I gulped as I lay on my bed, staring at my hooves. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, but I could feel my stomach twist. There was something on my mind, though I tried to ignore it. The inner part of my rear legs tingled slightly and I closed my eyes, fighting off a shiver. I could still feel the soft kisses Plush had left on me, giving me a sense of unease. The kisses were all over me, up my chest, on my neck and even my lips, reminding me of what had transpired almost a week ago.

My night at Plush's would not go away. Even though I hadn't been over to her place since then, I could still remember vividly everything that had transpired. I remembered her staring into my eyes hungrily, her tongue licking her lips greedily. Her scent was everywhere, a mix of both roses and sweat. I could still feel a mix of fluids run down my chin, mostly saliva, but flavored with something else. My head still felt the pressure that she had applied to it with her rear legs, pressing my nose closer to her.

Needless to say, I was ashamed of myself. I had never felt more tainted, dirty and disgusting than I did trotting home after that. Before I left, I had asked her to meet me at my home in a week. Plush had readily agreed and kissed me on my lips softly, her way of sealing a deal. I had mentally tortured myself as I trotted back, knowing that I was manipulating her for my personal gain. I could have done a million things instead of what had happened, like ask for her help and be open about why I was suddenly interested in her, but I knew I couldn't have brought myself to do that.

With my self esteem already dwindling to low levels, my mistake with Plush was just another pile of smoldering coals to heap upon the ashes of my dignity. I bit my lower lip and tried to hold back some tears, throwing up some weak mental resistance. I wanted nothing more than to run away from all of this like I had when I was younger, to just leave and start over again. Nothing was stopping me from doing that, but I felt as if I was chained here. I had to stay and see this through, whether it was successful or not.

A soft knock came from my door and I looked up. I didn't have to say anything because the door automatically swung open, revealing my best friend. Glimmer looked at me with an expressionless face, her eyes glued to mine. She hadn't said much to me since the doctor's office, which had been rather excruciating for both of us. I so desperately needed a friend now and I could tell she wanted to help me.

"H-Hey," she murmured, glancing at the floor.

I sniffed, but gave a weak smile in response.

"So... uh, how are you?" she asked, looking back up to me.

I nodded to her and moved my wing, motioning for her to join me. Silently, she walked in, eyes on the floor. I could tell she was apprehensive of me, especially since I had returned from Plush's. I looked back to my hooves as she got on the bed next to me and laid on her stomach, just like how I was.

For a few minutes, neither one of us spoke. I could feel the crushing weight of the silence on me, filling me with dread and depression. It was hard to breathe as I waited for the inevitable to come, wishing for this to be over quickly. An exasperated sigh from Glimmer was all it took to start the ball rolling.

"Viola, what's wrong?" she asked a little impatiently, turning her now irritated eyes towards me, "You've done everything but shut yourself into your room. You don't come out at night anymore, taken four sick days at work and won't talk to me. Plush has been crying at work because she feels guilty about something and I know you saw her last week. What is wrong?"

I ground my teeth together, feeling the dry enamel scrape against each other. I closed my eyes and hung my head a bit, wishing this was less painful to do. Still, I had made this mess and now I would have to tell my friend all about it. All about the second worst night of my life.

"Glimmer, it's nothing..."

My attempt to lie seemed to only make things worse as Glimmer narrowed her eyes at me.

"It's nothing? Then are you too nervous to go through with the procedure?"

"No..."

"Are you stuck on finding a stallion? You have literally hundreds of willing volunteers."

"No..."

"Is seeing Plush before the procedure too embarrassing?"

"Not really..."

"Then what is it?"

I breathed a deep sigh and strained to speak.

"I... I didn't tell Plush about what... I want her for..."

A creepy silence ensued after I said that, like those kind in horror stories just before the victim gets attacked. My throat constricted to the point it was hard to breathe and my hooves began to shake slightly. I wanted nothing more than to bolt from the room, but my legs felt way too heavy to move.

"What?" Glimmer asked in a confused tone, "You didn't tell her about the procedure?"

I shook my head, eyes closed and head hung.

"You didn't? What? I don't... I don't get it. Isn't that why you went over there?"

I grit my teeth again. This time, it felt like the enamel chipped off in some places. Luckily, I didn't taste any blood.

"Y-yes..."

"Then what did you do? If you didn't ask her, how did she agree to come?"

My ears pressed as hard as they could against my head and my tail swished erratically.

"You didn't...."

Grimly, I nodded slowly in response.

The tense air around me became like solid rock, preventing me from doing anything except sit there. I wasn't sure what Glimmer was thinking, but I knew it wasn't good. I received my answer when a solid hoof struck me in the cheek, hard. My head whipped around and pain erupted all over my right cheek. Instantly, I yelped in pain and rolled over onto my left side, rubbing my cheek and staring at a very angry looking Glimmer.

She was a beautiful mare when she wanted to be, but she could also be terrifying when she was angry.

"Viola!" she shouted at me, rising to her hooves, "How dare you do that to Plush! She is just an innocent young mare, not some scumbag stallion looking for a good time he won't remember the next day! Why on Equestria would you ever do that to her?!"

I cowered in fear of her, curling up slightly like a scared little filly. Glimmer's words stung like a swarm of angry wasps as I heard them, every line true.

"Do you know what you have done to her?!" Glimmer continued to scold like an angry mother, "She is an emotional wreck at work and has cried herself silly for the past two days because she thinks you hate her! Saffron is worried Plush will try to hurt herself and you are here, moping about what you did! Did you even think, Viola?! Did you ever consider just asking her?!"

I whimpered pathetically, burying my face into my bedsheets. It did little to help the current problem, but at least I felt a little better knowing Glimmer wasn't making direct eye contact with me. That lasted for only two seconds, though, as the sheets whipped away from me, allowing Glimmer to look me directly in the eyes.

Her face was fixed into the scariest snarl I had ever seen. Her eyes were mere pinpricks and seemed to point daggers at me while her teeth were exposed, like that of a hunting wolf. Her horn stopped glowing as my bedsheet fell to the floor, giving me nowhere to hide. I felt my heart start to stop as it glowed again.

"Well?!" she asked again.

Immediately, I burst out into tears and started sobbing like a little filly. Me, the normally cool and composed bat pony mare of seduction, was lying on my bed with an angry unicorn standing over me, bawling my eyes out. I cried like a fool, just wailing and almost screaming at certain points as a small pool of tears began to soak into my mattress.

"No-o-o!" I wailed, "I'm sorry!"

Glimmer snorted angrily before replying.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Plush!"

I wailed again and buried my face into the wet mattress.

"I can't!" I shouted back.

"Why not?!"

I wailed again before coming up with an answer that shook me to my core.

"Because!" I shouted, not revealing my true answer.

I felt myself get yanked away from my comforting bed and held in the air against my will. I screamed even louder as I cried, much to Glimmer's annoyance.

"Not good enough, Viola!" she shouted back, "You're going to apologize to Plush, and you are going to do it NOW!"

She trotted towards the open door, me floating in the air above her and I began to panic.

"NO! NO, NO! PLEASE CELESTIA NO!"

Glimmer pretended not to hear me as she kept trotting, bringing me into the living room and turning towards the front door.

"GLIMMER, STOP!"

"Why should I?" she bit back, almost to the front door.

I screamed again, especially as I saw the door start to glow. I don't know why, but I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which was my original answer.

"BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO!"

Glimmer paused at that, but turned an unimpressed eye to me.

"Not buying it, Viola," she spoke to me tonelessly.

I started bawling again, my fear transforming into sadness in an instant.

"I CAN'T APOLOGIZE, GLIMMER!" I shouted through sobs, "I CAN'T BECAUSE I CAN'T ASK HER NORMALLY!"

Glimmer's unimpressed look became one of confusion, but she remained unswayed.

"Yes, you can, you idiot! You are going to apologize to her and ask her like a normal pony!"

"BUT I'M NOT NORMAL!"

"So what if you're a bat pony?! You can still be normal like any other pony!"

"NO, I CAHAHAHAN'T!"

I dissolved into a weeping mess after that, feeling like a small filly who had just found out she couldn't have a foal of her own. I didn't care anymore what Glimmer did with me, I had just had a crushing realization slam down on me, destroying what little bit of my self image I had. I wasn't some composed, seductive mistress of the city, I was still some pathetic filly who ran away from her problems and home.

I didn't notice when Glimmer had set me down, but she had to have when I was bawling. I curled up on the cold, wet floor, stroking my tail gently as my wings tried to wrap around me like another set of hooves. My mind felt like thousands of tiny needles were stabbing it, every thought painful. Eventually, I began sniffling and Glimmer's voice came to me.

"What do you mean you can't be normal?" she asked.

I refused to answer, stroking my tail a little more to calm my frayed nerves.

"Viola, answer me," Glimmer commanded.

"I... I just can't..." I hiccuped out.

"I know your history, Viola. You have been normal for seven years since I first met you, so tell me what you mean."

"No... you don't..." I murmured back.

Glimmer narrowed her eyes again and leaned in a little closer.

"What don't I know?" she asked pointedly.

I squeezed my eyes shut and grit my teeth for the umpteetnth time before answering.

"I... I didn't just run away from my caves..."

Glimmer was silent as she waited for me to continue.

"I... I... I did some terrible things before I left."

"What things? You told me you ran away as soon as the doctor left."

"I didn't. I went home and... and... and I did some terrible things there..."

"Like?" she asked with apprehension.

I gulped hard, wishing I didn't have to relive this.

"My parents... they told me everything. I'm not my mother's daughter... I'm... a freak."

Glimmer tilted her head at that, curious and slightly weirded out.

"My father... he paid for me to be born. He.. spent bits on a normal female to carry and have me."

A look of revulsion started to form on Glimmer's face, but she asked a question before I could go on.

"He... paid? Like a whore?"

I nodded slowly as the look of revulsion became more apparent on her face.

"He paid for her to be comfortable and healthy so he could have me."

"Oh my Celestia..."

"And my mother... she was forced to accept me... like I was some burden. I wasn't hers and she was forced to raise me."

I buried my hooves into my eyes as I felt another sob coming on.

"So... what did you do then?" Glimmer asked cautiously.

I cringed at that, wishing I didn't have to say what I was about to.

"I... attacked them. I hurt them both.. terribly..."

Silence once again took over as I recalled what I had done. I could still hear my father's shouts as his knee joint snapped back the wrong way and my mother's screams as I cracked several of her ribs. I remembered being angry at them for doing this to me, for hiding everything and revealing it when I was already in my lowest state of mind. I also remembered some part of me being happy as I did it, as if they had earned what I did.

"Did... did you k-kill them?" Glimmer asked in a scared tone.

"I... No, I didn't..."

"And then you ran away?"

"I... went to the doctor and... I hurt him too. I forced him to tell me how I could have a foal as I nearly snapped his leg off. When he did... I don't know what happened then. I just remember running away."

Another moment of silence took place between us as I worked out what to say.

"You see? I can't apologize to Plush. I can't because I'm a freak who runs away from her problems. I've been doing it for seven years."

"But you can. You can apologize to Plush and explain to her what you went there for."

"No! I can't! I'm a stupid infertile whore who does that for a living!"

A soft hoof touched my shoulder and I flinched at that.

"Vi, you are not that," Glimmer lied.

"YES, I AM!" I shouted back, "I'M JUST SOME STUPID INFERTILE BAT PONY WHORE! I'M... I'm... I'm what my mother is..."

I started crying at that again. I didn't know who my real birth mother was, but I could only imagine what she was like. She was probably some sick, messed up pony who had more foals than she could count. She probably wanted nothing more than to kill herself and end her endless torture of bearing other ponies foals. While I hadn't had any foals of my own, I still had hundreds of stallions line up to give getting me pregnant a shot.

I cried hysterically for a few more minutes before Glimmer stroked my mane gently, shushing me like a mother does her foal. It worked to some extent, because I became a sniffling mess again.

"Hey, Viola," she spoke gently, "I know you better than anypony and I know one thing. You are not them. You are not some disgusting whore or a fool trying to pretend everything is normal. You accepted what you are and you're doing something about it. You're not just sitting there, waiting to raise a foal that isn't yours. I know that isn't you, and the you I know wouldn't be afraid to apologize to Plush."

I sniffed again as I finally made eye contact with Glimmer. She wasn't upset or glaring at me anymore, but she smiled softly. I wasn't sure what to say, so I said nothing. The two of us stayed in the hallway, just listening to the silence that wrapped around us.

"Did you ever decide on a stallion?" Glimmer asked unexpectedly.

I blinked, wondering what she meant by that.

"What?"

"For your foal. Did you decide on who it was going to be?"

I blinked a couple more times before shaking my head. She was talking about the procedure that Plush was unwittingly part of.

"No..." I muttered.

I noticed Glimmer smile slyly at me before speaking.

"I have an idea of who it should be."

I locked eyes with her, confusion written all over my face.

"Who?"