Sunset stared down at the three healing cuts on her forearm. When she tried to think back a few days ago to why she cut herself, everything seemed so surreal, it was almost as if she didn't have control of her own body. But he also knew that it wasn't entirely true. Some part of her brain wanted to do it, she knew that she could have thrown the box cutter away at any time, or told someone she had it before she had gotten that far or told someone that she had thoughts about hurting herself, but she instead concealed it until she started hurting herself. Her thoughts then drifted to Wallflower, all the days they had sat under the old oak tree eating their lunch in the quiet, how the girl was nearly ripped from her life, how in the hospital she had lashed out in such an irate manner. She missed her newest friend so much it made her heart hurt. It almost made her chuckle, a girl she barely knew had for the short time they had at together eating their lunches somehow made her feel...complete.

"Sunset? Is everything okay?"

Cadance's words snapped her out of her thoughts. Looking around seeing that she was in Cadance's office, she had forgotten that this was the hour she was supposed to be taking to talking to her. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

Cadance gave a small smile. "Care to share what you were thinking about?"

Sunset closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. She saw those big grown eyes staring at her in her mind's eye. "I was thinking about Wallflower."

"Oh?", Cadance said crossing her hands on top of her desk, "I hope it was good thoughts."

Sunset thought about the quiet moments they had when they shared their lunches together, about the few chuckles their shared, how neither had to say anything as they knew what the other was feeling. Her thoughts then shifted to how Wallflower laying in the hospital bed shouting irately at her. "Mostly. But I think she hates me now." Tears shimmered in her eyes.

"What makes you say that?"

"When I visited her in the hospital, she was so mad at me. She said I took her peace away. But I couldn't let her kill herself."

Cadance said nothing for several minutes. "I don't think she hates you."

"No, I think she was pretty clear about her feelings when she told me to kill myself." Sunset tried to squeeze back the tears, but failed as they started slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"I see.", Cadance replied, "But I don't think she meant it. I think she wanted you to stop her."

"She seemed pretty serious. I mean with locking herself in the stall and eating a whole handful of pills."

"She left the note where you could find it. I think jut like when you cut yourself and came to my house because you couldn't stop yourself, she also knew she wasn't able to stop herself and knew you would try to stop her."

Sunset planted her heels on the seat of the chair, pulled her thighs up to her chest and clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to fight back the tears, a fight she had already lost. She buried her face in her knees, hot salty tears dripped from her cheeks onto her jeans. The images of Wallflower laying on the floor of the bathroom unconscious danced in her memories. "I was so scared!", she whispered, "Wallflower looked like she was in so much pain when I found her in the stall and when she shoved those pills in her mouth, all I could think was that I couldn't let her die in there like that." Her body heaved as she sobbed into her knees.

Cadance picked up a box of tissues and walked around her desk. She gently grabbed Sunset's hand, the girl looked up at her and she placed the box in her hand. Sunset pulled a few tissues out of the box, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Cadance knelt down next to Sunset and gently gripped her shoulder, "I'm proud that you acted a quickly as you did. You saved Wallflower's life. If you had hesitated, instead of you, Applejack and Twilight pulling her out of the stall, it would have been the janitor that found her body that evening and by then it would have been too late."

Sunset heard Cadance's words, they didn't make her feel any better. "If she wanted me to save her, why does she hate me for doing so?"

"Sometimes when we're scared and hurting, we lash out in anger because we tell ourselves it's better to be angry than to cry. Give her time, once she has time to heal and get her mind back into a much better place...she'll be back to her old self. Just be there for her and let her know she's not alone in this."

For the remainder of the hour Sunset didn't say much as her mind was processing was processing the things she and Cadance talked to her about.

At lunch, Sunset was sitting under the tree she and Wallflower had shared quiet moments while eating their meal. As she pushed her salad around in its container with a fork, the sound of unsure footsteps pulled her out of her funk. Looking up, she saw Applejack approaching.

"Uh...Sunset? Do ya mind if'n Ah join ya here?"

Sunset shimmied over under the tree and gestured for the farm girl to sit down. "Sure...if you want."

Applejack sighed as she sat down under the tree and slipped her arms out of the straps on her backpack. Unzipping the main compartment, she reached in pulling out a sandwich wrapped in plastic, a thermos and an apple. Taking a big crunching bite out of the apple, the farm girl rolled the chunk of fruit around in her mouth as she slowly chewed. "So...how ya holdin' up?", she asked around the partially chewed up chunk of apple.

"As well as good I can, I guess.", Sunset replied flatly, "I don't really want to-" "Do you two mind if I join you?", a voice interrupted. Looking up, the two girls saw Sci-Twi standing there, awkwardly digging the toe of her shoe in the dirt. "Sure as shootin' sugarcube.", AJ responded, "Ah was out here 'cause Ah couldn't bear th' idea o' Sunset sittin' here by herself.", she then sighed and placed the apple on her lap, "Plus Ah kinda didn't want tuh be in th' cafeteria right now."

Sci-Twi nodded her head as she sat down under the old oak tree. "Twilight, when we got Wallflower out of the stall, how did you know to make her throw up?", Sunset asked. Sci-Twi sighed, took her glasses off to wipe her eyes, then responded, "I took a first aid course with Fluttershy a few weeks after joining the school. I figured it would be a good thing to know, considering all that strange pony magic and whatnot."

Applejack looked off into the distance. "Sunset, Ah jus' wanted tuh apologize. When I ran into th' bathroom after ya, Ah thought ya were havin' 'nother panic attack. Ah dinit know ya were tryin' tuh save yer friend."

Sunset waved it off. "If the tables were turned, I would have probably thought the same thing." Her lips started to tremble she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to brace herself. "I want to thank you both for helping me save Wallflower." Feeling her appetite coming back, she speared some of the salad with the fork to take a bite.

"It's the least I could have done.", Sci-Twi half-muttered as she pulled out a plastic container containing eggplant parmesan.

Over the next several minutes Sunset's four other friends made their way out to the old oak tree. Sunset smirked, "If I didn't know better, I'd think--What the fuck are you eating Rainbow?! It stinks!"

"It's lutefisk.", Rainbow replied as she scooped some of the white gelatinous fish from the plastic container into her mouth, "It's really good. I first came across it as a girl when I visited by cousin up in Minnesota. Want to try some?" She held the plastic container in front of of Sunset's face, whose cheeks turned slightly green from the smell.

Sunset gently pushed the container away. "No, I*urk* Get that away from me before I puke!" She quickly staggered up to her feet and stumbled away from the foul-smelling gelatinous fish to get some air. She placed her hands on her knees dry heaving as she fought back the urge to throw up.

"Geez! I know it's not for everyone, but she doesn't have to act all overly-dramatic.", Rainbow grumbled.

"Rainbow Luanne Dash!", Rarity scolded, "You know Sunset's a vegetarian. I remember you acting the same when you first tried my Babushka's borscht."

"Soup is supposed to be hot, not cold.", Rainbow grumbled under her breath.

Rarity raised an eyebrow and placed a hand to her ear. "What was that darling?"

"Nuthin'."

After recovering from the smell of Rainbow's lunch, Sunset sat back down to join her friends and slowly finished her lunch. Occasionally the wind would shift and the smell of the pickled, gelatinous fish would go up her nostrils, making her gag. Putting a finger against her nostrils to block the smell so she wouldn't gag. "Holy fuck, Rainbow! I love you death and would do anything for, but that ludicrous...ludafish is rank. If you threw that at Nightmare Moon, she probably would have re-banished herself back to the moon."

"Ha-ha-ha.", Rainbow deadpanned before her expression shifted into a wicked smile, "Maybe tomorrow I'll bring my mom's favorite dish...pickled herring with a side of limburger cheese."

"OH FUCK NO!", Rarity shouted before clearing her throat and regaining her composure, "I mean, no darling. I know limburger tastes really good, but it smells like someone diarrhea-ed into a tin can and when you combine it with the smell of pickled fish, I think that smell will drive us to murder."

Applejack snickered. "Ya know Rainbow, if'n ya like munchin' on things that smelled fishy, Ah could introduced ya tuh a couple o' my cousins."

Rainbow blushed and crossed her arms as her six friends laughed. "You know sometimes I wonder why we're friends."
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Sunset sat in study hall trying to wrack her brain on an essay for English class. 'Why did I choose Macbeth for this essay?' She absentmindedly scratched her pencil across the paper. When the bell rang signaling the end of the day, she looked down at the paper she thought she was doodling on absentmindedly and her eyes shot wide-open, somehow in her bored stupor she had drawn a near-perfect image of Wallflower's face. Her cheeks flushed red as she folded up the drawing and stuffed it in her backpack along with several books and papers.

Walking out the front door of the school, Sunset saw her friends gathered up by the portal. "Hey Sunset!", Rainbow shouted as she waved, "We're going to Sugarcube Corner for a bit then go out to the old abandoned airstrip. My dad's gonna let me borrow his Kawasaki. I know you like tearing ass on that thing."

Sunset was familiar with Rainbow's dad's motorcycle. She enjoyed the few times she straddled that crotch rocket while opening the throttle to full, but today she didn't feel like hanging out...even if it involved sitting astride pure sex going a buck twenty down the old runway. "I kinda want to be alone right now, but thanks for inviting me."

"Is everything okay, Sunset?", Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, I just got a lot on my mind right now and just want some time to myself to think.", Sunset replied, "Smoke the tires up once for me."

"Ya sure?", Applejack asked and Sunset nodded. "Alright then, ya got our numbers if'n ya change yer mind."

As Sunset started walking down the sidewalk, Rainbow slapped Fluttershy on her shoulder. "Well 'Shy it looks like you got first ride on the comet." "Eep!"

Sunset walked down the sidewalk for a few blocks kicking a pebble when a car pulling up and stopping caught her attention. The passenger side window rolled down and a woman called out, "Sunset Shimmer?" Sunset looked over at the woman, taking in her light green skin, bright blue eyes and red shoulder-length hair, she looked very similar to Wallflower. "Depends on who's asking." "My name's Rosewater Blush. I'm Wallflower's mom.", she leaned over and opened the passenger door, "Hop in, I'll take you where you're goin'."

Sunset balked for a moment then climbed in climbed in the car. "Where ya goin'?", Rosewater asked. "Nowhere in particular.", Sunset replied. Rosewater clicked her tongue in thought, "How about a drive with nowhere in mind?" Sunset nodded. "Alright, buckle up.", the woman said as she put the car in drive.

The two sat in silence as they drove for a dozen blocks past stores and restaurants. "So...uh...how's Wallflower been doing?", Sunset asked, breaking the awkward silence. Flipping on the blinker, Rosewater turned into a parking lot of Burger Princess and pulled into a parking spot. "She's been*hsnf*...she's been...", the woman covered her eyes as her body shook with silent sobs.

Sunset placed her hand on Rosewater's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.", she cast her eyes down to the floorboard, "Maybe I should just go." Rosewater turned to face Sunset as tears ran down her cheeks. "Don't go. I-I-I just want to say thank you for helping to save my daughter's life." She wrapped the girl in a hug and bawled into her shoulder. Sunset slowly wrapped her arms around the woman's body and rubbed her back. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm scared for Wallflower too." "I put her in a hospital.", Rosewater said between sobs, "She's been hurting herself for months and I know I should have done it sooner, but I thought I could help get her through this bad patch. Does that make me a bad mom?" Sunset didn't really have an answer, nothing from her time at Canterlot High or back when she was Princess Celestia's personal student prepared her for this. "I can't tell whether you're a good mom or not, considering when I was little, my parents were never there for me."

Rosewater pushed back from the hug slightly and looked Sunset in her eyes. "I understand...I've been a cop for nearly twenty years. I've been on my fair share of calls involving neglected kids. I can't imagine how children from your pony world cope with being neglected by their parents." Sunset sighed as she recalled her foalhood. "Don't get me wrong about Equestria. It's beautiful country that is full of magic, peace and friendship that where ponies will break out in song at any moment and hasn't seen real violence in centuries. But don't get me wrong, just because it's a peaceful land, not everything is smiles, rainbows and farts. I was lucky, my parents weren't super rich, but they didn't live in poverty either. I grew up in a city called Fillydelphia and I rarely saw my parents unless they were sleeping off a hangover, because they were real social climbers. When I showed real talent in magic and wound up becoming the personal student of the princess, they used that as a means to further launch their social status. It wasn't long after that, that I never saw them again, not even for the holidays. I guess that was when I started becoming angry and bitter."

Rosewater looked Sunset in the eyes, swallowed to get the lump of snot out of her throat. When she started to talk, Sunset interrupted, "But I've had enough time to come to terms with it and make my peace with the past. If my parents ever decide to try and make contact with me again, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it." The two half-chuckled at the joke. "Is Wallflower doing okay, other than you know...?" "Yes, she's okay, at least physically. If everything goes well at the hospital and she participates with the doctors and counselors, she should be out in about three weeks." She opened the driver's side door. "Can I interest you in a shake?" Sunset gave a small smile. "Sure."

Rosewater and Sunset sat in the fast food restaurant for a couple of hours sipping on sodas because the shake machine was as usual...broken. "And the doctor said 'Rectum?! Damn near killed 'em!'", Rosewater said, spouting out the punchline of the joke she was telling, as they walked out the door and the two of them started roaring with gut-busting laughter. "I'll have to remember that one.", Sunset said as she wiped an errant tear from where she was laughing.

As the two stood next to the car, Rosewater placed her hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Seriously, I want to thank you for saving Wallflower's life. I also want to thank those two girls who helped you." "They're two of my friends, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle.", Sunset replied. "So where ya stayin'?", Rosewater asked, "I'll give ya a lift home." "You don't have to do that, I'll call one of my friends to scoop me up." "Nonsense, it's the least I can do. I won't take no for an answer.", Rosewater said sternly. Sunset nodded, then answered, "I'm staying at Sweet Apple Acres." "Well that makes it easier to thank one of your friends."

As Rosewater pulled the car up to the front of the farmhouse and put in park, the two of them got out of the car and started walking up to the house where Granny Smith was sitting o the front porch in her rocker. "Ah see ya brought home some company, Sunset", the matriarch of the Apple clan said in a cheery tone.

Rosewater stepped up on the porch and extended her hand. "Sergeant Rosewater Blush, One Horse P.D. ma'am."

Granny Smith Shook Rosewater's hand. "Sunset? Are ya in some kind o' trouble?"

"No ma'am.", Rosewater replied, "Wallflower Bush is my daughter and Sunset is one of the girls that helped save her life. I understand that Applejack is your granddaughter, I'd like to personally thank her for helping save my daughter."

Granny Smith gave a big toothless grin and stuck her head in the front door to call Applejack. The farm girl stepped out onto the porch. "How can Ah help ya?" Rosewater wrapped her arms around Applejack's shoulders in a hug. "I want to thank you for saving Wallflower's life." Applejack returned the hug. "Shuck! T'weren't nuthin' that any other descent person woulda done in that sicheeation. Is she doin' well?" "She will be."
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Rosewater sat in the driver's seat of the heavy-duty diesel engine police truck, watching in the mirror as the heavily armored officers hooked up thick chains to the front door of the old pawn shop that had been converted into the office for the unlicensed private investigator known as Coin Purse. Her mind went back to her conversations with Applejack and Sunset Shimmer a week ago as she alternated loading beanbag and rubber bullet shells into the shotgun. She was snapped out of her thoughts as police chief Thunderhooves' big meaty hand came to rest on the open window.

"You ready to bring this guy in, Rosie?", Thunderhooves asked.

Rosewater clicked the safety on the shotgun and set in the rack by the driver's seat. "Let's nail this fucker's nuts to the wall!", she exclaimed and cranked the truck up.

Thunderhooves held up the signed warrant in one hand and placed megaphone his mouth. "Coin Purse, we have a warrant for your arrest! You have fifteen seconds to come out or we're coming in after you!" As everybody silently counted off the seconds, the heavily armored officers cleared away from the door as they stacked up. Thunderhooves chirped his radio twice as the signal. Quickly popping the truck into drive, Rosewater pushed down on the gas, the truck lurched for split second before the door was ripped off the frame, a crash from the other side of the building indicated that the back door was also ripped off the frame. The heavily armored officers raised their firearms as the rushed into the buildings.

Switching the truck off, Rosewater gave one last adjustment to her kevlar vest before grabbing the shotgun, clicking the safety off and leaping out of the truck. As she reached the building, the officers on the first floor gave shouts of clear. Stepping into the building, she approached the base of the stairs and gave a quick whistle, two officers stacked up behind her. The three of them charged up the stairs as Rosewater shouted, "This is the police! We have a warrant!" Reaching the first door at the top of the stairs, all three officers stacked up. Rosewater gave a silent countdown, then kicked the door in. The three officers swarmed into the room. "Clear!", she called out after seeing the room was empty, other than some scattered cleaning supplies.

As Rosewater walked out into the hallway, she saw the massive form of Thunderhooves smash through a door, turning it into splinters as two other officers swarmed in behind him. A moment later he called the room clear. After thirty minutes the building had been swept and cleared, officers drug a few filing cabinets and a couple of hastily packed boxes that had been left behind by the now former occupant.

"He knew we were coming and cleared out!", Rosewater snarled as she kicked the side of the building.

"Couldn't have been less than twenty-four hours ago.", Biscuit Hooves said as he started documenting down the items and slapping the proper tags on them before they were loaded in a police van, "I'd guess he's probably someone who was paranoid, considering his past." Biscuit started digging through one of the boxes as he documented what were in them. "Lookee what we've got here!", he said as he held a few video tapes in his gloves hands, "Three betamax cassettes." He quickly placed them in evidence bags, marked the bags and quickly filled the forms on the clipboard. "We'll see what's on them when we get back to the station."

"Where do you think we're going to find a vcr that plays beta?", Thunderhooves asked.

"There's a few video places that cater to hipsters.", Buscuit said, "I'm pretty sure one of them has a betamax player. If they don't, we can simply crack the cassette open and rig the tape up for a reel-to-reel player."

"How do you know how to do this Biscuit?", Higgs asked as he popped a cigarette in his mouth.

"I used to be a crack editor in the a/v club back in high school.", Biscuit replied.

Higgs flicked the ash off his cigarette. "Was that before or after Lesty dumped you?"

"That's enough Detective Boson!", Thunderhooves snapped.

Higgs sighed and grumbled, "I was just clownin' with him."

"What was that?!", Thnderhooves snapped, placing a hand to his ear.

"I said I'm sorry for giving him a hard time."

Thunderhooves smirked. "Good, because my trick ear thought you said 'I want to busted down to a meter maid.'"

Rosewater gave Higgs a nudge. "I know you're still cross that Biscuit married the woman you were sweet on, but that was twenty-five years ago. Quit busting his nuts. As far as Celestia breaking up with him back in high school, at least he got farther with her than you ever did. I seem to remember that both she and her little sister shot you down, hell they shot most guys down."

A few hours back at the station, a betamax vcr that was in pretty good condition was delivered. It was quickly taken back to the lab where the workers started working on the transcripts.

As Rosewater sat at her desk filling out paperwork, Biscuit walked up and placed the transcripts of the tapes on her desk. "The boys in the lab finished transcribing the tapes a couple of hours ago. Boss man wanted you to read the copies."

Rosewater read the names on the transcripts, three girls named Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet. As she read further down the transcripts, it started out like a standard investigation on a rape case asking when their last periods were, the questioning quickly veered away as all three girls were asked if they had an orgasm. Then the questions veered into asking if they had drank any alcohol or taken any drugs. Finally in the transcripts the three girls were outright accused of having rough group sex and deciding to scream rape because they were jealous because the guys decided to not call them back. She quickly looked over the transcripts again, for two of them the guy claimed to be a lawyer named Ten Penny, in the last he claimed to be an investigator named Cold Iron, the notes jotted down on a separate page about all three transcripts said the voice came from the same person "You didn't find any other tapes did you?", she asked.

"No I didn't, Rosie. I'm sorry.", Biscuit said, "But what evidence that was left behind is enough to string this guy up by his short and curlies."

Rosewater slapped Biscuit on his shoulder. "You're a good man." The phone on her desk beeped, when she picked it up, Thunderhooves said, "Rosie, there's a lawyer here wanting to talk to you." Rosewater hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of her nose. Walking back, Thunderhooves guided her back to a private room. Stepping there was an immaculately dressed woman sitting in the far side of the small table.

"Greetings Sergeant Rosewater Blush.", the woman said in a thick french accent, "My name is Fleur di Lis. I am an attorney and victim's right advocate with Surviving With Dignity, a foundation for helping jeune femme and les jeune hommes who have been victims of sexual assaults. Your daughter was a victim of a violent gang rape, oui oui?"

Rosewater sat down at the table and sighed. "Yes, she was. I've heard of your organization before. They offer counseling services and even safe housing for victims who have been harassed and threatened by the perpetrators."

Fleur dis Lis sat u straight in her seat. "Bon oui. I'm also involved in the investigation to uncover all the corruption with Sentor Blueblood. You're familiar with him, oui oui?"

Rosewater growled, "Yes. All of are intimately familiar with him. Anytime his son and his buddies got into any trouble, there was suddenly a high priced lawyer showing up to gum up the proceedings with tons of litigation and bizarre lawsuits or the judge involved would throw out the case and suddenly have a brand new luxury car or go on an all expenses paid vacation. Any and all investigations into him just seemed to run into a brick wall when victims would clam up or sometimes go missing and witnesses would recant. He always seemed to wiggle out of any charges and accusation made against him."

"Well madame, I can assure you that our law firm has been tracking him for a long time, building evidence against him.", Fleur said, "It's been a slow progress as he left very little evidence behind. Recently our investigation received a shot in the arm when he tried to intervene in an investigation involving a young woman who was raped who just so happens to have a dual citizenship with a country the president has entered into negotiations with."

Rosewater was taken aback by the new information. "This is the first of this I'm hearing of this. Can you tell me which girl it is that is a dual citizen with this country?" She had a fairly strong inkling on who it could be.

"I am sorry madame, but I cannot. All I can legally tell you is when we started investigating further into the citizenship of the young girl, our firm received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as Director Williams advising us to put aside that investigation and offered us enough evidence to bury Blueblood in enough lawsuits that he'd wind up homeless." Fleur opened up her briefcase, pulling out a small stack of forms, an information packet and her card. "Please fill out these forms so we can start getting your daughter the help she needs. Allow me to apologize on behalf of Surviving With Dignity, we would have contacted you sooner, but we've been short-handed. I know it's not an excuse and I profoundly apologize, we will work to improve."

Rosewater looked the forms over. "Will this cost me anything?"

"Non. All our funding comes from the Mi Amore royal family and private donations from citizens who want to help victims of sexual violence."

Rosewater pulled a pen from her shirt pocket and started filling out the forms. "How long will it take before Wallflower starts getting the help she needs?"

"It should be no more than three to five business days.", Fleur replied as she pulled out her phone and started photographing the forms.

"What kind of help will Wallflower start receiving?"

"Trauma therapy, suicide and self harm counseling and prevention, drug rehab in the event she has developed an addiction. In the event either you or her start getting harassed or receiving threats, safe housing." Fleur placed the form in her briefcase. "Please tell you chief that I would like to talk to him. Merci beaucoup!"
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Blueblood sat in his office fuming. He recently read about the raid on the office of his personal private investigator, hatchet man and attack dog, a man whose alias was Coin Purse. He quickly dialed up the man. "Pound Farthing! Yes I understand that local law enforcement was looking for you. Wait...what?! Oh Jesus Christ! Look look, I'll move around some funds to help get you a new identity, but you have got to do something for me. A few days ago an odd man came into my office and threatened me. I think he's tied to one of those seven girls. Oh? That's good. So that red-headed one is the cause of this? Hmm. Well I want you to do one thing, make sure she never gives any testimony. Use your imagination man. Yes, you'll get your new identity after this, just make sure it can't be traced back to me."

After pressing the hang up button on his phone, he interwove his fingers and tapped his index fingers together. "Now Spring-heeled Jack or whatever you name is. You'll find out what it means to tangle with a Blueblood. Now come at me."

Laughing came through the intercom on Blueblood's desk. "I tried to warn you Blueblood because you had such great potential for chaos. But because you've decided to ignore that advice, I'll let you know right now that if you don't call your dog off, you'll be facing Kay-kay and Moony."

Blueblood blinked as he stared at his intercom. Pressing the button, he rang up the secretary. "Carolyn? Is there someone out there with you?" "No sir Mr. Blueblood." "Did you hear something unusual a couple of minutes ago?" "No Mr. Bleblood." "Could you get someone from I.T. to run a security check on the intercom system?" "Yes Mr. Blueblood."
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The next three weeks seemed to drag on for Sunset. Between her daily sessions with Cadance, the mundane slog of classes and the general feeling of dragging her feet through the proverbial mud, everything just seemed to drag on agonizingly slow.

It was a Monday when things changed for her for the better.

Sunset was walking to her locker in the morning before the first bell with her friends walking with her. Her heels froze to the floor as if they were stuck in glue. Walking through the hallway by herself was the girl with light green skin, dark green hair, big brown eyes and freckles. She ran forward and called out, "Wallflower!" When she caught up with her, Wallflower stared into her eyes and looked like she was going to burst out in tears. "Oh my gosh! How have you been? You look good! I've missed you so much!"

Wallflower said nothing and stared down at the floor before shoving a piece on folded paper into Sunset's hand and hurried down the hall. Sunset followed Wallflower through the crowd with her eyes before the girl vanished into the crowd. Looking down at her hand, Sunset unfolded the piece of paper, it read "tree lunch".

As lunch grew closer and closer, Sunset grew more and more anxious. A million question roiled in her brain. When the bell rang, indicating lunch, Sunset wove through the crowds as she headed to the old oak tree where she had first met Wallflower. As she hurried to the tree, the green-skinned girl was already sitting under it.

As Sunset approached her friend, her hands trembled and her heart pounded. Wallflower looked up at her, then turned her head away, she swore she saw the girl's shoulders heave. Sunset swallowed as she stood in front of her friend. Wallflower stared at the ground and clenched her eyes shut, Sunset saw the girl's cheeks were wet. Licking her lips, Sunset prepared to speak.

"I don't hate you, Sunset", Wallflower said softly. Sunset's body suddenly felt like suddenly like it weighed a ton and her legs shook before she dropped to her knees. When she went to speak, her brain suddenly forgot how to form words and tears started to leak from her eyes as she sniffled.

Wallflower opened her eyes, they were bloodshot and puffy from crying. Turning her head, brown eyes locked with light cyan eyes. "It was wrong of me to shout at you like I did." She closed her eyes and turned her face to the ground, fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and ripped onto the ground. "The whole time I was in the hospital, all I could think of was how badly I treated you. I'm nothing but a worthless, ugly whore who treated the only person she cares abut like shit. I'll understand if you hate me and never want to talk to me again."

"Wallflower.", Sunset croaked out, "I can never hate you. I missed you so much it hurt." She held up her left arm. "When I thought that you hated me and I had lost you forever, I hurt myself." When she went to talk again, words refused to come out, only strangled sobs, tears made the world blur. She felt arms wrap around her as Wallflower pulled her in tight. "It's okay Sunset. I'm here."

Sunset buried her face into Wallflower's shoulder. "I was so scared!", she whispered in a trembling voice, "If I lose you, I don't know what I would do. I don't know when it happened or how it happened, but I love you! The whole time you were gone, my life was empty."

"I love you too."

The two girls stared into each other's tear-stained faces for several minutes. As if on autopilot, their faces drifted towards each other until lips gently pressed together. For the few second that Wallflower's lips were pressed against hers, Sunset felt like Princess Celestia's sun was shining down on her. As their tears dried, the two parted from the small kiss.

The two stared into each others eyes, stomachs fluttered, breathing was heavy, hearts pounded like drums. As if a wave washed over them both, their mouths pressed together in a deep kiss. A wistful sigh broken them both from their kiss and they turned their heads to see Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Sci-Twi, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all staring at them with shimmering eyes and massive, dopey grins on their faces. Sunset and Wallflower felt their cheeks become hot.
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It was dark as Luna slumped in the armchair in the front room of her and Celestia's. She looked down at her hand as it started trembling. Unwanted memories from the Bosnian conflict bubbled up in her mind. "Please not now.", She whispered, "It's been so long since I've had a flashback." Her whole body trembled as she reached for the cell phone. Her body locked up as the stink of rotting flesh filled her nostrils. "Please just let me get the phone so I can call for help." The weeping of grieving mothers and the screams of terrified children filled the room and she stuffed her fingers in an attempt to block them out.

As Luna rose to her feet, he legs suddenly forgot how to move and she fell to the floor. Tears ran down her face as she curled up in the fetal position trembling. For hours she couldn't get up from the floor, her body trembled as the stink of decaying bodies filled her nostrils, the weeping of mothers and the screams of terrified children filled her ears. "Somebody please help.", she whispered, "I can't move. The flashbacks are back. I'm trapped in Bosnia again."

Luna felt a tingle go across her forehead and her eyes slowly closed as she drifted into a nightmare-filled sleep.

Luna was standing on a muddy road, she was in her army gear, several medic packs were strapped to her body armor and a rifle rested in her hands. She knelt to the ground and unfolded a map as members of her squad gathered up. "Alright, according to the locals, there's a camp filled with political prisoners about five clicks up the road. Brace yourself guys, it might be bad." "How bad are we talkin'", one of the guys asked. "According to that old shepherd we ran into about two clicks back, it's like a Nazi death camp. Let's get there and hope it's an over-exaggeration. Alright, move out!" As she moved down the road wit her squad, she swore she saw what looked like a horse with a dark blue coat weaving through the trees.

Luna's legs trembles as she, along with her squad reached the front gates of the camp. The stink washed over them, it smelled like an open sewer combined with rotting flesh, she put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from vomiting and failed as bile leaked from between her fingers. Spitting the foul-tasting bile onto the ground, she drew her sidearm and shot the lock off.

As the squad pushed into the camp, they were surrounded by a horror scene. Bloated bodies, all women and children, lay strewn about the camp. The stink made her eyes water and her lungs burn. All around, intermixed with the bodies, mothers cried out in agony-filled grief as they pressed the corpses of their children to their chests or filthy, skinny, malnourished children cried out in a mixture of terror and hunger as they shook the corpses of their parents in a desperate, but futile bid to wake them up. Tears streamed down Luna's cheeks at the horror of it all. She passed out medical kits to the members of her squad. "Round up as many survivors as you can." She held the receiver of the field radio up to her mouth and called for aid. Her head snapped over to some movement and she brought up the rifle up to her shoulder. She stopped in her tracks again, there was that dark blue horse again she saw in the trees, it was now weaving between the plywood building, it looked as it was examining the bodies.

Pivoting on her heels, Luna saw a man walking through the camp. Though dressed as one of the many people in the death camp, he was too fat, his eyes lacked the hollow stare and his expression was too smug. "" "" Luna stomped forward and slammed her helmeted head into the forehead of the man and he fell backward onto the ground. "" "" ""

Several of the survivors pointed to the man and told the squaddies that he was the commandant. Luna snarled and grabbed the man by his collar, dragging him to a dry well. His eyes went wide. "" Saying nothing, she planted the sole of her foot into the small of his back, sending him tumbling into the well. As he sat at the bottom of the well, his back against the wall and one of his legs twisted at an unnatural angle, she gestured to one of her squad mates for a grenade. Looping her finger through the ring, Luna pulled the pin and dropped the grenade into the dry well. s the spoon flew off the grenade with a metallic ping, the world slowed down until it came to a stop.

The dark blue horse walked towards Luna, it's horn lit up in a dark blue aura and the dream vanished into a gray void. "Greetings Principal Luna. We are Princess Luna, the mare of the moon and guardian of dreams." Principal Luna gape as she stared at the dark blue horse, no it wasn't a horse, it was a pony and a ruler of that pony world Sunset was from. "Um...hello Princess Luna. May I ask why you are in my dreams?" Princess Luna gave a small, mischevious grin. "Thou already hast done so, but we shall answer thine question. Whilst we were traveling through the dream aether, we felt thy waking nightmare and heard thou call for help. We apologize for not acting sooner, but we needed to first travel through the passage between our worlds and learn how thine kind's mind works. Tell us, is such violence common among thy kind?" Principal Luna sighed. "Often it is."

Princess Luna cocked her head. "Tell me verily, that stallion thou killed, he murdered those mares and foals?" "Yes he did." "Why?" "He'd probably give some bullshit reason about following orders. But if were you to press him, he'd say because they were born Serbs." Princess Luna tapped a hoof to her chin. "So that we understand, it wrong to murder somepony because they are a Serb?" Principal Luna nodded. "What is a Serb?", Princess Luna asked. "Serbs are an ethnicity of people. This cruel dictator decided to steal their land and slaughter their population. He saw them as less than animals." Princess Luna nodded her head. "We understand. Thy kind are capable of great horrors." "Yes we are.", Principal Luna said, "But we're also capable of great acts of kindness too. Now let me ask you another question. Why do you speak in the third person and like Shakespeare, with all the thous and thys?" "We apologize if our speech confounds thee. Going through the passage between our worlds left us disoriented."

Principal Luna tapped a finger on her lips. "Wait...you in this world right now?" "Verily. We follow thy nightmare into this world. We are outside thy domicile right now. When we saw thee through the window laying on the floor helpless, we cast a minor sleep enchantment upon thee and dove into thy dreams." Principal Luna took a step bacwards. "Your out side my house right now?" Princess Luna nodded. "Why didn't come inside and help me?", Principal Luna asked. "We apologize. It hast been centuries since trod upon thy world and we were unsure how thy paws work." "No, it's okay. Do you want to come inside? Uh...how do I get you inside?" "We wouldst most enjoy coming inside and meet with thee. Awaken."

Principal Luna's eyes snapped open. Sitting up from the floor, she quickly got to her feet and moved to the door. Opening the door, she saw what could have been her clone, except the woman...pony, had a broader, more muscular build and her hair, that looked like the night sky, flowed on an ethereal wind, sitting on her front stoop like a pony. She reached her out her hand. "Take my hand and plant your feet...er...hind hooves flat on the ground, then push yourself upright with your rear legs." Principal Luna let out a whistle after her counter part stood fully upright, the woman stood considerably taller than her, at least seven feet tall.

Author's Note

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

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