream for help as the snatched the towel off her body and bend her over a sink, Rosewater jumped up from her chair and bolted out of the room. She burst through the backdoor of the station into the alleyway behind it. She placed a hand against the wall as tears ran down her face. Her stomach heaved and she vomited, the bile splashing on her black shoes. She slammed her fist several times into the concrete wall. She stared at her knuckles as blood trickled down them. With screams of grief and rage, she started kicking the wall over and over.

The backdoor that lead from the station to the alleyway opened and Squints walked out. "Rosie!" He ran over as Rosewater fell to her knees screaming and crying. Squints dropped to his knees and wrapped his thick arms around her. She gave rage-filled screaming sobs into his broad shoulder as her body shook. After her tears dried up, she growled dangerously, "I'm glad Celestia shot those fucking bastards!"

Rosewater walked back into the station and sat on a chair. An officer came up with a first aid kit and cleaned and bandaged her knuckles. She stepped in the bathroom to clean off her shoes, rinse out her mouth and wash her face. Stepping out of the bathroom, she stopped seeing The Chief of Police, Thunderhooves standing with a file in his hands. "I know, I know. You don't have to tell me, I should have acted with more professionalism."

"No...", Thunderhooves replied, "...you acted more rationally than I would have in your position. I just wish you hadn't busted up your knuckles, but given the circumstances, I'll let it pass, the official report on that will be that you had an accident. Right everyone?!" Several mutters in affirmation or nods came from all the officers in earshot. "What I wanted to tell you is that we ran a check on the guy. He's got a rap sheet a mile long, mostly petty scams and fencing stolen goods. It turns out that he and his twin brother were hired by some shady unliscensed private detective, to get those SD cards. After we told him he was going to go upstate for a long time, he started talking and said he'd convince his brother to turn himself in and also turn state's evidence."

Rosewater took the file and flipped it open reading the name, 'Flim', she continued reading the file, 'Known accomplices: Flam". The remainder of the file read like a laundry list of petty con jobs and theft by receiving. "Did he tell you the name of the guy who hired him?"

"Yeah.", Thunderhooves replied, "His name is Coin Purse. We ran his background, before five years ago, that guy didn't even exist, but when we found his picture, we ran the likeness. It turns out he's a former MI-five informant who got burned, his real name is Pound Farthing."

Rosewater gave an angry smirk. "How long until we nail that fucker's nuts to the wall?"
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Sunset was glad to be back at school, spending the last ten days helping Granny Smith rip weeds out of her garden and helping pile apples in buckets was enough for her, though it had kept her mind off things, she still was glad to be doing something else. Walking down the hallway, her chest felt tight. As guys brushed past her in the hallway, she would flinch away. Stopping in front of her locker, her legs locked up and refused to move. A group of guys stood in front of it talking, sometimes they would slap high-fives. Her breath became shallow, panicked gasps, her body trembled, crackly static buzzed in her ears. Clenching her eyes shut tightly, she leaned against the wall and slumped to the wall. Tears rolled from under her closed eyes as she hyperventilated.

One of the guys, Flash Sentry, looked over seeing the crying and hyperventilating Sunset Shimmer. "Sunset? Are you okay?", he asked walking over and reaching out a hand.

Sunset's eyes flew open and her pupils became pinpricks as Flash walked over. "Don'thurtmedon'thurtmedon'thurtmedon'thurtme!", She repeated over and over as terror gripped her heart.She shuffled backwards as fast as she could until her back met the sides of some lockers.

Flash paused before kneeling down and slowly reaching a hand out to his ex-girlfriend. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sunset. I just want to make sure you're okay."

Sunset screamed bloody murder as she scrambled across the floor, drawing everybody's attention, rising to her feet, she bolted down the hallway in a blind panic. She bounced off other students, which only further fueled her screaming panicked state.

Rainbow was leaning against her locker talking with several of her teammates on the soccer team when Sunset came by in a panicked run, eyes wide with terror. Rainbow pushed past her teammates and called out to her panicking friend running at full tilt, she decided to take of after her, afraid she was going to hurt herself.

Cadance watched in stunned silence as Sunset, in a full tilt panicked run crashed into a group of four guys caught unawares. All five of them tumbled down to the ground, Sunset scrambled on all fours before getting back up to her feet and running as hard as she can. Cadance raised the walkie-talkie up to her mouth, "Luna! Roseluck! Cranky! Redheart! We've got a student in a full panic run!" "Who is it!", Cranky Doodle called back on the walkie-talkie. "Sunset Shimmer!", Cadance replied. "I'm on her!", Luna replied, "Make sure there's nobody hurt!"

As Rainbow ran past, Cadance called out to her, "Rainbow Dash! What happened?!" "I don't know.", Rainbow replied out of breath, "I saw Sunset run by like someone was trying to kill her and I was trying to stop her.", she placed a hand on her side where a painful stitch was forming, "I've never seen her run so fast before."

Sunset crashed through the door, nearly tearing it off the hinges, several surprised students scattered away. Trixie slumped against the wall, knocked silly where the door hit her. As Sunset ran in a full blind panic in the parking lot, Luna caught up to her, long since shedding her heeled shoes to get better traction. Wrapping her arms around Sunset, throwing herself onto the ground and dragging the panicking girl on top of her. Sunset screamed and flailed as the pancking animal part of her brain, in full control, tried to fend off the attacker. Luna shifted her weight and pinned the much lighter girl under her. "Sunset Shimmer!", she called out, "Look at me! Listen too me! Nobody's trying to hurt you!"

Sunset managed to roll over, neighing like a terrified pony, she reared up on pure instinct to try and buck off what her brain screamed was an attacker. This gave Luna the opportunity to wrap her arms around Sunset, leaning back, she wrapped her legs around the girl's waist around the screaming and thrashing girl's waist, pinning her on top of her.

After the full tilt panicked running and struggling against Principle Luna, exhaustion finally caught up to Sunset and she passed out. Luna unwrapped herself from around the now passed out girl. Her army training kicked in, pushing her own panic to the side and she started checking Sunset's vitals. Cadance came out the door followed by Cranky, Roseluck and the school nurse, Redheart. Redheart and Roseluck started tending to the semi-conscious Trixie as Cadance and Cranky hurried over to Luna and the passed out Sunset. Now that the worst was over, Luna slumped onto her butt, her hands trembling as panic started drawing up old memories from the Bosnian conflict.

Cadance tapped Luna on the shoulder as she didn't seem to register her question. When Luna jumped, she put her hands in front of her. "It alright. Are you okay Luna?"

"I'm--I'm sorry. This brought back some bad memories. I'll be okay, just give me a few moments to gather myself." Luna rose to her feet and dusted off her pantsuit. "Was there anybody hurt?"

"Other than Trixie who was knocked silly when the door hit her, just some bumps and bruises where Sunset crashed into some students.", Cadance replied.

"Find out what sent her into a full-blown panic, so we can prevent it from happening again.", Luna stated. Walking over to Sunset's upper body, she gestured to Cranky Doodle, "Let's get her to the nurse's office. You get her legs, I'll get her shoulders." Kneeling down, she said, "You got her?" When Cranky nodded, she gave a quick count of three and the two of them easily lifted the ninety pound girl.

Sunset groaned as she woke up on a bed in the nurse's office. As she went to sit up, a hand pressed gently on her chest, preventing her from getting up.

"Easy.", Nurse Redheart said softly, "Just lay here for a little bit until I get you something to drink."

Sunset looked over seeing Trixie sitting on a bench with an ice pack on her head. "What happened?"

"You hit Trrrrrixie with the door when you can running out like a stampeding wildebeest!"

Sunset cast her eyes to the floor. "Sorry."

Trixie harrumphed and looked away. Nurse Redheart walked over and moved the ice pack on Trixie's head. "I think you can go to class now. You don't seem to have any signs of a concussion. If you have any headaches, nausea or dizzyness, come and see me again."

"What about the brain damage she caused Trrrixie?"

"If you have any brain damage, it was there long before you got hit by the door. Now scoot!", Nurse Redheart scolded.

With an over-dramatic harrumph, Trixie stood up and stormed out of the nurse's office.

Nurse Redheart opened a bottle of cold water and helped Sunset sit up. Sunset put the bottle water to her mouth, as soon as the cold, clear liquid hit her tongue, she found she was far thirstier than she realized and began to gulp the water. Nurse Redheart pushed the bottom of the bottle down. "Easy now. Just sip it or you'll get sick." Sunset nodded and slowly sipped the water. Nurse Redheart walked over to her desk, picked up the phone and punched a few buttons. "It's the nurse's office. You wanted me to let you know when Sunset's awake. Yes, she is. I've got her drinking some water right now. No, she hasn't said anything. Yes, I've sent Miss Lulamoon back to her class. No, I don't think she has a concussion, but I did tell her if she had any symptoms of one to come see me. Heh-heh-heh! I agree, but there's not much I can do for that though. Okay, I will once she's finished drinking her water and she feels strong enough. Okay, bye-bye!" Nurse Redheart hung up the phone.

As Sunset finished drinking the water, Nurse Redheart held up a trashcan for her to toss it in to. "Okay Sunset, stand up for me if you can.", the woman asked. When Sunset got to her feet, she continued, "Okay, raise up and down on your toes for me." Sunset felt a bit foolish as she raised up and down on her tiptoes. "Okay, put your feet together, flat on the floor. I'm going to give you a little push, try and keep yourself upright." Sunset did as she was told, when the nurse gave her a little push, her body rocked slightly, but she stayed upright. "Alright, hold your hands out at shoulder height and close your eyes. Try and keep yourself upright." Sunset did as she was told, when the nurse pushed down gently on her arms, she tipped slightly, but didn't stumble or fall. "Okay, open your eyes and put your arms down. Is anywhere you're hurting?" "My-my legs ache some.", Sunset replied. "On a scale from one-to-ten, how would you rate it?" "Uuummmm....about a three." Nurse Redheart picked up Sunset's chart and scribbled a few things on it. "Principle Luna wants to see you in her office as soon as possible. Are you strong enough to walk on your own? If you don't think you are, I can can help you get there." "I think I can handle walking to the office on her own." Nurse Redheart smiled. "Alright, if you're having pain, nausea or dizziness out of the ordinary, come back and see me immediately."

As Sunset walked through the empty hallway, a glint on a windowsill caught her attention, somebody had left a box cutter there. Her feet seemed to move of their own accord, moving to the window and her hand seemed to move over to the thin blade housed in the bright orange plastic. Her hand trembled as it slowly picked up the box cutter. The thumb moved on its own sliding the blade forward, her breath caught in her throat with each click, she was mesmerized by the steely glint of the metal and the razor-sharpness of the blade. The chiming of the intercom snapped her out of her concentration on the box cutter, an announcement came over the speaker, quickly the thumb drew the blade back into the bright orange plastic and she absentmindedly stuffed it into her pocket.

"Come in!", Luna called out in a pleasant tone. The secretary, Raven Inkwell stepped in, "Sunset Shimmer here to see you?" "Ah, yes! Show her in." Closing the door, Raven Inkwell walked back to where Sunset was sitting, "Ms. Luna will see you now."

Sunset walked into Luna's office. "Feeling better, Sunset?" Sunset sat down in the chair and tried to make herself as small as possible as Luna looked at her across the desk, her hands crossed over each other. "Don't worry Sunset, you're not in any trouble. In your own words, can you tell me what your remember before you panicked?" Sunset swallowed and a very visible shiver went up her spine. "There were these guys in front of my locker. I couldn't move." "Did any of them try to hurt you?" Sunset's breath quavered and she clenched her eyes shut, tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks. "I-I-I...don't know.", she whispered, "I was so scared...I couldn't move...I sat on the floor and hoped they wouldn't see me."

Luna picked up a box of tissues and walked around her desk. "It's okay. Just breath and take it slow." She pulled out a tissue and wiped the tears from Sunset's cheeks. "It's okay. You're safe here. Take your time, talk through this slowly. Did you think the boys were going to hurt you?" "I-I-I...don't know." Sunset buried her face in her hands in an attempt to hide, her body began trembling. Luna laid a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Just take it slow. You're safe here. Tell me what you can." "One of them walked up to me." "Did you recognize him?" "I...yes...no...I don't know. I tried to back away from him, but something blocked me in. He just kept coming at me and suddenly I was back in the alley." Luna tapped her lips knowingly, she thought back to what Flash Sentry told her and his confusion at her panic. "Do you remember what happened after that?" Sunset shook her head no. "Everything was just one big blur until the nurse's office." Her eyes went wide and she started snapping her head around the room, breath coming in panicky gasps. "It's okay, Sunset.", Luna said softly, "You're safe. There's no one here but you and me."

Sunset very stupid and she cast her eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry." "No, no, it's perfectly okay. If you want I can move your locker to somewhere a little more isolated." Sunset shook her head no. "Okay.", Luna said softly and calmly, "From now on I want you to have one of the female students or a woman teacher walk with you in the halls until you feel braver. Okay?" Sunset nodded. Luna smiled gently, when Sunset was calmer, she wrote her a hall pass. Got to the bathroom and wash your face, then go to your class. If you start to feel overwhelmed, just ask to go to the counselor's office."

Sunset leaned on the sink in the girl's bathroom. She caught her reflection and was immediately filled with loathing at what was staring back at her, the bloodshot and puffy eyes filled with fear and shame, the trembling lips, the mussed up hair. "Stop staring at me whore!", she snarled. Her body trembled and tear trickled down her cheeks again, her breath came in sobs, until the reflection filled her with loathing and disgust again. "Stop crying you whore!" Her hand mved on its own to the box cutter in her pocket and her thumb moved without any conscious thought along its length. Footsteps in the hallway caught her attention and she walked out of the bathroom.

Trixie sat in the stall, peeking through the gap in the door. She bit her thumb to keep from sobbing, she had watched Sunset verbally denigrate herself and she didn't know what to do. Tears welled in her eyes and after Sunset left the bathroom, she broke down in the stall.

Sunset felt very stupid and useless as a student or teacher escorted her from class to class. The last class she had before lunch was fortunate as she shared it with Fluttershy. As the bell for lunch rand, Fluttershy took her gently by the arms, guiding her to the cafeteria. "Just look at my feet and lean on me.", the pink-haired girl said softly. The two enetered into the lunchroom and made their way to the usual table where their friends were waiting on them and sat down.

Soon the cafeteria filled with the lunch rush. Sunset laid her forehead on her hand and clenched her eyes shut, it was loud, too loud, she wanted to scream to drown out all the voices. Everything felt like it was crushing in on her, pushing all the air away, it was too loud, too hot, not enough air. "I-I-I-I can't stay in here!" Jumping to her feet, she hurried to the door, pushing past the crowd. As bodies brushed against her, she wanted to scream, but she couldn't breath, panic started taking over as images in her mind played out of hands grabbing her. Stepping outside and past the crowd, she took in a breath, her lungs greedily pulling air. She sprinted across the yard to an old oak tree and sat on the ground, leaning against it until her body stopped trembling.

Sunset's friends watched her rush to the door. As started to get up to join her outside, Trixie sat at the table with them.

"What do you want?", Rarity snipped.

"Look, Trrrrixie knows she's not been the best she could be, but she heard Sunset saying something to herself and Trrrixe doesn't know who else to talk to."

"Well don't keep us in suspense.", Applejack quipped.

Sunset opened her backpack and pulled out a can of vanilla flavored shake. She had grown to hate the shakes, but with her jaw still wired shut, she was relegated to a liquid diet. Dropping a straw in the can, she went to take a sip, but suddenly found her appetite gone. Placing the can on the ground, she covered her face an cried.

"Can I sit with you?", a timid voice asked, too deep to be Fluttershy's, making Sunset jump. Looking up, she saw a girl with light green skin, her short sleeved T-shirt revealed several scars on her forearms, there were also a few old cuts, still scabbed over. She scanned her gaze up to see a face with freckled and an unsure expression, framed with messy, dark green hair. Her eyes locked onto the girl's brown eyes, they were also filled with fear and shame. Who was this girl? Sunset shimmied over and gestured for the girl to sit.

"You're Sunset Shimmer, right?", the green-skinned girl with scared brown eyes and scars on her forearms asked, "My name's Wallflower Blush." Sunset looked at the girl, not saying anything.

"I saw you this morning in the hallway.", Wallflower said.

Sunset felt very stupid. "Sorry."

"No, don't be. I get it, boys scare you. They still scare me...well after...you know."

Sunset knew immediately who this girl was, she was the one who was hurt in the locker room those months ago. "Yeah.", she said flatly, "I don't want to talk about it."

Wallflower nodded as she took a bite of her sandwich. "You still work on the yearbook?" Sunset nodded. "I'm thinking about joining it next year.", Wallflower said around the mouthful of food. Sunset felt her appetite coming back, she didn't know if it was being outside where it was quieter or being around Wallflower. She put the straw to her lips and sipped some of the shake. The two of them sat under the tree and ate or in Sunset's case drank, their lunch quietly. When the bell rang for the end of lunch, they tossed their trash into a trashcan. Wallflower went to her next class as Sunset made her way to study hall.

Outside Cadance's office, Sunset's six friends along with Trixie stood, Applejack raised her hand and knocked on the door. Cadance opened the door. "What can I for you, girls?" Sci-Twi dug the toe of her shoe into the carpet. "We need to talk to you, about Sunset."

Sunset sat in the mostly empty room of study hall as far away from the other students as she possibly could and hastily scribbled answers down the various worksheets from her various classes. The intercom chimed and a voice, distorted by the mostly blown and worn out speaker spoke, "Sunset Shimmer, please report to vice principal Cadance's office." The few students in study hall all 'oooo'd' as Sunset gathered her things up and stuffed them in her backpack. She didn't know why Cadance wanted to see her, bit she went anyways.

Walking into the office, Raven Inkwell quickly waved her back to Cadance's office, where the door was already open. "Sunset, come in please and shut the door.", Cadance said as she put some paperwork in a drawer. "Uh...what's this about?", Sunset asked as she closed the door. "Take a seat please." After Sunset sat in the chair, Cadance asked, "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" Sunset looked across the desk at Cadance confused, she wracked her brain trying to think about why she had been called here. "If this is about in the lunchroom, everything was just too loud and I went outside to eat...er...drink my lunch under the old oak tree."

"No, that isn't what this is about. But I'm glad you had lunch.", Cadance said as she placed her reading glasses in their case, "Sunset, after your meeting with principal Luna, did you call yourself degrading names in the mirror in the bathroom?"

Sunset suddenly like she had a very hot and bright spotlight shining on her. "Uh...."

Cadance had a sad expression spread on her face. "Why do you call yourself such dirty names in the mirror?"

Sunset's mouth and throat felt very dry, she tried to speak, but only a squeak came out.

"Do you hate yourself?"

Sunset trembled, she tried to speak, tried to move her head, tried to make a sound, tried to do anything, but she found herself locked in place, no air could move in or out of her throat.

"I see. One last question. Do you think you deserve what happened to you?"

Sitting there feeling exposed, Sunset felt the dam begin to crack, tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. When she tried to speak, a strangled, gurgling sob erupted forth and she buried her face in her hands. "YES!", she finally screamed out, "What kind of no good, dirty, broken, polluted fucking whore has orgasms when guys beat and rape her?! Huh?! Is that all I'm good for?! Just to be beaten, raped and then tossed in the trash?!" Her body trembled as sobs wracked her. "I WISH I HAD DIED IN THAT TRASH PILE LIKE THE PIECE OF GARBAGE I AM!", she screamed at the top of her voice. "I HATE THAT I FEEL BROKEN! I HATE THAT I CAN'T EAT FOOD AND ONLY DRINK THOSE FUCKING SHAKES! I HATE THAT I CAN STILL TASTE THEIR COCKS IN MY MOUTH AND FEEL THEM IN MY BODY! I HATE THAT I CAN STILL FEEL THEIR VILE FLUIDS POISONING ME! I HATE THAT I CAN'T SLEEP! I HATE THE NIGHTMARES! I HATE FEELING SCARED! I HATE THE MIGRAINES! I HATE THAT I CAN STILL SMELL THEIR SWEAT! I HATE THE HEADACHES! I HATE THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR THAT STARES BACK!" Her voice took on an enraged growl. "AND MOST OF ALL I HATE ME!" With a cough, a coppery taste filled her mouth. She definitely injured her vocal chords.

Sunset flopped on her side and curled up in a tight ball. Her sobs were hoarse and gravelly. She couldn't stop crying, she couldn't stop being scared, she couldn't stop hating the mirror, she couldn't stop hating herself. "And worst of all, I deserve this!", she hissed in a hoarse whisper.

Cadance walked around the desk, sat on the floor next to Sunset and cradled her head in her lap. This breakdown was well on it's way to coming, but now that the girl's wounds were laid bare and she was spewing the poison from her souls, her long road to healing and recover was beginning. Cadance gently stroked the hair of the crying girl. Slowly Sunset's hoarse sobs became gravelly whimpers.

Luna sat in her office fighting back the tears, she had heard it all, she had wanted to burst in the office and stop the breakdown, but Cadance insisted that Sunset needed this vent or her emotions would come out in much worse ways. She covered her eyes as tears poured forth. After several minutes she gathered herself and pushed the button the intercom, "Raven, you can take off early of you want. I've got everything from here."

After Raven left the office, Luna picked up the receiver on the phone on her desk and punched a button to key up the school-wide intercom. "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, please report to the vice principal's office please." with a push of a button, she switched off the intercom, hung up the receiver and walked out to the secretary's office to wait for the girls.

Sunset found herself surrounded by her six friends in a tight group hug. Once the girls parted from the group hug, Cadance spoke up, "Sunset, from here on out, I'd like you to spend at least thirty minutes a day in the office talking with me." Sunset nodded. Luna gave Sunset her card. "That has my personal number on there. You can call me any time, day or night for any reason, no matter how silly or trivial you might think it is."

Over the next two weeks, Sunset felt like her broken pieces were being slowly put back in place. She began to look forward to things again, she looked forward to meeting with her friends at band practice, she looked forward to her meeting with Cadance, she looked forward to her quiet lunches with Wallflower. There were still bad things, she avoided going to sleep, when she did the nightmares still made her wake up screaming, she was still terrified of the groups of guys, panic still grabbed her, she was still afraid of the dark and always stayed where there was a light on. When the bad things would come on her like a storm, she knew where her anchors were. Sometimes she talked on the phone with Luna, sometimes she shared a few drinks of hard cider with Granny Smith, sometimes she would sit by herself and cry it out. Through it all, she would run her fingers across the box cutter she still had, sometimes taking it out to stare at the blade as she clicked it forward and back.

It was a Thursday when she sat under the tree enjoying lunch with Wallflower, though she didn't know it yet, the next few days were going to be etched in her brain for the rest of her life. "So this afternoon I'm getting the damn wires out of my mouth.", Sunset said as she spread her lips, showing the thick braces that were holding her jaw in place, "I can't wait to brush my teeth again." Wallflower stared at the ground, a distant and sad, unfocused gaze in her eyes, she absentmindedly ran her fingers along her thigh were some fresh cuts were. "Wallflower? You okay?" Wallflower looked up, then darted her eyes around a few times. "Oh...uh...yeah. Sorry about that, my mind was wandering. I happy for you, really." She gave Sunset a genuine-looking smile, though deep inside she was feeling rotten.

Sunset sat in the chair in the dentist's office. On the tray by her sat several of the wires from the thick braces that kept her jaw held shut. "Alright miss Shimmer, just hold still as I get the last couple of the wires unhooked.", the dentist said cheerfully. With a few pops and clicks, the dentist pulled the last of the wires from Sunset's mouth and droppednthem on the tray. "Alrighty, take a look see.", the dentist said, pushing a small mirror over. Sunset looked at her teeth in the mirror, it was weird to not feel the wires in her mouth, good weird, she ran her tongue across her teeth and her lips, then stuck her tongue out at her own reflection.

Sunset pranced out into the waiting room where her friends were. "They're ou-OOF!" Pinkie knocked the air out of Sunset with a tackling hug. "Now I get to throw you a proper party with cakes and candy apples and pies and ice cream!", the oudgy pink girl squealed excitedly as she bounced up and down, then blew into a party horn, when the paper unrolled, confetti and streamers flew out the end wit a tweet. "Slow down Pinkie.", Sunset said, "The dentist said to take it slow on hard foods for a few days until my jaw muscles regain their strength, but I could definitely go for some cake and ice cream." Pinkie danced in place as she clapped her hands. Sunset called Wallflowers phone as she and her friends rode over to Sugar Cube corner for her party, she frowned slightly as Wallflower didn't pick up.

Sunset's face was pure bliss as she actually chewed on a piece of cake. She took extra long with her chewing, relishing the sensation before swallowing. She quickly gulped down several mouthfuls of punch before shoving another piece of cake in her mouth. As the sun went down, Sunset sat on the couch in the farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres, burping and groaning. She had eaten way too much cake and ice cream. If anyone were to ask her, she would have shouted 'Totally worth it!'

That Friday when the lunch bell rang, Sunset made her way to the tree where she ate lunch with Wallflower, eagerly anticipating to crunch down on the baby carrots in her backpack. Looking around, she saw Wallflower wasn't there yet. Squinting her eyes, she saw a piece of paper stick in a hollow of the trunk. Pulling it out, she unfolded it and started reading it. 'Dear whoever reads this, I know you won't cry for me, nobody will miss an ugly, fat whore. I'm so tired of hurting constantly. I so tired of crying all the time. I'm so tired of disappointing my mom. I can't go on like this anymore, everything hurt all the time. You will find my body in the third hall bathroom. Please tell mom I'm sorry, this isn't her fault, I just can't go on anymore. , Wallflower Blush' Sunset flipped the paper over, it wasn't discolored from the dew and there wasn't much dirt on it, so it couldn't have been there for long. Crunching the note in her hand, she threw her things and took off in a full run, she hoped this was just a sick joke and if it wasn't, she hoped she wasn't took later.

"Move! Move!", Sunset shouted as she plowed past people in third hall, making her way to the bathroom. Applejack saw plowing through the crowd as she shouted, seeing the panicked and scared look on her friends face. The farm girl started body blocking her way through the crowd, thinking her friends was having another panic attack. Applejack saw Sci-Twi and shouted out to her, pointing in the direction of Sunset. Sci-Twi nodded, the nerdy girl started ducking and weaving through the crowd.

Sunset barreled into the bathroom. "Wallflower!", she screamed out, full of fear. Running by each stall, she kicked the door open, fearing, well she didn't quite know what she'd see, she just knew she was afraid to see it. Coming to the last stall, she found it was locked. Peaking through the crack in the door, she saw Wallflower holding a pill bottle, bother her hands trembling as tears leaked down her face. "Wallflower! Don't do this!", she shouted, pounding her fist on the door.

"I'm sorry Sunset. I can't go on anymore, the pain is too much. Even cutting doesn't numb it anymore." Sunset's eyes became pinpricks as she watched Wallflower pop the lid off the pill bottle and dump several blue pills into her shaking palm. "Wallflower! Please! Don't do this!", Sunset shouted as she pounded her fist as hard as she could on the door, "Unlock the door! Let me In! I can help you! I want to help you!" Wallflower let a choking sob pour out of her mouth. "I'm sorry Sunset. I truly am, but it's better this way. Good bye." She shoved the handful of blue pills into her mouth and started chewing them up, then swallowed. "Nonononono!", Sunset scrreamed as she threw her body over and over into the dor, trying to batter it down. Wallflower began to slowly droop over, "It's better this way. It's better this krrrrdmmmmfffffnnnnn.", her mutters became more and more incoherent as her eyes started closing.

Applejack was the first of Sunset's friends to make it into the bathroom, she paused for a split second seeing her friend screaming while she threw herself into the door of the stall over and over. "Sunset!", she shouted, running up, "What's goin' on?!" "She's killing herself!", Sunset screamed. Applejack peeked through the gap in the door on the stall, seeing the drooping form of the mostly unconscious form of Wallflower. "Fuck me! Together!" The farm girl and the former student of Princess Celestia slammed their shoulders into the door of the stall simultaneously, the walls of all the stalls shook, but the door still didn't budge. "Dammit! Uff! What the hell-Unf!-did they make this-Erf!-door out of?!", Applejack shouted as she and Sunset threw their weight into it.

A crowd gathered, attracted by the commotion. Sci-Twi weaved through the people. She stopped dead in her tracks seeing two of her friends throwing their weight into the door of a stall. "What's going on?"

"We got-Oof!-girl tryin' tuh-Gff!-killer herself!-Oosh!", Applejack said while trying to help Sunset batter the door down.

Sci-Twi ran up and shoved her friends aside, then shimmied under the door. Reaching up, she unlatched the door. "Help me get her laid down!" Sunset and Applejack pulled the now fully unconscious form of Wallflower off the toilet and laid her on the floor. "Prop her up on her side!", Sci-Twi shouted. The three girls rolled Wallflower on her right side and Applejack tucked her knees behind the unconscious girl's back to hold her there. Sci-Twi pried open Wallflower's mouth and jammed two fingers down the unconscious girls throat, wiggling the a little. When Wallflower's stomach heaved, Sci-Twi removed her fingers, bile and partially digest pill chunks splashed onto the tiled floor of the bathroom. Scraping the vomit out of Wallflower's mouth, Sci-Twi repeated the process again a few times.

Principal Luna shoved her way through the crowd in the bathroom. "What's going on here?!" "We're trying to save Wallflower's life!", Sunset exclaimed. Luna pushed past the last of the students and knelt down on the floor by the unconscious girl, pried an eye open and frowned at the dilation of the girls pupil. She checker her pulse and heartbeat. "How did this happen?" "She ate a bunch of pills!", Sunset said on the verge of a breakdown. "What kind? How many?" Sunset flopped on her butt, "I don't know. Blue ones. She dumped a lot of them in her palm and chewed them up." Luna pointed to the stall, "Bring me the bottle! And for fuck's sake, someone call nine-one-one!" As Sunset scrambled across the floor, Luna saw the letter still clenched in her fist. "Give me that!" Sunset tossed the crunched-up letter to Luna as she scrambled for the empty pill bottle. Luna quickly scanned the the suicide note, looking for any relevant information. Sunset brought her the empty pill bottle and Luna's eyes went wide when she saw it was xanax, looking down at Wallflower's hand for size reference, she asked, "You said she poured a bunch into her palm and chewed them up?" Sunset nodded."Fuck me! That can be as few as twelve pills, probably more like twenty or twenty-five!"

While waiting for the ambulance, Luna repeatedly checked Wallflower's vitals. Several teachers came in and started moving the students out of the bathroom. Luna pointed at Applejack, Sunset and Sci-Twi, "You three stay here." She put her head on Wallflower's chest, she couldn't hear the girl's breathing or heartbeat. "No you don't!", Luna exclaimed as she started doing chest compressions, "Breath goddammit!" Wallflower coughed and her unconscious form sucked in air, Luna laid her head on the girl's chest. "Her breathing's good, but her heartbeat's weak." The paramedics rushed into the bathroom, pushing a gurney. Luna stood up. "She ate a handful of xanax. I'm not sure how many, she just crammed a bunch into her mouth and chewed them up. We managed to get her to vomit some up."

The paramedics slid a backboard under Wallflower and strapped a neck brace on her. On the count of three, they lifted the unconscious girl onto the gurney and strapped her down. They then rushed out to the ambulance. Luna gestured for the three girls to follow her as a cop walked in to take a statement. Luna gave her statement, then each of the three girls gave their statements. After he finished writing down on his report, he took a few photos of the scene, took a sample of the vomit on the floor, then tipped his hat to the four and left. Luna called Cadance to tell her what happened and to tell her to let school out early as she hurried to her car.

Rosewater Blush ran at full tilt through the hospital as soon as the door on the elevator opened. As soon as she heard that Wallflower tried to kill herself, the worst images ran through her mind. Was she breathing on her own or did they have her hooked up to a machine? Would her daughter be a vegetable? Would she recognize her own daughter?

Luna stopped Rosewater in the hallway. "They've got her stable and they've pumped her stomach. She's still out."

"What did she take and how much?!"

"From what they pumped out of her stomach and what the police have gathered from the scene, she chewed up and swallowed at least eighteen xanax.", Luna said calmly, "Three girls at the school found he as she swallowed the pills and they made her throw some of it up."

Rosewater pushed past Luna and made her way to the door of Wallflower's room. She saw her daughter laying on the bed, some tubes running out of her nose, a couple of IVs running to her arm and beeping machines hooked up to her body. Her eyes rolled up in her head as she fainted.

Sunset sat on the curb crying. She held the box cutter in her hand, extending and retracting the blade as the images of the day ran in her head. She wanted to hurl the razor-sharp blade away, but her hand would let it go. Her eyes traveled down to her wrist. "It could be so easy." She grit her teeth. "No!" Retracting the blade one last time, she put the box cutter in her pocket.
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Sunset walked around for the next three days like she was in a gray fog. She had visited Wallflower once after she had woken up in the hospital, but the girl had been irate and cussed her out. Something gray, vicious and hollow gnawed an empty spot in her heart and nestled itself deep in it.

'I fucking hate you! Why didn't you let me have my peace?! Kill yourself you fucking whore!' Wallflower's words echoed in Sunset's head. Tinder rumbled overhead in the dark gray clouds as a storm blew in. A chill wind blew, csrrying the smell of rain.

As the first pats of raindrops struck the ground, Sunset suddenly realized the box cutter was in her hand, the blade fully extended. Though she fought it, her hand moved on its own. "No! Please stop! Don't do this!", she begged her hand to stop, but it refused her command as it moved on its own, bringing the blade to the back of her left forearm. Pain screamed from nerves that suddenly sprang to life as the blade cut through skin and meat on her forearm, crimson liquid flowed forth from the gash. Looking around in a panic, she recognized the neighborhood she was in. She couldn't stop the blade from slicing into her, but she knew who could stop it. As her feet picked up speed, the blade bit through the sin and meat of her forearm again. Stopping in front of a familiar stoop, she looked up to the familiar front door, just five more steps and they could make the blade stop cutting. As she planted her foot on the first step, the box cutter sliced into her forearm again, four steps to go, three steps to go, two step to go, one step to go. She dropped to her knees, raised a fist and started pounding on the door, the clouds finally breaking, dumping sheets of rain down on her head.

Cadance opened the door, seeing Sunset kneeling in front of her, the fresh and angry bleeding gashes on the back of her left fore arm, a box cutter in her right hand, fresh blood staining the blade. Sunset looked up into Cadance's eyes witha distraught and leading gaze. "I-I can't stop myself! Please stop me!" As the blade moved towards Sunset's forearm again, Cadance grabbed the girl by her wrist, stopping the act in progress. Cadance then pried the box cutter out of Sunset's fingers. Sunset's tear mingled with the rain flowing down her face. "Thank you.", she said in a wavering whisper.

Cadance immediately drug Sunset inside. Shining Armor walked out of the back of the house."Cady? Who was-", his eyes went wide with shock seeing the fresh bleeding cuts on Sunset's forearm, "-oh my!" He dashed to the kitchen and came back with a clean dish towel and a first aid kit. Shining wrapped the towel around Sunset's arm to staunch the bleeding and guided her over to the couch as Cadance dug through the first aid kit. "I'm sorry for being so stupid.", Sunset whimpered. "Though cutting yourself isn't the smartest thing in the world, I'm just glad you were smart enough to realize you couldn't stop yourself,", Cadance replied, "Let's focus on getting the bleeding stopped and then get you to a hospital."

As Shining moved the towel, Sunset hissed in pain as Cadance applied first aid spray to the cuts.

Sci-Twi walked out into the front room. "Sunset? Nice of you to...", her words died in her throat seeing the three cuts on Sunset's arm, "...a-re you okay?"

Cadance applied antibiotic ointment to the cuts and wrapped them in gauze. "She's had a bit of a slip up, but she was smart by getting here before it could get worse. Alright let's get you to the hospital."

After Sunset had finished cuts stitched up, five each, a psychologist sat in the room and listened to her for a while. He diagnosed with her PTSD and depression. He wrote out a prescription for antidepressants for her and told her that if the feelings of self-harm continue or increase, to call someone. After the psychologist left, Cadance, Shining Armor and Sci-Twi walked in the room. "I think we should increase our visits to an hour each day for the foreseeable future.", Cadance said.

Sunset nodded. Deep inside she felt bleak, hollow, gray and dark, everything around her felt like it was getting darker. The words of Pinkie rang in her head from a few weeks ago, she had said that grandmother used to tell her that when the night was it's darkest, that meant the sun would soon rise. She hoped the sun would soon rise, but was scared that the darkness and gray would last forever.

Author's Note

This one wound up being longer than originally intended. Hang on to your butts as one more chapter that has the prefix Lengthening shadows and graying skies is left. I promise there will be happier chapters in the future for this story.

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

Feel free to leave a comment, any criticisms, throw shade or pure bane.