Principal Luna lay on the couch mumbling in her sleep as the first rays of the morning sun crept through a gap in the curtains. "Oh Saffron! I love you! Mmmm! Right there!" With a snort she woke up, realizing she was on the couch in her front room. With a groan she sat up and started rubbing her temples from where the hang over made her feel like someone just went boot-to-the-head. Looking the the blanket that was now partially laying on the the floor, she wracked her brain trying to remember laying down and couldn't remember making her way to the couch. She remembered the woman who looked like her, only taller...wait she wasn't a woman, she was a pony princess in human form. Ugh! I hate pony magic! Her memories drifted to the other Luna guiding her through the dreamscape to help those girls with their night terrors. Maybe it's not all bad.

Getting up from the couch, Luna half-staggered into the kitchen. Seeing the bottle of whiskey and the empty glass from the night before sitting still open on the counter, she picked it up and started to place it to her lips. Luna don't go back to those bad habits. Don't let yourself slip back to those nightmare days, one thousand hours in rehab was enough. Celestia and those girls need me. Putting the cork back in the bottle, then put it back in the cabinet she picked up the glass and filled it with water from the faucet.

After Luna swilled down several glasses of water, she fumbled in her pockets for her cell phone. Clicking the button on the side, she looked at the date and time seeing it was just after six AM Saturday. "Fuck this, I'm going back to bed." Walking up the stairs, she shoved the door open to her room. Stopping at the nightstand by her bed, she looked at the urn, a pair of gold wedding bands and picture of her and a woman with hay-colored hair, they both were wearing white dresses and had huge smiles on their faces, the engraving on the urn read 'Saffron Aurora 1972-2003'. Placing fingertips to her lips, she kissed them then touched them to the picture. "Good night sweet Saff. I'll see you again, but not today." Throwing back the covers on her bed, she flopped down, drug the comforter over the top of her and curled up. Her thoughts drifted to Saffron laying on a hospital bed, bone thin, the cancer that both of them thought she had beaten years ago came back with a vengeance and had aggressively spread from organ to organ, seemingly being able to best the chemo. Closing her eyes, the first dream Luna drifted to the last few moments with her wife.

Luna held the spindly, bony hand of her wife, hands that had once danced delicately across the ivory and ebony keys to make beautiful music. Saffron weakly lifted her other hand, the limb trembling under the burden of its weight and caressed Luna's hand. "L-Luna, promise me you'll find love again. W-w-when we meet again, I want to hear about them and feel jealous." "Saffron, there's no need for me to make this promise. We beat this before and we'll beat it again." "I'm no deluded*kaff* fool. I'm dying. P-please, I want you to be happy. Don't spend the rest of your days crying for me." Luna sobbed softly as she fought back tears. "I-I-I*hsnf* Promise Saff, I'll find love again." Saffron laughed weakly. "What's so funny, Saff?" "She'd better not be hotter than*cough-cough* m-me." Luna gave a halfhearted chuckle. "Just for that I'm gonna marry a supermodel." Saffron's eyes stared off unfocused. "Luna?" "Yes Saff?" "Luna?! Are you there? I can't see you! Are you there, Luna?!" "I'm here Saff! I'm here!" "Where are you Luna?! I can't see you! It's cold! Luna? Luna? Luna?Luna? Luna? Luna?" Saffron's voice faded away until it was less than a whisper, her breathing became labored and shallow, endless seconds passed between each barely-there gasp. The beeps on the heart monitor spaced out, each electronic tone coming a little slower until it gave a steady, uninterrupted tone. Luna wailed bitterly as she laid her head on her now passed wife's chest. The last thing she did as the nurses started to escort her out of the room was to pull the wedding band off Saffron's finger.

Luna's eyes snapped open from her sleep, sitting up, she wiped the pooling tears away. Propping her forehead on her palm, she wondered why of all the memories of Saffron, why was it that one that had haunted her dream that morning.
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Sci-Twi awoke with a startled snort when her phone started ringing. Groaning, she raised her head from the book on the desk she had fallen asleep reading. Fumbling around half-blind for her phone as her mind wasn't awake enough to register her glasses were still laying on the desk. Picking up the phone, she squinted to read the name and number. "Sour Sweet?! Why is she calling me?" Pushing the green icon, she held the phone up to her ear. "Hello?" Whimpering sobs came from the other line.

"It's all my fault."

"What's your fault Sour?"

"Those other girls that Long Pass and his buddies hurt. My mom being in jail. It's all my fault. If I had just put out when he wanted it, he wouldn't have hurt those other girls and mom wouldn't have taken those jobs so she could afford the clinic."

"Sour, no. People like Long Pass get a sick thrill out of hurting those they see weaker than them and then they blame the ones they hurt. I was reading in a book last night about why some people like to hurt other people*sigh*...that's not important right now. You didn't tell him or his buddies to hurt those girls. Did you?"

"No. They wouldn't have spiked Sugarcoat's drink or messed up Lemon Zest if I had just..."

"Let me stop you right there, Sour. Did they hurt you?" Sci-Twi balled up her fist at the mention of Sugarcoat being hurt, true she wasn't as close to the girl as her CHS friends, but they still hung out on occasion. For the longest time Sugarcoat was the closest thing she had to a friend and even though the girl was known to be snippy and grumpy, she still cared about her.

"Yes. B-but if..."

"They would have hurt the other girls regardless if you had sex with them or not. In fact I believe they would have used it as an excuse to hurt you repeatedly while they were still hurting the other girls. I can tell you are hurting, how are Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest doing?"

"Sugarcoat is hurting, though she tries cover it up by being grumpy. She's very nervous around boys. Lemon isn't doing well. Whatever they did to her, they hurt her mind and when she has hysterical breakdowns then becomes catatonic."

Sci-Twi grit her teeth at that and bit down on the collar of her shirt to avoid screaming obscenities. Taking a deep breath, she blew some of the fire in her lungs out. "Do you still remember where i live?"

"Yes."

"Okay, call Sugarcoat then the both of you come over here at noon. I'm going to get hold of my friends, then we're all going to meet and talk about how to help each other."

Sour Sweet hemmed and hawed on her end of the line.

"It'll be okay, two of my friends were hurt by them too. Sunset nearly died because of them."

"It's not that. After the Friendship Games, nobody from here actually apologized to you for what happened. So I wanna say sorry."

"Nobody here at CHS blames any of the students at Crystal Prep, it was Principal...well former Principal Cinch for pushing me to mess with something I didn't fully understand."

"Um...the school board temporarily reinstated Cinch until either Principal Cadenza transfers back or they find someone else."

Sci-Twi pinched the bridge of her nose. Jesus titty-fucking Christ! "She hasn't been hassling any of the girls who have been hurt?"

"No, she's been...nice...which makes a lot of us think she's probably high. She's been asking that if anyone saw or heard anything about Long Pass and his friends hurting any other girls, to come forward, she's even been making everyone gather in the auditorium on Fridays to give us lectures on what rape is. She's even had me and Sugar come to her office to tell our side of the story while some cops and a pretty lady with a French accent writes everything down. Have you heard of a foundation called Surviving With Dignity?"

"I think that's the charity that Cadance donates too. I believe some of her family back in the old country also donates too. I'm gonna text my friends and then we can all meet up here. Call or text me if you need anything."

Sci-Twi heard Sour Sweet shuffle nervously over the receiver before replying. "Uh...yeah. See ya about noon. Bye."

"Okay, see ya then. Bye!"

After Sour Sweet hung up, Sci-Twi opened a group text to her friends.

Hey guys...I just got a call from Sour Sweet. She and Sugarcoat are coming over at noon. Can you guys be over here then?

why are they commin over? do i need to kick a bitches ass?

Calm down RD. They don't want to start nothing, Besides if they do, there'll be seven of us and two of them.

Oooo! Is that big cheese log for me?!

???

???

???

???

???

WhAT THE ACTUAL FUCK PINKIE?!

Oopsie! sry. I was video chatting with Cheese Sandwich when your texts popped up.

On that cue Imma go pour bleach in my eyes. CYA at noon

Same darling.

Same

i wonder how much therapy would it take to get that image outa my head

I'll shoot Wallflower a text and we'll both be there at noon

I'll c-ya guys at noon

After switching the screen on her phone off, Sci-Twi wondered if she could invent some brain bleach to get the unwanted images out of her head.
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Pound Farthing sat in a makeshift office in an old storage unit as he looked over pictures of Wallflower while memorizing her weekly routine while cleaning and reloading his pistol. Though he took no joy from this job, the fact he needed a new identity and safe passage to Mexico meant that he would a consummate professional, it also didn't hurt that he was getting three million dollars in bearer bonds helped to sweeten the deal...after all this wasn't his first time doing wet work.

Pausing on a photo of of the green-skinned girl with her mother, Pound Farthing passed his thumb over Rosewater's image. Damn shame what I'm about to do, it's nothing personal, just business.
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Lemon Zest sat on the edge of her bed exhausted. She had avoided sleeping for the past few nights because the night terrors would make her wake up hyperventilating in a panic attack that would make her mind retreat into itself, making her live out a waking nightmare. A knock at her door made her jump slightly.

"Lemon, honey? Are you up?", Citrus Zest called out through the door, "Your mom and I are going to start breakfast soon."

Lemon gave a tired sigh before answering, "Uh, yeah mom, I'm awake. I'll be out in a minute.". Hearing the footsteps walk away from the door, she let her thoughts drift to her two mothers, Citrus Zest and Dewy Dawn and how this had been really trying for all three of them. With a groan, she got up out of bed, fighting off sleep for days at a time had not only left her feeling exhausted, but also stiff and sore. Sitting down in front of the vanity, she her fingers across the dark circles under her eyes. Grabbing a brush, she quickly ran it through her hair, then mead her way out of the room.

The smell of eggs and toast cooking met Lemon's nose as she walked through the hallway. Passing the kitchen, she saw her two mothers cooking or setting the table, the two women occasionally paused to snag a quick peck. Looking over her shoulder, Dewy saw their daughter walked by. "Breakfast will be ready in about fifteen, just got to get the cream of wheat started. Why don't you go and sit in the living room and watch some TV?"

Lemon gave an exhausted yawn, nodded, then proceeded to the living room where she switched on the TV and switched the channel to her favorite cartoon, 'The My Little Bear and Friends Show'. This show isn't as good now that Countess Snuggles and her friends gained the rainbow stare powers' She picked the remote and changed it to Ned, Nedd -n- Neddry.

Hearing the TV turn on, Dewy leaned over to Citrus and whispered, "I know you don't like me bringing it up again, but Lemon needs help. We should call the Foundation, they group therapy."

"I'm not crazy about our daughter sitting in some circle while some headshrinker says she's crazy."

"You know that's not what they do. Besides, look at her, she's barely sleeping, she's terrified to sleep, her panic attacks haven't gotten any better. You remember what the doctor said at the hospital, without help, her catatonia could get worse. I don't want to wake up one morning and find our daughter's mind has completely retreated within itself for days or even weeks, it's bad enough when it happens for several minutes."

"I know babe, but what if they can't help her?"

"Then all we've lost is time. The foundation says they're completely privately funded."

Citrus Zest sighed. "You're right. Let's wait until breakfast and talk about this with Lemon. I don't want to make any decisions about her life without at least discussing it with her first."

As Lemon sat on the couch watch TV, exhaustion started getting the best of her. Head drooping and eyes slowly closing, she fought sleep, forcing herself to snap awake a few times before she lost the fight.

Lemon Zest found herself on a cold and wet floor while four creatures with twisted and warped faces pinned her down, hands as strong as vices gripping her arms and legs, a fifth lay on top of her thrusting. She tried to thrash, tried to scream, each time she did, a hand or fist would strike her across the face. As the first creature would thrust away, it or its companions would say something in garbled words, followed by distorted laughter. Once the first creature finished, it would swap out with one of its companions would swap places until they all had a go. She managed to break away from their grasp and crawled across the floor, screaming hysterically, feet slammed into her stomach, her sides, her head, trying to silence her screams. One of the creatures grabbed her and threw her against a wall, planting a foot on her neck, screaming garbled words. One of the other four creatures pulled it away, saying something in distorted words. The creature that had its foot on her neck left the room and came back with a monster-man with a twisted and evil face following behind. The monster-man with the twisted and evil face produced a small cylinder in its hand and jammed it into her thigh.

Lemon Zest snapped awake on the couch hyperventilating. Her lungs felt like they we too small and collapsing on themselves. Her eyes darted around, she was still trapped in that restroom, pinned on the floor. The remote fell from her hand as her mind curled in on itself, eyes quavering in their sockets. She could smell their sweat, feel the pain of forcible penetration in her most sacred area and the unwanted warm splash, the sting of a hypodermic needle in her thigh, she could hear the voice of the monster-man. Don't worry blokes, Mr. Blueblood pays me well. It's my own personal mixture of PCP, sodium pentothal, cocaine and phenobarbital. If she tries to go to the authorities, they'll blood test her and think she's geeked out of her mind.

Citrus walked out to the living room, hearing the remote clatter to the floor. "Lemon, honey is everyth..." She froze momentarily in her tracks seeing her daughter in a catatonic state, "Dewy! She's having another attack!" Citrus Zest hurried over and gently grabbed Lemon Zest's hand. "Shh! It's okay honey. You're safe sweetie." She gently stroked her daughter's hair.

Dewy Dawn hurried out into the living room with a first aid kit, a vial of Thorazine and a clean syringe in her hands. placing the objects on the coffee table, she opened the first aid kit, pulled out a small crushable vial of smelling salts and passed them to her wife. Shoving the needle on the syringe into the vial of Thorazine, she drew a quarter of a unit out.

Citrus Zest crushed the vial of smelling salts and waved them under Lemon's nose, the effect was nearly immediate, the foul-smelling compound making the girl snap back to reality. Citrus immediately wrapped her arms around her panicking daughter, pulling her into a hug and gently stroked her hair. "Shh! It's okay baby. We're here and you're safe."

As Lemon slowly calmed down, she buried her face into Citrus' shoulder and whimpered softly. "Can you recall anything this time? Faces? Names?", Citrus asked. Lemon racked her brain, trying to remember, but could only recall distorted, foggy memories, suddenly a name bubbled to the front. "One of them said the name Blueblood." Unwanted memories started to bubble forward in Lemon's mind and she started to hyperventilate again. Dewy pulled an alcohol wipe from the first aid kit, tore it open and wiped it on Lemon's shoulder. "Brave face sweetie.", Dewy said calmly, then stuck the needle in her daughter's shoulder and injected the quarter unit of Thorazine. In a few minutes the drug took hold and Lemon started breathe more evenly and she stopped panicking, though it did little to stop the unwanted memories.

The smell of smoke wafted into the living room followed by the annoyingly loud beeping of the smoke alarm. "Shit shit shit!", Dewy exclaimed as she dropped the empty syringe on the table and rushed into the kitchen. A couple of minutes later a string of unintelligible curses poured out from the kitchen, followed by the sound of a pot clattering in the sink and the running of water. "The cream of wheat is burned!"

"That's alright Dewy! We'll have some cereal and milk with the eggs and toast. Do we have any grapefruit left?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"Slice it up and let's have breakfast! You hungry baby?"

Lemon nodded.
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At around noon, Sci-Twi heard the doorbell ring. Walking down the stairs, she heard Shining Armor open the door and greet whoever was there.

"Twily? Your old friends from Crystal Prep, Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet are here!", Shining called out from the front door.

"Coming!" Already halfway down the stairs, Sci-Twi hurried the rest of the way down to greet Sour and Sugar. "Girls! Come in! Come in! The rest should be here in a few minutes.

Over the next several minutes Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower Blush. Rainbow Dash showed up nearly twenty minutes late, as usual, her hair still wet from a shower. "Sorry I'm late. Practice ran kinda long and I had to get a quick shower."

"I don't see why your school keeps their team, we're gonna kick your ass next week.", Sugarcoat snipped.

An indignant look spread across Rainbow's face. "What did you say?!"

Sugarcoat scoffed. "You heard me."

Rain hopped up from her seat and stormed across the room, getting in Sugarcoat's face. "You mind saying that where my fist can hear you?! Owowowowowow!" Her words were cut off when Rarity grabbed her by the ear and pulled her across the room.

"Rainbow, darling. I know you have team spirit and all, but this isn't the time or place." She pulled the rainbow-haired girl to a nearby chair. Sunset, Sour, Fluttershy and Wallflower wrung their hands or drug their toes in the carpet nervously.

Sugarcoat scoffed again. "It's not like they can win anything. We woulda won the Friendship Games too if that hag, Celestia hadn't declared them a draw." This prompted Rainbow to leap from her chair, this time Applejack interposed herself in front of her friend. "Whoa there sugarcube! Dun let her get in yer head none."

"Sugarcoat!", Sour Sweet snapped, "I couldn't give two shits and a fuck about some goddamned soccer game! We didn't come over here to pick a fight, two of Twilight's friends were hurt just like we were and they want to help us, but they can't if you're going to be a royal C-U-Next-Tuesday about it."

"Sugarcoat, I know you're hurting and scared. Sunset and Wallflower are hurting and scared too. I called you all over here so we could all help each other and know that even if we're from other schools, we should still have each other's backs. Right girls?" A chorus of agreement came up from the other seven girls. "Sugarcoat, I know you've always handled uncomfortable and scary situations with a tough front, but you don't have to act tough in front of us." Sci-Twi walked over and gently placed her hand on Sugarcoat's shoulder, who in turn snatched away, then looked up at her with wide eyes, filled with hurt and fright, she quickly forced her expression into an angry scowl. The lavender-skinned girl took a step back, stunned, the girl with the opal-grey hair, bluish-gray skin and the gray-opal eyes whom she had known for years, was for just a moment, mentally laid bare, the girl from Crystal Prep was barely holding it together and looked as if she was going to come to pieces right then and there at any moment. A soft whimper crept from Sci-Twi's throat for the girl she knew just this side of forever.

Wallflower nervously stood up, clenching and unclenching her fists. "Uh...um...Twilight? If...um...if you don't mind...never mind, it's stupid."

Sci-Twi looked over at the green-skinned girl. "Go ahead and say what you need to say, Wallflower. Dad always said that the only stupid question is the one that goes unasked."

"Except when RD asks them.", AJ snarked under her breath, which prompted a slap on her shoulder from Rarity.

Wallflower folded her arms across her belly, tipped her head down, letting her dark green locks fall over her face as she clenched her eyes shut tightly, trying to squeeze tears back. Taking a shaky breath, she attempted to steel herself. "I-I-I was thinking...um...that we could each share...how we were hurt and how we've been struggling."

A soft chorus of agreement came up from the girls. One-by-one the four girls shared how Long Pass and his toadies had hurt them and their struggles.

Shining Armor, whom had been in the kitchen making lunch for himself, his wife and ten eighteen-tear old girls, bit down on a knuckle when he heard the four heartbreaking tales as tears shimmered in his eyes. Cadance walked in from the back yard to see her husband on the verge of crying. "Shiny? What's the matter?" Shining's voice cracked for a moment and he cleared his throat before continuing, "It's hard hearing how those girls have suffered." Cadance gave him a loving smile. "That's why I married you. Your strong, tough, sweet, loving and willing to let yourself be vulnerable. Those girls are tough and it's good that they're reaching out. The only way they're going to heal is if they know that there are people out there who they can lean on. Be strong, they need you and we need you." Shining smiled softly. "Of course I'll be there for them and for you. And where where would Twily be without her BBBFF?" Cadance smiled at her husband. "Yes, Twily and I need you, but also...", she took his hand and laid it on her stomach. For a second a confused expression crossed his face as his brain put the pieces together, then a look of simultaneous joy and surprise spread across his face. "I-I-I going to be a father?" Cadance nodded and Shining pulled in for a tight hug.

All around the living room the ten girls had tears pooling in their eyes once the last of the stories were shared, for several minutes none of them could say anything. Finally Sunset spoke up. "Maud told me about what happened to her when she was a little girl and that a therapist told her that she was a survivor and that was something that no one could take away from her. I can't say that I understood it then or that I understand it now."

"I think I understand it.", Wallflower said, "I think she meant because even though she was at her weakest, it made her the strongest. Though I'm hurting and scared now, one day I won't be and I'll come out stronger then steel." She grabbed Sunset's hand and said, "That's what survivors are. The bad people and the assholes try to break us, but we come back stronger than ever than before." Letting go of Sunset's hand, she extended it out in front of her. "Survivors." One-by-one the other girls laid their hands on top of Wallflower's. "Survivors." "Survivors." "Survivors." The four girls suddenly found themselves squished in a group hug by the other six. "I love you guys so mmmmmuuuu-huh-huh-huh-uuuuuuucccccchhhhh!", Pinkie bawled.

Cadance and Shining walked out of the kitchen, carrying trays of food and inadvertently breaking up the touching moment. "Who's hungry?", Shining asked.

Author's Note

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

Love the story? Hate the story? See a typo or misspelling? Want to leave a random comment? Wanna throw shade or pure bane? Leave it in the comments below.