The Previous Night

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Applejack and Rainbow had left late after the rough revenge planning, leaving Quill and Lime alone. The house was chilly and dark except for a single lamp illuminating the living room. The table was set for six even though four occupied it and there were cups of water placed on the table where each pony had sat a few moments before. Quill waved goodbye to the departing mares and closed the door softly, trying to keep an air of calm that had been achieved. Yawning mightily Lime shook her head and looked at Quill with slightly droopy eyes, her lemon yellow mane was messy on her head as she gathered the cups carefully on her right wing, balancing them expertly as Quill came to her side and nuzzled her lightly on the cheek.

"Quill, you're great to every pony you meet," Lime said sleepily as she placed the last cup on her wing and slowly walked to the kitchen. Crossing the threshold with Quill behind her she approached the sink and stumbled nearly falling before Quill lunged and caught her.

"Lime," Quill asked with concern, "are you drunk?"

Lime looked at Quill with a smirk and snorted loudly before laughing. "No, silly filly. I haven't had a drink for hours. Smell my glass, nothing in it."

Quill frowned and leaned over to smell the cups while Lime waited patiently. "Okay, you're not drunk. But I know you sweetie. Something's wrong with you, ever since I got back with the girls you've been off, let's talk before we pass out," Quill said suppressing a yawn.

Lime trotted to the sink and slid the cups into it with a loud clatter that almost sounded like one had broken before she turned back to Quill to answer her question. "Since you met me there's always been something wrong. You're so nice to every pony, every mare you meet. How nice are they back when I'm not around? Hmm?" Lime asked taking a step forward and planting her hoof firmly on the wooden floor with a loud clack. Looking determined through her bodies desire to sleep, she waited for Quill to answer.

"What the hay are you suggesting?" Quill asked sternly.

"Are you cheating on me!?" Lime asked fervently.

"What the flock is going on in that beautiful head of yours Lime? I'd never cheat on you, where's this coming from?"

"I see the way you look at those two, and the time you spend with them."

"I work with Dash and I, we, have been friends with AJ for almost a year. Why are you so... paranoid," Quills voice wavered as she spoke and her eyes widened slightly, "fluff?"

"What?" Lime asked confused for a moment before she took a step back and loosened her wings letting them fall until her primaries touched the floor making her flinch.

"You're on fluff again, aren't you? How long? How long have you been on it!?" Quill shouted with a combination of hurt and anger in her voice.

"Quill, it's just something to get me by. I'm usually sleeping it off right now but," she gestured with her left forehoof to the living room through the doorway, "I've been up three hours later than usual planning revenge for another mare you're helping."

"I help anypony in need, gender be damned. Lime, why are you doing fluff again?"

"I-I need to stay calm. It's a lotta stress being with you," she hissed as she turned to glare at Quill. Quill stood tall and softened her expression.

I remember being like her, she needs help but getting her help is going to be hard. Fluff isn't like most other drugs, it only makes you calm and you can't overdose on it. The only side effect is paranoia and that's not enough for doctors or even Fluttershy to help her without cause, so I have to be the one to help work her through this.

"Lime, I'm sorry," Quill said calmly. "I understand I seem like I'm a whorish mare that would lay with anypony and I used to be when I was younger." Lime growled slightly but listened, her ears faced forward and followed Quill as she spoke and began to pace. Lime stood firm. "I grew up when I met Fleck Torn. You didn't know her but she was almost twice my age and from a town that's so small you could miss it by sneezing on the train.

"I was still young and foolish, foalish if you will," she mused looking at Lime. Lime had started to soften her expression as she followed her lovers' pacing across the kitchen, light clopping almost echoing in the silence between Quills sentences. "I wanted to party and go out all the time and she was really relaxed and calm. She taught me a lot about taking things slow and that all ponies should help one another, not just friends or family but everypony.

"She was great in bed too, but that wasn't why I stayed with her for those few months. She had something about her that told me I couldn't run around and have sex all the time, party all day and night and use drugs to keep awake as long as I could. It wasn't healthy and twice she had to carry me from a party like my mother would have if I was at a slumber party.

"Waking up with your lover sitting by your bed nursing you back to health was humiliating but what made it worse was that she was so... mother like." Quill stopped pacing and looked at the floor. She began poking a spot in front of her, focusing on a small knot in the wood she gazed at it like it was a newborn in her arms. "Fleck told me I almost died, just once, but it was enough. I drank a new liquor from the Griffons' land, I can't remember the name but it was almost like drinking fire. I remember taking the first drink then," she sighed turning her face to Lime, looking into her eyes, "I woke up three days later in Trottingham."

Lime's wings perked up and she changed to shock and concern for her marefriend. "Oh my."

"Yeah, Fleck took time off work and followed the clues to find me. We were in South Manehatten and I somehow was thousands of miles away with no memory of where I was or how I got there, I-" she chocked as she remembered the story and tears started to flow down her cheeks while she tried to stifle sobs, "I tried to forget what happened when I woke up, I really tried Lime, but the party didn't stop. The drinking and partying... I was in the hospital Lime."

Shaking her head trying to dry her face she fell to her haunches and felt Lime's wings then forelegs wrap around her. She turned her face into Limes coat and cried hard, wrapping her own wings around Lime. The sound of Quill crying filled the kitchen as Lime trembled with her. Tears welled in the corner of Limes eyes as she felt her coat wetting and the heaving breaths blowing against her flesh, warmed by the tears of her lover.

"L-Lime, I was so scared," Quill whimpered from beneath a shield of wings, "they said I had sex, a lot. Without protection or anything and I was in estrus, and I knew it but I couldn't say no. I could've gotten a disease or pregnant and I'd never know who did it to me," she said between sobs. She felt a drop of liquid drip on the top of her head, then another and another. She held her breath and pulled back slightly to see Lime looking forward, lost in memory crying. With a sobbing huff she swallowed hard.

"Lime, are you okay?"

"It was my step-father."

Quill stiffened and chocked again almost coughing as her body tried to swallow and gasp at the same time. Her... "Honey, what do you mean?" Quill asked pulling away a little and folding her wings. She nudged Lime to sit with her on the floor as she tried to stop her tears. She looked at Lime, a blurry smudge in a wavy world through her tear filled eyes but tried to focus all her attention.

"I was a young mare when my mom remarried. A stallion like any other, but he was... sick," she spat the word out. "Ever since I was old enough to leave home I left and never went back. I remember that flocker too often, Quill." Lime sat before Quill but gazed through her as though she wasn't there, lost in bitter memory. "He took so much from me and I never got over it; how can anypony get over that? I started using any drug I could get before I ran away from home and I haven't stopped running."

Quill looked at Lime and blinked hard, her eyes clearing of tears enough so she could see Lime finally. Lime sat in front of Quill blank of expression, tears streaking down her face and muzzle creating a small puddle on the floor between them. "Lime, that's... awful. Did you tell the guard?"

"No, what kind of work do you think he did?" Lime spoke flatly looking at Quill in the eyes.

"He, he was in the guard and was one of those? How-"

"I DON'T KNOW," Lime screamed finally breaking down and letting her body fall. Quill bore the full weight of Lime as the green mare gasped and trembled. "I-I can't cry anymore Quill. I, I spent, too many years-" Quill pulled Lime into her body and enveloped her in her wings and forelegs tightly.

"It's okay, don't talk. I'm here for you, except for one kiss with Rainbow nothing has happened. You're the only mare for me and nothing will change that, understand?" Lime shuddered and fell limp. Quill released her grip quickly and looked at Lime. She fell asleep. Heh, I guess emotions and being tired don't mix when you're a foal or in your twenties. She yawned loudly and got up, carefully picking up Lime on her back she slowly walked out of the room and upstairs to the bedroom.

I left the lights on but I think this' more important. She climbed into bed with Lime on top of the blankets and snuggled as close behind her as she could and took in a deep breath of Limes mane. Smiling, she quickly joined her lover as sleep embraced her.

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