Ditzy lay on her side, clutching her bedsheets with one hand while cuddling Aniese with the other, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She couldn't understand why she was feeling the way she was, why she was so scared of Shard. She knew he'd sooner die than hurt her, and when she saw the heartbroken expression he had bore when she looked at him with fear, it ended up breaking her own heart in the process. She didn't know why she had suddenly started getting the nightmares, she had only saw a glimpse of Shard when he was angry, hell, he hasn't even fully turned in front of her. So why? Why was she so scared? Was it even fear in the first place?

Unfortunately, she wouldn't get an answer, it wasn't something that could be answered.

Suddenly, she heard a few soft knocks on her bedroom door. "W-Who is it?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"It's just us Ditzy, we're here to make sure you're ok, and maybe help you figure things out." She heard Turner say softly from outside the door. "May we come in?"

"Y-Yeah..." Ditzy answered as she wiped her eyes with her arm and sat up on the bed. The door slowly opened up, with Turner, Bonbon, Lyra and Carrot all walking inside with worried faces. Carrot, having known Ditzy the longest, sat down in front of the confused girl and brought her into a hug, with Bonbon and Lyra hugging them both before Turner wrapped his arms around all of them, gently petting the top of Ditzys head comfortingly.

Ditzy buried her face into Carrots shoulder, not to cry, but to feel closer to someone she cared for, wishing that it would somehow allow her to concentrate and sort out her feelings, but to no avail. She felt safe with all of her friends around her, holding her close, but she felt there was something missing in that group hug, something that she longed for, something that she missed.

Shard.

He wasn't there. He wasn't holding her close, he wasn't saying everything would be ok, he wasn't there to protect her.

But she couldn't muster the courage to talk to him, or even look at him without becoming frightened. "I don't know what to do..." She whispered as she hugged her friend tighter.

"And none of us know what to say..." Lyra admitted, resulting in saddened nods from the rest of the group. "We don't even know how to help. All we can do is be here, as your shield, like we were when..."

"Don't say his name Lyra, let's not bring that up right now." Carrot shushed her friend before she could bring back horrible memories to add to Ditzys already fragile state.

"No...it's ok..." Ditzy said shakily as she looked up at Lyra. "You can say it...I got over him a long time ago..."

Lyra sighed and kissed Ditzys forehead. "...like we we're when you left Jackson."

Meanwhile

Shard jumped out of the helicopter and turned to the doubtful Mise. "Alright, what's wrong?" He asked while crossing his arms, not having much patience after the day he recently had.

Mise clenched his fist as he turned his head to look out towards Canterlot City, sighing as he did so. "I can't keep doing this...I can't keep risking what I have here..."

Shard didn't know how to respond, he knew that feeling. Ever since he had met Ditzy, any time he had even thought of CyCorp he felt that. He knew the risks it involved, and some put themselves into those situations because that don't have anything to lose. But he had something, something he needed to go back to, something that he had to protect. He had Ditzy. So, he placed a hand on Mise's shoulder, looked him in the eye and nodded in understanding.

Mise smiled and nodded in response.

"Sir? Are you coming or not?" The pilot asked in confusion.

"No, I'm not. I'll send you the money for the fuel cost, sorry for wasting your time." Mise confirmed as he and Shard took their things off of the aircraft.

"Alright...but you're gonna have to explain it to everyone in a letter or something." The pilot said as the two backed away, giving the helicopter room to take off. The two watched the machine fly away, not sure of what to do next.

"Don't you w at to go back home or something?" Mise asked.

"Can't, got kicked out of my home and my family. To be honest, all I want is a drink right now..." Shard admitted with a sigh. "Know any good bars around here?"

"My good sir, when it comes to places to have a drink, I am a connoisseur."

20 minutes later

The barkeep slid two shot glasses and a bottle of vodka down to the pair, a few empty bottles and glasses surrounding them, having somehow found themselves in a drinking contest with most of those around them all watching in anticipation, waiting to see who would drop first.

"Y-You'll...You'll nevah...beat meh, orange boy!" Mise drunkenly claimed as he laughed before downing another shot.

The drunk Shard just smirked, grabbed the bottle, poured the shot, then began to chug down the bottle. After the contents were drained he slammed the bottle down and roared victoriously.

Mise growled and slammed more money down on the bar. "Barkeep! Two bottles of your strongest drink!"

"I'd say you guys have had more than enough to drink...but I've got 50 bucks on the orange guy to win so, here ya go." The barkeep said casually as he opened up a safe and pulled out two bottles of an almost glowing liquid of some unknown colour. The two, too drunk to care, shrugged and grabbed a bottle each before struggling to down it. It burned their throats like hell had opened its gates in their mouths, but they stared each other down as they threw the empty bottles away. After a few moments of tense silence, they both smacked their heads off of the bar and fell out of their seats.

As Shard just laughed with his new drinking buddy on the floor, the door to the bar opened and the girl from the rooftop stepped in. "I've found you...Shadō." She said with a grin.

Shard just took one look at her and frowned. "Ok...I am definitely not drunk enough to deal with you."

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger!

If ya see any mistakes let me know so I can fix them up. Thanks for reading.