A long road back

Principal Luna couldn't help but gape at her counterpart. Sure she and Celestia were tall women, considering their Swedish heritage, but this pony princess in human form made her seem small by comparison. She and Celestia were muscular and stronger than even most men their age, considering her military background and her sister's history of power lifting and martial arts training, but Princess Luna's build was equal parts muscular and curvy, which made her look like the mythical amazons. She took her style of dress, a a navy blue flowing toga-style dress, a breast plate with a pearl-colored crescent moon at the colar that seemed to to be equal parts ceremonial and defensive, greaves on her shins and bracers on her forearms, all the armor was a shiny black.

"Can I offer you something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Something stronger?", Principal asked.

"Some tea if thou please."

"Come on in, we'll go to the kitchen. Mind your head your...uh...majesty.", Principal said with a gesture. As the two walked through the house she noted how the pony princess walked with a slightly clumsy gait and yet to deftly avoid hitting her head.

Reaching the kitchen, Principal Luna filled the tea kettle and pt t on the stove, Princess Luna pulled out a chair from the kitchen table, the chair creaked slightly as the pony princess sat on it with her legs curled under her and her forearms bracing her. Luna looked over to see her counterpart sitting like a pony and stifled a chuckle. "Comfortable?" Princess Luna grunted softly. "Yes, we are comfortable." "You don't have to lie to spare my feelings. If I sat like that, my knees would be killing me." "The chair is quite hard and uncomfortable." "People sit with out butts in the chair, with our legs to the front and out feet on the floor. Like this." Principal Luna demonstrated. Princess Luna readjusted her sitting posture. "Ah yes, this is much more comfortable."

As the tea kettle whistled, Principal Luna walked to the stove to turn it off and opened the the cabinet, revealing several boxes of tea. What kind of tea would you like? I have chamomile, jasmine, Earl Gray, English breakfast, orange pekote, black pekote, green and white tea." "Jasmine if thou please." Principal Luna gave a small smile as she pulled out two bags of jasmine tea and placed them in two teacups. Placing the teacups on the table, she filled two teacups with hot water, pacing them on the table, she fetched two spoons, a small bowl of sugar cubes with matching tongs and pulled the carton of half-and-half out of the fridge, opening the spout to give it a quick sniff. "Sugar? Cream? I'd offer lemon, but I'm out." Crap! How do I properly entertain an interdimensional alien princess who is also my doppleganger?

"Two sugars please."

Principal Luna poured hot in the cup, over the teabag, then dropped two sugar cubes in. Her eyes went wide when a dark blue aura surrounded the cup and spoon, lifting it up to the princesses lips as the spoon stirred the tea. "If you don't mind me asking, how are you doing that?"

"Though it feels a bit like walking through flank-high water, the magical field of this responds to our demands. Of course being an alicorn helps a great deal, considering that we have immense reserves."

"I thought after the Friendship games all magic in this dissipated."

"That was initially thought as well, but concerning reports Sunset Shimmer sent, she and her friends were able to call on magic. Both Twilight Sparkle and our sister have surmised that since the events involving portals opening up in this world, Equestrian magic has mingled with and has awakened the latent magic of this world. It has been surmised that within a generation magic use will become commonplace."

Principal Luna suppressed a scoff.

"Didst we say something to offend thee?"

"No, no. It's just a lot to wrap my head around. Before the fall formal a year ago, if someone claimed to use magic, it was assumed they were either mentally ill, a conman, on drugs or a member of one of the umpteen odd religions started by hippies. Now I've heard from someone who is an expert on magic that in a few decades magic is going to be commonplace." Principal Luna raised her shoulders in an exasperated shrug. "I guess that means that schools are going to have to start having magic classes." She looked down at the table. "I want to thank you for helping me with my flashback. Usually they're not that bad."

"So thou hast said waking nightmares often?"

Principal Luna picked at the corner of the table with a finger. "Nearly every day, though they're usually not that bad. Most of the time I'm able to bring myself down with some breathing exercises. Though sometimes, like tonight, they come on hard and I can't pull myself back to reality. When they happen, I usually can call call an old army buddy or a shrink from the VA. It's been a long time since I was on the floor curled up in the fetal position."

Princess Luna nodded thoughtfully. As she started speak, her head snapped to the side, seemingly to stare off into the distance. Taking a deep breath, she slowly closed her eyes.

Principal Luna gently laid a hand on the princess' shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

Princess Luna opened an eye. "Nightmares. Particularly strong nightmares. They're actively causing harm to the minds of foals."

Principal Luna extended a hand. "I might not have fancy pony magic, but I'd like to help."

"The dream aether can be a treacherous realm."

Principal Luna half-snorted. "I survived the living nightmare of war, besides, having an extra pair of eyes might be helpful. Mom used to say extra hands makes for light work."

"Our mother said a similar thing to Tia and I when we were fillies." Princess Luna held a hand. "Take our...um...paw...and stay close once we cross into the dream aether."

Taking Princess Luna's hand, Principal Luna closed her eyes, a sensation that felt like a combination of static electricity and angry fire ants crept over her skin, making her shudder. Opening her eyes, she found herself a dark blue pony, nearly as tall as herself. Glancing around, she gasped, everywhere looked like there were stars hanging in the air, inside each small glowing globe she could see people living out different dreams. "Quickly, this way. Do not linger or tarry or more harm may come to the psyches than has already happened." Princess Luna trotted down the silvery lane with her human counterpart close behind. They stopped in front of the dream orb of a girl with red and blonde-stripped hair.
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Sunset trembled as she stood naked in an alley way. An unwanted stink filled with malice and lust filled her nostrils, making her gag. Shadowy figures laughed at her fear, calling her a whore. A pair of silhouetted ponies turned away saying they wished they had a better daughter. Hands reached out grabbing her and pinning her in place. She tried to speak, tried to scream, but all sound died in her throat. Fists rained down on her face and body, pummeling her and driving the air from her.

"No more! Please stop.", Sunset managed to whimper as snakes slithered out from the shadows. The hands drug her down to her knees. She prayed to any who could hear as she tried to clench her eyes shut that refused to respond. The first snake lined itself up with her mouth. It opened its mouth, revealing long fangs, dripping with venom. She whimpered in fear as the snake started to strike forward.

"ENOUGH!", a voice shouted as a dark blue hoof crushed the snake. Sunset gasped as she looked up seeing a dark alicorn spreading her wings, dispersing the dream. She fell forward on her hands and knees before curling up in a ball and crying.

"Sunset!", Principal Luna cried out as she ran up and wrapped the amber-skinned girl in her arms to calm her."Shh! Shh! It's okay. The nightmare is over. It can't hurt you again. One of your princesses is here to help you."

"No.", Sunset whimpered as tears dripped down her nose, "If I wake up, they'll be waiting for me in the dark. I can smell them and see them when I'm awake. They're always waiting to hurt me. I can't get away from them."

Princess Luna lowered herself to the ground and extended a wing under Sunset's chin, lifting er face so she could look her in the eyes. "We should have come to help thee sooner Sunset Shimmer and for that we apologize, we were negligent in our duties to all our subjects." She leaned in, pulling the girl into a hug. After parting from the hug, she said, "Steel thyself. We must depart to prevent further harm from others."
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Wallflower ran down a hallway, trying to stay ahead of the malicious laughter. Shadowy figures leapt out, grabbing her and bending her over. Nooooooooooo!", she screamed before something disgusting was crammed in her mouth. "You know nobody's gonna believe you.", a malicious voice taunted in her ear before something disgusting and slimy drug across the back of her neck, "And even if they did, they'll just say that an ugly, disgusting, fat whore like you deserved it."

Tears streamed down Wallflower's cheeks as she tried to scream, but the disgusting object in her mouth stifled her voice. As she felt something unwanted press against her leg, she thrashed, trying to get away, but the shadowy figures kept her pinned in place. "This is the best you'll ever get and you should kill yourself.", the malicious voice whispered in her ear. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a noose hanging from a tree branch.

Silvery light filled the dream as the nose burst into flames. Wallflower felt hooves wrap around her as she was plucked away from the shadowy attackers. As she was gently set down on the ground, amber-colored arms wrapped around her, hugging her tight. "I'm here Wallflower! And as crazy as it sounds, Princess Luna and Principal Luna are here too."

Wallflower looked around first at the dark blue-skinned woman, then at the dark blue alicorn. "Um...are you...uh...Princess Luna?"

"Aye We are."

"Are you why Sunset and Principle Luna are here? Also how are Principal Luna and Sunset here?"

"To answer thy questions, aye and We art the mistress of the night and keeper of dreams, it is easy enough to create a shared dream when We don't have to fight a nightmare beast or hunt the tantabus."

"A tanta-what-now?"

"Yeah, I was going to ask the same.", Sunset asked.

"I believe tantabus is Latin for nightmare, though I get the feeling that in Equestria it's something much more dangerous. But that's not the point.", Principal Luna said as she placed a hand on Wallflower's shoulder, "Wallflower, are you still having thoughts of hurting yourself?"

Wallflower sniffled as she nodded.

"When you wake up, I want you to talk to your mother. She can wake up at any time she wants, right Luna? I don't think I will ever get used to saying that, even in a hundred years."

"Thy minds are different from pony minds and thou can awake any time thouest so choose.", Princess Luna said, "Come along Luna, we must not tarry, there art other nightmares we must stop. And yes, it is most odd for us to say the same."
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Sugarcoat lay on the floor unable to move as distorted music thumped and blurry figures danced. She tried to move, but her body refused to comply. Five monsters knelt down around her, their gnarled hands reached out to grope her, the claws at the ends of fingers scraping against her skin. She tried to speak, tried to call for help, but her mouth wouldn't move and no sound would come out.

As the monsters started ripping open her shirt with their clawed hands, exposing her breasts, Sugarcoat tried to swat their hands away, but her arms refused to move. She flicked her eyes side-to-side, hoping to get the attention of the blurry figures dancing to the thumping music, but to no avail. One of monsters shoved her legs apart to grope her most private areas, before ripping away an article of clothing.

Tears leaked from Sugarcoat's eyes as the monster that had been groping her most private area positioned itself between her legs. Something unwanted brushed against her nethers as the monster leaned its body over hers. Fear gripped her as she looked up at the face of the monster, a forked tongue snaked out from between pointed teeth dripping with slobber. She tried to clench eyes shut that refused to comply as the monster ran its forked across her chest. As the monster drew back slightly, her shallow breaths quavered as she prepared for unwanted penetration.

A dark blue hoof struck the side of the monster's head, knocking it off of Sugarcoat, dark blue wings flared, dispersing the nightmare. Rolling to her side, she curled up in a ball, hugging her knees as whining sobs poured out. "Th-th-th-*hsnf*thank y-y-you*hsnf*."

Sugarcoat felt feathers gently caress her shoulder as a gentle, dark blue equine face lowered close to hers. "Be at ease. Thou art safe now, little filly. The nightmare is gone and it cannot harm thee." Sugarcoat buried her face in Princess Luna's dark blue chest fluff and bawled. Princess Luna gently stroked her hair with a hoof.

Principal Luna fumed as she sat down next to Sugarcoat and gently stroked her back. "I've seen this before.", she angrily whispered, "Someone puts rohypnol or rufinol into a girl's drink and she passes out, then the bastards take their time to violate her. It looks like they were slightly off on the dose and she was awake during all of it, she just couldn't move or cry out."

Sugarcoat grit her teeth and angrily gripped Princess Luna's fluff. "They made jokes about fucking dead girls and bragged about leaving Lemon in a catatonic state. Dad said that Celestia should have loaded a shotgun with dragon's breath shells, stuck their dicks in the muzzle and turned them into Ken dolls."

"They have weapons here that harness the breath of dragons here?"

"It's a shotgun shell filled with phosphorus. When you pull the trigger, the gun powder ignites the phosphorus in a short range spray of fire.", Principal Luna replied, "It looks cool, but the heat from the burning phosphorus warps the barrel and makes the gun useless after a couple of shots. Officially I have to say on record that I don't condone or support violence, but seeing as I'm currently not on record, Celly should have ripped their guts out slowly and made a Jackson Pollock painting in the restaurant with their innards." When Princess Luna cocked her head at the name, Principal Luna waved a hand, replying, "The long and short of it is that he was a famous abstract artist who made famous paintings by splattering paint on a canvas." Princess Luna mouthed "oh".

Principal Luna cleared her throat, centering herself mentally. "You're Sugarcoat, Twilight's friend from Crystal Prep, right?"

"Yeah. I know a couple of girls at your school were hurt by them. She wasn't one of them was she?"

"No, they didn't hurt her. Could you tell Princess Luna and I who the other girls that were hurt?"

"Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet. When they found Lemon, her mind had walled itself off and she was catatonic. For a while she seemed to get better, but then she would have these hysterical freak-outs and she'd shut down again. Her mothers had to pull her out of school out of fear of her getting hurt. Waitaminnit! You're one of those pony princesses! isn't your name something like Twinkie Wiggle?"

Princess Luna placed a hoof against her chest. "We art Princess Luna. The mare of the moon, mistress of the night and guardian of dreams."

Sugarcoat placed a finger against her lips. "So let me get this right. Your name's Luna?" "Aye." "And your name's Luna?" "Yes." "Doesn't that get confusing?"

Principal Luna shrugged. "It hasn't really come up yet. I guess you could call her your highness or your majesty or just princess."

"A being having catatonia is most distressing.", Princess Luna said, "Their mind is awake, even if it has closed itself of from the outside world. If they happen to fall asleep, there are walls surrounding the mind that makes it difficult to traverse their dreamscape. Come, let us not tarry."
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Sour Sweet lay the bed at Blueblood's house crying, as Sand Cleats held her arms pinned above her head, High Jump and Scrimmage held her legs apart in steely grasps, Long Pass and Field Goal roughly fondled her most sacred places, all five laughed evilly. She struggled to get free and a hand slapped her across the mouth, filling it with a coppery taste. Long Pass knelt down between her thighs and ran a hand across her belly. "You shouldn't have broke up with me, bitch."

"Fuck you!", Sour Sweet snarled, "You and your little faggot buddies rapped--AH!" A hand slapped her across the mouth again, filling it again with a coppery taste.

"I DIDN'T RAPE HER!", Long Pass shouted in a dangerous snarl, "She was just a whore who wanted all of us to have a go at her. If she didn't want us to have a go at her, she shouldn't have gotten drunk at that party. Right boys?" The other four guys grunted in agreement.

"You know that Sugarcoat doesn't drink alcohol.", Sour Sweet snapped, "YOU FUCKING SPIKED HER DRINK!--AH!" Another slap struck her across her mouth. "You fucking bastard!"

Long Pass sighed in mock disappointment. "I blame myself for not listening to dad when he said there's not any girls here in One Horse, just whores you use then toss aside like a used rubber.", he shrugged, "Ah well. You live, you learn.", he ran is hand across her belly again, "Now don't you squirm too much, your parents think you're at a friend's house for the week, so we've got you for that long and to prove to the world how much of a whore you are, we're gonna fuck a baby into you."

Sour Sweet whimpered. "No, please, don't do this. Just let me go. I promise I won't say anything." Long Pass sneered as he reached for his zipper. "No. Stop. Please. Don't.", she begged. "It's, 'No, please don't stop.' whore!", he hissed maliciously.

"ENOUGH!, Princess Luna bellowed in the Royal Canterlot voice as she dispersed the dream.

Tears fell from Sour Sweet's face as she wrapped her hands around her stomach.

Principal Luna knelt down next to Sour Sweet. "Shh! Shh! Shh! It's okay, it's okay! The nightmare's over."

"Not for me it isn't.", Sour Sweet said between sobs, "They got me pregnant and mom took a few shady jobs so she could pay for the trip to the clinic, now she's in jail. If I had put out when he wanted it, they wouldn't have hurt those girls and mom wouldn't be locked up."

Principal Luna pulled Sour Sweet into a tight hug. "You didn't do anything wrong. Rapists only care about hurting other people. They still would have hurt those girls and you too. They're the the ones who did wrong, not you." Sour Sweet sobbed bitterly into Principal Luna's chest. "Sour Sweet, when you wake up tomorrow, I want you to get hold of Sunset Shimmer. She and her friends are some of the best people I've ever had the opportunity of meeting. They will help you and your friends."
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The princess and the principal opened their eyes. Principal Luna looked around, seeing she was still in her kitchen. "I should have taken your advice. Those girls are carrying some serious trauma. I'm gonna be seeing that for a while." She got up and walked over to the cabinet. Opening it, she pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a glass. Placing the glass on the counter, she pulled the cork out, took a long look at the glass and moved the bottle to her lips.

A dark blue aura surrounded the bottle, pulling it away from the woman's mouth. "What art thou doing?"

"I'm drinking myself into a stupor tonight. I don't wanna deal with what I've seen and will deal with it in the morning along with the hangover. You might want to go unless you wanna see me staggering around like a stereotypical Irishman."

"This shall not help thy thinking, but muddle it, e'en on the morrow."

Principal Luna snatched the bottle out of the aura and put it to her lips, taking a big slug. "Eh, that's for tomorrow Luna to worry about."

"Such a foalish way of thinking."

Principal Luna took another slug of whiskey and jammed her finger in Princess Luna's chest. "Foalish?!", her voice started becoming slurred as the alcohol started taking effect, "Who the ffffffuck do ya t'ink yah're calling childish, horse?!", she took another slug of whiskey, "C'me talk to me wwwwwwwhen yuh've walked intah a deattttth c'mp an' an' an' seen chi'ren stare at you with hollow eyes!", she dropped to her knees as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Oh god! Kids aren't stare at you like y're gonna beat and rape them!"

A dark blue aura crackled across Principle Luna's forehead and her eyes closed as she went rag doll. Princess Luna caught the woman and the bottle in her aura. She levitated the unconscious woman to the couch and the bottle onto the counter. Standing over the sleeping form of Principal Luna, she leaned her head down, stopping when she realized she didn't have a horn on this side of the portal or dream aether and touched a finger to the sleeping woman's forehead, drawing a pleasant memory to the forefront so her dreamscape would weave a pleasant dream for her. "Thou were't able to hold thine self together when helping others, but when facing thine own demons, thou hast troubles standing on thine hooves. It would appear we art similar in that accord." She levitated a blanket over the sleeping woman. "Good evening and rest well Luna. If it fated, we shalt meet again." She walked out the door and pulled it close with her magic. "Ponyfeathers, we shalt never get used to that."
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Rosewater sat at the desk in her room running her fingers through her red locks. Sleep had evaded her on this night as she knew Wallflower had been having nightmares again and unless her daughter said anything to her or somebody else, there wasn't much she or anyone else could do. She prayed that Wallflower would say something before she had another breakdown and started hurting herself again.

Rosie picked up a photograph of her family when they were young. It was the last photograph when they were all smiles. The engraving on the frame read ' The Blush family nineteen-ninety-eight Healthy, Rosewater and Wallflower'. She ran her fingers across the picture of Healthy, Wallflower had his dark green hair, freckles and big brown eyes. A week after the photo was taken, Healthy Blush was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer. She gave a mirthless chuckle at the cruel irony life many times had, the fact her husband was named Healthy, but died of late-stage cancer, fortunately he didn't suffer long. A small knock at her bedroom door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Come in."

Wallflower opened the door and stepped in, she chewed her lip nervously as she drug a toe on the carpet. "Mom...I've been having...uh*ahem*...um...", she closed her eyes and took a breath to steady herself, "...I've been having having thoughts of hurting myself again...", her breath quavered as tears trickled from under her eyelids, "...and and and...I don't want to think like this any more."

Rosie sprang up to her feet and hurried over to Wallflower, pulling her daughter in a tight hug. "It's okay, we'll talk to somebody in the morning about getting you some help. I'm glad you said something to me." As she held Wallflower close, deep inside she shuddered, the very thought her daughter was thinking of hurting herself again filled her with fear. Tears trickled down her cheeks to mingle with her daughter's. Don't worry baby, we'll beat this together.